USA > Illinois > Christian County > History of Christian County, Illinois > Part 48
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
H.M.SNYDER.
Mirformal function
AMONG the old settlers of this county none better deserve men- tion in this work than Michael Schneider, of Prairieton township. He was born in October, 1812. His birth-place was at Höh-eined, about eighteen English miles distant south-east from Zweibrucken, in Rhine-Bavaria, Germany. Höh-eined was about fifteen miles froin the French border. His father was also named Michael Schneider, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Schaeffer. His mother died when the subject of this sketch was six years of age. About the year 1821, his father came to America, and after four years sent back for his children to come over. Michael was then thirteen years old. He came over to America in a sailing vessel, accompanied only by a sister two years older than himself. It required eighty days to make the passage across the ocean. This was in the year 1825. Landing in New York, he went to Bethle- hem, Pennsylvania, where his father had made his home in this country. After residing two years at Bethlehem the family removed to Cincinnati. While living in Cincinnati he married Margaret Kantz, who was born at the village of Ispringen, within three miles of Ptorzheim, in Baden, Germany, on the 21st of March, 1811. She was the daughter of Christopher Kautz and Catharine Lichten- barger. Her father died when she was about fifteen. Her mother emigrated with the family to America in the year 1828, when Mrs. Schneider was in her eighteenth year. From New York, where her mother landed with the family, they went to Baltimore, and after a residence in that city of ten months proceeded to Cincinnati. Mr. and Mrs. Schneider were married on the 11th of November, 1833.
He was employed while at Cincinnati, in the pork house of Andrew Heredis, who subsequently moved to Sangamon county in
H.M SNYDER
Mangeard Digminhas
this state, and engaged largely in farming and the milling business. Mr. Schneider was induced by him to come to Illinois. He and his wife embarked in a boat down the Ohio river. On account of the Mississippi being frozen, they made a stop of a few days at Paducah, Kentucky, and as soon as the river was free from ice ascended the Mississippi and the Illinois to Beardstown, and from there made their way to Sangamon county. He settled on Lick creek, twelve miles south-west of Springfield.
In the year 1837, he removed to his present location in this county. Christian county had not at that time been organized, and the place where he settled was in the county of Shelby. The old pioneers thought generally that he had made a bad location. It was commonly believed that the " milk-sickness" prevailed in that locality, and his few neighbors thought he would soon be obliged to remove to another place. There were few settlements then in the neighborhood. A few improvements had been made along the timber, but the prairie was all wild and uncultivated, and over it roamed wolves, deer, and other wild animals in large numbers. He would have been considered a rash prophet who would have ven- tured to predict the development of this wilderness into the rich and prosperous agricultural country which now greets the traveler's eye. The nearest market for hogs was in St. Louis, about a hundred miles away It usually required eleven or twelve days to make the trip. The most of their groceries and provisions were also ob- tained in St. Louis. He frequently hanled wheat to St. Lonis, obtaining for it only thirty cents a bushel.
Mr. Schneider came to this state without any means. On reaching Illinois his cash capital amounted only to eight dollars. It required hard work to get ahead. The first ten dollars he earned after
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RES. AND STOCK FARM OF MICHAEL SCHNEIDER, SEC. 36, T. 14, R. I. E. PRAIRIETON TP, CHRISTIAN CO.,ILL.
The Library of the University of Illinois
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
coming to Sangamon county, was by making brick at Springfield, tramping the mud with his feet. He hauled the rock for the first culvert built on the railroad between Jacksonville and Meredosia- the first railroad constructed in the state of Illinois. By selling a horse and part of his scanty houschold furniture he managed to increase the amount thus earned to one hundred dollars, with which he entered the eighty acres where he now resides. After coming to this county he hauled part of the rock used in the construction of the first state-house at Springfield. After getting his farm in good shape he bought cattle at Belleville for feeding purposes, an experi- ment which at that time people considered would not prove profit- able. He was accustomed to hard work. Although his education was deficient he possessed good business capacity and had good judgment about stock. For a considerable number of years in partnership with inen named Ketcham and Middleton, he bought stock, and by careful attention to business and persevering industry, he managed to better his condition and finally to accumulate con- siderable property. He has owned large tracts of land, part of which he has divided up among his children. He still has about a thousand acres lying in one body in sections twenty-five and thirty- six, Prairieton township.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Schneider have been eight in num- ber. They have anglicized the family name so as to read Snyder, according to the English spelling. The oldest son, Michael Snyder, was born on the 23d of October, 1834, and is now farming in Shelby county, near Moweaqua. Christopher F. Snyder, the next son, was born on the 29th of October, 1836; in the spring of 1880 he re- moved to Kansas. Margaret, the oldest daughter, was born on the 1st of September, 1839, and is now the wife of Tom C. Pointing, of May township, one of the prominent stock men of the county. William J. Snyder was born on the 28th of May, 1842, and is now farming in Shelby county. Valentine Snyder was born on the 28th of October, 1844, and for a number of years has carried on the bank- ing business at Moweaqua. Peter Snyder, was born October 20, 1847, and died in October, 1848. Adam Synder was born on the 10th of January, 1850, and is now engaged in farming in Prairieton township. Mary Caroline Snyder was born on the 2d of December, 1853, and married James Gregory, a merchant of Moweaqua. Christopher and William served in the Union Army during the war of the rebellion. Christopher enlisted in the 41st Illinois regi- ment, and served over three years; William enlisted in the 116th Illinois regiment, and was discharged by reason of disability. Re- gaining his health he enlisted in the navy.
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In his political principles Mr. Schneider was formerly a member of the old whig party. When a young man he had a sincere admiration for Henry Clay, the great statesman and favored son of Kentucky. He was a whig as long as that party lasted, and became a member of the republican party on its organization, voting for Fremont, the first candidate for the presidency presented by the republicans for the suffrages of the people.
The name of Mr. Schneider may well be presented to the readers of this work and to the rising generation, as a man who has been successful by dint of his own industry, and whose suecess has not been tarnished by any suspicion of dishonor or unfair dealing. From a small beginning he managed to secure a comfortable com- petence. In their old age he and his wife can look back over a well-spent life, and enjoy the fruits of long years of successful labor. Enterprise and liberality are conspicuous traits of Mr. Schneider's character. On the building of the Illinois Central railroad iu 1854, he donated land to induce the company to locate a station on the site of the present town of Moweaqua. This town was laid off on his land, and through his liberality is consequently owing the fact
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that the prosperous town of Moweaqua has its present existence. He also built the first store-house ever erected in Moweaqua. He has been careful to conduct all the business operations in which he has ever been engaged on a basis of the most rigid honor and strictest integrity. He is one of the few men of large business deal- ings who have never been plaintiff or defendant in any suit in court. He has gone through life without incurring any enmities, univer- sally respected by those with whom he has been brought in contact. He was raised in the church. In his early life he was a Lutheran. Hc afterward became connected with the Presbyterians, and for many years has been a Methodist. In early times his house was the place in which religious serviees were held, and was much frequented by traveling Methodist ministers, to whom an open hospitality was always extended. He was one of the principal contributors to the building of the Methodist Church at Moweaqua, and also assisted in the construction of the Assumption Methodist Church. He be- gan his career with the belief that " Honesty is the best policy," and his life well illustrates the old truth that the most lasting suc- cess is only built ou the sure foundation of honest and fair dealing.
MICHAEL WORKMAN.
MR. WORKMAN has been a resident of Christian county since 1855. The family is of German descent. Jacob Workman, the grandfather of the subject of our sketch, was a resident of Mary- land before the Revolutionary war. He moved from Maryland to Kentucky at an early day, and settled in Bourbon county, where he lived until his death. It is said that he was very fond of hunt- ing, and that was his principal occupation from the fall until the spring. David Workman, the father of Michael Workman, was a small boy when the family moved to Kentucky. He afterwards moved to Overton county, Tennessee. He married Lydia Bilyeu, daughter of Peter Bilyeu. The Bilyeu family was of French de- scent, moved from New Jersey to Kentucky, and from that state to Tennessec. His marriage probably took place in Kentucky. David Workman emigrated from Overton county, Tennessee, to Sangamon county, Illinois, about 1829. They settled on Lick creek, fifteen miles south-west of Springfield. Mr. Workman's father died in Sangamon county. His mother followed the father a short time afterward. David and Lydia Workman were the parents of thir- teen children ; five now deceased; three are now living in Sangamon county, three in Kansas, one in Oregon, and the subject of this sketch now living in Prairieton township, Christian county. Michael Workman was born on Lick creek, December 5, 1831, and raised in Sangamon county. The schools of that day were poor in comparison with those of the present. The families werc mostly poor, and the boys growing up at that time were obliged to stay at home a greater part of the year and work on the farm. What education Mr. Workman received was obtained in a log sehool- house, one end of which was taken up with the fire-place, with puncheon floors, and split logs for benches. He lived at home until his marriage, which occurred October, 1851, to Julia Ann Bilyeu, oldest daughter of John H. Bilyeu. After his marriage, Mr. Work- man began farming for himself. Ile lived in Sangamon county until July, 1855, when he moved to Christian county. He sold his property and stock in Sangamon county, with the intention of going to Kansas, but, instead, bought eighty acres in township 13, range 1 east, Christian county, which now comprises part of his present farm. He has since been living in this part of the county. His first wife died January 12, 1859. He was married again to Hannah J. Workman, daughter of Samucl and Belinda Workman.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
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Mrs. Workman was born in Overton county, Tennessee. Mr. Workman has had eleven children-Nancy, now the wife of Ste- phen Bilyeu, Andrew, farming for himself in Prairieton township, David, also one of the farmers of Prairieton township, John, Lydia, now the wife of John Wyekoff, Franeis M., Peter, Belinda, Jacob, who died in infancy, Olive J. and Joseph. The four oldest were children by his first marriage. Mr. Workman is one of the farmers of Christian county who has made his way in the world by his own industry. He began life with nothing on which to rely except his own energy. By dint of labor by the day in Sangamon county, he managed to accumulate a little eapital, and when he came to Christian county, had barely enough to purchase eighty acres of land in the Flat Braneh timber and brush in Prairieton township. By good management and hard work, he has managed to get along in the world, and now has a farm composed of six hundred and sixty acres of land in sections 4, 5, 8 and 9 of Prairieton township. Mr. Workman is known as one of the representative farmers of Prairieton township, and his farm is among the best stock farms in the county.
In his polities, he was a member of the old Whig party, and east his first vote for president for Gen. Winfield Seott, in 1852. When the Whig party went to picees he became a demoerat, and has since supported the principles of that party. He is a man who attends closely to his own business affairs, and is favorably known in his part of the country as a good business man and an upright citizen.
WALTER P. JOHNSON
Is a native of Guernsey eounty, Ohio, born July 13th, 1836. IIe is the sixth of a family of seven sons and two daughters, of Benja- min J. and Elizabeth C. (Foote) Johnson. Benjamin J. Johnson was a native of London, England, and on arriving at the age of manhood he emigrated to America, and settled in Guernsey county, Ohio, and soon after married Elizabeth C. Foote, who was a native of Ireland.
In November, 1849, they removed to Greene county, Illinois, and settled about eight miles cast of Carrollton, where they engaged in farming.
In 1859, Mr. Johnson and family removed to Christian county, and settled on land which he had previously purchased. The homestead farm forms a part of the large farm of the Johnson Brothers. Mr. Johnson in his religious belief was a Quaker ; his wife was a member of the Church of England. Mr. Johnson died at his residenec, January 9th, 1875. His widow still survives him at the advanced age of seventy-eight years ; now residing at the old homestead.
Walter P., the subject of this sketeh, received his early education in the common schools of Ohio and this state. Ou attaining the age of thirty-three he married Miss Mary Frances Palmer, daughter of P. A. Palmer, of Christian county, Illinois. This marriage occurred April 23d, 1859-by that union they have had born to them two sons. Mr. Johnson and wife are both members of the Baptist Church, and in polities he is a republican.
The business of his life has always been that of a farmer, in which he has been successful, and is now the owner of one among the good farms of this county, a fine lithographie view of which appears on another page of this work.
ISOM ADAMS.
Tins gentleman, one of the old settlers of Prairieton township, is a native of Kentucky and was born in Montgomery county of that
state, February 21, 1831. His aneestors were early residents of the state of Kentucky. His father, Ellington Adams, was born in Kentucky and raised there, and married Elizabeth Gorden, born in Montgomery county, Kentucky, six miles from Mt. Sterling, Feb- ruary . 17, 1810, who was the daughter of Randal Gorden, born in Virginia in the year 1784, and eame to Kentucky in 1796, when twelve years old, and settled in Clark county, and lived there until his marriage, when he moved to Montgomery county, where he died. Isom Adams was the second son of a family of ten children, when he was three years old his father left Kentucky and moved to Illinois; they eame to Sangamon county in the fall of 1834 and settled in Loami, southwest of Springfield sixteen miles, where they lived until 1837, and then moved to Christian county, where his father, Ellington Adams, lived until his death. Mr. Adams' mother still survives, and is now living in the old place where the family first settled on coming to the county ; at the time of their arrival there were only a few families who had settled on the Flat Branch in Prairieton township. The country was inhabited only along the timber, and people generally thought that the prairie would never be cultivated. The family located about a mile north of the Flat Branch timber in a grove, which from that time to the present has been called "Adams' Grove." As the country settled up sehools were established. The schools were the old-fashioned sub- scription sehools, and offered few advantages for obtaining an educa- tion in comparison with the present time. After Mr. Adams got old enough to derive much benefit from schooling, he was obliged to remain at home and help improve the farm ; so that his schooling embraced only a short period in the winter months. He lived at home until his first marriage, which oceurred November 28, 1851, to Elizabeth Jacobs, who was born in Sangamon county and raised mostly on the Flat Branch in Prairieton township, as the Jacobs were early settlers in Christian county. She died January 29, 1854, leaving one child, Nancy Isabelle. After his marriage Mr. Adams went to farming for himself. His second marriage took place on the 27th of April, 1859, to Lydia Bilyeu. She was born in Sangamon county, and was the daughter of John H. Bilyeu. The Bilyeu family settled on the Flat Braneh in Prairieton township at an early date. The family were from Kentucky, moved from there to Tennessee, and from there to Sangamon county, where they were among the carly settlers. Mr. Adams' grandfather, Peter Bilyeu, was one of the pioneers of Sangamon eounty. Mr. Adams moved to his present farm, a view of which is shown on another page, in 1859. This farm he improved himself; he owns four hun- dred acres in Prairieton township. Mr. Adams is one of the repre- sentative and substantial farmers in the township, and a man who has attended closely to his own business affairs and has participated but little in polities. He is, however, a demoerat, and has always voted that ticket since he was old enough to vote. Mr. Adams has had twelve children ; Isabelle, who married Wm. R. Gorden, Ellington died in infancy, JJoseph who died at the age of sixteen, Elizabeth, John A., Lucy Jane, Sallie A., Varinda, Wil- bin, James, Minerva and Thomas. Mr. Adams' life occupation has been that of a farmer ; he has lived to witness a great change in the "Flat Branch settlement." When he first looked upon that country, when a boy, it was one vast uncultivated plain covered with tall prairie grass, and here and there a lonely cabin in the timber's edge; now the entire settlement is under a good state of cultivation, with fine crops of wheat and corn growing where but a few years ago naught but the open and uncultivated prairie was to be seen ; and now substantial farm-houses and barns stand dotted here and there in every direction over the land, surrounded with orchards and fine ornamental shade trees.
THE FARM & RESIDENCE OF WALTER P. JOHNSON, SEC. 17, T. 13, R. I. E. ( PRAIRIETON TP.,) CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.
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ELM GROVE; THEFARM RESIDENCE OF E. S VALLENTINE, SEC. 18, T. 13, R. I E, PRAIRIETON TP., CHRISTIAN GO., ILL.
The Library of the Uafveraity of lilinele.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
ELDER ANDREW D. NORTHCUTT.
THE subject of this sketeh is a native of Montgomery county, Kentucky. He was born on the 11th day of September, 1813. His ancestors, who were of Welsh descent, were among the early settlers of Virginia. His grandfather, Jeremiah Northcutt, fought seven years in the colonial army during the Revolutionary war, and was present at Yorktown when the surrender of Cornwallis brought an end to the long conflict with the mother country. Jeremiah Northcutt was afterward one of the pioneer settlers of Montgomery county, Kentucky, where he died. Elder Northeutt's father, Wm. Northcutt, was born in Virginia, and was a small boy at the time of the removal of the family to Kentucky. He died in Montgomery county of that state, in the year 1865. The subject of this sketch was raised in Montgomery county, Kentucky. He obtained a good English education, and, after reaching his majority, taught school for a year. On the 25th of August, 1835, he married Selena Masterson. In the fall of 1836, he came to Illinois, and after living for a few months in Sangamon county, near Roehes- ter, in January, 1837, he settled in this county on Mosquito creek, in the present Mosquito township. There were few set- tlers then living in that part of the country; probably not more than eight or ten families. There were no mills, no stores, and no market for produce. He relates that it was no uncommon thing for a farmer to leave home with two or three yoke of oxen attached to his wagon, loaded with as fine wheat as ever grew, to find a market at Springfield, Beardstown or St. Louis, the trip re- quiring one or two weeks. He would sell his grain at from twenty- five to thirty cents a bushel, and invest the procceds in a calico dress and a loaf of white sugar for his wife, a pair of brogan boots for himself, a few pounds of brown sugar for family use, a barrel of salt, a drawing of tea, and a paper of pins, when he would find that the money he received for his wheat would be about expended. Cattle when driven to market four years old would command about eight dollars per head ; horses from forty to fifty, and other stock in proportion. Corn sold at six and eight eents a bushel, and was often used for firewood. Farming products were low, and dry- goods and groeeries high.
The death of his first wife took place in the year 1848. His second marriage was on the 1st day of June, 1850, to Mary I. Hammer, who was born in Clark county, Kentucky, and came to Illinois in 1834, first living in Sangamon county, and afterwards in Christian. From 1848 to 1850, Elder Northcutt lived mostly in Shelby county. In the ycar 1843 he united with the Christian church, and soon afterward began preaching the gospel. In 1854 he became a resident of Prairieton township. In connection with the work of the ministry, he has carried on the business of farming and stock-raising. He has ten children now living. The oldest son, W. H. Northcutt, lives in Texas. Mary is the wife of R. R. Adams, of Prairieton township, and Luey Ann married L. Messick, of Morrisonville. The remaining are children by his second mar- riage : Laura L. was the wife of Dr. J. W. Whitmire, of Metamora, F. J. Northcutt, residing in Kansas, Silas W., Lizzie W., who mar- ried J. H. Scribner, of Prairieton township, James A., now living in Colorado, Ann M. and Jesse G. Northcutt.
He is now one of the oldest ministers of the Christian denomina- tion in this part of the state. At the time of the organization of the Christian church, to which he belonged, on the Mosquito, it was the only church of that denomination in the county, and comprised only seven members, of whom Elder Northcutt was one. From this small beginning he has seen the denomination advance until now it is one of the largest and most influential in the county. He is an eloquent and gifted speaker, and always commands large au-
diences. He was raised in a slave state, and with pro-slavery sympathies, but on coming to Illinois, his convietions made him in favor of free soil. He was one of the early members of the repub- lican party. He was an acting justice of the peace in Sangamon before the formation of this county. He was one of the first magis- trates elected after the organization of the county, filling the office for eight years from August, 1839. On the adoption of township organization he was chosen from Prairieton township a member of the first board of supervisors, and filled that position four years. He made several canvasses for the legislature and other public positions, but as he was the nominee of a party much in the mi- nority, his election was scarcely expected.
When he first settled in this county, the neighbors were distant and visitors few. Hospitality and sociability were conspicuous traits. He declares that when he looks back to those early times and compares the friendly feeling, the terms of social equality on which he lived, and the plentifulness with which every one had his real wants provided for, with the jealousies of the present day and the wasteful extravagance in dress, living and other expenditures, he feels like exclaiming, "Give me baek the days of pioneer log cabin life !"
R. R. GORDEN.
MR. GORDEN is a Kentuckian by birth. His ancestors were for- merly residents of Virginia. His grandfather, John Gorden, was one of the patriotic sons of Virginia who fought in the American army during the Revolutionary war. He served through the whole seven years struggle with Great Britain. His home was on the James river, seventeen miles from the city of Richmond. In the year 1796 he emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky, and settled in Clark county on Four Mile ereek, four or five miles from Winches- ter. He lived there till his death. Randal Gorden, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born on the James river in Virginia in the year 1784, and was twelve years old when the family moved to Kentucky. When the family settled in Kentucky it was a new and wild country, still containing many hostile Indians. The family reached their new home in the wilderness by way of the Ohio river, and in floating down that stream they were obliged to lie in the bottom of the boat to prevent being shot by the Indians from the banks. Randal Gorden was married to Rachel Baber, and moved from Clark to Montgomery county on Slate creek, where he resided the remainder of his life, a period of nearly fifty years. He died in November, 1853, when nearly seventy years of age. The Baber family were from the same part of Virginia as the Gordens. Mr. Gorden's mother was nine or ten years old when she came to Kentucky, and was accustomed to relate ineidents which occurred as she rode a pack horse on a trail across the mountains on their journey from Virginia to Kentucky.
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