CRAWFORD COUNTY
P. 446 LAMOTT, FIRST WHITE RESIDENT—
TERRIBLE HUTSON MASSACRE—
PALESTINE, THE OLD COUNTY SEAT—
ROBINSON MADE THE COUNTY SEAT—
AGRICULTURE—COMING OF RAILROADS AND OIL—
OBLONG—THE OIL INDUSTRY
LAMOTT, FIRST WHITE RESIDENT
The first white man to reside in the county was a Frenchman, a trader, whose name was Lamott. He lived at the mouth of Lamott creek. Lamott prairie was named after him. He was located on the Wabash as early as 1811, how much earlier is not known. About this date three families, Boatright, Eaton, and Cullom, came from Tennessee and settled in Lamott prairie. At this date the Indians were friendly, but as a matter of safety these families built two block houses on the west side of Lamott prairie. These were occupied more or less during the war of 1812.TERRIBLE HUTSON MASSACRE
While these forts were in process of construction, the builders were agreeably surprised one day to see approaching a man, his wife, and five children. It was Isaac Hutson, Senior, just arrived from Solon, Madison county, Ohio. They shared the protection of the fort. The forts were two or three miles south of the present village of Hutsonville and directly across the Wabash from Merom, Indiana. Here Mr. Hutson built his cabin and was living happily. One day in 1812, he was obliged to go across the Wabash for provision. On his return late in the afternoon he found that the entire family had been massacred. Among the victims was a young babe which the savages had thrown into a kettle of boiling soap which hung from a crane over the wide-mouthed fireplace. The cabin was then burned, the charred remains of the family being found in the ruins. Mr. Hutson vowed he would never show any quarter to an Indian so long as he lived. In company with neighbors the savages were pursued and many of them killed. P 447PALESTINE, THE OLD COUNTY SEAT
When the war of 1812 was over and peace was restored there was a great influx of settlers, coming mostly from the states of Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. The town or village of Palestine was probably settled in 1816, and when the county was created it was made the county seat. It is six and a half miles due east of the city of Robinson, the present county seat, and a mile and a half west of the Wabash river. It was just at the south end of the Lamott prairie which was a very rich farming country. The mail route from Shawneetown north via Carmi, Graysville, Mt. Carmel, Lawrenceville to Marshall, passed through Palestine. It was also close to the river and that fact helped its commerce. It grew quite rapidly in the first few years. In 1818 a land office was located at Palestine, and late in that year the president, Mr. Monroe, nominated Phillip Foulke and General Guy W. Smith as receiver and register of the land office at that place. Ninian W. Edwards opposed the confirmation of Foulke and the appointments both failed. In the constitutional convention of 1818 Joseph Kitchell and Edward Gulloin were delegates from Crawford county. One of the first entries in the recorder’s office was a certificate of freedom presented by one Abram Camp, an immigrant from Battelora county, Virginia. This gentleman of color, had established the fact that his mother was a Mohawk Indian and the Virginia judge had entered an order establishing his freedom. His certificate of freedom was badly worn having been obtained in Virginia in 1786. It is said some of Abram Camp’s descendants still live where he settled just inside the north line of Lawrence county.ROBINSON MADE THE COUNTY SEAT
In 1844 the town of Robinson, more nearly in the center of the county, was made the county seat. This was a death blow to Palestine. It declined for many years. In 1854 it had one lawyer, James C. Allen. In 1837 it had four stores, two groceries, three taverns, two lawyers, four physicians, two ministers and about four hundred and fifty people.
There seems to have been no bank in Robinson in 1854, and only two settled preachers in that year. They were Rev. Jacob Reed and Rev. Nathan Vance, both Methodists. In 1849, the members of the Presbyterian congregation in Palestine under the leadership of Elder James Eagleton organized a Presbyterian church in Robinson, but it had a brief history. In 1872 the Rev. Thomas Spencer and Elder Findley Paull reorganized the Presbyterian church in Robinson.SCHOOL INTERESTS
In the last decade there has been wonderful progress in the matter of education in Southern Illinois. Public sentiment has grown and wherever means would permit, fine school buildings have been built. The returns from the oil industry in many of the eastern counties, have enabled the people to build better homes, schools, churches, lift the mortgages, and do many other desirable things. No other county has a finer township high school than this county. The school is located at Robinson, and is under the direction of Prof. Oscar J. Marberry. P 448
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| THE ROBINSON TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL, ROBINSON, CRAWFORD COUNTY |
AGRICULTURE
This county was comparatively heavily timbered. The prairie lands are in larger and more or less marked areas. There are three large areas that are prairies. One, the Lamott prairie, another just west of Robinson running from northeast to southwest, and one starting at Oblong and running northeast. Those lands are not rich like the black prairies in central part of the state but they are very excellent lands. In 1909, as shown by the census of 1910, there were 138,052 acres in potatoes in Illinois with a yield of 12,166,091 bushels—an average of ninety bushels, nearly, to the acre. Crawford county had an acreage of 11,864 with a yield of 916,051 bushels—an average of seventy-seven bushels, nearly, to the acre. This county had eight and one-half per cent of the acreage of the state but raised only seven and one-half per cent of the total bushels. There is another phase of the agricultural report in the census of 1910. Crawford reports under heading Wild, Salt, or Prairie Grasses and acreage of 28,415, and a tonnage of 26,899, the total acreage for the state being 112,978 and the tonnage 128,531. Large areas of the county were subject to overflows and to lake formations, but the opening of the farms has drained the country and the swamps have gradually disappeared.COMING OF RAILROADS AND OIL
There was slow growth in population in the county prior to 1905. The coming of railroads gave an impetus to the towns and villages through which they passed. Oblong, Robinson, and Palestine grew into flourishing towns in the latter part of the last century, but the discovery of oil in this county has revolutionized every phase of the people’s life. The population has grown, new business enterprises have started up, and the comforts of life are more abundant. P 449
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A
GUSHER, NEAR ROBINSON, CRAWFORD COUNTY |
OBLONG
Oblong is a thriving city of 1,482 inhabitants. It is due west of Robinson, nine miles. It has prospered by reason of the oil industry. A large share of the credit for Oblong’s business activity is due to Mr. J. M. Sheets, editor of the Obhrng Oracle. He never tires of working in the interest of his city. One thing for which the township is noted is the interest in hard roads. The township has now about twelve miles of Macadam road and is building more. The township has purchased a ten ton steam roller at a cost of $2,500. The state highway commission speaks in terms of praise of the roads and bridges of Oblong township. The county has eleven banks: one each at Annapolis, Flat Rock, Hutsonville, Stoy, Oblong has two, Palestine two, and Robinson three. There are no coal mines in Crawford county, and outside of the oil industry is an agricultural county.THE OIL INDUSTRY
Since the discovery of oil in such large quantities there has been a large oil refinery established near Stoy some three or four miles east of
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| A COMMON SIGHT IN THE OIL TERRITORY |
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