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 70
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 70
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262
HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
moved to Milam township, Macon county, where he now owns a large body of land. Mrs. Sanner was the oldest child by her father's second inarriage. Her mother was Martha Sawyer, a native of Coles county.
In the spring of 1870, Mr. Sanner began farming on his own account on a half section of land in Milam township, Macon coun- ty. After residing six years on that farm, he returned to Penn township, and for one year was engaged in the management of his father's place on section twenty-one. In 1877 he moved to his present farm. This farm, situated on section twenty-three of Penn township, consists of three hundred and twenty acres, and is one of the finest bodies of land in that part of the county. He is the owner beside of a half section in Milam township, Macon county, of fifteen acres of timber in Moultrie county, and considerable town property in Bethany, Moultrie county. He rents out the Macon county farm and part of his farm in Penn township. He has been engaged in general farming and stock raising. He has had five children, whose names are as follows :- Charles Wesley, Carrie Belle, Frankie Ellis, who died in infancy, Samuel Walter, Cyrus David, and Orville Arthur Sanner, youngest child of David G. Canner. Like all the other members of the Sanner family he is a strong republican in his political convictions. He started out by casting his first vote for President for Abraham Lincoln at his second election to the Presidency in 1864, and has always voted the republican ticket from that time to the present, and is a staunch be- liever in the principles of the organization, through whose instru- mentality he believes slavcry was abolished and the union preserved .; His attention has been closely devoted to his own business affairs. His transactions with his fellow-men have been marked by fairness and honesty, and in all things he has borne the reputation of a good citizen. He is one of the progressive farmers of the county. He believes that agriculture is an occupation in which brains can be as successfully employed as in any other business. He belongs to that class of men who are most active in developing the material resources of the country, and who for that reason should be prized as among the best citizens. A full page illustration of his farm and residence in Penn township has been furnished through Mr. San- ner's liberality.
JACOB H. SANNER.
IF any particular class of the citizens of this republic deserve credit more than another it is those who bore arms in her service and defended her honor on the field of battle. Jacob H. Sanner was a soldier in the recent war of the rebellion. He is now the oldest living child of the late Samuel Sanner, of Penn township, a history of whose life appears in these pages. He was born in the town of Northumberland, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the thirteenth of November of the year 1830 He was in his third year when the family removed from Pennsylvania to Illinois in 1833. He grew up to maturity in Madison county. His school- ing was confined to the winter season of each year, and mostly by his own efforts he secured a good business education. When he had grown up he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he has occa- sionally worked through life. In April, 1861, the same spring which inaugurated the war of the rebellion, he left home for Indi- ana. While on his way he heard for the first time the news of the firing on Fort Sumter. He worked at his trade in Indiana till the next fall.
On the tenth of October, 1861, he enlisted at Terre Haute, Indi- ana, in Co. A., Forty-third regiment, Indiana Infantry. From
Terre Haute the regiment proceeded to Evansville, and from there to the town of Calhoun, on Green river in Kentucky. The men next marched to Carrollton, Kentucky, and after lying there two weeks returned to Calhoun. While at that place the battle of Fort Donelson was fought and the regiment was ordered to reiu- force Gen. Grant at that point, but owing to an accident to the boat on which they were to embark, it was found that they would be unable to reach Fort Donelson ia time to be of any service, and so were ordered to the mouth of the Tennessee, then to Smithland, Kentucky ; then to Evansville, Indiana ; then back to Smithland ; then to Paducah, and then to Cairo. From Cairo they were sent up the Mississippi forty miles and then marched inland to Benton, the county seat of Scott county, Missouri, from which place they proceeded to New Madrid, Missouri, and after lying there several days went down the river to Riddle's Point and took part in an en- gagement with the Confederates. The regiment then crossed the river to Tiptonville and proceeded to Fort Pillow, and assisted in the capture of that important post. Their next work was to help take the city of Memphis from the hands of the rebels, which was successfully accomplished in June, 1863.
While his regiment went up the White River in Arkansas, he was detained at Memphis by sickness, and rejoined his regiment at Helena, Arkansas, on the nineteenth of July, 1862. He was stationed at Helena till the eleventh of August, 1863, and while there took part in various scouting expeditions, among which was a trip to the Coldwater river to tear up the railroad from Jackson, Mississippi, to Memphis, and thus interrupt the enemy's communi- cations, and a movement to Yazoo pass with the object of drawing off part of the Confederate forces from around Vicksburg which Grant at that time was besieging
He took part in the fight at Helena on the fourth of July, 1863, between the Union forces under Gen. Prentiss and the Confederate, Gen. Holmes. His regiment went to Little Rock, Arkansas, in August. 1863, and remained there till the twenty-third of March, 1864. During that time Mr. Sanner was principally on detached service, and assisted in fitting up the Little Rock hospital. While at Little Rock (on the first of February, 1864), he re- enlisted in the veteran service. From Little Rock the regiment went to Camden, Arkansas, and after staying there about a week, was sent as part of an escort to a supply train bound to Pine Bluff's for supplies. At Mark's mill, between Moro creek and Saline river, where the train was delayed in crossing a difficult bo tom, they were attacked by a cavalry force nine or ten thousand strong, from Gen. Jo. Shelby's command. The escort to the wagon-train consisted of twelve hundred men-parts of the Forty- third Indiana, the Thirty-sixth Iowa, and the Seventy-seventh Ohio and five pieces of artillery. The train was composed of four hundred wagons. They had been placed in a very disadvan- tageous position, through the fault of the officer commanding the train ; and, after fighting till their ammunition was exhausted, there was nothing to do but surrender. The fight lasted from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon.
IIe was taken back to Camden, which the Union general had evacuated on learning the loss of the supply-train, and from there to Camp Ford, near the town of Tyler, in Smith courty, Texas. He was taken prisoner on the twenty-sixth of April, 1864, and till the twenty -- ixth of February, 1865, when he was cxchanged at the mouth of Red River, he had ample opportunity to experience coll- federate hospitality as displayed in southern prison-pens. Ilis rations were short and scanty, but this was only one of the many inconveniences he suffered. At one time four thousand Union pri- soners were confined at Camp Ford. Mr. Sanner is now a mein- ber of the Andersonville Association of the Survivors of the Pri-
RESIDENCE & FARM OF H.B.THOMPSON, SEC.3 , T.13,R.3,E.(PENN TP.) SHELBY CO.ILL.
263
HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
soners of the late war. After his exchange he reached New Orleans on the twenty-seventh of February, 1865. He left there March the seventh, and coming np the river to Cairo from that place, went to Indianapolis, where he was on duty till the fifteenthi of June, 1865, when, the war having closed, he was honorably dis- charged and mustered out of the service. He lacked about four months of having served four years. He had enlisted as a private, was elected corporal on the organization of his company, was next promoted to sergeant, and was appointed first sergeant on the first of March, 1865. While he had no opportunity to take part in any of the great battles of the war, cast of the Mississippi, he was in several severe engagements, and his regiment did its share of heavy
marching and played a prominent part in freeing important points on the Mississippi from the grasp of the confederates.
After the close of his service in the army, he returned to Madison county, and in the spring of 1865 accompanied the rest of the fa- mily to this county. He has since resided in Penn township, and has been employed on the farm, where also he has found oc- casional opportunity for his skill at his trade. Like all his brothers, he is a republican in politics, and has been connected with that political party from the time of its first organization. He is the only one of the Sanner brothers in this connty who was not born in this state, bnt takes as much pride in Illinois as though it were his place of nativity, instead of the state of his adoption.
EAST NELSON TOWNSHIP .*
(MOULTRIE COUNTY.)
HE surface of this township was originally about one-half timber, known as the Okaw belt, much of which has been cut and sawed into lumber by local mills. The greater part lies on the western boundary, and a narrow strip along the river to the east line. The general surface is slightly undulating, excepting along the river and minor streams, where the bluffs rise several feet in height. The Okaw river enters the township on section 24, and meanders in a north-western direc- tion until it reaches the line dividing sections 8 and 9, when it changes its course south-westerly, and passes out of the township near the north-west corner of section 19, and re-enters it in the south-west corner of the same section, and finally leaves the town- ship at the S. W. } of section 30. The principal tributaries are Jonathan's creek, which empties into the river on section 17; and Coon creek, which heads at the edge of the timber in section 27, and empties into it on section 16.
This township includes the whole of congressional T. 13, R. 6, and is bounded on the north by Jonathan creek township, east by Coles connty, south by Whitley township, and west by Sullivan. It contains 22,995 acres, valned at $173,822; 3018 acres of which is unimproved, and is valued at $12,778. The soil, like adjoining townships, is rich and productive. The Peoria, Decatur and Evans- ville railroad enters on section 7, and runs south-easterly through the township passing out in the south-east corner.
In this township we find the first land entries were made as fol- lows : May 10th, 1830, Jesse Ellis entered the W. ¿ of the S. E. } of Section 12, T. 13, R. 6 E. 80 acres ; Nov. 12, 1830, James Pur- vis entered the W. ¿ of the S. E. } of Section 17, T. 13, R. 6 E. 80. acres ; September 26th, 1834, Jonathan E. Graham entered the W.
¿ of the S. E. } of Section 24, T. 13, R. 6 E. of the 3d P. M. con- taining 80 acres.
The first settlers were Joel and Peter Freeman, brothers, with their families, and James and George Purvis, who arrived early in the spring of 1830. The Freemans were natives of North Caroli- na, and several of their descendants are among the best citizens of the county. They settled on Coon creek, a little south of the pres- ent site of Nelson.
James and George Purvis came April 1st, 1830, and built a cabin of rough unhewn logs on section 7, where George Purvis still con- tinues to live. They broke the first prairie and put in a crop, and in the following month their father, John Purvis, his wife, and daughter Malinda came from Sangamon county. They all lived in this cabin one year, after which the elder Purvis moved to the " Mill Seat " at the bend of the river, where he lived with his sons John and James G., who had also arrived and built a cabin. The bend in the river is nearly the shape of a horse-shoe, and is three and one-half miles aronnd, and at the neck it is only seventy steps between the streams. At this point it is said there is about nine feet fall. The eighty acres, including the bend, was entered by James Purvis in 1829. He, in company with his brother, John G., built a water mill on this neck in 1833, and it has ever since been known as the old " Mill seat," It was a grist and saw mill, and was operated for several years by the Purvises and others, and finally washed away.
Maj. James Poor settled a half mile west of George Purvis in the fall of 1832. He had a family of five children, many of whose descendants are still living in the county. At one time Maj. Poor was owner of the Mill Seat. He died in 1850. Alfred Wood set- tled in 1833 Frederick Price, Thomas Purvis, a Mr. Sims, Abso- lun Brown, Mr. Fox, Boswell, Thomas, Isaac and William Purvis, John Spencer, John Bracken, Milton Cox, Isaac Munson, John Goldsby, Samuel Martin, Joseph Lilly, Samuel Hughes, William Snyder, Alfred G. De Bruder, the Elders and Landers, were all
*We are indebted to George Purvis for the facts related in this township his- torv.
264
HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
early settlers. Grandfather Purvis, who died in January, 1833, was probably the first death in the township. The first marriage was that of George Purvis, to Cassie Waller, in 1833. School was taught here as early as 1834, by Joseph Rodgers, on section 4, where the first school-house was erected of logs. Parnell Hamil- ton was also an early teacher. The Elders, Hostetler and Grider, and Rev. Hughes were early preachers. The first house used as a church was a school building erected at Nelson. Doctors Slater, Dodson, B. B. Everett and Montague were the earliest physicians. The first post-office was established at Nelson.
Old Nelson, laid out by Philip Vandakin in 1835, was the first village in the county. Dr. Montague, Joseph Rodgers and Samuel Martin erected the first buildings, and the two latter kept the first stores. Hugh M. Elder built a store and stocked it with general goods and kept the first post-office ; A. Richardson also kept a store, and a man by the name of Dobbs had a blacksmith shop. This village was located just south of the "Mill Seat" in section 17. Mr. Vandakin failed to get a deed to this tract before James Pur- vis, the owner, died, and the heirs being minors, could not eonvey ; hence the place became extinct. Soon after the death of Mr. Pur- vis, his brother, John G. Purvis, Dr. Montague and Jonathan Dazey, laid out a tract a half mile east, into lots and blocks, and called it
EAST NELSON.
It contained 40 acres ; 20 in section 17, and the same number in section 20. All the buildings were moved from old Nelson into the new village, and in addition to these J. S. Gordon, James Elder, Samuel Egbert, Whitney & Morton, Joseph Duncan, Ewing & Prentice and William Snyder erected storehouses and became merchants. Felix Landers had a tan-yard here for a number of years. When Moultrie county was organized in 1843, some of the early courts were held here-Judge Treat presided,-but when the county seat was located at Sullivan, many of the merchants and residents of East Nelson moved there or to other points, and it virtually died. When the railroad came through they made it a station, and a post-office named Farlow, was established. At pres- ent there is but one store and wagon shop kept by Newton Far-
low, and a blacksmith shop occupied by William Farlow, in the, once noted place of East Nelson.
JULIAN
was a small village laid out by Thomas Purvis, about 1836, in section 3. John Patterson and Samuel Martin, were its merchants, and Purvis run a horse mill. The land upon which it was located has long since been cultivated, and now forms part of a beautiful farm.
COLES STATION
was laid off into lots and streets, surveyed and platted, by Abra- ham Jones, county surveyor, for Robert Armentrout, the original proprietor, April 5, 1872, and filed in the office of county recorder, September 28, 1872. It is situated in the extreme south-cast corner of the township, and contains about a half dozen residences, two stores, kept by James Powers and Joseph Flesliner, and a black- smith shop by James Powers. There is also considerable grain shipped from this point.
STEAL
is a station about half the distance between East Nelson to Coles ¿ tation.
There is a tile factory, owned and operated by the sons of John Martin (deceased), situated a little south of East Nelson, that is doing a large business both in the manufacturing of brick and tile. There are also saw-mills in operation. The schools are in a flour- ishing condition, and each of the districts have neatly constructed and well-furnished school-houses. The Methodist Episcopal church, located on section 23, is the only house of worship in the township. Many facts relating to the history of Nelson may be found in the civil and pioneer chapters.
James T. Taylor, elected in 1867. J. T. Taylor, elected in 1868, served until 1870. Thomas Wiley elected in 1870. A. McPhee- ters elected in 1871. Reuben Daugherty eleeted in 1872. Isaac Fleming elected in 1873, served until 1875. George Purvis elected in 1875. John Henton elected in 1876. Rodham Miller elected in 1877. Charles Shuman, elected in 1878, re-elected in 1879 and 1880. The census of 1880 gives East Nelson township a popula- tion of 1,241.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JOSEPH B. WILEY
S a native of Moultrie county, Illinois, born No- vember 26th, 1836; he is descended from a long line of Irish ancestry. His father, Thomas Wiley, was a native of the Emerald Isle, and grew to manhood on his father's farm, and on arriving at the age of maturity he married Miss Margaret Brein. A few years thereafter he emi- grated with his family to America, landing here in 1833. The first winter he lived in Ohio, and the following year he settled in Vermillion county, Illinois, where
he remained about one year ; he then removed to what isnow Moul- trie county, and settled on a tract of land on sec. 11, township 13, range 6, where be began the improvement of a farm. He lived in this county the remainder of his life, except a few years that he resided in McLean county, Ill. He was twice married. His last wife was Miss Margaret Crumbaugh ; she was a native of Scott county, Kentucky. Mr. Wiley was the father of ten children, seven by his first wife, and three by his second. Joseph B. was the second child by his first marriage.
When Mr. Wiley landed in the United States he possesssed a capital, all told, of about one hundred dollars. He was a man of liberal education for that period, and was endowed with an abun-
WILEY SCHOOL HOUSE
MAT EMERY
RED ROSE
RESIDENCE &STOCK FARM OF JOSEPH B.WILEY SEC.II, T. 13, R.6, (EAST NELSON TP.) MOULTRIE CO.ILL.
FARM RESIDENCE OF E . T. BAIL , SEC. I. T. 13, R.6, ( EAST NELSON TP.) MOULTRIE CO. ILL
FARM RESIDENCE OF J. KIRKWOOD, SEC. 17, T. 13, R.6, (SULLIVAN TP.) MOULTRIE CO. ILL.
265
HISTORY OF SHELBY AND MOULTRIE COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
dance of energy, and by industry and frugality, he succeeded in accumulating considerable property, and at one time he owned upwards of two thousand one hundred acres of land in this county ; and at his deathı lie left property sufficient to give each of his children a good start in lifc.
In his religious views, he was a believer in the Protestant faith, and in politics, a staunch democrat, and for a time held the office of justice of the peace, and frequently appeared as an attor- ney before the justices' courts. His death occurred August 28, 1877.
Joseph B., the subject of our sketch, received his rudimentary education in the common schools of the neighborhood during his minority. On the 28th of February, 1869, he was united in mar- riage to Miss Pauline Phillips, a native of Coles county, Ill., and daughter of Micajah Phillips. As the fruits of that union, they · have had born to them four children; their names in the order of their ages are : Lora B., Victor, Francis and James Claude Wiley. Mr. Wiley, being raised on a farm, has made farming his life occu- pation ; he now owns about four hundred acres of finely improved land, situated in East Nelson township, six miles east of Sullivan, the county-seat. A fine engraving of his home-place may be seen on another page of this work. In 1860 Mr. Wiley visited Europe, and the scenes of his father's birth-place; he also spent some time in England. In politics, he is identified with the principles of the democratic party ; and as a farmer, he takes a prominent place among the leading agriculturists and stock-raisers of Moultrie county.
REUBEN DAUGHERTY.
REUBEN DAUGHERTY, who has been a resident of East Nelson township since 1854, was born in Warren county, Virginia, Febru- ary 7th, 1831. The family is of Irish descent. His grandfather, Daniel Daugherty, was born in New Jersey of Irish parents, and emigrated from there to Virginia not many years after the Revolu- tionary war. He was married in Prince William county, where was born John W. Daugherty, father of the subject of this biogra- phy, on the 22ud of May, 1793. The latter was raised in Prince William county, Virginia, and when a young man went to the Valley of Virginia, and settled in Warren county. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, serving in a Virginia regiment, which was stationed most of the time during the war on an island near Norfolk, Virginia. In July, 1818, he married Anna Owens, who was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, on the 6th of February, 1798. He lived in Warren county, Virginia, till 1854, and then came to Illinois and settled on section 11 of township 13, range 6 (East Nelson township), where he carried on farming till his death on the 27th of October, 1866. He was a quiet and unpretending citizen, and a useful member of the community. He had always been a democrat in politics. He became connected with the Pre- destinarian Baptist church in Warren county, Virginia, in 1824, and was a member of that denomination till his death. On coming to East Nelson township he first united with the Linn Crcek church. and afterwards helped to organize the Zoar Predestinarian Baptist church in Coles county. His widow is still living at the advanced age of eighty-three. John W. and Anna Daugherty were the parents of ten children, who are now living. Their names are as follows: Daniel Harvey, a resident of East Nelson township ; Phillip D, who lives in Lowe township ; John D., who is farming in East Nelson township; Dawson G., who lives in Gentry county, Missouri ; Ephraim O., who lives in Frederick county,
Virginia ; Reuben, who is farming on the old homestead ; Margaret, who married William P. Craig, and whose husband is now deceased ; Samuel L., of Coles county ; Stephen T., who also lives in Coles county, and Lucina Daugherty.
Reuben Daugherty is the owner of the old homestead farm of 120 acres, and owns besides 80 acres in Lowe township. He has been engaged in farming and raising stock. In politics he is a democrat, and has voted for every democratic candidate for president since 1856, when he cast his first vote for James Buchanan. He is one of the representative citizens of the township, and has filled several public positions. He was collector two years, and one year served as assessor. He was first appointed a member of the - Board of Supervisors in 1871, and was elected to the same position in 1872. His name finds a place in this work as one of the leading citizens of East Nelson township.
CHARLES SHUMAN,
MEMBER of the Board of Supervisors from East Nelson township since 1878, was born in the city of Philadelphia, February 21, 1843. His father, Charles Shuman, and also his mother, was a native of Germany. When he was a small child the family moved to Jeffer- son county, Kentucky, eight miles from Louisville. In the fall of 1857, they came to this state and settled at Dudley, Edgar county. Mr. Shuman was then about fourteen. He became a resident of this state in 1861. He attended the public schools at Dudley, and in Moultrie county. For two winters he was a student in the Sem- inary at Shelbyville, obtaining the money with which to prosecute his studies by farming during the summer. In the fall of 1868, he entered McKendree College, at Lebanon, Illinios. He pursued his studies at this institution till the fall of 1871, when he took charge of a school on the Looking Glass prairie, in St. Clair county, near Lebanon, but returned to the College in the spring, and graduated in June, 1872. After his graduation he taught school two years in St. Clair county, and returned to Moultrie county in September, 1874, and on the 8th of that monthi was married to Miss Mary R. McPheeters, daughter of Major Addison McPheeters, now one of the oldest citizens of Moultrie county. Mrs. Shuman's father was born in Fayette county, Kentucky. October 27, 1798; passed through Illinois on his way to Missouri in 1819 ; lived in Missouri several years; moved to what is now Scott county, Illinois ; and returned to Fayette county, Kentucky, where Mrs. Shuman was born, and settled in Moultrie county, in December, 1853. Mrs. Shuman was five years old when she came to this county. Her mother, whose maiden name was Susan Ann Richardson, is a native of Ohio. Major McPheeters was a soldier in the Black Hawk war, enlisting in a company raised in Boone county, Missouri, of which he was first lieutenant. He served as justice of the peace in Scott county, Illinois, and was elected a member of the Board of Super- visors from East Nelson township in 1871.
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