McLean County and Surrounding Areas Community News - McLean County Illinois Genealogy & History

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1836
Bowman, Crowder, Cunningham, Duis, Frame, Graham, Heredith, Hildreth, Kingsbury, Mead, Stubblefield, Wilcox
December 1836 'Sudden Change' a dangerous event for early settlers - BLOOMINGTON -- The morning of Dec. 20, 1836, was unseasonably warm, the snow melting into pools of water, and the barnyards and heavily rutted dirt roads turning to soupy mud. In Bloomington and the surrounding countryside, the area’s first settlers went about their day with little worry and less haste.
That all changed when an inexplicably violent cold front, known afterward as the “Sudden Change” or “Sudden Freeze,” swept across the prairie, threatening life and limb of even the heartiest pioneer.
“There arose a large and tumultuous looking cloud in the west, with a rumbling noise,” remembered the Rev. Enoch Kingsbury of Danville. “On its approach everything congealed.
“In less than five minutes it changed from a warm atmosphere to one of intense cold, and flowing water to ice.”
Washington Crowder of Sangamon County, who was traveling to Springfield, said the Sudden Change appeared as a dark cloud accompanied by a “terrific, deep, bellowing sound.” King Solomon Cunningham, an early settler in Cheney’s Grove near Saybrook, told McLean County pioneer chronicler Etzuard Duis the cold front “froze the air so rapidly that the frost seemed a moving cloud of smoke.”
Geese and chickens froze fast in the slush. Water blown by the cold front was said to solidify instantly into ridges. Those on horseback, like Absalom Stubblefield of Funk’s Grove, found themselves frozen to their saddle and had to be wrenched free once they made it to safety.
“Nothing like it has ever been known since,” noted A.A. Graham, who wrote an early account of the phenomenon.
The front reached the Iowa-Illinois border around 10 a.m., Springfield at 2 p.m., and the Illinois-Indiana border at 6 p.m. The “Change” continued eastward, passing through Cincinnati at 9 p.m., though its ferocity was much dissipated by then.
Temperature measurements taken that day lend credence to the body of pioneer recollections. Samuel B. Mead of Augusta in western Illinois reported a sunrise temperature of 40 degrees. By 2 p.m., the temperature had plummeted to 0 degrees.
A few Sudden Change stories carry apocalyptic overtones. Andrew Heredith of Springfield was driving between 1,000 and 1,500 hogs to St. Louis when the front slammed into his droving party in Macoupin County. Heredith and his men managed to find shelter in a nearby house, but the hogs were left to their own sad devices. Crazed from the cold, the animals piled atop each other. The next morning, Heredith discovered a pyramid of 500 dead hogs. Those on the inside suffocated while those on the outside froze to death.
Other stories have a more fantastical, playful tone. William Wilcox, who settled northeast of Bloomington, went deer hunting shortly after the cold front swept across Central Illinois.
“The country was an absolute glare of ice, and he hunted on foot with his dog,” related Duis. “Sometimes while going up a hill, the deer in front would fall and slide back, throwing down those behind, until the whole drove (of deer) would become a mass of sliding, kicking and springing animals.”
Some stories belie common sense.
For instance, Ezekiel Bowman, an early Logan County sheriff, said he found frogs frozen to death with their mouths open, presumably because they had no time to close them.
Another tale featured two men frozen solid, one with his back to a tree holding the bridle of his frozen horse, the other in a kneeling position, a tinderbox in one hand and a match in the other.
Some grisly stories, unfortunately, appear to be all-too true. James H. Hildreth of Vermilion County and another man named Frame were traveling to Chicago when the cold wave overtook them.
Caught on the Grand Prairie, they eventually killed Frame’s horse, removed its entrails and crawled inside.
After the animal’s heat dissipated, they attempted to kill Hildreth’s horse but the knife fell into the snow and they couldn’t find it.
Frame surrendered to fate, and it was said he “sank down in a sleep from which he never awakened.”
Somehow, Hildreth kept himself alive that long, horrible night, and after a series of misadventures the following day he was rescued by a party of drovers.
Though Hildreth survived, he lost all his toes and fingers save a joint on his right thumb, which was just enough for him to hold a pen or whip.
[Pantagraph 14 Dec 2008 - by: Bill Kemp, Librarian/Archivist, McLean County Museum of History]

1857
Louden
August 19, 1857 - The Shelbyville Banner tells of a Miss Louden, of that county, who got lost in attempting to travel through a swampy tract of forest in the eastern part of the county. Night coming on, she dismounted from her horse, tied him to a tree, took of the saddle to serve as a pillow, and camped down. Once during the night she got up to see that her horse was safe, and then lay down again and slept soundly till morning. Hearing a sound of a train on the railroad, she steered towards it, and by breakfast time reached her destination in safety. Good for that Sucker girl! If she isn't engaged, she deserves to be.
[Weekly Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill., August 19, 1857 XI 37 557 2 c5, Submitted by Judy Edwards]

1882
Another boon for the bulls of the Chicago bucket shops was turned loose on Thursday. A "violent type of hog cholera" was reported from McLean county, which is near the center of the State of Illinois. This will put meat up a few points, and screw down the pressure on the poor in like proportion. The big corn crop is assurance of a big hog crop, and hence the necessity for Cholera to keep the price of meat from falling under the influence of supply and demand. A sham fly (?) was sent out in the wheat fields in the spring, but the harvests came uninjured. The hog slaughter will doubtless show that the cholera story is a canard*.
[1882 Aug 3 - Galveston News, Texas] (* transcriber note: canard = a false or unfounded report or story)
The Postmaster General has decided that canned meats, in soldered tin cans, weighing not over four pounds, will be admitted in the mails as fourth class matter at postage of sixteen cents per pound.
[ 24 Nov 1882 - Wheeling Register]

1888
Graves
26 May 1888 - From all over the county comes reports that the ground is full of seventeen-year locusts. The Rev. Mr. Graves, of this city, brought in a number yesterday and says that form one square foot of ground he took thirty of these insects, and that he has five acres of ground which seems to be as full of them as is the one foot. Others say the same and it seems very probable that in a short time these cicadae will be out in full force. We will probably soon hear the usual fairy tales of locusts poisoning fruit and vegetables, and killing children and cattle. But the truth is that they are perfectly harmless and except that they puncture the small limbs and little twigs of forest trees, thus causing many small limbs to die and injuring the appearance of the trees, they do not hurt. The male insect has the power of making a shrill, grating and very unpleasant noise, produced by the friction of peculiar organs situated on the underside of the abdomen, acted upon by powerful muscles. This noise is incessant during the short time that these cicadae stay. They have never been known to injure growing grain, and in fact are not locusts at all, but belong to the order, Hemiptera, and are more properly called the harvest fly. Isolated specimens are seen and heard every year, and occasionally circumstances are so favorable for their propagation that they come in immense numbers, as is apparently the case this year. These cicadae have long, stout bodies and wings, the latter membranous and transparent, while genuine locusts are a jumping orthopterous insect, greatly resembling the grasshopper, from which they are distinguished by the shortness of their antennae and by their having only three joints in each foot. This latter species was probably the kind eaten by John the Baptist with an entrée of wild honey, and not the seventeen-year locusts. [Inter Ocean - 26 May 1888]

1889

April 25, 1889. It would certainly be a commendable act for our highway commissioners to appropriate money for the graveling of roads. The improvement wrought by such a course is no longer a debatable subject, as it has been proven that the graveled roads are the best country roads known. [25 Apr 1989 - Compiled by Phyllis Liston - The Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois]

1908
Dec. 5, 1908: Yesterday brought the season’s first snowfall, with young boys and girls alike pelting passers-by and each other with snowballs. One letter-writer took space in the paper to protest this “snowballing,” signing off as “A Martyr.” [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 7, 1908: Local postal officials are awaiting delivery of the new ten-cent special delivery stamp. It is a radical departure from the traditional U.S. postage stamp because it is patterned after a French design. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 10, 1908: Rabbits are plentiful this hunting season. Hunters are bringing lots of them in to meat markets every day. Rabbits are selling for about fifteen cents each, or two for a quarter. This season a good rabbit weighs about two pounds. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 11, 1908: The Chicago and Alton is ordering 22 new steam locomotives, and selling off its obsolete ones, like engine 218. Once a major passenger engine, but now “brushed aside by the irresistible wheels of progress,” it will go to the tiny Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 25, 1908: Not all Christmas mail is delayed by heavy volume. The other night a C&A mail car bound for here burned up in a train wreck at Brighton Park. The first scraps of burned mail are now here, and the post office will try to deliver them with an explanation. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 27, 1908: Christmas on the Chicago and Alton saw a busy passenger business but not many freight trains. The railroad tried to give as many workers as possible the day off. Dispatchers and callers worked, but offices were closed. A few mechanics were available. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]

1914
April 25, 1914. Northern and eastern McLean county was swept yesterday by a cyclone and hail storm as to surpass the damage established by the memorable windstorm of June 10, 1902. Reports from Lexington, Chenoa, Colfax, Lawndale township, Weston and other towns are that houses were razed, barns scattered over fields, trees uprooted, fences blown down, windows blown out and smashed out by hail stones. [25 Apr 1989 - Compiled by Phyllis Liston - The Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois]

1933
Dec. 15, 1933: One month ago, 2,500 people were on relief in McLean County. Today there are “only” 1,600. The other 900 have been put to work on one or another of the various aid programs. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 27, 1933: Advertised in the Pantagraph: The new 1934 Ford is more comfortable and handsome. It comes with a V-8 engine and is available in eleven body styles. Prices start at $515 plus freight, delivery and tax. “Bumpers and spare tire extra.” [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]

1958
Melvin
Dec. 8, 1958: Sylvester Melvin of Greenfield is still working at his insurance company desk after 59 years. In his time, he remembers pioneers, covered wagons and more. Mr. Melvin is 107 years old. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Stratton
Dec. 10, 1958: Governor Stratton announced a $25 million construction project for I-74 between Danville and Urbana. That amount will pay for 9.73 miles of new four-lane highway. (Completion of I-74 to Bloomington-Normal was still almost 20 years in the future.) [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Baker, Stratton
Dec. 13, 1958: Governor Stratton cut the ribbon on the Murray Baker Bridge over the Illinois River at Peoria. The span is part of the new Interstate 74. The bridge is named for a noted Peoria industrialist and philanthropist, who was at the ceremony. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Bartlesmeyer
Dec. 16, 1958: The days of storied Route 66 are numbered. Ralph Bartlesmeyer, chief highway engineer for the State of Illinois, says as US 66 is updated to Interstate system standards, it will be known as Interstate 55. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Bertsche
Dec. 30, 1958: It’s been a bad year for Henry Bertsche, 68, of Lincoln. His auto parts store had already been robbed once and burglarized twice. Then last night three guys kidnapped him at his house, took him to the shop and stole $10,000 after forcing him to open the safe. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies by: Jack Keefe]

1959
Belsley, Wolf
Jan. 1, 1959: Woodford County Sheriff Gene Wolf is now expected to survive his gunshot wounds at the hands of Howard Belsley, 18. The suspect, a reform school parolee, has written a full confession. He was caught trying to escape by driving away in low gear. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies by: Jack Keefe]
Mason
Jan. 3, 1959: Tonight on TV: WMBD and the Pabst Brewing Company will present the movie Casablanca, commercial-free and unedited. But there will be one intermission while host John Mason interviews local personalities. The show begins at 10:30pm. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies by: Jack Keefe]

1964
Kiley
April 25, 1964. This story started in November, 1962, when an oil rig began drilling on the T. P. Kiley farm northeast of Wapella. Oil has never been found this far north in the state. This month, the millionth dollar’s worth of oil was pumped from what is now known as the Wapella East Field. [25 Apr 1989 - Compiled by Phyllis Liston - The Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois]

1983
Baldridge, Housour, Johnson, Neirynck
Dec. 5, 1983: Four area young people received DAR awards for citizenship. They are Robert Neirynck of Bloomington; Carol Johnson of Morton; Janet Baldridge of Delavan; and Barry Housour of rural Bloomington. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 9, 1983: Local school officials checked storage shelves for cases of impounded meat, which accidentally got shipped out to schools in about half the counties of Illinois. So far, none has turned up here. The meat had come from plants with alleged unsanitary conditions. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Lindley, Pickens
Dec. 10, 1983: Character actor Slim Pickens died at Modesto, California. He was perhaps best known for his cowboy-style roles in Doctor Strangelove and Blazing Saddles. Slim Pickens was a stage name. He was really Louis Bert Lindley, Jr. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Keith
Dec. 11, 1983: Despite the gloomy skies, the Minier Christmas parade attracted hundreds of people. As WMBD’s weatherman rode by, one woman called out “Where’s our sunshine?” Rollie Keith replied, “Behind those clouds,” and continued his ride. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Argubright
Dec. 19, 1983: Marilyn Argubright was sorting through donated clothing at a center for mentally handicapped adults in Oglesby. She found $21,000 sewn in various items, all from the same donor, and all very old. Authorities returned the long lost funds to the family. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 20, 1983: It was sixteen below zero yesterday. That meant problems. At Lincoln, the high school closed early when the boiler broke down. At Mennonite Hospital, the phone was ringing for cases of frostbite. And services stations were getting calls for starts and tows. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Ferry, Schulte
Dec. 21, 1983: WMBD-TV news anchor Anne Ferry has moved to Tampa, Florida. Her replacement will be Donna Schulte, who comes from sister station WCIA in Champaign. Ms. Schulte will start in Peoria on January 3. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Alexander, Batterton
Dec. 22, 1983: Morton millionaire couple Elmo and Edna Batterton have been missing since December 11. In an effort to develop clues, police will have Delavan psychic Greta Alexander tour the couple’s home. She has worked with the police before. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 25, 1983: Cold and snow dominate life in Central Illinois even though it’s Christmas. This year, last minute gifts might just be IOU’s because of impassable roads, power outages and closed stores. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies - By Jack Keefe]
Dec. 31, 1983: It’s New Years Eve. If you’re going out tonight, read the story on page A-2 of the Pantagraph. Based on the fact that alcohol is a depressant, the story tells how to avoid waking up with a hangover tomorrow morning. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies by: Jack Keefe]

1984
Jan. 1, 1984: With 1984 here, there was some comparison with today’s state of affairs and the 1984 in George Orwell’s grim novel of the future. There were references to policies of President Reagan, with quick rejoinders that earlier presidents of both parties did similar things. [The Pantagraph - How Time Flies by: Jack Keefe]

Unknown Date
Auxberger (Augspurger), Bantz, Bauman, Feit, Fosdick, Gibbs, Gundy, Johnson, King, Miller, Moncelle, Sheer, Streid, Rapp, Wahles, Weaver, Wollezine
CHENOA - Chenoa was the mecca for residents of surounding territory Thursday as hundreds gathered for the annual community fair. Launched by a parade in the mroning, the exposition lasted throughout the day with the crowning of a road Belgian mare belonging to W. H. Gibbs of Gridley as grand champion of the draft horse division, the closing afternoon event. An amateur show, Thursday night was to end the show. Winners of first, second and third palces in the various events follow:
Children’s pets in parade -- Elizabeth A. Streid, Delores Wahles and Gene Auxberger [sic = Augspurger].
Doll buggies in parade for girls under 6 years -- Shirley Bauman, Margerie Bauman and Shirley Streid. For girls over 6 years -- Elaine Gentes.
Floats -- First and second grade, juior class of high school and Parent-Teacher Association.
Wagon teams in parade -- J. H. Streid, Lewis Gibbs and Bernard Feit.
Foals -- Lewis Gibbs, American Legion cold, Donald Jonshon
Yearlings - Rudy Moncelle
Two year olds - E. P. King, Chatsworth; Clarence Wollezine, Weston and Fred Sheer, El Paso.
Three year old fillies -- W. H. Gibbs, J. H. Streid and W. H. Gibbs
Three year old geldings -- J. H. Streid, Bernard Feit and Sam Streid
Grand champion draft horse -- W. H. Gibbs, Gridley
Reserve champion - J. H. Streid, Chenoa
Poultry -- Barred Rock young pens -- Wesley Bantz and G. I. Gundy.
Young pullets -- Wesley Banty, Inez Banty (second and third)
Buff Orpington pens -- G. I. Gundy
Single comb red pullets -- G. I. Gundy (all three places)
White Rock pens - G. I. Gundy, Louis Rapp and Floyd Weaver.
Pullets -- G. I. Gundy (first and second) and Louis Rapp
Brown bantams -- Pen -- Helen Fosdick
Speckled bantams -- Helen Fosdick
White Leghorns -- First pen and first second and third pullets -- John Miller
A community banquet will be held Tuesday.
(caption beneath accompanying photo) First place colt in a line-up of 10, said to be the best quality in the 25 years that horses have been exhibited on the streets of Chenoa for prizes, this Belgian owned by W. H. Gibbs of Gridley won first place. In the first colt show there 25 years ago, there were 19 colts. The decline in numbers resulted from general use of tractors, but quality is better than ever before. Mr. Gibbs also had the grand champion of the show, an eight year old Belgian mare.
[date unk - The Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, Illinois] (Moncelle Family Records - with photo)

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