USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Montgomery County, Volume II > Part 44
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Among the first settlers of East Fork Town- ship was William McDavid, who came here in 1820, entering land on section 34, near the place then known as the Fox Indian Spring and now known as McDavid's Point. With him was Jesse Johnson, who stopped in what is now Grisham Township, near the present village of Donnell- son. When Mr. McDavid erected his little cabin, the nearest other house was five miles, but he was not discouraged and continued to live there for forty-six years, dying in 1866. His son, T. W. McDavid, succeeded to the homestead, to which he added until he owned one of the largest farms in the county. Another son, W. C. Mc-
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David, bought the adjoining farm. The friendly Fox Indians were very loth to give up their camp and spring of good water on the McDavid farm and occasionally came back there and visited the old camp ground, even as late as 1835. James Card was the next permanent in 1821 and located on the farm later the property of Daniel Cress on section 4. Los- ing his wife during his first year of residence here, he went back to his old home in Ken- tucky, but returned in 1823 and settled near the Irving Township Line, where he spent two years, then going to Fillmore Township. He is interesting from the fact that he was the first white man to journey from East Fork Township to St. Louis to buy flour for the use of the settlement, and some idea of his character may be gained from the fact that although he underwent many hardships and sur- mounted innumerable hardships, he brought back what he went for. 1830 and was run by steam, having a saw at- tached so that it could be used for grinding flour or sawing lumber. D. M. Williams built another early mill which is known to have been in operation during 1840, and was evidently built some time prior to that date. In 1867 A. settler of East York Township, who arrived . M. Miller built a steam mill with saw attached which continued in operation for a number of years. In 1875 the Brown mill was moved into the township, but two years later was torn down and taken to Fillmore Township. Edward Root operated a sawmill in the southern part of the township, and a number of portable mills have been operated at different times. We here men- tion, because of its old historic interest, the old Palır mill. It was probably just over the line in Bond County, but was the source of supply for a portion of Montgomery County citizens for many years. About 1830 a man named Samuel Pahr came to this community from Pennsylvania and, being a wheelwright by trade, he erected a two-story log building for a grist and sawmill. The sawing was done on the ground floor and the grinding in the upper story. There the choicest walnut and wild cherry were sawed into finishing lumber, out of which coffins, furni- ture, fiddles and everyday necessities, as well as buildings, were made and erected in the old hand manner of working. The grist-mill was of the old stone burr type, and was used prin- cipally for the grinding of corn into meal, hom- iny or feed. The saw was of the perpendicular type now long since out of date. This building like all buildings of that day had a large fire- place which took in whole logs of six or eight feet in length, and gave heat for both stories of the house. The fireplace was made of rock and the chimney of sticks and mud. Mr. Pahr ran this mill for several years, then sold it to James McDavid. Mr. McDavid sold it to Willis Greer, who employed Elijah Tucker to run it, and the latter kept it in operation for several years. Eventually the old mill house was partly torn down and remodeled to better suit the present day uses, and we understand it is occa- sionally used in the grinding of feed to this time. The place where it stands is now the property of J. W. Bandy.
Between 1821 and 1826 a number of men located in the southern part of the township, among them being: Joseph Williams, John Kirkpatrick, E. Guin, Henry Rowe, and David Bradford. Benjamin Rhodes was the first set- tler in the northern part of East Fork Town- ship, having come there in 1826, locating on section S, about two and one-half miles east of Hillsboro. William R. Linxwiler, a stepson of Mr. Rhodes, was brought to the township by him, and spent his life in the township. Jor- dan Williford came to the township in 1825, locating on McDavid's Branch, and three years later went further west on Shoal Creek, selling his farm to Mr. McDavid. A number of his eleven children remained in the township or county and were worthy of their father. One son, Andrew J. Williford, was a Baptist preacher.
Robert and Joseph Mann were two of the very early settlers of East Fork Township, and James Wiley, who located near their farm in the northern part, was another worthy pioneer. The Allens settled here prior to 1830. Samuel Haller located near the northeast corner of the township and his farm bore his name for many years. One of his sons became Dr. T. B. Haller, who located at Vandalia.
EARLY MILLS.
The first mill in the township was built by G. W. Traylor in the southeastern part about
NOTABLE PIONEERS.
The services of the preacher were abundantly in evidence in East Fork Township settlements when Henry Sears, James Street, Larkin Craig,
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Peter Long, Joseph Bone, Willis Dodson, John Barber and A. J. Willitord held up the gospel to the people in the old time forcible manner, in which the fear of hell and damnation were the chief cudgels of persuasion.
James Card, as has been stated, was one of the early settlers in this township, thoughi he later moved across the line into Fillmore. He was the first man in the county to make an overland trip to St. Louis. He made it with an ox team with some produce to sell and for the purpose of purchasing supplies. He had no way of determining his direction except by a small pocket compass. There was no well defined trail over much of the way, and he had to cut away the timber at times, and at other times make a ford across the streams. It took him quite a long while to make the round trip with his slow traveling team and to overcome the diffi- culties which he encountered, and when he ar- rived back among his friends his return was as great an accomplishment as though he had discovered a country.
When Ben Rhodes came to East Fork Town- ship from Indiana in 1826, he built the first cabin in the northern part of the township in section 8, and for several years he was alone there, though quite a settlement had been made in the southern part of the township and at Hillsboro. The place where that cabin was built was on the present William R. Linxwiler farm. It has been said that Caleb Traylor built the first mill in this township. It was located near what was afterwards known as New Boston. In his efforts to adjust some of the machinery of the mill he fell from a lofty position and broke his neck. The second, or Williams' mill, was built about where the Joel C. Traylor store was run for many years. This store was the first in this part of the county, and was built and first stocked in 1844, becoming a central point of interest for many years. Many other early settlers might be mentioned whose arrival always constituted an event in that day, but space will not permit. We notice only Gustavus F. Coffeen, who came into the county during the building of the Alton & Terre Haute Railroad in 1856. He was then a young man and had . contracts for building some parts of the road, and after his contracts were completed he bought land in East Fork Township and began farming. In 1860 he was sent to the State Legislature to represent this district. He con- tinued to farm, and at times to serve his town-
ship on the board of supervisors, until the building of the Clover Leaf Railroad in 1880, when he was successful in getting the road across his farm and an agreement to put in a station and depot on his land. His efforts re- sulted in the beginning of a little village which, in honor to the founder, was named Coffeen. He was also largely instrumental in getting a coal mine sunk at Coffeen, which gave the place its motive for upbuilding and made it one of the best communities in the southern part of the county.
EARLY INCIDENTS.
The first man buried in Montgomery County was not Colbert Blair, as has been stated by some historians, but was a Mr. Coffey, who had located in Bond County but was living in Mont- gomery County at the time of his death. He was buried at the crest of Mount Moriah, one of the several mounds in this township. One of the most important roads in the county was built across East Fork in an early day. It was
a state road and was known as the Springfield and Vandalia road. This road originally ran diagonally across the entire township, but has been changed to the survey lines till but little of the original highway can be found. This township has several other important highways, all in excellent condition. Among them may be mentioned the Black Diamond Trail, which crosses the township from north to south, or nearly so. The township also has its allotment of State Aid roads and is co-operating with the authorities in the Improved Road Move- ment.
COFFEEN.
Coffeen is the most important town in East Fork Township and we here give a brief sur- vey of the town. In 1881 the Clover Leaf Rail- road was built across the farm of G. F. Coffeen in East Fork Township and Mr. Coffeen, being a public spirited citizen, went to work at once to lay out a town site. The place selected was at the point where the old Vandalia and Hills- boro highway crossed the railroad. A plat was made and recorded and the sale of lots began at once. In the following spring a post office was secured from the government with Charles Stoddard as postmaster. Mr. Coffeen did his work well in platting the town, reserving a park
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
plat and planting trees therein and making such other improvements as would make the village an honor to the name he had given it. The post office grew with the village and with the coming of the administration of President Mc- Kinley, the post office was raised to the rank of third class, with Thomas G. Laws as post -. master. A company sunk a coal shaft and for a while did excellent business, but for the last few years but little coal has been mined, but promises and hopes are abundant that the mine will soon resume its normal function of giving work to the needy who located there on account of the mine.
Coffeen has two banks, The American Ex- change, with A. Studebaker as cashier, and The Coffeen National Bank, with L. T. Wilderman as cashier. The village has an excellent elec- tric lighting plant run in connection with the Southern Illinois Light and Power Company of Hillsboro. The Montgomery Democrat, a local newspaper, gives the inhabitants the local news under the able management of W. E. Roberts, as editor and manager. A good grade and high school, and the usual quota of churches grace the beautiful village, and an industrious citizen- ship enjoy and are proud of their little com- munity
We append here a racy account of the organ- izing and growth of Coffeen written by S. W. Kessinger in his inimitable style. "The Clover Leaf Railroad meandered across the southern end of the county in narrow-gauge fashion in the fall of 1881. Gustav Coffeen owned a farm on the old state road from Vandalia to Hillsboro, and when the toy railroad came that way, he platted a town bearing his name. He took pride in that town. He not only platted it, but he donated a park and planted trees therein. Later a pagoda was erected in that park, and nowadays through the summer months the lawn festivals, band concerts, public celebrations and political disturbances of the atmosphere of the south end of Montgomery County are pulled off in that park. By the spring of 1882 some hamlet had arisen on the Coffeen plat, and it was decided that a postmaster was necessary to the community. Charles Stoddard got the job, and held it until Grover Cleveland upset the political plans of James G. Blaine in the unpleasantness of 1884. The following year Joseph DeFrakes was appointed postmaster and served throughout Cleveland's first administration.
"In 1888 Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, took
the reefing out of Grover Cleveland's sails tem- porarily, and L. T. Henneger became postmaster of the then enterprising village of Coffeen. Four years later the hookworm and the Populists took after Harrison and Cleveland was given a sec- ond opportunity to occupy the White House. Joe DeFrakes got busy and was reinstated as post- master. Then came the pussyfoot, tin plate campaign of the suave Mckinley versus the sixteen-to-one vagaries of the brilliant young 'orator of the Platte,' and L. A. Peebles, for- merly of Harvel, became postmaster, serving throughout Mckinley's first administration. The closing year of the memorial old nineteenth cen- tury brought Mckinley to the front again with his slogan of the 'full dinner pail.' The Span- ish-American War had been fought, and a lot of young soldiers were home from the struggle. The 'silver tongued orator of the Platte,' now a colonel, came forth, charging to the fray with the cry of 'imperialism.' Mckinley was re- elected and Thomas Laws, the old Republican warhorse, decided that he wanted to be post- master of Coffeen. His decision was so firm that he got the job and has it yet. The office up to that time had been the fourth class. But Coffeen had grown, It had a coal mine, and ere long the receipts of the office increased to such an extent that the office was made third class, and Thomas Laws, during Roosevelt's ad- ministration, was appointed for a term of four years. On July 20, 1912, during the last year of the Taft administration, he was appointed 1 for another term of four years.
"Along about the year of the 'imperialistic-full dinner pail' campaign, A. Studebaker formed a firm opinion that Coffeen needed a bank, and the American Exchange Bank is still doing business, with Mr. Studebaker as the entire board of directors and also president and cash- ier. About that time or a little later, C. F. Edwards had an inspiration along the line of banking and launched a private financial insti- tution. Shortly afterwards he was joined by his brother, W. T. Edwards, and in February, 1905, their institution became the Coffeen Na- tional Bank, with a capital of $25,000, to which has been added a surplus of $6,000. The direc- tors at present are William Abbott, W. T. Ed- wards, C. F. Edwards, C. A. Traylor, J. G. Brown, Louis Spinner and Emory Wright. The officers are: president, W. T. Edwards; vice- president, C. A. Traylor ; cashier, L. T. Wild- erman. Coffeen has electric lights and can
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
casily boast of being one of the best lighted towns in the community. All through the res- idence and business part of town huge incandes- cent lights are hung a block apart, and any man not entirely blind can find his way without stumping his toe.
"Two years ago the residents of Coffeen de- cided that they needed a schoolhouse in the new city of Coffeen. Their decision was right. They built a modern structure with two stories and a basement, half of the latter being above ground. At present the grades are being han- dled by seven teachers, with Prof. Lou Traylor, superintendent, teaching the high school. A four-year course has been adopted for the high school, and the congested condition of the fifth and sixth grades will make it necessary to em- ploy an assistant in the high school and an additional grade teacher for the coming year. Coffeen has every reason for being proud of its schools."
Coffeen has had the following police magis- trates : John W. Whitlock, 1SS9 and 1895; Joseph O. Tannehill, 1894; Jacob Haney, 1896; John T. Graham, 189S; John S. William, 1899; Thomas C. Edwards, 1901 and 1902; Lou R. Traylor, 1903; J. Homer Roberts, 1907; W. S. Jones, 1909; W. L. Champe, 1911; C. V. Flem- ming, 1912; W. E. Prater, 1913, and Edward Jones, 1915.
SCHRAM CITY.
East Fork Township has had rather adverse experiences in town building. In 1873, Samuel H. Smith, who was then running a store near where New Boston had failed to materialize as a town, secured a post office at his store, which he called East Fork, and of which he became Uncle Sam's representative. The hoped for town, however, did not come with a boom as some predicted, and Uncle Sam's post job be- came Samuel Smith's joke. Once upon a time a lot of grading for a north and south railroad was done through East Fork, and some of the enthusiasts of the township made a faint effort to establish a town at Stevens' farm, but that, like the other efforts, proved to be a nightmare and Stevens "died a bornin." Again some of the East Forkers in the southwestern part of the township thought to take advantage of the fact that Donnellson was a growing village on the township line and erected several residences and business houses on the East Fork side of
the line, but the growth of Donnellson kept right on preferring the west side of the line and still Donnellson is a Grisham village.
The most successful effort at town building was made when some of the Hillsboro progres- sive citizens bought a field of coal along the north line of the township where Mr. Pocock had essaycd to secure a station to be named Pocock, and which had seemingly ceased to attract a population, and sunk a mine, with William Kort- kamp as the manager. Some thirty or forty houses were built and the town called Kort- kamp. But many of the houses were allowed to revert to the builders, and for a while the builders were burdened with cheap houses they could not dispose of. Then came Mr. Schram with a proposition to establish a large plant for the manufacture of the Schram auto- matic glass jars, and the proposition was looked upon favorably by the Hillsboro capitalists and in January, 1906, work was begun on a plant located in the northwest corner of East Fork Township. By September the plant was giving employment to about 125 people and began ship- ping jars by the carload. This excited a growth in town building. A town was platted and dwellings built and sold, until in a very short time a nice little village was assembled just south of the plant. In the meantime a school- house was built midway between Schram and Kortkamp, and when the organization and in- corporation of a municipality was being consid- ered, it was no difficult matter to unite the two into one incorporation with the schoolhouse in the center, under the pretentious name of Schram City. Schram City is now a very considerable place, with a population of about 500, with the Schram plant and the Kortkamp coal mine as the important industries. Besides these indus- tries there are two grocery stores, two restau- rants, two poolrooms, one rooming house, three general stores, one second hand store, one pic- ture gallery for moving pictures, and some other small business houses. One church has recently been built by the Baptist denomination, of which Rev. Robert L. White is the present pastor. The present officials of the town are: Peter Hill, president; John Calavo, town clerk, and Jacob H. Lerlela, Ora Traylor, Charles W. Jones, E. P. Reeves, Edward Deck, W. M. Tisdale, alder- men, and Ford Woods, treasurer. Schram City has had the following police magistrates: Wil- liam Fanik, 1907; Joseph McAfee, 1908, and Frank B. Freeland, 1909 and 1913. Its mar-
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
shals have been: John Jordan, 1909 and 1910; Hiram Woods, 1911, and 1912; W. M. Sherman, 1913; George Lewis, 1914 and 1915; and Wright Christy, 1916.
MC DAVID FAMILY.
As types of the East Forkers of the higher class perhaps we cannot do better than men- tion briefly a couple of the McDavids who have inhabited the township since it was first peopled. In educational and ministerial lines, few men in Montgomery County have exerted greater in- fluence for good, or served the cause of uplift longer than William J. McDavid. He was born · in Irving, on March 15, 1849. He attended the country schools until he had secured an ele- mentary education, after which he came to Hillsboro and entered Hillsboro Academy, where he was a close student for three years. He then entered Lincoln University at Lincoln, where he took a four year course, being grad- uated in the spring of 1847 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After graduating from Lin- coln University, he returned to Irving and was made pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of that village. He was pastor of that church for twenty-four years and during that time he worked earnestly and faithfully for the church. Much of the credit of a strong Pres- byterian Church in Irving is due to his untir- ing efforts. He was not satisfied with holding regular Sunday services, but almost every year would conduct a revival in his church. Many of these revivals were unusually successful and he did some great work for the "kingdom of God" in his community. During Mr. McDavid's service as pastor of the Irving Presbyterian Church he was chosen as head of the Hillsboro Academy, at that time one of the biggest schools in the west. He found that he could not satisfactorily attend at the same time to both his church and school work, so he gave up the academy work. In 1898, Reverend McDavid was elected county superintendent of schools and he served two terms with remarkable suc- cess. He proved to be just as capable and untir- ing in his work for the schools of the county as he had been for the church when he was the pastor, and he placed the standard of the Mont- gomery County schools higher than they had ever been before. In 1874, Reverend McDavid was married to Miss Barcie Foster and to this union eight children were born. He is survived
by his widow and seven children, as follows: Mrs. Robert Kelley of Irving, Dr. Jesse T. Mc- David of Decatur; Mrs. Eva Rhodes of Lincoln ; Mrs. Owen Meriwether of Raymond; Attorney John Russell McDavid of Hillsboro; and Fos- ter and Joel, at home in Irving. He is also sur- vived by six brothers : August of Pueblo, Colo .; Albin of Sullivan ; John T. of Irving, and Joel K., James Logan and Frank L. of Hillsboro. After a long illness Mr. McDavid died in the Decatur Hospital, and his body was brought to this county for interment.
What is known as the McDavid farm at Mc- David's Point in East Fork Township, was set- tled by the father of Thomas McDavid in 1819, and has continuously been in the family for nearly one hundred years. It was here that the Rev. Thomas W. McDavid was born Sep- tember 6, 1833, and he never knew another home. On June 30, 1860, Mr. McDavid was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth John- son and to this union twelve children were born as follows: Dora, wife of M. B. Traylor, of Denver, Colo .; Lizzie, wife of L. A. File, of Springfield, Mo .; Frank M., an attorney of Springfield, Mo .; Ella, wife cf Dr. M. R. Walker, of Reno, Nev .; Maggie, wife of John P. Shep- herd, of Coffeen, Ill .; Anna, wife of Geo. M. Beck, of Coffeen, Ill .; Cook McDavid, died in Marysville, Cal., April 24th, 1911; J. Emmet McDavid, cashier of the Raymond National Bank, Raymond, Ill .; Misses Minnie and Lena, at the old home place; Lester McDavid, died at his home near Coffeen, September 4, 1911; and Horace W., an attorney of Decatur, Ill.
Thomas W. McDavid was born and reared a farmer but in 1867, seven years after his mar- riage, he became a minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and he continued to preach up to within a few years prior to his death. He preached at McDavid's Point Church, Irving, Witt, Sorento, and Maple Grove, and at many other places, and he held religious meetings all over Illinois. He maintained his home at the old McDavid farm where he and his devoted wife reared their large family of children. Mrs. McDavid died in July, 1901, after forty-one happy years spent with her husband. Follow- ing her death, Reverend McDavid made his home on the old farm with his two unmarried daughters. The McDavid farm now consists of 360 acres of land and 133 acres of this is the land that Mr. McDavid's father secured from the government by entering it in 1819. Rev. T.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
W. McDavid was the last of a family of eight children, three of his brothers and himself be- ing the founders of the McDavid family in this county, one of the biggest and wealthiest and most influential families in the county. These brothers were as follows: William Carroll, who died in July, 1899; James B., who died in October, 1894; John T., who died in Septem- ber, 1905; and Jesse J., who was left here and went west many years ago and all trace of him has been lost, but it is supposed he died in Cali- fornia years ago, as he would be ninety-five years old were he now living. There were also four sisters of this family, namely : Mrs. Me- linda Polland ; Mrs. Nancy Barringer and Mrs. Joshua Wilson, all of whom are now dead, and one younger sister who died in infancy. Rev. T. W. McDavid died at his home November 21, 1913, and his body was laid to rest in the ceme- tery near his home, where the most of his peo- ple are buried.
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