LI B RARY 
 
 Off THL 
 
 U N 1 VERS ITY 
 Of ILLINOIS
 
 PUBLISHERS' ARGUMENT. 
 
 HE success which attended our republication of Gov 
 Reynolds' " My Own Times ", and the favorable com- 
 ments which such rehabilitation received from the press and 
 the public, was a sufficient attestation of two facts: that works 
 of unquestioned historic value and accuracy are demanded and 
 appreciated ; and that research that develops additional facts 
 or adds to the intrinsic value of some historic exposition, also 
 receives commendation from the student and the reader, even 
 if such illumination should, by the cold light of reason, dissi- 
 pate some of the roseate hue of romance. 
 
 Therefore the publishers determined upon issuing the present 
 volume, Reynolds' PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, and in 
 adding such explanatory notes, comments, and biographical 
 data obtainable as will be not alone requisite to a thorough 
 comprehension of the text, and the individuals therein dis- 
 coursed upon ; but will also add to the valuable information 
 contained in the original volume. This material has long been 
 cited by numerous authorities as a well-spring of historical 
 data, crystalline and sparkling; the very brusqueness of Gov. 
 JOHN REYNOLDS' phraseology like the emery-wheel of the 
 I* ^lapidary but makes the delineation clearer and crisper, the 
 .cscription more forcible and vivid, and his admirable common- 
 1 sense renders his deductions the most feasible solutions of a 
 problematic question. 
 
 Occasionally, however, the depicting of individuals by the 
 
 ; historiographer has to be read aim grano salts; as he would 
 
 " allow his imagination to run riot with his pencil in eulogizing 
 
 c those persons for whom he entertained sentiments of admira- 
 
 -' tion ; but in the essentials of history, Gov. John Reynolds is 
 
 eminently reliable, his biographical utterance being merely an 
 
 expression of his own opinion a character appended to the 
 
 picture by "Old Ranger". 
 
 As instances of the value added to the original matter by the 
 annotations and addenda of the publishers, especial attention is 
 called to the picture and description of the celebrated Francois 
 Vigo, and, inter alia, the list of the first pensioners who received 
 
 192874
 
 PUULISHERS' ARGUMENT. 
 
 lands under acts of Congress; while, as examples of how his- 
 tory, written thirty years since, may be augmented in value by 
 subsequent research, these instances are cited : 
 
 [From the Missouri Gazette and Illinois Advertiser, Saturday, May 25, 1816.] 
 
 "FIFTY DOLLARS REWARD 
 
 will be given to any person who will deliver to me, in Cahokia, a negro boy named 
 Moses, who ran away from me in Cahokia about two months since. He is about 16 
 years old, well made, and did belong to Messrs. McNight & Brady in St. Louis, where 
 he has been seen frequently, and is supposed to be harbored there or about there. 
 He had on a hunting-shirt when he left me. May 14, 1816. JOHN REYNOLDS." 
 
 [From the Illinois Herald, Oct. I, 1815.] 
 
 "NOTICE. I have for sale 22 slaves. Among them are several of both sexes, 
 between the years of 10 and 17 years. If not shortly sold, I shall wish to hire them 
 in Missouri Territory. I have also for sale a full-blooded stud-horse, a very large 
 English bull, and several young ones. October i, 1815. NINIAN EDWARDS." 
 
 Both the above advertisements demonstrate a fact of which 
 Gov. Reynolds says nothing: that both he and Gov. Edwards 
 were adherents of the "peculiar institution", and believers in 
 the doctrine that property in a human being could be held by 
 legal tenure; and that no inconsideration for the feelings of his 
 fellow-creatures was a motor in Gov. Reynolds' entity the fol- 
 lowing advertisement will manifest: 
 
 [From the Illinois Herald, Kaskaskia, 111., Dec. 16, 1815.] 
 
 "To the poor people of Illinois and Missouri Territory: To the above class of 
 mankind whose pecuniary circumstances will not admit of feeing a lawyer, I tender 
 my professional services as a lawyer, in all courts I may practise in, without fee or 
 reward. JOHN REYNOLDS." 
 
 The paradox of a man owning human beings and treating 
 them as chattels, and defending the legal rights of poor free- 
 persons gratis, was only one out of many antagonisms created 
 by the ownership of slaves. These three advertisements, ex- 
 humed from old newspaper files, testify to the accession of fact 
 gained by patient investigation. 
 
 Thus, the publishers consider themselves justified in the com- 
 pleted volume here presented: the intrinsic value of the history 
 is conceded, and their additions are merely cumulative evidence 
 and testimony; and this republication places within the reach 
 of every student or reader this intrinsically and extrinsically 
 valuable work, and the knowledge of one's own country which 
 is commended as peculiarly desirable is easily attainable from 
 the writings of a careful, conscientious, and reliable narrator.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 MY friends will think it strange that I have written a book, 
 no matter how small or unpretending it may be. Having the 
 control of my time and actions, it was a very pleasant occupa- 
 tion to employ some of my leisure hours to write, in my hum- 
 ble manner, "The Pioneer History of Illinois." Time is rap- 
 idly sweeping off from the scene of action the pioneers of our 
 country; and even the recollection of their actions will soon 
 be forgotten, if no attempt is made to perpetuate the history 
 of this worthy and noble race of men. 
 
 The pioneers suffered, without a murmur, all the privations 
 and difficulties in the early settlement of the country; and by 
 their energy, bravery, and sound practical sense, the country 
 we now enjoy, with all the comforts and blessings of civilized 
 life, they reclaimed from a wilderness infested with hostile sav- 
 ages and wild beasts. 
 
 It is a story of these pioneers, French, British, and Amer- 
 icans, in their discovery and early settlement of Illinois, that I 
 now attempt to narrate. Moreover, I know of no work, of 
 this character, that is confined solely to the discovery and 
 early settlement of Illinois, but the present unpretending one, 
 which is now presented to the public. This was some induce- 
 ment to the task. I hope my humble performance may please 
 and interest the reader, as it has done the writer. 
 
 Among the many authors I consulted on this subject, I 
 obtained much valuable information from the works of my 
 friend, the talented and Rev. Mr. PECK, of St. Clair County, 
 111. Many facts stated in the "Pioneer History," since the 
 year 1800, came under my own personal observation, which 
 may be relied on as true. 
 
 This humble attempt at history must speak for itself; and 
 the only recommendation I can give it, is, I think it contains 
 the truth. 
 
 JOHN REYNOLDS. 
 
 BELLEVILLE, ILL., 1852.
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Gov. JOHN REYNOLDS, - - Frontispiece 
 
 Fort Chartres, Plan of 46 
 
 Gen. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK, ... s^ 
 
 Gen. JOHN EDGAR, - - - - - 116 
 
 Rev. JOHN MASON PECK, - - - 253 
 
 HENRY GRATIOT, .... 309 
 
 Gov. SHADRACH BOND, - ... 323 
 
 Gov. NINIAN EDWARDS, ... 367 
 
 Hon. DANIEL POPE COOK, .... 395 
 
 Gov. JOSEPH DUNCAN, ..... 403 
 
 Col. FRANgois VIGO, ... 423
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Indians of Illinois, . . . I7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Discovery and Settlement of Illinois, to the first Government ot 
 the "Company of the West," in 1718, - - - 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Illinois under the French Government,- - - . 46 -^ 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Illinois under the British Government, - - - -74 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Illinois under the Government of Virginia, - . g, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Illinois under the Government of the Northwest Territory, - 145 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Religion and Morals of Illinois prior to 1818, - 253 _- 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Illinois under the Government of Indiana Territory, - - 276 -*. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Illinois under the Government of the Illinois Territory, - 365 
 
 Appendix, . . .' 4,9 ' 
 
 Index, 
 
 4*7
 
 THE PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Indians of Illinois. 
 
 IT is difficult to give to the history of the Indians of Illinois 
 any thing like authenticity. The information we obtain on this 
 subject is frequently founded on Indian tradition, which is often 
 destitute of truth. 
 
 The explorers of the country from Canada, in the year 1673, 
 found certain Indians southwest of Lake Michigan, whose gen- 
 eric name was known as Illinois, or Illini, as Hennepin wrote 
 it. Those Indians having that name, and residing on the banks 
 of the river, gave that name to the Illinois River, and to the 
 whole country, down to the mouth of the Ohio. 
 
 We are informed that Illini means, according to the Indian 
 understanding of that word, "real men" or "superior men." 
 The Delaware Indians attach the same meaning to Lenni, and 
 indicates, in their language, "real, or superior men." 
 
 The writers on this subject state: that almost all the Indians 
 of North America are of the Algonquin <race, except the Iro- 
 quois. We may therefore conclude that the Delaware name of 
 Lenni, or Lenni-Lenape, is the same as the Illini, which gave 
 the name of Illinois. If we take Indian tradition for our guide, 
 we may conclude that the Delawares and the Illinois Indians 
 are of the same family. Many of the western tribes call the 
 Delawares their "Grandfathers." 
 
 It is an Indian tradition, that the Indians inhabiting the 
 country between Virginia and Canada were of two races the 
 Lenni-Lenape an.d the Mengwc. The Lenni-Lenape were the 
 Delawares, and the Mengwe the Iroquois or Five Nations. The 
 tradition states further, that the Lenni-Lenape emigrated from 
 the Far-west, to the Namce-si-sipu Mississippi or Fish River 
 
 2
 
 1 8 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 * 
 
 and there they found the Mengwe, who also came from the 
 West, and inhabited the country toward the sources of the Mis- 
 sisippi. These migrating tribes found a great warlike nation, 
 the Allewige, located in the country between the Mississippi 
 and the Alleghany mountains. This nation gave the name of 
 Alleghany to the river and mountains of that name. The Del- 
 awares and Iroquois united and conquered the country from 
 the Allewige. This Indian story is fortified by the missionaries 
 Heckewelder and Zeisberger. It is a fact, which is better than 
 tradition, that the Iroquois conquered and drove out west the 
 Delawares. The Delawares being relations of the western 
 Indians, and being forced out amongst their cousins, they may 
 have given the name Illini to the Indians inhabiting the banks 
 of the Illinois River. 
 
 The derivation of the name, Illinois, is not important. The 
 State and country have the name, and the citizens feel proud of 
 it. 
 
 The Illinois Indians are of the Miami stock, as well as the 
 Delaware, and in the year 1673, when the whites first visited 
 the West, they occupied the country south of a line from about 
 the lower rapids of the Mississippi to Ottawa, and down to the 
 mouth of the Ohio. 
 
 The Illinois confederacy embraced five tribes: the Peorias, 
 Cahokias, Tammarais, Mitchagamies, and Kaskaskias. The 
 Mitchagamies at first occupied the shores of Lake Michigan, 
 and gave the name to that Lake. Afterwards, we find them 
 located on the Mississippi near Fort Chartres, in the present 
 county of Monroe, Illinois. They inhabited this tract of coun- 
 try before the year 1720, as the French Government reserved 
 their lands from the whites from that date. Afterward they 
 became extinct as a nation, and the remnants merged into the 
 Kaskaskia tribe. The Peorias, Cahokias, and Kaskaskias occu- 
 pied respectively the villages of Peoria, Cahokia, and Kaskaskia, 
 and the country adjacent. The French continued the names of 
 these villages, which they retain to this day. The Tammarais 
 inhabited also the village of Cahokia, and the "country 'round 
 about." They have left no name of any locality indicating 
 their residence in Illinois, except, perhaps, the Twelve- Mile 
 Prairie, in St. Clair County. In olden times, this prairie was
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 19 
 
 called "'Prairie TammaraisT The tribe may have had a vil- 
 lage in or near this prairie; but it has been swept off by time, 
 so that their existence is only known in history. 
 
 These were the confederated tribes of Illinois Indians, who 
 were gradually driven off by their enemies from the north to 
 the south, until they took refuge amongst the whites, near the 
 villages of Kaskaskia and Cahokia. They diminished for more 
 than one hundred y.ears, and left the country at last, being a 
 remnant only of their former greatness. 
 
 A melancholy reflection forces itself on us: that the nearer 
 the Indians reside to the white population, so much the worse 
 it is for the Indians; and all the attempts heretofore made 
 the most worthy and pious men to Christianize and civilize the 
 nations have produced an injury rather than a blessing to them. 
 There may be some exceptions to this statement; but they are 
 only exceptions which do not disprove the statement. The 
 policy of the United States to remove the Indians as far as pos- 
 sible from the white population is the only course to preserve 
 their existence. And it is doubtful, even if this humane policy 
 will secure them from annihilation. 
 
 The Piankeshaws inhabited the country on both sides of the 
 Wabash toward its mouth, and between the sources of the Kas- 
 kaskia and Saline rivers, to the Ohio. They have left no name 
 in the country they occupied. 
 
 The Shawnee Indians had a village, in ancient times, on the 
 north bank of the Ohio River, and inhabited the adjacent coun- 
 try. The same site is now occupied by Shawneetown, in Gal- 
 latin County, Illinois. 
 
 The Miamis inhabited the northeastern section of the present 
 State of Illinois; but their country mostly lay east of that. 
 
 The Pottawatomie Indians occupied in modern times a large 
 portion of the northeast section of Illinois. They were a branch 
 of the great Chippeway nation, and were also connected with the 
 ancient Miamis. They extended their hunting and fishing 
 almost the whole length of the Illinois River. But toward Chi- 
 cago was their main residence. Branches of this nation ex- 
 tended to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana. They were the 
 largest nation of the West in modern times, and figured feroci- 
 ously in the wars against the whites.
 
 2O PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 The Winnebagoes, or Puants, as the French called them, 
 from their unsavory and "ancient fishy smell," inhabited the 
 country west of Green Bay. The old French maps often call 
 this bay Le Bale des Puants, for these Indians. 
 
 These Indians occupied a section of the northern part of 
 Illinois, on Rock River; but their country, for the most part, 
 lay north and east of that in Illinois. They were a tolerably 
 large nation; but dirty and savage in their habits. If we can 
 say anything of the Indians that they advanced in civilization 
 it will be nearer true to say: the Winnebagoes advanced 
 backward. 
 
 There is a tradition amongst the Winnebagoes, and other 
 nations, that the Winnebagoes emigrated from the West, and 
 settled near the lakes. They claim no connexion with the 
 other Indians, nor do I think there is any. Their language is 
 different from any other near them. Almost all the nations in 
 the West have some affinity in their language, except the 
 Puants. They speak a gutteral language, and it is very diffi- 
 cult to learn or speak it. An interpreter must be raised with 
 them, to be able to speak or understand their language. They 
 are stout, robust people, and about the copper color of their 
 Indian neighbors. Their cheek bones are higher, and they are 
 generally a degree more uncouth and savage than the other 
 tribes near them. I presume, they are not connected with any 
 of the other tribes in the West. 
 
 A small, but energetic tribe of Indians, the Kickapoos, resided 
 on the east side of the State of Illinois, between the Illinois and 
 Wabash Rivers, and including the Sangamon River and the 
 country thereabout. Some lived in villages near the Elk- 
 Heart Grove, and on the Mackinaw River. They claimed 
 relationship with the Pottawatomies, and perhaps the Sauks 
 and Foxes also. This nation \vas the most bitter enemy the 
 whites ever had. It may be said in truth of this tribe, that they 
 were the "first in a battle, and the last at a treaty with the 
 Americans." They were more civilized, and possessed more 
 energy and talents than the other Indians in their vicinity. 
 They were also more industrious and cleanly. They were 
 better armed for war or the chase. This energy, and their im- 
 placable enmity to the United States, caused them to be first
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 21 
 
 and the most efficient in all the Indian battles with the whites 
 in the Northwest. They bore a conspicuous part against Har- 
 mar, St. Clair, and Wayne; and at Tippecanoe they were first 
 in all the bloody charges of that savage battle. The Kickapoos 
 disliked the United States so much, that they decided that 
 when they left Illinois, that they would not reside within the 
 limits of our Government: but settle in Texas. What will they 
 do now? Texas is annexed, and forms a part of the Union. 
 The northern tribes of Indians waged a destructive war against 
 the Illinois Indians for ages, and at last nearly exterminated 
 them. The last hostile attack was made by the Kickapoos, in 
 1805, against the poor Kaskaskia Indian children. These chil- 
 dren were gathering strawberries in the prairie above Kaskas- 
 kia, in this year, and their relentless enemy captured and car- 
 ried away a considerable number of them. The Kaskaskias 
 followed the Kickapoos, to recapture the children, a long dis- 
 tance; but failed to overtake them. The enemy escaped with 
 the children to their towns, and thus ended this outrage. 
 
 Power in the hands of frail man Indian or white is apt to 
 be abused. The Northern Indians destroyed the Illinois tribes, 
 because they had the power; and then the white man destroys 
 the Indian, and occupies his country because the civilized man 
 has the power. 
 
 "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." 
 
 The Sauks and Foxes emigrated -from the lakes west, and 
 occupied the country on both sides of the Mississippi, of whose 
 residence Rock Island was about the centre. These Indians 
 extended their hunting-ground toward Peoria, and to Galena 
 and Wisconsin. They are a large, stout, well-made people, and 
 not so dark as the southern Indians. It was a band of these 
 natives, called the British, or Black- Hawk Band, that caused 
 so much trouble and expense to the United States, in the years 
 1831-2. Not only the expense, but many valuable lives were 
 lost in this war, commonly known as the Black-Hawk War. 
 
 The Sauks and Foxes drove back the weaker nation the 
 lovvas and occupied the country wherein the State of Iowa is 
 established. 
 
 In the year 1778, Julien Dubuque, a Canadian and a man of
 
 22 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 talent and great enterprise, established a trading -post, near 
 the present city of Dubuque, in Iowa. This trader was in fact 
 a talented man, and was as such recognized by the Indians. 
 All grave and important matters they submitted to his decision. 
 The Indians, in a drunken frolic, caught a horse near the post 
 of Dubuque two got on the horse and run him throu' the prai- 
 rie. The horse fell and killed one of the Indians. This homi- 
 cide caused a bitter quarrel between the families of the two 
 Indians. The family of the deceased insisted on revenge, and 
 that was to be blood. The other side contended it was an acci- 
 dent, and blood should not be shed for it. The parties submit- 
 ted the case to Dubuque, for his decision. After hearing the 
 statements, Dubuque, in a grave and serious manner, pronounced 
 judgment: that it was just and right to have blood for blood 
 that no man had a right to shed his brother's blood without 
 having blood shed for it. But Dubuque, in a most solemn and 
 severe manner, also pronounced: that two Indians, one of each 
 family, should mount the same horse, and run him throu' the 
 prairie, until one or the other Indian be killed. This judgment 
 reached the common-sense of the Indians and quieted the par- 
 ties; and also raised Dubuque high in the estimation of the 
 nation. 
 
 The city of Dubuque is called for this man, whose grave is 
 situated near it. For years after Dubuque's death, the Indians 
 kept a lamp burning at his grave every night, in honor of his 
 memory. He was much esteemed by the whites as well as by 
 the Indians. 
 
 It is impossible to ascertain the precise dates of Indian migra- 
 tions. There are no records kept of the movements of Indians. 
 Not long after the first whites came to the country, in 1673, the 
 Illinois Indians were started south by their enemies, and in 
 1720 the Mitchagamia band was located on .the Mississippi near 
 Fort Chartres. Before the year 1730, the most of the Illinois 
 Indians were forced south from the Illinois River. Kaskaskia 
 was the last place of refuge for the whole of the Illinois confed- 
 eracy, united into the Kaskaskia band, and from this place the 
 tribe migrated west. About the year 1800, the whole confed- 
 erated tribes amounted to about one hundred and fifty warriors. 
 
 At this time the Kaskaskia tribe had for their chief, Ducoign,
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 23 
 
 who was a cunning man, and had considerable talents. He was 
 a half-breed, and was well qualified to take charge of his nation 
 in their present condition. He boasted of never he or his 
 nation shedding white blood. This no doubt was true; but 
 the reason was that he and nation depended on the whites for 
 support and protection. He had visited President Washington 
 at Philadelphia, and wore a medal received from his great father, 
 as he called the President. He had two sons, Louis and Jeffer- 
 son Ducoign, who were drunken, worthless men. 
 
 A Peoria Indian, being bribed by the British, stabbed to 
 death, in the streets of Cahokia, the celebrated Pontiac, the 
 greatest Indian warrior, perhaps, that ever existed. This was 
 one main reason the northern Indians were so bitter against 
 those of Illinois. 
 
 These Kaskaskia Indians were afraid to venture out far from 
 the white settlements, on account of the hostility of the other 
 Indians. This almost forced them to starvation. Their spirit 
 and national character were destroyed; and they became a 
 degenerate people, always drunk, when they could obtain the 
 liquor. By these means, they diminished, not only in numbers, 
 but also in standing or character, until a few years ago the rem- 
 nants of them moved to the Southwest. 
 
 Although it may seem hard, to force the Indians from their 
 own country to accommodate the white population, yet it is the 
 only wise and humane policy that can be adopted. The two 
 classes of people can not live in peace together. The tide of 
 white population is flowing on, and the Indians must recede 
 from it. It is a heart-rending sight to see the poor natives 
 driven from their own country. Their tears and lamentations 
 on leaving Illinois would pierce a heart of stone. 
 
 We must submit to the decrees of Providence. It is quite 
 possible, that these same tribes drove off the peaceable occu- 
 pants of the country, and then took possession of it by force, as 
 we have done. Moreover, I think Providence will be best 
 pleased in having a greater number of the human family in 
 existence than a few. A white population can sustain more 
 numbers on the same territory than the Indian mode of living 
 will permit. Nevertheless, it is difficult to find good reasons 
 for the expulsion of the Indians from their own country. But,
 
 24 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 with, or without reason, the Indians must emigrate, leaving Illi- 
 nois the finest country on earth, for the peaceable occupation 
 of the white man. 
 
 There is another etimology of the name of Illinois. It is 
 said, it is derived from Isle an Noix, the "Island of Nuts," in 
 English. It is well known, that when the French first discov- 
 ered the country, they were excited and enchanted with its fer- 
 tility, climate, products, grapes, etc., etc.; and no doubt it was 
 also blessed with nuts. And as the country was almost sur- 
 rounded with rivers the Mississippi, the Ohio, Wabash, Illi- 
 nois, and Lake Michigan on the northeast the country, in fact, 
 was nearly an Island; so that it was not so unreasonable that 
 the country should be called Isle au Noix. The sound of Isle- 
 au-noix in French, is almost similar to that of Illinois.
 
 CHAPTER II. % 
 
 The Discovery and Settlement of Illinois; to the first Government of 
 the "Company of the West," in 1718. 
 
 JAMES MARQUETTE, a Jesuit missionary, first conceived the 
 idea to explore the Mississippi, and suggested it to M. Talon, 
 the intendant of Canada. At length the governor of Canada, 
 M. Talon, assisted Father Marquette in this laudable expedi- 
 tion, and joined with him M. Joliet, a merchant of Quebec. 
 
 The first white men that saw the Mississippi were DeSoto 
 and his army in the year 1541. They crossed the Mississippi 
 about the site of the present city of Memphis, Tennessee. The 
 next were Marquette and Joliet, Frenchmen from Canada, in 
 the year 1673. The Mississippi lay quiet from the time DeSoto 
 explored the lower Mississippi, until the indefatigable Jesuit, 
 Marquette, entered it at the mouth of the Wisconsin. 
 
 In early times, two passions entered deep into the breasts of 
 the people of Europe: one the Christianization of the North 
 American Indians; and the other, a northwest passage to the 
 East Indies and China. Both of these popular enterprises sank 
 deep into the heart of Marquette; but particularly the conver- 
 sion of the Indians to the Christian faith. M. Joliet was a mer- 
 chant of Quebec, and no doubt possessed the common mania of 
 that day, for the Indian trade if nothing higher or better. 
 
 I am sorry I can not find much material for the history of 
 Marquette. He was, so far as I can discover, the Napoleon, 
 the ne plus ultra of all the Indian missionaries in the Northwest. 
 He was a Recollect monk and Jesuit, and was fired with all 
 the zeal and enthusiasm of that order of religionists. He fol- 
 lowed the footsteps of Layola, his illustrious predecessor, in all 
 religious duties, so far as he had the ability to act. He had 
 abandoned the Old World, and the common comforts and en- 
 joyments of life, for the sole object of Christianizing the Indians 
 in the wilds of America. He gave himself up entirely to the 
 
 25
 
 20 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 most severe and dangerous services to uncommon hardships 
 and perils, and almost starvation itself, amongst the wildest 
 savages of North America. All these dangers and perils did 
 he perform and endure, with the greatest pleasure; because his 
 conscience assured him he was doing the will of God Among 
 all the devout and benevolent Indian missionaries, Marquette, 
 for his true piety, holiness of purpose, and grand enterprises he 
 performed, stands unrivalled in the West. He at last ended his 
 days, as he had lived them, in the actual service of God. 
 
 The Jesuits, at this time, were the most energetic order of 
 Christians in Europe. There was no country on the globe but 
 the Jesuits visited and administered to the spiritual wants of 
 the people. Such was the case in the northwest of America. 
 No Indian nation was too far off, or too wild, to deter these 
 Jesuit missionaries from visiting. And Marquette was always 
 first to do good in these missions. 
 
 In the year 1669, he had been out west of Green Bay, or 
 Le Bale du Puants, as the French sometimes called it, prepar- 
 ing the Indians for his great enterprise West, and obtaining an 
 Indian of the remote region of the Mississippi, for an interpreter. 
 
 These preparations being made, he and Joliet left Mackinac, 
 the mission-station of Marquette, on the I3th May, 1673, for 
 Green Bay. Father Marquette had been all thro' this region of 
 country, and had acquired an excellent character amongst all 
 the nations, for his piety and kindness to the Indians. 
 
 In two canoes, with five men, Marquette and Joliet left the 
 missionary-station of Green Bay, on the loth June, 1673, for 
 the far- West. The Indians gave a terrible history of the mon- 
 sters in the great, river that would swallow them up and their 
 canoes. The Maneto at the Piasa was represented as devour- 
 ing all passengers. This was to deter Marquette from his voy- 
 age; but he had the same fearless courage that Martin Luther 
 possessed, when his friends persuaded him not to make a cer- 
 tain journey in Germany. 
 
 The explorers passed over the portage between Fox River 
 and the Wisconsin, and down the latter to the Mississippi. 
 They saw the Mississippi for the first time, June I7th, 1673, 
 and "entered it," Marquette says in his journal, "with a joy I 
 can not express." No doubt the hearts of these enthusiastic
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 27 
 
 French bounded with joy at the sight of this noble and majestic 
 river. I 
 
 They floated down the river about one hundred miles, and on 
 the west side they discovered Indians. To use the pious lan- 
 guage of Marquette, "they commended themselves to God, and 
 approached the village." They remained with this tribe for six 
 days, and "in full council" Marquette "proclaimed to them the 
 one true God, the Creator." The journal of Marquette reports 
 that "they passed the most beautiful confluence of rivers in the 
 world," where the Missouri, called by the Indians Peckitanoni, 
 mingles its muddy waters with the Mississippi. They mention 
 the painted rock* the Piasa near the present city of Alton. 
 They saw also the great rock, the grand Tower, in the Missis- 
 sippi, and came to the mouth of the Ohio, which they mistook 
 for the Wabash River. 
 
 It is well-authenticated history, that the hostility of the Iro- 
 quois Indians kept the French from any knowledge of the 
 Ohio River for many years after the voyage of Marquette and 
 Joliet to the West ; and for a long time, the Ohio River was 
 called the Wabash from the mouth of the Wabash down to the 
 junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi. 
 
 After a few days' delay at the junction of the Ohio, Mar- 
 quette and Joliet passed down the river to the Arkansas Indians, 
 in latitude 33 degrees north. At this point, the party narrowly 
 escaped destruction by the Arkansas Indians. 
 
 The pious-hearted Marquette says, "they resolutely presented 
 the peace-pipe to the warriors, and God softened their hearts;" 
 so the explorers escaped unhurt. They descended no further. 
 This party reached somewhere on the river, about the place 
 that DeSoto crossed it in the year 1541. 
 
 * I saw what was called the picture sixty years since, long before it was marred 
 by quarrymen or the tooth of time, and I never saw anything that would have 
 impressed my mind that it was intended to represent a bird. I saw daubs of coloring 
 matter that I supposed exuded from the rocks that might, to very impressible people, 
 bear some resemblance to a bird or a dragon, after they were told to look at it in 
 that light, just as we fancy in certain arrangements of the stars we see animals, etc., 
 in the constellations. I did see the marks of the bullets shot by the Indians against 
 the rocks in the vicinity of that so-called picture. Their object in shooting at this 
 place I never could comprehend. I do not think the story had its origin among the 
 Indians or was one of their superstitions, but was introduced to the literary world by 
 John Russell of Bluff Dale, 111., who wrote a beautiful story about it. J. GILLESPIE, 
 Jan. 25, 1883.
 
 28 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 Marquette, being a little shocked by the warriors of the Ar- 
 kansas, and also hearing it was a long voyage yet to the ocean, 
 determined to return to the lakes. But after the reconciliation 
 with the Indians, they feasted on corn and dogs. This tribe 
 cooked in and eat out of earthen-ware, and were at last kind 
 and loving to their French friends. 
 
 On the 1 7th July, 1673, Marquette and company commenced 
 to ascend the river. At the mouth of the Illinois, the Indians 
 informed the explorers, that to ascend that river it was shorter 
 to the lakes than by the route of the Wisconsin. The party 
 ascended the Illinois, and entered the lake at the present city 
 of Chicago; and in September they reached Green Bay in 
 safety, not, during their voyage, losing a man, or receiving any 
 hurt or injury whatever. Marquette writes that, "no where did 
 we see such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, 
 wildcats, bustards, swans, paroquets, and even beavers, as on the 
 Illinois River." 
 
 It is true, as Marquette states, that there are "no grounds" 
 on earth superior in fertility and productiveness, than are found 
 for many miles on each side of the Illinois River. 
 
 After the return of Marquette and Joliet to Green Bay, the 
 latter proceeded to Quebec, while our pious Christian quietly 
 returned to his Indian charge, laboring night and day to save 
 the heathen from destruction. 
 
 Joliet, on his way to Canada, lost his papers, and nearly his 
 life, by the upsetting of his canoe. By this misfortune the nar- 
 rative of the discovery of the great Father of Waters was lost. 
 Marquette cared not so much for the discovery of the country, 
 as the discovery of Indians, so they might be converted to God 
 from savage paganism. Therefore he kept a very limited jour- 
 nal of their voyage; but it is recognized by all authors as 
 correct and true. Thus it is, that we find very little in detail 
 of this discovery of a country, the valley of the Mississippi, 
 which is not equalled for fertility of soil, climate, extent, and 
 beautiful surface, on the globe. This valley extends from the 
 Alleghany to the Rocky Mountains, a distance of nearly three 
 thousand miles, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the sources of 
 the Mississippi, with a climate of the temperate zone, congenial 
 to the culture of almost all the produce of the earth. This val-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 29 
 
 ley is without mountains and without swamps, intersected with 
 large navigable rivers, and possessing a surface adapted to the 
 construction of railroads in every direction; so that, in fact, 
 Marquette saw "a terrestial paradise," as the French called it, 
 when he entered this valley, in 1673. 
 
 It appears, from the journal of Marquette, that they were as- 
 tonished at the magnitude of their discoveries the soil, the 
 products, the rivers, buffaloes, etc. ; but if they could have seen 
 thro' the future to this time 1852 they would be still more 
 amazed and astonished. The improvements of the country 
 the cities on the margins of the rivers they sailed on, and the 
 large steamboats passing their bark canoes, would cause these 
 Frenchmen to believe, that Omnipotent power alone could 
 effect this extraordinary change. Almost the same conclusion 
 will be forced upon all rational men: that the unparalleled 
 growth of the United States is fostered by Divine Providence. 
 Our free institutions, in the hands of Deity, are the foundation 
 of our growth and prosperity. The Constitution of the United 
 States presents to the world the perfection of human wisdom. 
 Our national greatness and grandeur rest upon this glorious 
 instrument. It binds us together in patriotic love, from ocean 
 to ocean, and from the tropics to the frozen North ; and may 
 God bless it and preserve it eternal. 
 
 Marquette and Joliet, on their return, made out such a glow- 
 ing report that it set all Canada on fire, and also swept over 
 France like a tornado. The French, always excitable, caught 
 the mania, and became almost crazy to see and settle the West. 
 This rage for western enterprise reached LaSalle, and bound 
 him in its folds during the remainder of his life. 
 
 Robert de La Salle was a native of the city of Rouen, in Nor- 
 .mandy, France; and possessed a liberal education. By some 
 means he lost his patrimony and attached himself to the Jesu- 
 its. It is stated by his biographer, that he was a scholar, versed 
 in the arts and sciences, and fitted for any business. The great 
 and dominant trait of his character was an iron will, and a 
 moral and physical courage; that all the evils of life all the 
 disasters and misfortune that man is heir to had no effect on 
 him. A despondency or retreat found no place in his charac- 
 ter. He also possessed, in an eminent degree, an ungovernable 
 ambition.
 
 3O PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 When a character of this description gets strongly impressed 
 with a great enterprise, he becomes enthusiastic and almost 
 crazy on the subject. Such was the case with LaSalle, in the 
 discovery, and the Indian trade of the far West, 
 
 LaSalle arrived in Canada in the year 1670, and had become, 
 to some extent, acquainted with the country, at the time Mar- 
 quette and Joliet reported their discoveries of the West. 
 
 He was strongly impressed with the notions of that day, to 
 find a direct passage to China. He supposed a river might be 
 found to- ascend, which would lead a northwest route to the 
 Pacific Ocean. He also urged warmly on Frontenac, the gov- 
 ernor-general of Canada, the propriety, and even the necessity 
 for France to establish a line of forts from Canada thro' the 
 Illinois country to the Gulf of Mexico. The governor entered 
 into the views of LaSalle with ardor, and advised him to lay 
 his plans before the Government of France. LaSalle consented, 
 and set sail for France in the year 1675. The minister of the 
 king, the great Colbert, approved his scheme, and entered 
 warmly into the subject. LaSalle was created chevalier, and 
 invested with the Seigniory of Fort Frontenac, on condition 
 that he would rebuild the fort. He returned to Canada and 
 labored on the fort to the close of the year 1677. Again he 
 returned to France, and was received with favor by the court. 
 The king granted him new privileges. His mission having 
 succeeded so well, that he procured his lieutenant, M. Tonti, 
 an Italian, and thirty men, and sailed from Rochelle the I4th 
 July, to Quebec, where he arrived the I5th September, 1678. 
 He made little or no stay at Quebec; but proceeded direct to 
 Fort Frontenac. This fort occupied the site of the present 
 town of Kingston, in Upper Canada. 
 
 Another character in these discoveries was Louis Hennepin. 
 He was, as Marquette was, a Recollect monk of the Jesuit 
 order; but very unlike the pious and pure-hearted Marquette, 
 in almost everything else. He was full of ambition to be a 
 discoverer "daring, hardy, energic, vain, and self-exaggerating, 
 almost to madness." He possessed talents and courage, but 
 was ambitious of fame, even at the expense of truth. 
 
 The religious superiors of Hennepin appointed him to pro- 
 ceed with the expedition of LaSalle, and he was ready at Fort 
 Frontenac, October 1678.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 31 
 
 \Yhat a contrast between these two dignataries of the church 
 Marquette and Hennepin. One dedicated himself entirely to 
 the pious and holy works of religion, while the other wore the 
 garb of religion to advance his own fame. 
 
 Marquette returned to Illinois/and pursued his holy ambition 
 in converting the Indians to Christianity, until the year 1675. 
 On the 1 8th May of that year, he was with his boatmen on 
 Lake Michigan, and proposed to stop and say mass. Leaving 
 his men with the boat, he went a small distance to pray. He 
 staid some time, and his friends became alarmed at his stay. 
 They called to mind something he had hinted ; that "he should 
 die there." They found the reverend father dead, in the post- 
 ure of praying. The death of Marquette occurred at the mouth 
 of a small river emptying into the lake from the east, which is 
 named for him, and there he was buried in the sand. His body 
 would have been exposed to the rise of the waters, but the river 
 retired and left the holy man's grave in peace. Charlevoix was 
 at the place some fifty years after, and discovered that the 
 waters of the river had forced a passage in another direction, 
 and cut through a solid bluff, rather than to disturb this good 
 man's grave. Thus ended the life of Marquette, in glory; while 
 Hennepin enjoys a celebrity of another character. 
 
 LaSalle and party, on the i8th November, 1678, embarked 
 on a small vessel of ten tons, from Fort Frontenac to the West, 
 and in four weeks' sailing on Lake Ontario, they landed near 
 the Niagara River. The winter was setting in, and they remained 
 in that neighborhood until the next spring. 
 
 Another vessel, the Griffon, was built during the winter and 
 and spring of 1679, at the mouth of Tonnawanto Creek; and 
 during this time, LaSalle returned again to Fort Frontenac. 
 On his- return the vessel carrying his goods was destroyed, and 
 part of his stores lost. This was the first of a series of misfor- 
 tunes which he suffered. 
 
 On the 2Oth January, 1679, LaSalle arrived at Niagara; and 
 this whole summer was employed by him, in preparing for the 
 West, gathering furs, etc. ;, while Chevalier Tonty was sent on 
 West to prepare the way for LaSalle. 
 
 On the 7th of August, 1679, the Griffon was ready to sail. 
 Then, with Te Deum and discharge of fire-arms, she set sail 
 upon Lake Erie.
 
 32 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 At Green Bay the Griffon was loaded with furs, and sent to 
 Niagara, while LaSalle, with fourteen men, started for the Mia- 
 mis, or St. Josephs. There the party waited for the return of 
 the Griffon. At this point, LaSalle built a fort. The party, 
 on the 3d December, consisting of thirty laborers, and three 
 monks, went up the St. Joseph, crossed the portage to The-an- 
 kc-ki, now Kankakee, and down to the Illinois River. About 
 the last of December, they reached a village of the Illinois In- 
 dians, containing five hundred cabins; but no inhabitants. The 
 travelers discovered a large quantity of corn, and being in great 
 need of provisions, took as much of this article as satisfied their 
 wants. This village is supposed to have been near the Rock 
 Fort, LaSalle County, 111. The party entered Peoria Lake on 
 the 4th January, 1680, and proceeded some distance down the 
 River, where they were well received by the Indians. They 
 obtained permission of the Indians to erect a fort at this place. 
 
 About the middle of January, the news of the loss of the 
 Griffon and cargo reached LaSalle. Other disasters also visited 
 him, so that he called this Fort Creve Coznr in English, broken 
 heart. LaSalle discovered a mutiny amongst his men; and 
 also the Indians were excited to unfriendly feelings against him. 
 But by a bold and daring energy, based on truth and honesty 
 he quieted these troubles around him. Yet his heart was sorely 
 afflicted, as the name of this fort indicated. He was far in 
 advance of the settlements of Canada amongst Indians, whose 
 friendship was precarious and uncertain; and even his own men, 
 on whom he was compelled to rely for support in perils and 
 dangers, were disaffected. Altho' all these calamities surrounded 
 the Chevalier LaSalle, he hesitated not a moment in the pursuit 
 of his daring object, the exploration and the commerce of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 They completed the fort and established friendly relations 
 with the Indian tribes far and near. 
 
 At this fort, some of LaSalle's own men, more treacherous 
 than the red skins, attempted to poison him, but did not suc- 
 ceed. This great man was richly entitled to the honor of being 
 called "Chevalier", as his fortitude and resolution never for a 
 moment forsook him, in any of the perilous trials. 
 
 He organized a party to explore the upper Mississippi; while
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 33 
 
 the reliable lieutenant of LaSalle, the Chevalier Tonty, would 
 remain in the Fort Creve Cceur, and the brave Norman himself 
 return to Fort Frontenac. 
 
 The exploring party consisted of Louis Hennepin, M. DuGay, 
 or D'Ucan, and six Frenchmen, oarsmen, woodsmen, or other- 
 wise, as occasion might require. 
 
 In bark canoes, on the 28th of February, 1680, they left Fort 
 Creve Cceur for the Mississippi, and waited at the mouth of the 
 Illinois River for ten days, to permit the floating ice in the Mis- 
 issippi to pass out. Hennepin, with the consent of LaSalle, 
 called the western side of the Mississippi Louisiana, in honor of 
 the king of France, and the Mississippi, St. Louis River. One 
 of these names remains to this day, while the old Indian name 
 of the Mississippi was not changed by the French explorers. 
 
 Hennepin and party proceeded up the river to the Great 
 Falls, which he called St. Anthony, in honor of his patron saint 
 of Padua. On a tree near the falls, the Franciscan friar and 
 Jesuit monk, Hennepin, caused the cross and arms of France to 
 be carved. 
 
 About the nth of April, near the mouth of the Wisconsin, 
 Hennepin's party were captured by the Sioux Indians; and 
 detained in captivity for several months, but were released. 
 They explored the river above the falls, up to latitude 44 deg. 
 north, but not to the source, as Hennepin asserts. They met 
 another party of French from Lake Superior, under the com- 
 mand of Sieur de Luth, trading and reconnoitring the country. 
 They returned by the route of the Wisconsin to Green Bay, the 
 most western missionary station. 
 
 The same season, 1680, Hennepin was ambitious to supercede 
 LaSalle in the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi 
 descended the Wisconsin and the Mississippi to the mouth of 
 Arkansas, and returned late in the year to the upper Illinois. 
 He then returned to Europe, and got into the hands of the 
 British, who were jealous of the French discoveries in the New 
 World, and the said monk and Jesuit priest published an inac- 
 curate history of his exploration of the Mississippi. His book 
 gave the world an untrue view of the discovery; but "truth is 
 powerful," and did prevail. Altho' Hennepin is suspected of 
 exaggeration, yet he did much, and showed himself a great 
 3
 
 34 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 man. And I would ask any one to reflect on the situation of 
 both Hennepin and Marquette, in their discoveries. They 
 made these explorations without means and almost without 
 men; and also without the direct sanction of their Government. 
 I can not conceive how they procured their supply of provi- 
 sions. I think they must have existed greatly on energy and 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 The Chevalier LaSalle, it is true, had the authority of his 
 Government direct; but I can not find that he had any other 
 support from his king. He was crippled all the time by his 
 commercial operations. 
 
 In March, 1680, LaSalle, preparing himself with a gun and 
 powder, with deer-skins for moccasons, and a sack of parched 
 corn on his back, to eat, he and three men started on foot from 
 Fort Crevc Cceur to Frontenac. This was a dreary and perilous 
 trip. Not only had LaSalle to pass over the black swamps in 
 the northern part of the State of Ohio, which impeded General 
 Harrison so much in the winter of 1813 in the war with Great 
 Britain ; but the Iroquois Indians were at that time engaged in 
 a war with the French. Altho' the journey was dangerous and 
 perilous, he arrived safely at Fort Frontenac in June. 
 
 LaSalle left M. Tonty in possession of Fort Creve Cceur and 
 the country, "with orders to repair Fort St. Louis." 
 
 There is some confusion with authors in regard to these forts, 
 and their precise location. There were two forts: one called 
 Creve Cceur, and the other Rock, or Fort St. Louis. Creve 
 Cceur was located somewhere, I presume, on the southeast side, 
 eight miles above Peoria, on the lake; and Rock Fort, or Fort 
 St. Louis, at either the Starved Rock, or the Buffalo Rock, in 
 LaSalle County, Illinois. It is difficult to determine at this 
 day, the exact location of either of these forts. The Starved 
 Rock, or the Buffalo Rock either, will answer the description 
 given them in the first exploration of the country. I have 
 often been on both these rocks, and think there is not room 
 on the Starved Rock for a fortress. Yet, it may have been 
 large enough for the occasion. It is easier fortified than the 
 other. 
 
 The tradition of the Indians being starved on this rock, was 
 unknown to the pioneers, or else we would have had the name
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 35 
 
 in their journals. The tradition of calling this rock the Starved 
 Rock, is a pretty tale, which may or may not be true. The 
 history of the Buffalo Rock is believed by many: that the 
 French and Indians drove the buffaloes on this high ground on 
 the northeast side, and forced them over the rocks at the south- 
 west, where the rocks are perpendicular, and thereby killed 
 them. The buffaloes were butchered, and the meat and skins 
 shipped from that point to the New Orleans market. These 
 are the traditions of the names of these two localities in Illinois. 
 
 Starved Rock and Buffalo Rock are both situated in, or 
 adjacent to, the low lands of the Illinois River; and they and 
 the country generally, exhibit indubitable evidence of a great 
 volume of water, at some remote time, having passed down this 
 valley of the Illinois River. The Buffalo Rock rises up, in the 
 midst of the low lands, or Illinois Bottom, to a great height, 
 and is perpendicular on three sides. It must have been an 
 island in former days, when this whole valley of the Illinois 
 River was water. 
 
 At this remote period, the waters of the Niagara River, passed 
 down this valley. The outlet of the waters of the lakes was 
 then not at Niagara. Since the discovery of the country, the 
 rocks at the falls of Niagara have been worn away by the action 
 of the water flowing over them. This outlet of the waters has 
 been of modern date to the ancient discharge of the waters thro' 
 the Illinois River. Engineers have leveled the country around 
 the lakes and find that if the chasm at the falls of Niagara was 
 filled up, the waters of the lakes would pursue their ancient 
 course down the Illinois River. The waters broke thro' the 
 rocks at Niagara, and turned their course from the Illinois River 
 to Lake Ontario. The appearance of greater quantities of water 
 having formerly passed than at present, is visible in many places 
 on the Mississippi. 
 
 During the absence of LaSalle, in the summer of 1680, M. 
 Tonty had much trouble with the Indians. The Iroquois waged 
 a bitter war with the prairie Indians, which forced Tonty to join 
 his neighbors of the West. This war brought him into great 
 peril and danger, which at last compelled him to abandon Fort 
 Creve Ccenr, and seek safety at Mackinac. 
 
 After LaSalle enduring much embarrassment at Frontenac,
 
 36 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 and on his journey out, he arrived at Creve Cceur late in Decem- 
 ber, or early in January, 1681. But to his great astonishment 
 and disadvantage, found no one in the fort, altho' it was in 
 good repair. This was another calamity to swell the list of 
 misfortunes which he suffered. But dejection or despondency 
 found no place in his remarkable composition. He returned 
 with his party to Mackinac, and greeted Tonty with the same 
 feeling and friendship as if he had met his friend at the Hotel 
 de Ville in Paris. 
 
 LaSalle again visited Fort Frontenac, and made the last pre- 
 parations for his grand discovery. On the 3d November, 1681, 
 he was at the fort of St. Joseph, as full of courage as ever. 
 
 About the middle of December, with twenty-three men, eigh- 
 teen eastern Indians, ten squaws, and three children, he started 
 by the way of Chicago River, and on the 6th January, 1682, 
 they left the bord.ers of Lake Michigan, traveling on foot, and 
 the baggage on sledges. They passed on to Fort Creve Cceur, 
 and found that place in good repair. On the 6th February, 
 they were on the Mississippi, and on the I3th they set sail down 
 that river. 
 
 At the Chickasaw Bluffs they erected a fort, which they 
 called Prudhomme, and on the 6th April they discovered the 
 three outlets of the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 The following is the description of their doings at the mouth 
 of the Mississippi by LaSalle himself: "We landed on the bank 
 of the most western channel about three leagues from its mouth. 
 On the /th M. de la Salle went to reconnoitre the shores of the 
 neighboring sea, and M. de Tonty examined the great middle 
 channel. They found three outlets, beautiful, large, and deep. 
 On the 8th we reascended the river a little above its conflu- 
 ence with the sea, to find a dry place beyond the reach of inun- 
 dations. The elevation of the north pole was about twenty- 
 seven degrees. Here we prepared a column, and a cross, and 
 to the said column we affixed the arms of France with this in- 
 scription : 
 
 "LOUIS LE GRAND, ROI DE FRANCE ET NAVAARE, REGNE; 
 LE NEUVIEME, AVRIL, 1 682." 
 
 The whole party was paraded under arms, chanted the Tc 
 Deuvi and other hymns in praise of God for the great discovery.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 37 
 
 They shouted Vive le Roi and raised Lhe column. LaSalle 
 himself, in a very orderly and solemn manner, took possession 
 for the King of France of all the country watered by the River 
 Colbert, or Mississippi. 
 
 The provisions being scarce, Sieur LaSalle was compelled to 
 return north; and became sick at Fort Prudhomme. He sent 
 M. Tonty on to. the Governor of Canada with the report of his 
 discoveries. He himself did not reach the fort at the mouth of 
 St. Joseph River, until September. At this place, LaSalle sent 
 Father Zenobe with his despatches to the court of France, and 
 he remained amongst the Indians, trading for their furs, and 
 repairing his favorite fort, St. Louis, supposed to be on the 
 Buffalo Rock. But hearing he had enemies at the government 
 of France, who represented him as a man more ambitious to 
 advance his own interest than that of his government, he, in 
 the autumn of 1683, set sail for France and reached there on 
 the 1 3th December. The overbearing deportment of LaSalle, 
 which was the greatest defect in his character, caused him many 
 enemies, and amongst the rest was M. de la Barre, who had suc- 
 ceeded Count Frontenac in the government of Canada. 
 
 The presence of LaSalle put all idle rumors against him to 
 flight at the court of his king. The ministers saw him, be- 
 lieved him, and found him to be, what he really was, sincere, 
 energetic, brave, and enthusiastic. The king also believed, and 
 the City of Rochelle resounded with the uproar of fitting out a 
 fleet for the New World. 
 
 On the 24th July, 1684, four vessels sailed from Rochelle, 
 carrying two hundred and eighty persons for the mouth of the 
 Mississippi. Amongst these persons were soldiers, artificers, 
 volunteers, and "some young women." They started with high 
 hopes of honors and fortunes; but sad reverses overtook them. 
 Not one of the emigrants escaped destruction except six men 
 with Joutel, who reached Illinois in the year 1687, in a most 
 deplorable condition. LaSalle and Beaujeau, the commander 
 of the fleet, did not agree on the voyage to America; but had 
 a bitter quarrel, which was the cause, perhaps, of the failure 
 of the expedition. There is nothing so dangerous to an enter- 
 prise as quarrels amongst the leaders; we see in ancient, as 
 well as in modern times, disputes prove fatal to the greatest and
 
 38 PIOXKKR HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 best expeditions. M. Joutel was the commander of one hun- 
 dred soldiers, and was a man of judgment and courage. He 
 was afterward the historian of the expedition. 
 
 This fleet, after much delay, storms, and calms, and one ves- 
 sel being captured by the Spaniards, on the I5th January, 1685, 
 reached the coast of America in latitude 29, 10 degrees north, 
 supposed to be not far from the mouth of the Mississippi. But 
 LaSalle caused the fleet to sail west; so that the mouth of the 
 river was not discovered for years afterward. While in the Gulf 
 of Mexico, a storm visited the fleet and destroyed one of the 
 vessels loaded with provisions, implements, and other necessary 
 articles, which were all lost. 
 
 The marine commander Beaujeau considered he had per- 
 formed his duty in reaching the Gulf of Mexico with the fleet, 
 and decided he would land LaSalle and his colony and return 
 to France. He came to this conclusion, more by the dissention 
 between him and LaSalle than on any other consideration. 
 The colony was landed at Madagorda Bay, now called St. Ber- 
 nard, seven or eight hundred miles by the indentations of the 
 sea, west of the mouth of the Mississippi. At this bay, LaSalle 
 made a "lodgement," as he called it, and fortified the place to 
 some extent. 
 
 Every hour and every day from LaSalle's landing at the 
 Madagorda Bay until his assassination, he had more perils, diffi- 
 culties, and calamities to encounter and suffer, until death 
 seemed to be his best friend. He never ceased hunting for the 
 "hidden river" for two years. He tried to reach the Mexican 
 colonies and failed ; and made an attempt to go to the North, 
 and also failed. In March, 1687, he started to the Illinois coun- 
 try, in company with sixteen men, provided with horses procured 
 from the Indians, to carry their baggage. They had proceeded 
 about three hundred miles to Trinity River (some say, the 
 Brazos), where the party encamped to recruit themselves, and 
 to procure supplies by hunting. Jealousies and rankerous feel- 
 ings took possession of the individuals of the party to such 
 extent that two men of the party murdered Moranget, a 
 nephew of LaSalle, and three days after LaSalle himself was 
 shot dead by Dehaut, one of his own men. This murder 
 occurred on the 2Oth March, 1687, and soon after, Dehaut and
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 39 
 
 Leotot, two of the murderers, met the same fate by the hands 
 of their comrades. 
 
 The French writers make some very sensible remarks on the 
 character of LaSalle. They say he possessed all the elements 
 of a very great man; one alone excepted, and that was to secure 
 the affection and friendship of his men. It has been astonish- 
 ing to me, that a man of the abilities of LaSalle could not see 
 this defect in his character, and remedy it. It is strange that a 
 man with his discernment could not see the disaffection of his 
 men. Bonaparte had this element in an eminent degree. His 
 soldiers and officers were always willing to thrust themselves 
 into danger and death to save their general. 
 
 Joutel, the best friend of LaSalle, says of him: "He had a 
 capacity and talent to make his enterprise successful; his con- 
 stancy and courage, and extraordinary knowledge in the arts 
 and sciences, which render him fit for anything, together with 
 an indefatigable body, which made him surmount all difficulties, 
 Avould have procured a glorious issue to his undertaking, had 
 not all thfise excellent qualities been counterbalanced by too 
 haughty a behavior, which sometimes made him insupportable; 
 and by a rigidness to those under his command, which at last 
 drew on him an implacable hatred, and was the occasion of his 
 death." 
 
 Illinois has been not unmindful of the services of LaSalle, 
 Hennepin, Joliet, and Marquette. Counties are named for 
 LaSalle and Marquette, and towns for Joliet and Hennepin. 
 
 Joutel and six men after passing thro' hardships, dangers, 
 and perils of almost every description, found a post of the 
 French on the Arkansas River, sixty miles from the Mississippi. 
 The sight of these countrymen was the next thing to the full 
 view of heaven, to Joutel and party. They took up the line of 
 march north in May, 1687, and on the 24th July, they reached the 
 post of Arkansas, and on the I4th of September, they arrived at 
 the Fort St. Louis, or Rock Fort, on the Illinois River. Joutel 
 remained here until March, 1688, and then went to Canada. 
 
 It will be recollected that the Chevalier LaSalle left Tonty 
 in command of the whole Illinois country, which was beginning 
 to be settled by the clergy and the Indian traders. Tonty 
 acquitted himself with honor and benefit to his country. He
 
 4O PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 was compelled in the time (which lasted three years) to join 
 the Illinois Indians in repelling the British and Iroquois, as a 
 war raged then between France and Great Brfetain, and it 
 reached out into the remote regions of the West. 
 
 Tonty was the chief and captain -general in conducting the 
 war against the British and the Iroquois, and became, as he 
 deserved, a conspicuous character in the infant settlement of 
 Illinois. 
 
 In the year 1686, he heard of his friend LaSalle being in the 
 West Indies, and descended to the mouth of the Mississippi in 
 search of him; but returned without him. On the route he 
 established the post of Arkansas, which name it retains to this 
 day, being one hundred and sixty-six years old. And I presume 
 the settlements of Illinois, Peoria, Cahokia, and Kaskaskia may 
 date their existence from the same period, 1686 We have in- 
 dubitable record evidence that Tonty established the post of 
 Arkansas in 1686, and the conclusion is irresistible that the 
 settlements of Cahokia and Kaskaskia, right under the eye of 
 Tonty, were also commenced at that time or before. 
 
 M. Tonty was the commander-in-chief of all the vast region of 
 Illinois, which, at that day, had no defined limits, extending 
 from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and east and west from 
 the Mississippi as far as French imagination pleased to stretch 
 it. Tonty was viceroy of this vast country almost the whole 
 time since he first saw it, with LaSalle, in the year 1679, to the 
 year 1700, which is the last we hear of him at the mouth of the 
 Mississippi with Iberville. 
 
 In the year 1687, he was commanding the Rock Fort, when 
 Joutel was there. Joutel remained at this fort all winter, and 
 it seems his travels in Illinois closed up in the Spring of 1688; 
 he left the Rock Fort in March of that year for Quebec, and 
 then on to Rochelle, being absent four years in America, and 
 experiencing every peril and misery except death itself. 
 
 The Chevalier Tonty, the Italian, was actively employed 
 for twenty-one years in erecting forts, defending the country 
 from Indian and British depredations, and organizing the first 
 settlement of Illinois. We must therefore conclude that Tonty 
 was a clear-headed, discerning man, of moral and physical cour- 
 age, and of such energy, with these other qualities, as made him 
 successful in all his enterprises.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 4! 
 
 From the time, 1686, Tonty descended the Mississippi to 
 meet LaSalle, the Illinois country commenced settling. The 
 minds of the people in Canada, and even in France, became 
 enthusiastic in favor of Illinois, which caused emigration to it, 
 and the religious institutions, and particularly the Jesuits, were 
 also much interested to snatch from destruction the Indians 
 that were unconverted. All over the West the French had 
 missionaries, and at every Indian village the holy father was 
 seen employing all his talents and energies to convert the sav- 
 ages to Christianity. It was at the Indian villages, Cahokia 
 and Kaskaskia, that the missionaries first located themselves to 
 instruct the aborigines. And then next came the Indian traders. 
 The traders built store houses and forts in these villages, and 
 the missionaries erected houses of worship; and thereby both 
 classes became stationary, and the excitement to emigrate to 
 Illinois soon made farmers and mechanics join them, and they 
 located in these villages. Many of the traders, and others, 
 married Indian women ; and other families came from Canada, 
 so that in a few years both Kaskaskia and Cahokia became 
 places of civilization and residence of a white population. It 
 was about the year 1686 that the Reverend Claude Allouez, a 
 companion of LaSalle, made his first missionary entry into the 
 Indian village of Kaskaskia. He was the first white man that 
 made this village his permanent residence. Some time after, 
 the Reverend Gabriel Marest also visited the place, and dated a 
 letter: "Aux Cascaskias, autrement dit de 1'Immaculee Concep- 
 tion de laSainte Vierge, le 9 Novembre, 1712." About the 
 same time, Father Pinet formed the station of the missionaries 
 in the Tammarais and Cahokia villages of Indians which was 
 first called "Notre Dame de Kahokia." 
 
 Peoria arose in the vicinity of the old Fort Creve Cceur, but 
 did not improve as the other settlements did at Kaskaskia and 
 Cahokia; but now, in its turn, is far the largest place, and bids 
 fair to be one of the largest cities in Illinois. 
 
 The missionaries emigrated to Illinois in numbers, and did 
 all in their power to make the Indians drink of the waters of 
 everlasting life; but the natives refused even to this day to 
 embrace Christianity. 
 
 In our opinion, the doctrines of Christianity are too refined,
 
 42 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 too subtle, and too obtuse, for the comprehension of the illit- 
 erate natives. They must have a religion more suited to their 
 capacities, and more to be evidenced by their senses. The 
 experiments made by thousands of good men to convert the 
 savages to Christianity have signally failed ; the aborigines must 
 have their minds cultivated and enlarged before they can com- 
 prehend Christianity. 
 
 Father Marest says that "our life is spent in rambling thro' 
 thick woods, in climbing over hills, in paddling the canoes 
 across lakes and rivers to catch a poor savage who flies from 
 us, and whom we can tame neither by teachings or caresses." 
 
 Sebastian Rasles, or Raleau, came to Illinois in 1692, and 
 remained here two years. He was recalled and stationed in 
 Maine, where he and his Indian flock were murdered by the 
 Pilgrims of New England. 
 
 The next pioneer who figured in early Illinois history, is 
 Baron la Hontan. This adventurer sailed up the River of St. 
 Peters, and returned without adding much to the development 
 of the country, or to his credit. His journal is considered 
 doubtful authority in all cases where the truth is required. 
 
 Gabriel de la Rebourde and Zenobe Membre, were two mis- 
 sionaries in Illinois who collected a troupe of Indians, mostly 
 females about St. Louis on the "Great Rock." This was 
 sometime in 1690. 
 
 In the year 171 1, a missionary station was established at Fort 
 Massacre on the Ohio River and a fort was there built by the 
 French in 1758. 
 
 About the year 1700, the inhabitants commenced cultivating 
 the alluvial soil in the American Bottom around the villages of 
 Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and to erect buildings fit for the habi- 
 tation and comfort of the white man. The missionaries built 
 churches at those villages, and attended with apostolic care 
 their flocks. 
 
 The government of France decided to establish a colony 
 toward the mouth of the Mississippi; therefore in the year 1699, 
 Iberville, under the direction of France, commenced a settle- 
 ment at Mobile, and also at Dauphin Island. He left France 
 with two ships on the nth Oct., 1698, and on the 3ist Jan., 
 1699, arrived in Mobile Bay. Iberville was a man of sound 
 judgment, discretion, and prompt action.
 
 P10XKKR HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 43 
 
 These settlements in the South, in early times were consid- 
 ered intimately connected with the Illinois country, and so they 
 always will be esteemed. Iberville, after much search on the 
 2d of March, 1699, found the Hidden River, whose mouth had 
 been so long sought for. A vessel wae despatched to France 
 with the glad tidings. The natives called the river " Mal- 
 bouche," and the Spaniards "La Palissade," from the trees grow- 
 ing on its banks. 
 
 After ascending the Mississippi for some distance, Iberville 
 sailed to the Bay of Biloxi and there erected a fort. Leaving 
 this place in the command of Bienville, he embarked for France; 
 and in his absence Bienville again returned to the Mississippi, 
 and alarmed an British ship ascending the river, so that the 
 vessel turned down the river, and this place on the Mississippi 
 is to this day called "the English Turn." General Jackson, on 
 the 8th of Jan., 1815, gave the British a much more bloody 
 "turn down," about the same section of the river. 
 
 In the year 1700, Iberville returned from France, and built 
 a fort at the mouth of the Great River, and ordered M. le Sueur 
 to proceed up the Mississippi and the St. Peters, in search of a 
 copper mine, which order was fulfilled, and much matter was 
 found similar to copper, but, on being analyzed in France, it 
 turned out to be worthless. Sueur erected a fort on the St. 
 Peters, in latitude 44. 13 north, and called it L'Huiller [1702]. 
 The Indians being hostile, the party returned. 
 
 In 1705, the same party ascended the Missouri River to 
 the Kansas, but soon returned without finding any valuable 
 mines, but commenced a profitable commerce with the Indians. 
 
 M. Dutisne, another pioneer, was sent out to explore the 
 country of the Missouris, Osages, and Pawnees. He ascended 
 the Mississippi to the Saline River, some fifteen miles below 
 Ste. Genevieve, and crossed the country by land to the above- 
 named Indians. He traveled west over a broken and hilly 
 country to the Osages and finally reached the Pawnees in a 
 fine buffalo region in the prairies, four or five hundred miles 
 from the Mississippi. 
 
 The emigration in 1708, and about this time, commenced to 
 flow into Illinois from the South as well as from Canada. The* 
 country around Mobile, Biloxi, and Dauphin Island being colo-
 
 44 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 nized from France to some extent, emigrants found their way 
 to Illinois and settled in the villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia. 
 This last-named village was honored with the appellation of 
 Old Kaskaskia, and was, in truth, the metropolis of Illinois. 
 
 The French government, seeing it was difficult to colonize 
 Louisiana, as the public concerns were then conducted, granted 
 a monopoly of the commerce of the whole country to Crozat, a 
 wealthy merchant of Paris. This grant is dated I4th Septem- 
 ber, .1712, and conferred on Crozat the absolute property of all 
 mines he might discover. He was associated with Cadillac, the 
 founder of Detroit and governor of Louisiana. 
 
 Crozat established a trading company in Illinois. About this 
 time, a considerable commerce was carried on between Illinois 
 and the French in the South. We read of fifteen thousand 
 deerskins, in one year, being sent from Illinois to Dauphin 
 Island. Also flour and buffalo meat were sent to the South. 
 Illinois in the year 1712 commenced assuming the character of 
 a civilized and permanent-settled country. The villages of 
 Kaskaskia and Cahokia were fast changing their Indian charac- 
 ter for that of civilized communities. The clergy and the traders, 
 who first located in the country, had with them associated other 
 families and citizens that cultivated the soil and improved the 
 country. 
 
 There was no organized government in the country, until the 
 Company of the West was established. The small number 
 of the inhabitants, and their destitution of wealth, made a gov- 
 ernment entirely useless. The leaders of the first French set- 
 tlements of Illinois were men of talents and, for the most part, 
 of classic education. They were characters of the first order 
 and rank in any society, while the payans voyageurs and cou- 
 reurs de bois were innocent, honest, and kind, and obedient to 
 the commands of their leaders. They gave themselves no 
 trouble to think about or to discuss public matters. They were 
 regardless of wealth and also of their time and labor; so that if 
 they were provided with a scanty supply of clothes, corn, and 
 deer's tallow or meat, to eat, they would sing and dance, and 
 were in fact happy whether they were in the snows of the 
 Rocky Mountains or in the dancing saloons of Quebec. The 
 community thus constituted in the first settlement of Illinois,
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 45 
 
 needed little, or no government; in fact, they had none until 
 the Company of the West ["Compagnie d' Occident"} was estab- 
 lished in the country. 
 
 The society in Illinois, before any government was organized, 
 was moral, honest, and innocent; and perhaps no more happi- 
 ness in any other condition could be enjoyed; but so soon as 
 the inhabitants increased, and wealth, altho' not great, was accu- 
 mulated, then came also a new order of things, which did not 
 add to the happiness of the people.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Illinois under the French Government. 
 
 CROZAT surrendered his charter in 1717, and the celebrated 
 Company of the West was organized in Paris for the New 
 World. 
 
 John Law, a Scotchman, made all France crazy with his 
 banking scheme. I presume, no nation ever became so wild 
 and inconsiderate as France did on this subject. 
 
 The Mississippi or Western Company was established to aid 
 and assist the banking system of this crazy Scotchman. 
 
 In 1718, colonies were sent out from France, and in that 
 year New Orleans was laid out. The directory of the Western 
 Company, the same year, sent its agents and officers to Illinois. 
 Sieur Dugue de Boisbriand, the commandant; and Mark Anto- 
 ine de la Loire des Ursins, the principal secretary, with a small 
 military force, reached Illinois with orders to erect a fort in or 
 near old Kaskaskia. 
 
 About sixteen miles above Kaskaskia, in the American Bot- 
 tom, three miles from the bluff and three-quarters of a mile 
 from the river, a fort was commenced in 1718, and completed 
 in eighteen months, which was called Fort Chartres. Fort 
 Chartres, while the French retained the country, jwas the seat 
 of government of Illinois, and it was also the headquarters of 
 the military forces of Great Britain until the year 1772, when 
 an extraordinary freshet in the river destroyed one side of the 
 fort, so that the British abandoned it and made Kaskaskia the 
 seat of government. 
 
 The fort was an irregular quadrangle; the sides of the exte- 
 rior polygon are 490 feet; the walls are two feet two inches 
 thick, and built of limestone. 
 
 This fort was enlarged and improved in the year 1756, when 
 war was declared by Great Britain against France. It is strange 
 that such a site would be selected for a fort by a nation famous 
 for two thousand years past in all the science of the military 
 
 46
 
 PLAN OF FORT CHARTRES 
 ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 Drawn from a survey made in 1820 by Nicholas Hansen of Illinois, and 
 Lewis C. Beck. 
 
 A A A The exterior wall 1447 feet. 
 
 1? The gate or entrance to the fort. 
 
 C A small gate. 
 
 D D The two houses formerly occupied by the commandant and commis- 
 sary, each 96 feet in length and 30 in breadth. 
 
 E The well. 
 
 E The magazine. 
 
 GGGG Houses formerly occupied as barracks, 135 feet in length, 36 in 
 breadth. 
 
 11 II Eormerly occupied as a storehouse and guard-house, 90 feet by 24. 
 
 I The remains of small magazine. 
 
 K. The remains of a furnace. 
 
 L L L A ravine, which in the spring is filled with water. Between this and 
 the river, which is about half-a-mile, is a thick growth of cotton-wood. 
 The area of the fort is about four square acres.
 
 
 rf*
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 47 
 
 art. The place in the bluff may be seen to this day where the 
 stone was quarried to erect the fort. A lake intervened be- 
 tween the quarry and the fort, so that the rock must have been 
 boated across the lake and then carted to the building. The 
 site is on alluvial soil which has been washed away; so that 
 the wall of one side has been swept off by the Mississippi; and 
 then again, the river after destroying part of the fort, has left 
 it out of sight. 
 
 This fort is situated in the southwest corner of Monroe 
 County, Illinois, and is an object of antiquarian curiosity. The 
 trees, undergrowth, and brush are so mixed and interwoven with 
 the old walls, that the place has a much more ancient appear- 
 ance than the dates will justify. The soil is so fertile that it 
 forced up the large trees in the very houses which were occu- 
 pied by the British soldiers. 
 
 A regular government being established in the country gave 
 a standing and character to Illinois that caused a great emigra- 
 tion from Canada and also from Louisiana to flow into it. 
 The government of the Western Company was mild and 
 equitable. No complaints were made of oppression or misrule 
 against this company. 
 
 A branch of the Company of the West, called the Com- 
 pany of St. Phillips, was organized in Paris, for the express 
 purpose of mining; and Phillip Francois Renault, a native of 
 Picardy, France, was appointed the principal agent. He sailed 
 from France in the year 1719, with two hundred mechanics, 
 miners, laborers, etc. In the West Indies he purchased five 
 hundred negro slaves to work the mines, and reached Illinois 
 with all the necessary means of prosecuting the business of the 
 company. These were the first negroes introduced into Illinois, 
 and were the ancestors of the French slaves, who existed in 
 the country for many years after. 
 
 .Renault was a man of sound mind, and much energy. He 
 obtained a large grant of land to enable him to prosecute his 
 mining operations. This grant was located a few miles above 
 Fort Chartres, and on it was built the village of St. Phillips; so 
 called in honor of the founder. A chapel and a water-mill were 
 built in this place for the accommodation of the inhabitants. 
 A part of the grant to Renault extended over the hills adjacent
 
 48 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 to the bottom, the title of which is not, to this day settled. 
 Farmers and mechanics were encouraged to settle on this grant 
 in the bottom; so that the necessary supplies for the mining 
 operations might be obtained from it. 
 
 Other grants were made to him, one including the mines in 
 upper Louisiana, and another near Old Peoria, to embrace a 
 copper mine, which was supposed at that day to exist there- 
 Renault and his company of mechanics, laborers, etc., were 
 the greatest acquisition Illinois had heretofore received. These 
 people for the most part were more intelligent and efficient 
 than the first inhabitants of the country; and the whole West 
 was much advanced by them. 
 
 Exploring companies were sent out on both sides of the 
 river. In Jackson, Randolph, and St. Clair Counties, in Illinois, 
 the ancient traces of furnaces, etc., may yet be seen. Silver 
 Creek was so called because they supposed silver ore was found 
 near it. 
 
 Renault turned his attention finally to the smelting of lead. 
 Pack-horses conveyed it to the river and then in perogues it 
 was transported to New Orleans. 
 
 In May, 1719, the Company of the West was united by 
 the king to the Company of the Indies under the name of the 
 Royal Company of the Indies. This retarded the operations 
 of Renault and he finally left the country in the year 1744 and 
 returned to France, where he remained. 
 
 The Company of the West being vested in fee simple with 
 the right of the public domain, made grants of land to private 
 individuals and to the villages. The French system to dispose 
 of the public land was not very dissimilar to that of the United 
 States, only in this: one government granted the land without 
 a price and the other sold it for a valuable consideration. 
 
 The French system required the grants to be adjacent to 
 each other and numbered so that no intervening tracts could 
 exist. The grants were generally made by so many arpents in 
 front and extending at right angles to the requisite quantity. 
 The lines were, not like the lands of the United States, run on 
 the cardinal points, but were run the same course and frequently 
 the same length. Generally, the French grants in Illinois com- 
 menced at the river, and extended to the bluff, or from river
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 49 
 
 to river, as they are at Kaskaskia. A French acre, or arpent, is 
 eleven rods and sixty-seven hundredths of a rod, English meas- 
 ure being the square of the arpent. This system contemplated 
 either large enclosures, embracing the lands of many farmers, 
 or the fields cultivated without fencing. It would be too ex- 
 pensive for a farmer having a grant of one arpent, in front 
 H 67 / IOO rods, and running, perhaps, many miles the other way, 
 as they do in the Cahokia common field, to fence his farm to 
 himself. And in consequence of this system, the French of the 
 villages had, in olden times, their whole common field enclosed 
 together. The fence generally extended near the villages from 
 either the Mississippi to the bluff, or from the Mississippi to the 
 Kaskaskia River; as it was at Kaskaskia. The common field 
 was on one side of this fence, and the stock: cattle, horses, 
 hogs, etc., were formed to range on the other side. This was 
 the ancient manner of enclosing the common fields of Kaskas- 
 kia and Cahokia for nearly one hundred years; and the same 
 system was adopted by all the other villages of Illinois. A 
 large gate was erected in the fence, near the village, and a 
 keeper was stationed at it, to permit the farmers and others to 
 enter the field and return at pleasure. 
 
 In the fall, when the corn and other crops were gathered, the 
 gate was thrown open, and the stock took possession of the 
 field during the winter. 
 
 Grants of land were made for almost all, or entirely so, of the 
 American Bottom, from the upper limits of the common field 
 of St. Phillips to the lower line of the Kaskaskia common field, 
 a distance of nearly thirty miles; and the traces of cultivation 
 could be discerned in the greater portion of this tract of country 
 down to the year iSoo, and after. 
 
 Wind, water, and horse-mills were built in this region of 
 country to manufacture flour for the use of the inhabitants and 
 for exportation to Mobile and New Orleans. The Jesuit mis- 
 sionaries were mostly instrumental in procuring the erection of 
 mills. The remains of water-mills may be seen to this day at 
 various places in the bluffs of the Mississippi opposite to this 
 cultivated tract of country; and the traces of a wind-mill was 
 visible not many years ago in the prairie between Prairie du 
 Rocher and Kaskaskia.
 
 50 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 The first grant of land, which is preserved, was made to 
 Charles Danie on the loth May, 1722, and the next to the mis- 
 sionaries of the Cahokia and Tammarais tribes of Indians, dated 
 22d June, of the same year. 
 
 Soon after the completion of Fort Chartres in the year 1720, 
 a village near the fort was commenced and became the habita- 
 tion of many families. The site of this village was swept off by 
 the Mississippi ; so that not much or any vestage of it remains 
 at this day. This village had its common field, commons for 
 wood and pasture, its church and grave-yard, like the other set- 
 tlements of Illinois. The common field and commons remain, 
 but scarcely any other traces of the village exist. 
 
 About the year 1722, the village, called appropriately by its 
 location, (Prairie du Rocher) Rock Prairie, may date its com- 
 mencement. It is situated at the base of the perpendicular 
 rocks of the Mississippi Bluff, about four miles below Fort 
 Chartres. It had its church, common field, and commons; 
 together with its priest, catechism, and mass. As it was sit- 
 uated so near the rocks, many of the houses were made of that 
 material. In the outlet of a creek thro' the bluff near this- 
 village are the vestages of a water-mill, said to have been 
 erected by the Jesuits in the palmy days of the French settle- 
 ments in Illinois. This village, like many others in Illinois, is 
 now, like the poet said of Troy, Illium fuit. 
 
 In olden times, Kaskaskia was to Illinois what Paris is at 
 this day to France. Both were at their respective days the 
 great emporiums of fashion, gaiety, and I must say happiness, 
 also. In the year 1721, the Jesuits erected a monastery and 
 college in Kaskaskia, and a few years afterward it was char- 
 tered by the government. Kaskaskia for many years was the 
 largest town west of the Alleghany Mountains. It was a toler- 
 able place before the existence of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, or 
 New Orleans. In this year, Charlevoix visited the country, and 
 he states that "the inhabitants of Kaskaskia have black cattle 
 and poultry, and are doing well." The Jesuits had erected 
 water and wind-mills near this vi''age. The streams thro' the 
 bluff exhibit the traces of water-mills to this day, and the pres- 
 ent flouring-mill of Mr. Riley occupies the same site of a mill 
 of one hundred years anterior date. 

 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 51 
 
 Charveloix, in a letter dated, Kaskaskia, 2Oth Oct., 1721, in 
 relation to Cahokia, says: "We lay last night in a village of the 
 Cahokias and the Tamaroas, two Illinois tribes, which have 
 been united, and together compose no very numerous canton. 
 I passed the night in a missionary's house, with two ecclesias- 
 tics from the Seminary of Quebec. M. Taumur, the elder, was 
 absent; but I found the younger, M. le Mercier, such as he had 
 been represented to me, rigid to himself, full of charity to others, 
 and displayed in his own person an amiable pattern of virtue." 
 The common fields of Cahokia and Prairie du Pont were 
 extensive. I presume the arpent land attached to these vil- 
 lages are fifteen miles long, and in places extending from Caho- 
 kia Creek to the bluffs. They are five or six miles wide. The 
 greater portion of these lands was cultivated, and enclosed in 
 two large fields. A chapel of some character always existed in 
 Cahokia since its foundation. In Prairie du Pont there was 
 none. Each village had granted to it a large common. Prairie 
 du Pont, in English Bridge Prairie, is situated on the south 
 side of the creek of that name, and one mile south of Cahokia. 
 Its first commencement was about the year 1760. In olden 
 times, a water-mill was erected on the creek near the village. 
 
 Cahokia never was as large as Kaskaskia, and Peoria wa*s not 
 so large as Cahokia in early times. Cahokia was a greater 
 trading-post than Kaskaskia for the northern Indians; while 
 Kaskaskia was more agricultural, and extended its commerce 
 to New Orleans and Mobile instead of the Indians in the North. 
 In the early settlement of the country, the horned cattle 
 came from Canada, and the horses reached the country from 
 the South and the West. The cattle were a hardy race, not 
 large but of neat formation. The horses were of the Arabian 
 strain. The Spaniards introduced them into their American 
 possessions, and from this race originated the French horses. 
 This blood of horses was brought into Spain from Arabia by 
 the Moors. These French horses were small, but performed 
 better to their eize than any others. 
 
 Spain, knowing of the improvements and settlements of the 
 French on the east side of the Mississippi, became jealous and 
 were determined to occupy the west side of the river them- 
 selves. Some authors say Fort Chartres was erected to guard
 
 52 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 against the assaults of the Spaniards. At all events, a consider- 
 able colony of Spaniards started from Santa Fe in 1720, and 
 marched for the Pawnee villages on the Missouri River. The 
 Missouri Indians resided on the same river, above the mouth 
 of the Kansas. These nations of Indians were at war with 
 each other, and the Missouris were in alliance with the French. 
 The Spaniards made a mistake. They halted with the Mis- 
 souris, thinking they were Pawnees. They divulged to the 
 Missouri nation their object, which was to destroy the Missouris, 
 and asked the Pawnees to assist them. The Missouris con- 
 cealed the mistake of the Spaniards, but in forty-eight hours 
 two thousand of the Missouri tribe appeared under arms. 
 They attacked the Spaniards at night, and all were killed 
 except the priest, who escaped on horseback. 
 
 This bold attempt of the Spaniards, crossing a wilderness of 
 eight or nine hundred miles, alarmed the French; and Sieur de 
 Bourgmont was dispatched with a considerable military force to 
 take possession of an island in the Missouri River above the 
 mouth of the Osage, and on it he erected a fort, which was 
 called Fort Orleans. Bourgmont set out from the fort on the 
 3d July, 1724, to take an extensive tour amongst the north-west 
 Indians, and returned on the 5th Nov. of the same year. His 
 object in this expedition was to pacify the Indians, and secure 
 their trade. 
 
 Soon after this period the Indians destroyed Fort Orleans, 
 and massacred every soul in it. A bitter war with these Indians 
 continued for sixteen years. Three forts and settlements of the 
 French in the West were almost entirely destroyed by the 
 Indians. The fort at Matagorda Bay in 1690, or thereabouts, 
 was annihilated, as the inhabitants were never after heard of. 
 
 The fort at Natches, on the 28th Nov., 1729, was attacked 
 and all killed by the Indians, except a few women and children; 
 and the inhabitants of Fort Orleans, on an island in the Mis- 
 souri River, were entirely annihilated, as above stated. 
 
 It is surprising to any one at this day to read the perils, dan- 
 gers, and deaths which the pioneers of America suffered in the 
 colonizing of the country. Examine the history of the early 
 settlements of Virginia and Massachusetts, as well as of Illi- 
 nois, and it is almost beyond belief the calamities and loss of 
 life which the first emigrants to the country suffered.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 53 
 
 These disasters and sufferings were not visited on the pio- 
 neers of Oregon or California. 
 
 Although the distance by land to California and Oregon 
 from the States may not be as great as from Europe to America, 
 but the overland travel to the Pacific is more difficult than to 
 cross the Atlantic, and the voyage by sea to Oregon and Cali- 
 fornia is much greater. Yet, under these circumstances, the 
 first settlements on the Pacific were a pleasure in comparison 
 to the difficulties in colonizing the Atlantic coast or the West. 
 
 About this time, 1722, the valley of the Ohio River was 
 explored by the French. The bitter hostility of the Iroquois 
 or Five Nations to the French, prevented, hitherto, the explorers 
 of the Mississippi from visiting the Ohio Valley. The Five 
 Nations having, in the year 1713, an accession from the Tusca- 
 rowas from North Carolina, was called the Six Nations, and 
 became hostile to the British. Thus it was that the French 
 were permitted to explore the river of the Iroquois, as the Ohio 
 was then called. And soon after, it was garrisoned by the 
 French troops. 
 
 The date of the first settlement of Vincennes, on the Wabash, 
 is not precisely known. Its settlement might be dated at 1722, 
 about the time Illinois, of which Vincennes was then consid- 
 ered a part, commenced its permanent and substantial improve- 
 ment. The French established a fort at Massacre, on the Ohio 
 River, as it has been stated. 
 
 The reason of this fort acquiring its name is a little singular. 
 The Indians on the southeast side of the Ohio, the opposite 
 side from the fort, covered themselves with bear-skins, and 
 imitated the bear in their movements on the sandy beach of 
 the river. The French soldiers in the garrison supposed them 
 "true and genuine" bears, and crossed the river to have a bear 
 hunt; but sorely did they suffer for it. The Indians threw off 
 the bear-skins, and massacred the soldiers. Hence the name 
 of Fort Massacre, pronounced in English Massac. A county 
 is called Massac including the fort and missionary station. 
 
 The Illinois settlements continued to flourish, and no people 
 were more happy. It is said that in the Illinois country in 
 1730, there were about one hundred and forty French families, 
 besides about six hundred converted Indians, and many traders,
 
 54 PIOXKKR HISTORY OF ILI.IXOIS. 
 
 voyagers, and courenrs de dots. The Jesuit college at Kaskas- 
 kia, continued to flourish until the war with Great Britain, in 
 1754, was declared. 
 
 It is stated that the upper Wabash was considerably settled, 
 and that a lucrative commerce was carried on between the 
 French colonies of the upper and lower Mississippi. 
 
 In the year 1732, the Company of the West (part of the 
 Royal Company of Indies) requested to return their charter to 
 the king, which was accepted; and thereupon the Illinois coun- 
 try became a part of the royal government of Quebec. 
 
 Altho' the company did not do much for themselves, they 
 introduced into Illinois and protected the culture of wheat and 
 other crops. The mines of lead in Missouri were opened and 
 worked, and the cultivation of rice, indigo, sugar, tobacco, and 
 silk was commenced in lower Louisiana. 
 
 At the dissolution of the company, in 1732, Loubois was 
 appointed royal governor of Louisiana, and Artaguiette, for 
 Illinois. Both these officers had distinguished themselves in 
 the southern wars with the Indians, and were well qualified to 
 take command of their respective provinces. 
 
 From this date, 1732, and during the time the country was 
 under the administration of the French government to the year 
 1754, when war was declared by Great Britain, the Illinois 
 French experienced their most palmy days. In these twenty- 
 two years, the whole county exhibited a scene of flourishing 
 prosperity. With a very few exceptions, the Indian tribes, far 
 and near, were on peaceable terms with the French and gave 
 their trade to them.. 
 
 A considerable trade was carried on between Illinois and the 
 lower Mississippi and Mobile. In return, all the necessaries not 
 produced in the country, and much of the luxuries of life were 
 received and used by the inhabitants. This country was remote 
 from the old world, and thereby never experienced any of the 
 evils or corrupt influences of a dense and profligate population. 
 The vices and crimes, arising out of a wealthy and vicious com- 
 munity, were unknown in the early history of Illinois. 
 
 These settlements in Illinois being so weak and so far 
 removed from any civilized communities, and amidst savage 
 nations of Indians, that the inhabitants were forced to rely on
 
 1'IOXEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 55 
 
 each other for self-preservation. This made them kind and 
 friendly to each other. 
 
 These virtues were cherished and cultivated for ages, and 
 transmitted thro' many generations; so that kindness and 
 generosity became a fixed character with the Creole French. 
 
 They were ambitious for neither knowledge or wealth, and 
 therefore, possessed not much of either. That sleepless, fero- 
 cious ambition to acquire wealth and power, which seizes on so 
 many people at this day, never was known amongst the early 
 settlers of Illinois. The French of these twenty-two years had 
 exactly, almost to a mathematical certainty, a competency of 
 worldly gear. There is a happy medium between the ex- 
 tremes of poverty and wealth, if mankind could settle on it, 
 that would render them the most happy. These people had, 
 at that day, in my opinion, found the philosopher's stone of 
 wealth and happiness. They lived in that fortunate medium, 
 which forced itself on them rather than they on it. 
 
 The people, with scarce an exception, at that day had 
 neither the means or disposition to suffer the pains and penal- 
 ties of drunkenness. The French, to a proverb, are a tem- 
 perate people, as to drink; and, moreover, at the above date, 
 there was not much in the country. The people were then 
 enjoying that high and dignified standing of teetotal temperance 
 which conduced not a little to their happiness. 
 
 The inhabitants were devout and strong believers in the 
 Roman Catholic Church. They were willing to fight and die 
 for the maintenance of the doctrines of their church. They 
 considered the Church of Rome infallible, eminating direct from 
 God, and therefore all the dogmas were received and acted on 
 by them without a why or wherefore. They performed their 
 devotions in this church with a confidence that rendered them 
 happy in religious matters. 
 
 Their spiritual teachers were of sincere piety and religion. It 
 was the duty and it became also the pleasure of these Christian 
 men to administer to the religious wants of the people. 
 
 The people being governed by the precepts of the Gospel, 
 enforced by the power and influence of the church, formed a 
 pious and religious community, which was the basis of the hap- 
 piness of the Illinois people in the primitive times.
 
 56 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 This was the golden age of Illinois, and at no subsequent 
 period will the people enjoy the same happiness. Wealth and 
 greatness do not necessarily make a community happy. Chris- 
 tian virtues must govern the heart before a people can be pros- 
 perous or happy. 
 
 The British government became vexed and jealous at the 
 occupation and settlement by the French of the Mississippi 
 Valley. They not only by intrigue soured the minds of the 
 Iroquois and Southern Indians against the French, but were 
 evil enough to encourage the slaves to mutiny and to leave 
 their masters. About the year 1734, the commerce by the 
 Mississippi was almost entirely cut off by the hostility of the 
 Chickasaws and other Indians, caused by British intrigue. 
 There was a great wilderness on the river between Illinois and 
 lower Louisiana, and the hostile Indians occupied it to the 
 great danger of commerce on that section of the river. It 
 therefore became the imperious duty of the government to 
 restore safe intercourse between these two settlements. 
 
 In order to accomplish this desirable object, the Chickasaws 
 were to be humbled or destroyed. The governor, Bienville, of 
 Louisiana, with the approbation of the French king, decided 
 on a campaign against the enemies of France the Chicka- 
 saws. All the disposable military force of the Mississippi Valley 
 was brought into requisition, and organized into an army under 
 Bienville. Artaguiette, the governor of Illinois and com- 
 manding at Fort Chartres, was ordered to join the campaign 
 with all the military force he could muster in Illinois and 
 Wabash countries, and to meet Bienville and the Southern 
 army on the loth of May, 1736, on the sources of the Tombig- 
 bee and the Yazoo Rivers. The Illinois troops, whites and 
 Indians, were to descend the Mississippi to the lower Chicka- 
 saw Bluffs, and then march in a northeast direction to the 
 sources of the Tallahatchie River. Bienville was to ascend the 
 Tombigbee to the forks, and then march to the northwest to 
 meet the Illinois army. 
 
 Bienville started from New Orleans to Mobile with thirty 
 barges and thirty perogues, and ascended the Tombigbee. 
 The river was so low that he and Artaguiette never met. 
 Bienville had a battle with the Chickasaw enemy, and was
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 57 
 
 unsuccessful. He left the Indian country for New Orleans on 
 the 29th of May, 1736, abandoning the Illinois troops to their 
 fate. 
 
 In this bloody battle, which was fought by Bienville, near 
 Pontotoc Creek in the county of the same name, State of Mis- 
 sissippi, thirty-two men were killed and sixty-one wounded. 
 The slain were left on the field, but the army was withdrawn in 
 tolerable order. 
 
 Artaguiette, whose fame extended from Louisiana to Que- 
 bec, exerted his influence, and many of the Indian warriors 
 from the Mississippi to Detroit joined his standard. The brave 
 and gallant young hero, Chevalier Vincennes who was the hope 
 and pride of the Wabash country, joined, with his forces, the 
 troops under Artaguiette. This army consisted of one thou- 
 sand Indian warriors, all the regulars that were in the country, 
 and whatever militia force that could be collected. They left 
 Fort Chartres and landed at the lower Chickasaw Bluffs accord- 
 ing to instructions. They marched in a northeast direction, 
 toward the sources of the Tallahatchie, and. were on the spot 
 at the time loth of May, 1736 appointed by Bienville, but 
 found no Southern army, as was promised. The Illinois troops, 
 from the Qth of May until the 2Oth, camped in sight of the 
 enemy, waiting for Bienville and his army. 
 
 The Indian allies became restless, and forced Artaguiette 
 to lead them to battle. The plan of the battle was devised 
 with judgment and vigorously executed; but they were too 
 weak to contend against such fearful odds. On the 2Oth of 
 May, the fearless and gallant leaders of the Illinois division of 
 the army marched their forces against the enemy. The Chick- 
 asaw towns were fortified under the direction of the British and 
 the flag of that nation waved over the Indian and British ene- 
 mies of France. 
 
 The Illinois forces drove the Chickasaws out of two of their 
 fortified towns, and were almost certain of success at the third 
 and last fortified village, when Artaguiette received two 
 wounds, which laid him helpless on the battle-field at the very 
 moment that victory was about to crown his noble efforts. But 
 such are the vicissitudes of a battle-field. 
 
 When the soldiers, who fought like tigers under Artaguiette,
 
 58 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 while he was able to command, discovered him down and almost 
 lifeless, they retreated under the command of M. Voisin, a youth 
 of only sixteen years with the Indian enemy at their heels for 
 sixty-five miles. This noble youth, who, in the wilds of America, 
 amidst a victorious and savage enemy, in such a masterly man- 
 ner, withdrew the remnant of the Illinois army, imitated the 
 most heroic deeds of his chivalric nation. 
 
 The Chevalier Vincennes, with that nobleness of character 
 which few possess, remained with his beloved commander, altho' 
 he might have escaped, and was captured by the enemy. The 
 Jesuit monk, Senat, also despised life by running to save it, 
 and staid with the noble-hearted and generous Artaguiette. 
 
 At first the Chickasaws treated their prisoners with kindness 
 and attention. They supposed that they would be ransomed 
 at a great price, or that they might be made useful, if the for- 
 tune of war should turn against them. But when the enemy 
 learned the defeat and retreat of Bienville and his army, they 
 changed their treatment of the prisoners to the utmost bar- 
 barity and brutality; and at last burned them at the stake with 
 slow and lingering tortures. Only one man escaped to tell the 
 sad story of the fate of his countrymen. 
 
 The French were compelled to observe in America, a most 
 rigid discipline and subordination with their troops. The sol- 
 diers at Cat Island rebelled and killed the commander. They 
 attempted to escape to Carolina, but failed. The Choctaws 
 brought them all back except one, who destroyed himself, 
 rather than suffer a military execution. Two of the ringleaders 
 were broken on the wheel, and one a Swiss after the manner 
 of his country, was nailed in a wooden coffin and sawed in two, 
 by two sergeants, with a whip-saw. 
 
 These brave French officers, Artaguiette and Vincennes, 
 together with the noble-hearted ecclesiastic, Senat, perished in 
 the service of their country in the vigor of life and usefulness 
 in the present County of Pontotoc, State of Mississippi. The 
 lamented Vincennes has his name perpetuated by the ancient 
 and respectable town of Vincennes on the Wabash River in 
 Indiana. Vincennes bids fair to be as honorable on the list of 
 cities, as its namesake was noble, courageous, and generous in 
 the military service of his country.
 
 PIOXKKK HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 59 
 
 Bienville discovered that his military fame was clouded, and 
 made, during the following year, another attempt to chastise 
 the Chickasaws. 
 
 In the year 1739, Bienville erected a fort, called St. Francis, 
 at the river of the same name; and reached there with all the 
 Louisiana militia, regulars, and a few companies of marines, 
 with sixteen hundred Indians. 
 
 La Buissoniere was appointed governor of Illinois and com- 
 manded at Fort Chartres after the death of Artaguiette. He 
 Avas ordered to meet the Southern army at Fort St. Francis. The 
 governor, with his lieutenants, M. Celeron and M. St. Laurent, 
 assembled their forces, which Avere two companies of white men, 
 and some cadets from Canada, Avith three hundred Indians, and 
 descended the river to Fort St. Francis. 
 
 The army crossed over to the mouth of Margot Creek, and 
 a fort, called Assumption, was built there. This fort was com- 
 pleted about the middle of August, 1740, when the fever raged 
 amongst the troops. Only two hundred men were able, with 
 the negroes and Indians, to march against the enemy. This 
 division of the army was commanded by M. Celeron, who made 
 a patched up treaty Avith the enemy, which Bienville ratified, 
 much to his discredit. 
 
 Thus ended these tAvo campaigns against the Chickasaws, 
 without doing much good to the country and at the loss of 
 many valuable lives. 
 
 Bienville was superceded by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, gov- 
 ernor and commanding general of Louisiana. 
 
 During these campaigns, the whole of the French colonies 
 increased their numbers and their wealth. The Illinois and 
 Wabash countries were much improved and enlarged. The 
 commerce now had a free passage between the upper and lower 
 Mississippi, and the Avhole valley Avas in a most thriving and 
 prosperous condition. 
 
 For ten years after the close of the ChickasaAV war, the val- 
 ley of the Mississippi enjoyed a prosperous and happy peace. 
 
 The Indians, throughout the whole length and breadth of 
 the valley, Avere at peace with the French, and rendered them 
 their Avhole traffic. Not an Englishman from the Atlantic col- 
 onies, or otherwise, even to this date, 1740, put his foot on the
 
 60 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 shores of the Mississippi, except the vessel whose turn has 
 given the name of the English Turn to a section of the River 
 below New Orleans. The French had a quiet and peaceable 
 possession of the valley, and occupied it by forts and settle- 
 ments from Canada to New Orleans. 
 
 The country enjoying these blessings, induced many persons 
 of capital and enterprise to come and settle in it. 
 
 In the fall of 1745, a destructive storm visited lower Louisi- 
 ana, and destroyed almost all the crops. But the Illinois and 
 Wabash settlements relieved them. Boats descended in the 
 fall, and returned early in the spring. It is stated that four 
 thousand sacks of flour were sent this fall to the lower Missis- 
 sippi from Illinois alone. These sacks weighed 100 pounds 
 each and were made of deer-skins. 
 
 In the year 1751, La Buissoniere, who had administered the 
 government in the Illinois country for several years, and had 
 the command of Fort Chartres, was succeeded in the command 
 by the Chevalier Makarty. On the 2Oth August, 1751, Makarty 
 left New Orleans with a small military force, to take command 
 in Illinois. Makarty remained in Illinois in command of Fort 
 Chartres and the country until a short time before the British 
 took possession of the country, by virtue of the treaty of Feb. 
 10, 1763. At that time M. St. Ange de Belle Rive commanded. 
 
 The British, waxing warmer and more hostile to the French 
 occupying the valley of the Mississippi, made preparations to 
 colonize the country on the Ohio River. About this time, the 
 hostile feeling that never dies between the French and British, 
 became stronger and more developed in the western country. 
 
 The Indians throughout the Mississippi Valley were on 
 friendly terms with the French, except, perhaps, some few 
 bands of the Cherokees and Chickasaws. There were no 
 Indian wars in Illinois, as was the case around the frontiers of 
 the British colonies. 
 
 By British excitement, the red skins but very seldom com- 
 mitted depredations on the French. M. Paget with some 
 negroes were killed in his water-mill, situated on the east side 
 of the Kaskaskia River, where Mr. Riley's mill now stands, not 
 far from the village. The head of Paget was cut off and thrown 
 into the hopper of his mill.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 6l 
 
 A Frenchman will yield to circumstances. He can adapt 
 himself to a civilized or savage life. He is pliant and accom- 
 modating, and is willing to permit another person to have some 
 privilege of thinking for himself. 
 
 An Englishman is the reverse of the above. He is unwilling 
 to yield to almost unavoidable circumstances. He is far from 
 being pliant or accommodating; and he is not willing to permit 
 any one to have an opinion but himself. 
 
 With these different characteristics, it is not strange that the 
 French were on friendly terms with the natives, while the British 
 were disliked by them. Moreover, the French made their set- 
 tlements in villages, and did not occupy so much of the Indian 
 country as the British colonists did. When a Frenchman was 
 with the Indians, he became almost an Indian. He painted, 
 dressed like them and frequently married with them. 
 
 Under all these considerations, it was quite natural, that 
 almost all the Indian population of the Mississippi Valley 
 became warm and efficient allies of the French, in the war with 
 Great Britain, which was declared a few years after. 
 
 The British were determined to occupy a part, or all if they 
 were able, of the western country. Governor Spottswood of 
 Virginia, as early as the year 1710, made arrangements to 
 secure part, at any raje, of the valley of the Mississippi, and at 
 no period after that did that government cease making efforts 
 to seize the country and expel the French. They 'bought part 
 of the West of the Iroquois, and the treaties of cessions were 
 confirmed at various periods, from the year 1684, down to the 
 Lancaster treaty in 1744. 
 
 Companies were organized by British authority to settle and 
 occupy the West. The Ohio Company was established in the 
 year 1748, and many others after that date, to secure the valley 
 of the Ohio. 
 
 The government of Canada were sensible of the efforts of 
 the British to seize the West, and wrote to France on the loth 
 May, 1744, that the consequences of the British establishing 
 trading -houses amongst the western Indians would be injurious 
 to the interests of the French colonies. In November, 1748, 
 the governor of Canada superceded the British, by occupying 
 Fort Prudhomme on the Yazoo; where LaSalle had first 
 erected it.
 
 62 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 In the summer of 1749, he despatched Louis Celeron with a 
 party of soldiers from Canada, to deposit lead plates in the 
 mounds, and in conspicuous parts of the western country, to 
 notify the British of the French right to the same; but it was 
 disregarded by the voracious British. The storm was gather- 
 ing and nothing could avert it but for the French to abandon 
 their own country to their ancient enemy. 
 
 The valley of the Oyo, as it was sometimes called, was 
 doomed to experience a bloody war. 
 
 Christopher Gist, the agent of the Ohio Company, made a 
 tour thro' the West, in 1751, preparatory to the settlement of 
 the country. The French, in opposition to this, repaired the 
 forts, beginning at Presque Isle, and extending to New Orleans. 
 
 In 1756, old Fort Chartres, the Gibraltar of the West, was 
 repaired and rebuilt. 
 
 In 1752, the French and their Indian allies destroyed a 
 British trading-house and some families, and carried the traders 
 to Canada. This house was situated at Pickawillany, or per- 
 haps Piqua, in the present State of Ohio. In this battle, four- 
 teen Indians, called the Twigtwees, in the British service, were 
 killed, and- whose tribe, supposed to be the Miami Indians, 
 never ceased reminding the British of the loss of their warriors, 
 and to make reparation for the same. ^Pennsylvania made a 
 present of 200 to this nation for the loss of their warriors. 
 
 The British, in 1752, sent their commissioners to Logstown 
 to treat with the Indians, right or wrong, for the benefit of the 
 Ohio and other Companies. This town was situated on the 
 north bank of the Ohio, 17 ^ miles below Pittsburgh. By 
 means not the most honorable, a treaty confirming the former 
 cessions was made, and thereby the British had an artificial 
 foothold in the West. But, in fact, it was their interest, as they 
 considered it, that made them so tenacious for the western 
 country, and not for any just claim they had to it by treaty. 
 
 The French were not idle. They prepared cannon and all 
 the munitions of war in their power, from Canada to New 
 Orleans, and had enlisted in the cause almost all the Indians 
 of the waters of the Mississippi. But the British had still vastly 
 the advantage, by the proximity of the hardy and energic war- 
 riors of the British colonies a race that soon after conquered 
 their freedom and independence from the same British.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 63 
 
 Robert Dinvviddie, governor of Virginia, being disposed to 
 know the situation of the French, and their feelings in the West, 
 sent George Washington, a lad of nineteen years of age, to 
 Logstown on the Alleghany River, and north to Venango and 
 the head of French Creek. Major Washington was in the West 
 late in the fall of 1753, and returned over the mountains in the 
 winter with Gist, his guide. 
 
 On Washington's return, in January, 1754, he met seventeen 
 horse-loads of materials, and some families, by autnority of the 
 Ohio Company, going out to erect a fort at the confluence of 
 the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers Pittsburgh, at present. 
 But as soon as Dinwiddie received the report of Washington, 
 he ordered two companies to be raised; one by Washington, 
 and the other by Trent, a backwoods-man. The last-named 
 company was ordered to march forth to the forks of the Alle- 
 ghany and Monongahela Rivers, and assist the Ohio Company 
 to complete the fort, and to retain the same at all hazards. 
 Trent had left the fort for supplies; and Ensign Ward in com- 
 mand, on the 1 7th April, 1754, saw a sight that caused him to 
 feel a little like Nebuchadnezzar felt, without the tremor. He 
 saw descending the Alleghany River, sixty batteaux and three 
 hundred canoes laden with men and cannon, under command 
 of Contrecoeur, and was compelled to surrender to this French 
 and Indian force, which is stated to be a round thousand. 
 
 On the 28th May, 1754, Col. Washington, in command of a 
 corps of Virginia militia, found a party of French soldiers on 
 the west side of the mountains, not far from the Laurel Hill, 
 under the command of M. Jumonville. Washington made an 
 attack on them and killed ten with the commander. 
 
 This skirmish was near Braddock's grave and wherein Wash- 
 ington lost but one American and had only two wounded. M. 
 Villiers, the brother of Jumonville, who was a military officer at 
 Fort Chartres in Illinois, requested and obtained leave to attack 
 Washington to avenge the assassination, as he alleged, of his 
 brother. M. Villiers left Fort Chartres, ascended the Ohio 
 River, gathering strength as he proceeded, and on the 3d of 
 July, 1754, Washington surrendered the fort to him, called 
 Fort Necessity. Washington had 70 men killed. Altho' these 
 transactions occurred on the upper Ohio, they were at that day,
 
 64 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 nevertheless, directly connected with Illinois, and as such they 
 are narrated here. 
 
 During these years, 1750 and onward, while the war was 
 being commenced on the western side of the Alleghany moun- 
 tains, both the French settlements in Illinois and lower Louisi- 
 ana were not only improving in population, but also in the sub- 
 stantial articles of produce. Rice and indigo were the chief 
 crops in Louisiana, and cotton was introduced into both Louisi- 
 ana and Illinois about the year 1750. Tobacco was also culti- 
 vated at Baton Rogue, Natches, and Illinois. 
 
 It is stated that M. Dubreuil invented a cotton-gin, to pick 
 the seeds from the cotton. The invention is not described ; but 
 it is stated that the facility of picking the cotton by this inven- 
 tion increased the culture of cotton in Louisiana. 
 
 The invention of the cotton-gin is amongst the greatest efforts 
 of human genius. It has become old and common since Whit- 
 ney's invention; so that it is now looked upon as an invention 
 almost growing with the cotton. There have been so many 
 other discoveries and improvements made since Whitney's day, 
 that his great invention is not regarded as it should be. 
 
 I well remember the trouble to extricate the seeds from the 
 cotton before the cotton-gin was in use. Cotton was then worth 
 little or nothing; now it clothes millions and millions of people. 
 Whitney deserves to be ranked with the greatest and best bene- 
 factors of mankind. 
 
 At this time the whole coast toward the mouth of the Missis- 
 sippi was in a state of tolerable cultivation, and mostly protected 
 by levees on the banks. 
 
 The Jesuits, in 1751, introduced into Louisiana the sugar- 
 cane for cultivation. They imported a quantity of cane from 
 St. Domingo. M. Dubreuil, I presume, the cotton inventor, a 
 man of capital and enterprise, in 1758, opened a sugar planta- 
 tion on a large scale. He erected the first sugar-mill in Louisi- 
 ana. His plantation occupied the lower part of New Orleans, 
 known as the "suburb of St. Marigny." 
 
 This year, 1752, another Chickasaw war commenced, and ter- 
 minated almost similar to the other wars against that tribe of 
 Indians. The Marquis deVaudreuil, governor of Louisiana, with 
 seven hundred regular soldiers and Indians almost without
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 65 
 
 stint, commenced the march. The route of invasion was up the 
 Tombigbee; the same that Bienville pursued in 1736. He had 
 cannon and munitions of war in abundance; but failed. He 
 left a strong garrison in the heart of the Chickasaw country. 
 
 I do not see that any Illinois troops were engaged in this 
 campaign. I presume the British on the upper Ohio occupied 
 the attention of the people of Illinois too much for any of the 
 military to be spared South. 
 
 Contrecceur, the French commander, fortified the forks of 
 the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, and called it Fort 
 Duquesne, in honor of the governor of Canada. This fort 
 occupied a conspicuous situation even in the year x i754, as the 
 City of Pittsburgh does at the present time. 
 
 About this time, the Marquis de Vaudreuil was transferred to 
 the government of New France or Canada, and M. Kerlerec, a 
 captain in the navy, was appointed governor of Louisiana. 
 
 Efforts were made to work the mines of lead and copper in 
 Illinois, and miners were sent from Paris for this purpose. 
 
 As the war was raging between Great Britain and France, 
 and as the quarrel arose about the western country, Great Brit- 
 ain sent to America a large army to invade the West. 
 
 General Braddock landed from England in 1755, at Alexan- 
 dria, Virginia, with '1000 regulars, and, April 20, with about 
 2000 men, regulars and provincials, proceeded west to capture 
 Fort Duquesne. Braddock was defeated and killed, and a great 
 portion of his army destroyed by the French and Indians. In 
 consequence of this signal overthrow of this great British army, 
 the valley of the Mississippi remained quiet for two years. 
 
 In 1758, another British army was organized under Gen. 
 Forbes, and at whose approach near Duquesne, Contrecoeur 
 and his forces burnt the fort and descended the river to Illinois 
 and Louisiana. 
 
 Altho' the war raged in Canada and south of the lakes, yet 
 Illinois remained as quiet and as peaceable as if none existed. 
 
 From the hostility of the French and Indians to Great Brit- 
 ain, no Briton ever saw the upper Mississippi, until the treaty of 
 Paris, Feb. 10, 1763, ceded all New France to Great Britain. The 
 first Britons who visited the country, were the military detach- 
 ment under the command of Capt. Sterling, of the Royal High- 
 5
 
 66 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 landers, to take possession of the country, in the year 1765, two 
 years after the treaty of cession. 
 
 This is the strongest evidence of the hatred entertained by 
 the French and Indians against the British, that no Briton 
 ever saw the Mississippi before the year 1765, altho' it was 
 inhabited by the French from the year 1686 always excepting 
 the English Turn, below New Orleans. 
 
 The French settlements in Illinois were at the greatest pros- 
 perity at the close of the war, in 1763, and ever since, to this 
 day, the French inhabitants have been declining in Illinois. It 
 is stated that Old Kaskaskia, the Paris of Illinois, in 1763, 
 contained two or three thousand inhabitants, and was a place 
 of business, wealth, and fashion. The Jesuits had a college 
 there, and all other ecclesiastical concerns, suited to the wealth 
 and population of the country. The commerce to New Orleans 
 was regular and profitable. A great portion of the Illinois 
 Egypt, the American Bottom, was in a state of profitable culti- 
 vation. Wheat, tobacco, and various other crops were raised, 
 not only for consumption but for exportation. But over this 
 happy prosperity a sad cloud of misfortune extended. The 
 British, whom they so bitterly hated, and for good cause, cap- 
 tured the country by force of arms, from these innocent and 
 inoffending people. 
 
 The inhabitants of Illinois saw how the British treated the 
 Acadians, in the year 1755. At the treaty of Aix la Chappelle, 
 Acadia was ceded to Great Britain, but retained in it some 
 French inhabitants. The British were fearful that these Acadi- 
 ans, would join their countrymen the French of Canada in 
 the war. This was "the front of their offending." The Navy 
 of Great Britain was ordered to kidnap these unoffending 
 people, and drag them from their own country. Their personal 
 property was destroyed, and themselves landed on the shores 
 of the colonies, without friends or means of support. The 
 public odium of a cold-blooded murder would be a measure of 
 too atrocious a character for even the British government to 
 bear; but they did perform acts of atrocity to the Acadian 
 people, in the dark, that were equally criminal. 
 
 These poor people, destitute of everything, even the support 
 of life, until relieved by their countrymen of the West, wan-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 6/ 
 
 dered over the States, "not knowing where to lay their heads;" 
 and at last crossed the Alleghany mountains, in the yedr 1755. 
 Boats were provided for them on the Ohio, and they reached 
 the open arms and hearts of their friends in New Orleans. 
 
 In the annals of history such an act of outrage and atrocity 
 scarcely can be found. It is of the same character as the British 
 government offering, and giving gold for the scalps of women 
 and children in our Revolutionary War. These Acadians were 
 helpless. The British government had them under her pro- 
 tection, and by having the power, and these people being 
 French, they committed this crime which would make a Turk 
 blush. And yet we hear some in the United States talking 
 favorably of the "fatherland." God preserve me from such a 
 fatherland. 
 
 These Acadians settled on the banks of the Mississippi, which 
 has given to that part of the river the name of the Acadian 
 Coast, to this day. Their descendants are there yet, and are 
 respectable citizens. It will be seen in the next chapter, that 
 one-third left the country, on account of their hatred to the 
 British. 
 
 Cahokia, at the session in 1763, was also a respectable village, 
 as to population and improvements. As has been stated, a 
 large tract of country was under cultivation, which yielded them 
 much for exportation, besides an ample supply for home con- 
 sumption. 
 
 The village of Prairie du Pont was settled by emigrants from 
 the other French villages, in the year 1760, and was a prosper- 
 ous settlement. They had their common field and commons, 
 which were confirmed to them by the government of the United 
 States. This village is situated about one mile south of Caho- 
 kia, and extended south from the creek of the same name, for 
 some distance. It is a kind of suburb to Cahokia. The arpent 
 lands of this common field extended from the bluff to the Mis- 
 sissippi, with a few exceptions, and were three or four miles in 
 width. It is stated that this village, in the year 1765, contained 
 fourteen families. 
 
 The custom amongst the inhabitants of the Illinois villages, 
 in regard to making and keeping in repair, the fence of this 
 common field was, that each proprietor of land should make
 
 68 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 and keep in repair the fence passing over his land. And if a 
 tract of land was abandoned by its owner, as was the case some- 
 times, the land was sold out at the church-door to any one who 
 would make the fence to enclose it. This system was based on 
 the principle that each land proprietor should make the fence in 
 proportion to his land. 
 
 These early French had many customs in relation to the com- 
 mon fields that were just and equitable. There was a time 
 fixed, that all should have their crops gathered. After that the 
 fence was not attended to; and the same in the spring, to repair 
 the fence and keep the stock out of the field. 
 
 The French, in those days, mostly sowed spring wheat; so 
 that the wheat crop was preserved in the spring, which was the 
 object of being rigid in repairing the fences. Sometimes wheat 
 was sowed late in the fall, and the cattle did not much injure it 
 during the winter. 
 
 Indian corn was -not so much cultivated as wheat, or used by 
 the inhabitants. A species of Indian or hominy corn was raised 
 for the voyagers, which was an article of commerce. The early 
 French did not use Indian corn-meal for bread to any great 
 extent. They raised some corn for stock, and to fatten hogs. 
 The corn they cultivated was of the flinty, hard grain, and 
 ripened early in the fall. 
 
 Their farming implements were neither well made or of the 
 proper kind. The old plow used by the French would be a 
 curiosity at this day. It had not much iron about it. A small 
 piece of iron was on the front part, covering the wood, which in 
 some manner resembled our Gary plows of the present day. 
 They had no coulter, and had a large wooden mould-board. 
 The handles were short and almost perpendicular; the beam 
 was nearly straight, and rested on an axle supported by two 
 small wheels; the wheels were low, and the beam was so fixed, 
 on the axle, with a chain, or rope of raw hide, that the plow 
 could be placed deep or shallow in the ground. The wheel 
 made the plow unsteady. 
 
 The French settlers seldom plowed with horses; but used 
 oxen. It is the custom of the French everywhere, to yoke oxen 
 by the horns, and not by the neck. Oxen can draw as much 
 by the horns as by the neck, but it looks more savage.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 69 
 
 Sometimes the French worked oxen in carts, but mostly used 
 horses. I presume that a wagon was not seen in Illinois for 
 nearly one hundred years after its first settlement. A French 
 cart, as well as a plow, was rather a curiosity. It was con- 
 structed without an atom of iron. When the Americans came 
 to the country, they called these carts "barefooted carts," 
 because they had no iron on the wheels. 
 
 In a country where there was no rocks to travel over, these 
 carts answered a valuable purpose. They were mostly used for 
 farming business. The ox-yoke was almost a straight stick of 
 wood, cut at the ends to fit the horns of the ox, and was tied to 
 the horns with a strap of raw hide. 
 
 The primitive French had no tanned leather for any purpose 
 whatever. They made harness out of raw hide, which was 
 strong but rough. They had the traces for their horses plaited 
 of small strands of raw hide, so that they were round and neat. 
 These traces were very strong, and such are used to this day in 
 France. 
 
 The French houses were generally one story high, and made 
 of wood. Some few were built of stone. There was not a 
 brick house in the country for one hundred or more years from 
 the first settlement. These houses were formed of large posts 
 or timbers; the posts being set three or four feet apart 'in many 
 of them. In others the posts were closer together, and the 
 intervals filled up with mortar made of common clay and cut 
 straw. The mortar filled up the cracks, so that the wall was 
 even and regular. Over the whole wall, outside and inside, it 
 was generally whitewashed with fine white lime, so that these 
 houses presented a clean, neat appearance. The other class of 
 houses having the posts farther apart, the spaces were filled up 
 with puncheons. The posts were guttered for the puncheons to 
 fit in. These houses were used for stables, barns, etc., etc. 
 Some dwelling-houses and the stables and barns were made of 
 longer posts set in the ground, instead of a sill as was used in 
 the other houses. These posts were of cedar or other durable 
 wood. The small houses attached to the residence were gen- 
 erally set with the posts in the ground. The covering of the 
 houses, stables, etc., was generally of straw, or long grass cut in 
 the prairie. These thatched roofs looked well, and lasted longer
 
 70 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 than shingles. They were made steep and neat. All the 
 houses, almost, had galleries all around them. The posts of 
 the gallery were generally of cedar or mulberry. 
 
 The floors of the galleries, as well as the floors of the houses, 
 were made of puncheons, as sawed boards were scarce. The 
 roofs of the dwelling house were uniform and peculiar. They 
 were made of rafters and lath for sheeting. These roofs had no 
 gable ends perpendicular, but were shingled on the ends as well 
 as the sides. The ends sloped considerably toward the centre 
 of the building, so that the shingles would lie on the lath. No 
 nails were used to fasten the shingles to the lath. Holes were 
 bored in the shingles and pegs put in them. With these pegs 
 the shingles were hung on the lath, and the holes and pegs cov- 
 ered so completely that no one would know at a distance that 
 the shingles were not nailed on. The outside course of shingles 
 was generally nailed, and then one course bound another, until 
 the whole roof was solid and good; never leaking one drop. 
 The shingles were generally made of white oak, and lasted for 
 many years. On the comb of the roof a cross of wood was 
 often placed, that also lasted a long time. 
 
 The doors were plain batton work, out of walnut mostly. 
 The windows had generally some glass in them, and the sash 
 opened and shut on hinges, as the French fashion is generally. 
 The houses were mostly raised from the earth a foot or two by 
 a stone wall. The French, in these their happy days, had neat, 
 clean wells, nicely walled with rock; and a windlass fixed to 
 them, so that water was convenient and clean. 
 
 The French villages were laid out by common consent on the 
 same plan or system. The blocks were about three hundred 
 feet square, and each block contained four lots. The streets 
 were rather narrow, but always at right angles. Lots in ancient 
 times were enclosed by cedar posts or pickets, planted about 
 two feet in the ground and about five feet above. These pickets 
 were placed touching each other, so that a tight and safe fence 
 was made around each proprietor's lot. The upper ends of the 
 pickets were sharpened, so it was rather difficult to get over the 
 fence. A neat gate was generally made in the fence, opposite 
 to the door of the house, and the whole concern was generally 
 kept clean and neat; so that their residences had the air of 
 cleanliness and comfort.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 71 
 
 The costume of the French was like all other matters apper- 
 taining to them, of that day, singular and peculiar. It seems 
 the masses of the French, in France as well as Illinois, have a 
 strong predeliction for the blue color. Blue handkerchiefs were 
 generally worn on the head by both male and female. It was 
 tastfully tied on the head, and seemed rather to become the 
 male in place of a hat. 
 
 Hats in olden times were very little used. The capot made 
 of white blanket, was the universal dress for the laboring class . 
 of people. A kind of cap was attached behind at the cape, 
 which in cold weather was raised over the head, in the house, 
 or in good weather, was permitted to rest on the shoulders like 
 an ordinary cape. Coarse blue stuff the working men used for 
 pantaloons .in summer, and buckskin, or cloth in the winter. 
 The females did not labor so hard as the males, and, therefore, 
 dressed neater and better than the male part of community. 
 
 The French generally, and the females of that nation partic- 
 ularly, caught up the French fashions from New Orleans and 
 Paris, and with a singular avidity adopted them to the full 
 extent of their means and talents. The females generally, and 
 the males a good deal, wore the deer-skin moccasons. A nicely 
 made moccason, for a female in the house, is both neat and ser- 
 viceable. ' 
 
 The men out of doors wore a coarser and stronger article 
 made out of thicker leather, which the Americans call "shoe 
 packs." But both sexes were always provided with something 
 tasty and neat for the church and ballroom. In these places 
 the French took great pleasure. I do not believe there was a 
 more devout people than the primitive French. With senti- 
 ments of true piety it afforded them the utmost happiness to 
 attend the church and perform their devotions. After their 
 religious duties were performed, recreation and amusement of 
 an innocent and harmless character were indulged in, on perhaps 
 the afternoon of the same day they attended church. 
 
 But it was in the ballroom where these merry and innocent 
 people enjoyed themselves. Dull care was entirely cast aside 
 for the pleasures of the dance. It is astonishing the excitement 
 and animation that is experienced in a French ballroom. The 
 old and young, the rich and poor, all meet together in good
 
 72 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 feeling, and mingle together with hearts overflowing with the 
 ecstasies of merriment. 
 
 The ancient innocent custom was for the young men about 
 the last of the year to disguise themselves in old clothes, as 
 beggars, and go around the village in the several houses, where 
 they knew they would be well received. They enter the houses 
 dancing what they call the Gionie, which is a friendly request 
 for them to meet and have a ball to dance away the old year. 
 
 The people, young and old, met each one carrying along 
 some refreshment, and then they do, in good earnest, dance 
 away the old year. 
 
 About the 6th of January, in each year, which is called le 
 Jour de Rats, a party is given, and four beans are baked in a 
 large cake; this cake is distributed amongst the gentlemen, 
 and each one who receives a bean, is proclaimed king. These 
 four kings are to give the next ball. These are called "king 
 balls." These kings select each one a queen; and make her a 
 suitable present. They arrange all things -necessary for the 
 dancing party. 
 
 In these merry parties, no set supper is indulged in. They 
 go there not to eat, but to be and make merry. They have 
 refreshments of cake and coffee served round at proper intervals. 
 Sometimes bouillon, as the French call it, takes the place of 
 coffee. Toward the close of the party, the old queens select 
 each one a new king, and kisses him to qualify him into office ; 
 then each new king chooses his new queen, and goes thro' the 
 ceremony as before. In this manner the king balls are kept up 
 all the carnaval. 
 
 In the ballroom much order and decorum are observed. Two 
 aged discreet persons are chosen, who are called provosts; one 
 to select the ladies for the dance, and the other for the gentle- 
 men, so that each one dances in proper turn. It is in this man- 
 ner that these innocent and merry people spend much of their 
 nights in the winter. The old people regulate all; the time to 
 retire and the time to meet again. By this regulation, much of 
 the excesses of dancing parties are avoided. The young people 
 are not so capable to judge in these matters as the old. 
 
 The French, in the early settlement of the country, turned 
 their attention to the Indian trade, and to hunting, in a great
 
 PIONEER HISTORY- OF ILLINOIS. 73 
 
 measure, for their support. Game was then plenty. Buffalo 
 and other wild animals were found in the prairies between Kas- 
 kaskia and Vincennes, that served to supply the inhabitants 
 with animal food. The Indians called the Kaskaskia Raccoon 
 River, for the number of those animals living on it. A great 
 many of the inhabitants were expert voyagers and hunters. 
 These hunters and voyagers were a hardy and energetic race of 
 men. No hardships or perils terrified them; and this laborious 
 and difficult service was performed with pleasure, and frequently 
 with songs. Often these innocent and kind-hearted men per- 
 formed this labor with scanty allowance of food, and at times 
 without anything, for days together, to eat. 
 
 These people solved the problem : that an honest and virtuous 
 people need no government. Nothing like a regular court of 
 law ever existed in the country prior to the British occupation 
 of Illinois, in the year 1765. 
 
 The governor and commandants of posts, together with the 
 advice of the priests, regulated the police of the country, and 
 gave friendly council, which either settled controversies, or pre- 
 vented them arising. 
 
 The customs of Paris, or more properly, the laws of France, 
 were recognized, and governed in descents of property, and all 
 other things. These people never paid any taxes, and, I think, 
 worked on the public roads very little or none. It is true, they 
 were organized into military companies, and mustered. They 
 had militia officers in each village, who, it seems, were comman- 
 dants in other matters as well as military. 
 
 Keeping up a military organization was natural with the 
 French ; and their extreme exposed situation was also another 
 reason. They had three wars with Great Britain during their 
 occupation of Illinois, and the British were endeavoring all the 
 time to poison the Indians against them; so that the military 
 services were punctually rendered to the country. 
 
 On the roth February, 1763, a treaty of cession of New 
 France, except a small portion of Louisiana, was made between 
 Great Britain and France, and thereby the Illinois country 
 passed to the government of Great Britain.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Illinois under the British Government. 
 
 ILLINOIS was so remote, and so small a settlement, that the 
 British did not take possession of it until Capt. Stirling, of the 
 Royal Highlanders, as has been already stated, arrived at Fort 
 Chartres, in the year 1765, and took possession of the country. 
 
 M. Saint Ange de Belle Rive was then commandant at Fort 
 Chartres, and governor of Illinois. Saint Ange retired to St. 
 Louis on the arrival of Capt. Stirling. 
 
 It is stated that all the population of Illinois, black and white, 
 before the cession, did not exceed three thousand souls, and 
 one-third left it at, and on account of, the cession. Writers say 
 not more than two thousand French, British, and Negroes, 
 remained in the country after the British took possession of it. 
 
 The mission of St. Sulpice had a fine plantation near Caho- 
 kia, in Prairie du Pont, in the year 1764, and a very good mill 
 for corn and planks. They sold their plantation and mill to a 
 Frenchman, M. Gerardine, who remained under the British gov- 
 ernment; and they returned to France. 
 
 Capt. Stirling brought with him the proclamation of Gen. 
 Gage, who was commander-in-chief of all the British forces in 
 North America. This proclamation was dated at New York, 
 3Oth Dec., 1764, and was a kind of constitution for the govern- 
 ment of Illinois. It granted the right of worship to the Catho- 
 lics and many other salutary regulations. 
 
 Capt. Stirling died a short time after he arrived in Illinois, 
 and was succeeded first by Major Frazier, and next by Col. 
 Reed the latter became notorious for his military oppressions. 
 These all gave place to Col. Wilkins, who arrived at Kaskaskia 
 on the 5th Sept., 1768. 
 
 Col. Wilkins issued a proclamation authorized by Gen. Gage, 
 to establish a court of justice. Col. Wilkins appointed seven 
 judges, who held the first court at Fort Chartres, 6th Dec., 1768. 
 This was the first court of common -law jurisdiction established 
 
 74
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 75 
 
 in the Mississippi Valley. Courts were held once each month- 
 
 Pontiac, perhaps one of the greatest Indian chiefs that ever 
 existed in North America, was killed in Cahokia, in the year 
 1765, by a Peoria Indian. This great man was dreaded by the 
 British, who employed an Indian to assassinate him. This 
 nation feared the great Napoleon. She did not assassinate him 
 in open day, but confined him on the sickly island of St. Helena, 
 so that he dragged out some years of existence, in mental ago- 
 nies worse than death. 
 
 Pontiac was a chief of the Ottawa nation and raised near 
 Detroit. He had in his veins French blood, and was imbued 
 and trained with the mos Ideadly hostility to the British. He 
 declared before the "Great Spirit the Master of Life," eternal 
 hostility to the British, like Hannibal did against the Romans. 
 Both he and Hannibal were fighting in the most holy cause 
 the defence of their countries and both were sacrificed, and 
 their respective countries wrested from them by their merciless 
 enemies. 
 
 After the French ceded the country to the British, and they 
 making preparations to garrison and occupy it from the Missis- 
 sippi to the Arleghany Mountains, Pontiac saw at once that the 
 Indians must either defend their country or entirely lose it. 
 They knew the mode of the British was different from, the 
 French, in colonizing the country. The British drove the 
 natives from their homes, while the French lived in peace with 
 them. 
 
 Pontiac (sometimes pronounced Pondiac), whose soul, like 
 that of Patrick Henry, was fired with true patriotism, conceived 
 the grand design to unite all the Indians in one league, from 
 the Carolinas in the south to the northern lakes, and from the 
 Mississippi in the west to the Alleghany Mountains, against 
 the British. This was the greatest and most efficient combina- 
 tion of Indians ever made on the continent; and it was not an 
 idle scheme, conceived in the brain and never executed, but in 
 fact, it was executed to the destruction of many British forts, 
 and to the loss of many lives. 
 
 Pontiac saw and advised his brethren to a sense of their com- 
 mon danger. He visited, in a short time, all the tribes within 
 the above limits, containing at this day eight or ten millions of
 
 76 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Americans. He settled and quieted, for the common cause, all 
 the old feuds and differences amongst the various nations, from 
 the north to the south, and from the east to the west. He 
 appealed to the passions of the warriors, and stated to them 
 that the French king had authorized him to drive the British 
 out of the country. That the Great Spirit also decided that the 
 Indians should destroy the British enemy. The will of the 
 "Master of Life" was given to a Delaware chief in a dream. 
 The Great Spirit said: "Why do you suffer these dogs in red 
 coats, to enter your country, and take the lands I have given ta 
 you? Drive them from it. Drive them and when you are in 
 trouble I will help you." 
 
 Pontiac had acquired, by his military powers and wise coun- 
 cils with his brethren, a standing amongst the Indians, that 
 Tecumseh, or perhaps any other Indian warrior, never pos- 
 sessed. He had been the master-spirit amongst the Indians, 
 in their wars with the French, against the British, from the 
 Acadian war, in 1747, to the year 1763, when this extraordinary 
 Indian effort was made to force their enemy out of the country. 
 He was a conspicuous Indian leader in the defence of Fort 
 Duquesne, and in the memorable defeat of Braddock, in the 
 year 1755. He had acquired, and richly deserved, the name of 
 emperor, amongst the Indian nations. 
 
 The plan of attack was for the Indians to rise and take all 
 the British forts in the West, on the same day, and this was 
 kept a profound secret, except in one instance, where a squaw 
 divulged it. 
 
 This Indian Bonaparte was well acquainted with the country, 
 as well as with the Indian character. He also knew all the 
 leading warriors amongst the various tribes, and with this 
 knowledge he made out the plan of attack of each fort, and 
 the warriors and tribes that should execute it. All these 
 things were done by the force of genius, without education, 
 and even without writing. The forts were numerous, and lay 
 at a distance from each other. All, except Fort Niagara, were 
 to be captured on the same day some by open attack, and 
 others by stratagem. Fort Niagara was considered by the 
 Indians too strong for their means of attack. The forts, trad- 
 ing-posts, and settlements, which were to be destroyed, were
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 7/V 
 
 Detroit, Mackinac, Green Bay, St. Joseph, Ouiatenon or Weas 
 town on the Wabash, Miami, Sandusky, Presque Isle, Le Bceuf 
 Venango, Ligonier, Pitt, Bedford, and Cumberland. All these 
 forts perished under the hand of Pontiac except three. 
 
 When Major Rogers was marching his military forces to take 
 possession of Detroit and Mackinac, by orders of Gen. Am- 
 herst, in the year 1760, and when the detachment entered the 
 territory of Pontiac, he sent messengers to inform Maj. Rogers 
 that their chief, Pontiac, was master of that country, and that 
 no armed warriors of any nation, should pass thro', or settle in 
 it, without his permission. 
 
 Pontiac knew he was not prepared at that time to contend 
 in battle with the British, and made a treaty with Maj. Rogers, 
 merely to deceive him, and to gain time to prepare for the gen- 
 eral destruction of the British forts and settlements. 
 
 It required much sagacity, talents, and courage to plan the 
 attacks against these forts, and to capture them. It must be 
 recollected that the Indians had no cannon, and if they had, 
 they had not science to use them. They had no provisions to 
 sustain an army, more than they could obtain from the game 
 in the forest. The leaders had no power by government over 
 the warriors, to enforce order or obedience, longer or different, 
 than the parties pleased. The various tribes and the forts and 
 settlements to be destroyed were a great distance apart. To 
 plan this organization and to execute it showed extraordinary 
 talents. Under the circumstances, so adverse and so appalling 
 to ordinary minds, for Pontiac to accomplish all, as he did, 
 raises him high in the temple of fame; as one of the greatest 
 men that lived in any age or any country. If he had a Homer 
 to sing his battles, his name would be transmitted to posterity 
 with as much honor and glory as any of the Greek heroes. 
 The Greeks fought to conquer Pontiac to defend his country. 
 
 Stratagem was frequently resorted to by Pontiac, in order to 
 obtain possession of the commanders of the forts, and then 
 destroy the soldiers and inhabitants. At Miami, on the Mau- 
 mee River, a squaw enticed the captain of the fort off two hun- 
 dred yards to a man dying, as she represented. Thereby the 
 captain was led into an Indian ambuscade and killed. The 
 rest of the garrison all perished under the tomahawk of the 
 savages.
 
 78 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 A British trader, Alexander Henry, was present at the 
 massacre of the whole fort at Mackinac, and relates a most 
 horrid scene of this butchery, where seventy persons were slain 
 and scalped. 
 
 The Indians acted with great cunning and sagacity in get- 
 ting possession of this fort. It was a strong and important gar- 
 rison. It was in the heart of the Indian country, and was much 
 dreaded by them. It was provided with cannon, and impreg- 
 nable to an Indian enemy without sagacious management. 
 
 The Indians pretended a great game of ball, called bagga- 
 toiua, to celebrate the birthday of the British king. They bet 
 high and played with great excitement; so that many of the 
 soldiers and officers of the garrison were out of the fort to look 
 on, as the game commenced on a beautiful plain outside of the 
 fort; but in the excitement of the game, the ball, as if by acci- 
 dent, was thrown over the walls of the fort, and vast crowds of 
 Indians entered it in search of the ball. They had weapons 
 concealed, and the garrison was destroyed. The French were 
 spared. About four hundred warriors were engaged in this 
 massacre. 
 
 The posts of Mackinac, St. Joseph, and Presque Isle were 
 captured with the general slaughter of the garrisons. Presque 
 Isle held out for two days, and at last was taken and destroyed. 
 
 A squaw divulged the plan to capture Detroit, which put 
 Maj. Gladwyn the commander on his guard. This post being 
 the most important; containing vast stores of Indian goods, 
 Pontiac in person conducted the operations against it. 
 
 His plan was to gain the interior of the fort in friendship, 
 and then kill all within. He pretended to the commander of 
 the fort that the Indians desired to "take their new father, the 
 King of England, by the hand." And that a council was to be 
 held the next morning, but during the night the squaw apprised 
 Gladwyn of the scheme. 
 
 The commandant had his garrison prepared and well armed 
 to receive Pontiac and his red warriors, the next morning. 
 
 Pontiac, when he entered the fort, enquired "why all this 
 military display;" the commander answered "it was to keep 
 his young men from being idle." About this time, Gladwyn 
 raised the blanket of Pontiac and saw he was armed with a
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 79 
 
 short gun. The Indians had provided themselves with short 
 guns and concealed them under their blankets. 
 
 The officer ordered them out of the garrison, and on the 
 Indians retiring they yelled and fired their guns, but to no 
 effect. They murdered several persons outside the fort, and 
 besieged the garrison for several months, until it was relieved 
 from Montreal. The fort contained 122 men. 
 
 Fort Pitt was attacked, and besieged for a long time, until 
 Bouquet with 300 men gave them relief. The posts of Detroit, 
 Niagara, and Pitt were successfully defended, and retained by 
 the whites, but the balance fell into the hands of the savages. 
 At the fall of these forts the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Vir- 
 ginia were forced back over the mountains, the Virginians over 
 the Blue Ridge. More than twenty thousand in Virginia fell 
 back on the old settlement. Horrid massacres were the com- 
 mon practices on the frontiers from Carolina to Montreal. 
 The Indians remained active in the war during the summer of 
 1763, until fall, when the savages were compelled to retire for 
 the want of provisions. ' 
 
 Pontiac, failing to take all the forts, was discontented and 
 desponding. Me retired to the far West. The British, knowing 
 his power amongst the Indians, bribed a savage to murder him 
 in the streets of Cahokia. Thus fell one of the greatest men 
 nature ever formed. His dust is now reposing in peace, near 
 the old and deserted village of Cahokia, "but yesterday the 
 word of Caesar might have stood against the world; now he 
 lies there, and none so poor as to do him reverence." The 
 northern Indians held Pontiac in the greatest estimation. 
 They knew their loss was irreparable. The murder of Pontiac 
 so enraged them, that they almost exterminated the whole 
 Illinois Indians, whose tribe participated in this horrid murder 
 of their friend and protector, the great Pontiac. 
 
 In the year 1765, Col. George Croghan, a commissioner, was 
 sent out West to conciliate the Indians, after the cession of the 
 country to the British. He descended the Ohio River, and 
 was at the falls of the Ohio on the ist June, 1765. The party 
 came to the mouth of the Wabash, where they discovered some 
 Indian fortifications. They still descended to an old Shawnee 
 village, the same that retains the name of Shawneeto\vn, in
 
 SO PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 Gallatin County, on the north bank of the Ohio Riyer. Col. 
 Croghan and party remained there six days, making friendly 
 arrangements with the Wabash Indians. 
 
 On the 8th of June, they were attacked by eighty warriors, 
 mostly of the Kickapoo and Mascouten tribes, and many of the 
 whites were killed and more wounded; and all made prisoners. 
 
 The party from this point went to Vincennes, by land, where 
 they found eighty or ninety French families. From the Shaw- 
 nee village, Col. Croghan sent messengers to Lord Frazier, who 
 had been sent to Fort Chartres; and also dispatches were for- 
 warded to Saint Ange at the same fort. After remaining at 
 Vincennes several days, Col. Croghan went up the Wabash 210 
 miles, to Ouiatenon, the Weas Town, as the Americans called 
 it, and on by the Miami post to Detroit, where they arrived on 
 the 17th August. At Ouiatenon there were fourteen families 
 and at Detroit about eighty houses of all sorts. 
 
 On the 27th February, 1764, Major Loftus, a British officer, 
 who was stationed at Bayou Manchac, on the Mississippi, was 
 despatched with 400 men to Fort Chartres, to take possession 
 of the fort and country in the name of his government. But 
 as he ascended the Mississippi, at a place now known as Loftus 
 Heights, or Fort Adams, the Tunaca Indians killed many of 
 his party; so that the balance returned down the river. 
 
 The defeat of Loftus and party delayed the British from the 
 occupation of the country until Capt. Stirling assumed the com- 
 mand from the benevolent Saint Ange. A short time after 
 Capt. Stirling took possession of the country, he died, and 
 Saint Ange considered it his duty to return from St. Louis to 
 Fort Chartres, and take command, as he had under the French 
 government. 
 
 It is stated that the first Anglo-American settlement that 
 was made on the Mississippi, was in the year 1764, by Ameri- 
 cans from Roanoak, North Carolina. They settled on the 
 highland north of Iberville Bayou, and thence northwardly 
 toward Baton Rouge. 
 
 The remoteness of Illinois from the British colonies the 
 hatred of the French and Indians to the Long -Knives and the 
 Bostonians, and weakness of the settlement; that very few 
 Americans or British, visited the country during the govern-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 8 1 
 
 ment of the British. Scarcely another man was seen of the 
 British, except the British troops, in any part of Illinois, until 
 the Americans under Col. Clark took it in 1778. 
 
 The British, in the year 1769, erected, on the Wabash River, 
 a fort, which was called Sackville. This fort was a short dis- 
 tance below Vincennes, and was a regular stockade fort, with 
 bastions, and a few pieces of cannon, under the command of 
 an officer and soldiers. 
 
 In 1756, as has already been stated, Fort Chartres was 
 repaired and improved, by the French, to guard the country 
 against the invasion of the British. It was believed that this 
 fort was the most "convenient and best in North America." 
 In this year (1756), it stood half a mile from the bank of the 
 river. In 1766 it was only eighty yards. The bank of the river 
 next it was continually wearing away. In the year 1770, the 
 river made further encroachments, and in 1772, the river inun- 
 dated the American Bottom, and washed away one of the side 
 walls of the fort. 
 
 At this time, the British garrison abandoned it, and moved 
 the seat of government to Kaskaskia. Fort Chartres has never 
 been occupied since. It is stated in 1820, that "at the south- 
 east angle there is a gate, and the wall is perfect. It is about 
 fifteen feet high, and three feet thick. There is also a large 
 gate eighteen feet wide." 
 
 After the year 1772, the British garrison occupied Fort Gage, 
 which stood on the Kaskaskia River bluffs opposite the village; 
 this fort continued the headquarters of the British while they 
 possessed the country. 
 
 Fort Gage was built of large square timbers, and was an 
 oblong, measuring 290 by 251 feet. 
 
 There were in this fort, in the year 1772, an officer and twenty 
 soldiers. In the village of Kaskaskia, there were two French 
 companies organized, and in good discipline, ready to march 
 at a moment's warning. 
 
 At the time the British troops came to take possession of 
 Fort Chartres, two young officers, one French and the other 
 British, had a misunderstanding at the fort. This quarrel arose, 
 as did the war of the Greeks against the Trojans, on account 
 of a lady. These officers fought with small swords, early on a 
 6
 
 82 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Sunday morning, near the fort, and in this combat one was 
 killed. The other left the fort, and descended the river. I 
 was informed of the above duel nearly fifty years ago, by a 
 very aged Frenchman. He informed me of the details, and 
 said, he was present and saw the combat. This duel was, no 
 doubt, the first fought in Illinois. That barbarous, anti-chris- 
 tian mode of settling controversies has never been much prac- 
 tised in this country. Public opinion, which is the certain cor- 
 rector, has been always strong against it. And the last Con- 
 stitution of Illinois, eminating from an enlighted public opinion, 
 has placed a positive veto against the practice forever. 
 
 When the British took possession of Illinois, many of the 
 first inhabitants, as was before stated, emigrated to Louisiana, 
 which was nothing more than to cross the Mississippi. 
 
 On the 3d Nov., 1762, France made a secret treaty with 
 Spain, by which Louisiana was ceded to Spain; but it was not 
 made known before April 21, 1764. About this time, and 
 before the treaty was known, the villages of St. Louis and Ste. 
 Genevieve made their appearance on the west side of the Mis- 
 sissippi. 
 
 The French are always celebrated for giving persons and 
 places nicknames suitable to the occasion. St. Louis was called 
 Pain Court Short Bread; Carondelet, Vide Pouche Empty 
 Pocket; Ste. Genevieve, Missier Misery. These names were 
 the only ones for many years by which these places were known 
 and called. It was not until after the cession of Louisiana to 
 the United States, in 1803, that St. Louis, in common parlance 
 was known by any other name than Pain Court. The same of 
 Ste. Genevieve; and it was not long since that Vide Poiichc 
 lost its cognomen, and assumed its present city-name of Car- 
 ondelet. St. Charles, in Missouri, was known as Petite Cote. 
 
 In the year 1766, a plantation of the Jesuits, near Old Kas- 
 kaskia, containing two hundred and forty arpents of cultivated 
 land, a very good stock of cattle, and a brewery, was sold by 
 the French government to Monsieur Beauvois. This property 
 was taken by the French government when the order of 
 Jesuits was suppressed. Monsieur Beauvois was a wealthy cit- 
 izen of that day. He had eighty slaves and furnished eighty- 
 six thousand pounds of flour to the king's store; and this was 
 not near all his harvest of one year.
 
 UNIVEKSU
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Illinois under the Government of Virginia. 
 
 THE first part of the American Revolution was not much 
 perceived in Illinois. The country was so remote from the 
 Atlantic States, and peaceably yielding to British authority, 
 that nothing transpired in Illinois during the first years of the 
 Revolution that can be interesting to narrate. The inhabitants 
 continued in their usual avocations, during the first years of 
 the struggle. But, in the year 1778, Illinois was visited by a 
 small army of the most valiant and courageous heroes that, per- 
 haps, ever invaded and captured any country. 
 
 I do not believe that history presents a parallel of such extra- 
 ordinary invasion and conquest of a country, of such vast 
 extent and importance, as was the result of Col. Clark's expe- 
 dition into Illinois, in the year 1778. This invasion was con- 
 ducted to an honorable and successful termination, without the 
 loss of lives, and almost without means or men. 
 
 George Rogers Clark was born in the Old Dominion, Albe- 
 marle County, iQth Nov., 1752. In his youth, like Washington, 
 he was employed in surveying land. 
 
 Col. Clark was in the West, on the upper Ohio, in the year 
 1773, and was in the neighborhood of the murder of Logan's 
 family in 1774, but not concerned in that bloody transaction. 
 He was a staff- officer in Governor Dunmore's war with the 
 Indians, in the campaign to the Scioto, and reached Kentucky 
 in the next year 1775. 
 
 From the year 1774, and after the murder of Logan's family, 
 a murderous Indian war raged throughout all the West. This 
 war extended from the western frontiers of Georgia to Canada. 
 It was not alone the massacre of Logan's family that caused 
 the war. It mainly was attributable to British influence, 
 together with the encroachments of the Americans, on the 
 Indian country. The settlements of Virginia, Pennsylvania, 
 and the other Atlantic States, were rapidly extending west. 
 
 83
 
 84 P1OXKKR HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Boone and others discovered Kentucky, and were locating 
 themselves in it as early as the year 1774. 
 
 The Revolutionary War was discerned and feared by Dun- 
 more in his campaign to the Scioto. It was believed by Wash- 
 ington, Marshall, and others, that instructions were sent to Dun- 
 more, when he was on his march west of the Ohio River, to 
 treat with the Indians, and leave them as friendly as possible. 
 It may be said that this was the first spark of the Revolutionary 
 War which was discovered in the movements of Dunmore and 
 the last was extinguished by Gen. Wayne, also in the West, at 
 the Greenville treaty in the year 1795. The commencement 
 and the termination of the American contest for freedom was 
 in the West; and the Godess of Liberty has raised her stand- 
 ard higher and it shines with more splendor in the valley of 
 the Mississippi than in any other section of the globe. 
 
 It was quite reasonable that the British authorities in Amer- 
 ica should discover symptoms of revolt in the colonies at this 
 time. It was on the 5th Sept., 1774, that the first Continental 
 Congress convened at Philadelphia, and it was on the i6th 
 Dec., of the previous year, that the tea was destroyed in the 
 harbor of Boston. In the next year occurred the battle of 
 Lexington and other movements for liberty in the old Bay 
 State. It is not strange, therefore, that Dunmore was easing 
 off from the troops of the colonies and making fair weather 
 with the Indians of the West. 
 
 For nineteen years this Indian war was prosecuted with the 
 utmost rancor and with bloody vengeance against all the west- 
 ern frontiers of the United States. Old people, now alive, well 
 recollect the indiscriminate slaughter of all classes of people 
 on the frontiers. The Cherokees, the Shawnees, and other 
 hostile Indians, were dreaded around the frontiers, in olden 
 times, as much as the Asiatic cholera is at this day. There 
 was scarcely a family in the West but could mourn the loss of 
 some of its number. And many times the evenings were spent 
 in narrating the horrid tales of the slaughter of women and 
 children as well as of their fathers and husbands. 
 
 Altho' this frontier life exposed the people to many hard- 
 ships, dangers, and deaths that were not known in the interior 
 settlements; yet it had its peculiar advantages. This border
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 85 
 
 life produced a most hardy, energetic, and daring race of men 
 whose characters were peculiar to themselves. They were 
 raised in such a dangerous and hazardous condition of the 
 country that every latent spark of talent and energy was elicited 
 and brought into active employment. For many years in the 
 West, danger of the Indians was ever, night and day, pressing 
 on the frontier settlers. Those persons who could not with- 
 stand these incessant shocks of Indian warfare retired to the 
 interior of the country and left those on the frontiers who dis- 
 regarded danger and death. 
 
 Together with these dangers and hardships of Indian wars 
 the frontiers had many other disadvantages and privations to 
 encounter. In all new countries the people have not the nec- 
 essaries or the ordinary means of comfortable living that they 
 enjoy in an old country. No schools, no churches, no mills, and 
 no courts were the common destitutions of the new settlements; 
 but when the horrors of an Indian war are added, it is then 
 that the people, to sustain themselves against all these united 
 calamities, become the most courageous and energetic of the 
 human family. This mode of life also developes their mental 
 faculties. Their education was not acquired in schools or in 
 colleges but it was forced on them by passing events. The 
 minds of the pioneers were developed and improved by the 
 force of circumstances which they could pot control. 
 
 This primitive race of men was also the most independent 
 and self-sustaining people on earth. They relied on their own 
 resources, in all emergencies, and by which they generally sus- 
 tained themselves. They were for the most part at remote- 
 distances, out of the reach of relief, and were compelled to 
 rely on themselves for support, and by this mode of life they 
 obtained a character for freedom and independence that people 
 raised under different circumstances can never attain. 
 
 In this kind of life, under all these circumstances of a new 
 country, in a bloody war with the Indians, the character of 
 George Rogers Clark was formed. He was the noble and tal- 
 ented representative of this class of men. He possessed a 
 great and comprehensive mind. It was moulded on the gigan- 
 tic order, not capable of embracing* both extended views of 
 policy and various military combinations. His mode of life
 
 86 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 being in constant hostile array against the Indians, gave him 
 a perfect knowledge of their character; and also, the want of 
 sufficient military force to contend with them, compelled him 
 to resort to stratagem, the ruse de guerre, as well as to open dar- 
 ing and bravery. It is not common for commanders to excel 
 in both these modes of warfare. But such was the character 
 of Col. Clark that he excelled in both. 
 
 Such are some of the traits of this extraordinary character 
 who, almost without troops and without any support from the 
 government, conquered and retained the Illinois country 
 against the combined forces of the British and their Indian 
 allies. 
 
 At this time, in the beginning of the Revolution, two char- 
 acters, Simon Kenton and Simon Girty, arose in the West 
 whose celebrity was extended throughout the country. 
 
 Simon Girty was a native of Pennsylvania and of Irish 
 extraction. He was a spy in the campaign to the Scioto coun- 
 try under Lord Dunmore in 1774 and was a companion of 
 Simon Kenton. In 1755, the home of Simon Girty, who lived 
 with his father, was attacked and burnt by the Indians. His 
 stepfather, some years after, was burnt at the stake, in the 
 presence of his family; the rest of the family were taken pris- 
 oners. Simon was adopted by the Seneca Indians and became 
 an expert hunter. He returned and resided in western Penn- 
 sylvania. In the Revolution, he joined the Tory side and 
 resided among the hostile Indians. He commanded on many 
 occasions the war parties of the Indians and became a terror to 
 the frontiers. He witnessed the burning of Col. Crawford and 
 made some effort to save his life. He saved the life of Simon 
 Kenton when he was tied to the stake to be burnt; they had 
 shared the same blanket together in Dunmore's war. He 
 resided at Sandusky at which place he had a store. He enter- 
 tained, all his life, a bitter hatred to the United States and a 
 corresponding friendship to the British and Indians. He was 
 in Proctor's army in 1813, and was killed by Col. Johnson's 
 men at the Thames. He was intemperate and when intoxi- 
 cated was savage to friend and foe. 
 
 As it was said, Kenton was a ranger and spy in Dunmore's 
 war and came down the Ohio River in a canoe with two other
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 8/ 
 
 men to the place on the Ohio where Augusta now stands. He 
 was tall, robust, and athletic, and a man of great energy of 
 -character. He spent one season hunting on the Licking River; 
 he was taken by the Indians and sentenced to be burnt. He 
 was tied to the stake and the fire was burning around him. 
 His old comrade, Simon Girty, saved him from the fury of the 
 Indians. Simon Kenton was with Col. Clark in the campaign 
 of 1778 to Kaskaskia and headed a party on the night of the 
 4th July of that year who entered Fort Gage and captured 
 Lieut.-Governor Rocheblave in his bed. 
 
 After the conquest of Kaskaskia, Col. Clark sent Kenton 
 with despatches to the "Falls," and to pass by Vincennes in his 
 route. Kenton lay concealed during the days, for three days, 
 .and reconnoitered the village of Vincennes during the nights. 
 He acquitted himself as usual in this service to the satisfac- 
 tion of his general. He employed a trusty messenger to con- 
 vey the intelligence of the feelings, numbers, etc., of the people 
 of Vincennes to Col. Clark at Kaskaskia. 
 
 Simon Kenton served under General Wayne in the Indian 
 war, which was closed at the treaty of Greenville in 1795. He 
 ended his days in the State of Ohio not long since, full of years, 
 and what is better, his heart full of Christian piety. 
 
 These two singular characters were a good deal similar, each 
 possessing an extraordinary degree of energy and decision of 
 character. Each one honest in his professions and attachments. 
 They espoused different sides in the Revolutionary contest, but 
 were always friends as to personal feelings. 
 
 The enemies of Girty give him a horrid character; and, per- 
 haps, if we were to see the British and Indian history of Ken- 
 ton's character, some specks might appear not so angelic. The 
 different society they kept might have produced some effect to 
 make one blood-thirsty, while the other, by the influence of cor- 
 rect and proper principles, became humane and merciful. 
 
 They both, like the lesser prophets, became conspicuous in 
 a small way, and both, after a very long and active life, are now 
 resting in peace. 
 
 Col. Clark was appointed to drill and organize the militia at 
 Harrod's Station, and at Boonsboro', in Kentucky. He was 
 then, and ever afterward, recognized as the main defender of 
 the Western frontiers.
 
 88 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Late in the fall of 1775, he returned to Virginia, and prepared 
 to leave in the early spring for Kentucky, to make the West his 
 permanent residence. 
 
 During this year, a great meeting was held at Harrodsburg, 
 to take into consideration the political situation of Kentucky;, 
 and at this convention Major Clark, so called at that day, and 
 Gabriel John Jones were appointed delegates to the general 
 assembly of Virginia. These members of the Virginia legisla- 
 ture crossed the mountains at the Cumberland Gap, and suf- 
 fered much with scald feet in walking to the seat of govern- 
 ment of the Ancient Dominion. 
 
 When they arrived at the capital, the general assembly had 
 adjourned; but Clark and Jones waited on Governor Patrick 
 Henry, and urged on him the necessity of furnishing the frontier 
 with a supply of powder; and also strongly pressed the necessity 
 of a new county. After much difficulty, a supply of powder was 
 granted to be received at Pittsburg, and on the 7th Dec., 1776} 
 a county was organized, and called Kentucky. The powder 
 being at Pittsburg, Clark and Jones were compelled to pass 
 there, on their route to Kentucky, and conveyed the precious 
 article down the Ohio to the creek called Limestone, where 
 Maysville is now built. There they concealed the powder, and 
 sent adrift their boat; so that the Indians might not discover 
 them or the powder. On their way to Harrodsburg, they heard 
 of Col. Todd being in the vicinity with some troops, and Jones, 
 with five of the boatmen, remained with Todd, to return and 
 convey the powder to the settlements, while Clark and the other 
 two men went direct to the station. 
 
 Todd and party were defeated .near the Blue Licks, on the 
 25th Dec., by the Indians, who were in ambuscade, on the trail 
 of Clark and Jones. Jones and two others were killed, but 
 Clark and his men reached Harrodsburg in safety, and the 
 powder at last reached the station. 
 
 Clark, altho' only 25 years of age, had learned, in the school 
 of Indian danger and peril, so much, that his education was 
 complete in Indian warfare. His mind, naturally strong and vig- 
 orous, comprehended at once the condition of the West, and was 
 determined to give it relief. 
 
 The British posts of Detroit, Vincennes, and Kaskaskia, were
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 89 
 
 stations for the hostile Indians, where the British government 
 furnished them with all the necessary means to murder the 
 exposed frontier inhabitants, and paid them in gold for the 
 scalps of men, women, and children. 
 
 On the first of October, Clark left Harrodsburg for the seat 
 of government of Virginia. 
 
 After much delay and caution, the government of Virginia, 
 on the 2d January, 1778, decided to appoint Clark lieut. -colonel, 
 to take command of such forces as could be raised, to conquer 
 the British garrisons in the West. 
 
 Altho' the Illinois country was remote from the seat of the 
 Revolutionary War, yet the inhabitants knew of its existence, 
 and were, in their hearts, unfriendly to the British, and warmly 
 attached to the American cause. This being the case, the 
 French people were ready, on all favorable occasions, to engage 
 in any expedition against their ancient enemy the British. 
 
 Thomas Brady, commonly called Mr. Tom, resided in Caho- 
 kia in the year 1777, and was a man of sound mind and an 
 enterprising and courageous disposition. In his youthful days 
 he had been much inured to Indian warfare, and had been long 
 in the midst of the dangers and adventures of a Western life. 
 His neighbors, the French of Cahokia and Prairie du Pont, were 
 ready at a moment's warning to enter into any enterprise, mili- 
 tary or civil, that was honorable, and had no work attached to 
 it. And, altho' the Illinois French were not ambitious or enter- 
 prising in individual capacities, yet no people made better sol- 
 diers. They were obedient to orders, never murmured, and pos- 
 sessed the inherent courage of their nation, to face danger and 
 death, in all its horrors, on a battle-field, without the least trepi- 
 dation. 
 
 Thomas Brady organized a band of sixteen volunteers, from 
 the villages of Cahokia and Prairie du Pont, and on the first of 
 October, 1777, set out to capture a British post at St. Joseph, 
 on the southeast side of Lake Michigan. This party marched 
 thro' the prairies from Cahokia to the Cow Pens, so called 
 at that day which is the same place that LaSalle first estab- 
 lished a post, in 1679, and called it St. Joseph. 
 
 Brady and party were successful in capturing the post, con- 
 taining twenty-one soldiers and a considerable quantity of Indian
 
 90 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 goods. Only one person was killed. This was a negro slave, 
 who had run off to the Indians from the settlements on the Mis- 
 sissippi. He left the fort when it was attacked, and was shot. 
 The victorious party packed up the merchandise and started for 
 Cahokia; but they moved slow, and were overtaken at the Cal- 
 umet, a few miles southeast of Chicago. The British traders 
 roused the Indians and the British soldiers into action. Several 
 hundred Indians fell on the party when they were camped for 
 the night on the Calumet. Two men were killed, two wounded, 
 and one made his escape; twelve were made prisoners and sent 
 to Canada. Brady was with the prisoners, but escaped, and 
 returned to Illinois by the way of his native state, Pennsylvania. 
 These: prisoners remained in Canada two years. A Mr. Bois- 
 menue of Cahokia was one of the party, and was wounded. 
 He remained with the Indians all winter, to heal his wounds, 
 and returned to Cahokia in the spring. 
 
 It is stated of Mr. Boismenue, that when he saw these two 
 Cahokias tomahawked by the Indians, he supposed it would be 
 his fate next to be served in the same manner, and to avoid 
 the sight of the hatchet sinking into his brains, he was sitting 
 before the fire, and threw a blanket over his head. He was 
 saved ; and was afterward the father of a very respectable family, 
 some of whom are yet living in the country. 
 
 Mr. Boismenue's desire not to know the time of his death 
 shows the wisdom of Providence in not letting his creatures 
 know that important epoch. Man would be miserable if he 
 knew the time of his decease, were it one hundred years off. 
 
 This was rather a wild and hazardous expectation. Seven- 
 teen men to take a fort of twenty-one regulars with arms and 
 other means of defence, required masterly skill and bravery. 
 They surprised the fort at night, but could not escape with any 
 of the spoils, which was, no doubt, one great object of the enter- 
 prise. But Col. Clark undertook a more noble enterprise, to 
 take all the British garrisons in the West. 
 
 Two sets of instructions were given to him by the governor 
 and council of Virginia. One, which was public, was for Col. 
 Clark to raise seven companies for the protection of Kentucky, 
 and to proceed west. These men were enlisted for three months. 
 The second instructions were, that Col. Clark should raise seven
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. QI 
 
 companies of men, fifty in each company, and proceed to Kas- 
 kaskia to attack the British garrison at that place. That if suc- 
 cessful, to take and preserve the cannon and munitions of war 
 found at that post. That boats would be furnished at Pitts- 
 burg for the transportation of the troops, and that the expedi- 
 tion must be kept a profound secret. That Gen. Hand, at Pitts- 
 burg, would supply the powder and lead. The inhabitants of 
 the country captured were to take the oath of allegiance, or 
 otherwise be visited with the miseries of war. Two men, who 
 were from Kaskaskia, were to be secured at Williamsburg, for 
 fear of their developing the object of the expedition. In their 
 instructions it was particularly enjoined, that humanity should 
 be observed to all persons who might fall into the hands of the 
 Virginia troops. The Gov. Patrick Henry signed these instruc- 
 tions, which were dated the 2d of January, 1778, and none knew 
 anything about them, except Gov. Henry, Thomas Jefferson, 
 George Wythe, and George Mason, who were his council, and 
 Col. Clark. 
 
 On the 4th of February following, Col. Clark left the capital 
 of Virginia for Pittsburg. It was decided that troops could not 
 be spared on the east of the mountains, as they were so much 
 needed there, but must be raised in the West. 
 
 The situation of Col. Clark can be easily imagined. He was 
 acting under immense responsibility. His plan was adopted. 
 His instructions were secret, and the whole and sole manage- 
 ment of the expedition was confined to his judgment. He had 
 received but twelve hundred pounds of depreciated currency to 
 carry out the expedition, and the country without troops or even 
 credit. But the genius and talent of the leader supplied all 
 deficiencies, and the British posts were captured. 
 ' Maj. William B. Smith was ordered from Virginia to go to the 
 Holston country, Tenn., to raise troops, and to join Clark at the 
 appointed time and place. 
 
 He succeeded in raising four companies, but never joined 
 Clark, having use for them on the other frontiers. 
 
 It was unpopular at Pittsburg to enlist men to take them 
 away from the frontiers of Pennsylvania to Kentucky, but the 
 character of Clark, and by his extraordinary exertions, three 
 -companies were raised at Pittsburg. With these companies,
 
 92 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 and several adventurers, Col. Clark descended the Ohio to the 
 Falls, and the small island opposite the present City of Louis- 
 ville was occupied and fortified. This island was then called 
 Corn Island. He had ordered Capt. Bowman to meet him at 
 this island. Bowman had been sent on a southern route from 
 Pittsburg through Kentucky to raise a company of men. Capt. 
 Bowman and a company from Kentucky, under the command 
 of Capt. Dillard, met him at the island. 
 
 With all the exertions that could be made, Col. Clark could 
 not raise more than four companies for the expedition. These 
 companies were commanded by Captains Montgomery, Bow- 
 man, Helm, and Harrod. Simon Kenton joined the expedition 
 at this place with many other resolute persons. It appears that 
 Captain Montgomery was found at the Falls, being an "Irish- 
 man and full of fight." It was on Corn Island when Col. Clark 
 announced that his destination was to Kaskaskia in the Illinois 
 country. This information was received by this brave band of 
 warriors with enthusiasm and joy. But, in fact, the troops under 
 Clark were like all soldiers under great leaders, ready to go any- 
 where and do anything in their power commanded by their gen- 
 erals. 
 
 After the fainthearted were discharged, all the troops mus- 
 tered into the campaign to Kaskaskia were one hundred and 
 fifty-three men. 
 
 Keel-boats being procured, Clark, on the 24th June, 1/78, 
 while the sun was eclipsed, started down the river from Corn 
 Island on this hazardous expedition to Kaskaskia. 
 
 They descended the river to the old Cherokee Fort, or Fort 
 Massacre, below the mouth of the Tennessee River, and forty 
 miles above the mouth of the Ohio, where they found a party 
 of hunters from Kaskaskia commanded by John Duff. Clark 
 learned from these hunters that Lieut-Governor Rocheblave, a 
 Canadian Frenchman, commanded Fort Gage at Kaskaskia and 
 the country: and that the militia were organized and well dis- 
 ciplined: that spies were out to give information if the Long 
 Knives came into the country. This was the Indian name for 
 the Virginians, and the New England people were called Bos- 
 tonians by the French and Indians of that day. 
 
 Col. Clark, before he left Corn Island, obtained two items of
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 93 
 
 information, of which he made good use. One was, that France 
 had joined the Americans in the war against Great Britain; and 
 the other was, that the French in Illinois were made to believe 
 by the British that the "Long Knives" were cannibals, worse 
 than demons. 
 
 Clark secured his boats, and engaged John Saunders, one of 
 Duff's hunting-party, to be his guide to Kaskaskia. The whole 
 hunting-party were willing to return with Clark, but he took 
 only one of them. 
 
 Clark's warriors had no wagons, pack-horses, or other means 
 of conveyance of their munition of war or baggage, other than 
 their own robust and hardy selves. Col. Clark himself was 
 nature's favorite, in his person as well as mind. He was large 
 and athletic, capable of enduring much; yet formed with such 
 noble symmetry and manly beauty, that he combined much 
 grace and elegance, together with great firmness of character. 
 He was grave and dignified in his deportment; agreeable and 
 affable with his soldiers when relaxed from duty; but in a crisis 
 when the fate of his campaign was at stake, or the lives of his 
 brave warriors were in danger his deportment became stern and 
 severe. His appearance, in these perils, indicated, without lan- 
 guage, to his men, that every soldier must do his duty. 
 
 The country between Fort' Massacre and Kaskaskia, at that 
 day, 1778, was a wilderness of one hundred and twenty miles, 
 and contained, much of it, a swampy and difficult road. 
 
 At one time, poor Saunders, the guide, was bewildered, and 
 the party suspected him of treachery; but soon after, he became 
 himself again and led the party safe to the vicinity of Kaskas- 
 kia. Within a short distance of the village, Col. Clark concealed 
 his men until dark, and spies were sent out to reconnoitre and 
 report. This was on the 4th of July, 1778. After dark he pro- 
 ceeded to a house on the river the old ferry-house three- 
 fourths of a mile above the village. He took possession of this 
 house, and there made the following disposition of his troops: 
 Two parties were to cross the Kaskaskia River, and the other 
 was to remain on the east side, so as to capture the town and 
 fort at the same time. The fearless Captain Helm commanded 
 the troops to cross the river, and take the village; while Clark 
 himself commanded the other wing to capture the fort. Boats 
 and canoes were procured to cross the river.
 
 94 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 About midnight, on the banks of the Kaskaskia River, in the 
 dark, Col. Clark delivered a short address to his troops. He 
 said: 
 
 "Soldiers We are near the enemy for which we have been 
 struggling for years. We are not fighting alone for liberty and 
 independence, but for the defence of our own frontiers from the 
 tomahawk and scalping-knife of the Indians. We are defending 
 the lives of our women and children, altho' a long distance from 
 them. These British garrisons furnish the Indians with powder 
 and lead to desolate the frontiers; and pay gold for human 
 scalps. We must take and destroy these garrisons. The fort 
 before us is one of them, and it must be taken. We can not 
 retreat. We have no provisions; but we must conquer. This 
 is the 4th of July. We must act to honor it, and let it not be 
 said in after-times, that Virginians were defeated on that mem- 
 orable day. The fort and town, I repeat, must be taken, at all 
 hazards." 
 
 After these remarks the troops in silence separated; two par- 
 ties crossed the river, and the other remained with Col. Clark, 
 to attack the fort. Each party at the two extremes of the vil- 
 lage, entered it first, in silence, so not one in the town kne\v of 
 the Long Knives being in the country, until they heard the 
 most terriffic yelling and hollowing in the streets, that ever 
 before, or since, was heard in Old Kaskaskia. The French 
 supposed the whole nation of the Long Knives had broken loose 
 on them at once. Those among the Americans, who could speak 
 French, proclaimed to the terrified inhabitants, that if they re- 
 mained quiet within their houses, they would not be hurt; but 
 if they came out, or made any resistance, they would be exter- 
 minated. The inhabitants were much alarmed. The inhabit- 
 ants were night to day light. In two hours after the town was 
 first entered the inhabitants surrendered all their guns and 
 means of defence, thinking this was the only means to save 
 their lives. 
 
 In the daylight the citizens were not the less terrified at the 
 appearance of the Long Knives, than they had been at their 
 noise. The troops had no change of clothes. All their supplies, 
 provisions, and all, they were compelled to pack on their backs 
 from Fort Massacre to Kaskaskia, and could not carry with them
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. ^5 
 
 their extra clothes, if they had any, and that was doubtful. 
 They had no means or time to shave or dress. They possessed 
 brave hearts under ragged and soiled clothes. 
 
 Their appearance and furious noise in the night made the 
 French believe that the Long Knives would almost devour 
 them. 
 
 Col. Clark took to himself the most perilous enterprise, to 
 take Fort Gage, which was a strong British fortification, defended 
 with cannon and regular soldiers. This would seem, at this day, 
 a similar perilous enterprise to Wayne storming Stony Point. 
 Clark had no cannon or means of assaulting the fort, and there- 
 fore must use stratagem. He found the garrison unprepared 
 for defence. The brave and sagacious Simon Kenton com- 
 manded a detachment to enter the fort; they found a light 
 burning in it. An American, a native of Pennsylvania, was there 
 in the fort and conducted Kenton and his small party into the 
 fort by a small back gate. This was a perilous situation for 
 Kenton's men, to be housed up in a British strong fortification, 
 if the gate had been shut on them. The noble Pennsylvania!! 
 was true to liberty and conducted them to the very bedchamber 
 of the sleeping governor, Rocheblave. The first notice Roche- 
 blave had that he was a prisoner, was Kenton tapping him on 
 the shoulder to awaken him. 
 
 Thus the fort and village were both captured without shed- 
 ding one drop of blood. The wife of the governor concealed 
 some papers which were supposed to be public, and ought to be 
 delivered with the garrison to the captors, but the gentlemanly 
 bearing of Col. Clark made him respect female prerogative, and 
 the lady secured the papers in that adroit manner peculiar to 
 female sagacity. 
 
 Clark had now possession of the fort and cannon, which com- 
 manded Kaskaskia, and could at his ease have coerced the 
 inhabitants into submission, if it became necessary. 
 
 The conquest of Fort Gage and Kaskaskia, the capital of 
 Illinois, is one of the most singular and important events recorded 
 in history. It was the extraordinary genius and capacities of 
 Col. Clark that achieved it. He had scarcely any men; and all 
 their armor, provisions, camp equipage, etc., were packed on 
 their backs, to the scene of action; and this, too, to take a
 
 96 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 strong garrison, defended with cannon, British soldiers, etc. This 
 may be taken in after-days as romance; but now it is known to 
 be reality. 
 
 It seems Governor Rocheblave was insolent. Clark put him 
 in irons, and sent him, in the care of Capt. Montgomery, to 
 Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia. Clark was stern and 
 severe, when his duty required it. 
 
 The next day after the conquest, Col. Clark organized the. 
 post, and confined some suspected persons. His actions and 
 appearance among the inhabitants of Kaskaskia were on pur- 
 pose made to correspond with what the British had informed 
 them ; that the Americans were the most savage beasts on earth, 
 and that no mercy could be expected at their hands, were they 
 to conquer the country. Clark withdrew his troops from the vil- 
 lage; observed the most rigid discipline; and appeared to be 
 meditating what was the worst mode of torture and death to 
 inflict on the inhabitants of Kaskaskia. This deportment of 
 Clark and troops, together with their uncouth and savage appear- 
 ance, aroused the people to a sense of their danger and destruc- 
 tion. Father Gibault, the priest, with others of the "grave and 
 reverend seigniors," waited on Col. Clark at his camp, and 
 appealed to him to permit them, the inhabitants, to meet in the 
 church once more before they were destroyed, or remove to a 
 foreign land. Clark still kept up the appearance of annihilation 
 in his deportment. His words were few, and scorched like they 
 had proceeded from a fiery furnace. 
 
 When Clark had the people of Old Kaskaskia worked up to 
 the utmost excitement of terror, he addressed them thus: 
 
 "Do you mistake us for savages? Do you think Americans 
 will strip women and children, and take the bread out of their 
 mouths? My country disdains to make war on helpless inno- 
 cence. To prevent the horrors of Indian butchery on our own 
 wives and children, we have taken up arms, and penetrated to 
 this stronghold of Indian and British barbarity, and not for des- 
 picable plunder. The king of France has united his powerful 
 arms with those of America, and the contest will soon be ended. 
 The people of Kaskaskia may side with either party. To verify 
 my words, go and tell your people to do as they please, with- 
 out any danger from me."
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 97 
 
 When this good news came to the ears of the people, gloom 
 and dejection changed into extravagant joy. The people were 
 nearly frantic, and entered the church to thank God for their 
 happy deliverance. Clark's policy had its desired effect, to 
 make the people his steadfast friends. 
 
 Captain Bowman was despatched to capture the post of Caho- 
 kia, and several influential persons of Kaskaskia volunteered 
 their services to prepare the minds of the people of Cahokia for 
 the change. The party, mounted on French ponies, proceeded 
 to Cahokia, and seized on it without resistance. This expedi- 
 tion was conducted with the same celerity and secrecy as that 
 to capture Kaskaskia. In fact, there were not many soldiers in 
 the fort at Cahokia; so that a defence was useless. 
 
 Col. Clark had it instilled into his army, and he also propa- 
 gated it: that a large, army of Americans, Long Knives, were 
 organized at the Falls, and were ready to take Vincennes and 
 Detroit, and to reinforce the American garrisons at Kaskaskia 
 and Cahokia. These statements were believed by the French 
 and Indians, and had a powerful effect in keeping, not only 
 order and peace in the country, but also, the American domina- 
 tion throughout the West. As Clark and men had done so 
 much, the inhabitants and Indians concluded that another such 
 army could conquer any nation; and the judgment was not so 
 incorrect; but the army must have had another Clark to com- 
 mand them; and that such genius and talents as his are rare 
 at any time and in any country. 
 
 Col. Clark soon heard that the British governor at Vincennes 
 had gone to Detroit, and that the fort, old Sackville, was in the 
 hands of the citizens of Vincennes, and none of the redcoat 
 gentry were in it. 
 
 Arrangements were readily made for an embassy, headed by 
 the good old priest, Gibault, to go to Vincennes and bring the 
 people over to the American cause. This enterprise was suc- 
 cessful. The French of Vincennes declared for the Americans, 
 and Gibault and his party, together with several gentlemen from 
 Vincennes, returned to Kaskaskia, about the first of August, 
 with the joyful intelligence. 
 
 The enlistment oi the volunteers under Clark was about to 
 expire, and his instructions were vague; so he acted at discre- 
 7
 
 98 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 tion. His judgment at once advised him that the country 
 should not be abandoned; so he enlisted again many of the 
 same men he had first, together with many of the French. 
 Those troops, who were to be discharged, were sent back to the 
 Falls at Louisville, under the command of Capt. William Linn, 
 with instructions to abandon the station on Corn Island and 
 erect a permanent fort on the main shore. For the command 
 of the post at Vincennes, Col. Clark selected Captain Leonard 
 Helm. He had great confidence in this officer. He knew him 
 to be a brave, talented man, and one who was well acquainted 
 with the Indian character. Clark appointed him Indian agent 
 in the department of the Wabash. About the middle of 
 August he went and took possession of his command. 
 
 Captain Helm was a very adroit negotiator with the Indians, 
 and brought the whole Wabash Indians, thro' the influence of 
 the Big Door, the chief of the Piankeshaw nation, to the Ameri- 
 can interest. All the Indians on the Wabash, as far up as Ouia- 
 tenon, came down to Vincennes and treated with Capt. Helm. 
 The British interest with the Indians lost ground at last for 
 some time. 
 
 Captain Montgomery reached the seat of government of 
 Virginia with the British governor of Illinois, a prisoner of 
 war, and with dispatches from Col. Clark. 
 
 The whole country spontaneously resounded with the warmest 
 gratulations to Col. Clark and his brave little band. 
 
 The legislature of Virginia, in 1778, formed the Illinois 
 country into a county of that name. Illinois had the honor 
 to extend her name, in former times, over the territory of the 
 States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. All the 
 settlers on the west side of the Ohio were included in this 
 county, and John Todd, Esq., of Kentucky, was appointed 
 lieut.-colonel and civil commandant of the same. 
 
 The governor of Virginia did not send troops to Col. Clark, 
 as they both expected, which forced Clark to receive into his 
 service many of the Illinois French. With the troops he had 
 he garrisoned Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and appointed Williams 
 captain at Kaskaskia, and Bowman at Cahokia. In the fall of 
 the year, Major Bowman organized a respectable force and pro- 
 ceeded from Cahokia north to Rock River. This expedition
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 99 
 
 was intended to influence the Indians to abandon the British 
 interest to join the Americans. 
 
 By proper arrangements, Col. Clark had a great number of 
 Indians convened at Cahokia, in the month of September, 1778, 
 and made friendly treaties with them. 
 
 He was extremely sagacious to discover the secret moving 
 springs of human action; and particularly, he knew well the 
 Indian character. 
 
 At Cahokia, Col. Clark waited for the Indians to make the 
 advance to peace and friendship. He waited with determined 
 obstinacy until the red-skins threw away the hostile wampum 
 given them by the British before he said anything to them, and 
 cautioned his men not to shake hands with the Indians until 
 peace was made; so that heart and hand could go together. 
 
 Before the close of the season, all the Indians, far and near, 
 were friendly to the Americans. The country inhabited by the 
 whites was all quiet and peaceable in the hands of Virginia. 
 The famous Capt. Helm was in peaceable possession of the 
 strong British fort, Sackville, with only two Americans and some 
 French militia; while Clark occupied the whole Illinois country 
 with less than one hundred men. 
 
 The "House of Delegates" of the Virginia legislature passed 
 the following complimentary resolution: 
 
 "IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, 
 Monday, the 23d Nov., 1778. 
 
 Whereas, authentic information has been received, that Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel George Rogers Clark, with a body of Virginia 
 militia, has reduced the British posts in the western part of this 
 Commonwealth on the river Mississippi and its branches, where- 
 by great advantage may accrue to the common cause of America, 
 as well as to this Commonwealth in particular: 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this House are justly due to 
 the said Col. Clark and the brave officers and men under his 
 command, for their extraordinary resolution and perseverance 
 in so hazardous an enterprise, and for their important services 
 thereby rendered to their country. 
 
 Attest, E. RANDOLPH, c. H. D." 
 
 Governor Hamilton, hearing at Detroit that the Americans 
 had seized on the country in his absence, was much concerned
 
 100 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 and chagrined that the country he had in charge was wrested 
 from him by a few ragged militia fro.rn the Old Dominion. 
 
 He collected his forces thirty regular troops, fifty Canadi- 
 ans, and four hundred Indians and reached Vincennes on the 
 1 5th December, 1778. The people made no defence, but the 
 whole defence of the fort devolved on Capt. Helm and one 
 other American, by the name of Henry. When Gov. Hamil- 
 ton came within hailing distance, Helm called out with a loud 
 voice, "halt"! This show of defence caused Hamilton to 
 pause. Henry had a cannon well charged and placed in the 
 open gateway, while Helm stood by it with a lighted match. 
 Helm exclaimed, "no man shall enter here until I know the 
 terms." Hamilton responded, "you shall have the honors of 
 war." The fort was thereupon surrendered, and the one officer 
 and one private received the honor aforesaid, for their defence 
 of the fort. 
 
 A portion of Hamilton's forces was dispatched to the fron- 
 tiers to kill and scalp the inhabitants, while Helm was detained 
 a prisoner of war. The French were disarmed. 
 
 Clark was in a most perilous and distressing situation. No 
 supplies of troops or munitions of war reached him from Vir- 
 ginia. The country infested with hostile Indians, direct from 
 Detroit, and Hamilton preparing to attack him at Kaskaskia. 
 This posture of affairs gave Clark excessive uneasiness, and 
 harassed him day and night. To abandon the country to the 
 hostile Indians, he could not think of for a moment; but he 
 had no means of defence. However, his courage and judg- 
 ment never forsook him. His talents and resources were 
 always superior to the occasion. He called Major Bowman 
 and his little force from Cahokia down to Kaskaskia. He 
 burnt down some houses in the village near his fort and pre- 
 pared for a siege. But on mature reflection, he came to the 
 bold and hazardous conclusion, that he would muster all his 
 forces and capture Hamilton; "for." he said, "if I do not take 
 him, he will take me." 
 
 This expedition to Vincennes was conducted in the dead of 
 winter, thro a wilderness country, without resources, and 
 without any of the common necessaries for the support of an 
 army.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. IOI 
 
 Clark, with his uncommon sagacity to penetrate the hearts 
 of men, engaged Col. Vigo, who resided at the time in St. 
 Louis, upper Louisiana, to go to Vincennes and reconnoitre 
 Fort Sackville, and ascertain the disposition of the people. 
 No choice could have been better. . Col. Vigo was an Italian 
 by birth, but in his heart the principles of freedom and love 
 for the American cause sunk deep. He was a merchant pos- 
 sessing great wealth, all of which, together with the most of 
 his time, he spent in the cause of the American Revolution. 
 Not a more worthy man lived in the West than Col. Vigo. He 
 resided a long time in Indiana, and died there. The State 
 honored his memory by calling a county for him and Congress 
 refunded much of the money he expended in the early settle- 
 ment of the country. 
 
 Col. Vigo, after conferring with Col. Clark at Kaskaskia, with 
 only one man started for Vincennes; but at the Embarras, five 
 miles from his destination, he was taken prisoner by the Indi- 
 ans, and brought before Governor Hamilton. He was sus- 
 pected of being an American spy, but being extremely popular 
 with the inhabitants and a Spanish subject, Hamilton did not 
 detain or punish him as such. The inhabitants threatened to 
 give no more supplies to Hampton if Vigo was not suffered to. 
 depart in peace. Hamilton was reluctant to yield, and on this 
 condition only, that "Vigo was not to do any act during the 
 war injurious to the British interest." He peremptorily refused 
 to sign such an article; but agreed that he would not do any 
 "act on his way to St. Louis!" This was accepted, and Col. 
 Vigo was permitted to leave in a perogue down the Wabash 
 and up the Mississippi to St. Louis. He kept his pledge with 
 the sanctity of an oath; but he remained at St. Louis only to 
 change his clothes, when he started to see Col. Clark at Kas- 
 kaskia. 
 
 From Vigo, Clark learned that many of the soldiers were 
 out with the Indians on marauding parties; that Hamilton had 
 eighty regulars in the fort; and that the French were friendly 
 to the Americans. He also learned that there were in the fort 
 three brass field-pieces and some swivels; and that Hamilton 
 intended in the early spring to reconquer the Illinois country. 
 
 On receiving this information, Clark still continued his
 
 102 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 determination to capture Fort Sackville to prevent Hamilton 
 from taking him. He also wrote to Governor Patrick Henry 
 of Virginia, and gave him in detail the condition of the country 
 and his extreme perilous situation. He wanted more troops 
 but received none. 
 
 There was no time left for Clark to delay any longer; or 
 else Hamilton would be on him. A boat was fitted up carry- 
 ing two four-pound cannons, four swivels, and provisions; and 
 commanded by Capt. John Rogers with forty-six men. This 
 boat was to meet Clark at a point near Vincennes with all con- 
 venient speed. 
 
 Clark organized two companies of French into his army; 
 and, all told, his whole force amounted to no more than one 
 hundred and seventy men. One company from Cahokia was 
 commanded by Capt. McCarty, and the other company from 
 Kaskaskia was commanded by Capt. Charleville. 
 
 On the /th February, 1779, this band of heroes commenced 
 its march from Kaskaskia on the Old Vincennes trace to Fort 
 Sackville. This trace was celebrated in Illinois. The Indians 
 laid it out more than one hundred and fifty years ago. It 
 commenced at Detroit, thence to Ouiaton on the Wabash, 
 thence to Vincennes, and thence to Kaskaskia. It was the 
 Appian way of Illinois in ancient times. It is yet visible in 
 many places between Kaskaskia and Vincennes. This expedi- 
 tion of Col. Clark was the most dreary and fatiguing that was 
 performed during the Revolution. 
 
 During the march the weather was uncommonly wet. The 
 watercourses were out of their banks, and the larger streams 
 had inundated the bottoms from bluff to bluff, often three or 
 four miles wide. Yet our hardy backwoodsmen, on foot with 
 their knapsacks on their backs filled with parched corn and 
 jerked meat, waded thro mud and water to the forks of the 
 Little Wabash River. The bottom here was three or more 
 miles wide and inundated never under three feet and often 
 four feet. 
 
 Thro this low land the battalion was forced to march, 
 feeling for the trace. At this place, to cross the river Little 
 Wabash, the party made a canoe, ferried themselves over the 
 stream, and put their baggage on a scaffold to keep it out of
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. IO3 
 
 the water while they were crossing the river. They crossed 
 this river on the I5th Feb., and proceeded on over the streams, 
 Fox River and others, until on the i8th they heard the morn- 
 ing gun of Fort Sackville at Vincennes. 
 
 Before the party reached the Great Wabash, they were nearly 
 exhausted by fatigue and traveling in the cold water. At the 
 Little Wabash, many of the troops were sinking and their 
 spirits exhausted. Clark, always fruitful in resources, called 
 upon an Irishman, a drummer in the battalion, who had a 
 peculiar talent to sing comic songs. When the men wading 
 for hours in the icy water up to their middles and armpits, and 
 were nearly chilled to freezing, this Irishman would sing lively, 
 cheering songs, and thereby rouse the troops to life again. 
 But it was at the Great Wabash where the party experienced 
 all the hardships and sufferings of which human nature is cap- 
 able of surmounting. 
 
 The party reached the Wabash below the mouth of the 
 Embarrass, and were in the most exhausted, destitute, and 
 starving condition. The river was running all over its banks 
 and the lowlands near it; so that it was several miles wider 
 Colonel Clark had not time or means to make canoes to cross 
 the river. The party was literally starving. 
 
 On the 2Oth of February, the Americans hailed a party of 
 French in a boat from Vincennes and brought them to. From 
 them Col. Clark learned that the people of Vincennes were 
 friendly to the Americans, and that the British garrison had 
 no knowledge of the expedition. This information was cheer- 
 ing; but a sea of cold water, the Wabash bottom, which they 
 had no means of crossing, lay between Clark and Fort Sack- 
 ville. 
 
 Clark and his party experienced the greatest difficulties and 
 perils in crossing Wabash River and the lowlands attached to 
 it. They waded and rafted, and suffered every sort of hard- 
 ship except death itself. On reaching the high ground below 
 Vincennes, and when they were seated on dry ground, Clark 
 addressed the following note to the citizens of Vincennes: 
 
 " To the Inhabitants of Post Vincennes: Gentlemen: Being 
 now within two miles of your village with my army, deter- 
 mined to take your fort tonight, and not being willing to sur-
 
 104 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 prise you, I take this method to request such of you as are 
 true citizens, and would enjoy the liberty I bring you, to 
 remain still in your houses. Those, if any there be, that are 
 friends to the king, will instantly repair to the fort and join the 
 hair-buyer general, and fight like men; and such as do not go 
 to the fort, and shall be discovered afterward, they may depend 
 on severe punishment. On the contrary, those that are true 
 friends to liberty shall be treated as friends deserve. And 
 once more I request them to keep out of the streets, for every 
 one I find in arms on my arrival, I shall treat as an enemy. 
 
 "G. R. CLARK." 
 
 This singular address had the desired effect. It made the 
 people believe that Clark had a large army there from Ken- 
 tucky, as none, as they supposed, could reach there from Kas- 
 kaskia. Clark sent in various names of gentlemen from Ken- 
 tucky to their friends in Vincennes, which made the citizens 
 believe that half Kentucky was there with him. The colonel, 
 in marching thro the prairie to the town, made a large display 
 of his troops, by marching them back and forward around cer- 
 tain mounds, so that the army made the appearance of a great 
 body of troops. The flags were changed, so that the delusion 
 of many fierce Kentuckians being present was riveted on the 
 garrison, as well as on the citizens of Vincennes. 
 
 On the 23d of Feb., 1779, about sunset, the attack was made 
 on Fort Sackville, by Lieut. Bayley and fourteen men. This 
 small party lay concealed behind a bank of earth within thirty 
 yards of the fort and secure from the guns of the garrison. 
 Whenever a port-hole was opened the bullets from the Ameri- 
 can rifles would whistle in, destroying the men at the guns; ^so 
 that none would dare to work the cannon. Some were killed 
 at the port-holes, and none others could be got there to defend 
 the works against the Americans. 
 
 At nine o'clock, on the 24th, Clark sent into the fort a note. 
 While this was going on, his men ate the first breakfast they 
 had seen for many days. The letter is the following: 
 
 "SiR: In order to save yourself from the impending storm 
 which now threatens you, I order you immediately to surrender 
 yourself, with all your garrison, stores, etc. If I am obliged 
 to storm, you may depend upon such treatment alone as is
 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 105 
 
 justly due a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any 
 kind, or any papers or letters that are in your possession, or 
 hurting one house in town; for by heaven if you do there shall 
 be no mercy shown you. G. R. CLARK." 
 
 Gov. Hamilton was affected by the above communication, as 
 will appear by the following mild answer: 
 
 "Governor Hamilton begs leave to acquaint Col. Clark, that 
 he and his garrison are not to be awed into any action 
 unworty of British subjects." 
 
 The attack was renewed. About midnight before, Clark 
 had cut a ditch near the fort, and in it his riflemen had a 
 secure shelter from the guns of the fort. They poured in an 
 incessant fire thro the port-holes, and silenced two pieces of 
 artillery in fifteen minutes. Every gunner who approached 
 the cannon at the port-holes was instantly killed or driven 
 back from the guns horror-stricken. 
 
 This terrible and incessant fire for eighteen hours made the 
 garrison believe that they would all be destroyed. To avoid 
 this catastrophe, Gov. Hamilton sent the following communi- 
 cation to Clark: 
 
 "Governor Hamilton proposes to Col. Clark a truce for 
 three days, during which time he promises that there shall be 
 no defensive works carried on in the garrison, on condition that 
 Col. Clark will observe on his part a like cessation of offensive 
 works; that is, he wishes to confer with Col. Clark as soon as 
 can be, and promises that whatever may pass between them 
 two and another person, mutually agreed on to be present, 
 shall remain secret until matters be finished as he wishes, 
 whatever the result of the conference may be, it may tend to- 
 the honor and credit of each party. If Col. Clark makes a 
 difficulty of coming into the fort, Lieut. -Gov. Hamilton will 
 speak to him by the gate. 
 
 "February 24th, 1779. HENRY HAMILTON." 
 
 To this address Clark sent the following reply: 
 
 "Col. Clark's compliments to Gov. Hamilton, and begs leave 
 to say that he will not agree to any terms other than Mr. 
 Hamilton surrendering Jiimsclf and garrison prisoners at discre- 
 tion. If Mr. Hamilton wants to taik with Col. Clark, he will 
 meet him at the church with Capt. Helm."
 
 106 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 A conference was held between Clark and Hamilton. A 
 surrender was demanded by Clark, or otherwise, he threatened 
 a massacre of the leaders in the fort for the gold given for 
 American scalps. Clark was in earnest, and so the garrison 
 believed. 
 
 In one hour, Clark dictated the following terms: 
 
 "ist. Lieut.-Gov. Hamilton agrees to deliver up to Col. 
 Clark, Fort Sackville and all the stores, etc., etc. 
 
 "2d. The garrison are to deliver themselves as prisoners of 
 war, and march out with their arms and accoutrements. 
 
 "3d. The garrison to be delivered up tomorrow at ten 
 o'clock. 
 
 "4th. Three days are allowed the garrison to settle their 
 accounts with the inhabitants and traders. 
 
 "5th. The officers of the garrison are to be allowed their 
 necessary baggage. 
 
 "Signed at Post St. Vincennes, this 24th day of February, 
 1779; agreed to for the following reasons: ist. Remoteness 
 from succor. 2d. The state and quantity of provisions. 3d. 
 The unanimity of the officers and men in its expediency. 4th. 
 The honorable terms allowed; and, lastly, the confidence in a 
 generous enemy. 
 
 "HENRY HAMILTON, Lieut.-Gov. and Superin't." 
 
 On the 25th February, under this arrangement, the fort was 
 surrendered to Clark, and all the arms and public stores of the 
 fort amounting to fifty' thousand dollars or more. Seventy- 
 nine prisoners were sent off on parole to Detroit, and Col. 
 Hamilton and Major Hay with some other officers were sent 
 with a strong guard to the capital of Virginia. 
 
 During the attack on the fort the second day, a war-party of 
 Indians, ignorant of the presence of Clark, arrived at Vin- 
 cennes from an excursion to the frontiers of Kentucky, bring- 
 ing with them two white prisoners, and camped in the vicinity 
 of the fort. Clark sent out a detachment against them, and in 
 a short time routed the Indians with the loss of nine warriors. 
 The remainder of the Indians, being terrified at the impetu- 
 osity of the Long Knives, were well pleased to get off with 
 their lives. 
 
 Intelligence was received at Vincennes that a large amount
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. IO/ 
 
 of merchandise with an escort of soldiers was on the way for 
 Sackville; Clark, with his usual and unaccountable celerity and 
 sagacity, ordered Helm at the head of sixty men to intercept 
 the convoy and take the goods. In a few days' absence, Helm 
 returned with the escort and goods, amounting to ten thousand 
 pounds, without the loss of a single man. 
 
 Clark organized a government at the Wabash, and returned 
 to Kaskaskia. It was in contemplation to march a military 
 force to Detroit and take it, but it was not carried out. 
 
 Clark had treated with a great portion of the Indians in the 
 northwest, and had captured the general of the hair-buying 
 government; so that the Indians after the conquest of Illinois 
 were never so powerful or so hostile as before. The British 
 Government never after this conquest attempted to regain pos- 
 session of the country. Thus terminated one of the most 
 remarkable conquests of a country recorded in history. This 
 small army was provided with nothing to sustain them and 
 guide to victory and honor except the extraordinary talents of 
 the commander. 
 
 John Todd being appointed the commandant of the county 
 of Illinois, arrived at Kaskaskia early in May, and on the 
 1 5th June, 1779, issued a proclamation. He organized courts 
 of justice, and appointed officers, etc., to establish a regular 
 government in the country. On his return thro Kentucky 
 from Virginia, where he had been on public business, he was 
 killed at the battle of the Blue Licks in Kentucky. Another 
 commandant, Timothy Demountbrun, was appointed over the 
 County of Illinois, but what 'he did or when his official duties 
 expired no one at this day knows. 
 
 It is an extraordinary fact, that very few Americans visited 
 Illinois or lived in it before the conquest by Clark. All the 
 intercourse Clark had was with the French, and of them he 
 obtained supplies for his army. Oliver Pollock was a kind of 
 an agent for the Government stationed at New Orleans, to 
 settle and pay drafts sent to him by the officers of the army 
 and others in the West. Clark gave drafts on this agent for 
 the supplies for his army when they were in Illinois; but not 
 many of these orders are paid to this day. 
 
 Virginia had not the means to spare to send either men or
 
 IO8 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 money to Clark to sustain his troops. It is true, the govern- 
 ment of the Old Dominion gave a large grant of land, which 
 is located on the Ohio River opposite the celebrated Corn 
 Island, to Clark and his men. This tract of land amounts to 
 one hundred and fifty thousand acres. 
 
 At the time Clark and his army occupied Illinois, there was 
 very little metallic currency in the country, and bank paper 
 was almost unknown. The currency was more in shaved deer- 
 skins, three pounds for the dollar, than in any other currency. 
 If books were kept in reference to any other currency it was 
 merely nominal, as the exchange of one article for another 
 was the mode of doing business at that day and for many 
 years after. 
 
 The cultivation of the soil gradually diminished, and the 
 French population of Illinois declined from the time the 
 British took possession of the country; yet the French who 
 remained, cultivated the common fields and were also engaged 
 as voyagers and coureurs de bois, as they were designated. 
 
 These early Canadian French were robust, strong men and 
 made excellent boatmen. They were hardy and became accus- 
 tomed to voyaging; so that on a boat to New Orleans or to 
 the Falls of St. Anthony or to the Rocky Mountains they 
 were at home. A great number, forty, fifty or more would 
 embark on a single barge to New Orleans and return with it 
 heavily freighted with southern products and European mer- 
 chandise. 
 
 About the year 1775, Joseph Trotier, an enterprising trader 
 from Canada, settled in Cahokia. He carried on a large com- 
 merce from his village Cahokia to New Orleans. On a 
 voyage from New Orleans to Cahokia in one of his large boats 
 heavily laden, a large cotton-wood tree fell across the boat and 
 destroyed it and the cargo. Such an occurrence was not 
 unfrequent during high water with boats ascending the Missis- 
 sippi. 
 
 The current of the Mississippi was so strong that boats were 
 compelled to run close to the shore, where the current is less 
 forcible. The river, when it was high, frequently washed the 
 sands from under acres of the banks with large trees growing 
 on them, and this land, when undermined, would sink at once
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 109 
 
 into the water with a great noise, which may be heard for 
 miles. It was in one of these slides that Trotier's boat was 
 -destroyed. 
 
 The boatmen had great difficulty in ascending the Missis- 
 sippi, on account of the strong current. It frequently required 
 them four or five months to ascend the river with a large bat- 
 teau from New Orleans to Kaskaskia; and often on the voyage 
 many of the boatmen were swept off by sickness. 
 
 It was not only sickly on a voyage ascending the river in 
 the summer, but it was extreme hard labor to navigate a large 
 vessel against the current of the Mississippi. In the most 
 rapid current the oars would not answer the purpose. In such 
 extraordinary sections of the river a large rope or cordelle was 
 used. One end was fastened to the boat and ten, fifteen, or 
 twenty men, according to the necessity of the case, placed at 
 the other end, towed the boat after them. When the party 
 reached a river or creek entering into the Mississippi, they 
 swam over with the cordelle and towed on the boat. Canoes 
 or skiffs were sometimes used in crossing these intervening 
 streams. In some currents that were very strong, the upper 
 end of the cordelle was fastened to a tree and the other end 
 put round a windlass and thereby the boat was forced up the 
 river against the current. 
 
 These cordelle ropes were frequently very long, measuring 
 five or six hundred yards, and the size in proportion to the 
 boat which was to be towed. 
 
 Every one has witnessed the extraordinary difference in 
 ascending the river between common barges and steamboats. 
 Comfort and even pleasure is enjoyed on a steamer; while 
 excessive labor, tardy progress, and sickness attended the 
 barges in their slow head-way up the river. 
 
 In the first settlement of the country, the inhabitants were 
 in great distress for want of salt; but they discovered in the 
 present county of Gallatin, salt-springs, which were much used 
 by the Indians and French of Vincennes. From the first set- 
 tlement of the Wabash by the French for nearly one hundred 
 years after, much salt was made out of the water of these 
 springs and conveyed to Vincennes. The enterprising and 
 energetic United States Senator Henry Dodge of Iowa and
 
 I 10 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 the French before him made salt at the saline below Ste. Gen- 
 evieve. From these works much salt was conveyed to Illinois. 
 Whether Gen. Dodge manufactured salt or served in the United 
 States Senate, he always deported himself with that dignity 
 and noble bearing that forms the true character of a western 
 pioneer. Mr. Cabanne of St. Louis, another sample of these 
 noble pioneers, made salt at his works west of St. Louis near 
 the Merrimac River. Salt was manufactured here in early 
 Spanish times in Louisiana. 
 
 The city of Nashville, Tennessee, is situated at the site of 
 the salt-works known in the early times as the French Lick. 
 Salt was manufactured and conveyed to Illinois. Salt-water 
 in modern times has been discovered in many places in Illinois. 
 On Big Muddy River, quantities were manufactured by Conrad 
 Will and others. Judge Biggs made salt in Madison County 
 on Silver Creek; and in Bond County on Shoal Creek salt was 
 also manufactured. Gen. Edger owned the works and manu- 
 factured salt many years at a saline in Monroe County at the 
 Mississippi Bluff. 
 
 In Vermilion County salt-water was discovered, and salt 
 manufactured by Mr. Vance. This gentleman bored into the 
 rock for salt-water to the depth of four or five hundred feet. 
 
 It appears that there is salt-water throughout the State of 
 Illinois, and, in fact, all over the western country salt-water 
 has been discovered either in springs or by digging for it; so 
 that this indispensable article may be found in every section of 
 the country. 
 
 The Kannahwa salt-works; the Ohio Saline, situated in Gal- 
 latin County; and the Boone's Lick works, Mo.; in modern 
 times furnished great quantities for the West; but the convey- 
 ance of sea salt from New Orleans being so cheap, and the 
 article being stronger, not so much is manufactured at these 
 works as formerly. Much salt is now conveyed to Chicago 
 from New York. 
 
 In the early settlement of the country, the inhabitants used 
 not much iron. The earth was, for the most part, clear of 
 gravel and rocks; so that the luxury of horse-shoeing was not 
 much indulged in. The plows were almost strangers to iron^ 
 and the carts entirely so. Iron was not much in use, and none 
 made in the country.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 1 1 1 
 
 In very early times, very little intoxicating liquor, if any at 
 all, was introduced into the country. Indian traders may have 
 had small quantities; but so small that it was scarcely noticed. 
 In after-times, a liquor from New Orleans, called Taffia, was 
 brought to Illinois. This was manufactured out of sugar or 
 sugar-cane in the West -India Islands, and resembled New- 
 England rum. Some considerable wine was manufactured out 
 of the native grapes. This wine was made by the first settlers 
 but disappeared with the Europeans. The Creoles made little 
 or none. 
 
 In the middle ages of Illinois, the Monongahela whisky 
 reigned triumphant, and was hailed at shooting-matches and 
 horse-races by many as "the poor man's friend", the "kindest 
 and the best." Yet, in truth, the Illinois people were never in 
 early times intemperate. 
 
 In the pioneer times of Illinois, the mechanic arts did not 
 flourish. Mason work of that day was good; but of the rest 
 I can say nothing in praise of them. The cooperage of the 
 country amounted to very little more than making well- 
 buckets. The carpenters were unskilful in their profession. 
 They framed houses and covered them with peg shingles; 
 made batton-doors, etc., in a rough fashion. No shoemakers 
 or tanners; but all dressed deer-skins and made moccasons. 
 Almost every inhabitant manufactured his own cart and plow, 
 and made his harness, traces, and all out of raw-hide. Black- 
 smith's-shops were like iron scarce. Altho the citizens had 
 cattle, yet scarcely any butter or cheese was ever seen in the 
 country. In fact, neither male or female worked much; but 
 the females assumed their prerogative of doing less than the 
 males. There was neither spinning-wheels nor looms in the 
 land. It must be awarded to the French, and particularly to 
 the ladies, that they expended much labor and showed much 
 taste in making nice gardens. They received not only much 
 profit and comfort of living out of their gardens, but they also 
 enjoyed the pleasure of rearing and seeing the beautiful plants 
 and flowers growing in their gardens, which is so congenial to 
 French taste. 
 
 The invading army under Col. Clark was made acquainted 
 with the fertility and advantages of Illinois, which caused 
 many of his men and others to settle in the country.
 
 112 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 It was the war with Great Britain in 1812, that gave Illinois 
 a modern notoriety. The troops from Kentucky and the West, 
 seeing the northern section of Illinois, reported the advantages 
 of the country, which caused it to settle. Clark's campaign 
 made the country known and thereby it was settled. 
 
 I can not agree with the generality of mankind, that war is a 
 great scourge and curse on mankind. If a war is carried on 
 without its being based on some proper and just principle, it is 
 a curse; but this is not often the case in these modern days. 
 
 I consider that the war of the American Revolution was ser- 
 viceable to the whole human family. The result of this war 
 was the first practical demonstration that man is capable of 
 self-government. The free institutions of America, which are 
 the fruit of the Revolution, will have a tendency to liberate all 
 people who are oppressed by an arbitrary government. In this 
 view, the Revolutionary War was the best and most holy that 
 ever existed; and is a blessing to all mankind. 
 
 The wars of the crusades done good to Europe. This is the 
 decision of the best and wisest of men. The revolutionary war 
 of France, altho much blood was shed, yet it was serviceable to 
 the world. It made the people know their rights, power, and 
 importance. And the campaign of Col. Clark not only made 
 known this country to the colonies, but the conquest of Illinois 
 figured strong in our favor in making the treaty of 1783 with 
 Great Britain. 
 
 It was during the Revolution, while the colonies were strug- 
 gling for their independence, and the whole country in arms, 
 one against the other, that a small band of enterprising emi- 
 grants from the colonies settled in Illinois in the year 1781. 
 At this early period, and while no one knew in traveling whether 
 he would fall into the hands of a friend or foe, James Moore, 
 Shadrach Bond, Robert Kidd, Larken Rutherford, and James 
 Garrison decided to make Illinois their homes. This small 
 party crossed the Alleghany Mountains, descended the Ohio, 
 and stemmed the current of the Mississippi to Kaskaskia. The 
 emigration of these pioneers was also during a bloody Indian 
 war. This party was for peace and for the settlement of the 
 country, having with them their women and children; so that 
 they were not armed and prepared for war as a military expedi-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 113 
 
 tion would be. It is therefore extraordinary that this small 
 party of emigrants could escape all the dangers of the Revolu- 
 tion and Indian hostilities and reach Illinois in safety. It would 
 seem that Providence was fostering this infant settlement in 
 Illinois. 
 
 James Moore was the leader of the party, and was a native 
 of Maryland. Kidd and Rutherford had been soldiers under 
 Col. Clark. Bond was also a native of Maryland, and raised 
 near Baltimore, until he made the Far-west his home. Gar- 
 rison, Moore, and Rutherford located* themselves near the Belle- 
 fontaine in the present county of Monroe, while Bond, Kidd, 
 and Garrison settled in the Mississippi Bottom. 
 
 These American families settling in the Mississippi lowland, 
 gave the name of American Bottom to the alluvial land of the 
 river from Alton to the mouth of the Kaskaskia River. This 
 is perhaps the largest and most fertile body of alluvial soil in 
 the United States. Some of it has been cultivated for more 
 than one hundred and fifty years without improvement of the 
 soil, and it yet yields excellent crops. Almost all the early 
 French settlements were made in it, and when it is drained of 
 some lakes and ponds it will be the largest tract of land of the 
 same fertility in North America. 
 
 The river at times not frequent inundates the American Bot- 
 tom. The first notice history gives us of a great rise of water 
 in the Mississippi was in the year 1770. That year the water 
 encroached on the banks of the river opposite Fort Chartres, 
 erected in 1718. At that time the river was three-fourths of a 
 mile from it; but continued to advance on the fort until the 
 year 1772, when the bottom was inundated and one of the walls 
 of the fort washed down. The next extraordinary freshet in 
 the riyer was in the year 1784, this was a deep inundation of 
 the bottom. The inhabitants of Kaskaskia made a temporary 
 encampment on the high land east of the town and some of 
 them cultivated land on the hills that year. The same of the 
 Cahokia people. Many of them retired to the rocky bluff, 
 southeast of Cahokia for relief during the high water and called 
 it Bon Succour. Others went to St. Louis. The next very high 
 water in the American Bottom was in the year 1844. Large 
 steamboats in this flood sailed from bluff to bluff. This rise of
 
 114 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 water did great damage to property in the bottom, and almost 
 destroyed the villages of Cahokia, Prairie du Pont, Prairie du 
 Rocher, and Kaskaskia. These villages have not recovered 
 from the injury of the floods of 1844. The past year, 1851, 
 the bottom was again flooded and much damage done to the 
 real and personal property. This rise of water was not so high 
 as either that of 1784 or 1844. A considerable flood occurred 
 in the bottom in 1826; but not to compare with those men- 
 tioned above. 
 
 The first site at which Moore made his resting-place was not 
 far southwest of the present town of Waterloo at a spring called 
 to this day Slab Spring. 
 
 Bond, Garrison, and Kidd made a settlement in the bottom 
 known at that day as the Block-House Fort. 
 
 Not long after the arrival of James Moore, he was employed 
 by Gabriel Cere, a wealthy merchant of St. Louis, to take goods 
 and trade with the Indians in the western part of Tennessee. 
 
 Mr. Moore continued in this trade with the southern Indians 
 for many years, and made his general headquarters at the site 
 the city of Nashville occupies at this time, called then the French 
 Licks. 
 
 Mr. Moore had a large family whose descendants in Illinois 
 are both numerous and respectable. The same may be said of 
 the other early emigrants, only, perhaps, their offsprings are not 
 so numerous. 
 
 Mr. Bond numbered many years before his death. As he 
 advanced in age, his excellent traits of character became more 
 and more known to the people, and the more was his character 
 esteemed. He was often elected to the legislature of both Ter- 
 ritories of Indiana and the Northwestern Territory. He was in 
 (A the legislature at Cincinnati, September, 179^. He was, a jus- 
 tice of the Court of Common Pleas of St. Clair County for 
 many years together and was always held in high estimation by 
 the people. Judge Bond in his neighborhood possessed a stand- 
 ing for integrity and honesty that could not be surpassed. In 
 his younger days, as most others did, he hunted part of his 
 time and was considered an excellent woodsman. He was no" 
 ambitious for wealth and when he acted for the public it was t 
 accommodate them, not himself.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 115 
 
 He possessed a strong mind and an excellent heart. He had 
 a very limited education ; but nature supplied all the omissions 
 of education and made him a most worthy character. 
 
 James Garrison was almost *fac-simile of Judge Bond except 
 he always successfully refused office. He was an honest, upright 
 citizen and an excellent soldier; as that part of his character 
 was frequently put to the test in the many Indian skirmishes he 
 and others of the emigrants had with the hostile Indians. He 
 lived and died in the American Bottom where he left a posterity 
 of very exemplary citizens. 
 
 Robert Kidd continued his residence in the American Bottom 
 until his death. He lived for many years on a mound in the 
 American Bottom near Fort Chartres. He was a good citizen, 
 quiet and domestic. He raised a family of children; some of 
 whom are now alive and are like their father, worthy and 
 respectable. Mr. Kidd was a farmer and lived a long life to 
 enjoy the country he assisted to conquer under Col. Clark. He 
 died in 1849, at his residence in the Bottom in Monroe County, 
 numbering more than four score years. 
 
 Larken Rutherford was also one of Col. Clark's valiant men 
 that aided in the conquest of Illinois. He was large and 
 athletic, bold and fearless. He was in his decline of years a 
 member of the regular Baptist Church, and exercised the same 
 energy and zeal in this avocation as he did with the rifle in 
 storming Fort Sackville.in 1779. In the organization and gov- 
 ernment of the church Mr. Rutherford was not a dormant 
 member but up and active in the work, whether the job was 
 difficult or not. He was in his church like he was in the army, 
 ready at any moment for mortal combat. He was honest but 
 rather inclined to a vigorous observance of his duties, and a 
 trouble in the clerical camp if the others did riot come to the 
 . exact point as he did. He was a farmer in the county of St. 
 Clair and resided for many years not far north of the present 
 city of Belleville. 
 
 About this time, 1781, and from the time Col. Clark first 
 came to the country, which was about four years before, private 
 individuals and families emigrated to Kaskaskia and many of 
 them permanently remained there. Kaskaskia was the metro- 
 polis of the country while the French and British possessed it,
 
 Il6 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 and it continued the same under the American government 
 until 1819. The seat of government of Illinois soon after this 
 date was established at Vandalia. 
 
 John Edgar, during the American Revolution, left the naval 
 service of Great Britain in 1776, came to the United Colonies, 
 and arrived at Kaskaskia in 1784. He had command of a 
 vessel on the lakes, but he resigned all for liberty and confided 
 his life to the American cause. This was quite natural- and 
 honorable to him. He was a native of Ireland and a gentleman 
 of liberal education. His heart burned for freedom, and he was 
 born and educated with an intense hatred to Great Britain. 
 
 He was intelligent and felt with a keen sensibility the heart- 
 less despotism exercised by Great Britain over his native land. 
 He was found in the British service when the colonies raised 
 the standard of freedom and independence. What was he to 
 do? He could not with a clear conscience fight for a country 
 that in his heart he despised ; and against a people he admired 
 and loved. The decision was easily made and he became a 
 citizen of the United States. He emigrated to Kaskaskia with 
 a large stock of goods suitable to the market, and remained 
 there till his death which occurred in 1832. He lived in Kas- 
 kaskia for at least half a century and during all that time sus- 
 tained a very conspicuous and honorable character. 
 
 He came to the country wealthy, and shared it out among 
 the people with unbounded hospitality. He possessed in an 
 eminent degree the kind and benevolent heart of an Irish gen- 
 tleman; and with his wealth and benevolent disposition it 
 afforded him happiness to make all around him happy. He 
 was in his younger days an active business man, and was 
 largely engaged in the land trade. In very early times, he 
 erected at great expense, a fine flouring-mill on the same site 
 where M. Paget had built one sixty years before. This mill 
 was a great benefit to the public and also profitable to the pro- 
 prietor. Before the year 1800, this mill manufactured great 
 quantities of flour for the New-Orleans market which would 
 compare well with the Atlantic flour. 
 
 Gen. Edgar was the owner of a splendid mansion in Kaskas- 
 kia, and in it, on all occasions, the traveler and stranger found a 
 hearty welcome. No one ever displayed more real hospitality
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. I I/ 
 
 than he did in his house. Hospitality was the common custom 
 of the country; but he improved on it. This agreeable dwell- 
 ing was the fashionable resort for almost half a century; and 
 many yet alive can testify to the comforts and kind treatment 
 they have enjoyed under his hospitable roof. 
 
 For many years he was the most wealthy man in Illinois. 
 He held real estate throughout the country, and paid more 
 taxes than any other person at one time in the territory. With 
 all this wealth and influence, he was kind and benevolent to the 
 poor; nor did it ever change his deportment from an American 
 gentleman. He enjoyed the confidence of the public, and was, 
 when in active life, very popular. He was elected from Illinois 
 a member of the legislature of the Northwestern Territory. 
 This General Assembly convened at Chilicothe, Ohio; and was 
 held under the administration of Arthur St. Clair, governor of 
 the Northwestern Territory. 
 
 Gen. Edgar acted as justice -of- the -peace and judge of the 
 Court of Common Pleas for a long series of years and gave 
 general satisfaction. He had never made the profession of the 
 law his particular study; but common sense, a good education, 
 and experience in business with perfect honesty made him a 
 very respectable officer. The United States appointed him 
 major-general over the Illinois militia, and he reviewed the 
 general musters with that dignity that became his high station. 
 And when his years were almost numbered, the general assembly 
 of Illinois named in honor of him a county. Edgar County on 
 the east side of the State is one of the first counties in the 
 VVabash Valley. 
 
 Gen. Edgar in person was large and portly. In his youth he 
 was active, and was always in both youth and age an accom- 
 plished gentleman. He possessed a well-balanced mind; no 
 one trait prevailing over the others except his benevolence. 
 This quality was predominant, which was exhibited hi him 
 throughout a long and eventful life. His dust is mixed with 
 his mother-earth at Kaskaskia, where the people will long 
 remember Gen. Edgar with love and gratitude. He had a wife 
 but no children. And altho he was accused of many gallant- 
 ries with the ladies, yet he died without issue. Gen. Edgar well 
 sustained the honorable character of a pioneer. He possessed
 
 Il8 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 many of the qualities that adorn the human race, with very few 
 that are condemned. He died as he lived, "the noblest work 
 of God." 
 
 The treaty of peace between the United States and Great 
 Britain made in 1783 had a great effect in advancing the emi- 
 gration to Illinois. 
 
 The acknowledged Independence of the United States by 
 Great Britain gave the whole country, Illinois included, a fixed 
 character and standing at home and abroad. This was a great 
 inducement to emigration. 
 
 In fact, the American Revolution is an event so interesting 
 to the whole people that it had a great influence on Illinois as 
 well as on every section of the Union. I shall, therefore, give 
 the outlines of that extraordinary change of government; be- 
 cause it is connected with the "Pioneer History of Illinois." 
 
 The founders of the Republic of the United States were 
 raised and lived in adversity. The school of adversity made 
 the colonists a great and energetic people, capable of achieving 
 a revolution that has produced more beneficial effects to man- 
 kind than any other recorded in history. 
 
 All men are influenced by surrounding circumstances, and 
 can not avoid it. The various colonies along the Atlantic sea- 
 coast were planted and reared under very adverse circumstances. 
 They had a long series of hardships and perils to encounter. 
 They were annoyed with almost everything that could injure 
 the human family. Indian wars, sickness, famine, and destruc- 
 tion of almost everything that rendered life comfortable were 
 visited on the first settlements of the colonies. This kind of 
 life for several generations together, gave the people of the 
 colonies a decided character of independence and courage. In 
 fact, they possessed all the qualities of mind and body to enable 
 them to accomplish this memorable revolution. 
 
 The very moment the British Parliament infringed on their 
 rights as freemen, they resisted it. It is true, at first they had 
 no idea of freedom and independence of the British crown. 
 They were not, at the commencement, united; and therefore 
 did not know their strength; nor did the parent country know 
 the young lion she was rousing into action. The British Gov- 
 ernment continued their oppression and illegal measures in par-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 119 
 
 liament, until these colonists, who knew their rights and dared 
 maintain them, would not submit any longer. 
 
 The energies and bravery of the colonies were exerted for 
 the mother-country in the French war, so called; which was 
 closed by the treaty of Paris in 1763. In this war the colonies 
 lost twenty-five thousand men and expended their revenues to 
 sustain it until they were reduced to poverty. It was these 
 colonies that wrested the western country and Canada from 
 France, and it enabled them also to conquer their own freedom 
 and independence from the mother-country. 
 
 The British Government being clear of any embarrassment 
 arising from France in the new world, commenced a different 
 policy with the colonies, and in March, 1764, the next year 
 after the treaty of Paris, commenced the memorable stamp act 
 and similar oppressive measures. The Government of Great 
 Britain decided to raise a revenue from the colonies without 
 them being represented in parliament. This measure violated 
 that fundamental principle, that taxation and representation 
 must go together, and the Americans resisted it with all their 
 energies. 
 
 The colonies from the beginning established for themselves 
 in each province a legislative assembly. These assemblies were 
 the great means of achieving the freedom and independence of 
 America; and for ten years these assemblies and the people 
 continued a political warfare with Great Britain, one party con- 
 tending [for despotism and the other for the rights and privi- 
 leges of other Britons. It was at last recommended by the 
 people and adopted that a general assembly or continental con- 
 gress of all the colonies should convene at Philadelphia. The 
 object of this congress and their constituents was not indepen- 
 dence; but to petition the Government of Great Britain for a 
 redress of their grievances. No one in that body thought of 
 independence. 
 
 This continental congress, the first ever convened in America, 
 met in Philadelphia on the 5th Sept., 1774. This assembly 
 contained some of the greatest men that ever figured in the 
 actions of men. In it there were a few above fifty members, 
 elected from the different colonies. Peyton Randolph was 
 elected president and Charles Thompson secretary. In this
 
 120 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 assembly were George Washington, John Adams, Roger Sher- 
 man, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, Edward 
 Pendleton, John Jay, Silas Deane, John Rutledge, Sam'l Adams, 
 Thomas Mcfceon, and a host of others of equal merit and noto- 
 riety all known to fame. 
 
 This congress was composed of not only great men, but also' 
 of moral, pious men. On the 6th September, it was 
 
 "Resolved, That the Reverend Mr. Duche be desired to open 
 the congress tomorrow morning with prayers at the Carpenter's 
 Hall at nine o'clock." 
 
 "WEDNESDAY, September 7, 1774, 9 o'clock a.m. 
 "Agreeable to the resolve of yesterday, the meeting was 
 opened with prayers by the Rev. Mr. Duche. 
 
 "Voted, That the thanks of the Congress be given to Mr. 
 Duche by Messrs. Gushing and Ward for the performance of 
 divine service and for the excellent prayer which he composed 
 and delivered on the occasion." 
 
 These proceedings prove that this assembly entertained the 
 proper respect for morality and religion ; and they also estab- 
 lished the fact that they were much pleased with the prayer of 
 Mr. Duche. 
 
 This congress made a short session. They petitioned the 
 crown for the redress of grievances and made an address to the 
 people of the colonies. They also recommended the meeting 
 of another congress. 
 
 The following is the census of the colonies, in Sept., 1774: 
 
 SOULS. 
 
 Massachusetts, 400,000 
 
 New Hampshire, - 150,000 
 
 Rhode Island, 95,678 
 
 Connecticut, - 192,000 
 
 New York, 250,000 
 
 New Jersey, - - 130,000 
 
 Pennsylvania (including lower counties), 320,000 
 Virginia, - 650 ooo 
 
 N. Carolina, - 300,000 
 
 S. Carolina, 225,000 
 
 Total, - - - 3,025,678
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 121 
 
 I presume the above census included the colored population 
 as well as white. It may be presumed that the above- census 
 is, at least, not low, but, perhaps, enlarged to some extent. It 
 appears from the proceedings of this congress that Georgia 
 took no part in the movement. 
 
 Another continental congress convened at Philadelphia on 
 the 5th of September, 1775, but not a sufficient number of 
 members to do business were in attendance. They adjourned 
 to the 1 3th. To this congress Georgia sent members. This 
 assembly also contained great and wise statesmen. Gen. Wash- 
 ington had been appointed by the previous congress to be 
 "commander-in-chief of all the troops raised" and "to be raised 
 in North America," but the great philosopher and statesman, 
 Thomas Jefferson, was returned in his place. Washington was 
 appointed to the command of the army on the loth May, 1775. 
 
 The contention between Great Britain and her colonies was 
 so much widened toward the close of the year 1775, that every 
 discerning man in America saw at once that the case was inde- 
 pendence of Great Britain or a slavish subjection to her des- 
 potism. This congress was occupied in preparing the country 
 for defence, rather than presenting petitions to the king. 
 
 This assembly voted to raise twenty thousand troops for 
 defence and three millions of dollars with which to prosecute 
 the war. The nation was preparing for the terrible conflict to 
 be freemen or slaves, and this to be decided by the force of 
 arms. 
 
 This congress adjourned, and the most memorable assem- 
 blage of men that perhaps ever existed convened at Philadel- 
 phia in the year 1776. This year is so intimately connected 
 with liberty that it will be respected and admired so long as 
 liberty and freedom exist on earth. Thomas Jefferson, a mem- 
 ber from Virginia whose extraordinary fame and character is 
 known all over the earth, drafted the celebrated Declaration of 
 Independence, and on the 4th July, 1776, it passed the con- 
 gress and was signed by all the members. This declaration 
 with the force of arms made the colonies a free nation. 
 
 After a most bitter struggle of seven years, Great Britain 
 acknowledged the independence of the United States and 
 agreed to the treaty of peace, signed at Paris Sept. 3d, 1783.
 
 122 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 During the Revolutionary War, a most singular character 
 arose, whose actions were excessively bold and energetic. 
 Paulette Maillet, which is pronounced Mia, was born at Macki- 
 nac, in the year 1753, of French parents, and, like Othello, 
 from his tender years he "used his dearest action in the tented 
 field," and he knew little of the world, "except what pertains 
 to feats and broil of battle." He was an Indian trader, and 
 roamed over the country toward the sources of the Mississippi 
 and the Rocky Mountains. He was raised and lived out of 
 the pale of civilization. He possessed an extraordinary strong 
 mind and a kind of singular ferocity of courage. 
 
 He founded, in the year 1778, the new town of Peoria which 
 occupied the site of the present city of that name. The old 
 village was a mile and a-half up the lake from the present city. 
 This new village was often called Le Ville a Maillet. The 
 Indian traders and others settled around Maillet and made a 
 village at the outlet of the lake. 
 
 He heard of the defeat of Thomas Brady of Cahokia by 
 the British and Indians, in the fall of the year 1777, at St. 
 Joseph on the east side of Lake Michigan and was determined 
 to avenge it. He had relatives and acquaintances in the expe- 
 dition conducted by Brady, and some of them were killed, 
 which roused him into a great rage to have satisfaction. The 
 next year, 1778, Maillet called on his legions, who were always 
 ready to serve him, for support to take the British fort at St. 
 Joseph and to revenge the death of his friends. This was not 
 made in vain. About three hundred warriors, white, mixed, 
 and red, assembled under his standard. In this corps were 
 many of the most respectable citizens who marched with Mail- 
 let for the relief of their countrymen, who were taken pris- 
 oners the previous year while under the command of Brady. 
 
 The Indians joined the expedition for plunder and friendship 
 for Maillet. They started from Peoria and marched on foot 
 to St. Joseph. On the march in the hot prairies, exhausted 
 with fatigue and not much to eat, one of Maillet's men, M. 
 Amlin, gave out and was unable to travel. Maillet had no 
 time to spare, and no provisions except a scanty supply of 
 dried meat packed on their backs, and if the British garrison 
 knew of their approach their defeat was certain. This great
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 123 
 
 savage warrior coolly and deliberately took his tomahawk and 
 sunk it deep into the brains of the exhausted soldier. This 
 was savage and ferocious; there is some palliation for it but 
 no justification. The object of the expedition would be 
 defeated if the utmost secrecy and celerity were not practised. 
 If the sick man was left he might perish or give notice of the 
 campaign. Maillet may have performed this act to impress 
 his followers with fear and dread of him. He had with him 
 rather a piratical crew, and if severe and decisive measures 
 were not practised on them, the expedition must have failed. 
 It was a bold and decisive stroke that few men would have the 
 nerve to perform. 
 
 After this decisive act, Maillet's men marched under his 
 standard with vigor; and they fought the British garrison like 
 tigers. They captured the fort altho defended by British 
 troops and cannon. The party took all the stores of the 
 Indian goods, whfch amounted to fifty thousand dollars; they 
 permitted the British to retire to Canada in peace. The 
 wounded men of Brady's party were safely returned to Caho- 
 kia and thus the expedition of Maillet ended. 
 
 Maillet was of a strange composition and had a strong, 
 uncultivated mind; but a great preponderance of courage and 
 savage combativeness. He at last lost his life by this trait of 
 character. In Peoria, in the year 1805, he had an affray with 
 a Frenchman called Senegal. Maillet, still accustomed to use 
 violence to obtain victory, was shot dead by Senegal. 
 
 Another singular character arose above the horizon in Illi- 
 nois in the year 1779. Dominique Ducharme was a Canadian 
 and an Indian trader. He was another of this class of North- 
 western traders who possessed great talents, extraordinary 
 energy, and indomitable courage. He lived at intervals in 
 Cahokia and had a brother residing there. Ducharme was 
 habituated to the savage life and had unbounded influence 
 over the Indians from Lake Superior to the Falls t>f St. An- 
 thony, and down toward the Illinois River. He obtained a 
 supply of Indian goods at Mackinac, and contrary to Spanish 
 regulations, he entered the Missouri River to trade with the 
 natives in the Spanish dominions. He had proceeded up the 
 Missouri some distance, when a party of Spanish soldiers from
 
 124 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 St. Louis with an officer in a barge overtook them and capt- 
 ured his boat, goods, and all except himself. He made his 
 escape with only his gun and his life. 
 
 St. Louis was the Spanish post from which the armament 
 proceeded that captured Ducharme's boat and merchandise. 
 This made him swear vengeance against this post. All w r inter 
 he was active in raising his savage friends for an attack on St. 
 Louis. His war-whoop was heard from Lake Superior to the 
 Falls of St. Anthony, and down to Rock River, and fifteen 
 hundred warriors responded to the call. The British garrison 
 at Mackinac furnished a few regular soldiers and some Cana- 
 dians to join Ducharme. 
 
 With these forces Ducharme made arrangements to capture 
 St. Louis on the 26th of May, 1780. He made the assault, 
 and killing as many as appeased his wrath, he withdrew his 
 red warriors and abandoned the massacre. It is said that 
 when Ducharme and his Indians saw many of their old friends 
 dead, their anger turned into sorrow and they withdrew to 
 their wigwams in the North. The year of this attack on St. 
 Louis, 1780, was known afterward as "L'anne u'u coup!" 
 
 It is astonishing the great influence Ducharme had over the 
 Indians. The British joined in, as Spain and Great Britain 
 were then at war; but the British acted a subordinate part to 
 Ducharme in this matter. It was Ducharme's campaign, not 
 the British. 
 
 In the fall of 1780, La Balme, a native of France, organized 
 an expedition from Kaskaskia to capture Detroit. He marched 
 from Kaskaskia with twenty or thirty men; at Vincennes they 
 engaged a few more. He moved up the Wabash to the British 
 trading-post, Ke-ki-ong-a, at the head of the Maumee, and 
 destroyed the place. After securing the plunder, he marched 
 to the river Aboite, and while encamped, a party of Miami 
 Indians attacked his troops in the night and killed him and 
 dispersed the balance. 
 
 The expedition must have been rather of the privateering 
 order than regular war. The celebrated Col. Clark was on 
 the Mississippi, perhaps at Fort Jefferson now the Iron 
 Banks at the time when La Balme organized his party to 
 capture Detroit, and if a regular campaign had been on hand 
 Clark would have been its leader.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 12$ 
 
 Thomas Hughes from the western part of Pennsylvania, 
 visited Illinois in the year 1783 to settle in the country. He 
 made a tomahawk improvement on Nine-mile Creek in the 
 present county of Randolph. He returned for his family the 
 next year, and on the Ohio River near Fort Massac, where 
 they landed for the night, the Indians attacked the boat, killed 
 Hughes and a sucking child in the arms of its mother, and 
 wounded severely the mother in the shoulder. The rest of 
 the emigrants escaped down the river in the boat to the Iron 
 Banks, not being able to stem the current of the Mississippi 
 to Kaskaskia. This defeat interrupted the emigration of this 
 family for many years; but in the year 1797, the surviving 
 children of Hughes, together with the widow and her second 
 husband, Pillars, as she had married again, moved to the coun- 
 try and located in Randolph County where many of their 
 descendants reside at this day. The child spoken of above 
 was shot thro the head and its brains scattered over the 
 mother's breast. Such is the barbarity of Indian warfare. 
 
 It has been stated that the French population of Illinois 
 commenced to decline from the conquest of the country by 
 the British in the year 1763, and the villages of Fort Char- 
 tres and St. Philip were at this time, 1783, rapidly declining. 
 After the year 1800, not a French family resided in either of 
 them. The other French villages of Illinois are fast verging 
 to the same fate of their extinct neighbors. Mr. Everett was 
 the only inhabitant of the village of St. Philip in 1803. It is 
 almost impossible to give a satisfactory reason for the decline 
 and fall of these French villages in Illinois. 
 
 Both the Government of Great Britain and the United 
 States that had dominion over the country, permitted the 
 French inhabitants a free toleration of their religion and 
 allowed them all the rights and privileges of other citizens. 
 And, moreover, grants of land were given to them that were 
 denied to Americans who settled in the country after the year 
 1788. The French settlers enjoyed the first selections of the 
 lands in the country, and with all these advantages that popu- 
 lation has in all the settlements declined, and in some locali- 
 ties none at all exist where once were populous villages. The 
 French population will not reside on farms, each family to
 
 126 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 itself, like the Americans. They always live in villages where 
 they may enjoy their social pleasure. The church also induces 
 them to settle near it in villages. In these villages the inhabi- 
 tants can not farm to the same advantage as those living on 
 separate plantations. The French also neglected to educate 
 their children. This is another heavy drawback against them. 
 It seems that the Creole French do not possess that indomit- 
 able energy of character that the Americans so eminently 
 enjoy. The masses of the French are unambitious of wealth 
 or office. They are innocent and honest, and care but little 
 for the future if the present is prosperous and happy. They 
 do not trouble themselves with that restless ambition to obtain 
 wealth and power that frequently renders the American popu- 
 lation extremely unhappy. This course of conduct and life 
 will, of necessity, make one class of people outreach the other 
 in the race for wealth and worldly advancement. One class of 
 people will be the most efficient and will extend itself through- 
 out the country; while the other race will at least remain sta- 
 tionary or decline in the vicinity of the Americans. Yet it is 
 doubtful which race is the most happy. Excessive, restless, 
 ungovernable ambition, such as actuates the American popula- 
 tion, does not produce happiness while the French are less 
 actuated by ambition and have less energy, they enjoy more 
 of the calm of life and indulge more in the social enjoyments 
 which I believe makes them a happier people than the Ameri- 
 cans; but not so energetic. 
 
 This course of life of the Creole French has almost entirely 
 secured them from any infractions of the penal laws of the 
 country. Very few or none of the Creoles were ever indicted 
 for the crimes the law-books style maluin in se. Not one to 
 my knowledge was ever in the penitentiary for a crime. I 
 believe the records of the courts in Illinois do not exhibit an 
 indictment against a Creole Frenchman for any crime higher 
 than keeping his grocery open on a prohibited day of the 
 week. 
 
 In the year 1782, the Spanish authorities at St. Louis, Upper 
 Louisiana, fitted out an expedition to capture the same British 
 post, St. Joseph, that both Brady and Maillet had before taken, 
 and the same that LaSalle erected in 1679. It i s known that
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. I2/ 
 
 the British Government retained some of the posts in the 
 Northwest after the treaty of 1783 which were within the 
 limits of the United States. This fort was one of them. It 
 will also be recollected that Spain and Great Britain were at 
 war at the time. A company commanded by a Spanish cap- 
 tain with sixty-five men marched from St. Louis across the 
 prairies of Illinois and captured the British garrison at St. 
 Joseph. 
 
 This was a singular expedition not known whether it was 
 against the British or to seize by force of arms some of the 
 western country which the Spaniards laid claim to, as they 
 had assisted the Americans in the Revolution. The court of 
 Spain urged this conquest against the Americans when the 
 Spaniards contended for a part of the western country. The 
 Spanish captain retained possession of the post only for a short 
 time and returned to St. Louis. 
 
 About this time, 1783, Cahokia was the partial residence of 
 many Northwestern Indian traders. Julien Dubuque made it 
 his residence before he established himself on the west side of 
 the Mississippi near the present city of Dubuque. He pur- 
 chased of the Indians the lead-mines to which his name was 
 given, situated on the west side of the Mississippi, 22d Sep- 
 tember, 1788, and on his petition to the Baron de Carondelet 
 at New Orleans on the loth November, 1790, these mines were 
 granted to him. This tract of land extends on the river six 
 leagues and three back. 
 
 Dubuque's grave is about one mile below the city of Du- 
 buque; and was by the Indians held in great veneration while 
 they remained in the country. It was stated by the Indian 
 traders that the Sauk and Fox Indians made it a duty of 
 religion to visit once a year the grave of Dubuque and per- 
 form some religious ceremonies over it. Every visit an Indian 
 made to the grave, he cast a small stone on it in honor of the 
 deceased. The superstition of the Indians made them believe 
 that Dubuque was not entirely dead; but that he would soon 
 be restored to life and be their guide and friend again. 
 
 William Arundel, a merchant from Canada and an Indian 
 trader, resided in Cahokia before the year 1783, and had 
 before that time resided in or near Peoria. He was an
 
 128 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 orderly, moral, correct man and dealt largely in lands. He 
 emigrated from Ireland and had received a liberal education. 
 His handwriting for a long series of years may be seen in the 
 various offices of St. Clair and Randolph counties. He lived 
 to a very old age and died at Kaskaskia in 1816. Thomas 
 Brady and William Arundel were the only two persons who 
 were not French that resided in Cahokia before the year 1788. 
 Thomas Brady lived in Cahokia for many years and was sheriff 
 of St. Clair County under the organization of Gov. St. Clair in 
 the year 1790. He had the reputation of an honest, correct 
 citizen; and I believe he deserved it. 
 
 Capt. McCarty was a citizen of Cahokia and was captain of 
 the French company that joined the standard of Col. Clark in 
 February, 1779, in the Revolution, and endured the fatigues 
 and perils of the campaign to Vincennes thro high water and 
 ice; and almost in a starving condition. He assisted in the 
 conquest of Fort Sackville arid Vincennes, and performed his 
 duty there to the satisfaction of Clark. 
 
 Another McCarty, called English McCarty, built a water- 
 mill on the Cahokia Creek about three-quarters of a mile 
 northeast of the present Illinoistown. He expended much 
 money and time on this mill, and did not obtain any great 
 profit in return. It is impossible to establish on such streams 
 as Cahokia Creek mills that will be profitable to the proprie- 
 tors and serviceable to the public. McCarty's mill was large 
 and did much business at times; but the banks of the creek 
 being so easily washed away, the dam could not be made to 
 stand. The vestages of this mill may yet be seen altho it was 
 built seventy or eighty years since. McCarty obtained an 
 improvement right of four hundred acres of land covering his 
 mill -site which is worth more than ten times as much as his 
 mill ever was. McCarty emigrated to Illinois from Canada 
 and left no heirs in the West to enjoy either the mill or his 
 land. 
 
 About this time, a water-mill was built at the Falling 
 Spring, two miles southeast of Prairie du Pont. The French 
 call this spring L'eau Tomb which gushes out of a perpendic- 
 ular rock of the Mississippi Bluff with a fall of sixty or eighty 
 feet to the bottow below. At times in the spring a great
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 1 29 
 
 quantity of water rushes out of this channel in the rock and 
 the fall of which may be heard for several miles. A mill was 
 constructed at these falls for grinding wheat. A kind of 
 trunk or hollow log conducted the water to the wheel of the 
 mill. This mill was small and at this day not a trace of it 
 remains to be seen. This spring is rather a curiosity and is 
 now made a fashionable watering-place in the hot days of 
 summer. It is a celebrated site of picnic parties, and the 
 young and gay assemble there in the summer to look love at 
 each other. 
 
 The first water-mill erected in this section of the country 
 was that built on Prairie-du-Pont Creek by the Mission of St. 
 Sulpice. This mill was the nucleus around which the village 
 of Prairie du Pont was formed. This mill and settlement 
 must date its commencement about the year 1754. The mill 
 and the plantation of this religious society were in fine repair 
 in 1764, when they sold out to M. Gerardine and left the coun- 
 try on account of the British Government. 
 
 A wind-mill was erected in the prairie, two miles southeast 
 of Cahokia, by the Jesuits in the year 1744, or a short time 
 before. This mill also declined and went to decay about the 
 time that the British took the country and the order of the 
 Jesuits was suppressed. Some of the millstones are yet lying 
 in the prairie where the mill once stood. There is an ancient 
 graveyard near this old mill-site. 
 
 Col. Clark, by order of the executive of Virginia, in the 
 spring of 1780, left Kaskaskia to establish Fort Jefferson at 
 the Iron Banks on the east side of the Ohio River, some dis- 
 tance below the mouth. It became necessary for Col. Clark 
 to leave Fort Jefferson and return direct to Kentucky. This 
 tour he performed on foot with only one man with him, while 
 the Indians were numerous and extremely hostile in the sec- 
 tion of the country thro which he was obliged to travel. He 
 lay by in the daytime, generally, and traveled at night. He 
 packed his gun, provisions, and other articles indispensable for 
 his journey, on his back. Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers 
 were crossed on rafts. When out in the current of these rivers 
 on a raft, he pulled down the stream for a mile or two and 
 then landed. He feared that the Indians seeing him would 
 9
 
 130 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 place themselves at the bank where he would most likely land 
 and destroy him before he could land or see them. By row- 
 ing down the stream, the enemy could not keep pace with him, 
 he being in the current of the river and they on the shore. 
 Thus he saved his life and reached Kentucky in safety. He 
 was appointed by Virginia, brigadier-general and established 
 his headquarters at the Falls of the Ohio. He remained in 
 this office until the close of the Revolutionary War, and was 
 disbanded by his State, because the country was about that 
 time transferred to the general government, and thereby Vir- 
 ginia ceased to have the particular defence of the country from 
 Indian depredations. The whole country, and particularly his 
 native State, awarded to him the greatest honor and thanks 
 for his extraordinary services in the West. 
 
 On the 2d July, 1783, Benjamin Harrison, governor of Vir- 
 ginia, wrote to General Clark a letter from which I give the 
 following extracts: 
 
 "Before I take leave of you, I feel myself called upon, in 
 the most favorable manner, to return to you my thanks and 
 those of my council for the very great and singular service 
 you have rendered your country in wresting so great and valu- 
 able territory out of the hands of the British enemy, repelling 
 the attack of their savage allies, and carrying on a successful 
 war in the heart of their own country. This tribute of praise 
 and thanks so justly due, I am happy to communicate to you 
 as the united voice of the executive." 
 
 On or before the year 1783, there were in Illinois about 
 forty-five improvements made by Americans that entitled the 
 owners to four hundred acres of land under the act of Con- 
 gress passed 1791. This act granted four hundred acres of 
 land to all who made improvements in Illinois prior to the 
 year 1788, except in villages. 
 
 All the American heads of families amounted to seventy- 
 five; and the Americans who resided in the country on or 
 before 1791, who were capable of bearing arms as militia-men, 
 were only sixty- five. All the heads of families in the coun- 
 try, French and Americans, who received donations of four 
 hundred acres of land, were two hundred and forty-four. All 
 the militia-men amounted to about three hundred.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 131 
 
 It is very near correct that the heads of families in Illinois 
 being two hundred and forty-four in the year 1788, because 
 each head of a family received a donation of four hundred 
 acres of land, which would induce them to be recognized 
 before the proper officers to obtain their lands. The public 
 documents of the government state the above number, and by 
 estimating each family at an average to have five members, 
 the whole population of Illinois in the year 1788 would be 
 twelve hundred and twenty souls. It might reach to two 
 thousand by counting transient persons and all others. 
 
 The Indian depredations were severe on the Americans in 
 these early settlements which compelled the inhabitants to 
 erect stations or block-house forts all over the country for 
 their protection. Many of the sites of these stations are 
 almost forgotten at this time. They were important in war 
 times. 
 
 A block-house was erected near Bellefontaine by the first 
 emigrants to that section of Illinois. Another was established 
 in the American Bottom by Bond and his followers at his first 
 residence in the present county of Monroe. Another station 
 was erected by the Flannarys, that was on the main road from 
 Kaskaskia to Cahokia, and known in after-times as Whitesides' 
 Station. Another was built by James Piggot and others, that 
 was situated at the foot of the Mississippi Bluff, where the 
 small creek, the Grand Risseau, so called by the French, south 
 of Columbia, runs thro the bluff, and about one and a-half 
 miles west of Columbia in Monroe County. Capt. Nathaniel 
 Hull erected one including his residence, also at the foot of 
 the Mississippi Bluff in Monroe County about twelve miles 
 southwest of Waterloo and above the Narrows. 
 
 The families of McElmuny and Flannary built a station fort 
 as early as the year 1783, on the Mississippi opposite the Island 
 22 in the present county of Alexander in township 16, south. 
 
 These settlements were composed of hunters who made 
 small improvements. Some of them may have been those 
 who met Col. Clark in the year 1778 near Fort Massac. These 
 inhabitants left the country long before 1800, and scarcely a 
 trace of their settlements could be discovered at this date. 
 Beshears erected a fort in the American Bottom, south of
 
 132 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Bond's, near section 18 in township 3, south range 11, west. 
 Golden erected another in the same neighborhood near sec- 
 tion 24. No traces of these stations are visible at this time. 
 
 A block-house fort was generally a defence against Indian 
 attacks. The lowest order of these forts was a single house, 
 built strong, and a story and a-half or two stories high. The 
 lower story was provided with port-holes to shoot thro, and 
 also with strong puncheon doors, three or four inches thick, 
 with strong bars to prevent the Indians from entering. The 
 second story projected over the first, three or four feet and 
 had holes in the floor, outside the lower story, to shoot down 
 at the Indians attempting to enter. 
 
 A higher grade of pioneer fortifications were four large, 
 strong block-houses fashioned as above and erected at the four 
 corners of a square lot of ground as large as the necessities of 
 the people required. The intervals between these block- 
 houses were filled up with large timbers placed deep in the 
 ground and extending twelve or fifteen feet above the surface. 
 Within these stockades were cabins built for the families to 
 reside in. A well of water or spring was generally found to 
 be necessary in these forts. In dangerous times, so called, the 
 horses were admitted in the forts during the night for safe- 
 keeping. Dogs, cats, etc., as a matter of course, remained 
 with their owners. The cattle and milch cbws were not often 
 admitted. Generally two strong gates were made to these 
 garrisons with bars in proportion to secure the doors against 
 the red-skins. Port-holes were cut in the stockade above the 
 head and platforms raised to stand on to shoot. 
 
 It was never neglected to clear off the timber near these 
 forts or build them in the prairie; so that the enemy might 
 not conceal himself behind the trees, brush, etc. In the morn- 
 ings it was dangerous at times to open these gates and go out. 
 Many times the Indians attacked the milking parties and 
 others first going out of the fort. Sentinels were sometimes 
 kept up all night like a regular garrison. 
 
 Altho this backwoods life made the people friendly as 
 brothers; yet at times the injunction of the Scriptures "to 
 love thy neighbor as thyself" was forgotten. It must be 
 recollected that in these forts the party was not select, as the
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 133 
 
 emigrants occupying the forts came from all parts of the 
 Union and some from Europe; so that a mixture of all sorts 
 was frequently crowded together in these garrisons. Some- 
 times the rights of property were not respected. This was 
 often the ground of quarrels. It must also be recollected that 
 no regular courts of law existed in the country in these times. 
 The mothers of children could not see, as they said, "their 
 children imposed on," and if they possessed red hair and thin 
 lips, generally a battle of words ensued. Sometimes the un- 
 wise and irritable husbands enlisted in these petticoat squab- 
 bles. At times a rude boy would throw clods of dirt into 
 another boy's victuals and then run to his mother for protec- 
 tion, informing her that "the bad boy was just going to whip 
 him;" and the mother, nine times out of ten, believed her dar- 
 ling child. But the most prolific source of trouble in these 
 forts arose out of the violation of the seventh commandment. 
 The territory within the walls of these garrisons was so limited 
 that Venus had no shady groves or sweet-scented bowers in 
 which to open her court; so that her votaries had no suitable 
 shrine in which to adore that godess. Detection suddenly fol- 
 lowed the act and the injured party made the fort resound 
 with fume, froth, and female thunder. For those not particu- 
 larly concerned these love broils were a source of much amuse- 
 ment. Some would remark: "How he run when he saw his 
 wife coming." Others would say: "The lady looked beauti- 
 ful." But the grave old ladies and old aunts with spectacles 
 on would raise their eyes in pious detestation of the crime and 
 exclaim: "Oh! the sins of the world! It is no wonder we 
 have an Indian war upon us." 
 
 These troubles were generally hushed up after the proper 
 amount of female tears were shed and male sorrows displayed 
 by solemn promises made by the husbands "not to do so any 
 more." Then they "kissed and made friends." 
 
 In these forts, like other communities, were frequently excel- 
 lent, moral, pious people; and sermons were often preached 
 in them that would do honor to Christianity in any country. 
 Family worship was kept by some; while dice, cards, or other 
 games for amusement were indulged in by others in the even- 
 ings.
 
 134 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 The most danger was from the Indians when the families 
 left the fort for their homes in the neighborhood. They 
 found their houses, yards, and fields out of repair and the 
 grass grown over the yards; so that all wore a dismal appear- 
 ance; and, perhaps, the blood yet on the floor or yard where a 
 member of the family had been killed by the Indians before 
 they moved into the fort. 
 
 Sometimes these garrisons were attacked by the Indians and 
 then was human thunder displayed in all its various forms and 
 shapes. The Indians yelling, whooping, and firing into the 
 fort from the outside, while the inside was energy and activity 
 in the highest degree. 
 
 The commander, dressed in moccasons and hunting- shirt, 
 with his rifle in hand, gave his orders in such a cool, dignified 
 manner that soon quieted the first uproar of the women and 
 children and placed every soldier at his proper post. Such 
 men as these could not be conquered. Perhaps many of the 
 same men who defended these forts possessed the talents, in 
 peace times, to fill the highest offices in the gift of the people. 
 These trials and dangers developed their minds and educated 
 them to grace the highest stations in the country. 
 
 It is not an idle story that the females in these forts run 
 bullets and did other services in defence of the garrisons in 
 time of Indian attacks. 
 
 By habit and experience in these times of difficulties with 
 the Indians, all the pioneers, male and female, became accus- 
 tomed to the use of the rifle in self-defence; and on many 
 occasions saved themselves and families from destruction by 
 these means. 
 
 About this time, 1788, a singular tragedy occurred at Peoria. 
 An Indian trader, Louis La Vossiere, resided at Peoria and was 
 a singular high-toned Frenchman from France. He was fitted 
 for the ages of chivalry more than for the grovelling times of 
 money-making. The same Paulette Maillet, as he believed, 
 was too well acquainted with his wife, and thereby La Vossiere 
 became diseased of a kind of mania. He was determined to 
 put an end to his existence. That he might do this in an hon- 
 orable, chivalric manner and with his friends, he decided on 
 having a splendid dinner; and when all were in perfect happi-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 135 
 
 ness and being ethereal with wine, to fire a quantity of powder 
 prepared for the purpose in the cellar under the table, and all 
 to go off in a frolic together. 
 
 He prepared the dinner, wine, and powder and called in his 
 friends. The feast for a while went on well. The dinner over 
 and the wine going round in floods, when his guests perceived 
 something strange, and just before the powder was fired off 
 they had retired barely far enough away to save their lives, 
 while La Vossiere was killed by the explosion. He left two 
 children who are yet alive. His widow married her paramour, 
 Maillet, whose fate is before narrated. 
 
 It is the great misfortune of all new countries that there are 
 no means of educating the children. This was the case with 
 Illinois from its earliest settlements by the French and for one 
 hundred years after. The Jesuits at Kaskaskia had some kind 
 of a religious institution of learning established in the year 
 1720, but the children had no schools at ail, or scarcely any, 
 wherein they could receive a common education. It is true, 
 the clergy attended particularly to the learning of the children 
 the catechism and other religious teaching, but not much more 
 was given to the youth of that day. It was not the custom of 
 the times, and thereby this essential ingredient of man's happi- 
 ness was almost entirely neglected. There is much excuse for 
 the omission of schools in early times with the Americans, and 
 almost a justification of it. 
 
 The people were, almost all of them, poor, and the hostile 
 Indians were always pressing danger and death on the frontier 
 settlers. In many instances the school-houses were guarded 
 and the children on going to and returning from school were 
 in danger all the time. Schools to exist under such circum- 
 stances were out of the question. Thus it was, the greater 
 portion of the people raised on the frontiers received no book 
 education. But this defect, to a great degree, was remedied 
 by the circumstances of the country. As it has already been 
 stated that the dangers, perils, and troubles of various kinds 
 which are experienced by pioneers in settling a new country, 
 and that country in a war with the Indians, will develop and 
 improve the mind. The inhabitants must become active and 
 energetic in self-defence. Reflection and action will both be
 
 136 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 forced on the people in such situation, and thus they become 
 wise and energetic men. They can not make a display in 
 literature, but they possess wisdom and practical common- 
 sense which is far preferable. 
 
 The frontier inhabitants raised in adversity have more prac- 
 tical sense than those living in the old settlements. One race 
 have their minds always in action; while the other indulges in 
 a lifeless monotony. 
 
 A mixture of book education and backwoods activity pro- 
 duces the greatest race of men. Education by means of 
 schools or otherwise must be extended to all classes of citizens 
 in this Republic, or otherwise it is impossible to maintain a 
 free government. 
 
 The system of Sunday-schools is among the greatest- dis- 
 coveries of human wisdom. The great man, R. Raikes, who 
 first put this machinery in operation, should be hailed all over 
 the world as "the poor man's friend, the kindest and the best." 
 The children of the wealthy can always obtain an education; 
 but it is the poor and the humble that this system accommo- 
 dates and relieves from ignorance and oppression. The benev- 
 olent and the charitable have the time and power on the Sab- 
 bath to attend in the schools and instruct the children in 
 morality and the Scriptures. Nothing can be so pleasing to 
 the heart of a good man or woman as to instruct the children 
 to pursue that course of life which will make them good and 
 happy. On this earth a more dignified and pleasing sight can 
 not be seen than a talented and accomplished lady having her 
 flock of little girls and boys with her going to the Sunday- 
 school. These groups having with them the sacred writing to 
 teach them happiness here on earth and at the close of life the 
 way to heaven will be ready to open to those that are happy 
 here. 
 
 Sunday-schools must be regulated by wisdom. The proper 
 books and the proper teachers must be provided, or otherwise 
 they will be a curse rather than a blessing to mankind. This 
 is the case with all systems of education or teachings. To 
 educate the heads of children and leave their hearts unin- 
 structed in morality and honesty, is doing mankind an injury 
 and harm. Science and literature without morality and hon-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 137 
 
 esty will be a curse to the human family. Sunday-schools will 
 aid in the education of the heart to a great extent. 
 
 The female children deserve more the attention of the public 
 in theii education than the males. It is the mother who first 
 gives their tender offspring the leading bent of mind. The 
 infant around its mother receives its first impressions.from her, 
 which may govern it thro life. How difficult it is to discard 
 early impressions. If they are good and received from a kind- 
 mother they are calculated to make the person happy thro life. 
 
 The legislature should do something to advance the cause 
 of Sunday-schools. The teachers might be paid, books and 
 rooms provided for the schools at the public expense. No- 
 money could be expended to do as much good, if it were 
 properly applied, as to advance the Sunday-school system. 
 
 James Piggot, John Doyle, Robert Whitehead, and Mr. 
 Bowen were soldiers in the expedition under Colonel Clark in 
 the year 1778, and soon after the campaign settled in Illinois. 
 Doyle had a family and resided in or near Kaskaskia. He 
 was something of a scholar and taught school. He spoke 
 French and Indian and was frequently employed as an inter- 
 preter of those languages into the English. He was unambi- 
 tious and lived and died without much wealth. He was con- 
 sidered an honest man and was always respected while alive 
 as he is now, when dead as one of the brave men who assisted 
 Col. Clark in the conquest of Illinois. 
 
 Bowen and Whitehead were both correct men. Whitehead 
 raised a large family and lived to an advanced age. Bowen 
 lived single and received a pension as a Revolutionary soldier. 
 
 All these soldiers of the Revolution, Biggs, Piggot, Kidd, 
 Rutherford, Doyle, Whitehead, Bowen, and others who aided 
 in the conquest of Illinois under the celebrated Col. Clark, 
 performed services for their country that entitle them to the 
 gratitude and respect of a people who are now enjoying the 
 harvest of their labors. Under any circumstances a brave sol- 
 dier of the Revolution is entitled to much honor and gratitude. 
 The conquest of Illinois under the perilous and dangerous cir- 
 cumstances attending it entitles those brave men who achieved 
 it the highest honor that man can bestow on them. 
 
 During the Revolution, Mr. Huff and family left the Monon- 

 
 138 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 gahela country in Western Pennsylvania for Illinois. He had 
 married a widow Murdoch, who had three sons with the party. 
 This emigrating party was tolerably strong and had prepared 
 and fortified their boat. They started from Red Stone, Old 
 Fort, so called in those days, where the town of Brownsville 
 was built-in the year 1786. On the Mississippi near the Grand 
 Tower, while encamped for the night, the Indians attacked the 
 party and killed Mrs. Huff, one of her sons, and some others. 
 The survivors retreated in the boat and thus saved themselves. 
 Mrs. Huff was mangled in a shocking manner before the eyes 
 of her husband and family. She was cut open and quartered 
 and the Indians drank her blood. This was the reason that 
 her son, John Murdoch, who was a very conspicuous char- 
 acter in the early times of Illinois, swore vengeance against all 
 Indians, and could scarcely be restrained from killing them in 
 time of peace as well as in war. 
 
 The party came on to the American Bottom and settled 
 there. Mr. Huff, only a few years after, was killed by the Ind- 
 ians on the road between Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia. 
 His watch and some other articles were found, many years 
 after, where he had been killed. 
 
 Toward the close of the Revolutionary war, many American 
 families settled in Kaskaskia. Ichabod and George Camp first 
 resided in Kaskaskia, and afterward made improvements on 
 the high land west of the Kaskaskia River, on a stream called 
 Camp's Creek. They afterward moved to St. Louis and resided 
 at what is now called Camp Spring, west of that city. They 
 gave the name to that spring. 
 
 John and Israel Dodge resided in Kaskaskia; so did John 
 Cook and Jacob Judy and their families. 
 
 Israel Dodge was the father of Hon. Henry Dodge,* the pres- 
 
 * Gov. Dodge represented the State of Wisconsin after its admission to the Federal 
 Union, as one of its first senators in congress from 1848-51; at the expiration of the 
 first term he was reelected and served a second term, ending in 1857, when having 
 been continuously in public life for a period of more than fifty years, he retired to a 
 well-deserved rest, making his home with his son, Gen. A. C. Dodge, in Burlington, 
 Iowa, where he departed this life, full of years and honors, June 19, 1867. 
 
 Gen. Augustus C. Dodge, son of Gov. Henry Dodge, had a career of no less 
 interest than that of his honored sire. Born in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, in 1812, he 
 received the best tuition the country afforded, which was but spare. He removed
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 139 
 
 ent senator in congress from the State of Wisconsin. The 
 father had resided at the Iron Banks and was on his way from 
 there by Vincennes to Kentucky, and at Vincennes Henry 
 Dodge was born, in the year 1777. Israel Dodge resided with 
 his family for several years at Kaskaskia, while Henry com- 
 posed part of his family. The Dodge family left Kaskaskia 
 about the year 1790, and resided in upper Louisiana. 
 
 Henry Dodge was raised in a new country, where the oppor- 
 tunities for education were almost entirely denied the children 
 whose fathers had not the means to send them abroad ; and 
 the society, sixty or seventy years ago, about Kaskaskia and 
 Ste. Genevieve, where young Dodge was raised, was not cele- 
 brated for its morality; but Dodge steered clear of the vices 
 
 with his father some years later to the neighborhood of the lead-mines in the territory 
 of Wisconsin, where he remained until 1838, when he settled in what afterward 
 became the State of Iowa, in the City of Burlington. He rendered valuable services 
 in the Black- Hawk War, attaining the rank of brigadier-general. He was the first 
 delegate to represent the territory of Iowa in the United States congress, a position 
 to which he was a second time elected. He was one of Iowa's first United States 
 senators, serving from 1848-55. At the expiration of his term as senator, he was 
 appointed by President Buchanan as minister to the court of Spain. On his return 
 to Burlington from Madrid, he retired to private life and, except serving a few terms 
 as mayor of the city and the filling of a few minor positions of trust, he never again 
 entered the political arena. Gen. Dodge died, universally esteemed and generally 
 regretted by a large circle of personal friends, Nov. 20, 1883. 
 
 P'rom 1848-55, the Dodges, father and son, were members at the same time of 
 the United States senate, a coincidence without a parallel in American history; and 
 the untimely death of Gov. Dodge's half-brother, Dr. Lewis Lynn, before the expira- 
 tion of his term as senator from the State of Missouri, prevented his service in the 
 same senate with the father and son. 
 
 A daughter of Gov. Dodge is also well known in Illinois history. Mary Louise 
 Dodge was married to Col. John Dement at Ft. Leavenworth in 1835, and has been 
 truly one of the pioneer mothers of our State. By the death of her distinguished 
 husband on January 17, 1883, she is left to survive most of her family. Her present 
 residence is in Dixon, Lee County, 111. 
 
 Her son, Hon. Henry Dodge Dement, is the present secretary of state of the State 
 of Illinois, a position he has attained by the exercise of those qualifications of integ- 
 rity, ability, and geniality, which have descended to him from both families of his 
 illustrious ancestry. Mr. Dement has represented his county in the State legislature, 
 and served four years as a senator from his district in the State senate. He also has 
 maintained the fighting reputation of both sides of the house by making a good 
 soldier in the late war, entering the service as a second lieutenant while a mere boy, 
 early in 1861; he was promoted to a first lieutenant shortly afterward; and made an 
 honorable record in one of the veteran regiments of Illinois the Thirteenth Infantry. 
 J. II. G.
 
 140 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 and immoralities so much practised at that time. And 
 altho he had not the opportunity to receive much education 
 inside of a college, yet he studied men and things outside; so 
 that he has acquired a great store of intelligence and informa- 
 tion, which enables him to occupy an elevated and conspicu- 
 ous standing in society. Nature bestowed on him some of her 
 most precious gifts. He possesses a strong and solid judg- 
 ment; but he moves to a conclusion with caution and reaches 
 it with mathematical certainty. His leading traits of char- 
 acter are: a strong intellect, great firmness, and much dignity. 
 Nature designed him for the profession of arms, and he has 
 embraced the military on all fit and appropriate occasions. In 
 his youth he was much engaged in hunting the wild game and 
 often remained in the woods for weeks and months together. 
 On these occasions his apparel corresponded with his vocation, 
 which would make a strong contrast with his present respect- 
 able and dignified appearance in the senate of the United 
 States. Such are the blessings of our free institutions, that 
 merit can rise from the humble h:e of a hunter to the most 
 dignified and elevated stations known to the people. 
 
 In former days, he manufactured great quantities of salt at 
 the works below Ste. Genevieve. He had several hundred 
 laborers in his service, at times working this saline. 
 
 In the late war with Great Britain, he was engaged almost 
 the whole time in the defence of the frontiers. He was elected 
 a general of the militia of Missouri before the war of 1812, 
 which enabled him to keep the militia in a proper organiza- 
 tion for active operations. 
 
 He took command of a battalion of four hundred men, com- 
 posed of United-States rangers, mounted riflemen, and others, 
 with a squad of friendly Shawnee Indians, and removed a band 
 of the Miami Indians from the Boone's-Lick Settlement on the 
 Missouri River to the Wabash. These Indians were made to 
 unite with their own nation on the Wabash, for safe-keeping 
 out of the influence of the hostile Indians in the north. When 
 they resided on the Missouri and professed to be friendly, it 
 gave rise to suspicion that they harbored and sustained the 
 others who were hostile. It was wise and benevolent policy to 
 settle them with their own people on the Wabash ; thereby
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.' 14! 
 
 "keeping them out of temptation." Gen. Dodge performed 
 this delicate service with judgment and discretion. 
 
 He was appointed United- States marshal in the State of 
 Missouri at the first organization of the State government, and 
 continued to execute the duties of that important station for 
 many years. He was punctual, prompt, and decisive in per- 
 forming the duties of this office. 
 
 In 1822, he emigrated from the State of Missouri to the 
 Michigan Territory. He located in that section of the terri- 
 tory north of the State of Illinois which composes the State 
 of Wisconsin at this time. In this new country, he operated 
 in the lead business. A town is called Dodgeville Tor him, in- 
 cluding his residence. 
 
 In the Black-Hawk war, his section of the territory of Wis- 
 consin was very much exposed to the Indian depredations, 
 and he was the main defender and protector of the country, 
 as almost the whole country was a frontier. He organized all 
 the male persons, old and young, that could be raised in the 
 country for the defence of their firesides. After Gen. Still- 
 man's battle on Sycamore Creek, above Dixon's Ferry on Rock 
 River, in 1832, I sent an express at night to Gen. Dodge, who 
 was in the neighborhood, informing him of the facts and that 
 his country in the territory was in imminent danger from the 
 attacks of the Indians. We knew that the hearts of all the 
 Indians, who resided within three hundred miles of the scenes 
 of the Black -Hawk war, were with him in the quarrel and 
 wished him success. 
 
 If Black Hawk had succeeded in some skirmishes, and no 
 efficient efforts been made against him, all the tribes around 
 about would unite with his band and harass the frontiers. To 
 prevent this outbreak of the Indians, it was necessary to act 
 with despatch and efficiency. Gen. Dodge carried out this 
 policy with great activity and spirit. The Indians were pre- 
 vented from joining Black Hawk, and much injury to the 
 country was thereby avoided. 
 
 A bold and decisive battle was fought by Gen. Dodge and 
 fifteen of his men against sixteen Indians. These Indians had 
 committed some murders near Hamilton's Fort, in the terri- 
 tory, and Dodge and party pursued them. There was no time
 
 142 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 to lose, or the Indians would escape. The whites pursued the 
 Indians toward Rock River and overtook them. Dodge and 
 party rushed on them and destroyed every one. He had three 
 or four of his men killed and some wounded. It was neces- 
 sary to make this energetic and decisive attack on the Indians 
 to make them sue for peace. 
 
 In the Black-Hawk war he acquired much reputation ; and 
 at the close of it, was appointed a colonel over a regiment of 
 dragoons. At the head of this regiment, he marched, in the 
 .year 1833, across the plains to the Rocky Mountains, and made 
 several important treaties with the Indians at the mountains 
 and also on* the plains. He returned in the fall with his regi- 
 ment in good order and health. This regiment of dragoons, 
 after being disciplined and inured to service with Col. Dodge 
 at its head, was an efficient corps and would have sustained 
 the honor of the service in any situation on a battle-field or 
 otherwise. 
 
 He was appointed governor of the Wisconsin Territory, and 
 executed the high and responsible duties of that office to the 
 entire satisfaction of both the people of the territory and the 
 general government. He was also superintendent of Indian 
 affairs, which is an office incident to that of the governor. 
 
 This territory was, at that time, surrounded with Indians, 
 which made the office of superintendent one of much delicacy, 
 and required sound judgment to execute it; but he performed 
 the duties of this station to the honor of himself and much to 
 the interest of the people. Gen. Dodge has occupied for many 
 years the high and dignified office of senator in the congress 
 of the United States, and has made an excellent member. He 
 has now before him the experience of a long and eventful life, 
 together with a sound and solid judgment, so that he now 
 makes an efficient, substantial, and dignified member of con- 
 gress. He has a large and respectable family. One of his 
 sons, A. C. Dodge, is in the United-States senate from the 
 State of Iowa. 
 
 William Musick, James Piggot, Robert Sybold, and some 
 few others were inhabitants of Kaskaskia before the close of 
 the Revolution. 
 
 Before the year 1778, many American families made im-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 143 
 
 provements in Illinois, by which they obtained a bounty of 
 land from the government. 
 
 John Montgomery improved that tract of land two or three 
 miles east of Kaskaskia River, Randolph County, on the Vin- 
 cennes old road, where Stace McDonough has since resided 
 for more than half-a-century. Montgomery erected a small 
 water-mill on a spring near his house. The remains of the 
 old dam may be seen to this day, although it must be about 
 seventy years old. 
 
 George Lunsford made an improvement, and by it obtained 
 a grant of land. Henderson, Harniss, Huff, Chaffin, Sybold, 
 and many other Americans with their families resided in Illi- 
 nois and made improvements before the year 1783. 
 
 It will be recollected that Col. John Todd* of Kentucky 
 
 * Col. John Todd, the first of the name to emigrate to Illinois, was a son of David 
 Todd and Hannah Owen, who came from Ireland, where they were married, to the 
 town of Pequea, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, prior to the 1< evolution. David 
 Todd had three sons, John, Robert, and Levi, who were all educated by their uncle, 
 Rev. John Todd, who conducted a literary institution of an educational character in 
 that county. The three brothers emigrated together to Fayette County, Kentucky, 
 in 1778; and shortly afterward, Col. John Todd was commissioned by Patrick Henry, 
 then governor of Virginia, to be lieutenant-colonel and civil commandant of Illinois 
 County, then just authorized by an act of the Virginia assembly, October, 1778. 
 Afterward he organized the new county government, June 15, 1779, and everything 
 was running smoothly when he had occasion to visit Virginia in reference to land- 
 titles, in the summer of 1782, and on his return, while visiting his family in Ken- 
 tucky, the Indian invasion from the western side of the Ohio River occurred, and in 
 a battle which was fought with them at Blue Licks, in which Col. Todd was a volun- 
 teer commander, he was killed, on August 18, 1782. 
 
 Levi Todd, brother to John Todd, was a lieutenant under George Rogers Clark 
 in the expedition which captured Kaskaskia, in 1778, and he returned with the de- 
 tachment which took the British commander, M. Rocheblave, a prisoner to Virginia. 
 He never returned to Illinois, but spent the balance of his life at Lexington, Ken- 
 tucky, where he filled many important^ positions of trust and confidence. Gen. Levi 
 Todd is best known in Illinois by his descendants. His daughter Hannah was mar- 
 ried to Rev. Robert Stuart, a distinguished Presbyterian divine, and former professor 
 of languages in Transylvania University. From this union sprang Hon. John T. 
 Stuart, a distinguished member of the Springfield, 111., bar, the preceptor and after- 
 ward the law-partner of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Gen. Todd's son, Robert S., was the father of Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards, Mrs. Dr. 
 Wm. S. Wallace, Mrs. C. M. Smith, and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, all of whom have 
 lived in this State for many years, and those of the number yet living still reside in 
 Springfield Dr. John Todd, brother to these, emigrated to Edwardsville in 1817, 
 and afterward, in 1827, to Springfield. The numerous descendants of Dr. Todd and
 
 144 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 organized the government of Illinois at Kaskaskia in the year 
 1778, under the jurisdiction of Virginia, and whatever govern- 
 ment the people had, was that established by Col. Todd and 
 Capt. Stirling, when the British conquered the country, in the 
 year 1763. 
 
 The government was very imperfect; but the people needed 
 little or none. Rocheblave was governor when Clark captured 
 the country, and Timothy Demountbrun was the comman- 
 dant when Col. Todd came to Kaskaskia. There was a kind of 
 mixture of the civil and British law in the country, adminis- 
 tered by courts down to 1790, when Gov. St. Clair came to 
 Kaskaskia and set in motion the territorial government under 
 the ordinance or act of congress of 1787. A people, such as 
 those in Illinois were, in sparse settlements, poor and honest, 
 needed very little government. And it is a curse all over the 
 earth that " the people are governed too much." When a 
 people are shackled down with excessive legislation, with char- 
 ters for corporations, and sometimes with a public debt, they 
 are in a humble and degraded condition; and if no other relief 
 can reach them, they should resort to a revolution for it. 
 
 his sisters rank among' the best people, socially and intellectually, 'about the State 
 capital. One of them, Robert Todd Lincoln, being at the present time secretary of 
 war. J. H. G.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Illinois under the Northwest Territory of the Government. 
 
 AFTER the close of the war of the Revolution, the people 
 of the United Colonies were much embarrassed and largely in 
 debt. A seven years' war with the most powerful nation on 
 earth was severely felt by all classes of people. The federal 
 government and many of the States earnestly solicited the 
 State of Virginia and other States to cede their western lands 
 to the general government, and thereby a fund could be real- 
 ized by a sale of these lands to pay the public debt and carry 
 on the government. 
 
 Virginia, with that nobleness of character and disinterested- 
 ness which has always influenced its councils, on March i, 
 1784, ceded to the general government her public domain, 
 that now forms the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, 
 and Michigan; and also transferred to the United Colonies the 
 government and 'urisdiction of the ceded country. 
 
 As it has been stated, in the year 1785, an ordinance of ti^ 
 old congress passed to survey and prepare for market some of 
 the public domain. The ordinance required townships of six 
 miles square to be laid off by lines running north and south 
 and east and west on the true meridian. The first of these 
 lines were to commence on the Ohio River at a point north of 
 the western termination of the western boundary of Penn- 
 sylvania; thence due north, and another line commencing at 
 the same point running due west. Each township was to be 
 subdivided into thirty -six square miles, and numbered from 
 one to thirty-six, commencing in the northeast corner and 
 numbering west and east to the termination in the southeast 
 corner, at the number 36. One of these sections (i6th) was 
 reserved in each township for the use of schools. 
 
 Various acts of congress en the subject have passed; so that 
 as low a number as forty acres of land may be entered to 
 accommodate purchasers. This land-system has been adopted 
 10 145
 
 146 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 over all the public domain in the United States, and has proved 
 to be of general utility. This system also gave the first direc- 
 tion of public opinion in favor of schools. In this, as in other 
 things, the provisions of this act of congress were based on 
 wisdom and with a just regard to the claims of posterity. 
 
 The New Design was the name of the settlement made 
 about four miles south of Bellefontaine, in the present county 
 of Monroe. This location of emigrants was established as 
 early as 1782, and then received the name of New Design. It 
 is a beautiful country whereon this settlement was made. It 
 is elevated and commands a view of both rivers, the Kaskaskia 
 and Mississippi, and withal, the soil is fertile. It was first a 
 prairie and barrens; but at present the timber has grown up 
 all over the country which is not cultivated. 
 
 This was the largest settlement made by Americans in Illi- 
 nois in early times, and was generally the first rendezvous of 
 the emigrants. It was the headquarters, together with the 
 Bellefontaine settlement, of the whole American population. 
 Before the year 1790, a considerable settlement was formed in 
 the New Design. Horse-mills and blacksmith's-shops were 
 established there. Mr. Dougherty erected a band-mill, which 
 answered the pioneers a good purpose in 1795. 
 
 John Murdoch, it will be recollected, came to the American 
 Bottom with his brother, Barney, and Mr. Huff, his step-father, 
 in the year 1786, and resided there during life. 
 
 Barney Murdoch died in early life and the step-father, Huff, 
 as was before stated, was killed by the Indians, leaving much 
 estate, and thereby John Murdoch inherited for that early 
 time a large property. He came to the country when a mere 
 lad, and his mind and character were formed under the perilous 
 circumstances of a wild and new country. He had, in his 
 younger days, little opportunity of education and therefore his 
 book-learning was limited. He could merely read and write 
 and was acquainted with some of the common rules of arith- 
 metic. Making a living in the American Bottom was not diffi- 
 cult and he paid not much attention to it. His youthful days 
 were spent by him in a kind of poetic action. If ever a gay 
 young man acted poetry, it was John Murdoch, in his limited 
 sphere. He possessed a mind of extraordinary ability and let
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 147 
 
 it loose like Childe Harold: "He vexed with mirth the drowsy 
 ear of night." Nature blessed Murdoch with an active and 
 vigorous intellect. But few individuals, in any country, possess 
 the strong mind that nature bestowed on him. But the situa- 
 tion of the country, together with his associations, rendered 
 this gift of nature to him useless and perhaps injurious. A 
 great and vigorous mind, when it has a wrong direction, does 
 much more injury than a weak one. This was the case with 
 Prince Henry until his father's death, when he became king of 
 England and then Henry the Fifth was the greatest monarch 
 of his age. 
 
 John Murdoch was a model of symmetry and masculine 
 beauty, rather above the ordinary size of men, and somewhat 
 corpulent. He was as straight as an arrow and of a dark 
 complexion; his eyes were large and black and displayed an 
 uncommon brilliancy; his head was large and forehead uncom- 
 monly capacious. In all societies, with the young or old, with 
 the wild or religious, he was always the centre of attraction 
 and the commanding spirit of the circle. . 
 
 The manners and customs of early times permitted him to 
 enter into the dissipations of the country. He acquired among 
 the French their language and their accomplishments in the 
 dance. He performed well on the violin and possessed an 
 excellent natural talent for music. In his early day, no one 
 could sing with more grace and glee than he could. The 
 necessities of the country learned him the use of the gun and 
 he became an excellent marksman and hunter. Horse-racing 
 at that day was indulged in by almost all classes of citizens, 
 and in that sport he took great delight. He was also enamored 
 with the various games of cards, which grew on him and at 
 at last ruined him. 
 
 A palliation, not a justification, for gambling with cards may 
 be given in the fact that nearly the whole country, forty or 
 fifty years ago, enjoyed the luxuries of a card-table, and public 
 opinion was somewhat in its favor; but notwithstanding this, 
 this sin will, earlier or later, bring ruin on those who practise.it. 
 
 As he grew in years, he became more dignified and com- 
 manding in person and deportment. There.was in his char- 
 acter nothing frivolous or trifling. In all situations, in the
 
 148 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 woods, the camp, or the legislative halls, he also deported him- 
 self with that hauteur of character and manly bearing which is 
 becoming a gentleman. 
 
 Easy, graceful manners seem to have been born with him; 
 he was polite by instinct and in all his various scenes of pleas- 
 ure and gayety, he never forgot the good breeding of a gentle- 
 man, and always showed respect to religion and to the aged 
 part of community. 
 
 John Murdoch was benevolent and kind and possessed no 
 malignity or malice in his heart; he had no gall in his compo- 
 sition, yet firm and warm in his attachments. If he had been 
 raised in different society, and had received a competent edu- 
 cation, he would have been a great man. Nature did much 
 for him, and he depended on these natural gifts and did noth- 
 ing for himself; yea, worse, he contended against these natural 
 gifts. 
 
 Like almost all of these characters that nature has done so 
 much for, he did nothing for himself. He was indolent, to an 
 extreme, in everything except in the pursuit of pleasure. He 
 had no business talents; he was raised in wealth, in a country 
 where industry was not known; he grew up in a country where 
 the people lived free and easy; he, like the others, indulged in 
 everything that tended to pleasure and to his amusement. 
 
 When he reached the age of manhood, he was frequently 
 called upon to serve the public. He was elected, in 1803, as 
 one of the three members of St.Clair County to the territorial 
 legislature, which convened at Vincennes in the same year. 
 This was the first general assembly held under the authority 
 of the Indiana Territory. 
 
 In the year 1802, the territory of Indiana was established 
 and Illinois constituted a part of it. This was an important 
 legislature, to organize the new territorial government. Mur- 
 doch acquitted himself in the legislature to the satisfaction of] 
 the public. He was at that day very young for a legislator; 
 but his mind under the circumstances of the country and his 
 situation in it was considerably developed. He had been 
 thrown on his own resources from his infancy, and had thereby 
 become old in experience tho young in years. 
 
 He was very popular with the ladies; his gayety and per-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 149 
 
 sonal attractions made him a great favorite with them. He 
 acted the gallant as part of a gentlemanly deportment to the 
 fair sex; but he did not extend the power he possessed iri that 
 respect beyond a decent propriety. 
 
 He married a Miss Garrison, who was the step-daughter of 
 Judge Bond, and likewise an amiable and agreeable lady of 
 excellent family. He and family occupied a plantation in the \ 
 American Bottom until his death. 
 
 He had some talent and taste for military life. He was first 
 captain of a company and afterward became a major of a bat- 
 talion. In this office, on a general muster-day, no officer ever 
 appeared in the field to equal the imposing appearance of 
 Major Murdoch. He was a splendid horseman, together with 
 his dashing uniform and manly military display on parade, 
 which made htm show off to great advantage. Yet all this 
 good fortune did not spoil him. He was neither vain or over- 
 bearing. 
 
 He declared an eternal warfare against the whole Indian 
 family, in peace or in war. He had a mother, father, and two 
 step-fathers killed by the Indians. Perhaps no other man had 
 the same reason to dislike the Indians, as he had, on account 
 of so many of his parents being killed by them. Ever since 
 he was able to raise a gun, he was, on all proper occasions, out 
 against them. 
 
 In the late war of 1812, against Great Britain and her Indian 
 allies, Murdoch was active and zealous to fight the red men. 
 He was field-officer in the campaign under Gov. Edwards, in 
 the fall of 1812, to the upper end of Lake Peoria, and acted 
 as major in that expedition. He also acted as major in the 
 campaign of 1813, under Gen. Howard. 
 
 Murdoch never gave himself the trouble to study military 
 tactics, but depended on his natural resources, which seldom 
 failed him. 
 
 He was elected November 10, 1813, from St.Clair County to 
 the legislative assembly, held at Kaskaskia under the territorial 
 government of Illinois. He was a quiet voting member of the 
 assembly, and always had the sound judgment to prevent him 
 from frothy declamation, by which the public good is not 
 advanced; and in every particular he made a good solid mem-
 
 150 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 her, and his constituents highly approved his conduct. In fact, 
 being raised among his constituents, and having good sound 
 sense, with extremely popular manners, he almost made public 
 opinion in his county. Almost everything he did was popular. 
 It was his great popularity with the young men of his day that 
 led many of them estray into the paths of pleasure and dis- 
 sipation. They imitated him, but had not the talents to shun 
 the rocks that lay concealed under the waves of dissipation as 
 well as he did; and even he at last was ruined by this course. 
 
 Murdoch spent much of his spare time in hunting. He was 
 a great hunter and marksman, and camped out for weeks to 
 hunt and recreate himself in the woods. 
 
 Murdoch being past the meridian of life, these follies and 
 foibles of human nature increased on him until his death. He 
 died in 1830, regretted by all Monroe County. 
 
 John Murdoch was a noble pioneer. He had united in him 
 a strong mind, graceful manners, and the self-sustained inde- 
 pendence of the perfect backwoodsman. 
 
 Murdoch had human foibles and frailties. One great defect 
 in his character was that he had not the power to resist temp- 
 tation. The gayety and fascination of agreeable society he 
 could not resist. He was all life and animation, and indulged 
 in these fascinations, at first, without much injury; but at last, 
 this course of life became second nature to him, so that he 
 could not refrain from it. The weak point in man is that he 
 has not the power to withstand temptation. 
 
 Truth requires it to be stated of Murdoch that Ije was one 
 of the greatest men that was ever raised in Illinois; he was 
 Nature's nobleman. 
 
 The old village of Prairie du Chien, situated on the east 
 bank of the Mississippi, a few miles above the mouth of the 
 Wisconsin River, was built by the French not long after the 
 first discovery of the country, and was occupied by the Indian 
 traders and farmers. It was the outpost of the Indian trade. 
 
 This village took its name from a band of the Fox Indians, 
 who resided there and were called the dog band. Prairie du 
 Chien is in English, the prairie of the dogs. 
 
 The French inhabitants cultivated the Mississippi Bottom 
 for four miles up and down the river, and nearly a mile wide
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. I$I 
 
 from the river to the bluff. The present village of Prairie du 
 Chien is about one mile above the old village, and was built in 
 the year 1783, under the British authority. The site was pur- 
 chased of the Fox Indians. In 1807, in the village and vicinity, 
 there were thirty-seven houses, and counting ten persons to 
 each house, there would be three hundred and seventy inhabi- 
 tants. A few houses were erected on the west side of the 
 Mississippi, at Girard's River. 
 
 In the year 1812. Dubuque, Antya, and Girard were the 
 principal settlers in Prairie du Chien. Brisbois, N. Boilvin, and 
 others also resided there. At some seasons of the year, there 
 was a great influx of traders at this village, to the number of 
 six or eight hundred white persons and Indians in proportion. 
 
 The citizens being so remote from the white population had 
 children with the squaws; so that many of the present genera- 
 tion have some Indian blood in their veins. This is considered 
 no disparagement in that section of the country. 
 
 It is no disparagement in any country. The Indian blood 
 is found in the veins of many of the greatest Americans that 
 figured on the stage of public action. John Randolph, whose 
 celebrity is extended over Europe, as well as America, had a 
 share of the bow-and-arrow blood in his composition; as also 
 many other great and eminent men in the United States. The 
 only misfortune is that the Indian race is not equal to the Euro- 
 pean, and far below the North American. The compound will 
 not improve the stock. The American race of people with 
 the various crosses, and being raised and educated under the 
 influence of free and liberal institutions, present to the world 
 a race superior to any other nation. A great variety of cir- 
 cumstances produce this result. 
 
 In the first place, the most talented and energetic people 
 leave Europe and settle in America. The drones are left at 
 home in the old country. The various races intermarry, whose 
 offspring is improved by it. In the next place, the country of 
 North America is large and presents opportunities and facili- 
 ties for the pursuit of wealth and power that accommodates all 
 the different views of the citizens and urges them on to action. 
 And our republican institutions, based upon equal principles 
 and their influence. Education is diffused and the road to
 
 152 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 power and wealth and the highest offices are open to merit, so- 
 that all these incentives to action develope the intellect and 
 energies of the people until the Americans are a superior race. 
 
 Our old enemies, the British, and their American friends give 
 us the name of new Anglo-Saxons. Our name, blood, and 
 lineage are American and not Anglo-Saxon. It is true that 
 most of the Americans are descendants of Europeans, but the 
 preponderance of blood is not of the Anglo-Saxon race. There 
 are more of the descendants of the Irish and Germans in the 
 United States than English. In fact, the American race at 
 present is so compounded and improved that we are a stock 
 of our own. 
 
 It is stated that in 1814, the farms of Prairie du Chien were 
 in high cultivation. Between two and three hundred barrels 
 of flour may have been manufactured there that season besides 
 a vast quantity of corn. 
 
 The first American school-master ever appeared in Illinois 
 was Samuel John Seely, in 1783. This school-teacher entered 
 on his labors in the New Design in the present county of 
 Monroe. I would respectfully recommend to the attention of 
 the directors of the common-school system in Illinois the pro- 
 priety of doing honor to Mr. Seely and to the subject of educa- 
 tion by establishing great anniversary jubilees on the occasion. 
 
 The next teacher was Francis Clark, an intemperate man, 
 who appeared in 1785. The next was an Irishman named 
 Halfpenny, who taught school in many sections of Illinois for 
 many years. This preceptor taught almost all the American 
 children in Illinois in his day that received any education at 
 all. He might be styled the school-master general of Illinois 
 at that day. 
 
 The next teacher was John Clark, a preacher and a talented 
 man. He was a Scotchman and was well educated. He 
 taught the higher branches of education mathematics, phi- 
 losophy, etc. 
 
 The Indian depredations prevailed throughout the country 
 so much that the education of the children could not be much 
 attended to before the peace with the Indians in 1795. 
 
 The Indians were never hostile to the French population. 
 They might do some injury to their property and at rare in-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 153 
 
 vals kill a white man; but there was never a settled determina- 
 tion to wage war against the French, with some exceptions, 
 where the British instigated the savages to the deed. But far 
 different it was with the American population. It is difficult 
 to say when Indian depredation on the Americans commenced; 
 but Wayne's treaty, in 1795, put a stop to these hostilities. 
 
 Wherever the American population was large enough in Illi- 
 nois for the attention of the Indians, then a bitter marauding 
 warfare commenced. 
 
 In 1786, was the first decisive Indian war waged against the 
 Americans in Illinois. James Flannary was killed in 1783, by 
 the Indians, but this was not considered a general war. 
 
 In 1786, not far northwest of Waterloo, Monroe County, 
 James Andrews, his wife, and daughter, James White, and 
 Samuel McClure were killed by the Indians and two daugh- 
 ters of Andrews were taken prisoners. One died with the 
 Indians and the other was ransomed by the French traders. 
 This first act of Indian warfare on the Americans in Illinois 
 was bold and decisive. Five were killed and two taken pris- 
 oners. The daughter of Andrews who was ransomed is still 
 alive and is the mother of a large family. 
 
 This slaughter of part of the infant settlement of Illinois- 
 produced a great panic among the pioneers and caused then* 
 to erect the stations and forts that are heretofore mentioned 
 for their protection. A continual murderous warfare was kept 
 up against the first American settlers until 1795. It is astonish- 
 ing how so small a settlement as was in the country in 1785 
 could sustain itself against the great numbers of Indians that 
 were in the country at that day. The whites not only fortified 
 to protect themselves, but were compelled to mount guard 
 day and night for their safety. When a man was plowing in 
 the field, one other or more were stationed outside to protect 
 him. The same with the domestic affairs of a family, guards 
 for protection were indispensable to save their lives from the 
 attack of the hostile Indians. 
 
 In 1788, December 10, Benjamin Ogle and James Garretson 
 were fired on by two Indians while they were hauling hay from 
 the Bottom. A ball lodged in Ogle's shoulder and remained 
 there. Garretson made his escape in the woods. In stacking
 
 154 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 the same hay, Samuel Garretson and Mr. Reddick were both 
 killed and scalped. Mr. Ogle received a pension for this wound. 
 
 The year 1789 was one of continual commissions of murders 
 and depredations by the Indians on this small defenceless set- 
 tlement. The citizens at that day must have had iron wills or 
 otherwise they would have been exterminated by the Indians. 
 We read of repeated an i repeated murders of the inhabitants 
 almost daily, and yet the wise conduct and unparalleled bra- 
 very of the people saved them from destruction. 
 
 Three boys were attacked by six Indians a small distance 
 from the block-house fort in the American Bottom, situated 
 not far from the Fountaine Creek, where it first enters the 
 Bottom. David Waddle was struck with a tomahawk in three 
 places scalped made his escape and recovered. The other 
 boys run to the fort and were saved. James Turner, John 
 Ferrell, and three others were killed this year at several times 
 by the Indians, and John Dempsey and another were scalped 
 and left for dead, but recovered. 
 
 These are only the partial items of the horrid and revolting 
 murders of this year. No individual, male or female, night or 
 day, was safe. This year may be denominated the year of 
 blood in Illinois. The settlement of the present county of 
 Monroe must have suffered this year by the Indians a loss of 
 one out of every ten of its population. 
 
 The enemy acted with savage ferocity, not only on the in- 
 habitants, but turned that same savage malignity to destroy 
 the animals of the whites. They not only stole horses which 
 is rather a beggar commerce with the Indians but destroyed 
 the stock with a wantonness unparalleled in Indian warfare. 
 
 We will abandon these horrid murders committed by the 
 Indians for a moment, and turn our attention to the organiza- 
 tion of the Northwestern Territory and other matters more 
 pleasant. 
 
 It will be recollected that Virginia ceded Illinois to the 
 United States in 1784, and on July 13, 1787, the ordinance, so 
 called and known in the territory, was passed by congress. 
 This territory included five States, as they are at present 
 organized ; Illinois being one. This act of congress, which 
 -calls itself a compact as well as an ordinance, is made the
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 155 
 
 foundation of all territorial governments organized since that 
 day. The great and leading feature in it is the provision 
 against the introduction of slavery in the territory. This ordi- 
 nance secured all the Northwest from slavery. I think con- 
 gress has the power to legislate on the subject, as was done in 
 the case before us; but it is unwise and impolitical to act in 
 the case; but permit the people of the terr.ory to use their 
 own judgment on the occasion, whether they have slavery or 
 not. 
 
 Arthur St.Clair was appointed governor of this territory, and 
 remained in office until the State of Ohio was organized, in 
 1802. 
 
 In contemplating the life and character of Gov. St.Clair, a 
 melancholy reflection forces itself on us; as he appears to be 
 a man doomed to misfortune. His motives and impulses were 
 pure and patriotic; yet, in almost every enterprise or business 
 in which he was engaged during a long and eventful life, he 
 failed in almost every instance. 
 
 He was born in Edinburgh, in 1734, and was of good family, 
 but unknown to history. He came to America with Admiral 
 Boscowen, in 1755. Having served in Canada as lieutenant 
 under Gen. Wolf in 1759 and 1760, he was, after the close of 
 the war, appointed to the command of Fort Ligonier, in Penn- 
 sylvania. When he left the British army is not known; but in 
 December, 1775, he was married and held six offices in the 
 State, to wit: clerk of the court, prothonotory of a court, judge 
 of probate, register of wills, recorder of deeds, and surveyor of 
 the largest county in the province. In this same year, 1775, 
 he acted as secretary to the commissioners who held a treaty 
 at Pittsburg with the Indians. He became known and popular; 
 so that without solicitation, he was, in January, 1776, appointed 
 colonel in the continental army with orders to raise a reg^nent 
 to operate in Canada. He raised the regiment in six weeks, 
 and left Philadelphia with six companies on March 12, and 
 reached Quebec on May 11, to cover the retreat of the troops 
 from that place, while the other four companies remained at 
 Sorel, on the St. Lawrence. He was appointed brigadier- 
 general on August 9, 1776, and ordered to join Gen. Washing- 
 ton's army, then retreating thro New Jersey. Gen. St.Clair
 
 156 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 acted well his part in the battles of the Revolution, at Trenton 
 and Princeton. 
 
 On Feb. 9, 1777, congress appointed him a major-general, 
 and on June 5, he was ordered to take command of the fort at 
 Ticonderoga. He abandoned this fort, and altho it was done 
 on the consultation of officers, yet the public disapproved of 
 it. A court-martial sustained the movement, and congress, in 
 1778, confirmed it. But still the wound was not healed in, 
 public estimation. 
 
 Washington always retained his first confidence in General 
 St. Clair. He acted his part well at the battle and siege of 
 Yorktown, at the capitulation. From this point he was sent 
 with six regiments to Gen. Greene in South Carolina, with 
 orders to reduce all the British garrisons in North Carolina. 
 These posts were abandoned at his approach, and on Decem- 
 ber 27, 1781, he joined Gen. Greene at Jacksonburg. After 
 the peace, Gen. St. Clair resided in Pennsylvania, and was 
 elected a member of congress in 1786, and the president of 
 that body in 1787. When the Northwestern Territory was 
 established, in 1787, he was appointed governor of the terri- 
 tory. He did not desire this appointment, but he seems to 
 have acted on the principle recognized by Gen. Jackson, "he 
 would neither ask or refuse office." St. Clair observed that 
 "to accept the office of governor was the most imprudent act 
 of my life." He was appointed in 1788, and remained in office 
 to the year 1802, when the State of Ohio was organized. 
 
 On July 15, 1788, Gov. St. Clair appeared at Marietta and 
 put the machinery of government into operation as far as pos- 
 sible. Washington County was the first- organized county in 
 the territory. In September, 1788, the governor and United- 
 States judges for the territory Parsons, Barnum, and Symms 
 prepared and adopted a code of laws for the Northwestern 
 Territory, which has formed the basis of the statute laws of 
 all the States formed out of this territory. Gov. St. Clair and 
 Winthrop Sargeant, his secretary, in February, 1790, arrived 
 at Kaskaskia and organized the county of St. Clair. The 
 governor also appointed the various officers in the new county 
 necessary to the administration of justice, and partially adjusted 
 the land -titles of the citizens.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. -157 
 
 The county of St.Clair was called for the governor and was 
 bounded as follows : beginning at the mouth of the Little 
 Mackinaw Creek, where it empties into the Illinois River, and 
 running a direct line to the mouth of a creek which empties 
 into the Ohio not far above Fort Massacre ; then down the 
 Ohio to the Mississippi; then up that river and the Illinois to 
 the place of beginning. 
 
 St.Clair is the mother of counties in Illinois, and still retains 
 her youthful vigor, looking around with pleasure on her happy 
 offspring. It will be recollected that the Ancient Dominion, 
 in October, 1779, erected Illinois into a county of that name, 
 which retained a kind of obsolete existence down to the year 
 1790, when the county of St.Clair was carved out of part of it. 
 
 Gov. St.Clair appointed William St.Clair clerk of the court 
 and recorder of deeds in St.Clair County, and many others to 
 office the same year. 
 
 He had, in the year 1788, organized the second grade of ter- 
 ritorial government and caused elections to be held in the 
 several counties which he had established. 
 
 Both the branches of the legislature met in Cincinnati, first, 
 on September 16, 1789, and adjourned on the 24th of the same 
 month. Knox County, at that day, included both Vincennes 
 and the Illinois country, and from the Illinois part of Knox 
 County, Shadrach Bond, Sr., was elected to the house of repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 At that session an excited struggle was had for the election 
 of a representative to congress from the territory. Public 
 opinion settled down on William H. Harrison and Arthur 
 St.Clair, Jr., the nephew of the governor. Harrison had eleven 
 votes and St.Clair ten. This election came off on Oct. 3, 1799. 
 
 Gen. St.Clair died August 31, 1818, on the top of the Alle- 
 ghany mountains, in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Henry Levens and family settled in the New Design in 1797. 
 He landed at Fort Massacre with two teams and wagons; one 
 was an ox team. He put a large skiff on one wagon, for a 
 wagon-body on land and a ferry-boat when they reached the 
 creeks that were swimming, on their march to Kaskaskia. They 
 were twenty-five days in this pilgrimage from the Ohio to Kas- 
 kaskia.
 
 IjS PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 He emigrated from the western part of Pennsylvania and was 
 well calculated to brave all the dangers and difficulties incident 
 to the settlement of a new country. He was a very large, stout 
 man, and a stranger to fear. He was not educated to any great 
 extent, and was rather decisive and energetic in his common 
 intercourse with society. He was kind and hospitable to those 
 he esteemed, and to those he disliked he acted the reverse. 
 
 He possessed rather a strong mind, but uncultivated, which 
 was formed under circumstances unfavorable to advance the 
 meek, mild, or amiable traits of the human character. He 
 was, withal, kind and hospitable to those, friend or foe, under 
 his roof; his house was the common hotel for dancing and con- 
 vivial parties. He raised a large family, and as the old and 
 young, male and female, were inclined to gayety and sociability, 
 they indulged in the pleasures of the ballroom and other amuse- 
 ments of a similar character. A greater portion of his sons 
 and some of his daughters played on the violin, and all, young 
 and old, danced. 
 
 This family was the centre of attraction, and many are the 
 happy days, and particularly nights, of innocent amusement 
 and recreation, which were enjoyed in pioneer times at the 
 friendly and hospitable mansion of Henry Levens, on Horse 
 Creek. 
 
 In 1800, Levens erected a saw-mill and grist-mill on Horse 
 Creek, near his residence, and carried this mill on with energy 
 and advantage to the public. The lumber for nearly all the 
 flat-boats built in early times, in Illinois was sawed at 'this mill. 
 The sons of Levens were like their father, active and resolute 
 men, and as most other pioneers, they, too, were excellent 
 hunters and marksmen. The rifle with the early settlers was 
 literally a staff of life, and almost every one became not only 
 expert with the gun at the shooting-match, but were also excel- 
 lent hunters. Old Nimrocl would have been pleased to have 
 the young Levens 'in his corps, as they would, in the chase, do 
 honor to their captain. 
 
 The Levens family, while they lived together, became more 
 wealthy than the neighboring pioneers. Their stock was raised, 
 winter and summer, without much labor, and the mill and farm 
 yielded considerable income; so that the family had the means
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 of supporting the frolics and amusements they indulged in. The 
 sons also made something by the peltries arising from hunting. 
 The whole family were active and energetic people; but they 
 delighted in sport more than in work. The gun, race-horse, 
 and violin were articles of the greatest admiration in the family. 
 They were strictly honest and extremely kind and hospitable, 
 after the manner of their father. The Levens family were an 
 excellent sample of a prominent pioneer family. They were 
 all blessed with good intellectual faculties, and were very active 
 and energetic, and were also large and portly men and resolute 
 to excess. For many years there were four or five grown sons 
 and two daughters in the family before any were married. The 
 sons or father never indulged in any great intemperance, nor 
 much gaming, farther than amusement. 
 
 The sons delighted in the rural sport of foot-racing, wrest- 
 ling, jumping, etc. Horce-racing, shooting-matches, and dan- 
 cing in early times were enjoyed by almost the whole commu- 
 nity, and the Levens family indulged in these amusements with 
 a particular delight. The males, young and old, were not bash- 
 ful in a fight, in which they indulged at times to the great 
 discomfiture of their adversaries. 
 
 In fact, the Levens family possessed a respectable and con- 
 spicuous standing in society, which, together with the circum- 
 stances already stated, enabled them to enjoy an uninterrupted 
 round of pleasure and of happiness of the character above 
 described. 
 
 The aged sire, at last, like Boone, was interrupted by the 
 approach of neighbors, which produced too near him a species 
 of mathematical society, which he disliked, and he sold out his 
 possession on Horse Creek, in 1818, and moved to the frontiers 
 of Missouri. He lived to advanced age and died in that State, 
 the aged patriarch of a large family. 
 
 The Indian murders and troubles seemed to increase in 1790. 
 This may have arisen on account of the Indians seeing the 
 Americans flocking to the country and a government being 
 organized in it. The red men on this consideration may have 
 made greater efforts to prevent the settlement of the country, 
 and thereby the natives would occupy the homes of their 
 fathers longer. This year was a sad and sorrowful one with 
 the infant settlements of the Americans in Illinois.
 
 l6o PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 It was mostly the Kickapoos that were so extremely hostile 
 and ferocious against the whites. This nation resided nearest 
 the Americans, and were better armed and more vigorous than 
 the other Indians to commit depredations on the settlements. 
 And they committed their savage warfare with a vengeance 
 unequalled in any other country. 
 
 In the winter of this year, 1789, the Osage Indians crossed 
 the Mississippi and stole some horses from the whites in the 
 American Bottom. The Americans pursued them toward the 
 river, and James Worley, being in advance of the rest of the 
 party, was killed and scalped by the Indians before his com- 
 panions could rescue him. It was not common for the Osages 
 to commit depredations on the whites on this side of the river. 
 It was stated that the Indians cut off the head of Worley and 
 threw it in savage triumph toward the whites as they advanced. 
 I presume that when Worley was killed and the whites found 
 that the Indians outnumbered them, that they recaptured the 
 horses and came off about "second best." 
 
 William Morrison emigrated from Philadelphia to Kaskaskia 
 in 1790. He was recognized by the act of congress granting 
 land to all those who were enrolled in Illinois for military duty 
 on August i of that year. He was a native of Bucks County, 
 Pennsylvania, and soon became, after his arrival in Illinois, one 
 of the most influential and conspicuous characters in the coun- 
 try. He was a self-made man, casting his lot in a new wild 
 country and depending on his own resources for fortune and 
 fame, and he accomplished both in an eminent degree. Like 
 most great men, he never underwent the drudgery of a scho- 
 lastic education. Whether his means or other circumstances 
 prevented it, I know not; however, such was the fact that he 
 acquired barely an English education at the schools ; but he 
 studied in nature's great academy and became a very eminent 
 man. His natural genius and talents were of such high order 
 that he acquired information at every step he made thro a long 
 and eventful life. His business and his proper sense of pro- 
 priety enabled him to frequent the higher circles of society and 
 thereby become one of the eminent. He made one of the 
 most interesting and conspicuous characters in every society 
 wherein he associated. Dignity and polish of manners seemed
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. l6l 
 
 to be natural with him. He was a polished gentleman without 
 effort. Nothing little or cramped existed in his character. His 
 mind and impulses were fashioned on a large scale. It is seldom 
 united in the same person, the strength of mind and the polish 
 of manners that were blended together in the character of Wil- 
 liam Morrison. He was not only kind and benevolent in all 
 his relations with society, but also honest and upright. As to 
 a husband, he was everything that would make a wife's heart 
 overflow with love for him, and a kind and indulgent father to 
 his children. 
 
 Morrison came to Illinois, ambitious, enterprising, and talented. 
 He located himself in the centre of the great valley of the Mis- 
 sissippi, where his talents and energies had ample scope for 
 operation, and most nobly and honorably did he execute his 
 destiny. By his great activity and sound judgment, he was the 
 head and front of almost all the commercial operations of Illi- 
 nois and upper Louisiana during a long series of years. He 
 was associated with his uncle, Guy Bryant of Philadelphia, in 
 merchandising, and the firm of Bryant & Morrison was known 
 throughout the West as one of great wealth and honorable 
 standing. Bryant did not himself operate in the West; so that 
 his partner, Morrison, had the control of all the commercial 
 business of this vast region of country. The commercial busi- 
 ness of this house extended from Kaskaskia around to Pitts- 
 burg, New Orleans, Prairie du Chien, and the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, and William Morrison was the master spirit that managed 
 and conducted all these vast mercantile transactions to a suc- 
 cessful termination. No ordinary talents could combine, con- 
 trol, and execute with success all this complicated machinery. 
 It required the first order of intellect, and such was Nature's 
 gift to this great and noble pioneer. 
 
 Kaskaskia was, when he came to Illinois, one of the largest 
 towns west of the Alleghany Mountains, and possessed not 
 only its central position for commerce, but had many other 
 advantages, and he settled himself in it. 
 
 By his industry and energy, he became very wealthy. His 
 
 main store, wholesale and retail, he kept in Kaskaskia, and 
 
 from it the merchants of St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girar- 
 
 deau, and New Madrid received their goods. About 1800, he 
 
 11
 
 l62 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 established a store in Cahokia and placed in it a clerk William 
 Atchison. This clerk was a singular and eccentric Irishman. 
 He soon, by excessively high prices, acquired by derision the 
 name of Chape Wollie, which he retained while he remained 
 in the store. 
 
 Many anecdotes are told on this Irishman. Rev. Benjamin 
 Young, a Methodist circuit rider, at the request of Chape 
 Wollie, preached at his store in Cahokia in 1807, and it turned 
 out that Young had a small congregation. Atchison made 
 excuses for his French neighbors not attending the preaching. 
 " For his part," he said, "he would walk, on Sunday, miles thro 
 briars and hell to hear such a sermon as that ye prached ; but 
 
 these d d French love dancing better than praching. An', 
 
 Misther Young, could ye not stay with us tonight and go to 
 the ball this evening ? " The Methodist preacher begged off 
 from Mr. Atchison's civility in going to the dancing-party on 
 Sunday evening. 
 
 Mr. Morrison furnished the Indians and Indian traders with 
 great quantities of goods, and on them a great profit was 
 realized. 
 
 He accumulated great quantities of land, which descended 
 to his children ; yet he was not what is known as a land specu- 
 lator. He purchased much, but sold little. 
 
 About the time his store opened in Cahokia, he encouraged 
 the farmers of the New Design, and, in fact, throughout all the 
 sparse settlements at that time, to cultivate wheat, He com- 
 menced a commerce in flour. He conveyed the wheat to Edgar's 
 mill, near Kaskaskia, and had it there manufactured into flour. 
 Flat-boats were built at Levens' mill, on Horse Creek, and on 
 them and other vessels he shipped the flour to New Orleans. 
 
 He was generally fortunate in his voyages on the river; but 
 a large boat laden with wheat from Cahokia and bound to Kas- 
 kaskia, struck a sawyer in the river above Ste. Genevieve and 
 sunk with the entire loss of the wheat. I think there were 
 more sawyers in the river at that day than at present. 
 
 For a long series of years, he carried on a heavy commerce 
 on the Mississippi, between Kaskaskia and New Orleans. He 
 shipped to Pittsburg and New Orleans almost all the surplus 
 products of the country, to wit: peltries, furs, lead, flour, horses,
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 163 
 
 etc., and returned with articles for the consumption of the people. 
 His boats were large and of the first class of that day. On these 
 large barges it required forty or fifty boatmen to force them up 
 against the strong current of the Mississippi, and it sometimes 
 occupied four or five months to make the voyage from Kaskas- 
 kia to New Orleans and back. 
 
 In 1804, a fine young Creole Frenchman, La Chappelle of 
 Kaskaskia, had charge of his boat laden with a costly cargo, 
 worth probably fifty thousand dollars, and he died on the voy- 
 age up, at Natchez. When the commander, La Chappelle, died, 
 none other on the boat was competent to take command. Many 
 others of the men also died on the voyage, so that the boat was 
 left at Natchez. The cargo was put in a warehouse, but the 
 liquors and wines leaked out of the casks, and other articles 
 also were destroyed, so that the whole cargo was almost entirely 
 lost. 
 
 In 1801, he built a fine stone-house in Kaskaskia and fur- 
 nished it in an elegant manner. This house, at that day, was 
 the best in the country, and in it he lived in a princely style. 
 At his table, with his friends and family, he displayed the hos- 
 pitality and elegant bearing of a well-bred gentleman. 
 
 In the war of 1812, with Great Britain, he obtained the con- 
 tract for this military district to furnish rations to the troops; 
 and with his talents, energy, and wealth, he performed the 
 responsible duties to the satisfaction of all concerned. Out of 
 this contract he made a large sum of money, altho he abounded 
 in wealth before. 
 
 The garrisons to be furnished were situated from Prairie du 
 Chien to the extreme South and throughout the West. They 
 were punctually supplied with rations, altho so remote from the 
 settlements and surrounded by hostile Indians. 
 
 He employed Thomas Van Swearengen and John Postlewait, 
 two men well known here at that time, to take charge of beef- 
 cattle along with Harrison's army to the battle of Tippecanoe, 
 in the fall of 1811. Swearengen and Postlewait were bold and 
 daring characters, and withal, men of strong minds. They had 
 no guns or arms at the commencement of the battle, and were 
 sleeping in a wagon. The Indians' bullets soon shattered off 
 the splinters of the wagon into their faces, which compelled
 
 164 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 them to enter the battle-field. They soon found guns and other 
 weapons, whose owners were already killed in the battle. With 
 these arms, these two men sought the hottest of the conflict and 
 fought with such cool and determined bravery that they excited 
 the admiration of the whole army. 
 
 Mr. Morrison possessed a public spirit and was ready and 
 willing to enter into public improvements that would advance 
 the interests of the country. He was the main pillar in erect- 
 ing two bridges across the Kaskaskia River; one adjacent to 
 the town of Kaskaskia and the other at Covington, in Washing- 
 ton County. That at Covington he built himself. 
 
 He was exemplary in his morals and never indulged in light 
 and frivolous amusements. Gambling and drunkenness he 
 abhorred. When the graceful and noble animal, the race-horse, 
 was led out on the turf at Kaskaskia, he frequently attended 
 the races and became much excited in the sport. He at times 
 bet on the race a suit of clothes with a friend, or some such 
 small amount, and cared very little whether he lost or won. 
 
 His personal appearance was dignified, commanding, and pre- 
 possessing. He was of the ordinary size of men, and in his 
 advanced age, rather inclined to be corpulent. Energy and 
 activity were discernable in his walks and movements, as well 
 as in all his conduct. He made it one of his fixed principles 
 to dress richly and with taste and elegance. He had a just 
 sense of propriety on this subject. He was always uneasy 
 when in company with a sloven. He often said that a man 
 frequently made his fortune by a decent appearance. He was 
 always extremely gallant and polite to the ladies, and often 
 advised his friends to frequent female society. He said intelli- 
 gent and correct female society was the great lever to govern 
 human actions and to promote morals and religion. 
 
 Mr. Morrison possessed a decided and marked character. 
 His predominent traits were a strong mind and great energy. 
 All his impulses were of the noble and elevated order. 
 
 Toward the close of his earthly career, he became interested 
 in religious matters, and after due reflection, he joined the 
 Roman-catholic church. He devoted much of his attention to 
 the church before his death, and performed all the duties en- 
 joined upon him with a sincere devotion.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 165 
 
 He died in the arms of the church, praising God. His death, 
 altho he was aged, was much regretted by the community, as 
 "one of the great had fallen in Israel." He died in April, 1837, 
 and his remains rest in peace and quiet in the old graveyard at 
 Kaskaskia, where he, in his life, displayed so much energy and 
 activity. How death changes the scene! 
 
 In 1798, Robert and James Morrison, brothers of William, 
 arrived in Kaskaskia from Pennsylvania. Robert remained an 
 inhabitant of Kaskaskia during life. He held various offices 
 under the territorial governments and performed the duties to 
 the satisfaction of the public. This gentleman was extremely 
 civil and polite to all persons, and particularly to strangers. 
 His house was made the home of many gentlemen of merit 
 whose means were limited. It afforded Mr. Morrison great 
 pleasure to extend to his friends the civilities and hospitalities 
 of his table. He died in Kaskaskia in 1842, much regretted 
 by his family, friends, and the public. 
 
 He married in 1806, his second wife, a sprightly and talented 
 lady from Baltimore. This lady, Mrs. Robert Morrison, being 
 of wealthy and respectable family, received an excellent educa- 
 tion and was, in fact, a finished and classic scholar. She pos- 
 sessed a strong, original, and sprightly mind. She was endowed 
 with strong perceptions and much originality of thought. Her 
 mind disdained the ancient shackles of any system when its 
 strength was based on its antiquity alone for its support. 
 
 Nature gave her rather a romantic turn of mind, and by rea- 
 son of this disposition, she accompanied her brother, Colonel 
 Donaldson, from Baltimore to the West, in 1805. He was a 
 commissioner to investigate the land -titles at St. Louis, Mis- 
 souri, and his sister, Mrs. Morrison, after her marriage, made 
 her residence at Kaskaskia in 1806. She, like most others who 
 are endowed by nature with rare gifts, possessed great energy 
 and activity of mind. Her delight and home were in the rosy 
 fields of poetry. Her grave deserves to be decorated with 
 flowers. Her versification was decided by critics to be far 
 above medium and many of her pieces to reach the higher 
 order of poetry. 
 
 She remodeled in verse the old orthodox Psalms of David, 
 and had the volume presented to the dignitaries of the church
 
 1 66 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 in Philadelphia for adoption, instead of the Psalms used in the 
 church. The divines gave the work of Mrs. Morrison a critical 
 examination, and barely rejected it, more by its advent from an 
 unknown individual than from a want of merit. Her pen was 
 never idle. She wrote for the scientific publications of Mr. 
 Walsh of Philadelphia, and many of her pieces in prose and 
 verse grace and sustain that celebrated work. Her contribu- 
 tions to periodicals were numerous and highly prized. Many 
 of the political characters of Illinois in early times were greatly 
 benefited and advanced by her energetic and talented produc- 
 tions in the newspaper discussions of that day. 
 
 This lady wrote, on many occasions, at the request of her 
 friends, petitions and memorials to congress and to the presi- 
 dent that were chaste and classic in their composition and 
 sound and substantial in their appeals made to the general 
 government. For this class of writing this lady was celebrated 
 and much esteemed by her friends. 
 
 She entered thoroly into the investigation of the various 
 religious systems. She became a Presbyterian, but on further 
 research and much reflection, she entered the Roman-catholic 
 church and became a very warm and zealous member. 
 
 This lady was ardent and enthusiastic in all her pursuits. She 
 was also ambitious of honor and fame and possessed a force of 
 character that was almost irresistible. By her example and in- 
 fluence almost all who came within her circle became Roman 
 catholics and joined that church. 
 
 She lived to an advanced age and died in Belleville in 1843, 
 much regretted by her friends and the public generally. 
 
 The fruit of the marriage of Mr. Morrison with this lady was 
 an interesting family, three of whom are now alive. These 
 three sons were born in Kaskaskia and are at this time con- 
 spicuous members of the bar. 
 
 Jesse Morrison, who is the youngest of the family, emigrated 
 to the country in 1805. He and his brother, James, formed a 
 commercial partnership and established themselves at St. Charles 
 in Missouri. Both these gentlemen raised large and respectable 
 families. Jesse Morrison is now a resident of Galena, Illinois, 
 enjoying, amidst a large number of relatives and friends, the 
 happiness of a well-spent life. He has reached that elevated
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 167 
 
 stand of human nature when all the wild and unruly passions 
 have subsided and the perfection of that nature remains trium- 
 phant; so that he, in his old age, tastes some of the bliss laid 
 up beyond the grave for the upright and just. 
 
 Samuel Morrison, a brother of the above, arrived in Kaskas- 
 kia in 1807. He was a moral and excellent youth. He did 
 business for his brother and remained in Kaskaskia until, it was 
 said, a young lady, whose beauty and charms were so irresistible 
 that she wove a web of love around him from which he could 
 not extricate himself till he called in time and distance for 
 relief. He was too young and unsettled to extricate himself 
 from love by marriage. For redress, he embarked in the Rocky- 
 Mountain Company of Emanual Liza and others, and trapped 
 and traded with the Indians on the mountains for three years. 
 He returned home safe and cured of his love monomania. 
 
 He returned home in 181 1, and some time afterward married. 
 He made his residence at Covington, Washington County, 111., 
 where he died in 1828. He was universally respected and es- 
 teemed, and his death was lamented and regretted by a great 
 portion of the community. 
 
 Another brother, Guy Morrison, emigrated to Kaskaskia in 
 1814, and soon entered into the business of his brother William 
 at Cahokia. He was employed in furnishing provisions to the 
 army. He, like the others of the family, possessed a strong 
 mind and great energy, so that he was an efficient agent for his 
 brother in the contract with the United States. He remained 
 in Cahokia eleven years, and became well acquainted with the 
 people and the manner of doing business in Illinois. He mar- 
 ried and turned all his energies of mind and body to agriculture. 
 He located himself on a fine farm in the American Bottom, 
 northwest of Collinsville, in 1826, and with his sound judgment 
 and unbounded activity, has acquired an immense fortune. His 
 rents annually and increase arising from his farms are eight or 
 ten thousand bushels of grain. His income every year must 
 amount to twelve or fifteen thousand dollars. His lands are 
 well selected and valuable. 
 
 With all this wealth, he is a plain business man, without osten- 
 tation or parade. He resides at this time in Collinsville, in a 
 plain, neat style and is always pleased to receive and entertain
 
 168 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 his friends in his hospitable mansion. He has no children to- 
 inherit his fortune. 
 
 A singular lady pioneer emigrated to Cahokia from the lakes 
 about 1770. She was born of French parents of the name of 
 LaFlamme, at St. Joseph, on Lake Michigan, in 1734. She first 
 emigrated to Mackinac, and after residing there some time, 
 settled at Chicago with her husband, Sainte Ange, or Pelate, as 
 he was sometimes called, about 1765. Sainte Ange dying, she 
 married M. La Compt, a Canadian, in Cahokia, about 1780. 
 From this marriage proceeded one of the largest French fami- 
 lies in Illinois. After the death of La Compt, her second hus- 
 band, she married the celebrated Thomas Brady. They had 
 no issue. This female pioneer possessed a strong mind, with 
 the courage and energies of a heroine. She was also blessed 
 with an extraordinary constitution. She was scarcely ever sick, 
 altho exposed often in traveling and otherwise to the inclemency 
 of the weather and other hardships. 
 
 The Indians were her neighbors and friends from her infancy 
 to nearly her death. By a wise and proper course with these 
 wild men, and by sage councils to promote their interest, she 
 acquired a great influence over the Pottawatomies, Kickapoos,. 
 and other nations bordering on the lakes. 
 
 She was familiar not only with the language of the Indians,, 
 but also with their character. In the early American settle- 
 ments of the country, from 1781 down to the peace in 1795,. 
 this lady prevented many an Indian attack on the white popula- 
 tion. The Indians often became hostile to the French during 
 
 o 
 
 the American Revolution, by the intrigues of the British, as the 
 French had joined Clark ii^the capture of the British garrisons 
 in the West. 
 
 On many occasions this lady was awakened in the dead hours 
 of the night by her Indian friends, from the hostile warriors, 
 informing her of the intended attack, that she might leave 
 Cahokia. Her friends among the Indians could not think of 
 permitting her to be killed. She has started often to meet 
 some hundreds of warriors who were camped near the Quentine 
 Mound, at the foot of the bluff, near the present French Village, 
 or at some other place in the neighborhood. She would cause 
 herself to be conveyed near the Indian camp, perhaps, in the
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS., 169 
 
 night, and then dismiss her company and proceed on foot to 
 the camp of the Indians. No one knew the Indian character 
 better than she did. A female on foot approaching several 
 hundred armed warriors would produce a sympathy that she 
 followed up with wise councils to the Indians that were irresisti- 
 ble. She often remained with them for days and nights, appeas- 
 ing their anger. She never failed to avert the storm and pre-- 
 vent bloodshed. The inhabitants of the village were often' 
 waiting with their arms in their hands, ready for defence, when 
 they would see this extraordinary woman escorting to the vil- 
 lage a great band of warriors, changed from war to peace. The 
 Indians were painted black, indicating the sorrow they enter- 
 tained for their hostile movements against their friends. The 
 Indians were feasted for days in the village. They would 1 ! 
 remain in peace for some time after these reconciliations. 
 
 Mrs. LaCompt, as she was commonly called after Brady's- 
 death, lived to an extreme old age and died in Cahokia in- 
 1843, at the age of one hundred and nine years. 
 
 I knew this old lady for thirty or more years, and I believe 
 that her health and longevity depended much on her hardy and 
 frugal mode of living. She never feared the inclemency of the 
 weather. The health of more people is injured by walking on 
 fine, rich carpets, between the piano and the air-tight stove,, 
 than by walking on the ice and snow in the open air. 
 
 The increase of the population in Illinois diminished the wild 
 game. The migratory race of fowls in early times were quite 
 numerous near the Mississippi and Illinois River. Swans, geese, 
 brants, cranes, and ducks passed north in the spring and south 
 in the fall, in immense flocks. On their passage they remained 
 a short time in the lowlands of the river, where the hunters 
 killed great numbers. In the fall, cranes were the first that 
 made their appearance. They rose so high in the air that they 
 were scarcely visible. These fowls wintered in the swamps 
 south, toward the Gulf of Mexico, and hatched in the summer 
 on the shores of the lakes. They, like the Indians, have almost 
 entirely disappeared on the approach of the white population. 
 
 The honey-bee acts on the reverse of the instincts of the 
 fowls. The bees do not much precede the white population. 
 There is nothing the Indians dislike more than to see the bee
 
 17O I'lONF.KK HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 arrive in the country. They know then that the white man is 
 not far behind. The bees came to Illinois from Kentucky and 
 the Northwest Territory. 
 
 The flowers in the prairies sustained great numbers of bees. 
 At one time, in Illinois, the wild honey-bees were very plenty. 
 
 In 1790, an enterprising and very conspicuous character, John 
 Rice Jones, arrived in Kaskaskia and located himself there. 
 Mr. Jones was born February 10, 1759, in Merionthshire, Wales. 
 He received a classical education in the old country. He was 
 a regular college graduate ; he studied law in Great Britain. 
 He was a good linguist, having become well acquainted with 
 the Greek, Latin, and French, as well as the English. The 
 soundness of his" mind enabled him also to become an excel- 
 lent mathematician, which he preferred to all other science. 
 He was, in fact, an accomplished scholar, and with these advan- 
 tages, soon became a scientific and profound lawyer, and thro 
 life he was a sound and enlightened expounder of it. 
 
 In 1780, Mr. Jones emigrated to the United States and 
 settled in Philadelphia. He opened a law-office in that city 
 and practised his profession there for some time. During this 
 time, he became acquainted with Dr. Franklin, Dr. Rush, Myers 
 Fisher, and other distinguished characters. 
 
 He left Philadelphia and emigrated to Vincennes in 1787, 
 when the Northwest Territory was organized. 
 
 Mr. Jones, the next year, 1788, assisted William Briggs to 
 return to his family in the New Design in Illinois from his cap- 
 tivity with the Indians. 
 
 In 1790, he settled in Kaskaskia and there practised his pro- 
 fession. He was the first practising lawyer in Illinois and 
 would be a conspicuous member of his profession in any coun- 
 try. He possessed a strong and active mind, rather restless, 
 and excessively energetic. This energy of character enabled 
 him to practise law in important cases at different times of his 
 life throughout the West; Louisville, Ky., Vincennes, Indiana, 
 Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Illinois, and many of the courts in Mis- 
 souri, after the cession of the country, in 1803, from France to 
 the United States. Mr. Jones being an excellent French scholar, 
 enabled him to do the business of the French population to the 
 advantage of both parties.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. I/ 1 
 
 He always employed his time in some honorable business 
 and never permitted himself to be idle or engaged in light or 
 frivolous amusements. Like most of his countrymen, he pos- 
 sessed strong passions, and at times, altho he possessed a strong 
 mind, his passions swept over his reason like a tornado. His 
 friendships were ardent and sincere, and his hatred and anger 
 were excessively scathing for the moment. When his feelings 
 of ire were excited, his words burnt his victims like drops of 
 molten lead on the naked skin. He was mild and amiable 
 until some injury or insult, as he supposed, was offered to him; 
 then he burst asunder all restraints and stood out the fearless 
 champion of his right, bidding defiance to all opposition. He 
 possessed a great degree of personal courage. 
 
 In the forepart of 1802, he again moved to Vincennes and 
 was appointed a United-States judge of the Indiana Territory. 
 He and Col. Johnson revised the statute laws of Indiana in 
 1807, and the legislature of that State enacted them with very 
 little alteration. The substance of these acts is still retained in 
 our statute-books, as Illinois at that time comprised a part of 
 Indiana. 
 
 In 1810, Judge Jones moved to St. Louis, Missouri, but did 
 not reside there any great time, but settled in Washington 
 County, Missouri, at Petosi. 
 
 Here he found Moses Austin, with whom he formed a part- 
 nership in the lead business. They erected the first cupola or 
 reverberating furnace ever made in the United States. By this 
 furnace, fifteen or twenty per cent more lead can be extracted 
 from the ore than by the former furnaces. 
 
 Judge Jones was a member elected from Washington County, 
 Missouri, to form the first constitution of that State. Jones 
 was a wise and efficient member of that convention, which sat 
 in St. Louis in 1819. He was a candidate before the next 
 general assembly of the State for the United-States senate, but 
 Col. Benton was elected. 
 
 Judge Jones was elected by the same legislature one of the 
 judges of the supreme court of Missouri, which office he retained 
 during his life. His decisions in the supreme court were always 
 .much respected by the bar and the public. 
 
 He died in St. Louis, while in office, in 1824, and was nearly
 
 1/2 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 sixty-five years of age. On his death-bed he said " he did not 
 desire to live any longer, as he could be of no further use to his 
 family or country, and might be a source of trouble if he lived 
 any longer." Hz was perfectly resigned to his fate and died 
 with that calm composure that always .attends the exit of the 
 " noblest work of God," an honest man. 
 
 The person of Judge Jones was small, but erect and active. 
 His complexion was dark and his hair and eyes very black. 
 His eye, when excited, was severe and piercing. 
 
 Judge Jones lived a life of great activity and was conspicuous 
 and prominent in all the important transactions of the country. 
 In his youth, altho not bred to the military profession, yet he 
 was engaged in the wars against the Indians, both in Indiana 
 and Illinois. The death of Judge Jones was regretted by a 
 wide circle of friends and the public generally. His integrity, 
 honor, and honesty were always above doubt or suspicion. He 
 was exemplary in his moral habits and lived a temperate and 
 orderly man in all things. He left a large and respectable 
 family. His sons have filled, with credit to themselves,, many 
 of the most important offices in the country, and one, at this 
 time Hon. G. W. Jones is in the senate of the United States 
 from the State of Iowa. 
 
 Rice Jones, the eldest son of John Rice Jones, was born in 
 Philadelphia in 1781. When his age permitted, he was placed 
 in the institution in Kentucky, and was a classmate of the late 
 Colonel Richard M. Johnson of that State. Young Jones was 
 endowed with great intellectual powers and thereby made rapid 
 advances in his education. He quitted the school in Kentucky 
 with a reputation for talents and education not inferior to any 
 student that was at the institution. 
 
 After finishing his education, he studied medicine in Phila- 
 delphia, and graduated from the medical school with a diploma 
 and what is better, with much honor. 
 
 After practising medicine a short time and disliking that pro- 
 fession, he abandoned it and commenced, in Litchfied, Conn., 
 the study of the law. After some years of intense study, he 
 quitted the institution with increased honor. 
 
 He located himself in Kaskaskia in 1806, and opened a law- 
 office. No young man at that day, and not many since, com-
 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 173 
 
 inenced with prospects of a more brilliant career of life than 
 Rice Jones did. He possessed a strong intellect, but was also 
 endowed with an excessive ambition, together with an ardent 
 ;and impetuous disposition, and showed the Welsh temper more 
 :than his father. He practised his profession some time and his 
 ;friends needed his talents and energies in their political cam- 
 jpaigns. 
 
 .Party spirit raged in and about Kaskaskia with a violence 
 :not equalled at any time since. Many of the prominent poli- 
 ticians were almost crazy on the subject. Young Jones caught 
 '.the mania and became excessively zealous. Altho he was 
 yung, yet from his talents and energy he was at the head of 
 one of the parties in that day. He had been elected a member 
 ,of the legislature of Indiana, held at Vincennes, and was be- 
 coming a very conspicuous character in the country. The other 
 party did not like his prominency or standing with the people. 
 
 In this excited state of the parties, and Jones at the head of 
 .one party, it was not difficult for the parties to quarrel or even 
 jfight. 
 
 A controversy growing out of politics commenced between 
 him and Shadrach Bond, the first governor elect for the State 
 .of Illinois, and a duel between those persons (Jones and Bond) 
 was agreed upon. The parties met on an island in the Missis- 
 sippi, between Ste. Genevieve and Kaskaskia, and when they 
 had taken their positions and about to fire, Jones' pistol, having 
 .a hair trigger, went off by accident. Dunlap, the second of 
 Bond, said it was Jones' fire and Bond might fire at Jones; but 
 Bond, with that greatness of soul that appeared in all his actions, 
 public and private, cried out, " it was an accident." 
 
 The parties settled the controversy on the ground on honor- 
 
 .able terms; but a bitter quarrel ensued between Jones and 
 
 Dunlap on the subject. This controversy waxed warmer and 
 
 more malignant, until at last Dunlap shot Jones in the public 
 
 streets of Kaskaskia. Jones was standing in the street, leaning 
 
 on the railing of the gallery and talking to a lady, when Dunlap 
 
 came up behind him and shot him dead with a pistol. 
 
 This horrid murder of such a talented and promising young 
 man shocked the community and to some extent quieted the 
 _party feuds for a time.
 
 1/4 PIOKEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 * 
 
 This murder occurred in 1809. Dunlap escaped to Texas 
 and was never punished by the temporal courts. 
 
 Thus ended, in his twenty-eighth year, a young man of ex- 
 ceedingly great promise. Judging from the character he acquired 
 at school, and what was known of him at Kaskaskia, it is not 
 improbable that his superior was not in the country before or 
 after his death. 
 
 The whole community mourned for the death of this fine 
 young man cut off in his prime by an assassin. It was indeed 
 shocking to the public. 
 
 In early times the inhabitants of Illinois were in a small 
 degree tinctured with the absurdity and nonsense of witchcraft 
 and fortune- telling; but in after-days this ignorant superstition 
 has entirely disappeared. 
 
 The French at no time were troubled with the apparitions, 
 ghosts, or spirits. Haunted houses were out of fashion with 
 them. It is true, they had an imaginary being they called le 
 lotip garreau the growling wolf. This was hatched up more 
 to scare children than the grown folks. Yet the ancient French 
 in Illinois believed that the negroes in the West-India Islands 
 possessed a supernatural power to do injury to any one that 
 had incurred their displeasure, and had power, also, to look into 
 futurity. This power, the old French ladies believed, came from 
 Africa and was retained with the African negroes. It may be 
 said that this belief of fortune-telling was mostly femate, as the 
 intelligent among them, as they do now, laugh at the nonsense. 
 
 The French in Cahokia dreaded to incur the displeasure of 
 certain old colored people, as they could do them injury, even 
 to death, by these African incantations. The great empress of 
 France, Josephine, had her fortune told her in the West Indies, 
 which to some extent influenced her conduct thro life. The 
 old sibyl in Martinique said to Josephine: "You will be queen 
 of France." With all the good sense of that celebrated woman, 
 she rather believed the prophecy, yet laughed at it. It was the 
 belief of some people and families that an old woman living on 
 Silver Creek, 111., had the power of witchcraft to take the milk 
 from her neighbors' cows without seeing or touching them. AH 
 this ignorance and nonsense have disappeared from the minds 
 of the people by a proper education. School -houses always
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 175 
 
 
 
 destroy witchcraft. The people, in proportion to their ignor- 
 ance, will be troubled with this superstition. 
 
 The Creator gave no power to the demons of darkness to 
 change the laws of nature at their diabolical pleasure, and to 
 vex and harass mankind at their will. 
 
 I think it is blasphemy to believe that witches are the vicege- 
 rents of God to change his laws at their pleasure. 
 
 In Cahokia, about 1790, this superstition got the upper hand 
 of reason, and several poor African slaves were immolated at 
 the shrine of ignorance for this imaginary offence. An African 
 negro, called Moreau,* was hung for this crime on a tree not far 
 southeast of Cahokia. ^ It is stated that he had said, " he poi- 
 soned his master, but his mistress was too strong for his necro- 
 mancy." Another slave, Emanuel, was shot in Cahokia for this 
 crime, and an old woman, Janette, was supposed to have the 
 power to destroy persons and property by her incantations. 
 Many grown people and all the children were terrified at her 
 approach. 
 
 All countries have had their witches, and I hope Illinois will 
 never again return to such scenes of bloodshed, to appease the 
 demon of ignorance. 
 
 In May, 1791, John Dempsey was attacked by the Indians, 
 but escaped. It will be recollected that this same Dempsey 
 was, a few years before, scalped by the Indians and left for 
 dead. This pioneer was determined to stand his ground in 
 Illinois, dead or alive. Eight men, Capt. N. Hull, command- 
 ing, James Lemen, Sr., Joseph Ogle, Sr., Benjamin Ogle, J. 
 Ryan, William Bryson, John Porter, and Daniel Raper pursued 
 this party of Indians, who were double the number of whites. 
 The hottest of the battle was fought in the timber northwest 
 of the camp-meeting ground, at the Big Spring, in Monroe Co., 
 and not far east of the road from Waterloo to Whiteside's Sta- 
 tion. This was a running fight from tree to tree, the Indians 
 fleeing and the whites pursuing. This bloody conflict was kept 
 
 * In "Fergus' Historical Series. No. 12, By Edward G. Mason," may be found 
 "Col. John Todd's record book," and on page 58 is the order for the execution 
 of 'Negro Manuel, a slave," and on page 59 is the order for the detail of a party 
 of militia to "guard Moreau, a slave condemned to execution, up to the town of 
 Kokos," daied "June 15, 1779". J. H. G.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 up until dark separated the combatants. Five Indians were 
 killed and not a white man's blood was shed. 
 
 These trials and dangers in the first settlement of the country 
 made the pioneers an iron race of men, and they were like the 
 army of Oliver Cromwell they cared very little about the 
 numbers of the enemy opposed to them. This was verified in 
 the case of Capt. Hull and seven men running sixteen Indians 
 and killing five of them. 
 
 Several emigrants had stopped at Kaskaskia and Jacob Judy 
 .among the rest. He sold out his property at Kaskaskia and 
 located himself and family on the site where at present stands 
 the old water-mill known at this day as Judy's mill. This mill 
 is a small distance west of Whiteside's Station, in Monroe Co. 
 It was erected in 1794, and was at the time the first water-mill 
 in that section of the country. It was of great service to the 
 infant settlement, as many of the pioneers can testify at this day. 
 
 A few years after, other water-mills and some band-mills of 
 .two or four horse-power, as the parties were provided with these 
 animals, were also erected in the same neighborhood. George 
 Valentine built a water-mill on a stream nearly west of Judy's 
 mill. 
 
 These mills relieved the people, when the water was high and 
 plenty, from the use of graters, hand-mills, and mortars to manu- 
 facture corn-meal. 
 
 In early times, these various expedients were resorted to by 
 the people to manufacture corn-meal. The band-mill was so 
 called because a raw-hide band twisted was put on the large 
 wheel in the place of cogs. It saved the gearing of the mill. 
 They are the lowest and cheapest order of horse-mills. Pins 
 are put in the arms of the large wheel and around them the 
 band is placed. These pins may be changed into holes made 
 for the purpose, so the band may be made tighter when neces- 
 sary. 
 
 The next is the hand-mill. The stones are smaller than those 
 of the horse-mill and propelled by man or woman power. A 
 hole is made in the upper stone and a staff of wood is put in it, 
 and the other end of the staff is put thro a hole in a plank 
 above, so that the whole is free to act. One or two persons 
 take hold of this. staff and turn the upper stone with as much
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. I/; 
 
 velocity as possible. An eye is made in the upper stone, thro 
 which the corn is put into the mill with the hand in small quan- 
 tities to suit the mill, instead of a hopper. This is a hand-mill. 
 A mortar wherein corn is beat into meal is made out of a large 
 round log, three or four feet long. One end is cut or burnt out, 
 so as to hold a peck of corn, more or less, according to circum- 
 stances. This mortar is set one end on the ground and the 
 other up, to hold the corn. A sweep is prepared over the mor- 
 tar, so that the spring of the pole raises the piston and the hands 
 at it force it so hard down on the corn that after much beating, 
 meal is manufactured. 
 
 The last and lowest order of inventions to manufacture meal 
 is a grater. A plate of tin is pierced with many holes, so that 
 one side is made very rough. The tin is made oval and then 
 nailed to a board. An ear of corn rubbed hard on this grater, 
 whereby the meal is forced thro the holes and falls down into a 
 vessel prepared to receive it. 
 
 These are the contrivances which the pioneers, in early times, 
 were forced to adopt. In the fall of the year, the water-mills 
 generally were idle, for the want of water, and the people were 
 compelled to resort to these shifts for meal. 
 
 In my youth, I had a very intimate and personal acquaintance 
 with all these modes of manufacturing corn-meal, and was as 
 happy then as at any time of my life, under different circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The Irishman, Halfpenny, the school-master general, likewise 
 erected a water-mill on the Fountaine Creek, not far west of 
 the present town of Waterloo. This mill was built about 1795. 
 In 1798, Josiah Ryan built a water-mill on the stream below 
 the mill of the late Gen. James, in Monroe County. These two 
 last-named mills and all traces of them have disappeared from 
 their respective localities. It may be that in the course of time 
 the finest steam-mills that now ornament and benefit the coun- 
 try so much at this day, and even the populous cities them- 
 selves, may cease to exist, and the remains of them present as 
 melancholy a spectacle to other ages as the ruins of Palmyra 
 and Balbec do to us at this day. Man and his works are all 
 transient and evanescent. The very continent of North America 
 Itself mav again be submerged by the ocean, as it once was, 
 12
 
 1/8 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, 
 
 and thereby the most promising part of the globe, with all its 
 population and free institutions, may disappear and a dreary 
 waste of water again occupy its place. 
 
 There is nothing permanent but the great Supreme Being 
 and His eternal laws which govern the universe. 
 
 After the close of the Indian wars, the French and Ameri- 
 cans associated themselves together more and adopted each 
 others customs and habits to some extent. 
 
 The Americans became enamored with the French custom 
 of charivari, and practised it sometimes right, but more often 
 wrong, according to the rules established by .the French. 
 
 The old French charivari was innocent. It was, in their 
 hands, a merry rural serenade, sustained by all sorts of loud 
 and discordant noises. The charivari party was composed of 
 old and young, and generally conducted by some orderly and 
 aged man. They enlisted into their service all sorts of things 
 that could by any means be forced to make a noise. They 
 used bells, horns, drums, pans, tin kettles, whistles, and all such 
 articles as would make loud, harsh sounds. This French organ- 
 ized charivari was such a merry, noisy uproar that it would 
 make a monk laugh if he heard it. 
 
 The proper French custom was that if persons married of 
 the same condition, there was no charivari; but when discord- 
 ant materials were tied together with that delicious silken cord f 
 which is so dazzling to the female eye, then a similar discordant 
 noise attended the celebration. For example, when neither of 
 the parties ever before tasted the delicacies of matrimony, there 
 was no ground for a serenade; but when a widower, who had 
 before worshiped at the shrine of Venus, married a lady who 
 was never before bound in wedlock, then, in such cases, the 
 charivari was invoked with all its merriment. And the same 
 with a widow who had before feasted on the sweet viands of 
 love and married a man whose lot had heretofore been celibacy, 
 in such cases the charivari was in order. 
 
 Generally among the French the married parties were as will- 
 ing as the others for the sport, and were prepared to extend 
 some civilities to the good-humored crowd. Thus frequently 
 the case ended in the best of feeling. But when the married 
 folks were refractory, the charivari was kept up for a succession
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 of nights, until they yielded to the custom. As the farce pro- 
 ceeded, if the married parties were sour, the serenading crowd 
 had the privilege to hint, in a wild manner, first at the character 
 of the bride and then at that of the bridegroom. These hints 
 generally closed the scene in good humor. When the noise 
 was made in the crowd, some one would cry out at the top of 
 his voice, "charivari! charivari!" and some other in the party 
 would sing out, "pour qui?" " for whom?" The answer to this 
 question gave rise to hint at the female and her character. At 
 times, the bridegroom also was charged with things he would 
 not like. 
 
 This was the dernier resort. When this or other means pro- 
 duced some kindness or civility, then the whole farce ended in 
 the best of feelings among the French. But with the Ameri- 
 cans this charivari is sometimes attended with disagreeable con- 
 sequences. And, in fact, the serenading party is sometimes in- 
 dicted for a breach of the peace. 
 
 In all countries the administration of the laws is extremely 
 important to the people. No matter how free a people may be, 
 if the laws are not properly executed, that people can not pros- 
 per and be happy. 
 
 To make a people prosperous and happy, the laws must be 
 not only equitable and just, but executed in the same manner, 
 with equity and justice. 
 
 In 1790, Governor St. Clair organized the government of the 
 Northwest Territory, and also the judiciary of St. Clair County. 
 He appointed justices of the peace throughout the county; but 
 their jurisdiction was limited to twenty dollars in civil matters, 
 and in criminal cases they had no power whatever, except to 
 act as an examining court. The opinion of the people in olden 
 times was opposed to giving justices much jurisdiction in civil 
 and none in criminal matters. The rule of ancient times is 
 relaxing, with experience, and at this day, the justices' courts 
 are the most important tribunals in the country. A jury before 
 a justice of the peace, in former times, was never known. 
 
 Gov. St. Clair also appointed judges of the court of common- 
 pleas, or quarter-sessions as they were sometimes called. They 
 held these offices at the discretion of the governor ; but he 
 scarcely ever exercised his power in dismissing any from office.
 
 180 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 The practice of dismissing men from office was not much exer- 
 cised in early times, and it is a discretion that requires a sound 
 judgment and a just sense of propriety to exercise it to the 
 public interest. The old saying of Jefferson is known to all: 
 " Is he capable ? Is he honest ? " It may be proper to change 
 the policy of the republic on account of the great changes in 
 the quantity and quality of the population in these days. 
 
 These county-courts held sessions to do business every three 
 months, which gave them the name of quarter-sessions. The 
 governor and judges of the Northwest Territory adopted the 
 common- law of Great Britain and the British statutes in aid 
 thereof, to the fourth year of the reign of James I. of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 These laws provided for the trial by jury and recognized all 
 such other appendages as are found in the common-law, appli- 
 cable to our government. The ordinance of 1787 introduced 
 the common -law into the territory and many other salutary 
 regulations. The habeas corpus was secured to the people and 
 such other fundamental principles as are generally provided in 
 the various state constitutions. 
 
 St. Clair County was parcelled off into three judicial districts. 
 and the courts held their sessions in each district; one at Kas- 
 kaskia, one at Prairie du Rocher, and one at Cahokia. The 
 judges, sheriff, and clerk had jurisdiction throughout the county, 
 but the citizens could not be sued out of their districts. 
 
 I saw a case in the ancient records of Kaskaskia district, 
 where a citizen entered his plea of abatement, in 1790, to the 
 jurisdiction of the court, because he was [not] sued in the district 
 of Prairie du Rocher, where he resided. This plea was made by 
 John Rice Jones, his attorney, and prayed a nonsuit from the 
 court at Kaskaskia. 
 
 The writs are dated at these villages: Kaskaskia, Prairie du 
 Rocher, and Cahokia, and run within the respective districts. 
 
 In 1790, John Edgar of Kaskaskia, Jean Baptiste Barbeau of 
 Prairie du Rocher, and John de Moulin of Cahokia were the 
 chief-justices of their respective districts, and in whose names 
 the judicial processes of their districts were issued. 
 
 William St. Clair and William Biggs were the clerk and the 
 sheriff, whose authority extended throughout the county of 
 St. Clair.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. l8l 
 
 Grand-juries were organized in each district and returned in- 
 dictments. 
 
 I saw a record proceeding at Prairie du Rocher against a 
 colored man for the murder of a hog. At that day no prose- 
 cuting attorney attended the court, and I presume the grand- 
 jury found the form of an indictment in some book, for murder, 
 and applied it to the negro and the hog. It was malicious mis- 
 chief in destroying the hog, which I presume was the offence 
 the grand-jury was investigating. The same equitable justice 
 may have been done under the indictment for murder, as if it 
 were one for malicious mischief and prosecuted by the ablest 
 attorneys in the country. 
 
 In those days John Rice Jones was the only attorney practis- 
 ing in these courts, and the next, in 1794, was the celebrated 
 Isaac Darnielle of Cahokia. 
 
 Ejectment suits were common, at that day, for particular and 
 valuable tracts of land. I can not perceive that there was any 
 mode pointed out for an appeal from these courts, and in no 
 case was it practised, so far as I can discover. The United- 
 States judges of the Northwest Territory held their sessions 
 at the seat of government at Cincinnati or Chillicothe, which 
 was so remote from Illinois that an appeal to this court was 
 much more impracticable than an appeal at this day is to Wash- 
 ington City. The people, at that day, required not much from 
 the courts and nothing from appeals. 
 
 Toward the close of the Indian war, the country south of the 
 New Design commenced its settlement. Johnson J. Whiteside 
 and others laid off a town, not on paper, but on a site situated 
 on the west bank of the Kaskaskia River, not far south of the 
 northern limits of the present county of Randolph, and called 
 it Washington. This town was commenced in 1795, and occu- 
 pied a beautiful situation on the high bluff of the river, over- 
 looking, to the west, much of the Horse Prairie. The inhabi- 
 tants enclosed and cultivated large fields of grain and raised 
 stock to a considerable amount. The houses in this town were 
 log-cabins; but streets and other town notions were observed in 
 the building of the place. 
 
 In the early settlement of this town, the Going families were 
 conspicuous. The Goings, the old and young William, emigrated
 
 1 82 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 from Kentucky in 1794, and erected a station a short distance 
 southwest of the Bellefontaine. In this fort, John Pulliam 
 located himself and family in 1796. Some other families like- 
 wise were tenants of this station this year. 
 
 Both father and son were blacksmiths, and the younger was 
 a man of considerable talents. The old gentleman was a plain 
 man, except when he became excited with tafia. Then he was 
 a rough customer. At courts and other gatherings he had bells 
 to sell, and he often put a cord thro the staples of the bells, 
 perhaps a dozen, more or less, of all sizes, and then tied the 
 cord around his waist. To make the scene more imposing, he 
 dressed himself with a fox-skin cap, with the tail suspended 
 behind, and other dress of the same outlandish character. Thus 
 equipped, he danced in the crowd, so that his noise would drown 
 thunder. He was not large, but very active and strong. In 
 early times, Judge Symmes, one of the United-States judges of 
 the Northwest Territory, held court at Cahokia and Going 
 tormented the judge with his bell-dance. Many other such 
 wild freaks, Going and others of his day indulged in. The old 
 man died in Washington, on the Kaskaskia River, and is buried, 
 with many more, in the old graveyard, north of the town. 
 
 William Going, the son, was of a different order of men. His 
 mind and person were both formed on a large and substantial 
 scale. He received a very limited education and could barely 
 read and write. But nature did much for him, tho he did little 
 for himself. With his natural gifts, he might have been among 
 the first men in any country. As it was, he was leader, in his 
 manner. He possessed a Strong natural mind and a bold energy 
 that was on some occasions exerted in a manner of which the 
 community did not approve. His courage and daring bravery 
 were always equal or superior to the emergency. These 
 traits of Going's character no one ever doubted. His person 
 was large and modeled on the stern and rather defiable order. 
 He was neither repulsive or very prepossessing in his appear- 
 ance; but all who saw him, at once came to the same conclusion 
 that he was a decided, firm, and great man in his sphere. His 
 decision among his comrades was the law and the gospel to 
 them. No one of his friends ever murmured at, or attempted 
 an appeal from, his judgment. He was the great governing
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 183 
 
 spirit in his circle at the races, shooting-matches, and card- 
 tables. His impulses were naturally on the side of honesty 
 and integrity, but bad associations and habits gradually grew 
 on him, which forced the public to think strange of his conduct. 
 He was ardent and sincere in his friendships. He had a high 
 sense of honor in his peculiar notions of that virtue. He would 
 suffer martyrdom before he would desert or abandon a comrade 
 in his distress, and would risk his life for a tried friend. The 
 wealth of a nation might be committed to his care, and it would 
 be safe, if he pledged his honor in the case and confidence were 
 placed in him. If he had lived in the days of the crusades to 
 the Holy Land, he would have been a leader of magnitude. 
 Talents, courage, energy, and chivalric notions of honor would 
 have placed William Going the leader of many of the bold and 
 daring attacks on Jerusalem. If Going had been with General 
 Wayne in his army, he would have been, in all probability, one 
 of Wayne's men in storming Stony Point. But as it was, his 
 life was wasted away in an obscure corner, where his talents and 
 energies had not the proper theatre in which to act. 
 
 He was a blacksmith and gunsmith, but like many others 
 raised at that day in Illinois, he had no ambition for hard labor. 
 He worked in his shop for "his pleasure and cared but little for 
 wealth, save a support for himself and family. He possessed 
 a talent for repairing guns and shooting them, having steady 
 nerves and excellent eyesight. With these qualities and much 
 practise with fine rifles, he shot with great exactness. An eye- 
 witness, who is now alive, informed me that he saw Going, in 
 1807, at his residence on the Kaskaskia River, a short distance 
 below the present town of Fayette, shoot a rifle, with a rest, 
 ninety yards, and put four balls into the same hole, near the 
 centre of the target. The fifth bullet touched the same hole. 
 This is a precision in shooting that is rarely reached. It will 
 be remembered that a great portion of the time of the people 
 at that day was occupied with the gun, either in defending 
 themselves from Indian attacks or in procuring a living for 
 their families. 
 
 Altho Going was possessed of a strong mind and great firm- 
 ness, yet he was not invulnerable against the attacks of beauty. 
 Love made him sever the ties of a former marriage, and he
 
 1 84 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 became the victim of a new flame. This second marriage de 
 facto remained during life and the parties lived in peace and 
 harmony. He died in Arkansas in 1830. 
 
 John Pulliam was also, in early times, a resident of this town. 
 By common consent, this place changed its name from Wash- 
 ington to that of Horse -Prairie Town. Under this name it 
 lingered and died. 
 
 In 1/96, John Pulliam emigrated from Kentucky to New 
 Design, in Illinois. He was a native of Botetourt County, Vir- 
 ginia, and emigrated to Kentucky just after the war of the 
 Revolution. He moved to the west of St. Louis in 1797, and 
 remained some years at the Flourisant and Owen's Station. 
 He returned to Illinois in 1799, and settled in the Horse-Prairie 
 Town. He cultivated the field near the town for a few years 
 and then made a farm, in 1802, on the Prairie-du-Long Creek, 
 near the mouth of Richland Creek, in the present county of 
 Monroe. He sold his place and made another plantation on 
 the Kaskaskia River, on which he lived and died. His last 
 residence was near the present town of Fayette, where he 
 settled in 1808, and died in 1813. 
 
 Mr. Pulliam was a man of good mind and more energy and 
 activity than ordinary. He had a large family, whose descend- 
 ants and connections were very numerous in Illinois. Not 
 many pioneer families in Illinois, of whom I am acquainted,, 
 are so numerous in their lineal descendants and the connections 
 and ramifications as the Pulliam family, all descending from 
 John Pulliam, the aged patriarch of the family. 
 
 John Grosvenor resided in this town in 1799, and for some 
 years. He was a native of Connecticut and was a stone-masoa 
 and farmer. He cultivated a large farm adjacent to the town 
 and sold much produce. He was an honest, correct man, moral 
 in all things, except, perhaps, in his young days he permitted 
 the Godess of Love to furnish him with a traveling companion,, 
 from Connecticut to Illinois, at whose departure some one, at 
 least, in Connecticut felt sorry. 
 
 As the country in the Horse Prairie improved, this town 
 declined, until the village ceased to exist and the country 
 flourished. 
 
 Another town was staked off at the Bellefontaine, but obsti-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 185. 
 
 nately refused to grow. French as well as Americans settled 
 in this village. It had a shorter life and a more humble one. 
 than the Horse-Prairie Town. 
 
 In 1793, Illinois received a colony of the most numerous,, 
 daring, and enterprising inhabitants that had heretofore settled 
 in it. The Whitesides and their extensive connections emi- 
 grated from Kentucky and settled in and around the New 
 Design in this year. Not only the numerous names of White- 
 side was in this colony, but also were their connections: Griffin, 
 Gibbons, Enochs, Chance, Musick, Going, and others. This 
 large connection of citizens, being all patriotic, courageous, and 
 determined to defend the country at the risk of their lives, was 
 a great acquisition to Illinois, which was hailed by all as the 
 harbinger of better times. 
 
 The Whitesides and their early connections were born and' 
 raised on the frontiers of North Carolina, and emigrated to- 
 Kentucky. They had been inured to Indian hostilities and 
 other hardships incident to frontier life, from their early years 
 to manhood. The patriarch and leader, William Whiteside,. 
 had been a brave soldier in the Revolutionary war and was in 
 the celebrated battle of King's Mountain. To be a soldier in 
 the battle of King's Mountain is an honor of itself. His 
 brother, John Whiteside, was also in the war for independence, 
 and acted well his part in that struggle. The Whiteside family 
 were of Irish descent and inherited much of the Irish character. 
 They were warm-hearted, impulsive, and patriotic. Their friends 
 were always right and their foes always wrong in their estima- 
 tion. They were capable of entertaining strong and firm attach- 
 ments and friendships. If a Whiteside took you by the hand, 
 you had his heart. He would shed his blood freely for his 
 country or for his friend. 
 
 William Whiteside erected a fort on the road from Cahokia 
 to Kaskaskia, which became celebrated as Whiteside's Station. 
 At this station, Whiteside raised a large and efficient family of 
 children. 
 
 John Whiteside, his brother, resided at the Bellefontaine for 
 many years, and died there. He also had a large family, whose 
 descendants are very numerous and settled in many parts of 
 the West.
 
 1 86 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 William Whiteside, soon after he arrived in Illinois, became 
 conspicuous and efficient as a leader in the Indian war. He 
 was the captain of many parties that took signal vengeance on 
 the savage foe for murders they committed on the women and 
 children, as well as on the grown men. One trait of character 
 bravery the Whiteside family possessed in an eminent 
 degree, and the patriarch of whom I am speaking was as cool, 
 firm, and decided a man as ever lived. Scarcely any of the 
 family ever knew what fear was. 
 
 William Whiteside was the captain of a party of eight men, 
 who pursued a large number of Indians and overtook them on 
 Shoal Creek. 
 
 In 1793, the Kickapoo Indians stole a number of horses from 
 the American Bottom, not far distant from the present residence 
 of Mr. Miles, and fled toward their towns at the sources of the 
 Sangamon River. Many of the citizens assembled to pursue 
 the Indians, but only eight came to the sticking point, Wil- 
 liam Whiteside, captain, Samuel Judy, John Whiteside, Samuel 
 Whiteside, William Harrington, Wm. L. Whiteside, John Porter, 
 and John Dempsey. They pursued the Indian trail near the 
 ^present City of Belleville, toward the Indian camp on Shoal 
 Creek. 
 
 It was a hazardous and dangerous march, eight men in pur- 
 suit of a large body of Indians, and going into a country where 
 hundreds of the enemy could be called forth in a few hours. 
 Scarcely eight men in any country could be selected, with the 
 -same talents and efficiency, to succeed in such a perilous attempt 
 on the enemy, as those composing this almost forlorn hope. 
 
 These pioneers had no time to prepare for the march, or the 
 Indians would escape. They had scarcely anything with them 
 to eat. Their guns, ammunition, and bravery were almost all 
 they had along. One other essential ingredient they had in an 
 eminent degree, great talents, caution, and experience in the 
 captain and also many of his party. They followed the trail, 
 day and night, with great rapidity. One of the party was 
 generally out before on the trail as a spy, to prevent the whites 
 from rushing into an ambuscade. Better to lose one man than 
 all the party. 
 
 They came up with the Indians on Shoal Creek and found
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. l8/ 
 
 three of the horses grazing in the prairie. They secured these 
 horses and then made arrangements to attack the Indian camp. 
 Uy order of the captain, altho the party was small, yet it was 
 divided into two parties, and each to attack the camp at the 
 same time, from the opposite sides. The captain's gun to fire 
 was the signal to commence the battle. One Indian, the son 
 of the chief, old Pecon, was killed, one mortally wounded, and 
 others slightly. 
 
 The Indians, altho many more than the whites, ran off and 
 left their guns and everything but themselves. The old chief 
 surrendered and gave up his gun to Whiteside. The chief, 
 judging from the bold and energetic attack, supposed the 
 whites to be nu:nerous behind. But when he discovered the 
 whole were only eight men, he cried with a terrific voice to his 
 braves to return and fight the Americans, and at the same time 
 seized his gun in Whiteside's hands and attempted to wrench 
 it from him. Whiteside was an extraordinary stout man and 
 never at a loss in any personal scramble that resembled a fight. 
 Whiteside's men were afraid to shoot the Indian, as they might 
 kill their captain; but he was in no danger from the Indian. 
 Whiteside retained the gun in triumph and the Indian, altho a 
 brave man, was forced to acknowledge the superiority of the 
 white man. Whiteside would not injure or let his men kill an 
 unarmed foe, altho the Indian broke the truce. The Indian 
 escaped to his warriors unhurt, much to the honor of Whiteside. 
 These were the days of chivalry in Illinois. 
 
 Whiteside, who was famous for his prudence as well as his 
 courage, said it was unwise to remain in the Indian country a 
 moment longer. They started back with the horses they caught 
 and neither eat or slept until they reached Whiteside's Station. 
 And the very night they arrived at the station, Pecon and 
 seventy warriors camped in the vicinity of Cahokia, in pursuit 
 of Whiteside and his party. 
 
 The wisdom of Whiteside was verified in this case. Suppose 
 the whites had loitered at the Indian camp on Shoal Creek a 
 few hours, these seventy savages would have destroyed a part 
 or all of Whiteside's party before they reached the settlement. 
 
 Savage malignity and revenge was not appeased by the noble 
 and generous act of Capt. Whiteside in saving the life of the
 
 1 88 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 old chief, Pecon; but in revenge for the loss of his son, the old 
 warrior and his braves shot, near the station, a young man, 
 Thomas Whiteside, and tomahawked the boy of the captain 
 while he was out at play, so that he died. These murders 
 occurred the next year, 1794, after the son of Pecon was killed. 
 There is no passion in the breast of a savage so strong as that 
 of revenge. 
 
 In 1795, a Frenchman in Cahokia informed Capt. Whiteside 
 that a camp of Indians of considerable number was established 
 at the bluff, a short distance south of the present macadamized 
 road from Belleville to St. Louis, and that they meditated some 
 injury to him to kill him, or steal horses, etc. This informa- 
 tion aroused the blood of the old warrior, Whiteside, and he 
 called on his tried band of heroes. His passion was not cooled 
 down for the loss of his people, and, moreover, he was acting in 
 self-defence. His small company, Samuel and William L. White- 
 side, Samuel Judy, Isaac Enochs, Johnson J. Whiteside, and 
 others, to the number of fourteen, were assembled, and just 
 before day, the camp was surrounded and all the Indians killed 
 except one. He escaped, not to live, but to die, as the other 
 Indians killed him for his cowardly running off. The Indians 
 numbered more than the whites, but were surprised and killed. 
 This is Indian war. The bones of these Indians were seen at 
 this battle-field for years after. 
 
 In this battle, Capt. Whiteside was wounded, he supposed^ 
 mortally. He fell to the ground, and in this condition, he ex- 
 horted his men to fight bravely; never to give an inch of ground 
 and never permit the enemy to touch his body when he was 
 dead, supposing he would die in a short time. His son, Uel, 
 was also wounded in the arm and could not use his gun. He 
 examined his father's wound and discovered that the ball had 
 not passed thro the body, but struck a rib and glanced off to- 
 ward the spine. On further examination, he found that the 
 bullet had lodged near the skin, and with his butcher-knife he 
 cut it out, saying, " father, you are not dead yet." The old man 
 jumped to his feet, remarking, " boys, I can still fight the Ind- 
 ians." Such desperate feats of courage and military enthusiasm 
 rarely occur in any age or in any country. 
 
 As Capt. Whiteside and party were returning to Whiteside's
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 189 
 
 Station, they halted at Cahokia to dress the wounds of the cap- 
 tain and his son. A widow lady, an American, had two beauti- 
 ful and intelligent daughters, and as few Americans resided in 
 the village, the wounded men stopped at this lady's house a 
 .few minutes to dress their wounds. William B. Whiteside* was 
 'with the party to this lady's residence. He was quite young 
 -and very handsome. This accidental meeting made these 
 young people acquainted with each other and at last the two 
 brothers married the two sisters, Misses Rains, and each party 
 raised large families. It is singular that such small circum- 
 stances may decide the destiny of a person during life. 
 
 The father and son both recovered of their wounds and lived 
 -a long time after. The name of Whiteside was a terror to the 
 Indians. 
 
 The old warrior, William Whiteside, rested in peace from 
 Indian wars for many years, as this battle was the last, until 
 1811, when the Indians again commenced depredations. He 
 was elected colonel of St. Clair County and held that office for 
 many years. He never cared much about the parade of mili- 
 tary office. He admired more " the hair-breadth 'scape in the 
 imminent deadly breach." 
 
 Col. Whiteside, after the peace with the Indians, turned his 
 attention to his farm at the station, and improved it. He cul- 
 
 * I am inclined to think the Governor was indebted to his imagination for this 
 piece of romance. Wm. B. Whiteside, called Bolin, was one of the sons, and Uel 
 the other. I knew Bolin intimately, and the family of Uel. I also knew Mrs. 
 Bolin Whiteside, whose maiden name, according to my recollection, was Arendell. 
 In a sketch of the Whiteside family that I furnished Hon. E. B. Washburne, to be 
 used in an address delivered by him before the Agricultural Society of Whiteside 
 County, in 1877, I fell into the error of taking the Governor's account of this double 
 marriage without due reflection. Afterward, on meeting with Michael Whiteside, 
 since deceased, who lived in this county, he said he did not believe the story, and 
 referred to circumstances that satisfied me that it was not true, and upon reflection 1 
 am constrained to believe either that the Governor culled this ornamental story from 
 his imagination or some one injected it into the story. The Governor was in the 
 habit of having fine passages written by his friends. Col. Nathaniel Niles of Belleville 
 has been suspected of writing a very fine passage, touching the return of Reynolds to 
 the. hearthstone of his early life and the scenes of his childhood in Tennessee. If 
 this passage in regard to the double marriage is a canard or was an interpolation, the 
 Governor should be held responsible, for he knew the history of the Whitesides, as 
 his brother Robert married a daughter of Wm. B. or Bolin Whiteside. This I know. 
 JOSEPH GILLESPIE, Jan. 25, 1883.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 tivated a fine apple-orchard, which, in days gone by, was quite 
 celebrated, as very few orchards were in the country. 
 
 He and his brother, John Whiteside, in 1806, purchased a 
 land-warrant of one hundred acres and located it on a mill-seat 
 on Wood River, where the main road crosses the creek from 
 Edwardsville to Alton. They prepared and hauled much tim- 
 ber to the premises for the mill, but never built it. 
 
 Col. Whiteside was a justice-of-the-peace and judge of the 
 court of common-pleas. These offices he executed to please 
 the people, not himself, as the military was his fort and pleasure. 
 
 In the war of 1812, Col. Whiteside was active and efficient in 
 organizing the militia of St. Clair County and preparing them 
 for active service. He himself was in the service and attended 
 at Camp Russell in carrying out the military operations in the 
 defence of the frontiers. He died at his residence, the old 
 Station, in 1815. He was universally known throughout the 
 country, and his death cast a gloom over the community. 
 
 He had been a regular member of the Baptist church for 
 many years previous to his 'death. He was an exemplary and) 
 moral man and possessed a strong, uncultivated mind. His 
 education was limited, but his life, being one of extraordinary 
 events, made him intelligent. Reflection and study were forced 
 on him in self-defence. His frontier life, with the Indian war 
 and all its dangers and perils impending over him for many 
 years, developed his mind and made him a grave, reflecting 
 man. His person was stout and active. He, as it was with 
 most of the name, was a stranger to fear. He was calm and 
 meditative in times of peril. He never permitted any rash 
 impulses to influence him in battle. His remains now rest at 
 his old Station, -in peace and quiet, from the din and uproar of 
 the battle-field, where his energies and commanding talents 
 have, on many occasions, won the victory for the stars and 
 stripes. He was the leader and pioneer of the Whiteside 
 family and connections in Illinois. They are exceedingly 
 numerous, extending throughout the country. They may look 
 back at him with esteem and respect as the pioneer, Moses, 
 that conducted them thro the wilderness to Illinois, the 
 "promised land." 
 
 Joseph Kinney came to the New Design in 1793, and raised
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. IQI 
 
 a crop preparatory to the emigration of his family to Illinois. 
 He resided at the time on Bear-Grass Creek, seven miles from 
 Louisville, Kentucky, and the next year he moved his family 
 to the New Design. He had seven sons and four daughters, 
 and raised them all to years of maturity before any one of 
 them died. This family was a great acquisition to a new coun- 
 try. They descended the Ohio from Louisville to Fort Mas- 
 sac, and then crossed the country from Massac to Kaskaskia. 
 In this early time there was scarcely any road for a wagon, 
 or even for pack-horses, from Massac to Kaskaskia; but .the 
 energetic pioneers overcome all obstacles and performed the 
 tour. It was said that William Kinney, the son of Joseph 
 Kinney, and afterward lieutenant-governor of the State of Illi- 
 nois, drove the first wagon on this road from Massac* to Kas- 
 kaskia. 
 
 Not only had this family great difficulty in moving to the 
 country, but they also experienced many more disasters and 
 dangers in this new country. .One of, the greatest misfortunes 
 that the family had to suffer was the want of schools to educate 
 the children. The younger portion of the family were almost 
 entirely deprived of this blessing. Nature had gifted this 
 family with strong minds and great energy, but they had no 
 opportunity of improving their minds in their younger days. 
 
 The youngest daughter of Joseph Kinney, when she was 
 married to Rev. Joseph Lemen, in 1809, possessed no book- 
 education, whatever; but her husband, much to his credit, sent 
 her to school, and she learned, after she was married, to read 
 and write. She is now an intelligent lady and the mother of a 
 large and respectable family. 
 
 * The French commander who evacuated Fort Duquesne in October, 1758, on the 
 approach of Gen. Forbes, descended the Ohio River, and Monette says : " Made a 
 halt about forty miles from the mouth, and, on a beautiful eminence on the north 
 bank of the river, commenced a fort, and left a detachment of one hundred men, 
 as a garrison. The post was called 'Fort Massac', in honor of the commander, 
 M. Massac, who superintended its construction. This was the last fort erected 
 by the French on the Ohio, and it was occupied by a garrison of French troops 
 until the evacuation of the country, under the stipulations of the treaty of Paris. 
 Such was the origin of Fort Massac, divested of the romance which fable has 
 thrown around its name." "History of the Valley of the Mississippi." Vol. I, p. 
 3I7--J. H. G.
 
 J92 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Toward the close of the Indian war, Joseph Kinney settled 
 on Rock-House Creek, a few miles east of the New Design, 
 and erected a mill on this creek. He also made a farm on the 
 premises. This creek being small, and in the fall deficient of 
 water to propel the mill, he built a horse-mill. These mills 
 were a relief to the neighborhood and were hailed, with the 
 others built about the same time, as a great blessing to the 
 public. 
 
 Before these mills were constructed, the people were forced 
 to resort to expedients or to go to the horse-mills at Prairie du 
 Rocher or Cahokia to procure their grinding. Trips to the 
 .mills at these villages were dangerous, on account of the 
 Indians, and also a considerable distance to travel. 
 
 Joseph Kinney possessed a good sound mind and much 
 enterprise. He left the old settlements and located in a new 
 country, for the benefit and advantage of his large family. 
 Scarcely any emigrant that ever settled in Illinois was blessed 
 with such a numerous family as the patriarch, Joseph Kinney, 
 was. He lived at the Rock-House Creek, in the even tenor of 
 his way, for many years, and died there in 1803. He was a 
 strong, athletic man, and enjoyed, as he deserved, an excellent 
 character. He was moral and correct in all his actions, and his 
 death was much lamented by his friends and the community 
 generally. 
 
 Mr. Dement married one of his daughters in Kentucky, in 
 1792, and moved to Illinois. He located himself and family a 
 few miles southeast of the New Design, and made a fine farm 
 on his premises. He was a pious, orderly man. One Sunday 
 morning he was preparing to go to meeting and went to bridle 
 his horse. The horse kicked him so that he died of the injury. 
 His death occurred in 1811. 
 
 Andrew Kinney, one of the sons of Joseph Kinney, built a 
 water-mill on a spring branch, southwest of the New Design. 
 This mill occupied the same site where the late Gen. James 
 owned and rebuilt the Kinney mill. This mill, while in the 
 hands of Andrew Kinney, was one of the first in this section 
 of country that manufactured flour for the St. Louis market. 
 Before the war of 1812, this mill manufactured flour for the 
 foreign markets.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 193 
 
 In building this mill, Kinney was much injured by a large 
 piece of timber falling on his breast, which caused him to be 
 confined to his house for years. He became melancholy or 
 depressed of mind. The public considered him laboring under 
 the hypochondria. Either by dreams or otherwise, he decided 
 in his own mind that he would die at such a time naming the 
 day. For months before the time, he still adhered to. his notion, 
 and so stated it to his friends and family. On the day he was 
 to die, a large concourse of people assembled at his residence 
 to see what they would see. Kinney went to bed and lay out 
 as if he were to die. He supposed he would die. The crowd 
 gazed on the scene, but he did not die. He lived for many 
 years after. During this time of his melancholy, he either could 
 not, or supposed he could not, ride on horseback. He was con- 
 veyed about in a sled, and hunted and killed deers while riding 
 in his sled, with his son driving him. He became a candidate 
 for the office of member of the State convention, in 1818, and 
 either the exercise or the excitement cured him. He then rode 
 on horseback and became a scund man in mind and body. He 
 died a few years since, in Missouri, at a respectable old age. 
 Mr. Kinney was an upright, honest man, and always deported 
 himself with great propriety and morality. 
 
 Robert McMahon was an emigrant from Kentucky and set- 
 tled in the New Design in 1794. He was venturesome and 
 risked himself and family on a new place in 1795. He located 
 himself a few miles southeast of the New Design, in the prairie 
 now known as the Yankee Prairie. Four Indians attacked his 
 house in daylight and killed his wife and four children before 
 his eyes. They laid the dead bodies in a row on the floor of 
 the cabin, and took him and two of his small daughters pris- 
 oners. A child in the cradle was found unhurt by the Indians, 
 but dead. The cradle was upset, but the people supposed the 
 infant died of hunger. What a shocking sight this must have 
 been to McMahon to see his family butchered and himself 
 and two daughters in captivity ! He presumed the Indians 
 were taking him to their villages to burn him to atone for some 
 loss of their warriors killed in the battles with the whites. This 
 murder was committed in December, 1795, and the weather was 
 excessively cold. The party were on foot and the frozen ground 
 13
 
 194 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 was severe on the feet of the daughters of McMahon; but this 
 was nothing to compare with burning at the stake. The Ind- 
 ians were in a great hurry to get off, for fear the whites would 
 follow them. They took from the house whatever light articles 
 they could pack on their backs, and started. Before they left 
 the house, they tied one of McMahon's arms behind his body 
 and left the other loose, to hold on his pack. They packed on 
 him a full load of his own goods and steered their course north- 
 east, with a quick and determined step. 
 
 These Indians were brave and determined warriors and used 
 no more rigor with McMahon than was necessary to secure him. 
 After the rage of the murder of the family subsided, the Indians 
 were kind and friendly to the little girls. They cheered them 
 up, by signs, and attended to their wants. They fixed their 
 shoes and made them as comfortable as the nature of the case 
 would permit. 
 
 They marched a straight course, crossing Prairie -du- Long 
 Creek not far from the mouth of the creek whereon Gen. 
 Moore had a mill afterward, and they camped the first night 
 on Richland Creek, about one-half mile below the present City 
 of Belleville. 
 
 McMahon was secured with tug-ropes and tied down on his 
 back, so he could not turn or stir. His shoes and most of his 
 clothes were taken from him and put under the Indians, to pre- 
 vent him from getting them if he attempted to escape. They 
 also put on him a belt, finely wrought with porcupine quills and 
 small bells, so that if he stirred, the bells would rattle and give 
 them alarm. The Indians themselves were almost starving, 
 and, of course, McMahon and girls had very little to eat. A 
 small pittance of dried meat was all their food. 
 
 What a contrast is often seen in the human family! What a 
 striking difference between the condition of these captive girls 
 and the well-dressed and lively little girls of this city! The 
 little captives camped all night on the creek, below Belleville, 
 with four savage warriors, who had, the day before, killed their 
 mother and four sisters or brothers, and had their father in 
 bondage perhaps to burn him. They were also oppressed 
 with the travel and all day without victuals or rest. They had 
 scarcely a stitch of clothes to preserve them from freezing dur-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 1 95 
 
 ing the night. What a contrast with the gay and cheerful little 
 girls of Belleville at this time! One party enjoying all the 
 comforts of life, with kind parents to administer to their wants, 
 while the other had no mother, and a father, probably to be 
 burnt, and they themselves in the hands of the murderers of 
 their mother and family, to be, perhaps, also murdered. 
 
 An Indian war is horrible, because of its barbarity on the 
 defenceless part of community. 
 
 The party pursued their course across Silver Creek, above 
 the present town of Lebanon, on to the sources of Sugar Creek, 
 and there camped the second night. It snowed this night. 
 McMahon meditated his escape, but of it did not inform his 
 girls. He supposed they would cry and try to prevent it, and 
 it would do them no good to see him burnt, and so did not tell 
 them. The Indians tied and secured him as they did the pre- 
 ceding night. But in the night, when all were sound asleep, he 
 slipped off the cords from his arms and body. He covered his 
 clothes, what little he had on, over the belt of bells, so they 
 made no noise, and was about rising quietly to escape, when 
 one of the large Indians, just as he had the cords loose and 
 preparing to rise, raised his head up and looked around, but. 
 laid it down again without noticing him. 
 
 This was a perilous time for McMahon and children, as, prob- 
 ably, if he had been detected in his attempts to escape, they 
 would have killed both him and his children. 
 
 When the Indian laid down his head and again slept,. 
 McMahon escaped, without his shoes, hat, or much of his- 
 clothes. He was almost naked and barefooted on the snow- 
 He slipped back to the camp and tried to get his shoes or the 
 Indians' moccasons, but could get neither. He thought either 
 way was nearly death to stay with the Indians or leave them 
 in the wilderness, without shoes, clothes, or anything to eat 
 He sLarted in the night toward the New Design, as well as he 
 could discover his course. He slept out one night besides the 
 night he left, and came near freezing. He lay beside a log and 
 gathered up some dry leaves with which to cover himself. He 
 thought this world lost to him, as he must freeze that night. 
 His feet and elbows froze to some extent ; his elbows being 
 exposed, as his clothes had holes in them. He steered, as well
 
 196 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 as he could, toward the southwest, but missed the New-Design 
 settlement, and found himself at Prairie du Rocher, the first 
 place he saw a white man. 
 
 He was in a horrid and deplorable condition when he reached 
 the settlement. He was without shoes, hat, or much clothes, 
 almost exhausted with hunger, having eaten very little for four 
 days, together with his feet and arms frozen. His clothes, what 
 little he had on, were torn and tattered, and his skin and flesh 
 injured and wounded in many places. 
 
 His family lay dead some days before the neighbors knew of 
 the murder, and therefore they were not immediately buried. 
 
 A small Spitz dog, who had been much admired and petted 
 by McMahon's family, came frequently to the settlement of the 
 New Design, and would run back and forward toward the resi- 
 dence of McMahon ; but no one perceived the object of the 
 dog, which was made manifest after the murder was discovered. 
 The poor dog wanted to give the information, but could not. 
 
 Old Mr. Judy was the first that discovered the dead bodies, 
 and reported it to the settlement. He had seen such a horrid 
 sight that he shed tears when he told the sad story of the 
 murder. 
 
 The citizens went out and buried the dead and had a religious 
 meeting called on that same evening, at the fort of James Lemen, 
 Sr., as a kind of funeral devotion for the deceased family. 
 
 Just as the meeting closed, at nine or ten o'clock in the even- 
 ing, McMahon entered the house from Prairie du Rocher. All 
 parties were surprised and much affected at the scene. McMahon 
 sat at the fire and his little dog was also there, but did not know 
 his master at first, as he was so changed; but the moment he 
 looked into his master's face, he leaped into his lap with exceed- 
 ingly great joy. This little incident produced a sensation in 
 the assembly that was very affecting and sorrowful. McMahon 
 could not restrain his feelings and burst out into loud lamenta- 
 tions for the murder of his family. 
 
 After McMahon became calm from, the first gush of sorrow, 
 and his friends informed him that they had buried all his family 
 in one grave, he, with a pious ejaculation, exclaimed: " They 
 were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they 
 were not separated."
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 197 
 
 His daughters were ransomed and one of them married a 
 Mr. Gaskill of Madison County, and has raised a large family. 
 McMahon himself, in a few years after the murder of his family, 
 married again and made a fine plantation on a beautiful emi- 
 nence in the Horse Prairie. He was appointed a justice-of-the- 
 peace and judge of the court of Randolph County, and exe- 
 cuted the duties of these offices with punctuality and honesty. 
 He possesed a good standing in community. He moved from 
 Randolph County to St. Clair, and resided on a plantation a 
 mile or two northeast of Lebanon. At last he settled in Madi- 
 son County, southwest of Troy, and died there after living a 
 long and eventful life. 
 
 The Indians, in very early times, cared but little about the 
 Americans emigrating to the country. They supposed they 
 would occupy but a small portion of the territory, which would 
 not do the Indians any injury. The Indian wars raged in Ken- 
 tucky and Tennessee before much trouble was experienced in 
 Illinois from them. 
 
 This was a great inducement to the Ogles, Moores, and 
 Lemens, and many other early settlers, to emigrate to the 
 country. But the Indians saw that a great number of Ameri- 
 cans were locating themselves in the country and organizing a 
 government. 
 
 In 1790, the red -skins commenced the defence of their coun- 
 try, by attempting to prevent the whites from settling in it. In 
 the whole West, the Indian war, in 1790, and for several years 
 after, was carried on with rancor and bitterness not experienced 
 before. The federal government commenced hostilities on a 
 large scale against the Indians located in the northern section 
 of the present State of Ohio. It was thought advisable to 
 carry the war into Africa, and the northern nations of Indians 
 must be subdued before a permanent peace could be established. 
 
 With this view, the government ordered Gen. Harmar to 
 march against the Indians in the Northwest. He organized an 
 army of one thousand four hundred and fifty men, three hun- 
 dred and twenty of whom were federal troops and the balance 
 Kentucky and Pennsylvania militia. This army left Fort Wash- 
 ington, which is now occupied by the City of Cincinnati, Sept. 
 30, 1790, and marched toward the Indian towns on the Maumee-
 
 198 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 He separated his army into several divisions and made many 
 charges on small parties of Indians and on deserted villages; 
 but on the whole, he did not sustain the honor of the stars and 
 stripes. 
 
 On October 19 and 22, he was partially defeated. The public 
 and the Indians considered Harmar as having failed in his cam- 
 paign ; but the general himself, at least, at the time did not 
 think so. The Indian account of the battles is that Harmar 
 lost five hundred men, killed, and the rest retreated, while the 
 Indians only lost fifteen or twenty warriors. The Shawnees, 
 Pottawatomies, and Miamis were the Indians engaged in these 
 battles against the American army. The government believed 
 that the campaign of Gen. Harmar was a failure, and in conse- 
 quence, made arrangements for a more powerful prosecution of 
 the war against the Indians. 
 
 An act of congress for the protection of the frontiers passed 
 March '3, 1791, and Gov. St. Clair was, on the 4th of the same 
 month, appointed to the command of the Northwestern army. 
 Messengers of peace were sent to the Indians, but the British 
 agents prevented them from accepting the terms offered by the 
 United States. 
 
 Before St. Clair could get ready, Gen. Charles Scott of Ken- 
 tucky was ordered on a campaign, in May, 1791, against the 
 Wabash Indians. He destroyed all the towns at and near Oui- 
 tenon, or Weastowns, and returned. Gen. Wilkinson was also 
 engaged against the Wabash Indians, and both expeditions were 
 successful. 
 
 Gen. St. Clair and Gen. Butler, who was second in command 
 
 > 
 
 made the utmost exertions to raise and organize an army to 
 retrieve the honor of the country, which in the other campaign 
 did r.o: shine out with the accustomed brilliancy. The army 
 under St. Clair amounted to two thousand three hundred strong, 
 and left Ludlow's Station, near Cincinnati, on September 17, 
 1791, for the Indian country toward Detroit. 
 
 Gen. St. Clair halted at the Miami and built a fort, called 
 Fort Hamilton. Then the army proceeded forty-four mile; 
 and erected Fort Jefferson. This fort was commenced Oct. 12, 
 and finished on the 24th. When the troops commenced the 
 march, the army did not proceed more than seven miles per
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 199 
 
 day, and at many times sixty or more of the militia deserted at 
 a time. 
 
 Twenty-nine miles from Fort Jefferson, the army camped on 
 a small stream twelve yards wide, which was a branch of 
 the Wabash River. The regiment of Col. Hamtramck, and the 
 colonel himself, were sent back for deserters and other troops; 
 so that on November 3, he had only fourteen hundred men 
 under his command at the disastrous battle. Half-an-hour 
 before sunrise, the Indians, on the 4th, surprised the army and 
 defeated it, killing and wounding eight or nine hundred men. 
 In Braddock's defeat of one thousand two hundred men, he lost 
 seven hundred and fourteen, in killed and wounded. Brad- 
 dock had eighty-six officers, of whom sixty-three were slain or 
 wounded. In St. Clair's army there were between eighty-six 
 and ninety officers, and sixteen were killed and wounded. 
 
 The causes of the defeat of St. Clair and army have been 
 much canvassed and discussed before military committees of 
 the army and of congress. The defeat has been placed on the 
 grounds of lateness of the season, want of discipline in the 
 .army, and a disagreement between the generals, St. Clair and 
 Butler. All these minor causes go to show a want of such 
 great military talents in the general that he must possess to 
 enable him to succeed. 
 
 St. Clair was honest and upright, and possessed ordinary, 
 good talents as a general, but his health was bad. He could 
 not get on or off a horse without help, and old age was advanc- 
 ing on him; so he was not the energetic and talented man that 
 he was in the Revolution. He was surprised by the Indians; 
 his troops were not trained or disciplined; it was late in the 
 year (and not very late either November 4), and Col. Ham- 
 tramck was absent with his regiment. All these were causes a 
 man of talents would have guarded against. He could not stop 
 at the time, but he could have been out sooner, or not at all, 
 that season. If he had fortified his position and waited for the 
 return of Col. Hamtramck, the loss of eight or nine hundred 
 ,men might have been avoided, and what was also desirable, the 
 honor of himself and army. To be surprised by Indians is an 
 .argument against the sagacity of a general. 
 
 jQen. St. Clair, after this battle, retired from the army and
 
 200 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 demanded an enquiry into his conduct, which was granted him. 
 He was .acquitted by the committees, but the public and the 
 Indians did not discharge him from blame. 
 
 The next year, Gen. Wayne was appointed to take command 
 of the army to conquer a peace over the Indians in the North- 
 west. The government disliked to shed blood and to expend 
 the treasure of the country, and therefore they resorted to nego- 
 tiation for two long years. 
 
 - It seems unreasonable that the government would try peace 
 measures with the Indians when the British agents and officers 
 were urging them up to fight the Americans and they having 
 already whipped two American armies. All the peace-talks 
 ever presented to the red men could not have kept them in 
 peace under these circumstances. 
 
 Gen. Wayne said he had with him about four thousand mes- 
 sengers of peace to make a treaty with the Indians at the 
 muzzle of the cannon. It must be written for the Indian's with 
 powder and lead. No other treaties had ever any good effect 
 with savages and scarcely with any other nation. 
 
 All this time, two years, the government were coaxing the 
 Indians into peace, Wayne was preparing his army for active 
 service, and on August 19, 1794, he arrived in the vicinity of 
 the enemy. He here erected a strong fort, called Fort Deposit. 
 In it he put all his heavy baggage, etc., and on August 20, gave 
 battle to the Indians, nearly under the guns of the British gar- 
 rison. He entirely defeated them, and the next year, on Aug_ 
 3, 1795, a general peace was made with the Indians at Green- 
 ville. This peace relieved the people of Illinois, as well as- 
 throughout the western frontiers, from Indian hostilities. 
 
 After this memorable epoch, immigration set into Illinois and 
 the settlements commenced to extend themselves from the New 
 Design and the forts in the American Bottom, into other sec- 
 tions of the country. 
 
 About 1799 and 1800, a settlement commenced in the Horse 
 Prairie. Samuel and Winder Kinney, Chance Ratcliff, Gibbons, 
 McMahon, and some others settled in the upper end of Horse 
 Prairie. At the time they settled there, the country was almost 
 entirely prairie and barrens, with a few scattering large trees. 
 Now it is covered with young growing timber, except the fields
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 2OI 
 
 that are cultivated. So soon as the fire is kept out of the prai- 
 ries they soon grow up with timber. 
 
 It is a fact that is known to all the pioneers, that there is, at 
 this day, much more timber in all these old counties than was 
 in them fifty years ago. The timber grows faster than it is 
 used, since the first settlement of the country. 
 
 Teter and others afterward also settled in the Horse Prairie; 
 but the settlement almost entirely broke up before 1810, and 
 nearly all the inhabitants left. Levens and some others re- 
 mained. 
 
 The Horse Prairie lies west of the Kaskaskia River and east 
 of Horse Creek, and both the creek and prairie obtained the 
 name by herds of wild horses running, in early times, in and 
 around this prairie. These horses escaped from the French vil- 
 lages and lived in the prairie. 
 
 About 1796, the Ogles, Biggs, and some others formed a set- 
 tlement in the Bottom and on the hills near the Bottom, where 
 the road from the Bellefontaine to Cahokia descends the bluff. 
 The Ogles made a large farm in the Bottom. 
 
 George Lunceford and Samuel Judy purchased the sugar-loaf 
 tract of land and made a farm on it. Judy sold out to Lunce- 
 ford and went, in 1800, to his residence in the present county of 
 Madison, where he died. The sugar-loaf was rather remarkable 
 in the first settlement of the country. A small mound rises on 
 the top of the rocky bluff, which is supposed to resemble a 
 sugar-loaf, that gives the name to this place. It is five or six 
 miles south of Cahokia. 
 
 The American Bottom received many immigrants about this- 
 time. Many from the New Design moved to the Bottom. 
 Edward and Thomas Todd, the Badgleys, and others left the 
 New Design and settled in the Bottom. 
 
 James Gilham, Sr., emigrated from Kentucky to Illinois in 
 1797, and settled in the American Bottom. He had resided on 
 the frontiers of Kentucky and the Indians had taken two of his 
 sons prisoners. These two boys, Samuel and Clement Gilham, 
 remained with the Kickapoos for several years, and were ran- 
 somed in Illinois. The Indian traders purchased the young 
 men from the Indians and it took the family many years' toil 
 and labor to pay the ransom. They paid " Chape -Wollie"" 
 Atchison at Cahokia.
 
 202 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Mr. Murdoch and family emigrated from Kentucky and settled 
 in the American Bottom in. 1796. He resided near Judge Bond, 
 where he died the next year. He was the father of John Mur- 
 doch, the eccentric and quizzical personage, of some celebrity 
 in after-times. The widow Murdoch, in a few years after her 
 husband's death, married George Blair, the first proprietor of 
 the site of Belleville. 
 
 The Big Prairie, in the American Bottom, contained a con- 
 siderable settlement before 1800 more than it ever did since. 
 
 James Gilham being the pioneer, a large connection of that 
 family followed him and came to Illinois at an early period. 
 They settled first in the Big Prairie. 
 
 The American Bottom, in early times, contained a dense set- 
 tlement almost from Fort Chartres to Cahokia. At one time, 
 I presume, three-fourths of the American population in Illinois, 
 resided in this bottom. The people residing in the American 
 Bottom gave tone and character to a great extent to the entire 
 population of the country. 
 
 The customs and habits of the early settlers of the Bottom 
 were fashioned very much on the French model. They were 
 extremely gay, polite, and merry. 
 
 In the American Bottom a support for a man and family 
 arose almost spontaneous. The Indian wars were closed and 
 the people enjoyed a kind of perpetual jubilee for many years. 
 They associated themselves with the French and imitated that 
 people in their amusements and recreations. 
 
 When any work of any importance was to be done and it 
 could not be put off any longer, the neighbors assembled to- 
 gether and organized themselves into a kind of working frolic, 
 and the job was performed. 
 
 The harvest of wheat was always gathered in this cheerful 
 .and jovial manner. No one heard of pay for work in harvest 
 in old times. House-raisings were the same. And if a neighbor 
 got behind with his work from sickness or otherwise, his friends 
 around him assembled together and performed his work without 
 pay or reward, except the pay of an approving conscience, which 
 is better than all the gold of California. 
 
 Flax was cultivated in these times, and was often pulled at 
 the time that the wheat was harvested. The girls frequently
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 203 
 
 attended these flax pullings and then animation and brilliancy 
 were infused into the whole atmosphere at the gatherings. A 
 proper number of old ladies were mixed with the girls to see 
 that matters were conducted with a proper proportion of gayety 
 and merriment, together with moderation and decorum. Other 
 females were in attendance at the cooking- department, while 
 the grown men were out in the wheat-field, with each one a 
 reap-hook or sickle in his hand. The aged men and boys were 
 shocking the wheat and carrying out water. 
 
 At noon all came in to dinner. Then there was a feast of 
 good feeling with both the young and the old. The whole 
 people, male and female, would wash and fix up for dinner. 
 These personal preparations with the young people were 
 speedily made, so that they would be the sooner in the gay and 
 cheerful society of each other. 
 
 When these pioneers mixed together under shade trees at 
 these gatherings, much kind feeling and sociability were en- 
 joyed. The aged sires were proud to see their sons do a man's 
 work in the harvest-field, while the old matrons were excited 
 with intense feeling of pleasure to see their daughters make 
 such a decent appearance and so much admired and esteemed 
 by the people. 
 
 Groups of old men were often sitting on the grass, under the 
 shade of a tree, with a bottle of Monongahela or tafia in the 
 centre, and talking over the Indian battles they fought before 
 Wayne's treaty, and what hard fights they had with the British 
 and tories at the Cow-Pens, Guildford Court-House, and King's 
 Mountain. These old sires, at times, were excited at these con- 
 vivial meetings, with liquor and the wars, until they burst all 
 restraint and swore eternal enmity against the British and tories 
 
 It did their hearts good to exult over the manner they hung 
 the tories in North Carolina, and at last Providence and Wash- 
 ington conquered the whole concern at Yorktown. 
 
 It must be recollected that these times were but a few years 
 after the Revolution, and all the transactions of that terrible 
 conflict were fresh in the minds of these old men and perhaps 
 many of them had been engaged in them. But it was the young 
 folks at these harvest noons that forgot dull care and enjoyed 
 themselves with a hilarity and social feeling that can not be
 
 204 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 described. These young people, after they washed and the 
 girls made their toilets, under the shade of a tree, met perhaps 
 at a fine spring of water, in the shade, and talked, laughed, and 
 almost amalgamated together. Then was seen innocent and 
 honest society. Many of this young group had neither shoes- 
 or moccasons on their feet, but washed them clean, and the cus- 
 tom and times made it all right. 
 
 After the common salutations were closed and the crowd 
 seated on the grass, some one would propose a song. At that 
 day songs were much admired and enjoyed. The singer, as a 
 matter of course, had a bad cold.. He " kotch his cold," he said r 
 " by running after a wounded deer." However, after the proper 
 solicitation, he commenced to cough and spit and then asked, 
 "What song will I sing?" Half a dozen mouths shouted for 
 " William Riley." 
 
 In old times, if a song was not sung loud, it was no singing 
 at all. Often this " William-Riley " song was sung so loud that 
 it could be heard to a considerable distance. He finished, and 
 the common praise was given to the song and singer, and dinner 
 was announced. 
 
 A table was erected under a shade, with the sides and bottom 
 planks of a wagon-body, placed on cross-pieces of timber, sup- 
 ported by forks set in the ground. This table was made in pro- 
 portion to the company. All the dishes, plates, knives, etc., of 
 the neighborhood were collected for the occasion. Benches, 
 stools, boards, and all such articles were prepared, on which to 
 seat the company. 
 
 Almost always two very dissimilar things were mixed together 
 at these dinners, grace at the table and on it several bottles of 
 liquor. It was the universal custom, in olden times, to use spirit- 
 ous liquors at these gatherings. Sometimes these harvest-frolics 
 were closed up at night with a dance. At all events, all went 
 home in fine humor. 
 
 I do not believe that any happier people existed anywhere 
 than in the American Bottom for twenty years, from 1790 to 
 1810. These were the palmy days of the American Bottom, 
 and such a feast and flow of good feelings, generosity, and most 
 of the virtues that adorn human nature, as were experienced in 
 the American Bottom, rarely exist in any country.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 2O5 
 
 About this time, 1796, a small settlement was formed between 
 the Bellefontaine and the Mississippi Bluff. Short, Griffin, Gib- 
 bons, Roberts, Valentine, and some others were located in this 
 vicinity. These inhabitants resided here a few years and aban- 
 doned the new settlement entirely. A large graveyard in this 
 settlement may be seen to this day. 
 
 William Scott, an ancient and respectable pioneer of Illinois, 
 was born of Irish parents, in Botetourt County, Va., in 1745. 
 He emigrated to Woodford County, Kentucky, and remained 
 there for many years. He was energetic and ambitious, like 
 most of the pioneers, to explore new countries. He visited 
 Illinois in 1794, with an intention to reside in it if he liked it; 
 but he returned to Kentucky and entered into a traffic between 
 Frankfort and St. Louis, in the then Spanish country. 
 
 He and" his partner, Branham, fitted out at Frankfort, on the 
 Kentucky River, a small craft, laden with articles for the 
 St. Louis market. They continued this trade to St. Louis for 
 two years, and when they dissolved the partnership, Mr. Scott 
 found that his partner had injured him to a considerable 
 amount. This was one reason of his leaving Kentucky. 
 
 Late in the fall of 1797, the family of Mr. Scott and son-in- 
 law, Jarvis, emigrated from Kentucky to Illinois by land and 
 reached the Horse-Prairie Town, on the Kaskaskia River, which 
 was the first white settlement they saw in the country. 
 
 Mr. Scott, having remained in Kentucky a short time, joined 
 his family at the New Design the same fall, and about Christ- 
 mas, they all located themselves on Turkey Hill. This place, 
 with the French and Indians, was conspicuous as a trading-post. 
 The Indians had made this place their camping-ground for ages 
 past, and the traders had met them there with merchandise to 
 exchange for their peltries, furs, etc. Blue-grass grew around 
 this beautiful eminence, and other indications show it to be a 
 place of general and ancient resort of the Indians and Indian 
 traders. Turkey Hill is a commanding and imposing situation. 
 It rises to a considerable height and can be seen from the east 
 'at thirty or forty miles distance. Turkey Hill was known to 
 the French by the name of Cote de Dindc for more than one 
 hundred years past, and many legends and tales of olden times 
 are told of the Indians of this place.
 
 206 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Tradition says that the Tamarawa Indians had a large town 
 on Turkey Hill a great many years ago, and that the Great 
 Spirit sent an old Indian, a wise, good man, with the seeds of 
 all the good things for the Indians corn, beans, potatoes, and 
 peas and this old man showed them how to plant and raise 
 them. That the old man lived with them many years and gave 
 them good advice: never to go to war or to kill any one. For 
 a long time, while this good man lived with them, the Tamara- 
 was did well ; but at last the Indians got too proud and did 
 bad; then this good, wise man left them. This tradition may 
 be the reason that the prairie south of Turkey Hill was called 
 Prairie Tamarawas. 
 
 At the time Mr. Scott settled himself on Turkey Hill, he and 
 the Indians held the country as tenants in common. The Kicka- 
 poos were his nearest neighbors. They hunted and resided 
 much of the year near him, but were friendly after Wayne's 
 treaty. 
 
 Mr. Scott and family were the first American settlers north- 
 east of Whiteside's Station, in the present county of Monroe, 
 and remained so for several years. He had a large family of 
 sons, which enabled him to sustain himself in his new settle- 
 ment, which was so much in advance of the white population. 
 
 His sons, in 1798, being the next year after their arrival at 
 Turkey Hill, cultivated a crop in the American Bottom, and 
 also some improvement was made on Turkey Hill the same 
 year. After this year, the family made a large improvement 
 on Turkey Hill, where they all resided for many years together 
 in peace and happiness. 
 
 At length the sons married and settled in the neighborhood 
 around the venerable patriarch, until he might, with propriety, 
 say: " I have filled my destiny; I have run my race; I see my 
 family and my country happy, and that makes me happy." 
 
 Turkey-Hill settlement was the next important colony of the 
 Americans after that of the New Design and the American 
 Bottom. This settlement and Mr. Scott became quite conspicu- 
 ous and were known throughout the West, until the country 
 became densely populated and the original names disappeared. 
 He was known far and near as Turkey-Hill Scott, and around 
 him, the next year after his location, Hosea Rigg, Samuel 
 Schook, and a few others, settled.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 2O/ 
 
 Mr. Scott lived a long and eventful life of nearly eighty- three 
 years, and died on Turkey Hill in 1828, regretted and lamented 
 by the community generally. He was a man of excellent moral 
 and honest character. He was a member of the Methodist- 
 Episcopal church for many years, and sustained himself in that 
 high and honorable station, which proved that his heart was 
 impressed with Christian principles. He possessed a sound 
 judgment and much practical experience, and was not ambitious 
 of either wealth or worldly distinction. He purchased, in early 
 times, four military land-warrants, of one hundred acres each, 
 and located them on Turkey Hill. He also was possessed of 
 sufficient worldly gear to make himself and family comfortable 
 and happy. 
 
 Toward the close of his life, he turned his attention to books 
 and study; passed off his advanced years in the pleasures of 
 meditation and reflection. He was intelligent and communica- 
 tive, and when he died, he left no enemies, but a host of friends 
 and acquaintances to mourn his death. 
 
 Nathaniel Hull was born and raised to almost maturity in 
 the State of Massachusetts. He was, like most of those of the 
 Bay State, educated, and was a plain, good scholar. He emi- 
 grated to Illinois about 1780. He and several other young 
 men in the Revolution left their native State and traveled west. 
 Hull descended the Ohio to a point near Ford's Ferry, on that 
 river, and came across by land to Kaskaskia. This place on 
 the Ohio was afterward known as Hull's Landing, and at it, in 
 1786, the Lemen family and others landed and came across the 
 country to the settlements. 
 
 At this day the Indians were not hostile as afterward, so that 
 Hull and party escaped thro the wilderness without injury. He 
 located himself in the American Bottom, and in a few years 
 after, he married into the O'Hara family. He settled at the 
 foot of the bluff in the Bottom, and there made a plantation 
 and erected a block-house fort, as has already been narrated. 
 He soon acquired the name of Capt. Hull, which he richly 
 deserved by his talents and energies in defending the country 
 from Indian depredations. 
 
 The residence of Capt. Hull became, in early times, a com- 
 mon centre of attraction of the people, for information and for
 
 208 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 the backwoods discussions of the best mode of defence against 
 the Indians. His sage councils were always received with much 
 respect. A post-office and small store were established at his 
 block-house. He headed many a party in pursuit of the com- 
 mon enemy when any depredation was committed by them. 
 
 In 1794, he went back to Massachusetts for his brother, Daniel 
 Hull, and moved him and family to the American Bottom. 
 
 Capt. Hull raised a large and respectable family. One of 
 his sons, Daniel Hull, joined the Rocky-Mountain Company oi 
 Emanuel Liza and others, and started to the mountains in 1809. 
 He was destroyed there by a white-bear. 
 
 Capt. Hull was not only a good scholar, but he read, reflected, 
 and made himself a very respectable and intelligent man. He 
 delighted to read the scenes and transactions of the Revolution. 
 He was unambitious for office, but the public prevailed on him 
 to act as justice-of-the-peace and county-court judge for Ran- 
 dolph County. He administered justice and equity for many 
 years in these capacities. The whole community was satisfied 
 and pleased with his official acts; but it was in the county-court 
 where his sound judgment and influence did the people the most 
 service. He was for many years the main pillar of the Ran- 
 dolph-County court. 
 
 At all times the county-court, under our system of laws, is 
 an important tribunal. It assesses the taxes and enforces their 
 collection. Bridges, public roads, court-houses, etc., are within 
 the jurisdiction of this ancient county-court. Justice Hull per- 
 formed well, to the satisfaction of the people, all of these duties. 
 
 He turned his attention almost exclusively to the improve- 
 ment and cultivation of his plantation. He delighted in his 
 residence. Just before he died, he enjoined it on his friends to 
 bury him on the bluff adjoining his plantation, and, moreover, 
 he requested them to bury^him standing on his feet, overlooking 
 his premises. His grave was made and he was buried in the 
 manner he requested ; it was handsomely paled in and was 
 an object of inquiry and discussion for many years after his 
 burial. He died in 1806. He possessed a character for probity 
 and integrity that was recognized by all. His death, in his 
 neighborhood and, in fact, throughout the country, was very 
 much lamented and regretted. Capt. Hull stood as the main
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 2CX) 
 
 pillar of society in his neighborhood, and was in the same pro- 
 portion mourned for at his decease. But such are the immu- 
 table laws of Providence. We may regret death, yet the law is 
 just, because it is the command of God. The great Roman 
 
 poet said : 
 
 " Nor loud lament, nor silent tear deplore 
 The fate of Ennius when he 7 s no more." 
 
 John De Moulin was a native of Switzerland and was a man 
 of science and high classic attainment. He was educated a 
 gentleman and sustained that character thro life. De Moulin 
 emigrated to Canada from Switzerland. He settled in Cahokia 
 in 1798, and became a conspicuous and interesting character. 
 
 In 1790, he was the chief-justice of the court of common- 
 pleas of the Cahokia district of St. Clair County. The writs of 
 that day were issued in his name and dated at Cahokia. He 
 was also elected colonel of the county and held that office for 
 many years. He was, for a long series of years, a justice-of- 
 the-peace and also a judge of probate. At this time, in 1790, 
 and for many years after, Col. De Moulin was the most popular 
 man in the county. 
 
 He was a large trader in lands. His name is found on the 
 ancient records of land titles, almost as much as any other per- 
 son in the county. Being a classic scholar in Europe, he under- 
 stood well the civil law and was a good lawyer, altho he did 
 not practise in the courts. He practised law to great advantage 
 in his own business. He studied the titles of the lands in mar- 
 ket at that day, and was well versed in the science of land specu- 
 lation. By this commerce he obtained a living and a compe- 
 tency. At one time he was considered a wealthy citizen, but 
 in the decline of his life, he was not so attentive to business 
 and was stationary or declined in wealth. 
 
 He was colonel of the county and made it his duty, as it was 
 his pleasure, to drill, train, and keep in organization the militia 
 of the county. De Moulin studied military tactics as they were 
 understood and practised in the time of Louis Quatorze. 
 
 The French were born a military people and the Americans 
 were harassed by the Indians; so that the whole community, 
 French and Americans, were zealous and anxious to carry out 
 the efforts of the colonel on this subject.
 
 2IO PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 The spirit of military training was more popular in olden 
 times than at present. I think the old custom should be pre- 
 served. It should be a part of the education of an American 
 citizen to know well the use of arms; so that he could be a 
 soldier, ready for battle at the shortest notice. For the defence 
 of our free institutions the citizens should be prepared at all 
 times. 
 
 It is not the friendship that the monarchies of Europe have 
 for us that makes them respect us ; it is our power of defence. 
 Therefore, to be prepared for defence, we should drill and train 
 our citizens. To be always prepared for an effectual defence, 
 will secure us an eternal peace. 
 
 Col. De Moulin was large, portly, and an elegant figure of a 
 man. He took great pride in his appearance on parade days, 
 and wore generally a splendid military dress on these occasions. 
 His subaltern officers respected him and obeyed his orders to 
 the letter. He had that natural gift to command without giv- 
 ing offence. The militia of the county, under his command, 
 was well trained and well disciplined and efficient. 
 
 He continued a single man during his residence in Illinois, 
 and died without wife, children, or relatives of any degree in 
 the country. He kept house and was slandered in friendship, 
 after the manner Jefferson was, in reference to his female cook 
 of a sable color. 
 
 It was rumored that Col. De Moulin had a female acquaint- 
 ance in Europe, whom he had promised before the church to 
 love and cherish. This was not true, I presume, as no one ever 
 came after his death to examine his estate. His residence in 
 Cahokia was a medium between a bachelor-hall and the staid 
 mansion, governed by a wise and decent matron. He was him- 
 self a moral and correct man, and never permitted himself to 
 relax into low or vulgar society. He always deported himself, 
 as he was, a well-bred gentleman. 
 
 He made a commencement of a small water-mill on the Mis- 
 sissippi Bluff, not far east of the Falling Spring. He died at 
 this place in 1808. He was universally esteemed and respected. 
 His virtues of benevolence, kindness, and generosity were not 
 questioned, and he lived and died very popular. His death 
 was considered a calamity to the country. He had very few, 

 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 211 
 
 or rather no, enemies. Altho he speculated in lands, he was 
 honest and correct. His character was much to be admired 
 and very little to' be condemned. He possessed a sound, well- 
 balanced mind; not of the higher order, but very respectable. 
 
 Nicholas Jarrot was an ancient and respectable pioneer of 
 Illinois. He was a native of Franche Compte in France and 
 was a younger branch of a highly respectable family. He 
 received a liberal education and was, withal, a gentleman of 
 elegant and accomplished manners. His education and his 
 suavity of manners made him an acceptable member of any 
 society wherein he might be. 
 
 The troubles in France in 1790 caused him to emigrate to 
 the land of the free and the home of the brave. He landed 
 at Baltimore and traveled to New Orleans and perhaps to 
 Havana. At last he reached Cahokia, in 1794, and pitched 
 his tent in this place for his residence during life. He came 
 to Cahokia a poor young man, a stranger and a foreigner, 
 without family connections or friends, but by his talents and 
 energy, in a few years he acquired an immense fortune, and 
 what is better, a very respectable standing. 
 
 It was not in the nature of Mr. Jarrot to be idle. His very 
 composition was activity and energy. All the repose or leisure 
 he desired to take was enough to recruit his physical strength, 
 that he might enjoy the luxury of activity and his incessant 
 application to business. His pleasure, his happiness, and his 
 sinnmuni bonnm was an indefatigable industry. His mind was 
 strong, active, and sprightly. It was trained and disciplined 
 by education. 
 
 In early times he was elected a major in a battalion of the 
 St. Clair military, and for years he was known, far and near, as 
 Major Jarrot. 
 
 He was like the honey-bee: as soon as he reached Cahokia, 
 he commenced business. He obtained a small supply of Indian 
 goods and became partially an Indian trader. Almost every 
 year he either went himself in his boat or sent it with goods 
 to the Upper Mississippi, to Prairie du Chien, or the Falls of 
 St. Anthony, or in that region of country. He bartered off 
 such articles as the natives needed, for their furs, peltries, etc. 
 He also kept a small retail store of goods, suitable to the 
 market in Cahokia, for many years after his first arrival.
 
 212 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Altho he commenced in an humble manner in these com- 
 mercial operations, yet to advance his capital was certain. He 
 saw and attended to the business in person, so that he knew 
 every moment what he was doing. In early times the Indian 
 trade was very lucrative. At times two or three hundred per 
 cent was realized on the goods sold to the Indians. This traffic 
 was the first rise that Major Jarrot made to reach the fortune 
 he acquired. 
 
 Not long before the war of 1812, with Great Britain, the 
 British traders excited the Indians against the American popu- 
 lation and the American traders. Altho Major Jarrot was a 
 Frenchman, yet he was carrying on his commerce under the 
 American flag. It was the custom of the Indian traders to 
 make the village of Prairie du Chien their main depot of goods 
 and carry such articles out to the Indian hunting-grounds as 
 the red-skins needed. 
 
 Jarrot took two men and some goods out from the village 
 some distance to a large Indian camp. The Indians expected 
 "him and were frantic with rage against him, because he was 
 an American. This was effected by the British traders. The 
 Indians were determined to kill him and take his merchandise. 
 Jarrot and his men were only armed with shot-guns, expecting 
 no enmity from the Indians. The warriors, to a considerable 
 number, armed themselves for murder and proceeded out of 
 .the camps to meet Jarrot. 
 
 The Indians raised the warwhoop and brandished their 
 spears and tomahawks in the air. It was approaching an 
 alarming crisis. Jarrot and men seemed to be doomed to 
 destruction. The furious savages would not permit a parley; 
 but at last, when the warriors were so near Jarrot that it might 
 be fatal with him, one of his old friends, a Winnebago Indian, 
 stepped before the crowd of warriors and raised a terrific war- 
 whoop, such as the Indians use in a battle where they are sure 
 to be destroyed. It is a kind of death-cry, so called by them. 
 The Indian was armed with all the weapons used by the infu- 
 riated savages in mortal conflict. 
 
 The warriors saw the danger they were in. One or more of 
 them must be slain by the friend of Jarrot, if they persisted in 
 the attempt to murder him and party. The bravery of the
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 21 J 
 
 Winnebago made them reflect, and they desisted from the 
 cowardly act to assassinate the trader. 
 
 Jarrot and men were saved by the noble daring of this wild 
 savage. The Indians changed his former name to that of 
 Jarrot, and he was always known by that name afterward. I 
 saw this Indian, who was called Jarrot, at Galena, in 1829. 
 
 Maj. Jarrot erected a horse-mill in Cahokia, which was profit- 
 able to himself and serviceable to the public. This mill was in 
 operation before and during the war of 1812, and assisted much 
 in providing the supplies for the troops engaged in that war. 
 
 In 1810, while Jarrot was at Prairie du Chien, trading with 
 the Indians, altho it was greatly against his interest, reported 
 faithfully to the government the hostile disposition of the 
 Indians toward the United States. 
 
 In the war of 1812, he organized a company to proceed to 
 Peoria, and he fortified his boat for the expedition in 1813, and 
 made the voyage to Peoria in safety, altho the Illinois River 
 was lined with the hostile .Indians. 
 
 In early times, he turned his talents and energies to the com- 
 merce in land claims and to the land itself. Various acts of 
 congress granted to the ancient inhabitants of Illinois certain 
 claims to land. These claims were to be adjusted and allowed 
 by the proper officers of the general government. Many of 
 the inhabitants were poor and could not wait for the general 
 government to adjust the claims; also many were uninformed as 
 to the manner of obtaining their rights. This situation of the 
 country enabled Jarrot and others to make advantageous pur- 
 chases of these land claims. 
 
 He acquired an immense fortune in real estate, which, with 
 some debts, descended to his heirs at his death. He owned the 
 best selection of land in the country. At one time he owned 
 the greatest po'rtion of the Wiggins- Ferry Landing, opposite 
 St. Louis. 
 
 The most unfortunate policy of Major Jarrot was his mania 
 for mills. His talents, energies, wealth, and ambition were all 
 enlisted to build and maintain a water-mill on Cahokia Creek. 
 This mill was situated a few miles northeast of Illinoistown, 
 and was not only the cause of his expending great quantities of 
 money to no effect, but at last he lost his life by the exposure,
 
 214 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 fatigue, and sickness he experienced at this mill. During a 
 period of about ten years, he exerted all his energies and means 
 to sustain this mill, and at last he and it both perished in the 
 struggle. He was contending against the elements in the 
 American Bottom like Napoleon did at Moscow. The sand- 
 banks of the creek, the swamps near the mill, and sickness suc- 
 ceeded over him like the cold winter did over Napoleon Bona- 
 parte in Russia. Moreover, this mill caused Major Jarrot much 
 trouble and expense by the dam raising the water and flooding 
 the lowlands near Cahokia Creek, above the mill. 
 
 William Robb built another water-mill on the creek, above 
 Jarrot's, and contended that Cahokia Creek was a navigable 
 stream below his mill. Robb built a boat and loaded it with 
 flour. He assembled many of his neighbors and forced his boat 
 thro Jarrot's mill-dam. He did much injury to the dam. Robb 
 was indicted, but the traverse jury did not agree ; thus the 
 matter ended. 
 
 Maj. Jarrot held the offices of justice-of-the-peace and judge 
 of the county-court of St. Clair for many years. Jarrot's name 
 is often found on the records of the court in ancient times, and 
 his services in the judicial department were always respected 
 by the people ; his decisions on the bench were prompt and 
 quick. 
 
 Maj. Jarrot erected in Cahokia one of the first and finest 
 brick-houses in the country, and lived in it, enjoying all the 
 comforts of life. The kindness of heart and urbanity of man- 
 ners which marked his actions attracted many visitors to his 
 mansion, where they were received and entertained by him and 
 his interesting family in a polished and elegant style. 
 
 Maj. Jarrot raised a very large and respectable family. His 
 first wife was a Miss Barbeau of Prairie du Rocher, who died 
 soon after the birth of her first child ; his next wife was a Miss 
 Beauvais of Ste.Genevieve. This lady possessed a strong mind, 
 together with a mild and amiable disposition; so that she was, 
 thro the earthly career of her husband, a great support and 
 solace to him. 
 
 Jarrot was much devoted to his family, and educated and 
 improved them all in his power. In 1823, he died in Cahokia, 
 and his family showed their sorrow and grief not only in their
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 21$ 
 
 kind feelings and affection for him, but also the irreparable 
 Joss they sustained in his death. 
 
 Jarrot was a strict and zealous Roman-catholic, and performed 
 with sincere devotion all his religious duties enjoined by that 
 church. He and his wife always headed the family in going to 
 and returning from church on the Sabbath. 
 
 Being strictly moral, he set his family and others a good 
 example of piety and religion. The remains of this good man 
 are resting in peace in the ancient graveyard of Cahokia; this 
 small territory contains most of the deceased of this village for 
 the last hundred and fifty years. 
 
 A small and sparse settlemgnt, mostly of Americans, was 
 made on the east side of the Kaskaskia River as early as 1780, 
 and for some few years thereafter, this colony continued to in- 
 crease. Hilterbrand, Henry and Elijah Smith, Daniel Hix, 
 Hayden Wells, Teel, and some few others resided on the east 
 side of the Kaskaskia River above Nine-Mile Creek, and made 
 small improvements there. John Doyle, John Montgomery, 
 John Dodge, M. Arstugus, and only a few others resided in the 
 neighborhood opposite Kaskaskia, on the east side of the river. 
 Jean B. Beavois made an improvement at the head of Gravelly 
 Creek, four miles east of Kaskaskia. Thos. Hughes improved 
 on Nine-Mile Creek and was killed emigrating to the country, 
 as before narrated. 
 
 This colony did not flourish to any great extent From 1780 
 to 1795, the Indian war raged and broke up this settlement. 
 This colony disappeared and in 1796 and 1797, the first steps 
 were taken toward reestablishing it. In these two years, several 
 families permanently settled on the east side of the Kaskaskia 
 River and remained there. Hughes, McDonough, Kelly, Ander- 
 son, and Pettitt, with their families, formed a small settlement 
 and occupied about the same neighborhood which the previous 
 colony did. Andrew Dunks arrived soon after and improved 
 on Nine-Mile Creek, in this settlement. 
 
 This small colony did not increase in numbers for many 
 years, altho they lived happy and improved their farms. They 
 had the village of Kaskaskia and the Kaskaskia Indians for 
 their neighbors. Gen. Edgar's mill in their immediate vicinity 
 was a great inducement to reside there. No schools or religious
 
 2l6 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 meetings were enjoyed for many years in this settlement. The 
 Indians who were disposed to friendship, begging and stealing, 
 were their most common visitors. 
 
 Stace McDonough was the main pillar and leader in this set- 
 tlement. He was born in New Jersey in 1770, and when an 
 infant, his father and mother died, leaving him on the cold 
 charities of the world ; he was bound out, but followed the 
 common practice of leaving his boss, and both sides throwing 
 the blame on the other. This much can be said against his 
 principal : that McDonough never received any school-house 
 education whatever. This fault is set down on the side of his 
 employer. 
 
 As soon as he was able, he emigrated West, and when a 
 youth, he was engaged in the military service of the country. 
 
 McDonough was a soldier in many of the expeditions with 
 the Kentucky troops against the Indians toward Detroit. He 
 was athletic, stout, and courageous, and was, moreover, an excel- 
 lent marksman. With these qualifications, he frequently acted 
 as a spy. He possessed a strong natural mind and employed 
 all his energies, mind, and body to the service of his country; 
 and was a conspicuous man in his sphere in the campaign under 
 Gen. Clark, from the Falls to the Wabash, in 1786. Altho he 
 was then only sixteen years old, the experience of many years 
 was realized by him. 
 
 McDonough entered the service of the government in 1790,. 
 and was entrusted with the command of a number of pack- 
 horses in the campaign of Gen. Harmar. In that campaign he 
 was engaged and was always found in the many charges on 
 the Indians, ordered by the general. After returning with the 
 troops, he entered the service under Gen. St. Clair in 1791, and 
 was again engaged in the responsible duties of commanding the 
 convoys of provisions for the army, and was an honest, trust- 
 worthy agent of the quartermaster department. Altho he knew 
 not a letter in the book, yet he was intrusted with this impor- 
 tant command. 
 
 McDonough was in the disastrous defeat of Gen. St. Clair> 
 November 4, 1791, where eight or nine hundred men were slain, 
 and always said the whole catastrophe was the fault of the offi- 
 cers that the number, strength, and capacity of the Indians
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 2 1/ 
 
 were disregarded by the officers in command, and sorely did 
 they pay for it. Butler lost his life and St. Clair his character 
 and standing. 
 
 McDonough often informed me that the Indians surprised the 
 army and surrounded it. The militia were without officers and 
 were so panic-stricken that they rushed about from one side of 
 the camp to the other, like a herd of cattle, without the least 
 attempt to fight or defend themselves. They were butchered 
 like so many bullocks in a pen. By a kind of instinct the crowd 
 of men, not soldiers, of St. Clair' s army made a movement to 
 break thro the hords of savages who were around them, and 
 the Indians could not kill all before some escaped. The regular 
 soldiers often charged on the Indians and drove them a con- 
 siderable distance; but other savages were assailing the troops 
 in the rear, so that it required another charge back to reach the 
 camp again. McDonough always uniformly stated that the car- 
 nage and numbers slain in that battle never were stated in the 
 reports. 
 
 McDonough escaped on foot from this defeat and left the 
 main route, where the Indians made such havoc on the strag- 
 gling men. After he left the road some distance, he found a 
 wounded officer. This man was badly wounded, supposed then 
 to be mortal. He was lying on the ground almost exhausted, 
 and mistook McDonough to be an Indian when he first came 
 up to him. The noble spirit of an American officer still re- 
 mained in this man, lying almost lifeless on the ground. He 
 drew his pistol and prepared for battle; but soon discovered a 
 friend instead of a savage foe. McDonough said he could not 
 help smiling, altho it was a serious time, at the ridiculous 
 attempt this officer made to fight ; but it showed the true 
 courage of an American officer. After much exertion and 
 suffering from hunger, McDonough got this officer and himself 
 safe into camp. Without help, the wounned man must have 
 perished; but he recovered and lived many years afterward. 
 
 McDonough was as efficient on the water as on land; being 
 an excellent river pilot. He commanded one of the United- 
 States boats on the Ohio River in 1793, and near the mouth of 
 the Kentucky River, he was shot from the shore by an Indian 
 in the shoulder. Some white man with the Indians hallooed
 
 2l8 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 out in English, "to throw that man overboard he will die in 
 a short time ! " This was a severe wound and from which he 
 never recovered altho he lived for many years after. He was 
 about obtaining a pension for this wound when he died. Altho 
 not well, he embarked in the campaign under Gen. Wayne. He 
 was anxious to see the eagles of his country raised from the 
 dust where the Indians had trampled them. He delighted to 
 serve under Mad Anthony. 
 
 McDonough was of Scotch descent and was easily fanned 
 into a flame. Of such soldiers as McDonough, Wayne was the 
 commander. He fought thro the battle under Wayne and 
 hoped the general would order a charge on the British garrison. 
 The Americans were more enraged against the British, who 
 urged the savages on to fight, than against the Indians them- 
 selves. 
 
 The war having closed with honor, McDonough left the ser- 
 vice in 1795, and retired to Louisville, Kentucky. He married 
 there, and in 1797, as above stated, settled on the place where 
 he died. 
 
 He turned his attention to agriculture and improved a fine 
 plantation a short distance east of Kaskaskia. He was always 
 extremely fond of the rifle and spared some of his time to hunt. 
 In early times, a man who hunted none was a rare thing. 
 
 During the war of 1812, he had the contract to carry the 
 mail from St. Louis to Shawneetown thro the wilderness coun- 
 try from Kaskaskia to the Ohio River. This mail-route was 
 very important in the war, as that was the route thro which the 
 correspondence was kept up between Illinois and Washington 
 City. It was a dangerous service on account of the hostility of 
 the Indians; but he carried the mails with punctuality. 
 
 In the war, he was captain of a mounted company to defend 
 the frontiers. He performed this service to the satisfaction of 
 the public. He was thro life a man of great energy and activity. 
 Nature gifted him with a sound, strong mind, and altho he had 
 no A-B-C education yet his long life thro so many scenes and 
 trials made him intelligent and wise. He entertained a high 
 sense of honor and integrity, and no one doubted his patriotism 
 and devotion to his country. His mind was well balanced, and 
 he was honest and correct in all transactions. He lived for
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 219 
 
 almost half- a -century on his farm and died there. He was 
 deservedly popular and the public regretted very much his 
 death. 
 
 As soon as the West increased its population and raised a 
 surplus produce, the navigation of the Mississippi was all im- 
 portant to ship their surplus to market. It is astonishing at 
 this day to look back at the excitement of the Western people 
 for the free navigation of the river to the ocean. The people 
 seemed to be frantic and almost crazy to do anything or join 
 any government to secure the free use of the Mississippi. 
 
 It must be recollected that Spain owned both sides of the 
 Mississippi at the mouth and did actually prevent the West for 
 a time to export their products to market. 
 
 And what is still more astonishing that many leading char- 
 acters in the West were willing to sever the Union for the sake 
 of the navigation of the river to the Gulf of Mexico. A meet- 
 ing of the staff-officers who were engaged in a campaign in 
 1786, from the Falls of the Ohio, Kentucky, to chastise the 
 Wabash Indians, met at Vincennes, October 8 of that year, and 
 agreed to organize a separate and independent government. 
 The object of this organization was mostly to secure the navi- 
 gation of the Mississippi. 
 
 The Spaniards were either to be driven off or joined, as the 
 circumstances might be. This board of field-officers determined 
 "to garrison that post (Vincennes), to raise supplies by impress- 
 ment, and to enlist new troops." 
 
 This new government was about to treat with the Indians 
 and had seized a large amount of Spanish property in Vin- 
 cennes and Illinois. Letters were written to the State of 
 Georgia to induce that State to join in the cause, as the terri- 
 tory of Georgia came in contact with the Spanish frontier. 
 
 Congress hearing of this movement at Vincennes, prepared 
 troops to suppress this new government. Public opinion and 
 the good-sense of the people put this scheme down, as they did 
 the whiskey insurrection and the South-Carolina treason to dis- 
 member the Union in modern times. 
 
 The officers decided at Vincennes that, as the Spaniards 
 would not permit the Americans to descend the Mississippi, 
 the Spaniards should not ascend the river.
 
 220 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 About this time, 1/93, Gennet, the minister of the new French- 
 Republic, arrived in the United States. He landed at Charles- 
 ton, South Carolina, and made a kind of a triumphal proces- 
 sion from that city to the seat of government. He presumed 
 much on the friendly relations, which were or ought to be in 
 his opinion, between the United States and the French govern- 
 ment. It will be recollected that France had commenced her 
 glorious revolution for freedom and had established a republic. 
 Gennet was its minister to the Federal government and pre- 
 sented himself, on March 18, 1793, to President Washington. 
 It also must be borne in mind that the federal and republican 
 parties raged with violence and bitterness at this time. The 
 federalists took part with Great Britain against France, while 
 the republicans were for France and opposed to Great Britain. 
 The administration was rather federal. 
 
 Gennet, by all the means and arts in his power, attempted to 
 induce the government to take sides with France against Great 
 Britain; but the firmness and wisdom of Washington and his 
 cabinet kept aloof from any "entangling alliances" with Europe. 
 The same wise policy has governed the councils of the Nation 
 to this day. Gennet was dissatisfied with the government and 
 appealed to the people. He was a talented man arid had just 
 come from a warm political discussion in France and attempted 
 it here. He had not neglected the West and had given com- 
 missions out, even in Illinois, to levy troops to sustain the West 
 against the Union. Our government requested the Republic o' 
 France to recall him and they did so. 
 
 The next minister, Adet, who came to the United States in 
 1796, attempted the same policy but failed more signally than 
 his predecessor. 
 
 During this season of excitement and confusion in the West, 
 the Spanish authorities were active and vigilant in carrying on. 
 intrigues with many influential citizens of the West to induce 
 them to throw off their allegiance and become an independent 
 republic. 
 
 The free navigation of the Mississippi was the great cause of 
 dissatisfaction, and it was not healed up until Jay, our minister 
 at the court of Madrid, made a treaty with Spain in 1795, which 
 secured the free navigation of the river to us forever.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 221 
 
 The Federal government was vigilant and active in guarding 
 against all these assaults on the Union. The garrison at Fort 
 Massac was repaired and fortified. Troops were stationed there 
 .and increased as danger threatened. In fact, soldiers had been 
 .stationed there almost all the time since the treaty of peace in 
 1783. Gen. Wilkinson, about 1795, made below Massac what 
 was called Contonment Wilkinson. The remains of this fort 
 
 can be seen at this day. 
 
 In 1800, two companies of regular soldiers were stationed in 
 Fort Massac. Capts. Russell and Daniel Bissell were the com- 
 
 .manders. One of these companies was, in 1802, ordered to 
 Kaskaskia and occupied the top of the river bluff east of Kas- 
 kaskia, where once stood Fort Gage. This company remained 
 there almost three years and until Louisiana was transferred to 
 the United States in 1805. Then it was ordered off to St. Louis, 
 in Upper Louisiana, and never returned. The celebrated Zebu- 
 Ion Pike, who was destroyed in Upper Canada, at Queenstown, 
 was attached to this company as a subaltern officer. He was 
 very young at that day and was an active, energetic youth. 
 He was restless and ambitious, and was mostly out of the gar- 
 
 ; rison on some scientific excursion. He delighted, while at Kas- 
 kaskia, to be on horseback and exploring the country far and 
 near. 
 
 Gen. Wilkinson, in the West, acted a singular part as well in 
 the transactions with Spain as with Aaron Burr in 1805. He 
 seemed to have been born and to have acted all his life equivo- 
 
 . cal. Courts of inquiry and the strictest investigations could 
 not reach any solid charge against him ; but still the public 
 always believed him to be not entirely free from blame or 
 
 . at least of suspicion. He had fine talents and wrote his own 
 memoirs and even that work leaves him doubtful. 
 
 An officer of the United -States army, high in command, 
 should act in that elevated and upright manner that his con- 
 
 duct should be above doubt or uncertainty. He should "be 
 like Caesar's wife, above suspicion." 
 
 In 1794, the celebrated Isaac Darnielle arrived in Cahokia 
 and remained in the West for several years. He was the 
 second professed lawyer that emigrated to Illinois, John Rice 
 Jones being the first. He was a classic scholar and was in his
 
 222 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 person genteel and agreeable; he possessed the easy and grace- 
 ful manners of a polished gentleman. He was large and portly 
 and made it a sine qua non to be extremely neat in his dress 
 and attentive to his personal appearance. He studied all the 
 arts and mysteries of gallantry and thereby made very deep 
 and rather lasting impressions on his female friends. Darnielle 
 studied the ladies more than he studied his profession of the 
 law. He was benevolent and kind to all mankind, and particu- 
 larly to the ladies. Rumor said that he had been educated in 
 Maryland for the ministry, but his gallantry was too strong for 
 the proper observance of the gospel precepts. It was also 
 stated that he had occupied the pulpit for some time, but took 
 French leave of his congregation and appeared next in Caho- 
 kia. He possessed a strong intellect and his faculties had been 
 well disciplined to study. His honesty, except in gallantry, 
 was unquestionable. With these advantages it did not take 
 him long to study the law, which he did, and practised it also. 
 He being an agreeable speaker, together with a fine appearance 
 of person, made him conspicuous and popular at the bar. 
 
 The courts and juries at that day were not remarkably well 
 versed in the technical learning and therefore Darnielle could 
 figure with ease and safety before these tribunals. He was 
 indolent, except in the pursuit of the pleasures of gallantry, 
 and in this pursuit he spared neither time or exertions. When 
 in a phrenzied state of love with a married lady of Cahokia, 
 and she in the same delightful state of madness, they took a 
 snap judgment on the husband and escaped to Peoria, where 
 for many years they lived on love. The husband remained in 
 Cahokia in sullen silence. 
 
 At one time he and his lady love not, perhaps, the same 
 that lived with him at Peoria made their resting-place on the 
 highest pinnacle of the Mississippi Bluff, northwest of the peni- 
 tentiary at Alton. Altho Cupid selected this spot as the most 
 delicious place of love, yet Col. Easton of St. Louis made sober 
 reality out of it by purchasing the preemption right of Dar- 
 nielle to the land granted to him by act of Congress. 
 
 Darnielle became acquainted with the land-titles in Illinois 
 and made a commerce in land. He never was wealthy; this 
 was not his ambition. He indulged in the land-trade more for
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 22$ 
 
 occupation than for profit. He never married according to the 
 laws of the country, but to all appearances, he was never with- 
 out a wife or wives. It was also rumored that he left a married 
 wife in Maryland who was an obstacle to a second marriage in 
 this country. 
 
 Darnielle had no malice or bitterness in his composition, but 
 seemed to consider his summum bonum to consist in an easy, 
 luxurious life: He was moral and correct in his deportment, 
 except as above referred to. 
 
 Darnielle never indulged in drinking or gaming, but fre- 
 quently slept all day and made the evenings extend all night, 
 in the sight and hearing of his terrestial angel. At one time, 
 while in the zenith of his glory, he was the beau ideal of Caho- 
 kia. His talents, his gay and graceful manners, together with 
 his penchant for this sort of life, authorized him to some extent 
 to be styled the Lord Chesterfield of Cahokia; but in practice 
 he was more the Earl of Rochester than Chesterfield. 
 
 While Darnielle retained his youthful vigor, this life passed 
 off very well; but when old age crept on him, his former pur- 
 suits were abandoned from necessity and he remained an old 
 man without sincere friends or means for support. He taught 
 school in the western part of Kentucky, where he died, rather 
 humbled and neglected, in 1830, aged sixty years. 
 
 If Darnielle had abandoned this one failing, the excess of 
 gallantry, he would have enjoyed the character of one of the 
 most honorable and respectable gentlemen in Illinois. 
 
 In 1793, John Hays emigrated to Cahokia and remained 
 there and in the vicinity during life. He was born in the city 
 of New York in 1770, and when quite a youth, entered the 
 Indian trade in the Northwest. He was a clerk to a wealthy 
 house in Canada and was sent first to Mackinac and afterward 
 toward the Lake of the Woods and the sources of the Missis- 
 sippi. It was toward the headwaters of Red River, of Selkirk's 
 Settlement, that he and two Canadians were caught out in a 
 snow-storm in the prairie, and were compelled to lie under the 
 snow for three days and nights, during the storm. They had a 
 scanty supply of dried meat to eat and thin blankets to cover 
 them. The storm raged with such violence that they were not 
 able to travel in the open prairie and were forced to remain
 
 224 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 under the snow to preserve their lives. It snowed in the time 
 to a considerable depth. No one who has not experienced the 
 hardships in the Indian trade of the Northwest can realize it. 
 The want of water under the snow was that which incommoded 
 them most. 
 
 He returned safe from this storm, and afterward he made 
 arrangements with Messrs. Todd & Hays who had formed an 
 extensive commercial partnership, to act as the agent and clerk 
 2- \ ) in their business. He settled in Cahokia, in the employ of the 
 company of Todd & Hay^i But Todd dying and the com- 
 pany dissolving, forced Hays out again on his own resources. 
 He turned his attention, as many others did, to the Indian 
 trade. At times he also kept a small assortment of goods in 
 Cahokia. His boats, either with himself or agent, generally 
 made a voyage once a year to Prairie du Chien with articles 
 for the Indian trade, and returned sometimes the same fall and 
 sometimes in the spring. With a due regard to economy he 
 made money in this commerce. 
 
 He married a lady in Vincennes of excellent family and what 
 is still better, of sound, good sense. They lived together in 
 Cahokia and raised a respectable family. He turned his atten- 
 tion to agriculture. He purchased land in the common-field of 
 Cahokia and cultivated it to some considerable advantage. He 
 managed his farm with good-sense and economy, as he did all 
 his other business. 
 
 He held the office of postmaster in Cahokia so long that 
 "the memory of man" scarcely "runneth to the contrary." 
 This was no profit to him, but he held the office for the accom- 
 modation of his Creole neighbors, whose acquaintance with 
 school-houses was extremely limited. He was appointed to 
 the office of sheriff of St. Clair County by Gov. St. Clair in 
 1798, and he continued to exercise the duties of this office 
 down to 1818, when the State government was organized. I 
 presume this was the longest term of office ever held in Illinois. 
 It is the strongest evidence of the punctuality and honesty of 
 the incumbent. Rotation in office was not then practised. 
 
 In 1822, he was appointed Indian agent of the Pottawato- 
 mies and Miamis at Fort Wayne, in the northeast section of 
 the State of Indiana. He remained in this office for several
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 22$ 
 
 years and received a handsome annual salary. He returned 
 home to Cahokia and enjoyed his old age in peace and happi- 
 ness with his family and friends. During a long life of industry 
 and economy, he acquired a handsome property, and was in his 
 advanced years very comfortably situated, having all the com- 
 forts of life that render the human family happy. He died in 
 old age, much regretted by his family and friends. 
 
 Mr. Hays possessed a moral and honest character; his morality 
 throughout life was very exemplary. He was not a member of 
 any Christian church, but observed the precepts contained in 
 the word with due respect and devotion. At his death his 
 fortune descended to three daughters, his only children. 
 
 He possessed a common-English education and spoke French 
 fluently, and enjoyed a very respectable character; his memory 
 is well entitled to the respect of posterity. 
 
 Another personage of considerable celebrity, John Hay, 
 whose memory is much esteemed by his friends and numerous 
 acquaintances, settled in Cahokia in 1793. This pioneer was 
 born in Detroit, on May 8, 1769. John Hay, his father, was 
 a native of Chester County, Penn., and was the last British 
 governor of Upper Canada. The mother of Mr. Hay was a 
 French lady, a native of Detroit, ten years younger than her 
 husband, the governor of Upper Canada. 
 
 The subject of this brief sketch, when quite young, was sent 
 to college at the Three Rivers, in Canada, and graduated with 
 the common honors of the institution, receiving a classic educa- 
 tion. Particular attention was paid by him to the languages 
 taught at that day Latin, French, and English. His mother- 
 tongue was French, but he spoke English without any French 
 accent. The high standing of his family in Canada and the 
 amiable and kind heart of himself attracted the attention of 
 the most respectable inhabitants of the province. 
 
 Lady Hamilton, whose husband was the highest officer in 
 Canada, wrote to Mr. Hay, when he was at Three-Rivers col- 
 lege, the following letter: 
 
 "QUEBEC, March i6th, 1785. 
 
 "Sir: Your letter of the nth inst. persuades me that you 
 are diligent and desirous of improving yourself. I have, there- 
 fore, for your father's satisfaction, enclosed your letter to him. 
 15
 
 226 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 " When you next favor me with a letter, let me know to what 
 particular profession your disposition leads, and not only con- 
 sult your inclination in a point so essential to your future hap- 
 piness and credit, but take the opinion of some friend as to- 
 the talents nature may have supplied you with for making your 
 way thro the world. I shall be happy to serve you, on occa- 
 sion, should it happen to be in my power, and am, sir, your 
 very obedient and humble servant, 
 
 "ANNY HAMILTON. 
 
 "Mr. JOHN HAY." 
 
 This short letter of Lady Hamilton shows her kind heart 
 her interest for Mr. Hay and also her good-sense. 
 
 The British government held possession of Detroit and other 
 posts on the lakes long after the treaty of peace in 1783, and 
 the father of Mr. Hay continued to be the governor of Upper 
 Canada until his death, in 1785. Mr. Hay was only seventeen 
 years old at the death of his father and thereby was turned out 
 into the world on his own resources. His friends procured him 
 a situation as a clerk in a wealthy commercial house in Mon- 
 treal. He remained a few years at the merchants' desk and 
 kept the books under the eye of a lank, lean, hungry-looking 
 Scotchman. This nation, the Scotch, engrossed to a great 
 degree the Northwest fur-trade in olden times, and they exer- 
 cised that talent of cool, calculating shrewdness for money- 
 making, for which they are so celebrated to great advantage. 
 These Scotch traders have made Montreal a very wealthy city. 
 
 Mr. Hay was fitted out with "an equipment," as it was called, 
 and started for the extreme Northwest. An equipment among 
 the Northwest traders means an assortment of goods for the 
 Indian trade. It comprises a proportion of the several- articles 
 sold to the Indians guns, blankets, strouding, flints, powder, 
 bullets, knives, paints, etc. He embarked in a bark-canoe with 
 several light-hearted, singing Canadians, for the Assinnaboin 
 country, which is near the base of the Rocky Mountains, in 
 latitude about 45 degrees north. The Northwest Company at 
 that day had the entire trade and control of the country. 
 
 When Mr. Hay got out into the wintering-ground and erected 
 his quarters for winter, he forgot to some extent the sage coun- 
 sels of his Scotch* friends in Montreal in relation to prudence.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 22/ 
 
 economy, and the profit on the stock, which profit, in their eyes, 
 was the ne plus ultra of all human aspirations. 
 
 Mr. Hay was then young and full of vigor, and with the 
 clerks in the same region were other young men of the same 
 character; so that these young folks forgot the Scotch lessons 
 on economy they had so plentifully received before they left 
 the counting-desks in Montreal. Gallantry in any country, even 
 in the Northwest, is attended with both loss of time and money. 
 
 Mr. Hay did not make a fortune on his outfit, but he saw 
 the world even if it were in the Northwest. In that region he 
 formed an acquaintance with a Mr. Todd, a merchant of con- 
 siderable celebrity. This acquaintance ripened into friendship 
 and a commercial partnership. They determined to establish 
 their main store in Cahokia and send out in boats or otherwise 
 goods into the Indian country. 
 
 Mr. Hay started to the Illinois from the wintering -ground 
 with only one Indian. They traversed the country in a southeast 
 direction to reach the sources of the St. Peter's River, and after 
 much difficulty they found the St. Peter's, which they descended 
 and the Mississippi until they arrived at Prairie du Chien, where 
 the Indian was dismissed and Mr. Hay came to Cahokia in 
 1793, as heretofore stated. 
 
 He and Todd commenced business with fair prospects of 
 success, when Todd had business at New Orleans and while 
 there he died. His death deranged all the business of the 
 partnership and Mr. Hay never after that attempted merchan- 
 dising on a large scale. 
 
 He had by this time seen some of the world and came to the 
 conclusion that a wandering life was not the most happy, and 
 settled himself down in Cahokia for life. He became acquainted 
 with an amiable and beautiful young Creole, born in Cahokia, 
 Miss Margaret Poupart, and in 1797, married her. For several 
 years after he settled in Cahokia he was doing a small business 
 and settling up the concern of Todd & Hay. He purchased 
 a house and lot in the village of Cahokia and commenced 
 housekeeping, and now depended on his talents and exertions 
 for a living. Altho his family and relations were wealthy and 
 respectable in Canada, yet he depended on his own labor and 
 industry for support rather than to resort to his friends.
 
 228 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 He wrote and did business for the merchants of St. Louis, in 
 Upper Louisiana, and the American side also, for support. But 
 his abilities to serve the people in office were made manifest, 
 and Gov. St. Clair of the Northwest Territory, on February 15, 
 1799, bestowed on him four several offices: the clerk of the 
 court of quarter-sessions, clerk of the court of common-pleas, 
 clerk of the orphans' court, and treasurer of the county of 
 St. Clair. These commissions were dated at Cincinnati and 
 signed by the governor and his secretary, William Henry Har- 
 rison. 
 
 By his proper and honest deportment and his kindness and 
 affiability, he continued in office and in several at a time, from 
 the above date to the hour of his death. He has been, almost 
 all the time, a notary public and justice-of-the-peace, and was 
 often judge of probate and for a series of years, as the records 
 will testify, was the recorder of land-titles in St. Clair County. 
 
 The commissioners at Kaskaskia to adjust land-titles, having 
 the utmost confidence in his honesty and integrity, entrusted 
 him to take depositions in support of land-claims in the Kas- 
 kaskia district. This was a very delicate trust, and he was 
 found, as in all other situations, worthy of that confidence. 
 
 All the administration of the governments, commencing with 
 Gov. St. Clair in 1799, down thro all the territorial and State 
 governments, to his death, have placed confidence in him and 
 have given him office. It is not common that a man can retain 
 as many offices as he did at the same time and enjoy them for 
 almost half-a-century without the people losing confidence in 
 the incumbent. It is evidence of his accommodating disposi- 
 tion and his honesty and capacity in the performance of the 
 duties of these offices. 
 
 For many years he filled the office of judge of probate of 
 St. Clair County. This office is an important one. The duties 
 involved very often the most abstruse principles of the law; 
 but he performed them and the duties of the various others to 
 the entire satisfaction of the public. 
 
 Out of all these offices he made a bare living. He had a 
 very large family and raised them with great tenderness and 
 affection; so that he expended much of his income to raise and 
 educate them, and h.e was so kind and indulgent to his children
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 229 
 
 that he could scarcely deny them anything they asked, if it 
 were necessary or not. He never was wealthy but always 
 enjoyed a full and plentiful competency. He had not the least 
 talent for speculation, altho the whole country, almost, were 
 engaged in it. He never bought or sold any land, as most of 
 the other gentry of Cahokia did, and his own right to the land 
 the government gave him, he sold at a very reduced price. He 
 lived in peace and happiness in Cahokia among his French 
 friends until the county-seat of St. Clair County was moved 
 from Cahokia, in 1814, to Belleville. This was a terrible shock 
 to the whole family. 
 
 The French, by living together many ages, begin to think 
 they could not exist out of a French village. Their social inter- 
 course are so interwoven in their composition that to separate 
 one from another are looked upon with a kind of horror. Thus 
 it was with Mr. Hay and family. They were supported so long 
 on the proceeds of these offices that they became a kind of 
 second-nature to them, and to leave Cahokia, the church, and 
 the ballroom was quite impossible. 
 
 The offices had. to be kept in Belleville and Mr. Hay attended 
 to them for many years in this place and saw his family at the 
 end of each week. At last this was found to be disagreeable 
 and he sold out in Cahokia and located permanently in Belle- 
 ville. 
 
 In early times, a majority of the country were French inhabi- 
 tants, and he spoke and wrote the French language as well as 
 the English; so that he was well qualified to accommodate each 
 class of people in performing his public duties. 
 
 In 1804, when Gen. Harrison took possession of Louisiana, 
 it was becoming the occasion to make a demonstration of our 
 good feeling to our newly-acquired citizens, and that the people 
 of Cahokia and St. Clair County should attend at St. Louis on 
 the occasion. With heart and hand, he headed the cavalcade 
 and made a grand display in the ceremony of taking possession 
 of the country. 
 
 At the treaty with the Indians, in 1815, at Portage de Sioux 
 in Missouri, he was employed as interpreter and assistant-secre- 
 tary to the board. He was very expert with the pen and was 
 quite serviceable on such occasions. He had many peculiari-
 
 230 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 ties and became quite systematic. For many years he went to 
 St. Louis, Missouri, at a stated time in the fall and remained 
 there for a week. In this time he purchased the stationery for 
 his office and other articles and visited his friends. He went 
 and returned to the hour; and toward the close of his life, no 
 matter what was on hand, if the weather permitted, he an. I his 
 old lady took an evening walk. He and his wife lived together 
 for almost half-a-century, and very few ever enjoyed more of 
 domestic happiness than they did. Their marriage was based 
 on proper principles and their union was sincere. It was 
 founded on mutual and ardent affections. 
 
 At mature age, he read, reflected, and became a Catholic. 
 He was raised to respect the church of England more than any 
 other, and was, thro the early part of his life, inclined to that 
 church; but he changed his notions and became zealous and 
 enthusiastic in the faith of the Romish church. He often be- 
 came excited in conversation on religious subjects and frequently 
 used words in the excitement of the moment, and forgot their 
 unfitness in such cases. These words were similar to those 
 Uncle Tobey used when his feelings were excited to the highest 
 pitch at the sight of his friend about to expire and said: "By 
 
 G , he shan't die." The angel above did not record it 
 
 against Uncle Toby, nor will the angel record the utterance of 
 these words against Mr. Hay. 
 
 Morality, virtue, and honesty governed him, and he observed 
 the injunctions imposed on him by these great guides to happi- 
 ness with scrupulous exactness. It was in his last sickness that 
 he displayed the calm philosopher and the Christian hero. Age 
 had naturally destroyed in him much of the frailties of human 
 nature. The passions had ceased to bewilder his calm reflection. 
 
 The mind will turn back on the actions of life, and if they 
 are good an approving conscience makes a kind of " heaven on 
 earth below." This seemed to be the case of our friend. It 
 appeared to be his transit from a sinful mortality to a happy 
 immortality. Death reached him in that state of existence 
 when its terrors were not regarded by him. He was anxious 
 and pleased to realize that " undiscovered country from whose 
 bourn no traveler returns." He died in Belleville in 1843, aged 
 seventy-four years. His friends and the public felt real sorrow
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 231 
 
 and grief for his death. When he died he had no enemies, but 
 a host of friends who yet converse of him with tender regard. 
 Their hearts and affections are with him in the tomb. 
 
 In the first settlement of the country, wild animals were very 
 plenty, which induced almost the whole community to become 
 hunters. The range was so good and the vegetation in summer 
 grew so luxuriant that a vast number of these wild animals 
 were sustained in Illinois. 
 
 The vegetation particularly the grass grew much stronger 
 and higher fifty years ago than it does at this time. Corn does 
 not grow as large or yield as much per acre as it did in these 
 olden times. This is the opinion of almost all the pioneers : 
 that the vegetation is not so luxuriant and stout as in former 
 days. This is a fact and to account for it would be difficult. 
 If a tract of land were fenced and thereby the tame animals 
 prevented from pasturing on it, yet it is doubtful if the earth 
 would produce as it did in former days. 
 
 Fifty years ago the fire in a dry prairie with a strong wind 
 was grand and rather terrific. In the fall it is often dry for 
 months together ; so that the prairies were very dry toward 
 Christmas and the Indians and others in hunting universally 
 set them on fire. Sometimes the hunters made what they 
 called ring-fires. They set fire to the grass and leaves around 
 a considerable tract of country so as to enclose a number of 
 deer and other animals. The fire, as it burns, contracts; so the 
 game is huddled up in the centre and killed, more or less. 
 These dry prairies on fire with a high wind were dangerous to 
 man as well as beast. Often deer, raccoons, and the smaller 
 animals were destroyed by the fire. It was also " death on the 
 snakes." At many times a prairie miles long and on fire with 
 a strong wind was in a dense flame for hundreds of yards wide 
 at the same time. This flame often arose many feet high and 
 would destroy any animal, man, or other that would be caught 
 in it. The old pioneers will recognize the truth of this descrip- 
 tion of the prairies on fire. 
 
 It was this excessively thick and strong vegetation, burning 
 in the fall, that caused the prairies. It is generally the case 
 that the prairies are the most fertile soil. This caused the 
 strongest fire which destroyed the timber. In the poor soil,
 
 232 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 where the vegetation did not grow rank, these fires did not 
 destroy the timber, and about the water courses timber grew 
 without the disturbance of the fire. The proof of the above is 
 that the prairies, when the fire is kept out of them, soon grow 
 up with trees. Illinois will have in twenty years more timber 
 in it than there is at present. 
 
 While the prairie is in a general conflagration, a terrible roar- 
 ing, something similar to thunder, is heard. With this terrific 
 noise and the flames so high, broad, and dense, a terror is pro- 
 duced easier imagined than described. 
 
 Two men were burnt to death in the American Bottom by 
 the prairie burning, a few miles southeast of the ferry opposite 
 St. Louis. These unfortunate men took refuge under their cart, 
 but were, nevertheless, destroyed. 
 
 In the first settlement of the country, hundreds of acres of 
 timber, in some seasons, were all killed at the same time by 
 fire. These trees would fall down rot or burn and a prairie 
 would soon be formed. At that time the small undergrowth 
 was burnt out and in many places nothing but the large trees 
 were standing. In process of time these trees would also dis- 
 appear and a prairie be formed where they grew. 
 
 Not only was the summer range good but the winter also. 
 All along the Ohio River and up the Mississippi to Muddy 
 River and sometimes higher, the cane grew so thick and strong 
 that man or beast could scarcely penetrate it. These were 
 called brakes and were so thick and matted together that deer, 
 buffaloes, horses, and other animals were completely housed and 
 sheltered from the storms. Hunters say they have often heard 
 buffaloes in the winter bellowing in these canebrakes as if it 
 were summer in the prairies. 
 
 Above the cane region the rushes grew on the sandy margins 
 of the Mississippi and on sandy islands, strong and thick. They 
 are more nutritious and better on which to winter animals than 
 cane. Horses, cattle, deer, buffaloes, etc., will keep as fat on 
 the rushes as if they were put in a cornfield in the fall. 
 
 In the fall of 1807, my father put a large gang of horses on 
 Gaborit Island, in the Mississippi River above St. Louis, and 
 they wintered well. 
 
 The region of country adjacent to the Illinois River, as
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 233 
 
 Father Marquette observed, produced the strongest vegetation 
 in olden times of any other section of Illinois, and the river 
 and the swamps adjacent to it afforded the natives more sup- 
 port than any other part of the West. The fowls, in the spring 
 and fall in their migrations, stopped here and the Indians killed 
 many of them. Also a great number of musk-rats were caught 
 in the lakes near the river, and it was conceded by all that no 
 river in America produced as many fresh-water fish as the Illi- 
 nois did. This great supply of provisions for the Indians 
 enabled more of them to subsist in this section of country than 
 in any 'other in the West. The Indian traders visited this river 
 in great numbers and many made fortunes by the traffic with 
 the natives. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Peoria was, perhaps, the greatest 
 trading-post in the Mississippi Valley. At Mackinac more 
 wealth was collected on its transit there than at any other 
 point. The traders of the North met the merchants from 
 Canada at this post and exchanged the peltries, furs, etc., they 
 collected from the Indians either to pay old debts or for Indian 
 goods. At some seasons of the year Mackinac was a very im- 
 portant and interesting place; but when the traders and Indians 
 disappeared the village assumed its former size and inefficiency. 
 
 Prairie du Chien possessed something of the character of 
 both Peoria and Mackinac. In it goods were exchanged with 
 the traders for their peltries, etc., as well as sold to the Indians. 
 
 At Mackinac and other points where the traders, voyagers, 
 and hordes of Indians met those from Canada, a general jubilee 
 was instituted. Great and grand doings of all sorts of amuse- 
 ments and pleasures of which the French genius and their 
 limited means at that place permitted were carried on at Macki- 
 nac during these celebrated festivals. Men who had been in 
 the Northwest trade for years, came to this post to meet, per- 
 haps, their wives, relatives, and friends. Parents came out from 
 Canada to see their absent sons and to give and receive some 
 kind civilities. Or, perhaps, the more substantial article, per- 
 sonal property, was exchanged on the occasion. Old debts 
 and new ones were attended to. 
 
 Many of the transactions of mankind, either in business, 
 pleasure, or otherwise, were exhibited at these annual fairs in 
 olden times.
 
 234 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 At times Mars, the god of war, was invoked to settle some 
 old feud or to gain the triumph at the time in some personal 
 quarrel, and even duels were not neglected at these gatherings. 
 That barbarous practice of dueling, which is the brutal remains 
 of the Roman shows of the gladiators, the Spanish bull-fights, 
 and the English boxing-matches were hailed at these meetings 
 by the code of honor and to some extent adopted. 
 A duel was fought between two Northwest traders, Crawford 
 and Campbell, that was so grossly unjust and inhuman and so 
 much against the laws of both God and man that it had a ten- 
 dency to arrest this brutal mode of settling disputes for a time. 
 
 All this Northwest trade was conducted mostly in bark- 
 canoes and on the backs of the stout and hardy Canadians. 
 Sometimes a Mackinac boat, so called, and at rare intervals a 
 schooner were employed in the commerce on the lakes. No 
 craft can equal the bark-canoe for its cheapness of construction 
 and for its neatness and utility. Its invention by the natives is 
 before Indian antiquities and used by them on the lakes and 
 adjacent rivers so long as they remained in the country. The 
 bark-canoe is made out of strong, light, and elastic wood for 
 the timbers within and covered with strong birch-bark, which 
 gives the craft the name of a bark-canoe. The timbers within 
 are strong in proportion to the size of the canoe, and are tough, 
 light, and elastic. They are formed with great neatness and 
 strength, and at the same time with shape to sail with the most 
 facility. They are very sharp at the ends and rounding on the 
 bottom ; so they may glide thro the water with the greater 
 speed. Pitch is used on these canoes to prevent them from 
 leaking, and the voyagers are always provided with the means 
 of sewing up the splits and repairing them in the shortest pos- 
 sible time. When the canoe becomes leaky it is unladen, car- 
 ried on the shore, sewed up, and repaired in a few hours. These 
 canoes are light and portable. When the waters of the lakes 
 are rough, they are unloaded and taken on shore, out of the 
 reach of the waves, and at the portages they are easily packed 
 on men's shoulders across from water to water. They are pro- 
 pelled by the voyagers using paddles and the patroon at the 
 stern steering it also with a paddle. The paddles are made 
 nice and neat, out of strong, elastic wood, and painted with all
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 235 
 
 the taste and elegance of a boatman's genius. These canoes 
 were, on occasion, greased with deer's tallow that they might 
 sail the easier and swifter thro the water. 
 
 Races were common and wagers made on them. Boat-racing 
 seems to be coeval with boats. It is a cheering and interesting 
 spectacle to see a crew of hardy, stout Canadians dressed in 
 the uniform of the Northwest voyagers, paddling a bark-canoe 
 under the excitement of boat -songs and an animated race. 
 There is no excitement more intense and acute than these voy- 
 agers experience in a canoe-race. They would freely exchange 
 their freedom for life, for success, and almost life itself. They 
 invoke the Virgin and promise masses for victory. These races 
 are topics for French discussion of the canoe -men for years 
 after. 
 
 The Mackinac boat is a plain, unpretending vessel, somewhat 
 similar to our skiffs, but larger and coarser made. They are 
 sharp at the ends but flat on the bottom. They are not honored 
 with a deck, but a tarpaulin cloth was generally used to secure 
 the merchandise from the rain. From three to six men navi- 
 gated them. One at the steering-oar and the other hands row 
 the boat. They were generally about thirty feet long and the 
 planks of -the side three or four feet high. These boats were 
 intended to be carried over the portages. They sustained a 
 heavy burden to their looks. 
 
 As to the schooners used on the lakes in French times, who- 
 ever saw a fishing-schooner on the shores of old France saw a 
 vessel almost similar to these lake schooners. The French are 
 a greater people on land than on the water in ships. In vessels 
 below a schooner the Canadians did well enough. 
 
 These Northwest traders also used the most simple and primi- 
 tive mode of carrying on commerce, and that was by packing 
 the articles of traffic on men's backs. The packs of merchan- 
 dise were generally weighed and the Canadians packed them 
 over the portages. Often they carried these packs out many 
 leagues from the depots to the Indian camps and the peltries 
 back again. Very little horse-power was used in this commerce. 
 
 An efficient and enterprising colony of Americans immigrated 
 from Hardy County, Virginia, and settled at^the New Design, 
 Illinois, in 1797. This was the largest and most flourishing
 
 236 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 company of farmers, mechanics, and laborers that ever came to- 
 Illinois at or before that day. 
 
 A year or so before 1797, David Badgley and Leonard Car 
 came out to explore the country. Daniel Stookey, Abraham 
 Eyeman, Mr. Whetstone, and Abraham Stookey also explored 
 the country before the colony settled in Illinois. These ex- 
 plorers came from the south branch of Potomac, Hardy County, 
 Virginia, on horseback and examined the country thoroly. 
 They remained in the country most of the summer and Rev. 
 David Badgley frequently preached. Mr. Stookey and others 
 crossed the Mississippi at St. Louis in 1796, and gave that 
 French village, the country around it, and the commandant a 
 passing notice. 
 
 This exploring party decided on making Illinois their homes 
 for Hie. They returned to Virginia and reported the facts of 
 their discoveries to their neighbors and friends. This whole 
 colony then mustered up and commenced a long and arduous 
 journey, at that day, for the Far- West. 
 
 It is said that Solomon Shook and Mr. Borer came to Illi- 
 nois the year before. This colony, all numbered and all told, 
 amounted to about one hundred and fifty-four souls. They 
 crossed the mountains in wagons, on pack-horses, and on foot 
 to Morgantown, on the Monongahela River. Here they waited 
 some time for their boats to be finished. At last, in May, they 
 set sail down the rivers to the land of promise Illinois. After 
 a long, tiresome, and exposed voyage down the rivers, they 
 landed at Fort Massac, on the Ohio River. The. flat boats or 
 broad horses, as they were sometimes called in derision, were 
 not covered and the families in them were exposed to the in- 
 clemency of the weather and the heat of a summer sun. 
 
 This year, 1797, was uncommonly wet and the streams be- 
 tween the Ot.io and Kaskaskia were all out of the banks and 
 swimming. It rained almost every day and the roads between 
 Kaskaskia and Massac were literally covered with water and 
 the mud almost impassable. This colony fixed up their 
 wagons, horses, and all things for the New Design, Illinois, 
 and left Massac. They were detained in this wilderness of 
 mud and water for almost a month exposed to almost a ver- 
 tical sun over their heads and positive mud and water under 
 their feet.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 237 
 
 It must be recollected that at this time not a house stood 
 between Kaskaskia and Massac. They rafted the creeks and 
 at last reached civilization and contemplated relief;' but wofully 
 were they disappointed. They were hailed at Kaskaskia and 
 the New Design with all the good feelings peculiarly incident 
 to the pioneers ; but a tempest of the most direful calamity 
 was gathering to burst upon their devoted heads. Almost one- 
 half of this cheerful and flourishing colony died during the first 
 summer and fall of their arrival. 
 
 This mortality is almost unprecedented in any country or 
 under any circumstances. A most malignant fever prevailed, 
 which was supposed to be contagious. This prevented the 
 people from paying that kind attention to the sick which they 
 needed. Scarcely a physician could be procured. 
 
 When they reached the New Design, they could not procure 
 houses to receive them and they were huddled together to the 
 great injury of their health. In fact, provisions were not plenty. 
 The Indian war had only ceased a year or two before and the 
 inhabitants had not raised much support for themselves or the 
 immigrants. At any rate, such was the mortality that even the 
 burying of the dead was scarcely attended to. 
 
 The graveyard of 1797 may yet be seen at the New Design, 
 which will cause the observer to shudder at the mortality and 
 consequent distress at that day. Scarcely a family of all these 
 immigrants but had to mourn the loss of one or more of its 
 number, and many of the families were almost entirely extinct; 
 leaving, perhaps, a few helpless children to grieve over the loss 
 of their parents, brothers, and sisters. At this time there were 
 no means of relief for this distress in the country, except kind 
 and benevolent hearts. The country was healtny after this 
 year and the immigrants who were not swept off s .soon did well. 
 
 Scarcely at any time or in any country will be twimd so many 
 moral, honest, and laborious citizens, to the number of this col- 
 ony, as the immigration from Hardy County to the New Design. 
 The names of Car, Stookey, Eyeman, Shook, Mitchell, Clark, 
 Badgley, Teter, Miller, and others will be recognized as the 
 heads of families of this colony, whose descendants at this day 
 are numerous and respectable. 
 
 This colony introduced into the country an orderly and moral
 
 238 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 influence, which did great service to the previous inhabitants. 
 The emigrants from Virginia attended strictly and honestly to 
 business and not only improved the country, but their example 
 also improved the people. They were the first who raised sheep 
 to any number and manufactured the wool into clothes. They 
 turned their attention to the culture of wheat and raised a 
 surplus for market. They also encouraged the breed of horses 
 and cattle and raised a great number themselves. 
 
 The beneficial influence of this colony to improve the coun- 
 try was in a short time perceived by everyone. The people 
 composing it were not proud or overbearing; but on the con- 
 trary, they were remarkable for their modest and amiable 
 deportment; so that they taught by example the people, who 
 esteemed and admired them. This colony was extremely 
 moral and correct and their descendants to this day are noto- 
 rious for their sober and orderly conduct. 
 
 It was stated in a former page that John Murdoch came to 
 the country with his father in 1796, and that his father, dying 
 soon after, left the son with his widowed mother. He was born 
 in Kentucky in 1790. He, like most of the youths at that day, 
 acted his own part as he pleased, without the control of his 
 mother. Murdoch run almost wild and attended very little at 
 the school-house. He received a very limited education, but 
 nature had bestowed on him singular parts. He was in his 
 youth an odd kind of boy more intellect than ordinary chil- 
 dren; but always applied it in a singular and quizzical manner. 
 
 He was accustomed to play tricks on his step-father, Blair, 
 when he was very young. He often pinned a cloth to the coat- 
 tail of his step-father, and when the prank was discovered, he 
 never showed the least emotion or laughed. He shaved the 
 hair off the manes and tails of his step-father's horses; so as to 
 "have a joke on the old man." As he grew up, these tricks 
 increased on him, until Blair and almost all others were heartily 
 tired of him. From his infancy to manhood, it cost more coax- 
 ing, threatening, and labor to make him work than the work 
 he ever did was worth. He was born to a kind of involuntary 
 hatred to work or to do any business that was not of his own 
 selection. 
 
 He would labor for days and weeks to accomplish some
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 239 
 
 prank: such as to carry rails a half-mile to make a fence in the 
 night around a man's door. He would get up out of bed when 
 the family were asleep and ride miles to accomplish tricks, and 
 would be back in bed before morning, and no one would, per- 
 haps, ever detect him. But he obstinately refused to work. In 
 a sly manner at church he often put old decks of cards in the 
 preacher's pockets. 
 
 He had not much friendship for an old Baptist preacher in 
 his neighborhood, and wh^n the old man was engaged in the 
 house of devotion, Murdoch slipped to the preacher's horse, 
 which was hitched in the brushwood, took the saddle and bridle 
 off the horse and put them on a large, old mulley ox. The 
 horse ran home; but there stood the old ox, saddled and bridled 
 for the preacher when he went to get his horse. No one could 
 scarcely ever detect him in these tricks. 
 
 He possessed in his composition not much malice or malig- 
 nity; but at the same time, a moderate share only of the dis- 
 position that adorns the human race was found in his character. 
 He married and lived only at intervals with his wife. He made 
 a sorry husband, as he did almost everything else he attempted. 
 He entered the military service of the country in the war of 
 1812, and ranged or staid at home almost at his pleasure. The 
 officers could not do much with him. 
 
 At Peoria, in the fall of 1813, he provided himself with two 
 black bottles; one he filled with water and the other he left 
 empty. He had not much credit with the sutlers; but asked 
 for a quart of whisky and had it put into his empty bottle. 
 Murdoch was slow, orderly, and circumspect in putting his 
 whisky under his hunting-shirt. He put the bottle containing 
 the water where the sutler first saw him put the whisky-bottle. 
 In a grave, serious manner he observed to the sutler that he 
 had no money, as he was out from home, and he must charge 
 him with it. The sutler refused and then Murdoch offered him 
 the bottle containing the water and said, he must put the liquor 
 back again into the barrel. The grocer did so and put the 
 neck of the water-bottle into the bung-hole of the barrel and 
 let the water pour in. Thus it was that Murdoch exchanged a 
 bottle of water for a bottle of whisky. 
 
 He played another trick in the present county of Madison,
 
 240 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 on a landlord near Rattan's Prairie, in the war of 1812. He 
 and several other jovial fellows were in a drinking frolic and 
 had not the means to obtain as much liquor as they wanted. 
 Murdoch had but one bit (twelve and a-half cents) and gave it 
 for a half-pint of whisky. He watched where the landlord put 
 the bit and saw him place it into a teacup which stood high up 
 on a shelf. The master of the house went about his business 
 out of doors, and when he was absent, Murdoch took the same 
 bit out of the teacup and called foi another half-pint of liquor. 
 The bit was again put into the same cup and the same process 
 was carried on until evening, when the landlord supposed he 
 had a cup almost full of bits; when lo ! and behold! he had 
 barely one bit in the cup and his company, Murdoch and others, 
 were in high glee. 
 
 It was the law that the United-States Rangers should find 
 themselves provisions, and they were permitted to go home, fix 
 up, and return with the necessary supplies. Murdoch had been 
 at home and on his return to Camp Russell, near Edwardsville, 
 he caught a ground-hog and put it alive in his saddle-bags. 
 When he got off his horse, which was hitched near the fort, he 
 whispered that " something was in his saddle-bags;" making the 
 man believe that it was a bottle of whisky in them. His con- 
 fiding friend, having more taste for liquor than discretion, slyly 
 alone went to Murdoch's horse and thrust his hand into the 
 saddle-bags for the whisky; but the moment he put his hand 
 in, the ground-hog bit him. 
 
 This ranger that got bit thought he would bite someone else. 
 He said nothing about the ground-hog biting him; but told 
 another ranger, in under tone, that he got a first-rate dram out 
 of Murdoch's saddle-bags. The man put his hand into the 
 saddle-bags and the animal caught his hand and held on; so 
 the second bit man roared out for help to get his hand out of 
 the ground-hog's mouth. 
 
 Such transactions gave Murdoch great pleasure altho he al- 
 ways appeared serious and scarcely ever laughed or made any 
 outward demonstrations of joy or pleasure on their success. 
 
 This singular and curious character was rather silent in com- 
 pany and never indulged in loud or boisterous conversation. 
 His remarks, like his pranks, were severe and satirical. The
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 241 
 
 same talent that caused him to perform these tricks also enabled 
 him to make similar remarks. His person was of the, ordinary 
 height and erect; but spare and emaciated almost to a skeleton. 
 He seemed to possess no great passions or impulses; but his 
 energies of mind w^re inclined to such feats as above. 
 
 The pranks of his life would fill a volume. His mind pos- 
 sessed some strength in its peculiar manner. It was active, 
 elastic, and sprightly ; but was deficient in solid, sober judg- 
 ment. It ranged in the lower regions of poetry, but never 
 reached the platform of common-sense. If he had been raised 
 and educated under different circumstances, he would have 
 been a character of some celebrity. His natural gifts, without 
 improvement, were an injury to him. By a proper education, 
 these parts would make him rather a shining and brilliant char- 
 acter; but not a solid or judicious one. After the close of the f\JJL 
 war of 1812, he enlisted in the regular army and died. 
 
 For years after the peace was established with the Indians, 
 in 1795, many cases of hardship and suffering were the conse- 
 quences of that war. 
 
 It will be recollected that James Gilham, Sr., emigrated to 
 Illinois at an early day, and at a still earlier one, he emigrated 
 from South Carolina and settled on the frontiers of Kentucky. 
 In 1790, he had selected himself a residence in Kentucky and 
 was in the field plowing his corn, with one of his sons, Isaac, 
 then a small boy. The boy was with his father, clearing the 
 young corn from the clods and sods which the plow might 
 throw on it, while the rest of the family were in the house. 
 Several Kickapoo warriors went to the house and captured 
 Gilham's whole family that were not with him in the field. 
 The field was some distance from the house and he did not 
 immediately discover the disaster. These savages captured his 
 wife, one girl, and two sons. 
 
 What horrid feelings Gilham experienced when he returned 
 from his work as he supposed to his family and dinner; but dis- 
 covered his house sacked by the Indians, his family captured 
 and either killed or doomed to savage bondage! His grief and 
 anguish must have been excessive; but 
 
 " Man was made to mourn." 
 
 The Indians made the family, by signs, remain quiet; so as 
 16
 
 242 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 not to alarm Gilham in the field. They made quick work of 
 it and started for the Kickapoo town, toward the sources of the 
 Sangamon River, Illinois. They cut open the bed-ticks and 
 took such articles out of the house as they could carry away 
 on their backs. They were afraid to take any horses, lest the 
 whites would follow their trail and destroy them. 
 
 The country where Gilham resided was thinly settled, and 
 before he could get a party to pursue the Indians, they escaped. 
 Mrs. Gilham was so terrified that she was almost bereaved of 
 her mind. 
 
 After the Indians had taken the house and the family, the 
 first thing she recollected was her son Samuel, a small boy, say- 
 ing : "Mamma, we're all prisoners." Gilham and neighbors 
 followed the Indian trail a considerable distance; but could not 
 overtake them. He, on his return, suffered misery and mental 
 anguish that is indescribable. Yet hope lingered with him that 
 as the Indians had not killed his people, he would again recover 
 them. Hope never entirely abandons anyone in almost any 
 affliction. 
 
 The Indians steered clear of the settlements and were ex- 
 tremely cautious in their march. They kept a spy before 
 and one behind on the trail; so that their retreat was guarded 
 as much as possible by their numbers. The party suffered 
 much from hunger. The three white children were in great 
 misery from their hurried march and the want of food. But 
 human nature can endure much and will contrive many expe- 
 dients before suffering death. Mrs. Gilham patched up rags 
 round the feet of her children to save them from the briars and 
 thorns. They traveled over a wilderness without roads. A 
 mother's love for her children knows no bounds. Sympathy at 
 last seized on the warriors and they treated the prisoners with 
 all the savage kindness and mercy in their power. 
 
 They were out of provisions and one day they halted to hunt 
 for something to save them from starving. The children had a 
 small morsel of dried meat to eat, and the grown ones nothing. 
 Two of the best hunters were sent out and one returned with a 
 poor summer raccoon. Mrs. Gilham said the sight of this poor 
 coon caused her more happiness than any other earthly sight 
 she ever saw. She was afraid her children would either perish
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 243 
 
 .with hunger or the Indians would kill them to save them from 
 starvation. 
 
 The party could not hunt near the white settlement for fear 
 of detection, and if they delayed, the whites would overtake 
 them. This was the reason of their going so long without food 
 and almost suffering death from hunger. 
 
 This coon was not dressed in Parisian style, but most of the 
 hair and fur were taken off and some of the contents of the 
 extreme inside were thrown away, while the balance was put in 
 a brass kettle and placed over a fire. The coon was soon boiled 
 into a nondescript dish mixed together the meat, bones, hide, 
 some hair, some entrails, claws and feet of the animal. As 
 soon as this mess was cool and before, the horn and wooden 
 spoons were in complete operation and the whole assembly of 
 white and red-skins got some relief from absolute starvation. 
 
 As they approached the Ohio River, they became more cau- 
 tious, for fear of meeting the Americans on the river, either 
 waylaying for them or in boats descending the river. They 
 came to the Ohio a small distance above Hawesville, Kentucky, 
 and camped near the river until rafts could be made on which 
 to cross it. They were detained more than a day in making 
 rafts. Dry logs were procured and tied together with red-elm 
 bark and the rafts placed near the edge of the water, so that 
 they might be put in the river in a moment and not touch the 
 water before they started over; as they would not be so light,, 
 having received some water before. The wily savages were 
 afraid to cross the river in daylight. Mrs. Gilham was much 
 terrified at the idea of crossing the river at night. The party 
 had three rafts. The largest one took Mrs. Gilham and her 
 three children, with two prudent old Indians to paddle it over. 
 The others crossed in the two rafts prepared for them. The 
 embarkation was in the night, as silent as if they were in a 
 graveyard, and the rafts were paddled over the Ohio with the 
 same secrecy. 
 
 These warriors considered it a great triumph to take these 
 four prisoners and conduct them in safety to the Indian towns. 
 In this proportion they exercised all their talents of bravery 
 and sagacity to accomplish it. But when they had crossed the 
 Ohio, they considered themselves safe and released their watch- 
 fulness and caution to some extent.
 
 244 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 In the country south of White River, in the present State of 
 Indiana, they hunted, marched slow, and lived well in compari- 
 son to the time they ate the coon. They steered clear of the 
 small white settlements around Vincennes and crossed the 
 Wabash below Terre Haute. They marched thro the present 
 counties of Clark, Coles, and Decatur, Illinois, and finally,, after 
 a long and hazardous travel from the southwestern frontiers of 
 Kentucky three or four hundred miles they reached in safety 
 the Kickapoo town, which was situated on Salt Creek, north- 
 east of the Elk-Heart Grove in Sangamon County. 
 
 What a horrid situation the Indian war placed the Gilham 
 family in ! Four with the Indians and two in Kentucky in 
 great misery and affliction. 
 
 Gilham, as soon as he found his family were not killed, but 
 taken prisoners by the Indians, took courage and hoped again 
 to see his wife and children. He sold his improvement in Ken- 
 tucky, put his son Isaac with a friend, and set out in search of 
 his people. After much delay and fatigue of mind and body, 
 he found they were alive among the Indians and made arrange- 
 ments to purchase them. At last he obtained all his lost family 
 and they lived together many years in happiness. The young 
 son, Clement, could not talk a word of English when he was 
 regained by his father. 
 
 In 1815, Ann Gilham, the wife of James Gilham, obtained a 
 grant of land of one hundred and sixty acres from congress, as 
 an honorable testimony of the sufferings and hardships in her 
 captivity with the Indians, as above narrated. 
 
 The principal town with the Peoria Indians, in 1680, when 
 the whites first explored the country, was at the outlet of 
 Peoria Lake, on the site of the present City of Peoria and Fort 
 Crevecceur, where LaSalle first erected it in January, 1680, 
 was one mile and a-half east on the lake from this Indian town. 
 The site at Crevecceur has been uniformly recognized by the 
 old French inhabitants as the. Old Fort, ever since that day 
 down to the present time. 
 
 It was quite natural for LaSalle to erect this fort a short dis- 
 tance from this large town of Indians and not directly in the 
 village. And it may be said with equal truth^that 1 some con- 
 tinuous settlement has existed at and near Fort Crevecoeur
 
 TIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 245 
 
 ever since its first establishment to the present time, only at 
 two intervals, when the people were either driven off by the 
 Indians or by Capt. Craig, in the war of 1812. 
 
 About 1781 during the Revolutionary war when Major 
 Montgomery visited Peoria and the inhabitants joined him 
 against the British and Indians, the red-skins, under the influ- 
 ence of the British, became hostile for a short time to the people 
 of Peoria, and in consequence of this, the inhabitants left it; 
 but in a short time, friendly feelings were restored and the citi- 
 zens of Peoria returned to their village. The village was aban- 
 doned but for a short time, and before the peace in 1783, it was 
 restored to its former or greater size. 
 
 In the fall of 1812, in the war with Great Britain, Capt. Thos. 
 E. Craig fell out with the place and carried off many citizens. 
 He landed these people at Savage's Ferry, on the Mississippi, 
 where the town of Gibraltar was afterward laid out. In a few 
 years, the citizens returned to Peoria and some went back the 
 same winter after they were taken away. 
 
 The traders, their voyagers, and others in their employment 
 occupied this post more or less ever since its first establishment. 
 As it has been said, the Indian trade of that section of country 
 was better than at any other point. This made it the interest 
 of the traders to occupy the place. 
 
 Peoria never, in ancient times, was as large a village as either 
 Kaskaskia or Cahokia ; but it is more ancient than either of 
 them. LaSalle, when he first saw the country, was charmed 
 with the beauty of the place and established a fort there. He 
 also knew the resources of the country arising from the Indian 
 trade, which was another and perhaps a greater inducement to 
 erect his grand depot here for the Indian trade than for any 
 other consideration. 
 
 In the first settlement of the country, the missionaries settled 
 at this post and had their flocks of the young natives around 
 them. Peoria can boast of a higher antiquity than any town 
 in Illinois, and about the same date with St. Joseph, Green Bay, 
 Mackinac, and Detroit. 
 
 The French cultivated some ground, more or less, at Peoria 
 for more than one hundred years past. They cultivated at the 
 old village to some extent and at the new one since 1778, when
 
 246 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 it was commenced by Maillet. It will be seen by the report 
 of the United-States officers, sustained by positive proof, that 
 one Antoine St. Francois had a family in Peoria in 1765 and 
 cultivated a field of corn adjacent to the village. Other inhabi- 
 tants also resided there at the same time and long before. It 
 is true, most of the citizens were Indian traders and those living 
 on the trade; but this trade required support by men and pro- 
 visions, which were both furnished to some extent by the set- 
 tlers at Peoria. 
 
 Ke-kank-kem-kc was the Indian name of Peoria. The Potta- 
 watomie Indians, who occupied the country after the Peorias 
 were driven off, and all the surrounding Indians have recognized 
 the above name. The meaning of the name in English is strait, 
 frith, or narrow. The old Indian name of Detroit in Michigan 
 is the same. The French recognize the meaning in the name 
 of Detroit, but not the Indian word of Kc-kauk-kem-ke. Detroit 
 in English is a strait, frith, or a narrow defile, which is the mean- 
 ing of the above Indian word. 
 
 The French gave the name of Peoria to that place on account 
 of the Peoria tribe of Indians, who resided at the strait or out- 
 let of the lake when they first explored the country. 
 
 Thomas Forsyth settled in Peoria in 1809. He was of Irish 
 extraction and born at Detroit, December 5, 1771. His father, 
 Robert Forsyth, emigrated from Ireland to Philadelphia in 
 1757; went to Canada and was wounded in the battle at Que- 
 bec, where both Wolfe and Montcalm fell. He married in 
 Canada and emigrated to Detroit, then a British province. 
 
 John Edgar, the same that lived and died at Kaskaskia, Jas. 
 Abbot, and Robert Forsyth were three prominent Irishmen at 
 Detroit, whose friendship for the American Revolution caused 
 at least two of them, Edgar and Forsyth, much hardship and 
 suffering. 
 
 The British governor of Detroit, hearing these Irishmen con- 
 demning the war against the Americans and particularly that 
 brutal conduct of .exciting the Indians to murder the American 
 women and children on the frontiers, seized Edgar and Forsyth 
 and cast them into a dark and loathsome dungeon at Detroit. 
 
 The British, not repenting of their barbarous conduct toward 
 these noble Irishmen, became more enraged and put them in
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 247 
 
 irons for merely expressing their opinions in favor of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution and condemning the murder of the women and 
 children. The British governor of Detroit sent Edgar in irons 
 to Quebec; but on his passage he escaped near Montreal and 
 went to Boston. He continued his march until he reached 
 Kaskaskia, as heretofore stated. The enraged British retained 
 Forsyth for a long time in prison, and at last, finding nothing 
 against him, turned him out. James Abbot was a little more 
 cautious and was not imprisoned; but the frowns of the govern- 
 ment were heavy and strong against him. 
 
 Thomas Forsyth, the subject of this sketch, was raised and 
 educated at Detroit until he was seventeen years old. He 
 received a plain, common education, which qualified him in 
 after-life for both the public and private business in which he 
 was engaged. In 1793, he left Detroit with his half-brother, 
 John Kinzie,* the founder of Chicago and the father of John H. 
 
 * John Kinzie son of a Scotchman named John Mackenzie, who lived in Quebec, 
 and later moved to Detroit, where he died was born in Quebec in 1763; his mother 
 had previously been married to a gentleman of the name of Haliburton, whose only 
 daughter by this marriage was the mother of Gen. P'leming and Nicholas Low of 
 New York. John Kinzie was the only child by this second marriage; his father died 
 during his infancy, and his mother married, 3d, Robert Forsyth, a Scotch- Irishman, 
 from Blackwater, Ireland, arriving in New York about 1750; was a soldier under 
 Wolfe at Quebec, and was twice wounded; was later stationed at Detroit and where, 
 after his discharge, married and settled; kept a tavern some years; engaged in the 
 fur-trade; and died about 1790. 
 
 John Kinzie, when about eleven years old, ran away from a school at Williams- 
 burg, L. I., where he and two younger half-brothers were, to Quebec, where he 
 acquired, during the three years he remained there, a knowledge of silversmithing; 
 that he turned to account in connection with the Indian-trade at which he commenced 
 early in life, having establishments at Detroit, 1795-7, Sandusky, Maumee, and later, 
 1800, at St. Josephs. As early as May 12, 1804, he was sutler for Fort Dearborn; 
 later, trading-posts were established by him at Milwaukee, Rock River, on the Illi- 
 nois and Kankakee rivers, and at LeLarge in Sangamon County, 111. About 1810, 
 his partner was John Whistler, Jr., and the same year his half-brother Thomas 
 Forsyth, they continued together as late as 1815. 
 
 After the massacre, August 15, 1812, he returned to Detroit, and again to Chicago 
 in 1816. In 1800, he married (2d) Mrs. Eleanor (Lytle) McKillup, the widow of a 
 British officer, having previously married Margaret Mackenzie, by whom he had 
 William, James, and Elizabeth. The children by the second marriage were John 
 Harris; Ellen Marion, born at Chicago, Dec., 1804, married (i), July 20, 1823, Dr. 
 Alex. Wolcott, Indian agent, (2) Geo. C. Bates, May 26, 1836, and died at Detroit, 
 Aug. I, 1860; Maria, born 1807, married Lieut, now Maj.-Gen. David Hunter, 
 U.S.A., of Washington, D.C. ; Robert Allen, born Feb. 8, 1810, married a daughter of
 
 248 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Kinzie* and other children. He remained with Kinzie fifteen 
 months and continued the Indian trade with a Scotch merchant, 
 Mr. Sharp. After Sharp's death, in 1799, Forsyth commenced 
 business himself and steered west thro the Indian country by 
 St. Joseph, Chicago, Illinois River, to the Mississippi. He win- 
 tered one year at the Two Rivers, on the Mississippi, and 
 traded with the Western Indians for several years. 
 
 He married a lady in Upper Canada, near Fort Maiden, and 
 soon after removed to Peoria. His wife was born in Hagers- 
 town, Maryland, and her family name was Le,Motte. Her 
 father and family were captured on the Ohio River by the 
 Indians as they were emigrating West, and this lady and 
 others of the family were sent to Canada, where she married 
 Mr. Forsyth. 
 
 In the war with Great Britain in 1812, Mr. Forsyth acted an 
 important and efficient part in that contest, and at the same 
 time a very dangerous and confidential part. In the beginning 
 of the Indian troubles in 1811, he resided at Peoria and had a 
 
 Col. Wm. Whistler, U.S.A., and died at Chicago, Dec. 12, 1873. Shaw-nee-aw-ke 
 silver man Mr. Kinzie's Indian sobriquet, was U.-S. Indian interpreter, sub-agent, 
 etc., and died at Chicago, Monday, Jan. 6, 1828. G. H. F. 
 
 * John Harris Kinzie, born July 7, 1803, at Sandwich, Canada, arrived with his 
 father at Chicago, Oct , 1803, where he remained till 1812 when Fort Dearborn was 
 abandoned when the family returned to Detroit, and in 1816 returned to Chicago,, 
 where he remained till 1818, when his father apprenticed him at the Mackinac agency 
 of the American Fur Co.; in 1824, he was transferred to Prairie du Chien; in 1829, 
 he was stationed at Fort Winnebago, as sub-agent of Indian affairs, and was a sub- 
 scribing witness at many of the treaties made with the Indians. Aug. 9, 1830, at 
 Middletown, Conn., he married Miss Juliette A., daughter of Arthur Magill of that 
 place, later of Chicago, 111. In 1833, Chicago again became his home, and was 
 engaged in the forwarding business; later, his brother-in-law, now Maj.-Gen. David 
 Hunter, was his partner. In 1841, he was appointed registrar of public lands by 
 Pres't Harrison, and removed by Tyler. In 1848, when the Illinois-and- Michigan 
 Canal was completed, he was appointed canal collector. In 1849, President Taylor 
 appointed him receiver of public moneys. The office of canal collector he held until 
 commissioned by President Lincoln paymaster in the army, in 1861; and this latter 
 appointment he held at the time of his death, which occurred on the cars approach- 
 ing Pittsburg, Pa., June 21, 1865. His widow, born Sept. II, 1806, died Sept. 15, 
 1870; their children : Eleanor L.. wife of W. W. Gordon, and lives at Savannah, Ga. ; 
 John Harris, Jr., killed at Fort St. Charles, Ark., June 18, 1862, aged 23; Arthur 
 M., married Caroline Gilbert, third daughter of John Lush and Maria E. (Whipple) 
 Wilson, now living at Riverside, Cook County, 111.; and George H., ist lieutenant, 
 1 5th Infantry, U.S.A. G. H. F.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 249 
 
 great influence over all the Indians; but more particularly with 
 the Pottawatomies. He had been raised with this nation, spoke 
 their language well, and was well acquainted with their char- 
 acter. His position, Peoria, was in their .midst; so that he had 
 a knowledge of all their movements and even their councils 
 relative to war. 
 
 He was on business at St. Louis in the early part of 1811, 
 and became acquainted with Gen. William Clark, the superin- 
 tendent of Indian affairs. He related to Clark, on being 
 requested, the state of the Indian disposition and their in- 
 tended hostile movements. His character and merit were 
 immediately appreciated and he was appointed an Indian agent 
 at Peoria'; but this appointment was not made known, for wise 
 and prudential considerations. If the Indians were to know it, 
 he would lose all his influence with them ; but by retaining his 
 standing and influence with them, he could ameliorate much 
 of the horrid barbarities that are commonly practised on both 
 sides in an Indian war. Forsyth had not the power to avert 
 the Indian war, but he aided much in its amelioration. 
 
 In the fall of 1811, he understood that the Sac and Fox 
 Indians were about to make an attack on the frontiers of Mis- 
 souri, and he sent down to the officer in command at St. Louis, 
 a confidential Frenchman, Antoine Le Pense, who gave the in- 
 formation to the officer and much of the calamity was avoided. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1812, when a kind of quasi war existed 
 between the Indians and whites, he descended the Illinois River 
 to St. Louis to consult with Gov. Howard, and also proceeded 
 to Kaskaskia to see Gov. Edwards. He laid the whole Indian 
 affairs in relation to the approaching war open to these two- 
 executive officers of Illinois and Missouri, which gave them the 
 true state of matters, so they might make arrangements accord- 
 ing to the exigencies. 
 
 On August 15, 1812, the Indians massacred -most of Capt. 
 Nathan Heald's company at Chicago, Illinois, and Lieut. Lina 
 T. Helm was wounded and taken prisoner. Helm was the first 
 lieutenant in the company of Capt. Heald. The Indians took 
 him to the AuSable on the Illinois River. 
 
 Mr. Forsyth, hearing of the massacre of the troops at Chi- 
 cago, at the risk of his life, went directly to the Indian towns
 
 250 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. | 
 
 on the Illinois River to see and ameliorate the condition of the 
 prisoners. He found Lieut. Helm at the AuSable with the 
 Indians and had the influence with his captors to ransom him. 
 He advanced the amount of the ransom out of his own funds, 
 and perhaps all of it was never returned to him. He ransomed 
 the lieutenant and had him sent in safety to St. Louis. 
 
 Mr. Forsyth risked his life every moment he was engaged 
 in this important and truly dangerous service. If the Indians, 
 the Pottawatomies, were to receive a bare hint of his Indian 
 agency, he would have been burnt at the stake. He risked his 
 life for his country and was in extreme and imminent danger 
 for a great portion of the war. It required the utmost sagacity 
 and great propriety of judgment to manage the matter so as to 
 retain the confidence of the Indians. Much of their friendship 
 was for him personally. His personal influence was the great 
 cause of his success. He had been uniformly kind and benevo- 
 lent to them. 
 
 To show his confidence and friendship to them, he took with 
 him a few of the old friends of the Indians, who had married 
 squaws and had before the war resided at Peoria. He also 
 took with him some of the half-breed children to see their 
 Indian cousins. They had no weapons, guns, or powder with 
 them. They carried in the boat such articles as the Indians 
 needed and such as Forsyth had heretofore sold to them, except 
 ammunition. They asked Forsyth the reason why he did not 
 -have powder and lead with him in his boat, as he used to have. 
 He told them that in a war all the powder and lead belonged 
 to the great father, the president, and he would not let any of 
 his children have it until the war was over. He said Craig had 
 seized him and all their old friends in Peoria by force and 
 dragged them down to St. Louis, for fear their friends would do 
 the Indians some good. * 
 
 What made it the most dangerous was the influence Dickson 
 had with the Indians, and he all the time tempting the Illinois- 
 River Indians either to kill him or take him prisoner. 
 
 While Forsyth was on one of these missions of benevolence 
 from St. Louis to his old friend, a Pottawatomie chief whose 
 name in English was Sugar, he very narrowly escaped losing 
 his life. He went to his friend, the chief, at AuSable village,
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 25 I 
 
 above Peoria, and staid with him all night. In the night he 
 discovered his friend, the chief, very uneasy. He could not 
 sleep and was frequently up, looking round his camp. Forsyth 
 asked what was the matter. The Indian said: "I am afraid 
 for you. Dickson tried to get me to take you prisoner. I told 
 him you were my friend and I would not hurt you; but," he 
 said, "there are some Winnebagoes not far off; they are drink- 
 ing and I am afraid they may come to take you. They shall 
 not take you; but in the conflict they might kill you." 
 
 No Indians came that night ; but the next night Dickson 
 had a host of Winnebagoes at the camp of the chief; but For- 
 syth had left the same day. If he had remained he would 
 have been killed or taken prisoner. 
 
 Late in the fall of 1812, Craig was in the Peoria Lake with a 
 boat and some Indians came down the lake in a boat and fired 
 on his boat. The conduct of these Indians enraged Craig 
 against the citizens of Peoria. He said they were friendly to 
 the Indians. He forced all the inhabitants of Peoria Forsyth, 
 the Indian agent, as well as the rest on board of his boat and 
 landed them at Savage's Ferry, opposite the mouth of the Mis- 
 souri. 
 
 These poor people were harmless, unoffending inhabitants of 
 Peoria and were forced from their homes and living to almost 
 starvation. Many of them soon returned to Peoria and some 
 the same winter. They had left their cattle and all their sup- 
 port at the village. Craig, in his rage, also burnt most of the 
 houses in the village of Peoria. While Craig was kidnapping 
 Forsyth, he did not inform Craig of the fact that he was Indian 
 agent, residing at Peoria for the public service and at the 
 request of the general government. 
 
 Mr. Forsyth continued to act as Indian agent for the Illinois 
 Indians during the war; but when peace was restored, he was 
 entrusted with a very important agency that of agent for the 
 Sac and Fox nations of Indians. He attended faithfully to 
 his public duties in this office. He was entrusted with large 
 sums of money and great amounts of merchandise for these 
 Indians, and his accounts and duties were always approved by 
 the government. He was an excellent and faithful officer. H 
 .made treaties with the Sac and Fox nations, which were
 
 252 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 always ratified by the government. But his services in the war 
 and his benevolent and humane conduct to the wounded and 
 distressed prisoners on the Illinois River, deserve the lasting 
 gratitude and esteem of the government, as well as those whose 
 sufferings he so kindly relieved. 
 
 He retained the office of the Indian agency of the Sac and 
 Fox Indians for many years, and if he had been continued in. 
 the office it is not very probable that Black Hawk would have 
 attempted a war against the government. Forsyth had such 
 influence over the Indians that it is quite certain he could have 
 quieted their feelings and no blood would have been shed. 
 
 After the war, in 1815, Dickson and Forsyth met in St. Louis 
 and talked over their doings in the war. Dickson confessed he 
 was near making Forsyth a prisoner; while Forsyth said Provi- 
 dence and justice prevented it. 
 
 In. the decline of life, Mr. Forsyth purchased a fine farm west 
 of St. Louis and improved it. He died on it in 18^2. His 
 death was a loss to the community and as such and for the re- 
 spect and esteem entertained for him by the people, his friends, 
 family, and the public generally, lamented his death with heart- 
 felt grief and sorrow. Nature bestowed on him a sound, well- 
 balanced mind, and benevolence and kindness of heart were his 
 predominant traits of character. His person was large and 
 portly. He occupied a prominent standing in community and 
 well did he deserve it by his uncommon services to the public. 
 His private life was amiable and kind. His duties as husband 
 and father he performed in that amiable and benevolent manner 
 that showed a heart overflowing with "the milk of human kind- 
 ness." He possessed many virtues and trr.-ts of character to 
 be admired and approved, while he had very few to be con- 
 demned. 
 
 In 1795, the territorial legislature erected a new county out 
 of the southern part of St. Clair and called it Randolph, in 
 honor of the governor of that name of Virginia. The line 
 dividing Randolph and St. Clair counties runs nearly east and 
 west to the head of Ryan's Creek; pursued that creek to the 
 Bottom, and thence to the Mississippi. Kaskaskia was made 
 ^the county-seat of Randolph County and Cahokia that of 
 St. Clair.

 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Religion and Morals of Illinois prior to 1818. 
 
 FOR the following sketch of the early American pioneers, 
 their religious and moral character, and the pioneer efforts to 
 form religious institutions in this territory, cultivate the minds 
 and morals of the people, I am indebted to my friend, Rev. 
 John Mason Peck* of this [St. Clair] County. The brief reply 
 to the request made him precedes the sketch : 
 
 * John Mason Peck, the only child of Asa and Hannah (Farnum) Peck, was born 
 Oct. 31, 1789, at South- Farms Parish, Litchfield Co., Conn. He came of Puritan 
 stock, his ancestors Dea. Paul and Martha Peck emigrated from Essex Co., Eng., 
 1634, and settled at Hartford, Conn., of which place he was one of the proprietors 
 .and where he died Dec. 23, 1695. J onn M. lived on his father's little farm and after 
 his fourteenth year a large share of its cultivation was performed by him. During 
 >the winter months a part of his time was spent at a common-school that must have 
 been inferior to the average institutions of that kind then in New England, as he 
 complained that after he was eighteen, and had began to teach school, his own spell- 
 ing and writing were sadly deficient and he did not pretend to understand grammar. 
 At this age he was brought under a strong religious influence, and soon it became a 
 serious alternative choice with him whether it was his duty to prepare himself for 
 the ministry or remain upon the farm as the chief reliance of his poor and infirm 
 parents. It was perhaps to reconcile his conscience to the latter choice that he took 
 to himself a wife, and married, May 8, 1809, Sarah Paine, born in Green Co., N.Y., 
 Jan. 31, 1789, who, after her father's second marriage, went to her mother's relatives 
 in Litchfield, Conn.; and died at Rock Spring, St. Clair Co., 111., Oct. 24, 1856. 
 Their children were: Eli Paine, born July 28, 1810, at Litchfield, Conn., died near 
 St.Charles, Mo., Oct. 5, 1820; Hannah F., born July 10, 1812, married Ashford 
 Smith of Rockville, Iowa; Harvey Y., born Sept. 28, 1814, died Dec. 17, 1855, 
 leaving a widow and six children; Wm. C., born Feb. ir, 1818, died Sept. 14, 1821; 
 Mary Ann, born Sept. 18, 1820, wife of Sam. G. Smith, resides on the old homestead 
 in St. Clair Co., 111.; Wm. S., born Nov. 13, 1823, lives in Iowa; John Q. A., born 
 Aug. 27, 1825, lives at Rock Spring; an infant, born Dec. 10, 1827, died sin nomine; 
 Henry M., born May 7, 1829, resides at Rock Spring; James A., born Sept. 21, 1831. 
 Two years later, 1811, he moved with wife and one child to Wmdham, Green Co., 
 N.Y., then known as Big Hollow; the six following years were devoted to preach- 
 ing, school-teaching, and organizing churches and Sunday-schools in that sparsely- 
 settled vicinity; in 1817, with wife and three children, he journeyed by land in a 
 small wagon drawn by one horse to Shawneetown, 111., arriving late in the fall; 
 thence in a keel-boat, commanded by Capt. Nixon, late of Calhoun Co., 111., his 
 brother-in-law, to St. Louis, Mo., where, or near St.Charles, his family resided for 
 the next five years, while he traveled through Missouri Ter'y, preaching, organizing 
 churches and Sunday-schools, distributing bibles and other religious matter, except 
 
 253
 
 254 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 "Gov. REYNOLDS: Your letter of March 1st, requesting 
 from my peri sketches of the religious and moral history of 
 
 for a short time when he taught school at St. Louis and St. Charles; in the spring of 
 1822, he purchased from the U. S. sec. 27, T. 2, N.R. 7, W., about 3 miles west 
 of Lebanon, St.Clair Co., 111., Rock Spring, so named by him from a spring gushing 
 from the cloven rock, near which the same year he built his first double log-house. 
 ( In Feb., 1825, he went East and secured funds and arranged for the establishment 
 ' of a Baptist seminary; with the aid thus secured, together with his personal contri- 
 butions of money and labor, a two-story frame building with two one-story wings 
 was completed in 1827, near his residence, and with 25 students, soon increased to 
 100, was opened the " Rock- Spring Theological Seminary and High-School," the 
 first institution in the State of a higher dignity than a common county-school. Dr. 
 Peck was professor of theology; Rev. Joshua Bradley, president; and Rev. John 
 Messinger, professor of mathematics; in 1831 it was closed, and was reopened at 
 Upper Alton in 1832 as the Alton Seminary; a charter was granted in 1833, and 
 declined by the projectors on account of its restrictions; intermediate legislation in 
 1835-6 and the session of 1841 repealed the objectionable provisos; Dr. Peck had 
 in the meantime induced Benj. Shurtleff, M. D., of Boston, Mass., to contribute 
 $10,000, in consideration the name was changed and is still known as Shurtleff 
 College. About 1822, Dr. Peck became the general western agent of the American 
 Bible Society for western half of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri; he had strong 
 anti-slavery sentiments and took an active, prominent, and leading part in the struggle 
 of 1823-4 that prevented the introduction of slavery into the State; in 1826, wasj^ 
 year at college in Philadelphia, where he acquired a knowledge of Greek and Latin, 
 the sciences, and something of medicine. April 25, 1829, at Rock Spring, was 
 issued the first number of The Pioneer, Rev. Thos. P. Green, publisher, and Dr. 
 Peck, editor; it was a five-column, single-sheet newspaper, the second established in 
 St.Clair Co. ; in the fall of the same year, Dr. Peck, by purchase of Green's interest, 
 became sole proprietor; in 1836, 77ie Pioneer followed Rock-Spring Seminary to 
 Alton, where it reappeared as Western Pioneer and Baptist Standard- Bearer, Dr. Peck 
 continuing as editor and Ashford Smith, his son-in-law, having charge of the printing; 
 in 1839, it was merged in the Baptist Banner of Louisville. Ky., to which the good- 
 will and subscription lists were turned over. In addition to his many and varied duties, 
 besides being a prolific lecturer on agriculture and aboriginal and early Western his- 
 tory he found time to contribute to newspapers and many lengthy and studious articles 
 to magazines, as well as to write the following: "Guide for Emigrants, containing 
 sketches of Illinois and Adjacent Parts. Boston; Lincoln & Edmunds, 1831.'* 
 'Gazetteer of Illinois; in Three Parts, containing a General View of the State; a 
 General View of each Town, Settlement, Stream, Prairie, Bottom, Bluff, etc., 
 Alphabetically Arranged. Robert Goudy, Jacksonville, 1834." Another, "Second 
 edition, entirely revised, corrected, and enlarged; Grigg & Elliot, Phila. , 1837." 
 "New Map of Illinois. J. H. Colton, N. Y., 1837." "Life of Daniel Boon,'* 
 1846; and edited the "Annals of the West. Second edition. St. Louis, 1850." 
 
 WJulejn charge of a Baptist college at Covington, Ky., in 1854, he was a "^i cte( i 
 with a fever from the effects of which he never fulTy recovered, and died four years 
 later at Rock Spring, March 15, 1858, as he said "literally worn out"; his remains 
 rest beneath a beautiful monument erected to his memory in Bellefontaine Cemetery, 
 St. Louis, Mo. H. W. BECK.\VITH, Danville, 111., July 17, 1884.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 255 
 
 the early American immigrants to Illinois, especially those 
 about New Design and its vicinity, has received due atten- 
 tion. In compliance therewith, I have prepared the following 
 sketches previous to 1818, the period when your history ter- 
 minates; which you are at liberty to use as you may deem 
 expedient for your forth-coming work. 
 
 "Respectfully yours, J. M. PECK. 
 "RocK SPRING, ILL., March 20, 1852." 
 
 The conquest of Illinois by Gen. G. R. Clark, in 1/78, and 
 the organization of a civil government by Virginia, prepared 
 the \yay for American immigration to this country, and by 
 1786, a number of families had settled in the American Bot- 
 tom and in the uplands of what is Monroe County. The set- 
 tlement on the hill country at an early period obtained the 
 name of New Design, the centre of which was some three or 
 four miles south of Waterloo. Contiguous to the present 
 county-seat and near the residence of the late John Milton 
 Moore was another early settlement, called Bellefontaine from 
 a celebrated spring, which still throws out a residuum of its 
 salubrious water. A third settlement, which originated a few 
 years later, was Whiteside's Station, a few miles north of 
 Waterloo. Three other neighborhoods or settlements, as a 
 few contiguous families were called, were in the American 
 Bottom all within the present boundaries of Monroe County. 
 
 The immigrants that require notice came principally from 
 Western Virginia and Kentucky. A number of these pioneers 
 had visited the Illinois country as volunteers under Col. Clark, 
 seen its rich and fertile soil, gazed with wonder on its prairies, 
 and after their discharge, returned with their families and in 
 the company of neighbors and relatives. 
 
 The first class of these immigrants came out in 1/81, of 
 whom we can give the names of J. Moore, Shadrach Bond, Sr., 
 Robert Kidd, James Garrison, Larkin Rutherford, and J. Pig- 
 gott. Nothing deserving note occurred among this little band 
 of pioneers until 1785, when they were joined by Capt. Joseph 
 Ogle, Joseph Worlcy, and Jas. Andrews, all with large families 
 from Western Virginia and but a few miles from Wheeling. 
 
 In 1786, they were reinforced by the arrival of James
 
 2$6 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Lemen, Sr., James McRoberts, George Atchison, and David 
 Waddle, and their families. There were probably others 
 whose names are not mentioned; but I am not able to give 
 definitely the dates of their arrival in the country or of their 
 religious and moral influence. 
 
 None of these persons were members or communicants in 
 Christian churches at the period of their arrival in this wild 
 country; but many of them had been trained up by moral and 
 religious parents or guardians, taught to regard the Sabbath 
 as a day of worship and the propriety of doing justly and 
 being merciful to their fellow-men and keeping the command- 
 ments of the Lord. Tradition says there was a female. Mrs. 
 Bond, who had been a member of the Presbyterian church. 
 
 Their Sabbath meetings were held alternately at each others 
 cabins and were conducted by Shadrach Bond, Sr., (called 
 Judge Bond), James Piggott, and James Lemen, Sr., who read 
 the Scriptures, especially the psalms, and sermons from books 
 and sung hymns. No prayers were offered. In this way, 
 order and good morals were preserved in the settlements. 
 
 There was a class of Americans who paid no regard to the 
 Sabbath, but engaged in sport and pastime, drank intoxicat- 
 ing liquors, used profane language, and were careless of moral 
 duties and the fear of the Lord ; but at this distant period 
 they and their posterity are unknown. 
 
 In the summer of 1787, James Smith, a Baptist preacher 
 from Lincoln County, Kentucky, visited New Design and 
 preached to the people repeatedly. His labors were success- 
 ful ,and several of the leading pioneers professed to be con- 
 verted ; among whom were Joseph Ogle and James Lemen, y 
 Sr., their wives and other connections. Elder Smith returned 
 again in the spring of 1790, and preached several times and 
 many* more became deeply interested about the gospel of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 On May 19, as Mr. Smith was proceeding from the block- 
 house, as it was called, to Little Village, in company with a 
 Frenchman and a Mrs. Huff, they were fired on by a party of 
 Indians who were concealed in a thicket near Bellefontaine. 
 His horse and the one rode by the Frenchman were shot and 
 the woman wounded. Smith had the presence of mind to
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 257 
 
 throw his saddle-bags, which contained papers of value, into a 
 thicket and retreated to the foot of the hill, fell on his knees, 
 and prayed for Mrs. Huff, whom the Indians were butchering 
 and who had been seriously exercised about her own salvation 
 under the preaching for several days. The Frenchman made 
 4iis escape and_ Smith's saddle-bags were found next day by 
 his friends. The Indians made the preacher a prisoner, loaded 
 him with a pack of plunder they had taken from the settle- 
 ments, and began their march thro the prairies. Smith was a 
 large, heavy man and under his heavy load and a hot sun, 
 soon became fatigued. 
 
 Consultations were held by the Indians how they should 
 dispose of their prisoner. Some proposed to kill him, fearing 
 the white people would follow them, and pointed their guns 
 at his breast. Knowing well the Indian character, he bared 
 his breast, as though he dared them to shoot him, and then 
 pointed upward, to signify the Great Spirit was his protector. 
 Having caught him while in the attitude of prayer and hear- 
 ing him sing hymns on his march, which he did to relieve 
 his mind from despondency, they concluded he was a " great 
 medicine " and held intercourse with the Great Spirit, and 
 must not be killed. 
 
 They took him to their town on the Wabash, from whence, 
 thro the agency of the French traders from Vincennes, he 
 obtained his freedom the people of New Design paying one 
 hundred and seventy dollars for his ransom. He visited Illi- 
 nois the third time, obtained his saddle-bags and papers, which 
 contained some evidence of land-titles for his friends, and re- 
 turned to Kentucky, where he lived and died. 
 
 The next preacher who visited the Illinois country was Rev. 
 Joseph Lillard, a Methodist. Mr. Lillard had been in the 
 '"traveling connection" of the Methodist Episcopal for several 
 years. In 1790, he was placed on Lime-Stone circuit, Ken- 
 tucky, a new one, and in 1791, on Salt-River circuit. In 1793, 
 he visited the Illinois country, preached to the people, and 
 spent some time there. Either then or at a future time he 
 withdrew from the traveling connection, not being in favor of 
 the government of that church. He organized the first Meth- 
 odist class ever formed in this territory and appointed Capt. 
 17
 
 258 PIONEER HISTOkY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 / Joseph Ogle class-leader. The captain not being a ready 
 [ writer, his sister, Mrs. Tolin, kept the records for him. 
 
 Mr. Lillard was esteemed by all as a pious and exemplary 
 man; but while in Illinois, he became afflicted with aberation 
 of mind, made his escape from the house, _and tho pursued, he 
 outran his friends and followed the trail toward Kaskaskia. 
 On the route, he came across the body of a man by the name 
 of Sipp, whom the Indians had killed and scalped. While 
 looking on this horrid picture, he became calm, his conscious- 
 ness was restored, and he returned to his friends at New 
 Design and made report of the discovery. The people made 
 up a party, visited the spot, and buried the unfortunate man. 
 Mr. Lillard continued to preach the gospel as a kind of inde- 
 pendent Methodist in Kentucky. About twenty years or 
 more since, he made another visit to Illinois and preached in 
 this county. 
 
 After the visits of Elder James Smith, meetings were held 
 / more regularly, unless in times of Indian alarm, and were con- 
 ducted with singing, prayer, and reading discourses. The late 
 Shadrach Bond, Sr., called Judge Bond, frequently led in these 
 meetings and read the discourses. 
 
 It was probably in December, 1793, or January, 1794, while 
 Judge Bond was officiating in this informal manner on Sab- 
 bath, that a stranger came into the meeting. He was a large, 
 portly man, with dark hair, a florid complexion, and regular 
 features. His dress was in advance of the deer-skin hunting- 
 shirts and Indian rnoccasons of the settlers ; his countenance 
 grave and his aspect so serious that the mind of the reader was 
 impressed with the thought that he was a man, perhaps a 
 preacher, and an invitation was given for him to close the exer- 
 cises, if he was a " praying man." The stranger kneeled and 
 made an impressive, fluent, and solemn prayer. There was a 
 man in the company of small talents and rather narrow views, 
 who from his national origin bore the sobriquet of Dutch Pete 
 among the people; or Peter Smith, as his name appears in thj 
 land documents. Pete was a zealous Methodist and when his 
 own brethren or preachers prayed, he felt moved by the spirit 
 to utter amen at the close of every sentence. While the people 
 were on their knees or with their heads bowed low on their
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 259 
 
 seats, Pete manifested uneasiness during the prayer of the 
 stranger. He fidgeted one way and then another ; uttered a 
 low but audible groan and to those near him seemed in trouble. 
 The very impressive and earnest prayer of the gentleman 
 excited his feelings beyond suppression. He might not be a 
 Methodist; but Pete could not hold in no longer and bawled 
 out at the top of his voice: "Amen, at a wenture ! " 
 
 The stranger proved to be Rev. Josiah Dodge from Nelson 
 County, Kentucky, who was on a visit to his brother, Dr. Israel 
 Dodge of Ste. Genevieve and the father of Henry S. Dodge, 
 late governor and now United- States senator of Wisconsin. 
 Hearing of these religious people being entirely destitute of 
 ministerial instruction, he had arrived opportunely to preach to 
 them. Mr. Dodge spent some time in the settlement, preached , / 
 frequently, and in February the ice was cut in Fountain Creek 
 and he baptized James Lemen, Sr., and Catherine, his wife, 
 John Gibbons and Isaac Enochs, who were the first persons 
 ever baptized in this Territory. 
 
 During the next two years the people remained without 
 preachers; but both Baptists and Methodists, without organized 
 societies, united in holding prayer- meetings, in which, as for- 
 merly, the Scriptures and sermon -books were read, prayers 
 offered, and hymns sung in praise to God. 
 
 In the spring of 1^96^ Elder David Badgley from Hardy ^ 
 County, Virginia, made a visit to this country. He arrived in 
 the New-Design settlement on May 4, and preached day and 
 night until the 3Oth; during which time he baptized fifteen per- 
 sons on a profession of .faith in Christ. Baptist immigrants 
 had come from Kentucky since the visit of Mr. Dodge, among 
 whom was Joseph Chance, who had been set apart as a lay- 
 elder in Kentucky. He and Mr. Badgley organized the first 
 Baptist church in the country, of twenty-eight members, which 
 was called New Design. This church, with various fluctuations, 
 continued until 1821, when, having been reduced by removals, 
 deaths, and the formation of other churches, it became extinct 
 and the remaining members joined Fountain-Creek church in 
 the same vicinity. 
 
 Rev. David Badgley returned to Virginia and in the spring 
 of 1797, removed his family to Illinois and took the pastoral
 
 260 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 charge of this church. A revival of religion followed jind in 
 April, 1798, Badgley and Chance formed another church of 
 fifteen members in the American Bottom, a few miles above 
 Harrisonville. 
 
 In 1796, the late Rev. Hosea Riggs, then an exhorter in the 
 Methodist-Episcopal church, came to Illinois and settled in the 
 American Bottom near Chaffin's old place. The class formed 
 by Rev. Joseph Lillard had been dissolved or ceased to hold 
 regular meetings, and Mr. Riggs gathered together the old 
 members, the Ogles, Casterline, William Murray, and others, 
 and formed the class regularly at Mr. Ogle's in the bottom, 
 Monroe County. Subsequently, he forrrled another class in 
 Goshen Settlement. Both of these subsequently ceased as 
 social organizations and the members who maintained a Chris- 
 tian character were merged in other classes. 
 
 Mr. Riggs was born in Western Virginia, April 4, 1760. He 
 was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and when twenty-two 
 years of age, enlisted in the army of Christ and joined the 
 Methodist church. He soon became an exhorter and proved a 
 diligent and faithful soldier. In 1803, he went to Kentucky to 
 attend the Western Conference and to solicit a preacher for 
 Illinois, and the conference appointed Rev. Benjamin Young to 
 form a circuit. Mr. Riggs was subsequently ordained and for 
 a long series of years maintained a respectable character and 
 standing as a local preacher. He removed to St. Clair County 
 at an early period, settled two miles east of Belleville, and died 
 October 29, 1841, aged eighty-one years; at that time the oldest 
 man in the county. 
 
 In 1804, Benjamin Young came to Illinois as a missionary 
 preacher and^was the first Methodist preacher who rode circuit 
 here under direction of the conference. 
 
 The Western Conference, as it was called, was the only- 
 annual conference in the Methodist organization in the Missis- 
 ~sippi Valley, and in 1805, contained four districts, Holton, Cum- 
 berland, Kentucky, and Ohio, and 11,877 members in society. 
 At that period there were a number of respectable ' men, pos- 
 sessing more than ordinary intelligence, in the Illinois country 
 who openly professed to disbelieve the sacred truths of revealed 
 religion. At one period an effort was made to organize an asso-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 261 
 
 ciation and adopt a code of morality in which nothing was to 
 be introduced from that antiquated and superstitious book 
 called the Bible. Tradition says the organization was"defeated 
 by the unlucky mistake of the committee unwittingly introduc- 
 ing the moral principles of the Scriptures, which a waggish 
 member exposed. It is a lamentable fact that some of the 
 fraternity bewildered the mind of the -unfortunate preacher by 
 their wild speculations and he was caught in the snare of scep- 
 ticism. This was regarded, of course, as a splendid triumph 
 and produced a disastrous effect on some others, especially 
 untrained minds. 
 
 Young was expelled from the conference and fora number 
 of years was in darkness and doubt and sustained sore trials. 
 After years of wandering and unbelief, afflicted in body and 
 more wretched in mind, he became a penitent, sought an in- 
 terest in the prayers of the preachers, cast himself on the 
 mercy of God in Christ and died in peace. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Oglesby was' the preacher on this circuit in 1805. 
 He was a man of vigorous mind, good preaching talents, and a 
 successful laborer. He is still living in Indiana. 
 
 Rev. Charles R. Matheny"* followed him in 1806, who mar- 
 ried a daughter of Capt. Joseph Oglesby and settled in the 
 county of St. Clair. He turned his attention to law and poli- 
 tics, but retained his ministerial and Christian profession; was 
 appointed clerk of the county of Sangamon; settled in Spring- 
 field, where he sustained an honorable and upright character as 
 
 * Rev. Charles R. Matheny was a member of Capt. James B. Moore's company 
 of "rangers" during the months of July and August, 1812. He was afterward a 
 member of the territorial legislature, representing St. Clair County in the lower 
 house of the third and last assemblies, in 1816-8; and was also a member from the 
 same county in the second general assembly in 1820-2. "In 1817, the territory 
 of Illinois was divided into three circuits; and in the first circuit, including the coun- 
 ties of St. Clair and Randolph, presided over by Jesse B. Thomas as judge, Charles 
 R. Matheny was prosecuting-attorney. In this capacity he attended the first circuit- 
 court held in Monroe County, at Harrisonville, July 21, 1817. He was succeeded by 
 Daniel Pope Cook, beginning at the fall term, 1819; the latter being the first prose- 
 cuting-attorney under the new State organization." 
 
 Removing to .Sangamon County on its organization, in 1821, he became its first 
 county clerk, a position he held uninterruptedly until his death, Oct. IO, 1839. He 
 was also circuit clerk until 1835. His wife survived him many years, dying at a ripe 
 old age in 1858. Mr. Malheny was succeeded in the county clerk's office by his
 
 262 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 
 
 a citizen and a faithful and devout Christian, and died a few 
 years since, beloved and revered by all his acquaintance. 
 
 Among the useful men and successful pioneer preachers of 
 Illinois we must not overlook Rev. John Clark. He was by 
 birth a Scotchman, was well educated, followed the seas in 
 early life, and was pressed on board a British man-of-war, 
 which lay off Charleston harbor in 1781. Being a high-toned 
 liberty man, he was so opposed to being compelled to fight the 
 Americans that, at the risk of his life, he swam ashore and 
 escaped with one of his comrades and made his way into the 
 country, where he taught a school. For about one year he was 
 under much distress on account of his sins and guilt, without 
 anyone to give him instruction. At last he was delivered from 
 this state of mind and obtained peace in believing. 
 
 An old Scotch divine, on being asked for the " best evidence 
 of a gracious state," promptly replied, " forty years close walk 
 with God." Our venerable friend bore this testimony, unques- 
 tioned by every class of persons who knew him, for fifty years. 
 At that period he was on Broad River and joined a Methodist 
 class under the preaching of John Major and Thos. Humphries, 
 who first introduced Methodism into that part of South Caro- 
 lina. After this he made a voyage to his native country, saw 
 a beloved sister who was living, and received a little legacy left 
 by his pious mother with her dying benediction. It was his 
 wages while on the seas, which he had given orders to be sent 
 
 second son, Noah W., who held the position continuously for thirty-four years, retir- 
 ing in 1873 to accept the presidency of the First 'National Bank of Springfield, Ilk, 
 a position he held until his death, April 30, 187^. His eldest son, Dr. L. D. 
 Matheny, a physician of bright promise, died before, : his father, in 1837. The third 
 son, Hon. James H. Matheny, is at the present lime county judge of Sangamon 
 County, having been elected for three successive terms, by an almost unanimous vote. 
 Judge Matheny was a member of the constkutional convention of 1847, and a col- 
 league of Ninian W. Edwards and Stephen T. Logan; he was also lieut. -colonel of 
 the i3Oth Illinois Infantry during the war of the Rebellion. The fourth son, Charles 
 W. Matheny, was engaged in mercantile business for many years in Springfield, and 
 was ah>o president of the First- National Bank of that city at the time of his death, 
 April 1 6, 1879. The youngest son, E. Cook Matheny, is connected with the U. S. 
 revenue department as.a gauger, a position he has acceptably filled for many years. 
 The family, 'in its numerous descendants from Mr. Matheny's five sons and three 
 married, daughters, is one which has maintained the reputation of their lamented 
 progenitor, socially and morally as well as politically. J. H. G.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 263 
 
 her. He visited London, heard Rev. John Wesley preach, be- 
 came more confirmed in his peculiar doctrines, returned to 
 South Carolina and entered the ministry of the Methodist- 
 Episcopal church, was received on trial in 1791, and com- 
 menced traveling the circuit. In two years he was admitted 
 in full connection and ordained to that order of their ministry 
 called deacon. 
 
 Being conscientiously opposed to slavery and not satisfied 
 with the government of the Methodist- Episcopal church, he 
 withdrew from the traveling connection in an orderly manner 
 in 1796, traveled on foot to Kentucky, and there for several 
 months made it his home with Elder Jolliff,* a Baptist preacher 
 
 * Elder Abner Jolliff, who lived and died in Barren Co., Ky., was born in Green- 
 brier Co., Va., and came of an old English family of Norman descent, who settled 
 in Virginia in the seventeenth century; his four sons, Abner, Richard, James, and 
 Elijah, and three daughters, Rachel, Elizabeth, and Jehoida, emigrated to Illinois in 
 early days and settled in Jefferson, Clinton, Marion, and Washington counties, where 
 they now have a large number of descendants. 
 
 Abner, the oldest son, in 1824, settled about three miles north of the present town 
 of Richview, Washington Co. ; raised a large family, nearly all now dead; his son, 
 Richard, was somewhat noted as a Baptist preacher of promise, and died young. 
 
 Richard, the second son, settled the same year near by his brother, both being on 
 the old Vincennes trace; raised a large family, and his son Jacob, born on the claim 
 the first year of the sojourn of the family in this State, yet -owns and occupies the 
 old homestead, one of the finest farms in Southern Illinois. Elizabeth, his oldest 
 daughter, married an Englishman named Edward Russell; their sons, Thomas and 
 J. K. Russell, are well-known citizens of Washington County. Martha, his second 
 daughter, married Reece Williams, and raised a large family, and surviving her hus- 
 band, now lives in Texas with her children. James E., the oldest son, lives near 
 Fort Scott, and was a soldier in the Mexican war in Capt. Coffee's company of Col. 
 Bissell's regiment (2d) 111. Vols. Aaron, the second son, lived and died near the 
 old. home farm in Washington Co.; was a soldier in Co. E, I4th Reg't U.-S. InPy, 
 during the Mexican war. His daughter, Mrs. T. B. Affleck, resides in Richview. 
 Abner, the third son, was drowned when a young man, in crossing Grand-Point 
 Creek when the stream was in a swollen condition. Richard, the fourth son, mar- 
 ried Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of Press. Taylor, a well-known pioneer of Washing- 
 ton Co. ; was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion in Co. B, 6ad 111. Infantry, and 
 died at Pine Bluff, Ark., August 2, 1864. Jacob, the fifth son, the youngest and 
 only surviving member of his father's large family, was born Feb. 5> '825, on the 
 farm he now lives on and owns, one mile south of Irvington, Washington Co., at 
 the crossing of the Illinois-Central Railroad over the old Vincennes and Kaskaskia 
 "trace"; married Elizabeth Willard, and has a family of four sons and one daugh- 
 ter, who have all survived their mother. 
 
 Col. James, the third son, settled about 1828 on Crooked Creek, Clinton Co., a 
 few miles s.-w. of the present city of Centralia, and built a water-mill, about 1830,
 
 264 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 and father to Col. James.Jolliff of Marion County, Illinois. His 
 peregrinations were made on foot the mode in which he trav- 
 eled his circuits in South Carolina and in this way he arrived 
 in Illinois in 1797. Here he preached with great acceptance 
 
 on that stream near the site of Sherwood's horse-mill, erected in 1817; was a Vir- 
 ginia soldier in the war of 1812, and with his brother-in-law, James Rhea, served 
 with Perry on Lake Erie, being among the contingent of one hundred and fifty men- 
 furnished by Gen. Harrison to Com. Perry to complete the crews in his fleet; and 
 were both afterward engaged in the battle of the Thames, Sept. 17, 1813, where the 
 celebrated Indian chief, Tecumseh, was killed. They were both celebrated Indian 
 fighters in the early days of the Northwest. Col. Jolliff was twice married and left 
 numerous descendants. His oldest son was Jackson JolliflF. Reuben W. Jolliff, 
 his second son, was captain of Co. G, mth 111. Infy, in the war of the Rebellion, 
 his younger brother, Samuel A., being second lieutenant of the same company, who, 
 with his brother Abner, are now living in Patoka, Marion Co. Col. Jolliff 's daugh- 
 ter, Elizabeth, married E. Orvis, and lives near the old Jolliff mill in Clinton Co., 
 where they have raised a numerous family. Another son, Elijah, served in Co. B, 
 62d 111. Vol. Infy, in the Rebellion, and died at Pine Bluff, Ark., July 28, 1864. 
 
 Elijah, fourth son, settled in Jefferson Co. in the spring of 1825; had previously 
 married in Kentucky and had several children; was accidentally killed, Christmas, 
 1832, at the home of in Jefferson Co. and by his nephew, Capt. James Rhea a 
 tow wad from a Christmas gun severing the femoral artery. Of his sons, Randall 
 and William, and his daughter Elizabeth, married to James Willard, live in Oregon- 
 Co., Mo. Elijah Jolliff, his third son, lives near Irvington, Washington Co. 
 
 Rachel, the oldest daughter, born in Greenbrier Co., Va., Oct. 16, 1783, married 
 Nov. 20, 1801, James Rhea, born in the same county, June 3, 1780; moved to Bar- 
 ren Co., Ky., had ten children; then moved to Jefferson Co., 111., to the old Rhea 
 place, four miles northeast of Richview, in 1824, where their youngest child, Thos. 
 F., was born, July 27; in 1827, Jas. Rhea and most of his family moved to Island- 
 Grove township in Sangamon Co., where he died in 1843, h' s widow in 1851, Of 
 their children the oldest was Elizabeth, born in 1802, in Barren Co., Ky., and mar- 
 ried there to George May; emigrated from thence with their parents first to Jeffer- 
 son Co., then to Sangamon, moved afterward to Mason Co., where she died; her 
 husband and children then moved to Gentry Co., Mo. The oldest son was James, 
 who was born Aug. 27, 1804; married in Jefferson Co., 111., in 1826, Susan Mattox; 
 was a soldier in Capt. Bowman's company in the Black-Hawk war; a captain of 
 militia in 1832-3; after killing his uncle accidentally in 1832, moved near Little 
 Rock, Ark., in the fall of 1834, and died there in 1840, leaving a widow and three 
 children. William, the second son, born March 10, 1807; married Dec. II, 1828, 
 Susan Foutch, in Sangamon Co. ; had twelve children, nine of whom lived to matu- 
 rity, and died Feb. 8, 1860; his widow lives near New Berlin, 111. Richard, the 
 third son, born Jan. 14, 1809; married to Eliza Rhea and had three children; when 
 he died, his widow married William Etheridge, and moved to Iowa. Jehoida, born 
 Oct. II, 1813; married in Sangamon Co., John Foutch, in 1827, and had four chil- 
 dren, and died about fifty years ago. Rachel died at the age of ten. John, born 
 July 14, 1817; married Nov. 14, 1839, Julia A. Stark, born June 21, 1823, in Rut- 
 land, Vt. ; they had seven children, and with their children and descendants, live
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 265 
 
 among various classes of the people in the settlements about 
 New 'Design and the American Bottom ; formed one or more 
 classes and taught the children and young men in science and 
 literature. Of his first pupils, several are yet living and hold 
 
 near New Berlin, Sangamon Co. Mahala, born April 25, 1820; married in Sanga- 
 mon Co., Joseph Pulsifer; had twin sons, Nevo and Nevi, who are married and 
 live in Gentry Co., Mo.; their mother died soon after their birth, and their father 
 disappeared, it is thought was murdered for money while on a business trip to St. 
 Louis. Mary A., born Oct. 27, 1822; died April 28, 1851; married E. R. Alsbury;. 
 had one child, Lucinda, who married James Snuff. Thomas F. Rhea, the youngest 
 son, born in Jefferson Co.; married Oct. 3, 1844, Lucinda Wilcox; has five children 
 living, all daughters; is a stock-raiser and dealer at New Berlin, Sangamon Co. 
 
 Elizabeth, second daughter, is a most noted pioneer matron of Southern Illinois;: 
 was born in Greenbrier Co., Va., about 1803, and is now over eighty years of age; 
 was married in Virginia to John Faulkner, a member of the celebrated family of 
 that ilk which has furnished to Virginia many able men, one of whom was governor 
 of that State; shortly after their marriage, they removed to Kentucky and afterward 
 to Illinois, settling near her brothers, Abner and Richard, in 1830, when Mr. Faulk- 
 ner soon afterward erected a horse-mUl, which furnished the settlers in that region 
 their bread for many a year. This couple raised a numerous and historic family, 
 and the husband and father died in 1853. Mrs. Faulkner still lives with her son 
 Abner on her old homestead, where her family of thirteen were, some of them, bora 
 and all raised to maturity. John, the oldest son, was a Baptist preacher, and died 
 young. Katharine, the oldest daughter, married Matthew Pate, and died many 
 years ago; her son, John Pate of Jefferson Co., is a well-known lawyer, who for- 
 merly resided at Richview. Richard, the second son, died some years before the 
 war, leaving a family. Aaron also reared a family on Grand Point, and died some 
 years ago. Elizabeth married L. B. Baldwin, who live at Irvington and have raised 
 a large and interesting family, among whom is R. D. Baldwin, a successful farmer 
 of Irvington township. Gilbert, the fourth son, was a soldier in Capt. Coffee's Co. 
 A, Col. Bissell's regiment (2d 111.), in the Mexican war, and now lives near the old 
 homestead in Washington Co. Margaret married Meg. Taylor and lives in Kansas. 
 James, the fifth son, died before the late war, although married, he left no descend- 
 ants; was of large stature, as were all of the Faulkner and Jolliff families. Abner, 
 the sixth son, was a soldier in Co. B, 62d 111. Vol. Infy, and lives with his family 
 at the old homestead, a mile south of Irvington, on the Illinois-Central Railroad, 
 and cares for his aged mother. Alexander, the seventh son, who was first-sergeant 
 in Co. B, 6ad 111. Vol. Inf'y, in the war of the Rebellion, lives near and has a wife 
 and several children. Charles J., the youngest son, was also a soldier in the war of 
 the Rebellion, in Co. F of the 44th 111. InPy, and died since the war. Angeline 
 married Clark W. Mitchell, a soldier in Co. B, 62d 111. Inf'y, and with her husband 
 lives near Irvington. Caroline, the youngest daughter, married Jackson Trout, and 
 died a few years since in Irvington, where her husband still resides. 
 
 Jehoida, the youngest daughter, married Enoch Holsclaw in Kentucky, and after- 
 ward removed to Illinois, settling near Mt. Vernon in Jefferson Co., from whence they 
 again removed to Clinton Co., near the town of Central City, where both died many- 
 years ago, leaving numerous descendants. J. H. G.
 
 266 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 the memory of Father Clark, as he was familiarly called, as pre- 
 cious. Among those who are indebted to him for their educa- 
 tion are those venerable men of this county: Robert Lemen, 
 Esq., once marshal under the territorial government, and Rev. 
 Joseph and James Lemen. 
 
 At that period, Missouri, called Upper Louisiana, was under 
 the dominion of Spain and of course the Roman- Catholic 
 religion only was sustained and tolerated by law. But the 
 commandants and other officers, being disposed to encourage 
 emigration from the United States to that country, permitted 
 Protestants, after a vague and general examination, as a mere 
 matter of form, to settle in that country, and large numbers 
 had expatriated themselves to obtain grants of land. It is but 
 just to the memories of these people to state that a presenti- 
 ment existed in their minds that the country would come under 
 the American government and they, or at least their children, 
 would enjoy equal rights. 
 
 Father Clark was the first preacher of the gospel to cross the 
 Mississippi and to preach to the American people there. This 
 was in 1798. His excursions were regular and frequent, during 
 which he would spend from two to three weeks. There were 
 three settlements which he visited : one near the Spanish Pond, 
 north of St. Louis, one near Owen's Station, now Bridgeton, and 
 the other on Feef 's Creek. He was a man of singular sim- 
 plicity of manners, unaffected piety, and wholly disinterested, 
 and took no pains to conceal his visits or his object in the 
 Spanish country. The late Zenoe Trudeau, commandant at 
 St. Louis, knew his character, his habits, and his purpose in 
 crossing the river. He was friendly to the American residents 
 and not disposed to molest them ; but he must make a show of 
 enforcing the laws and about the time Clark's appointments 
 were finished, he would send a threatening message into the 
 country that Mr. Clark must leave the Spanish territory or he 
 would put him in the calabozo the prison. No personal moles- 
 tation was ever offered. 
 
 At a subsequent period, when the laws of the United States 
 were extended there and settlements greatly enlarged, he made 
 his home on that side of the river, but continued his visits to 
 Illinois during his life, which terminated in 1833, at the age of
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 267 
 
 seventy-five years. Early in the present century, he became a 
 Baptist and subsequently was connected with that class who 
 were termed, from their opposition to slavery, " Friends to 
 Humanity." 
 
 Among the early pioneers of Methodism in this territory, the 
 late Rev. Jesse Walker deserves a conspicuous place. His 
 birthplace was the vicinity of Petersburg, Va., but his youth was 
 spent in North Carolina, where he was accustomed to labor on 
 a farm. This was in a settlement of wealth, aristocratic and 
 irreligious people, where the Sabbath was spent in amusement 
 and excursions to other settlements. It was while on such an 
 excursion he heard a Methodist preacher, whose pungent exhor- 
 tations arrested his conscience and went to his heart. After 
 some two or three weeks of agonizing distress, he obtained 
 relief and rejoiced in the forgiveness of his -sins. He imme- 
 diately joined a Methodist class, became an efficient member, 
 then a leader and exhorter, and soon after a laborious and suc- 
 cessful local preacher. He was received on trial by the Western 
 Conference, held at Cumberland, Tennessee, in October, 1802; 
 ordained deacon and performed circuit duties on the borders of 
 that State and Kentucky four years. 
 
 He was emphatically a pioneer, continually advancing into 
 new settlements that were unprovided with gospel administra- 
 tions; for in 1806, by his own request, he was sent to Illinois, 
 and the same year Rev. John Travis was sent to Upper Louis- 
 iana, as Missouri was then called, being the first circuit preacher 
 sent into that field by the Conference. The next year Mr. 
 Walker returned two hundred and twenty members from Illi- 
 nois, including a society of twenty on Coldwater in St. Louis 
 County. This was a gain of eighty in Illinois in one year 
 under his labors. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1807 that the late Bishop McKen- 
 dree, whose name has been perpetuated in the Methodist col- 
 .lege at Lebanon, made his first visit to this territory, and as 
 presiding-elder, with Mr. Walker for an assistant in preaching, 
 held two camp- meetings : one in Goshen Settlement, near 
 Edwardsville, and the other at Shiloh, six miles northeast from 
 Belleville, where a log-house was erected for a chapel. This 
 was the first meeting-house and these were the first camp-meet- 
 ings in Illinois.
 
 268 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 From 1813, Rev. Jesse Walker was presiding-elder in the Illi- 
 nois district and continued in that department in this territory 
 until near the period of the close of this history. His residence 
 was in Alexander's Settlement, as then called, seven miles 
 northeast from Belleville. 
 
 Of the Methodist pioneer preachers in the traveling connec- 
 tion, before the organization of the State government, who fol- 
 lowed successively on the circuit, or who were local preachers, 
 our information is too imperfect to follow the line accurately, 
 Rev. John Scripps, now living in Illinois, then a young preacher, 
 accompanied Mr. Walker on his round as presiding-elder in 
 1814. 
 
 Rev. Jacob Whiteside of this county commenced the ministry 
 about that time, and Rev. Josiah Patterson was also a faithful 
 laborer in the settlements near the Ohio River. Rev. J. Nowlen 
 is another who began to preach about that time. 
 
 In 1815, there were four circuits in Illinois, called Illinois, 
 Okaw, Massac, and Wabash. Indiana, west of a meridian line 
 at Madison, and Illinois made one district, over which Rev. 
 Jesse Walker traveled as presiding-elder. 
 
 Rev. Abraham Amos came to Illinois Territory at an early 
 period, either in the character of a circuit or a local preacher. 
 He was a circuit preacher on the Mad-River circuit, Ohio, then 
 a new one, in 1805. He was appointed a member of the legis- 
 lative council of Illinois Territory, and while sustaining that 
 office, died, April n, 1818, much respected and universally re- 
 gretted as a preacher, a Christian, and a citizen. 
 
 In 1816, Rev. John Dew arrived in Illinois as the traveling 
 companion of Bishop McKendree and soon proved himself to 
 be an intelligent and successful preacher. The General Con- 
 ference of the Methodist -Episcopal church had divided the 
 Western Conference into two : Tennessee and Ohio. Tennes- 
 see Conference included Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indi- 
 ana to the meridian of Madison. 
 
 This year, 1816, the General Conference had set off all this 
 field into another conference, called Missouri, and its first ses- 
 sion was held at Shiloh, commencing September 23. At this 
 meeting Rev. Samuel H. Thompson appeared for the first time. 
 He had traveled a circuit in Missouri for the preceding year.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 269 
 
 Mr. Thompson was born in Westmoreland County, Pa.; pro- 
 fessed religion and joined the Methodists in Kentucky in 1807; 
 became a preacher and entered the traveling connection in 
 1809. He was married in February, 1816, and the next 
 autumn, settled at Union Grove, south of Lebanon. Mr. 
 Thompson became a prominent and useful man in the ministry. 
 
 Among the local preachers, Rev. Josiah Randle of Edwards- 
 ville was among the prominent men in the Methodist ranks in 
 early times, and for many years clerk of Madison County. As 
 the first Baptist preacher who settled in the country we have 
 already mentioned David Badgley, who, with Joseph Chance, 
 constituted the first church in the territory. Mr. Badgley was 
 born in New Jersey in 1749; removed with his parents to Vir- 
 ginia in 1768; made a profession of religion, and was baptized 
 by Elder William Marshall in 1795, and a few years after, be- 
 came a preacher. He was ordained in 1795. Mr. Badgley 
 aided in forming a number of churches and died December 16, 
 1824, at the advanced age of seventy-six. His descendants 
 and connections are numerous in this county, and his youngest 
 son is now one of the justices of the county-court. 
 
 Elder John K. Simpson was one of the pioneer Baptist 
 preachers in Illinois. He was a native of England and born 
 near London, October 2, 1759. He was brought up an Episco- 
 palian; married Ann Rider; removed to America and reached 
 Vincennes in 1788; came to Kaskaskia in 1789, and next year 
 settled near Bellefontaine. He was a religious man and joined 
 the Methodist class under Mr. Lillard; but under the preaching 
 of Elder David Badgley, he became a Baptist and was one of 
 the fifteen baptized previous to the constitution of the church. 
 He took an active part in church-meetings and social worship; 
 commenced preaching and was ordained, probably, about 1803. 
 Some may have deemed him too rigid and not sufficiently for- 
 bearing and tender of the imperfections of his brethren ; for his 
 name occurs frequently on the old book of records in connec- 
 tion with cases of discipline. 
 
 His decease, January 11, 1806, was singular. For some time 
 previous, he told his brethren and friends he should die soon 
 and even named the day. A little time before his death, he 
 visited and preached to Richland church and bid his brethren
 
 2/0 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 farewell, assuring them they would see him no more on earth. 
 He complained of no illness, but was serious and devotional. 
 A short time after, on Sabbath morning, he rode ten miles from 
 his residence to the house of Judge Bond in the American Bot- 
 tom; preached with much power and effect from Rom. viii, 14, 
 and died the same evening while sitting in his chair. The last 
 words he uttered were: "Lord Jesus, thou hast promised to 
 save me; come and receive my spirit." He was the father of 
 Elder Gideon Simpson of this [St.Clair] county. 
 
 Elder Joseph Chance, already mentioned, was born in the 
 State of Delaware in 1765. His father died when he was a 
 small boy ; his mother married John Gibbons and moved to 
 North Carolina, where young Chance was raised without much 
 opportunity for education. He married for his first wife Jemima 
 Morris and moved to Kentucky, where he professed religion, 
 was baptized, and commenced exhorting. In 1794, he removed 
 his family to Illinois and became connected with the New- 
 Design church. He afterward settled in Horse Prairie, where 
 he preached to a little society; removed and settled east of 
 Silver Creek, where a small church was organized in 1807. 
 
 He made an excursion to Indiana and while there, was 
 ordained. Mr. Chance was not a man of great talents, but he 
 was faithful in the improvement of the gifts bestowed upon 
 him ; devoted much time in preaching and visiting destitute 
 settlements; raised a large family; and while on a preaching 
 tour, died, in Washington County, Illinois, April 20, 1840, aged 
 seventy-five years. 
 
 Among the good men and ministers in the Baptist ranks, we 
 must not omit Elder William Jones, who came to the territory 
 and settled near Rattan's Prairie, east of Alton, in 1806. He 
 was born in North Carolina, but professed religion and entered 
 the ministry in East Tennessee, and in company with John 
 Finlay, another pioneer, came to this region to do good. Be- 
 fore the war, he removed to Shoal Creek, but the Indians 
 becoming troublesome, he returned to Madison County. He 
 was a preacher of moderate abilities and was moral, grave, 
 peaceable, and pious in his habits. He represented Madison 
 County in the legislature one term and died at his residence, 
 in the hope of eternal life, January 2, 1845, aged seventy- three 
 years.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 271 
 
 The name of James Lemen, Sr., has been mentioned among 
 the early pioneers of Illinois. He was born in Berkeley County, 
 Virginia, in the autumn of 1760. His grandfather was an emi- 
 grant from the north of Ireland. His father belonged to the 
 Church of England, a branch of which existed by law in Vir- 
 ginia before the Revolutionary war, and died when James was 
 a year old. His mother married again and he was raised by a 
 strict Presbyterian. In 1777, he entered the army under Wash- 
 ington ; went north ; was in the action of White Plains, and 
 continued in service two years, when he was discharged and 
 returned to Virginia. He then went to the vicinity of Wheel- 
 ing, where he resided for a time and married Catharine Ogle, 
 daughter of Capt. Joseph Ogle, already noticed. 
 
 There are some amusing traditions among their descendants, 
 relative to their early acquaintance. Both were young, moral 
 persons, religiously educated, and early and simultaneously be- 
 came impressed they were destined for each other. It seems 
 this mutual attachment was strong, steady, and lasted thro life. 
 Not a jar in feelings or an unpleasant word ever occurred be- 
 tween them. 
 
 James Lemen was a rigidly honest, humane, kind-hearted, 
 and benevolent man; independent in judgment, very firm and 
 conscientious in what he believed right, and exhibited much 
 decision of character. He was opposed to war as an aggres- 
 sive measure, not combative or cruel, but would fight like a 
 hero when impelled by a sense of duty in defending the fron- 
 tiers from Indian depredations. He followed his father-in-law 
 to the Illinois country in the spring of 17^5, by descending the 
 Ohio River in a flat-boat. The second night the river fell 
 while they were tied to the shore, and his boat lodged on a 
 stump, careened and sunk, by which accident he lost his pro- 
 visions, chattels, etc. His oldest son, Robert, a boy of three 
 years old, floated on the bed on which he lay, which his father 
 caught by the corner and saved his life. Tho left destitute of 
 provisions and other necessaries, James Lemen was not the man 
 to be discouraged. He had energy and perseverance, and he 
 got to the mouth of the Ohio and from thence up the Missis- 
 sippi to Kaskaskia, where he arrived July 10, 1786. 
 
 The Indians caused frequent alarms, provisions and all other
 
 2/2 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 necessaries of living were scarce. He subsequently settled at 
 New Design, on the old hill-trace from St. Louis to Kaskaskia, 
 and his house became the half-way stopping- place for many 
 years, and none were turned away. He had been subject to 
 religious impressions from his childhood, but was not clear in 
 his mind to make a profession of religion until James Smith 
 arrived and preached to the people. He was generous and 
 hospitable, would divide corn with the destitute, observed the 
 Sabbath strictly, kept perfect order in his family, and yet was 
 never harsh or severe with his children. 
 
 He was an acting justice-of-the-peace for many years under 
 the territorial government and for a time one of the judges of 
 the county-court. He took an active part in the lead of religi- 
 ous meetings many years before he was licensed to preach. 
 He was an opponent to slavery both from principle and policy 
 and came to this territory to live in a free country. From some 
 strong expressions he made on this subject while preaching at 
 Richland Church in 1809, which ought to have been passed 
 without notice, Larkin Rutherford, one of the members, tqok 
 offence and brought a complaint into -the church and the conse- 
 quence was an illustration of the Scriptures : " Behold how 
 great a matter a little fire kindleth." The little church became 
 divided; the association of churches also divided, and the issue 
 was three parties of Baptists, who existed for ten years and two 
 parties much longer. The association was formed in 1807, of 
 the five following churches, to wit : New Design, Mississippi 
 Bottom, Richland, Wood River, and Silver Creek. There were 
 three ordained preachers and sixty-two members in these 
 churches. At the division of 1809, there were ten churches, of 
 which three were in Missouri, eight ordained preachers, two in 
 Missouri, four licentiates, and four hundred communicants of 
 the three parties of Baptists, including six churches on the 
 eastern and southeastern parts of the territory. 
 
 Presbyterians. At the date of the constitution in 1818, there 
 was no Presbyterian minister residing in the State, nor had there 
 teen a church organized in this part of the State. One or two 
 small churches had been constituted in the southeastern part of 
 the State under the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of West, 
 now Middle, Tennessee. Two Presbyterian missionaries from
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 273 
 
 the general assembly of the Presbyterian church had visited 
 the territory and preached at Kaskaskia, Shawneetown, and 
 other settlements. 
 
 In 1814, Rev. Messrs. Samuel J. Miles and Daniel Smith, 
 Congregationalists from New England, performed an exploring 
 mission thro the Southwestern States and territories, with a 
 twofold object: providing for the distribution of the Scriptures 
 to the destitute and future missionary labors. They were at 
 St. Louis November 7, at Kaskaskia on the I2th, and Shawnee- 
 town after New-Year, on their way down the Ohio and Missis- 
 sippi to New Orleans. 
 
 A subscription was started to form a Bible society at New 
 Design and Kaskaskia, to which the names of James Lemen, 
 Sr., James Lemen, Jr., Gov. Edwards, Nathaniel Pope, and 
 many other gentlemen then living in Illinois were appended, 
 with subscriptions of five dollars and under for the object. 
 Nearly one hundred dollars were subscribed ; but it appears 
 they never organized or paid their subscriptions. At that 
 period, Bibles and school-books were very scarce and not to 
 be obtained without sending to the Atlantic cities. Another 
 similar but ab3rtive effort to form a Bible society was made at 
 Shawneetown in 1816; a constitution adopted and directors 
 chosen, which failed from lack of a little further effort. 
 
 The late John Messinger, who was a philanthropist as well as 
 mathematician, tho never a member of any church, obtained 
 subscribers for the quarto family Bibles, published by Matthew 
 Carey of Philadelphia in 1814, and circulated copies in many 
 families in St. Clair County. Mr. Messinger taught many young 
 men the theory and practice of surveying and he frequently 
 taught an evening-school for young and old; and it is no dis- 
 paragement to some gentlemen, who have since been distin- 
 guished in the State, at the bar, and in the pulpit, to have it- 
 known that they received the ground-work of their education, 
 after they had families, from Mr. Messinger. 
 
 There was a small colony of Tunkers and Dunkers, whey* 
 settled in Union County and had a preacher of their ownVin 
 early times. 
 
 I will close this protracted sketch by a brief description of 
 the manners and customs of the American pioneers I have
 
 274 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 noticed. They were rough in personal appearance and unre- 
 fined, yet kind, social, and generous. They were hunters and 
 stock-growers; and confined their agricultural operations chiefly 
 to corn and a small amount of wheat. They were brave, prompt, 
 and decided in war, yet liberal and magnanimous to a subdued 
 foe. They showed great energy and a just spirit of enterprise 
 in removing from five to fifteen hundred miles into a wilderness 
 country and pioneering out the way for the future prosperity of 
 their descendants. They were hospitable, generous, and ready 
 to share with their neighbors or newly-arrived strangers their 
 last loaf. They were guided by Providence, preserved amidst 
 dangers, sickness, and savage assaults, and thus became the 
 pioneers of civilization, the founders of a free government, and 
 the extension of pure Christianity. They turned the wilder- 
 ness into a fruitful field and prepared the country to sustain a 
 more dense population and to increase in wealth and prosperity. 
 
 Their habits and manners were plain, simple, and unostenta- 
 tious. Their dwellings were log-cabins of the rudest and most 
 simple structure. Their furniture and utensils and dress were 
 the most simple and economical possible; for such only could 
 be obtained. For clothing, dressed deer-skins were extensively 
 used for hunting-shirts, pants, leggins, and moccasons, and the 
 red skin of the prairie-wolf or fox was a substitute for the hat 
 or cap. Strips of buffalo-hide were used for ropes and traces 
 and the dressed skins of the buffalo, bear, and elk furnished the 
 principal covering of their beds at night. Wooden vessels^ 
 either dug out or coopered, and called noggins, were in common 
 use for bowls, out of which each member of the family atv.- 
 mush and milk for supper. A gourd formed the drinking-cup. 
 Every hunter (and all the men were hunters) carried his knife 
 in his girdle, while not unfrequently the rest of the family had 
 but one or two between them. If a family chanced to have a 
 few pewter dishes and spoons, knives and forks, tin-cups and 
 platters, it was in advance of the neighbors. Corn was beaten 
 for bread in the mortar, ground on a grater, or in a hand-mill. 
 
 From the cession of the country by Virginia to the conti- 
 nental congress in 1784, to the organization of the county of 
 St. Clair by the government of the Northwest Territory in 1790, 
 there was in fact no civil government in existence in the Illinois
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 2/5 
 
 country ; yet the people were a law unto themselves. Their 
 morals were pure and simple; the grosser vices were rare, and 
 there was very little use for the administration of either civil or 
 criminal law. Ardent spirits, that outrage upon morals, social 
 order, and religion, had been introduced into the country but 
 in small quantities before the commencement of the present 
 century. Theft and other crimes against the peace of society 
 were rare and fraud and dishonest dealings seldom practised. 
 
 In the French villages, as in most Catholic countries, the Sab- 
 bath was a day of hilarity and pleasure. The Catholic popula- 
 tion, being principally French, attended mass in the morning 
 and practised their devotions in the church; and in the after- 
 noon, assembled in parties at private houses for social and 
 merry intercourse. Cards, dances, and various sports made up 
 the pastime. The French people in Illinois in those times were 
 not intemperate in eating or drinking on such occasions. The 
 wealthier classes used, moderately, light-red wines, especially 
 claret, while the poorer classes, in convivial parties, drank tafia 
 and a liquor called noyau. I have often heard the old French 
 settlers deplore the habits of intoxication and other vices ) 
 which, as they fancied, were introduced by the immigration that 
 came after 1800. But old men always imagine the morals of 
 the people grow worse and fraud and dishonesty increase as 
 they advance in life.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Illinois under the Government of Indiana Territory. 
 
 THE Northwest Territory being so large extending from 
 the shores of the Mississippi to the western line of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and from the Ohio to the lakes and the northern limits 
 of the United States the people became uneasy and restless 
 in their situation.. One other consideration was that Gen. 
 St. Clair, the governor of the territory, was very unpopular. 
 The whole community, for various and for different reasons, 
 was anxious for a change in the government. 
 
 The Northwest Territory was divided May 7, 1800, by act of 
 congress and the western section was called Indiana Territory. 
 The eastern boundary of Indiana was a line beginning on the 
 Ohio, opposite the mouth of Kentucky River; thence to Fort 
 Recovery, and thence to the northern limits of the United 
 States. Indiana Territory included the Illinois country. 
 
 William Henry Harrison was appointed by the general gov- 
 ernment the governor of the territory. He was born twenty- 
 five miles from Richmond, Va., February 9, 1773. His father, 
 Benjamin Harrison, was the governor of Virginia and acted a 
 great and noble part in the Revolution. 
 
 Young Harrison was educated at Hampden Sydney College 
 and left it at the age of seventeen. He was placed, by his kind 
 father, the governor of Virginia, at the medical college in Phila- 
 delphia in 1790; but remained there not a long time. The 
 defeat of Gen. Harmar in the West and the excitement to sus- 
 tain the honor of the stars and stripes had reached the young 
 and patriotic heart of Harrison in Philadelphia. The eloquent 
 entreaties of his guardian and friend, the celebrated Robert 
 Morris of that city, had no effect to retain him to the study of 
 medicine. The mortar and pestle were exchanged for the sweet 
 music of the drum and fife and he became a soldier in the war 
 against the Northwestern Indians. He urged his pretentions 
 
 276
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 2/7 
 
 on President Washington so strong that he was appointed an 
 ensign in the army in 1791, when he was only eighteen years 
 old. He repaired to the West, but too late to participate in 
 the disastrous defeat of St. Clair, November 4, 1791. He con- 
 tinued in the army and was aid-de-camp to Gen. Wayne. He 
 was in all the active military operations for several years pre- 
 vious to the celebrated battle of Gen. Wayne against the Ind- 
 ians, in August, 1794. In this engagement, young Harrison 
 was found fighting always in the hottest conflicts. 
 
 After the treaty at Greenville in 1795, Capt. Harrison as he 
 had been promoted to that office was left in command at Fort 
 Washington, the site of the present City of Cincinnati, where 
 he married that year the daughter of Judge Symmes. He 
 then left the army and turned his attention to civil employment. 
 At twenty- four, he was appointed secretary of the territory 
 under Gov. St. Clair. He executed the duties of this office 
 with punctuality and honesty. In 1799, he was elected by the 
 general assembly of the territory to the office of delegate to 
 congress. This office was one of great responsibility and the 
 duties onerous and interesting to all the country northwest of 
 the Ohio River. His first attention was imperiously called to 
 the subject of the public lands. 
 
 A heavy emigration commenced to the territory and the 
 public domain at that day could not be sold in less tracts than 
 four thousand acres, except fractions on the rivers. To poor 
 settlers the land-system was a curse rather than a blessing, as it 
 is at this day. Harrison was appointed chairman of the com- 
 mittee on the public lands in the house of representatives and 
 he reported a bill, which passed into a law, authorizing the sale 
 of the public lands in tracts of three hundred and twenty acres. 
 This was the smallest tract that could be sold in 1800. The 
 new law required one-fourth paid down and a credit given for 
 the balance of one, two, three, and four years. This was con- 
 sidered at that day a public service which Harrison performed 
 in congress, of the greatest importance to the country. 
 
 To contrast the present system of the public lands with that 
 of 1800 and before, is comparing night to day. Now tracts of 
 forty acres may be sold, and before 1800, not less than four thou- 
 sand could be entered by any settler. The passage of this law
 
 2/8 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 rendered Harrison extremely popular. He also obtained the 
 division of the territory and was appointed governor of Indiana, 
 which is narrated above. 
 
 Extraordinary duties were imposed on Gov. Harrison. Be- 
 sides the ordinary duties of a governor of a territory, the addi- 
 tional and important trusts of the general agency of all the 
 Indians and the duty of investigating the ancient land-claims 
 in the territory were also confided to him. More treaties with 
 the Indians were made and more land purchased by him from 
 them than by any other man in America. His various duties, 
 civil and military, required much energy and business habits in 
 the office to enable him to perform them. These extraordinary 
 trusts were executed with much ability and much to the satis- 
 faction of the people and the government. It is truly astonish- 
 ing, the many, the various, and the important offices which Gen. 
 Harrison held and the duties of them he performed. His mili- 
 tary career of itself would fill volumes, and his civil employ- 
 ments were numerous and highly important to the country. 
 
 In 1791, when he was eighteen years old, he was first, ensign 
 in the army; then secretary of the Northwest Territory; dele- 
 gate to congress ; governor of Indiana and superintendent of 
 Indian affairs ; commissioner to adjust land-titles ; major-gen- 
 eral in the army; a farmer in the North Be'nd; in 1824, a sena- 
 tor in congress ; minister to Columbia, South America ; then 
 the prothonotory of the court of Hamilton County, at Cincin- 
 nati, the county-seat ; and next, the president of the United 
 States. 
 
 No man in America ever filled as many high and responsible 
 offices as Harrison did. He experienced thro life a continual 
 scene of hurried and important events, and nothing in it of 
 monotony. It is the events in a life that makes it important 
 and conspicuous. A monotonous life has but two events in it 
 and those scarcely worthy of notice the birth and death of 
 the individual. A life of monotony is a species of vegetation. 
 
 Harrison was in office for almost half-a-century and at last 
 died in the presidency the highest station known to man on 
 the globe. The duties of these offices were performed in a new 
 and rising community in the West, where parts of almost all 
 nations, kindreds, and tongues were assembled together, and the
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 279 
 
 duties as variant as the population. Under all these events and 
 circumstances, he acted well his part. These facts demonstrate 
 Harrison to be no ordinary man; but at the same time, he did 
 not possess the highest order of intellect. He was a safe, pru- 
 dent, and cautious man and one quality he enjoyed in an emi- 
 nent degree and that was exhibited in all his transactions, public 
 and private a rigid and positive regard to honesty and in- 
 tegrity. This part of his character was tried in the fiery fur- 
 nace of party politics and came out, like Daniel did out of the 
 den of lions, unhurt. 
 
 In the presidential canvass of 1840, between him and Van 
 Buren, he did not encourage those disgraceful proceedings of 
 hard cider, coons, canoes, etc. He had been in the presidency 
 but a very short time, and died at Washington, D. C., April 4, 
 1841. His death was truly a great public calamity and as such 
 the community regretted and mourned his decease. 
 
 It has always been my opinion that his death was occasioned 
 by the ardent duties of the office and the host of office-seekers 
 hovering around him night and day until death relieved him 
 from the importunities of these vultures for office. The love of 
 God and his country were in his heart the last and his lips gave 
 utterance to these sentiments in the transit from earth to eter- 
 nity. Almost his whole life was spent in the service of his 
 country and the last efforts he made when death was upon him 
 was in praise of that country. 
 
 Harrison possessed an extraordinary energy and activity in 
 business. He was very moral and correct in his habits and all 
 his energies of mind and body were preserved for the service 
 of the country. He possessed in an eminent degree both physi- 
 cal and moral courage; but he did not possess that high order 
 of military talents to command that under almost all circum- 
 stances ensures success and victory to the army. He was plain 
 and unostentatious in his manners and never paid much atten- 
 tion to his private financial affairs. He lived and died in 
 moderate circumstances. 
 
 Emigration from the States commenced in earnest to flow 
 into Illinois after the division of the territory in 1800. The 
 American and even the French settlements began to extend 
 throughout the western section of Illinois. Peace and plenty
 
 280 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 prevailed in every section of the country, which, together with 
 its natural advantages, encouraged immigration. 
 
 In this year, 1800, the first man, Ephraim Conner, located 
 himself in Goshen, twenty odd miles in advance of the settle- 
 ments. His settlement was made in the American Bottom, 
 near the bluff some five or six miles southwest from the present 
 town of Edwardsville. Col. Judy purchased Connor out in 
 1801; lived there more than the third of a century, and died 
 on the same place. 
 
 Rev. David Badgley and some others, in 1799, explored the 
 country at present embraced in the county of Madison and 
 called it Goshen. They gave it this name on account of the 
 fertility of the soil and consequent luxuriant growth of the 
 grass and vegetation. It was, in truth, a land of promise, and 
 some years after it was the largest and best settlement in Illi- 
 nois. Goshen Settlement, so called in ancient times, embraced 
 about all the territory of Madison County and was in its early 
 life, as it always has been, a compact, prosperous, and happy 
 community. 
 
 A small impediment to the growth of the settlement was the 
 killing of Dennis and Van Meter by the Indians in 1802. Tur- 
 key Foot, an evil-disposed and cruel chief of a band of the 
 Pottawatomie Indians, and his party, returning home from 
 Cahokia to their towns toward Chicago, met Dennis and Van 
 Meter at the foot of the Mississippi Bluff, about five miles 
 southwest of the present town of Edwardsville. The country 
 contained at that day very few inhabitants above Cahokia, and 
 Turkey Foot, seeing the Americans extending their settlements 
 toward his country, caught fire at the spectacle and killed these 
 two men. These Indians may have been intoxicated, as they 
 were frequently drunk when they were trading in Cahokia. 
 This was not considered war, but a kind of Indian depredation. 
 
 The first two white men that settled in the Six-Mile Prairie, 
 in the present county of Madison, were Patrick Hanniberry and 
 Wiggins. The latter had a family, but Hanniberry was a single 
 man. They resided together in 1801, near the present residence 
 of William Atkins. This settlement was called the Six-Mile 
 Prairie, because it was six miles above St. Louis, in Upper 
 Louisiana. The immigrants to the country were mostly from
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 28 1- 
 
 the Western and Southern States. Very few Eastern people 
 or Yankees settled in Illinois at that day. The Ohio River was 
 the main channel on which the hardy pioneers reached the 
 country. The old Fort Massac was a depot for immigrants. 
 Almost time immemorial, a few families and settlers resided in 
 and adjacent to the fort. 
 
 In very ancient times, a military road was opened and 
 marked, each mile on a tree, from Massac to Kaskaskia. The 
 numbers of the miles were cut in ciphers with an iron and 
 painted red. Such I saw them in 1800. This road made a 
 great curve to the north to avoid the swamps and rough coun- 
 try on the sources of Cash River, and also to obtain the prairie 
 country as soon as possible. This road was first made by the 
 French when they had the dominion of the country and was 
 called the old Massac road by the Americans. A road also 
 extended from Fort Massac to Cape Girardeau, in the then- 
 Spanish country. 
 
 In olden times, two great crossing-places on the Ohio for the 
 immigrants were at Lusk's and Miles' ferries. These pioneers 
 were both most excellent, worthy men; yet they had, as is quite 
 common, a rivalship with their ferries. The ferry of Lusk was 
 opposite the present town of Golconda, Illinois, and that of 
 Miles only six or seven miles above. 
 
 It will be recollected that Nathaniel Hull descended the Ohio 
 River in 1780, and landed at a place on the Ohio afterward 
 known as Hull's Landing. Miles established his ferry near it- 
 Hull had opened a road from his landing to Kaskaskia. This 
 road did not intersect the Massac road, traveling west for eighty 
 miles, altho the two roads were only a few miles apart at any 
 one place from one end to the other. Miles adopted Hull's old 
 trace and improved it. Many wagons and much travel crossed 
 at these rival ferries and proceeeded on the respective roads to- 
 Illinois and to the Spanish country. 
 
 It must be recollected that the west side of the Mississippi 
 was known as the Spanish country in early times, while the 
 name of Louisiana might be recognized in the books, but not 
 used by the people in common parlance. In these times, no 
 four-wheeled vehicles traveled the road from Vincennes to Illi- 
 nois. This road was used by single horses, pack-horses, and
 
 282 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 footmen alone. It was a straight, narrow road, mostly traveled 
 by the Indians and their fair sex on horseback, without the 
 civilized invention of side-saddles. 
 
 The Indians are somewhat like the Arabs in their migrations. 
 They travel together with several families, more or less, accord- 
 ing to circumstances. They have their summer and winter resi- 
 dences similar to the gentry of large cities; but for different 
 considerations. These natives travel with all their wealth^ 
 except at times they cache some articles in the earth, as the 
 French call it : that is, they hide the article in the ground until 
 they return. A family or a caravan of traveling Indians would 
 make a good subject for a painter. These moving parties are 
 generally going or returning from their winter hunting-grounds 
 and have with them their wives, children, dogs, horses, and all 
 their assets of every description. Each family has its own 
 organization and government. In the evening when they camp, 
 the females do all the work in making the camp, fire, etc., while 
 their lords take their ease in smoking. The whole Indian race 
 of the males is grave, sedate, and lazy. Some may go out to 
 hunt while the squaws are working. They generally stop early 
 in the evening to prepare for the night. 
 
 This traveling with the Indians is a living as much as if they 
 were stationary in their towns. They have nothing changed in 
 their peregrinations, only a very short distance of latitude or 
 longitude, or a little of both, on the surface of the earth. 
 Therefore their migrations may be termed traveling residences. 
 Under this system, they make as much improvement at each 
 camp as they do at their winter hunting-grounds or in their 
 towns. The small children are often tied on the horses' backs 
 to pack-saddles, so they can not fall off; the still younger ones 
 are tied on boards, and while traveling, the boards are sus- 
 pended by the side of the horse. These boards answer a valu- 
 able purpose to the Indians in traveling as well as at home. 
 They are light and nicely made; are longer than the child and 
 some wider. A hoop of strong hickory wood is bent over the 
 face of the papoose and the ends made fast in the plank. 
 Holes are pierced in the edges of the board, thro which straps 
 are passed to secure the bed and the child fast to the plank. 
 Blankets and other clothes are placed between the infant and
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 283 
 
 the wood and likewise around the small one; so that it and its 
 bed are safely and securely made fast to the board. The hoop 
 is often covered with a cloth or small piece of a blanket, so that 
 the child is perfectly at its ease and safe from external violence. 
 At the end of the board a strap is passed thro a hole and the 
 ends tied together. When the squaws are busy, they hang the 
 boards and children up out of the way from a limb of a tree; 
 so the infants are safe while the mothers do the work. Some- 
 times they lean the board and child against a tree or post for 
 safe-keeping. This is better for the child than sleeping in a 
 cradle. Children placed on these boards grow straight, which 
 is the reason the Indians are generally more erect than white 
 men. 
 
 The Indians, in their diet, are not fastidious or tasty. They 
 display no unfriendly feelings to dirt or filth. When they kill 
 a deer or buffalo, the choice parts are the entrails and they labor 
 not much to discharge from this delicacy the inner substance. 
 They throw these entrails on the coals and eat them when they 
 are barely warm. They often pack their meat, in their jour- 
 neys, by running a tug -rope thro each piece, which is cut six 
 or seven inches square, and tying the tug to the saddle, the 
 meat is suspended on the side of the horse, exposed to flies, 
 dirt, etc. In their journeys, the males mostly ride and make 
 the females walk. The manner in which the females are treated 
 in any country is an exact index to the barbarity or civilization 
 of the community. 
 
 There are no Indian nations so barbarous and ignorant that 
 they have not some notion of a Supreme Being. They all be- 
 lieve in a Great Spirit, "the master of life," as they term it. 
 They, for the most part, believe also in a bad spirit as well as a 
 good one. They perform their devotions to both powers, to 
 court their friendship or to appease their anger. They believe 
 in a future state of existence and, of course, in the immortality 
 of the soul. They also believe in rewards for virtue and punish- 
 ment for crimes committed on earth. Guns and other articles 
 and even at times their horses are buried with the dead to 
 enable them to go to and hunt in the spirit land. Their 
 notions are that a wicked man will be placed in a cold, dreary 
 land, where the briars and flint-rocks will tear the flesh from his
 
 284 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 bones and the game will be within his reach and altho he is 
 starving with hunger, he can not kill anything. A good man 
 will have a fine, warm climate, good hunting, and many wives. 
 
 The Indian belief of a future state in a dreary region is 
 somewhat similar to the "Avernum" of Virgil, described in his 
 " Sixth Book of the ^Eneid." Roman intelligence can not 
 reach further on this subject than Indian ignorance. It is pro- 
 hibited to man, learned or unlearned, to look into futurity. 
 
 Religion seems to be a constituent part of every rational 
 being. The fundamental principles are recognized by all man- 
 kind that there is a great First Cause and that religion and 
 adoration are due that Being from all His creation. Thus far 
 all human beings agree; but when this adoration or religion is 
 reduced to practise, nearly all the world disagree in the details. 
 The variety of religious opinions among mankind arises from 
 our ignorance of the Supreme Being ; yet all nations know 
 enough to make themselves happy or miserable, as they may 
 act. There is no mathematical problem more conclusive than 
 that virtue produces happiness while crime causes misery. 
 
 A difference of opinion will always exist on this subject 
 among men, and it is the duty of man not to condemn his 
 brother for opinions different from his own. Therefore, I con- 
 sider, a liberal and charitable toleration of all sects and denomi- 
 nations of religions is the enlightened platform of modern 
 churches, and a departure from it, demonstrates the want of 
 religion and also the want of every virtue that adorns and 
 elevates the human family. It is impiety and blasphemy for a 
 frail man to condemn his brother to perdition because he does 
 not worship the Supreme Being in the same manner as he does. 
 
 Toleration, forbearance, and charity are taught in almost 
 every page of the New Testament. " Father, forgive them ; 
 they know not what they do," should teach the human family 
 a lesson on these virtues that exalt and elevate mankind. A 
 religion that is based on proper and liberal principles should be 
 taught, advanced, and urged on frail mortals; not by the SAvord, 
 but by benevolence and charity and love. The more mankind 
 are advanced in a pure and proper religion, the more elevated 
 and dignified stand will the human family occupy. The more 
 we love, revere, and worship God, the fountain of happiness,
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 285 
 
 the nearer we approach Him and thereby the more happiness 
 we must enjoy. Enlightened religion and virtue are correla- 
 tives with happiness. One can not exist without the other. 
 An austere, ignorant sectarian can not enjoy the same happi- 
 ness that a liberal and enlightened believer is blessed with. 
 
 Many nations in ancient and some in modern times sacrificed 
 animals to court the favor of the Great Spirit. Blackhawk 
 and his band, in 1832, when they marched up Rock River, im- 
 molated a dog every night to appease the wrath of the Great 
 Spirit. The dog was tied to a tree a short distance from the 
 ground, with his nose uniformly pointed in the direction the 
 Indians were marching. He was cut open and a small fire was 
 made under him ; so his nether end was, in a small degree, 
 burnt. The sight of this sacrifice excited sympathy for both 
 the dog and the Indians. The Indians resort to this when they 
 are overwhelmed with a great national calamity. 
 
 The Indians pay considerable attention to the burial of the 
 dead. When a member of the family dies while they are out 
 from the towns, where the common graveya'rd is, they often cut 
 a trough out of a log; make it light and neat and tie it in the 
 top of a tree; so the corpse in it may remain safe from wolves, 
 etc., until they return. They then carry it to the common 
 burial-ground and inter it with its forefathers. It was a matter 
 of curiosity to see these coffins fastened in the trees when we 
 were ranging on the frontiers in the war of 1812. These poor 
 Indians and most of their customs have passed away and are 
 almost forgotten. 
 
 In 1799, four Indians, Shawnees, were loitering about Lusk's 
 ferry on the Ohio, and were in search of a man in that region, 
 to kill. It is supposed that some one at Fort Massac wanted 
 to destroy a man named Duff, who resided on the bank of the 
 river, and hired these Indians to commit the murder. They 
 came to the house of Mr. Lusk and examined him minutely, 
 but did not molest him. He was not their victim. At length, 
 they killed Duff, who resided at the mouth of Trade Water, on 
 the Ohio. They escaped arid there the matter ended. It was 
 rather common in these times to employ Indians to commit 
 those crimes.
 
 286 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 In 1800, Lusk built a decent house on this shore of the Ohio, 
 where Golconda now stands, to accommodate the travelers. A 
 few years after, Gen. Lacy established on the Ohio another 
 ferry, a short distance from Miles', and some time after, Ford 
 occupied Miles' old ferry. In Ford's day, this ferry and the 
 country adjacent to it, on the west of the Ohio, became noto- 
 rious for the violation of the peace and order of society. 
 
 In 1806, at the place, ten miles from the Ohio, where Potts 
 resided afterward, on the road west of the river, a bloody 
 tragedy was acted. A man by the name of Steagall the 
 same who assisted to kill one of the Harps in Kentucky- 
 eloped with a young girl and made the above place his resi- 
 dence. Our country at that day was new and almost without 
 inhabitants ; so that Steagall supposed that neither law or 
 gospel could reach his crimes; but far otherwise. Two or three 
 of the brothers of the seduced girl and her father followed 
 them from Trade Water, in Kentucky, the residence of the 
 father, and after dark, shot Steagall to death and brought back 
 the deluded girl to Her home and family. They found Steagall 
 and the others sitting up under a gallery outside of the cabin, 
 with a lamp burning. The assailing party advanced in silence 
 and secrecy near Steagall and shot him without doing any of 
 the others any injury whatever. 
 
 In 1756, Jean Baptiste Saucier, a French officer at Ft. Chartres, 
 and married in that vicinity. After the country was ceded to 
 Great Britain in 1763, he located himself and family in Caho- 
 kia, where he died. He had three sons: Jean B., Matthieu, and 
 Francis Saucier, who were popular and conspicuous characters 
 in early times in Illinois. These brothers, while they resided 
 in Cahokia, were employed in various civil and military offices 
 and bore a conspicuous part in the transactions of the country 
 at their day. Jean B. Saucier died in Cahokia, while the other 
 two founded the village of Portage des Sioux in Upper Louis- 
 iana. This village is situated on the Mississippi, at a narrow 
 place between that river and the Missouri, where the Indians 
 made a portage between the two rivers, which gave it the name 
 of the Sioux Carrying Place. Both Matthieu and Francis Sau- 
 cier raised large families at this place. Francis ' had five edu-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 287 
 
 cated and accomplished daughters, whose marriages united him 
 to that number of conspicuous families. Cols. Menard, Chou- 
 teau, Sr., James and Jesse Morrison, and George Atchison were 
 the sons-in-law of Saucier. The two aged patriarchs (the Sau- 
 ciers) died in this village. 
 
 In 1792, Jean Francis Perry emigrated from France and set- 
 tled in Illinois. He was a native of the city of Lyons in 
 France and was the descendant of a very respectable and 
 wealthy family of that famous city. His mother was a branch 
 of the French nobility and his father a judge of dignity and 
 high standing in Lyons. Young Perry received a liberal and 
 classic education. He also studied and practised law in France. 
 He was gifted by nature with a strong mind and improved it 
 by the best education the old country could bestow on him, 
 which made him a very superior man. He was forced away 
 from the bright prospects before him, of wealth, honor, and high 
 standing with his countrymen, and left his native land, his 
 father's house and family, for an asylum in America. The 
 French Revolution breaking out, caused him to migrate to the 
 L T nited States. His father decided that his son must retire 
 from the scenes of bloodshed for safety in the new world. He 
 was fitted out with money and came to the United States. He 
 associated with him M. Claudius, a Frenchman, in merchandis- 
 ing and they started from Philadelphia to the West. They 
 passed the new settlement of Gallipolis on the Ohio; but the 
 good-sense of Perry advised him that that settlement was too 
 new and too poor for him. He and partner reached Cahokia 
 with their small store of goods; but soon after settled in Prairie 
 du Pont. 
 
 In a few years after they had opened their store, Claudius 
 went to Philadelphia to purchase goods and was killed by being 
 thrown from his horse in the streets of that city. His foot 
 caught in the stirrup and he was dragged and torn to death on 
 the pavements 
 
 Perry purchased the ancient mill- site on Prairie-du-Pont 
 Creek, where the Mission of St. Sulspice first erected a mill, 
 long before the cession of the country to Great Britain in 1763. 
 He built on this site a new and profitable mill and occupied the 
 dwelling near it with himself and family. About this time,
 
 288 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 1794, he married a young and beautiful Creole, a daughter* of 
 Jean B. Saucier, above mentioned. This union was prosperous 
 and happy. Altho Perry was a sound and well-read lawyer, yet 
 he never practised in our courts. He availed himself of the in- 
 telligence of the law and his great energy and activity in busi- 
 ness; so he amassed a great fortune in a very few years. He 
 started into operation his mill and kept his store also in profit- 
 able order; so that both these means advanced his fortune; but 
 the greatest part of his wealth was acquired by his profitable 
 commerce in lands. His strong mind, together with his knowl- 
 edge of the law, enabled him to enter the arena of land specu- 
 lation with the power to contend with a giant in that traffic. 
 
 * Adelaide Saucier, was born in the village of St. Philip, that adjoined Fort 
 Chartres, in 1758, and died at Belleville, 111., in 1833; of her two daughters by 
 this marriage, the eldest, Adelaide Perry, born at Prairie du Pont, St. Clair 
 County, January 24, 1803, died at her home in Belleville, May 13, 1881; and 
 married, Oct. 18, 1820, Adam W. Snyder, son of Adam Snyder, a German house- 
 carpenter, who emigrated to America from Strasburg, in the then French province 
 of Alsace, and located in Reading, Pa. ; later he removed to Connellsville, where he 
 resided until his death, in 1836. 
 
 Adam Wilson Snyder was born in Connellsville, Fayette Co., Pa., Oct. 6, 1799; 
 in boyhood he was physically incapable of hard labor, tho necessity compelled his 
 exertion, and he supported himself by wool-carding during the long, summer vaca- 
 tions between the winter terms of school, where he acquired the elementary English 
 branches with a slight knowledge of Latin. In 1815, when scarcely 1 6, prompted 
 by a desire to try life in the West with wider opportunities, he visited a half-brother 
 near Columbus, Ohio, where he .soon became a clerk in the country store of 
 McFarland, who afterward settled in Ridge Prairie, St. Clair Co. , 111. ; shortly after, 
 while visiting his former home, Jesse B. Thomas, at that time one of' the judges of 
 Illinois Territory, residing at Cahokia, the county-seat of St. Clair County, and later 
 at Kaskaskia, the most important town in the Territory, called upon him and offered 
 him a situation in a wool-carding and fulling-mill that, to supply a long-felt want, he 
 had decided to erect at Cahokia. Accordingly in the spring of 1817, with all his 
 earthly possessions in a moderately-sized bundle, he accompanied Judge Thomas, to 
 whom he had been highly recommended, to Cahokia, and on his arrival immediately 
 commenced mixing mortar and carrying stone for the first wool-carding mill in Illi- 
 nois; with the advice and encouragement of his employer, he commenced and dili- 
 gently prosecuted the study of law during the hours of labor, until he was admitted 
 to the bar in 1820; with the assistance and influence of Judge Thomas, then U.-S. 
 senator, he readily gained a professional, political, social, and, and financial position, 
 and in 1830 was elected State senator from St. Clair County, serving in the seventh, 
 eighth, and ninth general assemblies; was in the Black-Hawk war as a private in 
 Capt. John Winstanley's Co., enlisting April 18, 1832; on the 2gth was appointed 
 adjutant of his (ist) regiment, and upon the second call raised a company of which 
 he was elected captain, enrolled May 27, mustered out June 21, 1832. Among the
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 289 
 
 He owned at his death choice selected lands all over the coun- 
 try, and what is the best evidence of his sound judgment, he 
 owed not a cent at his decease. 
 
 Perry was, with all his wealth, a plain, unostentatious man ? 
 and lived and dressed in true republican style. He paid due 
 regard to all the various rules of economy and was amiable and 
 benevolent in an eminent degree. His house was always open 
 to the poor coming from a distance to his mill, and he enter- 
 tained and made them comfortable and happy with everything 
 his means afforded. He was very popular and much esteemed 
 by all classes of people. His friends forced him into public 
 employments: he acted for a long series of years as a judge of 
 
 high privates of his company were Hons. Joseph Gillespie; James Semple of Madison 
 County, afterward U.-S. senator; Pierre Menard of Randolph County; and Col. John 
 Thomas of St. Clair County. The county-seat of St. Clair Co. having been removed 
 from Cahokia to Belleville he purchased and occupied the former residence of Gov. 
 Edwards in 1833; in 1834, was defeated for congress by Gov. Reynolds both were 
 democrats; in 1836, he defeated Reynolds for congress; in 1838, was again defeated 
 for congress by Reynolds; in 1840, was elected State senator; and in Dec., 1841, 
 received the democratic nomination for governor; the election was held in August, 
 1842, but on May 14 previous he died at his home in Belleville; and Judge Thomas 
 Ford was selected to fill his place on the successful ticket. Of his family who sur- 
 vived him, the widow and three sons: 
 
 Hon. William H., his eldest son, born July 12, 1825, has resided all his life in 
 St. Clair Co., and in P>elleville since 1833; was graduated from McKendree College 
 in 1845, an< * immediately commenced the study of law in the office of Gov. Koerner, 
 and was admitted to the bar in 1846; was postmaster of Belleville by appointment 
 of President Polk; during the Mexican war he was enrolled at Alton, May 26, 1847, 
 as ist-lieutenant of G. W. Hook's Company E, and June 8, was adjutant of his regi- 
 ment Col. Newby's; was twice prosecuting-attorney of the Belleville circuit; repre- 
 sented St. Clair Co. in eighteenth and nineteenth general assemblies; was appointed 
 and declined a lieutenancy of dragoons in 1856; member of the constitutional con- 
 vention of 1870; and is now serving his third term as judge of the circuit (3d) court. 
 
 Frederick Adam, second son, born Dec. 8, 1827; graduated at McKendree Col- 
 lege at age of 17; was admitted to the bar two years later; in 1847, received appoint- 
 ment of 2d-lieutenant, Co. G, i6th U.-S. InPy, in Mexican war, disbanded August, 
 1848; practising his profession till 1849, he crossed the plains to California, and after 
 a brief mining experience, located in San Francisco; in 1853 was a member of the 
 legislature and one of three of its members appointed to revise the statutes of Cali- 
 fornia; died en route to Lake Bigler in July, 1854, in his 27th year. 
 
 Dr. John Francis, youngest son, born March 22, 1830, at an early age commenced 
 the study of medicine, and has so far devoted his life to its practice; resides at Vir- 
 ginia, Cass Co., III.; was elected a member of the legislature in 1878 from the 36th 
 district; is known in the scientific world by his contributions to American ethnology 
 and archaeology. 
 
 19
 
 290 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 the court of common-pleas. He also acted as a justice-of-thc- 
 peace in and for the old St. Clair County almost all his life after 
 he reached Illinois. Perry learned well the English language ; 
 so he was at home in that as well as the French. He was pre- 
 vailed on to serve one or more sessions in the legislature of 
 Indiana Territory. He was there in one session at Vincennes 
 with Judge Bond, and Major Murdoch, members of St. Clair 
 County. He acquitted himself in all these various offices with 
 honor to himself and advantage to the public. 
 
 Some years before his death, by some excessive exertion, he 
 injured his constitution, which caused his death. His system 
 was so deranged that the blood-vessels refused to perform their 
 ordinary functions. He wrote to Dr. Rush of Philadelphia on 
 the subject and had directions from that celebrated physician 
 who to manage the case. He lingered in this situation for 
 several years and became, by the disease or by some other 
 means, very corpulent. Blood was taken from him every 
 month or oftener, to save his life. He died* in 1812, in Prairie 
 du Pont, where he had resided for nearly twenty years. His 
 decease was a sore calamity to his family and the public of that 
 section of the country. His family -f- lost a kind, amiable, tender 
 parent and husband, and his neighborhood was deprived of 
 their best friend. 
 
 His mind, as it has already been stated, was of the first order 
 for strength and solidity. It was improved and trained by edu- 
 cation and by profound meditation. He had nothing of the 
 gaudy or tinsel character in his composition; but his talents am 
 energy, in this new and poor country, had not the appropriai 
 theatre in which to act. He was forced off from his counf 
 and settled in an obscure corner. His talents at Prairie du Poi 
 were like " the rose that wastes its fragrance on the desert air.' 
 He possessed great energy and activity in business, and witt 
 these qualifications, he reached the ne plus ultra of his situatioi 
 He was placed in the highest offices in the country and becar 
 
 * His widow married, in 1815, Augustine Pensoneau, who died in the fall of 181 
 his widow and two children Felicite and Augustine surviving. 
 
 t Henriet, his younger daughter (who died in St. Clair Co., April 22, 1882), mar 
 ried, in the fall of 1822, Louis (died February 22, 1826, at Point a la Pierre), sc" o 
 Louison Pensoneau; their only child, Louis Perry Pensoneau, now lives with 
 married daughter his only child- at East St. Louis, 111.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 29 1 
 
 very wealthy; so he acted well his part in the limited sphere in 
 which he was situated. He was upright and correct in his 
 morals, but never identified himself with any church. His 
 church was nature's creation before him and God the teacher. 
 
 Toward the close of the last century, three brothers, Pierre, 
 Hypolite, and Francis Menard, emigrated from Canada and set- 
 tled in Kaskaskia. These French pioneers were conspicuous 
 and very influential characters. They were natives of Quebec 
 in Canada, and were of respectable family. Their father had 
 been an officer in the French service and was in the military 
 operations near Fort Duquesne about the time of Braddock's 
 defeat. 
 
 Pierre Menard, the oldest brother, was born in 1/67, and re- 
 ceived a common, plain education in Canada. He was, like 
 many of the young Canadians, filled with adventure to come to 
 the West. He reached Vincennes in 1786, and entered the 
 employment of Col. Vigo. He was an agent for Vigo in the 
 Indian trade. He was employed that year and several others 
 subsequent, to procure from the Indians supplies for the army 
 under Gens. Clark and Scott. He headed many parties out 
 from Vincennes to the Indian hunting-grounds and packed 
 meat back for the troops. Col. Vigo and Menard crossed the 
 mountains to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to see President Washing- 
 ton on public business in regard to the defence of the country. 
 This was in 1789, and they met the president at Carlisle. In 
 1790, he and Du Bois of Vincennes became partners in mer- 
 chandising and established a store of Indian and other goods 
 in Kaskaskia. This year he located himself, a young, single 
 man, in old Kaskaskia. At this time, his mind and body had 
 reached man's estate. He had been mixing with the world for 
 several years and had some experience in the affairs of men. 
 
 Nature and education had conspired to make Menard a con- 
 spicuous and very popular character. He was endowed with a 
 strong, vigorous intellect and was also blessed with an energy 
 that never tired or ceased exertion, only to enjoy rest, so as to 
 be able again for redoubled activity. But nature and education 
 had also given to him the most candid, frank, and honest deport- 
 ment, of which very few men are blessed in such an eminent 
 degree. His words, actions, and all his movements indicated a
 
 2Q2 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 pure and upright heart, where neither guile, deceit, nor cunning 
 had any resting-place. 
 
 With these traits of character, he was one of the most con- 
 spicuous and influential personages in the country. Few men 
 in Illinois ever enjoyed the honest and sincere affections of the 
 people in such degree as Col. Menard did. Not only did the 
 the white population admire and respect his character, but the 
 Indians almost worshiped him as they did the Great Spirit. At 
 any time, an Indian would prefer giving Menard his peltry for 
 nothing than to receive double value for it from a long-knife 
 American. He was the United-States agent for the Indians for 
 many years and acted in such an honorable and upright manner 
 that both parties were highly pleased with his conduct. No 
 man in the West had more influence with many of the Indian 
 tribes than he had. .; He was appointed by the government in 
 many cases to treat with the red-skins. 
 
 He and Lewis Cass were at the Lower Rapids on the Missis- 
 sippi in 1826, on July 4, preparing for a treaty with the Indians, 
 and during the festivities of the day, he named the town at the 
 foot of the Rapids, Keokuk, which it has retained to this day. 
 This place was then just started and was christened Keokuk by 
 Menard, one of the most popular and influential pioneers that 
 ever was in Illinois. It will be recollected that Keokuk, for 
 whom this town was named, was a great and talented chief of 
 the Sac and Fox Indians. He was by nature not far behind 
 any of the great Indian chiefs. He had the good-sense to know 
 the red-skins could not contend with the whites and always on 
 this consideration inculcated peace in his braves. 
 
 Keokuk was made a war-chief by his merit and not by birth. 
 In the late war with Great Britain, the Sac and Fox Indians 
 were about to be destroyed, as they supposed, by the army 
 under Gen. Howard in 1813. The whole nation at Rock Island, 
 except a very few, commenced lamentations and shedding tears 
 of distress, thinking the Long Knives were about to. kill them 
 all. Keokuk was then a mere youth, but his great native mind 
 and his true patriotism made him stand out the champion of 
 the nation to defend them and country against Howard and his 
 army. A few other choice spirits of the young warriors joined 
 him and marched out to meet the American army, preferring 
 death to the surrender of their country.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 293 
 
 It so happened that the Americans were not near them and 
 the panic arose without foundation. I was with the army under 
 Gen. Howard and we were almost as much alarmed at the Ind- 
 ians as the Indians were at us. They had three or fourfold over 
 our number. This movement made Keokuk a war-chief of the 
 nation and Gen. Scott and myself, as commissioners at the treaty 
 of Rock Island in 1832, with the Sac and Fox Indians, con- 
 firmed him in this office. Keokuk had sound, good sense. He 
 took the newspapers and got them explained to him. 
 
 Col. Menard was almost all his life, after he left Canada, 
 engaged in the Indian trade. He was never idle. He con- 
 sented on many occasions to serve the people in the general 
 assembly and was elected to represent Randolph County, with 
 two others, Robert Morrison and Robert Reynolds, my father, 
 in the legislature of the Indiana Territory in 1803. He was 
 then quite a young man; energetic and well acquainted with 
 the country between Kaskaskia and Vincennes. This assembly 
 convened at Vincennes in the winter and the traveling across 
 the wilderness, a hundred and fifty miles, between the Mississippi 
 and Wabash rivers, was excessively bad. The creeks were 
 swimming and the weather extremely cold. At that day, not a 
 house stood between the small settlement near Kaskaskia and 
 the Wabash River. 
 
 Menard was first in almost every enterprise in pioneer times 
 in Illinois. He was in the first legislatures of both the territo- 
 ties of Indiana and Illinois and was the first lieutenant-governor 
 of the State in 1818. He was elected to the legislative coun- 
 cil, so called at that day, of the first Illinois legislature from 
 Randolph County, in 1812, and was elected speaker of that 
 body. He presided in that assembly, as he did in many subse- 
 quent cases, with good, common -sense, but without pomp or 
 parade. He was continued in the legislative council of the 
 Illinois Territory from the first assembly in 1812, to the close 
 of the territorial government in 1818, and always elected the 
 presiding-officer. He had a sound, solid judgment and true 
 patriotism to govern his actions in these legislative assemblies. 
 He never made speeches of any length, but, like Franklin, told 
 anecdotes that were extremely applicable and made remarks 
 that showed both his good sense and patriotism. Many of the
 
 294 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 wise and equitable laws which have made Illinois so prosperous, 
 came out from under his fostering care. 
 
 After the close of the term of his office as lieutenant-governor, 
 he almost always declined any further public employment. He 
 accepted the office of commissioner to treat with the Indians, 
 but longed for retirement, so as to attend to his private busi- 
 ness and family. He gradually declined any public office and 
 turned his attention to acts of benevolence and kindness, which 
 were so congenial to his heart. 
 
 It was not in public life where he excelled; but it was in his 
 private and domestic conduct where his true and genuine be- 
 nevolence displayed itself and all the virtues that adorn and 
 ennoble the human family had a proper theatre in his heart for 
 their action. The poor and distressed always received charity 
 at his hand. The " milk of human kindness " never reigned 
 more triumphant in any heart than it did in his. In his younger 
 days, he had, as most others did, purchased lands of the citi- 
 zens. These lands, together with his Indian trade and other 
 means, made him a princely fortune; but his amiable and kind 
 disposition diminished it to some extent. He could not refrain 
 from being security for many individuals whose debts he \\ 
 compelled to pay; but at last he died, seized of much wealth. 
 The legislature of Illinois, in 1839, as a marked honor to him, 
 called a county Me"nard, which is at this time a flourishing county, 
 situated northwest of Springfield. He was extremely active 
 and energetic during a long and eventful life. He was a part- 
 ner, in 1808, in the mammoth company of Emanuel Liza and 
 others and remained in the Rocky Mountains a year, doing 
 business for i'e company. 
 
 M6nard died at Kaskaskia in 1844, aged seventy-seven years. 
 In his death, the country lost a great and good man and his 
 family a kind and affectionate parent. He had no enemies to 
 rejoice at his death, but a host of friends to mourn their loss. 
 The blessings of the people rest in the grave with him. He 
 was a liberal and enlightened member of the Catholic church, 
 and died happy, confiding in the doctrines of that church. 
 
 In 1795, Francis and Hypolite Menard left Canada when they 
 were young men and settled in Kaskaskia. Hypolite was quite 
 a youth when he came to Illinois. Francis soon became a great
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 295 
 
 and conspicuous navigator of the turbulent and headstrong Mis- 
 sissippi. He had the strong and energetic talents equal to the 
 emergency to master the river and to conduct his gallant vessel, 
 with fifty or eighty men on board, with safety from port to port. 
 A commander acts under an immense responsibility in this ser- 
 vice. Property to a great value and the lives of his crew were 
 confided to his judgment and discretion. A wilderness of five 
 or six hundred miles extended along the river between the 
 upper and lower settlements. Under all these circumstances 
 it required great and energetic talents to succeed over all these 
 difficulties of the Mississippi. 
 
 Menard had the capacity to perform these hazardous and 
 perilous voyages and thereby he obtained a reputation not 
 -equaled in the West for his judgment and courage in navigat- 
 ing this dangerous river. He had such extraordinary judgment 
 and corresponding energy that he took advantage of circum- 
 stances that a man of less intellect and firmness would not dare 
 undertake. On many occasions, when there were storms on the 
 river, little less than tornadoes, blowing up or down, let it be 
 night or day, Menard would unfurl the sails of his well-organ- 
 
 (.1 craft and run before the wind, perhaps eighty or a hundred 
 miles, before he would land his vessel. In these great emer- 
 gencies, he assumed without effort a calm and composed dig- 
 nity. The high order of talent and firmness which he so emi- 
 nently possessed occupied the commander to the exclusion oi 
 the common traits of human nature. He dressed himself in 
 his favorite capote and red cap; invoked the favor of the Savior 
 and promised masses. In such crisis, he showed himself the 
 greatest of the great in his profession. His features indicated 
 intelligence and extreme firmness on these occasions, bordering 
 on recklessness. 
 
 In these perilous storms, he took the helm in person and 
 seemed almost as solid and firm as the rocky bluffs of the Mis- 
 sissippi which he passed in his barge. He often sailed his ves- 
 sel against the strong current of the river to a great distance 
 before he touched land. By this he gained eight or ten days' 
 hard labor. In one of his voyages to New Orleans, when his 
 character was well known in that city, as in Kaskaskia and also 
 on the river, one of his young men from Prairie du Rocher got
 
 296 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 a little tight just on the eve of their departure from New 
 Orleans to Illinois, and saw a cage of birds a Spaniard had to 
 sell. The Creole from Prairie du Rocher took it into his head 
 that the birds would do better to be free and turned them out 
 of the cage. The officers seized Menard's man and were about 
 to commit him to the calaboose. Menard was ready to start 
 home and disliked to lose his man or to wait for his trial. 
 
 Boatmen in olden times were rude and the police had much 
 trouble with them in New Orleans. For this reason, a guard of 
 soldiers was put over the bird liberator. Menard was never one 
 day in place but all his acquaintances were his devoted friends. 
 This was the case at New Orleans. There was something unac- 
 countable and indescribable in the frankness and candor of 
 Menard to gain him friends wherever he was known. His hon- 
 esty and disinterestedness seemed to aid in his popularity; but 
 such was the fact. The boatmen of that day always carried 
 their arms. He ordered his men to parade under arms. One 
 or two were left with the boat to guard it and a swivel or two 
 were charged to fire on the police, if necessary. He marched 
 at the head of his corps to the place where the guard and 
 police-officers had his man in custody. It will be recollected 
 that nine-tenths of the citizens of New Orleans were French. 
 Menard informed the guard, he came for his man; he would 
 pay for the birds and would have his comrade. The die was 
 cast he must succeed. In his loud, commanding voice, he told 
 the assembly in French, who had crowded around the prisoner, 
 to withdraw. He ordered his boatmen to cock their guns, and 
 then in a decisive manner, he ordered his Creole to leave the 
 police and the first man of the guard that tried to prevent it, 
 should be shot. The prisoner left; the guard was intimidated 
 and Menard marched his man to the boat amid the loud cheers 
 of the people. The Spanish government, just before the ces- 
 sion in 1803, was becoming very unpopular. 
 
 Menard was attentive to his religious duties. He and crew 
 performed their church devotions in both Kaskaskia and Ne\v 
 Orleans, before and after a voyage, with sincerity. He always 
 had masses said in both churches, returning thanks to God for 
 his success. It was a sublime spectacle to see these rough, 
 hardy boatmen, who bid defiance to all creation but God, kneel- 
 ing at the altar in sincere devotion to Him on high.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 297 
 
 Menard had mostly on the boats he navigated, some part of 
 the freight, by which he managed so as to make money. He 
 purchased fine farms near Kaskaskia and became quite wealthy 
 altho he was extremely liberal. He lived to an old age and 
 died at Kaskaskia. No death was more lamented than his. 
 Everyone considered they had lost their best friend. He pos- 
 sessed a strong, uncultivated mind, with a heart, under an exte- 
 rior of no great polish, that did honor to human nature. These 
 two Menards were descendants of the ancient and noble Barons 
 of Normandy, and if they had lived in olden times, they would 
 have been knighted on the field of battle or buried there with 
 the honors of war. 
 
 Hypolite Menard was an excellent citizen ; raised a large 
 family and was a good farmer in the Point, so called, between 
 the Kaskaskia and Mississippi rivers. He was quite respectable 
 and at times, represented Randolph County in the general as- 
 sembly. He was an honest, correct man in all his actions, 
 public and private, and possessed more French vivacity than 
 his brothers. He also lived to an advanced age and his remains 
 rest in peace in the old cemetery at Kaskaskia. 
 
 In olden times, the whole country between Lower Louisiana 
 and Canada was called Illinois, and the French citizens, down 
 to 1810, or thereabouts, called the United States, America, and 
 did not consider themselves dans V Amerique, as they termed it. 
 It seemed strange to my ear to hear the French, in 1800, speak 
 of America as a different country than theirs on the Mississippi. 
 In fact, the people, their dress, language, houses, manner of liv- 
 ing and doing business were so different from the Americans in 
 the States that it almost made us believe we had traveled out 
 of America. Add to this, a great number of Indians perhaps 
 two to one white man were, for the most part of the year, in 
 and camped around Kaskaskia. The other Indians forced all 
 the Illinois tribes to remain near the whites for protection. 
 
 It will be recollected that the Spanish government, in 1795 
 and after, when the difficulty about the navigation of the Mis- 
 sissippi River was settled between us and Spain, encouraged 
 the Americans from the States to settle in Upper Louisiana. 
 This policy was to build up a barrier of Americans against 
 British encroachments from Canada. They knew the Ameri-
 
 298 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 cans disliked Great Britain and would not permit that nation to 
 trample on them. Thus it was that liberal donations of lands 
 were given to the settlers. In East Tennessee, about 1800, it 
 became quite popular to move to the Spanish country in Illi- 
 nois, as it was then called. The Birds and Murphys, two re- 
 spectable and numerous connections of people, emigrated from 
 East Tennessee to the west side of the Mississippi. 
 
 The neighbors of my father had been out to see the country 
 and put the people on fire to move. My father, Robert Reyn- 
 olds, caught the mania. He emigrated from Ireland was brim 
 full of energy and disregarded moving. The travel at that day 
 from East Tennessee to the Mississippi was considered more 
 troublesome and dangerous than the journey is at this time to 
 California. The intelligence of the people and the facilities for 
 traveling have been much improved within fifty years past. 
 Our traveling caravan consisted of my two parents, six chil- 
 dren (I the oldest), one negro woman, three hired men, eight 
 horses, two wagons, and the appropriate number of dogs for a 
 new country. We started from the northern section of Knox 
 County, Tenn., for what was then literally true, the Far-West. 
 
 To show the unparalleled improvement and growth of the 
 West since 1800, I state that we crossed Clinch River at the 
 southwest point, into a wilderness country belonging to the 
 Indians. We saw a great abundance of cane near the Cany 
 Fork of Cumberland River, where we crossed it at Walton's 
 ferry. At that day there was no Carthage there. We passed 
 Dixon's Spring, Bledsoe's Lick, and Betts' tanyard at the Red- 
 River Ridge, so called at that day. We traveled thro the Red- 
 River country to the place where Hopkinsville now stands. At 
 that day there was not a house there, except a jail. We passed 
 the residence of Judge Prince and Richie's horse-mill. Here 
 my father purchased considerable provisions and the next point 
 was Lusk's ferry on the Ohio, where my father's three hired 
 men left us. 
 
 The first Illinois soil I ever touched was on the bank of the 
 Ohio, where Golconda now stands, in March, 1800. When we 
 were about to start from the Ohio, I asked Mr. Lusk " how far 
 it was to the next house on the road," and when he told us that 
 the first was Kaskaskia, one hundred and ten miles, I was sur-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 299 
 
 prised at the wilderness before us. My father hired a man to 
 assist us in traveling thro the wilderness. We were four weeks 
 in performing this dreary and desolate journey. The first diffi- 
 culty we encountered was a terrible hurricane that prostrated 
 the timber and filled the road for miles with the trunks and 
 branches of the trees. This detained us considerably, to cut a 
 new road round and over this fallen timber. The next great 
 obstacle was Big- Muddy River. That detained us several 
 weeks. We first waited for it to fall; but at last we were forced 
 to raft it and swim the horses. The horses became poor for the 
 want of grain or grass, as it was then in the month of March 
 and scarcely any grass was up to support them. A small mat- 
 ter in a crisis is much regarded. We had two axes, but lost 
 one in Big Muddy. The axe fell into water twenty feet deep ; 
 so we could not regain it. If we had lost the other, surrounded 
 with high water as we were, we might have been numbered, if 
 not with the dead, at least with the distressed. 
 
 The next creek was Little Muddy. We had learned the arts 
 and mysteries of rafting and so we did better. The next creek 
 was that small stream a few miles east of Beaucoup. We 
 rafted that and Beaucoup, making four in all which we thus 
 crossed. After that we reached Kaskaskia without much diffi- 
 culty. We saw plenty of buffalo sign between Big and Little 
 Muddys; but were no hunters and killed nothing. The citizens 
 of Kaskaskia, Messrs. Edgar, John R. Jones, Robert Morrison, 
 Menard, and others were anxious that my father should settle 
 on this side of the river; but he went to St. Genevieve to obtain 
 some permit or license from the commandant to settle in the 
 country. The regulations of the government requiring him to 
 raise his children Catholics determined him not to live under 
 such government. My father and mother were born and raised 
 in Ireland in the Protestant faith and would not consent to live 
 in a Catholic country. We were destined for the Murphy's Set- 
 tlement, on the St. Francis River, but the above caused us to 
 settle in Illinois. We made a plantation a few miles east of 
 Kaskaskia, in the settlement already described, and resided 
 there until 1807, when we moved and settled in Goshen Settle- 
 ment in the American Bottom, four miles southeast of the pres- 
 c-nt town of Edwardsville.
 
 300 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 My father was born and raised in the county of Monohoir,. 
 Ireland, and my mother in the City of Dundalk. They landed 
 at Philadelphia not long after the Revolution and I was born m< 
 Montgomery County, Penn., in 1788. The same year I was 
 born, my parents moved to Knox County, Term., where they 
 left for the Spanish country, as before stated. My father was a 
 man of strong mind and possessed a good English education. 
 He was ardent in politics and restless when young. In his 
 matured age, he read much and wrote essays for the papers. 
 He was a great admirer of Jefferson and hated the government 
 of Great Britain with a ten -horse power. I never knew any 
 man who loved the government of the United States more than 
 he did. In his younger days, he was elected representative from 
 Randolph County r to the Indiana legislature and held the offices 
 of judge of the court of common-pleas of the county and jus- 
 tice-of-the-peace. 
 
 Judge James McRoberts"* of Monroe County was a very early 
 and respectable pioneer of Illinois. It was by him and similar 
 citizens of moral and correct deportment that Illinois has taken 
 a stand in her infancy which bids so fair to prosperity in maturer 
 days. James McRoberts was born in Glasgow, Scotland, May 
 22, 1760. He emigrated to America and settled in Philadel- 
 phia at the age of twelve years. At the tender age of seven- 
 teen, he entered the tented field in the Revolutionary war and 
 became a soldier in that most glorious struggle that not only 
 broke to atoms the chains of bondage from our limbs, but it 
 
 * Judge McRoberts' family came to America in 1772, residing at Philadelphia a 
 short time, thence to Washington, Pa., where a permanent home was established; at 
 1 7 years he joined the army at Brandywine, was in the battle of that name, at the siege 
 of Yorktown, and witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis, Oct. 19, 1781; remained 
 in the service fighting Indians on the Ohio until discharged in 1783. Of his nine 
 children, five of whom were daughters, six survived him; of the four sons: James, 
 Jr., Samuel, Thomas, and Josiah; the three younger reached maturity and filled 
 various State and national positions. At this time but two of the nine are alive 
 Mrs. Mary Trail of Waterloo, Monroe Co., 111., born February, 1818; married 1841, 
 Maj. Xerxes F. Trail, major, July i, 1846, of Col. Bissell's regiment 12-mo. vols , 
 in the Mexican war, and fought in every battle from Buena Vista, where he distin- 
 guished himself while in command of three companies in the conflict at the mountain 
 on the left, to the final surrender of the city of Mexico, their two children : Mary 
 Francis, wife of Col. Milton Moore, and Samuel, now living in Austin, Texas; 
 and Circuit-Judge Josiah McRoberts of Joliet, 111.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 3OI 
 
 will, in the end, liberate and free all mankind from oppression. 
 It is a proud honor to have an opportunity to serve in such a 
 glorious war and the children of the Revolutionary fathers will 
 hold sacred that honor transmitted to them under all vicissi- 
 tudes of life. Judge McRoberts remained in the Revolution 
 until the eagle mounted high over the fallen lion and was honor- 
 ably discharged in 1783. 
 
 In 1794, he married a lady of excellent, strong mind and high 
 sense of propriety and proper deportment. He settled in 1788 
 on the Ohio River in Kentucky and the next year, 1789, he 
 visited Kaskaskia in search of a new country. McRoberts and 
 comrades explored thoroly the Northwest and the Spanish coun- 
 try west of the Mississippi, and returned to Kentucky and re- 
 mained there until 1797. He had seen the advantages of Illi- 
 nois and was determined to reside in it. This same year he 
 came to Kaskaskia and the next year, he located himself on the 
 plantation whereon he lived almost half-a -century and died. It 
 is remarkable that in this new country where everything is so 
 changeable that the same dwelling-house he built in 1798 is in 
 existence and tenantable repair. In this same house, all his 
 numerous family of children were born and raised. This is the 
 birthplace of Hon. Samuel McRoberts,* who died while in the 
 
 * Samuel McRoberts, born in Monroe Co., 111., Feb. 20, 1799; after receiving 
 such instruction as the country afforded, at an early age entered Transylvania Uni- 
 versity, Lexington, Ky., while Horatio Holly was its president; and taking higli 
 rank in all his classes, was graduated in 1819 in classical and law departments; re- 
 turning to Illinois, he was in 1821 elected the first circuit-court clerk of Monroe Co.; 
 in 1825, he was appointed circuit-court judge, and held the office three years; presid- 
 ing at the trial of the People vs. Solomon II. Winchester for the murder of Dan'l U. 
 Smith, held at Edwardsville, March, 1825, in which Felix Grundy of Tennessee suc- 
 cessfully defended; in 1828, was elected State senator, representing the district com- 
 posed of Monroe, Clinton, and Washington counties; was later appointed by Prest. 
 Jackson U.-S. dist.-att'y of Illinois, this office he resigned; was appointed by Prest. 
 VanBuren receiver of public moneys at Danville, and on making his final settlement 
 with the treasury it owed him $1.65, for this amount Secretary-of-the-Treasury Robt. 
 I. Walker drew a treasury- warrant and remitted to him in 1839; VanPmren ap- 
 pointed him in 1839 solicitor of the general land-office at Washington, he resigned 
 in the fall of 1841, and at the ensuing session of the legislature was elected U.-S. 
 senator, serving through the 2yth congress; died at Cincinnati, O., March 27, 1843, 
 from the effect of a cold contracted while crossing the Alleghany Mountains. On 
 Dec. 13, 1843, Sen. Breese, his colleague, introduced resolutions and eulogized his 
 memory in the senate, and later Hon. John Wentworth introduced them to the 
 house, and paid a glowing tribute to his memory. His only son died in 1874 in 
 Washington, D. C.
 
 302 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 senate of the United States. It is also the birthplace of the 
 talented and interesting member of the bar, Josiah McRoberts*" 
 of Joliet, Illinois both the sons of Judge McRoberts. 
 
 Judge McRoberts was a practical farmer and supported him- 
 self and family by his agricultural industry. Of all the profes- 
 sions pursued by man, farming is the most honorable and inde- 
 pendent. In the case of mechanics, professional men, sailors, 
 soldiers, etc., they must of necessity depend on others for sup- 
 port; but the farmer does not depend on man for his bread. 
 He depends on the earth and Providence and if he does his 
 duty they will not desert him. 
 
 Judge McRoberts was a conspicuous settler in his section of 
 country, which induced others to locate around him; and thro 
 all vicissitudes of the country, he remained on his plantation 
 almost as firm and as regular as the days and nights succeed 
 each other. His wisdom and good sense were appreciated by 
 the people and he was called on in many cases to serve the 
 public. To accommodate the neighborhood, he acted as justice- 
 of-the-peace for many years. He was alsoelected to the office 
 of county-judge under the State government. In all these 
 offices, he acted with sound, good sense and acquitted himself 
 much to his honor and to the benefit of the country. When he 
 was on the bench of the county-court, the finances and the 
 policy of the county were managed with good sense and with 
 great advantage to the public. The duties of this court are 
 
 * Josiah McRoberts, born in Monroe Co., 111., June 12, 1820; was placed under 
 James Charters, a Scotch schoolmaster, a profound scholar and superior linguist, 
 who laid the foundation for his classical education; in 1836, he entered St. Mary's 
 College, Mo., Rev. John D. Timon, president; after being graduated in 1839, he 
 began his legal studies at Danville, 111., under his brother Samuel; in 1842, he 
 entered the law-school at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., and after receiv- 
 ing his diploma, returned to Danville in 1844 to practise; was elected State senator 
 from the Champaign-and- Vermilion district in 1846, and at the expiration, of his 
 term moved to Joliet, 111., where he now resides; was appointed by Gov. Matteson 
 State trustee of the Illinois-and-Michigan Canal in 1852, holding this four years; 
 in 1866, was appointed by Gov. Oglesby circuit-court judge to succeed Sidney W. 
 Harris, resigned, this office he now fills, having been elected three successive times^ 
 Judge McKoberts married at Joliet, Aug. 9, 1849, Gertrude Helmer, dau. of Robert 
 and Catherine (Myers) Shoemaker, born at Herkimer, N.Y., March 6, 1828; came 
 to Illinois in 1836, and died at Joliet, July n, 1883. Of their eight children but 
 three are now living: Louise M., wife of Edward C. Aikin; Frank H. ; and Josiah, 
 Jr.; Elizabeth, the second daughter, having died Nov. 2, 1880, aged 25 years.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 303 
 
 important to the community and they require the most expe- 
 rienced and wise men in the county to perform them in a 
 proper manner. Judge McRoberts possessed the sound mind, 
 with long experience, and practical good sense to fill such office 
 and he did so to the improvement of both the county and the 
 morals of the people. 
 
 This venerable patriarch, after living a long and useful life 
 and seeing his family raised and doing well, died on his farm, 
 in September, 1846, aged eighty-six years.. He was moral, 
 punctual, and correct in all his acts, public and private. He 
 lived a long and interesting life. His life may in truth be said 
 to be eventful, altho he resided in one and the same locality for 
 nearly fifty years. His emigration to America was an impor- 
 tant event; the next was his services in the great and glorious 
 Revolution; the next was exploring and settling in Illinois at 
 such an early day; and the last and greatest was his continued 
 and uninterrupted residence on the same place for forty-nine 
 years. This pioneer seemed to me to have performed all the 
 ordinary duties assigned to man. 
 
 The aged and respectable matron, the widow* of Judge 
 McRoberts, is still alive, a monument of female worth and use- 
 fulness. This lady possesses a strong mind and a just sense of 
 the independence of character. She gave her tender offspring 
 the proper impressions when they were prattling around her 
 knee and they never departed from those wise and proper in- 
 structions. Her descendants for the most part are respectable 
 and interesting. The conduct of this matron in her family 
 proves the propriety of paying particular attention to the moral 
 and correct education of the females; as it is the mothers who 
 give their children the first impressions. If these impressions 
 are good and wise, the children will become worthy and respect- 
 able citizens. 
 
 Altho emigration into Illinois had commenced in good ear- 
 nest in and about 1800, yet the country was new and much in- 
 fested with reckless savages. In 1802, a single young man was 
 returning from Kaskaskia to the States and about fifteen miles 
 east from Kaskaskia, on the Massac road, an Indian shot him. 
 
 * Mary Fletcher, born in Nashville, Tenn., in 1776; married in 1794; and died 
 in the spring of iS62, aged 86; surviving her husband 16 years.
 
 304 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 This murder was committed on the waters of the river Mary. 
 No inhabitants were living near the place and the whole coun- 
 try was a wilderness and crowded with Indians. The murderer 
 was a straggling Delaware from the west side of the Missis- 
 sippi. When he committed the murder, he took the man's 
 saddle and some other articles and escaped toward the mouth 
 of the Big Muddy, in the Mississippi Bottom. The whites dis- 
 covered the outrage and employed the Kaskaskia Indians to 
 assist in the search for the murderer. The Indians found the 
 Delaware in the Mississippi Bottom and brought him to Kas- 
 kaskia. The friends of the murdered man proved certain 
 articles the Indian had with him, which, with other circum- 
 stances, convicted the Indian. It was rather a sham to try an 
 Indian, as the juries would always convict them if there was 
 the semblance of evidence against their old enemies. Late in 
 the fall, this Delaware was hung by George Fisher, the, sheriff 
 of Randolph County, on a honey-locust tree on the bank of the 
 Kaskaskia River, a mile or so above the village of Kaskaskia. 
 This was the first man I saw hung and the revolting spectacle 
 made a lasting impression on my mind against capital punish- 
 ment. I recollect, the poor savage in his death-struggle reached 
 his hand to the rope around his neck and it was with great diffi- 
 culty the sheriff could extricate the Indian's grasp, so he could 
 be hung until he was dead. How revolting it is to Christian 
 principles, properly understood, to execute a human being ! 
 
 Another barbarous execution was committed in Kaskaskia in 
 1804. Emsley Jones killed a man of the name of Reed in the 
 Mississippi Bottom, some twelve or fifteen miles below Kaskas- 
 kia. Jones was executed in the commons, south of Kaskaskia, 
 in the presence of a great concourse of people. I never would 
 witness another execution after those of Jones and the Indian. 
 
 In the early settlement of the country, when the people were 
 too poor to erect suitable prisons to confine these malefactors, 
 they were compelled, in self-defence, to resort to capital punish- 
 ment; but at this day, there is no excuse for this barbarous and 
 anti-Christian practice. I think it is horrid to force the mur- 
 derer before his God with his brother's blood red on his hands. 
 The convict should enjoy his natural life for reflection and re- 
 pentance. Let him be put in a dungeon, so that he has an
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 305 
 
 opportunity to prepare himself by penitence, contrition of 
 heart, and such other changes as will fit him for the presence 
 of God. Vengeance belongs to God and not to man. More- 
 over, I think, life belongs to the Creator and we have no right 
 to destroy it. We are tenants at sufferance; we may use the 
 premises, but not commit waste on them. 
 
 I can say, at least, in early times, Illinois was honored and 
 blessed by the policy and services of great and wise men, 
 LaSalle, Tonty, and many of the missionaries were great and 
 good men. So were Renault, Vincennes, Artaguiette, and 
 others. These werQ conspicuous characters in the discovery 
 and early settlement of the country. For his Revolutionary 
 services west of the mountains, Gen. Clark might with pro- 
 priety be termed "the Washington of the West." Vigo and 
 others acted well their part in the conquest of Illinois, and 
 Charles Gratiot performed such great and important services 
 for his country in the Revolution that he is entitled to the rank 
 and standing of almost any of the above-named Illinois patriots. 
 He is raised, by his meritorious services, to the dignified and 
 elevated standing of a Revolutionary patriot the highest ele- 
 vation that adorns the human character. 
 
 He was born in the celebrated city of Lausanne, Switzer- 
 land, in 1747. His family and connections were of the first 
 respectability and wealth of that city. They were strong 
 Huguenots and supposed it to be their duty to educate their 
 son, Charles Gratiot, in that faith in London. At the age of 
 ten years, he was placed in the care of a friend in the metro- 
 polis of the British Empire to receive his education. His 
 talents were soon developed, so that he was discovered to pos- 
 sess an extraordinary strong mind. He was in the hands of 
 influential and wealthy merchants, who believed the suminum 
 bonum of human happiness to consist in two things : neatly- 
 kept books and great wealth. Under these influences, young 
 Gratiot was mostly prepared for commerce; but his genius dis- 
 dained the sordid shackles of traffic when the freedom of man 
 came in contact. After receiving his education, at the age of 
 eighteen, he sailed from London for Canada and joined, at 
 Montreal, a wealthy uncle. He immediately formed a partner- 
 ship for the Northwest Indian trade with Messrs. Kay & McRae. 
 
 20
 
 306 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 It must be recollected that in early times, and particularly 
 with the British in Canada, the Northwest trade with the 
 Indians was the main channel to wealth and fame; and in fact 
 almost all the enterprising and active young men of that day, 
 whose energies and talents entitled them to fame and honor, 
 turned their attention to the Northwest trade. 
 
 Charles Gratiot,* in 1767, when he was only twenty years of 
 age, embarked in this trade and bade Canada a long farewell. 
 "His partners were stationed, one at Mackinac and the other in 
 Montreal, while he himself was the active, intelligent, and busi- 
 ness partner that extended the commerce of the company from 
 the lakes and the waters of the Maumee, across the Wabash 
 country to the Mississippi and from the Falls of St. Anthony to 
 the mouth of the Ohio. As his business increased, his mind 
 and energies in the same proportion improved and developed 
 themselves. He was the master-spirit in commerce throughout 
 this vast region of country and the company of which he was 
 partner employed seventy or eighty thousand dollars in their 
 Indian trade. Charles Gratiot had the entire control of this 
 great sum of money and all the commercial transactions within 
 this extended territory. He remained in the region of country 
 near Lake Superior for some years, trading with the Indians, 
 receiving his supplies of goods from Mackinac and returning 
 the proceeds of sales also to that place. In 1774, he turned 
 his attention to the Illinois country and established stores at 
 both Cahokia and Kaskaskia. He also extended his Indian 
 trade across the Wabash Valley to the waters of the Maumee; 
 so that his vast operations embraced four or five States of the 
 present Union in the Northwest. His grand depot of the 
 Indian trade was at Cahokia for many years and from this 
 point he extended the ramifications of his commerce in various 
 quarters over this vast region. 
 
 I have been favored with an examination of his commercial 
 letters, dated at Cahokia, St. Louis, and the Riviere des Peres, 
 in 1775 and down to 1785, which exhibit his commercial trans- 
 
 * When the transfer of sovereignty took place at St. Louis, March 10, 1804, under 
 the treaty which annexed Louisiana Territory, and the French flag was lowered, he 
 unfurled the first American flag in Upper Louisiana, from the balcony of his resi- 
 dence.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 307 
 
 actions throughout a great portion of the Mississippi Valley. 
 The old village of Cahokia he termed Cahos at that day in his 
 letters. While Mr. Gratiot was engaged in successful commerce 
 in Illinois and having great influence with the white and Indian 
 population of the country, in 1778, Gen. Clark invaded the 
 country with a small army, bearing on its banners liberty and 
 independence. Altho Gratiot had been educated in England, 
 yet the spirit of his dear native Switzerland burned strong in 
 his heart for liberty and without hesitation, his sound judgment 
 and his generous impulses for freedom declared for Clark and 
 the American Revolution. This was not an empty declaration, 
 but he embarked his whole energies and fortune in the cause of 
 the Revolution. 
 
 It is known to all that Clark had received scarcely any means 
 from Virginia to conquer and retain the Illinois country. The 
 army commanded by Clark was in a starving and destitute con- 
 dition, except they were supported by the resources of the 
 country. They remained in the Illinois and Wabash countries 
 for several years and were sustained by the inhabitants of the 
 country during that time. The French inhabitants were too 
 poor to give away their substance and the support of the army 
 fell on Gratiot, Vigo, and other such choice spirits, for the most 
 of the above crisis. If these supplies were not given by Gratiot 
 and others, the great and glorious campaign of Clark must have 
 failed for the time being ; but the generous heart of Gratiot 
 hesitated not a moment and he came to the rescue. Gratiot 
 paid to the citizens and became accountable to them to the full 
 amount of his vast estate for supplies for the American army. 
 His heart and soul were enlisted in the cause of human freedom. 
 The blood of the country of Tell burned in his veins and all 
 his means were exhausted in the glorious conquest of Illinois. 
 He paid at several times for army supplies as much or more 
 than he was worth at the time of the conquest of the country; 
 but his talents and energies soon enabled him to become 
 wealthy again. 
 
 At the time, both Virginia and the colonies, and for a long; 
 
 <j O 
 
 time after, were unable to refund to him the amount of money 
 he so generously expended in the conquest of Illinois, and in 
 fact not much if any has ever been paid back to him or his
 
 308 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 family by the government to this day. Virginia, always noble 
 and generous in her councils, agreed to give Gratiot thirty thou- 
 sand acres of land on the southeast bank of the Ohio, including 
 the present City of Louisville; but before the grant was com- 
 pleted, Kentucky was organized as a State over the country 
 and the promise to Gratiot was never completed more for the 
 want of application than otherwise. The general assembly of 
 Virginia placed the claims of Gratiot on the list to be paid prior 
 to many other debts; but his claims remain unpaid, with many 
 others of a similar character, to the present time. 
 
 Not only the operations of the army under Gen. Clark would 
 have been crippled for the want of supplies if Gratiot and others 
 had not given them; but the, various treaties made by that great 
 and talented general, Clark, would not have been so many or 
 so favorable if it were not for the aid these great and eminent 
 patriots afforded him. When Gratiot saw his country free from 
 British despotism and his exertions for the independence of 
 America crowned with success, he retired from the public ser- 
 vice and confined himself more to domestic enjoyments. Altho 
 he employed his exertions and expended his fortune for the 
 emancipation of his country, without pecuniary compensation, 
 yet his heart exulted with great joy to see the colonies free, 
 which was superior to any other payment that earth could 
 bestow on him. 
 
 He married, in 1781, a Miss Chouteau, a sister of Auguste and 
 Pierre Chouteau of St. Louis, Upper Louisiana. This family 
 were the founders of St. Louis in 1764, and were of the first 
 standing and respectability in the West. Gratiot, after his mar- 
 riage, made St. Louis his residence for life and became one of 
 the most conspicuous characters in Upper Louisiana. In the 
 decline of life, he abandoned the Indian trade and turned his 
 energies to more domestic employments. He was engaged in 
 manufacturing salt on the Merrimac, west of St. Louis, and 
 turned'his attention to the lead-mines of the Upper Mississippi. 
 He also acquired a large quantity of land west of St. Louis and 
 made a plantation on it near the Riviere des Peres. He pur- 
 chased slaves in Virginia and cultivated this farm. He resided 
 on it at intervals and improved on it a very large plantation for 
 that day.
 
 '0/s
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 309 
 
 After enjoying life for sixty-five years and the most part very 
 active and important transactions he performed, he died in St. 
 Louis in 1817, amidst the tears and lamentations of his family 
 and friends for the affection and respect they owed him and for 
 the loss they sustained in his decease. He was frank, open, and 
 candid in all his transactions, public and private, and his hon- 
 esty and integrity were always above suspicion. He was moral 
 and exemplary in his deportment, and altho he was never a 
 member of any church, yet his conduct was approved by the 
 wise and good of all denominations. 
 
 He raised a large and interesting family.* One of his sons, 
 Henry Gratiot,*f* was an Indian agent for the Winnebagoes for 
 nany years and died in that office. Charles Gratiot, + another 
 son, was placed in the military academy at West Point and 
 graduated in that institution with much honor and high reputa- 
 tion for his talents and the progress he made in the sciences 
 taught at that academy, and was, after long and arduous ser- 
 vices, promoted to the head of the engineer corps of the United 
 
 * His family, who survived him, consisted of four sons and five daughters. 
 
 t Henry Gratiot, second son, born St. Louis, Apr. 25, 1789; moved to Fevre- River 
 Lead-Mines, now Galena, 111., Oct. ,1825, on account of his aversion to slavery and a 
 desire to bring up his family in a free-state; married, June 21, 1813, Susan, dau. of 
 Stephen Hempstead a Revolutionary soldier, and one of the earliest (1811) emigrants 
 from Conn, to St. Louis, Upper Louisiana ter'y father of Hon. Edward Hempstead, 
 first delegate in congress from Missouri Terr'y, and of Chas. S. Hempstead, one of 
 Galena's early lawyers, as well as of Wm. Hempstead, a prominent and influential 
 merchant of early Galena. Henry with a younger brother, Jean Pierre Bugnion Gra- 
 tiot, were among the first to develop the Fevre-River Lead-Mines, and for a long time 
 maintained a large mining-and-smelting business at Gratiot's Grove, now in Lafayette 
 Co., Wis. ; enjoying the Indians' confidence, he was enabled to exert great influence 
 over them during the Blackhawk war, rendering inestimable services to the entire 
 white population; d. Barnum's Hotel, Baltimore, Md., Apr. 27, 1836; four sons sur- 
 vived him: Chas. H. Gratiot, b. St. Louis, Jan. 9, 1814, d. Gratiot, Wis., Mch. 15, 
 1883; Lt.-Col. Edw. Hempstead Gratiot, b. St. Louis, June 19, 1817, late ass't-pay. U.- 
 S. A., d. Platteville, Wis., Dec. 17, 1882; Henry Gratiot, b. St. Louis, Oct. 25, 1824, 
 resides at Smartsville, Cal. ; and Stephen Hempstead Gratiot, b. St. Louis, Nov. 21, 
 1831, d. Wash., D. C., Dec. 17, 1864; his only surviving daughter, Adele, is the wife 
 of Hon. E. B. Washburne, late U.-S. minister to France, and now living in Chicago. 
 
 J Gen. Chas. Gratiot, eldest son, born St. Louis, Aug. 29, 1786; admitted to West 
 Point from Missouri Terr'y, July 17, 1804; 2d lieut. eng'rs, Oct. 30, 1806; capt, Feb. 
 23,1808; chief-eng. Maj.-Gen. Harrison's army in 1812-3; bvt.-col. Mich, militia, Oct. 
 5, 1814; eng. in defence of Ft. Meigs, April and May, 1813; married Ann Belin, 
 Phila., Apr. 22, 1819; attack on Ft. Mackinac, Aug. 4, 1814; maj., Feb. 9, 1815; lieut.- 
 col., Mch. 31, 1819; col. and prin. eng., May 24, 1828; brevet brig. -gen., "for merito- 
 rious service and general good conduct," May 24, 1828 (Sept. 29); inspector to mili- 
 tary academy, May, 1828, to Dec., 1838; died at St. Louis, Mo., May 18, 1855.
 
 jiO TIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 States and honored with the office of general of that scientific 
 department. He remained in this high and dignified station 
 for many years, performing the most scientific and difficult 
 duties the government had to transact in this department. He 
 was the officer that directed and governed the construction of 
 Fortress Monroe, at old Point Comfort on the Chesapeake Bay, 
 which will remain for ages, a splendid monument of the talents 
 and science of Gen. Charles Gratiot. For durability and for 
 scientific proportions and work, there is no fortification, perhaps, 
 in America which surpasses that of Fortress Monroe. The 
 war department ordered Gen. Gratiot to take into custody the 
 amount of money necessary to construct the fortress and dis- 
 burse the same. Under the order of the department, the gen- 
 eral took charge of the funds and paid out, in the construction 
 of the fortification, perhaps two or three millions of dollars. It 
 had been the uniform practise of the disbursing officer, for his 
 responsibility and care in keeping and paying out the money 
 in such cases, to retain a certain percentage on the money dis- 
 bursed. Gen. Gratiot retained the customary percentage and 
 without trial or explanation was dismissed from the service for 
 the above-supposed offence. 
 
 Others of his children were also conspicuous and respectable 
 citizens. Judge Gratiot of St. Louis County, Missouri, held the 
 office for many years of county judge and acquitted himself 
 well in that office. One of his daughters married J. P. Cab- 
 banne, who was a talented, efficient business man. Another 
 married Pierre Chouteau, Jr., who is one of the most talented 
 and enterprising merchants in the country. He was for many 
 years the head of a large company that traded to the Rocky 
 Mountains, and by his commerce and other industry, he has 
 acquired an immense fortune. The descendants of this Revo- 
 lutionary patriot and meritorious pioneer are numerous and 
 respectable, located in St. Louis and in many other sections of 
 the Union. They may all look back with honest pride and 
 exultation to their illustrious ancestor and say of him with the 
 great poet: 
 
 "An honest man is the noblest work of God." 
 
 John Beaird and family emigrated from Wayne County, Ky., 
 to Randolph County, 111., in 1801, and settled on the east side
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 311 
 
 of the Kaskaskia River, four miles northeast of Kaskaskia vil- 
 lage. Beaird was born in Virginia and raised in the mountains 
 of New River of that State. He came to Tennessee in 1787, 
 and married a connection of my father. He was located on the 
 frontiers of Knox County, Tenn., while the Cherokee Indians 
 were hostile and did much damage to the settlements in the 
 northern section of Knox County. Beaird was uniformly 
 elected a captain to pursue the Indians when any depredations 
 were committed. He was brave, energetic, and decisive in his 
 character and possessed a strong, uncultivated mind, but had 
 not attended to an early education. His person was stout and 
 comely and his courage was never doubted; but on the con- 
 trary, this trait of his character was often tested in both private 
 and public acts. 
 
 In 1793, the Creek Indians intended an invasion of West 
 Tennessee, called at that day, Cumberland, and William Blount, 
 the governor of the Southwest Territory, gave Major Beaird 
 the following order, dated at Knoxville, April 18, 1793: 
 
 " SIR : The object of your command is to relieve the Cum- 
 berland inhabitants, Meroe district, from a powerful invasion of 
 the Creeks." 
 
 Major Beaird had under him one hundred and twenty-five 
 men. He marched from Knoxville to Nashville, two hundred 
 miles; met some Creek Indians; killed a few, and returned 
 home in good order with his command. On May 28, 1793, 
 Gov. Blount ordered Beaird to pursue certain Indians with fifty 
 mounted men and scour the Cumberland Mountains. The 
 Indians had killed two citizens near Clinch River, of the name 
 of Gillum. The country at that day was in a singular situa- 
 tion. On one side of the Tennessee River, the Indians pre- 
 tended peace and the government prevented the troops from 
 crossing the river in search of those Indians committing mur- 
 ders on the frontiers. When an Indian committed any aggres- 
 sion on the whites, he would flee to the peace side of the Ten- 
 nessee and be secure from the whites. The Cherokees, who 
 resided on their side of the river, concealed the murderers and 
 put the crime on the Creeks. The policy of the government 
 and the practise of the Indians inflamed the minds of the 
 people to the utmost excitement.
 
 312 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 When Capt. Beaird organized his company of fifty mounted 
 men, to pursue the murderers of the Gillums, he, in defiance of 
 his orders, crossed the Tennessee and chastised the Indians at 
 Hanging-Maw's Town, so called. He killed several Indians 
 there. Beaird was daring and decisive and took the responsi- 
 bility. Nine-tenths of the people approved of his course. The 
 government ordered a court-martial to try him, but he laughed 
 at a trial. He and company found in the nation a quantity of 
 Indian goods which the government had there to present to the, 
 Indians if a treaty were made with them. Beaird and men 
 took the goods from the guard and burned them. All these 
 proceedings were sustained by the people, but highly condemned 
 by the government. 
 
 In all the Indian wars on the frontiers of Knox County, Ten- 
 nessee, Beaird was the most efficient, bold, and daring officer in 
 the service. He, did more service with the least means than 
 any other officer on the frontiers. When the State government 
 was formed, he was elected from Knox County to the general 
 assembly of the State and his public services were always held 
 in high estimation by the people of Knox County. He moved 
 from Tennessee to Kentucky and thence to Illinois, as above 
 stated. He made an excellent citizen in this new, wild coun- 
 try ; improved a large plantation and assisted to change the 
 habits and customs of the people from hunting and idleness to 
 work and industry, which the country at that day much needed. 
 He died in 1809, leaving a large family of children. 
 
 One of his sons, Joseph A. Beaird, in after-days, became a 
 conspicuous and respectable citizen. He represented Monroe 
 County in the general assembly for many sessions and made an 
 efficient and conspicuous member. He possessed a sound mind, 
 with much polish of manners. Gentility and urbanity of man- 
 ners seemed to be natural with- him. He was honorable and 
 rather chivalric in his character; his probity, punctuality, and 
 honesty always ranged high and above suspicion. His neigh- 
 borhood made him their executor-general, while he would con- 
 sent to do the business appertaining to that troublesome situa- 
 tion, lie died in 1829, aged forty years, leaving a considerable 
 property and several children. 
 
 Another son, William A. Beaird, the old sheriff of St. Clair
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 313 
 
 County, almost every one in the county knew. He was blessed 
 with a sound, solid judgment, altho he did not use it as it 
 seemed to. his friends he might have done. He obstinately 
 refused to become educated or to receive any information thro 
 the medium of books or from print in any manner whatever. 
 He possessed much practical knowledge, which he acquired by 
 observation and his intercourse with the people. He never mar- 
 ried. He was kind and benevolent, particularly to the poor and 
 distressed. Any one in distress, no matter what color, nation, 
 or kindred, were sure of Beaird's assistance if he knew of the 
 case. He was appointed deputy-sheriff in 1815, and continued 
 in that situation until the State government was organized, in 
 1818; then he was elected by the people and continued in that 
 office by biennial elections for twelve years. In all, he per- 
 formed the duties of that office for about fifteen years. He was 
 at one time very popular; his kindness to the people made a 
 lasting impression on them. Many in the county owe their 
 taxes to him at this day. He died in Belleville in 1843. 
 
 In 1801, that dreadful scourge, the small-'pox, made its 
 appearance in St. Louis. Many of the citizens of Cahokia 
 were inoculated by Dr. Sougrin of St. Louis and were lodged 
 in his hospital in that city. It never came into Cahokia so as 
 to sweep entirely over the village. It reached the vicinity of 
 Kaskaskia some few years after and was principally confined to 
 a house of refuge, erected by Dr. Fisher at his plantation, six 
 miles out of town, at the foot of the bluff, on the road from 
 Cahokia to Kaskaskia. Here the doctor provided a hospital, 
 with all things necessary, and almost the whole French popula- 
 tion passed thro this dreadful malady at this place under the 
 the treatment of Dr. Fisher. I think very few died in this hos- 
 pital. The citizens of Kaskaskia kept up a guard all summer 
 at the outskirts of the village to prevent the contagion reaching 
 the town. This disease did not reach the American settlements 
 at all. The small-pox never raged thro the country and at last 
 were rendered harmless by proper vaccination. 
 
 In 1797, Abraham Eyeman, John Teter, William Miller, Mr. 
 Randleman, and a short time after, Daniel Stookey, located 
 themselves and families in a settlement a few miles southwest 
 of the present City of Belleville. This colony was composed
 
 314 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 of industrious, moral, and upright citizens and it grew and pros- 
 pered in the same proportion. In 1802, the whole country 
 extended its borders. Many citizens the Ogles, Enochs, and 
 Whitesides left the older settlements and located themselves 
 in the fine, healthy country northeast of the present City of 
 Belleville. This colony settled on that beautiful tract of coun- 
 try known as Ridge Prairie, extending from two to eight or ten 
 miles from Belleville. In this same year, 1802, the Goshen Set- 
 tlement was enlarged and improved. The Gilham and White- 
 side families settled there. These two large connections em- 
 braced nearly all the inhabitants of the settlement. The Caster- 
 lands, Seybolds, Groots, and some others located at the foot of 
 the bluff, above the Quentine Creek. In 1803, Samuel and Joel 
 Whiteside made the first improvements on the Ridge Prairie, 
 six or eight miles south of the present town of Edwardsville. 
 
 These settlements were made mostly by the pioneers who 
 had been already in the country for many years and who had 
 been accustomed to a frontier life. This frontier was exposed 
 to Indians not entirely friendly to the whites and it required 
 the most hardy and brave old settlers to brook the fierce and 
 savage bands of Indians that infested the settlements at that 
 day. Dennis and Vanmeter had been recently killed and the 
 whites were distrustful of the Indians for many years in the 
 early settlement of the country. 
 
 It must be recollected that fifty years ago the whole country 
 was crowded with aborigines and there was a very small amount 
 of white population in proportion. On the frontiers in Ran- 
 dolph, the inhabitants were not so much exposed to the fierce 
 and hostile bands of Indians as those in the north. What also 
 prevented the growth of the country was the want of mills, 
 schools, and houses of worship. All these difficulties taken 
 tDgether were adverse to the speedy growth of the country. 
 These colonies in Illinois lingered in this condition for many 
 years. When a brave, hardy, independent family came and 
 settled among these original pioneers, it was hailed as a jubilee 
 and all treated the new-comers as brothers. 
 
 The most trouble and labor was in either obtaining corn-meal 
 or doing without it. Flour at that time was not much in use. 
 All the frontiers of Goshen Settlement and in fact all the upper
 
 PIONKKR HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 315 
 
 colonies were compelled to go to Cahokia or to Judy's mill, 
 near Whiteside's Station, for their grinding. The extreme set- 
 tlements were forced to travel fifty miles or more for their meal 
 for many years. This is the necessary result of a pioneer's life. 
 To relieve absolute want, the band-mill, propelled by horse- 
 power, was the pioneer that made its appearance and was hailed 
 as a kind of Godsend. Several of these mills were erected in 
 Goshen Settlement. The Fruits built one at the edge of the 
 prairie a few miles east of the present town of Collinsville. 
 Talbot had first a horse-mill and afterward a small water-mill 
 on the Quentine Creek, south of Collinsville. Cornelius built a 
 water-mill on the same creek, below. Elliot had a horse-mill 
 south of the present Edwardsville about three miles. Carpenter 
 kept one in the Six-Mile Prairie and Thomas Kirkpatrick built 
 a water-mill many times on Cahokia Creek, adjoining the 
 present Edwardsville. These were the pioneer mills of the 
 frontiers for many years and were built before 1807. I have 
 myself rode on bags to the most of them when I was a lad 
 residing with my father in Goshen. 
 
 In early times, McCann owned a horse-mill of much celebrity 
 and standing. This mill was situated a few miles east of Tur- 
 key Hill and was attended by its customers far and near. The 
 mill of Hosea Rigg was a few miles west of that of McCann. 
 About this time, Chapman built a small water-mill on the creek 
 west of Belleville and old Mr. Schook erected a still smaller 
 one on the small branch west of the mill of Chapman. These 
 water-mills were like faith without works, not worth much. In 
 the southern settlements, the people procured their grinding at 
 the New Design, Levens', or at Kaskaskia. Under these cir- 
 cumstances, what great rejoicing it was with the people when 
 green corn and potatoes made their appearance and were fit for 
 use. To procure grinding was the. greatest trouble and incon- 
 venience of the new settlements. This want of mills retarded 
 the improvement of the country in early times more than all 
 other considerations. Schools and preaching could be dispensed 
 with better than corn-meal. 
 
 The country at that day was more sickly than it is at present ; 
 but the only disease then was the bilious fevers with the pleu- 
 risy at rare intervals. The bilious attacks showed themselves
 
 316 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 mostly in the form of fever and ague. The fever without the 
 ague or some chill with it was not frequent. These diseases 
 attacked the people in the latter part of the summer and in the 
 fall and were very common, but not often fatal. The sickness 
 at this time is not so common, but more malignant and dan- 
 gerous. Many in olden times were sick in the fall, but few 
 died. By improvement or by some other means, the diseases 
 of the country have changed within the last fifty years to be 
 much fewer cases, but more fatal. The remedies to cure the 
 bilious fever and ague in the first settlement of the country 
 were tartar - emetic, calomel, and jalap and peruvian barks. 
 These were the uniform and universal medicines and they gen- 
 erally succeeded. When the patient was weak after the fever, 
 the doctors prescribed stimulus of wine, etc. But in the fall, 
 after the sickness disappeared and all things were plenty, the 
 citizens soon forgot the disease and turned their attention to 
 fun, frolic, and hunting. 
 
 In pure pioneer times, the crops of corn were never husked 
 on the stalk, as is done at this day; but was hauled home in 
 the husk and thrown in a heap, generally by the side of the 
 crib, so that the ears when husked could be thrown direct into 
 the crib. The whole neighborhood, male and female, were in- 
 vited to the shucking, as it was called. The girls and many of 
 the married ladies generally engaged in this amusing work. In 
 the first place, two leading, expert huskers were chosen as cap- 
 tains and the heap of corn divided as near equal as possible. 
 Rails were laid across the pile, so as to designate the division, 
 and then each captain chose alternately his corps of huskers, 
 male and female. The whole number of working hands present 
 were selected on one side or the other and then each party com- 
 menced a contest to beat the other, which was in many cases 
 truly exciting. One other rule was that whenever a male husked 
 a red ear of corn, he was entitled to a kiss from the girls. This 
 frequently excited much fuss and scuffling, which was intended 
 by both parties to end in a kiss. 
 
 It was a universal practise that tafia or Monongahela whisky 
 was used at these husking frolics, which they drank out of a 
 bottle each one, male and female, taking the bottle and drink- 
 ing out of it and then handing it to his next neighbor, without
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 3 1/ 
 
 vising any glass or cup whatever. This custom was common 
 and not considered rude. The bread used at these frolics was 
 baked generally on johnny or journey-cake boards and is the 
 best corn-bread ever made. A board is made smooth, about 
 two feet long and eight inches wide ; the ends are generally 
 rounded. The dough is spread out on this board and placed 
 leaning before the fire. One side is baked and then the dough 
 is changed on the board, so the other side is presented in its 
 turn to the fire. This is johnny-cake and is good if the proper 
 materials are put in the dough and it is properly baked. Almost 
 always these corn-shuckings ended in a dance. To prepare for 
 this amusement, fiddles and fiddlers were in great demand and 
 it often required much fast riding to obtain them. One violin 
 and a performer were all that was contemplated at these inno- 
 cent, rural dances. 
 
 Toward dark and the supper half over, then it was that a 
 bustle and confusion commenced. The confusion of tongues 
 at Babel would have been ashamed of those at the corn-shuck- 
 ings. The young ones hurrying off the table and the old ones 
 contending for time and order. It was the case nine times out 
 of ten that but one dwelling-house was on the premises and 
 that used for eating as well as dancing. But when the fiddler 
 commenced tuning his instrument, the music always gained the 
 victory for the young side. Then the dishes, victuals, table, 
 and all disappeared in a few minutes and the room was cleared, 
 the dogs drove out, and the floor swept off, ready for action. 
 The floors of these houses were sometimes the natural earth, 
 beat solid; sometimes the earth with puncheons in the middle 
 over the potato hole, and at times the whole floor was made of 
 puncheons. Sawed planks or boards were not at all common 
 in early times. 
 
 The music at these country dances made the young folks 
 almost frantic and sometimes much excitement was displayed 
 to get first on the floor to dance. Generally the fiddler on these 
 occasions assumed an important bearing and ordered in true 
 professional style so and so to be done; as that was the way in 
 North Carolina, where he was raised. This decision ended the 
 contest for the floor. In those days they danced jigs and four- 
 handed reels, as they were called. Sometimes three-handed
 
 318 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 reels were also danced. In those dances there was no standing 
 still. All were moving at the same time, at a rapid pace, from 
 the beginning to the end. In the jigs, the by-standers cut one 
 another out, as it was called, so that this dance would last for 
 hours at times. Sometimes the parties in a jig tried to tire one 
 another down in the dance and then it would also last a long 
 time before one or the other gave up. The cotillons or stand- 
 still dances were not then known. Waltzes were introduced 
 into the country at a late day by the Europeans. 
 
 The dress of these hardy pioneers was generally in plain 
 homespun. The hunting-shirt was much worn at that time, 
 which is a convenient working or dancing- dress. Sometimes 
 dressed deer-skin pantaloons were used on these occasions and 
 moccasons, rarely shoes, and at times, bare feet were indulged 
 in. The bottle went round at these parties like it did at the 
 shuckings and male and female took a dram out of it as it 
 passed around. No sitting was indulged in and the folks either 
 stood up or danced all night, as generally daylight ended the 
 frolic. A great deal of good feeling was enjoyed in these inno- 
 cent parties and very little of the green-eyed monster was dis- 
 played on these occasions. Mothers could then praise with 
 sincerity the beauty and the grace in the dance of their neigh- 
 bors' daughters ; while at this refined and civilized day, such 
 praises come only from the lips and scarcely that deep. Exces- 
 sive refinement and accomplishments may polish the outside; 
 but it is doubtful if the inside is made better by the operation. 
 
 Many a sweet love-story was told over, in a laughing manner, 
 by the young hunters or farmers to their sweethearts during 
 these nights of innocent amusement. The young man of eigh- 
 teen would cough, choke, and spit, look pale, and sweat when 
 he was about to tell his girl the secret movements of his heart 
 in her favor, while his heart thumped with almost as loud a 
 noise as a pheasant beating on a log. The girl received these 
 outpourings of her lover's heart with such sparkling eyes and 
 countenance that it spoke volumes of love to her beau. These 
 love contracts that ended in marriage were frequently made at 
 the dances. 
 
 What ineffable pleasure it was to these young folks to dance 
 together, who had in sincerity unfolded their hearts to each
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 319 
 
 other. These honest, unsophisticated children of nature love 
 with more sincerity and honesty than the excessively refined 
 and educated do. In the morning, all go home on horseback 
 or on foot. No carriages, wagons, or other wheeled vehicles 
 were used on these occasions for the best of reasons : because 
 they had none. 
 
 The pioneers dropped slowly into the Illinois country. Jacob 
 Judy was a very ancient and respectable pioneer in Illinois. He 
 came and settled in Kaskaskia in 1788. He was born in Ger- 
 many and emigrated to the United States when he was six 
 years old. He married in Frederick County, Maryland; moved 
 to Pittsburg, where he worked for the public at the gunsmith 
 business for many years and received nothing for it. He had 
 three children. In 1786, he and family descended the Ohio 
 River to Kentucky. On the fiver, at the mouth of the Scioto, 
 he heard the Indians making noises to decoy him to land; but 
 he kept straight on. He had but one man with him besides his 
 family. His daughter, Nancy Judy, then eighteen years old 
 who is still alive and eighty years of age steered the boat, 
 while her father, her brother, Samuel Judy, his son, and the 
 hired man rowed the craft with all possible speed by this dan- 
 gerous section of the river. He remained two years near Louis- 
 ville in Kentucky and descended the Ohio in a flat-boat. He 
 was forced up Cache River, in the present county of Alexander, 
 for protection from the Indians and remained there for seven 
 weeks until a boat could come from Kaskaskia to his relief. 
 He resided at Kaskaskia four years and then moved, in 1792, 
 to the New Design. In 1794, he settled at his mill and died 
 there in 1807. 
 
 Judy worked at his trade in Illinois and accumulated con- 
 siderable property. He possessed a strong mind, with much 
 enterprise and energy. Samuel Judy, his only son, came with 
 his father to Illinois in 1788, and became a conspicuous and 
 enterprising citizen. He married into the Whiteside family and 
 settled in Goshen, as before stated, in 1801. In his youth, he 
 was active and vigorous and was always ready and willing to 
 enter into any campaign against the Indians or to do battle 
 with them. 
 
 In 1794, Joel Whiteside was driving a yoke of oxen about
 
 32O PIONEER HISTORv OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 one hundred and fifty yards southwest of the public square in 
 the present town of Waterloo and an Indian shot him. The 
 ball passed thro his body, but did not kill him. Judy, Todd, 
 Andy Kinney, and some others pursued the Indian with dogs 
 and guns; overtook the murderer and killed him under a large 
 tree which stood near the main road, about half a mile south of 
 Whiteside's Station. The tree is now cut down and a field 
 made round it. Young Samuel Judy was very active and ener- 
 getic in the pursuit of this Indian and displayed the warrior in 
 this, his first Indian skirmish. In two desperate conflicts with 
 the Indians one on Shoal Creek with old Pecon and the other 
 near the bluff and below the place where the macadamized road 
 descends it Judy showed himself to be the bravest of the brave. 
 
 In the late war with Great Britain in 1812, he was always 
 actively employed in the service! He commanded a company 
 of spies in the campaign under Gov. Edwards in 1812, against 
 the Indians at the head of Peoria Lake, and acquitted himself, 
 as he always did, to the satisfaction of the public. This ser- 
 vice in the campaign of 1812 was arduous and at times dan- 
 gerous. The spies were in advance of the little army, a mile 
 or more, and were ordered to fight the enemy, let him be great 
 or small, until the main army were placed in the order of battle 
 behind them. He shot an Indian near the Black Partridge's 
 Town, at the upper end of Peoria Lake, and killed him. 
 
 In the next campaign, in the fall of 1813, he also commanded 
 a company in the army of Gen. Howard. Like all his military 
 services, he did his duty to the entire satisfaction of the public. 
 In many of the skirmishes on the frontiers, Judy was active and 
 efficient, and at the same time, prudent and cautious. He was 
 always, in these military preferments, very modest and unas- 
 suming. He never solicited an office in his life and would 
 always have preferred acting as a private in these operations 
 .against the Indians; but his neighbors and friends almost com- 
 pelled him to take command, as above stated. He was elected 
 to the legislative council of the Illinois Territory, in the fall of 
 1812, from the county of Madison. This was the first legisla- 
 ture that convened under the territorial government and was a 
 very important general assembly. This body convened at Kas- 
 kaskia and transacted very important business in organizing and
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 321 
 
 starting the machinery of the new government into operation. 
 The finances were to be regulated ; taxes imposed, and the 
 militia organized. These subjects were of the greatest impor- 
 tance and interest to the people. Judy performed his duties in 
 this office much to his credit and also to the advantage of his 
 constituents. 
 
 Nature had been bountiful to Judy and had bestowed on him 
 a clear, sound, &nd solid judgment. He had very little oppor- 
 tunities of education and could barely make out to read and 
 write and knew but little of the arithmetic; but his condition in 
 life and his strong mind, with his retentive memory, made him 
 a very able and efficient member of the legislative council of 
 the territory. These qualifications, together with his merited 
 character for honesty and probity, gave him a standing in the 
 legislature which was not surpassed by any member in that 
 body and which was always wielded for the benefit of the public. 
 He remained in this office for four years and made an excellent 
 member. The people of Madison County elected him to the 
 important office of county commissioner for many years. His 
 solid judgment, together with his positive honesty and practical 
 economy, made him a most able and efficient member of the 
 county-court. This was an office in which he displayed his 
 talents. The county levies were to be made and the money 
 expended on proper objects. This required just the judgment, 
 honesty, and economy which he possessed in such an eminent 
 degree, to enable him to execute the duties of the office. The 
 finances of Madison County were safe in the hands of Col. Judy. 
 
 With these talents, he managed his own private business with 
 great success. He became wealthy by the common operations 
 of agriculture, without speculation or chicanery. He improved 
 a large-plantation and built a fine brick-house the first erected 
 -within the limits of Madison County. This house he built in 
 1808, and much enlarged and improved his farm the same year. 
 In this new country, he availed himself of its advantages and 
 raised large stocks of horses, cattle, hogs, and sheep. The cattle 
 lived winter and summer in the range and the horses did the 
 same, with a small amount of food in the bad weather of the 
 winter. 
 
 In the matured age of Col. Judy, I, as the executive of the 
 21
 
 322 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 State, appointed him, with three others, warden of the peniten- 
 tiary at Alton. The duty of this board was to adopt a peniten- 
 tiary system ; erect a suitable building, and put the whole 
 machinery into complete operation. I was one of the board 
 and found that Judy was a wise, prudent, and efficient member. 
 The plan and system of the prison at Alton were based on that 
 of Auburn, New York. This at Alton has succeeded admirably 
 well. He died at his residence in Madison County in 1833, 
 aged seventy-five years. The death of Col. Judy was sincerely 
 regretted by the public. His large family and connections knew 
 well his worth and mourned his death with heart-felt grief. But 
 mortality is born with all human beings. It is the just law of 
 God and we must and ought to submit to it with pious resig- 
 nation. 
 
 Few men had a mind more equally balanced than his was, 
 It was moulded far above mediocrity. No trait had the ascend- 
 ancy to destroy the legitimate operations of the others. His 
 powers of judgment were 1 strong; so was his perception clear 
 and discriminating. His imagination was kept in proper bounds 
 by his solid judgment and his kindness and benevolence were 
 strongly marked in his actions thro life. His courage was of 
 the unterrified order, which had been tested on many occasions 
 in the service of his country. He was moral and correct in his 
 habits during a long life; never joined a church, but sustained 
 all with his good-will and friendship. He never indulged in 
 any of the excesses so prevalent in his day of gaming, drink- 
 ing, or light and frivolous amusements. Judy was a pioneer 
 that gave standing and character to the country and it is the 
 seeds sown by him and such characters that have produced such 
 fruits in Illinois of her future power and greatness. He left a 
 large family of children and also a large estate. 
 
 The stock of Col. Judy was injured by that mysterious disease 
 known as the milk-sickness. It made its appearance in early 
 times in his stock and remains to this day rather a mystery as 
 to the cause of the disease. That such malady does exist, there 
 is no doubt. The human family as well as animals are destroyed 
 by it. I had a sister whose death, it was supposed, was caused 
 by it. It is known that the disease is a poison. Dogs and 
 other animals die with the^ poison when they eat in the dead
 
 *'" 
 
 
 * 
 
 '* 

 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 bodies the victims of this disease. The human beings who 
 die by the disease derive it from the milk, butter, or meat of 
 the animal infected with the poison. The name of the disease 
 arises from the milk the victims eat. This much is ascertained; 
 but what is the poison, is not so well known. It is the general 
 approved opinion that the poison is emitted from some poison- 
 ous mineral substance in the earth. It rises in a gaseous state; 
 falls back on the vegetation ; is infused in the water, and in the 
 morning before the dew is evaporated, the animals eat the poi- 
 son with the vegetation and thereby die. The disease only 
 appears in the fall of the year and in shady, damp localities. 
 A vegetable can not cause the disease because it would have 
 been discovered, and in some cases, animals that are. kept up 
 and eat no green food, di-e by the use of the water impregnated 
 with the poison. It makes its ravages on stock in many parts 
 of the West. Sometimes for many years it almost disappears 
 and afterward returns and assumes its former virulence. 
 
 The first governor of Illinois under the State government 
 Shadrach Bond was a great, noble, and talented pioneer. He 
 stood in the front ranks of that hardy and noble race of men, 
 the ancient pioneers of Illinois. The few remaining of that 
 class may look back at Gov. Bond with the proud recollection 
 that he was one of them and was a sample of good sense, 
 honesty, and most of the virtues that elevate and dignify the 
 human character. Shadrach Bond was born in Frederick Co., 
 Maryland, in 1773, and was raised by a pious father, Nicholas 
 Bond, on a plantation. He was educated a practical farmer and 
 such was his occupation during life, except the services in public 
 stations he performed, which detained him from his farm for 
 some portion of his time. In 1794, when he reached his 
 majority, he emigrated to Illinois and resided in the American 
 Bottom with his uncle, Shadrach Bond, Sr. He received in 
 Maryland a plain English education, such as farmers generally 
 bestow on their children. But Illinois, when he reached it, was 
 a wild country, not much disposed to the improvement of the 
 mind in science and literature. Yet man and his various actions 
 were before him and he acquired the practical knowledge of 
 mankind and the various springs of human action. He learned 
 in his early life much useful knowledge of all the various moving
 
 324 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 principles of the human heart and availed himself of this infor- 
 mation in after-life. Gov. Bond was in his matured age an in- 
 telligent, practical man. He was not a lady-parlor scholar, who 
 read the novels of lovesick swains and fainting girls; nor did he 
 ever wash his face with cologne-water ; but he was nature's 
 nobleman, educated in the wide world of the human family, 
 and his conscience and sound judgment were his unerring pre- 
 ceptors. Some think a man is not intelligent or learned if -he 
 were not cudgelled thro a college or read " Robinson Crusoe " 
 or the novel of " Goody Two Shoes." The whole creation 
 should be a man's school-house and nature his teacher. Bond 
 studied in this college and Providence gave him a diploma. 
 
 He for some years resided with his uncle after he first came 
 to Illinois and indulged in much of the gayety and amusements 
 of the country at that day ; but when age and experience 
 reached him, he changed his course and purchased a fine farm 
 on the bank of a beautiful lake in the American Bottom and 
 improved it in good style. He resided here for many years, a 
 single farmer. About 1800, the whole society changed its char- 
 acter to some extent to a more civilized and moral state; and 
 the agricultural and other interests of the country changed in 
 the same proportion. Bond was, by his example and precept, 
 greatly instrumental in bringing about this desirable change. 
 He labored with his own hands on his farm, with such assistance 
 as he could procure at that early day. He felt an honest pride 
 in being dependent on no one for his support except on his 
 mother-earth and God, that giveth the increase. He spent the 
 happiest part of his life on his farm. He possessed a jovial 
 and convivial spirit, and with his friends he enjoyed much hap- 
 piness. These convivial parties were not based on gluttonness 
 or intemperance ; but they were sustained by the noble and 
 generous hearts of the higher order of warm and congenial 
 spirits. Bond possessed warm and ardent feelings and when 
 excited in the society of his friends around the festive board, 
 he not only was happy himself, but made all around him happy 
 also. In these parties, he was the fountain of hilarity and good 
 feelings and imparted it to all others around him. He possessed 
 a heart filled with true benevolence and good kind feelings to 
 all the human race, and on these occasions the feelings that 
 adorn the human character flowed deep and strong.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 325 
 
 He generally kept a large pack of hounds and with his , 
 friends, the fox-hunt was with him capital sport. The hounds, 
 horn, and the voice of Gov. Bond made sweet music in the 
 mornings on the commons near the village of Kaskaskia in 
 olden times. He took great delight in this rural sport and in 
 fact all his impulses and his disposition were inclined to the 
 cheerful and bright side of human nature ; so he generally 
 enjoyed himself and made all around him happy, likewise. 
 When he reached man's estate, in the American Bottom, on his 
 farm, his person was large and portly. He weighed two hun- 
 dred pounds and was six feet high. His person was erect, com- 
 pact, and formed with perfect symmetry. His bearing was 
 noble, dignified, and commanding and his features were regular, 
 but marked, strong, and masculine. His complexion was dark 
 and his hair a glossy jet-black. His eyes were large, brilliant, 
 and of a hazel color. His forehead was large and capacious 
 and his countenance denoted him to possess superior intellect, 
 with many other marked traits of character that adorn human 
 nature. Such was the person of farmer Bond. 
 
 With such character as Bond possessed and with his fine 
 person, he was a great favorite with the ladies; yet his gallan- 
 tries, altho many, were always circumscribed with propriety. 
 He possessed the capital in this branch of business, but never 
 traded in it to any great extent. In his early life, he was 
 elected a member to the general assembly of Indiana Territory, 
 which met at Vincennes. He made, as he always afterward 
 did, a sound, solid member. He attended faithfully to the 
 business of the people and mingled again with his constituents. 
 In 1812, he was elected the first delegate from the Territory of 
 Illinois to congress, and in this office he performed great and 
 important services for his constituents. By his exertions in 
 that body, the first act of congress was passed in 1813, to grant 
 the citizens the right of preemption to secure their improve- 
 ments. This was the first great lever that moved Illinois on- 
 ward toward that glorious eminence she occupies at this time. 
 The people, before this act of congress passed, had, nine-tenths 
 of them, settled on the public lands and had no right or title to 
 their plantations whatever. "No one was certain of securing his 
 improvement or labor and therefore small improvements were 
 made.
 
 326 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 This provision was hailed as the greatest and the best. It 
 gave the country peace and quiet for the citizens in it and broke 
 down the barriers against immigration to the territory. Ever 
 after this act was passed which not only secured the right of 
 preemption to settlers, but brought the public lands into market 
 the flood of immigration was deep, strong, and constant. This 
 act of congress was the great key-stone to the arch of the pros- 
 perity and growth of Illinois. This one act entitles Bond to 
 the lasting gratitude of his country. " Men's evil manners live 
 in brass ; their virtues we write in water." How often do we 
 hear, at this day, the young politicians casting slurs and disre- 
 spect on such respectable statesmen as Gov. Bond. Many of 
 these modern politicians are manufactured in the colleges by 
 the wealth of their fathers, in the same manner as a mechanic 
 makes an axe-handle and with almost as little intellect as the 
 handle. Yet, because the pioneer statesman did not graduate 
 with a parchment diploma, he must receive the ridicule of these 
 modern butterfly critics and calico politicians. Nature gave her 
 richest diplomas to Cromwell, Hannibal, and Washington, with; 
 out their being kicked thro a college like an unwilling jack is 
 whipped to his labor. The gigantic talents of Jackson and 
 Clay, two of the greatest men the nation has produced since 
 the Revolution, were never cramped and degraded by the 
 monotonous routine of a collegiate education. I am in favor of 
 a proper education and opposed to the abuse of one. All I dis- 
 like is these tinsel scholars condemning men "whose shoes' 
 latchet they are not worthy to loose." 
 
 Bond remained in congress only one term and was appointed 
 receiver of public moneys at Kaskaskia. This was a laborious 
 and responsible office. The commissioners to adjust the ancient 
 claims to land in Illinois had not completed their work and 
 Bond, together with Michael Jones, examined a great many of 
 the claims; reported them to congress, and they were approved. 
 This was a delicate trust to perform, as the inhabitants and 
 commissioners in former days were unfriendly on the subject; 
 but Bond, with his usual good sense and honesty, gave general 
 satisfaction. About this time, 1814, he moved from his old 
 plantation in the American Bottom to Kaskaskia and made a 
 large farm near that village. The intercourse of the people
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 327 
 
 with Bond made them know and appreciate his merits, and at 
 the election for State officers, he was chosen governor of the 
 State without opposition. The honest and sincere friendship of 
 the people for him made him the first governor of Illinois with- 
 out opposition. The duties of this office were important, oner- 
 ous, and difficult to perform. The change of the laws, policy, 
 and all, from a territorial to a state government, required pru- 
 dence, circumspection, and much wisdom. He possessed these 
 qualifications and performed his duties to the general satisfac- 
 tion of the people. 
 
 Gov. Bond strongly urged on the people and the first legisla- 
 tures of Illinois, during his term in office, the propriety and 
 utility of constructing a canal connecting the waters of Lake 
 Michigan with those of the Mississippi. Some short time after 
 his term of office as governor expired, he was appointed register 
 of the land-office at Kaskaskia, wherein he remained in his old 
 age, doing business to the satisfaction of the public. On April 
 11, 1830, he expired in happiness and in peace with man. His 
 last breath was breathed in good will to the human family and 
 praise to God. He left a very blameless and unspotted char- 
 acter and as such, his friends and the public mourned his death. 
 To his respectable family, their loss was irreparable. He was a 
 kind parent and an affectionate husband. His earthly career 
 is ended, but his worthy character stands strong in the hearts 
 of the pioneers and others of Illinois.* 
 
 Gov. Bond had two brothers, Nicodemus and Joshua Bond, 
 who also settled in the American Bottom. Joshua Bond re- 
 mained in Illinois but a few years; went to St. Louis, in Upper 
 Louisiana, and thence to Vincennes on the Wabash. He raised 
 a large and respectable family, who have for the most part set- 
 tled in Illinois. The descendants of Joshua Bond possess a 
 
 * Gov. Bond had six children : Thomas S., Emily, Julia R., Mary A., Isabella 
 F., and Benjamin N. All are now dead except Dr. Benjamin N. Bond, who resides 
 in Stanberry, Mo. Julia R. Bond married Col. Frank Sivanwick of Randolph Co.; 
 Mary A. married Joseph B. Holmes, a merchant of Chester, in the same county; 
 Isabella F. married James P. Craig of the same place. The descendants of Gov. 
 Bond number many of the most respected and wealthy citizens of Randolph Co. 
 
 In April, 1881. the remains of Gov. Bond and his wife were removed from Kas- 
 kaskia to Chester and consigned to the same vault, over which a monument was 
 erected by authority of the legislature of Illinois, act approved May 28, 1881. J. H.G.
 
 328 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 good standing in community. Several of the sons sustain a 
 very respectable reputation at the bar as talented lawyers, and 
 one of them, Benjamin, is at this time a sound lawyer and the 
 marshal of the State of Illinois. One other, Thomas, was cap- 
 tain of a company in the Mexican war and acted well his part 
 in that service. All the Bond family may look back with grati- 
 tude and honest pride to their illustrious and venerable relative^ 
 Shadrach Bond, Sr., who was the brave and daring pioneer that 
 enrolled himself in the Revolutionary war under the banner of 
 Col. Clark, and he may say, with Clark and his troops, as Caesar 
 said in ancient times: " We came, we saw, we conquered " Illi- 
 nois. He was the illustrious Columbus of his family that dis- 
 covered the new world for them, and as such, this ancient 
 patriarch receives their gratulations and sincere homage. 
 
 The country gradually increased in its population. In 1803, 
 John Primm emigrated from Virginia and settled first in the 
 New Design; made a crop there, and settled at the foot of the 
 Mississippi Bluff, southeast of Cahokia; remained here several 
 years and moved to his plantation, a few miles southwest of 
 Belleville. He died there in 1836, aged almost eighty- seven 
 years. Mr. Primm was born in Stafford County, Va.; served 
 in the Revolutionary war immediately under Gen. Washington, 
 and assisted at the glorious capture of Lord Cornwallis at York- 
 town in 1781. This was the crowning battle for the freedom 
 of the human race and Primm enjoyed the honor of aiding in 
 this great and glorious victory. He had a large family seven- 
 teen children four girls and thirteen sons. He lived the even, 
 temperate life of an agriculturist and performed all his duties 
 to the Creator and to man in a moral and correct manner. 
 One of his sons was carrying the United-States mail in August,. 
 1814, on horseback from Cahokia to Clinton-Hill post-office, 
 two or three miles northeast of Belleville, and in the Derush 
 Hollow, so called at the time, near the Bottom, he and his horse 
 were killed by the lightning. His body was burnt black by the 
 electricity. 
 
 In 1799, sailed down the Ohio River, Matthew Lyon and 
 family, with John Messinger and Dr. George Cadwell and their 
 respective families. These last two named were the sons-in- 
 law of Lyon and all settled at Eddyville in Kentucky. Mat-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 329- 
 
 thew Lyon had obtained a considerable celebrity as a member 
 in congress from the State of Vermont. He was a native of 
 Ireland; had been in the Revolution, and was a warm advocate 
 of Thomas Jefferson and republicanism against John Adams 
 and federalism. He possessed some talents and much ardor 
 and enthusiasm. While he was in congress, he had a difficulty 
 with a member of the federal party and spit in his face. He 
 was up before congress for contempt ; but speeches were the 
 only result. He was extremely bitter against the administration 
 of Adams and he was fined and imprisoned under the alien and 
 sedition laws. While he was in prison in the State of Vermont,, 
 his friends elected him to congress and took him out of confine- 
 ment to serve them in the congress of the United States. He 
 represented his district in congress from Kentucky for several 
 terms and was always, during a long arid important life, an ex- 
 cessively warm and enthusiastic partisan in politics. He was at 
 last appointed an Indian agent for the Southern Indians and 
 died there at an advanced age. Long after his death, congress 
 paid back to his heirs the fine he paid, with interest. It was con- 
 sidered by congress that the fine was paid under a void law and 
 that it was due to principle, as well as to his descendants, to- 
 refund the amount paid and interest. I voted in congress to- 
 refund the fine and interest to his -heirs. 
 
 Matthew Lyon was a droll composition. His leading trait of 
 character was his zeal and enthusiasm, almost to madness itself, 
 in any cause he espoused. He never seemed to act cool and 
 deliberate, but always in a tumult and bustle, as if he were in a 
 house on fire and was hurrying to get out. His Irish impulses 
 were honest and always on the side of human freedom. This 
 covers his excessive zeal. 
 
 Messinger and Dr. Cad well left Eddyville in 1802, and landed 
 from a boat in the American Bottom, not far above old Fort 
 Chartres. They remained in the Bottom for some time and 
 Dr. Cadwell moved and settled on the Illinois bank of the Mis- 
 sissippi, opposite the Gaborit Island and above St. Louis. He 
 was quite a respectable citizen ; practised his profession and 
 served the people in various public offices. He was justice-of- 
 the-peace and county-court judge for many years, in both St. 
 Clair County and in Madison also, after its formation. Since
 
 330 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 the establishment of the State government, he served in the 
 general assembly from both Madison and Green counties, at 
 different times, and always acquitted himself to the satisfaction 
 of the public. After a long life, spent in usefulness, he died in 
 Morgan County, quite an old man. He was moral and correct 
 in his public and private life and left a character much more to 
 be admired than condemned; was a respectable physician and 
 always sustained an unblemished character. 
 
 John Messinger was born in West Stockbridge, Mass., in 1771, 
 and was raised a farmer. He was in his youth educated both 
 to work and the ordinary learning derived from books at a 
 school. This system of farmers learning their children the 
 science and practise of agriculture, as well as science from books, 
 deserves particular consideration, and this mixture of education 
 seems to me to be the best that a young American can receive. 
 
 Messinger, when he advanced some years in age, in his agri- 
 cultural pursuits, he commenced the study of mathematics with 
 William Coit, who resided in the neighborhood of his father. 
 In 1783, he left Massachusetts and settled in Vermont and 
 learned not only the art of farming, but also in his early life 
 became acquainted with the business of a carpenter or house- 
 builder and the trade also of a millwright. He possessed a 
 strong and vigorous intellect and his mind, by either nature or 
 education or by both, became quite solid and mathematical. 
 He possessed also a great share of energy and activity; so that 
 it was not a difficult task for him to acquire these different 
 mechanical trades as well as to become deeply versed in mathe- 
 matical science. 
 
 In maturer age, his whole delight and pleasure was found in 
 the science of mathematics and the various practical branches 
 arising out of that science. His whole life seemed to be tinct- 
 ured with mathematics and I believe for many years he was the 
 most profound mathematician and best land-surveyor in Illi- 
 nois. He moved to the New Design from the American Bot- 
 tom and in 1804, purchased a mill and premises on Rock-House 
 Creek, east of the New Design. He repaired the mill and re- 
 sided there for some years and then moved to Clinton Hill, his 
 late residence, a few miles northeast of Belleville. 
 
 John Messinger, by the force of his genius and energies, be-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 331 
 
 came an excellent English scholar and was always pleased to 
 have an opportunity to instruct any of his neighbors or friends 
 that would call on him for that object. He taught the science 
 of surveying to a great many young men and has also taught 
 many grown people, males and females, the common rudiments 
 of education even after they were married. He reached Illinois 
 in 1802, when there was scarcely a school in the country and it 
 was honorable to both him and his students for one to give and 
 the other to receive an education if it were after the parties 
 were married. 
 
 Messinger was not large in his person, but compactly built; 
 hardy and very energetic. With the talents he possessed and 
 his activity, he was extremely useful, not only in teaching the 
 art of surveying to others, but in the practical operations of sur- 
 veying himself. He was the first person or among the first sur- 
 veyors that, in 1806, surveyed the United-States lands in town- 
 ships in this section of the State. In town six, south range 
 seven, west, and in that region of country, the public domain 
 was surveyed by Messinger in the above year. I think he was 
 a subcontractor under William Rector. He surveyed much of 
 the public domain in St. Clair and Randolph counties. 
 
 He not only was an excellent mathematician, but he wrote 
 and published a book entitled, "A Manual or Hand-Book, in- 
 tended for Convenience in Practical Surveying." This work 
 was printed by William Orr in St. Louis in 1821, and contains 
 the whole science of practical surveying, together with the neces- 
 sary tables to enable the practitioner to calculate the area of 
 land without any difficulty whatever. This book shows deep 
 research by the author and establishes the fact that he was a 
 profound mathematician. He was professor of mathematics in 
 the seminary at Rock Spring, St. Clair County, for some time 
 and performed the duties of this responsible station to the 
 entire satisfaction of the public. In 1815, he was appointed 
 deputy-surveyor under the surveyor-general, Edward Tiffin of 
 the State of Ohio, and was authorized to survey the Military 
 Tract in the forks of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. He 
 surveyed much of this tract, which was approved by the sur- 
 veyor-general. He was appointed, with a gentleman of Hills- 
 borough, Illinois, to survey, on the part of the State of Illinois,
 
 332 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 the northern limits of the State, in latitude forty-two, one-half 
 degrees north. Hon. Lucius Lyon of Michigan was the com- 
 missioner on the part of the United States to assist in the 
 survey. 
 
 Messinger was an efficient and scientific astronomer and 
 mathematician in calculating the latitude and surveying this 
 line dividing the State of Illinois from Wisconsin. He and 
 Philip Creamer, a celebrated artisan, made surveyors' compasses 
 that were as well calculated and as well finished in workman- 
 ship as any made in the United States. Messinger was never 
 ambitious of public office, yet the public called on him and he 
 served them both in the general assemblies of the Indiana Ter- 
 ritory and the State of Illinois. He was elected, in 1808, from 
 the county of St. Clair to the legislature of Indiana Territory 
 and did much toward obtaining a division of the territory, which 
 took place the next year. He was elected from St. Clair Co. 
 a member of the convention that met at Kaskaskia and formed 
 the State constitution in 1818. He made a cautious and pru- 
 dent member, always wise without rashness. In the first gen- 
 eral assembly of the State of Illinois, at its organization in 1818, 
 he was elected speaker of the house of representatives. He 
 was a member elect from St. Clair County and made an upright 
 and impartial speaker. This was an important legislature and 
 much business was done during the session. 
 
 He gave his children a common, good education and learned 
 almost all of them the art of surveying. He never acquired 
 any great amount of wealth, altho he had great opportunities 
 to acquire property. He had no talent for speculation ; was 
 rigidly and scrupulously honest and possessed an ambition to 
 appear plain and unassuming. He seemed to be proud of his 
 want of pride. His morals and orderly bearing were above 
 reproach and such as even a clergyman might be proud of. 
 His mind was strong and mathematical and all its various 
 movements seemed to be in search of some abstruse problem in 
 that science that delighted him so much. He died on his plan- 
 tation in 1846, aged seventy-five years. At his death, he had 
 no enemies, but truly all friends that mourned his decease. He 
 had not time or disposition to attend to his farm. He seemed 
 resigned to leave this vale of tears with the hopes of being with 
 his God to enjoy a happy immortality.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 333 
 
 William Kinney was a great and talented pioneer of olden 
 times and enjoyed a high and conspicuous standing in Illinois. 
 He was blessed with a vigorous and strong intellect and also 
 with great energy. Kinney was born in Kentucky in 1781, and 
 emigrated, in 1793, with his father to the New Design, Illinois. 
 When he came to the country, he was thirteen years old and at 
 nineteen he married. His youthful days he had spent with the 
 young people of the country in gay and amusing society. The 
 young folks at that day did not work much and received no 
 book-education whatever. The occupation of the youths and 
 sometimes of the aged of that day was pleasure and amuse- 
 ments of various descriptions. Young Kinney was never behind 
 any one in these merriments and recreations. He was the 
 leader in these festivities and amusements and altho many of 
 the young men were injured by them, yet Kinney learned by 
 this course of life much of the human heart and the various 
 movements of human nature. He inherited from nature great 
 parts and he improved them in every situation he was placed in 
 during a long and important life. His mind was strong and 
 solid whenever he took time to reflect. His judgment of men 
 and things was good to a proverb. His memory was retentive, 
 as he never forgot what he learned in either a frolic or under 
 the droppings of the sanctuary. His energy and activity were 
 boundless. These great and strong traits of character were all 
 developed before he ever opened a book and in truth, he never 
 went to school regularly as a scholar more than three months 
 in his life. Both his natural disposition and his early education 
 inclined him thro life to gayety and amusements of every char- 
 acter. He possessed a fund of pure attic wit and his satire, 
 when called out on proper occasions, was severe and scathing, 
 and his anecdotes were extremely pertinent on many illustra- 
 tions and were boundless; but his sound judgment restrained 
 these traits of character in their appropriate limits. 
 
 After he was married, he was taught by John Messinger to 
 read and write. The arithmetic he mastered himself in his own 
 way. This is the foundation of all .his scholastic education and 
 on it and his observation and reflection, he became intelligent 
 and made one of the most prominent, popular, and influential 
 characters of his day. It would be almost useless to remark
 
 334 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 that at his marriage and always before and for some time after, 
 he was entirely destitute of worldly means, except a mere sup- 
 port. In his youth, his wild-oats were strong and rank, so that 
 he had neither time or disposition to accumulate property; but 
 being the head of a family and assuming a rank in society, he 
 was forced to reflect and he changed his conduct. In 1803, he 
 located himself on a beautiful and commanding eminence a few 
 miles northeast of the present City of Belleville and commenced 
 with his own hands to make a farm on these premises. His 
 wife was a most excellent lady, of sound mind and amiable dis- 
 position. They were both, at that time, young, talented, and 
 poor; so they possessed the elements of success and they used 
 them much to their honor and advancement. His amiable and 
 excellent wife, with her first-born, was often out in the clearings 
 and in the field, assisting her husband to gain their daily bread. 
 They placed the child on a blanket and the parents worked in 
 its neighborhood to improve their farm. Mr. Kinney in those 
 days went to market himself in St. Louis and Cahokia and sold 
 his surplus articles raised by his own hands on his farm. He 
 resided first in a small house south of his late residence a half- 
 mile or more and it \vas there he and wife made the first im- 
 provement. 
 
 In 1809, Mr. Vonphul persuaded Kinney to take some few 
 articles of merchandise and sell them; if he could not sell them, 
 he might return them to Vonphul again. After some hesita- 
 tion, he took the goods. They consisted of a few bolts of 
 domestic manufactured cotton cloth and Kinney packed them 
 before him on his horse from St. Louis to his farm. At that 
 time, he could barely write and knew nothing of book-keeping; 
 but his natural strong talents enabled him to invent a system of 
 book-keeping for himself, without any previous knowledge of 
 the science. This is the very humble and the very honorable 
 commencement of the pecuniary career of Gov. Kinney. He 
 began at this low foundation without any resources but his great 
 mind and energies and he made a princely fortune in the same 
 place and country where he commenced thus humble. He 
 traded in merchandise, lands, horses, and almost everything 
 that had any value attached to it and always made on the busi- 
 ness he embarked in. He erected a comfortable house on the
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 335 
 
 eminence where it now stands and in it, he displayed a kindness 
 and hospitality rarely equaled in any country or in any age. 
 His house was almost always crowded with his friends and they 
 were always entertained with an unsparing hospitality. 
 
 In matured life, he entered the political arena and was a 
 warm and efficient politician. He was a Democrat, " dyed in 
 the wool," and maintained the doctrines of the party without 
 
 fear or affectation on all occasions. He was often elected from 
 
 / 
 
 St. Clair County to the general assembly of the State of Illinois 
 and made an efficient business member. In the first general 
 assembly after the organization of the State government, he 
 was a member and assisted to put the political machinery in 
 operation. In 1826, he was elected lieutenant-governor of the 
 State and presided in that office in a manner to give character 
 and standing to the State. Altho he served the people in these 
 public offices, he attended strictly in his early life to his private 
 business and accumulated wealth all the time. In the decline 
 of life, he was appointed commissioner of internal improve- 
 ments, which gave him much trouble and was a great injury to 
 his fortune. He died in 1843, aged sixty-two years, on his farm 
 where he lived forty years. His death was regretted by his 
 friends and family. In his early life, he became interested in 
 religion and was baptized in 1809. He not only became a 
 worthy and devout member of the Baptist church, but was 
 authorized by the church to preach the gospel and became a 
 distinguished and influential preacher. His sound judgment 
 displayed itself in this profession as well as in all his other 
 transactions in life. 
 
 The travel on the road from the Ohio to Kaskaskia increased 
 and it became necessary and also profitable to make tavern 
 stands on the road. Comfort Joy, an Eastern man, in i8o4 ( 
 made the first establishment on Big- Muddy River where the 
 old Massac Trace crossed it. He resided some years here 
 He was on his way to the Ohio Salt-Works with his cart and 
 and oxen and by some means, the oxen kicked him, causing his 
 death. The family broke up and left the stand. 
 
 In 1803, Hays and some others formed the first settlements 
 on Big-Bay Creek, some miles northwest of the present town 
 of Golconda, Pope County. This settlement continued to in-
 
 33^ PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 crease. William Jones and John Finley stopped in it in 1804, 
 and remained there two years before they moved to Madison 
 County. In early times, in this settlement a murder was com- 
 mitted. The accused was brought to Kaskaskia for trial; as 
 all that section of country was embraced in the county of Ran- 
 dolph at that day and Kaskaskia the county-seat. The man 
 accused of the murder escaped. In 1805, Phelps, Daniels, and 
 some others made a settlement on the Massac road, ten miles 
 east of Big Muddy. Two settlements were made on Silver 
 Creek in 1804, which were the first on the creek. One was 
 made a few miles from the mouth, in this year, by Abraham 
 Teter, Peter Mitchel, and a widow Shook the sister of Teter. 
 They were the first families that located in the neighborhood of 
 the present Solomon Teter, who is the son of Abraham Teter. 
 The other was made by the Bradsby family,* about three miles 
 north of the present town of Lebanon, at the edge of the Look- 
 ing-Glass Prairie. 
 
 William H. Bradsby, the oldest son, with two other yc ang 
 men, came out in the spring of 1804 from Kentucky; made an 
 improvement and raised corn on the place above mentioned. 
 The family moved in the fall. The settlement of the Bradsbys 
 
 * John Bradsby and William, his brother, soldiers of the Revolution, came to 
 this country from Ireland about the middle of the l8th century; William was never 
 heard of after entering the army, and it is supposed died in the service; John mar- 
 ried Mary Higgins, a native of Virginia, in Bedford Co., Va., in 1785, and shortly 
 after the birth of their eldest child, 1787, moved to Barren Co., Ky. , where he taught 
 school and preached for several years; and their children were: 
 
 Dr. Wm. H. Bradsby was born in Bedford Co., Va., July 12, 1787; married, Nov. 
 6, 1818, Catharine M. Higgins (born in Barren Co., Ky., 1801); of their ten chil- 
 dren: 3, Eloise, wid. of Wm. Adams, living near Lebanon; 8, Henry Clay of Effing- 
 ham, 111., born Feb. 29, 1832, Covington, Washington Co., 111.; was educated at 
 McKendree College, 111., and Jefferson College, Pa.; lawyer; was married July 28. 
 1858, to Melinda, youngest child of Hon. Elijah C Berry, first State auditor, and 
 have two children the eldest married F. W. Burnett, attorney, Springfield, 111. ; 
 9, Indiana, wid. of J. H. Williams, residing in Lebanon, 111. ; 10, Catharine, wife 
 of Addison Pyle, residing near Lebanon, 111. ; the others died young \vithout issue. 
 The Dr. was the first postmaster in Washington Co. (at Covington); the first school, 
 teacher; also the first circuit and county clerk and recorder; was probate and county 
 judge when he died; and during many years was deputy U. S. surveyor, and surveyed 
 much of this portion of the State, his labor extending as far east as Wayne and Clay 
 counties; besides being clerk of all the courts he was virtually county treasurer, hav- 
 ing the custody of the county money. All of the early records show his neat and 
 elegant hand. He died in Nashville, 111., August 21, 1839.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 337 
 
 was in advance of the other inhabitants seven or eight miles. 
 The Bradsby family were brave and energetic pioneers. They 
 possessed good talents and were fearless and intrepid. They 
 were firm and decisive when they took a stand and were also 
 moral and correct and made excellent citizens. The old sire 
 taught school in various neighborhoods. He had a school, in 
 1806, in the American Bottom, almost west of the present Col- 
 linsville, and the year after, he taught another in the Turkey- 
 Hill Settlement. The other small colony on Silver Creek was 
 also some distance from any other inhabitants. They likewise 
 were good citizens. 
 
 Peter Mitchell, in matured age, acted as a justice-of-the-peace 
 and county commissioner. He was a moral, correct man and 
 was one of the ancient emigrants from Hardy County, Virginia, 
 who settled at the New Design in 1797. It would seem that 
 there was a kind of fatality in colonizing a new country. Single 
 families will frequently locate in advance of the other inhabi- 
 tants, many miles in a wilderness, without obtaining any greater 
 .advantages than those enjoy in a more dense settlement. 
 
 The two oldest sons of Mr. Bradsby William and James 
 were in the ranging service and made good soldiers. William 
 H. Bradsby, after he was here a few years, returned to the old 
 
 James, the second son, who served as a ranger in Whiteside's company, died at a 
 ripe old age at the old home, near Lebanon, in 1868; left two sons, Addison and 
 William, and three daughters, Mary, Priscilla, and Pauline; all dead except Addi- 
 son, who lives on the old homestead. 
 
 The third son, Richard, was 7 years of age when his father moved to Illinois; was 
 married in 1831 to Lucinda Adams, and settled in Looking-Glass Prairie; was in the 
 Black- Hawk War, first enlisting in Capt. Wm. Moore's company of Buckmaster's Odd 
 Battalion in 1831, joining a spy company on the igth of June; no record of his later 
 service has been preserved; in 1848, he was elected one of the county board of St. 
 Clair Co., a position he held for many terms; and died Sept. 5, 1875; leaving one 
 child, Virginia, the wife of Dr. James L. Perryman of Belleville. 
 
 Mary married Richard Higgins; both died several years ago, leaving three daugh. 
 ters who, with their descendants, live near Lebanon. 
 
 Priscilla married Thomas Chilton, and removed to Sangamon Co. in 1819, and 
 from thence to Wisconsin, where both died, leaving several children. 
 
 Jane married Jesse Bayles, and was massacred with Lucinda Higgins, a sister of 
 Mrs. W. H. Bradsby, by the Indians on Sugar Creek, in the fall of 1814. 
 
 John married Naomi Paris; died in 1845, on his farm near Lebanon, leaving two 
 sons, Francis and William, and a daughter. Francis died in 1880, and William 
 now resides in Greenville, in Bond County. J. H. G.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 settlements; qualified himself and studied medicine. He was a 
 good physician and practised some time, but disliked the pro- 
 fession and became rather a public character. He was elected 
 to the State legislature from St. Clair County in 1814, and made 
 a good member. He was appointed to most all or quite all 
 the small offices in Washington County when that county was 
 organized. He made his residence at Covington for many years 
 and when the county-seat was moved to Nashville, he still held 
 the offices and died about that time. 
 
 Dr. Bradsby sustained well the reputation of a pioneer. He 
 possessed a strong mind with a courage that quailed at no 
 danger or disaster. We were United-States rangers* together 
 in the same company, commanded by Capt. William B. White- 
 side in the war of 1812, with Great Britain. We were both ser- 
 geants and ranged together around the frontiers of the infant 
 settlements of Illinois to defend them from Indian depredations. 
 By this occurrence, I became intimately acquainted with the 
 merit and worth of Dr. Bradsby and no man ever possessed a 
 purer, better heart than he did. His attachments and friend- 
 ships were ardent and firm. He was generous and benevolent 
 and always ready to relieve distress. His love of country and 
 its free institutions was ardent and strong. When he was quite 
 a lad, in 1804, when the stars and stripes were first raised in 
 St. Louis, after the cession of Louisiana to the United States, 
 on July 4 of that year, he quit his plow on Silver Creek and 
 joined 'heart and soul in the celebration. He rejoiced to see 
 the free institutions of the United States extended over the 
 country where Spanish tyranny had heretofore been sustained 
 by that despotic government. 
 
 David Philips, the head of a numerous and respectable family, 
 emigrated from North Carolina; stopped in Tennessee and 
 finally settled in Illinois. He located himself and family on 
 Richland Creek, a few miles south of the present City of Belle- 
 
 * Congress, in iSii, passed an act authorizing the organization of ten companies 
 of rangers which afterward formed a regiment, known as the iyth U. S. Infantry, 
 placed under the command of Col. Wm. Russell of Kentucky, a renowned Indian- 
 fighter Of these companies four were raised in Illinois Territory, those commanded 
 respectively by Captains Samuel WhitesiJe, Wm. B. Whiteside, James B. Moore, 
 and Jacob Short. J. H. G.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 33^ 
 
 ville, in 1803. Mr. Philips was born in Orange County, North 
 Carolina, in 175$, and was a soldier in the glorious war of the 
 Revolution. He spent much of his youthful vigor in the tented 
 field and reposed in proud defiance of British tyranny under 
 the stars and stripes. He trusted his all to God and liberty 
 and he was victorious. He heard of Illinois and when he saw 
 it in 1803, he realized all his fond hopes of the promised land- 
 He emigrated to settle his large family in a new country. .There 
 are seven of his sons alive at this time and the youngest is up- 
 ward upward of fifty years old. He has also one daughter 
 alive. His descendants are numerous and respectable. He 
 and all his sons were raised farmers and they generally support 
 themselves by that ancient and honorable profession to this day. 
 The aged father died at his residence, south of Belleville, in 
 1826, full of years and respected by his family and neighbors. 
 He led his large family thro the wilderness; settled them in a 
 fine country and died happy. 
 
 After the conquest of Illinois, the State of Virginia instructed 
 Gen. Clark to establish a fort at the Iron Banks on the Ohio 
 River. He executed this command as he did all others, with 
 great wisdom and celerity. He promised lands to all who would 
 emigrate to the Iron Banks and settle there with or without 
 their families. This was a kind of armed occupation of the 
 country. These promises of Clark and his extraordinary influ- 
 ence caused many families as well as many single men to locate 
 at Fort Jefferson, which was the name of the fort at the Iron 
 Banks. Toward the close of the Revolution, Virginia was not 
 very able to sustain this garrison and the troops and families, 
 were compelled to leave it for the want of support. The offi- 
 cers of the fort first quartered the soldiers on the citizens of the 
 French villages and at other places for support; but not calling 
 for them, they were compelled to shift for themselves. Thus it 
 was that many of Clark's men, as they were termed, as well as 
 families, after 1780, were residents of the metropolis of the 
 country, Old Kaskaskia. 
 
 Pickett, Seybold, Groots, Hiltebrand, Dodge, Camp, Teel, 
 Curry, Lunceford, Anderson, Pagon, Doyle, Hughes, Mont- 
 gomery, and others were soldiers who had been in the service 
 of Virginia under Clark, either at Fort Jefferson or in the con-
 
 340 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 quest of Illinois. It was part of these men who established the 
 small colony on the east side of the Kaskaskia River, not far 
 from the old town of Kaskaskia, after 1780. 
 
 It was in this settlement, in the early part of the spring of 
 1788, that a most singular battle and siege occurred. David 
 Pagon, one of Clark's men, had made a house two miles from 
 Kaskaskia, on the east side of the river, and had finished it in 
 a strong and substantial manner, so as to withstand an Indian 
 attack. Levi Teel and James Curry, also two of Clark's sol- 
 diers, had been out hunting on the east side of the river and 
 had encamped in this house for the night. The door of the 
 house had three bars across it, to secure it against Indian 
 assault, and in the door was a hole cut for the cat to go in and 
 out. Toward day, Curry informed Teel that there were Indians 
 about the house and that they must fix up their guns for defence. 
 Teel was rather inclined to open the door and give up as pris- 
 oners, while Curry would not listen to it at all. Teel went to 
 the door to either open it or to make discoveries and stood with 
 his foot near the cat hole. The Indians outside stuck a spear 
 thro his foot and fastened him to the floor. The Indians, in 
 their war expeditions, always carry spears with them. By a 
 kind of instinct, Teel put his hand to the spear to draw it out 
 of his foot and other spears were stuck in his hand. They cut 
 and mangled his hand in a shocking manner; so that he was 
 not only nailed to the floor of the house, but his hands were 
 rendered useless. 
 
 It was ascertained afterward that it was the Piankeshaw 
 Indians and there were sixteen in the band. Curry was an 
 extraordinary man ; brave to desperation and inured to broil 
 and feats of battle until he was always cool and prepared. He 
 jumped up in the loft of the house to drive the enemy off be- 
 fore Teel would open the door and by a small crevice in the 
 roof, he put his gun out and shot into the crowd of Indians. 
 He shot three times with great rapidity, for fear Teel would 
 open the door. It was discovered afterward from the Indians 
 that Curry had killed three warriors. He then got down to see 
 what Teel was about and found him transfixed to the floor, as 
 above stated. He then got up again in the loft and tumbled 
 the whole roof, weight-poles and all, down on the Indians standing
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 341 
 
 at the door with spears in their hands. It will be recollected 
 that in olden times the roofs of cabins were made with weight- 
 poles on the boards, to keep them down. The pioneers used 
 no nails as they do at this day. The roof falling on the enemy 
 killed the chief and the others ran off. Day was breaking, 
 which assisted also to disperse the Indians. Curry took both 
 guns and made Teel walk altho he was almost exhausted on 
 account of the loss of blood. They had a hill to walk up at 
 the start, which fatigued Teel and he gave out before they 
 reached Kaskaskia altho they had only two miles to travel. 
 Curry left Teel and went to Kaskaskia for help and at last 
 saved himself and comrade from death. 
 
 To my own knowledge, the houses in times of Indian wars 
 were fixed so the roofs could be thrown down on the enemy 
 and sometimes large round timbers were laid on the tops of the 
 houses on purpose to roll off on the Indians below. 
 
 James Curry came with Clark in 1778, and was an active and 
 daring soldier in the capture of Forts Gage and Sackville. He 
 was large, strong, and active and was always foremost on the 
 list of those who contended for the prizes in foot-races, leaping, 
 wrestling, etc. He was a similar character to the celebrated 
 Thomas Higgins of modern pioneer memory. In all desperate 
 and hazardous services, Clark chose him first to act in these 
 perils and dangers. 
 
 The citizens of Illinois of olden times were compelled to hunt 
 for a support. Curry and Joseph Anderson, who afterward 
 lived and died on Nine-Mile Creek, Randolph County, were out 
 hunting and the Indians killed Curry, as it was supposed; as he 
 went out to hunt from their camp and never returned. Thus 
 was the closing scene of one of the brave and patriotic heroes, 
 the noble -hearted James Curry, whose services were so con- 
 spicuous in the conquest of Illinois. Not only a burial was 
 denied to this gallant soldier, but his remains are mingled with 
 the mother-earth ; so that even the place of his death is not 
 known. His blood was spilt in Illinois and it may produce, 
 when the occasion demands it, a race of heroes whose services 
 for their country may equal those of the lamented Curry. 
 
 Another of the gallant soldiers of Gen. Clark, William Biggs, 
 lived a long and eventful life in Illinois. He was born in Mary-
 
 342 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 land in 1755, and at the age of twenty-three years, he enrolled 
 himself in the Revolutionary war under Gen. Clark. He acted 
 as a subaltern officer in the conquest of Illinois in 1778 and 
 1779. He was hardy, energetic, and brave and used these 
 qualities for the redemption of not only the United Colonies 
 from bondage, but of the whole human race. He withstood 
 the perils and "hair-breadth 'scapes" incident to the campaign 
 under Clark with the heroism of a veteran warrior. He re- 
 ceived no bounty in land in the grant made to Clark and his 
 soldiers ; but the congress of the United States, recognizing 
 X the honorable services rendered to the colonies in the Revolu- 
 tion by Lieut. Biggs, granted him, in 1826, three sections of 
 land. The congress of the United States gave Judge Biggs 
 this public and honorable testimony of his important services 
 bestowed on his country for its liberation from British despotism. 
 Soon after the close of the Revolution, he returned and married 
 in West Virginia. Not long after his marriage, he, 'with two 
 brothers, emigrated to Illinois and settled at Bellefontaine. 
 
 In the spring of 1,788, he had been out hunting and had got 
 some beaver fur, which he was desirous to sell in Cahokia. He 
 then resided at the Bellefontaine and started with his beaver 
 fur, in company with John Vallis, to Cahokia. John Vallis was 
 from Maryland near Baltimore. Early in the morning of March 
 28 of the above year, Biggs and Vallis were riding on the main 
 road from the fountain to Cahokia the same road that is at 
 present traveled about six miles from Piggot's Fort in the 
 Bottom, and they heard the report of two guns. Biggs sup- 
 posed them to be hunters; but soon after, he saw sixteen Indians 
 with their guns presented. He and Vallis whipped their horses, 
 but in vain; all the Indians fired their pieces at him and com- 
 rade. The bullets riddled the horse of Biggs; killed him and 
 shot four holes thro Biggs' overcoat, but did not hit him. A 
 ball entered the thigh of Vallis and of which wound he died six 
 weeks after. The horse of Vallis carried him to the fort. Biggs, 
 his furs, saddle, and all fell oft" his horse and after running some 
 distance the Indians caught him and made him a prisoner. 
 
 When Vallis reached the fort, they fired a swivel to alarm 
 the neighborhood. At the report, the Indians run with Biggs 
 for six miles. They were Kickapoos and started direct to the
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 343 
 
 Weastowns or Ouitenon on the Wabash River, two hundred 
 miles above Vincennes. One of the Indians that captured 
 Biggs attempted to kill him, but to get rid of this Indian, his 
 comrades killed him. These savages have no regard for life 
 except it be their own. The first day, they traveled with Biggs 
 forty miles. They had no horses and must have traveled fast 
 on foot. Sixty-four years ago, Biggs, as a prisoner, must have 
 passed not far south of Belleville and Lebanon and traveled 
 almost three hundred miles to the Wabash, opposite the Weas- 
 towns, in ten days. The Indians were very severe on him in 
 tying him at night, for fear of his escape ; so he was almost 
 unable to walk. After he reached the Indian towns, he was 
 ransomed by agreeing to pay a Spaniard, Bazedone, two hun- 
 dred and sixty dollars ransom and thirty-seven more for other 
 necessaries on which to enable him to reach home. He 
 descended the Wabash and the Ohio to the Mississippi ; up 
 that river to Kaskaskia and on home to the Bellefontaine. 
 
 It was a miracle that so many Indians fired at Biggs and 
 Vallis, and within forty yards, did not kill them both. Biggs 
 suffered much, but he saved his life. He was a fine, handsome 
 man and his beauty had its effect even on the untutored females 
 of nature, as many of the Indian belles offered their hearts to 
 him in wedlock; but he acted the second Joseph with them on 
 the Wabash River as his illustrious predecessor did in Egypt. 
 
 [Mr. Biggs wrote a narrative in 1826 of his captivity and had it 
 
 ! published. 
 
 Gov. St. Clair in 1790 appointed him the sheriff of St. Clair 
 County, which office he held and did the business of it for many 
 years, as the ancient records testify. He had received a plain, 
 common education and had mixed so much with men, danger, 
 and war that he was well qualified to execute the duties of this 
 office. He was kind and obliging, so that the office of sheriff 
 sixty years ago, as it does to this day, enabled the incumbent 
 to become popular, if he be an honest, agreeable man, with 
 common business talents. He was popular and the citizens of 
 St. Clair elected him to serve in the legislature of the North- 
 west Territory for two different terms. He attended twice and 
 rode on horseback to Vincennes; thence to Louisville; thence 
 thro Kentucky and the territory to the seat of government of 
 all the country northwest of the Ohio River.
 
 344 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 At a time when Bond and Biggs were doing military service 
 in Illinois, in 1778, under Gen. Clark, they concluded to return 
 to Illinois after the war was closed. They said in a joke that 
 they would like to represent this country in the legislature, and 
 behold, they both did realize their waking dreams expressed in 
 the war. They were in the first general assembly of the terri- 
 tory, convened west of the Ohio, after the Revolution. 
 
 Biggs acted as justice-of-the-peace and judge of the court of 
 common-pleas of St. Clair County for almost time out of the 
 memory of man and made an honest, safe officer. He was 
 elected from St. Clair County to the general assembly of the 
 Indiana Territory in 1808, and acted well his part in obtaining 
 a division of the territory. Illinois Territory was established 
 soon after and the legislature of which Biggs was a member 
 gave motion to the ball. Judge Biggs was elected, in 1812, 
 from St. Clair County to the legislative council of the general 
 assembly of the Territory of Illinois ; remained in this office 
 four years and made a solid and useful member. He was act- 
 ing in the first organization of the first territorial government, 
 We are now enjoying the fruit of his and others' labors. Toward 
 the close of his life, he manufactured salt in Madison County, 
 on Silver Creek, and died at Col. Judy's in 1827, an aged and 
 respectable pioneer of Illinois. Few men have had the good 
 fortune to live in the age and had so many opportunities to 
 perform services for the human family as Judge Biggs had; but 
 in all these public transactions, he did not attend to his private 
 interests. He never was wealthy only possessed a reasonable 
 competency. His remains now repose in peace in a country 
 wherein he acted in such important scenes. 
 
 After the Indian war had closed in 1795, the citizens of Illi- 
 nois turned their attention to the improvement of their stock. 
 The breed of horses were advanced and many good ones raised 
 in the country. Illinois at that day, as it has been ever since,, 
 was a good climate for horses. Col. William Whiteside, in 1796, 
 introduced into the country a fine blooded-horse of the Janus 
 stock. It is supposed by the best judges of horses that a better 
 horse has never since stood in Illinois. Many of his colts made 
 turf nags that won races not only in Illinois, but in many parts 
 of the Union. The owners of two of these horses, both sired
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 345, 
 
 by Whiteside's horse, made a large bet on a race between them ; 
 of three miles and repeat. The race took place in the Horse 
 Prairie in the spring of 1803. The people of Illinois at that 
 day were all comprised within St. Clair and Randolph counties 
 and were not numerous. The whole country, with a few excep- 
 tions, were great amateurs of the sport and the race, and the 
 horses were as much discussed, to the number of people, as the 
 late Mexican war was. I would not be surprised if one-third 
 of all the males of Illinois attended the race and part of the 
 females. The celebrated race - horse, Sleepy Davie, whose 
 famous character all the ancient pioneers recollect, won the 
 race, beating a fine gray horse much larger than himself. 
 
 These races were in their character something similar to the 
 Olympic games in Greece and the railroad conventions and 
 mass-meetings of modern times. It is essential for the people 
 to assemble together to form friendly acquaintances and wear 
 off unfounded prejudices. This is a great and important ele- 
 ment in the congress of the United States. It gets the extremes 
 of the nation together, and by a friendly intercourse among the 
 members, the Union is made more permanent. By the Olympic 
 games, the Grecian States were preserved and the people im- 
 proved. Our Illinois races were nothing more in a small way 
 than part of the Olympic games. The people came together 
 from all parts of the inhabited Illinois and had a friendly inter- 
 change of sentiment; became acquainted with each other, and 
 returned home as friendly as brothers. At that day, 1803, less 
 than sixty miles north and south and fifteen or twenty from the 
 Mississippi, east and west, embraced the whole settlements, 
 French and Americans, in Illinois. 
 
 At these races almost every description of business was trans- 
 acted. Horses were swopped and contracts made. Debts paid 
 and new ones contracted. Amusements of various species were 
 indulged in. Foot-racing, wrestling, and jumping were not neg- 
 lected. Sometimes shooting- matches were executed; so that 
 in old pioneer times these horse-races were names for meetings 
 where much other business or pleasure was transacted and expe- 
 rienced. Small kegs of whisky were often brought to the races ;. 
 a keg in one end of a bag and a stone in the other. Sometimes 
 a keg in each end was the manner of getting the liquor to the
 
 346 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 races. Old females at times had cakes and metheglin for sale. 
 This race in the Horse Prairie was the most celebrated match- 
 race that occurred in Illinois in early times and drew to it the 
 greatest concourse of people. I think, in a moral point of view, 
 the community was improved by it; not on account of the race, 
 but by the friendly intercourse among so vast an assemblage of 
 people at that day. 
 
 I presume, in 1803, there were scarcely three thousand souls, 
 French and Americans, in all Illinois. No census at that day 
 was taken and it is difficult to be certain in the number; but 
 judging from the best data in my power and my personal obser- 
 vation, I think the above is correct. This estimate is allowing 
 an increase of one thousand jouls in fifteen years since 1788 
 to 1803. The French during this period were diminishing and 
 the Americans made up the increase to scarcely three thousand 
 inhabitants, 
 
 About this time, 1800, and onward, the inhabitants changed 
 to some extent their mode of business and living. They as- 
 sumed more the agricultural pursuits and abandoned hunting. 
 A commerce had commenced to New Orleans in flour, tobacco, 
 and live-stock, which induced the people to change their em- 
 ployments. The game was more exhausted; so that hunting 
 was not so profitable as heretofore. This change gradually 
 took place after 1800 to the war of 1812, which checked its pro- 
 gress to some extent. The immigrants were mostly from the 
 Southern and Western States and had been in the habit of cul- 
 tivating cotton and they continued its cultivation in Illinois. 
 It was supposed fifty years since that Illinois was a good 
 medium cotton country. Tobacco was also cultivated. Flax 
 was raised and manufactured into clothing. Wheat was more 
 cultivated than in former days. The range was good ; so that 
 cattle, hogs, and horses were raised in abundance. The only 
 misfortune of which farmers complained was the want of a 
 market for their surplus produce. 
 
 This change in the industry of the people justified the erec- 
 tion of more mills. Tate and Singleton, in 1802, built a good 
 water-mill for that day on the Fountaine Creek, a few miles 
 northwest of the present town of Waterloo. The mill -house 
 \vas made of stone and the capacity of the mill was made in
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 347 
 
 proportion to the demand of the country at the time. Edgar's 
 mill continued to do the most of the merchant business of the 
 country then and for a long time after. 
 
 Madame Beaulieu, a pioneer lady, was born in the village of 
 St. Phillippe in 1742, and was educated in Quebec, Canada. 
 Her father, a subaltern officer, came with the French troops to 
 Fort Chartres and located in the above village, sometimes called 
 the Little Village. His name was Chouvin. He settled after- 
 ward in Cahokia, where his daughter married M. Beaulieu. 
 This lady was educated and intelligent. She was the director- 
 general in moral and medical matters. She possessed a strong, 
 active mind and was a pattern of morality and virtue. She was 
 the doctress in most cases and the. sagefemmf general for many 
 years. She was extremely devout and an exemplary member 
 of the Catholic church. This, together with her merit gener- 
 ally, enabled her to fix up many of the male and female delin- 
 quencies of the village. She was sincerely entitled to the praise 
 due a peace- maker. Many of the young and accomplished 
 ladies courted the society of this old lady for improvement. 
 She lived a long and useful life and died in Cahokia in 1826, 
 eighty-four years of age, much lamented by all classes. 
 
 On June 5, 1805, a terrific hurricane swept over a part of Illi- 
 nois. It was one of those tempests of the whirlwind order. 
 The tornado moved from the southwest to the northeast and 
 crossed the Mississippi about a mile below the mouth of the 
 Merrimac. It was about three-quarters of a mile wide, and to 
 that extent, for several miles in Illinois, it prostrated trees and 
 even swept the water out of the river and the lakes in the 
 American Bottom to that width. William Blair had a boat 
 moored on the river near the place where the storm crossed it 
 and was certain that most of the water to the above extent was 
 raised out of the river by the violence of the tempest. It also 
 took the water out of the lakes. Fish from the river and lakes 
 were scattered all over the prairie in the course of this storm. 
 It occurred about one o'clock of the day and the atmosphere 
 before was clear and the sun shining. 
 
 Col. James A. James resided with his father nearly in its 
 course and was an eye-witness to this terrific storm. Dr. 
 Cairnes and family were directly in its course, and when they
 
 348 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 saw it approaching, they made an effort to escape it and suc- 
 ceeded in saving their lives. James and family retired out of 
 its violence. It reached the doctor and family, but it seemed 
 they were saved by a kind of miracle. His wife was behind in 
 their flight and she lay flat on the earth, holding on to a bush; 
 but the rails, tree tops, and almost every moveable thing were 
 dashed around her with great force. She was wounded in the 
 head, but not mortal. The doctor and the rest of the family 
 escaped unhurt. James and family were farther out of its vio- 
 lence and were saved. The cattle of the doctor came home 
 before the hurricane reached the premises, bellowing and much 
 terrified. They all perished by the violence of the tornado. 
 The doctor had a horse in a lot near his house, which was killed 
 by a fence-rail running thro him. The lowest log in the house 
 and last rock in the foundation of the chimney were swept off 
 by the force of the wind. The vegetation and all and every- 
 thing moveable in the course of this storm were destroyed and 
 torn to pieces. A large bull was raised up high in the air; car- 
 ried a considerable distance, and every bone in his body was 
 broken. The force of the storm was measurably spent by the 
 time it reached the Mississippi Bluff. It must have struck the 
 bluff not far from the place where the township line descends 
 into the bottom ; but no injury was done on the hills. The 
 clothes and all the household furniture of the doctor were 
 destroyed and scattered far and near. One of his waistcoats 
 was found at the Little Prairie, where his father resided, six or 
 eight miles from his demolished residence. The storm carried 
 in it pine tops from Missouri, which do not grow nearer than 
 fifty or sixty miles from the American Bottom. 'This was the 
 most violent tempest that ever visited Illinois. Others have 
 occurred, but none so violent. In the midst of the storm it 
 was very dark. In 1814, Kaskaskia was assailed with one; but 
 not so severe as that of 1805. It did not much injury to the 
 old town, as it did not pass directly over it. We hope for good 
 weather and no storms. 
 
 In 1805, Philip Creamer emigrated from Harper's Ferry, Mary- 
 land, and settled in the American Bottom a short distance east 
 of Prairie du Pont. He was born in Taneytown in the above 
 State and learned the trade of gunsmith at Harper's Ferry.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 349 
 
 Nature and education together made this pioneer one of the 
 greatest mechanics in America. The work of this eminent 
 artisan will compare favorably with the work of any mechanic 
 in the Union. He possessed a natural and great genius to 
 work in metal. Anything done in metal, he could accomplish 
 by a short apprenticeship. But he was the best in making a 
 gun, as he practised that part of the profession the most, and 
 he made all parts of a gun and put it together as if it had 
 grown fast there by nature. His gunlocks scarcely ever missed 
 fire. It was a proverb in olden times, " he is as sure as a 
 Creamer lock." In the war of 1812, he was very useful in re- 
 pairing and making guns for the troops defending the frontiers. 
 Government appointed him to work at his trade for the Ind- 
 ians. Some of his friends induced him to make a pistol for 
 Hon. John C. Calhoun when he was secretary of war. The 
 workmanship so surprised Calhoun that he wrote Creamer a 
 letter requesting to know where he learned his trade and a 
 sketch of his life. Creamer was a singular man and would not 
 answer it, as he said "he was no showman or stud-horse to be 
 advertised." He lived to an old age and died a few years ago, 
 much respected. 
 
 In a new country I think there are more original and eccen- 
 tric talents than in an old settlement. It seems that all the 
 latent sparks of genius are called forth by the circumstances 
 of the country. These singular talents were .often exhibited 
 by the pioneers in their games and sports. 
 
 In 1806, Robert Pulliam of Illinois and a Mr. Musick of Mis- 
 souri made a bet of two hundred dollars on a horse-race of 
 one-quarter of a mile. This race was agreed to be run on the 
 ice in the Mississippi a short distance above St. Louis. It was 
 a singular place on the ice to run a horse-race ; but the par- 
 ties run it and were not injured. Another strange wager was 
 made in Kaskaskia by two very respectable citizens. This 
 bet was made in perfect good humor and for sport. A dozen 
 bottles of Champagne were wagered on the following game: 
 The snow was four inches deep and the bet was that the game- 
 sters were to go out in the commons of Kaskaskia; strip off 
 their boots and socks to the bare feet, and whoever killed the 
 first rabbit on the snow in their bare feet, won the wine. It
 
 350 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 would puzzle Hoyle to define the principles on which this last 
 game was based. 
 
 In 1800, an enterprising and talented pioneer, Michael 
 La Croix, settled in Peoria and extended his trade mostly 
 with the Indians throughout the Upper Illinois country. He 
 frequently visited Cahokia, but his main residence was at 
 Peoria. He was a Canadian-Frenchman and had received a 
 liberal education. The person of La Croix was stout, digni- 
 fied, and prepossessing, and his appearance indicated what he 
 really was: a man of sound mind and great energy. He was 
 a successful Indian trader for many years and was in Canada 
 to purchase goods when war was declared in 1812 against 
 Great Britain, and he was detained in Canada, a British prov- 
 ince, to defend it. He was also forced out into the service 
 against the United States. This he disliked; yet, if he had 
 deserted to the Union, his goods and estate, which were con- 
 siderable, would be forfeited to the king. He remained on 
 the side he disliked and the government pressed him into the 
 military service. While he was forced into the army, he 
 accepted a lieutenancy, merely to raise him from the ranks. 
 When peace was restored, he returned to the United States, 
 and in 1815, he was naturalized. 
 
 Before he went to Canada in 1812, he built a fine house in 
 Peoria and when Capt. Thomas E. Craig was at that place in 
 the fall of 1812, he became excited against the citizens of 
 Peoria and burnt the house of La Croix and many others. 
 This burning by -Craig was considered by all reasonable men 
 as a wanton act of cruelty. After the war, the Indian trade 
 was not so good as heretofore. The whole country on the 
 Illinois River was being settled with a white population, which 
 took the place of the red-skins. M. La Croix died in 1821, 
 in the village of Cahokia, much regretted by his family and 
 acquaintances. 
 
 It will be recollected that Virginia, in her cession of the 
 Illinois country and the Northwest Territory to the United 
 States in 1784, a compact was made that "the French and 
 Canadian inhabitants and all other settlements of the Kaskas- 
 kias, St.Vincents, and the neighboring villages, who have pro- 
 fessed themselves citizens of Virginia, shall have their posses-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 351 
 
 sions and titles confirmed to them and be protected in the 
 enjoyments of their rights and liberties.^ In June, 1788, a 
 resolution of the old congress passed, granting a donation of 
 four hundred acres of land to each head of a family in Illinois 
 and also confirming them in their possessions, as required by 
 Virginia. An act of congress passed in 1791, granting a 
 donation of one hundred acres to each militia-man who was 
 enrolled in the militia service of that year. The governors of 
 the territories of the Northwest and Indiana were authorized to 
 adjust the claims arising out of these various acts of congress. 
 They had granted some of the claims, but many were still 
 unadjusted. To remedy this evil, an act of congress was 
 passed in 1804, establishing land-offices at Kaskaskia, Vin- 
 cennes, and Detroit, to adjust these old claims and to sell the 
 public lands after the private titles were set apart to the pro- 
 prietors. 
 
 The great desideratum, something devoutly to be wished for, 
 w r as the settlement and improvement of the country. This 
 was the universal prayer of all 'classes of people in Illinois, to 
 my own knowledge, for almost half-a-century. It was quite 
 natural. The country was so thinly populated that the inhabi- 
 tants did not enjoy the same blessings of the government, 
 schools, and even the common comforts of life that were 
 enjoyed by the people of the old states. The adjustment of 
 these old land-titles must be made and the public lands sur- 
 veyed before the citizens could procure good titles to their 
 lands, and before that, not much settlement of the country 
 could be expected. Therefore the citizens were extremely 
 anxious to have these matters all arranged; so that the coun- 
 try could fill up with families living on their own lands, with 
 good titles to them. 
 
 Under the act of congress of 1804, Michael Jones and E. 
 Backus were appointed register and receiver of the land-office 
 at Kaskaskia. These commissioners entered into the duties of 
 their office, but made no report of confirmations of titles before 
 1809. This delay excited the people and a very bitter and 
 rancorous feeling was engendered between the commissioners 
 and many of the inhabitants. About that time, an excessive 
 and virulent party-spirit, without any great principle to found
 
 352 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 it on, also existed. Jones, one of the commissioners, entered 
 -warmly into these party politics. Michael Jones was born in 
 Pennsylvania and came to Kaskaskia, the register of the land- 
 office in 1804. He was a sprightly man, of plausable and 
 pleasing address. He possessed a good English education 
 -and was, in his younger days, well qualified for business if he 
 had been clear of excitement. His temperament was very 
 excitable and rather irritable. His mind was above the ordi- 
 nary range; but his passion at times swept over it like a tor- 
 nado. His colleague, E. Backus, was an excellent man, kind 
 and benevolent, and entered not much into the feelings of 
 cither side. He permitted Jones to take his own way in the 
 reports made in the land-office to the secretary of the treasury. 
 An act of congress passed in 1812 which pretended to 
 authorize the commissioners to revise the former decisions of 
 the governors and the commissioners themselves. With these 
 excited feelings against his political enemies, Jones not only 
 reported against many of the claims, but branded the parties 
 with perjury and forgery to an alarming extent. With these 
 party-excited feelings, many of the best citizens in the coun- 
 try were stigmatized with the above crimes, without cause and 
 when they had no means or manner of defending themselves. 
 For nine years the delay to adjust the land-titles and to get 
 the public lands into market was kept up throughout the coun- 
 try and the immigration considerably delayed on that account. 
 It was not until the act of congress passed in 1813, granting 
 the right of preemption, that the country in true earnest com- 
 menced to populate and improve. The public lands then were 
 brought into market and the improvements of the people 
 secured. 
 
 In 1802, and for a few years after, the settlements on the 
 east side of the Kaskaskia River increased considerably. 
 Fulton with his large family located there; so did the Hug- 
 gins, Bilderbacks, Hill, and Livelys, and in 1805, about fifteen 
 families from Abbeyville District, South Carolina, located in 
 the same settlement, from five to fifteen miles from Kaskaskia. 
 The Andersons, Thompsons, Erwin, McDonald, McBride, Cox, 
 Miller, Couch, and others cori posed this settlement, and dur- 
 ing the next few years, this colony from South Carolina in-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 353 
 
 creased to forty families or more. These South-Carolina emi- 
 grants were hardy, energetic people, well qualified to sustain 
 themselves in a new and frontier country. They were honest 
 and patriotic, of Irish descent, and were warm and impulsive. 
 The old ones were generally of the Presbyterian church ; but 
 the younger class was moral, yet joined no church. 
 
 In 1806, when the United-States lands were to be surveyed, 
 the Rector family reached Kaskaskia and remained there for 
 several years. This family in Illinois was numerous and con- 
 spicuous in pioneer times. There were nine brothers and four 
 daughters of the family. They were all born in Fauquier 
 County, Virginia, and many of them raised there. Some of 
 them had emigrated to Ohio and others direct to Illinois. 
 The family were singular and peculiar in their traits of char- 
 acter. They were ardent, excitable, and enthusiastic in their 
 dispositions. They possessed integrity and honesty of pur- 
 pose in the highest degree. Nature had endowed them with 
 strong and active minds, but their passions at times swept over 
 their judgments like a tempest. They were the most fearless 
 and undaunted people I ever knew. Dangers, perils, and even 
 death were amusements for them when they were excited. 
 They were impulsive and ungovernable when their passions 
 were enlisted. They were the most devoted and true-hearted 
 friends and the most energetic and impulsive enemies to any 
 one they thought deserved their hatred. The family in their 
 persons were generally large and formed with perfect manly 
 symmetry. They were noble, commanding, and elegant in 
 their bearing and their personal appearance was, for manly 
 beauty, not surpassed in the territory. They possessed an 
 exquisite and high sense of honor and chivalry. An insult 
 was never offered to any one of them that went unpunished. 
 
 William Rector was the oldest brother and a monitor for 
 the balance. He was a deputy-surveyor and all were respect- 
 able gentlemen. Stephen Rector was a lieutenant in Capt. 
 Moore's company of United-States rangers in the war of 1812, 
 and performed well his duty to his country. 
 
 Nelson Rector was captain' of n armed boat in 1814, and 
 had an engagement with the Lritish and Indians at Rock 
 Island. He possessed the noble bearing of the ancient 
 23
 
 354 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 knights. It became necessary at the battle-ground to leave 
 the boat and rout some Indians from an island in the Missis- 
 sippi. Capt. Rector was dressed richly, with a splendid mili- 
 tary uniform, epaulettes, and a large red feather in his hat. 
 Thus equipped, he drew his sword and walked deliberately on 
 an open sand beach, in a short distance of the enemy, and 
 ordered his company to follow him. Many Indian guns were 
 fired at him, which he disregarded as if they were pop-guns. 
 He escaped, but it was miraculous, as he was alone, in advance 
 of his company, and such a distinguished object, an officer so 
 gayly dressed, without a gun to return the fire. But all the 
 Rectors were strangers to fear. 
 
 Thomas Rector, one of the younger brothers, had a duel 
 with Joshua Barton on Bloody Island, opposite St. Louis, and 
 was as cool in that combat as if he were shooting at a deer in 
 the prairie. These young men espoused the quarrel of their 
 older brothers and Barton fell in the conflict. William Rector 
 commanded a regiment as colonel in the campaign of 1812, 
 against the Indians at the head of Peoria Lake, and in the 
 same campaign, Nelson Rector acted as an aid-de-camp to 
 Gov. Edwards. 
 
 The whole Rector family were patriotic and were always 
 willing and ready, on all proper occasions, to shed their, blood 
 in the defence of their country. Nelson Rector had a com- 
 pany of surveyors out on the waters of the Saline Creek in 
 Gallatin County, Illinois, and on March i, 1814, he was fired 
 on by the Indians and severely wounded. His left arm was 
 broken; a ball entered his left side and another touched his 
 face. His horse carried him off and he recovered from his 
 wounds. In 1816, Col. William Rector was appointed sur- 
 veyor-general of Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. He made 
 St. Louis his residence, where the whole family assembled and 
 resided also. 
 
 The Goshen Settlements were extended north in 1804. In 
 that year, James Stockton and Abraham Pruitt settled at the 
 foot of the bluff, not far below Wood River. These two fami- 
 lies were the first that located in the Wood-River Settlement, 
 so called afterward. These emigrants came from Knox Co., 
 Tennessee, and were the pioneers of a large connection that
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 355 
 
 followed in a few years after. They were honest, correct 
 farmers. About this time, the Six-Mile Prairie Settlement in- 
 creased also. 
 
 In this year, 1804, Delorm, a Frenchman from Cahokia, set- 
 tled at the edge of the timber cast of the Big Mound in the 
 American Bottom, near the Quentine Creek. The French 
 had resided on the Big Island in the Mississippi, below the 
 mouth of the Missouri, at intervals, for fifty or sixty years 
 before. Squire LaCroix, who died in Cahokia an old man a' 
 few years since, was born on that island. 
 
 The Quentine Village commenced its existence soon aftcr 
 Delorm settled east of the Big Mound in 1804. It extended 
 from, the mound west, along the margin of Cahokia Creek for 
 some miles, and was at one time a handsome little village. 
 They mostly emigrated from Prairie du Pont. About the 
 same time, 1805, Nicholas Turgion, August Trotier, Dennis 
 Vallcntine, and others commenced the French Village, which' 
 is situated in the American Bottom on the banks of a lake. 
 It extends west from the bluff and the macadamized road now 
 passes thro it. Vallentine built a horse-mill in this village. 
 This little French colony, like that of the Quentine, flourished' 
 for several years and both were neat little French settlements. 
 The Quentine has been declining for some time and has 
 almost disappeared as a village. The country around it is 
 assuming an agricultural existence and that of a French village 
 is merged in farms. 
 
 It was in the neighborhood of this village that the monks 
 of LaTrappe established themselves in 1810, at the Big Mound 
 in the American Bottom. It seems that this order of religion- 
 ists carries on a crusade against human nature in their own 
 persons. We read of the bravest of the brave, but they were 
 the most rigid of the rigid. They carried out the nc plus ultra 
 of fanaticism. Two of their vows were celibacy and perpetual' 
 silence. It i* strange they did not declare against eating. 
 Females were not permitted to enter on their premises. It is 
 said they swept off their tracks if any came within their walks 
 by mistake. This order is. a branch of the Cistercian monks 
 and was first founded by Rotrou I., count of Perche, in 1040. 
 It relaxed in its severe discipline until Abbe Ranee reinstated
 
 356 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 it in its vigor in 1664. It was situated first in the most gloomy 
 and wild province of France that of Perche. Its last founder, 
 Ranee, got soured at the world and particularly against his 
 mistress, who discharged him for another lover, and he com- 
 menced a war against himself. He lay on a rock, lived on 
 bread and water alone, and removed a handful of earth from 
 his grave each day of his life; and what is strange, he had fol- 
 lowers. I have myself addressed many of the monks at the 
 mound and they were as silent to me as the grave. The New 
 Testament teaches no such doctrine as that. The Revolution 
 in France removed them from that nation and public opinion, 
 which is more powerful than a revolution, discharged them 
 from the American Bottom. They located themselves first in 
 the United States in 1804, at Conewago, Pennsylvania; then 
 in Kentucky ; then at Florisant, St. Louis County, Missouri ; 
 and lastly, as above stated. They were sickly at the mound; 
 sold out and disappeared in 1813. 
 
 Soon after the purchase of Louisiana, President Jefferson 
 projected a peaceable campaign across the continent to the 
 Pacific Ocean. The object of this exploration was to acquire 
 information of the country between the two oceans and secure 
 the friendship and trade of the Indians. Merryweather Lc* 
 and William Clark, brother of Gen. G. R. Clark, were appoiiu 
 the leaders of the expedition. The exploring party, consisting 
 of thirty-four men, camped the winter of 1803 and 1804 in the 
 American Bottom, not far from the Mississippi, below the 
 mouth of Wood River. This camp was the nltama tliule of 
 the white settlements in Illinois at that day. Lewis was a 
 captain and Clark a lieutenant in the United -States army. 
 They visited Cahokia, St. Louis, and the settlements around in 
 Illinois during this winter. They embarked on the Missouri 
 River on May 14, 1804, and returned to St. Louis in December, 
 1806. Many of the party, John B. Thompson, Collins, Willard, 
 Newman, Windsor, Frazier, Gibson, and perhaps some others 
 settled in Illinois and most of them remained there. 
 
 In the years progressing from 1804, the settlements of both 
 Randolph and St. Clair counties enlarged considerably. Lacy, 
 Tindale, Gaston, Franklin, Herd, Cochran, and others located 
 in the settlement east of the Kaskaskia River, in Randolph
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 357 
 
 County. Smith and Taylor located in the American Bottom, 
 between Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia, in 1801, and both 
 raised large families there. Henry Noble and Jesse Greggs 
 were the two first families in 1804 that settled on Big-Muddy 
 River. They were the pioneers of Big Muddy. Going, Pul- 
 liam, Griffin, Chance, Ratcliff, Gibbons, and some others were 
 added to the outside settlements of Kaskaskia River and 
 Silver Creek in these times. Chiltons, Brazell, Lorton, Moore, 
 Downing, Lemen, Copeland, Lacy, Gregg, Vanhoozer, Rattan, 
 Hewitt, Hill, Stubblefield, Jones, and many others were at- 
 tached to the eastern and northern parts of what was then 
 known as the Goshen Settlement 
 
 In these days, 1805, John T. Lusk emigrated from Ken- 
 tucky and settled in Goshen, Illinois. He was born in South 
 Carolina and had lived with his father at Lusk's Ferry on the 
 Ohio, opposite the present town of Golconda. He has been 
 engaged the greater part of his life in the administration of 
 the laws. He served in the military in the war and has per- 
 formed his duties well in both civil and military offices. 
 
 The Six-Mile Prairie Settlement was enlarged by Waddles, 
 Gnffin, Squires, Cummins, Carpenter, Gilham, and others, 
 jut this time, some efforts were made to ship the produce 
 10 market by the farmers themselves. The same energies that 
 defended the country in times of war were now turned to com-, 
 merce. Several flat-boats were constructed; laden with corn, 
 hogs, cattle, etc., and started to New Orleans from the head of 
 the Big Island, in the present county of Madison. Some 
 reached the destined port, but others were wrecked on the 
 voyage for the want of skill in the navigation of the river. 
 Boats were also started down the river from the Big Prairie, 
 in the present county of Monroe. The lead-mines in Missouri 
 were a market for live-stock, hogs, and beef-cattle. 
 
 School-houses were "few and far between" at that day. 
 The immigrants were from the Southern and Western States, 
 as it has already been remarked, and were not as efficient to 
 advance education as their duties to themselves and country 
 demanded at their hands. A school-house, a log-cabin, in 
 ancient times stood at the foot of the bluff, half-way between 
 Judy's and William B. Whitcside's ; but more than half the
 
 358 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 time it was not occupied. About half the time, a log school- 
 . house was tenanted by a school, which stood east of the spring 
 of John Fulton of Ash Hill, Randolph County. Doyle, the 
 .brave old soldier of Gen. Clark, kept a school in Kaskaskia 
 for many years after 1790. In 1805, Edward Humphrey taught 
 a school in the American Bottom, near the Chaffins. In the 
 French Villages, common education was very much neglected. 
 The priests and the old ladies at times taught the children, 
 .but not often. At the New Design and in the American Bot- 
 tom, schools were to some extent sustained. About this time, 
 1805, and onward, the country commenced to have frontiers. 
 Before that, inside and outside of the American settlements 
 were all frontiers. 
 
 In pioneer times, professional characters were not numerous. 
 The country was poor and sparsely settled; so that many of 
 them could not make a living by their practice. 
 
 George Fisher was a physician who was considered the best 
 of his day. He emigrated from Hardy County, Virginia, and 
 settled in Kaskaskia in very early times. He was also a mer- 
 chant; but he did not long continue in that profession. Dr. 
 Fisher was a gentleman of common education, and had been 
 a well-read physician; but depended more on his natural abili- 
 ties than books. He possessed a good, sprightly mind, and a 
 great share of activity. He was an agreeable and benevolent 
 man. Soon after the territory of Indiana was established, Gov. 
 Harrison appointed Dr. Fisher the sheriff of Randolph Count}-. 
 He executed the duties of this office to the satisfaction of the 
 public for many years. He was elected to the first general 
 assembly of the Illinois Territory. He was a great favorite 
 with the people kind to the poor and indulgent to all. He 
 was elected the speaker of the house of representatives. This 
 is an office of standing and dignity, no matter where the 
 assembly may be. Dr. Fisher was elected to the convention 
 in 1818, from Randolph County. He acted in that celebrated 
 convention that formed a Constitution, which secured the pros- 
 perity and happiness of the State for many years. He died 
 on his farm, at the foot of the bluff, in 1820, much lamented 
 by the people. 
 
 Dr. Wm. L. Reynolds emigrated from Kentucky, Bracken
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 359 
 
 County, in the year 1809, and settled in Kaskaskia. He pos- 
 sessed talents of a high order, and a probity and integrity 
 that dignify human nature in any condition in life. He had 
 received a collegiate education, and was well versed in the 
 science of medicine. He had studied with great assiduity, and 
 his labors were crowned with success. For many years he 
 reigned triumphant in his profession in Kaskaskia and vicinity. 
 Dr. Fisher had retired to his farm, and did not practise much. 
 Dr. Reynolds moved to Cahokia, and practised there with a 
 high reputation, as he had done in Kaskaskia. He returned 
 to Kaskaskia, and practised his profession there for many 
 years. He was elected to the territorial legislature in 1815, 
 and was instrumental in establishing Jackson County, and 
 giving it the name of Jackson, and the county-seat, Browns- 
 ville, in honor of those two great generals in the United-States 
 army. He became sickly, and died in 1823 with the con- 
 sumption, without seeing many years. His death was much 
 regretted, not only for his sake, but for a more sordid con- 
 sideration, the loss of him as a physician. 
 
 A more ancient pioneer doctor was Trueman Tuttle. Dr. 
 Tuttle was an Eastern man, with classic education, who came 
 as a surgeon of the United-States army with the troops that 
 came to Kaskaskia in 1802. He was considered a good phy- 
 sician, and accordingly got a good practice with the citizens 
 while he remained in the army. When the army left, he 
 resigned [1808] his office as surgeon, and remained to practise at 
 Kaskaskia. After some years he established himself in Caho- 
 kia, and there also maintained an excellent character. He 
 was appointed judge of the court of common-pleas of St. Clair 
 County, and justice-of-the-peace. He was honest and correct 
 in these offices, as he had been in all his acts, public and 
 private. 
 
 There was a Dr. Wallace, who attended to the dreadful sick- 
 ness of the New Design in 1797; but his character was little 
 known then or at present. Dr. Lyle resided in Cahokia in 
 very early times, and was considered a good physician, but 
 excessively ill-natured and cross. 
 
 Dr. James Rose emigrated from Kentucky, and settled in 
 Kaskaskia in 1805. He possessed some talent and made a
 
 360 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 good physician in his early life. He was a little lame; but 
 before he forgot himself for his friendship for alcohol, his 
 mind was not lame. He enjoyed a good practice at Kaskas- 
 kia and vicinity. He did reside in Belleville; but toward the 
 close of his career he neglected his profession, and it in turn 
 neglected him. 
 
 Dr. Caldwell Cairnes was a sound, good physician in olden 
 times in Illinois. He emigrated from Pennsylvania about half 
 a century ago, and located in Illinois. In 1805, he was in the 
 tornado already mentioned. He possessed himself of a splen- 
 did farm, which he styled Walnut Grove. He farmed on a 
 large scale, and attended likewise to his profession. He was a 
 judge of the court of St.Clair County, and justice-of-the-peace.. 
 When Monroe County was organized, he was elected from it 
 one of the members that formed the State constitution. He 
 made a solid business member in that body. He died on his- 
 plantation, much regretted by the public. Dr. Cairnes was a 
 sound, clear-headed man, and was honest and correct. He 
 left behind him a good reputation and a large estate. 
 
 Benjamin H. Doyle, an attorney -at- law, emigrated from 
 Knox County, Term., and settled in Kaskaskia in 1805. He 
 practised in the courts of Randolph and St.Clair counties. He 
 possessed a good address, and would have made a good law- 
 yer if he had attended to his studies. He was appointed 
 attorney-general; but resigned his office in 1809, and left the 
 country. 
 
 James Haggin was born in Kentucky, and emigrated to- 
 Kaskaskia in 1804. He practised law some years in the 
 courts of both Randolph and St. Clair, and was a promising 
 young man. He built a house, not in the settlement, but, at 
 that day. in the wilderness, four or five miles east of Kaskas- 
 kia, at the head of Gravelly Creek. He remained in Illinois 
 but a few years, and went back to Kentucky, where he became 
 a very eminent man. 
 
 John Rector, a lawyer one of the Rector family before 
 mentioned located in Kaskaskia in 1806; opened a law-office, 
 and attended the courts at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. He prac- 
 tised his profession for a few years in Illinois, and left the 
 country.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 361 
 
 The first attorney who made Cahokia his permanent resi- 
 dence, after Darnielle, was William Mears. He came to this 
 village in 1808, and there commenced the practice of the law. 
 He was born in Ireland in 1768, and emigrated to the United 
 States. He landed at Philadelphia, and taught school some 
 time in Pennsylvania. He came to Cahokia, about forty years 
 of age, as if he had dropped down from the clouds without 
 horse, clothes, books, letters, or anything except himself a 
 rather singular and uncouth-looking Irishman. He had read 
 law while he taught school in Pennsylvania. He possessed a 
 strong mind and retentive memory. In his early days he was 
 not a scholar, but by application and severe study he not only 
 acquired a profound knowledge of the law, but also became a 
 learned and intelligent man. He was appointed attorney-gen- 
 eral for the territory of Illinois in 1814, and, to my own knowl- 
 edge, he made an able and efficient prosecuting-attorney. He 
 moved to Belleville when the county-seat was taken there, in 
 1814, from Cahokia, and remained in this place during his life. 
 He was elected clerk of the house of representatives of the 
 general assembly. He married a respectable lady in Missouri 
 built a house in Belleville, and died there in 1824. Mears had 
 no talent for speculation or acquiring wealth; but lived decently 
 on his practice, and died about even with the world. 
 
 In 1809, Samuel D. Davidson, a lawyer from Kentucky, came 
 and settled in Cahokia. He was a decent young man moral 
 and correct but made no impression on anything where he 
 lived, moved, or had his being. He wrote a beautiful hand, 
 which was about the beginning and ending of his talents. I 
 think he taught a school in Cahokia, and he entered the mili- 
 tary service in 1812. In the campaign of 1813 he was appointed 
 to some office in the quartermaster's department. Some time 
 after the war, he left Cahokia to parts unknown. 
 
 Russel E. Heacock practised law in St. Clair County in 1808, 
 and moved to Jonesboro', south of Kaskaskia. He married in 
 that vicinity, and practised law for several years in that section 
 of Illinois. He moved to Buffalo, New York, and then to Chi- 
 cago; and acquired considerable property in and near Chicago, 
 [where died of cholera in 1 849.] 
 
 Joseph Conway emigrated from Kentucky, and settled in.
 
 362 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Kaskaskia, as a lawyer, in 1812. He acted in the contractors' 
 department for some time on the frontiers during the war. He 
 practised law in the courts in and south of Kaskaskia for some 
 time after he settled there. Judge Thomas, one of the United- 
 States judges for the territory of Illinois, appointed him clerk 
 of the circuit-court of Madison County in 1816. He remained 
 in this office until 1825. Politics then was warmly agitated by 
 the people, and Emanuel J. West was put in the office of clerk 
 of the Madison circuit-court. Conway was popular, and the 
 people elected him to the State senate for four years. Then he 
 was appointed clerk in Rock-Island County. He remained in 
 this office for several years went down the river and died. 
 Three brothers,* Louison, Etienne, and Louis Pensoneau, 
 
 * Diligent inquiry has so far failed to discover the descendants of Etienne and 
 Louis Pensoneau, and it is not known if they left any. After Etienne purchased 
 from Blair the land upon which the city of Belleville stands, he built a water-mill on 
 Richland Creek about two hundred yards south of the present site of the great Har- 
 rison steam-mill, and continued to operate it until he sold out to Gov. Edwards. He 
 then returned to Cahokia, and from there removed to St. Louis, where he engaged in 
 business and remained until his death. 
 
 About 1794, Louison Pensoneau married Miss Lizette LeCompt in the village of 
 Cahokia, and after residing some years in Peoria, settled on a farm at Point a la 
 Pierre, near the Grand Marais, four miles east of the Mississippi, on .the Belleville 
 road. At that place he died in 1832, and his widow continued to reside there until 
 her death in 1841. Of this union there survived ten children, three daughters and 
 seven sons. The daughters were Bridget, Marie, and Louisa; the sons were Louis, 
 Paschal, Laurent, Edward, Narcisse, Charles, and Francois, the two last being twins. 
 
 Bridget was married to Amable Tramble in 1818, and died in 1831, and her hus- 
 band, a Canadian- Frenchman, survived her but three or four years. They left two 
 sons, Louis and Franfois Tramble, who both died without issue : Louis, a journey- 
 man printer, dying in San Francisco, Cal., in the spring of 1850, and Franois was 
 drowned in the Missouri River, near Fort Leavenworth, in the same year, on his re- 
 turn from the Yellowstone as an employe of John P. Sarpy & Co., fur-traders of 
 St. Louis. 
 
 Marie married John Valentine, and both died in a few years after their marriage, 
 leaving one daughter, named Louisa, who subsequently married Octav Born, a Cana- 
 dian, and with him emigrated to New Orleans. 
 
 Louisa married Joseph Trotier in 1820, and lived and died in Cahokia. She had 
 two children, Mary and Joseph. Mary Trotier was married to Col. Vital Jarrot in 
 1845, and died in 1852. Her brother, Joseph, wandered to the Far- West, and is 
 perhaps still living. 
 
 Of the sons of Louison Pensoneau and Lizette Le Compt now all dead Louis, 
 born in 1800, married Henriet, youngest daughter of Jean Franfois Perry, in the fall 
 of 1822, and died where he had always lived, at Point a la Pierre, Feb. 22, 1826. 
 His only child, Louis Perry Pensoneau, born May i, 1824, is now residing at East
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 363 
 
 emigrated from Canada, and settled in Cahokia in 1798. They 
 were born at the old Prairie Fort, so-called, in the Three-River 
 Settlement, Canada, between the years 1772 and 1776. These 
 brothers married in Cahokia and made excellent citizens. Louis 
 occupied the ferry between Cahokia and St. Louis for many 
 years. In olden times the ferry between these two villages was 
 kept below the mouth of the old Cahokia Creek. This was 
 west of Cahokia and Louis Pensoneau was the ferryman for a 
 long time. Etienne was a very active and business man. He 
 possessed extraordinary energies, and improved the country 
 considerably. He made the first house, "the brick-house," so- 
 called, in olden times in Illinoistown. He then purchased the 
 site of Belleville from George Blair, and sold it to Gov. Edwards. 
 He went to St. Louis, purchased property, and died in 1821. 
 
 St. Louis with a married daughter, his only child. The widow of Louis Pensoneau, 
 with her son and widowed mother (nee Perry), removed to Belleville in 1833, and she 
 died at Mascoutah, St. Clair County, April 22, 1882. 
 
 Paschal Pensoneau, the next son, in early manhood became identified with the 
 Kickapoo Indians, married one or more of them, and died a few years since on the 
 reservation of the remnant of that tribe, in the Indian Nation, leaving several half- 
 breed children. 
 
 Laurent, the next son, born in 1805, married Elizabeth Hays, daughter of John 
 Hays, Esq., and died at Point a la Pierre, without issue, July 18, 1848. His widow 
 afterward married Bradford Broulette, and removed to Vincennes, Ind. , where she 
 still resides, her second husband having died several years ago. 
 
 Edward Pensoneau was born in 1810, and married Miss Isabella Boismenue in 
 1843, who died in 1846, leaving one son, Edward, now residing near East St. Louis. 
 Edward, Sr., was again married in 1853 to Margaret Saucier, daughter of Matthieu 
 Saucier, who, with three children, survived him, and still resides in or near Cahokia. 
 Edward Pensoneau, Sr., died in 1860. 
 
 Narcisse Pensoneau was born in 1812, and married Felicite Pensoneau in Belle- 
 ville in 1835, and died at Mascoutah, 111., Oct. 8, 1878. His wife died at the same 
 place, November 28, 1876. Of several children they had, but two survived them: 
 P'elicite, born in Belleville, July 22, 1836, who is living and unmarried, and William 
 Bissel Pensoneau, married and residing in Jackson County, 111. 
 
 The twin sons, Charles and Franois, were never married. Charles died in Belle- 
 ville in 1860, and Francois about the same time, in Louisiana. 
 
 About the time the three brothers, Etienne, Louis, and Louison Pensoneau, ar- 
 rived in Cahokia, two other Pensoneaus second or third cousins of theirs who are 
 not mentioned in the " Pioneer History," came to that village from Canada. They 
 were brothers and named P"ran9ois and Augustine. They were citizens of Cahokia 
 for many years, and both died and were buried there. Augustine Pensoneau mar- 
 ried the widow of Jean Francois Perry in 1815, and died in the fall of 1819, leaving 
 his widow and two children: Felicite, born in 1817, who married Narcisse Pen- 
 soneau, and Augustine, born in 1819, who was raised in the family of Hon. Adam 
 W. Snyder, and is now residing in Belleville.
 
 364 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Louison Pensoneau, when he arrived in Illinois, embarked in 
 the Indian trade, and remained in it almost during life. Me 
 made the Illinois River the scene of his operations, and the 
 Kickapoo Indians were his customers. Peoria was his main 
 depot, and the prairies round about were his counters where he 
 sold his goods. He was the first person that moved in the 
 adjustment of the old Peoria claims. He got up a petition 
 from the Peoria inhabitants and sent it to Hon. Daniel P. Cook, 
 representative in Congress; and the consequence was the act of 
 congress of 1820, authorizing the register of the land-office at 
 Edwardsville to hear evidence and report on the claims. His 
 report was confirmed by another act of congress, passed in 1823. 
 These Peoria claimants stand in the same situation as any of 
 the ancient inhabitants of Illinois who have had lands granted 
 to them by the government. Louison Pensoneau died in 1832, 
 much regretted. 
 
 The settlements in the two counties, St. Clair and Randolph, 
 enlarged considerably for some years before the territory of 
 Illinois (in 1809) was created. The inhabitants had located 
 themselves on the frontiers; so that the Wood -River Colony 
 was made stronger and enlarged. The same of the settlements 
 on Silver Creek and the Kaskaskia River, from Going's Settle- 
 ment down. Some few had located on the River Mary, in Ran- 
 dolph, and in the Mississippi Bottom below the creek called 
 Gagnie. Hickman, Manscoe, and some others settled in this 
 bottom as early as 1806. About this time Bowerman and Steel 
 settled on the Massac Road, some fourteen miles east of Kas- 
 kaskia. Two or three of the Bird family located at the mouth 
 of the Ohio the present Cairo. The Birds were engaged in 
 the commerce on the rivers, and made this establishment to 
 accommodate themselves and others navigating the western 
 waters in 1805. 
 
 Near the Ohio Saline, as it was called, a settlement was 
 formed in very early times, which increased for several years 
 before the year 1809. A few families were residing on the west 
 side of the Wabash, near Vincennes, some time before the war 
 of 1812; but they left during the war. In 1809, Macauley 
 emigrated from Kentucky, and located on the Little Wabash 
 where the Vincennes road crossed. He abandoned this place 
 in the war, but returned afterward.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Illinois under the Government of the Illinois Territory. 
 
 THE settlements were so remote from Vincennes, the seat of 
 government of Indiana Territory and they being a small strip 
 scattered on the margins of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers 
 that the people in Illinois clamored much for a new territory. 
 Nine-tenths of the country composing the Illinois Territory at 
 that day was uninhabited and a wilderness. 
 
 In the general assembly of the Indiana Territory, in 1808, 
 Jesse B. Thomas, a member of the legislature, was elected a 
 delegate to congress, and instructed to obtain a division of the 
 territory. On February 23, 1809, the territory of Illinois was 
 established. The boundaries of the Territory were the same as 
 those of the State at present, except the Territory extended 
 north to the northern limits of the United States. The Federal 
 government organized the territorial government and appointed 
 the officers to administer the laws in it. Ninian Edwards was 
 appointed governor; Nathaniel Pope, secretary; and Jesse B. 
 Thomas, William Sprigg, and Alexander Stuart, the judges. 
 Stuart soon resigned, and Stanley Griswold was appointed. 
 These officers, .for the most part, were great, talented men, and 
 gave character and standing to the country. 
 
 Nathaniel Pope being present, entered into the administration 
 of the government in the absence of Gov. Edwards. Secretary 
 Pope, acting as governor, appointed the proper number of jus- 
 tices-of-the-peace and other officers in the two counties. John 
 Hays was appointed sheriff, and John Hay clerk of the court, 
 and John Moore, coroner. Gov. Edwards arrived at Kaskaskia, 
 and he, with two of the judges of the Territory, by the authority 
 of the Ordinance of 1787, constituted a legislative body in the 
 first grade of territorial government. They rcenacted the laws 
 of the Indiana Territory, which were applicable to the territory 
 of Illinois. 
 
 365
 
 366 PIONEER HISTORY OK ILLINOIS. 
 
 The establishment of a separate government in Illinois, in 
 1809, had great influence on immigration. The country was then 
 better known and its merits appreciated. A great many ad- 
 venturers followed the government, and Gov. Edwards was 
 greatly instrumental in procuring immigration. 
 
 Matthew Duncan, an editor and proprietor from Kentucky, 
 established the first newspaper in the Territory. The paper 
 was published at Kaskaskia in the fall of 1809, which was a 
 great lever to make known the advantages of Illinois. In 1815, 
 Robert Blackwell and Daniel P. Cook purchased this paper,* 
 and published it for several years at Kaskaskia. 
 
 Col. Benjamin Stephenson and many other immigrants came 
 to the country under the patronage of Gov. Edwards.*f* The 
 Rector family being already there, with many others, and 
 together with the colony arriving with the new government, 
 made old Kaskaskia a gay and fashionable place again. Never 
 did Kaskaskia witness as much gayety, carousal, and amuse- 
 ment since the winter of 1809 and 1810. It is stated that the 
 number of inhabitants in 1810 was 12,520. I think this num. 
 b~r is swelled a little for effect; but the country was populating 
 
 * In McDonough's "History of Randolph, Monroe, and Perry counties," pun. 
 lishcd in 1883, we find the following: 
 
 "Writers disagree as to the date of the first appearance of a newspaper in lllinoi>. 
 Reynolds says that it was as early as 1809, while others equally reliable fix the date 
 in 1814. All, however, agree that the Illinois Herald was the first paper published 
 in the Territory, and that Matthew Duncan was the publisher and editor. The.se 
 points being settled, we are prepared to fix positively the date of its first appearance. 
 We are in possession of No. 32 of Vol. II. of the Illinois Herald, published at Kas- 
 kaskia (Illinois Territory), Thursday morning, April 18, 1816. Presuming that its 
 publication continued without interruption up to the date above named, the fust 
 issue was made September 6, 1814, page 194. On the same page, we are informed 
 that the date of the transfer of the Herald to [Daniel P.] Cook & [Robert] lilackwell 
 was August 25, i8r7. They changed the name of the paper to the Illinois Intelli- 
 gencer. " 
 
 A careful examination of the files of the Missouri Gazette and Illinois' Advertiser, 
 now in possession of the Missouri Republican, at St. Louis, fails to show any men- 
 tion of the Illinois Herald prior to 1814. J. H. G.. 
 
 t" NOTICE. I have for sale 22 slaves. Among them are several of both sexes, 
 between the years of 10 and 17 years. If not shortly sold, I shall wish to hire them 
 in Missouri Territory. I have also for sale a full-blooded stud-horse, a very large 
 English bull, and several young ones. NINIAN EDWARDS. 
 
 "October i, 1815." Illinois Herald, Kaskaskia, Oct. I, 1815.
 
 
 
 


 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 367 
 
 fast at that time to what it was in former days. All the influ- 
 ence of these officers of the Territory that they could exercise 
 were exerted for the welfare and growth of the country. 
 
 In 1809, Gov. Edwards appointed John J. Crittenden attor- 
 ney-general of the Territory, and, on his resignation, his brother, 
 Thomas T. Crittenden, was appointed to the same office. These 
 gentlemen did not remain long in the country, but returned to 
 Kentucky. Gov. Edwards was born in Montgomery County, 
 Md., in March, 1775. His parents were wealthy and respectable; 
 and his education was commenced under favorable auspices. 
 He was a companion at school of the celebrated William Wirt, 
 and prepared for college under the tuition of a respectable 
 clergyman Mr. Hunt. He then was sent to the college at 
 Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He did not graduate, but left the col- 
 lege and his home at the age of nineteen years for Kentucky. 
 
 Nature bestowed on Edwards many of her rarest gifts. He 
 possessed a mind of extraordinary compass and an industry 
 that brought forth every spark of talent with which nature had 
 gifted him. His intellect was naturally strong and vigorous, 
 and these qualities, together with his assiduity in his studies, 
 made him a very superior man. He rose in Kentucky to the 
 high and important office of chief-justice of the State. He 
 was appointed governor of the territory of Illinois by President 
 Madison, and by appointments continued in that office to the 
 organization of the State government, in 1818. 
 
 Gov. Edwards, by proclamation, established in 1812 the coun- 
 ties of Madison, Johnson, Pope, and Gallatin; and having had 
 a vote of the Territory in favor of a second grade of territorial 
 government, he ordered, on September 16 of the same year, an 
 election for members of the legislature. By his proclamation 
 this assembly was convened at Kaskaskia, November 25, 1812. 
 This was the first legislative body elected by the people that 
 ever assembled in Illinois. The whole Territory contained six 
 counties, and the general assembly twelve members five in the 
 council and seven in the house of representatives; as it seems 
 Pope County had no member in the council that session. 
 
 John Thomas of St. Clair County was elected clerk of the 
 council, and William C. Greenup of Randolph, clerk to the 
 house. One door-keeper attended on both houses, and each
 
 368 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 branch occupied a room in the same building. It is said that 
 the whole assembly boarded at one house and slept in the same 
 room in Kaskaskia. The members of the council were Samuel 
 Judy of Madison, William Biggs of St. Clair, Pierre Menard of 
 Randolph, Thomas Ferguson of Johnson, and Benjamin Talbot 
 of Gallatin. The members of the house were William Jones of 
 Madison, Joshua Oglesby and Jacob Short of St. Clair, George 
 Fisher of Randolph, Philip Trammel, and Alexander Wilson* 
 of Gallatin, and John Grammar of Johnson. This legislature 
 did much business, and made a short session. 
 
 Soon after Gov. Edwards and other territorial officers arrived 
 at Kaskaskia, they organized a colony of themselves and located 
 in the prairie below Prairie du Rocher. All made habitations 
 
 * Alexander Wilson, native of Virginia, came to the State in 1809 or 1810, from 
 Kentucky, and settled at Shawneetown. Was appointed a justice-of-the-peace of 
 Randolph County by Gov. Edwards, July 20, 1810. Was a member of the first 
 territorial legislature assembled by Gov. Edwards at Kaskaskia, and with Phillip 
 Trammell represented the then new county of Gallatin. He took his seat Novem. 
 ber 25, 1812, and died while a member of the legislature. His son, Harrison 
 Wilson, altho but a youth, was a volunteer in the war of 1812, and served as ensign 
 of Capt. Thomas E. Craig's company of territorial militia in the expedition against 
 Peoria. After his father's death he was active in his section on all matters relating 
 to the protection and development of the new territory; was appointed treasurer 
 of Gallatin County, Dec. 28, 1813, and justice-of-the-peace in 1817. As the friend 
 of Gov. Bond, he seems to have been well esteemed by the latter. His inclinations 
 were for the military service, and after the close of the war of 1812, altho colonel 
 of a militia organization, he had no opportunity for further duties until the Black- 
 Hawk War of 1832, in which, as captain of one of the companies of Posey's Brigade, 
 he served with credit to the end. After the end of the Indian troubles, he settled 
 down upon his farm in Gallatin County and lived a quiet and uneventful life until 
 his death, at Shawneetown, in Feb., 1852, at the age of 63. 
 
 Alexander Wilson was succeeded in the legislature by Thomas C. Browne, and 
 at his instance, in recognition of the services of his predecessor, as one of the 
 pioneers and founders of the territory, the legislature by a unanimous vote, with 
 the full approval of the council and Gov. Edwards, Nov. 29, 1814, granted the heirs 
 of Alexander Wilson a right of ferry-franchise across the Ohio River at Shawnee- 
 town. This franchise has ever since remained in the family and is now owned and 
 operated by the heirs of Harrison Wilson, whose sons, John Andrew Wilson of 
 Hamilton County, Maj. -Gen. James Harrison Wilson of the regular army, and 
 Maj. Henry S. Wilson, i8th 111. S&w&^T and Maj. Bluford Wilson, late solicitor 
 of the treasury, have all served the State or national government with credit, and 
 Gen. Wilson with distinction in the war of the Rebellion. Gen. Wilson and Bluford 
 Wilson alone siKyive^ncLsjnce the war have been the promoters and builders of the 
 St. Louis-and-]WtawG3tci'n, Cairo-and-Vincennes, and Louisville, -Evansville- and - 
 St. Louis railroads, in their native section of the State. J. H. G.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 369 
 
 in this neighborhood, and many of them resided there Gov. 
 Edwards, Judge Thomas, Judge Stuart, some of the Rectors, 
 Stephenson, and perhaps some others, resided in this colony. 
 It at last broke up, and all the first pioneers left it. 
 
 Gov. Edwards was very energetic and active in his youthful 
 <lays; and the war of 1812 gave him an ample theatre in which 
 to exercise his talents and energies. The country was weak 
 and the enemy the numerous bands of Indians were strong, 
 and were abundantly supplied by their allies, the British, with 
 the means of annoying the settlements. The inhabitants were 
 so extended over such a large country, which made it more 
 difficult to defend them than a small territory would be; and 
 the general government had not the power to relieve the Terri- 
 tory to any great extent. Edwards was equal to the emergency, 
 and performed his duty nobly to his country. He attended to 
 the defence of the country in person, and was present in all the 
 important transactions, guiding and directing the whole. He 
 remained at home with his family a very small portion of his 
 time during the whole war. 
 
 He was elected to the senate of the United States in 1818, 
 and was shortly after reflected, as his term soon expired. The 
 duties of this high and important office he performed with an 
 ability and force of character that gave him and the State much 
 standing and reputation. In 1826, he was elected governor of 
 the State, and gave to this high and confidential trust all his 
 experience, talents, and energies. He was the fast friend of 
 the canal, not only in the senate of the United States, when 
 the law passed granting so much land to the State for that 
 noble improvement, but also while he was the chief executive 
 of the State he urged that measure with all his great abilities. 
 At the close of the war of 1812, he was appointed, with August 
 Chouteau and William Clark of St. Louis, a commissioner to 
 treat with the Indians; and in 1815, many humane and equita- 
 ble treaties were made with them. 
 
 While the cholera was raging in Belleville, in 1833, he was 
 out, attending night and day to the afflicted with that scourge. 
 With his knowledge of medicine and his true benevolence, he 
 was a kind and efficient friend to the sick. It was his great 
 anxiety and exertions in time of the cholera to~save the dis- 
 24
 
 370 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 tressed that caused him to take that disease. He was aged and 
 his constitution some shattered, so that he fell a victim to the 
 disease in a few hours after it seized on him. He died in Belle- 
 ville, July 20, 1833. In the death of Gov. Edwards* the coun- 
 try lost one of its ablest and best friends, and his family a kind 
 parent and husband. 
 
 Judges Thomas, Stuart, and Sprigg were, under the new Ter- 
 ritorial organization, authorized and required to hold courts in 
 all parts of the Territory under the judiciary system prescribed 
 by the Territorial legislature. Judge Stuart remained on the 
 
 * Gov. Edwards left two sons whose connection with the history of the State was 
 of scarcely less importance than his own. His oldest son, Ninian Wirt Edwards, 
 was born April 15, 1809, near Frankfort, Kentucky, and removed with his father to 
 this State. Was married to Elizabeth P. Todd, at Lexington, Ky., February 16, 1832. 
 He graduated at Transylvania University in the law department in 1833. Was 
 afterward appointed attorney-general by Gov. John Reynolds in 1834. Confirmed 
 by the legislature in 1835. Disliking Vandalia as a residence, he resigned shortly 
 afterward and removed to Springfield, in the latter part of the year 1835. He was 
 the next year, 1836, elected to represent Sangamon in the loth general assembly as 
 a colleague of Abraham Lincoln, Gen. E. D. Baker, and six others known in llie 
 State's history as the celebrated "long nine", who encompassed the removal of the 
 capital to Springfield. Mr. Edwards was reelected in 1838, in the first legislature 
 which met in the new capital; was senator from Sangamon County in 1844-8; and 
 again to the house in 1848-50; and reelected to the latter position in 1850-52. Dur- 
 ing Mr. Edwards' term of office, as state senator, he was elected one of the delegates 
 to the constitutional convention of 1847. Before the expiration of his last legislative 
 term he was appointed, March 24, 1854, by Gov. Matteson to be the first State super- 
 intendent of public instruction, under the new free-school law, a position he filled ably 
 and worthily, giving the benefit of his ripe experience and extensive acquaintance, as 
 well as his thoro scholarship to the proper organization of what has since proven to be 
 one of the best systems of public education the land can boast. Mr. Edwards is still 
 living in Springfield, where he occasionally appears as an attorney in the courts 
 where he has practised for nearly fifty years. His rank as a lawyer was deservedly 
 high; he was one of the attorneys representing the State before the board to inves- 
 tigate the claims of the canal contractors in 1852-3-4. He was the author of the 
 first free-school law, approved Feb. 15, 1855. He also edited his father's letters and 
 published many of them, with a sketch of his life, in the year 1870. Mr. Edwards 
 had two sons and twc daughters, who are all married, and most of their descend- 
 ants are living near him in Springfield, Illinois. 
 
 The younger son of Gov. Edwards, Hon. Benjamin Stephenson Edwards, is also a 
 prominent member of the Springfield bar, and at the present writing a member of 
 the firm of Stuart, Edwards & Brown. Judge Edwards was elected judge of the 
 thirtieth circuit in 1869, a position he filled acceptably until his resignation the year 
 following. He has filled many minor positions acceptably, and is today one of the 
 acknowledged leaders of the bar of the capital city. J. H. G.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 3/1 
 
 bench in Illinois but a short time, and was appointed judge in 
 the territory of Missouri. Stanley Grisvvold was appointed in 
 his place in Illinois, as before stated. Judge Thomas presided 
 in three upper counties in the Territory, Sprigg in the centre, 
 and Stuart or Griswold on the Ohio and Lower Wabash. This 
 system greatly improved the judiciary of Illinois, which was 
 very much needed. 
 
 Nature has been as bountiful to her native-born sons in Illi- 
 nois as she has been generous in providing the fairest and finest 
 country for their support. Samuel McRoberts, one of nature's 
 loftiest sons, was born on his father's plantation in Monroe 
 County, February 12, 1799. The natural gifts of Samuel 
 McRoberts were great; and he added to them by an assiduity 
 and intense application to, study that would almost overcome 
 any obstacle. Three great leading elements composed his 
 character: a strong and vigorous intellect, an untiring energy 
 and industry, and an unbounded ambition. These traits, while 
 yet a young man not much over forty years, raised him from 
 an pbscure and humble situation in life to the senate of the 
 United States, which is one of the most elevated and most 
 important stations that is known to man. 
 
 In his tender years a tutor in his father's house instructed 
 him in the rudiments of education. When he was of the 
 proper age, he assisted his father to cultivate the farm for their 
 support. At maturer age he was placed under the care of a 
 very competent teacher, the late Mr. Edward Humphry. Mr. 
 Humphry was an excellent citizen and a fine scholar. He 
 commenced a school in the American Bottom, near the resi- 
 dence of Mr. Chaffin, in 1805, and continued to teach for many 
 years. His merit raised him to the kind consideration of the 
 people, and he held many important offices member to the 
 general assembly, register of the land-office, etc. 
 
 Young McRoberts received at this school an excellent Eng- 
 lish education, and also studied the Latin language. He 
 delighted in mathematics, in which science he became well 
 versed at this institution. He continued to prosecute his 
 studies with his means and under the circumstances of the 
 country until he was twenty years of age; then he accepted 
 the clerkship of the circuit court of Monroe County. While in
 
 372 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 this situation, he acquired the means and opportunity to im- 
 prove his mind, and he let no opportunity escape; but read 
 day and night, while other young men of his age and condition 
 were enjoying themselves in society and amusements. At the 
 age of twenty-two years he entered the law department of the 
 Transylvania University, at Lexington, Ky. The faculty at 
 this time were William T. Barry and Jesse Bledsoe, whose fame 
 and characters are known all over the nation. He attended 
 three full courses of lectures, and had the degree of bachelor 
 of laws conferred on him by the president and faculty. For 
 classmates he had ex -Senator Morehead of Kentucky; H. C. 
 White, Jr., of Tennessee; Senator Sevier, Arkansas; Mr. Harri- 
 son, late member of congress from Missouri; Mr. Speaker White 
 of Kentucky; Gov. Boggs of Missouri; Hon. Mr. Howard of 
 Indiana, and many others, who became distinguished characters 
 on the American theatre of great men. 
 
 After his return to Illinois, he commenced the practice of the 
 law at a strong bar Kane, Cook, Star, Blackwell, Mears, Thos. 
 Reynolds, Mills, Baker, and others composed the bar of this 
 section of the State where McRoberts commenced the practice 
 of the law; but he succeeded to the admiration of the public. 
 In 1825, he was elected by the legislature circuit-judge of the 
 second circuit in the State. In 1827, the judiciary was changed 
 and he was placed again at the bar. In 1829, he was elected 
 by the counties of Monroe, Washington, and Clinton to the 
 State senate. In 1830, he was appointed, by President Jack- 
 son, district-attorney for the district of Illinois; and in 1832, he 
 was appointed receiver of public moneys at the Danville land- 
 office.* In 1839, ne was appointed solicitor of the general land- 
 
 * Prior to 1832, the land-office for Eastern Illinois, north to the Wisconsin line, 
 was at Palestine, Crawford Co.; all north to the dividing line between townships 16 
 and 17, and west to the 3d principal meridian, was cut off of the Palestine district in 
 1831, and formed into the Danville land-district, with Mr. McRoberts as its first re- 
 ceiver, and on June 26, 1834, the Danville land-district was subdivided by an east- 
 and-west line between T. 30 and 31 (now the northern boundary of Iroquois and 
 Livingston co's), the territory north of which composed the Northeastern land-dis- 
 trict, and opened for business at Chicago, May 28, 1835. This explains why early 
 settlers within the limits of the last-named district had to go, successively, to Palestine, 
 Danville, and Chicago to enter government lands. Judge McRoberts remained re- 
 ceiver of the Danville land-office until his appointment as solicitor of the general 
 land-office at Washington in 1839; the house he lived in from 1832 9, a two-story 
 frame, still stands on S. Vermilion St., Danville. H. W. B.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 373 
 
 office at Washington City; and in 1841, he was elected to the 
 senate of the United States. 
 
 While a member of the senate, March 22, 1843, he died at 
 Cincinnati, on his return from Washington to Illinois. The 
 whole State, and the public generally, mourned and regretted 
 his death: that so young a man and one so promising for future 
 greatness should be cut off in the zenith of his usefulness and 
 promise. His family and relatives were overwhelmed with sor- 
 row and grief; but such is the mysterious ways of Providence. 
 Excessive energy and intense application to study and business 
 impaired his health, and at last shortened his days. Few men 
 in any country or in any age run the brilliant career he did in 
 so short a time. He was very kind and attentive to his brothers 
 and sisters, and aided to give them an education. 
 
 George Forquer and Thomas Ford half- brothers were 
 ancient and respectable pioneers of Illinois. Forquer was born 
 near Red- Stone Old Fort, now Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 
 1794, and Thomas Ford in or near Uniontown, in the same 
 State, in 1800. The father of George Forquer was an officer 
 in the Revolution, and served in that disastrous campaign to 
 Canada under Gen. Arnold. After his return from Canada, he 
 was appointed collector of the revenue of Bucks County, Penn- 
 sylvania, and was robbed by the tories; so that he lost all his 
 private fortune, which compelled him to seek an asylum in the 
 West. He located near the Red-Stone Old Fort, and there he 
 was killed by a coal bank falling on him. Mrs. Forquer, two 
 or three years after, married Robert Ford, and in 1802, her 
 husband was killed, as it was supposed, by robbers in the 
 mountains. The old lady had a large family and scarcely any 
 means for their support.' 
 
 It was the custom of the Spanish government to give lands 
 to actual settlers; and with the object to obtain land, Mrs. Ford 
 set sail in a keel-boat from Red-Stone Old Fort, in 1804, for 
 St. Louis, in the Spanish country. When she reached St. Louis 
 the country was ceded to the United States, and she received 
 no land. She remained in St. Louis some time, an'd then she 
 and most of the family were taken sick. After their partial 
 recovery, they moved to the New Design, in the fall of the 
 same year they reached St. Louis. They located themselves
 
 3/4 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 about three miles south of Waterloo. The next year they 
 moved near the bluff, where for the first time Forquer and Ford 
 walked upwards of three miles to school. They were under 
 the same teacher (Mr. Humphry), who had the charge, likewise, 
 of young Samuel McRoberts, and at the same time. 
 
 Mrs. Ford had a large family, mostly females, and not much 
 means to support or educate them; but used her utmost exer- 
 tions to accomplish that most desirable object the education 
 of her children. This lady possessed much talent, energy, and 
 firmness of character. She observed system and economy in 
 her family. It is supposed by many that much of the celebrity 
 and standing of her two sons were caused by the sound moral 
 principles with which she impressed them when they were under 
 her maternal care. 
 
 Forquer being much older than Ford, was compelled to leave 
 school to assist to support the family. He was forced to work 
 out when he was only nine years old; and his schooling alto- 
 gether was very little more than one year. He learned the 
 trade of a house-joiner or carpenter in St. Louis, and worked 
 at his trade for several years in that city. He returned to Illi- 
 nois and purchased the tract of land on which Waterloo was 
 located, in 1818. Daniel P. Cook and Forquer laid out this 
 town, and Forquer purchased a stock of goods. He afterward 
 projected the town of Bridgewater, on the Mississippi, one mile 
 above Harrisonville. He was injured by these goods, which 
 was the reason he studied law. He commenced the study of 
 the law with a defective education; but he possessed a vigorous 
 and active intellect, which supplied all deficiencies. He attended 
 the Polemic Societies in Monroe County, and he learned the 
 arts and mysteries of a fluent and elegant speaker. He had a 
 good voice, and was a pleasant orator. This was a great lever 
 in his extraordinary success. He possessed, as most of the 
 pioneers of olden times did, an unbounded ambition. It was 
 with him as Lord Nelson said, before the battle of Trafalgar: 
 " Victory ; or a grave in Westminster Abbey." Success or 
 death, was imprinted on Forquer's banner. 
 
 In the year 1826, he was elected to the legislature from 
 Monroe County, and was at the end of the session appointed 
 secretary of the State. Some years after he was elected
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 375 
 
 attorney-general .of the State of Illinois. Afterward he moved 
 to Sangamon County, and was elected to the State senate from 
 that county. After that he was appointed register of the land- 
 office at Springfield. He died of a pulmonary disease at Cin- 
 cinnati, in 1837, aged forty-seven years. 
 
 Altho he commenced in the world poor, and embarrassed 
 with his merchandizing debts, yet he accumulated a considera- 
 ble estate and died wealthy. He was blessed with the amiable 
 and benevolent virtues in an eminent degree. He was generous 
 and hospitable, which flowed from the pure fountains of his 
 noble heart. He made a good and successful practitioner at 
 the bar, and had acquired a reputation arid character by his 
 merit that extended all over the country. The community sin- 
 cerely mourned his death, as they had lost a great and good 
 man; but it was his family that shed sincere tears of affliction 
 and sorrow for their loss. 
 
 Ford being younger, had a better opportunity than his brother 
 Forquer to obtain an education; altho it was quite limited. 
 He might be considered as having received a good common 
 education for the wilderness state of the country, forty years 
 since, in Illinois. In his youth his mind was developing itself, 
 so that he gave great promise of his future success. At school 
 he was ardently attached to the science of mathematics. Daniel 
 P. Cook became acquainted with Ford, and saw at once that he 
 possessed a vigorous and strong mind, and was his sincere and 
 efficient patron ever after. 
 
 Cook provided and made the arrangements for Ford to study 
 law. Forquer considered Ford's education defective, and sent 
 him to Lexington, Ky., to improve it. But he remained there 
 not a year. His brother Forquer being broken up, he returned 
 home and commenced the practice of the law, in 1823. He 
 was compelled on many occasions, when he was reading law, to 
 stop and teach school for a support. In 1829, he was appointed 
 prosecuting-attorney for a judicial district. In 1831, I appointed 
 "him again prosecuting-attorney Gov. Edwards having first 
 appointed him. In 1835, he was elected by the legislature a 
 circuit-judge, and in 1840 an associate- judge of the supreme 
 court. In 1842, he was elected governor of the State of 
 Illinois.
 
 3/6 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Gov. Ford possessed many of the high and noble traits of 
 character that constitute an eminent man. He was gifted with 
 a strong and investigating intellect, and also possessed a firm, 
 open, candidness of character that was admired by all. His 
 mind was original and self-sustaining. Being in his infancy 
 thrown on his own resources strengthened this trait of character. 
 His firmness, moral and physical courage were never doubted 
 by those who knew him. His ambition was prudent and well 
 regulated by his sound judgment. His imagination was barely 
 sufficient for a great man. The great governing element that 
 gave him the high standing and celebrity which he so justly 
 deserved was his strong mind. This kept his whole mental 
 machinery in operation, and produced the results which are so- 
 much admired by mankind. But at last one trait was defective 
 he could not resist the temptation of refined and intellectual, 
 society. God in his wisdom has made this the weakest point 
 in the human character, and more are shipwrecked on this rock 
 than all others in the voyage of life. 
 
 Gov. Ford possessed a nice sense of honor, bordering on the 
 chivalric notions of olden times. His notions of probity and 
 integrity were refined and well defined. With these notions, 
 speculation, talented financiering was foreign from him; and he 
 never cared for wealth more than a support, and scarcely that 
 much. It is a difficult medium to reach, between ethereal phi- 
 losophy on one hand and sordid money-making on the other. 
 Two of the greatest men except Washington the nation ever 
 produced were entirely dissimilar on this subject Franklin 
 acquired an estate and Jefferson lost one. 
 
 The mind and character of Gov. Ford qualified him for a 
 judge better than for any other station. He was frank, open, 
 and firm on the bench, and at the same time learned and com- 
 petent in the exposition of the law. He was a good and sound 
 lawyer, but not the advocate some others were at the bar. His 
 honesty and warm friendly attachments to friends when he was 
 governor enabled the cunning and shrewd hangers-on at the 
 seat of government to mislead him at times. The Mormon war 
 was a trouble to him, and it would have been to almost any 
 governor placed in similar circumstances. That he acted with 
 honesty and moral and physical courage in this nondescript
 
 riONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 377 
 
 war, I have no doubt. Ford not only possessed a strong mind 
 generally, but his intellect was clear and discriminating. With 
 these talents he made a good writer, and has written the history 
 of Illinois, which is not yet published.* Those having the manu- 
 script say this history will be valuable for its information, and 
 add credit to its author. After the close of the gubernatorial 
 office, he resided in Peoria and practised his profession. He 
 died there in 1849, sincerely regretted by the public. 
 
 It has been stated that George and William Blair emigrated 
 to Illinois in 1796. George occupied a place on the main road 
 from Whiteside's Station to the Fountain, where the late Mr. 
 Eberman resided, and erected a distillery on the spring branch, 
 west of the road. He was appointed sheriff of St. Clair County, 
 and held that office for many years. In 1802, he moved with 
 his family to the present site of the city of Belleville, and 
 erected a log-cabin about the place where the house of the late 
 John Hay stands at present, in this city. He owned two hun- 
 dred acres of land on which the town of Belleville, in the year 
 1814, was located. 
 
 The county-seat of St. Clair County had been at Cahokia for 
 many years previous, but the country being settled by the Ameri- 
 cans out of the French villages, gave the preponderance of popu- 
 lation to the East, and on Dec. 10, 1813, an act of the legisla- 
 ture of the territory passed, authorizing James Lemen, Caldwell 
 Cairnes, John Hays, Isaac Enochs, William Scott, Nathan Cham- 
 bers, and Jacob Short to select a suitable site for the county- 
 seat of St. Clair County. On March 10, 1814, the commis- 
 sioners selected the plantation of George Blair for the county- 
 seat. The public-square was staked off, one acre of land in 
 Blair's field, which the report of the commissioners says " is 
 twenty or thirty rods northeast of the house of George Blair." 
 Blair agreed to give the county not only the public-square but 
 also every fifth lot taken out of twenty-five acres of land around 
 the public-square. It was agreed that the public-square " is 
 given for the purpose of erecting public buildings thereon." 
 
 * "A History of Illinois, from its commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847. Con. 
 taining a full account of the Black- Hawk War, the rise, progress, and fall of Mor- 
 monism, the Alton and Lovejoy riots, and other important and interesting events. 
 By the late Gov. Thomas Ford. Chicago: Published by S. C. Griggs &Co. 1854."
 
 378 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Blair agreed further that arrangements would be made so that 
 the court in June of the above year may be held in Belleville. 
 George Blair had the honor to give the name of Belleville to 
 the town and county-seat of St. Clair County. The court of 
 St. Clair County, on August 8, 1814, recognized the name of 
 Belleville and dated their sessions ever after at it. Belleville is 
 a French word, which in English means a fine city, and it has 
 realized the name. Edwardsville was located about the same 
 time and was made the county-seat of Madison County. It 
 has remained the seat of justice of that county to the present 
 time. I recollect of attending the court there in an old fort 
 made by Thomas Kirkpatrick near the Cahokia Creek, late in 
 the fall of 1814. The house which is the most conspicuous for 
 its age and public services in Belleville is the hotel built by 
 James Tannahill in 1816. It was in pioneer times the hotel de 
 villc of Belleville. It stands on the west side of the public- 
 square grows with the country and is now more popular than 
 ever. 
 
 Thomas Higgins was born in Barren County, Ky., in 1790. 
 He came to Illinois with his relatives in 1807, and located on 
 Silver Creek, St. Clair County, near his folks, the Bradsbys. He 
 received a very limited education, as his parents were in humble 
 circumstances and he himself had not much love for a school- 
 house. He possessed a good mind, but he would in defiance of 
 danger or anything else, employ himself in harmless mischief 
 and merriment. He had nothing savage or cruel in his disposi- 
 tion, yet he was as brave a man as ever existed. He was in his 
 manhood very strong, muscular, and active. He was not so 
 very tall, but compactly formed for great strength and activity. 
 During the whole war of 1812, he was actively engaged on the 
 frontiers in defending the settlements. I personally knew him 
 to be a member of the company commanded by Capt. William 
 B. Whiteside in most of the war. In 1814, he joined another 
 company,* and was one of the party under the command of 
 Lieut. John Journey at Hills Fort, situated six or eight miles 
 southwest of the present town of Greenville, Bond County. 
 Journey had eleven men in his corps, and on August 20, 1814, 
 Indian sign was discovered near the fort, and the next morning 
 
 * Capt. Jacob Short's company. Edwards' "History of Illinois," pp. 347-8.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 3/9 
 
 at daybreak, Journey and party were mounted and out to recon- 
 noitre the country. They had not marched far before they 
 entered an ambuscade of a large party of Indians. The warriors 
 fired on them and Journey and three of his men were instantly 
 killed. William Burges and John Boucher* were wounded 
 Boucher slightly. The horse of Higgins was shot in the neck 
 and fell to the ground, but soon rose again. Higgins remained 
 a moment "to get a pull at them," as he said. He took delib- 
 erate aim at an Indian and shot him dead. He then mounted 
 his horse and was about to return to the fort, when a familiar 
 voice hailed him from the grass and said, " Tom, you wont leave 
 me ? " Higgins hollowed out to him to " come on." " I can 't 
 come, my leg is smashed to pieces," answered Burges. Higgins 
 dismounted instantly and was getting the wounded man on his 
 horse; but the horse scared and ran off. Higgins told Burges 
 " to limp off on three legs, and he would protect him." Burges 
 crawled off thro the grass and saved himself, while Higgins was 
 left behind to fight the most bloody and terrible battle that 
 ever the same number of men three Indians and one white 
 man were engaged in. Higgins had loaded his gun as soon 
 as he had killed the Indian and was ready for the enemy again; 
 but all at once three Indians made their appearance near him. 
 He saw a small ravine close to him and ran for it; so he could 
 defend himself against so many Indians. While he was run- 
 
 * John Boucher, son of a Frenchman, was born in Kentucky in 1 782 ; came to 
 Illinois Territory in 1801; was married, Sept., 1817, to Margaret, a native of Hardy 
 Co., Va., and with her parents came to New Design in 1796, daughter of Solomon 
 .Shook; was a man of great physical strength and activity; and after moving about 
 the then settled parts of Southern Illinois, he finally settled down, in 1836, in Wash- 
 ington Co., a few miles west of Nashville, where he resided until 1851, when he 
 removed to Jones Co., Iowa, where he died three years later, aged 72; his wife died 
 at Monticello, Iowa, Oct. 4, 1866, aged 75. Of their six children, four sons and 
 two daughters, three survived their parents: r, Thomas, still resides on the old 
 homestead in Iowa; 2, John Vincent, born Sept. 27, 1818, married, March 5, 1844, 
 Mary B., daughter of Allen Rountree; enlisted in the late war as orderly sergeant of 
 Co. E., loth Missouri Inf'y, and contracting a dangerous illness, started home on a 
 sick furlough, and died at Richview, Aug. 30, 1863; his oldest son, Geo. O., aged 
 17, enlisted in Co. I, 8oth 111., and served for three years, and is at present engaged 
 in mercantile pursuits at Joplin, Mo. Two other sons, Hiram and John, were 
 e ngaged many years in merchandising in Nashville, where they still reside. P. H. 
 and Lyman T. are practising law at Boulder, Colorado. The only daughter married 
 Dr. Salem Goodner and lives at New Minden, Washington Co. J. H. G.
 
 380 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 ning, he discovered for the first time his leg failed him he was 
 wounded at the first fire, but did not know it at the time. 
 
 One of the Indians was a very large, stout man, as large as 
 Higgins. The others were small and not so courageous as the 
 large one. Higgins was satisfied he must receive the fire of the 
 large Indian and attempted to dodge it; but the bullet lodged 
 in his thigh and he fell; but rose instantly. By this time, the 
 other two had also fired at him and both balls hit him; he fell, 
 badly wounded, but soon again was on his feet, with his loaded 
 gun in his hand. The Indians threw down their guns, as they 
 had not time to load them again, and rushed, whooping and 
 yelling, on Higgins, with their spears, tomahawks, and knives- 
 When they advanced near him, he presented his gun at them, 
 and that would keep them off awhile. Higgins often told me 
 that the large Indian was as brave as a lion he could not daunt 
 him or intimidate him in the least; but when the small ones 
 came near him, they quailed under his furious looks. They 
 could not look him in the face, " but the large Indian could look 
 the devil in the face," as Higgins expressed it. The bold Indian 
 was rushing on him and he shot him dead. It is supposed the 
 large Indian did not believe Higgins' gun was loaded, or he 
 would not have rushed on certain death. The Indian had a 
 great soldier Higgins to contend with. When the other 
 Indians saw their main man killed, it made them more fierce^ 
 They raised the warwhoop the louder and rushed with greater 
 vigor on poor wounded Higgins, who had in his body four 
 Indian balls and had lost much blood; was weak and almost 
 exhausted ; had an empty gun and no other weapon ; was near 
 many Indian warriors besides the two pressing on him, who 
 were armed with spears, tomahawks, and knives, and were 
 strong, having lost no blood, nor were they wounded, as Hig- 
 gins was. They gave Higgins many flesh-wounds, as his shirt 
 and body were literally cut to pieces. One of the Indians 
 threw a tomahawk at him ; cut his ear nearly off and laid the 
 bone of his head and side of his neck entirely bare. This blow 
 knocked him down, and when they rushed on him with their 
 spears, he kicked them off. When one of the Indians presented 
 his spear at the breast of Higgins while he was stretched on 
 the ground, he caught the spear, and the Indian pulling it,
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 381 
 
 raised Higgins up by it. Then it was that he took his gun and 
 literally knocked the brains out of one of the Indians. This 
 blow broke the skull of the Indian and likewise Higgins' gun. 
 It was shattered all to pieces and the barrel was bent. Then 
 he had but one Indian to fight, but he was nearly exhausted. 
 During most of this fight, it was in sight of the fort, and a 
 woman a Mrs. Pursley became excited and said " she could 
 mot stand and see so brave a man as Higgins murdered by the 
 Indians." She mounted her husband's horse and started to his 
 rescue. The men in the fort could not see a woman go alone 
 and followed her. As soon as the Indian fighting Higgins* saw 
 the rangers coming, he fled, and they found Higgins prostrated 
 on the ground, nearly dead cut and mangled and almost torn 
 to pieces. It is supposed, when the Indian fled, the excitement 
 of Higgins subsided and he fainted. In fact, he was nearly dead 
 when his friends relieved him. He barely escaped death from 
 his wounds and never entirely recovered from them altho he 
 jived many years after. He received a pension to the full 
 amount of the law.*f* He was appointed door-keeper to one of 
 the houses of the general assembly of Illinois, and resided in 
 Fayette County; was a farmer and raised a large family. He 
 died at his residence, above Vandalia, in 1829. Higgins was a 
 generous, open-hearted pioneer. 
 
 In the war of 1812, the exposed situation of the country, the 
 weakness of the population, and the strength of the Indian 
 
 * Gov. Reynolds in his later work, gives an amusing account of a duel fought with 
 rocks, between Higgins and another man, at the lead-mines, in which the celebrated 
 Indian-fighter was victorious. "My Own Times", (2d ed. ) page 169. J. H. G. 
 
 t I was well acquainted with Hiram Arthur, a remarkably honest and truthful 
 man, who was in the fort near the scene when it took place, and observed it all. He 
 gave me a written account of it, which is now among my papers, from which it 
 appears that about nine-tenths of the amount of the melee is all bosh. "Higgins," 
 he says, "was a brave fellow, but the trouble with the story we read of is that but a 
 small percentage of the facts stated ever occurred. The account originated with 
 Higgins himself. After the war, he lived in Fayette County, 111., and there he met 
 with a Mr. Hall, who wrote or contributed to the 'Annals of the West,' and gave 
 him his version of the affair, and it took wings and has flown ever since. All that 
 can be said is that the account is altogether overdrawn. " I knew Tom Higgins well 
 and he was in the habit of telling tremendous yarns, and was a capital hand at making 
 himself the hero of all his adventures, particularly when he was in his cups. J. 
 GILLESPIE, Jan. 25, 1883.
 
 382 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 enemy brought, into actual operation the whole capacities of the 
 country, physical and mental, for its defence, and among the 
 pioneers that came to the rescue was Thomas Carlin, who emi- 
 grated to Illinois in 1811 and became a conspicuous and popu- 
 lar character. Carlin was born in Fayette County, Ky., in 1789, 
 and moved with his father to Shelby County, in the same State, 
 in 1793. The family moved in 1803 to the Spanish country, 
 Platin Creek, St. Louis County. The father of Carlin died the 
 same year he settled in St. Louis County, leaving his widow and 
 seven children Thomas the oldest. The parents of Carlin on 
 both sides were of the Irish extraction. The circumstances of 
 the father were very limited; so the son had no opportunity of 
 an education. In fact, the county where they resided, in Upper 
 Louisiana, was destitute of schools at that day. Carlin attended 
 school at rare intervals; but such long periods passing between 
 that he forgot almost as fast as he learned anything at school. 
 At school his only guide was the Dilworth spelling-book and 
 the Barlow knife to make pens; but Nature came to the rescue 
 and recognized Carlin as her favorite son. She spread before 
 him her ample creation and she herself became his teacher. He 
 was highly favored with a strong and vigorous mind and an 
 untiring energy. He possessed strong and excitable feelings; 
 but his firm and decisive judgment compelled all these turbu- 
 lent and violent passions to revolve around it like the planets 
 do around the sun, the common centre. He possessed a marked 
 and decided character and one of great force and influence. 
 By mere accident, he got hold of an arithmetic, and without a 
 teacher, he became well acquainted with that noble and grand 
 science. 
 
 On June 3, 1812, he entered the military service of the United 
 States as a private in the company commanded by William B. 
 Whiteside. The war was about commencing and the prospect 
 was gloomy; but this was no impediment to Carlin to deter him 
 from the defence of his country. Among his other decided 
 traits of character, he had courage and firmness, even to des- 
 peration. He made an excellent soldier; always prepared for 
 any service, let it be perilous or not. In the fall of 1812, he 
 was in the campaign to Lake Peoria, and the army under Gov. 
 Edwards halted and camped within a few miles of the Black-
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 383 
 
 Partridge's Town, on the east side of the Illinois River, nearly 
 opposite the upper end of Lake Peoria. It was necessary to 
 select some choice spirits to reconnoitre the Indian town at 
 night. This was considered a dangerous and perilous service. 
 Carlin volunteered as one of four to reconnoitre and report, and 
 he and three Whitesides Robert, Davis, and Stephen were 
 entrusted with this delicate service. They proceeded to the 
 Indian village and went thro every part of it without detection. 
 If a dog were to bark or other alarm made, these brave men 
 must have perished, being thus caught in the midst of a'great 
 number of hostile Indians. They reported the strength and 
 situation of the enemy; so that the army could the next morn- 
 ing be conducted with certainty to the attack. The United- 
 States Rangers were established for the defence of the frontiers 
 and they accomplished that object to the fullest extent; but in 
 performing this service, great battles or long campaigns were 
 not contemplated or required; yet all such services as were re- 
 quired, Carlin and others performed to the satisfaction of the 
 public. Carlin marched in the campaign under Gen. Howard 
 in 1813, thro the country between the Mississippi and Illinois 
 rivers. 
 
 Toward the close of the war, he married a beautiful young 
 lady of Madison County, of strong mind and of pleasing and 
 agreeable manners. This lady being matured by age and expe- 
 rience, developed a sound judgment and an amiable and happy 
 disposition, and was to her husband in truth a helpmate during 
 his life. They raised a large and respectable family. 
 
 In 1815, Carlin emigrated north from Madison and located 
 on the high land between Macoupin and Apple creeks, and was 
 about the first family that settled north of the Macoupin Creek. 
 When Green County was first organized, the county-seat was 
 laid off on his land and the seat of justice called Carrolton. 
 Carlin was elected the first sheriff of Green County and per- 
 formed the duties of the office with punctuality and fidelity. 
 This was the first office he ever held and he then gave proof of 
 his efficiency, integrity, and activity to be useful to the people, 
 and they always thereafter appreciated his merit. He was often 
 elected to the general assembly of the State from Green Co.; 
 always his public services were approved and he became still
 
 384 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 more popular. He was a cautious business member. When 
 the county of Macoupin was established, the county-seat, Car- 
 linville, was named in honor of him. He was appointed receiver 
 of public moneys at Quincy and remained in that office many 
 years. This was a very responsible office, as great amounts of 
 money were received in that office for the government, and the 
 accounts were settled to the perfect satisfaction of all. In this 
 office, as well as in all others, he exhibited a positive honesty 
 and integrity, which is one of the brightest ornaments in the 
 human character. 
 
 In 1838, he was elected the governor of Illinois. This was a 
 high and important trust, and he performed the duties of that 
 station with a sound judgment and practical common-sense. 
 He was sworn into office at Vandalia in 1838, and on Dec. 7 of 
 that year, he delivered a chaste and statesman-like message. It 
 is short and well adapted to the situation of the country in its 
 embarrassed condition. He appealed with warmth and sincerity 
 to the people and the legislature to promote education. He 
 also urged the completion of the canal and the necessity to 
 legislate with care and caution on the subject of State banks. 
 His measures and policy will be at some day admired for his 
 wisdom and good sense. It must be recollected that Gov. 
 Carlin* was a warm and ardent politician, and in fact he was 
 ardent and enthusiastic in all his actions; but in politics, was 
 firm, consistent, and ardent. He was one of the deepest dye in 
 the democratic party, and was a great friend to Gen. Jackson. 
 He was in his politics, as in all other transactions, honest and 
 correct. His course in politics gave him great standing with 
 his party. 
 
 * In 1814, Gov. Carlin married Miss Rebecca. Huitt, and resided on the Mississippi, 
 opposite the mouth of the Missouri, and four years later removed to Greene County. 
 After retiring from public life to his Carrolton farm, he was again called from his 
 retirement to serve out the unexpired term of Hon. John D. Fay, who had resigned 
 his seat in Illinois legislature, 1848-50. 
 
 His death occurred Feb. 14, 1852, aged 63, leaving a widow and seven children, 
 six having died. 
 
 Gov. Carlin was captain of a company in the Odd Battalion of Spies, commanded 
 by Maj. John D. Henry in Gen. Whiteside's brigade, in the Black-Hawk war, and 
 which served from April 20 to May 27, 1832. James Carlin, a brother of the gover- 
 nor, was a private soldier in this company, and was at one time clerk of the circuit- 
 court of Greene County, and died leaving considerable property in real estate in that
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 385 
 
 After Gov. Carlin was married, became the head of a family, 
 and had arrived at full maturity of mind, he became seriously 
 concerned in religious matters. He received his first impres- 
 sions of religion from the preaching of Rev. John M. Peck of 
 St. Clair County, and became a member of the Baptist church. 
 He was kind and benevolent to all, but to his family he was 
 affectionate and sincerely devoted. He gave his children an 
 excellent education and they profited by it equal to the efforts 
 made by the parent. He died at his residence in Carrollton in 
 February, 1852, full of years and full of honor. His death was 
 lamented and regretted by the public and his family expe- 
 rienced an irreparable loss, and as such they mourned his 
 decease. Carlin was, in the true sense of the word, a self-made 
 man. He commenced humble in life, and by his talents, energy, 
 and integrity, he reached the highest office in the gift of the 
 people in the State, and has reached still a higher station: that 
 of a large place in the hearts of the people. 
 
 About the time (1809) the territory was organized, the coun- 
 try on the margins of the rivers down the Mississippi from Kas- 
 kaskia and up the Ohio and Wabash rivers almost to Vincennes, 
 commenced to settle and improve. Samuel Omelvany* and 
 
 county; he was the father of Gen. William P. Carlin, whose record as colonel of the 
 thirty-eighth Illinois infantry and afterward a brigadier-general in the army of the 
 Cumberland, is part of the proud achievements of Illinois, in the late war. At the 
 close of the war Gen. Carlin had attained by successive promotions the rank of major 
 in the regular establishment, and brevet-major-general of volunteers. He is yet in 
 the regular army, being colonel of the 4th Infantry. His younger brother, Hon. 
 Walter E. Carlin of Jerseyville, was also a lieutenant in the thirty-eighth during the 
 Rebellion, and at the age of nineteen refused a commission as captain of his com- 
 I >any, tendered him by Gov. Yates. He represented Scott, Greene, and Jersey coun- 
 ties as one of their Democratic members in the thirty-third general assembly. He is 
 a banker by occupation, a member of the firm of Carlin and Bagley, and as a finan- 
 cier ranks high, having when chairman of the county board caused to be liquidated 
 under his management a heavy county debt. J. H. G. 
 
 * John Omelvany, with his wife, two younger sons, Patrick and William, and a 
 (laughter Mary, who married a McConnell and settled in Tenn., came from Ireland 
 about 1798-9, and, after a few years residence in Ky., settled in what later became 
 Pope Co., near his oldest son Samuel, who landed in Charleston, S.C., in 1797 or 8, 
 where he married and soon after (Reynolds says in 1805, see next p., 386) came to 
 Illinois Territory, settling in Pope Co., on the Ohio River. In addition to farming, 
 trading, and flat-boating to New Orleans, he was for that day an extensive dealer in 
 the products of the country corn and hogs. Later he removed to Randolph Co. 
 and was a member of the county-court in 1819. Still later he resided in and repre- 
 
 25
 
 386 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 others formed a colony on the Ohio River, near the mouth of 
 the Grand-Pierre Creek, as early as 1805. The margins of the 
 rivers commenced settlement as early as 1804 or '5, and con- 
 tinued to increase rapidly. A family of Quakers from North 
 Carolina of the name of Stokes settled some miles east of the 
 present town of Jonesboro' in 1808. It was called for years 
 after, Stokes' Settlement. 
 
 The Logan family emigrated from Missouri and settled on 
 Big Muddy in pioneer times. Dr. Logan* is still alive and a 
 
 sented Union Co. in the legislature in 1820-2, contesting successfully the seat occu- 
 pied by Samuel Alexander; and died about 1828. His mother died the year of their 
 arrival, and his father and younger brother Patrick the year following. His children: 
 George died at 30, and John still lives in Pope Co., a successful merchant and trader; 
 Margaret, married Wood, and Mary are long since dead. 
 
 William, the youngest son of John, born 1775, married 1799, Susan McKee of Ire- 
 land, in So. Carolina; moved to Ky. in 1804-5, settling near Elkton, Todd Co., 111. 
 He had six sons and live daughters: (i) John, born in Ky. 1800, lawyer, settled at 
 Carlyle, Clinton Co., 111., in 1830, where he practised law till he died in 1836; served 
 in Capt. Andrew Bankson's company in Black-Hawk War. (2) William W.. born 
 in Monroe Co., 1829; brought up to the law; county-clerk, 1843-8; now living in 
 Centralia. (3) James M , bred to his father's trade, brick-making, in 1853 entered 
 the mercantile business in Centralia, was postmaster for several years, and now lives- 
 at East St. Louis, where one of his sons is city attorney. (4) Edward, lawyer, repre- 
 sented Monroe Co. in the legislature of 1846-8; was presidential elector in 1852 on 
 the Pierce ticket and died before the Rebellion. (5) Harvey K. S., also a lawyer of 
 Centralia, was judge of the second circuit from 1858-61, filling the vacancy occa- 
 sioned by the resignation of Judge Breese; moved during the late war to California, 
 where he is now practising law. (6) Constantine was killed in his iSth year at Water- 
 loo by the accidental discharge of a gun. Of the daughters, Nancy, born 1802, mar- 
 ried, 1828, W. W. Moore in Monroe Co., and died at Oakland, Cal., Feb., 1883; 
 Martha and Mary, twins, born 1804, married, and have descendants in Marion and 
 Jefferson counties; Susan, 4th, died at San Jose, Cal., 1864; Elizabeth, 5th (Con- 
 cannon) is living in Oakland, Cal. The mother of this numerous family died in 
 Marion Co., Feb., 1875, aged 93. 
 
 * Dr. John Logan came to this country from Ireland early in this century, and mar- 
 ried, in 1824, Miss Elizabeth Jenkins, a sister of Hon. Alexander M. Jenkins, after- 
 ward lieut. -governor of the State, a lawyer of hiyh rank, and a judge eminent for his 
 probity and legal acquirements. Dr. Logan raised a family of eleven children, 
 several of whom have shown marked ability, and the oldest son, distinguished as a 
 soldier and a statesman, is Hon. John A. Logan, at present a United States senator 
 from Illinois. Dr. John Logan was a man of great force of character and served in 
 many public positions with satisfaction to the people and credit to himself. He was 
 a member of the house of representatives in the tenth general assembly, serving with 
 Abraham Lincoln, John J. Hardin, James Shields, Stephen A. Douglas, Augustus 
 C. French, John A. McClernand, John Dement, Jesse K. Dubois, and many other 
 political celebrities. He was reflected to the eleventh and twelfth and again in 1846
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 387 
 
 respectable and living monument of the pioneers of Southern 
 Illinois. This gentleman has been in much public service and 
 acfed to the advantage of the public interest and much to his 
 own honor. 
 
 to the fifteenth general assembly, his last appearance in public life. He "was a 
 corporal in Capt. A. M. Jenkins' company in the Black-Hawk War, serving through- 
 out June and July, and was mustered out August 10, 1832, at Fort Hamilton." 
 
 John Alexander Logan was born Feb. 9, 1826, at Murpheysboro', Jackson Co. ; his 
 early education was limited by the resources of the country, but he had passed through 
 a course at Shiloh College when the breaking out of the Mexican war called him 
 from his studies to the field. He enlisted at Alton, and was enrolled May 29, 1847, 
 in Company H of Col. Edward W. B. Newby's (5th) Regiment of Illinois Volunteers; 
 was elected 2d-lieutenant of his company and afterward served for a time as adjutant 
 of his regiment. After the close of the war, he studied law in the office of his uncle, 
 Gov. Jenkins; was elected county-clerk of Jackson County in 1849, serving one term; 
 continued his law studies and graduated from the law department of the University 
 of Kentucky at Louisville in 1851. He went into the law practice with Gov. Jenkins 
 in 1852. In June of that year he was elected prosecuting-attorney of the first judicial 
 circuit, and removed to Benton, Franklin County. He was the same fall elected to 
 represent Franklin and Jackson counties in the eighteenth general assembly; was 
 married, Nov. 27, 1855. to Miss Mary Cunningham of Shawneetown, 111. In 1856, 
 was chosen a presidential elector for the ninth congressional district on the democratic 
 ticket; in 1858, was elected to congress from that district and again reelected in 
 1860. He was an ardent supporter of Stephen A. Douglas, and followed the lead 
 of that able statesman in his support of all necessary measures adopted by President, 
 Lincoln on the suppression of the Rebellion. While yet a member of congress, he 
 took a musket and went into the ranks, participating as a volunteer private in the 
 memorable battle of Bull Run. Returning to Illinois, he raised the 3ist Regiment 
 of Volunteers and became its colonel, and made his next record on the field of 
 Belmont. On March 5, 1862, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers, and 
 declining a reelection to congress in 1862, was made a major-general in November 
 of that year, and devoted himself arduously to the task of putting down the Rebellion. 
 He participated in nine of the battles about Vicksburg, afterward at Resaca, at 
 Kenesaw Mountain, at Atlanta, at Dallas, and in many of the hotly-contested fields 
 of the campaigns of 1863-5. H' s promotions were rapid, from a division he rose to 
 a corps commander, and finally, on May 23, 1865, he was advanced to the command 
 of the Army of the Tennessee. In 1865, he was appointed minister to Mexico, but 
 declined. In 1866, Gen. Logan was elected congressman-at-large from the State of 
 Illinois, and reelected to the same position in 1868 and again in 1870. In 1871, he 
 resigned his seat in congress to accept the succession to Gov. Richard Yates in the 
 United-States senate. His term expiring in 1877, he was the candidate of the 
 republican party for the succession, but was defeated by David Davis. Two years 
 later he was again elected and succeeded Gen. Richard J. Oglesby to the seat he 
 now fills. (Jen. Logan was nominated by the Republican National Convention as 
 their candidate for vice-president, at Chicago, June 6, 1884. 
 
 Wm. H. Logan, a younger son of Dr. Logan, and a lawyer of much promise, 
 died soon after the war. He represented Jackson and Williamson counties in the 
 24th general assembly, possessed oratorical powers of no mean order, and acted as 
 a Union independent democrat. J. H. G.
 
 388 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Alexander M. Jenkins,* who was partially raised in Southern 
 Illinois, is a talented and conspicuous citizen. Jenkins, like 
 most of the pioneers, had no opportunity of an early education ; 
 but in after-days, he improved himself, so that he is at this time 
 not only a good scholar but an intelligent and well-read man. 
 He was when a youth compelled to work on his own hook for 
 the means to obtain an education, and succeeded well. He has 
 been elected many terms to the general assembly of the State, 
 and commanded a company from Jackson County in the Black- 
 Hawk war. In 1834, he was elected lieutenant-governor of the 
 State. He was appointed receiver of public money in the land- 
 office at Edwardsville and resigned that office. For some years 
 before, he had been merchandising and afterward he studied law 
 and commenced the practice in the southern counties of Illi- 
 nois. He was elected a member from Jackson County of the 
 convention that formed the new constitution in 1847, and is at 
 this time a practising lawyer. 
 
 John Dougherty was also raised in Southern Illinois and has, 
 by his merit and exertions, become a good lawyer and respect- 
 able citizen. He labored under embarrassing circumstances in 
 his youth; but by his natural resources and his exertions, he 
 has surmounted all obstacles and is now enjoying the rich re- 
 
 *Mr. Jenkins was elected to the legislature to represent Jackson County in 1832-4, 
 at the expiration of which term he was elected lieutenant-governor, holding that posi- 
 tion until his resignation, which occurred in 1836, to accept the position of president 
 of the first Illinois-Central Railroad Company, chartered January 16, 1836. When 
 the State adopted its ill-fated system of public improvements, February 27, 1837, the 
 surrender of this charter was demanded, and although the company had already ex- 
 pended considerable money and Mr. Jenkins given much time toward the prelimi- 
 nary arrangements, necessary before the building of the road should be begun, the 
 charter was cheerfully surrendered. After the State had expended over one million 
 dollars on this road it was abandoned, and on March 6, 1843, the State, as an act of 
 justice, returned the franchise to the representatives of the old company. The Cairo 
 City-and-Canal Company reincorporating them for this particular purpose as the 
 Great-Western Railway Company. A failure to secure the passage of a preemption 
 grant in congress, and the grant at a later day, of a large quantity of land to the 
 State in aid of the building of this road, resulted in the incorporation of a new com- 
 pany (February 10, 1851), that finally completed the road. 
 
 Mr. Jenkins was elected judge of the third judicial circuit in 1859, to fill the 
 vacancy caused by the resignation of W. K. Fairish, and was reelected at the close 
 of his term in 1861. He "died in the harness", before the expiration of his official 
 term, February 13, 1864. J. II. G.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 389 
 
 ward that is always given to an energetic and proper course of 
 conduct. His father was limited in his means and his son was 
 compelled to rely on himself for his education and the study of 
 the law before he commenced practise. He worked, taught 
 school, and used all honorable means in his power to obtain an 
 education. He has been elected time and time again to the 
 general assembly of the State from Union County and often 
 from both the counties, Union and Alexander, when they voted 
 together. Dougherty has a good voice, a pleasing, eloquent 
 speaker. He possesses a good mind and a kindness and benevo- 
 lence of heart. 
 
 George Hacker was appointed a justice-of-the-peace in Ran- 
 dolph County in 1810. He resided then on Cache River. 
 
 John S. Hacker was an early pioneer of Illinois and has, by 
 his natural talents and exertions, become a conspicuous and 
 popular man in Illinois. He was thrown on his own resources 
 in his infancy and was compelled " to buffet the storms of life " 
 without aid or assistance from any quarter ; but his natural 
 talents are good. He possesses a quick and discriminating 
 mind, and he has had such incessant intercourse with the people 
 that he is well acquainted with the human character. Mankind 
 seemed to be the school-house in which he received his educa- 
 tion. He married a lady of fine common-sense and of mild 
 and amiable disposition. She has acted in the family the part 
 of a wise and dignified matron, to whose proper conduct much 
 of the success of the family is attributable. Hacker was about 
 the first settler in the pleasant town of Jonesboro', the county- 
 seat of Union County, and has remained there thirty years. 
 He makes a good speech and is listened to with pleasure; is 
 original in his ideas and so utters them in his stump-speeches. 
 
 Samuel Omelvany was a popular pioneer in his settlement 
 and in fact throughout the south of Illinois in his day. He was 
 a native of Ireland ; had resided in Kentucky, but ended his 
 days in Southern Illinois. He was blessed with a very strong 
 natural mind ; possessed not much education or book intelli- 
 gence; but the strength of his mind was visible in all his actions, 
 public and private. His person was large and he had no parlor 
 polish in his manners; his mind corresponded with his exterior, 
 strong and natural. He was a member-elect from Pope County
 
 3QO PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 to the convention in 1818 that formed the first constitution of 
 the State, and he has been elected often from the same county 
 to the State legislature, and has served the people in various 
 other stations with ability. 
 
 Hamlet Ferguson resided, in pioneer times at or near Gol- 
 conda, Pope County, and was a respectable citizen. He filled 
 various offices and was a member in the State convention that 
 formed the constitution in 1818. " He acted well his part, there 
 all the honor lies." 
 
 A great many worthy working emigrants from North Caro- 
 lina, Pennsylvania, and some from Kentucky settled in the 
 region of country below Big Muddy and not far from the Mis- 
 sissippi. They were of German descent and formed a moral, 
 excellent settlement. A very conspicuous and talented man 
 among them was Rev. George Wolf, who was a preacher of the 
 gospel and was nature's great man. He was raised on a farm 
 and pursued that profession for a living for himself and family. 
 He is one of the Universalian Baptists and preached his ser- 
 mons to contain the scriptures and reason together. 
 
 In early times, large settlements were made in the present 
 limits of Gallatin County, and the old Shawneetown, that the 
 aborigines had occupied for ages past and Col. Croghan visited 
 in 1765, was again brought into modern existence. It received 
 the name of Shawneetown on account of a. band of Indians of 
 that name having lived there in olden times. This town was 
 first settled by talented, great men. John McLean, Thomas C. 
 Browne, Jeptha Hardin, Joseph M. Street, Marshall, Jones, 
 Hubbard, Railings, Gatewood, Kirkpatrick, Posey, Vanlaving- 
 ham, and others of talents and enterprise, located in Shawnee- 
 town' at different times during its pioneer days. At the Licks, 
 as the salt-works were then called, were settled Isaac White, 
 the United -States agent; Guard, Philip Trammel, Leonard 
 White, John Lane, and others. About the close of the war in 
 1814, several fine water-mills were erected on the Little-Wabash 
 River a few miles above the mouth. The town of New Haven 
 has been built in the neighborhood. 
 
 Isaac White was a resident of the West for many years 
 before the battle of Tippecanoe, where he perished in the 
 cause of his country. White was agent for the United States
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 391 
 
 at the Ohio saline for some years. Gov. Edwards appointed 
 him captain of a company in 1810. He was with Gov. Harri- 
 son in the campaign up the Wabash in 1811, and was killed in 
 the battle of Tippecanoe in November of that year. The 
 death of this brave soldier was very much regretted generally. 
 The legislature called a county White in honor of him and to 
 perpetuate his name. 
 
 Probably of all the pioneers of Illinois, nature did the most 
 for John McLean of Shawneetown. His gigantic mind, his 
 form of noble and manly symmetry, and his lofty and dignified 
 bearing, all demonstrated him to be the " noblest work of God." 
 His person was large and formed on that model of natural 
 excellence that would at once attract the attention and admira- 
 tion of all spectators. The -vigor and compass of his mind 
 were exceedingly great and other traits of character equally 
 strong. His eloquence flowed in torrents, deep, strong, and 
 almost irresistible. Nature did so much for him that he 
 depended too much on his natural abilities and did not as 
 much for himself. Yet without effort, he naturally took the 
 highest stand in any situation in which he was placed. 
 
 McLean was born in North Carolina in 1791. His father 
 and family emigrated to Logan County, Ky., when his son 
 John was only four years, old. He was raised there until he 
 was twenty odd years old, and then he settled in Shawneetown 
 in 1815. This pioneer, like most of the others, was raised in a 
 country destitute of schools, and thereby had in his early days 
 not the advantages of an education. His mind was permitted 
 to exercise its own originality, without restraint or discipline; 
 but it was so great and powerful that it would, to speak in 
 sailor phrase, " right itself when thrown on its beam's ends." 
 He studied law in Kentucky and commenced the practice in 
 Shawneetown as a lawyer should be: poor, talented, and ambi- 
 tious. When he reached Illinois, he had nothing to depend on 
 but God and himself, and on this foundation, he soon became 
 one of the most conspicuous and popular men in Illinois. Be- 
 sides his great strength of mind, he was possessed with a lively 
 imagination and much eloquence. There was no man in Illi- 
 nois, before or since his day, that surpassed him in pure 
 aiatural .eloquence. Nature made him a great orator.
 
 392 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 The first great trial of his strength was with Hon. Daniel P. 
 Cook for a seat in congress. This was the first congressional 
 election in the State. The country was much excited and two- 
 of the greatest men then in the State, or ever have been in it 
 since, were started on this track of honor. They were both 
 open, noble-hearted Kentuckians, generous and chivalric; so 
 that the canvass was conducted on honorable principles. The 
 fashion at that day and ever since has been to have political 
 meetings and address speeches to the people, literally from a 
 stump of a tree. This custom was introduced here from the 
 Southern and Western States. From the stump, these two 
 young orators, both favorites of nature, addressed the audience 
 in such streams of eloquence that has never been surpassed in 
 Illinois before or since. These two young politicians were 
 pioneers for whom any community would feel an honest pride, 
 McLean was elected then; but Cook beat him the next election. 
 
 McLean was elected many times to the general assembly 
 from Gallatin County, and was almost always made speaker of 
 the house of representatives. He was elected to the United- 
 States senate twice. The first time for one session to fill a 
 vacancy and the next was for a full term. But in 1830, at 
 Shawneetown, he died. No man possessed a stronger hold on 
 the people than he did; so that his death was considered, as it 
 really was, a great public calamity, and mourned for with tears 
 of sincere affection and sorrow. A county in Illinois bears his 
 name, to do him honor. He was not wealthy; left a wife and 
 many friends. 
 
 In the fall of 1808, a wagon-road was laid off from Goshen 
 Settlement to the Ohio salt-works. This road crossed the 
 Kaskaskia River where Carlyle is situated at present; by the 
 Walnut Hills, and so on to the salt-works. This was in olden 
 times called the Goshen Road. 
 
 Thomas C. Browne, a living and conspicuous pioneer of Illi- 
 nois, was born in Kentucky; emigrated to Illinois and settled 
 in Shawneetown in 1812. He studied law in Kentucky and 
 commenced the practice as soon as he reached the north- 
 western shores of the Ohio River. The first courts in Gallatin 
 County were held at the r.onrjty - seat^Sh awn eef n w n ; in flat- 
 boats; as they had at first no court-house. I Boats were plenty,.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 393 
 
 being floated down the river and moored to the bank at the 
 county-seat. The grand-jury occupied one, while the court, 
 bar, suitors, witnesses, etc., sat in another. 
 
 Thomas C. Browne possesses many excellent traits of char- 
 acter ; he is endowed by nature with a strong intellect and 
 with a benevolence and goodness of heart that have marked 
 his whole progress thro life. With these traits of character,, 
 he delighted to mingle with the people and he obtained much 
 of his education and intelligence in this manner. With the 
 solid mind he possessed, he was in an academy of human 
 knowledge every day and he profited well by the occasion. 
 In 1814, he was elected with Philip Trammel to the legislature 
 of the Territory of Illinois from Gallatin County, and made a 
 wise and discreet member altho he was very young. In 1815, 
 he was appointed prosecuting-attorney for the counties of Gal- 
 latin, Pope, Edwards, and others in the eastern part of the ter- 
 ritory. All these duties he performed to the satisfaction of the 
 public. In 1816, he was elected from the same county to the 
 legislative council of the territory. This office continued to 
 the organization of the State government in 1818. By being 
 in the legislature so long, and being a sound, solid member, 
 and becoming so well known and popular throughout the 
 country, the first legislature under the State government 
 elected him one of the justices of the supreme court of the 
 State, without much opposition. He remained in that office 
 for nearly thirty years. Honor, integrity, and fidelity are 
 prominent traits in his character. 
 
 Nathaniel Pope was a younger branch of a great and talented 
 family in the West. He emigrated from Kentucky to Upper 
 Louisiana in 1804, and remained on the west side of the Mis- 
 sissippi for some years. For some time, he made Ste. Gene- 
 vieve his home and attended the courts on this side of the 
 river. In 1809, he was appointed secretary of the territory 
 of Illinois, and then made Illinois his residence during life. 
 He was born in Louisville, Ky., in 1784. At an early age, he 
 was placed in the Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky., 
 and received a classic education. He also learned well the 
 French language and spoke it fluently. At college, he attended 
 assiduously to his studies, which gave presages of his future
 
 394 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 greatness, and he graduated with a high reputation for his 
 learning and abilities. He studied law with his brother, John 
 Pope of Kentucky, and soon became well versed in the laws 
 of the country, for a young man. 
 
 Nature had bestowed on him rare and great talents ; his 
 judgment was strong and profound, and his great natural in- 
 tellect was thoroly trained and disciplined by study. Nature 
 gave him also an unbounded benevolence and kindness of 
 heart. Nothing savage or cruel lurked in his breast, but the 
 sunshine of kindness to all mankind illuminated his path thro 
 life. He possessed a noble dignity of character that gave him 
 a due degree of self-respect. With these admirable traits of 
 character and his profound knowledge of the law r , he stood at 
 the head of his profession and enjoyed an extensive practice. 
 He married a lady of accomplishments and beauty. She also 
 possessed a strong mind and an amiable and benevolent dis- 
 position. These worthy parents were the progenitors of a re- 
 spectable family of children. In 1816, he was elected a dele- 
 gate to congress from the territory, and I think he did more 
 important services for the people -than any one man has done 
 since in so short a time. 
 
 Among various other measures, he procured the northern 
 boundary of the State to be extended north from the southern 
 bend of Lake Michigan to latitude forty-two and a-half degrees 
 north. On this globe, to the extent, there is not a better tract 
 of country; and when there were barely forty thousand souls 
 in the territory, he had passed an act of congress authorizing 
 the people of Illinois to form a State government. When the 
 State was admitted into the Union, he was appointed the 
 United-States judge of the district of Illinois. In this office 
 he remained upward of thirty years and made a judge that 
 added dignity and respectability to the office and State. It 
 was in the social, convivial parties where he was the greatest 
 of the great. When the society was composed of learned i 
 brilliant, and witty, he was among them, the centre of attrac- 
 tion. It was in his own family circle, with a few accomplished 
 friends, men of science and talents, where he displayed his 
 great social qualities. Pope County was called by that name 
 to honor him and to perpetuate his memory. He died Novem-
 
 
 
 

 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 395 
 
 ber, 1850, with great coolness and composure ; conversed of 
 death itself with respect, but with as much calmness and Chris- 
 tian resignation as upon any other subject. He was much 
 esteemed by the public and his decease was in fact, as they 
 considered it, a public calamity. 
 
 In early times, before the New-Orleans sugar was sold so 
 cheap in this market, the inhabitants French, Americans, and 
 Indians made maple-sugar. Quantities were manufactured 
 not only for domestic use but as an article of commerce. 
 Molasses was also made. In early times, horse-flies were 
 extremely annoying to animals. In the summer, horses were 
 often killed by them between Kaskaskia and Vincennes. A 
 green prairie-fly was the most numerous and annoying. In 
 the heat of the day they were the worst. Sometimes farmers 
 could not plow in daytime and at times they covered the horse 
 with a blanket. Millions of these flies were produced in the 
 prairies. When the country became settled and improved, 
 they disappeared. 
 
 It is almost forty years since Daniel Pope Cook, another 
 great favorite of nature, commenced his brilliant career in Illi- 
 nois. He rose high, shined bright, and died soon. He was at 
 one time the darling and idol of the people ; he was great, 
 brilliant, and active in his mind; his qualifications of heart 
 were noble, generous, and benevolent. The name of Daniel P. 
 Cook is yet sweet music in the ears of many an old pioneer of 
 Illinois. They almost involuntarily cry out: "When is the 
 election?" His genius, vigor of intellect, and versatility 'of 
 talent were rarely surpassed and not commonly equaled in any 
 country. He was born in Scott County, Ky., in 1793. His 
 parents were pious, respectable citizens and obtained their liv- 
 ing by cultivating a farm. Cook was, from his infancy, a sickly, 
 weakly child, which was one reason, together with the circum- 
 scribed means of his father, that his education in his youth was 
 not much attended to. He started in the world with a very 
 limited education. 
 
 In 1811, when he reached his eighteenth year, he visited Ste. 
 Genevieve, Mo., a poor, sickly youth, without friends, wealth, or 
 any influence except his native talents, energy, and honesty. 
 He was employed as clerk in the store of William Shannon at
 
 396 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Ste. Genevieve for several years. In this situation, his mind" 
 developed itself and he acquired friends by his agreeable address 
 and amiable disposition. He attended punctually to his busi- 
 ness and displayed those great abilities that in after-days were 
 the admiration of the country. In 1813, he commenced the 
 study of the law with Judge Pope in Kaskaskia, and by extra- 
 ordinary exertions, he obtained license to practise in 1815. By 
 intense study, his health was injured; so that he was compelled 
 to take a voyage to restore it. In 1817, he went to the city of 
 Washington and was appointed the bearer of dispatches to our 
 minister, John Quincy Adams, at the court of St. James. Cook 
 became acquainted there with John Q. Adams and returned with 
 him to the United States. In 1818, he was appointed judge in 
 the western circuit of the State, and became very popular in 
 that office. The same year, he was a candidate for congress. 
 In this canvass, he displayed the highest order of talents in his 
 masterly appeals to the people, and demonstrated a statesman- 
 ship that was surprising in so young a man. He did not suc- 
 ceed, but was elected attorney-general of the State after the 
 August election. At the next election to congress, he was 
 elected over McLean. He remained in congress many years 
 and made an efficient and able member. 
 
 About this time, his health became enfeebled and he was 
 sinking fast under a pulmonary complaint. On his return from 
 Washington the last time, he visited Cuba and New Orleans for 
 his health, but to no effect. He returned to Kentucky and died 
 at his father's residence [Oct. 16, 1827], aged thirty-six years. 
 " Alas, poor Yorick." His bad health and death were regretted 
 by all classes of citizens. His opponents ceased their political 
 warfare and joined in the sorrows and lamentations of the people 
 for the death of so young a man and one of such high order of 
 talents. His delicate frame and constitution would not admit 
 of intense application to business or study. Confinement uni- 
 versally made him sick, which was a great impediment to his 
 intellectual improvement. He possessed a genius of such 
 capacity that he acquired information as if by intuition. His 
 mind was rapid as well as deep in its researches. He was 
 ready and prepared on short notice for all ordinary subjects. 
 He was eloquent and fascinating in his speeches. Nature
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 397 
 
 blessed him with a benevolence and a good will to all mankind 
 ;in a superior degree, and he was a most amiable and interest- 
 ing companion in society. His career was short but very bril- 
 liant. As he could not, on account of his bad health, study 
 books, he studied men and was a profound philosopher in the 
 science of the human family. It was this information and his 
 native eloquence that gave him such power at the bar over the 
 jury and on the stump over the masses. The county of Cook 
 is called in honor of him. 
 
 Jeptha Hardin was a branch of the large and respectable 
 family of Hardins in the West; was a half-brother of the cele- 
 brated Benjamin Hardin of KentuTcky,. and also a relative of 
 the late John J. Hardin* of Illinois, and he possessed traits of 
 character in common with that talented family. In 1815, he 
 came to Shawneetown a lawyer from Kentucky and remained 
 there during life. He possessed a strong, original mind, and 
 seemed to disdain scholastic education. He studied the law- 
 books no more than answered his purpose at the bar and on 
 the bench ; but mostly applied his strong mind to men and 
 measures as they passed before him. He practised law to a 
 considerable extent and became wealthy. He resided on a fine 
 farm and enjoyed himself in scientific agriculture. He was 
 appointed circuit-judge of the court and performed the duties 
 of the office with ability and integrity. He sustained an irre- 
 
 * His grandfather, John Hardin, born in Fauquier Co., Va., Oct. I, 1753, died 
 in 1792. He early became an excellent marksman; served with distinction in the 
 Indian wars of Virginia, and as a lieutenant in Morgan's Rifle Corps in the Revo- 
 lution; settled in Washington Co., Ky., in 1786. He commanded a detachment of 
 Kentucky and Pennsylvania militia under Gen. Harmar at his defeat, Oct. 19 and 
 22. 1790; commanded Brig. -Gen. Chas. Scott's advance, and distinguished in his 
 successful expedition against the Indians on the Wabash, in May, 1791. Murdered 
 by the Indians while bearing a flag of truce, near Shawneetown, O., for his horse 
 and equipments, which were very fine; was the father of Martin D. Hardin, lawyer, 
 born on the Monongahela River, Pa., June 21, 1780; died Oct. 8, 1823; educated 
 at Transylvania Academy; studied law; several years a member of the Kentucky 
 legislature; secretary of state in 1812; a major under Maj.-Gen. Harrison in the 
 Northwestern army in Lieut.-Col. John Allen's Rifle Reg't of Aug., 1812; U.-S. 
 senator in 1816-7. He published reports of Laws in Kentucky Court of Appeals, 
 1805-8, Frankfort, 8vo, 1810. His son, John J. Hardin, born in Frankfort, Ky., 
 Jan. 6, 1810; educated at Transylvania University; practised law at Jacksonville, 
 111.; was prosecuting-attorney; member of the 111. legislature, 1836-42; representa- 
 tive in congress from 111., 1843-5; col. first reg't 12-month volunteers in Mexican
 
 398 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 proachable character, and in his old age, died wealthy at his 
 residence near Shawneetown. 
 
 Thomas Harrison is a noble and existing monument of the 
 worth and merit of the ancient pioneers of Illinois. He and 
 many others may look back with great satisfaction to their lives 
 spent in the performance of their duties to God and man, and 
 say: "We are the pioneers that first improved the country; 
 defended it in times of peril, and are now about to transmit it, 
 the finest country on earth, to our posterity." 
 
 Thomas Harrison was born in York District, South Carolina, 
 in 1779. His parents were respectable and obtained their liv- 
 ing by cultivating the soil, which is the most ancient and honor- 
 able occupation on earth. His father moved to Rutherford 
 County, North Carolina, and resided there some time; then set- 
 tled in Georgia ; afterward he resided in Buncomb County, 
 North Carolina, and from that point, Thomas Harrison, the 
 Galbreaths, and some others emigrated to Illinois in July, 1804. 
 They camped on the bluff near Kaskaskia and from whence 
 they explored the country. At last Mr. Harrison and some 
 others of the immigrants settled the same year three or four 
 miles southwest of the present city of Belleville. He improved 
 a plantation, and in 1813, built on it the first cotton-gin that 
 ever was established in Illinois. It was propelled by horse- 
 power; but when the price of cotton was reduced so low, the 
 
 war, June 30, 1846; killed, Feb. 23, 1847, ' m battle of Buena Vista, while leading 
 his reg't in a charge at the latest conflict. His son, Gen. Martin D. Hardin, great- 
 grandson of John Hardin, born at Jacksonville, 111., June 26, 1837; graduate of West 
 Point; brevet 2d lieut. 3d artillery, July i, 1859; 2d lieut., Jan. 2, 1860; ist lieut., 
 May 14, 1861; lieut. -col. I2th Penn. Reserve Veteran Corps, July 8, 1862; brevet- 
 capt., Aug. 29, 1862, for gallant and meritorious service in the battle of Groveton, 
 Va. ; brevet-maj., Aug. 30, 1862, for gallant and meritorious service in the battle of 
 Bull Run (2d), Va. ; col. 1 2th Veteran Reserve Corps, Sept. i, 1862; brevet lieut. - 
 col., Dec. 14, 1863, for gallant and meritorious service in an encounter with a band 
 of guerrillas; brevet-col., May 23, 1864, for gallant and meritorious service in the 
 battle of N. Anna River, Va. ; mustered out of volunteer service, June II, 1864; 
 brig. -gen. of volunteers, July 2, 1864; brevet brig. -gen., March 13, 1865, for gal- 
 lant and meritorious service in the field during the war; mustered out of volunteer 
 service, Jan. 15, 1866; maj. 43d Inf'y, July 28, 1866; transferred to ist Inf'y, Mch. 
 15, 1869; retired with rank of brig.-gen., Dec. 15, 1870; loss of left arm and wounds 
 in line of duty (under acts of congress, Aug. 3, 1861, and July 28, 1866). GARD- 
 NER, DRAKE, HAMERSLY.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 399 
 
 cotton business and his gin were abandoned. Soon after, he 
 purchased an ox tread -mill in Belleville and carried it on for 
 some time; then built a small steam-mill, and then a larger one 
 at the west end of the town. This mill, with sixty odd thou- 
 sand bushels of wheat, or more, were burnt. Then they erected 
 the splendid mill that they own at present. This mill is one of 
 the best in the State, with four run of burrs and a capacity to 
 manufacture two hundred barrels of flour in twenty-four hours- 
 He has raised a large and respectable family, natives of St. 
 Clair Co., and the males are associated with their honored sire 
 in the mill business. 
 
 Mr. Harrison and family possess strong and vigorous minds 
 and great energy and industry. Their probity, honesty, and 
 punctuality have gained them a high standing throughout the 
 country. They have a large capital vested in their business. 
 By their sound judgment and economy, they have amassed a 
 fortune. Mr. Harrison embraced religion when a young man; 
 joined the Methodist-Episcopal church, and has been an efficient 
 and talented local preacher in that church for about half-a-cen- 
 tury. 
 
 On Dec. 16, 1811, an earthquake visited Illinois. A convul- 
 sion of nature of this character was never before experienced in 
 Illinois. The first occurred in the night and many of the in- 
 habitants on the frontiers supposed it was the Indians throwing 
 the houses down. On the Kaskaskia River below Athens, the 
 water and white sand were thrown up thro a fissure of the earth. 
 The violence of the earthquake was so great that it threw down 
 chimneys and injured houses. 
 
 In the early spring of 1811, Jacob Shorthand Moses Quick* 
 
 * Moses Quick was one of three sons of Isaac Quick, who emigrated in the latter 
 part of the last century from New Jersey, where his sons were born, to Pennsylvania, 
 and from thence to Illinois, settling near the present town of Mascoutah, in St. Clair 
 County, in the year 1806. Isaac Quick brought with him his sons, Thomas and 
 Moses. Isaac Quick was married to Lucretia Runyon in 1777. Aaron Quick, his 
 eldest son, was born October 19, 1778, and was married December 9, 1800, to Lucy 
 Preston, a native of Virginia. Aaron Quick came to Illinois in 1809; he settled 
 near Belleville, where he entered a thousand acres of land in an early day. He was 
 one of the first school-teachers of St. Clair County, and is described as a man of a 
 high grade of intelligence, and altho a self- cultured man, one of a vast fund of 
 general information. He left at his death a considerable estate, accumulated by 
 judicious investments in lands of St. Clair County. In McDonough's "History of
 
 400 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Randolph County", in a list of entries, Aaron Quick appears to have entered 160 
 acres of land near the present site of Palestine, on November 17, 1816. The second 
 son, Thomas, was never married. He was a man of fine social qualities, and died 
 in Belleville in the spring of 1837, lamented by a large circle of friends and relatives. 
 
 Moses Quick, the youngest son, was of an adventurous, speculative disposition, be- 
 sides the enterprise to which Gov. Reynolds alludes. He also owned a mill near 
 Belleville, on Richland Creek, and a farm adjoining, which he sold in the fall of 1816, 
 to Major Washington West. On this mill was ground the first flour manufactured in 
 St. Clair County. A shipment of 200 barrels was made by Quick to New Orleans 
 in the year 1816. The following advertisement is from the Missouri Gazette and 
 Illinois Advertiser, of Saturday, April 27, 1816: 
 
 "FOR SALE 
 
 A SAW MILL, now in full plight, and equal if not superior to any in the ter- 
 ritory, and a GRIST MILL partly built, which can be put in operation at a 
 small expense. Also, 167 acres of well - timbered land, situated one mile from 
 Belleville, Illinois Territory. 
 
 April 26. MOSES QUICK." 
 
 The consideration for which this property was sold is shown by the deed-records 
 to have been three thousand dollars. Moses Quick removed shortly afterward to 
 Mississippi, where he became largely interested in the steam navigation of the Mis- 
 sissippi River, owning at one time several boats which plied on that river and Lake 
 Ponchartrain. He died in 1835 or '36, while making a trip on one of his boats to 
 St. Louis ; his descendants, who are numerous, all reside in the States of Louisiana 
 and Mississippi. 
 
 Isaac Quick had also fourteen daughters, five of whom married and left descend- 
 ants, eight of whom died young, and one of whom never married. His daughters 
 married as follows : MARY, to Cornelius Rettinghous, and a second time, to George 
 Harris, having several children by each; AMY, married to Charles Messenger, leav- 
 ing many descendants; RHODA, married to George Harrison, by whom she had five 
 sons and five daughters; SARAH, married Henry Allyn, and with her children and 
 descendants live in Washington Territory; LUCRETIA, married George Allen, and 
 with her descendants live in Rock- Island County, Illinois. 
 
 Hon. Thomas Quick, now a prominent member of the St. Louis bar, is a son of 
 Aaron Quick, and one of twelve children, ten of whom lived to maturity; he was 
 born Oct. 13, 1823, and is the youngest of the family. He was educated at McKen- 
 dree College, and admitted to practise in 1846, and practised law in Waterloo from 
 1847-55. He represented Monroe County in the legislature in 1850-2. He re- 
 turned to Belleville in 1855, and formed a law partnership with Jehu Baker. He 
 was appointed bank examiner by Gov. Bissell, and reappointed by Govs. Yates and 
 Oglesby, and did much to successfully wind up the business of the system of unstable 
 banks with which Illinois was then afflicted. He purchased a farm in Washington 
 County in 1858, and removed to it, giving up temporarily his large and lucrative law 
 practice. He was, in 1861, one of the incorporators of the Irvington Agricultural 
 
 College, and was afterward one of the first board of trustees for the Agricultural Cok. 
 
 lege at Champaign. He had six children four of whom three sons and one daugh- 
 ter are yet living; his oldest son, Orlando T., died in the army in 1865 ; his oldest 
 living son, Edwin, is a promising young lawyer, in Chicago. The descendants of the 
 Quick family form today the strongest and perhaps the largest body of relations 
 among the American residents in the St. Clair County. T. H. G.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 4OI 
 
 made a flat-boat on the north side of the Kaskaskia River, 
 about three-quarters of a mile below the present town of 
 Athens, and loaded it with beef, cattle, and corn. In March, 
 they set sail -down the river to New Orleans. They sold out 
 and returned on horseback. This was the first boat built on 
 the river above Levens. 
 
 It has been stated that the judiciary of the territory was 
 much improved by the United-States judges holding the courts; 
 yet the old system was retained to some extent. These judges 
 were required to hold courts twice in every year in each county 
 and a court of deinier resort at the seat of government. These 
 judges were gentlemen of high standing and character, which 
 added much to the reputation of the country. 
 
 Jesse B. Thomas'" was a man of talents, but did not particu- 
 larly employ his mind on the dry subtilties of the law. He 
 was born a politician and never ceased the avocation until 
 death closed the scene with him a few years since, in the State 
 of Ohio. In 1818, he was elected a member from St. Clair Co. 
 to the convention that formed the State constitution ; was 
 elected the president of that body, and gave general satisfac- 
 tion in the performance of his duty. He was also elected to 
 the United-States senate the same year; made a good business 
 
 * Jesse Burgess Thomas, a descendant of Lord Baltimore, was born in Hagers- 
 . town, Md., in 1777; moved west in 1779; studied law with his brother, Richard 
 Symmes Thomas, in Bracken County, Ky. , where he was married his wife dying 
 within a year after marriage. On the organization of Dearborn Co., Indiana Ter- 
 ritory, March 7, 1803, he located in Lawrenceburgh as a practising attorney, and was 
 elected, Jan. 3, 1805, to represent that county in the legislature which convened at 
 Vincennes, Feb. I, by proclamation of Gov. Wm. H. Harrison, to choose members, 
 of the legislative council; from the ten names thus selected, congress appointed five; 
 again, on proclamation of the governor, the legislature assembled at Vincennes, July 
 29, 1805, and at this, its first session, he was elected speaker, and Benj. Chambers 
 of the same county, president of the council; he presided as speaker of the first and 
 second sessions of the general assembly at Vincennes, from Sept. 26, 1805, to Oct. 
 24, 1808 three years and one month, when he was elected by the assembly as dele- 
 yaie to the loth congress, to succeed Benj. Parke, resigned, serving from Dec. I, 
 1808, to March 3, 1809; was appointed and commissioned, Aug. 24, 1805, by Gov. 
 Harrison, a captain of militia of Dearborn County; during his legislative term, he 
 married the widow of Maj. fohn Francis Hamtramck, and moved to Vincennes, resid- 
 ing there a short time; on the organization of Illinois Territory, Mch. 7, 1809, Presi- 
 dent Madison appointed him one of its judges; he then moved to Kaskaskia, thence 
 to Cahokia, and later to Edwardsville; in July. 1818, he was a delegate from St. 
 26
 
 4O2 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 member; was a great friend of Crawford for the presidency,, 
 and did much in the compromise of the Missouri question. 
 He was a gentleman of fine appearance and address. He had 
 a saying on which he acted considerably : that " you could not 
 talk a man down, but you could whisper him to death." On 
 the bench or in the senate, he possessed a dignified and re- 
 spectful bearing, which added much standing to his character. 
 
 William Sprigg possessed a strong, discriminating mind, and 
 made an excellent judge; was a fine classic scholar and a well- 
 read and profound lawyer. He was born in Maryland and was 
 of excellent family. His brother was the governor of Maryland 
 and other relatives occupied important stations in that State. 
 He had an utter contempt for street politics. A purer heart or 
 one with more integrity never found its way to the bench. He 
 was a spectator in the campaign of 1812 under Gov. Edwards 
 to Peoria Lake, as he had no gun or weapons that indicated 
 belligerency. His pacific and sickly appearance, together with 
 his perfect philosophic indifference as to war or peace, life or 
 death, made him the subject of much discussion among the 
 troops. He was the only savant in the army, to my observation 
 
 Stanley Griswold was a correct, honest man; a good lawyer;, 
 paid his debts and sung David's psalms. He was transferred 
 to Michigan Territory and in his place Thomas Towles was 
 appointed, who presided on the east of the territory. 
 
 Clair Co. to and president of the convention that formed the constitution of Illinois 
 and suggested its name; was elected by the first general assembly of Illinois one of 
 its first two United-States senators, serving from Dec. 4, 1818, to March 3, 1828; 
 in 1820, while in the senate, he introduced the Missouri Compromise, was chairman 
 of the committee of conference on this measure, and as adopted was his work, this 
 he regarded as the most important act of his life; in 1824, he was a member of the 
 caucus that nominated his friend, William H. Crawford, for president; in 1840, he 
 took an active part in effecting the nomination of his old friend, Gen. Harrison, for 
 president, and attended the convention held that year at Columbus, Ohio; in 1829, 
 he assisted in the organization of St.Paul's Episcopal church of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, of 
 which he was a consistent member, where he had moved at the close of his last term 
 in the senate, and owned a large property; he was also one of the town proprietors 
 of Brookville, Franklin Co., Ind. In stature, he was full six feet, with florid-brown 
 complexion, dark-hazel eyes, dark-brown (nearly black) hair, with a well-developed 
 muscular system, and weighed over two hundred pounds; was very particular in his 
 personal appearance, and had the mode of a refined gentleman of the last century; 
 was very considerate of the rights and feelings of others, and would not buy at a 
 sheriff's sale. He died, childless, at Mt. Vernon, O., leaving a large estate, May 4, 
 1853, aged 75 years. SAMUEL MORRISON, Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 4, 1884.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 403 
 
 After the close of the war of 1812, Joseph Duncan emigrated 
 to Illinois and settled at the high bluff in the Mississippi Bot- 
 tom, near the Grand Tower in Jackson County. Duncan was 
 young, unassuming, and of genteel deportment. He was born 
 and raised in Paris, Ky., and was an ensign in the United-States 
 army in the campaign to Canada in 1813, under Gen. Harrison. 
 He was in the defence of Lower Sandusky, with Maj. Croghan, 
 and behaved gallantly. He was governor of the State and in 
 congress for many years. He died a few years since, much re- 
 gretted by his family and friends. 
 
 President Madison, on June i, 1812, recommended war against 
 Great Britain, and on the i8th of the same month, war was de- 
 clared. John C. Calhoun made an able and dignified report, 
 appealing to the people to defend the honor and character ot 
 the nation and recommending war the last resort to sustain 
 our national honor. 
 
 The Indians had been growing sour and hostile to the inhabi- 
 tants for years before the declaration of war. Tecumseh and 
 the Prophet, his half-brother, were exciting their brethren against 
 the Americans for years before. It is surprising how quick and 
 correct the information is that the Indians receive of the rela- 
 tions between us and Great Britain. 
 
 A very great chief, Tecumseh, appeared among the Indians, 
 at this time. His father was a Shawnee and his mother an 
 Ottawa woman. At rare intervals, extraordinary men will arise 
 among the Indians. Any one that will study the character of 
 this great chieftain will sincerely deplore his situation and that 
 of the aborigines generally. This great man was almost or per- 
 haps equal to any of the renowned warriors and statesmen 
 among the North-American Indians. He possessed an extra- 
 ordinary strength and vigor of mind. Tecumseh had a magna- 
 nimity of character of which few of the great men of the nation 
 were gifted. There was something noble and grand about him ; 
 he disdained the friendship of the British, except he wanted to 
 use them to save his country from destruction. This Indian 
 Napoleon had his Talleyrand, the prophet. This last-named 
 man was educated in Canada and was a cunning knave. He 
 used, as well as counsel to the Indians, incantations, dreams, 
 and juggling to rouse the red men against the whites.
 
 4O4 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Robert Dickson, a talented Briton and Indian-trader, whose 
 residence was at Prairie du Chien, had great influence over all 
 the hordes of the savages in the North. He had prepared 
 three or four thousand warriors ready to attack the frontiers of 
 Illinois and Missouri. But these warriors were more needed in 
 Canada. They were sent there and thereby we were saved. 
 The war in Canada was our defence. While Dickson was pre- 
 paring his Northern warriors, Tecumseh was South, rousing up 
 the natives there to war against the government. 
 
 Some few murders were committed on our frontiers before 
 war was declared. On June 2, 1811, a family of the name of 
 Cox resided on Shoal Creek, near the forks, and the Indians 
 discovered the family from home, except a young man and 
 woman. They killed the young man and mangled his body 
 cruelly. The girl they took prisoner and also took several 
 horses. Col. Pruit acting as captain, Henry Cox, Ben Cox, and 
 some others, to the number of eight or ten men, pursued the 
 Indians and overtook them and the girl about seven miles from 
 their town and fifty miles north of Springfield. A kind of bash- 
 ful fight ensued. In the scramble, the girl broke from the Ind- 
 ians toward the whites, and as she ran, an Indian wounded her 
 severely in the hip, by throwing a tomahawk at her. The 
 whites got some of the stolen horses and the girl. They 
 reached home in safety. 
 
 The next murder of the same year was Price, a relative of the 
 Whitesides. Price was killed on June 20, near the spring in the 
 lower end of the present city of Alton. Price and another man 
 were plowing their corn and they saw the Indians approaching 
 them at the spring, where there was a small cabin. The horse 
 was unhitched and the whites had a gun. As the Indians came 
 near the spring, the Americans asked them if they were for war 
 or peace. One of the Indians, who was very large and tall, 
 .laid down his gun and gave his hand to Price, but held him fast 
 and the other Indians murdered him. While the conflict was 
 going on, his companion jumped on the horse and was wounded 
 in the thigh in making his escape. 
 
 This was war, and the frontiers commenced building forts and 
 preparing for the contest. During this summer, Tecumseh uas 
 in counsel with Gov. Harrison at Vincennes, and his conduct
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 405 
 
 breathed war. The Prophet had assembled at his town on the 
 Wabash at Tippecanoe all the hostile and straggling Indians in 
 the Northwest, and had them in a rage against the United 
 States. For the protection of the country, Gov. Harrison was 
 compelled to disperse them or make them quit in some manner. 
 He marched an army of seven or eight hundred strong against 
 this town and encamped near it on November 6. The Indians 
 made a furious attack on the army some time before day. If 
 it had not been for the regulars, it would have been another 
 St. Clair defeat. The regulars saved the army. The volunteers 
 fought well, but they could not escape, as the enemy had almost 
 surrounded them. This battle put the frontiers into a still 
 greater panic. Indian war was considered to be declared by 
 this battle. 
 
 In the early spring of 1812, several mounted companies were 
 organized for defence of the country. Small block-houses, 
 family forts were erected all around the frontiers from Wood 
 River to the mouth of the Ohio and up the Ohio and Wabash 
 rivers. Camp Russell was erected about a mile and a -half 
 northwest of the present town of Edwardsville, and was called 
 for William Russell, who was colonel of a regiment of ten rang- 
 ing companies. This was the great military depot for men and 
 other material. Campbell, a United -States officer, erected a 
 small block-house on the bank of the Illinois River, on the west 
 side, twenty odd miles from the mouth. Another military sta- 
 tion was on the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Missouri. 
 This stand was to guard the river, as well as to range on the 
 frontiers. Another was established on Silver Creek, northeast 
 of the present town of Troy. At the site of the present town 
 of Carlyle, a block-house fort was built. The same class of 
 forts were built, one a small distance above the present town of 
 Aviston, in Clinton County. This was called Journey's fort. 
 Two were erected on the east side of Shoal Creek, known as 
 Hill and Jones' forts. One on the west side of the Looking- 
 Glass Prairie, a few miles southeast of the present town of 
 Lebanon, and known as Fort Chambers. On the Kaskaskia 
 River, at Middleton's and Going's, were block-houses. Another 
 block-house was erected on Doza Creek, a few miles from the 
 mouth, at Nathaniel Hill's. All around the southern frontier
 
 406 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 some security was made against Indian depredation. These 
 forts were all erected in the spring of 1812. 
 
 In the Jourdan settlement, Thomas and Francis Jourdan, 
 both, with the assistance of the militia from the salt-works, 
 erected two forts in 1811. They were situated eight or nine 
 miles on the road east of old Frankfort. The settlement had 
 commenced in 1808 or '9. 
 
 Andrew Moore and family went from Goshen Settlement in 
 1810, and settled on the road of that name, southeast, ten or 
 fifteen miles, of the present town of Mount Vernon. He and 
 his son were killed by the Indians in 1812. The father and son 
 went to Jourdan's fort and returned toward home to the middle 
 fork of Big Muddy, and camped all night. After much bloody 
 fighting, both he and his son were killed by the Indians and his 
 horses taken. A prairie where he resided is called Moore's 
 Prairie. After dark at Tom Jourdan's fort, Barbara, Walker, 
 and James Jourdan, three men, stepped out for some wood. 
 The Indians lay concealed in the brush, and shot Barbara dead, 
 wounded Jourdan in the leg, and missed Walker. 
 
 Several officers distinguished themselves in the war in Illinois 
 and showed strong minds as well as great devotion to the coun- 
 try. Capts. Samuel Whiteside, W'illiam B. Whiteside, James B. 
 Moore, Jacob Short, Nathaniel Journey, Willis Hargrave, and 
 William Me Henry were efficient and very active in the defence 
 of the country. Samuel Whiteside is still alive, a venerated 
 and respected pioneer. Samuel and William B. Whiteside are 
 two of the sons of the two gallant soldiers of King's Mountain 
 memory. Each of these brave men commanded companies in 
 the defence of the country. James B. Moore emigrated to Illi- 
 nois with his father in 1781, and grew up a soldier amidst the 
 wars and perils of the country. He also commanded a com- 
 pany in 1812. The father of Jacob Short emigrated to Illinois 
 -in 1796, while his son Jacob was a youth, and he too, like those 
 already mentioned, was enured to the hardships and difficulties 
 of a new country from his infancy. These four patriots were 
 captains of four ranging companies, organized by act of con- 
 gress for the defence of the country. Nathaniel Journey was 
 a great and talented man and was a captain during most of the 
 war. He mostly protected the settlements near to the fort
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 407 
 
 bearing his name. Hargrave and Me Henry were officers in 
 the service of the government and for the most part guarded 
 the frontiers in the eastern section of the State. 
 
 During the summer of 1812, four mounted companies under 
 the above-named captains, ranging throughout the country as 
 far as the Wabash, gave the country ample protection. In the 
 fall of 1812, the fort at Hill's station was attacked and one man 
 was wounded. An Indian shot thro the back wall of a chimney 
 to one of the block-houses and thus wounded the man. An 
 Indian was also killed or wounded, as blood was left where they 
 were. 
 
 In the fall of 1812, all the troops that could be mustered up 
 for a campaign against the Indians were about three hundred 
 and fifty men. Gov. Edwards was the commander and under 
 .him were Cols. Russell, Stephenson, and Rector. Samuel Judy 
 -was a captain over a company of twenty-one spies and of this 
 corps I was a member. For these no baggage -wagons were 
 provided, but each man packed his own provisions for twenty 
 or thirty days, and the horses lived on the grass. The army 
 marched from Camp Russell up the Cahokia Creek, by the head 
 of Macoupin, and crossed the Sangamon River a few miles east 
 of the present city of Springfield, and then on to the Black- 
 Partridge Town. This Indian village was situated near the 
 Illinois- River bluffs, opposite the upper end of the lake. In 
 the morning before we reached the town, the spies met an 
 Indian and his squaw before they perceived us. Judy killed 
 the Indian, who, while dying, shot Right, who died of the wound 
 soon after. The squaw was taken prisoner. Several Indians 
 were killed and some whites were wounded. Three men, Peter 
 St. Jean, John Howard, and Charles Kitchen, crossed the river 
 in pursuit of the Indians. 
 
 As Edwards did not meet Gen. Hopkins, as he anticipated, 
 our army returned home with all convenient speed. Capt. 
 Craig went in a boat from Shawneetown to Peoria with provi- 
 sions for the troops of Hopkins and Edwards, but none were 
 needed. Gen. Hopkins marched from the lower part of Ken- 
 tucky with a large army to sweep over the Illinois country, down 
 that river, and meet Gov. Edwards toward the head of Peoria 
 Lake.
 
 408 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 On Feb. 9, 1813, two families were destroyed near the mouth 
 of Cash River. The Americans followed the Indians south 
 into the State of Kentucky, and a snow fell, so that the party 
 could not follow the trail and the Indians escaped. 
 
 In the month of March, two travelers, Young and McLean, 
 crossed the Kaskaskia River at Hill's ferry, where Carlyle is 
 situated at this day. The Indians, soon after they had crossed 
 the river, killed Young and had a severe combat with McLean. 
 They shot seven times at him, but he swam the river and 
 escaped. Boltenhouse was killed a few miles south of Albion,. 
 toward the VVabash. 
 
 Howard was appointed brigadier-general and took the com- 
 mand of the troops into his own hands. Another campaign 
 was decided upon in the northern section of Illinois, and the 
 Illinois troops, to the number of three or four hundred, left 
 Camp Russell about August I, 1813. I was sergeant in Capt_ 
 William B. Whiteside's company of United-States rangers, and 
 marched in this campaign. At Fort Mason, the Missouri troops 
 all swam over the river and joined us. The army was reorgan- 
 ized at this station, Gen. Howard in command, Cols. McNair of 
 St. Louis and Stephenson of Randolph, 111., were the two colo- 
 nels, Comdts. Wm. B. Whiteside, Nathaniel Boone of Missouri t 
 John Murdoch, and others were made majors. Col. Desha of 
 the United- States army was in some command. Col. Clemson 
 was the inspector. The whole force amounted to not more 
 than eight hundred men. The army marched up the Missis- 
 sippi Bottom to a point above Quincy, thence across the coun- 
 try and struck the Illinois River forty odd miles below Peoria. 
 The army reached Peoria on a calm, pleasant evening and the 
 beauty of the situation was admired by the whole army. The 
 lake and the scenery around made a pleasing impression of its 
 grandeur and beauty even on the stern, rugged soldiers of the 
 army. A young man was shot here during the night by acci- 
 dent. The army marched to the upper end of the lake and 
 returned next day. The troops camped on the south side of 
 the lake for three or four weeks. It was here that the logs were 
 cut for Fort Clark. With a proper truck -wagon and ropes with 
 cross-pieces of wood tied at the proper intervals, eight men can 
 draw as many logs as four horses. The logs were thrown into
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 409 
 
 the water and the regulars under Capt John Phillips rafted them, 
 over the lake and made Fort Clark with them. The army re- 
 turned to Camp Russell in safety late in November. These 
 campaigns did much good in checking the aggression of the 
 Indians. 
 
 In 1814, Mrs. Reagan and six children were killed in the 
 forks of Wood River, a few miles east of the present city of 
 Alton. A p^irty of whites followed them, commanded by Capt. 
 Samuel Whiteside. One Indian was killed in a tree-top by 
 Pruitt, and the rest escaped. 
 
 In August, Henry Cox and son were killed by the Indians 
 on his farm near Hill's fort, Shoal Creek. This was the brave 
 soldier that saved the life of the girl some years before. 
 
 In 1814 [July 19], Maj. John Campbell commanded a squad- 
 ron of boats that ascended the Mississippi to Rock Island, and 
 had a severe engagement with Sac and Fox Indians. Campbell 
 was wounded and many of his men killed in his boats. He was 
 relieved and the whole armament was drove down to St. Louis 
 again. The men fought well, but the Indians were numerous 
 and had almost captured the whole force. 
 
 Major Taylor, the late president of the United States, sailed 
 on August 3, 1814, with three hundred and thirty-four men, in 
 boats to Rock Island. When they reached the island, the 
 British, with a number of redcoats and more than a thousand 
 Indians, met them. The enemy had also a six and three- 
 pounder cannon. After much hard fighting, the Americans 
 retreated, with a loss of several killed and wounded. In the 
 same year, the British from Mackinac, with redcoats, cannon,, 
 and Indians, captured Prairie du Chien and the Americans 
 burned Fort Madison and Johnston, and retreated to Cape an 
 Gris. 
 
 In the fall of 1814, the wife of Jesse Bayles was killed by 
 the Indians in Sugar-Creek Bottom, not far above the present 
 town of Aveston. She and husband went out to look for the 
 hogs and she was killed. 
 
 o 
 
 In the winter of 1814 and '15, the Indians, as well as their 
 ally, the British, ceased hostile operations in the Northwest, and 
 in the summer of 1815, peace was established between all the 
 Indians of the Northwest and the United States. This Indian
 
 4 IO PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 war and peace were the key- stone to the prosperity and im- 
 provement of Illinois. The soldiers from the adjacent States, 
 as well as those from Illinois itself, saw the country and never 
 rested in peace until they located themselves and families in it. 
 Moreover, many of the citizens that were in the military ser- 
 vice saved some of their wages and with it bought themselves 
 farms. Illinois, since the peace of 1815, grew as if by magic to 
 the present time, and within a reasonable short time, not a State 
 in the Union will have a population that can be numbered equal 
 to the Prairie State. 
 
 At the termination of the war, with the influx of population, 
 professional men also appeared in the country. Elias Kent 
 Kane emigrated from the State of New York; touched at Ten- 
 nessee, and finally, in 1814, settled in Kaskaskia. He was a 
 native of New York and came to Illinois when quite young. 
 He received a classic education and studied law in his native 
 State. He possessed a strong mind and a benevolence and 
 kindness of heart that are rarely surpassed. He was a profound 
 lawyer and an agreeable and eloquent speaker. In 1818, he 
 was appointed secretary-of-state and remained in this office for 
 some time. He was elected to the general assembly of the 
 State from Randolph County and then to the senate of the 
 United States in 1824. In 1830, he was reflected, and [Dec. 12], 
 1835, while in the senate at Washington, he died. The death of 
 Mr. Kane was very much lamented in congress and also by the 
 people of Illinois. His talents and amiable disposition endeared 
 him to his friends and family, so that his death rendered them 
 inconsolable. His career in Illinois was brief but elevated and 
 conspicuous. 
 
 Alonzo C. Stuart, a lawyer, emigrated from Reading, Pa., 
 and settled in Belleville in 1816. He was a fine classic scholar 
 and a well-read lawyer. Mr. Stuart was born in Clermont, N.H., 
 and was a regular graduate at Dartmouth College; he received 
 a diploma from that institution of learning. He obtained 
 license in Pennsylvania in 1812 to practise law, and in Illinois 
 in 1817; but soon after he experienced an accidental death that 
 put an end to his usefulness and promise. His decease was 
 very much regretted by his family and friends. 
 
 Robert K. McLaughlin, a lawyer, emigrated from Kentucky
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 411 
 
 and settled in Illinois in 1815. McLaughlin possessed a sound 
 judgment and much energy and industry. He married a lady 
 of excellent sense and an amiable disposition. He resided for 
 a time in Belleville, but finally located in Vandalia, where he 
 has been the balance-wheel (to speak in boat phrase) of the 
 town for many years. He is now enjoying, in ease and wealth, 
 the respectable life of a pioneer. He has a wife, wealth, ana 
 no children. 
 
 Col. Benjamin Stephenson moved with his family to Illinois 
 from Kentucky in 1809. He was sheriff of Randolph County 
 for many years. In the war of 1812, he acted as colonel in two 
 campaigns. Stephenson was elected a delegate to congress 
 from the territory of Illinois in 1814, and was appointed register 
 of the land-office at Edwardsville. In public or private life, he 
 was a polite and agreeable gentleman. Death closed his earthly 
 career some years since [at Edwardsville.] 
 
 Major William George Brown is a respectable and living pio- 
 neer of Illinois. In the Old Dominion and Prince Edwards 
 County, he was born in 1777. The father of Maj. Brown emi- 
 grated to Kentucky in early times and the major moved to Illi- 
 nois in 1816. At the Long Point, so called, he settled and has 
 resided there for more than one-third of a century. The county 
 of St. Clair has been represented by him in the State legislature 
 for many years, and he has been active in the defence of the 
 country in all the Indian wars of his day. With the public, 
 his character stands high for his good sense and honesty. 
 
 James Lemen, Sr., was blessed with a large family of chil- 
 dren.* Most of his sons are members of Christian churches 
 
 * The "U. S. Biog. Diet," Chicago, 1876, gives the following additional facts 
 concerning this celebrated family. James Lemen, Sr., was born near Harper's Ferry, 
 Ya. , in 1758; was married in Virginia in 1782, and had born to him eleven children, oi 
 whom three died in infancy and eight lived to be over sixty. This remarkable family 
 consisted of six sons and two daughters. James Lemen, Sr., lived to be 64, and 
 died in 1822. His sons were as follows: 
 
 i. Robert Lemen, born near Harper's Ferry, Va., Sept. 25, 1783; married Hester 
 Tolan in 1805; settled in Ridge Prairie, St. Clair Co., 111., and there reared a family 
 of fifteen children, most of whom arrived at years of maturity; was educated under 
 the instruction of that eccentric and able pioneer Baptist preacher, "Father "John 
 Clark, and was far above the ordinary men of his day in native and acquired ability; 
 was appointed by President John Quincy Adams U. S. marshal of the State of Illi- 
 nois in 1825; was a member of the Baptist church; and died Aug. 24, 1860, aged 77.
 
 412 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 and many of them preachers of the gospel. Robert Lemen r 
 one of his sons, was engaged for many years in teaching school 
 at a time when the country was in great need of schools. 
 
 2. Rev. Joseph Lemen, born also in Virginia, Sept. 8, 1785; married Mary Kin- 
 ney, daughter of Rev. William Kinney, Sr., afterward lieut. -governor of Illinois, 
 and with her raised a family of fourteen children; was a prominent Baptist preacher 
 for more than half a century; lived in Ridge Prairie, St. Clair Co. ; and died June 29, 
 1861, aged 76. In McDonough's "History of St. Clair County" is a chapter written 
 by Joseph B. Lemen, a member of this family, in which is given the history of the 
 Baptist churches of that county. He says, speaking of the Richland- Creek Baptist 
 Church, first organized June 14, 1806: 
 
 "In 1809, these people built a meeting-house on Richland Creek, some three 
 miles northeast of Belleville; and at that time had a membership of about forty. 
 Among the members were Benjamin Ogle, James Lemen, Sr. , Wm. Lot Whiteside,. 
 William Kinney, Isaac Enochs, Larken Rutherford, Rev. Joseph Lemen, Robert 
 Lemen, Polly ,K. Lemen, Catharine Lemen, Ann Simpson, Hetty Lemen, Ann 
 Whiteside, Sally Whiteside, Ann Lemen, Elizabeth Badgeley, Mary Kinney, and 
 others. " 
 
 On July 8, 1809, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., who had been licensed to preach one 
 year previous, arose in church and denounced slavery and the practise of holding 
 slaves as one he could not tolerate; to this some of the membership objected, and the 
 senior Lemen and four others withdrew, and with two others organized a new church 
 under the name of "the Baptist Church of Christ, friends of humanity," afterward 
 known as the Bethel Baptist Church. Their building was located two and one-half 
 miles southeast of Collinsville, and is yet a flourishing society. Joseph Lemen sus- 
 tained pastoral relations with Bethel Church for many years except when his brother 
 Moses was in charge during almost the first half-century of its existence. He was 
 assisted also by his brother James during many years of the time, who is described 
 as "a man of much power." 
 
 3. Rev. James Lemen, born in Monroe Co., 111., Oct. 8, 1787; was also a Baptist 
 preacher of considerable renown, preaching in Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky; 
 married Mary Pulliam, Dec. 8, 1813; reared a large family; and died Feb. 8, 1870,. 
 aged 82. "He was the second child born of American parents in the colony. Enoch 
 Moore being the first. " He was a member of the second territorial legislature from, 
 St. Clair Co. in 1814-15; again representing the county in the second general assem- 
 bjy, 1820-22; and was state senator from 1824-28. His widow died in 1876, aged 81. 
 
 4. William Lemen was born in Monroe Co. in 1791, and also belonged to the 
 Baptist church from an early age; married in the same county Maud Miller, who 
 bore him seven children, only two of whom lived to adult age; was a soldier in the 
 Black-Hawk war; and died in Monroe Co. in 1857, aged 66. 
 
 5. Rev. Josiah Lemen, born in Monroe Co., 111., Aug. 15, 1794, was also a Bap- 
 tist preacher; married Rebecca Huff; reared a large family; and died near DuQuoin, 
 in Perry Co., July II, 1867, aged 73. 
 
 6. Rev. Moses Lemen, born in Monroe Co., 111., in 1797, became a Baptist min- 
 ister in early life; married first, Sarah Hull, by whom he had three children; second, 
 married Sarah Varnum, by whom he had seven children. He represented Monroe 
 Co. in the house from 1828-30; and died in Montgomery Co., 111., March 5, 1859, 
 aged 62. J. H. G.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 413 
 
 James Lemen, Jr., was born at the New Design in 1787, and 
 was raised in Illinois. He has been elected at various times to 
 one or the other branch of the general assembly of the State 
 for twelve or fifteen years. Likewise, he was elected a member 
 from St. Clair to the convention that formed the first constitu- 
 tion of the State. In all these situations in which the people 
 placed him, he has acted with ability and fidelity. The public 
 awards to him an unblemished reputation. 
 
 The Casey family, a numerous and respectable connection, 
 emigrated mostly from Tennessee to Illinois and settled in 
 several of the counties in the interior of the State. Hon. 
 Zadoc Casey* is a conspicuous and worthy pioneer of the 
 
 * Zadoc Casey's father came from County Tyrone, Ireland, settled in North Caro- 
 lina before the Revolution, and was a soldier under Marion and Sumpter. Zadoc 
 Casey was born in Georgia, March 7, 1796; was brought up in Sumner County, 
 Tennessee, where the family removed while he was quite young; was married in Ten- 
 nessee, Aug. 31, 1815, to Rachel King. They have had seven children. While his 
 oldest child was an infant, Gov. Casey removed with his family to Illinois, in 1817, 
 and settled in Jefferson County, near the present town of Mount Vernon, of which 
 he was the founder, where his family was reared; and here he lived, died, and was 
 buried. Gov. Casey was elected to the house of representatives of the third general 
 assembly, to represent the counties of Jefferson and Hamilton, in 1822-4, the first 
 representative either of said counties had in the general assembly. Two years later, 
 Marion County having in 1823 been organized and added to the district, in 1824-6 
 he represented the enlarged district. In 1826-30, he was in the State senate repre- 
 senting the district comprising Jefferson, Hamilton, Marion, and Clay counties. In 
 August, 1830, he was elected lieutenant-governor at the same election with John 
 Reynolds as governor. He resigned this position in 1833, to accept a seat as one of 
 three members which Illinois was allowed -in the Federal congress after the census of 
 1830; and served five successive terms in congress, being reelected at every election 
 until the district was changed in 1842. He was a prominent member of congress and 
 was chairman of the committee on public lands, and the State of Illinois is indebted 
 to him for the land -grant which enabled them to build the Illinois-and-Michigan 
 Canal. He also made the first report to congress in favor of a grant to aid in the 
 construction of the Illinois-Central Railroad. Senator Douglas, in a correspondence 
 with Judge Breese in 1851, gave to Gov. Casey the credit of the first official recogni- 
 tion of the importance of the road in a report made in 1837, to the house of repre- 
 sentatives of the national congress, while chairman of the committee on public lands. 
 
 Gov. Casey was elected to i6th general assembly in 1848, and was speaker of the 
 house; he was ree'lected to the house again in 1850-2, as a colleague of Gen. Haynie, 
 representing Jefferson and Marion counties. In 1860, he was elected as state sena- 
 tor from the 2Oth district, composed of the counties of Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, 
 Wabash, Marion, Clay, and Richland, and was holding this position at the time of 
 his death, Sept. 4, 1862. 
 
 Gov. Casey's oldest son, Samuel K. Casey, was educated at McKendree College,
 
 4H PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 family and has held many high and honorable offices in the 
 State. In 1830, he was elected lieutenant-governor and has 
 been a member of congress for many years; was a member of 
 the last convention to form the State constitution, and is at the 
 present time a member of our State legislature. In early youth, 
 he did not attend to his education, but in after-life, he improved 
 himself very much and is an intelligent man. Nature blessed 
 him with an interesting family, many of whom bid fair to be 
 useful and distinguished citizens. 
 
 Hon. John A. McClernand * is a conspicuous pioneer of 
 
 Lebanon, Illinois; licensed to practise law in 1845; was warden for many years of 
 the Illinois State penitentiary at Joliet; returned to Jefferson County after the Rebel- 
 lion, and was elected to the State senate in 1868; and died during his term of office,. 
 May 31, 1871, at his house in Mount Vernon of hemorrhage of the bowels. Mahala,, 
 the oldest daughter of Gov. Casey, married Rev. Lewis Dwight, and died in 1844; 
 her son, S. L. Dwight, a prominent lawyer of Centralia, Marion County, was a 
 member of the house in the State legislature of 1870-2. Hiram R. Casey, the second 
 son, died in Louisana in 1856. Dr. Newton R. Casey, the third son, was educated at 
 the university at Athens, Ohio, is a physician and surgeon, and lives at Mound City. 
 He was a member of the house in 25th, 26th, and 28th general assemblies, from Pula 1-i 
 County. The fourth son, Thomas J>>Casey, was educated at McKendree College, 
 taking the Master's degree in 1850; he was licensed to practise law in 1853; in 1856, 
 he was elected circuit attorney of the twelfth circuit, to which he was reflected in 
 1860; in the summer of 1862, he raised the iioth Illinois Infantry, of which regi- 
 ment he was elected colonel ; served with his regiment thro the fall campaign with 
 Buell in Kentucky in 1862, with Uosecrans in the battle of Stone River, making a. 
 splendid record for personal gallantry in that severe engagement; and in May, 18635 
 he was mustered out at his own request on a consolidation of his regiment, his busi- 
 ness interests, and those of his father, who had died in the meantime, requiring his. 
 personal attention. Col. Casey was married in 1861, to Miss M. S. Moran of 
 Springfield. He was a member of the house of representatives in 1870-2, and suc- 
 ceeded his brother, Samuel, in 1872-6, in the State senate. He was elected one of 
 the judges of the second circuit in 1879; and was selected as the judge of the appeK 
 late court from his circuit, a position he now fills. Gov. Casey's youngest son, Dr. 
 John R. Casey, was educated at McKendree College, and afterward received a thoro. 
 medical education, and is now a practising physician in the city of Joliet. J. H. G. 
 * Gen. McClernand was born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, in 1812. When 
 four years of age he lost his father, and his early years were years of trial, hardship, 
 and difficulty, which he surmounted with an indomitable will, and at the age of 
 twenty he had placed himself in an honorable position in the profession of the law. 
 He moved to Shawneetown, Illinois, in 1830; volunteered as a private in Capt. Har- 
 rison Williams' company in the Black-Hawk war, in the summer of 1832, and was 
 promoted to the position of assistant- quartermaster on the staff of Brig.-Gen'l Alex- 
 ander Posey, commanding the 1st brigade, lie established a Democratic newspaper 
 in Shawneetown in 1835; was elected to the legislature in 1836 8, and again in 1840;
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 415 
 
 Southern Illinois. He was raised in Gallatin County and 
 worked his way thro many difficulties to eminence and a high 
 standing. Law was his avocation and he practised his profes- 
 sion tor some time in Southern Illinois. In constructing the 
 Illinois-and- Michigan Canal, he acted an efficient part as a 
 State officer and has represented Gallatin County time and time 
 again in the State legislature; but most of his public services 
 were in the congress of the United States. In this honorable 
 body he made a conspicuous and efficient member. Nature 
 gifted him with an active and vigorous intellect and much 
 energy. 
 
 was reflected in 1842; and in 1843 was elected to congress, to which position he was 
 reelected in 1844, again in 1846, and still again for the fourth consecutive term in 
 1848. He declined a fifth reelection, and removed to Jacksonville in 1851.^ In 1840 
 he was elected a presidental elector on the Democratic ticket and in 1852 he was 
 elector on the Pierce ticket. In 1856 he removed to Springfield, where he engaged 
 in the practise of his profession before the Federal courts. In 1859 he was again 
 elected to congress from the Springfield district, to fill the vacancy caused by the 
 death of Maj. Thos. L. Harris. He was married in 1843 to Sarah, daughter of Col. 
 James Dunlop of Jacksonville, 111. 
 
 In August, 1861, Gen. McClernand was commissioned as a brigadier-general by 
 President Lincoln. He immediately resigned? his seat in congress and returned to 
 Illinois, where he recruited a considerable force of volunteers in a short time. He 
 resumed command at Cairo, Sept. 5, 1861. After leading in many important cam- 
 paigns and expeditions, and distinguishing himself at Fort Henry, Fort Donalson, 
 and Shiloh, in each of which engagements he commanded a divison; and being pro- 
 moted to a major-general after the surrender of Fort Donelson, he was next assigned 
 to the command of an army corps, by Gen. Halleck's order, and in this position did 
 much to further the Union cause in 1862. Gen. McClernand is undoubtedly entitled 
 to much of the credit for planing the campaign of 1863. Unfortunate disagreements 
 occurred between him and Gens. Grant and Halleck, and after his victory at Arkansas 
 Post, he was ordered back. He afterward took part in the battles of Fort Gibson, 
 May I, Champion Hill, May 3, and Big Block, May 17, 1863; also in the siege of 
 Vicksburg which followed; and on June 18 was relieved from the command of the 131)1 
 corps. Gen. McClernand tendered his resignation Jan. 14, 1864; which the Presi- 
 dent refused to accept, and he was replaced in command of the I3th corps, and 
 assigned to the department of Gen. Banks, on Jan. 23, 1864. He took part in the 
 ill-fated Red River campaign of 1864, until prostrated by sickness, and on June 12 
 was brought home shattered in health and unable to return to the field. Altho 
 he sought active service afterward his health was not in a condition to justify it, 
 and unwilling to hold a position that he did not fill he again tendered his resigna- 
 tion in November, 1865, and it was accepted. 
 
 He was president of the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis in 1876; 
 has always been an ardent politician of the old Jefferson school. He is still engaged 
 in the active practise of his profession in Springfield, a member of the firm of Mc- 
 Clernand & Keyes. J. II. (i.
 
 41 6 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Rev. John Mason Peck emigrated to the West in 1817, and 
 has been extremely efficient and energetic in advancing the 
 morality and religion of the country. This reverend pioneer 
 was born in the State of Connecticut in 1787, and reached 
 Shawneetown in 1817. For many years he resided in Missouri 
 and he and family were much afflicted there with sickness. In 
 1821, he located in Illinois and has resided at his celebrated 
 site, the Rock Spring, ever since. 
 
 Nature has endowed Mr. Peck with her choicest gifts and he 
 himself has been indefatigable and energetic in his scientific 
 and literary labors. A strong, vigorous, and discriminating in- 
 tellect he possesses in an eminent degree. In addition to this 
 great gift of nature, he is also blessed with an activity and 
 energy that shrink from no labor and research that is within 
 the compass of his power. With his efficiency and energy of 
 character, he has accomplished much in the West. Education 
 has been a favorite pursuit with him during his whole life in the 
 Western country. The Sunday-schools may greet Mr. Peck as 
 their most efficient supporter. The temperance cause may also 
 hail him as its best friend and champion. Morality and religion 
 itself were greatly advanced in this new country by his untiring 
 exertion. The eminent talents of this divine are devoted mostly 
 to preaching the gospel and writing books. Sermons of this 
 gentleman are clear and strong and contain in them not only 
 the theory of religion, but also the practical application to the 
 actions of men. The writings of Mr. Peck exhibit much talent 
 and research and do him and the country much honor. The 
 literary character of this author stands eminent throughout the 
 West and he promises much to advance his literary fame. The 
 Baptist denomination of Christians he has joined and is one of 
 their most efficient members. 
 
 William B. Whiteside, the captain of the company of United- 
 States rangers in the war of 1812, was born in North Carolina, 
 and when a lad, came with his father, Col. William Whiteside, 
 to the country in 1793. He was- raised on the frontiers and 
 without much education, but possessed a strong and sprightly 
 intellect and a benevolence of heart that was rarely equaled. 
 All his talents and energies were exerted in the defence of his 
 country. He was sheriff of Madison County for many years.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 41 7 
 
 At his residence in Madison County, he died some years since. 
 
 Chicago was known, and visited by the explorers of the coun- 
 try from the earliest times to the present; but no regular vil- 
 lage or colony was ever established there until modern date- 
 Indian-traders and the engage were often located there, but no 
 continuous settlement was made. The name is of Indian ex- 
 traction and means in English the Land of Onions or Wild- 
 Onion Field. The Indians, in 1812, [Aug. .15], massacred al- 
 most a whole company of regulars there and kept the place 
 until peace was declared. 
 
 Jean B. Pont-au-Sable had a store of Indian goods there in 
 1795, and John Kinzie settled there about 1804. The Illinois- 
 and-Michigan Canal gave Chicago the first start in modern times 
 and now it bids fair to be the largest city in the valley of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 John D. Whiteside, another son of the aged Col. Whiteside, 
 was born at Whiteside's Station in 1794, and was raised, lived, 
 and died there in 1850. This pioneer possessed a strong, solid 
 mind. Many important public stations he occupied with credit 
 to himself. At various times, he has represented his native 
 .county in the State legislature and occupied for many years the 
 office of treasurer of State ; also the office of fund-commis- 
 sioner. The business of this last office required his services in 
 Europe, where he transacted important business for the State. 
 It is singular that he was born, lived, died, and was buried on 
 the same locality, the Old Station, in the present county of 
 Monroe. 
 
 The Moore family emigrated from Georgia and settled in 
 St. Clair and were respectable citizens. The aged patriarch, 
 Risdon Moore, was a popular and conspicuous man of his day. 
 The county of St. Clair was represented in part by him for 
 many years and he was elected the speaker of the house of 
 representatives of the general assembly. He died many years 
 since and left an unblemished character. 
 
 A large connection of the Mitchells and Wests* emigrated 
 
 * The West family are of English ancestry, and the first of the name came with 
 Calvert, Lord Baltimore, to Maryland in 1632. John West, a progenitor of the 
 present family, lived and died in Maryland ; his son, Benjamin, removed to Virginia 
 before the Revolution, and served during that struggle on the military staff of Gen.
 
 41 8 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 from Bortetot County, Va., and settled in St. Clair County, east 
 of Belleville in early times. This colony was composed of in- 
 telligent and worthy citizens and the descendants have spread 
 over the country far and near. 
 
 George E. Walker, a respectable and worthy pioneer, was 
 born in Tennessee, and his father and family, in 1811, settled 
 on the east of the Kaskaskia River, near the northern limits of 
 Randolph County. Young Walker in his early days started 
 out into the wide world to make a living, and most nobly has 
 he sustained himself. He traded with the Pottawatomie Ind- 
 ians and the white population on the Illinois River to much 
 advantage. Walker was an efficient member of the company 
 that built a railroad from the Mississippi Bluff to the river. 
 This road was constructed seven miles long in 1837, for the pur- 
 pose of conveying coal to the St. Louis market, and was the 
 first railroad built in the State. In 1839, he commenced mer- 
 chandising in Ottawa, 111. At this time, he is one of the most 
 wealthy and efficient merchants in this State. He possesses a 
 strong natural mind and energy and activity unequaled. 
 
 Washington; his son, Washington West, was born in Maryland, but was moved in 
 infancy to Virginia, where he married Frances Mitchell of Virginia. Their children 
 were two sons and one daughter. Benjamin Hillary West, the younger of these 
 sons, was one year old when the family came to Illinois in 1818; he was married to- 
 Maia Catherine Hiel, also a native of Virginia, and from this union sprang a family 
 of eleven children; all reside in St. Clair County; prominent among these is the third 
 son, Dr. Washington West of Belleville. The elder son, Tilghman Hilliary West, 
 born in Montgomery Co., Md., Sept. 20, 1773; married in 1803, Mary Mitchell, 
 and moved to Illinois Territory with his brother, Benjamin H. , and their families 
 and sons in 1818. His son, Benjamin J. West, Sr., was married to Louisa A. 
 Mitchell, June 7, 1836, and settled in Belleville. From this union sprang Benjamin 
 J. West, Jr., born in July, 1846; he was educated at McKendree College and St. 
 Louis University, and did efficient service in the I42d Regiment Illinois volunteers 
 during the late war; was married June 12, 1869, to Miss L. K. Gere of Alton, 111.; 
 and was mayor of Belleville, 111., in 1881. Hon. Edward M. West of Eclwardsville, 
 Madison County, 111., an older son of Tilghman H. West, born in Botetourt County, 
 Virginia, May 2, 1814, is the head of the banking-house of West & Prickett. In 
 1838, he was elected treasurer of Madison County, and reelected to a second term. 
 In 1844, he was elected school superintendent of the same county, and was one of 
 the delegates from his county to the constitutional convention of 1847, and was 
 largely instrumental, as a member of the finance committee, in securing the adoption 
 of those wise measures which protected the State from repudiation and placed its 
 credit on a sound basis. He has been a prominent member of the Methodist church 
 since 1842; and held the position of chaplain, with the rank of captain, in the Illi- 
 nois National Guard. J. H. G.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MEMOIR OF CHARLES GRATIOT, SR. 
 
 [Revised by the author, Jan. 7, 1885. From the Sf. Louis Republican, Aug. 24, 1878.] 
 COMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC DATA IN POSSESSION OF THE WRITER. ' 
 
 I have long had it in contemplation, from my connection with the family of the 
 deceased, Charles Gratiot, Sr., to prepare an article relating to the above individual, 
 who, from the date of his first establishment in the then little village of Cahokia in 
 1777 (but thirteen years after the commencement of the embryo village of St. Louis 
 by Laclede) to his death in 1817, a period of forty years, was, from his education, 
 acquirements, and business capacity, one of the most influential residents of our 
 early St. Louis. 
 
 I am more directly induced to commence this procrastinated intention from the 
 perusal of an obituary in the Sunday Republican of July 21, of the recently-deceased 
 (July 13, 1878; aged 81 yrs. 8 mo. 10 dys. ) Isabelle, relict of the late Julius DeMun, 
 and the last-surviving child of Charles Gratiot, which obituary contains so many 
 material errors of fact, particularly as regards Mr. Gratiot, that I deem it but proper 
 for the truth of history that these errors should be corrected while fresh before us. 
 
 But little is known at the present day of the ancestry of Charles Gratiot but what 
 was derived from himself in his lifetime. He was of French origin, his ancestors 
 being of those Huguenots who were compelled to leave their native France after the 
 revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV., at the latter part of his reign, 
 toward the close of the seventeenth century, owing to the persecutions they experi- 
 enced for their religious views and opinions. A large portion of these persecuted 
 people crossed the eastern boundaries of France into Switzerland, where all religious 
 opinions were tolerated, and many settled in that country; among these were the 
 immediate ancestors of Charles Gratiot, who in his lifetime always claimed to be a 
 Swiss, and not a Frenchman. 
 
 Charles Gratiot, the only son of David* and Marie (Bernard) Gratiot was born at 
 Lausanne, Canton of Vaud, anciently Leman, situated on the north shore of the 
 ancient Lac Leman, modern Lake of Geneva, Switzerland, in 1752. After his 
 school -boy days he was sent to an uncle Bernard in London, a brother of his 
 mother, in whose mercantile house he spent some years, and then came to Montreal, 
 Canada, arriving May 30, 1769, to another uncle Bernard, a merchant of Montreal, 
 with whom he served as clerk for some five years. In 1774, this uncle sent him in 
 the Indian trade to Michilimakinac; and in 1775 to the Illinois country, with a 
 venture of goods for this uncle's account, where he remained about a year, and took 
 such a fancy to the country that he determined to return and settle in it. So in 
 1777, having left this uncle's service and formed a copartnership with David McCrae 
 and John Kay, two young Scotchmen of Montreal, fur-traders like himself, under 
 the style of David McCrae & Co., he came to Cahokia late in November. The 
 
 * Charles Gratiot in his marriage contract in the Spanish archives is called the son of Henry 
 Gratiot and Marie Bernard, but in all his letters to his parents he addresses them to his father 
 David Gratiot, which doubtless was his correct name. 
 
 419
 
 420 APPENDIX. 
 
 writer of this is the possessor of his first little ledger, in his own handwriting; the 
 first entry therein bears date Michilimackinac, Sept. 24, 1777, on his route here; 
 then follows entries at Green Bay, Portage of the Ouisconsin, Prairie du Chien, and 
 the first at Cahokia, Dec. 2, 1777, where he must have arrived about the close of 
 November, and remained over three years, removing to St. Louis early in 1781, 
 previous to his being united in marriage to Victoire Chouteau, born in New Orleans, 
 third and youngest daughter of Marie Therese Chouteau, nee Bourgeois, on June 21, 
 178.1; Mrs. Chouteau, the mother, born in New Orleans, 1733, then residing at the 
 southwest corner of our present Main and Chesnut streets, in the stone house that 
 had been built for her residence, and which she occupied from its completion in 
 1766-7 to her death, Aug. 14, 18.14, aged 81. Here Mr. G. lived for a few years, 
 and in this house their first child, Julie, afterward Mrs. John P. Cabanne, was born, 
 July 24, 1782. 
 
 In 1783, about the close of the Revolutionary War, Mr. G. made a journey to 
 Virginia to urge his claims for indemnification partly for large losses he had sustained 
 in some manner by the seizure and confiscation of his goods in some of his Indian 
 trading expeditions, in which he was then extensively engaged, but mainly for supplies 
 and assistance furnished by him to Gen. Clark and the Americans. Here he met with 
 Patrick Henry and other noted men of the day, and succeeded in obtaining grants 
 for large bodies of land in Kentucky, then included in the territory claimed by Vir- 
 ginia. From this journey he returned to St. Louis in the summer of 1784. 
 
 Mr. Gratiot purchased, Nov. 28, 1785, from the widow of Eugene Poure, dit 
 Beausoliel, for $500, the north half of our present block 3, 120 feet on Main by 150 
 feet deep to the river, with a house of posts, 40 by 20 feet and another of 20 by 15. 
 And subsequently, in 1787-8, the south half of the same block, upon which was also 
 a small house of posts. On this property he resided for some years, and here several 
 of his first children were born. 
 
 Between the years 1792-3, Mr. Gratiot was associated with one Solomon Abraham, 
 a merchant of Montreal, in trading with some of the Indian tribes of the upper 
 country, the goods for these outfits being procured by Abraham from London. In 
 the prosecution of this business they met with heavy pecuniary losses, as did all 
 others engaged in this trade at this particular time. This was caused by the revolu- 
 tion in France, involving that country in an immediate war with Great Britain, and 
 subsequently with nearly all Europe, materially depreciating the price of furs in that 
 country and enhancing the cost of the goods for the trade. 
 
 At this period, 1793, Mr. G. made a voyage to Europe, being absent about twenty 
 months. The facts connected with this voyage I derive from his letters from 
 Canada and London (in my possession) to his brothers-in-law, the two Chouteaus, 
 at whose instance principally the voyage was undertaken, they then having a large 
 fur-trading establishment in Mackinac, from which it appears that Mr. Gratiot, 
 having experienced heavy losses in business some time previously, and finding him- 
 self very much embarrassed pecuniarily, had conceived the project of this voyage, 
 then no small undertaking from this remote point, induced thereto partly by the very 
 liberal remuneration to be allowed him by these gentlemen and others, whose furs, 
 etc., he was to dispose of in London, then the great fur-mart of the world, and there 
 purchase for them the goods they needed in the prosecution of their Indian trade, 
 instead of, as heretofore, at Montreal, but mainly by the confident hope that, from 
 Iris business capacity and his knowledge of the English language, " something might 
 turn up" that would enable him to retrieve his affairs, and again place him in a
 
 APPENDIX. 421 
 
 prosperous position. In this hope he was not disappointed, as will subsequently 
 appear. 
 
 He left St. Louis at the end of May, 1793. The route then was by canoe p 
 periogue up the Mississippi and Ouisconsin rivers, through Green Bay to Mackina', 
 thence down through the lakes to Montreal. He was in Mackina' in July and in 
 Montreal about August 20, and. embarked for Europe about the close of October. 
 At this time, Mr. G. was in the prime of life just forty years and had been mar- 
 ried about twelve years, leaving at home five children, his wife giving birth to their 
 sixth on Oct. 25, just as he was on the eve of his departure from Montreal. 
 
 Arriving in London at the close of the year 1793, he spent the winter in unceasing 
 application to the interests of those parties for whom he had undertaken the voyage, 
 as is shown by his letters from that city. In attending closely to this business, he 
 became intimately acquainted with a Mr. Schneider, a merchant of very large means, 
 at the head of a commercial house having extensive business relations with some of 
 the principal cities of Europe. This gentleman conceived a warm friendship for 
 Mr. Gratiot. He made him propositions to establish a house in St. Petersburg, 
 Russia, where large quantities of furs were disposed of. He proposed to furnish the 
 capital necessary therefor, would procure for him consignments from other European 
 cities, and eventually give him an interest in his London house. This generous 
 proposition Mr. G. gratefully accepted, as he states in a long business letter of March 
 30, 1794, from London, to his brothers-in-law, the two Chouteaus, covering some 
 twelve or fourteen pages of large foolscap. 
 
 Nothing could better exemplify the honorable character, the innate sense of those 
 qualities which constitute the gentleman, and the liberality and self-sacrificing dis- 
 position of the man, than a perusal of this letter but as that would require too much 
 space in this article, I will merely condense the substance. The largest portion of 
 the letter is devoted to the business interests of those for whom he made the voyage. 
 Then, as to his personal matters : Explains the considerations that induced him to 
 accept the offer to establish himself in Europe; regrets the severance of the ties, 
 perhaps forever, that bind him to his friends in America; gives specific instructions 
 for closing and settling his affairs in St. Louis, enumerating all those to whom he is 
 indebted, with directions to pay all his debts and to dispose of all his property, etc. ; 
 desires his wife to prepare herself and the children for the voyage to join him in 
 Europe "when she will have received his instructions to that effect, and concludes 
 with the hope that his friends there will cherish his remembrance and his sincere 
 affection for all. " In view of his contemplated absence from St. Louis, for possibly 
 a long period of time, Mr. Gratiot had executed to his brother-in-law, Aug. Chou- 
 teau, before his departure, under date of May 24, 1 793, a general power of attorney, 
 clothing him with full authority to act for him in his absence in all matters, as if done 
 by himself in person. Archives, vol, iv. 505, ii. 770. 
 
 At this period, his brother-in-law, Pierre Chouteau, had just lost his first wife, 
 Pelagic Kiersereau, to whom he had been married some ten years, leaving him a 
 widower, yet comparatively a young man of thirty-three, with four children. He 
 then began to entertain the idea of a trip to Europe, as mentioned by Gratiot in the 
 foregoing letter of the 3oth from London; but it appears that Chouteau had aban- 
 doned the idea of this voyage, as he had just previously to the date of this letter 
 taken to himself a second wife, Brigitte Saucier, of which fact, of course, Gratiot 
 was not apprised when he wrote, expecting Chowteau to come over and bring with 
 him under his protection Gratiot's wife and children. It appears then the voyage of
 
 422 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mrs. Gratiot was abandoned, if ever entertained by her. Mr. Gratiot remained 
 abroad some twenty months, returning to St. Louis at the commencement of 1795- 
 He must have met with pecuniary success in his enterprise, as we find him subse- 
 quently in easy circumstances. 
 
 At the close of 1796, Mr. Gratiot purchased from his brother-in-law, Joseph M. 
 Papin, for $3000, the south half of our present block 32, 120 feet front on Main by 
 300 deep to Second Street, just across the street (now Chesnut) from his mother-in- 
 law, Mrs. Chouteau, with a large stone house of 55 by 36 feet. This house was 
 built by Papin, who had purchased this lot from Martin Duralde in 1 780, built the 
 house for his residence, and lived in it some sixteen years until he sold to Mr. Gratiot 
 as above. Mr. G. moved into this house early in 1797, and in this house his six 
 youngest children were born. As an instance of the kindness of heart and munifi- 
 cent liberality of the man, I relate the following circumstance: In Feb., 1797, not 
 long after his return from Europe, Mr. Gratiot purchased from Bernard Pratte, for 
 $560 then its full value the northeast quarter of the block (now 32) north and 
 adjoining his then residence on the south half of this block, with a large stone-house 
 thereon. A few years thereafter, Mr. G. made to his wife's sister, Marie Louise 
 Chouteau, wife of Joseph M. Papin, and her children, a "voluntary gift" (so expressed 
 in the deed) of the above property, "in consideration of their near relationship, and 
 having a large family in distressed circumstances, in consequence of the losses her 
 husband has experienced in business, and the great affection she has always mani- 
 fested for his family." This deed, executed Sept. 12, 1801, is on record in the 
 archives, vol. i. p. '442. On this property Mr. and Mrs. Papin resided until their 
 respective deaths some years thereafter, and with the growth of the city it became 
 very valuable in after years. 
 
 After his return from Europe, Mr. Gratiot again embarked in business, in which 
 he was engaged up to the period of his death, in 1817. In his later years, and after 
 the country had passed into the possession of the United States in 1804, Mr. G., 
 possessing a knowledge of the English language, was a prominent man in the affairs 
 of our little town, filling various offices of trust, etc. He was the first presiding 
 judge of the court of common pleas after its organization in 1804, having for his two 
 associates on the bench Auguste Chouteau and David Delaunay. Subsequently a 
 justice-of-the-peace, and afterward, upon the organization of the town, chairman of 
 the board of trustees for 1811-3. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Gratiot continued to reside in the house above mentioned until their 
 respective deaths; he died April 21, 1817, aged sixty-four, and his widow June 15, 
 1825, aged sixty-five; surviving her husband eight years. They were the parents of 
 thirteen children, four of whom died in infancy, and nine four sons and five daugh- 
 ters grew to maturity, and were all married in this house with the single exception 
 of their eldest son Charles, then of the United States army, who married in Phila- 
 delphia in 1819, some years before the death of his mother. 
 
 Mr. Gratiot named in his will his widow and his eldest son-in-law, the late John 
 P. Cabanne, as his executors. The widow continued to reside in the old family 
 mansion until her death. Her youngest son, Paul M. Gratiot, then a clerk in the 
 employment of the French Fur- Company on the waters of the Upper Missouri, 
 which occasioned his absence from St. Louis about nine months of the year, being 
 then under an engagement of marriage with a sister of the writer, to take place at 
 the expiration of the term of his engagement to the company, which had yet three 
 years to run, being then in St. Louis on his annual return for two or three months,
 
 UNIVERSITY *f
 
 COL. FRANCIS VIGO. 
 
 From a Lithograph by Mine. Mez 
 
 Drawn by Chas. Alex. Lesucui
 
 APPENDIX. 423 
 
 and old Mrs. Gratiot, then very infirm, finding her end rapidly approaching and 
 desirous of witnessing the nuptials of her last and youngest child, as she had those 
 of all her elder children, desired that they might be united in her presence before 
 she left this world. Accordingly the marriage ceremony took place on Jjme 6, 1825, 
 in the chamber of the old lady, where she then lay on her death-bed, the few persons 
 present being the relatives and a few intimate friends of the two families the writer 
 of this being one, as elder brother and guardian of the bride. Mrs. Gratiot survived 
 this event but nine days, breathing her last on June 15, 1825, aged sixty-five. 
 
 FRED. L. BILLON. 
 
 FRANCIS VIGO. 
 
 Francis Vigo was born in 1747, at Mondovi, Sardinia. As a Spanish soldier, he 
 was with his regiment, first at Havana, and afterward at New Orleans, when that 
 city was a Spanish post. He left the army and came to St. Louis, then the military 
 headquarters of the Spanish for Upper Louisiana. Here he became the partner of 
 the commandant, Don Francisco de Leyba, and was soon extensively engaged in the 
 fur -trade, acquiring great influence among the several Indian tribes between the 
 waters of the Ohio and the Missouri. His sympathies, already enlisted in favor of 
 the Colonies, took active form on the appearance of Clark at Kaskaskia. His time, 
 influence, and whole fortune were staked with an open hand upon the issue. He 
 turned out his merchandise to supply Clark's destitute soldiers, and sustained the 
 credit of the Virginia continental money, by taking it at par or guaranteeing its re- 
 demption, at its face, to those who exchanged their provisions or supplies for it. 
 His advances or liabilities incurred in this way amounted to more than twenty thou- 
 sand dollars, which, with Hamilton's, the British commander's confiscations at Vin- 
 cennes, and losses through reprisals of Indians hostile to his side of the war, reduced 
 him to poverty: Living to a ripe, old age, he also gave much of his time, subse- 
 quently to the Revolutionary war, to the military and civic affairs of the old North- 
 west and Indiana territories,. when the latter embraced all the former, except the 
 present State of Ohio. He was never recompensed for his pecuniary sacrifices, 
 though the United States made a tardy and partial restitution to his heirs. Toward 
 the close of his life, he lived upon his little homestead farm, near Vincennes, in great 
 poverty and cheerful to the last. Recurring to his old age, he often said in a re- 
 signed, jocular way, " I guess the Lord has forgotten me." His wants were relieved 
 often times by the kindly attentions of his neighbors, among all whom, particularly 
 little children, he was a universal favorite. The nearly effaced. inscription upon an 
 unpretending stone that marks the neglected spot where rest his remains, in the old 
 cemetery at Vincennes, advises us that he died March 22, 1835. 
 
 The sketch of Vigo is a photograph copy, presented to the writer by Prof. John 
 Collett, Indiana-State geologist, and taken from the original, drawn by C. A. Le- 
 seure the great artist and ichthyologist of the expedition of La Peruse, fitted out by 
 Napoleon I. to explore Australia while he was associated with Rob't Owen at New 
 Harmony, Ind. The sketch was recognized by Vigo's friends as a very good and 
 striking one. This note is summarized from papers on Vigo, published by late 
 Judges Law of Vincennes and Gookins of Terre Haute, Ind. both personal acquaint- 
 ances, and the latter, Vigo's executor Clark and Jefferson's correspondence, Prof. 
 Collett, and reminiscences gathered by the writer while on a visit to Vincennes for 
 that purpose. (September, 1884. ) H. W. BECKWITH, Danville, 111.
 
 424 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NAMES OF EARLY ILLINOIS SETTLERS. 
 
 In the "American State Papers, Public Lands," Vol. 2 [Duff Green edition], pp. 
 132-4, is a statement, dated Kaskaskia, Dec. 31, 1809, of claims founded on "Im- 
 provements " in the district of Kaskaskia, which were affirmed by the board of 
 commissioners appointed under act of congress to take evidence of all land-claims 
 in the Kaskaskia district, under French, Spanish, or United-States grants. The 
 commissioners were Michael Jones and E. Backus, and the following appear to be 
 the nameS of English or American settlers who claim under "Ancient Grants": 
 
 William Arundel, 
 
 John Dodge, 
 
 Nathaniel Hull, Henry O'Hara, 
 
 John Barton, 
 
 John Doyle, 
 
 John Jones, John Peters, 
 
 James Biswel.I, 
 
 Clement Drury, 
 
 James Kinkead, William Robins, 
 
 Thomas Brady, 
 
 Abram Flanary, 
 
 George Lunsford, Elijah Smith, 
 
 Drury Bush, 
 
 Joshua Flanary, 
 
 Richard McCarty, Henry Smith, 
 
 Robert Caldwell, 
 
 Thos. Flanary, Jr., 
 
 John McElnmny, Peter Smith, 
 
 George Camp, 
 
 Joseph Hanson, 
 
 Jno. McElmuny, Jr. , Joseph Standlee, 
 
 Ichadod Camp, 
 
 Leonard Harness, 
 
 Thomas Marrs, Robert Sybold, 
 
 Isaac Chaffin, 
 
 John Hiltebrand, 
 
 John Marshall, David Wallis, 
 
 John Chambers, 
 
 David Hix, 
 
 John Montgomery, Haydon Wells,. 
 
 James Cufry, 
 
 Michael Huff, 
 
 William Murry, Isaac West. 
 
 Alexander Denis, 
 
 Thomas Hughs, 
 
 
 In the same volume, pp. 135-8, is a list of claims " founded on acts of congress- 
 granting donations of four hundred acres each to heads of families in the district of 
 Kaskaskia, " and which were confirmed by the board. Of these acts of congress, one 
 approved March 3, 1791, gave to each "head of a family" who had cultivated or im- 
 proved land in Illinois prior to and including the year 1788, the right to four hun- 
 dred acres of land. Of those claiming under these acts, the following were Ameri- 
 cans or English, Irish or Scotch, naturalized Americans : 
 
 J. B. Allary, 
 
 Alexander Douglas, Nathaniel Hull, 
 
 Charles Robins, 
 
 William Arundle, 
 
 John Doyle, Jacob Judy, 
 
 Mrs. R. Rogers, 
 
 George Atchison, 
 
 Clement Drury, Patrick Kennedy, 
 
 LarkinRuthertord, 
 
 Thomas Bently, 
 
 Andrew Faggot, James Kincade, 
 
 Catharine Ryan, 
 
 William Biggs, 
 
 Samuel Finley, \Tames Lemen, 
 
 Josiah Ryan, 
 
 James Biswell, 
 
 Elijah Flannery, John Lyle, 
 
 John K. Simpson, 
 
 Shadrach Bond> ' 
 
 Thos. Flannery,- Jr. , John McCormick, 
 
 Henry Smith, 
 
 John Boyd, 
 
 James Garrison, Thomas Marrs, 
 
 Nicholas Smith, 
 
 Benjamin Byram, 
 
 Charles Gilt, James Mayfield, 
 
 John Sullivan, 
 
 Joseph Byram, 
 
 Samuel Hanley, John Montgomery, 
 
 Levi Theed, 
 
 George Camp, 
 
 Joseph Hanson, Mary Moony, 
 
 David Wallace, 
 
 Ichabod Camp, 
 
 Leonard Harness, ^ James Moore, 
 
 George Ware, 
 
 John Clark; 
 
 John Harris,. Joseph Morris-, 
 
 James Watts, 
 
 Thomas Comstock, 
 
 James Head, Joseph Ogle, Sr., 
 
 Isaac West, 
 
 John Cook, 
 
 George Hendricks, Henry O'Hara, 
 
 James Wiley, 
 
 James Curry, 
 
 David Hicks, David Pagon, 
 
 John Williams, 
 
 Alexander Dennis, 
 
 John Hiltebrand, John Peters, 
 
 Joseph Worley, 
 
 Israel Dodge, 
 
 William Howe, James Pigot, 
 
 William Wycoff, 
 
 John Dodge, 
 
 Thomas Hughes, (Kaskaskia, Dec. 31 
 
 ,1809.)
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 425 
 
 Congress also donated "one hundred acres* of land to each militia-man enrolled 
 and doing duty in Illinois on Aug. I, 1790, within the district of Kaskaskia." The 
 claims under this act were made mostly by French settlers, as they constituted the 
 greater part of the militia force at that date. The following are the names of the 
 claimants other than those of French birth or origin affirmed by the commissioners,. 
 Kaskaskia, Dec. 31, 1809 (same book, page 139-47): 
 
 William Arundel, 
 
 Edward Hebert, 
 
 William Murry, 
 
 Levi Theed, 
 
 Timothy Bellow, 
 
 John Jones, 
 
 Joseph Ogle, 
 
 Edward Todd,. 
 
 George Biggs, 
 
 John Rice Jones, 
 
 Levi Piggott, 
 
 William Todd, 
 
 John Brady, 
 
 William Jones, 
 
 William Piggott, 
 
 Alexander Waddle^ 
 
 Isaac Brasten, 
 
 Jacob Judy, 
 
 Daniel Raper, 
 
 David Waddle, 
 
 William Butts, 
 
 Samuel Judy, 
 
 William Robins, 
 
 Jesse Waddle, 
 
 Thomas Callahan, 
 
 Robert Kidd, 
 
 Benjamin Rogers, 
 
 Hardy Wear, 
 
 Isaac Chaffin, 
 
 Alexander McNabb, John Sack, 
 
 Frederick Weiser, 
 
 William Chaffin, 
 
 Edward McNabb, 
 
 Ebenezer Sevans, 
 
 John Whiteside, 
 
 Alexander Dennis, 
 
 James Moore, Jr., 
 
 Daniel Shultz, 
 
 Wm. F. Whiteside, 
 
 John Edgar, 
 
 John Moore, 
 
 John K. Simpson, 
 
 William Young 
 
 Isaac Enochs, 
 
 William Moore, 
 
 Daniel Sink, 
 
 Whiteside,. 
 
 Philip Gallaher, 
 
 John Moredock, 
 
 Christopher Smith, 
 
 James Wilson, 
 
 John Hays, 
 
 William Morrison, 
 
 Robert Sybold, 
 
 Thomas Winn. 
 
 The commissioners (Michael Jones, John Caldwell, Thomas Sloo) afterward (Kas- 
 kaskia, Jan. 4, 1813) reported another list of those who were, in their opinion, enti- 
 tled to four hundred acres each under the act of March 3, 1791, as settlers prior to- 
 1788 (page 189 of same volume). Of these the following appear to be Americans: 
 
 Joseph Anderson, 
 George Atchison, 
 Frances Bellew, 
 George Biggs, 
 Thomas Biggs, 
 William Biggs, 
 
 John Dimpsey, 
 William Dove, 
 Raphael Drury, 
 William Drury, 
 John Edgar, 
 Isaac Enochs, 
 
 Shadrach Bond, Sr., Daniel Flannery, 
 
 Tobias Brashiers, Elijah Flannery, 
 
 Charles Burk, James Garretson, 
 
 Benjamin Byram, Charles Gill, 
 
 Peter Casterline, James Gray, 
 
 William Chaffin, Samuel Hanley, 
 
 L. G. Chamberlain, George Hendricks, 
 
 William Cheney, Thomas Hughes, 
 
 Frances Clark, James Lemen, 
 
 John Clark, Henry Levins, 
 
 Robert Creighton, William Lewis, 
 
 Archibald McNabb, James Scott, - 
 
 James McRoberts, Ebenezer Severns, 
 
 Charles Martin, 
 
 James Moore, 
 
 John Moore, 
 
 Elisha Nelson, 
 
 Benjamin Ogle, 
 
 Joseph Ogle,, 
 
 William Oglesby, 
 
 David Pagon, 
 
 Jonas Piggot, 
 
 William Piggot, 
 
 George Powers, 
 
 Abraham Rain, 
 Larkin Rutherford, 
 Catharine Ryan, 
 Josiah Ryan, 
 
 Nicholas Smith, 
 Abraham Stanley,. 
 James Stillman, 
 John Sullivan, 
 Levi Theel, 
 Thomas Todd, 
 David Waddle, 
 Robert Watts, 
 George Wear, 
 Layton White, 
 James Wiley, 
 Thomas Winn, 
 Charles Wood, 
 Joseph Worley. 
 
 * The commissioners in confirming the four-hundred-acre grants deducted this hundred acres fronv 
 all who received it. The militia-man of 1790 therefore received but three hundred acres of the con- 
 gressional grant. J. H. G.
 
 426 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following advertisement appeared on Saturday, March II, 1815, in the 
 
 Missouri Gazette and Illinois Advertiser, published at St. Louis, Mo. : 
 
 "JACKSONVILLE, 
 
 A Town, which the Subscriber has just laid out on a liberal plan, and offers at 
 private sale, BUILDING LOTS to Mechanicks, Merchants, and others, who may in- 
 cline to settle therein. JACKSONVILLE is situa'ted on the easterly bank of L'Abbe, 
 or Cahokia Creek, not more than four hundred yards from the Mississippi River, 
 immediately opposite the flourishing town of St. Louis. 
 
 It is deemed unnecessary to go into detail of the many advantages that this situa- 
 tion possesses : Suffice it to say, that it is a good and beautiful site for a large town, 
 and admirably well situated for commerce. That it is backed by an extensive tract 
 of as fertile lands as any in the Western Country; where there are at present, many 
 industrious and respectable farmers, and the country is rapidly populating by emi- 
 grants from the different parts of the United States. 
 
 Jacksonville, St. Clair Co., 111. Ten, March 4, 1815. ETIENNE PI^ENNEAU." 
 
 In the Missouri Intelligencer and Illinois Advertiser of Sept. 27, 1817, appears 
 the law card of John Taylor and James H. Peck, in which they propose to practise 
 their profession in the counties of Washington and St. Louis in the State of Missouri. 
 The advertisement states that "Mr. Peck will also practise in St. Chafles and Howard 
 counties in Missouri, and Mr. Taylor will attend to business in the counties of Bond, 
 Madison, St. Clair, and Harrison in Illinois Territory. " 
 
 We are not certain whether this was the same John Taylor whose eccentricities as 
 a traveling preacher and lawyer served as a basis for many tales of wondrous pulpit 
 and bar oratory in the Southwest during the early part of- the present century. We 
 think it likely that he is the same, and that he afterward remained in Arkansas and 
 Texas. The best known of his exploits which served as the basis of a newspaper 
 story, very extensively copied by the wesk -n press at intervals during the last half 
 century, represents him as having volunteered in behalf of a widow against a wealthy 
 suitor who had bribed court, jury, and witnesses, and even the poor woman's attor- 
 neys, when Taylor appeared in the nick of time, and overthrowing all opposition by 
 the scathing power of his burning oratory won her cause; and at the close of the trial 
 announced in the court-room " God willing, John Taylor will preach in this court- 
 house at early candle-light. " J. H. G. 
 
 EARLIEST NATURALIZATION RECORD IN ILLINOIS. 
 
 TFrom Col. John Todd's Record -Eook, presented to the Chicago Historical Society by Edward 
 G. Mason, and is the subject of one of his lectures before the Society.*] 
 
 " I do swear on the Holy evangelists of Almighty god that I Renounce all Fidelity 
 to george the third, King of Great Brittan, his heirs and Successors, and that I will 
 bear true allegiance to the united States of America as free and Independent, as 
 declared by Congress, and that I will not do, nor cause to be done any matter or 
 thing that may be injurious or Prejudicial to the independence of said States, and 
 that I will make Known to some one Justice of the Peace (or the united States alj 
 Treasons, all Treatorous, Conspiracies, which may come to my Knowledge to be 
 formed against said united States, or any one of them. So help me God. 
 
 " Sworn at Kaskaskia, I o July, 1782. JAMES MOORE." 
 
 ' "Illinois in the i8th Century," three leciuies by E. G. Mason, of die Chicago Dai. No. 12 
 ol FERGUS' HISTORICAL SERIES.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Abbeville, S.C., mention, 352. 
 
 Abbot, James, mention, 246, 247. 
 
 Aboite River, mention, 124. 
 
 Abraham, Solomon, mention, 420. 
 
 Adams, John, mention, 120, 329. 
 
 Adams, John Quincy, mention, 396, 41 1 n. 
 
 Adams, Lucinda, marries Richard Brads- 
 by, 337 n. 
 
 Adams, Samuel, mention, 120. 
 
 Adet, P. A., French minister to the U. S., 
 220. 
 
 Afflock, Mrs. T. B., mention, 263 n. 
 
 Agriculture under French, 67-9. 
 
 Aik;en, Edward, mention, 302 n. 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 66. 
 
 Albemarle County, Va., mention, 63. 
 
 Alexander County, 111., representatives, 
 389; mention, 131. 
 
 Alexander County, Ky., mention, 319. 
 
 Alexander, Samuel, mention, 386. 
 
 Alexander Settlement, mention, 268. 
 
 Algonquin Indians, mention, 17. 
 
 Allary, Jean Baptiste, entitled to land- 
 grant, 424. 
 
 Alleghany Mountains, name, 18; mention, 
 18, 50, 67, 75, 112, 157, 301. 
 
 Alleghany River, mention, 63, 65. 
 
 Allen, George, mention, 400 n. 
 
 Allewige Indian nation gave name to 
 AHeghany Mountains, 18. 
 
 Allouez, Claude Jean, missionary and first 
 white settler in Kaskaskia, 41. 
 
 Allyn, Henry, mention, 400 n. 
 
 Alsbury, E. R., mention, 265 n. 
 
 Alsbury, Lucinda, marries James Shuff, 
 265 n. 
 
 Alton, mention, 27, 190, 222, 244 n, 270, 
 387, 409, 41811. 
 
 Alton Penitentiary, mention, 322. 
 , American Bottom, why so called, 113; 
 early settlers, 201 ; social life in the, 
 202-4; mention, 43, 46, 49, 66, 115, 
 131, 138, 146, 149, 167, 200, 201, 207, 
 214, 232, 255, 260, 265, 270, 280, 299, 
 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 329, 330, 337, 
 347, 348, 355, 357, 358, 371. 
 
 American race, superiority of, 151-2. 
 
 American settlers in Illinois, 112-8, 125, 
 127, 130, 137-44; depredations of In- 
 dians against, in 1786-95, 152-4; their 
 social life, 273-5; principally from west- 
 ern and southern states, 346. 
 
 Amherst, Gen. Sir Jeffrey, 77. 
 
 Amlin [Jean Baptiste], cruel death of, 
 122-3. 
 
 Amos, Rev. Abraham, member of first 
 Illinois Territorial legislature, 268. 
 
 Anderson [David and James] family, 
 mention, 352. 
 
 Anderson, Joseph, one of Gen. Clark's 
 soldiers, 339; mention, 215, 341; enti- 
 tled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 A 'drews, James, killed by Indians, 153; 
 settler of 1785, 255; daughter (Brasilia) 
 captured by Indians, 153. 
 
 Andrews, Mrs. James (Ogle), killed by 
 Indians, 153. 
 
 Antya, Pierre, resident of Prairie du Chien, 
 
 IS*- 
 
 Apple Creek, mention, 383. 
 
 Arcadians, British cruelty to, 66-7; finally 
 settle along the Mississippi, 67. 
 
 Arkansas, mention, 184, 426. 
 
 Arkansas Indians, locality, 27. 
 
 Arkansas Post established 1686, 40. 
 
 Arnold's (Benedict) Canada expedit'n, 373 
 
 Arstugus, see Asturgus. 
 
 Artaguiette, Pierre d', governor of 111., 54; 
 leads troops against Chickasaws, cap- 
 ture, death, 57-8; mention, 305. 
 
 Arthur, Hiram, mention, 381 n. 
 
 Arundel, William, entitled to land-grant, 
 424, 425. 
 
 Ash Hill, mention, 358. 
 
 Assinnaboin Country, mention, 226. 
 
 Asturgus, Minard, mention, 215. 
 
 Atchison, George, settler of 1786, 256; 
 marries daughter of Francis Saucier, 
 287; entitled to land-grant, 424, 425. 
 
 Atchison, William ("Chape Wollie"), an- 
 ecdote of, 162; mention, 201. 
 
 Athens, 111., mention, 401. 
 
 Athens University, 414 n. 
 
 Atkins, William, mention, 280. 
 
 Auguel. Anthony, surnamed the Picard 
 du Gay, mention, 33. 
 
 427
 
 428 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Austin, Moses, partner of John Rice 
 
 Jones, 171. 
 Australia, mention, 423. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bachus, Elijah, receiver of Kaskaskia 
 land-office, 351, 424. 
 
 Badgley, Elizabeth, mention, 412 n. 
 
 Badgley, Rev. Uavid, sketch, 259-60; 
 notice, 269; mention, 236, 237, 269, 280. 
 
 Bailey, Lieut. [John], leads American 
 forces, against Fort Sackville, 104. 
 
 Baker, David Jewett, mem. of 111. bar, 372 
 
 Baker, Edw'd Dickinson, mention, 370 n. 
 
 Baker, Jehu, mention, 400 n. 
 
 Balbec, ruins of, mention, 177. 
 
 Baldwin, L. B. , mention, 265 n. 
 
 Baltimore City, mention, 113, 165, 211. 
 
 Baltimore, Lord (Geo. Calvert), 401 n. 
 
 Banks', Gen. Nathaniel Prentiss, Red- 
 River campaign, reference, 4150. 
 
 Bankson's, Capt. Andrew, comp'y, Black 
 Hawk War, 386 n. 
 
 Baptist Banner, reference, 254 n. 
 
 Baptist churches and preachers, 115, 190, 
 2 56, 259, 263, ib. n, 265 n, 269, 270, 
 272, 335, 385, 412 n; divided on slavery 
 question, 272. 
 
 Barbara, , killed by Indians, 406. 
 
 Barbeau, Jean Baptiste, chief-justice of 111. 
 under Northwest Territory, 180. 
 
 Barbeau, Miss Marie C. , marries Nicholas 
 
 Jarrot, 214. 
 __ frark canoes, description of, 235. 
 
 Barlow knife, mention, 382. 
 
 Barnum, should be Varnum, 156. 
 
 1 Barre, Antoine Joseph Lefebere de la, 37. 
 
 Barren Co., Ky., mention, 263 n, 264 n, 
 336 n, 378. 
 
 .Barry, William T., of Ky., mention, 372. 
 
 ; Barton, John, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 I Barton, Joshua, duel of, 354. 
 
 Bates, George C., mention, 247 n. 
 
 Battle of (references) Atlanta, 387 n; Bel- 
 mont, 38711; Big Block, 415 n; Bran- 
 dy-Wine, 300 n; Buena Vista, 300 n, 
 397; Bull Run, 387 n; Champion Hills, 
 415 n; Cow Pen?, 203; Dalas, 387; Ft. 
 Donelson, 4(5 n; Fort Henry, ib. ; Fort 
 Gibson, ib. ; Groveton, 398 n; Guildford 
 Court- House, 203; Kenesaw Mountain, 
 387 n; King's Mountain, 185, 203; N. 
 Anna River, 398 n; Pontotoc Creek, 57; 
 Quebec, 246; Resaca, 387 n; Shiloh, 
 415 n; Stone River, 414 n; Thames, 
 264 n; Tippecanoe, 163, 391, 404-5; 
 Trenton, 156; Vicksburg, 38711. 
 
 Baton Rouge, mention, 80. 
 
 Bay of Biloxi, fort established at, 43. 
 
 Bayles, Mrs. Jesse (Bradsby), killed by 
 Indians, 409. 
 
 Bayley, see Bailey. 
 
 Bayou Manchac, mention, 80. 
 
 Bazadona, Laurence, a Spanish trader, 
 ransoms Wm. Biggs, 343. 
 
 Bazedone, see Bazadona. 
 
 Beaird, John, settler 1801, sketch, 310-2. 
 
 Beaird, Joseph A., notice, 312. 
 
 Beaird, Win. A., notice, 312, 313. 
 
 Bear-Grass Creek, 191. 
 
 Beaucoup Creek, mention, 299. 
 
 Beaujeu, Count de, disagreement with 
 LaSalle, 37, 38. 
 
 Beauleau, Jean, mention, 347. 
 
 Beaulieu, Mad. (Chouvin), sketch, 347 
 
 Beauvais, Jean Bte. [St. Gemme], wealth 
 of, 82. 
 
 Beauvais, Miss Julia [St. Gemme], marries 
 Nicholas Jarrot, 214. 
 
 Beauvois, Jean B., mention, 215. 
 
 Beck, Dr. Lewis C., surveyed Ft. Chartres 
 in 1820, op. 46. 
 
 Beck with, Hiram Williams, sketch of Rev. 
 John Mason Peck, 253-4; note on land- 
 offices in Eastern Illinois, 372 n; sketch 
 of Francois Vigo, 423. 
 
 Bedford County, Va., 336 n. 
 
 Bees in Illinois, 169-70. 
 
 Bellew, Francis, entitled to land-grant, 425 
 
 Bellow, Timothy, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425- 
 
 Bellefontaine, location, 255; mention, 113, 
 131, 146, 182, 184, 185, 201, 205, 256, 
 269, 342. 
 
 Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, 254 n. 
 
 Belleville, visited by cholera, 1833, 369- 
 70; county-seat St. Clair County, 377-8; 
 name, 378; hotel of 1816, ib. ; mention, 
 115, 166, 188, 194, 195, 230, 260, 267, 
 268, 289 n, 290 n, 313, 314, 328, 330, 
 333, 339, 36i, 362 n, 363, ib. n, 377, 
 398, 399, ib. n, 400 n, 411, 418, ib. n. 
 
 Bently, Thos. , entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Benton, 111., mention, 387 n. 
 
 Benton, Thomas -Hart, U.-S. senator from 
 Mo., 171. 
 
 Berkeley County, Va., mention, 271. 
 
 Bernard, , of London, mention, 419. 
 
 Bernard, , of Montreal, mention, 419. 
 
 Berry, Elijah C., first State auditor, 336 n. 
 
 Berry, Melinda, marries Henry Clay 
 Bradsby, 336 n. 
 
 Beshears, see Brashears. 
 
 Bethel Baptist Church formed on anti- 
 slavery principles, 1809, 412 n. 
 
 Betts' ( ) tanyard, mention, 298. 
 
 Bible Society, first, 273. 
 
 Bienville, II., Jean Baptiste LeMoyne de, 
 drives British out of the Mississippi Val- 
 ley, 43; unsuccessful campaign against 
 Chickasaws, 56-7, 59. 
 
 Big-Bay Creek, mention, 335. 
 
 Big Door, chief of Piankeshaws, 98.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 429 
 
 Big Island, location, 355. 
 
 Big Mound, mention, 355. 
 
 Big Muddy, settlers on, 357, 390; men- 
 tion, no, 299, 335, 336, 406. 
 
 Big Prairie thickly settled, 2O2. 
 
 Big Spring, mention, 175. 
 
 Biggs family of 1796, 201. 
 
 Biggs, George, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 ^isg s Thos., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Biggs, William, sheriff, 1790, 180; sketch, 
 341-4; member of first territorial legis- 
 lature, 368; entitled to land grant, 424, 
 
 425. 
 
 Bilderback [John and Ephraim] family, 
 mention, 352. 
 
 Billon, Frederic Louis (historian of St. 
 Louis), Sketch of Chas. Gratiot, 419-23. 
 
 Bird, see Byrd. 
 
 Bissell, Capt. Daniel, commander of Fort 
 Massac, 221. 
 
 Bissell, Gov. Wm. H., mention, 400 n; ref- 
 erence to regiment of, 265 n, 300 n. 
 
 Biswell, James, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Black Hawk, religious rites, 285; men- 
 tion, 252. 
 
 Black-Hawk County, reference, 368 n. 
 
 Black- Hawk War excited by Sauk and 
 Fox, 21; reference, 141, 26411. 289 n, 
 384 n, 386 n, 387 n, 388, 412 n, 414 n. 
 
 Black - Partridge Town, location, 407; 
 mention, 320, 383. 
 
 Blackwater Island, mention, 247 n. 
 
 Blackwell, Rob't, buys out Illinois Herald, 
 366, ib. n; member of Illinois bar, 372. 
 
 Blair, George, sells site of Belleville, 377; 
 mention, 202, 238, 377. 
 
 Blair, Mrs. George [Murdoch], mention, 
 202, 238. 
 
 Blair, William, anecdote of, 347; men- 
 tion, 377. 
 
 Bland, Richard, mention, 120. 
 
 Bledsoe, Jesse, of Ky., mention, 372. 
 
 Bledsoe Licks of Tenn., mention, 298. 
 
 Block -Houses, early, 114, 207; descrip- 
 tion, 131-4. 
 
 Bloody Island, mention, 354. 
 
 Blount, Wm., governor of S.-W. T'y, 311. 
 
 Blue Licks, mention, 107, 143 n. 
 
 Bluff Dale, 111., mention, 27 n. 
 
 Boggs, Gov. Lilburn W., of Mo., 327. 
 
 Boilvin, Nicholas, resident of Prairie du 
 Chien, 1812, 151. 
 
 Boisbriant, Pierre Duque, commandant in 
 Illinois, 46. 
 
 Boismenue, [Nicholas ?] sr., anecdote of, 90 
 
 Boismenue, Isabella, marries Edward 
 Pensoneau, 363 n. 
 
 Boltenhouse, Joseph, killed by Indians, 408 
 
 Bond, Dr. Benjamin, notice, 328. 
 
 Bond, Benjamin N., mention, 327 n. 
 
 Bond County, mention, no, 337, 426. 
 
 Bond, Emily, mention, 327 n. 
 
 Bond, Isabella ., marries James P. 
 
 Craig, 327 n. 
 
 Bond, Joshua, and descendants, 327-8 n. 
 Bond, Julia R., marries Frank Swanwick, 
 
 327 n. 
 Bond, Mary A., marries Joseph B. 
 
 Holmes, 327 n. 
 Bond, Nicholas, father of Gov., mention, 
 
 323. 
 
 Bond, Nicodemus, mention, 327. 
 
 Bond, Shadrach, sr. (Judge), early (1781) 
 settler, 112; native of Md., 113, 255; 
 
 member legislature of Ind. and N.-W. 
 territories just ; ce for many years, 1 14-5 ; 
 with others erects block-house in Am. 
 Bottom, 131; elected rep'sentative, 157; 
 lay preacher, 256, 258; uncle of Gov., 
 323; with Gen. Clark, 328, mention, 
 132, 149, 202, 270, 290, 344, entitled 
 to land-grants, 425. 
 
 Bond, Shadrach, jr. (Gov. ), duel with Rice 
 Jones, 173; Gov. of 111., portrait, sketch, 
 323-7; advocates Ill.-and-Mich. Canal, 
 327; descendants of, 327 n ; mention, 
 368 n; entithd to land grnntu, 4115, 426". 
 
 Bond, Mrs. Shadrach, Jr., mention, 256. 
 
 Bond, Thomas, notice, 328. 
 
 Bond, Thomas S., mention, 327 n. 
 
 Bon Succour, near Cahokia, 113. 
 
 Boon, Daniel, mention, 84. 
 
 Boon, Nathan, major in Gen. Howard's 
 expedition, 408. 
 
 Boonsboro, mention, 87. 
 
 Boone's Lick, mention, no, 140. 
 
 Borer [Jacob], mention, 236. 
 
 Born, Octav, mention, 362 n. 
 
 Boscawen, Admiral Edward, mention, 155 
 
 Boston, mention, 247. 
 
 Botetourt County, Va., mention, 184, 205. 
 
 Boucher, Geo. O., mention, 379 n. 
 
 Boucher, Hiram, mention, 379 n. 
 
 Boucher, John, wounded by Indians, 379; 
 sketch and descendants, ib. n. 
 
 Boucher, John Vincent, mention, 379 n. 
 
 Boucher, Lyman S., mention, 379 n. 
 
 Boucher, P. H., mention, 379 n. 
 
 Boucher, Thomas, mention, 379 n. 
 
 Bouldei, Colorado, mention, 37911. 
 
 Bouquet, Gen. Henry, relieves Ft. Pitt, 79. 
 
 Bourgmont, Sieur de, erects fort on Mis- 
 souri River, 52. 
 
 Bowman, Capt. James, his company in 
 Black- Hawk War, 264 n. 
 
 Bowman, Capt. Joseph, at Cahokia, 98; 
 visits Rock- River Indians, 98-9; men- 
 tion, 92. 
 
 Bo wen, , settler 1780, sketch, 137. 
 
 Bowerman, Jacob, mention, 364. 
 
 Boyd, John, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Bracken Co., Ky., mention, 358, 401 n. 
 
 Braddock's [Gen. Edward] Defeat, refer- 
 ence, 65, 76, 199.
 
 430 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Bradley, Rev. Joshua, mention, 254 n. 
 Bradsby family, 336, 337, 378. 
 Bradsby, Addison, mention, 337 n. 
 Bradsby, Catharine, marries Addison 
 
 Pyle, 336 n. 
 Bradsby, Eloise, marries William Adams, 
 
 336 n". 
 
 Bradsby, Francis, mention, 337 n. 
 Bradsby, Henry Clay, mention, 336 n. 
 Bradsby, Indiana, marries J. H. Williams, 
 
 336 n 
 
 Bradsby, James, mention, 337; notice, ib.n. 
 BraHsby, Jane, marries Jesse Bayles, is 
 
 massacred by Indians, 337 n. 
 Bradsby, John, and descendants, 336-7 n. 
 Bradsby, Mary, marries Richard Higgins, 
 
 33 7 " 
 
 Bradsby, Pauline, mention, 337 n. 
 Bradsby, Priscilla, marries 1 hos. Chilton, 
 
 337 n- 
 
 Bradsby, Richard, notice, 337 n. 
 
 Bradsby, Virginia, marries James L. 
 Perryman, 337 n. 
 
 Bradsby, William (ist), mention, 336 n. 
 
 Bradsby, William (2d), mention, 337 n. 
 
 Bradsby, William (3d), mention, 337 n. 
 
 Bradsby, Dr. William H , and descend- 
 ants, 336 n. 
 
 Bradsby, Mrs. Wm. H., mention, 33711. 
 
 Brady, John, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Brady, Thomas, captures St. Joseph, 89; 
 captured by Indians, 90; sheriff 1798, 
 128; marries LaCompt, 168; entitled 
 to land-grant, 424, mention, 122, 126. 
 
 Brady, Mrs. Thos. (LaFlamme) (St.Ange) 
 (LaCompt), sketch, 168-9. 
 
 Branham, , of Ky., partner of Wm. 
 
 Scott, mention, 205. 
 
 Brashears, Tobias, erects fort in American 
 Bottom, 131 ; entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Brashiers, see Brashears. 
 
 Brasten, Isaac, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Brazell, [Richard or Wm. ?], mention, 357. 
 
 Breckinridge Co., Ky., mention, 414 n. 
 
 Breese, Sidney, U.-S senator, 301 n, re- 
 signation as judge, 386n; mention, 4i3n. 
 
 Bridgeton, Mo., mention, 266. 
 
 Bridgewater, 111., projected 374. 
 
 Brisbois, Michael, resident ot Prairie du 
 Chien, 1812, 1151. 
 
 British, buy part of West from Iroquois, 
 61; colonization and conquest of Ohio 
 Valley, 60-5, Empire, 305; government 
 of Illinois, 73, 79-82. 
 
 Brockville, Ind., mention 402 n 
 
 Broulette, Bradford, marries Mad. Laurent 
 Pensoneau, 363 n. 
 
 Brown, Gen. Jacob, mention, 359. 
 
 Brown, Maj. Wm. George, sketch, 411. 
 
 Browne, Thomas C., member of Terri- 
 torial legislature, 368 n, settler at Shaw- 
 neetown, 390; sketch, 392-3. 
 
 Brownsville, Pa., built 1786, 138; see 
 Red-Stone Old Fort, 373. 
 
 Brownsville, 111., named for Gen. Jacob- 
 Brown, 359. 
 
 Bryant, Guy, partner of Wm. Morrison, 
 161. 
 
 Bryant (Guy) & Morrison (Wm.), exten- 
 sive business of, 161. 
 
 Bryson, Wm., Indian scout, 175. 
 
 Buchanan, James, mention, 139 n. 
 
 Bucks County, Pa., mention, 160, 373. 
 
 Buell, Gen. DonCarlos, mention, 414 n. 
 
 Buffak mention, 361. 
 
 Buffalo Rock, tradition of, 35. 
 
 Buffaloes, 299. 
 
 Buissomere, Alphonse de, la, governor of 
 Illinois, 59-60. 
 
 Buncomb County, N.C., mention. 398. 
 
 Burges, Wm., wounded by Indians; 379. 
 
 Burk, Chas., entitled to land- grant, 425. 
 
 Burlington, la., mention, 139 n. 
 
 Burnett, F. W., marries daughter of H. 
 C. Bradsby, 336 n. 
 
 Burr, Aaron, mention, 221. 
 
 Bush, Drury, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Butler, Gen. Richard, 2d in command St. 
 Clair's expedition, 198, 199. 
 
 Butts, Wm., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Byram, Benjamin, entitled to land-grant,. 
 424, 425. 
 
 Byram, Joseph, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Byrd family [Abraham and sons], men- 
 tion, 298, 364. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cabanne, Jean Pierre, manufacturer of 
 salt, no; mention, 310, 422. 
 
 Cache River, Ky., mention, 319. 
 
 Cadillac, Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, 
 mention, 44. 
 
 Cadwell, Dr. George, sketch, 329-30; 
 mention, 328. 
 
 Caesar, Julius, mention, 79, 221, 328. 
 
 Cahokia, established 1686, 40, mission- 
 aries and traders at, 41; growth, 1700, 
 43; flour and skit;;; shipped from, 44; 
 in 1721, 50-1; Pontiac killed in Caho- 
 kia, 75, 79; captured by Americans, 96; 
 treaty with Indians at, 99; inundated, 
 113, 114; negro slaves hung for being 
 witches in, 175; court held at, 180; 
 county-seat of St. Clair Co., 252, 377; 
 post-office at, postmaster at, 224; called 
 Cahos, 307; mention, 18, 19, 23, 49, 
 67, 89, 90, 98, 122, 123, 127, 129, 131, 
 161, 167, 168, 170, 174, 185, 188, 189, 
 
 192, 2OI, IO2, 211, 214, 215, 222, 223, 
 
 224, 225, 227, 245, 280, 287, 289 n, 306, 
 3!3> 3'S. V8, 333, 342- 347, 35, 356, 
 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, ib.n, 419, 420. 
 Cahokia Creek, 128, 214, 407, 426.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 431 
 
 Cahokia Indians, 18, 50. 
 
 Cairnes, Caldwell, physician, anecdote of, 
 
 347; sketch, 360; mention, 377. 
 Cairo, 111., mention, 364, 415 n. 
 Cairo City-and-Canal Co., mention, 388 n. 
 Cairo-and-Vincennes Railroad, building 
 
 of, 368 n. 
 Caldwell, Robert, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 424. 
 
 Calhoun County, mention, 253 n. 
 Calhoun, John Caldwell, report 1812,403; 
 
 mention, 349. 
 
 California, mention, 53, 289 n, 298. 
 Callahan, Thomas, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425. 
 
 Calumet, mention, 90. 
 
 Calvert, Geo. (Lord Baltimore), mention, 
 41 7 n. 
 
 Camp's Creek, mention, 138. 
 
 Camp, George, of Kaskaskia, 1783, 138; 
 one of Gen. Clark's soldiers, 339; en- 
 titled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Camp, Ichabod, of Kaskaskia, 1783, 138; 
 one of Gen. Clark's soldiers, 339; en- 
 titled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Camp Russell, location, 204, 405; name, 
 405; military depot for Illinois, 408; 
 mention, 190, 407. 
 
 Camp Spring, mention, 138. 
 
 Campbell, Maj. John, U.-S. officer, erects 
 block -houses on Illinois River, 405; 
 commands expedition against Sac and 
 Fox, 409. 
 
 Campbell, , duel of, 234. 
 
 Camp-meeting, first in Illinois, 267. 
 
 Canada, settlers from, 21, 108, 127, 226, 
 246, 291, 347, 350, 362 n, 363; c % alled 
 New France, 65; mention, 17, 30, 37, 
 47, 83, 123, 155, 209, 223, 294, 297, 305. 
 
 Canoes, description of, 234-5. 
 
 Cany-Forks, Tenn., mention, 298. 
 
 Cape Girardeau, mention, i6i,'28i. 
 
 Carey, Matthew, mention, 273. 
 
 Carlin [W. E ] & Bagley, mention, 385 n. 
 
 Carlin, James, notice, 384-5 n. 
 
 Carlin, Gov. Thos., sketch, 382-5; death, 
 384 n. 
 
 Carlin, Walter E., notice, 385 n. 
 
 Carlinville, name, 384. 
 
 Carlisle, Pa., mention, 291, 367. 
 
 Carlyle, 111., block-house near, 405; men- 
 
 Carolinas, mention, 75, 79. 
 
 Carondelet, Fran9ois Louis Hectore, Baron 
 de, mention, 127. 
 
 Carondelet Town, nicknamed Vide Pouche, 
 "empty pocket," 82. 
 
 Carpenter, Nathan, early miller, 315; men- 
 tion, 357. 
 
 Carr, Leonard, mention, 236, 237. 
 
 Carrolton, 111., county-seat of Green Co., 
 383; mention, 385. 
 tion, 386 n, 392. 
 
 Carthage, Tenn., mention, 298. 
 Casey family, mention, 413. 
 Casey, Dr. John R., mention, 414 n. 
 Casey, Hiram R., notice, 414 n. 
 Casey, Mahala, marries Rev. Lewes 
 
 Dwight, 4i4n. 
 
 Casey, Dr. Newton R., notice, 414 n. 
 Casey, Samuel K., notice, 413-4^ 
 Casey, Thomas , notice, 414 n. 
 Casey, Gov. Zadoc, notice, 413-4; sketch, 
 
 413 n : 
 
 Cash River, mention, 281. 
 
 Cass County, 111., mention, 289 n. 
 
 Cass, Gov. Lewis, mention, 292. 
 
 Casterland, see Casterline. 
 
 Casterline, Peter, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425; mention, 260, 314. 
 Cat Island, mention, 58. 
 Catholic churches, priest, missions, 266, 
 
 275, 296, 299. 
 Celeron, Louis, commander of French 
 
 company, 59; deposited plates in Ohio 
 
 Valley claiming country for France, 62. 
 Central City, 111., 265 n. 
 Centraiia, mention, 263 n, 386 n, 414 n. 
 Cere, Gabriel, see Cerre. 
 Cerre, Gabriel, merchant of St. Louis, 1 14. 
 Chaffin, see Chalfin. 
 Chalfin, Isaac, entitled to land-grant, 143, 
 
 358,- 37 1, 424. 
 Chalfin, William, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 143, 358, 371, 425- 
 
 Chamberlain, L. G., entitled to land- 
 grant, 425. 
 
 Chambers, Benjamin, mention, 401 n. 
 
 Chambers, John, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 Chambers, Nathan, mention, 377. 
 
 Chance, Rev. Joseph, settler of 1796, 259; 
 sketch, 270 mention, 185, 269, 357. 
 
 Chance, Mrs. Joseph (Jemima Morris), 
 270. 
 
 "Chape Wollie," see Wm. Atchison. 
 
 Chapelle, Antoine la, of Kaskaskia, 
 death, 163. 
 
 Chapman, Elijah, early miller, 315. 
 
 Charivari, description of, 178-9. 
 
 Charleston, S.C , mention, 220, 385 n. 
 
 Charleville, Capt. Fra^ois, mention, 102. 
 
 Charlevoix, Pierre Franfois Xavier de, 
 visits Marquette's burial place, 31; 
 visits Kaskaskia, 50. 
 
 Charters, James, mention, 302 n. 
 
 Cheney, Wm., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Cherokee Indians, mention, 84, 311. 
 
 Chester, 111 , mention, 327 n. 
 
 Chester, Pa., 225. 
 
 Chesterfield, Lord Philip Dormer Stan- 
 hope, Earl of, mention, 223. 
 
 Chicago, site inhabited by Pottawatomies, 
 17; Sainte Ange and wife, settlers of 
 in 1765, 1 68; massacre, 249; la
 
 432 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY -OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 37211; early history, 417; name, ib. n; 
 see under John Kinzie; mention, 28, 90, 
 no, 247, ib. n, 248, ib. n, 361, 426 n. 
 
 Chicago River, mention, 36. 
 
 Chickasaw Indians, campaigns of French 
 against, 56-9, 64. 
 
 "Childe Harold," reference to, 147. 
 
 Chillicothe, O., mention, 117, 181. 
 
 Chills and fever, 315. 
 
 Chilton family, mention, 357. 
 
 Chilion, Thomas, mention, 337 n. 
 
 China, mention, 30. 
 
 Chippeway Indians, mention, 19. 
 
 Cholera at Belleville, 1833, 369. 
 
 Chouteau, Auguste, Indian commissioner, 
 369; judge of common pleas, St. Louis, 
 422; mention, 308, 421. 
 
 Chouteau, Marie Therese (Bourgeois), 
 mother of Mrs. Chas. Gratiot, Sr., 420. 
 
 Chouteau, Marie Louise, marries Joseph 
 M. Papin, 421; gift to, 422. 
 
 Chouteau, Pierre, Sr., marries Pelagic 
 Kierseran (see Kiercereau), and after- 
 ward Brigitte Saucier, 421; mention, 
 287, 308, 421. 
 
 Chouteau, Pierre, Jr., mention, 310. 
 
 Chouteau, Victoire, marries Charles Gra- 
 tiot, Sr., 420; death, 423; mention, 308. 
 
 Chouvin [Jean Baptiste Chauvin], men- 
 tion, 347. 
 
 Church, first in Illinois, 267. 
 
 Church of England, 230, 271. 
 
 Cincinnati, legislature meets at, 114; occu- 
 position of Fort Washington, 197; men- 
 tion, 50, 181, 198, 228, 278, 301, 373, 
 
 374- 
 
 Clark County, mention, 244. 
 
 Clark. Francis, early teacher, 152; entitled 
 to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Clark, George Rogers, early life, portrait, 
 83; app't'd to organize Ky. militia, 87; 
 appointed delegate to Virginia assembly, 
 88, conquest of Illinois, 90-8; thanked 
 by Virginia legislature, 99 ; sketch, 129- 
 30; recaptures Vincennes, 100-6; organ- 
 izes government, 107; troops receive 
 land-grant, 108; aided by Chas. Gratiot, 
 420, and Franois Vigo, 423; mention, 
 81, 85, 86, 87, 113, 115, J24, 128, 131, 
 137, 168, 216, 255, 291, '304, 307, 328, 
 342, 356. 
 
 Clark, Rev. John (Father Clark), early 
 teacher and preacher, 152, 237, 262-6, 
 411 n; entitled to land -grant, 424. 
 
 Clark, William, superintendent of Indian 
 affairs, 249, Indian commissioner, 369. 
 
 Claudius, Jean Antoine Alexis, trader, 
 partner of J. F. Perry, killed at Phila- 
 delphia, 1792, 287. 
 
 Clay County, representative, 413 n; men- 
 tion, 336 n. 
 
 Clay, Henry, reference, 326. 
 
 Clemson, Col. Eli B., inspector Gen. 
 Howard's expedition, 408. 
 
 Clinch River, mention, 298, 311. 
 
 Clinton County, 111., mention, 263 n, 
 265 n, 372. 
 
 Clinton Hill, mention, 328, 330. 
 
 Cochran, Samuel, settler 1804, 356. 
 
 Coffee's, Capt. Elzey C., company, Mexi- 
 can War, 265 n. 
 
 Coit, William, mention, 330. 
 
 Colbert, Jean Baptiste, French minister, 
 mention, 30. 
 
 Cold water, Mo., mention, 267. 
 
 Coles County, mention, 244. 
 
 Collett, John, mention, 423. 
 
 Collins, -, settler 1806, 356. 
 
 Collinsville, mention, 167, 315, 41211. 
 
 Colton, J. H., mention, 254 n. 
 
 Columbia, 111., mention, 131. 
 
 Columbus, Ohio, mention, 289 n. 
 
 Company of the Indies, see Company of 
 the West, 48. 
 
 Company of St. Phillips organized, 47. 
 
 Company of the West organized, 46; land- 
 grants to, 48; united with Company of 
 the Indies, ib. ; returns charter, 54; 
 mention, 44. 
 
 Comstock, Thomas, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 Congregationalists, 273. 
 
 Connecticut, population 1774, 120; settlers 
 from, 184, 253 n, 416; mention, 184, 
 309 n, 416. 
 
 Conner, Ephraim, settler 1800, 280. 
 
 Constitutional Convention of 1818, 358, 
 390, 401 n, 413; of 1847, 262 n, 37on, 
 388,, 41 8 n; of 1870, 289 n. 
 
 Contonment Wilkinson, 221. 
 
 Contrecoeur, Anthony Pecody, Sieur de, 
 French commander, 63, 65. 
 
 Conway,. Joseph, early lawyer, 3612. 
 
 Cook County, name, 397. 
 
 Cook, Daniel Pope, sketch, portrait, 395-6; 
 mem. congress from 111., 364; proprietor 
 of Waterloo, 111., 374; canvass for con- 
 gress, 392; mention, 261, 366, 372, 375. 
 
 Cook, John, settler at Kaskaskia, 1783, 
 138; entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Copeland, , mention, 357. 
 
 Cornelius, [Joseph ?], early miller, 315. 
 
 Corn Island, locality, 92; mention, 98, 
 108. 
 
 Cornmeal manufacture, 176-7. 
 
 Cornwallis', Lord Charles, surrender, ref- 
 erence, 300 n, 328. 
 
 Cotton-gin, first in Illinois, 398. 
 
 Cotton in Illinois, 64. 
 
 Couch, [James ?], mention, 352. 
 
 County Tyrone, Ireland, mention, 413 n. 
 
 Courts and suits, early, 74, 179-81. 
 
 Covington, 111., mention, 164, 167, 336 n. 
 
 Covington, Ky., mention, 254 n.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 433 
 
 Cox [Absolam], mention, 352. 
 
 Cox, Benjamin, bravery, 404. 
 
 Cox family, mention, 404. 
 
 Cox, Henry, bravery, 404; killed by 
 
 Indians, 409. 
 
 Craig, James P., mention, 327 n. 
 Craig, Capt. Thomas E., mention, 250, 
 
 407; expedition against Peoria, 245, 
 
 350; his company in war of 1812, refer- 
 ence to, 368 n. 
 
 Crawford, Col. Wm., burning of, 86. 
 Crawford, William Harris, nominee for 
 
 president, 402, ib. n. 
 
 Crawford, , duel of, 234. 
 
 Creamer, Philip, sketch, 348-9. 
 Creek Indians, mention, 311. 
 Creighton, Robert, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425. 
 Crittenden, John J., attorney-general of 
 
 Illinois Territory, 367. 
 Crittenden, Thomas T., attorney-general 
 
 of Illinois Territory, 367. 
 Crogan, Maj. Geo., nephew of Geo. R. 
 
 Clark, defends Lower Sandusky, 403. 
 Croghan, Col. George, agent of Sir Wm. 
 
 Johnson, British commissioner, visits 
 
 Shawneetown in 1765, 79; captured by 
 
 Indians, 80. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, mention, 176, 326. 
 Crooked Creek, mention, 263 n. 
 Crozat, Antoine, of Paris, monopoly of 
 
 Illinois commerce, 44; surrenders his 
 
 charter, 46. 
 
 " Crusoe, Robinson, " mention, 324. 
 Cuba, Island of, mention, 396. 
 Cumberland Mountains, mention, 311. 
 Cumberland River, mention, 129, 298. 
 Cumberland, Tenn., mention, 267. 
 Cummins, Thomas, mention, 357. 
 Cunningham, Mary, marries John Alex. 
 
 Logan, 387 n. 
 Cupid, mention, 222. 
 Currency about 1783, 108. 
 Curry, James, one of Clark's soldiers, 339; 
 
 anecdote of, 340-1 ; sketch, 341 ; entitled 
 
 to land-grant, 424. 
 Gushing, Thomas, member Continental 
 
 Congress, mention, 120. 
 
 D. 
 
 Danie, Charles, grant of land to, 50. 
 Daniel, the prophet, mention, 279. 
 
 Daniels, , 336. 
 
 Danville land-office, 372, ib. n; mention, 
 
 25411, 302 n. 
 Darnielle, Isaac, second lawyer in Illinois, 
 
 181; sketch, 221-4. 
 Dauphin Island, mention, 42, 43. 
 Davidson, S. D., early lawyer, notice, 361. 
 Davis, David, U.-S. senator, 387 n. [died, 
 
 Bloomington, 111., June 26, 1886, x 71.] 
 
 28 
 
 Deane, Silas, mention, 120. 
 
 Dearborn Co., Ind., organization, 401 n. 
 
 Decatur, 111., mention, 244. 
 
 Dehaut, Lancelot, assassinates LaSalle, 
 3.8, 39- 
 
 Deists in Illinois, 260-1. 
 
 Delaunay, David, judge, mention, 422. 
 
 Delaware Indians, mention, 17, 18, 304. 
 
 Delaware, letters from, 270. 
 
 Delorme, [Hubert ?], settler of 1804, 355. 
 
 Dement [Geo.], death, settler of 1792, 192. 
 
 Dement, Henry Dodge, notice, 139 n. 
 
 Dement, John, mention, I39n, 386 n. 
 
 Dement, Mrs. John, notice, 139 n. 
 
 Democratic National Convention, 1875, 
 415 n. 
 
 DeMoulin, John, sketch, 180, 209-11. 
 
 Demountbrun, Timothy, comm'd't of 111., 
 107, 144. [In John Todd's Record 
 Book he signs his name, " Thimothe 
 Demunbrum, Lt. comd'g, par interem, 
 etc. "] 
 
 Dempsey, John, attacked by Indians, 154, 
 175; Indian fighter, 186; written Dimp- 
 sey, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 DeMun, Isabelle (Gratiot), decease, 419. 
 
 Dennis, Alexander, murdered by Indians, 
 280, 314; entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Derush Hollow, mention, 328. 
 
 Desha, Col. Robert, in command in Gen. 
 Howard's expedition, 408. 
 
 DeSoto, Hernando, discovers the Missis- 
 sippi, 25. 
 
 Detroit beseiged by Indians, 73-9; size in 
 1765, 80; LaBalme's expedition against, 
 124; under control of British, 226; 
 land-office, 351; mention, 54, 75, 88, 
 97, 102, 106, 107, 198, 216, 225, 245, 
 246, 247, ib. n, 248 n. 
 
 Dew, Rev. John, mention, 268. 
 
 Dickson, Robert, incites Indians against 
 the Americans, 250, 251, 252, 404. 
 
 Dillard, Capt. Thomas, mention, 92. 
 
 Dilworth's [Thomas] "Speller," reference, 
 382. 
 
 Dimsey, John, see Dempsey. 
 
 Dinwiddie, Robert, governor of Va., 63. 
 
 Disunion measure, 1786, in 111., 219, 221. 
 
 Dixon, 111., mention, 139 n. 
 
 Dixon Ferry, mention, 141. 
 
 Dixon Spring, Tenn., mention, 298. 
 
 Dodge, Augustus C., sketch, 138-9 n; 
 mention, 142. 
 
 Dodge, Gen., Gov., and Senator Henry, 
 manufacturer of salt, 109-10; sketch, 
 138-42, 138 n; mention, 259. 
 
 Dodge, Dr. Israel, settler of 1783, 138, 
 139; entitled to land-grant, 424; men- 
 tion, 259. 
 
 Dodge, John, settler of 1783, 138; entitled 
 to land-grant, 424; one of Gen. Clark's 
 old soldiers, 339; mention, 215.
 
 434 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Dodge, Rev. Josiah, preacher of 1794, 259. 
 
 Dodge, Mary Louise, marries John 
 Dement, I39n. 
 
 Donaldson, Col. James L., mention, 165. 
 
 Dougherty, [George H. ?], miller of New 
 Design, 146. 
 
 Dougherty, John, lawyer, notice, 388-9. 
 
 Douglas, Alexander, entitled to land- 
 grant, 424. 
 
 Douglas, Stephen Arnold, mention, 386 n, 
 387 n, 413 n. 
 
 Dove, Wm., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Downing, [Jas. or Wm. ?], mention, 357. 
 
 Doyle, Benj. H., lawyer, mention, 360. 
 
 Doyle, John, settler about 1780, sketch, 
 137; one of Gen. Clark's soldiers, 339; 
 early teacher, 358 ; entitled to land- 
 grant, 424; mention, 215. 
 
 Doza Creek, block-house on, 405. 
 
 Drunkenness little known in early times, 
 ii i. 
 
 Drury, Clement, ent'led to land-grant. 424 
 
 Drury, Raphael, entitled to land-grant, 
 425. 
 
 Drury, Wm., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Dubois, Jesse K., mention, 386 n. 
 
 Dubois, Tousaint, partner of Pierre Men- 
 ard in 1790; [Indian trader and inter- 
 preter; major on Gen. Harrison's staff; 
 drowned in Kaskaskia River in 1821; 
 a county in Indiana named for him; 
 father of Hon. Jesse K. Dubois, who 
 died at Springfield, 111., Nov. 24, 1876], 
 291. 
 
 Dubreuill, , invents cotton gin and 
 
 opens sugar plantation, 64. 
 
 Dubuque, 111., mention, 22, 127. 
 
 Dubuque, Julien, sketch, 21-2, 127; resi- 
 dent of Prairie du Chien, 151. 
 
 D'Ucan, see Gay and Augutl. 
 
 Ducharme, Dominique, brother of Jean 
 Marie, 123. 
 
 Ducharme, Jean Marie, expedition against 
 St. Louis, 123-4. 
 
 Duche, Rev. Jacob, chaplain to cong., 120. 
 
 Ducoig'n, Jean Baptiste, chief of Kaskas- 
 kia Indians, 22-3. 
 
 Ducoign, Jefferson, mention, 23. 
 
 Ducoign, Louis, mention, 23. 
 
 Duel between Crawford and Campbell, 
 234; Barton and Rector, 354; first duel 
 
 . in Illinois, 81-2. 
 
 Duff, [John M. ?], killed by Indians, 
 1799 [?], 285. 
 
 Duff, John, of Kaskaskia, 92. 
 
 DuGay, see Gay, and Auguel. 
 
 Duluth, Greyselon, Sieur de, comdt. of 
 trading party, 33. 
 
 Duncan, Gov. Joseph, portrait, sketch, 403. 
 
 Duncan, Mathew, established first news- 
 paper in Illinois, 366, ib. n. 
 
 Dundalk, City of, mention, 300. 
 
 Dunkers, colony of, 273. 
 Dunks, Andrew, mention, 215. 
 Dunlap, Dr. James, kills Rice Jones, 173-4. 
 Dunlop, Col. James, mention, 415 n. 
 Dunlop, Sarah, marries John A. McCler- 
 
 nand, 41 5 n. 
 Dunmore's, Gov. (John Murray, 4th earl 
 
 of), expedition against the Indians, 83, 
 
 84, 86. 
 
 DuQuoin, 111., mention, 412 n. 
 Duralde, Martin, mention, 421. 
 Dutisne, Claude Chas., explorations of, 43, 
 Dwight, Rev. Lewis, mention, 414 n. ^ 
 Dwight, S. L., mention, 414 n. 
 
 Earthquake of 1811, 399. 
 
 East St. Louis, mention, 3860. 
 
 East Tennessee, mention, 298. 
 
 Easton, Col. Rufus, of St. Louis, men- 
 tion, 222. 
 
 Eberman, Rev. Wm., mention, 377. 
 
 Eddyville, Ky., mention, 328, 329. 
 
 Edgar County, name, 117. 
 
 Edgar, John, manufacturer of salt, no; 
 sketch, portrait, Ii6-r8; chief-justice of 
 Illinois under N.W. Territory, 180; mill 
 owner, 215, 347; imprisoned by British, 
 246-7 ; entitled to land-grant, 425 ; men- 
 tion, 299. 
 
 Edinburgh, mention, 155. 
 
 Edwards, Benj. Stephenson, notice, 370 n. 
 
 Edwards County, representative, 413 n; 
 mention, 393, 413 n. 
 
 Edwards, Gov. Ninian, organizes legisla- 
 ture, 365; excites immigration, 366; 
 advertises slave for sale, 366 n; sketch, 
 portrait, 367-70; leads troops against 
 Indians, 407; mention, 149, 249, 273, 
 2890,320,354, 362 n, 368,382,391,402. 
 
 Edwards' "History of Illinois," reference, 
 378 n. 
 
 Edwards, Ninian Wirt, sketch, 370 n. 
 
 Edwards, Mrs. Ninian W., mention, 143 n. 
 
 Edwardsville, land office, mention, 364, 
 41 1 ; seat of Madison County, 378; men- 
 tion, 190, 240, 267, 280, 299, 314, 315, 
 401 n, 405. 
 
 Elk- Heart Grove, mention, 20, 244. 
 
 Elliot, , early miller, 315. 
 
 Emanuel, , a slave, shot, 175. 
 
 Embarras, 77ie, mention, 101. 
 
 England, settlers from, 128, 269. 
 
 English-Turn, mention, 43, 66. 
 
 Enochs, Isaac, Indian fighter, 188; entitled 
 to land-grant, 425; mention, 185, 259, 
 3*4. 377, 412 n. 
 
 Episcopal Church, mention, 402 n. 
 
 Erwin, [Joseph ?], mention, 352. 
 
 Essex County, England, mention, 253 n. 
 
 Etheridge, William, 264 n.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 435 
 
 Everett, John, only inhabitant of St. Philip 
 
 in 1803, 125. 
 
 Explorers of Illinois, early, 25-44. 
 Exports of Illinois, early, 60. 
 Eyeman, Abraham, settler of 1797, 313; 
 
 mention, 236, 237. 
 
 F. 
 
 Eaggot, Andrew, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 Falling Spring, location, 128; mention, 
 210. 
 
 Falls of the Ohio, mention, 219. 
 
 Falls of St. Anthony, mention, 211, 306. 
 
 Faris, Naomi, marries John Bradsby, 33 7 n. 
 
 Farmer, Maj. Robert, succeeds Capt. Stir- 
 ling at Ft. Chartres, Dec. 4, 1765, men- 
 tion, 74. See " Maj. Frazier. " 
 
 Fauquier Co., Va., mention, 353, 397 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Aaron, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Abner, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Alexander, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Angelina, marries Clark W. 
 Mitchell, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Caroline, marries Jackson 
 Trout, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Charles J., mention, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Elizabeth, marries L. B. Bald- 
 win, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Gilbert, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, John, and descendants, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, John (2d), mention, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Katharine, marries Matthew 
 Pate, 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Margaret, marries Meg. Taylor, 
 265 n. 
 
 Faulkner, Richard, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Fay, Hon. John D., mention, 384 n. 
 
 Fayette Co., Ky., mention, 143 n, 381, 
 ib. n, 382. 
 
 Fayette, 111., mention, 183, 184. 
 
 Feefs Creek, Mo., mention, 266. 
 
 Fergus, Geo. Harris, note on John Kinzie 
 and descendants, 247-8 n; note on John 
 Harris Kinzie and descendants, 248 n. 
 
 " Fergus Historical Series, " reference, 
 17511, 4620. 
 
 Ferguson, Hamlet, notice, 390. 
 
 Ferguson, Thomas, member of first 111. 
 territorial legislature, 368. 
 
 Ferrell, John, killed by Indians, 1789, 154. 
 
 Ferry at Shawneetown, 368 n. 
 
 Fevre-River lead-mines, mention, 309 n. 
 
 Finlay, John, see John Finley. 
 
 Finley, Rev. John Evans, mention, 270, 336 
 
 Finley, Samuel, entitled to land -grant, 
 424. 
 
 Fisher, George, sheriff of Randolph Co., 
 304; early physician, 358; member of 
 first Illinois territorial legislature, 368. 
 
 Fisher, Myers, mention, 170. 
 
 Flanary, Abram, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 Flanary, Joshua, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 Flanary, Thomas, Jr., entitled to land- 
 grant, 424. 
 
 Flannary family build block-house, 131. 
 
 Flannary, James, killed by Indians, 153. 
 
 Flannery, Daniel, entitled to land-grant, 
 425. 
 
 Flannery, Elijah, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 Fletcher, Mary, notice, 303; marries 
 James Me Roberts, ib. n. 
 
 Flourisant, Mo., mention, 184, 356. 
 
 Forbes, Gen. John, captures Ft. Duquesne, 
 65; mention, 191 n. 
 
 Ford's [James] Ferry, mention, 207. 
 
 Ford, Robert, mention, 373. 
 
 Ford, Mrs. Robert, notice, 373-4. 
 
 Ford, Gov. Thomas, birth, 373; education, 
 374; sketch, 375-7; mention, 289. 
 
 Ford's "History of Illinois," reference, 
 376, ib. n, 377. 
 
 Forquer, Geo., birth, 373; education, 374; 
 sketch, 374-5. 
 
 Forsyth, Robert, imprisoned by British, 
 246; sketch, 247 n. 
 
 Forsyth, Thomas, settler of 1809, 246; 
 sketch, 247-52; mention, 247 n, 250; 
 [died, St. Louis, Oct. 29, 1833]. 
 
 Fort Adams, mention, 80. 
 
 Fort Assumption, building of, 59. 
 
 Fort Chambers, location, 405. 
 
 Fort Chartres built, diagram of, 46; seat 
 of government, ib. ; injured by freshet, 
 description, ib. ; village adjacent to, 50; 
 why built, 52; rebuilt, 62; courts at, 74; 
 abandoned, 81; inundated, 113; popu- 
 lation declining, 125; mention, 18, 22, 
 5 6 > 57. 63, 74, 80, 115, 202, 28811, 329, 
 347- 
 
 Fort Chenango, mention, 77. 
 
 Fort Clark, logs cut for, 408, 409. 
 
 Fort Creve Cceur, location, 36; mention, 
 
 32, 33, 34- 
 
 Fort Cumberland, mention, 77. 
 
 Fort Dearborn, mention, 247 n, 248 n. 
 
 Fort Deposit built, 200. 
 
 Fort Detroit taken by English, 77. 
 
 Fort Duquesne, founding site, capture and 
 destruction, 65; evacuation, 191 n; men- 
 tion, 291. 
 
 Fort Frontenac, mention, 30, 31, 33, 34, 
 
 35, 3,6. 
 Fort Gage, position and description, 8i; 
 
 capture, 87; mention, 221, 341. 
 Fort Green- Bay, mention, 77. 
 Fort Hamilton, mention, 141, 198, 387 n. 
 Fort Jefferson built, 129, 198, 199; now 
 
 the Iron Banks, 124; mention, 339. 
 Fort Johnston burned, 409.
 
 436 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Fort Leavenworth, mention, 13911, 362 n. 
 
 Fort LeKceuf, mention, 77. 
 
 Fort L'Huiller, mention, 43. 
 
 Fort Ligonier, mention, 77, 155. 
 
 Fort Mackinac taken by British, 77; by 
 Indians, 78. 
 
 Fort Madison burned, 409. 
 
 Fort Maiden, mention, 248. 
 
 Fort Mason, mention, 408. 
 
 Fort Massac (or Massacre) building, name, 
 53; called Fort Cherokee, 92; true ori- 
 gin of name, 191 n; depot for immi- 
 grants, 280; military road from to Kas- 
 kaskia, 281; repaired and garrisoned, 
 221; mention, 93, 94, 126, 131, 137, 
 236, 285. 
 
 Fort Matagorda Bay destroyed by Indians, 
 52. 
 
 Fort Miami, destroyed by Indians, 77. 
 
 Fortress Monroe built, 309 n. 
 
 Fort Natchez, destroyed by Indians, 52. 
 
 Fort Necessity surrendered, 63. 
 
 Fort Niagara, strongest fortification in 
 Western country, 76. 
 
 Fort Orleans building, location, destruc- 
 tion, 52. 
 
 Fort Ouiatenon, or Weastown, mention, 77 
 
 Fort Pitt beseiged, 79; mention, 77. 
 
 Fort Presque Isle captured by Indians, 
 78; mention, 77. 
 
 Fort Prudhonime, occupied by British, 
 61; mention, 36, 37. 
 
 Fort Recovery, mention, 276. 
 
 Fort Russell, see Camp Russell. 
 
 Fort Sackville built, 81 ; captured and 
 surrendered by Americans, 99, loo; 
 mention, 128, 341; see Vincennes, IO2. 
 
 Fort Sandusky, mention, 77. 
 
 Fort Scott, mention, 263 n. 
 
 Fort St. Charles, mention, 248 n. 
 
 Fort St. Francis building, 59. 
 
 Fort St. Joseph, mention, 77. 
 
 Fort St. Louis, location, 34; mention, 36. 
 
 Fort Ticonderoga, mention, 156. 
 
 Fort Washington, location, 197, 277. 
 
 Fort Wayne, mention, 224. 
 
 Fort Winnebago, mention, 248 n. 
 
 Fountaine Creek, mention, 177, 259, 346. 
 
 Foutch, John, mention, 264 n. 
 
 Foutch, Mahala, marries Joseph Pulsifer, 
 descendants, 265 n. 
 
 Foutch, Mary A., marries E. R. Alsbury, 
 265 n. 
 
 Foutch, Rachael, mention, 264 n. 
 
 Foutch, Susan, marries Wm. Rhea, 264 n. 
 
 Fox Indians, Western immigration of, 21; 
 mention, 127, 150, 151. 
 
 Fox River, mention, 26, 103. 
 
 France, mention, 30, 37, 41, 73, 211, 419. 
 
 Frankfort, Ky., mention, 205, 397 n, 406. 
 
 Franklin, George, settler about 1804, 356. 
 
 Franklin, Benj., mention, 170, 293, 375. 
 
 Franklin Co., representative, 387 n. 
 
 Frazier, , settler about 1804, 356. 
 
 Frazier (Fraser or Frazer), Lord [should 
 be Lieut. Alex.], mention, 80. 
 
 Frazier, Major [should be Farmer], men- 
 tion, 74. 
 
 Frederick Co., Md., mention, 319, 323. 
 
 French, settlements of in Illinois, 1730, 
 53-4; as pioneers, 61, 125-6; endeavor 
 to retain supremacy in West, 62-5; emi- 
 grate from Illinois at cession, 74; those 
 remaining confirmed in rights, 125-6, 
 35 - 1 ) 35 2 J settlers, 211, 286; pecu- 
 liarities, 297; their forts destroyed by 
 Indians, 52 ; villages in Illinois des- 
 cribed, 47, 168; immigration, 41-2; vil- 
 lages, decline of, 66, 125; farming and 
 social life, 67-73; friendly to Americans, 
 89. 
 
 French, Gov. Augustus C., mention, 386 n. 
 
 French-Canadians as voyagers, 108. 
 
 French Licks, now Nashville, Tenn., no. 
 
 French Fur-Company, mention, 422. 
 
 Frontenac, (Louis de Bande), Count cle, 
 governor-general of Canada, 30, 37. 
 
 Fulton, John, mention, 352, 358. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gaborit Island, mention, 232, 329. 
 
 Gage, Gen. Thomas, mention, 74. 
 
 Gagnie Creek, mention, 364. 
 
 Galbreath, see Gilbreath. 
 
 Galena, called Fevre River, 309 n; men- 
 tion, 21, 1 66. 
 
 Gallaher, Philip, entitled to land-grant, 42 5 
 
 Gallatin County, salt springs, 109; estab- 
 lished, 367 ; senators and representa- 
 tives, 368, 392, 415; treasurer, 368 n. 
 settlements in, 390; county-seat, 392, 
 393; mention, 19, 79, no, 368, 392,415. 
 
 Gallipolis, mention, 287. 
 
 Game before 1765, 73; about 1800, 169. 
 
 Garretson, Samuel, killed by Indians, 154. 
 
 Garretson (also written Garrison), James, 
 early settler, 112, 113, 114, 115; shot 
 at by Indians, 153; entitled to land- 
 grant, 425; mention, 255. 
 
 Garrison, Miss, marries John Murdoch, 
 149. 
 
 Gaskill, David, marries Miss .Sally 
 McMahon, 197. 
 
 Gaston, Alexander, settler about 1804, 356. 
 
 Gatewood, William J. (Jeff), settler at 
 Shawneetown, 90. 
 
 Gay, Picard du, mention, 33; see Auguel. 
 
 Genet, Edmond Charles, French minister 
 to U. S., 220. 
 
 Gentry Co., Mo., mention, 264 n, 265 n. 
 
 Georgia, invited to join in disunion meas- 
 ures, 219; settlers from, 41 3 n, 417; 
 mention, 83, 121, 398.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 437 
 
 Gerardine, Antoine, buys property in 
 
 1764, 129; mention, 74. 
 Gere, Miss L. K., marries Benjamin J. 
 
 West, Jr., 418 n. 
 Germany, settlers from, 319; mention, 
 
 289 n. 
 Giard, Basil, resident of Prairie du Chien 
 
 in 1812, 151. 
 Gibault, Father Pierre, of Kaskaskia, 96, 
 
 97- 
 
 Gibralter, 111., mention, 245. 
 
 Gibbons family, mention, 185. 
 
 Gibbons, John, settler of Horse Prairie, 
 200 ; settles near Bellefontaine, 205; 
 mention, 259, 270, 357. 
 
 Gibson [George], settler about 1804, 356. 
 
 Gilbreath family, mention, 398. 
 
 Gilham family, mention, 241. 
 
 Gilham, Clement, see James Gilham, 201. 
 
 Gilham, James, Sr., settler of 1797, 201; 
 wife and two children (Clement and 
 Samuel) captured by Kickapoos, 201, 
 241-4; mention, 202, 303, 357. 
 
 Gilham, Mrs. [James] (Ann Barnett), cap- 
 tured by Indians, 242-4; obtains land- 
 grant, 244. 
 
 Gilham, Samuel, see James Gilham, 201. 
 
 Gill, Charles, entitled to land-grant, 424, 
 425- 
 
 Gillespie, Joseph, recollections of Painted 
 Rock, 27 n; notes on the Whiteside 
 Family, 189 n; Hiram Arthur and Thos. 
 Higgins, 381 n; mention, 289 n; [died, 
 Edwardsville, 111., Jan. 7, 1885.] 
 
 Gillum, , mmde.ers of, 312. 
 
 Girard, see Giard. 
 
 Girard's (Basil) River, mention, 151. 
 
 Girty, Simon, sketch, 86; mention, 87. 
 
 Gist, Christopher, ag't of the Ohio Co., 62. 
 
 Gladwyn, Maj. Henry, baffles plans against 
 Fort Detroit, 78-9. 
 
 Glasgow, mention, 30x3. 
 
 Going's [Wm.] Block-House, 405. 
 
 Going family, mention, 185. 
 
 Going, William, sketch, 181-2; settler 
 about 1804, 357. 
 
 Going, William, Jr., sketch, 182-4. 
 
 Golconda, 111., mention, 281, 335, 357. 
 
 Golden, , erects block-house, 132. 
 
 Goodner, Dr. Salem, mention, 379 n. 
 
 "Goody Two Shoes," mention, 324. 
 
 Gookins, Jud^e Samuel B., mention, 423. 
 
 Gordon, William W., mention, 248 n. 
 
 Goshen Settlement, camp-meeting in, 267; 
 location, name, 280; enlarged, 314; road 
 to laid out in 1808, 392; mention, 260, 
 
 299, 315, 3 '9, 354, 392. 
 Governors of Illinois, reference to, 327, 
 365, 368 n, 369. 370 n, 375, 384, 400 n, 
 
 403, 4I3- 
 
 Grand-Pierre Creek, mention, 386. 
 Grand-Point Creek, mention, 263 n. 
 
 Grand-Risseau Creek, mention, 131. 
 
 Grand Tower, mention, 138, 401. 
 
 Grammar, John, member of first terri- 
 torial legislature, 368. 
 
 Grant, Ulysses Simpson, mention, 415 n. 
 
 Gratiot, Adele, marries E. B. Washburne, 
 309 n. 
 
 Gratiot, Charles, Sr., sketch, 305-9, 419- 
 23; descendants, 309-10, ib. n. 
 
 Gratiot, Charles, Jr., sketch, 309 n; men- 
 tion, 309, 422. 
 
 Gratiot, Chas. Hempstead, mention, 30911. 
 
 Gratiot, David (sometimes called Henry), 
 father of Chas. Gratiot, Sr., 419, ib. n. 
 
 Gratiot, Col. Edward Hempstead, men- 
 tion, 309 n. 
 
 Gratiot, Henry, mention, portrait, 309; 
 sketch, ib. n. 
 
 Gratiot, Jean Pierre Bugnion, mention, 
 309 n. 
 
 Gratiol, Julie, marries John P. Cabanne, 
 420. 
 
 Gratiot, Marie (Bernard), mother of Chas. 
 Gratiot, Sr., 419. 
 
 Gratiot, Paul M., mention, 422, 423. 
 
 Gratiot's Grove, mention, 309 n. 
 
 Gravelly Creek, mention, 215, 360. 
 
 Gray, James, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Great Britain, mention, 65, 73, 116, 119, 
 121, 170, 220, 287, 300. 
 
 Great- Western R.R., mention, 3880. 
 
 Green, Rev. Thomas, mention, 254 n. 
 
 Green Bay, French name, Le Baie des 
 Puants, 20; mention, 26, 28, 32, 245. 
 
 Greenbrier Co., Va., mention, 263n, 2<54n. 
 
 Green Co., 111., organization, representa- 
 tive, 382; first sheriff, county-seat, 383; 
 mention, 330, 384 n. 
 
 Greene, Gen. Nathaniel, mention 156. 
 
 Greenup, William C., clerk of Illinois ter- 
 riritorial legislature, 367. 
 
 Greenville, 111., mention, 337 n, 378. 
 
 Greenville, treaty of, 84, 87, 200. 
 
 Gregg, Jacob, settler of 1803, 357. 
 
 Greggs, Jesse, settler about 1804, 357- 
 
 Griffin, [Joseph ?], settler near Bellefon- 
 taine, 185, 205. 
 
 Griffin family, mention, 357. 
 
 "Griffon," vessel, 31, 32. 
 
 Grigg [John] & Elliot [Hugh] mention, 
 25411. [Now J. B. Lippincott & Co.] 
 
 Griswold, Stanley, judge in Illinois Terr'y, 
 Wabash District, 365, 371; notice, 402. 
 
 Groot family, mention, 314, 339. 
 
 Grosvenor, John, settler of 1799, sketch, 
 184. 
 
 Grundy, Felix, mention, 301 n. 
 
 Guard, Seth, settler at salines, 390. 
 
 Gulf of Mexico, mention, 36, 219. 
 
 Gunn, John II., notes by, on Gen. A. C. 
 Dodge and family, 138-9 n; John Todd 
 and family, 143-4 n; refers to "Fergus'
 
 438 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Historical Series," 17511; origin of 
 name Ft. Massac, 191 n; C. R. Malheny 
 and descendants, 261-2 n; Abner Jolliff 
 and descendants, 263-5 n; Oov. Bond 
 and descendants, 327 n; Bradsby family, 
 336-7 n; Matthew Duncan and Illinois 
 HeraU, 366 n; Alexander Wilson and 
 descendants, 368 n; Gov. Edwards and 
 descendants, 370 n; John Boucher and 
 descendants, 379 n; referring to Rey- 
 nolds' "My Own Times," 381 n; Thos. 
 Higgins, ib. ; Gov. Carlin and descend- 
 ants, 384-5 n; Omelvany family, 385-6; 
 Dr. John Logan and descendants, 386- 
 711; Alex. M. Jenkins, 388 n; Quick 
 family, 399-400; James Lemen, Sr., 
 and descendants, 41 1-2 n; Zadoc Casey 
 and descendants, 413-4 n; Gen. John A. 
 McClernand, 414-5 n; West family, 
 4i7-8n; Kaskaskia land-grants, 424.5; 
 Jacksonville, and John Taylor and jas. 
 H. Peck, 426. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hacker, George, mention, 389. 
 
 Hacker, John S., notice, 389. 
 
 Hagerstown, Md., mention, 248, 401 n. 
 
 Haggin, James, early lawyer, 360. 
 
 Halfpenny, , early school-teacher, 
 
 152; mill owner, 177. 
 
 Haliburton, , mention, 247 n. 
 
 Hall's, Judge Jas., "Annals of the West," 
 reference, 381 n. 
 
 Halleck, Gen. Henry Wager, mention, 
 415 n. 
 
 Hamilton, Lady Anny, letter of, 225-6. 
 
 Hamilton Co., representative, 413 n; men- 
 tion, 278, 368 n. 
 
 Hamilton, Gov. Henry, captures Vin- 
 cennes, 99, 100; is captured, 101-6. 
 
 Hampden Sydney College, mention, 276. 
 
 Hamtramck, Col. John Francis, of St. 
 Glair's expedition, 199. 
 
 Hamtramck, Mrs. John Francis, marries 
 Judge Jesse Burgess Thomas, Sr. , 401 n. 
 
 Hand, Gen. Edward, mention, 91. 
 
 Hanging-Man Town, mention, 312. 
 
 Hanley, Samuel, entitled to land-grant,424 
 
 Hannibal of Carthage, reference, 75, 326. 
 
 Hannibeny, Patrick, settler of 1801, 280. 
 
 Hanson, Joseph, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 Hardin, Benjamin, of Ky., mention, 397. 
 
 Hardin, Jeptha, settler in Shawneetown, 
 390; sketch, 397-8; descendants, ib. n. 
 
 Hardin, John, mention, 397 n, 39811. 
 
 Hardin, John J, sketch, 397-8 n; men- 
 tion, 386 n, 397. 
 
 Hardin, Martin U, sketch, 398 n. 
 
 Hardy Co., Va., mention, 235, 236, 259, 
 337, 358, 379 " 
 
 Hargrave, Willis, captain in war of 1812, 
 
 406, 407. 
 Harmar, Gen. Josiah, his campaign against 
 
 the Indians, 197-8, 216; his defeat, 276, 
 
 397 n; mention, 21. 
 Harness, Leonard, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 424. 
 
 Harniss, , settler of 1783, 143. 
 
 Harper's Ferry, mention, 348, 411 n. 
 Harpe [Micajah, The "Big"], murder of, 
 
 286. 
 
 Harrington, Wm., Indian fighter, 186. 
 Harris, George, mention, 400 n. 
 Harris, John, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 Harris, Maj. Thomas L., mention, 41511. 
 Harrison, Albert B., member of congress 
 
 from Missouri, mention, 372. 
 Harrison, Benjamin (father of Wm. H.), 
 
 governor of Virginia, 276; thanks Gen. 
 
 Clark, 130; mention, 120. 
 Harrison County, mention, 426. 
 Harrison, George, mention, 40011. 
 Harrison, Rev. Thomas, sketch, 398-9. 
 Harrison, William Henry, campaign of 
 
 1813, 34; elected to congress from 
 
 Northwestern Territory, 157; takes 
 
 possession of La., 229; sketch, 276-9; 
 
 campaign of 1811, 391; convenes first 
 
 Ind. legislature, 401 n; nominated for 
 
 president, 402 n ; attacks Indians at 
 
 Tippecanoe, 404-5; mention, 228, 24811, 
 
 264 n, 309 n, 358, 397. 
 Harrisonville, 111., mention, 260, 261, 374. 
 Harrod, Capt. William, mention, 92. 
 Harrodsburg, mention, 88. 
 Harrods' [James] Station, 87. 
 Hartford, Conn., mention, 253 n. 
 Havana, Cuba, mention, 423. 
 Hawesville, Ky. , mention, 243. 
 Hay, Maj. Jehu, gov. of Upper Canada, 
 
 225; mention, 106. 
 Hay, John, sketch, 225-9; clerk of court, 
 
 365- 
 
 Hay, Mrs. John (Margaret Pouport), 227. 
 
 Haynie, Gen. Isham N., mention, 413 n. 
 
 Hays, Elizabeth, marries Laurent Pen- 
 soneau, 363 n. 
 
 Hays, John, sketch, 223-5; settler of 1803, 
 335; sheriff, 365; entitled to land-grant, 
 425; mention, 363 n, 377. 
 
 Heacock, Russel E., early lawyer, notice, 
 3 6r. 
 
 Head, James, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Heald's, Capt. Nathan, company, 249. 
 
 Heard, Joseph, settler about 1804, 356. 
 
 Hebert, Edw., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Heckewelder, Rev. John, missionary to 
 Indians, mention, 1 8. 
 
 Helm, Capt. Leonard, at capture of Kas- 
 kaskia, 93 ; commander at Vincennes, 
 98; surrenders Ft. Sackville, 99-100; in- 
 tercepts British convoy, 107; inent'n, 105
 
 INDEX. 
 
 439 
 
 Helm, Lieut. LinaiT., ransom, 250; men- 
 tion, 249. 
 
 Hempstead, Charles S., notice, 3090. 
 Hempstead, Edward, member of congress 
 
 from Missouri Territory, 309 n. 
 Hempstead, Stephen, mention, 309 n. 
 Hempstead, Susan, marries Henry Gra- 
 
 tiot, 309 n. 
 
 Hempstead, William, mention, 309 n. 
 Henderson [James?], settler of 1783, 143. 
 Hendricks, Geo., entitled to land-grant, 
 
 424, 425. 
 Hennepin, Louis, the explorer, 30, 31, 33, 
 
 34; mention, 39. 
 Hennepin, 111., name, 39. 
 Henry, Alexander, British trader, 78. 
 Henry's, James Dougherty, battalion of 
 
 spies, Black-Hawk War, 384 n. 
 Henry [Moses], soldier of American army, 
 
 anecdote of, 100. 
 Henry, Patrick, governor of Va., 143 n; 
 
 conference as such with Gen. Clark, 88; 
 
 mention, 102, 120; mention, 420. 
 Henry V., reference, 147. 
 Herd, see Heard. 
 Herkimer, N. Y., mention, 302 n. 
 
 Hewitt, , of Goshen Settlement, 357. 
 
 Hickman, John, settler in Miss. Bottom 
 
 in 1806, 364. 
 
 Hicks (or Hix), David, entitled to land- 
 grant, 424. 
 Hiel, Maria Catharine, marries Benjamin 
 
 H. West, 41 8 n. 
 Higgins, Catharine M., marries Win. H. 
 
 Bradsby, 336. 
 
 Higgins, Lucinda, mention, 337 n. 
 Higgins, Mary, marries John Bradsby, 
 
 33 " 
 
 Higgins, Richard, mention, 337. 
 Higgins, Thomas, sketch, 378-81; duel 
 
 and character, 381 n; mention, 341. 
 Hill, Adam, mention, 352. 
 Hill, Nathaniel, mention, 357, 405. 
 Hill's Ferry, mention, 408. 
 Hill's [Isaac] Fort, location, 405; men- 
 tion, 378. 
 
 Hillsborough, 111., mention, 331. 
 Hiltebrand, John, one of Gen. Clark's 
 
 soldiers, 339; mention, 215; entitled to 
 
 land-grant, 424. 
 
 Hix, Daniel [David ?], mention, 215. 
 Holly, Horatio, mention, 301 n. 
 Holmes, Joseph B., mention, 327 n. 
 Holsclaw, Enoch, mention, 265 n. 
 Homer, the poet, mention, 77. 
 Hontan and Herseche, Armand Louis de 
 
 Delondarce, Baron de la, untruthful (?) 
 
 explorer, 43. 
 Hook's, G. W., company in Mexican 
 
 War, 289 n. 
 Hopkins, Gen. Samuel, leads troops 
 
 against Indians of Illinois, 407. 
 
 Hopkinsville, Ky., mention, 298. 
 
 Horse Creek, mention, 157, 159, 162, 201. 
 
 Horse Prairie, early settlers and location, 
 
 200, 201; old name Washington, 184; 
 
 mention, 181, 184, 185, 197, 205, 270, 
 
 349- 
 
 Horse-racing, 336, 345. 
 Horses and cattle, 51, 
 
 Howard County, Mo., mention, 426. 
 
 Howard, John, mention, 407. 
 
 Howard's, Gen. and Gov. Benjamin, ex- 
 pedition against Indians, 292-3; men- 
 tion, 249, 320, 383, 408-9. 
 
 Howard, Hon. Tilghman A., mention, 
 373; [died 1844, buried at Rockville, 
 Parke Co., Ind]. 
 
 Howe, Wm., entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Hoyle, Edmund, mention, 350. 
 
 Hubbard, Adolphus Frederick, early set- 
 tler of Shawneetown, 390. 
 
 Huff, Michael, settler of about 1780, 137; 
 killed by Indians, 138, 146; entitled to 
 land-grant, 424. 
 
 Huff, Mrs. , killed by Indians, 256-7. 
 
 Huff, Mrs. Michael (widow Murdoch), 
 killed by Indians, 138. 
 
 Huff, Rebecca, marries Josiah Lemen, 
 412 n. 
 
 Huggins [Robert and David] family, men- 
 tion, 352. 
 
 Hughes, Thos., sketch, 125; one of Gen. 
 Clark's soldiers, 339; entitled to land- 
 grant, 424, 425; mention, 215. 
 
 Huguenots, mention, 305, 419. 
 
 Huitt, Rebecca, marries Thomas Carlin, 
 384 n. 
 
 Hull, Daniel, settler of 1794, 208. 
 
 Hull, Daniel, son of Nathaniel, death, 208. 
 
 Hull, Nathaniel, erects block-house, 131; 
 commands squad against Indians, 175, 
 176; sketch, 207-10; establishes ferry 
 and opens road to Kaskaskia, 281; en- 
 titled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Hull, Sarah, marries Moses Lemen, 412 n. 
 
 Hull's [Nathaniel] Landing, mention, 207, 
 281. 
 
 Humphrey, Edward, early school-teacher, 
 358, 374; mention, 371. 
 
 Humphries, Rev. Thomas, of S. C., men- 
 tion, 262. 
 
 Hunt, Rev. James, William Wirt's tutor, 
 mention, 367. 
 
 Hunter, Gen. David, mention, 247n,248n. 
 
 Husking parties, 316. 
 
 I. 
 
 Iberville, Pierre LeMoine d', explorations 
 
 of, 42, 43; mention, 41. 
 Iberville Bayou, mention, 80. 
 Ill-in-i, meaning, 17. 
 Illinois under French, 46-73; under Brit-
 
 440 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 ish government, 73, 79-82; under gov- 
 ernment of Va., 83-144; boundaries of 
 county of, 98; county of organized, 
 107, 144, 157; under Northwestern T'y, 
 145; a part of Indiana T'y, 148, 276; 
 what known as, 297; about 1800, 314; 
 territory established, 344; Virginia's ces- 
 sion to U. S. of, 350-1 ; territorial organi- 
 zation, 365, 385; boundary extended, 
 394; Agricultural College, mention, 
 4OOn; American settlers in, 112-8, 125, 
 127, 130, 137-44; Indian depredations 
 gainst, 1786-95, 152-4; their social 
 life, 273-5; principally from Western 
 and Southern States, 346; second child 
 of American parents in, 412; attorney- 
 generals of, mention, 361, 367, 37on, 375; 
 bees in, 169-70; block-houses, 131-2; 
 life in, 132-4; year of blood, 1789, 154; 
 commerce about 1712, 44; cotton and 
 tobacco in, 64; constitutional conven- 
 tions, reference to, of 1818, 358, 390, 
 401 n, 413; of 1847, 37 n > 388, 418 n; 
 currency about 1783, 108; disunion 
 measure of 1786 in, 219, 221; earth- 
 quake of 1811, 399; early explorers of, 
 25-44; early races of cattle and horses, 
 51; early lawyers, 170, 370-2; early 
 mills, 49, 116, 128, 129, 143, 146, 158, 
 162, 176-7, 192, 193, 210, 213-4, 346, 
 399; early orchards, 190; early physi- 
 cians, 358-60; early school-masters, 152, 
 399n; early preachers, 256-73; unvisited 
 by British during British sway, 81; ex- 
 ports, 60, 357, 401; fertility when first 
 discovered, 24, 28, 29; fires on prairie, 
 231-2; first court, 74; first duel, 8l-2; 
 first high-school and seminary, 254 n; 
 first camp-meeting and meeting-house, 
 267; first wool-carding mill, 289 n; first 
 surveyor, 331; first newspaper, 366; first 
 cotton-gin, 398; first railroad, 418; 
 French-and-Indian war, peaceful con- 
 dition of during, 65; French immigra- 
 tion, 41-2; declining of villages of, 66, 
 125; farming and social life of, 67-73, 
 275; friendly to Americans, 89; 86,000 
 pounds of flour furnished by one man 
 in 1766, 82; fund commissioner, men- 
 tion, 417; game before 1765, 73; about 
 1800, 169; governors, reference to, 327, 
 365, 368 n, 369, 370 n, 375, 384, 400 n, 
 403, 413; horses, see under cattle; horse- 
 racing, 345, 336; husking parties, 316; 
 immigration after 1708 from South, 43; 
 increasing after treaty of Greenville, 200; 
 commences in earnest about 1800, 279; 
 after 1815, 410; inhabited portion, 1803, 
 345 ; about 1810, 365 ; inhabitants change 
 mode of life about 1800, 346; intoxicat- 
 ing drink little used, 1 1 1 ; iron but little 
 used, III; judges, mention, 190, 289 n, 
 
 302 n, 370, 372, 375, 386 n, 393, 396, 
 401, 4i4n; see John Edgar, J. B. Bar- 
 beau, John de Moulin; judicial system, 
 73; see first court; improvement in the 
 judicial system, 181, 370-1, 401; land 
 claims allowed, 326, 350-1, 352; land 
 offices of Eastern III., 372n; land specu- 
 lation, 209, 213, 229; legislation but 
 little needed before 1790 in, 144; legis- 
 latures, territorial, 149, 293, 320, 335, 
 358, 367, 368; lieutenant-governors, 
 mention, 293, 386 n, 388, ib. n, 413 n, 
 414; marshal of, 411 n; mechanical arts 
 in pioneer days, 1 1 1 ; members of con- 
 gress, reference, 289 n, 325, 326, 365, 
 
 387 n , 39i, 396, 397", 4", 4'3n> 4i5 n ; 
 military road in, 281; militia, 130, 190, 
 209-10; mining, 65; mormon war, ref- 
 erence, 376-7; see negro slaves; New 
 England furnished few early settlers, 
 280; bitterness of political feeling, 173; 
 population increasing about 1750, 64; in 
 1765, 74; in 1791, 130-1; in 1803, 346; 
 products, 1800-12, 346; public system 
 of 1837, 38811; rangers of 1812, 337n, 
 338, ib. n; religion and morals prior to 
 1818, 253; undisturbed during first 
 years of revolution, 83; see Salt Springs; 
 want of schools in, 215; secretary of 
 state, 374, 393, 410; characteristics (^ 
 settlers, 44-5; its sickly condition, 315-6; 
 social habits in, about 1800, 317-9; 
 speaker of house, reference, 332; State 
 penitentiary, 4i4n; improved stock, 344;. 
 superintendent of instruction, 370 n ; 
 survey of northern boundary, 332; tim- 
 ber increasing in modern times, 54-6; 
 happy times in 1732, 54-6; tornadoes 
 or hurricanes, 347-8; traveling in 1797, 
 157; and in 1800, 298-9; treasurer of 
 State, 417; U.-S. district judge, 394; 
 U.-S. senator, reference, 289 n, 301 n, 
 372 n, 386 n, 387 n, 392, 401 n, 410; 
 vegetation, 1800, 231; volunteer regi- 
 ments of in war of rebellion, iSth Cav., 
 368 n; 62d Inf., 265 n; 84th Inf., 265 n;. 
 noth Inf., 414 n; mth Inf., 264 n, 
 265 n; !3OthInf., 262; I42d Inf., 418 n; 
 war of revolution opens immigration, 
 1 1 1-2; independent expeditions during, 
 122-4; during war of 1812, 405-9; 
 wheat raising introduced, 54; about 
 1800, 162; harvest, 202. 
 
 Illinois-Central R. R., early charters, 388n; 
 land-grant, 413 n. 
 
 "Illinois in the i8th Century," reference, 
 426 n. 
 
 Illinois or lllini, Indian confederacy, 17; 
 name, 17, 24; tribes composing con- 
 federacy, 18-9; territory inhabited by 
 in 1673, 18; migrations, 22-3; fate, 23; 
 annihilation, 79.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 441 
 
 Illinois -and -Michigan Canal, advocated 
 by Gov. Bond, 327; mention, 302 n, 
 
 415. 417. 
 
 Illinois River, mention, 17, 18, 19, 20, 28, 
 33, I2 3 S7 2 3 2 247 n, 248, 249, 250, 
 252. 
 
 Illinoistown, first brick-house in, 363. 
 
 Immigration, 41-2, 43, 111-2, 200, 279, 
 410. 
 
 Indiana Territory established, 149; its 
 boundaries, 276; territorial legislature, 
 290, 325, 332; mention of territory and 
 state, 19, 101, 114, 145, 278, 365; re- 
 vision of statutes of, reference, 171. 
 
 Indians can not be civilized, 19; best policy 
 toward, ib. n; seek to terrify explorers, 
 26; can not be christianized, 42; friendly 
 to French, 54, 61; French vs. British 
 treatment of, 75; hostile to Americans, 
 152-4; converted to Christianity, 153; 
 employed by whites to commit crimes, 
 285; depredations by, 1791, 175-6, 186 
 -9; before 1800, 193-7, 197-200; cease 
 from hostilities, 409; see under Indians; 
 outrages, 152-4, 249, 280, 285, 337 n, 
 340-1, 379-80, 404; two great races, 
 17-8; trade, how conducted, 234-5; 
 social life, 282; religion, 283-5; tradi- 
 tion generally unreliable, 17; war in 
 1774, 83; war prosecuted for nineteen 
 years, 84; war under Pontiac, 75-9. 
 
 Iowa, mention, 109, 139 n, 172, 253 n, 
 264 n. 
 
 Iowa Indians, locality, 21. 
 
 Ireland, settlers from, 116, 162, 177, 298, 
 300, 361, 385 n, 386, 389; mention, 116, 
 127, 143 n, 246, 271, 300, 361, 413 n. 
 
 Iron banks on Ohio settled, 339; mention, 
 125, 129, 139. 
 
 Iroquois drive the Delawares west, 18; 
 war with French, 34, 56; become friend- 
 ly, 56; mention, 17. 
 
 Irvington, 111., mention, 264 n. 
 
 Island Grove, 111., mention, 264^ 
 
 Island No. 22, mention, 131. 
 
 J- 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, mention, 43, 156, 301 n, 
 326, 372, 384. 
 
 Jackson Co., organization, name, 358; 
 county clerk, 387 n; representatives and 
 senators, ib., 388; mention, 48, 363 n, 
 388. 
 
 Jacksonburg, mention, 156. 
 
 Jacksonville, 111., mention, 397 n, 398 n, 
 4i5n. 
 
 Jacksonville, St. Clair Co., 111., advertise- 
 ment in 1815 of lots for sale at, 426. 
 
 James I., mention, 180. 
 
 James, Gen. Thomas, builder of mill, 
 177, 192. 
 
 James, James A., anecdote of, 347-8. 
 
 Janette, a supposed witch, 175. 
 
 Jarrot, an Indian, 212-3. 
 
 Jarrot, Nicholas, sketch, 211-4. 
 
 Jarrot, Mrs. Nicholas (Marie C. Barbeau), 
 
 214. 
 Jarrot, Mrs. Nicholas (Julia [St.Gemme] 
 
 Bauvais), 214.5. 
 
 Jarrot, Col. Vital, mention, 362 n. 
 Jarvis, Franklin, settler of 1797, 205. 
 Jay, John, mention, 120, 22O. 
 Jefferson College, mention, 336 n. 
 Jefferson County, 111. , representatives and 
 
 senators, 413 n, 414 n; mention, 26 n, 
 
 264 n, 386. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, mention, 91, 121, 180, 
 210, 300, 329, 356, 375, 423. 
 
 Jenkins, Alex. M., notice, 388; sketch, 
 ib. n; mention, 386n; his company in 
 
 . Black-Hawk War, mention, 387 n. 
 
 Jenkins, Elizabeth, marries Dr. John 
 Logan, 386 n. 
 
 Jersey County, 111., mention, 385 n. 
 
 Jersey ville, 111., mention, 385. 
 
 Jesuit missionaries, praise of, 25-6; men- 
 tion, 49. 
 
 Johnson, Col. Richard M., mention, 86, 
 171, 172. 
 
 Johnson Co., 111., established, 367; sena- 
 tors and representatives, 368. 
 
 Joliet, Louis, the discoverer, 25-8. 
 
 Joliet, 111., name, 39; mention, 300 n, 
 302 n, 4140. 
 
 JollifF, Aaron, mention, 263 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Rev. Abner, sketch, descendants, 
 263-5 n - 
 
 Jolliff, Abner (2d), and descendants, 263 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Abner (3d), mention, 263 n, 264 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Elijah, and descendants, 264 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Elijah, jr., mention, 264 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Elizabeth (ist), marries Edward 
 Russell, 263 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Elizabeth (2d), marries James 
 Williard, 264 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Elizabeth (3d), marries John Faulk- 
 ner, 265 n; descendants, ib. n. 
 
 Jolliff, Jackson, mention, 264 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Jacob, mention, 263 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Col. James, and descendants, 
 263-4 n. 
 
 Jolliff, James E., mention, 263 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Jehoida, marries Enoch Holsclaw, 
 
 265 n. 
 
 Jolliff, Martha, marries Reece Williams, 
 
 263 n. 
 Jolliff, Rachael, marries James Rhea, 
 
 264 n; descendants, ib. n. 
 Jolliff, Randall, mention, 264 n. 
 Jolliff, Reuben W., mention, 264 n. 
 Jolliff, Richard, marries Elizabeth Taylor, 
 
 263 n; descendants, ib.n; mention, 265 n. 
 Jolliff, William, mention, 264 n.
 
 442 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Jonesboro', first settler in, 389; county- 
 seat of Union Co., ib. ; mention, 386. 
 
 Jones County, la., mention, 379 n. 
 
 Jones, Emsley, murders Reed, 304. 
 
 Jones' Fort, location, 405. 
 
 Jones, Gabriel John, delegate to Virginia 
 assembly, 88; killed by Indians, ib. 
 
 Jones, George W., the U.-S. senator, 172. 
 
 Jones, John, entitled to land-grant, 424, 
 
 425- 
 
 Jones, John Rice, first lawyer, sketch, 
 170-2; entitled to land -grant, 425; 
 mention, 180, 221, 299. 
 
 Jones, Michael, commissioner to examine 
 land titles, 326; register of Kaskaskia 
 land-office, 351; sketch, 352; early set- 
 tler at Shawneetown, 390, 424, 425. 
 
 Jones, Rice, death, 173-4. 
 
 Jones, Rev. William, member of first ter- 
 ritorial legislature, 368; entitled to land- 
 grant, 425; notice, 270; mention, 336. 
 
 Joplin, Mo., mention, 379 n. 
 
 Joseph, mention, 289. 
 
 Josephine, Empress, reference, 174. 
 
 Jourdan, Francis, erects fort, 406. 
 
 Jourdan, James, wounded by Indians, 406. 
 
 Jourdan, Thomas, erects fort, 406. 
 
 Journey, Fort, mention, 405. 
 
 Journey's, Lieut. John, corps, and its en- 
 counter with Indians, 378-80. 
 
 Journey, Nathaniel, captain of company 
 in war of 1812, 406. 
 
 Joutel, Henry, survivor of LaSalle's ex- 
 pedition, 37; commands soldiers in the 
 expedition, 38; estimate of LaSalle, 39. 
 
 Joy, Comfort, establishes fort, 335. 
 
 Judy, Jacob, settler in Kaskaskia about 
 1783, 138; erects first water-mill, 176, 
 315; discovers bodies of McMahon 
 family, 196; 1788 pioneer, 319; entitled 
 to land-grant, 424, 425; mention, 3^7. 
 
 Judy, Nancy, mention, 319. 
 
 Judy, Samuel, Indian fighter, 186, 188; 
 removal to Madison Co., 201; bravery, 
 320; sketch, 321-7; member first terri- 
 torial legislature, 368; captain company 
 of spies, 407; entitled to land-grant, 
 425; mention, 280, 319, 320. 
 
 Jumonville [Coulon de], French officer, 
 [also called Villiers de J.], 63. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kane, Elias Kent, sketch, 410; mention, 
 
 372. 
 Kankakee River, called the The-an-ke-ki, 
 
 32; mention, 247 n. 
 Kannahwa salt-works, IIO. 
 Kansas, visited by French in search of 
 
 mines, 43; mention, 265 n. 
 Kansas River, mention, 265 n. 
 Kaskaskia, established 1686, 40; mission- 
 
 aries and traders of, 41; growth about 
 1700, 41; flour and skins shipped from, 
 44; seat of British government in 111., 
 46; Jesuit college in, 50, 54; metropo- 
 lis of the West, 50; commerce, 51 ; sold 
 in 1766, 82; captured by Americans, 
 93-6; inundated, 113, 114; immigrants, 
 115; importance, 116; American set- 
 tlers, 1783, 138-9; settlers about 1783, 
 142-3; legislatures held at, 149, 320; 
 largest town at West, 161; court held 
 at, 180; county-seat Randolph County, 
 252; road to Fort Massac, 281; and to 
 Vincennes, 293 ; land-office, mention, 
 326, 327, 35 1 ; constitutional convention 
 held in, 332; gayety in 1810, 366; popu- 
 lation, ib. ; capital of Illinois Territory, 
 367; mention, 18, 19, 46, 49, 66, 81, 
 87, 88, 91, 92, 93, 98, 101, 104, 107, 
 109, 112, 116, 117, 124, 125, 131, 138, 
 139, 144, 156, 157, 160, 162, 163, 164, 
 165, 167, 170, 172, 173, 174, 176, 185, 
 191, 207, 215, 218, 221, 245, 247, 249, 
 258, 269, 271, 272, 291, 294. 295, 296, 
 297, 299, 301, 33 n , 34, 36, 3' "> 3!3, 
 3iS, 319, 325, 326, 335, 339, 348, 349, 
 350, 352, 353, 358, 359, 360, 36i, 362, 
 368, 385, 401 n, 410, 426. 
 
 Kaskaskia Indians, location, 18; fate, 21, 
 22, 23; mention, 215, 304. 
 
 Kaskaskia River, mention, 19, 113, 146, 
 181, 183, 184, 201, 215, 236, 311, 339, 
 
 356, 357, 392, 401, 408, 418. 
 Kay, John, mention, 305, 419. 
 
 Kay (John) & McCrae (David), mention, 
 
 305. 
 Ke-kauk-kem-ke, Indian name for Peoria, 
 
 246. 
 Kekionga, British trading- post on Mau- 
 
 mee, 124. 
 Kelly [Win.], settler on Kaskaskia River, 
 
 1796, 215. 
 Kennedy, Patrick, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 424. 
 Kenton, Simon, sketch, 86-7; commanded 
 
 detachment of Americans at Kaskaskia, 
 
 95- 
 
 Kentucky, settlers from, 182, 184, 185, 
 191, 193, 202, 205, 264 n, 310, 333, 
 
 357, 358, 359, 36o, 361, 364, 378, 379, 
 382.392, 393, 395, 397,410,411,4140; 
 mention, 83, 87, 88, 90, 91, 104, 106, 
 107, 130, 143 n, 172, 182, 184, 185, 192, 
 !93> I 97> *98, 202, 205, 216, 223, 238, 
 241, 259, 260, 269, 270, 319, 335, 343, 
 357, 3 6 7, 379", 386 n, 391, 393, 396, 
 411, 420. 
 
 Kentucky River, mention, 217, 276. 
 Keokuk, chief of Sac, sketch, 292-3. 
 Keokuk, la., name, founding, 292. 
 Kerlerec, Louis Billouart, Chevalier de, 
 governor of La. , 65.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 443 
 
 Keys, Charles A., mention, 415 n. 
 
 Kickapoo Indians, locality, 20, 206, 244; 
 enmity to whites, 21; mention, 80, 160, 
 168, 186, 201, 342, 363 n, 364. 
 
 Kidd, Robert, early settler, 112, 113, 114, 
 115; entitled to land-grant, 425; men- 
 tion, 137, 255. 
 
 Kiercereau, Pelagic, marries Pierre Chou- 
 teau, 421. 
 
 Kierseran, see Kiercereau. 
 
 Kincade (Kinkead), James, entitled to 
 land-grant, 424. 
 
 King, Rachael, marries Zadoc Casey, 4i3n. 
 
 Kingston on site of Fort Frontenac, 30. 
 
 Kinney, Andrew, mill owner, 192-3; men- 
 tion, 320. 
 
 Kinney, Joseph, settler of 1794, sketch, 
 190-2. 
 
 Kinney, Mary, marries Joseph Lemen, 
 4i2n. 
 
 Kinney, Sam'l, settler of Horse Prairie, 200 
 
 Kinney, William, incident when boy, 191; 
 lieutenant-governor, ib. ; sketch, 333-5; 
 mention, 412 n. 
 
 Kinney, Winder, settler of Horse Prairie, 
 200. 
 
 Kinzie, Arthur M., mention, 248 n. 
 
 Kinzie, Eleanor L. , mention, 248 n. 
 
 Kinzie, Elizabeth, mention, 247 n. 
 
 Kinzie, Ellen Marion, mention, 247 n. 
 
 Kinzie, George H., mention, 248 n. 
 
 Kinzie, James, mention, 247 n. 
 
 Kinzie, John, and descendants, sketch, 
 24711; mention, 247. 
 
 Kinzie, John Harris, sketch, 248 n; men- 
 tion, 247, ib. n. 
 
 Kinzie, John Harris, Jr., mention, 248 n. 
 
 Kinzie, Maria, mention, 247 n. 
 
 Kinzie, Robert Allen, mention, 247 n. 
 
 Kinzie, William, mention, 247 n. 
 
 Kirkpatrick, Thomas, settler of Shawnee- 
 town, 390; mention, 315, 378. 
 
 Kitchen, Charles, fights Indians, 407. 
 
 Knox County, 111., original boundaries, 
 157; representative, ib. 
 
 Knox Co., Tenn., mention, 298, 312, 354. 
 
 Knoxville, Tenn., mention, 311. 
 
 Koerner, Gov. Gustavus, mention, 289 n. 
 
 L. 
 
 L'Abbe [Cahokia] Creek, mention, 426. 
 LaBalme's [Col. Moltin de] expedition to 
 
 capture Detroit, 124. 
 LaChappelle, see Chappelle. 
 Laclede, Pierre Ligeuste, mention, 419. 
 LaCompte, see LeCompt. 
 LaCroix, Michael, settler of 1 800, sketch, 
 
 350; born on Big Island, 355. 
 LaFlamme, Md'lle, marriages to Sainte 
 
 Ange (Pelate) in 1765, M. LaCompt in 
 
 1780, and Thomas Brady, 168. 
 
 LaPerouse's [Jean Fran9ois de Galaup, 
 Count de] expedition to Australia, 423. 
 
 LaSalle County, name, 39. 
 
 LaSalle, Robert Rene Chevalier de, ex- 
 plorations, 29-38; death, 38; character- 
 istics, 39; visits site of Peoria, 244; 
 mention, 89, 304. 
 
 LaTrappe monks in 111., 355-6. 
 
 LaVossierre, Louis, of Peoria, tragic 
 death of, 134-5. 
 
 Lacy, Gen. Edward, establishes ferry, 286. 
 
 Lacy, John, settler of 1804, mention, 356, 
 357- 
 
 Lafayette County, Wis. , mention, 309 n. 
 
 Lake Bigler, mention, 289 n. 
 
 Lake Erie, 31. 
 
 Lake Michigan, mention, 17, 31, 89, 122, 
 1 68, 394. 
 
 Lake Ontario, 31. 
 
 Lake Peoria, 149. 
 
 Lake Superior, mention, 123, 124, 306. 
 
 Lake of the Woods, 223. 
 
 Lancaster County, Pa. mention, 143 n. 
 
 Land system before 1800 a curse, 277-8. 
 
 Lane, John, settler at Salines, 390. 
 
 Laurel Hill, mention, 63. 
 
 Lausanne, mention, 308, 419. 
 
 Law courts, none among French, 73; first 
 court, 1768, 74-5. 
 
 Law, Judge John, mention, 423. 
 
 Law, John, and his schemes, 46. 
 
 Lawrenceburjr, Ind., mention, 401 n. 
 
 Lawyers of Illinois, early, 170, 370-2. 
 
 Layola, see Loyola. 
 
 LeBaie des Puants, see Green Bay. 
 
 LeCompt, Mad. , sketch, 168-9; see 
 
 Md'll LaFlamme. 
 
 LeCompt, Lizette, marries Louison Pen- 
 soneau, 362 n. 
 
 LeCompte [Louis], 168. 
 
 LeGallois de Beaujeu, see Beaujeau. 
 
 LeMotte, Miss Sarah, marries Thomas 
 Forsyth, 248; [died Nov. 21, 1829]. 
 
 LePense, Antoine, mention, 249. 
 
 LeVille a Maillet, old name for Peoria, 
 122 
 
 Lead-smelting in 111., 48; first cupola fur- 
 nace for, 171. 
 
 Lebanon, 111., mention, 197, 254 n, 267, 
 269, 336, ib. n. 
 
 Lee County, 111., 139 n. 
 
 Lemen family, mention, 197, 207. 
 
 Lemen, Ann, mention, 412 n. 
 
 Lemen, Catharine, 412 n. 
 
 Lemen, Hetty, mention, 412 n. 
 
 Lemen, Rev. James, sr., Indian fighter, 
 175; settler of 1786, 256; sketch, 271; 
 rotice, 411 n, 411-2; denounces slavery, 
 4i2ri; entitled to land-grant, 424, 425; 
 mention, 196, 259, 266, 273, 357, 377. 
 
 Lemen, Mrs. James, sr. (Catharine Ogle), 
 259-
 
 444 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Lemen, Rev. James, jr., notice, 412 n, 
 
 413; mention, 273. 
 Lemen, Rev. Joseph, marries daughter of 
 
 Joseph Kinney, sends wife to school, 
 
 191; notice, 412; mention, 266. 412 n. 
 Lemen, Mrs. Joseph (Mary Kinney), 191, 
 
 412 n. 
 
 Lemen, Joseph B. , mention,. 412 n. 
 Lemen, Rev. Josiah, notice, 412 n. 
 Lemen, Rev. Moses, notice, 412 n. 
 Lemen, Robert, maishal under territoria 
 
 government, 266; accident to, 271; 
 
 teacher, 412. 
 
 Lemen, William, notice, 4120. 
 LeMoine, see Beinville, Iberville, Mon- 
 
 tigny. 
 
 L-en-ni-L-en-ape Indians, 17. 
 Leotot, , one of tne assassinators of 
 
 LaSalle, 39. 
 
 Lesueur, Chas. Alex., mention, 423. 
 Levens, Henry, settler of 1797, sketch, 
 
 157-8; settles in Horse Prairie, 201; 
 
 early miller, 315; entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425- 
 
 Lewis (Merriweather) and Clark's (Wm. ) 
 expedition visits Illinois, 356. 
 
 Lewis, Wm., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Leyba, Francisco de, mention, 423. 
 
 Lexington, Ky. , mention, 143 n, 375. 
 
 Licking River, mention, 87. 
 
 Lillard, Rev. Joseph, preacher of 1793, 
 notice, 257-8; mention, 260, 269. 
 
 Limestone Creek, mention, 88. 
 
 Lime-Stone, Ky. , mention, 257- 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, mention, 143 n, 370 n, 
 386 n, 415 n. 
 
 Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham, mention, 143 n. 
 
 Lincoln County, Ky. , mention, 256. 
 
 Lincoln & Edmunds, mention, 254 n 
 
 Lincoln, Robert Todd, mention, 143 n. 
 
 Linn, Capt. William, of Clark's expedi- 
 tion, 98. 
 
 Litchfield, Conn., mention, 172, 253 n. 
 
 Little Muddy River, mention, 299. 
 
 Little Prairie, mention, 348. 
 
 Little Rock, mention, 264 n. 
 
 Little Village, mention, 256; see St. 
 Phillipe. 
 
 Little Wabash River, mention, 102, 364. 
 
 Lively [John and Joseph] family, men- 
 tion, 352. 
 
 Liza, Emanuel, mention, 167, 208, 294. 
 
 Loftus, Maj. [Arthur], defeat of, 8c. 
 
 Loftus [Arthur] Heights or Ft. Adams, 80. 
 
 Logan County, Ky., mention, 391. 
 
 Logan [Tah-gah-jute], the Indian, murder 
 of family, 83. 
 
 Logan, Dr. John, notice, 386-7; sketch, 
 ib. n; descendants, 387 n. 
 
 Logan, John Alexander, mention, 38611; 
 sketch, 387 n. 
 
 Logan, Stephen T., mention, 262 n. 
 
 Logan, William H., notice, 387 n. 
 
 Logstown, Indian treaty of, 62. 
 
 Loire des Ursins, Marc Antoine de la, 
 
 secretary of Company of the West, 46. 
 London, mention, 269, 305, 419, 420, 421. 
 Long Point, 111., mention, 411. 
 Looking-Glass Prairie, mention, 326, 405. 
 
 Lorton, Mr. , mention, 357. 
 
 Loubois, , appointed gov. of La., 54. 
 
 Louis XIV., reference to, 36, 209, 419. 
 Louisiana, named in honor of king of 
 
 France, 33; difficulty in colonizing, 44; 
 
 territory, 309 n; see under St. Louis; 
 
 purchase ol, 356; mention, 47, 73, no. 
 Louisville, mention, 98, 170, 191, 218, 
 
 254 n, 342, 387 n, 393. 
 Louisville and Evansville R. R., mention, 
 
 368 n. 
 
 Low, Gen. Fleming, mention, r-"n. 
 Low, Nicholas, mention, 247 n. 
 Lower Rapids, mention, 292. 
 Lower Sandusky, defence of, 403. 
 Loyola, Ignatius de, mention, 25. 
 Ludlow's Station, mention, 198. 
 Lunceford (or Lunsford), George, settler 
 
 of 1783, 143; one of Gen. Clark's sol- 
 diers, 339; entitled to land-grant, 424; 
 
 mention, 201. 
 Lusk, John T. , builds taverns and runs 
 
 ferry, 285, 286; settler of 1805, 357. 
 Lusk's (James] Ferry, 1 10 miles to first 
 
 house, 298; mention, 281, 285, 357. 
 Luth, Sieur de, see Duluth. 
 Luther, Martin, mention, 26. 
 Lyle (or Lisle), Dr. John, early physician, 
 
 notice, 359. 
 
 Lyle, John, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 Lynn, Dr. Lewis, death, 139 n. 
 Lyon, Matthew, sketch, 328-9. 
 Lyons, France, 287. 
 
 M. 
 
 McBride, William, mention, 352. 
 
 McCann, James, early miller, 315. 
 
 McCarty, Capt. Richard [" English"], of 
 Gen. Clark's expedition, 102 ; notice, 
 mill owner, 128; entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 McClernand, John A., notice, 4:4-5; 
 sketch, ib. n; mention, 386 n. 
 
 McClernand (John A.) & Keyes (Charles 
 A.), mention, 415 n. 
 
 McClure, Samuel, killed by Indians in 
 1786, 153- 
 
 McConnell, , married Mary Omel- 
 
 vany, 385 n. 
 
 McCormick, John, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 McCrae, David, mention, 305, 419. 
 
 McCrae, David, Co. (John Kay), men- 
 tion, 305, 419.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 445 
 
 McDonald, Robert, mention, 352. 
 
 McDonough's " History of Randolph, 
 Monroe, and Perry Counties," quoted, 
 366 n, 400 n. 
 
 McDonough's "History of St. Clair Co.," 
 quoted, 41 2 n. 
 
 McDonough, Stace, of Randolph Co., 
 133; sketch, 216-9. 
 
 McElmuny family builds block-house, 131. 
 
 McElmuny, John, Jr., entitled to land- 
 grant, 424. 
 
 McFarland, David, of Ridge Prairie, men- 
 tion; 288 n. 
 
 McHenry, William, captain of company 
 in war of 1812, 406, 407. 
 
 McKee, Susan, marries Wm. Omelvany, 
 386 n. 
 
 McKendree, Bp. Wm., builds first meet- 
 ing-house and holds first camp-meeting, 
 267; mention, 268. 
 
 McKendree College, mention, 289 n, 336n, 
 400 n, 413 n, 4i4n, 4i8n. 
 
 McKillup, Mrs. Eleanor (Lytle), marries 
 John Kinzie, 247 n. 
 
 McLaughlin, Robert K., lawyer, notice, 
 410-1. 
 
 McLean, [McLain, Rev. David], 
 
 attacked by Indians, 408. 
 
 McLean, John, settler of Shawneetown, 
 390; sketch, 391-2. 
 
 McMahon, Robert, settler of 1794, sketch. 
 193-7; settles at Horse Prairie, 200. 
 
 McMahon, Mrs. Robert, and her four 
 children killed by Indians, Dec., 1795, 
 
 193-4- 
 
 McNabb, Alexander, entitled to land- 
 grant, 425. 
 
 McNabb, Archibald, entitled to land- 
 grant, 425. 
 
 McNabb, Edward, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425- 
 McNair, Col. Alex, in Gen. Howard's 
 
 expedition, 408. 
 McRae, see McCrae. 
 McKoberts, Elizabeth, mention, 302 n. 
 McRoberts, Frank H., mention, 302 n. 
 McRoberts, Judge James, settler of 1786, 
 
 256; sketch, 300-3; descendants, 300 n; 
 
 entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 McRoberts, James, Jr , mention, 30011. 
 McRoberts, Judge Josiah, 300 n; sketch, 
 
 3OOn; mention, 302; [died, Joliet, 111., 
 
 June 2, 1885.] 
 
 McRoberts, Josiah, Jr., 302 n. 
 McRoberts, Louise M., marries Edward 
 
 C. Aiken, 302 n. 
 McRoberts, Mary, marries Maj. Zerses F. 
 
 Trail, 30011. 
 McRoberts. Samuel, sketch, 301 n, 371-3; 
 
 mention, 302 n, 374. 
 McRoberts, Thomas, 300 n. 
 Macarty Mactique, see MaKarty. 
 
 Macauley, Mr. , settler of 1809, men 
 
 tion, 364. 
 
 Mactique, Macarty, see MaKarty. 
 
 Mackinac boats described, 234-5; mention, 
 26, 35, 36, 122, 168, 223, 245, 248 n, 
 306, 419, 420. 
 
 Mackinac Indians, trading with, 233. 
 
 Mackinaw Creek, mention, 157. 
 
 Mackinaw River, mention, 20. 
 
 Mackenzie, John, father of John Kinzie, 
 247 n. 
 
 Mackenzie, Margaret, marries John Kin- 
 zie, 247 n. 
 
 Macoupin Co., county-seat, 384. 
 
 Macoupin Creek, mention, 383, 407. 
 
 Mad River, Ohio, mention, 268. 
 
 Madagorda Bay, LaSalle lands at, and 
 thus misses finding the mouth of the 
 Mississippi River, 38. 
 
 Madison County, representatives and sena- 
 tors, 270, 320, 368; county commissioner, 
 321; judge, 329; salt manufacture in, 
 344; circuit-court clerk, 362; established, 
 367; its county-seat, 378; first court- 
 house, ib. ; sheriff, 416; treasurer, 41 8 n; 
 mention, no, 197, 239, 270, 280, 289 n, 
 321, 322, 336, 368, 383, 401, 417, 426. 
 
 Madison, James, mention, 367, 401 n. 
 
 Madrid, Spain, mention, 139 n. 
 
 Magill, Arthur, mention, 248 n. 
 
 Magill, Juliette A., mention, 248 n. 
 
 Maillet, Paulette, exploits, 122-3; selects 
 new site for Peoria, 122, 246; mention, 
 126, 134, 135. 
 
 Major, John, of S.C., mention, 262. 
 
 MaKarty, [Mactique, or Malartie, or Ma- 
 cartie], Chevalier, gov. of Illinois, 60. 
 
 Manscoe, see Mansker. 
 
 Mansker, John, settler of Mississippi 
 Bottom in 1806, 364. 
 
 Manuel, hung for being witch, 175, ib. n. 
 
 Maple sugar manufactured, 395. 
 
 Marest, Rev. Gabriel, missionary at Kas- 
 kaskia, 41; life in Illinois, 42. 
 
 Margot Creek, mention, 59- 
 
 Marietta, mention, 156. 
 
 Marion County organized, 413; represen- 
 tative, 143 n; mention, 263, 264, 386 n. 
 
 Marion, Gen. Francis, mention, 413 n. 
 
 Marquette County, name, 39. 
 
 Marquette, James (Jaques), the explorer, 
 25-9; death, 31. 
 
 Marrs, Thus., entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Marshall, John, chief-justice, mention, 84. 
 
 Marshal, John, settler of Shawneetown, 
 390; entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Marshal, Rev. William, mention, 269. 
 
 Martin, Charles, entitled to land -grant, 
 
 Mary River, mention, 304. 
 Maryland, settlers from, 113, 323, 341, 342, 
 348, 367, 401 n, 402; mention, 223.
 
 446 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Mascoutah, 111., mention, 290, 363, ib. n, 
 
 399". 
 
 Mascouten Indians, 80. 
 Mason County, 111., mention, 264 n. 
 Mason's, Edward Gay, "Col. John Todd's 
 
 Record Book," quoted, I75n, 426 n. 
 Mason, George, mention, 91. 
 Massac County, mention, 53. . 
 Massac Trace, mention, 335. 
 Massachusetts, population in 1774, I2O; 
 
 settlers from, 207, 330. 
 Matheny, Charles E., notice, 261 n. 
 Matheny, Charles R., sketch, 261-2; de- 
 scendants, ib. n. 
 
 Matheny, Charles W. , mention, 262 n. 
 Matheny, E. Cook, mention, 262 n. 
 Matheny James H., notice, 262 n. 
 Matheny, L. D , notice, 262 n. 
 Matheny, Noah W , notice, 262 n. 
 Martinique, mention 174. 
 Matteson, Gov. Joel A., mention, 302 n. 
 Mattox, Susan, marries James Rhea, 264^ 
 Maumee, Ohio, mention, 247. 
 Maumee River, mention, 77, 124, 197,306. 
 May, George, mention, 2640. 
 Mayfield, James, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 424. 
 
 Maysville, mention, 88. 
 Mears, William, early lawyer, sketch, 
 
 3 6l > 372. 
 Membre, Zenobe, sent with dispatches to 
 
 France, 37; missionary, 1690, 43. 
 Memphis, Tenn., mention, 25. 
 Menard County, name, 294. 
 Menard, Fran9ois, sketch, 294-7; mention, 
 
 291. 
 Menard, Hypolite, notice, 296; mention, 
 
 291, 294. 
 Menard, Pierre, marriage, 287; sketch, 
 
 291-4; in first territorial legislature, 368; 
 
 mention, 289 n. 
 
 Mengwe, name for Iroquois, 17, 18. 
 Mercier, Franois le, missionary, 1721, 51. 
 Merionthshire, Wales, mention, 170. 
 Merrimac, Mo., mention, 308. 
 Merrimac River, 111., mention, no, 347. 
 Meroe District, Tenn., mention, 311. 
 Messenger, Charles, mention, 400 n. 
 Messenger, John, teacher, 254, 273; sketch, 
 
 330-2; mention, 328, 333. 
 Messenger's "Manual or Hand Book of 
 
 Practical Surveying," reference of, 331. 
 Methodists, churches and preachers, 207, 
 
 257, 260, 262, 263, 267, 268, 269, 390, 
 
 4i8n. 
 Miami Indians, locality, 19; removal, 140; 
 
 mention, 124, 198, 224. 
 Miami River, mention, 198. 
 Michigan, name, 18; mention, 19, 141, 
 
 145, 402. 
 
 Middleton's Block-House, 405. 
 Middletown, Conn., mention, 2480. 
 
 -, mention, 186. 
 
 Miles, 
 
 Miles' Ferry, mention, 281, 286. 
 
 Miles, Rev. Samuel J., visits Kaskaskia, 
 
 273- 
 
 Militia of St. Clair County, 189. 
 
 Milk sickness, 322-3. 
 
 Miller, John, mention, 352. 
 
 Miller, Maud, marries William Leman,. 
 4i2n. 
 
 Miller, William, mention, 237, 313. 
 
 Mills, see under Illinois, early mills. 
 
 Mills, Benj., member of Illinois bar, 372. 
 
 Milwaukee, mention, 2470. 
 
 Mississippi Bluffs, mention, no, 131, 210, 
 222, 280, 328, 348, 418. 
 
 Mississippi Bottom, cultivated by French, 
 150; mention, 113, 304, 364, 403, 408. 
 
 Mississippi River, called Fish River, In- 
 dian name, Namaesisipu, 17; discovery 
 by DeSoto, 25; by Marquette, ib. ; called 
 St. Louis River, 33; outlets discovered, 
 36; called River Colbert, 37; rediscov- 
 ered, named Malboucheand LaPalisade, 
 43 ; destruction by overflow, 46-50, 113-4; 
 unvisited by British until 1765, 59, 60, 
 65-6; first Anglo-American settlement L 
 on, 80; navigation in i8th century, 108-9 J 
 free navigation of, 219, 220; voyagina J 
 on, 294-6; steam navigation on, 400 n^^ 
 mention, 18, 21, 27, 33, 43, 47, 49, 57, 
 
 75, 80, 112, 122, 124, 125, 138, 146, 150, 
 
 157, 227, 232, 248, 266, 271, 273, 276, 
 293, 297, 304, 306, 307, 329, 347, 365,. 
 385, 421, 426. 
 
 Mississippi Valley, extent and fertility, 
 28-9; exploration of, 33. 
 
 Missouri lead-mines opened, 54; supreme 
 court, reference, 171; first constitutional 
 convention, 171; Roman Catholic re- 
 ligion established, 266; mention, 140,. 
 141, 159, 229, 249, 268, 309 n, 348, 
 366 n, 386. 
 
 Missouri Compromise, introduced by Jesse 
 B. Thomas, 402; reference, 401, ib. n. 
 
 Missouri Gazette and Illinois Advertiser, 
 reference, 366, 4Oon; extracts from, 426. 
 
 Missouri Indians at war with Spaniards, 
 
 52-3- 
 
 Missouri River, called by Indians Pecki- 
 tanoni, 27; its discovery, ib. ; Ft. Or- 
 leans erected on, 1724, 52; mention, 
 37, 123, 140, 362 n. 
 
 Mitchagamie Indians, 18, 22. 
 
 Mitchell family, mention, 237, 417. 
 
 Mitchell, Clark W., mention, 265 n. 
 
 Mitchell, Frances, marries Washington 
 West, 418 n. 
 
 Mitchell, Louisa A., marries Benjamin J. 
 West, Sr. , 418 n. 
 
 Mitchell, Mary, marries Tilghman H. 
 West, 41 8 n. 
 
 Mitchell, Peter, notice, 337; mention, 336.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 447 
 
 Mobile, French at, 42, 43; mention, 49, 
 
 51, 54, 56. 
 
 Mondovi, Sardinia, mention, 419. 
 Monette's "History of the Valley of the 
 
 Mississippi," quotation from, 191 n. 
 Monohon County, Ireland, 300. 
 Monongahela County, mention, 138. 
 Monongahela River, mention, 63, 65, 236, 
 
 397". 
 
 Monongahela whisky, 202, 316. 
 
 Monroe Co., circuit judge, 301 n; repre- 
 sentatives and senators, 312, 372, 374, 
 386 n, 400 n; clerk, 38611; mention, 18, 
 47, 1 10, 113, 115, 131, 146, 149, 152, 
 175, 176, 177, 184, 255, 260, 261 n, 300, 
 30on, 301 n, 312, 360, 371, 372, 374, 
 386 n, 40011. 
 
 Montcalm, Gen. Louis Joseph de St. Viran, 
 Marquis de, mention, 246. 
 
 Montgomery County, Ind., mention, 367, 
 41811. 
 
 Montgomery County, Pa., mention, 300. 
 
 Montgomery, Capt. and Maj. John, 92, 
 96, 98; settler of 1783, erects water- 
 mill, 143; visits Peoria about 1781, 245; 
 one of Gen. Clark's soldiers, 339; en- 
 titled to land-grant, 424; mention, 215. 
 
 Monticello, la., mention, 379 n. 
 
 Montreal, mention, 226, 227, 247, 419, 421. 
 
 Montrenger, Creval du [Margry III, 90], 
 LaSalle's nephew, assassinated, 38. See 
 Moranget erroniously printed. 
 
 Moony, Mary, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Moore family, mention, 197, 417. 
 
 Moore, Andrew, and son killed by In- 
 dians, 406. 
 
 Moore, James, early settler, 112, 113, 114; 
 *> settler of 1781,^^} entitled to land- 
 grant, 424; naturalization oath of, 426. 
 
 Moore, Jas., jr., entitled to land-grant, 425 
 
 Moore, James Biggs, mill owner, 194; 
 captain of company in war of 1812, 
 338n, 353, 406.^ 
 
 Moore, John, coroner, 365 ; entitled to 
 land-grant, 425. 
 
 Moore, John Milton, mention, 255. 
 
 Moore, Col. Milton, mention, 300 n. 
 
 Moore, Risdon, notice, 417. 
 
 Moore, William, captain of company in 
 Black-Hawk war, 337 n; entitled to 
 land-grant, 425. 
 
 Moore, W. W., mention, 386 n. 
 
 Moore's [Andrew] Prairie, mention, 406. 
 
 Moran, Miss M. S., marries Thomas J. 
 Casey, 414 n. 
 
 Moranget, nephew of LaSalle, assassin- 
 ated, 38. See Montrenger. 
 
 Moreau, , hung for being witch, 175, 
 
 ib. n. 
 
 Moredock, see Murdoch. 
 
 Morehead, Senator James T., of Ken- 
 tucky, mention, 372. 
 
 Morgan County, 111., mention, 330. 
 
 Morgantown, mention, 236. 
 
 Morris, Jemima, marries Joseph Chance, 
 270. 
 
 Morris, Joseph, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Morris, Robert, mention, 276. 
 
 Morrison, Guy, sketch, 167. 
 
 Morrison, James, marries daughter ofc 
 Francis Saucier, 287; mention, 166. 
 
 Morrison, James, jr., mention, 166. 
 
 Morrison, Jesse, sketch, 166-7; marries 
 daughter of Francis Saucier, 287. 
 
 Morrison, Robert, sketch, 165; represents 
 Illinois in Indiana legislature, 293 ; 
 mention, 299. 
 
 Morrison, Mrs. Robert (Donaldson), 
 sketch, 165-6. 
 
 Morrison, Samuel, sketch, 167. 
 
 Morrison, Samuel, jr., note on Senator 
 Jesse Burgess Thomas, sr., 401 n. 
 
 Morrison, William, sketch, 160-5; entitled 
 to land-grant, 425; mention, 167. 
 
 Moscow, mention, 214. 
 
 Moulin, John de, judge of Illinois under 
 Northwestern Territory, 180, 209-11. 
 
 Mount Vernon, 111., founding of, 413 n; 
 mention, 265. 
 
 Mount Vernon, Ohio, mention, 402 n. 
 
 Muddy River, mention, 321. 
 
 Mun, de, see DeMun. 
 
 Murdoch, Barney, mention, 146. 
 
 Murdoch (or Moredock), Maj. John, en- 
 mity against Indians, 138; sketch, 146- 
 50; major in Gen. Howard's expedition, 
 408; entitled to land-grant, 425, 290. 
 
 Murdoch (or Murdict), John, mention, 
 202; eccentricities of, 238-41. 
 
 Murdoch (or Murdict), Mr. , men- 
 tion, 202, 238. 
 
 Murdoch (or Murdict), Mrs. , widow, 
 
 marries Geo. Blair, 202, 238. 
 
 Murdoch, Mrs. John (Garrison), 149. 
 
 Murdoch, Widow ( ), mother of John . 
 
 and Barney, killed by Indians, 138. 
 
 Murpheysboro, 111., mention, 387 n. 
 
 Murphy family, mention, 298. 
 
 Murphy Settlement, mention, 299. 
 
 Murray, William, entitled to land-grant, 
 424, 425; mention, 260. 
 
 Music, Mr. , of Mo., mention, 349. 
 
 Musick family, mention, 185. 
 
 Musick.Wm., settler about 1783, 142, 185. 
 
 N. 
 
 Namaesisipu, see Mississippi. 
 
 Napoleon I. (Bonaparte), mention, 25, 39, 
 
 75, 214, 403, 423. 
 
 Nashville, 111., mention, 336, 379 n. 
 Nashville, Tenn., mention, no, 114, 311. 
 Natchez, mention, 163. 
 Naturalization Record, earliest in 111., 426.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, mention, 63. 
 _ JMegro slaves introduced into Illinois in 
 
 I7i9,47- 
 
 Nelson County, Ky., mention, 259. 
 
 Nelson, Elisha, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Nelson, Lord Horatio, mention, 374. 
 
 New Berlin, mention, 264 n, 26511. 
 
 Newby's, Col. Edward W. B., regiment 
 in Mexican war, 289 n, 387 n. 
 
 New Design, settled 1782, 146; settlers of 
 1797, 235-6; great mortality, 237; men- 
 tion, 152, 157, 162, 181, 184, 190, 191, 
 192, 193, 195, 196, 200, 201, 205, 236, 
 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 265, 270, 271, 
 315, 319, 328, 335, 337, 358, 359, 373, 
 
 379 n , 4i3- 
 New-Englanders nicknamed " Bostonians, " 
 
 92, 93- 
 
 New Hampshire, population in 1774, 120. 
 
 New Harmony, Ind., 423. 
 
 New Jersey, population in 1774, 120; set- 
 tlers from, 216, 399; mention, 155, 216, 
 399 n. 
 
 New Madrid, mention, 161. 
 
 Newman [Joseph ?], settler about 1804, 356 
 
 New Minden, 111., mention, 37911. 
 
 New Orleans, laid out, 46; trade with 111., 
 108, 346, 401; flat-boating to, 385 n; 
 mention, 49, 51, 56, 57, 67, 107, 108, 
 no, in, 127, 161, 162, 163, 211, 273, 
 296, 396, 423. 
 
 Newspaper, first in Illinois, 366. 
 
 New York, population in 1774, 120; set- 
 tlers from, 223, 410; mention, no. 
 
 New- York City, mention, 223, 247 n. 
 
 Niagara River once had its outlet into the 
 Illinois River, 34; mention, 31. 
 
 Niles, Col. Nathaniel, mention, 189 n. 
 
 Nine-Mile Creek, mention, 125, 215, 341. 
 
 Nixon, Capt. , mention, 253 n. 
 
 Noble, Henry, settler in 1804, 357. 
 
 North America, mention, 113, 121. 
 
 North Bend, home of Gen. Harrison, 278. 
 
 North Carolina, population in 1774, 120; 
 settlers from, 80, 339, 391, 416; men- 
 tion, 80, 156, 185, 203, 267, 270, 338, 
 39, 398, 4i3n, 4i6. 
 
 Northwestern Territory, organized, 154-5, 
 156-7; legislature, 157, 343; courts or- 
 ganized, 179, 1 80- 1; mention, 114, 117, 
 170, 350. 
 
 Nowlen, Rev. J., mention, 268. 
 
 O. 
 
 Oakland, Cal., mention, 386 n. 
 
 Ogle family, mention, 197, 2OI, 260, 314. 
 
 Ogle, Benjamin, shot by Indians, 153; 
 
 Indian scout, 175; entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425; mention, 412 n. 
 Ogle, Catharine, marries James Lemen, 
 
 sr., 271. 
 
 Ogle, Joseph, sr., Indian scout, 175; first 
 Methodist class- leader. 257; mention, 
 255, 260, 261, 271; entitled to land- 
 grant, 425. 
 
 Oglesby, Dr. Joseph [should be Ogle], 261. 
 
 Oglesby, Joshua, member first territorial 
 legislature, 368. 
 
 Oglesby, Richard J., U.-S. senator, 387; 
 governor, 400; mention, 302. 
 
 Oglesby, Wm., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 O'Hara family, mention, 207. 
 
 O'Har?., Henry, entitled to land-grant, 424 
 
 Ohio, mention, 34, 87, 145, 273. 
 
 Ohio Co., established, 61; mention, 63. 
 
 Ohio River, unknown for many years, 2.7 ; 
 explored, 53; called River of the Iro- 
 quois, ib. ; chief ferries across, 281 ; men-f / 
 tion, 17, 19, 27, 43, 67, 79, 80, 86, 87,[/ 
 112, 117, 125, 129, 143 n, 145, 157, 191, 
 ib. n, 197, 207, 217, 218, 236, 243, 271, 
 276, 277, 280, 287, 300 n, 301, 319, 335, 
 
 343, 365, 385, 386, 405- 
 
 Ohio salines, 1 10, 335, 364, 392. 
 
 Omelvany, Constantine, notice, 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, Edward, notice, 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, Elizabeth, mention, 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, George, mention, 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, Harvey K. S., notice, 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, James M., notice, 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, John, notice, 385 n; descend- 
 ants, 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, Margaret, marries Mr. Wood, 
 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, Martha, mention, 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, Mary, marries McConnell, 
 
 385 n; mention, 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, Nancy, marries W. W. Moore, 
 
 386 n. 
 
 Omelvany, Patrick, mention, 385 n, 38611. 
 Omelvany, Samuel, notice, 385-6, ib.n, 389. 
 Omelvany, Susan, mention, 386 n. 
 Omelvany, Wm., 385 n; descendants, 386n 
 Omelvany, William W., notice, 386 n. 
 Orange County, N. C. , mention, 339. 
 Ordinance of 1787, 154-5. 
 Oregon County, Mo., mention, 264 n. 
 Orr, William, printer of St. Louis, 331. 
 Orvis, E., mention, 264 n. 
 Osage Indians, hostilities of, 160; men- 
 tion, 43. 
 
 Ottawa, 111., mention, 418. 
 Ouiatenon, mention, 80, 98, 102, 198. 
 Ouisconsin, Portage of, 420. 
 Owen, Hannah, mention, 143 n. 
 Owen, Robert, mention, 423. 
 Owen's Station, 184, 265. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paget, see Pagi. 
 
 Pagi, Prix, killed by Indians, 60; men- 
 tion, 116.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 449 
 
 Pagon, David, one of Gen. Clark's soldiers, 
 339; entitled to land -grant, 424, 425; 
 mention, 340. 
 
 Paine, Sarah, marriage to John M. Peck, 
 2 53 n. 
 
 Painted Rock, discovery, 27; how it looked 
 in 1823, ib. n. 
 
 Palatine land-office, 372 n. 
 
 Palmyra, ruins of, reference, 177. 
 
 Papin, Joseph M., mention, 421. 
 
 Parke, Benjamin, mention, 401 n. 
 
 Paris, treaty of, 65, 119, 121 ; mention, 
 36, 47, 73- 
 
 Paris, Ky., mention, 403. 
 
 Parrish, W. H., circuit judge, 388 n. 
 
 Parsons, Sam'l Holden, U.-S. judge, 156. 
 
 Pate, John, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Pate, Mathew, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Patterson, Rev. Josiah, mention, 268. 
 
 Patoka, 111., mention, 264 n. 
 
 Pawnee Indians, mention, 43, 52. 
 
 Pecan, Kickapoo chief, 187, 188. 
 
 Peck, Asa, mention, 253 n. 
 
 Peck, Eli Payne, mention, 253 n. 
 
 Peck, Hannah F., mention, 25311. 
 
 Peck, Harvey T., mention, 253 n. 
 
 Peck, James A., mention, 253 n. 
 
 Peck, Jas. H., lawyer, of Peck & Taylor, 
 (John), 426. 
 
 Peck, Rev. John Mason, letter to Gov. 
 Reynolds, portrait, 254-5; sketch, ib. n, 
 416; mention, 385. 
 
 Peck, John Q. A., mention, 253 n. 
 
 Peck, Martha, mention, 253 n. 
 
 Peck, Mary Ann, mention, 253 n. 
 
 Peck, Deacon Paul, mention, 253 n. 
 
 Peck, William E., mention, 253 n. 
 
 Peck's "Guide for Emigrants," "Gazetteer 
 of Illinois" (2-d edition), "New Map of 
 Illinois, " reference to, 254 n. 
 
 Pelate, see Saint Ange. 
 
 Pendleton, Edward, mention, 120. 
 
 Pennsylvania, population in 1774, 120; 
 settlers from, 90, 138, 143, 158, 160, 
 165, 172, 269, 300, 360, 373, 410; men- 
 tion, 79, 83, 86, 91, 95, 125, 155, 156, 
 
 157, 197, 276, 390- 
 
 Pensoneau, Augustine, mention, 290, 390. 
 Pensoneau, Augustine, jr., mention, 36311. 
 Pensoneau, Bridget, marries Amable 
 
 Tramble, '362n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Charles, mention, 363 n. 
 Pensoneau, Edward, mention, 363 n. 
 Pensoneau, Edward, jr., mention, 363 n. 
 Pensoneau, Etienne, marries Mad. Perry, 
 
 agon; mention, 362, ib. n; notice, 363; 
 
 lays out Jacksonville, St. Clair Co., and 
 
 advertises land, 426. 
 Pensoneau, Felicite, marries Narcisse 
 
 Pensoneau, 363 n; mention, 290 n. 
 Pensoneau, Fran9ois ( I ), mention, 363 n. 
 Pensoneau, Francois (2), mention, 363 n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Laurent, notice, 363 n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Louis, and his descendants, 
 362-3 n; mention, 290 n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Louis F., mention, agon. 
 
 Pensoneau, Louis Perry, mention, 362-3 n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Louisa, marries Trotier, 362 n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Louison, and his descendants, 
 362-3; sketch, 364; mention, 290 n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Marie, marries John Valen- 
 tine, 362 n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Narcisse, and descendants, 
 363 n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Paschal, notice, 363 n. 
 
 Pensoneau, Wm. Bissel, mention, 363 n. 
 
 Pequea, Pa., mention, 143 n. 
 
 Perry, Commodore Oliver Hazard, men- 
 tion, 264 n. 
 
 Perry, Adelaide, marries Adam W. Sny- 
 der, 288 n. 
 
 Perry, Harriet, marries Louis Pensoneau, 
 290 n, 362 n. 
 
 Perry, Jean Francis, settler of 1 792, 287-9 J ; 
 judge, 209; mention, 362 n. 
 
 Perry, Mad. Jean Fran9ois, marries Augus- 
 tine Pensoneau, 290 n, 363 n. 
 
 Ferryman, Dr. James L., mention, 337 n. 
 
 Peoria, established 1686, 40; supposed 
 copper mines near, 48; founding of, 122; 
 greatest trading-post in Mississippi Val- 
 ley, 233; early history of, 244-6; oldest 
 settlement in Illinois, 246; raid on by 
 Thos. E. Craig, 251; campaign against, 
 382; expedition, 402; mention, 21, 34, 
 41, 127, 134, 213, 222, 239, 248, 249, 
 250, 251, 350, 362, 364, 377. 
 
 Peoria Indians, location, 18; killed Pon- 
 tiac, 75; mention, 23. 
 
 Peoria Lake, encampment on, 408-9; men- 
 tion, 32, 320, 354. 
 
 Peters, John, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Petersburg, Va., mention, 267. 
 
 Petosi, Mo., mention, 171. 
 
 Pettit [Jonathan], mention, 215. 
 
 Phelps, , settler of 1805, 336. 
 
 Philadelphia, mention, 119, 121, 155, '160, 
 165, 170, 246, 254 n, 276, 287, 300, 
 ib. n, 361, 422. 
 
 Phillip, Capt. John, U.S.A., mention, 409. 
 
 Phillips, David, sketch, 338-9. 
 
 Physicians of Illinois, early, 358-60. 
 
 Piankeshaw Indians, location, 19; men- 
 tion, 98, 340. 
 
 Picardy, mention, 47. 
 
 Pichawillany, British trading- post, des- 
 troyed, 62. 
 
 Pickett, see Pjggott. 
 
 Piggot's [James] Fort, mention, 342. 
 
 Piggot, James, builds block-house, 131; 
 settler about 1780, 137; settlers at Kas- 
 kaskia about 1783, 142, settler of 1781, 
 255, one of Gen. Clark's soldiers, 339; 
 entitled to land-grant, 424.
 
 450 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Piggot, Jonas, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Piggotj Levi, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 P'ggt> Wm., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Pike, Zebulon, as subaltern, U S A., 221. 
 
 Pillars, James, settler ot 1797, 125. 
 
 Pincenneau, see Pensoneau. 
 
 Pine Bluff, A.'k., mention, 263 n, 264 n. 
 
 Pinet [Francois or Pierre], Father, mis- 
 sionary at Cahokia, 41. 
 
 Pioneer, The, 2d paper of St. Clair Co., 
 254 n. 
 
 Pioneers, characteristics, 85; life in Illi- 
 nois, 135-6. 
 
 Pittsburg, Gen. Clark receives powder at, 
 88; three companies raised for the ex- 
 pedition, 91; treaty at, 155: mention, 
 50, 62, 63, 65, 91, 161, 162, 24811, 319. 
 
 Platin Creek, Mo., mention, 382. 
 
 Point a la Pierre, location, 362 n. 
 
 Polk, James Knox, 289 n. 
 
 Pollock, Oliver, agent for United States 
 at New Orleans, 107. 
 
 Pontieu-Sable, Jean Baptiste, mention, 417 
 
 Pontiac, sketch, 7 $-9; death, 23, ability, ib. 
 
 Pontotoc County, Miss., mention, 58. 
 
 Pope County, established, 367; represen- 
 tative, 390, name, 394, mention, 335, 
 385 n, 389, 390, 393. 
 
 Pope, John, of Kentucky, mention, 394. 
 
 Pope, Nathaniel; secretary of Illinois T'y 
 and acting governor, 365; sketch, ^93-5, 
 mention, 273, 396. 
 
 Porter, John, Indian scout, 175, 186. 
 
 Posey,Thos., settler of Shavvneetown, 390. 
 
 Posey's, Alexander, brigade in Black- 
 Hawk war, 4140. 
 
 Postlewait, John, bravery at battle of 
 Tippecanoe, 163-4. 
 
 Potomac, Va., mention, 286. 
 
 Pottawatomies, location, power, 19 ; at 
 AuSable, 250; mention, 168, 198, 224, 
 249, 250, 418. 
 
 Potts, Mr. , mention, 286. 
 
 Poupart, Miss Margaret, marries John 
 Hay, 227. 
 
 Poure, Eugene, mention, 420. 
 
 Powers. Geo., entitled to land -grant, 425. 
 
 Prairie flies, 395. 
 
 Prairie Fort, mention, 263. 
 
 Prairie du Chien, position, name, 150-1; 
 settlers, 151-2 Indian trade at, 212, 
 233; captured by Brit'h, 1814,409; men- 
 tion, 161, 163, 211, 227, 248 n, 404, 420. 
 
 Prairie-du-Long Creek, 184, 194. 
 
 Prairie du Pont, location, 51; in 1763, 67; 
 inundated, 114; founding of, 129; mill 
 at, 287; mention, 89, 128, 290, 348, 355 
 
 Prairie du Rocher, settlement destruction, 
 50; inundated, 114; court neld at, 180, 
 181; mention, 49, 138, 192, 196, 214, 
 295. 296, 368, 369. 
 
 Prairie-fires, 231-2. 
 
 Prairies, cause of, 231-2. 
 
 Prairie Tamarawas, name, 206. 
 
 Prairie Tammarais, see Twelve -Mile 
 
 Prairie. 
 
 Pratte, Bernard, mention, 421. 
 Presbyterian churches and ministers, 166, 
 
 256, 272, 353. 
 
 Price, , killed by Indians, 404. 
 
 Pnmm, John, settler of 1803, sketch, 328. 
 
 Prince, , judge in Ky., mention, 298. 
 
 Prince-Edwards Co., Va., mention, 411. 
 Princeton, battle of, reference, 156. 
 Procter's [Gen. Henry A.] army of 1813, 36 
 Prophet, the (Tecumseh's brother), notice, 
 
 403- 
 
 Pruit, Abraham, settler 1804, mention, 354 
 
 Pruit, Col. James, skirmish with In- 
 dians, 404, 409. 
 
 Pmit, Solomon, early miller, 315. 
 
 Pulaski Co., representative, 414 n; men- 
 tion, 419. 
 
 Pulliam, John, settler near Bellefontaine, 
 182; sketch, 184. 
 
 Pulliam, Mary, marries James Lemen, jr., 
 412 n. 
 
 Pulliam, Robert, anecdote of, 349. 
 
 Pulsifer, Joseph, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Pulsifer, Nevi, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Pulsifer, Nevo, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Pursley, Mrs. , bravery, 381. 
 
 Pyle, Addison, mention, 336 n. 
 
 Q- 
 
 Quakers, mention, 386. 
 
 Quebec, mention, 25, 28, 30, 44, 52, 57, 
 
 155, 225, 247, ib. n, 291, 347. 
 Queenstown, Canada, mention, 221. 
 Quentine Creek, mention, 314, 315, 355. 
 Quentine Mound, rendezvous of Indians, 
 
 1 68. 
 
 Quentine Village, 355. 
 Quick, Aaron, notice, 399 n, 400 n. 
 Quick, Amy, marries Charles Messenger, 
 
 400 n. 
 
 Quick, Edwin, mention, 400 n. 
 Quick, Isaac, sketch, 399-400 n. 
 Quick, Lucretia, marries Geo. Allen, 4Oon. 
 Quick, Mary, marries Cornelius Retting- 
 
 haus, 400 n. 
 Quick, Moses,' builds first flat-boat, 399- 
 
 401; early miller, 400 n; sketch, ib. 
 Quick, Orlando T. , mention, 400 n. 
 Quick, Rhoda, marries George Harrison, 
 
 400 n. 
 
 Quick, Sarah, marries Henry Allyn, 4OOn. 
 Quick, Thomas, mention, 399 n, 400 n. 
 Quincy land-office, 384; mention, 408. 
 
 R. 
 
 Raikes, Robert, mention, 136. 
 
 Rain, Abraham, entitled to land-grant, 425
 
 INDEX. 
 
 451 
 
 Rains, Misses, marry two Mr. White- 
 sides, 189, ib. n. 
 
 Railings, Moses M., settler of Shawnee- 
 town, 390. 
 
 Ranee, Abbe Armand Jean le Bouthilier 
 de, notice, 355-6. 
 
 Randle, Rev. Josiah, local preacher, 269. 
 
 Randleman, Martin, mention, 313. 
 
 Randolph, Gov. Beverly, county named 
 for, 252. 
 
 Randolph County, judge, 197, 300; organ- 
 ized, boundaries, 252; sheriff, 358, 411; 
 settlements, 364; senators and represen- 
 tatives, 368, 410; mention, 48, 125, 128, 
 143, 181, 197, 261, 289 n, 293, 304, 
 
 32711, 336, 341, 356, 360, 364, 367, 
 368, 385 n, 418. 
 
 Randolph, Edmund, clerk of Virginia 
 House, 99. 
 
 Randolph, John, of Va., mention, 151. 
 
 Randolph, Peyton, president Continental 
 Congress, 119. 
 
 Raper, Daniel, Indian scout, 1 75 ; entitled 
 to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Rasles, Sebastian, missionary, 42; mur- 
 dered in Illinois, ib. 
 
 Ratcliff, , settler about 1804, 357. 
 
 Ratcliff, Chance, settles at Horse Prairie, 
 200, 357. 
 
 Rattan, Thomas, mention, 357. 
 
 Rattan's Prairie, mention, 240, 270. 
 
 Reading, Pa., mention, 289 n. 
 
 Reagan, Mrs. Reason, and six children 
 killed by Indians, 409. 
 
 Ribourde, Gabriel de la, missionary, 43. 
 
 Rector family, sketch, 353, 354. 
 
 Rector, John, early lawyer, notice, 360. 
 
 Rector, Nelson, bravery of, 353~4! early 
 surveyor, 354. 
 
 Rector, Stephen, notice, 353. 
 
 Rector, Thomas, duel of, 354. 
 
 Rector, Col. Wm., early contractor, 331; 
 notice, 353-4; mention, 407. 
 
 Reddick, , killed by Indians, 154. 
 
 Red River, Tenn., notice, 223, 298. 
 
 Red-Stone Fort, now Brownsville, Pa., 
 mention, 138, 373. 
 
 Reed, , see Emsley Jones, 304. 
 
 Reed, Col. John (of Jackson Co. ), men- 
 tion, 74. ^ 
 
 Renault, Philip Fran9ois, agent of French 
 mining company, 47; his mechanics a 
 great acquisition, 48; smelting of lead 
 by, ib. ; mention, 305. 
 
 Rettinghous, Cornelius, mention, 400 n. 
 
 Revolutionary war, begun and ended at 
 West, 84; notice, 118-22; reference to, 
 145, 184, 203, 245. 
 
 Reynolds, Gov. John, hatred of British, 67 ; 
 reminiscence of Jarrot, 213; of a prairie 
 fire, 232; commissioner of Rock Island 
 treaty, 293; witnesses executions, 304; 
 
 governor, appoints S. Judy warden of 
 State penitentiary, 322; a U.-S. ranger, 
 338; appointed Thomas Ford prosecut- 
 ing-attorney, 375; writes of old courts, 
 378; a member of Judy's company of 
 spies, 407; sergeant in Whiteside's com- 
 pany, 408; mention, 289 n, 370, 413 n. 
 
 Reynolds' (John) "My Own Times," ref- 
 erence to, 381 n. 
 
 Reynolds, Robert, father of John Reyn- 
 olds, represents Illinois in Indiana Ter- 
 ritorial Legislature, 293; settler of 1800; 
 298; sketch, 300; mention, 189. 
 
 Reynolds, Robert, jr., marries daughter of 
 Wm. B. Whitesides, i8gn. 
 
 Reynolds, Thomas, member of Illinois 
 bar, 372. 
 
 Reynolds, Dr. Wm. L., early physician, 
 sketch, 358-9. 
 
 Rhea, Eliza, marries Richard Rhea, 264 n. 
 
 Rhea, Elizabeth, marries Geo. May, 264 n. 
 
 Rhea, James, mention, 264 n. 
 
 Rhea, James, jr., mention, 264 n. 
 
 Rhea, Jehoida, marries Jno. Foutch, 264 n; 
 descendants, 264-5 n - 
 
 Rhea, Richard, mention, 264 n. 
 
 Rhea, Thos. F., and descendants, 2650; 
 mention, 264 n. 
 
 Rhea, William, mention, 264 n. 
 
 Rhode Island, population, 1774, 120. 
 
 Richland, 111., mention, 269. 
 
 Richland County, senators and represen- 
 tatives, 413 n. 
 
 Richland Creek, location, 338 ; Baptist 
 church at, 412 n; mention, 184, 194, 
 400 n. 
 
 Richmond, Va., mention, 276. 
 
 Richview, 111., mention, 26311, 264^ 37gn 
 
 Rider, Nancy Ann, marries John K. Simp- 
 son, 269. 
 
 Ridge Prairie, mention, 289 n, 314, 411 n, 
 412 n. 
 
 Riggs, Rev. Hosea, early preacher, sketch, 
 260; miller, 315; mention, 206. 
 
 Right, Capt. Toliver, killed by Indians, 
 487. See Wright. 
 
 Riley, Daniel, miller, 50, 60. 
 
 River Mary, mention, 364. 
 
 Riverside, 111., mention, 248. 
 
 Riviere des Peres, mention, 306, 308. 
 
 Roanoke, mention, 80. 
 
 Robb, William, early miller, 214. 
 
 Roberts, Wm., settler near Bellefontaine, 
 205. 
 
 Robins, Chas., entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Robins, William, entitled to land-grant, 
 424, 425. 
 
 Rocheblave, Philip Franois de Rastel, 
 Chevalier de, lieut.-gov. [?] and com- 
 mander at Fort Gage [Kaskaskia ?], 92; 
 captured, 95, 143 n, 144; sent a prisoner 
 to Virginia, 96; mention, 85.
 
 452 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Rochelle, France, French fleet fitted out 
 at, 37- 
 
 Rochester, John Wilmot, Earl of, men- 
 tion, 223. 
 
 Rock Fort, mention, 32. 
 
 Rock-House Creek, mention, 192, 330. 
 
 Rock Island, treaty of, 293; engagements 
 with Indians at, 353-4, 409; mention, 
 21, 292. 
 
 Rock-Island County, clerk, 362. 
 
 Rock River, mention, 20, 95, 141, 192, 
 247 n. 
 
 Rock Spring, location, 254n; its seminary 
 the first in the State, 254 n; mention, 
 
 253. 2 55, 33'. 4l6. 
 Rockville, la., mention, 2530. 
 Rocky Mountains, mention, 44, 105, 122, 
 
 161, 167, 208, 226. 
 
 Rogers, Benj., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 Rogers, Capt. John, of Clark's expedi- 
 tion, 102. 
 
 Rogers, Mrs. R., entit'd to land-grant, 425 
 Rogers, Maj. Robert, mention, 77. 
 Roman Catholic churches, etc., 55, 164, 
 
 165, 215, 230, 266. See Catholic. 
 Rose, Dr. James, settled at Kaskaskia in 
 
 1805, 359. 
 Rotrou, I., Count of Perche, founder of 
 
 LaTrappe Order, 355. 
 Rountree, Allen, mention, 379 n. 
 Rountree, Mary B. , marries John Vincent 
 
 Boucher. 379 n. 
 
 Royal Highlanders, mention, 65, 74. 
 Runyon, Lucretia, marries Isaac Quick, 
 
 399n- 
 
 Rush, Dr. Benjamin, mention, 170, 290. 
 Russell, Edward, mention, 263 n. 
 Russell, John, reference to, 27 n. 
 Russell, J. K. , mention, 263 n. 
 Russell, Thomas, mention, 263 n. 
 Russell, William, in command at Fort 
 
 M assac, 22 1 ; colonel of ten companies 
 
 of rangers, 405; mention, 407. 
 Russia, mention, 214. 
 Rutherford County, N. C., mention, 395. 
 Rutherford, Larkin (or Larken), early 
 
 settler, 112; mention, 113, 115, 137, 
 
 255, 272, 412 n; entitled to land-grant, 
 
 424, 425. 
 
 Rutland, Vt., mention, 264 n, 265 n. 
 Rutledge, John, mention, 120. 
 Ryan, Catharine, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 424, 425. 
 Ryan, Josiah, Indian scout, 175; builds 
 
 water-mill, 177; entitled to land-grant, 
 
 424, 425. 
 Ryan's [Josiah] Creek, mention, 252. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sac and Fox Indians, mention, 249, 252, 
 292, 293. 
 
 Sack, John, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Sainte Ange, or Pelate, and wife, settlers 
 at Chicago about 1765, 168. 
 
 Saline River, mention, 19, 43. 
 
 Salines, settlers at, 390. 
 
 Salt Creek, mention, 244. 
 
 Salt River, Ky., mention, 257. 
 
 Salt springs, early, of Illinois, 109-10. 
 
 Sandusky, Ohio, mention, 86, 247 n. 
 
 Sandwich, Canada, mention, 248 n. 
 
 Santa Fe, Spanish expedition from, 52. 
 
 San Francisco, mention, 289 n, 362 n. 
 
 Sangamon County, organization, 261 n; 
 county clerk, ib., 262 n; judge, 262 n; 
 representatives ("Long Nine"), 370 n; 
 mention, 244, 247 n, 264 n, 337 n, 374. 
 
 Sangamon River, mention, 20, 186, 242, 
 407. 
 
 San Jose, Cal., mention, 386 n. 
 
 Sargeant, Winthrop, Gov. St. Clair's sec- 
 retary, 156. 
 
 Sarpy & Co., John P., mention, 36211. 
 
 Saucier, Adelaide, marries Jean Francois 
 Perry, 288, ib. n. 
 
 Saucier, Hrigitte, 421. 
 
 Saucier, Jean Francois, notice, 286; sons- 
 in-law, 287. 
 
 Saucier, Jean Bte., notice, 286, 287; men- 
 tion, 288. 
 
 Saucier, Margaret, marries Edward Pen- 
 soneau, 363 n. 
 
 Saucier, Matthieu, notice, 287; mention, 
 363". 
 
 Saugrain, Dr. Anthony F., of St. Louis 
 inoculates for small-pox, 313. 
 
 Sank Indians, western immigration, 21; 
 mention, 20, 127. 
 
 Saunders, John, of Kaskaskia, guide of 
 American army, 93. 
 
 Savage's Ferry, location, 251; mention, 
 
 245- 
 
 Savannah, Ga., mention, 248 n. 
 
 Schneider, John Henry, of London, men- 
 tion, 421. 
 
 Schook, Samuel, early miller, 315; men- 
 tion, 206. 
 
 School-houses, early, 357-8. 
 
 Scioto River, campaign to the, 83, 84; 
 mention, 319. 
 
 Scotland, settlers from, 152, 155, 260, 300. 
 
 Scott, Gen. Charles, expedition against 
 Indians, 198; mention, 397 n. 
 
 Scott County. Ky , mention, 385, 395. 
 
 Scott, James, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Scott, Wm., sketch, 205-7; mention, 377. 
 
 Scott, Gen. Winfield, commissioner for 
 treaty at Rock Island, 293; mention, 291 
 
 Scripps, Rev. -John, -mention, 268. 
 
 Seely, Sam'l John, first -American school- 
 master in Illinois, 452. 
 
 Selkirk's [Thomas, Earl of] Settlement, 
 mention, 223.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 453 
 
 Sample, James, private in Black-Hawk 
 War, 289 n; U.-S. senator, ib. 
 
 Senat, Antoine, a monk, burnt to death 
 by Indians, 58. 
 
 Seneca Indians, 86. 
 
 Senegal, M. , kills P. Maillet, 123. 
 
 Severns, Ebenezer, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425. 
 
 Sevier, Ambrose H., U.-S. senator from 
 Arkansas, 372. 
 
 Seybold, Robert, one of Gen. Clark's 
 soldiers, 339. 
 
 Seybold family, mention, 314. 
 
 Shannon, William, trader of Ste. Gene- 
 vieve, 396, 397. 
 
 Sharp, , Indian trader, 248. 
 
 Shawnee Indians, location, 19; mention, 
 84, 140, 198, 285. 
 
 Shawneetown, visited by Col. George 
 Croghan, 79 ; ferry at, 368 n ; name, 
 early prominent settlers, 390; county- 
 seat, 392; mention, 19, 218, 253n, 273, 
 368, 387 n, 391, 397 n, 398, 41411, 416. 
 
 Shelby County, Ky. , mention, 382. 
 
 Sherman, Roger, mention, 120. 
 
 Sherwood's horse-mill, 264 n. 
 
 Shields, James, mention, 386 n. 
 
 Shiloh, mention, 267, 268. 
 
 Shiloh College, mention, 387 n. 
 
 Shoal Creek, skirmish at, 186, 187; men- 
 tion, no, 270, 320, 404. 
 
 Shoemaker, Catharine (Myers), mention, 
 302 n. 
 
 Shoemaker, Gertrude Helmer, marries 
 Judge Josiah McRoberts, 302 n. 
 
 Shoemaker, Robert, mention, 302 n. 
 
 Shook, Mrs. Margaret, widow, marries 
 John Boucher, 379 n; mention, 336. 
 
 Shook, Solomon, mention, 236. 379 n. 
 
 Short, Capt. Jacob, settler near Bellefon- 
 taine, 205; company of rangers, men- 
 tion, 338 n, 378 n, 406; member of first 
 legislature, Illinois Territ'y, 368; builds 
 first flat-boat, 399-401; mention, 377. 
 
 Shuff, James, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Shultz, Daniel, entitled to land -grant, 
 
 425- 
 
 Shurtleff, Benjamin, gift to Shurtleff Col- 
 lege, 254n. 
 
 Shurtleff [Benj.] College, mention, 254 n. 
 
 Silver Creek, name, 48; settlements, 336; 
 block-house, 405; mention, no, 174, 
 
 195. 2 7o, 337, 3 6 4, 378. 
 Simpson, Nancy Ann (Ryder), mention, 
 
 4i2n. 
 
 Simpson, Rev. Gideon, mention, 270. 
 Simpson, Rev. John K., sketch, 269-70; 
 
 entitled to land-grant, 424, 425. 
 Singleton [Edward], of Tate & S., millers, 
 
 mention, 346. 
 
 Sink, Daniel, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 Sipp, , killed by Indians, 258. 
 
 Six-Mile Prairie, early settlers, name, 280; 
 
 mention, 315, 355, 357. 
 Six Nations, hostile to British, 53. 
 Slab Spring, location, 114. 
 Slavery agitation in Illinois, reference to, 
 
 254 n. See Ne^roes^ 
 Small-pox ravages, 1801, 312; inoculation 
 
 for, 313. 
 Smith, Ashford, marries Hannah F. Peck, 
 
 253 n; printer of Alton, 234 n. 
 Smith, Christopher, entitled to land- 
 grant, 425. 
 Smith, Rev. Daniel, visits Kaskaskia, 
 
 1814, 273. 
 Smith, Daniel D., murdered by S. H. 
 
 Winchester, 301 n. 
 Smith, Elijah, entitled to land-grant, 424; 
 
 mention, 215. 
 Smith, Henry, entitled to land-grant, 424; 
 
 mention, 215. 
 
 Smith, Rev. James, sketch, 256-7; men- 
 tion, 272. 
 Smith, Nicholas, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 424,^35. 
 Smith [Peter], settler in American Bottom, 
 
 1801, 357. 
 Smith, Peter (Dutch Pete), anecdote of, 
 
 258-9; entitled 'to land-grant, 424. 
 Smith, Samuel G., marries Mary Ann 
 
 Peck, 253 n. 
 Smith, Maj. William B., raises American 
 
 troops for the frontier, 91. 
 Snyder, Adam Wilson, sketch, 288-911; 
 
 mention, 363 n. 
 
 Snyder, Frederick Adam, sketch, 289 n. 
 Snyder, Dr. John Francis, 289 n. 
 Snyder, Hon. Wm. H., sketch, 289 n. 
 Sorel, on the St. Lawrence, mention, 155. 
 Sougrin, see Saugrain. 
 South Carolina, population of, 1774, I2O; 
 
 settlers from, 241, 352, 398; mention, 
 
 156, 263, 264, 357, 386 n. 
 South-Farms, Conn., mention, 253 n. 
 Spain, jealous of French colonization of 
 
 Illinois, 52; mention, 139 n, 220. 
 Spaniards open Upper Louisiana to set- 
 tlers, 297-8. 
 Spanish country, all west of Mississippi, 
 
 281. 
 
 Spanish Pond, Mo., mention, 266. 
 Spottswood, Gov. Alexander, of Virginia, 
 
 mention, 61. 
 Sprigg, Judge Wm., 371, 402; mention, 
 
 365. 
 Springfield, 111., mention, 143^261, 336n, 
 
 370 n, 404, 407, 41 5 n. 
 Squires, Amos, settler at Six-Mile Prairie, 
 
 357- 
 
 St. Ange de Belle Rive, Louis, French 
 governor of Illinois, 60; last French 
 governor, 74; mention, 80. [Died Dec. 
 27, 1774, aged 73.]
 
 454 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 St. Anthony, mention, 33. 
 
 St. Anthony's Falls, visited by Hennepin, 
 33; mention, 108, 123, 124. 
 
 St. Charles, Mo., nicknamed Petite Cote, 
 82; mention, 166, 253 n, 254. 
 
 St. Charles County, Mo., 426. 
 
 St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, governor North- 
 west Territory, 117; visits Kaskaskia, 
 organizes territorial government, 144, 
 179; sketch, 155-7; expedition against 
 Indians, 198-9; defeat, ib., 216-7, 2 77> 
 acquitted by court-martial, 199-200; 
 unpopular, 276; mention, 21, 128, 228, 
 277. 
 
 St. Clair, Arthur, jr., candidate for Con- 
 gress from Northwest Territory, 157. 
 
 Si. Clflir rr iii nt yi judges, 114, 209, 214, 
 228, 290, 329, 344, 359, 360; senators 
 and representatives, 148, 149, 289 n, 
 33 2 335; 344, 368, 417; organization, 
 name, original boundaries, 157; judici- 
 ary organized, 179, 180; sheriffs, 224, 
 312, 343, 377; treasurer, 228; Tunkers 
 colony in, 273; settlements, 364; coun- 
 ty-seat, 377-S; mention, 18, 48, 114, 
 115, 128, 190, 197, 252, 253 n, 254 n, 
 260, 261, 270, 274, 331, 337 n, 356^ 
 361, 367, 385, 399, ib. n, 400 n, 401 n, 
 412 n, 418, ib. n, 426. 
 
 St. Clair, Wm., clerk of St. Clair County 
 Court, 157, 1 80. 
 
 St. Francis River, mention, 299. 
 
 St. Fran9ois, Antoine, at Peoria, 1765, 246 
 
 St. Gemme, see Bauvais. 
 
 Ste. Genevieve, started, 82 ; nicknamed 
 Missier, ib. ; salines, 140; mention, 43, 
 1 10, 138 n, 139, 140, 161, 168, 173, 
 214, 259, 299, 396. 
 
 St. Helena, mention, 75. 
 
 St. Jean, Peter, mention, 407. 
 
 St. Joseph, founded, 89; called Cow Pens, 
 ib. ; captured by Americans, 90, 122-3; 
 expedition against, fitted out at St. Louis, 
 126-7; mention, 245, 247 n, 248. 
 
 St. Joseph River, mention, 32, 37. 
 
 St. Laurent, , commander of French 
 
 company, 59. 
 
 St. Lawrence River, mention, 155. 
 
 St. Louis, founded, 82, 308, 419; nick- 
 named "Pain Court," 82; expedition 
 against, 123-4; land titles at, 165; see 
 Zenoe Trudeau, 266; Louisiana trans- 
 ferred to the U. S. at, 306 n; ferry, 363; 
 university, 418; mention, 74, So, 101, 
 no, 113, 114, 124, 138, 161, 171, 184, 
 188, 192, 205, 218, 221, 228, 229, 230, 
 232, 249, 250, 252, 253 n, 254 n, 265 n, 
 266, 272, 273, 280, 290 n, 306, 309, 
 ib. n, 327, 331, 333, 349, 354, 356, 362 n, 
 363 n, 366 n, 369, 373, 400 n, 415 n, 418; 
 see memoir of C. Gratiot, 419-23, 426. 
 
 St. Louis County, mention, 382, 426. 
 
 St. Louis and Northwestern Railroad, 
 builders of, 368 n. 
 
 St. Mary's College, Mo., mention, 30211. 
 
 St. Peter's River, mention, 43, 227. 
 
 St. Philips, 111., founded 1719, 47; popu- 
 lation diminishing, 125; called "Little 
 Village," 347; mention, 49, 288 n. 
 
 St. Sulpice Mission, near Cahokia, 74; 
 mention, 129, 287. 
 
 St. Vincent, mention, 350. 
 
 Stafford, Va., mention, 328. 
 
 Stanberry, Mo., mention, 329 n. 
 
 Standlee, Joseph, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 Stanley, Abraham, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425. 
 
 Stark, Julia A., marries John Rhea, 264 n. 
 
 Starling, see Stirling. 
 
 Starr [Henry], member of Illinois bar, 372 
 
 Starved Rock, tradition of, unknown to 
 Indians, 34. 
 
 Steagall, Moses, vengeance on, 286. 
 
 Steele, John, mention, 364. 
 
 Stephenson, Col. Benj., in Gen. Howard's 
 expedition, 408; notice, 411; mention, 
 407. 
 
 Sterling, see Stirling. 
 
 Stillman, Gen. Joshua, battle with In- 
 dians, reference, 141. 
 
 Stillman, Jas., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Stirling, Capt. (Sir) Thomas, first Briton 
 to visit Upper Mississippi, 65-6; takes 
 possession of Illinois for British Gov- 
 ernment, 74. 
 
 Stockton, Jas., settler 1804, mention, 354. 
 
 Stokes family, mention, 386. 
 
 Stokes' Settlement, mention, 386. 
 
 Stony Point, battle of, reference, 183. 
 
 Stookey, Abraham, mention, 236. 
 
 Stookey, Daniel, mention, 236, 313. 
 
 Strasburg, mention, 288. 
 
 Street, Joseph M., settler of Shawnee- 
 town, 390. 
 
 Stuart, Alexander, judge, 365; resident of 
 Prairie du Rocher, 369. 
 
 Stuart, Alonzo C., lawyer, notice, 410. 
 
 Stuart (John Todd), Edwards (Benj. S.), 
 & Brown (Christopher C.), of Spring- 
 field, mention, 370 n. 
 
 Stuart, John Todd, mention, 143 n. [died, 
 Springfield, 111., Nov. 28, 1885, aged 
 78 years, 18 days.] 
 
 Stuart, Rev. Robert, see Hannah Todd, 
 143 n. 
 
 Stubblefield, Thomas, mention, 357. 
 
 Sueur, M. C. le, exploration of, 43. 
 
 Sugar-cane, introduced into La., 64. 
 
 Sugar Creek, mention, 195, 337 n. 
 
 Sugar-Creek Bottom, 409. 
 
 Sugar Loaf, near Cahokia, 201. 
 
 Sullivan, John, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Sumner County, Tenn., mention, 413 n.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 455 
 
 Sumpter, Gen. Thomas, mention, 41 3 n. 
 Swanwick, Col. Frank, mention, 327 n. 
 Switzerland, settlers from, 209, 305, 419. 
 Sybold, Robert, of Kaskaskia, about 1783, 
 
 142-3; entitled to land-grant, 424, 425. 
 Sycamore Creek, mention, 141. 
 Symmes, Judge John Cleves, father-in-law 
 
 of Gen. Harrison, 277; mention, 156; 
 
 judge of U.-S. court at Cahokia, 182. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tafia, drinking, 203, 316. 
 
 Talbot, Benj., early miller, 315; member 
 of first legislature, Illinois Terr'y, 368. 
 
 Tallahatchie River, mention, 56. 
 
 Tallyrand-[Perigord, Prince Charles Mau- 
 rice de], mention, 403. 
 
 Talon, Jean, intendant of Canada, 25. 
 
 Tammarais, Indian location, 18, 19; tra- 
 dition of, 206; mention, 50. 
 
 Taneytown, mention, 348. 
 
 Tannahill, Jas., Belleville hotel-keeper, 378 
 
 Taumur de la Source, Dominic, mission- 
 ary at Cahokia, 51. 
 
 Tate [John], of T. & [Edward] Singleton, 
 millers, mention, 346. 
 
 Taylor, , settler in American Bottom, 
 
 1801, 357. 
 
 Taylor, John, lawyer, of Peck (Jas. H.) 
 & Taylor, 426. 
 
 Taylor, Meg, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Taylor, Gen. Zachary, expedition against 
 British and Indians at Rock Island, 409; 
 mention, 248 n. 
 
 Tecumseh, sketch, 403; and Gen. Harri- 
 son, 404-5; mention', 76, 264 n. 
 
 Teel, Levi, one ot Gen. Clark's soldiers, 
 339; anecdote of, 340-1} frnention, 215. 
 
 Tell, William, mention, 307. 
 
 Tennessee, settlers from, 300, 354, 360, 
 418; singular condition of, 311; men- 
 tion, no, 114, 189 n, 197, 270, 311, 
 385, 413 n, 418 n. 
 
 Tennessee River, 129, 311. 
 
 Terre Haute, Ind., mention, 244, 423. 
 
 Teter, Abraham, settler of 1804, 336, 
 
 Teter, John, settler at Horse Prairie be- 
 fore 1810, 201; settler of 1797, 313; 
 mention, 237. 
 
 Teter, Solomon, mention, 336. 
 
 Texas, mention, 21, 174, 236 n, 426. 
 
 Thames, battle of, reference, 86. 
 
 Theankeki, see Kankakee, 32. 
 
 Theel (see Teel, Levi), entitled to land- 
 grant, 424, 425. 
 
 Thomas, Judge Jesse Burgess, sr., del. to 
 Congress, 365; judge, 261 n, 365, 371; 
 resident of Prairie du Rocher, 369; 
 notice, 401-2; sketch, ib. n; builds first 
 wool -carding mill in Illinois, 289 n; 
 mention, 362. 
 
 Thomas, John, of St. Clair, clerk of 111. 
 Terr'y council, 367; colonel, 289 n. 
 
 Thomas, Richard Symmes, mention, 401 n 
 
 Thompson [James and Archibald] family, 
 mention, 352. 
 
 Thompson, Charles, secretary of Conti- 
 nental Congress, 119. 
 
 Thompson, John B. [P.], settler about 
 1804, 356. 
 
 Thompson, Rev. Sam'l H., sketch, 268-9. 
 
 Three-River Settlement, Canada, 363. 
 
 Three Rivers, Canada, mention, 225. 
 
 Tiffin, Gov. Edward, surveyor-gen'l, 331. 
 
 Timon, Rev. John D., mention, 302 n. 
 
 Tindale, Robert, settler of Randolph Co. , 
 1804, 356. 
 
 Tippecanoe, battle of, mention, 21. 
 
 Todd, David, and descendants, 143 -4 n. 
 
 Todd, Edward, entitled to land-grant, 425; 
 mention, 201. 
 
 Todd, Hannah, marries Rev. Rob't Stuart, 
 mother of John Todd Stuart, 143 n. 
 
 Todd ( ) & Hay (John), mention, 224, 
 
 227. 
 
 Todd, Rev. John, uncle of Col. John 
 Todd, 143 n. 
 
 Todd, Col. John, defeat, 88; commandant 
 of Illinois, g8 t 107; death, ib. ; organ- 
 izes government of Illinois, 143-4; see 
 Edward G. Mason, I75n. 
 
 Todd, Dr. John, brother of Mrs. N. W. 
 Edwards and Mrs. A. Lincoln, his de- 
 scendants, 143 n. 
 
 Todd, Gen. Levi, notice, 143 n. 
 
 Todd, Rob't S. , and Illinois descendants, 
 143-4 n. 
 
 Todd, Thomas, entitled to land -grant, 425 ; 
 mention, 201. 
 
 Todd, Wm. , entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Tolin, Hester, marries Rob't Lemen, 41 1 n 
 
 Tolin, Mrs. , sister of Joseph Ogle, 
 
 mention, 258. 
 
 Tom, Mr. (Thomas Brady), 89. 
 
 Tombigbee River, mention, 56, 65. 
 
 Tonnawanto Creek, mention, 31. 
 
 Tonty (Tonti), Henry de, lieutenant of 
 LaSalle's expedition, 30; in possession 
 of Fort Creve-Coeur, 34; abandons it, 
 35; in command of Illinois country for 
 21 years, 39-40; mention, 31, 33, 36, 
 37, 41, 305. 
 
 Towles, Judge Thomas, notice, 402. 
 
 Tradewater Creek, Ky. , mention, 285, 286 
 
 Trail, Mrs. Mary, mention, 300 n. 
 
 Trail, Mary Francis, marries Col. Milton 
 Moore, 300 n. 
 
 Trail, Samuel, mention, 300 n. 
 
 Trail, Maj. Xerxes F., marries Mary 
 McRoberts, 300 n. 
 
 Tramble, Amable, mention, 362 n. 
 
 Tramble, Fran9ois, mention, 362 n. 
 
 Tramble, Louis, mention, 362 n.
 
 456 
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Trammel, Philip, member of Illinois Ter- 
 ritorial Legislature, 1812,368; and 1814, 
 393; settler at Salines, 390. 
 
 Transylvania University, 301 n, 302 n, 
 370 n, 372, 393, 397 n. 
 
 Travis, Rev. John, first circuit - preacher 
 in Missouri, 267. 
 
 Treaty of Greenville, mention, 200, 277. 
 
 Treaty of Madrid, mention, 220. 
 
 Treaty of Portage de Sioux, 229. 
 
 Trent's, Capt. Wm., company surrenders 
 to French, 63. 
 
 Trinity River, LaSalle assassinated at, 39. 
 
 Trotier, August, mention, 355- 
 
 Trotier, Joseph, settles in Cahokia, 1775, 
 108; trades with New Orleans, ib. ; 
 mention, 362 n. 
 
 Trotier, Mary, marries Vital Jarrot, 362 n. 
 
 Trout, Jackson, mention, 265 n. 
 
 Troy, mention, 197. 
 
 Troy, 111., mention, 405. 
 
 Trudeau, Zenoe [or Zenon], commandant 
 at St. Louis, anecdote of, 266. 
 
 Tunaca, Indian, mention, 80. 
 
 Turgion, Nicholas, mention, 355. 
 
 Turkey-Foot, Pottawatomie chief, 280. 
 
 Turkey Hill, description, old name, 205; 
 settlers, 206; settlement, 337; mention, 
 
 3'5- 
 
 Turkey-Hill Scott, see Wm. Scott. 
 Turner, James, killed by Indians, 154. 
 Tuttle, Dr. Trueman, early physician, 
 
 sketch, 359. 
 
 Twelve-Mile Prairie, old name, 19. 
 Twigtwees Indians, killing of, 62. 
 Two Rivers, mention, 248. 
 Tyler, President John, mention, 248 n. 
 
 U. 
 
 Union County, representatives and sena- 
 tors, 387 n, 389; mention, 273, 386. 
 
 Union Grove, 111., mention, 269. 
 
 Uniontown, Penn., mention, 373. 
 
 United -States Biographical Dictionary, 
 quotations from, 411-20. 
 
 United- States census, 1774, 1 20. 
 
 United- States land-system, 145-6. 
 
 United-States rangers of Illinois, services, 
 383; reference, 240, 416. 
 
 University of Kentucky, mention, 387 n. 
 
 Ursins, Marc Antoine de la Loire des, 
 secretary of Company of the We.it, 46. 
 
 V. 
 
 Valentine, Dennis, early miller, 355. 
 Valentine, Geo., mill owner about 1798, 
 
 176; settler near Bellefontaine, 205. 
 Valentine, John, mention, 36211. 
 Valentine, Louisa, mention, 362 n. 
 Vallis, John, anecdote of, 342-3. 
 
 VanBuren- Harrison campaign, 279. 
 
 VanBuren, Martin, mention, 301. 
 
 Vance, John, manufacturer of salt, 1 10. - 
 
 Vandalia, capital of Illinois, 384; men- 
 tion, 370 n, 381, 411 
 
 Vanhoozer, [Abraham ?], mention, 357. 
 
 Vanlavingham [Vanlandingham, Oliver 
 C. ?], settler at Shawneetown, 390. 
 
 VanMeter, John, murdered by Indians, 
 
 280, 314. 
 
 VanSwearengen, Thos., bravery of, 163-4. 
 
 Varnum, Jas. Mitchell, U.-S. judge, 156, 
 
 Varnum, Sarah, marries Moses Lemen, 
 412 n. 
 
 Vaundreuil-Cavagnal, Pierre Fran9ois de 
 Rigaud, Marquis de, governor of La., 
 59; leads expedition against the Chicka- 
 saws, 64-5; transferred to Canada, 65. 
 
 Vermilion County, 111., mention, no. 
 
 Vermont, mention, 329, 330. 
 
 Vicksburg, Miss., siege of, reference, 415 n. 
 
 Vigo, Col. Francois, sent to reconnoitre 
 Fort Sackville, 101; sketch and por- 
 trait, 423; lived at Vincennes, 291; 
 mention, 305, 307. 
 
 Villiers, Neyon de, a French officer, cap- 
 tures Fort Necessity, 63. 
 
 Vincennes, Ind., first settlement, 53; name,. 
 58; abandoned by Brit, troops, 97; under 
 America, 98; recaptured, 100-6; dis- 
 union meeting at, 1786, 219; capital of 
 Indiana Territory, 293, 401 n ; land- 
 office, 351; mention, 80, 81, 87, 88, 109, 
 124, 128, 139, 170, 171, 173, 244, 269, 
 
 281, 290, 291, 304, 325, 327, 343, 363 n, 
 364, 365, 385. 
 
 Vincennes, Chevalier Jean Baptist Bissot, 
 Sieur de, fame, 57; burnt to death by 
 Indians, 58; gave name to town of Vin- 
 cennes, Ind., ib. ; mention, 305. 
 
 Vincennes trace, 108, 263 n. 
 
 Virginia, people called by Indians " Long 
 Knives, "92; Virginia legislature creates 
 county of Illinois, 98; without means 
 to pay troops, 107; cedes to U. S. her 
 public domain, 145; population, I774> 
 120; settlers from, 235, 236, 238, 255, 
 259, 260, 264 n, 267, 271, 328, 329, 336, 
 337, 358, 368, 41 1 n, 412 n, 417; soldiers 
 of, who settled in Illinois, 339; mention, 
 79, 83, 91, 102, 130, 145 n, 265 n, 269 n, 
 336 n, 368 n, 418 n, 420. 
 
 Virginia, 111., mention, 289 n. 
 
 Voisin, , youth of sixteen, leads 
 
 French on retreat, 58. 
 
 VonPhul, Henry, merchant of St. Louis r 
 mention, 334. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wabash County, representatives and sena- 
 tors, 413 n.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 457 
 
 Wabash Indians, mention, 80, 98, 198, 219 
 Wabash River, mention, 19, 20, 27, 77, 
 
 So, 1 02, 124, 140, 199, 216, 244, 293, 
 
 36, 327, 343, 364, 385. 
 Waddle family, mention, 357. 
 Waddle, Alexander, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 425- 
 
 Waddle, David, settler of 1786, 256; en- 
 titled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Waddle, David, jr., tomahawked and 
 scalped, recovered, 154. 
 
 Waddle, Jesse, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Wales, settlers from, 170. 
 
 Walker, George E., sketch, 418. 
 
 Walker, Rev. Jesse, sketch, 267-8. 
 
 Wallace, Dr. , early physician, 359. 
 
 Wallace, David (written Wallis), entitled 
 to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Wallace, Mrs. Wm. S., mention, 143 n. 
 
 Wallis, see Wallace. 
 
 Walnut Hills, mention, 279. 
 
 Walsh, Robert, of Philadelphia, publisher, 
 
 1 66. 
 
 Walter's Ferry, Tenn., mention, 278. 
 
 War, see Black-Hawk War. 
 
 War of 1812, in Illinois, 405-9; reference 
 
 to, 140, 141, 149, 163, 167, 190, 248-9, 
 
 264 n, 320, 353, 354, 361, 368 n, 378, 
 
 381, 382, 397 n, 403, 416; see Battles. 
 War, Mexican, reference to, 263 n, 265 n, 
 
 28911, 300 n, 328, 387 n, 397 n; see 
 
 Battles. 
 War of the Rebellion, reference, 139 n, 
 
 263 n, 264 n, 265 n, 379 n, 385 n, 387 n, 
 
 398 n, 414 n, 41 5 n, 418 n; see under 
 
 Illinois Volunteers; see Battles. 
 War of the Revolution, reference, 185, 
 
 199, 260, 276, 301, 328, 342, 373, 397 n, 
 
 413 n, 41 7 n; see Battles. 
 Ward, Ensign [Edward], mention, 63. 
 Ward, Samuel, member of Continental 
 
 Congress, mention, 120. 
 Ware, George (written W r ear), entitled to 
 
 land-grant, 424, 425. 
 Washburne, Elihu Benjamin, mention, 
 
 i8gn, 309 n. 
 Washburne, Mrs. E. B. (Adele Gratiot), 
 
 309 n. 
 Washington City, IBI, 247 n, 279, 301 n, 
 
 373. 396. 
 Washington County, 111., mention, 164, 
 
 167, 263 n, 264 n, 265 n, 270, 336 n, 372, 
 379 n, 400 n. 
 
 Washington Co., Ky. , mention, 397 n. 
 
 Washington Co., Mo., mention, 171, 426. 
 
 Washington County of Northwestern Ter- 
 ritory, mention, 156. 
 
 Washington, George, sent to Logstown, 
 63; skirmish with French, surrenders 
 Fort Necessity, ib. ; mention, 23, 83, 84, 
 
 I2O, 121, 155, 156, 203, 220, 271, 277, 
 
 291, 326, 328, 375, 417 n. 
 
 Washington, 111., town of, laid out, 181; 
 mention, 182; name changed to Horse- 
 Prairie Town, 184. 
 
 Washington, Pa. , town of, mention, 3Oon. 
 
 Waterloo, 111., proprietors of, 374; menA 
 tion, 114, 131, 177, 255, 30011, 320, \ 
 346, 373> 386 n, 400 n. ' <* 
 
 Watts! James, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 Watts, Rob't, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Wayne, Gen. Anthony, storming of Stony 
 Point, 95, 183; treaty with Indians, 84, 
 153, 203, 206; successful campaign, 200, 
 218; mention, 21, 87, 95, 183, 277. 
 
 Wayne County, representatives and sena- 
 tors, 413 n; mention, 336 n. 
 
 Wear, George, see Ware. 
 
 Wear, Hardy, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Weastown, mention, 343. 
 
 Weiser, Frederick, entitled to land-grant, 
 
 Wells, Hayden, or Haydon, entitled to 
 land-grant, 424; mention, 215. 
 
 Wentworth, Hon. John, mention, 301 n. 
 
 Wesley, John, mention, 263. 
 
 West family, sketch, 417. 
 
 West, Benjamin, mention, 41 7 n. 
 j West, Benjamin Hillary, notice, 418 n. 
 
 West, Benjamin J., notice, 41 8 n. 
 I West, Benjamin J., jr., notice, 41811. 
 | West, Edward M., notice, 418 n. 
 j West, Emanuel J., clerk Madison-County 
 
 court, 362. 
 
 j West ludies, mention, 47, in. 
 | West, Isaac, entitled to land-grant, 424. 
 
 West, John, and his descendants, 41 7 n. 
 
 Westmoreland Co., Penn., mention, 269. 
 
 West Point, mention, 309 n. 
 
 West (Edward M.) & Prickett (Wm. R.), 
 mention, 418 n. 
 
 West Stockbridge, Mass., mention, 330. 
 
 West, Tilghman Hilliary, notice, 41811. 
 
 West, Washington, notice, 418 n. 
 
 West, Washington, jr., notice, 418 n. 
 
 Western Pioneer and Baptist Standard 
 Bearer, reference to, 254 n. 
 
 Wheeling, Va. . mention, 255, 271. 
 
 Whetstone, -, mention, 236. 
 
 White County, name, 391. 
 
 White, H. C., jr., of Tenn., mention, 372. 
 
 White, Isaac, U.-S. agent at Salines, 390; 
 notice, 390-1. 
 
 White, James, killed by Indians, 153. 
 
 White, John, of Kentucky, speaker of 
 U.-S. Congress, mention, 372. 
 
 White, Layton, entitled to land-grant, 425 
 
 White, Leonard, settler at Salines, 390. 
 
 White River, Indiana, mention, 244. 
 
 Whisky drinking, 346. 
 
 Whistler, John, jr., mention, 247 n. 
 
 Whistler, Col. William, mention, 248 n. 
 
 Whitehead, Robert, settler about 1780, 
 notice, 137.
 
 PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 Whiteside family and its connection, 185-6; 
 mention, 314, 319, 404. 
 
 Whiteside, Ann, mention, 412 n. 
 
 Whiteside County, mention, 189 n. 
 
 Whiteside, Davis, mention, 383. 
 
 Whiteside, Rev. Jacob, mention, 268. 
 
 Whiteside, Joel, settler of Ridge Prairie, 
 1803, 314; wounded by Indian, 3^9-20. 
 
 Whiteside, John, Revolutionary soldier, 
 185; Indian scout, 186; entitled to land- 
 grant, 425; mention. 185, 190. 
 
 Whiteside, John D., sketch, 417. 
 
 Whiteside, Johnson J., lays out town of 
 Washington, 111., 181; Indian scout, 188 
 
 Whiteside, Michael, mention, 189 n. 
 
 Whiteside, Robert, mention, 383. 
 
 W T hiteside, Sally, mention, 412 n. 
 
 Whiteside, Sam'l, Indian scout, 186, 188; 
 his company of rangers in War of 1812, 
 338 n, 406; bravery, 409; made first 
 improvements on Ridge Prairie in 1803, 
 
 3i4- . 
 
 Whiteside [Wm.] Station, location, 255; 
 mention, 131, 175, 176, 185, 187, 188, 
 
 io, 315, 320, 377. 4i7- 
 
 Whiteside, Stephen, mention, 383. 
 
 Whiteside, Thos., killed by Indians, 188. 
 
 Whiteside, Uel, wounded, 188; marriage, 
 189; marriage denied, ib. n. 
 
 Whiteside, Wm., sketch, 185-90; blooded 
 stock, 344; mention, 416, 417. 
 
 Whiteside, William Bolin, marriage, 189; 
 nickname, marriage denied, ib. n; major j 
 in Gen. Howard's expedition, 408; 
 sketch, 416; reference to his company 
 of rangers, 337 n, 338, ib. n, 378, 382, 
 406; mention, 357. 
 
 Whiteside, Mrs. William Bolin (Arundel), 
 mention, 189. 
 
 W'hiteside, William F., entitled to land- 
 grant, 425. 
 
 Whiteside, William Lot, Indian scout, 
 186, 188; mention, 412 n. 
 
 Whiteside, William Young, entitled to 
 land-grant, 425. 
 
 Whitney, Eli, cotton-gin inventor, men- 
 tion, 64. 
 
 Wiggins, , settler of i^oi, 280. 
 
 Wiggins' [Samuel] Ferry Landing, men- 
 tion, 213. 
 
 Wilcox, Lucinda, marries Thos. F. Rhea, 
 265 n. 
 
 Wiley, James, entitled to land -grant, 
 
 424, 425- 
 Wilkins, Col. [John], appoints judges for 
 
 Illinois, 74. 
 Wilkinson's, Gen. Jas., expedition against 
 
 Indians, 198; singular conduct of, 221. 
 Will, Conrad, manufacturer of salt, 1 10. 
 Willard [Simon?], settler about 1804, 356. 
 Willard, Elizabeth, marries Jacob jolliff, 
 
 263 n. 
 
 Willard, James, mention, 264 n. 
 
 Williams, Capt. John, commands forces 
 at Kaskaskia, 98. 
 
 Williams', Capt. Harrison, company in 
 Black-Hawk War, 414 n. 
 
 Williams, J. H., mention, 336 n. 
 
 Williams, John, entitled to land-grant, 424 
 
 Williams, Reece, mention, 263 n. 
 
 Williamsburg, -N. Y., mention, 247 n. 
 
 Williamsburg, Va. , mention, 91. 
 
 Williamson County, 111., representative, 
 387 n. 
 
 Wilson, Alexander, member of first Illi- 
 nois Territorial Legislature, 368; sketch, 
 descendants, ib. n. 
 
 Wilson, Maj. Bluford, solicitor of treas- 
 ury, 368 n. 
 
 Wilson, Caroline Gilbert, marries Arthur 
 M. Kinzie, 2480. 
 
 Wilson, Harrison, sketch, 368 n. 
 
 Wilson, Maj. Henry S., mention, 368 n. 
 
 Wilson, James, entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Wilson, Gen. James Harrison, mention, 
 368 n. 
 
 Wilson, John Andrew, mention, 368 n. 
 
 Wilson, John Lush, mention, 248 n. 
 
 Wilson, Marie E. (Whipple), mention, 
 248 n. 
 
 Winchester, Solomon H., reference to 
 trial, for murder of, 301 n. 
 
 Windham, N. Y , mention, 253 n. 
 
 Windsor, see Wiser. 
 
 Winn, Thos., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Winnebago Indians, French name for, 
 locality, habits, no connection with 
 other tribes, -20; mention, 212, 213, 
 251, 309. 
 
 Winstanley's, Capt. John, company in 
 Black Hawk War, mention, 288 n. 
 
 Wirt, William, mention, 367. 
 
 Wisconsin, mention, 19, 21, 138, 139, 141, 
 145. 259, 337 n. 
 
 Wisconsin River, mention, 26, 28, 33, 150. 
 
 Wiser, Peter, settler about 1806, 356. 
 
 Woddle, see Waddle. 
 
 Wolcott, Dr. Alexander, mention, 247 n. 
 
 Wolf, Rev. George, notice, 390. 
 
 Wolfe, Gen. James, mention, 155, 246. 
 
 Wood, , mention, 386 n. 
 
 Wood, Chas., entitled to land-grant, 425. 
 
 Wood- River, colony, '354, 364; mention, 
 190, 405, 409. 
 
 Woodford Co., Ky. , mention, 205. 
 
 Worley, James, killed by Indians, 1789, 
 1 60. 
 
 Worley, Joseph, settler of 1785, 255; en- 
 titled to land-grant, 424, 425. 
 
 Wright, Capt. Toliver, killed by Indians, 
 407; see Right. 
 
 Wycoff, William, entitled to land-grant, 
 424. 
 
 Wyihe, Geo., mention, 91.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 459 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yankee Prairie, mention, 193. 
 
 Yates, Richard, governor, mention, 385 n, 
 400 n; resignation as United-States sen- 
 ator, 387 n. 
 
 Yazoo River, mention, 56. 
 
 York District, S.C., mention, 398. 
 
 Yorktown, siege of, reference, 156, 3000. 
 
 Young, Rev. Benjamin, anecdote of, 162; 
 
 first circuit preacher in Illinois, 260-1. 
 
 Young [Franois], killed by Indians, 408. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zeisberger, Rev. David, missionary to 
 
 Indians, 18. 
 Zenobe, Father, see Membre. 
 
 NOTE. In the preparation of the foregoing index and notes, we acknowledge 
 our indebtedness to HIRAM WILLIAMS BECKWITH, Danville, 111.; FREDERIC 
 Louis BILLON and OSCAR W. COLLET of St. Louis, Mo. ; LYMAN C. DRAPER, 
 Madison, Wis. ; the late Judge JOSEPH GILLESPIE, Edwardsville, 111. ; JOHN 
 HENRY GUNN, Springfield, 111.; W. D. HIXON, Maysville, Ky. ; SAMUEL MOR- 
 RISON, jr., Indianapolis, Ind. ; Dr. JOHN FRANCIS SNYDER, Virginia, 111.; R. M. 
 STIMSON, Marietta, O. ; and to ALBERT DAVID HAGER, FREDERICK A. HUNT, 
 Rev. HENRY CLAY KINNEY, EDWARD GAY MASON, WM. FREDERICK POOLE, 
 Mrs. E. B. WASHBURNE, and JOHN WENTWORTH, Chicago. 
 
 G. H. F. 
 
 Chicago, Dec. 10, 1886. 
 
 FERGUS PRINTING CO., CHICAGO.
 
 FERGUS' HISTORICAL SERIES 
 
 RELATING TO 
 
 CHICAGO AND ILLINOIS. 
 
 1 . Annals of Chicago : A Lecture read before the Chicago Lyceum, January 
 21, 1840. By JOSEPH N. BALESTIEE, Esq. Republished from the original edition of 
 1840; with an Introduction, written by the Author in 1876; and, also, a Review or the 
 Lecture, from the Chicago Tribune, in 1872. Pp, 48; 8vo. 1876. Price, '25 cents. 
 
 2. Fergus' Directory of the City of Chicago 1839 ; with City and County 
 Officers, Churches, Public Buildings, Hotels, etc. ; also, list of Sheriffs of Cook County, 
 and Mayors of the City since their organization, together with the Poll-List ot the 
 first City Election (Tuesday, May 2, 1837). List of Purchasers of Lots in Fort-Dear- 
 born Addition, the Number of the Lots and the Prices paid, etc., etc. (Historical 
 Sketch of City compiled for Directory of 1843, etc.) Compiled by ROBERT FERGUS. 
 Pp. 68 ; 8vo. 1876. Price, 50 cents. 
 
 i. The Last of the Illinois; and a Sketch of the Pottawatomies. A Lec- 
 ture read before the Chicago Historical Society, December 13, 1870. 
 
 Origin of the Prairies : A Lecture read before the Ottawa Academy of Natural 
 Sciences, December 30, 1869. By Hon. JOHN DEAN CATON, LL.D., ex-Chief-Justice of 
 Illinois. Pp. 56; 8vo. 1876. Price, 25 cents. 
 
 ~i. Early Movement in Illinois for the Legalization of Slavery: An His- 
 torical Sketch read at Annual Meeting of the Chicago Historical Society, December 
 5,1864. By Hon. WM. H. BROWN, Pp. 32; 8vo. 1876. Price, 25 cents. 
 
 *">. Biographical Sketches of Early Settlers of Chicago. PART I: Hon. 
 S. Lisle Smith, George Davis, Dr. Philip Maxwell. John J. Brown, Richard L. Wilson, 
 Col. Lewis C. Kercnival, Uriah P. Harris, Henry B. Clarke, and Sheriff Samuel J. Lowe. 
 By WM. H. BUSHNELL. Pp. 48; 8vo. 1876. Price, 25 cents. 
 
 O. Biographical Sketches of Early Settlers of Chicago. PART II: Hon. 
 Wm. H. Brown (portrait), Benj. W r . Raymond, Esq. (portrait), Hon. J. Young Scammon, 
 Charles Walker, Esq., Thomas Church, Esq. Pp. 48; 8vo. 1876. Price, 25 cents. 
 
 "y. Early Chicago: A Sunday Lecture read in McCormick's Hall, May 7, 1876. 
 With Supplemental Notes. Second Lecture. By Hon. JOHN WENTWORTH (portrait). 
 Pp. 56; 8vo. 1876. Price, 35 cents. 
 
 S. Early Chicago : A Sunday Lecture read in McCormick's Hall, April 1 1, 1875. 
 With Supplemental Notes. First Lecture. By Hon. JOHN WENTWORTH (portrait). 
 Pp,48;8vo. 1876. Price, 35 cents. 
 
 O. Present and Future Prospects of Chicago : An Address read before the 
 Chicago Lyceum, January 20, 1846. By Judge HENRY BROWN, author of "History of 
 Illinois." 
 
 Rise and Progress of Chicago : An Address before the Centennial Library Asso- 
 ciation, March 21, 187 .'. By JAMES A. MARSHALL, Esq. 
 
 Chicago in 1836; "Strange* Early Days." By HARRIET MARTINEAU, author 
 of "Society in America," etc. Pp. 48; 8vo. 1876. Price, 25 cents. 
 
 1 O. Addresses Read before Chicago Historical Society, by Hon. J. YOUNG 
 SCAMMON, Hon. ISAAC N. ARNOLD, WM. HICKLING, Esq., Col. GURDON S. HUBBAKD, 
 and HIRAM W. BECKWITH, Esq. ; Sketches of Col. John H. Kinzie, by his wife JULI- 
 ETTE A. KINZIE; Judge George Manierre, Luther Haven, Esq., and other Early Set- 
 tlers ; also, of Billy Caldwell and Shabonee, and the " Winnebago Scare," of July, is-JT, 
 and other important original matter connected with "Early Chicago." Pp. 52; 8vo. 
 1877. Price, '-5 cents. 
 
 1 1 . Early Medical Chicago : An Historical Sketch of the First Practitioners 
 of Medicine, with the present Faculties and Graduates since their organizat on of 
 the Medical Colleges of Chicago. By JAMES NEVINS HYDE, A.M.. M.D. Illustrated 
 with numerous Wood Engravings and Steel Engravings of Professors J. Adams Allen, 
 N. S. Davis, and the late Daniel Brainard. Pp. 84; 8vo. 1879. Price, 50 cents.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 THE PIONEER HISTORY OF ILLINOIS, CONTAIN