Pioneers of Mason County, Illinois, 1902
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http://stores.ebay.com/Ancestry-FoundLINCOLN AND SALEM PIONEERS MASON AND MENARD COUNTIES TG'ONSTOT http://stores.ebay.com/Ancestry-Found "LI B R.AR.Y OF THE. U N IVERS ITY OF ILLINOIS r> HISTORICAL SURVEY http://stores.ebay.com/Ancestry-Found T. G. ONSTOT PIONEERS OF COUNTIES MADE UP OF PERSONAL REMINISCENSES OF AN EARLY LIFE IN MENARD COUNTY, WHICH WE GATHERED IN A SALEM LIFE FROM 1830 TO 1840, AND A PETERSBURG LIFE FROM 1840 TO 1850; INCLUDING PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND PETER CARTRIGHT. T. G. ONSTOT 1902: PUBLISHED BY T. G. ONSTOT, FOREST CITY, ILLINOIS. PRINTED BY J. W. FRANKS & SONS, PEORIA, ILLINOIS. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1902, by T. G. ONSTOT, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D, C. .r 77 355 . , I n THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO SUSAN EMMA ONSTOT BY HER FATHER T. G. ONSTOT, FOREST CITY, ILL. Index SALUTATORY 12 INTRODUCTORY 13 CHAPTER I. Reminiscences of Lincoln 17 CHAPTER II. His First Love 22 His Second Love 24 Lincoln's Third Love 30 Lincoln's Marriage 33 CHAPTER III. From Flat Boat to White House 38 Shirt Sleeve Court in the Corn Field 41 Lincoln Attends a Circus 46 President Lincoln's First Dollar 51 CHAPTER IV. Lincoln at Salem 53 Lincoln as a Lawyer, on Horseback 58 Lincoln's Appearance 63 As a Lawyer 65 How He Traded Horses 66 He Preferred Grant's Whisky 66 Lincoln's Apt Reply 67 CHAPTER V. Ross and Lincoln 68 Anecdotes of Lincoln 71 Lincoln's Early Life 75 CHAPTER VI. Lincoln's Old Home 79 How Lincoln Cured Charles Revis from Swearing 85 Lincoln as Postmaster at Salem 87 Biographical Note of Lincoln 90 CHAPTER VII. Lincoln's Religious Belief 92 Abe Lincoln and Slicky Bill Green 95 Trial of Duff Armstrong 98 Duff Armstrong's Statement. 100 CHAPTER VIII. The Backwoods Preacher 103 Birth of Cartright 103 Judge of Human Nature 107 Cartright at a Dance 108 A Fatal Accident no CHAPTER IX. Anecdotes of Cartright in Cartright's Appearance 113 CHAPTER X. Riding His Circuit 115 Cartright gets a little Boozy 117 Capacity for Work 118 CHAPTER XI. The Baptists 121 The Campbellites 123 The Presbyterians -124 Methodist Church 124 Old Fashioned Camp-Meeting 125 Peter Cartright's Tomb 128 CHAPTER XII. Menard County 131 Stories of Pioneer Days 134 The Cold Day in 1837 136 CHAPTEJR XIII. The Green Family 138 A Pioneer Gone 141 The Watkins Family 142 CHAPTER XIV. Old Salem on the Hill 148 The West End of Salem 152 Old Salem Under the Hill 155 CHAPTER XV. Old Settler's Day 160 The Founders of Petersburg 165 A Trip to Petersburg 166 In Memoriam 168 CHAPTER XVI. History of Petersburg Sixty Years Ago 170 CHAPTER XVII. Early Times in the Capital of Menard 178 Petersburg in the Forties 184 Old Fashioned Barbecues > 189 CHAPTER XVIII. Recollections of Presidential Campaigns. 192 Fish at Salem Dam 195 My First Pair of Boots. 196 The Old Schoolhouse on the Hill 198 A Deer Hunt 199 George Kirby of Sandridge 200 CHAPTER XIX. Old Time Stories 203 Judge Joseph H. Pillsbury 206 CHAPTER XX. Reminiscences of Menard County 208 Early Settlements 211 Lincoln and the Bull 216 CHAPTER XXI. Anecdotes of Menard 217 CHAPTER XXII. Navigation of the Sangamon 222 Warlike Spirit of Menard County 223 Some Early Settlers 226 CHAPTER XXIII. City of Petersburg : 239 Athens 245 A Letter from H. L. Ross 246 CHAPTER XXIV. History of Mason County 253 CHAPTER XXV. Havana Township 260 City of Havana 264 CHAPTER XXVI. Bath Township 267 The County Seat Question 275 CHAPTER XXVII. Lynchburg Township 278 CHAPTER XXVIII. Quiver Township 283 CHAPTER XXIX. Forest City Township '. 289 CHAPTER XXX. Manito Township : 294 The Allwood Tragedy 301 Village of Manito 302 CHAPTER XXXI. Allen's Grove Township 305 Village of San Jose 309 CHAPTER XXXII. Pennsylvania Township 311 CHAPTER XXXIII. Sherman Township 316 CHAPTER XXXIV. Mason City Township 321 City Public Schools 327 Religious Societies 327 CHAPTER XXXV. Kilbourne Township 33 1 Village of Kilbourne 336 CHAPTER XXXVI. Crane Creek Township 338. Walker's Grove 342 Religious Services 343 CHAPTER XXXVII. Salt Creek 345 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Henry Onstot 351 The Old Home 353 Sand Burrs 355 CHAPTER XXXIX. Pen Picture of Col. John E. Neikirk 357 Reverdy J. Onstot 360 A Hustler 361 CHAPTER XL. The Early Settlement of Havana 365 An Indian Battle at Havana 368 CHAPTER XLI. The Old Havana Hotel 373 The Early Settlement of Mason County 377 Spring Lake 379 CHAPTER XLII. Havana from 1845 to I ^o .................................. 384 The Churches ............................................. 387 Robert McReynolds ........................................ 390 The Howell Family ........................................ 392 Other Old Settlers ........................................ 392 CHAPTER XLIII. Dr. Charles Newton ....................................... 395 The Old and the New .................................... 397 Riverside Park ............................................ 399 Cist of Illustrations T. G. Onstot Frontispiece Abraham Lincoln 17 Lincoln's Residence at Springfield, Illinois 31 Lincoln's Monument at Springfield, Illinois 47 Lincoln's Old Home at Salem, Illinois 62 "The Three Graces" 84 Peter Cartright 102 Plat of Salem in 1837 J 46 Judge Joseph H. Pillsbury 206 Harvey Lee Ross 247 SALUTATORY. When first I took my pen in hand This for to write, I did not understand That I at all should make a book. In more than twenty things I set down, This done I had twenty more in my crown; And they began to multiply Like the sparks that from the coals do fly. Well, so I did, but yet did not think To show to all the world my pen and ink; In such a mode I only thought to make, I knew not what, nor did I undertake Thereby to please by neighbor; no, not I; I did it mine ownself to gratify. Thus I set pen to paper with delight, And quickly had my thoughts in black and white. For, having now my methods by the end, Still as I pulled it came, and so I penned It down until at last it came to be For length and breadth and thickness as you see. Well, when I put my ends together I showed them to others that I might see whether They would condemn them or them justify Some said let them live, some let them die; Some said print it, T. G., others said no; Some it might do good, others said not so. Now I was in a strait and did not see What was the best thing for me to do; At last I thought since you are thus divided, I print it will and so the case was decided. INTRODUCTORY. We make no apology in appearing before the public as. a literary crank. When we first began to publish these let- ters in the papers a few years ago we little thought to have them in book form. Like Harriett Beecher Stowe, whert writing the letters that finally crystallized into "Uncle Tom's Cabin," we wrote as the spirit moved. Our Menard county friends insisted that these old-time reminiscences be put in shape by one who had lived through the formation period should connect the past. One who had lived under the old dispensation should hand down to those who live under the the life of their ancestors and new dispensation pioneer ; they insist more strongly because the old pioneers are passing" away and a few more fleeting years and they will all be gone. We were born in Sugar Grove, in 1829, and being" blessed with a retentive memory know as much of the early settlers of Menard and Mason, as any man now living. In our early boyhood the Indian yell was still heard along the bluffs of Salt Creek. We have lived to see this country grow to be intelligent, educated and refined. All of the useful inventions of today have been perfected in our time. The present generation knows but little of what its fathers had to contend with. We acknowledge obligations to Harvey L. Ross of Oakland, California, for many events in the Salem life of Abraham- Lincoln. He carried the mail on horseback from Lewis- town to Springfield when Salem was the only town between Havana and Springfield, and was probably better acquainted with him than any man living. We are also indebted to General Ruggles for dates to- many of the Mason county incidents, and to R. D. Miller for dates to many Menard county occurrences. We obtained their permission to do this. There was a Menard and Mason county write-up about twenty years ago, but it was expensive and but few bought it and not one in fifty ever read it. This book sold for $8. Later a history of Mason and Tazewell counties was gotten up that sold for $15, which put it out of the reach of com- mon people. Our book, at the price of $2.50, condenses the facts and incidents of the pioneers and supplies the place of both for a small sum of money. The Salem life of Abraham Lincoln is well worth the price of the book. There may be some mistakes in the book but in the main we believe it to be correct. We have been in no hurry in writing the book; it has been three years in preparation. We have counted Abraham Lincoln as one of Menard's early pioneers, as it was here he lived during his formative period of life, and it was here that Peter Cartright would often come while he was in political life. These two celeb- rities ought to give Salem a name to live in future genera- tions; so we send this volume out to all classes.