1907 Pioneer Life in Illinois
Pioneer Life in Illinois, by F. M. Perryman, was published in 1907. YOUR
HELP IS NEEDED for additional extractions from this 118-page book.
Names of the Early Settlers [Page 21]
No better class of citizens has ever lived in Shelby county, or ever
will live in Shelby county, than the early settlers; the Rasey's, the
Hall's, the Pugh's, the Corley's, the Rhoades',the Wakefield's, the Small's,
the Middlesworth's, the Gollier's, the Yant's, the Smith's, the Warren's,
the Whitfield's, the Neal's, the Killam's, the Douthit's, and many others
that we could name, who were just as good. The writer feels proud of the
memory of such people, and while the most of them have passed away, we thank
God that such men and women have lived in the world to make our pathway
brighter, and make the world better. And where you find one of those early
settlers you find a man whose love for his friends can hardly be severed; a
love so true, so deep, so loyal, so God-like that if they possessed no other
good trait that one trait alone makes them noble.
Shelbyville in Early Days [Page 62]
In our early boyhood, Shelbyville, our county seat, was a small place;
General W. F. Thornton kept store just North of where the court house now
stands; Roundy & Dexter kept store just West of the court house; Dan. Earp
kept saloon on the South; Ben. Talman kept tavern on the East; Rand Higgins
run the river mill; Burrel Roberts was county clerk; Ed. Shallenbarger was
surveyor; E. A. Douthit was sheriff and collector. Joseph Oliver was there,
also the Trembles, Tacketts, Cutler's, and C. Woodard. John D. Bruster run
the tan-yard on the hill. Anthony Thornton was the leading lawyer; Sam'l W.
Moulton came there when we were a boy. We remember hearing Abraham Lincoln
plead a divorce case in the old court house sixty years ago. At that time
the lawyers traveled from place to place on horseback, and carried their
books in their saddle-bags.
Religion [Page 69]
The writer learned at an early age to have a great respect for the
church, not for any one particular denomination, but for all who seek to
serve their Creator with all their heart, according to their best
understanding of His will. We was raised under the teaching and influence of
the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and the Christian churches. John Hall
and others was preaching the Methodist doctrine, Willis Whitfield the
Baptist doctrine, McCreary Bone the Presbyterian and Bushrod Henry (the
father of our present J. O. Henry) preached the Christian doctrine - all of
them good, zealous Christian men. We loved them all. At that day a boy would
not have been allowed to speak with disrespect of a preacher at all, it
would have been considered almost like blasphemy to thus speak of a preacher
with disrespect.
Good Friends [Page 78]
The Author feels very proud of having had the good influence of such
good friends as Pascal Hinton, James Rhoads, Berry Turner, Jasper L.
Douthit, Anthony Thornton, Henry Carpenter, John Kitchell, Sylvester Cosart,
and many, very many others. Some of them are gone, but we have not given
them up. The influence and friendship of such men has made our pathway
brighter, and has made life worth living; and all we are we owe it to the
influence of such good friends.
