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History of Fulton County, Illinois, Chas. C. Chapman & Co., page 901-3
The following detailed account of the cholera of 1851 was prepared by Esquire H. S. Jacobs and published in the Lewistown Democrat June 5, 1879.
The Cholera of 1851
"It will be remembered that this scourge appeared in New Orleans in the fall of 1848, and raged there during the following winter. It made its appearance in St. Louis in February 1849. The first case was attended by Prof. Barber, of McDowells Medical College. The faculty laughed at him for pronouncing it cholera; but in a few days after Dr. Barber himself died with it. The doctors then gave the alarm, and great preparations were made to stay its progress. But it spread rapidly, and that, together with the great fire of May 17th which swept away a great part of the city, seemed to blight the prospects of the growing city. The cholera continued there during the summers of 1850-51.
About the first of June, 1851, Esq. Jechoniah Langston went from here to St. Louis on business. Soon after his return he was taken ill. Not knowing the disease to be cholera, the people attended to him as was the custom. He died on the 7th of June. The remains were taken to the church of which he was a member, and a funeral preached, the coffin opened, and the body viewed by those present. The weather was very warm, with southeasterly winds and frequent rains.
John McHenry and several of his family were taken down the day after Langston's death. There not being room in his house for all of them, he was taken to the Christian church, where he received all the care and attention that was possible, but he died shortly after. Four of his children died - Samuel on the 8th, Enos on the 10th, Thomas B. on the 12th, and Mary A. on the 17th of June. On the 12th a young man named Thomas Kent Woodward died at the American House, and on the same day another young man, a stranger, died at Nathan Searl's. On the 20th a young man by the name of Wm. Haney, employed as clerk for Dr. John Hughes, died. Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes, wife of the Doctor, died on the 19th. Mrs. Mary E. Blanton, a friend of the Doctor and his family, was taken ill about this time and died on the 23rd. Two colored boys also died at this house, one on the 21st and one on the 23rd. Wm. Boswell, a saddler, also died on the 21st.
Dr. Isaac B. Bacon, who had recently come to the place, and who had gained quite a reputation for his close attention to the sick, came home from the country with the disease about dark on the evening of the 27th, and died about daylight the next morning. James B. Fowler and a Mr. Frankenbury lost two children each about this time. Wm. P. and Rebecca J. Edie died on the 23rd and 24th respectively. Grandfather Euclid Mercer was buried about this time. As the friends returned from his burial, the man who made his coffin (a Mr. Murphy) came for Dr. Nance to go and see his mother-in-law. The Doctor with I. B. Witchell went out there. The man met them at the door, and showed clear symptoms of cholera. They were both buried before 12 o'clock that night. John Kirkbride a brother of David Kirkbride, died June 27th, on the farm beyond Sugar Creek, in McDonough Co., now owned by Robert Andrews. His brother Eliakim died in town a few days after. Mrs. Jane Andrews, mother of Robert, died at the house of Joseph Crail July 4th. Bird Anderson, brother of Mrs. Cephas Toland, was taken down about this time. He was thought to be dead, his coffin was prepared and preparations for his burial made. But he recovered and lived to serve his country faithfully in the war of 1861, removed to Kansas where he died five or six years ago. A young woman named Maria A. Patterson died at the Hayes House July 2nd. David Merrick died on his farm just west of town July 11th. Elizabeth, wife of John A. Craig, and sister to Mrs. William Alexander, died on the 24th and her sister, Mrs. Taylor, died soon after. Oscar D., son of James A. and Elizabeth Russell, died Aug 1st. Julia A., wife of Wm. Hayes, died July 31st. Philip Weaver died Aug 27th, Elizabeth Davis Aug 6th, and Richard C. Johnson, brother of Mrs. T. Hamer and Mrs. J. A. Russell, on Sept 3rd. Lemuel Burson, one of those who waited on the sick during the whole time, was taken down among the last cases and went to join those he had helped care for.
These are the names of the majority of those who died, although there were others whose names we could not get. There were also many others who recovered.
Mr. Witchell says he waited on some seventy cases. During the prevalence of this dread disease in our midst many cases of extreme sadness occurred, and some of that were mirth-provoking - among the latter being a man who came to town with a lump of tar sticking under his nose. All business was suspended, except to furnish what was needed for the sick and dead. Mr. Mellow kept open the store of Stephens & Winans for that purpose.
During this trying time Mansfield Patterson kept the Hayes House and kept his table set at all hours for those waiting upon the sick and dying.
In this, as in all cases of the prevalence of epidemic or contagious disease, a few persons took hold and in a systematic manner waited on and cared for every one of the sick during the whole time of this dreadful calamity, forgetting self and thinking only of the suffering around them. Most prominent among these were the following: Isaac B. Witchell, Cephas Toland, John Mathewson, Joseph B. Royal, H. S. Thomas, Mansfield Patterson, Wm. Mellor, C. B. Cox, Lemuel Burson and David Clark. Among the ladies who assisted in this noble work were Mrs. Elizabeth Westlake, Mrs. Martha Burr, Mrs. Sarah M. Witchell, Mrs. America Toland, and Mrs. Patterson; and many a poor sufferer had the benefit of their kind care and attention. But of these only Mrs. Toland and Mrs. Burr survive. Mr. Clark, after the cholera ceased here, went to Bluff City where the cholera soon made its appearance. He again waited on and nursed the sick, was himself taken down and died, being the last case.
Of all these it can truly be said, they did all that men and women could do during that trying time, and during all these 28 years since, those who survive have ever been ready and willing to aid the sick and relieve the distressed wherever and whenever their services were needed, and this without ostentation or display. Such self-sacrifice will never go unrewarded.
No person is more to be remembered for what he did during those trying days than Esq. H. S. Jacobs."

Peoria Democrat Press, April 1844
In the matter of the petition of:
Charles H. FREEMAN, administrator of the estate of George PIERCE, deceased.
Notice is hereby given that by virtue of a decree of the circuit court of Peoria county, taken and entered at the special term of March A.D. 1844. I shall on the 24th day of May next between the hours of 11 and 12 a.m. of that day at the town of Farmington, Fulton County in the state of Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest and best bidder in cash therefore, that certain tract, lot or parcel of land situate lying and being in the county of Fulton aforesaid, known and described as the south west quarter of section No. 12 in township No. 7 north of the base line of range No. 4 east of the 4 principal meridian; the same being part of the said estate of George PIERCE, deceased.
George H. FREEMAN, Adm'r of George PIERCE, deceased.
By, H. O. MERRIMAN, his att'y
submitted by Candi Horton, Illinois Genealogy Trails Peoria County Host

Peoria Morning Star, Sunday, August 10, 1924
Largest Family Reunion in Central Illinois
Illinois Branch of Lingenfelter Family Holds Annual Reunion: 5,000 Attend!
Canton, August 9 - The annual meeting of members of the Lingenfelter family has become known as the largest family reunion in Illinois. Fifteen years ago, the Illinois branch of this large family held a reunion. Since then it has been an annual affair and when on the day of celebrating, if the weather was good, the attendance has always been large.
The family originated in Pennsylvania where many of the descendants of the original Lingenfelters still reside. The Pennsylvania branch held its reunion Saturday, July 26, and letters exchanged between the Illinois and the eastern branch indicate that several thousand attended this gathering in the East.
The man who was principally responsible for the organization of the Illinois group of this family was Reverend Fred C. Dively, who is President of the Pennsylvania group. Rev. Mr. Dively came to Illinois fifteen years ago as a representative of the family and after much correspondence and discussions, the members called the first reunion. This meeting was a distinct success and other reunions followed.
Boys Sold as Slaves!
The history of the family reads like a book, according to the oldest records. The first family came from Holland in 1765, sailing from Germany. This family consisted of the father, mother, one son and one daughter. The sturdy little band wanted to find the "land of promise". On the ocean trip, the parents died and were buried at sea. The boat docked at Philadelphia and the orphans were sold as slaves to the British. The children never saw each other after the day they were sold.
The boy was Simon Lingenfelter and when he was 21, he cast his lot with the American patriots in their struggle fro independence. He served the entire period of the war. Records do not disclose what Simon did immediately after the war, but in 1800 he was known to be living in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Family records of these early days show that Frederick Claar married Christina Walters and their daughter, Sarah, married Jacob Lingenfelter on May 1, 1830, in Bedford County, Pa. It was this Jacob Lingenfelter who came to Illinois in April, 1848, and started the Illinois branch.
With Jacob were his wife and eight children when the trip was made to Illinois. The landing was made at Copperas Creek Lock. The graves of Jacob and his wife are in High Bridge cemetery, near the farm on which they lived.
The twelve children were:
Margaret, deceased who married Henry Lewis. Three children were born to this union.
Mathias, deceased, who married Rebecca Evans. The following children were born to this union: Joseph E., Jacob A., Mathias S., Richard E., Lizzie M., Clyde D., Luella I., Annie M., Ida E., Sarah S., Barbara E. Of the twelve, eight are living. The father lived to a ripe old age and the mother died at age 66.
Josiah Lingenfelter, deceased, who had eight children.
Moses Lingenfelter, who had nine children.
Christiana Lingenfelter Mann who had six children.
Aaron Lingenfelter who had three children.
David Lingenfelter who remained a bachelor.
John who died during the Civil War and remained a bachelor.
The eight children listed above were all born in Pennsylvania and moved to Illinois with their parents. The four children who were born in Illinois were:
Frederick who died while still a young man
Jacob who had seven children and died in 1876
Alexander who had three children
Sarah Johnson who had three children and is deceased.
Kentucky Branch
Aside from the Pennsylvania and Illinois branches, the family has another branch of considerable size in Kentucky. Although at this time, the Kentucky branch is not organized for reunion purposes like the other two are. Each year there are representatives of both the branches at the Illinois reunion.
The officers of the family reunion association for this year are:
J. P. Lingenfelter, President.
Arthur Johnson, Secretary
J. P. Lingenfelter, chairman of the program committee.
The reunions are not only a family affair, but are also community affairs on account of the prominence of the people represented and on account of the size of the picnic.
Seven years ago, the picnic attended by a great throng of people and 1400 sat down to dinner which was served by the women of the family. Three years ago there were 5,000 people at the picnic.
Older members of the family recall the early days of the Lingenfelter pioneers with privation and sacrifice. Log cabins, such as those used in the early days of the family in Pennsylvania were far from being comfortable. Trees were cut down from the forest to clear the fields for crops and the logs were then hauled or drug to the place where the house was to be built.
The logs were notched carefully at each end to form the four walls, while still more logs served as rafters. The roof was usually of hand hewn wooden shingles, but occasionally thatch was used temporarily. The space between the logs were filled with mud or an improvised mortar and hand hewn boards or plain dirt served as a floor. A fireplace was built in one end of the cabin and was used to cook with as well as to heat the room in the winter. Iron stoves gradually came into use by the time the family had emigrated to Illinois. They were almost in general use.
The following was taken from a caption from a picture of Mathis Lingenfelter: The late Mathis Lingenfelter, honored pioneer who moved to Fulton County in 1848, was buried today. [He died on July 11, 1916.] His funeral was one of the largest ever held in the county. There were over 138 motor driven and horse drawn vehicles in the procession and well over a thousand people at the graveside.
Submitted by Roy Girard

Weekly Register, Canton, Illinois, January 3, 1907
A RAMBLER'S NOTES
In 1825 Mathew Tatum, then unmarried, with two companions, Squire Wilcoxen and Landrine Eggers, left Indiana for Illinois. When the little party reached Fulton county they found a wild country with but few white settlers, but Eggers and Wilcoxen after exploring the county, found suitable locations, erected cabins and became pioneers in the wilderness. Game then was the principal food and the red men had not left the country. Young Tatum, inspired by an ambition to see more of the Prairie state, pushed on to Galena, where he spent two or three years at the lead mines, returning to Fulton county in 1827 or 1828.
In 1825 Fulton county extended east and west from the Illinois to the Mississippi river, and from the base line near where Rushville, Schuyler county, now stands, to the northern boundary of the state, and included the country where Rock Island, Galena, Peoria and Chicago now are.
It was only a few years before Tatum and his two companions arrived in the county that the buffalo, deer, bear and wolf roamed through the forests and over the prairies, the Indian their enemy. Many Indians were still here in the late '20s and their log and bark canoes could often be seen gliding over the placid waters of the Illinois and Spoon rivers. But the westward tread of the Anglo-Saxon had reached the military tract and the country was soon wrested from those who had for centuries refused to develop its resources. When the fearless, industrious, enterprising pioneers came, the Indians, the buffalo, the deer and the wolf had to go.
Dr. W. T. Davison was undoubtedly the first white man to make his home within the present boundaries of Fulton County, but John Eveland, who located at or just above the old pioneer of Waterford on Spoon river, in 1820, was the first actual white settler. Eveland lived on Spoon river but a few years when he moved to Buckheart township and built a cabin on what is now know as the Eveland branch, a small stream which flows into Big creek west of Bryant.
In the spring of 1830 Mathew Tatum built a round log, one-room cabin on the northeast quarter of section seven, Buckheart township, near the source of the Eveland branch, and on the first day of August, 1830, was married to Mrs. Lydia Eggers - whose maiden name was Dollar. After living till fall on the T. J. Shepley place, they moved into this cabin. Only a few stones are left to mark the spot where it stood. Along about 1832 a one-room hewed-log house was built to shelter the family, and this is still standing and is one of the old pioneer landmarks of the county. It stands just north and a little west of the old original Tatum cabin, and is in a fair state of preservation when we take into consideration the fact that it has been standing for three-quarters of a century.
The winter following the occupation of the old original cabin was the winter of the deep snow, which is so vividly remembered by the old settlers who are still living and who v/ere here at that time. It was the heaviest snow that ever fell in Illinois, so far as known by any one now living, or within the memory of the earliest pioneers.
"It was after this snow," said the subject of this sketch, John G. Tatum (son of Mathew Tatum), "that many settlers accustomed to the advantages of an older civilization became dissatisfied and left the country never to return. I have often heard my parents speak of this great snowfall. Father's corn was up on the Shepley place, in Canton township, and had not been gathered in and cribbed and as the depth of the snow was a great barrier to all travel he had a pretty tough time going into the field and digging down until he came to ears enough to fill his sack, which he carried home on his back to feed his stock or to beat or grate into meal for family use.
"The big snow found many of the settlers wholly unprepared for a long siege and there was a great deal of suffering. People were absolutely blockaded or (housed?) up and did not go out until starvation compelled them.
"I was born in the hewed log cabin built, I think, in 1832 which is still standing about 100 yards south of our present residence, but which has not been occupied for several years. I lived in it several years alone and am the last occupant of the old home where I was born and reared to manhood and where my parents lived and died.
"The date of my birth is Dec. 13, 1837. My father was a native of Rowan county, N. C., and my mother was born in Laurens county, S. C. Father was born Feb. 18, 1789, and died Sept 19, 1868. Mother, whose maiden name was Dollar, was born in 1803 and died Oct. 2, 1872. Her father William Dollar, was a native of Wales and her mother, Ruth (Beasley) Dollar, of Virginia. Grandfather Dollar served under Washington in the war of the revolution, for seven years. He died in Buckheart township, Sept. 6, 1838. The remains of my parents are interred in the Shields chapel cemetery. The names of the Tatum children are George W., born March 25, 1832, died in 1864; John Goforth, Mrs. Amy Cluts, and Mrs. Sarah Jane Shields. Mrs. Cluts and myself still reside on the old homestead but Mrs. Shields lives at Los Angeles, Calif.
"I never married and we three are the only representatives of the Tatum family now living and when we pass away the name will become extinct.
"The Rev. James Tatum, who was one of the pioneer preachers of the county, died in Hays, county, Kan.(sic) in 18_8 (1888?), aged 97 years. His wife and all the children are dead.
"Politically, father was a Democrat. Both he and mother were members of the Regular Baptist church.
"Uncle Jimmy Tatum was two years younger than father, was a large, powerfully built man, and although a little eccentric was an earnest preacher of pioneer days and was of a fervently religious turn of mind. He labored arduously in building up the early Regular Baptist churches of the county. His education was limited and he was compelled to perform severe manual labor to supply his family with the necessaries of life, yet he was a faithful, untiring, conscientious worker who went about doing good. His was a life well spent and afford lessons of zeal and Christian devotion under adverse circumstances, worthy of emulation of all believers. He helped to organize the Baptist church in the Eveland neighborhood in a very early day.
"Father bought the old Tatum homestead from the patentee, a man named Bullard, paying $300 for it, or a little less than $2 an acre. It was wild land and save a small prairie on the west side, was covered with a heavy growth of timber.
The men and women who remained after the winter of the deep snow and built homes in the forests and developed farms from the wilderness — the men and women who endured the hardships and bore the disadvantages found in the early settling of the county — were made of sterner stuff than the weaklings who became homesick and went back to the older states from whence they came.
"Yes, I have heard my parents speak of the sudden change in January, 1836. The cold came on suddenly and was so intense that many people's noses, ears, fingers and toes were frozen. I have some recollection myself of the severe winter of 1843-8. The years 1844, 1851, 1858 and 1865 were notable as wet years, but after 1865 every seventh year ceased to be wet.
"The 17-year locusts made their first appearance since I can recollect in 1844. They were very numerous that year and did considerable damage to young trees, etc. Seventeen years later, or in 1861, they again came, but not in such great numbers as in 1844. They came in 1878 and 1895 also and will come again in 1912. Their numbers seem to be gradually decreasing.
"Oh, yes - I can recall the time when there was very little money in the country, and when father first came to the country most of the business was done by bartering one article for another. Coon skins passed as currency up to about the time I was born.
"In an early day cotton was quite extensively grown in Fulton county and father raised a crop the first year after he was married. But the climate was not adapted to the raising of the tropical plant, and flax was substituted for cotton.
"Neighborhood exchanges, as I stated before, were the earliest commercial transactions carried on in the county. Beeswax, honey, tallow and peltries(?) were among the earliest articles shipped by flatboat to St. Louis. Sometimes a few bushels of wheat or corn would be added. This was before the advent of steamboats on the Illinois river.
"After the steamboats commenced to ply up and down the river a new system of commerce sprang up. Every town would contain one or two merchants who would buy corn, wheat and dressed hogs in the fall, store them in warehouses on the river at some of the landings and when navigation opened in the spring would ship the winter accumulations to St. Louis, New Orleans of Cincinnati for sale.
"At first, so far as the farmer was concerned in all these transactions, money was an unknown factor. Goods were always sold on 12 months time and payment made with the proceeds of the farmers crops. Hogs were always sold ready dressed and from $1.50 to $2.50 was the price paid per hundredweight.
"A farmer would call in his neighbors some bright fall or winter morning to help him kill hogs. Immense kettles filled with boiling hot water were emptied into a huge scalding hogshead or tub and the sleds of the farmers, covered with loose planks, formed a platform for dressing. When the work of killing was completed and hogs had time to cool such as were intended for domestic use were cut up and salted down in barrels or troughs and the surplus was hauled to market The farmers then were content to raise pork at the prices paid but such prices would not satisfy them now.
"But very little of the land was under fence and stock of all kinds ran at large. A bell was put on one animal of each herd or drove of cattle, sheep or horses and every farmer knew the sound of his own bells. Bells that could be heard a long distance were the ones usually selected and we didn't have much trouble in locating our stock. The woods each fall were full of acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts and hazelnuts, and hogs would grow fat on them.
"It is not generally known, but it is a fact nevertheless, that there was no bluegrass here in an early day. Stock lived mostly on the prairie or bluestem jointed grass which attained a very rank growth on the rich prairie soil or on the bottom land along the streams.
"Another thing I wish to state: There were no rats in Illinois until along in the early '50s' and there were no red foxes here until after the close of the civil war. Gray foxes were quite plentiful but they have almost or entirely disappeared and the red foxes have taken their places.
"Gray foxes are not long-distance runners and are easily caught in an hour's chase with a good pack of hounds.
"Oh, yes — there were wild hogs here since I can remember. Along in the spring of 1838 or 1839. I have heard my father say, the settlers set out en masse and caught and killed all wild hogs in Buckheart, (____?), Liverpool, Banner and Putman townships, and the following winter they were hunted and killed and the meat divided pro rata among the citizens.
"I omitted to state that the severe winter of 1842-43 was one of the longest winters ever experienced since the county was settled by the whites. The cold weather set in the first part of November and lasted until the following April. "There was a wilderness of grass and flowers on the prairies here in pioneer times, and plenty of grass was found even in the timber.
"(___?) Stillman and John Coleman are two of Canton's first pioneer business men whom I remember. When father first came here, and up to 1830, there were no regular dry goods stores in Canton. Up to that period goods were purchased either at Edwardsville or St. Louis. D. W. Vittum was also one of the pioneer business men of Canton and ran a sort of general store.
"The country was full of game and while father was not a noted hunter he killed a deer or a turkey occasionally and our table was supplied a part of the time at least with wild meat The last deer killed in this neighborhood was in the winter of 1864 but hounds chased one across the country west of us in 1873.
"Yes, I am one of the pioneer teachers of the county and was educated in the pioneer schools of the county, which were conducted in log houses provided with homemade furniture. The Tatum school house was an unhewn log building and stood a few feet west of the present brick school house. The logs were by no means straight and the roof was low and covered with clapboards kept in place by weight poles, holes were cut through the logs to admit a scanty supply of light. The seats had no backs and the writing desk was a board supported on slanting pins driven into one of the logs. One side of the room was occupied by an enormous old-fashioned fireplace.
It was in this building that I learned the rudiments of the 'three R's,' John Spencer was my first teacher and Frank Hyatt, son of 'Squire' Henry Hyatt, was my second. Hyatt was a cripple and died when still a young man. Lawrence Slaughter and L. P. Rogers were both old time instructors.
"Divine services used to be held in the old Tatum temple of learning and among the pioneer ministers who conducted services there were the Rev. Lawrence Eggers, the Rev. James Tatum, the Rev. John Spencer and the Rev. John Goforth. The old Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal church, which stood west of our place, near Civer, was sold and moved into the farm just north of us, which now belongs to Everly Brothers. The remains of many of the pioneers who were buried in the Pleasant Grove cemetery have been disinterred and buried in other cemeteries but some of them are still there. But as the land is now farmed their graves probably could not be located.
"I taught my first school in 1839, I think, in the Tatum school house and my last school in 1874, was taught at the same place. During the years intervening I taught at Independence, at Science Hill and in other districts. Ira Porter, John Jameson, Arthur Stel, Mrs. Olive Harries, Charles McBroom, George Wilcoxen, Frank Moran and Thompson Laird, son of Samuel Laird of (_____?) township are some of my old scholars, I hold certificates from the following county superintendents of schools: Horatio J. Benton, William H. Haskell and Stephen Y. Thorton (________?)
"I omitted to say that there were no pheasants in Fulton county until after I had reached manhood.
"We took our grists at first to Jacob Ellis or Henry Hines' mill on big creek, but later went to Duncan's mill on Spoon river and to the James Eggers mill which was located where the village of London Mills now stands.
"Some of the names of the early settlers whom I now recall were Robert Shields, 'Squire Henry Hyatt, George Putman, Ephrhim Reeves, Samuel Wilcoxen, John H. Martin, Samuel Turner, Thomas and (_______?) Moran, Major Joseph Herring, Nicholas McCreary, Joseph Crosthwait, Daniel Brown, Nathaniel Banks, John W. Shinn, J. H.___?), Thompson Maple, John G. Graham, Joel Wright, Samuel Culton, John G. Piper, John Culton and John Luckey. John Culton was a blacksmith and made the first plow I ever saw that would scour. It was the old diamond plow made all in one piece, that was first used in this section.
"Canton, when I first knew it, was not the important business place, the city, it is today.
"I was here long before the advent of railroads, was here when the county was almost in a primitive wild state and when deer, turkeys, wolves and all kinds of game were abundant In fact, I have grown up with the country, have lived to see Fulton county developed from a wilderness to a well-settled and wealthy section of the state. I assisted in clearing the old homestead and it is here that most of my uneventful life has been passed. I guess I might say that my life, in a great measure, corresponds with the development that has gone on about me.
"I am a Democrat and cast my first presidential vote for Stephen A. Douglas in 1860. I have held the offices of supervisor and town clerk, and in the winter of 1882 kept the books for the E. J. Williams Coal company at St David. I have passed the time of active work but spend a part of my time in the garden and orchard. Mineralogy, I guess, is my fad, or hobby, and I have a pretty thorough knowledge of the science of minerals.
"I was reared amid pioneer scenes and know something about the unremitting toil required to clear, plow and improve the land of Buckheart township. My sister, Mrs. Amy Cluts will tell you something about her early recollections and something more about the early history of Buckheart township and the Tatum family."
John Goforth Tatum is one of the native pioneers of Buckheart township and one of the prominent factors in the growth and development of Fulton county, with which he has been closely identified since his boyhood. He is the oldest living representative of the Tatum family, is a close student, an intelligent citizen and has interested himself much in educational and scientific matters. He has never sought office, preferring the quiet and happiness of the peaceful fireside to the turmoil of public life.
As stated before, he is a close student, is one of the men who find books in trees, sermons in stones, music in the running brooks, and good in everything.
He has had a large experience as a teacher, is well endowed mentally, possesses a firm character and high principles, and is an influence for good in his community, whence all the years of his life have been spent. Perhaps no man now living in Buckheart township has been more intimately connected with its history and progress than John G. Tatum, and no family stands higher in the annals of this region than that of which he is a worthy representative.
The life sketch of Mrs. Arm Gluts who remembers much regarding the early days in Fulton county and the pioneer life in which she bore a part will be published later, together with additional reminiscences and history of the Tatum family.
Submitted by Don Tharp <detict@cox.net>

Canton Weekly Register, Canton, Illinois, January 10, 1907
A RAMBLER'S NOTES
In speaking of the early settlers of Fulton county, some time ago, Samuel Laird, a Joshua Township pioneer said, in substance, that they were a strong, rugged, warm-hearted people and that they kept everlastingly at their jobs of building new homes and developing the country. "The men" he observed "were whole men with bark on, and women were full-blooded, strong and courageous and were well qualified for the arduous duties they were compelled to perform. They endured with their husbands all the hardships and labors of frontier life, without a mummer. They had their trails, misfortune, adventures and privations, but they were made of the right kind of stuff and bore all uncomplainingly.
While the pioneers were hardy and brave. They had much to contend with, and no doubt many were the dark foreboding that crept into their minds as they contemplated their situation in a vast wilderness surrounded by wild animals and wild men. The Indians were still here when many of them came in the "20's" and some of them participated in the Black Hawk war in 1831-2. In their rude cabins they lived along the streams and in the belts of timber, with the chilling winds of winter sweeping down upon them. Often their food supply was limited and in the fall of the year many of them were afflicted with the chills and fevers, but they lived with through it all and where they found a wilderness we see today large, well-cultivated, productive farms, beautiful grounds, cities, towns, schools, churches and colleges. There is not a trace of the hunting grounds and camping places of,the Indians left, but in every direction are evidences of wealth, comfort and luxury.
"The change that are written on every hand are most wonderful." said Mrs. Amy (Tatum) Cluts, of Buckheart township, whose life record is presented this week.   "The cabin built by my father, in 1832, is all that is left of the old landmarks on the farm to remained us of the days of long ago. It is a sort of link connecting the past with the present. My father, Matthew Tatum, was a pioneer and came here when the wild whoop of the Indian rent the air and the howl of wolf were still heard in the land.   And only think of it! A little over 50 years ago people lived in log huts, wore homespun clothing (which they manufactured, cut and made themselves). The country was wild and but sparsely settled. Now look about you and see how great the transformation. By incessant toil the pioneers and their children have made this country great. The men and women who went through the experience of pioneer life may have had old-fogy ideas and old-fogy ways, but they have changed our wild land into productive and fruitful fields and gardens and have peopled every section of the country with an intelligent and enterprising class of citizens.
"I, am the daughter of a pioneer and can recall the time when children were destitute of shoes until Christmas, and some of them all winter. We children had no clothes except what was carded, spun, woven and made into garments by our own hands.
"Churches, at first, we had none.
"Many families were afflicted with sickness incident to all new counties.
"We had, when I was a girl, few of the luxuries of life and some people lived for weeks upon hominy and venison when father first settled on this place.
"I was born in the cabin which still stands on the old Tatum homestead, on the twenty-ninth day of March 1840 and am the daughter of Matthew and Lydia Tatum and I am a sister of John G Tatum, who lives here with me. I was reared to womanhood right here on this farm and have been a resident of Fulton county all my life-nearly 67 years. For my parental history the readers is referred to the sketch of John G. Tatum published in last weeks Register. I have not witnessed the entire growth and development of this section of the county, but I have witnessed much of it. My girlhood was passed in attendance at the pioneer school and in assisting my mother in household duties. I remember that Thomas Kirkpatrick taught several terms of school at the old Tatum school house. Harriet McCleary, Harvey Montanys, Margaret, Mary J. and Samuel Taylor were all old time teachers. I was a regular attendant at school and some of my old schoolmates who still survive are Mrs. Elise Putman, Frank Moran, James and John McCreary and my sister Mrs Sarah J. Shields, of Los Angeles, Calif.
"Oh, yes, we have lived to see a flourishing and prosperous community of people where my parents found a wilderness. We were comfortable housed for years in that old cabin down there. I can recall the time when the country was in a wild condition and showed but little indication of its present advanced state of development. I have often heard my parents speak of the first cabin erected on their place in 1830. A part of the chimney of this hut was made of earth and sticks and the floor of puncheons.
"When I was a school girl deer, wild turkeys and other game roamed at will across the thinly settled country. My girlhood and youth were passed amid primeval surroundings and snakes of different kinds were a common sight. On the Thompson Laird place, southeast of us 274 rattlesnakes were dug from one den and killed and near the south bridge over Big creek as you go into Canton over 300 rattlers were killed in one day. The prairie grass was very thick and tall and dense forest surrounded our cabin home.
"Both my father and my Uncle James Tatum were both adapted for pioneer life, being large, muscular men with powerful frames. When a mere girl I was initiated into the hard labors of pioneer life, for we all had to work. We were compelled to put up with numerous inconvenience, but finally surrounded ourselves with many of the comforts of life. I have a vivid recollection of those old, old days and of the wild conditions of Buckheart township.
"Linsey gowns were worn for every day, but calico dresses were worn on Sunday. We dressed more comfortable after the Culton-Piper fulling mill was built in Canton. Here is a coverlet woven by my grandmother Ruth Dollar, over 100 years ago. It is all wool an is kept as a family relic.
"Yes, I have eaten cornbread, hominy and wild meat and honey. We used honey the year round. I have cooked by the old time fireplace but my parents purchased a cookstove when I was 10 or 12 years old - the first used in our neighborhood.
"We made butter to sell, as far back as I can remember and the price we receive for it in early times were from eight to 12 l/2 cents a pound, in trade. Good cows were only worth from $8 to $10.
"Many girls in pioneer times performed outdoor work and some of them could swing an ax with ease of a veteran lumberman.
"As I stated before, I was born in a cabin and the old Tatum school house which I first attended was a log building with slab benches an other primitive furnishings: but as I grew older a better building was erected and the facilities for instruction were greatly improved.
"I remained with my parents until I was 17 years of age, when I married W. H. Cluts, of Putman township, the Rev John Waggoner officiating. The date of my marriage was Jan. 22, 1857. The Rev John Waggoner was a minister of the United Brethren church, employed on this circuit. After marriage we located in Knox county, where we spent the first summer. In the fall we returned to Fulton county and lived awhile on the Cyrus Libby place. Later we moved on the Peabody farm which we rented from the Hon. Oilver Shepley. There we lived for four years. Finally we settled on the old Tatum homestead and lived for a time in the cabin in which I was born. In 1863 we built the house in which I now live. We lived on this place until 1868, when we moved below Cuba where my husband operated a saw mill until 1872, when we moved back on the old homestead and I have been here ever since. My husband died in 1893 and his remains are buried in the Shields chapel cemetery.
"The Cluts family came from Pennsylvania to Fulton county in the early '50's. My late husband was a brother of Benjamin Cluts, of Cuba.
"I am the mother of 13 children, 10 of whom are living: George Cluts makes his home here with me. Clinton Cluts is deceased. Andrew Cluts is deceased.   Elijah Cluts is a veterinary surgeon at Canton. John Cluts is a resident of Canton. Mrs. Nellie S. Ward is deceased. James and Jasper Cluts reside in Canton. Mrs. Eva Turner lives in Canton. Joseph Cluts is in Selma, Ala. Charles Cluts is on a farm in Buckheart township. Mrs. Beda Jameson also resides on farm in Buckheart township. Grover Cluts, the baby is at home. I have 15 grandchildren, five boys and 10 girls.
"I have attended meetings in log buildings and have been a member of the United Brethren Church since I was 12 years old.
"In the fall of the year, here in an early day, many people were afflicted with the ague and in many cases the old pioneer mothers doctored or treated their own children. Boneset and pennroyal tea were some of the simple remedies they used. After you recovered from a chill you felt languid, stupid and sore, and you didn't care much wether you lived or died.
"My husband hunted some and has killed both deer and turkeys. I remember seeing deer, turkeys and wolves and hearing latter howl at night. Just before the circular wolf hunt or round up at Overman's mound, a report was circulated that a boy had been torn to pieces by a wolf over on Spoon river. This story was circulated, evidently, to get the farmers to turn out and join the hunt. Fully 50 men passed our place that day. The timber northwest of us was called Wolf Grove. In that grove some of our folks caught a wolf in a trap once.
"The Rev. Mr. Dark and the Rev James Tatum were both pioneers and both Regular Baptist preachers.
"There was but very little money in circulation when I was a girl.   Father had a long money sack and he put every dollar he got into it and kept it until taxpaying time. Sometimes he would spend a little for postage on letters that came from the older states.
"Postage on letters was not prepaid then as it is now.
"We had to pay cash for cotton yarn, which was used as the chain for woolen cloth. Mother sometimes used woolen chain but cotton chain was preferable. We raised our own madder and indigo, made our own soap and dyed our own garments.
"James Cluts, who died on the Captain Haacke farm, in Putman township, was the father of my husband and Benjamin Cluts. While he came originally from Pennsylvania, he came from Ohio to Illinois.
"In weaving linsey the chain used was linen and filling wool. In spite of the wolves, we succeeded in raising sheep and manufactured our own woolen cloth.   Nearly all the cloth in outer garments worn by the men was homemade brown or blue jeans. If occasionally a young man appeared in a suit of "store clothes" he was suspected of having gotten it for particular occasion which occurs in the life of nearly every man.
"Wheat bread did not become a common article of food until about the time I was married. It's true some families used it earlier, and it was used by all on extra occasions, as when the minister called or on Sundays when your friends came to visit you. "Store coffee", even during the war was not general used for simple reason that it could not be had at all times. Rye in some families was substituted for coffee.
"The plain, homemade furniture of the pioneer cabin was as primitive as the occupants, but the traveler always found a welcome in those rude homes. The pioneer was not only liberal to his neighbors but would divide his Last corn pone with a stranger, giving the latter the larger half. An opportunity to aid a needy or sick neighbor was never neglected.
"Our school houses were rude and the information imparted in them was somewhat meager but some of the old-time teachers were graduates of eastern colleges and possessed advanced ideas on many subjects.
"There were no railroads in the county until about the time I was married and the highways of travel were rough and at times almost impossible.   Rude "corduroy" roads were built over the soft, marshy places and we managed to do what little hauling we had, in one way or another.
"The removal of my father from Indiana was made with teams and the greater part or all of the way lay through a wilderness.   There were but few families in Fulton county when he first came here in 1825 and the Indians still lingered around their old hunting grounds on the Illinois and Spoon Rivers.
"The women in pioneer days worked as well as the men, and carding, knitting, spinning and even weaving were common household duties. The unremitting care for her household of the pioneer mother was something wonderful, and just how she accomplished what she did is beyond the comprehension of the women of the present day. All, or greater part of the fabric to clothe her family was constructed by her own hands. The great and the small spinning wheels seem before me now as in girlhood, and I seem to hear their music late at night as in the days of yore. Often have I dropped off to sleep at 10 and 11 o'clock at night with the music of those wheels ringing in my ears, and it seem to me that mother's feet could never get weary. The loom was not less necessary than the wheel, but not every house in which spinning was done had a loom. But there were always some in each settlement who, besides doing their own weaving, did some for others. Wool was carded and made into rolls with hand cards and the rolls were spun into thread on the big "big wheel" as we called it. Besides looking after the household duties, carding, knitting, spinning and weaving, many of the pioneer women of Fulton county assisted their husbands in clearing up the land and putting it under tillage. In other words, some of the wives of the early settlers of the county helped their husbands perform outdoor work during the day and did their knitting, spinning and even weaving after night.There was no eight-hour law then, nor did 10 hours constitute a day's work. Many women rose at 4 o'clock in the morning and worked till 11 o'clock at night.
"But their toils and privations were not a series of unmitigated sufferings. If both the fathers and mothers worked hard, they had seasons of relaxation, their seasons of enjoyment. They contrived to do something to break the monotony of their daily life. Log-rolling, house raising, quilting bees and corn-husking were among the amusements common in pioneer times and were greatly enjoyed by both men and women. What we possessed we obtained by the hardest of labor and individual exertion, but we enjoyed life as well as people do now, or better.
"My house is here on the old homestead where the days of my childhood, the happiest days of my life, have been spent.   I have tried to attend properly to the duties found in each line of my work, and have not lived alone for myself but for others. I have tried to be a benefit to the community in which I have lived so long and have always been willing to help in forwarding its best interests."
Mrs. Cluts is zealous in all good works to promote the religions and social welfare of her neighborhood. She and her deceased mother have administered to the afflicted here in pioneer times. Doing all they could to allay their distress and have tenderly assisted in the burial of the dead. They witnessed many sad scenes with aching hearts. She has been a hard working women. Is exceedingly popular in her old home township and in the community generally, and, possessing many of the comforts of life, watches the years as they glide swiftly by, rounding out her well spent life.
Note: This is Amy Cluts, sister of John Tatum, it gives a woman's perspective of early days in Fulton county. submitted by Don Tharp.

Unknown Newspaper, Thursday, September 4, 1884
Lamb-Lawson Murder Trial
This trial had occupied four days in our circuit court before Judge S. P. Shope and this jury.
F. M. Elliott and J. F. Kingery of Woodland; C. W. Mathey, Lee; David Morgan, Lewistown; J. W. Morgan, Putman; Jos. Geppert, Ipava; S. P. Moore and David Littlejohn, Bernadotte; Milton Hellyer, Pleasant; Wm. Smith, Putman; Joseph Snell, Liverpool; A. J. Coon, Vermont.
Mrs. John C. Lawson, aged about 46, had seduced Elmer Lamb, less than 18, two years earlier (both residing in the Fairview country) and they had illicit relations to the day of John C. Lawson's murder. The old gentleman caught them in a compromising attitude at the first bridge on the old N. G.northwest of Fairview. Some threats were made when Elmer shot and killed Mr. Lawson. The prosecution was represented by State's Att'y P. W. Gallagher, John A. Gray and Harry M. Waggoner. Mrs. Lawson was defended by Barrere and Grant, while young Lamb's attorney's were T. A. Boyd and H. W. Masters. The jury was out 24 hours. Four jurymen stoutly stood for the death penalty. Finally a compromise was reached, both woman and boy being sent to the penitentiary for 19 years. The boy was the helpless victim of Mrs. Lawson.
Note: He served his term and went to Kansas. The woman died in the penitentiary.

Henry H. Hartough Trip to Illinois
The Trenton Times, Trenton, NJ, Wednesday, July, 27, 1897
A TIRESOME TRIP
A Journey from Trenton to Illinois, Fifty-Four Years Ago.
STORY OF H. H. HARTOUGH.
He is a now a Visitor in This City and Tells A "Times" Reporter of His Interesting Experiences This Morning-It Took Him Two Months and Five Days to Reach His Destination-Life in the West.
Mr. Henry H. Hartough, of Fairview, Ill., is the guest of his cousin, Mrs. Jane Stryker, of No. 513 Princeton avenue. Mr. Hartough is 75 years of age and has been in the West (or middle as it now is) for 54 years. He is still strong and vigerous, however, and can tell some interesting stories of the time when he left Trenton with his team and wagon and journeyed for two months and five days before reaching his destination in the fertile part of Illinois known as the "military tract."
The Delaware and Raritan Canal was almost completed at the time he left his childhood's home, near Griggstown, Somerset county and before he started for the West Mr. Hartough had one ride on a canal boat.
The Pennsylvania Railroad then ran as far as Harrisburg and the first night of the westward journey was spent in Trenton near the Five Points.
Mr. Hartough told a Times reporter this morning how he slept in his wagon night after night while on the journey, having no regular bed, until he reached his destination at Fairview, which was then a town having just six houses and but one room plastered in all the six.
Being a mason by trade he set to work and built a house, worked at his trade for awhile and later on bought quite a tract of prairie land and went to farming. He said that he had never used any fertilizer and had gathered a good crop every year.
Mr. Hartough now has three sons and two daughters, all of whom have settled in Illinois, and one of whom recently got a crop of 76 1/2 bushels of oats to the acre off the old farm.
He says that the land is so fertile in that part of the State that a man does not dare to fertilize his crops lest they grow too big, so that the storms beat them down and the whole is lost.
Fairview, he said, now has about 500 homes and all the country around is [teeming?] with civilization. The improvements in the East he says have been wonderful, but nothing in comparison to those of the West.
submitted by Jan Foster