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 46
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Mr. Richardson has had much experience with fires on the prairie. He says that when they sweep over the prairie they run in currents or veins, that is, one part shoots far ahead of the rest and the fire on each side moves more slowly. He has often fought fire, but learned to manage the matter without becoming excited. One of his houses occupied by a tenant came near destruction by a prairie fire, but Mr. Richardson hastened out and made a back fire which saved it. The fire had a large sweep over the prairie as scarcely anything interposed to check it between Diamond and Randolph's Grove on the west and Buekle's Grove on the east.
Mr. Richardson followed up teaming until the railroads began to come through. Hle hauled wheat to Chicago, Peoria and Pe- kin. He worked harder than he should have done ; nevertheless
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he has enjoyed good health, and never had a doctor called on his account since he was eleven of age. His habits have been re- markably temperate. He never chewed or smoked tobacco, or drank liquor enough to affect him. He has lived since the year 1841 on the place where he now resides, south of Diamond Grove, in Downs Township.
On the fourth of September, 1863, Mr. Richardson took a trip to New Orleans to visit his son, John W. Richardson, who was siek in the hospital there. He went to Cairo and there took the steamboat Champion, loaded with government supplies, and went to Memphis. From that place the steamboat was escorted by a gunboat as it was liable, if unprotected, to be fired into by the rebels. He went down to a convalescent hospital, seven miles this side of New Orleans, and there found his son, who was better than expected. While returning, Mr. Richardson took a deck passage with twenty-two sick soldiers. He waited on the soldiers as well as he could and tried to make them comfortable. When they arrived at Memphis the boat was pressed to go on the Red River expedition with General Banks, and Mr. Richardson was obliged to reship. The boat which he left was manned by a crew of rebel sympathizers and it caught fire and was burnt up, and it was thought that the crew set it on fire. At Vicksburg Mr. Rich- ardson went to see Whistling Dick, a famous gun near there, which shot a long distance. As he was rather curious to see the inventions which are made for the destruction of life, he exam- ined some pereussion shell which he saw lying in a pile, and, without knowing the dangerous material he was handling, care- lessly tossed one of them back into the pile! By good fortune it did not explode. He returned home without further adventure. He was well treated by the soldiers on this trip and always felt himself safe with them.
Mr. Richardson married, January 17, 1833, at Fort Harrison, Indiana, Mary Welch, a sister of Henry Welch, of Downs town- ship. She died March 6, 1870, aged fifty-seven years and six months.
Mr. Richardson has had eight children, seven of whom are living. They are :
Elizabeth, wife of Duncan M. Funk, lives in Bloomington. Caroline, widow of Charles Barker, lives in Bloomington.
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Susan, wife of Daniel Mason, lives in Downs township.
Misses Sarah and Ann Richardson live at home with their father.
The eldest son, Samuel L. Richardson, lives in Downs town- ship.
The second son is John W. Richardson.
Mr. Richardson is of medium height, rather slim, but well formed, wiry and tough. He has a good-natured Roman nose, and his face wears a pleasant, kind expression. He is a very plucky and determined man, and he has a lively sense of justice. His dispo- sition is well shown by his remark that while passing a stranger he always took one-half of the road and gave the other half. In other words, he is willing and anxious to give men their due, but insists that they shall give up what belongs to him. He is a man of honor, and never deserted the post of danger. His neighbors speak highly of him, and say that while that most dreaded pesti- lence, the cholera, was carrying off its victims in 1853, Mr. Rich- ardson never hesitated a moment about visiting the sick, and affording all the relief in his power. HIe has grandchildren around him, and leads a happy life, and his friends hope that his days may yet be long and that he may enjoy the competence he has worked so hard to obtain.
DRY GROVE.
HENRY VANSICKLES.
The following items of Mr. Vansiekles were furnished by his son-in-law, Charles J. MeClure, of Eldora, Iowa :
Henry Vansickles was born in Green County, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1793. At the age of seven years he emigrated to West- ern Virginia with his parents, Anthony and Rebecca Vansickles. At the age of nineteen he enlisted under his father, Captain An- thony Vansiekles, and served six months in the war of 1812. enduring many hardships and privations.
In about the year 1815 he married Miss Elizabeth Gilston, of Louisburg, Virginia. and shortly afterwards moved in a flat-boat to White County, Illinois, near the present village of Carmi. There they lived in a log cabin, with a bed quilt for a door. One
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day a large panther came in front of the house, while Mrs. Van- sickles was there alone. The animal raised itself up, placing its fore-feet on a log, and took a good view of the premises. Mrs. Vansickles picked up an axe and stood at the door ready for fight, but the panther walked off.
The Vansickles family came to MeLean County in the fall of 1826, and commenced improving land at the west end of Bloom- ing Grove on Sugar Creek. There he made an improvement on the creek bottom, and in the following spring he planted a crop. But the rains descended and the floods came, and a June freshet destroyed a portion of his crop and washed away his fence. Before this he had dug out some logs to use as vats in tanning deer skins, and he lashed these vats together and used them as a boat to save his rails.
He left Sugar Creek after this wet experience, went to Dry Grove, built a cabin and took possession of it in January, 1828. The nearest market then was Springfield, which was eighty miles distant. He supplied the family with venison and honey by his skill in hunting. He raised corn, pounded it in a mortar, or took it to some little "corn cracker" mill to get it ground. He raised wheat, cut it with a sickle, threshed it out with a flail or tramped it out with his horses, took it one hundred and sixty miles distant, to Chicago, soll it for thirty-five cents per bushel, and took one-half of his pay in store goods. when coffee was fifty cents per pound and calico was from twen- ty-five to fifty cents per yard. He then drove a four-horse team, managing it with a single line and riding the wheel-horse. He raised sheep, and his daughters learned to card wool and spin. He made a loom, and his active, industrious daughters made cloth enough for family use and some to sell. He was very suc- cessful, notwithstanding all of his difficulties, and he owed his success in a great measure to his daughters, who always made themselves useful. They were a blessing to their father and mother, and those who were afterwards married, were a blessing to their husbands.
The eldest daughter, Clarinda, was never married, but still lives with her mother, and tenderly cares for her.
The second daughter, Sarepta, was married in 1845 to Charles J. MeClure, second son of Colonel Robert MeClure, of Stout's Grove, and now lives near Eldora, Iowa.
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The third daughter, Rebecca, was married in 1854 to John Peters, and now also lives near Eldora, Iowa.
The fourth daughter, Maria Louise, was married in the year 1845 to James M. Buckner, son of Henry Buckner, of Stout's Grove, and now lives near Salem, Nebraska.
James G. Vansickles, the eldest son, married in 1845 Miss Mary Green, daughter of Reilley Green. He lives at the present time in Hardin County, Iowa, near Steamboat Rock.
John H. Vansickles went to Bourbon County, Kansas, and there married Miss Martha Stevenson. During the war he served two years as Captain of a company of home guards, and was finally killed while charging on a rebel camp.
After all of Mr. Vansickles' children were married, except Clarinda, he sold his farm to a Mr. Otto, and his residence in Concord (now Danvers) to Levi Danley, and in the fall of 1864 moved to Eldora, Iowa. There he bought a fine residence and a fine farm, and lived in the enjoyment of reasonable health and plenty until the tenth of September, 1867, when he died from a stroke of apoplexy. Mrs. Vansickles and her daughter Clarinda still reside at the homestead at Eldora. A beautiful marble mon- ument, three miles east of Eldora in the Cumberland Presbyte- rian Cemetery, marks the spot where sleeps all that is earthly of Henry Vansickles.
STEPHEN WEBB.
Stephen Webb was born May 8, 1797, in Burke County, North Carolina. His father's name was William Webb, and his mother's name, before her marriage, was Nancy Humphreys. His father was of English descent and a little of Irish. His mother's an- cestors came from Ireland, but were probably originally from England. Mr. Webb lived in Burke County, North Carolina, until he was seven years of age, when he came to Barron County, Kentucky, where he lived twelve years.
In about the year 1815, he moved with his father's family to Overton County, Tennessee, where he went to farming. He was a sharp sportsman, and hunted turkeys, deer and wolves. About three miles from where he lived was a cave, which made a den for a pair of large gray wolves, which had raised eight cubs. One of the old wolves was caught in a steel-trap, and the settlers
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turned out to catch the rest in the den. The dogs were sent into the den and they killed and brought out the eight cubs, but the old wolf was protected by a crevice, where only her head ap- peared, and the dogs could not get hold of her to bring her out. Mr. Webb volunteered to go in and shoot her. He crawled into the den with his knife at his side and his gun in his hand, and was lighted by a candle, fastened to the muzzle of his gun. His brother James followed after him. Stephen Webb crawled in until he saw the wolf, fired at it, handed his gun back to his brother, and dragged the animal out. It was shot between the eyes, but a little too low. It revived after being brought out and showed fight, but was easily killed. Stephen and James Webb received ten dollars for their exploit. Mr. Webb says that when the gun was fired in the cave it sounded no louder than a pop- gun.
The Webb family had a farm in Tennessee, and they also kept a tavern on the Cumberland Mountains on the turnpike road between Nashville and Knoxville. Their tavern was about midway between these places. Stephen Webb hauled corn with a four horse team from a plantation at the foot of the mountains up to the top to supply the hotel. He drove the team by riding one of the wheel horses, and driving with a single line. At one time, while driving down the mountain, his horses took fright at some pigs that came suddenly out of the brush, and team and wagon went sailing down the mountain side. Mr. Webb stuck to his horses but unfortunately broke his line in trying to stop them. At the foot of the mountain was a sharp turn, but the horses went straight ahead over an enormous log three feet thick. Mr. Webb tried to leap from his horse, when he came within twenty feet of the log, but landed on the other side of it. When the wagon struck the log, the box went sailing over the helpless driver. Mr. Webb laid where he fell, for his knee was dislocated and also his anele. He feels in his knee, at the present time, the effect of that fall.
On the 10th of December, 1824, Mr. Webb married Penina Hinshaw. They lived in Tennessee until they came to Ilinois in 1826. During that year he made a visit to Illinois with old George Hinshaw. They traveled in a little two-horse wagon over Central Illinois, and started for Chicago. but lost their way
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and could find nothing but Indians, who were unable to direct them. They came down the Desplains River to where Ottawa now is, and there found three families. From this place they re- turned to Tennessee. In June, 1827, the families of Stephen Webb, William McCord and George and Jacob Hinshaw, started for Illinois with teams. They had a pleasant journey until they reached the Ohio River. While there the wet season set in. and the streams were all overflowing. The travelers were frequently water-bound. They crossed the streams by taking their goods over in canoes and swimming their horses across with the wagons. At the Sangamon River they determined to make a raft and were obliged to swim the stream and push their clothes across in wash- tubs. They made their raft and brought over their teams and wagons. When they arrived at Cheney's Grove, old George Hinshaw said he would go no farther, as he was sick of unpacking his goods at every little stream in order to get across. The Hin- shaws remained there for a time, and Mr. Webb and Mr. Mc- Cord went on. They were water-bound for a while at Money Creek, but after crossing it they came to Twin Grove. Here they stopped, intending in the fall to go up to the Kankakee River, where Mr. Webb had made a claim during the previous year. But in the fall many rumors came concerning the diffi- culties with the Winnebago Indians in the mining country around Galena, and Mr. Webb thought it hardly safe to go any farther north; so he made a claim at Twin Grove in the southwestern corner. When the land came into market he traded his improve- ment for eighty acres of entered land on the northwestern corner of the grove. During the third winter after their arrival, Mr. Webb, George Hinshaw and William McCord started north to the Kankakee. They each furnished a horse which they hitched to Mr. Webb's wagon and started. When they arrived near Ottawa, two of their horses straved off during the night. Mr. Webb and Mr. Hinshaw went to hunt for them while Mr. MeCord remained with the wagon. The two men followed the trail of the lost horses one day and slept in some brush at night. They had nothing to eat but an ear of corn. Mr. Hinshaw came near freez- ing to death, but was warmed by a fire which they succeeded in kindling. They came to the Mackinaw and found it waist deep with drift ice running. They waded it and came out on the
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prairie, and there they found a road which Mr. Webb reeog- nized. But he was so confused by cold and the suffering they eu- dured that he could not decide which end of the road led towards home. After traveling on the road some distance they came to some holes where Indians had formerly buried corn, and there Mr. Webb saw that they had been going the wrong way. Mr. Hinshaw suffered so much with cold that he said "Let's crawl into these holes and die." But Mr. Webb insisted on making another trial for life. They turned towards home and came to a creek, which was frozen over with ice too thin to bear them while walking: so they laid down and scratched and wriggled across. While Hinshaw was scratching and working himself over, the ice cracked under him, but he was suffering so severely that he was almost anxious to die, and said: "Let it break, let it break;" but he succeeded in dragging himself over. They went down to Lewis Soward's house, stayed there all night and went home. As soon as possible Mr. Webb took two horses and went to Otta- wa and brought back MeCord and the wagon. On their return, during one foggy day, their heads became "turned around," and they thought that north was south and east was west, and the first intimation they had of their mistake was finding themselves traveling back on their own track.
Mr. Webb did not suffer much during the winter of the deep snow, as he had previously gathered his corn and was ready for any emergency. On the day when the heavy fall of snow came, he was on the prairie returning from Orendorff's mill. He was obliged to leave his wagon and come home with the horses. He has a very lively recollection of the sudden change which took place in December, 1836. He says that some cocks which were standing in the slush at that time had their tails frozen fast and in getting loose left their feathers in the ice.
In about the year 1848 Mr. Webb went to Texas to pay his brother-in-law a sum of money, and on his return was ice-bound at the mouth of the Ohio River by a gorge in the Mississippi. He was obliged to walk through the sloughs to Springfield and from there went home by stage.
Mr. Webb has six living children. They are :
Jolm Webb, who was born in Tennessee and lives in Indian- ola, Warren County, Iowa.
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Kelly Webb lives three miles north of his father's. William Webb lives three miles south of his father's.
Benjamin Webb lives near Kelly Webb, three miles north of his father's.
Thomas Webb lives in Dale County, Missouri.
Milton Webb lives a quarter of a mile north of his father's.
Stephen Webb is six feet and two inches in height. His hair and beard are full and white. He is very strong and courageous, but his modesty and good nature are greater than his courage. He has a humorous disposition and a hopeful temperament. It is clearly seen that he is a very honest man, for not many people in this world would travel to Texas to pay a debt. He says, however, that he was curious on that trip to see the country and that this was one of his reasons for going. The old gentleman's modesty and good nature make him peculiarly pleasant and companionable.
GEORGE M. HINSHAW.
George M. Hinshaw was born April 25, 1820, in Overton County, Tennessee. His father's name was Jacob Hinshaw, and his mother's maiden name was Marietta Johnson. Jacob Hin- shaw was born in North Carolina, but was of Irish descent. When twenty-one or two years of age, he came to Tennessee, and there was married. He had a common school education and taught school in Tennessee for two terms. In 1827 he came to McLean County with his brother George Hinshaw, William Mc- Cord and Stephen Webb. They came with teams, and were often water-bound, because of the heavy rains, but arrived at Blooming Grove on the last of July, 1827. There the Hinshaws farmed for three years, and then moved to Dry Grove. When Jacob Hinshaw came to the latter place, he sold all of his stock, except a cow and a horse, in order to enter eighty acres of land. During the winter of the deep snow he and young George gathered corn in sacks and brought it in from the field on horse- back.
Jacob Hinshaw was deformed in his feet, and while chopping in the timber stood on his knees and often walked in this way after the plow. He could never bear the taste or even the smell of whisky, and he ate no meat except fish. He died in 1845 in easy circumstances. He had eight children, of whom six are living. They are :
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Susannah, widow of Amasa Stout, lives in Dry Grove. Nancy, widow of Jesse Benson, lives at White Oak Grove. George M. Hinshaw lives in Dale township.
Mary, wife of Solomon Mason, lives in Linn County, Kansas. Jane G., widow of Amos Mason, lives in Iowa.
Benjamin Hinshaw lives in Linn County, Kansas.
George M. Hinshaw was only seven years of age when his parents came to the West in 1827. He was not much exposed to the terrible rain storms, but remained in the covered wagon. He saw the hardships common to the early pioneers. In 1842 he joined the Christian Church. In 1848 he was chosen elder, and holds this office at the present time. The Twin Grove Christian Church is strong in numbers and spirit, and its members enjoy good religious feeling. In the spring of 1845, Mr. Hinshaw moved to the place where he now lives, just south of Dry Grove and west of Twin Grove. He lives in Dry Grove township, but belongs to the Twin Grove church, and his children attend the Twin Grove school.
On the twentieth of November, 1844, Mr. Hinshaw married Martha Ann Ward. He has had twelve children, of whom six are living. They are :
Emma, wife of Jolm Wyatt, lives at Stephen Webb's.
Laura, wife of Eli JJohnson, lives just south of her father's. Orlando, Fernando, Ernest and Vitula, live at home.
Mr. Hinshaw is six feet in height, is slim in build, has rather a long face, with fine regular features. His hair is partly gray, and is full on his head. He wears spectacles while reading. He is considerate with regard to other men's rights and feelings, and is absolutely honest in all things. His countenance wears the pleasant expression of honesty and content. He has been suc- cessful in his dealings, and is an example of the care of an over- ruling Providence.
BENJAMIN SANDERS BEELER.
Benjamin S. Beeler was born October 18, 1825, in Butler County, Ohio. His father's name was George Beeler, and his mother's maiden name was Delila Sheeley. He is of English and German descent. His grandfather Beeler was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. Benjamin Beeler came to Twin Grove in
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Tazewell, now McLean, County in October, 1830. He had a rough time, and was three weeks on his journey. He came through in Indiana, where the roads were in a great measure blockaded by timber, which had been blown down by a hurri- cane. His father, George Beeler, bought a claim and lived du- ring the first year in a little log cabin. It was for a while very difficult to get something to eat, and the family was obliged to pay fifty cents per bushel for corn and gather it themselves. They were much troubled by wolves, and could not get their stock near enough to the house for protection. The wolves were im- pudent during the day time, and came up within fifty yards of the house. The wild-eats were very dangerous and troublesome in Twin Grove when the early settlers came, and people often had very exciting sport in chasing them. They sometimes started ont on ring hunts after all kinds of game. This was exciting and dangerous sport ; it was not particularly dangerous on account of the ferocious character of the game, but it was dangerous because the excited hunters would sometimes run into ant-hills or badger's holes and break their horses' necks.
Benjamin Beeler remembers the sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, when everything was so suddenly frozen up, and he also remembers another sudden change since then, which was very severe. He was going to Bloomington, and was cross- ing Sugar Creek, when his horse broke the ice very easily, but on his return, without delay, the ice on the creek bore his horse's weight without cracking. Nevertheless, this sudden change was not so severe as the one in 1836, which was the worst ever known in the West.
Benjamin Beeler married, February 25, 1849, Sarilda Robin- son. He has had ten children, of whom eight are living. He is five feet and ten or eleven inches in height, has a good head, has brown hair which inclines to curl, is rather slow of speech, is straightforward in his transactions, wishes to do by his neighbors fairly, and is much respected in the community where he re- sides.
Mr. Beeler has eight living children. They are: Benjamin F., who is a carpenter, Mary Delila, George L., Huldah Ellen, Alpharetta, Owen, Warren and Rosa. All live at home.
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ORMOND ROBISON.
Ormond Robison was born in Tennessee, January 23, 1805. He was married. February 17, 1826, in Overton County, Tennes- see. In 1830 he came to Blooming Grove, in what is now Me- Lean County, Illinois. His family suffered on the journey very much for want of water and because of the dust, for the season was very dry. In 1832 they moved to Dry Grove, and in 1835 to White Oak Grove, where they lived until the death of Mr. Robi- son, which occurred in 1851.
When they first came to Illinois, they had very unpleasant times, and were oppressed by the dangers and difficulties of a new country. They paid fifty cents per bushel for the corn they ate, and they picked it from the field themselves. When the deep snow fell, Mr. Robison and William Hinshaw had gone fifty miles distant to mill, and they had a fearful time in returning. Three teams went out to meet them and assist them out of the snow.
Mrs. Robison, who gives the items for this sketch, speaks par- ticularly of the fires which swept over the prairie and sometimes came into the timber and burnt up the young trees, and those which were dead. Sometimes a tree would burn for several days before it would fall. The settlers were so frightened by the prairie fires that they wished to go back to where they came from ; but this was impossible, as the most of them found it difficult to get away.
The settlers killed game of all kinds, for it was plenty. They killed prairie chickens by catching them in traps. They had what was called the fall-door trap. A hole was dug with a board put over it on a pivot, and a bait fastened to one end. When a chicken attempted so seize the bait the board allowed the chicken to drop into the hole, and then turned back to its place. The hunters killed a great many turkeys in the spring, in gobbling time. They chirped through a quill, making a sound resembling that of a hen turkey, and soon some gobbler would make his ap- pearance and the hunter would shoot him down. The settlers were much troubled by wildcats, which caught lambs and pigs, but would never fight the hunters unless cornered.
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