USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 24
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 24
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Thus churches were organized and temples of worship erected in the different settlements as soon as the number of inhabitants would permit. In the chapter devoted to the indi- vidual townships, villages and cities, the history of all the different denominations and churches
*By W. 11. Perrin.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
will be written. The subject is alluded to here, merely to show the zeal of the early settlers of the county in religions matters and their devotion to the cause of Christianity.
Education -The pioneers were quite as en- ergetic in matters of education as in religion, and schools were established as soon as the settlements produced children enough to form a school or pay for the employment of a teacher. The first schools were taught on the subserip- tion plan and were as primitive as the cabins in which they were held. The first school of which we have any account was taught by a man named Brazleton, in the winter of 1818-19, in the present township of Hillsboro. It was taught in a little cabin on Mr. Griffith's place, and was a subscription school, each patron paying at the rate of from $1.50 to $2 per scholar, for a term of three mouths. During the progress of this school Indian boys and young squaws used to come and play with the children at noon and at recess from their camps in the vicinity. The first regular schoolhouse built in this neighborhood was on Section 9, in 1822, and was the usual small log cabin. In 1825, a schoolhouse was built in what is now Fillmore Township, and in 1828 the first temple of worship was built in what is at pres- ent East Fork Township. Mrs. Townsend taught school in 1823, in the present township of Butler Grove, in a small log cabin which stood on Section 31, and which was the first school in that neighborhood. The first school- house built in Irving Township was in the southwest corner in 1827, and the first school taught in it by a man named Melntire, then seventy years of age. Henry Lower was an early teacher of the county, and taught in a room of his own house ; John King and Charles Turner were also early teachers. Martha B. Cass was an early teacher in the Raymond settlement, and taught in her own house. The first schoolhouse was built there in 1832, a small log building. A schoolhouse
-the first in Walshville Township-was built in 1834, and a Mr. Clowson was the first teacher to occupy it. Other neighborhoods and settle- ments inaugurated schools as soon as their population required them.
The children now in school know little of the school facilities their parents and grandparents enjoyed. The schoolhouses of fifty years ago were log cabins-some with puncheon floors and some with no other floor than the ground. They were built mostly of round logs, the cracks filled in with mud, a log taken out across one end and the space filled with greased paper. This served as a window, and under it was placed the "writing beuch," where the entire school would repair to practice their writing lesson, which was done with pens made of goose-quills, and ink of home manufacture. The books used in the schools were as primi- tive as the houses wherein the schools were taught. The New Testament was the nsual reader-a few had the " Pleasant Companion," the " Columbian Orator," and the " English Reader." Kirkham's grammar and Pike's arithmetic served to enlighten the pupil in those branches, and the boy who could " cipher" to the "rule of three," was considered a prodigy in figures. There are hundreds now living in Montgomery County to whom these reflections will vividly recall their school days -days when they sat ten hours out of each twenty-four, on a split log for a seat, and studied hard, with but an hour's intermission during the day. To them the log schoolhouse with its wide fire-place, its puncheon floors and uneasy benches recall few pleasant memories.
Sehool facilities have improved wonderfully, however, since the period of which we write. The log-cabin schoolhouse, with its rude fur- nishing is a thing of the past, and the most liberal schools and comfortable houses are now the order of the time. The basis of the school system of Illinois and the northwest was the act of Congress, by which one thirty-sixth of
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
the public lands were donated to the several Northwestern States for the purpose of aiding a system of public free education. In the sur- vey of the lands, thirty-six square miles or sections, constituted a township, and the six- teenth section of each township was designated as the "school section." By the law of the State of Illinois, cach Congressional Township was made to constitute a school township, without regard to either county or other di- vision lines. In many of the counties, espe- cially in Northern Illinois, the county authorities have made the lines of political townships identical with the Congressional or school town- ships, while in the central and southern por- tions of the State many are smaller and others larger. In many townships, the land was sold at a comparatively early date, when land was cheap, and therefore but little was realized, the whole section in some instances being sold at the Government price. The land would now sell, perhaps, for $40 or $50 per acre. To say that any great mistake was made in thus dis- posing of the lands at so early a date, would be to cast a reflection on those having charge of the same. In the carly history of the county, the people were poor and were sadly in need of the little revenue arising from so small a principal. With schoolhonses to build and teachers to pay, they found it no small burden to make provision for the education of their children. And then, again, it would have taken no less than a prophet to predict that within half a century this land would double in valuc five times over. Indeed, it was almost universally conceded that the prairie lands would never be occupied. The fund realized from the sale of these lands is irreducible, being loaned by law to responsible parties, the in- terest only being used for the purpose of pay- ing teachers' salaries.
The Legislature of the State, in 1855, passed a law levying an annual school tax of 2 mills on the dollar on all taxable property in the
State. This revenue is somewhat variable with different years and different assessments, increasing as the country grows wealthier. These two funds constitute the nucleus of the school system in this, as in the other counties of the State. By the law making these gener- ous provisions for the education of the youth, a provision was enacted making it obligatory on the part of a district to support a school a certain number of months in the year (formerly six, but at present five), otherwise the district receives no benefit from either fund.
This provision insures the co-operation of district authorities in the support of schools ; and as a consequence, none of the districts in the county are without the benefit of school instruction. Under the old system, every com- munity claimed the privilege of managing the schools without interference of other parties, or modification by general laws. Teachers were accountable only to their employers, and no particular standard of qualification was required. Schools were kept open only for snch a length of time, or not at all, as the whims or prejudices of the people might die- tate. Consequently, while some of the more wealthy and intelligent neighborhoods were well supplied with school facilities, others were almost wholly without them. The following facts, furnished by Mr. Thomas E. Harris, County Superintendent of Schools, show the present state of the common school system for 1881, in Montgomery County :
Number of persons in the county under
twenty-one 14,274
Number of persons between six aud
twenty-one. 9,544
Number of school districts iu the county. 136
Number of schoolhouses in the county .. 135
Number of districts having school five months or more. 132
Whole number of months school.
1,1553
Whole number of pupils. 7,157
Male teachers employed. 88
Female teachers employed. 131
Number of ungraded schools. 127
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Number of graded schools 7
Number of private schools. 1
Whole amount paid teachers. $39,727 68
Estimated value of school property. 162,275 00
In conclusion of the educational history of the county, a word upon compulsory education, a subject attracting more or less attention now in nearly every State of the Union, may not be uninteresting to our readers. Concerning the right of State or Government to pass and car- ry into effect what are known as compulsory laws, and require parents and guardians, even against their will to send their children to school, there does not appear to be much diver- sity of opinion. But concerning such a policy, dependent upon so many known and unknown conditions, there is the widest diversity. That a great good would be wrought is indisputa- ble, if the wisdom of State government could devise some means to strengthen and supple- ment the powers of Boards of Education, and enable them to prevent truancy, even if only in cases where parents desire their children to attend school regularly, but their authority is . too weak to secure that end. The instances are not few in which parents would welcome aid in this matter, knowing that truaney is often the first step in a path which finally ends in vagabondage and crimes. It is our liberal system of free education that has preserved our Government so far, and its perpetuation depends upon the education and enlightenment of the masses. With the most scrupulous care, England fosters her great universities, that the sons of her nobility may be properly trained for their places in the House of Lords, in the army, navy and church. Then, the character of citizenship should be high indeed, where every man is born a king and sovereign heir to all the franchises and trusts of the State and Republic. An ignorant people can be governed but only an intelligent people ean govern them- selves ; and that is the experiment we are try- ing to solve in these United States. " The
growth of agrarianism and communism has appalled statesmenship, and alarmed the dull ears of the people, who see in these twin broth- ers of ignorance impending ruin. The great army of tramps marching through the land, disturbing our domestic tranquillity and moral safety, furnish another element to the problem confronting those who yearn for a solid and stable peace, and seek for the security assured by a permanent government. Intelligence wed- ded to virtue constitute the palladium of the union. Relaxation of vigor in the effort to improve the quality of our citizenship, will re- sult in certain ruin. From all the towers of the Republic the watchmen cry, 'Educate ! Educate ! Educate !' "*
Viewing the subject from the above stand- point, is one of the strongest arguments in favor of compulsory education. Whatever may be said to the contrary, or in opposition to compulsory education, it is a fact apparent to all, that the youthful idlers upon the streets of towns and cities should be gathered up by somebody and compelled to do something. If they learn nothing else, there will be at least this salutary lesson, that society is stronger than they, and without injuring them, will use its strength to protect itself. While reform schools are being established for those who have already started on the downward road, it would be well to provide some way to rescue those lingering upon the brink of ruin, and there is no better way, perhaps, than by eom- pulsory education.
The Press .- The newspaper and the print- ing press of the present day constitute one of the most important features of the time and of the country, and a chronicle that said noth- ing of their power and influence would be, and justly, too, considered very incomplete. The daily paper, by the aid of the telegraph, gives us to-day all the news that transpired yester-
*Kentucky State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
day in the uttermost parts of the earth. And the county press, the faithful exponent of the county's interest, is the intellectual criterion for the masses, and the most popular channel for general information. It is furthermore a true record of the county's history ; the very advertisements in local papers eventually be- come historical facts, and it is to be regretted that so few persons seem to appreciate the val- ue and importance of their county papers.
Montgomery County is well supplied with local newspapers. In Hillsboro, Litchfield, Nokomis and Raymond, papers are published weekly, and it is but justice to them to say that they are above the medium standard of newspapers published in country towus. The papers of each city and town will be fully writ- ten up, as a part of the history of their respect- ive places, and are only referred to here in a general way.
né
199
IIISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
CHAPTER V .*
AGRICULTURE-ITS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT AS A SCIENCE-THE WAY OUR FATHERS FARMED - IMPROVED METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS - COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIA-
TION-OFFICES, FAIRGROUNDS, ETC-RAILROAD HISTORY-THE INDIANAPOLIS &
ST. LOUIS RAILROAD - DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING ITS CONSTRUCTION -OTHER RAILROAD ENTERPRISES.
M ONTGOMERY COUNTY has the reputa- tion of being a fine farming section, and without doubt its claim in this regard is well founded. While some counties may show more of rich soil, and while others may be better adapted to some specialty, yet we believe not a county in the State can lay claim to all the ad- vantages in elimate, soil, water, timber and healthfulness that are justly claimed for this. While in some sections a certain advantage may, with propriety, be claimed as peculiar, we believe no other county combines so many nat- ural advantages. In some of the more north- ern counties we find larger erops of corn, and in some of the more southern, a greater amount of fruit ; but these specialties, even in the local- ities named, are not always a certain erop. The farmer's safest course is a diversity of products, and Montgomery County furnishes an example of soil and climate which make it in an emi- nent degree fitted for such pursuits.
For a number of years the natural advan- tages of this region were scareely appreciated, as the farming was carried on in such a man- ner as to obtain results far below those now realized. Better farm machinery, better methi- ods of planting and cultivation, and the adop- tion of crops better suited to the soil have wrought great changes. In an especial man- ner is this true in regard to methods of plant- ing, cultivating, harvesting and taking care of
products. The way that our fathers performed their farming operations is so little known to the present generation who depend much upon farm machinery, and require the horses to do all the work which men, women and children formerly did, that a description of the okdl way, gathered from conversations with those who know whereof they speak, cannot but prove interesting to the young farmer of the present day. Banish all such modern implements as reapers, mowers, corn-planters, sulky plows, horse hay-rakes, threshing machines, riding- cultivators, and some conception may be formed of the primitive way of farming. The follow- ing was the mode of planting corn. After the ground had been plowed with a wooden mold- board plow (which had to be cleaned every few rods with a paddle carried for the purpose), and had been scratched over with a harrow in which wooden pins were used for teeth, the lit- tle shovel plow and a single horse were used for marking out both ways. After the mark- ing was done, the children, big and little, the men and the women went into the field, and while the children with tin pails or small bas- kets dropped the grains of corn in the crossings, the others, with great heavy iron hoes covered or " kivered " it with dirt. After the planting came the hoeing, now superseded by the im- proved cultivators. The tending by the single- shovel plow was common until a few years ago. But the single shovel plow has had to take its
*By W. H. Perrin.
-200
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
place with the old spinning wheel and loom, and they are now considered as relicts of a past age.
Harvesting wheat, oats, rye and grass was formerly a laborions process. Even within the recollection of comparatively young men of the county, the scythe and cradle were counted as improved implements of husbandry ; but the reaper and mower, now in use, not only do a better job, but transfer the hardest of the labor to the horses. The manner of cleaning the wheat from the chaff, after it had been tramped ont by horses or oxen, was by pouring it slow- ly out of a bucket or half-bushel measure, for the wind to blow the chaff away. Next came the old "fan-mill," turned by hand. But now the perfected thresher not only cleans and separates the wheat from the chatf and straw, but sacks and counts the number of bushels.
With corn at from 6 to 10 cents per bushel, oats but little more, wheat at but 25 to 50 cents, and other products in proportion, with the market at Chicago and St. Louis, it is a matter of wonder that a farmer succeeded in obtaining enough for his labor to pay for sav- ing his crops. It is not difficult to understand why so much of the county lay for so many years without occupants. Of course the farmer in those days did not ride in carriages, pay heavy taxes, wear fine clothes, or indulge in many luxuries ; but they rode to meeting on horseback or in the farm-wagon, wearing their every-day apparel done up clean for Sun- day, and paid the preacher with a bag of corn or potatoes, or not at all, as they felt able. Yet, to say that they did not live comfortably and independently would be a great mistake. The rifle supplied venison and other game, and the actual needs of life were all furnished, though it would seem a great hardship to go back to what some are pleased to call the " good old times."
Fairs .- The farmers of the county turned their attention to the improvement of agricult-
ure and stock very early. To this end an agricultural association was formed abont the year 1850, as nearly as can now be ascertained, but as the records of this association have been lost or destroyed, bnt little of it is known beyond the fact that such an association ex- isted, and was superseded by the present so- ciety in 1857. Of the latter, the facts given herewith are furnished by Mr. William K. Jackson, Secretary of the association.
The Montgomery County Agricultural So- ciety, as it is now known, was organized on Friday, July 3, 1857, at a meeting of a requi- site number of the legal voters of the county, all of whom have a voice in the affairs of the society. Of this meeting, Hiram Rountree was Chairman, and John W. Kitchell, Secre- tary. A committee was appointed, consisting of Benjamin Sammons, A. S. Haskell and Austin Whitten, to frame a constitution and code of by-laws. The following gentlemen were elected officers of the Society, to wit : Morgan Blair, President; J. W. Kitchell, Re- cording Secretary; Solomon Harkey, Treasur- er; J. A. Kolston, Corresponding Secretary, and the following Vice Presidents : Thomas Standing, Hillsboro ; Robert Little, Audnbon ; James Kirk, Hurricane ; Easton Whitten, Jr., East Fork; James McDavid, Bear Creek ; C. V. Seymour, Walshville, and John A. Crab- tree, Litchfield. The following General Com- mittee was appointed : Henry Philips, William C. Miller, Henry Richmond, Harrison Brown, Hillsboro ; William Wright, Daniel Easterday, Audubon ; Cleveland Coffey, Thomas L. Har- vey, Hurricane ; Austin Whitten, Ezekiel Bo- gart, East Fork ; John Price, William Cannon, Bear Creek ; William Kingston, Joseph Price, Walshville ; Elihu Boan, Thomas Hughes, Litchfield ; Edgar Smith, Benjamin Rogers, Zanesville ; L. H. Thomas, P. De Witt, Bois D'Arc. The following resolution was adopted by the Executive Committee : "Resolved, That we adopt and indorse as our own, all the pro-
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
ceedings of the incorporated association liere- tofore known as the ' Montgomery County Agri- cultural Society,' and are responsible for all debts heretofore contracted by the same." A committee, consisting of Ilenry Richmond, J. A. Watson and J. W. Kitchell, were appointed to select and purchase suitable fair grounds for the use of the society.
The fortune of the society has been some- what checkered, and from the records it appears never to have been attended with very great prosperity as an agricultural association. It owns very fine grounds southwest of town, and which, with slight expense, could be so im- proved, as to render them very beautiful, and at the same time valuable to the society. But the grounds and buildings have now a rather dilapidated appearance, as though little atten- tion was bestowed upon them.
The present officers are as follows : Moses Berry, President; Robert Morell and A. G. Butler, Vice Presidents ; William K. Jackson, Secretary and Treasurer ; Directors-W. L. Blackburn, William Brewer, Hillsboro; A. T. Withers, Walshville ; Miner S. Goring, Mor- risonville, and James Young, Nokomis.
The Litchfield Fair .- Mr. Coolidge furnishes us the following of the Litchfield Agricultural and Mechanical Association : When, in 1857, the permanent location of the County Fair was in suspense, it was officially announced that the question would be decided by the town offering the largest contribution to its funds. At the specified time, Litchfield offered a sum at least double any competing town. But the authorities delayed their award and a recess was taken. Before re-assembling, a pledge, which it was well understood would subsequently be released, was made by .James M. Davis, of Hillsboro, to carry his town to the top of the list. It was an accommodation pledge, and was used to secure the location of the fair at the county seat. The trick, to which the fair authorities were parties, was remem-
bered when, in 1867-68, Litchfield was re- proached by a Hillsboro journal in coarse, scurrilous terms, for not raising a large sum as a gift to the County Agricultural Society. The citizens, thus censured, gave reins to their indignation by organizing the Litchfield Agri- cultural and Mechanical Association. An eligible tract of land was bought, near the southeast corner of the town, and inclosed. Cattle-pens and stalls were constructed, a half mile speed-ring prepared, and an amphitheater for a thousand persons erected, and in October, 1868, the first fair was held. John W. Daven- port was President, P. B. Updike, Treasurer. and II. A. Coolidge, Secretary. The weather was of a rigorous character. The wind and cold had a February ancestry, yet the attend- ance was large and the fair was a success. The premium list was liberal, and the awards were paid. But the cost of the ground and fencing and buildings remained a dead loss. The association passed into the hands of thirteen joint proprietors, who assumed the debts, and went forward in their improvements. Fairs were held each year until 1875, when a fair was omitted. But the next year the last one was held, and the association went into liq- uidation, and the losses were paid by the pro- prietors. The property was sold, and the con- cern became a thing of the past. A succession of vile weather Fair weeks, and the wearing off of the novelty and the hard times, ate out its prosperity. But its existence brought its compensations. It advanced the reputation of the city for enterprise and courage, and the money suuk gained for the community char- acter worth many times the sum swallowed np.
Railroads .- The earliest attempts to con- struet railroads in the West originated in the insane desire to enrich that great empire, as it might be called, by the system of "internal improvements." This fever of speculation broke out in different parts of the United States about the year 1835, and soon after it appeared in
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, leav- ing, when past, an enormous debt upon each mu- nicipality or State Government. In Illinois, it amounted to nearly $15,000,000, while in Penn- sylvania it was more than double that amount, and in Ohio and Indiana did not vary far from it. Examination of the legislative acts of the Prairie State, at that period, discloses an almost unbroken line of acts for the construction of some highway, which was destined to only par- tially see the light of day in detached parcels, some of which still remain as silent monuments of a supreme legislative and popular folly. When the collapse came in 1837, and work on all was entirely suspended, only the old " North- ern Cross Railroad," as it was called, now the Wabash, was found in a condition fit to war- rant completion, and that only a short distance. It was originally intended to extend from Mere- dosia through Jacksonville to Springfield, De- catur and Danville to the Eastern State line, where it was expected it would be joined to some road in Indiana, and be continued east- ward. A vast quantity of old flat- bar rails had been purchased in England by the agents of the State, at an enormous expense, too ; and quite a quantity had been brought to Meredosia, preparatory to being laid on the track. In the spring of 1838, some eight miles of this old track were laid, and on the 8th day of Novem- ber of that year, a small locomotive, the " Rogers," made in England, and shipped here in pieces, was put together, and made a trial trip on the road. It was the first that ever turned a wheel in the Mississippi Valley. The first rail on this road had been laid, with im- posing ceremonies, on the 9th of May preeed- ing, and on through the summer the work pro- gressed slowly, until the locomotive made the pioneer trial trip above deseribed. Only twelve years before had the first railroad train made a trip in the new continent, and only a year or two before this had the first application of steam been successfully made in this manner in England.
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