Chapter 38

Chapter 38
pages 210 - 216

COMMERCE OF PEORIA.

     In French times there was no commerce at Peoria, except the barter of a few articles of Indian goods, such as blankets, beads, tomahawks, powder, lead, guns and butcher-knives, for peltries, such as deer, beaver, otter, mink and muskrat skins. Immediately before the War of 1812 this business was carried on mainly by a Mr. Michael Lacroix, who never returned to reside here after the war. He was born in Canada, removed to Peoria in 1800, went back to Canada at the commencement of the war, accepted a commission in the British army, after the war brought a stock of goods to St. Louis, and, in 1821, died over in Cahokia.
     From 1812 to 1818 there were no white people at Peoria, not even a straggling trader. But in 1818, as is set forth in Chap. X, page 43, the American Fur Company sent goods into the place, and they continued to do so for ten or twelve years, as our neighbor Hon. John Hamlin, who was at one time in their employment, can testify. In 1831 trade was at its lowest ebb in Peoria. By the destruction of the peltries, partly by the combined efforts of white and red hunters, but mainly by the deep snow and sleet of 1830-'31, the Indians had become too poor to buy goods, and the few white people in the country had brought no money with them, and had not had time to raise any thing to sell; and what made it worse was, the first settlers avoided the prairies, in which they might have had something to sell much sooner. John Hamlin and Henry B. Stillman had a few goods, but fewer customers. In 1832 flour was shipped from St. Louis to Peoria to be eaten, and corn to be planted.
     Times were exceedingly discouraging; but it did seem to me that so much rich land would before long furnish a rich harvest for some enterprising traders. I had known, in Kentucky, Messrs. F. & A. Voris, who then had a small store in Salem, Indiana, and, knowing that Francis was a smart trader in things generally, and that Abram was a good merchant, I informed them of the advantages of the place. Mr. Francis Voris came on, and I rode around with him to show him the country. We visited Pekin, Hennepin, and Ottawa. He was pleased with the country generally, and with Peoria in particular, and they immediately removed their store to Peoria, They at once became, and for years were, the principal merchants. nKot but that there were other merchants of high respectability, who soon after came in, and helped to build up the place, such as Andrew Gray, Samuel Lowry, Moses Pettengill, Amos P. Bartlett, Reynolds & Smith, etc., but the Messrs. Voris adapted their business to the circumstances of the country. They bought the produce of the country, and gave our carpenters and laborers employment in building flat-boats, on our wharf, to ship the produce to market. In 1835 Mr. Abram Voris, while on his return from the South, with the proceeds of a cargo of pork, was cut off by the cholera. Soon after Mr. Samuel Voris came in and took the place of his brother Abram in the firm, and continued in it until the 15th of May, 1852, when Francis died. Since his death the family have turned their attention to other things than merchandise.
     Mr. Pettengill was once called one of the old merchants of the place; but he withdrew from the business several years ago. There is no person who has been engaged in this business that deserves more credit for persistence than Amos P. Bartlett. He has followed the business in this city for about thirty-five years, and has generally kept a full store of good goods. He has had several partners. At one time he was in with Mr. Pettengill, but for a good while he has had for a partner his cousin, P. C. Bartlett.
     In speaking of pioneer merchants, I should by no means forget to mention Mr. John G. Bryson. He was put into business by the Vorises, but has been doing business 'on his own hook' for many years. I knew him when he was as poor as 'the next man', but by close attention to business, for a quarter of a century, he has made a fortune — much more than he needs, for he has not as yet fulfilled that first great commandment, "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth"; nor is it in proof that he has taken any steps in that direction, at all commensurate with its importance.
     Nor must I from this list omit the names of William E. Mason, James H. Work, James Daugherty, Charles W. McClallen, Alter & Howell, John McClay Smith, and John Reynolds, although they have all quit selling goods but Mr. Work, who is still in that business at Chenoa, and Mr. Reynolds, Mr. McClallen and Mr. Alter are dead.
     In the first settling of any place, those who trade in dry goods also trade in groceries, hardware and drugs and often in grog also; but as population increases, the business becomes divided up into different branches. At a pretty early day John B. Burlingame undertook to deal in drugs and paints, on a large enough scale for the City of Boston, and he soon broke down. Soon after, Dr. James Mossman tried it, but did not succeed, because such were his habits that he would not have succeeded at any thing: a nephew of his, however, a youth he brought to the country, took hold of the business, and made a fortune by it, and is now living at his ease, on the fruits of his labors in his younger days. That youth is William A. Herron. Among those who tried the drug and paint business in those early times were W. B. & H. G. Farrell. They succeeded well.
     The following firms are carrying on the dry-goods business in Peoria now, distinct from grocery, drug or any other branch of trade:

Bartlett, A. P. & P. C.
Clarke & Co.
Day Brothers
Johnston, R. & Co.
Nusbaum, J.
Rohrbach, L.
Faxon, W. H. & Co.
Bissell, O. P.
Beckman & Dreifuss
Bryson, J. G.
Muller & Gruse
Eggleston & Snelbaker
Miller, William
Seabury, S.
Kleene, F.
Rattle, Henry
Conigisky & Co.
Eppsteiner, D.
Netter, H.
Seabury, Charles & Co.

The following firms carry on the drug business:

Miller & Wheeler
Miles, Dr. B. F.
Simoneau & Colburn
Farrell, H. G.
Fisher, Charles
Reen, Aug.
Tompkins, J. B.
Shelly, P. S. & Son
Davis, W. H.
Matthies, A. L.
Bastow, J. D.
Martin & Kinnear

The grocery business has become entirely divorced from the dry-goods business; but there is so easy and regular a gradation from the greatest wholesale establishment down to the merest apple or chicken stall, that it is difficult to know who should be included and who excluded from a list of our grocers. I send the following forth as the best list I can make of the principal ones:

Thompson, S. H. & Co.
Knowlton, Jesse L.
Chapman & Sloan
Green, Louis & Co.
Gibson & Woodbury
McCoy & Straut
Ulrich, Valentin
Henry, J. F. & Co.
Lathrop, M. J.
Burt, R. W.
Schimpff, R. A.
Lindsay & Dolan
Ellis, B. F.
Lindsay & McCoy
Lehne, C. F.
Benton, C. & Co.
Hudson, J. A.
Bohl & Pabst
Fosket, J. T.
Lammers, C.
Lottmann, S. T.
Even, Enno
Kundinger, A. & J.
Welte, F.
Anderson, Augustus
Auer & Cutter
Muller, Jacob
Ziegler, J.
Burgi, P.
Eaton, Thomas
Lyon, Simon
Pierce, C. S.
Clark, G.
Dewein, J. N.
Ford, William
Look, L.
Harsch Bros.
Keichhardt, George
Eberle, C. F.
Heberer, Christian
Murphy, J. R.
Polster, C.
Schmitt, G.
Schweinbold, C. S.
Weers, H.
Folkers, J. H.
Weil, I. A.
Bourke, N.
Roth, C.
Campen & Brother
Kreuter, J.
Ohl, J.
Purtscher, A.
Ulrich, T.
Gorman, J. C.
Winkelmeyer, F.
Meyer, Charles
Hoffman, Ernst

The first who attempted to divorce the hardware from the dry-goods business were Moses Pettengill and Jacob Gale. This was in 1834. They connected the tin-ware and stove business with it; but they had not the business long to themselves, before Walker & Lightner appeared as competitors for public patronage in that line. From that day to this Mr. Walker has sedulously pursued that business: for a long time with Hervey Lightner as a partner, and then with George H. Mcllvaine; but now the name of the firm is Walker, Mcllvaine & McClure. For a long time Mr. Z. N. Hotchkiss. who learned the business from Messrs. Walker & Lightner, has done a large business in this line. In addition to these, the following firms are engaged in this business: Billings & Lloyd, M. Pfeifer & Co., Proebsting & Voigt.
In olden times all grain shipped on the western waters was put into sacks, and carried on men's shoulders onto the steamboat, and again from the boat to the shore; and, if the warehouse was a little away from the water, drays were also used. This was very expensive, and the merchants of Chicago and other lake cities built large warehouses, and machinery to raise the grain to the top, and then through spouts fill boats without the expense of sacks to contain it or men to carry it. This gave the lake cities so much the advantage in the matter of freights that much trade was turned north that naturally would have gone south. To remedy this, elevators have lately been erected at St. Louis and other places on the western waters. The first erected at Peoria was by the Messrs. Grier & Co., two or three years ago; but that not being deemed sufficient for the business of the place, Messrs. William J. Dobbins, John E. McClure and Henry McFadden are building, in plain view of my house, a much larger one, which is nearly completed. On its front, in large letters, I see the words 'Central City Elevator.' From these, and others that will be built, as soon as they are proved to be necessary, I anticipate much benefit to our place. This city should be a great central depot for all the grain raised in this region, collected in the winter, when the roads are hard, and the farmers have leisure to haul it, to be distributed east, west, north, or south, as the exigency of trade should require. The farmer should bring in his grain at his convenience, take receipts, and keep them as money, or sell them for money, according to his opinion of the market, or the necessity for money.

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