USA > Illinois > Ford County > History of Ford County, Illinois : from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
THE GERMAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL SOCIETY OF MELVIN.
This society was organized in Peach Orchard township in 1870, with ten members, by Rev. E. J. Funk of Chicago German Conference.
The first class was composed of the following members: II. Duringer and wife, Ties Arends and wife, George O. Arends and wife, A. Hellman and wife, and Gerhard Defries and wife. Meetings were first held at farm houses. After the village of Melvin was started. they moved into town. In 1875 they bought the old schoolhouse which stood a half mile south of town, moved it up into town, fitted it up, and used it for church until 1881, when they built a new church at a cost of one thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars. It was dedicated November 20, by Peter Hinners, of Chicago.
GERMAN EVANGELICAL CINUIRCH, MELVIN.
The name of the organization is as above stated, but it is called St. Peter's congregation. This society was organized October 20, 1872. The original members were F. Beck, M. Otto. H. Schnelle, Il. Spellmeyer, W. Fabel, II. Steinman, M. Imm, O. Defries, W. Hafer, F. Bretting, J. Hlinse, G. Beck. A. Loeinga. R. Freese, A. Mohr. These members erected a building in the spring of 1873, valued at eleven hundred dollars.
From the time of organization until July 5, 1875, Rev. Simon Surj was minister of the congregation. From the latter date until April 7. 1878, Rev. Il. Hebler was the minister.
UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH, ELLIOTT.
This elmirch was organized two and a half miles north from Elliott, at Samuel Todd's house, in the winter of 1862. The original members were Samuel and Nancy Todd, Jackson and America Pitser, Peter Beatty and wife, John Wallace's family. John and Jemima Cooder, Jesse and Rosanna Todd,
267
HISTORY OF FORD COUNTY
Messrs. Darg, Hawthorne, Trickel and their wives, John Keesey and wife, JJohn McBride and wife, and others to the number of forty.
In 1872 a church was erected in the village of Elliott at a cost of one thousand dollars.
FORD COUNTY NEWSPAPERS.
BY EDGAR N. STEVENS.
The history of the newspapers of Ford county, and especially those of Pax- ton, has been one of successes and reverses, of hard struggle for existence. and brilliant vietory in the face of defiant opposition. The newspaper business is an ocenpation in which is brought into play some of the best and keenest qualities of a man's nature, and in which may also be displayed. on occasion, some of the lowest characteristics. It, in fact, may be represented as a bat- tle. in which the cohorts are brought face to face with one another in a war of words. and in which he who holds the best command of himself and his forces is sure to prevail. The hosts of sin are encamped on one side, and the forces of good upon the other. and the weal or woe, the destiny of a town or city, or it may be of a nation, may rest upon the conduct of a single news- paper. It is a potent factor for good or ill in any community, which is an all-important reason that it should be in the hands of men of brains, who have the good and not the ill of the community at heart. and who will work for its upbuilding and best interests.
The first paper established in Ford county of which we have any record. was the Ford County Union, started in the year 1864, and which had a pre- carions existence of only a few months, when it was purchased by N. E. Stev- ens, in February, 1865. He changed the name to the Paxton Record, and has continued its publication ever since. The policy of the paper has been uncompromisingly republican from its very foundation, even from the time when the country was closing a war that threatened its very life blood. Through nineteen years of changing life, through seasons of adversity, of bit- ter strife and debate, as well as in the more pleasant times of peace. it has steadily pressed forward until the present time, and now stands on a firm basis of assured prosperity, demonstrating the fact that continuons policy is the best for a country newspaper. In 1881, Mr. Stevens associated with him his son, Edgar N. Stevens, and the paper has been continued since under the firm
268 .
HISTORY OF FORD COUNTY
name of N. E. Stevens & Son, with no change in the policy of the paper. The paper now occupies a building of its own on north Market street, a good loca- tion, and is enjoying a season of unwonted prosperity.
The Stevens. in the fall of 1897, started a daily paper and are running it at this time. It is a seven column folio.
The Ford County Liberal. conducted by Charles D. Sibley. was the next paper issued in Paxton. The first number was published on the 17th day of August. 1872. It was an eight column folio. neatly printed and ably edited. In October of the same year, Thomas Wolfe became associated with Mr. Sibley in the editorial management of the paper. and in the following month took full possession. The aim of this sheet was to furnish a live, local paper, that should chronicle all the news of the day, and at the same time fur- nish its Liberal and Greenback friends with arguments for their cause. The office was on a paying basis, when, in October, 1874, under the management of Messrs. Wolfe & Dodd, the building occupied and its effects were burned. The paper was never resurrected.
The Ford County Blade was the child of a day. started by Messrs. Creed & Doxsey, of Bloomington, on the 1st day of July, 1876. upon the supposi- tion that Paxton needed another local paper and to awaken a deeper interest in politics among the democratie fraternity in this immediate vicinity. This firm published a newsy local paper for the brief term of twenty-four weeks, but was finally obliged to succumb to the inevitable. On the 9th day of December of the same year, the past paper was issued. The failure to estab- lish a paper was ascribed to the fact that the business was not here to support two live papers-evidently a sensible conclusion. Among others to whom credit was given by this firm for favors shown, was Mr. Stevens, of the Record.
Nearly a year elapsed before the next paper appeared. when another firm from Bloomington put in the material for a job and newspaper office. Messrs. Holmes & Colvin christened their paper the Ford County News, and on the 3d of November, 1877, started out from a republican standpoint to publish a paper well tinged with that doctrine, and also to make it replete with general local matter. The last issue appeared on the 19th of January, 1878, these parties having found that the field of republicanism in the county was well occupied.
The Weekly Standard, by the same publishers, appeared on the 26th of January, 1878. Like the two other papers last mentioned, it was five colum quarto, and, in reality, a continuance of the News, but espoused the Greenback cause. The Standard was longer lived than its immediate predecessors, and
RECORD OFFICE
SHEPERDSON TAFTY CO. LAND OFFICE.
J .S . XD.A.LPOSE BANKING HOUSE OF
ELLS
BLOC
TOY
N. E. STEVENS, EDITOR PAXTON RECORD SINCE JANU- ARY 1, 1865
271
HISTORY OF FORD COUNTY
Ining on with a pertinaneity worthy of a better cause until 1879, when it suc- cumbed to the inevitable, the field not being broad enough for its proper support.
The first edition of the Appeal was published on the 26th of November, 1879. It was an organ of the Greenback party, with Thomas Wolfe as editor, and B. F. Hill, publisher. About the 1st of September, 1880, the property was purchased by J. C. Dunham, who, in January, 1881, changed the name of the paper to the Eastern Illinois Register. £ The policy of the paper was announced as Greenback. This is an independent democratic paper, published at Paxton. It is the result of a consolidation of the Loda Register, Gilman Sun, Paxton Appeal and Gibson Press, the first of which was established in 1875, by J. C. Dunham. J. Wallace Dunnan took charge of the paper in 1900, and has ably edited it up to the present time.
The Pan-Handle Advocate was started April 20, 1883, by F. H. Robertson. During the succeeding summer Judge Beach succeeded Mr. Robertson in the proprietorship of the paper. It is a six column quarto. It has been an inde- pendent journal, a paper expressly for the people, clean, straightforward and thoroughly representative, social, religious, political, industrial, etc. In short, it aspires to be the family paper per se. H. P. Beach is its editor today.
Burt E. Burroughs, of Cabery, was the first publisher of the Cabery Enquirer. It was established in 1883. It is now controlled and edited by William R. Watts.
The Gibson Enterprise was founded by P. A. Coal, now postmaster at Gib- son City, in 1882. He conducted the business in a prosperous manner for eighteen years, or until 1903, when Woolley Brothers, the present proprietors, purchased the plant. They immediately secured a brick building on First street, where the business is now conducted. The Enterprise is one of a chain of three papers published by Woolley Brothers, the other publications being the Saybrook Gazette and the Arrowsmith News. The firm of Woolley Broth- ers is composed of Frank Woolley, George A. Woolley and Arthur B. Woolley. The Enterprise is edited by George A. Woolley.
The Sibley Index came into existence about January 1st, 1880, and was established by P. A. Coal. For some time H. W. Rodman was its editor. He was succeeded by M. T. Uyer. Sibley is now depending on the Sibley Journal to keep it informed of current events. The Journal was established in 1897, by the Sibley Publishing Company. Its present editor is Judson Chubbuck.
272
IIISTORY OF FORD COUNTY
The Gibson Enterprise was established by N. E. Stevens, in the spring of 1872. It was the first paper ever published in Gibson. The printing was done in the office of the Record at Paxton. In the fall of 1873. the Enter- prise was purchased by Walter Hoge, who changed the name to the Gibson Courier. Mr. Hoge conducted the paper until the winter of 1875, when E. Lowry became its owner and editor. Mr. Lowry was the editor of the Courier until. 1885. when the paper passed into the hands of N. F. Cunningham and John C. Mallory. With indifferent success. the paper was published by these gentlemen for about a year, when Mr. Lowry bought it back and edited the sheet until 1897. At the time just mentioned, the concern was purchased by C. E. and J. P. Lowry, sons of the above, who are now in active control and giving the people of the county the local news and one of the best papers in this section of Illinois.
THE PIPER CITY ADVERTISER.
The Piper City Advertiser was founded by Henry Allnutt, who located in Ford county in 1870, on a farm in Pella township. He removed to Piper City in 1873, bought a few handsful of brevier type, a quarto novelty press, aud opened a job office. Ile was soon publishing the Advertiser. a four column folio. which made its first appearance in the summer of 1876. It was but a short time before it appeared as a six column folio. In 1883, it was changed to a five column quarto.
THE PIPER CITY JOURNAL.
The Piper City Journal was founded in 1897, by B. W. Kinsey. In 1900 it passed into the hands of Charles D. Gilpin, who is the present editor. It is a five column quarto, and is neutral in politics.
THIE MELVIN TRANSCRIPT.
The Melvin Transcript was established in 1893, by W. O. Sanders, who is its present editor.
THE ROBERTS HERALD.
The Roberts Herald was founded in 1898, by W. O. Sanders, and is giv- ing the people in that section of the county, all the news there is to be had.
273
HISTORY OF FORD COUNTY
PHYSICIANS OF FORD COUNTY.
The following facts are taken from the records of the county :
Samuel L. Baughman, Gibson City, graduated from the Chicago Medical College, March 2, 1876; school of practice, regular or allopathic.
James Y. Campbell, Paxton, graduated from Chicago Medical College, March 21, 1865; regular.
M. Cassingham, Roberts, graduated from the Rush Medical College, Chi- cago, February 16, 1865; regular.
S. D. Culbertson, Piper City, graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, March 10, 1866, regular.
L. B. Farrar, Paxton, graduated from Berkshire Medical College, Massachusetts, November 8, 1848; homeopathic.
Laura E. Farrar, Paxton, graduated from Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, 1872; homeopathic.
HI. E. Farley, Cabery, graduated from Rush Medical College, Chicago, Feb- ruary 24, 1880; regular.
HI. Gilborne, Cabery, graduated from Hahnemann Medical College, Phila- delphia, March 9, 1872; homeopathic.
J. I. Groves, Gibson City, graduated from Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, February 26, 1880; homeopathic.
. N. Holton, Gibson City, graduated from Chicago Medical College, March 5, 1867 ; regular.
H. A. Kelso, Paxton, certificate State Board on twenty years' practice Jume 14, 1880; regular.
E. L. Kelso, Paxton, graduated from Chicago Medical College, March 27, 1883; regular.
Floyd O'Brien, Sibley, graduated from Rush Medical College, February 15, 1876; regular.
W. F. O'Brien, Piper City, examination by State Board July 6, 1881; regular.
E. B. Perry, Melvin, graduated from Rush Medical College, Chicago, Feb- ruary 24, 1880; regular.
John T. Ragsdale, Gibson City, graduated from American Eclectic College, St. Louis, January 26, 1875; eclectic.
Milton B. Swisher, Paxton, graduated from the Pulte Medical College, Cin- einnati, March 6, 1883; homeopathie.
274
HISTORY OF FORD COUNTY
T. B. Strauss, Gibson City, examination by State Board, January 12, 1878; regular.
J. M. Waters, Gibson City, graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. March 7, 1868; regular.
S. M. Wylie. Paxton, graduated from Chicago Medical College, March 5, 1878; regular.
John Wilson. Elliott, graduated from Rush Medical College, Chicago. Feb- ruary 21, 1882; regular.
T. R. Wiley, Gibson City, graduated from Rush Medical College, February 14, 1874; regular.
W. H. Watson, Cabery, graduated from Rush Medical College, February 16, 1875; regular.
The following physicians are now practicing in Ford county :
Paxton : Drs. S. M. Wylie, S. A. Lundgren, S. S. Fuller, E. L. Kelso, HI. A. Kelso, R. J. Atwood, E. E. Hester, I. D. Kelschimer and James Mahan; Dr. Hartford, osteopath.
Roberts: Dr. B. J. Zahn.
Melvin : H. N. Boshell
Elliott : Dr. G. W. Rudolphi.
Clarence : J. B. Brown.
Sibley : Drs. A. A. Absher, Otto Finkensher.
FORD COUNTY BAR.
WRITTEN IN 1884.
Ex-County Judge David Patton was the pioneer lawyer of Ford county. having located at Ten Mile Grove, about three miles southwest of Paxton, in the latter part or October, 1853, while Ford was yet a part of Vermilion county. lle was born in Clark county, Kentucky, in 1806, and emigrated to Butler county, Ohio, with his parents in 1810. At the age of eighteen he began the study of law in the office of Oliver HI. Smith at Connersville, Indiana, and while so engaged in his studies, taught district school in the winter season to earn money to pay his current expenses. In October, 1828, he was admitted to the bar, and soon afterward began the active practice of his profession at La Fayette, Indiana, where, by his natural tact and close attention to business. he secured and held for ten years a large and merative practice. Frank,
275
HISTORY OF. FORD COUNTY
upright and generous in disposition, he was held in high esteem by the people, and regarded as a leading lawyer by his professional brethren. Ilis unguarded liberality, however, ultimately proved a snare to him financially. ITis earnings for the ten years were soon swept away in the payment of debts for his friends, and he was compelled to start anew in life. With this object in view, he turned his face and steps westward, and located on a choice tract of four hun- dred acres of land at the Grove above referred to. Population in his new home was too sparse to afford much profitable law business, and hence he turned his attention to farming and stock-raising, but his reputation as a lawyer soon came to the ears of his new neighbors and friends, and he was frequently called to maintain or defend their rights before the local magistrates. This he did with his former zeal and success. Not a few of the regulars in the profession could truthfully say they were completely surprised and often out-generaled in these contests by this unassuming Hoosier farmer. To his efforts, the passage of the act of the legislature creating the county of Ford, and its subsequent organization, was largely due. At a special election, held in June, 1859, he was elected judge of the county court by a large majority over his opponent Gideon Camp. William Swinford, of Trickel's Grove, and Andrew J. Bart- lett, of the Pan Handle, were chosen his associate justices. At the general elections in 1860, 1864 and 1868, the people called him to serve them in the same responsible office. Before the close of his fourth official term, the grow- ing weight of years and his extensive real-estate interests in Illinois and other western states, convinced him that the remainder of his days should be devoted to private affairs, after having served the public so long and faithfully. The monetary panic of 1875, in connection with his losses as surety for some of his friends, again stripped him of nearly all his earthly possessions. But notwith- standing his misfortune in this particular, he had the higher and better consola- tion of having justly merited the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens by an active and useful life in their midst for more than thirty years. Those who knew him can cheerfully bear witness that the pioneer lawyer of Ford county in his younger years was a good lawyer, a quaint and entertaining speaker, and at all times a kind and indulgent parent, a friend of the poor and needy, an enterpris- ing, publie-spirited citizen, and above all, a steadfast lover of justice and humanity.
In February, 1860, J. B. BURROWS, a native of the Empire state, and a grad- nate of one of the leading colleges and law schools of the state of Pennsylvania, located in Paxton as a lawyer. Being a man of pleasing address, an uncommonly graceful and eloquent speaker, possessing a liberal education, able to write and
276
HISTORY OF FORD COUNTY
speak fluently in the French and German languages as well as in the mother tongue. he soon became known as a popular publie speaker. His law practice grew rapidly from the start, and in a few months after his arrival he was em- ployed in several important suits in Ford and adjoining counties. On the 4th day of July, 1860. he delivered to a large and attentive audience, on the grounds where the public high school building now stands in Paxton, the first oration over made on Independence day in this city, and I doubt if its power and eloquence have ever been surpassed on a similar occasion in the county since then. Soon after this, he was employed by the order of Good Templars as state lecturer for the state of Illinois, which position he held until the spring of 1861. From the spring of 1855 until the autumn of 1858, he was editor in chief of an independent newspaper published in the city of New Orleans, one side of which was printed in the French language, and the other in the English, and in the presidential cam- paign of 1860, supported Bell and Everett for president and vice president. In that campaign Mr. Burrows made a number of political speeches at prominent points in the south in their behalf. In the meantime, he had become well acquainted with the political ideas and revolutionary designs entertained by her political leaders and the unanimity with which the masses of her people would support any attempt they might make to dissolve the Union, and hence when the roar of her hostile guns resounded over the north at the bombardment of Sumter, he at once insisted that a tremendous struggle for national existence was upon us. Soon after this, at the first meeting of the citizens of Paxton and vicinity to raise volunteers held in the schoolhouse, he made an eloquent appeal to his audience to forget past party affiliations, to "sink the partisan in the patriot" and rally as one man to the support of the national flag. In 1861 or 1862 he removed to Bloomington, Illinois, where he assisted in enlist- ing volunteers in that locality, and where he died in 1863.
In the summer of 1860, KENNEDY PRICE, a native of Hagerstown, Mary- land, removed from Palo, Illinois, to Paxton, where he entered into copartnership with llenry Barnhouse, an old resident of the latter place, and at the time a justice of the peace, under the firm name of Price & Barnhouse, attorneys at law. Mr. Price was a descendant of one of the leading families of his native state.
He was well educated in his profession, liberal, jovial and courteous among his friends, and in that sense a true southern gentleman. In his address to the jury, he was of the fervent, fiery order, to the court he was deliberate and concise. Hlis residence in Paxton was short. A firm believer in Calhoun doc- trine of state rights. he naturally drifted into supporting the southern confed-
277
HISTORY OF FORD COUNTY
eracy, and in the fall of 1861 bade adien to Paxton, and returned to his native place to take charge of the large property interests of his aged widowed mother, where, I am informed, he became a captain of the Confederate army in 1862.
DANIEL S. MORSE, a native of New Hampshire, and James A. Briggs, a native of Rochester, New York, having heard in their eastern homes that Pros- peet City, Ford county, Ilinois, would soon prove a paradise for young law- vers, formed a copartnership under the firm name of Morse & Briggs, lawyers, and came to that noted city of the "grand prairie" in the summer of 1860, and tendered their services to whomsoever it might concern. Their anticipated rich harvest, however, yielded rather meager returns, and hence their stay was brief. In the latter part of the year 1861 Mr. Morse went to Chicago, and Mr. Briggs to Eureka, Woodford county, Illinois, where he resumed the prac- tice of his profession in partnership with Judge Meek of that place.
During the years 1859-60. there strode into Prospect City at odd times an ungainly, verdant looking country lad, measuring fully six feet four and one- half inches in height, with broad, angular frame, having a large head thickly covered with short-cut. black bushy hair, rather small black eyes, high check bones, square, prominent chin, wide mouth and swarthy complexion, and umis- ual size, and whose abrupt manners and speech attracted the attention of nearly every one. Such is an imperfect description of the personal appearance of MARTIN V. Ross, one of the prominent lawyers of the Paxton bar in bygone days. Ile was born near Greencastle. Indiana. and emigrated to east central Illinois about 1855, where he was mainly engaged as a farm laborer and school teacher until his admission to the bar in 1862. After which, for some time, he was assistant editor of the Ford County Journal, one of the first newspapers published in the county. David Crondall, of Champaign City, being editor. In 1864 he associated with himself as a partner in law, E. C. Gray, under the firm name of Ross & Gray, which continued until the fall of 1865. when Mr. Ross located at Fort Scott, Kansas, and where he successfully conducted an extensive law business, mostly in criminal cases, before the district and supreme courts of that state, for about two years. He was twice elected a member of the lower house of the Kansas legislature, and served with much distinction. At the close of his last term, he was elected judge of the district court, com- posed of Bourbon and adjoining counties, which position he held at the time of his death, which occurred in 1870, on the Pacific slope, whither he had gone for his health. In the management of his cases in court, he manifested great tenacity and no little adroitness. Before the jury he urged his clients' cause with much earnestness and vigor, in a kind of "rough and ready" style peculiar
278
HISTORY OF FORD COUNTY
to himself. Before the court he was deliberate. fearless and self-assured, gen- erally argumentative, though at times quite illogical. In polities he was a zealous, radical republican, and during the late war labored for the cause of the union effectively. ITis educational requirements were small, yet by nature he was endowed with physical and mental capacities broad and strong.
EDWARD C. GRAY, the oldest settled lawyer, was born and raised in the vicinity of Cleveland. Ohio. His earlier years were spent on the farm and as a railroader in his native state. When the southern rebellion broke out, he shouldered his musket and moved to the front to take a hand in the preserva- tion of the Union. After having served his country faithfully in that memor- able struggle until 1864, he received an honorable discharge, and located in Paxton as a partner of Martin V. Ross, in the law practice under the firm name of Ross & Gray. The firm continued until the former went to Fort Scott, Kan- sas. in 1865. Mr. Gray then became the resident partner of the firm of Smith & Gray. This partnership was dissolved when Mr. Smith was elected circuit judge of the seventeenth circuit in 1873. The firm enjoyed an extensive and successful law business in Ford and adjoining counties, as well as in the higher courts of this state. Mr. Gray, soon after Judge Smith's election, associated with himself as a partner. Captain Z. S. Swan, of Champaign, Illinois, under the firm name of Gray & Swan, and so continued until the death of the latter at Champaign in 1882. He was at the December term, 1883, of the circuit court, appointed by Hon. O. T. Rems, presiding judge, as an associate counsel, with Hon. Thomas T. Tipton of Bloomington, Illinois, to defend James Ryan, who was under indictment for the murder of Abram Thorpe, in Paxton, on the 30th day of September, 1883. His judgment of the law and practice was comprehensive and accurate, and in the trial of a cause his opponent need not expect a victory, without confronting every point of merit involved in the case.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.