Jefferson County, Illinois - Chapter 7, 1883

MOUNT VERNON - TEMPERANCE MOVEMENTS - THEIR GOOD WORK IN THE COMMUNITY - VILLAGE OP EAST MOUNT VERNON - MYSTIC ORDERS - MASONS, ODD FELLOAVS, ETC. - MISCELLANEOUS - WHICH COMPRISES FIRES, FIRE DEPARTMENT AND MANY OTHER LOCAL ITEMS - BIRTHS, DEATHS, ETC., ETC.

AS the temperance movement has been one of the most important factors in our public life, it will not be amiss to give it considerable space in these pages.

The first temperance organization iii the county was the " Mount Vernon Temperance Society," organized in March, 1832. The basis of their action was this preliminary resolution :

" Refiolivd, That the meeting proceed to form a temperance society, provided they can form a constitution that shall be free from all sectarian taint and shall be liberal in all its provisions."

The pledge was couched in Article II of the Constitution, as follows: "The members of this society mutually agree to abstain from the use of ardent spirits only in cases of necessity, and they further agree to use their influence in every mild and prudent way with others for the same piu-pose." It will be seen th&t this language is very ambiguous, but everybody understood that signing the pledge meant temperance.

Their annual meetings were to be held in September, with other meetings at the call of the President or two Managers, As they were all akin to us, I have a mind to give the whole outfit: John Baugh was President; Samuel E. Goodrich, Vice President; Joel

William Maxey, Wallace Caldwell, Samuel W. Carpenter. George Johnston, Goodman Elkins, Ananias Elkins. Henry B. Maxey, Jehu G. D. Maxey, Robert Maxwell, William M. A. Maxey, Henry Tyler, James Johnson, Lewis Johnson, Jr., John N. Johnson, William F. Johnson, Matthew M. Taylor, William Wells, Eeubeu S. Crosuo, Green B. Wells, John Tyler, Russell Tyler, Benjamin Patterson, Azariah Bruce, John Baugh, Jr., Allen Hunt, Marcus Bruce, John Bruce. Sarah Maxwell, Sarah Tyler, Rhoda Casey, Hannah Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor. Nancy Roland, Delia Hunt. Folly A. Maxey, Vylinda Casey, Milla Carpenter, Elizabeth Bruce, Eddy Maxey. Theodore Masey, Harriet Casey, Rhoda Overbay, Elizabeth Casey, Catharine Tyler, Clarissa Johnson, Patsy Johnson, Emily Johnson, Elizabeth Johnson, Susan Maxey, Catherine Maiey, Luciuda Allen, Polly Crosno, Rachel Crosno, Sally Crosno, Mary Maxey, Elizabeth Wells. Lucinda Overbay, Patsy Bruce, Elizabeth Baugh. Emily Baugh, Sarah Maxey, Jarvis Pierce, Peter Bingaman, -John M. Pace, Joab Peterson, Nancy Pace, E. H. Ridgway, Sarah Maxey. Nancy Johnson, Ransom Moss, Susannah Johnson, H. Bingaman, William Bingaman, John E. McBryau. Margaret E. Black. Joel Harlow, James Carroll. Green Depriest. Robert Elkins, Daniel G. Anderson, John M Lane. William Hicks, Solomon Goddard, Gazaway Elkins and Robert Yearwood. At the first meetings of this society Gov. Casey was the chief speaker. Dr. J. S. Moore came in the fall of 1833 and took a very active hand, as did Rev. John Johnson, who came in from Kentucky in the fall of 1834. The impulse was sustained by the arrival of Rev. John Van Cleve as Presiding Elder the next year. But it was such a sweeping revival that a lull followed; yet a new constitution was drawn up, and under the name of the Jefferson County Temper unce Society, met on the 4th of July, and sometimes oftener. Among the Presidents were John Baugh, Sr., Edward Masey. Joseph Pace, Downing Baugh, Arba Andrews and John Johnson. The record of this society, preserved in the archives of the Pioneer Association, extends to 1840.

Another record in the same archives begins the story of a new society, January 25, 1842, under the old name, Jefferson County Temperance Society. Judge ^Scates was one of the leading spirits. James Kirby was Chairman and H. T. Pace Secretary of the first meeting. The pledge was simply an agreement not to use intoxicating liquors as a beverage, nor trafiic in them, nor provide them for others, etc. The record runs over four years, to June, 1846, and contains over 300 names of persons subscribing the pledge. During this period, the Presidents were James Kii'by, John Johnson, W. J. Stephenson and Joel F. Watson; the Secretaries were H. T. Pace and J. R. Satterfield. During the existence of the society, it brought out some good speakers, as Johnson Pierson, Samuel D. Marshall, John Moore (afterward Governor), Rev. R. H. Moffit, Dr. J. C. Gray and S. S. Hayes - all in 1842; Edward Jones, W. B. Scates, R. F. Wingate, Mr. Kittinger, of Alton, Dr. Roe, of Shawneetown, in 1843; John Dougherty in 1844. In 1843, the speakers at their 4th of July meeting, all selected from the academy, were James M. Pace, Wesley Johnson, Charles T. Pace and Thomas S. Casey. I have half a mind to give the names of a few of those who appear as signers on the later lists - up to 1846: but perhaps it would only make some of us ashamed of ourselves - of oui-selves in contrast with our fathers and mothers, or of ourselves now in contrast with what we were then, so we forbear.

For several years after 1846, the temperance societies were short-lived, and temperance meetings vpere held at iiTegular intervals. But about the year 1855. and largely throiigh the influence of Judge Scates and Prof. Leaton. a division of the Sons of Temperance was organized and a section of the Cadets. These flourished a few years with the usual routine of initiations and expulsions, installations, public meetings and processions, till the novelty wore off and interest began to fail; then the whole machine went to pieces. But it soon revived again under a different form - the Good Templars - and in this form subsisted till after the war. The war which destroyed slavery and at the same time nearly everything of any value in our social fabric, sowed the seeds of destruction in the Good Templars' organization. It was agreed that every member should be "good OD the books" as long as he was in the army, whether he paid dues or not. After the war, some complained of not having been treated properly, a division arose, and a part of the lodge seceded. It culminated thus in the winter of 1868-69. McClure and Williamson, with Hill - a new man, but for temperance all over - started the Sons of Temperance again in that modiiied form which admitted both sexes, and the Good Templars, having lost this distinguishing advantage, went under - no, come to think, most that went anywhere, went over to the new organization. This went on til) some of the most zealous got married, when it began to wane, and finally went out.

But still the friends of temperance were moderately active. Many of them were bus iness men, and afraid of offending good customers; some were hoping one day to get office, and, ot course, had to be cautious; and some were weak-kneed on general principles. Yet every winter, or just before the city election in spring, at the latest, they got lecturers from a distance' and got up more or less rousement. G. W. Hughey, Col. C ampbell and Miss Frances E. Willard were chief among them. In the winter of 1878- 79, Col. Campbell carried the town away, and the blue ribbons met the eye everywhere. Everybody wore them, whether they quit drinking or not; in one ward, a new convert beat the most staid old temperance man in town for Alderman. But all that goes u]> has to come down, and in due time down came the blue ribbon.

Soon after the spring Rlection, however, Miss Willard and Mrs. Anderson came and began work in a different way. Miss Willard lectured and left the same night; but Mrs. Anderson remained to organize a branch of the Lwd'^s Christian Temperance Union. This was done May 22. 1879. The original officers were: President, Mrs. Sarah A. Gray: Vice Presidents, Mrs. Sue A. Pace and Mrs. Louisa Bogan; Recording Secretary, Mrs. (G. W.) Morgan; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Mary S. Pace; Treasurer, Mrs. Margaret A. Johnson. This organization proved to have the requisite amount of vitality, and is still vigorously at work. They circulate temperance documents, sometimes hold jubilee meetings, and every week have something sound and sensible to say in their own special column in each one of our county papers.

To other temperance societies, reference is made elsewhere. We must not omit to mention, however, the time when the city fa thers agreed to license saloiins for $1,000 each, if a majority of all persons of twentyone years said so. The women voted, and about 530 said no, while only about sixty said yes. By such and various efforts, Mount Vernon waft made for ten years a temperance town. But last spring, by the help of St.

Louis, Belleville and East Mount Vernon, the whisky element prevailed and elected a Mayor and a majority of the Aldermen. It is biit due to the reputation of our town, as well as to the truth of histoiy,to say that only about ten per cent of the whisky party were permanent residents, owning their hc>mes and interested in the real welfare of the town. Nine-tenths of the solid men of the town were opposed to saloons, and seeing the amount of dninkenness increased twofold by the saloons has made them more so.

The Village of East Mount Vernon. - This settlement or village grow out of the whisky contest. In 1859, as before stated, Dr. Green sold five acres, being a strip eighteen rods wide and about forty-four rods long, off the east side of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 29, to John Yearwood. .John started a grocery on his purchase and sold lots to Joe and others, and thus sprang up what was called Yearwood Town. John sold his grocery to some one else and started a gunshop, and this added to its importance. At length, tired of getting along without any saloons in town, as above stated, it occurred to some admirers of the institution that if they had a village organization, they might have a saloon there, even though it were within the interdicted distance of the city. Of course, many went into the project with no thought but of the advantages of a separate govern ment in the way of internal imjjrovements.

At the May term, 1877, May 24, "the petition of Robert A. Yearwood, John Liebundgutand Samuel Laird for the organization," etc., came into the County Court in due form. The village was to be eighty rods wide along the east line of the city limits, one mile north and south, including part of the west half of the northeast quarter, part of the west half of the southeast quarter, part of the east half of the northeast quarter, and part of the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 29, and part of the west half of the northeast quarter, and part of the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 32, 160 acres. The petition was signed by thirty-three persons. An election was ordered for June 12, 1877; W. H. Newcum, Robert A. Yearwood and William Hall were appointed Judges, and G. B. Leonard and Thomas H. Goodwin Clerks. The result was twenty-six for village organization, one against. From the returns it appears that the Judges who actually held the election were James Webber, George Beagle and John Yearwood, and the Clerks W. H. Hinman and Peter Brown - not exactly the Board that Judge Foster appointed. At the June term of the County Court, the case was docketed "No. 11," but the whole page is blank. At the July term, it is again docketed " No. 17, " and the case stated as "canvass of election return," and all is blank again - no order or semblance of one - not one word. But an election for officers was held July 10, 1877, whenT. H. Goodwin was elected Police Magistrate, and J. William Leonard. William Randall, William Hall, William B. Wright, William H. Newcum and John Yearwood, Trustees; and William Goodwin, Clerk. July 17, the Williams - we mean the Trustees - met, organized and adopted thirty-three ordinances. Everything went nicely for awhile, the best elements controlling the business; a street was opened east of Strattan's Addition, walks were built and all seemed orderly and in good shape.

But the saloons produced their legitimate fruit. Hinman & Hutchison kept as good a house as can be of the kind, honestly trying to keep from violating the law; but those on the south side seemed to go on from bad to worse, till at length, in 1880, Mr. Thomas Caborn concluded that he would endure them no longer. So, at the May term of the Circuit Court, Keller & Ctarpenter commenced a suit - People ex rel. Caborn vs. Satterfield, County Clerk and the Village of East Mount Veriion - in an action of certiorari. This suit was dismissed at the cost of the petitioner. Before court adjourned, however, the suit was revived as an action quo warranto, a change of venue asked and cause continued till it could be tried before a Judge not objected to - Judge Jones. At the December term, a trial was had and judgment of ouster obtained, Conger, Presiding Judge, and an appeal granted. In the Appellate Court, the defendants got a continuance, and at next term dismissed their appeal. It then came up in the Circuit Court under " Motion to .4.mend and CoiTeet Record of Judgment, " before Judge Jones. At this time the court declared they had assumed to act and had acted as Trustees without legal authorization, and ordered a writ of ouster against the defendants and their successors. Aa appeal was again allowed and bond tiled; but it went no further, the village had money enough to pay its lawyers, did this, and quit. So people often do in divorce suits - pay no body bat their lawyer. It may be well to state that the grounds for ouster were that the village never had 300 inhabitants, that some of the petitioners were non-residents, that one was a woman, that the first election was illegal and that the record showed no canvass of the vote.

The fall of East Mount Vernon brought all the whisky forces into the city election last spring and helped to carry the whisky ticket through.

Mystic Orders. - Marion Lodge, No. 13, I. O. O. F., was organized April 30, .1845. The charter members were John W. Greet ham, James B. Tolle, Thomas Metsler, Henry Wood and William White. Besides other accessions, Dr. W. D. Green came in the fol lowing year and contributed much '^o give the order character, vim and success. Never was a better worker than Mr. Tolle, but he was less eminent than the Doctor, who rapidly rose to the position of presiding oiBcer of the Grand Lodge of the State. Daniel Baltzell was another important accession, a man of rugged mold, but kind and generous, one of nature's noblemen. But we cannot now mention other names in our limited space. In 1849, May 21, Gov. Casey do nated a lot - No. 28 of his addition - for a hall, conveying it to Daniel Baltzell, Lewis F. Casey, John N. Johnson, Hezekiah B. Newby and William B. Thorn, Trustees, and tboir successors in office. Here the lodge at once proceeded to erect a building, now known as the " old Odd Fellows Hall." Here they celebrated their mystic rites and cfevised their works of charity for nearly thirty years without accumlating much wealth in their treasury. But at length,

Lot 28, Block 17, and proceeded to erect their present splendid hall, at a cost of over $6,000. It proved a good investment, as the building is already paid for, the lodge is out of debt and has about $500 in the treasury, with about 100 members.

Lodge No. 104, Independent Order of Mutual Aid, was instituted December 14, and chartered December 27, 1880. Its charter members were H. S. Plummer, J. H. Mitchell, R. W. Lyon, Julian L. Frohock, G. F. M. Ward, J. F. Baltzell, F. S. Burnett, R. E. Ryan, G. H. Bitt

Iron Hall, No. 68. was organized a few years ago. This also meets in the Odd Fellows Hall. Its charter members were J. S. Bogan, W. B. Anderson, W. M. White, N. Staate, W. V. B. Bogan, E. Iddinge, W. J. Levall, M. O'Connor. A. L. Hobbs, Joseph Boswell, S. Rupert. J. W. Morgan, A. A. Hamilton, J. M. Davis, F. D. Boswell, W. S. Davis. V. G. Haag, W. D. Rogers. W. H. Herdman. R. Dewy, J. H. Mitchell, W. A. Jones, Peter Brown, N. H. Moss, Joseph Hudson, W. H. Smith. J. T. Daily, T. H. Goodwin. N. C. Malone, R. P. Moyer, T. H. Hobbs, B. C. Strattan, C. W. Lindley and AVilliam Blythe.

Mount Vernon Council, No. 7. R. T. of T., was instituted Jannary 17, and chartered January 23, 1880. Its first officers were, C. A. Keller, S. C. ; S. C. Polk, V. C; W. N. White, P. C. ; Adam C. Johnson, Chaplain; C. W. Lindley, Recording Secretary; A. Ransom Merrill, Financial Secretary; John C. Bray, Treasurer; James Hitchcock, Her'd: Mrs. Annie E. Hitchcock, Deputy Her'd; John A. Greenhoe. G. : William D. Rogers, Sentry; Dr. W. Watson, Medical Examiner. There were forty-two charter members. The council meets in the old Odd

Coleman Post, G. A. R., of the Department of Illinois, was organized by Department Commander H. Hilliard. of Springfield, .July 26, 1876, with about forty members. Its officers were Frederick D. Boswell, Post Commander; William Randall, Senior Vice Com.; J. A Phillips, Junior Vice Com.; T. H. Goodwin. Adjutant; John B. Crowder, Quartermaster; H. S. Plummer. Surgeon; C. E. Cline. Chaplain; D. K. Goodale, Officer of the Day; A. J. Williamson, Officer of the Guard; C. C. McBryant, Sergeant Major; J. W. PhillijM, Quartermaster Sergeant. Its meetings were held in the old Odd Fellows Hall. A year or so since, the attendance became so small that the burden of expense fell heavily on a few. and they paid up the rents and suspended their meetings. In the meantime, the higher powers have changed the work, and the post is not prepared to take it up; but recently it has received a permit to get the new work and go on, and it is now waiting till a sufficient number can be got together to take it up.

bers were A. J. Randall, "W. N. Hansacker, P. C. Johnson, J. Murphy, R. L. Bracy, B. W. Vawter, C. Joyce, J. G. Boswell, T. Lancey, T. F. Thixton, J. C. Branham, F. C. Wyard, A. D. Isom, Daniel Messitt, James W. Bui-ns, I. T. Cavr, William Stephenson, A. Vogt, F. P. Nance, T. H. Buckley. J. Melton, T. E. Peck, R. W. Lindley, Harry Laswell, J. M. Covington, C. O. Simms and Bruce Rawsun. The last three orders meet in the Masonic Hall.

Mount Vernon Lodge, No. 31. A. F. & A. M., is nearly as old as Marion Lodge I. O. O. F. The charter is signed bj W. F. Walker. G. M., and is dated at Jacksonville, October 9, 1845. It is granted to William W. Bennett. M. ; W. A. Thomas, S. W. ; and ^V. H. Short. J. W. It goes without saying that this ancient order has grown more gi-aduallv than the others. At first the)' met. like everybody else in those days, where they could. Their first hall, entitled to the name, was in the room over the store of J. Pace & Son, corner of Main and Union streets. This they occupied till the Strattan & Johnson building was erected, at the corner of Washington and Bunyan, when they secured the upper story with its ample accommodations. They meet on the first and third Monday evenings in each month, although for thirty years they had met by the moon.

United Brothers of Friendship Lodge No. 11, was organized in December, 1881 The first officers were Charles Bisch, Mas ter; Henry Bradford, Deputy Master; W H. Jones, Secretary; J. K. Kearney, Treas iu"er; Hemy Jackson, Senior Marshal; Samuel Martin. Junior Marshal; Thomas Tinsley, Chaplain; Jesse Redman, Outside Sentinel; Prince Neal, Inside Sentinel; Nelson Gorman, R. H. Supporter; George Scott, L. H. Supporter. It is a colored institution and meets at the old Odd Fellows Hall.

The first fire in the town occurred in February, 1842. It burned a large twostory building erected by T. B. Afflack, but then occupied by W. J. Kirby, that stood where Merrill's livery stable now stands, on the corner of Main and Casey streets. It was entirely destroyed. Bowman's house burned near where D. K. Goodale lives, was not in town. The next fire of any magnitude destroyed the tobacco warehouse of Varnell & Holloman, near East Main street, iu the spring of 18(53. The next swept nearly the entire block north of the public square, about the 9th of March, 1868. This fire was charged to a tailor, a new man here, who worked in a little shop near where Seimer & Klinker now keep. He had been arrested and fined for brutal treatment of a bound-bny he had, and he disappeared about the time the fire broke out. It is supposed he fired his shop to get revenge of the people for their having him prosecuted. The buildings were of combustible 'material, all wooden, and the mud was about four inches deep in the street, so it was found impossi- ble to save the buildings and very difficult to save any of the goods. In the frenzy that always possesses some crazy fools at fires, thousands of dollars worth of goods were thrown down in the street and trampled in the mud. A brick wall saved the building on the southwest corner of the block. After the fire, G. H. Patton, J. S. Kl inker and J. C. Dawson combined their forces and put up the Phcenix Bluck, which still stands, an ornament to our city. Nearly exactly twelve months after this, March 16, 1869, the old court house took dre iu the night and bui-ned to the ground. It was generally believed to have originated in some late bacchanalian revels of W. E. Coffey, the Sherifi". and was supposed by many to have been contrived by him to cover up some of his financial crookedness. All the books and neaily all the papers belonging to the of&ces were saved. The fire was discovered by the Circuit Clerk, J. S. Bogan. who, in answer to an extraordinary call, was making his way to the office at the dead hour.s of night to issue papers. The nest orand attack of the tire fiend was upon the beautiful machine shops of the St. Louis & Southeastern Railroad Company. Just before night on the 27th of May, 1874, when the men had had but just time to get homo from their day's work, a prolonged sound of the whistle was heai'd, and the citizens soon gathered, but only to see the flames sweeping like a tornado over the combustible roofing of the magnificent shops. Little of the machinery was saved and the building was a total loss. Before the year closed, the city was visited by another calamity. December 20, 1874, the woolen factory and mills of J. B. Tolle and others were burned. The fire started early in the night, but the oil, etc., rendered all so inflammable that it was impossible to save it. The loss fell heavily on all parties, but was ruinous on Mr.

Tolle. Two fires involving larger losses have occurred this year - S. W. Westbrook's mill, on the night of July 2, and Bell's lumber yard a week later. The latter is believed to have been fired by tramps, or by some of our own night hawks. The former may have been from spontaneous combustion or from some part of the machinery, or from some juvenile tramps seen hanging about the previous day. The loss by the lumber yard was about $4,000; by the mill, over .§10,000. Besides these, Henry M. Williams lost a fine dwelling a mile north of town some fifteen years ago. In 1874, Strattan & Johnson procured a force pump and some hose, and provided temporary trucks. After this had been borrowed for every fire alarm for a year or so and began to need repairs, they proposed to the City Council to donate what they had to the city if the latter would buy another pump with hose and furnish the trucks. This offer was accepted, and a fire company organized which has proven very efficient.

Speaking of the factory reminds us that our first woolen factory, which was really only a carding machine, was built about forty-five years ago on the same lot where Westbrook & Co.'s mill was burned. Jarvis Pierce got up the enterprise, and the machine was run by a pair of oxen on a huge inclined wheel. After a few years, Abner Melcher got up a similar machine on Lot No. 16, south of where James Urry now lives. A corn mill was attached, and for many years they did excellent service. Tolle'smill followed, a mile northeast of town, and was run for twenty years or more before it was burned out there and came to town. Not far from the time that Tolle started up on the creek, Dr. Short built a mill at the present northeast corner of the fair ground, where he made a large amount of meal and lumber.

It was here that Sager got an arm fearfully mangled with a saw, as many of our citizens remember. John Summers made very good tlour at his steam mil), two miles east of town already mentioned, but it was not till Varnell & Holloman put up the mill now owned by Hobbs & Sous that we began to have a better class of mills. The Jefferson Mills and the Mount Vernon Milling Company, now furnishing the best of everything, are recent enterprises.

The First National Bank of Mount Vernon was chartered June 10, 1872, and opened up and commenced business August 14. The stockholders were J. J. Fitzgerald, A. M. Grant, C. D. Ham, T. G. Holland, Noah Johnston, S. S. Marshall, J. Taylor and B. Temple. The banking house of Evans, "Wilbanks & Co., composed of G. W. Evans, John Wilbanks and Van Wilbanks, began operations in June, 1873. Both are institutions of the highest repute.

Our first resident lawyer was Clement, in 1838-39, soon followed by Henry Eddy for a few months in 1840, and R. S. Nelson and R. F. Wingate soon after, for much longer periods. These, with D. Baugh and S. G. Hicks of our own men, and E. H. Gatewood, J. A. McClernand and A. C. Caldwell, of Shawneetown, Edward Jones, of Elizabethtown, H. Boyakin, of Belleville, and others, constituted our bar from 1840 to 1850. But our lawyers are noticed elsewhere. Dr. Watson was our lirst physician (1821); then

Adams & Glover, 1823; then Dr. Simonds; then Dr. J. S. Moore, in 1833; Dr. Parks, Dr. Greetham. Dr. Allen, Dr. Gray,Dr, T. S. Roe, Dr, Green, Dr. Edwards, etc. The names of the high contracting parties to the earliest weddings cannot now be given. The first death, perhaps, was a child oat east of Pleasant Grove neighborhood a little later. Our first tombstone cutter was Washington Dale, about 1842. Our first brickyard was west of town, Mr. Hirons', 1823; the next was made by Hirons and W. B. Hayes, north of the Fairfield road and west of the creek, in what is now Ragan's field Our earliest tailors were G. W. Duckworth, William Gibberson and Sethman, before and up to 1840, and A. H. Barnes, now of Lampasas, Tex., and Wallace Campbell, a few years later. Our first and only pump-maker was J, J. Fly, about 1845. Oui- fii'st shingle cutter was William Campbell, with his brother-in-law, Shipley, followed by R. C. Jarrell and others. Our first tinner was Jacob Shaffner, of Ohio, brother-in-law to Edward and Richard Noble, in 1840. Our first and only hatmakers were James Ross and Wylie Prigmore. Our first jeweler was Michael Tromly, about 1841. Our first tanner was Nathaniel Parker, just south of the Short camp-ground. Abraham Buffington was our first gun-maker. In other branches of business, or most of them, there was no exclusiveness, almost every one working at them, in more or less clumsy stylo. Quantum suffie.it.