Cass County, Illinois - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read), 1882

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read)

CASS COUNTY* - EARLY NOTES ON ILLINOIS - THE FRENCH TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS THE INDIANS - WARS OF THE IROQUOIS AND KICKAPOOS - LEGEND OF MONSOELA - DIFFERENT OWNERS OF ILLINOIS - BEARDSTOWN MOUND - PURCHASE OF THE COUNTRY FROM THE INDIANSMISCELLANEOUS, ETC.

had explored Upper Canada, and twenty years later the hardy and ambitious French traders and voyageurs and zealous missionaries had erected trading- posts and missions along the rivers and upon the lake shores, now within the jurisdiction of Illinois and Wisconsin.

At that period the surface of Illinois was much lower, geologically considered, than it is at the present time. Since its creation, the thin crust of the earth has been undergoing slow mutations, breathing, as it were, by centuries, elevating and depressing in the lapse of ages under the influence of its mighty lungs of fire, sinking slowly and imperceptibly beneath their former level continents and islands, and as gradually raising others above the waste of waters.

Levantine seas have been gradually encroached upon by the water, there has been a corresponding rise in the earth's surface here. Two hundred years ago the white settlers of Illinois navigated the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to the great northern lakes. French pirogues and Indian canoes found no difficulty in passing through the portages of the North to Hudson's B ly. The routes from the Mississippi river - up the Wisconsin and down the Fox to Lake Michigan ; and uj> the Illinois or "River of the Mianiis," as it was then called, to ('hicago river; or up the Kankakee and down the St. .loseph - were well known and navigated. Indeed, but a few centuries since, these rivers were the southern outlets for the waters of the great lakes, and the Illinois penitentiary, near Joliet, now stands upon a ledge of rocks over which a great river once flowed in rapids similar to those of the Upper Mississippi.

which it fell one hundred feet, forming a cataract of such volume and height as to rival even Niagara. But the continual wearing power of the water, aided materially by earthquakes, which have left their sign in the vicinity, finally opened the present channel of the Mississippi, and gave an outlet to the ocean of waters that lay stagnating in the swamps, now prairies, above, and causing the present agricultural productiveness of the ancient beds of these great waters.

Two hundred years ago Northern and Central Illinois was inhabited by two powerful nations of liidians, the Illinois and the Miainis. The latter occupied the northern part of the present State and part of Wisconsin, and their chief town was upon the present site of Chicago.

The Illinois tribe occupied the country l)ordoring upon the Illinois river, called by the French the " River Seignelay, " and all the country between that and the " River Colbert," or Mississippi.

The principal tribe of the Illinois were the Muscootens, and their town was upon the present site of Beardstown, on the east bank of the river, at the foot of Muscooten Bay, and was called by the French the " Mound Village." The Peorias, another of the Illinois tribes, generally occupied that portion of the country between the rivers, having their town on the west l).ink of the Illinois river, four miles above the Muscooten village, upon the bluffs back of the present town of Frederick. The present site of Beardstown was at that time an island, surrounded on the north, east and south by almost impassable swamps, containing dangerous quicksands and quaking bogs, and which could be crossed only in canoes, or by Indians jumping from hillock to hillock of the turf gras-j with which these swamps were interspersed, and on the west by the Seignelay or Illinois River. The Indian town of the Muscootens was a beautiful place. It was built upon a series of mounds, covered with grass, and partially shaded by tall trees, which stood like sentinels upon the hills, or ornamental trees upon a lawn, so scattered as not to obstruct the view of the whole town from the river. The island had evidently been selected, not only on account of its natural beauty, but for its easy defense and safety from enemies.

By two bends in the river, forming two obtuse angles, the allied villages of the Peorias and the Muscootens stood at the two elbows, in plain sight of each other, the i)road river foi-niing a straight sheet of water between, while north of the Mound Village, and in front of the Peorias, spread the wide and glassy surface of Muscooten Bay, separated from the river by a narrow peninsula. Back of the swamp which protected the rear of the town, was a wide belt of rich prairie bottom land, and beyond, six miles, loomed up the Sangamon Bluffs, looking like miniature Andes in the distance, between wliicli and the island, in the day time, all approaching foes could be discerned.

This island town was a favorite resting place with the weary voyageurs and devout missionaries; a large cross was erected here, and friendly relations established between the "children of the forest" and the white men. This favoritism on the part of the French towards the Illinois Indians, excited the jealousy of the Mianiis, and they determined upon revenge. In vain did the missionaries try to prevent animosities. The Miamis invaded the country of the Illinois, and took some prisoners.

At this time the Chevalier La Salle, who had built a fort called Creve Cceur, or the Broken Heart, where the present city of Peoria now stands, in order to prevent further hostilities, made a journey alone down the river to the Muscooten Village, but his efforts were without avail, and the war continued.

The Muscootens believed that La Salle was acting as a spy for the Iroquois, whose chief town was then where Buffalo, N. Y., now is, and who were the most powerful Indian nation upon the continent. This impression seemed to be confirmed when it became known to them that the Iroquois and Miamis had formed an alliance for the purpose of exterminating them.

Many battles were fought between these hostile nations, but, by the superior numbers of their enemies, the Illinois were worsted and liesieged in their towns. The Peorias fortified themselves with earthworks upon the l)!uffs at their village, and passed men down the river in canoes, as necessity required, to th3 Mound Village, or received help from there, the river being protected from tl'.e arrows of the enemy by marshy ground on one side and the bay on the other, which forbade their near approach.

The Muscootens were beseiged in their island town. Occasionally they were assailed l)y parties of their enemies, who, more courageous than their fellows, crossed the swamps in the night, on the grassy hillocks, with the help of poles. On these occasions fierce battles were fought, and none of the daring assailants survived to recross those trembling hillocks. At each defeat the Miamies and Iroquois became more enraged. In the night time, when out of danger from arrows, the allied Indians cut grass and smxil trees, and gathered floating wood, and built a causeway across a part of the swamp. When it was completed, with the aid of canoes disguised by branches of trees, in the night time, they rushed upon the island, and for several days the battle raged fierce. y. There was no quarter given or asked. Death was dealt by uns])aring hands on both sides. They had been rendered doubly savage by hunger and delay. Their revenge had long been at usury, and they were now satisfying principal and interest.

The battle at intervals temporarily subsided, but only when the combatants became exhausted, and was resumed when rest brought returnitig strength. Those who from fatigue were unable to rise, were scalped and tomahawked, entering from the dreamland of life to the dreamland of death.

At length, exhausted and overwhelmed by superior numbers, the Muscootens began to fall back towards the river, when with yells of victory their allied enemies rushed upon them, and with tomahawks and scalping knives ended the battle. A few of the unfortunate Muscootens swam the river, and concealed themselves until night in the high swamp grass beyond, and a small number of men, women and children fled in canoes to the village of the Peorias, and some were taken prisoners.

The battle being over, then came the mourning for the slain. Funeral rites, in which the missionaries took part, were performed, and in the great mound on tiie bank of the river, which had been raised centuries before by a long forgotten race, they buried the slain warriors with their bows, arrows and tomahawks, together with the silver and Hint crosses of the missionaries.

After these ceremonies were concluded, the Iroquois returned to their own country. The Miamis, with their prisoners, encamped upon the present site of Chandlerville, where game was plenty, and attended to their sick and dying, great numbers of whom did not survive their wounds.

Tliose that died were buried in the bluffs near by, and long after the settlement of Chandlerville their ghastly skeletons lay in white rows, exposed to the sun, laid bare by the action of the wind up )n their sandy covering.

Many years ago, at the request of a young friend, the writer put into verse and rhyme one of the incidents related above, which is as fo lows :

^\hich they built a village, known as " Kickapoo Town," although still remcmbererl by the French Missionaries as the "Beautiful Mound Village." This became a favorite trading post and missionary station, and continued in the possession of the Kickapoos until its settlement by Thomas Beard, in 18"20, after whom the present city of Beardstown was named.

A few years later the great mound in Beardstown began to be encroached upon by the spade and pickaxe of the avaricious white man. Still later, Horace Billings built upon its river front a huge mill, for the purpose of grinding corn, bolting it fine like wheat flour, kiln-drying, sacking it, and shipping it to Europe as bread stuff. This building was five stories high, a massive frame, and the mound was so excavated with winding roads that teams could be driven to three different stories, to load and unload.

This enterprise proved a ruinous failure. The drying process destroyed the vitality of the meal, and prevented its sale. The building was destroyed by fire. The earth, of which the mound was composed, and which is supposed to have been taken by its builders from the bottom of the river, was stolen away by wagon-loads to cover house lots and streets with, and its site was finally reduced to the level of the adjacent streets.

The decaying bones of the red warrio-s, as they lay in their quiet an4 lovely resting place, with the implements -,of war around them; the silver and flint crosses of the missionaries, even the beautiful mound itself, which as an ornament and historic feature to the town and river, should have been held sacred, could not restrain the money- making white man from destroying it, and it is now recollected only by the old settlers, who used to sit upon its summit and watch the passing away ofthelast of two races - the Indian in his cano2, and the French voyageur in his j)irogue.

In 17G3, Illinois was ceded by France to Great Britain, after a " seven year's war," Many French inhabitants, rather than live under British rule, joined La Clede and settled in St. Louis, then French territory.

In 1778, the Illinois country was conquered from Great Britain by troops from the State of Virginia, under the command of General George Rogers Clark, which was an independent military enterprise of that State; and on the 4th day of July of that year, General Clark and his troops took possession of Kaskaskia, the capital of the British possessions west of the AUeghenies, and declared the Illinois country free and independent of Great Britain, thus making the -ith day of July the natal day of this State as well as of the Nation. In that year, Illinois was created a county of Virginia, and Timothy Dernanbrun was appointed by the governor, Patrick Henry, a justice of the peace, to rule over it; which was probably the most extensive territorial jurisdiction that a magistrate ever had.

During the first quarter of the present centiuy, immigration to the Illinois country was retarded by frequent earthquakes; indeed, from 1811 to 1813 they were as severe as ever happened on this continent, and the few settlers then here were in constant dread from these disturbances. New Madrid, a flourishing town near the mouth of the Ohio, was utterly destroyed and partially swallowed up. But in 1825, the Erie Canal was completed, and steamboats had been introduced upon the Mississippi and its tributaries, and immigration received a new impulse and flowed in vigorously. This immigration excitement was called east of the Alleghenies, the "western fever; " and it carried many a good man ofi^ - loest.

Another circumstance which prevetited immigration into central Illinois during the same period was, that all that portion of it that lay south of the Kankakee, east of the Illinois, west of the Wabash and north of a line drawn from the mouth of the Illinois eastward to the Wabash, including the present Cass County, was owned and in possession of the Kickapoos, a powerful and warlike tribe of Indians, who conquered this territory about the middle of the last century from the Illinois Indians. The Kickapoos, while friendly with the French, lookeil with extreme jealousy upon the Americans, and discouraged their settlement in this territory. This wide scope of country, included the best and most fruitful portions of Illinois, and pioneers were anxious for the general government to purchase it of the Kickapoos, and open it to settlement. Several efforts were made by the government to treat with them for their lands, but being of a haughty spirit, no satisfaction could be obtained from them, until Gen. Harrison defeated them at the battle of Tippecanoe, which so diminished their vanity that they sought to treat, but Gen. Harrison refused. Shortly afterward they were again defeated by Col. Zachary Taylor, and in October, 1812, Co!. Russell defeated thcmatKickapooTown.on the Illinois River, the present site of Beardstown, and again, in November Col. HopkinsHestroyed one of their towns on Wildcat Creek. They then sued for peace, and their chief. Little Otter, met Gen. Harrison. The treaties of Portage des Sioux (Sept. 2, 1815) and Fort Harrison (June 4, 1816), followed. These treaties being indefinite in their results, the Kickapoos still retaining their lands, many of them religiously believing and maintaining that they were granted them by the Great Spirit as their possession forever, and that he would be angry if they sold them; the following order was issued by the general government, addressed to Gov. Wm. Clark, Indian Superintendent at St. Louis, and to Gov. Ninian Edwards, Governor of the Territory of Illinois:

" Gentlemen: - I have the honor to enclose you a commission, for the purpose of treating with the Illinois, the Kickapoos, the Pottawatomies and other tribes of Indians within the Illinois territory. The object of this negotiation is to obtain a cession from the tribes who may have a claim to it, of all that tract of land which lies between the mo.st northeastern point of boundary of the lands ceded by the Kaskaskias in August, 1803, the Sangamo and the Illinois rivers; and which tract of land comj^letely divided the settled parts of the Illinois Territory from that part which lies between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and which has been lately surveyed for the purpose of satisfying the military land bounties, a circumstance which makes the acquisition of this tract of country peculiarly desirable.

"If either of the tribes who have a claim to the land is desirous of exchanging their claim for lands on the west of the Mississippi, you are authorized to make the exchange, and your extensive local knowledge of the coun- try will enable you to designate that part of it where it would be most desirable to locate the lands to be given as an equivalent. To other tribes who may not wish to remove, you will allow such an annuity, for a fixed period, as you may deem an adequate compensation for the relinquishment of their respective claims. To enable you to give the usual presents on such occasions, you are authorized to draw on this department for §G,000.

"The contractor will furnish, on the requisition of either of you, the rations that may be necessay for the supply of the Indians while attending the treaty. Your compensation will be at the rate of eight dollars per day for the time actually engaged in treating with the Indians; and that of the secretary, whom you are authorized to appoint, will be at the rate of five dollars a day.

Under these instructions, such negotiations were had with the Kickapoo Indians, that on the 30th day of July, 1819, that tribe ceded to the United States all the above described tract of land. The final treaty was signed on the part of the government by August Choteau and Benjamin Stevenson, and by twenty-three chiefs of the Kickapoos, who reluctantly placed their awkward but significant sio-nmanuals thereto. Among other things, and together with many presents and much amunition, the United States agreed to pay them $3,000 a year for fifteen years, and assigned them a large tract on the Osage. From the date of tlie treaty they began to remove from the State, but very slowly and reluctantly, and in 1823 there were still four hundred Kickapoos remaining in Central Illinois, and up to 1821, quite a large number of them remained within the present limits of Cass County, and at their town on the present site of Beardstown. A few of them, who had connected with the French by marriage, remained in Beardstown and on the islands near by, many years afterward.

This purchase from the Kickapoos, opened the most beautiful portion of the State to settlers. That part of it now included in the counties of Cass, Morgan, Scott, Mason, Menard, Sangamon, Logan, Macon and some others, was known far and near, as the " Sangamo Country," and its fertile soil soon attracted great numbers of actual settlers, who made farms, laid out towns, built roads and bridges.

SETTLEMENTS OF THE COUNTRY NOT INCLUDED IN CASS COUNTY - SOME OF THE PIONEERS AND WHERE THEY SETTLED - THE SANGAMO COUNTRY - ITS FERTILITYPRAIRIE SCHOONERS - FIRST LAND ENTRY - BEARD'S FERRY - BEARD & MARSH'S ENTRY OF LAND - FIRST SETTLERS OF BEARDSTOWN - DEED OF DEFEASANCE - GOING TO EGYPT FOR CORN- ARRIVAL OF OTHER SETPLERS- THE ENTRY OF LAND, ETC., ETC., ETC.

IN 1818 a man by the name of PuIIam settled upon Horse Creek, a tributary of the Sangamon river, and later, in November of that year, Seymour Kellogg first settled the country afterward included in Morgan County, and it was at his house that the first white child of the Sangamo country was born.

The first actual and permanent vfhite settler within the limits of the present city of Beardstown, was Thomas Beard, who came here on horseback when it was a Kickapoo town, in 1819, and made it his home as a trader among the Indians.

JNIartin L. Lindsley, together with his wife and two children, John C. and Mary A., and Timothy Harris and John Cettrough, settled in Beardstown in 1820, and afterward located in " Camp Hollow," a mile east of the present county farm, where Mr. Lindsley built a cabin, and the first white child born in this (afterward) Cass County, was added to his family.

Major Elijah lies, now a resident of Springfield, 111., landed in 1819 where Beardstown now is, on his way to the " Keeley Settlement," afterward named Calhoun, and now Springfield, the State capital. He says that at that time there was a hut at Beardstown, built of birchen poles, standing on the bank of the river, but unoccupied. As the Indians lived in tents, this hut was probably erected by the

Archibald Job settled first at Beardstown, and then at Sylvan Grove, in the north edge of North Prairie, in the spring of 1821, surrounded by Kickapoo Indians.

But when the reputation of the " Sangamo Country" for unrivaled fertility, and that the Indian title to it had become extinguished, and the lands would soon be surveyed and offered for sale by the government, had reached Kentucky and Tennessee, the sturdy and enterprising farmers of those States began to remove thereto in great numbers.

There was at that time in common use, a craft known as the "prairie ship," or as some called it the "prairie schooner," and nothing similar to it ever floated or moved in or upon or between the waters of the earth. It was constructed with four huge wheels, upon which was a great bed or box, formed like a quarter of a moon, with the bend hanging between the fore and aft wheels. The solid running gearing, well and fantastically ironed, the broad felloes heavily tired, the tongue arranged for a propelling power of either horses or oxen, its high end-boards and curving side-boards, ribbed and barred and riveted, glaring in red or blue paint, was not gotten up merely for show. It made no pretensions to beauty. It was thoroughly a substantial craft. What has l)ecome of the old "prairie ship," with the four horses before it, and the driver in his saddle (Sn the near wheel-horse, twitching at a single rein?

The old " prairie ship," with its great white cover and flapping curtains, looking at a distance on the prairie like a ship on the ocean, was the great original of the emigrant wagon of the West. This craft was of vast capacity. It contained ample bedding for a large family, made up of all ages and sexes. It held cooking utensils, provisions, ammunition, tubs, buckets, besides the family. The wagon box or bed was fitted with flat iron staples, about eighteen inches apart, along its sides, and in those were placed ashen hoops which bended over from side to side of the wagon box, leaving a roomy space inside about five feet high and twenty feet more or less long, when covered with canvas, looped over at the ends, made a comfortable room, high, dry and safe from storms. Upon the sides of the wagon box were cleats to secure the crowbar, axes, spades, mattocks, chisels and augurs; and underneath hung the kettles, tarbucket, water-bucket and baskets. An extra log-chain was coiled around the coupling pole under the wagon for use in emergencies, which frequently happened.

It was in these prairie schooners that most of the first settlers of Cass (then Morgan) County emigrated from the older States. These journeys were not altogether pleasure trips, although there were pleasant features connected with them, and thej' were usually terminated with every member of the family in robust health, sickness verj' rarely afflicting those who traveled in this way, yet they were sometimes attended with dangers, hardships and "hairbreadth 'scapes," which were profitably recounted by the participants in after life to the rising generation. There were but few roads and bridges at that time, and the prairies had to be crossed on Indian trails, the rivers forded where there were no ferries, and the creeks and brooks, where the banks were steep, were still more difficult to cross. In such case, sometimes a bridge was improvised, or a tree was felled across it, the limbs removed, the wagons taken all apart, and each separate piece and article of freight carried by hand across over the fallen tree, and set up and loaded on the other side, Sometimes a single "mover" would do all, this alone. But, for convenience, these "movers" would sometimes travel in companies or caravans, and in that case assist each other, and thus make the journey much more pleasant, safe and expeditious. It was a common sight upon the Illinois prairies in those days to see such a caravan, the white canvas tops of the prairie schooners looking in the distance like a fleet at sea under sail. These emigrants generally drove along with them a few head of cattle, or led some brood mares, so that in the new country they were prepared to raise cattle and horses. Some also brought in a coop lashed to the wagon, a few fowls, for the purpose of raising chickens in the new home.

Let us suppose several of these prairie schooners, in the early "twenties," have reached the northern part of Morgan County (now Cass), and, enraptured with the view, unhitch the teams and look around. The land was surveyed and offered for sale by the government for the first time in November, 1823, so that all those who settled here previous to that date were only " on the public lands, waiting for the time to come when they could pre-empt or buy. Our imaginary immigrants, having looked around find there is a navigable river, the Illinois, a few miles distant, which will insure them a future market for their produce. They find good, rich prairie land for their farms, and plenty of timber for housing and fencing. They conclude this will do. Having selected the tract of land that suits them, they go to some distant town for a surveyor, who comes and gives them the numbers and metes and bounds. They then make a weary journey on horseback of a hundred miles to Edwardsville, where the government land office is located, to enter or buy the land. Having secured the land - the family having domiciled in the wagon in the meantime - the men-folks proceed to build a log cabin, in the structure of which not a nail, or bit of iron or glass is used. The outside walls are made of round or hewn logs, fitted together at the ends and chinked with chips and clay between them. The floor is made of split logs. The roof is covered with rived weather-boards, kept in their places by poles laid across them. The chimney is made with logs and sticks and clay. The doors are made with split boards, fastened together with wooden pins, swung on wooden hinges, and fastened only with a wooden latch. Bedsteads are improvised of poles, and benches of split logs on sapling legs.

The first land " entry" (i. e. purchase from the government,) was made by Thomas Beard and Enoch C. March, jointly, upon the northeast quarter of Section 15, in Township 18, Range 13, September 23, 182G. It was upon this fractional quarter section that Mr. Beard's cabin was built. It was placed upon the steep bank of the river, at the present foot of State street, near where he afterward built his brick hotel. In the following spring it was discovered that this cabin had been built over a den of snakes, and thousands of them.

The first licensed ferry across the Illinois river was established June 5, 1836, by Thomas Beard, and a license was granted him by the county commissioners of Schuyler county, upon his paying six dollars per annum into the treasury of that county. That ferry is in operation yet by the assigns of the Beard heirs, at Beardstown, where it was first located. There was at that time no road from Beardstown through Schuyler county, but blazes on the trees was made out as far as where Rushville now stands. Schuyler county had been organized, and the county seat had been located near where Pleasant View now is, and, strangely enough, that was named Beardstown, too. Why this was so named, so soon after Thomas Beard had named his town, is now past finding out. But the location was soon after removed to Rushville, or Rushton, as it was first called.

Thomas Beard's ferry-boat was managed by himself alone, the propelling power being a pole in his strong hands. It was so small that only one wagon and two horses could be crossed at one time, and then very little standing room was left for passengers.

On the 28th day of October, 1827, Beard and March entered the northwest quarter of section 15, township 18, Range 12, which extended their river front down below the great mound.

Thomas Beard individually entered the west half of the southwest quarter of section 15, township 18, Range 12, October 10, 1827; and John Knight entered the east half of the southwest 15, 18, 13, July 17, 1828. Thus there were three men entered the entire section upon which the original town of Beardstown was located, in the years 182G, 1827 and 1828.

three tiers of blocks deop, reaching from Clay to Jackson streets, of which block ten, lying between the Park and Main street, and State and Washington, is the central one. It was laid out and platted by Enoch C. March and Thomas Beard, and acknowledged before Thomas B. Arnet, a justice of tin psace of Jacksonville, Sept. 29, 1829, and is recorded on page 228 of Book Bof the Morgan County Records, a transcript of which is in the Cass Countj' Records.

Among the first settlers in Beardstown, after it became a town site, were Francis Arenz and Nathaniel Ware, who purchased an interest and became joint landed proprietors with Beard and March. The town was named after Thomas Beard.

The first deed from March and Beard upon record of lands within the present limits of Beardstown, was made before the town was laid out, and is dated August 21, 1828, to " Charles Robinson, of New Orleans," for the consideration of one hundred dollars, being for a " part of the fractional part of the northwest quarter of Section 15, Township 18, Range 12, beginning at a forked birch tree on the Illinois river bank, marked as a corner, running thence down the river meanders thereof, so as to make two hundred yards on a straight line, and from thence running out from the river at both ends of the above line by two parallel lines, until they strike the north line of the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 15, Township 18, Range 12, supposed to contain twelve acres.

Deed Op Defeasance

"I having this day bought of Enoch C March and Thomas Beard and his wife, Sarah, a p^ece of land on the river below the ferry of the above Beard, and have this day received from them a deed for the same; 1 hereby declare that it is my intention to do a public business on the said land between this date and the first day of October, next year, and if I have not upon the land by that date, persons and property to effect the same, or actually upon the way to do so, I will return the above deed, and transfer back the land to them upon receiving the consideration given them for the same. The above public business means a steam mill, distillery, rope-walk or store. Witness my hand and seal, this 21st day of August, 1828.

The certificate upon this deed shows it to have been acknowledged August 1, 1828, before Dennis Rockwell, clerk of the circuit court of Morgan County; recorded June 29, 1829, in Book B of deeds, page 180. The land described in the deed from March and Beard to Robinson is part of the original town of Beardstown.

Mr. Charles Robinson, party to these deeds, now dead, was until recently a resident of Cass County, near Arenzville. On the 8th of February, 1872, he wrote a letter to the Chicago Journal, from which we make this extract:

" Fifty years ago, or in the summer of 1821, there was not a bushel of corn to be had in Central Illinois. My father settled in that year twenty-three miles west of Springfield. We had to live for a time on venison, blackberries and milk, while the men were gone to Egypt, to harvest and procure breadstufFs. The land we improved was surveyed that summer, and afterwards bought of the government, the money being raised by sending beeswax down the Illinois river to St. Louis, in an Indian canoe. Dressed deer skins and tanned hides were then in use, and we made one piece of cloth out of nettles instead of flax. Cotton matured well for a decade, until the deep snow of 1830."

The southern part of the State, referred to by Mr. Robinson as " Egypt," received this appellation, as here indicated, because, being older, longer and better settled and cultivated, it " gathered corn as the sand of the sea," and the immigrants of the central part of the State, after the manner of the children of Israel, in their want, " went thither to buy and bring from thence corn, that they might live and not die."

In the early years of the white settlements here, wheat was not to be had, and corn meal, the only bread-stulf, was exceedingly hard to obtain, as mills were scarce. Jarroe's Mill, on Cahokia Creek, was for a long time the only one accessible to our pioneers. In 1821, a small horse-mill was erected on Indian Creek by Richard Sheppard. Then a horsemill was put up at Clary's Grove. Still later. Ogle's water mill was built on Indian Creek. To these mills the boys of the families had to make frequent and tedious journeys on horseback, to procure corn meal for bread. The corn for this purpose had to be shelled by hand, as there were no corn-sheller machines then. Each boy could take but one sack, containing two or three bushels of corn. If the sack got misplaced on the horse, or fell off, the boy was in trouble, as he had not strength sufficient to replace it. For this reason, several boys of a neighborhood would club together in going to mill, and thus lighten their labors and responsibilities. When at the mill, the boys must wait their turn, and when great numbers were in before them, would have to frequently stay all night at the mill, and sometimes two days, depending upon parched corn for sustenance after their lunches, which they had brought with them, had become exhausted.

Reddick Horn, a Methodist preacher, settled at Beardstown in 1833, and entered lands near the bluffs; after Cass county was formed he became clerk of the circuit court.

The exact date of the arrival of each of the settlers is very hard to obtain, as those of them now living differ in their recollections of those who have precedence; but, by taking a conspicuous event, as, for instance, the deep snow, which occurred in the winter of 18 30-31, it becomes more easy to decide who then lived in the different neighborhoods. At the time of the deep snow, upon the Sangamon Bottom road there were the following named settlers : The first above Beardstown was Solomon Penny, in Section 10, 18, 11, where Richard Tink novv lives. The next was John Wagoner, who lived where the Bottrell farm is now. Above him were the Carrs - Elisha, William and B3njamin - and their father; Elisha lived on the present Kendall farm. Next above the Carrs was Grandpa Horrom. Then Jerry Bowen, where Calvin Wilson now lives. Next, the widow Stewart. Next, Shadrach Richardson, on the present Brauer farm. Then Thomas Plaster, Sr., where Jep ha Plaster's farm is now.

These were all that then lived below where Chandlerville is now, on this road. The first above these was Robert Leeper, on the Cleph. Bowen place. Next, William Myers ; next, Henry McHenry; and in their order above him were Peter Dick, John Taylor, William Morgan, 'James Hickey, Amos Ogden; and then Isham Reavis, who afterwards moved below Chandlerville. James McAuley and Elijah Garner settled in 1833.

Among the earliest settlers in the vicinity of Arenzville were Henry McKean, John Me- Kean, Alexander Pitner, William Pitner, .fohn Melone, William McHenry, James Davis, George Bristow, Aquilla Low, J. A. Arenz, Richard Matthews, Charles Robertson, James Crum, Christian Crum, Peter Hudson, Charles Wiggins, David Black, Alexander Huffman,

In 1830, there was a water-mill for grinding corn at Arenzville, where Ens^elbach's steammill now stands. The power was obtained by changing the channel of Indian Creek fully a quarter of a mile north from the bed where it now runs. There was formerly an ancient Indian town and burial place on Prairie Creek, about three miles north-east of Arenzville.

Among the first settlers in the centre of the county, near where Virginia now stands, were Captain Jacob Yaple, who set out the first apple orchard in the county; Henry Hopkins, Elijah Carver,- Charles Brady, John Do Webber, Thomas Hanby, John Dawsy, Samuel Way, William Weaver, Thomas Gatton, Ha'sey Smith, a preacher named Chambers, and others. Some of those settled as soon as the lands were offered for sale by the government at the new land office at Springfield, others a few years later.

The next installment of settlers, ranging fioni 182G to 1832, were James Stephenson and his five grown sons, Wesley, James, William, Robert and Augustus ; Charles Beggs, Jacob and John Ej)ler, John Hiler, Rev. John Bi'ldlecomo, Isaac Mitchell, William Kinner, Jesse AUred, Nathan Compton ; John C, Peter and William Conover ; and a widow Pratt, and her four sons - William, Charles, Rogers and Haramel. A schoolhouse was built of logs in this neighborhood in 1829. Samuel Thompson built a horse mill in 1830. James Richardson built the first blacksmith shop in 182(3. Peter Conover and Elizabeth Marshall were the first to marry here, which was in 1827. The southeast part of the county was settled early by James, Davis, who made an improvement on the farm now owned by Travis Elmore, at the head of Little Indian Creek. He sold out to Strother Ball, and he to Isaac Bennett. B iinett sold to William Grove, who entered the land in 1826. Eli Cox settled here as early as 1820, in Cox's Grove, so named from him, and entered the land as soon as it came into market, in 1823. William Cooper, a negro with a white wife, settled here also ; and S'.ophen Short, with his four sons, James Benjamin, George and Albert, Stephen Lee, Tilman Honihuckle, and Dr. Stockton, settled in Panther Grove in 1830. John Miller, James Thompson and Daniel Blair settled near by on the prairie. Stephen Short was the first justice of the peace. Rev. William Crow, the first preacher.

Further north, on the east side of the county, among the first settlers were George and John Wilson, in 1824 ; William Daniels, in IS','5; B.irtlett CoJiyors, .John Lucas, John B. Witty, and RoSert Hawthorn, in 1826. The first child born in this neighborhood was Lucinda Daniels, in 1828. The first marriage was Miles Hamilton and Barbara Baeger. In the northeast part of the county, on and near the Sangamon Bottom, the first settlers were Amos Ogden, in 1830, who built a house of hewn logs in 1831, and rode three days to get eight men to help him raise it. The men who helped him were those other old settlers: Joseph Hickey, James Watkins, John Hiekey, James Hiekey, Isham Reavis, Daniel Aterbury, and a Mr. Mounts.

The first school-house was of logs, built on Amos Ogden's farm. The first blacksmith shop was owned by Matthew Holland in 1835. The first mill was a small specimen of a water-mill, owned by .James Watkins in 1832.

The five Dick brothers, William Lynti an 1 William P. Morgan, settled herein 1831; and Dr. Charles Chandler, Marcus Chandler and Mr. Inglis, in 183 i. Dr. Chandler's cabin was in the centre of where the present town of Chandlerville now is, where the first Congregational Church now stands, tlie land being subsequently donated by the doctor for that purpose. South of the Chandler settlement, on the Sangamon Bottom, were David Clopton, Robert Leeper, William Myers, Oliver Coyne, William McAuley and Mark Cooper, in 1831 and 1832. The first preaching there was by Rev. Levi S[)ringer.

The following is a list of those who entered land (i. e., bought from the government), -within the present limits of Cass County, 111., including the " three mile strip," before the deep snow in the winter of 1830-31; and in what township and in what year the entry was made. Where a person entered land in more than one township, his name is given for that tract only which he first entered.

Chaptee Iii

INCREASE OF POPULATION-THE DEEP SNOW OF ISIO-THE BLACK HAWK WAR-RENDEZ VOUS OF SOLDIERS AT BEARDSTOWN - CAUSE OF DR. CHANDLER'S SETTLEMENl' - MEETING BETWEEN HIM AND ABRAHAM LINCOLN - BUSINESS OF BEARDSTOWN IN 1834 - THK EARLY LOG CABINS-YANKEES AND YANKEE TRICKS - CORN BREAD - ETC., ETC., ETC.

BY the year 1830, the population of the State had increased to 157,447, and was confined mostly to the borders of rivers and creeks and woodlands. As yet but few settlements had been made anywhere in the open prairies.

The early settlers were apprehensive of a future scarcity of wood, and carried their fears to such an extent, tliat much of their money was invested in useless woodland, which they needed to begin farming with. But their fears in this respect seems now to be allayed, as it has been shown thiit the supply increases rather than diminishes. Many of those who for the sake of a near and convenient supply of wood, settled in and along the borders of the timber-lands, got the poorest of the farm lands, and when they su]5posed all the good lands had been taken up, later settlers came in and entered the dry, rolling prairie lands, and thereby got the best farms, and were in no want for plenty of timber either.

The winter of 1830-31 was a remarkable one, and will always be remembered by old settlers as the most terrible for suffering within their memories. The snow fell at first about thirty inches deep, then the weather settled, and another snow fell, and another, until it was from four to six feet deep. In drifts it was much deeper. Fences were covered and lanes filled up. There was much suffering everywhere. Stock died for want of food. Deer stood in their tracks and died. Prairie chickens and quails having alighted in the snow, could not get out. Man was the only animal that could walk, and game alone, of the food kind, was all he had in plenty. That could be had for the picking up from the snow, for it was helpless. But finally, even game became so poor from starvation that it wai unfit for food. The snow staid on the ground all winter, until March, and people ran short of everything, particularly fuel. Thomas Beard, recollecting a widow with a small family living at the bluffs, generously walked out there, and found her and her family on the verge of starvation, and hovering over the last remnants of a fire, she having used all her fuel. Mr. Beard tore up some fencing and chopped a large pile of wood for her, and afterwards carried provisions to her through the snow on foot, a distance of seven miles, as a horse could not travel.

What little corn had been raised in the county, was generally ungathered when the snow came, and yet in the fields, and men took sacks and waded out into their fields and gathered and carried it on their shoulders to their cabins, and to their horses, cattle and hogs, feeding it to them as they best could. The snow that fell first, thawed a little on top, and then froze, forming a crust which would break upon being stepped on by man or beast. Upon this there fell two feet or more of snow, which went through the same process of thawing and freezing, leaving a c;ust on top not strong enough to be r much weight. Through this no animal but a man could walk. The black-jack timber surrounding Beaidstown for miles, had been a favorite resort for vast numbers of deer, and here they were caught in this terrible snow, and died, being unable to travel. From this time, the climate changed perceptibly colder. Previous to 1831, the most of the pioneers raised sufficient cotton for their own use, and it ripened well, but subsequent to the deep snow, all efforts to raise it in this State were futile. We have no means of information as to the extent of country covered by this deep snow, as not a history of Illinois even mentions it, which leads us to conclude tiiat it was not general, but confined to central Illinois, or, perhaps, even to so comparatively small a surface as the Sangamon country.

In 1831 the Indians became very troublesome in this State, and threatened to overrun the white population. They were led by Black Hawk, their chief and prophet, who pretended to have power given him b}' the Great Sjiirit to destroy the pale-faces. He attacked the whites with so much vigor that militia companies were formed for self-protection. A battalion of this militia, of 275 men, commanded by Major Israel Stillman, of Fulton County, was, on the 1-lth of May, 183:i, attacked by Black Hawk on a small branch of the Sycamore Creek and badly defeated and cut up. This was called the battle of "Stillman's Run." The first call which Gov. Reynolds made for troops was in May, 1831, for all able-bodied men who were willing to fight the Indians, to the number of seven hundred, to rendezvous at Beardstown, on the 10th day of June. "^ On that day they assembled in Beardstown in three times that number. Gov. Reynolds organized them at once by appointing Joseph Duncan, of .lacksonville, brigadiergeneral, and Enoch C. March, of Beardstown, quartermaster. March was equal to the occasion. He was so well acquainted with this vicinity that ho soon furnished the necessary supplies. But Gov. Reynolds was at a loss to know how to arm those who had not brought rifles. In this emergency, Frances Arenz came to the rescue. He was a merchant in Beardstown, and had previously purchased some light brass-barreled fowling-pieces, which had been manufactured in the East for a South American government, and not answering the purpose for which they were made they were shipped West to shoot birds with. These answered excellently for arms for light horsemen and skirmishers. The troops were encamped above town, where the saw mills now stand, until they took up their march. In their ranks were some of the best men of the country.

The whole briffade was organized into two regiments and two battalions. The first regiment was commanded by Col. James D. Henry, Lieutenant Col. John T. Stuart, Major Thomas Collins, Adjutant Edward Jones, quartermaster, and Thomas M. Neal, paymaster. The captains were Adam Smith, William F. Elkin, A. Morris, Thomas Carlin, Samuel Smith, John Lorton and Samuel C. Pearce.

The second regiment was commanded by Colonel Daniel Lieb, Major N. Butler. The captains were H. Mathews, John Hanes, George Bristow, William Gilham, Capt. Kondall, Alexander Wells and William Weatherford, usually called " Old Buck," of Morgan County.

The Spy battalion was commanded by General Samuel Whiteside, Major Samuel F. Kendall, Adjutant John S. Greathouse, and Paymaster P. H. Winchester. Captains William B. Whiteside, William Miller and Solomon P. Witt. The little army started on

We will relate one incident only, connected with the Black-Hawk "War, to show how it affected the then future history, of at least a portion of Cass County.

David Epler, a resident of North Prairie in this county, came to Beardstown to purchase two barrels of salt. He drove two beautiful horses, well harnessed, and a good wagon; altogether just what Col. March wanted for war material. He accordingly seized them, under that law so universally adopted in war times, that "might makes right," and took them from Mr. Epler, nolens volens. But Mr. Epler refused to give them up, and, his face livid with anger, declared that he would defend them with his life, and that the colonel and his troops would have to walk over his dead body before he would give up his favorite team; at least, until he was paid their value. Col. March then offered to pay for them what two disinterested men should say they were worth. This was agreed to. There were then stopping in Beardstown two comparative strangers. Dr. Charles Chandler and a man named Cr.awi'ord; to them the cause was referred. They, having come from the East, were wholly unacquainted with the low prices of this new country, and priced the team at eastern values, which Col. March felt in honor bound to abide by, and the consequence was Mr. Epler got $350 for his team, which was a large price then.

This incident leads us to relate how Dr. Chandler came here. He left Rhode Island, where he had a good practice in his profession, and a new house which he had just built, and started westward with his family, with the intention of settling at Fort Clark, where Peoria now stands.

vicinity, and the preparations for a general Indian war, induced the captain to discharge his passengers and freight at Beardstown, he thinking it unsafe to go any further north with his boat.

While here, Dr. Chandler took a ride up the Sangamon Bottom with Thomas Beard, and he was so well pleased with that part of it where Chandlerville now stands, that he determined to go no further north, but to settle there. This was in the spring of 1832. The bottom and bluffs had been burned over, and the new, fresh, green grass and beautiful flowers had sprung up; the trees, and vines and shrubbery were dressed in their most inviting foliase, and he had never seen so beautiful a sight. In a short time he took his wife and little daughter to see their future home, and they were equally delighted with it. Thei-e was a wagon road up the bottom, winding along the bluffs, in about the same place it now does, hut so little was it traveled that it had not hindered the fire passing over it, and in the middle of the road, between the two horsepaths, was a ridge of green grass mingled with strawberry vines, which lookeil like a row of cultivated strawberries, and these right in the road; the doctor and his wife and little daughter ate in abundance the large, ripe berries. The doctor entered 160 acres of land where the town of Chandlerville now stands, and built his cabin upon the site of the present Congregational Church. He broke up three acres of land that spring, late as it was,' and raised a crop of buckwheat upon it, without an\- fence around.

There was a universal custom among the settlers at that time, that every man should be entitled to 80 acres of land on each side of the land already entered by him, until such time as he was able to enter it, as it was called, or, in other words, until he could raise money enough to buy it from the Government at ^1.35 per acre ; and it was considered as

Shortly after the doctor had settled there, a man stopped there named English, who was so well pleased with the prospect that he concluded to enter land and settle there. The doctor assisted and befriended him all he could, and, to induce him to stop, offered to give up his claim to one-half of the eighty acre tract, next to the land that English wanted, and let him enter it. English told him that he v.-as going to Springfield and enter the whole tract ; that he did not care for the customs of the country ; and that he was going to have it rigiit or wrong, and started for Springfield. All of Dr. Chandler's expostulations with him did not avail anything. The doctor v?ent to his cabin and looked over his little pile of money and found that he had fifty dollars. He thought that his neighbor MoAuly had some money, and saddling his best horse, he rode to McAuly's house and borrowed fiftv dollars more. Thus provided, he too'k a different route through the woods and prairies from that chosen by English, and putting his horse to his best speed, started for the Land Office.

When about ten miles of Springfield, he overtook two young men on horse back, and as his horse was foaming with perspiration, and nearly tired out, he rode slowly along with the j'oung men, as well to rest his horse, as to relate to them the cause of his haste. When he told them of the meanness of the man English, one of the young men was so indignant that he offered the doctor his own comparatively fresh horse, that he might make all haste and thwart the efforts of English, while the young man would ride the doctor's horse slowly into town. But the doctor rode his own horse, got safely to the Land Office and entered the land before English got there. Sometime after that he wanted to have his land surveyed, and the county surveyor lived at Jacksonville, but a neighbor told him that there was a better surveyor living at Salem, in Sangamon County, named Abraham Lincoln. So the doctor sent for him, and when he came with his implements to do the surveying, the doctor found that Abraham Lincoln, the surveyor, was the same young man who had so kindly offered to lend him his horse, so that he might defeat the rascally man English.

Dr. Chandler was the first physician in Central Illinois who adopted quinine in his practice as a reniedy; the first who introduced the practice of the infliction of bodily pain as a remedy for overdoses of opium ; and the first who opposed bleeding as a remedy. When he went to Sangamon Bottom, he was called into practice before he could build a stable, and for weeks, when at home, tied his horse to a tree and pulled grass to feed him on, having no scythe to cut it with. He built the first frame house within the present limits of this co'jnty. It was 10x13 feet, one-story, and shingled with split and shaved oak shingles, which made a good roof for twentj'-five years - a fact worthy of notice. He built it for a drug store and office, and it is still in existence. In 1836, he built his present large residence. His reason for building so large a house at that early day was, that it was exact'y like the one ho had built and left in Rhode Island; and as his family had sacrificed so much in leaving their comfortable home for the wilds of the West, he wished to make a home as near like their former one as possible.

In 1833, Jackson was President ; John Reynolds, Governor; and Clay and Webster were in their glory. Beardstown was quite a flourishing town, and the port on the river from which most towns in the interior of the State got their supplies of goods, and from which their produce was shipped to market.

and south of Chicago, entitled, The Beardslown Chronicle andlllinois Military Bounty Land Advertiser. This paper did the advertising for the counties of Mason, Warren, Brown, Schuyler, McDonough, Stark, Knox, and Fulton, as there were no newspapers printed in those counties. There were no lawyers in Beardstown then, but those usually consulted by our citizens were: John J. Hardin, Walter Jones, Aaron B. Fontaine, Josiah Lamljorn, and Murray McConnell of Jacksonville, and William H. Richardson of Rushville.

In 183.3, there was not a single merchant north of the Mauvistarre, outside of Beardstown, and not one advertised in The Beardstoion Chronicle; and money was so scarce tiiat it was almost impossible for any kind of business to be transacted. Francis Arenz humorously ascribes the phenomenon of the great meteoric shower of that year, to the fact, that a day or two previously a subscriber had paid him two dollars, all in cash, for a year's subscription to the Chronicle.

The names of the steamers which navigated the Illinois River in 1833-34, were the Peoria, E.xchange, Ottawa, Ceres, Utility, Cavalier, Express, Black Hawk, and Olive Branch.

The business men of Beardstown in 1834, Avere: Francis Arenz, L. W. Talmage & Co., T. & J. S. Wibourne, J. M. Merchant & Co., Haywood Read, J. Parrott & Co., merchants; Juhn Alfred, M. Kingsbury, and Liscomb &

Buckle, tailors; J. Roulstoii, hat maker; Henry Boemler, cabinet maker; M. McCreary, cooper; Malony & Smith, forwarding and commission business; Knapp and Pogue, steam mill; Gatton, Judson & Elliott. Tiiere were also: ]3r. J. W. Fitch, Dr. Owen M. Long, Dr. Chas. Hochstetter, and Dr. Rue.

As descriptive of the business of Beardstown, we will quote the following extract from/an editorial in the Beardstown Chronicle oiU&xch 1, 1834:

" Since the opening of the river, there has been shipped from this place, 1,502 barrels of flour and 150 barrels of pork. Ready for shipment at the warehouses at this time, 581 barrels of flour, 400 barrels of pork, and 150 kefS of lard. This is a fair commencement of exporting surplus produce from a country where a few years ago many of such articles were imported. Two steam flouring mills and one steam saw mill are now in operation. A large brewery and distillery are being built, with a grist mill. Besides, arrangements are being made for building ware, store, and dwelling houses. Four years ago only three families, residing in log huts, lived in this place, and now, we venture to assert, more business is transacted in this town tiian any other place in the State."

The old brick school house in Beardstown, since a part of Dr. Theo. Hoffman's premises, was built in 1834, by Beard and Arenz, and presented by them to the inhabitants, and for many years was the only place for public meetings.

At that time great stress was laid upon the nagavibility of the Sangamon River, as boats frequently passed up and down that stream. (In 1833, a steamboat of the larger class went up the Sangamon to within five miles of Springfield, and discharged its cargo there.

The doors were made of puncheon or split logs, as saw mills wei'e few and far between. The fire-places were made of logs filled up with clay dug from beneath tlie iloors. A temporary wall would be built about two feet inside the log wall; the space then filled with earth, and wetted, was pounded or rammed down solid. The inner wall was then taken away and a fire built inside, which baked the jams like brick. Then this was surmounted with a stick an 1 clay chimney, a pole was run across to hang ketth>s on; and the chinks between the logs of tlie house were filled up with sticks, cliiy, and cho|)ped straw. The doors and roof of the house were made of split boards, and frequently not a nail or any iron was used in the whole house. The roofboards were kept in their places by logs weighing tlieni down; the doors, held together by wooden pins, hung on wooden hinges, and latched witli wooden latches. The houses generally had but one room an<l two doors, but no window. Usually one door of the house was left open, no matter how cold the weather was, to admit light; and rarely both doors were closed, except when the family were about to retire to rest. So habituated were people to open doors, that that custom prevailed even after the introduction of glass into the cabins, for wimlows. It is related, that on a very cold dny, an eastern man who was visiting a friend at his log cabin, proposed to close the door to make the house warmer. The proprietor expressed his surprise at the proposition, but did not object to try it as an experiment. After the door had been shut a few minutes, he seemed much pleased with the result, and said, " Well, I declare! I believe it does make a difference."

So even in our early days we had some aristocrats. Occasionally a man was found that built his house of hewn logs, and had sawn jilanks for his floor, and perhaps a glass window. And then some ambitious neighbor must overtop him, and the wonderful palatial double-log-house, with a porch between, appeared. By the youngsters this seemed extravagant and useless ; but the surprise of everybody was Dr. Chandler's large, well-fiiiislied frame house. Even beds were more accommodating then than now, and would hold many more occupants. There was one, usually, in each of two corners in every log cabin, and under each of these was a trundlebed which pulled out at night ; and then there was bedding to spare in most houses, and when friends called and stayed all night, which they usually did, 9. field-bed was made that accommodated all. When meal time came, a large amount of good wholesome provender woukl be supplied, considering the few cooking utensils that were used. Even in well-to-do families the articles for cooking consisted of a Dutch oven, which was simply a shallow kettle, with a cover made for holding hot coals, in which first the bread and then the meat was cooked, a coffeepot, and a kettle to cook vegetables, when they had any. Wheat bread was scarce, and corn bread was universally used. When bread was spoken of without a prefix, corn bread was meant ; any other kind being designated as v}Jieat bread or rye bread. I recollect a circumstance which will illustrate how corn bread was respected. When Major Miller kept the Western Hotel in Jacksonville, in 1836, there was a saloon, then called a grocery, under it called " Our House." A Yankee, who had been stopping with the Major, called into the grocery to get his bitters, and outraged the thirsty customers at the bar by an offensive allusion to the corn bread he had had sot before him at the hotel table, stating among other remarks, that corn bread was only fit for hogs to eat. At this an irritable native took offense ; he peeled off his coat, and sijuared his brawny shoulders before the astonished Yankee, and said, "See yer, stranger, I don't know who you are, and I don't keer a durn, nuther ; but I'll have you understand that the man that makes fun of corn bread makes fun of the principal part of my living." It was with considerable difficulty that a fuss was prevented, and then only by the Yankee apologizing and treating the crowd to the drinks.

While speaking of Yankees, I might just as well say, that this part of Morgan County was settled principally by citizens from south of the Potomac and Ohio rivers; and a strong prejudice was felt against people from New England, who were all denominated " Yankees ; " and, to be just, candor compels me to admit that the representatives of the descendants of the pilgrim fathers, who peddled clocks and tinware, and notions, and essences, and the like, through this part of the country at that time, were not calculated in every instance to inspire any high respect for them as a class.

In fact, a mean trick was always expected from a Yankee ; while there is reason to believe that, really, there were sometimes just as mean things done by persons from other portions of the nation. To illustrate : About forty-five years ago, I attended a wolf hunt on Indian Creek. There were about a hundred of us, on horseback, up on a rise in the timber, waiting to hear from the hounds, and passing the time in conversation. The subject of discussion, a not unusual one, was the Yankees, and each man had a story to tell of some Yankee trick. Finally, old Uncle Bob Martin, who had but one eye, but was, nevertheless, quite an oracle in such matters, had his say in this wise : "Well, gentlemen, I'll tell yer what it is. I've seed a heap 'er Yankees in my day, and I know all about 'em. I know 'em like a book, inside and out, and I tell yer what it is, gentlemen, all the Yankees don't come from New England, nuther, not by a durn sight. And the meanest Yankee I ever seed, gentlemen, was a Kanetucky Yankee."

I said corn bread was the principal article of diet then. But there were various kinds of corn bread. That most in use was corn dodger. This was simply made of corn meal, hot water and a little salt, stirred together to the consistency of dough; then a double handful was rounded, flatted, and placed in a hot Dutch oven, surrounded with glowing embers. An oven would hold three or four of these, and they were cooked so quickly that a woman could keep quite a large number of hungry men in business. Then there was the pumpkin bread, made by mixing pumpkins and meal, and the pone. This last was considered suitable for kings, and I must tell j'ou how it was made. It was thus: Take as much corn meal as is wanted for use; sift it; put it in an iron kettle and pour on it boiling water; stir it till it becomes well mixed and quite thin; this being right, let it remain in the same vessel till morning, and if kept warm it will be well fermented (which is necessary); then put it into a hot Dutch oven, it being heated before the dough is put in it; apply good live embers on the lid of the oven as well as under

Butter was not conuiion, except in the spring and summer; but large quantities of fat bacon and hams were used instead, which were kept the year round, in the smoke houses, one of which every family had. Potatoes were unknown for many years; and when they were introduced, they were at first very unpopular. People that ate them were stigmatized as Irish. Deer, prairie-chickens and other game, as well as domestic fowls, were very plenty and much used for food.

The principal clothing worn by the men was of Kentucky and homo made jeans, made into pants and hunting shirts. Under-clothing was hardly ever worn, even in winter, and overcoats, never; yet men seemed as warm and comfortable then as they do now, with undergarments and overcoats. The ladies dressed principally in linscy of their own weaving. 1 well recollect when calico was first generally worn. Patterns with large flowery figures were preferred; and although our prairies were covered all over in profusion with the most beautiful of flowers, like unto a garden of the gods, yet, I must admit, the prettiest flowers or, at least, the most attractive were those printed upon calico. And I might admit further, that they are not altogether displeasing to most men even now. At the huskings, weddings, meetings, and merrymakings, the girls looked as pretty then, in their home-made suits as they do now, though arrayed in all the gaud and glory of the milliner.

The principal occasions of great public gatherings were political discussions; for, either fortunately or unfortunately (and which it is is a great moral question), there never was a man hung witiiin the limits of this county at the hands of justice, so the public have never been called together out of curiosity on that account. Among our public speakers at that time were: Lincoln, Hardin Baker, Lamborn, Richardson, and more latterly, Yates and Douglas, besides many from a distance. Besides these occasions, we had preaching in the schoolhouses and barns and groves. Often have some of us, now living, listened to Re idick Horn, Cyrus Wright Peter Cartwright, " Old Man Hammaker," of North Prairie, and many others. How many of the old settlers recollect Old Father Doyle, who used to shout "power " until the far-off woods rang, and the hills sent back the echo. Oh ! those public meetings in the woods; how grand they were ! Bryant sings of them and says -

There used to be a famous camp meeting ground for many years at " Uncle " William Holmes', northeast of Virginia, and people attended it from twenty miles around. When this county was first formed, there were but few farms on North Prairie, except those skirting the edge of the timber; and a man could cross it anywhere on horseback, led only by Indian trails, or the points of timber. For instance, a man could start from the Jacksonville road at Yaples or Peterfish's farm, south of where Virginia now is, and go straight to Holmes' camp ground, a distance of about ten miles, northeast, and not pass a fence.

In ] 83G, on the 16th day of June, Dr. H. H. Hall laid out and platted the town of Virginia, he having entered the land upon which it stands a short time previously. _

At this early date, before there were anyother towns than Beardstown, localities were known by other names, as for instance, Robinson's Mills, Panther Creek, Miller's Ferry, Schoonover's Ford, North Prairie, Jersey Prairie or Workman Post-office, Panther or Painter Grove, as it was called; Painter Creek Post-office, where Chandlerville is now; Little Painter, Middle Creek Settlement, Fly Point, Sylvan Grove, Puncheon Camp, Lynn Grove, etc.

The manner of voting at that time was viva voce, the elector announcing to the judges and clerks of the election, in plain voice, the man or measure he intended to vote for, so that it was publicly known how each man voted.