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 57
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THE FIRST SETTLEMENT.
The first settlement of the county, as near as we can ascertain, was commenced by Justus I. Perrigo, an old soldier, on the land received from the Government for his services in the war of 1812, in 3 south 8 west, in Mill Creek district, in 1821. In the autumn of the same year, or the win- ter following, Daniel Pyle settled in 2 south, 6 west, in Wigle district; in March, 1823, Jno. Wood and Maj. Rose located at Quincy, and raised the first crop without fencing; having to travel thirty miles to get a plow sharpened, and forty miles to mill. During the same year, Maj. Campbell and Wm. Worley made an improvement in town, 1 north, 8 west, in Center District. Settlements were commenced in Bear Creek District in 1826; in Clayton and North East, in 1829 or 1830.
THE OLD SETTLERS.
BY SARAH EDWARDS HENSHAW.
Oh! band heroic! none can know The courage and the toil, With which they tracked the wilderness And tamed the unbroken soil ; Each furrow bore a costly price Of human hopes and fears, Was fertilized by sweat of man, And wet with woman's tears.
Yes : lovely is the prairie wide, As to-day it meets our gaze, Smiling with fields of blending grain- Tasselled with golden maize;
398
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
And peacefully the Illinois Goes singing on its way, By many a cheerful cottage home And many a city gay.
" Starved Rock " still lifts its battlements High o'er the smiling vale, And, gazing, looks for dusky forms Far down the Indian trail, But the white man's iron parallel Is the only track he sees, And the war-whoop of the iron horse Alone comes on the breeze.
Where cabin and where wigwam once Dotted the prairie wide,
City and town of world renown Hold homes of joy and pride. Glad sounds of busy industry With each new sun awake,
· And white-winged ships of commerce skim The bosom of the lake.
Then may God bless the pioneers, Hero and heroine !
Whose firmness wrought the mighty change Which in our "West" is seen. And when you sit in peaceful home, Or gaze abroad with joy, Honor the grand old settlers then Of grand young Illinois.
OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY.
The old settlers of Adams and Brown counties effected a temporary organization, which was found to be imperfect and incomplete, in the year 1869. In the following year, 1870, on the 1st day of September, a perma- nent organization was perfected. The meeting was held at Clayton, and a large number of old settlers, with their families, were in attendance. The constitution adopted was substantially as follows:
ARTICLE 1. This organization shall be known as the Old Settlers' Association of Adams and Brown counties. The objects of the Association are to preserve the facts, occurrences and recollections in regard to the early settlement of the country; state of the society in the early days; to recall the hardships, and learn the lessons to be drawn there- from; nothing shall be put down in malice, and no old story shall be revived that does in- jury to the living or dead.
ARTICLE 2. The officers of the association shall be a President, two or more Vice- Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer and Historian. An executive committee shall be appointed whose duty it shall be to carry out all the measures of the society committed to them. The officers and the executive committee shall serve for one year.
ARTICLE 3. The manner of conducting the meetings of the association shall be in ac- cordance with the customary proceedings of parliamentary bodies. The Historian of the society shall be the custodian of all the historical papers and relics of the association.
ARTICLE 4. Annual meetings shall be held at such a time and place as the association, at any of its meetings, shall direct. At any meeting a majority vote may require each mem- ber to pay such sum of money, not to exceed one dollar, as may be found necessary to pay for the printing and other absolute expenses of the society. Twenty members shall consti- tute a quorum at any regular meeting.
ARTICLE 5. The constitution can be amended and by-laws attached at any regular meeting, by a majority vote of the members present.
The following are the first officers of the association :
President, John McCoy, Clayton; Vice-Presidents, Wilson Lane, Quincy; Nicholas Hobbs, Brown county; Henry Asbury, Quincy; Robert Curry, Brown county ; William
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(DECEASED) Silas Becher
1
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
Laughlin, Mendon ; Joshua Keller, Mendon. Secretary, S. J. Morey, Clayton. Treasurer, Thomas Lackey, Clayton. Historian-Thomas Bailey, Camp Point.
Executive Committee, J. J. Waltby, Clayton; Henry Asbury, Quincy ; Granville Bond, Brown county.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
The following is a list of those who signed the association register.
NAMES.
DATE OF ARRIVAL. NAMES. DATE OF ARRIVAL.
Ira Tyler. 1840
C. C. Reynolds 1835
E. T. Stewart. 1840
H. C. Whitford .. 1833
Jared Blonsett. 1838
O. H. Bennett. 1832
Lemuel Burke. 1832
W. B. Douglas. 1835
Peter A. Sickal .1848
Wm. Beckit 1836
T. J. Bates. .1832
Wm. McFarland 1832
J. H. Holton. 1835
Thos. Pope 1837
J. A. Waddell 1834
Fred. Collins 1837
S. E. Siger .. 1836
A. E. Drain. 1836
John Arrowsmith 1841
1834
J. Montgomery, Ohio. 1839
D. H. St. Clair
.1835
Sam Bryerton, Pennsylvania ..
1841
Henry Wood.
.1832
Chas. Ballou, Tennessee. 1826
Nat. Peasc ..
1834
Jos. Hanks, Indiana.
1826
Joseph Artus.
1837
Geo. Green, Pennsylvania 1837
John Wolfe 1831
J. B. Lung, Kentucky. 1835
Ira Kimmon. 1834
A. J. Pautz. . 1840
Thomas Bailey, Maryland. 1840
G. O. Pond. 1839
Elisha Turner, Indiana ..
1833
Wm. Taylor. 1832
James Hunter 1847
John Dannery 1831
Paul Korantz.
1838
Wm. Shull.
1835
James Campbell.
1831
O. Waddell.
1839
James Sykes.
1834
Wm. Goodman
1823
N. B. Beahertsar. . 1835
David Curl
1831
W. A. Strickler. 1839
Hugh Lewis.
1837
John Carbaugh. .1837
J. O. Waddell
1829
Nancy Briscoe. 1827
A. C. Porter 1846
G. B. Dimock .. 1838
J. W. Goodwyn
1837
J. M. Cyrus. 1838
Jno. Linn. 1839
S. N. Black 1836
L. M. Littlefield. 1839
A. F. Campbell
1838
Chas. Maertz. 1836
L. E Reynolds.
1835
W. B. Powers. .1838
J. C. Malthaner
1856
J. C. Cox. .
1838
Isaac McNeil .1849
Wm. Bellew .. .1826
J. T. Harding
1838
Jos. B. Gilpin.
1842
Henry Lyle .. 1822
A. M. Petrie. 1830
J. P. Shannon. . 1837
Mrs. Mary E. Butz 1829
A. H. D. Butz. 1834
E. L. Bartholomew. 1835
Wm. Mibby .. 1837
Jno. Howell. 1831
W. W. Glenn. 1828
E. B. Hoyt. . 1843
E. R. Wooters.
1840
P. H. McFarland. 1832
Eli Engle.
1850
A. G. Laning. 1845
Jesse Phipps.
1840
J. Robinson. 1833
David Wolfe 1831
Jas. Tuxford .. .
1840
J. C. Browdy. 1830
Geo. Arrowsmith 1837
D. W. Campbell. .1831
Thos. G. Black. 1835
Wm. O'Harra, Kentucky .1846
H. C. Craig. 1829
J. Gault 1836
Horace Reynolds 1835
A W. Blakesley 1841
26
Thos. Hamilton .1830
1835
J. C. Orr.
1828
Thos. Payne, England.
1837
Wilson Lane.
.1836
Lewis McFarland.
.1831
Jas. Wisehart .. 1834
T. J. Long .1831
Benj. Gould. 1832
Adam Schmitt. 1834
J. S. Beckit. .
U. S. Pinfred 1838
Farrow Hamrick. 1831
Eaton Littlefield. .1838
Porter Smith. 1826
G. A. Miller. 1836
Wm. Campbell 1829
Anna Broady
Martin Stewart. 1827
1832
J. H. Eckes .. 1842
Lucien Kingman
J. T. Alexander. 1838
399
400
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
NAMES.
DATE OF ARRIVAL.
NAMES. DATE OF ARRIVAL.
T. Graff. 1844
Daniel Lix. 1829
J. B. Shahaney 1838
W. W. Shannon. 1842
Jno. Petrie. . 1835
Mary H. Gurn. 1836
Dan Pile, Tennessee. 1831
Geo. Petrie .. 1834
W. D. Dodd. 1827
1833
Jenny Lane. 1836
E. S. Frank 1852
J. J. Earl.
1845
J. L. Lucas. . 1850
Rebecca Earl. 1827
M. F. Alexander
1841
Margaret Allen 1838
J. Franklin. 1840
Mrs. E. Mellon. .1844
W. H. Miller, Ohio. 1850
Thos. Reddick 1829
Thos. Briggs. 1833
Chas. Chase. 1830
M. L. Stewart 1837
H. R. Motter .. 1855
Mary M. Lung, Delaware. 1833
W. F. Rampy 1839
Mrs. Ann Root. 1829
T. L. Howden. 1838
Lydia E. Howden.
1832
J. Pills, Pennsylvania.
1840
K. Clarkson ..
1816
Oliver Howes, Massachusetts. 1830
Dan Bolinger.
1836
C. G. Timmons, Ohio. 1838
Geo. McMurray, Kentucky.
1829
Bradly Stewart, Ohio. 1833
Julia A. Dodd. 1835
E H. Hamilton, Kentucky. 1833
Christian Piles, Pennsylvania. 1840
J. B. Montgomery, Ohio. .1840
Rebecca Chase, Pennsylvania 1830
W. H. Langdon, Indiana. 1837
G. Fry, Kentucky ... 1836
R. R. Garner, Indiana. 1831
Cynthia Robinson. 1833
Eliza W. Duncan, Kentucky. 1829
J. C. Robinson. 1835
Julia Rampy 1831
Emma Maden. 1842
E. Downing, Indiana
1831
J. C. Smith, Kentucky . 1836
Mrs. E. Notin 1828
G. W. Cox. 1841
N. Swain
A. Geddings 1835
1831
Jno. Craig, Kentucky 1829
G. C. Trotter, South Carolina 1836
J. O. Bernard, Kentucky. .1834
John Donnely .1831
Francis Amen. 1832
Martin W. Larby 1830
Christiana Kennedy 1830
Mary A. Wallace, Kentucky. 1835
Eleanor Ploehouse, Kentucky 1831
Oliver Howes 1830
At the next meeting of the Association, which was in 1871, the follow- ing by-laws were adopted:
SECTION 1. The Old Settlers' Society shall hold their meetings annually, on the first Thursday, and the Friday next thereafter, in the month of September.
SECTION 2. The hour of meeting shall be 10 o'clock, A. M., of the first day, and at the hour of 9 o'clock, A. M., of the second day.
· SECTION 3. At the appointed hour the President shall call the society to order; and if he be not present, the oldest Vice-President shall preside.
SECTION 4. Special meetings of the society may be called by the President on the written application of at least twenty members of the scciety; and in case of the death, absence, or inability of the President, the oldest Vice-President shall act. The time and place of such meeting shall be named in such call, as also the object of such meeting.
T. E. Durant. 1837
G. R. Phelps
J. II. McFarling, Ohio 1834
Jno. McCoy. 1834
J. F. Owen. 1834
W. D. Ruddell 1834
Thos. Leachman 1837
W. W. McFarland 1837
Sarah Stewart .. 1830
Uriah Henson. .1849
E. B. Keep. 1837
D. G. McFarland. 1834
Jefferson Cleaver, Vermont. 1836
J. B. Hendricks. 1832
Isom Vancel. 1828
J. W. Pearce, Tennessee ... 1831
Woodford Lawrence, Virginia. 1831
Jas. A. Wallace, Kentucky. 1835
R. Campbell, Tennessee. F M. Curry. 1830
.1851
J. D. Morris. 1852
Jno. Pierce. .1829
E. C. Downey, Indiana 1835
J. R. Kern, Virginia. 1840
Leonard Hoffman, New Jersey. 1836
Josiah Douglas, Kentucky ... 1835
W. C. Robinson, North Carolina. .1833
G. J. Akers. . 1836
Frank Parker. 1850
J. L. Hopper, Tennessee .. 1839
N. L. Garner.
W. H. Gage 1836
J. H. Madan. 1852
1841
W. A. Wallace, Kentucky. 1835
P. A. Howes. 1830
T. P. Coan 1836
A. K. Powers, Virginia. 1832
401
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
ARTICLE II .- DUTIES OF OFFICERS.
SECTION 1. The Secretary of the society shall keep a correct record of all proceedings of the society, which shall be furnished for publication to the Historian ; and it shall be the duty of the Historian to publish, in connection with the minutes of the Secretary, all the historical facts collected by such historian, under the care and supervision of the Executive Committee.
SECTION 2. The Treasurer shall collect and take care of all moneys of the Society, and pay it out on the order of the Committee of General Arrangements, properly attested and approved by the Finance Committee.
ARTICLE III .- ELECTIONS.
SECTION 1. The elections for officers shall take place and be held at the hour of 4 o'clock, P. M., of the second day's meeting (nevertheless the society, for convenience, may hold said election at some other hour, if so determined by a vote of the society), annually, and may be by ballot, if so desired by the society, at the time of such election, a majority of all the votes cast being necessary to a choice.
ARTICLE IV .- STANDING COMMITTEES.
SECTION 1. The Standing Committee shall be an executive committee, as provided in the constitution, and a finance committee, consisting of three (3), whose duty shall be to look after and properly take care of the finances of the society, and see that all claims against the society are correct before the same is paid, and they shall report the condition of the finances annually to the society.
SPECIAL COMMITTEES.
SECTION 2. There shall be a committee of general arrangements, consisting of ten, to be appointed (as well as all other committees not otherwise provided for), by the president, or in case of his disability to act, the oldest vice-president, at least one month before the annual meeting, whose duty it shall be to appoint such other committees as may be neces- sary, and make all necessary arrangements for the comfort and accommodation of the society.
ARTICLE V .- MEMBERSHIP.
SECTION 1. All persons who are residents of Adams or Brown counties may become members of this association by registering their names on the journal of the society and paying fifty cents as an admittance fee to the treasurer, and thereafter annually twenty-five cents, which funds shall be applied to defray the expenses of the society, and if there be a surplus fund it shall be disposed of as may be directed by the society.
The signers of the society register that year, which included some of the citizens of Brown and other adjacent counties, was as follows:
NAME AND NATIVITY. CAME TO
STATE.
William J. Rogers, Conn .. 1831
1829
Peter Ausmus, Tenn. 1817
Wilson Vanderlip, N. Y 1838
Nancy Ann Haley, Ky. .1834
Henry Asbury, Ky. 1834
John Metz, Va. . 1835
John Dawson, N. C. 1816
John Hagerty, Ky. 1831
Robert Tillson, Mass. 1822
Daniel Wilkes, Ky.
1831
Thomas Lacky, Pa.
1823
C. Weeks, Ill. . 1823
Jackson Davis, Va .. 1830
James Campbell, Ky 1830
O. C. Miner, N. Y
1836
James McCrarq, Penn. 1826
S. P. Church, R. I. 1835
Lorenzo Bull, Conn. .1833
Bradley Steward, Ohio. 1833
A. Stewart, Ohio. 1833
David K. Watson, Ohio. 1836
John McCoy, Ky. 1834
Mrs. Nancy Howes, Mass. 1830
R. H. Hurlbut, Vt. .1834
Edward Jamison, Ireland.
1838
John A. White, Tenn. 1833
David Locke, Ky .. 1830
Sidney Parker, Vt .. 1834
A. B. Kirkpatrick, Ga 1802
NAME AND NATIVITY. CAME TO
STATE.
J. N. Ralston, Ky. 1833
John H. Keller, Sr. N. C. 1831
M. M. Bane, Ohio. 1845
Mary A. Combs, Ky. 1829
David Cure, Ky. 1831
Elnor Johnson, Ky. . 1831
Granville Bond, Ky. 1827
Elizabeth Bond, Ky. 1827
Jessie M. Kirkpatrick, Tenn. 1827
M. S. Taylor, Ky ..
1833
John H. Best, Ireland. 1838
Josiah Bell, Ohio. 1837
Richard Slaton, Ky .. 1823
Hugh Lewis, N. J. 1837
Sally Ann Johnson, Ind. 1818
Ebenezer Turner, Me .. 1831
John Downing, Va. 1831
J. C. Kirkpatrick, Tenn.
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402
IIISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
EARLY EXPERIENCE.
Lorenzo Bull, speaking of courts in 1833, says, R. M. Young was judge of the Circuit Court ; Henry H. Snow, clerk, recorder and clerk of Commissioners' Court; he was also probate judge, notary public, po- lice magistrate, and had been post-master. Snow only made a meager living out of all his offices. Mr. Bull, at six dollars a month and board, did the bulk of the work and soon began to accumulate money. The sons of the Nutmeg State almost always thrive in new countries, and Mr. Bull has become a brilliant exponent of the general rule.
The court was held in those days in a two-story log building, that stood on the corner of Maine and Fifth, afterward Dimnocks', and now Huffmans' business stand. It had a puncheon floor and a carpenter shop in the second story, which was also used as a town hall. This building was burned and nobody seemed to regret it.
Mr. Bull describes the seal of Adams county as being of very primitive . construction. The seal was fixed into a rough frame against the wall, and a walnut rail used for a lever to bring the impression out upon the paper ; upon the extreme end of this, it was the custom of Mr. Bull to throw his avoirdupois, and thereby produce the seal of the county of Adams. For two years all the records are still seen in Mr. Bull's handwriting.
Gov. Glenn's history of early times embodies some remarkable incidents of pioneer days, and he says, in an address before the old settlers :
" Mills were very scarce in those days. I can remember my father go- ing sixty miles to mill, but then he took as much grain as ten yoke of oxen could haul, and did not have to go again for six months. Hominy was a very convenient substitute for the staff of life, and the labors of the day were often supplemented by a course of hominy beating after supper."
" This process of obtaining food was common among all the men of early days, and the hominy morter, and later the hominy mill, was an institution of the land. . There was also a variety of this food known as hulled corn or lye hominy, and this use of chemical agents, instead of laborious me- chanical appliance, was very popular with the young and rising generation.
"Many of the agricultural implements used by early settlers were of a unique character and suited to the exigencies of the times. Harrows were constructed from the fork of a tree, and supplied with wooden teeth. Plows were of divers pattern and various shapes. Wooden mold boards, made from a tree that twisted against the sun, or with it, as you desired to turn the furrow to the right or left, fastened on the plowshare and attached to the stock, furnished the implement for plowing the ground.
"The wheat was cut with the old-fashioned sickle or reap-hook .. Cradles afterwards superseded the sickles, although at first bitterly opposed by many as an innovation.
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" The clothing of the pioneers was all of domestic manufacture. Wool, flax, and even cotton were products of the country. These the women wove and spun into various kinds of cloth such as linen, linsey, jeans, and cotton cloth."
Mr. Wm. D. Dodd in his remarks at one of these meetings stated that his was the ninth family in Quincy. He described the old bar-shear plow, and stated that he had marched behind one of them many a day with no other clothing upon his person than what is generally worn beneath a man's vest. His father traded a clock for an acre of ground at the corner of Twelfth and Maine streets, and Governor Wood afterwards bought it for $100.
Mr. Thomas Sackey, of Adams county, also brought up many old facts.
AHA, Buty LIBERTY TOWN SIHP
403
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
He could not complain of hardships in particular, the people of that day were generally of the right kind. When you went to a neighbor's house then, the first thing asked was, " Have you been to dinner?" and hospitality always prevailed. He spoke of the big snow in 1830, and said he was in Morgan county, and wanted to get home. The storm was blinding, and it was almost impossible to face it. After several trials he got a good hold of the tail of one of the oxen, and told him to go. The ox went dragging him on the snow and finally landed him at the house. During these times it is said that two and a-half bushels of shelled corn would buy one yard of domestic or one pound of coffee. In August the settlers were very liable to take the ague or "shakes," as they were called, which is a malarious disease not yet entirely driven from the country.
In the old settlers meeting of 1872, George McMurray said:
" He came to this country in 1829, and had lived here ever since. He was poor like some of his neighbors, but always had something to eat. He went a bee-hunting once, and got into a nettle patch, and thought at first he was walking on snakes. He looked for snakes three times and that ended his bee-hunt. He lay on the west side of the branch north of Clay- ton one winter night without any covering except his coat. He went to sleep, and he waked up in the night and found that he was cold, and had to roll around on the grass before he could limber himself up. He traveled 600 miles from Quincy to Kentucky and back on six bits and didn't sponge or beg."
Mr. Joseph Turner stated that he came to Adams Co. in 1834, and was informed by George Campbell that the first white man who built a house in Adams was named Lyle. Mr. Campbell was the only neighbor to Lyle for many years.
Mr. Wm. M. Dodd also related his experience. He said among other things that his father bought a lot of Ed. Pearce on the corner of Fourth and Maine streets (which included what was lately Dr. Rallston's property) for $130 in trade.
The first person who ever made a shoe for sale in Quincy was a man named Druland, of French extraction.
Mr. Harrison Dills told of the summary punishment of a thief who was ordered to run the gauntlet, and right where the Virginia house used to stand the double line of men was formed, each armed with a hickory stick, and after the peculator had made the trip through those lines he was ready to "go west," or anywhere to be away from Quincy.
Solomon Wigle related that in the year 1828, three stray cattle came into the neighborhood where his father resided, and Mr. Wigle, Sr., took them up and advertised them as the law required. One of them proved to be so unruly that he could not be restrained in any ordinary enclosure, and roamed over the country at will, annoying the community until forbearance ceasing to be a virtue, they held a consultation, at which it was decided that something must be done; and as they believed in the principles of justice, they concluded to give him a trial for his life. Accordingly a regular court was organized, with judge, sheriff, jurors and attorneys, and a fair and . impartial trial was held at the new log schoolhouse, which resulted in verdict of guilty and the penalty of death to the offending steer. He was to be slaughtered and properly dressed upon a given day and the beef di- vided per capita among the families of the neighborhood. The hide was to be converted into a rawhide belt for Mr. Wigle's horse grist-mill. The sentence was executed to the letter, this being the first case of capital pun- ishment in the county.
.
404
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
Col. C. A. Warren relates that when he first came to Adams county he and his niece crossed the Mississippi river July 4, 1836, where Keokuk and his followers, ten in number, had pitched their tents and were worship- ing their spirit Maniton by sacrificing a black dog. On the corner of their tent hung a string of ten scalps-taking sealps was the corner-stone of their civilization. The chief took the hand of Mr. Warren's niece and counting the rings upon her fingers said, " How many scalps you take." That was the nature of civilization then.
Col. Warren refers to the time when Quincy lawyers, in the days of "Sacketts Harbor," rode from Quincy to Springfield on horseback. He says that Judge O. C. Skinner. Hon. O. H. Browning, Hon. A. Williams and himself frequently got stuck in the " Harbor" (now the site of Mound Station) and had to help each other out.
Robert Becket, of Clayton, spoke of the open prairie where Keokuk Junction now stands. He has hunted wolves on that identical spot, and was positive at that time that it would never be settled up. The settlers then came to a new country singly and by families, but now the case is different, for they go in gangs, which latter method he considered a great improvement on the former.
A. T. Stone, of Quincy, in speaking of the early times in Adams county says that when he came, which was in 1822, Gov. Wood lived in a small cabin in Quincy, where the Tellico mill is now situated. Henry Lyle lived at Liberty, and these, with a few other families, constituted the population of Adams county. In Schnyler county, Rushville only contained half a dozen families. At Atlas, the county seat of Pike county, which county included an immense territory, not more than three families resided. He knew all the families that lived in the military tract. Up to 1830 the emigration was very searce. The deep snow of that year was very severe, and prevented many from coming, as they had fears that the snow would cause loss of life. Settlers did not commence coming in until 1833. The wood was never prepared in those days in the fall, but a tree was cut as needed in the winter. The tree was hanled to the cabin and used up as required.
FIRST FERRY.
In the year 1838, May 16, Woodford Lawrence in company with two other men, built the first ferry boat that probably ever crossed the Missis- sippi river in the vicinity of Quincy. It was constructed of two canoes, a platform connecting them, around which a railing was built to keep the animals and otlier passengers from falling off into the water. The first passengers were three horses which were safely carried across one at a time. This primitive ferry made the trip across the river at the month of Mill creek. It was built for the purpose of carrying the horses across the river, their owners being desirous of taking a trip in the State of Missouri.
As showing the extreme cold weather of the winter of 1843, it is stated that on the 3rd of April, Jacob Abbott, and Jacob Hunsaker crossed the Mississippi on the ice. They made the trip on foot, leaving the Missouri shore at Hannibal, and arrived safely at their homes in Payson and Liberty townships, returning from a visit in Missouri. They had long poles to assist them in case the ice gave away, but the ice was found to be safe.
EARLY CUSTOMS.
While the early settlers toiled hard, they were not averse to a little re- laxation, and had their season for fun and enjoyment. If they did not re-
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