Gridley Township

Gridley Township

William Martin McCord, usually called Martin McCord, was born July 3, 1815, in Overton County, Tennessee. His father's name was William McCord, and his mother's name before her marriage was Jane McM urtrie. William McCord was one-fourth Scotch and three-fourths Irish, and his wife Jane was one-fourth English and three-fourths Irish, and consequently Martin is oneeighth English, one-eighth Scotch and three-fourths Irish. This is going rather deeply into fractions, but there is nothing like precision !

"William McCord was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, and was a farmer and blacksmith. During the war of 1812 he enlisted to fight against the Creeks, but was sick with the measles and participated in no active engagement. In 1827 he came to McLean County with Stephen Webb and George and Jacob Ilinshaw. The weather was wet and they were often water-bound, and sometimes obliged to cross rivers on rafts. Near Eel River they traveled twelve miles in water, which varied from six inches to three feet in depth. At last Webb and McCord came to Twin Grove, where they bought claims ; the Ilinshaws having become separated and remaining for a while at Cheney's Grove.

Martin McCord speaks particularly of the winter of the deep snow, as it was an era in the life of every settler, who experienced its severity. The season previous was a late one and frost was not severe enough to kill the tobacco sprouts until the second of December. On that day it rained and after the fall of a great deal of water the rain gave place to snow and at last it froze. The winter of the deep snow has been so often described, that it is not necessary to repeat the description here.

In 1831 the McCord family moved to Panther Grove, in what is now Woodford County, about three and one half miles north of Secor, and there lived until the death of William Mc- Cord, which occurred June 13, 1852. William McCord was a man widely known and greatly respected, and was called by many of the settlers "Uncle Billy McCord." All of them speak of him in very high terms of praise.

Martin McCord lived with his father until the age of twentytwo, when he worked, sometimes as a millwright and carpenter, but generally as a farmer.

He married, October 29, 1840, Elizabeth Hinthorn. He lived, after his marriage, in various places, indeed was cjuite a traveler. At last, in the fall of 1870, he moved with his family to Newton County, Missouri, and bought railroad land and raised a crop, a very good one for that country. But the country was not blessed with a soil as rich as that of old McLean County. It had plenty of gravel, stone and clay, but the vegetable mould was wanting. The soil was open and porous, and a hard rain washed through it and would scarcely raise the water in a river. A moderate drouth would have destroyed the crops. Some of the land was

"spotted," that is, it had, scattered over it, alkali spots, varying in size from twenty feet square to ten acres. The spots were water-tight, and no moisture could go down or come up, and they caught the rain in puddles, and the cattle and pigs wallowed in tliem. For some reason these animals preferred the water on these alkali spots to the purest water in the river. Mr. McCorcl went down to Arkansas, but the prospect seemed as hud as in Missouri. The hills on both sides were white flint rock, and in the distance appeared like snow. He found the people of Arkansas very pleasant and cordial in their greeting ; but they carried revolvers and held many old grudges, which came down from the war, and it was a word and a shot. They were hospitable, but ignorant. They never saw a corn-planter or a railroad, or a reaper. He saw one man, who was taking his boys up to see the "kyars" (cars). They speak of "kerrying" (carrying) the horse to water, and they "tote" water for themselves. When a stranger takes dinner with them they say very hospitably : "Retch out and hope yourself, stranger." Mr. Robinson McCord says he saw two men talking about a reaper, which they were viewing for the first time. One of them inquired what the reel was for. The other contemplated the machine for a while and then said, he "guessed that must be to knock the rust from the wheat!"

The pigs of Arkansas were worse than the old Illinois "windsplitters." Their noses seemed as long as their bodies, and Mr. Robinson McCord says that a person was obliged to look at them sideways to see them ! They could spring through a rail fence between the rails !

In the fall of 1871 Mr. McCord came back to old McLean County, and thinks he will now stay here. He has had nine children, of whom six are now living. They are :

Mr. McCord is five feet and eleven inches in height, has good health, is beginning to show the effect of age in the gray hairs, which make their appearance. He is a very straight and wellm'lean county. 607

This is the sketch of a noted hunter, one whose life has been devoted to the business, and who has met with great success. John B. Messer was horn August 4, 1807, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His father's name was Isaac Messer, and his mother's maiden name was Sidney Ann Forbes. His father was of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, and his mother was of Irish. In the year 1811 the Messer family moved to Franklin County, Ohio. In the war of 1812 Isaac Messer was a soldier in the cavahy during three campaigns. In about the year 1816 the family moved to Pickaway County, where they lived twelve years. It was here that young John Messer began to show that disposition for hunting, for which he was afterwards noted. When he was only fourteen years old, he was allowed to take his father's gun and go hunting, as a reward for doing some work which had been assigned him. By good fortune he found a deer and fired at it. The deer sprang up, almost turned a somersault and fell with its head towards him. He came up to it cautiously and gave it another shot for safety, then crawled around in the rear of it and shook its leg and was at last convinced that its soul had really gone to the green pastures never more to be troubled by hunters. He obtained help and had the deer brought home, and during the evening was the hero of a corn-husking, and told his story over and over again.

In the year 1828 the Messer family came to Sugar Grove, Illinois. This was during the Jackson and Adams campaign. Jackson was very popular, indeed it seemed almost impossible to find an Adams man. He says that a crowd of men once divided by drawing a line. The Jackson men stepped on one side and the Adams men on the other. Only one man stood for Adams, and he said he took that course because his own name was Adams !

On the sixth of March, 1829, the Messer family came to near where Lexington now stands, and in what is now McLean County. While he lived there the ruling passion came on him strongly, and he went to hunting. The two creeks down the Mackinaw below Lexington were named by him. While out hunting he found some turkey tracks near the first creek and called it Turkey Creek, the name it bears to-day. He went two miles farther on and wounded a buck by another creek, to which he gave the name of Buck Creek, a name it still retains. He lived near the present village of Lexington about five years and then moved to the north of the Mackinaw, in the present township of Gridley, where he has resided ever since.

Mr. Messer has had some lively adventures while hunting. At one time he went with a man, named Smith, up to the Blue Mound. There they followed the track of a deer out from a spring, where it had been drinking, and when coming to the prairie they saw it sitting on its haunches some distance away and looking around. After a while it laid down, and Messer and Smith walked to within sixteen steps of it, before it sprang up. Messer shot it and Smith shot another, which sprang up immediately afterwards. Messer made haste to cut his deer's throat, as he said it did not kick to suit him. He put his foot on one horn and his hand on the other and cut the throat. The deer sprang up instantly, and caught its antlers in the knees of Messer' s breeches and made two or three jumps with Messer dangling head downwards ; but it stumbled and fell and bled to death, Smith was so astonished, that he could only stand and look. The two deer had ten and nine prongs, respectively, on the beams of their antlers, showing them to be ten and nine years of age.

At one time Mr. Messer discovered the antlers of a deer in a pond and saw the nose. He fired, and the ball went up the nose and out at the eye ; but he was obliged to chase it ten miles, when it stopped at a spring to cool. He shot it several times from behind ; at last he came in front of it, but, instead of changing its course, it charged directly at him. A shot through the head ended its career.

Hunters seem to be subject to queer freaks of fortune, which they always express by the word "luck," and Mr. Messer's was occasionally hard luck. He was once walking in the snow towards a deer, near Wolf Creek, and he pulled off his boots and walked through the snow in his stocking feet, in order to move silently. He killed a deer and hung it on a bush, and that was his good luck ; but his boots became so frozen that he could not put them on, and that was his hard luck. Ho saw more door and had a fine opportunity to kill them, and this was his good luck; but the stopper had fallen out of his powder horn, spilling all of his powder, and that was his hard hick. He killed no more and was obliged to walk home through the snow in his stocking feet.

The deer seem to have a good understanding, and. when chased by dogs and hunters, they know very well that the dogs are sent by the men behind. While Mr. Messer was once hunting on Wolf Creek his dog brought down a wounded deer, but both dog and deer were nearly tired out, and they laid down and watched each other. Mr. Messer was incautiously coming up with his unloaded rifle, when the deer left the dog and sprang towards him. He dodged behind a sapling, and his dog grabbed the deer and held it until Messer could load and tire.

Young hunters sometimes make very ludicrous blunders, and people are familiar with the story of a young man, who killed his neighbor's calf instead of a deer from the prairie. A youthful hunter once mistook Mr. Messer for a deer, as the latter was bending over a buck, which he had lately shot. The first intimation Messer received of this was the whizzing of a bullet. When the young hunter learned his mistake he was more frightened than Messer.

About fourteen years ago Mr. Messer met with a misfortune, which came near terminating his adventurous career. While chasing a deer between Rook's Creek and the Mackinaw, his horse stepped into a badger's hole and Messer was violently thrown over its head, and lay stunned and senseless for perhaps two or three hours. When sense returned his horse and dogs were around him. He put on his saddle and rode to the nearest house, but was so sick, that he frequently became blind, and it was with the greatest difficulty that he clung to his horse. He received every attention at the house, and was rubbed with cayenne pepper and brandy, but was given up to die, as his pulse scarcely beat for three-quarters of an hour. But in order to receive the greatest benefit from brandy, this most delicious article should be taken internally ! Mr. Messer did so and revived. He feels the effect of the fall to-day, though it happened fourteen years ago.

During the Black Hawk war the settlers were subject to continual fright, on account of the Indians, and Mr. Messer was sent out through Mackinaw timber to investigate matters, but could find no sign of redskins. It is to be feared that he sometimes gave a few nervous gentlemen unnecessary fright. Old Johnny Patton made a yoke for his horses to prevent them from jumping the fence, and Messer persuaded a few soft gentlemen that the shavings were made by the Indians, who had been whittliug ramrods for their guns.

Elizabeth Ellen Messer was born March 24, 1848, is married to William Stagner and lives four or five miles southeast of her father's in Money Creek township.

John B. Messer is about five feet and nine inches high, has a clear, grayish blue eye, is good natured and pleasant, has seen a great deal of hunting and can tell about it, is plucky and quick-sighted, is free and unconstrained, and loves to talk of old times. Phrenologists would say that he has large perceptions, has a full head of grayish hair. He is rather heavy set and is pretty strong. He is generous and hospitable, and whoever talks to him is immediately made to l'eel at home.

John Sloan was born March 7, 1810, near Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky. His father's name was William Sloan and his mother's name before her marriage was Margaret Kinkaid. William Sloan was of Scotch-Irish descent. He was brought with his parents from Antrim County, Ireland, to Bath County, Virginia, when he was six weeks old. His wife Margaret was born in Pennsylvania, but was of German descent. In 1804 or '5 William Sloan emigrated to Kentucky, where John Sloan was born. Young John there grew up and went to school to his father, and assisted every Christmas day in turning the old gentleman out of the school-house, as was the custom in those days. John Sloan also went to school to other teachers and always assisted in compelling the teacher to "stand treat" on Christmas day. But one of their teachers came near being too smart for them. They drew up a paper and signed it, insisting that the teacher should "stand treat" and the teacher signed it, "Attest: William Talford," and the meaning of the document then was that the scholars should pay for the treat, and the teacher was a witness to it! The scholars were very angry at the sell, and took possession of the school-room and compelled the teacher to "come to time,"

Mr. Sloan was raised a strict Presbyterian and was required to attend to all the religious exercises of the day. He often went to camp-meeting, and there saw those strange phenomena, the jerks. They were usually the result of religious excitement. He remembers particularly the excitement of one woman, whom he saw under the influence of the jerks. She threw her head back and forth until her hair cracked like a whip. She said she knew when the jerks were coming, and could prevent them only by leaving the congregation. Mr. Sloan has never known the jerks to be produced by anything but religious excitement at religious gatherings.

In those days it was the custom to drink whisky, but Mr. Sloan never did so except on one occasion. When he was a child ten years of age he went to see a militia company elect their captain, and the men gave him whisky and made him drunk for the fun of the thing. He was carried home insensible, and his mother watched over him all night until he became conscious. He has been a teetotaler ever since.

At the age of eighteen Mr. Sloan joined the Methodist church, and has continued an active member ever since. He attended Sabbath-school regularly and was greatly interested in the cause. Sickness was the only cause for his absence from Sabbath-school, class-meeting or prayer-meeting.

In 1880 he went to Owen County, Indiana, on White River, and there went to farming. January 5, 1832, he married Polly Hart. In 1835 he came to Mackinaw timber, McLean County, Illinois, where he arrived November 25. The journey was a hard one, as the roads were muddy and no bridges were built across the streams. He often mired down, and once got into a pond where he stuck fast for a while and was obliged to take all of his things out on horseback. When he and his family arrived at the head of Mackinaw timber, they were cold and wet and the snow fell and everything was frozen. Then old Squire Thompson took them in and built up fires and dried their clothes and gave them a good supper, a warm bed and a nice breakfast and refused to accept pay for his services. When Mr. Sloan arrived, he possessed very little of this world's goods. He put up a house of poles, and he worked at whatever his hands could find to do. He was acquainted with everybody in that section of country, as he had a social disposition. In 1843 he was chosen constable and served four years. He often had some unpleasant and dangerous duties to perform, but succeeded well in his office. When his term of service as constable expired, he was chosen justice of the peace, but served only one year, as he determined to move to Wisconsin, where he lived four years and then moved to the northwestern part of Iowa. There he had no very remarkable adventure. Game was plenty, particularly elk. During the winter of 1853-4 the elk came down into the cornfields at night and went out before morning. He once went out hunting elk with a party of six besides himself, taking dogs and horses. Three of the company had three guns and the rest were armed with clubs, corn cutters and hatchets. They had a horse and sleigh to bring home their game. They found a drove of about fifty elk and immediately one of their part}' went around on the opposite side of the drove, while the hunting party scattered out. The elk were frightened and ran in all directions. The hunters rode after the elk, shooting them, knocking them on the head with clubs and striking them on the back with corn-cutters and hatchets. The corn-cutter was the most effective weapon, as two or three strokes over the back of an elk, cutting the tendons, seldom failed to bring it down. Seven elk were killed, six by the men and one by the dogs. One of the elk, which had been struck by a corn-cutter, turned at bay. Mr. Sloan shot it, but it only shook its head, another shot was fired, when it again shook its head in a threatening manner. The sleigh soon came up and the elk made a charge at it. Three men in the sleigh beat it over the head with seat-boards and one man on horseback rode up and struck it over the back with his corn-cutter. The elk turned on the horseman and gave him a rake with its antlers, which tore his pants from the knee to the thigh ; but before it could do further damage it was shot and killed. An elk is not a fast running animal. It can trot fast and keep up the gait all day; but, when pressed into a run, it soon tires out. It never fights until wounded, but then it sometimes fights most fiercely. Mr. Sloan remained in Iowa only one winter and then moved back to Wisconsin, where he lived one or two years. But at last he concluded that Mackinaw timber, McLean County, Illinois, was the best place for a human being to spend his days and he returned to his old abiding place. In 1858 the township of Gridley was organized and Mr. Sloan and Upton Cooms were chosen the first justices of the peace. The former has been justice of the peace ever since. He has performed all the duties of his office with fidelity. He has during that time had onlj' two cases appealed and two writs of certiorari. His decision was sustained in one of the cases appealed, and the other was dismissed for want of prosecution. The justice's decision was sustained relating to the two writs of certiorari. During all the time he has been justice of the peace no one ever called for money, due him from the 'Squire, without receiving it. He has married a

On the 27th of August, 1862, Mr. Sloan enlisted in the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers, Company E., commanded by Capt. John L. Routt. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Orme. Mr. Sloan was chosen orderly sergeant in Bloomington on the twenty-seventh day of August, 1862, when they were mustered into service. He became -sick at Springfield, Missouri, and was utterly prostrated and on this account was discharged at New Orleans, February 7, 1864.

James Milton Sloan lives about four miles northwest of his father's, and is teaching school. He was a soldier in the Thirtythird Illinois, Company E., commanded by Captain E. R. Roe, and afterwards by Captain E. J. Lewis. He was in many battles, was at Cache, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, Spanish Fort, Fredericktown, Port Gibson, siege of Vicksburg, siege of Jackson and Fort Esperanza.

John Sloan is five feet and eight inches high, has blue eyes; his hair was once dark, but is now somewhat gray. He is full faced, has a sanguine complexion, long whiskers nearly white, weighs one hundred and eighty-five pounds, likes fun, is a good man, talkative, pleasant and hospitable. He is generous and has helped to build four Methodist churches and a great many school houses.

Jonathan Coon was born April 4, 1815, in Madison County, Ohio. His parentage is given in the succeeding sketch of his brother Isaiah. He tells an incident of his mother, which gives an idea of the condition of things in a new country. While a girl, living in New Virginia, she and her sister went out in the evening to hunt the cows, taking for protection a dog, belonging to the family. They remained until after dark in the mountains, and after a while their dog began barking in a hollow. They went there and found a panther in a tree top. After throwing stones at it for some time, one of the girls went for help to kill it, while the other remained to watch the game. Their father came to their assistance and shot the panther down.

During the winter of 1823-24, the Coon family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana, and settled within half a mile of the town. They lived there and in that vicinity until July 4, 1837, when they came to McLean County, Illinois. Crawfordsville was a small place, when the Coon family came to it. It had a store, a land office, a little hotel, a few dwellings and a little corn-cracker mill. For two years the breadstuffs, on which the people lived, were brought up Sugar Creek near by in a perogue or large poplar canoe about forty feet in length and three feet in width. At the end of that time the people had cleared enough timber to raise their own wheat for flour. The town grew, and in 1837 became a flourishing little place.

Mr. Coon speaks of the animals of the early days and particularly of the hedgehog, which was protected by quills, which bristled out on every side. These quills easily pierced whatever touched them, and they did not come out easily, but had a tendency to work in deeper and deeper. The domestic animals of those days were very different from those at the present time. The Poland-China hog could not have been raised with protit in the early days, as it could not have been driven to market. The settlers were obliged to raise the long-nosed, long-legged hogs, which could travel to market. They were called "prairie rooters" and " wind splitters," and various other names, which were suggested by the appearance of the animal. In Ohio and

Mr. Coon tells some wonderful snake stories of Indiana. He says, that two great dens of rattlesnakes, near Crawfordsville, were attacked and cleaned out, and that about a thousand snakes of different varieties were taken out of one den, and about thirteen hundred were taken from another. It was considered a pretty good day for snakes.

TVhen Mr. Coon lived in Indiana he had many opportunities for exercising his muscle. People were obliged to clear the timber there to make their farms, and had " log rollings." The young men came from all parts of the country to roll together and burn the logs of trees, which had been chopped down for a clearing. The log rollers were divided into two parties, each with a captain, and the logs were also divided, and the two parties engaged in a race to see which could accomplish their work first. Mr. Coon says, '; that was work such as young bucks now know nothing of." They also had husking bees when they gathered the corn, and at night would go coon hunting. The Coons were successful in catching coons, and in one fall slew eighty of their namesakes.

The clothing in the early days was buckskin jeans and linsey-woolsey for winter, and flax and tow linen for summer. The most elegant suit, which a young pioneer could wear, was of buckskin dyed green. Mr. Coon relates an incident of a young gentleman, who started forth, arrayed in a suit of green buckskin, to visit a much admired young lady. He sat up with her pretty late, as was the custom in those days, and she gave him a place to sleep in the end of an unfinished log house, which had no door. "While the young man was dreaming of the handsome young woman, whom he so much admired, some hungry

Mr. Coon describes the arrangements for ploughing in the early days. The plough was the barshear; the horse was attached to it by ropes, which looped over the single-tree and passed from there to the harnes, to which they were fastened by being tied through auger holes. The hames were tied over a

While the Coon' family lived in Indiana game was plenty and bears were sometimes found. Once while the Coons were out with a party after ginseng, they discovered a bear. They chased it until it was completely exhausted and laid down. One of the party then came up and killed it by striking it on the head with a mattock.

In 1837 the Coon family came to Illinois and settled in Money Creek township, near Towanda. Jonathan Coon was a farmer and a mechanic. At that time the country began to be a little settled around the timber, but the wild animals were numerous and seemed to thrive well in the neighborhood of approaching civilization, and the settlers were obliged to be active in defending their crops and stock. The wolves were easily killed, though not always easily caught. Mr. Coon speaks of killing one by striking it on the head with his boot, as he had no club or gun. He tells a strange incident of Major Dickason, while out making a survey. The Major in walking to set a stake took sight on a thistle, butin walking towards it was carried out of the true course. Mr. Coon called to him to make him notice his error. A close observation showed that the thistle, which he took for a sight, was moving off. It was the head of a wolf! The wild animals seemed to be very free, and often came near the dwellings of the settlers. The wolves were the most impudent and saucy in this respect, though some of the other wild animals were not at all bashful. At one time, while Mr. Coon was away from home, a panther passed his dwelling, and Mrs. Coon had an opportunity to study natural history all alone. She was not at all afraid, and afterwards described the doings of the animal very clearly. This was in 1S43, when Air. Coon lived between Mackinaw and Money Creek. Many animals, which are now found only in the extreme west, lived in this part of the country in the very early days. Mr. Coon has found the bones of buffalo and the horns of elk on the Mackinaw, but these animals seemed to scent the coming of civilized men from a long distance, and no living settler has ever seen buffalo or elk in McLean County, so far as the author can learn.

tiers "neighbored from grove to grove," that is, the people living in adjoining groves, five, ten or twenty miles distant, were neighbors. They met together, whenever a* preacher came to the neighborhood to give them a good old backwoods sermon. Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes preached about twice every summer in Dickason's dwelling on Money Creek, near Towanda. Mr. Coon sometimes went to hear preaching at White Oak Grove, and formed the acquaintance of many valued friends, as the Bensons and Browns.

It was an interesting question in the early days as to where the thriving towns would be located. Lexington, Pleasant Hill and Clarksville, were then little places rivaling each other in growth and importance. A store was once started in Lexington, afterwards moved to Clarksville and then to Pleasant Hill. But the Chicago and Alton Railroad settled the matter by passing through Lexington, the other places could not keep pace with a railroad town. The greater part of Lexington belonged to A. Gridley. Clarksville belonged to Samuel Clark and George and Marston Bartholomew, and Pleasant Hill belonged to Isaac Smalley.

The earliest settlers came to McLean County from a wooded country, and did not understand the value of prairie land. It will scarcely be believed, but it is a fact, that many of them made their first farms by clearing timber in the groves, while the prairie was before them and needed no clearing ! Of course it was not easy work to break prairie, and it required usually six yoke of oxen, which drew a plow, which cut a furrow of eighteen inches, and sometimes two feet ; but it was very easy compared with the labor of clearing timber. Mr. Coon was a farmer and mechanic. In 1840 he and Joe Benson built the first court-house in Pontiac, but Benson died before it was finished.

In 1844, Mr. Coon commenced improving the place where he now lives. This place had first been selected by Squire Sloan, who was attracted by the fine spring of water, which never runs dry ; but Mr. Sloan thought the country would never be settled, and he moved away, but came back, and now lives near his old place. In 1862, Mr. Coon built the house where he now lives, and no one could wish for anything more convenient and pleasant.

Mr. Coon married, October 28, 1841, Nancy Mouser. She was born March 9, 1822, in Fayette County, Ohio. She died May 11, 1852. Mr. Coon married, July 27, 1854, Celina Biibrey, daughter of Young and Amanda Bilbrey. She was born October 14, 1829, in McLean County, and died August 8, 1855. He has never had any children of his own, but he has taken care of two children, Mary E. and Nancy J. Young, who were placed by their mother, on her death-bed, under the charge of himself and his sister. Mr. Young, the father of the children, died the year after the decease of his wife, and Mr. Coon is now the guardian of the children. The parents of Mr. Coon lived with him from 1854 until their death. His sister Ruth keeps house for him. He is a member of the Christian Church, was baptized near Crawfordsville, Indiana, by Rev. Michael Combs. The Christian Church was organized on Money Creek, at the house of Young Bilbrey. The first elders were Isaac Hinthorn and Adam Coon, and, on the resignation of the latter, Jonathan Coon was elected to fill the vacancy. In 1860 he united with the Buck Creek congregation, as that was nearer to his house, and was chosen elder by them, and still holds that position. The present church on Buck Creek was built in 1858.

Mr. Coon is about five feet and eight inches in height, is a very careful and honest man, and no doubt made a most excellent mechanic. He is a man who attends carefully and well to whatever is put under his charge, and as elder in the church he no doubt shows a great deal of watchcare. His health has been, for some time, very poor, and he has not been able to do much work since December, 1871.

Isaiah Coon was born July 21, 1813, in Madison County, Ohio. His father's name was Adam Coon, a Pennsylvania Dutchman, born December 1, 1782, and his mother's name before her marriage was Ellen Dickason, of English and Irish descent, born April 14, 1790. Adam Coon moved to Virginia at an early day, and from there to Ohio, where he was married in 1811 or '12. About that time he moved to Madison County, where Isaiah Coon was born. On Christmas day, 1823, the Coon family started for Indiana, and arrived near Crawfordsville in January,

1824. In 1836, Isaiah Coon came to McLean County, Illinois, and in April settled near where Towanda now is. The family came during the following year, starting July 4, and arriving July 12. They lived for two years near where Towanda now is, then two years near Clarksville, on the Mackinaw, in Money Creek township, and then moved to what is now Gridley township, north of the Mackinaw. Here Adam Coon passed the remainder of his days, and died July 9, 1863, and his wife followed him on the 18th of Xovember of the same year. Their home, for some time preceding their decease, was with Jonathan Coon.

When Isaiah Coon came to the country his occupation was farming and splitting rails. For the latter he received fifty cents per hundred, and could split two hundred per day. He married, October 30, 1844, Maria Ogden, daughter of Jonathan Ogden, whose sketch appears in this volume.

Mr. Coon has kept a record of the weather since his arrival and speaks of several notable phenomena. On the 13th of May, 1858, occurred a great wind storm, which tore down timber along the Mackinaw, and unroofed and tore down many houses. It was not a whirling tornado, which passes along in a moment, but a steady blow, which lasted for two hours and had a track seven miles wide. It blew in a northeasterly direction. The Coons lived in about the middle of the track of the storm, and the rain was so great that the creek by their house rose to their door-step, and the mud from the field above was washed down over their door-yard, covering it in some places six inches in depth. The cloud was green in color, and while the storm was raging, everything appeared green. Such a storm as this is very rare, and the author never before heard of one in the "West, although the whirling tornadoes have been often spoken of. Mr. Coon also speaks of the great sleet storm of Januar\- 13, 1871, which weighed down the timber with ice, and broke down many trees. Mackinaw timber still shows the effect very plainly.

It was very common for the early settlers to go on regular bee hunts, and they would frequently bring home large quantities of honey. Mr. Coon went bee hunting during the fall after he came to the country, with Major Dickason and Richard Mcm'lean county. 621

Aferty. They went to Iowa, beyond the range of civilization, and at the end of six weeks returned with four barrels of the finest strained honey, and one hundred and fifty pounds of beeswax. During the fall of the year following, he went with Jacob and Albert Dickason and Lewis Sowards to the sand ridges of the Kankakee, and at the end of five weeks returned with six barrels of strained honey and two hundred and forty pounds of beeswax.

Mr. Coon is five feet and ten inches in height, is strongly and squarely built, has a sanguine, hopeful disposition, gray eyes, a good head with what appears to be a good development of brain. He seems a very honest, kind and pleasant man.

James S. Coon was born March 21, 1825, in Montgomery County, Indiana. (For his ancestry see sketch of Isaiah Coon). He lived there near Crawfordsville until the fourth of July, 1837, when he came to Illinois with the family, and lived for a while on Major Dickason's farm, near Towanda, McLean County. Afterwards they moved to Clarksville and then to Taylor Lov- ing's place in Gridley township. There James began to do some of the hunting for which he afterwards became quite famous. He and his brother Michael set large steel traps for wolves, and in one season caught seventeen of these animals (the eighteenth left his toes), two or three badgers, one gray eagle and one white owl. A steel trap set for a wolf was never fastened immovably to the ground, but was tied to a heavy pole, which the wolf could usually drag for some distance. It would be likely to pull itself loose and leave only its toes, if the trap was immovable. Mr. Coon once caught a lively wolf, which pulled the trap loose from the pole and when he came up with it and tried to strike it with his horse's bridle, the lively animal grabbed the bridle in its teeth every time. He was obliged to bring on his dogs. Mr. Coon never considered the wolves dangerous, though they sometimes came very close to him while traveling in the night time, so close that he could hear the patter of their feet.

In about the year 1843 Mr. Coon took claims north of the Mackinaw and James set out apple and peach trees. The latter began to bear fruit before the land was entered. He experienced great difficulty in protecting his first trees from the deer, during the latter part of October, when the velvet was shedding from their antlers. For the deer would rub their antlers against the trees to get rid of the velvet.

Mr. Coon often hunted deer with horses and hounds, and thinks it the most exciting of sport. He once remembers a most exciting chase, which he and his brother Michael had after a buck. They started with two grayhounds, a black dog named Peter Logan (after a negro), and several other dogs of various kinds. They found a herd of deer about half a mile distant, and the grayhounds started on low ground. The deer did not observe the hounds until the latter were very close. The dogs singled out the leader, a large buck. The latter ran a short distance, when he turned for tight. It was a large and powerful buck and fought the hounds most savagely. It gored first one and then the other with its long antlers. The hunters came up but had no guns or clubs and could only look on. The buck would pin one dog to the ground, when the other would grab it; then it would pin the other to the ground, when the first one would take hold of it. At last Peter Logan, the black dog, came up and all three of them mastered the buck, and the hunters finished it. One of the grayhounds was so terribly gored, that it had to be wrapped up, and carried home in a wagon. The other was gashed in the shoulder clear to the bone, but could walk home. It was a plucky dog, and caught another deer on its return. The buck would have undoubtedly whipped the grayhounds and perhaps killed them both, if old Peter Logan had not come to their assistance.

When the Coon family lived near Clarksville, Adam Coon found the track of an unusual animal. It was a track as large as a man's list and almost perfectly round. A party of men followed it up and found a lynx. The animal did not seem afraid, but trotted around carelessly, though it seemed a little anxious to keep out of the way of the hunter who carried the rifle. The men wished to see some fun and sent for a couple of dogs, and when the latter arrived, Michael Coon shot the lynx in the leg and breast, thinking to give the dogs an easier fight, but it died in a few moments and they missed the fun. While it was dying, one of the dogs grabbed it, but received a terrific blow from the paw of the lynx and was sent rolling. The paws of the lynx were round and fully as large»as a good sized fist; its nails resembled the claws of a timber hawk, and were an inch and a half in length ; its legs were enormous in size, large, and with the heavy fur seemed fully as large as the leg of a stout man.

Mr. Coon married, February 14, 1850, Maria Young, who came to Illino'is while only a small child. In 1852 he and his wife moved to the place where they now live, north of the Mackinaw They have had three children, of whom two are living. They are : Ambrose Whitlock and Sarah Eleanor Coon, who both live at home.

Mr. Coon is five feet and nine inches in height, is strong and possessed of a great deal of pluck. He is not very heavy, but muscular. He has brown hair and reddish whiskers. He seems born to succeed in the world, and has that leading characteristic of the family, straightforwardness in his transactions. He and his brother Michael were the two coon hunters.

George W. Cox was born October 28, 1815, in Oxford County, Maine, in the little town of Norway. His father, William Cox, was of Welch descent and his mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Phipps, was of English, but both were born in New Hampshire. George W. Cox received his common school education in Maine. He served his apprenticeship at carding and cloth-making and followed his trade for awhile after coming to the West. He came to Illinois in 1837. He traveled by steamboat a greater part of the way, until he landed at Pekin, and there he continued his journey on foot to Bloomington. As he was unaccustomed to walking he was an invalid for a week afterwards. For five years he worked part of the time near Hudson on a farm, which he and his brother, Samuel Cox, opened up, and a part of the time at Bloomington as a cloth-dresser in Ort CovePs carding and cloth-dressing factory. Cloth was dressed by putting it on a cylinder and running the cards over it, and it was finely dressed by teasels or burrs, which were strung on a cylinder, or between slats running across the cylinder.

Mr. Cox married, March 24, 1842, in Bloomington, Nancy Jane Loving, daughter of Taylor Loving, of Gridley township. She was born in Indiana, and was brought to Illinois at an early day. Mr. Cox lived on Taylor Loving's farm in Mackinaw timber for two years, and in 1844 broke prairie at the place where he now lives, north of the Mackinaw in Gridley township. He has succeeded very well in raising stock, has had no particular adventures, never was a hunter because hunting was not a paying business. He could buy meat cheaper than he could kill it. If he wanted venison he could purchase it of John Messer for a little more than the cost of the ammunition required to kill it. He is a man highly respected in his township ; he has been twice supervisor, indeed has held every township office, except justice of the peace and town clerk.

Mary Jane Cox died February 16, 1863. Mr. Cox married, August 12, 1863, Mrs. Nancy Potter, widow of Joseph Potter, of Kappa. Her maiden name was Nancy Hall, and her birthplace is in Indiana.

James W. Cox, who lives a half mile east of his father's. He served in the army in the Normal regiment and was discharged, after two years' service, on account of sickness.

Mr. Cox is about five feet and nine inches in height, has a full head of hair, which was originally dark, has grayish blue eyes, a full beard, rather a thin face, is rather spare and has been much afflicted with rheumatism. He is good natured, hard working, hospitable and kind ; a man of good business qualifications, has succeeded well, takes care of what he possesses, has a fine farm and a fine house and everything appears neat and tidy, as the place of a New Englander should.

The family, of which George W. Cox is a member, has been much scattered. There were fourteen children of them in the little town of Norway, where their father kept store, about forty miles from Portland. Two of the daughters are in Massachusetts, one in New Hampshire and one in Bloomington, Illinois ; one son is at Troy, New York, two are in Maine, one at Hudson, Illinois, merchant and postmaster, one in Bloomington, and one, the subject of this sketch, in Gridley township, north of the Mackinaw.