Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical, Part 35

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : F. A. Battey & Co.
Number of Pages: 860

USA > Illinois > Cumberland County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 35
USA > Illinois > Richland County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 35
USA > Illinois > Jasper County > Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical > Part 35

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365

SPRING POINT TOWNSHIP.

JOHN B. ADAMS is a native of Germany, was boru July 1. 1828, and was married, in his native land, in 1854, to Annie Cramer, who was born April 9, 1827. The year of their marriage the young couple came to America and located in Dane County, Wis .; in 1865 they came to Cumberland County, and here Mr. Adams purchased, at first, forty acres of land, which, by industry and good manage- ment, he has increased to 255 acres, the greater portion well improved. Mr. Adams has had born to him ten children-Maggie (deceased), Katie, John, Joseph, Peter, Vincennes, Mathias, Henry, Annie and Clement (the last named deceased). Mr. Adams and family are members of the Catholic Church, and in polities he is a Democrat.

LEMAN FAUNCE, farmer, was born in Wayne County, N. Y., July 30, 1822. He is the son of Noah M. and Lydia R. (Barton) Faunce. The former was born November 20, 1797, and spent his early life as a carpenter and millwright, and later as a farmer. He moved to Geauga County, Ohio, at an early day, and lived there some eight years. Disposing of his property there, he came to Cum- berland County. Ill., in 1837, where he entered 300 acres of land, improving 160 acres of it. He also built the first mill in that part of the country, near Charleston, on the Amboy River. He was a strong believer in Mormonism, and a preacher of that denomination. He was with the Mormons at the time of their disbandment at Nau- voo, and then returned to Cumberland County. His wife, mother of our subject, was a native of Massachusetts, was born November 21, 1799, and died May 23, 1849. Our subject received a common edu- cation, and follows farming. About 1847 he married Julia D. Garrett. who was born September 11, 1829, and died November 24, 1874. To them were born six children, Noah M., Sarah E., Mary E. (deceased), Maria P., May C. and Maggie R. Mr. Faunce is a good farmer and highly respected. He has been a life-long Democrat, but liberal in his views. In 1880 he lost his eye-sight from illness. He-as was his father-is a strong advocate of the principles of Mormonism.

LEWIS SCHOOLEY was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, December 22, 1822. He is one of the seven children born to Henry and Rachel (Heston) Schooley. The former was a native of Virginia, but came to Ohio when a young man. He there engaged in farming

366

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

for a few years, and afterward moved to New Albany, at which place he died. The mother of our subject died when he was seven years of age. Our subject is a farmer by occupation, a calling which he followed in Ohio until 1838, at which time he moved to Martin County, Ind. On April 1, 1849, he came to Cumberland County Ill .. and bought forty acres of land, on which he now resides, for which he paid $1.25 per acre. He had the small sum of $3 left after paying for his farm; this he paid out for provisions for his family. He then went to work for fifty cents per day. By hard labor and economy he has accumulated a fine farm consisting of 305 acres, with good buildings, and all well improved. Mr. Schooley has been twice married; the first wife was Elizabeth Walker, a native of Martin County, Ind., who died about 1847. His second wife was Jennette Watson, she also being a native of Martin County, Ind. To them were born Caleb, Rachel (deceased), Cynthiana, Sarah A. (deceased), John T., Emma, Mary E., Nora (deceased).

PART III. HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY.

BY J. H. BATTLE.

ORGANIZATION AND CONDITION.

ACT OF CREATION.

C RAWFORD COUNTY, one of the six counties organized in 1816, originally comprised the territory included between the Wa- bash and Kaskaskia rivers, and from the line of its present-southern boundaries to the northern limit of the United States. In 1819, Clark County was formed, its limits extending along the whole line of the northern bounds of Crawford, curtailing its northern limit to its pres- ent line. Until 1821, the people of the vast territory thus described, transacted legal business at Palestine. In this year, Fayette County was formed, taking the territory west of the present boundary of Effingham, and in 1831, Effingham and Jasper counties were formed. There seems to have been no special effort put forth on the part of the residents of this section of Crawford County for an independent organization, but this followed naturally in the evolution of the Leg- islative plan. Palestine, then the county-seat of Crawford County, was the center of trade as well as of legal business, and the inconven- ienre of the distant location of the county-seat was not so seriously felt as when a community have a nearer trading point than the seat of justice. So far as the records of the parent county show, there was no agitation either pro or con in relation to a new county, though the act of the Legislature forming the county was undoubtedly received with satisfaction as furnishing the citizens greater opportu- nity of political distinction and a new impulse to the development of. this section.

It was in the session of 1830-31, that the Legislature passed the following act, which was approve 1 February 15, 1831:

"SEc. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois rep- resented in the General Assembly : That all that tract of country lying

367

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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY.

within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the southeast corner of Section No. 22. of Township 5 north, in Range No. 14 west, of the second principal meridian. thence north with the sectional line to the northeast corner of Section No. 3, of Township No. 8 north, in Range No. 4 west; thence west with the line dividing Townships 8 and 9 north, to the northwest corner of Section No. 6, in Range No. 8 east; thence south with the line dividing Ranges Nos. 7 and 8 east, to the southwest corner of Section No. 19, in Township No. 5 north; thenee cast with the section line to the place of beginning, shall constitute a county hereafter to be organized on petition of a majority of the legal voters therein, which shall be called the county of Jasper; and the county-seat thereof, when selected and located, shall be called Newton.

"SEC. 2. (This relates to the boundaries and county-seat of Effingham County).

"SEC. 3. Nathan Moss, William Magill and Asahel Heath, are hereby appointed Commissioners to locate the seat of justice for the county of Jasper, and John Haley, James Galloway and John Hall, are hereby appointed Commissioners to locate the seat of justice for the county of Effingham. The said Commissioners, or a majority of them, are hereby required to proceed to examine the said counties respectively, at any time they may agree upon, previous to the first day of November next, and with an eye to the best interest of said counties, shall select a suitable place for the seat of justice for cach of said counties. The Commissioners respectively are hereby em- powered to receive from the owner of such lands as they may select for the purpose aforesaid, a donation of not less than twenty acres, or they may receive donations in money, which shall be applied to the purchase of lands for such purpose; and in either case they shall take good and sufficient deeds therefor, granting the land in fee sim- ple for the use and benefit of said counties, as the case may be. The Commissioners if they shall select lands belonging to government, shall purchase a half quarter section in each of said counties, for the use and benefit of such county, provided they shall receive donations in money sufficient to make such purchase or purchases. When the Commissioners shall have made the selection of land for the per- manent seat of justice for the respective counties, those for the county of Jasper shall report their proceedings to the Recorder of Crawford County, and those for the county of Effingham shall report their pro- reedings to the Recorder of Fayette County, who shall receive and keep the same in their respe .tive offices until the said counties shall

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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY.

be organized, when they shall transmit the same to the clerks of the aforesaid new counties respectively." The balance of the act pro- vides that those locating shall receive for their services $3 per day, to be paid out of the first monies arising from the sale of lots.

The Commissioners appointed for JJasper County made their report, it is probable, in due form, but it failed to find a record, or is so lost in the mass of early business as not now to be traced in the Crawford County archives. However, the Legislature became cog- nizant of their action, and in December. 1834, passed " An act to Organize the County of Jasper." as follows:

"SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois repre- sented in the General Assembly, That on the fourth Monday in January next, between the hours of eight o'clock in the morning and seven o'clock in the evening, an election shall be held in the town of New- ton, in the county of Jasper, for three County Commissioners, one Sheriff and one Coroner for said County, who shall continue in office until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified.

"SEC. 2. David Phillips, W. M. Richards and William Price, or any two of them, shall be judges of election, and shall be authorized to appoint two clerks, and shall be qualified in the same manner as judges and clerks of elections are now required by law, and said elec- tion shall, in every respect, be conducted in conformity with the elec- tion laws of this State.

"SEc. 3. The location of the seat of justice made by Commission- ers appointed by the act creating said county of Jasper, and all their aets properly appertaining to their duties as such, are hereby rati- fied and confirmed.

"SEC. 4. Said county of Jasper shall be attached to the Fourth Judicial Circuit, and shall vote with the county of Crawford in the election of Representatives to the State Legislature, and with the counties of Crawford and Lawrence in Senatorial elections." This act was approved December 19, 1834, and in accordance with its pro- visions an election was held at Newton, in the following month, which resulted in the election of W. M. Richards, George Matting- ley and F. W. H. Claycomb, as Commissioners; Lowis W. Jourdan, Sheriff, and Richard Watson, Coroner.

ORIGIN OF NAME.

In the origin of the name of the county and seat of justice, the preference of the people does not seem to have been consulted. The whole nation seems to have been absorbed in the contemplation of

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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY.

the history and memoirs of the Revolution heroes, and the publica- tion which immortalized the fame of Marion's men, then being new, naturally furnished the names of Jasper and Newton. Weem's book was the early text book in the schools and the classic of its day. The name of Jasper is a tribute to that heroic devotion which Ameri- cans are glad to honor in the subordinate as well as in the chieftain. Among the garrison of Fort Moultrie, in Charleston, S. C., harbor, on the 28th of June, 1776, was a Sergeant by the name of Jasper. It was on this day that the British fleet, which had occupied the har- bor, opened the attack upon the fort with such a heavy and well- directed fire, as to cause the observing patriots on the shore to trem- ble for the outcome of the conflict. Once during the day, as the smoke from a terrific cannonading cleared away, the flag of the fort was nowhere to be seen. The shot of the fleet had carried it away, and the anxious spectators, with sinking hearts, feared the fort had struck its flag to the foc. But the ensign had not fallen willingly nor unno- ticed. In face of the storm of shot and shell that fell upon the gar- rison, Sergeant Jasper rescued the flag, and in a perfect hail storm of bullets, nailed it to the broken staff. At night the fleet quietly Jeft the harbor with the fort unsubdued. Jasper was made the hero of the occasion, the delighted citizens of Charleston uniting to do him honor. The ladies presented him with a beautiful flag, which he pledged himself to defend with his life, and true to his word he was found later in the war dead upon the field of battle, clinging to his and his country's flag. Such is the hero which this county honors.

The county-seat is evidently indebted to the same source for its name. Sergeant Newton was a compatriot of Jasper, and the two were often united in deeds of daring. One of these occasions is rep- resented as follows:

" Like many families of that time, Jasper's was divided on the great question. His older brother took the side of the English, and served in their army. Out of affection to his brother, and a wish to examine into the strength and condition of the enemy, he resolved, with another patriot soldier, Sergeant Newton, to pay the British a visit. His brother's position enabled him to receive his two friends without any suspicion of their being spies, and they were entertained for two or three days with great hospitality. While they were thus engaged, a small party of Americans were brought in prisoners, and. as they had deserted from the British, and enlisted in the American ranks, their doom would have been detth. This, the brother of Jas- per assured him was to be their fate. With them were the wife and

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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY.

child of one of the prisoners. Her distress at her husband's approach- ing fate touched the heart of Jasper. Confi ling his purpose to his friend Newton, they bude adieu to Jasper's brother, and took their leave. They had no sooner got out of sight of the camp, than they made a detour, and stretched across the country so as to elude all suspicion should they meet with any British soldiers. It was the custom of the English then to send all the prisoners taken in that quarter to Savannah for trial. At a little spring, two miles from Savannah, Jasper and Newton secrete I themselves, awaiting the arri- val of the British escort an l their prisoners. It had occurred to JJas- per that, as they must pass this spot, it was very probable they might rest here for a short time to refresh themselves, and the woody nature of the spot would favor a rescue. After some hours' anxious sus- pense, they saw the escort, with their prisoners, approach. The guard was ten in number, and armed. The corporal, with four men, conducted their captives to the water, and told them to rest them- selves for an hour, at the same time giving them provisions. The guards then stacked their arms and seated themselves. The prison- ers threw themselves upon the earth in hopeless despair. Near to the wretched man sat his wife and child. Two of the guards alone kept their arms as sentries. As the rest of the men were filling their canteens with water, Jasper and Newton came stealthily from their ambush, seizel two of the muskets that were stacked, shot the two sentries, and, rushing upon the others, stunned them with the butt of their weapons. Deprived of their weapons, the others abandoned the conflict and fled."

It was such deeds as these that marle each man in Marion's band a hero, and the names of Sergeants Jasper and Newton may be given a perpetual place in history as the names of the town and county that form the subject of these pages.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The county of JJasper, thus organize I, lies in the northeast cor- ner of what is arbitrarily called southern Illinois, and is bounded on the east by Crawford, on the north by Cumberland, on the west by Effingham and Clay, and on the south by Clay and Richland coun- ties. It is almost square in shape, being twenty-two miles long from north to south, and twenty-one and three-fourths from cast to west, and contains about 484 square miles. About one-third of the county was originally timbered land, and the remainder prairie, the latter occupying the broad areas of upland between the valleys of the

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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY.

streams, and elevated from sixty to eighty feet above the water courses. From Robinson to Liberty, the country is rather low and comparatively level, seldom rising more than twenty or thirty feet above the beds of the small streams. The changes wrought by the habits and cultivation of the whites have somewhat altered the pro- portion of timbered land, so that timber land and prairie are about equal in extent, a strip of each in varying widths alternating through the county. The general trend of the water courses is southward. The Embarrass, the French pronunciation having degenerated into the local name of Ambrau, traverses the whole extent of the county from northwest to southeast. This stream rises three or four miles northeast of Tolono, in Champaign County, and enters Jasper about two and a half miles west of the center of the northern line. From this point, it bears a little east, until it reaches Newton, where with a short turn nearly due east, it again follows its general course and passes into Richland County, about two and a half miles west of the southeast corner of the county. The Embarrass drains nearly the whole surface of the county, except the southwest corner, which is drained by Muddy Creek, a tributary of the Little Wabash. The valley through which this river courses is a low, flat bottom, from three to five miles in width, with some swampy areas, though gener- ally dry enough to admit of cultivation, but subject to overflow from the high water of the river. Other streams of some importance are: East Fork, heading in the southwest corner of Edgar County, enter- ing Jasper near the northeast corner, extending south parallel with the east line of the county, varying only a mile or two from the east county line at any point, and emptying into the Embarrass River in Section 32, in Saint Marie Township ; Crooked Creek, taking its source in Cumberland and Clark counties, near the northern line of Jasper, meandering southward near the line of Wade and Willow Hill townships, until it reaches a point nearly due east of Newton, where, bearing east, it finds the Embarrass River, in Section 2 of Willow Hill Township ; Law's Creek, which heads in the prairie, about five miles northwest of Newton, and runs southward and a little west, and runs into Clay County, where it joins the Muddy Creek; Sandy Creek, a mile or two west of Law's, follows a parallel course with the last named, and finds the same destination: and Big Muddy, which heads in the edge of Effingham County, near the northwest corner of Jasper, and follows along the west line of the county, until it passes into Clay County and finds an outlet into the Little Wabash. Small prairie runs are noted on the map of the

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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY.

county, such as the Wet Weather, a name that indicates its origin, in Smallwood Township; Fox Creek, which gave rise to the name of the township in which it is found; Grove Creek, Turkey, Slate and Mint ereeks, are also named, but are of no significance, save the lat- ter, in the origin of its name. which it acquiredl from the haunts of early counterfeiters along its banks.

GEOLOGY .*

Rock exposures are but rarely to be met with in the county, owing, in part, to the soft and yielding character of the sandstones and shales that form the bed rock over the greater portion of the county, and in part to the wide valleys in which the streams have their courses, seldom impinging upon the bluff's sufficiently to expose the stratified rocks. The superficial deposits of this county consist mostly of brown, gravelly clays, and a bluish-gray hard-pan, the whole aggregating from twenty to forty feet in thickness. These beds thicken to the westward, and are considerably heavier in the western part of the county than in the eastern. Small boulders of metamorphic rock are frequently met with in the creek beds or on the hill-sides, weathered out of these deposits, associated with those derived from the sandstones and limestones of the coal measures. From the limited exposures, and the widely separated points where the bed rock can be seen in this county, it has been found impossible to construct a general section of the strata, but enough can be seen to indicate their general character, and to determine very nearly their relative position in the coal measures.

The lowest bels in the county are probably the shales and shaly sandstones outcropping on the lower courses of the North Fork and on the Embarrass, in the vicinity of Saint Marie, which probably belong to the heavy shale deposit passed in the boring at Greenup, and belong between coals Nos. 14 and 16 of the general section. The highest outcrops will be found in the northwest corner of the county, where the Fusulina limestone that outerops at Churchill's place, near the county line in Cumberland County, may be seen.

At the crossing of North Fork, on the old Palestine and Van- dalia road, a blue, sandy shale has been penetrated by a shaft to the depth of about thirty feet, in search of coal, but without success. The upper part of this shale bed outerops in the bank of the stream at an old mill just below the bridge. About a mile further down the ercek, a bed of brown, calcareous sandstone is found from eighteen

* Compiled from State Report.

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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY.

to twenty inches thick. In the bank of the Embarrass, at Saint Marie. a thin bedded micaceous sandstone is quarried at low water, but it splits into thin layers on exposure, and is of little value as a building stone. A well was sunk here at the steam-mill, to the depth of ninety feet, through sandy shales and sandstones, without finding either coal or limestone.

Newton, the county-seat, is located on the bluff of the Embar- rass, and the outcropping beds that form the lower portion of the bluff consists of twenty-five to thirty feet of soft micaceous shales and sandstones, extending below the river bed. About two miles southeast of town, on Brush Creek, a sandstone is found that fur- nishes most of the building stone used in this vicinity. The quarry rock is from eight to ten feet thick. in layers varying from six to twelve or more in thickness. The stone is rather soft when first quarried, but becomes harder on exposure, and makes a very durable rock for ordinary use. Locally it has a coarsely, concretionary struet- ure, the concretions being harder than the surrounding rock, a char- acter frequently observed in the heavy bedded sandstones of the coal measures. Below the sandstone there is a variable thickness of shale that becomes bituminous toward the bottom, and forms the roof of a coal seam that has been opened, and worked to some extent at this locality. The seam was covered up by the falling in of the roof at the time of the State survey, so that neither the quality of the coal, nor its exact thickness could be ascertained, but it is said to be from two and a half to three feet thick, and has a shale parting like the seam at the old Eaton Mines northwest of Robinson. This is probably coal No. 14 or 15 of the general section. This coal prob- ably underlays the town of Newton, at a depth of eight to ten feet below the bed of the Embarrass River, and might be easily mined anywhere along the bluff, by driving an inclined tunnel into the base of the hill above high water mark, down to the level of the coal.

Three miles east of Newton, on the road to New Liberty, the saine sandstone is met with on the east side of the Embarrass Valley. outeropping in the base of the low hills bordering the valley. and continuing in occasional outerops to the coal bank, one mile west of New Liberty. This coal is probibly the same as that on Brush Creek, a mile and a half southeast of Newton. The seam is divided by a bituminous shale, varying from six to eighteen inches in thickness, and only the lower division of the seam is mined here, the upper part being too soft and shaly to be of much value. A section of

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HISTORY OF JASPER COUNTY.

the beds above this coal, as seen between Newton and this point, would be as follows:

Feet.

Inches.

Mieaceous sandstone, thin bedded at the top and more massive below 20 to 30

Sandy shale, with local layers of thin sandstone 5 to 10

Bituminous shale 1 to 3 Coal, rather soft and poor 1 to 1

Shale, parting ₣ to 1

6 Coal, good

1 6

No fossils were found in the shale overlaying this coal on Brush Creek, but west of New Liberty imperfect examples of one or two carbonarius plants were found.

South of Newton, a prairie ridge extends for several miles in a southerly direction, along which sandstone is said to be found, and this ridge probably marks the trend of the sandstone formation in this county. On Limestone Creek, in the southwest corner of the county, there is an outerop of light-gray limestone, that is quarried for building stone and for the manufacture of lime. In the north- west corner of the county, on Island Creek, an outerop of heavy bedded sandstone and flagstone commences on Section 16, Township 8, Range 8, and may be traced northward to the county line. The sandstone is of brownish color and makes a fair building stone. On Mint Creek, Section 1, Township 7, Range 8, the following section was found:

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Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical, Part 35

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : F. A. Battey & Co. Number of Pages: 860

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : F. A. Battey & Co.
Number of Pages: 860