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 72
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Mr. Rust obtained a hundred and twenty acres of land in De Witt County, as the result of much labor. On the 22d of October, 1840, he married Margaret Elizabeth Lindley, youngest child of John Lindley, sr. When Mr. Rust spoke of his mar- riage, in giving these items, Mrs. Rust said ; " What kind of a place do you think he took me to? It was away off, where I didn't see a woman for three weeks, and we lived in a little cabin without any window, and the light came down the chim-
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ney, and the wolves howled around us !" But Mrs. Rust enjoyed those early days, notwithstanding the rude surroundings. The family now live in Randolph's Grove, near where Mr. Rust, sr., first made a permanent settlement when he came to McLean County.
Mr. Rust has had eleven children, of whom eight are living. They are :
George W. Rust lives three miles east of his father's.
Thomas J. Kust lives about a mile and a quarter east of Ran- dolph Station, in Randolph township.
John L., Jennie, Alice, William Douglas, Minnie and Ben Rust, all live at home.
Mr. Rust is five feet and ten inches in height, weighs about two hundred and ten pounds, has a sanguine complexion, a bald head, and thin, sandy hair. He is muscular, has a great deal of courage, and the best of business qualifications. Perhaps his most marked characteristic is his fidelity, his faithfulness to his trust. Everything entrusted to his care has been well attended to, and everybody by whom he was employed had great con- fidence in him. He owns about nine hundred acres of land, has a great deal of stock, drives his business carefully and succeeds well.
WILLIAM MARION RUST.
William Marion Rust was born January 31, 1821, in Murray County, Middle Tennessee. He came with the family to Ham- ilton County, Illinois, and in the fall of 1834 to Randolph's Grove, McLean County. He was an active, industrious worker and gained a fair start in the early settlement of the county. He enjoyed the sports of the early days, particularly the great ring hunts. A great hunt was once organized, and a month or more was required for preparation. The pole was erected be- tween Randolph's and Funk's Grove, and on it was a banner, which bore the words, "Wolves and Deer," in large letters. The affair came off to the satisfaction of all parties, and the sport was rare indeed. Sometimes these chases were a little danger- ous. Mr. William Stewart was severely injured while with a large party after a wolf. His horse stumbled into a hole and fell, and he was so severely injured that his life was despaired of.
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On the 24th of January, 1842, Mr. Rust married Catherine Myers. He has had nine children, of whom five are living. They are :
Amanda, wife of Eber Stringfield, lives at Randolph's Grove. Franklin Rust lives at home.
Amy, wife of Joseph H. Lacey, lives in Jackson County, Missouri.
Carrie and George B. Rust live at home.
Mr. Rust is five feet nine inches and a half in height, and is in good health and spirits. He is a very fair, reliable man and understands well how to manage his business. He has an inter- esting family, and appears to lead a contented life. He looks back with pleasure to the sports of the early days, and says that nothing at the present time equals the chases on the prairie after the wolves and deer.
HARVEY JACKSON RUST.
Harvey J. Rust was born January 6, 1823, in Murray County, Tennessee. He moved to various places with the family, and in 1829 came to Hamilton County, Illinois. Hamilton County was then a great place for game, deer, wolves, wildcats and elk. The elk were not numerous, but the deer and wolves were abundant. Many people there made their living by hunting. They put up blinds in the trees and built fires there for the purpose of attract- ing the deer. Such positions were safe, and the hunters were protected from the wolves. The fires were built on platforms of boards, covered with earth, and were about fifteen feet from the ground. In the night time the deer stared at the fires and were shot down. These fires were made near the salt licks. In the fall of the year the deer came into the fields or enclosures and ate the corn and turnips. They were particularly fond of the latter. Sometimes the deer would knock off the rail of a fence while jumping over, and they would always afterwards jump over at that place. The farmers' boys would take advantage of this and kill the deer by placing sharp stakes in the ground near the fence, so that the deer would jump over on them. Mr. Rust sometimes killed decr in this manner, though it seems to have been a very cruel way.
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In the fall of 1834 the Rust family came to Randolph's Grove, Illinois, and here commenced farming. They first rented land and afterwards bought ground near where John F. Rust now lives. Harvey Rust worked at home until he was twenty-one years of age. Then he went with Isaac Funk and others to take a drove of hogs to Chicago. They went to Wolf Grove, thence to the Mazon, then on the Kankakee and from there to Chicago. The weather was very cold and many hogs froze to death. Mr. Rust earned his money during the early days by hard work. He broke prairie for various parties, for John Moore, Dr. Karr, Isaac Funk, the Stubblefields, Jesse W. Fell, and many others. He received from $2.50 to $3.50 per acre. But when he broke prai- rie for Mr. Fell the times were so hard that he could get only $1.50 per acre, and took his pay in Illinois money, worth only forty cents on the dollar.
In 1850 Mr. Rust traded a horse for a land warrant, and en- tered eighty acres of land about two miles southwest of where Randolph Station now is. He then had only his land and a wife. He was none too quick in entering his land, for the charter for the Illinois Central Railroad was passed during the next year, and the land office was closed for a season. He worked very hard to get a start, and succeeded. In 1852 he built a house and moved into it, and on this land he has ever since made his home.
Mr. Rust was no hunter. He once was passing through the timber when his two dogs caught a lynx, and Mr. Rust pounded it to death with a club. It measured six feet from head to tail.
On the 24th of February, 1848, Mr. Rust married Miss Ruth E. Burroughs. She died in 1862. In 1863 Mr. Rust married Miss Elizabeth Hoover, a very pleasant lady.
Mr. Rust is of medium height, and not very heavy. His face is rather long in shape, and his head is somewhat bald. Ile is very entertaining in conversation, and it is a pleasure to listen to him. He is a very kind and hospitable man, and seems ready to accommodate his friends and neighbors. He has succeeded well in life, and is in easy circumstances.
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CAMPBELL WAKEFIELD.
Campbell Wakefield was born February 11, 1804, in Crosby township, Hamilton County, Ohio. His father, whose name was Andrew Wakefield, was born May 5, 1765, in County Antrim, Ireland. His mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Camp- bell, was born December 16, 1772, in Franklin County, Pennsyl- vania. Her parents came from Ireland, though the name is Scotch. The Wakefields came originally from England; they went to Ireland during the rebellion. When Mr. Andrew Wake- field was eighteen years of age. he came to the United States. He married, 1794, in Franklin County, and immediately went to Nelson County, Kentucky, where he had previously prepared a farm. The journey was made on pack horses. Mr. Wakefield's relatives were well acquainted with the Lincoln family in Ken- tucky, which produced one of the greatest of American presi- dents. Mr. Campbell Wakefield says he always admired Mr. Lincoln's social qualities, though he could not act with him politi- cally. In 1803, Mr. Andrew Wakefield went to Crosby town- ship, Hamilton County, Ohio, and lived there until his death, which occurred June 23, 1828. The new country was then infested with horse-thieves, and Mr. Wakefield, sr., was one of the leaders of a band of men who "weeded out,' the pests of society, and wounded and captured the leader, John Long. Camp- bell Wakefield received his common school education in Ohio. He remembers very little of the war of 1812, and simply calls to mind that many soldiers went from Hamilton County, and that Hull's surrender at Detroit, caused a very profound sensation. He was never a great sportsman, but sometimes amused himself by hunting coons and opossums with dogs at night. The people there were accustomed to harvest all of their grain with a sickle. Whisky was a commonplace thing in the harvestfield. The peo- ple raised all their own flax, and the women dressed and spun it. Campbell Wakefield married, May 24, 1827, Margaret Elder, who was born December 19, 1803, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. They were married by the Rev. Thomas Thomas, in Whitewater township, Hamilton County, Ohio. They have one son, John Elder Wakefield, who was born May 10, 1828, in Crosby town- ship, Ohio. He is their only child.
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In June, 1835, Mr. Wakefield came to McLean County, Illi- nois, and bought land, where he now lives, near Heyworth. He returned to Ohio and brought out his family in October of the same year. He came with one large ox-team and two horse- teams. He immediately went to farming. He lived at first in a double cabin made of round logs with the bark still on. It was a rough dwelling, but it served his purpose for six years. He hauled his wheat to Chicago, took his own provisions with him, and received forty or fifty cents per bushel. There they bought their boots and shoes and leather and other necessarics. He re- members the celebrated sudden change in the weather of Decem- ber, 1836, and says that the first blast which came from the west froze everything up solid and covered the earth with a coating of ice. He hunted deer on the ice, and as it was everywhere slippery he succeeded in catching them with dogs. Mr. Wake- field has had rare sport in killing deer and wolves, and has fre- quently participated in the general hunts towards a pole put up in some central locality. He has continued farming up to the present time, has entered some land and bought some, and con- tinued adding to his original tract until he has obtained about fifteen hundred acres nearly all together. A part of it is now occupied by John Elder Wakefield, who lives a short distance west of his father's homestead.
Mr. Wakefield is of medium height and rather solidly built. His average weight is about one hundred and eighty-four pounds. ITis head is large and English in appearance. He has a large brain, and seems to be a man of most excellent judgment. The lines on his face indicate success and prosperity. He seems to be a very firm and decided man, and appears to be conscious of the fact, that in whatever he does or undertakes, he is backed up by the most correct judgment. He was commissioned justice of the peace, August 25, 1840, by Governor Thomas Carlin. He was re-elected, and commissioned by Thomas Ford, who succeeded Mr. Carlin as governor of Illinois. Mr. Wakefield had very little to do, as the people tried to deal fairly with each other and settle their differences without resorting to law. They had no use for locks on their doors. Mr. Wakefield served as commis- sioner appointed to divide several large landed estates, and this service he performed carefully and scrupulously. In politics he
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has been a Democrat. His first vote was cast in Ohio for Old Hickory, (the favorite title for General Jackson.) He has now a circular which was issued by the enemies of Jackson, with a view of influencing voters. It was called the " coffin circular." Gene- ral Jackson was not a man to stand on trifles, and on one occa- sion hung two men, by the exercise of military power, when he thought a desperate occasion required it. This coffin circular was sent around for the purpose of striking horror into the minds of the people; but it had quite a contrary effect. Mr. Wakefield is a man of liberality and public spirit. He owned the land on which the town of Heyworth stands. He made many appropria- tions for public purposes. He gave the land where the Presby- terian Church now stands, for the purpose of erecting a church thereon. He gave land for the district school of the town, also land to encourage the building of the steam-mill first put up by Caussin and Wilson, and afterwards by Mr. Dice F. Hall. He donated the undivided half of forty acres of land to induce the Illinois Central Railroad to locate the depot in Heyworth, where it now stands. He made other donations to encourage trade and induce business men to locate at Heyworth. This generous policy has had its effect in the growth of the town and the enterprise and thrift of the place. Mr. Wakefield pays a tribute of respect to his wife, and says that his success in life has been due in a great measure to her influence. He has been enabled to acquire some considerable property, and it is due to the prudence and wise counsels of his wife that he has saved it.
DR. THOMAS KARR.
Dr. Thomas Karr was born on the twenty-third of April, 1793, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His father, Captain John Karr, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. His mother's maiden name was Mercy Lee, and both father and mother came from old English stock. His great-grandfather knew Philadelphia when it was but a whortleberry patch. Like nearly all of our old set- tlers, Thomas Karr sprang from a numerous family ; he had five brothers and four sisters. While Thomas was yet an infant his father moved to the township of Mansfield, Sussex County, New Jersey, east of the Delaware River. Here he received his early education in a district school kept in a little log school-house
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with only one window. Thomas was a precocious boy in some respects : for whether or not he was very forward with his les- sons, he certainly was well advanced in the favor of those trouble- some creatures who plague the lives of school-boys-the girls ! When he was sixteen or seventeen years of age, he took quite a fancy to a young girl, and while dancing with her at noon around a bucket of water, they accidently upset it. The teacher took them to task for it, and Thomas insisted that he was to blame, and claimed that he should receive all the punishment; but the teacher punished them both. Thomas bore his own without any trouble, but he cried most bitterly when the pretty girl he fancied so much was punished too. Forty-five years after this little cir- cumstance, he met an elderly lady, who recognized him, and re- minded him of the incident-she was the pretty girl of his youth.
When he was about eighteen years of age, his father moved to Cineinnati Ohio, where he arrived on the last day of October, 1810. Cincinnati was then a very small place, and Thomas has frequently shot ducks in ponds, which were standing where Third street now is. In this new country Thomas was set at work. He hauled wood to market in the town, and made himself generally useful. After hauling wood two miles he could sell it for fifty cents per cord ! This occupation he followed during the winter of 1810-11. In the spring of 1811 the family moved up the Ohio River, ten miles from Cincinnati, where he remained nearly three years. It was in the fall of 1811 that Thomas Karr first saw a steamboat. It slowly moved up the Ohio River, about as fast as a boy could walk, and Mr. Karr could only express his astonish- ment by following it for three or four miles and throwing stones at it! During the following year (1812) war was declared with England. During this war all men were enrolled, and those of the military age, were put on a muster-roll and were liable to draft. They were afterwards divided into classes and graded, and one class was exhausted before another was taken. Men did not volunteer, but were drafted. Dr. Karr was drafted twice, and once he volunteered for a special expedition. But he was not at any time in actual service, as the occasions for which the drafts were made passed without requiring troops.
While living in Hamilton County, the only place to ship pro- duce was at General Harrison's Landing on the Ohio River, from
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whence it was taken away on flatboats. General Harrison, who lived there at the time, was a man about six feet in height, and rather slim built. His eye was very bright and expressive, and whoever once saw him never forgot him. He was the son-in-law of Judge Simms, the early proprietor of Hamilton County. The land in this county was granted to Judge Simms by patent from the government in the year 1800 or thereabouts. The patent covered all the land from the mouth of the Big Miami River to the mouth of the Little Miami, and extended twelve miles into the interior, and was given on the condition that Judge Simms should cause a large number of settlers to make their homes there.
In the year 1814, or about that time, the Karr family moved to North Bend in Whitewater township, where General Harrison lived. Here it was that Thomas was married ; but his lovely bride was not the pretty girl of his youth, in whose company he had been punished for upsetting the bucket of water. These little school boy romances are short lived. He married a charm- ing young widow lady, named Elizabeth Kitchell. He has had a family of five children, but they are now all dead except one.
In 1833 Dr. Thomas Karr bought land at Randolph's Grove, McLean County, Illinois, at $1.25 per acre, and in 1835 he came on with his family to occupy it. He arrived on the last day of October, and had at the time neither rail nor clapboard. He lived for two weeks after his arrival with two other families, con- taining in all eighteen persons, in a room sixteen feet square. But at the end of two weeks he had built a log hut in the woods and occupied it immediately, and felt rich ! The family lived in this little cabin for about two years and a half, when Dr. Karr was enabled to build a frame house of more respectable appear- ance.
In 1843 Dr. Karr was the assessor of McLean County, and did his work in fifty-five days, for which he received two hundred dollars.
Dr. Karr was in the early days a Democrat, but when his old acquaintance, General Harrison, was a candidate for the presi- dency, Dr. Karr was obliged to split his ticket and give the gen- eral a vote. The political parties prepared for this campaign
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very carly. Dr. Karr says that in January, 1840, the winter pre- ceding the campaign, he saw a party of men in the timber viewing the trees. They were looking and pointing first at one large tree and then at another, and finally they selected one, out of which they made a canoe, which was an emblem of the Whig party. This canoe, as our old settlers will nearly all remember, was taken to the various Whig gatherings during the following sum- mer, and created quite a sensation.
Dr. Karr is about five feet and eight inches in height, is rather heavy set, and his face is red and full. He is now nearly eighty years of age, but no one would think him over sixty. He is pleasant, talkative, and, above all things, jolly. He enjoys the world very much, and although he has now obtained a great age, he will live yet many years.
Dr. Karr was twice married. He first married, December 31, 1814, Elizabeth Kitchell, a widow, and had five children, of whom only one is living. They are :
Mrs. Eleanor Hopping, wife of Edward Hopping, born Octo- ber 7, 1815. She and her husband both died in McLean County at Randolph's Grove.
Martha Ann, wife of James Hodson, born November 2, 1817. She and her husband both died at Randolph's Grove.
Thomas Jefferson Karr, born February 10, 1821, died at Blooming Grove.
William Karr, born January 5, 1823, lives with his father at Randolph's Grove.
Elizabeth, wife of Captain Scoggin, of Blooming Grove, was born August 4, 1825. She died shortly after her marriage.
Aaron Kitchell, of Bloomington, is a son of Mrs. Karr by her first marriage.
Dr. Karr married Mrs. Martha Evans, of Ebensburg, Penn- sylvania. Her maiden name was Martha Edwards. She was a sister of Dr. Karr's first wife. Mrs. Karr was born December 18, 1802, in Llambrynmire, Wales. She is a very kind lady, and loves to entertain her friends in English style.
WILLIAM KARR.
William Karr was born January 5, 1823, in Whitewater township, Hamilton County, Ohio. He was educated partly in
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Ohio and partly in Illinois. He was rather a precocious scholar and learned his lessons easily. In Ohio he went to a schoolmas- ter named Dow, who occasionally took his dram. Mr. Dow sometimes felt the effect of spirits in the schoolroom, and once in a while fell asleep. At one time when he went to sleep all of his scholars left the schoolroom and went home without shutting the school-house door. A flock of sheep, which was grazing near by, went into the school-house, and when the master awoke from his slumber he was astonished at the character and appearance of his pupils. This incident made the schoolmaster wiser, and he never again fell asleep in school. When William Karr was eight or nine years of age, he suffered extremely from rheuma- tism, but being anxious to continue his studies he was taken to school on a gentle horse, by his brother Jefferson. He studied while lying down on two chairs. In October, 1835, the Karr family came to Illinois, as stated in the preceding sketch of his father. At Randolph's Grove William Karr, when only twelve years of age, went to school to Mr. Evans, a good old man, for a few days; but the schoolmaster said that William was too far advanced for him, and that ended his schooling with Mr. Evans. William Karr continued his education under other teachers, and made good progress. One of his old schoolmasters, Mr. Bur- rows, is still living at Young's place in Randolph's Grove.
William Karr married, December 24, 1844, Miss Mary Jane Elder, a daughter of David and Hannah Elder. She came from Whitewater township, Hamilton County, Ohio, where Mr. Karr was born. She came with her father's family to Randolph's Grove, October 13, 1842. On the day after their marriage, Eliza- beth Karr, William's sister, was married to Captain Scoggin, of Blooming Grove. This was December 25th. On the 26th of the same month they were given a grand dinner by Squire Campbell Wakefield, who had married William Karr and Mary Jane Elder. Squire Wakefield is Mrs. William Karr's uncle.
Mr. and Mrs. Karr have had eight children, six of whom are living, four sons and two daughters. The first child in infancy.
Anstis Karr was born January 30, 1850, is married to Richard M. Jones, and lives in Bloomington.
Iris Karr, born March 6, 1852.
John Karr, born May 8, 1856.
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Joseph Wakefield Karr, born July 1, 1859, and William El- der Karr, born January 31, 1869, all live at home.
Thomas D. Karr, born January 16, 1862, died September 12, 1864.
William Karr is about five feet and nine and one-half inches in height, is a very active man, and has not been sick during the last twenty-five years. His hair is thick on his head, but turning slightly gray. His eyes are light gray, like his father's. His family and his father's live in the same house, and it would be hard to find in McLean County a family whose familiar inter- course is marked by such consideration and delicacy of feeling. It is the lady who makes the household. It is said that a mem- ber of the Japanese government once called on the United States Minister, Mr. Delong, and, observing the fine taste displayed at the home of the American, inquired the reason. Mr. Delong said : "It is because a lady presides over the household." This, perhaps, goes far to explain the happy life and pleasant feeling in Mr. Karr's family.
GEORGE MARTIN.
George Martin was born January 13, 1802, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Martin, and his mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Thompson, were both born in County Down, Ireland, and emigrated to the United States at an early day. In 1802, when George was an infant, his parents moved from Pennsylvania to Mason County, Kentucky, and remained there until 1813, when they moved to Whitewater township, Hamilton County, Ohio. He does not remember much of the war of 1812. His brother went into the army as a volun- teer. His father lived for a long time in a little log cabin in the woods, and George had a fine opportunity to study nature at his leisure. In 1830, he married Susannah Harvey. In the latter part of October, 1835, he came to MeLean County, Illinois, with Campbell Wakefield. He has lived here ever since. He has usually followed farming, and rented land of Mr. Wakefield. He has lived a happy and contented life, has engaged in all the sports of the early settlers, and has been to every wolf and deer hunt in the neighborhood.
George Martin is a little more than six feet in height; his
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hair is gray with age. He is an honest, faithful, hard working man. He has a very pleasant, honest expression on his coun- tenance, and no doubt observes the golden rule to do as he would be done by.
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