a I B R.ARY 
 
 OF THE 
 UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 977.379fc 
 
 HIST. SURVEY 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/historyofleechtoOOalli 
 
The History 
 
 of 
 
 Leech Township 
 
The History 
 
 of 
 
 Leech Township 
 
 By 
 
 Lelah Allison 
 
 1954 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1954, BY LELAH ALLISON 
 
 All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce 
 this book or portions thereof in any form. 
 
 Printed in the U. S. A. 
 
 By 
 
 The Wayne County Record 
 
 Fairfield, Illinois 
 
Lelah Allison 
 
<?7 <u 
 
 Pref 
 
 ace 
 
 I have always been interested in the folklore of my 
 native region. When I did my graduate work at the 
 $ university, I did my research on that subject in my home 
 region. As my ancestors had lived in Leech Township 
 and nearby regions for one and one third centuries, there 
 were many tales told of the early life in this part of the 
 state and passed down from generation to generation. 
 When I began collecting data for Leech Township his- 
 tory, I already had much material on which to build my 
 study. Other people in the township also gave me much 
 information; they have been given credit in footnotes. 
 
 A history is more than wars, political struggles, and 
 government. It is the story of the people themselves. 
 This study is a history of the people, their ways of life, 
 their difficulties, and their accomplishments. It is not 
 complete ; no history ever is. If it were, there would be 
 many volumes. 
 
 The ways of pioneer living and the customs of the 
 times here recorded were not confined to Leech. Many 
 of the things described were common over southeastern 
 Illinois, even in other states. 
 
 -J 
 
 Old world conditions and new world ambitions were 
 
 combined here in pioneer days and made into a changing 
 
 ; picture of American life, the interests, the circumstances, 
 
and the relationships that were at work forming the 
 foundation of a society. 
 
 The songs, games, gatherings, churches, schools, 
 farming methods, and customs are an excellent index to 
 the life of this region. Much information concerning 
 economic life, material culture, society, and religion may 
 be found in the early customs and folkways of a people. 
 As Leech Township has an old history, it furnishes an 
 index to the rest of Wayne County. May this research 
 throw light on the development of this section of the 
 state. This study is meant to be a sympathetic collection 
 and edition of the beliefs, customs, ways of living, and 
 family histories of Leech Township. 
 
 LELAH ALLISON 
 
Contents 
 
 PART ONE 
 
 Early Customs and Ways of Living in Leech 
 
 Township 1 
 
 PART TWO 
 
 Early Life in Leech, the People 19 
 
 PART THREE 
 
 Gatherings in Leech 75 
 
 PART FOUR 
 
 Towns in Leech Township, Post Offices, Doctors 91 
 
 PART FIVE 
 
 Schools in Leech 103 
 
 PART SIX 
 
 Churches in Leech 115 
 
 PART SEVEN 
 Place Names of Leech 126 
 
 PART EIGHT 
 
 Weddings in Leech from the Civil War Time 
 
 until the Present 132 
 
 PART NINE 
 
 Troubles 142 
 
PART ONE 
 
 Early Customs and Ways of Living 
 In Leech Township 
 
 Although Wayne County, Illinois, (in the south- 
 eastern part of the state) was created March 26, 1819, 
 the townships were not organized until June 3, 1860. 
 Although settlements were made in this territory prior 
 to that time, it was then that Leech Township came into 
 being, the township in the extreme southeastern part of 
 Wayne, bordered on the east by Edwards County and on 
 the south by White County. It is nine miles north and 
 south and six miles east and west and is crossed from the 
 northwest part to the southeast corner by the meander- 
 ing Little Wabash River, the only river of Wayne. In 
 the early days it furnished the means of transportation, 
 a way to float lumber and meat products down to the 
 Big Wabash and the Ohio and on down the Mississippi 
 to New Orleans. 
 
 The people who lived here before the township was 
 formed had established certain ways of life. Since the 
 first home by white man in Wayne was in Leech, the 
 first white child born in the county was in Leech, the 
 first teacher in the county was in Leech, and the first 
 corn of the county was harvested in Leech, it seems ap- 
 propriate to begin a study of Leech Township by telling 
 what those early homes were like, the provisions the 
 pioneers had, the tools and utensils they had, and the 
 way they worked and lived. l 
 
 Isaac Harris and his wife and family (His daughter 
 Betsy was then ten years old) came to Leech to make 
 a permanent home in 1814. 
 
 However, he and his brother Gilham had driven a 
 drove of hogs to the area just west of the Little Wabash, 
 later known as Pond (Creek, from White County in 1812 
 to feed on "mast." Since they knew the mast was plen- 
 tiful, it is fair to assume that they had been here before, 
 
 1. Wayne County History. All this story of the Harris family was 
 told by the daughter, Betsy Harris Goodwin. 
 
likely to limit and had selected the spot as a likely one 
 to feed their hogs. They camped in this region while 
 the hogs fed in the woods. It was then they decided to 
 retnrn to make a permament settlement. 
 
 The Isaac Harris family made their home on a blnff 
 at the west edge of the Little Wabash bottoms, on the 
 place later known as the Atteberry farm (now Charlie 
 Harris farm). The house had only one room; the space 
 between the logs was daubed with clay which served 
 as a sort of mortar. There was no floor, just dirt. The 
 roof was covered with clapboards made by hand. There 
 were no nails, just wooden pegs to hold boards or pieces 
 of lumber in place. There were no glass windows; the 
 doors were made of planks, hewn by hand. There were 
 no metal hinges. The house had to be strong and dur- 
 able for it was a stronghold as well as a shelter. Al- 
 though there were no Indian settlements in Wayne at 
 that time, Indians did often go through this territory 
 and did make camps along the Little Wabash. The feel- 
 ing between the white and the red men was not always 
 friendly. There were also wild animals in the woods. No 
 one went alone into the woods without protection. At 
 first one person always stayed on guard in the house, 
 especially all night. The cabin was covered by four bear 
 skins which made a soft carpet over the dirt floor. 
 
 The clothes were made from deer hides; sometimes 
 the skins, after being tanned, were dyed red or yellow. 
 The women knew how to make dyes from herbs in the 
 forest. When tanned properly, the skin was soft and 
 pliable. Women wore narrow deer skin skirts and deer 
 skin blouses. Men wore deer skin blouses and breeches 
 of buckskin. The moccasins were made of bear hide, 
 the fur turned inward in the winter. 
 
 There was plenty to eat : wild animals, nuts, berries, 
 and honey. Issac Harris sometimes killed four or five 
 bears in a week, and so bear meat was plentiful at the 
 cabin. For a larder a forked limb from a tree served as 
 a good place to hang the meat. Venison was also plenti- 
 ful. When corn was raised, corn meal and hominy was 
 
added to the diet of bear meat, venison, squirrel, berries, 
 nuts, and honey. A beverage was made from the root of 
 the sassafras. When in the woods, Harris often killed 
 a deer, skinned it, filled the skin with honey, tied the 
 four ends together and carried the sweetness home. A 
 whole barrel of honey was a common possession in the 
 pioneer home. 
 
 Every morning the corn was ground for the day's 
 food. The finer part was sifted and called meal and the 
 coarser part hominy. Sieves were made from horse hair. 
 Corn was ground in a mortar. It was made from a stump 
 and a wooden maul attached to a spring pole which 
 served as a pestle. The pioneer children did that grind- 
 ing each morning. There was no trouble on the part of 
 the busy pioneer woman to entertain her children. They 
 were kept busy. Corn meal was always an ordinary food 
 product of the pioneers. 
 
 Later the water mills on the Little Wabash made 
 the grinding work lighter. All that had to be done was 
 to load a couple sacks of corn on a horse and take it to 
 a mill, often several miles away, through wooded unin- 
 habited regions. 
 
 At first there were no lights in the cabin except 
 that given by the fire place. Very soon, however, the 
 mother made candles, but first there had to be cattle. 
 It is likely she made the first candles from bear grease. 
 
 The fireplace was a huge affair, the only means of 
 heating the cabin, and the only means of cooking. Dutch 
 ovens and heavy iron pots were the utensils used for 
 cooking ; the dishes were pewter. There were no matches, 
 but flint and tinder were available to make a fire. So 
 the fire was kept burning all the time, the fire being 
 kept alive the whole year. If one neighbor happened to 
 be so unfortunate as to let his fire die out, he went to 
 a neighbor, if he had one, to borrow some coals to re- 
 start his fire. 
 
 There were no cupboards at first for the dishes, 
 just a shelf on the wall held there by two wooden pegs. 
 At first the stools were cut-off blocks from small logs. 
 
Later chairs were made, the bottoms being split-bottoms, 
 so-called because split strands of hickory were laced 
 back and forth to fill in the bottom of the chair. Cer- 
 tainly there were no rockers. The very first beds were 
 made by having one post fastened down in the corner 
 of the room. From that post pieces of timber extended 
 to the log walls, the ends sticking through the chinks 
 between the logs. When that rectangle was formed, 
 wooden slats were placed across it and then a mattress 
 of corn husks placed on top. Later the four-poster beds 
 added much comfort and beauty to the room. They were 
 strung with ropes, a great improvement over the hard 
 wooden slats. 
 
 The drop-leaf table was a boon; the leaves could be 
 dropped when the table was not in use so that there was 
 more room left in the cabin. 
 
 The early cabins were nearly always near a supply 
 of water, a running stream or a fresh spring. There were 
 no sinks or pumps. The women carried all the water 
 up the hill to the cabin. Later when wells were dug, 
 the site was located by a water witch. With the aid of 
 a forked peach limb, he held the two ends in his hands in 
 front of his face, the V of the limb upward. As he walk- 
 ed over the ground, he felt the peach limb pull down- 
 ward when he approached a water vein. He stepped 
 back and forth and approached the spot where the pull 
 was strongest. In that way he estimated the depth to 
 the water and the strength of the water supply. 
 
 The very first pumps were wooden affairs turned 
 by hand, but they were rare. More important in those 
 early years were the small tools which made it possible 
 to live in a wilderness far from a source of supplies. The 
 most used tools were: an axe, a saw, an adz, a froe, and 
 sometimes an auger. With those implements the man 
 conquered the wilderness. 
 
 The pioneer woman was very resourceful; her cabin 
 was bare but clean. She needed water, but she also need- 
 ed soap, and she made her own. Each home had an ash 
 hopper, a wooden affair made of boards shaped like a 
 
V about five feet long and five feet across the top. A 
 wooden trough was along that V to catch the precious 
 liquid when it drained. All winter the wood ashes were 
 emptied into that ash hopper, not just any ashes but 
 those of hickory or white oak. The top was covered 
 loosely with boards to keep out the winter rain and 
 snow. In the spring the ashes were soaked well with 
 rain water. A stone or wooden vessel was placed under 
 the trough to catch the lye as it formed. It was the duty 
 of the pioneer child to watch the ash hopper to see when 
 it began to run. It was a proud moment when he could 
 announce that fact to his mother. 
 
 All winter she had saved all meat grease and tallow. 
 She could render old pieces of side meat to secure more 
 grease. When the soap was to be made some warm 
 spring day, she built a fire out doors under a large iron 
 kettle. If she made soft soap she used three gallons of 1 
 liquid to five pounds of grease. The lye had to be strong 
 enough to hold up an egg. If it were too strong, water 
 was added. She cooked that grease and lye water, stir- 
 ring all the time with a large wooden paddle. iShe tested 
 that liquid in somewhat the same way a modern woman 
 tests her jelly. Just as she lifts that with a spoon and 
 lets it drop back into the kettle to test it, so did the 
 pioneer lift that liquid with the wooden paddle and let 
 it drip back into the kettle. When it began to thicken, 
 she pulled the fire away from the kettle and let the liquid 
 cool before she poured it into the soft soap barrel. If 
 she had intended to make hard soap, she used less liquid. 
 She also permitted the concoction to cool in the kettle 
 until she could cut it into squares. It was then removed 
 and stored on shelves or boards for future use. If she 
 had wanted to make soap for the hands, she made a 
 small amount, used less lye, and added sassafras root 
 to give it a delightful odor. 2 
 
 A little later when flour was available, the pioneer 
 
 1. Sarah Pettigrew and Lillie Clark told me the soap making method 
 and the amount of material to use. 
 
 2. Lillie Clark still makes her own yeast. 
 
 5 
 
woman made her own yeast. From it she made her own 
 light bread. If the f amity were large, she made a "batch' ' 
 of bread each day. To make the yeast she used hops 
 she had collected in the woods. From them she made 
 a strong tea. A cake of yeast was added to the liquid. 
 (Yeast had to be kept each time to add to the new yeast 
 batch) often a mashed potato, some sugar, and then 
 thickened with meal. It was made into a stiff, gritty 
 dough and permitted to set a while to rise. Then it was 
 pinched off into small amounts and spread out to dry. 
 That would remain fresh for several weeks before it was 
 necessary to make more yeast. 
 
 The pioneer arts that were useful from the very first 
 were spinning and weaving, also candle making. The 
 farmer raised sheep, and on some hot day in the late 
 spring he sheared his sheep, often lifting a door from its 
 hinges and using it on which to do the shearing to keep 
 the wool clean. After clipping the wool from the animal, 
 he wrapped it into a tight bundle and tied it tight. He 
 sold it later or his wife used it to make bed covers and 
 clothing for the family. 
 
 The wool she used had to be washed to remove the 
 grease. The home-made soap was very useful for that. 
 The washed wool was spread on the grass to dry. When 
 dry it could be stuffed into large sacks and hung up for 
 future use when she did her spinning and weaving. 
 
 First, she carded the wool by putting small amounts 
 on one hand card, and then holding a card in each hand, 
 worked the wool back and forth from one card to the 
 other until a soft fleecy roll was the result. Those rolls 
 of wool were piled high to be spun into yarn or thread. 
 When it was spun, she wound it into a ball by hooking 
 one end of the loop of yarn over a post of a chair, the 
 other end over another post, and then by taking off one 
 strand at a time she wound her ball. Sometimes she press- 
 ed a member of the family into service, having him hold 
 the yarn loops over his two arms while she wound the 
 ball. 
 
 If she intended to make a natural colored blanket, 
 
she used the yarn as it was, but if she wanted a colored 
 coverlet, she dyed the yarn before weaving. Most of the 
 dye materials she collected in the woods. Blue was a 
 common color used, also red, green, brown, and yellow. 
 Many of the coverlet patterns used here were brought 
 or sent from Europe, but some are American products. 1 
 
 To make blue dye. she bought indigo on one of her 
 rare visits to town. She used the plant aniline to make 
 a red dye; madder made a dark dull red. The cocoon 
 root, the flower that blooms early in the spring whose 
 stem is bloody when plucked, was used to make black 
 dye. Walnut hulls made brown dye. Corn husks made 
 a yellowish green color. In order to make a light or deep 
 color, she used different amounts. 
 
 This is a receipt used to make blue dye that colored 
 yarn for the blue coverlets: to color three pounds yarn, 
 use one ounce indigo, four ounces sulphuric acid, and 
 one half ounce pearlash. Put in a bowl. Pulverize the 
 indigo and add a bit at a time to the acid; stir well. Add 
 pearlash and let stand 48 hours. Add enough water to 
 the mixture to cover the yarn. Put all in a kettle and 
 boil ten minutes. Remove yarn and ha.ng it up to dry. 
 If cotton is to be dyed, add cotton to dye material and 
 let stand 24 hours. If a deep blue is wanted, add more 
 mixture. When the yarn hanks were dry, they were 
 colorfast. 
 
 The spinning wheel was a necessary piece of furni- 
 ture in every cabin. If there was a young daughter, she 
 was taught to spin and weave at an early age, even when 
 a platform had to be built for her to walk on. 
 
 If she were going to make clothes for the family, 
 she might use plain cloth, but she also had her methods 2 
 of adding figures to the cloth. She often took small 
 beans and tied them tight at various places in the cloth 
 and then dyed it. When the cloth was dry she removed 
 the strings from around the beans. The result was that 
 a white ring was left in the cloth. That was surely one 
 
 1. Susan Allison used this dye receipt. 
 
 2. Mary Ann Bunting told me how to make figures in cloth. 
 
wa} r to show ingenuity and inventive power on the part 
 of the pioneer woman. 
 
 She spent many long hours making coverlets. But 
 the manufactured ones were coveted. She would take 
 two home made ones and trade them for a factory-made 
 one. Some coverlet patterns she used were: rose of 
 sharon, cart wheel, and flower of the mountain. 
 
 Every cabin had its candle molds. They were 
 often about ten inches long, consisting of four brass 
 tubes. After weaving cotton wicks of strings or linen 
 wicks, she strung them through the tubes, holding them 
 tight at both ends by tying them to a stick. iShe kept 
 the wick taut so that it would remain in the center of 
 the mold. Into those four molds she poured melted x 
 tallow, letting the tubes stand up-right for the candles to 
 set. When they were firm, she untied the stick, im- 
 mersed the candles in warm water for a minute to loosen 
 them and then slid the candles from the mold. Then she 
 repeated the process until she had finished her candle 
 making for the year. In those days when one neighbor 
 met another in the autumn her question was not about 
 clubs or home bureau; she had a pertinent question, 
 " Have you made your candles for winter yet!" In the 
 winter she could keep the candles very well, but when 
 spring came she buried them to prevent their melting 
 and removed them only as she needed them for use. 
 
 The pioneer woman was clever and resourceful. In 
 no way did she show it more than in caring for the sick. 
 Often a doctor was not near. Certainly there were no 
 hospitals nor nursing homes. The ailing ones were cared 
 for within the home, and the woman acted as doctor, 
 nurse, and house maid. She learned remedies to use on 
 her own family. If a neighbor woman were ill r she went 
 to the sick home and took charge. She prepared her 
 own remedies, nursed the sick, washed, ironed, cooked, 
 scrubbed, and cared for the children. Sometimes she 
 stayed a week or two. She was not paid, nor did she 
 
 1. Sophronia McKibben showed me the candle making process. 
 
 8 
 
expect pay. Her services were given out of the goodness 
 of her heart. 
 
 Although the pioneer woman early learned to make 
 her own muslin as well as to card wool and make heavy 
 cloth. That muslin in the native state was what is now 
 referred to as "natural" in color; it was cream-white or 
 tan white, not white. The woman was not daunted; she 
 bleached her muslin white. Here is a bleach used in 
 western Leech by the early women settlers. 1 
 
 "To bleach muslin use choloride of lime one cents 
 worth for a yard of material. Dissolve the lime in a 
 kettle and set over night. Drain off. Strain. Put in a 
 tub and add enough water to cover the cloth. Soak one 
 hour. Stir with a stick (Clever way of saying not to 
 use metal). Rinse and boil. Cloth will be white." 
 
 The same people were apt at dyeing yellow material 
 too. "To dye 5 pounds of goods, dissolve 1 pound sugar 
 of lead in water and ] / 2 pound biucloride of potash in 
 a different vessel using same amount of water. Dip 
 goods alternately in both vessels until you get the color 
 desired. Rinse and dry. If orange is wanted dip rags 
 in hot lime water before rinsin 
 
 5 J 
 
 The same people had their cures too. ' ' To prevent 
 typhoid fever use 3 oz. fine coffee in granitized kettle. 
 Pour one pint cold water over it and set over night. 
 Next morning heat to boiling point. Drink hot or cold. 
 Guaranteed to prevent typhoid fever, cholera, erysipelas, 
 and malaria. Do not use sugar or cream in drink."' 
 
 In the earlier days before the women had muslin or 
 other goods to dye or bleach, they depended on the ani- 
 mals of the forests to furnish clothing material. Doe 
 skin was soft and pliable when properly treated, but 
 those women did tire of skin dresses. It was a happy 
 day when enough tanned deer skins were saved to float 
 down the Little Wabash to a trading center to trade for 2 
 cloth. When that first calico was brought home after 
 
 1. Marie Taylor furnished this information from a scrap book of her 
 grandmother who was a descendant of Betsy Harris. 
 
 2. Wayne County History as told by Betsy Harris Goodwin. 
 
one of those trading trips down the river, the women 
 were as happy as queens; they had material for a calico 
 dress. 
 
 Most pioneers knew that tea leaves bound on a burn 
 would give relief. Later swabs of cotton were used by 
 doctors, each time the dressing was changed the cotton 
 fibers tearing the wound open again. One doctor re- 
 cently said, ' ' The Chinese knew tea leaves would ease a 
 burn. It took science about 2,000 years to catch up." 
 The pioneer woman knew the use of tea. 1 
 
 She had other cures too. She know that in case of 
 pneumonia that the patient should be kept away from 
 drafts. She added her onion poultice to the chest. She 
 used it on the throat for colds. For soreness of muscles 
 such as is felt in the joints she used mullen poultice. 
 She gave boneset tea to relieve high temperature. For 
 a cold she gave pennyroyal tea or sage tea. She dried 
 watermelon seeds and used them to make a tea to give 
 to one suffering from kidney trouble. Hoarhound tea 
 was good to check a cough. That tired-run-down feeling 
 that came in the spring she knew was caused by lack of 
 proper winter diet ; she had no means of preserving many 
 raw foods needed. She did have a remedy. She made a 
 tonic of white oak bark, wild cherry bark, or the cherries, 
 and burdock root mixed with some whisky. 
 
 All year she collected herbs to be used for medical 
 purposes. In winter they hung to the rafters or in the 
 attic. 
 
 Perhaps one way she served the community best 
 was her delivery of the new babies. Often one woman 
 in a community went from home to home to perform 
 that service as needed, even at the time she was bearing 
 her own children. Mid-wife was a name seldom used. 
 She was more likely called " granny/ ' Even years later 
 when a doctor did make calls at the home to deliever a 
 child, a woman of the neighborhood was the nurse. 
 
 1. My mother saw her mother and her mo-ther-in-law use these 
 remedies. 
 
 io 
 
When the roads were bad and the doctor late, she often 
 had the baby taken care of when he arrived. * 
 
 The work of the pioneer man was not done on an 
 hour basis either. He was not a specialists in that he 
 did only one piece of work; he had to know how to do 
 many things. He had to know how to clear the land, 
 build his home, farm with crude tools, shear his sheep, 
 brand his stock, for they ran loose in the woods, make 
 his own wooden feeding troughs, mend his harness, keep 
 the wood supply at the cabin, hunt for wild meat, or 
 butcher his own animals, and sometimes make the shoes 
 for the family. He did have wooden shoe lasts on which 
 he half-soled all boots. He also put patches on shoes. 
 In fact, there was nothing in home making that he did 
 not know about. 
 
 As his cabin making process has been told, we 
 shall not repeat that. He did keep a stack of hand made 
 clapboards in the woods to use whenever needed. He 
 killed large trees, cut them, had log rollings at which all 
 neighbors helped, piled them in large heaps and burned 
 them. The women and children came too on such days, 
 helping prepare a big dinner; the women quilted in the 
 afternoon. At night on such days they often had a party 
 or a dance. 
 
 'The man plowed with a one-horse plow. Sometimes 
 he used a yoke of oxen. At corn planting time the whole 
 family helped. The children could drop corn a.nd cover 
 it with a hoe. Later someone devised a better method 2 
 for covering the corn. A large sand rock, flat in nature, 
 had a hole bored through it. Through that hole a rope 
 or chain made it possible to drag that flat rock down 
 the row of dropped corn to cover it. A small boy could 
 ride a gentle old horse to do that task. That saved back- 
 ache and time. The corn was cultivated with a hoe too ; 
 sprouts sprang up all over the field and had to be cut 
 
 1. Mary Hallam was the woman who was present at nearly all births 
 in the region south of Scottsville from 1883 until 1912. 
 
 2. Chet Woods told me how the corn was covered with a rock. 
 
 11 
 
out. At harvest time all corn shucking was done by 
 hand. 
 
 When wheat was planted it was harvested with a 
 cradle, all that back breaking swing being done by hand. 
 After cutting the wheat, he gathered arm loads together 
 and bound it into bundles. At first he threshed by flail- 
 ing the grain on the barn floor. Later he stacked his 
 wheat in stacks until fall and then had it threshed by 
 the first threshing machines. The machine was pulled 
 from home to home by oxen or horses. The horses then 
 supplied the power, tramping, tramping, to thresh the 
 grain. 
 
 Those threshing dinners are a thing of the past, but 
 they were so wide spread that they deserve mention. 
 That will be done later. 
 
 The pioneer always had a rifle, and he was an ex- 
 pert using it. He could snuff a candle with his gun 
 without putting out the light. He used his gun to sup- 
 ply the home with meat, to kill wild beats that harmed 
 his crops, and sometimes to fight Indians. He was an 
 expert and never gave excuse for lack of meat to eat. 
 First it was bear or deer, later squirrel or wild turkey. 
 The rifle had a prominent place in the home. Often it 
 rested on wooden pegs above the door. 
 
 In winter he often made great wooden rafts and 
 floated logs down to Carmi. That gave him a little cash 
 and rid his land of trees. 
 
 When stock ran outside each man had his own 
 brand, often a slash in one ear, or a slash in both, or an 
 underbit in one. No man copied the brand of his 
 neighbor. In order to entice his animals home 
 in the fall, he often fed them corn at a certain 
 place. It is true that other animals also ate the corn. 
 It made it easier to collect his own, penning them to be 
 shipped to Cincinnati. The woods did furnish much 
 free feed in those days, nuts for hogs, wild grass for 
 cattle. He had small fields fenced; he had to, to protect 
 his crops. Even if he penned his stock, other stock was 
 running wild in the woods. Carpenter 's work, butcher's 
 
 12 
 
work, farming, woodsman work all were his, but that did 
 not end the toil. He had little to read at night. He had 
 work to do anyhow, mend harness or mend shoes. Just 
 as the woman had to know how to do everything to 
 operate the household, so he had to know how to do 
 everything to farm. It wa.s team work on the part of 
 both that helped build this region from a wilderness to 
 a settled community. 
 
 A custom, not confined to Leech, was the use of 
 water witches to locate underground water streams. * 
 They have been mentioned, but a specific case that has 
 been publicized should be included. The Parks family 
 lived near Scottstation. There had been difficulty in 
 getting a well that furnished water to use, both at the 
 house and at the barn. The farmer hauled water three 
 years from the Little Wabash. That was tiresome work. 
 Finally his wife reached the point where she could no 
 longer tolerate not having water. She called the water 
 witch, Jed Perkins, to locate a suitable site for water 
 supply. With his forked peach limb he walked back and 
 forth on the Parks premises. He located water near the 
 house, right Avhere the lady "lowed it was" and where 
 it would be convenient for her use. Perkins told the 
 farmer to dig twenty-five feet and he would find a good 
 supply of water. He also found a vein near the barn and 
 told the farmer to dig there twenty-five feet and he 
 would ^et a good supply of water, all he'd need. The 
 farmer was disgusted with the witching, or divining, 
 idea, but he was tired of hauling water. He dug a cis- 
 tern at the house at the spot named and ran into rock. 
 He dug a well at the spot named at the barn and at twen- 
 ty feet ran into rock, which might reach to China, he 
 thought. He was more than ever disgusted with water 
 witches; he began hauling water again. Much trash was 
 thrown into the well hole near the barn. The well hole 
 at the house was used as a cistern. In the meantime the 
 farmer used dynamite to blast out stumps on his farm; 
 
 1. Story was printed in April, 1954, FATE, It was also told me by 
 Bill Woods. 
 
 13 
 
]ie had a supply of sticks stored in a building. His son 
 helped the father nse the dynamite and knew its power. 
 One day while the elders were at church a neighbor boy 
 came to visit the son. Both had known how Perkins 
 witched for water and decided to try. When they ap- 
 proached the water hole with trash at the barn, the 
 sticks began to twist and turn downward. They stepped 
 back and counted the distance. They decided that Per- 
 kins was right; water was there but twenty-five feet 
 down. The neighbor lad suggested they clear the trash 
 from the hole, use some dynamite, blast out that rock at 
 twen ty feet, and bring in water. Before doing that work, 
 they tried the water hole at the house, but that cistern 
 had water in it, and the peach sticks did not twist down- 
 ward. Not daunted, the boys returned to the barn, clear- 
 ed the dry water well, snitched a stick of dynamite and 
 were going to make use of it when the farmer returned. 
 Knowing boys, he guessed what they were doing. He told 
 them that if they brought in water in that well,, he would 
 give each ten dollars. If they did not, they had to refill 
 the well for nothing. 
 
 They used the dynamite but it did not throw as 
 much rock upward as they expected. It seemed a failure. 
 They decided to throw the trash back the next morning. 
 When morning came, the well had an ample supply of 
 water; the blast had broken the rock downward and a 
 lasting supply of water ca.me through. The farmer paid 
 each the promised ten dollars. That success made them 
 also blast the house cistern, where the peach sticks would 
 not work over a water supply. The same result happen- 
 ed there, a full well of water. 
 
 Aunt India Locke (who died a few years ago) re- 
 called that in the early days the farmers did not raise 
 so much corn as the coons and other animals destroyed 
 it. Then there were many more wooded regions for the 
 animals to harbor in. It is a far different condition from 
 that of to-day when tractors roll over many acres of farm 
 land to plant large fields of corn and the corn picker in 
 
 14 
 
The autumn does the work of harvesting tlie corn that 
 was once done by hand. 
 
 She recalled that their crops were mostly tobacco 
 and flax. Of course the flax wasever used in the early 
 days for weaving; all coverlets being woven on the linen 
 thread, the wool yarn being used as woof, the linen as 
 warp. But tobacco in Leech to-day is unknown, not in 
 the growing state. Caster beans were also raised. 1_ 
 
 These tax receipts over a period of years on about 
 280 acres (receipts from L. H. Harris papers) show^ con- 
 ditions regarding the increasing tax rates. For the year 
 1846, tax $5.69; 1848, tax $6.01; 1857, tax $26.02. (This 
 included state, county, and school, likely the first tax for 
 schools); 1866, tax $45.42, includes town tax; 1871, tax 
 $65.24, includes state, county, town, school, road, rail- 
 road, county special, dog, and back tax; 1874, tax $61.14; 
 1877, tax $56.19, includes corporation and interest. 
 
 To-day's red tape for loans may not be new. The 
 same source of material revealed an application for a 
 $500 loan, 11-13-1875. It w T as a questionnaire. These 
 questions were asked: How much land? What improve- 
 ment? How far to railroad station? Quality of land? 
 Kind of soil? How much crop land? Water supply? 
 Healthf ulness? The answer to that was "Had no chills 
 this year." Buildings? Fruit? Answer to that was 
 "About 80 trees, apple, peach, and cherry bearing.' ' It 
 is notarized by C C. Boggs and signed by tw^o witnesses 
 who appraised the land and stated applicant was over 
 twent}r-one and of sound mind. 
 
 Jim and Lizzie West lived several years on the hill 
 a short distance west of the Allison School house. They 
 reared a large family there. After his death, she lived 
 south of Chandler School. The descendants of her daugh- 
 ter still live there. Her daughter, Melissa, married Her- 
 man Fisher. Their sons were Eo}^ who married Bessie 
 Pope; they ha.d one daughter who married Carl Kimbrell; 
 she lives in the neighborhood. Arley married Leta Petti- 
 
 1. Marie Taylor gave this information. 
 
 15 
 
grew; they have one daughter and they live in that 
 neighborhood, as does Arley's daughter, Carmen 'Dan- 
 iel, and her daughters. Naaman married Eunice John- 
 son; they live in the same neighborhood. Mervin Fisher 
 married Wreatha St. Ledger ; they live on th e home place 
 with the father. The mother is dead. 
 
 A brother of Herman, Rude Fisher, lives in the same 
 vicinity. He married Melinda Bell, and after her death 1 
 he married her sister, Maud Bell. 1 
 
 According to old beliefs, the child who was born after 
 its father's death had the power to cure rash on babies. 
 Aunt Lizzie West practiced that cure by blowing in the 
 mouth of the infant and repeating the correct words. 
 She also drew fire from a burn so that the burn soon 
 ceased to burn and smart, if she could get to the burn 
 soon enough after the accident. 
 
 The huckster wagon was not a product of the earl- 
 iest days, but it is now a thing of the past. The huckster 
 wagon was drawn by two horses over the dusty roads in 
 summer. The man planned his routes and made each 
 route once a week. In those days before the day of the 
 car the coming of the huckster was an event in the lives 
 of many country people. The children were told to gather 
 the eggs for the huckster. They watched for him eager- 
 ly. If their mother did not want anything except some 
 groceries, that was a disappointment to the youngsters. 
 That meant that only the little door at the side of the 
 wagon would be opened. The man would reach in to find 
 the wanted commodity. It was only a minute of getting 
 a glimpse of the interior of that wagon. It Avas a great 
 event if the mother w r anted some drygoods, some calico 
 or muslin, or some thread. Then the drop door at the 
 back end of the wagon was let down, and the children 
 eyed with wonder the marvels of the interior of that 
 wagon. He always carried at least three bolts of blue 
 calico and one or two of red. 
 
 In the early days there were no radio reports on 
 
 1. Ethel Jones told me this. Her mother had told her. 
 
 16 
 
weather conditions to warn the farmer. There were no 
 daily papers to give a brief report on the weather, but 
 the people had their own signs which they observed. 
 They watched the sun set to see if it went down behind 
 a bank. If it did, they expected rain the next day, or 
 snow, depending on the temperature. If the smoke came 
 down from the chimney, they expected precipitation 
 within a few days. If the horses ran about wildly in the 
 lot in the fall, they expected much colder weather by 
 morning. If the corn shucks were tight to the ear at 
 shucking time in the autumn, they expected a severe 
 winter; if shucks were loose, they expected a mild win- 
 ter. 
 
 Aunt Rhoda Smith of western Leech had her own 
 method of predicting the amount of moisture to expect 
 for a year. On New Year's Day she took twelve onions 
 and cut a slice from the top of each. She placed the 
 twelve in a row, letting the onions represent the months 
 of the coming year. She put salt on the cut top of each 
 onion. If the onion brought out moisture, the month 
 represented by that onion would be wet. If the onion 
 absorbed most of the moisture, the month would be dry. 
 
 Because the Little Wabash River played so large a 
 part as a means of transportation in the early days we 
 include this tribute to the river, a poem accepted for 
 publication in a National Anthology of American Verse. 
 
 Little Wabash River 
 
 Lelah Allison 
 
 You wander by o'er rocky shoals; 
 
 You dip and surge quite low. 
 What are your distant ocean goals 
 
 As through the woods you go! 
 
 Green branches sway to steal a sip 
 
 Beside the rustling corn; 
 Ln dreamy joy they dip 
 
 To greet the lilac morn. 
 
 17 
 
The sycamores a.re tall and white 
 With halls of softest brown. 
 
 Yon murmur softly through the night 
 With softness as your crown. 
 
 Crumbled ledges of broken rock 
 That jet into your stream 
 
 Hold back your water as a lock 
 Beneath the sunlit beam. 
 
 The lacy shadows in their joy; 
 
 Move softly without dash; 
 Projecting limbs, your only buoy r 
 
 Form pools for fish to splash. 
 
 You kiss the toes of Effingham; 
 
 You pass by Golden Gate. 
 You sometimes flood without a sham 
 And spread o'er miles of state. 
 
 The crumbling soil of Illinois 
 
 Gives color with a dash 
 To you, a pretty r lavish toy, 
 
 Winding Little Wabash. 
 
 The present Charlie Harris Home. Near here the first 
 home in Wayne County was built in 1814. 
 
 18 
 
PART TWO. 
 
 Early Life In Leech, The People 
 
 In 1800 very few white people had ventured inland 
 from the waterways to make their home in Illinois. 
 Hunting trips were made through the region, following 
 old buffalo trails (which later became winding roads), 
 and some exploration trips were made. In 1800 the 
 French lived on the Big Wabash on Coffee Creek, an 
 ideal site except for the Pianashaw Indians, who caused 
 trouble with the whites at times. They are the tribe 
 that later massacred the Cannon family, near Grayville, 
 the father and son killed, the mother and daughter x 
 carried into the woods where they lived with the Indians 
 until ransomed by friends. As the Pianashaw village 
 was near the Wayne County line, those two women lived 
 in or on the border of Leech during their captivity. 
 
 It was the Lavulette brothers who built the very 
 first horse powered mill in this region, a business that 
 made Rochester thrive. The first settlers in eastern 
 Leech went to that mill for meal. When Dr. Baker bought 
 out the Lavulettes and opened a packing plant, that gave 
 a way for the early eastern Leech settlers to ship their 
 pork. 
 
 It was in western Leech, however, that the first cabin 
 was built in 1814 by Isaac Harris. His brother also 
 settled near; others from the south came to that region. 
 The Harris family had come from Kentucky on pack 
 horses to White County and then on to Leech, after the 
 men had fed their hogs there on "mast" in 1812 and 
 liked the place. 2 
 
 Indians often camped along the Little Wabash, not 
 far from the Harris cabin. For some reason Harris and 
 an Indian had a quarrel. Harris killed the Indian. There 
 were laws against whites killing natives, but they some- 
 
 1. Wabash County History. The massacre of the Cannons was in 
 1817. 
 
 2. Wayne County History. 
 
 19 
 
times took the law into their own hands. The affair was 
 kept fairly quiet at the time. Harris fled, ta.king his 
 family with him hack to White County. Then he served 
 in the War of 1812. By the time that was over the Indian 
 trouble with Harris was almost forgotten. He returned 
 to Leech, for he liked that territory and this time made 
 his permanent home there. His brothers, Gilham and 
 Elijah came with him. 
 
 On the site of the first white home in Wayne Coun- 
 ty now stands a white house, the home of Charlie Harris. 
 He -says the first home of Isaac and Jennie Harris, first 
 settlers, wa.s a cave north of his home. "When Isaac and 
 wife Jennie came to Leech from White County, where 
 they had stopped at Big Prairie for a while, his brothers 
 Gilham and Elijah Harris came too to make their home 
 here. 'The first cabin was in S. E. quarter of the S. W. 
 quarter of the N. E. quarter of section 31, T2S, R9E. ; this 
 cabin Betsy Harris Goodwin said had a dirt floor but was 
 completely covered by four bear skin rugs. 
 
 Elijah Harris moved to Hickory Hill Township in 
 1830 and later went West where he died. 1 
 
 The children of Isaac and Jennie Harris were: 
 Elizabeth (Betsy) Harris Merrit Goodwin; Sally Hooper; 
 Meritt Harris (moved to Moulrie County) ; Stephen M. 
 Harris, born 4-13-1818, died 8-17-1898 in Thomas County, 
 Kansas, married Mary J. Gaston in December, 1837, and 
 had eight children; and Lemuel Hatch Harris, the young- 
 est son, born 1821, died 1863. 
 
 Betsy eloped April 2, 1822, and married Stephen 
 Meritt and had ten children. Two sons, Isaac Meritt 
 and William H. Meritt survived her, also her daughter, 
 Polly Hodges. Betsy later married James Goodwin, who 
 
 1. Charlie Harris, Rosa Vaughn, Bell Moffit, and Marie Taylor gave 
 the (Harris history. Marie Taylor has co-operated wonderfully in 
 securing facts of families, schools in western Leech, canip meet- 
 ings, Church, and many facts of early life from her grandmother's 
 
 : scrap book; She copied the old poem from that scrap book, the 
 poem included in this section of the book. She also has Capt. 
 Murphy's Civil War letter which is quoted. 
 
 20 
 
also survived her. The Goodwin descendants are listed 
 in the Goodwin record. 
 
 Lemuel Hatch Harris and Elizabeth Shrewsbury 
 were married 12-15-1842. Their children were: Mary 
 Murphy, Rosy Fenton, Indiana (called India), wife of 
 Elder G. N. Locke, (a Baptist minister), Lucy Harl, 
 Sarah Harl, Emeline Simpson, Martha I. Jackson (Sher- 
 man's mother), Eliza Ann E. Vaughn, Isaac, James ! ? 
 Samuel, Hampton, Wilson, Buchanan (called Buck). He 
 has two daughters still in Leech, Cynthia Laws and Rosa 
 Vaughn. 
 
 Mary Harris Murphy and William Murphy from 
 Breckinridge County, Kentucky, (a captain in the Civil 
 War) had six children: Jerry, who married Ada Pot- 
 torff; Hampton, who married Mary Moore; Jim and 
 Lucretia unmarried; Rachel, who married George Merit; 
 Julia, who married Jimmie Harris. 
 
 The children of Jerry and Ada Murphy are Corrine 
 Merrit in Fairfield, Ralph in Michigan, and Marie Tay- 
 lor, the only one now living in Leech Township. 
 
 The children of Hampton and Mary Murphy are 
 Mabel Day in Golden Gate, Ivan in Anderson, Ind., 
 Hampton in the Navy, and Ruth Laws. 
 
 William Murphy's parents were Jeremiah and Ann 
 Harl Murphy. Their children were : William, ; Sallie 
 Simpson, Rachel Reeves, Rebecca Reed, and Jeremiahv; . 
 
 Surviving descendants of those early settlers listed * 
 are the following in Leech: Lem Harl, Carrie Cox, Mim 
 nie Smothers, Ella Walker, all children of Sarah Harl; 
 also Naomi Redfern, daughter of (Lem) L. H. Harris 
 II; Esther Moore, Rosie Vaughn, and Cynthia Laws, 
 daughters of Wilson and Mabel Day; Hampton Murphy; 
 and Marie Taylor; and Mary Moore Murphy, widow of 
 Hampton Murphy, and Cynthia Bell Harris (widow of 
 Lem Harris), who is now in T. B. Sanitarium in Mt. 
 Vernon. 
 
 1. Charlie Harris and Marie Taylor gave the John Harris record,. 
 Marie gave the Funkhouser story. ' " > '< i > ' > 
 
 21 
 
John M. Harris and wife Sarah C. Parker were na- 
 tives of Kentucky, who lived near Bowling Green. He 
 came here first and then went back there to marry her 
 and bring her here. He was a relative of Robert Harris, 
 brother or nephew. John M. came here in 1840. 
 
 Their children were: Susan Holloway, Elizabeth 
 Inskeep, (wife of Dr. J. E. Inskeep of Merriam), Anna 
 Harl, Beuna Fenton, Viola Johns, Prude Boze, Emma 
 Sloan, Robert, and John. When his wife died he mar- 
 ried Jennie Harris, widow of Isaac Harris II, a grandson 
 of Isaac Harris I. They had eight children: John (de- 
 ceased) married Minnie Spruell and had seven children, 
 Flossie, Ed, Katy, Lila, Arnold, Fern, and Vincent; 
 Cleave (deceased) ; Oliver, who had eight children (he 
 lives in Tulsa, Okla.); Thomas, who died in Tulsa, had 
 five children; Robert, who went to Arkansas, had four 
 children; Jim, who went to Arizona; Mabel Bell, who has 
 two children, Leo and Lavern, all in the township; and 
 Charlie B., who has one son; both live in the township. 
 
 Of this group Mabel, Charlie, Oliver, Buena, Viola, 
 and Emma survive. Mabel and Charlie are the only two 
 in the township. 
 
 John M. Harris lived to be very old. On his birth- 
 day each year the family had a social gathering and 
 presented him with a gift, one time a suit of clothes. 
 
 An interesting story told of P. L. Funkhouser, who 
 came here in 1816, is that he bought corn and hogs for 
 the New Orleans market, shipping them to that city by 
 flat boat, the first flat boat to descend the Little Wabash 
 River; he made four trips each year. He built the first 
 brick house in the county in 1830 and was in mercantile 
 business in Burnt Prairie until driven out by outlaws in 
 1863; he was once the largest land owner in the county. 
 Later Edna Gorden owned the farm ; now Charlie Harris 
 owns it. 
 
 The Harris and Murphy families made their con- 
 tributions in service in the War of 1812 and in the Civil 
 War. Mary Harris, daughter of Hatch and Elizabeth 
 Shrewsbury Harris married William Murphy, who had 
 
 22 
 
served in the Civil War. In those da}^s there was no 
 •censure placed on letters written home. The place the 
 army was stationed and the expected combats were 
 written about freely. Lieut William Murphy, later 1 - 
 Captain Murphy, wrote a letter to his mother Ann Mur- 
 phy, June 16, 1863, from Snyders Bluff. "It is thought 
 that Joe Johnson will in a short time try to raise the 
 siege of Vicksburg . . . The people at home don't know 
 what war is, but it isn't no more to walk on dead and 
 dying men than to be a hog with cholera. ' ' 
 
 Lieut. Murphy also expressed his concern about his 
 mother ajid offered to send her his next pay if she needed 
 it. Mail was slow reaching men in the service as he ex- 
 pressed his regret that he had not heard from her for a 
 long time. Men then as well as now were interested in 
 knowing how the people at home were faring. He asked 
 of several relatives and sent them his greetings. 
 
 Ann Murphy was a thrifty woman and likely did 
 not ask much of her son. She had 160 acres in western 
 Leech. She tucked away with her other papers her tax 
 receipt for her land in 1856, a total of $6.38 tax on her 
 160 acres. 
 
 The Murphy family came to Leech from Barnhill 
 during the Civil War; their place now is owned by John 
 Felix. First Murphy built one log room; then he added 
 a room with a covered porch between. Marie Taylor, 
 who has given much information about the Harris and 
 Murphy families, was taken there to live with her grand- 
 parents when her mother died in 1905. 
 
 Gilham Harris, brother of first settler Isaac Harris, 
 and who came to Leech in 1812 with Isaac to bring their 
 drove of hogs to feed on the ' 6 mast ' ' of the Little Wabash 
 region, was a member of Capt. Willis Hargraves Co. 
 Bangers and Indian Fighters, who camped at Fairfield 
 one time. 
 
 1. Marie Murphy Taylor has the letter Lieut. Murphy wrote his 
 mother, also the tax receipt of Ann Murphy. From her notes also 
 came the information about Gilham Harris. 
 
 23 
 
The story of the Harris family and others of that 1 
 day was told in rhyme and published the latter part of 
 the last century. Time and use has not dealt kindly 
 with the article and so some words are missing. Be- 
 cause the verse tells a story of the early days of Leech T 
 it will be copied. Dots will indicate the parts that are 
 missing, but it tells an almost complete story as it is. 
 It includes much that has been already included, but this 
 unknown writer of the verse had the story from those 
 early people who had experienced some of the things 
 memtioned. 
 
 History of Olden Times Told In Rhyme 
 
 Isaac Harris, a hunter bold, 
 
 Came to White County in days of old, 
 
 Settled at Big Prairie — then moved again 
 
 And built the first cabin in the county of Wayne. 
 
 Another family with this family came, 
 . . . George, if I mistake not the name. 
 These families their cabins did build 
 On the banks of Pond iCreek and there the soil tilled. 
 
 Wild deer and honey their table supplied. 
 The bear was slain for his fat and hide. 
 Many swine the hunters brought. 
 Pood for them in vain was sought. 
 
 Big Creek bottoms they found one day 
 Filled with mast — five miles away. 
 Here the swine were speedily brought. 
 Young Boltinghouse to guard them his father be- 
 sought. 
 
 His father reluctant, the permission gave. 
 They saw him no more till they saw his rude grave. 
 The War of 1812 came in 
 And the Indians who had friendly been 
 1. Marie Taylor had this poem in her grandmother's scrap book. 
 
 24 
 
Were summoned to Massilon on the "Wabash Kiver, 
 Where Teumseh a speech to them did deliver. 
 The villians assembled at the great Indian town. 
 Teeumseh in a canoe on the river came down. 
 
 And there on the Wabash with livery green 
 Such a concourse of warriors had ne'er before seen. 
 He spoke to the Indians with eloquence great. 
 Those wonderful words had a wonderful weight 
 
 On the minds of the Indians. They determined to 
 
 take 
 The lives of all whites from river to lake. 
 The Cannon family at Grayville was killed. 
 Blood on the Embarrass was wantonly spilled. 
 
 The whole Wabash valley saw blood and fire, 
 The mother, the daughter, the son, and the sire. 
 All met the same fate. Now these same Indian dogs 
 Young Boultinghouse killed while watching his hogs. 
 
 They scooped him a grave on a lone little knoll. 
 The body sat upright in a rude little hole. 
 They covered his lower parts with dirt all around. 
 The arms and the body they left above ground. 
 
 To signify they a hunter had killed 
 Around the dead man's arms a fire they did build. 
 And burned them both off. They then killed a skunk 
 And left it lying by the trunk 
 
 To signify to those who would see this sight 
 The Indian's estimation of the white. 
 When the charred remains w^ere found 
 Buried beneath the silent ground 
 
 Ike Harris and the dead man's father 
 Believing it not safe to bother 
 The Indians then, they left the dead. 
 To Big Prairie's fort they fled. 
 
 25 
 
There they did stay for months eighteen. 
 There the Indians often were seen. 
 Of the fort they seemed afraid 
 As no attack on It was made. 
 
 Many who stayed without the fort 
 Were killed says an old report. 
 On . . . Prairie was Morgan slain. 
 blood and the ground did stain, 
 
 . . . was killed at Baker's lick 
 
 And brained by a hickory stick. 
 
 Many others also fell 
 
 Whose names we can't at present tell. 
 
 And then at last came this way 
 
 Brave men who drew no pay. 
 
 They searched the county for miles around 
 
 And killed the Indians wherever found. 
 
 When news of peace was brought 
 
 Isaac Harris his cabin In Wayne now sought. 
 
 It y strange to say, was standing still 
 
 As he left it on the hill. 
 
 Wilson and Boultinghouse came back. 
 
 . . . followed in their track. 
 
 . . . and Williams also came 
 
 And another family, Gates by name. 
 
 When Boultinghouse returned his attention turned 
 
 to the Indian dogs 
 Who killed his son and stole his hogs. 
 He and others came upon their track 
 And then with Harris he then went back. 
 
 Masters and Mr. Gates, 
 The Indians found and sealed their fates. 
 The Indians numbered four or five. 
 The boy's pony was found alive 
 
 26 
 
They from young Boultinghouse had stole 
 Then buried him in that horrid hole. 
 They found the Indians by the river bank 
 And sought the red men to outflank. 
 
 They got between them and their guns. 
 One tried to show how fast he runs. 
 But he was seen by the boy's dog Beeve 
 Determined the Indian should not leave. 
 
 Into the river he did bound 
 
 And caught the Indian who was quickly drowned. 
 
 These Indians were killed on a little ridge 
 
 Not a hundred yards from the railroad bridge. 
 
 That spans the Wabash near Myers mill. 
 Ike Merrit can show you the spot there still. 
 After this the settlers were troubled no more. 
 The dreadful Indians' day was o'er. 
 Prosperity and peace now reign supreme 
 The Indians are faded as in a dream. 
 
 Elizabeth Harris, ten year-old daughter of Isaac and 
 Jennie Harris when she came to Wayne, and who con- 
 tributed much to the development of Leech Township, 
 married Stephen Harriot and later John Goodwin; the 
 Goodwin's had only one child, James. The descendants 
 through James are numerous, and so the line of descent 
 of this pioneer woman are far reaching. i 
 
 James Goodwin married Julia Matthews. Because 
 the children and grandchildren of James and Julia are 
 so many, each of their children and the grandchildren 
 (the children of each particuliar child of James) will be 
 in separate paragraphs for the sake of clarity. 
 
 James' son Jim Goodwin married Lou Hodges and 
 had the following children: Beatrice Hawry, Jean Ellen 
 Goodwin, Ivan, and Carroll. 
 
 1. These descendants of Betsy Harris Goodwin and John Goodwin 
 were given by Mr. and Mrs. Tom Goodwin. 
 
 27 
 
Tom Goodwin married Maggie Hodges. Their only 
 child is Wilma Hallam, in Mt. Carmel. 
 
 Sam Goodwin married Finey Crews. Their children 
 were Marie and William. Then he married Rachel But- 
 ler. They had one child, Gladys. Then Sam married 
 Ad King. 
 
 Charles Goodwin married Maggie Crews. Their 
 children a.re: Murray, John, Vernette, Fred, and Clar- 
 ence. 
 
 John Goodwin married Lizzie Turnin. They had six 
 children: Julia, Charlie, Rebecca, Sherman, Emma, and 
 Johnnie. 
 
 Mollie Goodwin married John Hooper. They have 
 seven children: Logan, Roy, Hattie, Carrie, Leland, 
 Cynthia, and Sammie, who married Bertha Hallam and 
 lives across the road from the western border of Leech 
 in Grover Township. 
 
 Lavisa Goodwin married Loren Cable. They had 
 two children, Opal and Ray. 
 
 Jane Goodwin married Ot Book. They have three 
 children: Jim, Julia, and Bob. 
 
 Emma Goodwin married Oliver Harris. They have 
 seven children: Lura, Raymond, Elberta, Faye, Wanda, 
 Charles, and Ira. 
 
 Selma Goodwin married Frank Malone. They have 
 three children: James, Jean, Kenneth. 
 
 Another Harris family in western Leech is the 1 
 Robert Smith Harris family. Smith was a son of Thomas 
 Harris, who came here from Kentucky. Thomas was not 
 a relative of the Isaa.c Harris family. If he were, it was 
 distant relationship. His wife was Telitha E. Harris. 
 As was usual the family was a large one. Smith had 
 six children that lived to adulthood : Tom, Sadie, Charlie, 
 Sam, Pernellia, and Elizabeth. 
 
 Tom married Mary Trousel and had three sons, 
 Robert, Jeff, and Joe, the latter now living in Leech. 
 
 1. Smith Harris family record was given by Ethel Harris Hallam, 
 who proudly points out the fact that she was born on the site of 
 the first home built in Wayne. 
 
 28 
 
Later Tom married Addie Turnham and had one child, 
 Ethel, who married Elmer Hallam, and they live in 
 Leech. They have five children: Lyman, Ivan, Morris, 
 Mary Margaret, and John Thomas. 
 
 Sadie married Tom Fetters but had no children. 
 
 Charlie married Celia Vaughn and had five chil- 
 dren : Tressie, Fred, Frank, Glenna, and Stella. Tressie 
 married Ben Smith. Frank married Eliza Hallam. 
 Glenna married Perry Walker. 
 
 Sam married Julia Hoffee and had six children: Joe,. 
 Mark, Bonnie, Florence, Sadie, and Bertha. 
 
 Pernellia married Abe Chapman. 
 
 Elizabeth married William Moffit and had seven 
 children: Savannah, Luther, May, Sam, Bell, Margaret, 
 and Maud. 
 
 Maud married Chet Knodell, who was a merchant 
 in Golden Gate several years. Of this last family, four 
 live in Golden Gate, Maud, Sam, Bell, and Margaret. 
 
 George Merritt from Union County, Kentucky, fol- 
 lowed the Harris families here in 1816 and made his 
 home near the Harris homes. 
 
 Alexander Campbell came about the same time; he 
 settled in northern White just at the south edge of the 1 
 Wayne line. Later, members of the family did settle in 
 Leech. Campbell Hill derived its name from old Uncle 
 Jimmie Campbell. Three other families followed shortly 
 afterwards: Daniel Gray, Clarinda Hooper, and Samuel 
 Slocumb all from the South. Western Leech was fast 
 becoming one of the first settled regions in Wayne. 
 
 Some neighbors from Kentucky followed but went 
 farther north to Massilon. William Baton was one; 
 later he moved to Leech and settled just a short distance 
 east of Wabash, later called Scottsville. He lived there 
 until his death in 1844. 
 
 The Little Wabash was ever an attraction for it 
 furnished a waterway to travel and to haul commodities. 
 At Beech Bluff a settlement was made by Hampton 
 
 1. Wayne County History. 
 
 29 
 
Weed, who built a mill there and so furnished meal for 
 the settlers. Flatboats were made there to haul timber 
 and pork down the Wabash. It was a busy stream, and 
 Beech Bluff for several years was a thriving settlement. 
 The first accidental drowning in Leech occured at Beech 
 Bluff. 
 
 John J. Funkhouser came to this territory No- 
 vember 5, 1842. He brought 116 slaves. Others brought 
 one or a few slaves to this region, but that number of 
 slaves was such that it could have been the turning point 
 to make Illinois a slave state, if Birbeck, the English 
 settler at Albion, had not strongly fought the slave issue 
 in Illinois and was instrumental in making it free terri- 
 tory. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Harris came to Leech from Kentucky, 
 August 16, 1822. Nalbert Merritt came November 6, 
 1819, from South Carolina. Carl A. Winzenburg, born 
 in Germany, June 27, 1821, came to Leech in 1864, bought 
 360 acres of land at ten dollars per acre. All those homes 
 were in western Leech in the region later called Pond 
 Creek. The John Laws family came from Tennessee. 1 
 
 In eastern Leech settlements were being made at 
 the same time. Most of those earlier people came from 
 the east, Rochester and Indiana, and down the Ohio. (Of 
 course many of those had come to those places earlier 
 from Kentucky and other southern states.) Caldwall- 
 ader Jones from Gibson County, Indiana, was the first 
 white man to settle in eastern Leech, now the Dale Moore 
 home on the Edwards County line, but others soon fol- 
 lowed. In fact it was often a case of crowding westward 
 from Edwards County. Jones built a ca.bin, somewhat 
 like a tent. He used logs to form the sides. Then across 
 a high pole across the center he put the cover,, the 
 temporary roof. He had too many other things to do to 
 spend all that first season on his home. He came in 
 February, 1816, following an old Indian trail, and buffalo 
 trail, westward from Coffee Island in the Wabash River. 
 
 1. Mrs. Mary Murphy added information regarding western Leech 
 
 settlers. 
 
 30 
 
He had two horses, one to carry his supplies. His cabin 
 was in the N. E. of the N. E. of Section 25, T2S, R9E. 
 Since it was there the first white child of the county was 
 born, the location is important. 
 
 By the first of May he had a plot of ground ready for 
 corn. He visited his mother in Gibson County and his *■ 
 bride, the former Jane Anderson. He secured seed corn 
 and other supplies and returned to his cabin. His young- 
 er brother John came with him. The two planted the 
 first corn in Wayne County, May 10, 1816. The Harris 
 brothers also planted corn that year in western Leech, 
 but the Jones brothers managed to harvest their crop. 
 They proudly claimed to be the first to raise corn in 
 Wayne (tounty. All the work was done by hand, and the 
 plot was small. Animals from the woods fed on the 
 corn; varmits they called them. Besides using the hoe 
 to cultivate the corn, the plot had to be watched all the 
 time to prevent its destruction. 
 
 So when Caldwallader returned to Gibson County 
 for his bride, he left his brother to keep the varmits from 
 the corn. That fall he brought Jane to her new home. 
 It was there in that tent cabin that the first white child 
 of the County was born later that same year, John Jones, 
 who later became the first native teacher of the county. 
 Some of these Jones descendants still live in this region. 
 
 While Caldwallader was gone for his bride and sup- 
 plies an important visitor came to the Jones cabin, was 
 gladly welcomed by John Jones, who invited the stranger 
 to stay. He was a polished, educated, intellectual 
 Frenchman, speaking several languages fluently. He was 
 also an artist and later made designs for the pioneer 
 women to use in weaving coverlets. He was a teacher 
 and taught the children of the neighborhood. He never 
 told his name, but he remained in the Jones cabin after 
 the bride and groom a.rrived. It is likely that he came 
 from Europe to one of the French settlements on the 
 
 1. A descendant of the Jones family wrote the story of the Jones 
 settlement. John Jones the first child born here, also told the 
 story in the Wayne History. ■ ■ • ' ■ 
 
 31 
 
Wabash, perhaps Vincennes. Because he was silent 
 about himself, it was surmised he was hiding out. When 
 one remembers that in those days one lost his head easily 
 in Europe if he opposed the ones in power, or if he were 
 a scientist and offered new ideas to the world, it is no 
 wonder that he fled. He did leave the Jones cabin for 
 weeks at a time, but he would return; they supposed he 
 visited French relatives or friends on the Wabash. For 
 more than two years he lived in Leech most of the time 
 contributing his bit toward building culture in the new 
 land. 
 
 Caldwallader was a very strong man, a common 
 thing among the back woodsmen. The strongest man 
 was always revered for his power. He was also a won- 
 derful marksman, even competing with men who were 
 proud of their records. In 1818 he bought 160 acres just 
 east of his home, in Edwards at $1.25 per acre. He built 
 a cabin there and moved the family to the better home. 
 When Wayne was separated from Edwards in 1819 that 
 left his first cabin in Wayne and the second in Edwards. 
 He was energetic, a good planner and a hard worker. He 
 was an excellent drillmaster and always preached pre- 
 paredness. He always held positions in the state militia. 
 It may be because of his preaching that when the Black 
 Hawk War broke out in 1832 that all were prepared and 
 that not one had to be conscripted. 
 
 In 1817 an almost tragic incident happened in the 
 Elm River and Little Wabash River region. A man 
 named Staxk and his wife, both known to the Jones fam- 
 ily, were captured by a band of Indians. The man man- 
 aged to escape and made his way back to the Jones settle- 
 ment, but his wife was carried into the interior along the 
 Illinois River basin and was forced to be the consort of 
 the chief. She never gave up the idea of escape and was 
 ever alert for an opportunity. 
 
 In the mean time Stark was told by an Indian that 
 his wife was dead. The whites and the Indians did meet 
 and talk in a more or less friendly way. The whites 
 seemed to think of all Indians as lying, crafty scoundrels 
 
 32 
 
though. Stark accepted the Indian's word and remar- 
 ried. He lived near the Jones cabin. 
 
 His wife managed to escape and alone hid in the 
 woods and made her way to the southeast to join her 
 husband. She lived on berries and slept in the leaves. 
 About half dead from exhaustion she made her way to 
 the Jones cabin. Mrs. Jones was almost terrified; she 
 knew not what to do. She was aware that Stark had 
 another wife. She took the woman in, fed her, and made 
 her comfortable. In the meantime she told her husband 
 of the woman's arrival. He spread the news over the 
 neighborhood. What was to be done ? Stark and his 
 second wife were told and she offered to leave, but the 
 pioneers argued a.gainst that; they held a session to dis- 
 cuss what should be done. It seems that they devised 
 their own laws as they needed them. They decided that 
 Stark had remarried in good faith and that he should 
 keep both wives. 
 
 The first wife was told about her husband's remar- 
 riage; she was beside herself with grief, but she asked 
 to see him. The thought of her reunion with him had 
 led her to escape the Indians and make her way alone 
 through the wilderness. The two women agreed to the 
 decision of the neighbors; both would stay with Stark. 
 They lived here until one of the women died. Legend 
 does not say which one, but after that he moved away 
 and was lost to the Leech people. The woman who died 
 was naturally buried near her home. As there are three 
 old small centeries in this immediate vicinity, her grave, 
 unmarked, is likely in one. One cemetery is on the Ed- 
 wards County side of the line on the present Charlie 
 Fisher farm, northeast of the Dale Moore home. The 
 second was a quarter to the southwest of the Jones home 
 on a very high hill on the Phillips farms, now the A. E. 
 Seifert home; that cemetery is a short distance south of 
 the barn. The third cemetery was a quarter straight 
 west on a high hill, the Huntsinger hill. 
 
 Caldwallader and Jane Anderson Jones had four 
 children: John, Thomas, Robert, and Charles. After 
 
 33 
 
Jane died in 1826, lie married Martha Ham. Their chil- 
 dren were Fanny Ewing, Mary Mansham, Celia West, 
 later McKibben, Malinda Westfall, Evalina West, Eliza 
 Bureh, Frank Jasper, and James Madison. All reared 
 large families except James Madison. 
 
 Charles Jones, son of Caldwallacler, married Melin- 
 da West, daughter of ■ Samual West of Bonltinghonse 
 Prairie near Albion. They had fonr sons and a daugh- 
 ter: Ed, Sam, Rev, Truman, and Helen. They lived on 
 the hill to the northwest of the original Jones home. 
 Helen married Sam Briscoe of Edwards (County and 
 moved to Edwards. -Rev ■ married Cora Cullison of Ed- 
 wards County; they had one child, Agnes. They lived 
 near Scottsville a few years but moved away. 
 ! Ed married Ida Ridens ; they had four daughters, 
 Maud, Gertrude, Effie, and Virdie. Maud married Tom 
 Leslie and lived in the township several years but moved 
 to Bone Gap. Effie married Curt Mann ajid lived near 
 Scottsville several years but moved to Mt. Erie. Their 
 daughter Geraldine Mann married Virgil Bunting and 
 lives in Golden Gate. Gertrude married Frank Piercy; 
 they still live near the eastern border of Leech; they 
 have spent all their lives on that farm. Virdie married 
 Frank Smith of Edwards County; they moved to Albion. 
 Of this line of these early settlers, Gertrude Piercy and 
 Geraldine Bunting are the only ones now in Leech. 
 
 Sam Jones married Fannie Fewkes of Albion; they 
 had five sons. They lived until their deaths on the Elias 
 Clark farm west of Bethel Church. The sons are: 
 Charles, Emmet, Roscoe, August, and Robert. Charles 
 married Florence Ostendorf; they have seven children 
 and live in Ellery. Emmett Jones married Ethel Stroup 
 (daughter of Lane and Alice McKibben Stroup); they 
 have two children, Clyde and Virginia, both at home; 
 they live on the Stroup farm south of Scottsville. 
 
 Roscoe married Alice Simms; they have seven chil- 
 dren and live near Scottsville. Robert lives in Wash- 
 ington state. August lives alone on his farm north of 
 Scottsville. 
 
 34 
 
Of this line of the early Jones settlers August Jones, 
 the Emmet Jones family, the Roscoe Jones family, and 
 the Charles Jones family all live in eastern Leech. 
 
 Two sons of Celia Jones McKibben, Elmer and John 
 McKibben, spent most of their lives in Leech. Elmer 
 married Kate Cullison. They had one son Earnest. John 
 married her sister Laura. They had three sons: ; 
 Hugh, Harry, and Rawleigh. Hugh married Iva Petti* 
 grew and did live in the township several years, but 
 they moved to Albion. They had two daughters. Harry 
 left the township when he become grown. Rawleigh 
 married Mary Seifert and had two children, Ruth and 
 P. J. None of them lives in Leech. 
 
 All this line of the early Jones family have moved 
 away. 
 
 A story was told of a Jones boy in the early days, 
 a cousin of the above family. Pomp Scott and another 
 man thought it fun to rub the boy's hair full of cuckle- 
 burs. It was no fun to him; he was righteously angry. 
 He defended himself with a knife as best he could, almost 
 cutting the two men to pieces. They had him arrested. 
 When authorities found him, the boy was lying on his 
 father's grave weeping. He was freed, the plea being 
 self-defense. 
 
 The Phillips family lived near the Jones place, later 
 bought by Samuel Allison, given to daughter Sophronia, 
 and now the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Seifert. 
 
 The Bobbie Monroe family, the one who laid out the 
 streets at Wabash, now Scottsville, settled on the farm 
 that is now known as the James Pettigrew farm. 
 
 The Francis West family lived near here; they came 
 from the Boultinghouse Prairie settlement southwest of 
 Albion. They lived on the Hunt singer hill. 
 
 Dr. Alexander Stewart of Scotland, friend of George 
 Flower, was persuaded to come to the Illinois country. 
 He was a veterinarian in Scotland, but when he finally 
 settled here, just south of Leech at what is now Burnt 
 Prairie, he used his skill to care for people. His wife 
 went with him to act as mid-wife when needed. We 
 
 35 
 
mention him here for he was one of the first doctors 
 many of the people of Leech had. He had lived at New 
 Harmony, a friend of Owen. He was sent across the Illi- 
 nois country on business to Natchez. He so liked the 
 region of Pond Creek that he returned there to hunt, 
 bringing others. They set fire to the region which burn- 
 ed off the high wild grass in the Pond Creek region back 
 to the Little Wabash. That is how Burnt Prairie got 
 its name. In 1825 he settled Liberty, later know as 
 Burnt Prairie. When he came his wife said only one 
 tree stood near the settlement. 1 
 
 A section of the Owens diary in the New Harmony 
 library reveals the type of life lived in this region in 
 those early days. The Stew^art mentioned is the one re- 
 ferred to above. Even after living in the Burnt Prairie 
 region he crossed this section of Wayne to visit his old 
 friends at Albion. The Owens diary says: "I started 
 about ten o'clock on horseback for Albion. Soon after 
 crossing the ferry it commenced raining (He undoubted- 
 ly refers to the ferry across the Big Wabash at New 
 Harmony.) and continued w r ith little intermission until 
 I arrived within one-half mile of Mr. Flower's house. It 
 must not be denied that a ride over an uncultivated 
 woodland country, where for many miles not a habitation 
 or improvement is to be seen, without a single companion 
 particuliarly over a deep muddy road, while the rain 
 descended in torrents, is certainly a situation not to be 
 desired. After dining about seven o'clock we drove with 
 Mr. and Miss Ronalds in the Flower wagon to Albion. 
 George Flower followed on horseback. The night was 
 now beautiful, but the night was so dark that we were 
 guided by a boy walking ahead of the horses with a 
 lantern. When we arrived we found only a few persons 
 because of the wetness of the weather; however, after 
 visiting some time w T e entered the ballroom and found a 
 
 1. Cal Morrison, great grandson of Dr. Stewart, now of Burnt 
 Prairie, told me of his ancestor. Cairo Craig Long, also a rela- 
 tive of Dr. Stewart told me of his coming to America and being 
 a veterinarian and then doctoring people here because of the great 
 need for physicians. 
 
 36 
 
considerable party. Among those present were Mes. 
 Judge Wattles, Carter, Becket, Orange, Brown, Cave, 
 Birbeck, the Misses Ronalds, Brown, Ross, Scott, John- 
 son, Judge Wattles. Messrs. G. Flower, H. Ronalds, Dr. 
 Spring, Becket, Brown, Cave, Jesse Brown, Prichard, 
 Barton and Wood. I led off with Mrs. Carter in a country 
 dance. Afterwards in the course of the evening we 
 danced a Kentucky reel; but except that, only country 
 dances. I saw no one at all in the room intoxicated, 
 which they said was often the case. On the contrary, 
 though several stood near the whisky barrel, the great- 
 est decorum was observed. About half past twelve we 
 all went below to supper which was laid out on two tables 
 and about half past one we went home as we had come. 
 But some stayed until five in the morning. ' ' The follow- 
 ing day Mr. Owen entered in his diary: "I talked with 
 Mr. and Mrs. George Flower. Saw Mrs. Pickering, a 
 pleasant women. After dinner Messrs. Brissenden and 
 Stewart called. Stewart had just returned from Natchez. 
 Among the questions asked him was how are slaves sell- 
 ing. One sold for $500. Male or female? Female, a 
 likely slave." 
 
 Since that gives a very vivid picture of life here at 
 those times and was written by one well known in this 
 region it seemed well to include it. Dr. Stewart surely 
 practiced in Leech Township, and it is certain that others 
 mentioned did business with people in eastern Leech. 
 
 Other old diaries of that time reveal much concern- 
 ing the early way of life here and the interests the peo- 
 ple had. A section is included from the diary of Rosander 
 Smith, born at Unica, N. Y., April 9, 1817. He came to 
 Illinois when four and kept notes from the time he was 
 old enough to write until his death. In fact the region 
 he speaks of includes the wooded area of Wayne to the 
 east of the Little Wabash. "John Compton and others 
 built a fort on Little Bompas Creek, and when the Indi- 
 ans came about we went into the fort until the Indians 
 went away, and until the Shawnees were driven to 
 Shawneetown. . . . John Compton went west from the 
 
 37 
 
fort one day and killed a bear. The animal was in tall 
 grass. It made a path in the grass. He saw it coming, 
 stepped to one side and shot it. When he was taking 
 ont the entrails, he looked down the path and saw an 
 Indian crawling toward him. At first he thought he 
 would shoot the Indian^ but he thought maybe there were 
 more of them, and so he returned to the fort and gave 
 the alarm. Three or four started out to get the bear, but 
 they found out that the bear and the Indians were gone. 
 . . . William Higgins, Randsom Ruark, Lord Rollins, and 
 Medad Simmons, great hunters, killed from 100 to 125 
 deer per year. They saved the skins and horns and gave 
 them to the neighbors. The wolves were very bad on the 
 hogs and pigs. The farmers would make decoys in the 
 pens with mea.t. They would get as many as three or 
 four wolves at a time. The Indians were numerous about 
 the settlement, doing harm, stealing hogs, and killing 
 men. They were then driven to Shawneetown. Then 
 every year they would pass the fort on their way to 
 Peoria to get silver ore and take it back to Shawneetown 
 on their ponies. When the Indians were driven across 
 the Mississippi we could build better homes and live at 
 peace." 
 
 The Indians did cause much worry to all early 
 settlers. It is likely that the whites were as much to 
 blame as the Indians. In the early days some whites 
 took it upon themselves to seek vengeance without wait- 
 ing for the law to act. After the War of 1812 the laws 
 were strict regarding such matters, but the whites often 
 took revenge and remained silent about the affair. Such 
 was the case concerning the Boultinghouse boy, who was 
 murdered by the Indians. The complete story was not 1 - 
 told until after the death of all concerned. In 1814 the 
 son of Capt. Boultinghouse rode into the wooods to the 
 west (which was the Leech Township area) to look for 
 some hogs. Sometimes droves of hogs wandered from 
 home. Each owner identified his own stock by a mark 
 
 1. The story was reprinted in the Mt. Carmel Republican Register. 
 
 38 
 
in the ears. The horse the boy rode wore a bell, a com- 
 mon thing in those days in order to locate the horse when 
 it was turned loose.. Men in those times could distin- 
 guish one bell from another just as many modern people 
 know the sound of one car from another. No two bells 
 ever sound exactly alike. Beve, the boy's dog, accom- 
 panied him. 
 
 Later the dog returned home alone. The father was 
 much concerned at once, for the dog always stayed with 
 the boy. He was afraid of foul play. He gathered some 
 neighbors and rode into the woods to look for the boy and 
 horse. At a spot nea.r the western border of Edwards 
 and the eastern border of Wayne they found the muti- 
 lated body of the boy, near the site of an old Indian 
 village. There was no sign of the horse; it had strayed 
 or had been stolen. 
 
 Four years passed. C apt. Boultinghouse and some 
 others were hunting bears and deer in eastern Wayne in 
 the Little Wabash area, when they heard a stock bell. 
 He pricked his ears and listened closely; it was the bell 
 that had been on his son's horse. Though it was now 
 1818, he remembered well his own bell. He told the men 
 and suggested they investigate. They did. Not far from 
 the Little Wabash they found the horse the boy had 
 ridden when he went away, still wearing the same bell. 
 The men moved silently toward the river. They saw 
 four braves and three squaws. The Indians had guns, 
 but they had stacked them against a tree a short distance 
 from them. One of the white men silently moved be- 
 tween the Indians and their guns. Boultinghouse then 
 asked the chief about his son. The chief seemed proud 
 of his deed. He told how he had killed the boy, gloating 
 over the deed. The father was furious. He tried, how- 
 ever, to tell the chief it was evil to murder. In answer 
 the chief mimicked the boy's plea for life. Then the 
 father shot the chief. At the same instant the other men 
 shot two braves. The other ran to the water 's edge and 
 was escaping when the dog, Beve, caught the Indian by 
 
 39 
 
the. leg and held on; that brave was soon killed, and then 
 the squaws, so no tales could be told. - 
 
 The father took the horse home saying he had 
 found it in the woods. No questions were asked. One of 
 his men also took an Indian pony and called it a stray. 
 As sympathy was with the Boultinghouse family, no in- 
 vestigation was made. After the death of all men of 
 that party, Judge Samuel J. E, Wilson, a friend, told the 
 
 Story. .; • >..-, ■ i\: •■,. ■. ■ ■■: I s ■ .■:: «•;. : ::. • 
 
 One of the descendants of Capt. Boultinghouse whd 
 now lives in southern Indiana tells a slightly different 
 version of the finding of the Indians after the boy Was 
 killed. He said the boy's pony was white. Some people 
 saw the Indians at the crossing of the Little Wabash 
 where the Old Iron Bridge was later built. They spread 
 the news of the Indians' whereabouts so that it reached 
 the Boultinghouses. The boy's father and other men 
 started searching for those Indians. They saw the white, 
 pony and recognized it. They followed the Indians 
 northward along the river to the bend near the point 
 where King Greek empties into the Little Wabash. There 
 they cornered the Indians and attacked them. Some of 
 the Indians tried to escape across the river but all were 
 killed including the squaws. . ., ,. 
 
 In 1811 near Versailles, Ky., John and iSarah Brown 
 Allison, both of English descent, lived with their three 
 sons, John, Jerry, and Adam. The Allison family had 
 moved there from South Carolina through Tennessee. 
 On November 11, 1811, Samuel B. Allison, the fourth 
 son, was born; the mother died. In six weeks the father, 
 John Allison, also died. Some family took the oldest 
 child, John, and soon moved away, perhaps to Ohio* 
 Because of slow means of communication in those days* 
 the whereabout of the child was lost to the- other broth- 
 ers. Grandmother (Jane?) Brown took the baby and 
 brothers to care for them, but she soon died. The three 
 young Allisons were taken by the Boultinghouse family, 
 who. brought them to southern Illinois ; via Shawneetown. 
 
 40 
 
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The.y stopped in White County and then settled in 
 Bouitinghouse Prairie, before Albion was settled. 
 
 Being an orphan, Samuel B. Allison began working 
 for himself at an early age. In the early thirties, he 
 and his brother Adam moved west from Bouitinghouse 
 Prairie to a region they had visited, and liked, with the 
 idea of selecting land to buy from the Government, which 
 they did, for $1.25 per acre. 
 
 At the time the Allison boys were brought to Illi- 
 nois, there lived on Turkey Creek, near Portsmouth, 
 Ohio, (Francis!) West and his sons; they were tanners. 
 The father had come to the east coast from Dublin, Ire- 
 land, and had moved inland after the Revolution. 
 
 One son, Samuel West, born October 15, 1794, died 
 August 30, 1844, had married a woman of Pennsylvania 
 Dutch descent. She, Nancy West, was born December 23, 
 1797 and died July 2, 1872. Their first child was born 
 in Portsmouth, Susan or Suzanne. (She was called 
 Susan.) She was born April 7, 1819 and died October 
 30, 1893. When she was small the family moved west- 
 ward via flat boat on the Ohio. They settled in Bouiting- 
 house Prairie in Edwards County. There these children 
 were born: Francis, Ealy, William, Leroy, Malinda, 
 James, and Samuel. 
 
 Samuel B. Allison bought land in section 36, T2S, 
 R9E, the northwest quarter. He bought other land later, 
 one forty acre tract of woods for a rifle and a horse. He 
 built a cabin of round logs by a spring on a hill, a few 
 yards east of the present Allison home. He cleared some 
 land and planted some crops. 
 
 Adam Allison bought land bordering Samuel's on 
 the west. Both farms had rows of apples trees, full 
 grown trees, not in clumps, likely the work of Apple 
 Seed Johnnie. No other white person had lived there; 
 the land was bought from the Government. (No family 
 but the Allisons has lived there. It is the oldest farm 
 in the county on which only one family has lived.) 
 
 Samuel planned to build a second cabin, a larger 
 one of hewn logs. It was built a few yards south of the 
 
 42 
 
present house. To that cabin he brought his bride, Susan 
 West Allison, who had been born at Portsmouth, Ohio. 
 She brought with her the first bedstead used on the Alli- 
 son farm, a wedding present from her father, Samuel 
 West, a four-poster maple, still in use. (Before that 
 Samuel had had merely the usual pioneer bed made from 
 a stationary post in a corner of the cabin.) She also 
 brought her pink and blue willowware, more wedding- 
 presents which rested on a shelf on the wall, a shelf 
 which rested on two wooden pegs. There was no cup- 
 board. There were split bottom chairs and a drop-leaf 
 table. She also had a carpet, one she and her mother 
 had woven. In that cabin their first child was born, 
 Samantha. (The child was named after one of her 
 mother 's grandmothers. ) 
 
 Samuel was energetic. He soon built a larger home, 
 two large log rooms with two smaller rooms between, 
 one used as a pantry, the other as a closet. There was 
 also an upstairs bed room. Two more daughters were 
 born to them, Sophronia, who married Mauley McKibben 
 and had one son, Victor; and Destimony, who married 
 Jim Ewing. Samantha Malinda Allison Meiley and 
 Destimony Allison Ewing died when young. Samantha 
 was born July 2, 1839 and died January 6, 1860. The 
 other was born September 4, 1849, and died February 9, 
 1870. Sophronia lived to be 88. 
 
 On October 4, 1855, (Samuel and Susan's last child 
 was born, James McCoin Allison I. He was an energetic 
 child and planned to go to college to be a teacher. So 
 when grown, he was a teacher as well as a farmer, and 
 as his father died April 15, 1878, he lived alone with 
 his mother on the home place until his marriage to Mar- 
 garet Isabelle Lines of Edwards County, November 30, 
 1882; he brought the bride to the Allison home. (She 
 was born November 4, 1861, and died May 30, 1947.) A 
 large home had been built before then. 
 
 All the children of Coin and Margaret Allison were 
 born in the Allison home; Hugh Q., Earl L., James Mc- 
 Coin II, Mary Rena, and Lelah Susie. 
 
 43 
 
Hugh Q. Allison M. D. served in World War I. He 
 married Bessie Williams and lives in Grayville. 
 
 Editor Earl Allison lias always been a journalist. 
 He married Esther Ross, of Swedish descent; they live 
 in Mt. Carmel. They have two children: Wayne Allison 
 at home and Ruth Allison, who married Lieut. Col. 
 Robert Cbates and lives in Indianapolis. They have four 
 children: Margaret, Nancy, David, and Stephen. 
 
 James McCoin II married Lillian Rheinard ; they live 
 in Evans ville. They have two children: James McCoin III 
 and Barbara. James McC'oin III (called Jimmie), was 
 a fighter pilot in World W"ar II. He married Claudine 
 Karlee of Wayne County; they have one child, Michael 
 Allison. They live in Salem, where Jimmie works as a 
 geologist. Barbara Allison married Ellis Shepherd and 
 has two children, Susan and Nancy. They live in Cowling. 
 
 Mary Rena Allison married Alvie Seifert and has 
 six children: Marguerite, a teacher, who married Man- 
 fred Mason and lives in Chicago; they have three chil- 
 dren, Larry, Marilynn, and Cheryl. 
 
 Carroll Seifert married Mary Ellen Abbey and lives 
 near Albion; they have two children, Bruce and Caro- 
 lyn. He served in World War II in France; he is a car- 
 penter. 
 
 Juanita Seifert, nurse, married Sam Ucciardi and 
 lives in Chicago. She works in the health department 
 of the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago. 
 
 Eugene (Seifert married Joyce Warren of Wiscon- 
 sin and has one child, Donna Marie; they live in Albion. 
 He was one of the very first prisoners of war to be re- 
 turned to the United States, having been made a prisoner 
 in North Africa and imprisoned in Italy, where he 
 escaped after nine months and spent three months re- 
 turning to Allied lines. He is a carpenter. 
 
 Virginia Seifert, a teacher, married Robert Rouse 
 of Charleston and has one child, Maria. 
 
 Alvie Lee Seifert was in the service in Japan. He 
 is a mechanic in Chicago. 
 
 Lelah Allison is at the home place, because of a 
 
 44 
 
health condition. She taught English at McKendree 
 College, Lebanon, 111., until recently. Before that she 
 taught at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and 
 Illinois High Schools at Keensburg, Allendale, Hinds- 
 boro, and Metamora. 
 
 As the Allison home was one of the first permament 
 homes in southeastern Leech (The Allison family has 
 now lived there one and a quarter centuries), it came 
 to be a home for others beside those of the immediate 
 family. Susan Allison's niece, Nancy West, was reared 
 in this home. Hers was the first marriage in that home. 
 (The only other wedding there was that of Eena Allison 
 and Alvie Seifert.) Nancy married William McKibben 
 and lived for a while in the township. All their children 
 but one were born in southern Leech: Everett, Rozy, 
 Stella, Violet, Issa, Elma, and Bernadine. They moved 
 to Edwards County. 
 
 Samuel Allison's niece also made her home with 
 Samuel and Susan a year. During the Civil War he 
 built a cabin in his yard in which another niece and five 
 children lived two years while the husband and father 
 served in the war. Samuel supported those six relatives 
 two years. At that time there was no support from the 
 Government. Grant Allison, a cousin, made his home 
 here a few^ years. Daniel Allison, another cousin, also 
 made the Allison home his home. 
 
 When James McCoin I taught school he encouraged 
 boys to go to school. Each year he took one into his home, 
 taking the lad to school with him. 
 
 Politicians when making the rounds had dinner or 
 stayed all night in the home. J. M. liked company. 
 Often the only warning his Avife had that company would 
 be present was a message to one of the children. "Tell 
 your mother to put another plate on the table." She 
 did not object; she, too, liked people and liked to share 
 with them. After becoming a widow w T hen she was only 
 thirty-eight, she reared her children on the farm. She 
 was every busy throughout her long life. She loved 
 flowers. She lived long enough to see the lighting of 
 
 45 
 
the home change from candles to kerosene lamps, to 
 electricity. She saw farming done by one horse plows, 
 cradling, and hand dropping corn, and the modern ma- 
 chine methods. 
 
 Another who owned Leech land but lived across the 
 border in Edwards was her father, William Lines. He 
 did much to encourage the settlement of Ellery. It was 
 he who secured stock pens to be built there when the 
 railroad was built. He was born in Trenton, N. J., May 
 12, 1826, and died August 17, 1909. About 1840, with 
 his father Jousha Lines (English descent), he left Tren- 
 ton, N. J. and came down the Ohio on flatboat and 
 settled on what is now the Eamsey farm a mile north- 
 east of Ellery. William's mother, Margaret Heyworth 
 Lines, a family that had been in America since long be- 
 fore the Revolution, had died before the men moved 
 west. William married Marina Powell and had four 
 children; two lived to adulthood: William, who moved 
 to California; and Lafayette G. Lines, who spent all his 
 married life in Leech, married Jane McCollum. They had 
 five children: Lena, Edith, Nellie, Tom, and Roland. 
 Roland died when grown. Tom married Vernette Schaf- 
 fer and had four children; he moved to Wynn, Ark. 
 Edith married a Taylor and has spent most of her life 
 on the west coast; she lives in Seattle, Wash. Nellie 
 married Ed Woods and lived in Leech; they had four 
 children: John, Charlie, Laura, and Helen. John mar- 
 ried and moved away. Charlie married Genevieve Smith ; 
 they have two daughters, Lugene and Lillian. They live 
 near Leech in Edwards. Helen married a Wheeler and 
 lives in Decatur; she has two daughters, Jane and Lea. 
 Laura married a Curtis and lives in Peoria; she has two 
 children. Laura and Helen are both nurses. 1 
 
 Lena Lines married William Woods and lives in 
 Leech, the only one of this family left in Leech. They 
 reared their niece Mary Johnson, who married John 
 Wright; they had two children, Catherine and Bonnie. 
 
 1. Lines history given by Margaret Allison and Mary Ann Bunting. 
 
 46 
 
William Woods and John Wright are both dead. Mary 
 and the girls live with Lena Lines Woods. 
 
 After William Lines' wife's death, he married Mary 
 Blakely, in 1854, daughter of Robert and Margaret Little 
 Blakely of Tyrone County, Ireland, who had come to 
 America via New Orleans in 1838, a journey of eleven 
 weeks. (The mother died while on the Atlantic.) Wil- 
 liam and Mary had six children: Mary Ann, Elizabeth, 
 Margaret Isabelle, Hattie Jane, Harry, and Edward. The 
 boys died when about grown. Mary Ann married Bracy 
 Clark and had four children: Lillie. Bessie, Hurnard, and 
 Edward. Later she married Charlie Bunting. Elizabeth 
 married Mel Merrit, Dr. Merrit's son; later she married 
 Dr. Willie. Hattie married C'arsey Stroup and had one 
 daughter Mary Hanor, who lives in Des Plaines. None 
 of these lived in Leech, but on the Leech border. Mar- 
 garet Lines married J. M. Allison and spent a long life 
 in Leech, as did her family. Her record has been listed 
 under the Allisons. 
 
 William was a very quiet man, but one of strong 
 will. Often he went horseback to the bottoms to look 
 for his stock; he always hung a side of meat or some 
 commodity on the horse to give to a needy one. 
 
 At a place on the Little Wabash, rock bottom, north 
 of the site of Old Iron Bridge, Samuel Leech built a 
 damn and had a mill there which contributed much to the 
 welfare of the pioneers. Being an energetic man, he 
 moved to Fairfield and held all these offices there at 
 the same time: ; County clerk, circuit clerk, treasurers 
 judge. At the same time he was one of the town's first 
 merchants. So our township was honored by having 
 such an energetic man give his name to it. 
 
 The second mill at the Iron Bridge site was built 
 by Pulleyblank and Scott just south of the bridge. Some 
 of the old piles of the damn can yet be seen when the 
 water is low. That mill served the community several 
 years. 
 
 Daniel Bassett Leach, born August 10, 1921, Smith- 
 ville Flats, N. Y. was father of the Wayne County Leach 
 
 47 
 
family. He came to Edwards county at the age of six- 
 teen with Eben Gould in a two-horse open carriage, the 
 trip taking two weeks. He married Maria Lois Root 
 of West Virginia, then living in Illinois, two years later. 
 They lived east of Bone Gap; all his life he was a preach- 
 er, his first preaching in Leech Township being at Scotts- 
 ville in 1846. He was a strong man, six feet, four inches 
 tall. He used that strength and that of his sons to clear 
 much of the Leech Township bottoms. One summer he 
 suggested to his four eldest sons, Augustus, George, 
 Lewis, and Horace, that they buy eighty acres of Little 
 Wabash bottom land and clear it. They thought if the 
 land were cleared and drained it would make good 
 farming lend. They bought the land for a yoke of 
 oxen and fifteen dollars from a Mr. Henderson, who like- 
 ly thought he cheated the Leach men. After kneeling 
 and praying, he and his sons began clearing with axes 
 and saws. A small house, on the site where later a house 
 was built for Lewis and Eleanor Leach, was built for 
 their use. They had a saw mill and sold many loads of 
 lumber; Lewis was the sawer, George, the engineer, and 
 the other two brothers, the loggers. They hauled the 
 lumber to Albion by oxen or horses. 1 
 
 Lewis Leach married Eleanor Gould, October 27, 
 1872. jShe was house keeper for her husband and the 
 other Leach boys while they logged in Leech Township. 
 Their sawmill was north of White Oak Slough, and when 
 the water was high, they went to work in a boat. The 
 boat was just one half of a hollow log and turned easily. 
 They often found themselves in the water. 
 
 The first cabin was of round logs, but later another 
 room was added downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. 
 Because the high water came to a knothole in the floor, 
 he raised the floor one foot, but the water reached the 
 knothole the next time the water arose. A barn was 
 built, a well dug, only ten feet and never went dry. They 
 cleared land and chopped out the stumps. If stumps 
 
 1. Leach family and Waggoner family histories were written by 
 Frank Leach's youngest daughter, Esther. 
 
 48 
 
were too large to chop out, smaller ones were piled on 
 top and burned. When the boys reached manhood, each 
 was given eighty acres. 
 
 Later the family went into the drainage business. 
 On one occasion, Lewis wrote his son Frank concerning 
 drainage. " Can't get a house here. (Oilfield, 111.). Get 
 a tent so you can board yourselves, as board is $3.60 per 
 week." He also suggested that if Frank brought Ella, 
 his wife, they would build a shanty for her. 
 
 The Lewis Leach family: Joseph Daniel Leach, 
 strongest man in Barefoot, dredge contractor and farmer, 
 married Junia Barnett and had one daughter, Ina, who 
 married Seal Bradford. When Junia died, " Jody" mar- 
 ried Ida Smith. 
 
 Frank, Lewis' second son, married Ellen Waggner; 
 he was also dredger and farmer. Their children were 
 Etta, Edna, Edith, and Esther. 
 
 Arthur Lewis Leach, the third son, married Idella 
 Heath; their daughter, Veda, married Delber Parker. 
 
 One daughter was Pardee, who died at sixteen. Mary 
 Leach was the second child; she married Harrison St. 
 Ledger; their children are Flava and Hershal. 
 
 Theron was Lewis' sixth child. The seventh was 
 Raymond Oliver Leach, who married Myrtle Briggs; he 
 is a preacher. 
 
 Logan Leach, the eighth child, married Myrtle Mar- 
 tin. Their two daughters are Pardee and Mary Eliza- 
 beth. Later he married Edna Williams; their children 
 are Wilma Glen and Lewis. He is dead but she lives in 
 the old Leach homestead in Golden Gate. Alice and 
 Elizabeth were twin daughters of Lewis. Elizabeth soon 
 died but Alice grew to womanhood and died in 1937. 
 
 With the Leach brothers, contracting was more im- 
 portant than farming. They dredged not only the low- 
 lands of Leech Township but many other places also. 
 
 The invention of the caterpillar was the product of 
 necessity. In 1906 the Leach brothers were dredging a 
 mile or so south of Golden Gate. The dredge machine 
 was the kind that ran on regular railroad tracks. Short 
 
 49 
 
rails were used for they did not move more than six feet 
 at a time. They made fair progress in fair weather, but 
 when it rained it was so muddy they could not see where 
 to put the tracks. The boat was bogged down and rainy 
 weather was coming on. First they tried a "mud boat." 
 That is a set of skids on which the machine is supposed 
 to slide. They expected to slide the machine on by means 
 of a block and tackle. That did not work. The next 
 contraption resembled a mud turtle with claws on both 
 slides. The claws were supposed to dig into the mud and 
 inch it along. It worked better than the mud boat and 
 was used twice, but those claws dug up too much dirt. 
 The men had spent a month trying to move that fifty- 
 ton giant; ditching was becoming unprofitable. 
 
 Frank Leach said he had the idea of the caterpillar 
 at two o'clock one morning. There were ties down in 
 the ditch. They chained one of those to the mud boat, 
 and the boat walked on to it. He thought that if it 
 would climb one, it would climb two. It worked; they 
 separated the ties with blocks of wood. That was the 
 first caterpillar. 
 
 When they saw how well it worked, they joined them 
 well with a piece of chain. That made a.n endless web 
 of them. It worked so well they used it fifteen years. 
 Frank Leach thought of a new way to walk his dredges. 
 He attached four giant legs to the top of the dredge in- 
 stead of the bottom. Those legs, with aid of cables, made 
 it possible to work on steep slopes. He applied for and 
 received a patent for a dredge that operated on cater- 
 pillar tracks. 
 
 In World War I the caterpillar idea was applied to 
 tanks. He received no recognization for the invention. 
 
 In 1935 the Leaches quit dredging and began oil well 
 drilling, but that was not profitable, and they returned 
 to their farms. 
 
 John Leland Wagner was born in Dauphin County, 
 Pa., September 16, 1832, Pennsylvania Dutch stock. 
 When he was 31 he came to Pond Creek with his parents. 
 He bought land there and that first winter partly cleared 
 
 50 
 
it. Then he returned home to marry Sarah Berst, Jan. 
 5, 1865. They came to Pond Creek and spent their lives 
 there. Their children were: Mary, who married Elmer 
 Hoffee; John David, who married Ivy Day; Ellen, who 
 married Prank Leach; William, who married Mary 
 Hooper; Henry Franklin, who married CJarolyn Day; 
 Harvey Samuel, who married Alice Hallam. Their chil- 
 dren are : Freda, Emma Margaret, Sadie Gertrude, Fran- 
 ces, Bertha, and Lula Alice. 
 
 John Wagner worked hard clearing land, farming, 
 and running a molasses mill. He and his wife both died 
 on their farm and were buried at Union Cemetery. 
 
 Other settlers in the northern part of western Leech 
 were : the Wash Hodges family, the Jake Windle family, 
 and the John Goodman family. 1 
 
 Some families leave many descendants, some not. 
 Two brothers, born in Surrey, England, lived near the 
 Wamborough region in Edwards until they married 
 sisters and then they made their home in eastern Leech 
 and remained there until the death of all four. The 
 William Piercy family came from England in 1849. 
 Henry, called Harry, born in 1842, married Eliza Mann 
 in 1865. His older brother George Piercy married Eliza's 
 sister Elizabeth. Both were farmers. George lived on 
 the border of Edwards, Harry on a farm joining to the 
 west. 
 
 George and Elizabeth had one son William who 
 married Mahalia Michels. He had two children, Nora 
 (married Garfield Hudson) and Frank, who married 
 Gertrude Jones. Of this branch of the Piercy family, 
 there is one, Clayton Piercy (married Inez Collins) of 
 the fifth generation. He is Ellery mail carrier. His one 
 son, Kenneth, is the only one of the sixth generation. 
 
 Harry and Eliza had three children: Mary, who 
 died young ; James married Gelia Barnett ; they have one 
 son Norman, who married Ruth McCollum. They have 
 one son Lester, who married Agnes Newkirk. They have 
 
 1. Jimmie and Celia Piercy gave this information. 
 
 51 
 
 UNWtRSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRAE 
 
one son Stephen,, Harry had one daughter, Nellie. All 
 the members of this branch of the family, (except Nellie) ? 
 who now survive, (Harry and Eliza are dead), now live 
 on the same farm that Harry bought in 1865. 
 
 The Irish contributed to the early settlements in 
 Leech. One family was the Thomas Pettigrew T s family, 
 born in northern Ireland, February 2, 1816, married to 1 
 Jane Henderson, March 5, 1839, the parents of twelve 
 children, brought their family to eastern Leech in 1853 
 and made that a permanent home. This large family 
 with birth dates follows: Jane, Dec. 13, 1839 (died in two 
 months) ; James, February 16, 1841; George, April 11, 
 1,843. (He had one of the first stores at Ellery) ; Thomas, 
 August 16, 1845; Andy, May, • 1848 (died in infancy); 
 Andrew, July 20. 1849; Anna, October 29, 1852; Frances, 
 1855; William, April 2, 1859; Isa.belle, 1861 (died in in- 
 fancy) ; baby, 1864 (died when born). 2 
 
 James married Mary E. McFeteridge of Ohio in 
 1865. They established a home in 1880, in section 25, on 
 a farm that had been bought in 1836 from the U. S. by 
 Chatham Ewing, who had sold it to Eobert Monroe in 
 1849, who lost it to Aetna Ins. Co. in 1877. James and 
 Mary lived there all their lives. He was a teacher as 
 well as farmer. He died when 43, leaving eight children: 
 George, father of Ben Pettigrew; Jennie, mother of Iva 
 McKibben, who has two daughters; Thomas married 
 Alta Smith; three of their children live, Mary Hortin, 
 who has two daughters and a son; Allen in California; 
 James married Eva Grace Gill; they have three children 
 and live on the farm of his grandfather. Fannie was the 
 fourth child of James and Mary; she married Jim Elliott 
 and they had nine children, Lydia, Elsie, Mamie, Oscar, 
 Lyman, Tressie, Helen, Mabel, and Flossie. (Lyman still 
 lives in Leech ) ; Edward married Sarah Sheraden ; they 
 have four children living, Alta Dickey, Leta (married 
 Arlie Fisher, has one daughter, Carmen, who married 
 
 1. Information given by E'dward Pettigrew. 
 
 2. information of Pettigrew land given by James Pettigrew, who 
 still lives on the home place. 
 
 52 
 
Hill 'Daniel and has three daughters, all now in 
 Leech); Dorothy 'Daniel; Bertice married Carmen Cox 
 (has three daughters and two sons and lives in Scotts- 
 ville); Charlie, the last son of Mary and James married 
 Blanch Angel and had two daughters; Minnie the last 
 child of James and Mary married TJlissa Bell and has 
 six children. 
 
 Edward and Sarah have lived oh the same farm 
 near the Bethel Church for about fifty years. He is one 
 of the older citizens of Leech. 
 
 George, who became a merchant, married Menich 
 Aiken and then Ann Barkley. 
 
 Anna married Henry Johnson in February, 1875, 
 and lived on a farm a mile southwest of Ellery. Their 
 children are: Nell Parks. (Her son now lives on that 
 farm); Georgeann married Frank Woods; Rebecca 
 Stroup; Herman married Esther Spray; Morris married 
 Gertrude Woods. He still lives on the farm. Their chil- 
 dren are: Aline, married Jim Hamilton and has one 
 daughter and lives with her father ; Charlie married 
 Edna Fisher and has two daughters and lives beside his 
 father; Alice married Dale Moore and has three sons and 
 lives on the Jones farm, the first settlement in eastern 
 Leech ; Mary married John Wright and has two daugh- 
 ters. (She was reared by William and Lena Lines Woods 
 and makes her home with Lena in Ellery.) Morris, all his 
 children, and their families live in Leech now. < 
 
 Andy married Emma Thrash and had four children : 
 Harrison, Gordon, May Fields, and Tillie, who married 
 Bert Michels and lives on the old Pettigrew farm in 
 Leech. ■■■■•"■) 
 
 William married Maggie Macauly and had two chil- 
 dren, Thomas, who married Evelyn West and lives on 
 part of the old Pettigrew farm; Lillie married Fred 
 Mann. Her son lives near Scottsville. ?J : : ; :5::: ' 
 
 The Pettigrew family was numerous, but severalof 
 them still live in this section of Leech Township, an 
 
 53 
 
unusual thing for so many of one family to live in one 
 region the past one hundred years. 
 
 Another who lived about seventy years in eastern 
 Leech and who did much to clear the land and float logs 
 to Carmi on a raft on the Little Wabash River was * 
 Peter J. Seifert,. who came here from Ohio when he was 
 twenty-one and had only thirty cents; he was of German 
 descent. He married Isabelle Valette of Edwards County 
 (English descent) and about 1882 moved to the farm in 
 southern Leech which he did much to reclaim from the 
 wilderness, living all his life there except one year spent 
 in Albion and two years before his death, December 30, 
 1953. By a long process of hard work he accumulated 
 600 acres of land in the Little Wabash region. He was 
 a natural nurse, and in those days, often lent his aid to 
 a sick neighbor, sitting up throughout the night to care 
 for the patient. His and Isabelle 's children were: Delia, 
 married Ed (Sawyer ; Alvie, married Rena Allison and has 
 six children, already mentioned; Fronie Vincent Norris 
 had three sons, Harold, Bert, and Robert Vincent; Guy 
 married Lois McCollum and had three sons, Leo, Lowell, 
 and Doyle. 
 
 After Isabelle 's death, P. J. married Margaret 
 Hallam; their children were: Howard married Amy Day 
 and had two children; he then married Mary Rail; Mary 
 Seifert married Rawleigh McKibben and had two chil- 
 dren, Ruth Chalcraf t, who has twin sons, and P. J., who 
 has two children; Edith married Frank Chalcraf t and 
 has one son who has two children; Bernadine married 
 Ariey Dawson and has three sons; Wilma married Orville 
 Wiles and has six children; Mildred married Harry 
 Crackle and has four children. 
 
 The second wife also had a son, Frank Seifert, who 
 was reared on this same farm; he married Vene Ram- 
 sey; they have two children: Eva married Earl Tucker 
 and has two sons; Frank Jr. married Helen Xanders and 
 has three children. 
 
 1. P. J. Seifert tolcl me this history. 
 
 54 
 
After the death of the second wife, P. J. married 
 Lucy Michels Ayers, who brought her foster son, John 
 Wright, with her to the Seifert farm, where he made his 
 home. This large family was all reared on the Seifert 
 farm. Frank and his son still live near the old farm. 
 Alvie lives on a farm a short distance to the northeast. 
 
 Another Seifert came to Illinois about the same time 
 as P. J., his brother John, who married a sister of P. J. 's 
 first wife, Hattie Valette. They lived on a farm just 
 west of the P. J. Seifert place and had two sons, Orville 
 and Rollie, but they moved to Albion before World War 
 I and so left Leech permanently. 
 
 On a hill near the edge of the bluff, west of the 
 river, down which was the flat land that led to the Little 
 Wabash, on an old Buffalo and Indian trail that led 
 westward from the r.ver crossing, was the home of the 1 
 J. J. (John) Wilson family. He w T as a printer in Phil- 
 adelphia, where he had been born, but he came to west- 
 ern Leech when young and made that his home his entire 
 long life. He was a teacher as well as a farmer. He 
 liked company and stopped passers-by for a chat (one 
 way of social contacts in early life), and he always in- 
 vited everyone to stop for dinner or supper. His wife 
 kept the table long and expected company anytime. She, 
 the former Sarah Brown, also liked company, and her 
 home was ever open to visitors. He was also a politican, 
 Democrat, and with pride pointed to the fact that he was 
 a distant cousin to President Woodrow Wilson. 
 
 By a former marriage he had had one daughter 
 Margaret. By Sarah Brown Wilson he had three chil- 
 dren: John married Sarah Windle (a Leech girl) and 
 their children were Thomas, Woodrow, and Vivian; 
 Emma, J. J.'s second child, married B. D. Murphy, who 
 was later the first postmaster of Golden Gate and a 
 merchant there many years,and their daughter is Hat- 
 tie, who married Charlie Hart. (Their children are 
 Thelma Hahn and Everett Murphy); J. J.'s last child 
 
 1. iHattie Hart gave the story of the Wilson family. 
 
 55 
 
was Alice, wlio married Tom Wood and they had two 
 children,, Cora and Jessie. Later she married Will Stone. 
 
 Of these descendants of "Uncle" John J. Wilson, 
 only Ha.ttie Hart now lives in Leech ; she lives in Golden 
 Gate. 
 
 Exactly one hnndred years ago this year, 1854, J. J. 
 Wilson came to Leech. Pie was active in Leech politics 
 and for several years often called officers to meet in his 
 home. Of course, one hnndred years ago, it was a long 
 journey to go from Leech to Fairfield. Mayhe that was 
 why his home and others of the time were always open 
 to all comers; travel was slow either on or behind a 
 plodding horse. Meal time often came while one was on 
 the road; restaurants did not flourish then as now. The 
 hospitality of the people in the rural districts is some- 
 thing that deserves mention in discussing the lives of 
 those people. 
 
 "Aunt" Em Murphy was enough like her energetic 
 father to live a very active life ; she also lived a long life 
 in Leech, as he did. Her energies turned toward church 
 work. She was also independent; when 84 she traveled 
 alone to Oklahoma to visit relatives. She also was active 
 in a unique way. It was through her effort that the 
 Leech Widow's Club was organized, the only one of its 
 kind. The widows of the territory met only once a year. 
 On a day she named, they met in Golden Gate for the 
 widows ' picnic. The requirement for admittance to that 
 picnic was to be a widow. 
 
 The Moores have long lived in the Bethel area. Chet 
 Moore,, who married Irene Crews, has long lived on the 
 Melrose place beside the Bethel Church. Clark Moore 
 married Maggie Patterson and had two children: Lucille, 
 who married Arthur Eamsey; her family has been listed 
 under the Michels; and Dale Moore, who married Alice 
 Johnson; their family has been listed under the Petti- 
 grews. Later Clark Moore married Mabel Day and had 
 four children: three sons and a daughter, Mildred, who 
 married Tommie Gill. iClark and Mabel live west of 
 Scottsville. 
 
 56 
 
James (Jim) Glover has spent almost seventy years 
 in Leech, first in western Leech and then in eastern 
 Leech. When a young man he spent three years in North 
 Dakota, because he liked that region. He is the son of 
 Ed and Clara Elliott Glover. 
 
 R. W. and Carrie Shaw Smith came to eastern Leech 
 fifty-five years ago. They lived many years in south- 
 eastern Leech and then moved to Golden Gate, where 
 she now lives. Their children were,, Tom, John (both 
 in Leech), Alberta, Bessie, and Lawrence. 
 
 Luke Hughes lived in Leech all his life. His chil- 
 dren were: David, Lewis, Alva, Foster, Eliza, Walter, 
 and Flossie. 
 
 There were others who lived here in the early days 
 of course; most of them moved on. Jake C. Neel came 
 here in 1836, never married but made a permanent home 
 here. His sister Clam Neel kept house for him. They 
 lived in northwestern Leech. 
 
 D. M. Walker came to Leech in 1830, and the Walker 
 family lived here many years. 
 
 W. L. Gash came to Wayne in 1835, but he never 
 lived in Leech. He lived in Merriam, but he did own 
 much land in Leech and was one who helped build west- 
 ern Leech. His daughter was Grace Borah. 
 
 It is interesting to note business references given for 
 Leech in the Atlas of Wayne County, pub. in 1881; James 
 Goodwin, dealer in sheep, horses, cattle, and all kinds 
 of live stock, residence, section 19; W. H. Wheeler, 
 teacher in public schools and surveyor for Wayne Coun- 
 ty; Adam Johnson, teacher in public school; J. M. Alli- 
 son, teacher in public school; J. H. Pettigrew, teacher in 
 public school; G. D. Odell, township collector and school 
 treasurer of town 3; W. P. Cravens, township collector 
 elect; C. P. Jones, school director of district number 5; 
 John Haefele, dealer in dry goods, grocers, hats,, caps, 
 boots, shoes, ready-made clothing, hardware, queens- 
 ware, tinware, cutlery, harness,, toilet soap, fancy articles, 
 perfumery and notions of all kinds usually kept in a 
 first class country store (store in Liberty); William G. 
 
 57 
 
Boze, bookkeeper and clerk for John Haefele; iCharles 
 Wenzenburger, breeder and dealer in all kinds of live 
 stock; Nathan Merritt, justice of the peace and convey- 
 ancer, residence in section seven; N. P. Merritt, M. D. 
 practicing physician and dealer in drugs and medicines 
 at Wabash, 111. ; A. E. Scott, practical blacksmith, Scotts- 
 ville (Since Wabash and Scottsville were the same place 
 it is interesting to note the names given by those who 
 resided there) ; Richard Graddy, practical hooper at 
 Scottsville; A. J. Pettigrew, carpenter, contractor, and 
 builder; Samuel Miller, manufacturer and dealer in 
 grain cradles, fingers made of natural crook, no lumber 
 sprung for any work, shop in Scottsville; L. D. Leach 
 and Bros., manufacturers and dealers in all kinds of hard 
 and soft lumber mill and yard near residence in section 
 10 ; J. P. Ewing, owner of the fine general purpose horse 
 " Old John' \ 
 
 The George Michels family came from Maine to 1 
 Edwards County in the early part of the last century. 
 They had four sons: Rheuben, born December, 1829, in 
 Edwards County, died 1877, Ezra, George, and Christo- 
 per. Two lived in Edwards County, George, whose son 
 was Ben, whose son was Clyde Michels. They were long 
 known in Albion as druggists; Christopher, whose chil- 
 dren were Hamer, Ada, and Helen, long lived in Olney. 
 But the other two sons lived in Leech from the time they 
 were married. 
 
 Rheuben Michels married Mary Knodell, born Janu- 
 ary 7, 1840. The couple lived just west of the Bethel 
 Church on the first hill on the north side of the road. 
 There all their children were born. Mary was the daugh- 
 ter of Lewis Knodell of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Three 
 of their children died young, Emily, Willie, and Sarah. 
 Ella, their second daughter, married Tom Virgin of 
 Golden Gate. Mahalia married William Piercy; her de- 
 scendants are listed in the section devoted to the Piercys. 
 Dora married Byron Gibbs and had two daughters, Oma 
 and Ruby. They did live in Golden Gate several years 
 1. Ed Michels gave the Michels history. 
 
 58 
 
but moved to Decatur. Lora married Jim Virgin. George 
 married Lou White. The White family lived in the 
 township a few years at the turn of the century. They 
 came here from Ohio and then moved to Oregon. George 
 and Lou had one daughter, Hazel, who married Orville 
 McBill. Eva married James Kerr. They had three sons, 
 Wayburn, Herb, and Bill. All still live in the township. 
 Herb married Hattie Pell; they have two children. Way- 
 burn married Mildred Templeton and has three daugh- 
 ters. Their family is interetsed in music and they often 
 sing at church revivals. Bill married Reba Sanders. They 
 have two daughters. Ed Michels married Susie Woods. 
 They have two sons, Bernard and Hayward. Bernard 
 now lives at home with his parents. They live at the old 
 Knodell home in the southeast quarter of the southeast 
 quarter of section 13 in Leech, T2S. 
 
 Rheuben and Mary (called Aunt Polly) were instru- 
 mental in the building of the Methodist Church, which 
 was then called Brushy. Their home was ever open to 
 all who came to church, and at time of "big meeting" 
 that meant company for several days. Aunt Polly made 
 beds on the floor to accommodate the group. 
 
 Ezra Michels married Becky Hoffman and lived just 
 north of Bethel Church on what is knowli as the Dexter 
 Strait farm. They, too, w^ere devoted to the church and 
 its services. 
 
 Their children were: Willie, Lucy, Albert, Joe, 
 Andy, Lizzie, Charlie, Olive, Eliza, Ida, Martha. 
 
 Willie married Pricilla Melrose and had four chil- 
 dren: Elsa, who married Frank Wiles; Bertha, who mar- 
 ried Paul Patterson; Clyde and Howard. That branch 
 of the family moved West. Elsa had several children, 
 including a set of triplets. 
 
 Albert married Stella Melrose but they did not stay 
 in Leech long. Joe married Sue Merrit, daughter of Dr. 
 Merrit. They had one son; they, too, moved away. 
 
 Andy married John Davis. They had four sons and 
 five daughters. 
 
 59 
 
Lucy married Alphonso Ayers and had two daugh- 
 ters. She then married P. J. Seifert. 
 
 iCharlie married Lizzie Burns and had one son, Bert, 
 who married Matilda Pettigrew; they live north of the 
 Wabash School ; one son is home with them. After Liz- 
 zie 's death, Charlie married Mollie Hallam. 
 
 Olive married George Knodell; their daughter was 
 Flo Pelt, who had one daughter, Connie, who married 
 Ivan Gill. They live in Indiana. 
 
 Eliza married Henry Ramsey. The Ramseys came 
 from northern Ireland. They lived across the border 
 from Leech in Edwards County, north of Ellery. Their 
 children were: Nellie, Carsey, and an infant, all three 
 died in infancy; Llattie died when grown; the others 
 are: Bob, Lelia, Vene, Arthur, Earl, Foster, Ethel, and 
 Nina. Bob lives at Leland, 111. Foster lives on the home 
 place. Earl married Mildred Metcalf and they live on 
 the Metcalf place east of Ellery. Arthur married Lucille 
 Moore (She died May 2, 1954); they lived in Ellery. 
 They had two children, Dennis, who is a Methodist min- 
 ister and has an assignment at Mt. Vernon and Janet. 
 A third child died in infancy. 
 
 Lelia married G. D. Baker, a Christian minister. 
 She has been telephone operator in Ellery since 1918. 
 They have three children : Henry, Ruth, and Mary. Henry 
 is a Methodist minister and lives at Pueblo, Colorado ; he 
 had nine children. Ruth married Virgil Odom; they live 
 at Mt. Vernon. Mary married Percy Neveill; they live 
 near Eureka. Both Ruth and Mary had twin daughters. 
 
 Vene married Frank Seifert; they have been listed 
 in the Seifert record. 
 
 Ethel married Tom Matthews; they live in Fairfield. 
 
 Nina married Leonard Balding ; they live near Noble 
 and have three children. 
 
 Ida Michels married Sam Annabel. They lived in 
 southern Illinois. 
 
 Martha Michels married Dexter Strait. They lived 
 on her parents ' farm north of the Brushy Church. Prudy 
 was the eldest child; she married Charles Kennard. For 
 
 60 
 
a while he operated the creamery at Ellery, but they 
 moved away. Emma married Alva Green and lived here 
 for a few years but moved to Kankakee. C harlie married 
 Leta Skinner. Her family has lived in the township a 
 few years. She now lives at Chester, where her children 
 live. John married May Jackson of Moline. They lost 
 a daughter when she was a few years old, Martha. Their 
 other children are, Wilma, Alberta, Mary, Lelia, John, 
 Clella, and Billie. Billie is at home. John is in the ser- 
 vice at present stationed at Washington, D. C. Clella 
 Waters lives in Edwards County. The others are in Cali- 
 fornia. John and May live at the north edge of Scotts- 
 ville. 
 
 Mary Straight married Perl Bunnage. 'They lived 
 in Chicago. She died a few years ago. * 
 
 There were two younger sons, Matt and Jim Strait 
 Neither live here. 
 
 Leander Melrose married Rebecca Batson. They lived 
 at the place where Chet Moore now lives just south of 
 Brushy (Bethel). They had two children, Gibson, who 
 had two children, Lula and Ernie; Christine who mar- 
 ried Will Knodell. When his wife died, Leander married 
 her sister, Elizabeth Batson. They had one daughter, 
 Ella, who married Hubbard Basket. They had one son 
 Floyd. After her death he remarried. Floyd married 
 Grace Scott. They lived in Evansville. Their son Hub- 
 bard married Elizabeth Fisher. Leander and Elizabeth 
 Melrose were also instrumental in building a church, 
 Brushy. He died young but she spent her long life in 
 the community of the church which she served so very 
 long, both as caretaker and teacher in the Sunday School. 
 She taught the primary class in the church for more than 
 seventy-two years, teaching several generations of chil- 
 dren. In her earlier life she and her husband opened 
 their home to all comers to the church. In her later years 
 the neighbors met each fall on her birthday, October 14, 
 to have a wood chopping for her, in order for her to have 
 
 1. Lelia Baker gave information about the Michels family. Gertrude 
 Piercy also gave information. 
 
 61 
 
ample fuel for the winter. The men cut wood; the wom- 
 en took baskets of food and served a picnic dinner. In 
 the afternoon they sometimes quilted for "Aunt Eliza- 
 beth." 
 
 Fairfield Weekly Democrat, June 3, 1880, in the i- 
 Wabash items notes some facts about the people of 
 Wabash at that time. ' ' Our friend Ed Glover still makes 
 his regular weekly pilgrimages eastward even into 
 the house of Samuel's daughter. Perhaps he thinks of 
 employing a partner. ' ' Ed Glover was the merchant of 
 Wabash and did get married directly after that was 
 written to Sam Briscoe's stepdaughter, Clara Elliott. 
 The writer of those items had other weddings to report. 
 "The fact is that by next week we shall have a matri- 
 monial item to chronicle, for on last Sabbath evening, 
 Mr. Andy Pettigrew, accompanied by Miss Emma St. 
 Ledger, were seen coming from Squire Eossville's and 
 there are strong suspicions that the twain are one." The 
 following item is of interest not merely for what it re- 
 ports, but that in 1880 people from the Golden Gate 
 region were coming down to Wabash (Scottsville) to 
 town. ' ' Old Mr. Mayhill, of Barefoot, was in town today 
 and showed us a magnificent trot line presented him by 
 lawyer Thompkins from your town. ' ' 
 
 The Wayne County Record, September 2, 1880, in 
 the items from Southern Leech not only gives items of 
 interest of people of Leech but gives the trend of thought 
 of the time. "Another wedding is looked for soon. Scott 
 Bradford has moved on Billie Boze's farm. C. W. Hunt- 
 singer took in Shawneetown during the big rally. Mr. 
 Thomas Williams is low with typhoid fever. Recovery 
 very doubtful. Martin Braning, a young man that stay- 
 ed with Fred Younginger's died last week. George A. 
 Iluntsinger left for Carmi last Monday for a year's study 
 in the Normal at that place. John R. Odell, the man that 
 used up Sam Wilson, was arrested and taken to jCarmi 
 
 1. James D. Glover, when he read this item, said his father was going 
 to see his mother; they were soon married. James (Jim) was 
 born the following March 26. His mother died. 
 
 62 
 
last Friday. Bertha Holland arrived home from a six 
 week's pleasure and health seeking trip to Minnesota 
 last Friday. Green Simpson has proved himself to be 
 very accommodating by setting his sorghum mill beneath 
 the shady oaks. Dink Paul and Mr. Taaffe passed 
 through Liberty on Monday enroute for Carmi to train 
 their horses for racing at the fair. John iSlocum and 
 Mrs. Mary Hooper spent last Friday at Sailor's Springs. 
 Mrs. Hooper says she 'came back as sound as a dollar.' 
 A. M. Funkhouser who is a more superb looking man than 
 Senator Hamilton passed through Liberty last Saturday 
 on his way to address the Handcock Club at Carmi. ' ' 
 
 In the southwest corner of Leech and across the 1 - 
 border in Barnhill, is the Simpson Cemetery, one of the 
 oldest burial grounds in Wayne. In that cemetery are 
 buried four generations of men: William Simpson, Sr., 
 William Simpson, Jr., son of William Sr., John, son of 
 William Jr.; and George, son of John. That is unusual 
 in a small cemetery. 
 
 William Simpson Sr., born in Prince William Coun- 
 ty, Virginia, October 14, 1755, died March 21, 1839, vol- 
 unteered in September, 1777,. as a Kevolutionary soldier 
 and served under Ca.pt. Peyton at Williamsburg and at 
 York. After the Revolution he came to Wayne County 
 and lived there until his death. He settled in Barnhill 
 township, but several of his descendants lived in Leech. 
 His children were : Oliver, Eddy (Simpson Gray, William 
 Jr.,. Zakias, Susannah Simpson Gray, Margaret Simpson 
 Musgraves, Daniel, and Betsy Simpson Williams. 
 
 William Simpson Jr., born 1794, was a soldier in the 
 War of 1812; he married Nancy Roberts, born 1795. Their 
 children were : Lucinda, Malinda, Joseph, John, Matilda, 
 Pigdon, twins died in infancy, William III, Mary Ann, 
 Angeline, Garrison, Evaline, and Polly. 
 
 William (known as Buck) married Catherine 
 Hodges in 1828. Their children were: Martha, Logan, 
 William Holly Simpson, Rigdon, Catherine, C. W. Simp- 
 son, Florence, and Sarah. 
 
 1. Mrs. Jennie Preston, daughter of George Simpson, gave this data. 
 
 63 
 
Of that family, Logan, who has lived in Leech and 
 reared his family, whose descendants have lived in Leech, 
 married Martha Merritt. Their children were: E. B. 
 Boss Simpson, Edgar, Thomas, Courtney, Florence, 
 Nelly, and Martha. 
 
 Edgar, son of Logan Simpson, married Ida McKay. 
 They lived and reared their family in Leech. Their chil- 
 dren were: Inez Simpson West y Mary Simpson Noble, 
 Margaret, Alice, Ida Lee, Edgar, Nellie, John, Carmen, 
 and Joe. 
 
 "William iSimpson Jr. and Nancy Eoberts Simpson's 
 daughter, Angeline, married Preston King. They lived 
 in the Golden Gate area. Their children were: David, 
 William, Alice King Johnson, and Phillip. 
 
 William King, son of Preston and Angeline King, 
 married Sophia Baird. 
 
 Phillip married Bertha Shoaff, who died June 13, 
 1954, at their home in Wauchula, Fla. They lived north 
 of Golden Gate several years before they moved to Flor- 
 ida. 
 
 Alice King married Joseph Johnson. They always 
 lived near Golden Gate. Their descendants are still 
 there. Their children are: Arthur, who married Lilly 
 McDowell and lived in Edwards County; Boy, who mar- 
 ried Caroline Foster. He was merchant in Golden Gate 
 several years. They had four sons ; one was killed in the 
 service in Europe in World War II ; Myrtle Johnson mar- 
 ried James Abbey; since his death she lives in Golden 
 Gate; Ethel married John Hoffee and had one daughter, 
 Hazel Hoffee Carter; later she married George Fitch; 
 Euth Johnson married Ivan Bunting and had five chil- 
 dren; Martha and Luther died in infancy. 
 
 These families contributed much toward clearing 
 the land in the Golden Gate region. Phillip King said 
 when they cleared the land near White Oak Slough, 
 there were few labor saving devices. They sawed trees,, 
 rolled logs, and hauled logs to saw mills. Besides being 
 a farmer and Democrat, Phillip King was ever interested 
 in Sunday School work. Once when he did not appear 
 
 64 
 
at a Sunday School where he was supposed to speak, an- 
 other man was pressed into service. He began by say- 
 ing he had taken the place of other people before but 
 that was the first time he had taken the place of a king. 
 
 Of the Eoy Johnson family and the Euth Johnson 
 Bunting family there are several of the seventh gener- 
 ation who are now in Leech or near. Boy's son Don lives 
 in Leech north of Golden Gate; he has two children, 
 Beverly Don and Caroline Jo. Boy's son Stephen also 
 has two children, the seventh generation, Mark and Bene, 
 but they are not in the township. 
 
 Ivan and Buth Johnson Bunting's children are: 
 Herschel, Dean, Evelyn Kock, Max, and Helen Myers. 
 Herchel lives in Bloomington and has three children, 
 Diana, David, and Bandy. Dean in Albion has one 
 child. Evelyn has two boys; Max, a Christian preacher, 
 has one son. 
 
 Lewis Knodell, born January 9, 1806, of Pennsyl- 
 vania Dutch stock, ma.rried Martha Copeland in 1824. 
 They founded a home in eastern Leech on what is now 
 the Ed Michels farm, one mile southwest of Ellery. They 
 were ever interested in church work, attending the early 
 camp meetings and opening their home for church ser- 
 vice. They were instrumental in building the first Brushy 
 Methodist Church in 1849. They had seven children: 
 Mary, Sara Sa.bina, John Milton, born February 23, 
 1836, "William, a third son married to Sara Virgin, 
 George, born March 16, 1847, and two others. 
 
 Mary married Bheuben Michels and lived with her 
 parents to care for them. Sara iSabina married William 
 Melrose. 
 
 John Milton Knodell married Elizabeth Naylor of 
 Edwards Cbunty in 1857. Their children were: Lewis 
 Henry, Clara Orilla, George William, Charles Albert, and 
 Christian Oliver. Lewis Henry married Anna B. Barre 
 and had two children, Alva H. (died in 1952), and Ar- 
 thur L. of Grays Lake, 111. Lewis Henry served in the 
 postal service in Chicago many years and died there in 
 1934. George William married Susan Sutton. Charles 
 
 65 
 
Albert married Vinona B. Rawlings and had five chil- 
 dren. One son, Clyde, of Chicago, is assistant traffic 
 manager of the Illinois Central Railroad. Charles Al- 
 bert died in 1922, but his wife lives in Chicago. Christian 
 Oliver married Elizabeth H. Chism and had two sons, 
 Clayton and Glifford. He lives in Albany, Ore. 
 
 William, son of Lewis and Martha, married Chris- 
 tine Melrose, daughter of Leander and Rebecca Melrose. 
 He was elected judge of Wayne in 1890, first resident of 
 Leech elected to county office. (Samuel Leech, once a 
 resident of Leech but later moved to Fairfield, held 
 several county offices.) Their children were: Vivian, 
 Leander, Victor, Lewis, Gibson, Falicia, William Mel- 
 rose, Roscoe, and John Dietrich. Vivian (died October, 
 1926) attended Hay ward College and taught several 
 years. Leander Victor married Elizabeth Wyman and 
 lives on a farm near Fairfield. Lewis Gibson married 
 Alvertta Schaffer and had two daughters,, Mary Chris- 
 tine, who married Norris G. Hughes, and Elizabeth K. 
 Lewis. Both are in Fairfield. Falicia married Daniel 
 P. Bowden of Spring Valley, Minnesota, and had one 
 daughter, Dorothy Bowden Alexander, with whom she 
 lives in Detroit. William married Grace Lavely of 
 Minnesota. He, twenty-eight years an associate editor 
 of the Wayne County Press, is now in insurance busi- 
 ness. Roscoe married Cia.ra Brown of Cisne; he lives in 
 Winner, S, D., where he is a lawyer. He was county 
 judge of Tripp iCounty; he also served as state's at- 
 torney. Their children are: William,, Robert, Dorothy, 
 Margaret, and Alice Ruth. William, taken prisoner in 
 Africa in World War II, was a prisoner in a German 
 camp three years. John Dietrich married Eula Holt of 
 Tennessee and lives in Fairfield. They have four chil- 
 dren: Ellen, wife of Dr. L. W. Young of Fairfield, John 
 Dietrich Jr. of Chicago, William Laird of Forth Worth, 
 Texas, and Sara of Fairfield. 
 
 The third son of Lewis and Martha Knodell mar- 
 ried Sara Virgin. Their children were: Ella, Berdie, 
 
 66 
 
Thomas, and Martha. Thomas and Ella a.re at Wappa- 
 pello, Mo. 
 
 George, son of Lewis and Martha, married Olive 
 Michel s. Their children were: Florence (Flo), Eliza- 
 beth, and Chester A. Flo, telephone operator in Ellery 
 several years, married Ed Pelt and had one daughter, 
 Connie, who married Ivan Gill, and a son who died in 
 infancy. Elizabeth married George W. McKibben Jr. 
 of Edwards County. They had three sons: Harold of 
 Whiting, Ind., Willard, who died in 1913, and Earl, who 
 lives in Albion. Chester (Chet) married Maud Moffitt 
 and lives in Golden Gate ; he was a merchant there sever- 
 al years. 
 
 In the north end of the township has lived the 
 Shillings family many years. John W. Shillings came to 
 America from England. He married Sarah (Smith of 
 Cincinnati. They had four children: Thomas, Charlie, 
 Alice, and Bertha. Bertha married a Kalt. Charlie's 
 children were: Sybil St. Ledger, George, Lawrence, and 
 Koy. Eoy is the only one in Leech Township. 
 
 Thomas married Ma.ry Walker of Massilon. Their 
 children are: Harry, Annie, Alice, and William. All are 
 at home with their mother. Also living with them is 
 Mrs. Shilling's sister, Susan McKibben. She is 88; Mrs. 
 Shillings is 86. 
 
 Their parents were William and Susan Walker from 
 England. They settled in Massilon. William Walker's 
 mother was seamstress for the Queen in England. 
 
 It is easy to talk about or read about the old methods 
 of doing things. Mary Shillings and Susan McKibben re- 
 member vividly of the candles they helped make, of the 
 great kettles of soap they have made, of the blankets, 
 jeans, and carpets they have woven. The last strip of 
 carpet they wove is still in use. These two old ladies 
 have lived through the pioneer days of old customs to 
 the modern electrical methods and high powered ma- 
 chinery methods of to-day. Aunt Susan's bright blue 
 eyes still twinkle as she tells that she was not an expert 
 weaver, just knew how to weave blankets or coarse ma- 
 
 67 
 
terial such as jeans. The time came when there was no 
 room for the carpet loom to sit in the house, but she 
 conld give a good demonstration yet if she had the loom 
 before her. 
 
 James (Jim) Smerdon came here direct from "Hing- 
 land. ' ' He married Hattie Fewkes, of Albion, and settled 
 in Leech and lived there all his life. He is the father of 
 the Smerdon descendants who now live in eastern Leech. 
 
 Sam McCollum also lived in the same region; he 
 married Kate St. Ledger ; their children were : Erma, who 
 married Lyman Chalcraft now of Grayville; Nell, who 
 married Gib Jones now of Albion; she was postmaster 
 at Ellery several years during the Woodrow Wilson ad- 
 ministration; and Mina, who lives in Albion. 
 
 The J. J. Winter family lived here several years. 
 Most of the desuendants are scattered but Tom Scott 
 Winter, who married Laura Ferrell, still lives in Leech 
 in the southwest corner of section 14, on the old Sam 
 Stickoffer place. (The Stickoffers had come here from 
 Kentucky. ) Their son Clyde, who married Erma iSimms, 
 lives here at the north edge of section 29 on the old John 
 Pulleyblank farm. They have one son and three daugh- 
 ters. 
 
 Alex Headley lived in the same region in earlier 
 days. His son Charlie Headley lives on the same farm. 
 Charlie's son lives beside his father. Charlie's daughter, 
 Freda, who married John Jones, a man who likes to buy 
 and work in timber, lives a half mile west of her father. 
 Alex had a daughter, Mamie,, who married Dr. E. L. 
 Apple, and later a Dashner. She now lives in Golden 
 Gate, as does her daughter, Carmen Apple Deitz. 
 
 The R. Hinson family lived in the same neighbor- 
 hood but all have been gone several years. 
 
 Eobert Snow lived at Scottstation in the days when 
 it flourished; he lived long enough to see the town die 
 down. 
 
 The William Woods family lived across the border of 
 Edwards in Ellery. Descendants of the Woods family 
 have ever lived in Leech. The George Woods family lived 
 
 68 
 
just west of Ellery. (He is the one mentioned in " Gath- 
 erings' ' who stopped the dancers as they went home 
 through the snow at daylight, to have breakfast with 
 him.) Two sons, Chet and Brose live near Ellery. Other 
 sons were: Tom, who married Fannie Lord; Ed, who 
 married Nellie Lines; and Ebb, who married Zola Spray. 
 There was one daughter, Georgia, who married Earl 
 Bunting and lives in Albion. Most of the children of 
 Tom and Fannie live in Leech: Mabel, who married 
 Arvel Mann, lives south of Scottstation; Paul lives at 
 iScottstation; Ealph is at home with his mother; Nile 
 lives west of Scottsville in lower part of section 23; Vir- 
 gil, who married May Inskeep, lives at the Inskeep home 
 in Ellery across the line in Edwards County; Winnie, 
 who married George Chalcraft, lives on the Chalcraft 
 place in Avestern Edwards County; Earl is in Los Ange- 
 les, Calif.; and Glenn is in Washington state. 
 
 John Woods lived north of Ellery in section two. 
 During his latter days he lived in Ellery. His daughter 
 Erma Shillings lived in Leech several years. Another 
 daughter, Lula, married Ira Mitchell and lived in Albion. 
 His son Elmer lived on the home place, but he died when 
 his children were young ; they were : Zeta Abby, who did 
 live in Leech several years but now lives in Albion, and 
 Slyvan, Cyril, and Mervin. Cyril lives on the old place; 
 Slyvan lives near. 
 
 Others who lived in that region but to the west were 
 T. St. Ledger and C. Burkett. 
 
 Farther south in section 25 on one of the high hills 
 of the region lived C. W. and Sophronia Huntsinger; he 
 was a teacher. Their name is still applied to the high 
 hill. South of that hill in section 36 was the home of B. 
 Tedrow. His daughter Margaret Thompson lived there 
 later. A quarter south of that in the north edge of sec- 
 tion one in T3S, in Leech, at the foot of a hill on the 
 road that led to Big Creek, lived a Morrison family. In 
 days of travel by teams, especially when roads were 
 muddy, hills were important. That hill was called the 
 Morrison hill. Farther south but also in section one 
 
 69 
 
were the James Shores and M. W. Eeeves families. That 
 is now the late P. J. Seifert land. To the west was the 
 James Kelly family. Near them lived the J. T. Copelin 
 family. 
 
 Leech is divided into east and west by the Little 
 Wabash. The bottoms and lack of cross country roads 
 (the river being a barrier) has given the people of Leech 
 a term that is often used about others in Leech. No 
 matter whether it is on east or west side, "Across the 
 river " is often used. Across the river on the west side 
 and in the south were other families after the Civil "War 
 days: Robert Hosey, Ed Walter, D. M. Walker, W. P. 
 Cravins, Nathan Merritt, D. N. Babbitt, and a little far- 
 ther north, Cyrus Brandt (moved to Kansas), A. B. Vir- 
 gin, E. Schofield, George Redman, and Byron Gibbs. In 
 the same region were John D. Burst, S. L. Atteberry, 
 Curtis McQuire, Solomon Bell, and J. M. Newman. 
 
 The John R. Parks family came to Leech from 
 Champaign and settled north of Scottstation. The chil- * 
 dren were: Grace, Amos, Lee, Alma, and Flora. Alma 
 married Dan McCollum and lived on the Parks place. 
 Their children were: Ruth, Lois, Lucy, and Dale. Dale 
 married a Johnson, daughter of Herman and Esther 
 Johnson. After her death, he married Mary Fortner. 
 They have one daughter. They live south of Scottstation. 
 Lucy married Harry Shepherd and lives in Albion; they 
 have a son. Lois married Guy Seifert; they live in Al- 
 bion, but they did live in Leech several years. Their 
 record is included in the Seifert family. Ruth married 
 Norman Piercy; their record is included in the Piercy 
 history. Ruth lives east of Scottsville. 
 
 Flora Parks married Nattie jChandler and had a 
 daughter, who married Homer Webb; they live in Ed- 
 wards County. The Amos Parks descendants have lived 
 in this region part of the time. Both Flora and Alma 
 taught school before they married. 
 
 John R. Parks was the postmaster at Scottstation 
 the short time there was a post office there. The post- 
 
 1. Ruth Piercy gave this information. 
 
 70 
 
office was a room in the house. There was a crane to 
 hook the mail sack on to be loaded on the train. It could 
 be taken without the train stopping. 
 
 A family west of the river on the high red hill that 
 used to be a "hard pull" in the day of buggies and 
 wagons when it was mud in winter soon left the town- 
 ship, but they left their name to that hill. The Daniel 
 Leet family lived on the hill. 1 
 
 On the west side was the Johnnie Windle family. 
 His sons were Jake and Jim. In the autumn Jim operat- 
 ed a molasses mill. "Uncle" Johnnie liked to tell tales, 
 and he enjoyed making himself the butt of the joke. His 
 favorite tale was that once his head was caught between 
 the rollers of the mill. They reversed the rollers so that 
 he could get his head out. When his head came out it 
 was mashed flat. He took his hands, and pressing them 
 on the flattended edges, he pushed his head back into 
 shape. 
 
 The Sam Anderson family lived near old Iron Bridge 
 on the hill south on the east bank of the river. They 
 soon moved away, however. The Brunner family lived 
 in that same neighborhood, the Pete Brunner family. 
 
 J. P. Moore, farmer, stock buyer, lived his life in 
 southern Leech. His son John Moore lives on the old 
 Moore place. Mrs. John Moore, is a descendant of the 
 first Leech settler, Isaac Harris. They have a daughter 
 at home and three sons, Joe, Jerry, and Clarence. Joe 
 lives beside his father and has two children. Jerry lives 
 near. All these descendants of the first settler are still 
 in the township. Clarence Moore lives outside the town- 
 ship. 
 
 J. P. Moore had three daughters, Mary Murphy (in 
 the township), Nell Carter, and Grace McDuffy in An- 
 derson, Ind. 
 
 Others now living in that southwest part of the 
 township are : Darrell Pollard, Charlie Hodges, and John 
 Felix. 
 
 Others in the south end of the township but to the 
 1. Jim Glover told this tale. 
 
 71 
 
east are: Cecil Cox, Raymond Hallam, Kenneth Brock, 
 Verl Stewart, and Harry Stewart. Harry's sons John and 
 Loren are not in the township. John lives in Fairfield; 
 Loren lives in Chester. Verl and Harry are sons of 
 Harry Stewart Sr. (deceased). In that same region is 
 the W. H. Edwards family. He came to southern Leech 
 from Iowa when a small child but has now been in south- 
 ern Leech the past sixty years. Carson Walker is also 
 near. Phil Walker lived near by until his death a few 
 years ago. Harrison (Smothers also lives in that section 
 of Leech. In the extreme southwest corner is Eobert 
 Brock. His mother, Laura Merrit Brock, lives with 
 him. 
 
 John II. Vaughan is another of the elder William 
 Simpson descendants who has lived in Leech. His son 
 Tom married Lucinda Musgraves. Their children were: 
 Jeff, Irene, Paul, and Florence. They are others of the 
 Vaughan family who have lived in Leech. 
 
 In southeastern Leech is the Hillory 'Daniel fam- 
 ily, who came there from Kentucky in the early thirties. 
 She was Ola Abell. They had four sons: Hill, Mack? 
 Billie, and Bob. Hill and Bill live in Leech. Mack died 
 July 17, 1954. 
 
 Bay Abell, Ola's brother, also of Kentucky, now 
 lives in Ellery. 
 
 Lou and Gib Harris families, Harl Hurt, and Deletis 
 Green live in the Chandler district. At Scottstation are 
 the Bob Fortner and Albert Wiles families. Near Ellery 
 are Smith Anniss and Bill Anniss families. 
 
 About 1890 a family moved to Leech and settled in 
 section 14, where they spent their lives, Will and Lillie 
 Gill. They were very much devoted to church work; he 
 served as Sunday School superintendent about thirty 
 years. Their children were Nona (Mrs. Berry Inskeep, 
 deceased); Ora (Mrs. Frank Mitchell, deceased), whose 
 children are Vernelle (Mrs. Dwain Smith), and Ina Lee 
 (Mrs. Delmar Sample) ; and the Eev. Allen B. Gill of 
 Albion. Mrs. Smith lives on the border in Edwards 
 County, as does Mrs. Sample (She is now at camp with 
 
 72 
 
her husband). The Smith children are: Linda, Doran, 
 Nancy, Jennie, June, and Carol. 
 
 Another Gill family came to Leech and settled be- 
 side the Will Gill place, his brother Frank Gill and wife 
 Hattie. Theirs was a family of boys: Willie, Tommie, 
 Lyman, Asa, Brady, Raymond. Tommie lives in Golden 
 Gate, Raymond, on the home place. 
 
 On a high hill in eastern Leech, south of the Jimmie 
 Piercy home, the Adam McDonald family lived several 
 years. He sold the farm to Ned iSheraden and moved to 
 central Leech and then moved away. Ned Sheraden lived 
 on that farm until near the end of his long life when he 
 moved to Scottsville, where he died. 
 
 Just a quarter west of the Sheraden hill, northwest 
 of the present Norman Piercy house, was the home of 
 the Basket family that moved there from Kentucky be- 
 fore the middle of the last century. The son, Hubbard, 
 has been listed. The daughter, Margaret (Maggie) mar- 
 ried Dick jCurdling and lived in Albion until her death 
 in 1944. 
 
 In the middle of the last century the Robinson and 
 Ewing families both lived in eastern Leech. Both were 
 active in Methodist camp meetings and in the new 
 Brushy Church. 
 
 About 1888 the Kendall family moved to Scottsville. 
 Two sons, Jake and Earl, still live there. 
 
 C'harles and Delbert West, descendants of Samuel 
 West of Boultinghouse Prairie, also live in Scottsville. 
 
 In Golden Gate are the Harry He, the Lee Hicks 
 (Mrs. Hicks is postmaster), the Elliotts, Gertrude An- 
 drews Crews, the Jesse Hudson, Grace Childress, Jim 
 Wade, Charlie Martin, Ted and Grant Chalcraft families. 
 
 Dozens of other people should be named because 
 they contributed their part to the building of Leech. 
 
 After the log rolling days passed and the burning of 
 the timber, tie making occupied the time of several 1- 
 men; two who were proficient tie makers were Billie and 
 
 1. Jim Glover gave this information. 
 
 73 
 
Jimmie Day. There were other Days prominent in the 
 township: Hamilton Day, J. M. Day, and J. D. Day. 
 J. M. Day was a school teacher and a Methodist preacher 
 as well as a farmer. Several of the Hooper family were 
 energetic farmers: Holly Hooper, Dick Hooper, John 
 Hooper, and Charlie Hooper. Sometimes the work of a 
 man was not the usual labor. Joe Cox was a great rac- 
 coon hunter in the Little Wabash bottoms. He would 
 set traps in a slough and swampy places and then wade 
 water to his neck if necessary to go to his traps. The 
 Williams family, lived in western Leech by Windle 
 school; Ona, Anna, and Mattie kept house for their 
 brother "Big Dick" Williams. He liked to let his 
 imagination have full sway and tell of his boat on the 
 Ohio, THE EDITH. Saw mills were important centers 
 the last of the last century and the first of this one. Jim 
 Nesler operated a saw mill several years on the Little 
 Wabash. Lawrence Gibbs was one of his loggers who 
 was proficient in handling logs. John Goodwin and Curt 
 McLin also had saw mills in Leech. 
 
 The Silas Hallam family lived in eastern Leech 
 several years, 1883-1911. They came from Edwards 
 County. She was Mary Vincent. Their children were: 
 Roy, Owen, Bessie, Otis y and Flossie. All have lived in 
 this township several years. Owen, Bessie, and Flossie, 
 who was a teacher, have been in Wyoming several years. 
 Otis has served as Chief of Police in Fairfield. 
 
 74 
 
PART THREE 
 
 Gatherings In Leech 
 
 There were many log rollings in Leech. When a man 
 had deadened and cut hnge trees, he set a day for a log 
 rolling and told his neighbors. All came to help, rolling 
 huge logs into piles and burning them. The women came 
 too and helped prepare the dinner. In the afternoon, 
 the women quilted for the hostess. There were many 
 community work plans, helping one another. 
 
 With the coming of the combines, the threshing 
 dinners became a thing of the past, but they had become 
 such an institution over a period of many years that they 
 deserve a detailed description. In those days the men 
 of a neighborhood traded work. They organized thresh- 
 ing rings. Each man helped the other. He brought his 
 team and wagon, if he was asked to do so. All morning 
 the children hauled water to the working men, water in 
 jugs fresh from a well, not iced. The jug was a common 
 drinking utensil. If the children had time between haul- 
 ing jugs of water to the men at the thresher and those in 
 the field, they filled a wash tub with water at a cistern 
 or well. That was the common washing pan. The sun 
 warmed the water for the washing. If the children did 
 not get that task done, it was the work of the women. 
 
 While the men were busy threshing wheat and oats, 
 the women were busy preparing that big dinner, and it 
 was a big dinner. Sometimes the men told at home what 
 was special at the neighbor's dinner table. That was an 
 incentive for the wife to prepare an equally good dinner. 
 It was so-called country style, all on the table for each 
 to help himself to as many helpings as he wanted. There 
 were white linen table cloths on the long table too, not 
 the oilcloth cover. 
 
 There were always two kinds of meat prepared; 
 chicken was usually one, for the farm had plenty of 
 chickens, perhaps chicken and dumplings. If a ham 
 were cooked, that was done the day before. A little later 
 
 75 
 
it was popular to have roast beef, for that conld he 
 bought at a butcher shop and save preparation time. The 
 butchers were prepared for that rush at threshing time, 
 too. At first the women baked all the bread. It was a 
 labor-saving device when it became popular to buy bak- 
 ers bread for threshing. That habit was formed about 
 the time of World "War I. She made her own butter too 
 and hung it in the well so that it would be cold and hard. 
 In the earlier days salads were not too plentiful except 
 cabbage slaw and sliced tomatoes; the garden furnished 
 them. If, by chance, one neighbor did not have a to- 
 mato supply at threshing time, another did and supplied 
 the demand. In fact, food was prepared that was sup- 
 plied on the farm. The ga.rden furnished potatoes, sweet 
 potatoes, green beans, cabbage, and corn. There were al- 
 ways two kinds of pickles, cucumber pickles and beets. 
 A hold-over custom from the earlier days was the famous 
 rice pudding, full of raisins. There were also baked soup 
 beans. Sometimes in the earlier days, a mutton was pre- 
 pared for threshing, as killing a sheep was called. A 
 hot drink, coffee, and water, not ice water, were served. 
 
 There were always four kinds of pies, fruit pies and 
 custards. There were three or four cakes, different 
 kinds. The cake was sliced and placed on a tall glass 
 cake plate and put on the table at the beginning. It was 
 quite proper for the men to ' ' sample ' ' two or three kinds 
 of pie and as many kinds of cake. There was usually a 
 fruit on the table to eat with the cake, if the men wished. 
 
 The table would not seat all the men at one time; 
 the number of men was usually about twenty or twenty- 
 two. But that was not the crowd. The women and chil- 
 dren were there too. Usually the children were handed 
 helpings in the kitchen or placed at a kitchen table to 
 eat as the men ate, if the women had time to serve them. 
 
 As a man finished, he left the table, did not wait 
 for the group. His plate was removed at once and wash- 
 ed and returned to the table to be ready for the next 
 table. In that way, the second table was ready for the 
 men in a short time. One woman was usually dish 
 
 76 
 
washer, and she was kept busy. One woman was kept 
 busy while the men were at the table by carrying the 
 water pitcher around filling glasses. Those hot days 
 called for lots of drinking water. By this community 
 work, the second table of men was soon ready and the 
 men served. 1 
 
 As the men ate, they returned to the barn. Often 
 the threshing began again before the second table of men 
 had finished. Little time was wasted. It is true that 
 the lateness of the hour dimmed the appetite of the 
 women by the time they were seated. As they sank into 
 their chairs it was a matter of resting time as much as 
 eating. 
 
 In the early years the threshers stayed for supper 
 also. But later some men went home to do their own 
 chores. The men who had no chores grumbled a bit that 
 first year no suppers were served, but they accepted it. 
 That made the task easier for the women. 
 
 In the early years the threshing rig was pulled from 
 farm to farm by horses or oxen. The oxen furnished 
 the threshing power too by walking back and forth, 
 back and forth. Later the steam engine pulled the rig 
 from farm to farm. The men with the rig stayed all 
 night at the home where the threshing was to be done, 
 usually four of them. Curt Xanders, still a Leech resi- 
 dent, did much of the threshing here for many years. 
 
 The extra men in the home over night sometimes 
 crowded the family, but that was an expectation. There 
 were no cars to rush the men home at night ; they stayed 
 with the threshing rig. The slow moving of the rig 
 sometimes made it late when the thresher arrived at a 
 farm. That did not matter; the woman had supper for 
 those men, whether seven or nine. She prepared their 
 breakfasts too. Then she began the preparation of the 
 big dinner. The idea that the latch-string was always 
 out was likely a carry-over to those threshing dinners. 
 There had to be loads of food left over, or someone might 
 
 1. Margaret Allison's home dinner is described. She also told of the 
 dance (1880). 
 
 77 
 
think the woman was stingy. And so she prepared abun- 
 dantly, tempting and delicious food. 
 
 Apple butter making time often called for the help 
 of a few neighbors. When the threshing was done, Curt 
 Xanders operated an apple butter mill. Before his time, 
 Uncle John Wagoner made apple butter. 
 
 The family picked up apples and had a large supply 
 at the house for peeling and coring and cutting into 
 eighths. The close neighbors came in the evening to help 
 with that task, especially the women and girls, but the 
 men sometimes came too and lent their aid. When an 
 apple peeler was owned that was really a time saver. A 
 child could soon peel a bushel of apples. The elders 
 cored and cut and visited. No food was served. If one 
 were hungry, he ate a slice of apple as he worked. 
 
 The woman had plenty sugar ' ' on hand ' ' and spices 
 and lemon. She took " dinner' ' with her next morning 
 as she and her husband or son went to the apple butter 
 mill; the trip was made in a wagon, and it would be 
 dark when the return trip was made. In the wagon were 
 many apples to make cider to add to the apple butter as 
 it cooked, also stone jars in which to pour the finished 
 product. It is true, however, that Mrs. Xanders insisted 
 on those who waited at the mill to come to the house for 
 dinner. Her table was surely full of guests all fall. 
 
 After dark the couple jogged home with their jars 
 of apple butter. Those stone jars, gallon jars, two-gallon 
 jars, and even three gallon jars, were tied tight with a 
 clean cloth and stored in the smoke house for winter use. 
 Maybe apple butter was not so delicate as jelly, but it did 
 save the woman much time. 
 
 One rather peculiar custom for the neighbors to 
 gather was at the time of a death. At the home where 
 one had died a big dinner was served to all who came. 
 Slow travel made that necessary sometimes, but some 
 neighbors, whole families, also came for dinner. People 
 always "sat up" with a corpse. On the day of the fu- 
 neral a large dinner was prepared, all work done within 
 
 78 
 
the home too. Food was not brought in by neighbors', 
 as is often done to-day. 
 
 Those early parties and dances often furnished the 
 only social life the people knew. Because they were so 
 much a part of the life of those people, they deserve a 
 detailed description. One specific dance will be de- 
 scribed. Word was passed around that a dance would be 
 held at a certain house at a specified time. That was all 
 that was necessary by way of an invitation. 
 
 A fiddler would be notified, and he would be present, 
 even if he walked several miles. He was paid by men 
 passing a hat at the close of the dance, the men throw- 
 ing in whatever they felt they could. 
 
 At this special dance, a young man drove a wagon 
 loaded with his sisters and the young people of the 
 neighborhood. They had been told he would "be by." 
 It was cold, but there was no radio or weather bureau 
 to keep the people informed about the conditions for 
 that night. They hoped the weather w^ould not be too 
 bad. 'There was some snow, and so the young man drove 
 to a neighbor's home whom he knew well, a neighbor of 
 the dance home, and put the horses in the barn. He 
 knew the barn of the dance home would be full. This 
 group of young people walked across the field to the 
 dance home, about a quarter mile from the place where 
 the horses were put. The crowd was gathering when 
 they arrived, in spite of the cold weather. The rag 
 carpet had been removed from the floor of the living 
 room and the parlor so that there were two rooms in 
 which to dance. The two rooms joined each other and so 
 the same "fiddling" served both rooms. If a "green 
 horn" did not know the dance step, the fiddler some- 
 times stepped to the middle of the floor and showed the 
 newcomer what to do. All that time he kept the fiddle 
 under his chin and did not miss a note. Sometimes the 
 whole song, or maybe just the chorus, was sung by the 
 group. "Old Dan Tucker" was a favorite,, and this tune 
 was often played and sung. "We'll All Go Down to Rost- 
 ers" was also a favorite. The tunes of both are noted. 
 
 79 
 
(Catherine Gilkison Hudson, a friend of mine, noted the 
 tunes for me. 
 
 Old Dan Tucker 
 
 Old Dan Tucker is a fine old man; 
 He washed his face in a fryin' pan; 
 He combed his hair with a wagon wheel 
 And died with the toothache in his heel. 
 
 Chorus 
 
 Get out of the way for old Dan Tucker; 
 You're too late to get your supper. 
 (Supper's eat, and breakfast's cookin* 
 And old Dan Tucker's out a lookin'. 
 
 Old Dan Tucker's a queer old man; 
 
 He rode to town on a Darby ram; 
 
 He sent him whirlin' from the hill, 
 
 And if he hadn't got drunk, he'd laid there still. 
 
 Old Dan Tucker, he got drunk, 
 Fell in a fire and kicked up a chunk; 
 Red hot coal got in his shoe ; 
 Lordy me ! How the ashes flew. 
 
 Here is a typical dance call used: Advance to part- 
 ner and to lady on the left. Swing your partner. Prome- 
 nade the girl behind you until you get around; then 
 swing her. Swing the girl on the left; then give your 
 partner your right hand and go right and left. "When 
 you meet your partner, once and a half. All promenade. 
 Swing your partner. Promenade the girl behind you. 
 Then four gents to the right. Swing the corners. All 
 first couples to the couples on the right. Eight hand 
 cross left hand. Back circle. Four hands and one-half 
 hand round. Balance to the next couple. Circle same. 
 When all four gents get round, then swing your partner. 
 
 4 'Put on the Big Pot, Put on the Pan" was also a 
 popular dance song. There was one couple inside the 
 circle, holding hands crosswise; they danced inside the 
 
 80 
 
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revolving circle. The first couple then went hack to the 
 circle and a new couple went inside the circle. 
 
 Put On The Big Pot, Put On The Pan 
 
 Put on the hig pot; put on the pan. 
 
 Put on the hig pot; we drink all we can. 
 
 Slice your bread and butter 
 
 Fine enough for any man. 
 
 Choose the one you love best; 
 
 Call him to the floor. 
 
 (Man sings) 
 
 Oh, my girl, I love you. 
 
 Nothing on earth I admire above you. 
 
 My right hand and heart I'll give you. 
 
 One sweet kiss I leave you. 
 
 While the dance was in progress, refreshments were 
 being served in the kitchen. If a couple wished to rest, 
 they went to the kitchen to eat. At this particular dance 
 the family had been prepared. They had killed hogs and 
 had plenty of fresh tenderloin and country sausage. So 
 hot sausage or tenderloin with hot biscuits, milk gravy, 
 butter and country sorghum, with plenty of hot coffee, 
 were being served at all times. As the night grew colder 
 and a fierce snowstorm arose, the dance lasted all night. 
 It was not fit weather for anyone to be out with a team 
 in a blizzard. That hot, full meal fortified the dancers 
 all through the night. 
 
 At daylight, the young man who had left his team 
 at a neighbor's barn, gathered his group together and 
 started toward the wagon. The snow had stopped falling 
 and the wind had lowered. He trudged ahead, making 
 a path through the heavy snow. Behind him in single 
 file came his crowd. Although he had eaten during the 
 night, he felt that it was too much to expect his host to 
 furnish breakfast also. Gallons of coffee had been con- 
 sumed throughout that night. The hostess had made 
 many pans of hot biscuits. Their meat supply was lower 
 than it had been, but it was still plentiful. 
 
 83 
 
That young man dogged ahead through the snow 
 against his host's advice. The group reached the barn 
 where the team had stood all night. They loaded into 
 the wagon and started home. The road was a winding 
 one through the woods. The snow had piled deep in 
 many places, but the horses plowed through. As they 
 passed a neighbor's house, about a mile from home, they 
 saw the man going to the barn to feed. He stopped to 
 talk to them and insisted on their stopping for breakfast ; 
 he knew his wife would be delighted to have a wagon 
 load of young folks for breakfast. They stopped. The 
 wife prepared more sausage cakes to fry, and the young 
 ladies assisted her at the stove. She made another pan 
 of biscuits. She gave each girl a task, and the breakfast 
 was soon ready. The home folks were not surprised 
 when the group did not return in the night. The young 
 man was in the habit of taking wagon loads to dances, 
 and so they felt the group was in safe hands. The only 
 surprise to the home folks was that the crowd had stop- 
 ped at another neighbor's for breakfast. 1 
 
 Since this is of Leech gatherings, it would not do to 
 omit an unusual dance that was held at Barefoot. Just 
 west of Golden Gate near the Little Wabash, two plat- 
 forms were built. Hot weather had meant that many 
 children went without shoes, but the children were not 
 alone. Some of the adults scorned shoes, dance or no 
 dance. They danced on that rough board platform in 
 their barefeet, and they could do it as well as many do 
 on polished floors. 
 
 Some women and some men were barefooted. And 
 they kept both platforms busy. They could dance, and 
 they enjoyed it thoroughly. Formal dress was not part 
 of the program; the thing was to know how to dance. 
 It would not be fair to tell of those dances there about 
 seventy years ago without naming a popular dancer, 
 Aunt Jane Cook, a large woman who liked to dance. She 
 was quite a character, plain and out-spoken. She rather 
 
 1. James D. Glover visited one Barefoot dance when he was a small 
 boy to watch the barefoot dancers. He described this dance. 
 
 84 
 
enjoyed being called the Queen of Barefoot. She had 
 daughters at the time mentioned, who were as large as 
 she, and they danced as vigorously as she. 
 
 It is true that there was a compromise type dance 
 or play party. There was no fiddler ; there was no music, 
 but they sang the songs and went through the dance 
 steps. To some that was a substitute for lack of a fid- 
 dler; to others it was not a real dance as there was no 
 music. 
 
 Although it is true that many enjoyed the square 
 dance, there were also some who, because of religious 
 beliefs, refused to attend a dance and looked upon such 
 an entertainment as work of the devil. Those people had 
 their own type of social get-togethers. 
 
 The taffy pull was a common type of entertainment. 
 It was not usually a large crowd but often a "sticky" 
 one. Sorghum was common in all homes, thick sorghum 
 that would not run. In fact there was usually a barrel 
 of sorghum in the smoke house. The taffy candy, made 
 with sorghum, was cooked and tested until it was the 
 proper consistency to pull. All youngsters had washed 
 hands ready. They buttered their hands and each was 
 given a chunk of taffy. Each pulled it back and forth, 
 back and forth, from one hand to the other. That work 
 was kept up until the taffy began to harden, too stiff to 
 pull. It was then spread on a buttered platter and cut 
 into small pieces when it set. Sometimes a taffy puller 
 made his candy fancy by twisting it into ropes before he 
 put it on the buttered platter. When the candy was set, 
 everyone ate candy. 
 
 There was another party for the non-dancers, the 
 play party. It was called play party because they play- 
 ed games. All the family attended. The young people 
 had a room where they congregated to play games, per- 
 haps the kitchen. A popular game was to spin the plate, 
 the spinner calling a number. The girls had even num- 
 bers and the boys had odd. If a boy spun the plate, he 
 called an even number. The girl whose number was 
 called was supposed to run to the center of the room and 
 
 85 
 
catcli the plate before it stop spinning. If she caught the 
 plate,, she paid no fine, but if she did not, she had to pay 
 a fine. One person collected fines. He took a ring, a pin, 
 a handkerchief, a pocketknife, or any object the person 
 had. When all had paid fines, one person held one of 
 the fines over another's head and said, " Heavy, heavy 
 hangs over thy head. ' ' He asked, ' ' Fine or superfine 1 ' ? 
 If the fine was from a boy the answer was "fine", if 
 from a girl it was "superfine." Then the person with 
 the fines asked, "What shall the owner do to redeem 
 it!" The other suggested something for the person to 
 do. Maybe it was to play post office. There was much 
 laughter as the doorkeeper, the postmaster, permitted 
 one couple to pass through to a darkened room. The one 
 who had to pay the fine had chosen a partner. If the 
 couple returned in a short time, the greeting was that it 
 was only a post card. If it took a longer time for them 
 to return the jeer was that it was a letter, an important 
 one. That couple then named another person to go to 
 the postoffice. The process was repeated. 
 
 Picking cherries was a common fine to pay. Strong 
 kitchen chairs were placed with their backs toward each 
 other. Then two more chairs were placed at the sides 
 of those chairs, backs toward the other chairs. The one 
 who was to pay the fine chose a partner. Each stood on 
 the lower round of the first two chairs, on opposite sides. 
 They kissed across the top of the chairs, holding them- 
 selves in place by holding hands. Then the second one 
 chosen selected another person; that one chose his part- 
 ner. That couple stood on the upper rounds of the other 
 two chairs, held themselves in place by holding hands 
 and kissed across the chairs. 
 
 There were other games equal to picking cherries. 
 
 There were other gatherings different from the 
 dance and the play-party, the literary society. They 
 sprang into existence as soon as the old log school houses 
 were built. There was always a literary minded indivi- 
 dual in each community. He organized the society. 
 There was always a debate, usually on some problem of 
 
 86 
 
eomTnon interest. The political debate was avoided; rS 
 polities was a "hot" subject. Those people took their 
 politics seriously, each dead certain that his party was 
 the only one. For that reason it was best for the sake 
 of harmony not to debate political problems. The debate 
 was sometimes between only two but sometimes there 
 w r ere four. There was usually a reading. Someone 
 usually liked to repeat poems. 
 
 Scottsville, first called Wabash, being on the old 
 stage coach line, was a popular place for literary so- 
 cieties. The people walked to the meeting, often two or 
 three miles. 
 
 When the literary societies began to wane, the school 
 pie and box supper became popular. The purpose was to 
 raise money for the school. Many school libraries began 
 from money made at such suppers. 
 
 The women and girls took pies or fancy decorated 
 boxes filled with lunch. Each pie or box was given a 
 number; the same number was kept written beside the 
 owner's name. That was usually done by an older school 
 girl. The numbers were supposed to be kept secret, but 
 sometimes a young man asked a small school boy to take 
 a peep at the list of names and numbers and to find the 
 number of a certain girl's pie or box. Often the man 
 bought the pie or box not knowing who was the owner. 
 An auctioneer sold the pies and boxes to the highest 
 bidder. 
 
 There were other prizes offered. There was always 
 a cake for the most popular girl. The idea was to have 
 candidates named. Each vote was a cent. The boys 
 stayed together in groups. At one box supper one young 
 man's "girl" was voted the most popular; at another 
 box supper another young man's "girl" was the one 
 selected. That is how the group stayed together to vote. 
 There were always opposing groups. When the voting 
 lagged, the teacher announced that the voting would end 
 in so many minutes. All money had to be on the table 
 when time was called. Men crowded around the desk, 
 money down and covered with hands so that the oppon- 
 
 87 
 
ent could not see how much was being voted. Then the 
 count was made and the winner cut the cake and passed 
 it to her supporters. Often she did not get a piece. 
 
 There were other prizes, some not too nice. There 
 was often something for a couple, maybe a lamp for the 
 slowest couple. Sometimes there was a cake of soap for 
 the man with the dirtiest feet. 
 
 After all the prizes were awarded, according to the 
 vote, the pies and boxes were eaten, the couples sitting 
 together to eat. 
 
 There were always gatherings, mostly men r at the 
 time the mail came in. At first it was a meeting to wait 
 for the stagecoach. Then it was to sit in the depot until 
 the train came. In summer, winter work and sports were 
 often related. In winter, wheat was harvested and corn 
 raised. The country store was also a favorite place for 
 such gatherings. The nail keg and the boxes made good 
 seats for the loafers. They told tales and watched the 
 customers. Often that was the only get-together the 
 people had. Of course they gathered at church early 
 enough to have a chat before the "preaching" began. 
 
 ■■ At Hallowe'en time there was a different group 
 gathering. Usually a few boys visited homes and made 
 tic-tacks. A string was fastened to the weatherboard- 
 ing. It was held taunt, some distance away and rosin 
 rubbed on the string. By pulling it, a weird noise was 
 the result. The house occupants ran outside to detect 
 the tic-tackers. The boys ran, often in fun pretending 
 to try to get away. One in the group was often an ad- 
 mirer of the girl of the house. It was usually known who 
 the boys were. 
 
 Chowders furnished another get-togetner possibil- 
 ity. They were held in summer or autumn when the 
 weather was warm. The chowder was cooked in large 
 iron kettles in the open, cooked a long time and stirred 
 all the time with a large wooden paddle. Any old hunks 
 made good fuel for the kettles. 
 
 There was always a meat base, chicken, beef, and 
 squirrel. The common vegetables were potatoes, toma- 
 
 88 
 
toes, onions, and corn. Others could be added. When it 
 was cooked, the fire was pulled away from the kettle, or 
 the kettle was lifted away, by means of a pole through 
 the handle. Then the signal was given for all to eat. 
 Each ate all he desired. There were usually pickles and 
 relish and crackers also served. Sometimes there was 
 also pie. Chowders are still popular, big chowders spon- 
 sored by towns, or smaller ones sponsored by clubs and 
 smaller organizations. Sometimes all the members of a 
 family have a chowder, all the uncles, aunts, cousins, and 
 in-laws. At chowders, sometimes, a collection is taken 
 to pay for the beef. The rest is donated. 
 
 Another get-together that was of vital importance 
 to the country school children was the "last day." That 
 term was always used and meant the last day of the 
 school year when there would be a picnic and a program. 
 For many years that was in March, for schools lasted 
 only six months. As gatherings had been scarce in win- 
 ter, the children looked forward with great anticipation 
 to the last day. For weeks they had drilled on * ' pieces ' ' 
 and dialogues and group songs. There had to be curtains 
 to shut off the stage. School girls took sheets from 
 home. The boys put a wire across the front of the room 
 to which the curtains were fastened. On each side of 
 the stage, a small room was curtained off. The ones 
 who were selected to draw the curtains were proud of the 
 office. 
 
 At noon boards were placed on top of the desks to 
 form long tables. On that the women spread table cloths 
 and set their food on the table. It was a time for the 
 women to vie with each other to see who made the best 
 cake or could bring the most attractive looking baked 
 ham. There were not garnishes then to be bought. One 
 woman skinned the baked ham and then put black pepper 
 on the ham in spots the size of the pepper shaker. That 
 was the decoration. 
 
 After dinner the program was given. 
 
 The "sing" was a common custom. Neighbors met 
 at one home at night and sang, usually hymns. 
 
 89 
 
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PART FOUR 
 
 Towns In Leech Township, Postoffices, Doctors 
 
 Hampton Weed settled Beech Bluff. He had a dam 
 there across the Little "Wabash and a mill; it was an 
 easy thing for others to settle near. Since settlers came 
 to Leech in the 1820 's and before, it is likely that the 
 settlement was made on the river at about that time. 
 There was an old buffalo and Indian trail that crossed 
 the river there. Flatboat making was a thriving indus- 
 try there for some time. It was on those flatboats that 
 pork and corn were sent down the river to New Orleans. 
 That was a round-about way, the meandering Little 
 Wabash, the Big Wabash, the Ohio, and the Mississippi. 
 It was a trade route, and so the river served its purpose. 
 Bob Hardy was the last to operate a store there. Trader 
 DuBois was drowned in the river there, likely the first 
 such tragic death in the county. 
 
 Wabash, later called Seottsville, on the old buffalo 
 trail and later the stagecoach trail just east of the old 
 iron bridge is in section 23. It was the central stopping 
 place between Fairfield and Albion in the stagecoach 
 days. It was there the horses were changed. The stop 
 was a short one ; the man who was in charge of the teams 
 always had them ready to make the change in a few 
 minutes when the coach arrived. It is related that * 
 when the coach came from the west that there was a wall 
 of rock just east of the river and that the driver blew his 
 horn against that rock so that the sound would carry to 
 Wabash so that the teamster would have the horses 
 ready. 
 
 If the coach came from the east, it could be seen as 
 it came down the long hill, and the fresh horses could be 
 ready in a minute. The store and postoffice was on the 
 corner of Estate and Main Streets, the southwest corner. 
 Bobert Monroe was responsible for laying out the village 
 but it was never surveyed. 
 
 1. Bill Woods told the story of blowing the horn against the rock. 
 
 91 
 
The Scott family liad lived there and then moved 
 away and then returned to settle permanently in 1857. 1 
 William Scott, born in "Wales, August 25, 1826, was the 
 father of the several Scott families that later made that 
 their home and after whom the village later became 
 known. 
 
 Nick McCowa.ii was one of the first, if not the first, 2 
 store keepers in Wabash. The stagecoach brought the 
 mail twice each week. On those days the settlers came 
 for their mail, if they had any, and to see the stagecoach 
 go by. Before the stagecoach line came through, the 
 people of this region went to Albion for their mail. Mail 
 time for them came only once every few months. The 
 stagecoach line came through sometime in the early 
 1840 's possibly a little earlier. 
 
 The store was not overstocked, for the pioneers did 
 all their own cooking and sewing. There was one thing 
 the store always had, whisky. There was never a saloon 
 in Wabash, however. 
 
 Later the Scotts had several homes in the village 
 and gradually the place became known as Scottsville, 
 though the post office was always WABASH. There 3 
 was a hooper and a tanner in the town. The cobbler 
 made as well as mended shoes. The pioneers often did 
 much of their own cobbling. 
 
 There were four Scott brothers. After the father 
 had died the mother lived many years on the northeast 
 corner of the cross streets between where the school 
 now stands and the street. Later she lived in a house 
 on the southeast corner of that square. Of the four 
 brothers, two were farmers, two blacksmiths. Scottsville 
 spread over more territory then than it does now. On 
 the hill to the east edge of town were three large oaks 
 and so that part of town w^as called "The Three Oakes." 
 On the south side of the road on that hill where Bertice 
 Pettigrew now lives, Bill Scott, a blacksmith, had his 
 
 1. Wayne County History. 
 
 2. Sam Crews gave this information. 
 
 3. My mother gave the rest of Scottsville history. 
 
 92 
 
home. The blacksmith shop was across the road; a well 
 is the only reminder of that shop. On the same side of 
 the road bnt west of the shop was the home of John 
 Scott, farmer. Pomp (Scott built a beautiful home on 
 the northwest corner of the street intersection, with a 
 portico in front. Some trees, a well, and an oil well are 
 the only things left there to-day. Pomp was a black- 
 smith. To the south of Scottsville near the Hill O 'Daniel 
 home, Jeff Scott, farmer, had his home. Ed Glover was 
 the merchant at the store at about this same time or a 
 little later. He kept the usual commodities, also whisky 
 and shoes. The hoop factory was an important phase of 
 early life there. Hoop factories were in each town. 
 
 The village had various merchants. Robert Eook 
 kept store there for several years after the Civil War. 
 After some misunderstanding with some of the Scott 
 brothers, he left there to go to York. The store was 
 finally moved across the street on the southeast corner 
 of the square where Delbert West now lives. 1 
 
 Dr. N. P. Merrit, was born in Breckinridge County, 
 Kentucky, December 26, 1926. After medical service in 
 the Civil War he attended medical school in Cincinnati 
 and then came to Scottsville in 1871. He practiced medi- 
 cine in this territory ten years, moving to Ellery in 1881 
 as soon as the railroad reached that place and a town 
 was laid out. When there, he was on the Edwards 
 County side of the line, but his practice continued in 
 Leech as well as Edwards. It was while he was at Sotts- 
 ville and the store was in his home that coffee made its 2 
 first appearance in this region. It was in two large bags, 
 large as grain bags. The grains were green. People had 
 been told it made a delicious drink, but water poured 
 over those whole green berries still tasted like water. 
 The bags of coffee were thrown in the barn loft and left 
 there two years. Finally someone else came and told 
 about that delicious drink coffee. 
 
 1. Facts of Dr. Merrit's life recorded from Wayne History. 
 
 2. Bill Woods told the coffee story. 
 
 93 
 
That person told that the berries of coffee should 
 be browned in the oven and then ground and then placed 
 in boiling water to make the drink. That was tried, and 
 the bags of coffee were rescued from the loft to be sold. 
 
 There was no school in Scottsville for a long time. 
 The first children of the town went to Brushy Church, 
 where school was held a short time. Then they went to 
 the Allison School to the southeast of the village and to 
 the north of the Samuel Allison home. Later a school 
 was built in Scottsville near the corner in the section 
 where it now stands. Later the present building was 
 built back farther from the road. 
 
 Scottsville never had a church. There was a camp 
 ground a short distance to the west, and the Brushy 
 Church was a short distance to the northeast. A ceme- 
 tery is a half quarter west of Scottsville on the south 
 side of the road. In it twelve Civil War veterans were 
 buried. 
 
 The store was again moved back to its first site. 
 Jim Brown kept the last store there the first decade of 
 this century. Scott Wylie had the last store in Scotts- 
 ville at his home where Mollie Wylie now lives. He quit 
 store business in the early thirties. 
 
 The school no longer functions there. An oil pump 
 near the school vigorously pumps oil twenty-four hours 
 each day. There are no business houses there now, just 
 a few dwelling houses ; those of Earl Kendall, Jake Ken- 
 dall, Mollie Wylie, Delbert West, and John Spruell. 
 Bertice Pettigrew lives on the hill to the east that used 
 to be a busy center of the village. 
 
 A tragedy happened in or near Scottsville in the 
 Civil War days, days of suspicion for we were near the 
 border. A stranger came to town. It was not only a 
 time of suspicion, it was a period to take the law into 
 ones own hand at times. The man was killed,, likely 
 hanged, and was said to be a southern spy. There was 
 another story whispered about. There had been a poker 
 game the night before, and the stranger had been too 
 lucky, too lucky to keep the money and his life. He 
 
 94 
 
was buried to the west of Scottsville near Chandler, on 
 the hill on the north side of the road, just across the 
 road from a woods which still is there. For a long time 
 the grave was marked by having four fence posts and 
 barbed wire around it. Now that is gone; for several 
 years the grave has been farmed over. An oil well pumps 
 almost on the spot of the grave. 
 
 Scottsville lost the post office when the railroad 
 came to Ellery, rather when Ellery was created. The 
 doctor left the village; the other businesses, except the 
 store, gradually moved away. It had served its purpose 
 in the old stagecoach days. 
 
 The post office Wabash was moved for a time to 
 Scottstation, a village that sprang up as the railroad 
 reached that section about 1882. There had been some 
 resentment about the post office going to Ellery, in fact 
 that there was an Ellery. Scottstation was only a mile 
 west of Ellery, but it soon had a general store, where the 
 post office was kept, and a few dwelling houses. It did 
 have a saloon. But it soon died away. Now two houses 
 remain. 
 
 Ellery, the town on the border of Wayne and Ed- 
 wards was created in 1880 and was named after the man 
 who surveyed the railroad right of way a.nd the town 
 blocks. As William Lines had donated many lots for 
 the village and had been instrumental in securing the 
 stock pens built there on the railroad, it was suggested 
 that the town should be called Linesville, but when that 
 name w^as submitted for the post office, it was rejected; 
 there was a Linsville in the state. 
 
 The post office has always been on the east side 
 of the street in Edwards County, and so the town is 
 listed as in Edwards County. The business section is 
 now and has ever been much in Wayne. Parth Scott 
 was the first postmaster. She had the post office in 
 her own home. The first mail by train came in one small 
 bag, just a piece or two. 
 
 George Pettigrew had the first or one of the first 
 stores in Ellery. It was in Wayne just across the street 
 
 95 
 
from the present post office. Others later had a store 
 in that same building, Morrie McKibben for a few years. 
 L. G. Lines had a store in Ellery on the Edwards County 
 side, and he began business from the times the lots were 
 laid out. Al Kimbrell had a store near the same spot 
 for several years ; he was also postmaster the first decade 
 of this century. A Mr. Land then kept store in the 
 same building, and then two ladies operated a store 
 there, Nell McC'ollum Jones (the postmaster) and May 
 Inskeep Woods. Later May became the postmaster and 
 moved the office to her home. Then Nell Eooke Mur- 
 phy (whose father had an early store in Scottsville) be- 
 came postmaster and still is. In fact women have had 
 the post office at Ellery since World War I. 
 
 Two blacksmiths shops were operated in Ellery from 
 its beginning, one by W. W. Willis under the spreading 
 sycamore tree where the garage now is, and one across 
 the street operated by Edgar Scott. 
 
 The coming of the first train to Ellery was an 1 
 event. Everyone turned out to watch it come in from 
 the east. Most of those people had never ridden on a 
 train. Some had seen the train before in Albion. They 
 planned a picnic at Scottstation a mile west, everyone 
 to go there on the train. There in a large grove the 
 picnicers were to have a big basket dinner. Everyone 
 was at the station in plenty of time to get his ticket, all 
 but one ' ' hired girl. ' ' A young man had invited her to 
 go with him. The matron for whom the girl worked 
 watched and asked if he had bought a ticket for the 
 girl; he had not. (She muttered something about stingy 
 people and bought the girl's ticket suggesting that the 
 girl should not go with him again. 
 
 Though Ellery never had a school within its limits, 
 it early built a church on the Edwards County side, a 
 Christian church which still functions. 
 
 The past few years the depot has been closed; the 
 stock pens have long since been removed. The old 
 
 1. Margaret Allison went on the picnic, heard the conversation about 
 the girl's ticket, and related the event as reported. 
 
 96 
 
woolen mill that stood at the north end of Ellery oper- 
 ated a few years. For several years a creamery operated 
 at the south end of Ellery, now the home of Rudy 
 Beadles. There is still a good general store there, on 
 the "Wayne side, operated by Eddie Conover and his 
 wife, the former Freda Judge. 
 
 A story of a town is the history of its people. One 
 who always contributes to a communty is the doctor. 
 Ellery has had its share for a small town. Dr. Merrit * 
 moved there from Scottsville in the town's beginning, 
 in 1881. Dr. Samuel R. Harwood, born October 8, 1862, 
 in New York City, practiced there several years. First 
 he practiced in Paris, France, in 1892 until 1894. After 
 returning to America he served in the Spanish-American 
 War. Then he came to Ellery and practiced there until 
 the death of his wife, which was a tragic one, she being 
 burned when his home burned. 
 
 Dr. Will Inskeep practiced there in the early days 
 also. His office was in the corner of his yard, now the 
 home of Clayton Piercy. He was a greatly respected 
 physician during his practice there, and his early death 
 was a blow to the town. 
 
 Dr. R. N. Miller came some years later, the first de- 
 cade of this century, and used the same office. When he 
 moved away, Ellery was left without a physician. None 
 of these named lived on the Leech side of the line, just 
 across the street, but they served the Leech territory. 
 
 As the railroad moved westward, the town of 
 Golden Gate was laid out. There had been settlements 
 in that region, both there on that ridge a.nd to the west 
 near the river and to the north, but that was only a house 
 or two. On that ridge where Golden Gate now is, the 
 terrapins used to crawl and sun themselves. In high 
 water time, that was the only dry ground in a long dis- 
 tance. On that high spot the pioneers herded their stock 
 when the backwater began rising rapidly. 
 
 1. Wayne County History. 
 
 97 
 
A story is told of a flock of sheep that had been 
 herded on that ridge. The water was all around it. 1 
 When one sheep starts in any direction, the whole flock 
 will follow, and there is no stopping them. Something, 
 perhaps a dog, frightened a few of those sheep. One 
 started in mad flight toward the water; all the other 
 sheep followed at a mad pace. There was no stopping 
 them. They ran into the water, the ones behind nnable 
 to stop, and the mad rush pushing the ones in front into 
 the water. All drowned. 
 
 In 1881 or 1882 Golden Gate came into existence. 
 There had been some difficulty in securing the right of 
 way for the railroad from some land owners. The rail- 
 road had expected the people to donate the land in order 
 to get the railroad. One in the Golden Gate area refused 
 to permit the railroad to advance across his land. As 
 stock ran outside at that time, the stock often came 
 around the houses, unless they were fenced out. There 
 was a house with a porch near where the railroad now 
 is in the town. Gates were made and put around the 2 
 porch to keep the stock off the porch at night, but in 
 the day time the people could keep the animals away. 
 That was the man who refused to donate land for a right 
 of way. Suddenly the gates came down, and the railroad 
 advanced westward. There were whispers of payment 
 having been made, and so the name GOLDEN GATE was 
 given in derision. There are other legends that vary 
 slightly about the origin of the name. One is that as 
 men worked near the river area one remarked as they 
 started to return that they would go to the golden gate, 
 the gate being painted yellow. 
 
 R D. Murphy was the first post master. He also 
 had a store there for several years. At first there was 
 an inconvenience concerning the mail. The signal for 
 stopping had been placed too far to the east and so each 
 day the mail had to be carried down the track to load 
 the mail on the train. 
 
 1. Chet Woods told the story of the sheep. 
 
 2. Phillip King told of naming the town. 
 
 98 
 
In the early days Golden Gate had its saloons. 
 
 Its thriving business was a stave mill on the Little 
 Wabash to the west and south of the town. At the close 
 of the last century and the first of this one, that mill was 
 a very busy center. 
 
 Many merchants have done business there. Tom 
 Baird had a store for a while. Then Rollie Hawkins did 
 a thriving business there. For a while after the town 
 was laid out, some sa.w it as a possible boom town. Mel- 
 vin Johnson and William Weaver were early merchants, 
 but they soon sold out. Oscar Hoffee operated a store 
 there several years, also Chet Knodell, and Roy Johnson. 
 The Elliott store is now the business center there. Clar- 
 ence Rigg was the first to bring a restaurant to Golden 
 Gate; he did that about the time of World War I. The 
 garage followed the blacksmith shop. Now Dwight 
 Gardner operates a lime, potash, and rock phosphate 
 business there. The French elevator has long been in 
 business there. George Michels for several years oper- 
 ated a lumber yard there. Herschel French operates the 
 elevator there. 
 
 Golden Gate had its doctors too, men who gave day 
 and night service to the town and countryside, slow trips 
 by horse and buggy, even by boat during high water. 
 Dr. E. L. Apple came there from Indiana the first part 
 of this century and practiced there several years, then 
 moved to Albion. Later he returned to Golden Gate and 
 continued practice until a short time before his death, 
 in the autumn of 1948. 
 
 Dr. Taylor came there from Canada, but he stayed 
 only a short time and moved away. 
 
 Dr. G. A. McDonald then came from one of the 
 eastern states and practiced there several years. 
 
 Dr. Joe Simpson, son of John W. Simpson, who was 
 son of William Simpson Jr., practiced in Golden Gate 
 several years. He married Rosa Smith and had three 
 children. 
 
 In speaking of doctors we need to mention one who 
 came to this region very early, not to Golden Gate nor 
 
 99 
 
to Ellery; neither existed when he came. Dr. Hatfield 
 eame to eastern Leech. Someone sent him to the Samuel 
 Allison home to board and practice, as that seemed to be 
 a, home for any who needed it. But Aunt Suse decided 
 she did not want a boarder; she sent him to a neighbor, 
 where he stayed just a few days and then came back to 
 the Allison home asking to stay. That was in the late 
 1850 's. He practiced in this region using the Allison 
 home as his headquarters. There were many settlers in 
 the bottom region; malaria was common, also chills. It 
 is likely he contracted malaria while serving his patients. 
 He became quite ill. Before he died, he asked to be 
 buried on a very high hill on the northeast side of the 
 Little Wabash on what is now the Glenn Saxe farm. He 
 made the statement that the back water would never 
 reach the top of that hill. So it was he who was the 
 first one to be buried in that old cemetery. 
 
 There was another doctor who practiced in Leech 
 from 1909 until 1913. Dr. Hugh Q. Allison, who returned 
 to his home after graduation from the Barnes Medical 
 School of St. Louis. He did not intend to build a prac- 
 tice there; patients began to come. He built a large prac- 
 tice over the countryside, but he decided he needed a 
 town office and moved to Grayville, where he has prac- 
 ticed ever since, except for the period he served in the 
 medical Corps in World War I. 
 
 To all these men the township pays respect for 
 rendering service to the good health of this territory. 
 Without health, the township would not thrive. 
 
 When Samuel Leech made a dam across the Little 
 Wabash north of the present site of the old iron bridge 
 at rock bottom west of Scottsville, and established a mill 
 there, that spot became a busy center. A few houses 
 were near. The first school house of the district was 
 there, near the old Anderson place south of the bridge. 
 To the west of the river at that point is bottom land, 
 and so the busy center was on the east side. Leech was 
 a very energetic man and left his mill business at the 
 
 100 
 
river to go to Fairfield to be tlie first officer of about all 
 offices there, and all at the same time. 
 
 Later John Pulleyblank and A. 0. Scott built a sec- 
 ond dam, just south of the bridge. When the water is 
 low, the old piles of the dam can still be seen. 
 
 The bridge, the first of its kind across the Little 
 Wabash, the so-called old Iron Bridge, or the Scotts- * 
 ville Bridge, is in section 21, T2S, K9E. It was built, or 
 finished, in 1865 at a cost of $4,000 and 12,000 acres of 
 swamp land. When it was dedicated a little later, that 
 was a great day for the community and the county. It 
 was a connecting link between Albion and Fairfield on 
 the old buffalo trail, later the old stagecoach trail. A 
 platform was built for the speakers at the dedication 
 and celebration. Whole families Avent for the day, took 
 their baskets of picnic dinners and had a holiday. Ice 
 cream was sold there that day. Many from this com- 2 
 munity saw and tasted their first ice cream at that dedi- 
 cation. Jim Ewing, to make the event more spectacular, 
 climbed to the top of the bannisters and walked across 
 the river. That likely attracted more attention of some 
 people than the speaking. 
 
 This was always a popular place at the time the 
 circus passed through the country. In those early days 
 the circus went by road from town to town, the few 
 animal cage wagons drawn by horses. The larger ani- 
 mals walked, the camels and elephants. As the river was 
 a mid-spot between the long trek between Fairfield and 
 Albion, the stop was made there to water the animals. 
 That gave a free show to the on-lookers who had sat 3 
 there long hours waiting for the circus to arrive. Once 
 while a bear was being watered, the people crowded too 
 close to watch, especially some small boys. While the 
 keeper was a short distance away, the bear turned to 
 attack. The people scrambled as fast as they could. 
 
 1. Wayne County History gives the date of dedication and cost. 
 
 2. Margaret Allison told of the picnic, the ice cream, and Ewing's 
 high walk. 
 
 3. Bill Woods told the bear story. 
 
 101 
 
Jake Stroup, a small boy, was unable to move so fast as 
 the elders. He was nearest the bear, and it turned on 
 the boy. The father, George Stroup, seeing the child in 
 danger, grabbed the bear by the tail and served as a 
 brake on that bear as it chased the boy. He was able to 
 slow down the bear's speed until the keeper could reach 
 the animal and control it. The boy was not hurt, just 
 badly frightened. The Stroup family lived south of the 
 bridge at that time. 
 
 The old bridge is not often used now and is con- 
 demned. 
 
 There was another postoffice in the township for 
 several years, Gum Corner in the bottoms in the south 
 part of the township. It was so called because it was 
 on a corner of crossroads and tall gum trees stood about. 
 There was a store there also. In the horse and buggy 
 days it was a long trip for those people down there to 
 go to town, and so the store and the post office were con- 
 veniences in that region. The mail was brought from 
 Mill Shoals to Liberty by hack and then taken from that 
 post office to Gum Corner. The store was west of the 
 J. J. Williams home. Laf Merritt was perhaps the first 
 postmaster. Ben Cravins served later and then Winnie 
 Merrit. The last postmoster was Fred Gregus. 1 
 
 Those have been the towns and post offices. There 
 have been other centers besides the churches and schools. 
 A township nine by six is large for people to go to one 
 center to vote. There are still two voting places, Golden 
 Gate and Moffit. In the early days Chandler School was 
 a voting place for those in that community. 
 
 1. Emery Messerole and Loren Campbell named the Gum Corner 
 postmasters. 
 
 102 
 
PART FIVE 
 
 Schools In Leech 
 
 The pioneer children did not have the advantage of 
 going to a public school, nor did they have a bus to pick 
 them up at home and retnrn them to their homes that 
 evening. School terms were short. Children often went 
 a long distance through the woods to school. Subject 
 matter taught was not so varied as to-day. Readin', 
 writin', and Arithmetic, and spelling seemed to be the 
 common subjects taught, though some subscription 
 schools had other subjects. Certainly they did not teach 
 science, nor did they teach music and art. There was no 
 busy work to keep the small children employed; they 
 often had to busy themselves while the teacher was 
 teaching some of the older pupils; often there were as 
 many as fifty in one school. The grades, when so divid- 
 ed, consisted of four. A pupil was said to be in the first 
 reader, or the second reader. When he read well enough, 
 the teacher suggested he read in the next book. The 
 division of eight grades in this county came in the 
 autumn of 1903. If a pupil had a second reader of the 
 old type, he could trade it for a second but not a third 
 reader. Since the old way had been good enough for a 
 long time, a few parents did not see the need of paying 
 the whole price for an advanced reader, and so the old 
 reader was turned in on another of the same grade, keep- 
 ing the child in the same grade. 
 
 The pioneers realized the need for an education, 
 however, and from the very first someone was energetic 
 enough to organize a subscription school. In such 
 schools, a person announced he would conduct a school 
 at a certain time. He either made the announcement in 
 the paper, or he visited the parents and solicited pupils. 
 He set his own price, a small sum. 
 
 Two who had taught such schools in eastern Leech 
 discussed the effort they had made. Neither had a 
 written or printed form of their school announcement. 
 
 103 
 
Here is one that was presented in Albion. Since the ones 
 in eastern Leech were much the same, this one is copied. 1 
 The capitals and wording are kept the same as the an- 
 nouncement. "Mrs. Craig respectfully informs the In- 
 habitants of Albion that she intends opening a School 
 for children on Wednesday next, iSeptember 25, 1839. 
 The girls will be taught Reading and needlework. 
 
 "Terms: 2 dollars for the quarter. Writing, arith- 
 metic, English Grammar and Geography $2.50 per quar- 
 ter. To defray the expense of Fuel, 25 cents charged for 
 each pupil for the season. ' ' 
 
 Ma.ny pupils of to-day would like to choose subjects 
 as suggested in that notice. Sometimes such schools 
 were held in a church building for six weeks in summer. 
 As the distance, bad winter roads, and the cold weather 
 were such that long trips through woods in winter were 
 not thought best for a small child, those few weeks were 
 often the length of those first schools. But there were 
 winter schools a little later, six months. Country schools 
 in Leech did not have longer terms until about 1913 or 
 1914. Then they had seven months. But that is not so 
 short as it may seem. There were not a certain number 
 school days required as now. The school month began 
 on a certain day, as September 2. It ended October 1. 
 Those months were twenty-two and twenty-three days 
 long. There was no long Christmas vacation, just one 
 day. There was one day off for Thanksgiving, and 
 sometimes two days off for teachers ' institute. So there 
 was more crowded into a shorter time than may seem at 
 first. There were far more school days in those six and 
 seven months than the average is in six and seven 
 months. 2 
 
 John Jones, first white child born in Wayne 
 County, wrote that the first school house stood about 300 
 yards from his father's cabin. That was likely in Ed- 
 wards County. There is no trace of that school now. It 
 
 1. Cairo Craig Long furnished this copy of the subscription school 
 paper notice kept in her family. 
 
 2. Wayne County History. 
 
 104 
 
is possible that it was in Leech. He stated that it was 
 in 1823 and that George McCown was the first teacher. 
 The teacher came here from Kentucky hut he was of 
 Scotch-Irish descent. Since the McCoin family did live 
 near here at that time and were friends of the Samuel 
 Allison family, the question has arisen whether it could 
 be the same family. 
 
 John Jones was born in 1816, and so he was likely 
 sent to that first school he mentions. There was a large 
 family that lived within one-half mile of the Jones home, 
 the Aquilla McCrakin family. As five children of that 
 family died here in 1814, it is not known whether there 
 were more children in that family here in 1823. They 
 moved to Arkansas later. 
 
 In western Leech the same type subscription schools 
 were in operation. In the L. H. Harris papers is an ac- 
 count of "schooling for daughters", dated 6-13-1859. 
 There was the sa.me tendency to have schools in summer 
 because the winter weather made it impossible for the 
 little ladies to go to school. The boys were evidently 
 kept too busy to have time for school. That paper was 
 signed by William Staton. There is another paper in 
 same files that gives the price as three dollars, Thomas 
 E. Files, teacher, and signed by C. A. Reeves. Education 
 was surely inexpensive in those days. 
 
 In western Leech there is a story of the lost school 
 child, a boy, Daniel Johnson Gray. At that time all 
 around the school was woods; the children were used 
 to playing in the woods. At noon when the teacher 
 called the children into the house the boy was missing; 
 he had wandered in the wrong direction and lost him- 
 self. School was dismissed and all told to search for the 
 boy. The people of the neighborhood were aroused to 
 search. A woman on horseback (Legend says it was 
 Betsy Goodwin.) found him several miles away from the 
 school. The woman took the boy on the horse and re- 
 turned him to his home. 
 
 As soon as the Brushy Church was built in 1849 
 subscription schools were held there until the Allison 
 
 105 
 
School was built in the lower edge of section 25, in the 
 now Delbert Snowdall field, north of the Allison home. 
 There was no other school close enough in 1850 for 
 Sophronia Allison McKibben to attend, and so it is likely 
 that the first school mentioned by Jones had ceased to 
 function. Likely the log building was serving as a home 
 for someone. She attended a subscription school at 
 Brushy a few weeks in the summer and walked the mile 
 and three quarters to school, likely farther at that time 
 for the road was not a straight one as now but went via 
 Scottsville, which would mean almost a mile more. Other 
 children who attended that school at the church were 
 the Michels children, Melrose children, Monroes, Scotts, 
 Joneses, and Robinsons. Perhaps there were others. 
 Mahalia Michels Piercy said they taught them to read r 
 spell, write, and figure. Sometimes they had Scripture 
 read to them. Christine Knodell taught there. Sophronia 
 Allison went to that school and later taught there. 
 
 The last of the 1850 's or in 1860 a regular log school 
 was built in the south edge of section 25 as already men- 
 tioned. It faced the south, had puncheon seats (split log 
 the round side down), and was called the Allison School. 
 It was in this first log school that John Jones taught, the 
 first native teacher in the county. Since it has already 
 been written in the records of the Jones family that he 
 was. the first teacher, it is assumed the first school he 
 mentioned was across the line in Edwards. It is possi- 
 ble, though, that he taught that school he mentioned. 
 James Harrison was the second teacher in this school 
 and Rheuben Ewing was the third. 
 
 Samuel Allison wa.nted a better school for all chil- 
 dren in the region. He donated two acres to be used for 
 school purposes in the southeast corner of section 35, 
 T2S, K9E. He helped build a frame building there in 
 the 1870 's. The siding was hand made boards, many he 
 donated. It had changed position, but it kept the name 
 of Allison ISchool. Later an addition was added because 
 the enrollment was too large for the first building. The 
 first building had boards painted black to write on. 
 
 106 
 
When the addition was built, good slate boards were 
 added. James McCoin Allison Sr. taught there several 
 terms. Other early teachers were: Kev. Jones in 1895. 
 Charlie Miller had taught there before that, also Ethel 
 McLin, and Flora Chandler. Mary Hooper taught there 
 in 1898 and 1899. 
 
 She was followed by Sim Sidwell, then Cainey 
 Schurtleff, then Edith Dwyer. She is the teacher who 
 told the pupils that someday planes would fly through 
 the air. As she had come from town and did not know 
 many things about country life, the parents smiled 
 knowingly when told what she had said. 
 
 If a teacher taught two years, that was a long time. 
 There was usually a cry for a " house cleaning.' ' Espe- 
 cially if a woman taught, someone got the idea that a 
 maai was needed to "settle them down." It is possible 
 though that the same teacher might return after a year 
 or so. That is the way Ed Ellis did, taught two years, 
 gone a year and then back for two. Earl Allison taught 
 the year between the Ellis sessions. 
 
 About the time of the first World War a new school 
 house was built with windows on the north to keep out 
 direct sunlight, and a floor furnace was added, an im- 
 provement on the old wood stove that never kept the 
 long room warm. In fact a child sat near the stove, 
 warm on one side and cold on the other. 1 
 
 There has never been a regular road to this school, 
 just a lane. It was never on gravel. In its later days 
 that it functioned the teacher often parked the car on 
 the gravel and Avalked the short distance to the school. 
 That quiet had one advantage; there were no outside 
 distractions to attract the attention of the pupils. 
 
 The Scottsville School was built about the time the 
 Allison School was moved. It was built in Scottsville. 
 Before that the Scottsville children had attended the 
 Allison School. It was built on the same corner in Scotts- 
 
 1. During the depression I taught this school after I had received 
 my degree, before I went on to high school teaching and college 
 teaching. 
 
 107 
 
ville as It now stands. Another building was built there 
 later, farther back from the road. 
 
 As numbers of pupils grew less at Allison, those 
 children were hauled to Scottsville several years. Then 
 the Chandler School building was moved to Wabash and 
 these three schools were joined with that school in the 
 Unit system. 
 
 A bus takes the children each day, not only to 
 Wabash but also to Albion to high school. Now a music 
 teacher comes to the school once each week. She makes 
 the rounds of the school centers. Also an art teacher 
 comes once a week. More athletic games are taught. 
 Games are arranged with other schools, and the school 
 bus takes the players to the other school. 
 
 In the earlier days when spelling time came, the chil- 
 dren often lined up against the wall to spell for head 
 marks. The one who stood at the head when the class 
 was dismissed won the head mark for that day. Next 
 day he had to go to the foot of the class and work his 
 way forward again. Those who missed a day lost their 
 place in line. They went next to the foot to begin their 
 way forward again. A word was given to the one at the 
 head. He had three trials to spell the word. If he miss- 
 ed, the next one had three chances, and so on down the 
 line until the word was spelled correctly. The one who 
 did spell the word correctly moved ahead of the one or 
 ones he had "turned down." Even the "chart" class 
 had spelling lessons. During those momentous minutes, 1 
 the older pupils were watching that spelling bee to see 
 who won the head mark. 
 
 Edith Dwyer was the first teacher in the Allison 
 School who taught elementary music. It was the first 
 time some of the pupils had heard of scales. She also 
 had the idea of seating the classes in groups and having 
 them remain in their seats for recitation period instead 
 of having them move to the front of the room. 
 
 The old Harper 's Readers were used before the eight 
 
 1. I was awarded a story book my first school year for having the 
 most head marks, likely because I did not miss any school. 
 
 108 
 
grades were organized. Besides reading ont loud, (no 
 questions asked about the lesson) there were classes in 
 arithemetic, grammar, history, American history, physio- 
 logy, geography, and spelling; there was an occasional 
 lesson in writing. If the teacher had a drawing lesson, 
 he was wasting the pupils' time and taking his money for 
 nothing. The small children did draw and amuse them- 
 selves. There was no idea of seat work for them. If a 
 teacher read stories to the children, he was fooling away 
 his time. 
 
 The Chandler School was first near the old Iron 
 Bridge, as has been mentioned, south of the bridge on 
 the old Anderson place. The second school was built on 
 the corner of the Chandler farm, the southwest corner 
 of the crossroads west of Scottsville. It was moved to 
 the Wabash School and so there is nothing left but the 
 foundation. 
 
 It is interesting to note the names of teachers in 
 some of these schools, the enrollment, and the years 1 
 taught. Here they are for district number 99, the 
 Chandler. 
 
 Year Enrollment Teachers 
 
 1903-1904 48 Hugh Q. Allison 
 
 1904-1905 Vernette Schaeffer 
 
 1905-1906 — — 
 1906-1907 Unknown — 
 
 1907-1908 45 W. C. Matthews 
 
 1908-1909 30 J. S. Sidwell 
 
 1909-1910 36 George T. Haegele 
 
 1911-1912 37 — 
 
 1912-1913 34 Forrest Scott 
 
 1913-1914 43 W. G. Merriott 
 
 1914-1915 46 Forrest Scott 
 
 1915-1916 55 — 
 
 1916-1917 41 W. H. Edwards 
 
 1917-1918 48 C. T. Peters 
 
 1918-1919 28 Forrest Scott 
 
 1. Trula Scott secured the Chandler teacher list. 
 
 109 
 
1919-1920 
 
 37 
 
 Jennie Stewart 
 
 1920-1921 
 
 Unknown 
 
 Forrest Scott 
 
 1921-1922 
 
 24 
 
 A. Roy Bnrkitt 
 
 1922-1923 
 
 Unknown 
 
 -; 
 
 1923-1924 
 
 24 
 
 Hazel Canull 
 
 1924-1925 
 
 27 
 
 - — 
 
 1925-1926 
 
 26 
 
 Percy Borah 
 
 1926-1927 
 
 Unknown 
 
 — 
 
 1927-1928 
 
 - — 
 
 Charles Inskeep 
 
 1928-1929 
 
 — 
 
 Danlty Mason 
 
 1929-1930 
 
 - — 
 
 — 
 
 1930-1931 
 
 21 
 
 Marion Mann 
 
 1931-1932 
 
 22 
 
 Ethel Patterson 
 
 1932-1933 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 1933-1934 
 
 36 
 
 Lura Balding 
 
 1934-1935 
 
 22 
 
 Bnren Moore 
 
 1935-1936 
 
 25 
 
 ■ — 
 
 1936-1937 
 
 21 
 
 Harry Pottorff 
 
 1937-1938 
 
 16 
 
 Ethel Patterson 
 
 1938-1939 
 
 15 
 
 Mildred Walsh 
 
 1939-1940 
 
 16 
 
 A. Roy Bnrkitt 
 
 1940-1941 
 
 18 
 
 Forrest Scott 
 
 1941-1942 
 
 17 
 
 Seal Bradford 
 
 1942-1943 
 
 9 
 
 — 
 
 1943-1944 
 
 15 
 
 Jennie Miller 
 
 1944-1945 
 
 14 
 
 Grace Childress 
 
 1945-1946 
 
 19 
 
 Harold J. Clark 
 
 1946-1947 
 
 16 
 
 Esther H. Kieser 
 
 1947-1948 
 
 16 
 
 - — 
 
 That list reveals several things about a country 
 school, and in most respects it is typical of the other conn- 
 try schools of the township. In glancing at the teacher 
 list, the reader sees that a teacher tanght just one or two 
 years and moved on. It was possible that he came back 
 later, bnt he did not teach long at one time. Forrest 
 Scott began teaching there in 1912. He taught one year 
 and then returned three different times by 1919. He 
 skipped a long period and then returned in 1940. That 
 was his home school. People often think of teaching as 
 
 110 
 
being done mostly by women. This list shows that in 
 this country school covering a period of forty-four years 
 that for twenty-nine of those years a man taught the 
 school. That is a big average; for only fifteen years did 
 a woman teach. The enrollment may be surprising also. 
 It is larger than some seem to think is found in the 
 country school. This school was not taken into a unit 
 system because it did not have enough pupils in its own 
 district to hold a school. The last five years it had an 
 average of sixteen pupils. 
 
 In the woods southwest of Ellery, with only a lane 
 leading to it, was the Woods School, near the Tom 
 Woods home. It was erected in the late 1870 's or the 
 first of the 1880 's. Because there were many pupils in 
 that district, there were two schools. Because road con- 
 ditions were bad in winter, it was not easy for pupils to 
 go far. Wabash was the other school. They were a 
 little more than one-half mile apart. Flora Parks Chand- 
 ler, who was mentioned as being a teacher at the Allison 
 School, taught that school in the early 1880 's. The first 
 of this century the two schools were combined, the school 
 then being at the Wabash School. There has always been 
 two rooms there ever since the two combined, until the 
 Unit System added another room. 
 
 In the Wabash School, just west of Ellery, the two 
 rooms were referred to as the big room and the little 
 room, not because of size, but because the small pupils 
 were in one room, the olders one in the other. Sam Crews 
 taught the upper grade room there several years. The 
 one who holds the record though is Delia Seifert Sawyer. 
 She taught that school twenty years. There was a period 
 of several years after her marriage that she did not 
 teach, but she returned to teaching a few years ago and 
 retired two years ago. She taught only one other school, 
 the Johnson School in southern Leech; she taught there 
 just one year. In several cases she taught two gener- 
 ations, but in one case she taught three generations. She 
 taught Bena Carlton, then taught Bena's children, and 
 before she retired she taught Bena's grandchildren. 
 
 ill 
 
The past three years the Wabash School has been 
 a unit school. It is now a part of the Edwards County 
 School system. When the pupils in these districts named 
 finish the eighth grade, they go to the high school at 
 Albion. This territory is now a part of the Albion High 
 School district. Before that, however, this territory was 
 in a non-high school district. In the earlier days, those 
 who were energetic enough to go to high school, had to 
 pay their own tuitions. 
 
 To the west side of the township there were three 
 more schools: Windle to the north end and west side of 
 section seventeen, T2S, R9E. It was named after 
 James Windle on whose farm it was built. It is one of 
 the older schools in that region. The Wagner (School 
 stands in section 30, T2S, R9E. It is at the very north 
 edge of the section. It was named after James Wagner. 
 For two years the Wagner School has not been used. 
 
 There have been three school houses at Moffitt. 
 First one was a log building north of the present build- 
 ing. Then one built about 1920. In 1884 the subjects 
 recorded there for a small child, 8 or 9, were reading, 
 spelling, arithmetic. They used Sander's Union Readers. 
 Samuel Meeks was the teacher. In some of the early 
 pictures of Moffit School there are several men with 
 mustaches; they went to school when the photographer 
 was coming, just to have their pictures made. That was 
 the latter part of the 1880 's. One time the teacher was 
 Irvine; another was J. N. Reeves. Later C. A. Ewing 
 taught several terms there. He had gone to school there 
 earlier. He now lives at Eldorado. 
 
 Now Green Briar and Moffit are combined. The 
 school is conducted in the Moffit School building. 
 
 The old Windle school stood a short distance south- 
 west of the last building. It was a small frame building 
 with boards painted black for blackboards. There were 
 many pupils; the pupils outgrew the size of the school 
 and about sixty years ago another frame building was 
 built on the present site. It was a warmer building, but 
 the old wood stove in the middle of the room was no 
 
 112 
 
more satisfactory to heat a big room than was exper- 
 ienced in other schools. In fact it was a cold place in 
 cold weather, except beside the stove. It did have an im- 
 provement of slate boards. There were nails in the back 
 of the room on which the pupils hung their wraps. The 
 water was carried uphill from the spring, or from the 
 branch of running water when it was clear. 
 
 The pupils played the usual games of the period: 
 blackman, long ball, town ball, dare base, deer and shin- 
 ny. When snow was on the ground the boys brought 
 home made sleds to slide down the steep hill at the north 
 side. When the slide was once made in the snow a rail 
 served just as well as a sled. An older boy sat in front 
 and guided it; five or six sat behind him and rode. 
 
 Some of the teachers at Windle fifty or sixty years 
 ago were: a Mr. Currie, E. D. Murphy, Dora Michels, 
 Charlie Miller, F. Winters, S. D. Burst, and Mack Harris. 
 
 In the south part of the township is a district that 
 had three schools, Mars Hill, Johnson, a.nd Wild Eose. 1 
 
 Wild Eose stood back in the field north of where it 
 now stands in section 10, T3S, E9E. About forty-five 
 years ago it was moved to the road where it now stands. 
 It has been unused the past twelve years. 
 
 Johnson School on Campbell Hill was named after 
 Melvin Johnson, who was instrumental in having the 
 school built. It is in section four, T3S, E9E. That is 
 the school where Delia Seifert taught one year, all her 
 other teaching being done at Wabash. Eaymond Hallam 
 was the last teacher at that school. It has not functioned 
 as a school for nine or ten years. Eoss West bought the 
 school house and now lives there. 
 
 The third school, Mars Hill, is in section 17, T3S, 
 E9E. It stands on a high hill on the west side of the 
 road, beside the Antioch Church. It functioned longer 
 than the other two. This is the first year there has been 
 
 1. Loren Campbell and Emery Messerole gave the information on 
 three southern schools. Raymond Hallam gave information on 
 other three. 
 
 113 
 
no school there. The district is now a part of the Burnt 
 Prairie district. 
 
 Raymond Hallam taught school thirty-three years. 
 All his teaching was done in that one district. He taught 
 two or three or more years at one school and then taught 
 at another one of the three. Then he moved back to the 
 first school again. 
 
 Soon after the settlement of Golden Gate a school 
 was built, a white frame building that stood near the 
 railroad in the west part of town. 
 
 Just before World War I the new stone school build- 
 ing was erected on the hill at the south edge of town. 
 It has two rooms down stairs and a large room upstairs. 
 In 1934 a high school was held in the upper part of the 
 building; the grades met on the first floor. In the high 
 school, John Wagner was the teacher; he taught until 
 1940. Then John H. Kieser taught the high school; it 
 was a two-year high school. The ten years that it func- 
 tioned there were 63 graduates from that school. 
 
 The grade school has now been combined with Con- 
 way. Some of the teachers who have taught there are: 
 Charlie Stewart, Forrest Scott, Alvie Mead, Will Stall- 
 ings, Etta Black, Mrs. Owens, Grace Childress. The 
 Golden Gate School is now one of the unit centers of 
 Wayne County. 
 
 Farther north at the north end of the township was 
 a log school, the Oakwood School; it stood where the 
 Oakwood Church now stands. It was the typical pioneer 
 school, crude seats, few books, and a stove in the center. 
 
 Then a frame building was erected on the Moore 
 place. About sixty years ago the third building was 
 erected at the present site, a white frame building. It 
 functioned until six years ago. That district is now a 
 part of the Wabash Unit. Some of the teachers who 
 taught there are : Carrie Childress Orange, Mrs. William 
 Daubs, Mabel Allison, Sim Sidwell, Kate McDowell, Irl 
 Sidwell, and Grace Childress. 
 
 114 
 
PART SIX 
 
 Churches In Leech 
 
 From the time of the very first settlers until the 
 present day the need for church services has been recog- 
 nized. Long before any log church was built, the settlers 
 held churches in their homes and at camp grounds when 
 the weather was fit. Several itinerant preachers travel- 
 ed hundreds of miles across prairies and through the 
 woods to preach "the word" in whatsoever places peo- 
 ple gathered to hear them. Among the early preachers 
 in this region were William McKendree, Bishop Asbury, 
 and Peter Cartwright. All those traveled across south- 
 ern Illinois preaching to Methodists congregations. 
 Minutes show that a regularly appointed preacher was 
 made to this region in 1812 and maintained until this 
 day. It is not too much to say that one or all of those 
 mentioned preachers preached here at a camp ground 
 or in one of the homes. 
 
 There was an old buffalo trail leading westward 
 from the Bompas region across the Little Wabash; that 
 later became a stage coach trail. Naturally man follow- 
 ed the path through the wilderness. West of the old 
 W x amborough settlement the trail divided. The north 
 fork went past the place where Ellery later was settled. 
 That went past the Yirdin cabin, where the Brushy 
 Methodist church was organized later. At that cabin a 
 guest stayed who later became a national figure, Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. Near that cabin was an old camp ground. 
 The lower trail led directly to the old Iron Bridge cross- 
 ing, the stage coach trail, and beside that trail a quarter 
 west of Scottsville was the second camp ground, the so- 
 called Ewing camp ground because the Ewings lived 
 near. 
 
 Those camp grounds were clearings, the trees and 
 brush forming a circle a.bout them. A crude platform 
 was built for. the preacher. The benches were made of 
 puncheon ( a log split lengthwise, the flat side up) and 
 
 115 
 
flie ends rested on blocks of wood. The services were 
 long, two to four hours. People came long distances in 
 wagons and on horseback, sometimes driving oxen. Those 
 who came long distances stayed all night at. some home 
 in the neighborhood so that they could attend services 
 the next day. Sometimes there was a mound of dirt 
 thrown up around the camp ground to keep out the wind. 
 In 1849 at one of those camp meetings the men de- 
 cided it was time to have a regular church house in which 
 to meet. Legend says that Leander Melrose was the one 
 to voice the need. Kheuben Michels offered to donate 
 the ground. Their enthusiasm was so great that they 
 met the next morning with their axes to begin cutting 
 trees to build a church. It was built on the site of the 
 new church at Bethel which is this year being built and 
 will be dedicated this year, August 29. That first church 
 was a small log structure, round logs, with clay used as 
 mortar to stop the cracks. It faced the south. Long 
 benches extended from the center aisle to the wall on 
 both sides. A bench or shelf was in the back of the room 
 on which the people piled their umbrellas, heavy shoes 
 or heavy coats. The women always sat on the right y the 
 men on the left. The pulpit consisted of a partition on 
 the platform in front of the preacher so high that he 
 could not be seen when seated, except from the amen 
 corner. 
 
 Back as far as 1830, however, a small group had 
 organized a Methodist church in the Virdin cabin north 
 of the church. The place was partly prairie, but there 
 was brush scattered over it. The name brush prairie 
 was an appropriate one; the name was applied to the 
 church, or Brushy. 
 
 The Illinois circuit was first created at the western 
 Kentucky conference in 1803; it then included a part of 
 Indiana. In 1812 the Illinois circuit was attached to the 
 Tennessee conference ; the "Wabash district and the Little 
 Wabash circuit were formed, Peter Cartwright being the 
 presiding elder. Since this organization was formed in 
 
 116 
 
1830, it is almost a certainty to say that Peter Cartwright 
 preached here. In 1816 the Illinois conference was 
 changed again, that year becoming a part of the Mis- 
 souri conference and remained so until the Illinois con- 
 ference was formed in 1824. "When the Brushy church 
 was formed in 1830 it was a part of the Wabash district 
 of the Illinois conference. Brushy was at first a part of 
 the Wabash circuit but later became a part of the Browns 
 circuit, and of the Albion circuit in 1851. In 1898 the 
 Golden Gate circuit was formed and Bethel has ever since 
 been a part of it. In 1886 a large frame white church 
 was built just east of the old log church and a new name 
 was selected, Bethel. 
 
 The high white frame building faced the south and 
 had deep comfortable long benches. A full basement 
 was made in the summer of 1942. The rededication was 
 held August 23, 1942. The old custom of the women on 
 the right and the men on the left still prevailed through- 
 out the days of the white frame building. 
 
 L. Harry Knodell of Chicago in his reminiscences of 
 old Brushy gave a vivid picture of those early days. 
 "Near the church was a grove of elm, oak, and hickory, 
 and in their shade horses were tied, some with saddles 
 for the men, some with saddles for the ladies, for in 
 those days the people came to church on horseback. If 
 the weather was warm, the men and boys would loiter 
 outside until the preacher began talking over things 
 that would be of interest to them, a crop, a squirrel 
 hunt, or maybe a new acquaintance. ... A barber shop 
 was never thought of out there. The men wore their 
 hair to the collars of their coats. Those who cared to 
 shave had their own razor, but full beards and chin 
 beards were the custom. Among the first to arrive at 
 church were Christopher, Ezra, and Rheuben Michels 
 and their families. . . . Grandfather Knodell came wear- 
 ing his beegum hat and blue jeans. . . . How well I re- 
 member my grandmother's fan. Its beautiful tint was 
 a delicate bronze, a brown softly blended with gray. She 
 carried it to church, but at home she laid it away. It 
 
 117 
 
was built on a generous plan; the pride of the forest was 
 slaughtered to make my grandmother's turkeyta.il fan. 
 . . . Eev. D. B. Leach was never forgotten by anyone who 
 heard his heavy bass voice, and especially if they got 
 as tired as I did during one of his prayers w T hile he re- 
 cited two or three chapters of Scripture. We did not 
 stand in those days during prayer." With the except- 
 ion of the first two years, here are the ministers who 
 have served this church: 
 
 1851 A. Campbell 
 
 1852 J. Shepherd 
 
 1853 J. N. Haley 
 
 1854 J. Glaze 
 1855 
 
 1856 A. B. Morrison 
 
 1857 
 
 1858 H. Manifold 
 
 1859 
 
 1860 L. G. English 
 
 1861 
 
 1862 J. Glaze 
 
 1863 D. Chitman 
 
 1864 W. L. Grant 
 
 1865 V. D. Lingenfelter 
 1866 
 
 1867 J. C. Green 
 1868 
 
 1869 J. B. Ravenscroft 
 
 1870 
 
 1871 
 
 1872 T. A. Eaten 
 
 1873 J. W. Lowe 
 
 1874 S. Brooks 
 
 1875 W. Tilroe 
 
 1876 
 
 1877 
 
 1878 C. W. Sabine 
 
 1879 
 
 1880 J. B. Ravenscroft 
 
 1881 ■ 
 
 1882 L. C. English 
 and J. W. Britton 
 
 1883 L. C. English 
 
 1884 C. A. Bracket 
 
 1885 Silas Green 
 
 and G. B. Schafer 
 
 1886 
 
 1887 R. E. Pierce 
 and G. L. Schafer 
 
 1888 G. L. Schafer 
 
 1889 J. C. Harmon 
 
 1890 
 
 1891 
 
 1892 W. Carson 
 
 1893 W. Wenston 
 
 1894 A. W. James 
 
 1895 
 
 1896 H. C. Hiser 
 
 1897 
 
 1898 E. M. Barringer 
 
 1899 
 
 1900 
 
 1901 A. Carlin 
 
 1902 Wm. Michels 
 
 1903 W. L. Terhune 
 
 1904 
 
 1905 F. N. Aten 
 
 1906 W. C. Harms 
 
 1907 Far Marriott 
 
 118 
 
1908 C. C. Cullison 
 
 1909 
 
 1910 0. 0. Maxfield 
 
 1911 
 
 1912 I. N. Johnson 
 
 1913 T. B. McClain 
 
 1914 
 
 1915 
 
 1916 E. C. Eeed 
 
 1917 J. B. Prichard 
 
 1918 G. L. Murray 
 
 1919 I. G. Flick 
 
 1920 
 
 1921 H. M. Galbraith 
 
 1922 
 
 1923 W. C. Brumit 
 
 1924 
 
 1925 James McNabb 
 
 1926 
 
 1927 B. H. Cravins 
 
 1928 
 
 1929 J. P. Tucker 
 
 1930 
 
 1931 E. E. Stage 
 
 1932 
 
 1933 
 
 1934 W. R. Richardson 
 
 1935 
 
 1936 
 
 1937 W. G. Hanks 
 
 1938 Raymond Clod- 
 felter 
 
 1939 
 
 1940 D. B. Kazee 
 1942 
 
 1943 A. B. Gill 
 1944 
 
 1945 
 
 1946 
 
 1947 Floyd Chastain 
 
 1948 
 
 1949 Ezekiel Haley 
 
 1950 Roger Cullison 
 
 1951 
 
 1952 
 
 1953 
 
 1954 Cameron Harmon 
 
 A reprint of the news of the Christmas celebration 
 at Bethel, published in Wayne County Press, December 
 27, 1895, gives an index to the type of celebration that 
 was held then. This was the first Christmas tree in the 
 neighborhood. 
 
 ' i Christmas is over. It is just as we predicted about 
 the Christmas tree at Brush Prairie, a grand and com- 
 plete success. The tree was an evergreen. Presents 
 numerous. A. M. Elliott spoke of the origin of holidays 
 in the United States, and William Knodell on the Savior. 
 Mr. Ashby's whistling won for him great applause. Mr. 
 Ashby's whistling surpasses all the whistling ever heard 
 in the whistling line. The distribution of presents by a 
 pair of Santa Clauses (Henry Johnson and K. P. Mer- 
 
 119 
 
lit) made all hearts glad, especially the children who 
 were delighted." 
 
 The fact that it was necessary to mention the tree 
 was a.n evergreen signifies that Christmas trees were 
 rare then. This church never had a color line. The 
 whistler referred to was a colored man. 
 
 This church began a celebration August 27, 1914 ? 
 which has persisted until the present. Then began an 
 annual celebration, a picnic dinner, an address, and an 
 informal program. The event was on the last Thursday 
 in August for several years and was called Old Folks' 
 Day. Later it was changed to the last Sunday in August 
 and was called Homecoming Day. In 1921, Mrs. Mary 
 Scott was quite ill at the end of August and there was no 
 celebration; that is the only year tha.t has been missed. 
 The change to (Sunday was made in 1937. On that first 
 celebration the Eev. J. B. Eavenscroft of Albion deliver- 
 ed the address. His text was Proverbs 16-31. 
 
 On August 29, this year (1954) on the annual Home- 
 coming Day the new church will be dedicated. 
 
 John and Minnie Wiles are now the oldest people 
 who are now active members of the church. 
 
 Many people besides those already mentioned have 
 given devoted service. Elias Clark and William Gill 
 served many years as superintendent. Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Melrose (Aunt Elizabeth), a greatly beloved old lady, 
 took charge of a small children's Sunday School class 
 shortly after she joined the church, and she taught the 
 children's class for more than seventy-two years. Her 
 service extended throughout all the years of the old log 
 church and through twenty-nine years in the white frame 
 building. She was so filled with goodness herself that 
 she never saw anything but goodness in others. 
 
 In the autumn of 1953 a new Bedford stone church 
 was begun just west of the white frame building on the 
 site of the first church. It faces the west instead of the 
 south. The benches and everything in the new building 
 are new so that it is truly a memorial to all those who 
 have contributed to its construction. 
 
 120 
 
Aunt Elizabeth Melrose, who taught the 
 primary class in the Bethel (Brushy) Sun- 
 day (School for more than seventy-two 
 years. 
 
Tribute To The New Bedford Stone Bethel Church 
 
 "This new stone church, setting on the site of the 
 first church log building thai was erected here more than 
 a century ago, and beside the spot where has stood the 
 white frame building since 1886, looks toward the west 
 and through its beautiful arch bids farewell each day to 
 the sun as it sinks beneath the western horizon. Its large 
 beautiful window in memory of her who gave her ser- 
 vices to this church for more than seventy-two years 
 faces the east to bid a silent good morning each day as 
 the sun begins its journey anew. Its white cross from 
 the highest point sends its influence in all directions, a 
 mute and ever present reminder of high aspirations. The 
 church is already a wonderful memorial, not only for 
 those who have been the inspiration for its erection and 
 who have donated freely to its cost, but also to all those 
 men, women, and children who have offered or have re- 
 ceived an inspirational thought here, whether in the old 
 log church, in the white frame building, or under the 
 great oak trees on the lawn. It is a symbol of all that is 
 elevating and uplifting. The inspirational words given 
 here will continue to comfort and stimulate many people. 
 Its influence will live on. 
 
 It is well that on this site where there are many 
 beautiful influences there should be a Garden of Ee- 
 membrance, remembrance to personalities, yes, but even 
 more, a remembrance of their good deeds and influence, 
 a garden in the sense that this site will be made as beau- 
 tiful as possible, for such beauty and inspiration are in 
 perfect harmony, but also a garden, for each influence 
 stored here is a fragrant influence, sweet and exhilar- 
 ating, a garden where we remember the good influence 
 of the past, the beautiful erection of the present, and the 
 possibilities of the future. 
 
 When this stone is unveiled, this church will be a 
 solid token in stone, but also a token of many thoughts 
 
 1. Written by Lelah Allison and read by her in church in the last 
 days the frame building was used. 
 
 122 
 
and deep reverence felt by many people, which cannot be 
 rooted and fixed, but which will be the unseen flowers 
 laid invisibly in all the kind thoughts which this build- 
 ing represents.' ' 
 
 Wherever there were settlers there were camp 
 meetings. The first camp meeting in Wayne County, 
 perhaps, was in 1818 at Merritt Springs in Leech Town- 
 ship at the S. E. quarter of the S. W. quarter of section 
 7, T3S, E9E. That is near the Simpson cemetery. That 
 was a Methodist camp meeting, a camp ground in a clear- 
 ed place with crude benches made of logs. The Metho- 
 dist, however, did not build a church in that section of 
 Leech, unless they did have a church there a short while. 
 In some Winzenburger papers there is a diagram of a 
 section of the farm showing location of springs and a 
 cross with the name church. Whether that was merely 
 a camp ground or whether a church was built there is 
 not known. That was in 1830. Ministers were Charles 
 Slocumb and Zadac Casey. But whether church build- 
 ing or camp ground, the people in that section of the 
 township, section 18, did hold religious services. Nathan 
 Merrit later owned that fa.rm. 
 
 The Missionary Baptist were active in southern 
 Leech. On Mars Hill the Antioch Missionary Baptist 
 was built in section 17, T3S, R9E, on the east border of 
 the northwest quarter. The church and the school house 
 have set there side by side for many years. The large 
 white frame church building faces the east and sets high 
 on the hill back a little distance from the road. It had 
 the usual stove in the center and the long benches ex- 
 tending from the center aisle almost to the wall. G. N. 
 Locke w r as one of the Missionary Baptist preachers who 
 did much work in Leech. (He has three surviving chil- 
 dren, Josephine Bell and Paul of Fairfield and Grace 
 Curneal of Merriam. Her husband is also a Missionary 
 Baptist minister.) 
 
 Elder Lemuel Potter, a regular Baptist preacher of 
 this area, was born October 28, 1841, at Samsville in Ed- 
 
 123 
 
wards County and died December 8, 1897 at Fort Branch, 
 Ind. 
 
 Elder Thomas Jones of Enfield and Elder Charlie 
 Jones of Centerville, brothers, and descendants of the 
 Jones family that settled in eastern Leech in 1816, are 
 two more men who have given their services in Leech. 
 
 In the Libery items of the Wayne County Record for 
 May 19, 1881, there is a note about the organization of 
 the Sunday School of the Antioch Church. 
 
 "The Sabbath School shortly organized at Antioch 
 Church seems to be in prosperous condition with John 
 Johnson, Superintendent ; Adam Johnson, Secretary ; and 
 Calvin Odell, Treasurer.' ' From that we may assume 
 the Sunday School was organized in the spring of 1881. 
 
 Cherry Grove Church was built near the western 
 line of Leech about forty years ago. It functioned for 
 twenty years or more but the building has now been 
 unused for many years. It still stands near the western 
 line. It was so-called because a large grove of wild 
 cherry trees was around the church. 
 
 Golden Gate was settled later than Scottsville and 
 so its church has a later beginning than some other 
 churches. It is a Methodist Church, stands near the 
 south edge of town on a high point of the ridge. It is a 
 white frame building and faces the east. 
 
 George Leach gave the ground for the church and 
 also paid part of the building expenses. He also gave 
 the lot for the parsonage and then paid part of the build- 
 ing expense of that building. He was ardently interested 
 in having an active church in Golden Gate from its be- 
 ginning, and it is to his credit that the church was or- 
 ganized there so shortly after the town was settled. He 
 was superintendent of the Sunday School there as long 
 as he lived in that community. 
 
 The Rev. D. B. Leach always preached the Thanks- 
 giving sermon in the church and he liked to have all his 
 children and grandchildren there. It was named the 
 Leach Chapel. Other than a special service, this church 
 
 124 
 
has the same minister as Bethel. They are listed under 
 the Bethel report. 
 
 The class of the Leach Chapel was organized l 
 March 22, 1880, with the following members: the Kev. 
 D. B. Leach by letter from Bone Gap, Maria Leach, 
 Eleanor Leach, A. I). Leach, G. R, Leach, all by letter 
 from Bone Gap; Rachel Leach by letter from Maud, 
 Harriet McCleary by letter from Mt. Erie, Lucretia Mar- 
 tin, Golden Gate. 
 
 The present church was dedicated September 8, 1895 
 by Bishop Earl Cranston. Rev. Loy was the presiding 
 elder. Rev. James was minister. The first funeral in 
 the church was for Mrs. John Keeling, conducted by Rev. 
 D. B. Leach. That was on Sunday following the dedica- 
 tion. 
 
 Later a basement was added to the church. It was 
 dedicated September 21, 1941. Rev. D. B. Kazee was the 
 pastor. Rev. T. E. Harper, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, gave 
 the dedication address. 
 
 In the north end of the township is a Christian 2 
 Church, Oakwood. The first old log church was in 
 Massilon, not Leech. It did not have regular benches, 
 just boards on blocks for the people to sit on. When the 
 second church was built, a frame building, it was built 
 across the border in Leech, the place where the church 
 now stands. It was a frame building, but, unfortunately, 
 it was struck by lightning, July 20, 1948. The third 
 building was dedicated there on the same site, April 17, 
 1949 by M. H. Wright of Hume, 111. It is now a thriving 
 organization. 
 
 1. Ethel Fitch gave this information. 
 
 2. Mrs. Mary Shillings and Alice Shillings gave this information. 
 
 125 
 
PART SEVEN 
 
 Place Names In Leech 
 
 When we speak of place names y we refer to a name 
 and the reason for which that name was applied to a 
 certain place or thing. There is history in a study of 
 place names, for the stories of the names will reveal 
 much about the people, the customs, and beliefs of a 
 region in which such names are applied. Some names 
 come from families; some come from surroundings, and 
 some are applied humorously. They are names of a long 
 past, and if there were any ill feeling about such names, 
 that has died out long ago. 
 
 Barefoot was the name applied to the region to the 
 north of Golden Gate before the settlement of Golden 
 Gate. In pioneer days many people went barefooted for 
 comfort and to save shoes. There were scattered settle- 
 ments in that region. Some of the people enjoyed danc- 
 ing. One time when they had a dance, a man from south- 
 ern Edwards County came to the affair. In those days 
 people sometimes entered into physical combat easily 
 over any trivial matter. The visitor had taken off his 
 shoes to dance as the other people were dancing. He left 
 on his socks. A difference of opinion arose between him 
 and a native. At once there was the usual combat, a 
 boxing in the rough,and-tumble manner. The other peo- 
 ple gathered around the two in a circle to watch the 
 fight. There was no thought of interference from an 
 out-sider. The watchers did call out to the fighters, 
 however, words of encouragement or derision. One fac- 
 tion would call, ' ' Go to it, barefoot. Give it to him, bare- 
 foot." The native was barefooted. 
 
 Others took the part of the visitor, maybe just to be 
 different. They would call, "Sock him, socks. Give it 
 to him, socks." 
 
 After the dance the story spread of the fight. The 
 humor of the situation tickled the listeners. It was an 
 easy manner to refer to the Golden Gate region as Bare- 
 
 126 
 
foot. They went further and applied the name of Sock 
 Nation to the home region of the visitor. Natives of the 
 Golden Gate region to-day, especially those who have 
 moved away from the region, like to say with a sly smile 
 they are going to Barefoot. 
 
 Between Golden Gate and the river is a small area 
 that was later referred to as Devil's Half Acre. In that 
 crook of the river some men gathered to play cards. The 
 non-players referred to the spot in derision. 
 
 The Little Wabash flows from the northwest to the 
 southeast part of the county. Big Creek flows into the 
 river from the north, near the extreme southeast corner 
 of the county. In the days when there were few bridges, 
 the territory in the lower part of that broad V was a 
 territory unto itself. The natives went north but seldom 
 crossed into the other territories. That region down 
 there was often referred to as Egypt. It was spoken of 
 as going down into Egypt. The people were referred to 
 as Egyptians. 
 
 That same region was referred to as lower Cali- 
 fornia. The people were also called Californians. 
 
 The bottom region of the Little Wabash lying to the 
 southwest of that river was flat. Nearly every year it 
 was covered with water, for the Wabash seemed to go 
 on a rampage ever so often and overflow its banks. 
 There were scattered homes in that flat region. Each 
 year when the water began to rise, the people hurriedly 
 moved out to the hill region. Because they moved out 
 in a hurry before approaching water, they were called 
 River Rats. 
 
 A house in that region had a hip-roof that drooped 
 down on both sides so that it resembled an old boat. One 
 young man saw it sitting there in high water with that 
 turned-down roof like a cover. He called it The Ark, 
 and that name remained. 
 
 In the southwest part of the township is the highest 
 point in the county in that high ridge along the west side 
 of the river. Some boys dubbed the high hill Pike's 
 Peak. 
 
 127 
 
Beech Bluff was and is a bluff. There were likely 
 beech trees there in the early days. 
 
 Gum Corner was so-called because its was a corner 
 where roads met and there were gum trees all around. 
 
 Big Creek, which is in the extreme southeast corner 
 of the county, is a large creek which flows into the Little 
 Wabash. Big Creek was the simplest name that could 
 be given it. 
 
 The name Wabash is an Indian word. Legend dif- 
 fers as to what it meant in the Indian language. Some 
 say it meant " white clear water"; some say it meant 
 "turbulent water' \ The water is not very clear, not 
 nearly so clear as the Ohio, but maybe the same was ap- 
 plied to Big Wabash some time when it was clear. Little 
 Wabash flows into Big Wabash. Being a smaller stream, 
 its name is appropriate. 
 
 White Oak Slough to the north of Golden Gate was 
 once surrounded by many large white oaks. There are 
 still some white oaks along its course. 
 
 Briar Branch to the south of Golden Gate was a 
 region of many briars and brambles. Someone applied 
 the name to the creek. 
 
 In the extreme northwest corner of the township 
 are two creeks named after families in that region, 
 Owen Creek and King Creek. Spring branch flows from 
 the south into King Creek. As there was a large spring 
 along this stream, the name was an apt one. 
 
 Leet Hill west of the river on the old stage coach 
 trail was named after the family that lived there years 
 ago. 
 
 Pond Creek in the west side of the township was 
 once a region of pools, or ponds, of water, in the days 
 before dredging took place. There was naturally a creek 
 that led toward the river. As there were several ponds 
 of water there, it was natural to call the creek Pond 
 Creek. 
 
 In the west side of section 34 there is a loop of the 
 river that has in time past been cut off by the water 
 breaking across to join the top of the loop, at periods 
 
 128 
 
of high water, perhaps over a period of years so that 
 finally the river made its new course across the top of 
 the bow. That loop is called Old River. It is truly the 
 old river course. There is little water there in summer. 
 Turtles crawl on logs to sun. 
 
 The bridge across Pond Creek was near the Wag- 
 ner home. Naturally the name Wa.gner was applied 
 when the bridge was built. 
 
 The bridge across the Wabash on the old stage 
 coach trail was the first one to span the Little Wabash. 
 It was called the Bridge, the Scottsville Bridge because 
 it had iron bannisters. It is in section 21. 
 
 In the upper part of section two, in T3S, another 
 bridge was built across the river in the early years of 
 this century, the Saxe Bridge. Between it and the old 
 Iron Bridge, north of Old Kiver, is another bridge, the 
 Hodson Bridge. Both those were named after families 
 who had land near. 
 
 Before bridges spanned the river, crossings were 
 made at shallow places, often with rock bottom. Such 
 a crossing was about a half mile below the Saxe Bridge. 
 On those rocks there were small green plants that made 
 the rocks look green. The name Green Shoals was ap- 
 plied. 
 
 Scottsville, the stopping place for the stage coach 
 between Fairfield and Albion, was called Wa.bash, likely 
 because it was near the Wabash Eiver. The post office 
 there was always called Wabash. When the Scotts 
 settled there, the name was changed to Scottsville. 
 
 Ellery was named after the surveyor who surveyed 
 the right-of-way for the railroad. He surveyed the town 
 lots of Ellery. When Linesville was rejected as a name 
 for the post office because there was already a Lins- 
 ville in the state, the name Ellery was selected. 
 
 Golden Gate had some difficulty in securing the 
 right-of-way for the railroad. One man persisted in re- 
 fusing to give the right for the railroad to cross his land. 
 He had gates on his porch to keep stock off the porch 
 
 129 
 
at night. One day he suddenly took down the gates, the 
 house was moved, and the right-of-way work went on. 
 Some referred to it as the Golden Gate, for it was assum- 
 ed that money had been paid. Others say that workers 
 near the river started home. One saw the yellow gate 
 and remarked they would go to the golden gate. 
 
 The ridge on which Golden Gate was built was once 
 called Terrapin Ridge beca.use in high water the many 
 terrapins crawled there on the ridge the only place of 
 refuge. That ridge was used by farmers as a place on 
 which to herd their stock when the water was rising. 
 
 Huntsinger Hill, a high point in section 25, was so- 
 called because the Calvin Huntsinger family lived there 
 seventy-five years ago. 
 
 Wild Rose, a school in the south edge of the town- 
 ship was named that because there were wild roses near. 
 
 Mars Hill in southwestern part was named after a 
 family named Mars. 
 
 Campbell Hill, a high hill at the edge of the bottoms 
 in section four, T3S was named after James Campbell. 
 
 Buzzard Roost was a name some boys applied to a 
 church north of Liberty. When that church moved 
 away, some gave the name to Antioch Church, but that 
 name has been almost forgotten. 
 
 Eoads are often given names too. A short road 
 running north a.nd south between the halves in the south 
 half of section thirteen was known as Nigger Road, be- 
 cause years ago a colored family lived on that road. 
 
 A half mile of road on the line between T2S and 
 T3S is very hilly. It is called the Hill Road. 
 
 A dredge ditch along the road north from Scottsta- 
 tion to the highway made that road way a high one. The 
 dirt from the ditch was piled along the bank which was 
 made into a road. It is called the Ditch Bank Road. 
 
 Scottstation was settled when the railroad passed 
 through. Pomp Scott was instrumental in getting a town 
 started. The post office there was always called Wa- 
 bash, however. 
 
 130 
 
Once in Seottstation there was a house near the rail- 
 road with a porch on which the stock would sometimes 
 go. A man, in jest, called the house the Marble Front. 
 The name persisted. 
 
 Leech Township was named after Samuel Leech who 
 operated a mill on the Little Wabash in the region of 
 Old Iron Bridge. Later he moved to Fairfield and be- 
 came a merchant and official there. 
 
 Wayne County was named after Anthony Wayne, 
 the soldier, who led troops across this region to quiet 
 Indian uprisings. 
 
 Illinois is an Indian word meaning men. All in Illi- 
 nois are said to be suckers. In pioneer days people cross- 
 ings Illinois needed water. They sucked water from 
 crayfish holes after removing the mud tops. They used 
 hollow stems of weeds as straws. All in Illinois are 
 called Suckers. Though Ave are Wayneites or Leechites, 
 we are also suckers. 
 
 131 
 
PART EIGHT 
 
 Weddings In Leech From The Civil War Time 
 Until The Present 
 
 Weddings, veils, and romance! iSurely there is an 
 appeal in that to everyone. What were the early wed- 
 dings like in this region ? How do they differ to-day? 
 The very first wedding in Leech Township and in Wayne 
 County was that of William Clark a.nd Peggy Carson, 
 June '8, 1819. The tenth wedding was that of John Mof- 
 fit and Sarah Campbell, September 7, 1820. Betsy Harris 
 married Stephen Merritt, September 2, 1822. There 
 were many others between that time and the Civil Wa.r l 
 period, but these weddings described here begin with the 
 Civil War, for the same person attended all weddings 
 described except the first and the last. She did attend 
 the infare of the first. 
 
 A short time after the Civil War, perhaps 1867, a 
 home wedding occured on the eastern border of Wayne. 
 Most weddings then were in the homes. If one were in 
 a church, it was likely that the minister was asked to 
 perform the ceremony after the church service. At that 
 time the couple merely stepped to the front of the church 
 and were married. The audience likely had no previous 
 knowledge of the affair. There were run-away marri- 
 ages, however, a case in which the bride's parents had 
 disliked the idea of the groom selected by the daughter 
 and so had refused to give consent. 
 
 At this home wedding the relatives of both parties 
 were invited and a few close neighbors. The invitations 
 were oral. There were no flowers. It was winter and 
 there were no green houses. The bride's dress was floor 
 length, the way all women were all dressed then. It was 
 made of dark linsey woolsey material, a home woven 
 product. It was so durable that it would serve the bride 
 for many years. It had a tight basque buttoned all the 
 way up the front, buttons close together. A band or 
 
 1. (Margaret Allison attended these weddings. 
 
 132 
 
tiny collar finished the neck. The sleeves were tight 
 and long-. The skirt was very full, and it stood out all 
 around, worn with hoops. 
 
 There was no ring ceremony, just a small gold band 
 the bride had worn even before the wedding; there was 
 no engagement ring. There was no honeymoon. The 
 couple merely stood up before the minister and were 
 married. 
 
 The next day they went to the groom's home, where 
 an infare dinner was served, a big dinner for her close 
 relatives, his relatives, and his neighbors, the whole 
 family. 
 
 In those days a few miles was a distance. The 
 roads were all dirt, often muddy, and in cold weather, 
 frozen. At some infares the group to attend the infare 
 was a different group, mostly, from the one that had 
 attended the wedding. Sometimes it was almost the 
 same group. One principal seemed to hold; those who 
 were invited to the wedding did not attend the charivari. 
 (They were the ones who had had no invitation to the 
 wedding. To gather with tin pans and guns to seranade 
 the pair until the groom "treated" them was the way 
 they voiced their slight at not being invited to the wed- 
 ding). 
 
 At this infare the fires in the big fireplaces were 
 kept filled with huge logs all day to keep the two large 
 rooms warm, the kitchen and the living room, which 
 was also a bedroom. There were two upstairs garret bed 
 rooms. It was winter time and the fireplaces were popu- 
 lar spots. Because the living room was larger than the 
 kitchen, a long table was set down the middle of the 
 room. On it was a long smooth Irish linen white cloth. 
 There were no flower centerpieces. There were center 
 pieces, however. Some artistic minded woman had made 
 two butter ornaments, one a cow, the other a fancy vase. 
 As they were frozen hard in the butter house, they did 
 not melt any more than candles melted. 
 
 At that long table the bride, in her home spun, hoop- 
 skirted wedding dress, sat with the men. There was not 
 
 133 
 
room for all, and it was the custom for the men to eat 
 at the first table. The bride was the only woman at 
 that table. The bride's mother and the groom's mother 
 were not considered important people. Certainly it did 
 not matter what they chose for their costumes. They 
 were at work in the kitchen, preparing food and waiting 
 on the men at the table. The bride did not assist with 
 the work. She sat prim in her homespun dress and 
 slicked down hair, parted in the middle and fastened in 
 a knot near her neck. The conversation was carried on 
 by the men. 
 
 The children sat at a drop leaf table in the kitchen. 
 
 There had been a sheep killed for the occasion, and 
 so plenty of roast mutton was on the table, mutton with 
 dressing and gravy. There were potatoes too, potatoes 
 that had been dug from the pit. Apples from the barrel 
 in the pantry way between the two big rooms had been 
 roasted. There were several cakes, not angel food. That 
 fluffy cake was unknown then. There were butter cakes 
 and fruit cakes. The bread was home-made. In fact 
 everything on the table was home-made. 
 
 When the men were through, the table cleared, and 
 the dishes washed, the women ate. All dishes were 
 washed and put away, nothing left for the groom's 
 mother the next day. If the younger children were 
 sleepy, they lay on the bed in the corner where they 
 slept soundly among the wraps. There was no hush- 
 hush to keep them asleep. 
 
 At going home time, the fathers gathered their 
 broods and placed them in wagons or on horse back, well 
 before dark. There was no lingering into the twilight; 
 there were chores at home to be done. That jogging 
 over rough frozen roads meant that time was needed to 
 reach home before dark. Such was an inf are day. 
 The Second Wedding 1882 
 
 A few years later there was another home wedding, 
 at night, in a large rambling house, large enough to ac- 
 commodate all the bride's relatives and friends and 
 several of those of the groom. 
 
 134 
 
There was no shower for this bride either; showers 
 were not thought of then. There was no engagement 
 ring, but a small gold band wedding ring. There w r as 
 no going-away dress; there was no honeymoon. There 
 were no flowers. It was the end of November and there 
 w r ere no flowers. There was, however, a gorgeous wine 
 silk wedding dress, just short enough to clear the floor 
 and show the tips of the shoes. It had a fluted ruffle 
 Around the edge of the overskirt was white lace. It was 
 gathered in the back and looped over a bustle. On that 
 around the bottom. As the basque and overskirt were 
 made in one piece the garment was called a. polonaise, 
 bustle was a big bow of silk. The basque buttoned tight 
 up the front. The long tight sleeves had white lace over 
 the hands. A lovely white silk lace fichu was worn 
 around the shoulders that came down the front of the 
 blouse to the waist. There was no veil. The bride wore 
 her black hair in two curls down her shoulders, natural 
 curls. 
 
 There were four attendants, the two women's dresses 
 made like the brides only they were not silk. The men 
 wore long tailed black suits. There was no wedding 
 march nor nuptial music. 
 
 The wedding gifts were displayed on a long table, 
 lovely presents, silver gifts that were given only at wed- 
 dings. 
 
 The refreshments consisted of cake and coffee, four 
 kinds of cake, passed on plates. (The receipes for those 
 cakes are still in use.) The bride's mother was an ex- 
 cellent cook, but she hired a woman to come days before 
 the wedding to help with the baking. The fruit cakes 
 could be made ahead of time, but the other cakes had to 
 be fresh. There were twenty-five cakes. 
 
 Next morning when the groom hitched up to his new 
 buggy to go to his mother's home, where they were to 
 live, the bride had a white beaver hat with ostrich 
 plumes and white kid gloves to wear. 
 
 There was a small infare dinner for this couple that 
 next day at the groom's home to which her close relatives 
 
 135 
 
The bride of 1882, Margaret Lines Allison in her wine 
 
 silk wedding dress. 
 
 :l*.^ „.. 
 
and his relatives came. There was a baked goose with 
 stuffing, sweet potatoes, pickles which had been stored 
 in stone jars, cabbage slaw (from the pitted supply), 
 preserves, plum pudding, and coffee. 
 
 There were a few church weddings at this period but 
 not many. If there were a church wedding, it was not 
 the affair of the church weddings of to-day, just a simple 
 ceremony after a church service. 
 
 The Gibson Girl Bride — 1896 
 In 1896 the Gibson girl had a home wadding in the 
 autumn at night in a large home that held many guests. 
 She did not have a veil or bouquet, nor a wedding march. 
 She did have a white wool cashmere floor length dress. 
 The skirt had sixteen gores and was full in the back. 
 The blouse had pin tucks at the top but was fitted at 
 the waist. Those leg-of-mutton sleeves were the high 
 lights of the dress, sleeves tight from elbow to hand but 
 very full at the top. Her hair was done in short curls 
 on top (made by paper curlers, not a permanent) and 
 fastened in a loose kuot at the back. A couple " stood 
 up" with the bride and groom. The usual cake and 
 coffee was served to the guests. The bride had no en- 
 gagement ring, but her wedding ring was a fairly wide 
 band. 
 
 The list of the presents and the doners was printed 
 in the county paper with an account of the wedding. 
 
 The Bride Of 1905 
 
 Her home wedding was at night, a modest wedding 
 but Avith several guests. She wore a plain light cotton 
 floor length dress, very full across the bust, no tight 
 basque for her. Her sixteen gored skirt was fitted at 
 the waist. The tight corset was still in vogue. As it 
 was autumn, she wore a rose from the lawn in her high 
 pompador hair with its up-sweep in the back. 
 
 She had sent invitations, printed invitations, but 
 she had no honeymoon, nor was there an infare. It 
 seemed to be the custom of the time to take bits of each 
 cake and send it to a distant relative who could not at- 
 
 137 
 
tend the wedding. The idea of listing the wedding gifts 
 in the county paper had lost its popularity. 
 
 The couple went to the groom's home the next morn- 
 ing to live a few weeks until their modest home was 
 ready. 
 
 The Pre-War I Bride — 1911 
 
 She selected spring for her wedding for her groom 
 was a farmer and would soon be busy with his own 
 crops. The wedding was in her home at night and sev- 
 eral guests were invited by formal invitation. She had 
 no engagement ring but a very wide band gold wedding 
 ring. She had no going-away costume; there was no 
 going away, just the trip to their farm home after the 
 ceremony — in the groom's new buggy. 
 
 Her dress was white China silk with a full flounce 
 on the skirt. The blouse was full and the high neck was 
 edged in lace,, as were the long sleeves. She had no veil, 
 but she did have a wedding march. She had a ring 
 bearer who merely held the ring until the ceremony was 
 over. She had a small flower girl who dropped petals 
 in the bride 's path. She had no flowers as a bouquet 
 or corsage. 
 
 ". The usual cake and coffee was served, angel food 
 cake added to the other kinds. Guests who had come 
 as far as ten miles stayed all night in the bride's home. 
 The minister stayed all night also. There was no night 
 travel in a buggy over dark roads for those people. 
 
 At this wedding the old custom of the invited wed- 
 ding guests going to the charivari was broken, as some 
 of the guests also went to the charivari. 
 
 In the troubled years that followed there were no 
 hasty war marriages with men in the service, very few 
 at least. A few brides were brought back from Europe 
 at the close of the Avar but not many. During the roar- 
 ing twenties it seemed to be the fashion for the bride 
 and groom merely to go to a minister or judge to have 
 the ceremony performed. Women wore bobbed hair, 
 and so for the first time the brides had short hair. There 
 were printed announcements instead of invitations. 
 
 138 
 
AVhen the depression struck, there were not many mar- 
 riages. If there was one, it was a simple ceremony. 
 
 World War II brought many weddings on the dou- 
 ble quick. Men had short leaves. In that period of un- 
 certainty, there was no time for an elaborate wedding. 
 
 Here are two weddings of that period, one just be- 
 fore we entered the war and the other a wedding with 
 the man in uniform. 
 
 Pre- War Wedding — 1941 
 
 In the spring of 1941 troubled clouds hung over 
 Europe, but they had not yet touched the United States. 
 The bride had a home wedding in the afternoon; she had 
 dallied with the idea of having a church wedding 
 (Church weddings were common at this time). Spring 
 flowers adorned the altar her father had built for the 
 occasion. She had a diamond engagement ring. There 
 was nuptial music. The bride's mother was escorted to 
 her seat just before the bridal procession. In all wed- 
 dings described thus far the couple had marched together 
 before the minister, but not this bride. The groom and 
 his best man stepped to the altar from a side room. The 
 two bridesmaids marched in carrying baskets of spring 
 flowers. One was dressed in yellow, the other in blue. 
 Then the matron of honor marched in wearing a pink 
 formal. The bride came to the altar on her father's 
 arm. The ring ceremony was used. 
 
 The bride's dress was floor length white silk. Her 
 veil was finger tip length. Her sleeves came to points 
 over her hand. Her neckline was high. She wore some- 
 thing old, something new, something borrowed, and 
 something blue. She tossed her bouquet to see which 
 girl would be married next. Her short hair was done in 
 curls. 
 
 (She cut the tiered wedding cake. Punch was added 
 to the usual refreshments. She went on a short honey- 
 moon. Many changes had taken place over the roaring 
 twenties and lean thirties. 
 
 139 
 
The War Bride 
 
 She had a home wedding. As the groom's furlough 
 was short there was not much previous preparation for 
 the wedding. As it was to be a noon wedding, a dinner 
 was served afterwards. As she was going to camp with 
 her groom, she dispensed with the long white dress and 
 wore a practical blue dress instead. The groom in his 
 officer's air corps uniform received his share of atten- 
 tion. The attendants merely ' i stood up ' ' with the couple. 
 She had been given showers previously. Before night 
 she was on a train going toward a southern camp. Such 
 were the weddings in those harried war days. 
 
 The Bride Of 1953 
 
 As one reads an account of to-day's wedding, he 
 wonders how so many details were planned without a 
 slip. There are several showers, sometimes three or 
 four. The bride's mother and the groom's mother both 
 receive their share of attention, their costumes being 
 named with an account of the wedding. They are given 
 the honor of being escorted to their seats the last thing 
 before the bridal procession. In the account of the 
 wedding in the paper, instead of listing presents, the 
 bride's and the groom's sororities and fraternities are 
 named. The bride plans the style and color of her at- 
 tendants' dresses, often buys them. She has a flower 
 girl and a ring bearer. Even the ushers get their share 
 of attention. The double ring ceremony is often used. 
 There is usually a reception in the church basement 
 afterwards, if it is a church wedding. 
 
 This account of the bride's dress is copied from the 
 paper. " The bride wore a ballerina length gown of 
 Goddess lace over satin with insets of scalloped satin 
 down the front and shirred nylon trim on the bodice. 
 The sleeves came to Juliette points over the wrists. Her 
 fingerlength veil of illusion was attached to a tiara of 
 seed pearls and rhinestones. " Then her bouquet is de- 
 scribed. Its center is an orchid corsage for her going- 
 away suit. Since this is a day of permanents, every 
 
 140 
 
bride has curls. (The bride of to-day may wear a floor 
 length gown.) 
 
 The couple goes on a honeymoon, often in the groom 's 
 new convertible. 
 
 Times do change. 
 
 141 
 
PART NINE 
 
 Troubles 
 
 In one and one third centuries Leech Township has 
 been built from a wilderness, an area of woods, prairies, 
 swamps, and wandering red men to the farm area that 
 it is today, a region of small towns and modern farms 
 that have the use of electricity, modern homes, paved 
 and gravel roads. That has been done by mnch effort, 
 intelligent planning, and hard labor. It has made mod- 
 ern farms from wild woodlands and swamps. It has 
 built churches and schools. It has furnished its quota 
 of food supply, the first essential. But in its climb up- 
 ward it has known its troubles, troubles that could not 
 be prevented such as sickness, and troubles caused by 
 ignorance or viciousness. They have not been many be- 
 cause progress has triumphed, but in a history of a peo- 
 ple, their difficulties exist. They have been the smaller 
 things and will be given only scant space, but because 
 they are part of the things which have been met and 
 overcome in this township, they are mentioned, mention- 
 ed because they are merely another signboard that points 
 toward the accomplishments of the township. 
 
 In the first division of troubles, those over which 
 we have no control, or seem not to be able to prevent, 
 at the time at least, there has been sickness. In the early 
 days those pioneers had to fight malaria, typhoid, and 
 chills as regularly as they had to have provisions to live. 
 The lowlands were breeding places for malaria. The 
 people suffered and some died. When there was illness, 
 those people were often without medical aid except that 
 given by the capable pioneer women. Hospitals were 
 unknown, a trained nurse, unheard-tell-of. But they 
 were a sturdy people and they survived. They depended 
 mostly on their farm products. There have been periods 
 when the whim of the weather has completely ruined 
 the harvest, bringing grief and hardship on the people. 
 It has not been alone in this century, the floods of 1913, 
 
 142 
 
of the early twenties, and of 1937, or the droughts, espe- 
 cially of 1953 and thus far in 1954. But the last cen- 1 
 tury had its droughts too. In 1849 the drought was such 
 that one farmer plowed, planted and cultivated sixteen 
 acres with a one-horse plow, only to have his whole corn 
 crop ruined, only one stalk left standing in the field. 
 
 There have been difficulties of impassible roads, the 
 family being shut away in an isolated corner of its own. 
 There have been long periods of poor telephone com- 
 munication so that the people had no direct contact with 
 the outside world. 
 
 There have been other troubles, troubles that the 
 township has mostly outgrown. In the early days when 
 there were group meetings, tempers often flew out of 
 bounds, and difficulties arising over trifles passed quick- 
 ly to fist fights. Though people grow irritated now, 
 they do not resort to physical combat. 
 
 In the early days there were no sources of amuse- 
 ment at times, and some youth felt the need for social 
 contacts, anywhere to be with a crowd. Sometimes they 
 attended church services, only to stand outside while 
 the service was in progress. A few did more than stand. 
 Something urged them to be active, and lacking a gain- 
 ful outlet, they resorted to ungainful ones. When ques- 
 tioned later, some have replied, "I did it just for mean- 
 ness/ ' or "It was devilment." In the horse and buggy 
 days, a whip always stood in the whip socket. At church 
 service there were several buggies tied to the hitching 
 fence. That ' ' devilment ' ' or whatever it was that caused 
 the urge whispered to a few of those youth to collect all 
 the whips and brea.k them. To-day softball games are 
 played for the youth to participate in or to watch; scout 
 and 4-H organizations give the youth gainful employ- 
 ment for minds and bodies. The township has outgrown 
 the whip-breaking stage. 
 
 A reprint from the KEC'ORD, May 19, 1881, the 
 Liberty news written by Observor, will show the trend 
 
 1. Sophronia Allison McKibben remembered that event, though 
 she was only five. 
 
 143 
 
of affairs as far as some troubles were concerned. He 
 speaks of the objection of Wayne people. Leech Town- 
 ship is just north of Liberty, only a quarter mile. The 
 comment may be assumed to concern some Leech people. 
 
 "Several of the Wayne County folks have been 
 harping on the name of roughs being applied to those 
 boys who have been disturbing meetings and other as- 
 semblies during the past winter. We had no more in- 
 tention of applying the name to civil people of Wayne 
 County than of White, and any sane person ought to 
 know by the reading of the item that we only meant the 
 roughs and no one else. The items that have been pub- 
 lished in the RECORD by < Robert' and in the PRESS by 
 'Alphonso' are mostly true yet we are not responsible 
 for them as many claim ... if roughs and others can- 
 not be convinced of this fact, ... so come on. ' ' 
 
 The article is interesting in its use of meeting. That 
 word was used for many years to signify a church ser- 
 vice. 
 
 The very fact that the county papers no longer 
 print such news is proof that it is no longer considered 
 proper by anyone to make a disturbance at a "meeting." 
 
 An unusual type of trouble sometimes occurred when 
 a new young man came into a neighborhood. Instead of 
 giving him a welcome and helping him feel at home, a 
 few natives sometimes took it upon themselves to run 
 him out, especially if he courted a young lady of the 
 neighborhood; that was not tolerated. When one con- 
 siders the distance a young man may cover to-day to 
 court a young lady, and be welcomed by the young men, 
 he may well surmise that those old customs of trouble 
 making are no more. 
 
 Perhaps the temporary differences that have arisen 
 at election times should be ignored, but in the past, 
 elections seemed to be much more heated than they are 
 now. There were the times when glee club wagons were 
 popular. Everyone who could sing wanted to ride on 
 the decorated wagon, of his political party, and go from 
 
 144 
 
town to town when some speaker was to be present. One 
 of the earliest comments about a political candidate that 
 would now amuse many was made before the Civil War. 
 The candidate running for President was referred to 1 
 by some as ' ' Old Abe Lincoln. ' ' During the eighties and 
 the nineties people were either a "black Republican or 
 a "dirty Democrat." Either name was a disgrace in the 
 eyes of the other party members. 
 
 Elections in Leech, even conventions, were heated 
 affairs. At one time the Democrats and Republicans 
 were congenial enough at convention time to hold their 
 conventions at the same place on the same day. At this 
 time the men met at Chandler to select the banner bear- 
 ers of their party. Women were not considered in their 
 proper sphere then if they thought of voting. That was 
 a man's business. 
 
 The voting time was over and the votes were being 2 
 counted. A native who wanted to name a certain candi- 
 date sa.t to watch the vote counting. His candidate was 
 losing the race; the votes were about all counted. Not 
 being daunted he stalked to the holder of the ballots, 
 grabbed up the votes for the opposition candidate, look- 
 ed at the rest in the ballot box and took out those for 
 the opposition. All those of the opposition he stuffed 
 into his pocket and belligerently defied the judge to do 
 anything a.bout it. As he was a big strong man and was 
 used to "beating up" a man or two on election day, the 
 judge sat dumbfounded. The opposite party officials at 
 the other side of the room were not dumbfounded. They 
 silently enjoyed the play between law and bluff. When 
 the man who had taken the ballots walked out, after 
 kicking the ballot box over, the opposite party officials 
 burst into laughter. The poor bewildered judge turned 
 to his friend of the other party and said, ' ' Now wouldn 't 
 that beat you?" 
 
 1. Mary Ann Bunting told this. 
 
 2. My father saw this happen. 
 
 145 
 
When the Fairfield Court House burned there was a 
 scramble to get deeds recorded. There were a few vul- 
 tures who took that opportunity to try to grab some land 
 and intimidate the owner. William Lines of Ellery had 
 been very ill with typhoid and was very weak as a re- 
 sult. He kept a cane by his bedside to help himself rise, 
 being a very strong willed ma.n. It was when he was at 
 this stage that a caller came, lawyer Thompson, who 
 sought the signature of Lines concerning property rights 
 of others. The property happened to be that owned by 
 Lines. The very idea of being confronted with the idea 
 enraged him. Weak as he was, he managed to pull him- 
 self up. Then holding to furniture to support himself 
 with one hand, he used the cane in the other, over the 
 head of his visitor, his distracted wife protesting at such 
 an incident in the house. He neither heard nor heeded 
 her but continued to give as many thumps as were possi- 
 ble on the head of the adversary, ordering him from the 
 house, and not to dare to try to interfere with his prop- 
 erty. 
 
 Some years later the same lawyer met lawyer 
 Thomas in court, being on opposite sides of the case. 
 The incident of the cane thumping by Lines was too good 
 for Thomas to pass by. He used the story to tell the 
 jury a.bout his opponent. Naturally it had its effect. 
 Such tilts are now forgot except to remember as a hum- 
 orous by-gone. 
 
 There have been other and more serious difficulties, 
 murder charges, trials and convictions. They have been 
 rare, not the usual thing. 
 
 There have been, however, in recent years, machine 
 gun play in Leech that killed — events that caused the 
 sensational reporters of the city papers to print long 
 write-ups as if all in Leech carried guns, participated in 
 gang war fare, and lived on dirt roads in a backward 
 state of civilization. The killing of Carl and Koy jShel- 
 ton by unknown gunmen and the burning of some Shel- 
 
 146 
 
ton buildings have been sensational food for those re- 
 porters who made Pond Creek a symbol for gangsterism, 
 instead of being a thriving community of stable citizens 
 that it is. 
 
 The troubles have been few, compared to the ac- 
 complishments. Though the troubles have furnished the 
 sensational news, the hard working people with intelli- 
 gent foresight have ever moved forward. The clearing 
 of the wilderness, the preparation of the farm lands, the 
 production of food supply have all been a part of the 
 life of Leech. The worker did not toil in vain. Nature 
 gave her assistance. Eich oil wells now dot the town- 
 ship, both the east side and the west side, on the farms 
 of Leech. 
 
 THE END 
 
 147