Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 41

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

USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2 > Part 41

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Population of the township in 1900, according to the United States census, S9-4.

BROOKLYN TOWNSIHP.

Brooklyn is in the northern tier of townships that border on MeDonough County and, though far removed from the first settlement made in Schuyler County. not many years elapsed until the homeseeker had reared his humble cabin within its border. This was due, perhaps, to the fact that Crooked Creek flows through the town- ship, from north to south, for the early pioneer followed the water courses in his search for a new home, and the earliest settlements were usu- ally made not far from the stream. The timber country was always first choice of the early homeseekers, and Brooklyn afforded many choice locations of this kind, for all the country adja- rent to Crooked Creek abounded in the finest kind of timber. When Brooklyn Township was first settled Crooked Creek was known as La Moine River. and was regarded as a navigable stream. and great things were expected from the develop- ment of the water power along its course, While these expectations were never realized, Brooklyn Township has made great progress as an agri- cultural country and its people are prosperous as a result thereof.

William Owens was the first settler who made a home within the bounds of Brooklyn Township. Roared in Kentucky, he was married in 1828 10 Miss Helen Swan and, in the fall of the year following. the young couple decided to follow the bride's parents to Illinois. They made the trip on horseback and were six days in the saddle. and, on reaching Schuyler County, found a war n welcome at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Swan. who were then residents of Buena Vista Township. There they spent the winter and, in the spring of 1830, pushed on farther west and built a cabin in Brooklyn Township. After put- ting in his erop Mr. Owen returned to Kentucky

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

to get his household goods, and, on his return, sold his pre-emption right in Brooklyn and re- turned to Buena Vista Township.

William Manlove, who came to Schuyler from North Carolina in 1525, was attracted by the rich prospects of Brooklyn Township and, in 1832, settled with his family on the northeast quarter of Section 7. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law, William Inff. who with his fam- ily settled on an adjoining quarter. About this time Jobn E. Rigsby settled on the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 7. He referred to bis claim as "Guinea Prairie," and the neigh- borhood is, to this day, known by that name.

William C. Ralls will always occupy a conspic- uous place in the history of Brooklyn. He was a man of energy and determination, and bad un- bounded faith in the ultimate development of a great manufacturing center in the wilderness of Illinois. On December 6, 1831, he was granted a mill site on Crooked Creek on the southwest quarter of Section 20. and was authorized to build a dam not to exceed nine feet in height. Before his improvement was completed came the call for volumeers to fight the tribes of the I- dian Chief Black Hawk, and Mr. Ralls entered the service of The State as Captain of a volun- teer company. He did not forget his pet project of developing the water-power on Crooked Creek, however, and in 1832 returned to his claim. and resumed work on the dam.

Another of the prominent Brooklyn settlers of the early day was Rev. Samuel Dark, a Baptist minister, who labored in the Lord's vineyard for more than fifty years, and whose name is yet honored and revered not only in Brooklyn, but in all the adjacent country. Samuel Dark was a native of North Carolina, but removed to Ten- nessee when a child. Accompanied by his father. Samuel Dark, and two cousins. Horace and Sam- utol Dark, Jr., and a brother-in-law, Hugh Hays, he came to Schuyler County in February, 1830. The little party first located in Buena Vista Town- ship, where Robert L. Dark had builded a home, and in the fall Samuel L. Dark moved to Brook- lyn Township and settled on the northwest quar- ter of Section 5.

William Lewis was one of the pioneers in Brooklyn and, for more than fifty years, one of her most prominent citizens. Mr. Lewis was a native of Philadelphia, where he was born March 7, 1801, and was a grand-son of Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde-

pendence. In early life he was admitted to the bar in Phil: delphia and planned to follow a pro- fessional career. but came west in 1829 for the benefit of his health. He spent three years in Rushville and, in 1832, in company with Samuel Oliver, who had accompanied him from the East, he located on the northwest quarter of Section 19. in Brooklyn Township. The rugged life of a pioneer restored his health and be lived to a ripe old age, his death occuring in 1889.

Dr. James S. Blackburn, one of the pioneer physicians of the county, first located in Rushville in 1830 and there erected the first tannery in the county. He afterwards studied medicine and in 185G. removed to Brooklyn, where he achieved success and honor.

Philip Chipman, a native of North Carolina, located in Brooklyn in 1836 and be served as a volunteer in the Mormon and Mexican wars, and enlisted in the army of the North in the Civil War, but was discharged on account of illness. Mr. Chipman is quoted as saying that he often bauled produce to Quincy, where he sold wheat for 30 cents a bushel and pork at $1.25 per hun- dred. and in payment therefor took calico at 25 cents a yard. and bull skin boots at $S a pair.

Jackson Higgins, one of the few surviving old pioneers, accompanied his father, Daniel Higgins, to Brooklyn in 1838. Mr. Higgins, Sr .. was a tailor and made Into clothes the cloth the wives had woven from carded and spun wool. Jackson Higgins, in conversation with the writer, says the old camping grounds of the Indians were clearly discernible when they first located in Brooklyn. At the time Mr. Higgins and family took up their abode ou Section 9, which is only a short distance from their present home, there was a class of rough characters living along the creek, who made their livelihood by hunting and fishing. They were not a desirable class of citi- zeus and, as the country settled up. they moved away to other frontier points, and Brooklyn has never since been troubled by such as their kind.

The town of Brooklyn has for its founder Wil- liam C. Ralls, who as early as 1531 planned to there build a city that would rival any in North- ern Illinois. The first step in the realization of this plan was the erection of a mill, which was built on the northeast quarter of Section 20, in the year 1532. To assist in this work Richard Redfield moved from Rushville, where he had located in 1830, and he operated the first black- smith shop in the township.

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

With the establishment of the mill accon !- plished, Mr. Ralls unfolded his plans for the es- tablishment of a maunfacturing center near by. Thus it was that, on October 26, 1536. on the south, bank of Crooked Creek, on a rolling piere of ground sloping gradually towards the stream, Allen Persinger platted the town of Brooklyn. The proprietors were William C. Ralls, Joseph Dunean. Benjamin Clark and Dr. Green. They did not sit idty by and wait for the town to grow-that was too slow a proceeding for those stirring times, Instead they spread abroad the news that there was to be a sale of town lots, and it was advertised in every paper of promi- Dence in the United States.

Brooklyn, like many other towns of that time, fell short of the promised greatness. Fate did not deal kindly with the village when the great railroad systems girded the country and, in a day, made towns where before there had been a wilderness, But Brooklyn is, today, a thrifty .inland town, surrounded by a rich agricultural country and, in its long history, no disastrous storms, fires or pestilence have marred its serene prosperity.

The first school in the village was taught by Miss Dodds in 1944. Brooklyn was made a gov- ernment postoffice in 1840, and William Horney was the first postmaster. On the site of the old mill, erected in 1832, there stands a mill today. the only flouring mill operated within the bounds of Schuyler County.

The census report of 1900 showed a population for Brooklyn Township of 1.173.

BROWNING TOWNSHIP.

Browning is one of the fractional townships lying on the eastern border of Schuyler County. It was named in honor of Hon. O. H. Browning. of Quiney, United States Senator from Illinois and for many years a prominent attorney.

The Illinois River and Sugar Creek form the southern boundary of Browning Township. and along these waterways are high bluffs. The gen- eral land surface is broken and, in the early days, Was covered with a heavy growth of valuable timber. This has all been cleared away save along the streams, and the land put in cuhiva- tion.

William Robertson was the first settler in

Browning Township. He came to Schuyler County from Kentucky in 1526 and built his cabin on Section 16 beside a bubbling spring of fresh, clear water. He was a young man. full of energy and fond of adventure and skilled in the art of woodcraft. He located there on ac- count of the abundance of wild game and un- mindful of the fact that his nearest neighbor was six miles away. Bee-bunting was a prolit- able business in those pioneer days and Mr. Rob- ertson was not slow to realize it. Fur-bearing animals were also mimerons there, and their pelts found ready market in St. Louis, and fro- quent trips were made down the Illinois River by Mr. Robertson in his canoe.

Soon after locating in Browning Township Mr. Robertson was married to Miss Elizabeth Kirklin by Squire Isaac Lane. and a family of nine chil- dren was born to them. One son, Joel Robert- son, still resides on the old homestead and Alex- ander has his home close by. Malcomb Robert- son, another son. is also a resident of Browning Township.

In August. 1528, four brothers. Thomas T., William. Henry and Hartwell Lancaster, came to Browning from Kentucky and located on Section 22. The following year their mother and a younger brother. Gabriel, joined them. They made permanent homes in the township, and their descendants continue to reside there.

Thomas T. Lancaster, the oldest of the broth- ers. was born January 28, 1807. and lived to the ripe old age of ahost ninety-nine years, his death occurring January 24, 1906. He was mar- ried March 1. 1831 to Miss Elizabeth Jackson, and the following year located on Section 10. where he lived the remainder of his life.

Isaac Lane, also from Kentucky, settled in Browning on the southwest quarter of Section 16 in 1828. He was accompanied by his wife and their ebild was the first born in the town- ship.

Shelton Luttrell a veteran of the War of 1812. and George W. Justus, both from Tennessee, were settlers of the year 1-28, and were accom- panied by their families, Mr. Luttrell settled on Section 16 and Mr. Justus near Ridgeville.

John M. Campbell, a native of North Carolina, located on Section 14 in 1:20, and Stephen Rob- ertson and wife, of Kentucky, also came that same year, but in 1831 removed to Macoupin County, Ill. Other pioneers of 1531 were John

11,J, Nelerich

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

Baker of Tennessee, who settled on Section 23, and George Garrison, who made his home on Setlon 29.

George Skiles, who became a resident of Browning in the early 'thirties, first located in Schuyler County December 2, 1826, when he built a cabin on Section 16 in Rushville Township. He was a soldier of the war of 1812 and was with Gen. Jackson in the battle of New Orleans. In 1816 he located in Indiana, moved from there to Kentucky, and later to Missouri in 1819, where he lived until he took up his home in Schuyler County. Mr. Skiles was Coroner of Schuyler In 1830, and held the first inquest in the county over the body of George Everett, who was mur- dered by James Morgan.

Jonathan Reno, a native of Tennessee, was one of the pioneers of Schuyler County, locating in Bainbridge Township in 1825. From there he removed to Section 16, Rushville township, where he resided until 1830, when he took up his home in McDonough County. He afterward lived in lowa and finally removed to Missouri, where he died. Mr. Reno had ten children, and of these Jonathan Reno, Jr., was the only one who be- came a permanent resident of Schuyler County. Ilis life was spent in the county with the ex- ception of the years 1842-13, which were spent in lowa and, in 1849, he located in Browning Town- "ilp. Mr. Reno was married to Miss Eliza Thornton, who had come from East Tennessee In 1826, and she is one of the few surviving pio- rwers of the county who came here previous to 1\"0. Mrs. Reno makes her home with her son, [ F. Reno, and has the full enjoyment of all Ler faculties in her ripe old age.

The first school taught in Browning Township was presided over by Nathaniel Grover, who etine from Tennessee and opened his school here In 15335.

The first mill in Browning Township was Avted on the east bank of Sugar Creek, in Sec- tym 20, in 1829, by George Skiles, David Wal- lave and Alfred C. Wallace. At first it was need for a sawmill. but burrs were added in :41 to grind wheat and corn. Thomas Justus al, built a mill above the site of this one in , which was a combined saw and grist-mill.

The village of Browning, which is the only fromporated village in Schuyler County, was Amyed and platted by Leonidas Horney for

Robert Dilworth, and the plat on record bears date of May 11, 1848.

John Lippencott. who located in the township in 1829, built his cabin on the present site of the village of Browning, and has the honor of being the first settler. - Peter Holmes was another of the early residents, locating there in 1830.

The first merchant in Browning was James Austin, who opened a general store there in 1849. Others of the early merchants were Benjamin Kirkbride, A. L. Wells, R. R. Dilworth, George McEvans, Albert and Marion Bates, G. B. and Wiley Hollingsworth.

The first school in the village was taught by Miss Dilworth and the first school house was built in 1854. The village now has a fine brick school building and employs three teachers.

The fisheries at Browning constitute one of the important industries of the village and a large business is done in this branch of trade. Just now the village is having a business boom, as it were, and a bank and a newspaper have lately been established. the histories of which appear in their respective chapters in this vol- ume.

The village of Osceola, which has later been renamed Bader. was laid out by Jeremiah Stumm for Samuel Fowler, August 5, 1870. It is sit- uated on the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 2, and is a thrifty and pros- Derous little village.

Population of the township in 1900, including Browning town. 1.480, that of the village being 155.

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP.

Buena Vista Township is located near the geo- graphical center of Schuyler County, and is the only one of the thirteen townships in the county that does not, at some point, touch the outside boundary of the county. Like all the other townships, Buena Vista has wide spreading prairies and embraces a part of the broken tim- ber country which lies along the many small streams that flow southward into Crooked Creek. Along these streams there is found a good qual- ity of building stone that was extensively quar- ried at an early day. A good vein of coal also underlies a portion of the township.

Levin Green, the pioneer Methodist preacher

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

whose history has been given in another chapter of this work, was the first settler in Buena Vista Township. He came to Schuyler County in No- vember, 1823, from Missouri accompanied by his family and brother-in-law, George Stewart, and his family. They spent the winter in the Hobart settlement and carly in the following spring took up their abode in Buena Vista, They were joined soon afterwards by Henry Green, Jr .. and his family, who had driven overland from Texas.

Levin Green selected for his home the south- east quarter of Section 23; Henry Green, Jr., the southeast half of the northeast quarter of Sec- tion 20, and George Stewart the southeast quar- ter of Section 13. The Greens had always lived In the South and the first year they spent in Schuyler they planted a crop of cotton, and the yield must have been at least partially success- ful, for in 1527 Heury Green, Jr .. erected a rude cotton gin to handle the erop.

John Ritchey settled in Buena Vista on the sontheast quarter of Section 25 in 1824, but soon sold his pre-emption right to Samuel Turner and removed to Littleton Township. In March, 1825, Samuel and Manlove Horney settled on Section 14, where they resided until 1854, when they re- moved to Littleton.

In May, 1825, the Green settlement was greatly increased by the arrival of Henry Green, Sr .. and wife; Philip Spohnamore and family of eight; George Green, wife and six children; John Spolinamore, wife and two children : John Green, wife and three children, and James Robinson, wife and three children. They all came from Missouri and, being related by marriage, took up their home in the Green settlement and their descendants are today residents of the township.

Samuel Turner, who first came to Schuyler in is23, returned to St. Clair County soon after building bis cabin, and on his return in 1825 found it occupied. He sold his improvement and removed to Buena Vista Township and set- tled on the southeast quarter of Section 25. Here he cleared a piece of ground and made improve- ments, but in 1834 a elaimant with a superior title appeared and the work of years was lost. He then removed to the southeast quarter of Section 11. and it is said had to buy off three different persons who claimed to have title to the land. Mr. Turner was married on Mas 21, 1830, to Miss Rachel Robertson, and their son,

Allen Turner, still resides on the old homestead farm.

Charles Teas settled on the northwest quarter of Section 23 in 1826, and resided there until 1529, when he sold bis elaim to Lemuel Sparks, and the old homestead is now owned by J. B. Sparks of Rushville, who is a son of the old pioneer settler.

Alexander Ross, a native of Kentucky, settled In Buena Vista in the summer of 1820, with his wife and six children, and built a cabin on the northeast quarter of Section 16, where he made a permanent settlement.

Joel MeKee came to Schuyler County in 1826 with his father-in-law. William McKee, and in the following year he removed to Buena Vista Township and built a cabin on the northwest quarter of Section 2. Here he resided until 1847, when he made an overland trip to Oregon. He returned in 1851 and again took up his abode in the township where he lived .to a ripe old age. Mr. Tullis had the first distillery in the town- ship which was built in 1833. John Tullis and John Thompson were neighbors of Joel Tullis and built their cabins on Section 1.

Drury Sellers, a native of Kentucky, moved to Buena Vista in the spring of 1828 with his family, and settled on the southwest quarter of Section 2. but afterward removed to Littleton.

Other early settlers were: Robert L. Dark. George Swan. William Owens, Ephraim Haines and John R. Skiles, and. in the early 'thirties, there came a number of families who made per- manent homes in the township.

The first wedding in the township was that of William Hobart Taylor and Miss Elizabeth Spobnamore, which occurred November 27, 1825. Rev. Levin Green performed the ceremony.

The first death was that of a four year old son of Henry Green, Jr., in the summer of 1827.

The first school house was built in 182% on the northwest quarter of Section 1. and Robert Sexton was the teacher in charge. There had . been a school taught in the Green settlement as early as 1525 by William Hobart Taylor, but the residents found it more convenient to send their children to the schools in Rushville Township.

The first mill in the township was operated by Joel Tullis. It was supplied with power by the old tread-wheel with horses for motive power. It was erected in 1831 on the northeast quarter of Section 2. Col. Clark, an Englishman, also

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

had a hor-e mill in operation in 1535 on the northeast quarter of Section 17. The first steam gristmill was built in 1857 by George C. Clark In the southeast quarter of Section 1t.

A portion of the city of Rushville lies within the bonnds of Buena Vista Township, and this traet of land was originally owned by William McCreery. He purchased 160 acres lying west of the original town site for $350, and the owner In New York was so astonished at receiving so munificent an offer, that he feared he might be losing some unknown treasure, and in his deed. wow of record at the court house, expressly re- serves all minerals to be found on the land deeded.

Population of the township in 1900, including part of the city of Rushville. 1.651, the portion coming within the city of Rushville being 629.

CAMDEN TOWNSHIP.

Camden Township, traversed from north to south by Crooked Creek and intersected by the minor streams of Cedar, Brushy and Missouri, has a varied topography that includes low allu- vial bottoms, upland plains and heavily timbered sections, but withal it is one of the most pros- perous communities in the county, and its ro- mantie history dates back to the year 1529, when the first permanent settlement was made within Its border.

In the fall of that year John and Robert Brown and their brother-in-law, Luke Allphin. of Morgan County, made their first trip to Sebuy- ler County, crossing the Ilinois River at Beard's Terry, now Beardstown, and pushing on west- 'ward past the settlements in Rushville and Bu- ena Vista Townships, to what is now Camden Township, where they settled on Sections 17 and 20. Ilere they made rnde improvements in the wilderness, and the following spring the families of the three men were removed from Morgan County, where they had made their home since leaving Kentucky.

They were all natives of Grant County, Ky .. aud had left that State in 1825 to seek a home in Illinois. While a resident of Kentucky John Brown was married to Sarah Points, who, with her two children. Luey and Thomas B., were in that first party of Camden homeseekers in the spring of 1830. They settled on the northeast

quarter of Section 20, and here Mr. Brown re- sided until his death. January 10. 1571. Robert Brown, a brother of John Brown, built his cabin on the southwest quarter of Section 17. He was accompanied by his wife, and they were per- manent settlers in the neighborhood, residing there until their death. Luke Allphin, the third member of the party, was accompanied by his wife and two children, Zebadee and Jane, and they settled on the southeast quarter of Section 17. Mr. Allphin was a restless, adventurous man and, when the settlers began to invade the re- gions of Camden, he again sought the frontier and, in 1537, emigrated to Lee County, lowa, and from there to California, where he died in 1819.

These families had raised only a partial crop during the summer of 1830, and when the deep snow emme the following winter, they endured great hardships, and the men had to make a trip to the Rushville Settlement, at the peril of their lives, to get food ; and it is said Mrs. John Brown kept her calves from starving by feeding them straw and shucks taken from the bed tick. But the men made the trip in safety and returned with a supply of corn that was ground into meal in the old hominy mortar, as at that time there was no mill nearer than the Hobart settlement.

When these first pioneers came to Cainden Township, they followed an Indian trail that crossed Crooked Creek near where the bridge now stands. Two miles north of Camden, on what is now the Callison farm, there were plainly marked traces of an Indian village, and arrow-heads and stone axes were strewn about the ground in countless numbers. This had prob- ably been one of the last camping grounds of the Indians before they made their final emigration northward.

Ephraim Eggleston, who had settled in the Hobart settlement in 1823, removed to Canden in 1830 and settled on the southwest quarter of Section 15, and his son, William, was the first child born in the township. Philander Avery first visited Camden Township in the fall of 1830, but he migrated to Knox County and it was not until in the 'fifties that he returned to make his permanent home in the township.

In 1831 Thomas J. Chapman arrived in the Camden settlement from Kentucky. He was a brother-in-law of John Brown, and was induced to come to Illinois by the glowing accounts re- ceived from his relatives. Ephraim and Ira Ow-

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

ens arrived in Camden in 1833, and that same year Hensen Marlow emigrated with his wife and children from Indiana, and settled on the southwest quarter of Section 22.

The year 1835 marked a period of rapid growth for the Camden settlement, and among the new arrivals of that year we may note: William Allphin, who journeyed from Indiana with his family in a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen, and settled on the northeast quarter of Section 31; Robert Points, who settled on the northwest quarter of Section 5; Isaae Cady and his son. Isaac G., who settled on Sections 19 and 20; Benjamin West settled on the southwest of Section 26, and his brother, William West, on the northeast of 35.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 41

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