USA > Illinois > Christian County > History of Christian County, Illinois > Part 56
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educational advantages and at the same time live at home with their mother. In the summer of 1869, he returned with his mother to the farm in Tippecanoe county, Indiana. During the winter of 1871-2, he attended school at Waldo, Marion county, Ohio, where his brother-in-law, Mr. D. H. Kenyon, was extensively engaged in farming. The summer of 1872 and that of 1873, he spent in a little town on the Ohio river, in the extreme south-west corner of West Virginia. In the year 1874, he lived with a Dr. Ritchie, at Ren- saellaer, Jasper county, Indiana. After attending the high school at Attica, Indiana, during the winter of 1875-6, in the spring of 1876 he came to Litchfield, Illinois, where his two older brothers had gone into the drug business the previous year. The following winter he attended school at Litchfield, and in the fall of 1878 went to Chicago, and was a student in the Chicago College of Pharmacy till the next spring, when he went back to Litchfield.
In April, 1878, George H. Steen disposed of his interest in the store at Litchfield to his brother, John W. Steen, and after winding up his business there, the two brothers came to Morrisonville, pur- chased the drug store formerly earried on by C. A. Roach, and on the 10th of September, 1878, began business. During their residence at Morrisonville they have endeavored to secure the confidence of the public, and establish themselves as liberal and enterprising business men. They carry a full stock of drugs and other articles, and have endeavored to meet the wants of the people, and to give them the benefit of low prices and unadulterated drugs. Beside carrying on the drug business they are the publishers of the Morrisonville Times, the only newspaper published in the south-western part of Christian county. They took charge of this paper on the 1st of October, 1879, and under their management the paper has attained a larger circulation, and has been placed on a paying basis. It is a journal filled with live local news, and does credit to the publishers, who had no previous experience in the journalistic profession, except that George H. Steen was formerly connected with one of the metropolitan newspapers as special correspondent. The Messrs. Steen have proved a valuable addition to the list of business men at Morrisonville, and their social qualities and liberal and oblig- ing methods of transacting business, have made them many friends.
A. W. MILLER.
MR. MILLER, the police magistrate at Morrisonville, was born in Floyd county, Indiana, on the 4th of February, 1830. His father, Henry Miller, was a native of Kentucky, and an early settler in Indiana. Before coming to Indiana, he was married in Kentucky to Anna Crow. Mr. Miller's father moved from Indiana to Illi- nois in the year 1838, and first settled on the Macoupin creek, east of Carlinville, in Macoupin county. In 1839 he moved on a farm in South Otter township in the same county. Mr Miller was mostly raised in that locality, attending the schools of South Otter township and working on his father's farm, which he helped im- prove from the raw land. He learned the cooper trade. On the 24th of May, 1850, he married Miss Maria Gill, daughter of John Gill. She was born in Yorkshire, England, and came to this country when seven years old, about the year 1840. In August, 1850, he moved to Carlinville, and after working one year at the cooper's trade, learned the trade of a carpenter. In 1853 he moved back to South Otter township, rented land and improved a farm. From 1856 to 1858 he lived in Carlinville where he had an interest in a machine shop. In the latter year he went back to the farm on which he was raised and assumed its management, his father having become too old to attend to it properly. He was living there at the beginning of the war of the rebellion. He en-
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
listed on the 15th of October, 1861, in Battery K of the 2d Illinois Artillery. He served three years and two months and a half, all of the time in the department of the Mississippi. At Fort Donel- son he was on one of the gun-boats which participitated in the close of that fight. After the evacuation by the rebels of Colum- bus, Kentucky, he was stationed there. In the summer of 1863 he took part in the various movements under Gen. Grant which resulted in the capture of Vicksburg. He was in the siege of Jackson, Mississipi. For thirteen months his battery was stationed at Natchez. During the remainder of his term of service he was engaged in scouting and destroying the railroads leading to Mo- bile, with the object of cutting off the rebel communications. He was discharged at Memphis, December 31st, 1864.
In 1869, he bought a quarter section of unimproved land in Harvel township, Montgomery county, on which he lived till the spring of 1873. Since that date he has been living at Morrison- ville, and carrying on the wheelwright business and manufacturing patent spring wagon seats, of the improvement on which he took out a patent in March, 1874. He was formerly a whig in politics, and since the war has been a republican. He has nine children. In the spring of 1879, he was elected police magistrate of Morrison- ville for a term of four years.
THEODORE LANGEN, (DECEASED).
THEODORE LANGEN was one of the oldest residents of Ricks township, and a good and useful citizen. He was born in the vil- lage of Winnenberg, Prussia, on the 27th of February, 1827. His parents' names were Frederick Langen and Elizabeth Wegener, and he was the youngest of eight children. His father was a farmer, and a man in good circumstances. He attended school according to the German custom till he was fourteen. He was a boy of un- usually bright mind, paid close attention to his studies, and invari- ably stood at the head of his class. He secured a good education, and was well versed in the Latin language. He lived at home till
twenty-one, and then went into the Prussian army, where he served three years. After returning from the army he emigrated to America. He came over to this country by himself ; the rest of the family remaining behind in Germany. He landed at New York in the spring of 1852, and came directly to Illinois in the neighbor- hood of Jerseyville, in Jersey county. On the 17th of October, 1855, he married Elizabeth Brockamp, who was born in Ahnburg, Germany, on the 10th of March, 1840. Her father, Henry Broc- kamp, on coming to America, settled in Jersey county, Illinois, seven miles west of Jerseyville, where he lived till his death, in Feb- ruary, 1870. Her mother, whose maiden name was Catharine Mormann, also died in Jersey county.
After Mr. Langen's marriage he moved to Greene county, and rented a farm three miles from Carrollton, on which he labored for eight years. He came to Christian county in the spring of 1853. He bought from the government a quarter section of land in sec- tion twenty-nine of Ricks township, the first land of which he was the owner. The north-western part of the county was at that time thinly settled, and few improvements had been made on the prairie. He was an industrious and energetic man, and afterward bought additional land. At the time of his death he owned six hundred and forty acres. He was a peaceable and useful citizen, honest and upright in his business dealings, and all his neighbors testify to his many good qualities. He died on the 31st day of August, 1876. In politics he was a democrat, though he was no active politician, and had no desire to fill public office. He preferred to attend to the management of his farm and his own private business affairs. Mr. and Mrs. Langen had eight children, all of whom are now living, and residing in Ricks township. Henry Langen, the oldest son, married Amelia Schwabe, and is now farming on section twenty-one. Catharine is the wife of Anthony Lentz. The remain- ing children, William, Mary, Elenora, John, Elizabeth and Helena, are living at home. Mrs. Langen lives on a valuable farm, four miles from Morrisonville, which her husband improved during his life-time. A view of this place appears among our illustrations.
MAY TOWNSHIP.
bounded on the north by Stonington ; east, by Prairie- ton and Assumption ; south, by Locust ; west, by Tay- lorville township. May is drained by the Flat Branch and its affluents, which empty their waters in the Sanga- mon. Much of this township was originally heavily timbered with the several kinds of oak, hickory, walnut, cotton- wood, and other forest trees, and at this writing there is consider- able timber along the margins of the streams, sufficient to supply the necessary fuel, and timber for building and fencing purposes, for many years to come.
May comprises the congressional township thirteen, range one, west, and is just six miles square. At first, for elective franchise purposes, its territory was attached to Taylorville and Stonington precincts ; but, on the adoption of township organization, in 1866, it was formed into a separate precinet, and named at first, by the
county authorities, " Smith." The people objected to this name, not because of the numerous family of that name, but on account of the political proclivities of the person for whom it was named. The Mr. Thomas Smith, whom it was intended to honor by his friends, was at the time a resident of the township, an Englishman by birth, and a strong partizan democrat. It was then changed to " Howard," but it was ascertained that there was already a town- ship of that name, and that the law forbade there being more than one of the same name in the state. It was next named " May," in honor of the brave Colonel May, of the artillery arm of the service in the Mexican war.
Pioncer Settlers were : John Shanock, John Estes, Benj. Williams, - William B. Hall, David Hall, O. Banning, Daniel C. Goode, Hiram Walker, Thomas Dawson, William Rolls, Gabriel Mckenzie, and their families. Some of the above were residents here before the
YOUNG ORCHARD
150 TREES
TENANT HOUSE
SCALES
RESIDENCE OF ELIZABETH LANGEN, SEC. 29, T. II, R.3, RICKS TP., FORMER HOME OF THEODORE LANGEN, DECO.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
organization of the county. At a later date of " old settlers " we will mention the names of Silas Harris, David Rutledge, James S. Grant, James M. Galloway, Joseph Bugg, Thomas Bugg, Thomas Smith, John S. Fraley, J. D. Allsman, John Tedlie, William Tedlie, and Joseph Funk.
May township is well supplied with streams for stock purposes, the Flat Branch entering it in the north-eastern part, on section one, and traversing it in a south-westerly direction, and leaving the township on section nineteen Spring Branch courses along the east side in a northerly direction, passing nearly through the centre of the eastern tier of sections, and mingles its waters with those of the Flat Branch on section one. On its headwaters is "Clawson's Point," at the head of the timber on the road from Taylorville to Assumption. It used to be one of the old " land-marks " in guiding travelers over the lonely, uninhabited prairie in going to Shelby- ville.
There is a noted spring, in a romantic spot in the north-western part of the township, above the old residence of Daniel C. Goode, more recently occupied by the Hammers. Gabriel Mckenzie lived near it at an early day. But the improvements were long since removed, and the little cascade alone sings its requiem. This town- ship, at a very early day, was more favored than some other sec- tions of the county by having milling facilities. Thomas Dawson operated a cog horse-mill, near the present residence of William B. Hall, which served a useful purpose. In time he sold it to Aaron Mckenzie, who moved it farther up the branch to Prairieton town- ship. At a later date Silas Harris erected a horse-mill on his farm, on the east side of the Flat Branch, in 1842. Most of the settle- inents at first were made along the borders of Flat Branch tim- ber. This township is settled by an upright, industrious, energetic population, who take a great interest in churches and schools. The United Presbyterians built a church some years ago, located in the north-west corner of section twenty-seven, on the public road lead- ing to Assumption. There are several families of the Waddles living in this neighborhood, and for a time it was called "Waddle Settlement." The voting centre is at "Tedlie's School-House," in the west part of section twenty-two, about a mile north of the U. P. Church.
Railroads .- The Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad crosses the north-west corner of this township, passing through sections five, six, and seven. Willey's Station is located in the south-east corner of section six. It was laid out by Israel Willey, and from him took its name. The first store was opened by the Messrs. Willey. It is a great shipping point for grain and stock. Willey Post-Office is located here. The village has considerable trade with the farmers of this township. The O. and M. Railroad crosses the south-west corner of the township on section thirty-one.
Early Mills .- Isaac Harris erected a horse-mill on his farm in the south-west part of the township, some four miles east of Tay-
lorville, in 1836 ; the old mill house stood on Spring branch, for many years thereafter serving as an old land-mark of the past. The population of May, in 1870, was 681.
The first lands entered, as shown in the county records, are as follows : March 13th, 1833, Peter R. Ketcham, N. W. N. E. Sec. 3, 40.45 acres ; Feb. 20th, 1834, Daniel C. Goode, W. ¿ N. W. Sec. 19, 69.19 acres; W. ¿ S. W. Sec. 18, 74.88 acres; Oct. 9, 1834, Joseph N. Bennefield, N. W., N. W. Sec. 17, 40 acres.
Among the persons who have well improved farms in this township may be mentioned the following : John W. Allsman, H. B. Long, Sr., William J. Ettinger, John Shetlar, Alfred Spates, Richard Peck, Edward Bugg and Fred. F. Weiser.
The farm improvements of May will rank favorably with those of any other township in the county. Quite a number of old set- tlers of the county are now residents of May. Among them may be mentioned William B. Hall, a native of Virginia ; he settled in the county in 1835; and he subsequently married Eloisa Moore, also a Virginian by birth ; she became a resident of Christian coun- ty in 1838. Another old settler is Nancy Willey, relict of Stephen Willey ; she is a Tenneseean by birth, and came to the county in 1833. Her husband was a native of Ohio, and settled in this county in 1844. N. D. Sanders came to and settled in the county in 1837 ; he is a native of Connecticut, and has always been the stanch friend of churches and public schools, and is a farmer and stock raiser by occupation. Robert A. Hazlett, a leading farmer and stock raiser, became a resident of the county in 1827. He is an Ohioan by birth. His wife, formerly Elizabeth H. Steel, settled here in 1829 ; she is a native of Kentucky.
We append the township officers since organization.
Supervisors .- John S. Fraley, elected 1866, and re-elected 1867 ; John Waddle, 1868 ; J. S. Fraley, 1869, re-elected 1870 and '72; B. M. Burdick, 1873, re-elected 1874 ; J. S. Fraley, 1875 and '76; H. B. Long, 1877 ; J. S. Fraley, 1878; Joseph Hackenburg, 1879, re-elected 1880.
Assessors .- Richard Peck, 1876, re-elected 1877, 78, '79 and '80. Collectors .- Richard Peck, elected 1866; re-elected 1867, '68, '69, '70, '71 and 72; James Waddle, 1873, '74 and '75; H. B. Long, Sr., 1876; Edward Bugg, 1877, re-elected 1878, '79 and '80.
Town Clerks .- Wm. D. Coffman, 1876, re elected each succeed- ing year.
Commissioners of Highways-Wm Tedlie, 1876 ; W. D. Coffman, 1877; B. E. Waddle, 1878 ; Wm. Bugg, 1879; John Hazlett, 1880.
Constables .- Jefferson Stephens and J. E. George, elected in 1877; F. S. Wilson, 1878 ; J. T. Moody and J. D. Coffman, 1879 ; John W. Waddle and Samuel Waddle, 1880.
Justices of the Peace .- B. M. Burdick, elected in 1866 ; Thomas Smith, 1870; Wm. G. Henry, 1870; John H. Herdman, 1876; John H. Herdman and B. E. Waddle, 1877.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
H.M SNYDER
Richard Peck
RICHARD PECK, a view of whose farm and residence in May township appears on the opposite page, and whose portrait heads this sketch, is a native of England, and was born in the East Rid- ing, of Yorkshire, near Hull, on the eighth of December, 1816. He was the fourth of ten children of Simon Peek and his wife Janc, whose maiden name was Routledge. In the year 1834, his father emigrated with the family to America, and settled on a farm near Terre Haute, Indiana. For a couple of years after coming to In- diana, Mr. Peek worked in Terre Haute, and then rented his father's farm and went to farming. In 1837 he made a trip to New Or- leans on a flat boat, as he did also in 1841, that being the usual method by which in those days the farmers of the Wabash valley disposed of their surplus produce. He was married on the sixth of March, 1842, to Naomi Goukl, who was born in Lewis (now U'p- shur) county, West Virginia, March the fourteenth, 1820. ller father, whose name was Daniel Gould, died in Virginia. Her mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Strange, married a second husband, and moved to Indiana with the family, and settled near Terre Haute in the year 1829.
In the spring of 1850, Mr. Peck came to Christian county. Dur- ing the summer of the same year he entered a' quarter section of
land in section thirteen, of township thirteen, range one west, and at the land sales in 1852 seeured eighty additional acres. When he first came to this county the prairie in May township had not begun to be improved. On his first journey to this part of the state he rode eighteen miles without seeing a house He went back to Indiana in the spring of 1854, but returned to this county in the spring of 1858, and has since been a resident of May township. Sinec 1864 his home has been on section thirty-six. He has one hundred and ninety aeres of land. He is a gentleman in whom the people of May township seem to have every confidence as to his business ability and personal integrity. On the adoption of town- ship organization, he was chosen collector of the township, and served in that capacity for seven years. Since leaving the collec- torship, from 1873 to the present time, he has been assessor. In his political sympathies he was a whig, and cast his first vote for president for General Harrison, in the celebrated log cabin and hard cider campaign of 1840. He has been a republican since the organization of the party, though in county and township cleetions, he has often voted independently of party affiliations. For twenty years he has been a subscriber and reader of the New York Tribune, and has kept himself well-informed on the topies of the day.
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FANNIE
ON FOREST GROVE ...
FARM RES. AND TENANT HOUSE OF RICHARD PECK ESQ. SEC. 36, MAY TP., (13) R. I, W. CHRISTIAN CO., I'LL.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
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HM.SNIDER
JOHN SMITH.
AMONG the old settlers of May township, was Thomas Smith, whose portrait appears at the head of this sketch. He was born in England on the sixth day of June, 1811. He emigrated to Ameri- ca in June, 1844, and soon afterward came to Christian county. He settled on a farm on the edge of the Flat Branch timber, in section 15, May township, where he lived till the time of his death. He came to this county poor, and by dint of hard work and rigid economy, he managed to become the owner of a valuable farm, and to accumulate a competence. He was full of energy, and had ex- cellent business capacity. He filled the office of justice of the peace for twenty-six years, and the good common sense and sound judgment he displayed in this position, gave the people of the township confidence in him as an able business man, and an im- partial magistrate. He also, for a long number of years, filled the office of township treasurer. He was a man very reserved in his disposition, and said little about his own business affairs, even to those with whom he was best acquainted. As far as his dealings with his fellow-men were concerned, he was scrupulously honest, and no imputation was ever breathed on his integrity. He was an ardent democrat in politics. He died in January, 1877.
JOHN SMITH, who now lives on the farm in May township, on which his father formerly resided, was born at Stoke, Lancashire, England, on the 18th of April, 1838. The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Jane Cooper. John was next to the oldest of a family of four children. He came to America in 1844, and
was raised in the neighborhood of Griggsville, in Pike county, in this state. From the time he was eight years old he was obliged to work for his own living. For a year and a half, he had his home with a man named Wm. Pine, in Pike county. In the fall of 1849, he went to Naples and was employed in a hotel there for some months. His home was in the vicinity of Jacksonville from 1850 to 1855. During 1852 and 1853, he carried the mail between Jacksonville and Brighton. He was then a boy of fourteen or fifteen. The distance between the two places was fifty-five miles, and he made the round trip once a week, most of the time on horseback. His route was through Greenfield, Rhoads Point (where is now the town of Medora) and Piasa. He was often obliged to ride late at night to reach his stopping places, to cross streams when they were dangerous from being swollen by recent rains, and altogether the duty was not so pleasant as might be imagined. When he first went to Jacksonville he worked for six bits a week, and when he carried the mail he received cight dollars a month. For two years he worked on the farm of Anthony Thornton, ten miles south of Jacksonville.
-In 1855, he went to Brown county. He was then seventeen. He there learned to chop. He mastered the art of handling an axe as well as most men. He principally followed getting out rails and staves. One of the first contracts he made was to clear and fence a ten-acre tract of land and to pay fifty dollars cash for a horse. The other party to the arrangement had, of course, the best of the bargain, but Mr. Smith went to work, clearcd off the timber, and
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
got out twenty-nine hundred rails. He already had thirty dollars, and the remaining twenty, with which to make the eash payment, he earned by chopping cord wood in the Illinois bottom. The horse was dearly earned, but it was the first step in the way of making his own living. The next summer he earned a second horse by working for an unele. In January, 1858, he had two horses elear, but not a niekel in money, and only elothes enough to keep him warm. He next arranged with another man to rent land and raise a erop in partnership, but this agreement was not carried out, and Mr. Smith worked from March to June, receiving for his labor only fifteen dollars. In 1859, he raised a small crop, but was principally employed in making staves. He rented land in Pike county, in 1860, which he farmed for two years, and then leased an adjoining farm. By January, 1864, he had saved three hundred dollars in money and owned beside four head of horses, sixteen head of eattle, and other stock and farming utensils. He then determined to buy land, and paid half down for eighty aeres which he purchased for six hundred dollars. Only eighteen acres were elcared; the rest was timber. He had it all paid for at the end of the year.
On the 10th of April, 1864, he married Ruth Jane Kaylor, who died on the thirteenth of April, 1875. In 1866, he bought an addi- tional 160 aeres. When not busy on the farm he was hard at work in the timber, getting out rails and ties, hanling them sixteen miles to the railroad, and working all day and sometimes late into the night. As soon as he had means, he bought another 110 acres. By hard work he managed to accumulate considerable property, and was known as an industrions, energetie and prosperous man. His second marriage was on the 7th of November, 1875, to Sarah E. Lane, who was born in Adams county. In April, 1878, after his father's death, Mr. Smith moved on his father's old farm, in May township. He is now the owner of 710 aeres of land -360 in May township, and the balance in Adams county. He is a man who has made his way through the world by his own energy. He began life with nothing, and by industry managed to plaee himself in com- fortable circumstances previous to his father's death, and to show that he was competent to make his own way in the world. He has had seven children, five by his first and two by his seeond marriage. Two by his first marriage are dead, one of whom, Ellen Catharine Jemima Smith, was eight years old when she died, and a child of mmsual brightness, whose death made a vacant place in the family circle hard to be filled. The other, Arthur, died in infancy. The names of the children living are Lydia Elizabeth, George Thomas, John William, Orpha Myrtle, and Virgil Arnold. He has always been a democrat in politics.
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