Morgan Country Historical Society
Precious Weirdoes
I’m not from Morgan County and therefore know little of the genealogical history. William Jennings Bryan married Went to college at I.C. Planned on attending MacMurray. .. My mother’s family: Orr hall. Full ride scholarship.. for “all the Orr women.”
Talk to you a moment about a piece of most towns’ history which is ignored… a loss which small towns have incurred. The local eccentric. The town fool. The town character. The town genius. The precious weirdo. ec·cen·tric Greek ekkentros : ek-, out of. See ecto- + kentron, center adjective Departing from a recognized, conventional, or established norm or pattern. See synonyms at strange. I like this one: 2. . Having the axis located elsewhere than at the geometric center.
I was born next to Drummy Sutton. For non-Perry residents, he was the town’s leading eccentric at the time. Lived in a spooky house next to us. Toilet built up high. General Store up town.. only went in once and ran back out… Business man, entrepreneur, eccentric. Bought up land during depression. All Perry residents have their own Drummy Sutton stories. First wealthy man I ever knew… lived in a run-down shack.
Would like to speak to these questions:
- Do Small towns have more than their share?
- If so, why?
- What’s happened to them?
- What effect have they had on the rest of us?
I’ll speak tonight on the town I know the best, but I’m sure you can fill in your own names from your town.
I was born at the tail end of the age of eccentrics in Perry…. the 1950’s.
And what was eccentric to me, may very well have been quite normal to others.
A few examples… Pop Van Pelt (Earl)… stone gravestone.. Eye-bungers…. Slowly drove around town and everyone got out of his way. Once, Grandpa Brad didn’t. St. Police came to get his license.. shotgun.. there it is on the table. Could see through the cracks in his walls.. After her died, found out he gave large amounts of money to the Meth church
Bugsy Ham. Snake. Horses.
Lappy Six… slowly walking back and forth in front of the Perry Hotel. The only resident of the hotel. Slept in a different room every night.
Chicken House Charlie Williams… old brooder house. Cecil’s trash… pipe…
Archie drove team by our house.. Gunshot… looked out, team coming to a halt.. dead rabbit
Did small towns have more than its share? I submit that the answer is yes… At times, they came close to becoming the rule rather than the exception.small towns carry with them their own eccentricity that at least allows if not actually encourages an off-center outlook toward life.
- Why have we had more than our share?
Again….Geographical isolation for so long. Isolation breeds Independence. The Heart of Forgottonia.
Immigration patterns. My study of cemeteries.. Less nationalities, the fewer eccentrics. For ex: Perry.. very mixed. Neighboring Mt. Sterling.. mostly German and Dutch, much fewer.
- What’s happened to them? Two answers: Technology and Social restructuring Tech:. Used to be you could travel 100 miles and hear a different dialect than yours…. Now…Radio and TV have flattened out American speech. Even local dialects are disappearing. Me: speech contest… Pike County
Small towns maintained their independence and parochial flavor longer than the larger towns because we had less contact with a wide range of people. It’s hard to be an eccentric with mass media reminding you of what normal should be.
But television’s influence has gone beyond speech dialects. Changed now: Better roads, Interstate…. a more mobile society.
Social: Chicken House Charlie would be in a retirement home…even the advent of the nursing home and retirement center have “flattened out” our social interaction… as well they should I suppose or the Jacksonville Police Department would have to assign an officer to Barton Stone and Jacksonville Convalescent Center.
Drummy would be tested and put somewhere…we now laws against using an uncovered toilet 12 feet in the air. Lappy Six… I don’t know, but I’m sure we have a drug for it. Bugsy …the guy with the snake… would definitely come under the jurisdiction of several social agencies.
- What have we gained from them and what have we lost in their absence? Economic progress often is the death of character.
I used to know a lot about a person by their handwriting. Now.. their Email tells me nothing. I spent a lot of time listening to these eccentrics… What did I learn? IT’s okay to be different. The easiest way may not be the best way. Most of all: Tolerance of others
New Salem…Abraham!… Studying… many scholars believe New Salem was the turning point in Lincoln’s life. …more eccentrics per square inch than any place in downstate Illinois at the time.. … more than Springfield.. more than Jacksonville. … a mix of Upper-South, New England, Great Britain… more college degrees per foot than any town in Illinois… same reason the town only existed for less than ten years.. impatient. ---Jack Kelso… eccentric. .Hollow.. Burns and Shakespeare ---Mentor Graham … taught most children .. until they gave tests to teachers ---Jack Armstrong and Clary’s Grove boys.. would come tear up the town periodically ---George Warburton … entrepreneur, alcoholic .. finally threw himself in Sangamon..drowned in 4 inches of water. ---A certain group who went on to play prominent positions in the life of Illinois College, McKendrie College, Knox College ---more future office-holders than any town of its size in Illinois
It was here Lincoln learned tolerance… imagination… experimentation… the desire to learn.
My Book and column, the Coonridge Digest…. based a great deal on the Eccentrics of Pike County and Perry. Dad filled us with stories.
I am richer because I grew up in a town of only 450 people but among them… Bob Brim… peacocks ran all over the town. John Thompson… run a one-employee grocery store, flip you double or nothing for groceries, run across the street to get his Wall Street Journal, order Cardinal fans out of the store, and carry thousands of dollars under his shirt? …. find ceramic pigs nightly on his doorstep …eventually, 300. Never found culprit. Harry Read..the greatest artist I’ve known personally… grocery store.…..a man build boats in his basement, hang stuffed eagles above his meat counter, build a blue plaster house…Mom: salad bowls
John Kennedy.. build miniature farms and towns in his basement… My dad, the banker…..or dress like a clown and drop his pants in public?
Florence…. Guide… this place was nutty! Rome residents would travel here just to watch the strange people.. It too, was geographically isolated and a mix of cultures.. Within a two block space… Michaelangelo, DaVinci, and Maciavelli
I look around Perry, and Virginia and Arenzville today and wonder Where are the Eccentrics? What have gained by normalizing everyone?
We have done the county histories, the town histories, the cemetery histories and church histories… I’d pay top dollar for a book on Morgan County’s colorful characters of the last 100 years.
Of course, be careful…your relatives may be on the list.
Most of you could have given this speech about the characters of your town.
I thank God for being brought up in Perry were the eccentric was not only tolerated, but greatly enjoyed. We are all winners because we knew them and we’ve lost a great deal when they’ve gone.
Probably those who think I’m an Arenzville eccentric… Playing bagpipes and writing plays, coming home at all hours. Sometimes I’ll be writing at night and notice a car parked in the street just watching. Local Dutchman drove by my house this morning .. saw me sitting at my desk. Carried out trash.. huge box. Drove by twice more. Rubber Chicken. His brother drove by this afternoon.
I’m sure he’ll tell grandkids about crazy old man who lived at end of street… played bagpipes, wrote stuff when he should have been out workin’ and kept a rubber chicken on his front porch.
You may think this is crazy. I think it makes Arenzville a better place to live.
Finally.. if nothing else… They provide us a good bellwether … Every town has to have a nuttiest person. When you lose them, you move up one notch on the list.
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