USA > Illinois > Washington County > This is Washington County; its first 150 years, 1818-1968 > Part 2
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Mr. Adam Kerry, 80-year-old resident of the Kerry School community, East of DuBois, distinctly remembers the time when as a boy he played with other Negro children who lived nearby.
"Most of these Negroes were slaves, recently
Continued
David Watts of the Washington County Histor- ical Society, at a Negro grave, east of DuBois.
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freed." he said. "They purchased wooded farm land here because land was very cheap. each family acquir- ing a forty-aere tract. They were good people, elated by their new freedom. They worked hard to make a living, cleared the land, helped their white neighbors with their erops."
Mr. Kerry remembers several occasions when he drove a spring-wagon pulled by a team of mules which served as a hearse, at these Negro funerals. The last Negro burial in the old cemetery, Mr. Kerry believes. was that of Henry Lewis, possibly in the year 191-4.
Most of these Negroes, he remembers, died of tuberculosis or dropsy. Some of the family names were: White, Thomas, Green, Davis. Merriwether, Um- phries and Lewis. Lewis buried five of his children in
the old cemetery before his own death and burial there.
Mr. Kerry was quite certain, too, that at one time there were eight Negroes working in the DuBois coal mine, rated "oldest in Illinois." One by one the fam- ilies died out, or moved to other communities. Today, all that remains of these former slaves are the old cemetery markers.
Mr. Joseph F. Wagner, who operates Traveler's Inn on highway 51 near DuBois, also remembers these Negro families. "They were good people." he said, re- miniseing. "We lived together without any trouble whatsoever."
That Washington County played even a small part in the emancipation of the Negro is of historic note.
Famous Bridge on a Once-Famous Road
If you were born prior to World War I, and lived in Washington County, you remember the Cox Ferry Bridge that spanned the Kaskaskia River. At one time it was an important link between Washington and Clin- ton Counties, and a gateway to St. Louis.
This famous bridge. located on the Mud Lake-St. Louis Road, was at one time the only bridge spanning the Kaskaskia between Carlyle and New Athens. It bore the brunt of traffic enroute from southern Illinois to St. Louis.
Now the bridge is gone, and so is the old road.
When the concrete was poured for Illinois State 15. and a new bridge built across the river, north of the Cox Ferry site, the old one soon fell into disuse. Even the road was soon forgotten.
In 1936 a joint effort was made by Washington and Clinton County historians to save the old span, but to no avail.
Before this bridge was erected, a ferry crossed the Kaskaskia here, known as Cox's Ferry. It was the only crossing for the pioneer with his Conestoga wagon, headed west, or for the early farmer whose wagon. loaded with grain and produce, sought the St. Louis markets.
The bridge was razed in 1938. Today, on the Washington County side, nature has reclaimed the road. On the far side of the bridge is the tiny commun- ity called Wittenberg. You won't find it on an Illinois road map. but a cluster of houses on the river, about a mile southeast of New Memphis Station, give credence to the community. Here a factory once stood that made butcher blocks out of native timber. There also was a
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The old Cox Ferry Bridge, razed in 1938.
sawmill and a small hotel called Stopover House. When the traveler to St. Louis reached the Cox Ferry Bridge on the Kaskaskia, he usually figured his journey was half over.
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Washington County in Grandfather's Day
Before the Civil War, Washington County was dotted with the one and two-room log cabins familiar to this age. The slow, yet dependable, ox team was still in the barn lot, as well as the wooden mold-board plow, the open fireplace, and the Kentucky (made in Pennsylvania ) squirrel rifle. These conditions were part of life's pattern when the first settlers moved in. There was little change until a few years before the war of the states.
The log cabin will last a long time as an image of pioneer America. It was picturesque to say the least. One end was devoted to the open hearth and fireplace;
the chimney usually made of split sticks, mortised with clay, ran up on the outside. The clay was first made into a kind of mortar or adobe, and with this the sticks were freely plastered, to keep down the fire hazard as well as cement the chimney in place. It was referred to as a chink-and-daub chimney.
Usually the fireplace was so large that backlogs for it had to be rolled in at the open door, too big to be carried. The forestick and other pieces of wood rested on the dog-irons, so as to be above the hearth level. At the sides of the hearth, on pegs driven in the Continued
A pioneer cabin prior to the 1850's. Once Washington County was dotted with one-room homes such as this.
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logs, hung the various blackened pots, kettles, skillets. There also stood the cupboard, usually made of smoothly dressed walnut. The prized blue-edged dishes and pewter were kept there. In one corner usually was a rude shelf resting on oak pegs, upon which was a wooden bucket filled with water for drinking and cook- ing purposes. A bottle gourd, the pioneer's drinking vessel, hung on a nearby peg. The dining table was usually a dextrously made affair with leaves that fold- ed so it could be pushed against the wall to save space.
On the other side of the fireplace, generally about six feet off the floor, rested the long-barreled flintlock squirrel rifle, wooden pegs in the wall driven for that purpose. The stock ran the entire length of the long barrel, was made of white walnut. Incessant use, added to the original polishing of the gunsmith, made it smooth as ivory. The mounting always was of well finished brass. Near the butt of the stock was a cavity about an inch long, covered with a brass lid, held down by a spring. This was used to carry tallow with which to lubricate the "patchen" used in loading the gun.
Also hanging on one of the hooks on which the heavy rifle rested was a bullet pouch and a powder horn. The pouch was made of leather, usually buck- skin, had two or three pockets to hold bullets and patchen cloth. The powder horn originally adorned the head of a cow. The larger end was closed and into the smaller end was fitted a stopper. easily removed. Pouch and horn were provided with leather straps, to be car- ried over the shoulder. A horn to call the dogs usually rested or was hung from another peg on the wall. If the family was prosperous, there was often a percus- sion type shotgun in a corner, to be used by the boys who were not as accurate in their shooting as father.
Another article of furniture in the cabin was the candlestand, upon which usually reposed a worn copy of the Bible and a dog-eared almanac. The small win- dows in the cabin usually contained six 6x6-inch panes of glass.
The door of the cabin swung on wooden hinges, the only kind known, was fastened with a wooden latch. The latch was raised or lowered by a leather thong which passed through a hole and left the free end hanging outside. At nights, when the pioneer wished to lock his cabin. he merely pulled in the latchstring.
The bed usually was softened by a feather tick. A trundel bed rolled under the big bed in the daytime. was pulled out for the children at night. The floor of the better cabins was made of unhewn oak. a great improvement over the puncheon floors of an earlier
period. The loft usually was reached by a ladder, where the rafters would he festooned with dried apples hung on strings; dried pumpkin. fruits, peppers, sage to season the meat; pennyroyal to "sweat" the sick ones; boneset to break "the ager": strings of stuffed san- sage, chunks of dried beef.
Crowded as was this cabin, it had at times an- other article that took up considerable floor space, the loom to weave cloth. Cumbersome as it was, the house- wife was an artist on this pioneer contrivance, and from it came the jeans worn by the men, linsey for the women, pretty coverlets, counterpanes and pillow cases. The spinning wheel was the running mate of the loom, and upon it the carded wool was woven into thread.
Cooking was done almost entirely in iron pots, a dextrous art for the housewife, who toiled with the heavy utensils, the spider. the iron tongs with which to pick up hot embers, the big shovel to manipulate the wood fire. Always in the cabin was the pleasant odor of burning wood. Old-timers insisted that no meal could ever approach the delicacy of one cooked at an open hearth.
With the advent of the fifties. matches started to come into more general use. But before this time, the fire on the hearth never went out unless by accident. If it did, someone went to a neighbor's "to borrow live coals." or if there was no neighbor, or the weather was inelement, a bit of gun powder would be put into the pan of the flintlock rifle. a piece of cotton held beside it, then when the trigger was pulled. a spark from the flint would ignite the powder. It in turn would set fire to the cotton, and while this was blazing, it would be hurriedly transferred to "shavings" or other easily inflammable material under the laid kindling in the fireplace.
Food in pioneer days was relatively simple: corn- bread and salt pork were the staples. Wheat bread was practically unknown before the fifties. The children ate corn mush and drank their milk warm from the cow, unpasteurized. In winter. kernels of corn were treated with lye, which removed the hull, after which the grains were boiled or fried. This was a wholesome food that was called "big hominy." With the coming of the first frost, one neighbor would kill a hog, divide it with his friends. Weeks later another would kill a beef, divide it likewise. No one had a cellar in those days.
The present method of preserving and canning fruit and vegetables did not come into vogue until Continued
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The fence was called a stake-and-rider rail enclosure. Notice the chink-and-daub chimney, the prairie schooner (Conestoga type) wagon, the shake roof on the cabin.
about the middle of the fifties. The woods and prairies were full of blackberries, wild plums, crab apples, wild grapes and persimmons. Pawpaws were the bananas of the pioneer.
Soap was made with lye and fat, a custom that still prevails today in a few scattered rural areas. The lye was made by leaching wood ashes, and the fat came from saving all sorts of meat scraps.
Many an early Washington County settler had to depend upon a nearby spring or the "crick" for their drinking water. The only rain water collected was that in a barrel, set under the caves, and generally full of "wiggle tails" as soon as the weather got warm.
The manner of dress was simple. For everyday wear, men had shirts of jeans, cut loosely; trousers were called breeches, and vests were universally known as "roundabouts." An outer garment called a "wam- mus" was also popular with men. Boots came into fashion in the early fifties; working men wore heavy shoes referred to as brogans. Clocks and watches were rare, only professional people and ne'er-do-wells car- ried a timepiece. The pioneer told his time "by sun."
This was that era of formative years in our nation before the days of hypertension and psychiatry. Look- ing at the period nostalgically, it might be called "the good old days." But that, too, is a matter of opinion.
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Sod and Soybeans
Why did the first settlers of Washington County choose their homes along the timber edge rather than on the more fertile open prairie? There were at least three reasons. The late Charles Baldwin, an able coun- ty historian in his day, explained it this way:
"First, they were closer to fuel, water and build- ing material. Secondly, there was less danger from prairie fires, sometimes started by accident. by light- ning, and often by Indians for the purpose of burning them out. Thirdly. the plows of that day were not built strong enough to bust the tough Illinois prairie sod. The first plows brought in by the settlers had wooden mold-boards faced with a few iron strips. They were man-killers, if nothing else.
"Time itself finally eliminated the first two rea- - sons. Then a highly successful sod plow was invented by the first blacksmith of Nashville, a mechanical gen- ius named J. L. Runk, who for some reason has gotten mighty little space in the history books.
"Once he had his plow perfected, Runk joined up in a manufacturing project with a group of Sparta, IH- inois men under the name of the Sparta Plow Com- pany, and they put over the plow in a big way. The important feature of this plow was a long, sloping blade set vertically on the land side of the plow-shear, which ripped through roots and sod, taking the place of the rolling coulter that came later. The sharper this blade was kept the better it eut. A big, cumber- some tool, it was, and a man-killer too. but it turned the sod.
"After this plow came into use. the prairies set- tled up rapidly. The B. & O. Railroad coming into Illi- nois saw the influx of New Yorkers, many coming to the Hoyleton prairie, where the plow was first put to work. That is, all but one of them put it to work - a man named Marx. Marx' experience with this sod- busting plow is so unique it deserves a few paragraphs in this book.
"He was a young bachelor from upstate New York, knew nothing of farm work. He came to the country with Mr. and Mrs. Ward Atherton, a young couple also from New York State. The two men pur- chased adjoining eighties about a mile and a half west of Grand Point creek. near the present Irvington- Hoyleton road. They were to alternate, using the plow. "Atherton's turn came first. Then the next day it was Marx' time. He fought the plow all day. with his Sunday shoes on. That night he slept. or tried to, on his experience. Next morning he told Atherton his land and interest in the equipment were for sale, cheap.
'I don't mind the work,' he explained, 'nor the two-inch roots that fly back and crack my shins. I suppose I could get used to the snakes, and the field mice running up my pants' legs. But I've got a new corn on every toe, and both heels are blistered. Be- sides, I've ruined my shoes, so I'm quitting!'
"Atherton bought him out. Marx' mind still must have been on his feet and those ruined shoes, for he went into the shoe business in Chicago. Some years
This composite photo is illustrative of Washington County's number one farm crop - soybeans!
later he sent for Atherton's oldest son, Frank, and between them they built the Marx Shoe Company into one of the largest firms in Illinois.
"Looking at the rippling green of today's fields of soybeans in Washington County, the weedless black loam that was once prairie sod, the highly fertilized land, one seldom remembers that once this was virgin soil, with the brome-sedge hip-high. and the "turf" so tough that the first plows couldn't pierce it."
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Washington County's Social and Economic Characteristics
Washington County was formed in 1817, includ- ing within its first boundaries the present County of Clinton. Ten years later that area was detached and made a separate county. Named for George Washing- ton, the county contains 565 square miles, or a land area of 362,000 acres, more than 85 per cent of which is farmland.
The Covington area is the oldest in the county, the first county seat being located here; first court here dates back to March 9, 1818. The county seat was moved to Nashville in 1831 because a more centrally located site was needed.
On June 25, 1831, the county commissioners con- tracted for the building of a courthouse, a frame struc- ture which was used until 1840, at which time a new building was built on the public square at Nashville for the sum of $4,385. The present two story brick structure was erected in 1884 at a cost of $24,999. With remodeling and some expansion, the building is still in use.
Nashville, largest town in the county, was laid out on June 8, 1830. Records show that the proprietors, Robert Middleton and G. Brown, deeded a stipulated number of lots to the commissioners, Carter and Whittenberg, who were Tennesseeans, and reverenced everything relative to that state. By permission of the proprietors, they christened the town New Nashville. But the prefix was soon dropped.
Sixteen townships comprise the county. Total population, last census, is 13,569. Six main highways crisscross the county: U. S. 460, and State routes 15, 51, 127, 153 and 177. Its railroads are the Illinois Central, the Louisville and Nashville and the Missouri Pacific.
Farming: A total of 328,566 acres of the county is farmed, with soybeans the top crop, ranking six- teenth in the state, with an annual income of $4 mil- lion. More than 11/4 million bushels of wheat are raised yearly. Annual income from corn totals above $1 mil- lion. Dairying nets $2 million, and livestock income reaches the $5 million figure. The county also ranks
second in the state's yield of strawberries, has more than 30 growers.
Industries: Two major industries not related to agriculture provide employment. Largest is Hoben Candy Corporation at Ashley, with a yearly output of more than seven million candy bars. Seven warehouses are maintained in cities scattered from the East to the West coast, with exports going to Newfoundland, Can- ada, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Panama, the Virgin Islands and Okinawa.
The National Mine Service Company, located at Nashville, is the other large county industry. It manu- factures underground mining equipment, with a wide market.
Among other industries furnishing employment in the county are the Nashville Milk Co., the Lorenz Bottling Co., the Venedy Coal Co., the county oil fields, and the quarries at Covington, DuBois, Bolo, Beaucoup and Nashville.
Health and Welfare: The Nashville Memorial Hos- pital, made possible by a bequest in the will of the late Frederick W. Reuter, a Nashville resident; plus the two nursing homes now operating in the county, Washington Springs Nursing Home at Okawville and Friendship Manor, Inc. at Nashville, are important ad- juncts to the well-being of the people, and also supply jobs for various types of personnel.
The Washington County Tuberculosis Association has a well-balanced control program, has done a com- mendable job in making available free tests and chest X-rays for early diagnosis as well as in providing sana- torium care for those requiring treatment. The county is fortunate in its number of resident physicians.
Churches and Educational Facilities: There are 41 Protestant and 6 Catholic churches in the county. Fourteen school districts serve the area, a reduction from 88 in 1940. All schools have either a lunch or milk program or both. All have bus transportation.
Three public libraries, one at Nashville, Ashley and Richview; and three weekly newspapers, the Nash-
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MI
Washington County Lake is the county's largest recreational facility.
ville News, the Okawville Times and the Ashley News serve the county.
Welfare: The Illinois State Employment Service, through its Mt. Vernon office, provides service in Washington County each Monday, with headquarters in the courthouse. Itinerant service from the Federal Social Security Administration for retirees under the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance, provision of the Federal Social Security Act, is maintained the first and third Wednesday of each month.
The Illinois Veteran's Commission also serves the county each Monday, as does driver license inspectors on Monday and Tuesday of cach week.
The American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and American Cancer Society provide some types of ser- vices, but all on a limited basis. Various other civic organizations and community groups do a notable work in their respective communities.
Recreational Facilities: A total of 1600 acres has been purchased by the State Department of Conserva- tion for recreational facilities. Fishing, boating, camp- ing and picnic arcas are available. This is known as the Washington County Lake and covers 365 acres of pool arca.
The Nashville Memorial Park District has a large picnic area, swimming pool, tennis court and a well lighted ball park.
The fine shaded Community Park in Okawville is maintained by the Community Club and is a picnic area only.
Rural youth in particular participate in the var- ious 1-H clubs active in the county. Approximately 310 county women participate in the Home Bureau Unit activities.
Washington County is a GOOD place in which to live!
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The late Fred S. Russell, Okawville Teacher, digging out an old boat from the mud of the Kaskaskia, later identified as an old French bateau.
French Coined Word "Okaw"
To the Washington County resident, and the form- er resident, everything is interesting that pertains to his or her childhood stomping ground. As a native, or a former native, we have every reason to look with justifiable pride on our State, and on Washington County in particular. We have many "firsts."
Geographically, our pride has recently been up- dated in reference to the Kaskaskia River. It is being straightened. controlled, fenced off by a tremendous withholding dam, creating Carlyle Reservoir. For 55 miles, the crooked Kaskaskia is getting its face lifted. The river we've known for over a century for its big catfish is now feeling the inroads of industrialization. Soon it will be navigable from its mouth to Fayette- ville. As a borderline stream of Washington County, its historic past has never been fully researched.
The stream itself rises in Champaign County, near Urbana. In its erratic course, it flows through twelve counties: Champaign, Douglas, Coles, Moultrie. Shel- hy, Fayette, Bond, Clinton, Washington, St. Clair, Monroe and Randolph. The tendency of its course is to the Southwest, until it empties into the Mississippi a few miles from Chester. Its entire length is, roughly, 400 miles. In 1837, a small steamboat ascended as far
as Carlyle. Within a few years, coal barges will use it as an egress to the Mississippi.
Above us, at Carlyle, the state's largest man-made lake is now filling, spreading over 26,000 acres. Below us, at Baldwin, the Illinois Power Company is current- ly building a $200 million power plant.
In its meandering, the Kaskaskia flows past a number of sizeable communities. Urbana, Tuscola, Sullivan, Shelbyville, Vandalia, Carlyle and Chester. The two first capitals of our state, Kaskaskia and Van- dalia, reposed on its banks. In its course it is crossed by a dozen or more railroads, is spanned by both a covered and a swinging bridge.
Geographically, the river is the Kaskaskia. But it has been called the Okaw by Washington Countians for long, long years. Near the hamlet of Roots, down- stream. there are two bridges spanning it within sight of each other. The highway bridge calls it the Kas- kaskia and the railroad bridge labels it the Okaw.
This appellation was derived in somewhat a pe- culiar manner. In the early days when Illinois was part of the Indiana Territory. representatives were chosen to attend the Territorial Legislature at Vincennes. The inhabited portion of Illinois at that time was mainly
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composed of the early-day French villages. Ancient Kaskaskia, now toppled into the river, was one of these places.
A trail led through the state to the territorial capi- tal, known as the Vincennes Trace. Legislators and travellers rode along this famous trace on horseback. the only means of travel in those days except afoot.
The customary salutation and response along this route among the French finally gave rise to a new word. Okaw. Kaskaskia or Caseasquia was abbreviated into Cas (Kah). This was not only true in everyday parlance but many of the old records are dated at "Cas." Hence, when the French travellers along the Vincennes Trace would meet, and inquire about their destination, those going to the old French village would reply that they were enroute to "au Cas" - to Kaskaskia; "au" being pronounced as "o" and mean- ing "to," while "Cas." being pronounced "kah" was the abbreviation of Caseasquia.
The response to "au Cas," or "O Kah" was taken up by the English speaking travellers, and being some-
what broadened by the linguistic change of different tongues, finally became the word. Okaw, which has clung to the river for well over a century.
That the early French used the Kaskaskia as a means of travel was very definitely proven at Okaw- ville, back in the days when the late Fred S. Russell was connected with the Agricultural department of the Okawville High School. Russell, an avid historian, solely by chance unearthed an old boat in a sandbar of the Kaskaskia north of Okawville one day. The more he dug, the more he realized that it was an old bateau, a type of early cargo boat used by the French. No doubt it had been imbedded in the mud of the riverbank for long, long years. A freak of the stream unearthed part of the boat, and Russell finally salvaged it in its entirety to further prove his claim. The wood of the boat, its pegged construction, and general design all authenticated his theory that the craft one day had been manned by some early French voyageur using the river as a highway. A photo of Mr. Russell. digging out the historical artifact, is published herewith.
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