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 49
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Mr. Greenman has three children living. They are :
Mary Belle, wife of Gideon Scott Crumbaugh, born October 18, 1853, lives at Leroy.
John Emmet, born September 6, 1855, and Charles Emery Greenman, born March 1, 1861, live at home.
OTHO MERRIFIELD.
Otho Merrifield was born November 4, 1814, near Xenia. Green County, Ohio. His father's name was James Merrifield, and his mother's maiden name was Hannah Haines. In the fall of 1829 he came to Illinois with his father's family of nine chil- dren. They traveled with a four-horse team, and had no particu- lar trouble except with the green-head flies, which bit the horses and made them nearly crazy. They first stopped at Cheney's Grove, but stayed during the first winter over on Kickapoo, about ten miles west of Leroy. In the spring, Mr. Merrifield, sr., took a claim on the east side of Buckles' Grove, and moved there April 2, 1830. It was the business of Otho Merrifield and his brother to take care of the stock, and when they had a little extra time they went on a deer or wolf chase. They hunted wolves with hounds, and kept for this purpose three bloodhounds and two or three greyhounds. The latter will run faster and fight better than bloodhounds, but cannot run so long. Mr. Merrifield is proud to say that his dogs were always game and never were whipped. Mr. Merrifield thinks the wolf is sometimes the most impudent and daring of wild animals. It will drive the chickens into the yard, and it will steal pigs in the daytime so close to the house, that they can be heard to squeal. During the deep snow, the Merrifield family pounded their corn, as all the settlers of that
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period did. During that winter Otho and his brother ran down eleven deer, which was pretty fair work for boys.
Mr. Merrifield saw plenty of Indians when he came to the country, but never lost anything by them that he knows of, nor had any difficulty with them. The Indians usually went on their hunts in companies. They started from Indian Grove and went to Old Town timber, then down Salt Creek as far as the Lake Fork near Mt. Pulaski, and then returned to Indian Grove. Their hunting companies varied in size from one hundred to three hun- dred. They walked in single file, and Mr. Merrifield has seen a string of Indians five miles in length.
Mr. Merrifield lived in Empire township from 1829 to 1856, and then went to Missouri, where he stayed four years, and then came back to his old home. He liked the country in Missouri very much. On the 7th of April, 1860, he had his leg broken. He then went back to his farm, where he lived until the fall of 1864. Up to this time he succeeded pretty fairly with the world, and made enough money to enable him to live comfortably. He was a man of the strictest integrity, but perhaps a little too un- suspecting. In 1866 he sold his farm and went into the drug business, but was so unfortunate as to lose the results of years of toil. He is now left with little property, and in the decline of life must still earn his bread by the sweat of his brow.
Mr. Merrifield is six feet in height, and, though he has passed through many hardships, is still a man of good personal appear- ance. His eyes are dark and expressive, and his countenance shows his good faith and his honesty.
He married Mrs. Prudence Conaway, December 8, 1842. He has had a family of nine children, all of whom are living.
HENRY CRUMBAUGH.
Henry Crumbaugh was born April 26, 1789, in Frederick County, Maryland. There he received his schooling very much as other boys did, nothing of special importance occurring. He was very skillful in boxing and wrestling, and while between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one, he never found his match. In the year 1810 he moved to Kentucky, where he remained eight or nine years. In April, 1820, he married Sarah Baldock and has had twelve children, of whom five are living. He moved to Elk-
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hart Grove, in Sangamon County, Illinois, in 1828, and to Buckles' Grove, McLean County, in March, 1830, and settled on the land where he has lived ever since. He had a hard time to find some- thing to eat, and was forced to go a long distance to a horse-mill to have his corn ground. It required a week to go to Springfield, get his corn ground, do his trading and return. He was obliged to work under many disadvantages, and exercise great ingenuity to supply the want of articles common to civilization. When he broke prairie he attached the oxen to the plough by hickory bark.
During the winter of the deep snow he beat his meal in kettles and obtained his water by melting snow. This winter as is well known was very severe for the deer. He has seen deer caught by wolves, for the sharp feet of the former broke through the crust, while the latter could run over the snow with ease. At one time he saw from his house three wolves catch a deer. He jumped on a horse and took the deer from them and gave it to his pigs to eat, as it was too poor for use at home.
Mr. Crumbaugh had his experience in the sudden change in the weather which occurred in December, 1836. The day was mild, and the ground was covered with water and snow, when suddenly the cold west wind came with a roar, and froze up every- thing immediately. On that day John Dawson was going to Leroy to mill, but when the wind struck him he turned to go to Henry Crumbaugh's farm. He was unable to cross Salt Creek, and after getting into it cut his oxen loose and tried to drive them over, but they refused to go. He himself became wet to the waist, and, letting the oxen go, crossed the creek and started for Mr. Crum- baugh's house, a few rods distant; but when he reached the fence, his clothes were frozen so stiff that he could not climb over without Mr. Crumbaugh's assistance. Mr. Crumbaugh drove the oxen across the creek and up to his stable. They were covered with a double coating of ice an inch thick.
Mr. Crumbaugh thought it fun to go to Chicago. He hauled from there the first lumber brought to this section of country, bringing it one hundred and forty miles with an ox team.
Mr. Crumbaugh has had much difficulty with prairie fires. At one time he came from Springfield with Maria Dawson, then a girl of fifteen, when he saw ahead of him a prairie fire; he
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escaped by driving his horses into a pond until the fire passed on. Mr. Crumbaugh was accustomed to hunt wolves and kept hounds particularly for this sport. He was, for a long time, the only per- son in the country who had hounds trained for this purpose. At one time a wolf came up to the house and caught a chicken, and when pursued by the dogs did not give it up until caught. One wolf held to a pig, which it had captured, and ran with it for a mile before dropping it, though hotly pursued by the dogs. It gave them a race of eight miles before they caught it. Mr. Crumbaugh often set wolf-traps and caught many wolves. He was accustomed to set the trap and tie a chicken or a leg of mut- ton near it to decoy the wolves ; but when they were caught they seldom ate the bait. He caught five wolves with a rooster for bait, and four with a leg of mutton; but one old wolf ate the bait after being caught, and showed fight when taken from the trap.
Mr. Crumbaugh has also hunted other game occasionally. He caught eleven turkeys with his hounds in about twenty minutes, on a wet winter's day. He once caught two lynxs in the edge of Old Town timber. These animals are of the wildcat species and very large. Hunters have sometimes mistaken them for dogs. They have spots and stripes on them, and are quite pretty. They are not considered dangerous to human beings, but are strong, and would be very unpleasant animals to fight with.
Henry Crumbaugh is about six feet in height. In his younger days he was very strong. He sometimes liked to attend a horse- race, but never was carried away by such sport. Although very old he is still possessed of a great deal of shrewdness and good sense. He was, in his younger days, a man of steady nerve, a good hunter and an accurate shot. He appears to be a pleasant, cheerful gentleman, wears spectacles, is quick-witted, and observes what is going on around him.
Henry Crumbaugh has been a hard worker and a shrewd manager. During the winter of 1819 he started from Frankfort, Kentucky, to New Orleans, with four flatboats, with freight be- longing to Col. Johnson. He made the trip down the river in ten days, but was made very sick by drinking the river water. He received for his pay two hundred dollars for each boat. He returned on horseback through the Indian territory, and passed
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over the land belonging to the Chocktaws and Chickasaws. They treated him with the greatest kindness.
Mr. Crumbangh has been very kind to his children, and has given them each six thousand dollars to start in life. His chil- dren are :
Emily, born November 15, 1821, died in September, 1826.
Narcissie, born January 7, 1824, is married to Simpson E. Thompson, and lives three miles south of her parents.
James H. L. Crumbaugh, born May 1, 1826, lives six miles south of his parents.
Emily Crumbaugh, born August 2, 1828, died in 1838.
Nancy H., born August 12, 1830, died in 1833.
Louisiana C., was born March 10, 1834, and died May 12, 1866.
John Edgar Howard Crumbaugh, born August 3, 1837, lives a half a mile south of his parents.
Andrew Jackson Crumbaugh, born September 5, 1840, lives a quarter of a mile south of his father.
Allen Montgomery Crumbaugh, born December 12, 1842, died in 1844.
Lewis Cass Crumbaugh, born March 19, 1845, lives at the homestead.
DANIEL CRUMBAUGH.
Daniel Crumbaugh was born December 7, 1791, in Frederick County, Maryland. His father and mother were Germans, his father having come to America from Germany when very young. Daniel received a little schooling there, but not enough to hurt him. He used to assist the scholars in barring out the schoolmaster on Christmas days. At one time they compelled the teacher to give them two weeks' vacation, but he compelled the parents to pay him for these two weeks as if school had been in session, and some of the scholars came pretty near "catching it" from their angry fathers in consequence. In 1812 Mr. Crumbaugh came west to Cincinnati, and from there went to Scott County, Ken- tucky. In 1813 he enlisted in the army under the command of Colonel Richard M. Johnson to fight against the British and In- dians. He went first to Fort Meigs on the Miami Rapids above where Toledo now stands, where General Harrison had a garri-
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son. From there they went to Lower Sandusky on Lake Erie, then back home to. recruit their horses.
They were then sent to Kaskaskia, Illinois. This town was threatened by Indians, and it seemed that the place which was af- terwards to be the first capital of the Sucker State was to be blot- ted out entirely. But the Indians were headed off, and the regi- ment to which Mr. Crumbaugh belonged was sent back to Fort Meigs. While there they heard the roar of the guns during the battle when Commodore Perry gained his celebrated victory over the British on Lake Erie. Shortly after this they went to De- troit, crossed over to Windsor (then called Sandwich) and followed the British and Indians under the Command of General Proctor and the chief Tecumseh. At the River Thames the enemy made a stand and here was fought the battle which practically closed the contest in the north. The enemy was completely defeated, with the loss of baggage and eight hundred prisoners and a large number of killed and wounded. Tecumseh was among the slain. It has been a matter of speculation as to who killed him. Mr. Crumbaugh can shed no light upon it. Col. R. M. Johnson, the commander of their regiment, was wounded five times. The muskets used by the Americans in this battle were the old flint- locks, and the cartridges contained a ball and two buck-shot. The regiment opposed to the one in which Mr. Crumbaugh served was the Forty-fourth Irish regiment, commanded by Colonel Baubee. When the battle was over, the company to which Mr. Crumbaugh belonged was sent as a guard for General Harrison and the captured British officers, down to Lake St. Clair where they took shipping and came to Detroit. There they remained until Harrison made a treaty with some tribes of Indians, and then returned home to Georgetown, Kentucky. There Mr. Crumbaugh lived a rough-and-tumble life for some years. In 1828 he moved to Elkhart Grove in Sangamon County, and on the sixth of March, 1830, he came to Buckles' Grove, MeLean County, Illinois, where he has lived ever since. He was obliged to accustom himself to the western climate by a course of fever and ague, but it came at an unfortunate time. During the win- ter of 1830 and 31, which was the winter of the deep snow, he had fever and ague every third day and could not take care of his stock. He had eighty pigs at home and one hundred and fifty
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bushels of corn at the Elkhart, but could not drive his pigs there nor bring his corn home, and many of his pigs died. But he succeeded in keeping his other stock on corn-fodder.
Of course every settler has an individual experience to relate of the cold snap in the winter of 1836. When the ground was covered with a slush of water and snow, and the air was warm, the freezing wind came from the west and everything was made solid immediately. Mr. Crumbaugh says that Salt Creek was frozen across in one place where the willows were thick. The cold was so intense that the creek was frozen to the bottom, stopping the flow of water underneath. It then dammed up and began to flow over, but froze as it ran, and the dam of ice grew higher and higher, until it was five feet above the level of the creek.
Mr. Crumbaugh has had great difficulty with fire, as every old settler has. The grass grew taller than a man's head, and in the fall when it was dry the fires were terrible. Mr. Crumbaugh had a litte grove of cherry trees burned up by the fire.
Daniel Crumbaugh is six feet and four inches in height. He has worked hard during his life-time and has fairly earned the home, which he has provided for his family. He is straightfor- ward and honest in his dealings in every particular, and expects other men to be straightforward and honest with him. He has paid close attention to his business and acquired a fair compe- tence. He has been twice married and has had fourteen children. ten of whom are now living. He is now too old to work, but lives a contented and happy life. He has a kind heart and good judgment.
Daniel Crumbaugh married, in 1816, Miss Susan Winters. daughter of Jacob Winters, of Scott County, Kentucky. By this marriage he had four children, two of whom are living. His children are :
William Henry Crumbaugh, born May 30, 1817, lives in John- son County, Missouri.
John Jacob Crumbaugh, born January 19, 1819, died in the Mexican war in 1847. He was in John Moore's regiment.
Ann Margaret Crumbaugh, born December 2, 1820, is mar- ried to Thomas Wiley and lives in Moultrie County, Illinois,
Susan Jane Crumbaugh, born July 19, 1823, died July 1, 1824.
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Mrs. Crumbaugh died during the fall of 1823.
In January, 1825, Mr. Crumbaugh married Miss Martha M. Robinson, of North Carolina. She died June 4, 1857. The chil- dren of this marriage are :
Sarah E., born April 6, 1826, was married to William Craig, and died April 6, 1857.
Mary Catharine, born October 3, 1827, is married to Charles Cope and lives two miles south of her father's.
Leonard Alexander Crumbaugh, born November 13, 1829, lives two miles east of his father's.
James T. Crumbaugh, born January 24, 1832, lives three miles miles east of his father's.
Daniel T. Crumbaugh, born January 24, 1832, (twin brother of James), lives two miles east of his father's.
Emily Maria Crumbaugh, born May 1, 1834, lives in Johnson County, Missouri.
Francis Marion Crumbaugh, born January 6, 1837, married Rebecca Riddle, daughter of Elijah and Mary Riddle. He lives at the homestead.
Caroline T. Crumbaugh, born July 14, 1839, was married to Anthony Rogers, of Johnson County, Missouri. She died Feb- ruary 11, 1873.
Martha Cary Crumbaugh, wife of George W. Bartlett, of Johnson County, Missouri, was born November 3, 1841.
Nancy Turner Crumbaugh, wife of Anderson McConnell, lives one-half of a mile south of her father's.
Sinah Guilford Crumbaugh was born June 4, 1848, was mar- ried to William Bartlett, and died March 11, 1869.
JAMES HENRY LYON CRUMBAUGH.
James HI. L. Crumbaugh was born May 1, 1826, in Hender- son County, Kentucky. His father was Henry Crumbaugh, whose sketch is given above, and his mother was Sarah Bal- dock. Ilis father was of German descent, and his mother was of French and Irish stock. When James Crumbaugh was two years old his father moved to Springfield, Illinois, and afterwards to Elkhart Grove. There the family remained two years and then came to Buckles' Grove, where they have lived ever since. James Crumbaugh received his early education at the Claywater school,
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which was kept about one mile south of the present town of Leroy. He went four miles to school to receive instruction from William Johnson, who, when barred out, treated his scholars to whisky and made them intoxicated. Mr. Crumbaugh afterwards went to the first school in Leroy, and his wife attended the same. His teacher was 'Squire Lincoln, now living in Leroy. Mr. Crumbaugh tells an incident which occurred during the school days of Thomas Buckles, when they were both boys together. Buckles and some of his companions caught a blue-racer, tied a strip of bark around its neck, and proposed to lead it. At' first the snake held back; but soon it took a start and went after young Buckles. The latter ran at the top of his speed to get rid of the snake, and was clear out of breath before it occurred to him to let loose of the bark.
In 1840 Mr. Crumbaugh had an opportunity to go to Chicago, which was then a town of thirty-five hundred people. Old Fort Dearborn, the block house and the palisades were still standing.
Mr. Crumbaugh went on his first wolf hunt when he was only nine years of age. His father caught wolves in a pen with a lid to it. When the wolf came to eat the bait placed there for him, it touched the trigger, which let down the log and held him in the pen. Mr. Crumbaugh has often chased wolves and caught them. When they are chased in the winter time, they take to the ice on the creeks and sloughs. Mr. Crumbaugh has seen a wolf follow a slough in all its angles and turns and get quite away from the dogs, for it had longer claws and was lighter built.
Mr. Crumbaugh married Amanda Melcena Buck, September 28, 1851. She is a daughter of 'Squire Hiram Buck, whose sketch appears in this volume. She was a school-mate of her husband in the days when they were young. After their mar- riage they lived with Henry Crumbangh until 1857, when they moved to the farm where they now reside, about three miles southwest of Leroy in Empire township.
Mr. Crumbaugh is five feet and ten inches high. He is a man of great energy and gets up bright and early in the morning to attend to his business. He has been remarkably successful in life. He has had three children, all of whom are living. They are :
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Laura Elizabeth, born August 26, 1852, is married to Willian Seott Lafferty, and lives in Downs township.
Edith May, born May 8, 1856, and Hiram Henry, born June 29, 1861, live at home.
SILAS WATERS.
Silas Waters was born November 19, 1803, in Stafford Coun- ty, Virginia. His father, whose name was also Silas Waters, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in Virginia. The maiden name of the mother of Silas Waters, jr., was Margaret Duffy. She was born in Maryland and was probably of Irish descent. In 1814 the family moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky. They went to Winchester, then came down the river in a flat-boat to a place called Maceville, and from there went by team to Bourbon County, Kentucky. Here young Silas passed his days pleasantly. He had great sport in catching shad, herring and other fish, with which the waters of Kentucky abound.
On the 12th of February, 1824, Silas Waters married Chris- tiana Conaway. He worked hard to support his family and lived for three years as a renter under slave-holding landlords; but at last determined to come west. He went first to Rush County, Indiana, where he remained a year. In June, 1828, he came on horseback to Illinois and settled near Judgetown in Vermilion County. But, being still unsatisfied, he sold out in 1830, and on November 7th of that year came to Empire township, in what is now MeLean County, Illinois. At that time the house of Wil- liam Bishop was the only one between Mr. Waters' and Bloom- ing Grove ; and on the road to Danville were only four houses. Deer, wolves and Indians were plenty. But the deep snow sent all of them away, except the wolves. The deer were frozen to death, and the Indians left because of the scarcity of game ; but the wolves remained. They lived through the winter on the frozen deer; but when the deer were no more, the wolves ae- quired a taste for mutton and seemed to relish it well.
On the day before the heavy fall of snow in December, 1830, Mr. Waters went to the old Murphy mill on the Kickapoo, about fifteen miles from home, stayed there all night and started home the following morning by daybreak. When he passed the house of Jesse Funk, about sunrise, the snow began to fall. When he
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had gone about a mile and a half farther, he thought he would turn back, but was astonished to find that the heavy snow covered up the track behind him. He had no road or compass and was obliged to direct his course by the wind. He faced the storm and struck Buckles' Grove only a quarter of a mile from where he wished, and arrived home in safety. The snow fell thirty-three inches, while his oxen went ten miles as fast as they could be driven. The tall weeds were covered up, and as the eye was di- rected over the prairie, absolutely nothing could be seen, except the white snow.
Mr. Waters had no particular experience during the Black Hawk war. He went to Bloomington to see if he was drafted, but found that volunteers sufficient had gone.
Mr. Waters has lived in Empire township ever since his set- tlement there, with the exception of two years (1852-3) which he spent in Farmer City as a merchant.
Mr. Waters first married Christiana Conaway, and by this marriage had six children, of whom four are living. They are :
Chalton Differ Waters, born June 2, 1826, lives on the home- stead farm, one mile west of Leroy.
John Thomas Waters, born August 22, 1827, lives one and a quarter miles northwest of Leroy.
America Waters, born November 9, 1828, married Andrew Cummings of Farmer City.
Nancy Waters, born January 30, 1831, married first Jeremiah Greenman, and sometime after his death was married to Hamp- ton Roach. She lives in Normal, and is a second time a widow.
Sometime after the death of Mrs. Waters, Mr. Waters mar- ried Mrs. Mary Jane Karr, an English lady.
Mr. Waters is five feet and ten inches in height, and rather stout in appearance. He seems well-formed, and walks erect. His hair is gray and thick on his head. His eyes are blue, and his complexion healthy and rather sanguine. He is very much respected by his neighbors. He thinks much of the old settlers, and would now prefer to live in a new country, or, at all events, would like the manners and good feeling of a new country. Mr. Waters has inherited a healthy constitution, as may be inferred from the fact that all of his eight brothers and sisters, who crossed the Allegheny Mountains in 1814, are living. He was Associate
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Judge of MeLean County, while Judge MeClun was in office. Mr. Waters has been a member of the Methodist Church since 1825, and has held nearly every position in the church which is given to a layman.
JAMES BISHOP.
James Bishop was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, April 3, 1806. The Bishops, from whom he was descended, came to the American colonies from England with William Penn. They were members of the Society of Friends.
In the fall of 1809 the Bishop family moved to that part of the territory of Ohio, which is now called Clark County. During the war of 1812, a part of General Shelby's army camped near where the Bishops lived. All of the boys and young men above the age of fifteen were taken into the army. Only a few children and women and Revolutionary soldiers were left to protect the neighborhood. When the war broke out, many persons were suspicious and fearful of the Indians and mistrusted them. A council of the Indians was called, to which the whites were in- vited, but many were afraid to attend. Tecumseh, the great chief, contemptuously called those who were afraid, " big babies," and the name clung to them for many years. Tecumseh was a remarkably fine-looking man, a splendid chief, and was possessed of a great deal of natural dignity. He had a lively sense of honor and the whites had great confidence in his word. Some of the Indians favored the whites and were spies for them. Among these were Logan, Captain John, and another whose name Mr. Bishop does not recall. "But some of the whites were afraid that these Indians were not really acting in good faith, so the latter determined to show their good faith by bringing in some scalps of their enemies. They went out on an expedition for this pur- pose, but unluckily were themselves surprised and captured. But when captured, they pretended friendship to the opposite party, and were allowed the use of their weapons. When the three captive Indians found a favorable opportunity, they each shot down one of their captors, and grasped their knives and rushed upon three others. They succeeded in killing their captors, but Logan was so badly injured that after his return he died of his wounds. Just before his death he burst out laughing, and, when
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