Coles County IL Archives History - Books .....Historical And Descriptive 1879
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Book Title: History Of Coles County

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.

   Coles County was set off from Clark in 1830. It then embraced in its
territory what is now Cumberland and Douglas Counties. Upon its organization, it
was christened Coles, in honor of Edward Coles, the second Governor of the
State, and elected to that position in 1822. As a general rule, it is not safe
to name a child or country for any man while he is vet living, though he be a
very Solomon, for we know not how soon he may fall. There is no security for a
good reputation but in the tomb. This side of that "bourn" the proudest name,
the most exalted reputation may totter and fall to pieces. In this respect,
however, Coles County's namesake died with a name untarnished. Edward Coles was
a man eminently fit to give a name to any country. He was a native of Virginia,
rich, and a large slave-owner, and when he emigrated to Illinois he brought his
slaves with him. A man who loved liberty, its fires lighted up his soul, and its
benign influence dictated his action and inspired him with pure purposes and
prompted him to noble deeds. Of all other men, he demanded respect for his
rights, and to the rights and personal liberty of all other men he accorded the
same profound respect. On reaching Illinois and becoming a citizen of the State,
he set his slaves all free, and, in addition, gave each head of a family among
them 160 acres of land. Such was the law at that time, that a man setting a
slave free in Illinois, must give a bond that it should never become a public
charge. To this very unsavory requirement of the law, Coles failed to yield
obedience, for which little delinquency his case was adjudicated by the courts,
and he was fined $2,000. This fine he was never required to pay, and the cause
which gave rise to it will never give rise to another of a similar character in
Illinois, in the civilized ages to come.

   Coles County, at the time of its organization, was some twenty-eight miles
east and west, and about fifty miles north and south, but at that time, as
already noted, it included Douglas and Cumberland Counties. At present, it is
bounded on the north by Douglas County, on the west by Shelby and Moultrie
Counties, on the south by Cumberland, and on the east by Clark and Edgar
Counties. It embraces twenty-four sections of Township eleven north, and all of
Townships 12 and 13, and eighteen sections of Township 14 north, in Ranges 7, 8,
9, 10 and 11 east, and a part of Range 14 west. Range 11 east in this county is
fractional, being only three-fourths of a mile wide. In the southeast part of
the county there is a "jog" in the east line of three sections wide east and
west, in Range 14 west, and seven sections long north and and [sic] south, in
Townships 11 and 12 north. When Coles County was set off from Clark, the latter
was unwilling to give up that portion of its territory and inhabitants to a new
county. The reason of this is found in the fact that it embraced the best
portion of that county, and a settlement of energetic and intelligent people. In
the north line of the county, there is also a "jog" of two miles north, in
Ranges 11 east and 14 west. This was made to retain the village of Oakland in
this county, when Douglas County was created. That village was then regarded as
having great room for outgrowth and development. This county was unwilling to
give up that portion of its territory, and the people of that village were
unwilling to be given over to a new county organization. Coles County is
situated in latitude 40 north and in longitude 11 west from Washington, and
embraces about five hundred square miles. Its general surface is undulating; not
so level as to be regarded flat, nor so broken as to be considered mountainous
or even hilly. It forms a beautiful plateau or table-land, and is about eight
hundred feet above the level of the Gulf of Mexico. It is largely prairie, and
constitutes a part of what is known as the Grand Prairie. This prairie is
perhaps as large in extent, as rich in soil and as magnificent, originally, in
nature's waving fields as any in the Mississippi Valley.

   In the topography of the county, the prairies form rather a notable feature.
The origin of these great plains has been a source of much speculation. One
theory is that the soil resulted from the decomposition of vegetable matter
under water, and that the attending conditions were incompatible with the growth
of timber. According to this view, prairies are at present in process of forming
along the shores of lakes and rivers. During river freshets, the heaviest
particles settle nearest the channel, and here, by repeated deposits, the banks
first became elevated above the floods. These natural levees becoming
sufficiently high, are overgrown with timber, and inclose large areas of bottom
lands back from the river, by which they are frequently inundated. The waters on
these flats, when the flood subsides, are cut off from the river and form
sloughs, frequently of great extent. Their shallow and stagnant waters are first
invaded by mosses and other aquatic plants which grow under the surface and
contain in their tissues lime, alumina and silica, the constituents of clay.
They also subsist immense numbers of small mollusks and other diminutive
creatures, and the constant decomposition of both vegetables and animals forms a
stratum of clay corresponding with that which underlies the finished prairies.
As the marshy bottoms are, by this means, built up to the surface of the water,
the mosses are then intermixed with coarse grasses, which become more and more
abundant as the depth diminishes. These reedy plants, now rising above the
surface, absorb and decompose the carbonic-acid gas of the atmosphere, and
convert it into woody matter, which at first forms a clayey mold, and afterward
the black mold of the prairie."*

   As we have said, the prairies form a notable feature in the topography 01 the
county, the soil in them being invariably deep, rich and productive. The
original prairie grass grew very rank, often higher than a man's head. As a
rule, the prairies occupy the high land and the timber the low land, though
there are some exceptions to this. Timber abounds in the county, but is mostly
confined to the valleys of the water-courses. The varieties consist of all the
kinds of oak, hickory, walnut, elm, maple or sugar tree, cottonwood, hackberry
and perhaps some others. There arc still some very fine sugar orchards in the
valley of the Embarrass River. Speaking of these sugar orchards and the
excellent timber of the county calls to mind a stanza from the compositions of a
local poet of Northern Illinois on a similar subject:

"The timber here is very good-
The forest dense of sturdy wood;
The maple-tree its sweets affords,
And walnut, it is sawn in boards;
The giant oak the axman hails-
Its massive trunk is torn to rails;
And game is plenty in the State.
Which makes the hunter's chances great.
The prairie wolf infests the land.
And the wildcats all bristling stand."

   *Davidson's History of Illinois. 

   As fine poetical thought, the above effusion is of rather limited merit, but
as descriptive of this country fifty years ago, the picture it presents is a
very true one. Many years ago, in the settling-up of this part of the country,
timber was regarded as quite an object. Every land-owner was of the opinion he
must have a piece of timber-land. It was believed that the settlement and
improvement of the country would render it eventually scarce. At one time,
timber-land sold more readily, and for a higher price than prairie. Such,
however, is not now the case, and a half-century of experience finds still an
abundance of timber for all practical purposes.

   .Beautiful lakes, high mountains and large rivers, are not characteristic of
Coles County. But two streams entitled to the name of river, enter its borders,
viz., the Embarrass and the Kaskaskia. The latter is better known in this
section of the country as Okaw, but nearer its mouth it is called Kaskaskia
altogether. The Embarrass, or Ambraw, as it is almost universally pronounced, is
a beautiful stream, it rises in Champaign County, flows through Douglas and this
county from north to south, and makes a tributary of the Wabash. It is the
dividing line between Morgan and Oakland Townships, Charleston and Ashmore, and
Pleasant Grove and Hutton Townships. Before the days of railways and lightning
news-carriers, this river was navigable, for an early statute of Illinois so
declared it to be. During the time the law was in force, numerous vessels were
built on this river, at a point near what is now known as Blakenmn's Mill, and
which went by the high-sounding name of the "boatyard." Some of these vessels
went down and out of the Embarrass, and down the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi to
New Orleans, and others foundered in the "Dark Bend," a spot where the sun never
shines, except at high noon. These vessels were called flatboats, and were
usually loaded with the surplus products of the country, consisting of such
articles as would be of small loss if they never reached a market. This stream
abounds in fine varieties of fish, viz., bass, cat, buffalo, pike and many
others. The Okaw meanders through the township of Okaw, in the northwest part of
the county. It is a dull, sluggish, running stream. The water is muddy, has not
sufficient action to clear and purify itself of "wiggle-tails," and other such
"vermin." Under the law, it, too, was a navigable river for shallow water-craft,
and is a tributary of the "Father of Waters." There are two other streams which
have their source in this county, both of which are too small to be called
rivers, and rather large to be styled creeks. They are the little Wabash and the
Kickapoo, and each takes its name from powerful tribes of Indians once dwelling
in this region of country. They begin or "head" in the immediate neighborhood of
each other, but the Wabash runs to the southwest, and the Kickapoo to the east.
There is also a small stream in Morgan Township, rejoicing in the oily
appellation of Greasy Creek, which possesses some notoriety, by reason of the
peculiar manner it acquired its name. In the pioneer days, hogs were "mast"
fatted altogether, and in that neighborhood many hogs were stolen and butchered.
It was the custom of the people, before turning their hogs on the "mast," to
give them certain ear-marks, by which each man was enabled to identify his own
hogs. To destroy the evidence of ownership, the thieves would cut off the heads
of the hogs stolen, and throw them into this creek. The decomposition made the
water greasy, hence the name Greasy Water or Greasy Creek. On one occasion,
these pioneer pork-packers were overtaken in a deep ravine in the woods killing
hogs. When discovered, they were in the act of "scalding" a lot, but their heads
had been cut off as usual. When asked why they took the heads off at so early a
stage of the proceedings, they answered that they "never could get a good scald
on a hog while his head was on." In Ashmore Township is a creek that bearing the
perfumed name of Pole Cat, so called from the great numbers of popular feline
pet, to be found in an early day, in its immediate vicinity. This classic
stream, like Greasy Creek, also has its legend. The following story is told in
connection with the origin of its name: A new-comer to the neighborhood,
encountered one of these little monsters on the banks of this stream. In the
combat that ensued, he learned through practical demonstration the startling
power of "this kind of a cat" to defend itself when assailed by an enemy. The
new-comer was so overwhelmed with the success of the animal's defense, that he
buried his clothes on the battle-ground, and returned home in the costume of the
Georgia Major, minus the spurs and the paper collar, and thereupon christened
the stream by the name of Pole Cat. In the township of Hutton there are two
small streams called respectively Whetstone and Hurricane; in Pleasant Grove are
also two little streams, Indian and Clear Creeks, and in East Oakland, Brush Creek.

   In the county are numerous groves, or small bodies of timber, isolated from
the main timber. What circumstances gave rise to their growth, or how long they
have been growing, is not within the knowledge of those now living. Dodge Grove
is in Mattoon Township, about two miles northwest of the city, and takes its
name from this circumstance: In the early days, there lived a family near it, of
the name of Whitley, and they owned a race-mare, known as the "Dodge Filly." On
a notable occasion they took her to Springfield to the races. These races took
place twice a year, called the spring and fall meetings. They staked the filly
on a race, and lost. Being loath to give her up, they run her off and concealed
her in this grove for three weeks. The party winning the mare came in search of
her, and had the officers of the law to scour the country, but they failed to
find her. Thus the filly dodged capture, and the grove captured the name of
Dodge. Dead Man's Grove is in La Fayette Township, on the north branch of
Kickapoo Creek, and was formly called Island Grove. It took its present name
from the fact that a man was found dead in the grove in March, 1826, supposed to
have frozen to death. There was snow on the ground at the time, and, when found,
the corpse was "sitting at the root of a tree with a bridle thrown over the
shoulders." The man's name was Coffman, and he lived in the Sand Creek
settlement. He was carried by Samuel Kellogg on horse-back, without coffin or
escort, to the Parker settlement, on the Embarrass, for inquest and burial.
Seven miles north and west of Charleston, in Hickory Township, standing out in
the open prairie, are what is called the Seven Hickories. They acquired that
name because formerly there were just seven hickory trees constituting all there
was of the grove, and what seems somewhat singular is, that hickory is a species
of timber that never grows in the prairies. The original trees have paid the
debt of nature, but a numerous progeny still survive. In Humbolt Township near
the village of the same name, on a little stream called Flat Branch, is the
Blue-Grass Grove. It was formerly a camping-place of the Indians, and their
ponies ate out the wild grass, when the blue-grass, as it invariably does in
this country, sprang up spontaneously in its place. It thus became the first
blue-grass "patch" in the county, and hence the name of Blue-Grass Grove. The
Dry Grove and Buck Grove are near neighbors, and are about four miles south of
Mattoon. The great number of deer, of the antlered sex, killed by the pioneer
sportsmen gave rise to the name of the Buck Grove. Dry Grove has borne that name
from time immemorial. It is supposed to have been named by the "first man," and
that, too, in a dry time, otherwise its name would have been different, and more
appropriate. In the south part of the county, in the town of Pleasant Grove, is
a prairie called Goose-Nest Prairie. The inhabitants have always been proud of
the title, but the rest of the world seem amused at the novelty of the name, and
the people's peculiar pride of it. About the year 1827, a pioneer, named Josiah
Marshall, was looking at the country, and coming into this prairie from the
summit of a knoll in its midst, observing on one hand trees literally dripping
with wild honey, and on the other, nature's waving meadows, and beneath him a
soil, deep, rich and productive, and probably having in his mind's eye the
peculiar richness of a goose egg, in an ecstacy of delight exclaimed in an
uplifted voice, "this is the very goose-nest." It has since borne the name. Just
west of this prairie, in the the [sic] same township, is a point of timber known
as "Muddy Point," but has no significance in history, save the peculiar
appropriateness of the name. In the east part of the county is a portion of a
prairie called Parker's Prairie, so-called from George Parker, its original
settler.


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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