Coles County, Illinois - The whole text, 1879 (part 6 of 21)

Sec. 3. An election shall be held at the several places of holding elections as now laid off by Clark County, in said Coles County, on the Saturday preceding the first Monday in February next, for one Sheriff, one Coroner, and three County Commissioners, for said county, who shall hold their offices until the next general election in 1832, and until their successors be qualified. And it shall be the duty of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of said coiinty, and if there be none, then the Recorder or Judge of Probate, to give at least fifteen days' notice previous to said election, and who shall appoint the judges and clerks of said election, who shall be legal voters ; and the returns of said election shall be made to the Clerk of the Circuit Court, Recorder or Judge of I'mbate, as the case may be, and by him, in the presence of one or more Justices of the Peace, opened, and they jointly shall give to the persons elected Commissioilers, certificates; and that of the Sheriff and Coroner to forward to the Governor ; which election in all other respects be conformable to law.

Sec. 4. All courts shall be held at the house of Charles Eastin in said county, and continue to be held there until public buildings shall be erected for the purpose, unless changed to another place by order of the County Commissioners' Court, who shall make the same a matter of record.

SKr. 5. The Commissioners appointed to locate the county seat, shall be allowed $2 per day each, for every day necessarily employed in locating the same, to be paid by said county.

This act gave to Coles County a legal being, and steps were at once taken to put the machinery of existence into operation. According to the provision of the act creating it a county, an election was held in February, 18-31, at Ashmore's, the only voting place in the county, and about sixty votes were cast. At this election, George Hanson, Andrew Caldwell and Isaac Lewis were elected County Commissioners, and constituted a County Court for the transaction of county business ; a system which continued in force until the adoption of a new State Constitution in 1848. The Commissioners mentioned in the foregoing act to locate the seat of justice, viz., Bowen, Essarey and Barber, met, and after a thorough investigation of all eligible points suggested, decided on the present site of Charleston. Charles Morton and and Benjamin Parker owned the land, and each donated twenty acres for town purposes, as provided in the act of organization. In February, 1831, the survey was made by Thomas Sconce, first County Surveyor, and in April of the same year, the first sale of lots was made. The Commissioners gave the name of Charleston to the county seat, in honor of Charles Morton, one of the men who donated twenty acres of land to the county. Feeling under some obligations to Mr. Morton for the assistance he rendered them while engaged in locating the town, they told his wife that they had determined to call the place Mortonville, when she offered an amendment to their proposition, sa;ying that if they desired to compliment her husband in that way, to add the last syllable of Morton to Charles, and call their town Charleston. They accepted her suggestion, and thus the capital of the county received its name.

During the year 1831, the first Court House of Coles County was erected^ down on the " town branch," as the murky little stream is called. It was built of hewed logs, covered with "clapboards," floored with sawdust and provided with wood benches for seats. This served as a temple of justice until 1835, when the brick building, still in use, was erected. Originally, it was an oldstyle edifice, of the pattern still to be seen in many of the counties of Illinois^ but has been modernized, remodeled and transformed into quite an imposing structure, with an altogether attractive appearance. It stands in the center of a handsome square, thickly planted with maple-trees, and surrounded by a substantial iron fence. In a few years more, when the trees get their growth, the public square of Charleston will be a beautiful spot, and an ornament to the city.

The first Jail was a little log cabin, in the south part of the town, which, in an early day, perhaps, served the purpose of a prison ; but in this enlightened age-, when crime has become a science, and criminals a band of professional experts, would prove but a frail barrier between them and liberty. The present Jail is in the Court House buildino;.

The first Circuit Court was held at the house of Col. Flenner, three miles west of Charleston. Hon. William Wilson was the presiding Judge. This session of Court is thus described : " The Judge sat on a log, the lawyers on rotten chunks, and the parties engaged in litigation swung to the bushes." James P. Jones was Circuit Clerk, and was appointed by Judge Wilson at this session. Jones was a resident of Clark County, and his appointment to the office of Circuit Clerk excited the just indignation of the Coles County people. They felt themselves competent to fill any office in their county, and well qualified to receive the salary pertaining to it ; and to have an outsider step in and relieve them of the responsibility of trying the experiment was a blow to their pride not to be forgiven. The first records of the Circuit Court are non sunt inventa, and hence, few particulars of the sessions for two or three of the first years can be obtained now. The first record-book in the Circuit Clerk's office begins with the April term, 1835, Hon. Justin Harlan presiding.

As we have said, George Hanson, Andrew Caldwell and Isaac Lewis were elected the ' first County Commissioners. They held the first session of their Court in 1831, at the house of Charles Eastin, in the Kickapoo settlement, and appointed Nathan Ellington Clerk, who thus became the first County Clerk of Coles County. In 1832, Isaac Lewis, Andrew Clarke and James S. Martin were elected Commissioners, and, in 1831, were succeeded by Stephen Stone, Nathaniel Parker and Eben Alexander, who, in turn, were succeeded in 1836, by A. N. Fuller, Alex. Miller and James S. Martin, and they by F. L. Moore, H. J. Ashmore and James M. Ward in 1838. The records here show a change in electing the Commissioners ; electing one each year, instead of three every two years, and that in 1840, John Wright succeeded Ashmore ; James Gill in 1841, succeeded Moore, and William Collom succeeded Moore in 1842. In 1843, Isaac Gruell and H. J. Ashomre succeeded Wright and Gill. In 1844, John Cutler succeeded Ashmore, F. L. Moore succeeded Collom in 1845, John M. Logan succeeded Gruell in 1846, and F. G. Frue succeeded Cutler in 1847.

The Constitution of 1848 provided that the County Court should consist of a County Judge and two Associate Justices. Under this new regime, W. W. Bishop was the first County Judge, and John M. Logan and H. J. Ashmore were chosen the first Associate Justices. This branch of the Court continued, with frequent changes of officers, until the adoption of township organization, which went into effect in the spring of 1860, as will be noticed under another head. As a matter of history, and for the benefit of the reader, we append a list of the different officers from the organization of the county, the date of their election and the terms of their official service, as compiled by Capt. Adams, and published in his Centennial Address. The list was prepared with great care, is said, by those well posted, to be substantially correct, and presents a valuable record to all who are interested in such matters, or have occasion to refer to it. The list is as follows :

Sheriff. - At the February election of 1831, Ambrose Yocum was elected the first Sheriff of the county, and re-elected in 1832, but died before his term expired. William Jeffries was elected in 1834, and held two terms, when he was succeeded by Albert Compton in 1838, who continued in office until 1846. L. R. Ilutchason was then elected, and served two terms, and was succeeded in 1850 by" Richard Stoddert ; he was succeeded by Thomas Lytle in 1852 ; Lytle, by John R. Jeffries in 1854, and he by H. B. Worley in 1856. Worley was succeeded by M. Jones, in 1858 ; he by I. H. Johnston in 1860 ; John H.

O'Hair succeeded Johnston in 1862, and James B. Hickox succeeded him in 1864, and, in turn, was succeeded by G. M. Mitchell in 1866, when C. C. Starkweather was elected in 1868, followed in 1870 by A. M. Brown, who was succeeded in 1872 by Owen Wiley, and Wiley by George Moore in 1874 ; James M. Ashraore succeeded Moore in 1876, and he was succeeded by John E. Brooks in 1878, the present incumbent.

Probate Judge. - James P. Jones was the first Probate Judge. At the time of the organization of Coles County, this office was filled by appointment of the Governor. In 1834, Jones was succeeded by John F. Smyth, and in the same year, Smyth was succeeded by S. M. Dunbar ; he by William Collom in 1835 ; Collom by Reuben Canterbury in 1837 ; he by John W. Trower. Robert S. Mills succeeded Trower in 1843 ; W. W. Bishop succeeded him in 1847, and filled the office until 1857, when he was succeeded by Gideon Edwards, who died in office in 1864. J. P. Cooper was appointed to fill the vacancy, and, in 1865, McHenry Brooks was elected, and was succeeded in 1869 by A. M. Peterson, who was followed by W. E. Adams in 1873; and, in 1877, J. R. Cunningham, the present Judge, was elected.

County Clerk. - As before stated, Nathan Ellington was the first County Clerk, and filled the office until 1839, when he was succeeded by Loran D. Ellis, who soon after fled the country, and Ellington was appointed to fill the vacancy. Ellington was followed, in 1840, by Enos Stutsman, who resigned his office, and Samuel Huffman was appointed to fill the vacancy. Tn 1853, James McCrory succeeded Huffman, and held the office until 1861, when he was succeeded by Jacob I. Brown. Brown was succeeded by W. E. Adams in 1865; Adams by Richard Stoddert in 1873, and he, in 1877, by the present Clerk, W. R. Highland.

Coroner. - Robert A. Miller was the first Coroner, and, in 1836, was succeeded by Ichabod Radly, who canvassed the entire county on foot for the office. (He deserved it.) Preston R. Mount followed Radly in 1838 ; A. G. Mitchell followed Mount in 1842, and William Harr followed Mitchell in 1844. Stephen Stone was elected in 1846, and was succeeded by James W. Morgan in 1858, and he by S. F. Crawford in 1860 ; he, in 1861, by Dr. Samuel Van Meter, who was succeeded by D. P. Lee in 1862, and he by A. G. Mitchell in 1864 ; Mitchell by 0. D. Hawkins in 1868 ; he by Joel W. Hall in 1870 ; Hall by D. H. Barnett in 1872, and he by Lewis True in 1874.

Circuit Clerk. - James P. Jones, as stated, was the first Circuit Clerk, and was succeeded by Nathan Ellington, who held the office until his death in 1855, when his son, James D. Ellington, was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1856, George W. Teel was elected, holding the office two terms, and, in 1864, was succeeded by H. C. Wortham, and he by W. N. McDonald in 1872. He died in December following his election, and A. H. Chapman was appointed Clerk p-o tempore, and was succeeded in June, 1873, by E. E. Clark, who was succeeded, in 1877, by the present incumbent, W. E. Robinson.

Recorder. - James P. Jones was the first Recorder of Coles County. He was succeeded in the office, in 1834, by John F. Smyth, and he Ly S. M. Dunbar in December of the same year. Nathan Ellington received the office in 1835 ; John W. Trower in 1843 ; Ellington again in 1846, and Enos Stutsman in 1847, who held the office until the adoption of the new Constitution of 1848, when the office of Recorder was consolidated with that of Circuit Clerk. Treasurer. - A. G. Mitchell was the first County Treasurer, and was succeeded by Richard Sto.ldert in 1843, who held the office until 1849, when he was succeeded by Thomas Ly tie, and he by Jacob I. Brown in 1 851 ; Brown by D. C. Ambler in 1855 ; he by A. Y. Ballard in 1857 ; he by Abram Highland in 1859 ; he by D. H. Tremble in 1863 ; he by H. M. Ashmore in 1869 ; he by George Moore in 1871 ; he by W. B. Galbreath in 1873, and he by J. F. Goar in 1877, the present Treasurer of the county.

Surveyor. - The first Surveyor of the county was Thomas Sconce, who was succeeded by Joseph Fowler in 1835 ; he by Sconce again in 1839. Lewis R. Hutchason was elected in 1843, and was succeeded by Thomas Lytle in 1847 ; he by John Meadows in 1852 ; he by William A. Brun in 1855 ; he by Lewis B. Richardson in 1859 ; he by Thomas Lytle again in 1861 ; he by James S. Yeargin in 1864 ; he by George A. Brown in 1867 ; he by John H. Clark in 1869, and he by the present incumbent, John L. Aubert, in 1875.

School Commissioner. - Charles Morton was the first School Commissioner of the county, and held the office until 1841, when he was succeeded by James Alexander, and, in 1845, he was succeeded by James B. Harris ; he by H. Mann in 1849 ; he by Gideon Edwards in 1851 ; he by James A. Mitchell, and he by W. H. K. Pile in 1861 ; he by Elzy Blake in 1865 ; he by Rev. S. J. Boveli in 1869 ; he by Rev. Allen Hill in 1873, and he by Prof. T. J. Lee in 1877, who is now in office.

State's Attorney. - In 1860, J. R. Cunningham was chosen State's Attorney for the judicial circuit of which Coles County was a part. This position he held for four years. The new Constitution, adopted in 1870, gave to each county an attorney. The first appointment under this new order of things, was Col. A. P. Dunbar, who was succeeded by J. W. Craig. Robert M. Gray is the present State's Attorney.

Legislators. - The first Representative of Coles County in the General Assembly of the State was Dr. John Carrico, in the session of 1832. In 1834, James T. Cunningham was a member of the Legislature from this county. He also served in the sessions of 1837 and 1840 ; was a candidate for the Constitutional Convention in 1848, and was the choice of his party for Congress in the campaign of 1860. He came from Kentucky to Coles County in 1830, and was a man of good judgment, liberal views, and skilled in the details of finance. In the sessions of the Legislature of 1836-37, and in 1844, and in 1855, Col. A. P. Dunbar represented the county, and served with Lincoln and Douglas. He gave to Douglas the name of Little Giant ; introduced the bill for moving the capital from Vandalia to Springfield ; also a bill allowing fees to jurors, which position had before been honorary; also a resolution asking Congress to reduce the postage on mail matter,* and Illinois thus became the first State to move in that direction. In the General Assemblies of 1838 and 1842, Hon. 0. B. Ficklin represented the county. He is a native of Kentucky, but in an early day settled in Wabash County, and afterward in Coles. He was appointed, by the Legislature, Prosecuting Attorney for this Circuit, and, in his ofiicial capacity, once prosecuted a colored woman here for murder. She was poor, and the other attorneys in attendance volunteered to defend her. Mr. Ficklin closed the case in a vigorous speech, and after he sat down, the woman observed, that she " believed in her soul dat Massa Ficklin had done her as much harm as good in his speech." Mr. Ficklin has served several terms in Congress, and for a long term of years as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions, and is at present, together with Hon. H. A. Neal, a man of fine ability, member of the State Legislature.

In 1838, Dr. B. Monroe was elected State Senator. He was from Kentucky, and came to this county in 1833, and possessed fine business qualifications. In the sessions of the Legislatures of 1836t and 1846, U. F. Snider represented Coles County. He was born in Elizabethtown, Ky., and came to Charleston in 1838, where he lived until 1860, when he went to Chicago. Under the administration of Gov. Duncan, he was Attorney General of the State. As a lawyer, he was eminent in his profession, and as a public speaker had few if any peers in the Western country. Joseph Fowler in 1842, W. D. Watson in 1852, W. W. Craddock in 1858,*^ Dr. John Monroe in 1862, Col. J. M. True in 1866, and Hon. G. W. Parker in 1868, have all, honorably to themselves, represented Coles County in the Legislature of the State. In 1870, Hon. James A. Cunningham and Hon. A. Jeffries were the representatives; were wise law-makers and watchful guardians of the rights of the people. In 1874, Hon. C. B. Steele and Hon. James A. Connolly represented the county, and were able legislators. In the Congress of the United States of 1864 and 1866, Hon. H. P. Bromwell, now of Denver, Colo., but for many years a resident of Coles County, represented this Congressional District. He was a man of brilliant talents and a lawyer of fine ability. Dr. Thomas P. Trower and Thomas A. Marshall were delegates from this county to the Constitutional Convention of 1848. Col. Marshall was also State Senator in 1858, and during his term, by right of seniority, was Lieutenant Governor.

Thus, we have noted the formation of the county, together with the different branches of county ofiices and government, and the names of the incumbents of these offices down to the present time, with a brief glance at the county's law-makers and counselors. Before passing from this part of our work, it may be of some interest to say a few words of township organization. When the county was formed, it was divided or laid off into a number of civil townships or election precincts. The names and boundaries of these precincts we are unable to give, as the first record of the County Commissioner's Court cannot be found. When the county adopted township organization in 1859, the fall of which year the vote was taken, there were three Commissioners, viz., John Hutton, John Monroe and James T. Cunningham, appointed to lay off the county into townships. They accordingly divided it into twelve civil townships, as follows : Hutton, Ashmore, East Oakland, Morgan, Seven Hickory, Milton (now Humbolt), North Okaw, Mattoon, Paradise, Pleasant Grove, Charleston and La Fayette, their boundaries and names still remaining the same to the present time, as may be seen by reference to the map in the front part of this work, except Milton, the name of which has been changed to Humbolt. The first Board of Supervisors were John Hutton, Hutton Township; John Hoots, North Okaw ; Joseph Edman, Pleasant Grove ; Milton W. Barnes, Ashmore ; William R. Jones, La Fayette ; Richard Stoddert, Charleston ; James Monroe, Mattoon ; A. R. Sutherland, Milton ; Samuel Rosebrough, Seven Hickory : Nathan Thomas, Morgan ; George W. McConkey, East Oakland, and Adam W. Hart, Paradise. The Board held its first meeting May 7, 1860, and organized by making George W. McConkey temporary Chairman, but, afterward, James Monroe was elected permanent President of the Board. The county is still under township organization.

Mills, Stores, Post Offices, Etc

In opening up a new country, one of the first enterprises inaugurated for the public good is a mill, for with all the inventions of the age there has been no discovery as yet made to enable the human family to get along without eating. We have it upon good authority that in the early times people were sometimes without bread for three weeks in succession, but there is no evidence that they were destitute of all other kinds of provisions at the same time. Mill facilities, fifty years ago, were very limited in this section of the country. The first mill of any note in the county was what is now known as the Blakeman Mill, on the Embarrass River, and was built in 1829 by the Parkers, just fifty years ago.* To this mill, we are informed, men came forty and fifty miles on horseback, with a bushel and a half of corn, and it frequently was frost-bitten. "This mill," said an old gentleman. " run all the year, except when cows came along and drank the river dry." It may have been this thoughtless act on the part of the cattle that suggested the introduction into the country of horsemills. They were a dry-weather mill, and during the dry season were kept pretty busy. Charles Morton built one of these dry-weather mills in the neighborhood of Charleston, in an early day, which was of benefit to a large scope of country. One of the early mills was built on Kickapoo Creek, by a man named Robbins, but it was a frail structure, and could only grind one grist of a bushel and a half of corn from Monday morning to Saturday night. A man named Stevens built a mill in what is now Oakland Township, very early, and soon after, Redden built one in the same neighborhood. Redden's mill is said to have been a curiosity in its way, in this, that it had a buckwheat bolt attached. Chadd built one a few years later, on a new plan, but without a buckwheat bolt. If the stories told of it be true, it was a very remarkable mill, and far superior to the mills of the present day. The proprietor boasted that on a certain occasion he ground a bushel of wheat on his mill and bolted it on Redden's bolt, and the one bushel turned out one hundred pounds of superfine flour, and two and a half bushels of bran. (It may have been that the mill was no better than those of the present day, but a better quality of wheat was grown then.) -But these mills were a "big thing" in their day, as well as a useful institution of the country.

The first store opened in the county was by Charles Morton. When he came to the county in 1830, he brought a stock of goods with him, and opened them out in a small pole cabin, near the present city of Charleston, and, upon the laying-out of the town, moved within its corporate limits. He established his store upon one of the eligible corner lots, and thus the mercantile business was begun, not only in the county, but in its metropolis. Other stores were opened a few years later at Kickapoo, Hitesville and other points in the county. Morton was not long allowed a monopoly of the mercantile trade of Charleston, but on the principle that "competition is the life of trade," soon had plenty of company. Mr. Morton was also the first Postmaster in the county. This fact is disputed by some, however, who claim that George Hanson established a post office at Wabash Point some time before there was one at Charleston. Samuel Frost carried the first mail through the county. The route was from Paris to Yandalia, then the capital of the State.

Tan-yards were among the enterprises of the pioneer days. People then were not ashamed to wear, but were glad to get, sfioes of home manufacture. Many of the pioneers were sufficiently versed in the lore of St. Crispin to make shoes, and their genius Avas called into question at the approach of winter. To satisfy the demand for " shoe-leather," tanneries w^ere established where the peoples' "cowhides " and deerskins were made into leather. One of these early tanneries was established by William Wagner in the Kickapoo settlement. Another was established at Charleston by David Eastin, which afterward became the property of the Stodderts, and was operated by them for years, in fact, until tan-yards went out of fashion. Carding machines were also included among the early industries of the county. As we have stated in another page, the pioneer ladies manufactured the family clothing. Nearly every family raised a few sheep. The w^ool produced by these useful animals was carded into rolls by these machines, when they were taken in hand by the women, spun into yarn on the " big wheel," and then woven into cloth on the old " rattling loom." One of the first carding-machines in the county was established or built by John Kennedy in Charleston soon after it was laid out as a town. Daniel Evinger built a carding machine on Parker's Prairie, about 1828, which is supposed to have been the very first institution of the kind in the county. But these machines, tan-yards and horse-mills have long ago become obsolete, the latter have been superseded by fine steam-mills, the tan-yards by " brought-on " boots and shoes and the jeans and "linsey-woolsey" by

Among the first blacksmiths in the county were two men of the name of Owens and Harman, who had the first shop in Charleston. John Carter, of Ashmore, was another of the early blacksmiths, and also P. K. Honn, who for many years kept a shop at Hitesville. (For a beautiful tribute to this class of mechanics, the reader is referred to Longfellow's poem entitled "The Village Blacksmith.") Other mechanics and trades-people came in, the settlements flourished and grew prosperous upon the products of their own enterprise. In this small and humble way, the foundation was laid for the power and greatness enjoyed at the present day.

Births, Deaths And Marriages

As to who was the first white child born in the present territory of Coles County, it is not possible to state definitely. As is usually the case, we hear of a great many first ones - so many, indeed, that it is hard to decide to whom the honor belongs. The child of Daniel Drake, whose wife has been mentioned as, at the age of 54 years, giving birth to a child about 1826-27, was probably the first birth in the county. Drake was one of the pioneers of the settlement at Wabash Point. Another of the first births was a son of James Nees, born in March, 1827, in the settlement now known by the poetical name of Dog Town. Probably there are other first ones, but we have no time to look them up. Suffice it, many have been born to take up the trials and troubles of earth.

In 1824, the vear that the first settlement was made in Coles County, a Mrs. Whitten died in the settlement on Parker's Prairie, and was the first death of a white person in the county. James Nash, who settled at Wabash Point in 1827, and soon after fatally injured himself carrying a heavy log of wood, as noticed on another page, was the first death in that neighborhood. Daniel Drake and Charles Sawyer cut down trees, split out puncheons and of them made the coffin in which Nash was buried.

Among the early marriages may be noted that of James Jeems and a Miss Bates, which occurred in 1827, and is said to have been the first wedding solemnized in the present territory of the county. Jeems went to Darwin, on the Wabash River, then the county seat of Clark County, for the marriage license, as did also Levi Doty, who married soon after to a Miss Phipps. Apropos of weddings, the following anecdote is not inappropriate to the subject. We wish to state, however, Ly way of preface to the story, that should the participants in it take offense at having their old jokes resurrected and recorded upon the pages of hi.story, we warn them to vent their rage upon Capt. Adams. He furnished us the facts, and we take shelter behind his elephantine proportions. In early times, there lived in Charleston a Justice of the Peace nained H. C. Dunbar, and a well-known business man - Richard Stoddert. These two worthy individuals were in the habit of playing practical jokes on each other, and rather serious ones sometimes, as the sequel Avill show. One bleak, dreary day, ill the month of Marcii - as disagreeable as March days can sometimes be - Mr. Stoddert told 'Squire Dunbar that a friend of his in the north part of the county, some eighteen or twenty miles from town, was to be married on that day, and had requested him (Stoddert) to send Dunbar up to perform the ceremony. Dunbar, nothing doubting, mounted his horse and rode up to the designated place to tie the knot, but upon arriving, discovered that it was one of Stoddert's jokes. lie said nothing, but, indulged internally, perhaps, in a few pages of profane history, returned home through the March blasts, taking it all good-naturedly, and l)idod liis time to pay off Stoddert in his own coin. An opportunity was soon prcsenfed. It was a custom at that day, at parties and gatherings of young people, by way of giving zest to the evening's entertainment, to get up a sham wedding of some couple who had been " keeping company," or were particularly sweet on each other, and have a sham ceremony performed with all due solemnity by some sham official or sham clergyman. Soon after Dunbar's "fruitless trip " above mentioned, one of these social parties came off in Charleston, and, with the design of retaliating upon Stoddert, Dunbar went to the County Clerk's office and procured a marriage license for Stoddert and a certain young lady, with whom he had been keeping company for some time. Armed with this document, he repaired to the party, and so engineered matters as to get up the usual sham wedding between Stoddert and his sweetheart. As a Justice of the Peace, he was, of course, called on to perform the (supposed) sham ceremony. Confronting the pair with all the solemnity he would have used had it been a pre-arranged wedding "for keeps," he asked the usual questions required by law, and was answered satisfactorily, winding up by informing them that, as they were aware, he was an officer, authorized by law to perform the marriage ceremony, and asked if it was their " desire to be united in holy wedlock." They answered in the affirmative, and, holding the license in his hand (which they supposed was but a piece of blank paper, used for the sake of appearance), he went through the marriage ceremony in full, received the responses, and solemnly pronounced them " man and wife," turned away and made out the certificate with the usual witnesses, went over to the Clerk's office, made a return of the license and had the certificate recorded that night, without a hint to the pair of the genuineness of the proceedings. The next day, however, the matter leaked out, and so many of Stoddert's friends joked him about being maiiied in the novel manner described, that he went to the Clerk's office to investigate, and found it true - the papers in the case returned and recorded in due form. He then went to the girl and told her what had occurred, when quite a little excitement arose. She cried and Stoddert - swore (perhaps), not that they objected to each other, but to the way they had been inveigled into it. At last, Stoddert told her that they had better make the best of a "horrid joke" and call it genuine. She responded that perhaps she would never be able to do any better in the selection of a husband, and so the sham wedding was turned into a genuine affair. Before leaving the subject we will add that, if all reports be true, Charleston never knew a happier couple than the one united in this romantic manner. Long years of wedded life were passed in the greatest harmony, and when, a few years ago, the good woman passed from earth, she was most sincerely mourned by the partner of her sorrows and joys. He is still living, an honored citizen of Charleston. 'Squire Dunbar is living in Texas, or was at the last known of him, enjoying the reflection, doubtless, that he paid Stoddert for his joke, with interest.

The first practicing physician in Coles County was Dr. John Apperson, His practice extended over a large scope of country, and his office was usually on horse-back. Often when he slept, his saddle was his pillow, the soft side of a puncheon or the green earth his bed, and the blue sky his covering. Dr. Carrico was another of the early practitioners in the healing art, and was followed soon after by Dr. Ferguson, who doctored the people of Coles County for more than forty years. Col. Dunbar was the first licensed lawyer of the county, and for some time had an open field for the exercise of his legal talent. A more minute history of the professions is given in the township histories.

In 1878, the idea was conceived of forming an association of the old settlers of Coles County still surviving, for the purpose of keeping up the old associations of the pioneer days, and preserving the reminiscences of the wilderness, in which they long ago planted their homes. With this object in view, a meeting assembled in the city of Charleston, on the 19th of October last, and was called to order by Hon. 0. B. Ficklin. Col. A. P. Dunbar was chosen Chairman of the meeting, and Capt. W. E. Adams was appointed Secretary. Col. Dunbar briefly stated the object of the meeting to be " the renewal of old acquaintances, and giving brief sketches of the early history and settlement of Coles County, and the organization of a society to be known as the Coles County Old Settlers' Society." I. J. Montfort, Isaac N. Craig and Thomas G. Chambers were appointed a committee to report a plan for the organization of such a society. The following is their report : " This association shall be known as the Coles County Old Settlers' Society. The object of this Society shall be to keep in lively remembrance the hardships and privations incident to the early settlers of new countries, and especially of this county, and thereby promote the same economy among the rising generation as was practiced by them. The officers shall be a President, and a Vice President for each township, a Secretary and five Directors. The duties of the officers provided for as above shall be the same as performed by such officers in all deliberative bodies and societies. It shall be the duty of the Board of Directors to call annual meetings of this society on the last Thursday in August of each year, and make necessary arrangements for such meetings. The officers shall hold their positions for one year." A committee, consisting of 0. B. Ficklin, Bichard Stoddert and Dr. S. Van Meter, was appointed, to define what an old settler is, and who shall be members of this society. Following is their definition : " Whosoever shall have lived in the State of Illinois thirty years is considered an old settler by this association, and shall be eligible to become a member of this Society." At this meeting, Thomas G. Chambers was chosen President of the association for the ensuing year, and W. E. Adams, Secretary. The following gentlemen were chosen Vice Presidents : Albert Compton, Charleston ; Thomas E. Woods, Mattoon ; Adam W. Hart, Paradise ; J. K. Ellis, Okaw ; James Shoemaker, Humbolt ; James McCrory, La Fayette; I. J. Montfort^ Pleasant Grove; Ely B. Adams, Ilutton ; Peter K. Honn, Ashmore ; J.J. Pemberton, Oakland ; Yancey E. Winkler, Morgan ; and Isaac Perisho, Hickory. J. W. Frazier, Abram Highland, Dr. S. Van Meter, Col. A. P. Dunbar and George Birch were chosen Executive Committee.

The Charleston Plaindealer closes its account of the proceedings of this meeting of the old settlers as follows: "Brief speeches were made by Col. J. J. Adams,* who has lived in the county for forty-eight years, and has heard the scream of the panther and the war-whoop of the Indian, and by Isaac Perisho, who had been a resident of Illinois since 1825 ; and by William Rigsby, who had seen the Court House built and sowed the blue-grass seed in the Court House yard ; and by Uncle John Bates, who came here in 1824, and has seen the wilderness blossom as the rose ; and by Dr. Van Meter, who has been in the country for fifty years, and carried his corn to mill on his back and hired the miller to take his oxen and grind his grist for him ; and by Aunt Polly Kellogg, who came here in 1824, saw the first mill built, and heard the first sermon preached, and attended the first funeral in the county. Job W. Brown, P. K. Honn, George Birch, Y. E. Winkler, Jeptha Parker, Michael Hall, Isaac Craig, and many other old settlers were in attendance. The Vice Presidents are requested to enroll all old. settlers in their respective townships. The last Thursday in August, 1879, was fixed as the time for the next annual meeting." We would add that it is the intention to keep up the meetings, and to maintain the association permanently.

Educational Facilities

And when our forefathers declared in their ordinance of 1787, that kn v.vl;;l :c, in connection with religion and morality, was "necessary to the g'> > 1 .; i\\,m-iiraent and happiness of mankind,'.' and enjoined that "schools, and ilu iiuaris of education, should forever be encouraged," they suggested in that ordinance the verv bulwark of American liberty and freedom. The first free-school system of the State was adopted thirty years before the present one. Schools flourished in almost every neighborhood, says Gov. Ford in his history of Illinois, and " the law Avorked reasonably well." Gov. Coles, in his Message to the Legislature of 1824-25, directed attention to the liberal donation of Congress in lands for educational purposes, asking that they be husbanded as a rich treasure for future generations, and, in the mean time, to make provision for the support of local schools. During this session, Hon. Joseph Duncan, subsequently Governor (then Senator), introduced a bill, afterward passed, to which the following is the preamble : " To enjoy our rights and liberties, we must understand them ; their security and protection ought to be the first object of a free people ; and it is a well-established fact that no nation has ever continued long in the enjoyment of civil and political freedom which was not both virtuous and enlightened. And believing that the advancement of literature always has been, and ever will be, the means of more fully developing the rights of men - that the mind of every citizen in a republic is the common property of society, and constitutes the basis of its strength and happiness - it is, therefore, considered the peculiar duty of a free government, like ours, to encourage and extend the improvement and cultivation of the intellectual energies of the whole." Stuve, in his history of Illinois, speaking of this act, says: " It was provided that common schools should be established, free and open to every class of white citizens between the ages of five and twenty-one ; and persons over twenty-one might be admitted on such terms as the Trustees should prescribe. Districts, of not less than fifteen families, were to be formed by the County Courts, upon petition of a majority of the voters thereof; officers were to be elected, sworn in, and their duties were prescribed in detail. The system was full and complete in all particulars. The legal voters were empowered at the annual meeting to levy a tax, in money or merchantable produce at its cash value, not exceeding one-half of one per cent, subject to a maximum limitation of $10 to any one person. But, aside from this tax, the best and most efiective feature of the law, in principle, the great stimulant of our present system, was an annual appropriation by the State of $2 out of every $100 received into the Treasury, and the distribution of five-sixths of the interest arising from the school funds, apportioned among the several counties, according to the number of white children under the age of twenty-one years, which sums were then redistributed by the counties among their respective districts, none participating therein where not at least three months' school had been taught during the twelve months preceding. In this law were foreshadowed some of the most valuable features of our present free-school system. But it is asserted that the law of 1825 was in advance of the times ; that the people preferred to pay their tuition fees, or do without education for the children, rather than submit to the bare idea of taxation, however it might fall in the main upon the wealthier property-holders, for the benefit of all ; and the law was so amended, in 1827, as to virtually nullify it, by providing that no person should be taxed for the maintenance of any school, unless the consent was first obtained in writing, and the continuance of the State appropriation of |2 out of every $100 received into the Treasury, being its very life, was denied." In the foregoing extract is portrayed something of the first school laws of Illinois, and their virtual abolishment developed the rude system of schools of the pioneer days in Coles County. The school fund was not sufficient to support the schools, and the people obviated the difficulty' by some one, specially interested, taking a paper, going to the parents and having them sign as many scholars, at $1.50 apiece (that was the standard price), as they could send to school. If a sufficient number were subscribed they had a school, if not, the children ran wild and unrestrained as the prairie winds, at least, so far as pertained to schools. Nor were schoolhouses built then by general taxation, as they are now, but by gratuitous contribution. This contribution usually consisted in a man taking his ax and cuttino- locrs, or taking his team and hauling them from the timber to the building-site, or carrying the hod while the chimney was in process of erection, or of " rivino- " boards to cover it, etc., etc. These schoolhouses were built of logs, often without hewing, raised one story high, and, as an old settler informed us, " whitewashed inside and outside with original Illinois mud, floored with rude puncheons, and cracks between them through which the small children sometimes fell." With a fire place extending across one end of the room, benches made of trees split, open, and wooden pins put in for legs, the half of two logs cut out, and white domestic tacked over it (the pioneer glass window), completes the picture of the original schoolhouse. In these rude temples of learning the pioneer's child acquired his education. There were no grades then, and but few classes, for in a school of twenty or thirty pupils, there would be found as many arithmetics, geographies and readers as there were extant in the English language. But the adoption of the free-school system, entered upon in 1855, marks the turning-point in the history of common-school education of the State, and abolished forever the rude and imperfect system hitherto in force. The donation by Congress of the Sixteenth Section of every Congressional Township, or, if sold, lands equivalent thereto, as contiguous as might be, for the use of the inhabitants of such township for school purposes, amounted to over 998,000 acres, and which, had it been properly managed and husbanded, would have given the people such an ample school fund as would have saved them from any local taxation. At the session of the Legislature of 1854. that august body took the first step in the right direction, .by the enactment of a law separating the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction from that of Secretary of State, and creating it a distinct department of the State govern- ment, the incumbent to receive a salary of $1,500, and Gov. Matteson appointed the Hon. N. W. Edwards State Superintendent of Common Schools. This most important office, at that juncture, was bestowed upon Mr. Edwards on account of his long experience in public life, and from the conviction that he would carry into effect the hopes of the people and the designs of the Legislature in creating it. In January following, he submitted to the General Assembly a full report upon the condition of the public schools throughout the State, ably urged the education of the children of the State at the public expense, and presented a well-drawn bill for a complete system of free schools, which, with some alterations, became a law. The act bore date February 15, 1855, and embraced all the essential principles now in force."* But, however interesting our school history may be to the friends of education, we cannot follow it through all of its mutations, but have already trespassed upon time and space, and will only add, that there is not a State west of the Alleghanies whose educational interest and common-school system is so well developed, so well protected and so well adapted to the wants of the people and the spirit of the age, as the State of Illinois. With a few statistical facts from the last report of Prof. T. J. Lee, County Superintendent of Schools, to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, which are of special interest to the people of the county, we will pass on to other branches of our work :

Referring to the qualifications of teachers. Prof. Lee says: "Shortly after coming into office, I deemed it best to reduce, gradually, the number of certificates by raising the grade of qualifications, and adopted the following rules concerning certificates : " 1. Scale : 5, very poor ; 6, poor ; 7, tolerable ; 8, good ; 9, very good ; 10, perfect. 2. For First Grade - Average of 8, with no branch below 7. 3. For Second grade - Average of 7, with no branch below 5. After twelve months teaching, same mark as for First Grade. 4. Only bona-fide applicants to teach in this county will be examined. 5. Reference of good moral character required of applicants unknown to Superintendent. 6. In addition to above, aptitude for the business of teaching will be required. 7. No re-examination under three months after rejection. 8. No certificate now held will be renewed or another issued instead, except on personal application for reexamination. 9, All examinations must be begun and completed on the same day ; therefore applicants should come to the office early in the day. 10. No certificates will be issued except at published time and place." Prof. Lee closes his report as follows : " Our common school system is yet an experiment. Give it time to grow, and it may yet unfold into that perennial blessing, and those beneficent propositions dreamed by its founders. Its growth cannot be hastened - but retarded rather - by certain Utopian ideas that now, unhappily for it, seem to be gaining ground. Let us call a ' halt ' and wait. Let all who are ' called ' to help administer the system strive in every good way to bring it up equal to the provisions already made for it, before attempting new excesses."

Early Religious History

The sound of the Gospel in Coles County is coeval with the first settlement made in its limits. John Parker, the old patriarch of the Parker family was a Baptist preacher of the " hard-shell " or " ironside" persuasion, and used to proclaim the word of God to the pioneers on the Sabbath - when it was not a good day to hunt bees. Daniel Parker was also a preacher of the same denomination, and, as the Parkers were the first settlers in the county, so were they the first preachers. "- High " Johnny Parker, as the old man was familiarly called, preached the first sermon in Coles County in 182-4, the year the first settlement was made. He was a plain, old-fashioned man, hewn out of rou^h timber, and "preached salvation by election, without money and without price." This sermon (the first in the county) was preached in a small log cabin in the Parker settlement, and it is said that every inhabitant of the county was there, and had abundant room, for eleven souls constituted the entire adult population. Father Parker closed this original religious service of the county in these words : " Brethren, we have wandered far into the wilderness, but even here death will find us." The Rev. Mr. Newport was another of the "hard-shell" divines who figured prominently in the early relio-ious history of the county. The early settlers were a conscientiously religious people. Even prior to the era of schoolhouses and churches, they had meetings under the shade-trees on the river-banks, and in private houses, dedicated by common usage to religious services. Says Capt. Adams in his Centennial Address : " We have seen one of these private houses, not exceeding twenty feet square, containing three or four beds and all the household and kitchen furniture of a large family, hold a big congregation of zealous worshipers. In the early days, the old, young and even small children went to church. During the services it sometimes occurred that a half-dozen of these little ones, all with one accord, would raise their plaintive cries ; nevertheless, the services proceeded without any apparent disturbance. The occasional manifestations of some of these people were strikingly singular. Some would shout and some would pray and others scream at the top of the voice. Some would clap their hands until blistered, and others faint away, but all seemed happy, recognizing it as the Lord's doings."

An early minister of the Presbyterian Church was Rev. Isaac Bennett. " He dropped down among us," says one, " as softly as the morning light, and could not brook any religious excitement, or even the music of a child during his discourse." Rev. Mr. Martin was another of the early preachers of Coles County. But we have not space to particularize each of these pioneer soldiers of the cross. Without the hope of earthly reward, they preached the glad tidings to perishing sinners, and sought to gather them into the fold of Christ. Reverently asking the blessing of God upon all they did, their lives were simple ; their wants few and easily satisfied ; their teachings plain and unvarnished, touched with no eloquence save that of their daily living, which was seen and known of all men.

In what year the first church-building was erected in the county is not known, but subsequently to 1830, as at that date, we are informed, there was not an edifice which had been erected purposely for a temple of worship. Before the building of schoolhouses, the cabin of the settler was used in winter, and in summer, "the groves, God's first temples," served their humble wishes. But now, some sixty-five church-buildings may be enumerated in the county. Not only in the towns and cities, but in every village and hamlet, their lofty spires "pierce the clouds." Even in many neighborhoods in the country are neat and commodious church-houses.

In connection with the church history, it may not be out of place to say a few words of the benevolent institutions existing in the county. Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship follow close in the wake of the Christian church, and, in their way, exert almost as great an influence for good as the church itself. They teach a belief in God, the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body. Gathered around their altars, their votaries can subscribe to their simple articles of faith, and join in one united prayer and praise to the great Architect of the universe. These institutions have organized bodies in Charleston, Mattoon, Etna, Ashmore, Muddy Point, Oakland, Paradise, Hutton and Milton. In the city of Charleston are Charleston Lodge, No. 35, A., F. & A. M.; Keystone Chapter, No. 54, Royal. Arch Masons ; Charleston Lodge, No. 609, I. 0. 0. F.; Kickapoo Lodge, No. 00, I. 0. 0. F.; and Coles Encampment, No. 94, I. 0. 0. F. ; in Mattoon - Mattoon Lodge, No. 260, A., F. & A. M.; Circle Lodge, No. 707, A., F. & A. M.; Mattoon Chapter, No. 85, Royal Arch Masons ; Godfrey de Bouillon Commandery, No. 44, Knights Templar; Harmony Lodge, No. 551, I. 0. 0. F.; Coles County

An association entitled the Coles County Agricultural Society was formed at Charleston on the 24th day of May, 1841, and held three successive fairs, the first, October 1, 1841, the second, October 1, 1842, and the third, September 27, 1843. The permanent officers of the Society for 1841 were as follows : James Hite, President ; B. F. Jones, H. J. Ashmore and M. Ruflfner, Vice Presidents ; T. A. Marshall, Treasurer, and J. F. Whitney, Secretary. The officers for 1842 were : Thomas Monson, President ; Michael Ruffner, Isaac Gruwell, Vice Presidents ; L. R. Hutchason, Treasurer ; D. J. Van Deren, Secretary; and for 1843, James T. Cunningham, President; George H. Nabb and Fountain Turner, Vice Presidents ; L. R. Hutchason, Treasurer; D. J. Van Deren, Secretary; Laban Burr, John A. Olmstead, John Hite, Joel Connelly, John Apperson, B. F. Jones, Thomas Monson, Thomas Farris, R. A. Miller and William Frost, a Board of Directors.*

The following extract is from the records: "From 1843 to 1855, the Society appears to have been entranced in a sort of Rip Van Winkle sleep, a "rpasterly inactivity " of eleven years' duration, until the passage of the two acts of the Legislature of Illinois, February 14, 1855, and February 15, 1855, the first to encourage the formation of county agricultural societies, and the last, a general act of incorporation of agricultural and horticultural societies and associations for improving. the breeds of domestic animals, whereupon the Society appears to have awakened from its lengthy slumber, and recommenced its labors with more of vigor, comeliness of proportion and hope to its friends than prior to that wise legislative aid by the State, and accordingly, in the spring of 1855, a re-organization was effected, and a constitution and by-laws adopted, as was then supposed, in conformity with the acts above referred to. The records under the new organization are said to be lost, so that the present Secretary is unable to give a history of its proceedings for 1855. Certain it is, however, the Society held a fair in the fall of that year, but what was contained in its list of premiums, who were judges, who competitors, to whom and for what premiums were awarded, is enshrouded in darkness. Nor is the present Secretary able to give a full list of the officers elected for that year, but as far as informed, the following is believed to be correct: James T.Cunningham,

President; D. J. Van Deren, Secretary; B. F. Jones, J. K. Decker, M. F. Hackett, a portion of the Board of Directors ; Thomas G. Chambers, Treasurer. The present Secretary is informed that the Society, having complied with the act of February 14, 1855, received from the Treasurer of State the sum of $50, as authorized by that act. Before the election of the present Secretary, but at what time he is not informed, the Society had purchased seven and three-fifths acres of land for the use of the same for its fair grounds, and had paid the sum of $100 in part payment for the same, the title to which remains yet unperfected."

Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That whenever the President and Treasurer of any County Agricultural Society shall certify that the sum of (at least) fifty dollars has been collected, and is in the hands of the Treasurer for the use of said society, the Tre.isurerof this State shall, when called upon for that purpose, pay to the said Treasurer or fiscal agent or officer of said society, the sum of fifty dollars ; and the receipt of said Treasurer of such society therefor shall entitle the said Treasurer of this State to a credit for that amount in the settlements of his account as such State Treasurer.

Sec. 2. The said sum of fifty dollars, thus appropriated, shall be expended in the purpose of premiums, to be procured and distributed under the direction of said societies respectively in the manner prescribed in the constitution, by-laws, or other regulations of said societies.

The act of February 15, 1855, also alluded to in the extract from the minutes of the Society, provides for the incorporation of such societies, the mode of forming them, who shall be members, etc., and gives the usual privileges of all corporate bodies. But its great length and lack of interest to the general reader, are sufficient excuses for omitting it here. Under these acts the Society revived, as already stated, took new lease of life, and commenced business in earnest. The minutes, however, of the first meeting, under the new dispensation, being lost, the proceedings of that fair are " as a sealed book." The proceedings of 1856 are given in full, together with the premium-lists, officers and all matters of interest occurring during the year. At a meeting of Society held in the Court House, June 2, 1856, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: John Cofer, President; William Miller, Vice President ; H. J. Keeler, Secretary ; Thomas G. Chambers, Treasurer ; B. F. Jones, J. T. Cunningham, J. K. Decker, M. F. Hackett and James Hammett, Executive Committee. At a meeting of the officers, held soon after their election, they met and made out a list of pi'emiums, also a list of Avhat should be exhibited. It is as follows :

Agricultural Products. - Best acre of wheat (dimension and quality indorsed by responsible, disinterested party), to be reported to the Secretary prior to November 10, with instruction as to soil, time and manner of sowing, tillage of ground, species of

Fruit Department. - Greatest and best variety of apples, with siatement as to soil, slope of ground, etc., and any concurrent facts or conditions by which it is believed its superiority had been

Second Day. Ladies' Department

Fancy or Needle Work. - Best specimen fancy needle work. Class 19, No. 1... 3 00 Best quality, embracing the greatest variety, of articles useful and

At a meeting held August 2, 1856, the Board passed a resolution to adopt the list of premiums as above given, and appointed a committee to prepare the fair grounds for the forthcoming exhibition. At a subsequent meeting, an agreement was made with D. J. Van Deren and H. J- Keeler to inclose the grounds. At a meeting September 13, it was ordered that a well be dug and curbed upon the Society's grounds ; badges were ordered for life members, and for the officers. Robert Leith was appointed Marshal ; E. W. True, J. R. Jeffries, James Shoemaker, William Jones and Richard Champion, Deputy Marshals, together with some other unimportant matters pertaining to the fair soon to take place, were arranged.

The fair came off on the 24th and 25th of September, and, from the entries made in the different classes, seems to have been a very interesting and successful meeting. Particularly were the stock classes well represented, and a number of entries made in each class. The Secretary published a report which is copied in the records, showing the list of Judges for the articles and stock adjudged, and the names of those to whom premiums were awarded, but its extreme length forbids its insertion in this work, however interesting it might prove to our readers, especially those who are engaged in stock-raising.

But it is impossible to follow the Society through all the years since its re-organization in 1855. Suffice it, that at the present time it is in a flourishing state, and the people of the county are justly proud of their association. The last meeting took place in September, 1878, occupying five days, the 17th, 18th, 19th, 20 th and 21st ; the premium -list embraces ten pages of closely printed matter in a pamphlet printed for gratuitous distribution. The grounds of the Society comprise twenty-four acres well improved, substantially inclosed, with stock-stalls and all necessary buildings, and of a total value of about $6,000. The present officers are as follows, viz., S. D. Dole, of Mattoon, President ; James Shoemaker, of Loxa, I. J. Montfort, of Charleston, T. G. Chambers, of Charleston, M. B. Valodin, of Oakland, Vice Presidents ; E. R. Connely, Samuel Van Meter, C. E. Wilson, Adam Millar and Isaac Flenner, Board of Directors; R. S. Hodgen, Secretary, and J. K. Decker, Treasurer.

The farmers of Coles County have for years past devoted considerable attention to the improvement of their stock, and many of them are at present engaged largely in breeding blooded horses, cattle and hogs. Of horses, the Norman stock is being introduced in the county, and as draft horses are popular, while other blooded horses are receiving some attention. W. A. Whittemore, H. M. Ashmore, J. W. Wright and I. N. Gibbs are specially engaged in breeding fine horses. Blooded cattle are being more extensively raised, as this section of the country is more favorably adapted to cattle than horses. S. C. Ashmore, William Millar, Ambrose Edwards and Isaac Flenner make a specialty of Short Horns. R. L. Reat, of Herefords and Jerseys, and R. S. Hodgen, of Jerseys.

Shepard &, Alexander are known, not. only over the State of Illinois, but throughout the entire country, for their fine breed of Poland-China hogs. Their fine specimens of this famous stock of hogs have been exhibited at Chicago, St. Louis, Indiana State Fair, Illinois State Fair, Kansas State Fair, and all the surrounding county fairs, where they have been invariably awarded the highest prizes. But we shall refer more particularly to this snbject in the history of Charleston Township.

In conclusion of the history of the Agricultural Society and the fine stock of the county, we deem it of some general interest to the reader, to append the following abstract from the Assessor's returns for 1878, as showing the amount of stock, its value, together with other property, and the grain produced for the past year :

"The poor ye have with you alway." Originally, the mode of taking care of the poor of the county, was through an officer in each township or election precinct, styled " Overseer of the Poor," who looked after the welfare of the poor and needy, supplied their wants and, at a regular meeting, brought his bill before the County Board. But this system was found to be rather expensive, the county, it is said, having paid out as much as |12,000in a single year for the benefit of its poor. So this mode was changed to a county farm. Some time during the war the county purchased a small tract of land in Pleasant Grove Township, but becoming dissatisfied with this, from some cause or other, probably its location at the very edge of the county, it was sold in 1865, and forty acres bought in La Fayette Township. After using this a few years in the capacity of a county farm, it was sold and 258 acres purchased in 1870, in Ashmore Township. Upon this farm substantial buildings have been erected, and all necessaries and conveniences prepared for taking care of the poor comfortably. The main building is a substantial two-story brick, and will accommodate about sixty persons. This farm, at the time of its purchase by the county, was well improved, having a comfortable frame residence, barns and all necessary outbuildings, so that the only additional expense to the purchase of the land was the erection of the brick building above referred to. Upon a written request to the Superintendent of the farm, Joshua Ricketts, Esq., we received the following, which we give in full, as it contains much of general interest, as well as some valuable hints : " The number at present in our County Poorhouse is thirty-three. This is about the average for the year. There are twenty-one females and twelve males. Four of the inmates are over eighty years of age ; two of them are white and two black. One of these blacks is supposed to be at least 100 years old. The blacks are both females, and were slaves until freed by the emancipation proclamation of President Lincoln. Old John Golliday, well known to many of the citizens of the county, having been a resident for over forty years, was once the lawful owner of 400 acres of good land in Morgan Township, but by not doing right, he lost it all, and now has to betaken care of at the expense of the public. I am convinced that fully ninetenths of all pauperism in this county may be traced either directly or indirectly to the use of intoxicating drinks. Not that there were that number who were drunkards, but the sin of others has, in many cases, visited the children to the third and fourth generations. It is but a few days since a poor, degraded creatare left the house to return to his old haunts, where he can again wallow in the ditch, steeped in the fire of the still. This same man said that he felt as if could drink fully three inches of whisky, so anxious was he to get back to his old rum-holes. I am thoroughly satisfied that there would be no real necessity for poorhouses if intoxicating liquors were banished from the land.

" As to the mode of conducting the house, we have a set of rules for the government of inmates, which are hung up in the house so that all can know what is required of them. The Supervisors of the various townships are ex-officio Overseers of the Poor of their respective townships, and by their order the Superintendent receives and takes under his care those who are dependent and helpless. The county owns some two hundred and fifty-eight acres of land, about two hundred acres of which is plow and grass land : the remainder is principally timber-land. On the farm is a brick building 38x58 feet, two stories high, apd a kitchen attached to the main building, extending some 28 feet in length and 16 in width, with a large porch facing the east. There is also a very comfortable dwelling for the Superintendent and his family and a large barn, with some smaller buildings. There is an orchard of about one hundred and fifty bearing trees, consisting of apples, peaches and cherries. In the summer time, the paupers are employed some portion of the time in cultivating tobacco, of which weed they are, as a rule, very fond."

The Superintendent has to enter into a contract with the Board of Supervisors, and give a heavy bond, obligating himself to take care and treat kindly and humanely all who may be placed under his care, stipulating the kind and variety of food that shall be furnished. It is now nine years since the county bought the farm where the Poorhouse is now located, eight miles east of Charleston, immediately on the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad. There were twenty-seven paupers moved from the old house, four miles west of Charleston, to this place, October 25, 1870, of which number there are remaining on hand at the present time seven - two men and five women. There have been thirty-two deaths at the house, out of some two hundred and fifty persons who have been received and cared for. The attending physician (A. T, Robertson), says it is remarkable what cures have been effected. Most of those who have died were far gone when received. The oldest person who died was Mrs. Anna Higgenbotham, a cousin to Gen. Winfield Scott.

The first railways in the world began in the collieries in England, and were simple tramways - wooden rails - on which the cars were hauled by mules. As in many places the way from the collieries to the coal-yards was up an inclined plane, the cars were hauled by the mules up the plane, and allowed to return by their own gravity. " By little and by little," as Charles Dickens would say, the tracks were extended to the shipping points, and, finally, to the chief markets. Then the laborers began to ride to and from their daily tasks ; then others rode ; then a car made to carry only laborers and those desiring to ride was placed on the track ; steam began now^ and then to be recognized as an important factor among the immense motive powers of the world, and, about 1825, George Stephenson invented and placed in successful operation an engine that drew a train of cars over a wooden railway, protected by an iron covering, at the rate of twelve miles an hour. This road ran from one town to another, over vale and hill, up-hill and down, astonishing the incredulous English, who prophesied only dire disaster and distress would attend the operating of such a monster. Soon the railways, operated by steam, and carrying a train of cars that "annihilated both time and space," were coming rapidly into use in the mother country. The American nation, not to be outdone, had caught the contagion, and, in 1830, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad commenced active operations to open a similar line, extending westward from that city. In 1826, a tramway was built from Quincy, Mass., the home of the Adams family, to the granite quarries, a few miles away - the pioneer railroad in America. On this primitive affair only mules or horses were used, and it was never put to any other purpose than the hauling of granite from the quarries.

From 1830 to 1835, railroads in the East received a considerable impulse. Improvements of all kinds were being made, a speed of twenty and thirty miles an hour was attained, and the benefits of their construction and use were becoming more apparent.

About this time, it began to occur to the denizens of the Prairie State that their domain was the best place in all the world for such enterprises. " For," argued they, " have we not a rich, productive soil, an even country, requiring but little preparation, and needing no expensive grading, filling or costly bridges. Does not our land bring forth plenty, and, if we had proper means for transporting our products away and bringing money and settlers back to us. what a country we would be ! "

True, there was no money to build such works, and Pennsylvania and other Eastern States which had entered on such schemes had invariably been the losers; for " rings " would form and steal what they could not get honestly. Yet Illinois soon found a way, and the attempt was made. In his message to the General Assembly, at the session of 1885, Gov. Joseph Duncan urged the Legislature, now ripe for action, to the furtherance of schemes that were so brilliant in their prospects. That body responded by such subsidies and grants to internal improvements as to astonish even the sanguine Governor himself. Before they stopped, so infatuated were they with the glorious future so enchantingly spread out before them, they had entailed a debt of more than $14,000,000, all confidently expected to be paid by the improvements themselves and by the consequent increase in property.

The Utopian scheme dazzled the eyes of the Governor, the Legislature and the people. They saw nothing but the most prosperous times ahead, and began at once a system of financiering that in the end well nigh impoverished the State. Gold and silver, the money of the world from its infancy, could, of course, not be had for the fulfillment of the plans, and a system of bonds was instituted, based on the faith of the State, redeemable in a series of years, and payable in coin in the banks in New York. It was confidently predicted that the bonds would not only sell at par, but would command a premium. Thoy were to be paid from the proceeds of the canal and railroads, and were advertised as the best securities to be had. The first installment went off easily ; but human greed began to exhibit itself, and " rings " were formed, and, before any one was aware, the bonds of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio - for tliese States were in the meshes of the same visionary scheme - began to decline. When work began on the Illinois and iNIichigan Canal, on the Illinois Central Railroad and a few other such enterprises, laborers flocked to the State, prices of everything advanced, and the day of prosperity so confidently predicted in the early stages of the " plan," seemed now at hand. The men of the day, blinded by the apparent success of the scheme, like men of this day, seemed to overlook the fact that every article of trade, whether food, labor or merchandise, advanced with the influx of currency issued by the State banks, brought into life by the scheme, and that in this respect things were no cheaper than before. Now, at first $1 would buy but little less than before. Soon it took $2 to buy what $1 would before, and so on, till, when the system collapsed, $100 of State money would buy only as much as $16 in gold.

The projected works were simply marvelous in extent. Almost every county in Illinois was to have a railroad, and in those where none were projected, $200,000 was to be distributed. Work was to begin at both ends of the railroads and the canal, and in any other places where heavy grades were encountered. Among the projected routes was one from Cairo to the northern limit of the State, especially to meet the southern end of the canal, this was to run through or near Coles County. Another was projected from Terre Haute, Ind., westward to Alton, 111. It was stipulated by the " Alton interest," as that faction was known in the Senate, that no road should terminate at St. Louis. That city was a rival to Alton, which confidently expected to overtake and pass her opulent neighbor, and, in time, completely overshadow her. Hence, no favors were to be shown the foreign rival. She must be put down some way, and that way could be aided by refusing all means of ingress and egress, save through Alton. For this reason, the road from Terre Haute westward, must stop at Alton, and all business coming from the East must center there. That the railroad was to be built no one for a moment doubted. It was to be known as the Terre Haute & Alton Railroad, and contracts for its construction were let early in the life of the Internal Improvement system. Work began at both ends and progressed centerward. Grading and filling was done at each extremity, the route determined on, and for a short time progressed favorably. As the bonds of the State declined in value, and its currency fell in a like ratio, the demands of the laborer, unskilled in finance, and caring only for their pay, became more and more exorbitant, and when the failure of the system came, they abruptly abandoned the State, with all manner of maledictions cast upon it. The work on the railroad did not reach Coles County. That on the Illinois Central suff"ered a similar fate, and no signs of railroads appeared here, save in the surveyor's lines and stakes, and in the losses some of its people suffered from the collapse, and return to a specie basis.

The hard times that followed have almost an unequaled history. The decline in fictitious values, the distress of many people who had caught the contagion of suddenly growing rich without giving an equivalent for the prosperity, the fall of real estate, the high price of produce, and, more than all, the dread of emigrants, who feared to link their lives with a commonwealth whose taxes for the future seemed unbearable, gave the State a reputation anything but agreeable.

It was young, however, full of resources, and confident in its powers. Able men took the helm ; a series of redeemable, long-time bonds was issued, the canal, through additional loans, w^as completed ; and by the time the Mexican war began to agitate the minds of the American people the bonds of Illinois had risen, first to forty, then fifty, then seventy, and now to ninety cents on the dollar. To its everlasting credit it must be recorded, all were paid ; and to-day the debt of the State is only a nominal sum, which could be paid at any time. Whatever may be said of the system of Internal Improvements, it must be recorded that the people learned a lesson, dearly, too, that it does not pay municipalities to assume the construction of such works, and that it is always disastrous to entail a debt in expectation of future greatness and ability to discharge it. Where such a course succeeds once, it will fail a hundred times ; and even if succeeding, it is only by unnatural methods.

The reverse of the system was so great that no attempts were made to complete any of the unfinished roads for over twelve years. Of all the grand system of internal railroads in Illinois, but one, the Northern Cross Railroad, was the only one that reached practical results. Of that, in the spring of 1837, some eight miles were built, and, on November 8, the first locomotive that ever turned a wheel in the Mississippi Valley was placed and made a trialtrip, running out and back on the eight miles of the old flat bar track. The road was finished on to Jacksonville, and, in the spring of 1842, to Springfield, where it terminated. The little locomotive, minus a spark-arrester and cow-catcher, was a terror to cattle and buildings, throwing the one ruthlessly from the track, and burning the other with its sparks. It was, after running a year or so, run oif the track by a drunken engineer, and sold to Gen. Semples, of Alton, who nearly bankrupted himself in a fruitless endeavor to make a steam road-wagon of it. Mule-power superseded the engine on this road until about 1847, when the track was sold (being worn out, and the strap rails stolen for sled shoes by the surrounding populace) to a company of capitalists, for |100,000, one-tenth of its cost, and by them remodeled, equipped, completed and the beginning of the present Wabash Railway was the result.

Terre Haute & Alton Railroad

In 1850, the next railroad was made in Illinois. By February of that year, the Chicago & Galena (now Chicago & North-Western)*was finished as far as Elgin, and an excursion-train ran between the two cities. A great revival in railroad interests sprang up. Among those sharing in the awakening was the old Terre Haute & Alton Road, which a second time comes into the narrative.

Work began under a new corporation in 1851. The old route was determined on, as much of it at either end could yet be used. As has been stated, no grading had been done in Coles County. The Illinois Central, whose early history is analagous to that of the Terre Haute & Alton, was surveyed while work was being done on the latter road, and an agreement made between the two roads stipulated that whichever got to the place of contact last should bear the expense of crossing. Work went vigorously on through 1853, 1854 and 1855, and, in order to accomplish the feat, the Terre Haute & Alton Road hastily graded their route and reached Mattoon first. This was accomplished in the winter of 1855. As fast as either end of the roads was completed, cars were put on, the intervening links being traversed by stages which carried passengers who desired to travel in the then incomplete condition of the roads. This road completed its bed and ran a train of cars through from Terre Haute to Alton a little before the holidays in the winter of 1855-56. The gradinowas very incomplete, many places the engine being unable to pull but few cars at a time. When "stuck," as the natives called it, fence-rails were used as an assistant motive power, or neighboring horses or oxen borrowed to help haul the engine over the incline.

About the time of the building of this and the Central road, a policy arose on the part of the residents of Central Illinois known as the " State's Policy." It more particularly affected those on the line of the Terre Haute & Alton Road, whose terminus was Alton, which by the people of that city, always a rival of its great foreign neighbor, was considered as one of the public corporations that would in time enable her to become what she sought to be - the emporium of the Mississippi Valley. This policy party sprung suddenly into existence when the Ohio & Mississippi, and the Vandalia - then known as the Brough Road - attempted to get charters. They must not center at a point opposite St. Louis ; they must come to Alton or not be built. No track was allowed to be laid from Alton to the river on this side of St. Louis, and for two years this "policy" threatened the serious failure of these two corporations. It was extremely narrow, selfish and bigoted, and was handled without gloves by the foreign press and by the people on the line of these two roads striving to get a crossing in Illinois. Xot until 1852-53, did the party lose its power in the State Legislature, and not till a new body was elected from the people, who, by this time began to see its narrowing effects, were the desired charters allowed.

Senators Douglas and Young wrote letters to prominent men in Illinois urging them to abandon the idea, and pointing out to them the fact that the grant to the Central Railroad could not have been obtained, had such a "policy" been known to exist.

Owing to this feeling, mainlj^, the Terre Haute & Alton Road was built from the city on the Wabash to her aspiring neighbor on the Father of Waters; and, owing to this same polic}'' lurking then in the minds of the citizens of that place, was the road for a number of years compelled to transfer its freight and passengers to boats, and float them to the mighty emporium on the western bank of the same mighty stream. It was finally overcome, however. A track was built to the east side of the river, opposite St. Louis, where, until the erection of the present grand bridge, the ferry-boat transferred them over the river.

With the change of terminus, a change of name occurred, and when the connection was eftected with the road leading eastward to the capital of Indiana, the name assumed its present form.

Now it connects with the " Bee Line," eastward, and forms a continuous route from the cities of the Mississippi Valley to those on the Atlantic seaboard.

Mr. E. B. McClure, the General Superintendent, is a citizen of Coles County, residing at Mattoon. Here is what what may be termed the " Halfway House," and here are some of the principal offices. The car-shops of this Company were removed from Litchfield, in 1870, and erected on a lot of ground donated by the residents of the northeast part of town, where they are placed. They were secured through a donation of |60,000 on the part of Mattoon, in whose history a full account of them may be found.

The Illinois Central Railroad

Like the Indianapolis & St. Louis, the Illinois Central had its rise in the Internal Improvement system of 1835, and, like that road, went down in the collapse of the system in 1840. Some work was done on the road during this period, chiefly at the northern end - its connection with the canal. It was intended to connect the canal and the junction of the rivers at Cairo by means of this road ; and from published statements of the late Judge Sidney Breese and letters of Stephen A. Douglas, we learn the idea originated as early as 1835, the commencement of the system referred to.

The revival of railroads and the consequent improvement in property received a great impulse in Congress by the grant of 3,000,000 acres of land to the State of Illinois for the construction of the Central road. A more munificent grant of land could hardly be imagined at that date, and to the Senators and Representatives in Congress of that session is the grant due. The provisions of the grant were that the road was to be completed in ten years. In case of failure, the unsold lands were to revert to the General Government, and for those sold the State was to pay the Government price. The. belt of land was to include each alternate section for a width of twelve sections, the odd-numbered sections to be the property of the railroad, the even-numbered ones to be the property of the Government, and to be sold at not less than double the ordinary price (|1.25 per acre), i. e., $2.50 per acre.

The lands in this belt not already sold were to be withdrawn from market and to remain so until the location of the road was permanently decided upon. The State found itself in possession of the grant of land at the session of 1850, and 1851, and as the act of Congress had passed the September previous, the intervening time had been assiduously taken up by the press and stump of the State in advocating and discussing plans for carrying out the project. It may be remarked here that every plan brought forward was secretly fed by private interests as much or more than by public good. Each town on any line from Cairo to La Salle knew it was destined to be the one the road should pass through. The session of the State Legislature was harassed by various monopolists, who saw in the brilliant prospects an easy way to secure wealth, and who, for a time, seriously crippled the enterprise. Many persons were strongly in favor of the State engaging in the work as it had done twelve years before, and advocated the payment of the State indebtedness by means of the sale of the lands and profits from the lands.

The maxim that " A burnt child dreads the fire" was exemplified here. The State did not care to repeat the experiment it had so disastrously attempted a few years before; especially so when an unexpected solution of the problem of how to best build the road presented itself.

Robert Schuyler, Geoi'ge Griswold, Gouverneur Morris, Jonathan Sturgis, George W. Ludlow and John F. A. Sanford, of New York City, and David A. Neal, Franklin Haven and Robert Rantoul, Jr., of Boston, came before the Legislature, represented by one of their number, and offered, if the State would give them the grant of land, they would build and equip the road, and have it in running order by the year 1854 ; that by the 4th day of July, in that year, the road would be completed. There was a speedy, unlocked for solution of the whole question. A company of capitalists step forward, propose to complete and equip the road in a given length of time, much shorter than the State could hope to - to, in fact, relieve them of all care in the matter, and, when done, to pay annually into the treasury 7 per cent of all its gross earning in lieu of all taxes. State and municipal. It is said, in their eagerness to obtain the road, the capitalists would have bound themselves to pay 10 per cent as readily as 7 ; but that that was engineered through the Assembly by a prominent citizen of Illinois, who was secured for this purpose by the company. After a little delay in getting the Commissioner of the Land Office, at Washington, to convey the land to the company, work was begun. At the outset, much strife was engen dered over the route the road should take, several towns vying with each other in their efforts to obtain not only the road through their midst, but the commencement of the branch to Chicago. The question was finally decided by the State selecting a route as direct as possible, through a region containing as much unsold land as possible, thereby gaining all the land she could. The main line ran from Cairo north to Central City, where the Chicago branch diverged in the direction of that city, taking in its route Coles County. The main stem continued north through Decatur, Bloomington, La Salle, Avhere it encountered the soutliern end of the canal, and on northward, ending at Galena. Thus, by rare sagacity, a company of capitalists found themselves in possession of a magnificent railway, built from the proceeds of bonds issued by them secured by the lands, without the outlay of a dollar of their own money. They set aside a certain part of the lands, the proceeds of which were to be applied to the interest on the bonds. The prices realized for all these lands ranged from |5 to |55 per acre, and as the road opened, an immense region of hitherto unproductive lands, the sales on the part of both the road and the Government were simply enormous. The Government was the real gainer, for much of the lands had been in the market over thirty years and had not found a purchaser. Now, the railway promised a speedy outlet for farm produce ; towns and villages sprung into existence with Western-like prodigality, and before a decade of years had passed, the enterprise had yielded a hundred-fold. It was the first subsidy granted any railroad by the Government - a practice which, we are prone to say, has, in a measure, been somewhat abused.

The Illinois Central Road was completed and in full running order by the winter of 1856, a year and a half from the time the memorialists agreed to make it, they having been delayed in getting the grant of land properly deeded to them by the Commissioner of the Land Office at Washington. Constructiontrains were running that winter, and on January 1, 1856, says Mr. Frank Allison, of Mattoon, a passenger-train made the first run from Chicago to Cairo.

This railway is one of the longest in the West, and from the 7 per cent of its earnings a revenue accrues to the State amounting now to over a half-million dollars annually. This, the Company has at various times endeavored to reduce or change ; but the people have set their faces against it, and, not long since, have placed it beyond the reach of the Legislature, by a constitutional amendment to the organic law of the State.

Other Railroads

In addition to the two extensive lines of railway crossing the county, three others have been added since the war ; none, however, so great or having such history as their predecessors.

The close of the late rebellion threw upon the country a large force of unemployed men, and a vast amount of capital. This latter was used in opening new enterprises, and, as the States had learned to let such affairs alone, men with tact and energy stood ready to enter upon them. A railroad from Mattoon to Danville ; from Mattoon to Gray ville, thence to Evansville ; from Charleston to several other towns in the State, was proposed, while roads in various directions across the county were projected. Of these enterprises we will mention none save the successful ones : the Grayville & Mattoon, the Decatur, Mattoon & Southern, and the Illinois Midland.

The Grayville & Mattoon Railroad began to be talked about as early as 1866. One effort brought on another, and in the columns of the Mattoon papers, from that time down to 1872 and 1873, large-headed articles appear every week or so, all prophesying great results. Townships along the line of the proposed road gave liberally in bonds and private subscriptions, as those along the line of the Indianapolis & St. Louis had done, and a speedy completion was expected. Only twenty-eight or thirty miles of grading were completed, however, and that in Richland County, and for four or five years the road lay dormant. In 1874, a new company was formed, and by two years had the grading completed to the south line of Coles County. Work was continued on up through the county, at first running the line to intersect the Illinois Central about a mile south of Mattoon. The grade was made here ; but afterward changed, and brought directly into the town. It was all completed and the track laid by July 4, 1878, and on that day a grand excursion, under the care of J. H. Herkimer, the Receiver, was inaugurated, and a hilarious day made along the route. The road has been operating since then, and has had a good local trade, the freight business especially being quite heavy. A. short time ago, Mr. Herkimer and his associate officers resigned, from various causes, and were succeeded by E. B. Phillips, Receiver; M. H. Riddell, General Traveling Agent ; S. C. Anthony, General Clerk, and S. M. Henderson, Roadmaster. This road received $75,000 in bonds from Mattoon Township and the city ; from the former, two-thirds, and from the latter, one-third. The vote on this question was held in Mattoon, Tuesday, February 9, 1869 ; 444 votes were cast in favor of the tax, and 7 against it. Whether the town and township are justified in such a heavy debt, in addition to several others of a similar character, i. e., the $60,000 for the shops, is a serious question, and one which conservative citizens are inclined to doubt.