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 64
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Mr. Wiley has done some hunting, as the old settlers would, but had no very remarkable adventure. He has had the usual experience with prairie fires, has had a great deal of fencing and many stacks burned up.
Mr. Wiley married, October 12, 1843, Sarah R. Lineback. He has sometimes taken his family back to visit their friends in Indiana, and occasionally had some lively adventures by the way. At one time, while erossing Sugar Creek with his wife and child, when it was high, the wagon sank so low that they went into the water to their waists, and the horses could scarcely get footing. The wagon was carried down stream by the current, and things appeared scarey for a moment, but at last the horses scrambled out. Mr. Wiley made up his mind never to swim his horses again, but he did ; he crossed the Kankakee, and swam the Des- plaines with a four-horse team. Eleven men out of thirteen had been drowned in the Desplaines the day before he crossed.
Mr. Wiley has had only two children, one of whom is living. They are :
Mrs. Hannah Ogden, wife of Obadiah Ogden, lives with her father at the homestead.
John R. Wiley was killed when sixteen years of age by the fall of a horse.
Mr. Wiley is about five feet and six inches in height; he is rather lightly built, is active and industrious, and does not like to see weeds in his corn. He has a kind expression on his counte- nance, but is very determined, has a great deal of courage, is very active and quick-sighted, and it would be an active deer or wolf that would escape him. He is a gentleman in manners and feeling. He is a model farmer, looks after everything, and does not put in any more corn than he can attend to. He plows eight
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acres of corn a day, and attends to forty acres himself very con- veniently. He has three hundred and sixteen acres of land in his farm, and it is all well taken care of. It is all under fence, and what is not under cultivation is in pasture. He keeps good graded stock, and has from fifty to seventy-five head of cattle. The cattle, which he sent to market last spring, averaged sixteen hundred and sixty pounds ; they were the best "bunch" of cattle that had been to the Lexington yards for twelve months. The farm, where he lives, is in the edge of the Mackinaw timber, where he has his pasture shaded by trees, and his land under cultivation is the rich prairie.
WESLEY FLETCHER BISHOP.
Wesley F. Bishop was born January 15, 1817, in Madison County, Alabama. His father's name was William G. Bishop, and his mother's maiden name was Rebecca Briggs; both were of English descent. William Bishop was a cabinet maker, and made cotton gins and household furniture, but during the latter part of his life was a farmer. When Wesley Bishop was five years of age, the family moved to Wayne County, Indiana, near Centerville. Here he went to school with a young man, named Fox, who afterwards became the great leader of a band of rob- bers in the northwest. He was the man who murdered Colonel Davenport at Rock Island. The father of the Foxes was con- sidered an honest, upright citizen. In 1829 or 30, the family moved to the Wabash, near the present town of Delphi. It was laborious work for the Bishops to raise corn, for the wild animals were numerous and troublesome. When it was planted, the coons would come at night, move along the rows, smell out the corn and eat up every kernel, unless they were watched and driven off, until the corn started and the kernel was rotted. In the latter part of the summer, and in the fall, the black birds came in swarms and ate the corn, and the deer came in great numbers at night, so that it seemed almost impossible to protect the corn and gather it.
The great curiosity or object of interest in Indiana, was, for many years, the battle ground of Tippecanoe. In about the year 1834, (Mr. Bishop thinks,) the bones of the soldiers were collected and buried with great honor. The people came from
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several counties and States around and collected them. A man, named Tipton, from Logansport, delivered an address, and the people had a great barbecue. They roasted an ox and made indeed a grand celebration.
In the spring of 1836, the Bishop family came to McLean County, Illinois, but Wesley Bishop stayed in Indiana for a while to attend to some unfinished business, and came out in the fall with a drove of cattle. The family settled on the Jacob Spawr farm, on the edge of Money Creek timber, on the main State road from Springfield to Chicago.
In the winter of 1836-7, Wesley Bishop taught school in Money Creek township. In December of that winter, occurred the sudden change in the weather, so often described. On that day a man, named Popejoy, was on the road to Bloomington for a petition for a new county, and passed Bishop's school house. Not long afterwards the sudden change came on and Bishop dis- missed his school. Pretty soon Popejoy came riding back, but was frozen to his saddle and required assistance to dismount. Mr. Bishop received as his wages, while teacher, twenty dollars per month and boarded himself. He was the first school treasu- rer for Money Creek township, and the first money he drew for school purposes from the county was twenty-five dollars and eighteen cents. When the people wanted a school house they were obliged to build it out of their own pockets.
Mr. Bishop is a universal genius. Ile needed some brick, and straightway he started a brickyard and made them. The rats troubled him very much around his barn, and he immedi- ately exercised his genius and made a barn which was rat-proof. These are only a few of the forms in which his genius continu- ally sprouts. In the spring of 1864, Mr. Bishop enlisted in Company E, of the One Hundred and Thirty-third Illinois Volunteers, as a hundred day man. Ile was too old to be drafted, but he wanted to render some assistance to the govern- ment in the great struggle. He left his brick yard and his busi- ness in other hands and started. He sought for no office, but served as a private. The regiment was stationed at Rock Island and they had a very pleasant time indeed.
Mr. Bishop married, August 10, 1837, Prudence Barrack- man, whose family lived on the Vermilion River. He has had
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three children, who are living and settled around him. They are :
Francis Bishop, who lives about a mile northeast of his father's.
Mary Ann Bishop is married to Samuel Carey and lives at the homestead.
Daniel J. Bishop, lives just east of his father's. He enlisted in the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers and served three years to a day. He saw some hard campaigning, was at Prairie Grove, Vicksburg and Fort Morgan.
Mr. Bishop is about five feet and eight inches in height, is muscular and tough, has rather a broad face and is good natured and honest. He lives up to his agreements, is very industrious and quick to see a chance to make a short turn. He is a man who thinks a great deal of principle. He believes in developing the resources of the country, and thinks that America has mines of every kind, which should be developed to their utmost capa- city. He is an ardent protectionist and believes that if the policy of Henry Clay had been pursued, the country would have been far better developed, and in a much more flourishing condition. He is very decided in his opinions, and thinks the children of to-day should receive a practical education, which they do not receive in schools.
WILLIAM CROSE.
William Crose was born September 12, 1814, in Pickaway County, Ohio. His father's name was Philip Crose, and his mother's maiden name was Priscilla Becks. Philip Crose was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, being old enough to go into the army during the last six months of the struggle. He drew a pension until his death, which occurred in about the year 1837. When William Crose was about three years old, the family came to Shawneetown, Illinois, but after a few years moved to Eel River, Indiana, then after a few years went to where Crawfords- ville, Ind., now stands. When William Crose was thirteen years of age, he was bound out to Elijah Funk, a farmer, in Warren County, Indiana, but at the age of twenty, became his own man. He went to Pickaway County, where he was a farm laborer and drover. He drove one hundred and forty cattle five hundred and
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thirty-three miles, to Philadelphia. He was forty-seven days on the road, and when he had disposed of his cattle he returned in eleven days and a half.
He married, November 13, 1833, Eliza Ann Busiek. He lived there nearly a year, then in Indiana three years, and in 1837 came to Randolph Grove, MeLean County, Illinois. After working hard for eight or nine years he accumulated some little property, began to think himself rich, and wished to take the world easy. He took a great interest in sporting, and kept the finest and fleetest hounds for running wolves and deer. Mr. Crose says that deer, when chased by dogs, will actually run themselves to death. He knows this by actual experiment; he once chased a buck until it laid down and died before being touched. He has had great sport with wolves, and once tried to tame one of these vicious animals, but could not even break it to be led. He tied a chain to its neck and fastened the other end of the chain to his wagon, but the wolf would allow itself to be dragged for miles without walking. He has hunted the otter, and found it an ex- ceedingly cunning animal, which goes into its hole under water and works up under the bank above the water's mark. IIe once broke into an otter's hole when twenty feet from the pond, where it lived. The routine of the year then was-in the winter time hunting wolves and deer, in the spring ploughing and planting, and in the fall going to Chicago and selling oats for twelve and a half cents per bushel. After hunting for a few years, Mr. Crose saw that he must let his gun and dogs alone, and pay more attention to business.
Eighteen years ago he sold out and went to Iowa, but there his health failed him, and he returned to Illinois, and bought the land where he now lives, midway between Lexington and To- wanda, and has since succeeded pretty well. He has had eleven children altogether, of whom ten are living. They are :
Harriet, wife of John Padgett, lives in the Upper Mackinaw timber.
Lowisa, wife of Peter Janes, lives in Money Creek township. Elijah Crose lives in Towanda.
Termin Crose is a farmer, and lives in Money Creek.
Eliza Ann, wife of George Janes, lives in Lexington town- ship.
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William Crose lives at home with his father.
Emma, wife of David Turnipseed, lives in the Upper Macki- naw timber.
George Crose lives in Towanda.
Sarah Jane, wife of David Wisner, lives in Indiana.
Philip Crose lives at home with his father.
Mr. Crose is about five feet and nine inches in height, has reddish-brown hair and whiskers, a slightly Roman nose, and rather small eyes. He seems pretty muscular, and is a man of good temper. If he has difficulty with anyone, it is pretty cer- ยท tain that he has good cause for it, for his disposition is peaceable and he wishes to be on good terms with his neighbors. He is a very fair-minded man, is open to argument, and has none of that obstinacy of opinion, which induces men to shut their ears to new ideas.
MOUNT HOPE.
GEORGE MALEY STUBBLEFIELD.
George M. Stubblefield. son of Robert Stubblefield, was named after a noted Methodist preacher in Ohio, named George Maley. George was born August 29, 1823, in Fayette County, Ohio. In December, 1824, the Stubblefield family came to Illinois, and George was carried in the arms of his mother, who rode on horse- back. They settled in Funk's Grove, in what is now McLean County.
George Stubblefield remembers many things concerning the early settlement of the country, notwithstanding his extreme youth, when the family came to Illinois. He remembers the building of the first school-house in Funk's Grove, which was done by Robert Guthrie. Young George carried water for the men, while they were at work. , The school-house was eighteen by twenty feet long, was made of logs hewed on one side, had a clapboard roof and a puncheon floor. On the north and west sides were windows which extended the whole length and width of the room. They were made by hewing off one-half of two logs, which joined each other. The lights were formed by placing sticks upright and putting over them paper greased with lard.
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On the east side of the building was a fire-place, which was large enough to receive a log eight feet long. It was in this house, that George Stubblefield received what education he obtained. During the winter of the deep snow the teacher in this school-house, Andrew Biggs, was obliged to move up to it and live there. The Stubblefields lived about a mile from the school-house, and Mr. Stubblefield was obliged to go back and forth once a day until it stopped snowing, in order to keep the road broken. This old school-house has long since been torn down, and has gone with the old settlers, who built it. A fine church has been erected on' the spot, and Funk's Grove Cemetery is near by.
When George Stubblefield became old enough to be "of some account," it was his business to go to mill. He was accustomed to go to Knapp's mill, near Waynesville. In 1836 he went with his father to Chicago with a load of sweet potatoes and a barrel of eggs. There he saw his uncle, Absalom Funk, who was so well known to the early settlers. Chicago then had no houses north of the river. The latter was simply a large muddy slough full of flags and bullrushes. The United States still kept a gar- rison at Fort Dearborn. The Indians were plenty, as during that fall a payment was to be made to them by the government. On the road to Chicago, George Stubblefield passed through Joliet, which then contained only two houses.
The sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, is often described. Mr. Stubblefield remembers another change, which seemed nearly as severe. In about the year 1848, as he and his brother Absalom and three others were going to Pekin with a drove of swine, the weather turned cold at about nine o'clock at night, after a rain or heavy mist. The next morning they crossed Mosquito Creek on the ice, which had frozen during the night. The prairie was a sheet of ice, and though they traveled with their swine from sunrise to sunset, their entire day's journey was only three miles.
Mr. Stubblefield has seen prairie fires, of course, but they were protected by Sugar Creek, which the fires never jumped but once.
At the early age of fifteen, George Stubblefield was quite a lady's man, and often went to see the girlish friend, who after- wards became Mrs. Stubblefield. The first deer he killed was
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within a few rods of her father's door. It will be noticed, that the young men in those days won the favor of women by manly exercises. He chased this deer with hounds, which brought it down near the door of the house of Samuel Murphy, and George killed it with his pocket-knife. George Stubblefield was a gal- lant young man, and was always moved by beauty in distress. He was once delighted at the opportunity of rescuing a lady, who had fallen from a log into Sugar Creek, into eight feet of water. This, however, cannot be made the subject of a romance, for he never married her, and never will.
The western country was never too new for peddlers, and Mr. Stubblefield remembers when they came round with their tin- ware, teapots and pewter spoons, which they traded for deer skins, wolf skins, and ginseng. He has spent many a day in digging ginseng, in order to purchase some little trinket.
The settlers from Funk's Grove often did their trading in Springfield, and it was customary for them to do trading for their neighbors, and take their neighbors' produce to market. Mr. Stubblefield remembers a certain Mr. Alloway, who took some butter, which belonged to a neighbor, to Springfield to sell. The butter was rather old, and when the merchant, who was to buy it, tried it with his knife, the butter crumbled to pieces. Allo- way looked on with astonishment, and exclaimed with his lisping tongue : "My God, Mither, that's not my butter !"
The old settlers were usually full of energy and nearly all things related of them show their industry and activity ; but Mr. Stubblefield relates an incident of David Stout, which shows quite a contrary disposition. The latter was once returning home from Springfield with a blanket wrapped around him and tied to his neck with a string. By some accident it fell to the ground. He did not stop to pick it up, but went home and sent back his son for it, a distance of several miles.
Mr. Stubblefield remembers a great many interesting inci- dents concerning the old settlers, and particularly those which were humorous. He tells one of his uncle, Isaac Funk, which shows the disposition of that energetic man quite plainly. When Mr. Isaac Funk went to call on Miss Cassandra Sharp, of Peoria, who afterwards became his wife, he was obliged to cross the Illi- nois River in a boat. Several others were with him, and they
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determined to upset the boat and make him call on his lady in wet clothes. They knew he could not swim, but supposed he would cling to the boat. Near the middle of the river the boat was capsized, but floated out of Isaac's reach. But he fortunate- ly grasped a paddle, and whenever he went down, he struck the paddle on the bottom of the river and pressed himself near shore and at last came out in safety.
George Stubblefield tells an incident, which shows something of the disposition of his father, old Robert Stubblefield. Two young men once came to Robert Stubblefield's house and re- mained over night. They were not at all respectful, and in the morning Mrs. Stubblefield gave them some good advice, and a motherly lecture on the subject of good breeding. One of the young men, as he was leaving the house, disputed her word-told her she lied ! Mr. Stubblefield, who was coming in, heard the remark. He stepped into a shed near by, picked up his horse- whip and caught the young men, as they mounted their horses in a lane, where they could not get out. He was left-handed, but he dusted their jackets fearfully, and almost split their coats from their backs. This whipping made up for what the young men failed to receive in their younger days. Several persons wit- nessed the performance, and a man, named Mulky, laughed so hard that he was obliged to hold himself up by the fence.
Among the funny stories told by Mr. Stubblefield is one re- lating to a widow, who lived at Funk's Grove. A doctor in Bloomington occasionally paid his respects to this charming widow, and called twice to see her on the important subject of matrimony. Shortly afterwards, one of her family was sick, and she sent for the doctor on professional services, and when he had given her child some medicine, she inquired his bill, and he said, "two dollars." "Well," said the widow, "Dr. Wheeler, you have called on me twice and stayed two evenings, and your bill is two dollars ; I guess we will call it settled !" Dr. Wheeler went back to Bloomington with a number of large fleas hopping around his ears.
The young men in the early days were "sometimes up to their capers." Mr. Stubblefield tells of two young men from near Waynesville, who were in the habit of coming to Funk's Grove to steal apples from Robert Funk. These young men wished
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James Biggs and John Vesey to assist them, and the assistance was promised. But the latter gentlemen made arrangements with other parties to be in the orchard and fire when the apple thieves should come. In the night the party came and filled a couple of sacks with apples, and Biggs proposed to whistle up "Old Bobby," as they called Mr. Funk. When he whistled a gun was fired, and Biggs fell, saying : "Run for your lives !"' The parties ran, leaving sacks and apples, and as they mounted their horses a second shot was fired, and Vesey fell, saying : "Run, boys, run !" The apple thieves obeyed the injunction. They stopped at the widow Brock's, about four miles distant, and reported Biggs and Vesey killed, but the latter appeared in good spirits the next morning- The young men from Waynesville neglected to call at "Old Bobby's" to get their sacks.
Mr. Stubblefield tells a good story on his brother Absalom. Absalom, John and George once went to bathe in the east fork of Sugar Creek. Absalom went in and was carried down by the current, to where the water was deep : and as he could not swim he floundered and plashed, until he reached the opposite shore. He came out puffing, and soon the troublesome question arose, how to return. He dared not go into the creek again, and it was a mile or more to the nearest crossing. In the meantime the flies and mosquitoes swarmed around and almost covered him. He slapped them right and left, and in his anguish exclaimed : "I never will go into the water again until I learn to swim !" HIe was obliged to walk a mile or more up the creek to the crossing, and then back to the place of bathing.
George Stubblefield is about five feet and ten inches in height, and weighs about two hundred and forty pounds. He is a great lover of fun, as this sketch clearly shows. He is very museular, and has the magnanimity which such men frequently possess. He dislikes to see any one imposed upon or oppressed by persons of superior muscle. He has been very successful in life, and so far as property is concerned is very comfortably situated. He married, March 15, 1850. Eliza Jane Murphy, the daughter of Samuel Murphy. She was born in July, 1832, the year of the Black Hawk war. She is a lady of quick perception and a good deal of tact. and appreciates wit and humor quite as well as Mr. Stubblefield. They have six children, five boys and one girl. They are:
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Charles Wesley Stubblefield, who is a student at the Wesleyan University.
Mary Elizabeth, Samuel W., Joseph W., Isaac and Taddy, live at home. The latter is the pet, of course.
JESSE STUBBLEFIELD.
Jesse Stubblefield, fourth son of Robert Stubblefield, was born July 30, 1825, at Funk's Grove. He received such an edu- cation as could be obtained by the son of a pioneer. His youth was not at all extraordinary, but was spent in life on a farm. In 1851, he began farming and stock raising on his own account on the farm where he now resides in the township of Mount Hope. His land, one hundred and sixty acres, was entered by him in 1851. In 1852, he received one hundred and sixty acres of land from Thomas Cuppy, his father-in-law. The last named gentle- man had entered the land and paid for it with a warrant, obtained originally from a soldier who had served in the Mexican war. Mr. Stubblefield has continually added to his land, and now has about one thousand acres.
Mr. Stubblefield has a lively recollection of the incidents of the early settlement of the country, and remembers particularly the sudden change of December, 1836, and how his father's pigs were frozen by the intense cold.
Mr. Stubblefield's first sight of Chicago was in 1845, when he and his father and Absalom and George, made a trip to the place. They camped out along the way in the primitive style, and their slumbers were soothed by the howling of wolves. They sold their wheat for thirty-seven and one-half cents per bushel and returned.
Mr. Stubblefield tells a few lively hunting stories, for he fre- quently indulged in the sport of catching wolves and deer. At one time, while hunting, a deer was brought to bay by the hounds, and Lamon Hougham, who came up with a party of others, attempted to kill the deer with a spear. But his horse became restive and threw him on the horns of the buck. He held fast to the antlers, and James Funk attempted to shoot it, but stopped for fear of killing men or dogs. At last, George Stubblefield ended the exciting contest by killing the deer with his pocket knife.
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George and Adam Stubblefield once had an exciting wolf chase on the ice of the creek, and Adam succeeded in catching the wolf by the hind legs, but let it loose to see it fight the dogs. The result was another chase of half a mile, to get possession of the wolf.
Mr. Jesse Stubblefield did not begin to pay his addresses to the ladies as early as his brother George. Mr. Jesse Stubblefield married Miss Rebecca Cuppy, August 14, 1851. By this mar- riage he had five children, of whom four are living. They are :
Thomas, Robert, John C. and Sarah Rebecca, and all live at home. Mrs. Stubblefield died March 25, 1862. She was a most excellent wife and mother.
On the seventh of September, 1863, Mr. Stubblefield married Mary C. Showdy, daughter of George W. Showdy, deceased, of Logan County. She is a most amiable and accomplished lady, very kind in her manner and entertaining in her conversation. By this marriage Mr. Stubblefield has had six children, of whom five are living. They are :
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