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 33
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JOHN WILLARD BILLINGS.
John W. Billings was born August 25, 1810, in Charlton, Worcester County, Massachusetts. His father's name was Wil- liam Billings and his mother's name before her marriage was Lucretia Parker. The Billings family is an old one, and its origin is given by Mr. Billings, as follows : "I have learned from the history of the Plymouth colony that the name of Bill- ings in America is derived from two brothers who came over from England, not in the Mayflower, but a few years after the voyage of this celebrated vessel. One of the brothers settled in the New England colony and the other in the colony at James- town, Virginia. I am a descendant of the Plymouth stock and am branded a full-blooded Yankee, dyed in the wool, which I never wish to deny." On the other hand, those members of the Billings family who were descended from the brother who set- tled in Virginia, no doubt prided themselves on being good southerners and good rebels during the war. Their names ap- peared very often in that connection, but their northern name- sakes probably sent enough soldiers to the Union army to attend to them.
William Billings, the father of John, was a shoe manufac- turer. He manufactured shoes from what were called Calcutta hides, though they probably came from cattle in Spanish South America. These shoes were sold principally in the Southern States to be worn by negroes. He took a great interest in his trade. When one of his sons, Parker Billings, died, the old gentleman said sadly : " I intended to make a fine workman of Parker." William Billings died in the year 1817 when John was only seven years of age. The family, owing to some mis-
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fortunes, was left in rather straightened circumstances. There were five children in the family and the death of the father scat- tered them. John was sent from one relative to another for a while, but at last was taken by Major D. Williams, an old soldier of the Revolution, and by him raised until the age of twenty-one. Major Williams was in many battles. He was at Saratoga and in all of the contests of that memorable campaign, which ended in the surrender of General Burgoyne. Mr. Billings says of the Major : " Many a time did he thrill my boyish heart with the account of that campaign, how the bullets whizzed, the artillery thundered and the red-coats ran ! He was present when Gene- ral Burgoyne surrendered his sword to General Gates, saying, with a low bow, 'The fortunes of war, General Gates, have made me your prisoner.' The victorious General returned the sword with a courtly salnte, saying, 'I shall always be ready to bear testimony that it was not through any fault of your Excel- lency.' When the old gentleman would tell of this circumstance, he would spring to his feet and march across the floor with his military tread, and his cheeks all aglow with the thought that Burgoyne had surrendered ! He was a good old man ; his latch- string was out; his house and barn were open to man and beast, and his purse-strings were loose, when benevolence or charity required. Mrs. Williams, his wife, was a patriotic and Chris- tian lady and not a whit behind her husband in everything good and merciful. I am indebted to him for many moral lessons and to her for many prayers. If there is any good in me, they, under the Most High, are the bestowers of it. The master has long since said unto them : 'Come up higher.' "
Mr. Billings, in his younger days, heard a great deal of the West; he heard from a nephew of Major Williams that the West was a place where fifty acres of wheat could grow in one patch ! and when young John grew up, this had a great influ- ence in deciding him to go West. He went to school in the meantime and had good books to read, black birds to shoot and fish to catch. What more could a young man wish ?
At the age of twenty-one Mr.[Billings was indentured to an architect and builder, as an apprentice for three years. He served his time faithfully, and then began work on his own account. He worked one year for William Howe, the inventor
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of the Howe Truss Bridge, one of which spans the Illinois River at Peoria. He is a brother of the Howe who invented the sew- ing machine of that name. The whole family of Howes were remarkable for their mechanical genius.
In 1837 Mr. Billings decided to try his fortune in the West, as the times were very hard. His friends attempted to dissuade him from his course, but without avail. He says : "I took counsel only of myself; my faith was fixed ; my face was set, and my loins were girded for a race toward sundown." He and a fellow-shopmate started August 20, 1837, from Norwich, Connecticut, on the banks of the Thames River, on board of the boat Aurora, for the great West. He says : "The reader will not imagine a faint heart, when I say that my visage lengthened and my eyes misted over as the Aurora bore me away from my native soil, bound for Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois."
He went to New York and there took passage up the Hudson River. He was shown the places on this great river which have become famous in history. He saw the national school at West Point; he saw the place, where the great chain was stretched across the river during the Revolutionary War ; he saw where the sloop Vulture, of Arnold and Andre notoriety, was moored, while the traitor was negotiating his treason, and upon which he finally fled. At Albany he went on board of a canal-boat for Buffalo. Not a great while before they reached the latter place, a stranger, who came on board, had an altercation with the captain, who was a short, fat man and wore a ruffled shirt. The captain intimated, that the stranger was a fool, and the latter responded, that the captain was a "hog, wearing a ruffled shirt." The result was a tussle, in which the ruffles be- came ruffled still more and somewhat bloodied from the injured nose above, while the stranger found himself crawling out of the canal.
When he arrived at Buffalo, the houses for entertainment were all full, but he managed to get quarters next to a good old couple, who belonged to the Society of Friends. At Buffalo he took a boat for Chicago. On board of the boat was a widow and her children. They were Catholics, and every morning they knelt in a group, with their crosses about their necks and their beads in their hands, and remained motionless for half an
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hour or more. At Mackinaw Straits he saw many Indians. He says : "Their wigwams circled around the water's edge for a mile or two. The lake was in a measure covered with bark canoes, the Indians showing much skill in their management. Some were fishing, others lazily loitering upon the smooth waters, entirely listless and careless of their appearance." Some were anxious to trade. The squaws offered bright pebbles, curi- ous shells and bead-work of many fanciful patterns, and the men offered fish, venison and the furs of small animals. When the boat was about to start, the captain gave warning, but one canoe, containing an Indian, a squaw and two papooses, was late in leaving, and when the wheel revolved, this canoe was turned keel up. Mr. Billings says the little papooses floated as natur- ally as balls of cotton or life-preservers. While between Mackinaw Straits and Chicago, they saw a deer swimming in the water and took it on board and brought it to Chicago. It was a fine five-pronged buck. Mr. Billings says, this was the only steamboat deer-hunt he ever heard of.
At Chicago, Mr. Billings and his companion made arrange- ments to have their baggage taken to Tremont, in Tazewell County, by a "brawny, long-legged, long-armed six-footer, who had come to Chicago with four yoke of oxen and a load of bacon." This was their only opportunity, as they could find no teams going to Bloomington. They then set out for the latter place on foot, and for the first time saw the broad prairie. Mr. Billings says : "Never had we seen such an ocean-land; for the first time I realized the idea of a fifty-acre wheat field! The wonders of the Great West were unfolding before us. I had seen the mountains of New England, but their sublime heights were eclipsed by the broad expanse of level land now before us." They diverged from their course to look at some lands on the Kankakee River, and there saw hunters killing chickens with double-barreled shot guns. It was a novelty indeed. They proceeded on to Bloomington through the prairie grass, which grew from one to three feet high. At one time they thought they saw their fifty-aere cornfield in the distance, but found it to be grass growing seven or eight feet high on wet land. It was a miniature cane-brake. They came on to Eppard's Point on Rook Creek (Little Vermilion), and here Mr. Billings bought a
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claim for one hundred dollars, giving the occupant a year to remain. He proceeded to Bloomington after a few days delay. Here he saw the militia out and training. General Covel and Colonel Gridley, afterwards General, were in high feathers.
Mr. Billings speaks of Bloomington curiously and beauti- fully, and gives some reminiscences of the prominent men of the place. "James Allin, merchant, was one of the main pro- prietors of the town, and State Senator from this district. I heard him speak of one of his trips to Vandalia, when that city was the capital of the State. He and some others went part of the way there and found the roads so nearly impassable that horse teams could not travel, and they were compelled to take an ox-team, and he whom the nation now honors and mourns more than any other man, our martyred President, Abraham Lincoln, with his long legs and longer ox-whip, drove them tri- umphantly into the State capital." The Circuit Court was in session in Bloomington when Mr. Billings arrived, but closed about a week afterwards, and the judge and lawyers prepared to go to Tremont, Tazewell County, to the session of court there. Among them was His Honor, Judge David Davis, who rode a spirited horse ; but as he wished to ride in a carriage with some of his legal friends, and as Mr. Billings wished to go to Tremont for his goods, the latter rode the Judge's horse. Mr. Billings was not accustomed to horseback riding, though he did pretty well with the fiery Bucephalus. After riding eight or ten miles the company stopped for water and when they started on, Mr. Billings fell behind. When he attempted to re-mount he became rather eager and pitched clear over the horse, and in so doing lost his hold of the rein. The animal bounded away and left poor Billings meditating upon the expression of Solomon: "Verily, a horse is a vain thing for safety." He went forward and explained matters to Judge Davis, feeling much confused and anxious about the animal. It was afterwards found at Funk's Grove, where it had been bred. As Mr. Billings' baggage had not arrived at Tremont when he came there, and as the landlady of the tavern was sick, he assisted in the culinary department, and for a week was chief cook and dishwasher for twenty or thirty lawyers and clients. Mr. Billings' baggage had by this time arrived, and he took it to Bloomington.
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In the fall of 1839 Mr. Billings was taken sick with the bil- lious fever, which was a disease very common in the West. He was nursed for several weeks by Mr. and Mrs. William Wallace, and wishes his obligations for their kindness to be expressed in this sketch.
Mr. Billings is about five feet and six inches in height. His eyes are, one of them gray and the other a light brown. His head is rather bald, owing to sickness in his youth. His nose is aquiline and his features delicate. His age begins to appear, as his hair is turning gray ; he uses spectacles to read and write, and he has been somewhat deaf during the last fifteen years. His countenance is expressive of kindness of heart, and his ap- pearance is quiet and unassuming. He is a great worker and is constantly on the move, but has retired from business. He pos- sesses great mechanical skill. He is much interested in science and art and is well informed with regard to matters that are transpiring. From the quotations made in this sketch it has no doubt appeared to the reader that Mr. Billings has many of the qualifications of an interesting writer. It seems natural for him to bring out his ideas clearly by contrasts, and he is helped by a sense of humor and a lively imagination.
Mr. Billings married, March 26, 1840, Miss Rebecca Ann Hatfield, who came from Hopkinsville, Christian County, Ken- tucky, in October, 1836, with the family of her stepfather, James C. Haden. They have one daughter, Eliza L. Billings, who lives with her parents. Mrs. Haden, the mother of Mrs. Bill- ings, resides with her daughter.
HENRY RICHARDSON.
Henry Richardson was born October 26, 1807, in Sudbury, Massachusetts. He was of purely English descent. When he was ten years of age his father died. Henry Richardson was then thrown in a great measure on his own resources, and he went into a factory for making cloth, in the city of Lowell. IIe worked in it for eleven years, going through all of the depart- ments and becoming at last superintendent. In 1835 he went to Lexington, Kentucky, to take charge of a factory, which had been superintended by his brother. But he could not endure
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the system of slavery, and in September, 1837, he left Ken- tucky and came to McLean County, Illinois. Here he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land, which included the little grove about half a mile west of Old Town timber. He was active and industrious. He hauled goods from St. Louis, Peoria and Pekin for Judge McClun and others. Hle camped out at night making fires to keep off the wolves.
He sold his entered land for seven dollars per acre, and in the spring of 1845 bought the Michael place near the south end of Blooming Grove. Here he lived until the spring of 1851. He raised stock, and during the celebrated " hard times" of 1837-46 he sold it cheap. But it cost him little, as he could buy corn for five cents per bushel to feed to it. In the spring of 1851 he sold the Michael place for fifteen dollars per acre. Then he took his family to visit his grandfather Fisher's people in Francestown, New Hampshire. This was indeed a visit, for it lasted nearly a year. He returned to Bloomington and went into the grocery business, in which he remained until the time of his death, which occurred December 17, 1872. Mr. Richard- son was for many years superintendent of a Sunday school and deacon in the Congregational Church. During the latter part of his life he was an elder in the Second Presbyterian Church. During all of his life he was a zealous, working Christian and died in full faith in his Saviour.
In September, 1827, at the age of twenty, Mr. Richardson married Miss Lucy Fisher. By this marriage he had six chil- dren, of whom four are living.
Henry W. Richardson died in 1853.
Justin W. Richardson lives at Millington, Kendall County, Illinois. He was for a while editor of the Bloomington Panta- graph, afterwards of the Quincy Whig and Republican, and now owns and edits the Millington Enterprise.
Lunsford P. Richardson was a soldier during the rebellion in the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers, Company A. He is now connected with the house of Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co., Chi- cago.
John C. Richardson died in 1857.
William F. Richardson was, during the rebellion, a soldier in the Mercantile Battery from Chicago. He is now in the grocery business on Main street, Bloomington.
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George H. Richardson was in the One Hundred and Forty- fifth Illinois Volunteers. He is now with his brother William in the grocery business.
Mrs. Richardson died March 30, 1859. In December, 1864, Mr. Richardson married Miss Caroline Robinson. No children were born of this marriage. This lady is still living.
Henry Richardson was about five feet and eight inches in height, had rather a light complexion and was rather bald-head- ed. His son Lunsford very much resembles him. He was a very good man and very kind to his family. He was very quiet in his disposition and his health was usually good. He died of heart-disease and was sick only a few minutes.
JOSHUA R. FELL.
Joshua R. Fell, eldest son of Jesse and Rebecca R. Fell, was born January 21, 1804, in East Caln township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Fell family lived in various places in that vicinity. About the first of January, .1821, Mr. Fell was ap- prenticed to learn the blacksmith's trade in Downingtown, Ches- ter County, Pa., where the family then lived. While Mr. Fell lived in Downingtown, the first survey was made for the Pennsyl- vania Centrail Railroad, running from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. But it was not until the year 1834 that locomotives commenced running, some ten years after its actual construction was com- menced. It does not now require so much time to build a rail- road. Joshua Fell lived in many places in Pennsylvania. In the year 1831 he moved to Salisbury in Pequay Valley, where he engaged in business on his own account. During this year he married Sarah Harlin, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Harlin. The ceremony was performed after the manner of the Friends, in Old Kennett Meeting House, on the 16th of June, 1831. Joshua Fell lived in Pequay Valley about six years after his marriage.
In the middle of May, 1837, they commenced their move to Bloomington, Illinois. Their journey lasted forty days and was remarkable for a freak of the weather never heard of before nor since. On the twenty-third of June they arrived at Hickory Grove, between Paris and Urbana, Illinois. During that night a rain began to fall, but it was afterwards changed to snow. The
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snow storm was so heavy that it bent down bushes and trees, for the snow lodged in the foliage which was full and perfect, as would be expected in the month of June. Mr. Fell says : " As this was my first experience with the State of Illinois, the prospect was by no means encouraging ; but having lived for thirty-six years in Bloomington and never having experienced such peculiar phenomena since, I have become reconciled to the climate of the West."
On Christmas day, 1837, Mr. Fell had the misfortune to lose the sight of his left eye. He was killing pigs for his winter supply of meat, and during a scuffle with a lively pig, which had some objections to being turned into pork, Mr. Fell was drawn against the end of a fence rail, which was pressed against his eye. He was confined in a dark room until the following April, and the sight of his left eye was destroyed.
Mr. Fell has, since 1837, lived a quiet life in Bloomington ; has been one of the most honest and fair-minded of American citizens. He has one fault, which the author takes liberty to criticise. It is one which is far from common-it is his exceed- ing modesty. He always underrates himself and his influence, and seems always anxious that others shall receive the credit of that which impartial observers would award to him. This old gentleman is as worthy and fair-minded as he is modest. He has the spirit of the Society of Friends, of which his father was a member, and his feeling towards others is that of peace and good will.
Mr. Fell had three children born to him in Pennsylvania. They are Charles E., Mary E., and Thomas H. Fell. He had three children born in Illinois : Lucretia M., Sarah Ellen and Rebecca. Three of his children are dead. They are Thomas H., Lucretia M., and Rebecca.
Mr. Fell is about five feet and ten inches in height. His features are somewhat prominent, but while looking at him one does not think of his features, but rather of the man's simplicity and worth, of his modesty and kindness of heart. He thinks a great deal of his brothers, Thomas, Kersey and Jesse, and seems more anxious for them than for himself.
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JONATHAN GLIMPSE.
Jonathan Glimpse was born August 4, 1811, in Preble Coun- ty, Ohio, on a farm, nine miles from Eatou, the county seat. His father's name was Emmanuel Glimpse, and his mother's, before her marriage, was Lydia Sulgrave. Both were of English and German descent. His father was a farmer, and Jonathan was also brought up as a tiller of the soil. Jonathan belonged to a family of nine children, having five brothers and three sisters. Of these, seven are still living. Jonathan received only a limited education, the opportunities for education being rare in those days. The parents of Jonathan were religious people, who early taught their children to fear God and keep his commandments. They belonged to the Dunkard Church.
In order to improve their circumstances, and being opposed to slavery, the Glimpse family moved from North Carolina in 1808 to Preble County, Ohio. Here they lived until 1818, when they moved to Wayne County, Indiana. After a two-years' resi- dence there, they moved in the year 1820 to Indianapolis. In- dianapolis was then a very small place, containing only two business houses. A man called John Givans kept a small stock of groceries there, and another family named Walpools kept dry goods and groceries together. But it was a lively place, and even at that time gave signs of its future greatness. The first court house in this little town was then in the course of erection. Mr. Jonathan Glimpse's father settled with his family six miles south of the city of Indianapolis, on the east side of the White River, where they lived for about ten years. It was here that Jonathan attended school for about six months, when his educa- tion was finished. This was in the year 1830. In the month of March of that year his mother and an elder sister died. In consequence of this great loss he left home on the Fourth of July following, and went to Indianapolis, where he worked for some time in a brick-yard. In June, 1832, he enlisted in the Black Hawk war. Their war commissary was General Hanna, who was the father of the late William H. Hanna of our city. Mr. Glimpse states that General Hanna was a very prominent man in Indianapolis at that time, and adds that his son resembled him in personal appearance. Mr. Glimpse served about sixty days in the Black Hawk war, when it terminated in the capture
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of Black Hawk himself. Mr. Glimpse was in Chicago when peace was proclaimed, and he says that " Chicago was likely to become a lively place." He there discovered only two small grocery stores, the joint capital of which did not amount to more than $1,000, in his estimation. The lots on Lake street were then sold at $35 each. From Chicago he returned again to Indianapolis, where he worked for a short time on a farm west of town, belonging to Nicholas McCarty.
On the first of January, 1835, he married Miss Elizabeth Bay. Mr. Henry Brenton, who had been his captain in the Black Hawk war, performed the marriage ceremony. In Feb- ruary of the same year he moved to Laporte, in the northern part of Indiana, where he lived until January, 1837, when he emigrated to MeHenry County, Illinois, accompanied by his mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and two brothers-in-law. On his journey to Illinois, which lasted four days, he again saw Chicago, and was quite astonished at the change the place had undergone. He joined the Virginia settlement in Me- Henry County. After having selected a location, he com- menced building a log cabin. Three of their party went to work hauling logs for the palace, and by sunset of the second day after their arrival they had all the logs for building a cabin, 16 by 18. In three days the mansion was finished and ready for occupancy, when Jonathan felt rich. In May of that year he was out of provisions, and went down the Fox River for a fresh supply. He took his team and traveled about fifty miles, when he arrived at a settlement, where he bought ten bushels of corn and ten bushels of potatoes, for which he paid one dollar a bushel. The corn was the little "eight-row" corn, which is now quite out of use. On his return home he called at the mill, about five miles from his house, which had been built the sum- mer previous to his arrival. It was a horse-mill. The customers had to find their own team, and pay twelve and a half cents a bushel for grinding. Mr. Glimpse says, to grind three or four bushels a day was as much as one man could do, and he had to be very lively to get so much done, and then it was a meal that now our cows wouldn't eat. He did not raise a crop in the Virginia settlement, but loaded his things and went to Bloomington,
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where he arrived on the 20th of November, 1837. On the day of his arrival he and his brother-in-law each lost a horse by the colie.
The first acquaintance which Mr. Glimpse made in McLean County was John Magoun, who was plastering at the house of David Trimmer, in Hudson township. During the winter of 1837-8 he lived in Bloomington, and in the spring of 1838 he moved into a house belonging to Dr. Henry, which was then standing where Durley Hall now is. His barn was on the lot now occupied by Evans Brothers, grocers. The north slough was then about a hundred yards wide, and the people often had to pull the cows out of it in the spring of the year. Mr. Glimpse often heard the howl of wolves when he was at his barn. In 1839 he raised eorn in Durley field, which extended from Mul- berry to Walnut and then east to Evans street. It was during this year that Mr. Glimpse was introduced to Abraham Lincoln, as he attended court in company with John T. Stuart; and he states that he often heard the pleadings in the court house while he was plowing corn.
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