THE PRICES OF LANDS IN MOLEAN COUNTY. The prices of farm lands vary greatly with the improvements on the lands. To get at the intrinsic value of the lands exclusive of improvements is somewhat difficult. The sale of the school lands, the sixteenth section, furnishes a good index of the value of unimproved lands in this county. In the order of their sales they are as follows: Town Danvers... T. 24, R. 1, W., 640 acres, 27 Sept., 1833... Randolph.. T. 22, R. 2, E., 440 acres, 30 Nov., 1836. Dale Dale Dale Hudson Hudson T. 23, R. 1, E., 120 acres, 26 May, 1849............. Amount. Per Acre. ..... ............. ............ ..... T. 24, R. 5. E 641.54 acres, 14 July, 1853 T. 24, R. 2, E., $9.84 acres, 6 Nov., 1852........................................ T. 22, R. 8. E.. 645.78 acres, 18 May, 1850........ ........... 1,291 06 201 2,414 52 373 1,641 34 255 1,215 98 467 1,307 21 4 29 464 19 577 Dry Grove. Dry Grove.... Towanda... T. 23. R. 1. E., 440 acres, 28 Sept., 1850........... Towanda.. Allin Normal Yates.. The examination of the probate files of McLean county from which the above paper was prepared, was confined to the subject of prices. These files are in excellent condition, all jacketed, arranged in chronological order and indexed, so that any paper is easily found. They deserve a much more extended examination than is here given them. Everything the deceased owned, from old horse shoes to the horse, the number of beds and quilts, crocks and jars, plates, cups and saucers, the whole furniture of the house, stock of all kinds, grain, books (if they had any), are all minutely appraised and sold. The accounts proved up show what people ate and what tools they used and clothes they wore, the books they read and frequently the church to which they belonged, the prices for labor, etc. If the probate files of some of our older counties, like St. Clair, Randolph or Monroe, are in a condition to be examined from the organization of the counties, the State Historical Society should undertake a full and careful examination of them, as they would furnish a more detailed and exact history of the people and the county selected than is elsewhere to be obtained. From the organization of McLean county until about 1842 or 1843 was an era of expanded credit. During that time long accounts of merchants were universal. After that time the credits were so restricted that for several years mercantile accounts were very short, customers either paying in cash or settling with short time notes. The full force of the panic of 1837 evidently did not reach this county until after 1840. About 1854 credits became more common, but not so extended as those of the 30s. The pioneers of McLean county were not a rich people; they evidently took life more easily than their children. They had few books, the majority none at all; few had any beyond the Bible and the hymnal of their church. James McGouch, an early Presbyterian minister, had a collection of 500 volumes of the literature of his church, a rather remarkable collection to be found in a little village of a dozen families, and William French, the abolitionist of Randolphs, had 41 volumes, amongst them Uncle Tom's Cabin. Nearly everyone kept sheep, but the flocks were small, seldom exceeding 25, apparently enough to furnish wool for the consumption of the family. Nathan Low had a flock of 266 sheep and William Bishop 1,468. All the other flocks were small. The number of large and little wheels were few, and the looms fewer still. This, I think, must have been due to the fact that the houses of the early settlers were mostly one or two room log cabins, crowded to find room for the large families, and those that did not have wheels borrowed of their more fortunate neighbors, and by the time they moved into larger houses clothes and cloth manufactured by the family were superseded by those furnished by the merchant. The prices of groceries fluctuated less than dry goods. Salt was $5.00 a barrel until about 1845, when it was $3.00 to $3.50; in 1853 it had fallen to $2.75. Coffee and sugar were most stable in price of any commodities, about 20 and 10 cents for many years. Eggs were usually 6 cents a dozen, and butter from 5 to 12 cents. Cloth varied greatly in price, calico 19 and 37 cents in 1831 to 44 cents in 1833; in 1851, 184 cents, and in 1853, 8 cents. Shoes usually $1 50 to $2.00, and wood 373 cents to $1.00 a cord. Judging from these accounts coffee and sugar were universal articles of diet as early as 1831. From the amount of sugar charged in these accounts, the bee gums that nearly everyone had, one man having 20, the amount of wild honey in the groves, and the maple sugar, of which so many of the pioneers speak, I judge that the old settler had a very sweet tooth. The men of McLean county were evidently a temperate class, for in only five of the 92 estates do I find any charge for intoxicating liquors. It is always interesting to note the first appearance of articles in a community. I find in the accounts the following: In 1831 paper of pins, in 1832 silk handkerchief and fur hat, in 1834 wall paper, in 1835 patent_thread and paper 75 cents a quire, paper of tacks 50 cents, 1839 Durham bull, 1840 two dozen quills 63 cents, 1841 cook stove and lead pencils, 1843 rag carpeting, 1848 blacking, 1852 reaper, 1859 mowing machine and the "underground ditch" or mole tile. Of course many of these articles may have been in use in the county before these respective dates. It is the first time they appear in these accounts. ADDRESSES DELIVERED IN THE Hall of the House of Representatives BY THE HON. WILLIAM BROWN, A. M. Professor of Political Economy and Constitutional Law in the McKendree College. For the purpose, among other things, of exhibiting the importance of education (including a knowledge of the principles of Government, as understood by us) to a proper discharge of the duties of a citizen of the United States. FIVE THOUSAND COPIES ORDered to BE PRINTED. VANDALIA, ILLINOIS: WILLIAM HODGE, PRINTER. 1839. |