USA > Illinois > Fulton County > History of Fulton county, Illinois > Part 104
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.
ham or Snyder, followed Thompson, overtook him near the State- line of Indiana, brought him back ; he gave up all he had and was let go. After telling where Hale, his partner was, parties went in pursuit of Hate ; found him living on Fox river ; his right name being Chandler ; he was brought back, had a preliminary trial; in default of bail was sent to jail. He was taken to Lewistown hand- cuffed, night overtook them and he made his escape; the handcuffs being found near Utica, it was supposed he had found some friend there to assist him. It was supposed and really understood that the parties, who was imposed on by the forged drafts, had been made good, and the prisoner given a chance to make his escape.
There was a grist and saw-mill in Utica built, I believe, by a Mr. Clark, some several years before I come to the county, owned by Theopolis Kirk, and rented to Samuel Mvers and Wm. Enochs. It did considerable business; afterward I rented the mill, refitted it, but run it but a short time and sold ont to other parties.
My land was surrounded with a very heavy growth of the finest timber I ever saw, being clustered up with grape vines, that some- time we would have to cut several trees before we could make them . fall to the ground; all this together with the decaying vegetation in the fall of year and the musquitoes. Oh ! my, it makes me shudder to think back, what I have had to endure among all these pests ; why, sir! I have had my corn torn down by the raccoons; you would have thought a drove of hogs were in the field ; I have had it badly eaten by squirrels. They would be in droves so thick some- times that I have seen forty or fifty on some of the dead trees through the field; blackbirds were terrible, we had to watch and scare them off as they passed from the bottoms, their roosting place, in the morning and back in the evening, and unless you watched your crop they would tear open, cat and destroy your crops. Before going on my place I tried to get a location at the Landing on the river ; the little log warehouse I spoke of before on my landing here from Peoria, belonged to Ira Mills, he did not seem to do much, still I knew that all the goods and wants of the country from abroad and all our surplus products must either be shipped in or out by the Illinois river, and I thought I could build up a good business at the Landing. I made a proposition to Mr. Mills to buy so much ground and give him a horse and buggy for a lot, and rent his warehouse and ground for five years, to pay the rent in building on the prem- ises, but he was one of those kind of men that would do nothing, and not let any one else. Failing in this enterprise I moved on my place ; immediately after this A. C. Thompson bought lands adjoin- ing Mr. Mills. Richard Tompkins took charge and opened up a much better Landing than Mr. Mills, as his, Mr. Mills, was nearer the month of the creek and gradually filling up, and finally went down. Mr. Elisha W. Resor and Wilson Hulit became interested in the other Landing, and afterwards Snider and Benjamin Rawalt, among them, built up several large warehouses. Mr. Resor and
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.
Hulit opened up a store, bought in the products of the country, done quite a large business, and sometimes there has been as high as a hundred teams a day with loads of grain, come to the ware- house. The year the cholera raged along the river, Snider and Ben- jamin Rawalt fell vietims to the scourge. In the latter part of 1855 or 1856, the main warehouse stored full of the products of the country, took fire and burned down.
In the spring of 1856 I commenced building my mill ; started the engine on Christmas day, the saw soon after. The next spring put in a run of burrs and after awhile bolts and another run of burrs, etc., having two double Hlued boilers and plenty of power to drive all, I run the mill successfully, but for several years past I have not given it much attention, having Mr. Bybee's business to look after. I assisted Mr. Bybee in his business for many years, and the last few years of his life had his entire business. In 1842 agreed to take full charge of his affairs. He selected me some years ago, if I should outlive him, to settle up his estate. On the 4th of Oet., 1877, he died. I gave bond of $400,000; took charge of the estate, his personal and real property footed up to $281,000. I distributed among the heirs in the month of January following, $175,000, and made some advances since, and the two years has just passed since I took out letters, the time allowed in settling up the estate. 1 have the balance in shape according to agreement with heirs to pass over to them in a few days. This is the largest estate ever probated in Fulton Co. and so arranged as to be settled up in the two years.
Richard Hall relates quite an interesting incident of "Wester- field's defeat." He and his brother-in-law, Joe Hedge, started from near Havana to go to Lewistown by way of Waterford. Seeing a team about ready to cross by the ferry at the Illinois river, they requested the ferryman to pull across, when Mr. Wentworth, who owned the team, asked Dick (Richard Hall) to ride and drive while the other two walked. When half-way to Waterford they noticed a man dodging in and out of the bushes near the road as though he was trying to see and not be seen. The party made some remarks about it, but concluded he was looking for bees, or hunting. He finally came up to them, but had evidently thought they were Indians. His name was David Fonts. He said, " boys, von had better be going to the other end of the roads, for, he said, the Indians were killing every one in the town of Canton." Ho himself heard the screaming and yelling of the women and children, and knew that every white human was being murdered. Mr. Hall and party, however, kept on. They next met Louis Winans with two yoke of oxen hitched to a sled on which was a bureau, bed- ding and his family, with two boys plodding along in the road be- hind, while he was urging the oxen by whip and speech continually. They next met JJohn Pixley, with one yoke of oxen hitched to a sled, on which were his wife and some children, while others walked. Pixley, while on his retreat, picked up a son of John Coleman who had been deserted by his father, and took him to Havana.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.
Richard Hall on this trip came through Thompson's Prairie, went up to a log cabin owned by a Mr. Thompson, and notieing quite a stir, asked what was up. They explained that the Indians were coming, and they were fixing up a fort. This cabin was about 12x14 feet in size, and a few good men with handspikes could have upset it.
One of the neighbors of Elijah Willeoxen, by the name of Farris, during the Westerfield Indian scare, while fleeing with her children, was encumbered by a babe, which she was obliged to abandon in order to escape with the rest. She afterwards recovered the child, however.
It is related that one of the primary causes of the Black Hawk war was from an incident that happened in Liverpool tp. Joseph Farris, Asa Smith, and Bird Ellis, while out hunting, espied a young Indian, caught him, cut switches and whipped him with them. He attempted to escape and while doing so one of the party struck him on the head with a gun, and they left him near the Indian camp. He recovered so as to get to his friends, but died just as they arrived at Peoria, where they had carried him on a litter. From this and other incidents was the cause of the Black Hawk war, in which so many innocent lives were lost.
Mrs. Adeline Ray, daughter of Elijah Willeoxen, tells of an in- cident that happened to her father during the winter of the big snow. He started out on a hunt and was obliged to wear large snow shoes, 16 inches wide by 2 or 3 feet long. While going over a large drift he made a misstep, and fell head first into the snow. Nothing remained in sight but his feet and the big snow shoes. As fast as he would try to get up the snow would break away and let his head and shoulders down deeper than ever. He finally sue- ceeded in getting his knife out and cutting the snow shoes from his feet and extricated himself, but came pretty near being " drowned in the snow."
Mrs. Ray says the whole settlement was almost like one family, kind, hospitable and honest, always ready to help one another. She can remember of seeing deer in herds of 15 to 20 at a time.
" FULTON COUNTY."
The following essay was delivered by Miss Emma Williams at the graduating exercises of the Canton High School in 1874:
Feeling that our county is not appreciated as it should be, I have undertaken to give a short description of it. Being our home, we cannot but feel some interest in it, and it is to our advantage to know what it contains, and what has been done, and what is the best mode of improving it. It was originally a part of Pike county ; was organized Jan. 28, 1823, and has from its earliest his- tory manifested great industry and improvement. It is triangular in shape, 9 to 36 miles long from north to south, 14 to 20 east and
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.
west, and consists of 26 organized townships, and in 1870 contained a population of 38,000.
It has many natural advantages, such as being well watered; plenty of timber ; rich fertile soil; and accessible to market by the Illinois river, which is now being much improved by the building of the Copperas creek dam. This when completed will give those of the southern part of the county greater facilities for shipping their produce to the great markets of Chicago and St. Louis by water transportation, which was in the early days of the county the only means of transportation. The surface of the county consists of undulating and highly cultivated prairies, diversified with excel- lent timber. It was originally nearly equally divided between prai- rie and timber land. But a large portion of this timber has been cleared away in developing the agricultural interests of the county, and splendid farms now occupy places which but a few years ago were covered with a dense forest.
There is considerable variety in the soils of this county, though there are none so poor that they will not produce fair crops of the cereals grown in this region when properly cultivated. The most productive soils are those covering the prairie land which are a chocolate brown, rich in organic matter and produce very large crops. The poorest lands are the white oak ridges that skirt the borders of small streams, but they will yield fair crops, and are equal, if not superior, to the prairie land for the growth of fruit.
Sand and elay for making brick are found abundantly distributed in every neighborhood and on almost every farm in the county. The soil of the prairies furnish abundant of brown clay, which, when mingled with sand found in the beds of streams, forms excel- lent material for this purpose.
Nearly all the uplands of the county are underlaid with eoal. The most complete expanse of the prodnetive coal-measures that have been discovered in the State is found here. Several strata, all of which have been worked to a greater or less extent, have been discovered. It is so abundant in many places just beneath the sur- face that with but little effort it may be quite easily obtained, and it is so distributed as to be accessible to any portion of the county. The strata comprising numbers one, two and three, outerop on all the streams in the south and west portion, and is of great value to South Fulton, while strata numbers four and six, the most valuable in the northern portion of the State, underlies nearly seven town- ships in the county, equal to nearly 9,000,000 tons of coal to the square mile.
The mining and shipping of coal in our county will compare favorably with any in the State. It is equal in quality to any in the West, and will answer most all purposes for which coal is used.
A good quality of fire-clay has been found in the vicinity of Marietta, from two to three feet in thickness and will be quite valuable in course of a few years in making fire-brick.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.
A fine quality of sandstone is being extensively worked on Spoon river which is quite valuable for building purposes.
Between Seville and Bernadotte there has been found extensive beds of St. Louis limestone, which forms material for making the purest and whitest made in the State. Our mineral resources are being more fully developed every year. In fact our county may be called a mine of wealth.
Our railroad facilities are very good. The Buda & Rushville branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney railroad passes through from the north to the southwest part of the county, and the main line intersects the northwest corner of the county. The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw crosses from east to west nearly through the center of the county, and the Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis railroad through the southwestern part, affording us good shipping facilities for our surplus produce.
The educational advantages are certainly worth mentioning. Great improvements have been made in the Public School system within the past twenty years. Every parent recognizing the just, moral claim of every child to an education, feels the importance and dignity of his obligations, and upright and loyal citizen, to make equal provision for all.
We have a number of fine churches of most every denomination, and different societies, as Masonic fraternity, Odd Fellows, Good Templars and many other, seem to be in a flourising condition.
I might mention the benevolent societies. Where is there a county which makes greater efforts to provide for her poor and needy than our own ? All seem to be ready to give a helping hand to assist those who are destitute of the many comforts of life.
There is also several weekly newspapers published in our county, three of which are published in our own city. Besides these there are in operation some very large woolen mills, wagon shops, etc. The plow and cultivator factory of Canton is one of the most exten- sive of the State.
The future for Fulton county looks bright. In what direction can you turn and point out to us a county containing better advant- ages than we possess for manufacturing, mining and the general pursuits of life.
Let the idea be fully realized that thousands of dollars lic buried within a few feet of the surface of the ground and some one will devise plans and means for rendering it available. We have a number of manufactories bnt need more to use our undeveloped re- sources. The industry of the past is but an earnest of the speedy accomplishment of the present and future. It is quite important that every citizen, either as an economist or tax-paver, should call for an inventory of the mineral wealth of the county, to show the advantage we have for manufacturing. A thorough survey of the county at the present time when capital is beginning to seek invest- ment would be of great value.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.
Farmers have paid for their lands, mechanies are building their houses and will soon have surplus means that will seek employ- ment within our borders. If not invested here it will be elsewhere and some reliable data must be furnished to convince capital that there is a substantial basis for its investment here, and nothing can do this more efficiently than a thorough survey under the auspices of the county government. When we can do this, our wealth is sure, and Fulton county will rank one of the first in the State.
MISCELLANEOUS BIOGRAPHIES.
William Boyd, Lewistown. His father, John and his mother Ann Boyd, nee Taggert, were natives of Ireland. Wm. was born in Antrim Co., near Giant's Causeway, Ire., Aug. 1, 1830; came to America in 1842 and stopped in Wayne Co., O., where he lived till 1849 ; learned shoe-making and went to Columbus, O., where he re- sided till the spring of 1857, when he came to Lewistown. While in Columbus he married Sarah L. Miner and they have 4 children : Carrie F., Ida P., Grace G., and Williard 1. During the dark days of the Rebellion he enlisted in Co. H, 103rd Ill. Inf., as Ist Lieut., and was promoted to Capt. and served 23 years. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Calvin G. Breed, deceased, was a carpenter and farmer, sec. 36, Canton tp .; was born at Stonington, Conn., Aug. 22, 1808, son of Jesse and Hannah Breed ; came to this county in 1836 ; for his first wife he married Harriet Potter Jan. 21, 1838, and for his second, Mary A. Brown April 18, 1852 ; had 6 children, 5 of whom are liv- ing,-Henry, born Nov. 16, 1838; Frank, Jan. 26, 1840; Angeline, July 22, 1843; Jesse, Dec. 30, 1845; May A., Oct. 10, 1853; and Adda, Oct. 16, 1860. Mr. Breed died Oct. 11, 1872, owning 900 acres of land. We give his portrait in this volume.
Thomas T. Bybee, deceased, whose portrait appears in this vol- ume, was born in Kentucky, Sept. 20, 1798; at quite an early age married a Miss Hagan ; was quite a wild lad, and on the occasion of his marriage was short of the necessary means to get his license, etc., so he asked his father to loan him five dollars for a short time, offer- ing to return it again soon, but his father having little confidence in his son Thomas, refused, telling him at the same time that he would never be worth a damn. By his first wife he had two sons, David and James. His wife died and he married Debbie Jennings by name, who had two sons, Elijah and JJames Jennings. By this mar- riage was born to them two daughters, Lovina and Mary A. In the fall of 1829 moved to Fulton Co., camped the first winter on the bluff near JJacob Mans', and next spring moved out on the south end of the land he owned, near where John Snider now lives. In 1837 or '38 he built a new house and moved therein, in which he died. On the 8th day of April, 1872, Mr. Bybee's second wife died, and on the 24th day of August, 1873, he married his third wife, Matilda S. Smith, and on the 4th of Oct. 1877, Mr. Bybee died,
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.
having had a stroke of paralysis. Mr. Bybee was a man of great strength and action, small, but scrutinizing eyes, very quick of per- ception, would show his friendship or hostility in the twinkling of an eye, and sometimes rashly fly into a passion and abuse his best friends, when there was nothing to justify him in so doing, but his disposition was to soon get over it and sometimes shed tears that he had suffered his passion to go so far. Mr. Bybee was very close in all his dealings, saving and economizing in every particular ; had no education ; could not read and could barely write his name, but he was a man of great memory. About twenty-five years ago Mr. Bybee had but little wealth, comparatively speaking, but after his death, Mr. Wm. H. Smith, his executor, in making an inventory of his effects, real and personal, found them to be worth $281,000.
Peter Yerger Custor. Teacher, manufacturer, farmer, etc., now on see. 26, Canton township; P. O., Canton ; was born in Pennsyl- vania July 31, 1818, son of Jacob and Catharine Custer. This name is from the Holland Dutch Kutzer, equal to Chester in English. Forefathers were Mennonites who settled in Eastern Pennsylvania. His uncle, Anthony Custer, owns the old home- stead, which has never been sold since it was patented to this family by Wm. Penn, but has descended by entailment. The subject of this paragraph was educated at Washington Hall Seminary, Trappe, Montgomery Co., Pa. ; Sept. 21, 1841, he married Hannah Albright, and they have had 5 boys and 4 girls, 6 of whom are living : Emanuel, born June 21, 1842 ; Emma, Oct. 8, 1844 ; Jacob, Aug. 10, 1849; Horace, May 26, 1851; Peter, Sept. 10, 1852; Catharine, Nov. 7, 185 -; Henry, Nov. 29, 1860. Mr. Custer has owned 80 aeres of land, which he sold at $100 per acre ; has been Commis- sioner of Highways. His portrait appears in this History.
Thomas P. Duncan was born in 1824 in Pa., son of George and and Elizabeth (Primrose) Dunean, natives of Scotland, both deceased. They came first to Wayne Co., Ill., and then in 1836 to Fulton Co. Here, in Isabel tp., Thomas P. has toiled for many a year as a farmer and miller, and has now a comfortable home on 260 acres of land. He has ever been an eminent business man. Of the enor- mons growth of timber on this farm since 1846 we have already written. This gentleman is the founder of Duncan City, and his brother John was the first Postmaster of " Duncan Mills " at this point. Thomas P. Duncan married Laura Freeman, a native of New York, and they have had 7 children.
James Main, blacksmith, was born at Red Mills, N. Y., in 1838, son of Robert and Margaret Main, natives of New York. He came to Illinois in 1855 and finally located at Duncan City. He can make as good a wagon as any one in the State. He has traveled a great deal in former years, and one time he was in a storm on lake Erie for 6 days.
John Me Dermott, employee on C., B. & Q. R. R., Yates City, was born Nov. 25, 1850, in the State of New York, son of Reinhard
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY.
Mc Dermott, a mason who came from Ireland, and married Mary Ann Hagan in New York, also a native of Ireland. Of their 3 children John was the 2d, who was first a farmer, then came to Pekin, and engaged in railroading. He was very young when his father died, and he early learned to manage for himself.
Edward Sayre, Lewistown, was born in Elizabeth. N. J., July 26, 1813, the son of Nathan and Abagail (Southwell) Sayre, natives of New Jersey. Mr. S. lived there until April 27. 1840, when he came to Fulton Co. and located near Ellisville. He came west in company with Judge H. M. Wead, a companion in N. J. Years passed and these two young men grew to prominence, and when Mr. Wead was elected Judge, Mr. S. ran on the same ticket for Circuit Clerk. Judge Wead left Lewistown in 1854, went to Peoria and died. Mr. S. went to Otto where he engaged in milling, merchandising and farming for 9 years. In 1852 he was elected Cireuit Clerk and moved to Lewistown where he has since resided. He was re-elected to that office in 1856, and is to-day one of the best posted men on judicial, official and general historical happen- ings of any man in the county. He was elected to the Legislature in 1849, and was in the important sessions that framed the new laws of the Constitution of '48. He married Jan. 27, 1864, Mary M. Lilly, of Lexington, Ky. They have 3 children.
Elder Henry Smither, Table Grove, Minister of the Christian Church, was born April 4, 1836, in Owen Co., Ky .; came to Schuyler Co., Ill., in 1851, and to Fulton Co. in 1858; was edu- cated at Berean College, Jacksonville, Ill., and at Normal, Ill. ; studied law under Judge P. H. Walker at Rushville, and admitted to the Bar in 1867; was Supt. of Schools of Schuyler Co., 1862-4; married Jude Patterson, at Rushville, Jan. 26, 1870, and has had one boy and one girl, only the former living, who was born Ang. 30, 1877. His parents were Wm. H. and Emily (Alsop) Smither, natives of Kentucky. For years he was Pastor of the Christian Churches at Vermont and Table Grove.
John A. Webster, Vermont, was born in Virginia, May 4, 1814, son of Henry and Sarah Webster; graduated in a log school- house surrounded with beech trees; his occupation from the time he was twenty-one years of age (in 1835) was that of teaching school until he left Ky. in Oct., 1855, and came to Vermont, Ill., where he has resided ever since ; has also taught several terms in Illinois ; has filled the office of J. P. in Ky. ; the offices of Collec- tor and Assessor in Vermont tp .; is now Town Clerk and Police Magistrate. He was married Aug. 17, 1837, to Miss Angeline Hanen, in Ky., she died shortly after he emigrated to Ill. Sept. 13, 1859, he was married again, to Miss Harriet Plummer of Kv .; she died April 26, 1863; March 1, 1868, he was again married, to Mrs. Eliza J. Lindsey, of Vermont, Ill. He united with the Chris- tian Church in Vermont May 8, 1862; has filled in the Church the offices of Deacon and Elder, the latter of which offices he now fills.
FULTON COUNTY NARROW-GAUGE RAILWAY .*
This is purely a Fulton county enterprise, indeed, we might justly say that it is a Lewistown enterprise. It was inaugurated and pushed forward mostly by Lewistown men and money. It has long been known that Havana has made strenuous efforts to secure the grain trade of Fulton county, and that she has succeeded most admirably cannot be denied. To divert this trade from that city and bring it to Lewistown where it properly belongs is, the object of building this road.
For several years the building of a railroad extending from the river to North Fulton has been contemplated, and seven or eight years ago a road known as the Springfield & Northwestern R. R. was projected. This road was completed as far as Havana, but no farther. That enterprise being abandoned, three or four years ago the narrow-gauge project was originated. Considerable talking was done, but no definite action taken in regard to the matter until October, 1878, when the Fulton County Narrow-Gauge Railway Company was organized. The amount of $100,000 was immedi- ately subscribed, and the road was soon surveyed and grading being done. Mr. J. C. Willcoxen is the principal contractor.
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