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NEWS ARTICLES
Union County Illinois Genealogy Trails 1910-1914 NEWS ARTICLES  A Camp Meeting Recollection, April 21, 1911 Reminiscent, April 28, 1911 Old Dwelling House Burned, May 19, 1911 The Real Casey Jones, August 4, 1911 Tried for Wife Abandonment, August 25, 1911 Letter From Arkansas, Oct 27, 1911 80th Birthday Celebrated, Feb 16, 1912 Old Folks At Home, April 26, 1912 Old Daugherty House in Jonesboro, July 19, 1912 General Manager of the Union Pacific, Nov 22, 1912 Inheritance, Jan 24, 1913 Close Call, July 4, 1913 Oregon's Oldest Homesteader, Oct. 5, 1913 Regained Her Sight, Dec 26, 1913 Old Journal, Jan 23, 1914 Holy Roller Ellis, Mar 20, 1914 Transcribed
and submitted by Darrel Dexter (The writer of the following was
pastor of the M.E. church at Marion at the time of the incident related. He was afterwards
presiding elder of the Carbondale district and often held quarterly
meeting in Jonesboro. For
the last 23 years he has been pastor of M.E. churches in Portland.) Portland, Ore.. April 12.--Editor
Gazette. Thinking
your readers might, some of them, be interested in a Jonesboro incident
of 37 years ago, the following is related. In the summer of 1874 a camp
meeting by permission of the fair association was held on the fair
grounds just north of Jonesboro. The
Methodist preachers were there from Carbondale, Marion, Chester,
Sparta, Pinckneyville, Murphysboro, Ullin, Mound City, and Cairo. Rev. William Jesse Grant, presiding elder, was in charge. While the attendance at
the services in the day time was good, the crowd at night was immense. The preachers were
bivouacked in the upper story of the band stand, a round high structure
in the center of the grounds. For
meals they were well served by the campers and the good citizens of
Jonesboro. Everything went well till a bunch
of rowdies began at the evening service to make a disturbance,
squalling on the outskirts of the congregation like a tom cat in a
fight; crowing like roosters, and shouting "Amen!" "Lord help;" and so
on. The ministers holding the meeting,
of whom the writer was one, visited next morning his Honor Judge M.C. Crawford, circuit judge for assistance
and advice. The
judge had been at the evening service and was hot with disgust at the
outrages committed by the fellows, one of whom, he said was from
Jonesboro, but a set over in the vicinity of the big hill. To put a stop to the annoyance he
deputized each minister as an office of the peace, authorized to make
arrests. At the
meeting that night the roughs were on hand, seemingly strengthened by a
lot of recruits, but so wary that it was impossible to identify them
during the meeting with the people singing and many moving about. After the service was over
and the people gone, the "gang" got into a new building not yet
completed, just in front of the entrance gate, where they opened (in
the dark of course) a mock country dance, calling out "four hands
round," "balance all;" and "swing your partners," attended with such a
clattering and stamping of the floor it sounded like the devil himself
turned loose. We, the preachers, held a brief
council and decided upon an attack.
Proceeding cautiously, expecting a fight, a thing
not new to some of us as we had served through the Civil War, in a
close squad we entered the lower story of the new building alluded to,
but the fellows we wanted were on the upper floor.
If the stairway had been on the inside the game
would have been ours, but by an outside stairway on the side next the
entrance gate the crowds clambered down, fairly falling over each
other, and escaped save one unlucky chap, who was caught and led down
to the music stand, where we had lighted lamps and could see what we
were doing. And here is where the fun began. A kangaroo court was organized with the presiding elder on the bench, Rev. J.L. Wallace, pastor at the town of Cairo, and an old lawyer as prosecutor, and the writer counsel for the defense. Rev. M.H. Nichols and Rev. J.J. Boyer witnesses. The prisoner was filled with alarm, being informed that we were all officers of the law. His companions had fled, he was alone, and as he seemed to think in the very jaws of death. As counsel for the defense I asked beseechingly of the court and prosecution if there was no way by which mercy could be shown the prisoner, this being his first offense and all that kind of thing. Whereupon the court condescendingly said, "If the defendant would give a list of the gang disturbing the meeting, promise to assist in keeping order, and never again be guilty of disturbing a worship congregation, he would take under advisement suspension of prosecution." The poor fellow now an object of pity, was willing to promise anything which he readily did. We got him down on his knees, gathered around him as a genuine penitent, and prayed devoutly for mercy upon his soul. He shook and wept bitterly. With a genuinely good wish and a hearty shake of the hand from each preacher, he was dismissed. It was like scorching a rat and turning him loose among the rest of the rats for that was the last of the disturbances. Judge Crawford next day laughed till his sides shook on learning what had taken place.
C. E. CLINE
Transcribed and submitted by Darrel
Dexter EDITOR, GAZETTE. Would you give space in your paper
for some items of interest to some of its readers? We have the partial election
results of 1819, the first year of the state of Illinois after its
birth as a state. The
election was for a colonel, two majors, one lieutenant and one ensign
of the militia. We
give one township, to wit: Township
of Ohio, County of Alexander, State of Illinois.
The following vote was polled for colonel (no number
of regiment given): Thomas
Cox, 61; Owen Evans,
9. Major, Sidney Grant, 68; Samuel H. Allward,
64; Edmond Sutton, 1; Edmond Jones, 2; Abner Field,
1; John Howard, 1.
Captain (of company not given), Philip Wakefield, 51; Edmond Sutton,
15; Lieutenant, Alison Powell, 59;
Silas Iddel, 6.
Ensign, Eddy Wilcox,
69. The election was held in all the
townships in the county on the 5th day of June,
1819. From the
returns in our possession we are not able to state whether the election
was for a state militia or not. In
perusing the ancient __les, we see that the penmanship compares very
favorably to that of our humble pencil pusher, but the spelling is
possibly not so good. In
those days, we also had that formality was much lacking. Everything was written out. Such a thing as a blank
form was not known. We
find quite a list of names on the tally sheet that are very familiar to
us, for instance Miller, Dillow, Hileman,. Our grandparents came from
Rowan county, North Carolina, in 1814.
At or about the same time came the Dillows,
Lences, Barnharts,
Rineharts, Hilemans
and Misenheimers. Mr. Editor, when we get our mind
back some sixty or more years we can hardly refrain from writing of the
times when compared to now, so excuse an old friend. PAUL
MILLER Transcribed and
submitted by Darrel Dexter
The residence of Mrs. William Ferrill
on Ferry avenue, near Thomas C. Cozby's,
was destroyed by fire last Monday night.
The fire was discovered shortly after 11 o'clock but
had made such headway that nothing could be done towards extinguishing
it. It probably
started in the kitchen in the east end of the building, as Mrs. Ferrill stated that this was the
only place in the house she had built any fire recently. She lived there alone
except a small family named Armstrong
occupied the west end of the house.
Some of the household goods were saved, perhaps most
of the furniture, but the insurance had been allowed to lapse and the
building was a total loss. (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, Friday, 19 May 1911)
Transcribed
and submitted by Darrel Dexter The song "Casey Jones" is popular
everywhere these days and every now and then some fellow who claims
Casey Jones as his name bob up and tries to leave the impression he is
the real Casey whom the song was named for.
The original Casey Jones, his real name was John
Luther Jones, was for a long time
an engineer on the Chicago & New Orleans Limited and was killed
in a rear collision at Vaughn, Miss., on the night of March 18, 1900. He was exceptionally
popular in railroad circles and the song bearing his name was written
and sung by a Negro, Wallace Sanders
by name, who worked in a railroad house.
Eugene and Philip Jones,
locomotive engineers who run from Mounds to Memphis are brothers of the
original Casey Jones. (Jonesboro Gazette,
Jonesboro, Illinois, Friday, 4 Aug 1911)
Transcribed and submitted by
Darrel Dexter
James T. Lokey
was tried here Wednesday afternoon before Squire J. Henry Hilboldt for wife abandonment and bound
over to the grand jury. The
parties live at Dongola. (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, Friday, 25 Aug 1911)
Transcribed and submitted by
Darrel Dexter
Springdale, Ark., Oct. 17.--Editor Gazette--Your
extracts and comments "From Old Gazette Files" are certainly
interesting to us. You
mention in last week's Gazette the boys setting out from Jonesboro for
Texas in a one-horse wagon "on Sunday last," which would have been the
18th of September 1870.
Come to think about it, your humble servant was only
three days behind those boys on the road to the same place. We started for Texas from
our home two miles above Cobden on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 24, 1870,
"just 41 years ago" and passed though Jonesboro about sundown and
camped for the night just west of town.
On the night of the 22d we camped on the bank of the
Mississippi River, on the night of the 23d just west of Jackson, Mo.,
and on the night of the 24th near Marble Hill
(Dallas), close to a little railroad station by the name of Lutesville,
where we stayed from Saturday night until Monday morning on account of
a big rain and high water in a little creek that we had to cross. By Monday morning the
water had run down and the rain had ceased, leaving the road wet and
muddy for our teams to get over. We
didn't go many miles on that day.
At Marble Hill we found a Mr. Chamberlain
whom we had known at Cobden, where he was in the drug business in
partnership with a Mr. Linnell who
died there some years ago. We
don't know what route the boys from Jonesboro took after crossing the
Father of Waters; we only know that we never caught up with them on the
road. We took what
was called in those days the middle route, which crossed the Red River
at Lanesport, a little ways below the southeast corner of the Indian
Territory. Our
first town to pass after getting into Texas was DeKalb, in Bowie
county; our next Clarksville, then Paris, Bonham, Honey Grove, Mt.
McKinney, Plano, and then Dallas, where we quit the road Nov. 2, 1870. Marion
Murphy (The 28 Jul 1911, issue of the Jonesboro Gazette publishes a photo of
Marion Murphy.
Below the photograph, another letter was published. He stated that at Dallas
they located on the prairies and wrote his first letter back to the Jonesboro Gazette.
Ten years ago he moved to Springdale, Ark., in the
Ozark hills. He was
born near Washington, Daviess Co., Ind., 8 Oct 1843, and was 67 years
old. ) (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, Friday, 27 Oct 1911)
Transcribed
and submitted by Darrel Dexter The children and several friends
gathered at the home of J.W. Fuller
Tuesday of last week (6 Feb 1912) and helped him celebrate his 80th
birthday. Mr. Fuller has been an earnest worker all his
life. He came to Union County in 1852.
He helped build the Illinois Central from Centralia
to Cairo and was the organizer of the Anna Fruit Shippers Association
and has been president of that organization for over a quarter century. (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, Friday, 16 Feb 1912)
Transcribed and submitted by
Darrel Dexter The following citizens of Jonesboro
are all past 80 years of age:
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Klutts have lived in the same house nearly fifty years. Mr. and Mrs. George W. Walburn have lived in their old home place over forty years. Mrs. David Sowers is living at the old home where she and her husband started on life's journey together over fifty years ago. Mrs. James Morgan, who lived on the farm many years and reared a large family of children, now lives in Jonesboro. Mrs. Jacob Grear, "the angel of the sick room," has lived in Jonesboro all her life. Mrs. N.B. Hacker is still living at the old home place where Dr. Hacker took her as a bride when life was young. Mrs. Robert Reiss came to the old town with her husband many years ago. David Nusbaum is nearly 90 years old and has spent almost his entire life in or near Jonesboro. Daniel S. Davie can talk interestingly of the ways and customs of the good old days. He was born in Jonesboro. Mrs. Moses A. Goodman lived on a farm south of town during her husband's life time. Mrs. G.V. Kimber lives with her daughters in Jonesboro. She formerly lived on a farm south of town. William Wiggins had interesting experiences in early life in this then new west. Eph Kimmel raised a $17,000 peach crop near Cobden many years ago. It held the record until recent years. S.C. Jensen came to this county a few years ago and cleared up a little farm just west of Jonesboro. They had no house and lived in a tent the first summer, and often speaks of that. He and his good wife now live in the west part of town. Nearly all of these old folks have reared large families of children who have mainly remained in the county and are among its most substantial citizens. While assessing, I had the pleasure of seeing and talking with nearly all of these good old fathers and mothers.
S.D. Hurst (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, 26 Apr 1912)
Old Dougherty House in Jonesboro Transcribed
and submitted by Darrel Dexter J.D.R. Brown
has bought the St. John's Lutheran parsonage on West Broad street and
will occupy it about the last of August, moving from his farm west of
town. This is a
splendid residence property and with the outlay of some money could be
made as desirable as any place in town.
It is a large two story brick and was built in the
70s by Gov. Dougherty, who lived
there until his death some years later.
It has been greatly neglected since though always
being a comfortable home. Mr.
Brown will make extensive
improvements on the place. He
paid only $1,200 for it. The
St. John's people will build a parsonage near their church in the
country, an arrangement which will be much more convenient for them and
their pastor. The
new pastor has recently arrived from Pennsylvania.
He and his wife and daughter will visit or "board
round" among the membership pending the building of the new parsonage,
which is expected to be completed next fall. (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois,
19 Jul 1912)
Transcribed and submitted by
Darrel Dexter George Saffel,
otherwise known as "Geranium," until recently employed here as a
hostler, has been notified that by the death of relatives of Dallas,
Texas, he succeeds to an inheritance of $200,000. Saffel
went from here to Golconda (Pope County) not long ago. (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, Friday, 24 Jan 1913)
Transcribed
and submitted by Darrel Dexter John Mitchell
of Cairo, aged 21, who has an ill feeling toward Lee Adams,
employed in Corzine's confectionery here came to Anna Saturday and told
Adams if he did not leave
before nine o'clock that night he would kill him.
Sure enough at nine o'clock that night Mitchell called at the confectionery, but
in the meantime Adams had notified
officers of Mitchell's threat and
the city marshal was there. When
Mitchell discovered this fact
he ran but was caught and taken to jail in Jonesboro.
A revolver was found on his person and he will have
to answer to the charge of carrying concealed weapons and threatening
to kill. It seems
that Mitchell has a grievance at Adams because he married Mitchell's
half sister last week. (Jonesboro
Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, 4 July 1913) Oregon's Oldest Homesteader Sincere in Proving up Claim at Parkdale Morning Oregonian, Oct. 5, 1913 HOOD
RIVER, OR, Oct. 4--(Special)--Although with furrows of age written deep
on her face, having celebrated her 85th birthday the past August, Mrs.
S. C. McIntosh, of Parkdale, the oldest homesteader in Oregon and
probably in the Northwest, has a clear sparkle in her eye and possesses
still more of the optimism than many people have in days of youth.
Mrs. McIntosh, who was born in Union County, Ill., in 1831,
removed from The Dalles after having been left a widow, her husband
having died in 1905, and at the age of 80 years filed on a choice tract
above Parkdale in the upper valley. She never left the place
a
day after having taken the claim. So sincere was she in her
desire to maintain the rules of the Land Office that she would not pass
the night with her son, C. E. McIntosh, who homesteaded a tract across
the road from her. Mrs. McIntosh has been a resident of
Oregon
since 1877, having come with her husband to The Dalles in that year.
(Transcribed by A. Newell)
Transcribed and submitted by
Darrel Dexter John Weatherly
is in receipt of a letter from his father, J.H. Weatherly,
of Dongola, telling of the joy of the family in this happy Christmas
season over the fact that his mother has regained her eye sight. For two years she had
suffered with an affliction to both eyes which made her practically
blind, she being unable to feed herself or to do any of the duties
about the house. A
month ago she came to this city, entered St. Andrew's hospital and had
an operation performed which restored her sight.
Sunday she prepared the family dinner in her old
manner and the family are greatly rejoiced.
Mrs. Weatherly
is seventy-two years old.--Murphysboro
Independent (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, 26 Dec 1913)
Transcribed and submitted by Darrel Dexter Thomas
Rixleben has in his possession an
old journal that was once the property of Dr. Benjamin W. Brooks, one of the prominent men of
Jonesboro in its early days. Written on
the fly leaf is "A Book of Formulae and Receipts or Recipes adopted in a
practice of 34 years by B.W. Brooks." The first entry is dated July 24, 1818, the
last in 1844. Yellow fever and cholera
remedies are set forth at great length in this journal. (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, 23 Jan 1914)
Transcribed and submitted by Darrel Dexter Walter
Ellis was tried for insanity in
Judge Crawford's court Tuesday (17
Mar 1914), declared to be insane, and sent to Anna State Hospital. Ellis is the Holy Roller fanatic who
made the brutal attack on Noah Hickam a few weeks ago and with his
incarceration that affair may be regarded a closed incident and the end of Holy
Rollerdom in Union County. (Jonesboro
Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois, 20 Mar 1914)
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