USA > Illinois > Montgomery County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 49
USA > Illinois > Bond County > History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois > Part 49
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Of the society of Free Methodists, recently organized, we were unable to learn any particu- lars, yet we may be safe in saying that it is in a flourishing condition. The growth in num- bers has been steady, and among its members arc to be found many of the substantial citizens of the community. What its future may be is, of course, hidden from us, but there certainly seems to be a great work for it to do, and we only hope that he who writes a more elaborate history of it hereafter, may tell of many scores of souls which it has prepared for the better life in the Paradise of God.
396
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXVIII .*
BOIS D'ARC TOWNSHIP-BOUNDARIES AND TOPOGRARHY-ITS EARLY SETTLEMENTS-FIRST DEATHS-EARLY ROADS, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, ETC., ETC.
TN folk lore there is the story told of a man who became tired of the patient cultivation of the soil, and who desired to become rich without the drudgery of labor. The lack of wealth had made life become stale, flat and unprofitable. He dreamed three nights in suc- cession that there was a rich treasure hid somewhere under the earth in his old orchard. Three is the regular number that makes a dream true, and so in an ecstasy of excitement he imparted the good news to his wife, and to- gether they at once began to dig for the hidden gold. Round one tree they dug a mound of earth, and around another until there was not gnarled trunk about whose roots he had not let in the vitalizing air, but the treasure was not found. Of course he became angry over his wasted labors, and a sorry time he had of it when his neighbors passed by and laughed at him for his folly. Springtime, however, came, and the trees were full of blossom. Autumn followed, and they were loaded down with lus- cions fruit. Years rolled by and the orchard was the source of a rich revenue to the old man, who realized that there was indeed a golden treasure hidden in the soil which only needed proper exertion to bring it to the light. In the fertile region of Central and Southern Illinois, we can see the moral of the foregoing story practically demonstrated in the presence of richly cultivated farms, handsome and costly private residences, commodious barns, numer- ous flocks of live stock and other evidences of that wealth which has been wrung from the generous bosom of mother earth by the strong
arms of the successful husbandmen. Especially is this true of that division of country to which the present chapter is devoted, where broad fertile prairies were looked upon with much suspicion, and carefully shunned by the early pioneers of Montgomery County. Bois D'Arc is one of the largest townships in the county, lying in the extreme northwestern part, and embracing in its area 34,560 acres of land, all of which is well adapted to agricultural pur- poses. Its boundaries on the northeast and west respectively are the counties of Sangamon, Christian and Macoupin. Its southern bound- ary is the township of Pitman, with which it was formerly united as a part of the Zanesville Precinct. Bois D'Are was reduced to its pres- ent limits and formed into an independent body principally through the efforts of one of its prominent citizens, Lewis H. Thomas, who gave it the name by which it is at present designated. In physical features and general topography it resembles Pitman Township, which has already been described, with the ex- ception of the entire absence of native timber, the surface being exclusively prairie. At the time of its settlement by the whites, years ago, there were but a few dozen small, sernbby trees to be seen in the entire township, the prairie being then clothed by a rank covering of na- tive grass, which attested the fertile quality of the soil beneath-a soil which to-day is re- garded as the richest and most productive to be found anywhere in the entire county. Sev- eral small streams flow through different parts of the township, the largest of which is Ma- coupin Creek, which rises near the southwest
*By G. N. Berry.
397
BOIS D'ARC TOWNSHIP.
corner from whence it takes a southerly course, and receives several smaller streams as tribu- taries before intersecting the boundary line. Bois D'Are is pre-eminently an agricultural, and is considered in this respect the banner, township of the county, an honor to which it is justly entitled. Compared in population with other divisions of the county, there are, among its inhabitants, a greater number of comforta- bly-situated owners of the soil they till, than in any other section we have visited ; while among its large farms are some which, in point of im- provements, such as hedging, elegant residences, barns, outbuildings, etc., will compare favora- bly with the best improved farms in any other part of the State. Indeed, we will be doing nothing more than justice to Bois D'Arc when we say, as hundreds have already said, and as a gold medal awarded by the State Agricultural Society fully proves, that it has the best tilled farm and most complete and costly farm resi- denee to be found in Illinois.
The first settlement in the territory of this township was made about the year 1825, at the head of Macoupin Creek, near the southern part, by a certain John Henderson. He was followed shortly afterward by a Mr. Hender- shot, who built the first house in the township. For a number of years, these two families were the only inhabitants of the broad stretch of prairie lying between what is now Zanesville Township and Sangamon County. They moved away some time prior to the year 1835, and nothing has been heard of them since. In 1835, a man by the name of Woods made his way into the northern part of the county and entered a piece of land at a place known as Macoupin's Point, on the old Springfield & Hillsboro road, where he built a hotel which was a favorite stopping place for travelers pas- sing through this part of the country. A post office was established here also, which for a number of years was kept by Mr. Wood in his hotel. It was discontinued about the year
1855, since which time there has been no post- office in the township.
The place where Wood formerly lived is at present owned and occupied by Lewis Seed- entop. In the year 1850, two brothers, Lewis H. and Samnel R. Thomas, passed through this part of the country, and being favorably impressed with the fertile appearance of the prairie, determined to select sites for their future homes, a resolution which they put into effect the latter part of the same year, although they did not move unto their respective claims until the spring of 1852. The farms they lo- cated lie in the northern part of the township, bordering on the Sangamon County line in Sections 2 and 3. Here their first house was built from lumber which had been hauled from Greene County for the purpose, and was oecu- pied temporarily during the summer season while their first crops were being tended. To the energy and public spirit of these two men is this section of the county largely indebted for its present prosperity and prominence as an agriculturel district.
Their farms are models in every respect and among the wealthy real estate owners of the county take no second rank. Concerning the improvements made by Lewis H. Thomas (whose portrait appears elsewhere), we copy the following from the " Historical Atlas Map" of Montgomery County, published several years ago. "Mr. Thomas entered 970 acres of land lying in the northern part of the town- ship which was the fourth and by far the most important entry. Here the second land-break- ing was done for a hedge row in the spring of 1851. On entering the land Mr. Thomas went to work and hedged the entire tract. This ex- tensive hedging was considered a rash experi- ment, as the Osage or Bois D'Arc was looked upon with considerable suspicion by the cau- tious farmer. The result surpassed the ex- pectation of all and others soon followed his example, and soon several farms were inclosed
398
IIISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
by hedges. Thus the first successful hedging in the county was accomplished in this town- ship. From this fact the name Bois D'Arc, upon the petition of Mr. Thomas, was given this township. On this hedging Mr. Thomas has taken two diplomas, accompanied by two medals. These were the first gold medals ever awarded by the State Agricultural Society. Mr. Thomas has given considerable attention to the growing of artificial groves. The first grove was a ten-acre lot planted in locust tim- ber in the year 1852. Another lot of fifteen acres was put out in the spring of 1854. In eleven years from the first planting the cuttings from fifteen acres furnished enongh wood to burn 300,000 bricks. An ornamental grove " was put out in 1855 near where the family resi- dence was afterward erected. This grove com- prises fifteen acres and includes about every variety of timber indigenous to the United States.
"This beantiful grove drew, in 1858. a gold medal from the society from which the other medals were obtained, given for the best grove of cultivated timber. This medal was one of the first granted in the State for that particular in- dustry." The foregoing extract may be taken as illustrative of the energy of this prominent citizen in all his undertakings. It is to his farm the writer referred in a preceding page as the prize medal farm of the State. (See biog- raphy.) A prominent settler who came into the township the same year with the Thomas brothers, was Absalom Clark. He entered the north half of Section 7 and the sonth half of Section 8 in the northern part of the township, which he improved extensively and still owns.
From 1852 to 1856. aside from those already mentioned, there settled in the northern, cen- tral and western parts of Bois D'Arc, Pryor Witt, John Jones, William Smith, Joseph Smith, Anthony Almond, John Ward, Frank Dunkley, Mark Risley, Hiram Young, William Evarts and father, all of whom entered and
improved lands in their respective localities. Joseph Evarts settted in the southeastern part in the year 1855. George Rice entered land in the western part of the township, which he afterward improved about the same time.
The first permanent settlement made in East Bois D'Arc was by an Irishman by name of McConnell, about the year 1850. The place he entered and improved lies in Section 7, and had been occupied temporarily by a German by name of Sedgwick, a few years previous. San- ford Clow, Peter Christopher and his brother Joseph were among the first actual settlers of east Bois D'Arc, having settled in Section 4 in the spring of 1854. During the next five years, Albert Clayton, John Price and James Woodward made their appearance, and settled in different places throughout the township. A little later came William Garrison. Henry Wes- ton, Henry Hathaway, William King and Mi- chael Samison, all of whom located farms in east Bois D'Arc. Two brothers, George and Cornelius Lyman, settled in the southeastern part of the township about the same time that the Christopher family located in the northern part.
The names enumerated comprised the earli- est settlers of Bois D'Are, as far as we have been able to learn. Other names there no doubt were that properly belong to the fore- going list, but the writer, in his canvas for in- formation, did not learn them. The first per- son of this township to be summoned away by death was Mrs. Hendershot, wife of the second settler, whose death occurred about the year 1828. The second event of the kind transpired in east Bois D'Arc September 25, 1856, when John Christopher, son of Peter and Elizabeth Christopher, died. The first road leading through Bois D'Arc was the old Springfield & Hillsboro highway, which passed through the township from northeast to southwest, and was, during the early history of the county, an im- portant thoroughfare.
399
BOIS D'ARC TOWNSHIP
The State road, which passes through the township in a southerly direction, was surveyed by L. H. Thomas, and through the intercession of Mr. Woodson, a member of the State Legis. lature, was properly established in the year 1854. The old road had been traveled consid- erably by parties living north of Bois D'Arc, directly through the farm of Mr. Thomas, eans- ing him no little annoyance, who. in order to induce them to take the new route, plowed a furrow for a considerable distance on the line, along which he traveled back and forth for several miles with a loaded wagon, thus making the road visible.
Another early road was laid out parallel to the Springfield road by way of Pawnee, in San- gamon County. The roads of Bois D'arc at present are all properly established, intersect each other at right angles, and are in very fair condition. The first marriage in the township was that of Andrew Armstrong to Miss Martha J. Evarts, the date of which was not ascer- tained. The second marriage was solemnized in the year 1862, at the residence of Joseph Christopher in east Bois D'Arc, the contracting parties being John Murray and Mary William- son ; the ceremony was performed by Rev. John Nicodemus.
Hiram J. Young was the first Justice of the Peace appointed in the year 1862. Jasper Witt was appointed Constable at the same time, an office which he filled acceptably for several consecutive terms.
Jackson Boyles built the first blacksmith shop, near the central part of the township, which is still in use.
Religious services were held in Bois D'Arc during the early days of its history by itinerant ministers of the Methodist Church, and an or- ganization effected in the year 1862, which does not appear to be in existence at the present time. A church was organized in east Bois D'Arc by Rev. Samuel Lily, about the year 1863, at the Prairie Dell Schoolhouse. A
church edifice was afterward erected, and a flourishing society is still maintained. A Bap- tist Church was organized at the Thomas School- house in the year 1865, by Rev. T. B. Jones. The original membership of this church was nine, which has since increased until now there are sixty names on the records. Their house of worship is situated in Section 3, west Bois D'Arc, and is in many respects the finest and most completely finished country church build- ing in the county. It is tastefully furnished throughout, and represents a capital of about $3.500. The present pastor is Rev. John Bar- bee.
The Catholics have a strong church in the southern part of the township, with a member- ship of perhaps 150. Their building is a com- modious frame structure, capable of seating 400 persons comfortably, and was erected at a cost of $4,000. In matters of education, the citizens of Bois D'Are early took an interest, and her schools to-day are among the foremost in the county. The first school building in west Bois D'Arc was built in Section 3; is still standing, and known as the Thomas School- house ; the name of the first teacher at this place was not learned. The second school- house was a small log structure, situated in Section 4, east Bois D'Arc, and went by the name of Prairie Dell. The first school in this building was taught by Miss Sallie Goodrich. It was afterward occupied by the following teachers : Samuel Laird, Sarah Gale, Mary Harlan and Charles Walters. The old house, after being used for school purposes a number of years, was finally sold to private parties, and replaced by a more commodions frame building, erected near by at a place called White Oak. The first teacher to occupy the new building was Miss Mary Harlan, a lady who appears to have been prominently con- nected with the early schools of Bois D'Arc. The present school buildings of the township are all frame, well furnished, and in point of
400
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
architectural finish, among the best in the county, as the majority of them have been erected quite recently. In several of these dis- triet schools are taught, additional to the com- mon course of study prescribed, some of the higher branches of education usually belonging to the high school or academy, and nobody but first-class instructors are employed. Next to the agricultural interest of Bois D'Are, the rearing of stock is the most important industry in this section of the country, a business in which a number of parties have engaged quite extensively. The richness of her pastures, the presence of plenty of stock water, and the pe- culiar suitability of her native grasses for beef-
making, won for this township an enviable rep- utation, and her stock-farms are the largest in the county. The first introduction of improved cattle into this part of the county is due to the enterprise of L. H. and S. R. Thomas, who have upon their extensive farms a number of Short-Horns and other superior breeds, brought here at great expense. Among others who made stock-raising a specialty is a man by name of Willis, living in the northern part of the township, who, in addition to his large herds of cattle, pays considerable attention to other live stock, especially sheep, of which he is one of the most extensive breeders in the county.
GRISHAM TOWNSHIP.
401
CHAPTER XXIX .*
GRISHAM TOWNSHIP-LOCATION-SOIL AND DRAINAGE-EARLY SETTLERS-RELIGIOUS- SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
G RISHAM TOWNSHIP, to which this chapter is devoted, is situated in the extreme southern part of Montgomery County, with the following boundaries: On the north by Hillsboro Township, on the east by the southern part of East Fork, on the south by Bond County and on the west by the northern part of Walshville Township. The greater part of the area of this division is rough and somewhat broken, though in the north and east there is considerable fine rolling prairie land. The western part, though far from being level, is not so broken and irregular as that portion lying in the central part of the township. The southern part and all the land lying adjacent to the numerous creeks by which the township is traversed, is cut, divided and subdivided into innumerable bluffs and hills of all shapes, sizes an l altitudes. Many deep ravines wind around these hills and knolls toward the several streams which flow among them. On account of the broken surface of the central and southern parts of the town- ship, the land was not considered of very great value by the early settlers. who passed it for the more desirable prairie lands of the northern and eastern parts. A number of people have located among these hills during the last five years, and much of the broken land has been cleared and put in cultivation. Fully one-half of the surface was originally timber land, much of which has been cut off and improved. There are large tracts of ter- ritory still covered with forests in the south-
ern part, which have never been improved. Lying adjacent to Shoal Creek, in the west- ern part, are several extensive scopes of wood- land. as there are, also, skirting Bear Creek in the eastern half of the township. The timber is composed principally of the follow- ing varieties: Black oak, post oak, hickory, ash, walnut and elm. The oak is by far the most numerous and valuable. The greater part of the walnut has been cut away many years ago. Some of the recent settlers in the central part of the township derive the greater a count of their incomes from the sale of cord wood, which they cut and haul to Hillsboro, where they always find a ready market and good prices. The soil of the township is considerably diversified. The eastern and northern portions are inclined toward a rich black loam, in some parts more fertile than in others. This land is very easily tilled and produces abundant crops of wheat, corn and oats. It is also well adapted to fruit-grow- ing, and many fine varieties of apples and peaches are raised by the farmers in this sec- tion.
The soil along the creeks, though flat and wet, is very rich with decaying vegetable matter and gives promise of great fertility when the sun's rays can be unchecked by the removal of the dense foliage by which it is shaded. The high portions of the central part are not so well adapted to agriculture, as the soil is composed too largely of clay and gravel to be very fertile.
The most important water-course is Shoal
*By G. N. Berry.
.
402
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Creek, which enters the township from ] the north about two miles east of the western boundary line, and passes in a zigzag course to within half a mile of the Bond County line, thence flows east, leaving the township about three miles east of the southwest corner. The valley through which this stream flows varies in width from a few rods to a mile or more, the greater part of which is in cultiva- tion. It was formerly covered with a thick growth of elms and underbrush. This land, when the season is not too wet, is very valu- able and produces abundantly, but when the season is rainy, the crops are almost always ruined by the overflowing of the creek.
The hills skirting the lowlands are in some places very high and rugged, and can only be used for grazing. Numerous small streams enter Shoal Creek, among which are Parish Branch, Lick Branch and Lake Fork. The last is the largest tributary. It flows in a northeasterly direction and empties into Shoal Creek at a point about one mile north of the county line. Bear Creek is another stream of considerable size, which runs through the township in an irregular channel from north- east to southwest. It receives a number of small tributaries, also, the principal of which is Town Fork. This creek empties into the former about two miles northwest of the vil- lage of Donnellson. The lands lying adjacent to these creeks is in many respects similar to that through which Shoal Creek runs, being high and broken, and, in many places, too rough for cultivation. In an early day, there were several mills built along these streams from which they received the power that operated them Among the very first settle- ments in Grisham Township made by white men was that by Spartan Grisham, in the new country. He lived on the place where year 1819. He settled on a tract of land in the southern part and improved a farm which is now owned by a Mr. Atterbury. He came
to Illinois from Tennessee and was a man of character and influence. Just how long he remained in the township is not known, nor could the date of his death be ascertained. Several descendants of Mr. Grisham still live in the county, all of whom are upright and intelligent citizens. When a name was wanted for the township, it was suggested that Grisham was the most appropriate, not because he was the first settler, but from the fact that he did as much, if not more, than any other man toward its development. James Fogleman came to the township some time during the latter part of the same year in which Grisham came, and settled near the central part on Shoal Creek, where he built the first mill that was ever erected in the county. Of this mill we will speak more fully further on in these pages. He was also a Tennessean by birth, and brought with him to this county a stock of vitality and in- dependence which he had acquired amid the genial airs of his mountain home. Two sons of this sturdy old pioneer are still living in the county-one in Walshville Township and one in Litchfield. They are both prominent citizens and are in affluent circumstances. The next settler of whom we have any definite record was Jesse Johnson, who located the farm now owned by Thomas Atterbury, in the southern part of the township, in the year 1820. He came to Illinois from Tennes- see, in company with William McDavid, who went farther east and settled in East Fork Township at a place which has since been known as McDavid's Point. Uncle Jesse, as he was called, was a true type of the pioneer, and loved nothing better than the excitement incident to the life of an early settler in a he settled until the year 1840, when, finding the houses were becoming too numerous to suit his pioneer tastes, he sold his farm to a
403
GRISHAM TOWNSHIP.
Mr. Trabul, turned his face toward the West and took his departure for the then almost unknown State of Iowa. He lived in Iowa for a number of years, till, becoming restive under the increasing civilization of that State, he again started West, determined not to stop this time till he had reached the Pacific coast, which he did in 1850. He died in Oregon, and was buried among the mountains near the spot which he called his home. He is remembered by the early settlers of Gris- ham as a very eccentric and adventurous character, whose greatest pleasure was in hunting or in riding in fierce gallops over the prairie. It was about this time that Nathan Irving came into the wilderness of Grisham and built his little cabin upon a piece of land near the southern boundary, now known as the Lewey farm. The residence of Lewey stands near the site of the orignial cabin, and thus keeps in memory the location of one of the first houses built by the hands of the white man in Grisham. Irving came from North Carolina, but had lived in a number of States before he settled in Illinois. He left this State and went to Missouri a number of years ago, since which nothing has been heard of him. In the year 1820, James Street, a Baptist preacher, settled on Shoal Creek, near the Fogleman Mill, where he built a cabin and lived for a number of years. IIe had lived in the county a year before he came to this township, but this was his first permanent residence. He preached the first sermon that was ever preached in the county in a little log house, situated just south of the city of Hillsboro, in the year 1819. He was a most excellent man, of unblemished char- acter, and was considered quite a noted preacher in his day. 'Tis true that his ora- tory was not what would now be termed classical, nor were his scholastic acquirements of that profound type which is considered so
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