USA > Illinois > Christian County > History of Christian County, Illinois > Part 42
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The settlement known as " Bell's Grove," was named by John Bell, who settled there in 1836. It was included within the limits of "Stone Coal Preeinet," in 1845. James Waddle and John
Crow came to the Grove in 1842, and William Reed and Jonathan Blackburn came at a later date, probably in 1844. " Bell's Grove" was in Town 11 N. R. 1 W. (Rosemond), and the above named persons were properly the first settlers in Rosemond township.
Wm. A. Chase was also an early settler, and was noted for being largely engaged in fruit growing. He was a native of Mass., and came to Illinois in 1842, and settled in Rosemond township in June, 1857.
We give a list of the first land entries, which appear upon the records : Feb. 3, 1836, J. Black and J. T. B. Stapp, entered the E. half of S. E. quarter, See. 24, 80 aeres, also E. half N. E. quarter, See. 25, 80 acres ; W. half N. E. quarter, Sec. 25, 80 aeres, and E. half of S. E. quarter, Sec. 25, 80 aeres. Feb. 5, 1836, J. S. Hayward and C. Holmes, the W. half of S. E. quarter, scetion 24, 80 acres ; N. W. quarter, seetion 25, 160 acres; S. W. quarter, section 25, 160 aeres ; W. half S. E. quarter, seetion 25, 80 aeres. January 9, 1851, John Evans, entered lot 2, in N. E. quarter, section 2, 78 68- 100 aeres ; also lot 1, N. E. quarter, section 2, 80 aeres ; lot 2, N. W. quarter, seetion 2, 80 60-100 aeres; lot 1, N. W. quarter, sec- tion 2, 80 aeres; lot 2, N. E. quarter, section 3, 82 28-100 aeres ; lot 1, N. E. quarter, section 3, 80 acres.
During the first years of the settlement, they cultivated their . farms without enelosing them with fences, as feneing materials were not easily gotten, and hedge would not grow large enough in so short a time. Hence a stock law for this township was passed by the state legislature in Feb. 1857, compelling the inhabitants to keep up their stock. It eaused considerable ill-feeling and conten- tion, but served a good purpose by advaneiug the eultivation and improvements of this township, while the adjoining ones remained longer in their original state.
The first marriage in this township was John L. Marvin to Miss Minnie Hawley, by Rev. R. M. Roberts.
The first death was probably that of Silas Clapp, who died May 20. 1857, aged 54 years.
The first religious meeting was held at the house of John Putnam, in the early part of 1856, soon after the arrival of the New England colony. In the spring of 1856, a Sabbath-school was organized, numbering twenty-five scholars. The children were elassed, and the adults formed a Bible class. O. M. Hawks was the first super- intendent. In the religious meeting the male members took their turns in condueting the exereises. During the first summer, the Rev. Joseph Gordon, of Vandalia, was the first to raise the standard of Christianity and preach the Gospel to the new settlement. He came onee in four weeks, which with Rev. Timothy Hill and Rev. Thos. Holmes, preaching on alternate Sundays, was all the clerical services previous to the organization of a ehureh.
On the 7th day of September, 1856, a congregational church was organized by Rev. A. T. Norton, who offieiated as moderator, and
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
B R. Hawley as clerk. The whole number of members uniting was twenty-two.
Rev. Wm. C. Merritt was the first pastor.
The Congregational Church was erected in Rosemond in 1867.
The Methodist Church was organized at a later date, and they erceted their church in Rosemond, in the year 1868.
Schools were established at an early date. The first school-house was erected in 1858, and was also used for a long time for church purposes.
The Sherman school-house was built in 1864, and is located one mile south of the Buckeye church.
The Grant school-house was built on Section 17, in 1869.
The county poor farm is located on section 3 of this township, on land purchased of J. W. and Thornton Hunter, in 1869. The poor-house was erected in the summer and fall of 1870, and later a brick lock-up for the insane and unruly paupers.
The following is a list of officers since township organization :
Supervisors .- M. Simpson, elected 1866; W. A Schemerhon, 1867, re-elected 1868; M. P. Simpson, 1869, re-elected 1870; Rob- ert Little, 1871; L. Parsons, 1872, re-elected 1873, '74 and '75; Jos. Gimlin, 1876; J. W. MeElroy, 1877, re-elected 1878 and '79 ; Thomas Bonnel, elected 1880.
Assessors .- John A. McElroy, 1876; C. G. Richards, 1877, and re-elected 1878, '79 and '80.
Colleetors .- T. L. Hartup, elected 1866; Henry M. Graham, 1867 ; and by re-election held the office to 1876; P. L. Dodge, 1876; and by re-election has held the office ever since.
Town Clerks .- Chas. W. Hill, clected 1867, and re-elected each succeeding year up to 1879 ; A Guthrie, 1880.
Commissioners of Highways .- R. J. McAfee, 1876; Henry Bess, 1877 ; J. Kendall, 1878; Wm. Nicholson, 1879; I. N. Por. ter, 1880.
Constables,-John F. Warner and Ira Kimball, elected in 1877.
Justice of the Peace -Joseph Rosenberry, elected 1870; L Par- sons, 1870; Joshua Pepper and Joseph Rosenberry, 1873; Henry M. Grayham and Joseph Rosenberry, 1877; L. Parsons, 1879.
THE TOWN OF ROSEMOND
Is located in the south-east corner of section 23. It was first only a railroad station.
The town was first surveyed and platted Oct. 25th, 1860, by C. A. Manners, for B. R. Hawley and Phordice Boutwell, the original proprietors. There was left a lot for a public square and one for a public school building.
The town is beautifully situated on an elevated tract, command- ing a very good view of the surrounding country. It is quite a grain shipping point, and at one time there was a good flouring mill. The mill is yet standing, but is in a rather dilapidated con- dition.
There are two neat and comfortable churches, viz: The Metho- dist and the Congregational. There is also a good public school building, and a number of nice residences.
Below is a list of the business houses.
ELEVATORS.
The Haywood elevator was erected by S. M. Haywood & Son, in 1875, and is now owned and operated by C. D. Haywood. It is constructed for handling all kinds of grain, with a capacity of 16 000 bushels.
W. W. Powell erected an elevator in 1879, with a capacity of 15,000 bushels, which is constructed on the most improved plan, and said to be the best in operation in the county.
General Store .- Louis Guth.
Physicians .- G. M. Walker, F. Fisher, R. S. Simpson.
Blacksmith .- Matt. Hilger.
Wagon Maker .- William Christner.
Boot and Shoe Maker .- John B. Frost.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JEREMIAH H. MURRY.
MR. MURRY'S ancestors were of Welsh descent. Three brothers, Henry, Charles and John Murry, emigrated from Wales to America in the year 1773; of these, John Murry was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He was eighteen years old on coming to America. He served five years in the Revolutionary war, and among the battles in which he took part was that of Bunker Hill. In common with the soldiers of the American army, he was com- pelled to undergo considerable privation and hardship, and among other incidents related of him it is said that on one of the forced marches which the enemy made, he lost his shoes in a swamp, und for a whole week afterward stood guard and performed his duties ns a soldier in his bare feet. After the Revolution, John Murry settled in Washington county, Maryland, and married Eliza- beth Bostetter. Jacob Murry was the name of Mr. Murry's father. He was born in Washington county, Maryland, near Hagerstown,
December 1st, 1784. When a young man, he went to Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and married Catharine Hallman. Jacob and Catharine Murry were the parents of fourteen children, all of whom grew to be men and women, married and had families. Jacob Murray, in 1837, moved to Tuscarawas county, Ohio. He died in Seneca county, Ohio, February 16th, 1864, and his remains now repose at Fort Seneca, Ohio, on the oldl battle ground, the scene of Gen. Harrison's engagement with the Indians. His wife, Catharine Murry, was born in the year 1792, and is still living in Seneca county, Ohio, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years.
Jeremiah II. Murry was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, March 8th, 1813. Free schools had in his boyhood not yet been established, and but little attention was paid to education. He was the oldest of the family, and as soon as he was large enough, was obliged to help with the work on the farm. Consequently, he at- tended school not more than three months altogether, and for his
FARM RESIDENCE OF J. H. MURRY, SEC. 6, Tp. 11, R.1 W. (ROSEMOND TP.) CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.
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"EMERY FARM", THERESIDENCE OF N. B. CHALFANT, FARMER & STOCK RAISER, SEC.30, T. II, R.I. E.(PANA. TP.) CHRISTIAN CO. I LL.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
education he is indebted mostly to his own efforts. On the 11th of May, 1833, he married Ann C. Wolfkill, who was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, near Gettysburg, on the 15th of June, 1812. Her great-grandfather on her father's side came from Wales, set- tled in Pennsylvania, took part in the Indian wars before the Revolution, and was killed by the Indians, at Fort Littleton, in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. Her grandfather was Peter Wolfkill. Her father, Henry Wolfkill, was a farmer in Adams County, Pennsylvania, and married Elizabeth Guidtner, daughter of John Samuel Guidtner, who was pressed into service as a tailor during the Revolution, lived to be nearly ninety-three, and died in Franklin county. Her father, Henry Wolfkill, was drafted into the United States service during the last war with Great Britain. He was a man of more than usually good musical talents, and belonged to one of the regimental bands. He accompanied the army to Black Rock, as it was then called, now the city of Buffalo. Through exposure, (the soldiers being compelled to sleep on rushes at night to keep themselves out of the water) he was taken with a fever, which occasioned his death. Mrs. Murry still has in her possession the old original fife, whose piercing music enlivened the march of the American soldiers in their campaigns against the British. Mr. Murry was farming in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, till 1837, and then moved to Tuscarawas county, Ohio. There he hecame the owner of eighty acres of land. In 1856 he came to Illinois, and on the first day of September of that year settled where he now lives, on scetion 6 of Rosemond township.
The prairie on which he settled is called the Buckeye prairie, from the fact that it was settled mostly by Ohio people. In the fall of 1856, between his house and Pana, not a furrow had been drawn nor a house built. Mr. and Mrs. Murry have had ten children. The names of those living are as follows : John R. Mur- ry, now farming in McPherson county, Kansas; Ann Elizabeth, now Mrs. D. F. Stockbridge, of Springfield; Catherine Rebecca, wife of D. S. Wolfkill, of Waverly, Morgan county ; Joanna S., wife of Z. F. Bates, of Locust township; and D. F. Murry, who is now practicing law at Morrisonville. Five are deceased-Cynthia Isa- belle died at the age of four years and four months, in Stark county, Ohio; Sarah Alice died at the age of nearly seven ; Rosa, at the age of three years and two months ; Aramintha F. was nearly seven years old at the time of her death. Jacob W. Murry, the fourth child, was a young man of unusual talents. In his eighteenth year he entered Wittenberg College, Ohio, in which he was a student for a year ; he taught school several years in this county, and intended to continue his collegiate studies and enter the ministry. His career was, however, unfortunately cut short, April 6th, 1860, by typhoid fever.
In his political principles, Mr. Murry has always been a demo- crat. His first vote for president was cast for Gen. Jackson. Both he and his wife adhere in their theologieal belief to the Lutheran denomination, and Mrs. Murry, from girlhood, has been a subscriber and reader of the Lutheran Observer, the old organ of the Luthe- ran denomination.
JOSEPH W. MCELROY
WAS born in Harrison county, Ohio, on the 1st of August, 1839. His ancestors on his father's side were of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, Robert McElroy, was born in Pennsylvania, and at an early day became a resident of Ohio. He married Mary McFadden, who was born and raised in Ohio, and whose father was one of the early settlers of that state. By this marriage there were ten children, of whom Joseph W. McElroy was the youngest. In the spring of 1840, when the subject of this sketch was about eight months of
age, his father moved with the family to Illinois and settled in Pikc county. In that part of the state Mr. MeElroy was raised. His father died when he was between eleven and twelve years old. The neighborhood where the family resided was thinly settled, and the schools offered inferior advantages in the way of obtaining an edu- cation. Most of his knowledge was obtained by his own efforts. He lived at home till his marriage, which occurred on the 16th of February, 1860, to Miss Emma Pence, a native of Preble county, Ohio, but who was living in Pike county in this state at the time of her marriage.
In the spring of 1860 he moved to Morgan county, where he was engaged in farming till 1862, when he came to this county, and first rented land in Rosemond township, and in 1864 purchased 80 aeres in section 18, on which he has sinee resided. He is now the owner of 200 acres, part of which lies in Greenwood township. He has had seven children, of whom four (William, Alice, Minnie, and Charles) are now living. He is one of the representative citizens of Locust township
He was originally a republican, and his first vote for President was cast for Lincoln in 1860. The last few years he has occupied an independent position in politics, adhering to the views commonly maintained by the national grcenbaek organization. He is opposed to monopolies in every shape, and in favor of relief from the oppres- sive influences which the moncy-power and gigantic corporations exert over the body of the people.
He was chosen a member of the Board of Supervisors from Rose- mond township in 1873, '74 and '75. He has also acted as Town- ship Trustee.
LOUIS GUTII.
THIS gentleman, who is at present engaged in the drug business at Rosemond, became a resident of this eounty in 1859. He was born near the village of Ehrlbach, in Alsace, on the 25th of Sept., 1831. Alsace at that time was a part of France, and so he was born a French subject, though sinee the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 it has been annexed to Germany. His parents' namics were Francis Guth and Lena Fluck; his mother died in 1839 when he was about eight years of age, and his father married a second time. Of the five children by his father's first marriage, Mr. Guth is the only one now living.
The year 1842 marked the emigration of the family from Ger- many to America. They settled in La Salle county, in this state, where Mr. Guth spent his boyhood. He never attended school after coming to this country ; the only schooling he received was in Ger- many. La Salle county was at that time a new county, and in the district in which he lived no school had yet been established. In 1850, when nineteen, he went to Millington in Kendall county, and began learning the trade of a wagon-maker. After learning this trade he worked at it in the town of Millington till 1859.
While living there he married Caroline Krebs, who was born in Baden, Germany, on the 22d of January, 1836. IIer father was Hironimus Krebs, and her mother's name before marriage Benedicte Bayer. Mr. Krebs cmigrated with the family to America in 1848, and after living one year in Erie, Pennsylvania, came to Newark, Kendall county, in this state, in 1849, and from there moved to Millington. Her father was a cabinet-maker.
In 1859 Mr. Guth came to Rosemond, and established himself at his trade of a wagon-maker.
At the beginning of the war of the rebellion he was living at Rosemond, and on the 13th of July, 1861, he enlisted for three years in Company M, 3d Illinois cavalry. Mustering in at Camp Butler at Springfield, his regiment was sent thence to Mis-
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souri, and from that state moved down into Arkansas. The first battle in which he took part was that of Pea Ridge. After that en- gagement his regiment was in eamp for a time in south-western Mis- souri, and then proceeded to Batesville, Ark., where he was stationed from May to July, 1862. From Batesville he was ordered to Helena, Arkansas, where he was seized with a serious attack of the lung fever. So critical was his condition that he was removed to the hospital, and after laying there four weeks he was discharged from the service, by reason of disability, on the 29th of Oet., 1862. He returned to Rosemond, and gradually regaining his health he re-enlisted in February, 1864, and rejoined his old company and regiment, at Memphis, Tennessee. He subsequently served in Ten- nessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi, and took part in the battle of Tupelo. In the summer of 1864 his regiment was sent to Kon- tucky, and at Paducah embarked on a boat for Nashville, at which place the foree arrived just as the battle of Nashville was over. At the elose of the war he was in Mississippi. The war department determined to send the 3d Illinois cavalry against the Indians, who at that time were troublesome on the frontiers of Minnesota. From St. Louis the regiment went by boat up the Mississippi to Minnesota, and on the 4th of July, 1865, left Fort Snelling in pursuit of the savages. The campaign extended as far west as Fort Berthold on the Missouri river, and north within thirty miles of the British linc. Returning to Fort Snelling he received his discharge in October, 1865.
He came back to Rosemond and resumed work at his trade, but found that his health had become so impaired that it was difficult to withstand the labor required. Accordingly in 1869 he disposed of his wagon making business, and moved on a farm within a mile of Rosemond. In 1873 he returned to the town of Rosemond, and engaged in the business of buying grain. In 1875, in partner- ship with Charles Dunsford, he began the drug business. Since Mr. Dunsford's death in 1877 he has carried on the drug business by himself.
He has always been a stanch and steadfast member of the repuh- lican party, and has been connected with it from its earliest organiza- tion ; his first vote for President was cast in 1856 for Gen. Fremont, the first candidate for the Presidency presented by the republicans.
Mr. Guth is a man of quiet and reserved disposition, and a good citizen. For the game of chess, one of his chief sources of recrea- tion, he possesses great fondness.
LEMUEL PARSONS
WAS born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, December 5th, 1825. Ilis father, Lemuel Parsons, and his mother, Achsah Richards, were both natives of Berkshire county. The subject of this sketch was the youngest of nine children. His education was obtained principally at the Westfield Normal School. Leaving home at the age of twenty, he took charge of a school at Green river, Columbia county, New York. For several years afterwards he was engaged in teaching in the States of New York, Massachusetts and Con- nectient, the most of the time in Connecticut. In 1854, he went to Brandon, Mississippi, as professor of mathematics in the Brandon High School. In 1855, he became associate principal of the Baton Rouge Collegiate Institute, a large and flourishing school for boys at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He kept that position till the break- ing out of the war of the rebellion occasioned his removal to the north. A sister had settled at Rosemood, while visiting whom in 1858 he had purchased a tract of land which forms part of his present farm. He came to Rosemond in the summer of 1861, and has since been engaged in farming. Paring the war he was enroll-
ing officer for Rosemond township. From 1865 to 1874, he was Justice of the Peace, and was again elected to that office in May, 1879. From 1870 to 1877, he represented Rosemond township on the Board of Supervisors. Since his residence at Rosemond he has been connected with the Congregational Church, and is a member of the Board of Trustees and Superintendent of its Sunday-school. He was first a whig in politics and afterward a republican. His wife, Mary Ellen Moxley, a native of New London, Connecticut. whom he married at Groton, Connecticut, on the 1st of September, 1857, died on the 26th of January, 1880.
ROBERT S. EWING.
LIKE many of the residents of Rosemond, Mr. Ewing hails from the good old State of Ohio. His ancestors on his father's side formerly lived on a farm which passed the boundary line between Maryland and Pennsylvania. The dwelling-house was in Pennsyl- vania, and the spring close by in Maryland. Alexander Ewing, the father of Robert S. Ewing, was born in Pennsylvania, and in that state married Susan A. Hutton. This marriage took place about the year 1815. In the year 1819, he moved out to Ohio, and settled in a part of the state which was then wild and thinly in- habited. He made a farm in the heavy timber. This farm was in Jefferson county, on the line between Jefferson and Harrison. The pike road between Steubenville and Cadiz ran past the place, and it was not sixteen miles from Steubenville. Oa this farm, on the 7th day of August, 1834, was born Robert S. Ewing. After living thirty-two years on the same place, in 1851, his father moved west- ward, and found a home in Pike county, in this state, nine miles north of Pittsfield, where he beeame the owner of a large and valu- able farm, and where he died on the 9th of May, 1865, at the age of nearly seventy seven. Mr. Ewing's mother died in Pike county, in the early part of the year 1873, at the age of about seventy-two.
He was the eleventh of a family of sixteen children, composed of seven brothers and nine sisters, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood. The first seventeen years of his life were spent in Ohio. He worked on the farm in the summer and attended school in the winter till he was sixteen. After coming to this state in 1851, he had his home with his father till his marriage, which took place on the 21st of March, 1861.
The maiden name of his wife was Caroline Simpson, daugliter of James Simpson and Mary Noble. Her grandfather, John Simpson, emigrated from Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, to Harrison county, Ohio, where he was one of the pioncer settlers. Her father was born in Harrison county, Ohio, in the same house in which his daughter, Mrs. Ewing, was subsequently born. Her mother, Mary Noble, was born in Ireland, and came to America when a small child in the year 1822. Mrs. Ewing's parents are now living at Rosemond.
After his marriage, Mr. Ewing lived for a couple of years on a farm adjoining the old homestead, and then moved back to his father's old farm on which he lived till he left Pike county. In 1868, he came to this county, and bought three hundred and twenty aeres of land in section eleven of Rosemond township. This was raw prairie land without improvements. Forty aeres had been broken and put in wheat, but this was the only attempt which had been made toward putting it in cultivation. In the summer of 1868, he built his present residence, into which he moved the following September. He devoted his attention to the cultivation and im- provement of his farm, and is now the owner of a fine and valuable traet of land. In 1875, he and his wife paid a visit to Kansas, and their health becoming somewhat impaired, Mr. Ewing, in 1876,
RESIDENCE & STOCK FARM OF R.S. EWING, SEC. II, T. II, R.I, W. ROSEMOND TP, CHRISTIAN CO, ILL.
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RESIDENCE & FRUIT FARM OF WM. A. CHASE, SEC. 13, T. II, R. I VI. ROSEMONDTA, CHRISTIANCO., ILL.
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leased his farm for three years with the purpose of residing in Kan- sas during that time, there recovering the health of himself and wife, and then returning to Illinois. Accordingly he bought eighty acres of land in Harvey county, Kansas, on which he erected a dwelling-house and other improvements, but having some difficulty with the lease of his farm in this county, he returned to Illinois in March, 1877, and has since been living on his farm in Roscmond township.
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He is one of the substantial and representative farmers of this part of the county. He has been industrious and energetic as far as permitted by ill health, from which he has suffered to some extent for several years. Mr. and Mrs. Ewing have had eight children, whose names are as follows: Maggie A., Benjamin S., Emma E., Carrie J., James G., Robert E., John M. and Jacob H. The oldest daughter, Maggie A., was born in 1862. When seven years of age she was taken with a disease of the spine, from which she suffered for several years, and from which she died on the 28th of June, 1875. In politics Mr. Ewing has always been a republican.
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