USA > Illinois > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Illinois > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
Jefferson Encampment, No. 91, was organ- ized October 13, 1868. The charter mem- bers were J. K. Albright, R. L. Strattan, J. S. Bogan, G. E. Welborn, T. H. McBride, J. B. Tolle, W. D. Green, J. G. Rease, G. C. Vaughn and J. F. Carroll.
Lodge No. 104, Independent Order of Mutual Aid, was instituted December 14, and chartered December 27, 1880. Its charter members were H. S. Plum- mer, J. H. Mitchell. R. W. Lyon, Ju- lian L. Frohock, G. F. M. Ward, J. F. Balt- zell, F. S. Burnett, R. E. Ryan, G. H. Bitt .
340
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
rolf, W. A. Jewell. J. S. Gowenlock, V. G. Haag, T. H. Goodwin, J. T. Daily, H. Bur- ger, J. H. Rainey. F. W. Herman, J. W. Cochran. J. J. Stern and V. Lippert. Of course, the two last named organizations met in Odd Fellows Hall.
Iron Hall. No. 68, was organized a few years ago. This also meets in the Odd Fel- lows Hall. Its charter members were J. S. Bogan, W. B. Anderson, W. M. White, N. Staats, W. V. B. Bogan, E. Iddinge, W. J. Levall, M. O'Connor, A. L. Hobbs, Joseph Boswell, S. Rupert, J. W. Morgan, A. A. Hamilton, J. M. Davis, F. D. Boswell, W. S. Davis. V. G. Haag, W. D. Rogers, W. H. Herdman. R. Dewy. J. H. Mitchell, W. A. Jones, Peter Brown, N. H. Moss, Joseph Hudson, W. H. Smith. J. T. Daily, T. H. Goodwin. N. C. Malone, R. P. Moyer, T. H. Hobbs, B. C. Strattan, C. W. Lindley and William Blythe.
Mount Vernon Lodge, No. 186, A. O. U. W., began June 14. 1881, and meets in the Odd Fellows Hall. Its first officers were William J. Ellis, P. M. W .; C. A. Keller. M. W .; W. C. Pollock, G. F .; William A. Goodwin, O .; N. Staats, Recorder; George W. Reid, F. & R .: Van Wilbanks, G .: J. T. S. Brattin, I. W. ; and William B. Hawk- ins, O. W.
Mount Vernon Council, No. 7, R. T. of T., was instituted Jannary 17, and chartered January 23, 1880. Its first officers were, C. A. Keller, S. C .; S. C. Polk, V. C .; W. N. White, P. C .: Adam C. Johnson, Chap- lain: C. W. Lindley, Recording Secretary ; A. Ransom Merrill, Financial Secretary; John C. Bray, Treasurer: James Hitchcock. Her'd; Mrs. Annie E. Hitchcock, Deputy Her'd: John A. Greenhoe, G .: William D. Rogers, Sentry; Dr. W. Watson, Medical Examiner. There were forty two charter members. The council meets in the old Odd
Fellows Hall. This society has demon- strated that the average toper will drink if he knows the drink will cost his needy fami- ly $2,000.
Coleman Post, G. A. R., of the Department of Illinois, was organized by Department Commander H. Hilliard, of Springfield, July 26, 1876, with about forty members. Its officers were Frederick D. Boswell, Post Commander; William Randall, Senior Vice Com .; J. A Phillips, Junior Vice Com .; T. H. Goodwin, Adjutant; John B. Crowder, Quartermaster; H. S. Plummer, Surgeon; C. E. Cline. Chaplain; D. K. Goodale, Officer of the Day; A. J. Williamson, Officer of the Guard; C. C. McBryant, Sergeant Major; J. W. Phillips, Quartermaster Sergeant. Its meetings were held in the old Odd Fellows Hall. A year or so since, the attendance became so small that the burden of expense feil heavily on a few. and they paid up the rents and suspended their meetings. In the meantime, the higher powers have changed the work, and the post is not prepared to take it up; but recently it has received a permit to get the new work and go on, and it is now waiting till a sufficient number can be got together to take it up.
K. of H. Lodge, No. 683. was organized September 3, 1878. The charter members were S. F. Crews, W. H. Smith, I. B. Salis- bury, D. Sturgis, C. W. Lindley, S. C. Polk, R. L. Strattan. C. Zierjacks, J. G. Brunner, James Owen, C. H. Patton. J. C. Dawson. E. E. Hazzard, James Hitclicock, T. H. Good- win, William Hill, Frank Smith. John Stumpp and Jacob Smith.
Jefferson Division, No. 154, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, was chartered Au- gust 19, 1882.
Evening Star Lodge, No. 112, Brother- hood of Locomotive Firemen, was char- tered July 2, 1882. The charter mem-
341
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
bers were A. J. Randall, W. N. Han- sacker, P. C. Johnson, J. Murphy, R. L. Bracy, B. W. Vawter, C. Joyce, J. G. Bos- well, T. Lancey, T. F. Thixton, J. C. Bran- ham, F. C. Wyard, A. D. Isom, Daniel Messitt, James W. Burns, I. T. Carr, Will- iam Stephenson, A. Vogt, F. P. Nance, T. H. Buckley. J. Melton. T. E. Peck, R. W. Lindley, Harry Laswell, J. M. Covington, C. O. Simms and Bruce Rawson. The last three orders meet in the Masonic Hall.
Mount Vernon Lodge, No. 31. A. F. & A. M., is nearly as old as Marion Lodge I. O. O. F. The charter is signed by W. F. Wal- ker, G. M .. and is dated at Jacksonville, October 9, 1845. It is granted to William W. Bennett. M .; W. A. Thomas, S. W .; and W. H. Short. J. W. It goes without saying that this ancient order has grown more grad- ually than the others. At first they met, like everybody else in those days. where they could. Their first hall, entitled to the name, was in the room over the store of J. Pace & Son, corner of Main and Union streets. This they occupied till the Strattan & Johnson building was erected, at the cor. ner of Washington and Bunyan, when they secured the upper story with its ample ac- commodations. They meet on the first and third Monday evenings in each month, al- though for thirty years they had met by the moon.
H. W. Hubbard Chapter, No. 160. R. A. M, dates back to October 31, 1873, and the charter is signed by Asa W. Blakesley, G. H. P, at Chicago. The list of charter mem- bers shows that its start in the world was eminently respectable. They were C. H. Patton. R. A. D. Wilbanks. S. S. Porter, H. S. Stephenson, Frederick Merrill, Z. C. Pace, A. F. Taylor, N. C. Pace, J. W. Baugh, J. C. McConnell, H. S. Plummer, J. J. Bambrook, A. W. Plummer. T. T. Wil-
son, T. Gowenlock, Joel Dubois and George Pickett. The principal officers were C. H. Patton, H. P .; R. A. D. Wilbanks, K .; S. S. Porter, S. Their meetings are held on the first Friday of each month.
United Brothers of Friendship Lodge. No. 11, was organized in December, 1881. The first officers were Charles Bisch, Mas- ter; Henry Bradford, Deputy Master; W. H. Jones, Secretary; J. K. Kearney, Treas- urer; Henry Jackson, Senior Marshal; Samuel Martin. Junior Marshal; Thomas Tinsley, Chaplain; Jesse Redman, Out- side Sentinel; Prince Neal, Inside Senti- nel; Nelson Gorman, R. H. Supporter; George Scott. L. H. Supporter. It is a colored institution and meets at the old Odd Fellows Hall.
The first fire in the town occurred in February. 1842. It burned a large two- story building erected by T. B. Afflack, but then occupied by W. J. Kirby, that stood where Merrill's livery stable now stands, on the corner of Main and Casey streets. It was entirely destroyed. Bow- man's house burned near where D. K. Good- ale lives, was not in town. The next fire of any magnitude destroyed the tobacco ware- house of Varnell & Holloman, near East Main street, in the spring of 1863. The next swept nearly the entire block north of the publie square, about the 9th of March, 1868. This fire was charged to a tailor, a new man here, who worked in a little shop near where Seimer & Klinker now keep. He had been arrested and fined for brutal treatment of a bound-boy he had, and he disappeared about the time the fire broke out. It is supposed he fired his shop to get revenge of the peo- ple for their having him prosecuted. The buildings were of combustible 'material, all wooden, and the mnd was about four inches deep in the street, so it was found impossi-
342
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
ble to save the buildings and very difficult to save any of the goods. In the frenzy that always possesses some crazy fools at fires, thou- sands of dollars worth of goods were thrown down in the street and trampled in the mud. A brick wall saved the building on the southwest corner of the block. After the fire, C. H. Patton, J. S. Klinker and J. C. Daw- son combined their forces and put up the Phoenix Block, which still stands, an orna- ment to our city. Nearly exactly twelve months after this, March 16, 1869, the old court house took tire iu the night and burned to the ground. It was generally believed to have originated in some late bacchanalian revels of W. E. Coffey, the Sheriff, and was supposed by many to have been contrived by him to cover up some of his financial crook. edness. All the books and nearly all the papers belonging to the offices were saved. The fire was discovered by the Circuit Clerk, J. S. Bogan, who, iu answer to an extraor- dinary call, was making his way to the office at the dead hours of night to issue papers. The next grand attack of the fire fiend was upon the beautiful machine shops of the St. Louis & Southeastern Railroad Company. Just before night on the 27th of May, 1874, when the men had had but just time to get home from their day's work, a prolonged sound of the whistle was heard, and the citizens soon gathered, but only to see the flames sweep- ing like a tornado over the combustible roofing of the magnificent shops. Little of the machinery was saved and the building was a total loss. Before the year closed, the city was visited by another calamity. De- cember 20, 1874, the woolen factory and mills of J. B. Tolle and others were burned. The fire started early in the night, but the oil, etc., rendered all so inflammable that it was impossible to save it. The loss fell heav- ily on all parties, but was ruinous on Mr.
Tolle. Two fires involving larger losses have occurred this year-S. W. Westbrook's mill, on the night of July 2, and Bell's lum- ber yard a week later. The latter is believed to have been fired by tramps, or by some of our own night hawks. The former may have been from spontaneous combustion or from some part of the machinery, or from some juvenile tramps seen hanging about the pre- vious day. The loss by the lumber yard was about $4,000; by the mill, over $10,000. Besides these, Henry M. Williams lost a fine dwelling a mile north of town some fifteen years ago. In 1874, Strattan & Johnson procured a force pump and some hose, and provided temporary trucks. After this had been borrowed for every fire alarm for a year or so and began to need repairs, they pro- posed to the City Council to douate what they had to the city if the latter would buy another pump with hose and furnish the trucks. This offer was accepted, and a fire company organized which has proven very efficient.
Speaking of the factory reminds us that our first woolen factory, which was really only a carding machine, was built about for- ty-five years ago on the same lot where Westbrook & Co.'s mill was burned. Jarvis Pierce got up the enterprise, and the ma- chine was run by a pair of oxen on a huge inclined wheel. After a few years, Abner Melcher got up a similar machine on Lot No. 16, south of where James Urry now lives. A corn mill was attached, and for many years they did excellent service. Tolle's mill followed, a mile northeast of town, and was run for twenty years or more before it was burned out there and came to town. Not far from the time that Tolle started up on the creek, Dr. Short built a mill at the present northeast corner of the fair ground, where he made a large amount of meal and lumber.
-
343
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
It was here that Sager got an arm fearfully mangled with a saw, as many of our citizens remember. John Summers made very good flour at his steam mill, two miles east of town already mentioned, but it was not till Varnell & Holloman put up the mill now owned by Hobbs & Sons that we began to have a better class of mills. The Jefferson Mills and the Mount Vernon Milling Company, now fur- nishing the best of everything, are recent enterprises.
The First National Bank of Mount Ver- non was chartered June 10, 1872, and opened up and commenced business August 14. The stockholders were J. J. Fitzgerald, A. M. Grant, C. D. Ham, T. G. Holland, Noah Johnston, S. S. Marshall, J. Taylor and B. Temple. The banking house of Evans, Wilbanks & Co., composed of G. W. Evans, John Wilbanks and Van Wilbanks, began operations in June, 1873. Both are institutions of the highest repute.
Our first resident lawyer was Clement, in 1838-39, soon followed by Henry Eddy for a few months in 1840, and R. S. Nelson and R. F. Wingate soon after, for much longer periods. These, with D. Baugh and S. G. Hicks of our own men, and E. H. Gatewood, J. A. McClernand and A. C. Caldwell, of Shawneetown, Edward Jones, of Elizabeth- town, H. Boyakin, of Belleville, and others, constituted our bar from 1840 to 1850. But our lawyers are noticed elsewhere. Dr. Wat- son was our first physician (1821); then
Adams & Glover, 1823; then Dr. Simonds; then Dr. J. S. Moore, in 1833; Dr. Parks, Dr. Greetham. Dr. Allen, Dr. Gray, Dr. T. S. Roe, Dr. Green, Dr. Edwards, etc. The names of the high contracting parties to the earliest weddings cannot now be given. The first death, perhaps, was a child out east of Pleasant Grove neighborhood a little later. Our first tombstone cutter was Washington Dale, about 1842. Our first brickyard was west of town, Mr. Hirons', 1823; the next was made by Hirons and W. B. Hayes, north of the Fairfield road and west of the creek, in what is now Ragan's field Our earliest tailors were G. W. Duckworth, William Gib- berson and Sethman, before and up to 1840, and A. H. Barnes, now of Lampasas, Tex., and Wallace Campbell, a few years later. Our first and only pump-maker was J. J. Fly, about 1845. Our first shingle-cutter was William Campbell, with his brother-in-law, Shipley, followed by R. C. Jarrell and others. Our first tinner was Jacob Shaffner, of Ohio, brother-in-law to Edward and Rich- ard Noble, in 1840. Our first and only hat- makers were James Ross and Wylie Prig- more. Our first jeweler was Michael Tromly, about 1841. Our first tanner was Nathaniel Parker, just south of the Short camp-ground. Abraham Buffington was our first gun-maker. In other branches of business, or most of them, there was no exclusiveness, almost every one working at them, in more or less clumsy style. Quantum sufficit.
341
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
CHAPTER VIII.
SHILOH TOWNSHIP-GENERAL DESCRIPTION-TOPOGRAPHY AND BOUNDARIES-EARLY SETTLE- MENT-PIONEER HARDSHIPS AND PRIVATIONS-MILLS, ETC-AN INCIDENT-BIRTHS,
DEATHS AND MARRIAGES - ROADS AND BRIDGES-STOCK-RAISING- SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES-WOODLAWN VILLAGE, ETC., ETC.
"Youth smiled and all was heavenly fair- Age came and laid his finger there,
And where are they?"-Old Spanish Poem.
N EXT to Moore's Prairie and the imme- diate settlements around Mount Ver- non, this division of the county dates back in its history beyond any other township. More than sixty years have dissolved in the great ocean of the past since the first of our race located in what is now Shiloh Township. And what a story, what a history is envel- oped in those threescore years. They have witnessed empires shaken to their centers by the throes of popular revolutions; they have seen the hand of oblivion passed over prin- cipalities and powers, and their places upon the maps blotted out forever. They have looked upon the old man full of years and honor, gathered to his fathers, and watched the young bride stricken down at the very altar.
Each of these sixty years has been the very reflex and symbol of human life. The young babe is shadowed in the opening leaves and buds and flowers. The strong and lusty youth appears in all his manly strength and beauty in the vigorous spring; the man of mature years and approved wisdom, and stands erect in the fullness and flush of the summer; the descent of life is seen in the fading glories of autumn, and the nigh ap- proach unto the end is too well foreshadowed
in the hoary and infirm winter. Life is one long day of ceaseless and weary labor, and much truer did the pioneers find this to be so fifty or sixty years ago than do we in this age of civilization and refinement, when ed- ucation and wealth surround us on every hand. The years that have elapsed since the first settlement in Shiloh have made the frontier of Illinois almost the very center of civilization. A State that then contained but a few thousand people, now has almost as many as the Republic had when it won its independence; and a county that had but a score or two of souls has a population now of over 20,000. so rapidly has the country so rapidly the great West-grown and devel- oped in the last half or three-quarters of a century.
Shiloh Township lies west of Mount Ver- non, south of Rome, east of Casner and north of Mcclellan Townships, and is desig. nated in the Congressional Survey as Town- ship 2 south, and Range 3 east. It is one of the finest agricultural regions in the county. except Moore's Prairie, and many fine farms are to be found within its limits. The sur- face is rolling. and even broken in some por. tions of the township, and originally was mostly timbered land, on which grew in great abundance several kinds of oak, hickory, elm, ash, locust (black and honey). sweet gum, sassafras, papaw, etc., etc. It is watered and drained by the West
*By W. Il. Perrin.
345
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Fork of Big Muddy. formerly called Casey's Fork, Hooper's Creek, Cole's Creek, and sev- eral smaller streams. An excellent stone quarry has been opened, and is owned by Thomas Knott. It is pretty extensively worked, and affords a good building stone. The principal crops are wheat, corn, oats, hay, potatoes and beans. Considerable at- tention is paid to fruit, particularly apples. The St. Louis Division of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad passes through Shiloh nearly from east to west, with Woodlawn Station on its west line, a village of consider- able business enterprise. The railroad has been of great value to the township, increas- ing the price of lands and affording excel- lent shipping facilities. The township re- ceived its name from old Shiloh Church.
The first white settler in what is now Shiloh Township is said to have been Zadok Casey, who is so often mentioned and so ex- tensively noticed in other chapters of this volume, that nothing additional can be said here without repetition. He served his coun- try in the field as a soldier in the Black Hawk war, in the General As- sembly of the State, in the halls of Con- gress and as Lieutenant Governor, and bet- ter than all, he served his fellow-men as a ininister of the Cross of Christ. For almost half a century, he served the people of Jeffer- son County. and at last laid down his life with the harness on, for he was a member of the State Senate at the time of his death. But it was the death of all deaths he would have chosen to die -that at the post of duty. Calmly he sleeps amid the scenes where his active life was spent. He sleeps, and his mantle is folded about him with but little probability of its ever being disturbed by his successors. He sleeps, and the billows of faction, which heave like the waves of a stormy ocean, break not his deep repose more
than the hail, the lightning, and the thunder that fall around his tomb.
Gov. Casey. as elsewhere stated, came here in 1817, and made his first settlement in what is now Shiloh Township. He was poor, and brought his earthly all, which consisted of his wife, one child and a few articles of household use, upon a single horse, himself walking most of the way. He built a cabin, cleared a piece of ground, raised a small crop, and thus began life, where he was des- tined to live long and serve his people faith, fully. The history of his life-work is told in preceding chapters, and to them the reader is referred.
William Maxey was another of the early settlers of this township, and like Gov. Casey has been extensively written up in the preceding chapters. He came from Sumner County, Tenn., but was a native of Virigin. ia. He settled here in 1818, and raised a large family of children, most of whom were born and some of them married before he came to Illinois. His son Henry B. was married while they lived in Tennessee and had one child-an infant-when they came here. It died soon after their arrival, and is 'said to have been the first death and burial of a white person in the county.
The Maxeys were a prolific family of peo- ple. William Maxey's children were Clarissa, Henry B., Bennett N., Elihu, Harriet, Vy- linda A., Charles H .. Joshua C., Hostillina, William M. A. and Jehu G. D. Of these Henry had twelve children: Clarissa seven- teen, Bennett thirteen, Elihu twelve (he was killed by a kick from his horse), Harriet twelve. Vylinda seven. Charles thirteen, Joshua four, William ten and Jehu one. William Maxey, the pioneer, had 101 grand- children, forty-four of whom are now living. He died in 1838; his wife, the year previous; and in their death the county lost two good
346
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
citizens and most exemplary Christians. As they moved about in their daily walks, doing good to all, myriad spirits hovered over them uttering the tones they had learned in heaven, and as the good old couple drifted down the somber and mysterious pathway that leads to the door of the tomb, all were fain to ac- knowledge that the world was better for their having lived in it. A lasting monument to their Christian piety is the fact that they left every one of their ten living children professing the same Christian faith, and zealous members of the Church of God. Their sons have been prominent citizens of the county, some of them preachers, some physi- cians, some of them civil officers, and all farmers to a greater or less extent. Joshua C., or "Canon Maxey," as more commonly called, is living on the old homestead, a place settled originally in 1818, and which has never been out of the possession of the Maxey family. Canon Maxey is a preacher of the Methodist Church, and for nearly forty years he has been pointing the unre- generate to that "far country " beyond the " River," where those who have gone before are waiting to welcome them home.
William Depriest was an early settler in' this township, and came in about 1821. He settled where Joseph Philips now lives, and is long since dead. His wife was a sister of Gov. Casey, and a remarkably large woman, weighing over 300 pounds. She died a short time before her husband, and both sleep side by side at old Shiloh Church. They had two sons-Isaac and Green, both of whom went to Missouri, and, we believe, died there. Lewis Johnson came here in 1819, and settled on Section 22. He had a large family, many of whom and their de- scendants are still living in the county. A. Bateman, a son-in-law of Lewis Johnson, came to the neighborhood with him. Archibald
Harris also came about the same time, and was from Kentucky. He had been a Baptist preacher, but had backslidden-if the Bap- tists ever do such things-and became a drunkard, and, as we have been informed, died intoxicated. The Holtsclaws were early settlers, as will be seen by sketches elsewhere. William Woods came here early (about 1819) and raised a large family, of whom some are still living here. James E. Davis was also an early settler in this township, and came from Wilson County, Tenn. He did not re- main long, but moved away. Lewis Green, the step-father of Jesse A. Dees, was an early settler in this township, but the people were now moving in so fast it was impossible to keep trace of them.
There were plenty of Indians here when the first settlers came. The Maxeys remem- ber to have seen Indians passing their cabin in early times. A hundred of the " red sons of the forest " passed there once in a body and camped within a hundred yards of their house. They were friendly, and made no trouble nor interrupted any one further than to call at the house and beg some salt and meal. On the Gov. Casey farm (where Capt. Moss now lives) the Indians used to camp in numbers when hunting on Camp Branch, a tributary having its source on this farm and empyting into Hooper's Creek. For seven
years after Gov. Casey came here, the In- dians 'camped upon this branch during their fall hunts. The woods at that time were full of game, and the savages frequently came into the neighborhood to hunt, but so far as we can learn never committed any depreda- tions after the murder of Moore in Moore's Prairie, and even that has never been defi- nitely settled; it has only been supposed that he was murdered by Indians. As we have said, there was plenty of game here then, and some of the Maxey boys, notably Ben-
347
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
nett and Jehu were great hunters. Hun- dreds of deer could be seen sometimes at a "single look," feeding on the prairie, as cattle can now be seen; and as to wild tur- keys, "the woods were full of them," and the settlers had but little trouble in supply- ing their larders with meat. Indeed, it was great fun for the most of them to lay in their winter's supply of meat, but the pro- curing of bread was an altogether different thing. The first meal was brought with the settlers from the older States, and afterward gotten at the little horse mills put up in the new settlements, which were very rude in their construction and very poor at best, but better than none at all. The first mill in this township was built by William Maxey. It was a horse-mill of the usual primitive kind. but was of great benefit to the commu- nity, and for many years was their chief source of supply of breadstuff. A distillery was kept by Abner Hill in a very early day, in the northwest part of the township, but it is a landmark that has long since passed away. The old wooden mold-board plows were the kind most in use by the early set. tlers. J. C. Maxey used to stock these old- style plows, making the mold. boards him- self, and hence, next to the blacksmith who made the plows, was a man in great demand among the farming population.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.