Danvers Township (part 1 of 2)

Danvers Township

Ebenezer B. Mitchel was born August 17, 1813, in Morganfield, Union County, Kentucky. His father was Rev. Peyton Mitchel, and his mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Briggs. They were both of purely Scotch descent, but of the third generation, since their ancestors came from Scotland. Rev. Peyton Mitchel was a minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He devoted his time to the ministrj' and was a very effective preacher. During the war of 1812 he enlisted in the army and was elected captain of a company, but was never called into active service.

In December, 1818, the family of Rev. Mr. Mitchel moved to Sangamon County, Illinois, on Fancy Creek, about eight miles north of Springfield. They traveled in a wagon drawn by four ziorses. At one time the horses started to run and seemed to be unmanageable, when Mrs. Mitchel, who was a woman of remarkable resolution, ran forward, grasped the bridle of one of the lead horses and assisted in stopping them. On the way they met old Billy Hodge, who had come to the country and was returning eastward. The Indians were then numerous and occasionally troublesome. They were the Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Delawares and others. At one time a band of Indians went to Springfield and became intoxicated, and on their return attempted to go into Mitchel's house, when he was absent ; but Mrs. Mitchel barred the door, and the dogs outside fought them. Mrs. Mitchel told the savages that her husband was sick, and insisted that they should leave ; but they hung around until nearly morning, banging against the door, yelling, whooping and lighting.

The country there was very unhealthy and everyone suffered from bilious complaints. On the third of March, 1825, the family came to Stout's Grove, in what was then Fayette County, but now is McLean. There they found only two families, those of the two Ephraim Stout's, father and son. The Indians were plenty and were always anxious to trade. They came sometimes singly, sometimes in small parties, and sometimes in great numbers. They would trade anything they had, except their labor ; no inducement was great enough to make them work. Mr. Mitchel tried them again and again, and was particularly anxious to have them husk corn ; but they would husk half a dozen ears and stop. They had queer ideas of value, and would give more for a rooster's feather than for anything else, and would put it in their hair and be perfectly delighted. Their dress usually consisted of leggins, moccasins and a blanket, while their ears and noses were ornamented with rings. They had high cheek bones, and their skin was the color of tanned leather, or perhaps of copper, but not so red. Their feet were large and flat ; their legs and arms were small, but wiry, showing the Indians to be good for walking, but not worth much for work.

Rev. Peyton Mitchel was active in the ministry and did good work. He preached the first sermon in Funk's Grove, and wherever he could find an opportunity he engaged in the work of the great Master. Churches were soon organized and schoolhouses were built, and Ebenezer Mitchel thinks the society at that time was much more reliable than it is at present. He thinks the promise of an old settler was much better than most people's bonds.

The deep snow fell in 1830 and '31. Mr. Mitchel took repeated measurements of its depth in the timber, where it had not drifted, and it there averaged forty inches. A crust on it was soon formed, and the wolves ran over it; but the sharp footed deer broke through.

When the heavy fall of snow came, a certain Mr. Barnes, an old sea-faring captain, was caught at Mr. Mitchel's house, and in order to go to his home in Mosquito Grove, the former was obliged to make some snow-shoes. They were made of bows shaped like ox-bows, and were covered with light, strong splints made of wood or bark. When they were worn they were fastened to the toe of the foot by a kind ot slipper, but not fastened at the heel. When the toe was inserted in the slipper, some straps passed back, crossed the foot on the instep, and were tied behind the heel. This prevented the toe from being withdrawn and left the heel free. While walking, the feet were held wide apart, and the shoes were dragged along over the surface. If the snow was fresh, they were usually pressed down a little, but bore a man's weight pretty well. During that winter the Mitchel family were pretty well provided with corn, but soon ran out of meal. Ebenezer chopped a hole in a log as deep as he could cut, then with fire burnt it still deeper, then cut off the section containing the hole and brought it in the house and used it as a mortar. He then cut a thick stick about three feet long, worked one end small for a handle, slipped over it an iron ring, which was pressed clear to the other end, which was left large enough to prevent the ring from being slipped off. Into the larger end a heavy iron wedge was driven, and with this as a pestle, the corn was pounded in the burnt mortar. After along pounding, the corn was sifted and the fine was used for meal, while the coarse was boiled for hominy.

When the land came in market, the settlers were usually careful not to enter each other's claims, and used all means to protect each other ; but sometimes they differed as to the ownership of a claim, and their differences were aggravated by the uncertainty of the law, which allowed what was called " floating" claims. A settler could enter a quarter section of land and locate it anywhere within the section, that is, he could " float down" on any quarter section not previously entered. Somem'lean county. 441 times he would accidentally or otherwise " float down" on some one's claim, and then would follow a land contest. But these contests resulted more from the uncertain law than from any quarrelsome disposition on the part of the settlers. They were fair-minded men, and these land contests afforded them no pleasure.

Ebenezer Mitchel was no hunter, but he occasionally went after deer and wolves, which he chased on horseback with dogs. But on one occasion he found some wolves a little too strong for him. He started a large timber or gray wolf and chased it for some distance on horseback, when it was joined by four or five others, and then they refused to run, but stood their ground and drove back MitchePs dog. They showed their teeth and were ready for fight, and Mr. Mitchel went back for his gun, but on his return the wolves were not to be found. But as a usual thing the danger of chasing wolves did not arise from the ferocious nature of the animal, for it belongs to one of the most cowardly species, and is very easily killed. A skillful blow with a club is usually sufficient to do the work. But riding over the prairie at a breakneck pace has dangers sometimes not thought of. While Ebenezer Mitchel and his brother were once chasing a wolf, the horse, which the former rode, plunged into a slough and fell, while its rider was thrown twenty feet ahead. He rose and told his brother to go on, " he'd be up in a minute." But Ebenezer was not up in a minute. His horse's head was jammed under its body, and by the time it was loosened, his brother and the wolf had vanished. The cowardice and fear displayed by a wolf is sometimes most abject and mean. When it is run down it crouches on the ground and quietly receives the blow, which kills it. Mr. Mitchel remembers one wolf, which ran its nose into a hole and was killed in that position. .

Mr. Mitchel has occasional^ hunted deer and had some lively sport and some strange adventures. At one time he killed a deer after a somewhat exciting chase, and went home for help to bring it in. He and his brother, after some discussion, decided to carry it on an ox. They went out for the deer and placed it on the ox, and Mr. Mitchel rode the animal to steady the load, while his brother led the way. When they had gone about half-way home, the ox commenced bouncing, and raised its load high in the air, and both man and deer came down together. Mr. Mitchel's ankle was much hurt, and did not become well for three months.

The fires on the prairie were a great annoyance to the early settlers, but they were grand sights. They lit up the heavens and made everything as light as day for many miles around. The grass was long on low ground, and, as the fire passed over it, the blaze rolled up magnificently. These fires often did great damage, and Air. Mitchel sometimes lost his stacks and rail fences by them.

The sudden change in the weather of December, 1836, so often described in this volume, caught Mr. Mitchel about half a mile from home, and when he returned everything was cracking ; the water and slush were turned to ice. The intense cold drove his stock nearly crazy; the chickens curled up and fell from their roosts, and everything was in confusion ; but by care and great exertions nearly all was put under shelter and saved.

The country in early days wras sometimes troubled with horse-thieves. They were thought to have a family in Mosquito Grove, who sympathized with them. This was the Reddon family, consisting of old man Reddon and his two sons, Jack and Harrison. At one time, when some horses were missing, Isaac Funk, Robert Stubblefield and some others came to Mr. Mitchel's house and asked him to go with them to the Reddons. He did so, and they all arrived there in the night while it was raining. The Reddons were waked up and the old man Reddon came .rushing to the door saying : "Who are you, horse-thieves ?" They said they were after horse-thieves, and told the Reddons that their house must be searched. After some parley it was done, but nothing was found. But suspicion of the Reddons became so near a certainty that it was decided to drive them off, and the Fourth of July was appointed as the day for a grand ring hunt, with the understanding among nearly all, that the Reddons should be the game. They went with their rifles and gave the Reddons notice that they must leave the country, and they went. Before this time a horse had been stolen, and the thieves were pressed very closely, and Robert Stubblefield with a one-eyed horse succeeded in catching up with them, aud found Jack Reddon riding the stolen animal. Mr. Stubblefield had neither pistol nor club to stop the thieves, and after riding a short time with them, and making great exertions to stop them, while all parties were going at rapid speed, he was obliged to fall back, and Jack Reddon escaped. After the Reddon family was broken up, the neighborhood had peace.

Ebenezer Mitchel married, May 26, 1836, at twelve o'clock, M., Rachel Vance. The}- have had seven children, of whom three are living. They are:

Mr. Mitchel is of rather less than the ordinary stature, but he seems to be a very active, wide-awake man, with a great deal of energy and good muscle. He is a man, who is straight-forward himself, and admires honesty and fair dealing in others. This is one cause of the great interest he takes in the doings of the early settlers. He found that their word could be depended on, and that they would make great exertions to fulfil their agreements. He says that the associations of McLean County and the many incidents which have happened while he has been in it, make it very dear to him. His children are, some of them, buried here, and the old settlers, with whom he was associated in early days, are many of them living here. He feels that they have worked together for so many years, and endured so many hardships, that they should be considered members of a common family. Mr. Mitchel has been very successful in life, and has become very well to do in the world. He has been fortunate in the enjoyment of the society of a good woman, his wife, a lady remarkable for her goodness of heart and quietness of manner.

Matthew Robb, usually known as Squire Robb, was born July 15, 1801, in Washington County, Kentucky. His father, Thomas Robb, was born in Ireland, August 10, 1769, and came with his parents to America while an infant. Thomas Robb married Lydia Waller, a lady of Welch descent, on the 23d of April, 1795, and Matthew Robb, the fourth son, was born in

1801, as above stated. "When the latter was quite small the family moved to Union County, Indiana. Thomas Eobb died June 24, 1818, being thrown from a horse, and Mrs. Robb was left in not very comfortable circumstances with a large family of children to care for. But eleven of these children grew up and raised families. One of them is Mrs. Eliza Cox, now living in Southern Illinois. It was a heavily timbered country, and not very pleasant work to plough among the trees and stumps, and Matthew Eobb determined to live where he could turn a long furrow without striking stumps. His education was limited, and was obtained with difficulty. He went to school only six months, as he could hardly be spared from the farm. Nevertheless he learned to write plainly and well and was a correct and rapid accountant. He was a lively young man, full of fun and the best of humor. He would carry a young lady behind him on horseback to a party five or six miles distant, and he often took young ladies to church in the same way. They had no buggies or carriages then, but they had quite as much fun, and perhaps a little more. In August, 1821, Matthew Eobb married Mary McClure, daughter of Thomas McClure. In the spring of 1824, he came to that part Of Sangamon County, which now forms the county of Logan, about two and a half miles from where Postville now stands. Here he raised a crop and then brought out his wife and child and household goods from Indiana. The child is the present Mrs. Abraham Stansberry, of Bloomington. When he arrived at his farm he had only twenty-five cents in silver in his pocket, but he was happy because he could plough without the trouble of avoiding stumps. In the spring of 1827 he moved to Stout's Grove. Here he lived lonely enough, as his neighbors were principally Indians. His cabin was of logs, and his door without a lock and only a spinning wheel to place against it to hold it fast.

Matthew Eobb was a noted man at Stout's Grove. He was the first justice of the peace, was elected in 1827, and held the office for twelve years. He issued the first summons in September, 1827. He married the young men and women of Stout's Grove and the whole country around, but used very little ceremony in the matter. At one time when he started for mill he was met near his house by James Snodgrass and Betsy Smith, who had come to be joined in the holy bonds of matrimony. All three went back to the house, and the service was performed before Mrs. Robb and her daughter (the present Mrs. Stansberry) could come in to witness it. The latter had been out milking, and hastened in just too late. At another time John Pore and Miss Brown, of Brown's Grove, concluded to live together for better or for worse. Mr. Pore came for Squire Robb to perform the service. The former crossed Sugar Creek to bring Mr. Robb ; but as the weather had been rainy, the creek rose rapidly, and it was very inconvenient to cross. Mr. Pore crossed it on a log or beam, while the Squire sat on horseback on his own side of the stream. Mr. Pore brought his bride down to the creek and, as it was now about eight o'clock at night, torches were lit. It was raining at the time, but they paid no attention to that. Squire Robb rode a little distance into the water in order to distinguish the bridegroom and bride on the opposite bank, and the interesting ceremony was performed.

Mr. Robb was most fortunate in his domestic affairs, for his lady was one of the best of women. She was courageous, too, and did many things from which women would naturally shrink. Once, while returning home on horseback from a visit to her father's, the dogs with her started a wolf, and after chasing it for some time brought it to bay, and Mrs. Robb jumped from her horse and killed the wolf with her stirrup. She was a woman of great practical sense, and much of the credit for her husband's success was no doubt due to her. She was a very quiet woman in society, though she was fond of company and was always pleased to see her friends. She was a very religious woman and was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. She died August 23, 1868, and Squire Robb died February 24, 1870. Both were buried at Stout's Grove, where a monument is erected to their memory. They had six children, of whom three grew up to years of discretion. They are :

Eliza J., born May 30, 1823. She was married to Edward Matthews, who died in July, 1863. She is now the wife of Abraham Stansberry, of Bloomington.

Matthew Robb was six feet in height, had dark hair, dark complexion and heavy eyebrows, was rather slim, and weighed one hundred and seventy-live pounds. He was very quick in business matters, and went ahead with all his might. He loved a joke and was full of sport. It is said that the test of a genuine humorist is his enjoyment of a joke on himself. According to this test, Mr. Robb was a humorist, for his good nature and love of fun were aroused byjokeson himself as well as on others. He had no enemies, but was friendly to all of his neighbors, and tried to make them friendly toward each other. When cases were brought before him, he tried always to act as a peacemaker, rather than as a justice of the peace, and made an effort to compromise matters and settle them amicably. In the winter of 1846 and '47 he was a member of the Legislature ; but in speaking his name the title " Honorable " was seldom used, for he had been justice of the peace for so long a time that everyone knew him as Squire Robb. Mr. Robb was one of the contractors who built the jail at Mackinawtown, then the county seat of Tazewell County. When it was finished he was afraid it was not strong enough to hold the criminals to be confined in it. In order to test its strength Squire Robb was himself locked up in it, but succeeded in breaking out.

Thomas McClure was born July 15, 1765, in Rockingham County, Virginia. He was descended from tough, hardy, Scotch- Irish stock. When he was sixteen years of age he came to Kentucky, and there his occupation was farming and shooting Indians. The latter were exceedingly troublesome, and kept the settlers continually on the alert by their stratagems and ambuscades. It was a favorite pastime with the Indians to lie in ambush near a settler's cabin and shoot the first man who stepped out, and great vigilance was always required.

for use, as the most effective weapon. Robert McClure, the elder brother of Thomas, was celebrated as an Indian tighter, and with his own rifle was known to have killed seven Indians ; but he hunted them a little too long, and was himself killed by them. Some comical stories are told of the encounters with the Indians. At one time the McClures and a number of others, anions; whom was a man named John Logan, had an encounter with the Indians in a cane-brake and killed several of the savages and took one prisoner. The latter attemped to escape, but was overtaken by John Logan, a fleet runner, and after a short, sharp struggle was killed. John Logan was asked why he did not bite the Indian in the struggle, and replied that the savage did not smell very sweet !

Thomas McClure was, in his younger days, a man of great activity and could out-run or out-jump all of his companions. In those days athletic sports were in high repute, and a fortune was promised to Mr. McClure if he would travel as an athlete, but he refused, and would not run or jump if he knew that any money was staked on the result.

Thomas McClure was not a soldier in the war of 1812, as he was then somewhat disabled by the severe hardships and toils of frontier life; but one of his sons went into the army and saw some campaigning. He was very active and earnest in raising troops. The following incident, related by Henry C. McClure, of Danvers, explains the inability of Thomas McClure to engage actively in the war of 1812:

" Thomas McClure was once on a forced march, during one of the forays with the Indians, in which he was often engaged. On this march he spied a coon in a tree top. The sight was too tempting, so up went his carbine, and off tumbled the coon. It caught among the branches, which were very thick. He threw off his bullet pouch and other trappings and started up the tree, while his companions went on. After securing the coon he hastened to his comrades and came up with them about three miles away. Then he noticed that he had left his bullet pouch and he returned the whole distance for it. He succeeded in rejoining his companions late at night. The coon cost him dearly, for although he was a man of powerful frame, the severe march caused a constriction of the tendons of one of his legs and he

Thomas McClure married Susan Hynes in the year 1790, about two years before the birth of his son Robert. The family came to Indiana in about the year 1816, and settled in Posey County. In the year 1824 the family came to Illinois, and settled on the east side of the Sangamon River in Sangamon County. There their principal occupation was eating watermelons and shaking with the ague. They ground their wheat and corn at a horse mill belonging to Mr. Danley. They remained one year on the Sangamon River and then moved to Logan County, near the present town of Postville, between the forks of Salt Creek 'and the Kickapoo. There the McClures enjoyed themselves by catching wolves. Thomas McClure lived there until the spring of 1827, when he moved to Stout's Grove. There he built the fifth house in that section of country. It was a hewed log house nineteen feet square, and was used as a church, aud people came there from many miles distant. The women would walk to church in their bare feet, for a distance of three miles, and when they came within a hundred yards of the meeting house they would stop and put on their shoes, which they had brought with them. Mr. McClure was a Cumberland Presbyterian from the year 1800, or about that time. He was elected one of the first elders of the church which was organized at Stout's Grove.

The settlers were not accustomed to the luxuries of civilization, and some of them had never tasted coffee. Some of the women could not even make it, and it is said that a peddler once gave a certain Mrs. Carlock some coffee, and she boiled it with beef, and had a fearful tasting mixture! Our informant savs : " That's as true as the book of Genesis !"

Thomas McClure entered one hundred and twenty acres of land at Stout's Grove, and lived there until his death, which occurred January 3, 1847. He had ten children who grew up and one child who died in infancy. They were Robert, James, Mary John, Samuel, Nancy, Margaret, Eustatia Jane, Finis E. and Benjamin II. McClure. Of these only Nancy and Benjamin are living. Nancy lives near Eldora, in Hardin County, Iowa, and Benjamin has lived in McLean County until within the last five years, during which he has lived near Gibson, in Ford County. Thomas McClure was about six feet and two inches in height, and, when in health, weighed two hundred and twenty-five pounds. He was universally liked and respected. It is literally true that he had scarcely a personal enemy in the world. He was not only willing, but anxious to accommodate his neighbors and friends.

Robert McClure, son of Thomas McClure, was born near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on the 24th of June, 1792. His paternal grandfather was a native of Scotland, and came to Virginia during the fore part of the eighteenth century.

When Robert McClure was in his nineteenth year he served for three months in the Kentucky militia against the Indians. Soon afterwards he went with the family to Posey County, Indiana. On the 24th of December, 1818, Mr. McClure married Nancy Devenna Warrick, daughter of that Captain Warrick who fell bravely fighting at the head of his company at the battle of Tippecanoe. He followed farming until the fall of 1821, when he moved to Illinois and settled on Salt Creek, about two miles south of where the city of Lincoln now stands. His father, Thomas McClure, and his brother James McClure and family, made up the party. Their journey was marked by a few adventures. When they arrived at the Little Wabash timber, James McClure went out one rainy day for a hunt. He lost his way in the timber and remained over night. The next day was cloudy and foggy, aud he could not see the sun to get his bearing. He traveled that day in a circle, and camped at night near his starting place in the morning. On the morning of the second day the sun came out clear, and he soon'found his way to camp. His young wife was nearly frantic with anxiety and fear. A few days later, while the teams were resting on the edge of a prairie, the men began picking hazelnuts, while the women attended to the teams. Suddenly the lightning flashed close to them, and it was followed immediately by a terrific clap of thunder. One of the four-horse teams sprang forward and upset the wagon. Another ran for two miles and did not stop until it came against two trees. The third team was attached to the wagon, where Mrs. James McClure and another woman, Mrs. Vaughan, were sitting. The team sprang forward, and Mrs. Vaughan set up a shriek, but Mrs. McGlure stopped her, then climbed forward on the wagon-tongue, mounted the saddlehorse, seized the single line by which the horses were guided and stopped the team.

When the McClure family arrived at Salt Creek, Robert McClure made a claim to a farm, on which he lived for about five years. The Indians were then numerous and sometimes troublesome. At one time, while Mr. McClure was at Stout's Grove, a band of these savages, led by Toby Whiteyes and Jim Buck, came to the cabin, where Mrs. McClure and her three little children were, and asked where the " chemoka man" (white man) was. She answered that he was somewhere not far off. But the}7 were better posted than she supposed, for they appeared enraged and said : " You lie! you lie! chemoka man gone, chemoka man gone ; to-night we make powder and lead fly like damnation." Then they started oft* with hideous yells. Mrs. McClure took the matter coolly and was not troubled with hysterics. She sent for her sister-in-law, not far off, whose husband was also at Stout's Grove, and they held a council of war and declared the cabin in a state of siege, and prepared for defense. They shut the door and blockaded it with a table, some iron kettles and large stones, and sat behind it with axes. But the Indians did not return, which was a very agreeable disappointment to the women.

The settlers at a very early day did their trading at Springfield. At that time the seed obtained from blue-grass was of considerable value, and the settlers often went to Blue Grass Point, on Kickapoo Creek, to gather the seed. At the time of the execution of Vannoy, the wife murderer, at Springfield, Kobert and James McClure and their wives started for that place in a wagon with their blue grass seed. They found the Sangamon River swollen by rains, but resolved to cross at all events. It was arranged that in case the water proved very deep, Robert McClure should hold the wagon-bed to the fore wheels to prevent them from uncoupling, and James should take care of the bind wheels, while the ladies held up the grass seed, which was in sacks. They drove in, their horses surged and floundered, and the water rushed into the wagon-box, but all attended to their duties. They succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, but were wet enough to satisfy a hardshell Baptist. The ladies were in a sad plight, for their white dresses were wet and soiled. But they washed them, dried them on the grass, and their grass seed also, and went to Springfield in time to witness the first execution of a murderer condemned under the laws of the State of Illinois.

In March, 1827, Robert McClure moved from his place on Salt Creek to Stout's Grove. Here he made a claim, and when the land came into market, he entered four or five hundred acres. The rattlesnakes were then numerous at Stout's Grove, and Robert McClure celebrated the first year of his residence there by killing three hundred and thirty of these reptiles. The wolves were plenty, and often came into the door-yard and carried of geese and chickens. Robert McClure took great pleasure in hunting wolves and killing them with his stirrup.

During the celebrated winter of the deep snow Robert Mc- Clure walked, and sometimes rode his horse on the snow drifts over the staked and double-ridered fences. At one time, while he was riding, the crust gave way, and both horse and rider disappeared almost from sight. But he climbed out, obtained a shovel and dug a path for his horse to a more shallow place, where the animal could again mount the crust. He had a great deal of stock to attend to during that winter.

When the Black Hawk war broke out, Robert McClure and others raised a company of volunteers, and he was elected captain by a decided majority. His company did not participate in the fight, which resulted in Stillman's defeat, as they did not arrive on the ground until the day after the contest took place. He assisted at the burial of the seventeen persons, who were massacred by the savages on Indian Creek.

It may be interesting for the young ladies and gentlemen who now enjoy such rare literary advantages, to know that Robert Mc- Clure, with the assistance of his neighbors, built the first institution of learning in western McLean County. They cutandhewed the logs and built the house ; they split the clapboards for the roof with a froe and mallet; they built the chimney with coarse slats lined with clay mixed with cut-straw, called in the parlance of the early settlers, " cat and clay." They made the floor of split logs hewed on the upper side with a broad axe. Colonel McClure then made a road to the school-house from his own dwelling by blazing his way with a broad-axe and afterwards cutting down the trees and brush. The children's feet soon wore a path.

Probably very few of the younger people have heard of a whipsaw. It was a long thin saw for making lumber. It was used in what would now be considered a novel way. Two logs were laid four or five feet apart across a deep ravine. Crosstimbers were then placed on these and the log to be sawed was rolled on them. One man then stood below and another above, and after marking the log with a chalk line the exercises commenced. In this way the wild cherry lumber was sawed for the first bureau in McLean County, made by Caleb Kimler, of Blooming Grove. A six-legged table was made at the same time. Things which are very insignificant now were great events in the early days.

Robert McClure, Daniel Francis and Mr. Phillips viewed and located the State road leading from Danville to Fort Clark (Peoria). Mr. McClure was familiar with many trades, as the early settlers were obliged to be. The old anvil block which he used forty years ago, still stands in the garden of Henry C. McClure, where it was placed.

Robert McClure kept his family always well supplied with venison, wild turkey and honey, for these were all plenty. Maple sugar and syrup could also be obtained in large quantities, and the settlers kept large iron kettles in which to boil the sap.

For some time after the family came to Stout's Grove, they manufactured their Indian meal from corn brayed in a mortar made from a log about three feet long and two feet in diameter. The log was placed on end, and a hole was burned into it sixteen inches deep. This was cleaned out with an inshave. The finest meal was obtained by sifting it through a sieve made of deer skin stretched over a hoop. The holes iri the skin were burned with the heated tines of a fork. The one meal was used for bread, and the coarse for hominy. But after some years a Mr. McKuight built a mill about twenty miles distant, and the hominy mortar was laid aside. Mr. Mc- Clure was obliged to make lengthy trips for salt. He went several times to the Saline lick, near Shawneetown, about three hundred miles distant, and brought loads of salt in a wagon drawn by three or four yoke of oxen. The Illinois Central Railroad was not thought of then, but the I., B. & W. road occupied the minds of many citizens of Tazewell County. They thought particularly of that branch of the road which runs from Tremont to Pekin. But perhaps the longest trip he was obliged to make was his expedition to Natchez, Mississippi, after seed corn. Amid all these difficulties he enjoyed life well, as he was surrounded by his father, mother, sisters and their families and all of his brothers except John. The latter remained in Indiana.

Robert McClure was one of seven members, who organized the first Cumberland Presbyterian Church in McLean County. He lived a devoted member of this church and was always anxious for its welfare. In the month of August, 1834, he was attacked with cancer, from which he suffered severely for about one year, but bore the pain with great fortitude. He died August 8, 1835. His very kind wife outlived him some twentyeight years, being called to the better land on the 7th of January, 1863. They are buried side by side in the cemetery at Stout's Grove, one mile west of where he spent the last nine years of his life.

Permelia, the oldest, was born April 18, 1820, in Gibson County, Indiana. She married Henry C. McClure, February 6, 1842. They now live on the farm settled by her father on the east side of Stout's Grove.

Jacob W. McClure, the second child, was born December 18, 1821, in what is now Logan County, Illinois. He married Alice W. Hall, and now lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Charles J. McClure was born February 9, 1824, in Logan County. In 1845 he married Serepta Vansickles. He is now a farmer, and lives in Hardin County, Iowa.

Old Settlers Of

Susan J. McClure was born during- the winter of 1830 and '31, the celebrated winter of the deep snow. She was married November 29, 1855, to Robert McClure of St. Louis, Missouri, and now lives in Franklin County, Kansas.

Robert McClure was a finely-formed man. He stood six feet and four inches in his boots. He was neither very slim nor very corpulent, weighing something more than two hundred pounds. His complexion was fair. He had dark auburn hair and deep blue eyes. He was very active and possessed of great powers of endurance. He was one of the most social and kind hearted of men. At a house raising (of a log house, of course, they had no other kind in the early days) he always carried up his corner; and on all occasions of mirth, jollity, wit and humor, he " carried up his corner," too. He had always a flow of soul, and not only enjoyed himself, but made all feel happy around him. He was remarkable for his generosity, which was manifest in all the acts and relations of his life. He has often been known to take his horses from his plow to accommodate a neighbor. He was always glad to extend to everyone a generous hospitality, and in this respect his wife was in no way behind him, for it might be said of her that she obeyed the commandment to love her neighbor as herself. She was a helpmeet to him in the fullest sense of the word, for she never manufactured and sold less than one hundred and fifty yards of jeans during each year of her married life. In addition to this she made enough cloth for use in the family, and a great quantity of bed clothing besides. All of her acquaintances were fast friends for life.

Such is the well-written and entertaining account given by Henry C. McClure, of Stout's Grove. The author of this work is under many obligations to him as well as to his witty and accomplished lady, a daughter of Robert McClure.

fourteen years of age he came to Barron County, Kentucky. In about the year 1812 he married Nancy Berry, a very amiable lady, a Virginian by birth and Irish descent. She came to Kentucky when she was very young.

In the fall of 1821, Mr. Hodge came to Sangamon County and settled on Fancy Creek. The country was then wild and full of ferocious animals, and the adventures and hunting stories of the settlers would, if described and written out, fill many volumes. At one time, when Mr. Ilodfje and a man named Hains were out hunting bees, they found a panther with her cubs concealed in a log. They stopped up the log to prevent her from making her escape, and collected a number of men to kill the animal. Mr. Hodge cut notches in the log with his axe, and when he saw the panther's head through one of the notches hit it a blow with the axe and killed it. The panther was large and powerful, and measured nine feet from its nose to the end of its tail. The party captured the cubs and Mr. Hodge raised two of them, until they were partially grown ; but they were a little too dangerous as pets and he killed them. Mr. Hodge often hunted bees on Fancy Creek with old Shabona, the Pottawatomie chief. In the spring of 1827, Mr. Hodge moved to the south side of Stout's Grove, in what is now McLean County, Illinois, and there made his permanent residence until the time of his death. At that time the only settlers in the grove were Peyton Mitchel, Ephraim Stout, Robert McClure, Robert Drain and Matthew Robb. Mr. Hodge was a farmer, but occasionally worked at the carpenter's trade, as the early settlers were obliged to be handy at everything. He built a flat-boat at Peoria and worked at any remunerative employment, which his hands found to do. He was a great hunter and was very successful in his excursions after bees, wolves, deer, turkeys, etc.

Mr. Hodge was once called out during the Black Hawk war to go with a friend to his house, which had been vacated from fear of the Indians. A party of ten or twelve men went on the excursion. They found the house in good order and nothing disturbed. They remained over night. During the night they heard a log-chain rattle, as if it had been raised up and dropped. In the morning the first man who stepped out of doors was shot and scalped. Mr. Hodge immediately closed the door and

In order to get their grinding done, the settlers used first a hand-mill, then they went to Edwardsville, then to Sugar Creek, twenty miles south of Stout's Grove. Afterwards Ephraim Stout erected a horse-mill at the grove on Sugar Creek. This was before mills were built on the Mackinaw. Stout's mill was for many years a favorite resort of the settlers every Saturday. They met to tell the news to each other and talked over the affairs of the neighborhood.

The first camp-meeting ever held in the grove was about the year 1828 or '29. All of the preachers at that camp-meeting are now dead, except Neil Johnson, who lives in Oregon. They were Peyton Mitchel, James Davis, who died in Hopedale, Tazewell County, James McDonald, Archibald Johnson, Neil Johnson and John Berry of Sangamon County. Archibald Johnson, who died in Kansas more than a year ago, taught the first school in Stout's Grove. It was held probably in 1828, and was commenced in the spring and ended in the summer. The oldest church and oldest Sabbath school were of the denomination of the Cumberland Presbyterians. Levi Danley, of Danvers, is the only man now living, who was a married man in the township before the deep snow.

Mrs. Sarah Danley, wife of Levi Danley, who lives in Danvers. She lived for forty years in Princeton, Bureau County, and has only lately come to Danvers.

Mr. Hodge was a tall, straight-built man, had heavy shoulders, black hair and dark hazel eyes. He was a very muscular man, who always did as he promised ; he took pride in keeping his word, and was most sensitive with regard to his honor. He was a very kind man and cared yery much for his family. He always exacted strict obedience from his children, though he never used harsh means. He was not a talkative man, though he enjoyed company. He was fond of books, and took pleasure in reading that book of books, the Bible.

Uriah Shelby Hodge was born November 26, 1817, in Barron County, Kentucky. He came with the family of his father, Jonathan Hodge, to Stout's Grove, in the spring of 1827. There he went to school - as a good little boy should - to Archibald Johnson. Young Hodge was an apt scholar and learned very fast. When he grew up to manhood he became a great hunter and had a special knack for catching wolves. He chased them with horses, bull-dogs and grey-hounds, and kept fast horses for the purpose of hunting. He grew up a farmer, but afterwards went into the mercantile business at Danvers and succeeded remarkably well.

On the Fourth of July, 1851, very early in the morning, Mr. Hodge married Miss Mary C. Clark, daughter of Henry I. Clark of Eureka, and has lived in Danvers ever since. He has a remarkably interesting family and enjoys all the pleasures of cultivated society.

Mr. Hodge is rather above the medium height, is quite muscular, and was formerly rather portly ; but somewhat failing health has shown its effects. He has been very successful in mercantile life, and this has been due to his uprightness. This is shown by the fact that he has now the same customers who traded at his store when he first began business.

W. F, Hodge was born August 24, 1824, on Fancy Creek in Sangamon County, Illinois. When he was about three years old the family of his father, Jonathan Hodge, came to Stout's Grove, in what is now McLean County. He was raised a farmer's boy, and continued at hard work until about eight years since, when he engaged in mercantile life. The first school he attended was kept by Archibald Johnson, but as the youthful Hodge was then very small he did not learn much. He attended the school kept by Lyman Porter, and continued under various teachers until he was twenty years of age. He has a boyish recollection of the deep snow, and clearly remembers seeing the various domestic animals walking over the stake and rider fences, and also remembers the stumps of trees which had been cut for firewood during1 that memorable winter. When the snow thawed away in the spring the stumps appeared six feet high. The deer were nearly exterminated, but the wolves had a happy time and could kill all the game they chose. During that winter the neighbors all enquired after each other to see that no one suffered. A great deal of their stock perished ; the sheep which were not brought home in the fall where they could be taken care of, were lost. The people during that winter gathered corn in sacks which they carried over the snow, but were obliged to feel down pretty low for the ears. The crust on the snow became so hard that five head of cattle were driven over it from the house of a man named Brown to Stout's Grove, a distance of five miles.

Mr. Hodge has hunted a great deal for deer and wolves; was accustomed to run them down on horseback. In early days the wolves were indeed saucy and dangerous. In about the }Tear 1831, Mr. Hodge's father and mother were boiling maple sap in the south part of Stout's Grove, and in the evening his father began to broil some meat over the furnace. Soon the prairie wolves and big gray wolves smelt the meat and began to gather around and bark. They came thicker and thicker, and barked louder and louder. He had a large mastiff which was celebrated for its wonderful courage and strength, and which could kill any wild animal in the forest; but the wolves gathered around so thick that the mastiff was struck with terror and stood trembling. The wolves came so close that their eves could be seen by the light of the fire, and Mr. Hodge grabbed his axe for fight. The meat was taken from the fire, wood was piled on, and as the flames shot upwards the wolves were frightened away.

The sudden change in the weather, which occurred in December, 1836, was clearly remembered by young Hodge. During that terrible change the chickens and turkeys were frozen fast in the congealing slush.

Mr. Hodge tells some interesting matters concerning the year of the floods. In 1844 the rain came in such quantities that it seemed for a while that Noah's ark would be needed once more. The wheat and corn were drowned out with the exception of a very little on the upland. Sugar Creek near Mackinaw timber in Tazewell County, was that year three miles wide. The Mackinaw was that year deeper than ever before known by white men. The Kickapoo and Salt Creek were eight miles apart near Lincoln ; but that year some parties crossed from one to another in a canoe.

But the weather is occasionally like the women (or vice versa), it goes to extremes. The season of the great drowth occurred during the year 1855. A great deal of stock then died of thirst. The sloughs were so dry that they would not yield water by digging. Sugar Creek was dry, of course. During that season Mr. Hodge dug out and walled up the Hinshaw spring, which was supposed to be perennial, but it yielded so little water that but few could get any from it. He hauled water for his stock from Barnes Grove, three miles distant. A great deal of water was hauled from the Mackinaw, and a great deal of stock was driven there. It was during this exceedingly dry season that the turf in the bottom land or swamps of Sugar Creek, near Mosquito Grove, caught fire and burned for a week or more, and the marks of the burning can be seen there to-day. The turf was burned out in spots of perhaps thirty by fifty feet ; great holes were burned in the ground, and very little vegetation has grown there since. (These spots were probably small peat beds). It was so dry in the barrens that the timber grass would catch fire and burn in the month of July, and also during that month he saw grass burn on the upland prairie.

Mr. Hodge married, May 30, 1850, Emily McClure, daughter of Samuel McClure. They have had three children, but all are now dead. Mrs. Hodge is a wide-awake lady, and appreciates anything witty or pleasant. Mr. Hodge is five feet and nine inches and a half in height, and is well proportioned. His eyes are gray, and his hair shows a little of the effect of age. He is a man of good judgment in business, very cautious, but not too much so. His word can be relied on implicitly whether in business matters or in any of the relations of life. He is strictly upright in his dealings, and has been very successful in his transactions. He takes a great interest in the matters relating to the early settlement of the country, and has furnished much valuable information concerning them.

James O. Barnard was born July 16, 1800, in Iredell County, North Carolina. His father's name was Francis Barnard, and his mother's name before her marriage was Jane McCord. Jane McCord was partly, and perhaps wholly, of Irish descent. Francis Barnard was American born, but was of English Quaker descent. His father, Francis Barnard, sr., grandfather of James, was captain of a whaling vessel. He was at home during the Revolutionary war, and did not take part in the contest, as it was contrary to his principles to take up arms in any cause. At one time the British soldiers came to his house and took him prisoner. One of his neighbors was up stairs, but, hearing the noise, came down and was also taken. The neighbor was not at all alarmed, but said he was willing to go with friend Barnard anywhere. They were released after one night's detention.

But James McCord, the maternal grandfather of James O. Barnard, was a very different man. He was no Quaker ; on the contrary, he thought it his duty to harass the British and pick off their men. He was not a regular soldier in the American army, but he was in every scrimmage in which he could find a chance to engage. He was a sharp marksman and picked off many a " red-jacket." The British took revenge by sacking his house and tearing everything in it to pieces. His wife, Mrs. McCord, hid her little baby in the woods, that its cries might not be heard, then took the child next oldest, and with it hid in the thick pea vines near by. The soldiers utterly ruined everything in the house, then went into the milk-house, drank some of the milk, and pitched the crocks into the yard. They drove off the horses and stock, and everything on the premises was in disordered ruin. But James McCord watched for the " red-jackets" sharper than ever, and made many of them pay with their lives for this destruction of his property.

Mr. Barnard was a boy during the war of 1812, but he remembers one interesting incident which happened while the army was becoming organized. He was then living at Wilksborough, North Carolina. A company of soldiers was raised there, and one stalwart volunteer changed his mind about going and wished to be discharged. In order to bring this about, he cut off his toes and brought them to the commanding officer.

But this little stratagem was not successful, as lie was compelled to go along. As the company left the village it came to a steep hill, and here the volunteer requested permission to give a parting yell. It was granted, and he set up a yell which made the woods ring and was echoed over the valleys.

In 1822 the Barnard family moved to Jackson County, Tennessee, near the mouth of Obey River, where it empties into the Cumberland, about one hundred miles above Nashville. Here they remained until the year 1828. Mr. Barnard did some traveling in Alabama during this period, and visited the celebrated spring at Huntsville. There the water flows from underneath a large rock, and the aperture is twenty or thirty feet wide and from twelve to eighteen inches deep. The water comes out with such force as to drive a large ram, and elevated water to supply the town. Mr. Barnard also visited the spring at Tuscumbia. This is three times as large as the one at Huntsville. The aperture, from which the water flows, is fifty or sixty feet wide, and from two to three feet in depth. It is really a river coming out of the ground. Flat-boats could run up to within four miles of where the river gushes out of the rock. When Air. Barnard visited the spring he saw, about one hundred yards from the source, a wheel twenty or thirty feet in diameter. The wheel was surrounded by cows' horns attached to the rim by staples. As the water pressed against them the wheel was made to revolve. The horns were filled with water at every revolution, and emptied into a trough, which carried it away to supply a brick-yard.

In 1828 the Barnard family came to Illinois, and arrived in what is now McLean County, March 23. They experienced the difficulties and trials of the settlers at that early day. James 0. Barnard laid off" the town of Wilkesborough, and was the first postmaster there. He was appointed by Postmaster General John McLean, under Jackson's administration. Mr. Barnard was a farmer, as were most of the old settlers. -He was deputy sheriff under Martin Scott, the first sheriff of the county after it was cut off from Tazewell. Mr. Barnard was also deputy sheriff and collector under W. H. Hods-e.

Mr. Barnard w as ratlier less than the medium height, was slim in build, had gray hair and gray eyes. He was very decided in his opinions, and was very conscientious in forming them. lie was a member of the Christian Church of the Reformation. He was a member of the Baptist Church before the reformation took place, about forty years ago. He died October 17, 1873.

J. G. Reyburn was born April 15, 1803, in Frankfort, Kentucky. His father's name was James Reyburn, and his mother's name, before her marriage, was Mary Gulion. They were both of Irish descent. James Reyburn lived in Frankfort, Kentucky, for five years, when he was taken by his parents to Chillicothe, Ohio. He there saw the prisoners, who were taken by Commodore Perry in his victory on Lake Erie. They were kept in a fort containing about an acre of land. This fort was called a bull-pen. Many women accompanied the soldiers who were captured. The prisoners were always anxious to get whisky, but none was allowed to be brought in, if the guard knew it. But the women sometimes exercised their feminine cunning and outwitted the guard, for they were allowed to pass out of the fort and back again as often as they chose, and they would smuggle the whisky through into the fort by carrying it in bladders. But the trick was discovered and stopped. When these prisoners were taken out to be exchanged, about half of them ran away and refused to be returned to their regiments. They came back to Chillicothe, but were usually an unreliable class of people.

At the age of eleven or twelve, Mr. Reyburn went into a store and acted as a clerk until he was nearly twenty-one years old. He then went back to Frankfort, Kentucky, and there sold goods until his health failed, when he began teaching school in the neighborhood of Paris and Lexington. But he did not regain his health until he came to Illinois, to \Valnut Grove, where he arrived September 28, 1828. He had a pleasant jourm'lean county. 4(33 nev on a one-horse wagon. At Walnut Grove be found the Harrison family and that of old Charley Moore and John Campbell. After staying in the grove only one night, he went on to Panther Creek timber and took up a claim where about forty Indians were encamped. lie remained there two years and eno-au-ed in farming, but hunted more than he worked. He found as many as six bee trees in one day. At one time, while taking up a bee tree in the Mackinaw barrens, an Indian fired the grass. The wind was blowing almost a gale from the fire towards Mr. Reyburn ; but soon he was discovered by the Indian, who made a back fire and prevented a catastrophe. The Indian lit the fire to start up the deer. Mr. Reyburn found a great deal of honey. He had, at one time, a trough six feet in length and eighteen inches in width, and it was full of the finest honey, and the honey in the comb was piled up a foot and a half or two feet high. It could not be sold for anything, but the wax could be traded for tobacco.

A few days after Mr. Reyburn came to Panther Creek, where he killed a deer ; he hung it up and the wolves came around. He arose to drive them off, but they only came thicker. At last he stirred up his fire and drove them back with the brands. The game was plenty then. The deer came within fifty yards of his house to paw up acorns. During the winter of the deep snow he lived on Panther Creek, and frequently fed wild turkeys from his window. He had a drove of twenty-five hogs about three miles away on Panther Creek, when the heavy snow fell. They stayed there within a space thirty feet across, for six week. About one-half of them were left in good condition. The larger hogs had eaten up the little ones. Mr. Reyburn, with the assistance of another person, took a yoke of oxen and made a path by hitching them to a log and dragging it through the snow. The hogs followed in single file. Mr. Reyburn thinks the winter of the deep snow one of the pleasantest he ever spent. He had plenty of wood, as he could cut trees at his very door, and he had plenty to ear, and enjoyed himself finely.

The county of Tazewell had various expenses, which had to be met, and soon the assessor and tax collector made their appearance. Mr. Reyburn paid his first tax in 1830, and it amounted to forty-five cents. The receipt, which was given

During that year he enlisted in Captain McClure's company and went to the Black Hawk war. He went first to Pekin and from there to Dixon's Ferry. After the affair at Stillman's Run he went up with the army to bury the dead, then went to Ottawa and from there to Indian Grove on Indian Creek where he helped to bury the families of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew, who were murdered by the Indians. The latter had mutilated the bodies terribly and the inside of the house looked like a slaughter pen. About sixteen persons were killed. Two boys out in the field escaped, and two girls were taken prisoners. The corpses were buried in a long pit. All but two of them had been partially buried by the time the soldiers arrived. The latter returned to Ottawa, built a fort and were shortly afterwards disbanded and sent home. On his return from the Black Hawk war Mr. Reyburn was married to Tabitha Blair. Before this important event took place he sold his gun to John T. Stuart, of Springfield, resolved to abandon hunting and remain at work. He moved to Stout's Grove in January, 1837, a few days after the celebrated sudden change in the weather, which happened the December before. He then sold groceries at Stout's Grove. In 1838 he came to what was then called Concord, but now is called Danvers, and there sold goods until 1852, and then was out of business for several years.

As the West was a wild country, many of the dangerous classes came to it from the East for a refuge. The people of the country around Mosquito Grove were troubled by a gang of counterfeiters, horse thieves and murderers, from about the year 1836 to the year 1S44. This was a gang of three men, Grant Reddon and his two sons Jack and Harrison. The country was very much disturbed by the depredations of these men. Horses were stolen and many crimes committed. At one time two peddlers, who were brothers, started out from Peoria. One of them came to Mosquito Grove and was never heard of more. His brother traced him that far, but could find his track no farther. The Reddons used the goods, which belonged to the missing peddler, and the belief of foul play was wide-spread. Nevertheless people were so much afraid of the Reddons that active measures were not taken. Jack Reddon was one of the gang who murdered Colonel Davenport, at Rock Island, many years ao-o. At last the citizens rose, took their rifles, went to the Reddons' house and made them flee the country.

In about the year 1862 Mr. Reyburn moved to his farm, but came back to Danvers in 1865, and has lived there ever since, a part of the time engaged in selling goods. The early settlers were unused to fine dresses, as may be supposed, but they could dress in buckskin, which appeared very becoming. Mr Reyburn says that the finest suit of clothes he ever wore, were made by himself of buckskin and sewed with a whang. After awhile the woven goods of the East began to be worn. Mr. Reyburn tells of the wonderful effect produced by a calico dress worn by a certain Miss Ellis to church. She was a great belle for a while and her dress caused a great sensation. A. certain Ben Conger heard of this dress and went to church to see it, and on his return was in ecstacies of delight, and said it was blue calico with a lot of white specks - never was anything so beautiful.

Sarah Ann, wife of Henry Swope, Ellen, wife of George Bunn, and Maggie, wife of C. C. Rowell, who all live in Danvers. James Reyburn, a son, lives in Bloomington.

Mr. Reyburn is a cheerful old gentleman. He is rather below the medium stature, was once very active and tough, and could endure many hardships. He is slightly built, wears glasses, but appears in good health. He takes great interest in the events of the early settlement. He is a man of much natural shrewdness and seems to have succeeded well in life.

Levi Danley was born April 4, 1803, in Clark County, Kentucky. His father, Samuel Danley, was of Irish descent, and his mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Ele, was, he thinks, of Scotch descent. She was born in Virginia. Her parents moved from there to Kentucky at an early day. Samuel Danley, his father, was probably born in Kentucky. When Levi Danley was very young, he went with his father's family to Fleming County, Kentucky, where he lived until the year 1817. He lived in the extreme southeastern part of the county. The country was very rough and mountainous and sparsely settled. He went to school there and was a pretty attentive scholar. Although he received very little education, he did not allow many of the scholars to get the start of him in his studies, while he could attend school. In 1817, in the fall, the Danley family came from Fleming County, Kentucky, to Illinois. They came with a four-horse team, bringing along their cattle and hogs. Their journey was a hard one, as they were interrupted by snow, rain and mud, and could find but little to eat on the road, after they passed Shawneetown. They crossed the Ohio River at Shawneetown, and went from there to a place about nine miles west of Carlisle, and halted ou Shoal Creek, where they arrived sometime near Christmas. They made their winter quarters with a man named Eades, and in the spring they built a cabin and cleared some land, for which they were allowed the first crop as pay. Young Levi hunted during the first winter of their arrival and killed prairie chickens. During the following winter he became old enough to kill deer.

During the second spring of their arrival Mr. Samuel Danley and young Levi and his brother-in-law went up to what is now Sangamon County, and made a small improvement. They made a pole camp, covered with elm bark like an Indian wigwam. His brother-in-law, Isaac Myers, moved up there in the fall, and the Danley family followed in the spring.

In 1827, a few years before the Black Hawk war, a great excitement was raised at Galena, and the settlers there feared an Indian war, and volunteers were called for. Mr. Danley volunteered to go, and enlisted in a body of men commanded by

Colonel ISTeal of Springfield. They went to White Oak Springs, some six or eight miles this side of Galena. There Mr. Danley was taken sick and did not enjoy the excursion at all. The scare of the settlers soon ceased, and the company returned. Mr. Danley thinks Galena was then almost as hard a place as Sodom and Gomorrah, for the principal occupation of the people was gambling and drinking.

Mr. Danley saw man}7 Indians, and often traded and ran foot-races with them, and wrestled and engaged in other athletic sports, for which the Indians and early settlers "were remarkable.

Mr. Danley lived in Sangamon County until February, 1829, when he came to Stout's Grove, in the east end, in what is now McLean, but then was Tazewell County, Illinois. The land in Illinois came into market during October, 1829, and then he bought the farm, where he settled and made his permanent home, and which he owns at the present time.

Mr. Danley married Margaret McClure of Stout's Grove, in November, 1827. He was then living in Sangamon County, and did not come to Stout's Grove until February, 1829, as stated.

The settlers usually complain of the hardships of the winter of the deep snow; but Mr. Danley says he never spent such a happy winter before or since. He had luckily gathered his corn, and his house was set in order. He had no work to do, had plenty of corn, honey, milk and venison, and lived a jolly life. On the day before the deep snow fell, he and his two brothersin-law killed seven deer, but the snow covered them, and the hunters only succeeded in bringing in two of them. The severe winter killed off the deer and stopped Mr. Danley's fun in hunting, but a few years afterwards they again became numerous.

In 1832, when the Black Hawk war broke out, Mr. Danley enlisted in the company commanded by Robert McClure as captain, and John H. S. Rhodes as first lieutenant. They went first to Pekin, from there to Peoria, and up to Dixon's Ferry, on the usual course. They arrived at Dixon's Ferry in the evening, and about midnight the soldiers besran to come in from Stillman's Run. Mr. Danley was acquainted with many of them, and saw them just before they went from McLean County. At that time they were in high feather, and were talking of what they were going to do. Some were going to have a feather from old Black Hawk, and some were going to do something else ; but at midnight, when they came back from Stillman's Run, Mr. Danley says he heard no more talk of capturing Black Hawk's feathers. But though the men were frightened, they nearly all claimed to have killed two or three Indians, and if their accounts had been correct, none of Black Hawk's men would have been living. The next morning the company to which Mr. Danley belonged was attached to the spy battalion, commanded (he thinks) by Major (afterwards General) Henry. The whole army moved forward up to the scene of the previous day's scrimmage. The spy battalion was drilled to dismount on meeting the enemy, and a few were to hold the horses, while the remainder went ahead into the tight. They found and buried the dead, both Indians and whites. The latter were fearfully mutilated and cut to pieces. Two of the Indians, who were killed, were found tied to a tree, and an Indian interpreter said that this was to indicate that the Indians would be as firm as that tree. They went back to Dixon's Ferry on the following day, and from there two or three companies went to Ottawa, as the people at the latter place wished for a guard. A man, named Walker, had been sent from Ottawa to Dixon's Ferry for assistance. Mr. Dane's company and one or two others, he thinks, went to Ottawa. Before they reached that place, the}- learned of the massacre of the families of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew on Indian Creek, and the next day, after getting some rations, went to the scene of the murder. There, Mr. Danley says, they found the families buried in a long hole, but the dirt over them was very shallow. They took up the bodies and re-buried them, separating the families as well as they could by the assistance of two young men, who succeeded in getting away, but who belonged to one of the murdered families. From there the soldiers returned to Ottawa, where they were not long afterwards discharged and sent home.

When the sudden change in the weather occurred in Decernber, 1836, Mr. Danley was going into Pekin with a drove of hogs, and succeeded in taking them there ; but his yoke of oxen could not be taken back home for six weeks, on account of the slippery condition of the roads, for the whole country was a

Mr. Danley is a little more than five feet in height, is very quick and strong. He is very anxious to see things done right, and seems particularly anxious that the items, which he has furnished, shall be correctly stated, and that no mistake shall be made about them. He is very careful in all his affairs, and has been very successful in life. His life has been very regular. He has not, since coming to Illinois, taken a drink of liquor, has never drank a glass of beer or smoked a segar or taken a chew of tobacco. His rising hour, for nearly forty years, while working a farm, was four o'clock; before that time he had no clock, and often arose and hunted his oxen, went two miles to the timber and returned with a load of rails by sunrise.

The following incidents relating to the Conger family are written by Miss Emma Conger, the daughter of Robert Conger, deceased, one of the earliest settlers at Stout's Grove.

Isaac Conger, an only son, was born in England, emigrated to America when young, and settled near Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. He married Susan Barnett, and they had four sons, Jonathan, Robert, Benjamin and Nicholas. In 1829 the family emigrated to Illinois and settled at Stout's Grove, in what is now McLean County, Illinois. Isaac Conger and his wife died soon after coming here, at the age of eighty-three. Jonathan, Robert and Nicholas Conger made farms adjoining each other. Jonathan married Lydia Howell, and they lived at Stout's Grove until the year 1848. Then they went to Iowa, again to endure the hardships of a frontier life. Jonathan Conger died in 1856. His neighbors in McLean County tell a story of him, which shows the condition of things in the early days. He went on horseback to Bowling Green after a sack of salt. The wolves chased him, and he made as good time as some of the brave soldiers in the Black Hawk war. When he had nearly reached home, he said to one of his neighbors, " I tell you, they were coming, and oh! they looked so savage - I barely escaped with my life !" His fright was the subject of much merriment, for the old settlers did not fear the wolves, and were anxious only to catch them.

Benjamin Conger was a great hunter. One day while out in the grove he saw several deer coming towards him. As he had no gun with him he concealed himself behind a tree. When they passed him he threw his knife wTith all force and killed one of then instantly.

Xicholas Conger improved his farm and built what was considered a nice house in those days. He was to have been married shortly afterwards, but was taken sick and died. This wTas in the year 1840. He was an industrious and promising young man and a good citizen.

Robert Conger, my father, married Xancy Howell, my mother, in the year 1886. He lived for thirty years on the farm, which he first improved in Stout's Grove. He died in the year 1860, at the age of fifty-six, leaving a wife and nine children, three sons and six daughters.

My father was an old school-mate of Abraham Lincoln in Kentucky, and my mother also attended school with Lincoln near Springfield, Illinois. When I was quite a little girl I was with father in Bloomington when he met Mr. Lincoln. The latter said : " How d' you do, Bob?" Father then told me that Lincoln was a lawyer in Springfield, and that he was a good man.

Father once told me of Fphraim Stout, the man from whom Stout's Grove took its name. Shortly after my father's arrival in the country he happened to be at Mr. Stout's cabin in the evening at supper time. Their table had no cloth on it, nothing but pewter plates and some mush and milk, which the family

After the death of my father our family continued to live at the home place. Five }-ears after his death my mother and one of my sisters died. The family remained together two years longer. Then our house caught fire and burned to the ground, and the family separated. The associations of our early home in McLean County, have made it very dear to us all. It was there we listened to our parents as they told us the hardships of their early lives. I have often heard my mother speak of her fear of the Indians'; but she would add, that notwithstanding all her trials, those early days were full of happiness. It was great sport for her to go to the sugar camp and help make maple sugar, and eat it, too, I suppose. She would tell how she spun her dozen cuts of yarn in one day and did her housework besides. Some young ladies would blush to tell this of their mothers, but I refer to it with pride, for labor was no disgrace in those days and ought not to be now.

Such is the entertaining and very pretty account of the Conger family, given by Miss Conger; and we are sure our readers would be glad to have many such. This family was among the earliest and most respected at Stout's Grove, and among the best known in this section of the country.

Israel W. Hall was born February 5, 1799, in Salem, Rockingham County, jSTew Hampshire. His father's name was Joseph Hall, and his mother's' maiden name was Hester Woodbury. The}- were both of English descent. Israel W. Hall became a shoemaker by trade. In 1834 he came to the west and settled where now the town of Danvers stands, in McLean County, Illinois. He started for the West from Nashua, New Hampshire, traveled by canal and steamboat to Detroit, Michigan, there bought a team, and came to McLean County, Illinois. In about the year 1885, Mr. Hall and Matthew Robb laid off the town of Concord, (now Danvers.) The village settled up slowly. Mr. Hall was a justice of the peace, and the first postmaster of the place. The office was called Stout's Grove Postofiice, but was changed to Danvers, which became the name of the village. The postoffice was not established until 1848 or '49, because of a postoffice at the neighboring town of "Wilkesborough. Mr. Hall was a member of the Methodist Church, and for fifteen years his house was a preaching place for that denomination. Rev. Zadoc Hall was one of the early preachers, who held meetings there.

Mr. Hall was about five feet and eight inches in height. He was a good man, honest and fair-minded, and had the respect of his neighbors. He died January 3, 1865.

Jeremiah S, Hall, brother of Israel W. Hall, was born April 21, 1809, in Salem, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. He lived in his native village until the age of seventeen, when he went to Boston, to learn the bricklayer's trade. He was in that city when the great celebration of 1826 occurred, making the fifteenth anniversary of American independence. The exercises were held on Boston common, and an immense crowd was in attendance. On that day John Adams said in the morning : "I have lived to see another fourth of July." But before the day was ended the bells of Boston were tolling for his death. On that day also, another Ex-President, Thomas Jefferson, died ; but, as the telegraph was then unknown, the news did not reach Boston until the middle of the week.

Mr. Hall remained in Boston for three summers, working at the brick-layer's trade, and also in a shoe-factory. He worked in various towns in New England. On the 16th of October, 1834, he started for Illinois. He came from Nashua, N. H., to Troy, N. Y., by stage, and thence to Buffalo by canal. From the latter place they started on board of a steamboat for Detroit, Michigan. They were delayed by a severe storm, and Mrs. Hall had an experience with sea sickness which she yet remembers.

At Detroit they took stage for Chicago, traveling through mud and water, and after a fearful ride arrived at their destination November 7. After a short stay at Chicago he came to McLean County, arriving in December. lie traveled here in his own wagon. His family boarded for a while with Mr. Francis Barnard at Dry Grove. Mr. Hall soon went to farming just west of where he now lives, in the edge of the village of Danvers. His was one of the first prairie farms, and he was much ridiculed for leaving the timber ; but he held to the land, and it is now worth sixtj'-five dollers per acre.

In September, 1844, Mr. Hall met with a strange accident, which has puzzled the physicians. While riding through timber and under brush he had a thorn pressed into the joint of the middle finger of his right hand. The thorn was removed but a part of the point remained. The finger became so much inflamed that Mr. Hall was thrown into spasms of pain, and he narrowly escaped lock-jaw. The finger was amputated, but he has never entirely recovered. His nervous system received so severe a shock that at the present time he is liable to become stiff and rigid when any undue excitement occurs, or when he falls into -any unusual attitude. His case is a puzzle to the doctors, who disagree concerning it.

On the 24th of April, 1832, Mr. Hall married Miss Jane Combs in Nashua, New Hampshire. They have had five children, of whom three are living. They are :

Hannah, Wilburn and George. The two latter are married and George lives in Nebraska. The eldest son, Edward W. Hall was killed in the army at Jackson, Mississippi. He was first lieutenant of Company B, 3d Iowa, but at the time of his death was in command of Company I. He was wounded and captured, and died a few hours after. The fight was known as Lauman's unsuccessful charge.

Jeremiah Hall is about five feet and ten inches in height, is stoutly built and has a sanguine complexion. He is healthy in his appearance, but his nerves are shattered by the severe pain of which an account is given above. He appears to be a man of correct judgment, and is faithful to his trust. His head is partially bald, and he seems to have a good development of brain. His eyes have a clear, pretty expression when he is amused, and he is usually pleased at any kind of burlesque. He wishes it understood that he has never been a fisherman, a hunter, or an office-seeker, but has succeeded well. He is a substantial American citizen.

John Ha}- was born March 18, 1797, in Washington County, Virginia, near Abington. His father's name was Peter Hay and his mother's name was Elizabeth Finle}\ Peter Hay was born and raised in Boston and was of Scotch-Irish descent. Elizabeth Finley was of the same descent, but was born and raised in Virginia. Peter Play was not old enough to take part in the Revolutionary war, but his eldest brother was a soldier in the Continental army. Plis father's orchard, near Charlestown, was destroyed by the British.

John Hay lived only four years in Virginia, where he was born. In about the year 1801 the family moved to Logan County Kentucky. They lived there and in Todd County until about the year 1819, when they moved to Christian County. Nothing of importance happened there except that at one time the people were uuiversally alarmed lest the negroes should rise in insurrection. In the spring of 1834 he came to McLean Count}- and bought land, but did not move out his family until the spring of 1835. He settled on the farm where John Shorthoes now lives, near Wilkesborough, in the present township of Dry Grove.

Mr. Hay has experienced the hardships of the old settlers, and has enjoyed their sports. He remembers particularly of a grand hunt in which the settlers from all over the country participated. Some of the hunters ran down a deer about four miles north of Bloomington, tied it to the tail of a roan horse belonging to Dr. John F. Henry and brought it home in triumph.

Susan G., wife of George Moe, lives with her father. She is a remarkably pleasant and entertaining lady, and everyone in her presence feels the effect of her good nature and her happy spirits.

Mrs. Hay died August 9, 1840. On the 19th of October, 1841, Mr. Hay married Sarah A. Daniel. By this marriage he had two children, of whom one is living. She is AphiaK. Hay, and lives at home with her father.

On the 21st of February, 1860, Mr. Hay married Mrs. Cynthia Rowell, of Danvers township, who died November 0, 1866. No children by this marriage.

Mr. Hay is about five feet and ten inches in height. He has a full face with a complexion somewhat sanguine. His hair is white and his eyes are gray. He is a man of the best of feeling and the kindest of manner. He is careful and straightforward in all things, and is anxious to do only what is fair with his neighbors. He seems to have been successful in his financial matters.

George F. Hay, brother of John Ha}T, was born September 18, 1814, in Todd County, Kentucky. In about the year 1819, the family moved to Christian County, just west, and there lived until George Hay came farther west. Mr. Hay received his common education in Kentuckv. For a while he attended a grammar school, which was conducted on the Lancasterian plan. By this plan the teacher parsed the words and the scholars repeated his parsing. After teaching grammar for sixty days he warranted all his scholars perfect. He had a great examination at the close of the school, and the whole neighborhood was excited and glad to learn that the children understood grammar. Mr. Hay took quite an interest in mathematics, studied surveying and obtained a very good common education. He tells of a queer adventure in which he was engaged while attending a school at Bluewater, Kentucky. The streams of water in that region of countrv often ran under ground, and were carried along on beds of rock below the surface. Sometimes they formed by this means extended caverns through the rocks. One of these streams ran under the ground near Bluewater Spring, where Mr. Hay attended school. But sometimes the underground stream became so full of water that it would gush up and flow over the ground for a long distance. At other seasons of the year the underground stream had very little water in it, and the opening then became an extended cave with a rivulet running through it. Mr. Hay and a companion once went a quarter of a mile through the cave formed by this underground stream. They took a lantern with them and traveled over rocks and through crevices with the water plashing by their sides. At last they saw daylight streaming down from the opening near the Bluewater Spring. As they came up they found the teacher of the school and many of the scholars waiting for them ; for the determination of these adventurous youths to explore the underground water course had become known. The teacher put a stop to any further expeditions.

In 1834 Mr. Hay came to Illinois and arrived at Walnut Grove, in what was then McLean County, on the 20th of October. This grove is now included in Woodford County. On the 13th of April following Mr. Hay came to Dry Grove. In February, 1836, he was made Deputy Surveyor under Major Dickason. He surveyed a great many little towns, laid out Miller's addition to Bloomington, and also Foster's and White's additions. The difficulties of surveying in the early days were great, for it was hard to move from point to point. The streams were often swollen and the crossings were usually fords. Mr. Hay was once with a party of surveyors on the north of the Mackinaw. A heavy rain suddenly fell, and that treacherous stream became high. The party returned in a canoe by making many trips, and their horses swam. When Mr. Hay was on his wa}- to lay off Miller's addition to Bloomington he found the streams high, the bridges overflowed and some of the planks floated off. He walked over the bridges, pressing down the floating planks, stepping over the open spaces and holding the halter of his horse as the animal swam across below. It was Mr. Hay's duty to attend to all surve}Ting between ranges one and two east of the third principal meridian.

Mr. Hay tells a curious circumstance concerning the sudden change of December, 1836, which has never before been related. He prepared a place for his pigs to sleep, about forty or fifty rods from where they were fed. When the sudden change came they started for their bed, but some of them froze to death in the path on the way. Mr. Hay rode three miles, after the sudden change took place, but he had the wind to his back and did not suffer so much in consequence. A traveler who was caught out in that sudden change walked a mile, and arrived at Peter Mc- Cullough's house in Dry Grove. The ice collected on him, as the freezing water and slush splashed up, and his parts were so stiffened that he moved with difficulty.

When the country in the West became so settled that plenty of wheat and corn was raised, the sandhill cranes became numerous. Mr. Hay was once crossing the prairie towards White Oak Grove, when he saw a young crane, and attempted to catch it. But the old birds defended it so vigorously that he gave it up as a bad job. Their appearance is fierce, and their sharp bills and long necks make them dangerous when wounded or while defending their young.

Mr. Hay has been on many hunting expeditions, as all settlers have, and has seen the dangers of the chase. William McCullough was once chasing a wolf, when his horse stepped into a gopher's hole, and the fall broke the animal's neck.

On the 17th of March, 1836, Mr. Hay married Elizabeth Ann McCullough, daughter of Peter McCullough, the first permanent settler in Dry Grove. She is a lady of fine feeling. They have had one child, Elizabeth Lavina, wife of John W. Owen. She lives a quarter of a mile east of her father's, on the old Surface farm adjoining Wilkesborough.

Mr. Hay is a man of the kindest disposition and the strictest integrity. He is about five feet and a half in height, has a heavy head of hair, is sparse in build, but healthy and active. He seems to have had fair success in the world. He takes pleasure in exercising that hospitality for which the old settlers are distinguished.

Jonathan B. Warlow was born June 21, 1814, in Northampton, Massachusetts. His father's name was Benjamin Warlow, and his mother's name, before her marriage, was Elizabeth Bond. They were partly of English descent. Benjamin Warlow was a bootmaker by trade. He served his apprenticeship, which was seven years and six months, in the city of New York, but as soon as it was ended he went off as a sailor on the ocean. He married Elizabeth Bond in Boston. During the war of 1812 he was drafted and sent to Montreal, but was never in any engagement. In March, 1817, he went to Oneida County, New York, where he engaged in the work of making fine boots. He was not "well-to-do" in the world, and wished to make some change to better his condition. Before he went to New York city, at one time, he had his fortune told, and it was predicted that he would emigrate to the West and do well. He went home and considered the matter seriously. His brother wished him to go to New York city. Benjamin Warlow packed up his goods to go to New York citv or the West - he knew not which. He waited for two weeks for some word from his brother ; at last he placed a stick upright on the ground, and resolved to go whichever way it fell. This was on the bank of the Erie canal. It struck the ground on the western side. Soon afterwards a canal boat came along and he loaded on his goods and started for the great West. He had sixtv dollars when he started. When he arrived at Painesville, Ohio, he had only thirty-seven and a half cents. He commenced chopping wood, and hired out his boys for thirty-seven and a half cents per day. There they were joined by Joshua Bond, a brother of Mrs. Warlow. After remaining for three months the}' all went to Pickaway Countv, where Mr. Bond bought a farm and Mr. Warlow worked it. Joshua Bond was a bachelor. He taught music and dancing, was as polite as a Frenchman, made a great deal of money and spent it freely. He usually went south during the winter and came up to Ohio and stayed with the Warlows during the summer. In 1834 the Warlow family came to Illinois with two wagons. One was drawn by a span of horses, and the other was drawn by a yoke of muley cattle and a span of horses on the lead. There were ten in the party : Mr. and Mrs. Warlow and their six children, and Joshua Bond and his hired man. They camped out only once, about six miles this side of the Sangamon River. There they had two crackers for supper and one cracker a piece in the morning. They came on to Bloomington, where they arrived at three o'clock in the afternoon. It was then a very insignificant little place. The tavern was kept by a man named Caleb. No bell or gong was kept, but a steel bar was suspended by a string, and each morniug the servant girl beat it with her pot-hooks to call up the boarders. Mr. Bond bought two hundred acres of land for one thousand dollars, and entered eighty acres more. On this land Mr. Warlow, sr., lived for two years, and then moved to land of his own, in what is now Allin township, immediately west of Richard A. Warlow's residence. He bought of Joshua Bond eighty acres of timber land in Brown's Grove. This was land which Bond had entered on his arrival. It was situated in the middle of the grove. It seems that the settlers, who had come in, entered land around the grove, but forbore to enter this, as they all used timber from it at Uncle Sam's expense. Warlow bought it of Bond for four dollars per acre.

Jonathan Warlow attended at Dry Grove a school taught by Milton Williams. The scholars all studied aloud and shouted their lessons, while the schoolmaster read his paper and smoked his pipe by the fire. Mr. Warlow has seen the difficulties and troubles of the early settlers. He sold pork in Pekin for one dollar and a quarter per hundred, and took his pay in trade, but was not allowed to take all his trade in groceries. He was often obliged to live for long periods on corn and potatoes, as it was impossible sometimes to get grinding done. He has also made the usual trips to Chicago, where he sold wheat for forty-five cents per bushel.

He married, November 15, 1838, Catherine Bartlett Hay, who came from Christian County, Kentucky, with her brother, John Hay. Mr. and Mrs. Warlow live in Dauvers township. They have had eight children, of whom six are living, five daughters and one son.