USA > Illinois > Christian County > History of Christian County, Illinois > Part 51
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1869, he was sent by the company to El Paso, as yard-master. He afterwards was assistant in the freight office, and took charge of the baggage for the I C. and T. P. & W. railroads. From El Paso in April, 1871, he was sent to Assumption as station agent, and has been here up to the present. In 1874, he started in the hotel busi- ness in addition to his other duties, which he also continues. On the 11th of October, 1868, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Maloue, a resident of Joe Davis county, Illinois. By this marriage there has been two children. The eldest, Julia May, died in her ninth year. Edith Estelle is yet living, a bright and win- some child. In politics Mr. Rasback is a republican. He is a member of the Lodge of A. F. & A. M., No. 451, Assumption, Illinois. Both he aud his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. He is a temperate man and an advocate of the cause. In this community where he has lived for a number of years he is regarded as an upright and honorable man. As an officer and station agent he is polite, affable and aeconimiodating, and gives good satisfaction to the patrons of the road, as well as to his en- ployers.
J. A. BRIDGE
THE Bridge family on the paternal side are of Irish aneestry, and on the maternal German. The paternal grandfather was a native of New Jersey. He at an early day removed to Indiaua, where he was killed by the Indians. Thomas Bridge, his son and father of J. A. was born in Butler county, Ohio. He is a farmer and blacksmith. He is now a resident of Camden, Preble county, Ohio. He married Susan Wolf, who was born in the same county. Her father, John Wolf moved from Virginia to Ohio at an early day, and was one of the first settlers of that state. By this mar- riage there were three children, two boys and one girl. The sub- ject of this sketch was the first-born. He first saw the light of day in Preble county, Ohio, October 31, 1840. His youth was spent upon the farm and in the schools of his native county. After receiving a fair education in the common schools he spent one year in the Ohio Wesleyan University. When the war broke out he was among the first to enlist under the first three months call. He was a member of Co. "F," 20th Regt. Ohio Vols. The regiment was ordered to West Virginia, and remained there doing provost duty until time of enlistment expired, when they were mustered out aud he returned home and remained at work upon the farm until 1864, when he again enlisted in the 156th Regt., O. V., and did duty in Eastern Virginia and Maryland. The date of his enlistment expired in 1865. He then returned home and worked at the tauning business for one year and a half. In the spring of 1868 he eame to Illinois and settled in Assumption. Here he farmed for nine months, when he returned to Ohio and taught school one winter. In the fall of 1870 he returned to Assumption and went to work on the elevator that was then building, and
afterwards weighed grain for Wilkinson & Co. for three years, then bought grain for Cornner, afterward for F. O. Pigeon. He continued grain buying until 1877, when he was appointed post- master. He then opened a stock of groceries and provisions in connection with the post-office, and still continues in that trade.
In polities he has been a republican since 1864, when he cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. He was township collector for six years, and appointed post master in 1877, and now performs the duties of that office in a manner acceptable to the citizens of Assumption and vicinity. He is a respected member of Bromwell Lodge A. F. & A. M. No. 451, and is also a member of the I. O. O. F. since 1863.
On the 10th of March, 1862, he was united in marriage to Miss H. F. Mauzy. She is a native of Preble county, Ohio. One child, a son named Herschel L., is the fruit of this union ; he is engaged in farming. Mrs. Bridge is a member of the Christian Church. As a man Mr. Bridge has the confidence and esteem of his fellow- citizens. During the past year Mr. Bridge has also been engaged in buying and shipping live stock.
JAMES RIDGE.
THIS gentleman, one of the early settlers of Assumption township, is a native of England, and was born at the village of Stoke Rivers, Devonshire, on the 11th of Jannary, 1829. His father was James Ridge, and his mother's maiden name was Charity Leworthey. He was raised in the vicinity where he was born. March 1st, 1851, he married Sarah Tucker, who was born in the adjoining parish of Swimbridge. He had resolved to come to America, and consequently left England April 3d, 1851, and landed with his young wife at Quebec, May 5th, and from that place they came immediately to Illinois ; an elder brother of his wife had settled iu Greene county, of this State, and they went to that locality. Mr. Ridge was farni- ing then until the spring of 1860, and then moved on a tract of land which he had purchased the preceding fall in Christian county. He began improving this tract. He was one of the carly settlers on the prairie in his neighborhood. Mr. Ridge has since been farming in Assumption township, and owns two hundred and seven- ty-six acres of land. He has two children, David James, who is farming for himself in Assumption towuship, and Sarah Ann. One child died in infancy. Mr. Ridge, in his politics, has been a mem- ber of the republican party ever since he took an interest in public affairs. Ilis first vote for President was cast for Abraham Lincoln Such is a brief sketeh of one of the industrious and upright citizens of Assumption township.
FRANCIS D. MALHIOT.
THE Malhiots were principally interested in the establishment of the French colony at Assumption. The family came from France to Canada about two hundred years ago, and settled at St. Peters, on the St. Lawrence river. Michael Malhiot, the father of F. D. Malhiot, was born at St. Peters, and took as his wife Marie Louise Demars.
Franeis D. Malhiot was born on the 6th of March, 1816, aud was the next to the youngest of a family of ten children. He was raised at St. Peters. His father was one of the wealthiest farmers of that part of Canada. He received a good education, and began the study of law soon after attaining his majority. While he was a student in the law office the rebellion of 1837 broke out, and he joined his fortunes with those of the insurgents, volunteering in a company of soldiers raised in Montreal. He took part in one or
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
two skirmishes, but in-no regular battle. His brother, E. E Mal- hiot, was a colonel in the rebel forces. Convinced that it was im- possible to gain their ends by further opposition to the Canadian government, he and his brother sought refuge in the United States, spending the winter of 1837-38 at St. Albans, Vermont. He after- wards returned to St. Peters, and lived there till 1840, when he went to Louisiana. His brother was admitted to practice law in that state, and became a lawyer of considerable prominence. IIe resided on a plantation in Assumption parish. Francis D. Malhiot was the proprietor of a hotel at Paincourtville, in the parish of As- sumption, for three years, and then returned to Canada. IIe became the owner of a flour-mill and saw-mill at Arthabaskaville, near St. Peters. On the 21st of February, 1843, he was united in marriage, at St. Peters, to Marie Zoe Deland.
In 1849, the year of the great excitement consequent on the dis- covery of gold on the Pacific coast, he went to California. For three years and a-half he was engaged in mining gold, most of the time near Sonora. His success was equal to that of most of the gold seekers who thronged to California in expectation of an easy fortune. On returning to Canada he built another saw-mill, at Victoria, on the Grand Trunk Railway. He had one flour-mill and two saw-mills in operation at the same time.
In the year 1857 his brother, E E. Malhiot, purchased thirty sections of land, mostly in Assumption township, Christian co , Ills. Francis D. Malhiot bought one section. They brought from Canada about one hundred French families, and settled them on different portions of these traets of land. The history of this colony is already well known to the people of the county, and is spoken of elsewhere in this work. Many of the French families still reside in that part of the county. The land was purchased from the Illinois Central Railroad Company. They founded the town of Assumption, re- ceiving its name from the parish of Assumption, in Louisiana, in which Colonel E. E. Malhiot had his home. The former name of the railroad station was Tacusa. The house which Mr. Malhiot now ocenpies was the first built on the prairie in Assumption town- ship, and he has lived in it since 1857.
Mr. and Mrs. Malhiot have had eleven children, whose names are as follows : Marie Louise, now the wife of Lawrence Panneton, of Assumption township; Theodule F., now in the mercantile busi- ness at Radford; Arthur, who died of consumption, in 1872, at the age of twenty-three; Marie Melvina, whose death occurred in the year 1875, at the age of twenty-two; Clara Marie, Philip X.,
Francis E, Adele Marie, Marie Margaret, Eugene Alphonse, and Gideon Henry.
Politically, the Malhiot family has been attached to the demo- cratic party ever since their residence in the United States, and all its members vote that ticket. E. E. Malhiot died in Assumption township, in 1875, and his family now reside in Louisiana. Francis D. Malhiot, since his residence in this county, has been altogether engaged in farming. He has been one of the best citizens of As- sumption township, and is held in much respect for his many excel- lent traits of character. Though he has passed the vigor of youth, he is fond of travel, and possesses some of that spirit of adventure which seems to be never wholly absent from the French-Canadian blood. After the discovery of gold at the Black Hills, he went out to that Iceality, more for recreation and with the purpose of regain- ing his health than with the object of seeking gold, and spent four months there during the year 1877.
THEODULE F. MALHIOT
WAS born at St. Peters, Canada, on the 11th of August, 1846, and is the oldest son, and the third child, of a family of eleven children. HIe lived in Canada till 1857, when he accompanied his father to Christian county. He attended school in Canada before leaving that country, and the public schools of Assumption after coming to this county. For two years he was a student at St. Joseph College, at Tentopolis, in Effingham county. He was seventeen years old when he left that institution, and afterward attended a course at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College, at Springfield, with the purpose of fitting himself for a mercantile career. After leaving school he was employed for a time on his father's farm. From 1868 to 1870 he was in Louisiana, spending the time principally on his uncle's plantation in Assumption parish. In the year 1871, after returning to Illinois, he formed a partnership with Alphonse Pigeon, and embarked in the mercantile business at Assumption under the firm name of Pigeon & Malhiot. After carrying on this business a year lie returned to his father's farm, and was engaged in farming till the summer of 1878. At that date he formed a partnership with F O. Pigeon, and opened a store at Radford, a station on the Illinois Central road, north of Assumption. He has since been engaged in business at that point, and is known as a popular and snecessful business man. Beside selling goods the firm have been employed quite largely in buying grain, and have made Ralford quite an important trading point.
BUCKHART TOWNSHIP.
UCH of genuine historic importance and interest clusters around old Buckhart, for it was within its boundaries, that some of the carliest settlements in the county were made. It was not surveyed by the government until 1821, after which, for several years, the emigrants exercised "squat- ters' " right -.
The township of Buckhart is situated in the north-west part of the county, and, as now organized, it contains all of town. 14 N., range 2 W., and that part of town. 11 N., runge 3 W., that lics
enst and north of the South Fork of the Sangamon river,-which forms the western boundary.
Buckhart creek enters town. 14 N., range 2 W., in section 24, and crosses in a north-westernly direction, passing out on the north of section five. There are several small affluents of the South Fork flowing through the western part of the township, all of which give a supply of water for stock purposes, and afford a good drainage.
There is a belt of timber, ranging from one to three miles in
The Library of the University of illinois.
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"THE MAPLES: SCENES UPON THE STOCK FARM OFTHE JOHNSON BROS SITIA
RES. OF LEO.JOHNSON.
FED IN SEC'S 21, 22 & 27 , T. 13 R.I, E.(ASSUMPTION TP.)CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.
The Library of the University of Illinois
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
width, along the east side of the South Fork, and also small patches scattered along Buckhart creek. The surface is a rolling prairie. The soil is a deep black loam, very fertile and productive.
The Springfield division of the O. & M. Railroad enters Buck- hart township in section 31, at Sharpsburg, and passcs out of the county at Campbellsburg.
On the organization of the county, that part of its territory em- braced within town. 14 N., range 3 W., was for many years incor- porated into the West and South Fork precincts, for voting pur- poscs. But as the county increased in population, and taking into account the inconvenience of crossing the river at times, the county court formed a new precinct, based on the petition of I. A. Halford and fifty-seven other legal voters, on the seventh of March, 1855, and named it Buckhart.
It was bounded as follows :- " Beginning at the point where the range line, between ranges two and three, intersect on the north with the Sangamon river ; thence south on said line to Buckhart creek ; thence up said creek to the line dividing section thirty-two and thirty-three, town. 15-2 W .; thence south on section line di- viding town. 14 and 15 north ; thence east to the north-east corner of section three, town. 14-2 W .; thence south four miles to the Taylorville precinct line, or the south-east corner of section 22, town. 14-2 W .; thence west on said precinct line, until it strikes the South Fork of the Sangamon river; thence down the river to the county line, and tlience along the west and north boundaries of the county to the place of beginning." The house of John George on section 11, town. 14 N., range 3 W., was designated as the place of holding clections. John Ficry, Peter Porter and Benj. Harris were selected the first judges of election ; Wm. P. Hazlett and Danicl De Camp were elected justices of the peace, and C. W. Gra- hanı and M. H. Berry, constables, June 4th, 1855. It was subse- quently changed to its present limits.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS
Of this township, as at present limited, were as follows :- Titus Gragg, who came to the county in 1820, erected a cabin and made some improvements, bordering on the edge of the timber, a little south of the present site of Campbellsburg, and on the farm subse- quently owned by John L. Cagle. When Samuel Williams emi- grated to Sangamon county in 1821, it was the only cabin he came across, and slept in, after leaving the Wabash river, near Terre Haute. Titus Gragg was a brother of "Jake " Gragg, mentioned in the South Fork township history. He was a blacksmith, and did smithing for the early settlers. The whole of this family, with one exception, David B. Gragg, a grandson, died very suddenly, and it is thought very mysteriously. They all lie side-by-side on the same farm, with no stone to mark the spot. Their memory was perpetu- ated for a time, by some kind friend who carved their names in the bark of an overshadowing forest tree, which marked the spot for years.
Wm. McCallister was a pioneer settler as carly as 1824. He set- tled and improved the James Weeden farm, a mile north-west of Edinburg. His family consisted of himself, his wife and two sons. The father, mother, and one of the sons died at this place. The surviving son was taken and kindly cared for by Shadrack J. Campbell ; and was taken afterward by an uncle to Missouri, and never heard from since. He was sole heir to forty acres of land, which was sold for taxes.
John and Joseph Brown settled in 1825. They entered the W. half of S. W. quarter of section 3, town. 14-3 W., October 30th, 1829, and sold it to Esquire Shad. J. Campbell, March 30th, 1832,
for $275. Abner and Joseph McLean also came in 1825, and settled the Blue Point farm, now owned by Daniel De Camp.
Wm. Bragg settled a little below Campbell's Point in 1825. Wm. George and John George settled in 1827.
Shadrack J. Campbell and Robert Hazlett came in 1829.
John Warrick settled below Campbell's Point, and was known as " the tall man," and a great bee-liunter.
In 1829, David Stokes emigrated from Todd county, Kentucky, and settled below Campbell's Point, erected a cabin and improved a farm, where he died in 1844. He raised a large family. Iverson Stokes, his son, was one of the proprietors of Campbellsburg, and is familiarly known in the county. The cabin of old father Stokes was used for many years by the Predestinarian Baptists, for hold- ing their meetings, Elders Kit Stafford and Aaron Vandeveer officiating.
Besides those already named, John L. Cagle, David Cagle, Win. Harvey, Alfred Bishop and Henry Blount, were here before the decp snow.
It is related by Robert Hazlett that during the winter of the deep snow, large lots of water-melons, stowed away in corn shocks by the boys in the early fall, were frozen solid. In March they were taken and thawed out by letting them down in the well, and they proved to be as sweet and fresh as when first picked from the vines.
Moses Martin improved and lived on the old Jesse Hanon farm, two miles south-west of Edinburg. He was an old settler ; a widower with nine children, and a blacksmith by trade. IIe moved to Arkansas in 1840. James Radford, his neighbor, was another pioneer, and lived on the farm now occupied by George W. Gawin.
William Bennefield settled near Campbell's Point, and at one time owned a distillery. Afterward he moved to the Blue Point farm, where in company with J. M. Wilkinson, he raised a crop in 1835. The winter previous he built a flat-boat, near Darling's mill, on the North Fork, loaded it with three hundred barrels of flour, and went down the Sangamon to the Mississippi river, and thence to New Orleans, where he sold the flour and realized a fair profit. On a second trip he died with cholera.
In 1834 James Weeden emigrated from Tenn., settled and improved the farm now owned by William W. Halford, his step- son, adjacent to Blueville. James Halford came to the county at the same time with James Weeden. They had much sickness, and a singular fatality attended these two families during the first year after their arrival.
Both families were domiciled in the same cabin. James IIalford, a daughter and two sons died of the same fatal malady, commonly called " milk sickness." In James Weeden's family, his wife, a son and a Miss Mary Ann Hammond, residing with them, all died within the space of one week, apparently with the same disease. It is said that five of them lay dead on the same day.
THE FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE
of the settlement was below "Campbell's Point," on Joseph Matthews' land.
The first day-school was taught by Robert White, and was a " pay-school.'
In those days it was customary for school-teachers to " board around " among their employers, whether as a " pay-school " or so much a month. From $8 to $10 per month, or $1.50 a scholar per quarter, was "reckoned " a fair compensation.
The Rev. J. M. Peck, an itinerant Sunday school agent, passing this way from Shelbyville to Springfield at an early date, says in
25
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
his report : "I organized a Sunday-school at the Black Jack school- house, not far from 'Campbell's Point,' with fifteen scholars." There were also churches organized during the first settlement, the history of which may be seen in the ecclesiastical chapter of this work. Also much of the history of the churches and schools may be found in the towns, written below.
INDIANS.
During the early settlements of Buekhart there were many Indians loitering around this section of country, which was then ineluded within the limits of Sangamon county, as was most of Christian at that time.
They were at times very troublesome and annoying. Their usual mode of fighting the pale-faces was in the free use of sticks and stones.
The chief's name was "Bas-se-na," or probably Ma-she-na, who it is alleged signed the treaty at the elose of the Black Hawk war, on the 13th of February, 1833. These Indians were mostly Kick- apoos. They were usually very polite; only one of their number spoke at a time.
At one time near " Campbell's Point " a number of them had some difficulty with Jake Gragg, who it seems got the better of them. They fled across the South Fork to Esquire Miller's, implor- ing his protection, as " Jake was after them with a sack full of sticks." They looked upon the Esquire as a kind of legal pro- tector.
" Bas-se-na," the chief, and some of his tribe had a fight with William Wallis east of Taylorville, using clubs and stones pretty freely. He had the copper-colored tribe arrested and taken before Esquire Campbell. They were fined five dollars and costs. Bas- se-na paid the fine and asked for a receipt, whereupon the following colloquy ensued :
Esquire-" Indian, you don't want any receipt ; it is entered on my doeket and never can come up against you again."
Indian-" I pays you the money ; will you give me a receipt ?"
Esquire-" I tell you that you don't want any, for it's settled on the docket."
Indian-" White man say Indian steal, Esquire say me steal. I say me no steal, but me pay um ; now give Indian receipt ?"
Esquire-"Since you insist on it, if you will give me a good rea- son for wanting it, I'll give you one."
Indian-" Well, when me die me spec' to go to the Great Spirit's home. Werry well, when me gets to the gate Peter says : ' Go away, Indian, you steal.' I say, ' Werry well, what if I does, don't I pay um ?' Peter says, 'Show um receipt,' and if I don't have um I shall be forced to go back and look through hell to find Esquire Campbell, to prove Indian pay um."
The first lands entered in Buckhart were as follows: March 10, 1827, Jacob Cagle, E. half of N. W. quarter section 10, Tp. 14-3, 80 acres; Angust 21, 1827, Leonard Burch, W. half of N. E. quarter section 10, Tp. 14-3, 80 acres; in Tp. 14-2, October 16, 1829, Robert Smith, E. half of S. E. quarter section 4, 80 acres; Nov. 9, 1829, Patterson Heaton, E. half of S. W. quarter seetion 4, 80 acres, and W. half of S. E. quarter section 4, 80 acres; Jan. 4, 1830, Joseph Denton, E. half of lot 2, S. W. quarter seetion 30, 72.30 acres.
The following is a list of all the officers since township organiza- tion;
Supervisors-John Sharp, elected 1866; John George, 1867 ; re- elected 1868; John Sharp, 1869; Joseph Kemmerer, 1870; G. R. Sharp, 1871, and has been re-elected cach succeeding year; James Magee, 1880.
Assessors-Joseph Kemmerer, elected 1866; G. R. Sharp, 1867; C. I. Lockwood, 1868; G. R. Sharp, 1869; J. F. Davis, 1870; Martin Whitesell, 1871; J. M. Campbell, 1872; C. I. Lockwood, 1873; D. C. Carlin, 1874; J. M. Campbell, 1875, re-elected 1876 and '77 ; L. D. Peek, 1878; Wmn. Wysearver, 1879, re-elected, 1880.
Town Clerks-Iverson Stokes, elected 1866; J. M. Chandler, 1867, re-elected 1868 and '69; J. T. Davis, 1870, re-elected 1871; James F. Davis, 1872; G. W. Greathard, 1873; S. R. Burns, 1874, re-elected 1875 and '76; J. R. Hill, 1877; I. N. Martin, 1878; C. A. Prater, 1879, and re-elected 1880.
Collectors-Hiram Power, elected 1866; Hiram Orr, 1867; John E. Prater, 1868; B. K. Prater, 1869; G. R. Sharp, 1870; Jas. M. Chandler, 1871, re-elected 1872 and '73; G. W. Greathard, 1874, re-elected 1875 and '76; S. R. Burns, 1877; G. C. Wilkinson, 1878, re-elected 1879; S. R. Burns, 1880.
Commissioners of Highways-A. M. Halford, H. H. Sharp and L. Heinlein, elected 1866; E. Pope, 1867; Martin Miller, 1868; W. B. Lillard, 1869 ; Israel Baughman, 1870; Frank George, 1871 ; H. T. Gardner, 1872; I. Baughman, 1873; F. George, 1874; H. T. Gardner, 1875; I. Baughman, 1876; T. B. Hill, 1877; H. T. Gardner, 1878; M. Adrian, 1879; Fred. Reed, 1880.
Justices of the Peace-J. E. Hartsoek, W. B. Cobb, elected 1866 ; J. W. Johnson, J. E. Hartsoek, 1870; David Williams, E. Heinlein, 1873; J. Brubeek, W. T. Baker, 1876; J. M. Chandler, Alex. Matthews, 1877.
Constables-Wm. Harris, A. J. Odenwelder, 1866; A. W. Hal- ford, L. Heinlein, 1870; J. T. Chandler, C. Heinlein, 1873; M. Nester, M. Huxley, 1876; Peter Seheib, J. D. Hurt, 1877; Eli Matthews, 1878.
ROBINSON'S POINT.
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