REUBEN SPICER

 

REUBEN H. SPICER, Sr., was born in the town of Kent , county of Litchfield , state of Connecticut , June 24, 1810 . In 1819 his father removed to western New York, then a new country. The schools there at that day were of the frontier type, but such as they were Mr. Spicer had the privilege of attending from two to three months during the year.

Such was the advantage lie took of the limited opportunities that at the age of fourteen he was spoken of for a teacher. Daboll's arithmetic, Webster's spelling book, with writing, comprised the entire curriculum of the common school then, but through the partiality of one or two teachers and a Baptist minister, Mr. Spicer was enabled to go a little beyond the standard course and obtain an introduction to mathematics, geography and grammar. At the age of eighteen he left the home farm at his father's suggestion, and spent some time in southern New York and northern Pennsylvania, which being an older settled portion of the country, brought him in contact with a higher grade of society, and better opportunities to gratify his ardent desire for knowledge and self-improvement.

One of the first steps taken by him was to form a temperance society of one, for at that time the use of liquor was almost universal, standing upon the sideboard of every well- to-do gentleman, and in the closets of poorer people ; greeting the guest upon arrival and following his departure as a stirrup cup. Seeing the degradation and misery which too frequently resulted, especially among young men, from the use of intoxicating liquors, he resolved to deny himself the use, and faithfully did he adhere to that resolution, and now as he reviews his past life lie does not hesitate to award to that resolve the credit for his being a better man and more useful citizen than he could have been with the associations of those who had a greater fondness for liquor and smoke than for mental culture.

After traveling considerably through the middle, some of the southern and eastern states, in the fall of 1831 he went to Michigan, the only new country then thought to be habitable, with the expectation of making it his home. He spent the winter in Ann Arbor, then a flourishing town with good society. Early next spring with a pony he started out and during the season traversed the territory in various directions, Indian trails being the substitute for roads. Indians were numerous and he often found them useful in mapping the geography of the country for him ; with their ramrods tracing in the sand the course of trails, rivers, ravines and sloughs, and marking the crossings, all with an unerring accuracy that would have done honor to a learned professor.

While stopping for the night at Bronson, now Kalamazoo, in the early summer, the people were aroused to great excitement by the arrival of a messenger announcing the breaking out of the Black Hawk war, and claiming to have been sent for aid to arrest the advance of the hostiles, which was represented to be rapid and not far distant. The people were panic stricken; old men and women traversed the streets wringing their hands, not knowing which way to turn for safety. Mr. Spicer's destination, Prairie Ronde, now Schoolcraft, led him directly toward the advancing foe, and he resumed his journey next morning against the earnest protests of the people of the village. He made the journey in safety, transacted his business, and, returning on the second day met the volunteers en route for the seat of war. Among them was every man from the Gull Prairie settlement, where he had been stopping, even Deacon Mills, the old man of the settlement, with whom Mr. Spicer had been boarding. By taking his place in the ranks Mr. Spicer induced the deacon to return to his home, and thus he was led into making a campaign in the Black Hawk war.

With the desire for a higher education as strong as ever, he returned east in the fall of 1832, and at the age of twenty-two began that course of education that most young men now finish before that age. For two years he applied himself with untiring assiduity to his studies. In the spring of 1835 he again started west, this time with Texas as his objective point, that state being engaged at that time in the struggle to free itself from Mexican rule. Arrived at Cincinnati he found the funds too low to proceed farther, so crossed over to Kentucky and pro­cured a situation in a school and began to teach. He applied himself with such diligence in his new profession that he soon found himself at the head of one of the most flourishing local schools of the state. Two years of such intense application told upon his health, and he was forced to give up his school. In the spring of 1537 he married Miss Sophia Whitehead, of Covington, Ky., who was a native of London, England, and they started at once for Illinois.

Arrived at Peoria he found speculation a mania, corner lots selling far up in the thousands. After inspecting the country about Peoria, he proceeded up the river to Peru, thence to Aux Plaines and Chicago. While stopping with a brother at Aux Plaines he incidentally heard of a wonderfully fertile country bordering on the Mississippi south of Rock river. A place where a man of small means had a chance to become the peer of his neighbor with no greater means. Chancing to meet a former acquaint­ ance from the east, he started for the new Eldorado on foot, there being few inducements then for even stage lines to traverse the trackless prairies. After viewing the country he purchased a claim that is now embraced within the limits of his farm. He returned to his claim with his wife in July.

The improvements on the claim consisted of two acres broken and a log cabin erected, 14 x 16 feet dimension, with a place cut fir a door and a fire-place, and a place 6 X8 feet in one corner covered by a puncheon floor. Mr. Spicer, writing of this cabin, says : "This domicile had its conveniences. First, it was well ventilated, then the open door and fire-place made ample provision for the easy ingress and egress of itinerant dogs and prowling wolves, the latter being much the more numerous." Speaking of these times Mr. Spicer remarked that "Political organizations at this time had not disturbed the unity of the settlements. In 1835 the first breeze, faint, but yet perceptible, swept over these prairies. In 1840 the invader arrived and the two parties, democrat and . whig, for the first time measured their strength." Mr. Spicer was a democrat, and though he foresaw that the probabilities were against that party acquiring a per­manent ascendency, he preferred to be right in his own estimation rather than yield his opinion to expediency.

In 1841 he was sent as delegate to the state convention; the first delegate of either party from the county to a state convention. He found some difficulty in making the geographical location of the county Imown. In answer to questions as to its whereabouts, he replied that "Time would make it known as one of the first counties of the state." This was received with very incredulous smiles. He there formed the acquaintance of many of the prominent men of the state, which became a source of much pleasure to him in after years. In 1843 he was elected to the legislature from the district composed of the counties of Mercer and Knox. In 1848 he was put in nomination for the state senate for the district composed of Mercer, Rock Island, Henry, Knox, Warren and Henderson counties. The canvass of that year was the most spirited in this section up to that time ; Gov. Joseph B. Wells and Col. E. D. Baker, candidate for congress, participated.

By the defection of a small portion of his party in Knox county he was defeated. This virtually closed his political career, as impediments beyond his control prevented his taking any further part in that direction. Yet in 1851, without his consent or knowledge even, he was again put in nomination for the same office, to fill a vacancy. His business arrangements were such then that he could not accept it and took no part in the canvass. He has always been an earnest advocate of the public schools, laboring officially and individually for their improvement, having served over twenty years as a school officer in his district and township. At the breaking out of the rebellion he was among the first to advocate its suppression, believing that the union must and should be preserved. Loss of hearing has for many years been a serious obstacle to the transaction of business, and still greater to the enjoyment of social intercourse, for which he is so eminently qualified, and from which he would derive such great pleasure.

Naturally of a studious disposition, this deprivation has caused him to turn more of his attention to books, and especially in that greatest of all books, the book of nature, where he finds his greatest solace. His father was a man. of more than ordinary energy, and had executive faculties of a high order. .Starting with a very imperfect education, he made his way through life a success. Frequently having large busi­ness operations under his supervision, he won the confidence of an ex­ tended circle of friends. He held many of the local offices of his county, and when over sixty years of age removed from New York to the vicinity of Lawrence, Kansas, for the benefit of his younger children. The climate and change seemed to affect hiS health, but he lived to reach nearly four score years. His grandfather gave his services to his country during the entire period of the revolutionary war. His grandmother resided at New London , Connecticut , at ;the time Arnold invaded that place, but was of those who escaped to the hills in the rear of the place. Mr. Spicer's first , claim and residence was on the S. E. of the S. E. of section 25, in Greene township; his present residence was not built until 1841, and is on the N. W. of the S. W. of section 30, in Rivoli township.

Of the ten children, nine are living: Sarah A. (wife of C. V. Shove, Viola, Illinois ); S. Augusta (wife of Wm. C. Garrett, farmer, Rivoli township); E. Levis (member of Co. H, 84th III. Vol. Tnf., was mortally wounded at the battle of Stone river, Tennessee, and was buried in the cemetery at Nashville); Talbut T. (former, married daughter of Elihu Rathbun, lives near Chariton, Iowa); Charles F. (senior partner of firm of Spicer Gilmore, dealers in agricultural implements, ...Aledo, Illinois); Lucy A.; Reuben H., Jr. (married to Laura C., youngest daughter of L. W. Conger, now of Putnam. county, Missouri); Franklin P.; Minnie I. (wife of John L. Stewart, farmer, Rivoli township); and Mary E.

History of Mercer and Henderson Counties

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