USA > Illinois > Perry County > Combined history of Randolph, Monroe and Perry counties, Illinois . With illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 17
USA > Illinois > Randolph County > Combined history of Randolph, Monroe and Perry counties, Illinois . With illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 17
USA > Illinois > Monroe County > Combined history of Randolph, Monroe and Perry counties, Illinois . With illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 17
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Rubert Tindall, of the Chester distriet, South Carolina, in 1802 began improving a farm five miles northeast of Chester
in section thirty-two, of township six, range six. This was the first settlement in that vicinity. Ile undertook the erec. tion of a water mill on a small stream flowing through his farm, but before its completion it was washed away by the flood -. lle then built a horse mill near his residence which was in operation for some years and proved a great advan- tage tu the neighborhood. On Mary's river, about four miles above its mouth, Benjamin Crane, with a family of seven sons, whose names were Benjamin, Squire, William, James, Joel, Lewis, and John, settled probably in 1802, though by some the date is placed earlier. The Cranes were men of decided character, and were the leading citizens in the country adjacent to the mouth of Mary's river. On the west side of the Kaskaskia river, near the mouth of Camp creek, Paul Harelston made a settlement in 1802. He was a man of considerable influence and prominence in early times.
The vigorous and influential Irish settlement, east of the Kaskaskia, in the neighborhood of Plum creek, from which have sprung many of the leading citizens of the county, was founded in 1802. These colonists were of Irish blood, Presbyterians in religious faith, and came to Illinois chietly from the Abbeville district in South Carolina. They were known in Randolph county as "South Carolina Irish." They had the same energetie traits which have marked the Scotch-Irish stock in all parts of the United States, and left a lasting impression on the county. James Patterson was the pioneer of this settlement. He was born in South Caro- lina. His father had come to America from Ireland, and had taken part as a soldier in the war of the Revolution. He arrived in the year 1802, and settled on the site uf the present town of Preston. Ile was a man of great energy and activity, and always maintained a high standing in the com- munity. He filled the office of justice of the peace for several years, and in 1819 was chosen a member of the county com- missioner's court. He was a ranger in the war of 1812-14. About the year 1819 he moved to the neighborhood et Sparta, and there died in 1829. H's four sons, John, Samuel, Reuben, and James Harvey, became weil-known citizens uf the county. Robert Huggins came from South Carolina in 1803, and lived for some years in the Irish settlement, and then removed to the Opossumden prairie. His son, James Huggins, settled in Flat prairie, about the year 1817, and improved the first farm in that prairie. The descendants of Huggins lived afterward in Perry county.
In June, 1803, Abijah Leavitt, came to Fort Gage as a sergeant in Col. Pike's division of the regular army sent to garrison the fort. He was from Bangor, Mame He obtained a discharge frum the army, and settled a mile back from Garrison hill, on section twenty-nine, of township six, range seven, where he improved a farm, on which he lived for many years. In early life he had been a sailor. He was a quiet, industrious citizen, and was held in esteem by his neighbors. Edward, John, George, and Abijah Leavitt were his sons. Edward, the oldest, was born on the Ohio river, on the way to Illinois. Two of the sons are yet living, and Abijah lives on the old farm on which his father settled. Numerous and valuable additions were made to the Irish
HISTORY OF RANDOLPH, MONROE AND PERRY COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
settlement in the year 1804. John McClinton, David Anderson, James Anderson, and Adam Hill, with their families, numbering in all thirty one person-, reached the settlement on Christmas day of that year. This was the largest single colony which up to that time had settled in the county, and gave a great impetus to the growth of the Irish settlement. A few weeks after their arrival McClin- ton's wife died, and he himself died within a year afterward. His three sons, John, William, and Samuel McClinton, were placed under the guardianship of the Hills and Andersons, David Anderson, or as he subsequently came to be called, Colonel Anderson, was a man of much popularity. He was strong and athletic, benevolent and kind in his disposition, and a warm friend of religious institutions. He was elected colonel of the militia. For several years, under the territo- rial government, he was one of the judges of the court of co nmon pleas, and afterwards in 1819 and 1820 one of the members of the county commissioner's court. His sons all died in early life. His oldest daughter became the wife of Robert G. Shannon. James Anderson died a few years after coming to Illinois. He left five sons James, John, William, Thomas and David. The Andersons settled in section five, of township five south, range seven. They came from the Abbeville district, South Carolina, where their ancestors had settled previous to the war of the Revolution. Adam Hill settled northeast of Evansville. John, William, Adam, Robert and Samuel Hill were his sons.
At the close of the year 1804 another important colony r ached the Irish settlement, among which were Absalom Cox, Archibald Thompson, James Thompson, Robert Mc- Donald, and William McBride. This colony also came from the Abbeville district in South Carolina. Absalom Cox settled on the Kaskaskia on the old claim granted to Elijah Smith for his improvement there made. He established Cox's ferry across the river at that point within a few years after his arrival. When he located here it was the highest settlement of the Kaskaskia He was elected captain of a militia company, and was in the ranging service during the war of 1812-14. He died on his farm in the year 1844. John, William, Thomas, and Absalom 'were his sons. Archi- bald Thompson was a man of excellent character. In 1812 he moved to a farm two miles south of the present town of Evansville where he died at an advanced age in 1833 He was one of the judges of the common pleas court which ex- isted in territorial days. Robert, William, Moses, Archi- bald, John and James Thompson were his sons. He was elected a member of the State legislature in 1834, and died while filling that position. James Thompson settled on a farm on coming to Illinois in 1804. He served as a ranger during the Indian troubles. Robert and Archibald were his sons. William McBride proved a valuable member of the community. He was born in the north of Ireland, and was advanced in years when he came from South Carolina to Illinois. He died in 1818. He had three sons, Thomas, John and William. William, the youngest, was captain of a militia company in 1813, and county commissioner in 1844. He was the father of John T. McBride. Robert McDonald settled near the Kaskaskia, a short distance below Cox, and
there died. None of his descendants now remain in the connty
John Lacy, in the year 1804, reached the county from South Carolina, and improved a farm about seven miles northeast of Chester. He lived here some years, and died. His widow married Major Adair, and the farm on which Lacy settled became afterward known as the " Major Adair place." Samuel Cochran, in 1804, settled three miles north of Chester. and improved what was afterward known as the Haskin farm. His location was at some distance from the other settlements, and, though sociable and fond of com- panionship, he was here obliged to lead a secluded life. He was influential and popular, and among the public positions which he held was that of judge of the common pleas court. He held this office previous to 1809, while Illinois was yet a part of the Indian territory. He died in Jackson county, in 1824. His sons were John, William, George, Alexander and Elisha, and all were noted for their skill as hunters. William lived and died on the farm one mile northwest of Chester included in claim 292. George, Alexander and Elisha became citizens of Jackson county. Near the present town of Rockwood, a man by the name of Emsley Jones, settled about the ycar 1804. In a quarrel with a man named Reed, living in the same neighborhood in the Miss- issippi bottom, he killed Reed. For this murder he was hung iu the commons, south of Kaskaskia. His execution was witnessed by a great concourse of people. This was the second hanging to take place in the county In the year 1802, about fifteen miles east of Kaskaskia, near Mary's river, a young man going back from Kaskaskia to the east, was shot by an Indian. The murderer was a straggling Delaware from west of the Mississippi. With the murdered man's saddle and some other articles he escaped towards the mouth of the Big Muddy river. The Kaskaskia Indians were employed to search for the murderer whom they found and brought to Kaskaskia. Certain articles belonging to the murdered man, found in the possession of the Indian, formed the evi lence on which he was convicted. He was hung late in the fall of 1802. by Dr. George Fisher, then sheriff, on a honey locust tree, on the bank of the Kaskaskia river, a mile or so above the village of Kaskaskia. These two executions were the only ones in Illinois till 1821, when one took place at Belleville,
In the year 1805, Alexander Barber reached the county from Ohio. He settled east of the Kaskaskia river and west of Ellis Grove, where he lived twenty years, and theu moved to a farm two miles north of Rock wood. He was a man of strong natural mental abilities, clear judgment and robust constitution. These qualifications gave him a lead- ing place among pioneers, and his opinion and judgment were much relied on. He had mechanical genius, and as the settlement increased engaged in building mills, and thus was of much use to the people of the county. The name of Barber, to the early residents of the county, always sug- gested a mill. He filled the office of justice of the peace without interruption for more than forty years, and his official acts in this position are unusually equitable and sat- isfactory. Alexander Clark in 1805 settled three miles
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH, MONROE AND PERRY COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
south of the present town of Evansville. The Abbeville district, South Carolina, made another contribution to the settlement of the county this year in the Lively family. Joseph Lively settled the Seymour farm in section twenty- eight, of township six, range seven, three miles northeast of Kaskaskia. In 1823 he removed to the lower end of the Opossumden prairie. He died in 1823, leaving six sons, Amos, Shadrach, Enoch, Richard, James and Reuben. John Lively settled on the prairie northwest of the Irish settlement, which thenceforth was known by the name of Lively prairie. He died in the year 1826. Reuben, James, Turner, William and Hugh were his sons. Another branch of the Lively family settled in what is now Washington county, where in 1813, the wife and all the children, but two, of William Lively were killed by the Indians.
Among the arrivals in 1806 were George Wilson and Samuel Crozier from the Abbeville district, Sonth Carolina. The former settled near the fork of Plum creek, and from there removed to the mouth of Doza creek. When the war of 1812-14 began, he, with his neighbors, built a fort wbich stood about a mile from the + ast bank of the Kaskaskia, not far from the line between townships 4 and 5. He took an active part as a ranger in that war, and after its conclusion settled in the old fort, improving a farm in the neighborhood. In 1828 he moved to the Ifeacock prairie, where he died in 1857. His sons were John, George, William, James and Andrew. Samuel Crozier improved a farm on Nine Mile creek, three miles south of the present town of Evansville. He was affable and benevolent, and possessed unusually strong mental qualitics. He was elected a member of the state senate in 1×22, and served till 1824. John, James, Andrew, Archibald, and Samuel, were his sons. John set- tled on the site of Red Bud in 1824, and his son, Samuel Crozier, was one of the founders of that town.
The year 1807 witnessed the arrival of John Campbell, who settled near the mouth of Nine Mile Creek ; of the Tag- garts who settled in the part of the county north of Chester where their descendants still live; of John Steele, the pio- neer of the Steeleville neighborhood, and of John Mansker, who moved across the river from Missouri and located on the island in the Mississippi opposite Rockwood. Johu Campbell was from the Abbeville district, South Carolina. From his first location near the mouth of Nine Mile creek, he removed to a place four miles cast of where Evansville now is, where he died in 1827. He was unassuming, quiet and respected. John, Samuel, Archibald and James Camp- bell, his sons, settled near their father. Jobn and Daniel Taggart were also South Carolinians. The former for some years remained in the neighborhood of Kaskaskia. He was in the ranging service, and after the conclusion of the war settled on the farm, nine miles north of Chester, on which he afterward lived many years. Amos Taggart was his son. Daniel Taggart also performed service as a ranger, and settled on a farm near his brother. His sons were John, William, Amos and Daniel. John Stcele was a captain in the Virginia force during the Revolutionary war. After the colonies had gained their independence he became one of the pioneer settlers of Tennessee, living for a time near
Knoxville, and then in the neighborhood of Nashville. He had the qualities requisite for a pioneer hfe-self-reliance and courage-and selecting a location beyond the limits of the settlements, made the first improvement in the neighbor- hood of the present town of Steeleville. His sons were George, Archibald, James, John and Thomas. George Steele was the founder of Georgetown, or Steeleville, as the place came to be called. He settled on the site of the town in 1810, and in 1812 a fort was erected here for protection against the Indians. All the five brothers were in the ranging service during the war. John Mausker was one of the pio- neers of Kentucky and Tennessee. At St. Clair's defeat by the Indians he received seven different wounds, but effected a miraculous escape from the field of carnage. In 1804 he settled in Ste. Genevieve county, Missouri, three years later located on the island opposite Rockwood, and in 1812 on the river above Rockwood. His son, Samuel Mausker, has since lived in the same vicinity, and is now one of the oldest citizens of the county.
The number of new settlers in 1808 were quite numerous. Jacob Bowerman, a man of great decision of character, set- tled three miles south of Steeleville, and afterward west of that town. He was remarkably ingenious, and could work at almost any trade, even making good guns, without pre- vious instruction. As a marksman with the rifle he had no superior. He had tour sons, Jonathan, Jesse, Michael and William. Robert Foster and John Anderson this year made the journey from the Abbeville district, South Caro- lina, on horseback. Anderson was a brother of Colonel David Anderson, near whom he settled. For many years he was a justice of the peace. Foster first settled near the Kaskaskia, to the west of Ellis Grove, and then on Plum creek, where he erected a horse mill and steam distillery. These conveniences caused the influx of other settlers to the neighborhood, and Foster's mill became a place of frequent resort. Musters and other public gatherings were held here. He died in 1831. Samuel, John, James, William and David were his sons. James was one of the founders of Sparta. A man named Henderson also arrived from South Carolina in 1808, and settled on the Kaskaskia river, oppo- site Evansville. The immediate neighborhood of the present city of Chester received its first settler this year in the per- son of John Clendinen who came from Green county, Ken- tucky. He improved the farm, afterward known as the Porter place. He had been a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and the story is told that once, while guarding some prisoners, a lady came and besought permission to see her brother, one of the captured men. His gallantry did not permit him to refuse, and confiding in her integrity, he loaned her his uniform in order that she might effect her object. The lady made the visit in safety, and was grateful for his kindness. He was an honorable, industrious citizen. His descendants reside in the southern part of the county. His sons were James, Henry, John and Harvey. James C'lendinen settled about half a mile west of Diamond Cross in 1808, from which place in 1837 he removed to the neigh- borhood of Rockwood. Harvey Clendinen was county commissioner from 1838 to 1844. Andrew McCormack and
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH, MONROE AND PERRY COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
John Miller located in the Bilderback settlement, north of Kaskaskia and east of the Kaskaskia river, in 1808. Richard Robbison came to this part of the county the same year, and afterward removed to the vicinity of the present town of Stceleville. He had a large family of sons from whom sprang a numerous posterity. Augustus Davis, who came to Kaskaskia in 1808, became subsequently a member of the Steele settlement. James White, a South Caroliniau, settled in 1808 on the hills west of Steeleville, half a mile north of where the road leading from Steeleville to Chester crosses Mary's river. This year William Barnet came from Ken- tucky and joined the Irish settlement. He died in 1818. John, his oldest son, lived for many years on the place his father settled, William, the second son, while returning home from a campaign against the Indians in 1813 was drowned while crossing Plum creek, within a distance of two miles from his father's house.
Kaskaskia iu the first decade of the present century received a large increase of American population. Michael Jones came to the town in 1804 as register of the land office. His address was pleasing and plausible, his cducation good, and he was well qualified for business, though his tempera- ment was said to be excitable and irritable With E. Backus, receiver at the land office, he acted as commissioner to adjust land claims in the Kaskaskia district. The Rector family came to Kaskaskia in 1806, and were connected with the surveys of the public lands. There were nine brothers and four sisters, all born in Fauquier county, Virginia. Reynolds speaks of them as singular and peculiar in their traits of character; ardent, excitable and enthusiastic in disposition; possessing integrity and honesty of purpose in the highest degree; impulsive and ungovernable when their passions were aroused; true and devoted friends, but impul- sive and energetic enemies; and the most fearless and un- daunted people he ever knew, dangers, perils and death appearing to them, when excited, as only amusements. William Rector, the oldest brother, was colonel of a regiment in the campaign against the Indians in 1812. In 1816 he was appointed surveyor-general for Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas. Stephen Rector was a lieutenant in the ranging service in the war of 1812-14. Nelson Rector was captain of an expedition up the Mississippi in 1814, and had an engagement with the British and Indians at Rock Island. Dressed richly in a splendid military uniform, with a large red feather in his hat, he led his company from the boat, disregarding the fire of the Indians, especially directed to him, as though their rifles were but pop guns Thomas Rector fought a duel with Joshua Barton, a prominent citi- zen of Missouri, on Bloody Island, opposite St. Louis. The establishment of the territorial government in 1809 brought to Kaskaskia many distinguished residents, among whom were Gov. Ninian Edwards, Nathaniel Pope, Benjamin Stephenson, Judge Jesse B. Thomas, Judge Alexander Stu- art, John J. Crittenden, and his brother, Thomas P. Crit- tenden, William C. Greenup and Matthew Duncan, who established, in the fall of 1809, the first newspaper in Illinois. The winter of 1809-10 witnessed more gayety, carousal and amusement at Kaskaskia than the town has ever since
known. Governor Edwards and other territorial officers, soon after their arrival, organized a colony of their own, and located in the prairie in the bottom below Prairie du Rocher. Edwards, Thomas, Stuart, Stephenson and some of the Rec- tors resided here.
In 1809 John Beattie came to the Irish settlement. He was a native of the Abbeville district, South Carolina. He was quiet and retired in disposition, but with much force and decision of character. John, Andrew and Charles Beattie were his sons. The settlement in the Horse prairie began to increase in 1809. That year witnessed the arrival of Chesley Allen, Rawleigh Ralls and Edward Faherty. Allen was a Virginian. His sons, James, John, Albert, William and Miner Allen became respected citizens of that part of the county. Rawleigh Ralls was born in Virginia, and served as a soldier in the latter part of the Revolutionary war, though at that time he was not yet growu to manhood. From Vir- ginia he removed to Tennessee, and in 1809 came to Illinois. He first settled near Prairie du Long creek, about three- fourths of a mile north of the line between Randolph and Monroe counties, and from there moved to the beautiful ridge running parallel with the Kaskaskia, and still known as Rall's ridge. Edward Ralls, his son, settled on the farm on the ridge that had been originally improved by Robert McMahan. He died in 1851. John Ralls, another son, was one of the pioneer preachers of the county, and died in 1857. Edward Faherty settled on the southern border of the Horse prairie. His sons, Patrick and John Faherty, were after- ward residents of that part of the county. Ezra Owen and his son, Thomas J. V. Owen, located in the "Dr. Fisher settlement," as it was called, also in the year 1809 Ezra Owen was made major of the militia, and served creditably in that position. The son was sheriff of the county from 1823 to 1828, and in 1830 was elected a member of the state legislature. Dr. George Fisher was born in Hardy county, Virginia, and settled in Kaskaskia in the year 1789. In 1806 he removed from the village to a farm at the foot of the bluff, six miles above Kaskaskia on the Prairie du Rocher road This vicinity was afterwards known as Dr. Fisher's settlement. He was appointed sheriff of Randolph county soon after the organization of Indiana territory, and filled the office for several years. He was a member of the first legislature of the territory of Illinois, which met at Kaskaskia at the close of the year 1812, and was chosen speaker of the house. He also served as speaker of the house in the third territorial legislature which convened during the winters of 1816-17 and 1817-18. He was a delegate to the convention of 1818 which framed the first constitution of the state of Illinois. A short time after his removal to his farm ahove Kaskaskia the small-pox reached the vicinity of Kaskaskia. Dr. Fisher erected a hospital on his farm, and here the great part of the French population of the surrounding bottom passed through the dangerous malady under his skillful treatment. The citizens of Kas- kaskia all that summer kept guard at the outskirts of their village to prevent the contagion from reaching the town. The American settlements were undisturbed by the disease. Dr. Fisher was an able physician, though an early authority
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HISTORY OF RANDOLPH, MONROE AND PERRY COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
states that his education was but ordinary, and that he depended more on his natural abilities than on hooks and scientific knowledge. He died in 1820.
For a few years previous to 1809 considerable immigra- tion had come to Illinois, and the counties bordering on the Wabash, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, from Vincennes around to Alton, had begun to improve. The Indian troubles commenced in 1810, and thence till the conclusion of the war of 1812-14 few new families came to Hlinois. The settlements in Randolph county happily escaped the Indian depredations. The greater part of the able-bodied male population of the country served as rangers during the war, seouring the frontier, and taking part in expeditions against the savages.
Several forts, or block houses, were erected during the year 1812. One was in the Irish settlement, about a mile east from the Kaskaskia ; another was in Dr. Fisher's settle- ment ; another on the site of the present town of Steeleville ; and a fourth at Jacob Bowerman's. The settlement east of the Kaskaskia river used Fort Gage as a place of refuge. In most cases the people abandoned their own houses, and lived together in these forts till the war was over. The men kept up their farms, but always carried with them their ritles. Several attacks were made on men at work in the field by the Indians but no serious injury was done.
The only new settler who came to the county in 1811 was Michael Harmon. He came from Tennessee, and after exploring the country around Kaskaskia, decided to locate about seven miles north of the present town of Chester and the same distance from Kaskaskia. This locality subse- quently eame to be known as the Harmon settlement. Returning to Tennessee he brought back his family, but the next fall died. His seven sons settled in the vicinity. With Harmon's family eame John Young who settled near Ellis Grove. William Nelson a native of Ireland, and a former resident of the Abbeville district, South Carolina, made a settlement on Horse Creck, some three miles south of the present town of Red Bud, in 1812. 1le built a dis- tillery, became a leading man in that part of the county, and served for a long term of years as justice of the peace. He had five sons, John G., Isaac, William, Robert, and Wilson, some of whom filled publie offices. Ilugh Leslie accompanied Nelson from South Carolina, and became a citizen of the county.
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