St. Clair County, Illinois - Chapter 8: Pioneebs and Early Settlers, 1881 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 8: Pioneebs and Early Settlers

I HE early history of St. Clair county reaches back to the historic period of French domination in the Mississippi valley. There is no incident in the settlement of America more full of romantic interest than the planting of an infant colony in the very heart of an unexplored continent - a single speck of civilization amid a vast and savage wilderness. No people but the French would have attempted it ; the zealous and hardy enthusiasm of the Jesuit faith could alone have furnished strong enough motive.

The French Village Op Cahokia

or two years previous. This point was selected as a missionary station by the French Jesuits, who desired to instruct the Taraaroas and Cahokia Indians. Father Pinet was the first to have charge of the mission, which was called " Notre Dame de Kahokia." Indian traders came soon afterward, and the infant settlement was thus placed on a substantial and pe manent basis. About the year 1700 the inhabitants began the cultivation of the soil adjacent to the village, and more lasting buildings took the place of the temporary structures which were first used for habitation. Cahokia never became as large as Kaskaskia. The former carried on a larger part of the trade with the northern Indians, while the latter cultivated the soil to a greater extent, and secured an extensive and profitable trade down the Mississippi with New Orleans and Mobile. Like the other French settlements in Illinois, Cahokia continued to prosper till 1763, when the result of the war which had been carried on between France and England placed the country east of the Mississippi under English control.

In a work published by Capt. Phillip Pittraan, an ofiicer in the British army, entitled " The State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi," published in London in 1770, the following description is given of Cahokia iu 1776: ''The village of Saint Famille de Kaoquias (Kahokia) is generally reckoned fifteen leagues from Fort Chartres, and six below the mouth of the Missouri. It stands near the side of the Mississippi, and is marked from the river by an island two leagues long. The village is opposite the centre of this island."

Eaely Eesidents Of Cahokia

Among the prominent citizens of Cahokia in early times was Charles Gratiot, whose name deserves commemoration for his patriotic services during the war of the Revolution. He was born at Lausanne, Switzerland, in the year 1747. He belonged to a Huguenot family. He was educated in London and thoroughly fitted for a commercial career. At eighteen he went to Canada, where his attention was directed to the north-west trade with the Indians, then to active and enterprising young men the most promising channel to wealth and fame. With one partner at Macki- - naw and another at Montreal, he extended his operations with the Indians over a vast scope of country and employed large sums of money. In 1774 he turned his attention to the Illinois country, and established stores at both Cahokia and Kaskaskia. For many years his grand depot for the Indian trade was at Cahokia. At the time Gen. Clark made his expedition to Illinois and captured the British posts, he found a ready supporter in Gratiot. Clark's army was without resources, and had it not been for Gratiot and some other wealthy and patriotic men, the campaign must have been abandoned. He exhausted his means in his efforts to procure supplies for the army ; but his talents and energies soon enableil him to again accumulate wealth. In return for his services, Vir. giuia, after the Revolution, agreed to give him thirty thousand acres of land on the south-east bank of the Ohio, including the site of the present city of Louisville ; but before the grant was completed, Kentucky was organized into a state and the conveyance to Gratiot was never made. In 1781 he married a Miss Choteau, daughter of Pierre Choteau, of St. Louis, who belonged to the family which assisted in founding that city. After his marriage he made St. Louis his residence, and died there in 1817.

Joseph Trotier, a French Canadian, settled in Cahokia about the year 1775, and for a time carried on a large commerce with New Orleans. On one occasion while ascending the I'iver a large Cottonwood tree fell across his boat and destroyed it and the cargo. The ascent of the Mississippi when the river was at a high stage was difficult and dangerous. The voyage from New Orleans to Cahokia frequently required four or five months, and often on the voyage many died from sickness. Where the current was most rapid the boat could not be propelled against the stream with oari. A large rope or corJelle was then used. One end was fastened to the boat, and ten, fifteen or twenty men on shore towed the boat after them. When a river or creek entering into the Mississippi was reached, they swam over with the cordelle. In places where the current was very strong, the upper end of the cordelle was fastened to a tree and the other end put round a windlass, and thereby the boat was forced up the river against the current. These cordelle ropes were frequently very long, often measuring five or six hundred yards.

Dominique Ducherme, also a French Canadian, who made Cahokia his home at intervals, possessed great influence among the Indian tribes. He it was who made the celebrated attempt to capture St Louis, then a Spanish post. His attack was made on the 26th of May, 1780; and the year was known long afterwards as "L'anne de coup!" Ducherme's enmity was excited against the Spanish because a party of Spanish soldiers from the garrison at St. Louis had captured and confiscated a boat-load of goods which he was carrying up the Missouri river to trade with the Indians.

M. Saucier, of the French officers at Fort Chartres in 1756^ settled at Cahokia, in 1763, after the cession of the country to England. His three sons, Jean B., Michael, and Francis Saucier were prominent characters in early times in Illinois, and occupied various civil and military offices. The first died at Cahokia, and Michael and Francis Saucier founded the village of Portage des Sioux in Upper Louisiana.

From 1780 to 1800 Cahokia was the residence of many of the north-western Indian traders, among whom was Julien Dubuque, after whom the town of Dubuque in Iowa is named, and near which he was buried. In 1788 he purchased from the Indians a tract of land in the present state of Iowa, extending eighteen miles along the Mississippi and running back nine miles from the river, iu which valuable lead mines were embraced. William Arundel was another Indian trader who came to Cahokia about the year 1783. He was well educated, and among the old records of St. Clair and Randolph counties his handwriting frequently appears. He was an Irishman by birth. He died at Kaskaskia in 1816. He and Thomas Brady were said to have been the only two persons, who were not French, who resided in Cahokia previous to the year 1788. Brady was a resident of Cahokia for many years, an I was made sheriff" of St. Clair county in 1790. Another citizen of Cahokia, wa^ Capt. Mc- Carty, who commanded a company of soldiers, raised among tiie French, in February, 1779, and assisted Col. Clark in his capture of the British ports on the Wabash.

About the year 1800 William Morrison, who then carried on, at Kaskaskia, the leading mercantile business in the west, established a store at Cahokia, and placed in charge of it William Atfhison, a singular and eccentric Irishman, who, from the excessive high prices he charged for his goods, acquired, in derision, the title of " Chape Wollie." Guy Morrison, a brother of William Morrison, resided in Cahokia from 1815 to 1826, and while there was employed in business with his brother.

Among the most celebrated of the early residents of Cahokia wa? Mrs. La Corapt, who died at Cahokia, in the year 1843, at the age of one hundred and nine. She came to Cahokia in 1770. After the death of La Compt, her second husband, she married Thomas Brady, and after his death was again known by her former name. She possessed many strong traits of character and was blessed with extraordinary constitution. She was familiar with the Indian language and possessed great influence among the Pottawatamies, Kickapoos, and other tribes. During the early American settlements in Monroe and Randolph counties, from 1771 to 1795, she prevented rnany Indian attacks on the white population. On many occasions she was awakened in the night by her Indian friends who would inform her of a proposed Indian attack and warn her to leave Cahokia. She started often to meet some hundreds of warriors camped near the Quentine mound, at the foot of the bluff, near the present French village, with the purpose of persuading them to dismiss their hostile intentions. She knew that a female approaching on foot would excite sympathy among the Indians, and then she trusted to her influence and her arguments to appease their anger and avert bloodshed. She never failed. The inhabitants of Cahokia were often waiting, with arms in their hands, ready for defence, when they would see this extraordinary woman escorting to the village a great band of warriors changed in their motives from war to peace. The Indians were then feasted for days, and would remain in peace for some time after the reconciliation.

Another remarkable woman who lived at Cahokia at an early period was Madame Beaulieu. She was born in the village of St. Phillippe, a few miles above Fort Chartres, in the year 1742, and was educated at Quebec, Canada. Her father, whose name was Chouvin, came to Fort Chartres, as an ofiicer in the French troops, and afterward settled at Cahokia, where his daughter married. This lady is said to have possessed a strong, active mind and a superior education. She was a pattern of morality and virtue. She understood medicine, and her attainments in this science were often called into requisition. She was extremely devout, and an exemplary member of the Roman Catholic Church.

John De Moulin, a native of Switzerland, settled in Cahokia and became a conspicuous and influential citizen. He was made chief justice of the court of Common Pleas of the Cahokia District of St. Clair county in 1790. For a long series of years he served as justice of the peace and also judge of the probate court. He was a 1 arge trader in lands, and among the early records of land transfers his name appears with nearly as much frequency as that of any other person in the county. He was a gentleman of intelligence and education, understood legal principles, and had a thorough understanding of the value of the titles of the lands in market at that day. He was very popular, and was elected colonel of the militia for St. Clair county. He had a large and portly figure, and on parade days made a fine appearance. Under his command the militia of the county was well trained and efiicient. He was a single man during his residence in Illinois, and died without wife, children, or relative of any degree in this country.

Nicholas Jarrot, a native of FrancheCompte, in France, emigrated from his native country in 1790, and reached Cahokia in 1794, where he resided during the remainder of his life. He was a man of intense activity, energy and industry. He came to Cahokia without means, but obtained a small supply of Indian goods and became an Indian trader. He succeeded in amassing a large fortune. Every year he- dispatched a boat-load of goods to the upper Mississippi, Prairie du Chien, or the Falls of St. Anthony, where such articles as the natives needed were bartered ofi" for furs and peltries. In early times the Indian trade was very lucrative, and two and three hundred per cent, was commonly realized on the goods sold to the Indians. He also kept a small retail store at Cahokia. He erected a horse-mill at Cahokia which was in operation before and during the war of 1812, and assisted much in providing the supplies for the troops engaged in the war. By purchasing land claims he acquired immense bodies of land, some of which was the choicest in the country. He owned considerable land on the river opposite

St. Louis. For many years he held the positions of justice of the peace and judge of the ounty court. His name often appsars on the early court records. He erected in Cahokia a brick house, which, when built, was one of the finest in Illinois. It is still standing. His first wife was a Miss Birbsau of Prairie du Rocher, and his next a Miss Beauvais of St. Genevieve, Mo. He seems to have had a mania for mills, and wasted large sums of money in building and maintaining a water-mill on Cahokia creek. His mill was situated a few miles west of East St. Louis. The exposure, fatigue and sickness he expsriencad while at work on this mill is said to have been the cause of his death. He was a strict and zealous membar of the R^man Catholic Church. He died in 182^, and wa? buried in the old grave-yard of Cahokia.

In the year 1793 John Hays became a citizen of Cahokia. He was born in the city of New York in 1770, and when very young entered the Indian trade in the North-west as clerk to a wealthy house in Canada. At one time, near the head waters of the Red river, he and two Canadians were caught in a severe snow storm on the prairie and were compelled to lie under the snow for three days and nights, being unable to travel, and with only a scanty supply of dried meat and their blankets. They suffered most from want of water. On settling at Cahokia he embarked in trade with the Indians on his own account. He afterward turned his attention to agriculture. For a long number of years he held the office of postmaster at Cahokia, with no profit to himself, but for the accommodation of his neighbors. Governor St. Clair in 1798 appointed him sheriff" of St. Clair county, and he continued to exercise the duties of this position till 1818, when the state government was organized. For several years subsequent to 1822 he was stationed at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he acted as Indian agent for the Pottawatamies and Miami tribes. He returned to Cahokia, where he spent the balance of his days, and where, in old age, he died.

Another prominent citizen of Cahokia was John Hay. He filled several of the county offices, and many of the county records are in his hand. He was born in Detroit in 1769, and came to Cahokia in 1793. His father, John Hay, was a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and was the last British Governor of Upper Canada. His mother was a lady of French descent, a native of Detroit. His father died when Mr. Hay was seventeen years old. After making a venture at the Indian trade in the North-west, he came to Cahokia in 1793, and for a while was engaged in the mercantile business. In 1797 he married iMiss Margaret Pouport, an amiable and beautiful young Creole of Cahokia. ' He possessed a liberal education, and he was frequently employed to do writing by the merchants of St. Louis and other places. Arthur St. (Mair, then Governor of the North-western territory, on the 15th of February, 1799, commissioned him clerk of the court of Quarter Sessions, clerk of court of Common Pleas, clerk of the Orphans' Court, and treasurer of the county of St. Clair. He held these four positions at the same time, and also during his life occupied other offices of trust and honor. He was notary public, justice of the peace, judge of probate, and recorder. He was also appointed by the commissioners at Kaskaskia to take depositions in support of land claims in the Kaskaskia district - a very delicate and responsible trust. He retained the confidence of tae people to a rare degree, and remained in office through successive changes of administration till his death. When the county seat was removed to Belleville, in 1814, it was a severe blow to Mr. Hay and his family. His duties demanded his presence at the county seat, and yet he was reluctant to leave the French society at Cahokia, to which he had become devotedly attached. For several years he came to Belleville each Monday morning, returning on Saturday to Cahokia, where his family still continued to reside. At last he sold his house in Cahokia, and became a permanent resident of Belleville, where he died in 1843. He was well fitted to fill the county offices in the early history of the county, when the population was of a mixed character. He was educated both in the English and French languages, and thus was qualified to transact business with both classes of the people. He acted as interpreter and assistant secretary at the treaty with the Indians at Portage des Sioux, Missouri, in 1815.

Louison, Etienne and Louis Pensoneau, three brothers, emigrated from Canada and settled in Cahokia in 1798. The youngest was then twenty-two and the oldest twenty-six. They all married in Cahokia and made excellent citizens. Louis Pensoneau for many years carried on the ferry between St. Louis and Cahokia which then crossed the river from below the mouth of the old Cahokia creek. Etienne Pensoneau built the first brick house in Illinoistown, now East St. Louis. From George Blair he purchased the site of Belleville and afterward sold it to Governor Ninian Edwards. He subsequently bought property in St. Louis, removed to that place, and died there in 1822. Louison Personeau embarked in the Indian trade on the Illinois river, principally among the Kickapoo Indians. His main depot was at Peoria. He was influential in securing the adjustment of the old Peoria land claims. He died in 183L

Among the physicians who made Cahokia their home, was Dr. Truman Tuttle, who came to Kaskaskia in the year 1802, as a surgeon in the United States army. After resigning his position in the army, he practiced medicine for a time at Kaskaskia, and then came to Cahokia. He was appointed judge of the court of common pleas of St. Clair county, and justice of the peace. Dr. Lyle resided at Cahokia in early times. He was considered a good physician. Dr. William L. Eeynolds emigrated from Bracken county, Ky., to Kaskaskia in the year 1809, and after practicing his profession there for some years, removed to Cahokia. He possessed talents of a high order, was an industrious student, and met with great professional success. He returned to Kaskaskia, and died of consumption in the year 1823. «

Peaikie Du Pont

After Cahokia the next permanent settlement in the county was the village of Prairie du Pont. This village had its start from a water-mill which was erected on Prairie du Pont creek by the JMist^ion of St. Sulpice, about the year 1754. This was the first water-mill in St Clair county. The village was founded in 1760 by residents of the other French villages, and in 1765 was said to contain fourteen families. It was only one mile south of Cahokia, and may be considered to have been a kind of a suburb of that village.

Jean Francois Perry was one of the most prominent citizens who ever lived at Prairie du Pont. He was born at Lyons, France, of a wealthy and aristocratic family, received a liberal, classic education, and studied and practiced law in his native country. The French revolution caused his emigration to America. He formed a partnership with another Frenchman, M. Claudius, to carry on the mercantile business, and the two started from Philadelphia for the West. They reached Cahokia with a small stock of goods, and soon afterward settled at Prairie du Pont. A few years afterward Claudius went to Philadelphia to purchase goods, and was thrown from a horse and killed in the streets of that city. His foot caught in the stirrup, and he was dragged and torn to death on the pavements. Perry purchased the old mill site on Prairie du Pont creek and built a new mill, whieih he carried on with profit. Near the mill was his dwelling. In the year 1794 he married the bi autiful daughter of Jean B. Saucier, of Cahokia. In a few years he amassed a large fortune ; he carried on both the mill and the store, but the greater part of his wealth was gained by profitable land speculations. He possessed a sound knowledge of law and a keen and vigorous mind, so that he was well able to enter into the traffic in land claims, which at that time engrossed the attention of men of means. At the time of his death he owned large bodies of choice lands. He was a man of plain, unostentatious manners, and lived and dressed in the true Republican style. He paid due regard to economy, and yet displayed much hospitality in the entertainment of all classes of people. He was held in great popularity and high esteem. For many years he was judge of the court of common pleas ; he acted as a justice of the peace during almost the whole period of his life after coming to Illinois. He was proficient in the French and English languages ; he served as a member of the legislature of Indiana Territory, which convened at Vincennes ; he employed great energy and activity in his business operations. He died in the year 1812.

Philip Creamer, a noted gunsmith, settled a short distance east of Prairie du Pont, in the year 1805. He was born at Taneytown, Maryland, and learned the trade of a gunsmith at Harper's Ferry. He had great genius as a mechanic. Anything that it was possible to do with metal he could do. But he was best in making a gun, the various parts of which he perfected and put together in a very superior manner. His gun-locks scarcely ever missed fire. In olden times it was a proverb, " He is as sure as a Creamer lock." His services were of great value in the war of 1812, and his time was fully employed in making and repairing guns for the trooi)s defending the frontiers. It is said that some of his friends induced him to make a pistol for John C. Calhoun, at that time secretary of war. The workmanship so surprised Calhoun that he wrote Creamer a letter requesting to know some particulars of his liff, and where he had learned his trade. Creamer was very singular and modest, and would not reply to the letter. He said, "I am no showman, to be advertised." He lived to an old age.

The French settlements known "as French village and Quentine village, (Canteen, in Madison county,) were begun about the year 1805, and for a time enjoyed considerable prosperity. A Frenchman from Cahokia, named Delorm, settled at the edge of the timber, east of the Big Mound, near Quentine (Canteen) creek, in 1804, and soon after the Quentine village began its existence. Its inhabitants were mostly emigrants from Prairie du Pont. The earliest settlers at French village were Nicholas Turgion, August Trotier and Dennis Valentine. The latter built a horse-mill.

Manners And Customs Of The Eaely French Settlers

The early French settlers were in general ambitious for neither wealth nor knowledge. They were quite content to take the world as it came, and endeavored to extract all the enjoyment possible out of life, and to avoid its cares. All were devout Catholics, and they were punctual in the discharge of their religious duties. They were eminently a social people. They could not be induced to settle on separate farms, like the American pioneers, but they clustered together in villages so that they might have the greatest opportunity for social intercourse. Their physical wants were easily supplied, and the great part of their lives they gave to pleasure. The young people delighted in the dance, and this cheerful and innocent diversion was usually carried on under the eye of the priest and the aged patriarchs of the village, who fully sympathized with the spirit of the gay assemblage. The excitement and animation of a French ball-room were surprising. Old and young, rich and poor, met together in good feeling, and with hearts overflowing with merri- ment. It was the usual custom to dance the old year out and the new year in. The numerous festivals of the Catholic church strongly tended to awaken and develop the social and friendly intercourse of the people. On the morning of the Sabbath they were always found at church, but the remainder of the day was devoted to social intercourse and diverting pastimes. Husbands and wives were kind and affectionate, and the children obedient. Hospitality and generosity were marked characteristics of the people. Their costume was peculiar. Blue seemed to have been the favorite color, and handkerchiefs of that hue commonly adorned the heads of both men and women. No genuine Frenchman in those days ever wore a hat, cap, or coat. The eapot, made of white blanket, was the universal dress for the laboring class of people. In summer the men wore a coarse blue stuff, and in the winter cloth or buckskin. The women wore deer skin moccasins, and the men a coarser and stronger article, made of thicker leather. With that natural aptitude for dress, which seems to belong peculiarly to the French, the women caught up the fashions of New Orleans and Paris with great avidity, and adopted them, as far as they were able.*

Notwithstanding their long separation by an immense wilderness from civilized society, they still retained all the suavity and politeness of their race. And it is a remarkable fact that the roughest hunter or boatman among them could at any time ai)pear in a ball room, or other polite or gay assembly, with the carriage and behaviour of a well-bred gentleman. The French women are remarkable for the sprightliness of their conversation, and the ease and elegance of their manners. And the whole population lived lives of alternate toil, pleasure, ihnocent amusement and gayety.

Their horses and cattle, for want of proper care and food for many generations, had degenerated in size, but had acquired additional vigor and toughness ; so that a French pony was a proverb for endurance. These ponies were made to draw, sometimes one alone, sometimes two together, one hitched before the other, to the plow, or to carts made entirely of wood, the bodies of which held about double the contents of a common large wheel-barrow. The oxen were yoked by the horns, instead of the neck, and in this mode were made to draw the plow and cart. Nothing like reins were ever used in driving; the whip of the drive, with a handle about two feet long, and a lash two yards long, stopped or guided the horse as effectually as the strongest reins.

They were on friendly terms with the Indians. The ease with which the French could adapt themselves to circumstances, made them at home by the camp fires of the savage. When with the Indians they adopted their modes of life, dressed like them, and frequently took as wives the dusky squaws.

While not superstitious, the ancient French in Illinois believed that some of the negroes of the West India islands possessed supernatural power to do any one harm, and that they could also look into futurity. In Cahokia, about the year 1790, this superstition got the upper hand of reason, and several poor African slaves suffered for this imaginary offence. An African negro, called Moreau, was hiing for this crime on a tree not far south-east of the village. It is stated that he said, " he poisoned his master, but his mistress was too strong for his necromancy." Another slave, Emanuel,

* They seUom violated the penal law. Eeynolda says : " Very few, or none of the Creoles, were ever indicted for the crimes the law-books style malum in se. No one, to my knowledge, was ever in the Penitentiary for a crime. I believe the records of the courts in Illinois do not exhibit an indictment against a Creole Frenchman for any crime higher than keeping his grocery open on a prohibited day of the week." Education, however, was neglected. The priests and the old ladies at times taught the children, but there was no regular system of schools.

was shot at Cahokia for the same reason. An old woman, named Jeanette, was supposed to have power to destroy persons and property by her incantations. Many grown people, and all the children, were terrified at her approach.

The American Settlements

At the beginning of the present century only one settlement of Americans had been made within the present limits of St. Clair county. This colony (at Turkey Hill), numbered about twenty.. Soon after the year 1800, the American settlements began rapidly to increase. Ridge prairie attracted a number of families which had previously settled in the present county of Monroe ; the log cabin of the frontiersman made its appearance beyond Silver Creek ; and in a few years every part of the county was brought under the domain of the adventurous pioneer.

Turkey Hill

The only American settlement in the county previous to the year 1800, was at Turkey Hill. The pioneer in this locality was William Scott. Turkey Hill had been an Indian camping ground for ages past, and after the arrival of the French was conspicuous as a trading post. The eminence rises to a considerable height, and from the east can be seen at a distance of thirty or forty miles. The French called it cote de dinde. Tradition says, that the Tamaroas Indians at one time had a large town on Turkey Hill, and that the Great Spirit sent an old Indian, a wise and good man, with the seeds of all good vegetables ; corn, beans, potatoes and peas, and that the old man taught the Indians how to plant and cultivate them. The old man also gave them good advice, to be peaceful, and never to go to war. As long as this counsel was followed, the Tamirois did well, and were a happy and prosperous people; but at last they disregarded the sage instruction, and disaster followed.

William Scott, the first settler at Turkey Hill, was born of Irish parentage, in Bottetourt county, Virginia, in the year 1745. After his marriage he removed from Virginia to Kentucky. He first came to Illinois in the year 1794, but returned to Kentucky. In 1797 he removed with his family to Illinois, and became a permanent resident. His children came with him - six sons and one daughter - and also his son-in-law, Franklin Jarvis. His sons were James, William, Samuel, Joseph, John, and Alexander Scott, and his daughter was named Elizabeth : all were born in Virginia. They made the journey by wagon from Fort Massac to the New Design settlement, where they arrived late in the fall. About Christinas they located at Turkey Hill, and made the first settlement north-east of Whitesides' station, in the present county of Monroe. Two of the sons, James and Joseph Scott, had come to Illinois the year prior, and raised a crop in the American Bottom, in Monroe county ; they then went back to Kentucky, and accompanied the family to Illinois, as above stated. William Scott had located several claims in the present counties of Monroe and St. Clair, one of which covered Turkey Hill, where he settled. Franklin Jarvis, Scott's son-in-law, settled a little north, at the foot of the hill.

At the time the Scotts came to Turkey Hill, the Indians were numerous in the vicinity. They hunted and resided near him the most of the year, but exhibited only a friendly spirit. The Kickapoos were the nearest neighbors. His large family of sons were of assistance in enabling him to sustain himself in a location so far in advance of the white settlements. His children married and settled in the neighborhood, and the family resided together for many years in that part of the county, in peace and happiness. After the New Design settlement and the colony in the American

Eistory Of 8T. Clair County, Illinois

Bottom, the Turkey Hill settlement became the most conspicuous settlement of Americans in Illinois in pioneer times. Mr. Scott was known far and near as " Turkey Hill Scott." He was a man of moral and honest character. For many years he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He possessed a sound judgment, and much practical experience, and was ambitious of neither wealth nor worldly distinction. He served some time as justice of the peace. Toward the close of his life he turned his attention to books and study, and passed his advanced years in the pleasures of meditation and reflection. He was intelligent and communicative, and was fond of discoursing on philosophical subjects. He died in Shiloh valley, in the year 1828, at the age of eighty-four. His sons became useful citizens, and many of his descendants still reside in the county.

Joseph Scott, one of the sons of William Scott, began the manufacture of powder in the year 1809, four miles and a half east of Belleville. For many years he furnished the best powder made in the West. He supplied the Rangers during the war of 1812. The nitre which he used in its manufacture he procured in the caves on the Gasconade river in Missouri, during the winter months, exploring that country,, then filled with Indians, with only one companion, Joseph Dixon. He also started a distillery, half a mile south of Shiloh, which was probably the first in the county.

The next year Hosea Riggs, Samuel Shook and some others were added to the Turkey Hill settlement. In the year 1800 there were about twenty persons, all told, living at Turkey Hill.

Hosea Riggs, then an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal church, came to Illinois in 1796, and settled in the American Bottom, Monroe county. He was born in West Virginia, April, 1760, and had been a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was deeply interested in Methodism, and had charge of a Methodist class in the American Bottom. In 1803 he went to Kentucky to attend the Western Conference, and solicit a preacher for the Illinois country. The Rev. Benjamin Young was sent. Riggs moved to St. Clair county, as above stated, and died two miles east of Belleville, in October, 1841, eighty-one years of age - at that time, the oldest man in the county.

The Shook family was from Virginia, and settled south-east of Turkey Hill, at a distance of about a mile from Scott. Samuel Shook was a good farmer and a useful citizen. He died in the year 1827. Among the other early settlers were George Stout, Moses and Jacob Short, and Joseph Carr.

Jacob and Moses Short were sons of John Short, who died soon after his arrival in this county. They were Kentuckians. Jacob Short was a man of some prominence and influence. He was captain of a company of Rangers in the war of 1812, and was also elected to the legislature under the territorial government. He acted as one of the seconds in the celebrated Stuart-Bennett duel. He removed to Morgan county, where he ended his days. Moses Short for a number of years held the ofiice of justice of the peace. He served against the Indians in his brother's company of Rangers. He is said to have built the first hand-mill in that part of the county.

The Carr family, - Joseph, Henry, Conrad, and Abner, settled in the Turkey Hill prairie, betweep two and three miles south-east of Turkey Hill, in the year 1803. They came from Virginia, and before coming to this locality, had lived in the New Design settlement in Monroe county. Joseph Carr died near Turkey Hill in the year 1817, and his sons lived in that neighborhood several years afterward. All the above settlements were made prior to the year 1804.

He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. He moved with his family from North Carolina to Kentucky in the fall of the year 1800, and after living within seven miles of Danville in the latter state till October, 1803, emigrated to Illinois, and settled on Richland creek, a few miles south of the present city of Belleville, and about two miles south-west of Turkey Hill. He was a natural mechanic, and possessed great natural genius for working in wood. He could m;ike anything from a fiddle to a wagon. . He supplied the neighborhood with plows, sash, wagons, tables, all parts of a spinning wheel, looms, barrels, hogsheads, milk-piggins, chairs and other similar articles. His son, Isaac J. Phillips, now residing in Belleville, has a chair in his possession, which was made in the year 1814, and which for strength and durability is much superior to anything manufactured at the present time. He died on the place he first settled, in the year 1826. He left a numerous and respectable family, and many of his descendants are still residents of the county. Isaac J. Phillips was born in North Carolina, in the year 1800 ; came to St. Clair county with his father in 1803, and has been a resident of the county ever since, with the exception of six months in the year 1822, during which time he was in Texas. He settled one mile east of Belleville in 1828, and lived there till 1877, and then became a resident of the city of Belleville.

In the year 1806, the settlements in that part of the county were increased by the arrival of the families of Elijah Rittenhouse, Isaac Quick, and John Woods. The Rittenhouse family settled on Turkey Hill Ridge, which up to that time had been occupied only by Scott. There were four sons in this family : Cornelius, Peter, William, and Elijah Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse entertained the idea that his location was the proper place for the county-seat at the time its removal from Cahokia was agitated. He laid ofi" his land in town-lots, but the site of Belleville was selected instead. He served as constable, and was a good citizen. His grandchildren still reside in that part of the county. Isaac Quick had a son, Moses Quick, who exhibited considerable enterprise. In the year 1810, in company with Major Jacob Short, he built a flat-boat below the present town of New Athens, which was loaded with beef cattle, and successfully floated down to New Orleans. This is said to have been the first flat-boat that ever navigated the Okaw. John Woods settled some distance south-west of Turkey Hill. Like some others among the early pioneers, he was too liberal a patron of ardent spirits. John Jar vis, a brother of Franklin Jarvis, settled some distance north of Turkey Hill, and about five miles east of Belleville. He removed to the neighborhood of Troy, in Indiana county, where his descendants still live.

After the year 1806, there were no considerable additions for some time to the Turkey Hill neighborhood. The settlement was considered one of the best in the county, and was generally composed of good, honest, and industrious citizens. The Scott family were connected with the Methodist Church. The Shorts and Carrs were Baptists. Baptist meetings were held one mcmth at the house of Squire Moses Short, and the next mouth at Joseph Carr's house. The Rev. Joseph Chance was one of the earliest preachers. The first sermon that Isaac J. Phillips ever heard preached was at the house of Moses Short, in the year 1806. It was the funeral sermon of Short's son.

West And South-West Of Belleville

In the years 1801 and 1802 settlements were made by John Teter, Abraham Eyman, William Muller, Martin Randleman and Daniel Stookey. The founders of this colony were of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, and became industrious, moral and upright citizens. Stookey and Eyman, in company with some others, (one of whom was the Rev. David Badgley), came to Illinois in 1796 to explore the country with a view of selecting a future location for their families. Traversing the country in the vicinity of the present city of Belleville, Stookey and Eyman selected the locations where afterward they settled in the prairie west and south-west of Belleville. Abraham Eyman brought his family to Illinois the next year. He fitst lived in the American Bottom, near Piggott's station, then moved lo the New Design, and in the spring of the year 1801 settled four miles west of Belleville. He was a good citizen, and once represented the county in the legislature. He died in the same neighborhood where he settled, Eyman was preceded a few months by John Teter, who had a house already built at the time the former arrived. Teter once served as County Commissioner. William Miller, a brother-in-law of Teter, selected a location three miles south-west of Belleville.

Daniel Stookey, who had married a sister to the wife of Abraham Eyman, came to the county iu the year 1802, and settled on the farm now ovvned by Mrs. George W. Stookey, two miles west of Belleville. He died iu the year 1835, on the farm which he first settled. He had nine children, who grew to maturity, two of whom were born before coming to Illinois. Only one, Elijah Stookey, is now living; his residence is on a farm adjoining the one on which his father settled in 1802.

John Primm, a native of Stafford county, Virginia, emigrated to Illinois in the year 1803, and about a year afterward settled seven miles west of Belleville, and in 1817 moved to a new location three miles south-west of the county seat. Here he died in 1836, at the age of eighty-seven. For a time he carried the mail between Cahokia and Edwardsville. One of his sons, in August, 1814, while carrying the mail from Cahokia to Cliuton Hill, was struck by lightning in the Derush hollow near the bottom. He and his horse were both killed. His body was burnt black by the electricity. Mr. Primm had been a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, in 1781, and during the latter part of his life received a pension. His son, Aram Primm is now a resident of Belleville. He was born in Hampshire county, Virginia, iu 1799, and was between two and three years old when the family moved to Illinois. He has been living seventy-eight years in St. Clair county, and is now one of the relics of pioneer days in Illinois.

The year 1802 was marked by general prosperity to the colonists in Illinois. Accessions were made to the population, and new settlements formed. The Goshen settlement, in the present county of Madison, was increased in numbers. This year settlements were made, north and north-east of Belleville, on

Eidge Peaieie

Among the pioneers here was the Ogle family. Captain Joseph Ogle was born in Virginia in the year 1744. He commanded a company of Virginia troops during the Revolutionary war, holding a commission as captain from Patrick Henry, then governor o^' Virginia. He came to Illinois in the year 1785, and first settled in what is now Monroe county. In 1802 he made one of the pioneer locations on Ridge prairie, settling that year near the present town of O'Fallon. During his early residence in Illinois he took part in several Indian fights. In May, 1791, John Dempsey was attacked by the Indians, but escaped. Capt. Ogle and his son, Benjamin Ogle, were two of the eight men who started in pursuit of the Indians. The others were Capt. Nathaniel Hull, James Lemen, J. Ryan, William Bryson, John Porter and Daniel Roper. The Indians were double the number of the whites. A hot battle was fought in the timber at the Big Spring in Monroe county, not far east of the road which ran from Waterloo to *Whiteside8 station. A running fight was kept up till dark from tree to tree, the Indians fleeing and the whites pursuing. Five Indians were killed, but the white men all escaped unharmed. Capt Ogle lived on a farm two miles west of O'Fallon where he died, in 1821. Capt. Ogle left several children, and there are now many of his descendants in St. Clair county.

Benjamin Ogle, his oldest son, took part in several of the early Indian contests, in one of which he was wounded. He was a ranger during the war of 1812. He lived on a farm near the present town of O'Fallon, and died at a good old age. Another son, Joseph Ogle, was born in Virginia, in 1777, and accompanied his parents to Illinois in 1785. He married Lucinda Pulliam, daughter of John Pulliam, in 1804, and soon afterward improved a farm east of O'Fallon. He served in the Black Hawk war. He died in 1846. Jacob Ogle, son of Capt. Joseph Ogle, was born in Virginia, and came to Illinois with the family in 1785. He married Elizabeth Teter and settled west of O'Fallon. He was a man of considerable intelligence and popularity, and for a number of years served as Justice of the Peace. He and the' Rev. James Lemen built a mill for grinding wheat and corn. This mill was situated on Ogle's creek, three miles north of O'Fallon, and was run by water power. Owing to the scant supply of water the mill was carried on only a short time. He had another mill at an early period on his farm, which was operated by horse power. Two of his sons are still living in the neighborhood of O'Fallon. Some of the daughters of Capt. Joseph Ogle married early pioneers. Nancy married in Virginia, Larkin Rutherford, and came to Illinois with her husband in 1785. Prudence was the wile of Peter Casterline. Dnusilla married William Porter, and Polly became the wife of Gen. James Moore. Jemima married the Rev. Charles Matheny, a former resident of St. Clair county, and a member of the Methodist ministry, who subsequently removed to Springfield where he occupied several responsible public positions.

Among the settlers in Ridge prairie were Robert, Joseph and James Lemen, sons of the Rev. James Lemen, one of the early pioneer preachers of Illinois. James Lemen, Sr., was born in Berkeley county, Virginia, in the year 1760. He served two.years during the war of the Revolution, and then went to the vicinity of Wheeling, Virginia, where he married Catharine Ogle, daughter of Capt. Joseph Ogle. He came to Illinois in 1786, his father-in-law having settled here the previous year, He descended the Ohio river in a flat boat. At night, while the boat was titd to the shore, the river fell, and the boat, lodging on a stump, was overturned and sunk. All his provisions and goods were thus lost. His oldest son, Robert, then thi-ce years of ago, floated out in the stream on the bed on which he lay, but with some exertion his life was saved. He reached Kaskaskia on the 10th of July, 1786, and shortly afterward settled at New Design, in the present Monroe county. He was a Justice of the Peace for a number of years, and also served as one of the judges of the county court. His religious labors are elsewhere referred to.

Robert Lemen, the oldest son, was raised at New Design. In the year 1805 he married Hester Tolin. He settled in Ridge prairie four or five miles to the north of where the town of O'Fallon now is. Under the administration of John Quincy Adams he acted as Marshal for the state of Illinois. He also served as Justice of the Peace. In early times he acted as clerk of the Richland Baptist church, and was one of the original members of the Bethel church, organized in 1809, of which he was clerk till 1845. He died in 1860. Rev. Joseph Lemen was born in September, 1 785, and was not a year old when the family reached Illinois. He became a minister of the Baptist church, and settled in Ridge prairie north of the site of O'Fallon. His wife was Mary Kinney, the youngest daughter of Joseph Kinney, and brother of William Kinney, at one time lieutenant governor of the state. It is said that she went to school and learned to read and write aftt r she was married She became the mother of a large and respectable family. Joseph Lemeu was active in his ministerial labors, trayeled over the country, and organized many Baptist churches. His death occured in 1861. Rev. James Lemen. Jr., was born in the New Design settlement in 1787, and there acquired a good education under the instruction of the Rev. John Clark, one of the most active and useful of the pioneer preachers of Illinois. Mr. Lemen was said to be the first ordained preacher in Illinois born iu the territory. He married Mary PuUiam in 1813, and settled in Ridge prairie. He was a member of the Territorial Legislature at Kaskaskia, and also filled the same office after the organization of the state government. He was a member of the convention which framed the first constitution of the state. Twice he was a member of the State Senate. He died in February, 1870.

It may be remarked that one cause of the removal of the Ogle and Lemen families to Illinois, was their opposition to slavery. This was the case also with a number of other prominent families of the county, who came at a later date. At that early day, half a century before any general agitation of the question began, they became opposed to the system, liberated their slaves, and moved to a place where the institution was not likely to be adopted.

John PuUiam, who emigrated to Illinois iu 1795, was the head of a large family, many of the descendants of whom still reside in St. Clair county. He was born in Botetourt county, Va., and removed to Kentucky immediately after the revolutionary war. He came to the New Design settlement, and, in the year 1797, settled in Missouri at Florissant west of St. Louis. He returned to Illinois in 1799, and after living for a time in the Horse Prairie, in the northern part of Randolph county, in the year 1802, he made a farm on the Prairie du Long creek, luear the mouth of Richland creek in the present county of Monroe, lie sold this place, and in 1808 began the improvement of a farm on the Kaskaskia river near the present town of Fayetteville in the south-eastern part of the county. Here he died in the year 1812. Of his nine children - Robert, Nancy, Elizabeth, John, Lucinda, James, Thomas, Ruth, and Mary - several lived and died in St. Clair county.

Nancy married William Lot Whitesides, who, shortly after 1800, settled three miles east of Belleville. John Pulliam settled near the present city of Belleville at an early day. Lucinda became the wife of Joseph Ogle, son of Captain Joseph Ogle.

James Pulliam, who was eight or nine years of age when he came with the family to Illinois, married Judith Whitesides, and settled two miles east of where Belleville now is. He was a man of considerable information, and an able Baptist preacher. He was liberal iu his support of religious and educational institutions. He died in 1854.

Thomas Pulliam became a minister of the Methodist Church, and also engaged in farming. He was the founder of the present town of Fayetteville, where he was living at the time of his death in 1852.

Mary, the youngest daughter of John Pulliam, was about a year old when she came with her parents to Illinois. Her mother dying when she was small ; she was raised by her sister Nancy, the wife of William Lot Whitesides, who lived east of Belleville. In December, 1813, she became the wife of the Rev. James Lemen, junior ; she died on Ridge prairie in February, 1876, at the age of eightyone. From childhood her life had been spent in St. Clair county.

Larken Rutherford was one of the soldiers under Col. Clark, who took part in the conquest of Illinois. He was a man of large, athletic frame, and was bold and fearless. He returned to Illin..is in 1781 in company with James Moore, Shadrach Bond, Robert Kidd, and James Garrison. This was the first colony of American families to settle iu Illinois. Moore and Rutherford chose a situation near Bellefontaine, a short distance south-west of the present town of Waterloo in Monroe county. Bond, Kidd and Garrison settled in the Bottom.

Soon after 1800, Rutherford moved to St. Clair county, and settled north of Belleville. He was an energetic and zealous member of the Baptist Church.

Another of the soldiers of Col. Clark was William Biggs, who subsequently became a prominent citizen of St. Clair county. He was born in Maryland in the year 1755, and in Clark's expedition to Illinois, in 1778 and 1779, was one of his subordinate officers, holding the rank of lieutenant. Congress, in the year 1826, gave him a grant of three sections of land in consideration of his services during the Illinois campaigns. He returned from Virginia to Illinois soon after the revolution, and, in company with two brothers, settled at Bellefontaine near the present town of Waterloo.

Gov. St. Clair, in 1790, appointed him sheriff of St. Clair county. He was kind and obliging in the office, and became a popular citizen. He was elected a representative in the legislature of the north- west cm territory for two different terms. It is said that Biggs and Sha Jrach Bond, when doing military service iu Illinois, in 1778, made up their minds to returu to Illinois, and in discussing the subject between themselves, they humorously remarked that they might yet represent the Illinois country in the legislature. They were both members of the first general assembly of the territory, which convened west of the Ohio after the revolution.

Biggs served for a number of years as justice of the peace, and judge of the court of common pleas of St. Clair county. It is said that he held one of the sessions of the court in a corn crib. In 1808 he was elected a member of the legislature of Indiana territory, and was infiueutialin obtaining a division of the territory. From 1812 to 1816 he represented St. Clair couuty in the general assembly of the territory of Illinois. Shortly after the year loOO he settled three miles and a-half north-east of Belleville, on land adjoining the Kinney Place. Toward the close of his life he engaged in the manufacture of salt on Silver creek in Madison county and died in 1827.

George and William Blair came to Illinois in 1796. The former first lived between the old Whitesides' station and the town of Waterloo in the present county of Monroe, and had a distillery there. He was appointed sheriff of St. Clair county, and held that office for several years. In 1802 he moved with his family to the site of the present city of Belleville, where he owned two hundred acres of land, on which the town of Belleville was located in the year 1814. He is said to have applied the name of Belleville to the new county-seat. Further mention of his name will be found iu the history of Belleville.

The "sugar-loaf" tract of land south of Cahokia, near the Monroe couuty line, was first improved by George Lunceford and Samuel Judy. Judy sold out to Lunceford, shortly after the opening of the present century, and w^ent to the present couuty of Madis- .n, where he died. The " sugar-loaf" was a well-known landmark iu the early settlement of the country. A small mound rises on the top of the rocky bluff. In early times a peach tree stood on the summit of this mound, which had the reputation of nev>-r failing to bear fruit. Its resemblance to a sugar-loaf gives the name to the place. It is five or six miles south of Cahokia.

Among the distinguished citizens of St. Clair county was "William Kinney, who, in the year 1826, was elected lieutenant-governor of the state.

He was born in Kentucky in the year 1781, and in 1793 emigrated, with his father, Joseph Kinney, to the New Design settlement in Monroe county. He was thirteen years of age when he came to Illinois, and at nineteen he married. He was gay and social in his disposition, and was a leader in the festivities and amusements then common on the frontier. He inherited a strong and solid mind and a sound judgment. His memory was retentive. His energy and activity boundless, and he received but little scholastic education. It is said that he went to school regularly only three months.

After he was married he was taught by John Messinger to read and write. The arithmetic he mastered by his own unaided efforts. For a time he attended a school at the junction of the Collinsville road with the Belleville and Lebanon plank-road, which was held in a log-house with a wooden chinmey, without ceiling or windows, and without a glass in the house. The floor was of puncheons, and the door made of clap-boards.

With this foundation, he became a man of intelligence, and was one of the most prominent, popular, and influential characters of his day. He possessed a fund of wit, excelled in satire and sarcasm, was always ready with a pertinent and telling anecdote, while his sound judgment and accurate knowledge of humau nature taught him how to use these gifts in the most effective manner. At the time of his marriage he was destitute of worldly means, and had little disposition to accumulate property. But he soon adopted a more sober and industrious course of conduct. In the year 1803 he settled on a beautiful and commanding eminence a few miles northeast of the present city of Belleville. In the labor of making a farm he was assisted by his wife, who was an excellent and amiable lady. His surplus articles of produce, raised by his own hand on his farm, he sold in St Louis and Cakokia.

Mr. Vonphul, a merchant of St. Louis, persuaded Kinney to take some few articles of merchandise home with him and try to sell them. If he could not sell them he might return them. After some hesitation Kinney took the goods, consisting of a few bolts of domestic manufactured cotton-cloth, which he carried before him on his horse from St. Louis to his farm.

At that time he could barely write, and knew nothing of bookkeeping, but his strong natural talents enabled him to invent a system of book-keeping for himself With this humble commencement, he embarked in a prosperous business career, in which he acquired a large fortune. He traded in merchandise and lands and in everything was successful. He erected a comfortable house, which was almost always crowded with his friends, and in which he exercised an unsparing hospitality.

In 1809 he became connected with the Baptist Church. He was authorized to preacli . the Gospel, and became a distinguished and influential Bajitist minister.

After reaching maturity he entered the field of politics. He was a staunch and uncompromising democrat, and at all times maintained the doctrines of his party with sincere enthusiasm. He was elected a member of the first general assembly after the organization of the State government, and a-sisted in putting the political machinery of the State in operation. He was several times subsequently chosen to represent St Clair county in the State legislature, and always acquitted himself with credit as an efficient business member.

Kinney was considered one of the most efficient canvassers of the day. His great knowledge of human nature enabled him to succeed. He was elected by a small majority, though the candidate for governor on the same ticket, Thomas Sloo, was defeated. In 1830 he was a candidate for governor in opposition to Governor John Reynolds, the campaign being one of the most exciting ever known in the State. Both were democrats ; Kinney was supported by the ultra-Jackson democrats, while Reynolds was favored by the more conservative elements in the democratic party, and also received in general the votes of the whigs, who preferred his election to that of such an uncompromising democrat as Kinney. The campaign wai commenced in the spring of 1829, and lasted till the election, in 1830. It resulted in the election of Reynolds. During the Jackson administration Gov. Kinney possessed much influence, and often visited Washington. He was regarded as the representative in Illinois of the straight-out Jackson party. Toward the close of his life he was appointed commissioner of internal improvements, a position which gave him much trouble, and was a serious injury to his fortune. He died on his farm, where he had lived for forty years in the year 1843. This place subsequently became the residence of Hon. J. L. D. Morrison, and the fine residence erected by Morrison is known as '- Glen Addie." Sometime since Morrison sold this property.

Joiin Messinger, an early settler at Clinton Hill, two miles and a half north of Belleville, kept the first post-office in the county, outside of Cahokia. Messinger was an accomplished surveyor, and surveyed a large portion of the land in this and adjoining counties. He was born at West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in the year 1771. He was raised on a farm, and was taught the science and practice of agriculture, and at the same time secured a good education- He was particularly fond of the study of mathematics, which he pursued under the instructions of William Coit, who resided in the neighborhood of his father's residence. He removed to Vermont in 1783, and became acquainted" with the trade of a carpenter or house-builder, and of a millwright. He had a good share of energy and activity, and much aptitude for mechanical pursuits. It is said that in maturer life, his whole delight and pleasure was f 'und in the science of mathematics and the various branches arising out of that science. "His whole life seemed to be tinctured with mathematics," and for many years he was believed to be the most profound mathematician and best land surveyor in Illinois. He came to Kentucky in 1799, and to Illinois in ] 802, and after remaining some time in the American Bottom, he removed to the New Design settlement, in the present Monroe county, and in 180-t purchased a mill and premises on Rock House creek, oast of New Design. He repaired the mill, lived there for some years, and then moved to Clinton Hill.

There were not many opportunities for instruction in those days and Mr. Messinger, who was an excellent English scholar, taught the science of surveying to many young men, and also instructed many grown people, male and female. He was among the first surveyors who, in the year 1806, surveyed this section of the state into townships. During that year he was employed in surveying town six south, range seven west, and the adjacent territory. He did this work as sub-contractor under William Rector. He surveyid much of the public domain in St. Clair and Randolph counties. He wrote and published a book called "A Manual, or Hand- Book, Intended for Convenience in Practical Surveying." This work was printed by William Orr, at St. Louis, in the year 1821. For some time he was professor of Mathematics in the Seminary at Rock Spring. In 1815 he was appointed deputy-surveyor, under the surveyor-general of Ohio, Edward Tiffin, with authority to survey the military tract in the forks of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers; he surveyed much of this tract. He was subsequently appointed to assist in the survey of the northern limits of this state; he made part of the astronomical and mathematical calculations by which the line dividing Illinois from the state of Wisconsin was located. He, and Philip Creamer, whose superior skill as a mechanic is referred to on a previous page, made surveyors' compasses that were as well calculated and as well finished in workmanship as any made in the United States.

He did not care to take any active part in political aifairs, but several times was prevailed upon to represent St. Clair county in the legislature, both of Indiana territory and the state of Illinois. He was first elected in 1808 to the legislature of Indiana territory, and did much to secure the division of the territory, which took place the next year. He was a member of the convention which met at Kaskaskia in the year 1818 and formed the first constitution of the state of Illinois. He was also a member of the first general assembly of this state which convened in 1818, and on its organization, was elected speaker of the House of Representatives. His death occurred in the year 1846. He had no enemies, but a large number of friends mourned his departure.

The Badgleys, who are among the early settlers of St. Clair county, are the descendants of Anthony Badgley, of New Jersey, who settled in Virginia, and died about the year 1800. The Rev. David Badgley, a Baptist preacher, visited Illinois in 1796 ; he preached in the New Design settlement, and founded there the first Baptist church in existence in Illinois. He also visited Missouri. On his return from Missouri he preached a sermon from a rock in the Mississippi river, the people gathering to hear him from either shore - doubtless the first Baptist sermon preached along the Mississippi. Returning to Virginia, he gave such a favorable account of the country that his sons and a number of other persons determined to emigrate to Illinois. The colony consisted of a large number of families, among which were the Teters, Carrs, Millers, Strouds and Eymans. They floated down the Ohio in flatboats from Brownsville to Shawneetown, and thence made their way overland to Kaskaskia, which place they reached on the 4th of July, 1797. Nothing but an Indian trail at that time led from Shawneetown to Kaskaskia. The streams, swollen with rains, they were compelled to swim. Their goods, and the women and the children were ferried over on temporary rafts. No trace of a white man was seen till they reached Kaskaskia. They saw animals running off at a distance, which some thought to be buflTalo, and others elk.

David Badgley settled in the American Bottom, west of Moredock lake, in the present county of Monroe, in 1797 or 1798. He moved to a place a few miles north of Belleville, (in section 4 of township 1 north, range 8 west) in the year 1804. He improved a farm, on which he died on the 16th of December, 1824, at the age of seventy-six.

Anthony Badgley, brother of David Badgley, who accompanied the latter from Virginia in 1797, first settled in the New Design settlement, in Monroe county, but in 1804 moved north of Belleville, and began improving a farm in section 34 of township 2 north, range 8 west. He at that date built a log house which is still preserved in memory of one of the hardy pioneers of the county. He died in 1837 at the age of seventy-seven. He has a son, Simeon Badgley, still living within a stone's-throw of the place where his father settled, and where he was born. His youngest daughter, Eliza Dixon, is also still living in that locality. Hiram Badgley, one of the sons of Anthony Badgley, took part in the war of 1812, and was in Howard's campaign up the Mississippi, against the Indians.

Aaron Badgley, one of the sons of David Badgley, settled on the Horse Prairie, west of Red Bud, in 1797, and while living there his wife and two childrea died. In 1800 he married Catharine Stroud, and settled on the bluff" south of Waterloo, and in 1804 moved north of Belleville, settling in section 4 of township 1 north, range 8 west. In 181'2 he became a ranger, and was an orderly sergeant through Edwards' campaign. On his return, he visited Virginia in company with his father, but coming back to Illinois, he rejoined the army under Capt. Stuntz, and served until peace was declared. In 1830 he was chosen justice of the peace, and was afterwards reelected. He and his son, Adam Badgley, hauled the first goods from Belleville to Springfield for Governor Edwards. It was in the winter ; they were obliged to sleep out on the prairie, and came near perishing with cold. Aarou Badgley died in the year 1858 at the age of eighty-five. His wife survived him several years, and died when ninety-one. He has three sons now living, Elijah, Adam and Strander. Elijah is now seventy-niue years of age, and is now among the oldest native-born citizens in Illinois. Aaron Badgley's four brothers, sons of Rev. David Badgley, - Ichabod, David, Job and Abraham Badgley, - were all among the early pioneers of the Illinois country.

Ichabod Badgley opened a farm north of Belleville, which is now owned by his grandchildren. He served as justice of the peace. David Badgley was killed by being thrown against a tree while riding a horse which had taken fright ; his son Absalom is still living at a ripe old age. Job Badgley built an ox mill near Unity Church; he has two sons still living. Abraham Badgley was elected assessor, treasurer, and county commissioner suveral times ; he has three sons living at this date.

Among the early settlers connected with the development of the manufacturing interests of the county, the Harrison famiiy deserves mention. Thomas Harrison was born in the York district. South Carolina, in the year 1779. His father moved to Rutherford county. North Carolina ; then settled in Georgia ; afterward removed to Buncombe county. North Carolina, and from that point, Thomas Harrison and some others emigrated to Illinois in July, 1804. Mr. Harrison and some others settled the same year three or four miles south-west from the present city of Belleville. Mr. Harrison here improved a farm, and in the year 1818, erected a cotton gin, one of the first in Illinois. It was propelled by horsepower. At that date considerable cotton was cultivated, but the price afterward became reduced so low, that the cotton business and the gin were abandoned. It is said that James Gilbreath, who settled on Silver croek, near where it is crossed by the road leading from Belleville to Shawneetown, built the first cotton gin ever seen in the Illinois country. Mr. Harrison subsequently purchased an oxtread-mill in Belleville ; then built a small steam mill, and then a larger one which was burnt, and with it more than sixty thousand bushels of wheat. His enterprise gave the first impetus to the growth of the milling interests of Belleville, now so important. His descendants are still largely connected with the manufacturing interests of the town.

A few miles from the mouth of Silver creek, Abraham Teter, his sister, Mrs. Shook, and Peter Mitchell began making improvements in 1804. Peter Mitchell served as justice of the peace and county commissioner, and was a respected citizen.

Another settlement on Silver creek was made by the Bradsby family, about three miles north from the present town of Lebanon, at the edge of the Looking Glass prairie. William H. Bradsby, the oldest son, came from Kentucky with two other > oung men in the spring of 1804, and made an improvement and raised a crop of corn. The family followed them from Kentucky in the fall. At the time this settlement was made, it was seven or eight miles in advance of the other inhabitants. Mr. Bradsby taught school for severalyears in various parts of the county. In the year 1806, he had a school in the American Bottom, almost west of the present town of Collinsville, and the next year he had charge of another in the Turkey Hill settlement. His two sons, William H., and" James Bradsby, were in the ranging service during the war of 181'2-14, and made good soldiers. William H. Bradsby returned to Kentucky and qualified himself for the practice of medicine, and then came back to Illinois. He was elected a member of the legislature in 1814. He was a resident of Washington county at the time it was organized, and filled a number of public oflices in that county. He lived at Covington for a number of years. Among the settlers on Silver creek in 1807, was Thomas Higgins. His name deserves a place in history for his heroic adventure with the Indians in 1814, at a block house on Shoal creek about eight miles south of the present town of Greenville in Bond county, further mention of which is made in the chapter on patriotism. Higgins was related to the Bradsbys, and settled near them, north of Lebanon, on coming to Illinois.

Abraham Varner settled east of Belleville about the year 1804. He established himself in the blacksmith business on the main traveled road, leading from Viucenues to Cahokia and St. Louis. His place was four miles east from the present city of Belleville.

Jabez and Curtis Moore came to St. Clair county previous to the year 1812, and settled five miles east of Belleville. Kisdon Moore, in his day, was a conspicuous and popular citizen of St. Clair county, came to Illinois from Georgia in the year 1812. Beside his own family he brought with him his wife's mother, Mrs. Dent ; a nephew, W. D. Moore, a Mr. Deshields and wife, and seventeen colored persons. His object in removing to Illinois was to get rid of slavery. During the summer of 1812, he cultivated a crop on the farm of William Sdott at Turkey Hill, and the next fall purchased land of John Jarvis, four miles east of Belleville, where he resided till his death in the year 1828. He took an active part in public afl^airs. He was one of the judges of the county court, and was several times elected to the legislature both under the territorial and the state government- He served as speaker of the house of representatives. He warmly opposed the attempt to make Illinois a slave state, and in the contest in the legislature during 1822-3, over the emancipation of the slaves held by the French, he did all in his power to aid the cause of freedom. His oldest son, William Moore, served as a captain during the war of 1812. He married Margaret Alexander, and settled on a farm east of Belleville. He was an ardent Whig in politics, and a supporter of Adams and Clay. He commanded a company of soldiers in the Black Hawk war, both during 1831 and 1832, and was also tendered the command of a company in the war with Mexico. He served several times as assessor and surveyor, and twice represented St Clair county in the lower hou-^e of the General Assembly. He was a Methodist, and for many years a local preacher. At the time of his death in the year 1849, he was president of the joint board of trustees of McKendree college. Several of the other children of Eisdon Moore resided for many years in the county. A son, Jonathan Moore, married Elizabeth, daughter of George Lunceford, for a time resided in the " Sugar L(jaf " farm at the foot of the bluifs, south of Cahokia, in 1833 purchased his father's old farm, and in 1850, removed to Lebanon. He served in the Black Hack war.

Another Risdon Moore became a resident of St. Clair county in 1817, and settled five miles and a half east of Belleville. Heserved once or twice in the state senate, and was a leading member of the Hard Shell Baptist church. One of his sons. Atlas Moore, moved near Risdon in the south-eastern part of the county, and for several years was a Missionary Baptist preacher. Another son, Daniel T., settled in the north-east part of the county, and represented St. Clair county in the legislature.

William A. Beaird, who for a number of years served as sheriff of St. Clair county, came with his father to this state in the year 1801, and settled on the east side of the Kaskaskia river, four miles north-east of Kaskaskia. His family had previously resided in Tennessee and Kentucky. His father, John Beaird, was a brave and energetic man of strong and comely person, and was invariably selected as a leader in the troubles, which the pioneers of East Tennessee experienced with the Indians. In May, 1793, with fifty men under his command, he pursued the Indians across the Tennessee river, and succeeded in killing several. He represented Knox county, Tennessee, in the state legislature. He subsequently removed to Wayne county, Kentucky, and from thereto Illinois, where he died in 1809. Thefamily were relatives of Gov. Reynolds. One of his sous, Joseph A. Beaird, resided for a time at Cahokia, and with him Reynolds made his home when he embarked in the practice of law He represented Monroe county in the General Assembly for several sessions, and died in 1829. William A. Beaird naturally possessed a good mind, but obstinately refused to become educated or to receive any information through the medium of books or printing. He had, however, by observation and intercourse with the people acquired much practical knowledge. He never married. He was kind and benevolent in his disposition, and was always ready and willing to assist any one in trouble or distress. He was appointed deputy sheriff in 1815, and acted as such till the organization of the state government in 1818, and then was elected sheritfof St. Clair county, and was afterward re-elected five different times. Altogether he acted as sheriff from 1815 to 1830. He was popular with the people, and kind and indulgent in his administration of the sheriff's office. He died at Belleville in 1843

Among the former citizens of St. Clair county, perhaps none have led a more distinguished and useful life than the Rev. John M. Peck, D.D., who moved to Rock Spring, near Lebanon, in 1821, and died thtre in 1857. Few men have compressed more active labors in a Jife-tinie. He was born at Litchfield, Connecticut, on the thirty-first of October, 1789. At the age of twenty he was married, and in 1811 moved to Greene county, New York, and the same year began to preach in the Baptist churches of that part of the state. In 1813 he was ordaintd as a regular minister, and in 1817 was sent to St. Louis in the interest of Baptist missions. He at once began the work of evangelization, and preached extensively through Missouri and Illinois. In 1821 he moved to Rock Spring, and a few years afterward founded there a theological school called the Rock Spring Seminary. In 1829 he issued the first number of the Pioneer, the first religious newspaper ever published in the West. His frequent travels over the country brought him into such prominence, that he was frequently consulted by letter by a large number of persons who proposed to emigrate to the West, and wished definite knowledge of certain localities. To meet this demand for information, he published the "Guide for Emigrants." In 1834 he published the " Gazetteer of Illinois," in which was contained a concise and accurate description of each county, town, settlement, stream and prairie in the state. An enlarged edition of this work appeared in 1837. He was also the author of several other volumes. All this ti^ie he was busy with his ministerial labors ; assisted in founding educational institutions ; formed Bible societies; organized Sunday-schools; established churches, and made frequent visits to other states. His health finally failed, and he died in March, la57. By nature he was gifted with a strong and vigorous intellect, and in addition possessed an energy and activity that shrank from no labor. He was admirably fitted for western pioneer life. He was hardy, self-denying, courageous and independent. For forms and theories he had little respect. Few men of his day were more influential in guiding the thoughts and forming the institutions of the West. He gave his whole power, physical and intellectual, to his work, to which even the social affections seemed subordinated. A story is told of him to the effect that, after having been absent some months from his family, while acting as Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society in Philadelphia, he reached home by the stage in the morning, and, unobserved by any of his family, went into his study, and finding a great accumulation of letters and papers during his absence, soon became absorbed in their examination. Late in the afternoon some member of the family, to his great surprise, found him in his study peering over his papers.

Gov. John Reynolds became a resident of St. Clair county in 1814, in the beginning of which year he opened a law-office at Cahokia. He was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, on tFie twenty-sixth of February, 1788. His father, Eobert Reynolds, and his mother, Margaret Moore, were natives of Ireland. Whtn he was about six months old, his parents moved to East Tennessee, near Knoxville, which town, however, was not founded till tliree years later. In the year 1800 his father, with his family, left Tennessee with the intention of settling in Missouri, then under the government of Spain. Arriving at Kaskaskia, he was induced to remain in Illinois, and settled two miles and a half east of Kaskaskia. Eobert Reynolds was elected representative from Randolph county to the Indiana territorial legislature, and also held the office of judge of the Court of Common Pleas and justice of the peace. In 1807 the family moved to a location in the Goshen settlement, at the foot of the Mississippi bluff, three or four miles southwest of Edwardsville. In 1809 he went to East Tennessee, and attended college in Knox county, near the residence of his uncle, John Reynolds. He was back in Illinois by the time of the breaking out of the war of 1«12, and enlisted as private in a company of rangers. He began the practice of law iu 1814, and in 1818, on the organization of the state government, was elected by the legislature one of the associate judges of the supreme court. He held this position till 1834. He was several times afterward chosen to the state legislature, and in 1830, after an exciting canvass, with William Kinney as his opponent, was elected Governor. During his administration occurred the Black Hawk war. In 1834 he" was elected a member of CongKss, but was defeattd for that office in 1836. He was again elected iu 1838. In 1837 he was engaged in the construction of a railroad six miles long from the foot of the bluff to the Mississippi opposite St. Louis. It was built with the purpose of conveying coal to market. This was the first railroad constructed iu the state. . In 1839 he was appointed by Gov. Carlin commiseioner to secure a loan for the completion of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and in the summer of that year visited Europe. He was subsequently twice chosen a member of the legislature, in 1846 and in 1852, and when last a member, was made speaker of the house of representatives. He was the author of several works. His " Pioneer History of Illinois " has been widely read, and contains graphic and original descriptions of the men who figured in the early history of the state, and of the incidents and customs of pioneer times. " My Own Times," a later work, is not so well known, but deserves careful reading. He died at Belleville on the 8th of May, 1865. Further mention of his name will be found in the chapter on. the Bench and Bar. Among the arrivals in 1817 was Samuel Mitchell, who settled southeast of Belleville, where Reutchler station now is. The next year his brother, Edward Mitchell, came to the county. The Rev. Edward and Samuel Mitchell were born in Cecil County, Maryland, the first mentioned in 1760. They both served through the Revolutionary war, Edward Mitchell filling the position of quartermaster. They moved to the Valley of Virginia at an early date, settling near Fincastle, the county seat of Botetourt county. They were among the first converts to Methodism in that part of the state, and were both men of ability and great moral worth. Both were ministers in the Methodist church. Edward Mitchell settled at Turkey Hill, about a mile soiith of his brother, and lived there till his death in the year 1837, at the age of seventy-eight. James Mitchell, one of the sons of Edward Mitchell, was one of the early postmasters at Belleville, and continued several years in the office. Three of his children are now living, one of whom is Mrs. Susan Dennis of Belleville. Samuel Mitchell moved to Galena, and lived to an old age. There are persons now living in the county who heard him preach in his eightieth year. Soon after their settlement in the county, with the aid of the few living near, Samuel and Edward Mitchell built a house of worship, that was used for many years both as a church and school-house. For a long period the ordinances of religion were regularly administered without money and without price. Three sons of Rev. Samuel Mitchell became ministers of the gospel. Edward Mitchell was accompanied by his sons-in-law, John Henry Dennis and Major Washington West, and a number of blacks, the whole constituting a colony of fifty-seven persons. John Henry Dennis settled in 1818 on a farm three miles south (jf Belleville. He was a gentleman of the old school, and had obtained a thorough education at Harapden-Sidney College in Virginia He abandoned his farm iu 1824, and removed to Belleville. At the request of Gov. Ninian pjdwards. a great patron of learning, he engaged in teaching, to which he devoted his time during the remainder of his life. Many of his pupils attained distinction at the bar, in the professions, and in the different walks of life. The scho.jl which Mr. Dennis siarted jn Belleville was the first in the state in which an opportunity was given for the study of Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages, and the higher mathematics. For a number of years it continued to draw students from St. Louis and points as far east as the Wabash river. Mr Dennis acted as justice of the peace, and in latter years served as county superintendent of schools.

Major Washington AVest, who in the year 1818 settled on what is known as the West prairie, a mile south of Belleville, was the son of Benjamin West, a native of Maryland, and a soldier for seven years iu the Revolutionary war. Major West was born in Maryland. After the Revolution the family moved to Botetourt county, Virginia. On his emigration to this state. Major West was accompanit'd by his pariiuts, then nearly eighty years of age. He had acquired his military title by service in the war of 1812. He commanded a company of Virginia troops stationed for a time at Norfolk, Virginia. He died in the yfar 1863 at the age of eightyfive.

In the year 1819 Tilghnian H. West and John H. Gay arrived from Botetourt county, Virginia. The former settled four miles east of Belleville, within half a mile of his father-in-law, the Rev. Edward Mitchell, on the farm owned for a number of years by the Hilgards. Several of his children are living. Gay remained in Belleville till 1824, and then removed to St. Louis, where he became an active and prominent business man and a wealthy citizen.

The summer succeeding the arrival of the Mitchell and other families from Botetourt county, Virginia, was a period of universal sickness. To the Virginians the change from the cold spring water and invigorating air of the mountains to the suffocating heat of the summer months and the indifferent water which could be obtained from shallow wells and stagnant pools, was neither agreeable nor healthful. The air was laden with malaria from the decay of the exuberant growth of vegetation, and sickness held its dull and tiresome sway in nearly every household. The best physicians from the East found themselves incompetent to treat the prevalent diseases with success ; proper remedies were hard to be obtained ; nourishing food was secured only in insufficient quantities - altogether the colonists received an unfavorable impression of the country, and regarded Illinois as exceedingly unhealthy.

At that date (1818) the settlements were so sparse that seldom did neighbors live nearer than two miles to each other. The prairies, which were of almost illimitable extent, were covered in summer with grass and weeds that grew as high as the head of a man when on horseback, and over them, when the frosts of fall had i'ollowed the bleaching rains and heats of summer, swept with the speed of the wind, the prairie fire. Game was abundant. So numerous were the wolves and coyotes, that it required constant watchfulness by day, and safe enclosures at night, to protect the domestic animals from destruction. Although there were very few, if any, buffalo east of the Mississippi, bear and elk had not disappeared, and deer, sometimes in herds of fifty and sixty, could be seen in the spring feeding on the luxuriant, wild, prairie grasses. Turkeys were plentiful, and grouse, or prairie-hens, as they were called, were in such countless numbers, that in the fall when they would fly into the corn-fields in the evening to feed, the sound, when alighting or rising, was like distant thunder. When mast was abundant in autumn, wild pigeons would come in numberless myriads ; in their flight flocks could be seen extending more than five miles in length, and passing for many consecutive hours, to other feeding grounds or their nightly roosts.

Joseph McClintock, a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, reached St. Clair county with his family, then consisting of eight children, on the 23d of November, 1818. He settled four miles south of Belleville. Joseph McClintock died there in 1846. Three of the children are now living, and one, William McClintock, resides in St. Clair county, on a farm adjoining the city of Belleville. He was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky, in December, 1802, and was nearly sixteen when he came to this county. He moved to Belleville in 1827, and began the mercantile business. He afterward served as justice of the peace, and in 1843, was appointed county clerk, to till the vacancy occasioned by the suicide of James M. Reynolds, a nephew of Gov. Reynolds. He filled the county clerk's office till the close of the year 1849. He is now one of the oldest citizens of the county. One of his brothers, James McClintock, served as assessor and collector of the county, and now lives in Hancock county of this state.

The south-east part of the county, east of the Kaskaskia river, was settled in the year 1810, by the families of Hecox, Stubblefield. Perkins, Beasley, Nat Hill and James and Reuben Lively. When the Indian troubles began during the war of 1812, they built a block house for protection against the Indians. William Pendleton, Andrew Free and Isaac Rainey, were early settlers in this part of the county, making their homes there in the year 1817. The Lands, Dials, and Cooks came about the same time. Isaac Rainey, a naiive of Tennessee, laid off the towu of Darmstadt, and died in that neighborhood in 1871. Jefferfeon Rainey, now a resident of Belleville, was born in that part of the county in 1820. He was elected to the state senate in 1875.

Several families from the eastern states, among which are those of Cakb Barker, William Fowler, Abel Thompson, Timothy Higgins and Deacon Samuel Smith, came to the county in 1817 and 1818. Caleb Barker settled in what is now West Belleville, William Fowler settled on the east branch of Richland creek, three miles south of Belleville. He afterwards engaged in the carpentering business, and did the wood-work for the first brick court house at Belleville. His health failing he moved to California. Deacon Samuel Smith settled on Richland creek, east of Douglas, and lived and died there, and left several descendants in the county. Timothy Higgins settled about a mile south of Georgetown. In the year 1817, the English settlement in Prairie du Long was formed by the families of Bamber, Wiustanley, Threlfell, Coop, Newsham and othtrs. The Woods came to that part of the county in 1806, and the Wildermans in the year 1808. Samuel Ogle, the father of David and Joseph Ogle, settled in 1819 four miles north-west of Belleville, purchasing an improvement first made by George Blair. The farm which he improved is now on the macadamized road leading from Belleville to St. Louis. For several years he served as county commissioner.

It may be said of all of them that they endured manfully the of the early settlements ; their bravery drove back the savage, their energy utilized the bountiful resources of nature, and their virtues and intelligence became the basis of our civil government. They were hospitable and generous to a fault, brave and magnanimous; and their descendants are prepared to appreciate their sacrifices, as well as to enjoy all that has been brought by a higher type of civilization. The changes that have taken place in sixty years seem more like a dream than reality ; cities have sprung up in the wilderness and a population of more than sixty thousand occupies the territory over which then six or eight hundred persons were scattered.

Manners And Customs Of The American Pioneers

The early American settlers of St. Clair county were principally from the Southern States of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Some came from Pennsylvania and Maryland. A New England emigrant was rare. Their sense of independence was one of the marked traits of their character. By the necessities of their situation they were forced into singular and different employments. They were compelled to act as mechanics, to make their plows, harness and other farming implements, to tan their leather, to hunt game, while at the signal of danger they unhitched their horses from the plow, and were ready to march to any part of the territory in defence of their homes.