History of Christian County, Illinois, Part 58

Author: Goudy, Calvin, 1814-1877; Brink, McDonough and Company, Philadelphia
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : Brink, McDonough
Number of Pages: 446

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As a merchant and business man, Mr. Sanders bore a reputation which for honesty and integrity has not been excelled by that of any other citizen of this county. During the long number of years in which he had business relations with hundreds of people, friends and strangers, no imputation of dishonesty was ever breathed against his character. He was one of those men of whom it could be truthfully said, " His word is as good as his bond." His veracity was unquestioned. He possessed considerable determination of character, and generally accomplished what he set out to do. His early life was in the days of the oldl whig and democratic parties. He was a member of the whig organization, and usually supported its candidates. He was opposed to slavery as a matter of principle, and was one of the first to connect himself with the republican party on its organization. During the war of the rebellion, Christian county knew no stronger union man, nor one whose heart beat more devotedly for the maintenance of the union and the preservation of

our common country. For a number of years he was a justice of the peace, and also acted as post-master at Old Stonington.

His religious and moral character can well be spoken of in terms of the highest praise. He was a strong advocate of the temperance cause, and exemplified the benefits of that cardinal virtue in his daily life. From the year 1830 he had been a member of the Bap- tist Church. He was one of the founders of the Stonington Church, and among its most active and influential members. He was chari- table and benevolent, and was always foremost in the support of every good object and religious enterprise. One year he supported a missionary at his own expense, and during the same time paid one-fourth of the support of the pastor of the Stonington Church. By a provision of his will he left two thousand dollars, the interest on which is to be used for the support of some missionary minister of the Baptist denomination in Christian county. These facts speak of the sincerity of his religion better than words can do. His death was lamented by a large circle of friends and neighbors. His re- mains now repose in the Old Stonington Cemetery, where his last resting-place is marked by a suitable monument, which his friends have erected to his memory.

V. A. BAKER.

MR. BAKER, one of the farmers of May township, was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, October 19th, 1838, and is the son of William Baker and Caroline Utterbeck. When five years old his father moved to Richland county, Illinois, where the subject of this sketch lived till he was eighteen years of age, when he came to Shelby county, and worked for a couple of years near Moweaqua. He then came to May township, in Christian county. In 1861 he went back to Richland county. December 1st, 1861, he enlisted in Company C., 63d Regiment Illinois Infantry. For over two years he was on detached service, and stationed at Cairo, where he was on police duty. He rejoined his regiment at Huntsville, Alabama, just before General Sherman started out on his famous march from Atlanta to the sea. He accompanied Sherman through Georgia and other southern states, and arrived at Goldsboro, North Caro- lina, just as the southern confederacy was falling to pieces and the war was closing. He was discharged at Goldsboro, April 9th, 1865, and reached Washington the morning of the day, on the night of which, Lincoln was assassinated. He returned to Chris- tian county. He was married August 29th, 1867, to Mary H. Keiser. Mrs. Baker was born April 22d, 1838, in Fayette county, Kentucky. Her father, James L. Keiser, was born at Lexington, Kentucky, and married Abigail Stipp; he then moved from Ken- tucky to Christian county, in March, 1853, and settled on a farm in section two of May township, on which he lived till his death, March 19th, 1866. Mr. Keiser was one of the substantial farmers of May township; he came to the county with but little means, and began life with nothing on which to rely except his own industry. He accumulated considerable property, and when he died owned six hundred and eighty acres of land, beside other property. He was a good business man, industrious, and a good trader. In early life he had been a whig in polities, and was afterwards a democrat. He was a man of excellent character. Mrs. Baker was the third of seven children. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Baker began farming where they now live, on section fifteen, in May township, on one of the earliest improved farms in that part of the county. They have two children, Vincent August and Annn Victoria. Mr. Baker has been independent in politics, and has generally voted for the best man for the office. His first vote for president was cast for Lincoln, in 1860. He is known as a good business man, and to

STOCK FARMS, PROPERTY OF WILLIAM J. L. AND MARY ETTINGER, SEC. 8 MAY TP, (13) R.I, W. CHRISTIAN CO., | LLS.

500 ACRES.

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The Library of the Unatramaity of Illinois

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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

a considerable extent has been engaged in feeding cattle and trading in stock.

ROBERT A. HAZLETT.

ROBERT HAZLETT, grandfather of Mr. Hazlett, came from Ire- land and settled in North Carolina before the Revolutionary war. Chandler Hazlett, his grandfather's brother, was a soldier in the Revolution. He was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill, and there is still preserved in the family a book which he picked up as he crawled off that hotly contested field. Mr. Hazlett's father, John Hazlett, was born in North Carolina, moved to what is now West Virginia, and from there to the state of Ohio. He mar- ried Nancy Patton, in Gallia county, Ohio, February 7th, 1817. In 1819 he moved to Mercer county, West Virginia, on the opposite side of the Ohio river. In 1827, he came to Illinois. Robert A. Hazlett was born eight miles below Gallipolis, in Gallia county, Ohio, on the 29th of October, 1817. He was eighteen

months old when his father moved over to West Virginia, and ten when the family came to Illinois. His father settled in Sangamon county, four miles north-west from Springfield, and died January 31, 1842. His mother died March 2d, 1857. Mr. Hazlett was raised in Sangamon county. January 3d, 1839, he married Eliza- beth H. Steele, who was born in Christian county, Kentucky, April 11th, 1821. In 1856, he settled in Mt. Auburn township, in this county, where he lived till February, 1879, when he moved to his present farm in May township. Mr. and Mrs. Hazlett have had fourteen children, whose names are as follows: Rachel, now the wife of George T. Fagan, John, Nancy J., who married David Doy, Sarah Eliza, who married George Moler, James Robert, George Francis, who died in 1865 at the age of fourteen, Virgil, Norman, Jasper and Martin, who died in infancy, Elizabeth, Laura Bell and Vallandigham. Mr. Hazlett is now one of the oldest settlers of this part of the state. He was first a whig, and since has been a democrat. He served a term as justice of the peace in Mt. Au- burn township, and was also once a collector of that township.

JOHNSON TOWNSHIP.

HIS township comprises town twelve north, rauge two west, and lies directly south of Taylorville. A large portion of the territory is prairie, which remained un- occupied for many years after the organization of the county. A few settlers with log cabins and small improvements- graced the linings of the timber at an early day. The south-east corner of the township extended over the South Fork into the Buck- eye settlement. This section and that part of it bordering along Brushy Branch on the west side were the first settled with enter- prising farmers. But soon thereafter the prairie portion began to be settled rapidly, and now is one solid net-work of well improved farms. It is well watered by the South Fork of the Sangamon, and its affluents. Its bottoms are covered with a rich growth of timber, amply sufficient for building purposes-fencing and fuel. The farmers direct their attention mostly to the raising of corn and feed- ing stock. The following comprises the names of some of the early settlers : John Z. Durbin, Jesse Hinkle settled on section 28th ill 1837, John Vinson, Abram Lantz, Wm. Durbin, Benj. Harris, Lemuel Raney, John C. Clark, Dr. J. H. Clark, Jeremiah Welch, Benj. Vinson, Samuel Mckenzie, W. S. Berry, Noel Rape, Samuel Angel, John Keller, J. W. Morgan, Henry Baker, Jacob Funder- burk, Joseph Dawson, John Bowman, Alex. Johnson, Henry Rape, Richard Johnson, Dr. U. C. McCoy, A. J. Willey, Thos. E. Voss, Peter Brown, Samuel Large and J. H. Calloway. Most ofthese were residents of the township twenty-five years ago. At the organiza- tion of the county this whole territory was in the "South Precinct," embracing Bear Creek, with their voting place at Jno. Z. Durbin's residence on the W. } section 24-township 12-2 now the residence of John Dappard. This arrangement was only temporary. For many years thereafter the northern two-thirds was attached to the Taylorville Precinct, whilst the south third formed a part of " Ne- vada " precinct. It thus remained till township organization was effected in 1866, when it was organized as Johnson Township. It

was first named Douglas, after the distinguished Illinois statesman, but subsequently it was changed to the present name.

At the first election of township officers April 3d, 1866, Tavner B. Anderson was elected first Supervisor, and Samuel J. Shivers and Richard Culley were elected Justices of the Peace. The voting place was fixed at the residence of Samuel J. Shivers, on the six- teenth scction, being the most central for the convenience of its in- habitants. Its population, at the census of 1870, was 640-since which time it has increased in population. At the Presidential election in 1876, there were 243 votes cast. It is strongly demo- cratic.

" Mound school-house," one of the first built in the Buckeye prairie, upward of thirty years ago, is on the N. E. }, section 35- in the south-east part of the township. On J. W. Brown's land there is a neat M. E. church building near the Bowman school-house, erected in 1874. The following are the first land entries as taken from the county records : January 9, 1836, Thomas Young, Sr., Lot 1, N. E. 4 section 5, 80 acres; May 10, 1836, Jesse Murphy, N. } N. E. { section 6, 86.96 acres ; May 18, 1836, Hiram Rountree, N. } N. E. Į section 1, 78.60 acres.

HALF ACRE.

This once noted place had its location on the banks of the Sangamon, in the north-western corner of Johnson township, on the public road from Taylorville to Bear Creek. It was specially located on the N. W. ¿ N. W. 4 section 8. Its proprietor was Edward Bradly, a genial son of the Emerald Isle, who purchased a half acre of ground and founded the town. To give it an air of business he opened a grocery store and saloon in the year 1855. The county court, impressed with its rising prospects, granted license to its proprietor to sell " spirituous liquors for six months, " at the moderate charge of $25,-and the executing of a bond in the pen- alty of $500. It contained a steam saw-mill operated by Bell and

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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Christian; several log cabins were erected, and a few families located here soon after the town was established In time it became noto- rious as a place of dissipation and rowdyism, giving rise to the name " Hell's Half Acre." It was a half-way town for those who were weary, passing to and fro from Bear Creek to Taylorville, and home- ward. A fight could be improvised at any hour to order.

Surreys .- The land in this township was originally surveyed by Wm. Gordon, Deputy U. S. Surveyor-returned and certified, Jan. 25th, 1819-Wm. Rector, Surveyor General. In the midst of a raging storm the saloon building and contents were struck by light- ning and burned. Soon the mill was removed, and now nothing remains to mark the spot where once stood the famous "Hell's Half Acre."

We subjoin a list of township officers :

Supervisors .- T. B. Anderson, elected 1866 ; H. C. Johnson, 1867; W. S. Berry, 1868 ; Benj. Howard, 1869, and re-elected 1870 and 1871; William S. Berry, 1872, re-elected 1873 and 1874 ; C. T. Linxwiler, 1875; D. W. Johnson, 1876, re-elected, and has con- tinued in the office ever since.

Assessors .- S. J. Shivers, 1876, re-elected 1877; Moses Oller, 1878 ; James L Lamb, 1879 ; Moses Oller, 1880.

Collectors -Andrew J. Roper, elected 1866 ; James Lamb, 1867 ; Charles T. Linxwiler, 1868; Moses Oller, 1869 ; T. J. Locker, 1870; G. W. Shivers, 1871; T. J. Locker, 1872; Fuel. Marshall, 1873; C. T. Linxwiler, 1874; Fnel. Marshall, 1875; Samuel Culley, 1876 ; J. B. Foy, 1877 ; S. T. Marshall, 1878 ; Fuel. Marshall, 1879 ; H. N. Underwood, 1880.

Town Clerks .- Enoch Fleming, 1876; G. J. Osborn, 1877, re- elected 1878 ; John B. Foy, 1879, re-elected 1880.

Commissioners of Highways .- J. HI. Hawkins, 1876; A. J. Wil- kerson, 1877, and D. A. Dunbar, 1877; Enoch Fleming, 1878; Wm. M. Coe, 1879 ; D. A. Dunbar, 1880.

Constables .- Leander Scott and Joseph Dawson, elected in 1873; Thomas Howard and Isaae Garsler, 1874; Stephen A. Brown, 1876, re-elected 1877; W. S. Messenger, elected 1877; Adolphus Scott, 1878; M. C. Carpenter, 1879 ; M. C. Shivers, 1880.

Justices of the Peace .- Samuel J. Shivers and Richard Culley, elected in 1866; Richard Culley and Wm. Berry, 1870; Joseph C. Smith, 1871; Wm. H. Ives, 1874; Spencer M. Goodson, 1875; Wm. H. Ives and S. M. Goodson, 1877 ; Joseph Dawson, 1878.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

WILLIAM H. IVES.

THE ancestors of this gentleman were early residents of Salem, Massachusetts. His grandfather, Capt. William Ives, was born in Salem, and, like most of the inhabitants of that ancient town, fol- lowed the sea for a livelihood. He was one of the first American navigators to make the passage around the Cape of Good Hope after its discovery by the Dutch. William Ives, the father of the subject of this sketch, lived in Salem from his birth, in the year 1794, till his death, in December, 1875. When a boy he learned the printing trade, and for half a century was the publisher of the Salem Observer, a paper which he founded when a young man, and which still has a vigorous and prosperous existence. He was also in the general book-selling and publishing business, and the firm of W. & S. B. Ives was the best known, and transacted the largest business, of any in that branch of trade in Essex county. Wil- liam Ives married Lucy Gardner, who was born at Hingham, fif- teen miles from Boston, and was the daughter of Perez and Silence Gardner. Her father, Perez Gardner, at the beginning of the rev- olutionary war, when eighteen years old, enlisted in the American army, and fought throughout the whole of the war with Great Britain, taking part in several battles. He afterwards followed for many years the ocenpation of a bucket and box maker.

William Hale Ives, the third of a family of eight children, of whom seven are now living, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, Jan- uary 17th, 1829. He was raised in his native town, and went to school to Benjamin Greenleaf, the author of Greenleaf's Arithme- tie and other well-known mathematical works. When a boy he picked up the printer's trade in his father's office. In 1844, when

fifteen, he went to sea. He shipped as a boy before the mast in the old ship " Exchange," which carried a cargo of ice to the East Indies, said to be the first ice ever shipped to that part of the world as a commercial venture. The vessel touched at Calcutta, Bombay and other East Indian ports, and the whole voyage required about a year. His second voyage was on the " Thomas Perkins," the first American ship to enter the port of Aracan, from which place they proceeded to Singapore, Amoy, Manilla, Batavia and other ports in East India and China. At Manilla he was sick a considerable time with the small-pox. Another voyage was made to the ports of the Mediterranean ; while lying at Messina, an outbreak against the government occurred on shore, which resulted in great blood- shed and loss of life. He was one of the crew of a vessel which sailed from Boston to Vera Cruz at the close of the Mexican war to bring home a Massachusetts regiment. Leaving the vessel at New Orleans, he came up the Mississippi and the Ohio to Cincin- nati. This was in 1848. He remained in Cincinnati only a short time, returned to New Orleans on a flat-boat, and, sailing from New Orleans to Boston in the ship " Desdemona," reached home on his twentieth birth-day.

After the discovery of gold in California, he was one of a party of fifty who bought the schooner "Civilian," and sailed from Bos- ton in the fall of 1849 for the Pacific coast. He passed his twenty- first birth-day off Cape Horn, and reached San Francisco in the spring of 1850. He remained in California till 1852. He followed mining six or seven months, most of the time at Salmon Falls. Hc made considerable money, but, like most miners in those California days, his money went as freely as it came. He left mining to go

RES.OF JOHN W. MILLER, SEC./5 . GREENWOOD TP., (II) R.2 W. CHRISTIAN CO., ILL.

FARM AND RES. OF JAMES L.LAMB, SEC. 30. JOHNSON TP., (12) R. 2.W. CHRISTIAN CO.,/LL.

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The Library of the University of Illmole"

RESIDENCE OF W. A. GOODRICH, TAYLORVILLE ILL.

RESIDENCE OF I. N. RICHARDSON, TAYLORVILLE ILL.

FARM RESIDENCE OF W. T. FUNDERBURK, SEC. 10, T.12, R.2, (JOHNSON TP.) CHRISTIAN CO, ILL.

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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

into the office of the Placer Times, a newspaper published at Sacramento by Pickering & Lawrence. His first position was that of roller-boy, from which he was rapidly promoted to be manager of the paper. He was in San Francisco during the three great fires which devastated that city in 1850 and 1851. He made the voyage home from San Francisco to Boston in the ship " Pacific."

After trying the sea, mining and journalism, he was next ready to turn his hand to railroading. He was one of fifty young men sent out from Salem by David A. Neal, vice president of the Illi- nois Central railroad, to man the Illinois Central railroad on its opening up for business in this state. He had charge for a year of the station at Monee, thirty-five miles south of Chicago. January 17th, 1854, while at Monee, he married Mary Walker. She was born at Troy, New York, the daughter of J. S. Walker and Mary Lindsley, both natives of New Jersey. The father moved to Chi- cago in 1848. In the spring of 1855 Esq. Ives took charge of a department of the freight business of the Illinois Central road in Chicago, and in 1856 engaged in the printing business in the same city. From September, 1856, till 1859, he lived in Cincinnati. The latter year he moved to New Orleans, and was employed in the Crescent office till the breaking out of the rebellion. He stayed in New Orleans as long as he thought it prudent for a Union man to remain, and a day or two after the fall of Fort Sumter left for the North on the " A. (). Tyler," the last steamer that made the voy- age of the Mississippi without interruption.

Mrs. Ives' father had moved to Christian county in 1857, and built a saw-mill in section thirty-three of Johnson township. On coming North, Esq. Ives, with his family, came to this place, where he has since lived, except that occasionally he has worked at the printing business in the Cincinnati Commercial office, of the print- ing department of which paper his brother-in-law, William Porter, was formerly manager. During the last seven years he has resided continually in this county. Since 1873 he has filled the office of justice of the peace. He has been a member of the republican party since its organization. He has two children living, William and Raymond, and two deceased. His career has partaken more largely of adventure than that of most men, and his travels have extended to distant quarters of the globe. Mrs. Ives' father, J. S. Walker, died in this county in 1866.

WILLIAM S. BERRY-(DECEASED).

MR. BERRY was one of the old settlers of Johnson township. He was born on the 26th of February, 1826, in the state of Ken- tucky. His father died when Mr. Berry was a small child. After her husband's death his mother came with the children to Illinois, and settled in Montgomery county, near Hillsboro, where she mar- ried, as her second husband, Isaac Osborn. The family came to this state in 1828, when Mr. Berry was two years old. When he was ten or twelve his stepfather died, leaving the family without sufficient means of support. Being the oldest of the seven children, with which his mother was left after the death of her second hus- band, as soon as he was old enough he took charge of the family. In the fall of 1850 he came to Christian county. The succeeding winter he lived with an uncle, in what is now Locust township, and in the spring of 1851, having bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, he settled in Johnson township, on the place where he lived till his death, and where his widow still resides. He was mar- ried on the 19th of January, 1854, to Sarah A. Rape, who was born in Sangamon county, November 21st, 1831. Her father, Peter Rape, was born near Nashville, Tennessee; married Sarah

Viles ; emigrated to Illinois, and settled on Horse Creek, twelve miles south-east of Springfield. He was one of the pioneer settlers of Sangamon county. Mr. Berry owned a farm in Johnson town- ship of two hundred and thirty-seven acres. He died on the 23d of January, 1875. He was a man much respected for his many good qualities as a neighbor and a citizen. He was closely identified with the affairs of Johnson township, and filled several public offices, always with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the people. He was elected justice of the peace, but resigned after holding the office a short time; he represented Johnson township in the board of supervisors, and held that position at the time of his death, as he did also the office of township treasurer. He had always been a democrat in politics, and was a member of the Masonic fraternity. He left three children. The oldest daughter, Mary N., married Henry Wilson, and is living in Johnson town- ship; George F., since 1876, has been a resident of Texas ; Ida J., the remaining child, married Oliver De Motte, and is living in Johnson township. Since her husband's death Mrs. Berry has been managing the farm, with the exception of one year, when she re- sided in Taylorville.

W. T. FUNDERBURK.

MR. FUNDERBURK is a native of Christian county. The family is of German deseent. His great-grandfather emigrated to this country, and settled in Tennessee. His grandfather, Henry Fun- derburk, was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and moved from Tennessee to Illinois in the year 1814. He settled in Sangamon county on Horse creek, close to Cotton Hill, twelve miles south of Springfield. That part of Illinois was then wild and unsettled, in- habited by Indians, and the Funderburk family were among the early pioneer settlers. James Funderburk, the father of the sub- ject of this sketch, was born in Tennessee, and was four years old on coming to Illinois. He was married in Sangamon county to Naney Nelson, who was also a native of Tennessee, and came to Illinois about the same time with the Funderburks. Her parents were from Scotland. Mr. Funderburk's father moved from Sanga- mon to Christian county in the year 1838, and settled on the farm, where he has since lived, a mile and three-quarters west of Taylor- ville. During the sixty-six years he has lived in Illinois, he has only occupied three different locations. He and his wife are still living west of Taylorville, at an advanced age.

W. T. Funderburk was born on the farm west of Taylorville, February 4th, 1840, and was raised in that part of the county. He was married on the 7th of November, 1861, to Sarah Ann Johnston, the daughter of Alexander Johnston, who settled in Johnson township, in the year 1854. Mrs. Funderburk was born in Madison county, Ohio. After his marriage Mr. Funderburk went to farming for himself in Taylorville township, and in 1863 moved to Johnson township. He has been living on his present farmi, which lies in sections three, nine, and ten, since the year 1873. He built an attractive and substantial residence, a view of which appears on another page, among our illustrations. In politics Mr. Funderburk has always been a democrat. He has adhered closely to that party, and has always voted for its candidates. His father is one of the oldest settlers of Christian county, and few men have lived in the state for a longer period, the date of his coming to Illinois reaching back four years before the admission of the state into the Union.

SAMUEL LARGE

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History of Christian County, Illinois, Part 58

Author: Goudy, Calvin, 1814-1877; Brink, McDonough and Company, Philadelphia Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : Brink, McDonough Number of Pages: 446

Author: Goudy, Calvin, 1814-1877; Brink, McDonough and Company, Philadelphia
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : Brink, McDonough
Number of Pages: 446