History of Massac County

Chapter XIX.

Pope County Historical Reminiscences

(J. E. Y. Hanna)

Page 138-171

Pope County was organized 1816 from Gallatin and Johnson counties, and extended on the Ohio river from Cave-in-Rock to old Fort Massac. The county seat was located at Sarahsville-since Golconda-on the banks of the Ohio river, about midway between the points mentioned.

The first county officers were: Robert Lacy, Benoni Lee, and Thomas Ferguson, county commissioners; Joshua Scott, recorder; Hamlet Ferguson, sheriff, Samuel O'Melvaney, treasurer, and Thomas C. Browne-aftwerward Judge Browne-proscuting attorney.

At the first term of the commissioner's court, among other business, the court fixed the price of meals, lodging, stable and horse feed, and the price of whisky. About the year 1839, the upper part of Pope county was organized as the county of Hardin, fixing the line near Grand Pierre creek. In the year 1843 the lower portion of Pope county, with a part of Johnson, was organized as Massac county and by act of the legislature, Geo. H. Hanna, the county surveyor of Pope county, was directed to locate the line between Pope and Massac counties. At the first term of the commissioners' court of Massac county, the first county orders were issued to George H. Hanna and his assistants for said service, and were sold to John W. Reed, the sheriff, for 75 cents on the dollar.

Eddyville, the youngest of the Pope county towns is about fifteen miles northwest of Golconda, was laid out for Mr. Fulgham by J. E. Y. Hanna, in 1866, and became incorporated in 1883. Eddyville is a thriving village, surrounded by a good agricultural country, and has a good country trade. It is on elevated ground, and is visible for miles around. If it could have railroad connection with the outside world, it would become a very important town.

Dixon Springs is a noted health resort. The water is Chalybeate, and is thought to be very beneficial to those who use it from July to September. The place was first occupied by William Dixon, from whom it derived its name, in the year of 1848. The scenery contiguous to the Springs is very wild and picturesque, and it has become a favorite summer resort.

The first church organized in Pope county was Big Creek Baptist church, in the northeast part of the county. The organization was efffected on the 19th day of July, A. D. 1806, by the Revs. Stephen Stilley and William Jones. This church existed twenty years, when it was dissolved, and a portion of its members joined in the organization of the Grand Pierre church, October 21st, 1827, by Elder Stephen Stilley and William Rondeau, which church still has an existence. The second church organized in Pope county was the Golconda Presbyterian church, Oct. 24th, 1819, with sixteen members, by the Rev. Nathan B. Derrow, a missionary from Connecticut. This church still exists in Golconda. The third church organized in the county was Big Bay church of the Baptist denomination, about eight miles southwest of Golconda, by Elders Stilley and Henderson, about 1819 or 1820. It existed about twenty years and was dissolved, a portion of its members joined in the organization of Mill Creek Baptist church, August 17th, 1840. Mill Creek church is still in existence.

We can learn of but two church buildings, prior to 1840, to wit: Big Bay Baptist church, about one mile from Green's old mill and Grand Pierre church, about twelve miles north of Golconda, also a Baptist church. Both were log buildings, and were used for a long time. Bay church was abandoned on account of the rowdyism of some parties, led by one Hiram Green who habitually disturbed the congregation gathered for worship. The membership disbanded and assisted in forming new churches at other points. Grand Pierre church fared better, and worshipped in peace and quiet, in their house, until it became necessary to erect a new building.

The leading ministers of the Baptist denomination were Father Stilley-as he was called-William Rondeau-an Englishman-William Baker, John Hamilton, a Mr. Henderson, and, a little later, Charles Clay and Richard Fulherson.

The Methodists, Presbyterian, and Cumberland Presbyterians had no houses for public worship, so far as we can learn, before 1840, but held their services in school houses, private dwellings, and in the court house in Golconda, and, for their larger assemblies, held what were called campmeetings. The plan of these meetings was to select a grove near a plentiful supply of water, and clear the underbrush from a square sufficiently large to accommodate the assembly, then build temporary huts or tents on three sides of the square for the accommodation of the campers and their guests, which were abundantly supplied with straw; what was called "scaffold beds" were constructed around the walls, and a supply of straw was placed on the gound under the beds, and all was used for sleeping apartments.

A large log was placed at the back of the camp hut-all camps fronted on the enclosed square-against which was built a fire for culinary purposes, and a long board table, supported by forks driven in the ground, at which all took their meals. Hospitality, in its widest sense, prevailed at these meetings, and no one needed to leave hungry, or fail to find a place in which to rest and sleep. Large assemblies have been provided for in this way. Inside the square, a pulpit was erected near one end, with high platform floor, boarded up at the back, roofed, and with a seat at the back, with a board in front, on which to lay the books, this-and the pulpit was completed. In front of the pulpit or "stand", as it was named, rows of logs were placed with one toward the pulpit, and the other to the open side of the square, across which planks-or in their absence, split logs-were placed for seats for the congregation. All being prepared, about Thursday of the time agreed upon, those who intended camping removed from their home to the "camp ground", where they lived, usually until the next Tuesday or Wednesday, and sometimes longer. The whole energies of the campers were directed to supplying the necessities of those who were attending these meetings, and furthering the objects to be accomplished by them. Days and Nights were spent in preaching, praying, exhorting and singing, which sometimes continued nearly all night. It was thought, at that time, that great good was effected by these meetings, but as there was necessarily some confusion attending those annual gatherings, some evil-minded persons took the liberty of abusing the hospitality of the campers, and caused such disorder, that it was thought best to discontinue them. Their necessity also ceased as the country became settled, and churches were built.

Of the old time preachers, the prominent persons of the Baptist church have been mentioned. William Rondeau, the most prominent among them, came from England at an early day and settled near Golconda, where he resided for some years, and then he purchased the island just above Golconda, on which he had his home for the remainder of his life. He was an educated gentleman of the old school, and while he was affable and polite, he had a bluntness in his manner, that gave offense to some persons, unintentional on his part.

He, like some other persons, had his eccentricities and peculiarities, but was a good man, a warm-hearted, earnest minister of the Gospel, and gave his views on the Scripture with plainness and force. He was an early settler in Pope county, deeply interested in the advancement of the moral, mental and material interests of the people. He was scathing in his reproof of any misconduct at church.

On one occasion he noticed some thoughtless persons whispering during the sermon, and immediately stopped, saying: "If you have anything worth saying, speak out, that we may all hear it, and I will wait until you have done, as it is bad manners for two persons to speak at the same time, and besides this, Paul says, 'all whisperers are liars!'"

Mr. Rondeau had some humor in his make-up, for example: One night, after a preaching service, he went with a brother minister named Hamilton for lodging. The wife of Mr. Hamilton, not going home, the two old preachers had the house to themselves. After conversing awhile they thought they had better have a lunch before retiring. Mr. Hamilton on searching failed to find bread. He said: "I know there was a 'pone' here, but I cannot find it." Mr. Rondeau answered, "Pone, Pone, Ponee, Pona, Pony. Pony is a little 'orse-I don't want to 'heat' a 'orse."

He lived to good old age, and left a good influence behind him.

Of the other Baptist ministers mentioned, they were all good men and did their best work for the community that they could, but none of them were liberally educated, and consequently did not have the influence in moulding the young and growing country that Mr. Rondeau possessed.

Of the ministers of the Presbyterian church in the early days of the country, there was but one who had much to do in influencing, for good, the pioneers. Perhaps this was from the fact that he was the only one who was here for a time sufficient to accomplish much. This was the Rev. Benjamin F. Spilman. He preached his first sermon here when quite a young man, and was the principal minister of that denomination here for about forty years. He was a native of Kentucky, was educated, and was an earnest and zealous preacher. He had an influence which has not been forgotten in the different fields where he was called to ministry. His discourses were logical, earnest, affectionate, and compelled his auditors to believe that he felt the truth of the principals which he urged upon them. He died a ripe old age after a life of usefulness to his fellowmen.

In the earlier days of his ministry he spent much of his time on horseback, as his appointments covered an extent of more that one hundred miles in diameter, and he has been known to go on horseback from Golconda to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to attend the sessions of the general assembly of his church. A gentleman who lived on the hill south of Golconda, who professed to believe that all preachers were lazy, and took to the ministry to avoid work, and whose residence overlooked the house of Mr. Spilman, saw that when he came home from a preaching tour, he pulled off his coat and went to work in the garden, and did other necessary work, remarked that he had "found one preacher who was not lazy."

On the occasion of one of those horseback trips to Philadelphia, the then county surveyor, Geo. H. Hanna, wished to procure a new compass, and Philadelphia being at that time the only place where it could be purchased, Mr. Spilman bought the instrument there, and carried it on horseback to Golconda. Who would think for a moment of doing so now, or who would think of making the journey on horseback in these days of railroads and steamboats? There were many other ministers of the Presbyterian church who labored in the county, but their stay here was so short that they failed to leave their impress on the growing community.

Of the ministers of the Cumberland Presbyterian church there were a number who labored in this part of the country, among whom I will mention James Alexander, Jesse Pearce, William Davis, Benjamin Bruce, and Woods H. Hamilton, who preached through this country, holding stated appointments somewhat after the manner of a circuit preacher, and also protracted and camp meetings in the late summer and autumn months. These ministers did not reside here, but in the counties of Gallatin and White.

There was one exception, the Rev. Peter Cartwright, who traveled and preached over Southern Illinois and who sometimes visited the counties of Lower Egypt, and he is remembered more on account of his eccentricities than for any permanent influence which he left on the people of the country where he labored. It is principally to the local preachers in the M.E. church that we must look for an abiding influence on the pioneer population. Among them, notably, was Rev. James P. Crawford, who resided on Sugar creek, a few miles north from Dixon Springs. He settled there in the early thirties, and remained there to the end of his life, which, unfortunately, was before he reached old age. While he lived he was noted for his interest in any measure for the improvement of the people of the whole country and his interest was not manifested by words alone. His works were more abundant than were his words. The whole country around him felt his loss when he was carried to God's acre. And when he fell, there was no one in that community who could take up the work which he left in an unfinished condition, and carry it on successfully as he had been doing. He was a good man in every respect, and was entitled to, and enjoyed the warm affection of all who knew him. Peace to his ashes.

The first settlements in Pope county, with a few exceptions, were on or near the banks of the Ohio river. At or near the site of what was afterward Golconda, George V. Lusk, for whom Lusk's creek was named, and from his wife, Sarah, or Sallie, as she was called, for whom the town was first named Sarahsville, were the first settlers. The date of coming cannot now be given. Thomas Ferguson was also one of the first to come to the place for a home in that wild region. He afterward became the owner of the land on which the town of Golconda was laid out, and donated twenty acres of land for a portion of the town. Green B. Field, the grandfather of General Green B. Raum, purchased the lands of Ferguson. Other Pioneers here were Daniel Field, Dr. William Sim, Hugh McNulty, Ransom Peters, William Rondeau, Thomas Laroth, Joseph Pryor, James King, John Raum, Joshua Scott, William Belford, and Charles Dunn. A few miles above Golconda at or near the mouth of Grand Pierre creek, was a settlement of pioneers, extending into what is now Hardin county. John Crawford located there in 1808, at or near the same time Alexander Blair, Samuel O. Melvania, James Sted and Hugh Robertson, with others who were but transient or were not prominent in the community. The persons who are named were nearly all from the Emerald Isle.

The settlement of the Lower Bay bottom was made in an early day by William Cowan, Robert Scott, and Samuel Smith, who located there before 1817, and bought large bodies of government land. Their descendants still reside on the river or near to it in that part of the county. One Tittsworth was also a pioneer who located a land warrant in 1814 near that point, at the confluence of the Big Bay and the Ohio. Reuben Glover and John Wood also located on land in the vicinity. William Dyer located on land in the same place and his descendants are still to be found there.

Another early settlement was below Bay City, the prominent members of whom were, John Lewis, John L. Hickman, George B. Wood, and John Neely, who was the grandfather of the George W. Neely of Metropolis, with others not so well known outside there immediate neighborhoods. The above named parties purchased land from the government in the year 1817 and 1818, while the state of Illinois was still a territory.

Following the Ohio we come to Hamletsburg, which was named for Hamlet Ferguson, the first sheriff of the county, who was an early settler there, and entered land in 1814, that being the earliest year in which land entries were made in Pope county. Other early settlers were John C. Caldwell, John P. Givens, Reuben Smith and Julius Warwick, soon followed by John H. Smith, the first school commissioner of the county.

In an early day there was a path or trail leading from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia on the Mississippi, below St. Louis, which in the common parlance of the country was called "The Kaskatrace." This road, or pathway, crossed the Bay creek at the site of Green's old mill, and passing east of Columbus came to the bluff called the Massac Bluff, on account of its being the bluff nearest to Fort Massac, which could not be avoided. This bluff still retains the name.

On or near this old route from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia, south of Bay creek, in the bottoms, or flats, there was a settlement in an early day made by a Frenchman of some means. The date of his coming to that place cannot now be ascertained, but it must have been, if not the first settlement in the county, about the first. This is established by the fact that in clearing his farm, which was very heavily timbered, he had to get the soldiers from Fort Massac to come up and help him to pile the logs on his farm for burning.

This man's name was Charles Le Roy, and he was always known by that name. However his sons took the English equivalent and the family have since been known by the name of King. When Le Roy was building his house, which was a large log home, he needed lumber for floors and other purposes, but there were no saw mills, and no means of transportation by which lumber could be brought from other points. But the Frenchman was equal to the situation. He got his logs for the lumber and set them on end, confined them there, scaffolded up and set his boys on the scaffold, and with a cross-cut saw cut his lumber from top to bottom, and built his house, which was standing until a few years since, when it was torn down and removed.

Others came into the country, and settled near Mr. Le Roy. Among the prominent persons were Charles A. Shelby, who afterward lived in Massac county, Jacob Shelby, a brother, I believe; John Ditterline and James Green, who built and owned the mill, known as Green's old mill, where lumber was sawed and corn ground into meal for the use of the settlers. These men had means at their command and became prominent in the community.

Mr. Charles Shelby loaned money to a large number of persons who wished to enter government land. On one occasion a friend came to him to borrow fifty dollars with which to enter a tract of land, and, having obtained it, went to the land office at Shawneetown, and purchased the tract on which Mr. Shelby lived. He was aware that Mr. Shelby was occupying public land while loaning money to others, and thought he would perpetrate a practical joke upon him, and then give him a deed to the land in payment for the loan, but Mr. Shelby failed to see the joke, and becoming offended, bad blood was the result, and a long suit at law with heavy expenses was the end of the matter. John Ditterline lived in peace and died at a ripe age and left numerous descendants behind him, many of whom still live in the county.

James Green who was the builder and owner of the mill on the Bay creek-run by water power-came in an early day from the State of New York, and his saw and grist mill was the source of supply lumber and meal for a large extent of country, and was kept in operation after it was rebuilt several times on the same site. Mr. Green was a prominent citizen in the country, and was intelligent beyond the average of pioneers. He was often the chairman of public meetings, and his reputation was good. He died at the place on which he first located at a ripe age. While he stood fair as a man and a miller, he was a failure as the father of a family, being the father of the noted Hiram-or Hite-Green, who was a desperado, and was finally outlawed in the country. Mr. Green brought his mill machinery by flat boat to Golconda, and conveyed it from there over land to the site, about eight miles distant.

A circumstance occurred on landing, which, years later, had a tragic ending. One of the hands on the boat was named Cooper, and on the bank of the river at the landing were a number of persons watching the boat, among whom was a man by the name of Joiner, who, in the common parlance of the country, was called "a bully," being noted for his ability in the science of fisticuffs, the professors of which science had quite a reputation in those days.

Joiner, who was overbearing in his manner, began in an offensive way to give the hands on the boat, who were entire strangers, directions about making the landing. Cooper, who thought he knew sufficiently well how to bring in a boat, felt insulted at the language of Joiner, and replied testily, and was answered by a threat from Joiner, who could brook no impertinent words from another. Cooper told him to wait until the boat was secured, and upon his coming ashore the two men had a regular combat with the weapons furnished by nature. From this time, for a period of perhaps, twenty years, a fight between Cooper and Joiner was of no uncommon occurrence, and with variable results. Sometimes one, sometimes the other was worsted in the battle, until the men each hated, and feared the other. Finally Cooper pushed Joiner's gun aside and buried a saddler's hammer in his skull, thus ending the feud, which had existed so long between them. This was the first time that either had resorted to the use of weapons, as it was not considered an act of bravery to settle a difficulty with guns or knives, but by dexterity and strength of muscle.

Near the site of Green's old mill there is a very high cliff of rock, which at one point shelves out some seventy feet high, leaving under a cavern beneath it and extending back near one hundred feet, forming quite a shelter, and in which a large number of persons can be protected from the inclemency of the weather. In this cavern were a large number of human bones, which were found there as late as the forties. The bones were of men, women and children of various sizes, and evidently were the remains of savages. There is no knowledge of how or when they were left there, but there is an old tradition that a remnant of a tribe of Indians were driven from their homes, and taking this place for shelter, either perished by starvation or were pursued and massacred by their enemies.

Some three miles north of this point the bones of a man were found in the thirties, which were identified as the skeleton of a white man, murdered by an Indian guide who was piloting him from old Fort Massac to Kaskaskia. It was said that the traveler, a few days before starting, in a spree got the Indian guide into a nest of yellow jackets which stung him severely, and that the guide when he had him away from any assistance killed him in revenge. At any rate, the traveler never reached Kaskaskia, and the bones being found on the old trail between Fort Massac and Kaskaskia, gives color to the statement.

A large settlement, extending from near the village of Columbus eastward toward Golconda was founded at an early day which was destined to become an important factor in teh county of Pope, and had an influence over the surrounding country. Previous to 1815-exact date not known-James Alcorn, the ancestor of General Alcorn of Mississippi, located there. At or near the same time James Calvert and Francis Galss, Hezekiah Hale soon followed. This Mr. Hale was an ancestor on the mother's side of Judge Wm. P. Sloan, of Golconda. In 1817 or 1818, James Pittallo, a man of considerable means, emigrated from Scotland and located here. In 1819, John Hanna, with his seven sons, four of whom were heads of families, also George Hodge, David B. Glass, and B.F. Gavit, located in this settlement, which was for a time known as Hanna Hills, but more recently Hodgville.

These men were men of intelligence beyond mediocrity, and industrious and thrifty, soon subduing the forests and bringing the soil of cultivation, and producing sufficient to supply the wants of themselves and others were not so provident.

School houses were soon built and filled by the young people, and, while the teachers of that day would not generally compare favorably with those of the present, yet there were some early teachers very good and qualified, who were placed over the children.

There were schools in this settlement when there were none others in the county, and as a result it soon had advantages over others not so fortunate.

Sunday schools were organized early in the twenties, and children had moral and religious training as well as literary instructions. Those early pioneers in this settlement, early discovered the evils of using intoxocating liquor, and while in other parts of the county it was customary to have whisky at all gatherings, such as house-raisings, log rollings, and harvesting, in this settlement it was understood that no such refreshments would be furnished. The result was that the young men grew up sober, and became respectable citizens. That settlement, so began and so continued, has its fruits such as might be anticipated. There have been trained in that settlement seven ministers, seven physicians, and forty-five teachers in the public schools, several sheriffs, clerks of both circuit and county courts, a number of county treasurers and all the county surveyors since 1831, except eight years, to date. All those mentioned were good men, and, with the exception of Witt, have numerous descendants who yet reside in the country. A few years later, the settlement was strengthened by the acquisition of the Waters, the Evitts, the Veaches, and others of less note, but that settlement has been prominent in the public affairs of the county, and has furnished a man to fill nearly every office in the county, and has always had men of means and ability residing there.

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