Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Morgan County, Part 130

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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The following description of the Literberry cyclone of May 18, 1883. is condensed from an account written for the Signal-Service Depart- ment of the Weather Bureau, after a personal inspection of the locality the next day after its occurrence, by Dr. G. V. Black, of Jacksonville : As an account of what in many respects was the most terrible of these dread visitants of that memorable day, it will give some idea of their character and violence. That storm had its rise in the vicinity of Springfield, Missouri, and ex- tended nearly to Chicago. In its whirling, ruth- less course it touched the earth at forty dif- ferent points, and at each contact its descent was marked by the destruction of property and loss of life. But it was not until it reached Morgan County, Illinois, that its uncurbed powers were fully displayed. Striking Greasy

Prairie, south ef Jacksonville, about six o'clock p. m., it literally wiped out everything that stood in its way, and then, proceeding on its course, came down again at Round Prairie, in Sangamon County, marking its contact with the earth there by equal violence and devastation. At both of these places many lives were lost. The storm-fiend here, casting a backward glance over its pathway, as if not satisfied with its work of ruin and desolation, gathered back on its course and again broke out with increased fury about five miles northwest of Jacksonville, having for its objective point the inoffensive village of Literberry.

The day was unusually warm for the season, and a high southwesterly wind had prevailed from early morning, reaching its greatest ve- locity about four p. m., when there was a slight fall of rain, accompanied by thunder and light- ning. The ominous, funnel-shaped cloud was first deseried about eight o'clock in the evening. It projected far below the clouds which aceom- panied it, and was in a state of violent agita- tion, its rotary movement being plainly dis- cernible. Its lower extremity rose and fell and swayed from side to side in irregular alterna- tions; its motion was frightfully rapid, and it was soon lost to sight as it pursued its north- eastern course. At first its work of devasta- tion was confined to fences and fields, but as its track became wider it gathered strength and fury. The first occupied house which it en- countered was a two-story frame dwelling, which it lifted from its foundation and deposit- ed some distance to the northwest, leaving two other buildings, one on each side, within a short distance of each other, entirely undisturbed. The width of its swath at this time was about ten rods. Subsequently its path widened, and the eireular motion, characteristic of eyelones, was more pronounced, as was evidenced by the rending of trees and fences, and the hurling of the fragments in opposite directions.

As the cloud, now balloon-shaped, approached the fated village, its madness and rage in- creased. A roaring, likened by a veteran sol- dier to the booming of artillery, and a hissing sound, as of escaping steam, accompanied the black monster, while its upper portion was il- luminated with continuous flashes of lightning and balls and sparks of fire. Large hailstones fell from it, together with portions of the de- bris which it had gathered in its destructive

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folds. Houses, fences, implements, trees and entire orchards crumbled at its touch, and were scattered and thrown in every conceivable di- rection. A building would be torn to pieces and thrown to the north, while its contents would go to the south. Trees were pulled up by the roots, and some of them, two feet thick, twisted off a few feet from the ground; growing wheat was leveled to the ground in some fields as close as if cut by a reaper, and in others the stalks were bent to the ground, flattened and covered by a thick deposit of mud, evenly spread out; corn cribs were blown away out of sight, while their contents were left unhoused in heaps. Twenty-two houses-fourteen of them in Literberry-occupied by sixty-four adults and forty-four children, stood directly in the tor- nado's path, all of which were shattered and their contents scattered to the four winds. Ten persons were killed and twenty-four injured in various degrees.

The freaks of this storm were more numerous and astonishing than those of any other here- tofore known. The feathered occupants of the barn-yard were rudely lifted from their perches, and, after being carried for a brief space in the cloud, were dropped upon the ground as bare of feathers as though they had been picked and singed by the housewife for the next day's dinner. Freight cars standing upon the rail- road tracks were raised high from the ground and their boxes carried six hundred feet away, while their wheels and trucks were strewn broadcast over the fields in opposite directions. A solid pine plank, one inch thick and six inches wide, was literally driven into the trunk of a wild cherry tree, and there firmly imbed- ded. A family was imprisoned in a storm-cave by the sills of their house having been blown across its door. The top of another cave, to which the family had fled for protection, was destroyed by the house being blown across it. A corner-post of a shed in Literberry was picked up eight miles distant in Cass County. A house was lifted from its foundation and carried twenty-two feet, the L part being broken off; a coal-oil lamp, which was left lighted when the family fled from the house, was found on their return where it was left, and burning as if nothing had happened. A two-story house and small barn stood on opposite sides of a ravine about two hundred feet apart; the barn was first struck and hurled some rods to the north-

east, where it was broken to pieces. The dwelling was carried twenty feet to the south, and after plowing up the earth to the depth of two feet, landed on one corner and shared the same fate, material and contents being scattered around. When the terrified inmates of that house came together soon after, it was found that, excepting a scalp wound which one had received, no one was seriously injured. But, to the horror of all, the baby was missing. The speedy search which followed was soon rewarded by finding the missing member peacefully sleeping in the feather-bed upon which it had been laid to rest early in the evening, which had been carried into the spreading, sheltering arms of an uprooted tree, now serving as a cradle, five hundred feet away. This storm ex- tended with more or less violence into Cass and Menard Counties, where great damage was also inflicted.

Other Storms .- Other parts of the State have frequently had similar cyclonic experiences. The first destructive hurricane of which there is any historical mention is that which oc- curred on June 5, 1805. It swept across the American Bottom, carrying in its wrathful em- brace the tops of pine trees from Missouri fifty miles away. Another crossed the Mississippi River at East St. Louis, March 8, 1871, contin- uing its northeast course as far as Sangamon County, working immense destruction in its path. Another swept over Mt. Carmel at 3:20 p. m. June 4, 1877. Its path was about two hundred feet wide. Seventeen persons were killed, and over one hundred wounded and maimed. Nearly one hundred houses were to- tally wrecked, including the court-house, the loss of property being estimated at a quarter million dollars.

Coldest Day, 1884 .- January 5, 1884, was the coldest day for fifteen years in the locality of Jacksonville. The mercury ranged from 30 to 35 degrees below zero.

Hail Storm, 1884 .- In June, 1884, occurred a very remarkable meteorological phenomenon in the form of an extraordinary hail storm a few miles west of Jacksonville. The storm extended over only a narrow strip of territory, but was marked with great violence. In one field con- taining a depression in the center, the enor- mous downpour of hail was followed by a heavy rain which washed the hail down the declivity surrounding the depression until, in the cen-

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ter, it was piled up to a depth of one to fonr feet. After a lapse of twenty-four hours Mr. S. W. Nichols secured two negatives of what re- mained of the fallen hail, from which photos were made, and which lie presented to the His- torical Society. They show masses of ice as large as a man's body, resembling a large heap of stones.

Hottest Day .- July 15, 1869, the thermometer registered 135 degrees, marking this as the hot- test day in Morgan County of which any record has been preserved.

CHAPTER V. EARLY SETTLERS.

FIRST SETTLER IN MORGAN COUNTY ARRIVES IN 1816 -OTHER EARLY COMERS-ADVANCE IN IMMIGRA- TION BEGINS IN 1819-ARRIVALS PREVIOUS TO 1830-NOTABLE ARRAY OF HISTORIC NAMES-THIE KELLOGGS, DEATONS, WYATTS, DR. CADWELL, JO- SEPH MORTON, NEWTON CLOUD, THE MATTHEWS, ROCKWELL, PITNER, MASSEY, DAVENPORT, STEVEN- SON AND HOLMES FAMILIES-GOV. JOSEPH DUN- CAN. WILLIAM THOMAS, JUDGE S. D. LOCKWOOD, REV. JULIAN M. STURTEVANT, JACOB STRAWN AND OTHERS WHO HAVE LEFT THEIR IMPRESS ON THE COUNTY'S HISTORY-OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.

The present existing sources of information respecting the early settlers of Morgan County and the date of their settlement are so meager. and in some cases so conflicting, that it is now impossible to procure the names of all and to accurately fix the date of their settlement. It is deeply regretted that a complete roster of that grand pioneer army is not now available.

From the year 1819 the immigrants to Mor- gan County rapidly increased. Some of those who settled in the county prior to 1830 became prominent citizens and distinguished in many ways for their abilities and public services. They seemed to have been providentially de- signed for the founding of a community of high ideals and illustrions achievements. Appro- priate individual reference has been made to some of those elsewhere in this history.

The following comprises a partial list of those who settled in the county prior to 1830. In some instances it may not be wholly accurate as to dates, owing to the lack of reliable sources

of information or to errors in available pub- lished records. A number of persons named in the following lists will be recognized as being subsequently citizens of Cass and Scott Coun- ties, which were included in Morgan County at the time of its creation, January 31, 1823, and during the period covered by this record (1819- 29). Cass County was cut off from Morgan March 3, 1833, and Scott County, February 16, 1839. Many other well known persons came to Morgan County prior to 1830, but the exact date of their coming could not be ascertained, and their names were consequently omitted in these lists. During the decade beginning with 1830 the number of immigrants to the county rapid- ly increased, and included many persons who also became prominent in the affairs of the county, State and nation.

The following historical statement may ap- propriately precede the classified yearly lists, although the names also appear in their respec- tive years of settlement:

The earliest white settler of whom we have any account within the territory subsequently embraced in Morgan County at the time of its creation in 1823, was Mr. Eli Cox. He settled in the eastern part of what is now Cass County, in the year 1816, stopping at a grove at the head of a creek, which have since been known as Cox's Grove and Cox's Creek. At that early date there was not a white man in all this part of the State. The United States Government had not even stretched a surveyor s chain over the land; neither section nor township had been laid off. Mr. Cox staked out a claim, and after remaining on it for a time left it, but re- turned in 1819, built a cabin, commenced per- manent improvements and lived there till his death, which occurred in 1880 or 1881. He was an industrious and strictly upright man. This account of Mr. Cox was written by Rev. Wil- liam Clark, of Cass County, for Eames' "His- toric Morgan," published in 1885, the author having known Mr. Cox well since 1836.

The same work ("Historic Morgan") states on page 222, that Mr. Ebenezer T. Miller died Sep- tember 23, 1883, aged eighty-four years, having resided in the county sixty-five years. If that account is correct, Mr. Miller must have come to Morgan County in 1818.

In the year 1818, Seymour Kellogg, who had been a soldier in the War of 1812, came from New York State to Illinois. In the fall of 1819

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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY.

his brother Elisha arrived. The brothers lo- cated near the head of the Mauvaisterre Creek. From the best sources of information obtain- able, they became the first white settlers of what is now Morgan County. In January, 1820, three explorers from New York State, David Berdan, George Nixon and Isaac Fort Roe, arrived. David Berdan was the father of the late Judge James Berdan. Mr. Roe settled at Diamond Grove, and gave it that name. He also built the first hewed log cabin in the county. Mr. Roe and Mr. Jedediah Webster built a small hand- mill at Diamond Grove. Mr. Roe died October 12, 1821, aged forty-eight years. His was the first death of the white settlers in the county. In the month of September, 1869, in the pres- ence of a large number of persons, and with suitable and impressive ceremonies, a large and beautiful monument, erected by the county in his honor in Diamond Grove Cemetery, was ded- icated.

The following presents the list of arrivals in subsequent years :

1819 .- Seymour Kellogg, Colonel in the War of 1812, Elisha Kellogg and his son, Florentine E. Kellogg, James Deaton, Sr., Murray McCon- nel, John R. Harney and Mrs. Edward Harney. 1820 .- Ambrose Collins, David Berdan, George Nixon, Isaac Fort Roe, John Wyatt, William Wyatt, Jedediah Webster (soldier in the War of 1812), Isaac Reeve, Sr. (with wife and nine children), John B. Crain, whose wife was said to be the only white woman in the settlement during the first summer, being, it is also claimed, the mother of the first white child born in the county; James B. Crum, Isaac Dial, Mar- tin Dial, Thomas Smith, Thomas Arnett (the first Justice of the Peace), Robert James, Jesse Ruble, Ancil Cox, Joseph Buchanan, Samuel Scott, Isaac Edwards, Archibald Job, Stephen Olmstead, Michael Arthur (probably the same as Michael Antyl mentioned below), Charles Robinson, James Buckley, Aaron Wilson, Isaac Smith, Judge John Bradshaw, Joseph Morton, Michael Antyl; Dr. George Cadwell (the first physician), James G. Swinnerton, Stephen Pierce, C. R. Wilson, Thomas Deaton, Joseph B. Deaton, Hardin Buchanan, Mrs. A. T. Chamber- lain, Levi Deaton, William Deaton, Mrs. Eleanor James (wife of Robert James), Mrs. Mary Mor- ton (wife of Joseph Morton), Huram Reeve, Isaac B. Reeve, John Reeve, Charles R. Wilson, Alexander Wells, Mrs. Samantha Wiswall (wife

of Thomas Wiswall), Jacob Bowyer, Mrs. Linda Manchester, George Coonrod, Joseph Codding- ton (father of first white male child born in the county-born in a tent in Diamond Grove), Mrs. Emma Rearick ( wife of Capt. George D. Rearick), Billy Robinson, Abram Johnson, George Hackett, Stephen Corban, Mr. Hibbard, James Gillham, Martin Lindley, Timothy Har- ris, John Catrough, Thomas Beard, Abraham Williams Keller (killed by Regulars), John Cotrill, Henry Percifield, Jerry Percifield, John Carpenter, Moses Carlock, Benjamin Spartzen.

1821 .- Col. W. D. Wyatt, Mrs. Minnie Conover, Lott Luttrell, Johnston Shelton, Francis Petree, Dr. Ero Chandler, Abel Richardson and his sons Daniel and Benjamin B., Patterson Hall, Samuel Magill, W. Miller, Stephen Jones, Joseph Slattern, Billy Robinson, Isaac Edwards, a Mr. Scott, John Anderson, James Taylor, Mr. Mur- ray, Solomon Berey, Judge J. R. Bennett, Rol- land Shepherd, Richard Matthews, Sr. (father of Samuel, Cyrus and Richard), Clark Birdsall, Joseph P. Deaton, Joseph Hayes, Col. Samuel T. Matthews, Cyrus Matthews, Richard Matthews, Mrs. A. A. Morrison, Charles Robertson, Mrs. Harriet Rudisill, William Taylor, James Henry, James Green, Amanda M. Harney, Palmer Holmes, Elizabeth Mcss, John Wyatt, Alford Mills, James Mills, Baxter Broadwell, Sr., Lewis G. Newell.

1822 .- Rev. John Glanville, William C. Verry, Thomas Wiswall, W. S. McPherson, George Curts, Rev. William D. Drinkwater, Jacob Boyer, S. S. Duncan, William S. Jordan, J. N. Redding, Abraham Reid, William L. Reed, G. W. Wimmer, Col. James H. Weatherford, Josiah Williams, John Leach, Sr., Mrs. Elizabeth Davis, Zachariah Hash, Matilda Wilhoit, William James, J. D. Jaywood, Stephen Green, Alexan- der Wells, Thomas J. Wells, Adam Allison, Sr.

1823 .- William H. Broadwell, John Robertson, Rev. Levi Springer and wife. Charles Sample, Clayborn Coker, Michael Huffaker, Enoch March, Dennis Rockwell, Keeling Berry, W. T. Brewer, John Gorham, John A. Hughes, Joseph Hilliard, David Sample, Joshua Sprague, Charles Sample, John Wilson, Sampson Fan- ning, Thomas Whitlock, Richard Hatcher, M. R. Foster, Mary Smith, G. L. Gillham, Eliza Clark, John T. Robertson, Richard Matthews, Sr., Richard Matthews, Jr., Rev. James Sims, Mrs. James Dinwiddie, E. L. Gillham, Judge John Leeper, Mrs. Mary Foster.

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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY.

1824 .- Mrs. Minerva J. Rector, S. B. Smith, John Smith, S. J Mattingly, J. M. Wilson, H. R. Green, Rev. Jolin Birch (first Presbyterian minister), Thomas M. Carson (kept first hotel in Jacksonville ), John A. J. Carson, J. A. Davis, Thomas Gatton (father of Zachariah W. Gat- ton ), A. Ingals, James Langley, Alexander Pit- ner, John Redding, Mrs. M. A. Robertson, Frank- lin Keplinger, Mrs. C. C. Rucker, John Smith, John M. Wilson, Andrew Samples, Samuel B. Smith, J. A. Davis, John Yaple, John Gorham, Amanda Reeve, John F. Jordan, Mrs. A. C. Woods, Scott Riggs, Amos Reeder, Jonathan Young, A. K. Barber, Edward Harvey.

1825 .- Allen Caruthers, J. M. Cox (born in North Carolina in 1825), Milton Davenport, Achilles Deatherage, David Greaton, Stephen Henderson, Mrs. Susan Henderson (wife of S. H.), Nancy House, Henry Hopkins, Mrs. Eliza- beth Hopkins ( Beggs). Miles Holliday. Milton W. Riggs, James B. Parrott, Zachariah Waters, Joseph Fanning, Thompson Bowyer, Col. Wil- liam J. Wyatt, Francis Ryan, Mrs. P. W. Vail, Jacob Stout, Mrs. Mary Hinrichsen, G. W. Smith. William Clark, Charles Rockwell, Joseph Cooley, Silas Henderson, Mrs. Nancy Strawn. David Manchester, Robert Fanning, Mrs. Sarah Letton, Allen Q. Lindsey, Mrs. Maria Cunning- ham (daughter of A. Q. Lindsey ).

1826 .- Hon. William Thomas, Hon. Samuel Woods, David G. Henderson, Mrs. Mildred Black, Rev. Isaac Conlee (Baptist preacher- came to Illinois in 1815), Vis V. Conover (born in Illinois), J. J. Goodpasture, Mrs. Mary Hen- derson (wife of D. G. Henderson), William Goodpasture, William Holmes, Peyton Harding, E. B. Leonard, Horatio H. Massey, Stephen S. Massey, Silas Massey, Montgomery Pitner, Mrs. Jane W. Pitner ( wife of M. Pitner), Richard Ru- ble, Joseph Rogers, Jacob Rohrer, Andrew J. Stice, Peyton Cunningham, William D. Cun- ningham, John Van Winkle, Solomon Hart. Abraham Goodpasture, John M. Thompson, Mrs. Elizabeth Hopkins, John S. Clark (Mr. Clark freighted salt to Beardstown, on the "Mechanic" -the first boat that came up the Illinois River, the salt being shipped from Washington County. Ohio), William Clark, George Angel, John An- gel, John A. Hughes, Allan B. Hughes, Smiley H. Henderson, Stephen H. Reid. Sr., Stephen H. Reid, Jr., John B. A. Reid, Benjamin Haskell. Abraham Six. Alexander Young. William Death- erage, John A. J. Carson.

1827 .- John Knight, Mrs. Catherine F. Barton, Rev. Newton Cloud, Mrs. J. M. Barton, B. F. Couchman, Mrs. Eliza A. Chappel, E. R. Couch- man, Mrs. Maria S. Craig, Allen Conlee (born in Illinois in 1825), Verian Daniels, Mrs. Mary W. Daniels, Mrs. Elizabeth C. Duncan (wife of Gov. Duncan), Isaac Hudson, Alexander Huff- man, Mrs. Mildred Huffman (wife of A. Huffman), Peter S. Hudson, Jackson Hen- derson, Mrs. Jane Jones, Mrs. Eliza Jordan, Ebenezer T. Miller, J. B. Moss, Mrs. Mary O. McAllister, Aaron Peters, David Peters, Miss Sarah Peters. L. B. Ross, William Rock- well. Austin Sims, Matthew Stacy. Mrs. Sophia Shaffer, Thomas P. Stacy, Wesley Sims, B. F. W. Stribling, Thomas Saunderson, J. Bradley Thompson, Adam Vancil, George Ture- man, W. D. Turner, N. B. Thompson, John Van Winkle, Samuel Williams, John Brown, Alexan- der Walker. James Conover. Benjamin F. Moss, John B. Moss, Mrs. Mahala Bradly. Mrs. Samuel Samuel H. Petefish. Abram C. Woods, John Car- ter, William Moss, William C. Posey. J. C. Cald- well, James Wood, Ezekiel McCurley, Michae! Arnold. Thomas Clark, Rev. William Clark (son of Thomas), Joshua P. Crow, William M. Clark.

1828 .- Hon. Samuel Drake Lockwood, John P. Wilkinson (erected first brick building in Jack- sonville), Anderson Foreman. Jonathan Ather- ton, Samuel Black, Sr., Bedford Brown, George S. Brown, John Brown, J. F. Bergen, Mary Cook, Mrs. Sarah S. Cole, Buker Daniels, M. C. Ed- monson, Mrs. Elizabeth W. Foreman (wife of Anderson Foreman), William D. Humphrey. Jonas Ira Houston, Jolin A. Hamilton, David Hart, Dianah Johnson, John Henry, George W. Long. James Mansfield, Mrs. N. M. Petefish, .Ic- seph Roach, Robert A. Jones, Joseph Reynolds, James B. Stacy, Elliott Stevenson, Fleming Stevenson, Mrs. E. J. Stevenson. David M. Simmons, Joseph Turnham, Jolın B. Turnham, A. J. Turner, Charles B. Wilson, E. M. Wyatt, Sterling Woods, Joseph McCurley, Ezekiel Me- Curley, Henry Sharp, Nicholas Sheplar, Clark Birdsell, Philip P. Boulware, Reuben Jones. Bedford Brown. Daniel Busey, George N. Boul- ware, John Whitlock, Mr. Killam, Arthur Longhary. J. E. Roach, Mrs. M. A. F. Carpenter, Mrs. H. McClure, Charles Cox. S. B. Iones, Dr. J. M. Wilson, Mrs. John E. Haskell, Minerva Smith. Mary Humphrey, J. R. Clark, Mahala Turley, James Edmonson, John Wright, Jacob Strawn, John Hill. William Rannells, Samuel S. Rannells. George MI. Holloway, William Moss.

648

HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY.

1829 .- John R. Harney, Richard Harney, Isaac R. Bennett, William Harvey Beggs, Charles Cox, Margaretta Craig, Corrinden Cox. Matilda Dea- ton, Braxton Davenport, Arden Evans, Jacob Epler, William S. Hurst, B. N. Humphrey, Rich- ard Hembrough, W. P. Harris, Mrs. Barbary Johnson, Alex. Johnson, Spencer Taylor, Samuel Keplinger, John Lazenby, Sarah Lazenby, Hen- derson Massie, John W. Montgomery, Emanuel Metcalf, Capt. William Patterson, William Rate- kan, A. P. Rigg, Benjamin F. Stevenson, Ed- ward Scott, William Stevenson, Martha A. Stacy, James Stevenson, Watson Sinclair, Thomas Scott, Dr. Julian M. Sturtevant, Isaac Sheets, Jonathan Sharpe, James G. Strawn, G. W. Sheffield, J. W. Storey, Jackson Seymour, R. Davis Thompson, Hiram Van Winkle, James L. Wyatt, William Wright, Clayburn Dalton, Samuel McCurley, John Seymour, Thomas Wright, James Fanning, Sr., John Terry Neal, Isaac R. Wade, James Langley, Harvey Smith, Edward Craig, D. C. Green, John Gordon, Sam- uel Bateman, John G. Bobbitt, Samuel Killam, John Lazenby, Sr., S. S. Massey, Reuben John- son, George W. Cooper, John Leach, Jr., W. T. Treadway, Levi Dick, James A. Dick, John Kill- ham, Samuel Killham, John D. Cooper, Mrs. Mary A. Dick, Aaron Phillips, Eliza W. Fore- man, Mrs. Sarah J. Turley, William H. Mar- killie, Elizabeth Smith, Elizabeth Freeman. Jeremiah Cox, Mrs. Rachel King, Stephen Shep- herd, J. M. Filson, Mrs. Sarah Fay, W. C. John- son, William C. Stevenson, Ira Davenport and family, Thornton Shepperd, William H. R. Har- ney, L. D. Graham, John Moss, William Stev- enson, Septimus C. Stevenson, Jeremiah Brown, John M. Brown, Zachariah Rexroat, Milton May- field, Cornelius Dewees, George W. Clark, Ben- jamin Green, Thomas Quarton, William Per- kins, James W. Six, Daniel Evans, Hezekiah Evans, John Walker, Mrs. Sarah P. Hurst, Mrs. Mary Killam, Mrs. Priscilla J. Hurst, James G. Edwards, John Lazenby, Sarah Lazenby.

Unknown Year of Settlement .- The following is a partial list of persons who came to Morgan County, some of them at a very early date, and all of them before the year 1830, although the exact time of their coming can not be deter- mined on account of lack of satisfactory infor- mation now available. Because of the promi- nent part many of them took in the early af- fairs of the county, it is deserving that their names should be recorded among that worthy company of pioneer compatriots:

Rev. Thomas J. Starr was first stationed Metho- dist preacher in Illinois (now Centenary Church ) . Jacksonville, in 1833; Mrs. Rachel Bedwell, born in 1799, was here before Jacksonville was laid out and her husband hauled the logs for the first county jail; Thomas Wright, A. W. Stice, Arch P. Riggs, Richard Seymour, Lee T. Morris, James Morrison, M. D., Mrs. H. C. Oliver, Mrs. Mark Buckley, Mrs. Andrew Gale, "Jacky" Smith, Joseph Klein (served as an election judge in 1823 and 1828); John Clark, Daniel Leib, Dennis Rockwell, Joseph M. Fairfield (of the firm of Fairfield & Hackett, first iner- chants in Jacksonville) ; Peter Conover (first president of Morgan County Bible Society) ; Wiley B. Green, Rev. Samuel Bristow (first Bap- tist preacher in Morgan County) ; Henry Fane- stock, Milton Ladd, Mayfield family, Joseph T. Leonard, Mr. Rucker, David Ditson (whose death was the first in Jacksonville), John Smith and Deborah Thornton (whose marriage was the first in Jacksonville), Rev. Joseph I. Basey (first Methodist preacher in Morgan County), Jonathan Piper, Rev. John Birch (first Presby- terian preacher in Morgan County), Stephen Pierce, Aquila Hall, David C. Blair. It is deep- ly regretted that a complete list of those who settled in Morgan County prior to 1830 is not accessible.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Morgan County, Part 130

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286