Macon County, Illinois - Chapter 2: Macon County, 1876

Chapter 2: Macon County

Previous to the meeting of the Legishiturc, in 1S39, Benjamin R. Austin, Andrew W. Smith, and John Ward, had been selected to go to Vandalia, then capital of the State, and procure the passage of an act dividing the county of Shelby, of which the present county of Macon then formed a part., and forming a new county of the territory thus detached. They were successful; and at that session the following act was approved establishing the county of Macon.*

*NoTE. - Macon county derived its name from Hon. Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, whose fame, at the time of the formation of the county extended throughout the nation. He was born in Warren county, N. C, in 1757, and died in the same county, June 29th, 1837. He was educated at Princeton, N. J., and was there at the opening of the War of the Revolution. In 1777 he left college, and served for a short time as a private in a company of volunteers. At the expiration of his term of service, he commenced the study of law, but soon re-enlisted in the army under his brother John. He continued in the service until peace was declared. He was present at the fall of Charleston. For all his arduous services in the war, he steadily refused compensation, nor would he accept a pension after the government had provided one. Before he left the army he had been elected to the State Senate, in which he served until 1785. When the Constitution of the United States was proposed, he, like Patrick Henry, thought it " squinted too much in the direction of monarchy," and therefore opposed its adoption. He thought the general government proposed was too independent of the States. Mr. Macon was elected to the lower house of Congress in 1791, where he continued to serve until 1S15, serving as Speaker from 1801 to 1806. Froni the lower house he was transferred to the U. S. Senate, in 1816, where he remained until 1828,

County Of Macon

" Section i. Be it enacted by t/ic people of the State of Illinois^ represented in the General Assembly^ That all that tract of country lying within the following bounderies, to-wit : beginning at the southwest corner of section numbered eighteen, in township numbered fourteen north, of range numbered one east of the third principal meridian; thence due north with the said third principal meridian line to the northwest corner of township numbered twenty north, of range numbered one east ; thence due east with the line between townships numbered twenty and twenty-one north, to the northeast corner of township numbered twenty north, of range numbered six east; thence due south with the line between ranges numbered six and seven east, to the southeast corner of section numbered thirteen, in township number fourteen north, of range numbered six east; and from thence due west along through the middle of townships numbered fourteen north, to the place of beginning, shall constitute a county, to be called the county of Macon; and the seat of justice therein, when located, shall be called the town of Decatur.

" Sec. 2. For the purpose of locating the seat of justice of the said county of Macon, the following named persons are appointed Commissioners, to-wit: John Fleming, Jesse Rhodes and Easton Whitton, whose duty it shall be 'to meet at the house of James Ward, in said county, on the first Monday in April next, or within ten days thereafter, and after being duly sworn before some justice of the peace of this State, faithfully and impartially to discharge the duties imposed upon them by this act, shall proceed to determine upon a place for the location of the said seat of justice, having and was President /ro tern, of that body in 1825-7. He was thirty-seven years in Congress, uninterruptedly - the longest continuous service of any one man.* Twice during Jefferson's administration he declined the office of Postmaster General. He was a Democrat in politics, and had an earnest conviction in the ability of the people for self-government. Jefferson said he was " the last of the old Romans," and Randolph called him " the wisest man he ever knew." In his temperment he was a stoic, disregarding style and conventionalties, and in all things practiced the strictest economy.

" Sec. 3. The said Commissioners are hereby authorized to locate the said seat of justice on the land of any person or persons, who may be the fee simple owners thereof, if the proprietor or proprietors of such land shall donate and convey, with covenants of general warranty, to the Qounty Commissioners, for the use of said county, a quantity of land not less than twenty acres, in a square or oblong form, upon which to erect the public buildings; or otherwise, the said Commissioners may, in their discretion, locate the said seat of justice on any of the public lands in said county, as may seem to be the most advantageous to the future interest of said county.

" Sec. 4. As soon as said service shall be performed, the said Commissioners shall make a report of their proceedings, under their proper hands and seals, to the first County Commissioners' Court, to be held for and in said county, designating particularly the place selected, and a description of the same. And if the situuation on the public lands shall be preferred, after examination as aforesaid, the half quarter or quarter section of land upon which the same may be located shall be stated in said report; and in that event, it shall be the duty of the said County Commissioners, as soon thereafter as they may be enabled, to enter and purchase the same, at the proper land office, in their respective names, as County Commissioners, for the use of the* county of Macon; all of which said proceedings the County Commissioners' Court shall cause to be entered at large on their books of record.

" Sec. 5. As soon as a suitable site shall have been selected for the seat of justice, and a report made thereof, as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the County Commissioners to cause such donation, ,or tract of land (if public land should be selected), or so much thereof as they may deem advisable, to be laid off into lots, and be sold upon such terms and conditions as may be considered most advantageous to the interests of the county, and the proceeds of such sales shall be applied to the erection of a court house and jail, and such other public works as may be necessary for the use of said county. And as often as any lots shall be sold as aforesaid, it shall be the further duty of said County Commissioners to make conveyances for the same to the purchasers thereof, in their own names, as Commissioners for and in behalf of said county.

" Sec. 7. x^n election shall be held at the house of James Ward, on the second Monday of April next, for one Sheriff, one Coroner and three County Commissioners, for said county, who shall hold their offices, respectively, until the next general election, and until their successors are qualified ; which said election shall be conducted in all respects agreeably to the pi-ovisions of the law regulating elections: Provided^ that the qualified voters present may elect from among their number three qualified voters to act as judges of said election, who shall appoint two qualified voters to act as clerks.

Sec. S. It shall be the duty of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, who may be appointed for such county, to give public notice, at least fifteen days previous to said election, of the time and place, when and where the same will be held, and the officers to be elected thereat ; and in case there should be no clerk, it shall be the duty of the recorder, or any justice of the peace residing within the limits of said county, to give notice of the time and place of holding the same as aforesaid.

" Sec. 9. The Commissioners appointed to locate the seat of justice, as aforesaid, shall receive the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per day for each day by them necessarily consumed in discharging the duties imposed upon them by this act, to be allowed by the County Commissioners' Court, and paid out of the treasury of said county.

" Sec. 10. Until the next apportionment of members of the General Assembly shall be made, said county of Macon shall vote with the counties of Fayette, Bond, Montgomery, Shelby and Tazewell; and the clerk of the said county of Macon shall meet the clerks of the said counties of Fayette, Bond, Montgomery, Shelby and Tazewell, at Vandalia, the seat of justice of Fayette county, to compare the number of votes given for Senator and Representatives to the General Assembly, and sign the necessary certificate of election, at Vandalia, and deliver the same to the person or persons entitled thereto.

It will be observed by the foregoing act that the county, so formed, was much larger than it is at present. It then included all of what is now DeWitt county, except the northern tier of townships; all of Piatt county, except one township, and about half of Moultrie county. On the first of March, 1839, DeWitt county was formed, establishing the northern line of this county where it now is. On the following day an act was passed adding to the county of Macon that portion now known as Niantic township. It may be remarked, in this connection, that the formation of DeWitt, and the losing of that much territory to this county, was a source of but little concern to our people. In fact, at the time it was urged that the southern line of DeWitt should be extended far enough south to include the present towns of Maroa, Austin and Friends Creek. This tract of land, now rich, highly productive, and as finely improved as any other portion of the county, was then considered a burden, and not desired by Macon, and not wanted by DeWitt. It was not thought possible to cultivate the soil, or that it would ever be inhabited; and the expense of keeping up roads through it was considered to be largely in excess of the income to be derived. At that day there were but few people who dreamed even of the large prairies becoming settled and put into cultivation. The most that was claimed was that the farms would extend but a short distance from the timber, and the prairies remain forever wild, and used for grazing purposes only. Many of the early settlers made " clearings," and started their little farms in the timber, as they had been accustomed to do in the States from which they came. It is not strange, however, that the opinion was entertained that much of the prairie land was absolutely useless and valueless, for at that period, for the greater portion of the year, they were almost submerged with water. Horses and cattle would mire on land now considered dry, and forming some of the best farms in the county. It is asserted by some of our then residents of the county, that the object of securing the addition to the county of the present Niantic township, was to prevent the removal of the county seat from Decatur to a little town then just commenced in the township of Friends Creek, called Murfreesboro. It will be remembered that Piatt county was then a part of Macon, and the proposed new county seat, being nearer the center of the county than Decatur, may have actuated Mr. Gouge, who was then our representative in the legislature, in procuring this addition to our western territory. The assertion, however, that any such notions were entertained as to the proposed change in the county seat, is denied by others who were residents at the time. It is very probable, however, that there was a change of the " seat of justice " anticipated, for the Niantic territory was considered worthless, except as so much ballast to counterbalance the eastern portion of the county. And the prospects of Murfreesboro, it seems, were blighted about that time, . and it has long since ceased to be, except in the recollection of a very few of our oldest residents.

In January, 1 84 1, Piatt county was formed from portions of DeWitt and Macon counties, and in February, 1843, the county of Moultrie was formed from portions of Shelby and Macon counties, each by acts of the legislature. Macon county now remains as left after the passage of the last act, forming Moultrie county. It now contains an area of five hundred and seventy-seven square miles, or 369,280 acres.

The Commissioners appointed by virtue of the foregoing act, met on the tenth day of April, 1829, and proceeded to view the several proposed locations for a "seat of justice;" and as a result of their deliberation, made the following report, as appears by the record of the County Commissioners' Court:

" We, the Commissioners appointed for the purpose of locating the seat of justice for Macon county, after being duly sworn before John Miller, an acting justice of the peace for said county of Macon, having carefully and impartially viewed and examined the situation and convenience, likewise the advantages, of the present and future population, have located the said seat on the fifteenth section in township sixteen north, in range two east, northeast quai'ter and east half of said quarter, the southeast corner of said above-named half quarter, in compliance to an act of the General Assembly requiring us so to act. Approved January 19, 1829. Whereunto we have set our hands and seals this tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord, 1829.

When the site had been selected, as referred to in the above report, an order was made on the first day of June, 1S29, by the County Commissioners, directing the "laying off" of the town of Decatur, as follows:

" Ordered^ That Benjamin R. Austin, County Surveyor for the county of Macon, be and is hereby required to lay off the town of Decatur, in said county, after the form of Shelbyville, and make and return to one of the commissioners of this court, a complete plat of the same on or before the first day of July next,"

Under the above order the " old town " of Decatur was laid out and platted, which contained twenty acres. Its boundaries were : Prairie street on the north, Water street on the east. Wood street on the south, and Church street on the west, and was divided by Main street, running east and west, and by North Main street, running north and south. The " old town " remains substantially as platted, " after the form of Shelbyville," with the exception that Merchant street has been formed since, and some of the lots are divided so as to run north and south instead of east and west, as laid out.

By the act creating this county, the land upon which the Commissioners located the " seat of justice " was to be donated to the county. The land on which the county seat was located had not, in fact, been entered from the government at the time, but was afterwards entered by Parmenius Smallwood, Easton Whitton and Charles Prentice, and a deed was by them made to the County Commissioners, on the eighth day of October, 1831.

'-'-Ordered^ That a sale of lots take place in the town of Decatur, in this county, on the tenth day of July next, on the following terms, to-wit: K credit of twelve months will he given, and note with approved security will be required, and that the clerk of this court is recpiired to advertise the sale in the paper printed in Vandalia, until the day of sale."

" Ordered^ That for the purpose of raising a revenue to defray expenses of the county for the year 1829, that a tax of one-half per cent, be levied upon the following personal property, to-wit: On slaves and indentured or registered negro or mulatto servants; on pleasure carriages; on distilleries; on stock in trade; on all horses, mares, mules or asses, and neat cattle over three years old; and on w^atches, with their appendages, and on all other personal property except the lawful fire-arms of each individual."

'-'-Ordered^ That the tavern rates for this county shall hereafter be as follows, to-wit: For breakfast and horse fed, 37^ cents; keeping man and horse each night (the man to have supper and lodging), 631^ cents; dinner and horse fed, 37^ cents; brandy, rum, gin, wine or cordial, 35 cents per half pint; whisky, or cider brandy, 131^ cents per half pint."

This was also for the purpose of defraying the county expenses: No person was allowed to go into any sort of merchandising business without a license " first had and obtained " from the County Commissioners, for which a fee of from three to five dollars was charged. Ferries were established on the river, and license granted, and the rates of ferriage fixed by the court.

In connection with the organization of the county, a few things may be said in reference to its location, character of population, and commanding influence with reference to neighboring counties, etc. It is the geographical centre of the State - east and west, north and south. Its entire area is within the great corn-growing belt of Illinois, and it possesses a soil unsurpassed in rich and productive qualities. There is not an acre of it, scarcely, that is not susceptible of cultivation. Its population, composed, as it is, of emigrants from the east and south, in about an equal proportion, is a modification of the temperaments and sentiments of the two sections, possessing the extremes of neither. Politically, it has been Whig, Democratic and Republican, and never either way by a large majority. A just estimate of the political sentiment of Macon county has always been, almost without an exception, a true criterion of the sentiment of the State. As it has been in politics, so it has been in religion, in morality, in business. In the latter, we have never had the wealth of some other counties, nor the wild, reckless, speculating spirit of some others; but our business men have always been of the safe, conservative sort, that make gradual progress, and with that are satisfied, reference, of course, being here made to the general mass. We have never launched out into a system of public expenditures for this public improvement or that, not consistent with our actual wants and our ability to pay. We have no public city or county debt hanging over us and weighing us down to such an extent as to cripple our industries, and drive away our population. Our taxes are, and have always been medium, as compared with other counties in the State. Our improvements have been, for both county and city, just such as the public demands suggested. We have no court house at the present, it is true; but we have what satisfies the public in both economy and convenience, and have no one, two or three million dollar court house debt eating out the material prosperity of the. people. Our school houses are ample in size, well built, and constructed usually with a view to health, comfort and convenience, rather than show and splendor. We have kept on straight forward, as the crow flies, and have met with no reverses, such as have overtaken other counties. In peace we have been peaceful, maintained order, and had but little or no outlawry. In war we have been actuated by the dictates of true and genuine patriotism, and have done our whole duty. In the Black Hawk war we furnished 50 men; in the Mexi can war, 79; in the late war, a reference to Chapter IV of this work will satisfy everyone that Macon county was " in the fray." In the ranks we were not behind. Our Tuppers, Pughs, Oglesbys, Moores, Smiths, and a host of others were there. In education with but 1 8 persons in the county, between the ages of 12 and 21, who can neither read nor write, we have nothing to be ashamed of,. In crimes and misdemeanors our position is not unenviable. Smaller counties, with one-fourth our population, furnish more penitentiary convicts than we do.

Hence we say, for these reasons, and many others that might be mentioned in this connection, that while we are not boastful, and " have none of that other spirit that would drag angels down," vet we, as a county, can claim our share of whatever glory there may be in making Illinois one of the first States in the Union, in pros- - 4 perity, wealth and commanding influence. We arrogate to ourselves nothing but what justly belongs to us, but if it were possible to blot our State from existence, the shock would affect the commercial world from center to circumference.

Its Settlement

The first house erected within the present limits of Macon county was the "trading house," about eight miles north-east of Decatur, on premises belonging to Wm. C. Johns, Esq., which was a log structure, built by Lortons for the purpose of trading with the Indians. A thriving business was carried on by these men until 1825 or '6, when the Indians ceased to visit this part of the country, except in very small companies. Prior to that, from 200 to 500 Indians would sometimes be camped in the vicinity at once. The men were principally engaged in hunting, and would bring to Lortons whatever furs or other articles they had for exchange, and purchase powder, whisky, blankets, etc. The trading house was erected about the year 18 16. The Lortons were from St. Joe, Michigan, and returned to that place when the Indians left this part of Illinois. The second house erected in the present limits of Macon county was built by William Downing, near the present residence of Capt. D. L. Allin, on the south side of the Sangamon river. This was in fact the first residence, for the one built by Lortons was not intended as a permanent residence, but only for the purpose of trafficking with the Indians so long as they remained in the vicinity. Downing is said to have come into this vicinity for the purpose of trapping and gathering honey. He left the neighborhood of Vandalia in the spring of 1820, and built his cabin some time in the fall of that year. Downing remained here but a short time, and sold his "improvements" to John Ward, upon the latter's arrival in this vicinity. He then removed to Bond county, Illinois, where he lived a great many years. It is regretted that a more extended sketch of Downing cannot be given in this connection, but he was here but a few years, and there is, perhaps, but one man now living in the county who was here any portion of the time that Downing was; and it being over half a century since, he remembers but little of the old trapper and bee hunter.

Decatur. This became the nucleus of what was afterwaixls known as the Stevens' Settlement, which, with the Ward Settlement, on the south side of the river, were the only settlements within the present line of Macon county until about the year 1828, when people began to come into the county, and settle both up and down the river.

For an account of the early settlements made within what was then Macon, but which now constitutes Piatt county, we make the following extracts from a historical sketch of the latter county, read at Monticello on the Fourth of July, 1876, prepared by a committee consisting of William H. Piatt, Ezra Marquis and C. D. Moore, old and respected citizens of that county:

"Settlements commenced as early as 1833 - over half a century ago. The first known settler in the territory comprising Piatt county was George Hayworth, a Quaker from Tennessee, who, in 1833, located on a piece of land included in the present city limits of Monticello, and built the first cabin. This historic structure is still standing in Monticello, and is used for a stable. He was joined during the same year by a Mr. Daggett, who erected a cabin on a spot just north of Monticello, where N. E. Rhodes' barn now stands. On the following March, 1S34, Abraham Haneline, of Green county, Ohio, moved here with his sons, including Nathan, who is the oldest resident now living in the county. They located in the Sangamon timber, about four miles northeast of Monticello, at Coon's Spring. About the same time James and John Martin, from Virginia, built on Furnes' run, about a mile above the spring. The next year brought another settler by the name of York, who stopped near the mouth of Goose Creek. In 1S38 James A. Piatt, Sen.,* formerly of Ohio, but Fater of Indianapolis, Indiana, purchased the claim of Hayw^orth, and in April, 1839, moved upon the claim with his fomily. In the autumn of the same year, Jeremiah Terry settled on what is now the Piatt county fair grounds. In 1S31, Peter Souders, of Lee

*NoTE. - The James A. Piatt mentioned in the above extract, was for years a member of the County Commissioners' Court of Macon county, and was a very efficient and vakiable officer. The records show that he was seldom absent from the meetings of the court, though he was compelled to ride a distance of over twenty miles over roads that must have been almost impassable at times.

county, Virginia, moved his family to the northeast part of the county, in the Sangamon timber. Settlers now began to increase more rapidly, but the rich, rolling prairie, with all its fertility and beauty, seemed to have few charms as a dwelling place for these early settlers. Instead, they invariably selected some spot in the timber for their abiding place, and it was not long before the first settlers had neighbors in all the belts of timber that line the banks of the Sangamon, Okaw, Camp Creek, Goose Creek, Willow Branch and Madden's Run. Among the early settlers that followed close upon the heels of those already mentioned, were Abraham and Ezra Marquiss, of Ohio; George Widick, a Mr. Dillow, James Chambers of Kentucky; John Madden, John Argo, William Wright, Peter Croninger, I. V. Williams, Joseph Mallory, George Boyer, Samuel and Jacob Cline, Thomas Welch, John Bailey, George Evans, A. Rizor, Samuel Suver, John Hughes, A. J. Wiley, Luther and Joe Moore, William Monroe, Simon Shonkwiler, Daniel Stickel, and others."

We are also permitted to make the following extract from the history of DeWitt county, by Mr. W. L. Glessner, of Clinton, which was prepared for the Fourth of July celebration of the present year, and published in the Clinton Register of the yth of July, 1876. It will be remembered that the portions of DeWitt county 'referred to, constituted a part of Macon until 1839, so that all the settlements referred to were made in what was then Macon county, and are interesting as a part of Macon county history:

" The first settlers of DeWitt county, as near as I have been able to ascertain, were a party consisting of six persons: Zion Shugart, Edom ^hugart, their mother, Elisha Butler and his wife, and John Coppenbarger, of whom the only living member is Edom Shugart, who now resides at Marysville, Nebraska. This party arrived in what is now section seven, Tunbridge township (on what is known as the Emily Hayes farm), on the 29th day of October, 1824. They put up a hastily constructed log cabin, and made ready for the winter. During the winter of 1824, Nathan Vestal, with a large family, moved in and settled a short distance from the Shugarts, and in the following spring John Coppenbarger removed his family into the neighborhood, and thus was commenced the settlement of that portion of the territory of Illinois now known as DeWitt county. During the winter of 1824 a little girl of Nathan Vestal's died, and was buried on the hill near Emily Hayes' residence. As there was no lumber in the country, a coffin was made by splitting slabs out of trees and hewing them into shape. The nearest settlement to the Shugarts', at that time, was the residence of a man named Laughery, ten miles down Salt Creek, in what is now Logan county.

" Another settlement was made in what was called Fork Prairie, in the vicinity of the present town of Marion, in 1831 and '32, the fii-st settlers being Thomas R. Davis, James Morris, John Morris, Benjamin Lisenby, Alexander Dale, Josian Harp, Charles McCord and Hugh Davenport.

" The first settlement about Clinton was made by Joseph (or Josiah) Clion, in 1830. He erected a cabin on what is now known as the Paschal Mills farm, about one mile west of Clinton."

It is worthy of remark that the first who came here, as a general thing, commenced their improvements in the timber. But few, for a great many years, thought it advisable to attempt farming in the prairie. They at first were not satisfied that crops could be successfully cultivated there. It was almost the unanimous opinion that the large prairies never would be in a state of cultivation, but useful only for grazing purposes. Another obstacle was in the way for a good many years, and that was, there were no plows suitable for breaking the prairie land. The sod was very much tougher then than it was in after years when the stock had pastured the prairies and killed out the grass to some extent. It would be astonishing to many of our present residents to see the immense crops of prairie grass that in early days grew upon their present fields. It grew in places to the height of from six to twelve feet, and was " almost as thick," some of the old settlers say, " as the hair on a dog's back." It was these immense crops of grass that furnished the fuel for the terrible fires that swept over the prairies during the fall season of the year, and were so often productive of loss of life and property. And then, again, there was so much of the prairie land that was considered too wet to be ever suitable for cultivation. Thousands of acres that now constitute some of the best farms, in the highest state of cultivation, and possessing the very richest of soil, were condemned as swamp lands. The fact is that there is much of the land of Macon county that is now considered high and dry, or at least sufficiently so for all practical farming purposes, that was so wet that during a greater portion of the year il was absolutely dangerous to ride over it on horseback, for fear of miring. There was another drawback in the settlement of the prairies, and that was the great labor and cost of fencing. It is a well authenticated fact that the northern portion of Illinois might have been under a general state of improvement a great many years sooner than it was, but for the difficulty and great expense of fencing the farms. The Supreme Court of this State, at an early day, entertaining the idea generally prevailing, that our immense prairies would always remain commons, and used only for pasturing purposes, reversed the common law idea prevailing almost universally, in consequence of which every man was compelled to fence his entire farm so as to keep his neighbor's stock out, in order to protect his crop. It would have been much less expensive for each man to have protected himself against his own stock, than to have protected himself against the stock of the entire neighborhood. This decision of the Supreme Court, requiring stock to be fenced out instead of in, has been the most expensive decision to the people of Illinois of any other, perhaps, ever made. It has cost the farmers of Macon county, who entered their land of the government, more to build these fences and keep them in repair, by far, than the land cost, and all the necessary implements of husbandry. Our prairies would have been in a splendid state of cultivation long before they were, but for the inability of the people to build the necessary fences to protect their crops from destruction by the few cattle that were permitted to run at large and feed on the commons or speculator's land. One-tenth of the land that might have been in cultivation but for the expense of fencing, would have produced more than sufficient corn to have fattened all the hogs running at large merely for the sake of the fall masts. Another thing retarded the early settlement of the county to some extent, which was the fact of speculators and capitalists from the east coming into the county and buying up large tracts of the best and most available lands, and holding them for an advance in price occasioned by the development and improvement of the surrounding lands. Every person who came into the county to make it his home was welcomed. He was assisted in every possible way to induce him to become a resident. But the speculator, who brought nothing into the county, and did nothing whatever to develop the growth of the country by building or improvements of any kind, was not held in very high esteem by the residents generally. He bought his lands and paid the small annual assessments thereon, and waited for other people's labor and money to enhance the value of his investments. It should be mentioned, however, in this connection, that Philo Hale, who owned as much if not more land in Macon county than any one else, was an exception to the rule just stated. He owned large bodies of land in the county, but he came here and made this his home. He was one of the people. He induced others to come, and did all in his power to advance the material prosperity of the county. He published in the eastern papers flaming accounts of our rolling prairies, rich soil, etc., etc. The people of the county were often astonished at reading in the newspapers published in the eastern States, glowing accounts of large and enthusiastic mass meetings, at which Judge so and so presided, and Captain so and so acted as secretary, when and where resolutions were passed endorsing this or that local improvement, and expressing the gratitude of the people for the rapid progress in the construction of a railroad from Chicago to St. Louis or Chicago to New Orleans, or Vincennes to Nauvoo! Of course the meetings and the resolutions passed only existed in the mind of Mr. Hale, and, of course, the result to be accomplished was commendable, whether some of the means he resorted to were justifiable or not. Had he lived to old age, Mr. H. would have been instrumental in aiding immensely in the material advancement and improvement of the county.*

Another obstacle was also in the way of the rapid advancement of the country, and that was, the lack of markets for the produce raised, which continued until railroad facilities were oflfered by the opening of the great Western Railroad (now T., W. & W. R. R.), and the Illinois Central - the former in 1853, and the latter in 1S54. The hogs and cattle sold had to be driven overland to St. Louis, Chicago and other markets. There was no sale, of course, for

*NoTE. - He died about 1836, and was buried on the " Hale farm," in Mt. Zion township. His grave is said to be unmarked and neglected, although at the time of his death he owned thousands of acres of land in this county which has since become valuable!

corn - or comparatively none - and wheat, when hauled to Springfield, but very seldom realized over thirty-three cents per bushel, so that there was no impetus given to the raising of grain of any sort, except lor home consumption. But upon the construction of the railroads above mentioned, dividing the county into four quarters, a new era commenced in the history of Macon county. The fact is, that the day that the first train of cars ran into Decatur, is the day from which the material advancement of Macon county dates. That was the beginning of our improvements; that was the beginning of our settlement proper; that was the beginning of our agricultural development. It was the commencement of our manufacturing institutions; it was the commencement of the city of Decatur. According to the United States census for 1S50, the entire population of Macon county at that time was but 3,998. From 1S50 to 1870 - a period of twenty years - the population had increased to 26,481. In 1830, the year after the organization of the county, our population was but 1,132, so that the increase in population for the twenty years preceding the construction of our two leading railroads was but 2,876, and for the twenty years following was 22,483. In 1850 but a small portion of our prairies were in cultivation, but now they are a solid mass of farms, and many of them are in a splendid state of cultivation. There were in cultivation during the year 1876, 258,315 acres of land. But it must be remembered that this vast body of land now in cultivation, does not produce as much by onehalf as it is capable of under a judicious and systematic treatment, such as we find in some of the older states.

Another influence also operated in retarding the rapid settlement of the county during its early history, and that was what was variously styled the " ague," " chills and fever," and " Illinois shakes." It was a terror to newcomers. In the fall season of the year, like Brady's bitters, everybody took it. It was no respecter of persons; everybody shook with it, and it was in everybody's system. They all looked pale and yellow, as though they were frost-bitten. It was not contageous, but was a kind of mi^smi that floated around the atmosphere and was absorbed in the system. It kept on absorbing and accumulating from day to day, until the whole body corporate became charged with it as with electricity, and then the shock came; and the shock was a regular shake, with a fixed beginning and an ending, coming on each day, or each alternate day, with a regularity that was surprising. And after the shake, then came the fever, and this " last estate was worse than the first." It was a burning hot fever, and one that lasted for hours. When you had the chill you couldn't get warm, and when you had the fever you couldn't get cool. It was awkward in this respect. It was, indeed. It would not stop, either, for any sort of contingency. Not even a wedding in the family would stop it. It was imperative and exacting. When the appointed hour came around, everything else had to be stopped to attend to its demands. It didn't have any Sundays or holidays. After the fever went down, you didn't still feel much better. You felt as though you had gone through some sort of a collision, and came out not killed, but badly demoralized. You felt weak, as though you had run too far after something, and then didn't catch it. You felt languid, stupid and sore, and was down in the mouth and heel and partially raveled out, so to speak. Your back was out of fix, and your appetite was in a worse fix than that. Your eyes had more white in them than usual-, and altogether, you felt poor, disconsolate and sad. You didn't think much of yourself, and didn't believe other people did either. Your didn't care whether there was any school or not. You didn't think much of suicide, but at the same time you almost made up your mind that under certain circumstances it was justifiable. You imagined that even the dogs looked at you with a kind of self-complacency. You thought the sun had a kind of sickly shine about it. About this time you came to the conclusion that you would not take the whole State of Illinois as a gift, and picked up Hannah and the baby and your traps, and went back " yander" to Injeany, Ohio, or old Kaintuck.

The above is no picture of the imagination. It occurred in hundreds of cases. It put us in bad repute with our neighbors, and for that reason they refused to come and settle with us. Whole families would sometimes be sick at once, and not one member scarcely able to wait on t^ie others. And when an emigrant happened to *stop. in a neighborhood aflfectcd with this disease, he did not stay long.

Persons emigrating to the county usually selected their locations and commenced their improvements on government land, and waited until they were able to amass from the scanty resources enough to purchase the forty or eighty acres - as the case might be - at the sales at the land office at Vandalia. In the earlier days the government price of land was fixed at $1.25 per acre. Amusing incidents are related in connection with the races that were sometimes made by different persons desiring to enter the same piece of land. It was not unfrequent that men who had about exhausted their means in reaching the country, and had labored hard and undergone all sorts of privations in securing a comfortable home and other necessary improvements, and had, perhaps, a few acres of ground in cultivation - when they had at last obtained, by the strictest economy, or perhaps borrowed enough money, to purchase from the government their little forty-acre home, found that some speculator had preceded them and entered their land. It is said, however, that in some instances the speculator did not retain the improvements ; for, by some magical power or otherwise, in a remarkable short space of time almost, the identical improvements appeared at some other locality not far away, and having the same occupants.

The first piece of land ever entered in Macon county was the west half of the northeast quarter of section thirty-one, in township sixteen north, range two east of the third principal meridian, on the ninth day of November, 1827, by Lewis B. Ward. This was owned by Mr. Ward until the fall of 1876, when it was sold to Bartley G. Henry. There were about eight hundred acres of land entered during that year, and there is now probably not an acre of land in the county belonging to the government.