Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 31

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

during the summer of that year tending their hogs and gathering honey, and in this they were assisted by Thomas Beard, who had previously built a cabin on the present site of Beardstown. As a result of their bee-hunting during the sum- mer of 1823, they sent to St. Louis, then the nearest market point, twenty-seven barrels of strained honey and several hundred dollars' worth of wax, and counted the season's work a profitable one. Gooch, McCartney and Beard afterwards became permanent residents of Schuyler County, and took a prominent part in the administration of affairs in the early days.

While these men were first to arrive in Schuy- ler County, the first actual settlement dates from February 19. 1823, when Calvin Hobart eame with his family from the bleak hills of New Hampshire, to build for himself a home in the West. Even in that far-away State he had heard of the richness of the Illinois Country, where crops could be grown without laborious effort and cattle and hogs would fatten and thrive on the range. And so it happened that he sold his farm in St. Albans, N. II .. in 1820, and bought three quarter-sections of land in the Military Tract. In the month of August, 1821, he loaded his family and property possessions into a wagon and started westward. Thence the route led to Buffalo. N. Y., and along the shore of Lake Erie to Portage Conuty, Ohio. where the winter was spent. Here the journey was delayed until September, 1:22. on account of ill- ness, when the little caravan of two teams again moved westward. William Hobart Taylor, then a young man of twenty-one, joined the party here and. in addition to Calvin Hobart and his family. there were his aged parents and their granddaughter. Ruth Powers. On to Cincin- nati, and then west to Terre Haute, Ind., they traveled, and Illinois was entered near where Paris, Ill., has since been built. Crossing the Sangamon River north of Springfield. they camped at "Job's Settlement." in what is now Cass County, where they found a colony of four families consisting of . Archibald Job, Thomas and David Blair and Jacob White, and of these all but Mr. Job afterwards became residents of Schuyler County.

Six miles beyond "Job's Settlement." at the foot of the Illinois bluff's and six miles east of the Illinois River, they came to the cabin of Timothy Harris, beyond which no settler had ventured westward. The hospitality of the

home was tendered them and, in addition to Mr. Harris and his wife, and a Mr. Brown, Ephraim Eggleston, his wife and six children were quar- tered there and. two days after their arrival, Nathan Eels, wife and seven children appeared. Mr. Harris' cabin was only twelve feet square, but it afforded shelter for the women and the men slept in the wagon. Other cabins were built and, while the family rested, Calvin Hobart set out to find the land he had purchased. Three months were spent at the Harris settlement and on the morning of February 18, 1823, the wag- ons were again loaded and a start made for the new home in what was afterwards to be Schuy- ler County. The Illinois River was crossed at Downing's Landing, and from there the little party journeyed to Seetion Sixteen in Rushville Township. It was here, on the southwest quar- ter of the section, that the first home was erected in the county. Calvin Hobart, wife and children, Samuel Gooch and William II. Taylor were the first occupants of the rude log-cabin erected. and they were joined two weeks later by Mr. Hobart's parents and Ruth Powers, who had remained in the Harris settlement until a home had been provided for then.

On the first arrival of this little colony of homeseekers, they set to work to build a cabin and it was completed within three days; and, it goes without saying. that no time was wasted in ornamentation. After Mr. Hobart's parents arrived another cabin was built, more preten- tions than the first, and in the years to follow it served as home. school house and sanctuary. While yet a resident of the Harris settlement. Mr. Hobart had planned for the making of a home in Schuyler County, and had gone down the State some fitty milos to an older settlement. where he traded a wagon, watch and other things brought from the East for a yoke of oxen, plow, chains, two cows and seven hogs, and enough grain and meal was laid in store to last until mid-sunimer.

As soon as the weather permitted, ground was broken with a plow drawn by a team of oxen. and that year the Hlobarts cultivated fifteen acres of timber land and about twenty-five acres of prairie soil, which produced a bountiful crop of corn, pumpkins, melons and turnips. In April of that year Ephraim Eggleston and family of six children arrived in the settlement and lo- ented near the llobarts, where they broke land and planted a crop. Samuel Gooch, Orris MeCart-

JOHN A. BALLOU

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

ney and Isaac M. Rouse-all ummarried men-set- tied on Section 27 that same summer, but did not get their crop planted until June, and before harvest time it was nipped by the frost.

Following closely after the Eggleston family came Samuel and James Turner, who migrated from St. Clair County in the southern part of the State. They had traveled northward to find a more healthful climate, for while residents of the American bottom death had claimed all the remaining members of their family. They built a cabin, but never occupied it, returning to St. Clair County with the expectation of returning the succeeding spring. While there James Tur- ner died and, in the spring of 1825. Sammel re- turned alone and located on the southwest quar- ter of Section 25. Buena Vista Township, and he ever afterwards made his home in this neigh- borhood. where his children, and grandchildren still reside.

Late in the fall of that first year of settlement in Schuyler County, a stranger appeared at the home of the Hobarts. Ile was attired in the garb of the backwoodsman, with deer-skin noc- casins and coon-skin cap, and carried a rifle with the ease of an experienced hunter. This stran- ger was Levin Green, and his coming brought keen joy to the hearts of the settlers, for he was a licensed Methodist preacher, and the Hobarts, who were a deeply religious people, looked upon his coming as a direct response to earnest prayer. Green had happened upon the settlement while on a hunting expedition, and volunteered the information that his family and his brother-in- law, George Stewart, and his family were camped on Dutchman Creck, sixteen miles above on the Illinois River, and that they were looking for a location. They had traveled by canoe from below St. Louis and, after the chance meeting with the Hobarts, the entire party joined the settlement and took possession of the cabin that had been built that summer by the Turners.

On the first Sabbath after Levin Green's ar- rival, it was planned that religious services should be held at the eabin of Calvin Hobart. Of that meeting Rev. Chauncey Ilobart, in the "Recollections of his Life," says: "On that first "Sabbath, in November, 1823, the whole settle- ment of thirty souls turned out. and we had a warm, earnest. pointed sermon. This was the first sermon preached west of the Illinois River. I well remember, that my heart was much moved under that sermon, and when after it Levin

Green began to sing, There is a fountain tilled with blood.' and pass around, shaking hands with all in the house, I ran out of doors, fearing that my emotions would overcome me should I remain."

The only other settlers to arrive in Schuyler County in the year 1823 were Thomas McKee. who erected a rabin on the northeast quarter of Section 20. Bainbridge Township. and Willis O'Neal, who settled near by on Section 16. They were both Kentnekians and had come to Illinois from Indiana. McKee was a fine mechanic and gunsmith and, soon after building his cabin. he erected a workshop, and this was the first black- smith shop in the county. He remained in Bain- bridge until 1826. when he removed to Littleton and was one of the first settlers in that town- ship. Willis O'Neal was later a resident of what is now the city of Rushville, and built a cabin just east of the square on the south side of East Lafayette Street. Ile later removed to Brown County and was one of the early pioneers in that locality.

Early in the spring of 1824 the settlement was still further increased by the arrival of Nathan Eels and family, who had been living on the east bank of the Illinois River. Mr. Eels' family consisted of six boys and two girls, and they were given a most cordial welcome, especially by the youngsters of the settlement who found life rather monotonous with so few playmates. Accessions to the settlement were now becoming more nummerons and. during the summer of 124. the following named persons took up their abode in the county : David and Thomas Blair. Jacob White. Riggs Pennington and his nephews. William. Joel and Riley ; Henry Green. Jr., John Ritchey. John A. Reeve. George and Isaac Naught. Some of these made their home near the Hobart settlement, while others located in Bain- bridge and Woodstock Townships.

The year 1825 marked the arrival of a number of men who were afterwards to take a prominent part in public affairs. In February of that year Jonathan D. Manlove. the first Surveyor of the county, became a resident of Rushville. Soon afterwards came Sanmel Horney, one of the first County Commissioners. Mr. Horney was a na- tive of North Carolina and had served as a volunteer in the War of 1812. Ho had moved to Illinois in 1818 and. until coming to Schuyler County, had made his home in St. Clair County. John B. Terry, the first County Clerk of

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

Schuyler County, came that same year, as did also Hart Fellows, who was the county's first Recorder and Rushvilk's first Postmaster. Rich- ard Black settled on what is now the site- of Rushville in IS25. but was "entered out" of his improvement by the county and was forced to seek a new location, and he removed with his family to Woodstock Township. His son Isaac. who was a babe when the family first arrived in Schuyler, ever after made his home in Schuyler County and died in Rushville, October 2, 1907.

Benjamin Chadsey, who was one of the three Commissioners appointed to. select the location of a county-seat for Schuyler County, was one of the pioneers of 1825. His arrival in the county is thus described in an article which ap- peared in the Schuyler Citizen of February 5, 1880 :

"Late in the summer of 1824 two men ( Ben- jamin Chadsey and his father-in-law, Mr. John- son) started from the neighborhood where the city of Danville now stands, on a journey west- ward. One. Benjamin Chadsey, had been a sol- dier in the War of 1812 and had received as his bounty from the Government lands laid off in 1SIG, anl set apart as a military tract for the soldiers of that war, the southeast quarter of Section 17 (now Rushville Township). His business was to find the land and see if it would make a home for him and his little family. They traveled west, following an Indian trail, until. not far from Bloomington. on the Mackinaw, they found an Indian village, where they rested a night. The next day they followed the trail mitil they reached the Illinois River, opposite Fort Clark, now Peoria. After another night spent in the hospitable cabin of a settler on the bank of the river, they struck out on a trail leading to the southwest. They finally reached Sugar Creek, where they lost their bearings, but at last came out of the timber on the prairie near the center of Rushville Township, and near there found rest and refreshment in a eabin re- cently built, in which lived one of the thirteen families constituting the entire population of the county. With the early morning the young man hastened further west over the prairie, and soon rejoiced in the rich, Inxuriant grasses that waved in all their primitive wildness on the beautiful piece of land that was to be his future home. After he had resolved to locate perma- nently, he hastened back to Eastern Illinois and.

in the spring of 1825, settled on the farm, where he lived to a bale and hearty old age."

The first family from a foreign country to take up their residence in Schuyler County was that of Hugh Metreery's, who had come from Ireland and, in 182%, ascended the linois River on the tirst steamboat to traverse that historie waterway. The family consisted of High Me- Creery and Sarah MeCreery, his wife, and their children-William, the oldest, and his wife, Mathew. John. Margaret, Sarah and James. On reaching Rushville Mr. MeCreery took possession of the old Ing court-house on the north side of the square in Rushville, for a temporary home. and his son Willista built a log cabin that now forms part of Mrs. John Ruth's residence on North Congress Street. the only one of the pio- neer homes that has escaped destruction and oblivion from natural causes of decay or the ever ceaseless march of progress.

William McCreery was the first person in Schuyler County to take out naturalization pa- pers and claim his rights as a citizen of the United States. His first papers were taken out in Morgan County, Alabama, in 1826. and it was therein stated that he had landed in New Or- leans on February 7. 1825. and had renounced his allegiance to the King of Great Britain and declared his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States. On June 14, 1830, his appli- vation for citizenship was approved by the Cir- snit Court of Schuyler County. Mr. McCreery and his parents died during the cholera scourge of 1834.

During the early years of settlement in Schuy- ler County the Indians were frequent visitors, and we have noted in a previous chapter that their greeting was a pleasant one, and that no barbarie outrages marked the history of the county. The only clash between the settlers and the Indians is recorded by Jonathan D. Man- love, who, in writing of early times in Schuyler, says: "It is recollected by the pioneers that there were wild hogy in the county, and that the Indians and their dogs were very trouble- some, running hogs as any other game; there- fore. about the commencement of 1-26, nineteen of the boys-and that was about all there were in the county -- went to their camp on Crooked Creek, near the mouth, and ordered them off, giving them a certain time to do so. under a penalty of having their goods wet with the Illinois River. There were some things done

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

that did not meet with the approval of all, to-wit; two of them were slightly sprouted and several of their dogs were shot. But few of them vis- ited us afterwards. Our principal object was to remove the traders-white men who were en- camped on the Illinois, just below the mouth of Crooked Creek, aud traded them ammunition and whisky for furs and peltry-and the threaten- ' ings were more particularly to and for them. They left soon afterwards and never came back."

In concluding this chapter on the early pio- neers of Schuyler County. we will add a few dis- connected facts of interest pertaining to this periml :

The first birth in the county was that of a daughter born to Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Eggles- ton, in the spring of 182-1.

The first death was that of a son of Jonathan Reno, in the summer of 1526-a lad some nine or ten years of age. The first death of an adult was that of Solomon Stanberry, who died of typhoid fever in the winter of 1827. at the home of John Ritchey, north of Rushville. In review- ing the events of pioneer times, Jonathan D. Manlove writes that he rode to Jacksonville to secure a physician to attend Mr. Stauberry, but that he was dying when they returned.

The first child born in Rushville was Anna Fellows, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hart Fellows. who now resides in Bloomington.

The fist marriage was that of Samuel Gooch and Miss Ruth Powers, which was solemnized by Rev. Levin Green, at the Hobart cabin in Novem- ber, 1524. This was previous to the organiza- tion of Schuyler County, and the record of the marriage is in Pike County, where the groom had to journey to secure his license to wed.

CHAPTER VIII.

CIVIL IIISTORY.

TEN NEW COUNTIES IN THE MILITARY TRACT CRE- ATED BY ACT OF JANUARY 13, 1825-ORIGINAL AREA AND BOUNDARIES OF SCHUYLER COUNTY- TERRITORY UNDER TEMPORARY JURISDICTION OF THE NEW COUNTY-FIRST COUNTY-SEAT NAMED

BEARDSTOWN-FIRST ELECTION AND FIRST BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS-OTHER COUNTY OFFICERS- COUNTY-SEAT CHANGED TO RUSHVILLE IN 1826- EARLY COUNTY BLVENUES - FINANCIAL STATE- MENT OF 1827- - FIRST ELECTION PRECINCTS- ELECTIONS IN 1528 -- BROWN COUNTY SET OFF IN 1839-A COUNTY-SEAT CONTEST-CHANGES UN- DER CONSTITUTION OF ISIS-COUNTY COURT HOLDS JURISDICTION OVER COUNTY FROM 181) TO 1854 --- TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION ADOPTED IN 1853 -LIST OF TOWNSHIPS.

Illinois had been but seven years a sovereign State when the geographical boundaries of SelinyJer County were determined iu 1525. Up to this time there were but thirty-one counties in the State and, with the exception of Pike and Fulton Counties. all of these were south of the Illinois River, In the early 'twenties the tide of emigration turned northward for the reason, perhaps, that land speculators had been buying up soldiers claims in the Military Tract and were interesting Eastern people in the Illinois Country, To facilitate this emigration, and pro- vide for civil goverment in the country already settled. the General Assembly in January, 1825, created ten counties in the Military Tract. The counties set apart for civil organization were : Calhoun. Adams. Hancock. Knox, Mercer, Henry. Peoria. Putnam, Warren and Schuyler.

The geographical boundary of Schuyler in- cluded an area of $64 square miles, and so re- mained until Brown County was detached in 1839. The civil boundary of the county was even more extended, as may be noted from the fol- lowing section of the legislative enactment :

"All that tract of country north of the counties of Schuyler and Hancock, and west of the Fourth Principal Meridian, shall be attached to the coun- ty of Schuyler for all county purposes. until oth- erwise provided for by law: Provided, however, that when it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Judge of the Circuit Court that any of the above name counties shall contain three hundred and fifty inhabitants, he is hereby required to grant an order for the election of county officers, as described in the ninth section."

By this act the civil government of Schuyler County was extended to inchide what are now the counties of MeDonough. Warren, Henderson. Mercer and a portion of Rock Island, but in the county records it appears that MeDonough was the only one of the tive counties that shared in

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the civil government of Schuyler. The organiza- tion of MeDonough County was authorized by an act of the Legislature approved January 25, 1-26, and by June 11. 1830, the required popula- tio having been attained, a separate county was organized: Warren obtained the same in 1830; Rock Island was organized in 1831. and Mercer and Henderson some few years afterwards,

Of the ten counties created from the Military Tract in 1825, Adams, Peoria and Schuyler wore the only oues that had the required population necessary for immediate organization, and, in the legislative enactment of that session. we find the following provision made for the civil organ- ization of Selmyler County :

"Be it further enacted, That for the county of Schuyler. John Adams, Stephen Olmstead and James Dunwoody. of Morgan County. . . . be and they are hereby appointed Commissioners to select the permanent seat of justice for said county, who shall meet in the county of Schuy- ler. at the house of Calvin llobart, on the first Monday of April next, or within seven days thereafter, and after taking and subscribing an oath before a Justice of the Peace, to locate the said seat of justice for the future convenience and accommodation of the people, shall proceed to fix and determine upon the same, and the place so selected . . shall be the perma- nent seat of justice of the same, and the Com- missioners shall receive for their compensation the sum of two dollars per day for each day by them spent in the discharge of their duties, and for going to and returning from the same. to he paid out of the first money in the county treasury after the same shall be organized."

In accordance with this act of the Legislature, .lolm Adams and Stephen Olmstead came to Schuyler and located the county-seat about a teile west of the present village of Pleasantview. and for this service they were paid $20 each. with $$ additional to John Adams, who took the records of the proceedings to Pittsfield. the county-seat of Pike County, where they were recorded.

The seat of justice having been established, an election was called for July 4. 1-25. and James Vance, Cornelius Vandeventer, and Abra- ham Carlock were named as judges, and Hart Fellows and Jonathan D. Manlov, clerks, and they were allowed one dofler each for this work by the County Commissioners fourteen months afterwards

At this election Thomas McKee, Sammel Hor- hey and Thomas Blair were elected County Com- missioners. They took the oath of office before Hart Follows, who had been appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court by Gov. Edward Coles, and within the next twelve months met eight times to attend to the business necessary in the organ- ization and administration of county affairs. The first meeting of the County Commissioners was held at the cabin of Jacob White on July 7. 1525, and at this session the new county-seat of Schuyler County was named Beardstown John Terry was appointed Clerk of the County and served until December 3. 1827, when he re- signed and Hart Follows was named as his sur- cessor. At this first meeting of the Commis- sioners grand and petit juries were drawn and were served with summons by Sheriff Orris MaCartney, to appear at the first term of Circuit Court held November 4. 1825. The records do not show who was elected chairman of the Com- missioners' Court, but it is inferred that Thom: s Blair held this position, as he signed the clerk's record of the proceedings.

The Commissioners met again on July 22, 1:25. and at this meeting the first county order was issued to Jacob White, which called for seventy- five cents for the use of his cabin as a meeting place. At this meeting of the board a petition was presented to set off a school district and this was done.

When John B. Terry tiled his bond as Clerk of the County, with Nathan Eels as security, he took the oath of otlice to support the constitu- tions of the United States and the State vf Illinois, and a supplementary oath required by the "Act to Suppress Dueling."

In the organization of the county it was her- ossary to have three Justices of the Pea e. and Hart Fellows. James Vance and Willis O'Neal were recommended to Gov. Coles for appointment to this office. Later appointments made by the Connty Commissioners in 1825 were: William Il. Taylor, as Census Commissioner : Jacob White and Joel Pennington, Constables : Riggs Penning- ton and Nathan Eels, Overseers of the Poor, and Samnel Gooch, John Richey and Jonathan Reno. Fence Viewers.

The sessions of the Commissioners were after- wards held at the cabin of Samnel Turner and a county order for $2 was issned him for four meetings of the Commissioner's Court. For three days' services as Commissioners, Messrs. Halr,

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

llorney and McKee each drew $7.50, and John B. Terry, Clerk, was paid $10 for four days' service.

In locating the county-seat the Morgan County Commissioners apparently did not respret the wishes of the residents of Schuyler County, as we find in the records that a petition to the Gen- eral Assembly was formulated asking that a new commission be appointed. This was done and Levi Green. Thomas Blair and Benjamin Chad- sey were named to select a new seat of justice. It was at this time intended to locate the county- seat a mile or more north of the present site of Rushville, on the fine, high prairie land, but the quarter-section of land most desired had been entered and the Commissioners realizing that the county was short of funds, selected the southwest quarter of Section 30, Town 2 North, Range 1 West, and entered it at the Land Of- fire at Springfield. Their report to the County Commissioners made March 6, 1826, reads as follows:

"We, the undersigned Commissioners, appoint- ed by an Act of the General Assembly of Illi- nois to locate a permanent seat of justice for Schuyler County, do certify that, after hav- Ing been duly sworn before James Vance, E-q .. we proceeded to view the county for the purposes aforesaid. and have located the same on the southwest quarter of Section thirty, town- ship two north, range one west. Given under our hands this 20th day of February, 1826.

( Signed ) LEVIN GREEN. THOMAS BLAIR. B. CHADSEY.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 31

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1126

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126