USA > Illinois > Iroquois County > History of Iroquois County, together with Historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 51
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and actively engaged in the farmers' movement, and was secretary of several of their organizations. In the fall of 1875 he came to Onarga and commenced a course in the commercial college, in which he grad- uated in two terms. Since then he has given one year to studies in the literary department of Grand Prairie Seminary, designing to finish the course. In the summer of 1875 Mr. and Mrs. Ricker united with the Methodist church. In politics he is a republican. For over a year Mr. Ricker has been in the employ of the publishers of this work.
William H. Shannon, farmer, Papineau, is a native of Kingston, Canada, and was born May 20, 1844. In 1856 lie, with his parents, Mr. William and Cintha (Metzler) Shannon, came to Illinois, and set- tled in Papineau township, Iroquois county. They have, since coming to this county, been engaged in farming and stock-raising. On Febru- ary 6, 1865, the subject of this sketch enlisted in the 150th Ill. Vol., and on account of disability was discharged June 16, 1865. On March 11, 1868, he married Miss Sarah E. Jones, daughter of Henry Jones, Papi- neau's first permanent settler. He now has five children : Cora May, John H., George W., Mina J. and Philip. His brother, John M., was a member of Waterhouse's battery, and died at Shiloh on the morning of the day of that memorable battle. When Mr. Shannon came to this county it was very sparsely settled. He has seen its great growth and prosperity- its golden fields of grain in place of wild prairie.
Perry Darst, dentist, Sheldon, was born in Iroquois county, Illinois, on August 9, 1851, and lived on the old farm where he was born, with his father (his mother died when he was about three years old), engaged in farming, stock-raising and attending school. At about the age of twenty his father died. Soon after this sad event in his life he left the old home and engaged in farming as a renter, but not finding that suited to his mind he turned his attention to study for some profession, and has finally decided on dentistry, which he is now studying in the dental rooms at Sheldon, Iroquois county, Illinois. His father, Mr. Hiram Darst, was born in West Virginia on January 4, 1828. At about the age of fifteen years he came to Iroquois county, and so became one of the early pioneers, settling in what is now Papi- neau township when it was an unsettled wilderness, when deer and other wild animals were about the only occupants of the boundless prairies. His nearest market for many years was Chicago, where he sold corn for twenty-five cents per bushel, after hauling about seventy miles witli a team, fording rivers and streams, no bridges being then built. He kept the pioneer store in the township. On September 5, 1850, lie married Miss Mary Jones, a native of Ohio. . She died July 11, 1855, being a victim of the terrible cholera epidemic of 1855.
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Again he married on November 5, 1857, this time to Miss Amanda Lawhead, of this county. She died January 24, 1868, and for his third wife lie married Mrs. Abbie E. Warren, who still survives him; and on May 2, 1872, he died, leaving, besides his wife, five children, as follows: Perry, the subject of this sketch, Benjamin F., Andrew H., Artinsa and Eva E. Being one of the excellent men, his death was greatly mourned by his family and friends.
James P. Martin, Martinton, deceased. The subject of this sketch was one of the early settlers of Iroquois county, and a pioneer in that part which afterward acquired his name (Martinton township). He was born January 17, 1829, in Orange county, Vermont, and but little of the surroundings of his early life are known. 'In September, 1849, he emigrated to the state of Ohio, and in 1851 removed to Will county, Illinois, where he resided until April, 1855, when he perma- nently located in Iroquois county, residing in the locality above stated. It was mainly through his efforts that a thrifty and enterprising com- munity settled in the vicinity where he resided. For many years he represented his township in the board of supervisors, and secured the unlimited confidence of his neighbors, which he always retained and never betrayed. In his political faith he was a republican. In 1864 he was elected sheriff of Iroquois county, which office he held for two years. He discharged the duties of his office with honor to himself, and with credit to the party that elected him. When the war of the rebellion broke ont in 1861, Mr. Martin gave his efforts to raise a com- pany for the 25th Ill. This company was raised mainly by his efforts, he himself enlisted in it, and was elected first-lieutenant, in which capacity he served about eighteen months, and acquired the respect and confidence of his men and superior officers. Becoming prostrate with camp diarrhea, from which he never recovered, and which finally terminated in his death, he was compelled to resign his position in the army and return to his home. When but partially recovered he again began recruiting for the army, and through his efforts, more than any other reason, Iroquois county boasts of having furnished her quota of troops by volunteers, and was saved from the enforcement of the draft. He was eminently an active and useful member of society, and in liis death, which occurred October 19, 1869, the community lost a worthy and valued citizen. Besides many friends, he left to mourn his loss a wife and family. Mrs. Martin still resides on the old farm, and has devoted hier time to managing her property and educating and caring for her children, in both of which she has displayed much more ability than many men placed under similar responsibilities.
Martin Burnham, retired, Watseka. The subject of this sketch is
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descended from a family who probably trace their genealogy back far- ther than any of the citizens of Iroquois county. He has in his posses- sion a complete genealogy of the family. The following quotation is taken from the opening chapter of that work, which shows the origin of the name : "Walter Le Ventre came to England at the Conquest, 1066, in the train of his cousin-german, Earl of Warren, and at the Survey, 1080, was made lord of the Saxon village of Burnham, county of Norfolk, and of many other manors. From this manor lie took his surname, De Burnham, and became the ancestor of the numerous fam- ily of that name." Mr. Burnham is a native of Orange county, Ver- mont, where he was born February 21, 1828. He received a good education and remained at his native place until the age of twenty-one. He then came west, and first stopped at Chicago for a time. From there he concluded to go to California, but he had left home with but $35 in money, and was in no condition financially to make the trip. However, he succeeded in finding a party who would help him through and trust him to pay the amount after their arrival in California. They had got as far as the Missouri river when the gentleman with whom he was going concluded to return to the east. This left Mr. Burnliam to make new arrangements, which he did with another party upon similar terms. A short time after their arrival he made enough to pay the debt honorably. He remained in California and Oregon about two years, mining, prospecting and dealing in cattle. He arrived at his old home again, in Vermont, in January of 1853. His intentions were to have gone back to California, but, getting married, changed his plans very materially. He was married November 2, 1853, to Miss Marthia Martin, she also being a native of Vermont. In 1864 Mr. Burnham came west and located in Martinton township, where he remained a resident until the spring of 1880, when he removed to Watseka, Illi- nois, leaving the farm to be conducted by his two sons. His old farm in Martinton township, which is something over 200 acres, is well known as one of the finest and best improved, and supplied with the finest buildings, of any farm in that part of the county. He has also given somne attention to the raising of fine cattle. In political affairs he has been an active republican, though never an office seeker. Now he and Mrs. Burnham are enjoying the fruits of the harder labor of younger days.
The late Dr. William A. Babcock, of Onarga, Illinois, was born in 1818, in the town of North Stonington, Connecticut. He was of the original New England stock, being a direct descendant of one of three brothers Babcock, who emigrated from old England at an early day in the history of our country. Having enjoyed the usual advantages of
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a New England education, he went south in his early manhood, and spent some time in teaching. About 1840 he returned north, and devoted himself to the study of medicine, and in 1845 he graduated at the University of New York, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1846 he married Miss Harriet Coats, of North Stonington, and commenced the practice of his profession in Salem, Connecticut, where he remained for some three years. He then located at the town of Lyme, at the mouth of the Connecticut river, where he continued the laborious and successful practice of his profession in town and country, and over the rugged hills of New London county for some eight years. In January, 1857, a company was organized in New London county with the view of emigrating to Illinois and settling upon the lands of the great Illinois Central railway, then just completed. Dr. Babcock becoming identified with this enterprise, purchased lands in what be- came known as the Connecticut settlement, also in the vicinity of the then small village of Onarga, where he finally settled with his family. For a time lie devoted some attention to farming, but liis skill as a physician was too well known among his old neighbors for him to be allowed to retire from his profession. He soon became known, far and near, as an eminently safe, reliable and successful physician, and he found himself again engaged in an extensive practice on the broad prairies of Illinois. As a man and as a physician Dr. Babcock liad some marked traits of character. In the practice of his profession he was what may be called eminently philosophical in distinction from what is termed empyrical. He relied largely on nature and the vital powers to do their share in the work of healing and restoration. The constitution and habits of the patient were carefully studied. If tlie patient needed rest, or a change of diet or of habits or of climate, more tlian dosing with medicine, the doctor did not hesitate to tell him so. In his professional visits in an intelligent family, his frank, open and candid manner at once gained confidence, and forbade the suspicion that he could in any contingency resort to the arts and practices of the quack and the charlatan. If nothing could be done for a patient the doctor was the last man to deceive friends with false hopes, or to take advantage of the painful occasion by the practice of well-known arts for the promotion of his own personal emolument. This was all in per- fect harmony with his known honesty and integrity of purpose, and witli his outspoken contempt for all pretense, sham and quackery in every form, and more especially in the line of his own chosen pro- fession. Dr. Babcock continued in the successful practice of his profession at Onarga and in the surrounding country, until our great civil war came on. Of his career during the war we know of no one
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more competent to speak than Judge Blades, of Watseka, Illinois. The judge was at that time a doctor by profession, and was in a position to form a correct opinion of the surgeon and the man. The following discriminating and appreciative article was written by Judge Blades, on the occasion of the death of Dr. Babcock, and was published at the time in the Watseka "Republican." Without consulting the judge the writer takes the liberty of inserting it here as a fitting conclusion to this memorial. It may be well, however, first to remark that Dr. Babcock entered the army as assistant-surgeon of the 76th Ill., the first regiment of the state to be enrolled under the call for 600,000 men. He followed the varying fortunes of the war through several of the southern states, and was present at many sieges and battles. It was his high privilege to share in the closing campaign of the war, the investment of Mobile, and the war's closing battle- the storming of Fort Blakely. At the close of the war he was with the army at Galveston, where, in August, 1865, the army was disbanded, and Dr. Babcock returned to Onarga after a service of more than three years. He was promoted from the position of assistant-surgeon to that of surgeon of the 76th, and finally to that of division-surgeon, having many surgeons and their assistants under him. The following is the article by Judge Blades :
" TO THE EDITORS OF THE ' REPUBLICAN ':
"This county, and especially the community of Onarga, has met with a serious loss in the death of Dr. William A. Babcock, who died at his residence in the village of Onarga, on the 7th instant. It had been my good fortune to know the doctor inti- mately for many years, and I am sure no one can testify with greater heartiness than myself to the excellent qualities and virtues of the man, and also to his eminent pro- fessional attainments. We were both, and at the same time, on the medical staff of the 76th Ill. Vol. Inf. in the great war of the rebellion ; and for many months we occupied the same tent and ate at the same board. I came to know him with great intimacy, and had opportunities to observe him under circumstances well calculated to develop various and subtle phases of character, as also to test his professional courage and resources. I found him to be a man of strong convictions on every subject to which he professed to have given attention ; earnest, plain and emphatic in giving expression to his opinions, and thoroughly upright in all that he did. He had a moral contempt for all subterfuge, shallowness and sham. He was well learned in his pro- fession, having graduated in the University of New York, in 1845, in the days when the illustrious Valentine Mott was the glory and pride of American surgeons. His powers of shrewd and patient observation, together with his long professional experi- ence, had imparted a solidity to his judgment and an acuteness to his intuitions that gave great value to his professional advice. Withal, he was modest, even diffident, and rarely, except when brought into contact with ignorance or insolence, would the great decision and courage of the man be exhibited. During my service with him in the army I have sometimes been amused at the dumfounded astonishment of some one who had presumed upon the retiring and reticent demeanor of the doctor, at the sudden and sometimes terrible energy he displayed. He was a man of high patriotism. He went into the army out of a strong desire to bear a part in the great struggle for the preservation and redemption of his country ; and he entered that department of the service where, above all other places, he could be most useful. And that he was greatly useful none can know so well as those who served with him in the army, many of whom, including myself, will gratefully remember, to the end of life, the devotion and professional skill he displayed when they were lying at death's door. I have been long satisfied that it was his original and cour-
30
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ageous treatment which saved me from a grave under the breastworks of Vicksburg. I lament that this tribute I pay him is so inadequate and so feebly expressed ; but I could not refrain from saying something. I could not bear that the dear old friend I had known so long should be covered up in the ground without some expres- sion of my admiration for the man, and of my sorrow that he has departed, to be with us no more.
FRANKLIN BLADES."
We would add that, at the conclusion of the war, Dr. Babcock re- turned to his beautiful home in Onarga, where he resumed the practice of his profession, and in which he continued until the time of liis death. He died April 7, 1875, of paralysis, aged fifty-seven years and seven months, leaving a faithful and devoted wife and an estimable daughter to mourn his loss. In the death of Dr. Babcock the poor and afflicted lost a kind and sympathizing friend, the town of Onarga and the county of Iroquois an eminent physician and surgeon, and the country a faitlı- ful, patriotic and distinguished citizen.
EXECUTION OF JOHN M'DONNELL.
On September 27, 1861, John McDonnell killed his brother-in-law, James Hare, in the store of Smith & Chapin, in Ashkum in this county, by striking him three times with a rod of iron, which he had procured from the blacksmith shop of Peter Kelly, and he was arrested and com- mitted to jail. At the following November term of the circuit court he was indicted for murder, and arraigned for trial before the following jury : Joel Brandenburg, Oscar Kinney, O. W. Dean, James Cauvins, George Pineo, G. G. Newland, William S. Gould, J. H. Bishop, James Egbert, Putnam Gaffield, William Alderman and John Snyder ; Judge C. R. Starr presiding. The trial commenced December 5, 1861. and occupied that and the next day, and on the 6th a verdict of "guilty " was returned, and on the 21st McDonnell was sentenced to be hanged on Friday, January 14, 1862. C. H. Wood, Esq., was attorney for the state, and Fletcher & Kinney for the defense. The attorneys for the defense deeming some of the proceedings irregular, procured a reprieve for their client until February 7, to give them time to obtain a super- sedeas from the supreme court, but failing in that, McDonnell was hanged February 7, 1862, Sheriff Luther T. Clark officiating at the execution. McDonnell, previous to his execution, inade a confession in which he admitted the deed, but denied that he intended to kill Hare, but only intended to disable him, they having had much diffi- culty on account of Hare's interfering with his domestic relations. In this confession he stated that his name was not McDonnell, but Pat. Mclaughlin, and that he was born in Donegal county, Ireland, in 1827, and came to this country in 1849, and a few years after married Bridget Hughes, by whom he had three children, and that she and tlie children were still living. He further stated that he killed a man by the name
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of Huey Mckeever, at Philadelphia, in a difficulty, and for which he had to run away, and after residing at Pittsburgh, New Orleans, St. Louis and other places, he came to Chicago, where he married Eliza Hare, and then moved to this county.
The execution took place in the grand jury room of the court-house at Middleport. The scaffold was composed of four posts with cross- pieces at top, on which was laid a piece of timber 6×4 inches, and eight feet long, with blocks and pulleys at the end, through which the rope passed by which, with a weight of 290 pounds, he was to be sus- pended. At forty minutes past eleven the culprit, attended by Father Theodore Van de Poel, of L'Erable, in this county, who had adminis- tered to him the last rites of the Catholic church, Sheriff Clark, Thomas Vennum, circuit clerk, Drs. McNeill, Harwood, Secrest and Hewins, and several others, entered the room. After prayer the black cap and noose were adjusted, and the rope suspending the weight, at one minute past twelve, was cut by the sheriff. At nine minutes after his heart ceased to beat and he was pronounced to be dead by the physi- cians in attendance, and in thirty minutes he was cut down. His body was given in charge of Father Van de Poel, and taken to L'Erable for burial.
EXECUTION OF FRANCIS MARION HARPER ALIAS JOHNSON, FOR THE MURDER OF D. W. NELSON, DECEMBER 22, 1865 .- THE MURDER COM- MITTED ON THE NIGHT OF NOVEMBER 2, 1865. Harper was born in Morgan county, Indiana, in 1843. In 1864 he joined the 70th reg. Ind. Vol., but soon after deserted and came to Effingham, in this state, to which place his father, Henry Harper, and his mother and their family had removed. He soon after stole a horse from a Mr. Wilson, near that place, and took it to another part of the country and sold it. He then went to Gilman, in this county, and was employed by Mr. Maxson, who after some time discharged him. He then returned home and remained there six weeks, and then went to Kankakee city and became acquainted with a young man by the name of D. W. Nelson, who was from Muncie, Indiana, and engaged in making and selling stencil plates. Nelson had received a remittance of $15 from his father, and foolishly exhibited the express package in which he had . received it, in such a manner as to induce Harper to believe it con- tained $1,500. In order to obtain this, after having procured a revol- ver, he induced Nelson to go with him to Gilman, on the night of November 2, 1865. After getting off the train at that place Harper invited Nelson to go down the road with him to the house of a friend, as he said, where he would introduce him to some female friends. When they had gone down the track about 100 rods Harper made a
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remark about the coolness of the evening, and falling behind a step, drew his revolver and shot Nelson in the back of the head. The shot did not kill him ; a struggle ensned and Harper choked his victim to death, robbed him of his money (which was but little), knife, a gold ring, watch and chain, and the box in which he carried his stencil materials. He then placed the body on the track for the purpose of having it mangled by the next train, went to Onarga, staid there until morning, got breakfast, had his coat mended (which had been torn in the struggle) by Mr. Wand, a tailor of that place, and soon after took a freight train for Kankakee. In the morning the body of the mur- dered man was found, with his name on his clothing. The fact was telegraphed along the road, was read by the operator at Clifton, and when the train arrived there it was discovered that a passenger had a hand box on which were the initials, "D. W. N.," and he was returned to Gilman and proved to be the murderer of Nelson. He was arrested, and an examination had and Sheriff James P. Martin sent for, who arrived in the evening and took him into custody. While waiting for the train three attempts were made by a mob to hang Harper, but he was rescued by the sheriff alone, and who took him to the Kanka- kee jail. This proves what a determined officer, who regards his outh, can sometimes do in the face of a cowardly mob.
At the November term of the circuit court of Iroquois county he was indicted. He was arraigned for trial before the court, Judge C. R. Starr presiding, William T. Ament for the state, and Chester Kinney and C. F. McNeill for the defense. The following persons composed the jury which tried the case : Tilden Graham, George Wright, James Romine, Ripley F. Young, Stephen Jessup, Martin Cottrill, George Miller, James McClintock, Isaac Peniston, Milton Gooding, Jacob Cain and Justus Smith. November 30 the jury returned a verdict of "guilty," and on December 1, Harper was sentenced by the court to be hanged on December 22, 1865, between the hours of ten and four o'clock. He was brought from the Kankakee jail by Sheriff Sherman, on Thursday, the 21st, and placed in the custody of Sheriff James P. Martin, who had erected an inclosure 16×18 feet, and fourteen feet high, on the ground where the court-house now stands, and in which the scaffold for Harper's execution was erected. It was in form like that used for the execution of McDonnell, and the weight used was 325 ponnds of lead and shot. At eight minutes past eleven the noose was adjusted and the rope cut, and in sixteen minutes he was found to be dead. His body was taken in charge by A. G. Smith, editor of the "Republican," and by him sent by express to Harper's father, at Effing- ham, in this state, at Harper's request.
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LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
yours truly, C.F. Mc Neill
PART II.
TOWNSHIP HISTORY.
MIDDLEPORT AND BELMONT TOWNSHIPS.
BY HON. C. F. McNEILL.
The writer of this sketch desires the reader to bear in mind that the limits of this work, the want of time and press of business of the writer, will not permit an extended and complete history of the locali- ties allotted to him, and he can therefore furnish only a chronological skeleton which must be filled up by the imagination of the reader, or by some writer who may follow hereafter, and who may have more leisure and a broader field in which to display a talent for such work.
The town of Middleport, as at present organized, embraces the territory covered by town 27 north, range 12 west of the 2d principal meridian ; and the town of Belmont covers town 26 north, range 12 west of the 2d principal meridian, Iroquois county, Illinois.
The general geological features of these towns vary but little from that of the county elsewhere noted in this work, and to which the reader is referred. The Iroquois river enters the town of Middleport from the east, at the northeast corner of section 25, and leaves it near the northwest corner of section 30, meandering tortuously through the town. Sugar creek enters the town of Belmont from the south, near the southwest corner of section 32, and after pursuing a serpentine course through that town, forms a junction with the Iroquois river, near southwest corner of the E .¿ of N.E. { of Sec. 31, T. 27 N., R. 12 W., and southwest corner of the plat of the village of Middleport. There are broad belts, principally of oak timber, along these streams, and the northern part of the town of Middleport is interspersed with groves. The soil of Belmont is good, and so also the southern and eastern portions of Middleport, but the northern and western portions not of first quality. Both towns are entirely embraced in the glacial channel, or valley, elsewhere noticed, filled with the glacial drift, rest-
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