Dear Caroline,
I wrote to your husband on the 29th
Sept. I visited Kingston Bluff two days afterwards. Your father was seated
in a rocking chair, and looked "puny" to use a Western term. His fever had
been "broke", but he was troubled with boils, and was low in flesh and
strength. The little flaxen-headed Adeline and Henry Clay were as well as
usual. Martin Samson Kingston, a little puny fellow, is the sole heir to the
Kingston estate. A town called Caseyville has been commenced between little
Canteer (?) creek and the Kingston farm; and a Rail Road from it to the east
bank of the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis, has already been placed under
contract. Mr. R. Radford, of Springfield, is the cntractor. So you may take
a passage by steam from Galena to Caseybille next Peach time, in all
probability.
Mrs. Perthamia (?) Cornwell, widow of Eli Cornwell, died
last Friday. William Estes, step son of Wm. F. Purviance, died several weeks
since. James A. Steel's wife is dead. Your former admirer, Rev. Samuel
Kelley, has removed back to Arkansas. He and his father-in-law, Isaac K.
McMahan, had seceded from Methodism, and joined the Baptists. Samuel Steele
Hunter and Robert McMahan have gone with him. Their destination is Pike Co.,
Ark.
News from Galesburg. John L. Weeks is married to Miss Emily
Finch, daughter of Col. Finch. Horace B. Weeks is married to Mrs. Didamia
Shannon, widow of the late Achilles Shannon of Knox Co. He gets a smart
wife, a pretty daughter of 15 months old, a nice little brick house and a
comfortable property. My correspondent says that Horace has done first rate;
and that he bears the title of "Pa" with becoming dignity.
Sickness
at Galesburg. The typhoid fever prevails and has carried off 6 victims in 6
weeks. Charles B. Weeks has had a severe attack of it, is supposed to be
better, but his case is still considered critical. Old Parron (?) Waters has
lost 2 of his children, to wit, Edward P. Waters, just out of college, and
Harriet. Mary G. Weeks has returned from Whiteside county.
The
Tempest in a Tea Pot at Galesburg. This continues to rage. I judge from the
papers that the Blanchardites are the strongest, so far as the college is
concerned, and the Galenites, so far as the Church is concerned. It is said
that the Rev. Bascom of Chicago, is to take Mr. Blanchard's place as
preacher.
Troy - The IOOF hall is about finished and with the lot has
cost pretty near $1200. Macdonough Gates teaches a school in the Iowa story
(?). Mac wants to be a JP and deal out justice on Saturdays, Gospel on
Sundays, and teaming on the other days of the week. His boy, Martin Cyrus
Scott Gates, is the fattest and heaviest little fellow of his age that I
ever saw.
Collinsville - Going ahead. The people are doing the wind
(?) work of a Plank Road from Collinsville to Wiggins Ferry - The
Edwardsvilleians are doing the wind work of a Plank Road from that place to
Edwardsville. That is much wanted. It is supposed that the Rail Road from
Alton to Springfield will soon be commenced.
Next Tuesday is our
election, when the people are to vote for or against Township Organization.
I go against it because I do not want to be bothered with two sorts of
townships. If any Yankee asks me what township I live in I will tell him,
Township 3 North, Range 7 West, and if he is more particular, I will tell
him that I live on the West half of the North West quarter of Section 8,
T.3N, R7West of the 3d Principal Meridian. When, if he knows ever the A,B,C,
of the Georgraphy of the Public Surveys he can tell how far I am from St.
Louis or Gains or Chicago or any other place in the surveyed regions of the
Great West. But suppose we nickname our Township "Hubbardtown" or
"Morristown" or "Poland" or "Oxford" - how can we give the inquirer an idea
of our location. Only by exhibiting a mammoth map of the State with a name
upon every small square.
Truly yours.
George Churchill.
Dear Caroline,
It is some time since I have heard from your region, and I suppose
you do not often hear from the land of your nativity. I am in tolerably good
health. Your father, and family, were well when I last saw them. Little
Adeline and Henry Clay are likely to fall heirs to a part of the Kingston
estate, as Wm. Wesley Kingston is dead, and his heirs are his mother, Lawson
(?), Adeline, and Henry Clay.
The Caseyville Rail Road is not likely
to be completed as soon as were expected. It is suspended for want of funds;
and and Lt. Gov. Casey has gone to the East to raise the wind. Another Rail
Road, further south, is in full blast, and supplies St. Louis with coal at a
cheap rate, say 3 or 4 cents a bushel.
Plank Road. - We are to have a
Plank Road from Illinois - Town (?) via Collinsville and Troy to Highland.
Pacific and Atlantic Rail Road. - This will inevitably pass through this
neighborhood.
Troy and Collinsville are gradually going ahead.
Rev. Samuel Wood, your old neighbor, died on the 20th inst. It is said
he went to Edwardsville in a wagon and came home intoxicated, and badly
bruised, but could not tell how it was done. It was supposed that he fell
out of the wagon, and that it ran over him, but if so how could he get in
again? His age was about 74. A very good sort of man, except in the way of
whiskey. Old Granny Wood still living.
Most of the old settlers in
this neighborhood are gone. Wm. F. Purviance and Jubilee Posey are still
alive. Polly Posey married M. F. Zink (?) last fall, and died soon
afterwards.
Mrs. Sally Gaskill, widow of David Gaskill, died at Alton
in Jan. last. The family had removed to Alton. When a child, under nine
years, she had her mother, 3 sisters, and 1 brother killed by a party of
Indians, and she was carried into captivity, and remained with the Indians
15 months. The massacre took place in Monroe Co., Ill on the 26th Jan.,
1795. Her father, Robert McMahan, Esq. Was also made captive, but escaped
from his captors two days afterwards. Miss Betsey Gaskill is also dead. She
died since her mother's death.
Mr. E. B. Lockwood, whose first wife
died of cholera last year, has married again. His new wife was widow Hart,
daughter of Rev. James Lemer. (?) I learn from the papers that Mr. Jonathan
Bentley is dead. Norman E. Gates is dead, and his widow is married to Rev.
James Hadley. Old Doctor Gates is still alive, and grunting at Troy.
Your uncle Levi is still alive and as indolent as ever. He sticks close to
the little house, which I built for his occupancy.
The Spring is very
backward, cold and wet. Winter wheat looks well. This is fortunate, for last
year was a disastrous one to the farmers, and as we live near market, the
country has been drained of its eatables. Night before last, we had heavy
rain.
The prospect is fair for a tolerable Peach crop next September.
That will be a good time for you to visit Kingston Bluff, if the cholera
does not rage, and I hope it will not. W. W. Louis folks have learned by
experience that it's best to keep up a strict quarantine. There will
doubtless be occasionally some cases of cholera at St. Louis, but I do not
think it will rage, as it did last year.
Henry T. Bartling, formerly
of Edwardsville, died of cholera, this spring, at St. Louis.
Galesburg. - Charles B. Weeks has gone to California for gold. Horace has
married widow Shannon (?) and ??? Hannah A. Perrigo is a widow - has rented
out her farm, and living with her father in Galesburg. She has lately lost
one of her children, viz: Nancy Amelia. Wm. W. Weeks has also rented out his
farm, and moved to Galesburg, and built a house. He is going to lean to be a
carpenter. Miss Emily Amelia Churchill is soon to marry Rev. James Henry
Warrang (?) and go with him as a missionary, via Panama to California.
George is in College.
Angeline McCray, only surviving child of Calvin
McCray is married to Dr. John S. Dewey of Troy. The heirs of Horatio McCray
are trying to prove that Angeline is the daughter of Henry Johnson, and not
of Calvin McCray, so as to make themselves heirs of Calfins. Report says
that Jubilee Posey will swear that Calvin told him that the child was not
his; and that Granny Wood says that old Catherine said the child was
Johnsons. On the other hand, old Catharine has sworn before a J.P. that she
and Calvin were married before they lived together; and we all know that
they were married afterwards, and that Calvin raised and educated Angeline
as his own child. Please write a letter to your father. Tell the old man to
preserve the letter for me to read when I visit Kingston Bluff. Respects to
Mr. Bingham, and all other friends.
Truly yours,
George Churchill.
PS. Mary C. Weeks has become school marm, and is teaching at Dodville,
Macdonough Co., Ill. John L. Weeks married and dead, last year. We had snow
7 ½ inches on a level, April 14, 1850. The roads are getting better, but the
mail still coming in a "mud wagon."
Dear Sir [to John A. Bingham, Caroline's husband]
Your favor of Sept. 13, was duly
received. I had not previously heard of the death of old Mrs. Gardner, or of
your boy.
In relation to Sweet Potatoes, you will find information in
the Prairie Farmer. Some people break off the slips or sprouts of the sweet
potato, and plant them, leaving the potato in the hot-bed to produce more
sprouts, and this mode of culture is advisable when you have but few seed
potatoes. The sprouts should be watered in case of very dry weather.
Peach stones. - My Peach crop was almost a failure this year, but your
father-in-law's trees bore very well. He has saved some peach stones, and
will send them to you on getting directions from you how to send them. I
have left with him a few peach stones and some seeds of the Persimmon, a
fruit indigenous to this region, but which I presume is unknown in
Wisconsin. It has a puckering quality if eaten before it has been exposed to
several hard frosts; when it loses that quality, and becomes delicious. It
will hang on the trees nearly all winter until picked off. The fruit make
excellent beer, ?? being good to eat. The seeds deposited with your
father-in-law are from the best persimmons I ever tasted. Address William B.
Churchill, Collinsville, Madison Co., Illinois. He lives in St. Clair Co.,
but his P.O. is in Madison.
The Ohio an Mississippi Rail Road (from
St. Louis to Cincinnati) has been located through Caseybille which is only a
mile from your father-in-law's residence. Messrs. Seymore & Co. of New York,
it is said, have taken the contract for the whole road. From the Mississippi
to Caseyville, a Railroad is now in operation. Some time after this, you can
take the Plankroad to Freeport, thence the Central R.R. to the point where
it is crossed by the Ohio and Mississippi R.R., thence turn to the right,
and stop at Caseyville Station, then get up to Kingston Bluff by buggy, or
wagon, or horseback or foot back.
The Plank Road from Collinsville to
the Mississippi is in operation, and has made a dividend of 3 ½ per cent.
For the last 3 months --- 14 per cent a year. This to be extended to Troy.
About a mile of the Extension has been graded in this prairie, and a new
steam saw mill on Canteen (?) Creek, near the Gaskill brick house, is sawing
plank to cover the road. This has become absolutely necessary, as our soil
is so rich and loose, and the travel across this prairie so great that all
our prairie roads become nearly impassable in a wet time.
A dreadful
accident occurred at Collinsville on the 1st inst. A steam chest, in the
distilling of Messrs. Kurtz, Davis & Co., bursted and killed five persons,
viz: Vines Davis, John Lloyd (two of the firm) Lewis Enminger, George
Fisher, and a German from St. Louis - name unknown. The accident happened
after 4 o'clock P.M. and they all expired before the next morning.
Troy is going ahead. The steam mill has been in operation 2 or 3 months. The
Plankroad, that is to be, has raised the price of real estate. A new school
house has been created at Mt. Gilead. This is the place where Mrs. Bingham
passed several of her early years.
Our democratic state has gone for
banking, by a majority of over 6,000. Your democratic state is said to have
gone for banking, and for a Whig. Governor too. Col. Benton has got back to
Missouri and will ?? straighten out the democracy of that state, which has
got full of kinks.
Tell Norman and George, and the girls, that I
would gladly receive letters from them.
Last month I had the pleasure
of seeing a locomotive and some cars ascend the hill at Alton, on the Alton
and Sangeamon (?) R. R. It is hoped this R. R. will be finished in about a
year. It has been a long time building.
We are about to have a
telegraphy line through Troy. The poles are already scattered along the
roadside. Truly yours George Churchill.
Supplement Troy, Ill, Dec.
18, '51. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, were cold. Mercury 8
degrees below zero on Monday morning: -- 4 deg. Below on Tuesday and
Wednesday morning. This morning it was 6 degrees above Zero; and is still
cold enough. I suppose you can talk of still colder weather, but I would
rather hear of it than feel it.
Isaac K. Millahan (?) has been sent
to the State Hospital for the Insane at Jacksonville. Mr. And Mrs. Weeks
were here from Galesburg in October. Your cousin, Miss Amelia S. Woodruff,
is in the seminary at Monticello in this county. I am told that Wash. Renfro
has just been married to Miss Black - both of Mt. Gilead district.
G. C.
Dear
Caroline,
Your father, step mother, and little Henry Clay,
were here today, apparently in good health. Since I saw him before, your
father had taken a course of Calomel, and was salivated, so that for three
weeks he could not speak. All this was intended for the benefit of his
liver.
I trust you are now enjoying your Sweet potatoes. A Mr.
Kinney, of Rock Island, says in the Prairie Farmer, that he cultivates a
variety of the Sweet Potato which is hardy at the North, and can be kept
through the winter. Probably you had better try them.
Norman made us
a visit early in the summer; and left for West Union, Iowa: since which time
I have not hear from him.
Miss A. L. Woodruff has commenced her
second term in Monticello French Seminary, and paid $40 in advance. Female
education is quite costly, to what it used to be.
I suppose that
within two years you will be able to come from Freeport to Caseyville by
Rail Road - following the Central R. R. to the Central City in Marion Co.,
and then turning to the right on the Ohio and Mississippi R. R. which will
land you at Caseyville. Ultimately there will be a shorter route, turning to
the right at Vandalia on the Atlantic and Mississippi R. R. The obituary of
our Legislature has thus far prevented this road from being constructed,
lest it might benefit St. Louis. The Alton & Springfield R. R. is now in
traveling order, and the Actonians are very much disappointed, for the
produce comes from the North and goes right ahead to St. Louis, upon two
steamboats owned by the Railroad Co., The merchandise also comes from St.
Louis and goes directly from the steamboat to the car: so that a few draymen
at Alton are all who devise much benefit from the road. Great has been the
indignation of the Altonians, and they have expressed it by incontinently
electing Dr. Thomas M. Hope to be their Lord Mayor! A forlorn hope, truly!
The cholera has prevailed this fall at Caseyville, and carried off about
ten. Caseyville will doubtless ever remain a sickly place, so long as any
body remains there to be sick.
Mr. Andrew Jackson Swain has married
one of Horatio McCray's daughters, and lives directly opposite the place
where Judge Bingham's wife was born.
Madison Jilton lives in the
Horatio house. He married one of Horatio's girls. Widow Rowell, the eldest
of the daughters, with her five fatherless children, has removed to Iowa, to
live with Mr. Rowell's father. The other girl has married, an removed to
Connecticut.
They have built a brick school house in the Mount Gilead
neighborhood. Old Mrs. Husong is dead. Rev. Wm. P. Renfro has just married
his second wife, a daughter of John C. Duggen. Mr. B. J. Haglis (?) is alive
yet, but he lost two of his children this year.
At my last dates from
Galesburg, Mr. & Mrs. Weeks were gone to Wisconsin on a visit. I suppose you
saw them. Dr. George Churchill and Miss L. (S?) Booth were teaching a High
School at Farmington, Ill., T8N, R4E.
Compliments to Husband,
Brothers and Sisters. Please write soon, and oblige yours truly.
George
Churchill.
Dear Cousin,
Your husband's and your letter I received on Saturday
the 18th containing twenty seven dollar which was thankfully received. I
suppose it will do just as well to direct a letter to you in acknowledgement
of it.
Mother tried considerable to get Mary to write to Lucemartin
(?) after she returned from the north but without success. She was full of
getting married, and as Mother scarcily ever writes, and I do not often do
so, is the reason why you did not hear from us.
Father and Mother
returned a week sooner than we expected them. Father's brother had removed
80 miles from where he expected to find him, the weather was so bad he did
go to see him he made his sister a short visit and hurried home, they
arrived late Saturday night drenched from head to foot in rain and mud. Mr.
Garwood had arrived that day from Mich. And Mary was in a hubbub she did not
expect him quite as soon, they were married in about two weeks and in about
three weeks after they were married they started for Sumnersville, Cass Co.,
Michigan.
We hear from Charles frequently, but have not heard from
William and fear we never shall the last we heard from him he was near the
Alkaline region he was well fitted out for the trip, much better than an
intimate friend of his who went from this place and have got through they
write that they never should if their brother who was in Oregon had not met
them with fresh provision and teem, one of the girls wrote that the whole
rout is strewed with graves which are a hole in the ground so shallow that
the blanket or buffalo skin which the corps was wrapped in could be seen on
the top of the ground, they soon got so that such sights did not disturb
them their stepfather died on the way. John Gaskill and Marion Purviance
went from Ridge Prairie last spring they say that the rout is one continued
burying ground they are very much dissatisfied with the country, so Uncle
George writes I have written these particular for cousin George's especial
benefit tell him if he values his life any thing not to undertake cross the
plans, never --- never - never so says almost every one that says any thing
about it. But people will not be profited by the experience of others. I
should not be surprised if Mr. Gardwood and Mary went to Oregon in the
spring we had rather see her put in her grave.
Mother sends her love
to you all, and says tell Lucena Ann to come down here and go to school the
year commences the 1st of September and if she cannot come before that time
to come then.
We have had a very unpleasant fall and winter so far
the roads much of the time almost impassable.
Please to excuse
mistakes and write often. And remember me to all the friends.
Yours
affectionately,
Hannah A. Perrigo
Dear Caroline,
I am sorry to
have to inform you of the death of your stepmother, Mrs. Jane Robinson
Churchill. It took place early in Dec., at Caseyville, and was very sudden.
I heard a rumor of it soon afterwards, but heard nothing which I could rely
on as certain, till yesterday. Little Adeline, and Henry Clay, are
motherless, and Samson Kingston is motherless and fatherless. I suppose that
Miss Martha Watson keeps house for your father. She is a niece of your late
stepmother.
I suppose Norman has finished his job in Iowa, and got
back to Monroe. Tell him that he can see his cousin Miss Amelia S. Woodruff,
at Galesburg. She has left the college, finding that it makes her sick to
study as hard as they have to study in College.
The papers say that
"Mr. Churchill of Iowa" has found an Indian medal with the name of John
Quincy Adams on it, date 1825. Was it Mr. Norman Churchill, or some other
Churchill?
The Pr. Farmer says that good Peaches were raised last
year in Lake Co., Ill. You are a little farther North, but perhaps you may
sometimes happen to raise peaches. How do your Persimmon trees come on? Did
you have a good crop of Sweet Potatoes? Suppose you try some of Mr. Kinney's
root, of Rock Island. Nausembuds, (?) I think he calls them.
The
calculation is to finish, this year, so much of the Ohio and Mississippi
Railroad as lies between Minorstown (?) and the Ill. Central R. R. Then you
can go to Freeport, and be whisked down to Marion Co., Ill. (Central city or
"Centralia".) Thence turn to the right, and be landed at Caseyville in a
couple of hurries. Then you will be within a mile of your father's. I am
told there is a cut 65 feet deep through the Bluff, near Caseyville, and
even that did not furnish earth enough for the adjacent embankment. Come and
look at it.
Marion Purviance and John Quincy Adams Gaskill went to
Oregon last year, but finding no public land there which they would take as
a gift, they went to the gold mines on Rogue River, O.T. Old man Gallentine
Kinder went to Oregon in the same company. The last I heard about him was
that he had gone to Puget's Sound to see the country in that quarter. One
man in the company, named Andrew Pregge, died on the way out.
Wm. W.
Weeks started from Knox Co. for Oregon, last spring, with his family,
father-in-law, and others. I have not yet heard of their arrival in Oregon,
and fear .. they have had bad luck.
The California and Oregon fevers
are very bad on this country, drawing off most of the young men, and not
leaving enough to cultivate our farms. The emigrants on an average might do
better here than they do on the Pacific: but as a few adventurers have drawn
high prizes, every emigrant thinks he can do so too.
The Germans are
coming in here, and giving high prices for land. The old Hammy (?) Wood farm
might have been sold for $3,000, but the widow would not relinquish her
dower. The usual prices are from $25 to $30 per acre.
Rev. Wm. P.
Rengro, son of Jepe, has a new wife - daughter of John C. Dugger. They have
a brick school house at "Skeamborough."
Troy - Two schools, one
taught by R. K. Dewery, in the Hall; the other by Misses Hatch & Livermore,
in a new school house built by Jacob C. Gontersman (?). Three churches -
Presbyterian, Rev. John Gibosn, pastor; Baptist, Rev. E. Dodson; Methodist,
Rev. S. Mattison.
The weather and the roads have been very
unfavorable to out door locomotion, and other operations, this winter. I
keep pretty close.
The Caloric engine, I hope, will displace those
murderous concerns, the steamboat boilers. Compliments to your husband.
Please write soon and give all the Monroe news.
Yours,
George Churchill.
Dear
Caroline,
I am well, but do not feel very comfortable by reason of
the extreme long drouth and very hot weather - the mercury rising almost
daily to 100 degrees. Stack (?) water is dried up, the cisterns are empty,
and the well almost dry. We have had no rain since the 15th Aug. which time
was memorable for a shower which wet the earth to the depth of 1 ½ inches.
Previous to that we had a heavy rain on the 5th of July, and the Spring
months and early part of June were very wet. The consequence of such a wet
spring and such a dry, hot summer, is a general failure of the corn and
potato crops. There may be from a 4th to a 3d of the usual quantity of corn
raised. Of potatoes, not enough for seed. The wheat crop is totally good.
The oat crop rather below par. Fruit is not so abundant as common. We have
some peaches, and they have been getting ripe for about a week: but the
quantity is quite small.
It is about a month since I was at Kingston
Bluff; and I have not hear from that place since. Samson Kingston was then
at home; it being vacation at McKendra (?) College. All were well. Your new
aunt is a "medium" and receives spiritual communications from her deceased
daughter, Miss Ellen Robert, desc', who died of cholera in 1849; also from
her former husband and others. I suppose you have a plenty of
"Spiritualists" at Monroe; and therefore I need not give you an account of
the stand-tipping operation by which a message from the Spirit Land is
laboriously eked out.
We had a most destructive hail store on the
24th July. A large portion of the ice which fell was in pound balls. James
Purviance weighed one of the haill stones of the larger and it weighed a
pound. Some hogs, turkeys, and geese, and a gret many hens were killed by
the hail. Fruit was knocked off, limbs broken off, windows broken, corn
broken down, and the roofs of some of my buildings ruined. The hail stones
passed through like cannon balls.
The steam mill at Troy, owned by
Swain & Brothers, has been burned; supposed by an incendiary. Loss $10,000.
Insurance $5,000.
Macdonough Gates talks of leaving school teaching
and going to college against for two years. Queer - since his is living with
his second wife.
Hen Cholera - Poultry has been dying off very fast
within a month past. They have some disease as fatal as cholera.
James Riley Monroe Gaskill is a Doctor, and is settled at Centralia, Marion
Co., Ill. John Quincy Adams Gaskill and Marion Purviance are in Oregon or
California, supposed to be making money, since they have not time to write
to their friends. I get letters occasionally from Wm. W. Weeks, Buteville,
Marion Co., Oregon Ter. Charles B. Weeks has come home from California and
now living At Galesburg, Knox Co., Ill. ??? Mary G. Weeks Garwood, I
suppose, lives at Sumnerville, Cass Co., Michigan. Her husband went to Cal.
Last year, and came back again. George Churchill of Galesburg, has, I
suppose, set out to make the tour of Europe in company with his chum, a Mr.
Wilcox.
Now I want you to let me know the post office address of your
brother George who was last year reported as having gone to Cal. Has he got
rich yet? It is said that a company of four, made $6,000 in one week, 25
miles from Port Orford, O.T. At that rate, a man can soon make his pile.
The Ohio & Mississippi R. R. is in operation from St. Louis, via
Caseyville, to Car_(?) You can come down the Central R. R. to Bloomington,
Ill., thence by the Chicago & Alton R. R. to Alton; thence by steamboat to
St. Louis; thence by Railroad to Caseyville, when you will be within a mile
of your father's. An omnibus runs between Caseyville & Collinsville.
The Atlantic & Mississippi R. R. is under construct from Caseyville to
Pocahontas, and several parties are at work upon it. The heat is so great
that they make no progress: but it is expected that next year the horse
horse will go snorting by the ruins of old Mount Gilead Meeting House.
Rememberances to Norman and your sisters, and especially to Judge
Bingham, and please write to me soon.
Truly yours,
George Churchill.
(The end of the letters found in a barn in Monroe, Wisconsin.)
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