Empire Township (part 1 of 2)

Empire Township

As Mr. Dickerson is known to be quite lively with his quill, the author requested him to write a sketch of his life, and he has given the following, which is very interesting :

I was horn in Hamilton County, Illinois, October 30, 1822. My father, Michael Dickerson, died in 1836. My mother is yet living and is seventy-one years old past. We emigrated to this county, then Fayette, in 1825, and settled near Sugar Creek, near the western line of the county. In 1826 my parents moved to Randolph's Grove, to the place where Martin L. Bishop now lives. My father built a small water mill on Ivickapoo, where the early settlers came to get their grinding done. Many a day I have sat and fed in the flour to be bolted.

On the 23rd of June, 1827, the great storm came, which rooted up and blew down the trees in its course through Old Town timber. In the fall of 1828 my father sold his claim and his mill to William Hampton, a Tennesseean, who is remembered by many who are yet living. My father then settled at Long Point, now in De Witt County, and lived there until the fall of 1830. He then sold his claim to Frederick Troxwell and purchased the claim of Mr. Bennett, where Henry C. Dickerson now lives, near the present town of Leroy. He moved on this place November 2, 1830. The famous deep snow began falling December 3 of the following winter, and continued nearly every day through the fore part of January, 1831. I well remember the events of those days and could give the names of all old settlers around the groves of McLean County.

The hydrophobia broke out among the canine race domesticated, in 1832, and two persons were said to have been bitten; but the only suffering they endured resulted from distress of mind. I am no great lover of dogs.

At the first school I ever attended I was allowed to do pretty much as I pleased. I went out of the school-room and came back when I pleased, and no one dared to molest me or make me afraid. But at the next school I attended, in 1832, 1 was obliged to do a little as others said. I went to school for a while to lame "William Johnson, now of Kansas and learned to spell as far as " baker," " brier," etc. I next went to Amasa C. Washburn, now of your city. He once chastised me for fighting, but the boys had to be dealt with severely then, though not more so than some boys should be dealt with now. A larger boy kicked my dog and I gave the vicious lad a blow in the eye. Mr. "Washburn caught us at this interesting performance and at evening after prayer he said: "Reuben, 'I will have to chastise you," and Reuben received five gentle strokes with a switch, and was dismissed. I and Mr. Washburn then remained about half an hour enjoying each other's society. That licking hurt me.

I am sorry to sa}T that in my youthful days I played some rather practical jokes. Old Uncle Thomas Tovery, M. E. preacher, once held church at the school-house, and during the progress of the services I and another boy outside arranged a cat and dog fight, and the terrible scrimmage, the howls of the cat and the barking of the dog, broke up the services. The people ran out and said: "Kill the cat, it's mad; take up the dog, run ;" etc. We were obliged to tell what we did, in order to save the cat's life. Uncle Tom's text was : " I am the bright and the morning star, the first and the last." Old Uncle Tom is dead ; he departed this life at Oskaloosa, Iowa.

This grove was settled by John Buckles, sr., in 1828. He was a heavy man, weighing three hundred and eighty pounds. The Buckles family were Virginians, but part of them are Suckers, being born in this State. Some of them live among us vet. They are kind-hearted, generous and hospitable people, and love to hunt and fish. James Merrifield, sr., now deceased, with his family, settled here in the spring of 1830. Daniel and Henry Crumbaugh and Otho Merrifield, are early settlers, now living. Ambrose Hall, now of Atlanta, Logan County, Illinois, was an early settler. Thomas O. Rutledge, sr., was about to remove to this grove, but he sickened and died, August 20, 1830, and was buried in the cemetery oast of Leroy. We have one soldier of the war of 1812; it is Daniel Crumbaugh, who fought under General Harrison.

I grew up to manhood very much as other hoys have done. I have worked hard, have plowed for twenty-five cents per day, chopped wood for thirty, reaped wheat for fifty cents per day and cradled for fifty. I carried from Salt Creek the stone which was placed at the northeast corner of Leroy, and for this I received from A. Gridley the sum of twenty-five cents. I have had many dealings with Gridley and Oovel, and always found them gentlemen. I paid my first tax of sixty-six cents to William McCullough, and received a receipt from his deputy, B. H. Coffey. It reads :

I was married, January 1, 1845, to Miss Harriet R. Karr. We kept house for three months on rented lands, without bedstead, chair or table. I had one pony, but no cow, hog, sheep or money. My wife, Harriet, was the only daughter of her father, Jacob Karr, by his first marriage. We have raised nine children, all of whom are living. When the rebellion broke out I sent two of my sons into the army. In political matters I have voted for men, when I knew them, regardless of party, but if I was unacquainted with the candidates I voted the Democratic ticket. I voted for Stephen A. Douglas. I took the stump for the Indianapolis, Bloomingtoii and Western Railroad. I have considered it a privilege to help the soldiers and their widows and orphans. My children are nine in number. They are :

Merrit M. Dickerson, who lives in Monticello, Illinois. He was in the army for a short time during the rebellion. He enlisted, February 15, 1865, in the Ninety-fourth Illinois, and was present at the battles of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley. He was afterwards transferred to the Thirty-seventh Illinois, became clerk at headquarters at Galveston, Texas, and was discharged in February, 1866, at Houston, Texas.

Henry C. Dickerson was born August 30, 1825, in Hamilton County, Illinois. His father's name was Michael Dickerson, and his mother's name before her marriage was Jane Rutledge. She still lives near Leroy with her youngest son Wesley. The Dickerson family emigrated to that part of Fayette County, which now forms the county of McLean, in 1825, and settled near Sugar Creek, not far from the western boundary of the present McLean County. In 1826 the family moved to Randolph's Grove, and afterwards to Buckles' Grove.

Mr. Dickerson attended school during three months in the year, until he was twenty years of asje. He first attended a school kept by William Johnson, usually called "lame Billy." His plan of teaching was the one common to the time, that is, to require the scholars to study their lessons aloud. Sometimes "lame Billy'' would come to the school-room in bad humor, and, indeed, he was very changeable in his disposition. He usually made a profession of religion about once a month. At one time while coming home from meeting, where he had made a profession of religion, a prairie chicken flew up near the head of his horse, and the animal took fright and threw him to the ground. Under the excitement of the moment he used profane language and swore at his luck. Since that .time all kinds of misfortune have been called Johnson's luck. Mr. Dickerson also attended school kept by A. C. Washburn.

In the year 1845, Mr. Dickerson commenced tanning on his own account, and soon afterwards began stock-raising. He bought stock first for other people and afterwards for himself. He first bought forty acres near Leroy, but afterwards bought the homestead farm, containing one hundred and sixty acres, and known as the Michael Dickerson place. On this place is a large apple tree, which was planted by Michael Dickerson. The trunk of the tree is nine feet and nine inches in circumference. It is of the variety called "Lady-finger." It bears fruit every year, and during one season bore forty-five bushels of apples. Henry C. Dickerson has now nearly one thousand acres of land in McLean County, and between five and six hundred in Kansas. He is quick to see what will pay. He and his son-in-law, Hobart, built the large flouring-mill at Leroy, at a cost of $35,000. It is one of the best in the State. Mr. Dickerson is not now interested in it.

In the year 1849 he bought a great deal of stock in the Western States for Crawford & Miller in Champaign County, Ohio. During this time he traveled on horseback, from Fort Des Moines to Oskaloosa, Iowa. He had with him fifteen thousand dollars. On his journey he came to the hollow or bank of a creek, and there found a band of thieves, belonging to the celebrated Reddon, Long and Fox gang. They gave him a sharp chase, but his good horse saved him. The next morning from fifty to one hundred men went out to hunt the gang, and found one of the Longs, a boy of nineteen. He was tied to a tree and whipped in order to compel him to tell where the remainder of the gang were concealed. Mr. Dickerson could not bear the sight of the whipping and went away. The gang was not captured. Mr. Dickerson was very successful during this trip, though at one time his cattle gave him some trouble by stampeding.

In 1871 Mr. Dickerson took a pleasure excursion to California. He started in April of that year, in company with two friends, Mr. McKenny and Rev. J. B. Seymour. On their route they stopped at Salt Lake City and called on Brigham Young. They were introduced to the Mormon Prophet by Mr. Wickizer, who performed the ceremony in a peculiar manner. He said : "This is Mr. Dickerson, an enlightened heathen." The remainder of the company were introduced in the same manner. Brigham Young is a pleasant, unassuming man, lives in a ten-acre spot surrounded by a stone wall. In this enclosure is his large dwelling and various houses for his many wives. The tabernacle is a large edifice, and accommodates about fifteen thousand worshippers. The organ in the tabernacle cost an immense sum of money, and is remarkable for its fine tone. Mr. Dickerson was favorably impressed with Salt Lake City, its theatre, beautiful shops, and streams of water flowing down from the mountain and forming rivulets on both sides of the streets. He listened to the preaching of Orson Pratt, and was much pleased with the eloquence of this Mormon divine.

On the twenty-seventh of October, 1850, Mr. Diekerson married Miss Leodiey Maxwell, only daughter of William Maxwell, of Old Toavii. He has had five children. They are :

Mr. Diekerson is five feet and ten inches in height, is wTell proportioned, has blue eyes, which do not require spectacles, is very quiet in his manner and is a first-class business man. His meniory^is remarkably good. During his western trip in 1849, he bought three hundred and fifty-seven head of cattle, and he can call^to mind the price paid for each one of them. The father of Henry C. Diekerson was Michael Diekerson. The following; are the names of his children, seven in number :

Thomas Buckles was born January 18, 1812, in White County, Illinois. His father's house was burnt while the old gentleman was serving with the rangers and protecting the frontier. His father moved to Edwards County at an early day, from there to Sangamon County, and in 1824 he went to Lake Fork, Logan County. He traveled with an ox-team, and was exposed to the weather. He camped one night near Horse Creek, and was sleeping under the wagon when it rained so hard that they were overflowed, and the water came down the hillside and ran over their bed on which they were Bleeping. They crossed Lick Creek by making a raft and bringing over their stock with it. Mr. Buckles, si* was received by his son Robert in Logan County and built a house there. In this work he was helped by the Indians, who were good neighbors. They gave a dance when the houseraising was ended. One of the Indians became drun k, but was carried away and tied down until he could sober oft".

Thomas Buckles' experience with the Indians began at an early date. When he was a very little boy he was chased by some Indians, who seemed anxious to take him prisoner, but his heels and his cunning saved him. He hid in the grass and willows of a creek so that even the Indians did not find him. After the Indians left him he heard a mournful noise and found a coon with its hair burnt off by a prairie fire which had passed over the country a short time previous. The Buckles boys were accustomed to run races with the Indians and wrestle with them and engage with them in all kinds of athletic sports. At one time a party of Indians came to run races. They bet their buckskins against whatever was put up. They called on Andrew Buckles, a brother of Thomas, and put up their buckskins against some watermelons. Andrew ran with an Indian named Little Turkey, and allowed the latter to come out ahead in the first race. Then both parties put up larger bets for a second race, and this time Andrew came out ahead. Andrew was indeed a swift runner. He returned to Tennessee, and while there once saw some dogs after a deer ; he immediately ran after it himself, intending to catch it before it reached the Cumberland River. But the deer reached the river a little ahead and plunged in and Andrew followed it. He out-swam the deer and killed it by drowning.

Thomas Buckles' experience with the deep snow was interesting. A few days before the heavy fall of snow came, Thomas and refer Buckles and Alvin Barnett started out to hunt for wild hogs. They killed several pigs and three or four deer. They stopped, during the night before the heavy snowfall, with a man named Mulkie. It was elear and beautiful and the stars were bright and thick in the sky. The morning opened clear and Mnlkie started to accompany Thomas Buckles home. Soon a bank of snow arose and it began to fall. When they had gone four miles they abandoned their wagon and followed the oxen. The snow fell so fast that they could not see ten feet abead of them, and the snow and icicles collected and froze two or three inches thick on their cheeks. Mr. Buckles says it came as fast as if it were thrown with a scoop-sbovel. When within two miles of home they were almost broken down, but they took hold of the tails of their steers and were pulled safely through. The snow was then more than three feet deep. Mulkie was completely exhausted, and eoiild do nothing but sleep. Mr. Buckles says that when he arrived home he stayed there during the remainder of the snow storm, and had no ambition for travel.

Mr. Buckles speaks of the sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, ami says that the water froze in ridges as it was blown by the wind. His brother Robert was then taking a drove of hogs to Alton, and when the wind-storm struck him he was. obliged to go a quarter of a mile for shelter. When his men arrived there they could scarcely stand. The hogs demanded the most constant attention, for if left to themselves they would pile on top of each other as high as a hog could climb, and those at the bottom of the pile would be smothered and crushed to death.

The Buckles family were great hunters, and made a specialty of killing wolves. Thomas Buckles has, perhaps, killed more wolves than any other man in McLean County. He ran them down, shot them and caught them in traps and pens. A pen for catching wolves is made of loo;s and is so heavy that a wolf can not raise it. The bottom is made of logs or poles so that a wolf cannot escape by digging under. He usually took a wolf hunt every spring, and generally killed five or six. He chased one wolf "fifteen miles before catching it, and, when caught, it could not have been made to live fifteen minutes. It was run to death. It was chased from Buckles' Grove to near the west end of Old Town timber, then down to Long Point, then back to Buckles' Grove, then down into Be Witt County where it was caught. One wolf, after being chased many miles, jumped into a well and there was killed.

Mr. Buckles has had an interesting experience in hunting deer. He once wounded a deer in the fore leg and it turned for fight with its hair all standing up. When one of the dogs took hold of it, it turned so fiercely and quickly and made so sudden a dart that it ran its horns in the ground and turned over on its back. Another shot ended its life. William and Thomas Buckles once chased a fawn until it was tired out and, when William approached, it made a spring from him into Thomas Buckles' arms. But it died shortly after, because of the length and severity of the chase. During the winter of the deep snow two of the Buckles brothers caught a deer and hoppled it, and tried to drive it home. It was very docile until Thomas Buckles tapped it on the nose with a weed, when it sprang up and knocked him down and jumped away. The next morning it was found frozen to death. As it was hoppled it could not exercise and the circulation of blood was checked. -

Mr. Buckles is a skillful woodman and seldom deceived as to his position. He could always find his camp, even at night when it was so dark that he could hardly see his hand before him. He often hunted bees in the timber and had a sharp eye to detect their holes in the trees. He once went with a party of bee hunters down on the Kankakee River, and was gone five weeks. They found from fifty to sixty bee trees.

Mr. Buckles has never had any very dangerous experience with fire on the prairie. He once was overtaken by a prairie fire and jumped into a creek to save himself and the flames leaped over him. When a prairie fire moves, the heat goes a hundred feet or more in front of the blaze, and this sometimes makes the fire jump enormous gaps when it is under full headway. The game on the prairie will seldom turn and face a fire, though Mr. Buckles once saw a buck turn and charge directly through the flame. He once made a ring of fire around a piece of bottom land, leaving a gap, where the frightened deer were shot, as they came out, by two hunters stationed there.

Mr. Buckles has seen the vexations to which the old settlers were subjected. He was obliged to pound his corn before the deep snow, for one entire summer. He made a mortar out of an ash stump. The stump was burnt out and could hold three pecks of corn, which was beaten with an enormous pestle. He afterm'lean county. 537 wards made a little horse mill out of nigger-heads, and with this ground five bushels of corn per day. He has often gone to Peoria to mill and far above there.

Mr. Buckles went down to Logan County about seven years ago, but moved back to near Buckles' Grove during the middle of March, 1878, and there he now resides. He is a little more than six feet in height, is muscular and active, and is an accurate marksman. But that which is most remarkable is his quickness of sight. He usually sees the game before the game sees him. He is a good-natured man, and, like all of the old settlers, is hospitable and kind. He has done his fair proportion of hard work, and lias split more rails than Abraham Lincoln ever did.

James H. Conaway was born July 14, 1819, in Bourbon County, Kentcky, within three miles of Millersburg. His father's name was Aquilla Conaway, and his mother's name was Rachel Barnett. His father and mother were American born citizens. Aquilla Conaway came to Kentucky from Maryland at a very early day. The Conaway family left Kentucky when James was only eight years of age, and he does not remember much of that State. The only thing, which impressed his boyish imagination, was a little incident which happened while a negro woman was "toting" water from a spring. Her bucket of water was on her head, and as she passed under a tree, a squirrel, which was jumping from one branch to another, missed its hold and fell on the edge of the bucket and was killed.

In the fall of 1827 Aquilla Conaway brought his family to Illinois. He came very near becoming swamped in the quicksands of White River. His wagon was driven by an obstinate negro, named Moses. When the journey was ended, Moses was sent back to Kentucky with the wagon and team, and instructed to take care of everything and not to steal from the people on the route. Moses faithfully obeyed all instructions except those with regard to stealing.

Mr. Conaway came first to Vermilion County, where he remained for a few monthe, and then came to Buckles' Grove, Mc- Lean County, Illinois, where he arrived February 8, 1828.

The first notable event, which James Conaway remembers, was that some of the Buckles bovs caught a large black wolf in a trap and fastened the wolf to the middle of a pole and showed it alive to the new-comers. He has often seen the black wolves play on the snow where Leroy now stands. This was during the winter of the deep snow. During that winter he saw several deer frozen to death standing in their tracks. The deer lived during that winter on the bark of the sumach, and in the following spring the groves of sumach were completely skinned of bark. Mr. Conaway has often chased wolves and deer and has sometimes run down two or three in a day. He remembers when a party chased a deer until it was so exhausted that one of their number, John Knott, jumped on its back and cut its throat.

James H. Conaway is about five feet and five inches high. His head is a little bald and his eves are dark and bright. He has a pleasant, smiling countenance, and seems a very straightforward man. He is a very hardy, active man, and enjoys the best of health. He married, December 6, 1849, Axey Defienbaugh, and has six children. He has never lost any of his children by sickness and never caliled a doctor on their account.

Esek Eddy Greenman was born January 23, 1616, in Washington County, Ohio, about twenty-three miles from Marietta, the county seat. Three miles from his birth-place was the little town of Waterford with its block-house, which afforded protection to the people during the war of 1812. Mr. Greenman's father was John Greenman, of Welch descent. His mother's name was Ruth White, before her marrirge. She was the daughter of Deacon David White, who came from Vermont to the Muskingum River, Ohio. He was of the fourth generation from Elder White, of Revolutionary fame. Mr. Greenman's grandfather, Jeremiah Greenman, was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war, and parti- cipated in many of the contests of that seven-years' struggle. He was twice captured, once on board of a ship and once by the Indians, and his life was one of suffering and adventure. At the close of the war he became a member of the Order of the Cincinnati, which admitted to its membership all who had been commissioned officers during the Revolutionary war. But the order was short lived, as General Washington and many others were afraid it might be the beginning of a titled aristocracy. The old gentleman kept a journal for a long time, but would never allow it to be published.

John Greenman, the father of Esek, was a farmer in summer and a school teacher in winter. The last winter of his school teaching was the one of the memorable one of the deep snow, when he kept school at Blooming Grove. While living in Ohio, John Greenman was for a while deputy sheriff, and it required a good deal of nerve sometimes to serve in that capacity. During those early days, as well as at the present time, medical gentlemen were very anxious to obtain subjects for dissection and were willing to pay quite a sum of money for them. The love of money, which is occasionally the root of some evil, induced a person named Dow, to decoy a crazy man into the woods for the purpose of killing him and selling him to the medical institute; but the crazy man escaped. Dow afterwards stole a corpse from the grave where it was buried and dragged it through the fields and hid it in a barn and covered it with corn-stalks. There it was found by Constable Greenman who arrested Dow and his accomplice.

When Esek Greenman was nine years of age his father moved to Waterford, where he kept a hotel ; and one year later Esek became a little water-rat and could run a ferry across the Muskingum Riveri In about the year 1826 the Greenman family moved on a farm about three miles up the river and there Esek could work to his heart's content. His associates were some very had little boys who loved trickery better than they loved their mush and milk ; nevertheless he worked faithfully at grubbing trees and stumps.

In July, 1829, the Greenman family started for Illinois, where they arrived on the twenty-ninth of August. They came with Major Seth Baker's family to Blooming; Grove. The roads were very muddy and at one time they passed through a place where the wheels sank to the axletree, and were obliged to put all their horses on each wagon separately in order to get through. It was called the Devil's Mush-pot. There were two roads leadingthrough it, and they were told to take their choice, with the warning that whichever road they went they would wish they had taken the other !

Upon their arrival they rented a house of Squire OrendorfT, and in October, Mr. Greenman, sr., began teaching school. Esek went to work for Thomas OrendorfT; he husked corn and took the " down row," and worked hard until winter set in. In 1830 he cut logs for the double log cabin built by James Allin, it being the first house in Bloomington. It is the one now occupied by Dr. Stipp. In the spring of 1830, Mr. James Allin offered Mr. John Greenman some money to enter the W. half of the S. "W\ quarter of section four, township twenty-three, range two east, on condition that Greenman would deed to Allin a part of the east side of said land, amounting to about twenty acres, for the purpose of being used to lay out a town. The offer was accepted. Mr. Greenman entered the land, deeded a part of it to Allin, who gave it to the town of Bloomington.

When his school was ended, John Greenman cut logs, built a cabin between Washington and Front streets, broke five acres of land, sowed it in wheat and fenced it ; but before being fenced it was rooted up by pigs and sowed over again. The following winter was the one of the deep snow; but the wheat was uninjured, and was pronounced the finest west of Maryland.

Mr. Esek Greenman had very little to do with the Indians. He remembers that a great crowd of them once came to a spring near the north shaft, to see his sisters wash clothes, for this operation was a novelty to the savages.

During the winter of the deep snow, John Greenman was teaching school on the old Jim Cannaday place. Esek remembers that the great storm of snow, which really commenced the period of the deep snow, fell on Friday. That day his father let out school early, as he had a little " chore" to attend to, which was to transport to his house a hog which he had obtained in the neighborhood. He carried it on horseback and young Esek followed on foot. But the snow fell so deep that Esek stayed over night at old Johnny Maxwell's house, while Mr. Greenman, sr., proceeded. He reached home with the porker, but was two hours in traveling the last quarter of a mile.

The day before the deep snow, Moses Baker and William Oney went to Ollendorff's mill on Sugar Creek, about twenty-five miles from Bloomington, and on their return, at Murphy's Grove, William Oney wanted to lay down and sleep ; but Baker whipped him and abused him, and at last he was read}?- to fight ; but Baker insisted that he should arouse himself or he would certainly freeze. Then they scuffled and wrestled, and ran about and climbed trees to keep from freezing, until morning broke, when they heard roosters crowing, and found themselves within three hundred yards of a house !

People caught deer and wolves very easily until a slippery crust formed on the snow, after which they could catch the deer, hut not the wolves. The crust was slippery and the wintry winds whistled over it and had the whole matter to themselves. Occasionally a man would lose his hat and see it scud away out of sight.

In 1830 the doctors were not so numerous as at present. Young Esek remembers some horseback exercise when he rode to Pekin, a distance of thirty-three miles, without saddle or stirrups, for the doctor. On his return with the doctor he forded the Mackinaw on the upper side, so that, if swept from his horse by the current, the doctor could catch him.

In the spring of 1830 there were three houses between the spot where Bloomington now stands and Mackinawtown, and fourteen houses at the latter place, including barns. Between the latter place and Pleasant Hill were no houses at all, and Pekin only contained fourteen or fifteen houses, including barns.

In July, 1831, Mr. Greenman, sr., sold his land in Bloomington and moved three miles below Waynesville. But he found it a sickly spot. Out of three families, numbering in all twentyfour persons, twenty-two had the ague. After a long sickness, John Greenman died there, and was buried at Pilot Grove, and his family returned to Blooming Grove and entered the last remaining eighty acres there. It was the eighty adjoining the Nathan Low, sr., place at the old camp-ground. They lived in the Isaac Murphy house during the winter. In the summer fol- lowing, Esek Greenman had his last shake with the ague. This memorable event occurred on his sixteenth birthday. For three days previous, he had taken each morning a teacupful of whisky and ginger, and the ague departed forever.

In the summer of 1832, Esek Greenman worked in a brickyard for Peter Whipp. During the hot summer days he arose early every morning and went to work. Then he had a rest while eating breakfast and while Mr. Whip}) gave them a season of prayer. But Mr. Whipp finally concluded to dispense with the prayer as it delayed the men too long from their work. During 1832 and '33, the Greenman family lived north of Old Town, but in the latter year they went to Bloomington, and there Mrs. Greenman was married to Dr. Isaac Baker.

In 1833 the sporting fraternity began to make their appearance. It was then that the first race-track in McLean County was prepared. The first purse ran for amounted to, Mr. Greenman thinks, one hundred and fifty dollars. Four horses were entered for it : the Bald Hornet, owned by Henry Jacobv, was ridden bv Esek Greenman : the Gun Fannon. owned by Jake

Herald (Mr. Greenman thinks) ; the Tiger Whip, owned by Pete Hefner and ridden by James Paul, and Ethiopian, owned by a man near Waynesville. Mr. Greenman put Bald Hornet in training sometime before the race. He kept the horse in a stable on the Leroy road : but one morning he found that his horse had been turned loose to green corn in a field near by. It was supposed that Bald Hornet's racing days were over, but care restored him. After this, Esek slept with the owner of the horses in the haymow, and watched the animal every night. When the race came on, the owner of Gun Fannon hinted to Esek that he could make something by holding up his horse: but Esek neglected to take the hint. When the race came off the Bald Hornet was coming in finely, but the Tiger Whip came up behind and trod on its heels, and the Bald Hornet was beaten. (See Peter Hefner's sketch !) He was badly crippled, and beaten on a second race. Some time before the race a Mr. Vesey was struck bv lightning while putting a horse in training for the course. This was not considered a visitation of God, for the horse was ridden on the course by T. J. Barnett. Bad luck seemed to attend it, for it fell in the midst of the track. But the horse started up.

followed the other horses, and saved its distance; nevertheless, it was beaten a second time worse than ever. " It never rains, but it pours." This ended Mr. Greenman's career <>n the turf. He had ridden horses, but never staked his money on the result of a race.

When Mrs. Greenman was married to Dr. Baker a load of responsibility was taken from the shoulders of Esek and he was no longer obliged to look after the welfare of the family. Nevertheless he worked at whatever his hands could find to do. He helped Father Baker to lay out the school section into five and ten acre lots ; he worked in a brick-yard at Chatham's Spring ; he broke prairie for Wilson Lindley south of Blooming Grove, started at daylight and hunted his oxen, had a little shed of prairie grass in the field to protect him from the storm, and worked fourteen hours a day. He drove up calves for General Gridley from where Leroy now stands ; indeed he did anything and everything in. the line of honorable employment. In 1834 he began to learn the carpenter's trade of Wilson Allen and G. D. McElhiney. He had a very good opinion of McElhiney, and of him learned to be a Democrat. The workshop where he labored belonged to the widow7 Yesey, but in some way it came into the possession of Allen who incautiously allowed himself to be drawn into some litigation with Mrs. Yesey. He learned to his cost to "bevare of the vidders,,' for Mrs. Yesey took forcible possession of the shop while the hands were at dinner, and Allen brought suit to recover it. The widow's case was pleaded by 'Squire C. C. Cory (an uncle of Mr. Greenman). The jury of Western men always sympathised with a woman in distress and were naturally inclined in her favor ; in addition to this they were great lovers of humor, and 'Squire Cory succeeded in winning the case by telling the pig and puppy story. It was as follows : A child wished to present his aunt, on Christmas day, with a little pig, and started to her with one in a basket. But, having incautiously set down his basket, the pig was stolen from him and a puppy inserted in its place. When he came to his aunt he opened the basket and found the puppy, and returned home disappointed. But in the meantime the puppy was stolen and the pig returned to its place. So when the innocent child opened the basket again and saw the pig, he exclaimed : " It can be a pig when it's a mind to and puppy when it's a mind to." "IsTow, gentlemen of the jury," said 'Squire Cory, "that is the way with the plaintiff in this case, who would steal the property of a widow. He can be a pig when he has a mind to and a puppy when he has a mind to." Mr. Allen was unable to bear up against the combined influence of 'Squire Cory, the widow, the pig and the puppy, and lost the case.

From 1833 to 1835 the fine gentlemen of Bloomington seemed to think it necessary to take their occasional sprees, and Mr. Greenman remembers one famous spree which perhaps some old settlers of Bloomington can now call to mind, for some of them were in it. Perhaps they can remember when one of the party became weary and went home and crawled into a garret and went to sleep on a board plank, and how the crowd followed him and brought him back ; how they weighed out liquor in scales and drank it ; how the}' weighed out oysters and ate them ; how they stood across the room and threw oysters at each others' mouths, and how, in order to vary the amusement, they marched around the stove and at last pitched it out of the window, and did many other things which must be nameless.

In the fall of 1835 Mr. Greenman started for Northern Illinois with a man named Jim Paul. The latter was "on his muscle," and occasionally indulged in a match fight. They went to Dixon's Ferry, and while there made an excursion to the battle ground of Stillman's Run. They worked hard and built cabins for persons making claims. After spending a few weeks there, Mr. Greenman and a man named James Durley started for Platteville, Wisconsin, and on their way, not far from Dixon, he saw the grave of Joe Draper, who had been killed in the Black Hawk war. After some delays he went to Platteville and clerked for John Lytle who kept a grocery store. After a while he went to Galena and there, it is to be regretted, fell into evil ways. He learned to play cards and led rather a hard life. In the spring he started to dig for mineral and found very good signs, but stopped digging to play euchre and attend to other duties equally important, and lost his claim. Shortly after this he met an impecunious "dead broke" miner and bought his claim for one dollar, but the conditions were that if he struck mineral he should pay the miner five dollars. But Mr. Greenman played euchre and neglected the claim and lost it altogether. It afterwards turned out to be worth twelve thousand dollars. His tirst claim, where lie had found signs of mineral, was pushed by other parties and one-half of it was sold for thirty thousand dollars. He had better have burnt his cards. But after a while he determined to reform, so he took a good game of euchre, drank some ale, went to a revival and walked forward to the anxious seat and reformed.

In the spring of 1837 he went to Savannah, with Deacon George Davidson. He carried the mail from Galena to Cleveland on Rock River, fifteen or twenty miles from Rock Island. He carried it regularly twice a week for a month or two.

He returned to Bloomington and worked as a carpenter during the following winter. He went to McIIenry County and there worked for a Mr. Foster, for a dollar a day and his board, and was dunned b}- Mrs. Foster for his Sunday board. The next summer he went to Cedar County, Iowa, on foot, and had various adventures, made a claim at Onion Grove where a town was afterwards laid out, and after various travels and adventures he found himself in Leroy, McLean County, Illinois, with one hundred and fifty dollars in his pocket. He borrowed a hundred and fifty dollars more and went to Chicago for goods and there was offered two lots in the heart of the city for a horse and buggy. He spent fourteen years in the dry goods business, and has been a very successful merchant. He was for four years in the grocery business, and in everything has prospered well.

He married, February 14, 1848, Miss Martha Pierce. Mrs. Greenman died July 14, 1864, and since then he has remained unmarried. He has had eight children, of whom three are living, two boys and one girl. In 1844 or 1845 he was postmaster at Leroy, and this is all the public office he ever held. In politics he was a Democrat until 1856 when he became a Republican and has remained so ever since.

Mr. Greenman's character is pretty well shown by his life. He is very plucky and adventurous, but very kind and polite. After he really settled down to business he succeeded well and acquired property. He is obliged to look at a thing several times to understand it, but is pretty sure to see through it in the end. He is a self-made man, and his success in later life was due to himself, for certainly his early experience and training would not be recommended as conducive to moral elevation. His judgment is the very best, and he is possessed of a great deal of natural shrewdness. He loves fun and a good story, and enjoys a practical joke. He is of medium size and is finely proportioned. His hair is very white, and his cheeks have a healthy, pleasant "-low. In his youth he must have heen quite a favorite with ladies. He takes a great interest in matters pertaining to the early settlement of the country, for he has seen the adventurous side of it, which is pretty sure to he the humorous side, and is very pleasant to remember though not always pleasant to endure.

Otho Merrifield was born Xovember 4, 1814, near Xenia, Green County, Ohio. His father's name was James Merrifield. and his mother's maiden name was Hannah Haines. In the fall of 1829 he came to Illinois with his father's family of nine children. They traveled with a four-horse team, and had no particular trouble except with the green-head flies, which bit the horses and made them nearly crazy. They first stopped at Cheney's Grove, but stayed during the first winter over on Ivickapoo, about ten miles west of Leroy. In the spring, Mr. Merrifield, sr., took a claim on the east side of Buckles' Grove, and moved there April 2, 1830. It was the business of Otho Merrifield and his brother to take care of the stock, and when thev had a little extra time they went on a deer or wolf chase. They hunted wolves with hounds, and kept for this purpose three bloodhounds and two or three greyhounds. The latter will run faster and fight better than bloodhounds, but cannot run so long. Mr. Merrifield is proud to say that his dogs were always game and never were whipped. Mr. Merrifield thinks the wolf is sometimes the most impudent and daring of wild animals. It will drive the chickens into the yard, and it will steal pigs in the daytime so close to the house, that they can be heard to squeal. During the deep snow, the Merrifield family pounded their corn, as all the settlers of that

Mr. Merrifield saw plenty of Indians when lie came to the country, but never lost anything by them that lie knows of, nor had any difficulty with them. The Indians usually went on their hunts in companies. They started from Indian Grove and went to Old Town timber, then down Salt Creek as far as the Lake Fork near Mt. Pulaski, and then returned to Indian Grove. Their hunting companies varied in size from one hundred to three hundred. They walked in single tile, and Mr. Merrifield has seen a string of Indians five miles in length.

Mr. Merrifield lived in Empire township from 1829 to 1856, and then went to Missouri, where he stayed four years, and then came back to his old home. He liked the country in Missouri very much. On the 7th of April, 1860, he had his leg broken. He then vent back to his farm, where he lived until the fall of 1864. Up to this time he succeeded pretty fairly with the world, and made enough money to enable him to live comfortably. He was a man of the strictest integrity, but perhaps a little too unsuspecting. In I860 he sold his farm and went into the drug business, but was so unfortunate as to lose the results of years of toil. He is now left with little property, and in the decline of life must still earn his bread by the sweat of his brow.

Mr. Merrifield is six feet in height, and, though he has passed through many hardships, is still a man of good personal appearance. His eyes are dark and expressive, and his countenance shows his good faith ami his honesty.

Henry Crumbaugh was born April 26, 1789, in Frederick County, Maryland. There he received his schooling very much as other boys did, nothing of special importance occurring. He was very skillful in boxing and wrestling, and while between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one, he never found his match. In the year 1810 he moved to Kentucky, where he remained eight or nine years. In April, 1820, he married Sarah Baldock and has had twelve children, of whom five are living. He moved to Elk- hart Grove, in Sangamon County, Illinois, in 1828, and to Buckles' Grove, McLean County, in March, 1830, and settled on the land where he has lived ever since. He had a hard time to find something to eat, and was forced to go a long distance to a horse-mill to have his corn ground. It required a week to go to Springfield, get his corn ground, do his trading and return. He was obliged to work under many disadvantages, and exercise great ingenuity to supply the want of articles common to civilization. When he broke prairie he attached the oxen to the plough by hickory bark.

During the winter of the deep snow he beat his meal in kettles and obtained his water by melting snow. This winter as is well known was very severe for the deer. He has seen deer caught by wolves, for the sharp feet of the former broke through the crust, while the latter could run over the snow with ease. At one time he saw from his house three wolves catch a deer. He jumped on a horse and took the deer from them and gave it to his pigs to eat, as it was too poor for use at home.

Mr. Crumbaugh had his experience in the sudden change in the weather which occurred in December, 1836. The day was mild, and the ground was covered with water and snow, when suddenly the cold west wind came with a roar, and froze up everything immediately. On that day John Dawson was going to Leroy to mill, but when the wind struck him he turned to go to Henry Crumbauarh's farm. He was unable to cross Salt Creek, and after getting into it cut his oxen loose and tried to drive them over, but they refused to go. He himself became wet to the waist, and, letting the oxen go, crossed the creek and started for Mr. Crumbauo-h's house, a few rods distant; but when he reached the fence, his clothes were frozen so stiff that he could not climb over without Mr. Crumbaugh's assistance. Mr. Crumbaugh drove the oxen across the creek and up to his stable. They were covered with a double coating of ice an inch thick.

Mr. Crumbaugh thought it fun to go to Chicago. He hauled from there the first lumber brought to this section of country, bringing it one hundred and forty miles with an ox team.

Mr. Crumbaugh has bad much difficulty with prairie tires. At one time he came from Springfield with Maria Dawson, then a girl of fifteen, when he saw ahead of him a prairie fire ; he escaped by driving his horses into a pond until the fire passed on. Mr. Crumbaugh was accustomed to hunt wolves and kept hounds particularly for this sport. He was, for a long time, the only person in the country who had hounds trained for this purpose. At one time a wolf came up to the house and caught a chicken, and when pursued by the dogs did not give it up until caught. One wolf held to a pig, which it had captured, and ran with it for a mile before dropping it, though hotly pursued by the dogs. It gave them a race of eight miles before they caught it. Mr. Crumbaugh often set wolf-traps and caught many wolves. He was accustomed to set the trap and tie a chicken or a leg of mutton near it to decoy the wolves ; but when they were caught they seldom ate the bait. He caught live wolves with a rooster for bait, and four with a leg of mutton ; but one old wolf ate the bait after beino; cauffht, and showed fight when taken from the trap.

Mr. Crumbaugh has also hunted other game occasionally. He caught eleven turkeys with his hounds in about twenty minutes, on a wet winter's day. He once caught two lynxs in the edge of Old Town timber. These animals are of the wildcat species and very large. Hunters have sometimes mistaken them for dogs. They have spots and stripes on them, and are quite pretty. They are not considered dangerous to human beings, but are strong, and would be very unpleasant animals to tight with.

Henry Crumbaugh is about six feet in height. In his younger days he was very strong. He sometimes liked to attend a horserace, but never was carried away by such sport. Although very old he is still possessed of a great deal of shrewdness and good sense. He was, in his younger days, a man of steady nerve, a good hunter and an accurate shot. He appears to be a pleasant, cheerful gentleman, wears spectacles, is quick-witted, and observes what is o-oins; on around him.

Henry Crumbaugh has been a hard worker and a shrewd manager. During the winter of 1819 he started from Frankfort, Kentucky, to Xew Orleans, with four flatboats, with freight belonging to Col. Johnson. He made the trip down the river in ten days, but was made very sick by drinking the river water. He received for his pay two hundred dollars for each boat. He returned on horseback through the Indian territory, and passed

Old Settlers Of

Daniel Crumbaugh was born December 7, 1791, in Frederick County, Maryland. His father and mother were Germans, his father having come to America from Germany when very young. Daniel received a little schooling there, but not enough to hurt him. He used to assist the scholars in barring out the schoolmaster on Christmas days. At one time they compelled the teacher to give them two weeks' vacation, but he compelled the parents to pay him for these two weeks as if school had been in session, and some of the scholars came pretty near " catching it" from their angry fathers in consequence. In 1812 Mr. Crumbaugh came west to Cincinnati, and from there went to Scott County, Kentucky. In 1813 he enlisted in the army under the command of Colonel Richard M. Johnson to fight against the British and Indians. He went first to Fort Meigs on the Miami Rapids above where Toledo now stands, where General Harrison had a gamm'lean county. 551

They were then sent to Kaskaskia, Illinois. This town was threatened by Indians, and it seemed that the place which was afterwards to be the first capital of the Sucker State was to be blotted out entirely. But the Indians were headed off, and the regiment to which Mr. Crumbaugh belonged was sent back to Fort Meigs. While there they heard the roar of the guns during the battle when Commodore Perry gained his celebrated victory over the British on Lake Erie. Shortly after this they went to Detroit, crossed over to Windsor (then called Sandwich) and followed the British and Indians under the Command of General Proctor and the chief Tecumseh. At the River Thames the enemy made a stand and here was fought the battle which practically closed the contest in the north. The enemy was completely defeated, with the loss of baggage and eight hundred prisoners and a large number of killed and wounded. Tecumseh was among the slain. It has been a matter of speculation as to who killed him. Mr. Crumbaugh can shed no light upon it. Col. R. M. Johnson, the commander of their regiment, was wounded five times. The muskets used by the Americans in this battle were the old flintlocks, and the cartridges contained a ball and two buck-shot. The regiment opposed to the one in which Mr. Crumbaugh served was the Forty-fourth Irish regiment, commanded by Colonel Baubee. "When the battle was over, the company to which Mr. Crumbaugh belonged was sent as a guard for General Harrison and the captured British officers, down to Lake St. Clair where they took shipping and came to Detroit. There they remained until Harrison made a treaty with some tribes of Indians, and then returned home to Georgetown, Kentucky. There Mr. Crumbaugh lived a rough-and-tumble life for some years. In 1828 he moved to Elkhart Grove in Sangamon County, and on the sixth of March, 1830, he came to Buckles' Grove, McLean County, Illinois, where he has lived ever since. He was obliged to accustom himself to the western climate by a course of fever and ague, but it came at an unfortunate time. During the winter of 1830 and 31, which was the winter of the deep snow, he had fever and ague every third day and could not take care of his stock. He had eighty pigs at home and one hundred and fifty bushels of corn at the Elkhart, but could not drive his pigs there nor bring his corn home, and many of his pigs died. But he succeeded in keeping his other stock on corn-fodder.

Of course every settler has an individual experience to relate of the cold snap in the winter of 1836. When the ground was covered with a slush of water and snow, and the air was warm, the freezing wind came from the west and everything was made solid immediately. Mr. Crumbaugh says that Salt Creek was frozen across in one place where the willows were thick. The cold was so intense that the creek was frozen to the bottom, stopping the flow of water underneath. It then dammed up and began to flow over, but froze as it ran, and the dam of ice grew higher and higher, until it was five feet above the level of the creek.

Mr. Crunibaugh has had great difficulty with tire, as every old settler has. The grass grew taller than a man's head, and in the fall when it was dry the fires were terrible. Mr. Crumbaugh had a litte grove of cherry trees burned up by the fire.

Daniel Crumbaugh is six feet and four inches in height. He has worked hard during his life-time and has fairly earned the home, which he has provided for his family. He is straightforward and honest in his dealings in every particular, and expects other men to be straightforward and honest with him. He has paid close attention to his business and acquired a fair competence. He has been twice married and has had fourteen children, ten of whom are now living. He is now too old to work, but lives a contented and happy life. He has a kind heart and good judgment.

Daniel Crumbaugh married, in 1816, Miss Susan Winters, daughter of Jacob Winters, of Scott County, Kentucky. By this marriage he had four children, two of whom are living. His children are :

In January, 1825, Mr. Crumbaugh married Miss Martha M. Robinson, of North Carolina. She died June 4, 1857. The children of this marriage are :

James H. L. Crumbaugh was born May 1, 1826, in Henderson County, Kentucky. His father was Henry Crumbaugh, whose sketch is given above, and his mother was Sarah Baldock. His father was of German descent, and his mother was of French and Irish stock. When James Crumbaugh was two years old his father moved to Springfield, Illinois, and afterwards to Elkhart Grove. There the family remained two years and then came to Buckles' Grove, where they have lived ever since. James Crumbaugh received his early education at the Claywater school, which was kept about one mile south of the present town of Leroy. He went four miles to school to receive instruction from William -Johnson, who, when barred out, treated his scholars to whisky and made them intoxicated. Mr. CrunibausHi afterwards went to the first school in Leroy, and his wife attended the same. His teacher was 'Squire Lincoln, now living in Leroy. Mr. Crumbaugh tells an incident which occurred during the school days of Thomas Buckles, when they were both boys together. Buckles and some of his companions caught a blue-racer, tied a strip of bark around its neck, and proposed to lead it. At* first the snake held back ; but soon it took a start and went after young Buckles. The latter ran at the top of his speed to get rid of the snake, and was clear out of breath before it occurred to him to let loose of the bark.

In 1840 Mr. Crumbaugh had an opportunit3'to go to Chicago, which was then a town of thirty-five hundred people. Old Fort Dearborn, the block house and the palisades were still standing.

Mr. Crumbaugh went on his first wolf hunt when he was only nine years of age. His father caught wolves in a pen with a lid to it. "When the wolf came to eat the bait placed there for him, it touched the trigger, which let down the log and held him in the pen. Mr. Crumbaugh has often chased wolves and caught them. When they are chased in the winter time, they take to the ice on the creeks and sloughs. Mr. Crumbaugh has seen a wolf follow a slough in all its angles and turns and get quite away from the dogs, for it had longer claws and was lighter built.

Mr. Crumbaugh married Amanda Melcena Buck, September 28, 1851. She is a daughter of 'Squire Hiram Buck, whose sketch appears in this volume. She was a school-mate of her husband in the days when they were young. After their marriage they lived with Henry Crumbaugh until 1857, when they moved to the farm where they now reside, about three miles southwest of Leroy in Empire township.

Mr. Crumbaugh is five feet and ten inches high. He is a man of great energy and gets up bright and early in the morning to attend to his business. He has been remarkably successful in life. He has had three children, all of whom are living. They are :

Silas Waters was born November 19, 1803, in Stafford County, Virginia. His father, whose name was also Silas Waters, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in Virginia. The maiden name of the mother of Silas Waters, jr., was Margaret Duffy. She was born in Maryland and was probably of Irish descent. In 1814 the family moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky. They went to Winchester, then came down the river in a flat-boat to a place called Maceville, and from there went by team to Bourbon County, Kentucky. Here young Silas passed his days pleasantly. He had great sport in catching shad, herring and other fish, with which the waters of Kentucky abound.

On the 12th of February, 1824, Silas Waters married Christiana Conaway. He worked hard to support his family and lived for three years as a renter under slave-holding landlords; but at last determined to come west. He went first to Rush County, Indiana, where he remained a year. In June, 1828, he came on horseback to Illinois and settled near Judsretown in Vermilion County. But, being still unsatisfied, he sold out in 1830, and on November 7th of that year came to Empire township, in what is now McLean County, Illinois. At that time the house of William Bishop was the only one between Mr. Waters' and Blooming Grove ; and on the road to Danville were only four houses. Deer, wolves and Indians were plenty. But the deep snow sent all of them away, except the wolves. The deer were frozen to death, and the Indians left because of the scarcity of game ; but the wolves remained. They lived through the winter on the frozen deer; but when the deer were no more, the wolves acquired a taste for mutton and seemed to relish it well.

On the day before the heavy fall of snow in December, 1830, Mr. Waters went to the old Murphy mill on thcKickapoo, about fifteen miles from home, stayed there all night and started home the following morning by daybreak. When he passed the house of Jesse Funk, about sunrise, the snow began to fall. When he had gone about a mile and a half farther, he thought lie would turn back, but was astonished to find that the heavy snow covered up the track behind him. He had no road or compass and was obliged to direct his course by the wind. He faced the storm and struck Buckles' Grove only a quarter of a mile from where he wished, and arrived home in safety. The snow fell thirty-three inches, while his oxen went ten miles as fast as they could be driven. The tall weeds were covered up, and as the eye was directed over the prairie, absolutely nothing could be seen, except the white snow.

Mr. Waters had no particular experience during the Black Hawk war. He went to Bloomingtoh to see if he was drafted, but found that volunteers sufficient had gone.

Mr. Waters has lived in Empire township ever since his settlement there, with the exception of two years (1852-3) which he spent in Farmer City as a merchant.

Nancy Waters, born January 30, 1831, married first Jeremiah Greenman, and sometime after his death was married to Hampton Roach. She lives in Normal, and is a second time a widow.

Mr. Waters is five feet and ten inches in height, and rather stout in appearance. He seems well-formed, and walks erect. His hair is gray and thick on his head. His eyes are blue*, and his complexion healthy and rather sanguine. He is very much respected by his neighbors. He thinks much of the old settlers, and would now prefer to live in a new country, or, at all events, would like the manners and o-ood feeling of a new countrv. Mr. Waters has inherited a healthy constitution, as may be inferred from the fact that all of his eight brothers and sisters, who crossed the Alleo-henv Mountains in 1814, are living. He was Associate

Judge of McLean County, while .Judge McClun was in office. Mr. Waters lias been a member of the Methodist Church since 1825, and has held nearly every position in the church which is given to a layman.

James Bishop was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, April 3, 1806. The Bishops, from whom he was descended, came to the American colonies from England with William Penn. They were members of the Society of Friends.

In the fall of 1809 the Bishop family moved to that part of the territory of Ohio, which is now called Clark County. During the war of 1812, a part of General Shelby's army camped near where the Bishops lived. All of the boys and young men above the age of fifteen were taken into the army. Only a few children and women and Revolutionary soldiers were left to protect the neighborhood. When the war broke out, many persons were suspicious and fearful of the Indians and mistrusted them. A council of the Indians was called, to which the whites were invited, but many were afraid to attend. Tecumseh, the great chief, contemptuously called those who were afraid, " big babies," and the name clung to them for many years. Tecumseh was a remarkably fine-looking man, a splendid chief, and was possessed of a great deal of natural dignity. He had a lively sense of honor and the whites had great confidence in his word. Some of the Indians favored the whites and were spies for them. Among these were Logan, Captain John, and another whose name Mr. Bishop does not recall. But some of the whites were afraid that these Indians were not really acting in good faith, so the latter determined to show their good faith by bringing in some scalps of their enemies. They went out on an expedition for this purpose, but unluckily were themselves surprised and captured. But when captured, they pretended friendship to the opposite party, and were allowed the use of their weapons. When the three captive Indians found a favorable opportunity, they each shot down one of their captors, and grasped their knives and rushed upon three others. They succeeded in killing their captors, but Logan was so badly injured that after his return he died of his wounds. Just before his death he burst out laughing, and, when

James Bishop went to school in Ohio. There he assisted in barring out the schoolmaster on Christmas days, as this was the common practice. At one time they barred out the schoolmaster and, after a long and severe contest, baptized him in a spring. The schoolmaster afterwards brought suit and recovered ten dollars apiece from four of the boys, who took a prominent part in this transaction. At one time they had a schoolmaster named Peleg Whitridge, who rather got the start of them. lie elimbed on the roof, covered the chimney and smoked out the scholars. After that they provided themselves with poles to push off the obstruction, when the schoolmaster covered the chimney.

James Bishop came West in May, 1831, the spring after the deep snow. He came first to Lafayette, Indiana, then went to Fort Clark (now Peoria) and to Pekin, then down to the Mississippi bottom, where he bought cattle, and finally returned to Ohio. He came back every year until 1837, when he was married, and that, of course, settled him.

Mr. Bishop has often had wolf hunts. At one time he ran down a wolf and tried to capture it alive as it held down its head so piteously ; but when he tried to take hold of it the treacherous animal sprang at him and attempted to bite. Mr. Bishop killed it with his stirrup, and never again felt merciful towards a wolf. The fountains of his sympathy ran completely dry. He had great difficulty in protecting his little pigs from the wolves. The latter would come up and steal the pigs, even though the pen was fairlv against the house.

One morning, when about to rise, he heard an ominous squeal, and he knew what it meant. He ran out without waging to dress, and saw a vicious wolf dragging off one of his darling pigs by the ear. He prided himself on his speed as a foot-racer, and he went after that wolf across the field, through the cornstalks and over a fence. When the wolf came to the second fence, it saw that Mr. Bishop, seantily dressed as he was, traveled rather too swiftly, and it dropped the pig, which Mr. Bishop earned home in triumph. When the race was ended Mr. Bishop noticed for the first time that the rough cornstalks had bruised the cuticle on his le°-s so much that the blood was streaming down: but his joy at the recovery of the pig was so great that he eared little for bruises. The settlors all over the country were annoyed very much by this same troublesome wolf, and were anxious to catch him. Joshua Hale had a large dog, called Rover, big enough to pick up a wolf and run off with it. Joshua was always bragging of his dog. and said if only Rover could "-ct hold of that wolf, it would be the last of him. The settlers all turned out on horseback to hunt the troublesome wolf, and finally cornered him in a fence and sent one of their number for .Joshua Hale and Hover. The dog came up on the opposite side; the settlers let out the wolf and Hale said: "Seek him, Rover !" and it would be supposed that Rover killed that wolf in fine style. Nothing of the kind; the big dog put his tail between his legs and ran for home with the little wolf after him, and the disappointed settlers after them both ; the big dog ran into the house and upset the baby's cradle, but the wolf ran past the door into the brush and escaped. Then those settlers were "wrathy," and were going to kill the dog then and there; but Joshua Hale turned towards them, and his eyes were filled with tears as he puckered up his mouth and said: "Boys, Rover never saw a wolf before. Now, 'spose you was in an Injin country and had never seen an Injin before, and should suddenly see an Injin coming at you for the first time, wouldn't you run to a place of safely, wher' you know'd you'd be safe?" It was impossible to resist such a plea, and the hunters agreed that under such circumstances they would "run to a place of safety, wher' they know'd they'd be safe."

The settlers often had difficulty with prairie fires. At one time James Bishop and his brother Malon were obliged to get into a creek to escape from a fire that came rolling over the prairie. At another time he was driving some cattle across the prairie when a fire overtook him. He drove his horse directly through it, and came out safe, though somewmat burnt. His cattle tried to run away from the tire, but it swept over them and left them scattered and crazy, with their eyebrows and hair and the brushes of their tails burnt off. He collected them together, and none wTere lost.

belonging* to James Bishop, but Malon Bishop opposed it, and said he did not wish to live in a town, and it was finally located about half a mile from the grove.

A great many funny stories are told of James Bishop, and one of the best is a story relating to a vicious bull. While taking items for the sketches in this volume, the author was repeatedly asked if he had heard this famous story, and it was told with many variations. It seems that Mr. Bishop once purchased a tine bull and put it in his pasture. It was a very tame, inoffensive animal ; but some ill-disposed persons were accustomed to tease it, and it became vicious aiuFdangerous, and Mr. Bishop's men were afraid to enter the pasture and bring up his cows. This made Mr. Bishop angry, and he protested that the animal was perfectly inoffensive. His men told him to try the animal himself, and he said : "come on." He walked into the pasture, while the men stood outside to see the fun. He walked up to the animal boldly and confidently, but, contrary to his expectations, when it saw him it elevated its tail, put down its head, uttered a bellow and started for him. He was too close to retreat, so he set up a bellow, which perfectly astonished the bull. It stopped, looked around, pawed the ground and appeared bewildered. At last, by a sudden flank movement, Bishop managed to get the animal by the tail, and it started to run. They went back and forth across the pasture, crosswise, lengthwise and cornenvise, while the men outside gave both parties encouraging words. The fierce animal at last became exhausted and gave up ; and that is the story of Bishop and the bull.

James Bishop is a little less than the medium stature. His eyes are small, dark and expressive of fun. Humorous ideas come to him as naturally as his breath. He is slightly bent with age, but tough and hardy. He is lightly built, but very sinewy, and wonderfully quick. He seems at times careless and unconscious of danger, but whenever he gets into difficulty his resolution and his marvelously quick motions bring him safely out. He has accumulated a fortune by farming and buying and selling cattle, and is reputed the wealthiest man in Empire township.

James Quitman Bishop is married and lives at home. He was born November 24, 1848, the day when General Scott took the City of Mexico and made General Quitman the Governor therof.

T. J. Barnett was born January 22, 1818, in Bourbon County, Kentucky. His father's name was Moses Barnett, and his mother's name before her marriage was Catherine Ellis. His parents were of English and German descent.

In April, 1832, the family came to Illinois. They came by steamboat from Maysville down the Ohio River and up the Wabash to Filson's, near the town of Newport, Indiana. There the famDy were met by an elder brother of T. J. Barnett, and were transported by an ox-team to McLean County, Illinois, to the present township of Empire, within two miles of where Leroy now stands.

Mr. Barnett there worked as a farmer, at which he continued until 1852, when he went into mercantile business. He has been a merchant ever since and has succeeded well.

Mr. Barnett drove stock to Chicago, when that city was simply a trading post of French and Indians. He has also driven stock to Wisconsin. He was in Chicago when the Indians'were paid off, and there saw great quantities of hard money. The Indians seemed to be very careless with their money, and one of them carried around a pail-full as indifferently as if it were molasses. Mr. Barnett found quite a number of coins in the sand. The Indians were many of them intoxicated, as they usually are, when they can obtain " fire water." One of the party, with whom Mr. Barnett was walking, placed a barrel over an intoxicated squaw, who was sitting in the sand. She appreciated the favor and said " good chemokoman" (good whiteman). She wanted i o enjoy her goodnatos (whisky) in peace. Mr. Barnett went out on Fox River and broke prairie for the emigrants as they came in. There he saw many Indians, and his opinion of them was not favorable. He did not feel the charm of romance coming over him, as lie gazed upon the "children of the forest;" on the contrary, he considered them a " dirty, nasty set," who never invested money in boot-blacking or toilet soap. They are incorrigibly lazy, but can hunt *and fish and have some very pretty ponies. But that which provoked Mr. Barnett most particularly was the disposition of the Indians to steal. When Mr. Barnett went up to Fox River, the party, in whose company he traveled, crossed the Illinois River on a ferry-boat. When a part of their teams were across, the remainder stood unprotected on the southern bank waiting for the return of the boat. While the teams were standin o- unprotected, the Indians came up and took out of the wagons a lot of bacon and provisions, before the eyes of the angry drivers on the opposite bank. The redskins ran off with their plunder, and it was of no use to chase them. He remembers one other provoking incident. While he was ploughing on Fox River, some Indians came to him, riding their ponies on the keen run, and whooping with their loudest voices. They frightened his oxen out of the furrow, and this so angered him that he hit one of them on the bare back with his ox- whip, with such force that it brought the blood, and they left him. Mr. Barnett often visited the Indians and saw their curious performances. Their wigwams were thick on Fox River, after the Indians had left the other parts of the State. He saw one tribe (the Kickapoos, he thinks) bury a corpse and go through the ceremony of whipping a ball in various directions. This was called whipping the devil away. Mr. Barnett sometimes ran races with the Indians, but was unfortunately beaten. This, however, was not the cause of his aversion to the redskins.

Mr. Barnett remembers clearly the first deer he ever killed, as most hunters do. He borrowed a gun of his uncle and walked five miles to get it. His uncle directed him to shoot the deer just behind the shoulders. While hunting through the woods a large, tine buck jumped up and stood within fifty or sixty steps in front of him. He carefully took a rest on a large log, took ain i 1 K'hind the shoulder and fired. The deer went tearing through the brush with the blood flowing on both sides. After running a short distance it fell, and the youthful hunter took out his butcher-knife to bleed it, when he saw that the bullet had cut the deer's throat, passing through both veins. In taking aim he had been affected with the " buck ague," but his wild aim was better than the one he intended. lie never again had the " buck ague." Mr. Barnett has had great sport in chasing wolves and huntingturkeys, lie chased -one wolf twenty miles. He hunted deer with ahorse, sharp shod, upon the ice, after the sudden change, which occurred in December, 1836. When the deer sprang upon the ice, their feet slipped from under them and stretched out in all directions.

Mr. Harnett took some observations concerning the price of land, and says that before the land came into market the claims would frequently sell for more than the land would bring after it was pre-empted.

Mr. Barnett appreciates a joke, and particularly enjoys one on James Bishop. He says that Mr. Bishop was occasionally a little absent minded. The latter once attended a dance and neglected to remove the enormous spurs, which he had worn while drivingcattle, and they created much merriment as he went hopping over the floor. He says that Mr. Bishop was afflicted with a slight impediment in his speech, and that he once met a stranger, similarly affected, who was riding on a load of corn. Mr. Bishop wished to buy cattle, and, in their conversation, each thought himself mimicked by the other and they came to blows !

Mr. Barnett is rather above the average stature and somewhat slim. His countenance is rather pale, but is full of intelligence. His features are prominent, and his general appearance is that of a successful merchant. He has the reputation of being a most excellent man of business, and seems to understand it thoroughly. He is a man, who prefers not to interfere in the affairs of his neighbors, thinking his own business sufficient to occupy his attention. In politics he was an " old line" Whig, and afterwards a Republican, and has always taken a lively interest in such matters, though lie has never held an office or been a seeker for one.

Mr. Barnett married, February 18, 1845, Miss Emeline Gibbs. This lady is a graduate from Oberlin College. They have had six children, five of whom are living. They are :

Abram Buckles was born June 28, 1800, in Holston County, Virginia. He was one of eleven children, having seven brothers and three sisters. His father was raised in Virginia. They moved to White County, Elinois, in about the year 1810. When they started on their journey, they went first to the Clinch River fifty or sixty miles distant, and there took a keel-boat, Mr. Buckles, sr., who was an old boatman, acting as his own pilot. They came down the Tennessee, into which the Clinch River flows, and over the Muscle Shoals. It was the custom to employ the Indians as pilots over these shoals, but Mr. Buckles employed himself. They came up the Ohio River and the Wabash to what is now White County. Here they found a pretty good country for farming ; but the fever and ague lurked behind every stump, and it recpiired three years to become seasoned to the climate. Mr. Buckles was so discouraged that he sold out everything and started to return to Virginia, but after going fifteen miles through Indiana he stopped, changed his mind, went to work for a man named Livingston, raised a crop, and in the fall returned to White County, Illinois.

During the war of 1812, the settlers felt themselves in a dangerous situation on the frontier, and much of the time were collected in forts. Abram Buckles helped to build a fort in White County, and the family sometimes lived in it when signs of Indians became alarming. Mr. Buckles, sr., belonged to the rangers. From sixty to a hundred scouts were kept out all the time. Abram Buckles, then a lad, clearly remembers the gathering of the Indians as they passed by on their way to Tippecanoe. They then professed warm friendship for the whites, and did not attempt to molest the settlers. One of the squaws cured Mr. Buckles, sr., of rheumatism in the arm, and it was, indeed, a veiy remarkable cure, though it required six days to bring it about. The Indians passed on to Tippecanoe, and there their professions of friendship were changed into active hostilities. The battle began at daybreak, and was fought with the greatest fury ; but the Indians were at last defeated, and this broke their power during the remainder of the contest. It was the successful management of the forces of the whites in this battle, which made General Harrison president of the United States.

In 1832 he came with his family to Buckles' Grove. His experience in the West has been somewhat varied. He has occasionally done a little hunting, as all the old settlers have. He has had some fun while chasino- wolves and running them down. This sport is not at all dangerous on account of the wolves, but in the excitement the horses were sometimes liable to stumble and fall. The wolves, when caught, were usually killed with a stirrup. He chased one wolf fifteen miles before catching it. ' Abram Buckles may almost be said to have inherited a love for hunting wolves. His father hunted them in Virginia. At one time the old gentleman caught a wolf in a pen and put a bell around its neck, in order that people might know when wolves were around. The wolf cautiously kept still, in the daytime, but at night his bell was often heard. Nevertheless, this did not prevent the ravages of the wolves among the sheep and pigs ; the latter disappeared quite as often as before, and the next time the wolf fell into the trap he was killed.

Mr. Buckles has often had trouble with prairie fires which burned stacks and fences. His brother Peter once had a lively time while crossing the prairie with an ox-team and wagon, in which was his wife. He saw the blaze coining at a great distance, and immediately jumped from his wagon and fired his gun through the dry grass. It blazed up quickly and soon a burnt place was made upon which he drove his oxen, and he managed to hold them until the fire passed on. The heat was terrible, and seemed almost unbearable, for the hot air passes ahead of the fire for sonic distance. His wife covered herself up in the blankets and suffered little. Ahram Buckles tells of a party of bee-hunters who came up from Sangamon County in search of honey. Thev were quite successful and started on their return. When they had gone a few miles south of where Bloomington now stands, one of the hunters started a fire for the fun of seeing it burn. It came on them closer and closer, until thev started up their team ; then it went faster and faster, until they jumped from the wagon into the creek to save themselves. Their wagon and load of honey were burnt; and this was the result of building a fire "for the fun of it."

Mr. Buckles' experience with the sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, is this. He was husking corn about a mile from the house on that mild winter's day, when the ground was covered with water and snow. The west wind came, and he hastened home, but long before he arrived there the frozen slush bore his weight. He tells of a terrible event connected with this sudden change. A man, whose name, he thinks, was McHildreth, and his companion, were returning on horseback from the East, where thev had been selling cattle, and were within a few miles of the Little Vermilion Creek, when the west wind struck them. Thev hastened to the creek, but it was high and filled with moving ice. The nearest dwelling on their side of the creek was twelve miles distant, and thev had their choice to wait for the creek to freeze over or ride twelve miles. On the opposite side thev asked a man to cut down a tree to let them across, but he refused, because of the cold, or in order to get their money when they should freeze. He directed them to a grove about four miles distant, where he said they would find a house, but no house was there. At last they determined to kill their horses, cut them open, crawl into them and keep warm. Mr. McHildreth struck at his horse's throat with his knife, but the animal drew up quickly, jerked away and disappeared. His companion killed the other horse, cut it open and crawled in, but instead of keeping warm was frozen to death. Mr. McHildreth remained by the creek until it was frozen over, when he crossed it and found assistance, but his hands and feet were frozen, and his fingers and toes afterwards dropped off. We have heard this incident related by several other settlers.

Mr. Buckles attended the land sales in 1835, at Vandalia. At these sales no speculator was allowed to come near, until the settlers had attended to their claims and bid off their lands.

The first camp-meeting in Empire township was held in 1835 or '36, on Diekerson's farm, about a mile from where Leroy now is. Mr. Buckles was absent at the time, but his recollection of the matter is made lively by the fact that his oxen were taken to haul wood, and in felling a tree one of them was killed.

Mr. Buckles lias taken some interest in politics, has always been a Democrat, and kept himself informed on the current topics of the day. lie says that one of the most exciting questions of old days was the one relating to the Mormons. The excitement was highest in 1841, '42 and '43. The Mormons sent out preachers to make converts, and the people could examine into the beauties of the Mormon faith. Mr. Buckles listened to one preacher, who told of a terrible contest which would one day come, but was very indefinite as to the nature of the grand affair, or who the parties to it were ; nevertheless, lie was successful in making an impression on some ignorant people.

Abram Buckles is rather a tall man and quite fleshy. He always wears a smile, and is ever ready with an old-fashioned welcome. He is a very quiet man, but decided in his views. His disposition is pretty well shown by a circumstance which happened during the late campaign, when Horace Greeley and General Grant were candidates for the presidency. Mr. Buckles' friends wished him to go for Mr. Greeley, and reasoned the matter again and again. At one time two gentlemen, who were particularly enthusiastic, talked to Mr. Buckles for an hour or more, and explained to him the whole situation. He listened to them without a word of opposition, and with a kind smile on his countenance, and finally they asked him if the matter was not plain. "Yes," said Mr. Buckles, " it is plain that he is the same old Horace !"

James Kimler was born August 16, 1811, in Loudon County, Virginia. He is of German and Welch descent. In 1813 the family went to Kentucky, and in 1823 they came to Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana. During the year previous he went with his father on a visit to Indiana, and in 1823 the family moved there to settle. In those days the militia were obliged to turn out to muster. James Kimler remembers one circumstance, which happened when his brother Richard was riding to muster on a fractious horse. Just before reaching a creek, the party with whom he was riding began to beat the drum and make music, and Richard's horse took fright and pitched the young man into the creek.

At that time a wild root, called ginseng, was in great demand, and people hunted for it through the woods, and many made their living by digging it. It was very useful for medical purposes. On Deer Creek, about fifty miles from Crawfordsville, was a ginseng factory for drying and preparing this root for use. It was bought at the factory for six cents per pound. At one time Mr. Kimler went on an expedition for hunting ginseng. The party went up to nearly the mouth of Eel River, which was then a wild Indian country. Many curious incidents occurred on their journey. They started about the first of September, and went to Wildcat Creek. There they found a fish trap, where a wagon-load of fish was caught in a single night. m This trap was arranged at the fall of the stream, and when the fish went over the fall they could not return ; neither could they go forward, for some stakes were placed below to stop them, though the water flowed through. The party went up to the Wabash. One evening when they went to water their horses, they began to sink in quicksand. All turned around and went out except an uncle of James'. The old gentleman was deeply in the quicksand, and saw that an attempt to turn around would sink his horse so deep as to make it impossible to get out. He therefore went ahead into the river, and his horse swam around in the water and came back safely. The old gentleman could not swim, but said he knew "Old Charley" would bring him out. The party went up near the battle ground of Tippecanoe

The Kimler family came to Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, during the winter of 1832. In 1833 James was advised by his uncle to enter the little grove where Thomas Orendorff now lives, but James had an idea that all the fine land and pretty spots had been entered before, and he therefore started with James K., Benjamin and Alfred Orendorff to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There he did pretty well, and took up some valuable claims. They started on this trip in January, 1836, when the weather was extremely cold. Towards evening of the second day's travel they sent James Orendorff ahead with their only horse to a house to order supper. When they came to the house they found Orendorff fencing up the road. He said nobody lived there and no road should lead there ! When they reached Chicago they tried to buy each of them a blanket, but not one was to be found. The place was too poor to afford even a blanket. They suffered much with cold, but went on to Milwaukee and there lived through the remainder of the winter with the brother of Alfred Orendorff. In the spring they found half a dozen beetrees, out of which they obtained a barrel of strained honey, and lived sweetly during the remainder of their stay in Wisconsin. In May of that spring a man named Finch was burning lime near Milwaukee. It was made of blue limestone, which cracks when burnt and makes reports, which sound like the firing of guns. About this time a certain Mr. Scott killed an Indian in the streets in Milwaukee, and great fear was apprehended lest the Indians should attack the place. The three bachelors were waked up on one Sunday morning by a loud popping and thought the Indians were making the attack, but the sounds proved to be the explosions at Finch's lime-kiln.

In the summer William Orendorff came up from Bloomington to make his sons a visit and to look at the country. The whole party then started on an excursion westward, intending to go as far as Rock River. They camped one night on the Mc- Quonego River, not far from where a certain Mr. Cox lived. During one moonlight night they were awakened by a great uproar under the wagon, and found it was a gray wolf fighting Cox's dog. They chased the wolf over a precipice and one of

Mr. Kimler returned after four or five years. On the 28th of January, 1838, he married Miss Cassandra Jane Clearwater, of Leroy. In February of that year he went back to Milwaukee with two ox-teams, but returned in 1840 for the health of his wife. He has lived near Leroy ever since, and has been a very successful farmer.

James Kimler is somewhat less than the usual stature. He is strongly and solidly made, and can bear a great deal of hard work. He is a very safe man in the disposition and control of his property. His neighbors have great confidence in his word and judgment. He has had seven children. They are ;