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Mr. Kirby, before referred to, said that when his family came, in August, 1829, there were no settlers upon the south side of the Big Grove other than William Tompkins and Matthew Busey-one on Section 8, the other on Section 15-about two miles apart; and that, soon after that date, Isaac, Busey, his brother Charles Busey, Isham Cook, John G. Robertson, Mijaman Byers and others came and settled upon the south side of the Big Grove.
Soon after Tompkins had perfected his
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
titles, and in the year 1830, Isaac Busey, a brother of Matthew, before named-led, it must be presumed, by the reports sent back by the family of Matthew-came with a large family of sons and daughters, and with him his sons-in-law, James T. Roe . and Mason Martin. Isaac Busey bought out the hold- ings of Tompkins and took possession of the cabin before spoken of, near the stone bridge now in Urbana. Within a few years he en- tered much land in the county and died a large landowner; and to him and his owner- ship the titles of more tracts of land and lots are traced, probably, than to any other person in Champaign County, unless it be Col. M. W. Busey, hereafter named.
Mr. Busey was an influential citizen, wise in his selection of lands, and had great in- fluence in the location of the county-seat of the new county and in setting in motion its legal machinery, to which reference will be made at greater length hereafter. It was within the rude cabin occupied by him near the "Bone Yard" Creek, that the first term of the circuit court of the county was held, in default of any other place where it could be held, and where the sessions of the Board of County Commissioners were held. For some years he held the office of County Com- missioner. He died January 11, 1847.
Mr. Roe became the owner of the holdings of Runnel Fielder, and, later, laid out several additions to Urbana upon the land entered by Tompkins, and by Tompkins conveyed to Isaac Busey.
Mr. Martin entered lands in the Big Grove, and both families made permanent homes here. Isaac W. Roe, of Urbana, and LeGrand Martin, of Gifford, are grandsons of Isaac Busey, and many others of his descendants are residents of the county.
William T. Webber came from Kentucky in 1830, selected some lands for his future home and, on October 9th of that year, en- tered the eighty-acre tract where the shops and yards of the Big Four Railroad are now located. Mr. Webber also entered other lands in Sections 8, 9 and 16. In 1833 Mr. Webber . came with a large family of sons and daugh- ters, having been preceded, in point of time by one year, by his son, Thomson R. Web- ber, who became the foremost citizen of the new settlement, the first Clerk of the Courts of the new county, the first Postmaster of
Urbana and the member from his county of two State Constitutional Conventions. Mr. William T. Webber died in 1838, owning large tracts of land in and about Urbana. Many dwellers here also trace the titles to their homes through this pioneer. Mr. Webber's descendants now and during all the life of Champaign County are numerous and justly influential in its affairs.
The year 1830 also brought to the settle- ment Nicholas Smith and his son Jacob, who, the same year, entered considerable land in Sections 9 and 15, east of Urbana, the most of which is still held by the children of the latter. Jacob Smith died in 1854.
A year later than the Smiths, came also, .
from Kentucky, William Boyd, his son, Stephen Boyd, and his grandson, James W. Boyd. This family made its home upon land in Sections 9 and 10, which was entered in May, 1831. Descendants of the Boyd family still occupy the lands so bought and others not far away.
John G. Robertson came to the south side of the Big Grove in the year 1830, and pur- chased from Sample Cole, September 28, 1831, his title to the west half of the north- west quarter of Section 5, which he held un- til April, 1834, when he sold it to Isaac Busey and, in turn, became one of the earliest set- tlers upon the Sangamon, where he spent the residue of his life. He will be referred to hereafter.
Samuel Brumley also, with a numerous fam- ily of sons and daughters, came in 1830. He was a tenant upon the Fielder farm for some years, but in 1832-33 entered 160 acres in Section 11, where he lived until his death. His daughter, Mrs. T. L. Truman, still occu- pies part of the land. The sons of Mr. Brum- ley, Daniel and William, who were well-nigh grown when the family came here, were sub- sequently the owners of farms nearby. Mr. Brumley's descendants are still numerous in the county.
The same year in which the Brumleys came also came John Truman, with another nu- merous family of sons and daughters, and on November 24, 1830, entered the northwest quarter of Section 10. Here he hewed out of the timber, and upon the bluffs of the creek, a farm upon which to rear the family, when less than a mile away lay the unbroken level prairie, without a stone or a bush, open
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
to entry and occupancy. Here the Truman family lived for about twenty years, and until the death of the pioneer about 1854. Both the Brumley and the Truman families made farms in the timber nearby the Boyd family, all seeming to prefer the shelter and protec- tion of the timber grove to the ease and adaptability which offered itself upon the open prairie.
Asahel Bruer, also at the head of a numer- ous family, which by intermarriage has graced other family circles, came to the county in the autumn of 1832 as a school teacher, and taught a school during the succeeding win- ter in a log school-house near the Brumley home in Section 10. To this school children from the Trickle, Kirby, Boyd, Busey, Tru- man, Brumley, Rowland and other early set- tlers' families came, and neither pupils nor teacher ever tired of telling of the pranks played by both parties upon the other during this winter. The following year Mr. Bruer entered land not far away from his school in Section 3, where he also, nearby the Tru- man, Brumley and Boyd farms, cleared and cultivated a farm in the timber.
Samuel G. Bickley came before 1832 and, in January of that year, entered land in Sec- tion 5, where, and nearby, he entered other - lands and opened a farm on prairie land. Mr. Bickley married a daughter of Isaac Bu- ¿ sey. He emigrated to Missouri about 1850, having sold his holdings to James Dean. Col. S. T. Busey now owns the same land.
Elias Stamey, from North Carolina, ap- peared before 1832 and soon thereafter en- tered and purchased lands in Sections 5 and 6, upon which he opened a prairie farm, where he and his family resided until his death. His family remained there until a few years since, when the farm passed from their hands by deed. Mr. Stamey married a daughter of Matthew Busey.
Isham Cook came early in the year 1830 and, having bought out a squatter named Bul- lard, on July 1, of that year, entered the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 5, and, after erecting a cabin thereon, returned to Kentucky for his family. In the dead of winter, the family, on the way to this new liome, arrived at Linn Grove, where Mr. Cook sickened and died. The bereaved family, with the body of their dead, was brought to the new home, where, nearby the dead was
buried, the family making use of the cabin as their home. Here the widow reared her family and finally was laid beside her hus- band.
Mr. James M. Myers, a son of the late James Myers and of his first wife, who was a daughter of Isham Cook, tells, with much particularity, the circumstances attending the death and burial of his grandfather, as many times related to him by his mother. The death of the father at Linn Grove left the widow with a family of four little children, in a strange country and alone so far as having anyone to look to for help was concerned. Joseph Davis, who afterwards entered that piece of land, it is related, after the death of Mr. Cook, took the uncoffined remains in his sled and, accompanied by the bereaved fam- ily, drove across to the Big Grove, in the western edge of which the dead father had partly prepared a cabin for his household the autumn before. The party was late and Da- vis was anxious to return home, and, without other ceremony, and against the pleadings of the widow, dumped the dead body of Cook upon the ground near the cabin and set out on his journey home. This heartless proceed- ing, together with the helpless and unpro- tected condition of the family, caused the mother and her little children to cry aloud, with, as they supposed, no one near enough `to hear them. It was otherwise, however, for a company of wild Indians, who were encamped a short distance east of the cabin, across the creek, heard the cry of distress and 'at once came to learn who might be there to cause the outcry. They were able to speak the language of the family and were informed of the action of the heartless Davis. They- pagans as they were-were indignant and of- fered to pursue the hard-hearted Davis and take his scalp; but Mrs. Cook persuaded them otherwise, when they set about making the family comfortable in their cheerless camp. A fire was made, provisions furnished and cooked and all cared for as best might be done. The next day these same wild men re- turned and ministered to the needs of the family as best they could. The remains of the dead father, coffined in a roll of bark found nearby, and which it must be supposed he himself had taken from some tree used in the building or roofing of his cabin, were placed in a grave made by them, and every-
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NATURAL HISTORY HALL-UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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LIBR RY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
thing that the knowledge of the wild men could suggest was done to make the family comfortable. This place remained the home of the Cook family until broken up by the death of the mother and the marriage of the daughters, which took place ten years or more after they came here. James Madison Cook, the youngest of Isham Cook's family, and the only son, was drowned in Spring Creek, Iroquois County, about 1843, when on his way by wagon to Chicago.
The land entered by Cook was subsequently owned by Samuel G. Bickley, and, as shown above, became the home of James Dean about 1850, where he resided until his death in 1870. Mr. Dean always respected the burial place of the Cooks, and though the graves remained unmarked, the ground was never broken or used in any manner. A small bunch of young timber and bushes covered the site for many years.
Mijamin Byers was an early immigrant to the western part of Vermilion County, and on November, 1830, made entry of the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 10. By- ers was at an early date chosen as a Justice of the Peace for that county, which office he held until after the formation of Champaign County.(1) This land subsequently passed to John Shepherd, from whom it passed to J. W. Sim, Sr. It is now owned by Isaac W. Roe.
Charles Woodward entered the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 11, No- vember 2, 1830. This land subsequently, and for many years, became the property, and was the home, of Paris Shepherd, and is now . owned by Mr. Roe.
Samuel G. Marsh, on February 4, 1830, en- tered the eighty-acre tract east of the above, which has now the same ownership.
Alexander Holbrook entered the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 8, on No- vember 17, 1830. Upon this tract, near the north end in the neighborhood of the present location of the Smith Brothers' cold storage plant, Holbrook erected a cabin, which was his home before 1836. This land was subse- quently owned by Col. M. W. Busey, and the cabin, for a time, was the home of the Busey family.
Colonel Busey, as early as May, 1831, en-
(1) Mijamin Bvers first settled at Linn Grove in. the year 1829. He moved from Kentucky during that year.
tered 160 acres of land in Section 8, whereon is now built a considerable portion of the City of Urbana, and upon which stands the home of his son, Col. S. T. Busey, as well as the home of the late. Hon. S. H. Busey. This step was taken presumably with a view to making this land his home, though he did not remove his family here until the year 1836. Before his death, which occurred on December 18, 1852, he became and was the owner, either by entry from the Government or by purchase, of most of the land whereon is built the western portion of Urbana and the eastern portion of Champaign, extending from the stone bridge in Urbana to Neil Street in Champaign.
The foregoing embraces most of the early settlers who came to the Big Grove before the formation of the county in 1833, and the narrative, so far, is confined to the territory now embraced in Urbana, St. Joseph and Somer Townships.
The first entries of land within the terri- tory embraced in Champaign Township were those of Lazarus W. Busey, in Section 1, and of Joseph Evans, in Section 13, both of which were made in the year 1837. No other en- tries were made within that territory until 1845, eight years thereafter.
The northeast quarter of Section 6, Urbana, about two miles north of the City of Urbana, on a country road which is an extension of Lincoln Avenue, was once the site of an em- bryo city; and so has a history different from its fellow farm lands nearby. The records of Vermilion County show that, on July 16, 1832, Noah Bixler, whose name is connected with the record of many land titles of the county- especially with early land entries on the San- gamon-filed a plat of the town of "Lancas- ter," in Vermilion County. The plat locates the town on the above-named tract, and shows it to be contiguous to the Salt Fork. The location will be identified as being on the southwest corner of the cross roads near which the above-named county road crosses the stream, and as being now a part of what has long been known as the Stamey farm. An ample public square was provided in the center of the town, with streets-Main, Wal- nut and Union-running north and south, and Water, Elm and Race running east and west. The site, adjoining the Big Grove and near one of the finest springs in the county, was
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
well chosen, and only lacked inhabitants to make it a success. It is said by persons living here at that time, that Bixler, the promoter, lived upon the projected town-site, and that as many as seven or eight other houses of the cabin variety were also erected there. The records of Champaign County show that Sample Cole entered the land July 4, 1831, and it fails to show any trans- fer to Bixler. All was in Vermilion County then, and it may be that the records there will show Bixler's title, as well as" this plat.
The year following, Champaign County was set off and, in the scramble for the location of the county-seat which followed, it can hardly be possible that Lancaster, with its handsome location and its nearness to the geographical center of the county, was not a candidate for the plum, though available tradition on that subject has not named it as such.
"What might have been" suggests itself in this connection. The site of Lancaster is less than half a mile from the line of the Illinois Central Railroad. Had the engineers
in charge of the construction of that great work, half a century since, found the court-house of Champaign County there, no doubt exists that its local depot would have been located two miles north of its present site, and the "Two Town" wraith would never have been raised.
1
It is said that Lancaster maintained its name and place until after Urbana had come into existence, and that it continued its strug- gle for a boom until "Byron" rose upon its eastern horizon, two miles away, when its several cabins were moved there and it faded into a beautiful farm, nearby which, in the fullness of time, came the track of the Illi- nois Central Railroad-which it is to this day.
Bixler, after the explosion of his scheme for building a town, became a resident of Urbana, owned much urban property here, and held the office of Justice of the Peace. (1)
Upon Sections 33 and 34 of Town 20, and Section 4 of Town 19, an enterprise was
started in 1836, which has in it much to amuse the student of local history of to-day. The Myers farm in Urbana, and the Mans- field and Schiff farms, of Somer, in the above- named sections, have no appearance of the trade and commerce designed for them in 1836 by their then owners. Indeed, all of them look like common farms, with no ambi- tion above the raising of stock and the pro- duction of crops like the adjacent farms. Yet, in the year just named, their owners dreamed for them a far different history. On October 1st of that year, J. W. S. Mitchell, then a large landholder of the western part of the county, and Jesse W. Fell and Allen Withers, of Bloomington, filed in the Recorder's office of this county, the properly certified plat of the town of "Byron," located upon the lands above indicated, with the township line --- now a common country road-as its main avenue.(1) About one hundred acres of the
(1)"Byron, a townsite in Champaign County in the Big Grove, three and a half miles north west (north east) from Urbana, with three or four families."-Peck's "Gazetteer" (1837), page 168
"Jesse W. Fell was a distinguished citizen and promoter, resident of Bloomington from 1832 to his death in 1881. He was an intimate friend of Lincoln and of David Davis. Allen Withers was little less distinguished, and known for his usefulness through the same half cent- ury as Mr. Fell. The Withers Library and num- erous other important public gifts made by his widow out of the property they both accumulat- ed, insure the perpetuation of his name for all time to come."-McLean County History, Vol. 1, page 416.
"Scarcely had the matter of the county-seat been settled when a project was set on foot bv some speculators, among whom was Jesse W. Fell, of Bloomington, for the building up of a town in a near by locality. A site was selected in the northeast part of the grove, a town was laid off which was called "Byron." The pro- prietors then issued a flaunting hand-bill an- nouncing that, on a certain day, they would sell lots therein, and setting forth the advantages of their point as surrounded by a fine country, and also stating that it would, without doubt, yet be made the county-seat; that the present lo- cation of it (the county-seat) was of no im- portance, and where nobody County Clerk and inn-keeper. lived but the
"The prospect deluded many into the opinion that the soil was worth more in that vicinity than anywhere else On the day of the sale the town-or rather the woods where the town was to be-was crowded with men from all the settlements anxious to become the owners of a spot of ground in the miniature city. The sale commenced-not only of lots in the town, but of men. as you will see, when I say, that some of the lots in that town, which lay in a district of country which, for a hundred miles around. did not contain inhabitants enough to support a one-horse store, and with no prospect of ever being any better, sold for more than a hundred dollars. The proprietors informed the people that they should immediately remove their families there and commence improvements by building fine residences, stores and offices. In the course of the following year the people be-
(1)In a recent interview with Jephtha Tru- man, youngest son of John Truman, a pioneer we were informed by Mr. Truman, who for twenty-five years has been a resident of the State of Kansas, that in the spring of 1881 he met Mr. Bixler (whom he had well known while the latter resided in this county) at Ot- tawa, in Kansas, where Mr. Bixler died not long after that meeting.
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
lands in the above-named sections were plat- · ted into twenty-six blocks of over two hun- dred lots. Streets and alleys ran at right angles to each other. Besides the poetical name of the town, the projected city was given streets bearing the classical names of "Montgomery," "Thompson," "Campbell," "Young," "Cowper," "Moore," "Scott," "Pope," "Shakespeare," "Milton," "Homer," "Dryden" and the like, with no name showing a less distinguished origin than these. The new enterprise was thus launched with some- thing of a show of trumpet-sounding, to the effect that it would supersede the then young town of Urbana, and eventually carry away the county-seat as a trophy. A public square was laid out as the place for the public build- ings. The records show the sale of about seven of the lots to different parties, and tradition says that a few houses. were actu- ally erected, with one store in operation for a short time. William Hill, William Corray, Francis Clements, G. W. Withers and James . R. Coe are named as the grantees of the lots sold. A few years later and all was over; the town deserted and the lots sold for taxes. The promoters were in line with many an- other scheme as a part of the wave of specu- lation of that day, and went down in the col- lapse of 1837.
These farms are none the worse for the town that did not grow, and the adjacent country suffered no loss from the collapse.
An interesting and important feature in the immigration above detailed is the fact that the Buseys, Brownfields, Boyds, Brumleys, Cooks, Smiths, Trumans, and perhaps others, forming the early immigrants here came from Shelby County, Ky., and other nearby locali- ties, and were more or less known to each other before coming. This will account for the coming of many, and caused a friendly feeling to exist among all throughout the set- tlement. Friendships formed back there-or among their fathers who came over the "Wil- derness Road," with Boone and his comrades J
from North Carolina and Virginia-were per- petuated here, and still exist among the de- scendants of our pioneers to this day.
CHAPTER X.
FIRST SETTLEMENT-SADORUS GROVE.
COMING OF THE SADORUS FAMILY-DEATH OF HENRY SADORUS-WILLIAM ROCK-ENTRY OF LANDS- JOHN COOK-ISAAC, JAMES, BENJAMIN AND JOHN MILLER - EZRA FAY-JOHN O'BRYAN - JOHN HAINES-NATHANIEL HIXSON-Z. YEATES-H. J. ROBINSON-SHELTON RICE.
In point of time of first settlements, we next turn to the southwest corner of Cham- paign County, to the isolated grove which grew mostly along the east side of the upper waters of the Kaskaskia or Okaw River, known for many years, and now, as "Sadorus Grove," from the name of its first white in- habitant.
Until the year 1824-two years after the work of the United States surveyors had been completed-no white man had chosen the shelter of the Okaw for his home. This is hardly to be wondered at, for it was remote from the most traveled roads leading across the State. The Fort Clark road leading north of the Big Grove was much travelled by peo- ple from the more easterly States, generally with their land warrants, aiming for what was then and to this day known as the "Military Tract," west of the Illinois River. So, also, immigration crossing the Wabash River near Fort Harrison, took through trails and passing farther south than this northern route, met with none of the attractions here awaiting the coming of home-seekers.
In this condition, as Nature left it, were the Okaw lands on April 9, 1824, when Henry Sadorus, an immigrant from Indiana, with his family of little children, the eldest of whom (his son William) was then but twelve years old, pitched his tent for a night's rest within the friendly shades of the isolated grove which afterwards came to bear his name. His thought was to go farther west, he having in his mind, like many others, fixed upon a point beyond the Illinois River. A survey of his surroundings showed an inexhaustible soil, good water, a healthful climate, fine, tim-
came satisfied that they had witnessed a sale. The prospect of Byron being the county-seat vanished with its projectors, and instead of the fine brick buildings, there came nothing but two or three log cabins, in one of which was kept a small store and grocery. The cabins have rotted down and, on the site of the town stands only a large patch of hazel-brush, which is only frequented by the timid rabbit or, soli- tary owl."-Thomson R. Webber, in an inter- view in 1854.
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
ber and all the accessories of the complete home. Doubtless he asked himself, "Why look any farther?" The answer not only de- termined his future, but the future of unborn generations. An Indiana neighbor, named Smith, and his family had accompanied the pioneer in his travels, and united with him in the resolve to stop there.
As in the future pages of this historical nar- rative the life led by this family in their wil- derness home is told more at large, little more need be said of them here, except in connec- tion with the neighborhood to which their presence gave the name known far and near. The home thus set up far from other human habitations was the abode of contentment, hospitality and reasonable thrift, in the first rude cabin which sheltered the family, as well as in the more pretentious home to which the cabin gave place in due time. The grove was a landmark for many miles around, and the weary traveler well knew that welcome and rest always awaited him at the Sadorus home. Here Mr. Sadorus entertained his neighbors, the Buseys, Webbers and others from the Big Grove; the Piatts, Boyers and others from down on the Sangamon, where Monticello and Piatt County have since spe- cialized locations; Coffeen, the enterprising general merchant, from down on the Salt Fork; the Johnsons, from Linn Grove, and the dwellers upon the Ambraw and the Okaw. He was also the counsellor and adviser of all settlers along the Upper Okaw in matters pertaining to their welfare, and his judgment was implicitly relied upon.
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