Friday, March 09, 2007


SPRINGFIELD BEFORE LINCOLN

1817


Richard E. Hart
Springfield, Illinois


Instead of an evolution from a nebulous origin in prehistoric times…the settlement of the white race in America has been a well documented and comparatively orderly progress, like the advance of multitudinous chessmen across a gigantic board.[1]


The Settlement of Madison County, Illinois Territory

North of St. Clair lay Madison county, with its present southern and western boundaries; the west line…extended to the northern boundary of the state. All the immense region between this line and the Mississippi river was nominally a part of the county but in only the three southern tiers of townships, about 570 square miles, was land available for the purchase before 1819. The schedule of the first census of 1818 lists 717 families in Madison county with 4,516 souls, of whom 34 were free negroes and 77 servants or slaves.[2]


Madison County, Illinois Territory in 1817

TO: ARTEMAS FLAGG, JUNE 1817
HARMONY

Dear Brother,

I send you an extract from the Laws of the U.S. respecting the sale of Publick Lands, Viz.

At the time of application for a quarter section of 160 acres, $16 must be paid, which holds it for 40 days; at the end of 40 days $64 more must be paid, or another person may purchase the same tract. But if no person applies for it at the end of 40 days, or between that and 90 days, the first $16 holds it for 90 days. Within 90 days the first instalment 80 dollars must be paid or it reverts to the United States: $80 second instalment must be paid in two years: $80 third instalment must be paid in three years; and $80 fourth instalment must be paid in 4 years from the day of application; without interest if the payments are puncmade, if not draw 6 per cent interest from the date of the purchase. At the end of 5 years if the money is not completely paid the land is advertised and offered at publick sale and if the amount due thereon is not bidden and paid the land reverts to the U.S. and the first purchaser loses what he has paid on it. What ever the land sells for more than enough to satisfy the claims of the U.S. is paid over to the first purchaser. A discount of 8 per cent is allowed on the 2d, 3d, & 4th installments if paid down which will bring the cost of 160 acres to $262.40 which is $1.64 per acre. If the payments are let run on interest to the end of 5 years 160 acres amounts to $392. which is $2.45 per acre.

It is to be understood, however, that when a district is first offered for sale it is offered to the highest bider Notice of which sale is given by a Proclamation by the President of the U.S. All that does not sell for over two dollars and acre is offered for sale at the land office at 2 dollars an acre as above stated. I send you this information that you may no upon what conditions land can be obtained in this country for the laws are the same respecting all the lands belonging to the U.S. I tho't probable you might not have seen these Laws. There is not much Congress Land for sale in this state. There is about a Million and a half of Acres in the District of Cincinnati but ther is a plenty in the Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, condition as above.

You {ask the price at which} land first sold for here and the price at {which it now} sells. There is some profit in buying new land in this Country but this is not all. There is much to be made in raising cattle in this country. The cattle are now fat fit for Beef. 4 or 5 hundred head lately left this county for Green Bay which lies upon the West side of Lake Michigan. There is most excellent feed for cattle here I have seen a hundred head together and some men in this country own 4 or 5 hundred head and as good cattle as every you see. Some Milk 30 or 40 cows these are New England people. The country people never make any Cheese which makes cheese in this country the same price as butter. One thing in which I was very much disappointed ought not to be forgotten that is Hogs in this Country are the meanest that I have ever seen. When I first came here I tho't by the looks of the hogs that I had got to the place where roasted pigs run about the lots for they are crumped and are Brown sandy colour-it is true Pork in this country costs nothing and the way it is raised it is good for nothing. I do not believe you ever see half so mean hogs as we have here.

I wrote to you the 17 or 18 Dec last the 10 Jan, the 18 May in answer to yours of the 11 April also 1st June. I have been censured, by those in whose presence I read my letter of the first June, of representing things in a worse light than I ought particularly in my mentioning Sick Wheat and Milk which they say never ought to hender any person from comeing to this country. I think so myself. I did not mentiion this or any thing else to hender or discourage any one from coming here but to make you cautious where you bought land in case you did come. I have not seen any sick Milk or sic Wheat but I {have} conversed {with several different} gentlemen who tell {me} that sick wheat is found in some places & more particular upon the river Bottoms or intervale. The wheat can be told from other wheat it being of a redish cast. Sick Milk is said to be caused by the cows eating a particular herb or plant but it is not ascertained what this herb is it however grows only in timbered Land.

The climate of this country is not so mild as has been represented. People who have lived in this country however for several years say that this country has grown worse as much as Vermont has. We had three Weeks good sleding last winter. The ground was Frozen from the 10th Jan to the 10 March. Before and after that time we had cold nights which froze considerable and warm days which thawed the ground again. This is not a comfortable place in the Winter it is not very cold but Rain & Mud and high Creeks in the fall and spring make it worse than it is in the middle of Winter. The time for Pl{n}ting corn here is the month of May if it is planted earlyer it is croped by the May frost generally. We had a severe frost the 20 & 21 of May last but it did no injury in this country. If Corn is planted in June it will not get ripe generally. There has been frost here every month the year past. But I fear I shal weary your patience, perhaps you will find some information in a letter from James Butler, Esq to Samuel Martin of Richmond date June 4.

Write to me at Springfield, C.C. If I should leave this place before a letter arrives it will be sent on to me by James Butler, Esqr with whom I shall have communication. Give my respects to all my acquaintance. My parents and Brothers & Sisters will any or either of them oblige me by writing to me. I have heard nothing as yet from Our Uncle G. Flaggs family. I remain your
affectionate Brother

Gershom Flagg

{on reverse} I wish the News Papers & other papers which I left may be preserved {Addressed} Mr. Artemas Flagg, Richmond, Vermont. To be left at the Post-office in Burlington, state of Vermont {Written postmark} Lebanon O, June 16. 25

TO AZARIAH C. FLAGG, AUGUST 3, 1817
Cincinnati August 3d 1817

Dear Brother.

I recd your letter of the 6th of January on the 8th March but have delayed writing to you {not having any thing in particular to communicate} till the present time. …

I shall leave this place in a few days and go down the river. I calculate to go directly to St. Louis in the Territory of Missouri at which place I wish you would direct your letter. I desire that you would write to me as soon as you receive this. The reason why I have determined on going to St. Louis is because the Land upon the Wabash that belongs to the U.S. is mostly taken up. the greatest part of the State of Indiana is owned by the Indians. I intend to go on to the Military Bounty Lands. I think probable there may be some of these Lands to be bought cheap in New England & New York. I wish you would write if you know of any to be bought and what they can be bought for. I am told that these lands are to be laid out in as good a part of the country as any in the U.S. but of this I shall know better when i see it. Land is much higher in this country than I expected and I think if you have plenty of Money you could not perhaps lay it out to better advantage than buying the Patents of those who wish to sell their lands. I have no doubt there are many who will never think of coming to look of (sic)their land because they think it is almost out of the world but I am certain the country of the Illinois & Missouri is well situated and will shortly become a Rich country when it is settled and it is now settling very fast.

If you know of any to be bought in your vicinity I wish you would write to me what a quarter Section can be bought for, not however that I would recommend it to you to buy any until I have seen the Land unless you get it very cheap….

Gershom Flagg

A.C. Flagg Plattsburgh N Y.
(addressed) Azariah C. Flagg, Plattsburgh, New York
(stamped postmark) Cincinnati (O), Aug 6 50

Robert Pulliam was born on April 12, 1776, in Henry County, Virginia. His father, John Pulliam, emigrated to Kentucky when Robert was a boy, and the family moved from there to Illinois, arriving in 1796, in what was then called the New Design settlement, now a part of Monroe County. The next year they moved into a settlement in the district of St. Louis, in what was then locally known as “New Spain.” They moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and a few years later to Randolph County, Illinois, near where the town of Red Bud now stands. In 1802 Robert Pulliam improved a farm a few miles east of Belleville, St. Clair County, and about 1803 he settled in the American Bottom, near the Bluff, six or seven miles below the present city of Alton.

Robert’s wife, Mary Stout, was born April 9, 1776, but the locality is not known. Robert and Mary were married on September 13, 1804. In 1815 they moved to St. Clair County.

In the fall of 1817, leaving his family in St. Clair County, Robert, with two or three hired men, and a woman by the name of Strickland--sister of one of the hired men--to cook for them, came to Sugar Creek and built a cabin in the timber, on the east side of the creek. The land is now [1876] owned by James Scott, and is situated nearly three-quarters of a mile west of a point ten and a half miles due south of Springfield, on a line with Sixth street. When the government survey was made it was found to be on the southwest quarter of section twenty-one, township fourteen north, range five west, and is now in Ball township. That is believed to have been, without doubt, the first habitation of any kind built by white men in what is now Sangamon County.

Mr. Pulliam brought with him a herd of cattle and some horses. The growth of grass, which had been luxuriant for ages, afforded ample grazing when there was not any snow. When that covered the ground Mr. P. had the men cut down elm trees, and the stock would live on the buds until the snow passed away. The cabin was built in a forest, composed principally of sugar trees. As the spring approached, Mr. Pulliam put his men to work and made sugar. As the season advanced, and caused the grass to grow, he collected his horses and cattle and returned to his family in St. Clair County in the spring of 1818.

A paper was prepared by Gov. John Reynolds, to be read at the first old settlers’ meeting in Sangamon County, in 1859. In that paper Gov. Reynolds related some incidents in the life of Robert Pulliam. It was not read, as intended, but came into my hands. It is known to all the old settlers that Mr. Pulliam wore an artificial leg. Gov. Reynolds says that one of Mr. Pulliam’s legs became diseased, and in the summer of 1808 it was found to be absolutely necessary to amputate it in order to save his life. Dr. Tuthill, of Cahokia, performed the operation. The Governor says: “I resided with my father in the neighborhood of Mr. Pulliam, and knew the circumstances of the amputation. The patient possessed such courage that he held his body as firm as a rock, without assistance, during the operation. I presume this was the first amputation of a limb that occurred in Illinois, and at that time was considered a surgical operation almost superhuman.” Gov. Reynolds describes Mr. Pulliam as a man of fine proportions and perfect physical development. He says the circumstances of his life prevented his obtaining an education from books, to any considerable extent, but his natural good sense and opportunities for studying men, enabled him to hold a place in the front rank of business men of that time. He was fond of the rude sports of the times; such as horse racing, hunting, and games of various kinds, but later in life he felt that the example was injurious, and changed his course. He first united with the Baptist church, and then, for greater convenience, connected himself with the Methodist church, and his wife did the same. They continued in its communion to the end of their lives. Mr. Pulliam understood the advantages of improved machinery, and endeavored to introduce it into the settlement whenever it was practicable. He was one of the earliest to build a mill in the County. It was run by tread wheel, and the motive power was either horses or oxen. All the early settlers raised cotton quite extensively, and he was one of the first, if not the first, to introduce a cotton gin into the settlement.[3]


Robert Pulliam’s Cabin

Map of Section 21, Ball Township,Site of Robert Pulliam’s Cabin, the first in Sangamon county

October, 1817

Families of William and Joseph Drennan, Joseph Dodds and George Cox Move From Kentucky to Wood River, Madison County, Illinois


“In the fall [October] of 1817, after the corn was in the crib, the families of William and Mary Drennan, Billy’s younger brother and sister-in-law, Joseph and Rebecca Drennan, and his daughter and son-in-law, Mattie and Joseph Dodds, with the family of their neighbor George Cox—some thirty-five persons in all—loaded their belongings onto farm wagons, left their homes in Green River Country, crossed the Ohio at Shawneetown ferry, and rode north to winter camp near Wood River, Illinois.”[4]

Joseph Dodds was born on May 28, 1785, in Abbeville District, South Carolina. He was taken by his mother to Caldwell County, Kentucky, in 1797 or ‘8. He was married there on May 3, 1810, to Mattie Drennan. They had three children in Kentucky, and in October, 1817, he accompanied his father-in-law, William Drennan, to Illinois. In November they stopped on Wood River, in Madison County, two miles north of Alton, and remained there until the next March.[5]


TO AZARIAH C. FLAGG, DECEMBER 7, 1817

St. Louis December 8, 1817

Dear Brother,

your letter of the 14 sept. I recd at this place the 18 ultimo, the day I arrived at this place having been detained at Cincinnatti until the 19 oct. longer than I intended to collect money which was due me at that place. I took water at Cincinnati in a small flat boat with a Roof to it. We floated to the mouth of the Ohio then put our trunks on board a keel boat bound to this place & walked 174 miles the distance from the mouth of the Ohio to this place. From Cincinnati to the mouth is 600 miles making a journey of 774 miles.

This town is in lat. 38 39' situated on a high bank on the west of the Mississippi fifteen miles below the mouth of the Missouri & 40 miles below the mouth of the Illinois River. The shore is lined with lime stones and many of the houses are built of this material. The country for several miles back of St. Louis is Prairie handsome & dry & uncultivated. The town contains about 300 (Flagg undoubtedly intended to write 3000) inhabitants one half French the other Americans. it has been settled a long time but did not thrive until lately it is now flourishing about one hundred houses have been built the past season, several of Brick. Here are two printing offices & two Banks a steam saw mill is building on the bank of the River. the country around is settling very fast & I think this will become a place of great business altough it now does not exhibit a very handsome appearance the streets being narrow and the houses inelegant. It contains however about 30 stores. Every thing sells high. Wheat $1.00 per bushel Corn fifty cents & oats the same & Potatoes do Beef from 4 to 6 dollar per hundred Pork do. Board from $3.50 to $6.00 per week horse keeping $4 per week. Labour is 20 dollars per month or one doll per day & boarded. Brick ten dollars a thousand & boards sell quick at the enormous sum of from 60 to 75 dollars per thousand feet house rent from 10 to 30 dollars a month town lots sell from 500 to 3000 dollars.

I should have answered your letter before if I had had an opportunity but the mail did not arive for three weeks past until the 28 Nov. at which time I was absent in the Illinois Territory. The mail is very Irregular the country below here being often overflowed. …I am pleased with this Country it is the richest soil and most handsomely situated of any I have ever seen. I have not seen the Military bounty lands nor can I get business of surveying at present. The surveyor Genl. informs me that 3 1/2 million of acres have been surveyed N.W. of the Illinois River & that 1/2 million is to be surveyed N.(ms torn} of the Missouri River & 2 millions between the Rivers Arkansas & St. Francis. If{you should purchase any Patents let them be in the Illinois Territory for the Missouri is not so good. I know the Laws respecting the Military Bounty lands & you will recollect that when I wrote you on the subject the Patents were not & could not be issued & I did not suppose the Land would be drawn so soon as was advertised the 25 sept. which was the reason I wished you to wait until I had seen the Land For I tho't there was not a good chance to purchase before the Patents were issued. I am told by the Surveyors that the Land is Rich handsome & well watered but poorly timbered I am not anxious about your purchasing any for I do not expect it will be settled soon & if it does not the land will not be so valuable as it otherwise would be.

I am told that one half of the Lands are Prairie and the other timbered. The timbered Land will be very valuable and the Prairie the reverse so that it is like a Lottery you have about an equal chance to draw a great prize & it must be some prize because the Land is to be fit for cultivation. Some say that the Prairie that has no timber upon it will be returned unfit for cultivation to the General Land Office. But I think this will not be the case. If you should purchase any you will be good enough to let me know the No&c as soon as convenient.

I have located 264 acres of Land in the Illinois Territory 26 miles from this place & about ten from the Mouth of the Missouri River about half of it is Rich dry Prairie & the Remainder timbered with Oak Hickory Elm Walnut &c. I shall stay in St. Louis this winter & how much longer I know not. I am in good health & Remain your affectionate Brother. My love to my sister &c.

Greshom Flagg

Addressed : A.C. Flagg, Plattsburgh, New York
Stamped postmark: St. Louis d (illegible) 25

*This low opinion of the value of prairie land was almost universal among the early pioneers. They were inclined to believe that land upon which trees did not grow could be of little value for agricultural purpose

In the following year (1817), (Charles R.) Matheny of St. Clair (County) introduced a bill to repeal the indenture law of 1814; the preamble to Matheny’s bill declared that the 1814 act had violated the paramount law of the land, the Ordinance of 1787. Significantly, he chose to introduce the bill on December 10, 1817, only a single day before the memorial requesting statehood was passed by the Territorial legislature. Matheny’s goal was clearly to secure the repeal of the indenture law before Illinois achieved statehood. The proposed legislation provoked a heated discussion among the representatives who finally decided to lay the bill on the table until the following day.

The brief cooling off period, however, did little to dissipate the heat of the tenth. On December 11, Matheny’s colleague from St. Clair County, Bradsby, ridiculed the provision of the indenture law which required the “voluntary consent” of a bondsman before he could be “indentured” in Illinois, arguing that a master could easily coerce a slave to accept servitude in Illinois by threatening sale to the South. Bradsby then offered what he considered to be another powerful objection to the indenture law. “ I wish,” he declared, “to prevent that accumulation of free people of color, which must result from this cobweb of legislation.” The Speaker of the House, Dr. Fisher, rose to disagree with the two gentlemen from St. Clair. The Doctor claimed that Illinois had been “much benefited by the introduction of negroes” while their situation had been “much ameliorated” by the indenture system. It would be unwise, he warned, “to infuse their anxiety for freedom, by repealing this law.” Though the 1814 law rendered servants under contract “restless,” he observed that the law ensured the “rights” of masters who had immigrated to Illinois under the belief that the indenture of their bondsmen was constitutional. Fisher concluded that if the law really were unconstitutional as Bradsby and Matheny claimed there was no need to repeal it. The Speaker of the House, however, was unable to save the day for the proslavery men of Illinois; apparently, the opposition had gained control of both houses of the legislature. The repeal bill passed the House and the Legislative Council, though in the latter by the narrow margin of three to two. According to the provisions of territorial government in the Northwest, it was then sent to Governor Ninian Edwards for his approval.[6]

Governor Edwards vetoed the bill.


In 1817, 26 year-old Levi D. Ellis,[7] a native of South Carolina, arrived in what is now Springfield. He was accompanied by his wife of six years, Cynthia Bradford[8] who was born in Fauquier County, Virginia,[9] a five year-old son, William,[10] who was born in Tennessee, a three year-old son, James,[11] who was born in Kentucky, and a one year-old son, Daniel,[12] who was born in the vicinity of what is now Belleville, Illinois.[13]

Levi and his family settled at the edge of the timber, south of what is now Washington between MacArthur and Lincoln Avenue. Levi built a mill with a brush dam on Spring Creek. He surveyed the first lots in Springfield.

Levi’s father died before he was born. In 1804 at age 13, Levi moved with some neighboring families to Nashville, Tennessee. There he hired out, bought some land with the proceeds of his labor, improved it and sent for his mother and the rest of his family. He learned the cabinet and carpenter’s trades in Nashville. He married Cynthia Bradford there in 1811. He was drafted in the War of 1812, but hired a substitute, and was employed by the Government to stock guns. After the war, Levi and Cynthia moved to the mouth of the Cumberland River, in Kentucky, and from there with two children to the vicinity of what is now Belleville, Illinois.[14]

Elisha Kelly Arrives In What Is Now Macoupin County, Illinois
(Elisha Kelly) came to (what is now) Macoupin county, Ill. (In 1817 what is now Macoupin County was a part of Madison County.), about 1817, and remained there for two years, spending most of his time in hunting.[15]


No description of these pioneers from the south can be adequate unless it takes into account the existence of different types among them…Fordham divided the people on the frontier into four classes, “not perfectly distinct yet easily distinguishable.” To the first two of these classes belonged the bulk of the element…

“1st. The hunters, a daring, hardy, race of men, who live in miserable cabins, which they fortify in time of War with the Indians, whom they hate but much resemble in dress and manners. They are unpolished, but hospitable, kind to Strangers, honest and trustworthy. They raise a little Indian corn, pumpkins, hogs and sometimes have a Cow or two, and two or three horses belonging to each family: But their rifle is their principal means of support. They are the best marksmen in the world, and such is their dexterity that they will shoot an apple off the head of a companion. Some few use the bow and arrow. I have spent 7 or 8 weeks with these men, have had opportunities of trying them, and believe they would sooner give me the last shirt off their backs, than rob em of a charge of powder. Their wars with the Indians have made them vindictive. This class cannot be called first Settlers, for they move every year or two.

“2nd class. First settlers;--a mixed set of hunters and farmers. They possess more property and comforts that the first class, yet they are half barbarous race. They follow the range pretty much; selling out when the Country begins to be well settled, and their cattle cannot be entirely kept in the woods.”[16]


With the return of peace on the frontier after the war of 1812, immigrants poured into the territory, and the sales increased by leaps and bounds. During the year ending September 30, 1817, almost a quarter of a million acres of land were sold in the three districts wholly within Illinois, Edwardsville leading with over a hundred thousand acres. This was nearly twice as much as had been sold in all the previous years, but the amount was again doubled in the next fiscal year, the total being nearly six hundred thousand acres.[18]


Of especial interest are the settlements above the line of survey, for these illustrate the way in which the frontier population pushed out and squatted on land which was not yet in the market and which in some cases had not yet been cleared of the Indian title. The census schedules indicated that about seventy families were living in this region in the early summer of 1818, but the number was probably doubled before the end of the year. As usual on the extreme frontier, the settlers were to be found principally along the rivers and creeks.[19]



Public Domain Lands In Illinois 1813-1870

Year of Arrival
Gain
Loss
Total
Cumulative
African-American
1817
5
0
5
5
0
Total
5
0
5
5
0

Origin

South and Border States

Year of Arrival
Maryland
Missouri
Tennessee
Kentucky
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Total
1817
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
4
Total
0
0
1
1
1
0
1
4

Mid Western States

Year of Arrival
Illinois

Total
1817
1

1
Total
1

1
1

[1] Illinois in 1818, Sloan J. Buck, 2nd edition, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1967, p. 61. (Hereinafter referred to as Illinois in 1818.)
[2] Illinois in 1818, p. 88.
[3] Power, p. 584.
[4] Sugar Creek, p. 56.
[5] Power, p. 254.
[6] Zucker, pp. 42-44.
[7] (circa 1791-1857)
[8] (____-1846)
[9] Cynthia’s father was Captain William Bradford.
[10] (1812-____)
[11] (1814-____)
[12] (1816-____)
[13] 1881 History, pp. 514, 582 (1821 Iles), and 1053 (Came to where Springfield stands in 1817. Says that Miletus was the son of Levi and Cynthia which is not what Power says.). Enos, p. 200. Journal: no.
[14] Power, 286.
[15] Power, p. 424.
[16] Illinois in 1818, pp. 98-99.
[17] Illinois in 1818, p. 52.
[18] Illinois in 1818, p. 51.
[19] Illinois in 1818, p. 83.
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