The history of Adams County Illinois : containing a history of the county - its cities, towns, etc. a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion; general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 36

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Murray, Williamson & Phelps
Number of Pages: 1254

USA > Illinois > Adams County > The history of Adams County Illinois : containing a history of the county - its cities, towns, etc. a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion; general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 36

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For each meal of victuals. $ 25

Lodging for night. 1215

A 1/2 pint of whisky

1215

brandy

371%

rum

wine 3712

Wine per bottle.

1.00

Gin per bottle ..

1834

Horse feed per night, fodder and grain.

Single horse feed. .

1212

RULES OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT.

One of the first rules of the County Commissioners' Court which appears of record, adopted Sept. 4th, 1826, is as follows:

" Ordered that the following be adopted as a rule of this court: That this court always give their opinion in'writing on any case of controversy, and that there shall be no argument after the decision of the court is given. The court shall on all such cases of controversy consult together privately

268

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

or otherwise, as a majority of them shall think proper; and further, that either number of the court shall have the privilege of entering his protest as a matter of record to any opinion given by a majority of this court."

In 1823 Col. James Johnson, a brother of Richard M., who killed Tecumseh, leased from the United States government the lead mines in and around Galena, and, having been very successful, the movement at- tracted the attention of every enterprising man in Western Illinois and of course Adams county shared in the general excitement, and quite a num- ber of the citizens started for the scene full of the hope that their fortunes would soon be made. The excitement was, however, but temporary, and soon it was discovered that there was considerable humbug about the chances for making fortunes, but for several years numbers of persons would go up to the mines in the spring-work during the summer season, and upon the approach of autumn return to their homes, and on this account they were, and probably all Illinoisans were first called " Suckers." During the year of 1829 Levi Hadley, the first sheriff appointed for Adams county, while on his way to Galena, fell from a steamboat and was drowned.

SCHOOL AND TEMPERANCE.

As early as 1827 the people commenced to evince an interest in educa- tional matters, and Jabez Porter opened a school in Quincy, using the old log court-house as his school-room. It is also a matter of record that in the same year the first grocery was established in Quincy-a business which, although changed in name still flourishes, but is being vigorously assailed at present by its opponents of the red and blue ribbon brotherhood, who had the example set them of banding together to fight in the cause of subduing alcoholic appetite as early as the year 1830, when the first temperance organization was effected in the county at Quincy with twelve members; but the writer, from the best information he is able to obtain, believes that the president of the organization became intoxicated, and the interest of the members in the canse somewhat abated.

STOCK OF GOODS.

During the same year, Asher Anderson arrived from Maryland with a stock of goods, took out a license and opened the first store for the sale of dry goods, &c., in the county of Adams. Williard Keyes was recom- mended to the Governor as a suitable person for the office of Justice of the Peace, and on June 5th, of the same year, Lewis C. K. Hamilton, in the open conrt, entered as a matter of record the emancipation of a certain negro boy named "Buck," and gave bonds as required by law for the main- tenance of the said boy.

269

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

FERRY RATES.

The Court also granted Ira Pierce a right to keep a ferry across the Mississippi river at Quincy, and established the following rates of ferryage:

Each loaded wagon drawn by 2 horses or oxen

$1.50

2.00

unloaded “

2 1.00

1.50

pleasure wagon or carriage drawn by 2 horses or oxen.

1.00

ור

1 horse 0x

man and horse.

foot passenger.

single horse or neat cattle over one year old.

1831

sheep, hog or goat. .

horse cart drawn by one horse.

MAIN STREET OPENED.

On Tuesday, June 5th, 1827, the County Commissioners' Court appro- priated $20 to open Main street from the river to the public square, and Rufus Brown was appointed to superintend the work.

FISCAL.

Below will be found an abstract from an official report of Adams county fiscal concerns, of date, December 1st, 1827:

Amount of notes vs. individuals for town lots sold, now in Treasury, $1,040.52

Amount of revenue received from State of Illinois for current year, in Auditor's warrants, 52 per cent. on $275. 171.8712

$1,212.3912

Amount of outstanding orders $153.63

Note vs. County to Russell Farnham, now due at 10 per cent .. 200.00

Interest due.

46.66 400.29

$812.1012

FIRST COUNTY JAIL.

On Monday, March 7th, 1827, the County Commissioners' Court gave notice that they would let, to the lowest bidder, a contract for building a county jail of the following dimensions, viz: The logs to be sixteen feet long each way, to face fourteen inches square, to be let down well at the corners, and close upon one another, with a good dovetail notch at the corners, and to be floored with timber of the same size both above and below, and to be seven and one-half feet between the floors in the lower story, and the halls of the upper story to be four and one-half feet high, and to be covered with good shingles well nailed on; the said shingles to be eighteen inches long, the gable ends to be well studded and boarded up, and to have a door in one end six feet high and three feet wide, to be made of two-inch plank, to be hung with good iron hinges, and furnished with a substantial, strong lock for the size of the door; with one window in the lower hall, one foot square, secured by iron grates of inch diameter, well let into the timber at each end, and to be two inches apart from center to center; with a flight of

270

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

steps to lead to the outside door, and a trap door to communicate with lower story, to be three feet by two feet, and made of oak plank two inches thick and composed of two thicknesses, well fastened together with iron spikes, and the logs where the door is made to be well dowelled together with two-inch pins. The work to be done in a good, substantial manner, as a jail should be. The timber to be all of oak. Said jail to be located on lot 6, bloek 11, immediately adjoining the " stray pen," and fronting on Main street, near 5th street. where now is Kelly & Rogers block. Ephraim Green, being the lowest bidder, obtained the contract to build the jail, he having bid the sum of $150.50.

FIRST PREACHING.

The people of the county do not seem to have taken much interest in religious matters until, in the year 1828, we find that the Rev. J. Porter, a Methodist minister, delivered a sermon in the town of Quiney, which will be properly referred to in a subsequent chapter of this work. During this year Messrs. Tillson & Holmes opened the second store in Adams county, in a building on the northwest corner of Hampshire and 5th streets, which they occupied until the following year, when they moved into the first frame building erected in Quincy, and long known as the " Old Post Office Corner," on the corner of 4th and Main streets. It was during this year, also, that the manufacturing of briek was first inaugurated, and the first bricks made may now be seen in the south side of the building, on the corner of 4th and Main streets, known as the Tillson block. In 1830, Asher Anderson erected the first brick house in the county, in Quiney, near the corner.of 3d and Main streets.

DEEP SNOW.

This year, 1830, is memorable and famous in the annals of the county as being the year of the " Deep Snow," and is an event which is impressed so vividly upon the minds of all the old settlers as never to be forgotten, and, in fact, many of them appear to date everything of publie importance that has transpired during their lives from that time; and it is thus they say, " before the big snow," or, " after the big show." It commeneed snowing about the last of December and snowed for several days and nights withont interruption, reaching an average depth of four feet, and in many places drifting to the depth of eighteen and twenty feet. It caused the people to undergo many privations, and great suffering was experienced by the settlers. The settlers relied for their daily food upon the Indian corn which they were enabled to raise, together with wild game, which was abundant at that time. Plenty of the former was raised to supply the wants until the next season's crop, but when the snow fell very little had been gathered, and those without at the time were compelled to rely on their neighbors who had been more fortunate, for help, which, in those

QUINCY

271

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

days of. pioneers, was readily given, and rather regarded as a neighborly obligation than a duty. Game could not be had. The great depth of snow was a barrier to all travel, and it may be well imagined that the sufferings of the people were very great indeed. It is related that Mr. Lockey, who lived, at that time, two miles above Naples, on the Illinois river, went a mile and a half from home on the morning the snow began to fall, to haul in some corn; but when he reached the farm on which the corn was to be obtained it began to snow, and stormed so hard it was almost impossible for any one to see or get about. He remained there until night for the storm to abate, but it continued with increased fury, and by night was over eighteen inches deep, and still falling. Mr. L. brought his oxen with him to draw in the corn, and, thinking he must go home to his wife and their two little children, he concluded the best mode of travel was to climb on the back of his most gentle ox and ride him home; but here he met with a new difficulty; the ox's back was covered with snow and slippery, and despite every plan and the most determined efforts he could not succeed; as a final desperate resort he decided to wind the tail of the gentle ox firmly around his hand, and endeavor to follow them home, trusting to their instincts to guide the way. He started, but before they went many rods he found it impossible to keep his feet and travel after them, so he held his grip and allowed them to drag him the entire distance home. When he arrived his clothes were filled with snow, but he was warm, and by changing his clothing experienced no serious damage from being dragged a mile and a half through two feet of snow.

The snow lay on the ground until about the first of April, and we have little doubt but that many a weary one during that long winter sighed for the comforts of the " old home." Still, notwithstanding its great dreari- ness and the great sufferings of the people, none became disheartened, for we find the sturdy settlers of Adams, in the spring of 1831, as determined as ever to carve out for themselves a home and fortune in this truly beau- tiful country.

272

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

CHAPTER IV.

FIRST FLOORING MILL-LAND OFFICE-INVESTIGATION-TAVERN RATES RE- ESTABLISHED --- WEATHER IN 32-BLACK HAWK WAR-ANECDOTES -- CAUSES OF SLOW GROWTH-CHOLERA-POPULATION-PRICES OF PRO- DECE-WILD-CAT SCHEMES-AGRICULTURAL-MAILS-PRICES IN QUIN- CT-THE JAIL-ELECTION PRECINCTS-INCORPORATION- COUNTY SEAT CONTEST - COLUMBUS-HIGHLAND COUNTY.

FIRST MILL.

In those days the people lived many miles distant from mills and from any point where provisions or supplies of any kind could be obtained. The residents of the county were compelled to do without many of the articles which are considered now-a-days the " necessaries of life." Coffee was made from the seed of Okro. an herb which at that time was cultivated for that purpose, and wild honey. which was found in abundance. was used as sweetening. It was forty miles to the nearest blacksmith shop. at Atlas, Pike county, and farmers were compelled to carry their plows that distance on horse-back to have them sharpened.

In the year 1531. an enterprise. much needed in those days of ineager facilities for procuring the necessaries and conveniences of daily life. was par into operation, by the erection in Quincy of the first steam fouring- · mill. thus saving the early settlers many miles of travel.

LAND OFFICE.

In the same year-1831-the United States land office was established a: Quincy, with Samuel Alexander as register. and Thomas Corlin as receiver. The first entry of land was made in December of that year. and during the following year bat seventeen additional entries had been made. It was during this year. 1531. that the first addition to the town of Quincy was laid out by John Wood, and John E. Jeffries built the Land Office Hotel on the north side of the public square. This for many years was a place of very general public resort, and headquarters for the mutual interchange of local news and gossip. Many are the associations of this historical house. It has long since been numbered with the institutious of the past.

INVESTIGATION.

The first investigation of a public official in the county of Adams, was in the year of 1831. Abe Prickett, Gen. Hite. and John E. Jeffries accused H. H. Snow, clerk of the courts, with malconduct, and on March 26.

273

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

1831, the court having duly investigated the charges. found him not guilty. Archy Williams defended Mr. Snow. and made a splendid speech in his behalf. which went a long ways toward shaping the verdict. Considerable feeling was evinced by the public, and when the court announced their ver- dict it is said that John Wood, who was present. whispered loud enough to be heard all through the court room, " Virtue rewarded!" Tom King. feeling that Snow had been outraged, upon the adjournment of the court attacked Hite and gave him a severe beating, and then turned his attention to Prickett whom he served in a like manner, and had Jeffries not made his escape by fleeing from the scene he would undoubtedly have been served in the same manner.

TAVERN RATES RE-ESTABLISHED.

As is known by all, in those days each person taking out a tavern license was regulated by a special act of the Commissioners' Court. The moving object in taking out a license was that the keeper of the tavern might legally sell liquors. Certain it is that occasionally a traveler would come along who would prefer sleeping under the shelter of a roof. but this we believe was only the exception. for in most cases they would camp out. The tavern-keeper did not expect to make his money by keeping an inn proper, but the chief source of income was the sale of liquors. or from what in later days is denominated a saloon.

On Tuesday, March 8, 1831, tavern rates were re-established as follows. which appears to have been required by the innovation or use of mixed drinks:

For keeping horse per night. with fodder and grain

CTS-

Each meal of victuals

Lodgings per nighi 12->

Single horse feed. 1215

Whiskey or peach brandy le Di. .

191

French brandy. Holland Gin, and good Jamaica Spirits. 12 Th

Maderia Wine. - .. small glass.

191

Other Wine

pr. 1. pi ..

Punch pr. glass with 12 gill good liquor.

Single drink of any kind of spirits without sugar ...

with loaf or lump sugar 12

WEATHER IN '32.

Those of the early settlers of this county who have survived the winter and spring of the year 1832 will not fail to remember that they are memorable for numerons instances of sudden changes in the weather from extreme warmth to extreme cold. It is related that on the sixteenth dar of March. 1832. David Clark and William Carter, of McDonough county. were returning from Frederick to Macomb. each with a wagon-load of goods. On the morning of this day they left the residence of a friend living near Doddsville and proceeded a few miles when it became so

274

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

cold they could go no further. Unhitching their oxen from the wagons they started for the nearest house, a few miles distant, barely reaching it alive. On this same day two men left Blandinsville for Fort Madison, the weather at starting being comparatively pleasant. They had gone but a short distance when the weather suddenly changed, and they discovered that they were freezing. One of them hurried off for help, which was ob- tained, and on going back the other man was found but a short distance from where he was left, frozen to death. Such were some of the experiences of our pioneer settlers, as we have them from the lips of the survivers.

BLACK HAWK WAR.

The troops for the Black Hawk war were called out in 1831 by Gov. John Reynolds, upon the petitions of the settlers on Rock river and vicinity. The first petition, which was sent to him in April, 1831, stated that "last fall the Black Hawk band of Indians almost destroyed all of our crops and made several attacks on the owners when they attempted to prevent their depredations, and wounded one man by actually stabbing him in several places. This spring they act in a much more outrageous and menacing manner." This petition represented that there were six or seven hundred Indians among them. It was signed by thirty-five or forty persons.

Another petition sets forth that "the Indians pasture their horses in our wheat fields, shoot our cows and cattle, and threaten to burn our houses over our heads if we do not leave." Other statements placed the number of the Indians at no more than three hundred. Therefore the call was made May 26, 1831, on the militia for seven hundred mounted men. Beardstown was the designated place of rendezvous and such was the sym- pathy and courage of the settlers that the number offering themselves was almost three times the number called out. They left the encampment near Rushville for Rock Island June 15, 1831, and on the 30th of June, in a council held for the purpose, Black Hawk and twenty-seven chiefs and warriors on one part, and Gen. Edmund P. Gaines, of the U. S. Army, and John Reynolds, governor of Illinois, on the other part, signed a treaty of peace and friendship. This capitulation bound the Indians to go and remain west of the Mississippi river. In April, 1832, this treacherous chief, with some five hundred followers, appeared again npon the scene of action, and fear and excitement spread through the length and breadth of the State. Gov. Reynolds, hearing of the threatening movement after a while, in his home at Belleville, made a call on the 16th of April, 1832, for militia to meet at Beardstown on the 22d of April. There were two com- panies from Adams county; of one Wm. G. Flood was captain, E. L. Pierson lieutenant; Capt. Earle Pierce, the sheriff, raised the other, which was afterwards Capt. Martin's and Capt. Coon's command. There are but few remaining now among the many that hurried off to help their fellow-

275

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

citizens in the north, but among the number is Gov. Wood, now in his eighty-first year, who went and took with him two hired men. Abler hands will at some future day, we presume, prepare the memoirs of his eventful life, and rescue from forgetfulness many thrilling scenes to brighten the page of history. Mr. Robert Tillson, still living in Quincy, which at that time was the only postoffice for many miles, was post- master and store-keeper, and could not go, but furnished an outfit con- sisting of gun, tin cup, blanket and provisions for Mr. John M. Holmes and another young man, who were his clerks.

At this time the population of Quincy was less than one thousand, and the mail was brought once a week, by a man on horseback, from Carroll- ton, Apple Creek and Atlas.

Such was the feeling toward the faithless band of British Indians that hardly half a dozen men remained behind, and much fear fell upon the defenceless ones that were left at home. On the 15th of September, 1832, a treaty was made that ended all alarm upon the borders and permitted the arts of peace once more to flourish among the pioneers. President Jack- son, in a message to Congress, spoke in flattering terms of the brave and efficient action of the Illinois volunteers.

ANECDOTES.

John Thomas, a jovial, kind-hearted man, and a regular Yankee, had a peculiar pronunciation, saying, Keum eout.

Mike Dodd, another odd character, when he came to Quincy, as a matter of course, would imbibe freely and would then give vent to his feelings in boasting that he was "Mike Dodd in a minute and was built up from the ground like a muskrat house, and didn't bny 'taters of a nigger." Mike had a very large horse, which he usually rode, and whom he called Boleaway.

Another character in the county, when in town, would always make his little speech, which was: "That he lived behind Jonathan Crow's plantation and drank branch water."

A blacksmith, who was one of the earliest settlers of Quincy, had a favorite dog whom he called " Nigger Boy," and he would say that Nigger Boy was not " boughtable."

A hatter used to take his periodical spree, usually in company with Ed Pierson. Upon one occasion he and Pierson procured an old candle box, with a candle stick and some small pieces of candles, and paraded the streets, bareheaded, arm-in-arm, crying out: " We are the light of the world."

There was also a queer character by the name of Young, who settled in Quincy in the year of 1828 or '29. He had been President of the Owl Creek bank, a bogus concern in Ohio or Indiana, and came west to escape the rage of an indignant and swindled community. He was a very enthu- siastic member of the Masonic fraternity, and also practiced law. Upon one occasion, in a trial of the right of property, before Wesley Williams,

ent in and mış. aty

roms Le dil

er 3, for

276

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

Young was employed on one side and was opposed by Archey Williams and Judge Logan. Young became very much incensed because Williams and Logan used legal terms which he did not understand, saying: "I do not understand your teaticle phrases." Young was a " jack-of-all-trades," and upon one occasion he was employed by the Captain of a steamboat to make a figure head for his boat, which he did, and the Captain refused to pay Young his price for it, which made Young angry, and he swore he would build a boat to the figure head, and at once proceedad to put his threat into execu- tion. After he had laid the keel, some one, during his absence, wrote upon the keel, " Young's folly," which so disgusted him that he suspended oper- ations. Afterwards, Young was dubbed " old figure head," which name he bore as long as he remained in Quincy. He died some years afterwards near Peoria, in a rail pen.

Another of the odd characters who settled for a time in Adams county was a little man by the name of Louis Masquerier, from Kentucky. He resided in Quincy, on the bluff, on what is now Main street, and kept what was then termed a grocery (a ten gallon keg of whiskey). He finally gave up that business and went to Vandalia, to be examined for a license to practice law. He knew but little (if any) law, and the Judges, Wilson, Smith and Lockwood, feeling that the people would soon find it out, gave him his license, they knowing that he could do no harm, being so totally unfit for the profession. He made some pretentions as a poet, and the early papers teemed with his effusions. He finally drifted to New York, and was lost sight of.

Uncle Johnny Kirkpatrick, one of the ministers in the county, was an oddity in his way. He was not very learned, but had a way of drawing his illustrations, which, to say the least, was peculiar. In one of his sermons, he was combating the idea that the Christian religion could be over- thrown, saying: "You might as well try to turn over Laurel Hill with a corn-stalk; it can't be done." At another time, whilst attempting to show that the Christians were going through the world by the help of divine inspiration, he said, " Christians are not going through the world blindfolded or groping their way in the dark. They know they are on the right road to heaven." His simile was that if they (his hearers) were going to Atlas, Pike county: "You would not take out into the prairie and around the corner of Keyes' fence, but would, on the contrary, go down the river, and you would find three notches on the trees, which would assure you that you were on the State road. And so it is with the Christians; they see the notches all along their route."

To a former resident of Quincy belongs the idea of originating paper collars, as the following incident will show: One of the early residents of Quincy, who had come from the east and had been accustomed to wearing linen, or to use the popular phrase, " biled shirts," was in quite a quan- dary, not being able to get any washing done. In his distress, he ap-

277

HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.

plied to one of the inhabitants who was blessed with a wife. The citizen said he could get his wife to wash his shirts, which she did, using a home-made starch, which was manufactured by pounding corn into the proper consistency. When his shirts were returned, the bosoms were completely scaled with the hulls of corn. He had chalked the collars so long, that chalk would not remain on the surface any longer, and being of an inventive turn, he cut out of strong letter paper some collars and pinned them over the old ones, thus making the first paper collars on record.

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The history of Adams County Illinois : containing a history of the county - its cities, towns, etc. a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion; general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 36

Author: Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : Murray, Williamson & Phelps Number of Pages: 1254

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Murray, Williamson & Phelps
Number of Pages: 1254