USA > Illinois > Jersey County > History of Jersey County, Illinois > Part 34
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James Cummings came to Fidelity Township in 1831. Jeremiah Bell of Hancock County, Ga., came from his native state to Madison County, Ill., in 1918, and to Fidelity Township in 1832, settling on section 34, where he remained until his death. Thomas Chapman resided on section 33 until his death, which was caused by his being confined in his smokehouse by accident while a fire was lighted, and he was burned to death, in April, 1870. He was a very highly respected citizen.
William Phillips was one of the settlers of 1831; Jeremiah Tindell of 1833, and John Tribble in 1834, settled on section 25. Henry J. Hoff- man of Pennsylvania came here in 1834. Later John B. Hickman, Henry Turner, Isaac McCollister, John C. and William H. Marshall, William J. Miner, Josiah Vaughn, John W. and Henry Christopher, Isaac R. and Richard Ely, Archibald Craig, Patrick Coleman, Sr., John W. and D. Q. Trotter and J. Murray Becon, Samuel and Joseph Tober, Thomas C. Watson, J. T. Hauskins, H. V. Voorhees, T. B. Aydlett, Peter Teit- sort, James C. Frost, Elisha and Charles H. Bowman, Peter R. Parsell and his sons, Jeremiah, Peter, Jr., James and Oliver, and many others settled here and became prominent and influential, not only in this township, but also in the county.
EARLY EVENTS
The first justice of the peace was Samuel C. Simmons, who was elected in 1831. Rev. Simon Peter celebrated the first marriage in Fi- .
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delity Township when he united Richard J. Simmons to Maria Cum- mings in 1832.
The first sermon of Fidelity Township was preached by Rev. Jacob Miles at a meeting held in the log cabin home of J. Simmons in 1831.
An infant was born to Thomas and Ann Chapman in 1831, and it was the first white child born in the township. The infant did not live, and this was the first death. The first constable was Jeremiah Tin- dell, and he was elected in 1831.
The village of Fidelity, which is a station on the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad, has a present population of 100. Its business inter- ests are as follows: Bank of Fidelity, John Ewin, president, Ray Brad- shaw, cashier; deposits, $100,000.00; Merchants, Thomas Watson and Charles Masters; Elevator, Farmers Elevator Co .; James Bringhurst, blacksmith; Henry Lutz, wagonmaker; Dr. A. D. Erwin, physician.
VILLAGE BOARD
A. T. Aydlett, president; J. F. Huff, clerk; William Niedler, treas- urer ; trustees, C. G. Roady, John Ruyle, R. E. Ewin, William Webb, William Leutken, and Arthur Watson; William Leutken, justice of the peace; Harry Armstrong, school treasurer. The Methodists and Baptists have churches at Fidelity.
SUPERVISORS
The supervisors of Fidelity Township from 1879 to 1918 have been as follows: Henry J. Hoffman, 1879; Isaac R. Ely, 1880; Archibald Craig, 1881-1883; Henry R. Voorhees, 1884-1888 and 1894-1899; James Stirrett, 1889-1893; Louis H. Craig, 1900-1913; Arthur R. Rich, 1914- 1917; Patrick Coleman, 1918.
CHAPTER XXXVI
JERSEY TOWNSHIP
BOUNDARIES-AUTHENTIC SOURCE-LETTER OF APPRECIATION- THANKS- GIVING DISCOURSE-TEXT- LITERARY INSTITUTIONS-RELIGIOUS INSTITU- TIONS-CITY OF JERSEYVILLE-SCHOOLS-RAILROADS-IMPROVEMENTS- BUSINESS INTERESTS-AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES-HEALTH RESORT- JERSEY COUNTY FARMERS MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY-CUTTING IN- SURANCE AGENCY-BOWMAN INSURANCE AGENCY- CITY ILALI-JERSEY- VILLE WATER WORKS- POST OFFICE-TOWN INCORPORATION-CITY IN- CORPORATION - OFFICIALS - MAYORS - CLERKS - MARSHALS - CON- STABLES - ATTORNEYS - TREASURERS - POLICE MAGISTRATES - ALDER- MEN-CITY DIRECTORY-SUPERVISORS.
BOUNDARIES
Jersey County is composed of Township 8 north, range 11 west, and a fraction of Township 9 north, range 11 west, consisting of sections 22. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35 and 36, and the south half of sections 13, 14 and 15 in Township 9, range 11. The fractional township is bounded on the west and north by Greene County and is popularly known as the "Pan- handle." Macoupin Creek crosses the northwest corner of the Panhandle, and that portion of the township is drained by Phill's Creek and its tributaries, which run into Macoupin Creek and its tributaries, one of the main branches is known as Dorsey's Branch. This township is drained to the south and southwest by Sandy Branch and Otter Creek and by other large affluents, the southeast portion of the township being drained into the Piasa Creek.
AUTHENTIC SOURCE
Rev. L. Grosvenor, who became pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Jerseyville in the year 1850, which was only eleven years after Jersey County was established as a separate county, was a highly educated man, a brilliant orator and preacher. Originally he had been educated as a lawyer, was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession for a num-
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ber of years, but subsequently changed, and became a minister of the Presbyterian Church. After taking charge of the Jerseyville church in 1850, he took an active part not only in the church itself, but in the development and advancement of the interests of the community, and in the promotion of all of its material resources, and by reason thereof be- eame acquainted with all of the original settlers who were then living, not only at Jerseyville, but in Jersey Township and its vicinity. In 1853, in the third year of his pastorate, he delivered a Thanksgiving address at the Presbyterian Church, November 24, of that year, in which he gives a history of Jerseyville from its original settlement to that time, which is the most authentie and reliable record of Jerseyville and Jersey Township of which we have any history. The writer of this work was present and heard the delivery of that address on that oceasion, and in so far as Jersey Township and Jerseyville is concerned outside of the address, he will take up the occurrences 'subsequent to 1853, and the advancement and development of the community.
A LETTER OF APPRECIATION
Some idea of the appreciation of the people of Jerseyville for the address delivered by Mr. Grosvenor is shown by the following letter, written under date of November 28, 1853, at Jerseyville, Ill. :
"Rev. L. Grosvenor, Jerseyville, Ill.
"Dear Sir :-
"In common with the numerous assembly of our citizens, who heard your very interesting and instructive discourse on the history of Jerseyville, delivered in the Presbyterian Church, in this place, on the 24th inst., we would be mueh pleased to have it published in pamphlet form. We, therefore, respectively request a copy for that purpose. "Very respectfully,
"Your fellow citizens- Alexander B. Morean, John N. Squier, A. C. Hinton, M. E. Bagley, C. H. Knapp, A. W. Howe, J. H. Maupin, Charles S. Jackson, James C. Graham, U. D. Howell, J. H. Buffington, C. H. Roberts, N. L. Adams, J. E. Cooper, S. L. MeGill, M. Cheney.
A THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE
The following discourse was delivered by Rev. L. Grosvenor, in the Presbyterian Church, November 24, 1853. Published by request of many
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S. R Voorhees & Family
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of the older citizens, and inserted in the present history of Jersey County because of its literary and historic value.
TEXT
"' And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make a place there where we shall dwell. And he answered, Go ye.' "- II Kings, 6th chap., 1st and 2nd verses.
"In as humble circumstances as the old prophet Elisha and his young disciples, were the early settlers of our village, when they left their far-off homes, and their gray-haired sires and the fields where they had culled the first flowers of life, it was in the spirit of these chil- dren of the prophet. The places where they dwelt with 'the old folks at home,' had become too strait for the sustenance of all, and when they talked of swarming, it was not to go to flourishing cities, to build palaces of wealth, glittering with gold. They bent their course toward a wild, rolling prairie, lying in its native beauty just as God had made it, skirted with forests of oak and hickory, where each could hew his own beam and build his own log cabin, as their prototypes did near the river Jordan.
"But notwithstanding their humble means and limited ambition, they must have been men of good taste and a quick eye for natural beauty. Among many pleasant sites for a village in this region, they sought and found the most charming. Among many high and luxuriant swells upon the prairie's breast, they sought and found the highest, the most beautiful, the most fertile. Let us record their names and deeds. The time may be when the record shall have an importance, which, owing to its newness, it may not possess today.
"To the older settlers, most of what I shall say will be familiar; but they will be glad, I trust, to have their minds stirred up by way of remembrance, and the younger may derive benefit from hearing about the fathers of Jerseyville.
"The present town of Jerseyville stands mostly on section 21, Town- ship 8 north, range 11 west of the third principal meridian. The first entry was made by Joseph M. Fairfield, October 20, 1823. He entered the west half of the northwest quarter, section 21, the south line of which is on Hickory street, i. e., the street bounding E. A. D'Arcy's lots and unfinished edifice on the south, and the east line bounds the graveyard on
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the east. Five years afterwards, August 21, 1828, Lindsay H. English, a native of Kentucky, now residing in Greene County, Ill, entered the west half of the southwest quarter,-the east line of which was partly on Main or State street, extending south as far as the dwelling of Dr. Charles Knapp; west as far as Mullholland's; north as far as Hickory street before mentioned. On the 21st of September, 1832, John Anderson of Tennessee, entered the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter, and on the 10th of April, 1833, Dr. A. H. Burritt entered the northeast quar- ter of the southwest quarter. In 1833, N. L. Adams, of Vermont, entered the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 28.
"James Faulkner, a native of Pennsylvania, was the first. actual set- tler. He lived, in 1827, in a log cabin. This eabin was built by one Ballard, a squatter, who lived there for some time previous to 1827. His cabin was bought by Faulkner, which stood in the extreme north part of town, not far from the road leading to Kane, just beyond the house of Abijah Davis; but he erected in the same year, part of the building known as the old Red House, at present owned by E. A. D'Arcy. That house is the first frame house ever built on land now occupied by the town of Jerseyville. For several years it was a tavern by necessity, and under its hospitable roof some of my audience have found the only shelter that was offered in the town that now contains 200 houses; for besides this, there was, till 1833, only a small log cabin, built by John Ellis, in 1830, on the corner of what are now known as Main and Mul- berry streets. This floorless hut was about 12x15 feet measurement, and was used sometimes for a dwelling, and at other times for a corn erib.
In 1833, John Anderson erected a building on the spot now occupied by the Groton House, at the corner of Main and Pearl streets. This house was afterwards moved to Spruce street, two blocks east, and is the same now owned by Charles S. Jackson. In the same year, Dr. A. H. Burritt built a log house on what is now Exchange street; the same house con- stitutes part of the dwelling now owned and occupied by E. S. Wells. "The inhabitants at this time, were N. L. Adams, who, in 1833, built and lived in a log house on the spot where he now lives in the extreme south part of the town; Alfred Carpenter, who lived in the Red House ; Murray Cheney, and John Anderson. Adams, Carpenter and Anderson had families. Cheney was unmarried. These were all the residents here in 1833.
"In 1834, Messrs. Lott & Daley built part of the store now occupied by the Messrs. Knapp, and there established the first trading house ever known here. They built also, in the same year, the house on Main street,
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now owned and occupied by Dr. Hutchinson. In that year, also, they built the back part of the house now owned and occupied by Dr. Hutch- inson. In that year, also, they built the back part of the house now occupied by Mrs. Kimball on Main street, in which R. Graham kept a store in 1834, and in 1835, Samuel L. McGill added the front now used as a family grocery. In 1834, Messrs. Lott and Daley bought the west half of the southwest quarter, which English had sold Evans, who has a mortgage on the property. They also entered the quarter section west of the Red House tract, now owned by Abijah Davis. Moreover, they pur- chased of John Anderson the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter, and of Carpenter, they bought the west half of the northwest quarter, so that Messrs. Lott and Daley were, in 1834, proprietors of almost all of the land included in the village of Jerseyville.
"In 1833, twenty years ago, all of the houses between the town of Kane and Alton might easily be enumerated. The house where Mervine now lives, three-fourths of a mile northwest of the village of Kane, was then standing, and was the post office nearest to this place. Thither the early settlers in the township, for some years, repaired to get news from the loved ones left behind. In 1833, the store now occupied by Z. H. Adams, of Kane, was erected, and the next house on the road was the old Red House before mentioned. Passing the few buildings on this spot, already enumerated, the next house was on the spot then, and now, occupied by Thomas Cummings, who is believed to be the only resident in this region, over forty-five years of age, who is a native of Illinois. His age is about fifty-five. There was not a house on the present site of the town of Delhi. The next house was Nelson Lurton's. The next, a mile south of Delhi, occupied by John Wilkins. There was a cabin near the Piasa crossing, since demolished. The next was a cabin on the place now occupied by Thomas Marshall. The next was a cabin on the place lately occupied by 'Old Job,' whose cordial invitation to 'stop and see him,' no longer greets the eye of the weary traveler. The next was the house of Debond ; still standing beyond the Piasa. Below there, where lately stood a large, rickety, ghostly two-story building, burned down last winter, the road turned to the left, leaving the present Monticello half a mile to the right, and then going through Scarritt's prairie; but there was no Monticello then; that beautiful village, with its justly cele- brated female seminary, was then unborn; and from Scarritt's prairie there was not a single house till you reached Alton, then a village, at the highest computation, of some twenty buildings in all."
Rev. Thomas Lippincott, now of Chandlerville, Ill., informed the writer that when he was riding from Jacksonville to Alton, twenty-five years ago, in company
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with Rev. Edward Beecher, now of Boston, the question arose as they passed through the prairie around Jerseyville, whether this region of country would ever be all taken up and settled. Being hopeful men they concluded it would be done sometime or other, but not in their day or generation .- EDITOR.
"Till 1834, the place called Jerseyville had been known as Hickory Grove, from time immemorial. This name was derived from the fact that the piece of forest intersprinkled with 'semi-occasional' hickory trees, still standing in part on the land of Davis, Morean, Corbett and Burke, was then the only growth of trees on the ground belonging to Jersey- ville. In 1834, for the purpose of establishing a post office here, the principal inhabitants of Jerseyville met at the Red House to give the new town a new name. Those who attended that meeting were, G. Patter- son, George Richards, J. E. Cooper, G. W. Lowder, J. Allen, R. B. Rob- bins, Isaac Darnielle, E. A. D'Arcy, Alfred Carpenter, John Ellis, J. W. Lott, E. M. Daley, Murray Cheney, N. L. Adams, A. H. Burritt, N. Miner, Franklin Potts, and J. A. Potts. Dr. E. A. D'Arcy was chairman of the meeting. Several names were proposed for the new town. Major Patterson proposed that it be called Livingston. Carpenter, an old soldier, wished it to be called Liberty. Richards, a New Hampshire man, wished to immortalize the memory of that decaying state, by christening this promising town with the insignificant name, New Hampshire. Cheney proposed that the proprietors should give it whatever name they pleased. This proposition seeming to meet the views of the majority of the meet- ing, Dr. Lott, a native of New Jersey, was called on for a name. He arose and thanked the people, and with a characteristic expletive, and in genuine Jersey dialect, cried out, 'I'd like to have it called Jerseywille.' The doctor, sharing the common fate of humanity, did not obtain the full accomplishment of his wishes, for the meeting voted to call the place Jerseyville, not Jerseywille, and then agreed upon E. M. Daley for post- master, subject to the will of the higher powers. After this important matter was accomplished, the meeting adjourned, according to the Illinois liquor law of those times, to drink the health of the new town in flowing bowls of tanzy bitters. The people obtained their desire with regard to the post office and postmaster, E. M. Daley being appointed the first postmaster of Jerseyville.
"In 1834, part of this town was laid off in blocks and lots by Lott & Daley, and some bargains were made at private sales. The two lots situ- ated at the corner of Main and Pearl streets, now occupied by J. C. Darby & Co., Morean, Hinton, etc., which, with the buildings, are now
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owned by William Yates, were sold in 1834 to Richard Graham for twenty dollars each. They are worth now, without the buildings, $500.00 each. The second store in the place was erected here by Richard Gra- ham, in 1834.
"The first public sale of lots took place in 1835. The prices of the most eligible, measuring 50x110 feet, were from $20.00 to $40.00.
"Several additions to the original plot of Jerseyville have since been made. In 1839, G. W. Burke laid off an addition of nearly forty acres east of Lott & Daley's plot. In 1844, Shephard, administrator of Johnson's estate, made an addition south of Burke's, called Johnson's Addition. In 1852, James C. Perry made an addition in the western part of the town. In 1853, N. L. Adams made an addition of eight acres east of Burke's.
"The name given to the town was a fortunate one for the prospects of the place. It must, in fact, be considered as one of the most important causes of the prosperity of the town and country. It has been a means of settling the village and the fine country around it with a population, the majority of whom are from New Jersey; a people well known for their industry and thrift, and, generally, for their sober and orderly char- acter. From that time to the present, the waves of migration from New Jersey have continued to roll hitherward. When the places of the sons of the prophets in the ancient Jerseys become too strait, or the sand banks too deep and barren for the support of the new and increas- ing families of the state, they at once get a map of Illinois, and sit down to study the topography of the country and to decide upon the very spot of these wide prairies, whither they will urge their steps. The name of Jerseyville, Jersey County, smacks greatly of the old homestead and fireside. They judge, and judge rightly, that they will find a society sim- ilar to that they are leaving. They hope to find all the advantages they left, and none of the disadvantages. They believe they are coming to a New Jersey indeed; only that the soil is a black and rich vegetable deposit, instead of a yellow, bottomless sand drift, from which it has hitherto astonished them to be able to raise anything but watermelons, even by the most sedulous coaxing. Therefore, from 1834 to nearly the present time, Old Jersey has emptied itself with a steady and increasing current into the New Jersey of Illinois. When persecuted in one Jersey, the in- habitants flee into another, shaking the sand out of the heels of their boots, as a testimony against it. This immigration here has caused here a continual demand for land, and, of course, kept up a continual rise in the price of lands, so that, until quite recently, our lands have brought
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comparatively enormous rates. But railroads and plank roads have lately brought so much other land into competition with ours, that we, being as yet, without rail or plank, have been crowded into a corner where we are likely to remain some time. The Jersey and other people who come to Jersey County now, generally make but a short halt. Macoupin, Sangamon and other lands invite them, and our country is too strait and too far from market even for some of those who have dwelt here for many years; so that, young as we are, we have already sent out new colonics, to the east, north and south. The town of Jerseyville was in- corporated in July, 1837. The first trustees of the corporation were J. W. Lott, G. H. Collins, Samuel L. McGill, Richard Graham, and E. M. Daley. In 1839, it was made a county seat, and the new county of Jersey was set off from Grecne, to which it formerly belonged. This was done against a strong opposition from interested persons. In 1840, the court- house was erected, at a cost of $6,000.00, raised mostly by subscription. It was built on the block given by Lott & Daley to the town for a public square, and the trustces of the town now decded it to the county for the public buildings.
"I now proceed to give some account of the literary, religious and benevolent institutions of Jerseyville.
THE LITERARY INSTITUTIONS
"It is unfortunate for Jerseyville, as it has been for most western towns, that the early and subsequent settlers have had no very absorb- ing interest in the subject of education. Being men of limited pecuniary ability, they have been generally tempted to think more of the material than the intellectual interests of themselves and their children. The estab- lishment and sustaining of schools has been rather an 'uphill business,' ever since Irving Little, in the winter of 1833-4, started the first little school in the old Red House. Mr. Little seems to have found the business rather an unprofitable one, for he speedily exchanged the birch for the hoe, which he continues to wield at this day, in the eastern part of the county, with considerable profit to himself and the 'rising generation' around him.
"The venerable John Adams of Jacksonville, a man who has probably instructed more boys than any man in America, having been a noted preceptor in several of the best academies in New England, taught a school for some time in this old schoolhouse, which, in 1836, was built on land devoted for school purposes by A. H. Burritt. This house,
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Clarence Wallace and Wife
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measuring 20 feet by 24, still stands, although threatened by speedy ex- termination by the finger of time and the march of improvement. It was not built like the pyramids, for the admiration of future ages. In this weatherbeaten edifice, the gospel was preached for several years, by ministers of the various denominations, before the erection of any church edifice, and until this year, 1853, it was the only public school- house. But a good, brick schoolhouse, erected by tax, has been com- pleted, measuring 24x36 feet, and is occupied by Mr. Corbett, who has taught in this village for many years. This is all that can be said about our public schools and schoolhouses. Our best schools, hitherto, have been those which have been established, and their whole expenses borne by the teachers themselves. In 1849, Miss Mary Farley, erected at her own cost, a large two-story frame building for school purposes, and ex- cellent private schools for young ladies and for small children have since been steadily kept there. The lower story of Temperance Hall was de- signed for a private schoolroom, and has been used as such nearly ever since it was completed. A Library Association was established in 1850, and the library contains about 300 volumes and periodicals, which are constantly though too slowly increasing. It is hoped that this institution will be cherished by all the present and future inhabitants, as onc cal- culated more than any other to stimulate a desire for solid information, and to give to our ingenious and ambitious youth the opportunity to lay a broad foundation for future usefulness and fame. Many a statesman, crowned with the laurels of the senate; many a lucro known in his country's history, has referred to the village library of his native town as giving him the first ambition to tread the world's arena, and soil his sandals with the Olympic dust.
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