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 30
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was known as a ministering angel, not only in her own society but among all with whom she became acquainted.
There were nine children in the Fell family, seven boys and two girls, and it may well be supposed that great exertion was required to provide for them and educate them properly. Mr. Fell attended a common school three months iu the year until he was seventeen. At this time he had the misfortune to dislo- eate his shoulder which unfitted him for farm work, and he determined to obtain more schooling. Jonathan Gause, a noble hearted Friend, kept the West Bradford boarding school in Pennsylvania, and to him Mr. Fell made application for admis- sion, but was poor and could not pay his tuition. But Jonathan took the poor student into his establishment for six months, though it was contrary to his custom. Mr. Fell promised to pay some time in the future, and Jonathan answered : "I will trust thee." Mr. Fell afterwards taught school and earned money to pay this obligation, and also to obtain money to come West.
He came to Bloomington, Illinois, in the spring of 1836, about six months before Judge David Davis came. It was his purpose to visit his brothers Jesse and Thomas, who had arrived some time previous, and then go to a Manual Labor College near Hannibal, Missouri, started by a certain Dr. Stiles Ely, of Philadelphia. Dr. Stiles Ely was a Presbyterian minister and a great theorist and his pamphlet, which was widely circulated, eaused a great sensation. But his theory was better than his practice. He selected the location for his college during a dry season and did not guard against the chances of rain. During the following season "the rains descended and the floods came" and washed his college away, and the people who had gathered there were obliged to flee to save themselves from drowning. Dr. Ely lost a fortune in this undertaking, which promised fair had he selected a better location.
Mr. Fell learned while in Bloomington of the disaster which overtook Dr. Ely, and, as his plans were broken up, took a situ- ation as clerk with Messrs. O. Covel and A. Gridley, merchants. But it was Mr. Fell's intention to study law and he had by no means given up his plan. He had occasion to go to Springfield in the interest of his employers and while there called at the office of the Hon. J. T. Stuart who was practicing law. Here he
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met Abraham Lincoln, a young law student. After some con- versation with young Abraham, Mr. Fell came to the conclusion that, if Mr. Lincoln could study law with as little education as he had, Mr. Fell would do the same, and he hesitated no longer. He read law in his leisure hours. During the following winter he was appointed clerk with the power to organize De Witt County. His appointment was probably made through the influ- ence of his brother Jesse. Jesse W. Fell and James Miller had previously laid out the town of Clinton, and they wished it to be the county seat. The county was formed from parts of Macon and McLean counties. Mr. Fell kept this position from the winter of 1838-39 until 1840. During that year all the Whig judges and clerks were legislated out of office by the Democrats, and Mr. Fell, being a Whig, was obliged to lose his position. He went to Bloomington and became deputy clerk of the circuit court under General Covel, who, being a Democrat, had been re-appointed to his office. While in this position Mr. Fell studied law and during the winter of 1840-41 he passed his examination before the nine judges of the Supreme Court at Springfield and was admitted to the bar. He speaks very feel- ingly of the terror he felt while thinking of the ordeal of the examination when nine pairs of spectacles should be leveled at him. But they admitted him and made the young and deserving man happy. Before being admitted to the bar he had formed a partnership with Albert Dodd, a promising young lawyer from Connecticut. He and Mr. Dodd continued their partnership until 1844. During that year Dodd was drowned in crossing the Mackinaw River, while returning from a convention at Joliet. This was the convention which nominated John Wentworth (Long John) for Congress for the first time. Dodd would prob- ably have been nominated himself had he lived a little longer. While he was absent in attendance at the convention Dodd was nominated in Bloomington for the Legislature. Mr. Fell was at this time attending court at Springfield and was there detained by the flood and did not learn of his partner's death until ten days after it occurred. The flood during that year was fearful. The Mississippi River rose so high that a great part of Cairo was swept away. After the death of Dodd, Mr. Fell practiced alone in his profession until the year 1856, when he gave it up, making room for the generation of young lawyers.
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Mr. Fell belonged to a class of lawyers which it is feared does not include the entire legal profession. He always tried to settle a case before taking it into court. There is a German proverb which says : "A meager making up is better than a fat law suit." Whether Mr. Fell ever heard of this we do not know; but he always did what he could to arrange matters fairly and impartially without taking the case into court. He thinks this should be the lawyer's course, and that it really pays better in the end; for by settling cases fairly he sometimes gained his opponents for his clients. "Blessed are the peace- makers."
In the fall of 1844, after the death of Albert Dodd, Mr. Fell took the young man's books, papers and correspondence to his father in Connecticut. When he arrived in Hartford, the people were having a great time with the Millerites. The day after his arrival there was the one set by Miller for the end of the world and was a time of great excitement. Many of the followers of Miller had given away all of their property, expecting to need it no longer, and were standing around the streets in long gar- ments, expecting the call which should translate them to another world. Mr. Fell retired late that evening, as he had watched pretty sharply for the angel which was to bring on the millennium. At a late hour the angel had not put in an appearance and Mr. Fell went to sleep. The next morning he was awakened by the most fearful sound that ever smote his ears. He sprang up thinking that the millennium must certainly have come, but found that the noise proceeded from a hotel gong, which was the first he had ever heard.
From Hartford Mr. Fell went to New York where the Whig convention, which nominated Henry Clay for President, was in session. At this convention were some of the great lights of the Whig party. They formed a procession through the city, which required two hours in passing a single point. In order to obtain a good view of it Mr. Fell climbed up on a corner of the fence surrounding the square and, as the weather was severe, he was alternately frozen with cold and warmed with excite- ment. All of the trades were represented in this proces- sion. The printers struck off bills and dispatches and scattered them among the crowd, and each of the trades was distinguished
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in an appropriate manner. The crowd along the line of march was partially composed of Democrats, who attempted at times to hinder and annoy the procession, and occasionally succeeded ; but when the butchers passed along their brawny and muscular appearance made the crowd respectfully give way !
In the evening a grand meeting was held out of doors, and a large platform was erected for the distinguished lights of the party. When many strangers had spoken, a loud call was made for Horace Greeley. Mr. Greeley came forward. He was then a tall, slender young man, with light hair, a white face, and dressed in a plain suit of drab. His speech was short, but it went to the root of the matter, and touched the heart of the people.
From New York Mr. Fell went to Philadelphia, and from there to Chester County, where he found the lady who was to be his wife. They were married in Philadelphia on the first day of January, 1845. Her name was Jane Price. Her family came from old English stock. Mr. Fell has a happy family of eight children, five boys and three girls.
Mr. Fell's parents came West with the entire family in 1837. His mother died in October, 1846, and his father, who was totally blind during the last twelve years of his life, died in the fall of 1853. The children took pride in making the last years of the old gentleman's life pleasant, and sustained him on his down hill journey.
Mr. Fell has never been a candidate for any public office, or sought one. He has great aversion to seeking office and would not work or scheme for one, however lucrative. He has held some offices but they have involved much work and no pay.
In 1856, at the State Convention in Bloomington, Mr. Fell nominated Abraham Lincoln as a delegate to the National Con- vention at Philadelphia. Lincoln arose and declined on account of his poverty and business engagements; but he consented to go if his business would allow him, when Mr. Fell promised that his expenses should be paid. At last it was arranged that in case Lincoln could not leave, Mr. Fell should go in his place. About two hours before the time to start Mr. Fell received a dispatch from Lincoln, saying that the latter was unable to leave, and Mr. Fell therefore went in his place. At this convention
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Lincoln received one hundred and fifteen votes on the first bal- lot for Vice President. But on the second ballot his name was withdrawn by the Illinois delegation, with the intention of put- ting him forward at some future day for President.
Mr. Kersey Fell was probably the first man who thought seriously of making Abraham Lincoln a candidate for President of the United States. He mentioned the matter first to his brother Jesse, but the latter did not immediately think favorably of the matter. But after a little reflection he favored it and spoke of it to Judge David Davis. Mr. Davis did not at first think well of it, but after some steps were taken to bring Mr. Lincoln's name before the public, Mr. Davis favored the move- ment strongly and worked with all his might to make it suc- cessful. Mr. K. H. Fell mentioned the matter of Lincoln's proposed candidacy to Judge Joseph J. Lewis of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Judge Lewis wrote a biography of Mr. Lin- coln which was widely circulated. The items and information for this biography were furnished by Mr. Jesse W. Fell. Mr. Kersey Fell did everything in his power to forward Lincoln's chances, and called out his name as a candidate for president at a mass meeting held at West Chester, Pennsylvania. Mr. Fell spared no exertions, and in 1860 the object was accomplished and Mr. Lincoln was nominated by the Republican party at Chicago and triumphantly elected by the nation. Mr. Fell was long and intimately acquainted with Mr. Lincoln, and states what is well known to the legal profession, that if Lincoln thought he was right in any case in which he was engaged he was invin- cible ; but if he thought his cause unjust he was weak and his arguments without force. He was one of the most tender- hearted of men. While on his circuit in the village of Pontiac, the hotel where he stayed was crowded and he slept in a small detached house. The night was stormy, and a little cat outside made a pitiful noise and wished to come in. The thought of the suffering cat troubled Lincoln so much that he could not sleep until he had opened the door and let the poor creature in.
Mr. Fell did not take part in the canvass of 1860 as his health was very poor. During that year he went to Europe, visiting Switzerland, Vienna, and many other interesting places, but returned in the fall to cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln.
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Mr. Fell has filled many positions with more benefit to the community than profit to himself. He is now a member of the Board of Education of Bloomington and attends to the duties of his position with fidelity. Ile knows the value of an educa- tion and struggled hard for it when in youth, and he is anxious that the children of to-day shall all of them have a chance to learn.
Mr. Fell is not a large man in appearance and is slenderly built, but he is well proportioned and very active. His hair is gray and his beard is almost white. His nose is aquiline and is bridged with spectacles when he reads or writes. He is a deep thinker and forms his opinions with great care. Good nature appears in his countenance and there are few men in the com- munity so much respected and honored.
WILLIAM F. FLAGG.
William F. Flagg was born April 2, 1808, on a farm in Boilston township, Worcester County, Massachusetts, about forty miles from Boston. His ancestors came from English stock. His grandfathers were both soldiers in the Revolution- ary war. He had four brothers and one sister; of these, his sister and two brothers are yet living. He received his seanty education in a district school until he was eighteen years of age. He then went to Worcester to learn his trade of architect and builder. While there he was employed by his master on churches and public buildings for three years. This terminated his apprenticeship. He then went to work on his own account.
At the age of twenty-five he married Miss Sarah Walker of Natick. This place is twenty miles from Boston, and is the home of IIenry Wilson, the Vice President elect. At that time Mr. Wilson was working at his trade as a cobbler.
In 1836 Mr. Flagg determined to go West. Before going he traded his property in Worcester for some in Bloomington, and in course of time his trade turned out to be very profitable. He came to Bloomington alone in August, 1836, and his family followed in the spring of 1837. He immediately engaged in his trade as a builder, and in 1837 built a court house for Putnam County. During the following year he built a court house for Tazewell County, and in 1839 and 1840, he built a court house
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and jail at LaSalle. During this year he bought one hundred and seventy acres of land northeast of Bloomington (joining the city limits) for which he paid $4,000. This was considered an ex- orbitant price, but since then he has received as much as two thousand dollars for a single acre laid out in building lots.
Ground was first broken for the Illinois Central Railroad in front of Mr. Flagg's door in June, 1852, and cars were running the following year. He formerly owned a tract of land em- bracing the present location of the Lafayette depot, and in 1847 he built on it saw mills and machine shops. In 1855 he built the Bloomington Works, now owned by K. II. Fell & Co. IIe managed these works until the year 1865. From 1865 to 1870 he was engaged in laying ont second and third additions to Bloomington, and he built and caused to be built about one hun- dred residences. In 1856 he, in connection with Judge Davis and William II. Allin, laid out the so-called Durley addition.
In 1870 Mr. Flagg built the Empire Machine Works, close to the Illinois Central Railroad. They are carried on under the name and style of the company of the Empire Machine Works. They keep one hundred men constantly engaged in manufactur- ing agricultural implements and building materials, and are in- deed a credit to the city.
Mr. Flagg has been twice married and has an interesting family of three sons and two daughters living.
He tells a curious anecdote of Mr. Lincoln. In 1848 Mr. Flagg commenced manufacturing reapers and was sued for an infringement of patent by C. W. McCormick, and damages were laid at $20,000. Abraham Lincoln was employed as counsel for the defendant. The suit was carried on for two years in the United States Court at Springfield, and Mr. McCormick was finally beaten. Shortly after this Mr. Lincoln met Mr. Flagg on the street in Bloomington and sauntered into the latter's shop. Mr. Flagg asked how much the attorney's fee would be. Mr. Lincoln leaned on the counter, rested his head on his arm, and after a little consideration said : "I think ten dollars will pay me for my trouble !" Mr. Flagg says that nothing could induce Mr. Lincoln to take more and adds : " At the present day our lawyers would have demanded just about one thousand !"
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When Mr. Flagg came to Illinois every event was dated from the Black Hawk war. In this war a man named Mccullough was high private. Among the many incidents related of this war, it is said that when our soldiers first went out to meet the Indians the latter made so strong an attack that our men became terrified and took to their heels ; but Mccullough, the high pri- vate, alone stood the fire, and was not afraid to meet the enemy. This circumstance is a little exaggerated, but it will do to tell as a story.
Mr. Flagg is rather above the medium height. He is broad- shouldered and well built. He has a sharply pointed nose and a penetrating eye. Business and speculation are seen in his countenance. He gives one the impression that where many will lose money he will make some. His beard and hair are turning gray, but his spirit is as strong as ever. The new resi- dence which he is erecting shows him to be as energetic and ac- tive as in his youthful days.
JOHN EDWARD MCCLUN.
John Edward MeCluu was born on the nineteenth of Feb- ruary, 1812, in Frederick County, Virginia. His ancestors on his father's side were members of the Society of Friends. His mother's father, whose name was Bailey, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and died in the army. John Edward was the youngest son of a family of eight children, seven boys and one girl; the latter was an adopted daughter. The circumstances of the family were far from easy, and in early life young John worked hard. His father died when John was only seven or eight years of age, and the family was obliged to toil hard for support.
It is worthy of remark that a very large proportion of the men who are successful in life have had good mothers, and very many, if not all, of our old settlers speak of their mothers with affection and reverence. Judge MeClun says : "If I have anything commendable in my character I certainly owe it all under God to my mother ; she taught me to be honest, and I have tried so to live; she taught me always to be employed at something, and I have tried to be industrious ; she taught me to speak evil of no man or woman so far as I could avoid it, and
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the observance of that rule has wonderfully smoothed the as- perities of my life ; she taught me the fear of the Lord, and I have always been able to realize through a long life that God was around and about my pathway." She must indeed have been an excellent lady and a woman of great moral elevation, for she made an impression npon her son in his tender years, which is deep and decided after the lapse of half a century.
Young John was a great pet with his brothers, and when they came home from work he was in the habit of running out to meet them to be carried back by them in triumph. He re- members particularly his brother Jefferson, whose death affected him very much, and he describes it now as the "most tender event of his whole life."
Young John wished an education, but the way to get it was a puzzle. He was eighteen years of age when, by the greatest economy on his own part and the greatest sacrifice on the part of his mother, he was sent to the Middletown common school. The accommodations were none of the best. The school-house was made of logs daubed with clay, and the benches had no backs. The schoolmaster is described as a " small, spare, sharp- visaged young man, with eyes approaching in color to green." His new scholar did not appear to much advantage. John was but recently recovered from a severe illness and his color was cadaverous. He wore a long-tailed drab overcoat which ex- tended to his feet, and had a number of old-fashioned capes falling in succession about his shoulders. Nevertheless he was a good scholar, and made rapid headway with his lessons. When spring came he left school and went to work, but even then he did not neglect his books. He studied his grammar while plow- ing, and says that " while those fat, lazy horses belonging to the man to whom I was hired at seven dollars per month, were turn- ing at the end of the furrow, I was busy with my grammar, and by the end of the season I had committed the whole to memo- ry. * 'Necessity is the mother of invention,' and the tail of the plow after all is not a bad place to study grammar."
In the fall he returned to school, where he made rapid pro- gress, and the next year obtained a situation as a teacher in a little log school-house. In a little room about eighteen feet square were forty scholars of all ages from six to twenty-one.
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The text books used in the school were written by a great varie- ty of authors. Pike, Jess, Parke and Dabold had written arith- metics, and they were all used in the school. The schoolmaster had to be lively to do all the " sums.". Mr. MeClun taught school three years and then determined to come West. He started on horseback, and after traveling through some of the Western States he returned for his mother. They started in a little two-horse wagon in October, 1835. But winter set in be- fore they could get through to Illinois, and Mr. McClun left his mother at his brother Robert's residence in Indiana, and went on to Springfield, Illinois, where he arrived on the fourth of December.
Judge McClun describes Illinois very particularly. He says that the population of the State was then about two hundred and fifty thousand. The improvements consisted of log cabins near the groves while the prairies were bare. The grass grew high, and the deer and wolves roamed in droves, with little to molest or make them afraid. The streams were unbridged, crossings were difficult, teams were swamped in the sloughs and had to be pulled out by oxen. The people lived plainly and simply ; the men wore home-made clothing, and the garments of the ladies were sometimes of the same material and some- times of the cheaper kind of store goods. The oxen that broke the prairie were frequently used to draw the people to church. Preaching was held at the private houses, for meeting houses were not built except in a few of the towns.
In the summer time the green-head flies made traveling across the prairies difficult and even dangerous. Mails were seldom, and newspapers few. Chicago was a village of a few shanties on Lake Michigan. The houses of the most wealthy consisted usually of one room. A log fire ten feet long warmed the fami- ly, cooked the provisions, and rendered the bed room comforta- ble. The eating, sleeping and cooking were all done in one room, and that with the greatest propriety. " The family, the workhands and the visitors all lodged in close proximity to one- another, and without much trouble. The men generally retired first, and afterwards the ladies. Everything was not only done decently and in order but with the utmost delicacy and proprie- ty. This manner of life in no way contributed to indelicacy, for
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nearly all men would be gentlemen under such circumstances. The people were for the most part a moral and religious people, and Christianity was universally respected."
When the stranger remained over night at one of these log cabins, he might at first be rendered uneasy by the roughness of the people, and by the guns upon the hooks, but when a blessing was asked at supper he would feel reassured. Such was Illinois in 1835, given partly in Judge McClun's own language.
Springfield was then a lively place, as the capitol of the State was soon to be taken there from Vandalia. It was full of ad- venturers and speculators. John T. Stuart was then a rising lawyer and politician. Stephen A. Douglas, who was then com- mencing the practice of law in Jacksonville, sometimes made his appearance in Springfield. He was described as " a very boyish looking little giant." Abraham Lincoln was then living at Salem, in Sangamon County.
During Mr. MeClun's first winter in Illinois he could find nothing to do, and his money melted rapidly away. At last he met a young man named Thorp, who had contracted for a stock of goods, provided he could give security, and asked Mr. McClun tobecome his bail! The latter agreed to the arrangement and the goods were actually forwarded on the credit of these two pen- niless young men ! Young Thorp went East for his wife, and Mr. McClun sold the goods at a fair profit and paid the parties who had so strangely trusted them. Being disappointed in a mer- cantile partnership with a friend from Virginia, Mr. McClun finally found business in Waynesville, McLean County, where he entered the store of David Duncan as a clerk. This was dur- ing the last of June, 1836. Waynesville, though a new town, did considerable business even at that early day. The town, however, had no tavern, no church, no school house, and no post office. The nearest post office was at Bloomington. Dry goods and groceries were sold in considerable quantities, and whisky and tobacco were in great demand. Saturday was the great day of trade, and then the people came in from all quarters to pur- chase the necessaries of life, disenss politics, talk about their farms, wrestle, run foot races, run horses, &c., and a Saturday that wound up without a fight was considered very dull. Nev- ertheless, even then Waynesville contained some fine families,
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