Pages 66-70

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Amongst the early pioneers of Fulton county there was one man whose name the historians of the county have failed to mention, who, to my mind, was one of the most enterprising men in the county, and for the first fifteen or twenty years of the county’s settlement did more to develop and improve its resources than any other citizen.

His name was John Coleman. He moved from New Jersey to Fulton county in 1827, coming the entire distance in two and

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four-horse wagons. He bought a half-section (320 acres) of land a half mile north of the then hamlet of Canton. He was a large man, weighing some 200 pounds, and his wife was a large woman. They had five sons and three daughters. They were all industrious, good workers, and in a few years they had in cultivation the largest and best farm in Fulton county. They planted out a good orchard, and located on the farm a blacksmith shop and horse-mill, and also a dairy for the manufacture of butter and cheese. While living in New Jersey Mr. Coleman had carried on the business of manufacturing axes, and when he got his shop started he continued the business of making axes, and they were probably the first axes that were manufactured in the state. His axes were all stamped with the name "John Coleman," and were warranted that if an ax broke with proper usage he’d either mend it or replace it with a new one. He found a good sale for them. It was a good thing for the people that such a man had settled among them. He also brought with him a stock of dry goods, which were the first goods brought to the vicinity of Canton, and the next stock brought to the county after the Phelpses had opened a store at Lewistown.

There were some little circumstances that happened about the time that the Coleman family came to the county I will mention. They crossed the Illinois river at Havana and came up through Lewistown and camped near my father’s house, who then lived north of Lewistown, where Major Walker now lives. Mr. Coleman came to the house to buy some corn and hay to feed their horses, and my father enquired where they came from, and he replied from New Jersey; and when my mother learned that they had come from New Jersey, she became interested in them, as that was her native state, having been born and raised there. And she invited him to bring his wife and stay in the house over night. He remarked that they had not slept inside of a house since they left New Jersey; that they camped out and slept in their wagons. But they came over and spent the evening talking over New Jersey with my mother, and stayed all night. The next morning Mr. Coleman, in looking over my father’s stock of cattle, took quite a liking to a large yoke of oxen that he had and

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proposed buying them. My father told him he could have them for $40. He said he would take them if he could pay for them in goods; that he had brought along a stock of goods; that they were packed away in his wagons, and that he did not want to open them until he got some buildings put up, which he thought would take him five or six weeks. So my father let him have the oxen, agreeing to trade them out after he got his store opened. So in about six or seven weeks my mother concluded that she would go up and trade out the price of the oxen, and as my father was engaged at the time, and could not go with her, she got a young man named Silas Chase, a son of old Esq. Stephen Chase who lived in Lewistown, to go with her and drive the horse and buggy. They got along all right until they got to the Big Creek hill, which was about half mile long. The timber all the way down the hill had stood densely thick, and a narrow road had been cut out between the trees just wide enough for a wagon to pass. As there were but few people at that time to do road work, the trees had been cut to make the roadway and stumps left standing in the road. My mother had taken my youngest brother, Pike, along with her. He was between two and three years old. Just as they started down the hill some of the harness broke and let the single-tree strike the legs of the horse, which frightened him terribly, and he ran with all the speed that was in him down the hill my mother expecting every moment that the buggy would strike a stump or a tree and dash them all to the earth. When they had got about half way down the hill she gathered little Pike and lifted him over the hind end of the buggy, holding him by one arm until his feet touched the ground, and then dropped him the horse running all the way down the hill as hard as he could tear. The young man could not hold him, but endeavored to guide him so as to miss the stumps and trees. When they got to the foot of the hill the horse plunged across Big Creek just below Ellis’ mill dam. The water was about three feet deep, which checked the speed of the horse, and as he ascended the opposite bank the driver stopped him. Young Chase then got out, tied up the broken harness, and then turned around and drove across the creek to go and hunt for the boy. They met him

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coming toddling along down the hill, and all right. That was his first ride, and he probably thought that that was the way the thing had to be done. They took him in and crossed the creek again and started on their way to Coleman’s.

When they got there they found that he had put up two log houses, with a hall running between them, with a door opening from the hall into each of the houses. One of the houses was intended for a store and a bedroom, and the other for a dwelling.

They had not had time to put up any counters and shelves, but had erected in the storeroom three bedsteads, and the goods had been unloaded from the wagons and piled under the beds. They had one son called Jerry, who was lame, but could assist in the store; and when my mother would call for an article of goods Jerry would be sent under the bed to hunt it up. She said that she thought that Jerry had been sent under the beds at least twenty times for goods by the time she got done trading.

A short time after the Coleman family came to the county their oldest daughter, Joanna, was united in marriage to Thomas Wolf, and they settled about four miles east of Canton. They were all industrious, good farmers, and made number one good citizens.

There were some things rather remarkable about John Coleman in regard to his financial operations. At that time there were no such institutions in the county as banks or banking houses, and Mr. Coleman answered very well the need of such an institution, for if a man came into the county with money that he did not want to use, Mr. Coleman would always take it of him if he could get it at five or six per cent interest; and if another man came along that wanted to borrow some money, Mr. Coleman always accommodated him if he would pay ten to twelve per cent interest, and could give the requisite security. There was no doubt but that he saved many a man from having his land sold for taxes, or property sold for debt, by loaning him money. So he was certainly a benefactor to the community in which he lived. It was well known that he handled a good deal of money, and the great query was where he kept it, for at that time there was no such thing in existence as an iron safe to keep money in.

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But it was told by some that had done business with him that he had made an iron box, as he was a blacksmith, and kept his money in that, and had it secreted under his bedroom floor; and when he wanted to have access to his money, all that he had to do was to pull up a puncheon of the floor and take out the iron box.

Mr. Coleman was regarded by his neighbors as a very honorable and just man in all of his dealings, and his word was considered as good as his bond.

But there came a time when he had to pass through one of the most tragical and awful ordeals that had ever happened to him during all of his long and honorable and useful life. It was on the occasion of what was called "Westerfield’s Defeat," a terrible Indian scare that took place at Canton during the Blackhawk War. The cause of the terrible Indian fight, and the stampede of the people that followed it, and the prominent part that Mr. Coleman took in the affair, I will have to leave for my next letter.

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