Dale Township

Dale Township

Robert H. Johnson was born November 11, 1796, in Virginia. His father was Francis Johnson, and his mother's name before her marriage was Nancy Harrington. Francis Johnson was born in Ireland, and brought to America when he was four years of age. Nancy Harrington was partly of Pennsylvania Dutch descent. When Robert Johnson was only four years of age he was taken to Jackson County, Tennessee, where he lived until he was twenty-six or seven years of age. There he followed farming and tanning leather. He married in August, 1814, Bathsheba Potter. In about the year 1822 or '23 he went to Overton County, Tennessee, where he lived until the year 1828, when he came to Illinois. He came on his journey by team and arrived at Blooming Grove on the first of December. He had no particular adventure except that his daughter Mathurza fell from a horse which she was riding, and broke her thighbone, and the party was delayed fifteen days in consequence. The party arrived at Blooming Grove in the evening of December 1, when everyone for miles around was at church. As the party passed the church, a bell on one of the colts was heard by the congregation, and it was known that another family had arrived. The addition of a single family to the neighborhood was then a great event, and at the close of the meeting the entire congregation, which was not large, though it included everyone in the country for a great many miles around, came to see the Johnson family and give them a welcome. No one waited for an introduction, but each shook hands cordially and said : " How are you, Brother Johnson ?" and, " How are you, Sister Johnson ?"

The family first moved to Three Mile Grove, now called Harley's Grove, into a log house fourteen feet square, with a few logs extending for a porch. This cabin was put up for the Johnson family by George Hinshaw some months before their arrival. It happened in the meantime that the Funks (Isaac and Absalom) had driven a lot of pigs to this grove to eat the mast, and the latter had taken possession of the unoccupied cabin. Pigs which have been running in the - timber, become wild, and when excited or aroused are more dangerous than any other wild animal. During the night after the Johnson family moved into their cabin, they heard their dog barking and fighting with the hogs. The cabin had no door to it. A hole had been cut out for entrance, and also another for a fire-place. In the latter a large fire was burning, and some green sticks were near by. Mr. Johnson jumped up and grasped a long, green stick and met the hogs, about seventy-five in number, in the door-way as they were attempting to come in. He fought them there for life, while Mrs. Johnson prevented them from coming in at the fire-place by throwing fire at them. Mr. Johnson fought until he was exhausted completely. He battered their heads ; he struck powerful blows, and at last knocked off the snout of one of the hogs, which ran squealing away to Funk's Grove, followed by the whole drove. But Mr. Johnson, fearing the return of the brutes, put his family into the wagon to protect them. The next day Isaac, Absalom and Robert Funk came up to Harley's Grove to whip the. band of villains, who, they thought, had been knocking out the eyes and breaking the snouts of their hogs; but when they learned what a fight Mr. Johnson had made to protect his family from being eaten up by the brutes, they left in a different humor.

As the Johnson family was the first to settle in Harley's Grove, the wild animals were taken by surprise. A day or two after the hogs were driven off" a black wolf came up close to the door. During that winter Mr. Johnson killed a great many deer within half a mile of the house. At one time he severely wounded a deer, which turned on him and knocked him down several times; but it was so badly hurt that he broke away and left it in a thicket within a few hundred feet of the house. He went in for ammunition, and told the children to stay inside and hold the door shut. But when he started for the thicket, the children disobeyed orders and ran out and climbed the fence, and jumped on the stumps to see the fun. The deer sprang up and ran towards the children, but the dog grabbed it by the ear and Mr. Johnson shot it through the neck and it fell within a few feet of the door. During the spring following, Mr. Johnson fenced forty-five acres of land and planted nearly all of it in corn. But he was unable to enter it immediately and soon after- wards a man named Jack Hougham entered it away from him and gave him forty-five dollars for his improvement. It was a custom amonsr the old settlers never to enter a man's claim awav from him ; but Mr. Hougham had no such delicacy. He gave Mr. Johnson notice of his intention and went to the land office and took up the land. Mr. Johnson then settled on the south side of Twin Grove, improved a claim and entered the land, and lived there until 1837, when he was killed by an ox which he was attempting to yoke up to a wagon. This was on the twentyfirst of February, 1837. He was a very industrious man, and made shoes and looms in the winter, and worked his land during the summer. He tanned leather for the whole country around.

Mathurza Johnson, now the wife of Jeremiah Rhodes, lives three miles from Bloomington, on the Leroy road. She furnished the items for this sketch, and seemed to have very clear ideas and a good recollection.

Mr. Johnson was about six feet in height, was possessed of immense strength, but was very good-natured, kind-hearted and religious. He never wished to quarrel with anyone, was always on good terms with his neighbors, and was very honorable in all of his transactions.

his mother's name before her marriage was Mary Graves. His father was descended from the Dutch of Virginia, but his mother probably came from English stock. The father of Samuel Beeler, who was the grandfather of William Beeler, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and saw some very hard service and severe campaigning. He sometimes laid on brush heaps at night to keep out of the water. Samuel Beeler moved to Kentucky at an early day, where he was often engaged in contests with the Indians. He was a great hunter, and very skillful in the use of the rifle. At one time, while the settlers were troubled by the Indians, Mr. Beeler went with three other men out hunting for buffalo and deer, which were both very plenty. Mr. Beeler killed a buffalo and afterwards a deer. Two other deer ran off, but came back unaccountably in fright, and were both killed by the hunter. But as Mr. Beeler was skinning one of the deer he learned what had frightened them back, for he heard a cracking in the brush and looking up saw a man coming; and a second glance showed him to be an Indian. Mr. Beeler sprang instantly for his gun and ran, and was pursued by six Indians who tired at him. He stubbed his toe and fell, and they set up a whoop, but he sprang to his feet and ran forward, and as he was remarkably fleet he distanced them all except one, which he turned upon and shot. He then had some difficulty in finding his camp, but arrived there at last, and found only one of his companions. The camp was moved into a sink-hole. The next morning the remainder of the party came in, and all returned home. The Indians killed several families, stole several horses and tried to get away with the plunder, but were pursued and killed, and the horses recaptured.

When William Beeler was ten years of age he went with his father's family to Butler County, Ohio, and there they lived while the war of 1812 was fought. Samuel Beeler was in this war, and was a colonel at the battle of Tippecanoe.

William Beeler says that while he lived in Ohio the Indians were to the whites as a hundred to one. They were a kind of people who were much influenced by the pleasures of sense. They were always drunk, whenever they could find liquor. Mr. Beeler has seen a hundred drunken Indians with only two or three sober ones to keep them quiet. He remembers one time particularly, when some friends came to see his father from Kentucky, they all made a visit to a camp of about a hundred Indians. The latter had with them a negro whom they had raised, and he was the only sober man among them. They were nearly all dead drunk, and the ground was covered with their stupid, insensible bodies. One Indian was sober enough to fight with his squaw, but the latter whipped the savage finely. The Indian's feelings were much injured at this, so he poured a bucket of water on his head to make him a little sober, and again went to fighting the squaw, and succeeded in whipping her.

When William Beeler became of age he went to Keutucky, and there married Mary Hall. He lived there a few years until the death of his wife, and then moved back to Ohio, where he lived until he came to Illinois. He married, October 14, 1824, Elizabeth Sheeley. He came to Illinois, to what is now Mc- Lean County, in the fall of 1830, and settled in the southern edge of Twin Grove, where he has remained ever since.

Mr. Beeler suffered a great deal during the winter of the deep snow. When the first heavy fall of snow came, he found his pigs all huddled together in a pile to keep warm, but the snow had melted down around them, and Mr. Beeler found them wet and shivering. He made a lot of shavings from a Linn rail, and cut hazel brush, and in this his pigs made a bed and kept warm.

During the Black Hawk war the settlers were all liable to take panics occasionally, and often collected together in houses for fear, but no disturbance was ever made by the Indians in this locality.

Mr. Beeler is rather less than the medium height, and though too old to work, is tough and hardy. He is a pleasant talking old gentleman, and is considered a patriarch at Twin Grove; for, while obtaining items for this work, everybody seemed anxious that a fine sketch should be written of " Uncle Billy Beeler." He has been very successful and leads an easy, comfortable life.

William Beeler, jr. was born February 8, 1822, in Fayette County, Kentucky (probably). When he was only a year or two old his mother (whose maiden name was Mary Hall) died, and his father moved to Ohio, as stated in the foregoing sketch. His father married Elizabeth Sheeley, and in the fall of 1830 the family came to Twin Grove, where they arrived October 14.

During the winter of the deep snow Mr. Beeler, sr., fed three yoke of cattle, which he brought with him from Ohio, on the boughs of trees. The cattle became so accustomed to their fare that they would run after the sound of an ax in the timber while Mr. Beeler was cutting a tree for them, as eagerly as they ever hastened to a feed of corn.

The Indians were not plenty when Mr. Beeler came to the country. He remembers some who came to his father's house, and were great traders. They were ready to swap at any time, and quick to see when they obtained the best end of the bargain. The settlers exercised their ingenuity in making clothing. The best clothing was made of buckskin, and a good pair of pants of this material lasted three years. The buckskin was tanned by soaking it in weak ley or lime-water and scraping it with a knife or sharp-cornered instrument. This took off the hair and the grain. The grain is a kind of coating next to the hair, and must be worked off or the skin can never be made soft. After being scraped, the skin is soaked in the brain of a deer and washed in soapsuds, and may be colored by smoke.

The early settlers were very humorous, and loved practical jokes. One favorite joke was what was called "sniping." It was played by persuading some one that snipes could be driven into a sack, and the victim was induced to hold the sack by the end of a log during a dark night, and would be left there to find out the sell at his leisure. It would hardly seem possible that an}-- one could be hoaxed by such a simple and absurd performance, but some of the smartest and sharpest of men have been "taken in" by that very thing. Mr. Beeler tells of the manuer in which a party of young men at a corn husking at Mr. Beeler, sr's, "sniped" a young stranger who had been working for Osborn Barnard. While the boys were husking corn they talked of catching snipe, and had great disputes as to the number that had been caught on various occasions. The stranger was in the mean time growing eager. At supper time they discussed the matter again and proposed to go sniping. They counted those who were willing to go, leaving out the stranger, and said they had not enough men. But one said : "Why, here's the stranger ; he can go." "No," said another, "he doesn't understand it." "Well," said the first speaker, "if he can't do anything else, he can hold the sack !" "Boys," said old Mr. Beeler, "I wish you would catch a few snipe, for I feel sick, and I would like some first rate." The stranger was not only willing, but eager, and said very modestly, that he would do whatever they thought best, as he did not understand "sniping." After dark they placed the stranger by a log with the caution that the snipes made a low whistle, and when he heard it he must answer promptly. They left him standing for an hour or more, when William Beeler and a young man named Dudley Dore went out near the log and gave a low whistle, which the stranger promptly answered. Beeler and Dore laughed so heartily that they could not pucker up their lips for another whistle. They went back to the house and a young man named William Stiger was sent out to bring the stranger in ; but the stranger declared that he heard the snipes whistle, and he wanted to stay and catch them. It required all of Stiger's ingenuity to bring him to the house. When they arrived the party was gone. After waiting some time, the boys came in one after another, telling what a lot of snipes they had, and wanted to know why the stranger had not remained at his post. The poor fellow laid the blame on William Stiger as best he could. He told the Barnards

The settlers hunted and trapped a great deal. A trap set for turkeys was the most absurd thing imaginable. It was simply a little pen with a hole at the bottom large enough for a turkey to walk in. Corn was sprinkled in a line leading through the hole, and a turkey picking up the corn walked through the hole. They would starve to death before finding their way out.

One of the most cunning of animals is the wild cat. The settlers around Twin Grove once hunted a wild cat, which had stolen a piece of tallow. They had four inches of snow in which to track it, and they followed it all day long. The cunning animal would go back on its track and cross it in every way in order to lead the hunters astray, and sometimes it would walk a log and spring off a long distance. Towards nightfall the hunters came upon two tracks. Old William Beeler and his dog followed one and the remainder followed the other. Beeler and his dog soon treed the cat, and the remainder of the party came to the scene of action and commenced a general firing. The cat jumped around in a tree top, snapping and breaking oft' limbs. At last it was wounded and jumped down and the dogs killed it, after a Ions: and savage fisrht. The cat threw itself on its back and fought fearfully, and Mr. Beeler thinks the dogs would never have killed it had it not been wounded.

William Beeler, jr., married, July 5, 1844, Catherine Layton. He says he cradled oats in the forenoon and was married in the afternoon. Some years before this, when young Beeler and a friend wished to go out on a squirrel hunt, old Mr. Layton wished William to help bind oats, and, when William refused, the old gentleman told William that the latter could never have one of Mr. Layton's daughters unless he gave up the squirrel hunt. But two or three years afterwards William Beeler succeeded in capturing one of the daughters. His wife died April 8, 1862.

On the 11th of January, 1868, he married Miss Mary A. H. O'Neal, a daughter of Cary O'Neal, of Benjaminville, a member of the Society of Friends. Mr. Beeler has had fourteen children, five of whom are married. The names of those who are married are :

Mr. Beeler is five feet and eleven and one-half inches in height, and seems strongly made. He is full of fun and humor. While telling a joke he appears very dry until the funny part comes in, and then his eyes have an amusing and wicked expression. He enjoys a practical joke perhaps as well as any one in McLean County. He is a kind father to his family, and has succeeded well in life.

Jesse Hill was born March 24, 1809, on Cherry Run, about five miles from Lexington, Kentucky. His father's name was James Hill, and his mother's maiden name was Polly Cope. His father was of Irish descent and his mother of English. James Hill, the father of Jesse, lived during his young days in Pennsylvania, where he was born. At the age of eighteen he ran away from home and went to Kentucky, where Jesse was born. James Hill often had trouble with the Indians. At one time they captured a young woman and were taking her away, when James Hill, Daniel Boone and others went after the savages and re-captured the girl before the redskins could cross the Ohio River near the mouth of the Kentucky River. James Hill was a noted man for fighting Indians and building mills. He was a great mechanical genius. He made a great many long-waisted clock-cases, and carried on a cabinet shop. He built a mill on Cherry Run and another on Eagle Creek ; he built a saw-mill, a grist-mill, a still-house, and many other things. His ingenuity never failed him. At one time he built what he called a chainmill. He found a little spring which poured its water over a rock and down a fall of sixty feet, and he utilized this by making a chain one hundred and twenty feet in length and attaching buckets to it, one to every other link. This chain ran over a cylinder, and as the little stream from the spring flowed out it filled the buckets with water and pulled down one side of the chain which turned the cylinder, and the power was utilized in driving the mill. It was a great curiosity, and people came from all over the country to see it. By means of the little spring he obtained power enough to cut three thousand feet of hard oak lumber in a day.

Jesse Hill was a young child at the close of the war of 1812, but he remembers the burning of tar barrels in the streets to celebrate the victory at New Orleans. When he was nine years of age the Hill family came to Madison, Indiana, and then moved to the celebrated little spring, where his father put up the chainmill. When Jesse Hill was twenty-one years of age he moved to Twin Grove, Illinois, where he arrived October 9, 1830. He lived with Colonel Beeler for a year and a half after his arrival. Colonel Beeler had known the father of Jesse in Kentucky, and the two gentlemen had once traded horses. Mr. Hill, sr., gave the Colonel three hundred dollars " boot" in exchanging horses, and the horse which Hill received died a day or two afterwards. When Jesse Hill came to Illinois he heard the Colonel bragging about this horse trade, and the circumstance made them acquainted, and Hill afterwards made matters still more agreeable by marrying the old gentleman's daughter.

Mr. Hill's experience with the deep snow was in gathering corn, when he was obliged to reach down into the snow for the ears. He was obliged to go every other day for corn. During that winter old Billy McCord had some pigs in the brush and they came out every day for their feed, making a deep path which had walls of snow on each side. The path was only wide enough for one pig to travel at a time, and they would be frequently frozen while standing in it. During this year, in the month of March, Peter McCullough and Abram Hays went to Bloomington, and on their return became lost. They were blinded, as the melting snow made a thick fog, and they could see only a short distance in any direction. McCullough and Hays were utterly bewildered and shouted for help. Their cries were heard and the neighbors started out to rescue them, but horns had to be blown to prevent the rescuers themselves from becoming lost.

During the spring after the deep snow the ground was so flooded with water that immense logs were floated off from the edge of Twin Grove to the prairie. These were the trunks of trees which had been blown down by a. hurricane a few years before.

When the Black Hawk war broke out, Jesse Hill enlisted for the purpose of going ; but the horse which he intended to ride persisted in lying down in every creek he came to, and the rider was wet so often that he took the fever and ague and gave up his hopes of martial glory and missed the chance of immortality at Stillman's Run.

Mr. Hill speaks particularly of the sudden change in the weather, which took place in December, 1836, and says that many chickens were frozen fast in the ice.

Mr. Hill has never been much of a hunter, but has occasionally chased wolves. He was once with a party of hunters after a wild-cat, when they unexpectedly started a wolf and all took after it. Mr. Hill was mounted on a race-horse and frequently ran around the wolf, but had nothing to strike it or hold it until the dogs could come up. At last it ran into a slough with Mr. Hill close behind. When the horse struck the slough it went down, and Mr. Hill was thrown over its head on the wolf. He grabbed the brute with both hands and pressed down its hind quarters, but the mittens on his hands prevented him from getting a good hold, and the wolf tore away. Mat Harbert hallooed, " hold him, Jess," but it was impossible to do it.

Mr. Hill has had some experience with fires on the prairie, and says that the most exciting part to him is the sight of a prairie fire and a back fire coming together, with frightened wolves and deer between them trying to get away.

For three years of his life Mr. Hill followed the business of well digging, and has had some interesting experience in this line. Once, while digging a well in Bloomington, on a lot belonging to a certain Mr. Thompson, Mr. Hill struck, far below the surface of the ground, a walnut log. He cut it in two with an axe, and it seemed solid, but when brought to the surface it crumbled away. .While digging a well down on Kickapoo for a certain Mr. Marsh, Mr. Hill came upon a burnt brush-heap which was thirteen feet deep in blue clay. The ashes, coals and brands were plain to be seen. Mr. Hill has had some experim'lean county. 483 ence with " the damps," and says that they may be found in all wells, even those which are very shallow. He once went into a well, only twelve feet deep, belonging to James Tolliver of Bloomington, but had to be pulled out immediately, and was so far gone that he did not recover from the effects of it until the following day. " The damps" were cleared out by building a large fire of straw. " The damps" are not occasioned by dampness. Mr. Hill dug a well thirty feet deep for John Hay of Dry Grove, and the ground was so dry that it was fairly dusty, but the damps began to affect it and he stopped work. William Brown went down to dig, but was so affected that he had to be hauled up, and when near the top became so weak that he fell and was drawn out with a hook.

Mr. Hill has been married three times. He married, August 17, 1831, Miss Nancy Beeler, daughter of old Colonel Beeler. His second marriage was in 1840, to Miss Phebe Munsell. His last marriage was in 1861, to Miss Matilda Hancock. His domestic life has always been pleasant. He has had twelve children, of whom ten are living, and has raised five children not his own. He has five children who are married. They are :

Mrs. Polly Margaret Philhower, wife of Jacob Philhower, lives in the village of Noble, on the Illinois Central Railroad, in Southern Illinois.

Mr. Hill has two sons, Zerah Munsell Hill and James Thomas Hill, who are killing buffalo in Southwestern Colorado, and have claims in Kansas, which they work during the spring and summer. One of his sons wished to send a carload of buffalo meat to Bloomington to be sold, but it was considered too hazardous a speculation. He killed a hundred and fifty buffalo in one month.

lively, good-natured and talkative, and seems to know a good deal and can tell what he knows. He is active and hearty, and his appearance is youthful. Age makes little impression on him, except to bring the use of spectacles. He is humorous, and the joke he tells is usually a good one. He appreciates to the utmost anything witty or funny. His imagination is lively, which makes his conversation and his ideas noticeable. He has acquired a fair competence by his industry and enjoys this world immensely.

Abram Enlow was born January 21, 1809, in Christian County, Kentucky. His father's name was Abraham Enlow, and his mother's before her marriage was Jemina Johnson. His father was partly of Dutch descent, and his mother was partly of Irish. Abraham Enlow died when Abram was quite young. The latter received only two years schooling in his youth. Sickness and hard work prevented him from attending more.

The clothing in those days was often a curiosity. Nothing was considered more elegant than buckskin, and Abram Enlow remembers how his brother John appeared on one occasion, as he came out in a new suit of buckskin, dyed green.

In 1835 Abram Enlow came to McLean County with his brother John. Abrarn's first experience was not pleasant, as the winter of 1835 and '36 was very severe. He admired the fine prairies, which did, indeed, gladden the eye of a farmer, who had been used to grubbing stumps in Kentucky; but the severe winter made him return to Kentucky, which he did in 1836. But after two years more among the stumps of Kentucky, he turned back once more to Illinois. He married, September 27, 1838, Louisa Harry. On the first of October, three days after his marriage, he started for McLean County, Illinois. His journey was a very pleasant one, though the season was dry, and it was sometimes difficult to obtain water. He camped out every night. The streams had no bridges, but during that season none were needed, as the creeks were nearly all dry.

Soon after Mr. Enlow's arrival he went to the land office at Danville, and entered eighty acres of prairie, and bought five acres of timber to fence his land. Pie lived at his brother John's house and rented land during the first year. During the following year he began fencing and breaking ground, and in March he moved on his own place. It was a remarkably early season, for by the middle of March the cattle went out on the prairie for feed. Game was plenty. The little prairie wolves could be seen in the morning playing around after they had killed his sheep the night before. The wolves frequently collected together in packs, and often came in the night up close to Mr. Enlow's door. Mr. Enlow was on one of the "ring" hunts, which were so popular among the settlers. The pole was put up at Normal, and they hunted towards it, killed many deer and wolves, had a social chat and went home. One deer, which was killed, was tied to a pony's tail and dragged in to the pole.

Mr. Enlow settled in the West at an unfortunate time, when business was prostrate and grain commanded a very low price. He could sell his corn and oats in Bloomington for ten cents per bushel and take his pay in store goods, and he could take his wheat to Pekin and ^et for it only thirty-five cents per bushel. When he came to Illinois he had only enough money to enter his eighty acres of land, buy his five acres of timber, and purchase a few housekeeping utensils and a stock of provisions. When his stock of provisions was exhausted it seemed for a while a desperate matter to live. He first obtained three dollars a hundred for his pork, but afterwards a dollar and a half; and prices reached such au extremely low figure that the neighbors all clubbed together and sent their pork to Chicago ; but then they obtained less than a dollar per hundred. Mr. Enlow sent four hogs weighing each two hundred and fifty pounds with the drove to Chicago, and received eight dollars, which was just eighty cents per hundred weight. It was not until the Illinois Central Railroad came that produce began to rise and farmers commenced making money. Mr. Enlow sold his eighty acres of entered land for seventy-five dollars an acre. The timber land, which he first bought, is now covered with a second growth of fine trees.

Mr. Enlow is six feet and one inch in height, is very muscular and works hard. He has a sanguine complexion, rather a bald head and large, honest eyes. He is a very pleasant man to talk to, and takes an interest in the early settlement of the country, Mrs. Enlow is a very pleasing and intelligent lady. Shrewd observers say that the success of many men is due to the influence of their wives, and it is very probable that the influence of Mrs. Enlow has contributed very materially to her husband's success in life. Mr. Enlow lives in the southern edge of Twin Grove in Dale township, is very comfortably situated, and bids fair to enjoy a long and happy life.

Richard Rowell was born May 20, 1814, in the town of Littleton, Grafton County, New Hampshire. His father's name was Jonathan Rowell, and his mother's name before her marriage was Sarah Hoskin. Both were of Puritan stock. The grandfather of Richard was Daniel Rowell, a soldier of the Revolution. This gentleman was in the series of battles, which terminated in the surrender of General Burgoyne. Richard Rowell lived until the age of twenty-two among the rocks of Grafton County, within sight of Mt. Washington. But notwithstanding the sterility of the country the schools were excellent, and Richard received a good common education. In addition to this, he attended a grammar school at Concord, Vermont. At the age of eighteen he taught school in Vermont.

In May, 1836, he started for the Vest, being anxious at first to find a place for teaching school. He had no friends or acquaintances in the "West, and was obliged to make his way alone. He went by stage from Littleton to Saratoga. From the latter place he rode to Schenectady on a railroad, in cars drawn by horses, and thence to Buffalo by canal. Here he took a steamer to Detroit. From that place he shipped his trunk to Chicago by schooner, and traveled on foot through what was then the territory of Michigan. His route was very nearly that which the Michigan Central Railroad now takes. He passed through Ann Arbor, which was then a respectable village, though the great University had not been thought of. He crossed the lake in a steamboat from the mouth of the St. Joseph River to Chicago. After spending two weeks in looking at the country he commenced work in Chicago as a carpenter. The Indians of Northern Illinois, principally Pottawatomies, were then receiving their last annuity, and they were thick. About two thousand were collected in the city, but they soon left and never returned. During the latter part of October he went to the present site of La Salle by stage. The stage was a wagon, which the passengers were often obliged to lift out of the mud. He stepped from the stage on the steamboat Frontier. He saw no houses where La Salle now stands, though a few might have been concealed by the bank of the river. His berth on the steamboat was a bed of slats and nothing else. He came to Peoria and there found the prospect for school-teaching poor. So he left his trunk, picked up his valise, and crossed the Illinois River. He stayed for one night with the widow of Jacob Funk, and of her learned of Funk's Grove. He traveled on with the intention of reaching that place. But when he arrived at Stout's Grove, he found an opportunity to teach school. He began about the first of November, and continued his first term until the following April. The raising of the first store building jn Danvers (then Concord) was a great event, and Mr. Rowell dismissed his school for three days to assist in the proceedings. The building still stands south of Ewins' mill. Mr. Rowell taught school during that summer and the following winter. In the spring of 1838, he and his brother, B. F. Rowell, who had come during the fall previous, commenced farming on the head branch of Rock Creek, out on the prairie, a mile and a half from timber. It was thought that these daring men would freeze to death out there, and they went by the name of " the fool Yankees." The}^ lived until 1848 with unentered land on both sides of them. On one side of them the land was not entered until 1850. In the winter of 1853, Mr. Rowell sold out his interest in the farm and took a trip to Iowa. He had a pleasant journey, camped out and enjoyed himself very much; but in his careful observations he saw no land equal to that in McLean County. He returned and bought the premises of Mr.

Old Settlers Of

Mr. Rowell married Nancy Barnard, December 15, 1853. He has had three children, of whom two are living. They are, Lois and Emma, and both live at home.

Mr. Rowell is full six feet in height and weighs about one hundred and eighty pounds. His form indicates activity and strength. His head is large and well shaped, and is a little bald. His eyes are dark, bright and expressive. His mind seems to have a practical turn, and he has what phrenologists call continuity, that is, he is disposed to finish what he has in hand, and his mind is not easily driven from the work. His practical turn of mind and his clear perceptions, make his judgment more than usually correct concerning all of the material affairs of life. He is polite and obliging in his manner. He has been supervisor for about nine years, was one of the commissioners of the building of the present court-house, and possesses in a very great degree the confidence of his neighbors.