USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Montgomery County, Volume II > Part 5
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
and worthy to be proud of. Seth, however, seems to wear his responsibility well, and is transmitting to his children and grandchild- ren a reverence for the historic past of his family that at once excites our commendation and increases our historic pride. Beginning with Seth, he was born in Syracuse, N. Y., April 18, 1847, and came to Illinois with his parents. Ile entered the Que Hundred Twen- ty-Sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War as a messenger boy, and later enlisted iu the One Hundred Forty-Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, where he served till the close of the Rebellion. In November 3, 1874, he was married to Miss Josephiue W. Richmond, who died at their home in Hillsboro September 12, 1915, at the age of sixty-five years. Mrs. Washburn was a public-spirited woman, having been a very active member of the Relief Corps, and was for a time president of the Hospital Association aud engaged in many other philanthropic activities.
Dr. Thomas D. Washburn, father of our Seth, was born April 25, 1819, and at the age of five years, owing to the death of his mother, he was taken to rear by Hon. Emory Washburn, a lawyer and an author, at one time governor of Massachusetts, and for many years prominent in the counsels of the state. He was educated in Burr Seminary, Phillips Academy, and Har- vard, and the New York University. During the Civil War he was surgeon in the One Hun- dred Twenty-Sixth Illinois Volunteer Infautry, and later was post surgeon at Little Rock, Ark. He married Roxanna M. Joclyn, the mother of Seth, who was born on the same day as her husband. His death occurred September 30, 1893.
The father of Dr. Thomas D. Washburn was Seth W. Washburn, who was born September 30, 1790. He, like his son, was a physician, hav- ing been graduated from the Harvard Medical School, and who like his brother Emory, was prominent in his state. He was married to Ascenath Dickson, who died some five years after the birth of Dr. Thomas D. Washburn.
The father of Seth W. Washburn was Joseph Washburn, who was born in 1755. He was mar- ried to Ruth David. He was a captain in the war of the Revolution and was in the battle at Bunker Hill and other engagements, serving for three years. Joseph had a brother Seth, who was also in the war of the Revolutiou.
Another turn of the ancestral wheel backward brings us to Col. Seth Washburn, the father of
Joseph and Seth W. Washburn. He was born in 1723, was married to Mary Harrod, aud made his home in Leicester, Mass. He was a captain of the Massachusetts Minute Men, and was a member of the Massachusetts General Court from 1776 to 1788; was also in the Massachu- setts Senate from 1780 to 1787 and was a mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1779.
Agaiu we take a step backward to Joseph Washburn of Bridgewater, Mass., the father of Col. Seth Washburu. He came to Massachusetts from Connecticut though his progeuitors were Massachusetts people. He was married to Han- nah Johnson. While he too was prominent in affairs of state, yet he was a blacksmith by trade and while not engaged in public duties pursued the labors of his calling.
The next Washburn in our backward tracing was living at Duxbury, Mass., as early as 1635, and was married to Mary Chilton, who was the granddaughter of the first white man to set foot on Plymouth Rock. His given name has been lost sight of, and he was probably the grandfather and not the father of Joseph Wash- burn. Our record here is a little misty, yet it is reasonably sure that he was the ancestor of Joseph, and that he was a son of a Wash. burn, who is named in the records as the sec- retary of the Massachusetts Company, an Eng- lish corporation, widely known as a powerful upbuilding iufluence in its day. Thus we have nine generatious from Plymouth Rock to our Hillsboro Seth, of warriors, statesmen, and civil- ians, covering a period of about 280 years, pos- sibly longer. It is from such lines of honored ancestry that the physical stamina and moral backbone of our great republic is built up and maiutaiued.
THE BLACKWELDERS.
Few families in the county have been more prominent, or left a more lasting impress on the people of the county, than the Blackwelder fam- ily. From data furnished us, chiefly by Hon. I. S. Blackwelder of Chicago, we are able to trace this family through four generations. Gotlieb, as the name was spelled according to the old German family, Schwartzwalder, came to America from Wurttemburg, Germany, land- ing in Philadelphia, Pa., in January, 1756. A brother, John, came with him, but as the Black- welders of this county are descended from Got- lieb. we confine this sketch to Gotlieb. Gotlieb
J. Peter Best + Family
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
was married to Betsy Phifer, and on their trip to the "land of promise," a daughter Katy was born, the date of her birth being December 1S, 1755. This daughter of the "briny deep" be- came the mother of the Barringer family, Gen. Rufus Barringer of North Carolina being her grandson. She died October 29, 1847, and her body lies at rest in the Lutheran Cemetery at Concord, N. C. Gotlieb Schwartzwalder, trans- lated Caleb Blackwelder, had five sons, namely : Isaac, John, Martin, Daniel and Jacob. His farm of 400 acres at Concord, N. C., is said to still be in possession of his descendants. As we have to do with, Isaac only, we drop the other members of the family.
Isaac Blackwelder, the oldest son of Caleb Blackwelder, was born November 17, 1757, in Pennsylvania. Soon after his birth his father moved to Mecklenburg County, N. C., settling in that part of that county which is now Cabarrus County. He enlisted three times in the Revo- lutionary War, in February, 1776, under Capt. John Barringer, in Col. Thomas Polk's Regiment, and again under Capt. John Barringer in Col. John Phifer's Regiment, and the third time under Capt. Mathias Beaver, in Colonel Alex- ander's Regiment under the command of Gen- eral Rutherford. With his command, he marched to Cheraw Mills, S. C., thence to Lynn Creek, in same state, where they remained till General Gates' main army came up, and then they went to Camden, where they encountered the English under Lord Cornwallis, and were disastrously defeated on August 16, 1780. That was what was known as the first battle of Cam- den. General Rutherford was taken prisoner in this encounter. The pension application of Isaac Blackwelder was dated July, 1834, and the government paid this pension till September, 1834. Isaac Blackwelder was married twice, and was the father of nineteen children. By his first wife, Mary Phifer, there were five children and by lis second, Mary Redling, there were four- teen. He died at his homestead near Concord, in 1843, at the age of ninety-four years. Peter Blackwelder, the eighth son of Isaac Blackwel- der, by his second wife, was born in Cabarrus County, N. C., September 7, 1810. He came to Illinois in 1833. He stopped in Union County for a short time, then coming to Hillsboro in 1834, he began work as a carpenter. He helped build the first Lutheran church in Hillsboro in which he held membership. On May 2, 1837, he was married to Mrs. Nellie (Scherer) Waggoner.
In that year he entered and improved eighty acres of land where the city of Litchfield now stands and where he lived till he died January 15, 1857. His descendants are well known to the older people of the county, so it is unneces- sary in this brief paper to mention them. Mrs. Waggoner had a daughter before her marriage to Peter Blackwelder, Margaret Cornelia Waggo- ner, who was married to Joshua Kime. She was the mother of our fellow townsman Samuel Kime. Mary Emily, married Sullivan Lude- wick, and their descendants live in this county. Isaac Blackwelder, my correspondent, now liv- ing in Chicago, for many years was at the fore- front in every move for the upbuilding of Hills- boro. Dr. James Frederick Blackwelder, who lives at Litchfield; Sarah Jane, who married William M. Witherspoon, and whose children are Mrs. J. J. Frey, Mrs. Josiah Bixler, Mrs. Nellie E. Cress, and Miss Myra Aldine of Hillsboro; and Martin Luther Blackwelder of St. Louis, Mo., who was a prominent business man of Hills- boro till he went to St. Louis, are other members of the family. We have liere only given one family of this numerous relationship, of prom- inent and respected German citizens. Alfred Blackwelder, once well known in Litchfield, was the son of Jacob Blackwelder.
THE WARES.
Every family of many members is character- ized by certain traits of character and conduct, easily discernible by those who know them, in whatever condition of life they may be found. Without attempting to describe these charac- teristics, those of us who know the Wares of this county, know that these observations fit them in a marked degree. Loyalty, sincerity, religious conviction and patriotism may in a word be said to be the leading characteristic possessed. They see people as they appear, and not what may be hidden in their make-up. They, as a family, are exceedingly practical, frank and straightforward. Such are the Wares, and would there were more of them. Over a hundred years ago, one Capt. Ben- jamin Ware possessed a home among the hills of old Vermont. It was there that Benja- min, David, Obediah and Enoch Ware were born ; and others, that we cannot now describe. These young men, at least three of them, began to look around for opportunities of entering the arena of life's battle, and conflicts. At the age
2
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
of about twenty-one, Benjamin went to New York, where for three years he sought to satisfy his ambition for better conditions, but the "west- ern fever" got hold of him, and he came to Indi- ana, where he stayed till 1823, then, still not satisfied, he came to Greene County, Ill., and one year later to Montgomery County, and settled in what is now known as Ware's Grove in But- ler Grove Township. His brother Obediah, who had married in the old New Hampshire hills, came with him to this county, David, we believe, coming later. A Miss Sarah Slayback who was an Ohio girl, having come here with the family of Israel Seward, became the enamored of Ben- jamin Ware, and the marriage was the result. One son, Justice Hurd Ware, lived to raise a numerous family to perpetuate the name of this early settler of our county.
Obediah Ware, who came here with Benjamin, was also born in Gilsum, N. H .; and became a settler oť Butler Grove Township, as before stated. He married Electa Post, when only about twenty-one, and within a month after his marriage he sought the "wild and woolly west" in search of better opportunities. To secure land and make a home was the impelling deter- mination that guided these young men in all their wanderings. He entered the homestead in section 15 in Butler Grove Township, in 1823, and for over fifty years he made that his home, and the rearing ground of his family. Mrs. Thomas E. Harris, Mrs. Betsy Wescott, Mrs. W. A. Young (first wife), and Heury Ware, were among the children of this patriot.
David S. Ware, a son of David Ware, who was a brother of Obedialı and Benjamin, came to Illinois in 1855, and he too became a part of the "Ware's Grove" settlement. There his numerous family was raised, among whom we may mention John, Arthur, Lyman, David, Em- ina Osborn, and Beulah Chickering. Except the latter, who is in New Hampshire, they are all here today. Related to these Wares mentioned, in varying degrees, may be mentioned the Bur- ris', the Osborns, the Macks, the Staples, the Clinesmiths and others.
Lucian Ware is, we understand, a descendant from the fourth New Hampshire brother named above, Enoch. So that the four brothers are all represented in our county. It is said that if the relatives were to have a reunion, it would take a house that would hold 200 from this county alone. Why not have such a reunion and make a history of it? One branch of the
writer's relatives held such a reunion in Indi- ana last year, which was said to have numbered over 300, and the account of it makes interesting history.
With very few exceptions farming is the life work of all these people. Contentment with one's surroundings is one of the requirements to success, and they have shown that quality in a strong degree. We close as we began, with the statement that wherever you find a Ware, you find the family characteristics obviously present, and impelling them, largely, to the same lines of thought and action. Home loving, eco- nomical, honest, patriotic and intensely loyal to the church-by these distinguishing qualities are the Wares known.
JUDGE JESSE J. PHILLIPS.
In giving this brief appreciation to Judge Phillips, it is done chiefly because the history of this county cannot be fully told without de- scribing his peculiar characteristics, and enum- erating his accomplishments. The writer knew him, but was not intimate with him, although he was so companionable that to be with him was to feel the vibrant touch of his wondrous personality. Born in this county May 22, 1837, of parents who had made this county their home for many years, though of Kentucky extraction, he was wholly the product of the county, and with the exception of a few years spent in the West Point Military School, his training was all of the best our county affords. As his father was a veteran of the War of 1812, as well as a soldier of the Black Hawk War, Jesse J. Phil- lips was born with fighting blood in his veins. His patriotism too was inherited, as his an- cestors came to America just two years after the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock, and the trials and traditions of that early day, were inbred in his woof and fiber. A student in the old Hillsboro Academy, then a law student under Davis and Kingsbury, he began the prac- tice of law in 1860, but the Civil War coming on in 1861, his enthusiastic devotion to the Union could not be suppressed. He raised a company, got it attached to the Ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and at once sought the field of war. His power to command and inspire was notic- able from his entry into the service.
He was elected captain on the organization of his company, but when the company went in for the three year term he was commissioned as
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
major of the Ninth Regiment. He took part in the defense of Paducah, in the attack on Fort Henry, and was also in the battle of Fort Don- nelson, where he commanded his regiment, the colonel having been injured, and the major hav- ing previously been promoted to the lieutenant colonelcy. The command of the regiment was left with him during the remainder of his en- listment. In the great battle of Fort Donnel- son the colonel had his horse shot from under him, and for his brave and heroic services, he was especially commended by both General Grant and General Oglesby. Next he was in the battle of Shiloh, where another horse was shot from under him, and where he was shot twice through the hands and once in the thigh. Here his brother, S. B. Phillips, was mortally wounded. After his recovery he was sent with his command into Alabama, where he was in a dozen or more cavalry fights, some fought at so close a range that sabers were used. In one of these lie was hurt seriously by his forse fall- ing and rolling over him. He was next in fights at Cherokee, Ala .; at Lundys' and at Cane Creek, Ala., then at Tupelo, Miss., and Flor- ence, Ala., when he returned to Mississippi, where at Clear Swamp he was again engaged in battle. We can only mention his military his- tory for lack of space. To recite its entire rec- ord is but to repeat the history of the Army of the Tennessee, that our histories exalt so much. In brief, Colonel Phillips was in about forty skirmishes, and a dozen or more pitched battles; and being always in the thickest of the fights, and at the head of his command, it is no won- der that he had six horses shot under him and was himself shot five. or six times. In 1864 he was brevetted lieutenant colonel of his regiment and in 1865 he was, for distinguished services, brevetted a brigadier general.
In 1864 General Phillips was married in Ala- bama to Mrs. Virginia Davis, who survives him and lives in Hillsboro. On his return from the army he again resumed the practice of law, and soon enjoyed a lucrative, clientage. Several times his party, Democratic, put him on the ticket for state offices, but being in the minority in the state, we were not successful in electing him. At length his popularity as a man, his known legal ability, and his independent and advanced views on public questions forced him to a position on the supreme bench of the state. where his great energy, and strong decisions on growing public questions gave him an interna-
tional reputation, in less time and at a younger age, than was ever known in the state. That the Judge was ambitious need not be denied or decried ; that he was an unusually able lawyer is generally conceded ; and that he manifested under all circumstances the courage of his high convictions is attested by all who knew him. To meet him socially was to admire hlm: to be in his court when presiding was to feel the im- press of his great personality ; and to listen to his ready and original thoughts either from the bench or on the rostrum was to admire his intellectuality and was an inspiration. Alas, in the prime of life he was stricken with dis- ease and died, lamented and loved as possibly no other public man in the county ever was or will be again. Montgomery County may well be proud to have had Judge Phillips at the head of her honored statesmen and citizens. We close this sketch with one personal incident which shows his entire absorption in the matter on his mind. On one occasion we took train at Hillsboro with him, when he was starting to Salem to hold court. He began an elucidation of his line of thought on one of his recent de- cisions on the supreme bench, after we were seated; and this was kept up the entire hour, while waiting for a train of the Burlington in Litchfield, and completed after we had got seated on the train south. Just then it occurred to him for the first time that he had forgotten to get supper in Litchfield, as was his intention. At once he jumped up, rang the bell vigorously, and when the conductor came, he, as it seemed, commanded him to order a meal brought to him at Smithboro "without fail" and the subservient conductor went off to obey, as though he re- garded it as his imperative duty to do so.
PROMINENT MONTGOMERY COUNTYITES.
Every community is justly proud of its men of eminence, and among those of this county mentioned in this work, in connection with sev- eral positions of honor and responsibility, are quite a few of more than local repute. To the list thus given there are others, who were either reared here or here received their academic schooling. that have risen to distinction, al- though all cannot be given for lack of the nec- essary data. We only name a very few, briefly mentioning their achievements in their chosen lines.
Military: Gen. John Tillson, late of Quincy,
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Ill., who made an enviable record as a soldier, was a literary man of recognized ability pro- ducing some excellent poetry, and he was born in this county where lie was reared. Brig .- Gen. Frank S. Dickson, is the son of a superinten- dent of the Hillsboro schools, and one of Mont- gomery County's daughters, known to the writer to have been a sweet, noble, confiding mother, who died before her intelligent son had acquired distinction. Gen. Christian B. Blockburger, at a pioneer day in charge of the militia of the state, lived in Hillsboro, where his descendants now are honoring his memory.
Lai: General and Supreme Judge Jesse J. Phillips was born, reared and died in this county, and for rapidity ot rise in the world, and bril- liancy in accomplishment, had no equal in the state.
Agriculture : No man in the state did more for the cause of agriculture as a lecturer and promoter of scientific education for the farming class than that product of a Butler Township farm, Prof. John B. Turner, who as college professor, and college promotor, as well as an invincible anti-slavery advocate, did so much for the state.
Medicine: When one through a long lifetime, devotes his energies to the relief of suffering, becoming eminent as a surgeon, retaining so human a sympathy, and gives his services when- ever needed without compensation, as has Dr. J. D. Colt, he is little less than a martyr to his profession, and entitled to the eternal gratitude of the citizens of the county.
Civics : Hon. Josephi E. Paden, ex-mayor of Evanston, a ripe scholar, and student of civic affairs, is purely a Montgomery County product, and his relatives here hail his visits to his na- tive county with interest.
Engineering : In these troublous times, many men become eminent because of their achieve- ments in lines useful to their country. Jesse C. Vincent, formerly chief engineer of the Packard Motor Co., the designer of the Liberty Motor, thought to be the best inotor so far invented for the use of the aeroplane. is a son of residents of Irving.
Teachers: Perhaps no educator in the state was more popular among leading teachers than Samuel M. Inglis, one time superintendent of schools of Hillsboro, who is so pleasantly remem- bered by the older members of the profession.
Clergy : Invincible, erratic, tireless, and con- vincing are tame words with which to describe Rev. Peter Cartwright, who preached in nearly
every hamlet of the county in the pioneer days. Francis Springer, minister, scholar, educator, lecturer and soldier, has left a deep impress upon the moral status of Montgomery County that time will never efface. Dr. C. E. Cline, of Portland, Ore., was born and reared in this county, and still considers himself entitled to claim its hospitality. For his ministerial work and devotion to the country as a soldier, he is appreciated by our citizens as are few others. May this veneration be as enduring as the causes for which he labors.
We mention these men whose prominence have been largely acquired in other localities, and who, with many others that might be named, have done honor to the land of their birth or early training, feeling that we are embellish- ing this record with the reference to them.
CHAPTER II.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
PHYSICAL SURFACE-GEOLOGY-COAL-COAL ANAL- YSIS-BUILDING ROCK-CLIMATE-NATURAL VEG- ETATION-SURFACE AND SOIL-FAUNA-RIVERS AND CREEKS-DRAINAGE.
PHYSICAL SURFACE.
Montgomery County is varied enough in its physical surface aspects to make it desirable for residence purposes, and is so underlaid with suf- ficient minerals as to make it equally desirable for manufacturing purposes. For farming pur- poses the fertility of its soil is inviting. The quality of its timber, before being denuded, ap- pealed strongly to the early settlers, and had the timber been properly conserved, it would today be a valuable asset to the title holder of the land. The coal underlying the soil often brings nearly as much on the market as the surface, besides occasionally oil and other min- erals in paying quantities are found.
GEOLOGY.
No better authority with reference to the geol- ogy of Montgomery County can be found than
MR. AND MRS. CHARLES W. BEST
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
the geological survey made by the federal gov- ernment, and quoting from it we find the fol- lowing conditions prevailing :
"Along the various streams are various expos- ures of sand and pebbles, with some beds of brownish-yellow clay. Five miles northeast of Litchfield forty-five feet of drift is exposed, the lower part a compact bed of dark clay, with some sand and pebbles. The following descrip- tion is given of the various clays passed through in well digging in the vicinity of Hillsboro; first, soil; second, yellow clay or hardpan; at twenty-four feet, reached a three-foot bed of sand, then, soft, moist clay. Seventy-five yards from this, another well was dug, showing in the upper part brownish-yellow clay at twenty feet, and at thirty-eight feet was a two-foot bed of sand, and, at forty-two feet, specimens of wood.
"On the headwaters of the Ramsey, there are many springs of slightly chalybeate, and some containing sulphate of iron, issuing from beds of drift, sand and pebbles. There is certainly evidence that at some former period of time the whole surface of the county was fifty to seventy- five feet higher than at present; that since the original drift disposition (it may have been just at the close of the drift period), large masses of these deposits were washed off, leaving occa- sional moundlike elevations, several of which may be seen near Nokomis, a few between the East and West Forks, and the hills between Hillsboro and Butler.
"The upper coal measures appear in part in this county, and underly all the superficial de- posits, and include coal beds No. 11 and No. 13 and a trace of No. 12, and embrace 150 feet of rock, reaching from the base of No. 33 to No. 20 of the upper coal measure section. Nos. 20 and 21, in section 12, township 10 north, range 1, west; there crops out along the creek eight feet of sandy shale and blue limestone; close by is an outcrop of brown, shaly, soft limestone, con- taining Hemipronites crassus and crinoid stems ; Machrocheilus and Spirifer cameratus were also found. The exact thickness between 21 and 22 is unknown; the outcrops are ten miles apart, with no evidence of a continuous easterly dip, but it is probable that twenty-five or even fifty feet may intervene.
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