USA > Illinois > Warren County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Warren County, Volume II > Part 67
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The first house of worship was erected on the
4
C. M. Rodque.
92I.
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
west side of Section 11 in 1830. It was 24 by 30 feet in size and constructed of logs. In 1832 an addition was made, and this building · was used untl 1837, when a substantial brick edifice was erected, which was the wonder of those days. It was 54 by 60 feet in size and cost over $4,000. As the "Old Brick Church" it was known all over the neighborhood. In 1874 a more modern frame building was erect- ed about the middle of the south side of Ser- tion 10, a little more than a mile southwest of the old church, in the edge of a pretty grove of maples. This building was remodeled at a cost of $1,500 in the fall of 1895, and was dedi- cated December 29 of that year, Rev. W. T Campbell, D. D., of Monmouth, preaching the sermon. It is one of the most attractive coun- try churches in the county.
The present membership of the congregation is 112. It has a young people's society of 68 members, and a Sabbath school with an enroll- ment of 128.
The cemetery at Henderson church is one of the oldest in the county. The first burial was that of William Turnbull, grandfather of John M. Turnbull, of Monmouth, who died in 1834. Two colored persons are also buried in this cemetery, Venus McCormick Love and her young child.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
PAINE, JAMES; farmer and stock-raiser; Hale Township (postoffice Monmouth) ; is a native of Ireland and possesses those character- istics of the Irish race which have made them successful beyond many of their racial com- petitors in the United States. He was born August 5, 1840, a son of William and Mary (Duffy) Paine and a grandson of John Paine, and received a common school education. Wil- liam Paine settled with his children in New York and, after living there eight years, re- moved to Rhode Island, whence he emigrated to Kirkwood, Ill., where he lived out his allot- ted days. He was twice married. By his first marriage there were five children and by the second nine children-all daughters. In 1857, James Paine, who had come to Monmouth two years before, bought forty acres of land in Henderson, which he sold in 1865 to remove to Iowa, where he remained four years; then
returning to Warren County, he bought eighty acres in Section 28, Hale Township, to which he has added until he now owns 380 acres. He is now living in the house in which Ed Nash assassinated his mother, Mrs. Addison Nash, and her daughter. He was married at Oquawka, April 28, 1861, to Anne Fitzsimmons, who has borne him eight children, five of whom are liv- ing: Mary, Michael, William, Bid and Rose. Mary married Morris D. Shunick, of Spring Grove Township; Michael married Lizzie Shun- ick, and lives on his father's old homestead; William, who is a successful stockman, mar- ried Ella Shunick, and lives in Section 13, Hale Township; Bid married Richard Shunick. Jr., who died February 28, 1898; Rose is a member of her parents' household. William (first), Thomas and James are dead. Mr. Paine is a Catholic and a Democrat, and, for three years, has filled the office of Road Commis- sioner.
RODGERS, HON. CALVIN M., farmer and stock-raiser, Hale Township, Warren County, Ill., rural free delivery No. 3, is a man of influ- ence and much personal worth, who is trusted and has been highly honored by his fellow-citi- zens. Mr. Rodgers was born in Monroe County, Mo., February 15, 1835, a son of Aleri and Mary (Davidson) Rodgers, natives of Rockbridge · County, Virginia. John Rodgers, his grand- father, a native of Scotland, married Isabel Ireland, of Irish birth. John Davidson, his mother's father, was born in North Carolina, and married a member of the Thomson family of that State. Aleri Rodgers went from Vir- ginia to Monroe County, Mo., in 1822, and came to Warren County, Ill., in 1836, and bought two hundred acres of land in Section 2, Hale Township, where he resided until 1863, when he died. He was the father of ten children, six of wnom are dead, while three live in War- ren County, another being a resident of Cali- fornia.
C. M. Rodgers married Eliza A. Paine, of Warren County, Ill., October 27, 1858, and she has borne him eight children, six of whom are living, as follows: Romaine M., Charles H., Aleri A., William D., Alexander and Emily I. Mrs. Rodgers is a daughter of Charles H. and Parthenia (Mason) Paine, natives of New Eng- land, who came to Warren County in 1836,. when her father bought land in Sumner Town- ship, where he died in 1859, his wife about 1872.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Mr. Paine, who was a successful farmer, was the father of six children, four of whom are dead. The immediate subject of this sketch was educated in the country schools, supple. mented by two winters in an academy at Gales- burg, and has devoted himself to farming and stock-raising with success. For many years he has been influential as a Republican, and represented his district in the State Legislature during the sessions of 1883 and 1885; for six years was a member of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, and for three years has been a member of the County Board of Review. A man of good judgment in all business affairs, his advice in important matters has frequently been sought by his neighbors. He has been a Trustee of the Warren County Library for near- ly twenty-five years. A lover of books, he has been a diligent reader of informing literature and has traveled quite extensively from time to time, yet is a great lover of home, having lived on the same farm for sixty-six years, and enjoys a wide acquaintance and is highly es- teemed.
CHAPTER XLV.
KELLY TOWNSHIP.
(Township 12 North, Range 1 West. )
When the first vote on township organization was taken in the county, and the proposition seemed to have carried (see Chapter xxxvii, of this work), the committee appointed to ar- range and name the townships gave this one the name of Milton, and their decision was ap- proved. In June following, however, it was reported to the Board of Supervisors that there was already a township of that name in the State, so the name was changed to Warren. When township organization was finally carried in a constitutional way in 1853, Warren was again selected as the name, but the next June a change was found necessary again. Then arose a contest between the Whigs and Demo- crats of the township, the Whigs wishing to
name it in honor of William Graham, and the Democrats in honor of Captain John Kelly. The latter being successful, the township from that time has been known as Kelly. The meet- . ing for the organization of the township was held at the Tylerville school house April 4, 1854. William Graham was moderator and E. C. Atchison clerk. The election resulted in the choice of the following officers: Supervisor, John Miles ; assessor, John Terpening ; collector, Ira S. Ingersoll; overseer of the poor, Samuel Black; highway commissioners, James Stevens, W. J. T. Wallace; justices of the peace, Aaron Yarde, G. C. Adcock, Christian Miles; consta- bles, David Vestal, Nathan Smith. The present officers are: Supervisor, Ed. Rose; town clerk, Frank Dunn; assessor, Wm. C. Wallace; collec. tor, F. F. Foster; highway commissioners, J. W. Brown, George W. Palmer, Oscar Niles; justice of the peace, G. G. Emery.
The following persons have held the office of Supervisor up to this time: John Mills, 1854; Thomas Bruington, 1855; Wiliam Graham, 1856- 65; Joseph Pine, 1866-67; William Graham, 1868-70; J. W. Adcock, 1871-73; Joseph Pine, 1874; M. McCullock, 1875-76; Nathan Crane, 1877-78; John Rucker, 1879-81; C. E. Johnson, 1882; John Rucker, 1883-85; William Adcock, 1886; Charles Edwards, 1887; William Adcock, 1888-90; John H. Landon, 1891-92; William Ad- cock, 1893-94; Henry C. Miles, 1895-96; John H. Landon, 1897-1900; Ed. Rose, 1901-02.
Kelly Township is watered by Little Hender- son creek and its branches. Much of the land is undulating, with broad level prairies. Along the Henderson there is much timber. There are also several good coal mines, and a large amount of excellent quality of coal is produced. The township has no railroad.
The history of the settlement of Kelly Town- ship begins with the arrival of James B. At- wood in 1828. He located on the north half of Section 27, and claimed to have broken the first ground and planted the first crop of corn in Warren County. He sold out to Henry Ad- cock, a native of Virginia, who came to Knox County in 1830, and to Kelly Township in 1833. Edmund Adcock, a brother of Henry, moved to the place first, and when Henry came, re- moved to the southeast quarter of the same section. J. W. Adcock, a son of Edmund, also came in 1833. Andrew Robison, with his wife and six children, came from Indiana in 1829 and located first on Section 33. Finding that
P.W. Adoch
923
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
this land had already been taken, he removed in 1835 to Section 31, in the southwest corner of the township. Robison's Corners, where Kelly, Spring Grove, Monmouth and Coldbrook Townships join, and near where two of his sons and one .daughter still live, keeps his name in memory. The daughter referred to, now Mrs. James Gardner, was born in November after the family came to Kelly, and was the first white child born in the township, and the first white female child born in the county. John Miles came from Harrison County, Indiana, in 1830. He had been admitted to the bar in his native State and was the first resident lawyer in the county. He practiced law to a limited extent here, and was one of the early justices of the peace. He was also the first supervisor of Kelly Township. Hiram Ingersoll, a native of Massachusetts, came from New York in 1833, and William Lair and family came from Ken- tucky the same year, after spending a few months in Monmouth. They settled on Section 30. Another early settler was Benjamin Gard- ner, "Uncle Ben," as he was lovingly called, a native of Virginia, but who came here from Kentucky in 1835 after spending a short time in Monmouth. He also settled on Section 30, and opened up there in 1836 one of the first coal mines in the county. It was the source of sup- ply for coal for blacksmiths for miles around. Ezekiel Terpenning and family came from New York in 1836, buying from L. W. Billups the southwest quarter of Section 33, the farm where Andrew Robison first located when he came to the township in 1829. H. N. and W. C. Hogan came in 1836, and Phillip M. Sallee and John Vestal in 1837. Samuel J. Black also came in · 1837 from Indiana, settling about a mile south of where the town of Shanghai was afterward located. Also in the list of pioneers are found the names of Joseph Paddock, the old surveyor; Thomas Champion, George and James Brown, Henry and Edward Martin, James Stevens, Henry and John Peckenbaugh, Steven Mitchell, Hiram Gray, the Richardsons. Chas B. House, Wm. Francisco, John Grissam, Basil Watson and Stephen Palmer.
Thomas C. Duvall was a settler of the early '30s. He lived in the Terpening neighborhood, and in 1836 was granted license to keep a gro- cery and "house of entertainment" at his home, on paying a license fee of $5 and giving bond in the sum of $200. He moved to Knox County after a short time.
The early settlers endured many hardships, especially during the winter of 1830-31, which was exceedingly long and cold. They had had trouble with their crops, and in December the corn was not yet gathered. A heavy snow fell, making it almost impossible to go far from home. At this time there was but one mill in the county, and that nearly to Oquawka. Food was scarce and the corn had to be dug from be- neath the snow, dried, and pounded into meal by means of hand mills and mortars. With this the cold and hungry families were kept from starvation. Calvin Glass's grist mill, just across the line in Knox County, started in 1832, was a great convenience to the settlers, primi- tive though it was. A second mill was built in 1833 by Chester Potter, on Section 22, and it was operated until 1846. When the water was low the grinding was by horse power. Potter came from Sumner Township where in 1832 he had run a mill. He made the mill stones him- self out of boulder granite or "niggerheads." They were about twelve and a half inches in diameter, and the nether mill stone was kept by his daughter, Mrs. Hiram Ingersoll, of Alexis, many years as a relic. Potter had quite a flour trade, extending north as far as Rock Island, and westward into Iowa.
The now famous Brown cornplanter is a Kel- ly Township invention. It was invented, and patented, in 1853, by George W. Brown, then a resident near Utah postoffice, in this township. It was a great novelty in those days, and, crude as it was, did excellent work. The plan- ter is now made in Galesburg, Ill.
The first school in the township was taught by Peter Terpening in 1837, in a log school house which stood on Section 28. He was a son of Ezekiel Terpening, who came into the town- ship the previous year. The latest statistics furnished the County Superintendent of Schools show eight school districts, all with frame school houses. There was one male teacher, receiving a salary of $35 a month, and seven female teachers receiving from $25 to $35; 99 males of school age, of whom 74 were enrolled in the schools, and 103 females of school age, of whom 77 were enrolled. Three schools had libraries, aggregating 63 volumes, and valued at $52. The tax levy of the township for school purposes were $2,225, the value of school property, $4,350, and the value of school appa- ratus, $410.
The assessment roll for 1901 shows that
924
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
there were then in the township 904 horses, 2,163 cattle, 59 mules and asses, 456 sheep, and 2,881 hogs. The total value of personal property was $273,025, and the assessed valu- ation $54,605. The assessed valuation of lands in the township was $221,760, and of lots $495.
The population of the township in 1900 was 809, a loss of 73 from 1890, when it was 882.
SHANGHAI CITY.
Shanghai City is the only regularly platted town in Kelly Township, and the only one in Warren County that is off a railroad line. It was laid out August 12, 1858, before the north and south road was built, by County Surveyor J. S. Steen. The site was parts of the northwest quarter of Section 10 and the southwest quarter of Section 3, owned by Samuel Black and Cal- vin Routh. In April, 1852, the Ionia postoffice was established a short distance south of Shang- hai, with Luther C. Hibbard as postmaster, and later removed to Shanghai, and the town has been known as much by the Ionia name as by the other. The postoffice was discontinued sev- eral years ago, and the only postoffice now in the township is at Utah (or Tylerville, as it is sometimes called), on Section 34. At one time there were stores in Shanghai, and a good trade was carried on, but when the railroad was built past the northwest corner of the township and the town of Alexis was started there, its busi- ness was destroyed.
Shanghai was the scene of a very destructive storm on the evening of May 3, 1868. It was a Sabbath evening, and at the time the storm came up a number of people were assembled in the Advent church, where Elder George W. Hurd was preaching to a congregation of some two hundred persons. This church, the Meth- odist church, the school house, and several res- idences were in ruins in a moment. George Venn and Harrison, son of Brander Wixson, were instantly killed, and among those severely injured were Alonzo Page, Mrs. J. M. Wood, Lucy Yarde, and Mrs. West, who afterward died of their injuries; Mrs. Churchill, John Yarde, Truman Lord, William Risden, Mrs. Hitt, George Sellers, Joseph Pittard, Henry Holcomb and others. The course of the storm was from southwest to the northeast, with a track about one-half mile wide. The property loss was about $23,000.
The Methodist churches of Shanghai and Tylerville were the outgrowth of several classes
belonging to the old Henderson charge, which held their meetings in various school houses, notably the Brown school and Republican school. The Shanghai church was built in 1866 or 1867, but was destroyed by the tornado of May, 1868, and at once rebuilt. The second church was later thought to be unsafe and was torn down and rebuilt. A parsonage was also built by the society soon after the erection of the church, but was sold after it ceased to have a resident minister. The church now has about twenty-five members. The church at Tylerville, or Utah, on Section 34, was built in 1872 at a cost of about $2,300. It, as well as the Shang- hai church, belongs to the North Henderson charge.
The church of the Second Adventists in Christ at Shanghai was organized by Rev. Guy Rathborn in 1857, with about a dozen members, among whom were Samuel Black and wife, A. N. Yarde and wife, H. Richardson and wife, Spencer Ryner and wife, J. Pine and wife and B. Watson and wife. Meetings were held in school houses until 1867, when the church at Shanghai was built at a cost of $2,800. The building was destroyed by the tornado, May 3, 1868, but was rebuilt. The present pastor is Rev. Mr. Emery. The membership is small.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
ADCOCK, WILLIAM, farmer and stock- raiser, Kelly Township, Warren County, Ill., (postoffice address, Utah), comes of two old Virginia and Kentucky families, representatives of different lines which have, in different gen- erations, become conspicuous in various parts of the country. Joseph Adcock, great-grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Kanawha County, Va., and married Susan Casson, a native of Buckingham County, Va. Their son, Edmund Adcock, born in Bucking- ham County, Va., November 23, 1800, married Cynthia Christian, a native of Kanawha County, March 13, 1823. Joseph W. Adcock, father of William Adcock, was their son. Wil- liam McMurty and Ruth Champion, natives of Kentucky, married and were the parents of Mary Elizabeth McMurty, who married Joseph W. Adcock, August 30, 1849, and became the mother of the subject of this sketch.
Joseph W. Adcock was born near Charles- town, Kanawha County, Va., July 23, 1826, and died April 17, 1901. Mary Elizabeth McMurty,
1
William Adcock
925
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
his wife, was born at Crawford, Ind., September 26, 1827. Captain Robert Christian, father of Cynthia Christian, who was Joseph W. Adcock's mother, commanded a company in the colonial army during the Revolutionary War. After their marriage, Edmund Adcock and his wife went to Crawford County, Ind., and in 1829 to Illinois. Mr. Adcock took up half of Section 3 in what is now Henderson Township, Knox County, on which he built a little log house in which the family lived until the spring of 1833. During the Black Hawk War Indian alarms were frequent and, at one time, Mr. Adcock and William McMurty took their families for safety to a fort a mile distant from Adcock's improve- ment. Early in 1833 Mr. Adcock settled on the northwest quarter of Section 27, Kelly Town- ship. There he built a log house, which after a few years, was superceded by a frame resi- dence, in which he died May 7, 1859. His wife survived him until October 26, 1865. They had three children named Joseph W., Robert J. and Cynthia Elizabeth. The latter married John McMullen. Joseph W. Adcock married Mary Elizabeth, daughter of William McMurty, a na- tive of Kentucky, who settled in Knox County in 1829, and became Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois in 1848. He was a member of the State Legislature, serving one term in each house, and was one of the commissioners who had in charge the erection of the State Penitentiary at Joliet. From time to time he discharged other important functions and assisted in the organ- ization of the One Hundred and Second Regi- ment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, of which he was chosen Colonel and commissioned by Gov. Yates, on account of impaired health, however, serving only a short period. For thirty years he served as treasurer of the Illinois Grand Lodge, A. F. & A. M. His death occurred in 1875. The maternal great-grandparents of the subject of this sketch were James McMurty and his wife, who was a Miss Lucas. The father of James McMurty was also James McMurty, who was killed by the Indians in General Harimer's de- feat. This ancestor came from Scotland to Ireland, thence to North Carolina, at Cedar River, near Wilmington.
Joseph W. Adcock became the owner of over 750 acres of land and was a successful farmer and business man. He served at one time as County Surveyor, and was known as a man of fine education and mental equipments. His son, Edmund, is a lawyer in Chicago; a daughter, 925-16
Cynthia, married E. E. Terpening; another son, Robert J., is practicing law at Los Angeles, Cal .; his daughter, Ruth F., married C. F. Bar- nett; a third daughter, Lucy, is dead; while still another daughter, Mary, married N. T. Adcock. His son, William, the immediate sub- ject of this sketch, was born in Kelly Township, July 3, 1850, graduated from Abingdon College in 1871, and married in Knox County, Ill., July 13, 1876, Mary Jane Henderson, who was born in that county, November 2, 1856, a daughter of David and Sophia (Davis) Henderson. Mr. Henderson was born in Pennsylvania in 1823; Mrs. Henderson in Indiana in 1829. They were married in Fayette County, Penn., and came to Knox County, Ill., in 1850, and became prom- inent in Henderson Township. Mr. Henderson died, June, 1901.
After his marriage Mr. Adcock bought a farm to which he has added until he now owns about 800 acres of level tillable land, located in Kelly, Coldbrook and Tompkins. Townships, Warren County, and Henderson Township, Knox County. As a Democrat he takes an active part in local affairs. He has six times filled the of- five of Supervisor, was Chairman of the County Board in 1890, and was a member of the Board when the county court house was built. He has also been elected to the offices of Road Com- missioner and Town Clerk of Kelly Township and, in 1890, was a candidate for the State Leg- islature, being defeated by only a few votes.
William and Mary Jane ( Henderson) Adcock have children named Edmund D., Mae S., born July 18, 1878, and Joseph W., born July 10, 1899. Edmund D., who was born April 29, 1877, grad- uated from Knox College in 1898, read law with his uncle in Chicago, graduated from the North- ern University in 1902, and admitted to the bar the same year. Mae S. is also a graduate of Knox College, and married J. Bullman, a grad- uate of Lombard University and the only child of Theodore and Sarah Bullman of Kelly Township.
BROWN, JACOB; farmer and stock-raiser; Utah, Kelly Township; is a descendant of an old and honored family of New Jersey, where his ancestors were early settlers. He is also of Revolutionary stock, Abram Brown, his grand- father, who was a wagon-maker by trade, hav- ing laid down his tools to fight under Wash- ington in the war for American independence, in which he saw eight years continuous service.
926
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Mr. Jacob Brown now has in his possession a one and one-half inch chisel used by his grand- father in the manufacture of wagon hubs. His father, Jacob Brown, son of Abram and Sarah Brown, who was born near Trenton, N. J., served his country as a soldier in the War of 1812. The Jacob Brown, just mentioned, mar- ried Sarah Lamberton, who was born at Tren- ton, N. J., a daughter of Simeon and Sarah Lam- berton, both natives of that State. Mr. Brown's mother and both of his grandmothers were named Sarah. The subject of this sketch was born in Monmouth County, N. J., February 8, 1838, and was educated in the common schools. In 1841 he was brought by his parents to War- saw, Hancock County, Ill., where the family arrived December 16. The elder Brown took up land near Laharpe, Hancock County, living there until 1846, when he removed to Knox County, where for a time lie operated a farm in Henderson Township, which he sold to remove to Warren County. After farming for a time in Cold Brook Township, five miles from Gales- burg, he returned to Henderson Township, where he bought one-fourth of Section 19, and where his wife died, August 18, 1866. After that event he sold his farm and bought a house and lot in Old Henderson, where he lived until August 18, 1878, when he died. The younger Brown remained with his father until he was twenty-two years old, then bought a farm near the village of Henderson which he sold in 1869 to remove to Iowa, where he bought 160 acres of land. In 1879, after his father's death, hav- ing been made administrator of his father's es- tate, he disposed of his interests in Iowa and took up his residence in Kelly Township. At the present time, in partnership with his wife, he owns 175 acres of land in Section 34, Kelly Township. Mrs. Brown, who was Miss Lucy Ann Bunker, was married to Mr. Brown in Knox County, March 25, 1860, and has borne him seven children named as follows: Alice Henrietta, William H., Warren Winfield, Nathan J., Dora Idella, Shewalla, Maud Blanche and Walter Clyde. William H., who is a graduate of Knox College, is a hardware merchant at Little York. He married Olive Servil, who has borne him two children. Dora Idella married Frank Brown. Shewella Maud Blanche married John Mitchell. Walter Clyde married Jennie Maria Terpening and has a child named Elvie W. Alice Henrietta died when she was a year and a half old and Nathan J. at the age of
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