Jefferson County, Illinois - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 7 of those read), 1883

SOMETHING MORE .iBOUT THE PIONEERS - THOSE WHO CAME IN LATER - THEIR SETTLEMENTGAME AND WILD ANIMALS - PIONEER INCIDENTS - MRS. ROBINSON AND THE PANTHERSOME RATTLING SNAKE STORIES - FEMALE FASHION AND DRESS - WOMAN'S LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS - HARD TIMES, FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES, ETC.

THE pioneers, the men who skirt the outer confines of civilization on this continent, have entirely changed in their characteristics since the memorable days of '49, when the discovery of gold on the Pacific slope set all the world in a blaze of excitement. They are now, perhaps, the most cosmopolitan people in the world, and we incline to the belief that the old Californians were and are the best practically educated people, for they were suddenly gathered togther in large numbers, representing every civilized people of the globe, many of the half civilized, and even some of the totally barbarous This heterogenous gathering of such varieties of people resulted in the world's wonder of a public school. It rapidly educated men as they never had before been taught. It was not perfect in its moral symmetry, but it was wholly powerful in its rough strength, vigor and swiftness. It taught not of books but of the mental and physical laws - of commerce, of cunning craft; it was iron to the nerves and a sleepless energy to the resolution. This was its field of labor, its free university. Here every people, every national prejudice, all the marked characteristics of men, met its opposite where there was no law to restrain or govern either, except that public judgment that was crystallized into a resistless force in this witches' caldron. This wonderful alembic, where were fused normal and abnormal humanities, thoughts, false education, prejudicies and pagan follies, into a molten stream that glowed and scorched ignorance along its way, as the volcanic eruption does the debris in its pathway. It was the untrammeled school of attrition of every variety of mind with mind, the rough diamond that gleams and dazzles with beauty only when rubbed with diamond dust. The best school in the world for a thorough practical education - we mean real education and not " learned ignorance," as Locke has aptly called it. Such an education is the grand leveler of the human mind. It is like the struggle for life, where only " the tittest survive " and the unlit perish.

But the pioneer's school life was spent in a wholly different one from that just described. The surroundings of the Illinois pioneers differed radically from that of the old California "forty-niners." They did not come here in rushing crowds as men sought the gold fields of California, nor did they represent all the civilized nations of the earth. They came, as we have- already stated, mostly from the Southern States, and they settled down in the wilderness to live, where unremitting toil was required to maintain life. In a former chapter we have noticed the advent of the first pioneers, that forlorn hope of civilization in Jefferson County, and the erection of their rude cabins which formed the germ of a large and prosperous settlement. Further on we gave sketches of some of the prominent pioneer families, who came a few years later and might be termed the " second crusade." In this chapter we shall notice the arrival of those who came in at a still later period, and also some of the hardships and difiSculties endured by the people in the pioneer period.

The Jordan family, Felix McBride, Nicholas Wren, John Sanders, John Lee, Samuel Bradford, Elijah Joliff, and several other families, additional to any mentioned, settled in the county about the year 1819. The Jordan family were early settlers in Franklin County, where they had built a kind of fort or block-house, but afterward moved into Jefferson. Nicholas Wren was a son-in-law of William Jordan; Mc- Bride lived in Mount Vernon, but finally went to Galena; John Sanders helped to build the first covu't house, and Bradford settled near the present town of Belle Rive, but afterward moved into Wayne County; Joliff married Lucinda Deprist in Tennessee, and came here and entered land in Section 1 of Township 2 and Range 2, in October, 1819. He was accidentally shot, and died in the house where he settled.

In the year 1820, still further accessions to the population were made in the arrival of Joseph Pace, Reuben Jackson, Joseph Reed, W. L. Howell, Thomas Hopper, Benjamin Vermilion, Rhoda Allen, James Chafiin, Ebenezer Daggett, Nathaniel S. Andrews, Henry Watkins, James Phipps, Samuel Hirons, Mrs. Hays, Nathaniel Wilson, Bi;tler Arnold, Ransom Moss, Gessom Moss, Herbert Avent, etc., etc. The Paces are a numerous family in the county still. Reuben Jackson settled in Grand Prairie. He remained but a short time and moved North; Howell was the second Sheriff of the county, and in a few years returned to Tennessee; Hopper came from Tennessee and settled west of Moore's Prairie; Vermilion was an early tavern-keeper in Mount Vernon: Rhoda Allen died in 1820 - the first man who died in the county - and his widow afterward married James Douglas; Chaffin moved away to the north part of the State; Andrews died soon after he came to the county; Watkins lived in Grand Prairie; Hirons was the builder of the first brick court house; Nilson was one of the very first settlers in Grand Prairie; Arnold was from Butler County, Tenn. ; the Mosses and Avent came together. Ransom and Gessom Moss were brothers, and Mrs. Avent was their sister. They were from Virginia, and Avent WHS once very wealthy, but poor when he came here; he was a fine pattern of a Virginia gentleman.

Additions were made to the settlements iu 182 J, as follows: Other members of the Pace family, Israel Smith, Biirrell and Alfred McConnell, John Blackburn, Aquilla Alexander, Jnhn Gibson, Emery P. Moore, Joel Hargrave, the Tunstalls, etc. ' In 1822, came William Porter, William Rearden, Jacob Norton, the Chandlers, Absalom and Joseph Estes, William Hicks, Robert Snodgrass, George Webb, Yoiing Lemore, William Southwood; and in 1823, Rhodam Allen, William Drummond, Jarviee Pierce, Sr., Thomas Kell, Azariah Bruce, Parson Upshaw, the Wellses; and in 1824, James Dickens, Simon McCenden, Blalock and Lyon, William Crabtree, Taurus Rife, Wallace Caldwell. Elisha Plummer, Robert Stockton, John Summers, Drs. Adams and Glover, Downing Baugh, Blagdon East, Samuel Foster, Josiah League, Henry Lewis, George May, Jesse Lee, etc. From this time up to 1830, we may mention the following additional settlers: David Hobbs and Aaron Yearwood came in 1826; Robert Breeze, in 1827; Joseph McMeens settled in Jordan's Prairie in 1826-27; northwest of town, Howe, John Cash, and others settled; Enoch Holtsclaw about 1826-27; and Samuel Cummins and John Watters soon after; the Bullocks came about 1828 or 1830; Billington Taylor in 1828; Caleb Barr and Elisha Myers the same year; Peter Owen, soon after; William Finch, a few years earlier; Julius Scott and Thomas A. Nicholas about 1829; and quite a number of others we cannot now name.

We can only make the briefest mention of these early settlers in this portion of our work, as they necessarily iigm-e in the different townships, and will there receive further notice. Their names are merely given here to show the increase of population and the growth of settlement.

tp the hard life of the pioneers already, yet, doubtless, we cannot interest our aged readers more than by giving fvtrther details of the early trials, hardships, manners, customs, game, etc., of the early settlers. Again drawing upon the sketches of Mr. Johnson, he says that when the first settlers came, there was no elk here or comparatively none. That those animals had once been plenty in this region was evinced by the fact that the settlers found bones and horns in great profusion in certain portions of the county, notably in Elk Prairie, and which name they gave that prairie in consequence. That seemed to have been their great resort, as their bones were numerous there - or perhaps it was their cemetery. Sinbad, the sailor, tells of the elephants having cemeteries or "boneyards" in their own "country," where their dead was deposited. Tunstall, we are told, took away a couple of tame elk with him when he moved from the county. The last one was seen, it is said, by William and James Hicks while out on a hunt, but it escaped them. Bears were quite plenty, especially along the water-courses and in the heavy timber. The pioneers used their flesh for meat and their hides for clothing. If they made them into clothing, like Tom Bolin's breeches - "with the fleshy side out and the woolly side in" - we dare to say they were warm and comfortable. But in a few years after the organization of the county, they had (the bears) almost wholly disappeared. Ml'. Johnson relates the following " bear incident," as among bruin's " last appearances" in the county: "When Abraham Buffington went to Horse Creek, he found bears. With a courage equal to Putnam's when he followed the wolf into her den, Buffington followed an old she bear into her den, and by the aid of her gleaming eyes shot her in the darkness of the cave." But of all the tour-footed game, perhaps deer were the most abundant. It was not uncommon to see 50 to 100 in a gang on the prairies or on the barrens at " one look." Nobody that could shoot - and all pioneers could do that, it was a part of their education - was ever out of meat long at a time. If a man on rising from his couch m the morniog was informed by his spouse that there was no meat in the larder, he coolly said, " "Well, wife, just wait a little," and often in less than half an hour his game was lying at the door, and meat, for the time, was plenty. Sometimes a man could stand in his own door and shoot deer as they grazed within easy range. A great deal of clothing was made of deerskin, before the raising of cotton and flax. The lirst eiforts to tan the hides were almost a failure. A new method, however, was introduced which was much better. This was, after removing the hair, the skins were thoroughly rubbed and dressed with brains. They were then stretched on stakes driven into the ground, around a large hole, and the hole tilled with light and rotten wood, which was set on tire. The warmth caused the brains and oil to permeate the skins and the smoke gave them a beautiful color. Tanned in this way, they are said to have been very soft and pliant, and were handsome. One girl is mentioned by some of the old settlers as having a buckskin petti - ahem! of which she was very proud. Her word, however, had to be taken as to its beauty, for that garment was worn, in the pioneer days, invisible to the naked eye.

Wolves were almost as abundant as deer. Wolf Prairie received its name from the great numbers found in that section, and for at least twenty years after the formation of the county there were many wolves in the unsettled portions. They did not often become dangerous, never unless provoked or nearly famished by hunger. Thompson Atchison once had a severe fight with two or three wolves that had attacked his dogs. Dr. Wilkey was once pursued by a small pack, but paid little attention to them for some time. Finally, when they had become a little too impudent, he turned and shot one, when the others scampered away. Mi's. Robinson - Aunt Rhoda, as she was called - once killed a wolf that came prowling around her cabin at night. Her husband had brought home a deer in the afternoon, which he had shot, and the wolf had scented the slaughtered game and followed to the cabin, when it was attacked by the dogs. In those early days, the dog was a respected member of the family. Any man would tight for his dog. Literally it was " love me, love my dog," or take the consequences. Every man knew every dog in the neighborhood by his bark, just as he knew a man's voice when he heard him speak. When the wolf was attacked by the dogs, Mrs. Robinson ran out to help the latter, and as she ran caught up a "chink" that had fallen from a crack of the cabin. Ai-riving upon the scene, she gave the wolf a blow with the billet that laid him dead at her feet. She was once pursued by a panther as she wended her way, alone, and on foot, through the forest. A less brave and resolute woman would have been paralyzed with fear, and to say that she was not frightened would, perhaps, be a violation of the truth; but the pioneer women had to fight their own battles, as it were, side by side with their husbands. IMrs. Robinson was going to a neighbor's several miles distant, with no company but her dog and the babe she carried in her arms, when a large panther appeared upon her trail ic close pm-suit. Her dog ran to her and crouched at her feet for protection. As the panther came too near to be pleasant, she threw down her bonnet as she ran. This stopped the panther a few moments, for he tore it into fragments, and then started again in pui'suit. As he came near, she threw down her shawl, and again he stopped long enough to tear it in pieces; and when she was almost ready to drop from exhaustion, and the hungry beast was near enough for her to distinctly hear his teeth snap, she fortunately met a man who shot and killed it, and thus relieved her of further danger.

To young hogs and sbeep were wolves, wildcats and panthers particularly destructive. Vast numbers of them were killed. Even young calves were not secure against them. A wolf one day ran a calf up to William Casey's very gate. The women folks hurried out, opened the gale for the calf, and thus saved its life. Indeed, for years it was almost impossible to raise hogs and sheep; but the persistent vengeance with which the pests were hunted by the settlers finally cleared them out, until at present there are none to be found in the county, not even in the wildest regions. The panthers and wild cats were found here in quite as great numbers as wolves, and they were even more dangerous when " met by moonlight alone." Such small game as foxes, raccoons, turkeys, and other feathered denizens of forest and prairie were too numerous to mention.

Snakes. - According to the early history of the county, snakes were as plenty here as they were in Ireland prior to the days of St. Patrick. It may be that the patron saint of the " gem of the say " drove them to this country when he cleared them out of " ould " Ireland. Says Mr. Johnson : " Snakes were fully represented here when the settlers came. It was in 1820 that the first little log schoolhouse was built at old Shiloh.

Soon after the man, James Douglas, made his appearance in the nei ghborhood, and though addicted to drink, he got up a reputation for scholarship, and then got up a school at Shiloh. A few weeks after a school began, the scholars found so many snakes about the hill that all concluded there must be a den of them in the vicinity. The report of a snake den produced great excitement, and the settlers, fond of sport and apprehensive of danger to their children, turned out in a body, armed with hoes, axes, spades, clubs and guns, and still not prepared fully for such a task as awaited them. It really seemed as if the immediate vicinity was literally alive with the descendants of the first apple vender. Every tuft of grass concealed a snake; every rock covered one; every hole and crevice contained one; every imaginable nook was full of them. Frequently, on turning a moderately sized rock out of its bed, eight or ten snakes, all coiled together, were found underneath it. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, vipers, adders, moccasins, all seemed to have made peace and taken up their abode together. The rattler was largely in the majority, nearly 300 being killed, laid out and counted; the whole number killed and counted was largely over 500. If every man had had an attack of the jim-jams, he probably could not have seen more snakes. It will readily be allowed that those who were particularly afraid of snakes felt nervous when out in tall grass for some time after this onslaught on the reptile population of the community."

Shiloh, however, did not contain all the snakes, but, on the contraiy, they seem to have been numerous most everywhere. Johnson thus continues his dissertation on snakes: " Henry Tyler settled at what is now known as the Brown place in March, 1823, some seven miles north of town. Aunt Katy found a rattlesnake one morning coiled on one of the bars when she went to let the cow in to milk her. Some time after,Elihu Maxey, went up to spend the day with Tyler, and the snakes spread themselves. One crawled out of the jam, another out of a crack in the hearth, another sprawled himself on the door step. In the course of the day, seven snakes were killed in the house. This was pretty good, but it got better. Tom Casey went up to see his sister (Mrs. Tyler), and he and Tyler went out to take a little hunt, expectiag to kill a deer in a thicket that had escaped the autumnal fires. One took each side of the thicket to go around it. Tj^ler saw an otter in the branch, stopped to watch it until Casey came round, and in a few minutes saw seven snakes crawl down to the branch. Thinking like the Irishman, that ' where there's two snakes there's sure to be one,' they hunted about awhile and killed and laid out 170. Next day they raised a little help and dug out and killed 217." It seems that this aroused a suspicion in the mind of Tyler that that whole hill had " snakes in its boots," and he lost no time in moving away. In additiim to all these, a den was found on Joliff's sugar camp branch, and some two or three hundred were killed there. Many of the snakes were exceedingly venomous. "Wallace Caldwell was riding along the road one day, and a snake bit his horse on the leg. With all these stories, it was not considered strange when Mi-. Edwards settled where Capt. Henderson lives, and had been there a short time, his wife, who was quite a nervous woman, became so alarmed over snake stories she could not stay, but had her husband pull up stakes and return to Kentucky, whence they had come.

It became more safe and pleasant for the timorous to perambulate through the tall grass, and when a cow or horse started or a hen " chuckled " in alarm, it was no longer considered a "snake sure." But it was many years before they were generally gone; «ven now one may occasionally be seen. Northeast of Rome there was a stream named Snake Den Branch in memory of the venomous reptiles.

Thus the dangers and annoyances of the early settlers were such as none but brave hearts would dare to encounter. Nothing but the hopeful insj^iration of manifest destiny urged them to persevere in bringing under the dominion of civilized man what was before then a howling wilderness. They were exceptions, in a great degree, of the accepted rule, that " immigrants in settling in a new country usually travel on the same parallel as that of the home they left." Coming from the South as they did, where most of them were poor, and regarded as no better than the black slaves by the haughty aristocracy, they launched out sovereign citizens, independent, free and equal, and acknowledging themselves in the presence of no superior being, except when kneeling alone in prayer to the King of Kings. It was a wise conclusion that prompted them to come here, where they were far more useful in church and State than the)' ever could have been in the regions they left behind, where others held the places of influence.

The fashions in the primitive days of the county were few and simple, compared with the gaudy and costly paraphernalia of the present time. Comfort and freedom wei"e always consulted in preference to personal appearance, and the dude was then unknown. The principal articles for clothing were of home manufacture, such as linsey-woolsey, jeans, tow linen, etc. The world was not laid under tribute, as now, to fiu-nish the thousand and one mysteries of a lady's toilet. Powders and lotions and dangerous cosmetics, by which the modern belle borrows the transient beauty of the present, and repays with premature homeliness, were unknown to hev frontier ancestors, whose cheeks were rosy with the ruddy glow of health, painted by wholesome exercise and labor. The beauty and symmetry of the female form was not distorted or misshapen by tight lacing, The brave women of those days knew nothing of ruffles, curls, switches or bustles. Instead of the organ or piano, before which sits the modern miss, torturing selections from the majestic operas (!) the}' had to do their part of the work. "The girls took music lessons

On spindle swift and reel." and were contented with their linsey (slothing, their rough- made shoes, and a sunbonnet of coarse linen The women believed it their highest duty - as it was their noblest aim - to contribute their part in the great work of life. The " hired girl " had not then become a class. In cases of illness - and there was plenty of it in the early times - some young woman would leave home for a few days to care for the afflicted household, but her services were not rendered for the pay she received. The discharge of the sacred duty to care for the sick was the motive, and it was never neglected. The accepted life of a woman was, to marry, bear and rear children, prepare the household food, spin, weave and make the garments for the family. Her whole life was the grand, simple poem of rugged, toilsome duty, bravely and uncomplainingly done. She lived history and her descendant;! write and read it with a proud thrill, such as visits the pilgrim when at Arlington, he stands at the base of the monument which covers the bones of

4,000 nameless men who gave their blood to preserve their country. Her work lives, but her name is only whispered in a few homes. Holy in death, it is too sacred for ojjen speech.

Hard Times. - The financial pressure in the early days was very heavy. Quite a gale of prosperity swept over Illinois just after the close of the war of 1812, and a large flow of immigration followed that event. People were seized with a spirit of speculation and much land was bought. Land sold at $2 per acre - $80 down on a quarter section, the balance to be paid in five years. Everybody botight all the land on which they could make the advance payment, with the expectation of selling enough to emigrants to make the other payments. Wild-cat banks were established and flooded the country with their worthless bills, and then - " bust." The emigrants so confidently expected did not come, and hence there was little or no sale for real estate. The flood of bank notes had driven out specie, and when the banks failed there was no money of any kind, and pelts, tallow, beeswax, wolf-scalps, etc., became the circulating medium of the country, lender a State law, wolf scalps were made a legal tender for taxes. These, together with fox, coon and opossum skins, passed current for tobacco, whisky and other necessaries of life. Indeed, it is said that a man would enter a " grocery - " there were no saloons, they were all groceries - for a glass of whisky, present a coon skin, receive his glass of whisky and a "possum" skin in change. Under these depressing circumstances, the country improved and settled very slowly for a number of years. These were some of the trials and difficulties and dangers the pioneers of Jefferson County had to contend with. They wotild appear almost insurmountable to us of the present day.