USA > Illinois > Warren County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Warren County, Volume II > Part 72
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SPROUT, IRA J .; farmer; Lenox Township (postoffice, Phelps) ; is a prosperous and up-to- date citizen who has manifested his public spir- it by ably filling the office of School Director and by doing, officially and otherwise, every- thing possible for the improvement of roads in his vicinity. He is a son of William and Kath- arine (Hemp) Sprout, natives of Pennsylvania -his father of Cumberland County-descend- ants of old and honored families of that com- monwealth. Ira J. was born in Lenox Township December 6, 1856, and acquired a practical edu- cation near the home of his childhood. He mar- ried in Lenox Township, December 13, 1882, Carrie M. Van Tassell, who has borne him three children named as follows in the order of their birth: Irvin I., Vincent E. and William I. He is a member and a liberal supporter of all the interests of the Methodist Episcopal church, and politically affiliates with the Democratic party.
WATSON, J. H .; merchant and Postmaster; Larchland; a leading citizen of Warren County; was born in Yorkshire, England, January 8,
949
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
1859, a son of Thomas and Mary (Wilson) Wat- son, who were born, reared and married there. His father, a weaver by trade, came with his family to Monmouth in 1865 and, in 1877, en- gaged in farming in Lenox Township. He died in 1898, and his wife in 1879; their daughter died at Monmouth in 1871. The subject of this sketch, who was six years old when he was brought to Monmouth, was educated there, and was a farmer in Lenox Township until he en- gaged in the mercantile business at Larchland. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1897, and has served in that office continuously to the present time; in April, 1901, he bought the gen- eral store of G. L. Holgate, at Larchland, and May 6 following was appointed Postmaster of that town. Mr. Watson is a Republican, a mem- ber of the Baptist church, and fraternally asso- ciated with the Modern Woodmen of America and Mystic Workers of the World. He married in Lenox Township, Mrs. E. Belle Mckown, a native of Illinois, whose maiden name was My- ers. Mrs. Watson's father enlisted in the Fed- eral army in 1863 and was killed in one of the battles of the Civil war; her mother removed to Clay County, Ill., thence in turn to Kansas, in 1875 to Warren County, and has resided in Lenox Township and in North Henderson, the latter being her present home. She bore her husband three children: Mrs. Watson; Mary (Mrs. Rusher), of North Henderson, and Eliza (Mrs. Rusher), who died in Warren County. Mrs. Watson was educated in Kansas and began teaching school at the age of fifteen years, and has taught in Mercer, Warren and Knox Coun- ties, her professional career embracing work in the graded and ungraded schools of Warren and Mercer Counties, the high school at Oneida, Knox County, the school at North Henderson, and the Central School at Monmouth. She is now teaching at Larchland. She is an active member of the Warren County Teachers' Asso- ciation and of the Illinois State Teachers' As- sociation, and has made a specialty of penman- ship. By her first marriage she had two chil- dren: Mrs. Guy B. Lamphere, of Tompkins Township, and Mildred Maud, who is in her third year at Monmouth College.
WAUGH, WILLIAM E .; farmer; Lenox Township; is a prominent citizen and leading Republican, has been Justice of the Peace and filled other important offices; was raised a Meth- odist and is a member of Monmouth Lodge No. 577, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He
was born in Fulton County, Ill., August 16, 1846, a son of O. K. Waugh, whose wife was a member of the Beckstead family and was born near Lawrenceburg, in Canada. O. K. Waugh, a native of New York, came to Fulton County with his parents, Abram and Aurelia (Fanning) Waugh, and came to Fulton County about 1834, and the last mentioned of whom was a sister of Captain Fanning, the well-known Canadian sea-faring man, and a cousin of Commodore Perry. Abram Waugh improved a farm and died there. His son, O. K. Waugh, who grew to manhood in Fulton County, married there and became a farmer and later a veterinary sur- geon. He removed to Kirkwood in 1866, thence to Monmouth, thence to Tarkio, Missouri, where he died in 1894, after having practiced his pro- fession nearly thirty years. His wife, who is living at Tarkio, bore him seven children, five of whom are living and named as follows: C. V., of Monmouth; William E., of Larchland; Frank, of Tarkio, Mo .; and Ellen (Mrs. Crouth) of the place last mentioned, and Alice (Mrs. Teter), of Gowrie, Iowa. The subject of this sketch was reared in Fulton and Henry Coun- ties, and was educated in Fulton County, where he achieved success as a farmer. He owns his property at Larchland, where he makes his home. He has always taken an active and helpful interest in public affairs and is in ev- ery sense a progressive and up-to-date citizen. He was married at Pekin, Ill., in 1870, to Miss Sarah Tussey, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, who has borne him five children, four of whom are living: O. K .; Carrie, who married R. G. Tubbs, of Kirkwood; Mabel (Mrs. Fernald), of Point Pleasant Township; Walter who resides with his parents; and Minnie (Mrs. Curtis).
WEAKLEY, SPANGLER K .; farmer; Lenox Township (postoffice, Phelps) ; is a well-known citizen, prominent as a Presbyterian and a Dem- ocrat, who, for nine years, has held the office of Road Commissioner. He is of Irish and Penn- sylvania-Dutch extraction, both his grandfath- ers having been born in Pennsylvania-James Weakley in Cumberland County, Abraham Kauffman in York County. James Weakley was a son of Edward Weakley, an Irishman, who married a member of the German family of Lightcap. The son (James) married Priscilla Folk, a native of Cumberland County, Penn., and their son, Thomas Weakley, born in Cum- berland County, married Lavinia Kauffman, a native of the same county, who was a daughter
950
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
of Abraham Kauffman, of York County, her mother being a member of the Spangler family. Spangler K. Weakley, son of Thomas and La- vinia (Kauffman) Weakley, was born in Cum- berland County, Penn., June 26, 1851. In 1854 his father came from Pennsylvania, bringing his family, and bought land in Monmouth Town- ship, which, in the course of time, he sold to buy property in Lenox Township, which is now owned by members of the family. Spangler at- tended the preparatory school of Monmouth College and on October 5, 1889, was married in Monmouth to Emma Caroline Johnson, who has borne him daughters named Mabel K. and Eliz- abeth D. Miss Johnson was a daughter of John Johnson, who brought his family from Sweden to Quincy, Ill., at a comparatively early date, and bought property and remained there for some years, eventually selling out his interests there and buying property in Monmouth. Mrs. Thomas Weakley died in 1889, since which time Mr. Weakley has made his home with his son, Spangler K. The two do an extensive business, buying and shipping stock at Phelps. Of Thomas Weakley's seven child- ren, two daughters are dead, another daughter lives in Iowa, and four sons and daughters live in Warren County. Spangler K. is the owner of 120 acres of land in Section 13, Lenox Town- ship.
CHAPTER XLVII.
MONMOUTH TOWNSHIP.
(Township No. 11 North, Range 2 West.)
Monmouth Township lies in the north cen- tral part of Warren County, having Spring Grove Township on the north, Coldbrook on the east, Lenox on the south, and Hale on the west. The land is well watered by Cedar and Talbot Creeks and their branches. These creeks enter the township from Coldbrook, Cedar flowing in a northwesterly direction through the township, and Talbot flowing in a west- erly direction and uniting with Cedar on Sec- tion 9. Along these streams the ground is con- siderably broken, and there is much timber. In other parts of the township the land is more level. It is all good farming country. The main line of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railway enters the township at the southeast corner, following the south line into
Section 35, then veering northward to Mon- mouth, then southwesterly again and out of the township on Section 31. The Rock Island and St. Louis division of the same railway en- ters the township on the north, on the line be- tween Sections 3 and 4, following a southerly course through Monmouth and out of the town- ship from the southeast quarter of Section 31. The Iowa Central Railway cuts across the south- west corner of the township, entering from the west on the line between Sections 30 and 31, passing through Monmouth, and going into Lenox Township from Section 34. Monmouth is the only city or town in the township.
Monmouth Township was organized April 4, 1854, and took its name from the city situated within its territory. The first election was held at the court house, and John Leeper was moder- ator, and B. F. Corwin was clerk. The officers chosen at that time were: Supervisor, Josiah Whitman; clerk, A. S. Gilbert; assessor, Sam- uel Wood; collector, James McCoy; highway commissioners, C. V. Brooks, R. S. Hall, James Mekemson; justices of the peace, C. W. Hunni- cut, W. F. Smith; constable, James McCoy; overseer of the poor, A. C. Gregg. The present officers are: Supervisor, J. P. Higgins; assist- ant supervisors, E. C. Hardin, J. D. Diffen- baugh, A. T. Bruner; clerk, J. H. Hanna; as- sessor, C. H. Davis; collector, H. D. Claycomb, Jr .; highway commissioners, James Struthers, L. M. Levine, Barney Miller; justices of the peace, J. H. Hanna, J. P. Higgins, J. D. Huey, C. H. Davis, Geo. E. Cox; constables, George Penyx, B. Eilenberger, E. P. Graham, R. H. McLoskey. The supervisors of the township from its organization to the present time are: Josiah Whitman, 1854; Samuel Hallam, 1855; J. Leeper, 1856; Hiram Norcross, 1857-58; John G. Wilson, 1859; Samuel Hallam, 1860-63; Jos- iah Whitman, 1864; James T. Owens, 1865; George Sickmon, 1866; John G. Wilson, 1867- 68; Thomas Avenell, 1869; N. A. Rankin, 1870; W. A. Grant, 1871-72; Chauncy Hardin, 1873- 75; George Sickmon, 1876-77; Samuel Douglas, 1878-81; C. A. Dunn, 1882; J. Ross Hanna, 1883; Moses Sipher, 1884; G. W. Claycomb, 1885- 1901; J. P. Higgins, 1901-02. The assistant supervisors have been: Josiah Whitman, 1862- 63; John Brown, 1864; William Clark, 1865; William P. Sykes. 1866; John F. Owens, 1867- 68; N. A. Rankin, 1869; W. A. Grant, 1870; C. V. Brooks, 1871; Amos Burford, 1872; Alex. Rankin, 1873-74; John B. Meginnis, 1875; O. S. Barnum, 1878; Alex. Rankin, 1879; Geo.
Daniele McNeel
952
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Sickmon, 1880; Amos Burford, 1881; C. P. Avenell, 1882; A. T. Bruner, 1884-87; Amos Burford, 1888; J. W. Bolon, 1889; C. P. Avenell, 1890-93; William Chicken, 1891-92; J. C. Burk- holder, 1893-98; C. H. Hoy, 1894-95; A. T. Bru- ner, 1896-1902; Jonas Holgate, 1897-99; E. C. Hardin, 1899-1902; J. D. Diffenbaugh, 1899-1902. The earliest settlers in the township were John B. Talbot and his mother, and Allen G. Andrews, a nephew of Mrs. Talbot. They were New Englanders, but came here from Kentucky in the summer of 1828. The Talbots located in the northeast corner of the township on Sec- tion 2. The son was a justice of the peace un- der appointment from Peoria County before the organization of Warren County, and was one of the first county commissioners and otherwise prominent in the affairs of the county after its organization. The mother died late in the '40s, and Mr. Talbot moved in 1850 to Oregon, set- tling near the mouth of the Columbia river. Talbot creek, which flows across the north part of Monmouth township, received its name from the Talbots. Mr. Andrews located on Sec- tion 6, in the northwest corner of the township, and remained there until his death in 1849. He was an educated man and a Spanish scholar, having spent several years in the West Indies. In November of the same year, 1828, the family of Adam Ritchie, afterwards called "Sandy" to distinguish him from his cousin Adam, of Hale Township, came from Fulton County to the Talbot home. They had come to Hale township that spring, but on account of rumors of Indian troubles, went down to near Canton, where they had spent the previous win- ter. There they met Mr. Talbot, who offered to share his two room cabin with them if they would return to Warren County, and they ac- cepted. Mr. Ritchie himself at that time was working in the lead mines of Galena. In the Talbot home, on December 23, a child was born, Henderson Ritchie, the firstborn son of War- ren County. Mr. Ritchie made the first im- provement on Cedar creek on Section 6, where Olmsted's mill now stands. In 1831 he re- moved to Hale township, Beracha Dunn secur- ing the property vacated by Mr. Ritchie. Mr. Dunn built a mill and dam here in 1833, one of the first grain mills in the county. He dis- posed of the claim to Aniel Rodgers in 1834, and he to Silas Olmsted some three years later. Olmsted rebuilt the mill, and it has since been known by his name. Abraham
Swartz came in the spring of 1829, settling in the timber just northeast of Monmouth. The timber was called Swartz's Grove for many years after he established his home there. He afterwards moved into Knox County. Peter Butler came also in 1829, settling in the south- east corner of the township on Section 36, the present Sierer farm. He had a stockade and blockhouse on the place, and it was a place of refuge for the community during the Indian scares. Mr. Butler was from Kentucky, and had been a major in the militia of that State, so was always known as Major Butler. He commanded a company of "Rangers" during the Black Hawk war, was county commissioner here in 1830-32 and 1840-41; county surveyor, 1831-35; sheriff, 1832-34; and also served the county as representative in the legislature and as senator. He went to Oregon in 1853, and died there June 24, 1856, of typhoid fever brought on by exposure and fatigue.
With the organization of the county in 1830 and the location of the county seat at Mon- mouth in the spring of 1831, there were many additions to the residents. In 1830 came the families of John and Robert Kendall from Greene county, Ohio. John Kendall settled a mile and a half north of Monmouth, afterwards moving to Section 16. He was the father of Mrs. Ed. Jones and B. F. Kendall, both of Mon- mouth. Quite a colony came at the same time with these families, some settling in other parts of the county. Mrs. Jones was a child when the colony came, and is the only one of the company remaining here, and the oldest settler in the township. Her father died at her Monmouth home in 1878. Robert Kendall settled on what is known as the Barnum place on the east side of North Sunny Lane, and now within the corporate limits of Monmouth. A. stockade or fort was built on the place during the Indian scare. Mr. Kendall moved to Hen- derson county, where he died. In the colony with the Kendalls was Samuel Gibson, who located on a farm just west of the city on Broadway, where he died a few years ago. He was a native of Tennessee, but came here from Greene county, Ohio. James Hodgens settled just northwest of Monmouth on the farm re- cently occupied by John Lundberg. His home was one of the voting places at the first gen- eral election in the county. The grove was known as Hodgens' Grove. Others who came at the time of the establishment of the county
a. J. Brunen
953
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
seat at Monmouth, most of them coming here from Oquawka, were Daniel McNeil, Jr., Jacob Rust, Joel Hargrove, William Causland, John C. Osborn, General James McCallon, and W. S. Paxton. These are spoken of more par- ticularly in the history of the city of Mon- mouth. Robert Wallace came from Kentucky in 1831, after Monmouth had been laid out, and located his home on the school section, No. 16, along the stream north of Monmouth. He put up the first grist mill in the township. For a while he did all his grinding by hand, but, seeing the demand for meal, he put in a mill with water power, and did an extensive business. The mill stones were cut out of prairie boulders. Mr. Wallace had several hounds, and had quite a reputation as a hun- ter. He died in 1846. Hezekiah Davidson came from Kentucky in 1831, locating on a farm on Section 28, just east of Monmouth on Broadway, where he resided up to his death in 1841. He was the father of Alexander and Elijah Davidson, Jr., who were prominent in the early days of the county, and of the late Attorney J. W. Davidson and of Thomas H. Davidson, who still resides in Monmouth. Mar- shom Lucas also came in 1831, settling first on Section 31, southwest of Monmouth, then re- moving to a farm four miles east of Monmouth. He assisted in laying out the city of Monmouth and also many of the early roads in the county. He was the father of Mrs. W. H. Frantz, of Monmouth, and of the late J. C. Lucas. James Struthers came from Greene county, Ohio, in 1832, making his home on Sec- tion 10, in the north part of the township. Rob- ert Wallace came from Kentucky in 1832, and his father, William, and his brothers, Smith and William J. T., the next year. They all set- tled in the northeast part of the township, on Sections 12 and 13. William Turnbull came from Greene county, Ohio, in 1833, and bought from Robert Kendall the Barnum place on North Sunny Lane, comprising what is now that part of Monmouth lying north of Boston avenue and between B street and Suuny Lane.
He also bought
what
is
known
as
the
Spicer farm, just north of the other. Mr.
Turnbull died in 1834. He left
the Spicer quarter to his son, David, who
resided there a while, then finding the title was not good, moved into Hale township. He died at the home of his son, Captain John M. Turnbull, in Monmouth, in 1871. Other
sons of William Turnbull were John, James, Alexander, Gilbert and Thomas. Alexander resided in Monmouth a number of years, was county commissioner from 1836 to 1838, and also coroner for one term. Gilbert Turnbull located in Henderson county. Other pioneers of the township outside of the city were: John E. Murphy, who came early and bought several quarters in the northeast part of the township, residing on the southwest quarter of Section 2 until his removal to Coldbrook township in 1837; Jacob Wright, who settled in 1835 on the southeast quarter of Section 2, where he ran a small distillery, the first in the county-the father of Mrs. Eliza Jane Shaw, Mrs. Amanda Davis, and Mrs. Minerva Sallee; Thomas S. Sublett, who located on the northwest quarter of Section 12, but carried on a saw-mill on the southeast quarter of Section 9, built in 1836; Caleb Smith, who came from Kelly and lived a short time near Sublett's; William Hop- per, father of Mrs. J. F. Owens and the late W. L. Hopper, who came in 1837, and bought from John E. Murphy the west part of Section 2; David Morrow, who came also in 1837 and bought the Sublett place, on which he after- ward erected a steam saw-mill which he and his sons carried on for years; Peter Bruner, who came from Kentucky in 1836, settling on Section 17; L. M. Gates, who came from Ash- tabula County, Ohio, in 1836, stopping a while in Monmouth, then settling on Section 1, and whose widow still lives in Monmouth, making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Hugh R. Moffet; Jacob L. Buzan, who came in 1832, settling first just east of town, and remaining here until his death in 1885; John Shehi, who came with Buzan; Jacob Bliss, who located on the northwest quarter of Section 12; W. P. Sykes, on Section 9, north of Monmouth; Jam- ison Leeper, southeast of Monmouth, near the Lenox line; Jacob Ryner, who bought part of the Talbot place on Section 1; L. S. Olmsted, proprietor for years of Olmsted's mill; Dan- iel Claycomb, who came in 1836 to Section 24; Ed. Grounds, an early settler of the southeast quarter of Section 26; Josiah Whitman, on the northwest of 25; and Seth Smith, who came in 1838.
In December, 1858, a petition was presented to the Board of Supervisors, asking that the township be divided, the city of Monmouth be- ing made a township by itself. The request was granted, and the county clerk was directed
954
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
to call an election to be held at the school house on Section 16 in April of the following year to organize the new township, which was to have the name of Cedar. At the next April meeting of the board a remonstrance against the division of the township was presented, and the committee to whom it was referred re- porting against division, the report was adopt- ed and the township left as it was. At the meeting of the Board of Supervisors in March, 1895, the City Council of Monmouth asked for the creation of the city as a separate township, but the supervisors did not see fit to grant the petition.
The construction of the hard roads now go- ing on in Monmouth township, and which have made the township famous all over the coun- try, was largely the result of a talk had with Judge A. J. Hunter, of Edgar county, who vis- ited Monmouth in December, 1891. He told how macadamized roads were being built in his county, at an average cost of $2,000 a mile, and that the farmers thought it was money well spent. His conversation led to consider- able discussion of the subject, and on March 19, 1892, a petition was presented to Town Clerk Ed. Jones asking for a vote at the April election on the question of levying a three- mill tax each year for a period of five years for the purpose of building hard roads in the township. The election was held April 5, and the proposition carried by a vote of 580 to 229. With the money raised by this tax the highway commissioners have constructed a stone road north . from the city limits to Cedar Creek bridge, and another from the city limits east on the Galesburg road a mile or two. They have also built a brick road from the city lini- its west on Harding avenue and the old Oquaw- ka road to the Hale township line; one from the city limits south on Main street to the Len- ox township line; one on the east city limits, Eleventh street, from the Burlington railroad tracks north to the end of East Euclid avenue; and one from the end of Euclid avenue along the road leading toward the northeast part of the township.
The first mill in the township was the hand- mill run by Robert Wallace on Section 16, north of Monmouth. The first water power mill was Beracha Dunn's, built on the southwest quar- ter of Section 6, on Cedar creek, in the north- west corner of the township. December 3, 1832, Peter Butler as attorney for Mr. Dunn
petitioned the county commissioners for the condemnation of a mill and dam site here, and the petition was allowed March 7 follow- ing, and the mill erected at once. The prop- erty came into the hands of Aniel Rodgers in 1834 and he sold it in 1837 to Silas Olmsted. The mill burned down soon after, and Mr. Olm- sted rebuilt it on a larger scale and with in- creased capacity. It continued operations un- til the dam washed out during a freshet, March 17, 1899, since which time the mill itself has been torn down. It had been owned and oper- ated during recent years by Peter Oswald. Just below the dam was a beautiful picnic ground, which has been a favorite pleasure re- sort for people from Monmouth and all parts of the county for years. During the late '30's a building was erected near Olmsted's mill and a store conducted in it by James Herron. The building was afterwards moved to Mon- mouth and placed on the lot on South Main street where J. H. Pattee's fine residence now stands. Dr. John A. Young lived in it a while, then it was moved a block further west, and still stands in the south part of the town. March 14, 1836, Thomas S. Sublett was given permission to construct a mill dam on the southeast quarter of Section 9, about three miles east of the Olmsted mill. Here he put up a saw mill, from which lumber for the sec- ond court house and many other of the early buildings in Monmouth was furnished. After- wards a grain mill was put in in connection with the saw mill, and later a carding machine also. The mill was known as Bailey's mill in the late '40's and early '50's, and after that as Paine's mill. It was torn down years ago. In 1837 also permission was given to Tunnicliff & McKee to construct a mill dam on the north- west quarter of Section 15, which, however, never materialized, and permission was re- fused James Struthers and James Miller for one on the northwest quarter of Section 9. The next year James P. Hogue asked permission to build a dam on the northeast quarter of Sec- tion 5, and in 1839 Andrew and Aquila Clay- comb asked for one on the northwest quarter of Section 24, but neither was ever built.
The Mosher cemetery is the only burying ground in the township outside of Monmouth. It lies on the northeast quarter of Section 12, and consists of one acre. It was donated to the public as a burying ground in 1876, by Lawrence S. Wallace, on whose land it was; the
955
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
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