George M. Stubblefield

As printed in 1874

George M. Stubblefield, son of Robert Stubblefield, was named after a noted Methodist preacher in Ohio, named George Maley. George was born August 29, 1823, in Fayette County, Ohio. In December, 1824, the Stubblefield family came to Illinois, and George was carried in the arms of his mother, who rode on horseback. They settled in Funk's Grove, in what is now McLean County.

George Stubblefield remembers many things concerning the early settlement of the country, notwithstanding his extreme youth, when the family came to Illinois. He remembers the building of the first school-house in Funk's Grove, which was done by Robert Guthrie. Young George carried water for the men, while they were at work. The school-house was eighteen by twenty feet long, was made of logs hewed on one side, had a clapboard roof and a luncheon floor. On the north and west sides were windows which extended the whole length and with of the room. They were made by hewing off" one-half of two logs, which joined each other. The lights were formed by placing sticks upright and putting over them paper greased with lard.

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On the east side of the buikling was a fire-place, which was large enough to receive a log eight feet long. It wsrn in this house, that George Stubbleiield received what education he obtained. During the winter of the deep snow the teacher in this school-house, Andrew Biggs, was obliged to move up to it and live there. The Stubblefields lived about a mile from the school-house, and Mr. Stubbleiield was obliged to go back and forth once a day until it stopped showing, in order to keep the road broken. This old school-house has long since been torn down, and has gone with the old settlers, who built it. A fine church has been erected on the spot, and Funk's Grove Cemetery is near by.

When George Stubblefield became old enough to be " of some account," it was his business to go to mill. He was accustomed to go to Knapp's mill, near Waynesville. In 1836 he went with his father to Chicago with a load of sweet potatoes and a barrel of eggs. There he saw his uncle, Absalom Funk, who was so well known to the early settlers. Chicago then had no houses north of the river. The latter was simply a large muddy slough full of flags and bullrushes. The United States still kept a garrison at Fort Dearborn. The Indians were plenty, as during that fall a payment was to be made to them by the government. On the road to Chicago, George Stubblefield passed through Joliet, which then contained only two houses.

The sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, is often described. Mr. Stubblefield remembers another change, which seemed nearly as severe. In about the year 1848, as he and his brother Absalom and three others were going to Pekin with a drove of swine, the weather turned cold at about nine o'clock at night, after a rain or heavy mist. The next morning they crossed Mosquito Creek on the ice, which had frozen during the night. The prairie was a sheet of ice, and though they traveled with their swine from sunrise to sunset, their entire day's journey was only three miles.

Mr. Stubblefield has seen prairie fires, of course, but they were protected by Sugar Creek, which the fires never jumped but once.

At the early age of fifteen, George Stubblefield was quite a lady's man, and often went to see the girlish friend, who afterwards became Mrs. Stubblefield. The first deer he killed was

\\thin a few rods of her father's door. It mil be noticed, that the young men in those days won the favor of women by many exercises. He chased this deer with hounds, which brought it down near the door of the house of Samuel Murphy, and George killed it with his pocket-knife. George Stubblefield was a gallant young man, and was always moved by beauty in distress. He was once delighted at the opportunity of rescuing a lady, who had fallen from a log into Sugar Creek, into eight feet of water. This, however, cannot be made the subject of a romance, for he never married her, and never will.

The western country was never too new for peddlers, and Mr. Stubblefield remembers when they came round with their tinware, teapots and peter spoons, which they traded for deer skins, wolf skins, and ginseng. He has spent many a day in digging ginseng, in order to purchase some little trinket.

The settlers from Funk's Grove often did their trading in Springfield, and it was customary for them to do trading for their neighbors, and take their neighbors' produce to market. Mr. Stubblefield remembers a certain Mr. Alloway, who took some butter, which belonged to a neighbor, to Springfield to sell. The butter was rather old, and when the. merchant, who was to buy it, tried it with his knife, the butter crumbled to pieces. Alloway looked on with astonishment, and exclaimed with his lisping tongue: " My God, Mither, that's not my butter !"

The old settlers were usually full of energy and nearly all things related of them show their industry and activity; but Mr. Stubblefield relates an incident of David Stout, which shows quite a contrary disposition. The latter was once returning home from Springfield with a blanket wrapped around him and tied to his neck with a string. By some accident it fell to the ground. He did not stop to pick it up, but went home and sent back his son for it, a distance of several miles.

Mr. Stubblefield remembers a great many interesting incidents concerning the old settlers, and particularly those which were humorous. He tells one of his uncle, Isaac Funk, which shows the disposition of that energetic man quite plainly. When Mr. Isaac Funk went to call on Miss Cassandra Sharp, of Peoria, who afterwards became his wife, he was obliged to cross the Elinois River in a boat. Several others were with him, and they m'lean county. 725 determined to upset the boat and make him call on his lady in wet clothes. They knew he could not swim, but supposed he would cling to the boat. ISTear the middle of the river the boat was capsized, but floated out of Isaac's reach. But he fortunately grasped a paddle, and whenever he went down, he struck the paddle on the bottom of the river and pressed himself near shore and at last came out in safety.

George Stubblefield tells an incident, which shows something of the disposition of his father, old Robert Stubblefield. Two young men once came to Robert Stubblefield's house and remained over night. They were not at all respectful, and in the morning Mrs., Stubblefield gave them some good advice, and a motherly lecture on the subject of good breeding. One of the young men, as he was leaving the house, disputed her word — told her she lied ! Mr. Stubblefield, who was coming in, heard the remark. He stepped into a shed near by, picked up his horsewhip and caught the young men, as they mounted their horses in a lane, where they could not get out. He was left-handed, but he dusted their jackets fearfully, and almost split their coats from their backs. This whipping made up for what the young men failed to receive in their younger days. Several persons witnessed the performance, and a man, named Mulky, laughed so hard that he was obliged to hold himself up by the fence.

Among the funny stories told by Mr. Stubblefield is one relating to a widow, who lived at Funk's Grove. A doctor in Bloomington occasionally paid his respects to this charmingwidow, and called twice to see her on the important subject of matrimony. Shortly afterwards, one of her family was sick, and she sent for the doctor on professional services, and when he had given her child some medicine, she inquired his bill, and he said, 'two dollars." "Well," said the widow, "Dr. Wheeler, you have called on me twice and stayed two evenings, and your bill is two dollars; I guess we will call it settled 1" Dr. Wheeler went back to Bloomington with a number of large fleas hopping around his ears.

The young men in the early days were " sometimes up to their papers." Mr. Stubblefield tells of two young men from near Waynesville, who were in the habit of coming to Funk's Grove to steal apples from Robert Funk. These young men wished

James Biggs and Jolin Vesey to assist them, and the assistance was promised. But the latter gentlemen made arrangements wth other parties to be in the orchard and fire when the apple thieves should come. In the night the party came and filled a couple of sacks with apples, and Biggs proposed to whistle up "Old Bobby," as they called Mr. Funk. When he whistled a gun was fired, and Biggs fell, saying: " Run for your lives !" The parties ran, leaning sacks and apples, and as they mounted their horses a second shot was fired, and Vesey fell, saying: "Run, boys, run !" The apple thieves obeyed the injunction. They stopped at the widow Brock's, about four miles distant, and reported Biggs and Yesey killed, Imt the latter appeared in good spirits the next morning- The young men from Waynesville neglected to call at "Old Bobbv's" to e-et their sacks.

Mr. Stubblefield tells a good story on his brother Absalom. Absalom, John and George once went to bathe in the east fork of Sugar Creek. Absalom went in and was carried down by the current, to where the water was deep; and as he could not swim he floundered and flashed, until he reached the opposite shore. He came out puffing, and soon the troublesome question arose, how to return. He dared not go into the creek again, and it was a mile or more to the nearest crossing. In the meantime the flies and mosquitoes swarmed around and almost covered him. He slapped them right and left, and in his anguish exclaimed: "I never will go into the water again until I learn to S'\\dm !" He was obliged to walk a mile or more up the creek to the crossing, and then back to the place of bathing.

As printed in The good old times in McLean County, Illinois / containing two hundred and sixty-one sketches of old settlers, a complete historical sketch of the Black Hawk War and ... all matters of interest relate (1874). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.