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 41
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JONATHAN HODGE.
Jonathan Hodge was born in October, 1791, in North Caro- lina. He was of Scotch and German descent. When he was
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fourteen years of age he came to Barron County, Kentucky. In about the year 1812 he married Nancy Berry, a very amiable lady, a Virginian by birth and Irish descent. She came to Ken- tucky when she was very young.
In the fall of 1821, Mr. Hodge came to Sangamon County and settled on Fancy Creek. The country was then wild and full of ferocious animals, and the adventures and hunting stories of the settlers would, if described and written out, fill many volumes. At one time, when Mr. Hodge and a man named Hains were out hunting bees, they found a panther with her cubs concealed in a log. They stopped up the log to prevent her from making her escape, and collected a number of men to kill the animal. Mr. Hodge cut notches in the log with his axe, and when he saw the panther's head through one of the notches hit it a blow with the axe and killed it. The panther was large and powerful, and measured nine feet from its nose to the end of its tail. The party captured the cubs and Mr. Hodge raised two of them, until they were partially grown ; but they were a little too dangerous as pets and he killed them. Mr. Hodge often hunted bees on Fancy Creek with old Shabona, the Potta- watomie chief. In the spring of 1827, Mr. Hodge moved to the south side of Stout's Grove, in what is now McLean County, Illinois, and there made his permanent residence until the time of his death. At that time the only settlers in the grove were Peyton Mitchel, Ephraim Stout, Robert MeClure, Robert Drain and Matthew Robb. Mr. Hodge was a farmer, but occasionally worked at the carpenter's trade, as the early settlers were obliged to be handy at everything. IIe built a flat-boat at Peoria and worked at any remunerative employment, which his hands found to do. He was a great hunter and was very successful in his excursions after bees, wolves, deer, turkeys, etc.
Mr. Hodge was once called out during the Black Hawk war to go with a friend to his house, which had been vacated from fear of the Indians. A party of ten or twelve men went on the excursion. They found the house in good order and nothing disturbed. They remained over night. During the night they heard a log-chain rattle, as if it had been raised up and dropped. In the morning the first man who stepped out of doors was shot and scalped. Mr. Hodge immediately closed the door and
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guarded it with an axe, but the party within was not again at- tacked. They returned to their homes soon after.
In order to get their grinding done, the settlers used first a hand-mill, then they went to Edwardsville, then to Sugar Creek, twenty miles south of Stout's Grove. Afterwards Ephraim Stout erected a horse-mill at the grove on Sugar Creek. This was before mills were built on the Mackinaw. Stout's mill was for many years a favorite resort of the settlers every Saturday. They met to tell the news to each other and talked over the affairs of the neighborhood.
The first camp-meeting ever held in the grove was about the year 1828 or '29. All of the preachers at that camp-meeting are now dead, except Neil Johnson, who lives in Oregon. They were Peyton Mitchel, James Davis, who died in Hopedale, Taze- well County, James McDonald, Archibald Johnson, Neil John- son and John Berry of Sangamon County. Archibald Johnson, who died in Kansas more than a year ago, taught the first school in Stout's Grove. It was held probably in 1828, and was com- menced in the spring and ended in the summer. The oldest church and oldest Sabbath school were of the denomination of the Cumberland Presbyterians. Levi Danley, of Danvers, is the only man now living, who was a married man in the town- ship before the deep snow.
Mr. Hodge had seven children, of whom four are now living. They are :
Mrs. Sarah Danley, wife of Levi Danley, who lives in Dan- vers. She lived for forty years in Princeton, Bureau County, and has only lately come to Danvers.
U. S. Hodge and W. F. Hodge live in Danvers.
Mrs. Susan Jane Hobson lives in Bourbon County, Kansas.
Mr. Hodge was a tall, straight-built man, had heavy shoul- ders, black hair and dark hazel eyes. He was a very muscular man, who always did as he promised ; he took pride in keeping his word, and was most sensitive with regard to his honor. IIe was a very kind man and cared very much for his family. He always exacted strict obedience from his children, though he never used harsh means. He was not a talkative man, though he enjoyed company. He was fond of books, and took pleasure in reading that book of books, the Bible.
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URIAH SHELBY HODGE.
Uriah Shelby Hodge was born November 26, 1817, in Barron County, Kentucky. He came with the family of his father, Jonathan Hodge, to Stout's Grove, in the spring of 1827. There he went to school-as a good little boy should-to Archibald Johnson. Young Hodge was an apt scholar and learned very fast. When he grew up to manhood he became a great hunter and had a special knack for catching wolves. HIe chased them with horses, bull-dogs and grey-hounds, and kept fast horses for the purpose of hunting. He grew up a farmer, but afterwards went into the mercantile business at Danvers and succeeded re- markably well.
On the Fourth of July, 1851, very early in the morning, Mr. Hodge married Miss Mary C. Clark, daughter of Henry I. Clark of Eureka, and has lived in Danvers ever since. He has a re- markably interesting family and enjoys all the pleasures of cul- tivated society.
Mr. Hodge is rather above the medium height, is quite mus- cular, and was formerly rather portly; but somewhat failing health has shown its effects. He has been very successful in mercantile life, and this has been due to his uprightness. This is shown by the fact that he has now the same customers who traded at his store when he first began business.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN HODGE.
W. F. Hodge was born August 24, 1824, on Fancy Creek in Sangamon County, Illinois. When he was about three years old the family of his father, Jonathan Hodge, came to Stout's Grove, in what is now McLean County. He was raised a farm- er's boy, and continued at hard work until about eight years since, when he engaged in mercantile life. The first school he attended was kept by Archibald Johnson, but as the youthful Hodge was then very small he did not learn much. He attended the school kept by Lyman Porter, and continued under various teachers until he was twenty years of age. He has a boyish recollection of the deep snow, and clearly remembers seeing the various domestic animals walking over the stake and rider fences, and also remembers the stumps of trees which had been cut for
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firewood during that memorable winter. When the snow thawed away in the spring the stumps appeared six feet high. The deer were nearly exterminated, but the wolves had a happy time and could kill all the game they chose. During that winter the neighbors all enquired after each other to see that no one suffer- ed. A great deal of their stock perished ; the sheep which were not brought home in the fall where they could be taken care of, were lost. The people during that winter gathered corn in sacks which they carried over the snow, but were obliged to feel down pretty low for the ears. The crust on the snow became so hard that five head of cattle were driven over it from the house of a man named Brown to Stout's Grove, a distance of five miles.
Mr. Hodge has hunted a great deal for deer and wolves; was accustomed to run them down on horseback. In early days the wolves were indeed saucy and dangerous. In about the year 1831, Mr. Hodge's father and mother were boiling maple sap in the south part of Stout's Grove, and in the evening his father began to broil some meat over the furnace. Soon the prairie wolves and big gray wolves smelt the meat and began to gather around and bark. They came thicker and thicker, and barked louder and louder. He had a large mastiff which was celebrated for its wonderful courage and strength, and which could kill any wild animal in the forest; but the wolves gathered around so thick that the mastiff was struck with terror and stood trembling. The wolves came so close that their eyes could be seen by the light of the fire, and Mr. Hodge grabbed his axe for fight. The meat was taken from the fire, wood was piled on, and as the flames shot upwards the wolves were fright- ened away.
The sudden change in the weather, which occurred in De- cember, 1836, was clearly remembered by young Hodge. During that terrible change the chickens and turkeys were frozen fast in the congealing slush.
Mr. Hodge tells some interesting matters concerning the year of the floods. In 1844 the rain came in such quantities that it seemed for a while that Noah's ark would be needed once more. The wheat and corn were drowned out with the exception of a very little on the upland. Sugar Creek near Mackinaw timber
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in Tazewell County, was that year three miles wide. The Mackinaw was that year deeper than ever before known by white men. The Kickapoo and Salt Creek were eight miles apart near Lincoln ; but that year some parties crossed from one to another in a canoe.
But the weather is occasionally like the women (or vice versa), it goes to extremes. The season of the great drowth occurred during the year 1855. A great deal of stock then died of thirst. The sloughs were so dry that they would not yield water by digging. Sugar Creek was dry, of course. During that season Mr. Hodge dug out and walled up the Hinshaw spring, which was supposed to be perennial, but it yielded so little water that but few could get any from it. He hauled water for his stock from Barnes Grove, three miles distant. A great deal of water was hauled from the Mackinaw, and a great deal of stock was driven there. It was during this exceedingly dry season that the turf in the bottom land or swamps of Sugar Creek, near Mosquito Grove, caught fire and burned for a week or more, and the marks of the burning can be seen there to-day. The turf was burned out in spots of perhaps thirty by fifty feet ; great holes were burned in the ground, and very little vegeta- tion has grown there since. (These spots were probably small peat beds). It was so dry in the barrens that the timber grass would catch fire and burn in the month of July, and also during that month he saw grass burn on the upland prairie.
Mr. Hodge married, May 30, 1850, Emily McClure, daughter of Samuel McClure. They have had three children, but all are now dead. Mrs. Hodge is a wide-awake lady, and appreciates anything witty or pleasant. Mr. Hodge is five feet and nine inches and a half in height, and is well proportioned. His eyes are gray, and his hair shows a little of the effect of age. He is a man of good judgment in business, very cautious, but not too much so. His word can be relied ou implicitly whether in busi- ness matters or in any of the relations of life. He is strictly upright in his dealings, and has been very successful in his transactions. He takes a great interest in the matters relating to the early settlement of the country, and has furnished much valuable information concerning them.
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JAMES OSBORNE BARNARD.
James O. Barnard was born July 16, 1800, in Iredell County, North Carolina. His father's name was Francis Barnard, and his mother's name before her marriage was Jane McCord. Jane McCord was partly, and perhaps wholly, of Irish descent. Francis Barnard was American born, but was of English Quaker descent. His father, Francis Barnard, sr., grandfather of James, was captain of a whaling vessel. He was at home during the Revolutionary war, and did not take part in the contest, as it was contrary to his principles to take up arms in any cause. At one time the British soldiers came to his house and took him prisoner. One of his neighbors was up stairs, but, hearing the noise, came down and was also taken. The neighbor was not at all alarmed, but said he was willing to go with friend Barnard anywhere. They were released after one night's detention.
But James McCord, the maternal grandfather of James O. Barnard, was a very different man. He was no Quaker; on the contrary, he thought it his duty to harass the British and pick off their men. He was not a regular soldier in the American army, but he was in every scrimmage in which he could find a chance to engage. He was a sharp marksman and picked off many a "red-jacket." The British took revenge by sacking his house and tearing everything in it to pieces. His wife, Mrs. McCord, hid her little baby in the woods, that its cries might not be heard, then took the child next oldest, and with it hid in the thick pea vines near by. The soldiers utterly ruined everything in the house, then went into the milk-house, drank some of the milk, and pitched the crocks into the yard. They drove off the horses and stock, and everything on the premises was in disordered ruin. But James McCord watched for the " red-jackets" sharper than ever, and made many of them pay with their lives for this destruction of his property.
Mr. Barnard was a boy during the war of 1812, but he re- members one interesting incident which happened while the army was becoming organized. He was then living at Wilks- borough, North Carolina. A company of soldiers was raised there, and one stalwart volunteer changed his mind about going and wished to be discharged. In order to bring this about, he cut off his toes and brought them to the commanding officer.
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But this little stratagem was not successful, as he was compelled to go along. As the company left the village it came to a steep hill, and here the volunteer requested permission to give a part- ing yell. It was granted, and he set up a yell which made the woods ring and was echoed over the valleys.
In 1822 the Barnard family moved to Jackson County, Ten- nessee, near the mouth of Obey River, where it empties into the Cumberland, about one hundred miles above Nashville. Here they remained until the year 1828. Mr. Barnard did some traveling in Alabama during this period, and visited the cele- brated spring at Huntsville. There the water flows from un- derneath a large rock, and the aperture is twenty or thirty feet wide and from twelve to eighteen inches deep. The water comes out with such force as to drive a large ram, and elevated water to supply the town. Mr. Barnard also visited the spring at Tuscumbia. This is three times as large as the one at Hunts- ville. The aperture, from which the water flows, is fifty or sixty feet wide, and from two to three feet in depth. It is really a river coming out of the ground. Flat-boats could run up to within four miles of where the river gushes out of the rock. When Mr. Barnard visited the spring he saw, about one hundred yards from the source, a wheel twenty or thirty feet in diameter. The wheel was surrounded by cows' horns attached to the rim by staples. As the water pressed against them the wheel was made to revolve. The horns were filled with water at every revolution, and emptied into a trough, which carried it away to supply a brick-yard.
In 1828 the Barnard family came to Illinois, and arrived in what is now MeLean County, March 23. They experienced the difficulties and trials of the settlers at that early day. James O. Barnard laid off the town of Wilkesborough, and was the first postmaster there. He was appointed by Postmaster General John McLean, under Jackson's administration. Mr. Barnard was a farmer, as were most of the old settlers. He was deputy sheriff under Martin Scott, the first sheriff of the county after it was cut off from Tazewell. Mr. Barnard was also deputy sheriff and collector under W. H. Hodge.
On the 14th of September, 1837, Mr. Barnard married Lydia Swallow. He has had two children. They are :
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Jane Ellen, wife of F. M. Hall.
Nancy Aladelphia, wife of John M. Artis-all live in Wilkes- borough.
Mr. Barnard was rather less than the medium height, was slim in build, had gray hair and gray eyes. He was very de- cided in his opinions, and was very conscientious in forming them. He was a member of the Christian Church of the Re- formation. He was a member of the Baptist Church before the reformation took place, about forty years ago. He died October 17, 1873.
JAMES GULION REYBURN.
J. G. Reyburn was born April 15, 1803, in Frankfort, Ken- tucky. His father's name was James Reyburn, and his mother's name, before her marriage, was Mary Gulion. They were both of Irish descent. James Reyburn lived in Frankfort, Kentucky, for five years, when he was taken by his parents to Chillicothe, Ohio. He there saw the prisoners, who were taken by Commo- dore Perry in his victory on Lake Erie. They were kept in a fort containing about an acre of land. This fort was called a bull-pen. Many women accompanied the soldiers who were captured. The prisoners were always anxious to get whisky, but none was allowed to be brought in, if the guard knew it. But the women sometimes exercised their feminine cunning and outwitted the guard, for they were allowed to pass out of the fort and back again as often as they chose, and they would smuggle the whisky through into the fort by carrying it in blad- ders. But the trick was discovered and stopped. When these prisoners were taken out to be exchanged, about half of them ran away and refused to be returned to their regiments. They came back to Chillicothe, but were usually an unreliable class of people.
At the age of eleven or twelve, Mr. Reyburn went into a store and acted as a clerk until he was nearly twenty-one years old. He then went back to Frankfort, Kentucky, and there sold goods until his health failed, when he began teaching school in the neighborhood of Paris and Lexington. But he did not regain his health until he came to Illinois, to Walnut Grove, where he arrived September 28, 1828. He had a pleasant jour-
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ney on a one-horse wagon. At Walnut Grove he found the Harrison family and that of old Charley Moore and John Camp- bell. After staying in the grove only one night, he went on to Panther Creek timber and took up a claim where about forty Indians were encamped. He remained there two years and engaged in farming, but hunted more than he worked. He found as many as six bee trees in one day. At one time, while taking up a bee tree in the Mackinaw barrens, an Indian fired the grass. The wind was blowing almost a gale from the fire towards Mr. Reyburn ; but soon he was discovered by the Indian, who made a back fire and prevented a catastrophe. The Indian lit the fire to start up the deer. Mr. Reyburn found a great deal of honey. He had, at one time, a trough six feet in length and eighteen inches in width, and it was full of the finest honey, and the honey in the comb was piled up a foot and a half or two feet high. It could not be sold for anything, but the wax could be traded for tobacco.
A few days after Mr. Reyburn came to Panther Creek, where he killed a deer ; he hung it up and the wolves eame around. He arose to drive them off, but they only came thicker. At last he stirred up his fire and drove them back with the brands. The game was plenty then. The deer came within fifty yards of his house to paw up acorns. During the winter of the deep snow he lived on Panther Creek, and frequently fed wild turkeys from his window. He had a drove of twenty-five hogs about three miles away on Panther Creek, when the heavy snow fell. They stayed there within a space thirty feet across, for six week. About one-half of them were left in good condition. The larger hogs had eaten up the little ones. Mr. Reyburn, with the as- sistance of another person, took a yoke of oxen and made a path by hitching them to a log and dragging it through the snow. The hogs followed in single file. Mr. Reyburn thinks the winter of the deep snow one of the pleasantest he ever spent. He had plenty of wood, as he could cut trees at his very door, and he had plenty to eat, and enjoyed himself finely.
The county of Tazewell had various expenses, which had to be met, and soon the assessor and tax collector made their ap- pearance. Mr. Reyburn paid his first tax in 1830, and it amounted to forty-five cents. The receipt, which was given
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him, was written on a slip of paper about seven-eighths of an inch in width and three and three-fourths inches long. It reads :
"Rec'd of James G Raborn $0.45 in ful for his county tax for the year 1830.
GEORGE U. MILES, D for
PHILIP B. MILES. S. T. C."
Mr Reyburn thought the tax very heavy at the time, but raised the money and paid it.
Mr. Reyburn sold his claim on Panther Creek, but remained until the Spring of 1832, when he bought a claim at Walnut Grove.
During that year he enlisted in Captain MeClure's company and went to the Black Hawk war. He went first to Pekin and from there to Dixon's Ferry. After the affair at Stillman's Run he went up with the army to bury the dead, then went to Ottawa and from there to Indian Grove on Indian Creek where he helped to bury the families of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew, who were murdered by the Indians. The latter had mutilated the bodies terribly and the inside of the house looked like a slaughter pen. About sixteen persons were killed. Two boys out in the field escaped, and two girls were taken prisoners. The corpses were buried in a long pit. All but two of them had been partially buried by the time the soldiers arrived. The latter returned to Ottawa, built a fort and were shortly afterwards disbanded and sent home. On his return from the Black Hawk war Mr. Reyburn was married to Tabitha Blair. Before this important event took place he sold his gun to John T. Stuart, of Springfield, resolved to abandon hunting and remain at work. He moved to Stout's Grove in January, 1837, a few days after the celebrated sudden change in the weather, which happened the December before. He then sold groceries at Stout's Grove. In 1838 he came to what was then called Concord, but now is called Danvers, and there sold goods until 1852, and then was out of business for several years.
As the West was a wild country, many of the dangerous classes came to it from the East for a refuge. The people of the coun- try around Mosquito Grove were troubled by a gang of counter- feiters, horse thieves and murderers, from about the year 1836
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to the year 1844. This was a gang of three men, Grant Reddon and his two sons Jack and Harrison. The country was very much disturbed by the depredations of these men. Horses were stolen and many crimes committed. At one time two peddlers, who were brothers, started out from Peoria. One of them came to Mosquito Grove and was never heard of more. His brother traced him that far, but could find his track no farther. The Reddons used the goods, which belonged to the missing ped- dler, and the belief of foul play was wide-spread. Neverthe- less people were so much afraid of the Reddons that active measures were not taken. Jack Reddon was one of the gang who murdered Colonel Davenport, at Rock Island, many years ago. At last the citizens rose, took their rifles, went to the Reddons' house and made them flee the country.
In about the year 1862 Mr. Reyburn moved to his farm, but came back to Danvers in 1865, and has lived there ever since, a part of the time engaged in selling goods. The early settlers were unused to fine dresses, as may be supposed, but they could dress in buckskin, which appeared very becoming. Mr Rey- burn says that the finest suit of clothes he ever wore, were made by himself of buckskin and sewed with a whang. After awhile the woven goods of the East began to be worn. Mr. Reyburn tells of the wonderful effect produced by a calico dress worn by a certain Miss Ellis to church. She was a great belle for a while and her dress caused a great sensation. A certain Ben Conger heard of this dress and went to church to see it, and on his return was in ecstacies of delight, and said it was blue calico with a lot of white specks-never was anything so beautiful.
Mr. Reyburn's wife died, and he married Mrs. Williams, a widow. He has four children living. They are :
Sarah Ann, wife of Henry Swope, Ellen, wife of George Bunn, and Maggie, wife of C. C. Rowell, who all live in Dan- vers. James Reyburn, a son, lives in Bloomington.
Mr. Reyburn is a cheerful old gentleman. He is rather be- low the medium stature, was once very active and tough, and could endure many hardships. He is slightly built, wears glasses, but appears in good health. He takes great interest in the events of the early settlement. IIe is a man of much natural shrewdness and seems to have succeeded well in life.
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LEVI DANLEY.
Levi Danley was born April 4, 1803, in Clark County, Ken- tucky. His father, Samnel Danley, was of Irish descent, and his mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Ele, was, he thinks, of Scotch descent. She was born in Virginia. Her parents moved from there to Kentucky at an early day. Samuel Danley, his father, was probably born in Kentucky. When Levi Danley was very young, he went with his father's family to Fleming County, Kentucky, where he lived until the year 1817. He lived in the extreme southeastern part of the county. The country was very rough and mountainous and sparsely settled. He went to school there and was a pretty attentive scholar. Although he received very little education, he did not allow many of the scholars to get the start of him in his studies, while he could attend school. In 1817, in the fall, the Danley family came from Fleming County, Kentucky, to Illinois. They came with a four-horse team, bringing along their cattle and hogs. Their journey was a hard one, as they were interrupted by snow, rain and mud, and could find but little to eat on the road, after they passed Shawneetown. They crossed the Ohio River at Shawneetown, and went from there to a place about nine miles west of Carlisle, and halted on Shoal Creek, where they arrived sometime near Christmas. They made their winter quarters with a man named Eades, and in the spring they built a cabin and cleared some land, for which they were allowed the first crop as pay. Young Levi hunted during the first winter of their arrival and killed prairie chickens. During the following winter he became old enough to kill deer.
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