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 81
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W. L. R. Johnson, dealer in grain, seeds and coal, Buckley, was born in Whitefield, Coos county, New Hampshire, February 7, 1841, and lived there nine years, during which time his father died, and his mother married again. They came west to Illinois in 1850, and settled in La Salle county, engaging in farming. He lived there until 1861, when he attended school in Aurora until August. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. C, 7th Ill. Cav., and served three years, retiring from the service as orderly. Eight months of his time he served in the quarter- master's department at Gen. Grierson's headquarters, at Memphis. After the war he returned to La Salle county, Illinois, and the same year he went to the Sandwich Islands, and remained there eight months as assistant in charge of a sugar plantation. He then went to the Guano Islands and engaged in shipping guano for the American Guano Company, remaining there four years, the last two at an annual salary of $5,000 in gold. He then came to the United States, and set- tled in Buckley, Illinois, engaging in partnership with J. B. Meserve in the grain business, the firm being Johnson & Meserve. They con- tinned about two years, when Mr. Johnson became the sole proprietor of the business, and has continued in the same since. He has held the office of town trustee about four years, and has served one year as supervisor. September 6, 1871, he married Miss Tamson E. Butters, of Maine. His parents, David B. and Mrs. Sallie D. Lane (Downing)
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Johnson, were natives of New Hampshire and Maine. He died in 1841. In 1845 Mrs. Johnson married Mr. John H. Meserve. He died in 1858, and she is living here with her son.
Jesse T. McClave, farmer and stock-raiser, Buckley, is a native of Clermont county, Ohio. He was born June 30, 1842, and lived there for twenty years, with the exception of two years which he spent at school at Oxford, Ohio. He then enlisted in Co. G, 89th reg. Ohio Inf., acting as sergeant, and served during the war. He was wounded at Chickamauga, and confined to the hospital for seven months, when he rejoined the regiment and took part in the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea. After the war he returned home and lived there until the spring of 1872, when he came to Illinois and settled the present place, belonging to himself and father. It contains 680 acres, and is located two miles north of Buckley. His parents, Robert and Susan (Taylor) McClave, were natives of New Hampshire and Ohio. They were married in Ohio, and now live on the old homestead farm, where he settled in 1830.
LODA TOWNSHIP.
Loda township is in the southwestern corner of the county, being bounded on the north by Artesia, on the east by Pigeon Grove, and on the south and west by Ford county. By its original proportions it embraced one-third of what is now included in Artesia, and two- thirds of what is now embraced in Pigeon Grove. Now it embraces all of Congressional township 24 north, range 10 east of the 3d principal meridian ; and the fractional sections of 11 east. Spring creek, here a narrow and small stream, runs across it from its south- western corner to its northern side, having a fair breadth of excellent timber. The farming country is as fine as any in the county, the land being without exception good and gently rolling, making it susceptible of easy tillage. The farmns throughout the township present the appearance of thrift and prosperity; the buildings generally pleasant and convenient, and the tillage showing care and good management. Few of its farms were brought into cultivation until the building of the Central railroad gave a market for the products of its soil.
So far as can be ascertained, Alexander Henry made the first permanent settlement in the township, where his widow still resides. This was in the year 1843. Everything pertaining to the first settlers in any locality is of interest, as the opinions, reminiscences and pre- dictions of the "oldest inhabitant" are always listened to with
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wondrous ears, and like the story of the earliest settler on this fair earth, his goings in and out in the garden, his matrimonial venture, his "raising Cain " so to speak, and his various trials and tribula- lations, are worthy of being noted down as records of times which will never return. Mr. Henry came from Indiana in 1837, and lived at the western side of Ash Grove six years. He then, with his two brothers, William and Jacob, bought 80 acres each of Mr. Kirk, and came here to make their homes. The following year was the famous rainy season, the first one which was known after the settle- ment of this county, but which returned with remarkable regularity each seventh year; the years 1851 and 1858 being each so rainy as to render it nearly impossible to raise any crops. During the entire summer of 1844 the rains poured in torrents, so that there was no opportunity to plant, or cultivate what little was planted. In the frequency and duration of its rains there has been nothing equal to it since, the year 1869 coming the nearest to it. The high-water mark at St. Louis in the former year is still held as the point of record. There were few bridges at that day, and those few were, with hardly an exception, swept away. The pioneers were obliged to go some distance to mill, and the dangers they encountered have been among the standing tales for two generations. The singular recurrence of wet seasons each seventh year gave rise to discussions -as indeed it could hardly have failed to do-of the law laid down more than three thousand years ago, and found recorded in the 23d chapter of Exodus, 10th, 11th and 12th verses : " And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still ; that the poor of thy people may eat : and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard and with thy oliveyard. Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest." It was often said, that there could be no reason offered why this law of the seventh-year rest for the land was not as applicable now as in Mosaic times ; that the Lord in- tended that the earth should have an occasional rest, and if man was too greedy to give it such rest, the Lord had a method of enforcing his orders. Of course, as long as these seasons returned every seventh year, there was no answer to the Bibilical argument.
The nearest neighbors the Henrys had on the one side were George Conn, five miles in one direction, and some residents of Ten Mile Grove in the other. A brother-in-law, Wesley Harvey, lived at Ash Grove, where he still resides at what is known as Pitchin. The first rainy season made William and Jacob dissatisfied, and
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they returned, but Alexander remained. The nearest mills were at Covington, Indiana, and at Myersville, Vermilion county, and the nearest market for their eggs and chickens was Chicago. Mr. Henry brought with him a few hogs, five head of cattle, and some sheep, the main care of which was to keep them from the wolves. One evening when he was away from home, Mrs. Henry, as was her custom, went to drive the cattle home. There was one unruly year- ling which broke away from the herd, and, being unable to secure him, she was obliged to leave him. That night the wolves killed him, and when Mr. Henry went in search of him early the next morning, he had the satisfaction of killing three of the fellows which
were feasting on his carcass. They had four children when they · came here, and three more subsequently, all of whom are dead and gone. The main traveled route, known as Butterfield trace, passed by here, and their house was the stopping place of travelers ; this, with the weaving which she found to do, made plenty of work for Mrs. Henry, taken together with the care of her house and of her seven children ; so that she was never in danger of getting into mischief from idleness. Now, at seventy years of age, the wheel is kept going, and she confidently believes that she can "flax out" any of the women of the present day living hereabouts. She wove 300 yards of carpet last year.
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The first school was about 1849. It was held in one of the rooms of Mr. Henry's house, by Ruth Felton. About ten scholars attended. After this a school was kept in the little cabin standing near by. There was no church or religious meetings. Mr. James Smith and Robert Frost came in soon after and staid here. E. O. Bryden came ·in and settled where Mr. Coltax lives, and Mr. Gill also lived awhile on the same place. David Leatherman settled and lived awhile on the next place. Mr. McVeeter bought of Bryden. Francis Le Ball had a farm of 80 acres on the north side of the creek for awhile. He now lives farther southwest. There was a great deal of sickness at times, and the cholera was very fatal here.
Mr. Henry died in 1867, and Mrs. Henry still resides with some of her grandchildren on the farm which they first reclaimed from the wilderness thirty-four years ago. The railroad building made things lively in this neighborhood, and neighbors began coming in soon after that. The house she lives in was built in 1859, and is finished off inside with black walnut, giving it a decidedly ancient appear- ance. Henry Weaver came from Albany, New York. He lived twenty years in Wayne county, and then moved to Aurora, and, in 1856, took up the farm he still owns, on the fractional section 24,
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four miles northeast of the village. He was one of the first to interest himself in the cause of religious meetings, and has consist- ently maintained the interest of the Methodist church, of which he is an honored member. In 1877, feeling the need of rest which age requires, he left his farm to his son, and took up his residence in the village, where now, at eighty-four years, and his good wife past eighty, he enjoys the love and esteem which faithful lives bring even in this present life, and the firm hope of that to come. They were the parents. of ten children. A beloved son, Abram, was killed at Stone River. Henry and Volney are in business at Loda, and some of the other children reside near their honored parents. John Welch came at about the sanie date to a farm two miles east of Loda. He is now dead. James Welch took up the farm next east, and commenced to improve it. He sold and went to near Bloomington. Amos Ford soon after came on to the Mix farm and improved it. But very little of the lands of this township are held by non-residents. There are a number of good farms.
The following figures, taken from the last annual report of Ira Curtis, township treasurer of schools, show the present condition of schools : Whole number of children of school age, 462; number of dis- tricts, 7; average months taught, 74 ; whole number of pupils enrolled, 341; amount of school fund, $5,498.51; amount paid teachers last year, $2,297.87 ; amount paid for incidentals and furniture, $469 ; average wages paid male teachers per month, $35.93; average wages paid female teachers, $29.
The Patrons of Husbandry had a strong following in this portion of the county. The Advance Grange, No. 335, was located in this township, and for a time held a thriving membership. Among those who then resided in Loda township who were prominently connected with the institution were Mr. George W. Harwood, David A. Brown, now residing in Kansas, E. S. Ricker, of Onarga, Le Roy Robinson, J. B. Taylor and sons, H. Hollister and David Leonett.
The township was organized in 1856, the first officers being: J. H. Major, supervisor ; R. A. Denton, clerk ; S. Hatfield, assessor; and J. W. Tibbets, collector. The people of Loda township seem disposed to make but little change in officers, as some have held not only a " third term," but in the case of B. F. Price, twelve terms as collector only seems to have qualified him for a further tenure. A. D. Soutli- worth was for six terms supervisor, and three gentlemen, E. G. Har- rington, W. H. Bradley and A. S. Austin, held the office of clerk from 1858 till 1876. The present officers are : Hugo Vogel, superintendent ; T. J. Healey, clerk ; R. McFarland, assessor; B. F. Price, collector ;
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and J. C. Dunham, Volney Weaver and Julius Vogel, justices of the peace. The population of the township is about 2,000.
LODA VILLAGE (OAKALLA P.O.)
This whole country, from here south to Big Grove, where Urbana now is, and west to the line of McLean county, and east to the Indi- ana state line, was a vast uncultivated prairie, inhabited only by wild beasts and reptiles, when Stephen A. Douglas pushed through con- gress the bill for giving to the state of Illinois certain lands in trust for building a line of railroad from Cairo to the northwestern corner of the state, and a branch to Chicago. It was doubted whether this prairie would ever be inhabited. Many of those who had settled along the streams which run in all directions from the high ridge near Pax- ton, did not believe this vast prairie could ever become fruitful farms; and without the railroad, and the government aid given to it, it would have remained for many more years uninhabited.
When Addison Goodell came here, in 1855, from Lake county, Ohio, he found room enough for the sole of his foot, certainly, but no place to board. He was obliged to get his meals in Chicago, coming down in the morning, bringing his dinner in his pocket, and going back there at night. The town had been laid out by the Associated Land Company, composed of those who had interests in the railroad. The charter of the company forbade the corporation to become inter- ested in the town plats along its line, but it did not prevent the members of the company from forming a "ring" like that which after- ward became so famous as the "Credit Mobilier of America," and thus running all the town plats along the line. D. A. Neal was the agent of the land company here. It is not known who was responsi- ble for naming the place Loda. The name at once caused confusion. There was then in Kane county a Lodi, and the confusion of names still makes trouble. A gentleman by the name of Norton, who was traveling extensively, learned of this confusion of names. He soon after met Senator Douglas, who had recently suffered from a severe sickness while in Indiana, and had, while thus suffering, been cared for by a lady to whom he felt under great obligations. As a tribute to her, and because of the beauty and propriety of the name, when he returned to Washington lie secured a change of the name of the post- office here to Oakalla, supposing that the name of the town itself would follow suit. It is a strong commentary on the force of habit,- and that a bad habit too,- that, young as the place was, those who resided here never got over calling it Loda.
Mr. Goodell opened his real-estate business as soon as he could get
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a building erected in which to transact his business, and has continued it until now, about twenty-five years. Josiah Huestis opened the first. store here the same year, and is still engaged in the same business with- out intermission. H. E. and C. O. Barstow came here from Massachu- setts and commenced a mercantile trade, which they carried on for eight or ten years.
A noted writer has said; "There is no method by which history can be so profitably studied as in the biography of its leading men." This is particularly true of the history of localities. The leading men of Loda have made its history. No man has had more to do with that history than Adam Smith. He was a man of great energy, great busi- ness capacity, unbounded expectations, and grand in the very boldness of his enterprise. It is difficult to decide which to admire most, the bold dash of the man or his consummate activity and energy. In the first flush of the " California fever " he made a fortune in shipping both to California and to Australia. He chartered or bought whatever ves- sels were in the market ; then, by " buzzing " around a few hours, he would engage freight or passengers enough to pay for the purchase and expense of the trip, leaving him the ship free after a single trip; but at that early day there was no return freight, and he descended like a stick after shooting up into the business sky like a rocket. He came here in 1855 and sprang into business activity as he did in New York. There were only three houses here : the depot, freight house and sec- tion house ; but he struck out as vigorously as if he had been on Man- hattan Island. He purchased 16,000 acres of land of the railroad, selecting such as he was sure he could sell at an advance before time for payment, and set men to work building, farming and developing the country. His mind was no ordinary one, and everything he under- took was done on the grandest scale. He built one of the largest houses in the county; expended thousands on an extravagantly large mill ; was the principal contributor to the finest church in the county; put up an extensive building for a hay-press ; and built a hotel, stores and other buildings on a somewhat smaller scale. He put up a barn on his farm capable of stalling 1,000 head of cattle. Fifty thousand dollars is considered a not unreasonable estimate of the money he put into build- ings alone at Loda. When the income from his business enterprises would not any. longer keep the ball rolling and continue his huge schemes, he went to Chicago, where he figured as the claimant, by purchase, of large and valuable tracts of canal and other lands. This enterprise, which would have made him one of the wealthiest men in the city, fell through, and he retired to Nebraska, where he is now engaged in other magnificent land operations. All in all, he was one
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of the most remarkable men of this county, and had he been possessed of a good supply of caution, he might have been a great success.
Dr. Foster was early engaged in business here. He kept the first hotel, which Smith built, for awhile, and died here. Plowman & Virden built a large mill here, which was burned about 1861 or 1862. It was a first-class mill in all its appointments, and is said to have cost them about $25,000. It ruined them and some of their friends. . Silas Virden & Brother commenced to rebuild it, backed by the citizens. Smith said it must go on, and finally he had to assume it. He con- tinned to add to it and spread out until it had swallowed about $30,000 more. It was commenced as a saw-mill, and the lumber was sawed to complete the building. It is 36×48, with engine room 20×48. It was converted into a sorghum mill, and used for that purpose two or three years during the war. There was then one run of stone, and Waite & Smith put in two additional runs and flouring machinery. After this Smith put in a grain-kiln, which was used in the fall for kiln-drying the new crop, and put up a huge store room for corn, which · is 36×126 feet, having nine dumps in it, and built a railroad track, which runs the grain out to the Central railroad. The extra runs of stone and the flouring machinery were removed, and Mr. E. M. Hun- gerford bought the entire property upon which so many thousands had been expended for about $2,000, and uses it for running his grain, flax- seed and meal trade.
The Virginia Company, composed of Hon. John Minor Botts, J. M. Hernden, John T. Lomax, J. L. Marye and others owned several thousand acres of land in this vicinity. Mr. Isaac O. Butter came liere as the agent for the company. He died here, and his son remains here engaged in the lumber trade. A. D. Southworth, an engineer on the railroad, made his home here, engaging in the real-estate and surveying business. He was a gentleman of good business qualifications. For several years he was supervisor for this township, and was internal reve- nue collector. About 1870 he removed to Wabasha, Minnesota, and engaged in banking. G. W. Russell was the first station-agent, and Moses Wilcox first postmaster. During the intense political excitement which followed the "Kansas war," and the political unpleasantness which grew up between Senator Douglas and President Buchanan, Loda was strongly republican, and it was said that there were not democrats enough here to hold the offices. Mr. Copp, who had then recently come liere, and a young man of strong democratic proclivities, resented this idea, and made application for the office and was appointed. He said he did not want office, but party necessity called on him to hold up the flag.
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Addison Goodell has been more thoroughly interested in the growth and business of Loda than any other man. Coming here at the very first, he has continued a growing and lucrative business without change, other than enlarging as business demanded it. Strict and careful in his business habits, he has always done a safe and fairly remunerative business, at the same time holding the pecuniary interests of his customers as, in a sense, his own. Growing up in the Western Reserve during the time when that leader of anti-slavery sentiment, Joshua R. Giddings, was the prominent advocate in congress and before the people of those doctrines which triumphed at Appomatox, it is not to be considered strange that he imbibed sentiments which, later in the history of political parties, made him a member of the republican party. When he came here to reside in 1855, he had never voted for any congressman but Mr. Giddings, and his first con- gressional vote cast here was for Owen Lovejoy, who was, if possible, a inore radical anti-slavery man than Giddings. This was Mr. Goodell's "record," when in 1862 he was nominated and elected to the house of representatives of the general assembly of this state. That general assembly was without a parallel in the political history of this state. The writer is not aware that any impartial history of it has ever been published ; and many of the stirring characters who took part in that attempt at legislation, only seventeen short years ago, are now gone from among us.
Rev. E. Dunham, who was the pioneer Methodist preacher here, was a man full of faith and good works. He was born in Tolland county, Connecticut, in 1794. His father had been a soldier in the revolutionary army, and the lad grew up with that sentiment in favor of the universal freedom of mankind and equality before the law, which was prevalent in the "land of steady habits " at that day, and which was soon after planted in the Western Reserve by Connecticut minds. He was early converted, and joining the Methodist church commenced preaching, and in 1820 was ordained an elder. He was a man capable of great physical endurance, and often, in those early days, preaclied every day in the week to fill out the numerous appointments of his circuit. A man of strong convictions, good mental powers, and strong faith, he brought an earnestness to whatever he undertook, which was the real secret of his power. He early became a coadjutor of Garri- son, Phillips, and other anti-slavery workers, and was a conductor on the "underground railroad " when that business was dangerous, even in the Connecticut valley, "in case of accident," He was an active worker in what was known as the third party, and then as the free- soil party. He came here in 1857, and continued his active labors as
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his strength would permit as a local preacher. He is supposed to liave been the first to hold regular meetings of the Methodists in this vicinity, and it was he who organized the classes liere and at Paxton. He frequently held meetings at Thomas Wilson's house, east of town. He died in 1878, at the age of eighty-four years. Full of years and well worn, he was gathered to his fathers, leaving as a grand heritage to his children the memory of his good name and manifold wealth of christian labors. He left six children : Dr. J. C. Dunham, of Loda ; J. M. Dunham, Esq., of Holyoke, Massachusetts; and Mrs. A. B. Brown, Mrs. E. Olmstead, Mrs. Henry Alvey and Mrs. Rev. Pliny Wood.
Saniuel Hackley was one of the first to engage in the lumber trade here. Binks & Gould were early in trade, and Moses Wilcox had a furniture store here just opposite the depot. George Delker and Adamn Smith were also early in trade. Daniel Healey came here from New York in 1857, and has resided here since that time. His son is en- gaged in the grain and coal trade. The elevator was built by Ira A. Manley. It has a capacity of 15,000 bushels, and is now owned by J. & E. Buckingham, who control a large number of similar concerns in various parts of the state, and have an elevator in Chicago. It is managed by S. B. Coleman. They have handled here 240,000 busliels of grain in a single year.
The Loda distillery was for several years one of the institutions of the place. Like all such enterprises it had its bright and dark sides. While it was running it made business lively, giving employment to a great many people, and keeping the price of grain up to a little more than it would otherwise have been. It was built, in 1858 or 1859, by a party of Englishmen : George Maxwell, George Wood and D. C. McMillen. At this time there was no government tax on spirits, and they sold at from twelve to fourteen cents per gallon. The proprie- tors enlarged it until it was one of the largest in the state. It had eighteen fermenting-tubs, and a capacity for running 1,800 bushels of grain per day, making about seventy-five barrels of highwines per day, and feeding 1,200 head of cattle and 2,000 logs in the summer. Adam Smith run it for awhile, and Laduk & Gibbs liad it for a time. Cleg- horn, Leckey & Co. got control of it and run it for while. They em- ployed about 100 men in and about it, and so managed it that the government never had occasion to seize it for irregularity, although they did indulge in a little peculiarity in the manufacture of the bar- rels. The stave which was directly opposite the bung was made thicker than the others. It required four or five government officials to see to it when it was in full operation. Mr. W. A. Leckey, the
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