USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1 > Part 41
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Benjamin Giger, who was born in Jefferson Comty, Tenn., July 25, 1803. came on a visit to Sangamon County in 1828, and then return- ing to Tennessee, during the next year moved to Illinois with his niothe'r and his brother-in-law, John North, arriving in Cooper Township, April
MARCUS B. ROBERTSON
MRS. MARCUS B. ROBERTSON
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY
12, 1829. November 18, 1832, he married Susan- nah Todd, of Sangamon County. He was a man of much mechanicai Ingeuulty, aud invented a machine for heading grain, besides other agri- cniturai impiements, and, while on his way to Washington to submit his modeis to the patent Office, was taken sick on hoard an Ohlo River steamer, dying at Brownsville, Pa., June 23, 1850.
John North was horn in Buckingham County, Va., November 22, 1806, the grandson of Richard North, who was a native of Eugiand, and son of Peter North, a Virginian and a soldier of the War of 1812. In 1819 or '20 Peter North moved to Dandridge, Tenn., and there John North was married November 4, 1828, and the following The viliage of Berry, or Berry's Station, on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, was laid out on the line of Sections 30 and 31, twelve miles southeast of Springfleid, In May, 1871, and recorded under the name of Ciarksville, but there being another postoffice of that name In the State, Robert E. Berry, the originai proprietor. The village itas one Methodist Church and a good frame schooi-house. The postoffice is now Custer. year came to Sangamon County, Iii., in April, 1829, iocating north of the Sangamou River, in what is now Cooper Township, and there resided untii the day of his death more than fifty years iater. Mr. North was a mau of promineuce in his iocaiity. His son, John W. North, born in 1837, . the name was changed to Berry, in houor of was a soldier of the Civil War, serving in Com- pany A, Seventy-third Iilinois Volunteers, was captured at the Battle of Chickamauga and con- fined in Libhy, Danville, Andersonville and other prisons untii the close of the war.
Stephen Soweli, a native of Roanoke County, Va., born in 1795, was another early settler of Cooper Township, in 1828 coming from Ruther- ford County, Teun., where he had married ; first located in Chatham Township, but iater removed to Cooper, and in 1830 to Loami Township, where he died In 1863.
The first religious service was held in the home of Rev. John Cooper, and there a ciass was formed which hecame the Buckhart Methodist Episcopai Society. A hrick church was huilt in this locality in 1853, and later churches at Berry and Breckinridge. A Society of United Bretit- ren was organized in the southeast quarter of Sectlou 4, on the northern border of the town- ship about 1856, but had a brief existence.
Oak Hill Cemetery is located in the centrai part of time township, the first interment being that of A. Giger, in 1823.
A saw and grist-mill was built by Benjamin Giger, on the Sangamon River, on Section 9, in 1830, which was run by him and others for twenty-two years, supplying iumber, flour and meal for the surrounding community. This was rehuiit hut snhsequentiy burned, when the prop- erty passed Into the hauds of Daniel Powers,
who rebuilt tire mill and operated it for a num- her of years.
A saw-miii was some time later erected on Buckhart Creek and operated by William John- son for a number of years.
A grist-mili was erected at Breckenridge in the southeast corner of the county in 1872, and was iater operated as a steam flouring mili.
VILLAGES .- The first attempt to establish a vil- iage in Cooper Township was made in 1838, when Rev. John Cooper had surveyed and platted what was called the village of Newport, on the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 20. Only two houses were erected there, however, and the village was finally abandoned.
Breckenridge, on the Baltimore & Ohio South- western, two miles southeast of Berry, and near the southeast corner of Cooper Township, was laid out in May, 1870, and named in honor of Preston Breckenridge, an early settier and prowi- nent citizeu in the adjoining township of Cotton Hili. The first house was erected by C. C. Breckenridge, and in 1872 H. Breckenridge erected a flour-mill, to which he added a grain elevator in 1876. Breckenridge has a Methodist Episcopal Church and is the center of a rich farming region.
The population of Cooper Townshlp in 1910 was 808.
COTTON HILL TOWNSHIP.
Cotton Hill Township, the most easterly of the second tier of townships north of the southern border of Sangamon County, and embracing an area of thirty-two square miles, is bounded on the north by Rochester Township, east by a one- mile strip of Cooper Towuship and Christian County, south by Christian County and Pawnee Township and west by Ball Township. The soll is of good quality, being nearly equaliy di- vided in timber and prairie land, and is well
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY
watered by the South Fork of the Sangamou, which flows through the northeastern coruer, Horse Creck, which flows through the westeru half, and Brush Creek, which enters the town- ship at the nortwest corner of Section 18 and unites with Horse Creek in Sectiou 6.
The first settlers of the township were Henry Funderburk and William Nelson, although there has been some doubt as to the exact time of Funderburk's coming. Some have claimed that it was as early as 1817, while others have in- sisted that It was in 1818. If the first date is correct, it would have made him the earllest settler iu Sangamon County, whereas this honor has beeu claimed for Robert Pulliam in Ball Towuship. There seems to be no doubt, how- ever, that Funderburk and Nelson came about the same time, and possibly together.
Funderburk was originally from South Caro- lina, but spent some time in Tennessee before coming to Illinols. The place where he first settled was on Section 30 iu Cotton Hill Town- ship, although oue or two years later he re- moved to Ball Township, where he died in 1843. Nelson came to Sangamou County from St. Clair County, and after remaining here a few years, removed to Texas.
Mason Fowler was born in Virginia about 1766, married iu that State, later moved to the vicinity of Nashville, Tenn., and thence came to South- ern Illinois in 1816, having at this tluie twelve children-five born in Virginia and seven ill Tennessee. In the spring of 1818, with his two sons, Edward and John, and a young man named Frederick Wise, he came to what is now Cotton Hill Township, built a house, raised a crop and then returning south, in the fall of that year brought his family with him to their new home. The sons Edward and John married, in Sanga- mon County, two sisters named Hale, aud later moved to Wisconsin in the vicinity of Galena. Later, while traveling over the country with ten other citizens, including an Indian Agent and interpreter, they were attacked by Indians and all but oue of their number killed, the one who escaped belng named Pierce Holly, who was saved by the fleetness of his horse. Another son named Thomas left home with the avowed object of avenging his brothers' death, and after spend- ing ten years with the Indians, visited his friends in Sangamon County, when he again returned to the Indians but was never heard of afterwards. Mason Fowler died in, 1844.
[This is the substance of the story relating to the Fowler family as told in the History of San- gamon County issued In 1881. It evidently re- fers to the St. Vrain tragedy, which occurred uear Kellogg's Grove, in Stephenson County, on May 24, 1832, at the time of the beginning of the Black Hawk War. The St. Vrain incident, as related iu the "History of Ogle County," is- sued by the Munsell Publishing Company in 1909, and based upon data drawn from Frank E. Stevens' "History of the Black Hawk War," embraced the following facts :
Fellx St. Vrain, who was an Indian Agent for the Sacs and Foxes, had been sent by Gen. At- kinsou from Dixon, Ill., a few days after the defeat at Stillman's Run, to carry dispatches to Fort Armstrong by way of Galena aud down the Mississippi River. Leaving Dixon the morning of May 22d, in company with a party said to be from Sangamon County, and consisting (as Stevens names them) of Aaron Hawley, Johu Fowler (the son of Mason Fowler), Thomas Kenney, William Hale, Aquila Floyd and Alex- ander Higginbotham, on their arrival at Buffalo Grove, in Ogle County, they found the body of Willlam Durley, who had been murdered by In- dians a few days before. After burying Durley, they returned to Dixon, but the next day again started for Galena (or Fort Hamiltou, as it was called, near Galena). Early on the following morning they encountered a band of thirty In- dians near Kellogg's Grove, who commenced fir- ing ou the party. Fowler is said to have been the first to fall, St. Vrain soon after and Hale after being pursued three-quarters of a mile. Hawley (who was probably "Holly," mentioned in the Sangamon County History) is supposed also to have been killed, possibly by another band of Indians, although (according to Steph- ens) his remains were never found, his coat, however, belng found in possession of Black Hawk. According to Stephens' History, Kenney, Floyd and Higginbotham, after hiding In the forests and traveling at night, fiually reached Galena on the morning of the third day. The story of the St. Vraln tragedy has been followed out to this extent because of its connection with Sangamon County history.]
William Baker, who was born in Savier Coun- ty, Tenn., about 1798, came to St. Clair County, Ill., when a young man, there married Phoebe Neely, and in the spring of 1819 came to Sanga- mon County, settling in what is now Cotton Hill
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY
Township, but later moved to the North Fork of the Sangamon, three miles uorth of Rochester. Previous to 1844 he removed to Texas, and in 1852 started to California, but died on the way thither. Mrs. Phoebe Baker died in Rochester in August, 1861.
David Funderburk, who was a nephew of llenry Funderburk, the first settler in Cotton Hiii Township, was another historic character of that region. Born in Orange District, S. C., ill 1795, he was bound as an apprentice to learn the hatter's trade, but being sent by his master to work iu the fields with negroes, he ran away and on April 15, 1814, eniisted in the Third U. S. Rifle Regiment for five years. This belng near tile close of the War of 1812-14, he saw littie active service during that struggle, his time being chiefly spent in garrison duty at Fort Osage on the Missouri River near the present boundary line between Missouri and Kansas. After his discharge in August, 1819, he came to St. Louis and soon after to Sangamon County, where, on August 31, 1819, he found his uncle Henry, who had settled in Cotton Hili Township two years before. In March, 1821, he married Hannah Henkle.
Others who came to this region at a later date were: Christopher Haines, born In Russell County, Va., July 4, 1795, spent his boyhood and was married in Allen County, Ky., to Myralı Gatewood, later came to Bureau County, Ill., and October 22, 1829, to what Is now Cotton Hill Township, Sangamon County ; John Pope was born in South Carolina, the son of a soldier of the Revolution. Ilved with his parents severai years in Tennessee, there enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812, and arrived in New Orleans · the day after the battle of January 8, 1815, came thence to Sangamon County, Ili., settling in Cotton Hill Township in February, 1826, and there died January 29, 1872; Henry Pope came to Saugamon County in 1825, settled in Cotton Hiil Township, later married Polly Snodgrass and there died November 11, 1851, his son, James H., being a soldier of the Civil War; Matthias Vlgai, born in Westmorelaud County, Pa., re- moved with his widowed mother to Clark County, Ind., and thence, in the fall of 1830, to what is now Cotton Hill Township, dying there December 25, 1862; Abraham Viney came from Kentucky to Sangamon Couuty and settied in Cotton Hiii Township in the fall of 1819, and there died August 4, 1820; Elias Williams, born near Clar-
endon, Vt., February 27, 1770, there married and after residing successiveiy in New York, Oinio and Indiana, in February, 1822, settled in Cotton Hiii Township, Sangamou County, re- maining about one year, when he removed to Rochester Towuship; Rev. Robert W. Sanders, born near Harper's Ferry, Va., Aprii 10, 1815, in 1827 removed with his widowed mother to Ruth- erford County, Tenn., there married Keziah Johnson, in 1834, and in 1838 came to Cotton Hiii Township, there assisted in quarrying stone for the first State House, but on account of sickness returned to Tennessee in 1840, where he died May 31, 1857. Mr. Sanders' family returned to Iiilnols in 1859, and five of hls sons served as soldiers in the Union Army.
FIRST EVENTS .- The first birth in Cotton Hili Township was that of Sarah Funderburk, born Aprii 8, 1819, the daugther of Henry Funder- burk, the first settler in what is now Cotton Hill Township. This is also said to have been the first birth of a white person in Sangamon County.
Rivers Cormack, a local preacher of the Metho- dist Church, preached the first sermon in the township, and Peter Cartwright was the first circuit-rider to visit the townshlp in 1821-his circuit then embracing Sangamon and Christian and part of Macoupin Counties.
Joseph Dixon, who was one of the earliest settlers on Horse Creek, was the prime mover in establishing Zion Chapel in Cotton Hill Town- ship in 1821, to which he afterwards deeded five acres of land for church and cemetery purposes. He died near Franklin, Morgan County.
Timothy Rogers taught the first school and Joseph Snodgrass established the first black- smith shop in 1821.
Daniel Lyle built the first mill in 1819-was run by horse-power, and said to have been the first mili In the county.
The first marriage was that of Eiijah Henkie and Mary Funderburk In 1819, the ceremony be- ing performed by Zachariah Peter, the only Jus- tice of the Peace in the county.
The first entry of government land was made by Henry Funderburk and William Nelson in 1818.
The first religious teachers were Revs. James Sims, Rivers Cormack and Peter Cartwright, ali Methodists. The Baptists foliowed soon after and then came the Christian denomination.
VILLAGES .- Cotton Hili being a strictly agri- culturai region, its viliage history is limited. In
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY
1837 the village of Cotton Hill was platted ou the southeast quarter of Sectiou 14, the piot beiug recorded June 2. The village has long since been vacated, although there is now a vil- iage named Cotton Hill"on the line of the Illi- nois Ceutral Railroad in the southern part of Woodside Township.
The village of New City, situated In the cen- trai part of the township, on the corner of Scc- tions 9, 10, 15 and 16, and Cascade, about two miles farther east, on the South Fork of the Sangamon, are the only settlements In the town- shlp that now aspire to rank as villages. The former originated with the building of Prairie Chapel by the Methodist Episcopal Church iu 1869, and now has both a church and a good school house. Cotton Hill is the only township in Sangamon County, except Island Grove, not entered or traversed by a railroad.
The population of the township (1910) was 840.
CURRAN TOWNSHIP.
Curran Towuship, hounded on the north by Gardner Township, east by Woodside, south by Chatham and west by New Berlin and Island Grove Townships, embraces the exact area of Goverument Township 15 N., R. 6 W. of the Third Principal Meridian, or thirty-six square miles of territory. With only few smail streams within its limits, including Lick and Spring Creeks aud thelr tributaries, it is largely made up of flat or undulating prairie, but Is weil suppiled with water for stock-growing purposes. The soil is fertile and especially weil suited to agriculture.
The first settlement within the present limits of this township was made in 1819. Among the early settlers were Joshua Brown, Jacob and Thomas Earnest, William Archer, David, Thomas and Samuel Cloyd, Stephen Shelton, Willlam T. Brawner, Ivins Foster, James Parkinson, John Smith, Thomas McKee, Elisha McKomas, a Mr. Lamb, John Kelly, James McKee, Barney Van- deren, Henry Alsbury, Thomas Hilliard. Thomas Foster, William Withrow aud others. The first settlers of the township were from the South, Kentucky furnishing the greater number, the iu- vasion of the "Yankees" coming at a later day.
Joshua Brown, mentioned at the heginning of the preceding list, was born in Daviess County, Ky., May 20, 1792, in 1812 married Nancy Wii-
cher, a native of the same county, born in December, 1789, aud iu November, 1818, came to St. Clair County, Ill., but during the next year removed to Sangamon County, arriviug Aprii 18, 1819, in what is now Currau Township, and iater purchased 160 acres of land south of Spring Creek, in Gardner Townshlp.
Jacob Earuest, born in South Carolina, April 24, 1799, married Elizabeth Sims, born in 1798, a sister of James and William Sims, came to Logan County, Ky., aud în 1817 to St. Clair County, Ill., whence in the fall of 1819 he came to Sangamon County, settling on Spring Creek iu Currau Township.
Thomas Earnest, born in South Carolina, June 3, 1792, In boyhood moved with his parents to Simpson County, Ky., in 1819 came to Sanga- mon County, Ill., where he joined his brother Jacob, iater entering land and opening a farm on Spring Creek eight miles west of Springfieid. On October 15, 1822, he married Alletta Lauter- man.
William Archer was born in North Carolina, July 30, 1793, in 1807 came with his pareuts to Tennessee, where he married Elizabeth Jackson, moved to Madison County, Ill., where his wife died, and he married Elizabeth Hoit, December 20, 1818. They later came to Sangamon Couuty, arriving in what is now Curran Township April 30, 1820. Mr. Archer continued to reside on the farm on which he had settled in 1820, and there died August 31, 1867, from injuries re- ceived by being thrown fromn a horse. Mrs. Archer was a native of Oglethorpe County, Ga., born December 3, 1793, came with an uncie, Robert White, to St. Clair County, Ill., in 18.11, iived to an advanced age and used to· reiate in- teresting incidents of pioneer iife during the period of the War of 1812.
David Cloyd, born in Botetourt County, Va., in 1766, married there, lived for a time in Cul- peper County, and in 1815, came to Washington County, Ky., and theuce to Sangamon County, Ili., locating in Curran Township in October, 1825. He died there about 1839 and his widow in 1844 or '45.
Thomas Cloyd, the son of David, was born January 14, 1798, in Botetourt County, Va., re- moved in 1815 with his parents to Washington County, Ky., there married Ann Withrow, April 23, 1820, in April, 1824, removed to Fayette County, Iil., and in October, 1825, to Sangamon County, settling in Curran Township north of
John & Robinson
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY
Llek Creek. Samuel Cloyd, a
brother Thomas, born November 20, 1802, in Cuipeper County, Va., removed with his parents to Wash- ington County, Ky., In 1815, and in 1825 to Sangamon County, III. He married in Sanga- mon County, May 1, 1832, Ellza Clements.
Stephen Shelton, another early settler, was born in North Carolina iu 1777, there married Lydia Heath, at once moved to Ohio near the mouth of the Sciota River, bnt later went to Cabell Coun- ty, W. Va. He served as a soldier from Vir- glnia in the War of 1812, and in May, 1826, came to what is now Curran Township, and there dled lu 1859.
William T. Brawner was born in Maryland, August 9, 1799, came with hls widowed mother to Madison County, Ky., when elghteen years old, there married, December 25, 1822, Eliza- beth Ball, and in October, 1829, settled in Curran Township, Sangamon County.
Ivins Foster was born In Harrisou County, Ky., November 23, 1794, there married Margaret McKee, February 26, 1819, moved to Gallatin County, Ill., and in November, 1829, to what is now Curran Townshlp, Sangamon County, set- tling north of Lick Creek.
SOME FIRST THINGS .- The first school privi- leges enjoyed by the children of Curran Town- ship were obtained by attending a school just across the line in Chatham Township, but a school house was erected on Section 32, just be- fore the "deep snow" of 1830-31, which is sup- posed to have been the first in the township.
The date of the first religious services in the township is somewhat in doubt, aithough they are believed to have been held by Willlam Sims, the Methodist pioneer. The first of which auy rec- ord has been preserved, were conducted by Rev. Mr. Rice in 1823, at the home of Thomas Smith, as was usual in that day, and for years after- ward, services were held in private dwellings and later in school houses. A Methodlst class was organized at an early date iu the southeast part of the township, which was finally divided and two churches-Wesley and Mt. Zion-have been the resuit. There is also one Presbyterian church in the township.
The first water-mill in the township was erected on Lick Creek, by Abraham Foster, in 1842, having one rnn of stone.
The first blacksmith shop was started by Thomas McKee in 1821, and was used to a great exteut iu repairing guns.
The first frame and plastered house was bullt by Ebenezer Dove on Section 26, in 1839. It was known as the "white house," from its color.
A cheese factory was started In 1878, being the property of John Workman.
A grain elevator was erected by Patterson & Richard, and a year later another by Isaac French.
RAILROADS - VILLAGES .- Curran Township is traversed by two railroad lines-the Wabash and the St. Louis, Chicago & St. Panl-the former entering the township at the northeast corner of Section 13 and leaving it near the southwest corner of Section 19, and the latter crossing the township diagonally from the northeast to the southwest corner.
There are two railway stations witbin the township. Sanger, a flagging station, on the Wa- bash line lies six mlles southwest of Springfield.
Curran, the only village in the township, was platted by Thomas Moffett and A. J. VanDeren, near the northern line of the northeast quarter of Section 21, September 19, 1857, and given its name in honor of one of the early residents of Sangamon County, but shortly after the platting of the village a Mr. Fox established the first store there, and later served as the first post- master. Other and later business men of the village of Curran have been James W. Gibson, Noah Richards, J. W. Hammond, C. S. Hotch- kiss, Joseph Dickerson, Nicholas Powers.
The population of the township, according to the census of 1910, was 1,001.
DIVERNON TOWNSHIP
Divernon Township, originally constituting parts of Pawnee Township on the east and Au- burn Township on the West, was organized by act of the Board of Supervisors on July 13, 1896. It consists of an area of twenty-seven sec- tions-four and a half sections from east to west, by six sections from north to sonth, all within Town 13 N., R. 5 W .- of which the eastern strip, two and a half sectlons wide, was taken from the western part of Pawnee Township, and the western strip, two sections in width, from the eastern part of Auburn Township.
The townshlp Is watered chiefly by the head- waters of Brush Creek, the surface consisting for the most part of pralrle land similar to Au- burn Townshlp, with a rich soil especially well . suited to different branches of agriculture.
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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY
The township Is crossed by two railroad lines, the Springfield & St. Louis Division of the Illi- nois Centrai passing through the central part of the township from north to south, and the Chicago & Illinois Midland, extending across the northern portion between the villages of Au- burn and Pawnee. The latter is operated as the Pawnee branch of the Chicago & Alton Railroad. There are two railway stations In the township, viz .; Pawnee Junction, at the in- tersection of the two rallroads mentioned, and Divernon, on the Illinois Centrai. The latter is the only incorporated village in the town- ship, is situated in the center of a rich farming region and, since the coming of the railroad, lias had a prosperous growth, its population accord- ing to the census of 1910, heing 1,519, and that of the entire township 2,013.
Divernon has one private bank and one news- paper, the "Diver-News." (See chapters on "Banking" and "Sangamon County Press.")
FANCY CREEK TOWNSHIP
Originally organized with Its present area in 1861, Fancy Creek Township was first named Power, in honor of an early settler and influen- tial citizen, hut later received the name of the principal stream within Its borders. One of the most northerly townships In Sangamon County, it Is hounded on the north hy Menard County, east hy Williams Townshlp, south hy Spring- field Township and west hy Menard County and Salisbury Township. With the exception of a strip one-half to three-quarters of a mlle wide hy four mlles in length from north to south, taken from the northwestern corner of the town- shlp and attached to Menard County, it is made up of the whole of Town 17 N., R. 5 W., and the southern tier of sections from Town 18 N., R. 5 W., embracing an area of a little less than 40 square miles.
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