Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Montgomery County, Volume II, Part 41

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897, ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913, ed. cn; Strange, Alexander T., ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 810


USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Montgomery County, Volume II > Part 41


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wonders of ingenuity. These cabins were mar- vels of spotless cleanliness. Their oak floors were scrubbed and scoured and rivaled in smoothness the polished floors of the present day, and when I remember the neatness of the calico dresses those women wore and the skill with which they could launder them, and com- pare them with the sloppy dressing sacques and passé shirtwaists that form our present day working outfits, I am not now sure but we have lost something valuable.


"It was. no uncommon thing for a number of women to bundle up their washing, throw it over their backs as a peddler does his pack and go to a neighbor's further up or down the creek where the water was more desirable, do their washing, spread it out on the bushes to dry, eat dinner with the neighbor and spend the rest of the day in visiting. They took their laundry work along with them just as we take our fancy work, and the woods rang with their merriment and fun as they played all sorts of water pranks on each other. There were many fine swimming holes along the Ramsey Creek but they were sacred to men and boys. Women and girls did not go in swimming ex- cept on the sly and to have been found out would have stamped them as bold and im- modest.


"Corn bread and bacon were the staple ar- ticles of food and although the woods were full of fruit, blackberries, dewberries, strawberries, grapes, plums, gooseberries, and a particularly luscious black haw, no fruit was ever canned or preserved and very little used even in sea- son. Wild honey was plentiful and much sought. In the yard of one of these homes I saw one large washtub, two water pails, and a number of smaller vessels all full of wild honey, the result of a raid upon a single tree.


"One funeral custom was that of covering all the mirrors in the house with a heavy piece of cloth when death occurred and this was not removed until the corpse was out of the house, the belief being that one who saw the dead in a mirror would himself be stricken within a year.


"When a circus was billed for Pana old Ram- sey Creek became the scene of tremendous ac- tivity for every man must bestir himself and ent enough hoop poles to pay his family's way into the circus. There lived on this old creek a near celebrity, a brother of the great show- man, John Robinson, and when Robinson's cir-


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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY


cus came to town this family received compli- mentaries to the envy of the whole settlement ; but that was the only time that any one ever envied them, for they were the poorest of the poor, pale, aenemic, blueeyed and towheaded, extremely clean and absolutely colorless, as if they had faded out and been kind of washed away with too numerous ablutions. Parents did not bother in Those days to find out what a child was thinking, so of course ours could never know that our objection to being washed was based on the fear that we would fade out and look like the Robinsons.


"In this region lived three eccentric characters known as Hall, Orson, and old Bob Simmons, each harmless but terrifying to small children. To old Bob we owed a debt of gratitude for driving his ox team for many years after oxen were out of style and giving us the privilege of witnessing the demonstration. Old Bob had a voice like a fog horn and whiskers like a brier patch and his coming was easily distin- guishable a mile away. The creaking and groan- ing of the wagon as it twisted in and out of the ruts and washes that only a timber road can produce, the clanking of chains, and rattle of horns, the oxen bellowing and old Bob boom- ing, and the great sawed logs that made up the load. was a fearsome and awesome spectacle. His team comprised eight immense oxen and the crack of his long whip sang through the woods.


"The trees along this stream were tremendous. There had been a sawmill at one time near the home of this man Hall and some of the logs had been left lying on the ground when the mill was moved. A child of eight years I stood at the larger end of one of these logs and could not nearly reach the top. This was the diameter of the log. There were a dozen of others almost as large abandoned and left to decay, veritable giants of the forests and rep- resenting a small fortune today. At least half of them were walnut. The people called their (ances "hoedowns."


AUDUBON IIONORED.


Audubon Township was honored by the board of supervisors when its supervisor, Alexander C. Durdy, was made chairman of the board for four years from 1SS9 to 1892 inclusively. Mr. Durdy's reputation for fairness and ability was ever above reproach, and this distinction is one seldom accorded by the board to a single indi-


vidual for as long a period. Audubon is an important township in point of size and also of productiveness, and yet it is unfavorably lo- cated, not being on the present important lines of travel to and from leading commercial cen- ters in the county or state. Its one railroad crosses only the northwest corner of the town- ship. But it has a happy and contented peo- ple, possessed of much of the rural instincts that have guided our best settlers into high moral planes of living, which are the character- istic of every successful people. We here give a partial list of those who have filled the more important offices in the township, both before and after the adoption of township organization.


SUPERVISORS.


W. F. Weber, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1SS0 and 1884; A. M. Stuart, 1877; J. B. Pocock. 1878; James Slater, 1879; T. J. Pattengale, 1SS1, 1882, 1883, 1885 and 1SSS; A. C. Durdy, 1SS6, 1887, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894. 1895 and 1896; Peter Hershey, 1897, 189S. 1899 and 1900; John Welch, 1901 and 1902; R. J. Rice, 1903 and 1904; G. S. McAfee, 1905 and 1906; Horace Elliott, 1907, 190S, 1909, 1911, 1912 and 1913; George C. Neece, 1914; E. B. Pocock, 1915 and 1916.


TOWN CLERKS.


J. K. Smith, 1874; A. M. Pocock, 1875 and 1876; W. F. Weber, 1877 and 1878; B. A. Crow, 1879, 1880. 1SS1, 1884 and 1SS6; Jos. L. Ford, 1887 and 1SSS; Joseph Whitmore, 1SS9; F. M. Strider, 1890 to 1893; Martin Davis, 1894; John Welch, 1895 to 1899; George McAfee, 1900 to 1901; Charles Zimmermann, 1903; S. M. Ishmeal. 1904; Lewis C. Durdy, 1905: Frank Brewner. 1906: Clarence Sperry, 190S; William B. Penwell. 1909; H. F. Husman, 1910 and 1911 : Ross Foster, 1912 and 1913; William Kroen- bein, 1914 and 1916.


JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.


Martin Davis, 1857; J. S. Churchill, 1857 : John S. Brewner, 1865; James Slater, 1861, 1866 and 1869; W. W. Weber, 1869: George S. Tay- lor, 1873; Louis V. Burke, 1873; Joshua H. Rice, 1877; George B. Mckinney, 1877 and 1884; William Morrison, 1880; Peter McCon- nell, 1SS1 and 1885; W. W. Weber, 1SS2; Rich-


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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY


ard Haag, 1SS2; W. P. Renfro, 1887 ; John H. Turner, 1SS9; F. S. Clark, 1889 and 1893; Elias Easterday, 1891; Peter Hershy, 1893; Andrew F. McAfee, 1894; J. L. Walcher, 1897; Jona- than Benton, 1897; J. M. New, 1900; W. E. Mc- Afee, 1901, 1902. 1905 and 1909; W. F. Weber, 1904, 1905 and 1909: Elmer Whitmore, 1910; H. A. Hushman, 114; Ehner Whitmore, 1915 and 1916.


CONSTABLES.


Elias Pearce, 1857; Jackson Estes, 1866; W. E. Morrell. 1869; Joseph B. Canipe, 1869; Rob- ert F. Weddall, 1872; Samuel Jones, 1873; John H. Turner, 1877; Jasper N. Craig, 1SS2; Sam- uel Mc G. Ishmael, 1SS5; Edward L. Barstow, 1887 and 1SS9; J. E. Whitmore. 1893; Chris- tian Elvers, 1896; Mr. Brummett, 1900; Asa F. Umpleby, 1900, 1903 and 1905; John O. Pie- per, 1909; Balla Morrell, 1911; D. M. Forsyth, 1912; Frank A. Drake, 1916.


CHAPTER XXII.


BOIS D'ARC TOWNSHIP.


IN GENERAL - BOUNDARIES - NAME - PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS - EARLY SETTLERS - EARLY CHURCHES-EARLY INCIDENTS-FARMERSVILLE- POPULATION - SCHOOL - BUSINESS INTERESTS- CHURCHES-FRATERNITIES-POLICE MAGISTRATES -IRISH DAY ASSOCIATION-IRISH SETTLERS- LEADING MEN-THOMASVILLE-THOMAS GROVE- OFFICIALS PAST AND PRESENT-SUPERVISORS- JUSTICES OF THE PEACE-CONSTABLES.


IN GENERAL.


This is the extreme northern part of the county. The fertility of its soil is excelled in no other part of the county, being formed of the de- caying vegetation of the past ages which grew in luxuriousness. It took men of courage to reclaim its wonderful richness from its afore- time swampiness and uninviting aspect. And hence its "Old Settlers" were strong men and courageous women who dared the marshes, the


wild growths, the prairie sod, the miasma, the annoying insects, the "rattlers," and the many other opposing obstacles, that homes might be acquired for themselves and succeeding genera- tions. These undaunted pioneers have left their impress in the splendid citizens who now own these farms and are engaged in raising, not alone the finest of cereals and live stock, but promising sons and daughters who are, and will be, a credit to their heroic ancestors.


BOUNDARIES.


Bois D'Arc Township is one of the largest in Montgomery County, containing as it does 34.560 acres of land. It is bounded on the north by Sangamon County; on the east by Christian County ; on the south by Harvel and Pitman, and on the west by Macoupin County. Macoupin Creek and its tributaries drain this township, which is almost exclusively prairie. Even in the earlier days there was little or no timber, and so it was not settled as early as some other portions of the county where the natural forest growth offered more inducements to the pioneers than those regions where there were no means of securing building material and fuel. .


NAME.


Lewis H. Thomas is the man directly respon- sible for the naming of the township, and its present boundaries. He was not the first set- tler, however, that honor belonging to a man by the name of John Henderson who located at the head of Macoupin Creek in 1825. Soon afterwards a Mr. Hendershot came to the same locality and he built the first house in the neighborhood. Mr. Hendershot was the father of the first white child born in the township. His wife died in 1828, and this was the first death recorded in the township. For some years these two families were the only ones living in the stretch of country between what is now Zanesville Township and Sangamon County. Prior to 1835, however, they moved away, and all record of them is lost. In 1835 a third settler came to the township by the name of Woods, and he located on a piece of land which was later known as Macoupin's Point, on the old Springfield & Hillsboro road. Here he built a tavern that became a favorite stopping place for travelers. In time a post


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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY


office was established, and Mr. Woods kept it in his hotel, but it was discontinued about 1855.


PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS.


No permanent improvements were made in this section until the location here of two broth- ers, Lewis H. and Samuel R. Thomas. The entry of 970 acres by Lewis H. Thomas, which was the fourth and largest in the township, marked a new era for this part of the county. A man of progressive ideas; and a broad out- look, he introduced many improvements, and among them none was destined to work a more complete change than that of planting the Osage or Bois D'Arc hedges. So successful were his experiments that the Illinois State Agricul- tural Society awarded Mr. Thomas two diplomas and two gold medals, the latter being the first ever awarded by this society. Encouraged by his success, Mr. Thomas experimented and very successfully in the growing of artificial groves, and his example being followed by others, Bois D'Arc today boasts some very handsome tim- ber that is not natural to it.


EARLY SETTLERS.


Absolom Clark was another settler of 1850, while Pryor Witt, John Jones, William Smith, Joseph Smith, Anthony Almond, John Ward, Frank Dunkley, Mark Risley, Hiram Young, William Evarts, Joseph Evarts and George Rice were all located in the township prior to 1856. These all settled in the northern, central and western parts of Bois D'Arc. In the eastern part there was an Irish settlement begun in 1850 by a Mr. McConnel, and he was followed by Sanford Clow, Peter Christopher, Joseph Christopher, Albert Clayton, John Price and James Woodward. William Garrison, Henry Weston, Henry Hathaway, William King and Michael Samison came a little later. . George and Cornelius Lyman located in the southeastern part of the township about the same time that the Christophers came to the eastern part.


EARLY CHURCHES.


The first church in the township was Meth- odist and was organized in 1862, but was soon thereafter discontinued. In 1863 another Methodist Episcopal church was organized at the Hazel Bell schoolhouse. A Baptist church


was organized at the Thomas schoolhouse in 1865, and later an elegant Baptist church was built in Farmersville. A Catholic church was organized and a church house built at an early day in the community, in the above named Irish colony.


EARLY SCHOOLS.


The first schoolhouse built was the one now known as the Thomas schoolhouse. The second schoolhouse was a log structure in section four, known as Prairie Bell. Miss Sally Goodrich was the first teacher. The old log structure was later superseded by the present one at White Oak, Mary Harrlen being the first teacher.


At one time a state road passed through the township in a southerly direction. This road was surveyed and established by Mr. Thomas in 1854 by Act of Legislature secured by Mr. Wood- son, who then represented this county in the General Assembly. The state roads were then considered very important, but they were not so valuable as the present system of State Aid. Another important road ran through the town- ship to Springfield by way of Pawnee.


EARLY INCIDENTS.


The first prairie sod turned in the township was when the Thomases in 1851 broke the strip of land on which to plant their hedge rows of future fence, which became a subject of much talk and made them distinguished. Mrs. Hen- dershot, wife of the second settler, died in 1828, and hers, as above stated, was the first death in the township. The second death did not occur until September 25, 1856, when John Christopher died. The first marriage was that of Andrew Armstrong and Martha J. Evarts, the date of which is not known. The second marriage was in 1862, when John Murray and Mary William- son were united by Rev. John Nicodemus. Hiram J. Young was the first justice of the peace for the township, and Jasper Witt was the first constable.


There was not then. nor is there now, any timber in the township of consequence, and when Mr. Thomas built his first house, he, as well as Mr. Clark, hauled the lumber which was used in their humble houses all the way from Greene County. An attempt was made at an early day


Hany miller


RESIDENCE OF HARRY C. MILLER, NOKOMIS


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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY


to locate a town at what was called White Oak, and a store, blacksmith shop and post office were secured, but its inland situation was against it, and when the Illinois Central Railroad laid its tracks across the township a few miles west of the proposed town from north to south and Farmersville and Thomasville were laid out, White Oak was relegated to keep company with Zanesville and several other attempts at town building that went into the quiet and innocuous desuetude of the reminiscent past.


FARMERSVILLE.


The most important town in Bois D'Arc Town- ship is Farmersville. Names often indicate some local event or are given in honor of some prom- inent individual, but not so with Farmersville. The name reminds one of the fact that the town was in a community of farmers. It is peculiarly appropriate because the people were not only farmers but owing to their exceedingly fertile soil and their native energy, they were excep- tionally successful. When the Illinois Central Railroad was being built by Dwight L. Wing, in 1893, the town was laid ont and surveyed, and the town organized during the same year, with W. T. Thurman as president, W. L. Curry as clerk, and G. C. Browning, Charles McAnarny, John Newport and A. E. Huddleston as aldermen. The town began to grow at once, the leading attraction being the market for grain which the railroad afforded. Its chief incentive to growth during its earlier days was the corn raised and marketed and the hogs which always accom- pany corn raising. This growth has continued, not with mushroom instability, but with steady permanency that indicates the presence of a happy and successful people. The population is now about 700. and the activity of the place is shown in its schools, its churches and its mercan- tile business interests. The present village board consists of A. E. Hendricks, president ; Ed. C. McAnarny, clerk ; Henry Niehaus, treasurer, and Charles Fox, A. W. Charney, H. A. Bierbaum, Owen Stuart, S. A. Witt and Fred Welch, aldermen.


Farmersville has a four-room schoolhouse; there are four teachers, and the present prin- cipal is C. D. Freeman. The present board of education is composed of Henry Rorney, Henry Witt, and Lee Fox.


The business of the town is conducted under the various interests as follows : Four dry goods


stores, two hardware stores, four general stores, two barber shops, two garages, two livery barns, one grain elevator, two blacksmith shops, one wood shop, two banks, one hotel, one grain buyer, three stock buyers, one coal mine, one tile fac- tory. There is a well kept city park. An elec- tric system is supplied from Kinkaid. There are two telephone companies operating and other smaller enterprises are sustained here. The town also has four churches, namely : Catholic, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, and Lutheran. In lodge representation, Farmersville has the Woodmen, the Royal Neighbors, the Masons, the Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Columbus. There is also the T. W. O. Club for young ladies.


Farmersville has had the following police magistrates : L. J. Overby, 1894; Jasper N. Witt, 1898 and 1902; F. Horace Brown, 1910; J. D. Lyons, 1912; W. J. O'Brian, 1913; and Nathan Walsh, 1916.


IRISH DAY ASSOCIATION.


What was and is now known as the Irish Colony of Bois D'Arc Township that had so much to do with its early history, met some years ago and organized an association known as Irish Day Association, the object of which was to hold an annual Irish homecoming of a reminiscent character, similar to the Old Set- tlers' meetings. It is held on the first Wednes- day in August, and is very largely attended. The management renders a program of speaking, music, parades, athletics, ball games, and various shows and other attractions. Martin Gorman is the present efficient president. In speaking of the Irish Colony. John McCarren, private secre- tary of United States Senator Lewis, says :


"A careful census of the settlers of Irish ex- traction who settled upon the prairies of the panhandle of Montgomery County, Ill., fifty or sixty years ago will show that only a few sur- vive of that brave band of stout hearts. And yet it seems but yesterday since most of them were active participants in the life of the community they loved so well.


"The history of Montgomery County can never be accurately written without a correct appre- ciation of the work of the Irish settlers of the panhandle. They have contributed a large share in the development of that county and a knowl- edge of their lives, characters, and the work performed by them must be carefully reviewed


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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY


by the historian for a full comprehension of their worth to the state and nation.


"It must be first said of them that they loved and cherished the home of their adoption. As believers in and upholders of the constitution and laws of the land they were surpassed by none and equaled by few. No heart beat with more patriotic pride than that of the Irish set- tler at the sight of 'Old Glory.' And in his chil- dren he instilled the love of country and respect and devotion to her institutions. No one loves liberty, true liberty, more than the Irishman, and no one respects lawful constituted author- ity more than he.


"The Irish settlers of the panhandle were scoffed at because of their rough appearance and lack of education, but those who scoffed were ignorant of the character of those people. Little did they know about the Irish, and they took no trouble to find out anything about their past. But character will always tell, and those who scoffed soon found out how foolish they were, for the Irish people from the beginning adapted themselves to their new condition. Those men and women had suffered for liberty and justice as their fathers before them. They had come to America to enjoy those natural rights which God ordained that all men should enjoy and which are so clearly enunciated in the Declara- tion of Independence. They found in the pan- handle that haven where under the Stars and Stripes they could practice and enjoy true lib- erty and contribute their share in the upbuilding of the state and nation."


LEADING MEN.


Bois D'Arc, like every other township, has quite a number of leading men to whom special honor, for their promoting work in the interest of the township that we would like to mention, but to give all these would exceed our limit.


We have not the data at hand nor the space to mention in a biographical way the many families that settled in that township during its making. We will, however, briefly mention the Thomases, because they possibly had to do with its settling in a larger way than any others. The Thomases are said to have been of Welch ancestry, coming to America during the Colonial period. and fought for its freedom with our fore- fathers in the war of the Revolution. Irwin Thomas. the grandfather of L. R. and Samuel Thomas, with his wife, who was Elizabeth (Hub-


bard) Thomas, lived in the East and they were the parents of five children and later several of these children emigrated to Kentucky, where they lived for a time. One of the daughters married a man named Reagen, and in one of the Indian outbreaks in 1814, was cruelly murdered by the savages. Irwin Thomas died in 1795, and in 1813 Samuel moved to Madison County, Ill., and was one of the first settlers of the Alton community. Here he lived till 1818, when he moved to Greene County and there was married to Elizabeth Isley, and there he dies in 1873, his sons, Samuel and Lewis, in the meantime having come to Montgomery County, as above stated. Samuel Thomas was a man of unusually strong convictions which characterized him in what- ever he did. For instance, his views along the lines of temperance and the use of tobacco made him abstemious and his insistence on their en- forcement indicated a strength of character that distinguished so many of our forefathers and has left a heritage and an impress that is a lever of safety to our American institutions.


Samuel R. Thomas was born in 1829 in Greene County, Ill. In his twenty-first year he entered a section and a half of land in Bois d'Arc Township and was one of the first to break prairie in that township. In 1851 he was mar- ried to Mary E. Dayton of Greene County, Ill. At the time of his death he owned three sections of as fine land as is to be found in Montgomery County, and had it all highly improved. He ranked as one of the most substantial farmers in the county. He served on the county board of supervisors for several terms. His death oc- curred some years ago, and he left two sons, namely : Mathew and Samuel; and four daugh- ters, namely : Amanda A., Elizabeth J., Kate, and Mary L, Mr. Thomas was often spoken of for the Legislature, but his acquaintanceship was not wide enough to give him the nomination. The Thomas annual picnic has been for many years a great event held on his beautiful estate near Thomasville, which was named in his honor.


George N. Rice, a sturdy farmer of Irish descent, came into Bois D'Arc Township in 1850 and bought a farm, but selling that, he bought about 400 acres in the same township and be- gan the making of a home in 1857. He was one of the first to break up the prairie of this magnificent township, and his descendants have lived in the township continuously since that time and have had much to do with its develop-


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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY


ment. He had a numerous family, the members of which are now widely scattered. Although he bas been dead several years his memory re- mains and his pioneer work is well remembered.


THOMASVILLE.


The Thomas brothers did so much in every way to bring about an advancement in their sec- tion that it is only right that some remembrance of their work should remain in the nomenclature of the township. Therefore when L. H. Thomas laid out Thomasville, secured a railroad station and a post office there, it was but logical that it be named for the township's greatest bene- factor.


Thomasville is only a small village, and yet one of great convenience to the people of the northern part of the township, not so much for the trading facilities afforded as for the market for farm productions given to the enor- mous crops and large amount of stock raised. A post office was established at this point and an attempt was made as early as 1854 to get a town in that part of the township by a Mr. Woods who ran a store and tavern and secured a post office at Macoupin Point, but these were discontinued in 1855 and since then no post office was in the township, until the laying out of Farmersville and Thomasville.




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