USA > Illinois > Washington County > This is Washington County; its first 150 years, 1818-1968 > Part 10
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A county miner, Ted Keil of DuBois, labelled "No. 112" lay between life and death for months, finally recovered, and went back to work in the same shaft. Later No. 5 was closed, its shaft filled and all topside rigging removed. In Foundation Park, Cen- tralia, a bronze plaque today lists the names of the 111 men who died in this holocaust. The story of
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"Old No. 5," and the needless death of 111 miners, has been the subject of many articles in national periodicals, down through the years.
If there is any romance connected with the grim task of mining coal, it goes to the little mine at Du- Bois, closed in 1961, called the oldest mine in the
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Ted Keil, survivor of the No. 5 disaster, check- ing names of the 111 dead on Centralia plaque.
state. The shaft went down during the days of Lincoln, so narrow that the mine mules had to be set on their haunches to make the trip. Located alongside the Ill- inois Central tracks, the mine saw the birth of the famous Hayes ten-wheelers, and no less a personality than the legendary Casey Jones rode the high iron past it. The mine was never modernized. Miners op-
All that remains of Okawville's last coal mine.
erated with open-flame lamps on their caps, used pick and shovel methods to mine coal. A serious cave-in at shafthead finally closed the mine. Today the shaft has been filled, all the top rigging removed.
There have been several other attempts at coal mining within county borders, none of which reached the commercial stage.
In addition to the mines mentioned here, there also is a "natural" coal mine in the county, almost forgotten today. At a spot on the Kaskaskia river, known as Coal Stone ford, Covington township, a natural out cropping of coal was mined by the pio- neers when the river was at low stage. The vein still is visible, but can be viewed only during mid-summer when the river stage is extremely low.
72
IT HAPPENED HERE OVER 100 YEARS AGO
By Cdr Earl R. Smith
T. W. Smith opened a law office and announced he would take clients in Madison, Washington, Bond, and St. Clair Counties. May 29, 1819.
Dr. John H. Lambert of Carlyle in Washington County was agent to collect neighborhood news for the Edwardsville "Spectator" and to receive payment for subscriptions to that paper in his county. June 5. 1819.
Chester Ashley opened a law office in Wash- ington County. June 5, 1819.
The town of Carlyle advertised that it was very much in need of a shoemaker and cobbler. June 18, 1819.
Harry Willton and Elizabeth Allen, both of Wash- ington County, were married by Lewis Laughlin. Esquire, on August 22, 1819.
John Lee and Beulah Burton were married by Mr. Laughlin on September 1, 1819.
The property of Jacob Meyer, deceased, was sold at public auction. September 25. 1819.
Nathaniel S. Benton, Attorney, announced that he would take clients in Washington County. Feb- ruary, 1820.
John Kain, a County Commissioner, approved a bill in bankruptcy filed by John Martin. His assignee was Harry Willton. March 1. 1820.
Mr. Kain also approved a bill in bankruptcy filed by Joseph Foss. His assignee was George Pogue. March 3, 1820.
The Honorable William H. Bradsby. Clerk of the County Commissioners Court of Washington Coun- ty. announced the sale at auction, on the 3rd Monday of April. 1820, of the goods, chattels and credits of Walter Ifull, deceased.
The state census of 1820 showed that Washington County had a population of 1.511 whites and 33 colored people.
A group of Washington County citizens, headed by Thomas F. Herbert. Chairman, and Thomas Lawr- ence, Secretary, met in the Carlyle Hotel and adopted a resolution to wear crape on the left arm for thirty days to mourn the death of the national hero. Com- modore Stephen Decatur. April 18, 1820.
On June 13, 1820. it was announced that one of the recently established post roads in Hlinois would run from Kaskaskia, by the Irish Settlement, Coving- ton. Carlyle, and Perryville, to Vandalia.
A summons was served on Stephen Easton to appear in the Washington County Circuit Court in Covington to show cause why his wife. Polly, should not be granted a divorce. July 7, 1820.
Benjamin Mills was a practicing attorney in Washington County. When in Greenville on business and while attending court he was the house guest of Doctor Perrine. August 9, 1820.
On Thursday, August 17, 1820, Daniel Mckinney of Jefferson County was married to Fanny Williams of Washington County by William Vandergrift, Esquire. The wedding took place at the Eagle Salt Works near Carlyle.
Washington County was represented in the State Senate by Zach Maddox and in the House of Repre- senatives by Charles Slade. September 12, 1820.
Candidates for Congress were Mr. Cook and Mr. Elias Kent Kane. It was rumored that the latter had the support of the slavery party. October 10, 1820.
Nearly everybody in Washingon County read the Edwardsville "Spectator." The Editor announced that there would be no edition published for the first week of February, 1821. because he had loaned too much of his printer's ink to a neighboring newspaper and had not been paid back in time to go to print.
On February 20. 1821, it was announced that the Honorable William H. Bradsby had been elected Judge of the Washington County Probate Court.
An editorial dated February 20, 1821, expressed the view that entirely too many counties were being formed in Illinois and that several applications to form still more had been "rejected by the good sense of the legislature."
On March 14. 1821. there arrived at the Town of Carlyle in Washington County the elegant barge "Eliza Martin", burthen about 130 tons, owned by James Strode of Virginia and laden with 75 tons of metal for the Eagle Saline.
On February 15. 1822. Barton Gilbreath was married to Mrs. Taylor in Covington.
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At Carlyle on May 7, 1822, John W. Skipmore was married to Sarah Ann Foss, daughter of John Foss, formerly of Baltimore, Maryland.
William H. Bradsby, Esquire, allowed himself to be named a candidate for election to the office of Major General to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of General Moore. June 22, 1822.
On February 4, 1823, the Senate confirmed the nomination of James Temple as a Justice of the Peace for Washington County.
It was learned, on April 19, 1823, that Colonel Bankston, Senator for Washington County, had suc- cessfully blocked a move to create a new county of which Carlyle would have been the center. The Senator's action was based on the fear that the move had been the result of an unholy bargain with certain members of the conventionist (slavery) party.
It was discovered that the water from a certain well, situated on a high ridge in the prairie near to the road, leading from Carlyle to Shawneetown, had the same properties as sal cartharticus amarus (Epsom salts) and should be an excellent source of revenue for the community. November 8, 1823.
On October 12, 1824, Colonel William H. Brads- by of Covington was a candidate for Elector of Presi- dent and Vice President. His instructions were to vote for Henry Clay for President and Mr. Sanford of New York for Vice President.
On October 19, 1824, Henry Sharp, Esquire, of Washington County, was a candidate for Elector, with instructions to vote for Henry Clay for President and for "some tried Republican as Vice President."
Representing Washington County in the Fourth General Assembly ( November 23, 1824) were Colonel Bankston, Senator, and Philo Beers, Representative. Mr. Beers was appointed to a committee to investigate other members to determine if each had satisfied the statutory requirement of residency in their respective counties.
On Saturday, December 11, 1824, Mr. Beers pre- sented a remonstrance of sundry citizens of Wash- ington County against a division thereof.
On December 21, 1824. the public learned of the final outcome of the General Election for and against a proposed convention which had for its purpose an
Amendment to the Illinois State Constitution to make it a slave state. The results showed that the citizens of Washington County had voted 112 For and 173 Against the convention.
On Wednesday, December 22, 1824, a bill was passed to form a new county, to be named Clinton, out of parts of Washington, Bond and Fayette. Among those voting in favor of forming the new county was Colonel Bankston, Senator for Washington County.
In the Fifth General Assembly Washington Coun- ty was represented in the Senate by Joseph A. Beaird and in the House by Charles Slade. Septem- ber 29, 1826.
The local representatives for collecting news and receiving payment for subscriptions to the Columbus (Sparta) "Herald" were David F. White, Postmaster at Beaucoup; John White, Sheriff at Nashville; and William Boyd, Postmaster at Nashville. September 13, 1839.
James McClurken. living in Elk Horn Prairie, 14 miles west of Nashville on the headwaters of Mud Creek. offered a $5 reward for the return of a black mare which had strayed. Mr. McClurken was the owner of the steam mill. January 3, 1840.
Several complaints were registered with the Post- master at Beaucoup because the Columbus (Sparta) "Herald" had not arrived on time. Friday, January 10, 1840.
The local representatives for the Sparta "Demo- crat" were Z. H. Vernor, Postmaster of Nashville, and D. S. White. Postmaster of Beaucoup, Friday, May 8, 1840.
On March 6, 1841, Henry Huggins of Bolo was married to Elizabeth S. Curtis in Nashville, by Justice of the Peace James Burns. The groom was born in Illinois, the bride in Tennessee.
On April 4. 1852, William Huggins was married to Margaret Bird by Samuel Pyatt, Justice of the Peace in Perry County, Illinois. ( Ed. Note. Robert Huggins, who migrated to Perry County around 1800 from Pee Dee. South Carolina, and who married Kate Lively, was the father of James Huggins. This James was the father of William, who married Margaret Bird. Wil- liam had a son, David, who had a son, David, who was the father of Jack D. Huggins, CPA of Belleville, Illinois, who currently audits public accounts in Washington County.)
74
WASHINGTON COUNTY AND THE CIVIL WAR
By the Ordinance of 1787, the Northwest Terri- tory was declared free. But the existing slavery in the old French settlements was not tonched, and in the days of the Ilinois Territory, slavery was brought in from the south under the subterfuge of calling slaves "indentured servants."
When Illinois sought admission to the Union, the only debate in Congress was over the question whether Illinois was actually a slave state. The pro-slavery ele- ment was strong, and the first legislature passed a set of laws that were as oppressive on colored people as those of any southern state. Efforts were made to pro- tect and increase existing slavery.
According to the old records, there were a few slaves in Washington County, but most of the people who first settled here had done so to get away from slave territory. The slave element, realizing that most of the incoming immigration was anti-slavery, made a last effort to make the state slave. This element. controlling the legislature by political knavery, pushed through a bill to have a special election relative to a state constitutional convention which they expected to control.
The election was held in July of 182.1 and was a very hot one. But when the votes were counted, it was defeated by almost four to one, in a total vote several times as big as in the presidential election a few months later.
Washington County voted against the convention 173 to 112. Nevertheless, Illinois had many com- mereial ties with the South, and anti-slavery views were unpopular in the large towns. But the tide of emigra- tion was rolling in, and most of the newcomers were anti-slavery, especially the Germans who poured into the county, starting about 1837.
The old pro-slavery element gave them a cold re- ception. A political movement called the American Party began in the South and spread into the North as a secret society called the "Know-Nothings," whose aim it was to stop emigration, fostering slavery. It polled a fair-sized third party vote in Washington County in two national elections. On the other hand, the German settlers were befriended by some of the older anti-slavery families from Tennessee.
The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in the 1850s brought the situation to a climax. The abolition- ists in the county organized stations on the "under- ground railroad" to help slaves escape. One branch entered the county and brought slaves to a station near Oakdale. From here they were moved to a station just east of Nashville. operated by the Henry family.
The next move was Richview, where they were put aboard Illinois Central trains bound north.
On the other hand, the pro-slavery element and those who profited by it, sometimes threatened people who were outspoken abolitionists. They also tried to capture escaping slaves and return them to their own- ers for rewards.
The late John Meyer af Addieville, last Civil War Veteran in Washington County.
But as far as can be determined, the county under- ground railroad lost only one man in the area. He was shot, northeast of Nashville, and grisly as it sounds today, his head was severed and sent back south for the one thousand dollar reward.
The outbreak of the Civil War revealed that the people of Washington County were overwhelmingly for the Union. There were over 1.200 enlistments, a Continued
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rather amazing figure for a small county. The list shows a very large number of Scotch-Irish and Ger- man names.
Over two hundred soldiers from the county lost their lives in the war, either on battlefields, or from illness or accident. Battlefield promotions were com- mon in the Civil War. Thomas Seawell of Nashville, for instance, was promoted to brevet Brigadier General before he was 24 years old. The pro-southern element in all the bordering states north of the Ohio organized a secret group most commonly known as The Knights of the Golden Circle, an organization which engaged in various anti-Union and treasonable activities. Further south in the state they blew up railroad bridges, killed Union men, threatened their families, and in one instance even stopped court proceedings.
The Army had to guard the Illinois Central bridge over the Big Muddy river the entire time of the war. When the draft began, they tried to obstruct it and sheltered draft evaders and deserters.
In Washingon County, where they had very little support, they met at night in a clearing in the Elkhorn Bottoms, west of Plum Hill. Thus northern states were divided into military departments, with troops always present, and ticklish situations arose over the division of authority between civil and military. In the summer of 1864, the people of Nashville awoke one Saturday morning to find the city under martial law, held by a squadron of Union Cavalry, who invaded the town looking for deserters, draft evaders and others sus- pected of treason. It is said that several such hurriedly left town in women's garb. The troops took others into custody before leaving on Monday.
What seems rather amazing today is the fact that the census of 1880 showed 800 Negro residents in this county, with a scattering in every township. One wo- man, a Mrs. Rivers, who had come through this county as an escaped slave on the underground returned to Nashville and for years worked for the Needles family. Another, still remembered, was Peter Parley, who lived in New Minden and for years was an engineer for a threshing crew.
The returning soldiers organized a veterans' or- ganization called the Grand Army of the Republic, or GAR, with a women's auxiliary called the Women's relief Corps. This became a powerful group in both county and state politics, and was one of the chief mainstays of the Republican Party, which with few exceptions carried this county by a good plurality from 1860 on. Both groups lasted until after World War I, the Women's Relief Corps until the middle 1920s.
The last surviving Union veteran in the county was John Meyer of Addieville, who lived an active life until well after ninety.
1
The new A.T.&T. microwave tower is a landmark in Pilot Knob township.
The Oakdale Microwave Radio Relay Tower
The Oakdale microwave radio relay tower pic- tured here is located ten miles south of Nashville, in Pilot Knob township, a facility of the Long Lines Department of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, a new landmark in the county.
It is one of many similar installations spaced at twenty to thirty mile intervals along a route from Butler, Pa. to Oakland, Calif.
The 307-foot-high tower, situated on a ground elevation of 535 feet, has been in service since 1965, and provides message and network video service to St. Louis and Kansas City.
The poured concrete building adjacent to the tower is air conditioned to maintain a constant inside temperature of 75 degrees for the equipment. It con- tains a diesel engine alternator which, in an emer- gency, would provide it with three week's power sup- ply. Eight people are employed at the installation.
76
WOODEN SHOES
Today's generation rarely sees a wooden shoe being worn. But at the turn of the century, up until the early twenties, wooden shoes were worn on many Washington County farms, especially by the older folk. They brought the shoes from their native Germany. and the habit was deeply inrooted, slow to die.
One of the artisans who made wooden shoes in the county was the late Christ Lohmeier, who resided near Okawville. Mr. Lohmeier learned the trade as a boy in his native Germany, and when he settled in the county. he found there was a steady market for his product. He made wooden shoes for nearly sixty years.
The photo showing him making a pair of shoes ont of maple blocks was taken long years ago. He could fashion a shoe out of a block of maple in less
than an hour. Some of the shoes he made are col- leetors' items today. His artistry died with him, and the clap-clapping wooden shoe today is nothing but a nostalgic memory.
The shoes had their purpose. They were easy to ship into, or out of. The wearer never brought them inside, but left them on the step. They were waterproof, and were worn until the patina of use was a dull sheen of darkness. They were excellent to ad- minister a swift kick to the side of some recalcitrant heifer refusing to stand still to be milked. Walking had its own impact when the shoes were worn. The initial wearer walked something like a duck because of the stability of the shoe, yet the user soon learn- ed the "swing" necessary to their use.
The late Christ Lohmeier, who for sixty years made wooden shoes in the county.
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"The Plague" in Washington County
On a blacktop road leading north from German- town is a huge cross standing in a pasture, a memorial to the dread years of a cholera epidemic in this part of the state. Many people pass here, but very few seem to know the story of the cross. Factually, it has been there for over a century.
The story of this cross began in the terrible chole- ra epidemic years of 1831-49, when people died like flies in southern Illinois. St. Louis had 601 deaths in a single week. An entire farm family of ten were wiped out over night at Eagle Prairie near Lebanon. Coulter- ville, Fayetteville, Mascoutah, Okawville, Germantown, Breese and Carlyle, all had staggering death tolls. No
one knew how to stop the epidemic. Called the Black Plague, it raced through the country like a prairie fire.
People sprayed the premises with lime; fires were fed with sulphur; even boiling vinegar, tar and burn- ing coffee was used, all to no avail.
It was during these days that John Altepeter, a Germantown farmer and father of a large family, made a covenant with God: spare his family, and he would erect a fitting monument for all time as evidence of his faith.
Miraculous as it sounds, the Altepeter family were spared. The father went out to the woods lot, hewed Continued
Site of a cholera death in Washington County.
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out a cross from two stalward limbs, and mounted it in his farm pasture, facing the road, so all conld see. The cross has been there ever since. Wooden ones rotted away and were replaced. Now the cross is of durable concrete.
On this side of the river, in Washington County, the plague struck just as disastrously. It caught the pioneer, heading west in his Conestoga wagon; it trap- ped the pioneer in his log cabin. Many of the trailside graves, which were unmarked, have since been lost. Many of the county's early cemeteries have burials that were the result of "the sickness."
The disease struck hard in the Elkton community, where it was labeled as spotted fever, an eruptive dis- ease, accompanied by high temperatures. Today it might have fallen under the label of cerebrospinal meningitis and typhus. The date here was 1862.
Rhoda Rountree Rohde died here on April 8, 1862, leaving a small baby. Philip Reuter lost several children, two dying in one day. A son, Gustav, age
three, survived but was stricken blind. It was not un- common at that time to bury two or even three chil- dren in a single grave.
Oldtimers in the Elkton community tell of the "death" of a mother who was being prepared for burial. when a faint pulse was noticed. The woman recovered.
There is still standing in the county the ruins of an old house in which a woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Mc- Clellan, died of cholera in 1851. The house, shown here, is a ruin. located between Mckinley Station and Oakdale.
Space does not permit the expansion of this article on "the sickness," exploring the many incidents of per- sonal loss as loved ones succumbed to the disease. Remember, there were no antibiotics in those days; the practicing physicians knew little relative to a strange epidemie. People fell sick one day, were interred the next. These were times of trial that will long be re- membered in history.
TWO NEGROES HANGED AT NASHVILLE IN 1892
There are a few senior citizens residing in Wash- ington County who will recall the sensational murder of Marens Deitsh at Richview on the night of Decem- ber 26, 1891. Deitsh was an itinerant peddler who re- sided at Richview and hawked his wares in the area. A Russian Jew by birth, he was a familiar figure to many. He was genial, well liked, and didn't mind the name of "Mike, the little Peddler," that his customers pinned on him. He did a flourishing business.
Then one morning his body was found in a path- way near his boarding house, his skull bashed in, and his throat cut. Evidently he had been murdered for his money, as he usually carried a sizeable sum on his person.
In the course of time the guilty parties were arrested. Tom Davis and Henry Dickerson, two ne- groes who lived in Richview. They were lodged in the county jail at Nashville, and the long prosecution be- gun. They were finally sentenced to be hanged, and before going to the gallows, made a full confession of the crime.
They had waylaid Deitsh, beat him down with clubs, before they robbed him. Later, fearing he
might regain consciousness, they crept back to the scene and eut his throat with a jackknife.
The two were hanged at 11:29 a.m., Saturday, May 14, 1892. from a scaffold built within an en- closure in the courtyard at Nashville. Sheriff Sam White was in charge of the hanging.
In Earlier Death Sentence
While this was the first judicial execution ever held in Washington County, it was not the first death sentence imposed here. In 1862, James Ambrose was sentenced to be hanged in Nashville for the murder of an unele in St. Clair County the year previously. Amos Watts was then State's Attorney, and Salem Goodner was sheriff. Ambrose had killed his uncle with a shotgun. The county jail then stood in the southeast corner of the public square, and as the scaf- fold was being erected in sight of the condemned man's cell. he swore repeatedly that it never would be used. He was right in his belief, for the day before the execution, Gov. Yates of Ilinois commuted his sen- tence to life imprisonment. He was pardoned eight years later, and returned to work as a carpenter. But ironically. he was caught in a falling wall soon after- ward and killed.
79
EARLY DAYS OF RICHVIEW
Let's turn the clock backward a century or more, and retrace the steps of those men and women who built our first communities, churches, schools and stores. Old Richview was laid out in 1839 by Wm- Livesay. In early days it was called Richmond. First settler was James Severs. Following close upon his footsteps came Joseph Barber, Asa Foster, John Tate, James Gore and H. O. Whittenberg. They built the first school, a log structure, at Grand Point.
Cornelius Dorsey opened the first store. Richview grew, soon had five stores, two blacksmith shops, a wagon shop, and three physicians.
In 1852, when the Illinois Central Railroad laid their tracks through the county, the site was about one- half mile east of Old Town. In 1854, the railroad company started a new addition to the town, built a depot, and called the station Richview. One of the old residents who was living at that time told how the en- Continued
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