New Salem, Illinois

“ But there is not one tenth part as much farming land, or plough land here as there is in Illinois, perhaps, for as I have said before, so I say now, the country is divided up by low ranges of mountains, or high hills, so far as I have seen, though I am told that up about Salem there is a plenty of good level prairies, and still better up on the Chehaly and also on the Tualatin Plains. The country is new even to the old settlers, for there has not been one half of it explored yet by the whites. ”

“ An election for members of the Illinois legislature was to take place in August, 1832. Sangamon County was entitled to four representatives. Residents of the county over twenty-one years of age were eligible to election, and audacious as it might appear, Lincoln determined to be a candidate.
The people of New Salem, like those of all other Western towns, took a keen interest in politics; "politics" meaning, in that time and place, not only who was to be President or governor, but concerning itself with questions which came much closer home to dwellers on the frontier. ”

“ After a month in that city, he returned, in June, to Illinois, where he made a short visit at his parents' home, now in Coles County, and in July went to New Salem, to take charge of a store and mill owned by Denton Offutt, who had employed him on the flatboat1. The goods for the new store had not arrived when Lincoln reached New Salem. Obliged to turn his hand to something, he piloted down the Sangamon and Illinois rivers, as far as Beardstown, a flatboat bearing the family and goods of a pioneer bound for Texas. At Beardstown he found Offutt's goods waiting to be taken to New Salem. ”

“ Abraham himself drifted to Salem on the Sangamon, in Illinois, twenty miles north-west of Springfield, where he became clerk in a new store, set up by Denton Offutt, with whom he had formed a connection in one of his trips to New Orleans. Salem was then a village of a dozen houses, and the little centre of a society very like that of Pigeon Creek and its neighbourhood, but more decidedly western. We are told that "here Mr. Lincoln became acquainted with a class of men the world never saw the like of before or since. They were large men,—large in body and large in mind ”

“ I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store.
Then came the Black Hawk War; and I was elected a captain of volunteers, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went the campaign, was elated, ran for the legislature the same year (1832) , and was beaten—the only time I ever have been beaten by the people. ”

“ W. Hill, aged seventy-nine years, widow of Samuel Hill, the New Salem merchant; James McGrady Rutledge, aged eighty-one years; John Potter, aged eighty-seven years; and Thomas Watkins, aged seventy-one years—all now living at Petersburg, Illinois. Mrs. Hill, a woman of more than ordinary intelligence, did not become a resident of New Salem until 1835, the year in which she was married. Lincoln had then gone out of business, but she knew much of his store. "Berry and Lincoln," she says, "did not keep any dry goods. They had a grocery, and I have always understood they sold whiskey." Mr. ”

“ Along one side of the street were the counting-houses of the merchant princes, around which hung the atmosphere and flavor of thrilling maritime romance. Practically the entire male population, young and old, was engaged directly or indirectly in the business of such as go down to the sea in ships. Ship-builders and sailors, craftsmen and navigators—Derby Street hummed with their activities. Before the ports of New York and Boston had acquired touch with Oriental trade, Salem had already dipped deep into the coffers of the East ”

“ BRADSTREET.
Thanks to the historic spirit and the painstaking, loving labors of her citizens, Old Salem is easily deciphered under the handsome, modern, progressive city of thirty-four thousand inhabitants with factories, electric plants and Queen Anne cottages. ”

“ Another set of priceless{165}
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associations is added to the old town which now must confess to factories and a foreign population like many another New England seaport. The resident of Salem lives in a modern, progressive, handsome city, made the more attractive by eccentric roofs, “Mackintire” doorways, carved wooden mantels and wainscoting, ever suggestive of the venerable and impressive past, a past that may well serve as a challenge to the children of Viking and Puritan, inviting them to a fine self-control and a broad public spirit. ”

“ Its population is four times as great as when it was the foremost foreign seaport of the United States and its activities have veered into manufacturing channels. But as has happened to many other New England cities of the purest American pedigree, a flood of immigration from Europe and Canada has swept into Salem to swarm in its mills and factories. Along the harbor front the fine old square mansions from which the lords of the shipping gazed down at their teeming wharves are tenanted by toilers of many alien nations. ”

“ Farming, stock-raising, and fruit-growing are the leading industries of the surrounding district. There are deposits of iron, and several sulphur springs. Salem manufactures leather, wagons, agricultural implements, machinery, brick, mattresses, woolen goods, etc. The government is vested in a mayor, chosen biennially, and a unicameral council. The water-works and electric light plant are owned and operated by the municipality. Settled in 1802, Salem was incorporated in 1836, and received its present charter in 1892. ”

“ Another fine example of the old brick mansion of the closing period of Colonial Salem is the Andrew-Safford house at 13 Washington Square. Erected in 1818, it was reputed to be the most costly private residence in New England. Thanks to successful commercial ventures in foreign trade, money was plentiful in Salem, and it was freely spent in the provision of comfortable and indeed luxurious homes for those who had earned it. ”

“ NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
The old town of Salem, in Massachusetts, was once a famous seaport, and ships sailed out of its harbor to the ends of the world. In the East Indies so many merchant vessels bore the word Salem on the stern that people there supposed that to be the name of some powerful country, and “Mass.,” which was sometimes added, to be the name of a village in Salem. As Boston and New York grew more important, they drew away trade from the smaller towns, and Salem became less busy. ”

“ Among the old houses there are none so full of interest as those which have been carefully preserved in the same family, handed down from generation to generation. Over the threshold of these homes have passed men and women whose names are linked irretrievably with important events in our nation's history.
In the early history of our country, few seaport towns stand out in bolder relief than Salem, Massachusetts, a city noted at the commencement of the nineteenth century for her commercial prosperity, and whose ships sailed to every port on the globe. ”

“ Three times was it the lot of this one family to encounter and conquer the difficulties, endure and triumph over the privations, and carry through the herculean labors, of subduing a rugged wilderness, and bringing it into the domain of civilization,—at Salem Village, New Salem, and Houlton. It would be difficult to find, in all our history, a story that more strikingly than this illustrates the elements of the glory and strength of New England,—zeal for education,—enterprise invigorated by difficulties,—and prowess equal to all emergencies. ”

“ The people of Salem, it will be remembered, persistently sought Williams as their spiritual pastor and master until the General Court at Boston unseated the Salem deputies for the acts of their constituents in retaining a man of whom they disapproved, and the magistrates sent a vessel to Salem to remove Mr. Williams to England. The minister eluded his persecutors by fleeing through the wintry snows into the wilderness, to become the founder of the State of Rhode Island. ”

“ There are in the city an almshouse, the Bertram Home for Aged Men, Home for Aged Women, City Orphan Asylum, and Salem Hospital, besides two other hospitals. Formerly noted for its commercial importance, Salem is at present primarily an industrial city, the various industries having in the census year 1900 an invested capital of $7,450,935, and an output valued at $12,257,449. Boots and shoes, cotton goods, leather, machinery, and lumber products constitute the leading manufactures. ”

“ The citizens of Salem were not wanting in patriotism or courage in the years immediately preceding the Revolution. They met in the old town-house to protest against the Stamp Act, to denounce the tax on tea and the closing of Boston port, and in 1774, in defiance of General Gage, to elect delegates to the First Continental Congress about to meet in Concord. ”

“ Old Salem now wears a much livelier expression than when I first beheld her. Strangers rumble down from Boston by hundreds at a time. New faces throng in Essex street. Railroad-hacks and omnibuses rattle over the pavements. There is a perceptible increase of oyster-shops and other establishments for the accommodation of a transitory diurnal multitude. But a more important change awaits the venerable town. An immense accumulation of musty prejudices will be carried off by the free circulation of society. ”

“ Wealth accumulated in Salem, but men did not decay. Few towns in New England can boast of such striking history and such valuable achievements on the part of their citizens, within a like period of time, as can Old Salem by the Sea. ”

“ N. of Salem, there are buried some 2460 Confederate soldiers, who died during the Civil War while prisoners of war at Fort Delaware, on an island in Delaware river nearly opposite the mouth of Salem Creek. Salem lies in a rich agricultural region. Among the city’s manufactures are canned fruits and vegetables, condiments, glass-ware, brass and iron-work, hosiery, linoleum and oil-cloth. ”

“ Would that these old porches could relate the many romances and tragedies they have witnessed since coming into being—to tell us of the days when Salem was a social center, composed of the ship-owners and their families, of which there were a sufficient number to make a story which links itself with her wealth and ventures. It is interesting to trace as far as possible the incentive which they had in designing their homes, with their wide hallways and large, square, white paneled rooms opening on either side, often ending with the old-fashioned garden, laid out at the rear of the houses. ”

“ Much attention is here paid to education, the schools being very numerous and well supported. With the exception of Plymouth, Salem is the oldest settlement in New England. It was founded in 1628. Its Indian name was Naumkeag, and this name it long retained.
Salina, a post township, and seat of justice of Onondaga county, New York, includes Onondaga lake, and the principal salt springs in the state. Very extensive works have been established for several years; the number of manufactories of salt by artificial heat is one hundred and thirty-five. ”

“ While Portsmouth is on the main line of travel north from Boston, it is still almost as much neglected as Annapolis, and it is a great pity that many of its once splendid mansions are falling into decay. The Governor Langdon house, the Ladd house and others should receive the attention they bestow upon such priceless relics in Salem, where everything of the kind is jealously guarded. But Salem is so distinctly illustrative of early nineteenth century work that I intend to refer to it later, under that head, likewise to Providence and Bristol, in Rhode Island, and Middletown, in Connecticut. ”

“ With but a single exception here and there, Derby Street presents a squalid and forlorn succession of shabby frame houses, occupied mostly by foreigners. Commerce consists in such humble trade as goes on in Greek restaurants and Polish markets. The splendid homes of merchants and ship-owners no longer gratify the eye; and what is of note to-day in architectural beauty and taste in Salem must be sought elsewhere than in its original location. ”

“ There are Jack Armstrong and William Green, Kelso and Jason Duncan, Alley and Carman, Hill and McNamar, Herndon and Rutledge, Warburton and Sincho, Bale and Ellis, Abraham and Ann. Oh, what a history!"
In those days, which in the progressive West would be called ancient days, New Salem was in Sangamon County, with Springfield as the county-seat. Springfield itself was still a mere village, having a population of one thousand, or perhaps eleven hundred. ”

“ His many exertions for the prosperity of Salem, and his ardent attachment to it, should impress his name and worth upon the hearts of its inhabitants, so long as its existence continues."
Thus lived and thus died, one of the principal founders and firmest pillars of New England.
At his decease he left a widow and two sons. The elder son left no children;—the younger was a physician, and resided in Salem. He was twice married; and a family of five sons and five daughters survived him. His second wife was Elisabeth, daughter of Governor Winthrop, and widow of the Rev. ”