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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH 1911
Gc 977.302 B236 1746235
M. L.
REYNOLDE HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01071 2476
GENEALOGY 977.302 B236
12.50
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
https://archive.org/details/historyofbardolp00epwo_0
"UNCLE JIMMIE" JACKSON
""AUNT DELLE" CREEL
HISTORY OF BARDOLPH ILLINOIS
Photo by A. M. Beal
BARDOLPH MAIN STREET
Published Under the Auspices of the EPWORTH LEAGUE NINETEEN HUNDRED ELEVEN
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
To "UNCLE JIMMIE" JACKSON AND "AUNT BELLE" CREEL
WE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATE THIS VOLUME
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
1746235
JAMES W. JACKSON
HE third son of William H. and Ann ( Miller) Jackson was born on the 6th day of Dec., 1830, in the State of Virginia. When nearly six years of age his father started West, driving in a two-horse wagon. Reaching Cincinnati, they came across the country by way of Indianapolis and across the prairies to Beardstown, fording streams and making headway as best they could. Six weeks were occupied in making this slow-going trip. When they reached the Illinois River, where Beardstown is now, only a few houses marked the place ; and instead of bridges to cross, a ferry run by a man named Beard, carried them over. The first winter here, the family, there being eight of them, lived in a log cabin, 14 feet square, which stood just north of where John Smith lives at present. The next spring they removed to their cabin on the place now belonging to William Hanna, and here James lived until his marriage with Margaret E. Kepple on the 28th dap of January, 1852. She was a daughter of Jacob Kepple and was born in Tennessee, January the 22d, 1831. The year following his marriage, he lived with his father-in-law on what is now the Bee Hager farm. The next year he bought his old home place, where Charlie Fowler now lives, and built upon it. He hewed all the logs and split the shingles for the roof. During that winter, in order to fence some of his farm land, he made 3,000 rails by himself.
Here he lived and raised his family. In 1887, finding the hard work on the farm a little too strenuous for him, he removed to his place in town and has lived there ever since. "Uncle Jimmie" has the distinction of being one of the first school directors in the Jackson School District of Mound Township. He, along with John Booth and David Kepple, were the first board. He was also a steward for over 20 years in the M. E. church, joining that body at 15 years of age, thus making him a member for about 65 years. His good wife has also been a member for nearly the same length of time.
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
MRS. BELLE HOAGLAND CREEL
AS born in Springfield, Kentucky, July 31, 1832. From here she moved with her parents to Rushville, Ill. After staying here three years, they came to Wolf Grove, now called Bardolph, and located on what was to be afterwards called the old Hoagland farm, where Robert Hamilton lives at present. Here she remained until 1847, at which time she was sent to Kentucky to attend the Harrodsburg Female Institute, where she graduated in 1851, after four years of hard and diligent study. Returning home she taught school three years-one at the old Macomb Normal, one in the school house just west of Bardolph, and one year near where "Uncle Henry" McElvaine lives. She professed religion at Ma- comb in a little brick meeting house, during a series of union services, and directly after this united with the church. When the Bardolph Presby- terian church was organized, she became a charter member and was the youngest, as well as the only unmarried person to join, and is now the only charter member living. During all these years "Aunt Belle" has been an ever faithful worker and follower of Christ. Her work in the church has been of the very noblest and self-sacrificing nature, it having ever been her aim to place things first that belong first and let our little petty troubles take care of themselves. For years she taught and was superintendent of the primary department in the Sunday School and only stopped when health failed her.
In 1854 she was united in marriage with Thomas J. Creel. To this union were born six children, four boys and two girls : William M., Ida Kate, Oakey Hoagland, Beverly E., Martin H., and Jessie Belle. After the marriage the happy couple began housekeeping in the home in which she now lives, though at that time it stood a little to the north of where it now stands. In February, 1903, sadness came to this home when, after a long illness, the husband was taken away. She still lives at the old homestead with her youngest son, Martin, who was lately married, and attends her church as often as conditions permit.
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
PREFACE
J T is important that we, as citizens of this glorious republic, should know its history that we may understand how and be able to do our best for its advancement. The same is true of our state, county, and city life. As we read and study of the retrograde or advance movements of our county or town at different periods of its life and of the conditions under which these movements are made, we are better able to foresee what is best for its advancement under present conditions.
All this we desired for our readers; but also, we aim not merely to give dry facts alone, but to place them in such a setting of interesting and readable story matter that the book may be enjoyed by all. We have en- deavored to give accurate and interesting facts without any partiality or preference being shown. This, dear readers, you must realize, is hard to do in a small place and convince all persons you have done so. Still, we ask your careful perusal of this volume hoping that you may not judge too harshly.
The civic, business, religious, and school life we have diligently out- lined from facts which we have carefully gathered. There are periods in some of these where absolutely nothing can be secured, but no "pains" have been spared in gathering all that is gatherable.
Portraits of all ministers of both churches have been secured as far as possible, but for various reasons all could not be gotten.
The thanks of the authors are especially due to "Aunt Belle" Creel and "Uncle Jimmie" Jackson, and also to numerous others for the valuable and helpful assistance they have so willingly given in the writing of this book.
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
THE OLD DAYS
HERE are the boys of our frolics and fights- The girls we walked home with on moonshiny nights ? What have you done, Father Time, with the gang That stormed into school when the tardy bell rang ? "Scattered are they like the thistle-down blown
From its dry, withered stalk when the summer has flown." . . Wide is the gulf of the miles and the years, And dimmed by the mists of our impotent tears !
Oh, Father Time, do you think it was fair To sprinkle this white and this grey in their hair ?- Right that your pencil so deeply should trace Its creases of care on each once rosy face ? "So be the heart is young, time cannot mar ; So be the heart is young, age cannot scar." Ay! Memory bridges the years and the miles, And arches the gulf with a rainbow of smiles! -W. Kee Maxwell
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
ARCHIE O. HECK Editor-in-Chief
H. A. MAXWELL First Associate Editor
REV. M. S. SWISHER Second Associate Editor and Business Manager
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
Assistant Editors
ELSIE K. BREWBAKER
LENA FULLMER
ARCHIE BEAL Staff Photographer
AUDREY SMICK
NATALIE SMICK
ELLSWORTH HECK
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
HISTORY of BARDOLPH
INTRODUCTION
HE history of any place, community, or county, to the thinking mind, presents many wonderful phases; not only is there a peculiar enjoyment and pleasure in turning over and reading the pages telling us the story of bygone days and ages, but as our imagination allows us to picture those people of other times in their work, in their struggle for life and existence, as they go about their private and public duties; and as we see from our post of observation along life's pathway in after years, how, by self-sacrifice, by honesty of purpose and hard, exacting labor. they have raised by gradual advancement every phase of political, educational, home, and religious life, then we are able to see our duty more clearly, are able to step in, so to speak, where our fathers left off and taking up the chain of work at that point carry it forward to such a place as was never dreamed of. It can safely be said that no history, if properly written, can fail to be interesting, or valuable to its read- ers. There is no county, state, hamlet or individual but what has a history which one can in some way be benefitted by, and be led to strive more earnestly to better his or her own opportunities by such knowledge.
History, too, is wonderful in its power of self preservation; back from old Egyptian times, by means of the wonderful pyramids standing as they have for ages, lifting their pointed peaks to the sunny eastern sky, as firm and stable to-day as when they were erected comes to us knowledge of its customs, art, dress and religion. Very crude were their means of getting information then, very crude was everything relative to their life, while superstition ran rampant. On the plains of Western Asia, along the banks of the Ganges are found the marks of later civilization. A civiliza- tion that in inner Asia has extended down to later years, with all its terrible lust and awful superstition. Still, along with the records of this depravity of animalism, comes the story of the world's Savior born; of His life and ignominious death, of the rapid- ity with which the seed of truth He brought was scattered broadcast throughout the world, conquering where-ere it went, never going down in defeat.
Statuary, books, and writings bring to us the story of Greece. Here we see the cruel, exacting Spartan in all his physical power and strength; cruel because of his unrelenting purpose of making his people a race of beasts, for not much better is he who by the neglect of his moral and mental qualities builds up a physical nature fit to cope with the wild beasts; and by even destroying the life of the weakling that its physical deformities might not be transmitted to succeeding peoples. Here, too, is seen the Athenian, powerful in mental faculties, from whom arises the scholar, the orator, the debater, poet, and historian, along with the sculptor. Here the physique is neglected and the religious life of the people by means of their wonderful reason- ing power and mental abilities is so torn to shreds that they have none whatever. Now for a moment, the muse of history turns its pages and we glance at the records of Rome. Oh! wonderful is the scene brought to view; not only wonderful, but heart rending and pitiful as well. Wonderful are the grand buildings, wonderful their magnificent structure, their richness of material, their beauty of form as seen in every builded thing, but the pity of its moral depravity. For Rome, with its
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people of wonderful physique, and simple minds, accepting the old myths in good faith, coming in contact with the mental giants of Greece or Athens, and find- ing their simple religious faith so readily expelled by the wonderful logic of these high minded devils, become as devils in human flesh themselves, without fear of man, God, or Hereafter; while greed, lust and licentiousness reign su- preme. See those saintly Christians burnt at the stake, their flesh quivering with pain ; that little group of praying people kneeling, while those savage beasts rush down upon them, tearing limb from limb. Here you see a sample of mental and physical life made supreme. Now we turn to those times termed the dark ages, when religious life became so supreme that fanaticism ensued. We can hear, in fancy, the agonizing cries of some poor saint, as the inquisition applies its devilish in- struments of torture; forcing acceptance to the Roman Catholic faith or taking life by gradual degrees as an attribute. We see the papal authority waging war against those little German states attempting to force acceptance to their creeds; but Christ reigns supreme and this fanaticism gradually steps out of the fight, until now, it openly dares not show its face.
Thus, dear friends, in the face of events happening so long ago, you see, as we've looked over ground covered centuries past and compare it with later ages, this fact to be supremely true ; that as the physical, mental, and spiritual natures of man are alike equally developed so civilization advances; but inasmuch as one of these natures is dwarfed so much it hinders civilization. One goes with the rest. God gave us this three-fold nature for use and just in as much as coming generations develop these three to their utmost capacity just so will future civilization be made greater.
With all respect, love, and veneration to our fathers-the old pioneers-who settled this country, we can and must say the same principle has been applied and can be seen in light of after years, to be true of the early development of this country. Does anyone hesitate a moment in saying that our civilization of to-day is not in the advance of that sixty years ago? In those days when law was taken in their own hands, spite worked out at will, and life taken as of no account, could religious life have been held at a premium? In those days when the man of the best physique, the quickest eye and the most active on foot, was looked upon with pride; when he, who was winner in the fight or the wrestle, or who was able to handle any man in the neighborhood, was made the hero regardless of other ability, could mental training be looked upon as a very great advantage to one?
There was a reason, though, for all this. The settler, as he came to these wilds of woodland and prairie, must be adapted to his surroundings. He had the Indian and the wild beast to face, and must be able to cope with them. He had his own home to build and foods must come from the beasts of the woods and the soil. He must defend himself from troublesome neighbors, as he was almost outside the limit of the law. Thus he grew to be a man free from fear, and dependent on none but himself .. Then the law reached out, took control and settled trouble. Schools were introduced. At first mere shreds of information were thus gathered by the good, whole-souled people. The public schools came. All children were especially trained intellectually. New ways of making money were opened; and as these be- came known, the mental training was increased in order to take advantage of them. Thus, upon the American people was ushered the money age; when the man was measured by his ability to make and amass a fortune. Thus, two steps were taken, while gradually there came before the mind the necessity of the third; and with this generation there is being ushered to the foreground the knowledge and the de- mand for young people, trained not only physically and mentally, but spiritually as well.
Then, too, all nations leave their land marks behind them, around which cluster memories of deeds, actions, and words of men gone before. We have our St. Au- gustine, Jamestown, Plymouth, Concord, Philadelphia, Yorktown, and Gettysburg, around which has sprung up history untold, whose mass would fill volumes. This, to the careful student, is full of inspiration and help. If this be true in history of places in general, it is true of Bardolph and community. In writing a true history of any country or town, merely the transaction of that town's business, the estab-
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
lishment of business concerns, the organization of different societies, is not enough ; we must have something of the lives of all settlers, what they did, showing the in- dividual influence on the town and community. It also relates the development of town and country in regard to all phases of its life.
It is, therefore, the aim to gather facts in regard to the early development of this, a wide-awake village, of a great county, of a great state. Tell of those inter- ested in its building and keep their names and deeds from total oblivion.
It was scarcely more than three score years ago when the first white man set foot on the virgin prairies, where Bardolph now stands, for the purpose of settlement. Prior to this time the land was traversed by the wild beasts and the red man, whose home it had been for centuries, so far as we know. It is hard to realize as we stand now on our village ground of the scenes that first presented themselves to those early settlers. As he looked to the east, south, and southeast, a level, rolling prairie stretched away in the distance. Here for centuries the land was roamed over by the ignorant savages who, with no thought of the morrow, hunted the deer in the forests, and fished along shady banks of the woodland streams, with never a thought of the hated white man ever coming in to usurp their birthright. His only care was to guard against his savage foes who might take him unawares. Never had these rich prairies been touched by the iron plow, but lay in all their native beauty as formed by the Creator, under the glowing summer sun, without so much as the slightest sign of human life upon their broad bosoms. These have changed now and have become the abode of man and the home of a civilization almost beyond comparison. A civilization rich in all that goes to make that kind of life possible.
It is the duty, as well as the pleasure, of the historians to take note of the times and the men that make this possible and leave these lines as momentous in memory of those who have so patiently undergone the struggle of the pioneer days to make and build up a grand country for which succeeding generations may live. On these grassy plains there were no trees, no houses, no brush, to break the monotony of roll- ing land. It seemed, viewed from a distance, like the wave on the rolling ocean, except that they seemed fixed in place. Towards the north and west was the woods lining Crooked Creek for a great distance on either side. Here dwelt the bear, the deer, the wolf, the wild boar and numerous other animals on which the early settlers could live without waiting for the raising of their crop. These woods came down to the very verge of the northwestern edge of where our village now stands, and the playing of the fawn in the edge of the woods and the calls of the various wild ani- mals could be seen and heard from the doorsteps of the pioneer homes. The pioneer home-what a sight that brings to view. We can see the little log hut, made by the men themselves, the narrow doorway, the door with the latch-string attached, the cracks filled with mud, the windows covered by greased paper so as to admit the sunlight, the rude table, the bed and the chairs. Still, these old fathers and mothers were happy in their new wild homes. They had their sled parties in winter and lots of skating, there being a good sized pond then just back of where the Q. depot now stands.
Travel was difficult at that time. Early settlers came by wagon or on foot. Later a stage coach ran, for all this was before the time of the great iron-clad monster that now rushes over the same prairies bearing with him, maybe, hundreds of people and thousands of tons of provisions and materials that at that time could be bought only at Beardstown or Burlington. Again, instead of cutting grain with the self-binding machine, threshing it by means of machinery, hauling it a few miles to town to be carried away, it was cut by the sickle, cradled by hand, threshed with a flail, which was done by means of hammering it with a large stick on the barn floor, and then hauled to the river for sale.
Thus, great changes are taking and have taken place, and as the old pioneers who for years have been actors on the stage of life are lain down in the grave, then the value of the history may be the better understood. Then our sons and daughters will welcome the tales of the times and the deeds of their forefathers, that they may follow in their footsteps as far as endeavor and earnest effort is concerned.
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
MUNICIPAL
ARDOLPH is located in McDonough County, Illinois, on the Gales- burg-Quincy branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, 196 miles southwest of Chicago, 66 miles northeast of Quincy, 6 miles northeast of Macomb and 5 miles southwest of Bushnell.
The legal description of the town site is as follows: The Northeast quarter of Section 24, 30 rods off the south side of the Southeast quarter of Section 13, 30 rods square in the Southeast corner of the Southwest quarter of Section 13 and 30 rods off the east side of the Northwest quarter of Sec- tion 24, and 30 rods square in the Northeast corner of the Southwest quar- ter of Section 24, all in Township 6 north and Range 2 west (Macomb Township).
Also the Northwest quarter of the Southwest quarter of Section 19 and 60 rods off the west side of the Northwest quarter of Section 19, and the south half of the Southwest quarter of Section 18, all in Township 6 North in Range 1 west (Mound Township).
Bardolph was originally laid out on August 3, 1854, by the late Wil- liam H. Randolph, about a year before the completion of the C. B. & Q. Railroad. The town was named "Randolph" after its founder, but it was discovered that there was another town in the state having that name, so it was changed to "Bardolph." At the time the town was laid out there was but one dwelling within its limits, that occupied by Rev. William Jackson. located on the premises now owned and occupied by W. E. Hanna. The first dwelling in the town was erected by Nathan Jones in 1856. Lots in the new town were slow sale. In the spring of 1856, W. S. and J. B. Hen- dricks bought of Randolph a half interest in the town and in June of that year a public auction of lots was held and about 50 lots were sold. From this time the town began to grow. The railroad having been completed, Bardolph became a shipping point for a large territory. As neither the T. P. & W. nor the Rock Island branch of the Burlington was then in ex- istence, large quantities of stock and grain were brought to the town from Eldorado, New Salem and Mound Townships, also from the neighborhood of the northwest.
Bardolph was incorporated as a "town" by virtue of a special act of legislation passed on April 15, 1869. The "whiskey question" was pri- marily responsible for the incorporation. In the latter part of 1868, one James McClintock of Macomb, having secured a government license, erected a building on the present site of the J. T. Parvin business building and opened up a saloon. The town, not being incorporated, was helpless to prevent or to regulate the traffic. Much indignation was aroused among the temperance people, not only of Bardolph, but of the entire community as well, and efforts were at once inaugurated to drive out the saloon. This could be done only by having the town incorporated and thereby giving the people the right to control the whiskey traffic. Accordingly a number of citizens of the town went to work and had a bill of incorporation pre- pared and the same was presented to the legislature by Hon. Humphrey Horrabin, of Blandinsville, then representing McDonough County in that body. The bill was passed as above stated, and the "Town of Bardolph" became a legalized corporation. It is needless to state that the saloon soon disappeared.
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HISTORY OF BARDOLPH, ILLINOIS
The charter of the new town put a final quietus on the saloon question, one of its provisions expressly forbidding the town board "to license the sale of any spiritous, vinous, malt, fermented, mixed or intoxicating liquors."
Under this charter the government of the town was vested in a Presi- dent and four Trustees to be elected annually on the first Monday in April. These officials were allowed no compensation, save exemption from road labor during their term of office.
At the annual election a Justice of the Peace and four Trustees were to be elected for a term of one year, the first named to be ex-officio President of the Board of Trustees. The first Board of Trustees was provided for by the charter in these words: "And for the purpose of more speedily carry- ing this act into effect, Asa Russell (who is our acting Justice of the Peace in and for said county), Edward Dyer, Wm. J. Merritt, Wm. S. Hendricks and N. D. Clark be, and are hereby created, a Board of Trustees of said corporation, to continue in office until the first Monday of April next, or until their successors are elected and qualified under this act."
Under the new organization the town prospered and many former abuses were corrected.
Owing to the destruction of the older records by fire, a detailed history of the village up to 1880, cannot be given.
The original charter of the town contained one feature which was productive of much dissatisfaction. The board of trustees were ex-officio the Board of Education and the school district over which they had control extended beyond the corporate boundaries of the town. Thus, persons in the school district living without the corporate limits of the town were compelled to pay taxes for the support of the school, but had no voice in the levying of the taxes or in the directing of the school. The friction re- sulting from this injustice became so great that it was finally decided to do away with this special charter under which the town was organized and reorganize as a "Village" under the general law. Under this law the school district would become an independent corporation in the manage- ment of which all the residents of the district would have a voice. Not- withstanding the justice of the proposed change, it met with strong opposi- tion. This opposition came from the temperance element. Under the original charter no town board, however strongly in favor of saloons, could grant permits for the sale of liquor, while under the general law the matter of granting such permits would be vested in the village board. A warm contest ensued at the election held to decide whether organization should be had under the general law (the election was held on February 5, 1876). As a rule the elderly citizens opposed the change, while the younger ele- ment favored it. The change was voted by a good majority.
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