COUNTRY'S HISTORY is made up mainly of individual incidents in the lives
of its citizens, and if our "Records" largely abound in such, it is that the
picture may be true to nature. But few remain of those who saw this fair
land as it came from the hand of the Maker, and if we devote unusual space
to them the reason is apparent.
There was very little money, and
business was conducted on the exchange or barter system. The farmer raised
what food was required, also wool for winter and flax for summer clothing.
The latter was dressed by the men and boys in winter and spun and wove, dyed
and made into clothing by the females of the household. It made dresses for
the ladies and shirts and pants for the men. In the winter the former wore
linsey woolsey, and the latter substantial suits made of Kentucky jeans,
hand woven in the family loom, and colored with "store dyes," or oftener in
the "blue dye tub," without which no well regulated household was complete.
For Sunday afternoons, meetings and christenings, a neat calico was
worn, and their granddaughters of to-day, arrayed in costly silks and
flounces, never look so pretty as did their rosy-cheeked mothers and
grandmothers in those days. Their wants were few and their "store bills"
light. If extravagance was visible in any one thing, it was in the
intemperate use of coffee.
Salt was a necessity, likewise tobacco,
"ague medicine" and whisky. The children went barefoot in summer, and often
the men also, but in the fall the thrifty farmer procured a couple sides of
leather, and the ever welcome cobbler came with his kit of tools and
regularly shod the whole family. It was good and substantial work, too, and
lasted a whole year. The women, like the men, wore good, honest cowhide, and
bade defiance to the snows and rains of winter, and neuralgia and the
thousand and one ailments that women are now subject to were unknown.
For lights, a supply of resinous pine knots, gathered along the bluffs
of the river, furnished a good substitute, and next to this was a dish of
grease, into which a lighted rag for a wick was placed, called a "slut."
Then came tallow candles, and it was the duty of the housewife to prepare in
the fall the yearly supply. She also laid in ample stores of dried pumpkins,
blackberries and corn, and gathered medicinal herbs for sickness. Every
mother was a doctor. Medicine was less relied on than nursing, and the
simple remedies prescribed were found as successful in practice as the more
elaborate and costly medicaments of later days.
The midwife in those
days was an important personage, with whom it was well to be on good terms.
Her will was law, her advice was regarded, and her name commemorated in the
families of her customers. One of the most noted of these was Mrs. John
Strawn, who, it is claimed, attended to over four hundred cases without an
accident. Many gray-haired men and women of to-day obtained their first
"start" in the world at her hands.
As before stated, when sickness
came, reliance was mainly upon nursing, and every neighborhood had its good
motherly woman ready to go without money and without price, whenever called
upon, and many an old settler can attest the tender soothing care with which
they smoothed the ailing brow, or administered the cooling draught.
Those dear old hands are folded in death, those loving, benevolent faces, so
full of tender, solicitude, have gone from our gaze forever, the eyes of
love have lost their brightness, and their voices are hushed forever.
True and faithful were those tender watchers at fevered bedsides, and
may we not hope " they too have their reward."
The latch-string
always "hung outside," which meant that visitors were welcome, and strangers
were not turned away. Hospitality was universal, and he who did not practice
it would have been shunned. In those halcyon days, neighbors were neighbors,
and distance was never taken into account. Farmers stocked their own plows -
a clumsey, heavy, awkward implement with a wooden mould-board. They tilled
corn with a sort of shovel plow, which covered corn as well as weeds, and
left ready for a fresh start as many weeds as it killed.
Each cabin
had a rough pine table, and if the occupant was "well to do," three or four
splint-bottom chairs; but these were regarded as luxuries, and most settlers
were content with good stout puncheon slabs mounted on legs and christened a
stool. The bedsteads were made by setting up posts and extending transverse
poles into the wall, which supported a "tick" filled with prairie grass, and
on this, if the occupant came from the east, was often laid a good feather
bed the sole bridal dower of the woman of the house. A few plates and dishes
of what was termed "delf ware" or in their absence, plain tin or pewter
plates, an iron spoon or two, half a dozen knives and forks, an iron pot for
boiling, a tea-kettle, an iron baking kettle and cover, on which live coals
were placed, and the swinging crane or "trammel" on which to suspend the
kettles for boiling constituted about all the cabins afforded. Outside was a
capacious stone oven, where once a week the family bread was baked, and when
it could be afforded, a "tin baker" added much to the housekeeper's comfort;
but this was a piece of luxury that did not come until after years.
The family cradle which must not be forgotten was made from the section of a
hollow tree split in halves, and rockers added.
The average farm
laborer received from ten to fifteen dollars per month and his board. The
price allowed for making rails was fifty cents per hundred. Female help cost
one dollar a week.
It may be remarked that the cost of living has
not materially changed between then and now. Though wages have increased,
grain can be raised as cheaply, now as then, owing to our improved
machinery, consequently the farmer ought to accumulate wealth as rapidly.
The plows of those days were clumsy contrivances, merely pushing the
dirt to one side. They never "scoured," and various were the plans adopted
to make them. A dweller upon the Illinois River used to stretch over the
mould board the smooth skin of the gar, a fish allied to the shark family,
which answered the purpose while it lasted.
Notwithstanding these
disadvantages, they raised corn averaging forty to fifty bushels per acre,
for which they got about twenty to twenty-five cents a bushel. They also
raised excellent crops of wheat, which were hardly ever known to fail, and
yielded twenty to thirty bushels per acre, bringing about fifty cents a
bushel. They threshed it out with horses.
In those days labor was
plenty and tramps unknown. Book agents or canvassers, lightning rod men and
insurance agents had not made their appearance, and a person who attempted
to swindle his neighbor, or speculate upon one's misfortune, would have been
driven from the settlement.
The prices for cows was $10.00 to $15.00
per head. A lot of fat steers, which a venturesome settler drove to St.
Louis, netted him six dolper head. He became disgusted with it as a market,
and never visited that city again! Hogs were easily raised, as they got
their feed in the timber, and pork sold for $3.00 per hundred pounds; but in
1833, owing to a sudden rush of immigration, it went up to $10.00 per cwt.
The farmers raised sheep enough to make their own clothes, and their
wives and daughters spun and wove the wool by hand, until they found it was
more profitable to exchange it for cloth and woolen yarn, which was knitted
at home. They hauled their wool fifty miles to get it carded, and many went
as far as the Sangamon Mills near Springfield.
A dinner in those
days cost a "bit" and supper, lodging and breakfast three bits. The food was
abundant and wholesome.
From 1826 to 1832, Indians were numerous and
peaceable, bringing the settlers little delicacies which they did not
possess such as honey, maple sugar, game and fish.
This fertile region north of Magnolia, in Putnam County, was settled by
white people over fifty years ago. The first comer was Jeremiah Strawn, who
traveled on horseback from the Wabash River to Springfield, and thence north
to his future home, arriving there in September, 1828; and in the spring of
1829, assisted by George Hollenback, Jr., he put up a log house on his
claim. The logs were too large for two men to handle, so they were split in
two. Strawn's nearest neighbor was a Mr. Payne, on Clear Creek, about two
and a half miles away. While himself and hired man were building the house
they lived on "pork and pone," the latter made of corn pounded on a stump,
and saturated with hogs fat and baked on hot stones laid in ashes.
Mr. Strawn returned for his family as soon as his cabin was completed, and
started on his return trip August 19, 1839. He had two teams, one a large
Ohio wagon, drawn by four horses and the other by three. They found no
settlers between the Wabash River and Springfield, save one, in a log house,
near the head of Sangamo River, as it was then called.
The first
birth on this prairie was that of Zelpha, daughter of Jeremiah Strawn, in
1832, and the first death was December, 1831, a son of Mr. Basone, one of
Mr. Strawn's tenants.
The first wedding was that of Mr. Abner Boyle
and Miss Wilson, in 1831, and the next, a few weeks later, in December,
1831, was the marriage of James Harper to Miss Ash.
Rev. Mr. Royal
was a circuit preacher then. His circuit was of immense extent. It reached
from Mackinaw, Ills., to Galena; thence to Chicago, and down the river to
Joliet, Morris, Ottawa and Strawn’s, and it required four weeks for him to
"get around!" He traveled it for a couple of years, beginning in 1831.
The first school house was a log building, put up by Strawn and
Whittaker in 1833. It was superseded by a frame house in 1836, a few weeks
after Strawn had finished his own new house, the first frame structure in
the settlement. He built a fine church and donated it to the Methodists in
1856.
From 1840 to 1846 the Mississippi Valley was infested by a gang of
robbers known as the "Banditti of the Prairies." They were a regularly
organized band of villains, ready to steal a purse, rob a house, or cut a
throat to further their ends. They had rendezvous at different places all
over the country hiding places for themselves and plunder. Generally the
keepers of these resorts were quiet, well appearing men, who were reasonably
free from suspicion in the community in which they lived. Whenever it could
be done they contrived to get members of their gang appointed or elected to
office, and especially the, to them, important positions of sheriff, jailor
and constables, and even now and then a justice of the peace. They conducted
their business secretly and systematically. A horse stolen in one
neighborhood was promptly sent to some remote settlement for sale or trade.
Up to 1845 they had confined their operations principally to stealing
horses, but this year they concluded to advance into the more hazardous and,
when successful, more remunerative department of house breaking and robbery.
On the first week of June, 1844, a man made his appearance at the
residence of Jeremiah Strawn, in Putnam County, pretending to be a peddler
of oil-cloths. He exhibited them to the women, and remained awhile as if to
rest, but really to take a survey of the premises. On seeing Mr. Strawn
approach he hastily left, and Strawn did not see his face. This was Birch,
captain of the robbers.
On Sunday soon after, a very sanctimonious
young man appeared and "wanted accommodations - ah, during the holy Sabbath
- ah, for himself and beast - ah, as he never traveled on the Lord's day -
ah!" They kept this pious individual, who spent most of his time in reading
the Bible, and showed very little inclination to carry on conversation. This
was Long, the business man of the gang. The horse he rode he had stolen a
few nights before from Mr. Lewis.
Long had with him a pair of old
saddle-bags, which Strawn judged to be empty, but from the fellow's
appearance, supposed him to be some poor preacher, and thought no more of
it. The fellow said his name was Allen, and he wanted to buy a small farm.
On leaving he pulled out a five dollar gold piece to pay for his keeping.
Strawn was not disposed to charge anything, since he was likely to be a
prospective neighbor, but the Rev. Allen was very anxious to get the money
changed, the object being to find where Strawn kept his valuables.
In a few days there came another confederate, a little old man arrayed in a
suit of clothing a tramp would scarce be seen in. His coat would have fitted
a giant, but on his diminutive form the waist came little above the knees,
the skirts were cut down to suit his form, the sleeves also being served in
like manner. He was barefoot and lame, and had straggling gray hair and
whiskers. This was Fox, rigged out for the occasion, and Fox, as his name
indicates, was one of the cunningest men in the band. Mrs. Strawn gave him
some food and fifty cents in silver.
On the day succeeding Fox's
visit came a slick-looking young man, who sold types and ink for marking
linen. He was extremely voluble, and seemed to be quite a wide-awake and,
withal, agreeable youth. This was Luther, no relation to the celebrated
Christian of that name, but a bold villain. All except Long had evaded
Strawn, for the reason that they did not wish him to recognize them
afterward.
On the night of June 17, 1845, toward twelve o'clock,
four robbers came to Strawn's house, and Long entered by a window, the
occupants, having no reason to expect such visitors, seldom fastening either
windows or doors.
Long was armed with an ax, to be used in an
emergency, but especially to break open the chest supposed to contain
valuables. He at once unbolted the door and let in his confederates,
provided with candles, and while some helped themselves to eatables, others
made their way to Strawn's room, who was awakened by a man startling over
him with a cocked pistol in hand, and ordered to lie still and cover up his
head, which was done.
What money Strawn possessed was in a chest
under the bed where the children slept, in another room. He told the robbers
where the money would be found, but begged them not to scare the girls. They
did not frighten the young ladies more than they had already, as by this
time they were nearly scared to death. The chest was made to yield up its
contents, and the robbers returned in high passion. They had expected to
find $8,000 or $10,000, and instead had discovered only about one hundred
and twenty dollars. They were greatly disgusted, and threatened to burn down
the house unless more was forthcoming, swearing it did not pay for the cost
and trouble incurred. Next they asked who slept upstairs, and were told it
was a preacher, which seemed to please them, and they visited his room. The
poor minister, a Mr. Burr, trembled with fear while they were taking his
watch and nine dollars in cash, all he had. They debated about killing him,
one fellow heartlessly remarking there would be little or no harm, as he was
a preacher and bound to go to heaven anyhow. Once he attempted to look out,
whereupon a man brandished an ax and told him to lie still or he would split
his head open.
They pretended to have a gang of twenty men outside,
all armed to the teeth, and threatened to kill Strawn if he dared follow or
give any alarm.
They tried to find more money, and asked for the
keys of a bureau, which was locked. Mrs. Strawn told them where the keys
were. They got them, and on failing to unlock it they were about to slash it
to pieces when Mrs. S. told them the particular key to use. They searched
all the drawers in vain, and at length departed, failing to extort a promise
from Straws not to follow them.
They obtained one hundred and twenty
dollars in silver and a watch, and from Rev. Mr. Burr, nine dollars and a
watch. There was an old black bag which hung in plain sight, which they did
not think of opening. It contained fifteen dollars.
As soon as they
had left Strawn got up and lighted candles. After some exertion he managed
to get the preacher out of bed, still nearly petrified with fear. He wanted
to have all go back to bed and remain there until toward noon, by which time
he thought the gentlemen of the road would be too far away to molest them!
Strawn engaged detectives and officers in various directions, and at
length found two of the robbers at Rock Island, in jail for the murder of
Col. Davenport, a tragedy which greatly excited people all over the country,
and resulted in arresting the ringleaders and bringing some of them to the
scaffold.
After killing Davenport they went down to St. Louis, and
thence up the Missouri River, where they remained in hiding a few days with
Reeves, an old acquaintance, banished the preceding season from Marshall
County. Fearing to remain here, they descended the river and went to Ohio,
tracked with the fidelity of a bloodhound by an able detective named Bonney,
who effected their arrest at Sandusky.
Birch told Strawn that Fox
shot Colonel Davenport by accident, as he only meant to frighten him and get
his money, but the pistol went off unexpectedly.
Two Long brothers
and Young were hung at Rock Island. Fox managed to escape from an officer in
Indiana in some mysterious and unexplained way, and was never heard of
after.
Birch was in prison some time at Knoxville, on a change of
venue, and finally through the help of two confederates broke jail, and a
story afterward got abroad that his accomplices, fearing he would turn
State's evidence and reveal the names of the gang, got him out of jail, and
it is supposed drowned him in the Mississippi River.
The following confession was taken down from Birch's own lips by the
Sheriff of Knox County, and afterward read to and signed by Birch:
"On or about the 17th of June last (1845), Wm. Fox, John Long and Wm. Luther
[he leaves out himself, though he admitted being present], robbed Jeremiah
Strawn of about $100 cash, $100 in scrip, two watches, and one horse pistol,
which said pistol they flung away in the yard. They also got one bogus
dollar. One watch was silver case, thick square stem, compass, square and
some Masonic fixings inside. John Long kept it until it was flung into Lake
Michigan by Birch, on the way to Rock Island. The other watch John Long left
with his father, Owen Long, who lived near Galena. Fox had the $100 scrip,
and gave it to Baxter toward his share of the money taken in the robbery of
Messrs. Knox & Dewey's office in June last, and Baxter afterward sold it to
Negus, of Rock Island. The $100 cash was divided between the boys about the
first of June. I saw all the above men, and they then informed me that they
intended to make the above robbery, to-wit: Intended to rob Strawn; and I
saw them all again in Nauvoo, Ill., between the 10th and 20th of June, and
they informed me that they had committed the robbery as above stated.
"Fox is twenty-eight years old, low, heavy set, weighs 180 pounds, light
complexion, large blue eyes, light hair, slow spoken, and talks through his
nose a little.
"Lewis, of Peru, who formerly kept tavern there I
think his name is Jonathan - and kept the National, got up the show, and was
to have a share in the plunder. About the last week in May I saw Lewis in
Peru. John Long was present. Lewis told us that Fox had been waiting for us,
and became alarmed about a horse that he had stolen and sold in Chicago; and
then he had advised Fox to leave and go to Nauvoo, and there wait for Birch
and Long, and then make arrangements to come up and burst Strawn. We then
went directly to Nauvoo, and found Fox and Luther there. The arrangements
were all made, and Long, Fox and Luther went up to the neighborhood of
Strawn's; and Long went and staid one night with him to ascertain the
situation of his house, and in a few nights afterward they robbed him as
before stated, and Luther immediately left for Nauvoo, and Fox and Long
headed toward Rock Island, but all met at Nauvoo.
"Shortly afterward
Lewis stated that Strawn had a large pile of money; said that a man who
bought hogs of Strawn told him that he paid him $200, and that Strawn had
more money than he had ever seen out of a bank, and also that he (Lewis)
knew that he had a large amount.
"(Signed) R. H. BIRCH.
"Rock Island,
November 15, 1845."
As stated elsewhere, the family of Aaron Payne, during the Black Hawk
troubles, found protection in the stockade of Jeremiah Strawn. Although a
minister and a man of peace, he felt it his duty to avenge his murdered
brother's death, and when volunteers were called for he became a soldier
until they were disbanded, and then followed the army in pursuit of Black
Hawk. While pursuing the retreating Indians, he passed a squaw and a small
Indian boy crouched behind a fallen tree, but thinking the party harmless,
passed on without molesting them. After the rangers had passed the boy
raised his gun and shot Payne from his horse, and in return they were
riddled with bullets. Two balls entered Payne's shoulder, lodging near the
spine, and he was thought to be mortally wounded, but was carried to the
hospital at Fort Crawford, where the wounds healed, but he could not walk
upright thereafter.
About three months after this event, Payne, pale
and emaciated, rode up to his cabin door, and was hailed by his family and
friends as one risen from the dead.
The following sketch relating to
this event is taken from General Scott's autobiography, a book published
many years ago:
"While inspecting the hospital at Fort Crawford, I
was struck with the remarkably fine head of a tall volunteer lying on his
side and seeking relief in a book. To my question, 'What have you here, my
friend?' the wounded man pointed to the title page of 'Young's Night
Thoughts.' I sat down on the edge of the bunk, already interested in the
reader, to learn more of his history.
"The wounded volunteer said
his brother, Rev. Adam Payne, fell an early victim to Black Hawk's band, and
he (not in the spirit of revenge, but to protect the frontier settlements)
volunteered as a private soldier. While riding into the battle-field of Bad
Axe he passed a small Indian boy, whom he might have killed, but thought him
a harmless child. 'After passing, the boy fired, lodging two balls near my
spine, when I fell from my horse.' The noble volunteer, although suffering
great pain from his wound, said he preferred his condition to the remorse he
should have felt if he had killed the boy, believing him to be harmless."
Payne lived many years at his home on Clear Creek, greatly respected
by all. He was an earnest preacher of the Gospel, and equally noted as a bee
hunter.
Afterward he emigrated to Oregon, where he still lives, a
hale and hearty old man. He has filled several public offices, and served
one term in the State Legislature.
From the crooked stick of the Egyptians to the old-fashioned bull plow of
our forefathers, with its rough handle and wooden mould-board, was a long
stride of progress. Then came a two-handled "calamity," with cast point and
land side, which answered tolerably well in certain soils, but on our rich,
"mucky" prairies only stirred it to some extent, without turning it over. It
required a strong propelling power, and must be cleaned every few rods to
work at all. These were the plows of the early settlers for many a year, and
with them the soil of this country was first broken.
In 1836 George
W. Ditman brought to Magnolia two wrought iron self-scouring plows, from
Philadelphia, but they were not adapted to our soil, and failed to do the
work required.
In 1841 or 2, James Ramage, of Magnolia, worked out
an idea which had found life in his brain that a plow could be made that
would scour. After one or two experiments he produced the celebrated
"Diamond Plow," forerunner of all self-cleaning implements of the plow kind.
It worked well, turning the soil smoothly and neatly, covering up the weeds
and leaving the soil in the best possible condition. Farmers pronounced it a
success, and for several years he carried on the business until others with
better facilities for manufacturing took away his trade.
Besides the
plow manufacture, another enterprise was carried on here for many years, and
one of vast consequence to the people. This was making reaping machines. Mr.
Wm. E. Parret came to Putnam County in March, 1841, and settled in Magnolia.
He claims to have invented the scallop-sickle in 1847, and built reaping
machines, commencing in 1849, putting up the first reaper probably ever
built in the State of Illinois. They were not the perfect machine of the
present day, but the man who first invented the sickle-bar, and the place
where first made, deserves recognition. It was the basis of success of all
the machines of to-day, and if Mr. Parret can substantiate his claims, he
deserves to rank among the public benefactors of the age.
Of those who helped redeem the prairie from a state of nature, few remain
lingering on the confines of that bourne from whence no traveler ever
returned. Among these is Mrs. George Hiltabrand, who with her husband came
to Ox Bow in March, 1829. He was gathered to his fathers ten years ago,
while she lives in the possession of all her faculties, and at seventy-six
her memory is distinct, her eye bright, and her face involuntarily lightens
at the recollection and mention of those old time scenes, in which she was
an actor. To her we are indebted for many sketches connected with ye olden
time on Ox Bow Prairie.
The Indian war excitement caused the
settlers to band themselves for protection, and they hastily constructed a
log stockade where Caledonia now stands. The room inside the fort for
exercise was reasonably large, but the eating and sleeping quarters were
sadly crowded. The families that here sought safety were those of Messrs.
Hiltabrand, Hannum, Hunt, Hart, Graves, Gunn, Allen, Loyd and Lotripp. They
remained here about six weeks, which seemed an age to the inmates, and when
the day came for their release there was a grand jubliee.
The first
school in the vicinity was at Caledonia, taught in 1832 by Hosea Smith. It
was broken up or suspended during the war troubles.
The first child
born on Ox Bow Prairie was a son to Mr. and Mrs. Louis Knox, in August,
1829. Austin Hannum was the second, and the third born was Mary J., a
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hiltabrand, whose birth was October 28, 1829.
Mrs. Hiltabrand is the only person of the original old settlers who
brought a family to Ox Bow Prairie.
Another estimable lady still
living is Mrs. Anne Shields, who, along with her husband, came to Ox Bow
from Tennessee, in 1833. He died May 16, 1871.
Mrs. Sarah Glenn is
another venerable lady, relict of Isaac D. Glenn, who with her husband came
here in 1832. Mr. Glenn died in 1850. She is remarkably well and active, and
is eighty-three years old.
The first preacher on the circuit
remembered by Mrs. Hiltabrand was the Rev. Mr. Young, a Campbellite, who
held religious services at the cabin of Isaac D. Glenn, in the winter of
1832-3. In that winter a school was taught on the farm of Mr. Carter, by a
Mr. Hatfield.
The first settled physician was Dr. Fetter, who came
in 1834.
Among the early marriages remembered by her was Obadiah
Graves and Mary Fletcher, in October, 1830; Abner Boyle and Matilda Wilson,
by the Rev. McDonald, November, 1831.
Extracted 27 May 2017 by Norma Hass from Records of the Olden Time, 1880, by Spencer Ellsworth, pages 218-231.
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