Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 6, 1882 (part 2 of 3)

Avood River Massacre

The most startling and cruel atrocity ever committed by the Indians within the limits of Madison county was the Wood River massacre, on the tenth of July, 1814, by which seven persons, one woman and six children, lost their lives. This tragedy took place in the forks of Wood river, between two and three miles east of the present Upper Alton. The victims were the wife and two children of Reason Reagan, two children of Abel Moore, and two children of William Moore.

At the beginning of the war of 1812-14, the citizens of the county, who lived at exposed locations on the frontier, sought refuge in _the forts and block-houses; but, as no Indians made their appearance and the Rangers were constantly on the alert, scouring the country to the north and east, the most began to feel su secure that in the summer of

1814 they returned to their farms and dwellings. There were .six, or eight families residing at that time in the forks of Wood river. The men were mostly absent from home in ranging service. At the residence of George Jloore on the east branch of Wood river, a block-house had been built to which the women and children could flee .should danger be apprehended.

The massacre occurred on a Sabbath afternoon. Reagan had gone two, or three miles from home to attend church, leaving his wife and two children at the house of Abel Moore, which was about a mile distant from where he lived, and half-way between his house and the block-house. About four o'clock in the afternoon ^Irs. Reagan started back to her own dwelling, intending to return to Abel Moore's in a short time. She was accompanied by her own two children, and the four children of Abel and William Moore. A little afterward two men of the neighborhood pa.ssed along the road, in an opposite direction to that taken by Mrs. Reagan. One of them heard at a certain place, a low call, as of a boy, which he did not answer, and for a repetition of which he did not delay.

When it began to grow dark uneasiness was felt at the absence of the Moore children, and William Moore came to Abel Moore's, and not finding them there passed on toward Reagan's, while his wife started in a direct line, not following the road, for the same place. William Moore now came back with the startling information that some one had been killed by the Indians. He had discovered a human body lying on the ground which by reason of the darkness and his haste, he was unable to identify.

The first thought was to find a refuge in the block-house ! Mr. Moore desired his brother's family to go by the road directly to the fort, while he would pa.=s by his own house and take his own family with him, but the night was dark, the road passed through a heavy forest, and the women and children chose to accompany William Moore though the distance to the fort, by the road only one mile, was thereby nearly doubled. The feelings of the party, as they groped their way through the dark woods, may be more easily imagined than described. Sorrow fur the supposed loss of relatives and children, was mingled with horror at the manner of their death, and fear for their own safety. Silently they passed on till they came to the dwelling of William Moore, when he exclaimed, as if relieved from .some dreadful apprehension, " Thank God, Polly is not killed!" The horse which his wife had ridden was standing near the house.

As they let down the bars and gained admission to the yard, his wife came running out, exclaiming, " They are killed by the Indians, I expect. " The whole party then departed hastily for the block-house, to which place, all the neighbors, to whom warning had been communicated by signals, gathered by daybreak.

It has been mentioned that Mrs. William Moore, as well as her husband, had gone in search of the children. Passing by different routes, they did not meet on the way, nor at the place of the slaughter. Mrs. Moore who was on horseback, carefully noted, as she went, every discernible object till at length she saw a human figure, lying near a log. There was not sufficient light to tell the size, or sex, of the person, and she called over agaiu and again the name of one and another of her children, supposing it to be one of them asleep. At length she alighted, and examined the object more closely. Wh it must have been her sensations as she placed her hand upon the back of a naked corpse, and felt, on further examination, the quivering flesh from which the scalp had recently been torn ? In the gloom of the night she could indistinctly see the figure, of the little child of Mrs Reagan's sitting so near the body of its mother as to lean its head, first one side, then the other, on the insensible and mangled body, and as she leaned over the little one, it said - " The black man raised his axe and cutted them again." She saw no further, but thrilled with horror and alarm, hastily remounted her frightened horse, and quickly hurried home where she heated water, intending by that means, to defend herself from the savage foe.

There was little rest that night at the fort. The women and children of the neighborhood, with the few men who were not absent with the Rangers, crowded together, not knowing but that at any minute the Indians might begin their attack. Seven were missing, and the bodies of these lay within a mile, or two, mangled and bleeding in the forest. At three o'clock in the m )rniug a messenger was dispatched with the tidings to Fort Russell.

At dawn of day tlie scene of the tragedy was sought and the bodies gathered for burial. They were buried the same day, in three graves, carefully dug, with boards laid beneath, beside, and above the bodies. There were no men to make the coffins.

"The Indians had built a large fire, and also blazed the way to make the whites think that there was a large pirty. The news soon spread, and it was not long before Gen. Whiteside, with nine others, gave pursuit. Among the number were James Preuitt, Abraham Preuitt, James Stockden, Wm. Montgomery, Peter Wagoner and others, whose descendants now live in Moro and AVood River. The weather was extremely hot, and some of their horses gave out and fell beneath their riders. Gen. Whiteside gave out entirely. His orders was to keep up the pursuit. It was on the second day in the evening, that they came in .sight of the Indians, on the dividing ridge of the Sangamon river. There stood at that time a lone cotton-wood free on the ridge, and this several of the Indians had climbed to look back. They saw their pursuers, and from that tree they separat.d and went in ditterent directions, all making for the timber- When the whites c^me to the spot where the Indians had divided, they concluded to divide and pursue the Indians separately. James Preuitt and Abraham took the trail of one of the Indians. James Preuitt having the fastest and best horse, soon came within sight of his Indian. He rode up to within thirty yards of him and shot him in the thigh. The Indian fell, but managed to get to a tree top that was blown down. Abraham Preuitt soon came up, and they concluded to ride in on the Indian and fiui h him, which they did by Abraham shooting and killing him where he lay. In his shot-pouch was found the scalp of Mrs. Regan. The Indian raised his gun, but was too weak to fire.

and had also lost his flint, or perhaps he might have killed one of the pursuers. The rifle is supposed to be in the hands of the Preuitt family yet. It was somewhere near where Virden now stands that the party came upon them. The Indians hid in the timber and in a drift in the creek. Night coming on is all that saved them. It was ascertained at the treaty afterwards at G.ileua that only Indians escaped, and that wa.s the chief The Indians bled themselves on account of the heat to prevent them from fainting. Solomon Preuitt, who was not in the pursuit, assisted in the burial of Mrs. Reagan and the children. He hauled them in a little onehor.se sled to the old burial ground south of Bethalto, where a simple stone marks their last resting place. There is also buried in the same burying ground an Indian girl who was captured by Abraham Preuitt during one of the campaigns in the war of 1812. The Indians had been pursued into the Winnebago Swamps, and Abraham Preuitt hearing firing in a distant part of the swamp concluded to go and see what was the matter. On nearing the spot he found Davis Carter and one other firing at the little Indian child who was mired and could not get out. He called them cowards and ordered them to cease firing at a helpless child. Preuitt went into the swamp and rescued the child and brought it home with him. She lived to the age of fifteen, being about six years old at the time of capture. She was always of a wild nature." *

Citizens Of The C'Ovnty In 1815

A " list of persons subject to road labor," preserved in the county records, gives, doubtless, the names of the great portion of the adult male resi.lents of the county at that time.f

Oq the " public road leading from Edwardsville by Thomas Good's to Samuel Judy's." These lived south of Edwardsville in the present Edwardsville township: - William Sherone, John Robertson, sr., John Robertson, jr , James Robertson,! Andrew Black, Charles Gillham, Francis Kirkpatrick, William Gillham, Thomas Good, James Good, Ezekiel Good, William Tilford, Josias Randle, James Watson, Richard Wright, Joshua Dean, William Courtney (17).

On the " public road, leading from the New Bridge on Cahokia creek near Edwardsville to where the said road crosses Indian creek." These lived north-west of Edwardsville: - Thomas Kirkpatrick, John Kirkpatrick, John Newman, John Stout, Upton Smith, Richard Standford, Josiah Vaughan, William Mmtgomery, James Gillham, Andrew Dunagan, Ryderus Gillham, Ephraim Davidson, Joseph White, John Hewitt, John Springer, John Fullmore, Silas Beasley, Field Bradshaw, Jonas Brad haw, Obadiah Bradshaw, William Lawle-s, Rowland Heritt, Michael Dodd.

Ou the " public road leading from Edwardsville to Isom Gillham's bridge on Cahokia cretk," James Kirkpatrick overseer: - Benjamin Stedmans, Beniah Roberson,J John McKinney, Henry Bonner, John W. Wright, Jamfs

Oa the 'public road leading from Cahokia to the Indian Ford on C ihokia creek." These resided in the American Bottom in the southeastern part of the county: - Uel Whiteside, William B. Whiteside, James Reynolds, Robert Reynolds, jr, Thomas Reynolds, Joshua Vaughan, Elisha Alexander, Joseph Wallace, Henry Cook, Hiram Arthur, Cornelius Folly, Ambrose Nix, William Cox, John Crawford, Samuel Judy, Jacob Judy, Robert Folly, Thomas Smith, Francis Cohue, John Cook, Philip Hewson, Peter Hubbard, George Belsha, (23).

Ou the public road beginning at David Moore's old place (on Cahokia and Indian Ford road) and ending at the bridge on Cantine creek : - David Lloyd, Thomas Moore, Michael Squire, William Winkfield, Gearge Sadler, John Sadler, Stephen Sadler, William Robb sr , Andrew Robb,

On the public road from Isom Gillham's ferry on the Mississippi to Indian creek, where the public road crosses said creek leading to Edwardsville : - Isaac Gillham, Samuel Gillham, Harry Gillham, David Gillham, Jacob C. Gillham, Samuel Brown, Samuel Stockton, John Fiuley, John Powell, Joseph LeH()U3e, Gherson Patterson, Ethan Meacham, Willeritt Meacham, Bart Meacham, Joseph JleFaggin, William Ryon, Thomas Cox, Hezekiah Crozby, Joseph Meacham, Daniel Stockton, (20).

What is known as the upper r.jad running from Edwardsville to Alton was laid out in 1817. and the following are the names of persons then living within two miles of the road, who assisted in its opening. The names begin with those residing near Edwardsville, the eastern terminus: William Jones, John Newman, Zadoc Newman, Joseph Newman, David Robinson, John Green, William Robinson, Samuel Delaplane, Joshua Delaplane, John Delaplane, Sr., John Delaplane, jr., William Ottwell, Jesse Bill, George I Davidson, William Lawless, William Sharone, Thomas

Shockley, James Swinerton, A. Patton, old Mr. Beeman, S. Beeman, John Finley, Hezekiah Crosby, Mr. Huff, Thonuis Johnson, ;Mr. Tongate, K. Carter, James Prewitt, A Prewitt, James Stogdon, John Danley, William Rowden, Pa'rick Mofall and Robert Sellers This road was viewed and located by Thomas G Davidson, John Wallace and Abraham Prickett.

Subsequent Settlements

After the war of 1812-14 was ended, the settlements in the ounty rapidly incraaseil. A treaty of peacs with the Indian tribes of the Northwest was concluded in October 1815. Emigrants from older States, who had been deterred from coming to Illinois by reason of the Indian hostilities, now poured into the country, and soon took possession of the hitherto unsettled parts of the county.

In the year 1813, Major Isaac H. Ferguson built the first house ever erected on the Marine prairie, but after building it, did not dare to live there for some time on account of the hostile Indians. ISIaj )r Ferguson is spoken of by an old resident as the noblest pioneer of Madison county, a man of fine native talent, and as brave as Julius Ciiisar. He fought the Indian race in Illinois, and ended his life fighting under Gen. Scott, as an oflicer in the United States army in Mexico.

Permanent settlements in the Marine prairie were made in 1813 and 181-t by John Warwick, John Woods, George Newcome, Isaac Ferguson, Joseph Furguson, Absolom Ferguson, Aquilla D olahide, Abraham Howard and Joshua Dean. In 1815, the settlements were increased by the arrival of Chester Pain, Thomas Breeze, Richard Winsor, John Campbell and John Giger ; and in the following year came Henry Scott, John Lord, James Simmons, Henry Peck, Andrew Matthews, Sr., and Andrew Matthews, Jr , Lefl^brd, French, James French, and Abram Carlock. In lnl7, there were no new settlements, but in 1818 and succeeding years the arrivals were very numerous.

A colony, among which were Rowland P. Allen, Elijah Ellison, and their families, arrived at Edwardsville in December, 1817, and in 1818, Allen and Ellison came to the ]\Iarine settlement. Among the arrivals in 1819 were Capt. George C. Allen, Capt. Curtis Blakeman, Capt. James Breath, Capt. De Selhorst, Capt. David Mead and their families. These men had seen years of service on the ocean, and had come to the West to engage in agriculture, and rear their families. They came from New England, New York and New Jersey. The circumstances of their settling here gave to the prairie, and the village when it was founded, the name of Marine. The Judd family also settled here in 1819, as did James Sacket, a native of Connecticut. Capt. Curtis Blakeman was one of the leading men of this colony. He came with considerable wealth while the others from the east had been mostly driven to Illinois either by poverty, or a desire to retrieve a fortune lost by commercial reverses. He was a candidate for county commissioner in 1820 and was elected to represent the county in the legislature in 1822. For a number of years he filled the office of justice of the peace. His son, Curtis Blakeman, was a prominent citizen of the county, and was elected a representative in the legislature in 1842. The wife of

John L. Ferguson was the daughter of Curtis Blakeman, Sr. Major Ferguson, and the older settlers, coming as they did, from the heavily timbered counties of Kentucky and Tennessee, all made clearings in the edges of the forest, and there bui't and lived. Rowland P. Allen was one of the first to build in the prairie, and was laughed at for his willingness to haul building material, fencing, and fire wood so far, a distance of half a mile. But in a few years the older pioneers realized the advantages of a residence on the prairie, and began themselves to leave the gloom of the woods, and come out into the sunshine.

Mrs. Elizabeth Randle with a family of nine children, seven sons and two daughters, the youngest of whom was Irwin B. Randle, now a resident of Edwardsville, removed from Stewart county, Tennessee, to this county in the fall of 1814, and the next year settled a couple of miles southeast from Edwardsville.

Among the early settlers in the neighborhood of Troy were William F. Purviauce, John Jarvis, and Robert Mc- Mahan. Purviance was born in North Carolina, came to Illinois in 1809. After coming to this county he lived in the neighborhood of Troy, till his death in 1820. He was the last surviving member of the first grand jury ever convened in Madison county. Robert McMahan was born in Virginia, and at an early day emigrated to Lexington, Kentucky. He came to Illinois, and settled in the New Design, in the present county of Monroe. His wife and four children 'were killed by the Indians, and he and a daughter taken prisoner. He died near Troy in 1822.

Note. - Several accounts liavs been published of the murder of the meraber-5 of McMahan's family and bis capture by tbe Indians, but ibe following, from tbe pen of George Churcbill, a neighbor of Mc- Mahan in Ridge Prarie, is the mo.st correct :

"Tbe settlers being apprehensive of attacks from straggling parties of Indians, Mr McMahan, in 1794, resided in a house of Mr. James Lemjn, Sr., near tbe station in Mmroe county. In the simi vicinity resided Mr. Peter Casterline and Mr. Benjamin Ogle. But desiring to improve the land which he had selicted for bis farm, and hoping to escape an attack, or to repel it if made, he afterwards removed to his improvement in the prairie, about three miles from the station, and out of sight of any house.

" He made preparations to defend himself and foraily against an attack. He bad a rifle, and only a week before the tragedy, he run two hundred rifle balls. He also bad a blunderbuss charged with six charges of powder and nine balls. " When you hear the report of any biundirbuss ! ' said he to his friends at the station, " you may be certain ibat I am attacked." The door of bis hou.se was so constructed that it might be strongly barred, and first holes were made in the walls through which be might shoot any who should attempt to asicend to ibe roof. On the fatal twenty si.xth of January, 1795, Mr. Mc- Mahan went out to hunt for his oxen, when he perceived that his horse, which was confined in a pen, appeared to be frightened. He cast bia eye over the prarie in every direction, but saw no enemy. "

" A lone hickory tree, one hundred and fifty yards from his house, had been blown down tbe year before while in full leaf, thus affording a convenient hiding place for an attacking party : but unfortunately Mr. McMahan did not think of there being a deadly enemy ensconced within that convenient covert. '

" He entered bis house, but had not been there more than two or three minut&s, when four Indians, frightfully painted black and red, entered the bouse, two by two, saying ' Bon jour! Ion jour .' (good dav ! good dav) !' Thev stood motionless a few seconds, when one of them attempted to take down Mr. McMahan's rifle from tbe hook, and Mr. McMahan took down his bliniderbuss; but bis wife took hold of it, and begged her husband not to resist, as she hoped their lives might be spared, if they submitted peaceably, but otherwi.^e they would be killed. The Indians then seized tbe blunderbus-i and wrenchtd it from bis bands. Every one then made for the door. Mrs. McMahan run half way round the house, when she was shot in the left breast, and scalped. Mr. McMahan was then pulled back into the house, thrown on the floor, and his hands pinioned close behind him, with deer sinews. Sally McMahan, his eldest daughter, then less than nine years old, remained in tbe house and saw one of the Indians knock her brother and two of her sisters in tbe head with tbe poll of his tomahawk. It was a light blow, only sufficient to stun them. This Indian was proceeding to open tbe cradle where lay a female infant, only one month old, when Sally ran out of the house, and once around it when she was also seized by him. '

" Tbe Indian who committed tbe murder was sujiposed to be of the Miami tribe. Tbe other three were Pu-taw-wabs as they call themselves, or as they are commonly called by the whites, Poltowatomies. "

" Three of the children were scalped. It was said that the infant was not scalped, but my informant stated that the Indians displayed five scalps when they camped at night, and they supposed they took two scalps from tbe head of one of tbe murdered children, and left the infant unscalped. It has also been stated that the infant was unhurt and died of starvation ; but my informant learned from a woman who was present at the burial, that there was a gash in its cheek. ''

" Tbe Indians took from the bouse such articles as they wanted, packed a part of them upon Mr. McMahan, one of whose hinds was untied, so that he might carry his load: and with their captives, left in haste for their home in the northeast part of Illinois. Mr. McMahan meditated an escape, but did not make known his intention to his daughter. Tbe first night of the journey he saw no chance of escape, as tbe Indians had tied him very securely, and had taken away his sho.s and bat and part of his clothes. But during tbe second night, be quietly slipped oft" the cords from his limbs and body, and was about to rise when be perceived that one of the Indians wis awake. Waiting till the Indian was again asleep, he made his escape, after trying in vain to get possession of his shoes. In the dead of winter, without shoes, without food, and with scanty clothing, he left bis daughter with her captor.s, and endeavored to make his way to the New Design. He lay out one cold night, making his bed of leaves under a large fallen tree, which was held up frum tbe ground by its branches. He was partially frozen, but the next morning resumtd his journey. He now had the pleasure of meeting a friend in the person of Col. Samuel Judy, who gave him the necessary directions, which he pursued, and reached his home just after his wife and four children had been committed by their sympathizing neighbors, to one common grave. He prostrated himself upon the grave exclaiming, ' They were lovely in their lives, and in their deaths they were not divided!

Tbe massacre took placeon Monday, and the burial on tbe succeeding Friday. \ small dog belonging to Mr. McMahan daily visited the residence of Mr. James Lemen, sen., and endeavored, by whining to inform the people of what had happened to his master's families. But for several days they did not comprehend the dog's message. One authority says not until old Mr. Judy had discovered the dead bodies, and reported tbe fact at the station. "

'Let ns now rv turn to the Indians and their remaining captive. They i)ur6ued their course, and reacbid tbe home of the Putawwabs southwest of Lake Michigan. Sally McMahan was here transferred to an Ottawa Indian, who had become a chief of the Putawwabs and whose wife was a sister of the three Putawwabs who had been concerned in the massacre. The name of this chief was Sukkonok, which being translated means Blackbird ; but among tbe whites he went by tbe name of Leturneau. Here the Indian women cultivated their gardens and " truck patches, " with a neatness worthy of commendation and imitation, not permitting a solitary weed to grow therein. "

John Jarvis was a Virginian \<y birth. He came to Illinois at au early date, and from 1806 to 1813 lived at Turkey Hill, the first American settlement formed within the present county of St. Clair. He came to JIadison county in 1813, and there ended his life if usefulness. Many of his descendants still live in that part of the county. In the diary of Rowland P. Allen, occurs the following passage, written in 1817, on his journey to Illinois: "On Monday, December 22d, to our aslouishraent, drove seventeen and a half miles this day. Put up at night at Troy with a Mr. Jarvis, a very fine man, where we saw the first real marks of civilization sinre we left Shawneetown. Previous to retiring for the night, ^Ir Jarvis gathered his family and the strangers around the family altar, read a chapter from the Bible, sang a hymn, and offered up to Almighty God, a most feeling, excellent, and appropriate prayer." Jlr. Jarvis, in 1816, built a band mill, which was a great convenience to thepefiple of that part of the county. His memory is perpftuated in the name of Jarvis township.

Jesse Renfro, who is still living in the vicinity of Troy, is one of the oldest residents of the southern part of the county He was born iu Kentucky in 1796, and his father James Renfro, removed with the family to Illinois in 1810. In the spring of 1811 his father settled in township three, range eight, and died iu 1814 while on a visit to Kentucky.

"In 1795, General Antliony Wavne, sometimes called 'Mad Anthony,' obiaiucd a great victory over the Indians in Ohio. This was followed by the Treaty of Greeneville, by which the Indians engaged to bring into the white settlements all the captives in their ()o.sses.sion. In accordance with the stipulation, in April, 1790, Sukkonok look Sally McMahan down the Illinois and Mississippi, in a ciinoe, and landed at Cahokia, and delivered her to the white people. It being court time a great many people were present. Sukkonok ra.ide a speech to lliem in which he said that he had no hand in the massacre, had paid a considerable sum for the captive, and had brought her a great distance into the white .settlements. He therefore appealed to the liberality and sense of justice of the white people to makt him just compensation. A subscription paptr w.as dta«n up, and circulated, and one hundred and sixty-four dollars subscribed, and that amount in goods was advanced to Sukkonok by Mr. Arundel, a merchant of Cahokia.

Bill, ' a .slave of Mr. Marney, of the .\uierican Bottom, was a few weeks after the massacre of Mr. McMalian's family carried away captive by two of the Indians engaged in that transaction together with two other Indians. Bill was never restored to his friends; but it was reported that he was poisoned by his mistress, to prevent his restoration according to the treaty of Greeneville. "

''Kobert McMahan married a second wife, and raised a large family. He resided many years in Ridge prairie, southwest of Troy, and died in the year 1822, aged sixty-three years."

" Sally McMahan was born March 9tli, 178-5; was married to Mr. David Gaskill, and raised a large family. She lived in Ridge prairie, during the greater portion of her life. Towards the close of her life fhe rimoved to the city of Alton, where she died on the 23d of January, 1860, in the sixty-fourth year of her age. To her I am imlebted for such of the facts stated in this memoir as occurred in her pre.'^ence."

In Gov. Reynolds' account of the above transaction it is stated that tuo daughters of Mr. McMahan were led away captive, and no mention is made of Mr. McMahau's preparations for defense. It is evident, however, that if he had seen the Indians before they entered liis house, he could have defended himself successfully until the report of his blunderbuss would have brought him assistance from the station.

Jesse Renfro was married in 1817 and settled a short distance east of the present town of Troy where he has since lived. After a married life which extended over the unusually long period of si.xty-five years, his wife departed this life in the spring of 1882.

William Hall became a resident of the ( re.sent Jarvis township in 181.5. James Watt, who came to Illinois from Green county, Kentucky, settled three miles south of Troy iu 1817. For nearly sixty years he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died iu December. 1861. George Churchill made his home on the Ridge prairie west of Troy, in 1817, and was one of the most meritorious aud deserving citizens the county ever had. He was born at Hubbardton, Rutland county, Vermont, in 1789. He learned the printing business iu Albany, Xew York, and afterward worked as a journeyman in Xew York city, and then came AVest by way of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville and .Shawneetown, from the last-named place proceeding on foot to Kaskaskia. A view of the Illinoi.'i prairies made him resolve to become a farmer, aud he entered laud in township three, range seven, on which he lived till he died. He was a close student, a writer of fine ability, and a man who paid great attention to exactness of detail and the collection of historical data. He had amassed a large quantity of valuable matter concerning the early history of the county and this part of the state, but his papers were unfortunately destroyed in the great fire at Chicago, to which place they had been sent after his death. His habits were somewhat eccentric, and he never married. He was several times chosen a member of the Legislature and ane of the warm oj)ponents of the movement for the introduction of slavery into the state in 1824.

Joseph Eberman was one of the first settlers on the site of Troy, and the first Justice of the Peace in that part of the County. Calvin and Horatio JlcCray, natives of Connecticut, settled near Troy iu 1816 or 1817, and brought the first infusion of "yankee" blood to a settlement the previous members of which had been almost entirely of southern origin. James and Harry Riggin came to this part of the country in 1818, and the next ytar James Riggin and David Hendershott laid off the town of Troy. John C. Riggin, a brother to James and Harry, followed in 1822. The Riggius were natives of Sevier county, Tennessee.

Jacob Gonterman, who was born in Maryland iu 1764, aud from his native state removed to Shelby county, Kentucky, came to Illinois in 1816 and settled in township four, range eight. Soon after his arrival he dug a well on his farm, which faithfully served the people of that neighborhood for many years. James Pearce made au improvement in this part of the county in 1815. The Rev. Thomas Ray, a Baptist preacher, came in 1818, Alvis Hauskins in 1819, aud John M inter and Mathias Handlon at an early period. The Fruit family was one of the earliest to settle in this part of the county.

Laban Smart, a North Caroliuian and a soldier in the Revolutionary war, emigrated from Chatham county. North Carolina, to Kentucky in 1806, and thence to Madison county, Illinois, iu 1816. He settled in township four, range eight.

and Smart's prairie was named from the circumstance of the settlt'inent of the family in that part of the county. Henry B. Smart, his son, was sixteen years of age when his father came to this county, and for many years was a resident of Smart's prairie, where he died on the twentythird of January of 1882.

John Giger, a Pennsylvania German, became a citizen of township three, range six, in 1816, as also did Gilmore Anderson, William Faires, John Herrin, Nicholas Kyle and William Parkinson. Anderson came from Bourbon county, Kentucky. John Herrin gave his name to Herrin's grove. In 1817 there were two arrivals from Tennessee, Philip Searcy and Wesley Dugger. The latter built a horse-mill and kept a store. He had served under Gen. Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. Henry Burton Thorp, a native of Connecticut, came in 1819, and Washington Parkinson in 1818. John Howard, one of the fixmily which made the pioneer settlement east of Silver creek, near the present town of Highland, was the first Justice of the Peace in township three, range six. He was a member of the first legislature after the organization of the state government.

In 1813 Abner Kelly and Josiah, William, Andrew, and John W^allace made settlements under ihe blufl' in township three, range eight. The Wallace family finally moved to Missouri. As early as 1814 Michael Squire settled near Collinsville, and John Williamson came to the same part of the county in 1819. David Morgan, William Combs, Abraham Claypole, and several of the Muirheid family, made their hnnies in the present Collinsville township previous to the year 1820. Stephen Johnson, who became a citizen of Collinsville in 1829, came to the county in 1818.

William Montgomery came from Kentucky to St. Louis in 1809, and in 1814 made his home in Madison county. After living three years in Fort Russell township, he removed to Wood River township. Mrs. Anna Collet, with her three sons, John W., Robert, and Mark Collet, in 1817, came to Illinois from the city of Philadelphia, and settled at the old town of Milton, on Wood river. Thomas Lippincott, in 1818, became a citizen of Milton, where he opened a store and carried on the mercantile business in partnership with Rufus Easton, of St. Louis, the founder of the city of Alton. Mr. Lippincott was born at Salem, New Jersey, in 1791, and in 1817 started for the AVest, arriving in St. Louis in February, 1818. Milton proved an unhealthy place. About 1821 Mr. Lippincott removed to Edwardsville, of which place he was a resident for some time. He died at Pana in 1869. The town of Milton had been founded at an early date, perhaps about 1809. John Wallace and Walter Seely were largely interested in the place in 1818. At that date it contained three mills, two saw-mills, and a grist mill. Besides the store there was also a distillery and a tavern. Joel Bacon was proprietor of the tavern. Wallace, in an advertisement in the Edwardsville Spectator, de.scribes the steam distillery as "a valuable property, calculated to work twenty-five bushels a day." The dam thrown across Wood river to furnish power to the mills seems to have generated a miasma, which rendered the place undesirable for habitation. Sickness was prevalent, and the deaths many. The town declined, but its history should be perpetuated for the one reason, at least, that here was organized by Thomas Lippincott, in 1819, the first Sunday-school in Illinois.

In the "Geographical Sketches of the Western Country," written by E. Dana, and published in 1819, appears the following reference to Milton and to the Six mile prairie :

"Two miles from Alton, at the place called Wallace Mills, on Wood creek, which empties into the Mississippi, is the little town of Milton, on the route from Alton, by Edwardsville to Vincennes. This place contains about fifty houses. The creek here drives both a grist and saw mill, each of which does a large business. The soil extending from this town to St. Louis, twenty-four miles, is mostly excellent, being all bottom lands, except the Six mile prairie, which is one and a half miles wide, surrounded by trees of a handsome growth. The greater part of the last described tract is cjvered with settlements made since the United States acquired a right to the soil. A peculiar disease among the cattle prevails here, which the people call milk-sick, that produces in beasts strange tremulous motions, and so strongly affects them as often to prove mortal. Nowhere, except at this place and about the mouth of the Missouri, has this disease made its appearance. The milk of cows thus affected has proved injurious, and sometimes mortal to those who drink it."

A colony, among which were Isaac Braden, Valentine Kinder, the Hawk, and other families, settled in township three, range nine, in 1817. They came from Pennsylvania, making the voyage down the Ohio, from Wheeling, Virginia, to Shawnee! own bj' flat boat, and thence to St. Louis by keel boat. About 1815, John Anthony, of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, built the first house on the site of Venice, and entertained travellers in a single-room house built of cotton-wood logs. He also hired skiffs to persons wishing to cross the river - a fore-runner to the regular horse-ferry established between Venice and St. Louis in 1826.

In township six, range nine (Fosterburg), the first settlements were made about 1816, by Joseph S. Reynolds and Orman Beemau, who resided there till 1822. Settlers by the name of Honeycutt and Dubbs gave their names to the streams known by that appellation. Mrs. McAfee and her family lived here for a few years subsequent to 1816, and then removed to Greene county. W^illiain R. Rhodes began making an improvement in 1818, which three years later he sold to Joshua Wood. Jacob Deck came in 1820, and became a permanent citizen. His brothers, John and Isaac Deck, settled in the same neighborhood. Green W^. Short, a Tennesseean, removed to this township in 1820, having previously lived two years in Wood river township. James Dooling, a native of Ireland, who came to the state in 1818, settled in this township in 1821, and Oliver Foster in 1825.

Ger:rhom Flagg came to the county in the spring of 1818. He was born in Vermont in 1792. He served with the Vermont troops in the war of 1812-14. He started for the West in 1816, and spent the winter of 1816-17 in Ohio. The following summer he came down the Ohio, in a small flatboat, to the mouth of the river, and thence journeyed by land to St. Louis. He there assisted in painting the first steamboat that ever reached St. Louis. In the spring of 1818 he began making an improvement on section three, of township five, range eight, where he resided till his death. A number of letters written by him to relatives in Vermont are still preserved. In one he says, speaking of Illinois : "I will only say it is the handsomest and best country that I have ever seen. In places there is prairie as far as the eye can reach, covered with tall grass higher than a man's head" These letters show that he was a man of keen observation and good ability. His son, Willard C. Flagg, born in 1829, became one of the most distinguished citizens of the county.

Gaius Paddock settled near Mr. Flagg the same year. He was a native of Massachusetts, and was born in 1758. He entered the colonial army at the commencement of the Revotionary war, then seventeen years old, and served till its close. He wa-s in Washington's command at the time he made the crossing of the Delaware and captured the British force at Trenton. He removed from Vermont to Cincinnati in 1S15, to St. Charles, Missouri, in 1816, and the next year to St. Louis. He died in 1831. John Springer became a resident of this part of the county in 1814; he served in the war of 1812-14, and was a lieutenant in Captain Jones' company. He raised a large family of children, and was for years one of the prominent men of his section. The Springers have always been among the leading citizens of the county - further mention of them is made elsewhere iu this work.

Another old and well known family, whose several members became prominent and distinguished citizens in the history of this county, was that of David Gillespie, the father of Matthew and Joseph Gillespie. He was born, reared, and married in County M )naghan, Ireland, and emigrated to New York in 1807, where he resided until 1818, when with his family he removed to Madison county, Illinois. Here he lived until 1834, when he went to Wisconsin, and there died. The family were of Scotch origin, but settled in the North of Ireland in the year 1688. An uncle of David G llespie emigrated to America previous to the Revolutionary war, and settled in Virginia, from whom the persons of that name throughout the Southern States have descended. From tradition we learn that the Gillespies were a branch of the clan of the Campbells, and that their original habitation was in the Highlands of Scotland. David's family consisted of the parents and two children, Matthew and Joseph, who were born in New York city. He Wiis a man of good common sense and honesty. He had no ambition but to make a living for himself and family, and transmit to his children a reputation for integrity. He disliked the dealings of the English Government with Ireland, and early in lil'e determined to make America his home. His wife Sarah, the mother of Matthew and Joseph, was a woman of remarkable strength of character, and endeavored to inspire her sons with an ambition to rise in the world, and availed herself of every opportunity to procure books for iheni from which to obtain information. Schools in early days in Illinois were verv limited. She was a deadlv foe to the institution of thorough Whig in politics, and her two sons took their ideas from her in that regard. The two sous of David and Sarah Gillespie ever remained firm and true exponents of the principles of the Whig and Republican parties; patriotism and loyalty to the principles of liberty were the standard by which they measured their p.ilitical conduct. They assisted in the formation of the Republican party in Illinois - and the venerable Joseph Gillespie, who is still living, U one of the well known men of the state. Further mention is made of them elsewhere in the work.

Daniel A. Lanterman, one of the early residents of Fort Russell township, was born in Pennsylvania, of Dutch ancestry, in the year 1786. His father moved with the family to Fayette county, Kentucky, iu 1788. Mr. Lanterman came from Kentucky to Illinois in 1818, and taught school two years near the Baptist church on section eighteen, of township five, range eight. In 1821 he settled on the adjoining section, nineteen. At that time there lived in that neighborhood, John Springer, Ephraim Wood, Lowe Jackson, William .Montgomery, John Drum, Sjlomou Preuitt, and Jacob Liuder, whohad settled in that vicinity in 181-5 or 1816, and had removed to Greene county. Beside the Rev. William Jones, another William Jones lived in section twentynine. William Green lived in the neighborhood, but in 1821 went to Greene county. His place was purchased by a Kentuckian named Norman, who likewise stayed only a short time. AVilliam, James and Abraham Preuitt lived along the blufl' in that part of the county.

When Mr. Lanterman came through Edwardsville on the nineteenth of December, 1818, there were two stores in the place Some of the party went to buy some whiskey, but could find no bottles. After he settled in township five, range eight, a great many used to go past his farm inquiring for Alton He asked a neighbor what kind of a place Alton was, and received the reply, " About fifteen sink holes to the acre." He was in Lower Alton in 1822, when there were no women residing in the place, and only three men. He u.sed to go to the old town of Milton to mill. There were two stores there at that time. In some seasons the place was very sickly. He went there once to buy some cotton yarn, and Thomas Lippincott, who lived on the east side of the bridge and had his store on the other side, told him he would not walk across the bridge for all there was in the store, so fearful was he of the pestilential air of the stream. The streets at that time were grown full of weeds.

A few miles northeast of Edwardsville, in township five, range seven, a settlement was made in the winter of 1.S17- 18, by Henry Keley, with whom came to the county, Robert and Anson Aldrich. The latter were born in Mendom, AVorcester county, Massachusetts, and in September, 1816, Robert, then being twenty-two years old, they set out on foot for Illinois, reports of the wonderful fertility of which country had reached them In the vicinity of Xenia, Ohio, they found some friends from M;issachusetts «ith whom they staved and worked till the fall of 1817. They then resumed their journey to Illinois, and at Cincinnati, fell in with Henry and George Keley, two brothers on their way to Edwardsville. "With them Henry Keley had his family. The Keleys had what was called a family boat, and the Aldrichs decided to go with them on the voyage down the Ohio. Shawneetown was reached in October, and there the party decided to follow the river no farther, but to go overland. The Keleys had brought on the boat three horses and a wagon. The journey was made over bad roads. The men were often obliged to wade into the mud holes and lift the wagon, by sheer strength, out of the mire. The streams had no bridges, and the wagon box was used as a boat in which to ferry over the women, children and household goods. At one stream, greatly swollen, they encamped on the bank four days, waiting for the waters to subside, and an opportunity to continue their journey. Finally the women children, and household goods, and running gear of the wagon were ferried over, while the horses swam. They arrived in Kaskaskia, November the first, 1817. After renting there a few days, Henry Keley and the two Aldrichs mounted horses, and came to Edwardsville, crossing the Mississippi on the route, and taking a look at the French village of St. Louis. A:, Edwardsville they found quarters at the public house, which John T. Lusk had just erected. Indeed, this new log hotel was not quite finished, some chinking and daubing remained to be done. The cracks between the logs were wide, a blustering storm arose during the night, and so furious was the blast that the bed clothing was swept from the would-be sleepers. After looking around for a day or two, INIr. Keley employed George Coventry, father of John W. Coventry, the present post-master at Edwardsville, to show him the country in the vicinity of the town, and especially to point out the sectional corners of the land surveys. Mr. Keley selected a location on section twenty-nine, of township five, range seven. The north line of this township was the limit of the government surveys that had been made up to that time.

With the exception of a small improvement made in the year 1811, by a man named Ferguson, (who abandoned it at the commencement of the hostilities in the war of 1812-14) just below where the Alton and Greenville road crosses the Cahokia creek, the dwelling erected by Keley, into which he moved his family on the fourth of January, 1819, was the first ever built in Hamel township. At Lamb's Point in this township, Bennett Jones built a cabin in the early part of 1818, and a couple of miles farther west two men, by the name of Allen and Keltner, brothers-in law, made small improvements the same year, which, however, they left in a short time. Archibald Lamb settled in 1818 at Lamb's Point, and resided there for many years afterward. In the west part of the present Alhambra township, William Hoxsey made a settlement in 1S18. He was born in Rhode Island in 1766, emigrated to Greenbrier county, Virginia, where he married, then to Christian county, Kentucky, and from there came to Illinois in 1818. He died in 18.32. He was an enterprising farmer, and brought a considerable quantity of land under cultivation. Near Mr. Hossey, his brother in-law, James Gray, settled the same year, and after a residence of ten or twelve years in this county, moved to Montgomery county In the Silver creek timber, near the ford where the old trail leading from the Wood river settlement to Bond county crossed that stream, David Aikman built a cabin, but after living there a few years, sold his improvement and moved to other parts. In the southwest part of Hamel township, Thomas Barnett settled in 1818, and lived there till 18.52, when he died at the age of seventythree.

In tlie north part of township four, range five, Archibald Coulter, who came to Illinois from Kentucky, settled in 1816. In this year also arrived James East, who built a cabin and planted two acres of corn in the edge of the prairie, with a spade. The next year he brought his wife from Kentucky. Samuel McAlilly, who was born of Scotch ancestry in South Carolina, removed from Tennessee in 1818, and a few years found a home for his family in a cabin which stood on ground now comprised in the Highland cemetery. Thomas Johnson, a Kentuckian, came in 1817 ; Benjamin May at an early date, and Benjamin Reiramer in 1818.

In Silver Creek bottom, in section nineteen, township f )ur, range five, west, there was a .salt lick which attracted deer and cattle at an early day, and here in 182-3, William Biggs, a Kentuckian, undertook to bore for salt. He struck solid rock at a.depth of thirty feet, and ontinued the shaft to a distance of four hundred and forty feet below the surface, when salt water began to flow. Into the shaft he set the trunk of a hollow sycamore tree, cemented to the rock. The experiment was expensive, and ended in failure.

William Hinoh, a hardy pioneer from eastern Kentucky, was the first white settler within the boundaries of township five, range six. He arrived in November, 1817, and settled a short distance north and east of Silver Creek. During , the succeeding winter he lived in camp and the next spring put up a cabin. He died in 184-5. His widow still survives, and is now eighty-eight years of age. James Farris settled in the same vicinity in 1818, and the same year the Piper settlement was started in the southwest part of this township, numbering among other settlers, John Piper, Richard Knight, Matthew Hall, and Jackson and Prior Scruggins.

James Pearce, in 1818, removed from township four, range eight, where he had settled three years previous, built a cabin east of Silver Creek, and made the first settlement in what is now Leef township. Tais was at that time the frontier settlement in that part of the county, the prairie from his residence stretched away toward the north wild and uninhabited.

Township six, ranges even (Oraph-Ghent) had for its first settler David Swett, who in the ftiU of 1820 built a cabin near the site of the Omph-Ghent church. He had come to Edwardsville in 1817. He moved into this cabin in the spring of 1821. He was the first Justice of the Peace in the township, and was also a member of the Board of County Commissioners. Charles Tindall settled in the township in 1825, and Ezekiel Davis in 1826.

In township six, range six, (Olive) James Street was one of the early settlers, but in a short time moved away- Isham Vincent, a native of North Carolina, came to the county in 1817, and lived three years in the vicinity of Troy, then moved to the northern part of tlie county. He had a horsc-niill. His house was the early voting place of Silvir Creek precinct. He died in 1846. Abram Carlock settled in this part of the county in 1817, David Hendershott and Samuel Voyles in 1818, James Keown in 1819 and John Harrington in 1820.

New Douglas township six, range five, had only one early pioneer, Daniel Funderburk, who was born in Houth Carolina, settled herein 1819 and died in 1838.

Early Marriages

Know ye that license and permission is hereby given unto any Judge of the General Court of the Illinois Territory, and any Judge of the Court of drnmon Pleas, Justice of the Peace, or Licensed Minister of any Religious Society in the County of Madison, to join together in matrimony, as man and wife, Daniel G. Moor, gentleman, and Miss Frankey Jarvis, both of this county, according to the usage, custom, and the laws of the territory, and for so doing this shall be their sufficient license or warrant.

In testimony Avhereof, I, Josias Randle, Clerk of the Court, have hereunto set ray hand and (the county not yet having provided one) affixed my own private seal, at my office, this 21st day of June, in the year of our Lord, 1813, and of our Independence the Thirty-seventh.

The following are the marriage licenses issued from June 1814, to June 1819, No. 15 to No. 150. The names of the parties are spelled as they appear in the records : -

. Isarael Turner to Caty Stice. . S.iiuiiel ScybnU to Tamar Piokerin?. Samuel Jaraway to Jenney Whitehead. Samuel Thomas to Elizabeth Isey. Thomas Moore to Rebecca Holcomb. William .\tkins to Elizabeth Emert. James Tliomp.son to Permilia Sorrels. , .Joseph Borough to Sally Shepherd. Robert Reynolds to Sally Wliite.side. Walter J. Sealey to Vicy Meacham. David H. Kennedy to Mary Coots, .lephtha Lanipkin to .Jane Kirkpatrick. Green to Nancy Means. Samuel Beeman to Polly Smelser. Samnel Davidson to Vitet Enloe. Moses .'Vrcher to Elizabeth Brazel. \Villiam Wya!t to Richel Kitchens. Alexander V. Bonner to Iluldali Foster. William Green to Polly Starkey. Rodolphus Langworthy to Lucy Meacliam. Jonas Bradsliaw to BiiLsey Suvyers. James Reynolds to Sally Black. Levi Scott to Edy Ennis. Wiley Green to Betsey Higgins. David Nix to Betsey Whiteside. James Hereford to Betsey Vincence. Jacob Dack lo Sally Bates. John Greenwood to Margaret Ivirkpatrick. Thomas Seoit to Susan Cooper. Hampton McKinny to Polly B. Clark. Job Day to Jane Shock ley. Samuel Ju<ly to Sally Reaves. Thomas Hamilton to Purifa Harris.* .Vbsalom Renshaw to jiilley Woodyard. John Bates to Nancy Crosby. William Going to Anna Whitehead. Edward Welsh to Rachel Kane, wi<low, Philip Henson to Elizabeth Greenwood. Edward Haley f to Elizabeth Bolt. D.iniel Dimmore to Turzy L. Meacliam. George Hewitt to Peggy Bishop. John Wyatt to Rebecca Wyatt. Jesse RenlVo lo Letty West. Hiram Huitt to Nancy Herriford. John Caramel to Levinia Parkinson. Joshua Delaplain to Hannah Davidson, wid Abraham Sippy to Sally Miller. Martin Jackson to Betsey McDaniel. .John C. Wood to Fanny Denson. Hiram Bobbins to Betsey Dean. Alexander Byrani to Polly Wood. Jehu L. Litton to I^ydia Morris. John McCollum to Sarah Whiteside. George Faris lo Nancy Piper. John Crawford to Cassey Holcomb. William Howard to Elizabeth Reeco. Robert McMahan, jr., to Nancy Conway. Lorenzo Edwards to Patsey New. .John Richardson to Orphy Thompson. James Thompson to Jean Munson. Henry Eniert to Rachel Rebold. Richard Kinghton to Jenney Smart. Isaac Casteel to Betsey Albard. James Gilliam to Lofton.

April 15. Thomas Fiirgufon to Betsey Medford. May 22. George Allen to Tolly Gibbs. June .3. David M. Gillhatn to Polly Ilarkleroad. .June 9. Kiclioliis Kiissell to Polly Canby. June 17, Jolm T. Lawyoik to Ann Tiulock. July Aqnilla Low to Polly Revis. July S. Temple Nix to Ilannali Taylor. July William Pxirton to Barbany Smart. July 18. Jacob Moore to Polly Burns, July 18. Jacob Waggoner to Nancy Moore. Aug. 5. Daniel Holcom to Vicy Tolly. Aug. 17. Elias Roberts to Elizabeth Allen. Aug. 21. Jobn Johnson to Nancy Dagger. Aug. 22. Moses Leeds to Mary Waddle. Sept. 19, Solomon Penny to Jincy Renshawr. Oct. 5. John Piper to Lucinda Beard. Oct. 10. Warner Yates to Frances Tindall. Oct. 20. Thomas Fenley to Charlotte Jackson, Oct. 29. Hiram Rountree to Nancy R. Wright. Nov. 17. Jobn Powell to Betsey Coop. Dec. 7. Thomas Hill to Peggy Moore. Dec. 16. William Archer to Betsey Holt. Dec, 18, Jobn White to Peggy Robinson. Dec. 21. John Carson to Margaret Parkerson.

objection of parents.) May. 11. George Bridges to M.ary Lindly. June 3. Richard Brozale to Layodosea Enyart. June 7. Jobn Corraack to Fanny Randle,

Below are the marriage certificates on record from January, 1>!13, to May 1819. Much diversity appears between the list of licenses and certificates. Where the authority by which the parties were married was a license, " L " is affixed, and " Ad." where it was by advertisement. The latter was common in the earlier years. It is some source of satisfaction, even at this late day, to observe that John Cressup and Agnes Manning, to whom a license was given on the third of May, 1819, on condition that there should be no objections, on the part of the parents, were married the same day, as appears by the certificate : son, Esq. Ad. Nov. 19, George Wise to Elizabeth Jones, by Rev, Joseph Lemcn. L. Nov. Joseph Ferguson to Jane Gragg. L. Nov. 25, Daniel Johnson to Siis.mna Smelser, by Thomas Davidson,

Esq. L. Jan. 5. Anthony Thomas to Cynthia Scott, by Judge John G. Lofton. Jan. 5. John Davidson to Margaret Gillham, by Judge John G. Lofton. Jan. 20. John Enox to Marjory Ferguson, by Thomas G, Davidson,

Ad. Apr. 2. Thomas Finley to Mary Little, Rev. William Jones. Ad. May Timothy Lamber.son to Rebekah Furguson. L. May John Hawks to Jliss. McFarlin. L. June 14. William Kelley to-Rebekah McMahan. L. Dec. 13. Thomas Carlau to Rebeckah Hewitt, by Rev. William

Jones. Ad. Dec. 13. William Montgomery to Sarah Rattan, by Rev William Jones. 181.5. - Jan. 5. Jubilee Posey to Caty Smith, by Rev. Josias Randies,

L, Feb. 2. Jesse Bell to Susan Meacliam, by Rev. Josias Randle. L. Feb. 2. William Wood to Polly Cox, by Rev. William Jones. L. Feb. 4. William Ferguson to Polly Poggett, by Thomas G. Davidson, Esq. Ad. Feb. 14. Philip Peter to Rebeckah Robinson, by Rev. Charles R.

Ad. Nov, 5. John Jones to Mary Wright, by Rev. William Jones. Ad. Nov. 19. James Beeman to Litha Odle, by Rev. William Jones. Ad. Nov. 23 Hiram Beck to Nancy Sams, by Rev. William .Tones. L. Nov. 28. Martin Jones to Margaret Hutton, by Rev. William Jones.

Ad. Djc 14. Thomas Green to Rody Hegans, by Rev. William Jones. Ad. Dec. 16. Solomon Revis to Polly Green, by John Springer, Esq. Ad, 1816. - Jan. 21. Mathew Cowin to Betsey Hewitt, by Rev. WiHiam

His To By Of Madison Couxty, Illinois

Mar. 14. Israel Turner to Caty Stioe, by Rev. Rivers Cormack. L. Apr. 2. Samuel SeyboIU to Tamar Pickering, by Rev. Rivers Corinack. L. Apr. S. ICvans Smith to Hannah Tiirner, bv Rev. Rivers Cormack.

Dec. 13. Jeptha Lampkins to Jean Kirkpatrick, by Abraham Pritchelt, Esq. L. Dec. 19. John Green to Nancy Means. L. 1817. - Feb. 6. David Fuukner to Lydia Baeman, by Rev. William

Jones. Ad. Feb. 11. William Atkins to Elizabeth Emert. L. Feb. 11. David Canady to Mary Cyles. L. Feb. 13. William Wyatt to Rachel Kitchens, l)y Rev. William

Esq. L. May 30. Jacob Deck to Sally Bates, by Rev. William Jones. L. May 31. Wiley Green to Betsey Higins, by Rev. William Jones. L. June 10. John Greenwood to Margaret Kirkpatrick, by Rev. R. Cormach. L. June 21. Thomas Scot to Susan Cooper, by John Springer, Esq. L. Aug. 13. Philip Henson to Elizabeth Greenwood, bv John T. Lusk,

Cormack. L. Sep. 8. William Ilaily to Elizabeth B ilt, by Rev. .Joseph Lemen. L. Nov. 10. Joshua Delaplain to nannih Davidson, widow, by Thomas,

July 17. William Burton to Barbary Snart, by Hail M;ison, Esq. L. Aug. C. Daniel Holcomb to V. Tolly, by John McKinney, Esq. L. Aug. 22. Jacob Moore to Polly B.irns, l)y Rev. William Jone-s. L.

Jacob Waggoner to Xancy Moor, by Rjv. William Jones. L. Temple Xix to Hannah Taylor, by Micajah Cox, E.sq. L. Aquilla Low to Polly Revis, Micajah Co.x, Esq. L. Sept. 21. Augustus Langworlhy to Adah Meacham, by R. Langworlliy, Esq. L. Get. 10. Moses Soeds to Mary Waddell, by Amos Squire, Esq. L.

L. Thomas G. Lofton to Betsey Heaton, by A. Squire, Esq. L. James Dunn to Zilpha Thomas, by Rev. William Jones. L. Thomas McDow to Mary Lofton, by Micajah Cox, Esq. L. Adam Miller to Peggy Thompson, by A. Scjuire, Esq. L. John Wadle, to Caty Snider, by A. Squire, Esq. L. Daniel Tolman to Mary Ann Hare, by Hail Mason, Esq. L. John Cre-ssup to Agnes Manning, bv Thornton Peoples, Esq.

In territorial days the inhabitants of the county, almost without exception, were of Southern origin. Strong sectional prejudices existed, especially toward the " Yaukee," which appellation was given to every man who hailed from the Northern section of the country east of the Allegheny mountains. Before the year 1817 the only representatives of the New England states, who had visited the county, were the ven<lors of wooden clocks and tin ware, and under these circumstances the pioneers could not, perhaps, well be blamed for their first impressions of the Yankee character. An early resident of this county states that there were three classes of society known in the territory of Illinois : First, the white man, born in a slave state, who arrogated to himself the title of the real Westerner; second, the negro, generally a slave; and third, the Yankee, from over the Mountains. Traces of this prejudice could be discerned for many years, but among intelligent classes the emigrant from the East soon came to be appreciated at his real worth, and recognized as among the most valuable citizens of the county. Subsequent to 1817 the county received a large Eastern emigration, in which came indiviiluals whose merits raised them to positions of influence, and who contributed greatly to the prosperity of the county. Especially was this the case in the Marine settlement, at Edwardsville, and later at Alton, whose rapid growth and business prosperity were almost entirely due to Eastern men.

The early settlers had great respect for the religious views of others. Although their opinions on theological subjects were very decided and very dissimilar, yet a quarrel on these matters was of rare occurrence. The Methodists and the Baptists were the leading deuoiuiuatii;n.<. The Jlethu- ilist camp meetings were uumerously attended, and proved influential means of increasing the membership of the churches. Although most of the people drank occasionally there were fewer drunkards than might have been expected. ;^ The people of those days had a great reverence for law. The worst characters professed to be law-abiding citizens. No man claimed, that, if he did not like the law, he had the right to set it at defiance. It is claimed that the early jiioneers were more moral and free from crime than the people of a later day. Thefts were of rare occurrence, and forgery, perjury, and similar crimes were seldom perpetrated. But while the higher crimes were rarely committed the lesser violations of the law were not unfrcquent. Assault and battery was the most common breach of the statutes. There was much sensitiveness as to personal and moral standing, and any one who considered his honor or respectability impugned would fight in a moment his assailant. On holidays and at elections and musters, boisterous and quarrelsome conduct, induced by the use of intoxicating liquors, was often witnessed. Fort Russell was a place of frequent rendezvous in early times, and riotous scenes often occurred there. It was stated by one of the earliest residents of the county (Mr. S. P. Gillham) that for. some years after the firtt settlement of the county he seldom heard of any greater crime than getting drunk, or fighting. The first punishment of crime he recollected took place in 1819, when a negro was found guilty of stealing some coffee from a boat on the Jlississippi river, and whipped. When the population began to multiply and courts were established, men began to break the law, and were often punished by whipping at the post and confinement in the stocks.

The Sabbath was often employed in hunting, fishing, getting up stock, hunting bee.-', shooting at marks, and horse and foot-racing. It was, however, a custom to cease from ordinary labor, except from necessity, on that day, and when a farmer cut his harvest on Sunday public opinion condemned it more severely than at present. There was no dancing and but little drinking on the Sabbath. In many localities there were no religious meetings. The aged people generally remained at home, and read the Bible and other books.

All kinds of gaming were common. Card-playing was sustained by the best classes. At the sessions of the courts judge and lawyer would frequently spend the night together ])laying with cards for money, though the statutes rigidly forbade such a practice.

Horse-racing was one of the most popular amusements. The quarter races were the most common, and at these the most chicanery and juggling were practiced. Gov. John Reynolds speaks of having attended a horse-race, which drew crowds of people, on the 4th of July, 1807, in tlie American Bottom near the residence of Samuel Judy. The most celebrated and famous horse race in Illinois, in early times, was run in the upper end of the Horse-prairie, in Randolph county, in the spring of the year 1803. The two horses which ran the race were of the same size. The race was three miles and repeat, for a wager of five hundred dollars. The byebets and all must have amounted to a thousand dollars and more, in those days considered a very large sum. In 1806 Robert Pulliam, of Illinois, and a Mr. Musick, of Missouri, made a bet of two hundred dollars on a race between two horses, of a quarter of a mile, to be run on the ice in the Mississippi river, a short distance above St. Louis. The race came ofiT, and was run without injury to either the horses or riders. Footracing, jumping, or wrestling were much practiced. Bets of some magnitude were made on foot-races as well as on horse-races. Gov. Reynolds, in his youth, was one of the best in a foot-race, and won many wagers in Randolph county, previous to the removal of the family to Madison. He ran his last race while absent from this county attending school in Tennessee.

Shooting-matches occurred frequently. These were generally held on Saturdays, and, during the summer, as often as once a week. A beef was usually the prize. A keg of whisky was usually carried to these shootingmatches, on horseback, and sometimes a violin made its appearance, and the crowd -danced for hours.

The early pioneers were exceedingly friendly and sociable. A n^-comer was given a hearty welcome. The houses were in general small and poor, but the hospitality of the occupants knew no bounds. A visitor at a house toward evening could scarcely get away so much was he importuned to stay over night, which, if he did, he was always treated to the best the house afi'orded, and never allowed to pay for his entertainment. Orchards and melon patches were looked on as common property, and the man who would charge for apples, or melons, would be denounced for his meanness the whole country over. No charge was ever made for assisting a neighbor at house - raisings, logrollings, or harvesting.

The women were brave and self-reliant, and it was no unusual thing for them to practice with the rifle. They were often left alone, and it was well that they should know the best means of defiance. One of the pioneers of the county (John L. Ferguson) was accustomed to say that his mother could shoot a deer, or an Indian, just as well as his father could, and thought no more of it. The widow Carlock, in the Marine settlement, was also one who had the reputation of being able to use her rifle, with equal skill to any man, in shooting game, or despatching an Indian, as the ease required.

Pioxeer Custom.S And Modes Of Life

The early settler brought with him little besides his axo and rifle ; the first his weapon of offence against the forests that skirted the water courses, near which he made his home; the second, that of defence against the wily savage. His first labor was to fell trees and rear himself a house. This was an unpretentious cabin, rudely built of logs. It was usually from fourteen to sixteen feet square never more than twenty feet, and was frequently entirely built without glass, nails, hinges, or locks.

First, large logs were laid in position as sills; on these were placed strong sleepers, and oa the sleeper.-i were laid the rough-hewed puncheons to serve as floors. The logs are then built up till the proper height for the eaves, tlien on the ends of the building were placed poles, longer than tne other end-logs, which projected some eighteen or more inches over the sides, and were called " butting-pole sleepers ;" on the projecting ends of these were placed the " butting-pole," served to give the line to the first row of clap-boards. These were, as a matter of course, split, and as the gables of the cabin were built up, were so laid on as to lap a third of their leajth. They were often kept in place by the wei;:ht of a heavy pole, laid across the roof parallel to the ridge pole. The house was then chinked, and daubed with a coarse mortar. At one end of the house was built a huge fire-place, in which fire was kindled, both for cooking purposes and to furnis'i the needed warmth in winter. Stoves were rarely to be seen. The ceiling above was sometimes covered with the i)elts of the raccoon, opossum, and wolf, to add to the warmth of the dwelling. Sometimes the soft inner bark of the bass wood was used for the same purpose. The cabin was lighted by means of greased paper windo vs. Over an opening in one side of the building, madeby cuttingout a p)rtion of alog, sheetsof strong paper, well saturated with coon grease, or bear oil, were carefully tacked, and thus furnished the window with which the cabin was lighted.

The furniture was in keeping with the building. The tables had four legs, and were rudelv made from puncheons. The seats were stools, having three or four legs. The bedstead compared well with the rest, and was often so contrived as to permit it to be drawn up and fastened to the wall during the day, thus affording more room to the family. The entire furniture was framed with no other toals than the ase and the auger. Each man was his own carpenter. Considerable ingenuity was sometimes displayed in the construction of the implements of agriculture and household furniture and utensils. Knives and forks the pioneers sometimes had, and sometimes had not. The common table knife was the pack knife, or butcher knife. Horse collars were sometimes made of the plaited husk of the maize sewed together. They were easy on the neck of the horse, and if tug-traces were used, would last a long time.

The common dress of the early pioneers was verj' similar. In winter, the covering of the feet were mostly moccasins made of deer skin and shoe-packs of tanned leather. In the summer, the greater portion of the young people, male and female, and many of the old, went bare-foot. The women wore moccasins and shoes made of deer-skin. The substantial and universal outside wear was the blue linsey hunting shirt. Many pioneers wore the white blanket coat (the French cnpot) in winter, and this was considered very fine attire. The vest wrs commonly made of striped linsey. The colors were made of alum, copperas, and madder, boiled with the bark of trees, in such manner and proportions as the old ladies prescribed. The shirts were generally homemade, of flax and cotton material. The trousers of the masses were generally linsey, sometimes a coarse blue cloth, and often buckskin. Home-made wool hats were worn, and sometimes caps made of fo.K, raccoon, and wild-cat skins. A fox skin cap, with the tail turned over the top, was thought a fine head-dress by the dashing young men. In warm weather hats were worn made at home of straw. Neat and fine linsey, manufactured at home, and colored and woven to suit the fancy, composed the outside garments of the females. It was not unusual for a young woman to appear dressed completely in the products of her own hands. A bonnet of calico, or some gayly-chccked goods, was worn on the head in the open air. Jewelry was unusual. A gold ring was an ornament not often seen.

Factory made goods, from New England and Kentucky reached Illinois about the year 1818, and soon supplanted the products of the loom and spinning wheel. The style of dress began to change about 1820. The bluc-linsey hunting shirt, with red and white fringe, gave place to the cloth coat. Boots and shoes supplanted the deer-skin moccasin. At Edwardsville were seen gentlemen dressed in elegant broad-cloth. By the year 1830, a man dressed in the costume of the territory, raccoon-skin cap, hunting-shirt, buck- .skin breeches and moccasins, with a belt around the waist, to which a knife and tomahawk were appended, was rarely to be seen. The female sex made still more rapid progress in adopting modern costumes.

The men were not accustomed to work so hard and steadily as now, sufficient corn was raised for home consumption, also a little wheat, cotton, flax and tobacco, a patch of indigo and a bed of midder, with garden vegetables for the family use, and the balance of the time wa.s spent in recreation, and in hunting deer, turkeys, and bees. The pioneers were capital hands for attending musters. Fourth of July celebrations, political speaking, the courts, horse races, and other like gatherings. On the other hand women in those days worked much more than at present. Beside the house work they had to do the cording, spinning, weaving, and the making of all the wearing apparel for the family. Each house was a manufacturing establishment, each woman a skillful operative. The women were overburdened with work so much that a traveller passing through the country remarked that it was "a heaven for men and horses, but a hell for women and oxen." The women, nevertheless, were cheerful and happy, and sometimes, when hard pressed, called the male members of the family to their aid. Many a biy, under the instruction of his mither or sister, learned to spin and weave, to sew and knit, and also to dye.

The social and acc)ram)'iating disposition of the early settlers led them to do much work in concert, at public gatherings. When a man wanted a lot of nails mads he would S3t a d.vy aad notify the neighbors, who were sure to be on hand. The self-imposed task of each man was one hundred nails. There was always a race as to who should halloo, "Djue first!" S. P. Gillhara relates that he was in such a race once, and with his brother made the one hundred nails in a little over two hours, and got beat at that. At the approach of wheat harvest some leading man would send word for the neighbors to assend)le at the house of a certain neighbor on such a day to cut and shock his wheat. As soon as they had finished his harvest they would go to the next, and so on around according to the ripeness of the grain. The crops of the widows and sick persons were not neglected, but were attended to along with the rest, and if any partiality were shown it would be toward theiu. The yuung people frolicked and danced of evenings all tlirough harvest ; and it is little wonder that the few still living, whose memory reaches back to those golden days, think there is no eujoyiueut among young people now as there was then. The women were not a whit behind the men in their social gatherings. They often met to do quilting and carding, and thought nothing of mounting their horses, taking their wheels in their laps, and riding five or six miles to attend a spinning bee. As with the men, there was always a race as to who should excel in carding, or spinning, and at quiltings, there were often two quilts, so that the gathering could divide into two parties, and have a race as to which quilt should be finished first.

At these gatherings, as well as the house-raisings, at which the wholj neighborhood came together, whether invited or not, much sport and amusement were indulged in. Young men and b:)ys tried their strength and skill at jumping, wrestling, running foot-races, lifting, and other gymnastic exercises. Shooting at marks was practiced among those skilled in the use of the rifle. Among a grjup of older men would figure soms Kentuckian, relating his adventures on a flat-boat trip to New Orleans. A bottle of ^lonougahela whisky, generously passed around, was of much assistance in quickening the memories of the old l)ioneers, and thiir "har-brealth escapes," and thrilling adventures, were freely told. There was plenty to eat as well as to drink. The good woman of the house had busied herself for a day, or more, in preparation for the coming guests, and an abundance was provided for the healthy appetites which were then the rule.* After the day's work had been accomplished, out doors and in, by men and women, the floor was cleared and the merry dance began. Handsome, stalwart young men, whose manly forms were the result of out-door life, clad in fringed buck-skin breeches and gaudily colored hunting shirts, led forth to the dance bright-eyed, buxom damsels, dressed in neatly fitting linsey-woolsey garments, their cheeks glowing with health, and their eyes speak enjoyment and, perhaps, a tenderer amotion.

But the greatest of all social gatherings was the wedding. Everybody in reach was invited. The guests of the bride assembled at her home, and of the groom at his. At an appointed hour the bride's party mounted their horses and started to meet the groom. In many neighborhoods a bottle of li(juor was prepared, sweetened and spiced to the taste, and the bottle decorated with many colored ribbons. When the two parties met a general halt was ordered, and preparations made to run a race for the bottle. The groom's party ran for him, the bride's for her. The bottle was taken by

« " The bread iisatl at these frolics was baked generally on Jonivj or Journey cake-boards, and is the best corn bread ever made. A board is made smooth, about two feet long, and eight inches wide ; the ends are generally rounded. The dough is spread out on this board and iilaced leaning before the fire. One side is baked, and then the dough is changed on the board, so tlie otiier side is presented, in its turn, to tlio fire. Tliis is Jonny-cake, and is good, if the pro])er materials are put in the dough, and it is properly baked." Reynolds' Pioneer History.

the judge to the far end of the course, while the crowd remained at the starting point. When the race was over the winner returned, holding up the trophy and shaking it in triumph. After the wedding and the dinner was over, the groomsman gave a general invitation to all the guests of the bride to attend the young people home the next day, and to take dinner with them. Then the race of the day previous would be repeated, and in many social and convivial neighborhoods dancing would be indulged in for hours.*

"In pure pioneer times the crops of corn were never husked on the slalk, as is done at this day: but were hauled home in the husk and thrown in a heap, generally by the side of the crib, so that the ears, wlicn luisked, could be thrown direct into the crib. The whole neigliborliood, male and female, were invited to the shttclcin;, as it was called. The girls, and many of the married ladies, generally engaged in this amusing work. In the first place two leading expert buskers were chosen as captains, and the heap of corn divided as nearly equal as possible. Rails were laid across the pile so as to designate the division ; and then each captain chose, alternately, his corp^ of buskers, male and female. The whole number of working hands present were selected, on one side or the other, and then each party commenced a contrsl to beat the other, which was in many cases truly exciting. One other rule was, tha* whenever a male husked a red ear of corn, he was entitled to a kiss from the girls. This frequently excited much fu.ss and scuffling, which was intended by both parties to end in a kiss. It was a universal practice that taiKa or Monongahela whisky was used at these husking frolics, which they drank out of a bottle, each one male and female, taking the bottle and drinking out of it, and then handing it to his next neighbor, without using any glass or cup whatever. This custom was common and not considered rude. Almost always these corn shucks ended in a dance. To prepare for this amusement fiddles and fiddlers were in great demand; and it often required much fast riding to obtain them. One violin and a per.''ormer were all that was contemplated at these innocent rural games. Towards dark, and the supper half over, then it was that a bustle and confusion commenced. The confusion of the tongues at Babel would have been ashamed at the corn-shuckings. The young ones hurrying off the table, and the old ones contending for time and order. It was the case in nine times out of ten, that but one dwelling-house was on the premises, and that used for eating as well as dancing. But when the fiddler commenced tuning his instrument the music always gained the victory for the young side. Then the dishes, victuals, tables and all, disappeared in a few minutes, and the room was cleared, the dogs drove out, and the floor swept ofi' ready for action. The floors of these houses were sometimes the natural earth, beat solid, sometimes the eartli, with puncheons in the middle over the potato-hole, and at times the whole floor was made of puncheons. The music at these country dances made the young folks almost frantic, and sometimes much excitement was dis]!layed to get on the floor first. Generally the tiddler on the.se occasions assumed an important bearing, and ordered, in true professional style, .so and so to be done; as that was the way in Xorth Carolina, where he wa.s raised. The decision, ended the contest for the floor. In those days they danced jigs and four-handed reels, as they were called. Sometimes three-handed reels were also danced. In these dances there was no standing still; all were moving at a rapid pace from beginning to end. In the jigs tlie by-standers cut one another out, as it was called, so that this dance would last four hours. Sometimes the parties in a jig tried to tire one another down in the dance, and then it would also last a long time before one or the other gave up. The cotillion or stand-still diiuces were not then known. The bottle went round at these parlies as it did at the shuckings, and male anil female

Of Household Use

The early settlers had but little money, and but little was needed, only enough to pay a small tax, sometimes a doctor's bill, and lor blacksmith work. This was obtained from the sale of cattle and hogs. Store goods and groceries were generally paid for with butter, eggs, beeswax and peltries. The early pioneers lived on government laud, unbought, unpatenttd. The little silver coin that found its way into the community had to be cut in pieces to make it go as far as possible, and for convenience of change. After the bank of Edwardtville went into oiseration, in 1819, money became more plentil'ul for a while, but the bank soon went under, and times became worse. When the settling up of the country made it necissary to secure a title to the land, every fpare dollar went to the land office, and money became scarce on this account. There wa.s little demand for farm products. Little or no grain was sold out of the county. A few horses and cattle were shipped south or driven north, but not in sufficient numbers to put much money in circulation. Corn frequently sold as low a.s five cents a bushel, wheat at thirty, forty, and fifty cents, cows and calves at five dollars, beef and pork at a cent and a-half a pound, and other products of the farm proportionately low. Cattle and hogs were commonly taken to St. Louis. After 1825 there began to be home buyers of pork and beef. A packing house was e-tablished at the mouth of Wood river at an early day, by D E. Tiffiu, and afterward one at Edwardsville by Robert Pogue.

Produce was gotten to market in a wooden cart, drawn by a yoke of oxen. There were few bridges, but little work was done on the roads, and consequent!)^ heavy teams were >rcquired for light loads. Ox teams were the best and the most commonly used, though some preferred horses. The oxen could live on the grass and do good work. There were a few large four-horse wagons in which people had moved into the country. In later years a few of the well-to-do farmers got a Dearborn wagon, drawn by one horse. One of the old residents of the county states that it was not till 1837 that he ever heard the name of a buggy, and it wag about the same date when two-horse wagons began to come into use.

Salt was one of the dearest of the commodities which the pioneer settler absolutely needed. It was in early times obtained in St. Louis. At one time a man landed a boat and left a few barrels of salt for sale with Isaac Gillham on the Mississippi. This was sold among the farmers in the vicinity at nine dollars a barrel. As much as seven dollars was at times, i)aid for a half bushel. In 1818 salt sold at took a dram out of it as it p.ns.'sed around. No sitting was indulged in, and tlie folks eillicr stood or danced all night, as generally daylight ended the frolic. The dress of these liardy pioneers was generally plain homespun. The hunting shirt was much worn at that time, which is a convenient working or dancing dress. Sometimes dressed deer-skin pantaloons were used on these occasions, and moccasins - rarely shoes - and at times bare feet were indulged in. In the morning all go home on horseback or on foot. No carriages, wagons, or other vehicles were used on these occasions, for the best of reasons, because they had none."

Edwardsville for three dollars a bushel, and in 1821 at one dollar. Whisky was cheap, and frequently could be bought at twenty-five cents a gallon by the barrel. Several distilleries were erected at an early period, and some of the larger farmers hauled their corn to them, and had it manufactured into whisky, the distiller taking half by way of toll. Coflfee and sugar were expensive, and considered luxuries not to be indulged in every day. Their use was reserved for old people and visitors. Wild honey was often used in place of sugar. Because of the scarcity of mills and the difficulty of travelling to them, hominy, green corn, beans and potatoes, often supplied the table to the exclusion of bread.

Every farmer calculated as much on having his barrel of honey when winter came as on having a supply of corn or other provisions. Hence bee-hunting was common. Gershom Flagg writes back to Vermont in 1819 : "There are more honey bees in the territory, I suppose, than in any other place in the world. I have heard the hunters say that they have found eight, or ten, swarms in a day on the St. Gama (Sangamon) and Illinois rivers, where there are no settlements. Truly this must be the land of milk and honey."

A settler on the prairie, in early days, was in constant dread, in the fall of the year, of prairie fires. A fire started in the high, dry grass would sweep over the prairie faster than a horse could run. Each settler usually burned off a strip of ground surrounding his farm, and thus prevented the flames from destroying his crop and buildings. The neighbors would frequently be engaged in fighting the fire till midnight in the eflbrt to save the property of some of their number from destruction.

Pioneer Schools And Ciiueciie.S.

The first camp meeting in Illinois was held near the residence of Thomas Good, about three miles south of tiie present town of Edwardsville, in the spring of 1807. This meeting was under the supervision of the Rev. William McKendree, then presiding elder of circuits covering Ohit^ Kentucky, Tennessee, and other western states, and who in 1808 became the fourth bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. Jesse Walker was an assistant preacher. Reynolds states that during this meeting many persons were curiously exercised by the "jerks," an involuntary exercise which made the victims sometimes dance and leap until they became entirely exhausted and fell helpless to the ground. Later in the season a camp-meeting was held at Shiloh, six miles north-east of Belleville. The old Bethel church in Madison county, and the Shiloh church iu St. Clair county were the two earliest Methodist churches in Illinois.

Religious meetings had been held among the pioneers several years previous to 1807. As early as the fall of 1803 Methodist ministers made their appearance. Regular religious services were usually held about once in four weeks. Their two-days meetings and quarterly meetings were well attended. Of the resident Methodist preachers in the

A Baptist church was built on section 24, township 5, range 0, in the year 1809. The building was a small cabin constructed of logs. The Rev. William Jones was the first preacher who held services here. Rev. John M. Peck was one of the earliest Baptist preachers. The Rev. Thomas Ray preached frequently, as did the Rev. William Jones, both Baptists. Peter Cartwright was an early Methodist minister. He was called the " fighting preacher." It was not considered anything out of the way in those days for a preacher, when insulted, to protect his standing by force of arms. The Rev. Thomas Oglesby preached as early as 1804. The Rev. Benjamin Young was an early minister. Thomas Randle, Nathaniel Pinckard,' and Samuel Thompson and John Dew were early Methodist ministers.

In the year 1812 a school was taught in the door yard .of the residence of Col. Samuel Judy by I^lisha Alexander. A school-house was then, in 1814, built at the foot of the bluff, half-way between where Col. Judy and William B. Whiteside lived, but more than half of the time it was not occupied. This was a cabin built of logs, and Mr. Thompson was the teacher who first held sway within its walls. This was while the war of 1812-14 was in progress. Many of the inhabitants in that part of the country were engaged in the ranging service, and the reports from the field so inspired the youth with martial feeling that one morning they barred the cabin door against the teacher. After brave, but ineffectual efforts to carry the position by storm, he wisely sounded a parley and received the surrender of the garrison on condition of treating the pupils.

A .school was taught by Vaitch Clark, in the summer of 1813, in a block house at ihe little fort which had been erected for protection against the Indians on section 1, of township 4, range 9.

The first teacher in the Wood River settlement was Peter Fliun. The school-house in which he taught was on section 4, township 5, range 9. In township 3, range 9, the first school was taught in 1812, by Joshua Atwater, who was succeeded by an Irishman named McLaughlin.

The first school ever taught in the Marine jTairie was either in the summer, or winter, of 1814. It was taught in the smoke house of Isaac Ferguson. There were ten or twelve scholars, and Arthur Travis was the teacher.

Hiram Rountree was an early leacher at Ebenezer, southwest of Edwardsville; ]Mr. Campbell at Salem, Joseph Berry on SugarCreek, and William Gilliland at the Cantine school and meeting house.

One of the early schools in the Marine settlement was in a building made of logs consisting of two departments separated by a log partition. The first department was a stable, accommodating several horses ; the second, a crib, or granary, utilized for scho'astic purposes. The only entrance to this room, was through the stable, and teacher and pupils, girls and boys, were compelled to climb six feet of log partition. " The conductor of this school," writes one of the pupils of those days, '' was a little effete, old codger, the most ignorant and illiterate creature I ever knew as a teacher of the youthful mind. We were instructed to al wa3's call the letter ' Z,' ' Izzard,' and in spelling Aaron to say, "Big A, little A, r-o-n, Aaron," The next teaci.er who attempted to illuminate Marine was Mr. Giles Churchill, the most bashful and awkward of men. He had studied ' English grammar in Webster's spelling book, and 'lowed he could teach it if anybody wanted to lava.' At that early day the march of civilization had already established a whisky distillery in the wood-t, not more than two miles from our noted scholastic institution, and our beloved pedagogue would sometimes rest at this point, on his early literary peregrination to his morning duty, and imbibe too freely of corn-juice for the successful advancement of education, although iu one way or another, he did successfully ' teach the young mind how to shoot.' A true politician, however, he even then stumbled along to his tasiis, his duties, and his school, with a pint-bottle well-filled with the spirit that ' steals away the brain,' to treat, fill and flatter the older boys, and thus win them to his praise."