HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY CHAPTER XXIV Page 253 Mason County was one of the last counties in Central Illinois that was opened up for settlement, although there were portions of it on which white men, in an early day, had made some improvements. Havana had white men, who, in early times, had cast their lots among the red men and to whose ears the howling of the wolf was music. The county is ill-shaped, with a forty mile frontage on the Illinois river and only a few miles of that suitable for building purposes on the west. On the south the Sangamon river and Salt Creek form the natural boundaries, running to a narrow point at its southern boundary and widening out at its northern boundary. It might well be called the county between two rivers, hemmed in as it were by natural boundaries, except the northeastern corner, where a stretch of the best land in the county lies. From the Mackinaw to Salt Creek you can shake hands across a strip of county twenty-five miles long. The land in Mason county might have been, in an early day, divided into three classes; first the timber lands that lay up high. They were very sandy and were covered with a scrubby growth of timber. There was not much undergrowth, as the annual forest fires kept that down. Most of the trees left standing had the tops blown off and were hollow and hundreds of swarms of bees were taken out every fall. In these forests the wild deer roamed at will and hunters from Menard would come every fall and load down their wagons with venison and wild honey. These forests, in an early day, furnished the hardy pioneers with timber for rails to fence their farms, for it was not thought that a man could live on the bleak prairie without shelter, so the pioneer came and made his small clearing in the brush, where the land was poor and yielded only a small return for the labor bestowed. The forest fires were a sure thing every fall, even before the grass had dried up. Another class of land was what might be called the swamp or wet lands. There was a large body of these lands at the head of Quiver Valley. The extended from Slicky Bill Green's on the west, to Delavan and Allens Grove on the east and were fifty thousand acres in extent. They could be farmed in a dry season, but in a moderately wet season the farmer could only work between showers, and a July freshet would drown out the farmer's labor for the season and he was often compelled to buy corn from his neighbors, who lived on higher ground, to tide over another summer, perhaps of the same kind, so that in the course of a few years the farmer would have to move, worse off than when he commenced. The second division of swamp land might be called the Crane Creek division, commencing west of Red Oak Grove and running west to Crane Creek timber, thence south to Crane Creek. These lands were of the same quality, except they had not the fall of the Quiver Valley land, which was four feet to the mile. The third division was the Bull's Eye prairie land of the same quality and kind as the other divisions. Their water also went to Crane Creek. The next great body of swamp land lay southeast of Havana, commencing south of Black Jack Grove and running to the Sangamon and Illinois rivers. The first merchant was Ross. There was a wing built on the north side of his hotel, probably one hundred feet long, but about fourteen feet wide. There were shelves on the south side. Walker and Hancock occupied this building with a stock of goods and did a large business for years, until they built a more commodious house on Market street, on the north side and nearer the river. Steiners also occupied this building as also did Hurt and McKendree, who were in the building when it burned in 1849. Brown was keeping the hotel when it burned one Sunday night. The Havana Hotel has been described in another part of the book. It was the largest hotel in Central Illinois when built. Across, on the north side of Market Street on the corner, was where George Robinson kept store. It was a one story building. He kept store in the front of the building and lived in the back part. Robinson kept a stock of goods that suited the people who lived across the river. They went by the name of Bottomites. Whisky was an article they all had to have and Robinson always kept it. Robinson was a very large, fleshy man, but not quite so fat as his son George. A little farther west was Thornberg's saloon. It stood on the spot where the Block House was built in an early day. Eli Thornberg had a large family. Fred was the oldest. He did not live out his day, as he was addicted to drink and was very abusive. One day John Henry Norris, who lived on Crane Creek, came to town and Fred attacked him till Norris sent his knife in his abdomen and killed him. Thornberg had a very bright daughter, named Mary Jane, and a boy John. After keeping saloon for a few years, he moved to Arkansas. The next store on the west was Walker & Hancock's. This was one of the most complete stores ever kept in Havana. They carried everything to eat and everything to wear. They had a large territory to draw from, from Lewistown and Bernadotte on the west their trade extended to Salt Creek, Crane Creek, Allen's Grove and south to Kilbourne, and to Coon Grove on the north. It was no unusual thing to see a dozen wagons camp over night, after hauling in their produce. We recollect seeing a shipment of forty hogshead of sugar unloaded at one time and some of it lay on the levee part of the summer. Hancock lived at St. Louis and picked up all the bargains that were in sight and received the grain that Walker shipped and sold it. This store, though large and commodious, soon got to be too small and they built another, larger, just north of the bridge. This building was fifty by one hundred and fifty, and three stories high. The upper story was used as a store room. This building soon was too small and they built a very large brick one on Railroad Street just south of Tettee's mill. This building was devoted to merchandise. Walker & Hancock did business throughout the war but, as they had money invested in steamboats, the close of the war so depreciated their property that they had to quit business. Walker went to Peoria and did business till his death. The poor man never had a better friend than George N. Walker. Just west of Walker's, and next to the river, was Alex Stewart's. He was an Irishman and came to Havana as mate on the Navigator, a steamboat that Asa Langford traded town lots in Waterford for. Alex Stewart lived in Havana for over fifty years and accumulated considerable property. He, like Robinson, kept a stock of goods suited to the trade across the river, the chief article of which was whisky, and they, in turn, brought the produce raised on the river bottom, such as cord wood, fence rails, clap boards, hickory nuts, blackberries and lumber from the saw mill at Waterford. Farther south, on the high bluff, on the west side of the river was where Cyvenus Andrews kept store. He was a brother-in-law to N.J. Rockwell. Andrews also had a fine trade with the people across the river. He kept a variety store. His stock would not now be considered complete. He also kept whisky, as did every other merchant in the town, except Walker & Hancock, and to their credit it may be said that they never dealt in distilled damnation. Andrews also bought corn. He had a little crib that held three hundred bushels of ear corn, and when he got it full he would have it beat out. He had a frame six feet long and three feet wide, with side boards and slats across the bottom. It would be filled with corn and then with clubs or an old axe, the corn would be pounded, the shelled corn going through the slats, while the cobs could not get through. A good able bodied man could shell fifty bushels a day if he kept busy. I used to take the contract for shelling Andrew's corn. N.J. Rockwell kept store on the lot where George Myer's house now stands. He was one of the earliest merchants of Havana. His store was fourteen by thirty, with shelves on one side. Rockwell was a perfect gentleman and, though not an office seeker, held several offices from the people. He had a fair trade. He also sold whisky with Peruvian bark, just to cure the chills. He finally moved back to New York, where he came from, and died there. He made a gift to Havana to perpetuate his name, and Rockwell Park, in the north part of Havana, will long be known as a gift from N.J. Rockwell. The Hurd Brothers kept store just north of the city hall. There were three brothers, Alvador, William and Samuel. They are all dead, except Samuel, who, at last accounts, was living in Fulton county. One of the first blacksmith shops was owned by Amos Ganson. He was a tall, fine looking man and was a good smith. His shop was on the northwest corner of the public square, where the laundry stands. Ganson had two boys, William and Sanford, and a girl named Harriett Ann. Ganson was very choice in the beaux that came to see his daughter, and a young man had to get on the right side of the old man before he could pay his respects to the daughter. Ganson had three hundred and twenty acres of as fine land as there is in Mason county. Egypt is now known as Spait's farm. He afterward moved to Egypt and finally near Decatur and left his wife. Ganson was of a roving disposition and never stayed long enough at one place to get acquainted with the people. John Harpham kept a grocery store on Market Street, near where Myer's store is. Dr. Loveland built on the corner west of the bank. It was, when built, the best house in the town. Loveland was a small man and very precise. He had a lot of land south of Bishop Station that was very good land. The doctor's store was a two-story building and he rented the store room to Hiram Cleaver. The upper story was rented to the county for a court room, till the new court house was finished. The court was held under Judge Treat and the lawyers held high carnival in Loveland's building. The court house was two years in building, and, when built, was considered a creditable house. It finally burnt down and another one was built that resembled the old one, but now compared with the modern court house is an eye sore to the community. Across, on the opposite corner, where Allen's drug store stands, was a two-story frame building, in which Robert Walker and George Langford opened up a general merchandise business. It was terminated by the death of Robert Walker. He was a son of James Walker and a brother of George Walker. These merchants, whom we have mentioned, did not keep as large stores as the merchants of today, nor did the people need as much. Their wants were not so great as now. The country was not all settled up and farmers were in debt for their land and improvements. Before the war we were under the old dispensation of plows that would not scour, of harrows with wooden teeth, but after 1860 we took a leap forward and made a new record. We left the tallow candle dispensation for the kerosene. The advance we made in the last forty years will see a much greater advance in the forty years to come. But what a change has come over these lands in twenty years. By suitable drainage, they have been thoroughly drained and are the finest lands in the county and have been made to blossom as the rose. The third and last division is the table land of the county, which comprises some of the best farming land in the county. The land in Quiver and Egypt is of this kind. The timber lands, which were poor and sandy, have been improved in the mode of farming, so that they produce a third more now than they did thirty years ago. Most of the farmers now list the land, instead of plowing it up. This is done by throwing two furrows together and then planting the corn in the furrow and tending it. By the time it is laid, the roots of the corn are deep in the ground. Now the farm lands are eagerly sought after in Mason county and they sell for a higher price than the lands in adjoining counties. We do not expect to be very elaborate in describing the Mason county land in a book in which only a few hundred pages can be devoted to this part, but we do expect to give a good report of Mason county pioneers at a price within the reach of all. There has been only one history of Mason county written and that was twenty-five years ago. It was a costly book ($10.00) and only one person in fifty ever read it. We now promise to write a book within the reach of all at a moderate price. We write for the masses, the toiling masses, and expect to give them as much information in fewer words and at a less price.

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