Henderson County, Illinois - The whole text, 1882 (part 1 of 23)

Index

Organizations in Greene Townsliip 665 Organization of Duncan Township. 497 Organization of Eliza Township.. . 281 Organization of Greene Township . 660 Organization of Keithsburg Township 165

Preface

In presenting the history of Mercer County to the public the editors and publishers have had in view the preservation of certain valuable historical facts and information which without concentrated effort would not have been obtained, but, with the passing away of the old pioneers, the failure of memory, and the loss of public records and private diaries, would soon have been lost. This locality being comparatively new, we flatter ourselves that, with the zeal and industry displayed by our general and local historians, we have succeeded in rescuing from the fading years almost every scrap of history worthy of preservation. Doubtless the work is, in some respects, imperfect ; we do not present it as a model literary effort, but in that which goes to make up a valuable book of reference for the present reader and future historian, we assure our patrons that neither money nor time has been spared in the accomplishment of the work. Perhaps some errors will be found. With treacherous memories, personal, political and sectarian prejudices and preferences to contend against, it would be almost a miracle if no mistakes were made. We hope that even these defects, which may be found to exist, may be made available in so far as they may provoke discussion and call attention to corrections and additions necessary to perfect history.

In this work we have been greatly aided by the officers and members of the Mercer County Historical Society, and to Messrs. Tyler McWhorter, I. N. Bassett, C. S. Richey, Graham Leq, and John Geiger, we are indebted not only -for valuable advice, but for articles on various topics that cannot but prove interesting and acceptable to our patrons. Messrs. L. B. Doughty, C. E. Shove, J. S. Fugate, J. V. Frazier, R. H. Spicer, Hopkins Boone, William Marsh, E. S. Ricker,

Dr. A. W. Hyde, E. Mathews, Miss Amanda Frazier, and many others, have placed Mercer County under lasting obligations for valuable matter rescued from the fading years.

The biographical department contains the names and private sketches of nearly every person of importance in the county. A few persons, whose sketches we would be pleased to have presented, for various reasons refused or delayed furnishing us with the desired information, and in this matter only we feel that our work is incomplete. However, in most of such cases we have obtained, in regard to the most important persons, some items, atid have woven them into the county or township sketches, so that, as we believe, we cannot be accused of negligence, partiality or prejudice.

That our readers mav have a full understanding of the history of Mercer and Henderson counties, it will be necessary to take them back, not merely to the time of their earliest settlement by the whites, but a time far anterior to that. This part of the State of Illinois has at different periods been in the possession and under the dominion of various persons and powers, whose acts play an important part in the history of this section. Of course we fully realize that, to the present population, the present history will prove much more interesting than that which precedes, but as the foundation of the house is much less appreciated by the occupants and is yet one of its very important parts, so that part of history which forms the basis for what follows must necessarily be of the utmost value as a foundation or root on which to develop the complete work.

Though but a little more than half a century has passed since the soil of this part of the Mississijtj^i valley was occupied and cultivated by white men, three times that length of time had elapsed since its first discovery. During that 150 years it was occupied by various tribes of Indians, and was under the dominion of several powerful governments, who contended for its possession with varying success, with but little aj^parent design of occupation other than for the purpose of trading with the original owners, in furs and such other natural products as they could easily gather, and their simple and indolent habits required. Indeed the fur trade seems to have been not only the chief object, but eventually to have led to the peo])ling of the country with those who added to the industiy of fur catching that of agriculture.

The first white men to visit Illinois with a view of making extended explorations were Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, their travels in this state beginning in 1673.

Roman Catholic Church, but at the time of which we write had abandoned his profession, and at the age of twenty-eight was engaged in the fur trade.

Father JNIarquette was born in France in 1637. He was also a priest of the same church and of the order of Jesuits. It was with a view to promulgate the doctrines of Ms church that he left comparative comfort in his native country, crossed the Atlantic and braved the western wilderness, hundreds of miles beyond the boundaries of civilization, to convert the Indians to the faith he professed, in which, by his kindness, he made many enduring friendships.

These t^'o men, with their several objects in view, set out from the Jesuit Mission on the Sti-ait of Mackinaw with five other French companions on their journey, May 17, 1763, their objective point being the Mississippi river, of which they had but a vague idea. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, they reached Green Bay, on the west side of the lake, and the mouth of Fox river, in Wisconsin. Up this river they pushed their canoes as far as the depth of the water would pemiit. IIa\dng reached the head waters of the Fox, it was but a few miles to the waters of the "Wisconsin, which flows thence into the Mississippi. Across this stretch of prairie they carried their small boats and scanty outfits, and again launched them. On the 17th of June, just one month after their embarkation at the Mackinaw, they found theraseltes on the broad bosom of the Father of Waters (meaning of the Indian words composing the name Mississippi). Down the river they glided rapidly and easily, touching frequently at difterent points on either shore, and doubtless the soil of these counties was pressed, for the first time by white men, by the feet of Joliet and Marquette and their companions. On landing at one place their journal shows that they went ashore and remained several days with the natives. This could not have been far from this part of the river's course - probably near Rock Island on the west side. They were treated kindly by the Indians, and given all the supplies at their disposal for the further prosecution of their explorations. They continued tlieir course imtil they came near the mouth of the Arkansas river, where, finding Indians who showed some signs of hostility, they deemed it expedient to return. They now entered the mouth of the Illinois river, up which they toiled to Lake Michigan, whose western shore they followed to Green Bay, where they arrived the latter part of September. In this journey they had spent about four months and traveled nearly 3,000 miles. Joliet had accomplished his purpose of discovering a route to the great water thoroughfares and opening up friendly relations with the inhabitants along their shores, and Father

Discoveries And Explorations

The formal occupation of the Mississippi and Illinois valleys was. accomplished in IBS**, in the name of the French, by Robert La Salle, who came, with about thirty followers, for the i)urpose of building forts on the Illinois river at different points, and establishing trading points with the natives in the name and for the benefit of the French government, which he represented. Even at this early date the English and French were disputing the rights of each other to the trade of these valleys, and this expedition was watched with suspicious eyes by the former. Not only so, but the enterprise which bid fair to be popular and profitable was jealously viewed by the order of Jesuits, who had been excluded from it, and their rivals of the Recollet order selected as spiritual counsel and companions. Of the last was father Hennepin, after whom, 150 years later, was named a town on the Illinois river. OwiTig to these, and unfaithful members of the expedition, ti'eacherous guides and hostile Indians, with many unforseen mishaps, the story of La Salle's travels sounds more like fiction than truth. Often, almost alone, he traveled for many days through the wilderness in the dead of winter and almost without a mouthful of food. His forts and trading posts were built and destroyed and rebuilt by turns, until at last, having formally taken possession of the country and traversed the Illinois river from Lake Michigan, the Kankakee to its junction therewith, and the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, he was basely assassinated by his own followers in January, 1687. In taking possession of the country he gave it the name of his reigning monarch and called it Louisiana, so that what is now Mercer and Henderson counties and Illinois was once called by that name.

Very much that would be interesting to the general reader concerning La Salle's voyages must necessarily be omitted, as our work has not so much to do with the State of Illinois and the great water-courses explored by him as with the locality under immediate consideration. Father Llennejnn, whose name has already been mentioned, made by La Salle's order an excursion from the mouth of the Illinois up the Mississippi as far as the Falls of St. Anthony, and may have touched at points bordering on this section. Henry Tonti, one of La Salle's companions, figures largely in the early explorations of this part of the country. He spent over twenty years in establishing posts and building fortifications for their protection. Under his command was all of the territory from the Allegheny to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Gulf of Mexico as far north as imagination could carry.

tract of country, it was not an undisijuted occupation. The English, having settled the Atlantic coast, were gradually pushing their settlements toward the west, and finding the fur trade a profitable soui-ee of revenue to individual enterprise and also to the government, disputed with the French who inhabited the shores of the great lakes, the right to the monopoly. To cany out then- plans it became necessary for either to enlist the Indians in their schemes, as from them they were to derive their profit. Accordingly, the natives of the Alleghenies and the Ohio valle}' were naturally arrayed against each other and many and bloody wars were the consequence. In the mother countries the French and English were engaged from time to time in combat, which naturally extended to the colonies of America, and thus were the struggles for the fur trade, which might otherwise have been confined to active comj^etition, transformed into long-continued and bloody conflict. These wars in history are termed the French and Indian wars, and lasted for a period of more than fifty years. At last, in 1763, at a ti'eaty between these nations, all that portion of the Mississippi valley east of the river was ceded to England, and thus for a time, imtil the war of the revolution, this section of country remained a province of Oreat Britain.

The great struggle of the colonists, commencing in 1775 and ending with then- independence in 1783, though mostly confined to the shores of the Atlantic were not wholly so, for while a fierce conflict was going on at the east, the valleys of the Mississippi, Wabash and Ohio were receiving some attention from both the English and Americans. At the beginning of that war the whole northwest was in the possession of the British.

Tlie brilliant achievements which wTested these beautiful valleys from English rule were brought about by Gen. George Rogers Clarke, of Virginia. He well understood the relations existing between the Indians and the mother country, and though the natives had been stirred up to jealousy by the rapid encroachments of white settlers upon their domain, he wisely judged that if the British posts and forts could be wrested from them, the subjugation of the Indians would be a comjjaratively easy matter. Accordingly he applied to the authorities of Virginia for men and means for the accomplishing of the enterprise, and though they could at that time ill be spared, they were granted, and Clarke set out upon the undertaking. Though many hardships consequent upon hunger and fatigue had to be endured, the whole line of forts, including Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes, was taken with scarcely a show of resistance, the inhabitants of the posts aj^jjarently being desu-ous of coming under the new government. In February, 1777,

Discoveriks And Explorations

Yincennes was taken, and tlins hostilities for this region, not only between tlie Americans and English, but for the time being between the Americans and Indians were terminated, and the possession of the northwest made secure. But for these brilliant strokes of Gen. Clarke it is hard to conceive what would have been the history of this part of the country. Possibly a union of all the tribes from Maine to Florida might have been effected, which in conjunction with foreign foes, though then somewhat discouraged, would have retained jDOSsession of the whole Mississipi)i valley even to this time.

The close of the war of independence left this portion of the coimtry under the government of the United States, and as a part of Virginia. In 1778, the legislature of Virginia formed, from the territory under that dominion, all of the country now embraced in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, AVisconsin and Michigan, the county of Illinois, so that what is now embraced in Mercer and Henderson counties was once a part of Virginia. Illinois continued a part of Virginia until March 1, 1784, when that state ceded it with all other territory north of the Ohio river to the United States.

In 1787, the whole country under consideration was, by an ordinance passed by the government, set apart and named the Northwestern Territorv. After a while the terntory was divided into smaller territories, and what is now the state of Illinois fell into that portion called Indiana Territory as one of its counties, with its old name of 1778 - Illinois county.

In 1809, the country now known as Illinois and Wisconsin was erected into a separate territory with the name of Illinois Territory. The population of this vast region was then only about half that of Mercer and somewhat less than Henderson county, being all told 9,000. Many of the oldest citizens of this region, but then residents of other states, doubtless remember, if not the event itself, many incidents of as early a date. Now there are 102 counties in the State of Illinois, few of which contain a smaller population than did both these great states only seventy-iive years ago, one of which has residing within its limits a population sixty times as great. At the time of which we write, the territory was divided into two counties - St. Clair and Randolph.

Though the valley of the Mississippi was a part of the United States,^ and though it belonged to the government, it was occupied almost exclusively by the Indians, and they claimed it as their rightful possession in which to live and derive support, not from the culti\'ation of its soil, but from its natural products. In 1801 William Ilemy Harrison, authorized by the general government, made a treaty with the chiefs and head men of the Sac and Fox nations who were then the occupants of all this region, whereby all the country on both sides of the Mississippi and including all the country west of the Illinois, was given up to the government for purposes of settlement by the wliites. Out of this treatv, a number of years later, gi-ew what is known as the Black Hawk wai-.

General Harrison

In 1816 all that portion of the state between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and extending from the mouth of the latter about 170 miles north, and including the counties of which we now wi'ite, was surveyed by the government and subsequently set apart as bounties to soldiers of the regular anny who had served in the war with Great Britain, and which had just preceded the date just given. The whole tract contained 207 entire townships and several fractions. These land grants or bounties became a kind of currency in this part of the country, and were used not only by actual settlers in making homes for themselves, but large numbers were bought by speculators for a trifling part of their face value. From misunderstandings as to their real value and of their validity, many claims were put in jeopardy, and much litigation in regard to the land titles in the parts of the counties -embraced by the military tract have been the result. "Wlioever has held successfully a disputed title in the Bounty lands, from bitter experience has learaed the history of these land schemes and speculations better than any but the attorneys engaged in unravelling them can know or cai*e to learn.

Black Hawk War

In 1818 the territory now embraced in Illinois became a separate organization and was admitted into the Union as a State. As yet but fifteen counties had been formed in the state and all of these in the southern part. None had been formed in the military tract, nor indeed was there much necessity for such organizations, as there was scarcely a lamily permanently established. However, a few years later, Pike county, embracing all of the wilderness of Warren, Mercer, Henderson and a number of other counties, was organized.

Black Hawk Avar

Tliough this was not the battle-field of the Indian troubles, yet its proximity to the scenes of the stniggle makes the Black Hawk war a peculiarly interesting topic for consideration ; indeed this petition of the valley of the Mississippi was the home of the Indian. On its banks and those of the Edwards, Pope and Henderson rivers, and the smaller streams of the two counties, he built his wigwam, hunted game and fished in theu- waters. Tlds country was dear to him and for it, though not in it, he made his last desperate struggle.

The rich mines of lead at and in the \'icinity of Galena had for some time been worked. That section, about fifteen miles square, had been bought by the government in 1804, and its occupation by the whites had been the source of some ill-feeling on the part of the Indians, which was resented by the whites. In 1825 or thereabouts real trouble be£:an to show itself and confiicts between the two races were common. At this time the number of miners had increased to more than 1,500 and they were not always careful to avoid crossingthe Indian claims, nor were they always particular about holding sacred the rights of Indians to their property, or of shooting their game or stealing their ponies, and it finally came about that an Indian's scalp was considered as much of a trophy as was a white man's to an Indian.

These gi-owing animosities hnally culminated in an attack by the "Winnebago Indians on the 30th of July, 1827, on two keel-boats which were passing up the Mississippi river with supplies for Fort Snelling. Several of the crew were killed and others wounded. The state government being apprised of the outbreak ordered forward, to the tlireatened portion of the state, military to quell the hostiles. The whole countiy roundabout was in confusion and alarm, and settlers, throughout the northern part of the state fled to distant points where had been erected fortifications for safety. At Galena 3,000 people, men women and children from the surrounding country were gathered for protection. Several hundred men at Galena were armed and equipped, and in Sangamon and Morgan counties a regiment was foraied and sent foi*ward, but before they arrived the Indians had been driven far north and some of the leaders captured.

Hardly had the excitement occasioned by this outbreak died out, however, until trouble began with the Sac and Fox tribes. Tlie leaders, and chiefs of these were Keokuk and Black Hawk, whose names have been perpetuated in different localities in this vicinity by places which bear their names. These men were not friends ; had they been, the war which was soon to follow might have been a much more serious affair than it proved. Keokuk was loyal to the government and controlled much the larger portion of the people, though they were anxious for war, and in accordance with the stipulations of a preceding treaty he with a majority of the two tribes remained on the west side of the Mississippi river. Black Hawk, however, claiming that the treaty alluded to was void, crossed the river with 300 warriors in the spring of 1831 with a view of occupying his former home near where the city of Kock Island now stands. Here had these people lived for more than a hundred years and this was the principal town of the Sac nation. According to one provision of the treaty the Indians had a. right to occupy the lands until wanted by the government for actual settlement, and though the Indians had been ordered to vacate them no actual settlers were very near - in all of Mercer and Henderson counties perhaps not more than five or six families, and in the whole county of Rock Island not one. However, in those times people liv- ing witliin forty miles of each other were neighbors, and the two races could not well exist within twice the distance without encroaching on each other. Doubtless both parties were much to blame in bringing about this final conilict, and doubtless both were anxious that the iinal test should be made. It is not our province to discuss causes or details, but simply relate facts that seem to have a close connection with the territory whose history we set out to write.

On the 30th of April, 1831, a petition signed by forty persons was sent to the executive of Illinois representing that the Indians had done much damage to their property, and that their lives and homes were in constant danger. John Reynolds was then Governor of Illinois and believing from this petition and other information received, that Black Hawk was determined to retain possession of the disputed territory to the detriment of tlie state, resolved to ex-pel him. He accordingly made a call for volunteers. In a vdry short time 700 militia were assembled at Beardstown on the Illinois river ready to take up the line of march toward the camp of Black Hawk. Before moving, however, Gen. Gaines, who was then stationed at St. Louis, passed up the river to Rock Island in command of a regiment of United States troops, with the hope of returning the Indians to the west side of the river without the necessity of calling upon the militia. The Indians were obstinate and refused to move, and according to previous arrangement the volunteers from Beardstown were advised to go forward, which they did with much enthusiasm, their numbers having in the meantime been swelled to twice the original call.

The brigade was accompanied by Governor Reynolds ; and Joseph Duncan, whose name appears on the records of Mercer and Henderson as a large land-holder in the early times of this section, was appointed brigadier-general. On the loth of June, this, the largest body of military that had ever been seen in the state, left their encampment at Rushville, just west of the Illinois river, and marched to within a few miles of the Sac village. This line of march took them directly through the centi'al part of Mercer county, and the exact route is still known and pointed out, it being on the old Indian trail (which was nearly on the Henderson and Warren county line) and extending through Mercer county northward between Aledo and Joy. When the Indians found that the government and state were in earnest, and that they were nearly surrounded with bristling bayonets and cannon, and were about to be cut off, they took the alarm, and the night before the intended attack escaped to the west side of the river. Doubtless their retreat was known and could have been cut off, but Gen. Gaines was anxious that the aftair should end without bloodshed. The soldiery were somewhat disai)pointed, and in a spirit of revenge burned their town, though the wigwams and cabins were needed to i)roteet them- .selves from the rain which was falling incessantly.

Thus bloodlessly terminated the campaign, but the war was not yet at an end. Black Hawk had promised to submit to the government of the country and to the counsel of the friendly chiefs, but he still had the defiant \vi\\ which ere long must needs break out in the act which did not terminate so favorably to him and his braves. During the following winter he was busy inciting the Indians to hostility, and by spring had succeeded in raising a force of 500. His headquarters were at the site of old Fort Madison, just on the west side of the Mississippi. From thence they proceeded up the river on horses, the women and childi'en in canoes, to a point just opposite the present town of Oquawka. Here they were met by White Cloud, the prophet, who, at a council held at the place named, advised them to go torward and cross the river, and that numerous other tribes would surely join them in a war against the whites. Accordingly the Indians crossed the Mississippi at Rock Island and ascended the Rock river to the still occupied by the Winnebagos, near its source. Couriers were sent to warn them to return, but with no effect. The attitude of Black Hawk looked so alarming that the settlers of the whole of the north half of the state fled precipitately to the southern j^art and to the more thickly settled jjortions of Indiana.

Governor Reynolds at once called for volunteers to meet at Beardsto^vn. About 2,000 men assembled upon this call, and on the 27th of April the army started on their march to Oquawka, whei'e they were joined by two companies from Shelby county. Here the army encamped for several days awaiting supplies and provisions, which were furnished them from Rock Island and St. Louis. As soon as they could be supplied, baggage wagons were loaded and all was got in readiness for a march to Dixon, where they had been informed the was encamped. When the army was ready to start a letter was brought from Gen. Atkinson, who commanded several com})anies the regular army at Fort Armstrong, that Black Hawk had descended the Rock river, and requesting tlie governor to march immediately with troops to Fort Armstrong. The army was then put in motion and moved to the mouth of Rock river, where they were received into the service of the United States, and Gen. Atkinson .assumed command.

tlie regulars. From this point ]\rajors Stillman and ]*>aik'v liad been detailed to protect the pioneer border, and having as yet seen l;ut little service they were anxious to go farther up the river to reconnoitre. Accordingly orders were given to proceed up the river for this purpose, and with nearly 300 men tliey advanced about thirty miles, where they captured a few Indians and pursued some others, who had tied, into the very ambush of Black Hawk, who with only about forty warriors put them to flight and killed several of them. The retreat was as inglorious as it was confusing ; ammunition, food, horses and wagons were left in the precipitate flight, and the fugitives did not stop running until they arrived at Dixon, in squads of from two or three to a dozen.

The war was now fully inaugurated, and the next day the army started for the fleld of action. They found the ground strewn with their comrades in a horribly mutilated condition, with heads and limbs sundered from the bodies and hearts plucked out. The fragments were gathered together and buried in one common grave on the sjjot. The Indians had fled, well knomng that the fury of the whites would be fully aroused upon the discovery of the atrocious deeds.

The Govermnent now sent Gen. Scott with 1,000 United States troops to superintend operations in the future campaigns. New levies of troops were made and sent forward by the State. On the 6th of June Black Hawk made an attack with about 150 warriors on the fort at Apple river, near (xalena. There were only twenty-five men in the fort, but they defended it witli desperation for fifteen hours, and the Indians were finally compelled to retire, the only damage sustained being the loss of one man, the burning of the houses of the village, and the destruction of other property.

Other conflicts followed rapidly in succession between bands of Indians and detachments of American troops, but as the engagements did nf>t occur in the vicinity of the counties of which we wi'ite, we shall but mention them. The battle at Kellogg's Grove, and other conflicts in the northern portion of Illinois and the southern part of Wisconsin occurred during the months of June and July.

At last, about the first of August, the Indians were completely hemmed in at a point on the Mississippi called Bad Axe, where they were driven into the river, many being killed and many others being drowned in the attempt to gain the opposite shore. The loss of the Indians was not far short of 300, and near 100 more were wounded and taken prisoners. The war \'irtually ended with the battle of Bad Axe, -and the further pursuit of the hostiles was not deemed necessary.

afterward became noted in the history of the state and of the nation. Among the many who distinguished themselves, none made a more brilliant record than did Gen. James D. Henry, of Springfield, after whom has been named an adjoining county.

A few weeks subsequent to the battle of Bad Axe, Black Hawk and the Prophet were captured by some friendly Indians and turned over to the United States authorities. They were held in custody for about one year, when they were set at liberty ; subsequently Black Hawk settled dowTi in Lee county, Iowa, for a short period, and then moved to the vicinity of the Des Moines, twenty miles above its mouth. In 1838 he contracted a disease which ended his life when he had attained the age of seventy-two years. Abraham Miller, formerly a resident of Mercer county, says, in a letter to the Historical Society of Mercer county, that he frequently saw Black Hawk after his expulsion from this section, in the neighborhood of New Boston, where, Mr. Miller says. Black Hawk's daughter lies buried. Quite a number of citizens of Mercer and Henderson counties yet survive who were personally acquainted with this great chief, notably amongst whom is Colonel Patterson of Oquawka, whose intimacy with him and his history we shall notice at length on a subsequent page.

Manners And Customs Of The Indians

The Indians inhabiting this portion of the state at the time of the advent of the white settler, and for many years previous, were the Sac and Fox nations, and consisted of the Ottawa, Ivickapoo, Chippewa, Shawnee, Mascoutin, Piankeshaw aud Pottawottamie tribes. They had obtained possession of this part of the State by conquest from other tribes who had lived here before the occupation by these nations. The Sacs and Foxes were at the beginning of the present century indeed but one nation in reality, intermarrying, li\nng, hunting and fighting together as an individual nation. As their history is so closely connected with this section, doubtless many of our younger readers, whose fathers and mothers and elderly fi'iends have recollections reaching back to the closing scenes of the Indian's last years on the east side of the Mississippi and their final departure, will be interested to read something relating to their modes of life.

Before the arrival of the Europeans and their intercourse with them, their manners, implements of agriculture, hunting and war, were much more rude than after contact with the more enlightened whites. They were at first found in possession of the most simple utensils ; the fiint dart, of which many have been found along the timber lands of the streams, were the points for the arrows, which, shot from the bow, brought down the game which was their principal subsistence. The

"boys as soon as they were strong enough were given tliis instrument, and their education consisted in its use and the knowledge of the habits of the animals it was designed to destroy.

This, too, was theu- instrument of warfare. For the difterent purposes different shajjed points were used. Some were fashioned with barbs at the base, so that the arrows ha%'ing entered the object would not be easily withdrawn, which, possibly were used for shooting fish ; some were made broad at the base, and were no doubt designed to make a large wound, and were perhaps used for the slaying of the larg-er animals and in war ; and vet others were e^-identlv intended for small game, and where it was not desirable to injure the flesh more than absolutely necessary. Of these three principal varieties cuts are here given, but there were numerous modifications of these, as can be seen by reference to the collections in the possession of a number of persons

These rude implements were, after the iur trade was established, gradually supei-seded by knives and guns procured fi-om the traders in exchange for furs, and many of the Indians soon became as skillful in the use of the rifle as the white men, and afterward made eftectual and savage use of it against the race by whom it had been supplied. However, when our fathers and grandfathers found these people here they were still anything but cultured in then* ways.

Tlieir houses consisted of a few poles ten or fifteen feet in length, planted in the ground in circular form and approaching each other at the top, and covered with the skins of animals. In the winter the fire was kindled in the middle of the area inside and the smoke found its way out at the top, where an opening had been left. At this fire they cooked their food by roasting animaFs flesh held on the ends of sharpened sticks, and by baking cakes of meal that had been made by breaking the grains with stones on flat, heated stones. A common food was made by boiling the carcass of an animal ^vith kernels of corn and such vegetables as they could find. Abraham Miller, an early settler at the town of Millersburg, relates that he saw Black Hawk and a few of his friends regale themselves on a stew prepared from a polecat thrown into the kettle without any dressing whatever. Skins of animals taken in the chase constituted their beds, and around the smouldeiing embers of the camp-fire they smoked their pipes and recounted there the incidents of the chase or war, and slept the long winter nights upon these primitive couches.

The business of the Indian was to kill game and spear fish, while that of the wife was to till the soil in summer, gather and chop the wood for the fires and do the drudgery for the simple household.

Cleanliness was by no means essential to respectability, neither did the clothing nor the person of the Indian receive so many ablutions but that all these events in his life could be easily remembered.

Marriage with them was not even a matter of form, unless it be considered in the light of a bargain and sale, for such it really was, ponies, and bear and deer skins being almost always given in exchangefor wives. In general they had but few children. The women were treated as slaves and were subject in consequence of exposure to many and severe attacks of sickness.

Description, 31

their wives and children, are in tlie main very much overdrawn. A few rare exceptions are known. It is said tliat Bhick Hawk was a most devoted husband, and was, througliout his h)ng Hfe, true to hi* marital relations.

The amusements of the Indians were the war dance, athletic sports, and the narration of their hunting and war experiences, but in none of these did the females take any part.

Though filthy in their habits to the extreme they were nevertheless proud, and were fond of decorating their dirty bodies with paint, feathers, and such bits of ribbons and beads as they could obtain.

After its introduction by the whites the Indians grew very fond of whisky, and drunkenness became much more common with them than with their pale brethren. Sometimes when a fresh supply of liquor was obtained, a whole band, with the exception of two or three, whowere required to remain sober for the puqjose of keeping the rest from murdering each other, would get on a grand big drunk, which would not end until the whisky was all gone or they got beyond the power of locomotion.

Description

Mercer county lies on the northwestern border of the state and embraces a little more than fifteen townships, or about 550 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Rock Island county, on the east by Henry and Knox, on the south by Warren and Henderson, and on the west by the middle of the Mississippi river. The fourth principal meridian passes along the eastern border, and it embraces townships 13, 14 and 15 north, and ranges 1, 2, 3, 4, and a part of 5 and 6 west. It is intersected fi'om the east to the west, through the northern portion, by Edwards river, which, near the western border, changes its course, and running in a southwesterly direction, empties into the Mississippi about a mUe and a half below New Boston. A few miles south of the Edwards is Pope creek, which passes through the county in the same direction, and enters the Mississippi at Keithsburg. In addition to these there are in the northwest, Eliza creek, which empties into Swan lake, and Camj) creek, a tributary of the Edwards. South of these is North Pope, a tributary of Pope creek, and in the southeast are North Henderson and Duck creeks. These, together with some smaller streams, farnish an abundant supply of water.

A large portion of the county is prairie, while along the borders of the streams are the so-called barrens. The soil of the prairie is a deep black or chocolate colored loam, with a yellow or dark bro%vn clay subsoil. The soil of the barrens is similar to that of the prairie, only lighter colored and of less depth, while along the upper part of the slope it is of a light hrown or yellowish color, owing to the character of the subsoil, which comes near the surface. In some portions of the barrens there is but a thin covering of the soil, and in these places it is quite light colored. The most extensive allmdal deposit is along the Mississijipi bottom. This extends along the whole western border of the countj, with a varied width of from two to five miles. Of this, that portion which is situated on the northwest and extends as far south as New Boston, is much cut up by swamps, lakes and bays. Through a large j)ortion of these bottom lands there are one or more low ridges of sand. The soil of this sandy portion is of but little value, there being but few seasons when it is wet enough to produce. In other portions the soil is a deep black loam and very productive. [Narrow alluvial belts are also found along nearly all the water-courses, the soil of which is very dark colored, but more or less intermingled with sand and pebbles. Coal of a good quality is found in various parts ; the veins are fi'om three to five feet thick. The mines furnish a large amount of good coal. The seam furnishing the largest portion of the coal of this county extends over most of the northeastern half of the county, but is most extensively mined in the townships of Greene, Rivoli, Richland Grove and Preemption. In the township sketches, devoted to these townships, will be found more extended notices of these mines.

The soU of this county is well adapted to agricultural purposes, and is in nearly every part of the county productive of large crojjs of corn, oats and hay. Wheat is not much raised. Formerly, spring wheat was grown to a considerable extent, but of late 3T^ars its cultivation has greatly decreased. Recently, considerable attention has been given to producing winter wheat. The land along or near the water-courses, though of a lighter character, is valuable for the production of fruit. Nearly all the lands along the streams were formerly hea^ily timbered, but here the first settlers built their cabins, and in consequence of habits acquired in their eastern and southern homes, much of the original forest has disappeared. In the early times coal was not used for fuel ; indeed it was scarcely known to exist, and its value as a fuel was overlooked for a number of years. Fencing and house-building also required much timber, and so the once heavily timbered portions of the county now resemble much more than formerly the oi)en prairies which lie beside them. The kinds of timber most abundant are white, burr, black, red and laurel oak, red and white elm, blue and white ash, hickory, maple, wild cherry, and occasionally a black walnut. In the bottoms are also locust, sycamore, cottonwood, box alder, wild plum and crab-apple, and occasionally pecans and buckeyes. Grape Wnes and other climbers are abundant. In later years the hand of man has added many varieties of fruit and ornamental trees, which thrive apparently as though in their native soil. The osage orange grows well here, and many of the most tasty farms are now fenced with this shrub. The climate is rather cold for it, however, and its fruit scarcely ever comes to perfection.

In the larger rivers, especially near their mouths, are abundant supplies of fish, and formerly in the timber along their banks were found many wild animals, such as deer, squirrels, raccoons, turkeys and chickens. The game has almost all vanished from before the face of the white man. The description of the county will be given more in detail in the several township sketches.

A Scrap Of Ancient History

The following, wi'itten nearly half a century ago, by a visitor to this section, will doubtless prove interesting to many readers. It is from Augustus Mitchell's description of Illinois in 1837.

"Mercer county is situated in the northern part of the Military Bounty tract. It lies north of Warren, south of Eock Island, west of Henry, and east of Louisa and Musquitine counties, ^Wisconsin territory, from which it is separated by the Mississippi river. The town of Mercer is located in the exact geogi*apliical center and wdtli the ex]Dres8 \dew of becoming the county seat of Mercer county. It is situated midway between Pope and Edwards rivers, wliich run through the county parallel to each other, and at this point are n<^t more than five miles apart. The site is healthy and elevated, commanding a beautiful Aiew of the smTounding country, which is as rich and as well adapted to the culture of wheat, and indeed of all kinds of grain, as any in the state. The county is settling rapidly with a moral, industrious and enterjjrising population. The water-power afibrded by Pope and Edwards rivers is equal to that of any county in the state : a circumstance of much importance, not only for furnishing lumber for building, but for the erection of grain and flouring mills. There is one saw mill now in operation wdthin two and onehalf miles of Mercer, and several others will be built the approaching season, also within a few miles of the town. The situation of Mercer admits of the convenient access to the timber, stone and stone coal of both Pope and Edwards rivers and their branches. Mercer is situated about fourteen miles from New Boston, on the Mississippi, at which there is an excellent landing. It is also on the direct route from the latter place to Heiinepiu. and from Oquawka to Rock Island. New Boston, the seat of justice, is the only other town in the county, and is situated at the upper Yellow bank, just above Edwards river, nearly opposite the mouth of the Lower Iowa, a considerable stream of the Wisconsin territory. This place has a good landing and a fine harbor, and when the opix>site territory becomes settled it cannot fail to become a town of considerable impoitimce, as it will be the commercial entrepot of a large extent of feitile covmtiy."

Habits And Customs Of The Pioneers

Perhaps most of the grown people of this section have some knowledge, either by actual observation or fi-om the lips of the few worthy pioneers who still linger on the shores of time, of the eai'ly modes of life which obtained during most of tlie first quarter of a centmy of its historv. But the last original settler will soon have left us. and then these things, but for the historian's pen. would become but matters of tradition. Even now. amonsrst the voun^er class, the stories of the early hardships, tiials and triumphs of this worthy class of heroic men and women, are not so verv ftdlv realized, and in the neai* future an account of what were once considered **atilictions gi-ievous to be borne." will, without doubt, prove interesting reading to the gi-andchildren of those whose voices will have been hushed, and whose weai-v bodies will have been lain awav in the soil thev first tm-ned to the sun.

Hotc they came. - A single instance would almost answer for the history of the emigi-ation of all of the early settlefs to this section. We will give it in substance, though not exactly in the words of one who came to this connti'v in 1S3S :

Far across the dense woodlands of Indiana, neai* where Ohio's broad watei"S roU onward to join the Mississippi in its com'se to the great ocean, among the gi-aceful forest trees, and gushing spi-ings and fertile fields of Oliio, rests in quiet beauty a shady liillside, a bright green valley, and a dancing water-brook. Xear the lane which passes this spot and crosses the little stream of water just beyond, may be seen a fine old farm house surroimded with towering elms and fronted with evergreens of difierent varieties. But not with this place, as it exists to-dav. has our narrative to do. True, the surroundmors have changed but little in half a century. The trees are much larger, and the house has been so metamorphosed that its former occu]»ant would not recognize it ; but the hillside and the brook, the valley and the forest, present the same appearance as when forty-odd years ago the scene which we are about to describe might have been witnessed.

Habits An-D Customs Of The Pion-Eees

It was no uncommon ocenrrence that was taking place Aere, but because of its being a usual circumstanc-e it becomes of the greater importance and is described the more minutely. To the parties c-oncemed. h<:»wever. it was a matter of the greatest moment. The family who had for years occupied this place had caught a glimpse of the wonderful country in the Bounty tract, one of the number having the year before made a trip to the new State of Illinois and brought back glowing acti-ounts of the broad prairies, the fine belts of timber, the richness of the soiL the abundanc-e of game, and the many other real and fancied advantages to the emigrant bold enough to face the dangers and privatirins incident t«:> a pioneer life. The matter had been talked over for many months. The children talked it over and wondered at the length of the j< :»umey. the exciting incidents of the trip, and the novel scenes that awaited them in their new home, little c-omprehending the hardships to which they would be subjected. The mother and wife had said but little, but naturally shrank from the trial of leaving relatives, friends and home, and taking up her abode in the wilderness. She could scarcely rec-oncile herself to the life of privation, and perhaps danger, that awaited her and those she loved. But the father argued that the little farm on which they lived, and rented by the year, but barely gave them a support : that the prospect, as much as he liked his neighb<:>rs, and much as he prized the social and other privileges, was very feeble for an independence. He was advancing in years, and the children would soon arrive at manhc« :>d and womanhood with no prc> vision for old age for himself and wife, and with nothing for the young f«:>lks with which to begin life. And s<:» it was decided to remove to what seemed to be the land of prcimise.

Acc«:»rdingly, their plans had been announced to their neighbors, a sale had been made of what they found to be superfluous articles, though f>erhaps with a view to realize a little ready money, with which to make a substantial start in their new location and to liquidate a few debts that had been contrac-ted at the stores, and all was ready for the journey.

The wagon had been backed to the fi^^nt d<x»r the evening before, and the c-ows. and a few sheep, that they had concluded to take with them, and which had been reserved frc»m the sale, had been penned up. that they might not stray away before the hour at which they were wanted to begin the ioumev. The morning had arrived, the c-andles were lighted, the tire in the tireplac-e was crackling, and the kettle boiling, preparatory to taking the last meal in the house. The breakfast was dispatched in an unusuallv short time, and then commenced the exciting process of packing up. Bedsteads were knocked to pieces.

bed-clothes were tlirown in all directions, and things in general presented a confused appearance. The children seemed to enjoy the excitement, the mother hastened about, but on her face was a look of dejection ; but the father and husband moved around vntli a firm gait, attending t<j the work of preparation with no sign that betrayed the feeling of reluctance with which he was leaving the place that he had for so many years called home, though doubtless much of his cheerfulness was assumed for the eifect that his demeanor might have on the other members of the familv.

Soon the household effects and the simpler class of farming utensils were stowed away in -the wagon, the bows to support the wagon cover were put in their staples, and the white cover stretched on and tied. Then the oxen were hitched to the wagon, the sheep and cows turned into the road, and all were readv to start.

Numerous relatives and friends by this time had gathered to bid them good-by, looking on in the meantime with mingled feelings of sorrow and wonder. When at last the moment for starting came, the wife broke into weeping ; and though the husband showed no outward signs of regret, when he bid his nearest friends farewell his hand shook a little and his voice was husky.

Such a trip as lay before these adventurers would now be considered comparatively a trivial undertaking, but at the time of which we write it was of a more serious nature. It would well compare with the embarkation of the hundred pilgrims, who left their native shores two hundred years earlier to make their way across the boundless deep, to find a home in the new world. Indeed, the hardships of the mlderness road which lay before were gi-eater than those experienced by the emigrants of the Mayflower. The length of time required to complete the journey was almost as great.

The mother and the youngest children rode in the wagon, while the father and oldest boy trudged along on foot to guide the oxen and attend to the stock. It would be interesting to listen to the account of all the incidents of their long and tedious journey, but time and space forbids more than brief allusions. The roads, even in Ohio and Indiana, were but poor, and after crossing the AV abash, consisted of mere trails across prairies, through sloughs, fording creeks and ferrying livers. There were but few bridges across the streams then, especially on this side of the Wabash, and after some days out 'some of the streams were found to be so swollen by recent rains that the emigrants were compelled to go into camp for several days to wait for the flood to subside. On one such occasion they became so impatient that, |)utting into the stream before it had fallen sufficiently, they all came near losing tlieir lives. At another place, where there was a prospect of having to stay several days, a raft was constructed of timbers cut and prepared on the spot, and lashed together with bed cords. On this they crossed to the other side, bringing over the last wheel of the wagon after a whole day's M^f)rk, tlius camping only a few hundred feet from their camping place of the night before. Their little stock ot provisions soon gave out, but they did not suft'er for lack of food, as the timber was full of game and the rifle supplied them witli i)lenty ot meat. The cattle easily subsisted upon the gi*ass that grew along the road. However, the journey was a wearisome one, and all were well pleased when at length it was completed.

Finally, at the close of a weary day, the company came to a halt, not with a design of locating at this stopping place, but, knowing that they must be in the vicinity of the point toward which they had been traveling, they concluded to camp a few da^^s and look around. Accordingly, arrangements for more than an ordinary stop were made, and our pioneer the next day started out on foot to select a location for his future home, leaving his family in camp. After a few day's search, he had fully made up his mind, and the camp was removed to the s})ot selected for the future home, provided the land was not already the })roperty of some one else. It was yet early spring and they at once set about i)lanting some corn and other vegetables, even before the land they were breaking had been secured, living in the meantime in the now empty box of the wagon.

After the crop was planted, the father made his way to the land oflSce, and secured the quarter on which he had pitched his tent. By fall, a cabin was erected, and thus began the new life of one of the many brave families who at that early date came to this country to seek an independence and a home.

Doubtless many of the earliest settlers will recognize the experiences of this familv thus far as that of their own, and manv of the younger people will imagine they have heard the story before, as told by father or mother, who may long since have been laid to rest in the little cemetery at Sugar Grove or the Yellow Banks, near the -great river.

The experiences of the ficst emigrants were so similar that a rep etition of them destroys the novelty ; but it could never destroy the charm or lose the interest, while at the same time it renders the faithful description the more valuable, applying as it does, to so many cases. With the change of the name of the state from which the family came, and the addition or suppression of a few more details which marked their journey, no doubt the narrative might be made to tit the emigi'a- tioii to this section of a majoritv of its early occupants. A few brought horses, which drew the great prairie schooner wagon, and not infrequently a horse and an ox did duty in the same team. A single ox or a single horse lias drawn to this country all of the worldlj' wealth possessed by some of what have proved its most worthy citizens.

The Fii'st Dwellings. - Judge Gilmore, whose recollection of the early features of the country are probably as correct as any, gives us the pen picture of the pioneer cabin which follows. The pioneer cabins were nearly all built after the same pattern, the plans and specifications being very simple indeed. Tlie building site was a spot in the edge of the grove, so as to be near the patch of prairie designed to be cultivated, and within the shelter of the grove for the protection of themselves and stock from the cold winds of winter. This w^as considered a colder climate than that from which most of them had come, and protection from its inclemencies was a matter for serious consideration.

The \'ery first cabins were constructed from logs entirely undressed, the small dift'erence in length being considered no disadvantage to looks or utility. The trees selected for the purpose were generally a foot or less in diameter. From these logs were cut, usually about sixteen feet in length. In both ends of the logs notches were cut to receive the notches cut in each other, so that in their building up they would lie close one upon the other, in the manner of a rail pen. AVhen the pen was built to the height of six or seven feet, a portion of one or two logs on one side would be removed for a window ; another opening would be made for a door, and another for the stick and mud chimney, which would be built outside as a kind of an addition to the house.

In winter the windows consisted of greased paper })asted over the opening mentioned. In summer none were needed. The door was usually made from boards that had been fashioned from a straight grained tree by no other tool than the ax. The latch was a liome-made affair, similar to those still to be seen on farm gates. A little above the latch a small auger hole was bored through the door, and through this hung a thong of buckskin attached to the latch, by which it could be lifted from the outside by pulling the string.

The floor of the dwelling in very many instances was the earth. The heartli of the fire place, where the cooking was done, was made of such fiat stones as could be found in their natural state. A little later bricks for this purpose, and in a few instances for entire chimneys, were made by tramping mud in a box with the bare feet and burning a few hundred of them at a time. Abraham Miller, formerly of Mercer county, but now in Oregon, writes that he made the first bricks ever

Habits And Customs Of Tiik Pioneers

The cabins were covered witli boards riven from straiglit grained trees the full length of one side of the building, and held in their places by the weight of the bodies of small trees. The cracks between the logs composing the sides of the cabin were filled with wedge shaped pieces of wood called ''chinks,'" and these were daubed over with mud, the hands in many cases being used as the trowel. Abraham Miller says that the young men were particular to leave linger marks on this kind of work, as it was a sure road into the good graces of the maidens, who held this sign of industry and democracy in high repute.

A Pioneer Log Cabin

Li the constructi(tn of these simple dwellings the only tools employed were an ax, a saw and an auger, and in A-ery many cases only the ax. Not a nail or any piece of iron was used, and not a pane ot glass; neither paint nor plaster were available.

Decorations, such as pictures or brackets for the walls, would have been a great curiosity. In their ])lace festoons of corn for the next year's planting hung from poles in the ui)})er space of the cabins. The trusty riile lay in two wooden hooks over the door or tire place, and from pegs near the chimney often hung bits of venison that were being dried for future use, and was called ''jerk." These were the decorations of grandfather's house.

The pioneer cabin has seen its clay, however, and is now a thing of the past. It has been superseded by the more pretentious hewed log house of two or more rooms, and this in turn has given place to the fine frame and brick dwellings which dot the prairies and groves all over. A few of the ancient cabins are still doing service as pig-sties or hen houses, and the modern traveler would hardly dream that once they were the dwellings of large and happy families.

We give in this connection a view of a cabin still standing in Eliza township, Mercer county, though the artist has had to draw somewhat on imagination for the surroundings, as the once pioneer mansion now serves the ignoble pui'pose of sheltering the chickens.

Ancient House Furniture. - Perhaps in nothing has there been a greater cluinge than in the furniture, both ornamental and useful, with which the houses of this county have been supplied. Any one curious enough to make a list of the numberless articles now considered indispensable to a well furnished house, will be surprised to find that scarcely an article now in use was in the early times of this section even known. And so also the few utensils and ornaments used by our grandmothers would be curiosities now. Sewing macliines only began to come into use here in about 1860, and now scarcely a family is without one. Grandmother Dennison, of Keithsburg, says all of the clothing in use by the family was made by the skillful and industrious fingers of the housewife with the needle and thimble. Not only so, but even the cloth of which the clothes were made was a home manufacture. Each family kept a few sheep, and from these the wool was sheared, washed, picked, carded, spun, woven, d^^ed and cut, in many instances, all at home.

None of the young ladies of to-day know what a "wool pickin'" is. The last one was had years ago. The picking of the particles of dirt and burs from tlie fleece was a very tedious process, and in the early times it was customary for the matron of the family to call in the help of all the young and middle aged ladies for some miles around to assist in tliis work. These invitations were gladly accepted, for the picking always ended with a frolic at night, to which the young ladies' beaux were invited.

So in the making up of clothing, there were in use the big sheep shears, the cards, which were two instruments much resembling the instruments used for currying horses at the present day, the spinningwheel, the hand loom and the dye kettle. None of these remain in use, but occasionally one may be found in the garret of the house of an old settler.

simplest tools of the shoemaker, and could turn out a decent, but rough pair of shoes from leather that they had themselves tanned from the skins of animals that they had themselves reared. Even the lasts and the pegs were of home manufacture. The simple kits of tools used in the manufacture of leather and shoes were, however, soon superseded by the tan yards and the professional shoemaker, and they in turn have had their time and are almost extinct. The few pelts that are now taken from the cattle are sent to the great cities and tanned by improved processes, made into shoes by machines driven by steam, and sliipped back to us in nice green boxes containing a dozen pairs of all sizes and qualities.

The culinary implements were as rude and simple as it is possible to conceive. The old Dutch oven for baking bread, a skillet and an iron pot, that hung from a wooden hook in the great wide chimney, were about all that were considered necessary for baking, frying and boiling. There was not a stove in the county until about 1845, and, therefore, the fireplace, extending almost across .one end of the cabin, was the only source of heat in the winter, and also answered all the demands of cooking. Even the first cook stoves were simple aftairscompared to those in present use, and were constructed witli a double purpose of heating and cooking.

In a letter from Abraham Miller, he says: "Our early crops were mainly corn, wheat, oats, flax for home use, and the most useful vegetables of all kinds, all of which did remarkably well. We raised melons in abundance. The only market point for the county was New Boston, then only known as Dennison's Landing and wood yard, at upper Yellow Sand Banks, on the Mississippi river. The first store or trading post was there in 1834, and was kept by a man by the name of Irvin, who was very exact, both in a commercial and moral point of view. He was a seceder by profession. So coiTect was he in his views of the Sabbath that he penned up his rooster on that day, that he might not disturb the holy day. This is neither jest nor hoax. I only mention it to show that, in those early times and among backwoods settlers, religious rites, according to each order, were stiictly obsei*ved. Pricesof produce were very low. Wheat was not more than forty cents per bushel, and this was the highest priced article, proporti(mately, that the farmer had to sell. In those days we were all new begimiers and had but little suii^lus to market. We raised our own hogs and hominy, killed deer, wild turkeys, prairie hens, caught fish and found wild bees. We had to get what little groceries we had with raccoon and deer skins, and frequently the best of us did without any. We were inured ta anything from hard times down, and small privations were not noted-

Our wives and dau^l iters could spin and weave, and wear the product of their own in(histry. We drank i)arched corn or pea coffee until we got to raising wheat and rye enough to answer the pui-po^e. "VVe drank tea made from sycamore chips. A favorite tea was made of red-root leaves, sweated under a Dutch oven, rolled between the two hands and dried. When drawn and sweetened with well scummed honey, your readers are assured it was not bad to take. This tea we called grub h^'son. An early merchant of ISTew Boston, after the discovery of this tea, caught at the idea, and when his black tea ran short in the store, ti-adition says, he sold many a pound of red-root leaves.

'' The men and boys could wear buckskin breeclies ; and a coonskin cap, wdth the tail dangling behind the head as an ornament thereto, was not a novel sight. We were all poor, but on a social equality. We hardly had an idea of what aristocracy was. With the greatest of pleasure I yet look back on those good old times as my golden days, when all around was clothed in the wild, yet gorgeous robes of nature, and while its half-forgotten scenery plays about and flits across memory's path, imagination paints the flush of youth where age as well as grief have coursed bitter tears down its lachrymal furrows. Des])ite this, for the moment, the blood of boyhood rushes through the sunken veins and makes the aged young.

''We had our backwoods mechanic in almost every farmer and fai-mer's boy, who learned early in life, and who turned his hand to anything necessary for carrying on our backwoods operations, both in wood and iron. But as the country grew uj) mechanics of almost all kinds dro])ped in, but it was only upon a small scale that they were patronized, or that they expected patronage, as they generally added to their mechanical skill agricultural industries, and pursued their trades only at odd times. "

The wool picking has been alluded to. It had its corresjwnding diversion for the young men in the corn husking, or "-shuckin\''' as it was called. It was common, not only in the early days, but until within a score of years, to break the ears from the stalks as they stood in the fleld, and haul them to the vicinity of the barn and then invite all the young men to come in on some afternoon or evening to strip them of their husks. Thus a wearisome task for the single handed farmer, refjuiring weeks of labor, would be performed in a single evening. The husking bee would usually end with a sumi)tuous sup})er, and frequently with a spree, to which the young ladies had been previously invited. Other i)astimes of the olden time, some of which are but barely obsolete, were the quiltings, which ])artook of features of the wool pickings, the singing schools, the spellings, wolf hunts, house and bam raisings. At all of these the young peo])le took great interest and manifested their skill according to the adajjtution of age or sex for such amusements.

The Fourth of July was, fifty years ago, kept more as a reminder of its origin than it is to-day, and some of the early celebrations were grand affairs. There was less of show and noise than to-day, but of all that goes to make u]) a grand holiday, and that conduces to a hearty rejoicing on account of our country's independence, was present in full force. The people were more democratic in their habits and thoughts, and consequently a gathering of the kind embraced all the citizens of the county. Not unfrequently a revolutionary hero honored the scene with his presence, and exhibited himself in the evolutions and drill learned by necessity in his country's birth.

Early Settlement

The Eastern, Middle and Southern states, from which the early settlers came, were densely covered with a vigorous growth of timber. A patch of prairie was a curiosity east or south of the center of Indiana. The avocations of the pioneer in the east and south had been, for the lirst half of his manhood, to cut down the giant trees of the forest, roll the logs together and burn them. With the unpleasant remembrances of log rolling, brush burning and stump grubbing, it seems a little strange that the prairies of the Mississippi valley and the tributaries thereto were not the very first to claim the early settler's attention. Here were open farms ready for the plow. Not a stump, or a root, or a stone, was in the way of immediate successful culti^-ation. The oldest and most carefully cultivated fields of Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky, from which most of the first settlers came, were not as clear of obstacles to the agriculturist's implements as were the prairies of Mercer county.

Then where shall we seek for the reasons tor the neglect of the more generous soil of the prairie and the preference for groves and the poorer soil bordering thereon ? We must not forget that times have greatly changed within a half century. Implements that could not be used on rough and stuni])y grounds are a modern invention. Corn planters, grain drills, reapers and culti\ators were invented after the prairies began to be cultivated, and their uses admissable. These machines were not invented for the rough lands of the east, but for the broad, level fields of the western states.

Again, we nmst keep in mind, habits of thought and action are not very easily changed. In ]>arts of the old world implements of agriculture have not changed nmcli in some thousands of years. Tlie pioneers of this county were used to a wooded country. Tliey were used to having stake and ridered fences ; houses and barns made of logs ; used to liaving large, blazing fires of wood in the large chimney place in the winter, and used to wasting large quantities of fine logs by burning in great heaps every year. So when they came here, with all these habits and predispositions, it must naturally have occurred to them that the supply of wood was limited and everyone sought for a good piece of timber, which should adjoin another piece of prairie, whether that prairie was of the best or not. So we find all of the first settlers hugging close to the water-courses upon whose banks grew the only reminder of their former southern or eastern homes.

One need not in this respect be told the early history of any locality in the state. The same rule governed all over, and Mercer county waa no exception. Of course, navigation had something to do with settling the shores of such sti'eams as were large enough to allow the steamboat to ply back and forth upon its waters. Steamboats began running along the Mississippi in 1823, and to tliis circumstance, doubtless, we can trace very many of the first settlements in the valley. The vicinity of New Boston was permanently occu])ied first by paities who supplied the boats with wood, and this, indeed, was the very first settlement made by white men in the county. It was in the year 1827 that the Dennison family came to that point to supply the boats with fuel, and in the plat of the towTi of New Boston they as proprietors reserve the right to the monopoly of that trade, and of running a ferry. The Dennisons were a large and respectable family, who had come originally from Lidiana, but had lived a year in Sangamon county.

These were the first to make what is now embraced in Mercer county a permanent home. Through the influence of this family others came in, a year or two later, and settled in the immediate neighborhood. Indians were still plenty on this side of the river and some of them were quite unfriendly to the encroaching settler, though they endeavored to keep up a show of friendship with the government. This hostile disposition on the part of the Indians made it not only desirable, but imperative, that settlers should keep within a reasonable distance of each other, and of the river, and for this reason, more than any otlier, no settlements were made far up the Edwards or Pope rivers until after the Lidians had been removed in 1832.

Among the earliest records of Warren county we find the names of parties who voted once or twice in this vicinity, but of whose identity all other trace seems to have been lost. Tlie earliest settler cannot now even remember the names. These were ])robably steamboat men, hunters or laborers, who possibly may have been here but a few days..

III those times the ballot was not guarded so closely but that a man could have deposited his ballot, even if he had not been in the precinct the prescribed number of days. The names of such cut no iigure in the history of the county, and need not be even repeated here.

We have to do especially with those who came here to reside, to subdue the forest and the soil, to pro\ide for families who have since made themselves known and felt in the comnninity, who founded society and moulded opinions, and who, in a general way, have left their mark upon the county. They are yet kno\\ni, or if de])arted, they are remembered for their bravery, their endurance of hardshii)S, tlieir virtue and honor. Of such we desire to write, and of such we desire to peq^etuate the memories.

The Dennison family came originally from Ohio, and lived a short time in Indiana. In 1826 they came to Sangamon county in this state and stayed about a year, and in the year above named came to the vicinity of New Boston. For two years the Dennisons and Shaunces, who at that time lived a few miles farther north, and the Vanatas at Keithsburgh, were almost the sole occupants of the county. In 1830 the census reports show Mercer county as ha^dng a population of only twenty-seven persons, and these nearly all belonged to the two families named. In 1831 the Indian troubles began, and did not end until the fall of 1832, and of course no additions were made during that time, nor indeed for a year or so after, when confidence in the peaceful solution of the troubles was fully restored.

The year 1834 brought a number of settlers, not only to the Dennison neighborhood, but to other portions of the county. In the spring of the year named, several persons fi*om Indiana came in and took claims, planted sod com, and went back in the fall and brought out their families. Among those worthy of record were Joseph Glancey, Wm. Dniry, William, Newton J, and Joshua Willits, Isaac Drury, Joseph, Jolm S. and Lewis Noble.

Several of the names mentioned will be found in future pages with extensive and numerous notices, as they proved to be valuable acquisitions to the then new but growing community. Jesse Willits was afterward first probate judge, with his appointment from the governor. His name appears on the poll book as the first man to deposit a ballot, after the county was organized in 1835. Silas Drury was the first sherifi", and Isaac Drury was one of the first county commissioners. Other prominent settlers in the west end of the county (and then considered in reality the same neighborhood), were Jolm Long, first school commissioner, Wm. L Ne^'ius, Eli Reynold's, a physician, and Isaac Dawson, a carpenter.

In the meantime a new and distinct settlement was forming, some ten miles np the Edwards river, at a point then and for years aftei*ward known as the Sngar Grove settlement, and after the organization of the county, called the Sugar Grove precinct. A large family, consisting of four brothers, John, Isaac, George and Abraham Miller, wath several relatives and friends, settled at tliis point in 1834, completely surrounding the grove. The Miller family was originally from Crab Orcliard, Tennessee, whence they had removed to near Crawfordsville, Indiana, in about 1820. From that place several members of the family came on here, in the latter part of April, 1834, bringing Avith them several yoke of oxen and some agricultural im]>lements, for the pui-pose of making claims and of planting sod corn. AH but Abraham Miller, Junior (son of George Miller), and his wdfe and wife's sister, returned to Indiana and came out subsequently. Abraham Miller, Jun., proved to be a man <if much note in public affairs of this county, and indeed the whole family was, for ten years or more, during their sojourn here, an influential one.

Abraham Miller remained with the growing crops, built a cabin, and became the fu*st permanent settler of the grove, and indeed of a radius of ten or twelve miles. Several other families, some relatives and others mere acquaintances, followed these during the next season, so that by the time the county was organized in 1835, it was found most convenient to diA'ide the county into two precincts : the one at New Boston, which had just been laid out and given that name, instead of Dennison's Landing, and the Sugar Grove precinct. By the fall of 1835 there were i)r(jbablv about sixtv inhabitants in and about the Grove, and between 200 and 250 in the whole county.

The groves along tlie Edwards river were gradually being occupied by settlers, who ])ushed farther and farther toward its source. In the spring of 1835 a distinct settlement, known as the Eichland settlement, or Farlow's Grove, was begun. This was not in what is now known as Richland Grove township, but in reality along the north side of the Edwards, in what is now Preemption township.

John Farlow and family, who settled on section 22, came from Indiana in the s])ring of 1835, and settled as stated. In the fall of the same year Hopkins P)Oone, now a resident of Viola, occupied section 34. Mr. Boone, with his faniily, came from Pennsyhania. This was the fartliest from the mouth of the river that any one had yet settled, and inde(Ml at that time there was not a family residing between that l>oint and the Rock ri\-ci-, nor for many miles to the east, and but one family on the south, between that and Monmouth. The next spring (183(1) Rev. John Montgomery, a Presbyterian minister, and James

Organization Of Mercer Conuty

Boone, came out t'roni Pennsvlvania and located in the Ricliland neiirhborliood. (-rabriel Barklev, Rev* Joseph Jones, a Baptist minister, and C. IMiller, came the same year from Indiana and settled in the vicinity of Farlow's Grove.

Thus have we traced the main settlements of the Edwards valley, from the mouth of that river to near the eastern line of the county. In the same way the banks of Po])e creek were being occupied, but not quite so rapidly, nor were the neighborhoods quite so distinct, but were considered somewhat as branches of the three principal settlements named. Up the North ITenderson, from the vicinity of Oquawka, the pioneer was gradually extending his domain, until the banks of these streams were lined on either side, where grew the native forests, with the pioneer's cabins and the pioneer's patches of corn and other crops.

As the settlements grew older and more populous they gradually divided in interest, and centers began to form at points which at the first were considered as being in the same neighborhood, and thus two or more new neighborhoods were by common consent, and by convenience, formed from one. Keithsburg and Eliza, on the west side of the county, separated their interests from ]Vew Boston. Ohio Grove, farther up the Pope, and North ITenderson, became more distinct and held less close relations with Sugar Grove or the Miller neighb<jrhood. Most of these places had for their centers either a post office or a voting place, and in some cases a church organization wasthe distinctive feature.

By the year 1835 the territory now embraced within the limits of Mercer county had received quite a number of permanent settlers. The Black Hawk war had ended three years previously, and the excitement caused thereby had almost all passed away. Information had been spread abroad that this country, so lately overrun by the Indians, and about which comparatively little was known, was one of the most desirable for settlement in the west. Accordingly, emigrants began to find their way up the Mississippi and overland, from the more thickly settled portions of Ohio, in search of cheap homes ; some in search of good hunting grounds, the game having begun to be scarce in their former haunts. So they came, some on horseback, some on foot, some up the river on boats, and some in wagons, bringing with them all their worldly goods, and their families. Nearly all were ])oor, but nearly all came with the one ])ur]iose of securing an independence and a home for their families, which could not be obtained in tlie older sections of the country, where land had ah-eady become comparatively dear. The iii-st settlements were made along the Mississippi river, and from thence they gradually spread outward and followed the smaller rivers toward their sources. By the date named, there were probably forty or fifty families in the territory designed for Mei'cer county.

The act of the legislature organizing the county was passed January 31, 1835. By a provision of the act, an election was directed to be held on the first Monday of April, 1835, in the to^v^l of New Boston, at the house of Eli Reynolds, and at the house of Geo. Miller, for county ofiicers. James Irvin, George Piper and Benjamin Yanata, or any two of them, were to be judges at New Boston, and George Miller, David Shaunce and Ebenezer Cresswell, or any two of them, at the house of George Miller. New Boston was designated as the temporary county seat. Tlie following is an exact coj^y of the act, as will be found on page 156 of the session laws for the year 1835, and as it will be deemed a historical relic by many, we think it advisable to give it entire.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of IlUnois represented in the general assembly, That on the first Monday of A];)ril next, between the hours of eight o'clock in the morning and seven o'clock in the evening, an election shall be held in the town of New Boston, at the house of Eli Eeynolds, and the house of George Miller, in the county of Mercer, for three county commissioners, one sheriff, and one coroner, for said county, who shall continue in office until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified.

Sec 2. That James Irvin, George Piper and Benjamin Vanata, or any two of them, shall be judges of the election to be held at the town of New Boston, and George Miller, David *Shonce and Ebenezer Cresswell, or any two of them, shall be judges of the election to be held at the house of George Miller. Said judges shall be authorized to a^jpoint two clerks at each precinct, and said judges and clerks shall be qualified in the same manner as judges and clerks of elections are now required by law, and said elections shall in every respect be conducted in conformity with the election laws of this state.

Sec. 3. Until the county seat of said county of Mercer shall be located, it .shall be the duty of the county commissioner's court of said county to procure a suitable house at New Boston, and the several courts shall be held at New Boston until suitable buildings are furnished at the county seat thereinafter to be located, and the said town of New Boston is hereby declared the temporary seat of said county of INIercer until the same shall be permanently located by law.

Vashti Drury

his more aristocratic successor who may travel in the palace cars, jonrneved to and fro on horseback, with his changes of raiment strapped on behind his saddle.

The act of organization was completed on the <Uh day f)f April of the same year by the election of officers, as pro^^ded in the law. Two voting places were designated. Tlie one })recinct embracing the territory in the west part of the county, and the other the eastern settlements. At the election in the New Boston precinct there were thirtyfive votes cast for Edward AVillett for coroner ; twentv-five and twelve votes respectively for Silas Drurs- and John Long for sheriff; and twenty-four, thirty-three, sixteen and thirty votes, respectively, for Isaac Drury, Abraham Miller, Jose])h Noble and Erastus Dennison for countv commissioners. Jesse Willits, Benjamin Yanata and Samuel Piper were the judges, and AVilliam C. Townisend and Ephraim Gilmore acted as clerks. At the Miller precinct, Isaac Drury, Joseph Noble, Erastus Dennison and Abraham Miller received five, nine, thirteen and twelve votes, respectively, for commissioners ; John Long received six, and Silas Drury seven, votes for sheriff, and Edward Willett received thirteen votes for coroner. David Shaunce and Ebenezer Ci*esswell acted as judges, and John and Abraham Miller as clerks. The result of the election can be seen bv the reader without recapitulation.

We cannot think of a more interesting item of histon- than the list of names of those who took part in the election that day, as sho-wnng who were the residents, heads of families and politicians of Mercer county in 1835. A number of the names figure prominently in the history of the county, some drop out of sight in a very few years, and a very few, with whitening heads and bent forms, are still with us to tell the story of the early times, waiting only a little while when they will follow on to a new and better countiy beyond the river of time. As the list is short we give it entire, as recorded on the poll book of the two precincts. There may have been a few others entitled to vote, but if there were tlieir names are not now remembered.

One week after the first election was held (April 13, 1835) the commissioner's court, corresponding in later times to the board of supervisors, met at Kew Boston and transacted the first public business. The court consisted of the recently elected commissioners, Isaac Drury, Abraham Miller and Erastus Dennison. The first business was to appoint a clerk, which they did in the person of William C. Townsend. Ephraim Gilmore was then appointed treasurer, Jolm Long, school commissioner, Harrison W. Riggs, judge of election in first, and Isaac Miller in second precinct. William Dennison was granted a license to run a ferry at New Boston, on the Mississippi river, for which Dennison had to pay four dollars tax. In his license he was allowed to charge for ferriage for 1835 : for each four-horse wagon, $1.50 ; two-horse wagon, $1 ; man and horse, 50c ; one horse, 18f c ; cattle, each, 18fc ; sheep and hogs, each, 6Jc ; each footman, 18f c (it will be noticed that it was somewhat cheaper for a man to send his horse across alone); each yoke of work cattle, 50c (cheaper to send them separately). The county was laid off" into four road districts, of which Abraham Miller was designated as supervisor of first, Lewis Noble of second, Jesse Kester of third, and James H. Bane of fourth. Ordered that a tax of $1.20 be levied on each quarter section of taxable land in the county. Tlie above embraced all of the business of the fii'st day.

On the second day, Tuesday morning at eight o'clock, the court, consisting of the commissioners, the clerk, and Silas Drury, sheriff, met and transacted additional important business. The following persons were selected as grand jurors for the first term of circuit court in Mercer county : George Miller, Isaac Miller, John Farlow, Jesse Willits, John Hill, Mark Willits, David Shaunce, Lewis Noble, Daniel Pinkley, John W. Deimison, William Willitts, Joseph Glancey, John Reynolds, George Blake, Benjamin Vanata, Jolm Long, James Irvin, Wesley Wicks, Ephraim Gilmore, Jolm Kester, Jesse Kester, Thomas Morgan and John Bates. And for petit jurors : John Miller, Isaac Miller, George Miller, Abraham Miller, Isaac Dawson, William W. Wilson, John Shaunce, Isaac Drury, Wm. H. Dennison, Joseph Noble, Joseph A. Dennison, William Drury, Harrison W. Riggs, William Jackson, Robert Reynolds, Newton Willits, Joseph Leonard, Joshua Willits, James H. Bane, Eli Reynolds, John P. Reynolds, Drury Reynolds, Cln-istopher Shuck, John Rankins. This, with the addition of levying a tax of one-half of one })er cent on certain personal projv erty, embraced all the business of the special term.

At the first regular term, wliich was held June 1, 1835, though the first appointed clerk had recorded, as the first item, that he had taken the oath and given bond, iie failed to get the bond approved, and so at the regular meeting it was found necessary -to appoint a new clerk, in the person of William Drurj, upon which Mr Townsend resigned. Mr. Drury did not experience the ti'ouble in giving secm-ity, as did his predecessor, E. S. Dennison and Joseph Leonard going on the bond in the sum of $1,000. Mr. Drury made a good clerk and served until succeeded by Abaham Miller in October 1837. Mr. Drury, in signing his name to all of his legal documents, makes a ])eculiar flourish beneath his signature, which cannot be described without an engraving, and indeed which could not be easily imitated. Judge Gilmore is our authority for a stoiy that has been received for more than forty years as genuine history, that when Miller was elected to succeed Driu*y, he was found one day sitting on the sand bank barefooted tr^dng to cut the figure in the sand with his great toe. The evidence in the record bearing on the case is quite strong. The first two or three times that Miller signs his name to the record there is an e^ddent, but fraitless, attempt to imitate Drury's flourish, but after that it is entirely abandoned.

In the Recorder's oflice is a relic that marks its author as a boss mechanic. It consists of a blank book of home manufacture, and to William Drury is given the credit of its construction. It is one of the first record books, and its description is worthy of a place here. The book consists of about one hundred pages of foolscap paper. This the maker evidently ruled himself with columns to suit his convenience, and also headed in a proper manner. The cord for binding tile leaves together seems to have been a fishing line, or some other equally stn^ng cord. Tlie sides are two oak boards, evidently rived ti'om a straightgrained tree and di*essed down with a draw shave ; or if with the axe, must have been by an exceedingly skillfiil hand. The sides are then covered with paper that seems to have been a window blind. The back and corners are buckskin, doubtless taken from the body of some deer shot by the rifle of the bookmaker and tanned by himself. The book is in excellent preservation, as ai-e all the old records of Mercer county, which show that our first ofiicers were not only men of ability and taste, but that they exercised proper care of what was entrusted to their keeping.

Mr. Miller doubtless had in his soul real genius, and though he could not imitate Drury's flourish, has left e\ndences of his invention and artistic skill upon the records. In one of the records we find the title page decorated with red, black and yeUow colors, the artist's hand revealing itself in gaudy colors and finely displayed printing, of which the following is as nearly a copy as our type will represent :