Bureau County, Illinois - Chapter 4: Early Settlement Continued, 1906

Chapter 4: Early Settlement Continued

In August, 1831, Daniel Smith, Roland Moseley and John Musgrove, with their families, came to Bureau county. Moseley and Smith were from Massachusetts, and Musgrove from New Jersey. They came across the country to Buffalo, and there they took passage by steamboat to Cleveland, then ilown through Ohio on the Muskingum river to Marietta, where they took a boat down the Ohio river to the Mississippi, then up the river to St. Louis and from there took a boat to Naples on the Illinois river. On arriving at Naples they found it very difficult to obtain passage farther ; here they left their families and set out to find a place to locate. Mr. Moseley and Mr. Smith, coming from Massachusetts, had heard of the lianipsliire colony, and accordingly directed their course toward Bureau (then Putnam) county. After looking about they decided that the county would please them, so they selected some claims. At that time Timothy Perkins had claimed for himself and family all the timber and adjoining prairie between the Arthur Bryant place and the Caleb Cook farm, but Smith and Moseley made a contract witli him for two farms and they were to buy building material of him. A few months previous to this Perkins and Leonard Roth had built a sawmill on main Bureau, a short distance from where the old McManis mill stood for so many years. This was the first sawmill built within the limits of Bureau coimty and, with one exception, the first one north of Peoria. Moseley and Smith marked out their claims by cutting their initials on witness trees and after contracting with Jlr. Perkins for boards and slabs to be delivered on their land for a shanty they returned to Naples for their families. Accordingly the three families, with all of their goods and belongings, were placed on board a keel boat at Naples and passed up the Illinois river as far as the mouth of Bureau creek. Soon after their arrival at the Bureau they were all iiken sick witli intermittent fever, only one of their number being able to be about. It was a most trying time for these three families among strangers in a .strange land, surrounded by an almost trackless wilderness and at the mercy of the wild men of the forest, yet with all the influences that surrounded them there came a ray of light, for even at that early date the Good Samaritan had preceded them. James Forristall, although living twelve miles distant, was a kind and sympathetic neighbor to them, spending days and even weeks in administering to their necessities. Daniel Smith, father of D, P. Smith of Ohio, and Dwight Smith of .'Vrlington, fotind shelter for his family in a shanty, built of split puncheons, wdiich stood on the Dooliltle farm, southeast of Princeton. Here Mr. Smith died a few weeks after his arrival and was buried northwest of Princeton, near the Stoner farm, he being the first white man buried within the limits of Bureau county. The death of Mr. Smith left Mrs. Smith alone to care for three small children in a strange and new conntry, witli limited means. Tier lot was a hard one, yet she with S[iartan bravery stetnmed the tide, fought the fight and came off victor, and lived to enjoy all the comforts of modern life.

Immediately after Stillman's defeat on May 16, 183^, the Smiths and Moseleys received word through Shabbona that Indians were raiding the community. The wonl was received just at night on May 18. They were the only two families left on tiiis side of the river, but they did not know it at that time, so they waited till the next morning before they left. These two families lived close together, about two and one-half miles southeast of Princeton. The night before they left the Indians were about one mile w-est of Princeton, on what is now known as the Knox farm. That night Roland Moseley stood guard at his own cabin and sent Frederick Moseley, father of Douglas Jloseley of the Citizens National Bank, who was only twelve years old, over to stand guard with Daniel P. Smith, who was about eight years old, and his mother at the Smith cabin. Frederick had a rifle, Daniel an old shotgun, and the mother an ax. It was a long and anxious night, but no Indians came. The next morning they went to the fort at Hennepin. While they were on the way to Hennepin it is said that Sample and his wife were burned, being tied to a tree on what is known as the Knox farm. Of this tragedy there is no authentic account, it comes from the confession of some Indian scouts, given years afterward and is mentioned here simply as a rumor and the writer of this volume does not place much confidence in the truth of the same.

While the two families were at the fort a man by the name of Hays came rushing into the stockade crying, "Indians! Indians!" and said he saw a large band of Indians just above Hennepin, at the iniiiith of P.ui-onu creek. The people at tlie fort had but little ammunition so the women and children were put into a keel boat and the men were to push the boat from shore and let it float down the river if the Indians came, while the men were to stay and defend themselves. They did not dare to have any lights on the boat as it would direct the Indians to it and they would all be killed. So tlii'V stayed and watched all night for tiicir approach, but they did not make their appearance.

Before the Smiths and Moseleys went to Hennepin Mr. Moseley had been to St. Louis and bought i)rovisions for tlie year. In their hurried flight to the fort they hid the flour, bacon and other supplies under some bushes near the house, and fortunately the Indians did not find them. The blockliouse at Hennepin was about sixteen by eighteen feet and two stories high. The men occupied the upper part, where holes had been made for shooting, and the women were in the lower story. While these two families were at the fort the massacre of Indian Creek took place, when fifteen jieople were brutally murdered and two small uirls taken prisoners. INIr. Smith tolls us he saw the gun barrel that Davis bent over the heads of those inhuman monsters while he was trying to save his lii'e. It was brought back to Hennepin by one of the party that went in search of the savages. It was found in the blacksmith's shop, where Davis was at work when attacked. Mr. D. P. Smith and Mrs. Dr. Paddock, a daughter of Charles S. Boyd, are the only living witnesses of those perilous times, so far as the writer has been able to learn. Their lives have been long and eventful and have touched human experiences upon every side; they have heard the war-whoop of the red men and listened to the songs of advanced civilization; they have viewed these prairies in their native loneliness and have beheld the waving fields of husbandry; they have looked upon the wigwam and tepee and have seen and enjoyed the palatial residences of toda}', and when we stand in their presence there comes across our vision a far-away scene that floats along down the billowy sea of life and unites the distant past with the great present by the golden cord of memory that will soon be severed.

Mr. Charles Phelps and family came to Princeton from Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1836. He sold his small place of five acres in Northampton and came to this county and purchased three hundred acres on section 3 in Princeton township. Here he built a house sixteen by eighteen feet out of native timber. This was at a time when a large number of settlers were coming in and for two or three years the farmers found a home market, supplying the new arrivals. After that the grain and produce was haided to Chicago. Mr. George Phelps, now living in Princeton, who came here with his father in 1836, tells us in 1844 he made a trip to Chicago with an ox team, taking a load of wdieat, the wheat was in sacks, and when they encountered low wet places they took the sacks upon their backs and carried them across to dry land, then drove the oxen across, reloaded the wheat and passed on. It took them about ten days to make the Journey, sleeping under the wagon at night. Some of the time wheat brought only twenty-five cents a bushel in Chicago and dressed pork one dollar and fifty cents a hundred. It took the Phelps family four weeks to make the journey from Ma.ssachusetts. They drove from Northampton to Albany, then took canal boat to Buffalo, then they took boat to Detroit, driving their own team the remaining distance. Mr. Phelps remembers the time that five hundred Pottawattamies were taken through Princeton on their way to Cliicago, under the care of government officers, where they were to receive the last installments for the land sold to the government.

The Bryants have ever been important factors in Bureau county affairs. John, Arthur, Cyrus and Austin all came here in their young manliood and lived and died in the homes they had made. Arthur gave his attention to horticulture, Jolin, Austin and Cyrus were engaged in agriculture. -Cyrus was the first circuit clerk, being appointed by the county commissioners. The writer has upon his table a letter written by Cyrus Bryant to Marcus Everett, under date of June 4, 1837, in which he says : "We have had much of our attention taken up for six months past in procuring a division of the county of Putnam and we have at last succeeded. There was so much chicanery practiced by the Hennepinites that we cordd not get an act passed creating a new county at once, because the legislature could not be satisfied from the petitions and remonstrances which party had a majority, so they left the matter to a vote of the people of the county of Putnam, and we got the majority for making a new county. Its name is Bureau. There has been a heap of pulling and hauling and all sorts of electioneering to defeat us, and it has caused us to spend some time and money to put down the false representations which the opposite party were striving to propagate among the people. Suffice it to say we have succeeded, and our election for county officers is to be lield tomorrow. Princeton in all probability will be the seat of justice for the new county." He also said in the same letter : "Princeton has three stores and one more being built." Thus it will be seen that the political waters were sometimes troubled even in those primitive days that our modern platform speakers would lead us to believe were devoid of wrangle and strife, and that everything pertaining to public measures was meted out to the people with the utmost fairness and that deceit and sophistry were almost unknown quantities. All ! my readers, the history of the race demonstrates to a certainty that selfishness is one of the strong attributes of humanity and it shows itself in every walk of life. It is found in the hovel of the poor and in the palace of the rich ; it revels in the halls of wealth and plenty and stalks unblushingly amid the scenes of squalor and want; it sits on the seats of the lowly and rides in the chariots of power, in view of this great truth let us not be pessimistic and feel that evil is advancing and that good is receding, but on the contrary let us lift up our eyes and behold the world of today, fuller, riches, grander than ever before, more hearts ready to respond in human sympathy, more hands ready to alleviate human suffering, and more money ready to satisfy human wants. It is true that selfishness and greed sometimes almost chills the very blood in our veins, yet when we strike the level wc find the tide of correct living constantly growing higher. If any one should ask what is the cause of the world's advancement in the higher attributes of our nature, we would say the church and the scliool and coupled with these the refining and purifying influence of epic poetry. No one can read the great and immortal sayings that have originated in the brain and flowed from the pen of a Bryant, a Longfellow, a Holland, a Whittier, a Tennyson aiul a score of others that could be mentioned, without havintr their higher and better natures stroiigthfiieil. As civilization advances, the comforts and luxuries increase, and what was a luxury a few decades ago has become a necessity of today. The following is a copy of the diary kept by the mother of John H. Bryant on her trip to Princeton over seventy years ago in the spring of 1835. This was printed in the Bureau County Republican a few months ago, and we feel that niany will be interested in comparing the present commodious way of traveling with that of the past:

In the year 1835 the widowed mother of the poet, Willfam Cullen Bryant, accompanied by her son Austin, with his wiie and baby, and her unmarried daughter, Louisa, left the old homestead at Cummington, Massachusetts, to live in Princeton, Illinois.

They departed from Cummington on May 11 and arrived in Princeton June 14. Two days were consumed m reaching Albany by stage. From that point "the journey can best be described by quoting directly from a yellow, faded, little diary kept by Mrs. Bryant, and now in the possession of her great-grandchildren in Princeton. To the modern traveler the tale may prove interesting.

"May 13. Got to Albany at 5 p. m. ; went on board the boat 'Amherst,' owned by Captain Thompson, of Peru. Boat very full; a great number of noisy children - no sleeping the first night.

"May 14. Steady rain all day; have to keep shut up; all well; started before noon; went through West Troy, seven miles from Albany. Trees almost leaved out, though the spring is very backward.

"May 17. Sabbath pleasant. Passed Syracuse a little before night; got out and walked for the first time since I came on the canal: passed the salt works; twenty-five acres covered with a roof.

"May 19. Clear, very warm. Passed Rochester about noon ; a very handsome place ; the Genesee river passes through Rochester; the falls are there where Samuel Patch jumped off and was killed.

"ilay 21. Got into Buffalo before light; before noon left the canal boat 'Amherst' for the schooner 'Navigation,' Captain Thorp. Have a small cabin, crowded with passengers, many crying children ; no rest day or night.

"May 22. A very fair wind, brisk before night. Most all sick, but able to sit up and wait on themselves. Men not much sick ; they tarried on deck.

"May 25. We are now in the Detroit river, in the course of the day got into Lake St. Clair. This spring the channel has been staked out; not finding the stakes, and fearing they would get out of the channel, lay by before sunset.

"May 28. Went to move on; got stuck in a sand bank; took till afternoon to get off; went a little way, ran on again; got oft' about sunset and put by ; dangerous going in the night.

"May 29. Went on a good jog through the River St. Clair. Wind not strong enough to go through the rapids ; have to lie by ; men went on shore and got some bread, milk and fi.sh; provisions very high. Li the night a vessel struck ours.

"June 3. We enter the Straits of Michigan. At evening we struck either a sandbank or a rock, but slid oif immediately; anchored for the night.

"June 4. Morning foggy and but little wind ; went on Big Beaver island : the girls went after boxberries in a boat ; men got some cowslips for greens.

"June 7. Afternoon, landed at Chicago, went to the Steamboat Hotel ; very much crowded with passengers; sought another lodging; hired a wagon to carry us a mile, for which we paid a dollar. Slept under a roof where there were four beds, in which we all slept, fourteen in number.

"June 8. Our boxes on shore, Mr. Pratt tarried all night at the storage house. Walked out after tea to see the place; a very hot night; disturbed by the dogs. Austin looking out for a team to carry us on to Princeton.

"June 10. Austin bought a horse, gave $80. to put in his wagon to go on to Princeton ; hired a man to go on with a team to carry the family ; went about eighteen miles; started at 10. forenoon, got across the wet prairie, took tea at Widow Barry's.

"June 11. Put up for the night in a miserable log hut. Raymond and William slept on a bag of wool ; .\ustin, the driver and Jlr. Pratt slept on chairs; TiOuisa and myself on the floor. 'J''here were so many men going on to Chicago there was no getting lodgings. The public land is coming into market.

"June 13. Eainy; had a very muddy road; ate no breakfast; stopt at Holdennau's Grove and took the first good cup of coffee I liave had for a month. Eode to a neat, comfortable looking house, with a dooryard, and put up for the night.

13. Eode fifteen miles before we came to a house to put up for the night; crossed the Little Vermilion, a bad stream; water so high it wet our feet. Put up at a poor log hut.

MICHAEL KUrTEEMAN. The experiences and personality of Michael Kitterman are both interesting and unique. He was born in Franklin county, Virginia, in the year 1800. When a young man he came to Indiana, where he married Miss Lydia .Clark, a native oi." Kentucky. In 1828 he made a trip through the west, and was so well pleased with this part of the country that he made arrangements to make it his permanent home. Accordingly, in 1831, he, on horseback, with four dollars for expenses, started for Illinois. He left his wife and two children at home, while he came to Bureau county, took up a claim and, by odd jobs during the summer, built a small cabin, and in the fall returned for his family. The writer of this book was present at the old settlers' meeting in 1877 and heard Uncle Mike, as he was familiarly called, tell the story of his coming in his own brisk way. Bradsby gave the same account in his history of 1885, but we believe it will bear repeating, as a new generation is now upon the stage of action. He says : "I came to this county in 1828 and looked around and thought the country would suit me pretty well. In 1831, about the 18th of March, I left Indiana and thought I would come out to this country. I came on down here to the Mackinaw. It was high : I couldn't get across. I didn't know what to do. I did not like to lay by. A man told me if I would go up to the narrows I could cro^s by swimming my horse. I went there and found it so. A man there showed me over the river and said: 'You can't go through today.' I had faith I could. I had a good horse, and mountc^d and started on a wagon track, and traveled until it was dusk, and then I got ditwn and sat on my saddle and held my mare by the bridle all night. It commenced getting cold, and snowed a little; not enough, liowever, to cover the wagcm track. In the morning I put my saddle on my mare and started. At 4 o'clock that day I struck the rapids above La Salle. I stopped at a house near by. Everyone kept tavern then. They got me something to eat. Next day I came down to Hennepin. There was no way of crossing the river. I hired Jim Willis for half a dollar to fcriT uu' over to the Hall settlenu'iit. I hired out to old

John Hall for six months at nine dollars a month. Every Sunday I would get a chain and axe of him, and I hauled up two or three logs each day and built me a cabin. Then I went back for a woman, and when I got her and came back there was a man living in my cabin. This was on section 16. I had not a dollar in the world. I drove down to where I now live and have lived there ever since. I cut a log about four feet long and put some coals on it and burned a mortar ; perhaps I was a week doing it, of nights. I got my mortar dug out and got me a pestle, and every night I pounded meal enough to do me next day. I never enjoyed myself as much as I did then. When the mills were built I went up to Fox river to get a grist. When I wanted salt I had to go to Chicago. It would take eight days to go up and eight days to come back. I took my food along. When I was there once I wanted some whisky. I went all over Chicago for it. I could get whisky, but nothing to put it in. Well, I went into a saloon and the keeper said : 'I have got a five-gallon jug.' 'Well, what will you fill it for?' Says he: 'I'll put in five gallons and give you the jug for a dollar.' I took it. I lived under the wagon coming back and had all the whisky I wanted to drink. I believe I have split enough rails at fifty cents a hundred to fence in a township. I have split five hundred rails a day at eight dollars a month." Mr. Kitternian was a man of native ability and of great energy. He came here in the prime of his manhood and lived and died upon the land he entered. He passed through all the varied scenes and trials incident to frontier life. He knew what poverty and destitution meant; what struggling for an existence in the twilight of civilization meant; all these experiences had been his. Yet his brave heart never faltered, his strong arm was never lowered, but with heroic courage he fought on until at last the victory was his and he found himself surrounded with all that heart could wish - a fine home, broad acres, his stock, as it were, on a "thousand hills." This was his condition when, in 1885, at the age of 85, he was touched by the angel of death and he slept.

Joseph Smith

One of the noted characters in the early settlement of this county was Joseph Smith, but who was best known as "Dad Joe." Dad Joe was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 1786. In the early part of the last century he, with his wife and three children, Elizabeth, Nicholas and Joseph, left their home in Kentucky and started for Tllinois. They joui-ueyed slowly, but persistently, toward their future hoiui'. At Lockwoods Mills, Wayne county, Indiana, in 1823, Iheii' fourth cliild, Catherine, wiis horn, 'i'liis daughter in ISI.'i married Eobci't Coullri' iiml sclilrd ujion a farm about seven miles north of Priiicetou, where she lived until her death, which occurred on May 5, 1903. Dad Joe arrived with his family at Peoria in the fall of 1823. Mr. Smith first built a cabin on this side of the river, but afterward changed claims with a neighbor and wont on the other side, where it is said that he had nightly music from the wild beasts that hovered around his cabin. He made his home, while building his cabin, with a Frenclmian Mho was a govermnent interpreter and whose wife was si half-breed Pottawattomie. This family was wealthy, for those days, and indulged in many luxuries in the way of "line jewelry and silk clothing. It was here that Smith first received the sobriquet of '"Dad Joe."' The Frenclmian, coming home one day, heard little Catherine, who was just beginning to talk, call her father "Dady Joe, Dady Joe." This pleased the Frenchman, who laughed heartily, and, slapping his hands together, he said: "Dady Joe, Mammy Joe, Little Dady Joe," and "Dady Joe" he always called Mr. Smith from that time. The settlers soon shortened it to "Dad Joe." The climate not agreeing with the family they decided to leave the river bottoms. Accordingly in 182G they moved to Galena, which place they reached soon after the "Red Bird" troubles. Between twenty and thirty chiefs were imprisoned at that time in the fort at Prairie-du-Chie;i. It was a time of great danger, as the Indians were not in an amicable mood, but, on the contrary, were anything but friendly. Dad Joe built a cabin and surrounded it with log fortilications, so as to make it as safe as possible while he was away working in the mines. Nicholas, the oldest son, who had inlierited some of the grit and pluck of his father, was working for a man who lived on an Indian reservation. One day while he was there seven big, burly Sioux came to the cabin and ordered a dinner of warm biscuits, of which the Indians were extremely fond. Without delay they wen; siipplieil with a liberal amount, which they quickly swallowed in enormous quantities, and after this gluttonous meal they ordered the host to bring water, which he did. The loader took the pail of water and threw it upon the ground and then ordered more, which was brought, with the same result. He then handed it to Nicholas, with a demand that he also sliould bring water. Nicholas took the pail and deliberately dashed it at the Indian's feet. This act of defiance pleased some of the Indians and they roared with laughter, but the one who gave the order became enraged and sternly addressed the white men as follows : "You are on Chimoka man's land, but if you are not off by this time tomorrow we'll kill" you." He then turned away and thoy all liled out of the cabin. One of those who laughed at Nicholas said to him as they passed out : "You live in Peoria ; get out as quick as you can." But they remained, and were not molested. After spending the winter at Galena, at that time entirely surrounded by hostile tribes that were growing bolder and more aggressive. Smith again packed his little all and struck the trail direct for Rock Island, where the United States troops were located at Fort Armstrong. This was in 1827, before the first white settler ever set toot in Bureau county. It seems almost lilce a fable or the creation of some erratic brain to chronicle such scenes as these when we realize that this whole country has been brought from barbaric darkness into the sunlight of modern civilization, and that within the space of one man's lifetime.

Black Hawk's beautiful village of Sankenuk was still in its glory when the Smiths arrived at Rock Island. The peaceful flow of the Father of Waters still charmed and delighted them ; the great, trackless forests were still their hunting grounds; the squaws tended the maize fields and the young braves pursued the chase and drew the finny tribe from beneath the jjlacid waters of the great river. Here they lived; here they were happy. On his arrival Smith bought a fine timber claim of Gardner & Carver, about one mile southeast of Black Hawk's village and about four miles up the river from Black Hawk's watch tower. They lived in one of the Indian wigwams until the new cabin was built. Young Nicholas made friends with the Indians and entered into their sports. He was an expert wrestler and fleet runner. He was more than a match for the young braves, generally coming out ahead in their races. Gardner and Mc- Carver nuulo their home with the Smith family and told the Indians they were relatives, and had it not been for them it is probable that the Smiths would not have been troubled by their dusky neighboi's. Those two men had sold whisky to the Indians, and they thought they had otherwise been dishonest with them. One day while "Dad Joe" was away from home eight big Indians came to the door and had trouble with Gardner, while about sixty more were lounging in the grass. Gardner and McCarver's whisky barrels still stood in the yard, and the Indians helped themselves, using Mrs. Smith's baking tins to distribute it, and while they were so doing they left the taps out of the barrels and the whisky was soon on the ground. The whisky excited the braves to such an extent that they jumped to their feet and commenced a war dance. At this time Mrs. Smith, becoming alarmed at the threatening appearance of the savages, took her little baby in her arms and started for the spring, Nicholas following with a horse [listol. His mother said to him: "Do not shoot, no matter what happens, for if you do we shall all be killed.'' Two Indians seized Nicholas, and before he could rid himself of them another caught his mother, who by this time had reached the stake and rider fence. At this turn of affairs young Joseph Smith, who had mounted a pony to ride out to notify the hands in the field, wheeled his pony about and rode at full speed against his mother's assailant, thereby warding off the blow of the tomahawk raised above her head. The Indian, thus bailled,, again seized hold of Mrs. Smith and again raised his tomahawk to strike the deadly blow, when he was brushed away by the nervy Joe and his pony the second time. Thus the struggle went on, until Nicholas, having disposed of his assailants, came to the rescue, when the Indian loosed his hold and fled. Nicholas then took the family down the river, where lie hid them in a cave in the blufl' overlooking the river, then went back where he could keep watch of the situation. Some of the Kickapoos being in that vicinity and hearing of the trouble came to the assistance of Nicholas, and they took the family down the river to their village. The Indians put the women and children on a pony and led it down the river in the edge of the stream, so they could not be tracked. Mrs. Smith received a severe cut on the side of the face, but otherwise was not injured. The Kickapoos took Mrs. Smith to their council tent, placed her upon a large mat and put the baby in her lap and placed little Catherine (the late Mrs. Coulter) beside her, when the squaws carefully cared for her wound by washing and cleansing it. then brought them some delicacies to eat, such as honey and wild grapes. The Kickapoo braves took their guns and went back to where Nicholas was waiting for his father's return. About dark the Indians, putting their ears to the ground, announced that he was coming, for they could hear the footfall of a moccasin horse. AVhen Mr. Smith was informed of the condition of things he went immediately to the Kickapoo camp and took his wife and children back to their own home. The Kickapoos went along so as to protect them. Smith demanded of Black Hawk that the one who tomahawked his wife should be punished, and if it was not done he would see to it himself. Keokuk, the second in command under Black Hawk, came to Smith's cabin with thirty warriors for Mrs. Smith's inspection, but the oft'ender was not among them. Finally Black Hawk came in person with thirteen of his braves, all decorated with paint and feathers, ready to start on the war path for some of the small tribes in the north. He notified Mr. Smith he had come to tell him that the man who tomahawked Mrs. Smith did not belong to his tribe, but left at once after committing the offense. Becoming tired of the continual apprehension for the safety of his family, he in the fall of 1838 moved to the Reed settlement, about fifteen miles this side of Peoria. After arriving there he received word from Oje, the Frenchman whom he lived with when he first arrived in Peoria, to come to Dixon, where Oje then lived. The Smiths again packed their small belongings and started for Oje ferry, what is now Dixon. This was in the fall, the weather was cold and chilly. Mrs. Smith was in delicate health. The Green river country at that time was almost one expanse of mud and marsli, and the traveling was disheartening. When they arrived at the river there was no way of getting across. Smith made a raft, put his wife's bed upon it, floated her and the children across and then returned for his wagon. The horses swam over.

The old Galena road, running from Peoria through Dixon to Galena, had just been opened. On this road there were but three families at that time. John Dixon's, at Boyd's Grove ; Thomas, at West Bureau, and the Ament brothers, at Red Oak Grove. These families located there during that summer. After a long and lonely journey the Smiths arrived at the Oje ferry, where they found the Frenchman located. "Dad Joe" did not take kindly to the prospect, and in the morning started back to Red Oak Grove, where the Ament brothers were located. The Aments gave the Smiths a part of their claims and they at once went to work building a cabin, which they completed before the winter set in. Mrs. Smith was the only woman in all that north country for miles around, so the travelers soon learned that they could get refreshments cooked by a woman if they went by "Dad Joe's'' house. This soon led to a change in the old road. Instead of going by Ament's it went by Smith's. The grove still bears the name of this worthy pioneer. At this place "Dad Joe'' built a three-story cabin, and here the weary traveler of those primitive days found rest and refreshments. They were fed on wild turkey, prairie chicken, quail and the choicest venison, fresh from the storehouse of nature. This, with plenty of milk and butter and wild fruit, made up a bill of fare that would make the most fastidious epicurean's mouth water. Here the second school of what is now Bureau county was taught, in a room in the Smith cabin. The teacher was Moses Thompson. When the weather was bad the children stayed all night. Here in this primitive way in those trying days lived this big-hearted, honest old "Dad Joe." Now the scene is changed. The wild turkey, the fleet-footed deer, the skulking wolf and the sly fox have all passed away. The cabin has been obliterated and become a part of mother earth. The travelers have gone to their long home and the host and hostess are in their last resting place in the quiet city of the dead. But the memory of those perilous times lives and grows richer as time passes on. "You mav break, you may shatter the vase if you

While living at the grove they were not free from the constant menace of the Indians. In 1829 the family fled to the fort, and again in 1830 and 1831. The Black Hawk war came upon the Smiths without any warning, but when things began to look strained young Nicholas rode to Dixon to interview some friendly Indians camped there. AMien he reached the camp he found a large bodj' of strange Indians present. The friendly chief told him to stay all night and he would have a talk with him in tlie luoniiug, but he must not lie seen talking with him that night. The next morning he secretly told him he thought that he and his fatlier's family were in Peoria, saying also "that every family between here and Peoria are gone." Nicholas mounted his horse, and as he left the old chief told him to look out for the tall grass. On arriving at home he took his mother and small children in a wagon and started for Galena, where he arrived in safety. "Dad Joe" and his son Joseph stayed at home and joined Stillman's army. One of the daring feats of the Black Hawk war was performed by young "Dad Joe." Governor Reynolds being at Dixon, it became necessary to get an important dispatch through to Fort Will)er, on the Illinois river, opposite Peru. He called for volunteers. "Dad Joe" said, "Here is a boy that will go," pointing to his son Joseph, who was about fifteen years old. Accordingly the dispatch was concealed in his clothing and he mounted the favorite horse, "Old Pat," and started. It was a long and perilous journey, beset by savages, who were lurking in the ravines and tall grass along his route, but on he went, and carried his message and returned in safety and received great praise from the commander of the fort and also from Governor Reynolds.

After the war closed the Smiths returned to their home at the grove, where Mrs. Smith, whose maiden name was Katharine Kipplinger, died in ]83-j, and soon after this "Dad Joe" traded his farm at the grove to a Mr. Klston for the farm that is now known as the Colonel Thompson place, which is located on the Dixon road, about a mile north of the covered bridge. Here he lived until his death, in 1852, in his sixty-seventh j'ear. We are indebted for much of this account to Miss Georgie Beede, who visited Mrs. Catherine Coulter shortly before her death (Mrs. Coulter being the daughter who is known as little Catherine in this sketch), and obtained these facts, and they were published in the Bureau County Record a few years ago. The articles were so well written that wo have given in many places Miss Beede's exact language.

Murder Of Bunn

In the summer of 183T the body of a murdered man was found near Lost Grove, now .Vrlington. Beside the boily was found a Bible. On the first blank leaf of the book was found written in a beautiful hand this well-known poem: "Holy Bible, book divine! Precious treasure, thou art mine." At the close of the poem was written the name of Frederick Hunii. ()?i the upposite side of the leaf was written :

Frkdehick Bunn

'I'he body of the murdered man was nude, and near by was found a suit of old and soiled clothing. From the general appearance of the body it was evident that he was unused to manual labor, and from the circumstances surrounding the finding of the body it was believed that the murderer substituted the dead man's clothes for his own and the bundle of clothes found belonged to the perpetrator of the deed. The body was found by Rev. Rufus Lumary. An inquest was held and the bodv buried, as told in the reminiscences of M. B. Garlen. In presenting the book to the library Mr. Swanzy added this raemorandiun : "This book was in the possession of D. G. Salisbury, J. P., until his death, in 1860, and I wrote the memorandum on the flyleaf at that time. The Lumary mentioned was the Rev. Rufus Lumary spoken of in "West and Northwest," page 119, by Beggs, ])ub!ished 1868. Thus it will be seen that the library association is indebted to Andrew Swanzy for this valuable relic of pioneer days. So it seems that this man Bunn met this tragic death on the lonely prairie, surrounded by God's primeval creations, with no eye to pity and no hand to save, while somewhere in this broad land friends were anxiously waiting and watching for the form that never returned, feeling the full import of that beautiful saying of Tennyson:

Avest Bureau Settlement

AVEST BUREAU SETTLEMENT. The first settlers on West Bureau came from Urbana, Champaign count}-, Ohio. Henry Thomas, being the first, settled here in 1828. As has been noted he was the first settler in the county. Following him was Ezekiel Thomas, in 1829 ; John Phillips and Eli Frankenberger came in 1833; C. C. Corso in 1834. In 1837 William Frankenberger, Mo.ses and Trader Thompson and Nicholas Smith made claims. In 1838 Rev. Simon Lemon joined the settlement, and in 1840 Mr. Jeremiah Mathis and son, Eli R., arrived. Later came Edward Mercer, Sr., and Edward, Jr. The senior Mercer was a doctor and also a preacher of the Protestant Methodist church. They also came from Ohio. William Carter, Solomon Sapp and his brother, I'phraim, came from Delaware in 1836. Still later came Samuel Fay, Flavel Thurston, Jackamier and Allen. In 1833 John Phillips, with wife and two children, arrived, as he said, at "the beautiful land of sunshine," where, he had been told, "money grew on bushes." This in a way proved true, for, arriving too late to prepare a winter's supply of food for them, his cows, oxen and sheep were fed on boughs of trees and bushes, whii'h he cut for them. They moved into a squatter's small cabin on the east edge of Bureau timber on what was known for many /ears as the Flavel Thurston place. This little cabin had liut one small window ami no dour, iu lieu of which the mother used a thick quilt during the winter and next summer. Here iu this cabin, on September 2d. 1834, another daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, and is said to be the second white child boru within the present limits of Bureau county. This daughter is the widow of the late Eli Mathis, of Princeton, and the mother of Mrs. Andus Best. She is still living, and enters into all the activities of life, and to her the writer is indebted for most of the information in regard to this early setlement. This cabin was located on the Indian trail leading from the Mississippi river to Chicago, and here Shabbona and his tribe frequently passed back and forth, often stopping to cook their game and bake their johnny cake by Mrs. Phillips" lireplace. Mrs. Philliiss and the children were alone much of the time, as Mr. Phillips, in the summer of 1834, went to Galena to work in the lead mines to obtain money to enter some land near his cabin. Mrs. Phillips' little boy, James, had one gray and one brown eye. This attracted the Indians" attention, and they on several occasions tried to traile a girl pappoose for him. They would not trade a boy, for he would make a warrior. They made so much of little , James that the mother spent an anxious summer, fearing they might kidnap him.

During this summer Cornelius Corss built a sawmill and sawed lumber, from which boards were obtained to make doors and floors of a new cabin. The clapboards were split out with a frow and the chimney was built of sticks and clay mortar. In these early days the boys were busy at farm work and the girls were carding, spinning and weaving. All of the cloth was made at home for the whole fauiily. Mrs. Mathis informs us that she well remembers her iirst calico dress. Her father hauled wheat to Chicago and sold it for "2-5 cents per bushel and paid 25 cents a yard for the calico. In 1840 Mrs. John R. Sapp (nee Carrie Mercer) taught school in the neighborhood. John M. Zearshaw built the first frame house in West Bureau settlement and Mr. Mathis the second. In 1841 the first frame school house in the neighborhood \\as built. The first teacher in the frame school house was the late Anthony Sawyer, then Trader Thomas. J. Stubbs, Melvin J. Keith, and later, in 1849-1850. Hon. L. D. Whiting taught the school. He lived in a log cabin west of Wvanet.