USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume I > Part 82
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Bender, Zopf, Hammer, Plocher and others. These, like the others from the old country, were industrious, frugal and contented people, who, with but few exceptions, readily adapted themselves to the trying conditions and cir- cumstances of those times, striving with cour- age and energy to overcome the hardships. They knew how to help themselves. For in- stance, regularly inade wagons were too ex- pensive and hard to get, consequently they constructed them primitively without any iron as best they could, making so-called "roll wag- ons" with wheels out of the trunks of large trees, thus gaining advantage over the natives, who used sleds when they could not purchase a wagon. They gradually bought up all the public lands (at $1.25 per acre) as long as it was to be had-up to the latter part of the fifties.
At the incitation of the settlers of this and Helvetia townships, a state or national road was laid out from Pocahontas to Troy, as part of the national post road, and to see the passing of the four-horse mail coaches was an event each time until the O. & M. railroad was built. The project of a railroad to run through this section in 1836 and 1854 (Brough road) were abandoned for want of funds al- though considerable grading had been done. In 1864, however, the agitation for a railroad finally resulted in the building and completion to Highland in 1868 of the Vandalia Line, entering this township near Highland and passing out eastward at Pierron. The city and citizens of Highland contributed $15,200 for building this road.
There is no village or town wholly in the township. About one-sixth of the northern part of Highland is in Saline township, all built up since the advent of the railroad. The village of Saline (Grantfork postoffice), lies on the township line in about equal parts in Saline and Leef townships. The same being the case in Pierron, which is partly in the township and Bond county.
INDUSTRIES
The township is an agricultural section, raising mostly corn, wheat, oats, and hay, but is largely devoted to dairying. Grape culture was also considerably developed, but the area now taken up for this branch is not as large as formerly. The first vineyard was laid out by Joseph and Solomon Koepfli on the so- called Koepfli hill, just north of Highland, com- prising five acres, being kept up until about twenty years ago, when the vines were taken out. Vineyards were also planted by Dr. Ryhiner, A. E. Bandelier, Nic. Ambuehl, Con- stant Rilliet, R. von Graffenried, Peter Gisler and others.
EDUCATIONAL AND POLITICAL
There are three country schools in the township, district 14 in section 35, district 12 in section 14, and district 13 in section 17. Parts of the township are also connected with other school districts of adjoining townships and Bond county. Up to 1831 there had been neither a school house nor church in the town- ship.
For many years up to 1856 Saline and Hel- vetia townships formed one election precinct, elections being held at Justice Joseph Duncan's on Sugar creek up to 1838, and from thereon up to and including the presidential election of 1856 at the school house in Highland. Then Saline township was made an election pre- cinct of its own, except the southern border sections, elections being held in the school house in section 8 near Silver creek, and after this building burned down the Kaufmann school house was made the voting place.
Township organization having carried at the fall election of 1875, to supersede the com- missioner system, the following first officers of the township were elected on April 4, 1876: Supervisor, Jones Tontz; assessor, Geo. Hotz ; collector, Martin Ruch; street commissioners, John Plocher, Chr. Tontz, and P. D. Mervin;
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
school trustees, David Rinderer; town clerk, A. A. Suppiger. Anthony Suppiger, father of A. A. Suppiger, one of the pioneer Swiss set- tlers, was an associate judge of the county court from 1865' to 1869. He had the reputa- tion of being an uncompromising opponent to extravagant and inequitable expenditures.
TOWN OF SALINE (GRANTFORK P. O.)
.
Saline is a little village of about seventy-five inhabitants, though at one time it may have had at least one hundred and fifty. The main street divides the two townships, Saline and Leef. It was laid out in 1840 by Hy. K. Lathy, James Carpenter, and others. Pre- vious to that time it was known as a cross- road place called Fitz James. The first house was built by Thomas Johnson, and the first death was that of Mrs. James Pierce, about 1839. John Duncan opened a store on the north side in 1840, and in addition kept a sort of tavern, calling it the Fitz James Hotel. After his death his buildings burned down. A few years later R. D. Legitt put up the second store, also on the north side, but soon sold out to Wm. Schum, who in 1858 sold to Bardill Brothers, John, Conrad and Stephen. John afterwards became sole owner, and having succeeded in getting a post office for the place, then called Grantfork, was its first postmas- ter, as well as the most active promoter of the town. He closed his store in 1874, retiring from business, and moved to Los Angeles, Cal., in 1910. Stephen, in 1862, opened a stone quarry and lime kiln on the Leef township side, and Conrad, after having become a phy- sician, moved to Colorado in the late sixties. Martin Buch started the second store on the south side, which later, after his death, be- came the property of Hitz Bros., Arnold Hitz now being sole owner. The first blacksmith shop was started by a Mr. Herrin.
The village now has one good store, several saloons, blacksmith shop, etc. A fine Catholic church with a school in connection, was built
in 1872 on the Leef side, and the same year a two-room brick building was erected on the same side for the public school. The Lutheran church, a neat brick building on the south side, was also built in 1872. In the industrial line the town has a prosperous creamery. A sharp- shooters society was started in 1866. Anton Beck ("old Tony Beck") was its organizer and first and continual president up to his death in 1875. The society still exists with regular practice, and its annual fall festival is usually largely attended. They own a nice park and rifle range just east of town.
The Diamond Mineral Spring, an attraction of the town, is described in the Leef township history.
PIERRON
is the other small village in the township, i. e. the western part of it, the eastern part lying in Bond county, the main street being the dividing line. It is a station on the Vandalia railroad and was laid out by Jacques Pierron in 1871. Upon completion of the railroad to the place August Pierron, son of Jacques, had erected a building used as barroom and gro- cery store by A. Pierron & Company. The postoffice was established in February, 1870, August Pierron being appointed postmaster. Pierron & Rinderer started the first general merchandise business, but after four years J. D. Rinderer became sole owner, then erecting a commodious two-story brick store building on the Bond county side of the main street. He died about eight years later, however, but the business was continued by different suc- cessive firms to this day, the present owners being Mewes & Schrumpf.
The first grain warehouse was built in 1870 by J. Pierron and Leopold Knebel. In 1880 Leopold Knebel, then sole proprietor, built an elevator now owned by Philip Essenpreis. J. Weindel started the first blacksmith shop, and Charles Britsch opened the first hotel in
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1870, removing to Highland, however, after a few years, where he died.
The village now has nearly three hundred inhabitants, a fine large Catholic church, a public school house, two general stores, the
Pierron Mercantile Company, and Mewes & Schrumpf, blacksmith and wagon maker, three saloons, a builder, concrete works, lumber yard, grain elevator, hardware store, and such other business enterprises as are required.
CHAPTER LXXV
WOOD RIVER TOWNSHIP
FIRST SETTLERS-WOOD RIVER MASSACRE MONUMENT-FIRST SCHOOLS-UPPER ALTON- LITERARY, RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL-INDUSTRIES AND BUSINESS-BETHALTO-EAST AL- TON-WOOD RIVER AND BENBOW CITY-THE ASSASSINATION OF HON. D. B. GILLHAM.
Wood River township, township 5, range 9, so-called from the stream which flows through it, is one of the most important in Madison county agriculturally, industrially and socially. It is one of the oldest in the county in the way of permanent settlement, and the one in which higher education had its inception and has flowered into most pronounced development. Between the forks of Wood river lies the most beautiful stretch of country imaginable. All heavily timbered originally, but now a broad expanse of fertile farms that have yielded, for over a century, all the staple crops in profusion, and justified its selection by the argonauts as the most desirable sec- tion of the new land they had entered to pos- sess it. The township is most favorably located for commerce, agriculture and the varied industries which form so important a factor in its life. It is bounded on the north by Foster, on the east by Fort Russell, on the south by Chouteau and the Mississippi and on the west by the river and Alton township. So much of its history is involved in previous chapters that this sketch must be brief.
FIRST SETTLERS
Just who were the first settlers of Wood River is a matter of some doubt. Thomas Rattan located in section 13, south of Beth- alto, in 1804, on what was afterwards known
as Rattan's Prairie. It is doubtful whether he was the first settler for this reason: In 1806 there was a settlement at the mouth of Wood river, afterwards called Chippewa. George Catlin, the intrepid. Indian portrait painter and explorer, speaks in his works of this settle- ment as being "directly opposite the mouth of the Missouri," which was then six miles above its present confluence with the Mississippi, and mentions the narrow escape which Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike, the great explorer, had from being massacred there with the inhabitants, by hostile Indians. This incident occurred in 1806, so this settlement must have been prior to that date, how long before there is no rec- ord to tell as Chippewa was long since swept away by the encroaching rivers. This spot was also the camping place of the Lewis and Clark expedition, in the winter of 1804-5, prior to moving up the Missouri. So it may be that Chippewa antedates the settlement on Rattan's Prairie. Chippewa existed long enough to have the distinction of erecting the first steam mill in the county. Other settle- ments, long since extinct, in that neighbor- hood were Gibraltar, a mile up the river from Chippewa which had a post office in 1819; St. Mary's, near the mouth of Wood river. Rev. Thomas Lippincott says that "Dr. Tiffin had a fine two-story residence there in 1814 and that was about all there was of St.
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Mary's." Milton was the most important of the extinct towns of Wood river township. It was located in section 17, where the river breaks through the bluffs and where the Ed- wardsville and Alton road crosses the stream. It was founded about 1809 by John Wallace and Walter J. Seeley. It became a flour- ishing village and in 1818 boasted a grist mill, two sawmills, a distillery, a store, a blacksmith shop and a tavern. Power for the mills was obtained by a dam across Wood river. The dead water back of the dam caused sickness. Many of the inhabitants died of malarial fevers and were buried on the adjacent hillside. The re- maining settlers sought other locations and the houses were torn down or moved away. The tavern was moved to Upper Alton. A pio- neer named Tolman Wright, of Virginia, set- tled near the mouth of Wood river in 1806 with his family. They later removed to the settlement between the forks of Wood river. Abel Moore came with his family from North Carolina in 1808 and settled between the forks of Wood river where some of his descendants still reside. He was joined a year latter by his brothers George and William Moore and their families. The two last named brothers were gunsmiths and one of them established a crude powder mill. It is a marvelous evol- ution that now the Equitable Powder Com- pany and the Western Cartridge Company, two of the largest industries of their kind in the west are located two miles lower down on the banks of Wood river. Think of the con- trast between the rude powder mill of over a century ago and its modern successors.
Reason Reagen and his family came, it is supposed, about the same time or a little later than the Moores. Reagen's wife and two children, two children of Abel Moore's and two of William Moore's were victims of the Indian massacre of July 10, 1814, as narrated elsewhere. William Montgomery, of Ken- tucky, settled in Fort Russell in 1814 and
three years later located in Wood River in section 13, and married Sarah Rattan. They raised a family of twelve children. William Montgomery became a wealthy land holder, owning over 2,000 acres at his death. The large family he left became one of the most distinguished in the county. One of his daughters married Hon. Z. B. Job and their children have increased the prominence of the family in a later generation.
Two brothers, George and Thomas David- son, with their families, from South Carolina, were early settlers near Wanda and became prominent. The Collet family settled at Mil- ton in 1817. Two of their descendants, Dan- iel W. and John W., later located in Upper Alton. To continue mentioning other early settlers of the township would exceed the limits allowed me. Following those men- tioned came many others and laid the founda- tions of civilization, built churches, estab- lished schools, erected factories and made pos- sible by their endeavors the high plane of life enjoyed at the present day. The hardships, the trials, the sacrifices of the path finders of the wilderness can never be adequately told. Life was a continued struggle with nature and the elements, and of continuous conflict with savage foes. There were two or more forts in the township for protection against the In- dians. One was between the forks of Wood river, in section Io, to which the settlers fled after the massacre of 1814. It was a stockade of logs enclosing quite a large space, with block houses at diagonal corners, a log house within the enclosure and a well in the center. The site was on the farm of William Moore, later the Gill farm. Another fort was near the mouth of Wood river, built in 1811, and was one of a chain extending across the ter- ritory. Brink's History says : "It was known as Benen's fort and was about a mile south of Milton on land owned by Hon. A. E. Ben- bow. Jacob Pruitt, son of Solomon Pruitt, was born in this fort. This birth and that of
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Isaac Cox, in 1812, were among the first in the township."
WOOD RIVER MASSACRE MONUMENT
The Vaughn cemetery, in section 24, where the victims of the Wood River massacre were buried, was the first regular place of inter- ment. It antedates the year 1809. Here the first church in the township, Baptist, was built as related elsewhere. Rev. William Jones, eminent as a legislator as well as a minister, was the first preacher. His descendants, or some of them, still live in the county and are worthy of their distinguished ancestry. In this primitive cemetery the inscriptions on various tombstones can still be deciphered. Among others appear the names of members of the Ogle, Odell and Rattan families.
Facing the main road between Upper Alton and Fosterburg, and near the scene of the massacre, the descendants of Abel Moore have erected a monument in memory of the victims of Indian vengeance. The monument is described in chapter XLII. The descend- ants of the Moore families are widely scat- tered but a number still remain on the old homesteads in the forks of Wood river. Several of them such as Major Franklin Moore, Irby Williams and John S. Culp, par- ticularly distinguished themselves in the Civil war.
FIRST SCHOOLS
Wood River township was a pioneer in edu- cation as well as in religion. The first school house was located in section 4 and was built of logs. It was taught by a man named Peter Flynn. Within two miles of this first school house are now located the classic halls of Shurtleff College and the stately towers of the Western Military Academy, and also the spa- cious high school of Upper Alton. The mile- stone of progress between these two extremes are many and the roadway is marked with struggle and sacrifice, but the end crowns the Vol. 1-39
work, or, as Shurtleff would phrase it, "Finis coronat opus." For sketches of Upper Al- ton's literary institutions see chapter XIV this volume.
UPPER ALTON
The first village in Wood River which has survived to the present time is Upper Alton, now a part of Alton. It was laid out in 1816 by Joseph Meacham and met with the usual vicissitudes of pioneer settlements, prosperity alternating with adversity. Meacham pro- posed to dispose of the lots by lottery. How many were disposed of in this way is not known but many were sold in some way. Trouble soon arose about titles, Meacham, who pre-empted the land, having made only the first payment thereon for which he re- ceived a certificate of entry but no patent. Brink's History says: "He became involved financially and assigned his certificate to James W. Whitney, Erastus Brown, John Allen and Ebenezer Hodges who paid the balance due the land office and obtained a patent. Mean- while Ninian Edwards and Chas. W. Hunter had obtained judgment against Meacham and . sold lots for which he had given deeds while holding the certificate of entry." A com- promise was finally effected by which the par- ties named divided the lots between them crowding out the purchasers under Meach- am's certificate. This litigation, which was protracted, paralyzed the growth of the town, and from which it recovered slowly. It was on account of this tangle of titles that the town of Salu was laid out in 1820, north of Upper Alton and beyond the line of Mea- cham's entry, where good titles could be given. The advantages of the new plat were portrayed in the Edwardsville Spectator, signed by the owners of the new site, Bennett Maxey, Erastus Brown, Isaac Waters and Zachariah Allen. Salu flourished for a time and was eventually incorporated with Upper Alton.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
In 1818 Upper Alton was a village of log cabins. There was a store kept by Shad. Brown in the south part of town, and a double log house, part of which was a tavern kept by William Morris. The first frame building was erected by Benjamin Spencer.
Among the early settlers were Dr. Augus- tus Langworthy, Dr. Erastus Brown, brother- in-law of Colonel Rufus Easton; Robert Sin- clair, Benjamin Spencer, David Smith, George Smith, John A. Maxey, Ephraim Marsh, Henry H. Snow, Enoch Long, James W. Whitney, Dr. B. F. Long, and a little later, Rev. Hubbel Loomis, John Russell, Washing- ton and Warren Leverett, Dr. John James and Dr. H. K. Lathy, Rev. T. B. Hurlbut. Whit- ney was a lawyer who had come to the country in 1800. He had penetrated 2,500 miles up the Missouri river and had been a prisoner among the Indians. He was one of the in- corporators of Alton in 1821. His death oc- curred in Adams county at the age of 85 years. The first school house in Upper Alton was a log cabin. It was succeeded by a larger one on the road to Milton, and that by a brick build- ing which was also used as a church. The present high school building is on or near the same site. The residence of Dr. Erastus Brown was on what is now the corner of Ed- wards street and Washington avenue, im- mediately opposite the residence of Dr. T. P. Yerkes. Brown street is named after this pioneer physician. Ansel L. Brown, the pres- ent brilliant editor of the Edwardsville Demo- crat, is a grandson of Dr. Erastus Brown.
Rev. Nathaniel Pinckard, his son, William G. Pinckard, William Heath and Daniel Crume came from Ohio in 1818-19 and settled in Upper Alton, as did Nathaniel and Oliver Brown. Thomas S. Pinckard, grandson of Nathaniel, died in Springfield some two years ago. He was a printer and editor. His bro- ther, Capt. Pinckard, was killed during the Civil war. Dr. Augustus Langworthy was
the first postmaster. A list of his successors will be found in the sketch of Alton.
Edmund Flagg, writing in 1838, says of Upper Alton : "The place is well situated on an elevated prairie and, to my taste, is prefer- able for private residences to any spot within the precincts of its namesake. The society is polished and a fine-toned morality is said to characterize its inhabitants. The town was originally incorporated many years since and was then a place of more note than it has ever since been." All trace of this early incorpor- ation, if there was one, seems to have been lost. The secretary of state gives February 18, 1837, as the date of its incorporation as a village. It was re-incorporated under the gen- eral law, March 4, 1887.
A Methodist class was formed in 1817 and was the nucleus of the present organization spoken of in chapter XLV. It is the oldest church society in the Altons.
The Edwardsville Spectator of July, 1820, gives a glowing account of a Fourth of July celebration in Upper Alton of which Heze- kiah H. Gear was marshal of the day, J. W. Whitney read the Declaration of Independ- ence and William Jenks delivered the oration. Dr. Langworthy served an excellent banquet. James Smith, a Revolutionary soldier, pre- sided, and K. P. Day was vice president. Ben- jamin Spencer, Dr. Hueston and Robert Sin- clair responded to toasts.
LITERARY, RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.
The reputation of Upper Alton as a literary and religious centre is well known. Its edu- cational institution and churches have been spoken of in previous chapters, save to say, that, as a stepping stone to higher insti- tutions, it has long maintained a splendid sys- tem of graded public schools.
Among the old residences of note, still standing, is the frame dwelling house, on Washington avenue built by Rev. Bennett
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Maxey, some ninety years ago. Also the stone building on College avenue, which was an early residence of Rev. T. B. Hurlbut and is the place where the first Anti-Slavery Society in Illinois was organized immediately preced- ing the Pro-Slavery riot in Alton in 1837. The building is now owned by Dr. Isaac Moore, of Alton. This stone building was erected in 1835 by John Higham and a Mr. Caswell, both pioneer residents. It was, and is now, a double dwelling house, Mr. Higham occupied the east tenement as a residence. Mrs. John Bostwick, a daughter of John Higham, still resides in Upper Alton at the hale old age of 92, with physical strength but little impaired and mental strength unabated. Her father's family landed at Alton in 1829, at "Hunter's spring," as it was then known. They occupied a log house on the river bank, between what is now Market and Alby streets. There were but five other families in Alton proper, at that time those of T. G. Hawley, Charles and Beall Howard, the Seeleys and a Frenchman. Upper Alton was far more pop- ulous. The Howards occupied a house on the site of the present Illinois Corrugated Paper Company. Mrs. Bostwick, when a young girl, met Elijah P. Lovejoy, as she was returning from school at Jacksonville in a stage coach. On the journey Mr. Lovejoy produced a cigar and said to Miss Higham, as she then was, "Do you object to tobacco smoke?" She said she did, "decidedly." To this the future martyr replied, "Some people do," and proceeded to smoke his cigar. Mrs. Bostwick relates this incident and it seems to somewhat tarnish the halo which encircles the name of the man who died for the liberty of the press. Mrs. Bostwick was married to John Bostwick in 1840. He was one of the most stirring, enterprising and capable of the early pioneers. He accumulated a large estate and in 1836 built the most elegant and costly res- idence west of the Alleghanies. It was the
family residence for sixteen years. It oc- cupied the site on which the Western Military Academy now stands. The panic of 1837 caused Mr. Bostwick heavy losses, as it did all other men of that day who were engaged in extensive enterprises, and other misfortunes followed. He died in 1855. A large estate in Chicago was lost to the family, it is be- lived, through the machinations and manipu- lations of tricky lawyers. Mrs. Bostwick's maiden name was Mary M. Higham. She is a descendant of Sir John Higham, of Eng- land. The family estate in that country is entailed. If she were living there she would be known as "Lady Higham," a position she is capable of filling with grace and dignity. The venerable lady, still retaining the attrac- tions of youth, is a delightful conversationalist and her reminiscences of old times are of rare interest. She resides with her son, John H. Bostwick, a veteran soldier of the Ioth Illi- nois cavalry.
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