THE first mill in the neighborhood of Magnolia for grinding corn
was put up by Mr. Hollenback in 1830, on Little Sandy Creek, near the
village. The burrs were a species of blue granite found along the Creek,
dressed by himself. The work of shaping and finishing was long and tedious,
but when finished they were very creditable specimens of Mr. Hollenback's
skill and patience. They were used for many years. The mill at first was run
by hand power, the customer contributing his personal strength to the work
while his grist was being ground.
Captain Hawes, one of the Lewis
brothers and Mr. Knox once ground three bushels of corn upon it, devoting to
the job nearly half a day's hard labor ! The bolting was done at home, each
patron taking his grist there when ground, and the women and boys removed
the bran by means of a seive.
John Dent had a small hand mill on his
place in 1833, on Little Sandy.
In 1842 Amos Harney built a woolen
mill in Magnolia, or else added carding machinery to a flouring mill already
built. About 1843 Basore & Simonton removed the machinery from Kestor's mill
on Sandy and set it up here.
In 1835 Geo. Griffith had a saw mill on
Clear Creek, and in 1837 converted it into a flouring mill.
In 1839
Aaron Bascom built a saw mill on Clear Creek, half a mile from the river
road.
In 1850 Mr. Gaylord set up a steam mill in Magnolia, which
subsequently fell into the hands of Mr. Bowers.
Dwellers in this
land of plenty can hardly realize the inconveniences to which the early
settlers were subjected in the matter of food. In 1831 the stock of flour
and corn-meal ran so low that an expedition was fitted out to go to "the
Wabash" for flour. It consisted of five teams, the leader being Captain
Hawes. They were absent four weeks, and returned loaded with provisions, to
the great joy of their families.
The first orchard on the prairie was planted by Captain Hawes, in 1827, from seeds obtained in the American bottom. Although more than fifty years old, some of them are still standing and bear fruit. Many procured fruit trees from Peoria, and others brought them from the older States.
Innumerable are the incidents connected with the deep snow of 1830-31.
Travel was suspended except in cases of necessity. Along the roads paths
were beaten down, which could be traveled, but a horse or ox that got
outside was apt to get fast.
One day a man came to Knox's mill, with
an old crowbate horse, for a sack of meal. The beast was poor and weak, and
staggering beneath its load, fell into the snow and could not be extricated.
The man took the load on his back and started home for help. While gone the
wolves attacked the horse and ate large pieces out of its hams; yet the
animal was alive the next morning, and gave a grateful neigh of recognition.
Mr. David Stateler relates an event which to some will seem
humorous, but to him had no fun to speak of. His family occupied a double
cabin. In twenty-four hours a vacant room would be full of drifted snow up
to the roof. All hands would "tackle" and shovel it out, but the next
morning it would be full again. This had to be repeated day after day while
the storm lasted.
Another memorable event was the great freeze or
sudden change of December 20, 1836, when the weather is said to have changed
eighty degrees in a few hours. Captain Hawes distinctly recollects the
singular appearance of the sky, and says before the change his cattle, which
were kept about the house, stampeded without any known cause to the timber,
and could not be stopped. The following incident is related by him:
On that day three men rode up to a house at Walnut Grove and stopped. They
did not dismount, nor seem to have any business, or show any reason for thus
halting. The inmates came to the door, and discovering that they were nearly
covered with ice, rightly divined the cause of their silence, and managed to
get the unfortunate men removed from their horses. Their legs were covered
with ice, and so frozen to the girths and stirrups, and their clothing to
the saddles that it was necessary to cut the girths and bring men, saddles
and all into the house ! The horses, too, were about to freeze, but were
taken to a hay-covered stable and cared for. After several hours' work the
men were "thawed out" and their lives saved, but with badly frozen feet,
ears and noses.
Mr. Studyvin vouches for the fact that rats were
seen that day actually frozen fast in the mud while crossing the streets.
Dead rats and pigs were found in the streets and alleys, and especially the
former, which seem to have perished in large numbers everywhere.
Jeremiah Strawn is authority for saying that in five minutes mud froze
sufficiently hard to bear a horse.
Enoch Dent and his son John had a
like memorable experience. With a young and mettlesome span of horses they
were going some distance on an errand, when the young man was thrown from
the wagon and got thoroughly wet in the mud and slush. The temperature began
soon after to rapidly change. A piercing wind came from the north and west,
laden with fine stinging hail-stones, which blinded the horses and men. John
soon realized he was in a fair way of being frozen, and becoming alarmed,
his father covered him with blankets, and "let the mares out." For the next
half mile the team bounded like deer over the prairies. What had a few
moments before threatened young Dent's death the water in his clothing now
froze into solid ice and proved his safety, forming a shield through which
the Arctic blasts could not reach; but the father began to feel the
premonitory symptoms of freezing. Fortunately they soon reached their
destination, but were hardly able to enter the shop without help, they were
so stiff and cold. They had not been inside three minutes when a man went
out to put the horses under shelter, and found the wheels frozen in the
tracks, and on attempting to unhitch the horses, the buckles were found to
be frozen fast. Toward evening, finding they dare not drive home, they went
three-fourths of a mile to Mrs. Swan's house, and in that short distance
came near perishing.
Captain Hawes' place was near the Lewis house, long known as the
underground railroad station of the Quaker settlement. To see wagon loads of
runaway negroes going past his dwelling toward Lewis' and the happy land of
freedom beyond, was a common occurrence, one of weekly and sometimes of
daily happening. The Captain in his quaint way says: "It got to be a regular
thing. I used to look over toward Lewis' place mornings and see niggers
roosting on the fence like a row of crows!"
Sometimes pursuit was
made after the escaping chattles, but there is no record of any ever having
been caught in this locality. Their friends around Magnolia, Clear Creek and
Ox Bow were numerous and determined, and it would have gone hard with the
slave catcher or officer who dared to venture here to reclaim one of these
fugitives. The friends of the slave entered heart and hand and with their
very souls into the work of helping the fugitive onward.
Stephen and
James Willis brought through Magnolia the first escaping slaves, in 1827 or
1828.
Mr. John W. Laughlin was once followed by a large timber wolf a distance
of two miles, the wolf coming at times within 200 yards of the somewhat
nervous pedestrian, who did not run, but admitted that he "wanted to !" The
hungry lupine came up to the house, when the family dog was started after
him, and both being afraid of each other, the dog would chase the wolf out
upon the prairie, when the latter would turn the tables upon the dog and run
him back to the house, a race that was two or three times repeated. The gun
being out of order, the boys armed themselves with axes and pitchforks and
came to the rescue of their faithful "Towser," when the wolf disappeared.
Some Mt. Palatine hunters remember with feelings of disgust the
following incident: They once drove a deer across the prairie toward
Magnolia, where a man who lived near the timber helped them to capture and
kill the animal. They carried the deer to the fellow's house by his
invitation, and while dressing it dinner was announced, and they were
pressed to come in and partake of the meal. A four hours' chase over the
prairies had given the boys good appetites, and they eagerly accepted the
welcome offer. When through and about to leave, the host inquired of them
"if they had not forgotten something ?" They asked, "What ?" He replied, "To
settle for your dinner." "Wall," drawled he, "I guess the deer will make it
all right." He took the coveted venison upon his shoulder and packed it into
the house, coolly adding, "Good day !" They left in as completely a
disgusted state of mind as could possibly be imagined. In 1842 a noted
circular hunt came off in the vicinity of Mt. Palatine, the "winding up"
point being a clump of willows two miles south-east of town. Fifteen wolves
and several deer were the result. While the party were dividing the game at
its conclusion, a deer dashed past the hunters, and a Mr. Headly killed it
with a cooper's adze.
Illustrative of the inventive genius of the early settlers of this State,
Mrs. John Laughlin, then Miss Jane Reed, living in Schuyler County, Ill.,
remembers an experiment made by her mother, which suggests altogether a
novel idea in the manufacture of cloth. She took the tall stalks of wild
nettles, which grew in abundance among the timber everywhere, and were three
or four feet high, and putting them through the same process as was employed
in the treatment of flax or hemp, made cloth of the lint or fibre ! It was
coarse, strong and durable, and made a sort of towel, which combined the
rubbing qualities of the washboard with the drying but not soothing effect
of a modem fine crash napkin!
The men and boys in those days (1830
to 1840) wore buckskin pants. After a day's wear in the snow or rain, and
dried at night, they would stand them up by the beds ready for next
morning's wear. As a little girl, Mrs. Laughlin remembers these pants
standing stiff and ghost-like about the room!
To the eastward of the line of timber bordering the Illinois River, and
running outward along its tributaries between Magnolia and Granville, there
lies a stretch of prairie extending to the Vermilion River, in La Salle
County. This, for beauty, richness of soil and perfection of farm
improvements has no superior in the State. At the dividing line between La
Salle and Putnam Counties, about six miles from Tonica, is situated the
little village of Mt. Palatine. It was laid out June 23, 1849, by
Christopher Winters, and is at the north-east corner of Magnolia Township.
Winters had bought a large body of land here in 1830, and re-sold it
mostly to settlers from Massachusetts, designing to start on his land "a
live Yankee town." He also designed the establishment of an educational
institution, which when first built was called a seminary, but afterward its
ambitious projector and patron succeeded in having it elevated, in name at
least, to the dignity of " Judson College."
In 1842 the first house
in the town was built by "Deacon" Woodbury, and afterward occupied by Elder
Thomas Powell. Otis Fisher, of Granville, became the first preacher in the
settlement, in 1841. He had a small frame dwelling erected just outside the
limits of the town, and lived in it for a year.
Dr. Larned Davis
first visited Mt. Palatine in July, 1841, and began making improvements, and
therefore may be considered the first settler, though he did not make that
place his permanent abode until 1843. Mr. Winters' residence was built in
1839, and stands a few rods north of the village. He preferred not to reside
within the limits of his projected town, but in a suburb thereof. There were
two or three other houses built on the prairie near and around the town in
1842. One was put up near the meridian line, close to the town, by Mr.
Winters, for Orrin Whitcomb, of Magnolia, who, however, failed to occupy it.
Another, which was built in the spring and had been blown down, was
re-raised in July, 1841, in which labor the few settlers of the country for
several miles around took part, mustering not over a dozen men and boys. The
only house within twenty-five miles in a south-easterly direction from Mt.
Palatine was that of William Johnson, which was a mile away. Since then the
country has completely filled up with thriving and industrious farmers.
The town being an "inland" place, made some growth, but its nearest
connection with the world being Tonica, on the Illinois Central Railroad,
six miles away, its prospects for future growth are not very flattering.
The probability of Mt. Palatine becoming a place of any considerable
importance consisted of a scheme to make it a seat of learning. An academy
was therefore erected, which was paid for by subscriptions from the settlers
in the neighborhood. The building, which was begun in the fall of 1841, was
plain and substantial, built of brick. Rev. Otis Fisher, who had done much
toward the building up of the academy at Granville, was induced to come to
this new field of labor as superintendent, which he entered in the winter of
1842. For fifteen years the Academy flourished and the village grew in
proportion, but the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad caused the
building up of the rival town of Tonica, six miles distant, when the local
trade and business, which had been the life of Mt. Palatine, ceased, and its
further growth was not only stopped, but its rapid decline began. The
Academy, too, ceased to be attractive, and it gradually subsided from its
previous flourishing condition, and becoming unprofitable, was sold in 1860
to the Catholic people of the vicinity. A condition of the sale made between
the two parties was to the effect that the buyers should maintain a
permanent school in the building, which they have thus far done. A provision
made in the transfer papers was to the effect that in the event of a failure
to maintain such school, the title of the property should revert to the
original owners. The building is used by the Catholics not only for school
purposes, but as a church.
Among the pupils who attended this
Academy at different times were the Hon. Thomas Shaw and his sisters, now of
Lacon, and Mr. Whittaker, who has since been a distinguished missionary to
Burmah.
This educational institution began at first under a charter
as an Academy, but during the days of Mt. Palatine's brightest prosperity,
looking forward to a higher position as an establishment of learning, the
trustees obtained from the Legislature a charter as a College. Their
building originally cost about $3,000.
During the career of this
institution there were several distinguished persons connected with it,
among whom at one time was the poet Coates Kenney, author of "Rain on the
Roof,” who officiated there as a teacher.
In 1879 there were in Mt.
Palatine three churches, a good district school, two general stores, two
blacksmith shops, one wagon shop, postoffice, one physician, about
twenty-five dwellings scattered over sixty acres of ground, and a population
of about one hundred people. Among its public institutions are a good
village Literary Club and a Red Ribbon Society. The first hotel (built in
1852) was owned and run by Samuel Puffer, a good brick house, which is now
occupied as a residence by John W. Laughlin.
The first store opened
in Mt. Palatine was that of Boardman Fulsom, where was sold drugs, groceries
and dry goods. He began business here soon after the town was laid out, and
retired from business in 1850.
The people of this religious faith living at Mt. Palatine and vicinity
were formally organized into a Society in 1845, and Elder Thomas Powell was
the first pastor.
The original members were: Thomas Powell,
Elizabeth Powell, Barbara Powell, Otis Fisher, Harriet N. D. Fisher, Nathan
Kingsbury, Syrena Kingsbury, James Curtis, Mary J. Curtis, Isaac Woodbury,
Eunice O. Woodbury, Jerusha Woodbury, Mary W. Boutwell, Eunice Graves,
Nathaniel Graves, Daniel Reniff, Rhoda Reniff, Nancy Reniff, August Reniff,
Ruth Stephens, Mary Reese, Wm. Johnson, Hepsibeth Johnson, Peter Howe,
Arvilla Howe, Larned Davis, Mary Davis, Hiram Larned, Abbey Larned, Orrin
Whitcomb, Artemas O. Woodbury and Lydia S. Woodbury.
The meetings of
this sect were held at first at the school house, until the Academy building
was erected, when they occupied that edifice until the dissolution of the
Society, which was in 1865, about the time the building named was sold to
the Catholics.
January 3, 1869, a business meeting of those favoring the formation of a
Congregational Society was called, which met, and a committee consisting of
John W. Laughlin, Robert Gallaher, A. L. Harrington, John Larned and John
Morrison was appointed to obtain the names of such as were willing to enter
into the proposed movement. The committee reported at an adjourned meeting
held January 10, and again at a meeting held January 17. It was then decided
to invite the Baptist and Methodist Societies of Tonica and the Cumberland
Church Society to join with them for general conference, with a view to the
organization of a "broad gauge" church. The invitation was accepted, and the
Council assembled February 6, George Gurnea being chosen as Moderator. After
transacting the general business before the Council, the Congregationalists
proceeded to effect their church organization, which they did by the
election of A. L. Harrington, John Morrison and George Gurnea as Ruling
Elders, John W. Laughlin, John Morrison and Andrew Powell as Trustees, James
G. Laughlin Secretary, and John W. Laughlin, Treasurer.
The next
day, February 7, the Council again met at the school house at Mt. Palatine,
the following delegates being present from other church organizations:
Thomas Ware and Rev. H. V. Warren, from Granville Congregational Church; J.
C. Hayward and Rev. J. W. West, from the Congregational Church at Tonica;
Rev. N. W. Curtis, of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Tonica; Rev. J. H.
Burris, A. P. Dysart, N. B. Fulsom and R. W. Moore, of the Presbyterian
Church at Granville; and Rev. J. E. Roy, D. D., agent of the Home Missionary
Society.
This organization was composed of the following named
members: John W. Laughlin and wife, James G. Laughlin, K. J. Davis, Margaret
McNab, Caroline Lawrence, John Morrison and wife, A. L. Harrington and wife,
George Gurnea and wife and Stephen W. Gallaher.
During the six years
preceding 1879, Dr. E. R. Robinson officiated as pastor for this
Congregational Society, but resigned his holy calling, resumed the practice
of medicine, and is now a leading physician in Mt. Palatine.
The
Congregational Church edifice, a substantial building capable of seating 300
persons, and costing with its organ $3,500, is an ornament to that section
of the country.
For years an exceedingly pretentious building stood upon the prairie, near the county line, which was known as the Prospect House. It was erected in 1836 by Thomas Patterson, as a hotel or half way house on the Ottawa road, and was properly named, being located upon a high knoll or rise in the prairie. From the balconies of this house a most magnificent view of the country for many miles in every direction could be obtained. The central point of the grand wolf hunt of November 11, 1842, elsewhere described, was at a small willow grove near Prospect House.
This Society, one of the earliest religious denominations in the County of Putnam, was organized at Caledonia, Septembers, 1836. The first pastor was Elder James B. Chenowith, who began his ministrations October 1, 1836. The charter members were Wm. E. Larkins, Rachel Larkins, John Brumsey, Joseph Ash, Elizabeth Ash, Joel Corbell, Miriam Graves, I. D. Glenn and Sarah Glenn. Their present house of worship was built in 1855.
In 1850, John McWilliams, a respectable citizen of Caledonia, hung
himself. He arose from his bed at the usual hour on the fatal morning, built
a fire and went out. His wife prepared breakfast, but her husband not
returning in proper time, she supposed he might be busy in the stable. She
went there to summon him to breakfast, when she was horrified to discover
him hanging by the neck. His life had taken its everlasting flight. No cause
was ever assigned for the rash act.
In 1853, David Trone, a
blacksmith, was killed by a remarkable accident. He had constructed a
contrivance propelled by horse power, by which to grind and polish plows. He
had started it up on the day in question, and was making satisfactory
progress, when the grindstone burst and a piece of it struck him in the
breast, killing him almost instantly.
In 1855 a man named Parsons,
who had not been long married, living near the head of the prairie, went to
the timber for a load of wood. He told his wife he would return about noon.
That hour came and passed, as did several others, and at about four o'clock
she became very uneasy, and tried to induce some of the neighbors to go in
search of him; but entertaining none of the anxious young wife's fears for
his safety, no one went. When night came and her husband failed to make his
appearance, the poor woman persuaded a few of her neighbors to accompany
her. In this search, which was continued several hours into the night, they
were unsuccessful, and the unhappy and disconsolate woman went weeping to
her couch.
The next morning the almost crazed woman set out alone in
search of her husband, and as soon as she reached the timber she was struck
dumb with the sight that greeted her eyes. She found the object of her long
and painful search lying by the side of his sled, stiff and cold in death.
He had been crushed by a large log which, in attempting to load upon his
sled, had slipped and fallen upon him. There he had lain alive for several
hours, as the snow within reach of his feet and hands showed the
unmistakable evidence of his vain struggles to free himself. The horses had
remained all night by the side of their dead master. After Mrs. Parsons
found the corpse, being unable to extricate it, she returned and told the
dreadful story, and soon willing hands and sympathizing friends hurried to
the scene, returning with their mangled and ghastly burden. It was a sad
case, and excited deep sympathy for the poor young wife.
This estimable lady was a daughter of Mr. John E. Dent, and an aunt of
Hon. John O. Dent, now a resident of Wenona. Her husband, Mr. William Cowan,
visited Illinois in 1829, with a view to selecting a location for a
settlement. He returned to his home in the East, but early in 1831 came
back, bringing his wife and family, and for many years resided about a mile
from Magnolia, at which place he died in 1864.
Mrs. Cowan once had
an amusing experience with a party of Indians, which she took pleasure in
relating. On one occasion a half dozen warriors came to her house and asked
for food, explaining that they were hungry. She immediately prepared a meal
for them, placing it upon a table with the usual accompaniment of dishes,
knives and forks, and placed her copper-colored guests in position to enjoy
the bountiful repast which she had prepared. They imagined the plates were
placed before them to catch the juices that dripped from, their mouths as
they tore their food; but they examined the knives and forks curiously, and
after debating the matter, the bright idea struck one of them to dip his
hand in the dish, sieze pieces of meat, stick them on the points of the
knife and fork before him and hold them there, taking the meat from them
with his fingers for conveyance to his mouth. The idea seemed a feasible
one, and was immediately followed by each of the others.
In 1857-8 this country literally swarmed with wild pigeons. Never before in the memory of the oldest inhabitant were these birds so plentiful, and never since has there been any such visitation. They filled the woods everywhere between Union Grove and Crow Creek, but, as is the habit with this peculiar variety of the feathered tribe, they flocked together and formed an immense "roost" in the woods near Jeremiah Strawn's house. Here they gathered in large numbers, coming in such clouds as at times to darken the sky. They would make a noise when disturbed in daytime like the rushing of a mighty wind storm. Their roost covered a space of about three-fourths of a mile in one direction and nearly double that in the other. They lodged upon trees until they broke off large limbs, and bent the tops of the saplings and undergrowth to the ground. At nights they were at the mercy of hunters, who, provided with flaming torches which blinded the birds, could shoot and slaughter at leisure. Persons came from considerable distances to obtain them as an article of food, and they generally returned loaded down with game. One evening Joshua Bush and his son Isaac killed 750 birds, and on another occasion Isaac brought down eighty-eight of them by discharging both barrels of his shot gun, firing promiscuously at a tree full of them.
Extracted 27 May 2017 by Norma Hass from Records of the Olden Time, 1880, by Spencer Ellsworth, pages 252-265.
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