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After more than fifty-four years of resi- dence in his home so chosen, Henry Sadorus, the patriarch of a numerous progeny, the mentor of a large clientage of neighbors, the good citizen and the unostentatious Christian, died July 18, 1878. (1)
(1) As showing the estimation in which Mr. Sadorus was held, two out of many notices given him by the local press at the time of his death, are here copied:
"Henry Sadorus .- The remarkable pioneer, and oldest citizen of Champaign County, is no more; his life having terminated by an easy and painless death on Thursday morning last. at his residence in Sadorus village, aged about ninety-five years.
"Mr. Sadorus was born in Bedford County. Pa .. July 26, 1783, and came to this county or what ten years afterwards became Champaign Coun- ty by being set off from Vermilion in 1824. He. with his family, settled upon the Kaskaskia or Okaw timber as a squatter. upon the farm which, in 1834, he patented from the United
When Mr. Sadorus located upon the Okaw no entries of lands had been made within the territory of Champaign County, nor for some years thereafter. He remained a squat- ter until December 11, 1834, when he entered, at the Land Office at Vandalia, the southeast quarter of Section 1, where he had taken possession of the Smith cabin in the fall of 1824, and for the first time became a free- holder in Illinois. His son William, now a man of full age, upon the same day, entered the eighty-acre tract next north of this home- stead, and these were the first entries of land in Township 17, Range 7.
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Only a few days elapsed until, on January 10, 1835, William Rock entered an eighty- \
States Government and resided upon until with- in a few years. His life, aside from its great length and his connection with this county as a pioneer, has no event of marked interest to at- tract attention from the general reader, and yet, to the citizens of this county interested in the period when their homes passed from the domain of the red man of the forest to that of the civilized white man, there is much in its details of interest to them.
"At the time of his birth the Revolutionary struggle had but just terminated in the surren- der of Cornwallis at Yorktown. No permanent treaty of peace had been made between Eng- land and the United Colonies. The States were united by a tie that served but poorly in time of war, and which, for the purposes of peace. was but a poor excuse for a government. The British armies held possession at Oswego, Niag- ara, Sandusky, Detroit and Mackinaw. and the wild Indian held undisputed sway over all of the territory belonging to the States west of the Alleghany Mountains, except points of Ken- tucky and Tennessee, where a few hardy pio- neers feebly contended for their rights to the soil. All that part of the United States at pres- ent lying west of the Mississippi River be- longed to Spain. Washington and his revolu- tionary compeers were about seeking repose in private life, and the people of the colonies were puzzled what to do with their newly acquired freedom. New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore were small but promising cities; while Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Toledo and San Francis- co, with their ten thousand lesser sister west- ern towns and cities, had neither existence nor name, nor had the wildest enthusiast dreamed of their coming in the near future. The great Western States of the valley of the Mississippi and the Pacific slope-now the seat of empire, the home of cultivated millions, and the scene of teeming industries-were designated upon the best maps as 'unexplored regions.' and were actually less known to their European claimants than the wilds of Africa or the steppes of Asia of today. What a change does the life of Henry Sadorus span.
"When Mr. Sadorus pitched his tent for the first time on the Okaw, in 1824, Runnel Field- er, who had two years prior thereto estab- lished himself on the creek two miles north- east of Urbana was his nearest neighbor and only contemporary citizen of what is now Champaign County. if we except, perhaps. a squatter or two of whose names or presence here tradition furnishes us no account. Mr. Sadorus was no doubt, the second man to set- tle permanently in the territory of this county, and, if we class Fielder, who remained here
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
acre tract about two miles south of the Sa- dorus home, in Section 24, where he took up his residence, the second permanent settler in that township, and where he continued to reside until his death.
Until the coming of the Rock family, the Sadorus family lived an almost isolated life, being the only settlers upon the Okaw timber for many miles from its head to the south- ward. The friendship formed by these pio- neers, thus thrown together, was rendered very strong by the mutual aid given each other in their isolation, and was life-long in its endurance.
From these dates of entry of lands for actual settlement, the records show entries to have been rapid for some years. In most cases entries were made for actual occupa- tion and home-making; but some, from the facts connected therewith, were evidently for speculation. James McReynolds, then an in- fluential citizen of Kaskaskia, during the
years 1835 and 1836, entered over 1,000 acres in the township, upon which he never re- sided or made any improvements. Mr. Mc- Reynolds afterwards was appointed to an of- fice in the Danville Land Office and became a resident of that place. His valuable entries of land passed to the ownership of actual resi- dents, and are among the most productive lands in the township.
Chauncey A. Goodrich, a name familiar in the literary annals of the country, also seems to have entered a considerable quantity of the land of the township and neighborhood, but, so far as known, was never upon the ground or had anything to do with the local' affairs.
The first additions to the population in the immediate neighborhood of Mr. Sadorus were Henry Ewing and his family, who came from Connersville, Ind., two years after Mr. Sadorus came, and built a cabin in the grove north of where the village now is. He staid
only eight years but entered land, as a squatter. he was the first settler, and at the date of his death, the oldest inhabitant and the oldest per- son of the county. At the time of his coming not a foot of land in this county had been en- tered from the Government. and but a small portion of the land surveyed, the United States surveyors being then at work.
The Indians. the Pottawatoniies, Kickapoos, and Pianke- shaws, roamed at pleasure over these prairies
. and were being confederated together by Black Hawk for the extermination of the whites. All his coming there was not a cabin in the county. outside the Big Grove, not a road except the Indian trails, and the courses and distances of the streams were unmarked. Where now is the home of a mighty population numbering more than 40,000,-where thousands of hospitable . and cheerful homes now protect families and
strangers,-where hundreds of bright school houses invite the young,-where many noble churches lift their spires heavenward, and where is now the seat of a mighty university. was then, in 1824, a trackless waste of prairie and timber which, in the estimation of most ob- servers, was uninhabitable. Mr. Sadorus has lived to see most of those who came here with- in the next ten years after he came, and were here at the organization of the county. precede him to the grave. But few of those who were here in 1833-4, taking part in laying the foun- dations of future society, remain with us, and they are bending under the weight of years. John Brownfield, Robert Brownfield, Moses Thomas, John B. Thomas, Matthew Busey, Isaac Busey, John Bryan, Jacob Bartley, George Ak- ers, Stephen Boyd, with others, are gone long since, and only a few more years and not one of all those who, with Mr. Sadorus and those above named, aided in the organization of this county, will remain to recount to us the story of pioneer life.
"Mr. Sadorus will long be remembered be- cause of the prominent position he so long oc- cupied in the county, as well as for the pure life led by him here for more than fifty years. He was twice married-first, to Mary Titus, be- fore leaving Pennsylvania, and the second time -his first wife having died-to Mrs. Canter- bury, in 1853.
"Mr. Sadorus was all his life, in religious be- lief, a Universalist, in which faith he died."- Champaign County Herald.
"Henry Sadorus .- There died, at his residence in Sadorus, this county, at 6:15 o'clock on Thurs- day morning, July 18th. Henry Sadorus, one of the earliest if not the first, white settler of Champaign County. He was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, July 26. 1783, and died at the ripe age of 94 years, 11 months and 23 days. His funeral service was held in the Bap- tist church, in Sadorus. Friday afternoon. The sermon was preached by Rev. D. P. Bunn, a Universalist clergyman of Decatur, by request of the deceased. A large number of friends were present, including many of his associates from a distance.
"The last appearance of the old gentleman in public was at the 4th of July celebration, at Sadorus, upon which occasion he sang a song to please his friends. On the evening of the 5th inst. he was taken violently ill with flux, which the physicians were unable to check, and which was the immediate cause of his death. He sank gradually and suffered greatly. He re- tained the use of his mind until within a few hours of his demise, when he sank into a com- atose state. During the last 'years of his life he was able to read well, and at the time of his death was engaged in reading'Mitchell's Astron- omy of the Bible.' For several years he has been quite deaf, which made it difficult to car- ry on a conversation with him.
"Mr. Sadorus was twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary Titus, whose ancestors lived near Titusville, Pa., and from whom that town was named.
"At the age of fifteen. Mr. Sadorus moved with his parents to Somerset County, Pa., and there spent several years in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. Later he worked in Canada and fin- ally located in Cincinnati. While living in the latter place he became possessed of a de- sire to travel and see something of the world, and visited New Orleans, travelling by flat-boat. From New Orleans he crossed the gulf of Mexi- co to Cuba, and thence to Baltimore, whence he returned overland to his native town. He soon after married.
On the breaking out of the War of 1812 he
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
a year and moved west. William Marquis soon after came, took possession of the Ewing cabin, stald two or three years and cleared a small plat of land, when he, too, went west. One Aikens Wright came about 1830 and set- tled west of the creek, a mile or more away. He was reputed to be a desperado, with a bad reputation among his neighbors. He finally removed from the country under com- pulsion. These, and perhaps others of the "squatter" kind, came and went, and the first to come and stay was William Rock, who came in 1835, entered land as before said, and died leaving a numerous progeny, esteemed among the first citizens in useful- ness of the county.
Walter Beavers entered land in Section 24, in Sadorus Township, March 24, 1837, and was upon the ground at an early date, prob- ably before the entry so made by him. He was a young unmarried man at his coming, and married a sister of William Rock. Mr. Beavers died about 1856, leaving a large
enlisted as a private soldier and served as such for about a year. A few years ago he applied for a pension, and was, we believe, recently granted one.
"Some time about 1818 Mr. Sadorus and his young family emigrated to Flat Rock, Rush county, Ind., and while there made several profitable trades, which supplied him with, for those times, quite a capital. In 1824, having dis- posed of his property in Indiana, he started west with his family, then consisting of his wife and six children, the oldest a lad of about fourteen, in a prairie schooner drawn by five yoke of steers. Whether he had any definite des- tination fixed at starting the writer does not know. probably not, but on arriving at what is now known as Sadorus Grove, he concluded to stop. The nearest neighbor to the east was Jacob Vance, at Butler's point, in what is now Vermil- ion County, from which place most of the salt was procured that was used by the early set- tlers in this section. His nearest neighbor was James A. Piatt, fifteen miles northwest, where Monticello now stands. In 1834 Mr. William Rock settled two and a half miles further south, and neighbors began to crowd closely.
"The State road from Kaskaskia having been opened and passing near his residence, Mr. Sadorus decided to erect a building for a tavern. The nearest saw-mill was at Covington, Ind .. sixty miles away, but the lumber, some fifty thousand feet, was hauled through unbridged sloughs and streams and the house was built. For many years Mr. Sadorus did a thrifty busi- ness. His corn was disposed of to drovers who passed his place with herds of cattle for the East. besides feeding great numbers of hogs on his farm. His first orchard, now mostly dead. consisted of fifty Milams. procured somewhere near Terra Haute, Ind. From them were taken innumerable sprouts, and the apple became very common in this section.
"In common with all the pioneers, Mr. Sadorus grew his own cotton, at least enough for cloth- ing and bedding. A half-acre sufficed for this, and the custom, was kept up until it became€ no longer profitable, the time of the mother and' three daughters being so much occupied in
amount of valuable land and a numerous fam- ily of children to enjoy the same.
Philo Hale, of Springfield; Abraham Mann, of Vermilion County, and Hiram Cawood, an- other non-resident, all entered valuable lands in and about the grove-all, probably, with a view to investment rather than with the in- tention of cultivation. None of these men ever became residents of the township.
John Cook and family came about 1839, and settled upon land in Section 30, in Tolono Township, where he died many years since.
The Millers-Isaac, James, Benjamin and John, brothers from Fountain County, Ind .- also came at an early period in the settle- ment of the neighborhood. None of them remain to this day, though their descendants yet remind us of their presence here in times gone by. Andrew J. Miller, a prominent at- torney of the county, is a son of the first named.
In 1835 came Ezra Fay, said to have been the first minister of his denomination to become located in the county. He was a member of the sect known as Chris-
waiting upon and cooking for travelers, that they could not weave; besides, goods began to get cheaper and nearly every immigrant had some kind of cloth to dispose of. About the year 1846 Mrs. Sadorus died, and seven years later he again married, this time a Mrs. Eliza Canterbury, of Charleston.
"On the breaking out of the California gold- fever, three of Mr. Sadorus's sons and a married daughter started overland for the auriferous re- gions. Two of his sons, we believe, now live in Sadorus, and were present at his death-bed.
"Some years ago, becoming tired of attending to so much business, Mr. Sadorus divided his property among his descendants, retaining, how- ever, an interest which enabled him to pass his declining years in ease. He died full of years, respected by all who knew him, and beloved by a large circle of friends. He was kind and hos- pitable to strangers and never turned a needy man away empty-handed from his door.
"Thus has passed away one of the old land- marks of the county, one whose life teaches valuable lessons and whose industry. frugality and good example should be emulated by all. What he has done others mav do. His life of late years has been one of peace and quiet; his early days were passed in what, in modern times, would be called poverty and privation; yet no one doubts that they were days fraught with happiness and years rewarded by plenty. His own hands felled the trees from which his first cabin was made; his wife and daughters spun and wove the wool and cotton which sup- plied them with raiment. Carriages, carpets. fashionable furniture and the luxuries of today were unknown. yes, unheard of; yet contentedly the pioneers bore their burdens and grieved not for the things they knew not of.
"There are many interesting reminiscences connected with the life of Mr. Sadorus, but we must leave them to the historian who, at some future time, may write the history of the lives of the early settlers of this county."-Champaign County Gazette.
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
tians (New Light), and the presence in the county of many worthy people of his faith. may, perhaps, be traced to his early efforts. Mr. Fay entered and settled upon land in Section 35, part of the farm known as the "Ellers" farm, where the well-known citizen, William. Ellers, resided for many years, and where he died about 1894.
John O'Bryan, with his sons, William, Jo- seph and Hiram, with John Haines and his son, E. C. Haines, Lawson Laughlin and his father-in-law, William Toler, came to the neighborhood in the 'thirties and were per- manent residents. The latter died there and was the first to receive the rites of burial in what is known as the Rock Cemetery. · Many of the descendants of these early set- tlers are still to be found along the Okaw.
The township of land north of Sadorus, which, for the purposes of this sketch, may be regarded as within the Sadorus settlement, was early the object of attention, both from the actual settler who was in search of a place to make a home, and by the speculator class, who sought a place to invest profitably his money. Early entries, here as elsewhere in the region, were made first from the tim- ber belts and groves, or as near to them as prior entries would permit. Charles W. and Robert M. Underhill, bachelor brothers from Eastern New York, as early as 1837 made selections of locations in Section 35 of Colfax Township, as well as others in Tolono Town- ship, but not far away. These gentlemen continued to own these tracts of land to the end of their lives, which were only terminated a few years since. Their lands were broken and rented for many years, and now form some of the best farms in the region.
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Elisha Chauncey, a non-resident also, as early as 1837 made valuable selections near the grove.
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Col. Oscar F. Harmon, of Danville, who fell at the head of his regiment (the One Hun- dred and Twenty-fifth Illinois) at the disas- trous battle of Kenesaw Mountain, as early as 1854 entered the whole of Section 19, Col- fax Township, and later one-half of Section 21, nearby. He also made one valuable entry of a half-section in Scott Township, a few miles away. Robert H. Ives, of Springfield, was a large purchaser of the lands in Colfax and other nearby neighborhoods.
It has already been said that John Cook
came in 1839. Soon after this his brother- in-law, John Hamilton, also came and set- tled near him at the head of Sadorus Grove. Here both families lived in their pioneer cab- ins until the year 1852, when both built very respectable frame houses. The mechanic em- ployed in their construction was Calvin Hig- gins, of Urbana, a well-known carpenter and builder for many years, who was assisted by his son-in-law, Conrad Tobias, also for many years a well-known carpenter and contractor at Urbana. These men constructed many houses, both in the country and in town.
Zephania Yeates settled in the 'thirties upon Section 12, in Sadorus Township, where he, for many years, with his numerous sons, cultivated a large tract of land.
Nathaniel Hixson and his brother William came early, and settled near the Yeates fam- ily. Descendants of these brothers are still residents of that section.
Johnson O'Bryan came early and married a daughter of the pioneer, William Rock, and made a farm on the west side of the Okaw River.
Hugh. J. Robinson, one of the best known men of Sadorus Township, came to the county in 1852, before he was of full age, and for some years assisted in furnishing the Illinois Central Railroad with its first set of ties from the forests along the Okaw, in what is now known as Douglas County-then Coles. In 1858 he set up for himself upon lands on the west side of the Okaw, where he lives to this day, now the owner of several hun- dred acres of its rich soil.
In 1854 there came to the Sadorus settle- ment Shelton Rice and his family of four sons, David, Arthur, John and Henry. The first two are well remembered as thrifty and well-known citizens of very considerable suc- cess in gathering into their ownership much valuable land. Arthur died in 1902, while David still resides in the village.
James Black, with his sons, William and Wallace, came early in the 'fifties and set- tled upon the west side of the river. So also did James Stevens and his son, James. The Blacks and the Stevenses were Scotchmen, and, with the well-known thrift of that peo- ple, prospered as farmers there.
The large Craw family-the brothers, Al- len and his sons, Samuel, George, Charles and Edward-came to Sadorus Grove in
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
1858, where from thrift and merit the family have earned a reputation for all that goes to make up good citizenship. A relative, Alva Craw, with numerous sons, came about the same time, and they have well maintained the good reputation of the family name.
Dr. J. G. Chambers has resided in the town- ship for near forty years, both as a practicing physician and as a practical farmer. He mar- ried a daughter of William Rock, and has well prospered in all matters pertaining to his calling.
David Rice, who came with his father in 1854, remembers that at that time there were upon the east side of the Grove Joseph O'Bryan, William O'Bryan, John O'Bryan, Elijah C. Haines, Walter Beaver, William Rock and his son Andrew J. Rock, Samuel Hixson, Zephaniah Yeates, Henry Sadorus, William Sadorus, John P. Tenbrook, Isaac J. Miller, John Cook, John Hamilton and John Matthews.
On the west side of the Grove were William Harrison, William Ellers, E. Laughlin, John Miller and James Miller.
Without exception, all of these lived in, or within a short distance from, the timber line.
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The most natural turn of the conversation of any of the pioneers, whether of this or of any other of the early settlements, will be found to be upon the subject of the hardships and privations which they, in common with all others of their class, were compelled to endure. And while upon this topic, the "green- heads," one of the greatest of insect torments, comes in for his share of denunciation. This fly was peculiar to the prairies of Illinois, where it thrived with the greatest luxuriance. In mid-summer and until the autumn frosts had terminated their existence, stock of all kinds, and especially teams making trips across an unbroken prairie, were the victims of the attacks of this bloodthirsty little in- sect, which came in swarms and staid until surfeited with the blood of the animal. Such was the fierceness of their attacks that no animal could long endure them. Cases are cited where horses would go wild from their attacks, and give up their lives unless aided in some manner to resist the blood-letting process. Happily, as the country improved and as the prairie-grass gave way to cultiva- tion, this pest became scarcer until now a genuine "green-head" is hard to find, and
their attacks upon animals have almost en- tirely ceased.
CHAPTER XI.
FIRST SETTLEMENT-SALT FORK.
FIRST ENTRY OF LANDS-THOMAS L. BUTLER-ABRA-
HAM YEAZEL-MOSES THOMAS-JAMES FREEMAN WILLIAM NOX-JACOB THOMAS-THOMAS DEER- GEORGE AKERS-THE CODDINGTONS - BARTLEY
SWEARINGEN-JOHN SAULSBURY-GEORGE, BEN- JAMIN AND BARTLEY SWEARINGEN-CYRUS STRONG -N. YOUNT-JOSEPH STAYTON-JEFFERSON HUSS -WILLIAM PETERS-THE ARGOS-HIRAM RANKIN -THE SHREEVES-SAMUEL MAPES-ROBERT PRA- THER-ISAAC BURRIS-DR. STEVENS-LEWIS JONES -DR. LYONS-M. D. COFFEEN-ORIGIN OF HOMER.
That part of Champaign County, known among the pioneers as the "Salt Fork Tim- ber," now mostly embraced in the Townships of St. Joseph, Sidney and South Homer, was early occupied by immigrants to the new country. Who first built his home in that timber, and when it was built, our informa- tion does not enable us to say. The Sadorus family knew of none at their coming in 1824. It is safe to allege that the first occupants were of the class known as "squatters," who may, or may not, have finally become the legal owners of lands and thus have changed their character from temporary to permanent dwellers, and, in the end, have left upon the records of the county their names. (1)
The contiguity of this timber to the set- tlements made earlier at Butler's Point and Danville, makes it probable that, from those settlements, came some of the earlier set- tlers of the Salt Fork Timber, as is well known of some of the settlers of the Big Grove. The Trickles, the Kirbys, the Moss family and others of the Big Grove settlers, first stopped lower down in what is now Vermilion County.
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