USA > Illinois > Christian County > History of Christian County, Illinois > Part 47
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CHARLES MILLER.
MR. MILLER has resided in Greenwood township since 1865. He was born near Prusse-Minden, in Prussia, on the 31st of May, 1842. His father, Charles Miller, was a well-to-do farmer for the old country, and owned about two hundred acres of land. His mother's name was Christina Busking. Mr. Miller was the next to the youngest of a family of ten children. He went to sehool till he was fourteen years old, and afterward worked on his father's farm. He was of an enterprising turn of mind, and when he became eighteen determined to emigrate to America and see whether he could better his eireumstances. He came over in a steamer, land- ing in New York in 1860. A man named Conrad Leesaman, who owned a farm in Madison county, in this State, near Edwardsville, came over in the same vessel. Mr. Miller accompanied Lecsaman direct to Madison county, entered his employment and worked for him on his farm for five years. Most of the time he received good wages and saved his money. In 1865 he bought fifty-three acres of land, which is included in his present farm in Greenwood town- ship. In the spring of 1865 he moved on this farm and began in-
proving it. On the 14th of February, 1867, he married Frederika Kurlbaum, who had been born and raised in Madison county. She died on the 19th of January, 1869. His second marriage took place on the 9th of March, 1870, to Mary Greenwood, daughter of William Greenwood, who was born near Philadelphia, and was mostly raised in Illinois, and was living in Rosemond township at the time of her marriage. Mr. Miller has six children: Henry, Lizzie, Anna, William, August and Caroline. The last five are children by his second marriage. He owns 253 acres of land, 233 of which are in one body, and twenty timber land. For his success since coming to this country he is indebted to his own energy and industry. The assistance which he received from the old country amounted in all to only two hundred dollars, and the remainder he has earned by hard work. He stands well among the farmers of Greenwood township. He has always been a republican in politics, and first voted for General Grant for president in 1868.
ELISHA COMPTON.
AMONG the old settlers and leading citizens of Greenwood town- ship is Elisha Compton. He was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, on the 20th of October, 1838. His ancestors were of English deseent, and they settled in Old Virginia at a period previous to the Revolutionary war. George W. Compton, his father, was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, and was married there to Amelia Wood, whose ancestors were also early residents of the Old Domin- ion. Soon after his marriage George W. Compton started with his young wife for Ohio, and settled in Coshocton county. This was about the year 1818. He chose as his location the point of land running down between the Tuscarawas and Walhonding rivers, which there unite to form the Muskingum. This was the birth- place of Elisha Compton. There were eight children in the family, and the subject of this sketch was the fourth in the order of his birth. He lived in Ohio until about eighteen years of age. For the boys of that day the ordinary district schools were the only means of obtaining an education, and not much attention was paid to schooling. The whole family moved to Illinois in 1856, settling in the spring of that year on section 32 of Greenwood township. At that time, this part of the county was but thinly inhabited. The improvements were confined to the edge of the timber. The prairie was almost entirely without settlements. Before the family left Ohio, his father had purchased a thousand acres of land and had a house built ready for occupancy. His father lived in this place till his death, which occurred on the 28th of January, 1877. His mother died on the 4th day of April, 1870. George W. Comp- ton was a man of great industry and of superior business manage- meut. In his youth he had enjoyed but scanty educational advan- tages, but possessed good natural abilities, and was known as a shrewd and successful trader. He had no ambition for public life, and was better suited for the plain career of a quiet farmer. Ile was moral and temperate in his habits, and was respected by every- body who knew him for his many good qualities as a neighbor and a citizen. He was a member of the United Brethren Church. In his polities he was a republican, and had been a member of that party from its first organization. He accumulated considerable property.
Elisha Compton was married on the 1st day of November, 1860, to Miss Ardenia Ann Teasley. This marriage took place at Green- ville, Bond county. Mrs. Compton was born in Bond county, October 30, 1841. Her father, William Teasley, was from Ken- tueky, and came to Illinois about the year 1836, at the age of twenty-one. Her mother's name before marriage was Martha Ann
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Jett. After his marriage Elisha Compton began farming for him- self, and a couple of years afterward moved on the place where he now lives. He owns 180 acres of land. The names of his children are : Martha A., William G., Mary A., Liutisha B., Henry C., Alfarata, and Albert. In his politics he has always been a member of the republican party, and his first vote for president was east for Abraham Lincoln, at his first election in 1860. Although he has been an earnest republican, and on general issues has supported the candidates of that party, yet in local elections and in choosing township officers, he has always felt himself free to vote for the best man for the position without regard to his political proclivities. He was elected justice of the peace in 1878. He is a member of the Methodist Church. As one of the representative citizens of Greenwood township and one of the old settlers of this part of the county, his name deserves a place in this work.
WESLEY SIMPSON.
WESLEY SIMPSON was born in Harrison county, Ohio, on the 9th of January, 1831. His father, Alexander Simpson, was a
native of Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, and was six years old when the family moved to Ohio and settled on the Ohio river at the mouth of Short Creek. Mr. Simpson's mother's maiden name was Eliza Evans; she was born in Ireland, and came to America with an older married sister when she was sixteen. The subject of this sketch was the third of a family of ten children, of whom seven were boys and three girls. He was raised in Harrison county, Ohio, and in the spring of 1852, soon after he was twenty-one years of age, came to this State. He first located in Pike county, and part of the time was engaged in farming and part of the time was a clerk in a store at Perry. His first marriage occurred in Tuscar- awas county, Ohio, to Sarah J. Chency. In the spring of 1857 he settled in Christian county, on a tract of 160 acres of land, in sec- tion twelve of Greenwood township, which he purchased from the Illinois Central Railroad Company. A view of his farin is shown on another page. The death of his first wife took place on the 30th of May, 1873. His second marriage was on the 6th of December, 1877, to Martha S. Cheney, who was born in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. In polities he has always been a republican, and is one of the representative citizens of the southern part of the county.
PRAIRIETON TOWNSHIP.
HIS township, as organized, is located in the north-east corner of the county. It is formed from the south half of township fourteen, and the north half of township thirteen north, range one east of 3d principal meridian. For civil purposes it was attached, and formed a part of Ston- ington Precinct. It is bounded on the north and cast by Macon county, south by Assumption, west by May and Stonington town- ships. The government surveys were made by William S Ham- ilton, U. S. Surveyor, in the summer of 1821. At that period the region round about was one vast wilderness. Clad in nature's garb, no marks of civilization were to be seen on the linings of its timbered streams, or on its extended prairies, over which the decr and wolf gamboled with all the freedom of their native wildness. But as soon as the government permitted, emigration was on the move, and almost before the footprints of the Indian were washed from the soil, the tracks of the white man were made ; and then the " prairie ship," (the covered wagons) were seen traveling over the beautiful prairies. This was the past; but at the present time, instead of the buffalo, the deer and the wolf, its plains are covered with herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and large numbers of swine. At first, the spot selected by the pioneer was not always such as was sought by those coming at a later date ; convenience to wood and water was taken into consideration, and the edge of some grove or timber on the Flat Branch was the location generally selected by the early emigrant. For years after the adventurous pioneers entered the beautiful groves and woodlands of Prairieton, the prairies remained
in their native garb. But now, instead of one vast inland sea of prairie, it is all fenced into large and small enclosures, and dotted over with farm buildings and school houses. Among the pioneer settlers were Aaron Mckenzie, Jolin Mckenzie, George Jacobs, Sr., who came in 1838, the father of George W. Jacobs; Michael Schneider also came in 1838; Samuel Mckenzie, Jacob Trauber, Martin Stumbaugh, Elijah B. Hymer, John H. Belyeu, Daniel B. Hymer, Ellington Adams, came in 1836. Pious Durbin, David Simons, Andrew Simons, Washington Crooks, Samnel Wy- dick, Henry Porter, James Strain, Frederick Hammer, in 1837. John Young, Job B. Davis, Thomas C. Skiff, and R. R. Adams, in 1835. These people had no postal facilities for years after they settled here, but had to go to Decatur for all mail matter. The postage on a letter was 25 cents. Afterwards, it was reduced to 12} cents. Envelopes were not used ; but they folded the letter sheet like to a " thumb-paper," and sealed it with a red wafer. A whole sheet constituted a single letter, but if the same sheet should be cut into pieces it made it double, and postage was charged accordingly.
John Young, and his son-in-law, Job B. Davis, made the first tan yard ; it was located in the south-eastern part of this township. This was a much needed enterprise for the country in that early day. It enabled the old settlers to procure their leather on a cheap basis- and for years it was the custom of each family to do their own shce- making and repairing.
The settlers in the early days were greatly inconvenienced for want of milling facilities. They had to go to Shelbyville, Spangler's Mill,
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RESIDENCE OF WESLEY SIMPSON,
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
near Decatur, or Archies' Mill on the North Fork. There was a " horse-mill" below where Ellington Adams settled, owned by Aaron Mckenzie, which was a neighborhood convenience to some extent. It was a very crude affair, and consumed a great deal of time to fecd it by hand. The capacity for grinding, when run at full power, was calculated to be about one bushel and threc pecks per day. The patrons used it day about, in turns, or rather night about, for they ground mostly at night.
Drainage .- Prairieton is well watercd by the Flat Branch and its tributaries. It enters the township in the north-eastern corner, and runs in a south aud westerly direction through the township, leaving it on Sec. 6, 13-1 east. The principal fork of this strean heads in the Grand Prairie, near Assumption, and runs in a northerly direction for about ten miles-and empties into the Flat Brauch on Sec. 35. A. D. Northcutt, a pioneer settler of the county, located in this township in 1851. At first he lived on the old Hammer homestead, but now resides in the north-east corner of the township. He is one of the large farmers of the township, and is also a preacher of the Christian denomination.
On the adoption of township organization in 1866, this territory, for the first time in its history, assumed a regularly organized form. It embraced the south half of township 14-1 E. and the north half of township 13-1 E. embracing 36 square miles or 23,040 acres. The soil is rich, and is one of the best corn and wheat growing and grazing districts in the county. At the first election, held in April, 1866, W. M. Eaton was elected supervisor aud B. M. Burdick justice of the peace. The other justiec, John D. Brown, held over.
The Illinois Central Railroad passes through the south-east cor- ner of this township. That, with the Wabash road, affords shipping and traveling facilities for the residents of this section of the county.
The following are the first lands entered as showu on the records : T. 14 N., R. 1 E .- March 29, 1836, Daniel Wydick, N. E. } S. W. } Sec. 35, 40 acres ; John McKenzie S. W. }, N. E. } Sec. 31, 40 acres ; Aaron Mckenzie S. & N. W. + Sec. 27, 80 acres ; and E. 2 S. W. + Scc. 27, 80 acres, all on the same date. T. 13 N. R. 1 E. March 29, 1836, Henry Mckenzie, N. } (Lot 1) N. W. Sec. 6, 40 acres ; same date John Mckenzie, N. E. } N. E. + Sec. 6, 40 acres. July 4, 1836, Richard F. Barrett, entered four or five hundred acres in Sections 6 and 7.
The following is a list of Township officers since organization : 24
Supervisors .- William M. Eaton, elected 1866; A. D. Northeutt. 1867 ; Joseph Adams, 1868, and re-elected in 1869; A. D. North- cutt, 1870 ; Geo. F. Rice, 1871; A. D. Northcutt, 1872, and re- elected 1873; C. D. Burdiek, 1874; E. S. Valentine, 1875, and re- elected 1876; Joseph Adams 1877, and by re-elections has held the office ever siuce.
Assessors .- A. T. Catherwood, 1876; C. T. Chapman, 1877 ; J. H. McGrath, 1878 ; R. R. Gordon, C. T. Chapman, 1880.
Collectors .- Dudley J. Watson, elected 1866; J. B. Gordon, 1867 ; Bishop A. Wash, 1868 ; J. B. Gordon, 1869, re-elected 1870 and '71; Isaac Bilyeu, 1872; J. H. Bilyeu, 1873, re-elected 1874; G. W. Adams, 1875; J. H. Bilyeu, 1876, re-elected 1877; P. A. Palmer, 1878; Wm. Wydiek, 1879, re-elected 1880.
Town Clerk .- B. F. Wetzel, 1876, re-clected until 1880.
Commissioners of Highways .- H. B. Hurd, 1876; George Bilyeu, 77; Alfred Breggs. 77; R. A. Radford, 1877 ; E. S. Valentine, 1878 ; George Bilyeu, 1879. Michael Workman, 1880.
Constables .- William Robinson, elected in 1873; William C. Mauzy, 1874; S. M. Workman, 1877; William Robinson, re- elected 1877 ; J. M. Jacobs, 1878.
Justices of the Peace .- B. M. Burdick and Wm. P. Mauzy, elected in 1866; Dudley G. Watson, 66; Bishop A. Wash, 70; Hawley L. Reaus, 70; H. L. Reans, re-elected 73; Wm. L. Cohenour and Peter A. Palmer, 73; Edward S. Valentine, 74; P. A. Palmer and J. M. Brown, 77.
Among the older settlers of Christian county, now residing in Prairieton, may be mentioned the following-we also give the date when they came to the county. Joseph Adams, a Kentuckian by birth, and one of the leading farmers and stock raisers in the town- ship, settled in the county in 1837; his wife, Nancy M. Wydick, is a native of Macon county, Ill., and came to Christian county in 1833. The venerable Elder A. D. Northcutt is also among the early and prominent settlers of the township ; he is a native of Ken- tucky, and settled in the county in 1837. His wife, Mary J. Ham- mer, is also a native of the same state, and came to the county in 1837. Among the more recent settlers may be mentioned R. R. Gordon, also a Kentuckian, who came in 1856; Michael Work- mau, in 55; E. G. Coonrod, in 1861; Edward S. Valentine, in 73 ; Theodorc F. Malhoit, in 57 ; John Plain, also a Kentuckian, came here in 1855, Prairicton ranks among the wealthy and well- improved townships of the county.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Joss Adams
THE gentleman, whose portrait heads this sketch, is one of the old settlers of Prairieton township, and a native of Kentucky. Hc has been living in Christian county since 1837. He is descended from a family of English origin, who settled in Virginia at an early date. His grandfather on his father's side emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky at an early period. His father, Ellington Adams, was born in Montgomery county, in the year 1804, was raised in the same part of the state, and died when he was at an early age. He married, in Montgomery county, Kentucky, Eliza- beth Gorden, who was also a native of Montgomery county, Ken- tucky, in the year 1809. Her father's name was Randel Gorden, who was a native of the state of Virginia, and moved to Kentucky in the year 1791, and settled in Montgomery county. When he made his home in Kentucky it was then wild and unsettled, and the pioneers experienced considerable difficulty with the Indians, who were yet minerous throughout the country. The settlers were only able to farm a little ground in the near neighborhood of a fort, and they were obliged to carry their guns with them when they did their plowing to guard against the Indian attacks, When Mr. Adams re-visited Kentneky he saw on the old farm of his grand- father six Indian graves still preserved, where were buried six In- dians whom members of the family killed while resisting their at-
tacks in the first years of their settlement. Mr. Adams' grandfather died on the same farm on which he settled on first moving to Ken- tucky. Mr. Adams' father lived in Kentucky until 1834, and then moved to Sangamon county, Illinois, and went to farming on Liek Creek, eleven miles south-west of Springfield. He lived in Sanga- mon county three years, and then came to Christian county and settled in a grove about a mile north of the timber in Prairieton township. The grove was known subsequently as " Adams' Grove." He lived there until his death in February, 1876. Ellington Adams was a man who came to Illinois with but seanty means, and at the time of his death had accumulated a sufficient competence to thoroughly provide against all the wants of life. He owned seven hundred and ninety acres at the time of his death. He was a man of considerable industry and economy, and had been a good citizen of the county. His widow still resides on the old homestead. He had ten children, of whom four are now dead; six are living, all of whom reside in Christian county with the exception of one who lives over the line in Shelby.
Joseph Adams was born in Montgomery county, Kentucky, on Red River, January 17th, 1833. He was one year old on the re- moval of the family to this state, and about four years of age when they came to Christian county. He has consequently been prin-
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RES. AND STOCK FARM OF JOS. ADAMS, SEC. // T. 13 R. E. (PRAIRIETONTP) CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.
The Library of the University of Illinois
The Library of the University of Illinois.
RES. AND STOCK FARM OF E. G. COON ROD, SEC. 18, T. 13, R.I, E.(PRAIRIETON TP.,) CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
cipally raised in this county, in the vicinity of where he now lives. The schools of that time were of rather an inferior character, and the school he attended was three miles away and held in a little log house, with puncheon floors, and slabs for benches. With such ad- vantages as these Mr. Adams managed to secure the foundation for a good education. He afterwards attended school one year in Mt. Sterling, Montgomery county, Kentucky. During Mr. Adams' younger days railroads, of course, were not in existence, and St. Louis was their only market, and, when eleven years old, Mr. Adams was pressed into service to assist in driving the hogs to St. Louis ; and this was kept up every year until the building of the Illinois Central Railroad in 1854. It required from seven to twenty days to drive the hogs to St. Louis, and on their return trip they brought back a full stock of groceries and store goods for use until the next trip. Mr. Adams lived at home until his marriage, which occurred June 9th, 1856, to Nancy Widick, who was born in Macon county, near the Christian county line, and daughter of Samuel Widick, who was from Pennsylvania, and settled in Macon county at an carly date. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, and served in the North-western campaign against the Indians. On the breaking out of the war of the rebellion he insisted on going into the army, although he was then a very old man. He enlisted in Company G, 41st Regiment Illinois Volunteers, and served for two years, enduring the hardships of a soldier's life with compara- tive ease. After two years' service he was taken sick, and died in the hospital at St. Louis in 1864. In 1856 Mr. Adams moved on the tract of land which now comprises his present farm in the south- eastern part of Prairieton township. He has been farming there from that time to the present, and has been engaged to a consider- able extent in feeding stock, and in former years in raising fine hogs. He is the owner of thirteen hundred and sixty acres of land. Mr. Adams is a man of considerable energy and business capacity, and one who has made his own way through life principally by his own efforts. He has had twelve children, eight of whom are living: George W., John Wheeler, Florence, Ira, Jesse, Eva, Eliza- beth, Anna May. Three children died in infancy, and a daughter, who married John Myers, died at the age of twenty-two. In his politics Mr. Adams has always been a member of the democratic party, to whose principles he has closely adhered. His first vote for president was cast for Douglas in 1860. He has been engaged in business largely, and his time has been so taken up that he has had no opportunity to take any active part in politics. He was elected a member of the board of supervisors for Prairieton township in 1867, and served four years. He was elected again in 1876, and has filled that position to the present time. On another page we give an elegant view of his farm and residence.
EDMUND G. COONROD.
IN making mention of many of the leading farmers and repre- sentative men of Christian county, it is proper that we should include the name of Edmund G. Coonrod. He was born in Greene county, Illinois, Sept. 5, 1832, and is the son of Stephen and Caudis Coonrod. As the name implies the family is of German ancestry. Stephen Coonrod was a native of Grayson county, Ky. The father of Stephen was also a native of the United States, and spoke Ger- man fluently. At an early day he settled in Kentucky, where he married. He subsequently moved to Illinois and settled in Greene county, in 1830, where he resided until his death. Stephen Coon- rod married Miss Caudis Lee while living in Kentucky, and soon after his marriage settled in Wayne county, Ill., and subsequently removed to Greene county, Ills. A few years prior to his father's arrival in that county, he improved a farm west of Carrollton. He
was one of the pioneer preachers of the Baptist church in that part of the state. In the history of Macoupin county, Ills., it is stated that the Rev. Stephen Coonrod preached the first sermon to the pioneers of Scottville in that county. He organized a small church in the south part of the township, holding his meetings occasionally at the residences of the first settlers. He died in the winter of 1874 or '75, on the farm he had improved, and where he had resided for nearly half a century. Stephen Coonrod had a family of ten children, six boys and four girls, of whom the subject of our sketch is the sixth. Edmund G. lived at home with his father until he was twenty-nine years of age. During his minority he attended the district schools of the neighborhood. On the 7th of February, 1861, he was married to Miss Nancy Doyle, of Greene county, Ills. Mr. Doyle was one of the early settlers in the above county. Mr. Coonrod and wife have been blessed with a family of four children, viz : Edmund D., Orson P., Rena B. and Mary A. Mr. C., immediately after his marriage, in 1861, settled in Christian county, where he now resides, on the land which he had previously entered and made some improvements as early as 1857. His farm now comprises 320 acres, well improved, with good, substantial buildings, a view of which can be seen on another page of this work. In politics he is a democrat.
JOHN PLAIN.
MR. PLAIN, who is now farming in Prairieton township, is a na- tive of Kentucky, and was born in Muhlenburgh county of that state, December 1st, 1821, the third of four children of David Plain and his wife Sarah, whose maiden name was Ginch. His father came to Kentucky from Virginia, and was born in the state of In- diana. Mr. Plain lived in the state of Kentucky till he was seven years old, and then his father moved all the family to Illinois, and settled in Morgan county four miles north of Jacksonville. After living there two years the family moved from Morgan county to Macoupin in the winter of 1830-31. They were overtaken by the deep snow on Apple creek, and were compelled to remain all winter in a log house which had only one room about 14 feet square, with a rude chimney built of sticks and clay. Ten persons occupied the room a greater part of the winter. The snow was so deep it was im- possible to get a team out, and the wood to burn was packed on their backs as well as their corn and provisions. As soon as they could start they made their way across the prairies, which were covered with water, to Shaw's Point, eight miles east of Carlinville, where Mr. Plain was raised. His father died there. Mr. Plain married, in Macoupin county, Mary Ann Workman, a native of Kentucky. In 1848 he moved to Sangamon county on Lick creek, and was farming there till 1852, and then came to Chris- tian county and settled on the Flat Branch in Prairieton township; in 1853 he moved over the line into Shelby county, and lived in that county till 1863, and then came back to Prairieton township in Christian county, and lived there till the fall of 1865, and then moved to Maryland, but returned the same fall to Prairieton township. In 1870 he again moved to Maryland, and made one crop in St. Clair county, but came back to Illinois the same year, and settled on the place where he now lives, section 13, T. 13, R. 1 E. His first wife died October 17, 1866. His second marriage occurred August 21, 1867, to Nancy M. Teeple, who was born in the state of Tennessee. Mr. Plain had eleven children by his first wife, of whom eight are living, and five by lis second wife, of whom two are living. In politics he has been a democrat, though on local elections, etc., he has sometimes voted for the best man for office. Mr. Plain has now lived fifty-two years in Illinois, and is one of the oldest settlers of the state.
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