Bureau County, Illinois - Chapter 9, 1885

John M. Gay Elected Commissioner, Dr. N. Chamberlain

LONE TREE - PUTNAM COUNTY ORGANIZED 1831 - CAPTAIN HAWS - JOHN M. GAY ELECTED COMMISSIONER, DR. N. CHAMBERLAIN, SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT, 1831 - BUREAU PRECINCT - ITS FIRST NINETEEN VOTERS - THEIR NAMES AND WHOM THEY VOTED FOR - A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY - BUREAUITES ON THE JURY OF 1831 - JOHN M. GAY AND DANIEL DIMMICK ELECTED JUSTICES - GUHDON 8. HUBBARD'S ACCOUNT OF BOURBONNAIS - PEORIA AND GALENA ROAD - DAVE JONES - FIRST STEAMBOAT - FIRST GRIST AND SAWMILL - " DAD JOE " SMITH, A SKETCH - YODNO DAD JOE'S RIDE - ALEX. BOYD'S RIDE - THE HALL MASSACRE - SYLVIA AND RACHEL HALL - PEOPLFFLEE THE COUNTY - SHABBOSA.

we will devote some considerable space in this chapter to those facts and circumstances as we have gleaned them of the early settlers, and the course of their lives here when all was new and wild.

Oliver Kellogg, brother-in-law of Dixon and Boyd, was among the earliest pioneers in this section, and when the route from Galena became a traveled road, it went by the name of Kellogg's trail, for many years.

As early as 1829, Meredith's, Thomas's, Boyd's, Inlet's, Dixon' s and Kellogg's were noted places, as well as the old Bulbona and Lone Tree, the latter giving its name to Lone Tree Postoffice. From the earliest times this great, solitary tree, standing alone in the wide expanse of prairie, was widely known. It was a grand old oak that for ages had lifted its boughs and defied the storms and pointed the way to the lonely travelers, hunters and trappers; and when civilization began to hunt out this partof the world, it was a noted beacon, a towering sentinel that told the weary pioneers that they were upon the borders of the promised land. This historic tree died some twenty years ago, and was blown down, and Mr. E. Anderson, who had become the owner of the ground on which it stood, had made a pasture about it, and it is supposed the continuous tramping of stock was partly the cause of its eventual decay. We are indebted to Andrew Anderson for a small block of this Lone Tree, which is now doing service as a paper weight on our table. When we are through with it, it will be suitably identified and placed in the custody of the Illinois Historical Association.

st organized into a municipality, and possessed of legal functions. Then new boundaries were given the county, that is, to the boundaries in the act of 1825, authorizing the county when sufficient population was had to organize. At that time (1831) the whole country north and west of Bureau settlement to Galena and northeast including Chicago were in the bounds. According to the act of the Legislature on the first Monday in March, 1831, at the house of Capt. William Haws,* an election for county officers was held, and to put the wheels of the new county government in operation. John M. Gay was elected one of the Commissioners of the new county, and Dr. N. Chamberlain was appointed School Commissioner. These were both Bureau County men, and at the time they were living in Bureau Precinct, Putnam County. Bureau Precinct included all of the present county and parts of Stark and Marshall Counties. At the first election, August 18, 1831, there were just nineteen votes in Bureau Precinct, as follows: Henry Thomas, Elijah Epperson, Mason Dimmick, Leonard Both, John M. Gay, Samuel Glason, Curtiss Williams, John and Justus Ament, J. W. Hall, Henry Harrison, Abram Stratton, Ezekiel Thomas, Hezekiah and Anthony Epperson, E. H. Hall, Adam Taylor, Daniel Dimmick and Thomas Washburn. This vote in Bureau Precinct was given as follows, on Candidates for Congress: Joseph Duncan, 10; Sidney Breewe. 1; Edward Cole, 6; James Turney, 2. As Duncan was the " out and outer " Democrat perhaps in the race, we may be safe in saying that the first vote ever polled of the good people of what is now Bureau County was unmistakably Democratic. In the month of May, 1831, the first court of Putnam County met The grand jury list

* This was Capt. Haws of the Black Hawk war, and whose company was composed of several Bureau men, and who served with him during that war. His house, at which this first election was held, was near where Magnolia now is.

shows the names of Elijah Epperson, Henry Thomas, Leonard Roth, Abram Stratton, John Knox and Mr. Gaylord. On the petit jury were Sylvester Brigham, Ezekiel Thomas, Eli Redmon, Justin Ament and William Morris. This court was at the trading-house of Thomas Hartzell, a well-known place to every old settler.

Gurdon S. Hubbard. - Our attention has just been called to a letter from Mr. Hubbard to the old settlers of Putnam County, and as this gives us some important facts in reference to this county, we extract the following: " Thomas Hartzell, who was a Pennsylvanian by birth, was at that time, 1824, trading on the river below in opposition to the American Fur Company. In 1824-25, he succeeded Beaubien in the employment of the company. There was a house just below, across the ravine, built by Antoine Bourbonnais (Bulbona). also an opposition trader, but who, like Hartzell, went into the employ of the Pur Company under a yearly salary. My trading post after leaving Beaubien was at the mouth of Crooked Creek till 1826, when I located on the Iroquois River, where I continued in the employ of the company till 1830, when I bought them out. The last time I visited the place where the old trading-house stood, the chimney was almost all that remained. It was built almost wholly of clay, upon a frame-work of wood, being supported by stakes stuck firmly in the ground, the whole daubed inside and out with clay mortar. The hearth was of dry clay pounded hard. It was the custom to build rousing fires, and this soon baked and hardened the chimney and gave it durability. The roof was made of puncheons, the cracks well daubed with clay and long grass laid on top and kept in place by logs of small size. The sides of the house consisted of logs kept in place by posts sunk in the ground. The ends were sapling logs set in the ground upright to the roof. A rough door at one end and a window composed of a sheet of foolscap paper, well greased, completed the building. It was warm and comfortable, and under the roof many an Indian was hospitably entertained. "

Hubbard further tells of the great buffalo herds he saw upon these prairies when he first came here, and that passing boats "were often delayed for hours by vast herds crossing from side to side, among which it was dangerous to venture." Indians accounted for their disappearance by a deep snow and a long hard winter when thousands perished, and for years the whitening bones upon the prairies were evidences of the truth of this story.

Peoria and Galena Road. - This became a prominent thoroughfare in 1827. The first road connecting Peoria and the Lead Mines (Galena) passed by Rock Island, and this was a long and difficult route. John Dixon, Charles S. Boyd and Kellogg had hunted out this new, shorter and better road, and at the time of theWinuebago war, 1827, Col. Neale, with 600 volunteers from southern Illinois passed over this new trail.

Soon after this road was opened, droves of cattle and hogs, with emigrant and mining wagons, as well as a daily mail coach, passed over it, which made it one of the great thoroughfares of the West. For a number of years after this road was opened, only six cabins were built along its entire length, and these stood fifteen or twenty miles apart, so as to entertain travelers. Besides these six cabins, no marks of civilization could be seen between Peoria and Galena, and the country through which it passed was still in the possession of Indians.

In the spring of 1831 Dad Joe received a large, sealed package, wrapped around with red tape, and inscribed " Official Documents." On opening it an order was found from the Commissioner's Court of Jo Daviess County, notifying him that he was appointed Overseer of Highways, and fixing his district from the north line of Peoria County to Eock River, a distance of sixty- five miles. In this district Dad Joe could only find four men, besides himself, to work on this sixty-five miles of road.

In 1833 an act passed the Legislature to survey and permanently locate the Peoria and Galena road, and appointed Charles S. Boyd, J. B. Merrideth, and Dad Joe, Commissioners for that purpose. Although this road had been traveled for six years, it had never been surveyed or legally established, and with the exception of bridging one or two sloughs, no work had been done on it. The Commissioners met at Peoria for the purpose of commencing their work, and at the ferry, now Front Street, they drove the first stake. A large crowd of people had collected on that occasion, as the location of the road was to them a matter of some consequence. Dad Joe, mounted on old Pat, appeared to be the center of attraction, as he was well known by every one about Peoria. Eight years previously he was a resident of Peoria, and while acting as one of the County Commissioners he had located the county seat there, and by him the name of the place was changed from Fort Clark to Peoria.

Many of the old settlers will recollect old Pat, Dad Joe's favorite horse, which was ridden or driven by him for more than twenty years, and he became almost as well known in the settlement as his noted master. He was a dark sorrel horse, with foxy ears, a star in the forehead, a scar on the flank, and was always fat and sleek. It was this horse that young Joe rode when he carried the Governor's dispatch from Dixon's Ferry to Fort Wilburn, as previously stated.

Among the crowd that had collected around the Commissioners on this occasion, was John Winter, a mail contractor, and owner of the stage line between Peoria and Galena. Many stories of early times were told by those present, funny jokes passed, and all were enjoying the fun, when Winter offered to stake the choice of his stage horses against old Pat, that he could throw Dad Joe down. Now Dad Joe was no gambler, and would not have exchanged old Pat for all of Winter's horses; but being fond of fun, he said in his loud tone of voice, which could have been heard for half a mile, " Winter, I'll be blessed if I don't take that bet." Dad Joe was a thick, heavy-set man, of remarkable physical power, and wore at the time a long hunting-shirt with a large rope tied around his waist. Winter was a spare, active man, a great champion in wrestling, and wore a pair of fine cloth pantaloons, made tight in accordance with the fashion of the day. When all the preliminaries were arranged, and the parties had taken hold. Winter sang out, " Dad, are you ready ?" to which Dad replied, "All ready, Winter, God bless you." Winter, as quick as thought, attempted to knock his adversary's feet from under him, but instead of doing so, he was raised off the ground, and held there by the strong arm of Dad Joe. Winter kicked and struggled to regain his footing, but all to no purpose; at the same time his tight pantaloons burst open. At last he said, "Dad, for God's sake let me down, and you shall have the best horse in

The first wedding celebrated within the limits of Bureau County took place in the summer of 1830, and the parties were Leonard Both and Nancy Perkins, a daughter of Timothy Perkins. The license was obtained at the county clerk's office in Peoria, and the parties were married by Elijah Epperson. There were some doubts about Mr. Epperson's authority to administer the marriage rite, as it was obtained through his church relation some years before, while living in Kentucky, but there was no authorized person, at that time, living within fifty miles of them, and the legality of the marriage was never questioned.

For a few years after Putnam County was organized, John M. Gay, as Justice of the Peace, was the only person on the west side of the Illinois River authorized to administer the marriage rite. Abram Stratton and Miss Sarah Baggs deferred their wedding two weeks, waiting for Mr. Gay to obtain his commission, so he could marry them. Squire Gay was sent for to marry a couple at Perkins' Grove, whose names were Peter Harmon and Rebecca Perkins, a daughter of Timothy Perkins.

Dave Jones. f - This individual became so notorious in the early settlement of the county, and figures so much in its history, that a further account of him may interest the reader. Dave Jones, or Devil Jones, as he was generally called, was a small, wellbuilt man, with very dark skin, hair and eyes as black as a raven, and he had a wild, savage appearance. He was strong and active, a good wrestler and fighter, and but few men could compete with him. For a number of years he was a terror to the settlement, being feared both by whites and Indians. Jones came to the country in the spring of 1831, and buill a cabin on the present site of Tiskilwa, but getting into trouble with the Indians, he traded his claim to Mr. McCormis for an old mare, valued at ten dollars, and two gallons of whisky. He next built a cabin near where Lomax's Mill now stands; a year or two later he went to Dimmick's Grove, and in 1835 he moved to Indiana, where he was hanged by a mob soon after his arrival. Many remarkable feats of Jones are still remembered by old settlers, some of which are worth preserving.

In the spring of 1832 a dead Indian was found in the creek, near the present site of the Bureau Valley Mills, with a bullet-hole in his back, showing that he came to his death from a rifleshot. The corpse was taken out of the water by Indians, buried in the sand near by, and the affair was soon forgotten. Jones said while hunting deer in the creek bottom, he saw this Indian sitting on a log over the water fishing, when all of a sudden he jumped up as though he was about to draw out a big fish, and pitched headlong into the water, and was drowned when he came up to him. Two other Indians disappeared mysteriously about the same time, who were supposed to have been murdered, and on that account, it is said, the Indians contemplated taking revenge on the settlers.

One warm afternoon, Jones, with a jug in one hand, came cantering his old mare up to the Hennepin ferry, saying that his wife was very sick, and would certainly die if she did not get some whisky soon. In great haste Jones was taken across the river, and on landing on the Hennepin side, he put hia old mare on a gallop up the bluff to Durley's store, where he filled his jug with whisky. Meeting with some old chums, he soon became intoxicated, forgot about his wife's sickness, and spent the afternoon and evening in wrestling, dancing " Jim Crow, " and having a fight with some of his friends.

It was long after dark when Jones started for home, but on arriving at the ferry he found the boat locked up, and the ferryman in bed. Jones rapped at the door of the ferryman's house, swearing if he did not get up and take him across, he would pull the house down, and whip him besides. But all his threats were in vain; the ferryman could not be moved. Jones went down to the river, took off the bridle reins, with which he tied the jug of whisky on his back, then drove his old mare into the river, and holding on to her tail, was ferried across the river, as he afterward expressed it, without costing him a cent.

One afternoon, while Dave Jones was engaged in cutting out a road from Hennepin ferry through the bottom timber, his coat, which lay by the wayside, was stolen. Although the value of the old coat did not exceed two dollars, it was the only one Jones had, and he searched for it throughout the settlement. At last Jones found his coat on the back of the thief, whom he arrested and took to Hennepin for trial. The thief was at work in Mr. Hays' field, immediately west of Princeton, when Jones presented his rifle at his breast, ordering him to take up his line of march for Hennepin, and if lie deviated from the direct course, he would blow his brains out. The culprit, shaking in his boots, started on his journey, while Jones, with his rifle on his shoulder, walked about three paces behind. On arriving at Hennepin the thief pleaded guilty, being more afraid of Jones than the penalties of the law, and was therefore put in jail. "j^After Jones had delivered up his prisoner, he'got drunk, was engaged in several tights, and he too was arrested and put in jail. At that time the Hennepin jail consisted of only one room, being a log structure, twelve feet square, and Jones being put in with the thief, commenced beating him Seeing that they could not live together, the thief was liberated and Jones retained. At this turn of affairs Jones became penitent, agreed to go home and behave himself, if they would let him out. Accordingly the sheriff took him across the river, and set him at liberty; but Jones swore he would not go home until he had whipped every person in Hennepin, so he returned to carry out his threats, but was again arrested and put in jail.

A short time after the establishing of the Hennepin ferry, Dave Joues was on the Hennepin side of the river, with a yoke of wild cattle, and wished to cross over, but was unwilling to pay the ferriage. He swore before he would pay the ferryman's extravagant price, he would swim the river, saying that he had frequently done it, and could do it again. Jones wore a long-tailed Jackson overcoat, which reached to his heels, and a coon-skin cap, with the tail hanging down over his shoulders, the weather at the time being quite cool. He drove his oxen into the river, taking the tail of one of them into his mouth, when they started for the opposite shore. Away went the steers, and so went Dave Jones, his long hair and longtailed overcoat floating on the water, his teeth tightly fastened to the steer's tail, while with his hands and feet he paddled with all his might. Everything went on swimmingly, until they came near the middle of the river, where the waters from each side of the island came together; here the current was too strong for the steers - they turned down stream, and put back for the Hennepin side. Jones could not open his mouth to say gee or haw, without losing his hold on the steer's tail, and was therefore obliged to go where the steers led him, but all were safely landed some distance below the starting-place. Jonea was in a terrible rage at his failure to cross the river - beat his cattle, and cursed the bystanders for laughing at his misfortune. After taking a big dram of whisky, he tried it again, but with no better success. Three different times Jones tried this experiment, each time whipping his cattle and taking a fresh dram of whisky. At last he was obliged to give it up as a bad job, and submit to paying the ferryman the exorbitant price of twenty-five cents to be ferried over.

First Steamboat. - In May, 1831, the steamboat Caroline came up the Illinois River from St. Louis, and continued up the river to the mouth of the Little Vermilion - Shippingport. This was the first steamer that had ever ascended above Beardstown, then the head of navigation. At this point a pilot named Crozier took the boat successfully to Ottawa. In the September following the second boat came - the Traveler. The Caroline brought Captain Williams' company of soldiers.

First Mill. - In 1829 Timothy Perkins and Leonard Both came and settled near Leepertown Mills. In 1830 William Hoskins, John Clark and John Hall (bought Dimmick's claim) and made a large farm. Dimmick removed to LaMoille, where he lived two years and sold out and left the country.

In the summer of 1830 Amos Leonard (millwright) built a grist-mill on East Bureau, about eighty rods above its mouth. It was made of round logs, twelve feet square, and all its machinery, with a few exceptions, was made of wood. The mill-stones were dressed out of boulder rocks, which were tali en from the bluffs near by, and the hoop they ran in was a section of a hollow sycamore tree. This mill, when in running order, would grind about ten bushels per day, but poor as it was, people regarded it as a great accession to the settlement, and it relieved them of the slow process of grinding on hand-mills, or pounding their grain on a hominy block. Settlers east of the river, as well as those living near the mouth of Fox River, patronized Leonard's Mill, and it is now believed that it was the first water-mill built north of Peoria.

In 1831 Henry George, a single man who was killed at the Indian Creek massacre, made a claim, and built a cabin on the present site of Bureau Junction. In 1833 John Leeper bought Perkins' claim, and a few years afterward built a large flouring-mill, which received much patronage from adjoining counties. Quite a village (called Leepertown) grew up at this mill; but in 1838 the mill burned down and the village went to decay.

In 1834 a number of immigrants found homes in this locality, among whom were David Nickerson, John McElwain, James Howe, Charles Leeper and Maj. William Shields. As early as 1832 a number of persons had settled in Hoskins' neighborhood, among whom were Daniel Sherley and Gilbert Kellums. In 1834 the large family of Searl came here, where many of their descendants continue to live.

Moseley Settlement. - In August, 1831, Roland Moseley, Daniel Smith and Joha Musgrove, with their families, came to Bureau; the two former were from Massachusetts, and the latter from New Jersey, having met by chance while on their way to the West. The emigrants ascended the Illinois River in a steamboat as far as Naples, and finding it difficult to obtain passage further up the river, they left their families there, and made a tour through the country in search of homes. Hearing of the Hampshire Colony on Bureau, Mr. Moseley directed his course thither, and being pleased with the country, he selected a claim. At that time Timothy Perkins claimed, for himself and family, all the timber and adjoining prairie, between Arthur Bryant's and Caleb Cook's, but he agreed to let Mr. Moseley have enough for two farms, on condition of selling him some building material. A few months previous, Timothy Perkins and Leonard Roth had built a saw-mill on Main Bureau, a short distance below the present site of McManis' Mill. This was the first saw-mill built within the limits of Bureau County, and with one exception, the first north of Peoria.

Mr. Moseley marked out his claim, cutting the initials of his name on witness trees, and contracting with Mr. Perkins to furnish him, on the land, some boards and slabs for a shanty, after which he returned to Naples to report his discovery.

The three families, with their household goods, were put on board a keel -boat at Naples, and ascended the river as far as the mouth of Bureau Creek. Soon after their arrival at Bureau they were all taken down sick with the intermittent fever, one not being able to assist the other. Although strangers in a strange land, they found those who acted the part of the good Samaritan. James G. Forristal, although living twelve miles distant, was a neighbor to them, spending days and even weeks in administering to their wants. Daniel Smith, father of Daniel P. and Dwight Smith, of Ohiotown, found shelter for his family in a shanty constructed of split puncheons, which stood on the Doolittle farm. The widow of Daniel Smith, being left with three small children, in a strange country, and with limited means, experienced many of the hardships common to a new settlement.

"Dad Joe Smith." - Among the earliest and certainly one of the most remarkable men of all the early pioneers who came to Bureau County was Joseph Smith, immortal as "Dad Joe." A very powerful physical frame, not tall, but square and heavy built, compact, and large bones and muscles, a tower of strength, with a capacity of voice that has never been equaled in this part of the world. A big brain, a strong and steady nerve and a heart that never knew fear of anything mortal. The Smith family are a long line of heroic pioneers and soldiers, running back from the late war to the American Revolution. From the early settlements in Maryland they pressed upon the bloody tracks of the savage from Maryland through and beyond the "Dark and Bloody Ground," into Ohio, Indiana, into and through Illinois and beyond the great Father of Waters. They warmed him in their cabins and gave him of their salt when he was a friendly and good Indian, and when he put on his murderous paint, they "met him in his path and slew him." "Dad Joe" Smith was the child of pioneers - "born in the wildwood, rocked on the wave " - he grew, from inheritance and from the education of his life, a pioneer, that grandest type of man, of whom it has been well said they were " civilization's forlorn hope,'' for without them limited indeed would be its dominions. It is a tradition that "Dad Joe" was one of Gen. George Rogers Clark's men, or at least it was the daring and adventurous march of this" Hannibal of the Northwest" into this part of the Mississippi Valley that resulted in eventually bringing him -to this part of Illinois. His coming here was the most valuable acquisition of the time to the whole country, for he possessed the ' ' blood and iron " in his nature that awed and mas- sincere, manly and honest, and the red man soon learned to know that his friendship was a boon and that his enmity was to be dreaded, that his good-will was easier gained than his ill-will, and that one was to be as much desired as the other was to be dreaded. In his heart the untutored savage must have felt

His stentorian voice and his ever ready "Yes, God bless you!" were equally famed throughout the country, and something of the estimate the people entertained of the man is the fact that he was universally known as "Dad Joe," and to half his acquaintances to have spoken of Mr. Joseph Smith would have been mentioning a strange name - some one they had never heard of; and so marked was this peculiarity that it was quite natural for every one to speak of his boy as ' ' Young Dad Joe," who was a chip of the old block. An incident occurred in the Black Hawk war that was fitly remembered at the old settlers' meeting in Princeton, in September, 1875, in the following lines:

Dixon, and it became very important for him to get a dispatch delivered to the commander at Fort Wilburn, a fortification on the Illinois River opposite Peru. He called for a volunteer to carry the dispatch, a dangerous undertaking, as the country swarmed with Indians, supposed to be on the lookout for any couriers that might bo passing from one portion of the army to another in this emergency.

The brave boy gladly obeyed, and in a few moments was on old Pat's back: the message carefully tucked away in his clothes, and as he turned his horse's head, and in a quick gallop started upon the perilous voyage, that great voice of " Old Dad Joe's " rang out

" God bless you, boy, Keep clear of timber - Indians there! " And a backward wave of the boy's hand told the father that his boy understood him, as he sped away, bending forward his head and steadily looking straight before him with every sense drawn to sharpest tension. The boy feeling the greatness of his mission - the destiny perhaps that hung upon his successful voyage, thundered across the plains, and heeding the advice of his father in bearing off from the timber, was able to ride in triumph from starting-point to destination, although from several coverts the armed Indians on ponies discovered him, and rode out and chased him for many a mile on his way.

Their ponies were over-matched by old Pat, and they would soon abandon the chase as the young rider would disappear in the tall grass and the distant view, as he sped on and on over the swelling prairie.

" When they the youthful horseman saw, And from its hiding place to draw The Governor's will, that they might know, A shout went up from that lone band That should be sounded through the land, Hurrah! Hurrah! for young Dad Joe. * * * *

" Our story may be growing old, The incident that we have told, Was more than forty years ago; Some may our hero never know; Yet Bureau folks may well bestow Three times three cheers on Young Dad Jpe."

The poetry is not very much, but the heroic feat it celebrates is a part of the Black Hawk war that should not be lost in the history of Illinois. It was a brave act by this "little man, in crownless hat and legs of tan."

" Dad J oe" was among the first to settle at Fort Clark, at Aukas, at the mouth of Rock River, at the lead mines and in Bureau County. He spent the most of his life here and lived and died without an enemy. He got his name of " Dad Joe " from the trader Ogee, who spoke very broken English, who found no other way of designating Joseph Smith, Sr. , from his son Joe. His heart was as kind as his exterior was rough. He was a native of Kentucky, and although his parents owned slaves, he had no education, and refused to own a human being. He was a strong temperance man, and a good judge of a horse ; altogether a most remarkable pioneer, and whose memory will be always carefully preserved by the good people of the county.

very moral and pious man, never profane in his language, but we infer from an anecdote of him related by John H. Bryant, at the old settlers' meeting August 30, 1884, that he once broke over his rule in this respect. He discovered a prairie fire approaching his farm and he and all his family were out to fight it off in order to save his wheat-stacks that were exposed. In this as everywhere the good old man worked with a will beating out the fire. His strokes flew fast and furious as the fire kept advancing, and at each stroke he would say, "God bless the fire! God bless the fire!" and yet it advanced toward the wheat-stacks, and faster and faster he fought and also faster and faster would he ejaculate, "God bless the fire! God bless the fire!" And finally the fatal flames by a bound were upon the nearest wheat-stack, and then the old man threw down his weapon and exclaimed, " God damn the fire! " and hurriedly left the scene.

Was not this only oath of the good man like Lawrence Sterne's say ing of Uncle Toby's oath: " The accusing spirit flew up to heaven's court of chancery and blushed as he handed it in, and the recording angel as he wrote it down dropped a tear upon it that blotted it out forever. "

Capture of tlie Hall Girls. - William Hall settled where LaMoille now stands, in 1830, and the next year sold to Aaron Gunn (the only survivor who was in the cabin when Elijah Phillips was killed, and who is living in La Salle), and settled on Indian Creek, a few miles north of Ottawa. He had been at his new home but a few weeks when the Black Hawk war broke out. The people had generally fled to the forts. The massacre occurred on the 21st day of May, 1831, at the cabin of a man named Daviess, on Indian Creek. Fifteen persons were killed, and the two Hall girls, Sylvia, aged eighteen, and Rachel, aged sixteen, were taken prisoners and carried off captives. The attack was in I the afternoon, by about seventy-five painted ' Indians, and was so sudden and unexpected that the people in the cabin could make but little defense. William Hall and Robert Morris were at once shot dead. Daviess, the owner of the cabin, made a heroic defense, clubbing his gun and breaking it to pieces and bending the barrel. Henry George jumped into the mill-pond, but was shot and killed while swimming across. Daviess' son, aged fourteen, was caught as he was crossing the mill-pond, and tomahawked, and his body thrown into the water. William Hall's son, John W., by running to the creek bank, and as volleys were fired at him, he jumped over the embankment and escaped. Mrs. Phillips was found with her child in her arms, and their heads had been split with a tomahawk. An infant was snatched from its mother's arms and its brains knocked out against the door-frame. The Hall girls and Miss Daviess jumped on the bed. Miss Daviess was shot dead, and the muzzle of the gun was so near Miss Hall's face as to burn a blister.

Edward and Greenbury Hall, and a son of Mr. Daviess, were at work in a field near the ; cabin, when the murdering was going on. I They heard it, and knew it was their fami- ; lies being butchered. They hurried to the - scene and cautiously approached and saw the number of the Indians, and all they could do was to fly and try and save them- j selves. Near the cabin of Daviess lived two 1 families named Henderson - grandfather and uncle of Gen. T. J. Henderson, of Princeton. But these families had gone to the fort, and thus escaped.

After the slaughter l.he savages seized Sylvia and Rachel Hall, placed them on horses, and, a buck at each side to hold them, they started off. They had three prisoners when they started, having the two girls and an eight year old son of Mr. Daviess; but they soon killed the child, as he seemed troublesome to take along. Two days after the massacre a company of rangers went from Ottawa to bury the dead. The bodies were shockingly mutilated. The captives were carried north of Galena, and their captors, the Sacs and Foxes, turned them over to the Winnebagoes.

A day or two after the capture, John W. Hall, the brother who escaped, at the head of a company of rangers followed in pursuit of the Indians. When the company reached the lead mines Mr. Gratiot and Gen. Dodge, of that place, employed two friendly Winnebago chiefs to buy the prisoners of the Foxes. They soon effected the purchase and a ransom of $2,000 and forty ponies and some blankets were paid over to the Indians, and the rangere conducted the girls to the fort. Nicholas Smith, of West Bureau, was a teamster in the army, and took the girls in his wagon to the fort near Galena, where they were put on a boat and sent to St. Louis, where they were met by Rev. Erastus Horn, an old friend of their father, who tenderly cared for them until John W. Hall married and settled on the Seaton farm, when the girls returned to Bureau County again. The Illinois Legislature gave the girls a quarter section of canal land near Joliet, and Congress donated them a bounty.

Sylvia married llev. William Horn, a son of their protector, and moved to Lincoln^ Neb. Rachel married William Munson, and moved into La Salle County, where she died in 1871.

A remarkable Indian characteristic was manifested as the finale of this massacre. Two Pottawattomie Indians had been indicted in La Salle County for participating in the tragedy. They had been fully identified by the Hall girls. They were arrested, indicted and bound over, and before they were tried their tribe moved west of the Mississippi, and in ignorance of what they should do, these criminals went with their tribe. George E. Walker, an Indian trader, was Sheriff of the county, and with others he was security for the appearance of the savages. He went alone into the Indian country west of the river, in pursuit of the prisoners. He found them and made known his mission. A council was called, the matter considered, and it was decided the Indians must accompany the Sheriff and stand their trial. The prisoners bade an eternal farewell to all their friends, and in the firm conviction they would be executed, started willingly with the Sheriff for the place of trial and execution. For many days the Sheriff traveled through the Indian country, camping at night and the three sleeping together. He would often send the prisoners off to hunt in order to have something to eat, and thus the long slow trip was made through the wild country, and there was not an hour they were on the road but that these criminals could have walked off in perfect security. There is no one thing that so fully portrays the stoicism and indifference of death, and a peculiar sense of Indian honor for their pledged word, as this incident. They felt that they were going to their certain execution - they were dejected and sad all the way, because there is nothing to an Indian so abhorrent as to be hung - choked to death. This is not only death but it is to be damned, because when they die, they believe the soul passes out of the mouth with the last breath, and, if choked, this cannot take place, and the soul is lost. To be shot or burned is nothing to these savage stoics, because then they can sing their death chants, and it is glorious to die.

They were duly tried at La Salle, and acquitted. They had so cunningly painted themselves when they appeared at the trial that the Hall girls could not positively identify them.

Alex Boyd's Ride. - In the spring of 1832, Alex Boyd being about the same age of " Young Dad Joe," also had some experience as a rider through the dangerous wilds and Indian coverts, bearing important messages from the commander to the fort at Peoria.

In the winter of 1831 Charles S. Boyd's house, a large two-story log-house with L, burned, and in the flames was destroyed nearly everything in the house except the people. The fire occurred in the dead of the night, and when the family were aroused they could only save themselves. One bed was all that was saved in this line, and the most of the clothing of the family was destroyed. Alex's recollection is that he saved a shirt - the one he was sleeping in. The family moved into a little smoke-house.

Some time in June James P. Dixon, son of John Dixon, in company with five soldiers, arrived at Charles Boyd's late at night. They stopped for the night, and in the morning young Dixon told his uncle that he was the bearer of important dispatches from Apple River to Governor Reynolds, who was then supposed to be at the Peoria Fort. He was worn out and exhausted with his long ride through the dangerous country; he begged his uncle to have the message conveyed to Peoria. Alex was called up and asked if he would take it. He replied if his father would let him ride "Kit" he would not be afraid. His wardrobe was increased to a straw hat, breeches and shirt. He was warned by his father what particular points to avoid and where to be on the lookout for covert red-skins, especially the old empty cabin of Joe Meredith's that stood near the road, about five miles this side of Simon Reed's. It was forty-five miles to Peoria, and the rider left Boyd's Grove at 1 P. M., and delivered the message to Gen. Stillman, he thinks it was before sundown of that day.

People Driven Aivay. - From the time of the commencement of the Winnebago war, 1827, to the close of the Black Hawk war in June, 1832, the few scattered settlements of northern Illinois were often harassed by bands of savages on their marauding expeditions. Word was passed around, and at all hours of the day and night people would start at a moment's notice, often so closely pressed that they would gather the babies in their arms and fiee on foot, and sometimes their way was lighted up by the burning cabins they had just quitted. At night the families would doubly bar their doors and crawl into the cabin attics and sleep in terror, the men lying with hands upon their rifles. In the day the men and boys would work in the field, one standing sentinel, while the others with their guns strapped on their shoulders would work. During these dreadful years of terror and suspense, every man, woman and child was on constant picket duty, painfully alert for the sign of the approaching murderers. The horses, the cattle and the dogs, with their keener sense of smell, were most valuable protections often, and would give their warnings to the people. The poor, dumb domestic animals dreaded and were terrified at the sly approach of the dirty, stinking savages, and the people well understood their language of fear and terror, and saved their lives by heeding their notes of warning.

Some of these were false alarms, but others were only too real. The false alarms which several times set the whole people in rapid motion for the fort on the east side of the river, would be started by some trivial circumstance or the sudden fright of some hunter or nervous traveler, and thus the cry of alarm would pass around and the literal stampede of the people would commence.

Shabbona or Chamblee. - The most valuable friend the whites of Illinois ever had was chief Shabbona. He professed and was the white man's friend. He admired the superior intelligence of the white race, and desired their friendship and their civilization for his ignorant savages. He was a man of natural good sense, and above the low cunning and treachery of the average Indian. His superiority gave him great influence over his people, and although he several times suffered outrages and grievous wrongs at the hands of the rangers and soldiery, he remained unfaltering in his friendship to the pioneer settlers, whose cabins he delighted to visit, and smoke the pipe of friendship, partake of their salt, and learn their better ways of living. Although a chief and one of power he was not loth to see come the comforts of industry and civilized life, and it is now well understood he would have gladly seen his people become like the white man and abandon their tribal life, and be good and industrious citizens of the white man's government. His good sense must have detected the evils that came with people who had preachers, powder and fire-water, yet he could look over and beyond surface evils to the much good that would come to the savage by institutions that would lift him from his degrading ignorance. There were other Indians that were true friends to the white man, but none so valuable as Shabbona. It is said he would go himself or have spies among the Winnebagoes, Sacs and Foxes, and when they had organized to raid the settlers, Shabbona would make long and hard night rides and warn every endangered set-

After the Black Hawk war Shabbona and his 150 followers were for some time encamped on Bureau, near the crossing of the Dixon road. He was born in the Ottawa tribe; married the daughter of a Pottawattomie chief, upon whose death he succeeded to power. He was with Tecumseh in 1811, on his mission to the Creek Indians, in Mississippi; was present at the Vincennes Council. He was an aid of Tecumseh' s, and by his side when he was killed by Dick Johnson at the battle of the Thames.

Shabbona, Black Partridge and Senachwine, were three of the most noted chiefs of the Mississippi. They were the friends of the white man, they labored for peace and friendship, and to protect their white friends they more than once risked their lives. They possessed intelligence far above their people. When they looked upon civilization they desired their people might become civilized, and not, as their superior intelligence pointed out to them, foolishly try to live after the white race came, as savages and enemies, because this was to waste away and slowly perish from the face of the earth.

Shabbona and Black Partridge were at the Chicago massacre, drawn there in the hope to save the white people. They did not reach there in time to save all, but there is but little question that the few who did escape owed their lives to them.

At the commencement of the Black Hawk war, Shabbona went to Dixon's ferry to offer the services of himself and warriors of his band to Gov. Reynolds, to fight against the Sacs and Foxes. Mounted on his pony, and alone, he arrived at Dixon's ferry on the same day that Stillman's army reached thera The soldiers, believing Shabbona to be an enemy in disguise, dragged him from his pony, took away his gun and tomahawk, and otherwise mistreated him, telling him they had left home to kill Indians, and he should be their first victim. A man, running at the top of his speed, (fame to Dixon's house, and told him that the soldiers had taken Shabbona prisoner, and were about to put him to death. Mr. Dixon, in all haste, ran to the rescue, when he found the soldiers (who were somewhat under the influence of liquor), about to stain their hands with innocent blood. Dixon, claiming the prisoner as an old friend, took him by the arm and conducted him to his own house, when he was afterward introduced to Gov. Reynolds, Gen. Atkinson, Col. Taylor, and others.

Shabbona, with his warriors, joined Atkinson's army, although he had sided with the British under Tecumseh and Capt. Billy Caldwell, but now he was the friend of the Americans, and participated in all the battles during the last Indian war. In the fall of 1836 he and his band abandoned their reservations of land at the grove, giving way to the tide of emigration, and went west of the Mississippi. But Shabbona's fidelity to the whites caused him to be persecuted by the Sacs and Foxes. In revenge they killed his son and nephew, and hunted him down like a wild beast.

Two years after going West, in order to save his life, he left his people, and with a part of his family returned to this county. For some years he traveled from place to place, visiting a number of Eastern cities, where he was much lionized, and received many valuable presents. His last visit to Princeton was in 1857, while on his way eastward. Shabbona died in July, 1859, on the bank of the Illinois River, near Seneca, in the eighty- fourth year of his age; and was buried in Morris Cemetery. No monument

Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, says: William Hickling, of this city, has exhibited to me the original of the following document, proving that Billy Caldwell, our Justice of the Peace in 1826, was an officer in the British service, after the treaty of peace; and that he styled himself Captain of the Indian Department, in 1816, at Amherstburg (Fort Maiden). Mr. Hickling resided in Chicago before its incorporation, but resided many years thereafter at Ottawa, and was a partner of George E. Walker, nephew of Rev. Jesse. Whilst at Ottawa the Indian ; chief, Shabbona, often visited him and remained with him over night. Not long before his death he gave him the document, asserting that he had always worn it upon his person. The manuscript proves that Caldwell was a man of education, as we all knew he was of intelligence. He was educated by the Jesuits, at Detroit, and, at the time of his death he was head chief of the combined nations of Pottawattomies,Ottawas, and Chippewas. He married a sister of the Pottawattomie chief, Yellow Head, and had an only child a son - who died young. On the authority of Shabbona, Mr. Hickling denies the commonly received idea that Caldwell was a son of Tecumseh's sister. He confirms the report that he was the son of an Irish officer in the British service, but he insists that his mother was a Pottawattomie. and hence he became chief of the Pottawattomies. Tecumseh was a Shawnee, and, he contends, had but one sister, Tecumapeance, older than himself, whose husband, Wasegoboah, was killed at the battle of the Thames. She survived him some time, but died in Ohio.

River. The certificate was undoubtedly given him to assist him with the British Government. At the commencement of the battle of the Thames, or of Moravian Town (as Caldwell calls it), the Indian chiefs Tecumseh (Shawnee) (spelled Tecumthe by many), Caldwell (Pottawattomie), Shabboua (Ottawa), and Black Hawk (Sac), were, as Mr. Hickling learned from Shabbona, sitting upon a log, in consultation.

The paper on which this document was written was a half sheet of old-fashioned English foolscap paper, plainly watermarked " C. & S., 1813," and is as follows:

" This is to certify, that the bearer of this name, Chamblee, was a faithful companion to me, during the late war with the United States. The bearer joined the late celebrated warrior, Tecumthe, of the Shawnee nation, in the year of 1807, on the Wabash River, and remained with the above warrior from the commencement of the hostilities with the United States until our defeat at Moravian Town, on the Thames, October 5, 1813. I also have been witness to his intrepidity and courageous warfare on many occasions, and he showed a great deal of humanity to those unfortunate sons of Mars who fell into his hands. B. CALDWELL,

There was no regular fort in Bureau, and in the spring of 1831 the entire population fled to the east side of the river, and to Peoria, and some continued their flight back to the old States and never returned. Some of the bolder men and their boys would leave their families on the east of the river and return to raise their corn. They were often in the midst of such danger that they dared not sleep in their cabins, but secreting in the coverts, and generally a new place every night.

Henry Thomas' house was fixed up for a fort, and here the frightened people would sometimes gather in alarm. There was but little stuff raised here in 1831-32, and it was only by the Illinois soldiers coming here from southern Illinois that enabled some of the people to get enough to eat during the winter. The gloomy years of Indian troubles had finally passed, and in the fall of 1832 this particular portion of Illinois began to emerge from its severest ordeal.