Records of the olden time; or, Fifty years on the prairies. Embracing sketches of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the country, the organization of the counties of Putnam and Marshall, incidents and reminiscences connected therewith, biographies of citizens

Preface

In the following pages we have endeavored to trace the early settlement of that portion of our State embraced in the counties of Putnam and Marshall, gathering up the forgotten records of each township and neighborhood, and telling for the benefit of their descendants the story of the brave men and women who wrested their homes from the savage, and turned a desert into the fairest land that beams beneath the sun.

It is not a "history," and does not claim to be, nor should it be judged as such, but in its pages we have sought to tell in plain, simple language, the story of our ancestors' lives, and string together for the amusement and instruction of their descendants 1he hiddenls and happeningssolemn, grotesque or ludicrous as they were — that made up the warp and ?woof of their daily existence.

The old settlers are fast passing away. Many prominent actors in

the scenes here depicted have paid the debt of nature, and the story

of their lives is well nigh forgotten. But a few years more, and we

shall see the last of that noble band carried to their final home. Much

that is valuable has already passed into oblivion, and to rescue what

'remains has been our study. The faithfulness with which it has been per-

; formed can best be judged by the public.

At the outset of our task it was found that to reconcile dates and even statements of the same occurrence was impossible. Our sole depend- I ence was restricted to the uncertain memory of a few feeble men and women, who had reached the stage of life when the "grasshopper is a burden," and forgetfulness is courted rather than deprecated. Human nature r is weak, and forty years of slowly revolving time dims the brightest , images graven on the tablets of the mind. At first we strove to reconcile - these conflicting variations and strike a balance of probabilities, but the task was so hopeless that it was abandoned, and the plan adopted of giving each statement as received and allowing it to pass for what it was worth. Circumstances have compelled a more hurried preparation of the literary portion of the work than was intended or desirable, but such as it is we send it forth.

Success in life is not the effect of accident or of chance; it is the result of the intelligent application of certain fixed principles to the affairs of every day. Each man must make this application according to the circumstances by which he is surrounded, and he can derive no better assistance or encouragement in his struggles than from the example of those whose advantages were meagre and worthless compared witli ours. He who peruses the records of those early pioneers will surely find principles which he can safely cairy into his own life and use for his own advancement.

In these latter days, when every acre nearly is appropriated by the husbandman or covered with thriving towns and cities, it seems strange to read of the trials of those who first broke the soil and opened the way for them that followed. It seems so far back when these incidents occurred that one can hardly imagine it was only the fathers of the people of to-day of whom we write.

With every comfort the mind of man can devise, with every want supplied by the creations of these later years, we look back upon the lives of our nearest ancestors as tales of an olden time, coeval almost with the days when "Adam delved and Eve span." But those deeds of heroism, those days of toil, those nights of danger were all experienced, were all accomplished by the sires whose descendants we are.

There lives to-day but a remnant of that pioneer band, fast drifting on to the confines of time, where they shall leave behind forever the recollections of those early days, and pass beyond into the glorious rewards of their trials and sorrows. But their good deeds will live after them; they will not be "interred with their bones." The record of their lives is the property of their descendants, and in the pages of this volume we shall endeavor to tell their story so that "he who runs may read," and take some useful lessons from the experience of those gone before.

In conclusion we desire to thank all who have aided in furnishing the information desired. Everywhere we met nothing but kindness, and gladly would we name them, were it not that it would involve another volume to contain them all. Individually they are due, and we desire to thank J. G. Armstrong, who industriously assisted in collecting and collating our information ; the Revs. J. G. Evans, Price and Bruce ; John

Bettis, of Truckee, Cal.; Jas. G. Allen, of Omaha; Thomas Judd, of Evans; Nathaniel Smith, of Nineveh, N. Y.; and the Hon. G. L. Fort; also Frank B. Hazleton, of Chicago, overseer of the mechanical part, who has patiently and faithfully performed his work ; and finally the compositors, one and all, who assisted in its preparation. We desire likewise to express our indebtedness to Henry A. Ford's "History of Marshall and Putnam Counties," "Ford's History of Illinois," N. M. Matson's "Reminiscences of Bureau County," Baldwin's "History of La Salle County," and A. N. Ford for access to his newspaper files.

As regards the literary value of the work we have nothing to say, and do not now expect to see it appreciated ; but there will assuredly come a time when the information laboriously sought and perhaps clumsily gir-en will be valued, and then our labors will be appreciated.

THE AUTHOR.

Contents

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. PAOES.

CHAPTER [.—Christopher Columbus— His Theory, Plans and Difficulties— First and Second Voyage*, and Discovery of the West Indies— Other Exph.rtrf,— Tbiid Vojage of Columbus— Americus Vespucci— Honor to whom honor is due 17— 19

CHAPTER II.— Evidences of Former Discovery— Icelandic Explorations from A. D. 986 to 1437-Herjnlfson,

Chapter I. Voyages Of Columbus

the 14th of October, 1492, Christopher Columbus, a Genoese mariner in the service of the King of Spain,. while sailing westward in search of a new route to the Indies, discovered the island of San Salvador, then believed to be a new continent. This voyage of Columbus, in its results of so vast importance to the civilized world, was inspired by a firm belief in the theory of the earth's rotundity, and an enthusiastic desire to demonstrate its correctness; for though in the year 1356, one hundred and thirty-six years before, Sir John Mandeville, in the first English book ever written, had advanced this idea, and clearly proved its correctness by astronomical observations and deductions of rejnarkable accuracy ; and though others had vaguely entertained a similar belief, none possessed the hardihood to attempt its practical demonstration. For ten years Columbus, an enthusiast upon the subject, (abandoning his profession, had traveled from court to court throughout Europe, seeking a patron of intelligence, enterprise and means, and finally succeeded in securing for his plans the earnest sympathy and approval of the noble Isabella, Queen of Castile, and her husband Ferdinand, King of Spain, through whose material aid he was enabled to test the correctness of his views.

Immediately upon the result of this wonderful expedition becoming known, different nations vied with each other in endeavors to advance their knowledge of this strange land, and each sought to secure to itself t

the greatest possible advantages to be derived from conquering, subduing and colonizing the new world. To Columbus was due the honor of finding, if not the lost and long soxight Atlantis, what was of greater consequence, — vast coiintries, destined in time to contain half the population of the whole earth. While he discovered San Salvador, Ciiba, Hayti and Jamaica — the rich West Indies — he merely got a glimpse of South America, at the mouth of the Orinoco, and never saw any portion of the northern half of the continent, the future seat of empire of the new world. Though he was the actiial discoverer of the Western Hemisphere, to which his name should have been given, he was denied that honor. He first landed upon San Salvador, after which he visited Conception, Cuba and Hayti. On the shores of the Bay of Caracola, in the last-named island, was erected out of the timbers of one of his vessels a fort, the first stnicture built by white men in the new world.

While correct in his opinions regarding the figure of the earth, Columbus made a great mistake in his estimate of its size, believing it to be not more than ten or twelve thousand miles in circumference; and upon this assumption he was confident that by this route he could reach, — if, indeed, he had not already reached — China and the East Indies. Encouraged by his partial success, in September of 1493 he sailed on a second voyage, which resulted in the discoveiy of the Windward group of islands. On this voyage, also, he established a colony in Hayti, appointing his 1 >rother Governor.

After an absence of three years, he returned to Spain, to find himself the victim of jealousies and suspicions, but so far overcame them as to organize another expedition. On this third voyage he discovered Trinidad and the main land of South America at the mouth of the Orinoco. Sailing thence to Hayti, he found his colony in disorder, his brother deposed, and was himself seized by Bobadilla, the usurping Governor, and sent to Spain in irons. A disgraceful imprisonment followed, but through the influence of friends he was liberated and sent on his fourth and last voyage. He coasted along the main shore of South America for some time, but disappointed in the object of his search — a route to the East Indies — he returned to Spain, and soon after died, a broken-hearted old man.

After Columbus, the work of discoveiy was prosecuted with untiring energy. One of his captains was Americas Vespucci, who in 1499 visited the main land and coasted along its shores for several leagues; but beyond demonstrating that the land to the west of the Windward group of islands

NAMING THE NEW WORLD. 19

was not connected with them or with the Bahamas, he accomplished veiy little. He was a pompous man, with a plausible way of expressing himself, and on his return gave glowing accounts of his achievements, in which he adroitly omitted all reference to Columbus, and took the credit to himself of having discovered the new continent, likewise ignoring the fact that it was the genius of Columbus which had organized the first expedition, his courage that sustained the enteiprise, brought the voyage to so successful a teraiination, and rendered further discoveries an easy matter. It was Columbus who demonstrated that the earth was round, and that islands, and even continents — yes, a hemisphere, was to be frmnd in the world of waters toward the setting sun. The wily Spaniard undermined the worthy Genoese, and won the honor due alone to him. The New World was named America, but the great, the lasting fame of its discovery remains with him whose prow first ploughed the Western seas.

While the adventurous of all nations participated in the exploration of the New World during the succeeding century, the Spaniards, disappointed in their thirst for gold and plunder among the natives of North America, . their rapacity inflamed by glowing accounts of the wealth of the Incas, and doubtless also influenced by the more congenial climate, directed their attention almost wholly to Mexico and South America, inflicting upon those countries to this day the enervating heritage of their own indolent, lawless and revolutionary propensities. Important discoveries within the territory now embraced by the United States were made by Spanish explorers, of which brief mention will be made in their proper connection, but the colonization and development of North America was fortunately left almost wholly to hardy pioneers from the more northerly European countries.

CHAPTEK II.

•

ANCIENT EXPLORERS.

*HILE to Spain is accorded the honor of having discovered the new world, there is a strong probability that the little sea-girt, ice-bound island in mid-ocean between Greenland and Norway, appropriately named Iceland, may justly dispute this distinguished claim. Away back as far as A. D. 986, an Icelandic navigator named Herjulfson, who had made a few voyages for trading purposes between his country and Greenland, while heading toward the land of the Esquimaux, was caught in a storm and driven on the coast of Labrador. He saw there a low outline of rocky and wooded shore, far different from that of Greenland. Although sufficiently near, a heavy sea prevented him from landing, and he coasted along until a favorable wind bore him homeward to tell to incredulous ears the wonderful story.

Fourteen years afterward Lief Erickson, another Icelander, inspired by the story of Herjulfson, determined to test its truth, and gathering a crew of hardy Norse sailors, embarked, and in the spring of 1001 touched the coast of Maine, and thence drifted southward. Here he saw wonderful woods and flowers and wild game such as he had never before beheld, besides strange red men, wholly unlike the Esquimaux. _ This to him was a tropical clime, a region of enchanting loveliness, and his crew were loth to leave it.

His brother Thorwald came in the following season, and died near Fall River, Massachusetts. Afterward others followed, including Thorfin Karlsefne, who, with a crew of 150 men, explored the entire coast of the New England States, entered New York Harbor, and established friendly relations with the Indians, giving the region the name of Vinland.

From time to time as late as 1437, Icelandic explorers visited the north-eastern shores of this continent, but failed to establish permanent commercial relations with the Indians, having little to exchange, and small demand for what the aborigines had to barter. The gradually increasing

ICELANDIC EXPLORATIONS. 21

severity of the arctic climate finally caused all Icelandic voyages hither to cease; but the story of their adventures and discoveries exists in legend and histoiy, and the claim that they first discovered America has a substantial basis of fact to rest upon.

Subsequently, in various places along the New England coast have been found relics of a strange race, such as spears and shields, helmets, lances, battle axes, and other weapons of war siich as the Northmen iised in the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth centuries. Culinary utensils have likewise been found of the exact pattern of those of ancient Norway.

The people of Iceland, unlike the Esqiiimaux, are clearly Europeans, in form, habits, religion and color, and their resemblance to their neighbors of Norway, six hundred miles eastward, is unmistakable. Between Iceland and the northernmost point of Scotland the distance is about five hundred miles, with the Faroe Isles intervening midway. But there seems little question of the Norwegian descent of the Icelanders. They connect themselves by their chronicles with the former country, which they left in open boats ages ago. They have old legends, religious beliefs and superstitions and ancient traditions in common with the mother country, and trace themselves to European ancestry. Their chronicles of the discovery of America are equally clear and credible. That they could have crossed from Norway 500 or 600 miles of sea, in open boats, with island resting places between shores, is no longer doubtful, since only recently the broad Atlantic was crossed in a frail craft navigated by a single daring mariner and his adventurous wife.

A few years ago, beneath a rock near the coast was found the skeleton of a man encased in armor; and an ancient paper among the archives of Iceland tells how a sailor was killed in a skirmish with the natives, and his remains buried where he fell, at the foot of a precipice.

RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.

THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

Chapter III. The Garden Spot Of The World

discovery of America was an event of great consequence to Europe. It not only marked out a new career for many of her people, but changed the destinies of whole nations.

The safety of a tyrant lies in the ignorance and superstition of his subjects. Knowledge is not only power, but freedom itself. The people were becoming enlightened, and in proportion as they advanced in wisdom, so the chains of political servitude became more galling, and far-off America, with her grassy plains, broad savannahs, leafy woods and crystal streams, loomed up before the oppressed as a land of promise. Monarchy was in danger when the spirit of freedom was aroused, and it became a question of Revolution or Emigration; and both the people and their rulers saw in the latter the surer, safer course.

The people who first settled here found a wonderful contrast between the sterile soil of the old world, where the fanner forced a scanty subsistence from land not his own, and the broad forest regions of New England or the mountainous declivities of Virginia or North Carolina; for the land, though hilly, was rich virgin soil ; and above all, it was free. Whatever the farmer raised was his own beyond the reach of rapacious tithes-gatherers. To fell and clear these vast forests and remove from the sunny hillsides the stone was joyful work, since it was to make free homes for free men and their children forever. This labor of love would cause the wilderness to blossom as the rose.

Luckily, the hardy pioneers who cleared the bleak hills of New England little dreamed of the far-off Eden of the West, made by nature ready for the plow, — the richest, freest soil under the sun. For thousands of years, ever since man began to till the soil to get from it his bread, it had lain untamed, waiting the white man's coming. No soil had heretofore been found so rich as to require no dressing. No farm was believed possible until some one cut down the trees and removed the stumps and roots, or

THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 23

dug up and carried away or sunk out of sight and reach of the plow the larger stones that cumbered the surface. To tell the Puritans of a land still more perfect than their own was to insult their judgment with a fictitious impossibility!

And yet here lay this broad, beautiful, unsurpassably rich garden spot of the world. Here, extending from the copper mines and along the southern shore of the largest fresh water lake in the world — Lake Superior,— stretching around to the base of the Rocky Mountains, and thence eastward to the AUeghanies and south to the Gulf of Mexico, enclosing the mightiest lakes and the longest livers of the world — the peerless Mississippi, the turbulent but even larger Missouri, the Platte, the Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Tennessee, and many others, forming together a perfect system of drainage and fertilization, — lay this grand country, the great Mississippi Valley, the richest agricultural region under the sun, so far as human knowledge goes.

A great discoveiy was that of this grand central plain, once the basin of a vast inland sea long ages ago, when hideous monsters of the coal period disported themselves among the luxuriant weeds that grew as trees, and gigantic saurians hid beneath their branches or lazily wallowed in the oozy marsh. Long cycles of time have passed since this great inter-continental ocean between the rising hills of the East and the frowning mountains of the West subsided its flood and slowly, by degrees marked by centuries, the finished world emerged from its Chaotic beginning. During that vast intermediate, space what mighty throes of nature has it witnessed, what Titanic convulsions has it experienced? Then came great floods of water and intense heat, followed by the glacial or cold period, when for centuries fields of ice hundreds of feet in depth ploughed up the surface and harrowed down the hills till, after eons of ages, came man- — not historic man, with his progressive faculties, but the pre-historic first attempt of nature toward the genus homo, — the dweller in caves, possessing an abundance of low cunning,, and fighting his way with sticks and stones among the swarming monsters .of earth and sea. Then came the mound-builders and what is known as the Stone Age, supplemented "by what are termed the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Whether these periods resulted from gradual progress, or were rudely broken off by long intervals of time, is not certain. History tells that after the fall of Greece and Rome came the Dark Ages, and man seemed to have degenerated thousands of years. So between the strongly marked characteristics of pre-historic races there may have been wide gaps of time, and nations rose and fell unnoted and unknown.

The Indians whom our ancestors found here, in arts and sciences were far behind the ancient people who once inhabited this country. They did not have the sagacity to provide for inclement weather or old age. Each day was for itself; and so their lives ran, either a feast or a famine. They had no traditions of former races, and knew nothing of their own previous history. The numerous mounds that covered the country excited neither interest nor. enthusiasm, and the red man is best described by Pope in the following lines :

" To be, contents his natural desire ; He asks no angel's wing nor seraph's fire, But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall beat him company."

THE FATHER OF WATERS.

The Mississippi River was first discovered by the Spaniards, in- the year 1541, at a point near its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico. Two years later Father Hennepin voyaged down the Illinois River to its confluence with the Mississippi, and launching his craft upon its rapid current, journeyed to the falls of St. Anthony, and returning, went as far southward as the thirty-third parallel, near the mouth of the Arkansas. These long voyages were prompted by Utopian dreams, the Spaniards seeking the fabled fountain of eternal youth, and the French a shorter route to China.

In 1512, Juan Poncj de Leon, Spanish Governor of Porto Rico, one of the West India Islands, rich and avaricious, but growing old, fitted out a fleet and sailed in search of the fabled spring. On ths 27th of March, he came upon the coast of a wonderful land, abounding in limpid springs and wood-crowned hills, gay with gorgeous flowers, and tenanted by gaudy plumaged bii'ds. He named this enchanting country Florida, " the land of flowers." Landing near the site of what is now the city of St. Augustine, the oldest town built by white men on this continent, and claiming the country for the King of Spain, he promptly organized and vigorously prosecuted his search for the fabulous fountain. After many weeks of fruitless exploration among the everglades and flower-laden groves, he turned southward, discovered and named the Tortugas, doubled Cape Florida, and returned to Porto Rico. The king, to compensate him for the discovery,

NARVAEZ DE SOTO PONCE DE LEON. 25

made him Governor of Florida, and sent him to establish a colony. He returned in 1521, to find the natives intensely hostile, instead of friendly and hospitable as before, and had scarcely landed ere they fell upon him in overwhelming numbers and drove his men to their ships, Ponce de Leon himself being so severely wounded that he died soon after reaching Cuba, for which point his expedition sailed in precipitate haste.

In A. D. 1528, Narvaez was appointed Governor of Florida by the King of Spain, and sailed for that province with a force of two hundred and sixty footmen and forty horsemen. He landed at Tampa Bay in April, and went northward in search of gold and conquest; but where he hoped to find ancient cities and vast empires abounding in wealth, he discovered only morasses, lagoons and savages. After weeks of peril and hardship they reached the coast, built light barges, and put to sea, but were driven by storms again upon the shore. Here Narvaez died. His lieutenant, De Vaca, at length reached the Spanish settlements in Mexico with a handful of men, having, as some historians allege, discovered the Mississippi on his way. As he seems not to have claimed that honor, however, and failed to formally take possession of it in the name of the King of Spain, as other Spanish discoverers were wont to do, his government never accredited him with that achievement.

In 1537, Ferdinand de Soto, a distinguished cavalier of Spain and bosom friend of Pizarro, who as conqueror of Peru had just returned loaded with the wealth of the Incas, was made Governor of Florida, and came with six hundred men to conquer and subdue the country, expecting to find it a second Peru in wealth. His. men were representatives of the nobility of Spain, clad in knightly armor, and they came with all the pomp and circumstance of conquerors, bringing shackles for slaves, bloodhounds for hunting, and priests to conduct their religious exercises. In June, 1539, they first caught sight of land, but instead of the wondrous beauty delineated in Ponce de Leon's painting, they beheld but a silent beach of marshy waste and gloomy morass. Somu of the mon deserted and returned to Cuba. Landing. with the remainder of his forco, DJ Soto marched northward, wading swamps, .swimming rivers, and fighting the Indians who hovered about his line of march, harrassing his column and seeking to impede his progress. They wintered in the country of the Apalachiana, on the left bank of Flint River, and in the spring of 1540 resumed their tedious journey, wandering through the interminable wilderness until about April or May of 1541, when they reached the lower Chickasaw Bluff, a

26 KECOEDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.

little north of the thirty-fourth parallel, where they discovered the Mississippi River. After crossing the " Father of Waters," a tedious process, requiring several weeks' time, they journeyed to the north-west tlmnigh Arkansas to the southern limits of Missouri, in the vicinity of New Madrid, thence west about two hundred miles, then south to the Hot Springs, where they arrived in the winter of 1541-2. They were guilty of many cruelties to the Indians, who were superstitious, and became easy victims to the duplicity of the gaudily attired Spaniards. Disappointed in finding wealth and spoils, they destroyed Indian towns and villages on their route, and cruelly mutilated their captives or burned them alive in punishment for real, imaginary or pretended offences. But in the meantime De Soto and his followers suffered terribly, sickness and death rapidly decimating their ranks. At length they turned eastward and again reached the Mississippi River, where De Soto, broken in health and spirits, gave way to melancholy, succumbed to the malarial fever incident to the climate and country, and finally died. His body was taken to the middle of the stream by his sorrowing companions, a requiem was chanted, and in a rustic coffin enclosing them, the remains of Ferdinand De Soto were buried beneath the rolling waters of that mighty river whose discovery was the only important result of all his weary wanderings. His companions, after many months of further desultory travel over Texas, again reached the Mississippi, near the mouth of Red River, where they built seven brigantines. In these they floated down the river to its mouth, whence they steered southwesterly across the Gulf of Mexico, and after fifty-five days' buffeting the terrible coast waves, three hundred and eleven survivors of this ill-fated expedition reached a Spanish settlement at the mouth of the River of Palms. Other Spanish expeditions, notably those of Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, Pamphilo de Narvaez and Pedro Melendez, visited portions of North America now comprised within the limits of the United States, mainly instigated by greed and characterized by atrocious cruelties, but devoid of important results. Spain retained possession of Louisiana, Florida and Texas, the former until the year 1800, when it was ceded to France and in turn purchased by the United States; Florida until' Feb. 22, 1819, when it was likewise purchased by the United States; and of Texas until 1821, when it passed into the nominal possession of Mexico, only, however, to raise the standard of insurrection, achieve speedy independence and sue for admission to the glorious sisterhood of States when the galling hand of despotism bore too heavily upon the rights and liberties of her people.

FRENCH EXPLORATIONS. 27

SETTLEMENT OF CANADA.

Chapter IV. Explorations Of The French

| 8 EARLY as 1 504, fishermen from the north of France sought the shores of New Foundland to ply their trade. A well executed map made in 1 50ft, and found among the archives of the nation, defines the outlines of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the fishing grounds very accurately. In 1508 two Indians picked up at sea were carried to France and educated, afterward becoming very serviceable as interpreters.

In 1501 Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese seaman, sailed on a voyage of discovery, and striking the continent somewhere near the latitude of Maine, coasted northward a distance of seven hundred miles, until near the fiftieth parallel, when floating ice stopped further progress. Returning, he captured about fifty Indian fishermen, and took them to Portugal, where they were sold as slaves.

In 1523 an expedition was fitted out in France, consisting of four small vessels, three of which were wrecked in a storm before leaving the coast, but the fourth, the Dolphin, reached the coast of North Carolina, from whence the commander sailed northward as far as New Foundland, where he landed and took possession of the country in the name of the king, his master, and named it New France.

In 1534 France sent a new and successful explorer to further view her new possessions here, in the person of James Cartier, who, after cruising about Nova Scotia and New Foundland, went north and westward, entering the estuaiy of a broad river, which he named, in honor of his patron, St. Lawrence. He sailed up this great river past the island of Orleans, and extending his journey, reached a beautiful village at the foot of a hill in the middle of an island, the location of which had been described to him by captive Indians. Ascending the hill and discovering the surroundings fully confirmative of what had been described by his Indian guides, he named the place Mont Real, and with the usual ceremony took possession in the name of the King of France.