Towanda Township

Persons Holding Positions Of Honor Or Trust The Old Settlers

The old settlers of McLean County are one by one passing beyond the shores of the unknown river, and in a few years not one will be left of the noble band of pioneers who made their homes in what was then a wilderness, inhabited only by red men. Their descendants, and those who come after them, will live to enjoy the full measure of happiness and prosperity built upon the solid foundations laid by the old settlers ; and may the}- ever hold in grateful remembrance those fathers and mothers whose daring and hardihood were the source of our present greatness. May the good actions, the intrepidity, and the daring of the old settlers, remain green in the memory of coming generations, forever !

Since this wTork has been in preparation, five old settlers have passed away. Their names are : James C. Harbord, of Bloomington township ; Alexander P. Craig, of Downs township ; Dr. John F. Henry, late of Burlington, Iowa; Patrick Hopkins, of Lexington ; and Daniel Crumbaugh, of Empire township. Peace to their ashes !

The present generation of McLean County is so near, in point of time, to the old settlers, that, as a rule, sufficient importance is not attached to their early struggles, their fortitude, and selfsacrifice, which has resulted in the astonishing progress of the county. While the pioneers are deservedly held in high esteem by all who study the local history of Illinois, it will remain for future generations to bestow upon them the full degree of gratitude and veneration to which they are entitled. In the same manner we now look back to Revolutionary sires with a pride we do not care to conceal.

The old settlers were ardent believers in the future greatn of Illinois, where they had found a rich soil, a beautiful country, and everything that could promise a wonderful development. How well their anticipations have been fulfilled need not be told. Doubtless they did not believe that the very next generation after them would reap such golden returns from the original investments, but thev knew too well that such returns could not be delayed many years after the first inhabitants should pass away.

In a few years the War of Rebellion will be the great dividing line between early and late times in McLean Countv. Even now it is thirteen years since that bloody storm commenced to sweep over the land, and many who were engaged in its sanguinary encounters have left the scene of action. How important, therefore, that the incidents connected with the first settlers should be preserved and kept fresh in the recollections of their descendants. The records in old times were few and imperfect, but that which they reveal should be cherished with all the wealth of affection owing to souvenirs and relics handed down from a sturdy ancestry.

Illinois was made a State in the Union in the year 1818, when it had a population of about forty-five thousand. At that time the settlements made were in the southern part, and the first legislature met at Kaskaskia. But a new State Capital was selected. The town of Vandalia was laid out for this purpose in the wilderness on the Kaskaskia River. The town received its name by means of a practical joke played upon the commissioners who made the location. In Ford's History of Illinois we find : " Tradition says that a wag, who was present, suggested to the commissioners that the Vandals were a powerful nation of Indians, who once inhabited the banks of the Kaskaskia River, and that Vandalia, formed from their name, would perpetuate the memory of that extinct but renowned people !" Vandalia was made the capital of the State and also the seat of justice of the county of Fayette. This county included a large territory, and the present county of McLean was within its boundaries. Before the spring of 1822 not a single white person had made a settlement within the boundaries of the present McLean County. For thousands of years the country had belonged to the Indians, the wolves, the deer and the rattle snakes. The rich soil had each year produced luxuriant crops of prairie grass, which, on the lowlands, grew from six to eight feet in height. In the fall of each year the prairie fires swept over it, leaving it black and bare and desolate. These fires prevented the growth of timber, except occasionally on the highlands or in broken country formed by streams of water.

In the fall of 1821 John Hendrix and John W. Dawson came with their families to Sangamon County from Ohio. In the spring of 1822 they came to what is now called Blooming Grove and made a settlement, At that time not a single house was to be found between Blooming Grove and Chicago. A few men were then engaged in making salt at Danville and a few miners were at ( ralena.

After the first settler conies and the country is heard of. others soon follow. In about the year 1822 Gardner Randolph settled at Randolph's Grove. In the spring of 1823 John Benson, the old soldier of 1812. and his family came to Blooming Grove and made a settlement, living first in a linn bark camp. During the same year the Stringfield family, consisting of the widow Stringfield and her sons Severe and Alfred M., came to Randolph's Grove, where they lived at first in a half-faced camp. Absalom and Isaac Funk and Mr. Brook came during the same }-ear and settled in Funk's Grove. On the second of May, 1823, the OrendorfYs, William and Thomas, came to Blooming Grove. It was during this year, too, that William II. Hodge, the pioneer schoolmaster, came to Blooming Grove from Sangamon County. Blooming Grove was the favorite spot for the new settlers, and the most of them came there; but the other groves were not long neglected. In about the year 1824 the old Quaker, Ephraim Stout, and his son Ephraim Stout, Jr., made a settlement in Stout's Grove. During this year Robert Stubblefield and family came to Funk's Grove and Thomas 0. Rutledge came with his mother and the Rutledge family to Randolph's Grove. The first sermon preached within the limits of the present McLean County was delivered by Rev. James Stringfield from Kentucky. He was an uncle of Squire Stringfield of Randolph's Grove. The little congregation was gathered at the cabin of John Hendrix and there the services were held. In June, 1S24, Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes came with his family to Blooming Grove. He was a member of the Separate Baptist denomination, but afterwards joined the Christian Church. Wherever two or three families could be gathered together, Mr. Rhodes delivered to them a sermon. lie was the first regular preacher in McLean County, and for a long while the only one. He often traveled with Rev. Mr. Latta, and they both preached at the same place.

When the first settlers came to the country, the Indians were plenty. The Kickapoos ruled the country. They had made a treaty sometime previous, by which the whites acquired all their land ; but when the whiles came in to settle and occupy it the Kickapoos were angry, and some of them felt disposed to insult and annoy the settlers. When John Ilendrix came to Blooming Grove the Indians ordered him to leave. Not long afterwards they frightened away a family which settled on the Mackinaw. Old Machina, the chief of the Kickapoos, ordered the Dawson family away, by throwing leaves in the air. This was to let the bootanas (white men) know that they must not be found in the country when the leaves of autumn should fall. In 182-3, when the Orendorffs came, Old Machina had learned to speak a little English. He came to Thomas Orendorff, and with a majestic wave of his hand said, " Too much come hack, white man, t'other side Sangamon." The Rhodes family was likewise ordered away. These things appeared a little threatening, but the settlers refused to leave and were not molested. It is the almost unanimous expression of the settlers that the Indians were the best of neighbors. They were polite and friendly, and Old Machina was quite popular among the whites, especially with the women, lie was particularly fond of childr< n, and this touched their motherly hearts.

The year 1825 was marked by some accessions to the little band of settlers. On the third of March, during that year, Rev. Peyton Mitchel came with his family to Stout's Grove. Mr. Mitchel was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and was a zealous and earnest Christian. In the fall of this year Jonathan Cheney made a settlement with his family at Cheney's Grove. His stock lived during the winter on the twigs of trees and came out in good condition in the spring. This food was liked by the cattle, and the settlers often fed their stock in this way. During this same year the family of William Evans came to Blooming Grove and made a settlement. This year was marked by some few improvements. The settlers were obliged to go long distances to mill and took large loads. They went first to Attica on the Wabash, one hundred and twenty miles distant. Afterwards they went to Green's mill on Fox River, near where Ottawa now stands, about eighty miles distant. But during the year 1825 Ebenezer Rhodes built a mill at Blooming Grove. The stones for grinding were the "nigger heads'' or boulders from the prairie. His mill was of the kind which be- came afterwards <juite common and was called a "corn cracker.''" The most curious of these mills was the one afterwards built by Major Baker. The stones were "nigger heads" cut in the shape of a coffee mill, and while in motion the lower stone was the one which revolved.

In August, 1826, the Trimmer family came to Smith's Grove. Here John Trimmer died and his widow settled with her family during the same year in Money Creek timber. Jacob Spawr came about the same time and lived with the Trimmer famil}^. It is pretty hard to bring clearly before the mind the circumstances of the early settlers. Everything was different in their surroundings. In those days the green head flies became very numerous and were almost an Egyptian plague. They became so troublesome that, during about six weeks of the vear in flytime, travelers were obliged to go on their journeys at night r and even then their horses or oxen were troubled by the flies, if the moon wTas shining brightly. Their bite was so severe that a horse, if turned loose during that season of the year, was liable to be goaded to death with pain, loss of blood and incessant kicking to become rid of the flies. They were the most numerous and troublesome on the routes where travelers, usually passed with their teams.

The devices used by the settlers were of every kind and description, and a particular account of them would fill a volume On Greenberry Larison's place, at Brooks' Grove, was for many years a wooden grindstone, made by Josiah Harp. It was a large wooden wheel, and the outer edge or rim was pounded full of sand and fine gravel. This was done while the wood was fresh and green, and when it dried, the sand and gravel wTere tightly held. By the revolution of this wheel an ax could be sharpened or scratched, and something of an edge given to it. Thesettlers were obliged to go long distances to have their tools sharpened. Isaac Funk and Robert Stubblefield often carried their plough irons on horseback fifty or sixty miles for this purpose.

The prairie grass in the early days grew very high, and its roots wrere tough and fibrous. It was therefore very hard for the settlers to break their prairie. A good breaking team consisted of five or six yoke of oxen, and the plow was an old fashioned Barshear, which cut a furrow twenty-two inches in width. This plow would now be really a curiosity. It had a shear of cold hammered steel and was attached to a wooden raouldboard. It went out of use many years ago. The prairie grass with its librous roots has also given way to civilization, and the pretty blue grass has taken its place. The settlers were so far from market, and the cost of transportation was so great that they could buy but few articles of every day use. They were obliged to make them or do without. They raised their own wool and flax and spun and wove their own cloth. They wore home-made jeans and linsey woolsey. Their shoes were of their own make, and sometimes their leather was of their own tanning. They raised their own sheep, of course. The earliest settlers say that it was easy to raise sheep at first ; that the wolves would not molest them. But the wolves soon acquired a taste for mutton and became the most vicious and troublesome enemies with which the settlers had to contend. It became as much the duty of settlers to chase wolves as to plow, sow and reap. They caught the wolves in traps and in pens, killed them with clubs while chasing them on horseback, made ring hunts for the purpose of exterminating them, poisoned them, offered bounties for their scalps and made warfare on them in a thousand different ways. Sometimes when a wolf became very troublesome the settlers offered bounties for its particular scalp. More than a thousand bushels of corn were once offered for the scalp of a single wolf. It was killed by John Price of Downs, but he refused to accept the bounty. The legislature at last raised the bounty on wolf scalps. A grandiloquous speaker, named Hubbard, once expressed the feelings of the settlers, though in a laughable style, when he said :

" Mr. Speaker, from all sources of information I learn that the wolf is a very noxious animal ; that he goes prowling about, seeking something to devour; that he rises up in the dead and secret hours of the night, when all nature reposes in silent oblivion, and then commits the most terrible devastations among the rising generation of hogs and sheep."

The stock, which the settlers raised, was collected by drovers and taken to market toPekin, Peoria, Galena or Chicago. The Funks were the greatest drovers and did by far the largest business. They led a hard life, and the difficulties they encountered and overcame seem almost beyond belief.

In 182(1 a man named Smith came to Dry Grove, made a claim and lived for a while in a tent. In October of that year Peter McCullough came from Tennessee, bought Smith's claim and put up the first house in Dry Grove.

By this time the settlers in this section of the country thought they ought to have a new county. Everyone was anxious; petitions were circulated, and the legislature of 1826 and '27 formed the county of Tazewell from a part of Fayette. This action of the legislature was ratified at an election held in April, 1827, at the house of William Orendorff of Blooming Grove. William Orendorff was elected justice of the peace ; William II. Hodo'e was elected sheriff and Thomas Orendorff was elected coroner. The first court of Tazewell County was held at the house of Ephraim Stout of Stout's Grove. But Mackinawtown was made the seat of justice, and here the public buildings were to be erected. The jail was built of logs by Matthew Robb and others, and in order to test its strength this gentleman was placed inside and the door locked. But lie succeeded in o-etting out of the little establishment.

of March the grass was ankle deep in the marshes, and the prairie had a greenish tinge. This season was remarkable, too. for the great storm, which passed through Blooming Grove and Old Town timber. It was the twenty-third of June when it came. Everything fell before it; the largest trees were uprooted and twisted and broken, and in some places the logs were piled up twenty feet in height. For many years afterwards the track of this terrible storm was plainly seen.

During the summer of 1827, which was very wet, Stephen Webb, William McCord and George and Jacob Hinshaw came to the county. Stephen Webb settled in Dry Grove and the Hinshaws settled in Blooming Grove, but afterwards moved to Dry Grove. In March of this year Matthew Robb and Robert McClure settled at Stout's Grove.

During the early days the West was thickly inhabited bv snakes, and the settlers tell great stories of the number they' killed. Nevertheless the settlers often went to the field and did their ploughing barefooted. Mr. Peasley of Down says that while ploughing around a patch of ground, the snakes continum'lean county.

ally crawled away from the furrow to the center of the unplowed patch, and when it became very small the grass was fairly alive with the wriggling, squirming reptiles, and they would at last break in every direction. The rattlesnakes frequently bit the oxen, but the latter seldom died on account of snake bite. The poison of the rattlesnake is most virulent and dangerous in August.

One of the greatest difficulties with which the settlers were obliged to contend was the fire on the prairie. In the fall of the year they prot ected their farms by ploughing furrows around them, and sometimes by ploughing furrows wride apart and burning out the grass between them. But in spite of all precautions the settlers often suffered. The tire sometimes came before preparation was made, and sometimes it leaped over the furrows and burned up fences, fields of corn, stacks of hay and stacks of wheat. It moved so rapidly that very little time was given to prepare for it. It drew currents of air in after it to feed the flames, and the wind drove it on faster and faster. A prairie tire moves with the central portion ahead, while the wings hang back on each side, in the shape of a tiock of wild geese. Sometimes the settlers protected not only their farms from fire but a considerable prairie. The prairie so protected soon became covered with a growth of timber.

In March, 1828, the family of Francis Barnard came to Dry Grove. During the same year the Henline family came to Mackinaw timber and settled on the north of the Mackinaw on Henline Creek. In February, 1829, Levi Danley came to Stout's Grove, and in October of the same }'ear entered the farm where he settled and which he still owns. The Conger family also settled at Stout's Grove during the same year. In March of this year the Messer family came to Mackinaw timber. During this year Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes organized the first church in McLean County at his house in Blooming Grove.

It may be a matter of curiosity to readers to know how Blooming Grove received its name. It was called Keg Grove and Hendrix Grove and sometimes Dawson's Grove. There is a story that the Indians found a keg of whiskey which had been cached, and that this gave the name which the grove bore for many years. But this story is not well authenticated. The name was afterwards changed to Blooming, on account of the flowers and foliage of the maple trees in spring-time. This name was suggested by two different parties at about the same time. Mrs. William Orendorff suggested to some ladies, who were visiting her, that the grove should be called Blooming Grove. At nearly the same time John Rhodes and Thomas Orendorff were out in the woods writing letters, and Rhodes asked what name they should write at the head of their letters. Thomas Orendorff looked up at the maple trees and said : "It looks blooming here, I think we had better call it Blooming Grove."

At the opening of the year 1830 the country was sparsely settled, indeed it could hardly be said to be settled at all. There were only three houses between Blooming Grove and Mackinawtown ; and between the latter place and the present village of Pleasant Hill were no houses at all. At that time the most hopeful of the old settlers only dared to think that the country would be settled in the edges of the timber, that a cordon of farms would be made around each grove.

In January, 1830, Jesse Havens and family settled in what has since been called Havens' Grove. In the fore part of the same year Benjamin "Wheeler also settled there. In the spring of 1830 John Smith settled at Smith's Grove, and two years afterwards moved to Havens' Grove. During the previous spring of 1829 James Allin came to Blooming Grove from Vandalia for the purpose of merchandising. This was a great accession, for the influence which this man exerted was of the greatest importance to McLean County.

In the year 1830 the people of Blooming Grove and many surrounding settlements determined to have a county cut off from Tazewell. The idea was not favored by the people of Mackinawtown, the county seat of Tazewell County. But James Allin and many others were active in circulating petitions. These petitions were taken to Vandalia during that same year by Thomas Orendorff and James Latta. The speaker of the house, William Lee D. Ewing, interested himself in the matter, but Orendorff and Latta were obliged to wait several days before their petitions could be attended to. At last Mr. Ewing called the two gentlemen to his room and asked what the name of the county should be. James Latta wished it called Hendricks County after Mr. Hendricks of Indiana. But Mr* Ewing remarked that it was dangerous to name it after any living man; for no one's reputation was safe until he had gone to his grave. The man whom they chose to honor might do something mean, and the people would wish the name of the county changed. Mr. Ewing then proposed to call it McLean County after John McLean, who had been speaker of the lower house of the Assembly, had been a representative in Congress and United States Senator. This proposition was agreed to, and the bill passed the lower house in the forenoon of that day and the Senate in the afternoon. Ford's History of Illinois says of John McLean: "He was very prominent in the politics of Illinois. He was several times elected to the legislature, once elected to the lower house of Congress, and twice to the United States Senate, and died a member of that body in 1880. He was naturally a great, magnanimous man and a leader of men. The county of McLean was named in honor of him." McLean Countj- was at that time much larger than at present. It was bounded on the north by the Illinois River ; on the east by Range six east of the Third Principal Meridian ; on the south by the south line of Township Twenty-one north, and on the west by Range One west of the Third Principal Meridian.

The winter of 1830 and '31 was the celebrated winter of the deep snow. The weather during the fall had been very dry, and continued mild until late in the winter. But at last the snow came during the latter part of December; and such a snow has never since been known. The settlers were blockaded in their cabins and could do very little except pound their corn, cut their wood and keep their fires blazing. A great deal of stock was frozen to death during this terrible winter. The deer and wild turkeys, which had been very numerous, were almost exterminated. The wolves, on the other hand, had a pleasant time of it. They played around over the snow, caught all the deer they wished, and were bold and impudent. The stories of this deep snow would fill a large volume, and in the sketches of this work are found the experience of many pioneers, who lived during the cold winter in their snow-bound huts. It has been impossible to learn precisely the depth of the snow during tliis winter. As the Bnow fell it drifted, and other snows fell and other drifts were made. Many measurements were taken in the timber, but even here great errors were likely to occur, for the snow after falling soon settled. The settlers vary in their statements, some of them placing the depth at a little less than three feet, and some at more than four feet. In the spring of 1831, when the snow melted, the face of the country was covered with water. The little creeks became great rivers, and all intercourse between the settlers was stopped; for people could have traveled better with steamboats than with ox teams. The spring was backward and the crops were sown late. Xevertheless a fair crop of wheat was harvested; but the corn, upon which the settlers depended most, was bitten by the early frosts in the fall.

In 1831 the seat of justice of McLean County was located at the north end of Blooming Grove, on land given by James Allin for the purpose of founding the town of Bloomington. The location was made by commissioners appointed by the legislature. These commissioners also appointed Thomas Orendorff the first assessor. His assessment was made roughly on what each person was worth, without specifying the property particularly, and it was completed in thirteen days.

The business of McLean County was transacted by a board of three commissioners. The first meeting of the Commissioners" Court was held May 16, 1831. The members present were Jonathan Cheney, Timothy B. Hoblit and Jesse Havens, [saac Baker was appointed first clerk of Court and held this office for many years. The first tax levied by this Court was one-half of one per cent. But though this tax was small, it was severely felt by the settlers, much more so than heavy taxes at the present day. Thomas Orendorff was appointed the first treasurer of McLean County. It may perhaps interest the curious to know of the first marriage solemnized in McLean County after its oreanization. It was between Robert Rutledee and Charity AVeedman, and the ceremony was performed on the ninth of June, 1831, by Nathan Brittin, Justice of the Peace.

The year 1831 was particularly celebrated for the fever and ague. A great deal of rich soil was turned over for the first time, and the vapors and exhalations made the climate nnm'lean county. 11 healthy. Mr. Esek Greenman says that out of twenty-four persons belonging to three families, twenty-three had the ague. It was as much to be expected as harvest or the changes of the seasons. It was a disease to be dreaded because of its effect upon the mind as well as upon the physical system. It induced a feeling of despondency, and took away that spirit of enterprise and that strong will, which bore up the settlers under misfortune. For many years the fever and ague was the scourge of the West, and was one of the severest hardships.

In September, 1831, the Methodists held their first campmeeting at Randolph's Grove. Rev. Peter Cartwright, Rev. Mr. Latta and others preached there. Mr. Cartwright was very sensitive to the criticisms of Eastern men, and said : " They represent this country as a vast waste, and people as very ignorant; but if I was going to shoot a fool, I would not take aim at a Western man, but would go down by the sea-shore and cock my fusee at the imps who live on oysters." Mr. Latta preached directly at popular vices and was particularly severe on horseracing. He said : " There is a class of people, who can not go to hell fast enough on foot, so they must get on their poor, mean pony and go to the horse-race. Even professors of religion are not guiltless in this respect, but go under the pretense that they want to see such a man or such a man, but they know in their own hearts that they want to see the horse-race."

Among the old settlers were to be found some soldiers of the Revolution. The following is taken from the records of the County Commissioners' Court for December, 1832 :

"John Scott came into 'open Court and on his oath made a declaration purporting to prove himself a revolutionary soldier, for the purpose of obtaining the benefit of the act of Congress, passed June the 7th, A. I). 1832. The Court is of opinion, after the investigation of the matter and putting the interrogatories prescribed by the war department, that the said Scott's declaration is correct and that he is a revolutionary soldier." Eight other revolutionary soldiers were certified by the Court as being such. They were Ebenezer Barnes, William MeGhee, Thomas Sloan, Edward F. Patrick, Charles Moore, William Vincent, Edward Day and John Toliday.

The records of the Court also show another peculiar law, which has been done away with. The following is taken from the record of the June Term, 1835 :

"This day William T. Major presents a bond of one thousand dollars, payable to T. B. Hoblit, Setli Baker and Andrew McMillin, County Commissioners, and their successors in office, conditioned that a negro girl named Rosanna Johnson, late a slave in the state of Kentucky, shall not become a charge on any county in this state, &c. The Court accepts of the said bond and orders the same to be put on file for the benefit of the said counties and also for the said Rosanna."

In 1832 the accessions to McLean County, and especially to Bloomington, were so great that a second addition was made to the latter place by James Allin. In 1833 the first race track was laid out. Four horses wTere ridden in the first race. They were the Bald Hornet, owned by Henry Jacoby and ridden by Esek Greenman; the Gun Fannon, owned by Jake Heald ; Tiger Whip, owned by Peter Hefner and ridden b}- James Paul, and Ethiopian, owned by a man near Waynesville. The race was won by Tiger Whip.

The prices of produce, of wheat, corn, &c, were in early days sometimes very high, and at other times correspondingly low. Corn was sometimes a dollar a bushel, and sometimes only ten cents. In 1833 prices were very low. Corn sold for ten cents a bushel, oats for eight cents, wheat for thirty-one cents, flour for $1.50 per hundred weight, pork for §1.25, and wood for one dollar per cord.

In 1834 the settlement of the country was such that people began to calculate where to lay out the villages, which, with the development of the countrj-, would one day become towns and cities. The village of Clarksville was laid off in July, 1834, by Joseph and Marston C. Bartholomew. During this year the census of Bloomington was taken by Allen Withers, and the little town numbered one hundred and eighty inhabitants. In 1835 the influx of settlers continued. The state of Illinois had in 1818 a population of about 45,000 ; in 1830 it had a population of 157,447; but in 1835 the people of the state numbered about 250,000. In November, 1835, the town of LeRoy was laid out by Covel and Gridley. The year 1836 was marked by a grand rush of settlers to Illinois. Many pamphlets had been circulated among the people of the Eastern States, and the great resources of the West became everywhere known. The settlers came in every possible way. They crowded the steamboats on the rivers; they came en horseback, with ox teams, or on foot; everywhere they were coming. Scarcely any accommodations could be prepared for them, and they lived in their wagons or tents, or crowded into the little log cabins, which were hastily built. They made settlements singly or by companies. It was during this year that the Hudson and Mt. Hope Companies were formed. The Hudson Company was formed at Jacksonville, and the articles of agreement were drawn up in February, 1836. Horatio 1ST. Pettit, John Gregory and George F. Pufkitt were chosen a committee to enter and locate the land. Twenty-one sections were entered in the name of Horatio N. Pettit, and through him the colonists trace their title. The land was located at Haven's Grove, and was surveyed by Major Diekason, the county surveyor, assisted by John Magouu and S. P. Cox. The town of Hudson was laid out, and the choice of lots was made on the fourth of July, 1836. During this year little towns were laid out everywhere. In January the town of Lexington was laid out by A. Gridley and J. Brown, and in December following an addition was made by Edgar Conkling. In February, 1836, Concord (now Danvers) was laid out by Isaac W. Hall and Matthew Robb. During the same month the town of Lytleville was laid out by John Baldwin, and an addition was made in the following March. Wilkesborough was laid out in June by James 0. Barnard. The growth of Bloomington kept pace with the development of the country and its population increased to four hundred and fifty. During this year additions were laid out, known as White's, Miller and Foster's, Allin, Gridley and Prickett's and Evans'.

The Mt. Hope colony was formed by a company chartered by the state of Rhode Island, under the name of the Providence Farmers' & Mechanics' Emigrating Society. In December, 1836, the company entered eight thousand acres of land very nearly in the shape of a square, and as it had twenty-five shares, each share-holder was entitled to three hundred and twenty acres of land. The land entered by the Mt. Hope colony comprises nearly all of the present township of Mt. Hope. In the summer of 1837 General William Peck, one of the originators of the scheme, came out and surveyed the land and laid out the village of Mt. Hope.

The month of December, 1836, was marked by a sudden change in the weather, more remarkable, perhaps, than the great winter of the deep snow. The weather had been mild for some time, and rain had been falling, changing the snow to slush, when suddenly a cold wind-storm came and lowered the temperature instantly from about forty degrees above zero to twenty degrees below. The face of the countrj7 wras changed from water to ice immediately and, as Rev. Mr. Peasley said, appeared like a picture of the Polar regions. Squire Buck, of Empire township, took some notes of this wind-storm, and says that it came from the west to the Mississippi, which it reached at ten o'clock a. M., that it continued eastward and reached Leroy at three o'clock p. m., and Indianapolis at about eleven. It therelore moved from the Mississippi River to Leroy at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and from Leroy to Indianapolis at the rate of twenty miles an hour.

After the year 1836 the great rush of settlers to the West was over. In 1837 the United States' bank suspended, and the spirit of enterprise was checked. The rage for laying out towns was stopped, for the little villages, which were brought into being, refused to grow. In February, 1839, Conkling and Wood laid out an addition to Leroy, and in April, 1840, Pleasant Hill was laid out by Isaac Smalley.

The great coon-skin and hard cider campaign, when General Harrison wras elected President, was in 1840. The Democratic party was represented by the cock, and the Whigs by the coon. During that campaign the Whigs took an enormous canoe to a mass-meeting at Springfield. The excitement rose to the highest point.

The failure of the United States' bank and the closeness of money did not affect the West as soon as the East ; but the commereial distress slowly and surely worked westward. In 1842 the condition of things was frightful, worse than has ever since been known. During that year Judge McClun took to the East some pork, which he had received in payment for goods, and he says: "If the West was prostrate, the East was in even a worse tix. Commercial distress was everywhere seen. Failures were an hourly occurrence, and the only reliable money, gold and silver, was locked up. Factories had stopped and their goods were thrown on the market at ruinous prices. My pork could not be sold to realize even the cost of transportation." During this year a number of the settlers concluded to collect their pigs in a "bunch" and drive them to Chicago themselves, for they could not believe that the price offered by drovers was really that of the Chicago market. But these misguided settlers received for their pork, after paying expenses, about twenty-five cents per hundred. They were much wiser after this experiment. The settlement of the country was for many years at a stand-still. A great deal of land, which had been entered for a dollar and a quarter per acre, was thrown upon the market and could be bought for seventy-five cents or a dollar per acre. It was not until about the year 1846 or '47 that the condition of things was very greatly improved. Nevertheless the country was still unsettled to a great extent, except around the groves. Prairie land could be entered until the land office closed to allow the company, which was to build the Illinois Central Railroad, to select its land. This was in 1850, when the charter was granted. It was then seen that prairie land would rise in value, and as soon as the land office was re-opened, all the prairie within many miles of the railroad was entered immediately. After the building of the Illinois Central and the Chicago & Alton Railroads the country became rapidly settled. Cars were running on both of these roads in 1852, and soon little towns sprang up and grew rapidly. The town of Towandawas laid off by Peter H. Badeau of St. Louis, and Jesse W. Fell, in December, 1854. The town of Ileyworth was laid off in 1855. In June of the same year the town of McLean was laid off by Franklin Price. In March, 1856, the town of Saybrook was laid off by Isaac M. Polk. Some indication of the rapid development of the country is seen in the censuses of Bloomington. In 1850 the city contained sixteen hundred and eleven persons; but in 1855 it

On the third of November, 1857, McLean County voted to adopt township organization by a large majority. The hard times of 1857 gave a temporary check to the growth of the country, but it was only temporary.

The presidential campaign of 1860 and the war which followed are so recent and fresh in the mind of the reader, that it is not necessary to dwell upon them here.

The building of the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western and the Lafayette, Bloomington and Mississippi Railroads assisted very greatly in developing the country by bringing the markets nearer to the people along their routes.

Since the organization of McLean County in 1830, it has been much reduced in size as other counties have been formed. It now contains about eleven hundred and forty-seven square miles of land. It is bounded on the north by Woodford and Livingston Counties, on the east by Livingston, Ford and Champaign Counties, on the south Irv DeWitt County and a small part of Logan, and on the west by Tazewell County and a little of Woodford. The Toledo, Peoria and "Wabash Railroad cuts through the northern edge of the county, forming the enterprising villages of Gridley, Chenoa and Weston. The first mentioned was named in honor of General Gridley of Bloomington. The Gilman, Clinton and Springfield Railroad cuts through the south-eastern corner of McLean County, and the station of Bellefllower has sprung up on the line. The county is now well supplied with railroads, and if it could keep down the pace of transportation the people would indeed be blessed. The " railroad question " is the one upon which the people must exercise their wits for many years to come. The future prosperity of the people of McLean County is not doubted for a moment. All the opportunities for acquiring wealth are here, and the people are disposed to take advantage of them.

As a part of the history of McLean County, the following statistics of the schools are given as furnished by John Hull, County Superintendent :

September 301I1, 1873 State Normal University

Illinois is a growing State, and its people have from its early settlement been conscious of its great destiny. In order to build up the educational interests of the State it was determined, at an early day, to have a Normal School for the education of teachers. In accordance with an act of the legislature of February 18, 1857, the State Board of Education proceeded to receive bids from the various towns of the State for the location of the school. The county of McLean, and various individuals living in it and the city of Bloomington, offered by far the greatest inducements. Meshach Pike, Joseph Payne, E. "W. Bakewell and Judge David Davis, gave one hundred and sixty acres of land, and its public and private subscriptions amounted to one hundred and forty-one thousand dollars. The county itself subscribed seventy thousand dollars, to be obtained from the sale of swamp lands. In May, 1857, the school was located at Normal, on the land donated for that purpose. Plans and drawings for building were immediately called for and furnished by Mr. G. P. Randall of Chicago, architect and superintendent of University buildings.

Mr. Charles E. Hovey was elected Principal of the University, and immediately issued circulars announcing that it would be opened in Bloomington on the first Monday in October, 1857. The object of the Normal School was clearly seen in the conditions imposed upon the students and published in this circular. The qualifications were :

4. To pass a satisfactory examination before the proper officers in Reading, Spelling, Writing, Arithmetic, Geography and the elements of English Grammar. Each county and each representative district was entitled to one student in the school.

On the fifth of October, 1857, at the time advertised, the school was opened in Major's Hall, which was fitted up for that purpose. There were at the opening forty-three students. As all of the counties and representative districts did not avail themselves of the privilege of sending students, the principal was authorized to receive candidates on examination and in compliance with the qualifications published in the circular.

The formal School at the very outset showed its value and took a high standing among the educational institutions of the country. Its principal professor, Charles E. Hovey, (afterwards General Hovey), was a man of great energy and the best of judgment. In the year 1860 the splendid University building was completed, and the Normal School entered on its course of uninterrupted prosperity. During this year, in the month of June, the first commencement exercises were held in the new building.

Like all the educational establishments of the country, the Normal School was affected by the war to suppress the rebellion. Ten of its teachers entered the army, and among them was the honored principal. Their example was followed by nearly all the young men in the University, and the Thirty-third Illinois, of which they formed so large a part, was known throughout the war as the Normal Regiment. President Hovey entered the army in 1861 as Colonel of the Normal Regiment and was afterwards made a general. Leander H. Potter was made a colonel in the army and is now president of the Soldier's College at Fulton. Dr. E. R. Roe was made a colonel in the army and is now a United States marshal. Ira Moore was a captain in the army and is now principal of the Normal School at St. Cloud, Minnesota. J. H. Burnham was made a captain, and Aaron Gove an adjutant. Julian E. Bryant was made a lieutenant, and during the war was drowned on the Texan coast. Joseph G. Howell was made a lieutenant in the army, and was shot at Fort Donelson and buried in Bloomington Cemetery. Edwin Philbrook was made a sergeant, and Dr. Samuel Willard a surgeon. After President Hovey entered the army, the position of principal devolved temporarily upon Perkins Bass, Esq., of Chicago, who held it for one year and then yielded it to Richard Edwards, LL.D., who has held it until the present time.

Connected with the University is a Model School, which was started at the opening of the University in Major's Hall. It had a small beginning and was first taught by Miss Mary M. Brooks, a lady of remarkable talent. It has grown from this into the present large Model School, consisting of three departments, in charge of four regular teachers, assisted by many of the Normal students. The range of instruction in the Model School is from the primary department to the course preparatory for college. Since the opening of the Model School it has been under the charge of many lady teachers, who have uniformly given great satisfaction. One difficulty occurs with the employment of lady teachers; they will occasionally get married, and this is the cause of the many changes of instructors in the Model School.

Connected with the Normal School is a Museum of Natural History, which is estimated to be worth about one hundred thousand dollars. This is indeed a fine collection of specimens, illustrating the various branches of Natural History. These collections have been made by Professor Wilber, Professor Powell, Dr. Vasey, Richard H. Holder, Esq., and others. The greater part of the stuffed birds were given by Mr. Holder. These gentlemen are enthusiastic workers in the field of Natural History, and, it would seem, have not always received the encouragement and support they deserve from the State. They have been obliged, in a great measure, to bear their own expenses ; and certainly their services, rendered as they have been with the greatest enthusiasm, are out of all proportion to the pay they have received. The Museum is a great benefit, not only to the Normal School but to the entire State, as by means of it every school in the State is encouraged to make collections.

" The recent introduction of the natural sciences into our common school course of study has developed a general demand for specimens in Natural History, which I am trying to supply. It is designed to furnish, in time, to every school in the State which will properly use and care for it, a small collection, so selected as to illustrate in the best possible manner the branches required to be taught. The time and resources at my command are quite insufficient for this ; and, as it is a work undertaken solely for the benefit of the public schools, I make this call upon their officers and members for aid.

" The schools will encounter great difficulties in attempting to form good cabinets unaided, each for itself. Among others will be that of getting specimens correctly named, and that of securino;, in a sino;le circumscribed localitv, a sufficient variety to fully cover the whole field of study. It will be an easy matter, however, for the teachers and pupils of the State to collect and send to this Museum, in one or two seasons, a sufficient number and variety of specimens liberally to supply all our schools; and these I will undertake to name, select, arrange and re-distribute in such a manner as to give to each school participating in the work the benefit of a judicious selection from the whole number sent by all.

" Good specimens in all branches of Natural History will be acceptable, and directions for preparing and shipping them will be sent upon application."

The cost of the Normal University to the State of Illinois is a matter of interest. President Edwards shows, in his decennial address, that all the money ever expended on the institution by the State is, up to the year 1870, §279,740.63, while the property belonging to it at that time and owned by the State amounted to" §312,000, without including the Museum. When we consider that the Museum is worth one hundred thousand dollars, it will be seen that the investment made by the State is a pretty good one, from a purely financial point of view. When we consider further, that the State has given comparatively little of its own monev to the institution, but has exercised its gener- osity by expending the interest on a fund donated to this State for educational purposes, by Congress, in the year 1818 ; and when we consider, too, the very moderate salaries paid to the teachers of the institution, it certainly appears to an outsider that the enthusiasm of the friends of education is far in advance of the liberality of the State. We have yet to see an example of a State which has been too liberal in educational matters. When money is expended by a State for educational purposes, it is usually laid out by men who are devoted to the work. We have yet to hear of such a thing as an educational " ring." Villainy has no sympathy with science. When much money is expended for schools, little money is required for penitentiaries. It may seem like a sweeping remark, but we think it is strictly within the bounds of truth, to say that there is no better way for the State to expend money, as a mere financial speculation, than to lay it out for schools. Capital always follows intelligence. It seems very singular, sometimes, that our legislators are a little slow to see these things ; but if the truth must be told, the explanation of the matter is, that teachers and friends of education do not understand the ways of politicians.

It is the business of teachers to instruct and improve the students under their charge, and it will readily be seen that the tendency of the profession must be to elevate and improve those who earnestly devote themselves to it.

It is not easy to over-estimate the value of the Normal School to the State of Illinois. Its graduates and students go out everywhere to teach and to learn. The members of the faculty of the Normal School hold teachers' institutes annually at Normal, frequently attend county institutes, and by their example and experience and earnestness in the profession in which they are engaged, do a great deal to elevate the tone of the teachers of Illinois, and point them to a higher standard of excellence.

The principal of the Normal School is Richard Edwards, LL.D. He was born in Aberystvvith, Cardiganshire, Wales, on tne twenty-third of December, 1822. His father was a stone and brick-mason, and his mother, whose maiden name was Jones, was the daughter of a small farmer. The family moved to the United States and settled in Ohio in the Western Reserve, when youDg Richard was a little more than ten years old. He was employed on a farm until he was sixteen, and from that time until he was twenty-two he worked as a house carpenter. Up to this time he had received very little education, hut his turn of mind was seen in his love of books and his habit of reading in the evening by the light of " hickory bark." He was very anxious to obtain an education, and by some good fortune made the acquaintance of two graduates of Harvard, who advised him to go to that scholastic paradise, Massachusetts. He was told that " the culture which he so much yearned for was the staple in which Massachusetts dealt." He went there and communed for a while with the angels in the heaven of learning. He taught school at Hingham and at Waltham, Mass., and was a member of the Normal School at Bridge water.' In the spring of 1847 he went to Troy, New York, and became a student at the "Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute." Here he was for a short time an assistant teacher. It seems that he kept himself always employed. He was for a while a " rodman " on the Cochituate Water Works, which were then being built. In May of that year he became an assistant teacher in Bridgewater Normal School, of which he was a graduate. This school was superintended by one of the best teachers of Massachusetts, the celebrated Nicholas Tillinghast. Here Mr. Edwards remained until January, 1853, when he removed to Salem and took charge of the English High School there. Shortly afterwards he became the agent of the State Board of Education in visiting schools. For three years he was principal of the State Normal School in Salem, Massachusetts. In October, 1857, he accepted the position of principal of the city Normal School of St. Louis. In June, 1862, he was made President of the Illinois State Normal University, where he has remained ever since.

Of course President Edwards has been obliged to go the way of all the earth and - get married. On the fifth of July, 1849, he married Miss Betsy J. Samson of Pembroke, Massachusetts. Her father, Mr. Thomas Samson, is still living in that town. They have had eleven children, ten of whom are still living.

As will be seen from the foregoing sketch, Mr. Edwards has received his education in a, very irregular manner, which he does not think is very advantageous.

State Normal University

He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard College and the degree of LL. D. from " a less illustrious, but still very honest source, viz: Shurtleff College, Alton, 111."

President Edwards is a man of medium stature, and is very intellectual in his appearance. His manner is always pleasant, and he loves the profession in which he is engaged. When hesmiles, he shows by the expression of his eyes that he is tickled at something. Profound thought has frightened the hair from the crown of his head. He can endure a great deal of intellectual labor; and it seems that he is now occupying the place for which Providence designed him.

Edwin C. Hewett, Professor of History, was born in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in November, 1828. He graduated at the State Normal School in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1852 ; the school was then in charge of Mr. Tillinghast, In January, 1858, Mr. Hewett became an assistant teacher at Bridgewater, where he remained for nearly four years. In the fall of 1858 he entered upon his duties as teacher in the Normal University, which have since been interrupted onty by one year's absence by permission of the Board of Education. In 1863 he received the complimentary degree of A. M. from the University of Chicago. His long and useful services as a teacher place him among the first of his most honored profession.

Professor of Natural Science, was born in Scarborough, Maine, in 1830. He graduated from the Medical School of Harvard University in 1852. In 1854 he came West and taught and practiced his profession in Bureau and LaSalle Counties. He graduated in the Scientific Department of Harvard University in the summer of 1860. In the fall of the same year he entered upon his duties at Normal, where he has remained until the present time. Professor Sewall has that enthusiastic love of natural science which has recently led to many interesting and useful discoveries.

Thomas Metcalf, Professor of Mathematics, was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, in 1826. He graduated from the Normal School at Bridgewater, Mass., in 1848, under Mr. Tillinghast. After leaving the Normal School he taught in Charlestown and West Roxbury, Mass., for several years. He came to St. Louis in 1857, and entered upon his duties as instructor in the High School. From St. Louis he came to Normal, in the summer of 1862, and has since been constantly at his work of teaching in the University, with the exception of a few months in the spring of 1871, while making a trip to Europe. Like all the other members of the Normal faculty he loves his profession, and it is this which leads him to excel.

Albert Stetson, Professor of Languages, was born in Kingston, Mass., in 1834. He graduated from the Bridgewater Normal School in the spring of 1853. After teaching for three years he entered Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1861. He taught in Provincetown, Mass., until the fall of 1862, when he came to Normal and entered on the duties of the chair which he now fills. He has been very efficient as a teacher and thoroughly understands the duties of his position.

Professor John W. Cook was born in Woodford County, Illinois, in 1844. He graduated at the Normal University, in 1865, and entered upon his present duties, as member of the Faculty, in 1868.

Professor Henry McCormick was born in Ireland, in 1837. He graduated at the Normal University, in 1868, and became a member of the Faculty in 1869.

Miss Myra Osband became Preceptress of the University in January, 1871, having previously been engaged in teaching at different places in New York and Illinois. This accomplished lady excels as a teacher and thoroughly understands her delicate and responsible duties.

The members of the Normal Faculty take the greatest pride in the University which they have helped to so high a standing, among similar establishments, in the United States. It is well known that the majority, and perhaps all of them, could obtain larger salaries elsewhere, and some very tempting otters have been made to them, but they still remain at their posts.

Professor E. W. Coy, Principal of the High School in the Model Department, graduated at Brown University in 1858. He took charge of the Peoria High School in the fall of 1858, which position he resigned in 1871, when he came to Normal. But his service in the Peoria High School was not continuous from 1858 to 1871, as during that time he spent some time in practicing law and in superintending the public schools of reoria.

Miss Martha D. L. Haynie, Assistant in High School, is a native of Kentucky, although most of her life has been spent in Illinois. Her experience as a teacher has been long and varied.

B. W. Baker, Principal of the Grammar School, was born in Coles County, Ills., November 25, 1841. He was raised on a farm. At the age of twenty he entered the army and served from 1861 to 1864 in the 25th Ills. Volunteers. He was wounded at Pea Ridge and afterwards at Perryville. He was at the siege of Corinth, at the battles of Resaca, Dalton, Kenesaw Mountain, Kingston, Noonday Creek, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta. He was discharged in 1864. He entered the Normal University, from which he graduated in 1870. He then entered upon his duties as principal of the Grammar School, and still holds that position.

The little Primary School is a gem ; to many visitors it is the most interesting department of the whole University. It is now in charge of Miss Gertie Case, a graduate of the Model High School. Miss^Case entered upon her present work in the fall of 1872; previous to that time she had won an enviable reputation in the public schools of Bloomington and Normal.

The Soldiers' Orphans' Home

The following, taken from the second biennial report of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, explains and describes the institution and its object very clearly :

" The institution was incorporated by an Act of the General Assembly, approved February 16th, 1865, and subsisted entirely upon private charity, until by an Act approved March 5th, 1867, a certain fund in the hands of the Governor, known as the "deserters' fund," was donated to the Home, and farther appropriations made.

" The Home is located on a high and commanding tract of land, donated by the Hon. David Davis, Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, adjoining the thriving village of Normal, at the crossing of the Illinois Central and Chicago & Alton Railroads. A better selection could hardly have been made - beautiful, healthy, with fine railroad and educational advantages, it being the seat of the State Normal University.

"The building is a splendid structure, 140 by 80 feet, built in the Romanesque style of architecture, three stories of brick, with a basement of stone, surmounted by a tine dome. It is plain but substantial in finish, more attention being given to such arrangements as would secure the comfort and health of its inmates.

" The school building is a new brick structure, a short distance from the Home proper. It contains six large rooms, furnished with the most improved equipments. One of the rooms is devoted to library and reading purposes, where a large number of the best papers and periodicals are kept on file.

" The persons entitled to the benefits of the Home are the indigent children (under fourteen years of age) of all soldiers who have served in the armies of the Union during the late rebellion, and have been disabled from disease or wounds therein, or have died or been killed during such service.

" Blank forms for admission to the Home will be furnished at any time on application, by letter or otherwise, to Virginia C. Ohr, Superintendent Soldiers' Orphans' Home, at ISTormal, Mc- Lean County, Illinois.

" We have very few special rules for the discipline and government of the children, and these are made as emergencies arise ; acting upon the principle that a few rules, well kept, are of far greater value than many broken and trampled on. The law which guides and directs is that of love and kindness, partaking as much as possible of the parental character. "While the most implicit obedience to all rules and regulations is required of each and every child, yet they are constrained to do so by direct appeals to their better natures ; by pointing out to them their social and moral obligations, one to another; by giving them aid and encouragement in their efforts to do right. They are, generally speaking, kind to each other, obedient to those in charge and industrious."

In 1836 Bloomington became a very "lively" little town and some of its citizens became anxious for a newspaper. General Gridley, who was then a merchant in Bloomington, was about to go to the East for his fall supply of goods, and he was instructed by Jesse "W. Fell and James Allin, who, with him, became propri3tors, to lay in a stock of type, printing presses, compositors, editors, &c. He did so, and engaged Mr. "William Hill and Mr. W. B. Brittain, of Philadelphia., These parties shipped their printing material during the fore part of October for Bloomington by way of New Orleans, St. Louis and Pekin. About a week afterwards Messrs. Hill and Brittain started, coming by way of Pittsburg, down the Ohio river, up the Mississippi and Illinois Bivers to Pekin, and thence across to Bloomington. The latter part of their journey was accomplished on horseback. At that time no bridge had been built across the Mackinaw, and as the stream was high, it was thought they would be obliged to swim their horses. Under this impression Mr. Brittain plunged in. As he was mounted on a small horse he was wet to the waist; but Mr. Hill, being on a large horse, stood on its back and went through dry shod. They arrived in Bloomington about eight o'clock that evening (October 25), Mr. Brittain nearly frozen and not favorably impressed with the unbridged water courses of Illinois. They remained in Bloomington for about two months without hearing anything of their printing material, and Mr. Brittain, becoming discouraged, disposed of his interest to Mr. Hill, and returned to Philadelphia. A few days after he left, word came that the material had reached Pekin. It was brought across to Bloomington by little Benjamin Depew, in a six-horse team, and on the first of January, 1837, it was arranged in an office which was fitted up in the northeast room of the old (then new) Court House. On the fourteenth of January the first number of the Bloomington Observer and McLean County Advocate was published. After carrying it on through many difficulties and vexations for one year, Mr. Hill sold out to Mr. Jesse W. Fell, who continued it about a year and a half and then disposed of it to other parties, who removed it to Peoria. Mr. Hill returned to Philadelphia in the spring of 1889, where he worked at the printing business, and did not return to the West until 1849. At that time he located at St. Louis and there engaged in job printing. He was soon after joined by William Ale Kee, and they together purchased the office and paper of the Missouri Democrat. They afterwards purchased the office and paper of the St. Louis Union, united the two papers and continued them under the title of the Missouri Democrat, a Freesoil paper. After two or three years, politics becoming a good deal mixed, Mr. Hill became disgusted and sold out to F. P. Blair, Jr. and B. Gratz Brown. In 1855 he returned to McLean County, having purchased a small place a short distance northeast of the city. In the spring of 1860 he went with a party from McLean County to the newly discovered gold mines in Colorado. After spending six or eight months in the mountains and vicinity and seeing the prairie dogs, jack rabbits, buffaloes, and big Indians, and watching the regular Sunday gladiatorial sports among the miners, in which pistols, bowie knives, &c, were in general use, and after getting a glimpse of the elephant as he passed down the "Western slope, Mr. Hill and his party returned to their homes, satisfied that if the same means and exertions were used here, a fortune could be made about as quickly.

Mr. Hill has for the last four years lived in Bloomington. He is now upwards of sixty years of age, healthy and active, and though in easy circumstances, continues to follow his business, preferring anything to idleness.

Mr. Hill was born Nov. 18, 1811, in Cumberland County, New Jersey, where he received his education. He went into a printing office in Philadelphia at the age of fifteen, where he remained until he came West in 1836. Just before coming West he did as a good many other young men do when starting for a new country - was married. His children, two daughters and one son, are all happily married. He has been, in political matters, first a Whig and then a Republican. Mr. Hill is not a large man, being rather less than the medium height. He has a very intelligent and pleasing countenance, is a very pleasant writer and has a lively appreciation of the humorous. He is much respected and the first paper in McLean County under his management must have been very popular.

The first paper published in Bloomington was the Bloomington Observer and McLean Count)/ Advocate, the first number of which was issued January 14th, 1837. William Hill, now employed as a compositor in the Pantagraph job office, was its editor and publisher. It was a small, five column weeklj-, nonpolitical. Mr. Hill published the Observer about a year, then sold it to "Sir. Jesse W. Fell (now a resident of Normal), who continued it about eighteen months. The paper was then discontinued for about seven years. In 1846 Mr. C. P. Merriman (now of the Leader) revived the paper as the Western Whig. It was afterwards owned and conducted by Johnson & Underwood, Jesse W. Fell, and Merriman (C. P.) and Morris. Mr. Fell changed its name to the Intelligencer and Mr. Merriman invented for it the name of the Pantagraph while he and Morris owned it together. The proprietors of the Pantagraph therefore consider it to be the oldest paper in the city, and regularly descended from the Bloomington Observer and McLean Count)/ Advocate, which was published in 1837.

The early numbers of The Observer speak of meetings called for the purpose of establishing a public library in Bloomington, but very little seems to have been done for such an undertaking. Market houses and water works were also discussed at that early day. The mails were carried to Peoria and Springfield twice a week, to all other points once a week, or not so often. Merriman & Morris issued a daily edition while the paper was in their hands, but this did not pay and it was soon discontinued. In 1855 the Pantagraph office was destroyed by the first great fire Bloomington ever experienced. It was then owned by Merriman & Morris, who soon after sold it to William E. Foote, C. P. Merriman con- tinning- to edit the paper for six months afterwards, or until June, 1856, when Edward J. Lewis became its editor. Mr. Lewis continued to edit the paper until January, 1860. During this period the daily was successfully started, the first number being issued February 23, 1857, and was published continuously during Mr. Foote's proprietorship. W. R. McCracken was local editor during the greater portion of the time. Franklin Price and Charles L. Steele also had charge of the local columns successively. During this period (1858) the office was fired by an incendiary. But some compositors, who slept in a room below the office, were awakened by the barking of a dog kept by them, and they promptly extinguished the flames. This dog, called <- Major," was a favorite in the office and remained a great pet until his death. His portrait was painted and kept hung up in the office for a long time (between the pictures of George Washington and Florence Nightingale!) During Mr. Foote's proprietorship (1855 to 1860) the Pantograph office became known throughout the West for the excellence of its job printing. Mr. Foote was a job printer of great skill and fine taste. In 1858 specimens of the Pantagraph job printing tookthefirst premium at the great St. Louis Fair, at the National Fair in Chicago the same year and at the Illinois State Fair.

In the early part of 1860 the office was sold to Judge Merriman, and his brother, C. P. Merriman, was made editor. The daily was discontinued but soon after revived. The paper was purchased early in 1861 by Carpenter & Steele, and E. J. Lewis was again made editor and remained so until the breaking out of the war, when he entered the army, (August, 1861). It was then successively edited by H. B. Norton, Thomas Moore, Captain J. H. Burnham, and others. The paper afterwards partially changed hands and was owned by Messrs. Carpenter, Steele, Briggs & Packard, and one of them, Eev. F. J. Briggs, was editor. The paper afterwards was sold to Scibird & Waters, who, after conducting it rather less than a year, sold it to a company composed of Jesse W. Fell, W. O. Davis and James P. Taylor. Mr. Davis is now the sole proprietor. Under the proprietorship of Fell & Company the paper was edited for a while by Mr. B. F. Diggs, who was succeeded by Dr. E. B. Boe, who in turn was succeeded by E. J. Lewis a little more than two years ago. 1). A. Ray has been local editor most of the time for several years. \Vr. 11. Whitehead was also assistant editor for a considerable time, and is now in charge of the local columns. Under the management of Mr. E. J. Lewis and Mr. W. II. Whitehead, the Pantograph is very efficiently conducted in all of its departments.

The job office of the Pantograph is one of the best in Illinois, and the job printing is remarkable for its good taste. German printing of all kinds, under the supervision of Mr. Bach, is executed in the best of style.

The Weekly Leader was started by John S. Scibird and Orin Waters, proprietors, and Elias Smith, editor, November 15, 1868, and soon attained to a fair circulation and influence. Its success became so flattering that on the twenty-second of February, 1870, its proprietors began the publication of the Daily Leader, which is ably conducted and well supported. The political department was edited by B. F. Diggs and C. P. Merriman successively, and the local department by Thomas Moore, Elias Smith, B. V. 1 >igg8, M. F. Leland and J. W. Nichols. The paper is now published by the Leader Company with Orin Waters as general manager and C. P. Merriman and J. W. Nichols as editors. Tin.' paper has always been Republican in polities and so continues.

The Leader Company publish, in addition to their daily and weekly, the Alumni Journal, fifteen hundred copies per month ; the Little Watchman, a Sunday-school paper, seven thousand copies per week ; the Real Estate Journal, two thousand per month.

The Job Office of the Leader is large and well conducted under the supervision of Mr. E. P. Penniman, who displays the best of taste in everything pertaining to his department.

The Bloomington Democrat was started in Bloomington in April, 1868, by S. S. Parke, Esq. Previous to this the Democratic party had attempted to establish a party organ, but failed, showing that with newspapers, as with all other matters, it is individual enterprise which brings success. This paper was Democratic in politics as its name indicates, but during the last campaign it strongly and effectively advocated the principles of the Liberal party. On the fourteenth of August, 1873, the editorial management of this paper went into the hands of Joseph Carter, and the paper became the Anti- Monopolist. This paper, on the 1st of January, was merged with the McLean County Anti- Monopolist, at Saybrook, which office has been moved to Bloomington, and the paper adopted the title of the Anti- Monopolist. It is now very ably edited, and its articles are frequently quoted in other papers.

The Republican was started in Bloomington in 1866, by S. P. Remington and A. B. Holmes. It was Republican in politics and has remained so ever since. Its first editor was Major S. P. Remington. Its present proprietors are A. B. Holmes & Bro. It is a very pleasant, reliable paper and has the confidence of the community.

This paper was started in November, 1872, by Goft' & Hewitt, As it has recently been brought into existence, it has not yet made a history. It is a commercial paper, at present owned and edited by A. J. Goft*, one of its founders.

Mr. Goft' formerly published the Bloomington Journal, which he started in January, 1868. This paper succeeded the McLean County Journal, which had been published by E. B. Buck. In November, 1868, the Bloomington Journal was sold to Scibird & Waters, in whose hands it was succeeded by the Leader. While Mr. Goff published the Journal he issued an edition of that paper in Normal, called the Review, for which Mr. Ray of the Paragraph acted as local editor.

This paper was started October 5, 1872, by Henry Reynolds and Rev. John P. Brooks. It is purely a religious paper, audits conductors hope and believe that it is the means of doing much good.

The Presse was started by a company, of which the present editor and proprietor, Johannes Koester, was a member in 1871. He soon afterwards became sole editor and proprietor. During the last campaign the paper favored the Liberal movement.

The Enterprise was started on the first of January, 1873, by Charles M. King, who is editor and proprietor. It takes no sides in political matters as its editor does not consider it old enough to vote.

This paper wras for a long time published in Lexington, but on the eighteenth of December, 1872, was removed to Saybrook. It was started by H. II. Parkinson and by him first edited. Mr. Parkinson is the present proprietor of the paper. Messrs. Sabin & Van Voris were for a time connected with this paper. It is independent in politics as well as in name. The paper stands high in point of ability and fairness. One thing connected with it is certainly very marvelous - "it is said that the people take a great interest in it." It must indeed be a very interesting paper. The Banner was changed to the McLean Count)/ Anti- Monopolist, and subsequently consolidated with the Anti-Monopolist of Bloomington.

The Chenoa Times was started in July, 1867, by McMurtrie & Dyer, editors and proprietors, under very flattering circumstances, with a good subscription list. It was edited successively by McMurtrie & Dyer, Miss L. M. Dyer, Mr. C. M. King, Mr. C. R. Spore and John & Bovard. The latter are now its editors and proprietors.

Jesse Walden was born February 12, 1808, in Woodford County, Kentucky. His father, Elijah Walden, was American born, but of English descent, and his mother, whose maiden name was Sally AValker, was born in Hanover County, Virginia, but was of Welch descent.

When Jesse Walden was five or six years of age, the family moved to Clark County, Indiana, near Charlestown, and there remained until they came to Illinois. Mr. Walden, sr., was a very religious man and a member of the Methodist Church, and his brother was a Methodist preacher. Jesse was therefore very carefully and very religiously reared. This, however, did not prevent the growth of boyish vanity. When he became old enough to own a Handkerchief and some store clothes he thought himself of great consequence in the universe of God. He and a friend, while looking very pretty in their new garments, crossed a creek near by in a perogue (large canoe,) and on their return jumped into the water to prevent themselves from going over the dam. The store clothes had to suifer.

On the 28th of July, 1828, Jesse Walden married Elizabeth Pike, in Casey County, on the Green Brier Ridges, and in the fall of 1828, he started to Illinois. When he arrived in Sangamon County, about eight miles east of Springfield, he had but seven dollars in his pocket. He spent half of this for cooking utensils, and half to put his gun in order for the purpose of killing prairie chickens, turkeys and wild hogs. It is interestm'lean county. 821 ing to know how a man under such circumstances could manage. He first helped a neighbor build a house, for which service he received a wagon ; then he built a log house for himself, except the roof; then he traded his wagon and a bureau, which he had brought with him, for a claim on which was a cabin and twelve acres of improved land. This he rented to a new comer for twelve bushels of corn per acre. He sold the logs for the house on his own improvement, and rented a place and a team to work it, paying one-half of the crop as rent, and thus became fairly started. Such was the ingenuity of a man who began with almost nothing. He raised a crop and sold his half in the field for three head of cattle, sold his improved claim for a horse and a milch cow, and moved to Blooming Grove. This was in 1829.

In the spring of 1831, Mr. Walden moved to the southern edge of Money Creek timber to a farm rented of Jacob Spawr, and there remained for three years. Mr. Walden speaks particularly of the frights occasioned during the Black Hawk war, and especially the scare at the close, when the rangers returned and fired off their guns in the timber.

Mr. Walden moved from Jacob Spawr's place to the northeast side of Money Creek, where Jesse Trimmer lives. In 1834, while hunting with a party in the Mackinaw barrens, and while in camp there at night, they saw the falling of the meteors and almost concluded that the day of judgment had come.

He lived on his claim, near the present Trimmer place, for three years, then three years in Mackinaw timber, then three years at Randolph's Grove, and then moved to Smith's Grove, about three miles from the present village of Towanda, and there he has lived ever since. The great sudden change in the weather took place in December, 1836, while Mr. Walden lived at Mackinaw timber. He was about a mile and a-half from home, but jumped on his horse and started on the full run, the intense cold freezing the slush as he traveled. As he passed a slough near his house he saw a lot of pigs belonging to his neighbor Bartholomew, frozen last in it. AVhen he arrived home, he could scarcely pull oil' his overcoat as it was frozen fast. Mr. Bartholomew was obliged to chop his pigs loose from the ice to get them out. During this sudden change, "William Walden, the brother of Jesse, came across the prairie on foot, and the water plashed on his trousers and froze on them so rapidly that he was obliged to cut off his pantaloons below the knee in order to travel. He was driving an ox-team and had a friend with him who wished to resign himself to fate and die, but William pitched the man into the wagon and brought him home.

Jesse Walden succeeded well and accumulated some property ; but about four years ago he lost his health, and his financial matters also suffered, but he still in good circumstances.

Mrs. Walden died August 10, 1867. She was a good woman, and to her Mr. Walden no doubt owes in a great measure the success he has met with in life. Ten children were born of this marriage. They are :

John Walden, born August 9, 1828, in Indiana, and brought to Illinois when only seven weeks old. He is a mechanic, and lives one mile south of Bloomington.

Archy Walden was a soldier in the army. He enlisted at the outbreak of the war in the First Illinois Cavalry, in the company commanded by Captain (afterwards General) McNulta. He lives near his father's on the homestead place.

self in polite society. Mr. Walden is about five feet and a-half in height, but appears somewhat taller. He has been somewhat heavy, weighing one hundred and ninety pounds. He is rather slow of speech, his eyes are small but expressive, and his nose is somewhat prominent. He is very humorous and likes to plague people, particularly young ladies, in a good natured way. He is a very companionable man, and one of the best known among the early settlers.

Source changes here: from The History of McLean County, Illinois; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, by Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, published 1879; 1,688 words in this source stream.

Towanda Township

This village is located in the northwestern part of the township of the same name. It includes the southwest quarter of Section 5. This land was entered by Peter A. Bedeau. The certificate of entry is dated February 18, 1853. The original plat of the village included only forty acres from the center of this quarter-section. It was then owned by Jesse W. Fell and Charles W. Holder, who filed a plat of the town with the County Board, to be recorded December 7, 1854. The original forty acres was donated by Peter A. Bedeau for town purposes. The remaining part of the quarter-section was sold by Mr. Bedeau to Jesse W. Fell and Charles W. Holder on May 1, 1855. The proprietors immediately surveyed it and laid it off into town lots. These were afterward sold to such as wished to embark in business and become residents of the new town on the prairie. Mr. Charles Roadnight, an Englishman, became the heaviest property-owner in the village. In fact, at one time, he owned the greater part of it.

Towanda is pleasantly located on the prairie, less than a mile southwest of Money Creek. The village is on high land, and, judging from its location and the number of its physicians, is a very healthy place in which to live. It is situated on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, about half way between Bloomington and Lexington. The railroad enters the village at the southwest corner, and passes in a northeasterly direction through it. It is surrounded by a good farming and grazing country, and has all the natural facilities for a flourishing inland town. It would have grown much more rapidly, no doubt, had it not been so near to our ambitious county seat, whose shadow reaches far out into the surrounding country, chilling the young life-blood in many smaller towns. The population of Towanda, at present, is about 500.

Early Settlers

As noted in the history of the township, William D. Moore was the first to settle near the present site of Towanda. He is now within the town limits, although he resides on the northwest quarter of Section 5. Mr. Moore came from Ohio. He reached Money Creek October 21, 1851. In the fall of 1853 he moved to his presenfc residence. This was the first residence within what are now the limits of Towanda ; although, at that time, no one had ever thought of a village there. The only house between his and Bloomington was the residence of Mr. Halterman, near the sulphur spring. Mr. Moore kept the post office, and the mail was still carried on horse-back. But there was destined to be a great change in a few years. When the village was laid out, and the cars began to stop at the switch, people came to the railroad to enter into business. David S. Kinnan built the first residence in what was then the village. He and James Alexander built the first warehouse. Mr. Kinnan still resides on a farm near the site of the old saw-mill, on Money Creek. Mr. Alexander lives in town. T. J. Laney built the second dwelling, and with Wesley Fletcher Bishop, the second warehouse. Mr. Bishop built the third dwelling-house. He also ran a small grocery store. This was the first storehouse in the village. The first dry goods store was set up by Frank Henderson in 1857. After running it a short time, he sold out and went on a farm. He is one of Towanda's strongest men. Wesley F. Bishop was the first station agent. He served in that capacity before any dwelling had been erected. When the mail began coming on the railroad, in the winter of 1855 and 1856, the office was brought down "into town," and David S. Kinnan became the first Postmaster in the village. Samuel C. Ware is the present Postmaster. He is also Police Magistrate.

Education

The first schoolhouse in Towanda was built in 1854. It was a neat frame building, 24 by 26 feet. It is still standing and is a good building yet. In 1866, the number of children had so increased as to demand a new and larger building for their proper accommodation. Accordingly a house was begun and nearly finished, when it burned to the ground before ever being used. The origin of the fire is not known. But the good people of Towanda were not to be discouraged by a fire. The next year a large and commodious building was erected, and it has done good service ever since. The first teacher in the new building was G. H. Thrasher. Three teachers are regularly employed. Mr. James A. Jones now has charge of the schools. Last year, the Principal was paid $60 per month, being the highest wages paid in the township. The School Directors at present are George W. Howard, M. J. Wise and George Hilts.

A good flouring-mill with two sets of buhrs was soon built by Boadnight & Strothers. After running it a short time, the builders traded it to Nathaniel S. Sunderland. He had been in possession but a short time, when the mill was destroyed by fire. Mr. Sunderland lost, at the same time, a large warehouse, which burned with the mill. The property was heavily insured, so that the owner sustained only a partial loss.

After this, Henry Warner built another mill. It experienced a fate similar to that of the Sunderland mill. It had been in operation scarcely a year when it was swept away by the fire-fiend. It, also, was insured.

There remains in Towanda a monument to the hopes and ambition of one of her early citizens. It is known as the " big " building. It is situated on the northwest side of the railroad, just across from the depot. It was built by Charles Boadnight, when he was determined to make a large place of Towanda. The house faces the railroad and is built parallel to it. It is 50 by 100 feet, and two stories in height. It is only partly occupied.

For a small town, Towanda has quite a fire record. Mr. Sunderland's large steam flouring-mill, and with it his warehouse, were the first victims. The fire next seized Mr. Warner's new mill and it was leveled to the ground. These were well insured ; but when Mr. Campbell's dry goods store was burned, he lost it all. His policy had expired the day before the fire. The burning of the new schoolhouse before it was occupied at all was another sad fire. Mr. Laney also lost a grocery store by fire.

Towanda may be said to be a religious town. It is not to be supposed from tbis, however, that everybody belongs to a church, but there certainly is a fair proportion that do. There are three churches and each has a comparatively large membership. The Baptists built the first church in the village in 1858. Their first minister was James Cairns. Before this, the Presbyterians had organized a society and held meetings in the schoolhouse. They built the second church. This church was begun in 1863 and dedicated January 18, 1864. Robert Conover preached the dedicatory sermon. He was Pastor of the same church continuously until March, 1878. The Methodists organized in 1857. N. H. Craig was Pastor. They, too, held meetings in the schoolhouse until the building of their church in 1866. These churches are all respectable houses of worship ; they do credit to the village. Although other religious denominations have held occasional meetings here, none have been able to establish a permanent organization.

There is seldom anything to enliven the dull monotony of life in a country village. An occasional suit before the Squire, some neighborhood gossip, or the advent of some small show or unknown lecturer, make up the ordinary sensation. But an accident occurred in the early history of this town that is still vividly recalled by the older inhabitants. This took place about the year 1856, on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad. The southern-bound freight, passing through in the night, had exhausted its supply of water. The train was left standing on the main track, while the engine went down to Bloomington to the tank. A watch was placed on the track, that the next southernbound freight might not run into the caboose on the track. The watch, instead of attending to his duty, went into a house and there fell asleep. The train came rushing down the track, and ran into the other one. Three men were killed. Two of these were literally torn in pieces. Parts of their bodies were strewn all along the track. Cars were piled up and thrown around in every conceivable shape and direction. The train had been running at full speed. The third man had been carried along with the engine. In the morning, when the wreck was examined, he was found crowded up against the fire-door. His body had been mashed by a freight-car, and then baked by the fire in the engine. The man was killed by the collision, so that he suffered no pain from the fire. The watch was so frightened when he saw the result of his carelessness, that he left the country immediately, and nothing was ever heard of him afterward.

Towanda has, at present, three churches, one graded school, two drug stores, one dry goods store, four groceries, three grain-dealers, two blacksmith-shops, and two wagon-shops in connection with the smithies.

There are no hotels in the village. When the traveling public stop in Towanda, they are not supposed to stay overnight. But should any one be compelled to remain, the good people will house him comfortably in their own dwellings.

There are no lawyers. When cases come up before the Squire, as come they will, sometimes, a lawyer from Bloomington is frequently seen wending his way to Towanda. All villages have one or more physicians. Towanda has two ; but they are trying to starve those by failing to indulge in the necessary amount of sickness.