Logan County, Illinois - Chapter 5: Old Settlers' Association, 1886

Chapter 5: Old Settlers' Association

In nearly all the counties of Central and Northern Illinois societies have been formed for perpetuating the memory of pioneer days. Not many of these have done much to preserve in systematic form the early history of the country. This will yet be done. So far, however, these associations have served merely a social purpose, thfe annual meetings being in the nature of picnics, where informality is the order of the day. Such is the case in Logan County.

The first reunion of old settlers was held October 1, 1873, at Mt. Pulaski, and was a most enjoyable occasion. The stand was occupied by such old settlers as Rev. John England, Judge England, Judge Ewing, Christopher Ewing, John Buckles, J. T. Hackney, C. W. Clark, Colonel Allen, Jesse Lucas, Strother Jones (of Sangamon County), John E. Hoblit (of Atlanta), Mrs. Robert Buckles, Mrs. Robert Burns, Mrs. Carter Scroggins, Mrs. Mc- Graw, Mrs. Julia Keys and others.

Short speeches were made by Colonel "William Allen, Judge Ewing, James Randolph, Rev. John England and Fred Joynt, of Logan County; Strother Jones, of Sangamon County, and J. Mc- Graw, of DeWitt County. Judge Ewing compared the present with the past, and alluded to the difference between the social life of the early days with our modern social life, and said that when he was a young man there existed more of brotherly feeling and less of selfishness, more of charity and less of personal hates. Said he: " We had more enjoyment in the days of puncheon floors and clapboard doors than we witness among the people of to-day, who tread upon velvet and recline upon cushioned seats, clothed in purple and fine linen. Life then seemed to be more real, more pure. Human kind possessed more goodness; virtue had a liiglier value, and manhood was set to a higher key." The judge tlien proceeded to give some good and fatherly advice to the young men. He warned them of extravagance and reckless living; told them they were living too fast, and if not mindful they would bring ruin upon themselves and the country ; and then, addressing the old men, said, "I am convinced of one thing, and that is this, that disaster will come to the State and country if we yield to the prodigality' of the present day."

On the stand were two plows, one of the pioneer pattern, made by Eev. John England, and one of modern make. Mr. England, in his speech, compared the two plows and spoke of the progress made during fifty years. He then compared the morals of the pioneer days with those of our day; then dishonesty and rascality were not so common as we find them to-day; then every movable thing was not placed under lock and key; men had more trust in their fellows than now.

Second Reunion

The second meeting was held at Capps's Park, Mt. Pulaski, Oct. 1, 1874:. Addresses in commemoration of old settlers were made by Ezra Boren, Strother Jones, Hev. John England, J. W. Randolph, Colonel Allen, L. P. Matthews, A. W. Clark and Dr. A. Shields, of Sangamon County.

Third Reunion

The third annual meeting of the old settlers of Logan County took place on Thursday, Sept. 23, 1875, at the Salt Creek bridge, on the Lincoln and Mt. Pulaski road. By 11 o'clock the grove was crowded with buggies and family carriages, and the meeting had assumed its intended character - that of a pleasant open-air sociable in which the staple topics of conversation were the deep snow and the events of the subsequent ante-railroad years. A basket dinner followed, and was discussed with old-fashioned sociability and freedom from restraint. Strangers were looked up and made to feel that hospitality was not yet an extinct virtue.

David W. Clark, President of the association, called the scattered groups together, and Rev. John Everly invoked the divine blessing. S. Linn Beidler was elected Secretary pro tern. Rev. John England said they were not present to hear fine speeches, but to talk of old times. He wanted one and all to speak. It was desirk able that the rising generation should Ijnow in what privations and poverty their fathers had laid the foundation of our present prosperity. The president said it was a social rather than a religious love feast, in which it was desirable that all should take part.

Col. R. B. Latham was called for. The Colonel said he had never attended an old settlers' meeting before, but supposed that reminiscences would be in order. He was a child of one of the first settlers, and came to the county when he was a little over a year old. Fifty-seven years ago not a white person lived in what is now Logan County. Those who were present at this meeting were the children of the pioneers. His father settled at Elkhart Grove in 1819. In February of that year he built a cabin, and his family came on in September. He thought his father's family the first that came to the county, though there were several who came in 1820, and probably James Musick settled on Sugar Creek in the fall of 1819. Mr. Turley and others came soon after. His first recollection of a plow was of one made wholly of wood - a bar share. Next was the Cary plow, the share of which was partly of iron. The principal Indian tribes >then in the county were the Pottawatomies and the Delawares, but they soon gave way to the settlers. "When his father came they went a mile below Edwardsville (a distance of over a hundred miles) to mill. In a few years a little mill was put up on the Sangamon. ITis father erected a horse mill about the year 1822, and it was looked upon as a very important enterprise. Men would come great distances and camp out for a day or two while their grinding was being done. All were neighbors and friends then, and much sociability existed. He thought this was always the case in the settlement of a country. People enjoyed themselves as well as they do now. The early settlers were vigorous, enterprising men. It did him good to meet the friends of his boyhood, especially upon such an occasion as this; hence he was in favor of these gatherings.

Joshua Day responded to a call by saying that he was not a pioneer, though an old settler. He came forty years ago, lacking a month, and he thanked God for it. He landed at Commerce, near Kauvoo, forty-eight years ago, having left Massachusetts when not quite twenty-one years old. Near Nauvoo he saw Black Hawk and over 500 Indians. He took dinner with the chief several times. The year after he came he helped bury two or three of his neighbors. They had no physician. He had only six "bits" when he came, and he shook with the ague nine months. "Would have gone back bnt couldn't. Like many others, the impossibility of returning gave him the pluck to endure. Afterward he came to Lake Fork, which they said was a healthier country. Be came after the arrival of the Buckles, Lucas, Scroggins and Latham families. John Buckles and others in the assembly before him knew how times were then. When scouring plows came in, one old man stuck to his wooden plow for three years because he thought the new plow " would kill the ground " it turned over so sleek. Mr. Day then described an old-fashioned wedding with its fiddling, dancing and racing for the bottle; the old-fashioned cabin with its wide fire-place, etc.

L. K. Scroggin was called out. He said the previous speakers had left nothing for him to say. His father and mother came to Illinois in 1811, and he was born in the southern part of the State in 1819. He came to Logan County in 1827, and had remained ever since. He thought the young should go on improving the country as their fathers had done for those who, in turn, should follow them. We should not destroy, but build up. The country should go on in its career of development. Fifty years hence this would be one of the greatest countries in the world. He thought the young people of the present time, while they might not enjoy the racing for the bottle, and other rough sports of early days, were quite as happy in their different ways.

J. T. Hackney responded to calls by saying that he could not make a speech. He was not a pioneer, but came to the couuty forty-one years ago. In 1840 he knew almost all the men in Logan County, when it polled less than 500 votes. In December, 1836, he and one or two others went up to Salt Creek and stopped at the farm where he now lives. The earth was wet from recent rains. Suddenly a cold wind came which almost seemed to whiten the earth in its progress. As they went the ice became thicker and thicker, and the cold more intense, and they were obliged to stop for the night at the house of Alfred Sams. All old settlers remember that sudden and wonderful change of temperature. His father began teaching in 1836 in a log cabin within a hundred yards of where he (the speaker) was now standing. The schoolhouse was called "Brush College."

James Randolph was called out. He said he was not one of the first settlers, but came forty-five years ago, before the winter of the deep snow. He came a small boy in a colony of fifty persons who settled together. There was but one house then from Mrs,

Cruser's to the county line. They came from a warm country, and the men spent the tall weather in hunting, instead of finishing up their cabins. Only two houses in the colony had chimneys. The snow came about Christmas. It was very hard to travel with horses, and there was no corn nearer than ten miles. They had plenty of meat. By spring forty-nine of the fifty were in the two cabins that had chimneys. Nearly all were sick, but there was only one death during the winter. They had no doctor. A good many of the colony became discouraged and went back. In 1832 his father built a hewed log house, the same one in which William Donnan now lives.

The president said he came to the county in 1841. In 1842 or 1843 he attended an " infare," at which were present Seth Post, Jerome Goren, Anson Packard and Dick Oglesby, all of Decatur. The family lived in a small house, and the guests expected to go to Yankeetown for lodgings, but a rain came up and they were forced to remain and sleep on the fioor. He remembered that Oglesby made a pillow of a skillet, which he had turned upside down for the purpose.

At tlie stand were a few relics representative of early times. One was a piece of old-fashioned strap rail, such as was used on the first railroad. D. W. Clark had a silver spoon made by a brother of his wife's grandmother, and a primitive-looking but substantial two-tined hay fork, once the property of bis greatgreat-grandfather. Mr. Fletcher had a rifle brought from Virginia, and a pair of antlers taken from a buck slain by the gun thirty years before. Some preserved ground-cherries were shown as a sample of what pioneer housewives used to do in sweetmeats.

For the ensuing year D. W. Clark was re-elected President; P. B. Latham, Vice-President; L. K. Scroggin, Treasurer; and S. Linn Beidler, Secretary. It was voted to hold the next reunion at Latham's Park, Lincoln. The following were appointed a committee on arrangements: Frank Fisk, James Coddington, Sylvester Strong, John D. Gillett and John Buckles.

Fourth Reunion Association

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 1876, by President Clark. There being a general impression on the street that the time of meeting was 1 o'clock, it was tliought best to adjourn nntil that time.

A little after 1 o'clock the court-house was crowded. Henry Johnson was first called upon, as being perhaps the oldest man in the house. He came from Northern Indiana to Logan County, Oct. 28, 1826. The men had to gather their own crops and the women do their own spinning. He related a little incident in his early life when his sister took him to be an Indian, and the sport they had out of it. During the winter of 1826-'7 the prairies were burned off by the Indians in order to drive the deer to the woods ; the fences were also burned. In the summer of 1827, when harvesting his oats, he stopped to rest about nooii, and on looking around saw a "six-footer" standing close behind. He took the Indians, there being several near, to his cabin and gave them their dinner. They were a hunting party from the head of Salt Creek. They had been out two days and killed 200 deer. Their nearest neighbors lived twelve or fourteen miles distant, and here they used to go to corn shuckings, etc. The young folks acted like all young folks, except that they did not "Mister " nor " Miss " any one. He gave the history of his takinff Betsey home from the shucking - she lived up the creek. He saw her safely home ; she asked him in and he attempted to take the rickety chair ; was told by the fair damsel to take the new one by her side ; he took this for a good hint and kissed her. John Musick was engaged to one of his sisters, and when the " time " drew near it was necessary to have a license ; so John and 'Henry started for Springfield to get it. The old Judge asked of John if she was of age ; he replied she was not, "but here is her father," pointing to Henry. The old Judge saw the joke and said, " Boys, I will tell you a little story. A fellow came here one day to get a license and I asked him what the girl's name was; he said he did not like to tell for fear I would plague him. I told him that I would not ; so he said her name was Peg, and that was all I could get out of him." John got his license. Holding up a vest which proved to be buckskin, Mr. Johnson said, " This vest is 102 years old. My father wore it at his wedding two years before the Hevolutionary war ; my mother gave it to me 'and I expect to hand it down to my children. The pants were cut up by my mother. At first we did our milling at Elkhart ; then there was a mill built on the Kickapoo. They used the section of a hollow sycamore tree for the rim of the burr. "

The President asked for 6ome other old pioneer to come forward and tell us of "the long ago." Jacob Judy responded in a very brief speech in which he said that the first license in Tazewell County was bought with 'coon skins. Uncle Joshua flouser asked what they paid the preacher, to which he replied that they did not pay hirn at all.

The President then asked, " Who next ?" To this call H. I. "Warner replied that he had a Dutch Bible 131 years old ; a Dutch hymn book between eighty and ninety years old ; a guitar of his father's, 114 years old ; an old staff which he used when General Jackson was inaugurated President ; .a bull's-eye watch fifty -nine years old ; a pair of boots he had worn for thirty years, but one of them had a hole in it, owing to a defective piece of leather the shoemaker used. He spoke of the fashions of early times, giving some idea of the costumes worn when he was a boy.

Colonel R. B. Latham was next called, and responded by saying that he had been here longer than any one now living, perhaps, as his father had moved here in 1819. That there was scarcely a forty-acre lot in Elkhart woods but what he had chased a wolf over. The old settlers now are the children and grandchildren of the early pioneers. Then if a man built a house two or three miles out from the woods he was considered foolish, and would freeze to death the first winter ; consequently many of the early settlers cleared farms in the heavy woods. He had seen great changes. Said that his father's family had to go 100 miles to mill. That if a man was going on a journey of 300 or 400 miles he would prepare for it long before hand by getting his team in trim and everything ready for the long ride. Now he can travel 2,000 miles, visftingthe great Eastern cities, the Centennial Exposition, the grandest exposition the world has ever seen, and be back here in one week. He spoke in glowing terms of the telegraph, railroads, school-houses and churches. What have we done for the improvement of this great country ? Have we done our duty, or have we been in the way ? We must instill into the minds of our children the principles of improvement so that in fifty years, when they hold old settlers' meetings, they can look back upon the receding past with grateful emotions to those who have gone before.

The President stated that since their last meeting three of the old pioneers had gone - Messrs. Cantrall and Clark and Mrs. Scroggin. Colonel Knapp was next called, but his health was too

Rev. John England was next called, and said that he was like the minister who had his sermon written and stuck into a hole in the wail behind him and could not get it again; turning to the audience he said, " There was as fine a sermon in that wall as ever was preached." He stated that his father left Madison County, Ohio, in Octobar, 1817, coming to St. Louis, where he met General Whiteside, who fought the Indians; and the General told Mr. England that there was some of the finest country up here that he had ever seen. His father and his two brothers-in-law started the next spring for Logan County. The family moved up in July; their table was split from a big tree, with wooden pins put in for legs; their churn was made from a hollow buckeye tree. They went to Edwardsville to mill and had to pay $1 per bushel forcorn, haul it 100 miles at night, on account of the flies being so bad, for at daylight they had to build a fire near the horses and keep the flies off until night. He spoke of the customs of the girls, the "gals " going barefooted until within sight of the church and then putting on their shoes and stockings. They made their calculations to have the ague, as they did to have winter. This was caused by hunting their horses in the late wet grass, and drinking surface water. They thought that drinking liquor would keep the ague off, so every one attended to that. The piano that "gals" used then was the washboard and the spining-wheel. He said that he had seen three brothers in home-made pants, colored red, go to see three sisters, and that if the like was done now the girls would " sack" them immediately.

Judge James Matheny, of Springfield, was next called. He was an old settler, but he wanted it distinctly understood that he was not an old man nor never expected to be. He had gray hairs to keep Colonel Latham company. He had no recollection beyond old Sangamon County. "We complain of hard times, but we don't know anything about hard times. It is well for us to be told of the old times; how boys and girls, like Adam and Eve, went out into 9 strange land with the Bible in one hand and an ax in the other. They have hewn out for you the grandest country the sun shines on. You old pioneers do not need lofty piles of granite; the blossoming fields, the many school-houses and churches are the grand monuments of your achievements. He had clear recollections of John B. Watson, hisearly teacher; he made impressions on him, but they were on his back. The Yankee teachers would teach two months for $3. They did not care whether the children learned anything or not, they were after the $3; they did not tramp it through as they do now. He used to play sick and get hurt in order to stay at home. There is a great difference now, as his children liked to go to school; there is a great difference between the teachers now and then. He spoke of the ancient wedding, when John and Susan had made it up and knew the circuitrider would be around; had the calico dress and the blue jeans suit ready; the affair was very quiet; after the ceremony, they walked hand in hand out of the gate, through the woods, across the old bridge, up the hill to the little log cabin John had built. He spoke in feeling terms of the ancient pair who had gone arm in arm for fifty years up the steps of life, the bonds uniting their two lives being stronger by far than when first given. They have laid the foundation of the temple of human happiness in which you reside. His father has been a Methodist minister, and he believed he had blacked 1,000 pairs of boots, and he thought the one who gave a picayune was the best preacher. He related a short incident in which a little girl said, on being asked if she lived in such a gloomy place, "I make my own sunshine. " If we would all make our own sunshine and scatter its bright rays, we would be a much happier people. Just so long as you are true to yourselves, true to your country, and true to your God, this country will be safe, and the dear old flag will be to the old world what the pillar of fire was to the Israelites.

The President gave some incidents in his own early life, and stated that it was perhaps time to close. It was decided "to hold the next year's meeting in Lincoln in one of the parks or groves. Messrs. Clark, Fisk, Larison and Tuttle were appointed a committee to fix upon the time and place, and give the proper notice. President Clark and Vice-President Latham were re-elected. Frank Fisk was elected Secretary. Mr. Fisk displayed some relics exhibited by E. H. Spader, consisting of petrified wood from Macoupin County; three hoes dug up on the Kickapoo in 1874 at the depth of fourteen feet below the surface in an old Indian burying ground; three tomahawks, one found on Sugar Creek, one on Salt Creek, and the third in McLean County. They reminded one of former days when the dusky hunter pursued the deer and wolf.

Fifth Eeunion

The gathering of "Wednesday, Sept. 5, 1877, was only hindered by threatening weather from being a grand success. The idea of Latham's Grove was abandoned, but some of those who came ate their dinners under the trees in court square. For fear of rain, the meeting was held at Gillett's Hall. The meeting was called to order at half past one o'clock by D. "W". Clark, who said that since the previous meeting many of the old settlers had passed from this world, among them Mr. Randolph, Thomas Lushbaugh, Mrs. Capps and many others ; that they missed Mr. Eandolph more on account of his readiness to speak on these occasions; that he now wished the old settlers to come forward and all speak.

J. M. Edwards, of Lincoln, was the first to respond. He moved to Springfield in 1829, when that town consisted of about 100 log houses. He came to Lake Fork in 1829, and bought land of Mr. Buckles. He lived there a number of years. Mr. Edwards spoke of the strnggles of the pioneers, of grating corn for meal and of traveling long distances to mill.

Wm. M. Allen said he had been in the county thirty-eight years, and told some laughable stories of pioneer life. The first mill on Salt Creek had no roof over it; they bolted the flour by hand, and when the miller turned on the water he ran for fear tlie mill would fall. The Colonel then traced the successive stages of improvement through which the State had passed to her present greatness.

Joshua Houser said he came to the State in 1836. It was very thinly settled. He entered forty acres of land five miles south of Wolf Grove. He narrated stories of wolf hunting in early times. He also told of sickness and other privations attending life as an early settler. He was no great hunter, as some of the others were, but could fish successfully then and now.

Willia-.n B. Bock came to the county in 1839 and entered land a mile from timber. The neighbors laughed at him, thinking the country would never be settled so far from timber.

The President said became to Sai\gamon County, Sept. 30, 1830; walked all the way from Miami Co., Ohio, to Sangamon County, making the distance in twelve and a half days; came to Logan County in 1811. In the winter of the deep snow the house-tops were covered with prairie chickens. The snow was eighteen inches deep, and its long continuance killed prairie chickens by thousands. "When it passed off in the spring Hill's Mil! on Sugar Creek was

John Critz canie to Rocky Ford, where Mr. Smith now lived, in ls2T. His father went away and he built a pottery. Mr. Critz told about the deep snow. At that time the prairies could not have been given to him. He had worked in this State for $7 a month and never got more.

Mrs. Roll was an eai-ly settler of Indiana. When she first saw this State the prairies were burned black. All had log cabins then with mud chimneys. She settled fifteen or twenty miles from any store. They went to Chicago for salt. , She picked brush and did general work on the farm. Mrs. Roll's remarks drew out much applause. Colonel R. B. Latham was called for from all parts of the house. He was happy to be present, and took great interest in the meeting. He had just been in Colorado for a few days, where he lived the life of a pioneer by sleeping out of doors for two weeks. His father came to Elkhart in 1819; became with his father. Twenty years after he came there was not a lady in the county who would have known how to bake bread in a stove. Was glad to see the desire for education spreading among the people. He wished to see these meetings continue.

Rev. J. R. Lowrance had not been before the people as an old settler. He came to the State in 1830, and had lived here nearly all the time since. There were no railroads when he came. He camped at the foot of the hill below Tostville when there were no houses in the town. He described the old-fashioned process of pounding corn in a hopper; told of a young man who saw a young lady taking a grist of corn to mill, and he was so well pleased with her conduct that he married her. The lady was the mother of one of our merchants. He enumerated what were considered accomplisliraents of the two sexes in those early times.

Sixth Reunion

The sixth meeting was held at the court-house at Lincoln, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 1878. President D. W. Clark called the old settlers to order, and before dinner Jacob Judy and M. M. Albright made short addresses giving their experience as pioneers. The former had been in the State over fifty years, and the latter fortynine. After dinner the audience re-assembled. The President exhibited a Bible printed in 1798 and an ancient but well-preserved fleam (lance for bleeding horses) which had been picked up on one of the battle-iields of the Eevolution, in 1776, by James St. Clair, grandfather of Mrs. James Musick. St. Clair hadfserved six years in tlie patriot army, and had taken part in the battles of Lexington, Bunker Hill, Monmouth, the Brandy wine, the capture of Burgoyne and others. He died at Albion, JST. Y., in 1836.

Sylvester Strong, of Atlanta, said his grandfather was a Eevo- Intionary soldier under Ethan Allen, and had twice been taken prisoner by the Indians, making his escape from them with difficulty. Mr. Strong first came to Illinois in 1834, by way of Cairo; came north to Pinckneyville with a companion, and the two there bought ponies and journeyed on to this vicinity. Near the present site of Lincoln they saw two wolves and a herd of fifteen deer. In the fall of 1836 he entered the land comprising his present farm, a mile south of Atlanta.

Rev. J. H. Bates, of Lincoln, said he came to near Jacksonville, in the spring of 1880. Jacksonville was tlien a little town with but one brick house, and the adjacent country was very sparsely inhabited. The following winter was that of the deep snow. Coming, as they had done, from a Southern State, they thought this a rough introduction to Illinois. That winter they had great difficulty in getting meal. With others he once made a trip with a sled and three or four yoke of oxen to Exeter Mills, fifteen miles away. The drifts were so deep they went over at least one fence without knowing its exact location. The next summer a wolf was chased through Jacksonville. In August, 1830, the Bradshaws and himself passed within a half mile or so of the present site of Lincoln on their way to a point about forty miles this side of Chicago. He wished his hearers to imagine the changes that might follow in the next fifty years. "What reason had we to suppose that the improvement of the next fifty yeai-s would be less than that of the past fifty?

William M. Bnckles said he was born in 1814 in this State. He could, if he chose, tell many stories of pioneer life. He could truthfully say that lie saw more real enjoyment in those early days than now. He thought the march of improvement had about reached its limits, and that in religious matters we were not so far advanced as we were twenty-five years ago. In response to an invitation to tell some of his experience, he related how he acquired the name of "Raccoon Billy." He had gone with a brother-in-law to hunt 'coons. They treed one, and it became his duty to cut a hole in the tree at a point about six feet from the ground. Standing on a fallen tree, he peered into the hole made by his ax and finally worked his head into the opening. Just at this moment his feet slipped off the log and he hung by his neck, to the vast entertainment of his brother-in-law who was so conviilsedby laughter as to be incapable of helping him. While he was struggling to catch a foot-hold he saw the eyes of the 'coon which seemed to emit a green light in the darkness of the hollow tree. Ultimately he caught his toes on the log and after a painful effort extricated himself from his awkward position.

The ofiicers chosen for the following year were: President, Jacob Judy; Vice-President, 0. C. Ewing; Secretary, Captain Frank Fisk; Assistant Secretary, W. P. Kandolph; Committee on Arrangements, John Hepperly, E. G. Lawrence and James M. Larison.

The following communication, written by Charles S. Capps, of Mt. Pulaski, and giving interesting glimpses of the early history of that thriving town, was read by Captain Fisk:

" Jabez Capps was born in London, England, eighty-two years ago last Monday, and came to America in 1817. In the fall of 1818 he and his brother Ebenezer walked from Louisville, Kentucky, to St. Loiiis, where they remained during the winter, and in the spring of 1819 they walked to Sangamon County. Jabez Capps taught the first school ever taught in that county, on the south fork of Sangamon Kiver, in 1820; he also taught the first school in Springfield, in the old log court-house. He was one of the first settlers of Springfield, then called Calhoun.

"I was born in Springfield in January, 1830, and have (with the exception of one summer spent in Europe) passed my whole life in Central Illinois. I have had good opportunities of knowing something of pioneer life; but being entirely unaccustomed to public speaking, I think I can express myself better and make my remarks more interesting by making a few notes from memory. My earliest recollections are of my father's, Jabez Capps, pioneer store at Springfield, where he used to dispense goods, both wet and dry (as was the custom of the times), to the early settlers and to the Indians in exchange for peltries, etc.

"In the year 1836 he removed with his family toMt. Pulaski, where he was the first and, in fact, for several months, the only settler. He had built a log cabin on the site of the present postofiice building, and put in a small stock of goods; the cabin, when

I first saw it, was not chinked and daubed {i. e. the cracks between the logs were open), and as he lacked clapboards enough to cover the roof, there was a space about a yard square left open. My uncle, John Stafford, and I were left in charge of the store. Prairie grass was cut in front of the store and placed in a heap on the floor, and this with some blankets constituted our bed. There came up a storm one night which wet us thoroughly. Our cooking, until mother came, was done in a sand hole over which some lumber was put to season; this sand hole had formerly beeu a wolf den. We toasted our bacon by putting it on the end of a sharp stick and holding it over the fire.

"Our nearest neighbor lived two and a half miles north on Salt Creek. My father had a sugar hogshead which he used as a smokehouse. One night a pack of wolves, smelling the meat, gathered around the smoke-house and howled for several hours. A family of skunks took up their quarters under the house and were quite tame; they were finally trapped and killed, though I do not think they deserved their fate, as they seemed quite harmless.

" I remember seeing mother sweeping the floor one day; she stooped hastily to pick up what she thought was a calico apron, but which, on closer inspection, proved to be a large rattlesnake coiled. She dispatched it speedily with the broom handle.

"A cabin was afterward erected on the side of the square by Jerry Birks, in which we lived for a short time. One night when father was away from home, prairie fire ran through the town and set fire to our cabin. Mother had considerable difiiculty in saving the city, there being no fire company organized, and no water nearer than the spring, a quarter of a mile away. The tire consumed our haystack, which was on a platform on forks six or seven feet high .

"People lived in a very primitive manner in those times. The clothing was mostly home-spun and home-made; instead of coats we had 'hunting shirts and warmuses,'as they were called, a kind of loose blouse made of home-made jeans or linsey. Many of the farmers made their own shoes, and all did their own cobbling. The women and children were clothed mostly in home-made linsey and flannel; a few had calico dresses made as narrow as the ' pull backs' of the present day, for in those times six yards was all that was required for a lady's dress. Sunbonnets made of calico and pasteboard were the prevailing head-dress. Shoes were rarely used in summer except to wear to meeting or a visiting.

"The cookino; was done in a fireplace, there bein* no such thing as stoves in use then. An iron crane set in the side of the chimney and provided with hooks for suspending kettles, etc., was made so as to swing out over the hearth and back over the fire. Bread, cakes and pies were baked in iron ovens with legs to give room for coals beneath, and a lid with a rim to hold coals on top; this with a skillet for frying meat, a dinner-pot and tea-kettle constituted the outfit of our mothers for cooking.

'- Game was plenty and cheap. We used to pay 25 cents per dozen for quails, 15 cents per dozen for prairie chickens, and 50 cents to $1 for a saddle of venison - the hind half of a dfeer. I boarded with a family one term of school whose daily bill of fare was corn dodgers without butter, fat bacon fried in grease, and rye cofiee minus the sugar, but we had good appetites and enjoyed it.

"By the way, I will try to describe our school-house; it was called 'Brush College;' our worthy chairman will recollect it well. It was a most primitive structure, not a particle of iron or glass or sawed lumber used in its construction; it was built of logs with the cracks daubed with mud; the roof was of clapboards kept in place by weight poles, which were pinned fast to the wall; the door was of clapboards and had wooden hinges and a wooden lock, with a buckskin latch-string hanging out. Logs had been left out on each side for windows. These openings were dressed smooth with the ax, and perpendicular pieces of wood set in at intervals of ten or twelve inches for sash. On these was pasted paper which was greased to make it more transparent. The desks were of hewed pi;ncheons set slanting on pins driven in the wall under the windows; the seats were made of puncheons or slabs hewed out with the ax, with wooden pins for legs. We sat with our backs to the teacher, so as to face the light and the desks. The floor was of puncheons; the chimney was made of sticks and mud, the jambs reaching about half way to the dirt hearth inside; the hearth was large enough to hold a quarter of a cord of wood. In cold weather a large fire was kept up, built against a huge back-log, to put which in place required the united strength of the master and several of the larger boys. Mr. Hackney, father of Jacob Hackney, was our first teacher. I recollect as schoolmates the Downing, Patterson, Parks, Fletcher, Morrow, Allen, Jackson, Harry and Laughery boys and girls."

Seventh Reunion

Tliere was a light attendance at the meeting held at the conrthonse at Lincoln, September 10, 1879. President Jacob Jndy, of Atlanta, called the meeting to order at 2 o'clock, and R. C. Maxwell was made Secretary. A few minutes were spent in examining some relics - a newspaper printed in the year 1800 ; some buttons eighty years old; a snuffbox about 300 years old; and an antique tea-pot in good state of preservation, and said to have been made about the year 1350. All the articles, except the newspaper, were shown by Mrs. William Rankin, and were heirlooms. Some interesting speeches were then made.

Rev. John England thought it a pity that the temperance convention and old settlers' meeting should come on the same day, thus conflicting with each other. The purpose of this meeting was to revive old memories and to show the rising generation how the foundations of our civilization were laid. His father, with two brothers-in-law, had come to near St. Louis from Ohio in 181T, and the next year came to a point nine miles from Springfield, where they opened up farms. Mr. England then eulogized the sterling good traits of the early settlers.

Rev. A. H. Goodpasture said he loved the people. He was a pioneer preacher. He crossed the Illinois in 1836, and the only evidence of civilization in this vicinity tlien was at Postville. In his early preaching experience in the military tract he saw some hard times, but never missed getting something to eat but once. He told some humorous experiences of the hard times attending circuit-riding in early days. He thought it an honor to be an old man. He hoped to meet them all in the world to come.

D. W. Clark said he missed many who were with them when these meetings first began. Some had doubtless been hindered from coming, while many had gone to the unseen land. Mr. Clark revived the memories of early days, telling, among other things, of walking out from Ohio, a young lady being the attraction, and a marriage the result. He had been keeping house for nearly fortj'-eight years, and there had never been a death in the house.

Norman Sumner said he was hardly an old settler, as he came here in 1849. The first house he ever lived in had not a piece of iron about it, and no glass. It was common to attend log-rollings and house-raisings for twenty or twenty-five days of each season.

Col. E. B. Latham said he had attended most of the meetings and nearly all had heard him relate his experience. He then gave the date of his coming to what is now Logan County, his father having been of the very earliest settlers. In 182i his father went to Peoria, where he was Indian agent. He thought tbe change from those times to the present a beneficial one, and spoke pointedly of the educational advantages now enjoyed. We should teach our children to so live that they coald benefit the generation following them.

Eighth Reunion

The citizens of Mt. Pulaski made elaborate preparations to accommodate all who should attend the gathering of pioneers at that place on Thursday, August 12, 1880; and on the day appointed they had their reward in a magnificent attendance and in the most pleasant meeting by far that the old settlers had yet held. All who settled in Illinois prior to 1840 were considered "old settlers." The secretary and his assistants enrolled 200 or more of these, part of whom were pioneers or "deep snow" men and women, having settled in Illinois prior to the famous winter of the deep snow - 1831. All who were old. settlers simply were supplied with a ribbon badge bearing the words: "Pioneers of Illinois'. State organized in 1818. Eeunion and barbecue at Mt. Pulaski, 111., Aug. 12, 1880." Those who have been here since 1831 were considered pioneers, and were in addition to the badge presented witii a handsome cane.

The meeting was presided over by D. Ward Clark, and in the absence of Secretary E. C. Maxwell, Charles S. Capps acted in that capacity. All arrangements had been made by a committee consisting of S. Linn Beidler, M. Wemple and W. P. Sawyer. The gathering was held in the park which surrounds the old courthouse, where a large platform and an ample number of seats had ' been provided.

After the usual opening exercises, Major M. Wemple delivered a pleasing address of welcome. The oration of the day was delivered by Eev. D. P. Bunn, of Decatur. He was born in Ohio and came West in 1836, locating first at Blooinington, going afterward to Iowa City, Iowa, but returning to Illinois soon after, He spoke of the old wooden mold-board plows and how bad thev were about "kicking," detailed from personal experience many of the hardships of the pioneer's life, and spoke in affectionate terms of the old settlers who had passed away, naming several who had been especially well known. He dwelt at some length upon his first impressions of the country and the hearty hospitality of the people of the early times ; spoke of the idea of the earliest settlers that the prairies would never be settled, but would remain permanently as public pasture lands; of going sixty miles to mill, taking a week to make the trip; of old " Brush College," a name given to the school-house on Salt Creek in which he used to teach, which was built of round logs; of its greased paper windows and slab writing desks; and named some of the pupils of the olden time. He spoke of some of the old settlers who were still living, praising their honesty, hospitality and industry, and closed with an especially fervent and impressive peroration.

Eev. Isaac Kretzinger made a half an hour's speech, and then dinner was announced. The old people were invited to a long table where was spread a vriety of good eatables, including several roast pigs and sheep. The ox, which was to have been roasted whole, was cooked by steam, and m'^de so tender that it would not hold together for roasting, hence it went in as boiled. The dinner was an excellent one. The general public brought their own lunches in baskets, and spread them in the shade.

Among the relics not exhibited before were a pitchfork over 100 years old, a sickle thirty-nine years old, a pair of pot-hooks 100 years old, a piece of carpet forty-five years old, still in use; a hoe over 100 years old, a couple of bunches of hemp grown in 1836, a baby's dress seventy-one years old, a rocking-chair made in North Carolina seventy-five years before, in which four generations of one family had been rocked, and a deed written in a queer hand on parchment, dated May 3, 1585, from Lord Baltimore 1 1 Edward Day, and conveying 1,000 acres of land. Letters were read from James Dangherty, Mrs. Mary Buckles and John Buckles. The first named lived in Peoria County at this time; the two latter resided near Mt. Pulaski. Mrs. Buckles's letter was as follows:

" I will give you a little sketch of the old settlers' times when I came here. When I first started out to find a home I rode about 800 miles on horseback and carried a child. We moved out here in 1822, and lived that winter by the mouth of the lake. The house we lived in was made of logs split and notched at the end and laid together. The way we got our bread in those days, we had to beat the corn into meal, and then make our bread and boil our hominy.

" We came to Illinois in October, and I never saw the face of a white woman till in March, except my step-mother. "We moved in the spring upon the lake, where Jerry Buckles lives now. We lived in the Frontier house until my husband died. I have seen as many as 100 Indians camped together down where William Buckles lives. The Indians used to stop at our house when they were out hunting and want something to eat. Sometimes my husband would be away from home, and just me and the little children there. It would make my very heart ache, but I always gave them something to eat to get shut of them.

"When we came through Springfield there was but one store, and that was Major Iles's. We got our first grindings at Bufi'aio Hart and Elkhart. It was ground by a horse-mill. My husband volunteered and went to the war to fight the Indians in 1826, and I was left alone with five little children - not a man on the place. I was thus left from one week to five lots of times. Elizabeth Ann Copeiand was the first child I had born in this county. She was born May 3, 1824. I had an aunt who died in March, 1824. Tiie way they made her cofiin, tliey cut a walnut tree down on the place where we lived, and dug it out and buried her in it. She was interred at William Buckles's graveyard. We raised a large family of children, and for fourteen years never had a doctor in the house. I had fifteen children and raised fourteen till they were grown and married. There are twelve now living, and I have seventy-three grandchildren and sixty-seven great-grandchildren living. In those days we clothed our children bj' spinning and weaving. We wove coverlets, blankets, jeans, flannel, and everything that we wore. Instead of pianos, organs and sewing machines, we had poms and spinning-wheels. We did all our own coloring. Children had no chance to get an education in those days, as we only had three-months school in the year. We had no preaching for a long time after we came here, and the first preaching I ever heard was at old Grandfather Turley's; then the next we opened our doors for meeting. We were not particular what denomination preached. We opened our doors for all. Bob Foster was the first who held a three-days meeting at our house; then A. J. Kane, of Springfield, had a three-days meeting out under the shade trees. Folks were not as particular then as they are now, for they would come from Buffalo and Sangamon and from all around. We couldn't set as fine tables then as people do now, but we always had plenty to eat. I have had from eighteen to twenty persons to stay all night with us when they came up to meeting. Now if I were young again and had a family to raise, and knew there was such a country as this, I would be willing to go through it all again. Although I had a very hard time, I never regret it on account of my children. Before I took this last spell of sickness I was able to walk from a half a mile to a mile. "When I pass away from this world of trouble, I hope I will be in a world of rest. These are a few items of the way we lived and had to do in the early days. I was born in Georgia in 1803, and am now going on seventy-eight."

" Where you now see nice houses, abundant fields of corn and other grain, green pastures where various kinds of domestic animals are quietly grazing, was once a trackless prairie. Standing at this point you might have seen the smoke curling from the mud chimneys of two or three little log cabins scattered along the margin of the lake timber. I was reared in one of these cabins, which was constructed without a nail or a board, aild the chinks between the logs were the only windows. Of the present luxuries we had none, i never saw a cook stove until I was nearly grown. The cooking was done at the fireplace, which was about half the width of the cabin, and which took Kuge logs for fuel that we were obliged to roll in at the door. Our cooking utensils were mainly the pot and the gridiron, and the kettle oven in which to bake bread. We had no machinery of any kind except the loom and spinning wheel. With these we manufactured the cloth from which our clothes were made. Work was performed by main strength, and with bare hands, thus our bread was truly earned by the sweat of our brow. It was a rare thing to see a man with a pair of boots, and boys didn't wear pants' until they were about grown; they wore instead long homespun aprons.

"Young men, we didn't have kid gloves, as yon do, to put on our hands, buggies to ride in, nor tine horses to drive. Our kids were those that nature gave us, tanned by the sun and hardened by toil. Our legswere our buggies, with the springs in the heels. Horses we had none, but sometimes we rode an ox with our fair lady on behind us. The young ladies of that day didn't wear silks and ruffles, nor friz and ban» tlieir hair; they were content with a linsey-woolsey dress, made by their own hands. The loom was their piano, and the spinning wheel their orp'an, and the music was just as sweet, if not sweeter, than we hear to-day on a $500 piano or a costly organ, and I am quite sure the playing was much more proiitable. They didn't punch holes in card-board and sew them up again with silken threads, but ' worked ' honest button holes in their brother's Sunday coats, made of jeans, and knit comfortable socks instead of crocheting useless nicknacks. They sought the washtub and broomhandle for exercise. Girls of the present day would almost faint at the sight of such things."

Mr. Buckles's letter closed with an appeal for prohibition of the liquor traffic, expressed in such terms as to elicit three cheers from the audience. There was then read a communication concerning Jabez Capps by his son, Charles S. Capps. Rev. John Wilson, of Macon County, who came to this State in 1816, made an amusing address of a few minutes. Major John F. Miles, who was born near Mammoth Cave, Ky., and came to Illinois in 1820, was next called upon and gave some very interesting reminiscences. Judge John J. McGraw, of Clinton, followed with an account of his early experiences in this State. He was born in South Carolina, moved to Alabama, then to Louisiana, afterward to Kentucky, and finally to Illinois, coming to the State in 1830. His reminiscences were quite interesting. Among other things he mentioned living with his family in a stable belonging to Martin Scott, near "Waynesville, the first summer after coming to the State; and picking up an old sickle which was among the relics, he made a strong point by comparing the work of that instrument of less than fifty years ago with the self-binder of to day. Other speeches were made by E. H. Robb, of Waynesville, Eev. D. P. Bunn, D. W. Clark and Samuel McGarvey.

Ninth Eeunion

On Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1881, between 3,000 and 4,000 persons at tended the reunion held at the Atlanta fair grounds. People were invited from McLean, Tazewell, Logan and De Witt counties, and the four counties were well represented by old settlers, many of whom had seen the winter of the "deep snow." Judge Scott, of the Supreme Court, an old settler, well and favorably known in Central Illinois, presided. He delivered an address that dealt largely with pioneer life as exemplified in the settlement of this State, and his effort was greatly appreciated.

Honorable George W. Minier followed with a lively address fall of anecdotes of his experience in early times. He spoke of the corn-dodger as a staple article of food in those days, and said he was told that dodgers were so called because they were scraps of bread which had dodged the cat and dog and everything else and had finally got on the table. However, lie did not seem to indorse this slander upon a good though old-fashioned article of food. He spoke of Governor Moore as the originator of our first system of public instruction, a system which he remembered reading with care in 1838. He then spoke of the introduction of the natural sciences into the schools and the part he had himself taken in securing that result. The common schools, he said, were so good that our colleges needed to be amply endowed or our boys and girls would finish their education in the public schools. He thought school-teaching the most important of the professions. Keferring to the log cabin and its relics, Mr. Minier said he had a cane cut from near the tomb of Washington and the portrait of one of the earliest settlers of the county (Peter Logan), which he wished to place in that repository.

In the afternoon Governor CuUom arrived from Springfield and made a speech. He spoke of the traits of character of the early settlers of Illinois and contrasted their sociable ways with the hurrying, unsociable life of our modern cities. He spoke of the changes which had come over the State, and said the log cabin, to which he pointed, represented the life of the pioneers, though it was much better than most of them had. His father's first house was a double cabin built of unhewn logs in 1830, the year before the "deep snow." Tazewell County, in which his father lived, had been organized only three years then. Sangamon County was established in 1821, and included much of the central part of the State, reaching up nearly to La Salle. He was "raised" on a farm, and had he known that in a few years he could have rode and plowed, rode and planted, rode and sown and rode and reaped, he would have remained on a farm. He quit farming because he did not like so much walking. He could mow, but cradling was harder work than he could stand. He told of feeding 125 head of cattle for his father one bitter winter, the last he spent on the farm, referring to John Buckles, of Mt. Pulaski, for proof of his assertion that chopping corn-stalks out of the ice and hauling them to cattle was hard work. He told his father he could not stand such work and went to Springfield to study law. Without any intention of giving them "taffy" he thought the farmers of Illinois were to be envied for their grand opportunities and the independent position they occupied.

Tenth Reunion

The " biggest time " that the old settlers have yet had was in 1882, when they held a barbecue at Mt. Pulaski, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 1882. The formal exercises were held in the public square, where the space had been fenced in for the old settlers with ropes. The stand was erected at the west front of the old courthouse, where the interlacing catalpas made a grateful shade. Upon a table were displayed a few relics of old times, mainly in the form of home-made linen and coverlids, one of the latter 120 years old. A primitive stove, said to be fifty years old and the first ever used in this county, was also shown. The oldest person present was a Mrs. Hilliard, of the vicinity of Lake Fork Station, 101 years of age.

The morning speeches were delivered by Colonel E. B. Latham, of Lincoln, and James H. Matheny and E. W. Diller, of Springfield. The meeting then adjourned for dinner. All the south side of the square was filled with tables, making a total length of 3,000 feet or more. Contrary to the usual practice of barbecues, these were carefully set, and were fitted with dishes and everythinonecessary for a good dinner. There was no lack of meat, as the enormous steam chest had done duty in cooking six and one-half beeves, twelve hogs and thirteen sheep. Other supplies were furnished in proportion. The steam chest was sixteen feet long, seven high and seven wide, made of common pine flooring, with five sets of grates or shelving, made of two-by-four oak, upon which the meats were placed. A forty-pound pressure of steam was turned on the first batch at a little after 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon (the day before the meeting), and the chest was opened at about 7, showing the meat thoroughly cooked. A second batch was cooked between 9 and 12:30 o'clock, immediately after. The chest having"been steamed for several days previous, no wood taste was perceptible in the meat. No raw meat was found as usual in roast barbecues. The coffee question seemed a very ee- rious one to all, as apparently no preparation was in sight of its making. But a surprise followed when it was discovered that a turn of the steam pipe was made from the steam chest to an eightygallon hogshead of ice water, which gave, in ten minutes, that many gallons of boiling coflfee. In all about 400 gallons were carried to the tables. The result of this generous preparation and careful attention to details was that the tables were quietly iilled, time after time, and all who came were amply provided for.

In the afternoon speaking was resumed by Judge Lacey, General Oglesby, Colonel Hough, Major John T. Stuart, Rev. C. J. "White and others. There were 1,300 old settlers and pioneers on the register, and it is thought many failed to report. The total attendance was estimated at 15,000.

Eleventh Ee Union

Much less showy, but equally enjoyable, was the reunion held at Mt. Pulaski, Sept. 12, 1883. Governor Hamilton and other distinguished parties had been invited but did not appear. There was little or no formality about the meeting, impromptu speeches being made by President D. W. Clark, Rev. John England, David Rudolph, Jacob Judy, D. Patterson, Albertus Barger, Fred Joynt, Colonel R. B. Latham, Joshua Day, Captain Frank Fisk and others. A good picnic dinner, including barbecued meats, etc., was served, and badges and canes were distributed as usual. The old officers, with L. B. Scroggin as Treasurer, were re-elected.

Twelfth Eetjnion

Mt. Pulaski has become a favorite place for the old settlers' meetings, as they are always sure of a good time in that pleasant town. Two days were set apart for the 1884 gathering, Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 10 and 1 1, and all who would remain the two days were entertained hospitably. A few tents had been put up in the public square, and a stand had been erected large enough to accommodate the officers of the organization and all the " snow birds," as those who came to the State or were born in it prior to the winter of 1830-'l were termed. Wednesday was extremely hot, but it was estimated that 5,000 people were in attendance. Elder John England spoke in the forenoon. In the afternoon Hon. Carter H. Harrison, of Chicago, delivered an address, and was followed in short speeches by John Campbell, of De Witt County, and Messrs. Fred Joynt and Joshua Day, of this county.

On Thursday about half as many were present, though the day was much pieasanter. Short speeches were made in the forenoon by Eobert Humphrey, of Lincoln, and Major M. Wemple, of Mt. Pulaski. A business meeting was also held at which the officers of the preYious year were re-elected. A new constitution was adopted, and, for the first time, vice-presidents were elected for all the townships in the county. This new constitution provides that the vice-presidents shall meet the last .Saturday before the 4th of July each year to decide upon the time and place of holding the reunion. In the afternoon addresses were made by Hon. J. H. Howell, of Bloomington, member of Congress from this district, and S. L. Wallace, of Lincoln. President Clark then gave way to Major M. Wemple, who had been requested to take charge of the distribution of a number of presents.

First was an elegant upholstered rocking-chair for the' oldest person present. This was of course given to Mrs. Elizabeth Hilliard, who was present. She was born in either 1781 or 1783, as is shown by the rather dimly written record in the family Bible. She has an older sister, Mrs. Peggy Arnold, yet living in Eoss County, Ohio. With Mrs. Hilliard on the stand was her daughter, Mrs. Crouch, seventy-three years old. '

John M. Campbell, of De Witt County, and Eobert Downing, of Logan County, both claimed the gold-headed cane designed for the oldest man among the settlers present. The latter of the two was finally awarded the cane.

A jack-knife for the oldest settler who had killed the most deer was awarded to Roland Birks; one for the most successful turkey hunter was awarded to Len. Scroggin.

A briar-root pipe for the oldest gentleman smoker went to William Buckles, while the pipe for the oldest lady smoker was awarded without question to Mrs. Elizabeth Hilliard.

Jabez Capps, who had bought liogs on the hill forty-five years before, was given a carriage-whip as the oldest stock-buyer, and L. K. Scroggin received another whip for being the first man to drive stock to market Irom the hill.

A year's subscription for the Mt. Pulaski Ivmes went to Mrs. Miller Copeland as the first child born in Logan County. A hat to the man working longest at one place was given to David Landis, and a worsted dress to the woman working longest at one place to Anna Godfrey.

John Schick was given the present intended for the handsomest young man, and William Baker a pipe as the oldest settler from Christian County.

Thirteenth Reunion

The thirteenth annual meeting of the Old Settlers' Association of Logan Coubty was held in Lincoln, Aug. 26, 1885. The attendance was not, of course, up to that of the monster gathering held at Mt. Pulaski in 1883, but was, nevertheless, very large. The pioneers, distinguished by their white badges, were out in strong force, and their familiar faces carried the thoughts of all back to the time when there were no railroads and no telegraphs in the State. The weather was simply perfect, being just at the right temperature for comfort, though too cool to suit the lemonade venders.

The programme opened with music by Hoover's Band, followed by the reading of the programme for the entire dayMDy the President. Prayer was ofi"ered by E.ev. J. A. Chase. Music by Kankin's Band and then followed an address of welcome by J. T. Hoblit. The response was by President D. "W. Clark, who expressed gratitude on behalf of the old settlers to the citizens of Lincoln for their preparations and cordial reception, etc. He spoke of the death of Elder John England and Wm. M. Allen, both pioneers. He said the society was organized in 1873. The meetings had always been very enjoyable. He hoped for the maintenance of the society. President Clark came to Illinois in 1830.

The President tlien announced that the speeches in the afternoon would be five-minute talks - "No high-falutin, lawjerspeeehes." He explained, however, that he was not reflecting upon Mr. Hoblit.

After music by Hoover's Band, Joshua Day made a ten-minute speech. He came to what is now Nauvoo forty-eight years ago; met old Black Hawk and other Indians; was residing with his brothers on an island opposite Nauvoo in the fall before the winter of the sudden change, when the water rose very high, then came the sudden change and froze the floods, and they had several inches of ice for a floor. He told the rising generation of the hardships of the pioneer, how they often awoke in the morning and found four or five inches of snow on the bed clothing. He related a story of the capture of the proverbial " biggest-coon-youever-saw " during the cold spell, which saved him from sudden starvation! He also told a big snake story.

The President then called for music and announced that the old settlers would take their stand on the court-house steps and have their pictures taken "all in a bunch."

After this there was a dispersion for dinner, and every tree in the square sheltered its family groups, giving that enclosure an exceedingly animated appearance. The speakers' stand and many of the business houses displayed the National red, white and blue, lending additional color and variety to the scene.

In the afternoon more speeches were made. David Bowles, of Orvil Township, came to this country early enough to encounter the deep snow. He took a cheerful view of pioneer lifeandshowed that it had its pleasures and enjoyments, in refreshing contrast to the terrible tales of hardship which constitute the reverse side of the picture.

greatest hardship in those times was courting the girls. There was only one room in the house, and the old folks would sit and watch the proceedings. It was exceedingly hard on a bashful young man like himself.

Captain Frank Fisk, the Secretary of the association, introduced Jabez Capps, of Mt. Pulaski, and made his speech for him. Mr. Capps came to Illinois in 1819, to Logan County in 1836 and was eighty-nine years old.

Peter Bruner, of Eminence Township, differed from Ml-. Bowles in regard to the early hardships; tliought the times were very hard; he recounted the sufferings from fever and ague and privations by cold weather.

Jacob Judy came back and told a brief anecdote which called out considerable laughter. John Hepperly, of Lincoln, related a courting incident. He told of the sadden change. Was working in a saw-mill when it came ; it was sudden as a clap of thunder. Stephen Clarno, now of McLean County, formerly of Elkhart, contrasted the difficulty of getting the children out of bed these times with the early rising of pioneer days. He proved to be quite an impersonator in his anecdotes.

Colonel "W. D. Wyatt came upon the platform merely to exhibit some relics of Father Adam Simon ton, who was not able to attend. Showed an old gourd raised in North Carolina in 1797, used as a powder flask at the battle of Fort Meigs. Showed also a knife used on same occasion to strike the flint. Related a story of an Indian massacre on Kickapoo at the present site of the iron bridge.

Daddy Rankin was then called upon, but excused himself and the Rankin Band played a subsitute for Daddy's speech. John Reed, of this city, was introduced as the oldest man upon the ground - a " leetle " older than Jabez Capps, being eighty-nine years old.

Colonel R. B. Latham had been in Logan County continuously since September, 1819. Colonel Latham read a list of the oldest settlers and the date of their settlement as follows :

Rev. Keown made a brief speech, especially eulogizing Illinois and rejoicing in his citizenship of this State. He wished that all the old settlers might claim the proud title of thoroughbred " Suckers."

Reed Marquart, of Atlanta, invited all the old settlers to come np to the Atlanta Fair on Tuesday following, and promised to give them "an old settler what am an old settler." He had not lived as long as Colonel Latham and some others, but bad lived faster and was about as old.

Daddy (Edmund) Rankin came to this country in 1836. Said he had swum every stream between Philadelphia and the Mississippi River. He said this was his first speech and that he was seventy-one years old.

The following relics were on exhibition : A cane cut in Ohio in 1832, property of Adam Simonton ; officer's commission to Mr. Simonton's father, dated in 1802 ; a bandanna over sixty years old, belonging to E. G. Lawrance; a pitchfork and a Scotch spade, both owned by Hamilton Patterson ; a Russian chopping ax; a pocketbook of 1770, used in Kentucky in the days of Daniel Boone ; an Indian ax, made of stone; a teapot that had been handed down for five generations, owned by Mrs. Rankin; a book that had belonged to Mrs. Rankin's great-great-great-grandmother.

The attendance in the afternoon was much larger than in the morning, and all present seemed in a happy mood. The meeting was an undoubted success. From the number of badges given out, there must have been considerably over 600 old settlers present.

Chapter Yi Political

Logan County First Whig, then Republican, and Latterly Democratic. - Cursory View of Elections. - Abstract of Election Returns, with Majorities and Pluralities.

The voters of Logan County have always been nearly evenly divided between the two leading political parties. At no time has the county been overwhelmingly Republican, or Whig, or Democratic In many elections some of the candidates on each ticket were successful; still, in general terms, the county may be said to have been reliably Whig during the life of the part}' so eloquently supported by Clay and Webster. Owing to the loss of the early election returns, the exact Whig majorities cannot now be given. The first general election in which the county participated was that of 1840, when William Henry Harrison and Martin Yan Buren were the presidential candidates. The county was carried by Harrison that year, and also by Clay in 1844, Taylor in 1848, Scott in 1852 and Fremont in 1856. The local Whig tickets were also generally successful, though for the first ten years of the county's history we had no rigid party affiliations, no machine conventions under the iron rule of "bosses," and no disciplinary caucuses, whose decrees must be followed, under penalty of political death. Candidates were run almost entirely upon personal popularity, for local and county offices, and so free was the expression of opinion that a man who received the almost unanimous vote of one township would not have a single follower in any other township. It was sometimes the case that no candidate for a given office carried more than one township, each of the difi'erent townships giving its vote to a difi'erent favorite. This independence continued until about 1850, since when it has not been so general, although it prevails to a certain extent even now.

The causes of the defeat of the Whigs in 1852 are well known. The anti-slavery people were suspicious of the party leaders, and finally were completely alienated; and the party of Clay and Web- ster, falling into weaker hands after the death of those statesmen, was not only defeated, bnt killed for all time. In 1854 a new party arose on its ruins, and absorbed the strength of the Whigs, the Free-Soilers, and after a few years many Northern Democrats. Since the birth of the Eepublican party this county has given varying majorities for that organization. In the first national campaign the Republican party put forward as its first standard bearer General John C.Fremont, the popular "Western hero, who was, however, defeated by the veteran statesman and politician, James Buchanan, nominated by the Democratic convention. A very large vote was polled in this county, Fremont receiving a meager plurality. The American, or " Know-Nothing" party had placed before the people Millard Fillmore, who received a few votes in this county.

In the spring of 1857 the first election was held here of which the papers have been preserved. Reuben B. Ewing was then chosen County Judge by 576 votes, against 420 for N. M. Whitaker, and 239 for Andrew McElvain. In the autumn of the same year a full list of county ofiicers was elected, the Eepublican majorities ranging from 134 to 301, in a total vote of about 1,550. In 1858 the Eepublican ticket received pluralities of from seven to 198, in a total vote of nearly 2,500. Party lines were not drawn closely in 1859. A light vote was cast, and the election was not claimed as a victory for either party.

In the memorable campaign of 1860, just before our civil war, the voters of the United States were called upon to choose between Abraham Lincoln (Eepublican), Stephen A. Douglas (Northern Democrat), John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democrat) and John Bell (Union). Through the disagreement of the Northern and Southern wings of the Democracy, Lincoln was elected, though he received but two-fifths of the popular vote. The campaign in Logan County was unusually exciting, and a heavy vote was polled, with this result: Lincoln, 1,729; Douglas, 1,521; Breckinridge, 28; Bell, 4. Lincoln's plurality, 208. The remainder of the State and local ticket received about the same number of votes.

In 1861 a number of county ofiicers were chosen, but there was not a sharp political division of the voters, personal popularity being the controlling influence. Some of the majorities were very small. On county treasurer, surveyor and coroner there was bnt one ticket. Nearly a two-thirds vote was polled. In 1862 there was nearly as much interest manifested as in a presidential election. The vote was large and remarkably close. Out of over 3,000 votes, the Republican State ticket received an average majority of less than fifty. For sheriff, A. Mayfield (Democrat) received eighty-two more votes than A. B. Oorwin (Republican). For coroner, Jacob T. Hackney's majority over "W". A. Coons was but seventeen. Three county oflBcers were chosen in 1863, by Republican majorities of 304, 325 and 329.

The next presidential election fell iti the last year of the war. The Democracy placed in the field George B. McOlellan, in opposition to Lincoln, who was renominated. The sentiment of the North being emphatically with the administration, Lincoln was re-elected. In this county he received 1,727 votes, to 1,371 for McClellan. The majority was 356, and the State and county Republican ticket received almost exactly the same vote througliout.

The Republicans elected the county officers chosen in 1865, by majorities of about 200. For several offices, however, the Democrats made no nominations. The following year the Republicans won the greatest victory yet achieved in Logan County, their ticket receiving about 700 majority. The total vote was nearly 3,800. In 1867 two county officers were elected. For treasurer. Ream (Republican) received 513 votes more than McElhiney (Democrat); and for surveyor, Braucher (Republican), 385 votes more than Skinner (Democrat).

The reconstruction era brought another presidential contest, in 1868. The Republicans nominated their war hero, Ulysses S. Grant, while the Democrats selected as their standard bearer the eminent New York Governor, Horatio Seymour. Tlie result was a Republican victory. This county went heavily for Grant, giving lioni 2, 515 votes to 1,902 for Seymour, a majority of 613. This was the first presidential election held after the division of Logan County into township^. Eleven of the seventeen townships gave the following Republican majorities: JEtna, fifty-seven; Atlanta, 197; Chester, forty-eight; Corwin, seventeen; East Lincoln, 166; Elkhart, 104; Eminence, 125; Ilurlbut, forty-eight; Laenna, thirtyone; Oran, ten; Orvil, seventy-seven. The Democratic majorities were in Broadwell, ten; Lake Fork, seventy; Mt. Pulaski, eightynine; Prairie Creek, five; Sheridan, thirty; West Lincoln, sixty.

The majority in this county for the Republican State ticket was rather less than that given to Grant. For circuit clerk, F. C. W. Koehiile received the heaviest majority on his ticket - 854. Tlie Republican candidate for sheriff, Chester B. Jackson, received

The Republicans elected all the connty officers chosen in 1869, by majorities of thirty-fonr to 550, except the county clerk, for which office the Democratic candidate, James T. Hoblit, was popular enough to receive 223 majority over James T. McKinnon. The election returns for 1870 are missing. In 1871 a light vote was polled, but the Republican majorities were the largest ever obtained in Logan County, except in 1873 and 1875, being 623 on congressman-at-large, 736 on treasurer, and 786 on surveyor. From this year on the Republican party steadily lost strength in Logan County.

Dissatisfied with Grant's administration, a number of Republicans calling themselves Liberals met in convention in 1872, and nominated the distinguished editor and philanthropist, Horace Greeley, Grant having been renominated by the Republican convention. Disheartened, or rather hoping to achieve success by fostering a division in their rival party, the Democratic leaders, in convention assembled, indorsed Greeley. This was very unsatisfactory to a large percentage of the Democratic voters, who accordingly refused to vote on election daj'. A few cast their ballots for Charles O'Conor, the "straight out" Democratic candidate, but they were not sufficiently numerous to influence the result. Grant received an overwhelming majority, not so much by his own popularity, as from the half-heartedness of the Democrats in supporting Greeley. In this county Grant received 2,446 votes; Greeley, 1,814; O'Conor, thirty-nine. The twelve Republican townships and pluralities were: JEtna, eighty-nine; Atlanta, 186; Broadwell, thirty; Chester, seventeen; Corwin, seven; East Lincoln, 135; Elkhart, forty-nine; Eminence, 144; Hurlbut, twenty-three; Oran, thirty; Orvil, twenty-one; Prairie Creek, twenty-five. The five Democratic townships this year were: Laenna, five; Lake Fork, seventy-four; Mt. Pulaski, seventy-two; Sheridan, fifteen; West Lincoln, fifty-eight. As comj.ared with 1868, the Democrats lost iBroadwell and Prairie Creek, and gained Laenna. The Republican majorities on State ticket were less than for Grant. For sherifiT, Schafer's majority was only 146; circuit clerk, McGalliard but forty-five. The majority for Green as coroner was 1,971.

The Republicans had a " walk-a-way " in 1873, electing their four county officers by such majorities as 713, 778, 1,045 and 1,752. A moderately full vote was polled for an " oflP year." The elec- tion of 1884 was uncomfortably close for the Eepublioans, who had come to expect large majorities in Logan for all time. Their majority on State Treasurer was 223; on sheriff, 239; coroner, fifty. They recovered themselves in 1875, and elected their treasurer by 830 votes, and surveyor by 949.

The centennial year brought with it a political race, unequaled in history for closeness, and doubtful results. The choice was between Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican), Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat) and Peter Cooper, the candidate for a new political element styling itself the Greenback, or National party. This was never very strong in Logan County, its heaviest vote being two years later. Hayes's vote here was 2,788; Tilden's, 2,595; Cooper's, thirty-nine; Hayes's plurality, 193. The Republicans lost permanently Broadwell, Corwin and Hurlbut townships, and carried but eight townships to the Democrats eight; one, Prairie Creek, was tied. Hayes's pluralities were: Atlanta, 163; -^tna, 115; Chester, two; East Lincoln, 100; Elkhart, forty-eight; Eminence, 116; Gran, fifteen, Orvil, ninety-eight. Gn the other side of the political fence were: Broadwell, twenty-one; Corwin, eleven; Hurlbut, twenty-six; Laenna, eleven; Lake Fork, sixty-one; Mt. Pulaski, ninety-five; Sheridan, seventy-seven; "West Lincoln, 176. The Republican majority on the State ticket was a little less than for President. The Democrats elected one of four county officers - James T. Hoblit for State's Attorney.

In 1877 the Democrats elected S. A. Foley as county judge, while the Republicans elected their clerk, treasurer and county superintendent. None of the majorities were very large. In 1878 the Republican State ticket received about 160 plurality. The Democrats carried through their congressman and senator and two representatives. The Republicans elected sheriff and coroner. In 1879 a treasurer and surveyor were chosen, the Republicans winning the former office by a plurality of 369 ; the latter by 733.

General James A. Garfield, of Ohio, and Winfield S. Hancock, of Pennsylvania, represented the two great parties in the presidential campaign of 1880. The National party put forward General James B. Weaver, of Iowa, and the Prohibitionists nominated Neal Dow, of Maine. Once more, but for the last time in a continuous line, the Republicans triumphed, and Garfield was inaugurated, to enjoy for a few months the highest office in theland, before his vigorous life was cut short by the assassin's bullet. He received iu Logan County a plurality of forty-two, in a total vote of over 5,400. The vote was: Garfield, 2,729; Hancock, 2,687; Weaver, 121; Dow, seventy-one. The townships voting for Garfield were: ^tna, ninety-four; Atlanta, 110; East Lincoln, ninety; Elkhart, fifty-one; Eminence, seventy-nine; Orvil, sixty-eight. The township giving Hancock pluralities were: Broadwell, fifteen; Chester, eight; Corwin, two; Hurlbut, nine; Laenna, fifty-five; Lake Fork, sixty-seven; Mt. Pulaski, fifty-one; Gran, twenty-two; Sheridan, sixty-five; West Lincoln, 154. Prairie Creek was again tied. The election was very close. The Hepnblicans were ahead for President, Governor, Secretary of State and member of the Board of Equalization, and elected one representative and the coroner. The Democrats came out ahead on Lieutenant-Governor and congressman, and elected one representative and the State's Attorney, circuit clerk and sherifi'.

The Democracy carried the county by light pluralities in 1882, except that the Republicans pulled through by a handsome majority on coroner, the least important office on the ticket.

The warmly contested campaign of 1884, with its disagreeable episodes and its many candidates, is fresh in the minds of all. First nominated was General Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, by the National party, and afterward by the Anti-monopoly and Labor conventions. The Republican convention at Chicago, in the month of June, nominated James G. Blaine, of Maine, for President, and John A. Logan, of Illinois, for Vice-President. In the same city, a month later, the Democratic convention selected as its nominee for President, Grover Cleveland, of New York, and for Yice-President, Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. The Prohibitionists put forward John P. St. John, of Kansas, and played a very important part in the campaign, to the delight of the Democrats, and the chagrin of the Republicans. In the State of New York they drew to St. John twenty times the number of votes by which Blaine was defeated in that, the pivotal State. The campaign was conducted with unusual vigor in Logan County, and 5,530 votes were polled. Of these Cleveland received 2,863 votes; Blaine, 2,606; St. John, 262; Butler, fifty-two. Cleveland's plurality, 257. The Democrats carried 11 townships, as follows: Broadwell, eighteen; Chester, twenty-one; Corwin, two; East Lincoln, thirty; Hurlbut, twenty-two; Laenna, fifty-six; Lake Fork, seventy; Mt. Pulaski, 135; Prairie Creek, six; Sheridan, seventy; West Lincoln, 207. The Republicans carried these six:

JEtna, 110; Atlanta, 118; Elkhart, forty-four; Eminence, fortyeight; Oran, two; Orvil, forty-nine. The Democrats elected all the county officers chosen this year.

Abstract Of Election Eet0Ens

The oldest documents on file in the county records relating to elections is an "abstract of votes cast at an election held in the County of Logan and State of Illinois, on Tuesday, the 20th day of April, A. D. 185Y, for one county judge and one justice of the peace for Lincoln Precinct, and two constables for Sugar Creek

The following November the voters of the county were called upon to elect a county judge, two associate juctices, a county clerk, a county surveyor, a county treasurer and a school commissioner. The result of that election and each general one since, as shown by the records of the county clerk, are thus summarized: