Part 43 (1/2)
McLEAN COUNTY'S READINESS TO WELCOME HER CHILDREN--HONOR TO THE EARLY SETTLERS--BEAUTY OF THE COUNTY--ITS PROGRESS--ITS ORGANIZATION --PRAISE OF JOHN McLEAN--HIS CAREER IN CONGRESS, IN THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE, AND IN THE SENATE--McLEAN COUNTY'S HEROISM--REMINISCENCES OF THE OLD COURT-HOUSE--FRENCH EXPLORERS IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY --MARQUETTE AND JOLIET EXPLORE THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI--LA SALLE EXPLORES THE ST LAWRENCE, THE OHIO, AND THE MISSISSIPPI TO ITS MOUTH--EXTENT OF FRANCE'S POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA--THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN--GEORGE R CLARK CAPTURES KASKASKIA FROM THE BRITISH--VIRGINIA CEDES TERRITORY, INCLUDING ILLINOIS, TO THE UNITED STATES--THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE--ILLINOIS ORGANIZED-- SUMMARY OF SUCCEEDING EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF ILLINOIS
The McLean County (Illinois) ”Honificance to all Central Illinois On that occasion I delivered the welco address, as follows:
”These rare days in July ood county The authoritative proclaone forth that her house has been put in order, that the latch-string is out --all things in readiness--and that McLean County would welcoone out froenerous spirit in which the welcome was extended, it has been heeded, and from near and far, from the land of flowers and of frosts, froe, the Colorado, and the Platte, froolden shores of California, and 'where rolls the Oregon'--sons and daughters of this grand old county have gladly turned their footsteps horoeary and thy foot has grown sore, Remember the pathway that leads to our door'
”As in the ancient days all roads led to Rolorious month of June, all roads lead back to the old ho the tender one--to the little mounds where sleep the ashes of ancestral dead
”The 'Ho' to which you have been invited will leave its lasting impress upon all your hearts The kindly words that have been spoken, the cordial grasp of the hand, the unbidden tear, the hospitality extended, have all given assurance that you are welcome Here, for the time, let dull care and the perplexities that environ this htest otten; so that in the distant future, to those who return and to those who stay, the recollection of these days will be one of unalloyed pleasure; and so that, when in the years to come we tell over to our children of the return to the old home, this reunion will live in our memories as one that, like the old sun-dial, 'marked only the hours which shi+ne'
”No place so fitting for this ho could have been selected as this beautiful park, where the springing grass, transparent lake, and rove--'God's first te your return How, fro the years of your absence! No longer a frontier village, off the great highway of travel, with the e-coach or upon horseback,--as our fathers and possibly some who now hear me may have known it,--it is now 'no ht with pro-place for -place for saints
Whoever has walked these streets, known kinshi+p with this people, called this his home--wherever upon this old earth he may since have wandered--has in his betterthat no distance or lapse of time could dispel, to retrace his footsteps and stand once more within the sacred precincts of his early hoet wholly away frotonian, and no art of the enchanter can dissolve the spell 'Once in grace, always in grace,' whatever else y is exhausted when I say that this city is worthy to be the seat of justice of the grand old county of which it is a part
”Upon occasion such as this, the spirit of the past comes over us with its mystic power The years roll back, and splendid farnificent churches, and the marvellous appliances ofprairie, the log cabin nestling near the border-line of grove or forest, the old water-mill, the cross-roads store, the flintlock rifle, the h, the dinner-horn,--with notes sweeter than lute or harp ever knew,--are once more in visible presence
At such an hour little stretch of the i since vanished And what ti can ever coone before,--of the early settlers of this good county?
”It was frohest type--and such, indeed, were the pioneers Their early struggles, their sacrifices, all they suffered and endured, can never be fully disclosed But to theht not only view, but possess Froland, Ohio, the 'Keystone,' and the 'Empire' State, from the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah and the Co ard and to the south, came the men and women whose early homes were near the banks of the little strearoves Here they suffered the hardshi+ps and endured the privations that only the frontiersht know Here beneath humble roofs, their children were born and reared, and here froiving and praise The early settlers, the pioneers, the men who laid the foundations of what our eyes now behold, builded wisely and well Their descendants to-day are in large measure the beneficiaries of all that they so wisely planned, so patiently endured These nao down in our annals to the after times Peace to their ashes; to their uard--The builders--and faithfully and well they served their race and time Upon nobler men and women the sun in all his course hath nowhere looked down
”And where upon God's footstool can doood county be found; one better adapted to the habitation of civilized o, as if touched by the wand of rovesa population of less than two thousand at the tianization, there are ood county to-day The log cabin has given way to the comfortable home The value of farm lands and their products have increased beyond human forecast or dream
As shown by the last Governht hundred and seventy-three far seven hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred and seventy-eight acres The corn product for the year 1899 exceeded fifteennear one-twentieth of that of the entire State
In the value of its agricultural products it is third upon the list of counties in the United States
”The life of the farery and isolation
Modern conveniences and appliances have in large measure supplanted the hard labor of huht the occupant of the farm into closer touch with the outer world More than all this, our schoolhouses, universities, churches, and institutions for the relief of the unfortunate and dependent, all bear witness to the glad fact that in our ion, of charity, have not been forgotten It is our glory, that in all that tends to huress, in all that ministers to human distress, in whatever appeals to and develops what is best in s contentrand march of civilization--McLean Countycan arise in which briefly to speak of the organization of McLean County, and so of iislature at Vandalia in the winter of 1830-31, a petition--borne to the State capital by Tho for the organization of a new county to be taken from Tazewell and Vermilion The territory embraced in the proposed county included the present lianized at a later day In accordance with the petition, a bill was passed, and its approval by the Governor on the twenty-fifth day of Deceood county
”The name of 'McLean' was adopted upon the , some of whose kindred have forhad been the close friend of the man whose nauished Senator in Congress
”By the terms of the bill mentioned, the seat of justice of said county was to be 'called and known by the naton'
It was further provided that until otherwise ordered the courts of said county should be held at the house of James Allen The first term of the Circuit Court was held in April, 1831, at the place indicated, the historic 'Stipp House,' but recently standing, a pathetic ree of that court was the Hon Safield--an able and eislative enactanization, valuable portions of McLean--aggregating nearly four-sevenths of its original territory--have been carved in the forston, Piatt, De Witt, and Woodford Notwithstanding all this, McLean County yet remains--and by constitutional inhibition and the wisdoest county in the State
”A word now of the , in honor of whom this county was nauished of the first generation of public men in Illinois Born in North Carolina in 1791, his early years were spent in Kentucky In the last-named State he studied law and was admitted to the Bar He removed to Illinois in 1815 and located in Shawneetown upon the Ohio River for the practice of his profession The county of Gallatin, his future home, was then one of the most populous in the Illinois Territory In fact, at the tianization of the State, there were few important settlements one hundred ree Mr McLean was gifted with the qualities essential to popular leadershi+p in the new State He was present at all public assees whether convened for business or pasti spirit in all the amusements and sports of the hour
But 'men are as the time is' At all events, if the testimony of his contemporaries is to be taken, his popularity knew no bounds
The late General McClernand, his fellonsman, said of Mr
McLean:
”'His personality interested and iers in , and stately Socially, he was affable and genial, and his conversation sparkled it and hu words of another contemporary, Governor Reynolds, are of interest:
”'Mr McLean was a antic nified bearing His personality was large, and formed on that natural excellence which at all times attracted the attention and ador and coreat, and his eloquence flowed in torrents, deep, strong, and almost irresistible'