TCGHS operates an archive, library, and research facility at 719 N. 11th St., Pekin. Visit our website at www.tcghs.org to learn more about us. We have thousands of images from around the area and books from all over the world to help our researchers learn about local, regional, and national history as well as their own family history.

Our mission is and always has been to collect, preserve, and safeguard records of historical significance including but not limited to local memorabilia, family histories, birth, marriage, death, census, cemetery, naturalization, and land records. And so much more. We have many portraits hanging on the walls including several by local artist Lester Chace. There are many old signs from around the area and the Archive holds old journals, diaries, business ledgers, advertising, and such.

Most importantly, we don’t just hide it away but share it with our members by featuring images and stories of new arrivals in our monthly newsletter.

Unfortunately, we have many photos that are unidentified so we feature them on our website in hopes of finding someone that can recognize the subjects. Two of those photos are included with this article. Please let us know if you recognize even one person in the image.

We host a membership meeting on the second Tuesday of every month that is open to all. The next meeting will be Tuesday, April 9th at 7pm when Jeff Pulfer of the German American Society will be our guest speaker.

We are excited to be celebrating Pekin’s Bicentennial this year and we are participating on the Bicentennial planning committee. The next big events in Pekin are the Historic Adventure Quest that kicked off on April 1st and the German Springfest at the Avanti’s Event Center on Sunday, April 14th where food will be served from Noon to 6pm.

All history is local until it is woven together with other stories to become part of the National fabric and there is no aspect of National history that doesn’t touch Tazewell County.

From the earliest known indigenous people that lived along the river in the 12th century followed by the French colonial occupation beginning in the 17th century through the earliest American settlers that began arriving here in the 1820s which included sons and daughters of the American Revolution and in a few cases, the soldiers themselves. The stories continue 200 years later.

One of those stories is recorded in the 1879 Chapman History of Tazewell County. It relates the story of “the first steamboat to ascend the Illinois River that landed at Pekin.” It goes on to say that “Old Father Tharp, hearing the noise of the paddles and the steam whistle, thought it was Gabriel blowing his horn; that sure enough the end of the world had come in the night; and calling up his family, engaged in prayer as a fitting preparation for the advent of a higher and better life.”

The Chapman left the story there without a mention of who was piloting that boat. A couple of years ago while reading the early Tazewell county commissioner’s books, it was discovered that a man named Spencer Field had lived in Pekin for a short time and a case can be made that he might’ve been that pilot.

Spencer Field was born in Northfield, Massachusetts in 1806 and was married to Clarissa Humphreys in 1829 in Athol, Massachusetts. The couple moved to Illinois and settled in Pekin before 1835. Their son, Spencer Jr., was born here in 1836.

Field was active in Pekin’s community affairs, serving twice as an election judge and trustee for the City of Pekin. He purchased several tracts of land in Cincinnati, Groveland, Elm Grove, and Tremont townships. He was one of the men, along with Harlan Hatch, E. M. Perkins, and Edward Jones that platted the town of Circleville in section 1 of Sand Prairie.

1841 case of Field vs. Averill & Lowell, Lincoln was the attorney for the defendant, not Field. Field had sold several lots in Pekin to the defendants on a note but they did not pay when the note came due. This case was argued all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court at which time Lincoln invoked the same argument he used in Baily vs. Cromwell but in this case, his client lost and Field prevailed. You can read more about it by visiting the Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln website.

By 1850, Field was listed in the federal census as a wealthy merchant living in New Orleans where he passed in 1889. It was his obituary that read “Going into the state of Illinois when he reached manhood, he drifted into the river business and was said to be the first man who ever run a steamboat in the Illinois River. He was a Captain on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and St. Louis for 15 years before settling in New Orleans.”

It’s always fun to learn about the folks who were only in Pekin and its environs for a few years yet were so instrumental in launching some of our most iconic industries. As The Pekin Hometown Voice continues, we will share more of those stories.

If you have any point of interest that you would like to know more about, stop in at TCGHS or drop us a line at [email protected].