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Overview
During territorial times and early statehood, southern Illinois was the most populous and most influential part of the state. But the advent of the steamboat and the building of the National Road made the lands to the west and north more easily accessible, and the later settlers struck out for the more expansive and fertile prairies. The effect of this movement was to isolate that section of the state known as Egypt and halt its development, creating what Allen termed “an historical eddy.” Bypassed as it was by the main current of westward expansion and economic growth, its culture changed very slowly. Methods, practices, and the tools of the pioneer continued in use for a long time. The improved highways and better means of communication of the twentieth century brought a marked change upon the region, and daily life no longer differed materially from that of other areas.
Against such a cultural and historical backdrop, Mr. Allen wrote these sketches of the people of southern Illinois—of their folkways and beliefs, their endeavors, successes, failures, and tragedies, and of the land to which they came. There are stories here of slaves and their masters, criminals, wandering peddlers, politicians, law courts and vigilantes, and of boat races on the rivers. Allen also looks at the region’s earlier history, describing American Indian ruins, monuments, and artifacts as well as the native population’s encounters with European settlers.
Many of the vestiges of the region’s past culture have all but disappeared, surviving only in museums and in the written record. This new paperback edition of Legends & Lore of Southern Illinois brings that past culture to life again in Allen’s descriptive, engaging style.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780809329670 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Southern Illinois University Press |
| Publication date: | 02/24/2010 |
| Series: | Shawnee Classics |
| Pages: | 440 |
| Sales rank: | 1,050,229 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xvii
1 Individuals 3
Washington Never Slept Here
Thomas Posey
Pierre Menard
Conrad Will
A Broken Friendship
Dr. George Fisher
James Hall
Ned Buntline
Lafayette
Two Confederates
Lincoln at Jonesboro
Lincoln for President
Ann Rutledge
John A. Logan
The Great Agnostic
William Jennings Bryan
Senator Borah
William Newby
2 Names 40
Egypt and Suckers
Places Must Have Names
Counties and County Seats
A Migrant County Seat
3 Folklore 52
By Word of Mouth
A Phantom Funeral
Witches
Lakey's Ghost
Birds, Beasts, Insects, and Weather
Frogs and Toads
Roosters
Winter Weather
Snow
Thunder and Lightning
The Moon Is Being Ignored
Tall Tales
A Coon Tree
The First of May
Advice for the Lovelorn
June Weddings
Shivaree
Home Remedies
Snake Bites
Warts
Madstone
Signs of the Zodiac
Water Witching
Alan Bane
Doors
4 Indians 99
Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Toolshed
Indian Pictures and Inscriptions
Forts or Pounds?
Bird of Evil Spirit
Legend of Tower Rock
Pontiac
William Biggs
Who Killed Tecumseh?
The Trail of Tears
5 Early Travel 117
The First Roadways
Land of Goshen
Hazards of Travel
The Legend of Willie Potts
End of a Long Trail
Halfway House
Covered Bridges
Livery Stables
6 Early Business Activities 132
The Gallatin Salines
Half Moon Lick
Coal
A Mining Camp
Kaolin
Iron
Oil
The Santa Fe Trail
Merchant Prince
Sellers' Landing
Pack Peddlers
Itinerant Craftsmen
Shawneetown Banks
7 Farm Life 156
Marking Livestock
Stock Drives
Hog-Killing Time
Soft Soap
Holing Up Food for Winter
Sassafras Tea and Sallet
Foraging Boys
Gritted Meal
Sorghum
Persimmons
Egyptian Cotton
Tobacco
Castor Oil
Rail Fences
Hedge Fences
Farmer's Union
8 Early Schools 185
Rectorville School
Other Kinds of Teachers
Illinois' First Academy
Shiloh College
One Hundred Years as a College Town
Changes at Southern
A Female Seminary
The College at Creal Springs
Hayward College
The College in the Hills
A Many-Sided School
The First Teachers' Union
A Night on the Old School Ground
9 Holidays 213
The New Year's Ancient Customs
The Early French Were a Jolly Lot
Saint Valentine's Day
All Fools Day
Memorial Day
Thanksgiving
Christmas on the Cache
Christmas Lore
10 Churches 231
Our Oldest Church
Peter Cartwright
Moravians
Mormons
11 Law & Order 240
Punishments
Scrambled Records and Speedy Justice
Old Jails
Flatheads and Regulators
People Disliked Horse Thieves
Self-Defense
A Duel
12 Slavery & Servitude 254
Early Slavery
Slave Laws and Practices
Binding Out
Priscilla
Black John
A Quiet Railroad
Monument to a Slave's Master
Abolitionist Lovejoy
Old Slave House
Emancipation Day
13 The Military 272
Fort de Chartres
Fort Massac
An Incredible March
Lewis and Clark at Wood River
A Mexican War Diary
Fort Defiance
A Legend of the Civil War
Mound City National Cemetery
There Were No Neutrals
Grand Army of the Republic
Soldiers' Reunions
14 Along the Rivers 299
Boats that Seldom Returned
The King of the Keelboatmen
Ferries
Showboats
Shipways
The Shipyard Bell
The Six Sultanas
The "Lee" and the "Natchez"
15 Landmarks 313
The Devil's Bake Oven
Big Hill
An Abandoned Mausoleum
A Deserted Cemetery
The Henson House
An Oversized Washstand
A Boy Carves His Name
Millstone Knob
Brickey House
Wiley-Rosson Home
Rose Hotel
The Jarrot Mansion
Our Oldest Courthouse
16 Towns-Old & Older 336
A Shifting River Dooms a Town
Bowlesville
Vanished Ewington
Bainbridge
Brownsville
Elvira
Palmyra
America
A Vanished City
Elizabethtown
Cobden
Elsah
New Harmony
New Haven
Sainte Genevieve
Cahokia
17 Random Stories 366
Center of Population
Cholera
Epitaphs
The Night the Stars Fell
A Horse Race
Big Stakes at the Race Track
Before Alcoholics Anonymous
Rifles and Shooting Matches
Rag-Wheel Boy
The Musical Forty
Buffalo
Passenger Pigeons
Bells
Epilogue: I Retire 390
Index 393