CHAPTER VII. SUCCESSFUL FRONTIERSMEN.

The character of the men who succeed in gaining the favor of those among

whom they live indicates the character of those whose favor has been

gained. Preachers, land dealers, lawyers, town builders, and politicians

can not thrive in a hostile community. It is worth while in studying

Illinois in its frontier stage to notice some of the chief traits of its

leaders.

No better type of the pioneer preacher need be sought than the Rev. Dr.

Peter Cartwright. He preached in the West for nearly seventy years, during

which time he delivered some eighteen thousand sermons, baptized some

fifteen thousand persons, received into the church nearly twelve thousand

members, and licensed preachers enough to make a whole conference. He was

for fifty years a presiding elder in the Methodist Episcopal church. His

home was in Illinois from 1824 until his death in 1872. Aside from his

ministerial duties he twice represented Sangamon county in the Illinois

House of Representatives; was a candidate for congressman against Abraham

Lincoln in 1846; and was a member of an historical society founded as

early as 1827.

Cartwright had a number of traits that attracted frontiersmen. In person

he was about five feet ten inches high, and of square build, having a

powerful physical frame and weighing nearly two hundred pounds. “The

roughs and bruisers at camp-meetings and elsewhere stood in awe of his

brawny arm, and many anecdotes are told of his courage and daring that

sent terror to their ranks. He felt that he was one of the Lord’s breaking

plows, and that he had to drive his way through all kinds of roots and

stubborn soil.... His gesticulation, his manner of listening, his walk,

and his laugh were peculiar, and would command attention in a crowd of a

thousand. There was something undefinable about the whole man that was

attractive to the majority of the people, and made them linger in his

presence and want to see him again.” He had a remarkable power to read

men, his first impressions being quickly made and almost always correct.

He was often gay, but never frivolous; often eccentric, but never silly. A

Cumberland Presbyterian, after attending a communion service administered

by Cartwright and at which the Baptist, Rev. John M. Peck, was present,

wrote: “After meeting, I invited these two men to spend the night with me,

which they did; and such a night!—of all Western anecdotes and manners,

flow of soul and out-spoken brotherhood—we had never seen, and never

expect to enjoy again. These were, then [1824 c.], the two strongest men

of mark in the ministry, in this State [Illinois].” Cartwright’s vitality

was remarkable. In the sixty-sixth year of his ministry, and the

eighty-sixth of his life, he dedicated eight churches, preached at

seventy-seven funerals, addressed eight schools, baptized twenty adults

and fifty children, married five couples, received fifteen into the church

on probation and twenty-five into full connection, raised twenty-five

dollars missionary money, donated twenty dollars for new churches, wrote

one hundred and twelve letters, delivered many lectures, and sold two

hundred dollars worth of books. Many frontier preachers of the time were

lacking in common sense, but they were not popular. This is the testimony

of a contemporary (1828) writer whose analysis of western character has

rarely been excelled.(546)

John Edgar, a native of Ireland, was one of the largest landholders who

ever lived in Illinois. At the outbreak of the American Revolution he was

a British officer living at Detroit, but becoming implicated in the

efforts of his American wife to aid British soldiers in deserting, he was

imprisoned. He escaped, and in 1784 settled in Kaskaskia, where his wife

joined him two years later, having saved from confiscation some twelve

thousand dollars. This made Edgar the rich man of the community. “In very

early times, he erected, at great expense, a fine flouring mill on the

same site where M. Paget had built one sixty years before. This mill was a

great benefit to the public and also profitable to the proprietor. Before

the year 1800, this mill manufactured great quantities of flour for the

New Orleans market which would compare well with the Atlantic flour.”

Edgar built a splendid mansion in Kaskaskia and entertained royally. At a

time when hospitality was common he improved upon it. His home was the

fashionable resort for almost half a century. It was here that Lafayette

was entertained. In addition to his flour mill, which attracted settlers

to its vicinity near Kaskaskia and which for many years did most of the

merchant business in flour in the country, Edgar owned and operated salt

works near the Mississippi, northwest of Kaskaskia, and also invested

largely in land. Before the commissioners appointed to settle land claims

he claimed thirty-six thousand acres in one claim as the assignee of

ninety donation-rights, while he and John Murry St. Clair claimed 13,986

acres which proved upon survey to cover almost thirty thousand acres. In

territorial times Edgar paid more taxes than any one else in the

territory. In 1790 Edgar was appointed chief justice of the Kaskaskia

district of St. Clair county; in 1800 he was “Lieutenant-Colonel

Commandant of the First Regiment of Militia of the County of Randolph”; in

1802 he was commissioned an associate judge of the Criminal Court of

Randolph county, by Governor Harrison. He had never studied law “but

common sense, a good education, and experience in business with perfect

honesty made him a very respectable officer.” Edgar’s correspondence with

Clark and Hamtramck show him to have been a leader in Illinois during its

period of anarchy preceding the establishment of government in 1790. He

offered to board a garrison on the credit of the United States, if a

garrison should be sent to protect Illinois. At a time when slaveholding

was regarded as eminently respectable by the people of Illinois, Edgar

held slaves, and in 1796 he was one of four who petitioned Congress to

introduce slavery into the territory. He was a member of the legislature

of the Northwest Territory, was worshipful master of the first Lodge of

Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Illinois, constituted at Kaskaskia in

1806, and was major-general of militia, in which capacity he presided at

reviews with much dignity. In person Gen. Edgar was large and portly. He

was definitely charged with forgery by the commissioners to settle land

titles at Kaskaskia. In one case a letter signed in a fair hand by one who

had made his mark to a deed was produced by Edgar. The letter was an offer

of the illiterate owner to sell his land to Edgar. There is no indication

that this conduct of the hospitable and popular man changed the esteem in

which he was held by his contemporaries.(547)

John Rice Jones, the first lawyer in Illinois, was eminently successful.

He was born in Wales in 1759, received a collegiate education at Oxford,

England, and afterward took regular courses in both medicine and law. In

1783 he was a lawyer in London and owned property in Wales. The next year

he came to Philadelphia where he practiced law and became acquainted with

Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, Myers Fisher, and other distinguished

men. In 1786 he came to Kentucky and joined Clark’s troops against the

Wabash Indians. A garrison was irregularly established at Vincennes and

Jones was made commissary-general. He sold seized Spanish goods to

partially indemnify those whose goods had been seized by the Spanish. In

1790 Jones removed to Kaskaskia, bringing to his residence on the frontier

a mind well trained by education and experience. He early became a large

landowner, in 1808 paying taxes on 16,400 acres in Monroe county alone.

The list of offices held by Jones shows him to have been prominent

wherever he went. He was attorney-general of the Northwest Territory, a

member and president of the legislative council of the same, joint-revisor

with John Johnson, of the laws of Indiana Territory, one of the first

trustees, as well as a chief promoter, of Vincennes University, official

interpreter and translator of French for the commissioners appointed to

settle land claims at Kaskaskia, and after his removal to Missouri, about

1810, a member of the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1820, and,

upon the admission of the state, justice of its Supreme Court until his

death in February, 1824. In Missouri he engaged in lead mining and

smelting with Moses Austin and later with Austin’s sons. He made an

exhaustive report on the lead mines of Missouri in 1816. Jones was well

versed in English, French and Spanish law, especially in regard to land

titles. He was an excellent mathematician, and had also a thorough

acquaintance with the Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, English, and Welsh

languages. The pioneers recognized his peculiar fitness for a legal career

on the frontier. Governor Reynolds, a fellow-townsman of Jones, says:

“Judge Jones lived a life of great activity and was conspicuous and

prominent in all the important transactions of the country ... His

integrity, honor, and honesty were always above doubt or suspicion. He was

exemplary in his moral habits, and lived a temperate and orderly man in

all things.”(548)

The founding of the towns of Mt. Carmel, Alton and Springfield illustrates

the work of successful town building on the frontier. Mt. Carmel was laid

out in 1817, Alton in 1818, and the land where Springfield now stands was

entered in 1823.

The town of Mt. Carmel was founded by three ministers, Thomas S. Hinde,

William McDowell and William Beauchamp, the first two being proprietors

and the last agent and surveyor. McDowell probably never settled in

Illinois. Hinde and Beauchamp were men of more than ordinary ability. The

former was a son of the well-known Dr. Hinde, of Virginia, who was a

surgeon in the British navy during the French and Indian war. Dr. Hinde

moved to Kentucky and there the boy Thomas grew up. At one time he was a

neighbor of Daniel Boone, and later of Simon Kenton. He was in the office

of the Superior Court of Kentucky for some time, during which he became

well acquainted with Governor Madison and his nephew, John Madison,

kinsmen of President James Madison. He was well informed as to some of the

obscure movements of Aaron Burr. This led him to send copies of the

_Fredonian_, which he published in order to oppose Burr, to Henry Clay,

then secretary of state, although the copies later unaccountably

disappeared; and, in 1829, to write to James Madison, who was reported as

contemplating the writing of a political history, offering to furnish

information which he possessed at first hand concerning the conspiracy.

Madison denied any intention of writing a history, but asked Hinde to

furnish an account of Burr’s transactions to be filed with Madison’s

papers. This was done. In 1806, Hinde moved to Ohio to get away from

slavery.

William Beauchamp was born in Kent county, Delaware, in 1772. He became a

minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1794, but located in 1801 on

account of ill health. His ministry had been markedly successful and he

had been stationed in New York and Boston. In 1807 he settled on the

Little Kanawha River in Virginia, and in 1815 moved to Chillicothe, Ohio,

where he acted as editor of the _Western Christian Monitor_, Hinde being a

contributor. Beauchamp knew Latin, Greek and Hebrew, was a writer of

considerable ability, and was well fitted to be editor. In 1816, however,

the General Conference decided to establish a magazine, and in the

following year Beauchamp retired from the editorship of the _Monitor_,

having successfully established the first Methodist magazine in America.

Beauchamp, Hinde and McDowell were now fellow-townsmen. They resolved to

establish a town where their ideas of rectitude might be applied.

The site chosen for the town was a point on the west bank of the Wabash

opposite the mouth of the White River, and twenty-four miles southwest of

Vincennes. This point was selected because of the available water power

and of the likelihood that main roads from east to west would pass here.

The town became a railroad and manufacturing center and justified the

wisdom of its founders. An elaborate circular, called the “Articles of

Association, for the City of Mount Carmel,” was issued at Chillicothe in

1817. The purpose of the association was announced to be “to build a city

on liberal and advantageous principles, and to constitute funds for the

establishment of seminaries of learning and for religious purposes.” The

proprietors reserved for themselves one-fourth of the lots, these being

called “proprietors’ lots;” one-fourth were called “public donation lots;”

and one-half were called “private donation lots.” The plan of survey and

sale was described as follows: “The front street is 132 feet wide; the

others 99. The in-lots are six poles in front, and eleven and a half back;

containing each sixty-eight perches, nearly half an acre. The most of the

out-lots contain four acres and eight square poles; some of them more,

(five and six acres on the back range); and a few of them less. There are

748 in-lots, and 331 out-lots—1079 in the whole.

“The lots are offered at private sale, at the following prices:

In-Lots On Front Street.

Corners, $150 each

Not corners, 100

The Rest Of The In-Lots.

Corners, $120 each

Not corners, 80

The out-lots, $100 each

“The payments are to be made in four annual instalments; the first

at the time of sale.

“A bank is to be constituted by the sale of the lots.

“One-fourth of the lots are appropriated to the use of schools and

religious purposes.

“One-half of the lots are to be given away to those who will

improve them according to the articles of association. A person

may have as many gift, or private donation out-lots, as he has

such in-lots; the out-lots not required to be improved. The gift

lots are to be disposed of on the following terms: the persons

receiving them pay the prices above stated, and receive for the

money thus paid, stock in the aforesaid bank. They are to improve

the in-lots thus given to them, by building one dwelling-house for

every such in-lot; one-half of the houses to be built within five

years, and the other half within ten years, from the sale of said

lots. The houses to be framed, brick, or stone, and to contain two

rooms, and two fire-places each.”

The bank referred to was “The Bank of Mount Carmel.” Its shares were ten

dollars each. The proprietors might put into the stock one-half of the

money received from the sale of proprietors’ lots; all the money received

for public donation lots was to be divided into three equal parts, one

part to be funded in the bank in the name of the trustees (to be

appointed) of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the proceeds to be applied

to the building of “Methodist Episcopal meeting houses in the city of

Mount Carmel, and to other religious purposes,” not including ministers’

salary; the second part to be funded in the name of the trustees (to be

appointed) of a male academy; the third part to be similarly funded for a

female academy; the money from private donation lots to be funded in the

name of the purchasers, after deducting ten per cent for expenses, which

ten per cent should remain in the bank as permanent stock. The articles of

association were elaborate. The 18th article became known as the “Blue

Laws.” It read as follows: “ART. 18. No theatre or play-house shall ever

be built within the bounds of this city. No person who shall be guilty of

drunkenness, profane swearing or cursing, Sabbath breaking, or who shall

keep a disorderly house, shall gamble, or suffer gambling in his house, or

raise a riot, or break the peace within the city, or be guilty of any

other crime of greater magnitude in guilt than those here mentioned, and

shall be convicted thereof before the mayor, council, or any other court

having cognizance of such crime or crimes, shall be eligible to any office

of the city of Mount Carmel or its bank, or be entitled to vote for any

such officer, within three years after such conviction, notwithstanding

anything in these articles to the contrary.”

The plan for a town was successful. Beauchamp was surveyor, pastor,

teacher, and lawyer in the beginning of settlement. By 1819 a school was

established; four or five years later a school-house was built; by 1820

Mt. Carmel circuit of the M. E. church had been formed; in 1825 a brick

church was erected; the same year the town was incorporated by the state

on the plan laid down in the articles of association; in 1827 the annual

conference of the Illinois Conference was held at Mt. Carmel.

Beauchamp’s health having improved he reëntered the ministry in 1822, and

at the General Conference two years later he lacked but two votes of being

chosen bishop. He died in 1824.

Hinde, in 1825, was a member of the Wabash Navigation Company, consisting

of seventeen prominent Indiana and Illinois men, and having a capital

stock of one million dollars. He was one of the nine directors for the

first year. He continued to be a contributor to periodical literature and

became the biographer of his friend Beauchamp. In a letter from Mt.

Carmel, of May 6, 1842, Hinde says: “I have just returned from the East,

having visited the Atlantic cities generally for the first time, after

forty-five years pioneering in the wilderness of the West. I have been

three times a citizen of Kentucky, twice of Ohio, and twice of Illinois.”

Hinde died in 1846 and was buried at Mt. Carmel. Among his writings is

found one of the most acute analyses of frontier character that has

appeared. The writer points out that eastern ministers have often been

unsuccessful and eastern immigrants unpopular, because they have

underrated the people of the West, among whom there are many people of

culture. They prefer “the _useful_ to the shining or showy talent.” In the

West the best work has been done by westerners. The English spoken in the

West is the purest to be found, because the various provincialisms of the

immigrants are mutually corrective. The Virginian, who retained his

unbounded hospitality, was the most prominent character in the West. “If

we expect to find on crossing the mountains a people either illiterate or

ignorant as a body, we will assuredly, in many instances, be happily

disappointed. It too often happens, that one puffed up with self

importance, and possessing a conceited and heated imagination, will form

wild conjectures as to men and things. We have been amused at the

bewildered minds of such, with the ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’; and one of the

most ridiculous whims of some, is to endeavour to press every thing into

their own _mould_; and shape it, be it what it may, if possible, after

their own manner, custom, or operation, forgetting that ‘we have to take

the world as it is, and not as we would have it to be.’ The fact is, an

emigrant should come forth as an inquirer, and set himself down to learn

at the threshold of experience. On this rock thousands have been injured,

and none have suffered more than the English emigrants. Oh! with what

poignant grief have I heard the English emigrant exclaim with the

bitterest invectives on his own course and conduct, as to this particular.

Conceiving that he knew every thing, when he came here to test his

experience, he soon found that he ‘knew nothing.’ This circumstance I have

found too to have its bearings upon American emigrants from different

states; upon families, upon individuals, and upon preachers also. How

often have I heard the old settler complaining, (who having himself

learned by _experience_) of the impertinent conduct of an emigrant, who

sometimes carries his local policy through all the ramifications of his

life, and often into the religious society, as well as elsewhere; he

wishing every thing done, as he saw it done in Boston, New-York,

Philadelphia, Baltimore, and very often ‘Old England’ and ‘Ireland!’ as if

men who have to act, and reflect upon the circumstances of the case,

different from any ever before presented except among themselves, are to

be governed by acts and doings of people in the moon!”(549) A man who thus

knew the frontier was fitted to be the founder of a western town.

Rufus Easton was the founder of the town of Alton. Like Hinde, he brought

to his work a fund of experience gained on the frontier and in public

affairs. Easton was born at Washington, Litchfield county, Connecticut, in

1774. He descended from pioneers, being a direct descendant of Joseph

Easton, who came from England to Newtowne, now Cambridge, Massachusetts,

about 1633, and was later one of Rev. Thos. Hooker’s colony which founded

Hartford, Connecticut, of which Easton was an original proprietor. In 1792

Rufus Easton’s father, a Tory, obtained a large grant of land near

Wolford, now Easton Corners, Ontario. Rufus received a good education

before studying law. In 1798 he was practicing law in Rome, New York, then

a frontier town. November, 1801, Easton, with thirteen other prominent

men, held a banquet to celebrate the election of Thos. Jefferson as

President. The prominence of the young lawyer at this time is shown by the

fact that he was consulted in regard to federal appointments, and that he

was in 1803 a confidential correspondent of De Witt Clinton. The winter of

1803-4 Easton spent in Washington, where he became a friend of Aaron Burr,

Postmaster-General Granger, and others. In the spring of 1804 he started

for New Orleans. Aaron Burr gave him a letter of introduction to Abm. R.

Ellery, Esq., of New Orleans, in which he said: “You will certainly be

greatly amused to converse with a man who has passed the whole winter in

this city—who has had free intercourse with the officers of Govt. &

members of Congress—who has discernment to see beyond the surface, and

frankness and independence enough to speak his own sentiments.” Easton did

not, however, go to New Orleans. He stopped for a short time at Vincennes

and then located at St. Louis. He was appointed by Jefferson judge of the

Territory of Louisiana and first postmaster of St. Louis. In September,

1805, Burr, Wilkinson and Easton had a conference at St. Louis. Easton

turned a deaf ear to Burr’s questionable proposals and from this time

Wilkinson was hostile to Easton. Easton corresponded with Jefferson and

Granger concerning the Burr conspiracy. Jefferson appointed him United

States attorney, 1814-18 he was delegate to Congress from Missouri,

1821-26 he was attorney-general of Missouri. Easton was very prominent,

entertaining almost all visitors of note. Edward Bates, Lincoln’s

attorney-general, read law in Easton’s office.

Soon after coming to St. Louis, Easton began to buy up claims to land in

Missouri and Illinois. When seeking to find a suitable place for a town in

Illinois, he selected a point on the east bank of the Mississippi,

twenty-five miles north of St. Louis and twenty miles south of the mouth

of the Illinois. There was here a good landing place for boats, and also

extensive beds of coal and limestone. The town was named Alton in honor of

the founder’s son. One hundred lots in the new town were donated to the

support of the gospel and public schools, one-half of the proceeds to be

devoted to each. This provision was confirmed by the act of incorporation

of January 30, 1821, and the trustees were given the right to tax

undonated lots for the support of schools. This latter provision was in

advance of public sentiment and two years later it was repealed. Alton,

like Mt. Carmel and to a much greater extent, proved the wisdom of its

location. It has long been noted for its manufactures and is a thriving

modern city.(550)

The town of Springfield, since 1839 the capital of Illinois, was laid out

in 1822, before the land upon which it stood was offered for sale. When

the land was sold in November, 1823, the section upon which the town stood

was bought by Elijah Iles, Pascal Paoli Enos, Thomas Cox, and Daniel P.

Cook, each purchasing one quarter, but the title being vested by agreement

in Iles and Enos. Cook, like McDowell in the founding of Mt. Carmel, seems

to have been a non-resident proprietor.

Elijah Iles was a child of the wilderness. He was born in Kentucky in

1796, and died at Springfield, Illinois, in 1883, leaving valuable

reminiscences of his long experience on the frontier. His mother was

Elizabeth Crockett Iles, a relative of David Crockett. Elijah attended

school two winters and taught two winters. In 1812, although but sixteen

years of age, he acted as deputy for his father, who was sheriff of Bath

county, Kentucky. Some three years later his father gave him three hundred

dollars, with which he bought one hundred head of yearling cattle. For

three years he herded these cattle among the mountains of Kentucky, about

twenty miles from civilization, having as his only companions his horse,

dog, gun, milk cow, and the cattle. His meals usually consisted of a stew

made of bear meat, venison, or turkey, and a piece of fat bacon. At the

end of the three years the cattle were sold for about ten dollars a head,

and the youthful dealer having attained his majority went to Missouri and

became a land agent for eastern speculators, and soon began to speculate

for himself. In 1821, concluding that Missouri was too far from a market,

he sold some of his land and resolved to move to Illinois. At that time

the site upon which Springfield was to stand had been chosen as the

temporary county seat of Sangamon county, because eight men, some of whom

had families, lived within a radius of two miles from the site, and at no

other place in the county could the lawyers and judge secure board and

lodging. Iles quickly discerned the advantages of the Sangamon country as

a place of settlement, and straightway built a log store sixteen feet

square, went to St. Louis and bought fifteen hundred dollars worth of

goods, which he loaded on a keel-boat and had towed up the Mississippi and

the Illinois by six men, whom he paid seventy-five dollars for their

services. When the land was offered for sale, in 1823, Iles bought a

quarter-section.

Another quarter-section of the town site was bought by Pascal Paoli Enos.

The fact that the frontier is a great social leveler is well illustrated

by the combination of Enos and Iles as joint owners of a town site. The

Enos family had come from England in 1648, and Pascal Paoli Enos, son of

Major-General Roger Enos, was born in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1770. He

was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1794, studied law, was a member of

the Vermont legislature in 1804, married in Vermont and moved to

Cincinnati in 1815, later to St. Charles, Missouri, then to St. Louis,

then to Madison county, Illinois, and in 1823 was appointed by President

Monroe receiver of public moneys for the land-office in the District of

Sangamo. Thus the elderly scholar joined the shrewd but youthful

frontiersman.

Col. Thomas Cox was the third of the trio of the resident proprietors of

Springfield. He had signed a petition for the division of Randolph county

in 1812, represented Union county as a senator in the first general

assembly of Illinois, and in 1820 was appointed register of the

land-office at Vandalia. In 1823 he came to Springfield as register of the

land-office at that place. Col. Cox was six feet tall, weighed two hundred

and forty pounds, and was a drunkard within a short time after the

founding of Springfield.

The most important thing about the founding of the town is the

heterogeneous character of its founders. A few incidents in their

subsequent history will emphasize this, and also show how well they worked

together when surrounded by the same conditions. When the commissioners

came to locate a permanent county seat Springfield, then called Calhoun,

had a formidable rival for the honor. Iles and Enos managed to have a

mutual friend engaged as guide to the commissioners. The guide conducted

them to the rival settlement by a long and rough route and upon being

requested to take them back over a shorter route he took a course more

difficult still. The commissioners decided that the rival settlement was

inaccessible. Iles was twice state senator, major in the Winnebago war,

and captain in the Black Hawk war, in which he served with Zachary Taylor,

Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln, John T. Stuart, Robt. Anderson, of Fort

Sumter fame, and others. Iles was also a large stock dealer, selling hogs

and cattle in St. Louis and mules in Kentucky, until 1838, in which year

he lost ten thousand dollars on hogs packed at Alton. In 1838-9 he built

the American House in Springfield. This was then the largest hotel in the

state and its erection created a great sensation. He was four times state

senator, and was an officer of the Bank of Edwardsville. Enos held his

position as receiver until removed for political reasons by Jackson in

1829. Cox had an eventful career. He was removed from his position of

register, under charges of misconduct, early in 1827; the next year he was

keeping a hotel in Springfield; later he removed to Iowa, then Wisconsin,

having secured a contract for the survey of public lands. He was three

times a member of the Iowa territorial House of Representatives and twice

a member of the territorial Council. A band of murderers, horsethieves,

counterfeiters, and blacklegs, having gained possession of the town of

Bellevue, on the Mississippi, in Jackson county, Iowa, Col. Cox led the

citizens in a successful attack in which seven men were killed outright

and some ten or fifteen wounded. At this time Cox was recognized as a

pronounced drunkard, but his undoubted courage, ability to command, and

strong physique secured him a following.(551)

Shadrach Bond, the first governor of Illinois, and Pierre Menard, the

first lieutenant-governor, were both poorly educated, but they had a good

knowledge of men and a large fund of information concerning practical

affairs.(552) Edward Coles, the second governor of the state, is a good

example of the polished, well-educated gentleman succeeding with a rude

constituency. Coles was born in 1786, in Albemarle county, Virginia,

fitted for college by private tutors, educated at Hampden Sidney and later

at William and Mary College. His father’s home was visited by Patrick

Henry, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, the Randolphs, Tazwell, Wirt, and

others. For six years Coles was the private secretary of President

Madison, and during this time he became an intimate friend of Nicholas

Biddle. In 1815 he visited Illinois in what must have seemed at that time

great state, for he traveled not only with a horse and buggy, but with a

servant and a saddle-horse as well. In 1816-17 he was sent as a special

messenger to Russia, stopping at Paris on his return, meeting Louis XVIII.

of France and becoming a friend of Lafayette. In 1819 he came to

Edwardsville, Illinois, emancipated his slaves, and assumed his duties as

register of the land-office. The rough pioneers were very anxious to get a

title to their lands. “When the settler reached Edwardsville, dressed in

jeans and wearing moccasins, with his money in his belt, having traveled

on foot or on horseback long distances, and first presented himself to the

Register of the Land Office, there he found Edward Coles, who had recently

emigrated into the State from Virginia. It was known to some of them that

he had been the private secretary for President Madison, and had been on

an important mission to Europe.

“They found him a young man of handsome, but somewhat awkward personal

appearance, genteelly dressed, and of kind and agreeable manners. The

anxious settler was at once put at ease by the suavity of his address, the

interest he appeared to feel in aiding him, and the thoroughly intelligent

manner in which he discharged his duty. No man went away who was not

delighted with his intercourse with the ‘Register.’ And herein is

illustrated the great mistake so often made by politicians and candidates

for popular favor. Too many candidates for the suffrage of the people in

our early political contests thought it necessary, in order to make

themselves popular, to affect slovenly and unclean dress and vulgar

manners in their campaigns. There was never a greater mistake. However

rough, ill-clothed and unintelligent the voter might be, he always

preferred to vote for the man who was dressed and acted like a gentleman

to the one who dressed like and acted like himself.”(553) Coles was always

dignified, always gentlemanly, and always respected. His brief residence

in Illinois affected its history for all time to come. Like Coles in

several respects was his successor as governor, Ninian Edwards. Born in

Maryland in 1775, educated by the celebrated William Wirt, and later

graduating from Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, at nineteen years of age

he came to Kentucky. Here he served two terms in the Kentucky legislature,

was presiding judge of the general court, circuit judge, and chief-justice

of the court of appeals. Henry Clay gave as Edwards’ marked

characteristics, good understanding, weight of character, and conciliatory

manners. In his campaign for governor of Illinois, Edwards presented

himself as the highest type of a polished and well-dressed gentleman,

always riding in his own carriage and driven by his negro servant, and

dressing in all the style of an old-fashioned gentleman with broad-cloth

coat, ruffled shirt, and high-topped boots. The people were not repelled

by such a display, but considered it an honor to vote for such a man. The

egotistical Adolphus Frederick Hubbard, who was one of the two opponents

of Edwards, intermingled bad grammar and poor attempts at wit in his

electioneering speeches, and received less than one-tenth of the number of

votes cast for either of the two other candidates.(554)

WORKS CONSULTED.

I. Sources.

_American Historical Association, Annual Report of the. Washington:

Government Printing Office._

Report for 1893, pp. 199-227, see Turner, Frederick Jackson; Report of

1896, Vol. I., pp. 930-1107, has “Selections from the Draper Collection in

the possession of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, to elucidate

the proposed French expedition under George Rogers Clark against

Louisiana, in the years 1793-94.”

_American monthly Magazine and critical Review. New York: H. Biglow,

editor._

Volumes I.-III. (1817-18) give information of much value concerning

European conditions inducing emigration. A few of the notices concern

emigration from east to west in the United States.

_American Register; or, Summary Review of History, Politics, and

Literature. Philadelphia._

Volume II., 202, 203, 216 (1817), tells of improvements in steamboat

navigation.

_Americans as they are; described in a Tour through the Valley of the

Mississippi. London: Hurst, Chance & Co.,_ 1828. vi. + 218 pp.

Observations on Illinois are more suggestive than accurate.

ATWATER, CALEB. _Remarks made on a Tour to Prairie du Chien. Columbus,

Ohio: Isaac N. Whiting_, 1831. 296 pp.

The tour was from Circleville, Ohio, to Prairie du Chien, in 1829, and

thence to Washington. The writer’s remarks give valuable material for the

history of the time.

—— _Writings. Columbus, Ohio: Caleb Atwater_, 1833. 408 pp.

The author was one of a commission to treat with the Indians at Prairie du

Chien for the cession of the lead region. In 1829 he went from St. Louis

to Prairie du Chien. He gives good descriptions of Quincy, Galena, and a

few other places. The part of the Writings describing this journey was

separately printed in 1831. The edition of 1833 is somewhat better than

the previous one.

BALESTIER, JOSEPH N. _Annals of Chicago: a Lecture delivered before the

Chicago Lyceum, Jan. 21, 1840. Republished from the original Edition of

1840, with an Introduction, written by the Author in 1876. Chicago: Fergus

Printing Co._, 1876. In _Fergus historical Series_, I., No. 1. 48 pp.

Contains a copy of Capt. Heald’s letter of 1812, describing the massacre

at Fort Dearborn.

BIGGS, WILLIAM. _Narrative of William Biggs, while he was a Prisoner with

the Kickepoo Indians ... on the west Bank of the Wabash River ... Printed

for the author, June, 1826._ 22 pp.

Biggs was captured on March 28, 1788, and remained a captive for several

weeks. This very rare book gives valuable insight into the revolting

customs of the Indians.

BIRKBECK, MORRIS. _Extracts from a supplementary Letter from the Illinois:

an Address to British Emigrants, and a Reply to the Remarks of William

Cobbett, Esq. 2d ed. London: James Ridgeway_, 1819. 36 pp.

Birkbeck had issued an address to British emigrants, advertising the

virtues of his English settlement in Illinois. William Cobbett declared

that Birkbeck’s account of the fertility and salubrity of Illinois was not

true. Birkbeck issued a somewhat scathing reply, showing Cobbett’s

ignorance.

—— _Letters from Illinois. Philadelphia: M. Carey & Son_, 1818. 12mo. vii.

+ 154 pp.

Twenty-two letters written from November, 1817, to March, 1818, by Morris

Birkbeck, from the English settlement in Edwards county, Ill., of which

settlement he was the founder. Very valuable for notes concerning

transportation and the manner of life of the early settlers of Illinois.

—— _Notes on a Journey in America from the Coast of Virginia to the

Territory of Illinois. Philadelphia: Richardson_, 1817.

Passed through several editions in England.

A graphic account of the journey of Birkbeck from 500 miles east of Cape

Henry, Va. (April 26, 1817), to Shawneetown, Ill., where on August 2,

1817, he bought 1440 acres of land as a site for his English settlement.

Very valuable for information concerning transportation and western

conditions.

BLANEY, Capt. _An Excursion through the United States and __ Canada during

the years 1822-23. By an English Gentleman. London: Baldwin, Cradock, and

Joy_, 1824. 16mo. 511 pp.

Pages 156-92 tell of the author’s trip across Illinois. He visited Albion

and then went to St. Louis overland. The descriptions of Birkbeck’s

settlement, the difficulties of prairie travel, and of the frontier life

encountered are much above the average of travelers’ reports.

BONNER, T. D. _Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer,

Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians. Written from

his own Dictation. New York: Harper & Bros._, 1858. 16mo. 535 pp.

The book deals almost entirely with the region west of the Mississippi,

but in 1820 Beckwourth visited Galena. He went from St. Louis with a party

led by Col. R. M. Johnson, the object of the party being to gain a mining

concession from the Sauk Indians.

BRANNAN, JOHN (_Editor_). _Official Letters of the military and naval

Officers of the United States, during the War with Great Britain in the

Years 1812, 13, 14, & 15. Washington: Way & Gideon, 1823._ 510 pp.

A valuable collection. Printed without comment. Pages 84-5 give Capt.

Heald’s official report of the massacre at Fort Dearborn, August 15, 1812.

The report is in a letter to Thos. H. Cushing, Adjutant General, written

from Pittsburg, October 23, 1812.

BRODHEAD, Col. DANIEL. _A Letter from Brodhead to Gen. Washington

referring to La Balme’s Expedition._

In _The olden Time_, II., 390-91.

BUTRICKE, GEORGE. _Affairs at Fort Chartres, 1768-1781. Albany: J.

Munsell_, 1864. 10 pp.

Reprinted from _Historical Magazine_, VIII., No, 8. Valuable. Several

letters written by Geo. Butricke, then stationed at Fort Chartres.

Contains interesting notes on Indians, Spaniards, and British. Tells of

epidemic.

_Calendar of Virginia State Papers and other Manuscripts. Richmond, Va._,

1875-1900. 9 vols.

The early volumes have documents of great value concerning the period when

Illinois was a part of Virginia.

CARTWRIGHT, PETER, _Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, the __ backwoods

Preacher. Ed. by W. P. Strickland. New York: Carlton & Porter_, 1857,

16mo. 525 pp.

The author was from 1803 to the time of writing his book (1856) one of the

most famous circuit riders. His first work was in Kentucky. He came to

Illinois in 1823. His views on slavery, which caused his removal, are

interesting. A valuable work, especially for giving an insight into the

social life of the time.

CHETLAIN, Gen. AUGUSTUS LOUIS. _Recollections of seventy Years. Galena:

The Gazette Pub. Co._, 1899. 304 pp.

The author was one of the first settlers in Galena, and gives valuable

information concerning that important region—1821 ff.

_Chicago Historical Society’s Collections. Chicago_, 1882-90:—

I. History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois,

by George Flower, 1882. 408 pp.

II. Sketch of Enoch Long, by Harvey Reid, 1884. 112 pp.

III. The Edwards Papers, edited by E. B. Washburne, 1884. 632 pp.

IV. Early Chicago and Illinois, 1889. 400 pp. Of great value.

CHILDS, Col. EBENEZER. _Recollections of Wisconsin since 1820. In Wis.

Hist. Coll._, IV., 1859, 153-95.

The writer describes Chicago as it was in 1821, at which time he visited

it.

_Christian Spectator_, V., 1823, 20-26. _Remarks on the States of Illinois

and Missouri_, by Edward Hollister.

The author had recently completed a missionary tour in these states, and

his remarks give an insight into the social conditions of the time.

COBBETT, WILLIAM. _A Years Residence, in the United States of America, 3d

ed. London: William Cobbett_, 1828. 370 pp.

Cobbett was in the United States in 1817-18. He declared that Birkbeck and

Fearon had deceived the people of England by portraying America as better

than it was. His book is unfair.

COFFIN, LEVI. _Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the reputed President of the

Underground Railroad.... Cincinnati: Western Tract Society_ [c. 1876]. _2d

ed. with appendix. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co._, 1880. 732 pp.

Pages 89-99 describe the author’s visit to a Quaker settlement in Sangamon

county, Ill., in 1823. Lost on the prairies.

COLLOT, VICTOR. _A Journey in North America, containing a Survey of the

Countries watered by the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, and other affluing

Rivers ... Illustrated by 36 Maps, Plans, Views, and divers Cuts. Paris:

Arthus Bertrand_, 1826. 2 vols. and atlas in one. iv. + 310; v. + 272 pp.

The author traveled through Illinois in 1796. His observations were acute

and are more helpful than would be expected from a soldier of fortune. The

New Orleans _Picayune_ of March 18, 1901, has a valuable article on the

journey of Collot and its purpose. See his _Map of the Country of the

Illinois_, in pocket.

_Columbian Centinel. Boston, June-December_, 1790; 1791-1801; 1802-1829.

The issue for June 16, 1790, has a note on the current experiments with

steamboats. In Library of Wisconsin State Historical Society.

CROGHAN, GEORGE. _Journal_, 1765. In Thwaites, _Early western Travels, I.,

126-73. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Company_, 1904.

The Journal is of a trip to the West, and characterizes the early French

settlers.

CUMING, FORTESCUE. _Sketches of a Tour to the western Country,...

commenced at Philadelphia in the Winter of 1807 and concluded in 1809.

Pittsburg: Cramer, Spear & Eichbaum_, 1810. 12mo. 504 pp.

Describes Shawneetown and gives some information in regard to routes. Very

slight, however, in respect to Illinois. Criticism: _The Inter Ocean,

August 3, 1904._

CUTLER, JULIA PERKINS. _Life and Times of Ephraim Cutler. Prepared from

his Journals and Correspondence. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co._, 1890.

353 pp.

Cutler early settled in Ohio. This work gives good examples of the

difficulties of travel, between 1795 and 1809, on some of the Alleghany

routes frequented by emigrants to Illinois. The driving of western cattle

to market is also described.

CUTLER, WILLIAM PARKER, and CUTLER, JULIA PERKINS. _Life, Journals and

Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler_, LL. D. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke

& Co., 1888. 2 vols. 9 + 524; 495 PP.

Considerable information concerning early eastern opposition to western

settlement is given. Dr. Cutler kept a diary from 1765 to 1823, of which

nine years are missing.

DE PEYSTER, J. WATTS, LL. D. _Miscellanies, by an Officer_ [Colonel Arent

Schuyler de Peyster, B. A.], 1774-1813. _New York: A. E. Chasmar & Co._,

1888. 80 pp., and an appendix of cci. pp.

Pages xxvi.-xxvii. contain a letter from Arent De Peyster to Capt. McKee

describing an Illinois expedition against St. Josephs in 1780 or 1781.

Letter dated Detroit, Feb. 1, 1781.

_Draper Collection of Manuscripts._

This collection, made by Lyman C. Draper, is the property of the State

Historical Society of Wisconsin. It has been of more value to the writer

than any other single source, being especially helpful for the hitherto

obscure period immediately succeeding the expedition of George Rogers

Clark, 1779-1790. Most important of all are the Harmar Papers, although

the Illinois MSS., the Clark MSS., and Draper’s Notes were much used. The

Hinde MSS. have little historical value, consisting as they do, largely of

religious musings of the writer’s old age.

DUDEN, GOTTFRIED. _Bericht über eine Reise nach den westlichen Staaten

Nordamerika’s and einen mehrjährigen Aufenthalt am Missouri (in den Jahren

1824-1827) in Bezug auf Auswanderung und Uebervölkerung. 1st ed. of 1500

copies. 2d ed. Bonn, In Commission bei Eduard Weber_, 1834. lviii. + 404

pp.

Contains a prediction of Illinois future greatness. Gives valuable

information concerning the cost and manner of transportation, and

concerning social life. Comparison of American and European conditions.

DUNN, JACOB PIATT, _Compiler. Slavery Petitions and Papers. In Indiana

Hist. Soc. Pub., II., 443-529. Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company_,

1894.

“The following papers are the petitions to Congress from Northwest and

Indiana Territories for the suspension of the sixth article of compact of

the Ordinance of 1787, and the admission of slavery to the Territory,

together with the counter-petitions, the reports on them, and the

accompanying documents,”—Compiler’s introduction.

_Edwardsville Spectator. Edwardsville, Ill.: Hooper Warren, pub., Apr. 18,

1820-Feb. 8, 1825, and 1820-22._

Material has been gleaned from the issues of Nov. 7, 1820; August 31,

1822; Nov. 30, 1822; Nov. 29, 1823; Jan. 27, 1824; and Oct 5, 1824. In

Library of Chicago Historical Society.

ERNST, FERDINAND. _Travels in Illinois in 1819. Translation from the

German Original._ In _Pub. No. 8 of the Ill. Hist. Lib._ pp. 150-65.

_Springfield, Ill.: Phillips Bros._, 1904.

Ernst was the leader of a party of German immigrants who settled at

Vandalia soon after his journey to Illinois. He gives a vivid picture of

the rapidly settling Illinois with its squatters and its fertile and

inviting land. He visited the Sangamo country and the Kickapoo United

States treaty conference.

FAUX, W. _Memorable Days in America: being a Journal of a Tour to the

United States, principally undertaken to ascertain, by positive Evidence,

the Condition and probable Prospects of British Emigrants; including

Accounts of Mr. Birkbeck’s Settlement in the Illinois ... London: W.

Simpkin & R. Marshall_, 1823. 488 pp.

Sufficiently pessimistic to require cautious use. The journey was

performed in 1819-20.

FAY, H. A. _Collection of the official Accounts, in Detail, of all the

Battles fought by Sea and Land, between the Navy and Army of the United

States, and the Navy and Army of Great Britain, during the Years_ 1812,

13, 14, & 15. _New York: E. Conrad_, 1817. 295 pp.

Contains Capt. Heald’s official report of the massacre at Fort Dearborn,

August 15, 1812, and Col. Russell’s official report of Gov. Edwards’

attack on the Indians near Peoria in 1812.

FEARON, HENRY BRADSHAW. _Sketches of America. A Narrative of a Journey of

five thousand Miles through the eastern and western States of America ...

With Remarks on Mr. Birkbeck’s __“__Notes__”__ and __“__Letters.__”__ 3d

ed. London: Strahan and Spottiswoode_, 1819. xv. + 454 pp.

The work gives a glimpse of Illinois through a foreigner’s eye. Fearon

paints in sober colors, but his values are fairly true. Of considerable

value as a work on society in the U. S. in 1817-18.

FLINT, JAMES. _Letters from America, containing Observations on the

Climate and Agriculture of the western States, the Manners of the People,

and the Prospects of Emigrants, &c., &c. Edinburgh: W. & C. Tait, 1822._

16mo. 330 pp.

The author probably did not reach Illinois, but his letters from Ohio,

Indiana and Kentucky give interesting bits of information in regard to the

manner and cost of travel—1818 to 1820.

FLOWER, GEORGE. _History of the English Settlement in Edwards County,

Illinois, founded in 1817 and 1818, by Morris Birkbeck and George Flower.

Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., 1882._ 16mo. 401 pp.

The work is volume I. of the Chicago Historical Society’s Collections. The

best book on this important episode in immigration to Illinois.

FLOWER, RICHARD. _Letters from Lexington and the Illinois, containing a

brief Account of the English Settlement in the latter Territory, and a

Refutation of the Misrepresentations of Mr. Cobbett. London: J. Rigdway,

1819._ iv. + 32 pp.

Two letters—one from Lexington and the other from New Albion, Ill. Highly

colored.

FORSYTH, Maj. THOMAS, _Indian Agent_. _Journal of a Voyage from St. Louis

to the Falls of St. Anthony, in 1819._ In _Wis. Hist. Coll._, VI.,

188-215. _Madison, Wis.: Atwood & Culver, State Printers, 1872._

Incidentally the writer gives an account of the atrocities committed in

1812 by Capt. Thomas E. Craig upon the inhabitants of Peoria. Forsyth was

an eye-witness of the barbarities described.

_Galena Advertiser. Galena, Ill. Pub. by H. Newhall, Philleo and Co., July

20, 1829-May 24, 1830, and July 20, 1829-May 10, 1830._

July 20, July 27, August 10, Sept. 14, Sept. 21, 1829, have been used. In

Library of Chicago Historical Society.

_Galena (Ill.) Weekly Gazette._

The issue for May 2, 1879, contains reminiscences of Mrs. Adile B.

Gratiot, whose husband settled in Galena, Ill., in 1825. This account

furnishes a valuable bit of reliable history. It describes Galena,

northern Illinois, a Fourth of July celebration (1826), the coming of Lord

Selkirk’s colonists, and the trouble with the Sauk Indians (1827).

GILLESPIE, Hon. JOSEPH. _Recollections of early Illinois and her noted

Men. Fergus hist. Series_, No. 13. 51 pp. _Chicago: Fergus Printing Co.,

1880._

Valuable because of the author’s direct knowledge of persons and events.

GOODRICH, SAMUEL GRISWOLD. _Recollections of a Life Time; or, Men and

Things I have seen: in a Series of Letters to a Friend, historical,

biographical, anecdotal, and descriptive. New York: Miller, Orton & Co.,

1857._ 2 vols. 542, 563 pp.

Letter XXXIII. describes the emigration from East to West in 1816-17.

GRATIOT, Mrs. ADILE. _In early Illinois (Towns)._

A volume of newspaper clippings in the Library of the Chicago Historical

Society. Mrs. Gratiot, who early lived in Galena, gives reminiscences of

her life there. Describes the trouble with the Winnebago Indians.

HALL, JAMES. _Letters from the West; containing Sketches of Scenery,

Manners, and Customs; and Anecdotes connected with the first Settlements

of the western Sections of the United States. London: Henry Colburn,

1828._ 16mo. 385 pp.

Verbose, but not without value. One of the twenty-two letters is from

Shawneetown and describes the vicinity. Illinois is defended from her

foreign detractors. Routes and manner of travel receive much attention.

HAMILTON, HENRY EDWARD. _Incidents and Events in the Life of Gurdon

Saltonstall Hubbard, collected from personal Narrations and other Sources,

and arranged by his Nephew, Henry E. Hamilton. Chicago: Rand, McNally &

Co., 1888._ 189 pp.

Very valuable for the history of northern and eastern Illinois from 1818

to the close of the Black Hawk war. Most of the work is autobiographical.

Mr. Hubbard was an employee of the American Fur Company. Later he was in

business in Danville and Chicago.

HARDING, BENJAMIN. _A Tour through the Western Country, A. D. 1818 & 1819.

New London: Samuel Green, 1819._ 8vo. 17 pp.

The inducements which Illinois offered to emigrants are described with a

degree of sense rarely displayed in the period to which the work belongs

by writers of advice to emigrants. The American Bottom and the prairies

are described.

HARRIS, WILLIAM TELL. _Remarks made during a Tour through the United

States of America, in the Years 1817, 1818, and 1819._

Describes Shawneetown (1818), and speaks of the great number of wagons,

horses, and passengers which crossed the ferry there.

HECKE, J. VAL. _Reise durch die Vereinigten Staaten von Nord-Amerika in

den Jahren 1818 und 1819. Nebst einer kurzen Uebersicht der neuesten

Ereignisse auf dem Kriegs-Schauplatz in Sud-Amerika und West-Indien.

Berlin: H. Ph. Petri_, 1820-21. 2 vols. 16mo. I., 228; II., xvi. + 326.

pp.

Interesting and incorrect. The author tells well both of what he knows and

what he does not know. Tells foreigners how to reach Illinois.

HENRY, WILLIAM WIRT. _Patrick Henry. Life, Correspondence, and Speeches.

New York: Charles Scribners Sons_, 1891. 3 vols. I., 20 + 622; II., 652;

III., 672 pp.

The third volume contains instructions issued by Gov. Henry to officers of

the County of Illinois, and some correspondence of those officers.

_Historical Register of the United States. Philadelphia: G. Palmer_,

1814-1816.

II., 60-62 (second pagination) gives Capt. Heald’s official report of the

massacre at Fort Dearborn on August 15, 1812.

HODGSON, ADAM. _Remarks during a Journey through North America in the

Years 1819-21, in a Series of Letters: with an Appendix, containing an

Account of several of the Indian Tribes, and the principal missionary

Stations, &c. New York: Samuel Whiting, 1823._ 8vo. iv. + 335 pp.

The author did not visit Illinois, but he gives an interesting criticism

of Mr. Birkbeck’s venture in Illinois. He conversed with persons who had

visited Birkbeck’s settlement. Criticism rather unfavorable.

HOLMES, ISAAC. _An Account of the United States of America_, [1823]

_derived from actual Observation, during a Residence of four Years in that

Republic: including original Communications. London: Caxton Press_, 1823.

16mo. viii. + 476 pp.

Most of the author’s remarks are general. He, however, mentions Birkbeck

and advises emigrants to settle in the East rather than to go West as

Birkbeck advised.

HULME, THOMAS. _Journal._ In Cobbett, “A Year’s Residence in the United

States of America,” 259-309. 3d ed. _Andover: B. Bensley_, 1828.

The Journal was of a journey through the West in 1817. Birkbeck’s

settlement and the manner of traveling were described. Some information in

regard to prices was given.

HUTCHINS, Capt. THOMAS. _A topographical Description of Virginia,

Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, comprehending the Rivers Ohio,

Kenhawa, Sioto, Cherokee, Wabash, Illinois, Mississippi, etc.... With a

Plan of the Rapids of the Ohio, a Plan of the several Villages in the

Illinois Country ... and an Appendix containing Mr. Patrick Kennedy’s

Journal up the Illinois River. London: T. Hutchins_, 1778. 8vo. 67 pp.

Valuable for its map of the Illinois country and a description of the

settlements.

ILLINOIS AND WABASH LAND COMPANIES:—

_An Account of the Proceedings of the Illinois and Ouabache Land

Companies, in Pursuance of their Purchases made of the independent

Natives, July 5th, 1773, and 18th October, 1775. Philadelphia: William

Young_, 1796. 55 pp.

_Memorial of the Illinois and Wabash Land Company, 13th January, 1797.

Referred to Mr. Jeremiah Smith, Mr. Kittera, and Mr. Baldwin. Published by

Order of the House of Representatives. Philadelphia: Richard Folwell_, [c.

1797.] 26 pp.

_An Account of the Proceedings of the Illinois and Ouabache Land

Companies, in Pursuance of their Purchases made of the independent

Natives, July 5th, 1773, and 18th October, 1775. Philadelphia: William

Duane_, 1803. 74 pp.

_Memorial of the Illinois and Ouabache Land Companies to the honorable

Congress of the United States. Intended as a full Recapitulation and clear

Statement of the former Addresses, Petitions, __ Memorials, &c., of the

Company; and their short and final Prayer for Redress, without Delay:

presented at the Sessions_, 1802. 20 pp.

_Memorial of the United Illinois and Wabash Land Companies, to the Senate

and House of Representatives of the United States. Baltimore: Joseph

Robinson_, 1816. 48 pp.

_Illinois, House Journal, 1824-25. Vandalia, Ill.: Robert Blackwell &

Co._, 1824. 305 pp.

Contains items on slavery (pp. 13, 151-2), and tells of the election of a

U. S. senator to succeed Ninian Edwards (pp. 38-9).

_Illinois Intelligencer. Edwardsville, Ill.: Hooper Warren, ed._, 1826-30.

In St. Louis Mercantile Library.

_Illinois Laws_, 1824-25. 190 pp.

Pages 50-51 give the text of an act to amend an act entitled “An act

respecting free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants, and Slaves,” approved 30th

March, 1819.

_Illinois monthly Magazine. Vandalia, Ill.: conducted by James Hall._

Notes on Illinois in Volumes I. and II. (1830-1832) and the History of St.

Louis in Volume II. are of some service. The articles are, however,

unsigned, and are of too popular a type to be wholly relied upon.

_Illinois Revised Laws of 1833. Vandalia, Ill.: Greiner & Sherman_, 1833.

677 pp. and index.

Contains the negro codes of 1819 and 1829, respectively.

IMLAY, GILBERT. _A topographical Description of the Western Territory of

North America, containing a succinct Account of its Climate, natural

History, Population, Agriculture, Manners and Customs. London: J.

Debrett_, 1792. 8vo. xv. + 247 pp. _3d ed._, 1797, enlarged. More

valuable.

The best early authority on the subject treated. Not very full in regard

to Illinois. Predicts western state-making.

KEATING, WILLIAM H. _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St.

Peter’s River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, __ &c., &c., performed

in the Year 1823 ... compiled from the Notes of Major Long, Messrs. Say,

Keating, and Colhoun. Philadelphia: Carey & Lea_, 1824. 2 vols. 8vo. I.,

xii. + 439; II., 459 pp. Same, _London: Whittaker_, 1825.

Contains an extremely interesting and important description of Chicago and

its vicinity, and in less detail, of northern Illinois.

KINZIE, Mrs. JOHN H. (Juliette A. McGill Kinzie). _Wau-Bun, the __“__Early

Day__”__ in the North-West._ New edition with an introduction and notes by

Reuben Gold Thwaites. _Chicago: The Caxton Club_, 1901. xxvii. + 451 pp.

This work, which first appeared in 1856, has the best account, not by an

eye-witness, of the massacre at Fort Dearborn in 1812. Mrs. Helm gives

this account.

——_Narrative of the Massacre at Chicago, August 15, 1812, and of some

preceding Events. Chicago: Ellis & Fergus_, 1844. 34 pp.

A valuable account, written by Mrs. Kinzie from the dictation of her

mother-in-law, who was an eye-witness of the massacre. Incorporated almost

verbatim in Mrs. Kinzie’s “Wau-Bun.” The edition of 1844 was the first,

not the second, as stated in the Chicago Magazine, I., 103, and repeated

by Dr. Thwaites.

LAUSSAT, Count. _The military Title of Louisiana and the Territory of

Illinois, dated New Orleans, Jan. 12, 1804, and signed by Count Laussat,

Napoleon’s Ambassador. It is also the order to Gen. De Lassus to deliver

the Territory over to Capt. Amos Stoddard, of the U. S. Artillery._

Original manuscript letter, in French, in the Illinois State Historical

Library, Springfield, Ill.

LOOMIS, CHESTER A. _The Notes of a Journey to the Great West in 1825._ 28

unnumbered pages, six chapters. Printed without place, name of publisher,

or date.

The writer entered Illinois in the present Vermilion county, went south to

the Wabash, west to Vandalia, then to Kaskaskia. His observations are

acute and readable. Describes Vermilion county salines, Illinois farm

products, pioneer homes, and the inconvenience attendant upon traveling on

horseback. Bound with other pamphlets in the Champaign (Illinois) Public

Library.

——_A Journey on Horseback through the Great West, in 1825. Visiting

Alleghany Towns, Olean, Warren, Franklin, Pittsburg, New Lisbon, Elyria,

Norfolk, Columbus, Zanesville, Vermilion, Kaskaskia, Vandalia, Sandusky,

and many other places. Bath, N. Y.; Plaindealer Press._ 27 unnumbered

pages.

The writer was from Rushville, Ontario county, N. Y. Same as the

preceding. In library of State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

_McLean County Historical Society, Transactions of the._ Vol. II.

_Bloomington, Ill.: Pantagraph Printing and Stationery Co._, 1903. 695

pages.

Some facts of interest concerning the first school in the county, and the

early settlers and their manner of living, are given by those old settlers

who were chief actors.

_Mandements des Évêques de Québec. Québec: Imprimérie Générale A. Coté et

Cie._, 1887-88. I., (1659-1740), 588; II., (1741-1806), 566; III.,

(1806-1850), 635; IV., (1850-1870), 794 pp.

A valuable collection of manuscripts. They tell of a monopoly on sending

missionaries to Illinois, and one letter (II., 205) gives a good idea of

the worldliness of the Kaskaskians of 1767. The first two volumes alone

concern us.

MASON, EDWARD G. (_Editor_). _Early Chicago and Illinois. Chicago: Fergus

Printing Co._, 1890. 521 pp.

This volume is the fourth of the collections of the Chicago Historical

Society. It is one of the most valuable collections for the study of early

Illinois history. Contains, among other things, Pierre Menard Papers, John

Todd Papers, John Todd’s Record-Book, Lists of Early Illinois Citizens,

and Rocheblave Papers.

MEEKER, Dr. MOSES. _Early History of the Lead Region of Wisconsin. In Wis.

Hist. Coll._, VI., 271-96. _Madison, Wis.: Atwood & Culver, State

Printers_, 1872.

Very valuable. Dr. Meeker came to Galena in 1822 and settled there in

1823. The article gives the history of the settlement of the lead region

to 1825.

_Michigan pioneer and historical Collections. Lansing, Mich._, 1877-1900.

29 vols.

Valuable for the French and British periods of Illinois history.

_Mount Carmel, Articles of Association, for the City of. Chillicothe: John

Bailhache_, 1817. 4to. 22 pp.

Mt. Carmel was to be, and now is, on the west bank of the Wabash in what

is now Wabash county, Illinois. The articles drawn up by the proprietors

and their agent contain curious provisions in regard to the support of

church and school. Some Puritanic rules are given. (In _Ill. Local Hist.

Pam._, VII., in Library of Wisconsin State Historical Society.)

_Niles’ weekly Register, Baltimore._

Of great value for the period 1811-1830. Its notices of foreign

immigration are extensive.

OGDEN, GEORGE W. _Letters from the West. New-Bedford: Melcher & Rogers_,

1823. 126 pp.

Describes several of the Illinois towns, and characterizes their

inhabitants. A part of the work is plagiarized from Harding, _Tour through

the western Country_. Reprinted in Thwaites, _Early western Travels_, XIX.

_Olden Time_, I., 1846, 403-15. _George Croghan’s Journal of his Route._

Interesting sketches of the French.

OWEN, A. R. _Ums Jahr 1819 und 1829._ In _Deutsch-Amerikanische

Geschichtsblätter_, Jahrgang 2, Heft 2, pp. 41-43. _Chicago: April_, 1902.

Not sufficiently definite, reliable, or extensive to be of much value.

PALMER, JOHN. _Journal of Travels in the United States of North America

and in Lower Canada, performed in the year 1817. London: Sherwood, Neely,

and Jones_, 1818. vii. 456 pp.

Pages 411-20 are on Illinois. Too inaccurate to be of great value,

although some information in regard to roads may be used. Tells of routes,

methods, and cost of travel.

PALMER, JOHN MCCAULEY. _Personal Recollections of John M. Palmer.

Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Co._, 1901. 631 pp.

The writer came to Illinois in 1831, but he had previously lived in

Kentucky, and he gives some facts concerning slavery that are of value.

PARKISON, Col. DANIEL M. _Pioneer Life in Wisconsin._ In _Wis. Hist.

Coll._, II., 326-64. _Madison, Wis.: Calkins & Proudfit_, 1856.

The author came from Tennessee to Madison county, Illinois, in 1817; in

1819, to Sangamon county, Illinois; in 1827, to Galena, Illinois. Gives a

valuable statement concerning the feeling of Yankees toward Southerners,

tells of the first sermon in Sangamon county, and of the Winnebago war of

1827.

PECK, Rev. JOHN MASON. _A Guide for Emigrants_ (1831), _containing

Sketches of Illinois, Missouri, and the adjacent Parts. Boston: Lincoln &

Edmands_, 1831. 336 pp.

Contains a great amount of fairly accurate information. Its description of

cities is especially useful. Page 184 gives an amusing and instructive

illustration of the need of energy and work in even a frontier settlement

(1829).

——_Memoir of John Mason Peck, D. D., edited from his Journals and

Correspondence. By Rufus Babcock. Philadelphia: Am. Baptist Pub. Soc._,

1864. 12mo. 360 pp.

Not in good literary form. Throws much light upon the moral and religious

life in Illinois and Missouri from 1817 to 1857.

——_The Religion and Morals of Illinois prior to 1818. In Reynolds, Pioneer

History of Illinois_. Pp. 253-275.

The writer came to Illinois before 1818, and knew many of the persons of

whom he wrote.

_Pennsylvania Packet and daily Advertiser. Philadelphia_, 1785-89; _Apr._,

1789; _Mar._, 1790; _Apr.-Dec._, 1790. In Library of Wisconsin State

Historical Society.

August 23, 1790, the expression of apprehension of the depopulation of the

East by emigration to the West is said not to be well founded.

_Peoria County, Illinois, Marriage Licences, 1825-1855._ On file in the

court house in Peoria, Ill.

The early names show the French origin of the inhabitants. The absence of

clergymen is noticeable.

PIKE, Lieut. ZEBULON MONTGOMERY. _An Account of a Voyage up the

Mississippi River, from St. Louis to its Source; made under the Orders of

the War Department, by Lieut. Pike, of the U. S. Army, in the Years 1805

and 1806. Compiled from Mr. Pike’s Journal._ A 68 page pamphlet without

place, publisher, or date.

Locates the largest Sauk village. These reports are of extreme importance.

An edition including the trip of 1807 was issued in 1895 by Harper, F. P.,

New York. 3 vols. $10.00.

_Pioneer of the Valley of the Mississippi, The. Rock Spring, Ill.: Rev. J.

M. Peck, editor._

Issue of April 24, 1829, in St. Louis Mercantile Library.

PITTMAN, Capt. PHILIP. _The present State of the European Settlements on

the Mississippi, with a geographical Description of that River;

illustrated by Plans and Draughts. London: J. Nourse_, 1770. viii. +99 pp.

8 maps.

Describes the settlements in Illinois and gives a map of the region. Of

great value.

Criticism in _Narrative and Critical History of America_, VI., 702.

_Regulators of the Valley._

Charles M. Eames, in his _Historic Morgan and Classic Jacksonville_

(1885), says that a vigilance committee with the above title was formed in

1821, or thereabouts, to rid the country of horse-thieves and robbers. “A

regular constitution was drawn up and subscribed to, and this paper is

still in existence.” C. M. Eames, son of the now deceased author, in a

letter of Oct. 7, 1903, said that he had made an unsuccessful search for

the manuscript.

REYNOLDS, JOHN, _My own Times, embracing also, the History of my Life.

Belleville, Ill._, 1855. Reprinted, _Chicago: Fergus Printing Co._, 1879.

iv.+395 pp. $7.50.

Verbose, but has much wheat among the chaff. Covers the period from 1800

to 1853. The first edition is now very rare.

ROSS, HARVEY LEE. _The early Pioneers and pioneer Events of the State of

Illinois. Chicago_, 1899.

A medley of facts, written by a pioneer of 1820. The author was acquainted

with both Cartwright and Lincoln, and speaks of them and of pioneer events

with authority. Tells of a trip from New Jersey by wagons.

SCHOOLCRAFT, HENRY ROWE. _Summary Narrative of an exploratory Expedition

to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820; resumed and completed,

by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832. By authority of

the United States. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, & Co._, 1855. 596 pp.

The book is chiefly of interest to us because of its description of

Chicago.

——_Travels in the central Portions of the Mississippi Valley: comprising

Observations on its mineral Geography, internal Resources, and aboriginal

Population. Performed under the Sanction of Government, in the Year 1821.

New York: Collins & Hannay_, 1825. 459 pp.

The writer descended the Wabash, the Ohio, and then ascended the

Mississippi and the Illinois to Chicago. His descriptions of places,

peoples and things are well written and are a chief historical source.

SCHULTZ, CHRISTIAN. _Travels on an inland Voyage through the States of

New-York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and

through the Territories of Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and

New-Orleans; performed in the Years 1807 and 1808. New York: Isaac Riley_,

1810. 2 vols. I., xviii.+206; II., 224 pp.

Has an interesting description of Illinois settlements.

SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY, _Editor. The St. Clair Papers. The Life and public

Services of Arthur St. Clair ... with his Correspondence and other Papers.

Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co._, 1882. 2 vols. I., viii.+609; II., 649

pp.

Much information concerning Illinois under the Ordinance of 1787.

Criticisms: _Nation_, XXXIV., 383; _New York Tribune, June_ 16, 1882.

_Stories of the pioneer Mothers of Illinois. A collection of Manuscript

Letters from the pioneer Women of the State, giving their early

Experiences. Collected for the World’s Columbian Exposition and afterward

deposited in the Illinois State Historical Library._

Especially valuable for information on reasons for immigration and on

methods of traveling.

STORROW, SAMUEL A. _The North-West in 1817._ In _Wis. Hist. Coll._, VI.,

pp. 154-87. _Madison, Wis.: Atwood & Culver, State Printers_, 1872.

The narrative, which is in the form of a letter to Maj.-Gen. Brown, was

first published in pamphlet form. The letter is dated Dec. 1, 1817. It

deals chiefly with the country to the north of Illinois, but the author

visited Chicago, was entertained at Fort Dearborn, and wrote of the

desirability of an Illinois-Michigan canal.

TENNEY, H. A. _Early Times in Wisconsin_. In _Wis. Hist. Coll._, I., pp.

94-102. _Madison, Wis.: Beriah Brown_, 1855.

Written in 1849. Gives considerable information concerning the Galena

region. Tells of the size of Galena and of Springfield, Ill., in 1822.

Criticism: _Draper MSS., Z_ 24.

THOMAS, Judge WILLIAM. _Reminiscences._ Printed in the _Jacksonville,

Ill., Weekly Journal, Apr._ 18, 1877. Clipping bound in _Ill. Local Hist.

Pamphlets_, V., in Library of Wisconsin State Historical Society.

The article is of extreme interest to a student of early society in

Illinois. The author settled in Jacksonville, Ill., in 1826. His

observations were unusually acute. He was a lawyer and a teacher. He tells

of Yankees vs. Southerners, of early lawlessness, and of early Galena.

——_Winnebago Outbreak of 1827._ In _Chicago Tribune, Apr._ 7, 1877.

Reprinted from the _Jacksonville (Ill.) Journal_ of Aug. 17, 1871.

The article is important because the writer was a volunteer in the

campaign against the Winnebagoes.

THWAITES, REUBEN GOLD. _Narrative of Morgan L. Martin. In an Interview

with the Editor_ [Thwaites]. In _Wis. Hist. Coll._, XI., pp. 385-415.

_Madison, Wis.: Democrat Printing Co., State Printers_, 1888.

Page 398 gives an estimate of the population of Galena, which Martin

visited in 1829.

TILLSON, CHRISTIANA HOLMES. _Reminiscences of early Life in Illinois._

Privately printed—as late as 1870. iv.+138 pp.

A very rare book. Copy in the Chicago Historical Society Library. The best

book I know of from which to secure a knowledge of life in Illinois from

1822 to 1827. The writer was observant, and her command of English is far

superior to that of many old persons who write reminiscences. Of great

value.

VAN ZANDT, NICHOLAS BIDDLE. _A full Description of the Soil, Water,

Timber, and Prairies of each Lot, or quarter Section of the Military Lands

between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Washington City: P. Force_,

1818. 8vo. 127 pp.

Rare and valuable. Pages 109-25 contain a venomous account of Birkbeck’s

settlement in Illinois. In Library of Wisconsin State Historical Society.

_Vermont. Records of the Council of Safety and Governor and Council of the

State of Vermont, to which are prefixed the Records of the general

Conventions from July, 1775, to December, 1777. Montpelier: J. & J. M.

Poland, 1873-80._ 8 vols.

Vol. VI., 431-2 contains remarks of Governor Galusha on the scarcity of

food in 1816.

_Virginia Patriot and Richmond mercantile Advertiser. Richmond, Va.,

Apr.-Dec., 1816._ In Library of Wisconsin State Historical Society.

Sept. 7, 11, 21, 1816, tell of the cold in New England and the drought in

the South.

VOLNEY, CONSTANTIN FRANÇOIS CHASSE-BŒUF. _A View of the Soil and Climate

of the United States of America: with supplementary Remarks upon Florida;

on the French Colonies on the Mississippi and Ohio, and in Canada; and on

the aboriginal Tribes of America. Philadelphia, 1804. London, 1804._ xxv.

+ 446 pp.

Translated by C. B. Brown. The author gives a moderately full description

of the Illinois of the close of the 18th century. Valuable for

characterization of the inhabitants.

WASHBURNE, ELIHU BENJAMIN. _Sketch of Edward Coles, second Governor of

Illinois, and of the slavery Struggle of 1823-4. Prepared for the Chicago

Historical Society. Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co., 1882._ 253 pp.

Indispensable for a specialist in this period of Illinois history. Well

written. Quotes many letters.

—— _Editor_. _The Edwards Papers. (Volume II. of the Chicago Historical

Society’s Collections.) Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., 1884._ 8 + xxviii. +

633 pp.

Pages 86-90 give Capt. Thos. E. Craig’s official report to Governor

Edwards of the attack on Peoria in 1812. The volume has a description of

Peoria in 1827, and considerable information concerning the Indian

troubles of that year.

WELBY, ADLARD, Esq. _A Visit to North America and the English Settlements

in Illinois, with a winter Residence at Philadelphia; __ solely to

ascertain the actual Prospects of the emigrating Agriculturist, Mechanic,

and Commercial Speculator. London: J. Drury,_ 1821. 16mo. xii.+224 pp.

_Wheeling, Va. Report of a Meeting of Workingmen in the City of Wheeling,

Virginia, on forming a Settlement in the State of Illinois._ 12 pp.

The report is dated Oct. 4, 1830. Printed without place and publisher’s

name. In Library of Chicago Historical Society. Rare. It set forth a

scheme for purchasing and settling a county in Illinois.

WILLIAMS, SAMUEL. _Sketches of the War, between the United States and the

British Isles: intended as a faithful History of all the material Events

from the Time of the Declaration in 1812 to and including the Treaty of

Peace in 1815. Rutland, Vt.: Fay & Davison_, 1815. 496 pp.

Contains Capt. Heald’s official account of the massacre at Fort Dearborn,

August 15, 1812.

WOODS, JOHN. _Two Years’ Residence in the Settlement on the English

Prairie, in the Illinois Country, U. S. With an Account of its animal and

vegetable Productions, Agriculture, &c. &c. A Description of the principal

Towns, Villages, &c. &c. With the Habits and Customs of the Back-woodsmen.

London: Longman & others_, 1822. 310 pp.

Of great value. Unusually conservative as to Illinois advantages, but

apparently truthful.

WRIGHT, JOHN S. _Letters from the West; or, A Caution to Emigrants. Salem,

N. Y.: Dodd & Stevenson,_ 1819. 72 pp.

A series of letters from one who traveled through the West in 1818-19. In

a fair manner the discouragements which emigrants may expect to meet are

portrayed. In Library of Chicago Historical Society.

II. Secondary Works.

ABBOTT, JOHN STEVENS CABOT. _History of Maine from the earliest Discovery

of the Region by the Northmen until the present Time. Boston: B. B.

Russell_, 1875. 556 pp.

Tells of the “Ohio fever,” which raged about the close of the war of 1812,

and which furnished some settlers to Illinois.

AGNEW, Hon. DANIEL, LL. D. _History of the Region of Pennsylvania north of

the Ohio and west of the Allegheny River ... also, an Account of the

Division of the Territory for public Purposes, and of the Lands, Laws,

Titles, Settlements, Controversies, and Litigation within this Region.

Philadelphia: Kay & Brother,_ 1887. 4+246 pp.

The work shows the price at which Pennsylvania public lands sold at the

time Illinois was being settled.

ALLEN, J. A. _American Bisons, living and extinct. Cambridge, Mass.:

Welch, Bigelow, & Co._, 1876. ix.+246 pp. and 12 plates.

Carefully done. Tells of the great herds of buffalo early found in

Illinois and of their extermination in that region.

ALLEN, WILLIAM FRANCIS. _The Place of the North-West in general History._

Pages 92-111 of the author’s _Essays and Monographs. Boston: Geo. H.

Ellis_, 1890. 392 pp. Found also in _Papers of the Am. Hist. Ass’n_.,

III., pp. 329-48.

Good for a view of our subject as connected with larger portions of the

world’s history.

_Alton city Directory_, 1858. _Alton, Ill.: McEvoy & Bowron_, 1858. 156

pp.

A short historical sketch of Alton is given. Its authority is on a par

with that of county histories.

_American historical Review._ New York. Vol. IV., 623-35. See Boyd, Carl

Evans, below.

ANDREAS, A. T. _History of Chicago from the earliest Period to the present

Time. Chicago: A. T. Andreas_, 1884. I., 648; II., 780; III., 876 pp.

Only pages 31-111 of Volume I. concern the period before 1830. The

narrative is written with considerable care, and the work is especially

rich in copies of old maps, having not fewer than two dozen before 1830.

ASBURY, HENRY. _Reminiscences of Quincy, Illinois, containing historical

Events, Anecdotes, Matters concerning old Settlers and old Times, etc.

Quincy, Ill.: D. Wilcox & Sons_, 1882. 224 pp.

Tells of the first settlement of Adams county, under the congressional act

of Jan. 13, 1825. The large number of New Englanders is suggestive of the

increase of northern over southern immigration.

_Atlantic Monthly. Boston and London._ Vol. II., 579-95. (May, 1861.) See

Clarke, S. C.

BARBER, JOHN WARNER, and HOWE, HENRY. _All the Western States and

Territories, from the Alleghanies to the Pacific, and from the Lakes to

the Gulf. Cincinnati: Howe’s Subscription Book Concern_, 1867. 16mo. 733

pp.

Pages 195-250 are on Illinois. Early settlement, Clark’s campaign, and the

Chicago Massacre of 1812 are described. The work is popular in character,

yet its citation of sources makes it of some value.

BARRY, Hon. P. T. _The first Irish in Illinois. Reminiscent of Old

Kaskaskia Days._ In _Trans. of the Ill. State Hist. Soc._, 1902.

_Springfield, Ill.: Phillips Bros., State Printers_, 1902. pp. 63-70.

Almost exclusively concerned with the period before 1830. Tells of the

work of Chevalier Makarty, George Croghan, John Reynolds, and of the Irish

soldiers under George Rogers Clark.

BARSTOW, GEORGE. _The History of New Hampshire, from its Discovery, in

1614, to the Passage of the Toleration Act in 1819. 2d ed. New York: G. P.

Putnam & Co._, 1853. 8vo. iv. +456 pp.

Gives a short account of the unusual cold of 1816-17, which affected

western immigration. There is nothing to indicate that the second edition

is not an exact reprint of the first. Copyright, 1842.

BECK, LEWIS C. _A Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Missouri;

containing a general View of each State, a general View of their Counties,

and a particular Description of their Towns, Villages, Rivers, &c., &c.

Albany: Charles R. and George Webster,_ 1823. 352 pp.

165 pages are devoted to Illinois. Much interesting material is given, but

the nature of the publication makes caution in its use necessary.

BECKLEY, HOSEA, A. M. _The History of Vermont; with Descriptions, physical

and topographical. Brattleboro: George H. Salisbury_, 1846. 16mo. 396 pp.

Describes the effects of the unusual cold of 1816-17, which greatly

affected western emigration.

BECKWITH, HIRAM WILLIAMS. _Historic Notes on the North-west, gleaned from

early Authors, old Maps and Manuscripts, private and official

Correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part,

out-of-the-way Sources._ (In _Hist. of Vermilion County, Ill. Chicago: H.

H. Hill & Co._, 1879. 11-304 pp).

Deals with the period before Illinois became a state (1818). “The

authorities consulted show a large range of acquaintance with the very

best sources of information extant”—Lyman C. Draper. Strong on French and

Indians.

——_A brief History of Danville, Illinois, with a concise Statement of its

mining, manufacturing, and commercial Advantages. Danville, Ill.: Danville

Printing Co._, 1874. 11 pp. (unnumbered).

Slight, but tells of the beginnings of the city in the third decade of the

19th century.

BECKWITH, PAUL. _Creoles of St. Louis. St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing

Co._, 1893. 169 pp.

The genealogy of the five branches of the Chouteau family is given. As

many of this family were prominent in early Illinois the work is of some

interest, although not wholly reliable.

BEGGS, Rev. STEPHEN R. _Pages from the early History of the West and

North-West: embracing Reminiscences and Incidents of Settlement and

Growth, and Sketches of the material and religious Progress of the States

of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, with especial Reference to the

History of Methodism. Cincinnati: Methodist Book Concern_, 1868. 325 pp.

Good upon the beginnings of northern Illinois. Tells of the Chicago

massacre (1812), of the work of Rev. Jesse Walker, and of early pioneer

life. No clerical bias, in the bad sense.

BERNHEIM, G. D. _History of the German Settlements and of __ the Lutheran

Church in North and South Carolina, from the earliest Period of the

Colonization of the Dutch, German and Swiss Settlers to the Close of the

first Half of the present Century. Philadelphia: The Lutheran Book Store_,

1872. ix.+557 pp.

Pages 471-3 tell of the North Carolina Synod sending a missionary to

Illinois in 1827.

BIRNEY, WILLIAM. _James G. Birney and his Times. The Genesis of the

Republican Party with some Account of abolition Movements in the South

before 1828. New York: D. Appleton & Co._, 1890. 24mo. x.+443 pp.