USA > Illinois > Henry County > History of Henry county, Illinois : it's taxpayers and voters, 1877 > Part 14
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MORRISTOWN.
Among the provisions for the settlement of Morristown was one that a public house should be built out of the general fund, and that within a certain time (one year), each of the colonists should erect a dwelling- house upon his land. A very " considerable " building for those times was erected out of the funds proposed to be applied in that way, and a few, very few (three or four), dwelling-houses were built as per contract. The town plat was just one mile square ; large enough in all conscience, and if it could have been peopled the county would have been much the gainer. In the center of the plat was a public ground of 440 feet square. The lots were 45 feet front and varying in length from 155 to 270 feet.
When the settlement first commenced the prospect seemed very fair for a rapid increase of population ; this was anticipated by a Mr. Crocker, who, just before the Morristown entry, had entered what is known as Crocker's Grove (sometimes called Brown's), as well as a large tract of prairie, all of which was near by the lands soon after entered by the New York Company and named Morristown. He had bought for the purpose of farming with an abundance of elbow room, and expressed his regrets that range for his cattle would so soon be limited by the improvements of that company. It turned out, however, that little or no improvement, beyond the few farms at first commenced, was made.
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This, then, was the extent of the improvements in and about Morris- town when it was the county seat. It was in better condition to accommo- date courts, etc., than was Richmond at its inauguration as seat of justice for the county, and the public could look for better accommodations than at the last named point. But dissatisfaction with the location grew apace, and it was soon a fixed fact that a contest for the removal and a re-loca- tion of the county seat was unavoidable. In fact it began as soon as the decision of the Commissioners was known. As Geneseo was the . only point that competed with Morristown for the honor conferred, it is natural to suppose that that was the point at which the great body of the disaffected would endeavor to establish their county town. But it was soon ascertained that there were several candidates for that honor. General dissatisfaction prevailed on account of the location as it then stood ; four men out of five probably being anxious to remove it on account of the great distance to which they had to travel to attend courts. The site itself was delightful, and those principally interested in its property were enterprising, intelligent and popular. Other sites, however, equally as eligible for beauty and salubrity, and much more central, could be picked out of every third section in any of the more central townships ; and to one of these points the people determined to take it.
The county courts were held at Geneseo till the Summer or Fall of 1841. The first circuit court held in Morristown was in May, 1842, the' last in May, 1844. As stated before, the legislature authorized the hold- ing of courts in Geneseo till suitable accommodations could be prepared at the county seat. The public house at Morristown was conveyed to the county, and a contract for "improving " it was made witli David Gove and Nathaniel Walters, an order for seventy dollars being issued for their benefit December 9, 1840. On June 28, 1841, a contract was made with Thos. W. Corey and George Brandenburg, for the erection of the COM- MODIOUS court-house, 18 by 24 feet, one and a half stories high, and also for the building of a jail, according to specifications and contract made with another party for building one at Richmond. The public house, now (then) the county house, was rented to Corey and Brandenburg for two years for the sum of one hundred dollars, they to furnish a suitable court- room for the use of all courts of the county during the two years, in which time they were to complete the public buildings. The court- house was built. The jail was a mere structure on paper ; the uncer- tainty of there being any use for it in that place causing the court to postpone its erection.
The dissatisfaction with Morristown as the county town was so extreme that some of those who had been most determined to honor Geneseo with it, expressed a willingness to have it located at some other point than that of their choice, even at Sugar Tree Grove, rather than have it remain at Morristown. Commissioners had twice been appointed by the Legislature to locate a seat of justice for the county, and were sworn to study the interests, immediate and prospective, of the population in determining the site. The first selection it seems was a judicious one. But the people were dissatisfied with it, and a change was effected. The second was judicious or not, just as the parties might think. We can imagine no good reason for the choice save the liberal donation for the county. That it was liberal is certainly true, but the loss to which the
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citizens of the county would have been yearly subjected on account of the remoteness of the site from the center would have counterbalanced, four times over, the extra liberality of the enterprising proprietors of Morristown. This the people knew, and while determined to effect the removal of the county capital, they were very generally determined to designate the point at which it should be located. It is believed that this feeling of distrust in Commissioners possessed nearly every citizen of the county, and during the greater part of the agitation of the question no one proposed a resort to the old process ; the reasonableness of the demand for a removal was acquiesced in by the citizens of Morristown themselves. Indeed, Joshua Harper, one of the donors of the county, and principally interested in the prosperity of Morristown, was, in 1842, a candidate for the legislature, and if he had shown the least disposition to oppose the wishes of the people he could have got no support. He distinctly stated that if elected representative, and a majority of the voters of the county sent a petition for the county seat to be removed into the Winnebago swamps, into the swamps it should go. At least his influence should not prevent it. He was elected, and no man was ever more faithful to the interests of his constituents.
Geneseo was the point to which the majority in the northern part of the county wished the seat of justice removed. A point near Sugar Tree Grove was selected by the southern. Some manœuvering was resorted to to get an admission from opponents that a site on Section 7, 15, 3, was an eligible point for the location. All that was done, however, in the way of manœuver was to get the admission before the name of the owner of the property should be known. The owner was Rev. Ithamar Pills- bury, of Andover. He was active in his efforts to secure the first location at Andover, but the position of J. M. Allan was too strong for liim up to that time, and after there was feud between the two points Andover and Geneseo, and it was thought best by the Pillsbury party that he should not be known in the transaction till suitable admissions had been made by the other party. We have said the " Pillsbury party," but the prime mover, the great laborer in behalf of the point near Sugar Tree Grove was Joseph Tillson, Esq. The "Judge," as he is usually called, was an early settler, and an active man in some important matters of the county. Canvassing for signatures to a petition locating the town near Sugar Tree Grove-at what is now Cambridge-progressed steadily, though with very variable results, as different localities were entered. The petition was drawn up in Wethersfield, by Col. Wells it is believed. John Kil- vington circulated it at Wethersfield, about Barren Grove, on Spring Creek, and obtained a few signatures in Geneseo, after which the Judge took charge of it. When it was ascertained that a majority of the voters of the county had signed the petition to have the county seat located on ·Section 7, 15, 3, a remonstrance was got up at Geneseo against the location, with a petition added that Commissioners be again appointed to locate a county seat. It is believed J. M. Allan, whose home was then at Geneseo, was the most active man in behalf of his locality. The contest was warm. The Judge sent the petition north of Green River for signatures, and it was returned with a single additional name affixed. He took .it himself, went over the same ground, and obtained forty signatures, Brandenburg leading off. He also re-canvasscd the settlement at Andover.
MIN
JOSEPH A. SAWYER, Geneseo.
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The petition was sent to Oxford, where a friend promised to circulate and return it. The time for its reception arrived, but no petition came ; the Judge was in a flurry ; time was getting precious ; Wn. A. Ayers volun- teered to look up the missing paper, and get such signatures as had not been appended ; he found it shut up in a chest, where it had been placed for safe keeping, with a very few additional names on it. Mr. A. pushed the matter along, and without difficulty obtained the signature of every man he met in that locality. It was extensively signed throughout the southern part of the county. A few residents on Spring Creek who signed the petition to locate at Cambridge, it is known, afterwards signed the remonstrance.
The petition to have Cambridge the new seat of government of the county was forwarded to Colonel John Buford, of Rock Island, who then represented this district in the Senate. A bill was brought before the Senate re-locating the county seat of Henry County. It passed both houses on petition of a majority of the citizens of the county.
The bill locating the county seat of Henry County was approved by the Governor February 21, 1843. It provided that the courts should be held at Morristown till accommodations should be provided at the new location. It also required the re-conveyance of all property that had been deeded to the county at Morristown, and the refunding of money donated.
The difficulty of pleasing the citizens of Henry County in the location of their county town was a matter well known outside. The truth is, there was very little in the immediate vicinity of the location except a fine grove of timber to demonstrate the wisdom of fixing the seat of justice at that point. There was no house north of Sugar Tree Grove nearer than those imincdiately about Gencseo. West there were but two or three until within a mile of Andover. In the grove, and at. the " East End," asettlement had fairly commenced. South of what is now the Town of Cambridge, Red Oak, nearly six miles distant, was the nearest settlement. There was no Bishop Hill Colony, no Galva, and no one in that township but James Bonham, at Hickory Grove, and two or three in the northeast corner of the town. A good settlement existed at Wethersfield and along Barren Grove in the southcast corner of the county ; but at Wethersfield an anti-Cambridge feeling existed to a small extent, which grew out of a desire of those inalcontents, or the most of them, to be annexed to the County of Stark. At Oxford, in the south- east corner of the county, and about Richland Grove, west of Andover, a few families had collected. The settlement at Andover was one of the most flourishing in the county. Ten miles northwest was a cluster of three or four houses, and a respectable settlement a few miles further, on Rock River. All the settlements in the southern part of the county (except the slightest opposition at Wethersfield), favored the location, but how was a town to be built ? Men and money were required. There was but little immigration to the county or state, and where were numbers and dollars to be obtained, was the question of the hour.
MORRISTOWN COLONY.
In the Winter of 1835-'6, a notice was inserted in several of the New York city daily papers, calling a meeting of persons interested in West- ern colonization. This was held in Congress Hall, and at a subsequent
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meeting to further consider this matter, a colony was formed and organ- ized under the name of the New York Colony. At thesc meetings some forty or fifty persons became members of the colony. Charles Oakley, Esq. (now deceased), once Fund Commissioner of the State of Illinois, took a leading part in all these transactions. He had been prospecting out West, and gave a glowing description of the wonderful " prairie eoun- try." At the close of these meetings an agreement was drawn up and signed by the colonists, authorizing Charles Oakley and C. C. Wilcox (now of Chicago) as trustees, to proceed to Illinois and locate about a township of land in such part of the state as they might think for the best interest of the members of the colony; the intention being to enter land somewhere near the Illinois River. But other parties having preceded them to the designed location, which was probably in Bureau County, near or upon the ground now occupied by the Providence Colony, they proceeded into Henry County, and selected their land in Townships 16 and 17-some 30 sections, nearly 20,000 acres. Every individual of the colony bound himself to erect within two years a house or building to cost some specified sumn, about $200, on his land, and in ease of neglect the land was to revert to the colonists, with, however, this unfortunate condition attached : That the colonists, through their trustees, had the privilege of taking the land from those parties failing to fulfill their part of the contract, and paying three. dollars per acre for the same, or double the cost of their land. The result proved that four-fifths of the members preferred the hundred per cent. advance to the hardships of Western life, and did not build ; and ere two years passed the panic of 1837-'8 rendered the other parties unwilling or unable to fulfill their part. Oakley and Wileox were to receive for their services twenty-five cents per acre for loeating these lands, and for surveys and incidental expenses. When surveyed and the town laid out on sonie eligible spot near the center of the location, the lands and lots were to be put up at auction, and the colonists were to select their property-eight lots in town being distributed with each quarter section. The colonists were to bid for the preference or choice of lands and lots. At this distribution, which was in the Sum- mer or Autumn of 1836 (the lands were entered in June of that year), only a few persons were present. The majority of the colonists acted through their agents. There was paid as " preference money," for the choice of these lands, some $6,000 or 87,000, some paying as high as $400 for the choice of a quarter section. After the selection, the balance were dis- tributed by the trustees at their discretion, each member getting the num- ber of acres for which he had paid. This preference money was to be held as trust, and appropriated for the benefit of the colonists as follows : First, to have a colony house built, in which the colonists could live until their residences could be ereeted ; this was to cost some $3,000. Second, to build a mill and school-house, or to be appropriated as the colonists might desire, or distributed among members.
Few eame that season. Messrs. Oakley and C. C. Williams remained but a short time. The colony lands were surveyed by Arba M. Seymour, the County Surveyor. A log house was erected in Morristown, and a colony house contracted for, and afterwards built. This was a fine large building two stories high, and well finished, the latter being done by R. R. Stewart, Esq., of Geneseo. This building was erected upon a lot
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owned by Chas. Oakley, Esq. It was afterwards sold by Col. Oakley to Jocl Wells, whose widow now occupies it. A mill was also built upon Green River upon land owned by Charles Oakley. In the Fall of the year 1836 speculation was still high. Pre-emptions on farms on Rock River with small improvements were valued at $15 to $25 per acre. These prices were for lands in the vicinity of the timber, as prairie land was con- sidered worthless by western men.
Joshua Harper, N. W. Washburne, Luke C. Sheldon, Chas. W. Dav- enport, Jr. and - Tompkins were all of the original colonists that were here in 1836. In 1837, John Appleton and Chas. W. Davenport, Sr. and family. came, and with them the venerable father of Mrs. Davenport and Thos. Fitch, who died at Morristown a few years after at the advanced age of 80 years. These people, with a few others, comprising in all about ten families, scattered over some ten miles of prairie, which constituted the settlement for some twelve or fourteen years. After that time, a new exodus from the East again sent an army westward of good, substantial citizens-a considerable number of whom settled on Morristown prairie, and made it what it now is-one of the best settlements in Henry County.
THE WETHERSFIELD COLONY.
The direct settlement of Henry County is largely attributed to the location of colonies. These were mainly from New England, and brought with them all their New England foresight, energy, and frugal thrift ; and to the Wethersfield colony, possessing all these attributes, the present prosperity of this portion of the county may be traced.
As has been noticed in these pages, Mr. Pillsbury, and his associates, Slaughter and Pike, were commissioned by the New York Association, in 1835, to select a location for the. "Andover Colony." Upon the return of Mr. Pillsbury in the Fall of that year, he was written to by the Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Tenney, of Wethersfield, Connecticut, concerning the loca- tion of another colony in the region of country in which the lands of the Andover Colony were situated, and an interview requested. The result of this interview led the Doctor to project another colony, to be styled the " Wethersfield Colony," and to be located near the former. Dr. Tenney was an eminent divine, and well acquainted with the prominent men of that day who would be .likely to favor an enterprise by which religion and free education might be successfully planted in the great. Mississippi Valley, and he addressed many of them in relation to this matter. These efforts led to a meeting in the Congregational Church at Wethersfield, some time in the Autumn of 1835, the exact date of which can not now be obtained. Here the enterprise assumed a tangible shape, and at a subsequent meeting an organization was effected. As the names of the projectors of this enterprise will be of interest to many of the citi- zens of the county, and valuable as an item of history, they are here given. They were : Dr. Caleb J. Tenney, Selden Miner, Roger Wells. Martin Kellogg, John Francis, Chancey Coleman, Weltha Willard, Rev. John Marsh, Joshua Goodrich, George Wells, Horace Blaine, Henry Rob- bins, Col. Sylvester Blish, Rev. Samuel Redel, William Butler, Rev. Ith- amar Pillsbury, Miles Adams, Elizur Goodrich, Samuel Galpin, E. Porter, Rev. Horace Hooker, William Tenney, George P. Shipman, Russell H.
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Nevins, Timothy Stillman, Allen Talcott, Rev. Geo. A. Calhoun, Francis Loomis, Edward Payson, D.D., Rev. Geo. Stebbins, Rev. John Wood- bridge, Gersham Buckley, Geo. Buckley, Gardner Spring, D.D., Merritt Butler, Osmond Harrison, Rev. Harvey Tolcott, Jeduthan and Jonathan Hubbard, Sullivan Howard, Geo. Richards, Jasper Gilbert, Rev. Alpha Miller, Nathan De Wolf, J. L. Belden, Nathan Kelley, Stephen Topliff, Dr. A. Welch, Geo. B. Holley, Rev. Chancey Booth, Richard T. Haines, Rev. Ralph Emerson, Robert Gipson, and a few others whose names can- not now be obtained.
This Company was styled the "Connecticut Association." The stockholders resided at different points from Mainc to New York, some of whoni were quite wealthy, and others were very prominent in the religious world. The great temperance agent will be recognized in Rev. John Marsh, Dr. Payson was a distinguished Christian minister, and Rev. Gardner Spring was an eminent divine at the head of one of the most aristocratic Presbyterian churches in the nation.
The stock of the company was fixed at $250 per share, and entitled each shareholder to one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land, twenty acres of timber, and a town lot. During the winter of 1835-'6 one hun- dred shares were taken, and $25,000 paid into the treasury. In Febru- ary, 1886, a " committee of purchase " was appointed, consisting of Rev. Ithamar Pillsbury, Col. Sylvester Blish and Elizur Goodrich. The first of these was selected on account of his having some experience in matters of this kind ; the second, on account of his energy and prompt business habits, and the third because he was a competent surveyor.
The route of this committee was through Baltimore ; over the moun- tains to Wheeling ; down the Ohio River by steamboat to its junction with the Mississippi ; thence up that stream to the Illinois River ; up that to Peoria, and thence to Knoxville, Henderson Grove and Andover, at which latter place was a house or two, but no inhabitants, nor did any arrive until July following. Arriving here, neither feed nor horses could be obtained, and they were compelled to walk some twenty miles, over to " Barren Grove " -- with only a deserted cabin on the way, in Sugar Tree Grove-along the south side of which they commenced to select the Company's land. Rev. Pillsbury and Col. Blish were sanguine of the future of Illinois, and, owing to the previous knowledge of the former, were not long in finding the "desired haven." The surveyor did not partake of their unbounded confidence, and trudged around locating the selections they made, until they had, at different times, succeeded in selecting and entering ninety-nine quarter sections of land, in Townships 14, R. 5 and 15, R. 5-the first entry being made May 7, 1836.
The purchase was made from the Government in the name of Good- rich and Blish, who deeded the land in trust. for the purposes of the asso- ciation, to Chester Bulkley, secretary and treasurer, who afterwards deeded to individual inembers. or to those who purchased of the company.
The following Spring, March, 1837, an additional quarter section was added, making the entries a round hundred. This committee return- ing, another, consisting of Rev. Joseph Goodrich, John F. Willard and Henry G. Little, was appointed to survey and lay out a town plat, and to divide the timber land into twenty-acre lots. On November 11, 1836, Mr. Willard and Mr. Little reached the lands purchased by the company,
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with the intention to at once lay out the town and the timber lots. They found in the grove, one and one-half miles northeast of the purchase, a cabin, and the family of Mr. John Kilvington. of whom mention is made in the early history of Kewanee. This afforded a home for the party. An effort was at once made to obtain the services of the county surveyor, who lived thirty miles distant, to perform the task, but the attempt proved fruitless, as he could not accomplish it until the following Spring. They returned to French Grove, in Peoria County, where Mr. Little had taken a cabin, and secured the services of Surveyor Nelson Simons, well known to many citizens of this county. The returning party consisted of John F. Willard, H. G. Little, Nelson Simons, William Wheeler, W. T. Little, Sullivan Howard and Simeon B. Stoddard, who reached, on foot, the purchase, on the evening of November 16, 1836. The two fol- lowing days were spent in surveying and locating the tracts. Toward the close of the second day the party, with the exception of Willard, who remained to build a cabin, started for "Fraker's Grove," twelve miles distant. As it was very misty the night was intensely dark, and they lost their way. By removing the glass from the face of their compass, so they could feel the hands on the face, they with great difficulty regained their course, and reached their destination about midnight. Awakening " Old Man Dunbar," as he was called, from his slumbers, they were given food and shelter in the only cabin in this vicinity.
Willard worked two weeks at his cabin, boarding at Mr. Kilvington's, some two miles distant. When he had completed it, in company with N. Butler and Joseph Goodrich, he "bached" it through the Winter. He hauled his hay from where Sheffield now stands, and obtained the greater portion of liis corn in Peoria County.
During the Spring of 1837, the services of the County Surveyor were obtained, the timber divided into twenty-acre lots, and the town of Wethersfield laid ont. "In the month of April," as now appears on the county records, the streets were laid out at right angles. and were six rods-ninety-nine feet-in width. The blocks contained four lots of two and one-half acres each, except those immediately on the public square designed for business lots, and containing one-fourth acre each. One block was set apart for a public square, and one for Academy and College purposes, but the former of these only appears on the town plat. Two lots, one on the east and one on the west, were set apart for cemetery purposes. It will be noticed this village was a counterpart of that of Andover. Counting from north to south the streets bore the names of Nortlı, Mill, Church, North Main, South Main. College and South streets. Running east and west they were named East, Edwards, Dwight, Wil- lard, Tenney, Hollis, Payson and West streets. It will also be observed the names of divines entered largely into this list, Edwards and Dwight being in their day presidents of Yale College, and Tenney and Payson hav- ing a national reputation.
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