Mount Hope Township (part 2 of 3)

Mr. Rutledge is about five feet and ten inches in height; his hair is gray, what there is of it, and his head is bald. His eyes are bright and pleasant, and the lines on his face seem laid out for the purpose of making an honest, pleasant smile. The dimples still come in his cheeks, and he is full of the best of humor, and, like all of the old settlers, wishes to be a good friend to all of his neighbors, and indeed to the whole world. He is in very good health, and seems inclined to work more than he should in the later years of his life. He is always glad to see his children and his friends.

lived for a while in Georgia, and there married Sallie Smith. He also lived near Nashville, Tennessee, and moved from there to Henderson County, Kentucky, where his son Robert was born. The Rutledge family came to Illinois in December, 1814. 'They came to Shawneetown, and afterwards moved out in the country about thirty-five miles. The county was then called Gallatin. Thomas Rutledge was there chosen justice of the peace in 1813, and held his office for ten years. In 1826 the family came to Randolph Grove. On the twentieth of August, 1830, old Thomas Rutledge died, in the sixty-second year of his age. His wife, Sallie Rutledge, was born August 20, 1778, and died December 12, 1843. :

Robert Rutledge says that when he came to Randolph Grove in 1826, the country was an uninhabited wilderness from Pekin to the eastern state line, and from La Salle to Decatur. The county was then called Tazewell, with the seat of justice at Mackinawtown. William H. Hodge was then sheriff. Since that time Macon County has been taken off on the south, and Champaign, Vermilion, and our own county of McLean, have been taken from thé east.

Mr. Rutledge, like many other settlers, has had a hard milling experience. The family first did without a mill, and Mr. Rutledge, sr., made a hominy mortar and a pestle attached to a spring pole, by means of which the hominy was beaten. But when the little " nigger head" horse-mills came in use, young Robert was obliged to take his sack of corn, go to mill on horseback one day and return with meal the next. :

Mr. Rutledge was a lively hunter, and he had plenty ef opportunities for exercising his skill, for deer were as " plenty as blackberries." In 1826 he saw from the door of his cabin more than a hundred deer walking one after the other. At one time, during the fall of this year, Mr. Rutledge, sr., killed three deer in the morning before breakfast.

The wolves were then very numerous, Mr. Rutledge, at one time during the fall of 1826, was traveling in an ox-cart a short distance west of where Heyworth now is, and there saw within forty yards of him twenty-eight large gray wolves and one prairie wolf. He often went on the "ring" hunts, as they were called, and was in the great hunt described by John Price, which appears in the latter's sketch. Mr. Rutledge also says that the great wolf, which was for a long time the terror of the whole neighborhood for a great many miles around, once got into his traps and lost its toes in getting out. This was the wolf which was afterwards killed by John Price. Mr. Rutledge's last wolf hunt was in the month of June in about the year 1838. He started out one rainy morning with John Weedman. They went not more than a mile and a-half before starting three large black wolves. Weedman shot one through the shoulder, and Rutledge, while riding at full speed, shot another.

McLean County was organized in 1830. The first couple married in the county after its organization were Robert H. Rutledge and Charity Weedman. They were married June 9, 1831, by Father T. Brittain, who lived at the head of Old Town. The first license granted in McLean County after its formation was given to them by Isaac Baker, the first county clerk. Charity Weedman was born July 21; 1812, in Perry County, Ohio. Her father came to McLean County in 1830. He was an active man of considerable influence, and was for some time a county commissioner. He was a great hunter, was wide awake, arose early in the morning and at one time killed two deer before breakfast in order to have a good appetite. His daughter Charity was a lively young woman; she was up and doing and at one time walked four miles to weave in order to earn some chickens to get a start and raise a flock. Robert and Charity built their first cabin in the fall of 1831, on the ground where they now live. Their little cabin had neither floor nor door until the following spring. Their bedstead was made by boring holes in the side of the house and driving in poles for rails and using clapboards for bedchords. Robert Rutledge and his brother-in-law, Jacob Bishop, thought they must have the luxury of tables, so they cuta log and each of them split out a table from it. The first prairie which Mr. kutledge broke was in the spring of 1832. He then worked under some difficulties. Mrs. Rutledge had one child, which she would lay on the bed and go out and drive the oxen, ` while Mr. Rutledge held the plow.

make the round trip. While they were gone, their unprotected families were obliged to be on their guard against Indians and wild animals. The three men went with ox teams to where Pontiac now stands, thence to Sulphur Springs and the Kankakee River, where they forded, thence to Hickory Creek, north of Joliet, and from there to Chicago. They were loaded with corn and oats, and sold the corn for $1.50 per bushel and the oats for $1.00. They found in Chicago only one family of white folks, that of William Clybourne. They did their trading with two Frenchmen by the name of Beaubean. They loaded their teams with salt and started on their return to their anxious families. After going twelve miles they came to the river Desplaines and were there water bound three days. At last their fifteen teams were taken over by half-breed Indians for $1.50 a piece. They were water-bound two days at the Dupage River, and amused themselves during their enforced idleness by going to hear a Methodist preacher, who was exhorting to the Indians. They crossed the Dupage in canoes and the Desplaines in the same way. From there they went to Sugar Grove on Fox River, and thence to Ottawa, where they crossed the Illinois. From there they went to Panther Creek, thence to Crow Creek, then on to Havens' Grove across the Mackinaw, thence.to where Bloomington now is, and on home to Randolph's Grove.

When Mr. Rutledge came to Randolph's Grove, there were Gardner Randolph, Captain Stringfield and his mother's family, James Burleson and family, Jesse Funk, Mr. Dickerson and W. Games. Isaac Funk, Robert Stubblefield and William Brock lived at Funk's Grove. John Hendrix, William and, Thomas Orendorff, William Walker, Ebenezer Rhodes, John Rhodes and John Benson, lived at Blooming Grove.

The changes which have taken place are of every kind and description. The face of the country is changed by the fields and houses and roads, by the timber which has becn cut down, and by the timber which has grown up. Mr. Rutledge has cut timber, grown since his settlement here, that squared eight inches.

Mr. Rutledge has had few misfortunes, but one has been something of a difficulty for him. Mr. Rutledge's house burned down on the sixteenth of October, 1872, but it is now replaced.

by a new and substantial building which will be his homestead for the remainder of his life. But notwithstanding this misfortune, Mr. Rutledge has usually been very successful. He has acquired a competence of this world's goods; he has been blessed with good health, a splendid wife and a magnificent crop of children. He has had twelve children, seven of whom are living.

Mr. Rutledge is of medium stature. He isas good and honest a man as ever lived. He appreciates a funny story, but would rather not have too many practical jokes played on himself.

Jesse Fune

Jesse Funk was born December 15, 1803, in Clark County, Kentucky. His father was Adam Funk and his mother's maiden name was Nancy Moore. Nancy Moore was the daughter of Mr. Philip Moore, who came from Germany. Adam Funk, the father of Jesse, was the son of Adam Funk, who, while only six years of age, was brought by his father Adam Funk, from Germany. The child Adam was left by his father in Philadelphia in charge of a friend, while the father went to seek a place of business, but never returned and was never again heard of. The child Adam . grew to manhood and married Miss Sarah Long, and their children were Adam, Margaret and Jacob. Adam married Miss Nancy Moore, as above stated. Their children were Absalom, John, Jacob, Sarah, Isaac, Dorothy, Tabitha, Jesse and Robert.

In 1808 the Funk family moved to Fayette County, Ohio. ' Jesse Funk remembered the war of 1812, although but a very small lad. Two of his elder brothers were soldiers in that war and served under General Cass. At the close of the war General Cass came home with them and made a visit of several days.

Jesse Funk's business while a boy was the herding of pigs on the White Oak Plains, where they were taken to feed on mast. This occupation and hunting kept him busy. He hunted bees, bear, wolves and panther. In addition to his gun he carried, on his hunting excursions, a butcher knife and a three-pound axe for a tomahawk. His hunting companions were frequently the Indians, with whom he was on terms of friendship. He often had shooting matches with them. Mr. Wesley Funk tells of a bear fight, in which his father and Isaac Funk andsa Mr. Pancake were engaged in Ohio, and which he has often heard his father relate. They started out one morning on horseback with the hounds and went to a little stream called Deer Creek. Before going a great way they started an enormous bear. Isaac and Mr. Pancake being somewhat excited, gave it a hard chase and drove. it to its nest. This was made of grass piled on the ground five feet high, and underneath was the bear with her cubs. Isaac, who was then a reckless youth, rode his horse over the nest, bear, cubs and all. This brought out the beast and a general fight took place. It was tackled by nineteen hounds, but the bear came off first best and nearly killed three of the hounds, before they could be called off. The animal was then furious; the hunters tried to drive it towards their shanty before shooting it, But Isaac became impatient and wanted more sport and again he charged on the bear and and rode his horse over it. But the brute was a little too quick this time; it caught the horse in the edge of the hair on its left fore foot and tore the ancle and hoof on the front side.

The horse fell, and Isaac was thrown. The horse ran for home while the bear took after Isaac and would undoubtedly have killed him, had not Jesse rushed on with the dogs and drawn off the attention of the brute; until the reckless Isaac could escape. The bear climbed a low tree and Jesse tried to shoot it, but the flint in his gun would not make fire. The powder was lit with a splinter, and when the gun fired the bear came down, and Isaac picked up Jesse's tomahawk and went for the brute again and struck it. But the hear reared up for another fight and again Jesse rushed on with the dogs to save Isaac from the results of his recklessness." Jesse rushed his horse on the bear's heels and when it turned on him he rammed the gun barrel down its throat and stabbed it with his knife behind the left shoulder. Between Jesse and the dogs they succeeded in killing it.

But Jesse Funk was not always successful in securing his bear meat, when he had killed it. At one time he killed a bear's cub and started for home, but was delayed, and the wolves came howling after him. They came-thicker and thicker and closer and closer, and at last he was obliged to drop his bear, and while the wolves were eating it he and his dog went home,

During the last year before he came to Illinois he worked for a Mr. Rankin and received as his pay one hundred and twenty dollars in American half dollars.

On the fifteenth of December, 1824, Jesse Funk came to Randolph's Grove in what was then Fayette, but now McLean County Illinois. During the first year after his arrival in Illinois he lived with his brother Isaac at Funk's Grove. On the fifteenth of September, 1825, he married Miss Fannie U. Stringfield.

Rey. John S. Barger, while writing of Jesse Funk's marriage, says: " The writer remembers to have heard him say in regard to the marriage fee, that he asked the preacher his charge for his services, who replied: 'I am not in the habit of making charges on such occasions, but usually accept what the parties are disposed to give.' He said: 'I was much relieved by his answer, and ran my hand into my pocket and gave him $2.50. If he had~ made a charge and had charged me more than that small sum I could not then have paid the fee!'" On the 11th of March, 1826, the newly married couple moved into their log cabin, twelve by fourteen feet, with only one side of the roof covered, a blanket for a shutter to the door, having no chimney and no floor but the earth. Into this humble dwelling they introduced an ox-cart load of household furniture, and a light load at that. He sold his wedding hat for some pigs and split rails for some of his neighbors for twenty-five cents per hundred. Mr Thomas O. Rutledge, in describing the shanty says, that Mr. Funk had a little salt meat in one corner and slept in the other, he had a little board table, a dirt floor, a hole in the logs for a window, a quilt for a door, no chimney, the roof only half on, no chair and only two puncheon stools. One would hardly think that this pioneer, who began life under such difficulties, would at his death leave an estate worth half a million dollars or more.

In 1827, Jesse Funk and his wife went to Galena. They moved to. the Illinois River in an ox-wagon. There they took a keel-boat and*went down to its mouth and up the Mississippi. They poled it up by having a plank walk on each side, where those who handled the poles, could walk backward and forward. Mrs. Funk steered the boat. When they came to the rapids, they unloaded the boat and carried the household goods around while the empty boat was poled and drawn up with ropes. When they arrived at Galena, Mr. Funk commenced digging for mineral the fore part of the season; then he bought a team and hauled mineral during the latter part of the season; then he went home and drove hogs to Galena, butchered them, and sold meat to the miners. Thesè were the first hogs taken to Galena. In the spring of 1828 he returned 'to Galena, but in the fall he came home again, and took a second lot of hogs to Galena, butchered them, and returned in February, 1829. In the fall of.1829 he took some oxen to Galena, butchered them, sold them to the teamsters, and returned shortly afterwards. He always camped out in the woods. When he and his men ran out of meat, they killed a hog and scalded it by a curious process. They dug a hole in the ground, put in some stones, built a log fire in it, and after a while scraped away the ashes, poured in water, which was immediately heated by the stones, and instantly plunged in the hog, which never failed to become effectually scalded.

During the winter of the deep snow, Jesse Funk started to Galena with a drove of hogs. The men who accompanied him were James Burleson, Severe Stringfield, Robert Funk and Mar- tin Ruth. The last named was severely frozen on the expedition and wished to be left to die; but Jesse Funk took his whip and threshed the man severely, and made him run, and by this means saved his life. On this trip the men were overtaken by the deep snow, and for a while their swine were buried beneath it. When they took out the pigs, the latter were found by the holes, which » their breath melted up through the snow. Some of the pigs had been killed by the wolves. While driving the pigs, Jesse Funk followed behind and brought up those which were tired and disabled. The wolves followed close after him. The cold was most intense, and many of the pigs were frozen. They would put their snouts in the snow and squeal, and freeze, and die. The snowdrifts were very deep, particularly in the hollows. They were sometimes so deep that only the tops of trees could be seen. At last the party arrived at Galena with a remnant of starved and frozen swine. Provisions of all kinds were scarce at Galena, or Mr. Funk could not have disposed of his poor, sorry-looking pigs. He only made one hundred and thirty dollars by that trip.

In the meantime, Mrs. Funk was at home at Randolph's Grove pounding her corn into meal, and managing as best she could. The deer and wolves came into her yard very often. Mr. Thomas Rutledge assisted her in attending to the stock, cut and . hauled her wood. During this winter the deer and wild turkeys ate with the cattle and chickens.

'Mr. Funk was a tireless man and could endure everything. He used many novel expedients to succeed, and seldom failed to take advantage of any fortunate circumstance. At one time he killed a wild hog at Buckles' Grove, tied it to the tail of his horse and dragged it twelve miles home. On his various excursions to Galena, Chicago and elsewhere, with droves of stock, he camped out at night and made fire with flint and steel and tow. He often ran much risk from robbers and lawless men, who are always plenty in a new country, but he was a man of powerful frame, and was not exposed to so much danger as many others would be. At one time he was followed by a robber from Chicago to the Mazon River, but there the thief lost the camp of Mr. Funk, and was foiled in his design. Mr. Funk had then several thousand dollars on his person. He made a great deal of money at times in his business, and occasionally he had corresponding losses.

During the hard times of 1837, he was brought to the verge of bankruptcy; but he saved himself in a fortunate transaction. He sold a lot of pork at Pekin, and took his pay in depreciated bills of the State Bank of Ilinois, and received more money according to its depreciation. With this he paid the debts, which Isaac Funk and others owed to the bank, and he afterwards received his own pay in good money, dollar for dollar.

Mr. Funk was aman of great humor, and had a habit of giving nicknames. Once, while driving swine to Ohio, he had a man named Troxell to help him. Troxell could not read or write; nevertheless, he was anxious to be called by some title to indicate that he was not a common hog drover. Jesse Funk, therefore, called him Squire. While on the route, Mr. Funk had occasion to buy some pigs, and had difficulty as to the amount of money they were all worth, after an agreement had been made as to the price of each pig. The amount in controversy was seven dollars. At last the party selling the pigs offered to leave it to Squire Troxell, and have him look over the figures to see if they were correct. Mr. Funk would not at first agree to this, as he did not wish to expose Troxell's ignorance, but at last he consented, being anxious to see how Troxell would get out of the scrape. The latter took the paper of figurés and looked at it upside down for a long while. His eye meandered around every crook and turn of those characters, of which he was as ignorant as a new-born babe. At last he said he had discovered the mistake, and that the difference amounted to three dollars and a half, instead of seven dollars, and this settled it. " Didn't I get out of that pretty well?" said Troxell. " Yes," said Funk, 'but you don't want to figure me out of three dollars and a half again na

Jesse Funk was a pretty good-sized man, well formed, had dark eyes and black hair. He was a kind and generous man, and his humor was of the best quality. But he was a terrible man when enraged; his passion was like a thunder cloud. He was a member of the Methodist Church ; but he always thought it religious to take his own part by physical force, if necessary. Senator Cusey says Mr. Funk would pray like a congressman, (do congressmen usually pray ?) but, if neceesary, he would fight like a pugilist. At one time, while Mr. Funk was engaged in devotional exercises at a camp-meeting, some one pricked him with a pin. He bore the torture patiently until the exercises were ended, and then he proceeded to "clean out"? the parties, who were causing the trouble. Mr. Funk died February 6, 1865.

George Callahan Hand

The following items concerning the life of Mr. Hand, were given by his daughter, Mrs. A. M. Stringfield, of Randolph's Grove: Mr. Hand was born in 1790. Mrs. Stringfield cannot tell the place of his birth or give any information concerning his early life. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and for his services a land warrant was given to his family after hisdeath. In the spring of 1819, he left Ohio where he was living, and came with his family to Shawneetown, Illinois. The journey was hard and adventurous. The family started on a flatboat, but it ran against a sawyer and sank, and the Hand family saved only their lives and the clothing which they happened to wear at the time of the accident. A small steamboat took them from the wreck and landed them on shore. They found shelter in a little cabin near a grog-shop, where they came in contact with the worst element of western society. The men in the grog-shop made the night terrible with their drunken revels. At one time they became so noisy that the proprietor turned them out, and shortly afterwards a storm came up and blew off the roof of the grogery. The party took refuge in Mr. Hand's cabin, and during the whole night kept up their drunken revelry. After waiting three or four days, Mr. Hand's family were taken in a boat to Shaw- neetown. They went outinto the country about eighteen miles, and there Mr. Hand supported his family all summer with his labor and his gun. He built a little round log cabin which, as Mrs. Stringfield says, had cracks in it large enough to sling a cat through. He stayed there four years and then went to Sangamon County. Here he raised two crops. Mr. Hand hauled his hay from the Sangamon bottom. He had ten girls in his family, and they sometimes helped him in his work. In 1825 he came to Randolph's Grove, and there built a cabin and broke prairie. No young man could be found for help, so Amelia drove the oxen to break the prairie. When the land came into market he entered his farm. The country was then very wild, as may be imagined, and the wolves came around the house and made so much noise, that, as Mrs. Stringfield says, " you could not hear it thunder." Mr. Hand opened his house for a preaching place until school-houses were built. Their cabin was also the preachers' stopping place. Mr. Hand died in 1845, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He had a family of ten girls and four boys, and all, except one girl, grew to be men and women. Six of the girls and two of the boys are yet living. Mr. Hand was_ rather a tall man, fair-haired, fair-complexioned, with very expressive blue eyes, and with heavy shoulders. He was a bold, energetic looking man, and was strong and active. He was an exhorter in the Methodist Church, and brought up his children in the way they should go.

Nathan Low was born on a farm called Ringold's Manor, in Greenbrier County, Maryland, near Williamsport, January 6, 1791. His father's name was Nathan Low, and his mother's Nancy Wright, before her marriage. Nathan Low, jr.,-at the age of fourteen, came to Licking Town, Licking County, Ohio. Here he finished his education, which was very limited, as his chances for learning were not good. He followed the river for some time between the Kanawha Salt Works and Zanesville, Ohio. He married, February 12, 1814, Miss Sarah Brooks, a lady of fine sense and decision of character. She is still living, although Nathan Low has long since passed over the river.

drove cattle over the mountains to Harrisburg, Pa., and worked hard to carry on the farm. In 1829, he came with his family to Blooming Grove, starting in June and arriving in July. He brought a carriage with him, but this was too novel for the West, and was sold and taken back to Tennessee. It was the first in McLean County. The Indians were then plenty, and called on the Low family very often, but never disturbed them in any way. Mrs. Low, who observes matters pretty sharply,fsays that some of the Indians.in these parts ran away from their tribe and joined the forces of Black Hawk during the great war, which the latter carried on. One of them came all painted to Mr. Low's cabin and took dinner with the family and piously asked a blessing at the table; but notwithstanding all his apparent piety, Mrs. Low was convinced that he was bound for Black Hawk's band, and that his paint was put on for war, though Mr. Low thought it was only the Indian's mode of dressing. He had a horse and a ~ gun, which went through the Black Hawk war. The horse was ridden by Isaac Murphy. Mr. Low followed farming and stock raising until 1844, the time of his death. He had some property in 1829, when he came to the grove, but most of it he afterwards acquired by hard and patient toil. At the age of thirty-five, he was much broken down in consequence of hard work. During the winter of the deep snow he had thirty hogs to feed, and was obliged to pack corn for them on horseback for a distance of three miles. He made the trip through the timber every other day. During this severe winter it was impossible for farmers to go to mill, and they pounded their corn and wheat in blocks and sometimes ground it in a coffee mill.

Nathan Low's home would not now be called luxurious. It was a shanty with a single room twelve by fourteen feet, and this was the home of a family of ten persons! When the children came home from school, they were obliged to put the chairs and tables out of doors in order to make beds on the floor. A second bed was made under the large one. But these little difficulties amounted to nothing, when compared to the vexations they sometimes endured. For instance, on one occasion during this same winter, there came a storm, which carried off the roof of the little shanty and lifted it over the horses, which were tied to a wagon near by. Then they tried to fix the roof and the snow blew over them and melted like rain. We tell this incident without any further comment; it is as hard a condition as we . have heard of for some time.

The early settlers visited each other oftener than people do at present, particularly from a distance. They had no neighborhood quarrels or neighborhood jealousies. People were always glad to see each other, and all stood on the same footing. But after a while the country became prosperous and thickly settled, and the old warmth of feeling gradually died out. The prosperity of later days has destroyed, in some measure, the good feeling of the early times. But the kind feeling of the early settlers has had a good effect, which still remains The hospitality of the pioneers who are now living is of the same generous kind as that for which they were first distinguished, and its effects are felt by the whole community. . We are inclined to think that people are now naturally as well disposed towards each other as in early days; the difficulty is that if they exercise charity and hospitality and keep the " latch string always out," some disagreeable and shiftless folks will take advantage of good nature. During the early settlement of the country, this latter class of people was very small. Everybody was welcome everywhere, and all people who lived within 'twenty miles of each other were neighbors.

The early settlers made their own furniture. They had ovens of clay in which they baked their bread. Across the fire place was stretched a chain, and sometimes two or three, on which the pots and kettles were hung.

During the sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, so often described in this volume, Mr. Low was at Bloomington, in the office of the County Clerk. The cape of his coat was wet, and when he stepped out of doors the wind flared it out and immediately it was frozen in that shape.

Mr. Low brought the first sheep to Blooming Grove and sold them to farmers. His business as long as he lived was working with stock. He drove and sold cattle to the laborers on the Illinois and Michigan canal, and was shrewd enough always to see where he could find a market. He took rather a discourag. ing view of the western country and thought that, notwithstanding its fine land, it would never have the advantages of so good

Nathan Low was one of the best of the old settlers. He worked hard, and in the decline of life saw the fruits of his labor in the prosperity which surrounded him. At the time of his death, which occurred April 17, 1844, he was possessed of nine hundred acres of land. He had seven children, of whom five are now living. They are:

Shrewd observers give usually a great deal of the credit of a man's success to his wife, and this seems to have been the case with Nathan Low. Mrs. Low now lives at Heyworth, and leads a very pleasant, independent life. She complains that her memory has failed, but the information she has given of the old settlers has been very accurate. She has raised a family of remarkably intelligent children, in whom she has a right to take a motherly pride.

Nathan Low was a heavily set and rather fleshy man, of medium height, with blue eyes and not very heavy, dark hair. He weighed perhaps one hundred and eighty pounds. His eyes were sharp and expressive, and in his later years were shaded by spectacles. He was rather stoop shouldered, on account of an injury received by the falling of a tree in 1832. He worked hard for his family, was always anxious for their comfort, and happy while in their presence. At his death, he was buried at Blooming Grove, in Scoggin's cemetery.

The Passwaters Family

PURNEL Passwaters, Sr. Purnel Passwaters was born in 1782, in Sussex County, Delaware. His father, Richard Passwaters, was an Englishman, and his mother was of Dutch descent. He was a man of limited edu- cation and a farmer. In about the year 1806, he married Comfort Short, a lady who was partly of Welch descent. In 1811 he moved to Monongehela County, Virginia. During the war of 1812 he enlisted as a soldier, but never was called into the field. In about the year 1814, Mr. Passwaters went back to the State of Delaware on business, traveling on horseback. While crossing the Allegheny Mountains, he was once traveling in the night, and was followed by a panther for seven miles.' The animal often came close to him and seemed inclined to spring, but Mr. Passwaters would jump from his horse and throw stones atit. It followed him until he came near a tavern, and then it disappeared in the woods.

In 1816, Mr. Passwaters emigrated to Hamilton County, Ohio, where he followed farming. In the fall of 1829, he started with his family from Hamilton County, Ohio, for Illinois. When he reached Hamilton County, Indiana, the cold weather set in, and he was obliged to stop. In the following spring he came to what was then Tazewell, but is now McLean, County, Illinois. He came, during a part of his journey, in company with Lieutenant Governor Moore. When he arrived here he rented a small piece of land, and lived in a little cabin on the place now occupied by his son, Enoch Passwaters. He commenced 'farming, and steadily followed it until the day of his death, which occurred in February, 1852. He and his wife were both consistent members of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Passwaters died in 1844.

Richard Passwaters

family to Hamilton County, Ohio. They moved in a flatboat from Wheeling, Virginia, to the landing at North Bend, in sight of General Harrison's house. There young Richard was put to work as soon as he became possessed of muscle sufficient to make his work of any value. He worked during summers and went to school winters. He started for Ilinois with his father's family in the fall of 1829, but did not arrive at his destination until the spring of 1830. He worked for his father on a farm until his marriage, which important event occurred February 4, 1836. His bride was Miss Sina Misner, a step-daughter of Governor Moore. They were married by Cheney Thomas, a justice of the peace. Mr. Passwaters then began farming on the place where he now lives, at Randolph's Grove. When the Black Hawk war broke out, Mr. Passwaters volunteered as a soldier, but on his march to the Rock River country was taken sick near where Lexington now is, and was unable to continue his march. He returned home, but afterwards volunteered as a ranger for sixty days to guard the frontier. During the fall after the war he madea visit to Ohio with his companions, Elias Gibbs and Garrett Misner, but had no particular adventure. Mr. Passwaters has been much of a hunter. He once had a run of fifteen miles after a gray wolf, which had been eating Jesse Funk's pigs, and he killed it witha stirrup. The wolf died game and showed fight to the last.

Mr. Passwaters had a severe experience during the sudden change of December, 1836. He was returning home on horseback from his father's house; he had come to the spring branch which empties into the Kickapoo, and there, as his horse refused to take the water, he was obliged to wade up to his waist; but in dging so his horse broke loose, and Mr. Passwaters was obliged to proceed home on foot, a distance of a mile. When he had gone a short distance from the creek the sudden change came on, the cold wind from the west struck him, and before he had proceeded a hundred yards farther, his clothes were frozen on him stiff. He succeded in reaching home, but was sick for a long time afterwards.

of the pioneers. He has raised a family and supported it well by his labor and foresight. He has had twelve children, of which five have lived to be grown.

Mr. Passwaters is about five feet and eight inches in height, is not heavily built, is a very pleasant gentleman, is very kindhearted, and must have many friends. He has lately been afflicted with a stroke of paralysis in the left leg, but remains as cheerful as ever. His wife is a lady of fine sense, and their pioneer life has doubtless been a happy one.

Purnel Passwaters, jr., was born September 12, 1815, in Monongehela County, Virginia. When he was only one year old his father moved to Hamilton County, Ohio. In the fall of 1829 the Passwaters family started for Illinois, but on account of cold weather they wintered over in Indiana. There young Purnel killed his first deer. The Passwaters family reached Randolph's Grove on the sixteenth of May, 1830. In 1833, Purnel began to hunt "right smart." His first excursion was to the Mazon River and to the sandridges between that and the Kankakee. Three hunters went with him, but they'found little. game, as other hunters had recently preceded them. Mr. Passwaters .shot at a badger and broke its fore leg. The animal ran into its hole and was caught, but two men could not pull it out, although they pulled until it seemed that the animal must be torn asunder. They were obliged to kill it or it never could have been taken out.

In 1856, Mr. Passwaters went to Kansas, but had no particular adventure. He saw a great many Indians, and did some _ trading with them. One Indian was pointed out to him as the son of the celebrated Black Hawk; but if this was the case, old Black Hawk neglected to train up his son in the way he should go, for the young man was drunk.

Mr. Passwaters is about five feet and eight or nine inches high, has a careful, considerate, honest expression on his countenance, has nearly always been successful in hunting, has killed great numbers of deer and turkeys, is a very kind-hearted man and much respected.

Enoch Jones Passwaters was born September 15, 1822, in Hamilton County, Ohio. He came with his father's family to Illinois in 1830, as stated in his father's sketch. He has not led a very adventurous life, has hunted deer and wolves as nearly all of the old settlers did. He used to keep greyhounds and fast horses to chase the game. He has often caught two deer out of a gang during a single chase. Only once did he know a deer to show fight, but he killed it with a stirrup while the dogs held it. He remembers an exciting wolf chase when he rode an unshod horse on slippery ground, and came up with the wolf after chasing it for seven miles. After his horse had made many turns, and the wolf had made many dodges, Mr. Passwaters crippled it by running over it, and the dogs came up and finished it.

Mr. Passwaters married, May 19, 1842, Almeda Savage, who died February 12, 1865. He married, September 7, 1871, Mrs. Ann Eliza Atchison. He has been very happy in his domestic life. He is about five feet and six or seven inches in height, has a bright expressive eye, is a pleasant, companionable man, and is industrious and hard working.

Irvin Purnel, Lucy Alice, Sarah Elizabeth, Mary Lovina, Enoch Halleck and George William Passwaters, live at home. Sarah Gertrude Atchison and Charles Newton Atchison, the children of Mrs. Passwaters by her first marriage, also live in the same household.

Clement Passwaters

Clement Passwaters is the youngest living son of the Passwaters, sr. He was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, March 17, 1825. He is of medium height, and has rather a dark complexion, and is one of the most honored members of the Passwaters family. He was married, June 1, 1848, to Miss Rebecca Yocum, daughter of Jacob Yocum, of Sangamon County, Illinois. He has had a family of seven children, of whom six are living. They are: j

Jacob Bishop was born June 25, 1797, in Maryland. His father, John Bishop, was of English descent, and his mother, whose maiden name was Hannah Cooper, was of German. When Jacob was only four years of age, he came with his parents to * Fayette County, Pennsylvania. In about the year 1812 or 13, the Bishop family came te Perry County, Ohio, near the line between that and Licking County. Their journey was not remarkably adventurous. While crossing the Ohio, the waves rolled so high that their boat came near capsizing. The family was passed on its way by armies going westward to fight the British and Indians. Every regiment was accompanied by women, who were resolved to follow their husbands even to the battlefield. Mr. Bishop's elder brother was drafted into the army. When the Bishop family arrived in Ohio, they took a seven years lease of land in the woods. Jacob Bishop worked hard until he was twenty-one years of age aad then hired out to John Strawn, for whom he worked one year for one hundred dollars. Then he farmed Mr. Strawn's place for one year. Jacob Bishop married Mary Ann Weedman, and commenced _ keeping house in 1820. He started for Ilinois, August 15,1830, and came to Blooming Grove, where he arrived on the 15th of September. He had then very little property, and his father-inlaw, George Weedman, had only a few hundred dollars with which to bring the settlers here. Deer, turkey and bee trees were then plenty; he found the richest bee trees and largest quantities of honey in Old Town. He worked hard and had good weather until the great full of snow between Christmas and New Years. During the latter part of the winter, people could go through the woods anywhere and find the carcasses of deer which had died because of the severe weather. The first heavy fall of snow came waist deep, and shortly afterwards a crust formed on it, which prevented cattle from traveling, for it was not hard enough to bear them up. The settlers broke roads from one house to another, but the wind filled up the tracks with snow; the roads were broken again and again until they gradually became packed and rose higher than the snow on either side. Mr. Bishop's family had enough breadstufts to last until the tenth of February. On that day, Mr. Bishop started with four others to Scott's mill on Kickapoo creek, about fourteen miles distant. They traveled from one house to another, where tracks had been broken and packed? At one place they walked over bars six feet high. They traveled with horses and took with them an additional packhorse. If they stepped from the track, they went down into the deep snow. 'They succeeded in getting their meal ground, and returned the following day. Just before the snow fell, Mr. Bishop and his father went to the edge of Old Town to get some pork and a cow. They brought home the pork, but the cow remained until late in February. When they went for it, they counted the carcasses of nine deer that had perished in the snow. Some were lying untouched and some had been partly eaten by wolves. The pigs had a hard time of it; they were accustomed to run wild and live on mast, but the snow prevented them from finding acorns. Jesse Funk's pigs ate the bark from the elm trees, as high as they could reach. The wolves were the only animated creatures which really seemed to enjoy themselves. They could run around on the crust of snow and could kill all the deer they wished, and were not afraid of anything, for they seemed to know that nothing could catch them.

Mr. Bishop had at first nothing with which to support his wife and six children. He borrowed $100, and entered eighty acres of timber land and went to work. But notwithstanding these difficulties, he lived a happy life. In the evening he sat and made shoes, while his wife worked her spinning wheel, and all the money they could earn by their united efforts was used to enter land. It was then very easy to raise stock. Cattle were fattened by turning them loose and allowing them to eat grass.

Mr. Bishop has been something of a hunter. He often chased wolves. At one time he dug out a den and found five little wolf puppies. The old ones were looking on in the distance, but did not dare to come up. He has hunted deer, but had no dangerous adventure; he never had a buck turn on him for fight. Mr. Bishop was always cautious about hunting deer, after an adventure which happened to Asa Weedman. Mr. Weedman was a great hunter, and on one of his expeditions he creased a buck, that is, shot it on the top of its neck and stunned it. He quickly ran up to cut its throat, but his knife was dull, and soon the deer arose and the hunter dropped his knife to hold it. The struggle was a very long one. Mr. Weedman held to the horns of the buck and could do nothing else. At last his strength failed him, and he concluded to 'quit if the deer was willing; so he let go of the buck and lay down and "played 'possum." The deer pawed him and looked at him suspiciously, then ran off a short distance and looked back, then went a little farther and looked back again, and finally went away entirely. Mr. Weedman lacerated his hands badly in trying to hold the buck, and his clothes were almost torn off of him.

Just before the Black Hawk war, Mr. Bishop, Robert Rutledge and William G. Wright, went to Chicago, and were interrupted by the extraordinarily high water. They crossed the Calumet swamps by putting eight yoke of oxen on each wagon and drawing it through. On their return they crossed the Desplaines River by unloading and taking their wagons across in pieces in canoes, which they had lashed together. They took across their salt, a small part at atime. They crossed the Dupage River with the assistance of only one canoe. At the Illinois River, they were fortunate enough to find a boat large enough to bring their wagons over, but they swam their oxen.

Mrs. Charlotte Stringfield, lives with her father at the homestead. Her husband, A. J. Stringfield, died of sickness contracted while in the army.

Mr. Jacob Bishop was, before he became bent with age, five feet and six inches in height. He is one of the most tender hearted of men, is exceedingly kind to his family, has worked hard for them and is anxious to see them prosper. He has the most fine and delicate feelings, is exceedingly hospitable, and feels grieved to think people are not as hearty and kind as the old settlers were. He has worked hard himself and always taught his children to be busy. He would like very much to see the old camp-meetings revived, and thinks they are much pleasanter than churches. All except two of his children are members of churches. His wife, Mrs. Mary Ann Bishop, died in January, 1873. She was a most excellent lady, and in all of the hardships of pioneer life she bore her part bravely.

Matthew Covardale was born August 13, 1807, in Maryland. His father's name was Matthew Covardale, and his mother's name before her marriage was Nancy Fisher. Matthew Covardale, sr., was of Irish descent. The mother of young Matthew died when he was quite small. His father, Matthew Covardale, sr., was a seafaring man and had very little time to look after his son. The latter had no regular place of abode, but was shifted around from one person to another. When he was nine years of age an event happened which changed the whole course of his life. While Matthew Covardale, sr., was bringing the vessel, of which he was captain, into Delaware Bay, it was foundered, and he became ruined in fortune. He was utterly broken up by this shipwreck. He took little Matthew by the hand, and they started on foot for the West. They traveled over the mountains to Wheeling, thence to Columbus, Ohio, then out towards Lake Erie, then to Licking River, then down to Zanesville, then across the Muskingum, and then to Chillicothe. There they went on a keelboat down the Scioto River; but while they were in a sparse settlement the keelboat sunk. This was at night. They remained on the shore until morning, then picked up their knapsacks and went to Maysville on foot, there crossed the Ohio River and went to Lexington, Kentucky, on foot, and from there to the north bend in the Ohio River, below Cincinnati. From there they went to Jackson County, Indiana, and then back to Hamilton County, Ohio. -Here they made a stopping place. Matthew Covardale, sr., died here, when his son was only sixteen years of age. The latter worked by the day, by the week, by the month and by the year. He worked every way possible in order to make an honest livelihood. In the fall of 1830 he came to Randolph's Grove, McLean County, Illinois. Here he worked for Jesse Funk until no more work could be done during that season.

During that winter Jesse Funk took a drove of hogs to Galena, and had many adventures, for it was the winter of the famous deep snow. The cold was intense, and Mr. Funk was obliged to wear a false face to protect his nose and cheeks and prevent them from freezing. The snow and frost gathered on this false face as he breathed through the aperture, and it appeared most frightful. When he had occasion to stop at a cabin on the way, the moment the door was opened the children would scream, and sometimes the women also would be frightened.

But Mr. Covardale did not accompany Mr. Funk on this trip. . The latter stayed during the winter with a man named Richard Gross, and usually kept pretty close to the house. At one time he saw some prairie-chickens some distance, across a slough, and he picked up a gun and started to shoot them. While crossing the slough, where the snow was very deep, he broke through the crust and went down. He threw his gun on the crust and tried to work himself loose. But the more he worked the deeper he went down, down, deeper and deeper, and the snow closed over his head, and in spite of all exertion he continued going down. But he continued struggling until he packed the snow underneath him and obtained a firm foothold. Then, by packing the snow below him, he rose high enough to crawl out on the crust. He returned to the house, and the people there asked whether he was going to shoot those chickens. Mr. Covardale remarked that his ambition for hunting was satisfied for one day. The cold during that winter was severe, and at one time Mr. Covardale had his eyelashes frozen fast, and the tears were frozen on his cheek. During that winter Mr. Gross hunted deer and Mr. Covardale pounded corn. The corn was sifted through a sieve made of finely dressed deerskin stretched over a hoop of white oak, and fastened with a whang. The holes through the buckskin were made with a burning iron. In order to keep warm during that winter Mr. Covardale and Mr. Gross cut wood and kept the fire burning. Their chimney, built of sticks and clay, sometimes caught fire, and they kept water ready to throw up the chimney,

During the next season Mr. Covardale worked for Jesse Funk and*for other parties. He worked hard and succeeded well. After working for a few seasons as a renter, Mr. Covardale obtained some land of his own, broke prairie, split rails and made fences. He succeeded in all of his undertakings. He raised stock, which he sold for prices which would now be considered next to nothing. Je made the customary trips to Chicago, Pekin, Peoria, and other places, camping out at night and sleeping under the wagon, which he made his dwelling.

Mr. Covardale married Mrs. Anstis Thompson, a widow, who was born in Virginia. Mr. Covardale has never had any children of his own. His stepson, William Thompson, carries on the farm. Franklin Thompson, his eldest stepson, is in Mont- . gomery County, Kansas. Mrs. Mary Bishop and Mrs. Elizabeth Cresswell are his stepdaughters.

Mr. Covardale is about five feet and nine inches in height, weighs one hundred and forty or fifty pounds, and has a sanguine complexion and white hair. He is a hard worker, and a most honest and worthy man. He thinks a great deal of the old settlers, and has himself seen some of the severest hardships of the early days. But he had the courage to do and the will to overcome. He is very frank and kind, and likes fair dealing, and possesses the fullest confidence of all with whom he is acquainted.

Samuel Stewart

Samuel Stewart was born May 5, 1790, in Monongehela County, Virginia. His parents were Americans. His father died when Samuel was quite young. When he was twenty-one or two years of age he went to Hamilton County, Ohio, and began farming with his brother, who had preceded him there. He returned to Virginia for a short time, but went back to Ohio. All of his travel was done on horseback.

Mr. Stewart made a visit to Illinois in 1830, and bought a claim of A. M. Stringfield at Randolph's Grove. During the following year he moved to Randolph's Grove with his family in wagons. He immediately went to farming, as that was the occupation of nearly all the old settlers. He also made brick and put up a brick house. The lumber used was sawed with a whip saw, indeed, this was almost the only way to make it. The cabins in early days were built without nails, and were simply pinned together. The door was made of split boards or shakes,

The Stewart family were for a long time after their arrival, very much annoyed by wolves, which made such a howling and barking around the house at night that it was impossible for any one to sleep. Mr. Stewart was often obliged to go out and fire his gun to frighten them away, in order that the family might obtain a little rest. >

During the celebrated sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, Mr. Stewart had great difficulty in getting the children home from school. The Little Kickapoo was overflowed, but he succeeded in getting the children across by bringing them over on horseback, two at a time.

Mr. Stewart was accustomed to hunt occasionally, and kept for this purpose a horse, which had quite a history. It was born in Pennsylvania, and emigrated to the West across the mountains. It was taken by a soldier through the Black Hawk war, and on its return was traded to Mr. Stewart. Having seen many adventures, it may be supposed that the horse was possessed of a good degree of smartness. It could go anywhere, and open any gate or door, indeed if its smartness had continued to increase it might have learned to pick a lock or go through a dwelling. Mr. Stewart hunted with the horse, but after a while the animal became too refined for this, and pretended to be frightened by the report of a gun, and refused to allow Mr. Stewart to shoot from its back. When this horse was twenty-one years of age (its legal majority) it was supposed to have been stolen from its master, but the probability is that it considered itself too smart to acknowledge a master and ran away.

The early settlers of course "went visiting,' but their visits were made at times to suit their circumstances and the necessities of their life. They came before breakfast, and when they went to quiltings and house-raisings, they were on hand particularly early in order to doa good day's work, and return home early to feed their stock.

William Curtis Stewart lives two miles north of the home- ' stead. He was a bachelor until thirty-nine years of age, when he did his duty and married Mrs. Amanda Vandevort, who died March 19th, 1874.

Hon. Archibald Evans Stewart is a physician. He lives at Randolph's Grove, at the old homestead, and is a member of the legislature. He served as surgeon in the Ninety-fourth Ilinois Volunteers from 1862 until 1865. The homestead house, where he lives, was the first house built of brick in McLean County. It was erected in 1834. The brick was made on the farm.

Mr. Samuel Stewart was six feet in height, rather spare, had brown eyes, rather light hair, was not very muscular, had a mild, pleasant expression on his countenance, and was indeed a worthy citizen. He was a strong friend of Governor Moore, and was one of the men who persuaded that gentleman to take an active part in politics. Mr. Stewart died January 8, 1841.

John H. Stewart, eldest son of Samuel Stewart, was born October 28, 1817, in Hamilton County, Ohio. In October, 1881, the Stewart family, consisting of nine persons in all, together with the family of George Thompson, came to McLean County, Ilinois. The reason why the Stewart family came West, was a desire on the part of the father of John H. Stewart to secure land for every member of his numerous family.

Mr. Stewart, the subject of this sketch, went to school only six months in Ohio, and if his mother, who is a well informed lady, had not taken the matter in hand, his education would have been finished. Mr. Stewart speaks very highly of his old schoolmaster in Ohio, William Bebb, who afterwards emigrated to Illinois, where he died. Mr. Stewart was raised a farmer, like his father, but all the Stewarts are mechanics by nature. They possess great skill in the handling of carpenters' tools. They themselves did all the wood-work of the house of which we have spoken in his father's sketch, Their journey from Ohio to McLean County was without any adventure worthy to relate. They came with one horse team and one: ox team, arriving at Randolph's Grove in the fall of 1831, the father asin gpr EN (in 1830) bought a claim from A. M. Stringfield. During their first winter hait; Mr. Stewart, and his brother, James Ne ewton, slept in a wagon, and the wolves often came when they were in their beds, snufing and snorting around this primitive couch. Mr. Stewarts father, Samuel Stewart, gave A. M. Stringfield one hundred dollars for his claim, and as he had brought four hundred dollars with him from Ohio, he entered this claim and two hundred and forty acres besides. Mr. Stewart, sr., also entered eighty acres for A. M. Stringfield.

Times were hárd when the Stewart family came, and they had, of course, to endure all the hardships of a frontier life. When they came to the country they brought as many groceries with them as would last during the first year, which they had purchased at Cincinnati. After that they made their own maple sugar for many years. The family, on the whole, enjoyed good health, and soon found themselves in easy circumstances. All the children of Mr. Stewart, sr., the father of John H., were born in a log house in Hamilton County, Ohio, except Dr. Stewart, the present member of the legislature, who was born at Randolph's Grove, when the house of which we have spoken in the foregoing sketch was about half finished. The Stewart family was a happy, hard working family. The mother of the present stock is still living on the homestead farm, where they first settled. ` She is a remarkable lady, who now, at the age of eighty-three years, can walk a distance of half a mile as rapidly as a young girl of twenty. Her life is entirely wrapt up in her children, grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, (Della, little daughter of Mr. H. C. Horine.)

Mr. Stewart never was much of a hunter, but he occasionally chased wolves, killing them with a stirrup when the chase was on horseback, which was the custom in those days. He also killed now and then a deer, but these animals were already scarce when he came to the country, the winter of the deep snow having _ made havoc among them.

In 1839, Mr. Stewart commenced farming on his own account - and married, of course. The lady of his choice, who is still living, was Miss Jane Evans, daughter of Owen Evans, of Randolph's Grove. His father made him a present of eighty acres of land, to which he gradually added more. He continued farming up to 1857, when he sold out his timber-farm on account of failing health, and because he wished to give his children an education; but he still carries on farming about six miles south of Bloomington, on the Main street road, on a tract of three hundred and twenty acres.

He moved to Normal about the time the Normal University began its labors. There Mrs. Stewart kept a boarding-house, which was the first house of the kind established in Normal. During most of this time Mr. Stewart was in partnership with A. C. Washburne in a meat-market, from which they supplied the whole of Normal with meat for about eight years.

In 1872, Mr. Stewart went into the agricultural implement and machinery business, which is now carried on by him and his son-in-law, Mr. H. C. Horine. This house was started in 1870, by Frank Stewart, a nephew of Mr. Stewart. Mr. Horine became partner of the business in 1871, and when Frank went out of the firm, Mr. Stewart stepped in. The business, under the name of Stewart & Horine, is carried on at the corner of Main and Grove streets, Bloomington.

Mr. Stewart is about six feet two inches in height, is well proportioned, appears to be quite muscular, and has a very erect walk. His hair and beard are almost gray; he has gray eyes, - and uses glasses when he reads and writes. He is a very conscientious man, and thinks well before he decides on anything ; but when he sets his mind on doing anything he will do it with- out hesitation. He is a kind and indulgent father to his children. He has been, (by reason of care and industry,) successful in life, which is in a great measure due to his kind and hospitable wife.

David Noble was born in September, 1795, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was of English and Dutch descent. His father was an old English sea captain, who came to the United States and married a Pennsylvania Dutch lady, and became thoroughly Americanized. David Noble was born in Cincinnati, when that place was no larger than Heyworth, that is, a village of two or three hundred people. He had a limited education, and as his parents were poor, was obliged to work his way through the world without learning or wealth. In 1817 he was married to Rebecca Karr. In 1828 he went to New Orleans in company with his brother, with a load of chickens and various other kinds of poultry, and by good managemert and good fortune they did very well with their stock. In the fall of 1830 he came to Illinois to see the country, and visited various points in Sangamon and Tazewell counties. He returned to Ohio during the same fall, and prepared to come West. During the following year, October 3, 1831, the Noble family started for McLean County, Illinois, and arrived there on the 20th. They traveled with a four-horse team. They came in near Squire A. M. Stringfield's place, and saw him chase a wolf on foot and catch it with his hands. Mr. Noble set his dog on the wolf before Stringfield caught it, but the dog was quickly whipped. Mr. Stringfield took the wolf home alive. Their journey was a hard one, as it rained nearly all the time they traveled. During one day they only went ten miles. They traveled long distances over corduroy roads. At one time they were mired down, a little this side of Urbana, and Mr. Joseph Noble (David's brother) was obliged to carry out his wife. Joseph Noble rode an old gray mare, which had a bad habit of lying down in the mud, when it was deep, and refusing to get up. The only way of compelling her to rise was to hold her head under the mud and water for a while.

David Noble lived, during nearly all of the first winter, in a cabin on old Mr. Passwaters' place, about one mile south of where William Noble now lives. After that the family went to the cabin near where John Wakefield now lives. There they did some pretty hard grubbing, as the place joined the timber. David Noble stayed there until 1844 or *45, and then came five miles north, bought some new prairie and made a farm.

Mr. Noble suffered with a stroke of paralysis a few years before his death, which occurred in September, 1863. His domestic life was pleasant. He had ten children to raise and care for, six by his first marriage and four by his second. They are:

David Noble was five feet and eleven inches in height, had a large, strong frame, and, before he was afflicted with paralysis, weighed two hundred pounds. He was very muscular, worked hard, and had usually good health. His hair was naturally black, and'his eyes pleasing and expressive.

William Crivlin Noble

William Crivlin Noble was born February 25, 1818, in Hamilton County, Ohio. His education was not very liberal, but was all that could be expected at that time. The scholars were then more remarkable for their muscle than their intellect, and had a habit of turning out the teacher on Christmas day. At one time, when they threatened to turn out the master, he compromised the matter by giving them a gallon of whisky and some eggs, and one of them was carried home insensible. Mr. Noble went to school to William Bebb, who was afterwards Governor of Ohio. The schoolmasters in those days made desperate attempts to teach the children politeness; the girls were taught to courtesy to whoever they met, while going to or returning from school, and the boys were taught to bow, or as it was called, " make their manners." Mr. Noble came to Randolph's Grove with his father, David Noble, in the fall of 1831, and continued his schooling for two winters in Illinois. The falling of the meteors in 1833 impressed him very much. They fell it seemed by millions, to the north, south, east and west, and some of them made a large blaze. He felt no fear on account of this wonderful phenomenon, but the next morning, when he went to mill, he met so many persons who were frightened by the meteors that he began to be frightened himself. Some people were made crazy with fear.

When he was sixteen years of age, he went to St. Louis and brought a load of goods for William H. Allin. He was gone on that trip about sixteen days, and received a dollar and a-quarter per hundred weight for hauling.

Mr. Noble married, October 31, 1839, Isabel Jane Stewart, and by this happy marriage had three children. She died, May 10, 1855. On the tenth of January, 1856, he married Eunice Burley, by Bailey H. Coffey, and has had three children living and one dead. Very few men are blessed sting a more hapyy domestic life.

In the fore part of February, 1856, Mr. Noble went on business to Kentucky. He crossed the Ohio River on horseback on the ice at Portsmouth. This was rather a dangerous matter, as he was obliged to wade his horse three feet deep in water to reach the ice, and it cracked under him while crossing. He rode around among the Kentucky hills, and it seemed sometimes that he must fall into eternity. The hills were exceedingly steep, and nothing but a Kentucky horse could travel among -them. A horse from Illinois could never have found a foothold.

Mr. Noble is about six feet in height, is broad shouldered and strongly built, is a hard worker, is very clever and good natured, appreciates fun, is a good neighbor and a good American citizen.

Joseph K. Noble was born October 9, 1823, in Whitewater township, Hamilton County, Ohio. His father's name was Joseph Noble, and his mother's name before her marriage was Nancy Karr. Joseph Noble was born in Ohio, and Nancy Karr in New Jersey. Both were of American descent. The Noble family, consisting of six members in all, came to Randolph's Grove, McLean County, Illinois, in the fall of 1831. There Joseph Noble bought a farm partly improved for one hundred and fifty dollars and two horses and a wagon. During the first winter they lived in a large log cabin with an entry between. But their conveniences were not great, as two other families as large as their own lived with them. During that winter, nearly all the streams were frozen up, so that the mills could not run. Every family was therefore obliged to have its hominy mortar with which to crack frostbitten corn. They had no fruit nor vegetables, except turnips, but had plenty of venison and wild turkeys. Joseph Noble was then a lad eight years of age, but the scenes of those early days are clearly impressed on his mind. He remembers going with a party out to a wolf pen, put up by Gardner Randolph, and there finding a wolf, which was so incautious as to trust himself within it. The following is Mr, Noble's description of the pen: " It was made of logs notched close at the corners, growing gradually smaller at the top, so that when the wolf was on the outside it was easy to climb up, but too high to climb out while on the inside." The settlers usually killed the wolves by chasing them on horseback and killing them with clubs. During the Black Hawk war, the settlers were often frightened, and Mr. Noble tells a queer story of a scare he experienced while out in the woods at play. Said he: "I heard a strange noise and started to the house taking my youngest brother on my back. Looking across the field I saw my father coming on his horse from the plow as fast as possible. » We arrived at the house out of breath and found that the bees "were swarming, and mother was calling for father and was pounding a frying pan with a large iron spoon to make the bees settle. You may be sure that we were glad the trouble was occasioned by bees instead of Indians."

Mr. Noble did not receive an extended education. He went to school when quite young, and one of his teachers was John Moore, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. Mr. Noble learned at an early age what it was to work. At the age of fifteen he drove a team of ten steers, called a prairie breaking team. With them he broke ground for various parties, among others for James Allin, of Bloomington. He broke the ground where the Chicago and Alton Machine Shops now stand. The remainder of Mr. Noble's sketch may be givenin his own words: "I cannot remember precisely all of the settlers who were in Randolph's Grove when I first came. They were usually young folks with small families. But notwithstanding their few children, they were obliged to work very hard for their own and their children's support, for nearly all their wearing apparel was made by themselves, was spun, woven, cut, fitted and sewed. The people here were from many States, but they all appeared members of one family. They endured the privations and discomforts of life together. When any one needed assistance it was always forthcoming. The women had quiltings and sewing bees, and the men had house' raisings and corn huskings. In after years the different settlements joined together in wolf hunts, raised a pole on a high piece of ground, hoisted a flag and on a certain day all turned out and drove the game to the center. When they came near the pole, it was fun to see some on foot with long rities ready to shoot the first deer or wolf, and others on horses chasing the tired game. Some would be thrown from their horses, and others would fall when their horses stumbled in the active chase. Those good old times will never come again!"

When Mr. Noble was twenty-four years of age, he married Miss Lemira Hampton, who was born within the boundaries of the present county of McLean. Her father came to the country from Tennessee, the year before the deep snow. Mr. Noble has had six children, of whom five are living. They are:

John S., Charles M., Nannie M., Robert K. and Joseph P. Noble; all of whom live at home. Mr. Noble is about five feet and ten inches in height, is rather spare and straight, and has dark hair and gray eyes. He appears to be a very good neighbor, and his remarks concerning the old settlers and the condi-

Dr. Harrison Noble was born March 6, 1812, in Hamilton County, Ohio. His father's name was John Noble, and his mother's maiden name was Sarah Price. John Noble was of English descent, but he was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and thereby became cut off from the English branch of the family, and nothing is known of it. Harrison Noble had a fair education, and while still in his youth taught school for a livelihood. He also worked at the carpenter's trade, and a part of the time was a farmer. In after years he was a physician, and also a surveyor. He had a mind evenly developed and well balanced, and could succeed in many professions.

Mr. Noble was married, March 21, 1833, to Miss Abby Cook, in Hamilton County, Ohio. In 1833 he came to the West. His trip was a hard one, through swamps and creeks during a wet season, but by good fortune and good management he came safely through. He settled at Randolph's Grove with Joseph Noble, sr., who had moved out some time before. Harrison Noble sold two horses and obtained money to enter eighty acres of land. Then he built a cabin and moved into it, and worked his land with a horse belonging to his mother. He hired a man to break six or eight acres of land and paid for it by carpenter work. He had knowledge of many trades,and his handiness now stood him in good stead, for if he could not find work to do at one employment, he followed another, and succeeded well at exerything. He did some surveying, taught school, worked as a ¢éarpenter, and did anything at which his hands could be usefully employed.

Mr. Noble was an Old-Line Whig. That party was in the minority in McLean County in the early days. But people then cared less for party ties than for popular men. In about the year 1840 Mr. Noble came out as an independent candidate for surveyor, and of course his merits and demerits were sharply criticized, but it was pretty well understood that if he could show himself qualified for this position he would be elected. About this time a curious circumstance occurred. General Gridley and General Covel had a warm discussion concerning his ability. The latter was a Democrat. General Covel said: "Pll bet you he can't tell the number of acres in a piece of land with many rods on one side," &c., and he gave the number of rods on each of four sides. General Gridley took the bet, and as soon as he saw Mr. Noble, the problem was stated. ' Now," said General Gridley, "how many acres are in that piece of land?" "There may be more and there may be less," said Mr. Noble. "Now," thought Gridley, " Iv'e lost my bet." But Mr. Noble continued and explained that the angles must be given; for if they were not given the sides might be so arranged as to enclose a great many acres, or scarcely any at all. Then he picked up a limber switch and bent it into a four-sided figure, and by making the angles sometimes right angles and sometimes acute, he explained the matter clearly. "Well," said Gridley, "Covel and I are both fools." This incident was told many times, and it made friends for Mr. Noble, for it made him acquainted. The incident was related by Hon. John Cusey. Mr. Noble held the office of surveyor for three terms. When he was about thirty-five years of age he commenced the study of medicine by himself. He afterwards attended one course of lectures at Cincinnati, and received his diploma. He practiced medicine and was quite successful.

Mrs. Noble died in about the year 1844. On the 15th of April, 1848, Mr. Noble married Mrs. Jane E. Marmon. By this marriage one child was born, John Locke Noble, who lives on the homestead place.

Dr. Noble died August 12,1870. He was about six feet in height, had black hair and gray eyes, was very muscular, and in his younger days a great wrestler. His feet were deformed, and toed in, but this was an advantage in wrestling. While he was attending lectures, a person inquired of him whether on account of his deformity he was not obliged to bear with insults. Dr. Noble gave the gentleman a proof of his skill, which decided the matter. Dr. Noble was a very honest man and very popular in McLean County.

Walter Karr

Walter Karr was born July 8, 1797, in Sussex County, New Jersey. His father's name was Thomas Karr, and his mother's maiden name was Celia Lewis, both Americans. Mr. Karr was not old enough to be a soldier in the war of 1812, though many of his relatives were init. He had a half-brother who was captured by the British when Hull surrendered at Detroit. The Americans were very unfortunate at the outset, for, in addition to the calamity of Hull's disgraceful surrender, there came what was known as the cold plague, which carried off nine hundred men in one winter from the command of General Cass, who had only twenty-five hundred men in his command. It was a strange disease, which the physicians did not understand. This, Mr. Karr says, was told to him by his brother.

Walter Karr had come to Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1807. The village of Cincinnati then contained sixteen or seventeen hundred people. On their journey from New Jersey the Karr family went first to Elizabethtown, between the Allegheny and Monongehela Rivers, and there built a flatboat or 'Yankee sled." Mr. Karr's father and brother took the horses there and came through, but the rest of the family went down on the flatboat. Some other parties on board had attached a keelboat for the convenience of cooking, and all on board went joyfully along to the new country. No incident of importance occurred before their arrival in Hamilton County. It was about that time that General Harrison was governor of Indiana terri- ~ tory. The general was a very kind- hearted man, and always willing to do a favor, but wanted it appreciated. Mr. Karr tells a story of General Barrio which shows the eccentricity of the man. In 1834, when Mr. Rens was traveling, he went with his heavily loaded wagon past General Harrison's premises. The latter had previously changed the road across his premises, but as the fence was down Mr. Karr took the old road. General Harrison rushed out and said: "Stop! turn about, go back." Buta ` man, named Johnson, reasoned with the general, and asked the privilege of going ahead, when the general replied: "Yes, go ahead, but for God's sake keep off my meadow!" "Now," said Mr. Karr, "if we had first asked the privilege of crossing his

_ premises on the old road and given him a chance to do a favor, which would be appreciated, he would have said: 'Yes, gentlemen, for God's sake, go ahead!' "

Mr. Karr clearly remembers the earthquake of 1811, which shook down New Madrid, and sank the lands of the river St. Francis in Arkansas. The shocks were clearly felt in Ohio, but no damage was done.

While coming down the Ohio, in June, 1815, Mr. Karr saw the first steamboat which came up from New Orleans to Pittsburg. It was called the Enterprise.

In February, 1834, Mr. Karr started for the West, He went by steamboat to Pekin, and from there came across by team to McLean County with Seth Baker, and arrived at the latter place March 11, 1834. On the day of his arrival the weather was so warm that he killed a snake, one of the jointed kind, which flew to pieces when struck. On the fourteenth of March, two men, Hopping and Torrence, gathered spring flowers, and the weather was indeed beautiful. But on the fourteenth of May a severe frost came and cut the buds on the trees, turned the leaves completely brown and froze a crust on the ground.

Mr. Karr tells some strange facts concerning the sudden change in December, 1836, When this change in the weather oceurred, Mr. John Wesley Karr was milking cows, as an industrious farmer's boy should. He immediately started for home, a quarter of a mile distant, but on reaching it he became so cold that he could not speak.

Mr. Karr went to farming upon his arrival in the West, and succeeded fairly well, but suffered severely with the hard times from 1837 to 1842. The winter of 1842-3 was the longest of which he has any recollection. The snow came early, and, with the exception of a January thaw, remained until late in March. Mr. Karr did not learn of any plowing done that spring before the month of May. He sowed a patch of spring wheat that year on the fifth of May, and raised fifteen bushels to the acre. The winter wheat was all frozen out and had to be re-sown. But notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, people in many instances raised during that year more than thirty bushels of wheat to the acre, and the crops were generally most excellent. During the spring previous, in 1842, he sowed wheat about the eighteenth or twentieth of March, and on the last of March it was green. He did not harvest it until August, and obtained from it two hundred bushels from six bushels of seed, or thirtythree and one-third bushels per acre. He hauled one load of it to Chicago in September, and sold it for sixty-three cents per bushel, and thought he made a very good trip. Mr. Karr has been a careful farmer.

Perhaps it may be a matter of interest to the reader to know something of the taxes which have been paid within the last thirty-five years. Mr. Karr gives his taxes as shown by his receipts, and in the list below the taxes after 1843 are all upon nearly the same land. Since 1856-7 he has paid taxes on four acres less ground than in 1845,

This does not include Mr. Karr's taxes on town lots and other property. It will be seen that the average for thè first seventeen years, beginning with 1839, was $12.89, and the average for the last seventeen years is $89.06. The reader will note the sudden rise of taxes from 1862 to '63, when they nearly trebled on account of the war.

' Henry A. Karr lives with his father. j Mrs. Celia Rockwell lives at Clinton, in DeWitt County. Mr. Karr is a man of medium height; his hair is only partly gray, though he is seventy-six years of age. His long, full beard is nearly white, and his eyes are very bright. This gives to him a venerable appearance. He complains that his memory is failing with age, but many persons would be glad to have one as good as his at present. He is amodest man and unassuming, but possessed of good judgment. Perhaps the most marked trait in | his character is his love of truth and honest dealing. In giving some items of the days that are gone, he was very particular to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Let us all do likewise.

The Rust Family

Mr. Rust was raised in North Carolina. On the 8th of January, 1811, he married Nancy McGee, and soon after moved to Middle Tennessee. During the latter part of the war of 1812, Mr. Rust became a soldier. He was sick during much of his time in the army, but was at the battle of New Orleans at the close of the war. He often described the fight, and said that the British came very close to the works before the Americans were allowed to fire. After the British General Packenham fell, the command devolved upon General Lambert, who was repulsed with frightful loss. At the close of the battle he asked permission to bury the dead, but General Jackson sent the British dead to them.

Sometime after the close of the war, Mr. Rust emigrated to West Tennessee, where he lived a number of years. In 1829 he moved to Hamilton County, Illinois. Here he first made a halffaced camp in the timber, in which the family lived until they could build a log cabin. This was made of round logs, afterwards smoothed down on the inside. Mr. Rust improved a farm of thirty-five or forty acres, and built a large tobacco house. This was a log house sixty feet long and twenty feet wide, with an open space twenty feet wide through the middle, but covered with a roof. Wagon loads of tobacco were driven into this opening and unloaded on each side. The house held five tiers of tobacco.

In the fall of 1834, Mr. Rust came to McLean County. He stopped first with Jesse Funk, then went for a few days into an old school-house, until he could rent a farm of Samuel Stewart. At the end of two years he bought a piece of land for himself and improved a farm, It is now owned by William C. Noble. He broke prairie, raised stock, and succeeded well. In the spring of 1847 he went to Lytleville, and there engaged in the milling business. He first had a mill driven by water, but by the failure of water he was compelled to use steam. He then had two partners, Wooster and Hougham. In about the year 1867, he sold out, and retired to a quiet life. He was constable and justice of the peace during the active years of his life.

Mr. Rust had nine children, five boys and four girls. James W., John F., and George W. Rust, live in Randolph township ; Martha Ann, wife of Wilson Lindley, lives in Cowley County, Kansas; William M., Harvey J., and Mary, wife of David Hougham, live in Randolph township; Arnetta and Nancy Caroline Rust are both dead.

Mr. Rust was about five feet and ten inches in height in his prime. He was a good-looking man, was healthy and squareshouldered, and weighed one hundred and: seventy-five pounds. His eyes were blue, and his hair was almost black. He was a very honest man, faithful in fulfilling his obligations, and had this reputation among all with whom he had occasion to deal. He died at Randolph's Grove, August 26, 1873, aged eighty-one years six months and three days.

John Rust was born August 11, 1816, in Murray County, Middle Tennessee. In 1824, the family went to Monroe County, Mississippi, but after two years they went to Hardeman County, West Tennessee, and afterwards to Hickman County. In 1829, they came to Hamilton County, Illinois. During the winter of the deep snow, John Rust amused himself by hunting coons. In the winter season he often hunted muskrats and tore open their ' houses and killed them with hoes. He first knocked on the houses, and if any muskrats were within they would jump into the water and their plash could be heard.

Hamilton County to buy cattle. John Rust then hired out to Jesse Funk for six months, and was to receive fifty dollars as his wages. He started on his journey with the cattle to McLean County. He carried his extra clothes on his back. As they troubled him a good deal, he pulled off his trousers, stuffed his clothes into the legs, tied the bottoms, threw them over his shoulders and went on. The wages, which John Rust earned, were paid to his father, until the former was twenty-one years of age. For seven years, John Rust worked driving cattle, exposed to all kinds of weather. In January, 1836, he drove hogs to Chicago for Isaac Funk. A heavy snow came shortly after they started. At Wolf Grove they commenced dragging an elm log fastened to the rear axle of a wagon to break the way. The weather was desperately cold, and during one night about six inches of snow fell on them as they lay on the ground. At Sulphur Springs they found the road somewhat broken, and they abandoned their elm log. They found the rapids at the Kankakee partly frozen and partly open, and they were obliged to break the ice clear across. The hogs refused to go into the water until the drovers built parallel rail fences, and compelled the swine to follow down between them and go into the water. When the drivers came out of the water, their clothes were frozen on them in a few moments. They arrived at last at Chicago. It was Mr. Rust's first sight of the place, and he was much interested in Fort Dearborn, which was then standing. Mr. Rust received fifty cents per day for his work. On his return, he went with Gardner Randolph with a drove of swine to Galena. His greatest trouble on this trip was the crossing of Rock River at Dixon, which was attended with difficulty on account of the drifting ice. But the cold was very severe when he returned, and he was sick for some time with rheumatism brought on by exposure. During the sudden change in December, 1836, Mr. Rush was hauling a load of cord wood from Sulphur Springs, where Mr. Hinshaw now lives, to Mr. Thompson's mill in Pone Hollow at Bloomington. When he arrived at the mill he had difficulty in unyoking the oxen, as the keys were frozen fast in the yoke. When he drove the oxen into the barn lot he found the chickens frozen into the slush. During this winter he worked for sixteen dollars per month, and his father drew his wages. But he worked after time and made extra wages, and with this money be bought his first good suit of clothes. These were the clothes which he afterwards wore at his wedding.

In January, 1838, Mr. Rush went with William and John Lindley with a drove of swine to Aurora. The cold was severe and a heavy snow was on the ground. One of the drovers, named Hiram Reilley, was about to freeze to death on his horse. The men pulled him off, rolled him in the snow, whipped and pounded him into life and took him to the house. During that night he burnt his boots to a crisp while trying to keep warm. He was discharged and sent home the next day. Many of the hogs had become injured or disabled and were placed in a wagon and drawn by oxen. But when they attempted to cross Long Point Creek, the oxen could not pull the wagon with its heavy load up the steep bank. Mr. Rust jumped into the water on that bitterly cold day, pulled out the end board, and the load of disabled swine was dumped into the creek. The wagon was pulled out, reloaded, and the party proceeded. While on their way to Chicago, they were subjected to severe changes of. weather. It was first very cold, then warm and then cold again. The drove of swine swam across the Vermilion River, but crossed the Illinois and Fox Rivers, and Buck Creek above Ottawa on the ice. On Mr. Rust's return from Aurora, a winter thunderstorm set in, and he and his brother were obliged to swim. Buck Creek. When they came out of the water, they wrung their socks, poured a pint of whisky into their boots and went on. Shortly afterwards it became so intensely cold that their clothes were frozen on them stiff. They stopped at the house of a man, named Clark, at Ottawa. When Mr. Rust pulled off his overcoat it stood up straight against the wall. From Ottawa they came home without further adventure.

Mr. Rust obtained a hundred and twenty acres of land in DeWitt County, as the result of much labor. On the 22d of October, 1840, he married Margaret Elizabeth Lindley, youngest child of John Lindley, sr. When Mr. Rust spoke of his mar- 'riage, in giving these items, Mrs. Rust said; " What kind of a place do you think he took me to? It was away off, where I did n't see a woman for three weeks, and we lived in a little cabin without any window, and the light came down the chim- ney, and the wolves howled around us!" But Mrs. Rust enjoyed those early days, notwithstanding the rude surroundings. The family now live in Randolph's Grove, near where Mr. Rust, sr., first made a permanent settlement when he came to McLean County.