McDonough County IL Archives History - Books .....1834 - 1838, Chapter VII 1878
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Book Title: History Of McDonough County

CHAPTER VII.
1834-38.

  From 1834 until 1838 we have nothing of a startling nature to narrate. The
Board of County Commissioners held their meetings regularly each quarter, with
now and then a called meeting, and a number of orders were made with reference
to public improvements. The times were comparatively easy; new settlers
supplying all the money needed to carry on the little trade required by the
actual wants of the people. The late and more fashionable customs of society had
not yet penetrated these regions, and the bonnet and shawl worn by our mothers
were not cast aside after the first season's wear, but continued to do service
as long as they could be kept whole. Our fathers did not aspire to broadcloth
suits nor beaver hats, but were content with home-made jeans and a felt or straw
hat.

  When the County was organized there was but one public road running through
it, and that was the old lead mine road leading from Beardstown to Galena,
passing through the county about six miles east of Macomb. Galena, at this time,
was one of the most important points in the State. As the County became settled
new roads were laid out. More than four-fifths of the entire expenses of the
county, we believe, during the first fifteen years of its existence, was for
this purpose. Roads were not then run upon section lines, as now, but were
located as was thought best for the convenience of the people. The broad
prairies were supposed to be useless, and would never be settled; therefore, a
road running across them at any angle would hurt no one, and would be a
convenience for all. If one had intimated at that time that these prairies would
sometime be dotted over with farm houses, barns, school houses and churches, he
would have been thought a fit subject for the insane asylum. This, no doubt,
seems strange to our younger people and late settlers in the county, but at that
time the conclusion arrived at seemed reasonable. In the first place, the
question of fuel had to be taken into consideration by the early settlers; coal
had not yet been discovered, and, of course wood had to be procured. In the
second place, lumber for building purposes was required; railroads were unknown,
and lumber could not easily be imported. For these reasons our fathers settled
in the timber—or on its borders, where they could obtain material for the
erection of their houses, fences for their lands, and fuel for their fires.

  The nearest and most convenient route from settlement to settlement was sought
for, and surveyors were so instructed to locate roads. To show the difference in
distance between points then and now, we state that, a finger board long
standing just southeast of Macomb read, "To Vermont, 17 miles." It is now
impossible to reach the place, via the established roads, in less than
twenty-four miles travel. It may be thought that a great saving could have been
made to the County by locating the roads as they are now run, but whether this
was made whole by the convenience and saving of time to the people then, is a
question we are not prepared to discuss.

  In the year 1835, the County applied to the State for relief on account of the
expense attending the keeping and trial of the McFadden's, who were hung for the
murder of John Wilson. We have searched the statutes of the State for the years
1835-6-7, and find no act passed for that purpose, and suppose the request was
not granted.

  On the eighth day of September, of this year, Hon. James Vance filed his bond
before the County Commissioner's Court for the fourth year, as Commissioner of
School Lands. He died after holding the office a little over three months, and
was succeeded on the seventh day of December by Benjamin T. Naylor, who retained
the position for several years.

  In reference to the expense attending the trial of the McFadden's, we find on
the books of the County Commissioner's Court an allowance made to Thomas Hayden,
Sheriff of Schuyler County, for the sum of $1 50 "for hanging McFaddens." If all
the other expenses attending their trial and conviction had been as reasonable,
we can see no reason why the State should grant aid in the case.

  In the year 1836 occurs the first mention of the letting of paupers to those
who would care for them for a consideration. This custom was retained until
about the year 1857, when a farm was purchased by the County, and all paupers
transferred to it when thought best by the proper officers.

  In this year (1836) Wesley Wayland came before the County Commissioner's Court
and stated that he had given a certificate of freedom to a certain negro woman
whom he had brought with him from Kentucky a few years previous, for the purpose
of acting as nurse to his invalid wife. We believe Mr. Wayland had been taxed on
this species of property since 1832, and had reached the conclusion it didn't
pay. Elsewhere we have given the order of the County Commissioners instructing
the assessment of all such property, which order, we have no doubt, was
cheerfully obeyed. The same order was repeated in 1837, but, whether any slave
was held in the County at that time we can not learn.

  The effect of the hard times throughout the United States, beginning in 1837,
was not felt in this county until the following year. From that time until about
the year 1845, our people experienced greater financial embarrassment than at
any time in the previous history of the county. Money was an almost unknown
commodity, all business being transacted through the means of trade or barter. A
would trade B flour for its value in meal; B would trade C a yoke of oxen for a
horse; D would trade E a half dozen hogs for a cow, &c. If money enough could be
raised to pay the general taxes, a man considered himself fortunate. Many were
the straits to which the people were led to make both ends meet, and many
laughable incidents are narrated of the crooks and turns that were
made—incidents that are laughable to us now, but were serious matters at that
time. Notes were given for value received, payable in a cow, or a horse, or
other property, and when the note came due, and collection was to be made, it
would sometimes be hard for one party or the other to make proof of it being
that which was described in the note. Many notes were held, without attempting
to make collection, in the hopes that better times would dawn upon the country,
and their makers be able to pay the money. William Hamilton, Esq., of Bushnell,
tells us that he gave a note payable in a black cow, valued at a certain sum,
which note was not presented for payment until seven or eight years after it was
due, its holder trusting to receive the money—and he did receive the money.

  During these hard times the price of such articles as our people had to
purchase rapidly advanced, while that of what they had to sell as rapidly
declined. New Orleans sugar sold at 16 2/3 cents per pound; coffee, 25 cents;
calico, 50 cents per yard; hogs brought from $1 to $1 25, per hundred pounds,
and no market within forty miles of Macomb; wheat 20 cents per bushel, etc. What
would our farmers think should such prices rule now? There would be very few
palatial residences and fine outbuildings erected upon their lands within the
next ten years.

  As an illustration of those terrible times, Richard Pennington, Esq., tells us
the following incident in which a man who now ranks as one of the most
substantial farmers of New Salem township prominently figures:

  "One morning while I was out looking for a yoke of oxen, I met this gentleman
whom I will call Mr. X. 'Have you seen anything of my oxen?' I inquired. 'No,
Richard, I have not; but worse than that, have you seen anything of my cows?' I
replied that I had not. 'Well, Richard, I do not know what I am to do. When I
left home my children were crying for something to eat, and it has come to this
pass—no cows, no breakfast; no cows, no dinner; cows, or no cows, no supper.'"

  " Talk about hard times," said Mr. P. to us, "when I hear anybody talking
about hard times, I feel like narrating the above incident, and telling them if
it is as bad as that with them, they may well complain; otherwise not." We agree
with him.

  Our nearest market at that time was forty miles away, being Beardstown on the
south, and Warsaw on the west. Our merchants did but little business in the way
of exportation, and what little traffic was had was between the producer here
and the shipper at one or the other of the above points. No "middle men" were
employed.

  In a general way Ford, in his "History of .Illinois," well describes the
existing state of things in this county at that time. On pages 96-99 we read as
follows:

. "Commerce from 1818 to 1830 made but small progress. Steamboats commenced
running the Western waters in 1816, and by the year 1830 there was one or two
small ones running on the Illinois river as far up as Peoria, and sometimes
further. The old keel-boat navigation had been disused, but as yet there was so
little trade as not to call for many steamboats to supply their place. The
merchants of the villages, few in number at first, were mere retailers of dry
goods and groceries; they purchased and shipped abroad none of the productions
of the country, except a few skins, hides and furs, and a little tallow and
beeswax. They were sustained in this kind of business by the influx of
immigrants, whose money being paid out in the country for grain, stock and
labor, furnished the means of trade. The merchant himself rarely attempted a
barter business, and never paid cash for anything but his goods. There was no
class of men who devoted themselves to the business of buying and selling, and
of making the exchanges of the productions at home for those of other States and
countries. The great majority, in fact nearly all the merchants, were mere
blood-suckers, men who, with very little capital, with small stock of goods, and
with ideas of business not broader than these ribbons, nor deeper than these
colors, sold for money down, or on credit for cash, which, when received, they
send out of the country. Since their time a race of traders and merchants has
sprang up who use the money they receive in purchasing the wheat, corn, beef and
pork of the farmers, and ship these articles to the Eastern cities.

  "Mather, Lamb & Co., late of Chester, in Randolph county, but now of
Springfield, were the first to engage in this business, and they were led to to
it by the refusal of the United States Bank, at St. Louis, to grant them the
usual facilities of trade. As they could get no accommodation from the bank,
they fell upon this course to avoid going to St. Louis to purchase Eastern
exchange.

  "The money they received being again paid out, remained in the country and the
products went forward in its place to pay for stocks of goods. The traders in
this way made a profit on their goods which they brought into the State, and
another profit on the produce which they sent out of it.

  "But, as yet, the merchant generally had neither the capital nor the talent
for such a business, and it was not until a more recent period—upon the going
down of the United States Bank, the consequent withdrawal of facilities for
exchange in money, and the high rates of exchange which came in with local banks
of doubtful credit—that they have been very extensively forced into it. When
they no longer could get either money for remittances to these eastern
creditors, or bills of exchange, except at ruinous rates of premium, they at
once saw the advantage of laying out the local currency received for their goods
in purchasing the staples of the country and forwarding them in the place of
cash. In very early times there were many things to discourage regular commerce.
A want of capital; a want of capacity for the business; the want of a great
surplus of productions, the continual demand for them created by emigrants, and
facility of carrying on a small commerce with the money supplied by emigration
alone, all stood in the way of regular trade.

  "New Orleans, at that time, was our principal market out of the State. It was
then but a small city, and shipped but a trifle of the staple articles of
Illinois to foreign countries. Such shipments as were made to it were intended
for the supply of the local market, and here the Illinoians had to compete with
Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Missouri. Any temporary scarcity in this
market was soon supplied, and the most of the time it was completely glutted.

  "For want of merchants or others who were to make a business of carrying our
staples to market, our farmers undertook to be their own merchants and traders.
This practice prevailed extensively in the western country. A farmer would
produce or get together a quantity of corn, flour, bacon and such articles. He
would build a flat-bottomed boat on the shores of some river or large creek,
load his wares in it, and, awaiting the rise of water, with a few of his negroes
to assist him, would float down to New Orleans. The voyage was long, tedious and
expensive. When he arrived there he found himself in a strange city, filled with
sharpers ready to take advantage of his necessities. Everybody combined against
him to profit by his ignorance of business, want of friends or commercial
connections, and nine times out of ten he returned a broken merchant. His
journey home was performed on foot, through three or four nations of Indians
inhabiting the western parts of Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. He returned
to a desolate farm, which had been neglected since he was gone. One crop was
lost by absence, and another by taking it to market. This kind of business was
persevered in astonishingly for several years, to the great injury and utter
ruin of a great many people."

  Ford makes some deductions in reference to the laws of trade, which we commend
to all. We read on pages 99—101, the following:

  "In later times, after the steamboats have taken the place of other specie of
navigation, after regular dealers and business men had made their appearance on
the theatre of trade, and after New Orleans had become a great city, and a great
mart of foreign commerce, there were still other difficulties to be encountered
of a very formidable character. These were the disposition of the people not to
sell their produce for the market price and to raise no surplus whatever unless
the prices were high. If the trader offered one price the farmer would ask a
little more, and more than the trader could afford to give and make a reasonable
profit. Let the price be what it might, many would hold on to their commodity a
whole year, expecting a rise in the market, and if the price was low they would
cease producing. If a farmer had a surplus of corn, wheat, hogs or cattle in the
fall season, and could not sell them for the full price demanded, ho would keep
them until next year, expecting to get more for them. In the meantime, he would
lose more by the natural loss and waste of his property, than he could possibly
gain by increased prices next season. I have known whole stacks of wheat and
whole fields of corn to rot, or to be drabbled out and wasted to no purpose; and
whole droves of hogs to run wild in the woods so as never to be reclaimed,
whilst the owner was saving them for a higher price. He suffered, also, by
laying out of the present use of the money, and by being compelled to purchase
many necessary articles on a credit, at a higher price than they could be bought
for cash. By holding back for a higher price, he suffered loss by the natural
waste of his property, by laying out of the use of his money, by losing the many
good bargains he could have made with it in the meantime, and by being compelled
to purchase dear on credit, and pay a high interest on the debt if not paid when
due. In all these ways he lost more than by borrowing money on compound
interest, and yet he could never be pursuaded that it was for his advantage to
sell as soon as his articles became marketable, and at the market price.

  "This practice of holding up property from the market unless the owner can
receive more than the market price, still prevails extensively in the southern
and some of the eastern parts of the State, and fully accounts for much of the
difference in the degree of prosperity which is found there, and in the middle
and northern part of the State.

  "The New England population make it a rule to sell all their marketable
property as soon as it becomes fit for market, and at the market price. By this
means the tanner avoids the loss and expense of keeping it on hand. He has the
present use of its value in money, and makes many good bargains and speculations
which could not be made without a little ready money. He avoids buying on
credit, or rather paying interest on his debt after it becomes due. Money is
more plenty, and the people are enabled to be more punctual in the payment of
their debts. The local merchant is enabled to do an active business. He is
always sure he can purchase to the extent of his capital, aud at rates which
will put it in his power to sell at a profit. In this manner the farmer
prospers, the local merchant prospers, the miller and manufacturer prosper.
Loans grow up rapidly. Employment is furnished for mechanics and laborers.

  "By such means our northern people are enabled to build up a country village
in three or four years, as large as a county seat in the south of twenty years
standing."

  The evil effects of holding on for higher prices we have personally noticed
many times in our short life. We recall one instance during the time of our late
war. When wheat was on the rise, a farmer living near Macomb, had on hand about
three thousand bushels, for which he was offered $2 25 per bushel; he refused to
sell, stating that he would hold until he could get $3 00 per bushel. Wheat
continued to rise in price until $3 00 was reached, when our friend concluded to
hold until he could obtain $3 50. Soon it began to decline. It fell to $2 75; to
$2 50; to $2 25; to $2 00; and still this man would not sell, trusting that it
would rally again. But it continued to decline, and he was finally obliged to
sell at $1 00 per bushel. So much for not selling at the market price.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY ILLINOIS,
ITS CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, EARLY REMINISCENCES, PERSONAL INCIDENTS AND
ANECDOTES,

AND A COMPLETE BUSINESS DIRECTORY OF THE COUNTY.
By S. J. CLARKE.

SPRINGFIELD, ILL.:
D. W. LUSK, STATE PRINTER AND BINDER.
1878.


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