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 58
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The most serious trouble the settlers encountered was the dif- ficulty in getting their grain ground. Samuel Lewis and his brother once went to Crocker's mill and found three weeks grind- ing to be done before their turn would come. Fred Trimmer wished to have the business done for the boys first, so that they could go, but this was not allowed, as it was said that, if this was done, people would always send their boys to mill. Sometimes when he was delayed at the mill he worked for his board, for he was an industrious boy. He went to Green's mill, above Ottawa, sixty miles distant, and found this easier than going to the mills nearer home, as he could get his grinding done at Ottawa witli- out waiting.
Mr. Lewis traveled in the West occasionally, and saw some- thing of the country. Some twenty years ago he made an excur- sion to Texas, and found the people hospitable and kind, and everyone was ready and willing to entertain him, when he wished to stop. He made a trip down there after the war, but no one
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was willing to entertain him, for all looked upon him with sus- picion. Such are the results of the war.
Ilis first excursion was full of life. While crossing the Trinity River on horseback, the swift current carried him down stream, and pressed him and his horse against a sapling, and tore off one of his saddle-bags. He sprang from his horse and saved the missing bag, and by good luck, as well as good conduct, came out of the river in safety. Mr. Lewis' partner, on this excursion, a man named Mason, rode an active little pony, which some- times raised its rider in the air. Mr. Mason was thrown three times in one day. His pony once dodged a greenbriar thicket on one side, while the rider thought it would go the other, and he was compelled himself to take a middle course and go head first into the thicket. On their return, Lewis and Mason came through the Indiin territory with a drove of cattle. The Indians were partly civilized, and were up to a great deal of civilized rascality. While the drovers were crossing the Canadian River, in the Chocktaw country, the Indians drove the cattle, which cross- ed first, up on a mountain, and when the drovers came over, the Indians offered to get the cattle down for a dollar a head. But the drovers hired a negro to bring down the cattle for fifty cents a head, so that the Indians made nothing by their sharpness after all. The Indians, at that time, lived a civilized life and owned slaves, and some of them were quite wealthy. There were among the Chocktaws some half-breed Indians and negroes, but this was a bad cross, as the half-breeds were treacherous and cowardly. Lewis and Mason had their cattle twice stampeded, once from a corral, but had little difficulty in finding them. The Texas cattle are a strange breed. It is dangerous to approach them on foot ; but they are very easily driven by men on horseback. The Texas drovers are bold riders, and when seated on a horse it is impos- sible to shake them off. They would ride any bull for five dol- lars. They would lassoo the bull, strap on a saddle tightly, and ride the ferocious animal until it sulked and laid down, and then they would take off the saddle. Mr. Lewis was with the Indians in the Indian territory long enough to form an opinion of some of the tribes. He was much impressed with the civilization of the Chocktaws and Cherokees, but the Creeks were not so intel- ligent. The various Indian nations had their territory set off to
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them, and were divided from each other by iron posts set up on the prairie, which showed the division lines. The life of a drover does not improve a man's personal appearance, and Mr. Lewis, on his return, was not the handsome man, who went away. His beard was grown, his coat was lost, his clothing torn, his face tanned, and in his general appearance he bore a closer resemblance to a shaggy buffalo on the plains than to a human being.
Mr. Lewis made an excursion to Texas since the war, and while there, was in danger of the Comanches, who came down the night before his arrival, killed several men, and took several children prisoners. The children would be traded back for a pony or a horse. The Comanches are fierce and vicious. When they find a man on the prairie, they circle around hin on horse- back, and lay on the sides of their horses and shoot from un- derneath while on the run. A good double-barrelled shot gun is the most effective weapon of defence, and more feared by them than a rifle. Mr. Lewis did not buy cattle on that excursion, as he could not see that it would pay.
Mr. Lewis married, January 1, 1868, Irene Smith, and has two children. He is six feet in height, is squarely built, has broad shoulders, a heavy head of sandy hair, and heavy red whiskers. He has blue eyes, and a broad, square, English face. He has had as good an education as the child of a pioneer could get. He went to old Dr. Hobbs, of Bloomington. When Mr. Lewis was twenty-one years of age, he was made a constable, and served under William McCullough. Mr. Lewis has assessed the town of Hudson for eight years, and the experience he ob- tained under MeCullough has been of great advantage to him in making his assessments. He is a jolly man, full of fun and jokes, enjoys a good story, and can tell one himself very easily. He " never charges neighbors anything."
JAMES TURNER GILDERSLEEVE.
James T. Gildersleeve was born April 10, 1803, in Hempstead, Queens County, New York. His father's name was James Gil- dersleeve, and his mother's name before her marriage was Cath- erine Dorlon. Hempstead was settled in 1643 by a few emigrants from New England, who came originally from Ilemel Hemp- stead, twenty-three miles from the city of London. They re-
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ceived a patent of ground-brief from Governor Kieft, the Dutch governor of what was called New Netherlands. This patent was granted November 16, 1644, and was confirmed by the Indians July 4, 1657. This confirmation was obtained for the purpose of preventing any disturbances, which might otherwise occur between the whites and their Indian neighbors.
Among the first colonists were Richard Gildersleeve and Richard Gildersleeve, jr., ancestors of James T. Gildersleeve. They received three hundred and sixty acres of land. In those days the colonists were obliged to pay tithes to the Dutch gov- ernor, and it was resolved in town meeting of July 10, 1658, to depute Richard Gildersleeve to go down to the Manhattans to agree with the governor concerning the tithes, which they re- solved should not exceed one hundred sheeples of wheat, to be delivered at the town harbor. At the same town meeting they agreed to pay the herdsman twelve shillings sterling per week in butter, corn and oats, at fixed prices, as follows : butter, six pence per pound ; corn, two shillings and six pence per bushel. The prices of other things were also fixed. Wheat was to be four shillings per bushel ; pork, three pence per pound ; lodg- ing, two pence per night; board, five shillings per week; victuals, six pence per meal, and labor, two shillings and six pence per day. It was further agreed, that the people should all be ready at the sounding of the horn to turn out their cows and the keeper was required to be ready, when the sun was half an hour high, to take them to the pasture. He was to bring them back every evening a half an hour before sunset, and to drive them one day in each week to Cow Neck, where they could eat the vegetation, which was salted by the tide.
James T. Gildersleeve lived on his father's farm near Hemp- stead nearly all the time until he came West. He spent a short time in New York studying law. He married in Hempstead, August 23, 1828, Mary Ann Eckford Rhodes, who died in Bloomington, August 9, 1846.
In the winter of 1835-6, in the town of Jacksonville, Mor- gan County, Illinois, certain parties drew up articles of agree- ment, associating themselves together to form a colony. This association was formed February 6, 1836, and it was known as the Illinois Land Association. The business of the association
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was conducted by an executive committee of three. These were George F. Purkitt, Horatio N. Pettit and John Gregory. In the spring of 1836 Horatio N. Pettit came to Mr. Gildersleeve in Hempstead, and wished him to join the colony. James T. and Joseph D. Glldersleeve subscribed for four colony interests, which gave them the right to nearly seven hundred acres of land, consisting of prairie and timber land, and town lots in Hudson. Mr. Gildersleeve started West in September, 1836, from New York with his wife and child. They went to Philadelphia, thence to Pittsburg, and thence by steam- boat to St. Louis. From Louisville to St. Louis they enjoyed the society of a circus troupe. From the latter place they went by steamboat to Pekin, and from there started to Bloomington in a three-horse wagon. There was then a perfect rush of peo- ple to Illinois, and wherever they went on their journey, every place and all means of transportation were crowded. When it drew towards night on their journey from Pekin it was almost impossible to get a place to stay one night. Each one referred them to the next house. His first hotel bill was $2.50, for which he wished to give a gold quarter-eagle, but the man wanted it in silver. At Dry Grove Mr. Gildersleeve learned that Bloom- ington was full of people, so he came across to Havens' Grove.
Mr. Gildersleeve's family lived very uncomfortably and in close quarters until he could build a house, which he occupied on the fourth of December. This forms a part of the house where he now lives. Jacob H. Burtis, of Jacksonville, stayed that winter in one-half of his house, and was ready to build in the spring. During that winter Mr. Gildersleeve's family had no flour and was obliged to boil corn as a substitute for bread.
The rattlesnakes in early days were plenty, and they took up quarters wherever they could find it convenient. Mr. Gilder- sleeve remembers that on one occasion, when he went to the hearth to light his pipe, he heard a sharp rattle and found a snake. coiled up on the hearth. It had crawled through the weather-boarding between the outside of the house and the wall and there, seeing a hole in the plastering, had crawled through to the hearth.
The difficulties of travel, before the roads were worked and the bridges built, were of course much greater than at present.
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Mr. Gildersleeve had once a very intelligent horse, and in March, 1837, wished to cross the Six Mile Creek near Havens' Grove, while the ice was running. His horse, full of courage and intelligence, sprang upon a thick cake of ice as it floated down, walked across and stepped off on the other side. Mr. Gildersleeve was once riding this horse across a bridge on Sugar Creek, when the stream was high and running like a mill-race. Several planks were floated off and others were raised up; but the horse stepped cautiously over the holes, and when the planks were raised up, it carefully pressed them down to the beams on which they rested, before it trusted its weight. After the coun- try became a little settled, the ducks and geese and sandhill cranes became very numerous. At one time, while Mr. and Mrs. Gildersleeve were riding over the country, which had late- ly been burnt by a fire, they saw what appeared to be a new fence, which extended a long distance ; but as they approached, it proved to be some thousands of sandhill cranes.
In about the year 1843 or '44 a great hail storm visited the West. It was the severest ever known. A green cloud came up from the south, and when the storm burst the hail stones came down with terrific force. They split the shingles on the roofs of houses, killed the prairie chickens and snipe on the prairie, and broke the back of a hog in Havens' Grove, a half a mile west of Hudson. These hail stones were of great size ; one of them measured seven inches in circumference. When the storm was over, a Mr. Rinehart took a basket and collected it full of prairie chickens and snipe, which had been killed by the hail stones.
In the spring of 1845 Mr. Gildersleeve was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court by Judge Treat. Some time after this the new constitution was adopted, making the office elective. In November, 1848, the time for election came, and Mr. Gilder- sleeve and William H. Allin were candidates, the former a Dem- ocrat and the latter a Whig. The contest was very sharp indeed, and Mr. Gildersleeve's friends worked very hard. Even Abra- ham Brokaw, who never before or since took an interest in politics, worked for Mr. Gildersleeve enthusiastically. The Whig majority was about six hundred, bnt Mr. Gildersleeve was only beaten by eighty or ninety votes.
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In March, 1849, Mr. Gildersleeve moved back to Hudson, where he has resided ever since. Mr. Gildersleeve has had three children, but only one is living. This is Charles Turner Gildersleeve, who was brought to this country when only six years old. It was at that time supposed that every one who came to the West would have the ague, and though the infant Gildersleeve was a fine, healthy boy, it was thought that he too must endure the shakes. An old lady, who saw young Charles, said : "You poor little boy, to think how soon the color must come out of those cheeks !" But the old lady was wrong, for Charles has borne the climate well and is a healthy man.
Mr. Gildersleeve is six feet in height, and is generously formed ; his hair is white and flowing, and this, with his full white beard, gives him the appearance of a patriarch. His eyes are black, and his features are large. He seems to be a man of large mind, and would naturally be popular and command the support of friends. He is full of humor and loves to tell funny stories almost as well as Abraham Lincoln ; and they are good ones, and have point and fun in them. He married, October 14, 1847, Elizabeth S. Conkling, at Leroy. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Dr. Perry. She is a pleasant lady and loves a joke as well as her husband. She has very quick percep- tions and greatly enjoys the society of her friends.
JOSEPH DARLING GILDERSLEEVE.
Joseph D. Gildersleeve was born November 30, 1805, in Hempstead, Queens County, New York, on Long Island. (For his ancestors see sketch of his brother James).
Mr. Gildersleeve remembers some of the queer customs among the farmers of Hempstead, and particularly what was called "sheep parting." They all had their sheep marked and turned out on the commons on the first of April of every year; and on the first of November the sheep were put in a large pen, around which were several smaller pens, and here the sheep were divided. All were driven up together and each farmer hunted up his sheep, which were recognized by their marks and put in separate pens. This was always a great day and a large crowd attended. They drank wine and cider and beer and varied the exercises with horse-racing.
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Mr. Gildersleeve went to school in Hempstead and received his common school education there. He was not remarkably different from other boys, but occasionally had his fun. He once went down to explore a well on a boyish frolic and the well caved partly in. He was rescued, but shortly afterwards it all caved in. He and a companion once rescued a man, who was caught in a well, which had caved in and covered up the unfortunate person, so that only his hair was visible. They dug away the dirt around his head, put a barrel over it to protect him and suc- ceeded at last in getting him out.
Mr. Gildersleeve chose the profession of carriage maker and painter, and worked on Long Island and also for a year or two in Dutchess County. In the fall of 1836 he came with his brother, James T. Gildersleeve, to Hudson, McLean County, Illinois, and began farming and raising stock. He has ever since resided in Hudson township. He was something of a sportsman, and oc- casionally hunted wolves, deer and turkeys. Mr. Gildersleeve frequently chased wolves, and at one time, while riding eagerly after one on horseback with a gun, he tried to shoot, but every time he stopped, the wolf gained so fast and went so far that he was obliged to renew the chase. At last he fired, but the exer- tion was too much for his gravity, and he pitched headlong from the horse, which went after the wolf on its own account. Mr. Gildersleeve was not always so unfortunate in hunting, for occa- sionally luck seemed to decide in his favor. He at one time killed three deer with two bullets. The first bullet killed two deer standing together, and the second killed a third deer near by.
Mr. Gildersleeve married, May 23, 1844, Mary Messer. He has had four children, two of whom are dead and two are living. They are :
James Gildersleeve, born March 29, 1845, died February 14, 1847.
Elizabeth Hellen Gildersleeve, born May 17, 1849, died No- vember 28, 1865.
Catherine J. Gildersleeve, born June 30, 1851, married Robert Mavis, and lives one mile east of Hudson.
Isaac M. Gildersleeve, born April 7, 1854, lives at home.
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Mr. Gildersleeve is about five feet and ten inches in height. His hair and whiskers are perfectly gray with age. He has rather a strong face, has black eyes, is a kind man and has plenty of courage. He has been temperate in his habits, never smoked or chewed tobacco, and never played a game of cards, in which respect he differs from many young men of the present day.
JACOB HICKS BURTIS.
Jacob Hicks Burtis was born November 18, 1796, in Queens County, on Long Island, within a few miles of Hampstead. When eighteen or twenty years of age he went to New York and learned the carving business of the cabinet makers' trade.
During the war of 1812, he enlisted in a company in New York city and was chosen captain, but was never called into active service. He married, February 5, 1821, Eliza Carman, who died in 1832. Mr. Burtis was a merchant for two years in Brooklyn. In May, 1835, he married Mary Weeks, and in Sep- tember of that year he started for the west. His family stopped for a while in Jacksonville, and at Alton, Illinois, and did not arrive at Hudson township until December 1, 1836. His family lived during the first winter with James T. Gildersleeve. Mr. Burtis had bought a share in the Hudson colony, and this gave him a right to one hundred and sixty acres of prairie and some wood land. He settled, in the spring of 1837, about two miles north of the village of Hudson, and there remained until the time of his death, which occurred June 16, 1873. He first built a small house of lumber, sawed with a whip saw, but, with im- proving circumstances, he was enabled to build larger.
His health, previous to his death, had not been good for some time, but the sickness, which immediately preceded his death, lasted only two days.
Mr. Burtis was a Christian man, though not a member of any church. He received the rite of baptism in the Episcopal church ; but as his parents died when he was very young, he was never confirmed. He was very quiet, patient and hopeful, in his last illness, as long as consciousness remained.
Mr. Burtis had four children by his first marriage, and five by his second. The children by the first marriage are :
Edwin Elias, who died in March, 1869.
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Phobe Eliza; wife of Alfred T. Weeks, lives just north of the homestead.
Jacob Hicks Burtis, jr., lives at El Paso.
Hannah Alma, wife of John Carl, died in 1859.
The children by the second marriage are :
Catherine Augusta, who died in infancy.
Alfred S. Burtis was a soldier during the rebellion in the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and died January 9, 1862, of sickness in the hospital at Mound City.
Catherine Augusta, wife of William M. Collins, lives at Moline.
Rachel R., wife of Francis R. Johnston, lives at the home- stead.
James H. Burtis enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and died at Camp Butler, near Springfield, February 3, 1864.
ENOCH A. GASTMAN.
Enoch A. Gastman was born June 5, 1801, in West Fries- land, Holland. His father's name was Eilt A. Gastman. He never came to America, nor did any of his relatives, except his son, Enoch, whose sketch we are writing. In 1808 young Enoch went on board of a French man-of-war, when Napoleon Bona- parte was at the head of affairs in France. It was young Enoch's business to brush coats and black boots. The discipline was very strict, as Enoch found by sad experience.
In 1812-13, Napoleon made his celebrated march to Moscow and his disastrous retreat. After his defeat and capture, the soldiers and sailors under him were discharged, and Enoch was told to go. He went back to Holland, where he remained until spring, and then went coasting on board of a Dutch schooner. After coasting about a great deal and visiting many ports, he came on land for a while, and was bound out to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner. After working for two years he took French leave of his master. He worked at other places and stayed for one winter with his father. When he became seven- teen years of age, he fell in with an East India captain and ship- ped as carpenter's mate for Batavia, on the island of Java. There he saw many Chinamen with their brimmed hats. But the crew were seldom allowed to go ashore, as the place was very sickly.
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An intoxicating drink, called arrack, is made there out of the juice of the cocoanut tree. This juice is allowed to ferment, and when it works it makes the intoxicating drink. All persons, who go to Java, must exercise the greatest caution in their diet or they sicken and die. While Mr. Gastman was there, an American ship came to port, and as the sailors had been with- out grog for a long time, they were given their back rations in arrack, and they drank themselves to death and were buried on the island of Unrest. Mr. Gastman made three trips to Java. In 1824 he and three others chartered a vessel to carry a cargo of powder and gin to the Mexicans, who were then fighting for independence against Spain. They started through the British channel, but a southwest wind blew them to the North Sea. They attempted to go around the British Isles to the Atlantic Ocean, but were dismasted and waterlogged, and would have gone to the bottom, had not the cargo of gin kept the vessel afloat. Seven of the crew were drowned, and seven were picked up by an American vessel. Of these, two died from the effects of their hardships, and the remaining five were carried to New York. There he shipped on board of a vessel for Norfolk, thence to Grenada, South America, thence to Turk's Island, and thence to Portland, Maine. He made a great many voyages to all parts of the world, and had a great many adventures, but thought he would settle down at work in New York as a rigger. But soon he was off on a voyage to London, then came back to New York. Here he married, July 11, 1830, Margaret Hiegans. After many voyages and adventures, he had a wife, and seventy- five cents in his pocket. He again became a rigger for a while, but soon was a public porter, and remained such for six years. For six years also, he was a night watchman, and a part of this time a porter. He had many lively adventures in New York, while making arrests, as thieves and smugglers were plenty. In the winter of 1837-8, he started for Illinois, and arrived at Hudson, McLean County, in March. Everything was then sell- ing at high prices. He boarded for a while with Horatio N. Pettit, then traded his land for the place of R. G. Marion, and moved on the latter farm in June. In 1840 the prices of pro- duce of all kinds came down, aud it seemed as if everything was given away. Mr. Gastman contracted to sell a load of
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potatoes to Mr. Barnett, of the Eagle Hotel, but when the former went to deliver them he could get only four cents per bushel. Rather than sell them at such a figure he carried them down to Sugar Creek, took out the tail-board of his wagon and emptied them into the stream.
In the spring of 1857, Mrs. Gastman died, and in April, Mr. Gastman moved to HIudson and sent his children to Eureka Col- lege. In 1858 he married Ann Hitch. She died in 1862. He then moved to his son's farm. In 1863, Mr. Gastman married Lavinia Randalls, who is yet living.
Mr. Gastman has had five children, of whom two are living. They are :
Enoch A. Gastman, jr., who was born June 15, 1834, in New York city, No. 54 Mulberry street. He went to Eureka College for three months, then to the Normal school, where he graduated. He has been for twelve years superintendent of schools at Deca- tur, Illinois.
George Washington Gastman was born July 12, 1837, in New York city. He went one year and three months to Eureka College, when his health failed him, and he returned to his farm. He is married, and lives on his farm near Hudson.
Francis Marion Gastman was born in August, 1842, in Hud- son township. He was two years at Eureka College, and two years at the Normal. He enlisted in the army in 1861, in the Normal regiment, (Thirty-third Illinois,) commanded by Colonel Hovey. He died at Black River, March 22, 1862.
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