The bill which passed congress and was signed by the President February 3, 1809, contained eight sections. The first—Be it enacted.

       That, from and after the first day of March next, that part of the Indiana territory which lies west of the Wabash river, and a direct line drawn from Post Vincennes due north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a separate territory and be called Illinois. The second section provided for a government of the first class —a governor, three judges, a secretary. The third provided for their appointment by the president. The fourth allowed the governor to call an election for the purpose of determining the desire of the people to enter the second grade of territorial government. And if favorable then he was to carry such desire into effect. Article five prohibited Indiana officials from exercising authority in Illinois. Article six provided that all suits and proceedings in process of being settled should be completed as if the division had not been made. Article seven guaranteed to the Indiana government the current taxes due from lands lying in Illinois. Article eight fixed the seat of government at Kaskaskia until such time as the legislature should locate it elsewhere.

       Nathaniel Pope was appointed secretary April 24. He was, for four or five years previous to his appointment, a resident of St. Genevieve but practiced law in Illinois. Ninian Edwards was appointed governor also on April 24, 1809. He was a judge of the court in Kentucky. The judges were Alexander Stuart, Obadiah Jones, and Jesse B. Thomas. Judge Stuart was transferred to Missouri, and Stanley Griswold filled the vacancy.

       Governor Edwards was a man of unusual parts. He had a collegiate training and was a man of wonderful resources. Henry Clay is said to have indorsed Judge Edwards for this place, saying, “I have no doubt that the whole representation from the state (Kentucky) would concur in ascribing to him every qualification for the office in question.”

       Nathaniel Pope, who was at Kaskaskia much earlier than Governor Edwards, issued a proclamation establishing the two counties of Randolph and St. Clair. Governor Edwards arrived in June and immediately called a legislative session of the governor and judges. The laws first provided were those previously in force in the Indiana territory. The action of the secretary in appointing local officers was P 110 confirmed. Among these territorial officers we may mention Robert Morrison, adjutant general, Benjamin Stephenson, sheriff of Randolph, and John Hays, sheriff of St. Clair. Other minor positions were filled in the two counties.

       The government of the Illinois territory was now completely organized and the people had realized what was for many years a buoyant hope. They said in favor of division, that it would increase immigration and bring prosperity to a lagging and unremunerative industrial life. They argued that towns would spring up, farms would be opened, and that commerce would be greatly augmented. Their prophecy was fulfilled.

       By a law of congress, passed March 26, 1804, there were established three land offices—one at Kaskaskia, one at Vincennes, and one at Detroit. When the United States came into possession of the public domain, there was no thought  of attempting to dispose of it in smaller tracts than many thousands of acres. It was supposed that large companies and wealthy individuals would buy these large tracts and then go into the retail business. When Mr. Harrison was a delegate in congress, he got a bill through which reduced the tracts to one square mile —640 acres. The price fixed was $2.00 per acre, one-fourth to be paid in cash and three-fourths on credit. Later the size of the tract was reduced; so also was the price. The establishing of the land office at Kaskaskia in 1804 greatly increased the immigration to the Illinois country. So much so that the population of Illinois grew from 2,500 in 1800 to 12,282 in 1810, by the census of those dates.

       When Governor Edwards came to take charge of affairs in the Illinois territory, or shortly thereafter, in addition to the number of settlements in the two counties of Randolph and St. Clair, there were settlements in the territory composing the counties of Jackson, Union, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Gallatin, Monroe. In spite of the complaints made of the drawbacks of the undivided territory prior to 1809, there had been a great increase in population, in industries, in homemaking, and in all the activities which were destined eventually to make Illinois a great state.

       But shortly after Governor Edwards arrived in the new territory, the peace and safety of the ten thousand inhabitants were threatened. The Indians had, in recent years, ceded nearly all their claims to land in Indiana and Illinois, and they now became dissatisfied, and their minds were inflamed. Tecumseh and the Prophet were busy inciting the Indians to deeds of violence. Almost constant interviews were going on between the Indians and those in authority in the two territories. The battle of Tippecanoe was fought on the 6th of November, 1811, and while Illinois had no military organization in the battle, yet there were individuals from around the salt works and Shawneetown who took part in the engagement. Col. Isaac White of Shawneetown, a lessee of the salt works, was a personal friend of Governor Harrison. He took part in the campaign and was killed in the battle above referred to.

       Those who favored separation of Illinois from Indiana had argued that it would greatly increase the immigration into the territory and in other ways greatly benefit the territory. These prophecies were fulfilled. The land offices spoken of above greatly stimulated the sale of land to actual settlers. P 111

       When Governor Edwards had gotten fairly settled in his official home as governor of the new territory, the citizens of Kaskaskia and Randolph counties presented him with a memorial pledging him their hearty support in the discharge of his official duties. In this address they call particular attention to the hard fight they had gone through to get the territory separated from Indiana. They mention the hanging of Jesse B. Thomas in effigy at Vincennes in condemnation of his efforts to secure the separation, and also the assassination of an advocate of separation in Kaskaskia. Governor Edwards says when he came to the territory he found it divided into violent political factions. He endeavored, and really succeeded, in holding himself aloof from these ruinous factional quarrels.

       But Governor Edwards had barely gotten the civil and military organizations well established before there began a series of difficulties with the Indians which were a source of great anxiety not only to the governor, but to the whole people. Several massacres occurred in the region of the Illinois river, and there followed long interviews and exchanges of linguistic courtesies. The Indians were greatly disturbed everywhere in the west. The battle of Tippecanoe was fought in 1811, and in 1812 war broke out between the United States and England. The Indians throughout the west and particularly around the lakes sided with the British.

WAR OF 1812

       We may state here that while the territory was absorbed in the War of 1812, the people voted to pass from a territory of the first class to one of the second class.

       Governor Edwards was active in his efforts to provide defenses for the American settlements in the Illinois territory. A line of block­houses was built reaching from west to east. Unfortunately it is difficult to locate these block-houses and forts accurately. In some counties either by tradition or by records some of them can be located. They were sometimes quite extensive affairs. The blockhouse was often enclosed by a stockade large enough to shelter the stock of the neighborhood. The blockhouse was often nothing more than a strong log house with portholes. From the best information now available blockhouses, forts, or stockades were erected at or near the following places: One at Carlyle; one near Aviston in Clinton county called Journey's or Tourney's fort; two in the western part of Bond county, called Hill's fort and Jones’ fort; one at the edge of Looking Glass Prairie on Silver creek in St. Clair county, called Chamber‘s fort; two, Middleton‘s and Going’s, on the Kaskaskia; Nat Hill’s fort on Doza creek; Jordan’s blockhouse in the northwestern corner of Franklin county; one southwest of Marion, Williamson county; one southeast of Marion on Saline river; Stone Fort on the Saline river; one at the mouth of the Illinois river on the west side; one nineteen miles above the mouth of the Illinois; and lastly Fort Russell which was probably the most complete and pretentious fortification in the state in this war. It was located about one and a half miles northwest of Edwardsville. It included a substantial palisade with buildings for supplies, headquarters, and barracks for soldiers. Some cannon were brought there from old Fort Chartres. This fort was named after Col. William Russell of Kentucky who had command of the rangers in the War of 1812.

      As soon as war was declared by the United States, the Indians in northern and central Illinois became exceedingly warlike. Governor Edwards had taken the precaution to have his militia well organized. Some 500 of them were called into service. Colonel Russell was sent into Illinois to organize the United States rangers. Colonel Russell was a Kentuckian. Several companies of the regiment of rangers were enlisted from Southern Illinois. Two expeditions were made from Fort Russell northward into the central part of the state. One in 1812 and one in 1813. Both had Peoria as their destination. But no real battles were fought with the Indians. The first expedition captured several families of French who lived about Peoria who were thought to be sympathetic with the Indians. They were brought to a point just below Alton and there set ashore without food or shelter, and after much suffering they reached St. Louis, The “Life and Times of Ninian Edwards” says they were landed in St. Louis.
 

       The most important event that occurred in Illinois during the War of 1812, was the Fort Dearborn massacre. Fort Dearborn was a stockade and blockhouse fort just at the mouth of the Chicago river. It was occupied by government troops as early as 1803. In 1812 there were probably a half dozen houses in Chicago outside of the buildings about the stockade. The officer in command was Capt. Nathan Heald. Other officers were Lieutenant Liani F. Helm, Ensign George Ronan, Surgeon Isaac Van Voorhis. John Kinzie was the principal Indian trader. There were seventy-four soldiers in the garrison. By the middle of the summer of 1812, the Indians became very demonstrative and two murders were committed, and other violent conduct engaged in. Captain Heald had received orders to evacuate the fort and move his command to Fort Wayne. He was advised by friendly Indians to prepare for a siege, or to leave the fort at once. He did not take this advice but notified the Indians that he expected to abandon the fort and that he would distribute the public property among them. This action on the part of the commanding officer, it was supposed, would greatly please the Indians and this would guarantee his safe passage to Fort Wayne. This P 113

AT TIME OF THE WAR OF 1818

P 114 decision on the part of Captain Heald was strongly opposed by the officers and Kiuzie, the trader. As soon as this word was circulated among the Indians, they became insolent and treated the authority of Captain Heald with contempt. By the 12th of August the Indians had gathered in large numbers and a council was held in which Captain Heald told the Indians his plans. He proposed to distribute among them all his public stores, and in return they were to furnish him an escort of 500 warriors to Fort Wayne. There immediately grew up in the fort the greatest fear for the safety of the little garrison. Fear grew to despair, and open rebellion against the order of the commander was imminent.

       Captain Heald decided that he would destroy the guns, ammunition, and liquor in the fort as these in the hands of the Indians would only be the means of death to the garrison.

OLD FORT DEARBORN IN 1812

       On the 13th of August the goods were distributed among the Indians. They soon discovered that there were certain things which they expected that they did not receive, and they began to show their dissatisfaction and disappointment. On the 14th Captain Wells, a brother to Mrs. Heald, arrived with some friendly Miamis. He had been brought up among the Indians and he knew from what he saw and heard that “all was not well.”

       On the morning of the 15th the sun rose gloriously over Lake Michigan. By nine o’clock the little army was ready to depart for Fort Wayne. Each soldier was given twenty-five rounds of ammunition. The baggage wagons, the ambulance and the little army proceeded on their fatal journey.

       When a mile and a half from the fort they discovered Indians hidden behind sand hills, ready to attack. The soldiers were fired upon and returned the fire. The conflict then became general and lasted for some time. Finally after nearly half of the soldiers had been killed, the remnant surrendered, In the agreement to surrender no stipulation was made as to the treatment of the wounded, and it is said by eye witnesses that their treatment by the infuriated Indians beggars all description. Twenty-six regulars, twelve militia, two women and twelve children were P 115 left dead on the field of conflict. The prisoners were scattered here and there but were finally ransomed.

       The fort was destroyed by the Indians, but was rebuilt and occupied in 1816 or 1817. It was finally abandoned in 1836.

MATTERS OF LOCAL INTEREST

       It remains to record a final campaign conducted by Major Zachary Taylor, later president of the United States, supported by Illinois troops. It was very necessary to have a strong fort and garrison somewhere in the region of Rock Island, and the expedition was intended to establish such fort and garrison. The expedition which moved up the Mississippi consisted of 40 United States regulars and 294 Illinois troops under the command of Capt. Samuel Whiteside and Nelson Rector, two noted Indian fighters—the whole under command of Colonel Taylor, The expedition started August 23, 1814. It moved up the Mississippi and above Rock Island encountered strong opposition from the Indians, and learning that British troops were in the vicinity with artillery, the boats descended the river. The British had been able to bring their cannon to the banks of the river in time to bombard the retreating vessels. It was remarkable that the boats were not sunk and all on board killed. Fort Edwards was built in the present county of Hancock about where Warsaw is, and after holding this point a short time the position was evacuated and the troops returned to St. Louis.

       Among the Illinois officers who won distinction in the War of 1812 were—William and Samuel Whitesides, cousins, who lived in the American Bottoms, at a place called Whiteside's Station, a family fort, probably of the blockhouse form. These two pioneers acted as captains in Russell‘s rangers and became very noted because of their activity in the defense of the American families. James B. Moore whose father was one of the spies sent by General Clark to Kaskaskia in the year 1777, was a captain in Russell’s rangers. Jacob Short who settled near Bellefontaine in 1796 was captain of a ranger company. Others who won distinction were John Moredock; William and Nathan Boone, the former of whom was paymaster for a portion of the rangers. He paid them in six-dollars, a foreign silver coin of the value of 60 cents to one dollar and fifteen cents. William, Stephen, Charles, Elias, and Nelson Rector were all prominent officers in the war. Nathaniel Journey was an officer part of the time, but was engaged chiefly in guarding settlers in the vicinity of Carlyle. Willis Hargrave was captain of a company of independent rangers near the Wabash. Later he was a major in the “Spy Battalion” in the Black Hawk war. Captain Samuel Judy was also an active man in the war. In 1816 at St. Louis, Gov. Ninian Edwards of Illinois territory, Gov. William Clark of Missouri territory, and Auguste Choteau of St. Louis, consummated a treaty with the chiefs and warriors of the Ottawas, the Chippewas, and the Pottawatomies in which treaty the tribes ceded all lands south of a line running east and west through the south end of Lake Michigan. They also ceded a strip of land ten miles in width from the mouth of the Fox river to the lake at Chicago. This strip of land was acquired by the government with the expectation that at an early date the government would build a canal from Lake Michigan to the head of navigation on the Illinois river. This expectation was realized when the Illinois and Michigan canal was constructed. P 116

       A study of the roster of officers and men who took part in this border warfare, reveals a number of names prominent in the history of the state. From the beginning to the end of this struggle there were probably two or three thousand citizens enrolled in the service. Scores of lives were lost—most of them near their houses. It remains to tell a story of horrid butchery which occurred on Wood river in Madison county, on the 10th day of July, 1814. Mrs. Rachel Reagan and two children went to spend the day at the house of William Moore, In the afternoon on her way home, she came by another neighbor’s house, Captain Abel Moore. From the latter place she was accompanied by four small children, two of William Moore’s and two of Abel Moore’s. When the little company of seven were between the homes of Abel Moore and Mrs. Reagan, they were attacked by savages and six killed outright; the seventh, a little boy, was found alive but died from the effects of his wounds. William Moore returned home from Fort Butler (near St. Jacobs) and finding the children absent went in search of them. They were found but the Indians were still lurking in the immediate locality and the bodies were not recovered till the next morning. The two forts, Russell and Butler, were notified and a pursuing party organized. The savages were followed to a point north of Jacksonville and one of them killed, the rest escaped. More than fifty non-combatants lost their lives in Illinois during this war.

       The fourth section of the act of congress of February, 1809, dividing the Indiana territory, provided that so much of the ordinance of 1787 as applied to the organization of a legislative assembly, should apply to the government of the Illinois territory whenever satisfactory evi­dence should be given to the governor that it was the wish of the ma­jority of the freeholders, though there might not be 5,000 legal voters as provided in the ordinance.

       By 1812 considerable interest was manifested relative to the change from the first to a second grade territory.

       The Ordinance of 1787 permitted only freeholders to vote, and so when Governor Edwards called the election in the spring of 1812, to determine the wish of the voters on the proposed change to a territory of the second grade, there were fewer than 400 votes cast, but they were nearly unanimous in favor of the proposed change. In May following this vote, congress enfranchised all white male persons over twenty-one years of age, and advanced Illinois to the second grade.

       On September 16, 1812, the governor and judges acting as a legislative body created three new counties. The two old ones were St. Clair and Randolph, and the three new ones were Madison, Gallatin, and Johnson. On the same day an election was ordered in these five counties for five members of the legislative council, and for seven members of the house of representatives, and for a delegate in congress. The election was held October  8, 9, 10.

       Those chosen were, for the lower house, from Madison, Wm. Jones; St. Clair, Jacob Short and Joshua Oglesby; Randolph, George Fisher; Johnson, John Grammar; Gallatin, Philip Trammel and Alexander Wilson. Those chosen for the council were, from Madison, Samuel Judy; St. Clair, Wm. Biggs; Randolph, Pierre Menard; Johnson, Thomas Ferguson; Gallatin, Benjamin Talbot. P 117

       This general assembly met at Kaskaskia November 25, and proceeded to organize by choosing Pierre Menard president of the council and George Fisher speaker of the house. Reynolds says the whole of the assembly boarded at one house and slept in one room. The work before this first session was to reenact the laws for the territory which served while the territory was of the first class, to adopt military measures for the defense of the people against the Indians, and to provide revenue for the maintenance of the territorial government. The legislature was in session from the 25th of November to the 26th of December, following. This legislature elected Shadrach Bond as delegate to congress. He took his seat in the fall of 1812. During his term of office in congress Bond secured the passage of the first preemption law of Illinois. This law provided that a man who settled upon a piece of land and made an improvement while it was still government land, should have the right to buy the tract so improved in preference to any one else. This law prevented persons from buying lands which some one else had improved to the detriment of the one who made the improvement.

       The laws which were in force in Illinois as a first class territory were all taken from the laws of some older state. Those passed by the legislature while the territory was in the second grade were usually of the same nature as those in use under the first grade. It will be very interesting as well as quite instructive for us to know some of these laws. A few are given in substance:

       For burglary, whipping on the bare back, thirty-nine stripes. Larceny, thirty-one stripes. Horse-stealing, fifty lashes, and one hundred for second offense. Hog-stealing, twenty-five to thirty-nine lashes. Bigamy, one hundred to three hundred stripes. Children or servants who were disobedient could be whipped ten lashes by consent of the justice. If a man were fined and could not pay, his time could be sold by the sheriff. Standing in the pillory was a common mode of punishment. Branding was authorized in extreme cases. There were five crimes for which the penalty was death by hanging—they were treason, murder, arson, rape, and for second conviction of horse-stealing. “For reveling, quarreling, fighting, profanely cursing, disorderly behavior at divine worship, and hunting on the Sabbath, penalties by fines were prescribed.

       The laws providing for the collection of debts were all quite favorable to the creditor. No property, real or personal, was exempt from judgment and execution; and if the property did. not satisfy a debt, the debtor could be cast into prison.

       By an act of December 24, 1814, entitled “To promote retaliation upon hostile Indians” we see to what ends the settlers were driven to defend themselves against the savage redmen. It was enacted that— (abridged):

       1. When the Indians make incursions into any locality and kill or commit other depredations, any citizen shall be paid $50.00 for killing or capturing such Indian. lf killed or captured by a ranger, $25.00.

       2. Any person receiving permission from a commanding officer to go into the Indian territory and who shall kill an Indian, shall be paid $100.00.

       3. Rangers in parties of fifteen who make incursions into the country of hostile Indians shall receive $50.00 for each Indian killed, or squaw taken prisoner. P 118

       Shadrach Bond was the first delegate from Illinois to sit in congress. He was elected in 1812. During his term as delegate in congress he secured the enactment of the first preemption law ever put upon the statute books in the United States. This law will be better appreciated when we understand some of the practices of frontier life.

       The wave of immigration often traveled westward faster than the surveyors did. In such cases the settler never knew just where his land would fall when the region was platted by the surveyor. And again, after the surveyor had done his work it often happened that the surveyed land was not placed on the market for a number of years. The settler usually selected his lands and made improvements with the expectation that he would buy the land when it came on the market. Unprincipled men would watch and would often step in ahead of the settler at the land office and buy the improved land at government prices. This often resulted in violence and bloodshed.

       Bond’s preemption law recognized the settler’s equity in the improvements, and prevented anyone else from buying the land without the consent of the one who had improved it. This was legislating in the interest of the pioneers who had borne the burden and the heat of the day.

       There was a rapid increase in the population of the territory of Illinois from the day it became a territory of the second grade. New counties were added to the five previously named. The new ones were —Edwards and White in 1815; Monroe, Crawford, Jackson, Pope, Bond, in 1816; Union, Franklin, and Washington in 1818.

       It should be kept in mind that some of these counties were organized with very few people. However, the population was greatly multiplying, for by 1818 there were nearly 40,000 people within the state.

       The territorial legislature of Illinois held three general sessions— one in 1812, one in 1814, and one in 1816. This last legislature held two sessions on account of the extra work in admitting Illinois as a state.

       Our neighboring states of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri had each a system of banking which furnished an abundance of money; indeed very much of this money found its way into Illinois. The legislature of 1816 passed a law chartering banks at Shawneetown, Kaskaskia and Edwardsville. We shall speak of these more fully in a later chapter.

       There was a charter issued by the legislature of 1817-18 incorporating the city and bank of Cairo. At this time there was nothing in the nature of a town or city where Cairo now stands. The lower part of the peninsula was claimed by several brothers by the name of Bird. The company called the City and Bank of Cairo consisted of John G. Comyges, Thos, H. Harris, Charles Slade, Shadrach Bond, Michael Jones, Warren Brown, Edward Humphries, and Charles W. Hunter.

A RETROSPECT

       The year 1818 was a notable one in the history of Illinois. In this year was realized an event which many had looked forward to with great interest; this was the year when the state became of age. Its history reached back to the discovery by Marquette and Joliet, nearly a hundred and fifty years. It had actually been settled by whites for one hundred and eighteen years.

       Its people had lived successively under three governments—the French, the English, and the American. Immigration had reached it from, three sources—the north, the south, and the east. Each of the three quarters brought its own peculiar people. No other district of equal area created such widespread interest in Europe as the Illinois country. The fame of its rich soil, its noble rivers, its wide stretching lake, its abundance of wild game, its famous wealth of mines, and its geographical situation was spread abroad by every traveller who chanced to traverse its boundless prairies or to thread its silvery streams.

       For a century after the planting of the first permanent settlement the growth of institutional life was very slow. The people for a large part, were unambitious, thriftless, and lived without purpose. Those who were responsible for the continuous. ongoing of the settlements looked upon them as a means only to an end, which end was not within the grasp of those who were building more wisely than they knew. The French settlements on the Mississippi could never have lived through the century following their founding, had it not been for the strong arm of the royal government, and the equally strong support of the church. How different from the Anglo-Saxon settlements on the Atlantic coast which prospered in spite of both royalty and ecelesiasticism.

       At the beginning of. the nineteenth century there were probably less than 3,000 souls in the territory. They were distributed chiefly along the Mississippi, a few being on the Ohio, and a few along the Wabash river.

       The chief lines of industrial life were farming, commerce, trading, manufacturing, lumbering, fishing, etc. Wheat was raised in large quantities in the American bottom. The harvesting was done with the old fashioned sickle. Reynolds says there were no cradles in those days. The wheat was threshed with flail or tramped out by means of horses.  The wheat was ground at water mills or horse mills.

       In 1806 the nearest gristmill to the people south and east of Kaskaskia was John Edgar’s mill near Kaskaskia. Corn was raised but not so extensively as wheat. Hogs were fattened by allowing them to feed upon the mast which in that early day was abundant. The corn was used to make “lye hominy” and “samp;“ whiskey was distilled by some of the settlers who had come from Tennessee, Kentucky, or the mountainous districts of Virginia. Considerable whiskey was drunk, especially on public days. Fruits were plentifully grown. The French villagers usually had a few fruit trees in their back yards. Flax was grown in considerable quantities. Reynolds says that half of the population made their living by the chase, as coureurs de bois, or keel boating. The lead mines in the northwest part of the state and in southwestern Wisconsin furnished an excellent market for the surplus food products of the Illinois settlements. The transportation of this provision to the mines and the return with lead down the river, gave work for a large contingent of river men.
 

RUINS OF AN OLD MILL BUILT IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, NEAR

         Lumber was not extensively used. But there were a few mills for making lumber. The whip saw was the chief dependence for sawing boards, but in about 1800 a water mill for both sawing and grinding was erected on Horse creek. The lumber was used quite largely in building flat boats for the river trade. Some of it, of course, was used in the construction of houses.

         Among the limited kinds of manufacturing, the making of flour was perhaps the most general. This flour was marketed in St. Louis, in the lead mines, in New Orleans, in the eastern states, and some of it is said to have been shipped to Europe. Salt was made at the salines, in what is now Gallatin county, also in Jackson county on Big Muddy, in Monroe, seven or eight miles west of Waterloo, in Bond, and possibly in other localities. There were few tanneries, though Conrad Will had one in Jackson county as early as 1814. It is said that the French women did not take kindly to such work as making butter, spinning, weaving, etc. Blacksmiths were scarce, and so the wagons of those early days were made chiefly of wood, as were also the plows.

         Schools were scarce. It is said that the Jesuits had a school in Kaskaskia in the middle of the eighteenth century. Samuel J. Seely is said to have been the first American school teacher in Illinois.. He taught school in New Design. He came there as early as 1783 and taught in an abandoned squatter’s cabin. The school was continued the next year by Francis Clark, and he was followed by an Irishman named Halfpenny. Reynolds calls Halfpenny the “School Master General of Illinois,’’ because he taught in so many localities. He built a water mill on Fountaine creek, not far from Waterloo, in 1795. Monroe had schools as early as 1784. Randolph had a school as early as 1790. The teacher was John Doyle, a soldier with Colonel Clark in 1778. A Mr. Davis, an old sailor, taught in the fort in Baldwin precinct in 1816. John Bradsbury, “faithful but not learned,” taught a school in Madison county near Collinsville as early as 1804. John Atwater opened a school near Edwardsville in 1807.  St. Clair county P 121 had for a pioneer teacher John Messenger, who was also a surveyor. Schools were opened at Turkey Hill in 1808 by John Bradley, and at Shiloh in 1811.

       The school furniture was as primitive as the school house. The seats were made of puncheons, with four legs set into auger holes. Often the seat was too high for the little fellows; and they could amuse themselves by swinging their legs vigorously. There were no desks except for the older pupils who took writing lessons. Stout. pegs of sufficient length were set into auger holes in the wall, so as to slope downward; on these supports, at convenient height, was fastened the smoothed puncheon. Thus the writing pupils sat or stood facing the wall. A pail or a “piggin” of water with a gourd instead of tumbler or mug, was an essential part of the furniture. It was a reward of merit to be allowed to go to the spring or well to fill the bucket or piggin.

       In an earlier day the Catholic church was the only religious organization. At Kaskaskia was the mission of the Immaculate Conception. This mission is said to have been founded by Father Marquette as early as 1675 near the present town of Utica. It was moved to Kaskaskia about 1700. About the same time a mission was founded at Cahokia, and later one at Fort Chartres. The mission of those early days served two general purposes—one to serve as a mile stone in the wanderings of the voyagers and explorers, and as place for spiritual invigoration; the other as a center around which the natives could be gathered for religious instruction. The value of these early missionary efforts from the point of view of the conversion of the Indians has probably been overestimated. Marquette reports only the baptizing of a dying infant at the end of three days’  hard preaching among the Kaskaskia Indians. Father Marest says, “Nothing is more difficult than the conversion of these Indians. Religion among them does not take deep root, as should be desired, and there are but few souls who from time to time give themselves truly to God.” Father Membre says, ‘‘With regard to conversions I cannot rely upon any. We baptized some dying children and two or three dying persons who manifested proper dispositions.” Father Vivier, a Jesuit, said, “The only good they (the missionaries) can do them is the administration of baptism to children who are at the point of death,” etc. But it must not be thought that the work of the Catholic church in the Illinois country was wholly fruitless. The godly life of the priests exerted its influence upon the savages whenever the two came in contact.

       There were three leading Protestant churches represented in Illinois prior to the admission of the state into the union. These were in order of their coming, the Baptists, the Methodists, and the Presbyterians. The Baptists were represented in Illinois as early as 1787. In that year the Rev. James Smith, from Lincoln county, Kentucky, came to the New Design settlement and encaged in evangelistic work. Smith was followed by the Rev. John K. Simpson and his son, they by Rev. Smith. who had previously returned to Kentucky. Rev. Josiah Dodge came from Kentucky to visit his brother, who lived at St. Genevieve, and visited the settlers about New Design. Reynolds says that in February, 1794, they cut the ice in Fountaine creek, and Rev. Dodge baptized James Lemen, Sr., his wife, John Gibbons and Isaac Enochs, and that these were the first people baptized in the territory. The P 122 Rev. David Badgley organized the first Baptist church in the Illinois territory in the summer of 1796. The greatest representative of the Baptist faith in the early days of the state was Rev. John M. Peck, but he did not arrive till 1817 and we shall speak of his labors later. The Methodists came into the territory as early as 1793. They were first represented by the Rev. Joseph Lillard, who came from Kentucky. He Was a circuit rider in that state. He organized a church at New Design and appointed Joseph Ogle as class leader. Ogle had been converted by a Baptist preacher in Kentucky, and had attached himself to the Methodists. The Rev. Hosea Riggs came ill 1796 and he was followed by Benjamin Young who was the first circuit rider with a regular appointment in Illinois. Probably the most noted of the early preachers was the Rev. Jesse Walker, who came from Kentucky by appointment from the “Western Conference.” The Western Conference, held in 1806, appointed Jesse Walker circuit rider for the Illinois circuit which at that time was one of eight circuits of the Cumberland district. The Rev. William MeKendree, afterwards Bishop MeKendree, was the presiding elder of the Cumberland district, and so earnest was he that Jesse Walker should get started that he came with him to the Illinois territory. They swam their horses across seven different streams, camped out at night and cooked their own meals. They finally arrived at the Turkey Hill settlement near the present city of Belleville. The winter of 1806-7 the Rev. Walker preached in the homes of the people in and around New Design. In the summer of 1808 he held a camp meeting which was doubtless the first effort of the kind ever made in the state. Walker soon had two hundred and eighteen members in the Illinois circuit. He afterwards established a church in St. Louis.

       The social life of Illinois prior to 1818 was certainly not of a very high order. We do not mean there were no good people and that there were not those of culture and refinement, for indeed many of the people who became permanent settlers were from localities in the older states where the agencies of culture, learning, and religion were abundant. However, in any newly settled region there is always found, a very rough class of people, and while not necessarily in the majority in numbers, to the casual observer they stand out prominently and give character to the community at large.