Introduction |
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HISTORY is but a record of the life and career of
people and nations; and the historian, in rescuing from oblivion the
life of a nation, or a particular people, should "nothing extenuate,
nor set down aught in malice," myths, however beautiful, are at their
best but fanciful; traditions, however pleasing, are uncertain; and
legends, though the very essence of poesy, are unauthentic. The
novelist will take the most fragile thread of vivid imagination, and
from it weave a fabric of surpassing beauty. But the historian should
place his feet upon the solid basis of fact, and, turning a deaf
ear to the allurements of fancy, and sift with careful and painstaking
scrutiny, the evidence brought before him, and upon which he is to give
the record of what has been. Standing, as be does, down the stream of
time, far removed from its source, he must retrace, with patience and
care, its meanderings, guided by the relics of the past which lie upon
its shores, growing fainter and still more faint and uncertain as he
nears its fountain, ofttimes concealed in the debris of ages, and in
mists and darkness impenetrable. Written records grow less and less
explicit, and finally fail altogether, as he approaches the beginning of
the community whose life he is seeking to rescue from the gloom of a
rapidly receding past. Memory, wonderful as are its powers, is yet frequently at fault; and only by a comparison of its many aggregations can he be satisfied that be is pursuing stable-footed truth in his researches amid the early paths of his subject. It cannot then be unimportant or uninteresting to trace the progress of Shelby and Moultrie's gratifying development, from their crude beginnings to their present proud positions among their sister counties. And therefore we were to gather the scattered and loosening threads of the past into a compact web of the present, ere they become hopelessly broken and lost, and with a trust that the harmony of our work may speak with no uncertain sound to the future. Records will be traced so far as they may yield the information sought; the memories of the pioneer will be laid under tribute; the manuscripts of the provident will give their contributions and all sources will be called into requisition to furnish material, reliable and certain, to bring forth a truthful history of these counties. Individual success is a proof of triumphant energy, and pledges a like career to corresponding enterprises; therefore, biographies of earnest, successful representative lives, intimately connected with the development of these counties, will illustrate what energy, determination, and indomitable will have hitherto accomplished, and can yet accomplish; to foster local ties, to furnish examples of heroism, to exhibit the results of well-applied industry, and to mark the progress of the community, literature, art, and topography (an attractive trio are freely employed to embellish and render invaluable a practical and interesting work). In prosecuting our enterprise, we shall essay, first, something of the history of the Northwest Territory, and of the state of Illinois in its early settlement, with a brief sketch of the title to the fee of the millions of acres of prolific soil within its splendid domain. Then will follow in their order an account of Shelby and Moultrie counties, from their earliest settlement, up to and including the present, showing their surprising development in agriculture, trade, manufactures, political influence, population and wealth, not forgetting to do honor to the brave men, of all political faiths, who rallied to the common defense of the country when armed treason raised its bloody hand against the national life, and who bore the banner of the Prairie state through the carnage of many hard-fought fields, onward to ultimate triumph. Brief histories of the several townships and villages composing the respective counties will follow, wherein will appear the names of the early settlers, and the more important events, interspersed with incidents, humorous and sad, which invariably attach to border life, but which, however graphically they may be told, cannot give to us of the present day, who have come into our pleasant places through the toils and privations of the pioneers, any realizing sense of the rugged, thorny paths those heroes and heroines patiently and hopefully trod for many long weary years. Now, kind reader, we leave ourselves in your hands. Read our work carefully, judge it charitably, and pronounce not against it until time shall afford an opportunity of testing its merits.
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