Hudson Township (part 1 of 2)

Hudson Township

with horses and oxen, with his wife, three brothers-in-law and one sister-in-law. They came first to Twin Grove, where they arrived February 12, and remained until April 16, when they moved to Panther Creek, in what is now Woodford County. At the latter place Mr. Bilbrey built a rail pen to live in. It was a ten-foot rail pen, with rails on three sides and the other side open. The roof was of clapboards. In this they lived three weeks and while there Mr. Bilbrey and his three brothersin-law cleared ten acres of heavy timber and planted it in corn, and it yielded fifty bushels to the acre. After this clearing was made they moved to a log house near by, and the following year moved to another log house, which they had built in the meantime on the north side of the east fork of Panther Creek. While building that house, Mr. Bilbrey's brother-in-law, Winslow Patrick, was killed by a fall, and this was the first sad event they experienced.

The fever and ague was a regular visitor in the West. Mrs. Bilbrey says that Stephen Webb, of Twin Grove, declared that no one but a lazy man could have the ague. But before long he took it himself, while splitting rails. He had a good shake, but insisted that it would be driven off the next time by splitting rails. Again the ague came, harder than before, and Stephen mauled rails with all his might ; he shook and mauled and shook and mauled, but the fever and chills were at last so severe, that he stopped work, and he was forced to acknowledge that the ague was no respecter of persons. Some time afterwards he was out haying, and while coming home on the load he had the ague, and while crossing a creek his load upset and he was involuntarily baptized, and, strange to say, never had the ague again. Mrs. Bilbrey thinks the wagon was upset for the purpose of throwing Mr. Webb into the creek.

During the winter of the deep snow the Bilbreys pounded their corn as everybody did. When the heavy snow-fall came, some men, who had come to mill from Pontiac, and were returning, were caught in the snow and stayed at Mr. Bilbrey's over night. They left their corn meal there and went home and afterwards returned with sleds and snow-shoes. One of them was near freezing to death, and gave up and wished to stop and die. His companion gave him encouraging words, but these seemed to be of little use and he was determined to die. At last his companion aroused him by saying: "I don't care if you die. You are of no account to your family anyhow, or to any one, and the best thing you can do is to freeze." The man thus addressed became very angry and aroused himself and walked through.

The clothing worn in the early days was jeans and linsey woolsey, and Mrs. Bilbrey thinks it would do no harm if this clothing was worn at the present day. She thinks the fashions of the present day are scandalous, and that it is an outrage for women to wear humps on their backs, and that they had better dress naturally, even if they wore linsey woolsey. She wishes this idea preserved with care in the hope that it may be a benefit to the rising generation.

In 1836 the Bilbrey family moved to the east side of Money Creek, where they lived twenty-five years and then moved to the west side, where they lived until the death of Mr. Bilbrey, which occurred June 13, 1873,

Mr. Bilbrey belonged to the Christian Church for about thirty-five years. He died without fear, and was conscious to the last. His business was all arranged and "his house set in order." Ten dollars would have paid every debt he owed.

G28 Old Settlers Of

Mr. Bilbrey was rather a large man, weighed about two hundred and thirty pounds, was very muscular, worked hard, had an iron constitution, was a good man and strictly honest. He was very cool and fearless, when difficulties appeared in his way, and worked steadily and carefully to overcome them. He was sick for three weeks previous to his death with inflammation of the bowels and bilious fever. His funeral was a large one, the people coming from long distances to see the old pioneer laid in his last resting place. The funeral sermon was preached by Thomas D. Lyons, at the house of the deceased.

Joseph Messer was the son of Isaac Messer, whose children are given at the close of this sketch. It has not been possible to obtain information sufficient to write a sketch of the old gentleman, who was one of the earliest and most noted pioneers of McLean County.

Joseph Messer was born September 5, 1825, in Pickaway County, Ohio, and came with the family to Mackinaw timber, in what is now McLean County, Illinois, where he arrived in March, 1829. He has led quite an active life, and has done some hunting "off and on" for fifteen or sixteen years, and indeed this disposition to hunt is one of the leading characteristics of the family. He studied particularly into the nature of that most cunning and most interesting animal, the deer. He says that frequently they have their regular places to live and sometimes select them with o-reat care and discretion. He remembers a large buck, which had a place to stay on the north of the Mackinaw, where it was protected in some measure by two ponds of water. It could there see a long distance and had timely notice of the approach of hunters or wild animals. Mr. Messer determined to kill this deer, and crawled to it from a long distance and was obliged to crawl through a pond of water, which came over his back. But he held up his gun and went through, and was rewarded for his trouble by killing the deer. As the country became well settled, the game grew scarce and was not easily killed. The old hunters then practiced shooting deer on the run. Mr. Messer, while on horseback, once chased a deer, and as it was about to run into a thicket he shot it through the heart without slacking the pace of his horse. In one fall he killed eighteen deer, and only one was shot while standing.

Mr. Messer married, March 17, 1853, Martha Locke. He has had eight children, all of whom are living. They are fine, healthy boys and girls, and he works hard to support them. He is five feet and ten inches in height, is not heavy set, has a nose with a good natured turn to it, and gray eyes with a very clear expression in them. He is a very pleasant man.

quite young. He was a sea captain and was shipwrecked and lost his life on the ocean by shipwreck. Jesse Havens came to Virginia, when only a boy and lived with a brother-in-law, named Newman. There he went bear-hunting and killed a great number. Mr. Newman made bear-hunting a business and Jesse Havens often went out with a company of hunters under Newman and stayed for three months at a time without seeing any human beings, except members of the company. Jesse Havens was an excellent marksman, and as the bear were thick, had every chance to exercise his skill. He sometimes took the dogs and went out hunting himself and occasionally had some unexpected adventures. At one time, while alone watching a deer-lick, he heard an animal approaching, which proved to be a panther. It ran up a tree and seemed also to be on the watch for deer. Jesse took careful aim at it, fired and ran for home. The hunters returned with him to the spot and found the panther dead. At one time he had a dangerous adventure with a bear. He shot a bear which had been treed and it fell wounded, and hugged the dog, which had treed it. When Jesse came up, the bear and dog went rolling down a hill, but Jesse succeeded in killing the bear with his knife and tomahawk. He considered this a narrow escape.

He went in 1801 to where Newark, Ohio, now is, and built several log cabins for a company which settled there. He married and moved eight miles north of that place and cleared out a small farm and ran a shop in which he made furniture, chairs, etc. Jesse Havens enlisted in the war of 1812 and was at the desperate defence made by Major Croghan and his band of one hundred and sixty men, of Fort Stephenson on the Lower Sandusky. In the fall of 1829 Jesse Havens came to Illinois. He came first to Big Grove, near where Urbana now is, and from there went in search of a house and found one on the North Fork of the Sangamon, south of where Leroy now is. When he moved his family there, which was in December, 1829, the sleet troubled him very much, and he was obliged to walk many miles to obtain corn for food. He left the Sangamon and came to Buckles' Grove and from there he came to where Hudson now is, in January, 1830. There he bought some claims, made improvements and went to farming, as did all the settlers in that section.

with his son Hiram and then went back to Iowa, where he remained until the time of his death, which occurred December 2, 1862. Just previous to his death he requested his son William to bury him in Havens' Grove, and this request was carried out. He was, at the time of his death, eighty-one years, five months and nine days old.

Jesse Havens was six feet in height, had heavy hair and eyebrows, and was very muscular. lie was a good man and quite successful in life. He gave the name to Havens' Grove. He was one of the first Commissioners elected in McLean County after

Hiram Havens was born March 29, 1817, in Licking County, Ohio. He worked for his father, Jesse Havens, in his younger days and broke prairie with an ox-team. He and his brother

John broke prairie together and together kept bachelor's hall. John usually brought up the oxen in the morning, while Hiram pounded the cornmeal for breakfast. They often killed deer, sometimes early enough in the morning to have venison for breakfast. In March, 1883, Hiram Havens went to More's mill on Panther Creek, in company with a man named Piatt. But on his return he found it impossible to cross the Maekinew. His companion, Piatt, managed to cross on the ice with a pole, intending to go home and return with something for Havens to eat, but on his return it was impossible to re-eross the Mackinaw, as it had risen to an enormous height. Havens was left to lay all night on an open sled, on the bank of the Mackinaw in a sleeting storm. But he fortunately had his feet protected by a big dog, which kept them warm. Tne wolves came unpleasantly near and seemed very anxious to make mutton of him. The next morning he rode eight miles in the storm on one of his horses, leading the other. He obtained some parched corn for breakfast, of a man named More, then rode two miles farther to a house where he was given some boiled corn and venison. . He lived there sixteen days before he could re-cross the Mackinaw. He found that the crows and mice had eaten much of his flour, and possibly the wolves might have assisted in the matter.

Hiram Havens was a good shot and pretty certain to bringdown his game. His father once treed a lynx, which is an immensely long-bodied animal, with spots or short stripes, and with legs which are short, thick and powerful. Hiram was called to shoot the animal, and put a bullet into its brain. It fell to the ground and an incautious dog came rather close, when the lynx gave it a blow with its paw, which sent the dog rolling senseless. The lynx died in a few moments. It measured six feet from tip to tip, but its tail was short. Its nails were two inches in length.

The lynxes, as may be seen by the description, are ferocious animals, and have given rise to many stories. One of these was the story of the once celebrated Clem Oatman. It was said that Clem Oatman was once coming home from mill', when he saw one of these lvnxes and killed it with a club and carried it on his horse, which was a very tall one. And it was said that this lynx dragged its head in the snow on one side and its hindquarters in the snow on the other, and in this manner the wonderful lynx was curried home. The news of Clem Oatman's lynx was carried over the country, and was told in every school house, church and grocery. So far as the truth of this story is concerned, the reader can believe as much or as little as he chooses. If he wishes to cultivate his faith, this story is a good one to practice on.

Mr. Havens takes delight in stories, and tells one on a certain man named Wood, an English sailor, who came to the neighborhood with Mr. Samuel Lewis. Wood went hunting, with a fine gun, which Lewis had brought from England. The gun was scoured up brightly, and was of beautiful workmanship. Wood wounded a deer, which turned for fight, and came with its hair all bristling forward, though it was much worried by the dogs. Wood turned to the deer and said : "Don't }*ou come 'ookin' at me, Mr. Deer, or Ell knock 'ee in the 'ead with the gun." But the deer was not familiar with broad English dialect and did not heed the warning. The old sailor managed the gun as he would a handspike and broke the deer's horns and mashed its head and laid it out dead. But the pretty gun, which had been brought from England, with pretty mountings and fancy trappings, was broken and battered and useless for further service.

Hiram Havens commenced work for the Illinois Central Railroad Company in 1851, when that great undertaking was put under contract. He worked two years and a half, furnishing ties, bridge lumber, etc., and could have remained in the service of the company, but was afraid of the uncertainty of a life on the road.

Mr. Havens has been pretty successful in life, and has made his money by the hardest of labor. When he married and commenced life for himself, he was on sixty acres of land, which was given to him by his father. He lived in a cabin twelve feet square, made of split logs. It had only one window, and was a hard looking affair. He and his wife had two cows, one pony, two chairs, one bed and one blue chest, which they used as a table. During the first year lie did his ploughing with a borrowed horse, but succeeded well and bought more land and in about three years was able to build a house. He continued farming and raising stock and accumulating property, until he became pretty independent. In 185!) he bought the farm of Enoch S.

Havens, and since that time built the house where he now lives. His property is not tied up with trust deeds or mortgages, but belongs to him in fee simple.

Mr. Havens is nearly six feet in height, and has a fair amount of muscle. His hair was once what is politely called intensely auburn, that is, it had a reddish cast, but now it is sprinkled with gray. He has been a hard and industrious worker, and has the respect and confidence of the community where he resides, as is seen by the fact that he has been justice of the pe^ce for sixteen years.

Benjamin Wheeler was born February 14, 1803, in Hardy County, Virginia, (now West Virginia,) about two and one-half miles from the town of Morfield. His father's name was Benjamin Wheeler, and his mother's maiden name was Rachel Harris. He is of English and German descent. Mr. Wheeler was, of course, very young during the war of 1812, but he remembers that about that time his mother died, leaving seven children for the father to look after. As strange luck would have it, Mr. Wheeler, sr., was dratted during that war in what was called the Whisky Company, while he had all these seven children to support. But the case was one of such hardship that the town generously paid for a substitute, and Mr. Wheeler remained at home.

The war of 1812 had a great effect on the price of various articles, which were imported into the country. When it was nearly closed, a merchant brought some salt from Baltimore to Morfield on packhorses, and sold it for fifty cents per quart; but soon the war was ended, salt was brought in cheap, and the merchant was obliged to sell out at a loss.

portance occurred during his youth. He married, April 10, 1828, Dorcas Havens, and during the fall of 1829 started for the West with his father-in-law, Jesse Havens. He came to Big Grove, where Champaign City, Ills., now is, and in 1830 came to Mc- Lean County. lie began farming with very little to work with and no money. His first plow was partly of his own manufacture. He had a land side and a shear, and he made a wooden mould-board himself. The appearance of this plow was not prepossessing. It seemed more like an A harrow than a plow; but it was serviceable, and he was obliged to use it for two years before he could make enough money to buy another.

In 1839-40 he experienced the celebrated hard times, and sold pork in Lacon for one dollar and a quarter per hundred, took one-fourth of his pay in store goods, and the remainder in Cairo money, which the merchants tried to shave twelve and a half cents on the dollar; but he refused to submit to it. He hauled shelled corn to Peoria and sold it for twelve and a half cents per bushel. But in 1843 prices rose, and farmers could make money. The fluctuations in currency at home made many a man's fortune. Many men, who owed the State Bank, bought up its notes at a large discount and paid their debts. But with all of these vexations, Mr. Wheeler thinks he enjoyed himself better then, than he has done during the last fifteen or eighteen years.

Mr. Wheeler was very little of a hunter. He killed two or three deer, but was more successful with turkeys, for when he shot one out of a Hock, the rest fluttered around and huddled together, and would not run until the}' saw the hunter. He only killed three deer, and two of these were during the winter of the deep snow. Only six or seven deer lived during that winter in Havens' Grove ; whole droves of them perished in the snow.

, During the famous sudden change of December, 1836, Mr. Wheeler was out feeding his stock, and when he came into the house and pulled off his overcoat it was frozen so stiff that it stood upright on the floor. He speaks of a man and his daughter, who were frozen to death in this sudden change, before they could go to their home, a few miles away. This incident has been related by several other settlers, but none seem to know the names of the unfortunate persons. Mr. Wheeler saj-s that

Mr. Wheeler speaks of other phenomena. In 1844, the year of the great rains, he was at one time entirely hemmed in. The Six Mile Creek overflowed the bottom lands, and Mr. Wheeler's house stood on an island. The creek was higher than ever before, except the spring of 1881, when the deep snow went off.

Mr. Wheeler has suffered much by fire. During the fall of 1830 a fire came up from Twin Grove, and everyone turned out to right it; but it burned up all his rails, his wheat and his hay, and during the succeeding winter he was forced to depend on his corn, which he dug out of the deep snow. In about the year 1838 or '40, a fire came rolling over the prairie, and Mr. Wheeler and his boys tore down the rail fences as fast as possible to savethem, but nine hundred of his rails went up in smoke. In 1840 or '41, the fire came so swiftly, that it jumped a piece of plowed and burnt ground two rods wide. At another time it jumped the big road, which is more than two rods wide. He saw a dry fence, belonging to Samuel Lewis, burnt down so quickly that the stakes and riders were still standing, while the fence was burnt out underneath. Mr. Lewis was away from home at the time, and Mrs. Lewis came out with her mopstick to do something, but she might as well have thrown it at the Chicago fire. Mr. Wheeler has seen fire going faster than a horse could run and taking fearful leaps. It would suck in the air behind it, and move like a flock of wild geese with the center ahead and the wings on each side hanging back.

The old settlers, of course, have a lively recollection of those animals, which destroyed their property. Mr. Wheeler remembers a particularly destructive lynx, for which a reward of thirty dollars was offered. An Indian succeeded in killing it and claimed the reward, which was refused ; but the settlers took the Indian's part and insisted that the reward should be paid, and the Indian at last received it.

The rattlesnakes, in early days, were numerous, and Mr. Wheeler says that the poison strikes into the system almost instantly. A Mrs. Rook was bitten by a rattlesnake on the hand, and her husband thought he would show great presence of mind by cutting out a piece of flesh, where she had been bitten; but

Mr. Wheeler lias seen all phases of pioneer life, and, notwithstanding all the hardships, he enjoyed himself very much in the "good old times." He has had fourteen children, ten of whom are living. They are :

Benjamin Wheeler is almost six feet in height, is a very kind gentleman, can tell what he knows, and fortunately knows something to tell. His hair is gray, and his whiskers are of mixed red and gray. He has a hopeful disposition and a pleasant temper. He suffers with the asthma, which, he thinks, he brought on by contending with fires and becoming suddenly warm and breathing the smoke and heated air. Mrs. Wheeler, his lady, was born June 9, 1810, in Licking County, Ohio. She is a woman of tender sympathy, has a kind heart and a pleasant word for all.

John Smith was born December 11, 1804, in Randolph County, North Carolina. His father's name was David Smith, and his mother's name was Polly McLaughlin. His grandfather, Zachariah Smith, was a German, who came to America when a boy. He was a Baptist preacher during the Revolutionary war. Polly McLaughlin was of Scotch descent. David Smith moved to Georgia in 1811, and returned the following year to North Carolina. Many soldiers were seen on the way. He volunteered to go to the war in 1812, but was never called out. Shortly afterwards the Smith family went to Kentucky, where they remained a year, and then went to Centreville, Indiana, on the Whitewater River. They farmed and cleared forty acres of lam! on the beach. Thev hauled their corn on a sled, as the settlement did not have a wagon for two years. After four years of farming there, they wont to StrawtOwn. The health of this place may be inferred from the fact that only one man in it failed to take the fever and ague. A little difficulty occurred there with the Miami Indians. Some of them came to the house of a pioneer, named Shintaffer, and insisted on having whisky, which was refused. One of them in his anger struck Shintaffer's wife on the cheek, and it hurt her severely, as she was sutfering with the toothache. Mr. Shintaffer picked up the Indian and threw him on the fire, while Mrs. Shintaffer took the butt end of the whip to him. The Indian was severely burnt, and would have been roasted alive, had not the squaws made an outcry. This was in the tall of the year. During the following spring, Mr. Shintaffer went with .John Smith to blaze a road to the Wabash River, and a party of twelve Miami Indians attempted in his absence to murder his family ; but he returned iust as they were about to commence, and was assisted in defending his familv bv some whites, who were watching the Indians. After a severe scuffle, one Indian and one white man were killed. The Shintaffer and the Smith families moved down to the mouth of Eel River. There the Smiths lived two years, then moved to Honey Creek prairie on the Wabash, where they remained one year, then went to the Grand Prairie near the State line, between Illinois and Indiana. The Grand Prairie was a name given to the whole prairie of the Mississippi valley. On the line, where the Grand Prairie commenced, the beech and yellow poplar stopped.

In 1824, John Smith moved a family to Peoria, which then contained only two or three houses. While on this trip, he saw. about twenty miles above Peoria, a large log in a tree, and on climbing up he found it contained the bones of an Indian, who must have been six feet and five inches tall. On Mr. Smith's return home he moved to Big Grove, Illinois, near where Urbana now is. While he was there, a man went to Peoria on foot to perfect his title to some land, and it was necessary to see the person whom John Smith moved there. On the man's return he walked himself to death, and was found lying between the Sangamon and the head of the Vermilion.

The Indian trading-house was at the east end of Bisr Grove. In the timber were two Indian sugar camps. They had all the apparatus for making sugar. They had immense troughs, which would hold six or eight barrels of sap.

In the spring- of 1830, the Smith family moved to what was afterwards called Smith's Grove. John Smith immediately entered tho land, where the Jones family now live.

The winter of the deep snow was a hard one for the Smith family. When the first heavy snowfall came, John Smith was at White Oak timber, and during that night stayed at More's mill with several others. lie was watching the mill as it ground his corn, but it broke during the night, and he could grind no more. The mill was built of logs, and was not chinked, and the snow drifted on the inside about eight feet high. It required the whole of the next day for Mr. Smith to go to Havens' Grove, and the whole of the following day to reach home at Smith's Grove. A few days afterwards, when the snow became settled and packed, it was impossible to go anywhere.

John Smith married, March 30, 1831, Anna Havens. In the spring of 1832 he settled at Havens' Grove, about three-quarters of a mile north of his present residence. In 1849 he settled about half a mile from Hudson, in the edge of Havens' Grove, and has lived there ever since.

John Smith relates an incident, which occurred in December, 1836, during the sudden change in the weather. On the day of the sudden change, a man, named Lapham, was crossing the Mackinaw. He came oyer the ice on horseback; but just as his horse was stepping from the ice, which had been raised by the thaw, it went into the mud and water between the ice and the steep bank. While Lapham was trying to get out his horse, the sudden change came on, and the intensely cold wind stupefied the horse, and Lapham left it and walked two miles and a half to John Smith's house. On the following day he and Smith went back for the saddle, bridle and blankets. The horse was frozen solidly in the ice. The water and mud had not reached to its flanks, but it was so chilled by the sudden change, that it was powerless to loosen itself.

Jesse and David Smith, twins, were horn December 31, 1836. Rev. Jesse Smith lives at Hamilton on the Mississippi River, is a Methodist minister, and belongs to the Central Illinois Conference. David Smith lives at home and attends to the farm.

John Smith is five feet and nine inches in height, and is rather slenderly built. In his younger days he was pretty muscular and was a hard worker. He is very industrious and strictly honest. His hair is heavy and stands high on his head. Old age leaves its effects on him, and his eyesight is poor and his hearing has partially failed. He is a good man and wishes to perform all of his duties honestly and religiously. He has been very successful in life, and is one of the earliest and most honored pioneers in the grove where he lives. The following incident may throw some light on Mr. Smith's character and disposition. In an early day an old Quaker, named Joseph Wilson, attempted to build a mill on the Mackinaw, but his undertaking was not fortunate, as the Mackinaw is rather an uncertain stream. He afterwards went to the northern part of the State and built a mill on Elkhorn Creek, and became quite well to do in the world. He came to McLean County in search of grafts for fruit-trees, and while on this excursion, called on "his old friend, John Smith." The two old pioneers talked over their matters together. Friend "Wilson said, he wished to have plenty of apple trees, so that he could sit down with a basket of apples beside him, and when they were gone, he could say : " Boys, bring another basket of apples." The friends discussed their financial matters, too, and John Smith told how by his care and labor he had money at interest. Friend Wilson asked Smith, if the latter did not think he should have given his money to the poor. " No," said John Smith, " I have worked hard for it, and think I have earned it, and if I should give it to others they might not appreciate it.". John Smith was right.

Albert Y. Phillips was born April 14, 1812, at Huntsville, Alabama. His father's name was Glenn Phillips and his mother's name before her marriage was Leah McCord. Albert Y. Phillips is of Scotch and Irish descent. Glenn Phillips was a soldier in the war of 1812 and fought at the battle of Horse Shoe Bend under Andrew Jackson againsl the Creek Indians, and died of hardship, exposure and want of food.

When Albert Y. Phillips was about fourteen years of age the family moved to Overton County, Tennessee, and there Albert resided until the fall of 1830, when he came to Illinois. He arrived at Twin Grove, in what is now McLean County, November 8, 1830. He did very little during the succeeding winter, which was the one of the deep snow, but kept bis toes warm in the house as well as possible.

In April, 1832, the Phillips family went to Indian Grove, which is now in Livingston County, but were alarmed for fear of Indian troubles during the Black Hawk war, and went to White < >ak Grove. The Kickapoo Indians at Indian Grove were quiet during the Black Hawk war, but the whites were suspicious and fearful of them. This anxiety was increased by the freaks of an Indian, named Turkey, who alarmed the whites by appearing among them with bis face painted a blood-red color. But the Kickapoos were friendly, polite and well behaved. They conducted themselves as gentlemen should. The}7 attended church and listened to the preaching. At one time they listened to the exhortations of a Methodist preacher, named Walker, whose sermon was interpreted to them by Peter Cudjoe, who had married an Indian woman. Mrs. Phillips says she was glad to have the Indian women come to see her, and thought them quite good looking. They had regular features and would have been considered remarkably fine women, if the copper-colored tan could have been removed from their cheeks.

In September, 1832, Albert Phillips and his brother, Calvin Marion, and a man named Andrew Barnard, moved to Indian Grove to the old Indian town, which the Kickapoos had abandoned during that foil. The men started with little to eat, as they expected to be joined by their families and by others on the following day. But the families were detained and did not come for a week, and the three men were obliged to live during thai time on honey and hog potatoes. These potatoes grew wild on the creek bottoms and along the sloughs. They were little black things about the size of an egg, and could be boiled or roasted, but had a flavor very different from Irish potatoes. They were

The deer, which had been killed off during the winter of the deep snow, became numerous a few years later, and had a bad habit of eating up the settlers' corn. They would eat the corn from the cob without tearing off the husk or breaking down the stalks, and the patch would appear a fine field of corn, when scarcely a kernel was left. The settlers hunted the deer not only to obtain venison, but to protect the corn, They usually, or at least very often, hunted on horseback, and when a deer was killed, it was very common to tie it to a horse's tail and in this manner have it dragged home. In the fall of the year the necks of the bucks became as large as their bodies and very hard and gristly. Mr. Phillips tells of a man, named "William Popejoy, who fired at the neck of a deer, which was lying in the grass. The deer jumped up, looked around and laid down, and Popejoy shot it in the eye and killed it. He tied it to the tail of his horse, and brought it home, and when it was dressed, the ball was cut from the neck, in which it had only penetrated two inches and was flattened in the gristle. Mr. Phillips saw this himself.

The following story, which Mr. Phillips tells of Nicholas Jones, is a very remarkable one, but is confirmed by nearly all the settlers in Money Creek timber. It seems that Nicholas Jones once shot a deer in the neck and stunned it. He went up to it, and not having a butcher knife, neglected to cut its throat, but tied it to his mare's tail and started home. When he had gone only a few steps across Money Creek, his mare stopped and Jones felt a decided jerk. Looking around, he saw that the buck had come to life and was trying to gore the mare with its antlers. He whipped his horse into a run and went home, but could not stop running for a moment for fear of the deer. He ran his horse around the wagon, all the time calling to his wife : " Oh, Jane ! fetch the butcher knife, the butcher knife, Jane, quick, the butcher knife!" At last the deer's antlers became tangled in the wagon wheel and it was killed.

Albert Phillips is five feet and ten inches in height, is rather sparely built, is a very industrious man, loves humorous stories and is very hospitable and kind. He married Margaret Moats,

February 17, 1850. She is the daughter of Jacob and Sarah Moats, of Money Creek timber. They have had no children. They married late in life, nevertheless their wedded life has been very happy. But they advise young men and women to get married early.

Isaac Turnipseed was horn July 16, 1809, in Fayette County, Ohio. His father's name was Christopher Turnipseed, and his mother's name was Mary McMullen. His father was of Pennsylvania Dutch descent and his mother's ancestors were from Scotland. He came to what is now McLean County, Illinois, on horseback, in the spring of 1831. Here he worked during the first serson for Jacob Haner, and in the fall bought cattle and fed them through the winter. In the spring he went back to Ohio, stayed two years, and then returned to McLean County, where he lived until his death.

He bought a claim on Mackinaw, near Haner's mill, and made a settlement. He married, July 30, 1834, Jane Messer, who is yet living. He succeeded pretty well, and was pretty sharp to see the value of things. He had nine children, seven of whom grew up and were married. They are :

Mr. Turnipseed was a man of medium height, and very healthy, and took very little medicine. He was one of the best known settlers in Mackinaw timber. He lived in the edge of Money Creek timber at the time of his death. His widow, Mrs. Turnipseed, still lives on the homestead place. She is a kind and hospitable old lady, whom it is a pleasure to be acquainted with.

Elijah Priest was born September 10, 1812, in Muskingum County, Ohio. His father's name was James Priest, and his mother's maiden name was Hannah Anderson. James Priest was a great hunter after deer and bear. On one of his hunting excursions the old gentleman cornered a bear by the root of a tree. It began hugging his hunting dog, and he killed it by striking it on the head with an axe. The fat on the ribs was nearlv four inches thick, the fattest bear he ever killed.

Elijah Priest worked in the summer at the business of making charcoal, and in the winter he worked in a furnace for melting ore into pig-iron. This was, indeed, warm work, so warm, that the sweat ran down into his shoes and squirted out at every step he took ; indeed, it was so hot, that water was poured on his clothes to prevent them from catching fire. It was Mr. Priest's duty to clear out the hole in order to draw the melted ore from the furnace into the sand-bed to cool into pig metal. - The hole was stopped with clay, and when the furnace was heated and the iron melted, this clay became as hard as iron, and had to be drilled out. Mr. Priest drilled it out while from two to four tons of melted iron were in the furnace. If he allowed a particle to tall into the liquid metal, it would boil up and spit out melted iron, and a piece of clay as large as an egg would blow up the whole mass of metal. The hands, who worked at the furnace, wore linen, and persons stood near and poured water over them. Mr. Priest worked first in the Mary Ann furnace in Licking County, Ohio, and next in the town of Zoar, in Tuscarawa Countv. The town of Zoar, as well as the furnace, was owned by a German, named Beimoner. This man provided for the entire town. He employed men to herd the cattle, and women to herd the sheep and geese. Mr. Priest never saw any children in the place.

On the eleventh of September, 1833, the day after he became i if age, Mr. Priest married Rebecca Hinthorn, and in June, 1834, he started for the West. He arrived at Money Creek timber on the west side, where he now lives, on the eighth day of July. The journey was a warm and dry one, and he suffered greatly for want of water and food. He ran out of provisions near Big

Grove, then called Pin Hook, now called Urbana. He made many enquiries, and beard that a certain man had recently two sacks of meal ground at mill. Mr. Priest wished to buy some, and sent a little boy, named Henry Moats, to get it. Henry came back empty-handed, but reported that the man had a big corn pone on the fire. Mr. Priest then went with the boy, and the latter was instructed to open the door, whenever Priest stood by the fire. Mr. Priest offered to buy some meal, but was refused ; then he stood by the fire, where the pone was cooking, and Henry immediately opened the door. Priest was then about to walk off with the pone ; but the man of the house saw that he must give way, and he allowed Priest a peck of meal. When Mr. Priest arrived at Money Creek timber, he would have given all he possessed to have been back in Ohio ; but it was impossible to get away. He immediately began farming and worked very hard. He never bought a sack of flour after his arrival here, as he always raised his own. He was a man of great strength, and made sometimes three hundred rails in one day.

Mr. Priest has done some hunting, for deer were plenty and easy to kill. He once found a little fawn as he was out in the timber cutting a tree. When the tree fell the fawn started from its hiding place and jumped into Mr. Priest's arms. It was a pretty, spotted little creature, about two weeks old, and he took it home, and it became very tame, and ran all over the neighborhood. It was distinguished from the wild deer by a tassel around its neck. It was a doe, and when it grew up, he raised seven deer ; but when game grew scarce, they were all killed b}T hunters. The doe was killed by Samuel Ogden, who immediately informed Priest that it was done by accident. But the parties, wlio killed the other seven, were never discovered.

Mr. Priest came to the West a poor man in a borrowed wagon, but has been very industrious, and has succeeded well. Four 3'ears ago he was offered forty-five thousand dollars for his property, but did not consider it for a moment. His property has been earned by his strong muscle and his good judgment.

Mrs. Priest died some years ago, and on the eleventh of September, 1870, Mr. Priest married Mrs. Minerva McCurdy. Her maiden name was Minerva Johnson.

weighs two hundred and thirty pounds. lie is a man of extraordinary strength, and, in his younger days, scarcely knew what it -was to be tired. He has worked during his life without the benefit of an education, for an education could not be obtained where he lived in Ohio. But in spite of these disadvantages he lias been very successful, and owes nothing to anyone, except good will. He is a very clever man to anyone who is disposed to deal fairly and do right with him ; but to anyone who is disposed to cut up shines, Mr. Priest is a very unpleasant customer. His memory seems remarkably good, and in conversation he tells of many curious and strange incidents. He is a man with a very strong constitution, and his temperate habits have preserved it unimpaired. "With his great strength and good health, he ought to live to be a centenarian and celebrate one hundred Fourths of July.

Samuel Lewis was born in the fall of 1800, in England. He was a plumber, glazier and painter by trade. He married, in England, Sarah Seelev. He emigrated to the United States in November, 1835. The Lewis family came over to New York in the sail vessel Virginia, and were twent}T-six days on the journey.

At that time the Hudson colony was talked of, and the three agents of the compairy, Pettit, Purkit and Gregory, induced Lewis to join it and buy a section of land. The land was bought by the agents at Havens' Grove, and in May, 1836, Samuel Lewis went there with his family b}* way of New Orleans. They went to.the latter place on a sail vessel, which brought up a Chinese junk from the mouth of the Mississippi to New Orleans. From New Orleans they came up the river by steamboat, and on the route the passengers amused themselves by shooting at alligators. The Lewis family stayed two or three months at Hennepin, and then came through to Havens' Grove with ox-teams. Mr. Lewis settled during the first winter in the south end of the grove in a rented log cabin. lie immediately began tanning, setting out fruit trees and grafting them. He hunted once in a while, though seldom. At one time while hunting he saw a deer come bounding up with blood pouring from its side. He fired and the animal fell. Mr. Havens came up and claimed the deer, and as but one bullet hole was found, Mr. Lewis gave it up, for it had certainly been shot before he fired. Havens took home the deer, but in dressing, he found two bullets, and it was evident, that both had entered the deer at the same spot, and that the shot of Lewis had taken effect. The deer was, therefore, divided.

Mr. Lewis hauled pork to Pekin, and during one trip carried a whisky bottle and put it into a hog, and as it was cold weather the hog froze up. On the way he met a preacher, and the two men had a very difficult undertaking to get out the whisky.

People were all neighborly in the early days. Mr. Lewis' daughter Jane was once bitten by a rattlesnake, and old John Pennel, who lived six miles distant, left his wheat stacks, where he was at work, and dug China snakeroot and cured her. He would accept no pay for this, as he " never charged neighbors anything." A horse belonging to Mr. Lewis went astray, and was taken up and kept by Peter McCullough, who lived nine or ten miles away at Dry Grove, and when Mr. Lewis asked the bill, old Peter said he " never charged neighbors anything." Indeed, the people considered all men neighbors whom they met within eighty miles or more.

The dress, which the Lewis family wore, was somewhat different from that worn by them in England. The English goods gave way to blue jeans and buckskin.

Mr. Lewis was five feet ten and one-half inches in height. He walked erect, was a hard worker, was very successful in business, was a kind neighbor and an honest man.

Samuel H. Lewis was born April 14, 1828, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. His father was Samuel Lewis, whose sketch is given above. When he came to Hudson he early learned to cultivate his muscle by hard work on a farm. Nevertheless, he did not allow the work of the farm to prevent him from making sharp work with the deer and turkeys, and at one time killed three deer within a space of a few rods. One of them was not immediately killed, and Mr. Lewis ran up to finish the work with Lis knife, when the animal uttered a bawl, threw up its hind legs and tore Mr. Lewis' pants frightfully ; but he killed it at last. At one time he shot a deer and wounded it severely, when it turned on him with its hair bristled up and pointing forward. Mr. Lewis made quick time to the rear, and his father came to his assistance and shot the pugnacious buck.

The most serious trouble the settlers encountered was the difficulty in getting their grain ground. Samuel Lewis and his brother once went to Crocker's mill and found three weeks grinding to be done before their turn would come. Fred Trimmer wished to have the business done for the boys first, so that they could go, but this was not allowed, as it was said that, if this was done, people would always send their boys to mill. Sometimes when he was delayed at the mill he worked for his board, for he was an industrious boy. He went to Green's mill, above Ottawa, sixty miles distant, and found this easier than going to the mills nearer home, as he could get his grinding done at Ottawa without waiting.

Mr. Lewis traveled in the West occasionally, and saw something of the country. Some twenty years ago he made an excursion to Texas, and found the people hospitable and kind, and everyone was ready and willing to entertain him, when he wished to stop. He made a trip down there after the war, but no one

His first excursion was full of life. While crossing the Trinity River on horseback, the swift current carried him down stream, and pressed him and his horse against a sapling, and tore off one of his saddle-hags. He sprang from his horse and saved the missing bag, and by good luck, as well as good conduct, came out of the river in safety. Mr. Lewis' partner, on this excursion, a man named Mason, rode an active little pony, which sometimes raised its rider in the air. Mr. Mason wTas thrown three times in one day. His pony once dodged a greenbriar thicket on one side, while the rider thought it would go the other, and he was compelled himself to take a middle course and go head first into the thicket. On their return, Lewis and Mason came through the Indiin territory with a drove of cattle. The Indians were partly civilized, and were up to a great deal of civilized rascality. While the drovers were crossing the Canadian River, in the Chocktaw country, the Indians drove the cattle, which crossed first, up on a mountain, and when the drovers came over, the Indians offered to get the cattle down for a dollar a head. But the drovers hired a negro to bring down the cattle for fifty cents a head, so that the Indians made nothing by their sharpness after all. The Indians, at that time, lived a civilized life and owned slaves, and some of them were quite wealthy. TherQ were among the Chocktaws some half-breed Indians and negroes, but this was a bad cross, as the half-breeds were treacherous and cowardly. Lewis and Mason had their cattle twice stampeded, once from a corral, but had little difficulty in finding them. The Texas cattle are a strange breed. It is dangerous to approach them on foot ; but they are very easily driven by men on horseback. The Texas drovers are bold riders, and when seated on a horse it is impossible to shake them off. They would ride any bull for five dollars. They would lassoo the bull, strap on a saddle tightly, and ride the ferocious animal until it sulked and laid down, and then they would take off the saddle. Mr. Lewis was with the Indians in the Indian territory long enough to form an opinion of some of the tribes. He was much impressed with the civilization of the Chocktaws and Cherokees, but the Creeks were not so intelligent. The various Indian nations had their territory set off to them, and were divided from each other by iron posts set up on the prairie, which showed the division lines. The life of a drover does not improve a man's personal appearance, and Mr. Lewis, on his return, was not the handsome man, who went away» His beard was grown, his coat was lost, his clothing torn, his face tanned, and in his general appearance he bore a closer resemblance to a shaggy buffalo on the plains than to a human being.

Mr. Lewis made an excursion to Texas since the war, and while there, was in danger of the Comanches, who came down the night before his arrival, killed several men, and took several children prisoners. The children would be traded back for a pony or a horse. The Comanches are fierce and vicious. "When they find a man on the prairie, they circle around bin on horseback, and lay on the sides of their horses and shoot from underneath while on the run. A good double-barrelled shot gun is the most effective weapon of defence, and more feared by them than a rifle. Mr. Lewis did not buy cattle on that excursion, as he could not see that it would pay.

Mr. Lewis married, January 1, 1868, Irene Smith, and has two children. He is six feet in height, is squarely built, has broad shoulders, a heavv head of sandy hair, and heavy red whiskers. He has blue eyes, and a broad, square, English face. He has had as good an education as the child of a pioneer could get. He went to old Dr. Hobbs, of Bloomington. When Mr. Lewis was twenty-one years of age, he was made a constable, and served under "William McCullough. Mr. Lewis has assessed the town of Hudson for eight years, and the experience he obtained under McCullough has been of great advantage to him in making his assessments. He is a jolly man, full of fun and jokes, enjoys a good story, and can tell one himself very easily. He "never charges neio-hbors anything."

James T. Gildersleeve was born April 10, 1803, in Hempstead, Queens County, New York. His father's name was James Gildersleeve, and his mother's name before her marriage was Catherine Dorlon. Hempstead was settled in 1643 by a few emigrants from New England, who came originally from Hemel Hempstead, twenty-three miles from the city of London. They rem'lean county. 651 ceived a patent of ground-brief from Governor Kieft, the Dutch governor of what was called New Netherlands. This patent was granted November 16, 1644, and was confirmed by the Indians July 4, 1657. This confirmation was obtained for the purpose of preventing any disturbances, which might otherwise occur between the whites and their Indian neighbors.

Among the first colonists were Richard Gildersleeve and Richard Gildersleeve, jr., ancestors of James T. Gildersleeve. They received three hundred and sixty acres of land. In those days the colonists were obliged to pay tithes to the Dutch governor, and it was resolved in town meeting of July 10, 1658, to depute Richard Gildersleeve to go down to the Manhattans to agree with the governor concerning the tithes, which they resolved should not exceed one hundred sheeples of wheat, to be delivered at the town harbor. At the same town meeting they agreed to pay the herdsman twelve shillings sterling per week in butter, corn and oats, at fixed prices, as follows : butter, six pence per pound ; corn, two shillings and six pence per bushel. The prices of other things were also fixed. Wheat was to be four shillings per bushel ; pork, three pence per pound ; lodging, two pence per night; board, five shillings per week; victuals, six pence per meal, and labor, two shillings and six pence per day. It was further agreed, that the people should all be ready at the sounding of the horn to turn out their cows and the keeper was required to be ready, when the sun was half an hour high, to take them to the pasture. He was to bring them back every evening a half an hour before sunset, and to drive them one day in each week to Cow Neck, where they could eat the vegetation, which was salted by the tide.

James T. Gildersleeve lived on his father's farm near Hempstead nearly all the time until he came West. He spent a short time in New York studying law. He married in Hempstead, August 23, 1828, Mary Ann Eckford Rhodes, who died in Bloomington, August 9, 1846.

In the winter of 1835-6, in the town of Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois, certain parties drew up articles of agreement, associating themselves together to form a colony. This association was formed February 6, 1836, and it was known as the Illinois Land Association. The business of the association was conducted by an executive committee of three. These were George F. Purkitt, Horatio N. Pettit and John Gregory. In the spring of 1836 Horatio X. Pettit came to Mr. Gildersleeve in Hempstead, and wished him to join the colony. James T. and Joseph D. Gildersleeve subscribed for four colony interests, which gave them the right to nearly seven hundred acres of land, consisting of prairie and timber land, and town lots in Hudson. Mr. Gildersleeve started West in September, 1836, from Xew York with his wife and child. They went to Philadelphia, thence to Pittsburg, and thence by steamboat to St. Louis. From Louisville to St. Louis they enjoyed the society of a circus troupe. From the latter place they went by steamboat to Pekin, and from there started to Bloomington in a three-horse wagon. There was then a perfect rush of people to Illinois, and wherever they went on their journey, every place and all means of transportation were crowded. When it drew towards night on their journey from Pekin it was almost impossible to get a place to stay one night. Each one referred them to the next house. His first hotel bill was $2.50, for which he wished to give a gold quarter-eagle, but the man wanted it in silver. At Dry Grove Mr. Gildersleeve learned that Bloomington was full of people, so he came across to Havens' Grove.

Mr. Gildersfteve's family lived very uncomfortably and in close quarters until he could build a house, which he occupied on the fourth of December. This forms a part of the house where he now lives. Jacob H. Burtis, of Jacksonville, stayed that winter in one-half of his house, and was ready to build in the spring. During that winter Mr. Gildersleeve's family had no flour and was obliged to boil corn as a substitute for bread.

The rattlesnakes in early days were plenty, and they took up quarters wherever they could find it convenient. Mr. Gildersleeve remembers that on one occasion, when he went to the hearth to light his pipe, he heard a sharp rattle and found a snake, coiled up on the hearth. It had crawled through the weather-boarding between the outside of the house and the wall and there, seeing a hole in the plastering, had crawled through to the hearth.

Mr. Gildersleeve had once a very intelligent horse, and in March, 1837, wished to cross the Six Mile Creek near Havens' Grove, while the ice was running. His horse, full of courage and intelligence, sprang upon a thick cake of ice as it floated down, walked across and stepped off on the other side. Mr. Gildersleeve was once riding this horse across a bridge on Sugar Creek, when the stream was high and running like a mill-race. Several planks were floated off and others were raised up ; but the horse stepped cautiously over the holes, and when the planks were raised up, it carefully pressed them down to the beams on which they rested, before it trusted its weight. After the country became a little settled, the ducks and geese and sandhill cranes became very numerous. At one time, while Mr. and Mrs. Gildersleeve were riding over the country, which had lately been burnt by a fire, they saw what appeared to be a new fence, which extended a long distance ; but as they approached, it proved to be some thousands of sandhill cranes.

In about the year 1843 or '44 a great hail storm visited the West. It was the severest ever known. A green cloud came up from the south, and when the storm burst the hail stones came down with terrific force. They split the shingles on the roofs of houses, killed the prairie chickens and snipe on the prairie, and broke the back of a hog in Havens' Grove, a half a mile west of Hudson. These hail stones were of great size ; one of them measured seven inches in circumference. When the storm was over, a Mr. Rinehart took a basket and collected it full of prairie chickens and snipe, which had been killed by the hail stones.

In the spring of 1845 Mr. Gildersleeve was appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court by Judge Treat. Some time after this the new constitution was adopted, making the office elective. In November, 1848, the time for election came, and Mr. Gildersleeve and William H. Allin were candidates, the former a Democrat and the latter a Whig. The contest wa% very sharp indeed, and Mr. Gildersleeve's friends worked very hard. Even Abraham Brokaw, who never before or since took an interest in politics, worked for Mr. Gildersleeve enthusiastically. The Whig majority was about six hundred, bnt Mr. Gildersleeve was only beaten by eighty or ninety votes.

In March, 1849, Mr. Gildersleeve moved back to Hudson, where he has resided ever since. Mr. Gildersleeve has had three children, but only one is living. This is Charles Turner Gildersleeve, who was brought to this country when only six years old. It was at that time supposed that every one who came to the West would have the ague, and though the infant Gildersleeve was a fine, healthy boy, it was thought that he too must endure the shakes. An old lady, who saw young Charles, said: "You poor little boy, to think how soon the color must come out of those cheeks !" But the old lady was wrong, for Charles has borne the climate well and is a healthy man.

Mr. Gildersleeve is six feet in height, and is generously formed ; his hair is white and flowing, and this, with his full white beard, gives him the appearance of a patriarch. His eyes are black, and his features are large. He seems to be a man of large mind, and would naturally be popular and command the support of friends. He is full of humor and loves to tell funny stories almost as well as Abraham Lincoln ; and they are good ones, and have point and fun in them. He married, October 14, 1847, Elizabeth S. Conkling, at Leroy. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Dr. Perry. She is a pleasant lady and loves a joke as well as her husband. She has very quick perceptions and greatly enjoys the society of her friends.

Joseph D. Gildersleeve was born November 30, 1805, in Hempstead, Queens County, New York, on Long Island. (For his ancestors see sketch of his brother James).

Mr. Gildersleeve remembers some of the queer customs among the farmers of Hempstead, and particularly what was called "sheep parting." They all had their sheep marked and turned out on the commons on the first of April of every year ; and on the first of November the sheep were put in a large pen, around which were several smaller pens, and here the sheep were divided. All were driven up together and each farmer hunted up his sheep, which were recognized by their marks and put in separate pens. This was always a great day and a large crowd attended. They drank wine and cider and beer and varied the exercises with horse- racin sr.

Air. Gildersleeve went to school in Hempstead and received his common school education there. He was not remarkably different from other boys, but occasionally had his fun. He once went down to explore a well on a boyish frolic and the well caved partly in. He was rescued, but shortly afterwards it all caved in. He and a companion once rescued a man, who was caught in a well, which had caved in and covered up the unfortunate person, so that only his hair was visible. They dug away the dirt around his head, put a barrel over it to protect him and succeeded at last in getting him out.

Mr. Gildersleeve chose the profession of carriage maker and painter, and worked on Long Island and also for a year or two in Dutchess County. In the fall of 1836 he came with his brother, James T. Gildersleeve, to Hudson, McLean County, Illinois, and began farming and raising stock. He has ever since resided in Hudson township. He was something of a sportsman, and occasionally hunted wolves, deer and turkeys. Mr. Gildersleeve frequently chased wolves, and at one time, while riding eagerly after one on horseback with a gun, he tried to shoot, but every time he stopped, the wolf gained so fast and went so far that he was obliged to renew the chase. At last he fired, but the exertion was too much for his gravity, and he pitched headlong from the horse, which went after the wolf on its own account. Mr. Gildersleeve was not always so unfortunate in hunting, for occasionally luck seemed to decide in his favor. He at one time killed three deer with two bullets. The first bullet killed two deer standing together, and the second killed a third deer near

Mr. Gildersleeve is about five feet and ten inches in height. His hair and whiskers are perfectly gray with age. He has rather a strong face, has black eyes, is a kind man and has plenty of courage. He has been temperate in his habits, never smoked or chewed tobacco, and never played a game of cards, in which respect he differs from many young men of the present day.

Jacob Hicks Burtis was born November 18, 1796, in Queens County, on Long Island, within a few miles of Hampstead. When eighteen or twenty years of age he went to New York and learned the carving business of the cabinet makers' trade.

During the war of 1812, he enlisted in a company in New York city and was chosen captain, but was never called into active service. He married, February 5, 1821, Eliza Carman, who died in 1832. Mr. Burtis was a merchant for two years in Brooklyn. In May, 1835, he married Mary "Weeks, and in September of that year he started for the west. His family stopped for a while in Jacksonville, and at Alton, Illinois, and did not arrive at Hudson township until December 1, 1836. His family lived during the first winter with James T. Gildersleeve. Mr. Burtis had bought a share in the Hudson colony, and this gave him a right to one hundred and sixty acres of prairie and some wood land. He settled, in the spring of 1837, about two miles north of the village of Hudson, and there remained until the time of his death, which occurred June 16, 1873. He first built a small house of lumber, sawed with a whip saw, but, with improving circumstances, he was enabled to build larger.

His health, previous to his death, had not been good for some time, but the sickness, which immediately preceded his death, lasted only two days.

Mr. Burtis was a Christian man, though not a member of any church. He received the rite of baptism in the Episcopal church ; but as his parents died when he was very young, he was never confirmed. He was very quiet, patient and hopeful, in his last illness, as long as consciousness remained.

Alfred S. Burtis was a soldier during the rebellion in the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and died January 9, 1862, of sickness in the hospital at Mound City.

Enoch A. Gastman was born June 5, 1801, in West Friesland, Holland. His father's name was Eilt A. Gastman. He never came to America, nor did any of his relatives, except his son, Enoch, whose sketch we are writing. In 1808 young Enoch went on board of a French man-of-war, when Napoleon Bonaparte was at the head of affairs in France. It was young Enoch's business to brush coats and black boots. The discipline was very strict, as Enoch found by sad experience.

In 1812-13, Napoleon made his celebrated march to Moscow and his disastrous retreat. After his defeat and capture, the soldiers and sailors under him were discharged, and Enoch was told to go. He went back to Holland, where he remained until spring, and then went coasting on board of a Dutch schooner. After coasting about a great deal and visiting many ports, he came on land for a while, and was bound out to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner. After working for two years he took French leave of his master. He worked at other places and stayed for one winter with his father. When he became seventeen years of age, he fell in with an East India captain and shipped as carpenter's mate forBatavia, on the island of Java. There he saw many Chinamen with their brimmed hats. But the crew were seldom allowed to go ashore, as the place was very sickly.

An intoxicating drink, called arrack, is made there out of the juice of the cocoanut tree. This juice is allowed to ferment, and when it works it makes the intoxicating drink. All persons, who go to Java, must exercise the greatest caution in their diet or they sicken and die. While Mr. Gastman was there, an American ship came to port, and as the sailors had been without grog for a long time, they were given their back rations in arrack, and they drank themselves to death and were buried on the island of Unrest. Mr. Gastman made three trips to Java. In 1824 he and three others chartered a vessel to carry a cargo of powder and gin to the Mexicans, who were then fighting for independence against Spain. They started through the British channel, but a southwest wind blew them to the North Sea. They attempted to go around the British Isles to the Atlantic Ocean, but were dismasted and waterlogged, and would have gone to the bottom, had not the cargo of gin kept the vessel afloat. Seven of the crew were drowned, and seven were picked up by an American vessel. Of these, two died from the effects of their hardships, and the remaining five were carried to New York. There he shipped on board of a vessel for Norfolk, thence to Grenada, South America, thence to Turk's Island, and thence to Portland, Maine. He made a great many voyages to all parts of the world, and had a great many adventures, but thought he would settle down at work in New York as a rigger. But soon he was off on a voyage to London, then came back to New York. Here he married, July 11, 1830, Margaret Hiegans. After many voyages and adventures, he had a wife, and seventyfive cents in his pocket. He again became a rigger for a while, but soon was a public porter, and remained such for six years. For six years also, he was a night watchman, and a part of this time a porter. He had many lively adventures in New York, while making arrests, as thieves and smugglers were plenty. In the winter of 1837-8, he started for Illinois, and arrived at Hudson, McLean County, in March. Everything was then selling at high prices. He boarded for a while with Horatio N. Pettit, then traded his land for the place of R. G. Marion, and moved on the latter farm in June. In 1840 the prices of produce of all kinds came down, and it seemed as if everything was given away. Mr. Gastman contracted to sell a load of potatoes to Mr. Barnett, of the Eagle Hotel, but when the former went to deliver them he could get only four cents per bushel. Rather than sell them at such a figure he carried them down to Sugar Creek, took out the tail-board of his wagon and emptied them into the stream.

In the spring of 1857, Mrs. Gastman died, and in April, Mr. Gastman moved to Hudson and sent his children to Eureka College. In 1858 he married Ann Hitch. She died in 1862. He then moved to his sou's farm. In 1863, Mr. Gastman married Lavinia Randalls, who is yet living.

Enoch A. Gastman, jr., who was born June 15, 1834, in New York city, No. 54 Mulberry street. He went to Eureka College for three months, then to the Normal school, where he graduated. He has been for twelve years superintendent of schools at Decatur, Illinois.

George Washington Gastman was born July 12, 1837, in New York city. He went one year and three months to Eureka College, when his health failed him, and he returned to his farm. He is married, and lives on his farm near Hudson.

Francis Marion Gastman was born in August, 1842, in Hudson township. He was two years at Eureka College, and two years at the Normal. He enlisted in the army in 1861, in the Normal regiment, (Thirty-third Illinois,) commanded by Colonel Hovey. He died at Black River, March 22, 1862.

These are all of Mr. Gastman's children, who grew up to manhood. He named the last two after Revolutionary patriots and is sorry that Enoch was not also named after some Revolutionary soldier. If he had another child he would name it Andrew Jackson, (regardless of sex,) on account of the services rendered by Jackson during the Revolution. (?)

Mr. Gastman is a Democrat, dyed in the wool, a real, genuine, uncompromising Democrat, and would vote for no man of any other party. He is five feet and ten inches in height, and is enormously muscular. He treats a rough man roughly, but when he talks to gentlemen he is a gentleman himself. He is a humorous man, and takes life pleasantly. He delights in telling of his adventures, and will sit and talk by the hour, when he has an appreciative listener. He is proud of his boys, and has' a right to be, for they are an honor to him.

David and William 13. Henline, brothers, live near each other in Lawndale township. They own their large property together, consisting of large flocks of cattle and stock of all kinds, and about four thousand acres of laud. As they are united in all things, their sketches are written together and so placed in this volume.

David was born March 6, 1822, and William B. was born December 20, 1823, in Boone county, Kentucky. Their father's name was John Henline, of German descent, and their mother's name, before her marriage, was Mary Darnell. John Henline was a successful farmer and kept his business very straight. In the fall of 1828, the Henline family came to the West. On the first day of the journey, John Henline broke his leg, and it was set by quack doctors and bound with straight splints. He suffered with it severely, and during the first winter after his arrival in the West, he chopped in the timber by kneeling down. The family came first to Hittle's Grove, in Tazewell county, near the present line between Tazewell and McLean. There they remained a few weeks, while John Henline went to Mackinaw timber and built a cabin. When it was finished, he returned and brought the family. The three brothers, John, George and William Henline, all settled near each other.

The little Henline boys were often visited by the little Indians. The latter were usually the victors in the races they ran ; but the former showed more muscle and came out first best in the childish quarrels. Such things always excited the anger of the squaws, and they would chastise the little pappooses severely, and bring up the little Henlines to their mother and clap their hands together and say, " whip pappoose, whip pappoose." The old lady would go through the motions of whipping her boys, and the little Henlines would yell, and the squaws would laugh, and all parties would be satisfied.

In the fall of 1830, the Henlines went back to Kentucky to get a stock of farming implements. While there, Mrs. Henline took up a lot of little apple sprouts in a stocking, put earth around them and brought them out to Illinois. The orchard raised from these sprouts is yet standing on the Henline place. At Cincinnati, the Henlines bought large kettles in which to boil maple sap, and some of these kettles they still have.

The winter of 1830-31, of the deep snow, is an era in the life of all who experienced its severity. When the snow began falling, Martin Darnell, from Indian Grove, was at the house of the Henlines. He started home, ten miles distant, after the snow began falling, in company with John Henline and Squire Thompson. The two latter went about three miles, and Darnell went the rest of the way alone. He was short of meat, but captured a few wild hogs, and by this means his family was saved from great suffering. They saw no living person outside of their own family for six weeks or more. During that fearful winter, the Henline boys obtained plenty of healthy exercise by gathering corn. John Henline, jr., fed wild hogs out in the snow, and thej^ made a track as they came up. One morning, he told the folks to look out for deer, as he would drive some up. Soon he was heard to halloo and sure enough up came the deer. Three of them were killed, but were hardly worth it, as they were very poor.

During the Black Hawk war the people were much alarmed, and the settlers made a fort on the land of John Henline, and during their occasional frights would collect there from all parts of the country. The slightest thing would cause an alarm, and the people would gather in. At one time an Indian came to the house of a woman named Shelton, and obtained some bread and milk; but she was so scared that she took her children to a schoolhouse, where her husband was teaching, and the school was dismissed immediately and the people were aroused. At another time some boys were out in the woods at play, when one of them caught sight of a stump and said, " I see an Injin," and ran for home digging up dirt with his little toes at every leap. The rest of the boys laughed at him and called him back, and at last sat the dog on him; but he reached home, told his story and the credulous neighborhood was aroused again, and women ran with their babies for the fort. Men were sent out to investigate the matter and at last learned the mistake. During all of this excitement the rangers moved from one fort to another, and when they camped at night they usually helped themselves to whatever they could find to eat, and the settlers were very willing they should. One of these rangers had a fondness for milk and would pick up a panful and say, " boys, this is what I was raised on," and drink it, During one dark evening he happened to pick up a pan of dish water ! The rest may be imagined.

When Mr. John Henline came to this country he was lame, in consequence of a severe injury to his leg, and could not walk fast. He had a couple of rams which the boys had taught to be vicious, though the latter could always manage them. One morning the old gentleman came out in the yard and the vicious rams charged on him, and as he could not run he was obliged to take refuge on a stump, and there called to his boys to take away the rams. But it is sad to record that these youngters were so neglectful of their duty and enjoyed so keenly the sport, that they allowed the old gentleman to remain on the stump until he said, " boys, I would n't serve you so," when they took away the rams.

The Henline boys amused themselves in their youthful days by trapping turkeys. These foolish birds would walk into the traps with their heads down, eating corn, and would not know enough to put down their heads and walk out. Out of a flock of about thirty turkeys, only three knew enough to escape.

The Henline boys went to school, of course, when a school was taught in the neighborhood, and they traveled through snow and rain and slush. During the sudden change in December, 1836, they started from the school house, wading in slush knee deep, and before going far they " scooted over the ice like a top."

In writing of the experience of David and William B. Henline, the things they saw in childhood are particularly given, because they were children in the early days. But many things of a very important nature are impressed on the minds of children, and from childish recollections we obtain actual, life-like impressions. The Henlines remember the wagons of the men who came over the country to speculate and buy land. The parties looking up land used the rudest but most iugeuious ways to learn its description. They bunted up the corners of sections, then traveled by compass, tied a rag to a wagon wheel, counted the revolutions, and by this means measured the distance.

John Henline, the father of David and William, was born November 7, 1787, and died July 26, 1869. His wife Mary, was born January 22, 1791, and died November 28, 1865.

David and William Henline are of about the same height, five feet and four or five inches. They have heavy whiskers and are very muscular. William is rather stouter in build. They are both good natured, kind hearted and hospitable, and love fun and humor. David Henline was married in the winter of 1855, but his wife is now dead. William B. Henline married in June, 1853, Jane Wright, who died in 1861. Two children born of this marriage, John D. and Elmira A. Henline, live at home. On the 25th of February, 1866, W. B. Henline married Jane Moon, a woman who is kind in her manner and sensible in her conversation.

Martin Henline, brother of David and W. B. Henline, was born October 25, 1819, in Boone County, Kentucky. He lived there until the Fall of 1828, when he came with the Henline family to Illinois. The family immediately began farming on their arrival, on what has since been called Henline Creek, in the northern edge of Mackinaw timber.

Martin Henline, of course, remembers the deep snow of 1830-1, and being then a little boy, he could run around on top of it. He remembers how his elder brother John drove up three deer from the pasture, when he went out to feed the pigs; for the wild nature of the deer was tamed by cold and starvation. It was no easy matter to obtain fuel to burn during that winter, and in order to get it the Henlines cut down trees and hauled them in by dragging them over the snow with oxen.

During the Black Hawk war the Henline fort was the place where all the frightened settlers congregated, whenever they thought it worth while to take a scare. The Henlines had a large gun, which they called the " old yawger;" this gun made a loud report, and was known by the sound. At one time, while Martin was out in the woods with others at play, some parties attempted to play a trick on him by firing the gun to bring him in for fear of Indians ; but Martin was too sharp, for he knew the report of the " old yawger."

Mr. Henline is somewhat below the medium height, is rather fleshy, has a round head, thick, black hair and heavy whiskers. He is a pleasant, humorous man, takes life easily, and does not trouble himself unnecessarily about the future.

Martin Batterton was born September 29, 1807, in Madison County, Kentucky. His father, Abraham Batterton, was of English descent, and his mother, whose maiden name was Susannah Henline, was of Dutch. Abraham Batterton was, for a short time, a soldier in the war of 1812, and served under General Hopkins against the Indians. Martin Batterton lived in Kentucky, where he was born, until the fall of 1833, when he came to Illinois. He went to school in Kentucky, was a fair scholar, and paid strict attention to his book. In the fall of 1833 he came out on horseback with a friend to Mackinaw timber, where his relatives, the Henlines, lived. In August, 1834, he went back to Kentucky, and brought out some carpenter's tools and other articles necessary in a new country. He became a jack-of-all-trades, and could make anything out of wood. He was farmer, carpenter, cooper, cabinetmaker, shoemaker, and, indeed, was handy at all things. He made his own chairs when he first came to the country and has them yet. In 1835 he entered the land where he now lives, having bought the improvement made on it by Nickolas Darnell, and on this land built the house in which he now resides.

Mr. Batterton is rather less than the medium height. His hair, once dark, is now becoming gray. His eyes are dark, with a clear, intelligent expression, and his nose is a little Roman. He is a remarkably careful, accurate man in his business, and none of his property suffers for want of attention. His crops are always gathered in season ; his stock is seldom caught in a dangerous storm ; everything about the place is very neat. In other words, he is a careful, thrifty farmer, with a large farm and a big barn to shelter his stock.

Jacob Spawr was born January 24, 1802, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, His father's name was Valentine Spawr, and his mother's maiden name was Anna Margaret 'Richer. Valentine Spawr was American born, but of German descent, and his wife, Anna Margaret, was born in Germany, but came to the United States when only two years of age. Valentine Spawr was a soldier and served under General Anthony Wayne against the Indians, and was once wounded through the body.

In the fall of 1826 Jacob Spawr came to Illinois, in company with the Cox family and Robert Guthrie. His father's family came the following year. The journey was pleasant and Mr. Spawr was active in driving the sheep and cattle. He went to Money Creek timber and there commenced working for Mrs. Trimmer, who had a large family of children. Her husband had died a short time previous.

Jacob Spawr married, December 3, 1826, Eliza Ann Trimmer, one of the old lady's daughters. He had no license, as he would have been obliged to go to Vandalia to get one, so he posted up notices and the justice of the peace, William Orendorff, who married him, made return of the marriage to the Clerk of the Court at Vandalia. Six or seven years afterwards Mr. Orendorff married a second wife, and Jacob Spawr, who had been elected a justice of the peace in the meantime, performed the ceremony. After Mr. Spawr's marriage he began farming on his own account.

In 1827 the settlers were much excited by the Winnebago war, which was threatened in the mining country by Red Bird, the chief of the Winnebagoes. While the excitement continued old Machina, the chief of the Kickapoos, came down to Mr. Spawr to inquire the condition of affairs, whenever the latter returned from Bloomington, where he went to militia training. Machina declared that in case of war the Kickapoos would certainly help the whites. After a while an order came to send fifteen men, and Mr. Spawr, being first lieutenant of the company, was ordered to go with them. But the Rev. Mr. Latta insisted on taking Mr. Spawr's place, and at last was allowed to do so. The fifteen men were taken to Peoria, but the Indian troubles were soon quieted, and the men came home.

During the winter of the deep snow Mr. Spawr pounded corn of course. For nearly sixty days the sun did not shine warm enough to make a wet spot in front of his south door. During that winter a man named Rook came down from Rook's Creek (Little Vermilion) with a handsled, walking with snow-shoes, and obtained corn for his family of Conrad Flesher, who lived where Lexington now stands.

During the Black Hawk war the people of Mackinaw and Money creek timber were excited and apprehensive, and many of them moved away to Sangamon County. Many men at Eppard's Point, on the Little Vermilion, moved their families to Money Creek and went back themselves to attend to their crops. The volunteers from Indiana, about six hundred in number, camped within twenty or thirty rods of Mr. Spawr's house, and during the night had two false alarms. At one time a lightning bug showed its phosphorus, and one of the guards fired at the harmless insect, and the camp was in an uproar. But after a while matters were quieted. Soon another gun was discharged, and on inquiry it was found that a soldier, who had a pique against two others, had fired into their tent. The excitement among the soldiers was very great for a while, and one of them, while loading his gun, mistook a can of buttermilk for a powder horn, and loaded his gun accordingly. The soldiers wished Mr. Spawr to issue a warrant for the arrest of the man, who attempted to shoot his comrades, hut Air. Spawr told them that their own martial law should settle such matters.

The town of Lexington was laid off in 1835 ; and in 1836 Mr. Spawr moved there from Money Creek timber. It was during December of that year that the great sudden change of the weather occurred. Mr. Spawr then saw the water blown into waves and frozen in that way. He speaks of another sudden change almost as severe. In November, 1842, he started for Chicago with a party to drive stock. The weather had been mild, but it snowed and melted and by the seventh of November it froze up. On the return of the party from Chicago they crossed the Kankakee on the ice at the rapids, where the water runs as swiftly as a mill race. A thaw came in January, but the cold weather again returned and winter continued until March.

Mr. Spawr is of medium height, is rather solidly built, and seems to be enjoying good health in his old age. He is a quiet man, is very kindly disposed, and much looked up to^among the old settlers. He leads a very quiet, contented life, though he works enough to keep himself healthy. He is a man universally respected for his integrity and correct judgment.

George Spawr, son of Valentine Spawr, was born December 26, 1806, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1827, he came to Illinois with the Spawr family, except two sisters, who never came, and also except Jacob and his sister, Mrs. Catherine Guthrie, who came the year before. When they came to the Indiana wilderness of heavy timber, they met with a lot of teams, and all joined and went through the wilderness together, in order to be protected against a band of robbers, by whom it was infested. The travellers camped one night in the wilderness and were visited by a suspicious character, but they detailed seven men to watch the camp and were not molested. In the morning their unwelcome visitor left.

After they crossed the Wabash River and came to the prairie they mired down in the first slough ; but they soon learned the nature of the sloughs and drove through them quickly without stopping long enough to become fast in the mire. They found the worst slough at Cheney's Grove. But by good management and quick driving the Spawr family came safely through without assistance. The Cheneys took care of them that night and showed the greatest hospitality, and made no charge for favors rendered. The next day the Spawr family took the Indian trail and went on to Money Creek timber, where they settled.