USA > Illinois > Douglas County > Historical and biographical record of Douglas County, Illinois > Part 9
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The name of this township is derived from that of Bourbon county, Kentucky, which was represented by several of the first settlers. The people voted bonds in aid of the 1. M. Railway to the amount of thirty-five thousand dollars.
The township has contributed liberally of her citizens to the public service. John Chand- ler, the first clerk of the county, was elected in 1859 and again in 1861. Caleb Bales was associate justice for a term beginning Novem- ber, 1861, and was also supervisor in 1872. Samuel B. Logan was the first sheriff of the county, 1859. Newton I. Cooper was made sheriff in 1870. Lemauel Chandler served as supervisor in 1868-69-70-71, and had also charge of the interests of the county in realiz- ing from the state the amount due from swamp
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lands. M. D. Bartholomew was supervisor in 1873. and was succeeded by Andrew Ray in 1874. who was returned in 1875. J. F. Bouck came from Ohio in 1866 to Bourbon township and served with a captain's com- mission in the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment of that state in the war of 1861.
Chesterville is a small hamlet with a post- office and store and one church, the United Brethren. The population in 1890 was twenty- eight.
The villages of Fillmore and Bagdad of this township have disappeared from the face of the map.
Arthur, a most progressive village of about seven hundred people, was laid out by the Paris & Decatur Railroad Company on the lands of M. Warren, of Moultrie, and the Murpheys, of Douglas county. The county line divides the village north and south. The Douglas county surveying was done by the railroad engineers, and certified by Mr. Niles, the Douglas county surveyor. This was in July. 1873. Murphy's addition was made Jan- uary 30, 1875, and Reeves' addition Decem- ber 30. 1874, both surveyed by Mr. Niles. The first business house was put up by Jacob Sears. William 11. Ward brought the first stock of goods to the village and in the spring of 1873 J. W. Barrum founded the first drug store. Arthur was incorporated in the county court of Moultrie county at the April term, .A. D. 1877, which was signed by David Crockett, C. G. McComb. William Ellers, M. Hunsaker, M. H. Warren, B. G. Hoover, H. Dehart, J. W. Sears and some forty others. . The court found there were three hundred and fifty inhabitants residing in the territory. The petition for the
election was granted and the election ordered for May 7, 1877. Under the act approved April 9. 1872. 31. 11. Warren and James Ellars were appointed judges of the election, the re- turns to be made to Moultrie county. There were for village organization thirty-three votes, and against it thirty votes. On June 12, 1877, the first election was held for the choice of six trustees and a clerk, in which the persons chosen were C. G. McComb, W. 11. 11. Reeder, 11. C. Jones, J. W. Sears, N. Thompson and M. Hunsaker, and J. W. Barrum was duly elected clerk.
On the farm of Mr. Blaase some mounds have been found from which human remains, apparently ancient, have been exhumed in ex- cavating for a buikling. The idea that several slight elevations near here were the work of human hands is sustained to an extent by the fact that ancient marks upon trees all facing to one point are noticed. On the same farm what was supposed to be a large flat rock, some twelve feet square, was found and supposed to cover interesting matter. A relative of Mr. Plaase dug around it on all sides to a depth of about eight feet, but he came to the conclusion that the bottom was in China, and the work was abandoned.
A Hurricane .- May 14, 1858, a hurricane visited this part of the county from the north- west, on its way to Arcola, where it had an engagement, doing considerable damage in and near Bourbon village, the effects of which, how- ever, were more seriously felt in Arcola, where several houses were considerably damaged. and others altogether overthrown. It was a busy day at Bourbon at the time, and it was fun to the perfectly cool fellows who were not at
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all alarmed to see cursing, swearing, fighting men "hunt their holes." We don't remember just now who the cool fellows were.
BOWDRE TOWNSIHP.
Bowdre township has forty-eight and one- half square miles of territory. When township organization was adopted in 1868, this town- ship was called Deer Creek, after the water course of that name which traverses it, and had been a part of Collins precinct in Coles county. The Embarras river runs through the northeast part and receives Scattering Fork in the north. The township is traversed by the Illi- nois Midland Railway from the west to the southeast, a considerable defiection having been made in the line of the road that it might pass within a mile of the center of the township, upon which condition and for other reasons, the people of the township voted bonds in ad of the road to the amount of thirty thousand dollars.
Railroads .- This township is intersected by the Illinois Midland Railway, now the Vandalia system, running generally east and west, entering it near the north- west corner of section 4, township 14, range 8, running thence east along the congressional township line for about two miles; thence southeastwardly, leaving the township about the middle of the east line of section 8, township 14, range 10, then making a decided large curve to the north, and back again.
This extra length and curvature was caused by a demand on the part of the citizens that the road should pass within a mile of the
center of the township, upon which conditions the township, by a vote of the people, subscribed township bonds in aid of the road to the amount of $30,000. It was shown that the issue was illegal there being no authority whatever for holding the election. The tax was enjoined, and proper steps taken to abro- gate the whole proceedings, which obtained. The bonds found their way into the hands of innocent parties, who purchased them as a per- manent investment.
Early land entries and carly settlers .- As to the first entries of land in this town- ship, the earliest date is found to be the entry of June, 1833, by Samuel C. Gill, who took the east half of northeast quarter of section 2, township 15, range y, and other lands. John Davis, in October, 1833, entered west half of northeast quarter, same section. In 1836, in February, the northeast quarter of northeast quarter of section II, township 15, range 9, was entered by the Barnets, and as in other parts of the county, the great bulk of the lands were entered in 1852 and 1853. Isaac Davidson arrived in 1838. James A. Breeden settled, in 1853, upon section 9, township 14, range 9, and built the first house on the prairie, between the old "Wallace Stand," near Hick- ory Grove, and the Okaw timber, which was eight miles to the west.
The "Wallace Stand" was the residence of A. G. Wallace for some years. Mr. Wallace is noted elsewhere in this book. John Davis, who entered his land in 1833, arrived in the state from Brown county, Ohio, in September, 1834. He died in March, 1865. Shiloah Gill arrived in 1852, and settled on the land entered by his father in 1833. (See sketches else- where.)
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Jolin Barnet, called "Jack" by everybody, came from Kentucky to the Little Vermillion in 1832. and to Coles county, since Douglas, in 1842. The life partners of several prom- inent citizens were his daughters.
School lands .- Section 16, township 14, range 9 east, the "school" section, was purchased from the state in the first instance of its oceu- pancy, each section 16 having been set apart by law for the use of schools. The sales were made in 1856. John Cofer took four hundred acres, and W. D. Martin two hundred and forty acres. It was surveyed and lotted as required by law. Lot one is northeast quarter of the northeast quarter, forty and two-thirds acres; Lot two is southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, forty and two-thirds acres; three is west half of northeast quarter, eighty-one acres; the east half of northwest quarter is Lot four, seventy-seven aeres; northwest quar- ter of the northwest quarter; thirty-eight and one-half acres, is five; and southwest quarter of the northwest quarter is six, which also con- tains thirty-eight and one-half acres.
The south half of the section corresponds in position and area. This lotting was arbi- trary, though the surveyor ostensibly preserved the original areas. In this case, the east half of the section is found to contain seventeen acres more than the west half. It is fair, then, to suppose that the quarter section corners on the north line and on the south line must have been found as originally surveyed much too far west.
Section 16, township 15, range 9, another school section in Bowdre bounds, was lotted in forty and eighty acre lots, and found to come out exactly even all around; perhaps it was surveyed in the house. It was aparted into ten
lots; east half of northeast quarter was one, and west half was two and three; east half of northwest quarter was four, and west half of northwest quarter was five and six; the south half of the section was made into four lots, of even eighty aeres each.
These school lands were sold all too soon, and consequently almost sacrificed, bringing in some instances as low as two dollars per acre. It was not believed in those days that the prairie would be settled. The high grass and weeds, and the absence of roads added to the blank, dreary lookout generally, and forbade the idea that homes would ever have a place there.
As late as 1851, John Davis offered to sell lot two, southwest quarter of section 6, town- ship 15, range 10, eighty-four acres, for the entry money he had paid for it, viz., $1.25 per acre; this was seventeen years after he had entered it. It was in Camargo township.
Old inhabitants .- H. L. Thornsbrue is the oldest living person born in Doug- las county; Mrs. Mary West, reliet of Thomas West, was the oldest resident. and settled here in 1834. She died March 3, 1884, aged seventy-nine, after a residence of half a century in the county. Issachar Davis is the oldest male inhabitant, his residence here dating from October 3, 1834. Mr. Davis was a farmer and land surveyor. He was elected county surveyor in 1863, 1867 and 1875.
Churches .- In the southeast quarter of sec- tion 16, township 15, range 9, is situated Mt. Gilead Methodist church, which offers conven- iences to neighboring church-goers. At Hugo is Antioch church. The Methodists have a church in section 14, township 14, range 9,
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and the Christians and Methodists in Hinds- boro.
HINDSBORO VILLAGE.
The town or village of Hindsboro is situ- ated in section 6, 14, 10, and was laid out by the railroad company upon the lands of the Hinds Brothers in 1874, the plat covering about sixty-two acres. The railroad here runs about southeast and the plan of the town is in conformity with it, the principal streets be- ing at right angles and parallel with the line of the road. The place is improving rapidly and has claims as a shipping point which can not be ignored. Here Lodge No. 571, I. O. O. F., was instituted April 12, 1875, the first officers of which were: J. Gerard, N. G .; B. F. Strader, V. G .; J. M. Dwinnell, secretary; and James Stites, treasurer, and J. Gerard, D. G. M.
The town was laid off in 1874, being sur- veyed by II. C. Niles, from plans furnished by the railroad, which plans, by the way, were changed by the proprietors before the town was surveyed, but after a map of the town had been engraved and published in an atlas map; this, unfortunately, makes the printed map worse than useless. The lots and blocks were laid off parallel, and at right angles to the rail- road, which here runs about southeast, and consequently bad "point" lots occur all around the borders of the plat. In a country where the cardinal points are almost universally used in metes and bounds, a village plan not "square with the world" has many inconveniences for which there is generally no necessity. The village is improving rapidly and has claims as a shipping and trading point, which are rapidly growing in importance.
Hindsboro is a good business center, hav- ing two good general stores and two enter- prising grain buyers. Its population is about three hundred.
Kemp is a small village in this township.
Hugo has a postoffice and store with a population of about fifty. It is the scene of about the last appearance of Indians in the county, a trading store having been kept there by one Vessar and one Hubbard in 1829-30.
The Indians .- Issachar Davis said that at about the center of southwest quar- ter of southeast quarter of section 12, township 15, range 9, and on the north- east quarter of the northwest quarter of section 13. near the old trading post, several Indian graves have been discovered and ex- amined. Iluman bones were found in each, as well as beads and a silver brooch, by William Wiley and John Welliver. A large silver cres- cent, five or six inches in diameter, and about two and one-half inches wide at its broadest part, was also secured. Samuel Cheney, a for- mer resident, now living near Humbolt, in Coles county, saw the departure of the last band of Indians, in April, 1833. He was a son of James Cheney, who came to the neigh- borhood in 1830, and the first wife of Issachar Davis was a sister of his. She had a quantity of trinkets, which she had procured from the Indians by trading provisions, etc. AAt another time, the corpse of an Indian was found against a tree, near the Embarrass, and not far from the mouth of Scattering Fork.
A Christian church .- A Christian church, ycleped "Antioch," is situated here on the southwest quarter of section 12. township 15, range 9, which was built in 1881, at an ex- pense of about twelve hundred dollars.
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Murder .- Bowdre is the scene of the second murder committed in the county, Arcola City having the first, third and fourth. At the Feb- ruary term. 1871, of Douglas county circuit court. O. P. Greenwood was indited for the murder of George Mussett. He met him in the woods near Hugo and shot him with a rifle. Greenwood was tried at Charleston, Coles county, on a change of venue, and sentenced to the peniten- tiary for twenty-one years. Having sur- rendered himself to the officers, and as there was some probability of self-defense, as well as some supposed justification, domestic dif- ficulty being the cause of the quarrel, and some other extenuating circumstances, a petition was circulated for his pardon, which prevailed after Greenwood had served about seven years. He was defended by Hon. Thomas E. Bundy and Hon. James A. Connolly. Hon. J. G. Cannon was engaged to conduct the prosecu- tion by several citizens who made up a purse for that purpose. Greenwood afterward lived a while in Tuscola and removed South.
GARRETII TOWNSHIP.
Garrett is named in honor of Isam Garrett. Before township organization the area, as an election precinct, was much smaller than at present. It was bounded on the east by the Okaw river, and on the south by the congres- sional township line, containing only about thirty square miles. There were added about twenty more when the townships were made, and the east line was extended to the range or township line on the east, and to the south part was added two tiers of sections off the north end of the congressional township on is exactly six hundred and forty acres.
the south. As now constituted, it is bounded on the north and on the west by the county line, on the south by the township of Bourbon, and on the east by Tuscola, and consists of all of township 16 north, of range 7 east. of the third principal meridian, and sections 1 to 12 in- clusive, of township 15 north, of range 7 cast, the total area in square miles being 51.83. the same being according to the United States government survey 33,171.95 acres.
This is the shape it received upon the adop- tion of township organization in 1868. a partic- ular account of which is given elsewhere in this volume. A section of land is usually esti- mated to contain six hundred and forty acres, which is indeed the average, the exceptions being the fractional sections, occurring on the north and west sides of all townships surveyed by the government. The north tier of sections in township 15 north, range 7 east. in Garrett, one to six inclusive, are all over one thousand acres in area, and section 6, township 15, range 7, mostly owned by James Drew, was the largest government section of land in the county, con- taining 1,148.21 acres; it is over one and one- half miles in north and south length, and con- siderably over one mile in east and west measure.
The government surveyors were instructed to make all townships of thirty-six sections to contain, as near as may be, twenty-three thou- sand and forty acres, that is to say, to be six miles square and include thirty-six sections. Township 16 north, range 7 east, is the only congressional township in the county which "fills the bill," the area, according to govern- ment survey, being exactly the proposed area in gross. It does not follow that each section
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Topography, drainage, etc .- The Kaskas- kia river traverses the east tier of sections in this sub-division of the county, and, being here near the very source of this river, which rises in Champaign county, depends upon the rainfall for its waters. It is therefore about dry in the summer months, while immediately after heavy rains it comes up in a hurry, and becomes a rapid stream of a width of from four to six rods, and in the north part, getting out of the banks, has an indefinite extent. The sudden rise of this and other streams in the county is owing materially to the improved system of farm drainage, which of late years has so much obtained. Every man who ditches his land at all in this region is contributing to the waters of the Okaw, the capacity of which to carry off the accumulated waters is comparatively less than of old, which naturally suggests improvement, and it is only a ques- tion of time when the improvement of our main streams will be considered the one thing needful in the proper drainage of the farms of the county. A water course known as Dry Fork runs through the middle of the township in a north and south direction, and, falling into the Okaw at the south line of the township, is an important carrier for the prairie lands to the north. Lake Fork, which is born in Piatt county, comes into Garrett half a mile south of the village of Atwood, and is a con- tributor to the Okaw in Bourbon township; like all prairie water courses, it is wet and dry by turns and nothing long.
The drainage commissioners of this town- ship have, on petition of interested parties, established a large drainage district, under the statute, which is situated in the southwest part, contains about thirty-two hundred acres of 6
land, and the drains are constructed at an ex- pense of about twenty-eight hundred dollars. These consist of large open ditches, which are by law under the control of the highway con- missioners, whose duty it is to keep them in repair from year to year, the same as roads, the expense of which is met by a tax levied upon the land owners in the district, for the benefit of whom the original district was or- ganized. The ditches will average sixteen feet in width, the cost of construction being about one dollar per lineal rod. C. G. Eckert was the attorney for the commissioners, who also ein- ployed H. C. Niles as surveyor and engineer. The work was regularly staked out railroad fashion, and the elevations taken. These drains were exceedingly popular in their inception, very much the contrary when the tax is made known and collected, and the pride and boast of the people when completed.
The highest point in Garrett township is, probably, near the southeast corner on the "Gruelle" farm, which place, by actual measure, is thirty feet higher than Tuscola ; the bottom of the Okaw, near this point, is thirty-five feet lower than this highest point, which is a "divide" near the line of Tuscola and this township.
The great body of timber in Garrett is on the south side, but the Okaw in its entire lengthli is fringed, as it were, with woods. On the west side, and in the neighbor- hood of Lake Fork, many small but attractive natural groves occur, notably on the lands of Nathan Garrett and others; and in the heart of the woods, near the south center of the town- ship, a large "glade" occurs; the original stir- veyors called it a "draught." Goodson's Grove is situated at the northeast corner of
BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL.
section 33. township 16, range 7, and is a nice over the Okaw, west side, section 36, township little piece of woods. . All of these glades, cut- offs and groves were duly noted and mapped by the original surveyors, who did their gov- ernment surveying in this region in 1821.
Bowlders of granite or other rock are rarely found of any great dimensions ; in many parts of the county, whether prairie or timber, they are unknown, while in other sections there are enough of small bulk, weighing from one hun- dred to five hundred pounds, to obstruct to some extent the tilling of the soil; but these are few. The largest granite rock in the coun- ty, visible above the soil, is in the southeast cor- ner of section 8, township 16. range 7, upon the farm once owned by Judge Mullen, in this township. It stands above the ground about twelve feet, and is about as much in thickness. All of these surface rocks have been rounded by the action of water, and have evidently been transported by natural agencies from their nat- urál beds. \ glacier, for instance, ages ago, was started from the Artics as a frozen river of ice, bearing upon its bed tons of rock, which it deposited as it melted in the summer heat of the then temperate zone. An extensive ledge of limestone, which makes good lime, as proven by actual business, occurs in Sargent town- ship (q. v.).
Railroads .- The St. Louis branch of the I. D. & W. Railway, first called the Indianap- olis & Decatur, afterward the Indiana & Illi- nois Central, and next the Indianapolis, De- catur & Springfield, traverses this township from east to west along the middle line of the south tier of sections, in township 16 north, range 7 east, and is a straight line through this township. It was completed here in 1872. A bridge burned .- A Howe truss bridge
16, range 7, half a mile west of Howe Station was maliciously burned on the night of July 3, 1873, and as a Fourth of July excursion was on the tapis for next day, it is difficult to imagine the state of mind of the fellow who did it. By withholding his name, he has lost the distinction of being Douglas county's great- est scoundrel.
Land entries .- Among the first entries of land in Garrett township we find that Jacob Lease, in December, 1834, entered the north- cast quarter of section 24, township 16, range 7; and in 1835, in June, J. G. Devault took the southeast quarter of section 13, township 16, range 7. I. F. Lewis entered the northeast quarter of section 12, township 16, range 7, in 1836; and June 16, 1849, Benjamin Ellars located and patented the west half of lot I, northeast quarter of section 2, township 16, range 7, and other lands. Josiah Hoots owned a large body of land in the southeast corner of the township. He was an ancient settler of prominence and influence. He died in Octo- ber, 1876, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. He was a native of Salem, North Carolina, removed to Indiana at the age of seven, and subsequently to this neighborhood, of which he was a useful citizen for about thirty-eight years. Hle was buried, Masonically, at Cartright Chapel, three miles west of Tuscola, by Tuscola Lodge, No. 332, of which he was an ancient and honored member.
According to legendary report, Lemuel Randall entered, March 16, 1850, the four forties lying around the center of section 34, township 16, range 7. Thomas Goodson was with Randall, and knowing the numbers of the land, got the patent for him. This entry
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was made before the railroad had selected its lands, but, under a mistake, the railroad tem- porarily got these. Meanwhile, Randall had sold to Nathan Drake, who had transferred to D. Maris. Drake had taken the precaution of re-entering the tracts, having had intimation of the error. The books at the office still showed it to be railroad land, and finally the land entry book of the county shows that the land was really and finally entered by J. W. L. Slavens, February 22, 1865. This is, then, the very last entry of government lands in Douglas county. In short, the railroad never had ac- quired the tracts, and they were left open to have the distinction of being the last entries.
Thesixteenth section in township 16 north, range 7 east, reserved for schools, the title to which is derived from the state, was taken up in 1854, having been divided into eight lots by the surveyor, containing seventy-eight to seventy-nine acres each, lot I being the east half of the northwest quarter. J. L. Jordan took two, Harvey Otter one, E. T. Romine two. J. C. Wythe two, etc.
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