Coles County IL Archives History - Books .....Girths, Deaths And Marriages 1879
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Book Title: History Of Coles County

BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES.

   As to who was the first white child born in the present territory of Coles
County, it is not possible to state definitely. As is usually the case, we hear
of a great many first ones-so many, indeed, that it is hard to decide to whom
the honor belongs. The child of Daniel Drake, whose wife has been mentioned as,
at the age of 54 years, giving birth to a child about 1820-27, was probably the
first birth in the county. Drake was one of the pioneers of the settlement at
Wabash Point. Another of the first births was a son of James Nees, born in
March, 1827, in the settlement now known by the poetical name of Dog Town.
Probably there are other first ones, but we have no time to look them up.
Suffice it, many have been born to take up the trials and troubles of earth.

"Angels weep when a babe is born,
 And sing when an old man dies."

   In 1824, the year that the first settlement was made in Coles County, a Mrs.
Whitten died in the settlement on Parker's Prairie, and was the first death of a
white person in the county. James Nash, who settled at Wabash Point in 1827, and
soon after fatally injured himself carrying a heavy log of wood, as noticed on
another page, was the first death in that neighborhood. Daniel Drake and Charles
Sawyer cut down trees, split out puncheons and of them made the coffin in which
Nash was buried.

   Among the early marriages may be noted that of James Jeems and a Miss Bates,
which occurred in 1827, and is said to have been the first wedding solemnized in
the present territory of the county. Jeems went to Darwin, on the Wabash River,
then the county seat of Clark County, for the marriage license, as did also Levi
Doty, who married soon after to a Miss Pliipps. Apropos of weddings, the
following anecdote is not inappropriate to the subject. We wish to state,
however, by way of preface to the story, that should the participants in it take
offense at having their old jokes resurrected and recorded upon the paĞes of
history, we warn them to vent their rage upon Capt. Adams. He furnished us the
facts, and we take shelter behind his elephantine proportions. In early times,
there lived in Charleston a Justice of the Peace named H. C. Dunbar, and a
well-known business man - Richard Stoddert. These two worthy individuals were in
the habit of playing practical jokes on each other, and rather serious ones
sometimes, as the sequel will show. One bleak, dreary day, in the month of
March-as disagreeable as March days can sometimes be -Mr. Stoddert told 'Squire
Dunbar that a friend of his in the north part of the county, some eighteen or
twenty miles from town, was to be married on that day, and had requested him
(Stoddert) to send Dunbar up to perform the ceremony. Dunbar, nothing doubting,
mounted his horse and rode up to the designated place to tie the knot, but upon
arriving, discovered that it was one of Stoddert's jokes. He said nothing, but,
indulged internally, perhaps, in a few pages of profane history, returned home
through the March blasts, taking it all good-naturedly, and bided his time to
pay off Stoddert in his own coin. An opportunity was soon presented. It was a
custom at that day, at parties and gatherings of young people, by way of giving
zest to the evening's entertainment, to get up a sham wedding of some couple who
had been "keeping company," or were particularly sweet on each other, and have a
sham ceremony performed with all due solemnity by some sham official or sham
clergyman. Soon after Dunbar's "fruitless trip" above mentioned, one of these
social parties came off in Charleston, and, with the design of retaliating upon
Stoddert, Dunbar went to the County Clerk's office and procured a marriage
license for Stoddert and a certain young lady, with whom he had been keeping
company for some time. Armed with this document, he repaired to the party, and
so engineered matters as to get up the usual sham wedding between Stoddert and
his sweetheart. As a Justice of the Peace, he was, of course, called on to
perform the (supposed) sham ceremony. Confronting the pair with all the
solemnity he would have used had it been a pre-arranged wedding "for keeps," he
asked the usual questions required by law, and was answered satisfactorily,
winding up by informing them that, as they were aware, he was an officer,
authorized by law to perform the marriage ceremony, and asked if it was their
"desire to be united in holy wedlock." They answered in the affirmative, and,
holding the license in his hand which they supposed was but a piece of blank
paper, used for the sake of appearance), he went through the marriage ceremony
in full, received the responses, and solemnly pronounced them "man and wife,"
turned away and made out the certificate with the usual witnesses, went over to
the Clerk's office, made a return of the license and had the certificate
recorded that night, without a hint to the pair of the genuineness of the
proceedings. The next day, however, the matter leaked out, and so many of
Stoddert's friends joked him about being married in the novel manner described,
that he went to the Clerk's office to investigate, and found it true-the papers
in the case returned and recorded in due form. He then went to the girl and told
her what had occurred, when quite a little excitement arose. She cried and
Stoddert-swore (perhaps), not that they objected to each other, but to the way
they had been inveigled into it. At last, Stoddert told her that they had better
make the best of a "horrid joke" and call it genuine. She responded that perhaps
she would never be able to do any better in the selection of a husband, and so
the sham wedding was turned into a genuine affair. Before leaving the subject we
will add that, if all reports be true, Charleston never knew a happier couple
than the one united in this romantic manner. Long years of wedded life were
passed in the greatest harmony, and when, a few years ago, the good woman passed
from earth, she was most sincerely mourned by the partner of her sorrows and
joys. He is still living, an honored citizen of Charleston. 'Squire Dunbar is
living in Texas, or was at the last known of him, enjoying the reflection,
doubtless, that he paid Stoddert for his joke, with interest.

   The first practicing physician in Coles County was Dr. John Apperson. His
practice extended over a large scope of country, and his office was usually on
horse-back. Often when he slept, his saddle was his pillow, the soft side of a
puncheon or the green earth his bed, and the blue sky his covering. Dr. Carrico
was another of the early practitioners in the healing art, and was followed soon
after by Dr. Ferguson, who doctored the people of Coles County for more than
forty years. Col. Dunbar was the first licensed lawyer of the county, and for
some time had an open field for the exercise of his legal talent. A more minute
history of the professions is given in the township histories.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

THE HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY. ILLINOIS,

CONTAINING

A History of the County—its Cities, Towns, &c; a Directory of its Tax-Payers;
Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map
of Coles County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest,
Illustrated; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c, &c.

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO:
WM. LE BARON, JR., & CO., 186 DEARBORN STREET.
1879.


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