USA > Illinois > Cumberland County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 12
USA > Illinois > Richland County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 12
USA > Illinois > Jasper County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 12
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
then the clerk of the county used every means to resist their removal, save force, and for a time, even force was threatened. The names most prominent in this feature of the county history were those of Thomas Sconce, James Gill. Ewart. Decius, Smith, John and Nelson Berry, Lewis Harvey, A. K. Bosworth, Beals, Rush, Ross Brothers, Redfen, et al.
MINOR DIVISIONS.
The records of Cumberland County do not furnish any data by which to determine the division of this region when joined to Coles County. The act of 1843,mentions five voting places, and then doubt- less indicates the five precincts which then existed. At any rate, among the first acts of the new Commissioners' Court was to estab- lish precincts as follows : " Commencing at the southwest corner of the county, thence cast on the county-line, to the line dividing Ranges numbers 8 and 9 cast; thence north with said line to the northeast cor- ner of Section 36, Township 10 north, Range & east ; thence west on said section-line to the county-line ; thence south on said county-line to the place of beginning : said precinct to be known under the name and style of Woodbury. The place of holding election to be in the town of Woodbury ; Elias Needham, Charles Bohn and Chipman Webster are hereby appointed judges of election in said precinct.
" Commencing at the northwest corner of the county.thence with the county-line to the southwest corner of Section 30, Township 10 north, Ringe 7 eist : thence with said section-line to the southeast corner of Section 27, Township 10 north, Range's east : thence north with said section-line to the county-line ; thence west on the county- line to the place of beginning ; said precinct to be known under the name and style of Clear Creek. The place of holding elections to be at the house of William Shores, in said precinct. William Shores, Seelye Hays. Sr., and Jourdan Brown are hereby appointed judges of election in said precinct.
" Commencing at the northwest corner of Section 26, Township 11 north. Ringe Seist. thence south with said section-line to the south- west corner of Section 26. Township 10 north. Range 8 east ; thence east with said section-line to the Embarrass River ; thence north with said river to the county-line : thence west with said line to the place of beginning : said precinet to be known under the name and style of Cottonwood. The place of holding elections to be at the house of Richard W. Easton, in said precinct. William Ryan, Beni White and Thomas True are hereby appointed judges of election in said precinct.
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
" Commencing at the southwest corner of Section 31. Township 9 north, Range 9 east, thence on the county-line to the southeast corner of Section 32, Township 9 north, Range 10 east ; thenee north with said section-line to the northeast corner of Section 22, Township 10 north, Range 10 east; thence west with said section-line to the line dividing Ranges 8 and 9 east ; thence south with said line to place of beginning ; said precinct to be known under the name and style of Greenup. The place of holding elections to be at the schoolhouse in Greenup, in said precinct. A. S. Freeman, Abner Rees and James M. Ward are hereby appointe.l judges of election in said precinct.
" Commencing at the southwest corner of Section 33, Township 9 north, Range 10 east, thence north with said section-line to the northwest corner of Section 9, Township 10 north, Range 10 east ; thence east with said section-line to the county-line ; thence south with the county-line to the southeast corner of the county ; thence west with the county line to the place of beginning ; said precinct to be known under the name and style of Long Point. The place of holding elections to be at the schoolhouse near M. Ruffner in said precinct. John Welker, Lewis Hall and Elijah Russell are hereby appointed judges of election.
" Commencing at the northeast corner of the county, thence west with the county-line to the Embarrass River ; thence south down said river to the line dividing Sections 14 and 23, Township 10 north, Range 9 east; thence east on said line to the southeast corner of Sec- tion 17, Township 10 north, Range 10 east ; thence north on said section-line to the northeast corner of Section 8, Township 10 north. Range 10 cast ; thence east with said section-line to the county-line ; thence north with said county-line to the place of beginning ; the place of holding elections to be at the house of James Gill, Esq., in said precinct, which said precinct is to be known under the name and style of Hurricane. Lawrence Stull, Joseph Wade and Gideon McMillen are hereby appointed judges of election in said precinct."
In the following December, Wabash precinct was formed out of Clear Creek as follows : "Commencing at the northwest corner of the county, thence east four miles ; thence seven miles ; thence west four miles ; thence north to the place of beginning." Elections were held at the house of Thomas B. Ross, and Adrian Higgins, John McCartney and James Sawyers were first appointed judges. In the latter part of 1849, the boundaries of Wabash and Clear Creek were again readjusted, Wabash being made only two miles wide, and Clear Creek absorbing the two-mile strip thus regained. In March, 1852, Spring Point precinct was formel from Woodbury, its limits
132
HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
"commencing at the southwest corner of the county, thence running cast on the county-line to the southeast corner of Section 36, on the range-line between Ranges 7 and 8 cast, thence north on said line to the northeast corner of Section 36, Township 10 north, Range 7 cast; thence west on said section-line to the west county-line, thence south on the county-line to the place of beginning." The place of holding elections was fixed at the house of A. Walker; and Thoda Garrett. Edward Brown and Reuben Schooley were appointed judges of election.
In March, 1856, there was a general relocation of precinct lines, each of the eight older ones being shorn of their territory to form two new ones. Wabash, situated in the northwest corner of the county, was made five miles wide east and west, and seven miles long from north to south ; Spring Point, next on the south, occupied the southwest corner of the county, was seven miles north and south, and six miles east and west : Clear Creek, joining Wabash on the east, was five miles from west to east and seven miles in the other dimen- sion : Woodbury joined Spring Point on the west and reached to the Embarrass River on the southern county-line. Following up the river to where its line reaches the present southern boundary of Sumpter, its northern limit followed the present boundary of Sumpter to within two miles of its western limit, then turned north and west taking six sections from the present outline of Sumpter ; Cotton- wood extends east from Clear Creek to the Embarrass River, its eastern boundary being formed by the river to the section-line be- tween Sections 14 and 23, Township 10 north, Range 9 east, where its line ran west to the southwest corner of Section 15 ; thence north to the northwest corner of said Section 15, thence west along the present northern line of Sumpter to the line of Clear Creek. Prairie City precinct was formed out of the territory thus provided with the following boundaries: "Commencing at the northwest corner of See- tion 14, Township 10 north, Range S east, thence south to the south- west corner of Section 11. Township 9 north, Range 8 east; thence east to the southeast corner of Section 9. Township 9 north. Range 9 cast; thence north to the northeast corner of Section 16, Township 10 north, Range 9 cast; thence west to the place of beginning." On the east side of the river the territory was divided into four precincts. Greenup was composed of the territory contained in the three or four fractional sections west of the river, and that between the river and a line drawn from the southeast corner of Section 32, Township 9 north. Range 10 east, to the northeast corner of Section 20, Town- ship 10 north, Range 10 cast. Its northern boundary ran from the
133
HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
last named point due west to the river. Hurricane occupied the northeast corner of the county, with the Embarrass River as its west- ern boundary. Its southern limit was rather irregular, and began on the river at the section-line between Sections 14 and 23. Township 10 north. Range 9 cast, thence east to Lost Creek, thence due north two miles, and thence east through what is now called Union Center, to the county-line. South of Hurricane was Long Point precinct, and in the southeast corner of the county, just five miles square, was Crooked Creek, the other precinct formed anew at this time. At the June session of this year the Commissioners, moved by petitions of sundry inhabitants, enlarged Prairie City precinct by a few sections at the expense of the precincts of Woodbury and Clear Creek. In 1858, the precinct of Wabash was changed to Neoga, the name adopted by the railroad village then springing into existence. In 1859, a new precinet called Johnstown, was formed from Clear Creek and Cotton- wood precinets, with the following boundaries: "Commencing at the northeast corner of Section 25, Township 11 north, Range 8 east, thenee west on county-line to the northwest corner of Section 29, in said township, thence south on the section-line to the southwest corner of Section 5, Township 10 north, Range & east, thence cast on the section-line to the southeast corner of Section 3, said township and range, thence south on the section-line to the southwest corner of Section 11, thence east on the section-line to the southeast corner of Section 12. said township and range, thence north on range- line to the place of beginning." In September following, Woodbury precinct was divided into two, called Turkey Creek and Pleasant- ville precincts.
In November. 1857, a vote was had whether the county should be organized upon the township plan, and decided in the negative. Two years later, however, the same question was decided affirmatively, and in December, the Commissioners' Court appointed Thos. Brewer, E. Miller and Hugh Reed to divide the county into townships. The committee met on January 22, 1861, and divided the county into eight townships, as follows: Union, Crooked Creek, Greenup, Sumpter, Cottonwood, Woodbury, Spring Point and Neoga. The divisions thus made are very irregular, and varying from an area of thirty-five square miles to one of fifty-six square miles.
Neoga, in the northwest corner of the county, was formed from the precinct of the same name and Clear Creek, and is the largest in area in the county. It is also about the wealthiest township in the county, is well adapted to growing wheat, corn, grass and flax, and can boast of some of the best tilled farms and largest stock-dealers in
134
HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
the county. Its settlement was not early, but among its leading citizens may be mentioned Tracy Kingman, Thos. Apperson, Win. and John Miller, David Neal. W. B. Phillips, Jas. Clark, Lemuel Peterson, J. G. Buchannan, Geo. Swangle, and others.
Cottonwood Township, east of Neoga and north of Sumpter, is nearly a regular parallelogram, four by eight miles in extent. Its eastern end abuts upon the Embarrass River, and a few square miles by the eastward curves, and comprises an area of about thirty-four square miles. It is provided with an excellent soil and a varied sur- face. It contains one of the oldest settlements of the county, and on its eastern extremity is the site of DeKalb, which was successful in the first vote for the county-seat. Johnstown, a little northwest of the center, was an important village in 1837, but has since deteri- .orated, and is more remarkable for the signs of its past than for pres- ent prosperity. Among its citizens should be mentioned Richard Easton, Win. Ryan, Thos. True, Wm. Morris, Joseph Berry, Mc- Candlish, Reed, Brown, Tate, Scott. Flake, Bloomfield, Russell, and other families.
Union Township is a large, irregular division, occupying the northeast corner of the county. It has an area of about fifty-three square miles, and is a fine body of land, beautifully diversified with timber and prairie, and is a section of the county noted for its well improved farms. Among its earliest settlers were James Gill, Thos. Sconce, Lawrence Stull, Joseph Wade, Gideon McMillen, Cutright, Neal, Lawyer, Franklin, McMorris, Waddle, and other families.
Crooked Creek Township forms the southeast corner of the county, is bounded on the north by Union, the cast and south by the county-line, and on the west by Greenup. Its outline is regular. being about six miles east and west, and seven miles north and south. It contains about forty-one square miles of good farm- ing lands. It is especially noted for its large yield of wheat. It orig- inally formed a part of Greenup precinct, and is one of the more re- cently settled portions of the county. Among the leading families are the Kellys, Baumgardners, Bakely, Layman, Hamilton, etc.
Greenup Township lies just west of the preceding township, and is quite irregular in its outline. Its longest dimensions are nine and a half miles from north to south, and six miles from east to west. It lies principally upon the east side of the Embarrass River, but, in the laying out of the county, some ten sections were added to it from the west side of the river, making an area of some forty-six square miles. It claims Greenup, a village with the largest plat in the county, and the larger part of Jewett, a village on its western
135
HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
boundary. In this township is found some of the finest timber in the county. There is a large area of cultivated land, also, in this town- ship, upon which some of the best wheat and stock is grown. Its set- tlement was one of the earliest in this region, both Greenup and Jewett being smart villages as early as 1837. Among the older citizens and farmers, not elsewhere mentioned, are David Carson, Sr., O. K. Bosworth, Jas. Prentice, Thos. Tutewiler, JJno. Weatherholt, T. C. Smith, Chas. Conzet, Sr., Jas. Paul, Joseph Gilbert, Evelands, Camp- bell, Glenn, McClain, Forrester, Troxel, Shiplor, Talbott, Ward, Cook, Ewarts, Brights, and Monohon.
Woodbury Township is regular in outline, in the form of an L, and contains thirty-seven sections. Neoga and Sumpter townships bound it on the north, Greenup on the east, on the south by the county-line, and Spring Point on the west. Although numbering among its citizens some of the earliest settlers of the county, its de- velopment has been rather slow, and for some time has been jocosely called the backwoods township of the county. It has a larger area 1 of timber than any other section of Cumberland, and is more noted for its timber products than for grain. It is rapidly outgrowing its - early reputation, however, and now has some of the best cultivated farms in this region. Fruit, grain and stock are successfully grown, and this community bids fair to excel in this as in its timber indus- tries. The latter are a prominent feature in the activities of its peo- ple. Thousands of ties for the railroad are gotten out annually, and a considerable number are constantly engaged in supplying these and timbers for the Vandalia road. Among the older families are those of the 'Harrises, Kingerys, Cullum, Wells, Berry, Russell, Niccum, Cheezam, Evans, Shaffer, etc. 1
Spring Point Township forms the southwest corner of the county. It is five by seven miles in area, and contains thirty-five sections. Its outline is regular, being bounded by section-lines, and is generally cultivated in good-sized farms. Stock-raising and trading is quite a feature among the business interests of the farmers. Among the leading farmers are mentioned, E. Smith, MeElhaney, Faunce, Mather, Pugh, Smith, Westly, Schi, and others.
Sumpter Township lies in the center of the county, and contains about forty-five square miles. Its surface is crossed by the Cotton- wood and Muddy creeks, which furnish water the larger part of the year, and by their timbered banks supply the farm with that diversity so necessary for the best success. Some of the best farms of the county are found here. Among the older citizens of the township should be mentioned Lewis Harvey, John Vandike, John Berry, Sr.,
1
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
William Richardson, John Bolp, Henry Bader, Aaron Morton, Beni White, J. A. Elder, Sr., Charles Bolin, Charles Scott, Armers, Jud- son, Ashwill, Perry, Henry Green, Ezra Stitt, Ray, John Tabott, Holesapples, Hubbard, Seeley, etc.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
For fourteen years Cumberland County had no public buildings. The location of the county-seat was delayed so long that no action could be taken in this matter. In the meanwhile temporary quarters were secured of James Ewart, who furnished room for the County Court and the Clerk of the Circuit Court, which office he first held. Later a house was secured of Daniel Porter, and this served as court- house for some ten years. The Circuit Court was domiciled in an old log schoolhouse, which continued to serve as a temple of justice until a hall was secured, and then the courthouse at the county-seat. In 1855 the County Commissioners, reciting the fact of the election by which Prairie City was made the county-seat, ordered the build- ing of a courthouse as follows: " Whereas, at said election Prairie City received 608 votes and Greenup 518 votes, making a majority of 90 votes in favor of Prairie City; and, whereas, it is made the duty of the County Court of Cumberland County, by the terms of said act in the event of a majority of the votes cast at said election being in favor of the removal of the seat of justice to Prairie City, to procure suitable public buildings for the public officers of said offices of said county, and also to provide a suitable place for holding court in said Prairie City. It is therefore ordered by the court here, in pursuance of the provisions of said act, that a brick courthouse be erected upon the public square in the said town of Prairie City, of the following dimensions, to-wit: - feet long, and - feet wide, and the side walls of the house to be twenty-eight feet high from the ground, and made of good merchantable sand-moulded brick, and to stand upon a foun- dation of limestone rock, to be two feet below and two feet above the surface of the earth, the top foot to be of cut rock, hammer-dressed, and be well bedded and laid in lime mortar; and said building is to be covered with sound joint shingles, and finished in a neat and substan- tial manner : and it is further ordered that the Clerk of this county receive sealed proposals until the last day of this month for furnishing the materials for the construction of said building, and also for the mechanical work in erecting the same according to such plans and specifications as may be furnished by the court previous to the time of letting said contract, and that James Redfern, Esq., be and he is hereby appointed a committee to superintend the erection of
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
the courthouse and other public buildings at Prairie City." This was done in June, 1855. In the meanwhile Charles Hubbard was appointed agent of the county to make contracts and supervise the construction, because of the hostility of the County Clerk to the removal of the seat of justice. In the following December a contract was made with Bennett Beals and Wiley Ross for the erection of a courthouse at a cost of $10,500, the building to be enclosed by November, 1856, and the lower room to be completed for the April term of the Circuit Court in 1856. So determined was the opposi- tion to all this action by the Clerk that he refused to record the con- tract, and it did not appear on the Commissioners' journal until his successor wrote it in 1857. The contract provided that the building should be forty feet square, that the foundation should be of good thick heavy limestone, three and a half feet high, twenty inches below the ground and twenty-two inches above; to be three feet thick below the ground and twenty-eight inches thick above. The walls were to be twenty-seven feet high; the first story walls fifteen feet high and twenty-one inches thick, the second twelve feet high and seventeen inches thick. Other specifications called for three outside doors, nineteen twenty-four light windows, a cupola and " a bell that can be heard five miles;" the entire building to be painted and penciled outside, the blinds painted green and trimmings white. The plan and inside arrangement were common in that day, but appears quite primitive beside the structures of to-day. Double doors provide for admittance to the Circuit Court rooms from both the east and west sides, while a single door on the south side, with an inclosed entrance and stairway, leads to the offices above. One-half the courtroom is reserved, by a substantial railing, to the court, bar, jury and wit- nesses, while the other half is provided with pews for the accommo- dation of interested spectators. In its prime the outside presented an attractive appearance. The bright red of the brick, with regular and clear penciling, its green blinds and white trimmings, made it an ornament to the village, and even now, though shorn of its early freshness and beauty, it possesses a quaintness and air of decayed luxury that hides, to a great extent, its lack of repair. This first and only courthouse still serves the county in its original capacity. There is a wide-spread feeling that a new building is imperatively demanded for the safety of the records, which are now protected only by wooden closets, but the old competition in regard to the county- seat has so far intervened to prevent a new building. Greenup still affects to believe that the seat of justice may be moved, although this would require a three-fifths vote in its favor, and hence uses its
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
efforts against a new courthouse at Toledo. Considerable repairs have been made upon the structure, of late, and as it is will probably serve the county for several years to come. The site of the public square was originally very unpromising. A large pond of water covered a part of it, and one of the first improvements attempted was the filling of this slough. In 1858 a neat wooden fence enclosing the square was built by Reuben Beals and W. H. Langh- ter, at a cost of $488. This fence is now sadly broken down, but the Board of Supervisors have contracted for a fine fence with the Cham- pion Iron Fence Company of Kenton, Ohio. This is to be a park railing of iron spears, very ornamental in its style, and to cost $1.85 per foot. About one thousand feet are required.
A jail building did not seem so vital a necessity to the county, and under the circumstances in which the Commissioners found them- selves, they made no attempt toward erecting one until 1859. In the meanwhile when a prisoner was had that required secure keep- ing, the jails of Coles or Clark counties were brought into requisi- tion. Petty offenders were kept in a large " gum " which the Sheriff had near his house on the bank of the Embarrass River. This it is said was quite as secure for the time as the modern iron contrivances of the present. It is related of one prisoner, that he succeeded in reaching the top, and after knocking off the board covering was at- tempting to make good his escape, when the whole institution toppled over, shooting the prisoner down the bank into the river, from which he finally emerged none the worse for his involuntary bath. This was probably the cheaper way of releasing him, and nothing further was done for his recapture. In March, 1859, however, a contract was entered into with William Jones and Reuben Bloomfield, to construct a jail and jailor's quarters. The building was a single story brick, twenty by thirty-two feet in outside dimensions. This was divided into two parts, the west side being adapted for living apartments. An official report upon this building, in 1874, gives the facts in the case: " It will offend nobody in Cumberland County, to say that the jail at Prairie City is a miserable affair. The jail and jailor's house, one block north of the courthouse, are a cne story brick building, twenty feet by thirty-two, erected in 1859, at a cost of $2,500, and now in very bad repair. The jail proper consists of four cells, two on each side of a dark and narrow corridor, three and a half feet wide, the corridor entered by a double door from the jailor's room, the cells about seven feet square and seven feet high, two of them of boiler iron, and two of oak timber. The iron cells are secure but uncomfortable, being destitute of sufficient light or
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
ventilation. The jail is insufficiently heated in winter by a stove in the corridor. There is no privy in the jail, but buckets are used instead; no water, except as it is carried in by the jailor; no sepa- rate provision for female prisoners (there never was but one, how- ever, in the jail ); and the corridor is perfectly unsafe. The floor and the ceiling are of plank, and both have been broken through. The jail was very dirty when visited (June 30), and entirely destitute of furniture, with the exception of straw ticks and blankets. There was but one prisoner in confinement." The building was poorly planned for the purpose for which it was intended, and has never properly satisfied the needs of the county. But few prisoners have occupied it a great length of time, though on one occasion some thirteen or fourteen were crowded into those contracted cells. In the latter part of 1863 the building was found greatly out of repair, the sleepers rotting, and greatly in need of renovating throughout. Considerable money was expended at this time, and other expenditures have been made from time to time to add to the comfort of the jailor's family. It has since been condemned by the grand jury, but it still remains to vex the public eye and disappoint the public service, and will do so until public sentiment will rise above the jealousies engendered in the county-seat contest, and consent to the building of a new one.
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