USA > Illinois > Shelby County > Combined history of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 66
USA > Illinois > Moultrie County > Combined history of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 66
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J. A. STRAIN.
TILIs gentleman, now one of the oldest settlers of Marrowbone township, has been living in that part of the county since October, 1831. He was born in Maury county, Teuuessee, April 30th, 1824. His grandfather, Alexander Strain, moved to North Carolina from Pennsylvania. His father, David. Strain, was born in Orange county, North Carolina ; was raised there, and in the year 1811 married Margaret Mitchell, who was a native of the same county. Her father, John Mitchell, was captured by the British during the Revolutionary war, and for some time held a prisoner. About six months after their marriage, Mr. Strain's parents moved to Maury county, Tennessee, where the family lived till the fall of 1831, and then moved to Illinois, and settled in what is now Moultrie county. The location which they chose was section twenty-one, of township
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
fourteen, rauge four. Here Mr. Strain's father lived till his death in September, 1854. His wife had died several years previously. He came to this state without much means, and died in good cir- cumstances. He was a member of the Methodist Church, and for about twenty years the Methodist ministers were accustomed to hold their services at his house. The religious society there organized, gave birth to the present Bethany Methodist Church. David Strain also filled the office of justice of the peace.
J. A. Strain was the seventh of a family of ten children, and the only son who grew to maturity. He was seven years of age when the family came to Moultrie county, then included in Shelby and Macon counties. His education was obtained in the neighborhood of where he lived in Marrowbone township. The schools were the old-fashioned subscription schools, held in log school-houses, on which the children of the early pioneers were obliged to rely for their educational facilities. On the 25th of January, 1844, he mar- ried Peninah Walker, daughter of Jesse D. Walker. She was born in Christian county, Kentucky. For three years Mr. Strain carried on a saw-mill on Marrowbonc creek, and with that excep- tion, has always been engaged in farming. This mill was run by steam, and was the first mill of that kind ever constructed in Moultrie county. After his father's death he took charge of the old farm, on which he has been living ever since. He has five chil- dren living : Sarah M., now the wife of John P. McCord; Mary L., who married John Pesch ; William De Witt C., and Susan Lydia. In his politics, Mr. Strain was first a whig, and cast his first vote for President for Gen. Taylor in 1848. After the whig party dis- solved he became a republican, and has been a member of that party ever since. He joined the Methodist Church when only eight years of age, and has been connected with that religious body ever since. He has been connected with the Bethany Methodist Church froni its organization. A view of his residence in Marrowbone township appears on another page.
JAMES FREELAND, (DECEASED.)
AMONG the early settlers of Marrowbone township was the Free- land family, which settled on section seventeen of township four- tcen, rauge four, in the fall of 1836. James Freeland was born in Orange county, North Carolina, in the year 1794. He was raised in the same county, and married Jane Strain. Though he had but limited opportunities, he obtained a good English education. He learned surveyiug, and followed it for a number of years. For several ycars he held the position of surveyor for Orange county. In the spring of 1836 the family moved to Tennessec, and, after rc- maining six months in that state, in the fall of the same year came to Illinois, and settled in Moultrie county, then a part of Macon. At that time the settlemeuts, which were few in number, were con- fined to the timber ; most of the old settlers thought the prairie would never be brought under cultivation. James Frceland dicd at the house of his son, David Freeland, in Macon county, in 1871, at the age of seventy-seven ; he was a good and useful citizen. In North Carolina, he had belonged to the old-school Presbyterian Church, and had served as clerk of the church with which he was connected. On coming to this state he united with the Bethany Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and afterward assisted in form- ing the New Hope Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Marrow- bone township. He was liberal iu support of the church, and con- sistent and devoted in his religious principles. He was first a whig in politics, and afterward united with the free-soil democracy, and supported Lincoln for the presidency. He came to this state with
little capital, but acquired considerable meaus, and at one time owned about fifteen hundred acres of land in Moultrie county. He had eleven children altogether ; a daughter died in North Caro- lina, and ten came to this state ; only three are now living-John A. Freeland, of Sullivan ; David J. Freeland, of Macon county ; and S. D. Freeland, of Marrowbone township. Miriam married Joel Cloud, and died in Marrowbone township ; James Freelaud entered the Cumberland Presbyterian Miuistry and died in Sulli- van : he founded the seminary at Sullivan, and at the time of his death was its principal. Elizabeth married Joseph Knight, and died in Marrowbonc township. William T. Freeland served during the war of the rebellion as second lieutenant of Co. F, Forty-ninth Illinois Infantry Regiment ; he died in the hospital at St. Louis, from wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, twenty-two days after the battle. Nancy married Turner Johnson, and died near We- nona, Illinois. Salina died in girlhood. S. D. Frecland, the only one residing in Marrowbone township, was born in Orange county, North Carolina, December 1st, 1835 ; he was about eight months old when the family came to Illinois ; he married Susannah, daugh- ter of William Mincey -she was born on Sand creek, in the east- ern part of Moultrie county. He was a soldier in the late war of the rebellion and served nine months, and took part in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh. He has six children : Jaue, James, William, David, George, and Albert. He is a man of liberal aud independent views and has generally acted with the republican party. He is an elder in the New Hope Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
THOMAS NOBLE.
THIS gentleman, who has lived in Marrowbone township since October, 1866, was born in Stark county, Ohio, four miles from Massillon, on the 24th of August, 1835. Both his father and grandfather were natives of England, and both were named Thomas Noble. His father was born and raised in Westmoreland, Eng- land, and married Isabella Cooper, also a native of Westmoreland. In the year 1834 they emigrated to America and settled in Stark county, Ohio, and the subject of this sketch was the first child born after the coming of the family to this country. On coming to America his father had considerable means, and went into the busi- ness of raising sheep and wheat. He was a good farmer, a man of enterprise and energy, and was among the first to take advantage of improved agricultural implements and machinery for farming, after their inventiou. In the year 1845, in company with his bro- ther, John Noble, and a cousin named Robert Golding, he pur- chased about seven hundred acres of land at Todd's Point, on which to try the experiment of raising shecp, and John Atkinson was sent to Illinois to represent their interests. Mr. Noble's father died in December, 1848.
The subject of this biography was raised in Stark county, Ohio ; he attended school in the neighborhood where he lived, and also the Union High School at Massillon, Ohio; he began farming for him- self when about twenty years of age ; he learned the telegraph busi- ness, and followed it for some timc. He was married Nov. 21, 1857, to Subina Monroe, a native of Stark county, Ohio. For a number of years he was engaged in farming on his father's old homestead farmi, and also, to a considerable extent, traded in stock. In the fall of 1866 he came to Illinois, to take charge, in behalf of the heirs, of large tracts of land which had been owned by his uncle, John Noble. These tracts comprised upwards of five thousand acres, aud lay in Marrowbone and Dora townships of Moultrie county, and Pickaway and Todd's Point townships of Shelby county.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
He built his present residence soon after coming to the state, and also engaged in farming. He has five children: Thomas, Jennie, John, Ann and Isabella. He has been a republican in politics ; he is, however, a man of liberal and independent views, in no sense a partisan, and in local elections he always voted for the man whom he considered best fitted for the office, without regard to politics. He possesses considerable mental activity and originality of thought. Within the last few years he has given much attention to inven- tions, and among the articles which he has brought into being are a car-eoupler, a railway car adapted to the humane transportation of cattle, in which feed and water can be provided on the journey, and other useful and important contrivances, for which he has secured patents. His farm consists of the south half of section six, town- ship thirteen, range five.
JOHN ATKINSON.
JOHN ATKINSON, one of the leading farmers of Moultrie county, is a native of England, and was born in Bland in the north part of Yorkshire near the boundaries of Westmoreland, on the fifth of December, 1799. He was the son of Thomas Atkinson and his wife, Mary, whose maiden name was Herd. His mother died when he was a child six years of age. His father was a man of strong and rugged constitution, was industrious and energetic, never sick, and lived to the advanced age of eighty-eight years. The subject of this sketch was the next to the oldest child. He has an older sister still living in England. He was raised in the same neighbor- hood in which he was born. His home was two miles distant from the ancestral home of the Washington family, and among Mr. At- kinson's friends in his youth was Thomas Washington, a distant cousin of George Washington, who gave Mr. Atkinson when sev- enteen, a watch which he carried many years. For several years during childhood he was sickly and unable to attend school. He was proficient in arithmetic and thoroughly qualified himself for the transaction of ordinary business. After his mother's death his father married a woman whose conduct toward the children by her husband's first marriage was marked by great kindness, and Mr. Atkinson had his home at his father's house till after he was grown and married. His marriage took place in his twenty-third year to Alice Taylor, the oldest child of Thomas Taylor. She was born at Firbank in Westmoreland.
Mr. Atkinson began life for himself by renting the Croselbeck farm in Bland. This embraced sixty acres, and was considered a large farın in that part of England. The farms were sınall, sometimes containing only ten or fifteen acres. After giving up the Croselbeck place, he rented the New House farm on which he lived till he came to America. The rent was high, and finding it impossible to accumulate any means in England, he determined to make his home in a new country where he could find a better op- portunity to provide for his family. He came to America in the year 1843 with his wife and family, then consisting of eight children. Landing at New York he at once set out for Ohio. At that time no railroads to the West were in existence. A steamboat carried them to Albany, and from that place they proceeded by way of the Erie Canal to Buffalo ; from Buffalo to Cleveland by steamer and thence by canal to Massillon, Stark county, Ohio. Near Massillon lived Thomas Noble, whom Mr. Atkinson had met in England. Mr. Noble was largely engaged in the sheep business, and Mr. Atkinson had been accustomed to sheep from boyhood. While in Ohio he was in the employment of Mr. Noble. The lat- ter had purchased six hundred acres of land near Todd's Point, Illinois, (the present farm of Mr. Atkinson,) and wishing to try
the experiment of raising sheep on the Illinois prairies, he dispatch- ed Mr. Atkinson with a flock of nine hundred sheep to this State. Mr. Atkinson brought with him his family. The sheep were driven all the way from Ohio. The journey occupied seven weeks and four days. Their outfit consisted of two wagons, and they camped out along the road. He reached Todd's Point in August, 1845, and with two exceptions Mr. Atkinson was the first Englishman to make his home in that part of Shelby and Moultrie counties. Soon afterward Englishmen began to arrive in considerable numbers, and all came to Mr. Atkinson's house as headquarters, so that their house for several years was always crowded. Among those to fol- low them from England, was Robert Wilson, their nearest neighbor in the old country, whose sons, Richard and William Wilson, are now among the representative farmers of Lowe township in Moul- trie county, while another son, Thomas Wilson, resides in Chicago. While in Ohio Mr. Atkinson had visited Indiana and Michigan with the view of making a home for his family, but found no place he liked so well as Illinois.
When he came to this state he had but little means. The entire amount in his posession was a solitary English guinea which he had carried with him from the time he left England. He worked one year for Mr. Noble, receiving one hundred and fifty dollars wages, and then began raising sheep with Mr. Noble on shares. The corn for feeding was purchased at nine cents a bushel. The wolves were bad and troublesome, and were so bold that they would attack the sheep even in the day time. They killed one hundred of his flock in a single night. Mr. Atkinson continued in the sheep business for many years till the fencing up of the prairies and other reasons rendered it unprofitable on a large scale. His flock at one time consisted of between four and five thousand head, and he was one of the men most largely interested in the sheep business in Shelby and Moultrie counties. His sheep proved profitable and he acquired enough means to purchase of Mr. Noble four hundred acres of land. This was his first purchase of land, to which he made subsequent additions. He also tried the business of raising fine blooded stock, but after a short trial gave up the experiment. He has given considerable land to his children, has managed his busi- ness with shrewdness and suceess, and is now numbered among the wealthiest men in the Todd's Point settlement. The death of his wife took place on the 14th of February, 1875. He has had nine children, whose names are as follows :- Mary, now the wife of Thomas Hadwin of Todd's Point township, Shelby county ; Jane Atkinson ; Thomas Atkinson, who is carrying on the mercantile business at Todd's Point; John Atkinson, whose death resulted from an accident on the 20th of June, 1875 ; Eleanor, now the wife of John Turner of Todd's Point township, Shelby county ; James Atkinson, who resides in Pickaway township, Shelby county; Wil- liam Atkinson, a farmer of Pickaway Township, Shelby coun- ty ; Alice, who married Thomas McGlashan, of Pickaway town- ship, Shelby county ; and Elizabeth, who died in England at the age of seven weeks.
In his politieal opinions Mr. Atkinson was a Whig in England. In this country he became associated with the Republican party on its formation, and has been a Republican ever since, and has voted the Republican ticket at every Presidential election since the or- ganization of the party, except the last, when he was prevented from going to the polls on account of sickness. He has never taken any active part in politics nor has ever been an office-holder. His time has been devoted to his business and the management of his farm. He is recognized as a man of large experience and sound judgment on stoek and agriculture, and at the state fairs at Springfield and other agricultural exhibitions he has frequently been selected as
"SHANTY FARM" THE RESIDENCE OFJOHN ATKINSON . SEC. 7 , T. 13 R. 4, MARROWBONE TP. MOULTRIE CO. ILL .
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
one of the judges of stock. He bears a good record as a business man. Though able and willing to maintain his own rights, he is quiet and peaceable in disposition, and in personal disputes or suits at law he has never taken any part. He may be said to have carved out his own fortune by his industry and superior business ability. He came to the state with but little means, and has reached a position as a prominent agriculturist and public-spirited citizen, while he commands the respect of the whole community. He is a man of liberal views. An illustration of his farm appears on another pagc. When he came to Todd's Point, there were few settlements in that section, and he is now one of the pioneer resi- dents of that part of the county. Though his head is silvered over with the frost of many winters, his eye is still keen and his mind fresh, active and vigorous.
ROBERT CROWDER (DECEASED),
WHO died September 22, 1877, was one of the old residents and leading citizens of Marrowbone township. He was a native of Bunkum county, North Carolina, and was born on the 14th of July, 1807. The Crowder family is of German origin. His father, Elisha Crowder, dicd when the subject of this sketch was a small child. His mother, Mary McCarty, was of Irish and English lescent. After her first husband's death she married John Tow. The first nine years of Mr. Crowder's life were spent in North Carolina, and then the family moved to East Tennessee, and settled near Greenville, in Greene county, where he was raised. The country was rough and mountainous, and afforded few advan- tages for obtaining an education. The schools were subscription schools, the family had but little means and consequently he had but little opportunity to go to school. He attended school about six weeks or two months. All his acquirements in the way of ob- taining an education were secured by his own efforts, and were largely acquired by a practical acquaintance with the business affairs of life. He was naturally gifted with a strong and vigorous mind, and on business subjects possessed sound judgment. He lived at home till nearly grown. After beginning life on his own account he worked on a farm. Wages were then low, and while he lived in East Tennessee he accumulated little property. He was married on the 17th of January, 1827, to Barbara Prater, who was born in Greene county, East Tennessee, April 15, 1807, the daugh- ter of Isaac Prater and Sarah Morgan. Her grandfather was a Virginian, and her parents came to Tennessee from North Carolina. Mrs. Crowder was raised by John McCord. One child, David M. Crowder, was born in Tennessee, and then in the fall of 1828, Robert Crowder moved to Indiana. Hc first settled in Ripley county, eighteen miles from Madison, and lived for a time near Ncw Marion, in Jennings county. In the fall of 1836, he moved to Missouri, and settled seven miles from Booneville, near the Missouri river, where a number of the relatives of the family lived. He only lived there one year, and never purchased any land in that state. He then came to Illinois, and arrived in what was then Shelby, now Moultrie county, on the 15th of January, 1838. He settled on Section 22 of township 14, range 4 east. Several settle- ments had been made along the timber. The prairie was wild and uncultivated, and at that time the old settlers generally thought would never be settled up. Mr. Crowder's means then consisted of three horses, a wagon, some houschold furniture and some two or three hundred dollars in money. He had great energy, untiring industry, and was ambitious to get along well in the world and se-
cure a good start for his children. He bought eighty acres of land partly on time. There were then no means of making money, and he was burdened with the interest on this debt for several years. In 1845, he cleared it of all incumbrance. Hc never made money rapidly, but after he had secured a good start accumulated steadily and became one of the weathiest citizens of that part of the county. At one time he was the heaviest tax-payer in Marrowbone township. He never followed any other occupation than farming. He had ten children : David M., William A., Sarah Jane, whose death was occasioned by being burnt when a child : Thomas H., Mary Susan, who died in childhood ; Robert Smith, who enlisted in Company E. twenty-first regiment Illinois infantry, as orderly sergeant, and was -killed at the battle of Chickamauga, in September, 1863 ; James H., Andrew W., who enlisted in Company B , Forty-first Illinois regi- ment, and was killed during the siege of Vicksburg, in June, 1863. when only about sixteen years of age ; John A., and Marshall M, Crowder.
In his politics he began life as a democrat, and cast his first vote for President for Andrew Jackson, in 1828. Jackson's opposition to a National Bank made him a whig, and he remained a member of that party till the formation of the republican party, when his views on the slavery question made him a republican. He was a supporter of the republican party till his death. He had decided views on political questions, but took no active part in politics as far as holding office was concerned, preferring to devote his atten- tion to his business affairs. He was a member of the church from
an early period of his life. On coming to this county he united with the Bethany Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member till his death. For a long number of years he filled the position of elder in that church till unable to discharge its duties on account of advancing age. He was a man of sincere reli- gious convictions, and his influence through life was cast on the side of morality and virtue. Hc had strict temperance principles, and disliked nothing so much as the habit of using intoxieating liquors as a beverage. He was never known to enter a place where liquor was sold in all his life, and by example and precept cndea- vored to instill into the ininds of his children his own convictions on this subject. He was charitable and benevolent, and was par- ticularly kind toward children so unfortunate as to be left orphans. His house was the home for several. He also acted as guardian for several, and in settling their affairs never made any charge against them for food or clothing or his own time or trouble, but only for money actually expended. A poor and ambitious young man anxious to succeed in the world always found in him a ready helper. He was always willing to help a man who would help himself, but had little sympathy for those who asked aid without being willing to use their own exertions. Many men now in the county owe their success in life to his assistance and indulgence in financial matters. He had strong convictions on all subjects. He made up his mind cautiously, and never expressed an opinion till he had fully reached his conclusions. Having once made up his mind he occupied no compromise position, but always took an advanced stand on any question. His death was regretted as that of all honorable and useful man and a good citizen. He was a self-made man. He began life under disadvantageous circumstances, and had fewer opportunities than fall to most nien. His accumulations were not the result of any large transaction or any fortunate business enterprise, but were secured by constant effort and assiduous industry. His life should be an example to young men as to what can be accomplished by industry and energy under the most disad- vantageous circumstances. He was a man of medium height and dark complexion. His health through life had generally been good,
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HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
and his constitution was originally rugged. He died after a short illness, and his remains now repose in the Bethany grave-yard, near the church of which so many years he was a member.
JOHN B. MITCHELL.
JOHN B. MITCHELL was born in Maury county, Tennessee, De- cember fifth, 1820. His great-grandfather was a Scotch-Irish Pres- byterian, who emigrated to America, accompanied by two brothers. They settled in Virginia and North Carolina. His grandfather, John Mitchell, was born in Ireland, and was a small boy when he came to America, a short time before the beginning of the Revolu- tionary war. When the Revolution began John Mitchell was not old enough to enter the army, but toward the close of the struggle entered the Continental army, and did what he could to secure tlie liberties of the American people. He moved from North Carolina to Maury county, Tennessee, and lived to be about one hundred years old. George Mitchell, father of John B. Mitchell, was born in Orange county, North Carolina. His second wife (Mr. Mitchell's mother), was Jane Cathey. He moved to Moultrie county in 1832. He served fourteen years as justice of the peace in Tennessee, and was one of the first court of county commissioners after the organi- zation of Moultrie county. This court convened April tenth, 1843. He died in 1854, upwards of eighty years of age. His wife died about a year previous. John B. Mitchell was about twelve years old when the family moved to Illinois. He obtained the foundation of his education in Maury county, Tennessee. The country was new, and the schools poor when he came to this state. He was married September twenty-eighth, 1848, to Mary W. Walker, who was born in Christian county, Kentucky, September twenty-fourth, 1828. Her father, Enoch Walker, moved to Illinois, and settled on Welborn's creek in 1838. After his marriage, Mr. Mitchell moved to his present farm, where he has since been living. He owns two hundred and fifty-six acres of land. He was first a whig, voted for Henry Clay in 1844, and has been a republican since the dissolu- tion of the whig party. He joined the Betliany Cumberland Pres- byterian church, of which he has been a member ever since, when sixteen years of age. He has nine children : Rebecca Jane, now Mrs. Logan Beck; Amanda Elizabeth, wife of Francis Waggoner; Margaret Luticia, who married Samuel McGee, and died when twenty-three years old ; Mary Susan, wife of Jonathan C. Daizey; Martha Ann, now Mrs. James Wheeler ; George Enoch Mitchell ; Elisha A. Mitchell; Nancy Ellen, who died at the age of eight years, and Sarah Pamelia Rosaline, who died when over three
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