USA > Illinois > Macon County > History of Macon County, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 49
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BLUE MOUND TOWNSHIP.
S this township is among the oldest settled in the county, mnuch of genuine historic importance and interest clusters around it. As organized, this township contains about thirty-one square miles, lying just south of the Sangamon river, in the extreme western part of the county. It is bounded on the north by Harristown, on the east by South Wheatland, on the south by Pleasant View and on the west by Christian county. The surface is generally an undulating prairie, growing more broken on approaching the river. The soil is rich and productive. Formerly, nearly one-third of the territory was covered with tim- ber. The lands are well drained by the Sangamon river and its tributaries in the northern part, and Mosquito creek, with numer- ous affluents in the central and southern portions.
The first settlements of this township began in the northern part, along, or near where the Decatur and Springfield road now passes, as early as 1824. A few years later, several families settled near the southern line of the township along the banks of the Mos- quito creek. To the North Carolinians belong the honor of mak- ing the first settlements in the above-named localities, and the neighborhoods were for a number of years almost entirely com- posed of natives of that State. As early as the year 1824 William Warnick, the first shicriff of the county, further mention of whom
is made in the pioneer chapter, removed from the State of Tennes- see, to which state he had removed from North Carolina, the land of his birth. He brought with him quite a large family and loca- ted in the northern portion of the township, where he erected a cabin, cleared a tract of land, and began farming. This was the first building of any kind, and the first attempt at farming made in the township. Three years later, in 1827, Benjamin Wilson, was born at Guilford Court-house, North Carolina, and removed from that State to Rutherford county, Tennessec, from whence he emigrated to this county and settled in the north-western portion of Blue Mound. He had a family of ordinary size, some of whom are still living near where their father located. Mr. Wilson after- ward became quite a prominent man in the organization of the county and various other positions of a public nature. He married a sister of Col. Warnick, above mentioned.
The first settler in the Mosquito settlement was Dempsey Pope, who was born in North Carolina, and from there removed to Ten- nessee, and afterwards, in 1827 emigrated to this state and located on Mosquito creck. Mr. Pope had quite a large family of well- grown children when he came to this county. Garland Hall, a native of Kentucky, in 1830 emigrated to, and settled on section 29 of this township about two miles north of the present town of
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Bluc Mound, where he erected a cabin, broke some land, fenced it and began farming. He brought with him a small-sized family. Wyctt Cherry who was an early settler in this locality, is still rc- siding a short distance north-west of the town of Blue Mound. William Pope was another early settler. Prominent among somc of the old settlers now living in Blue Mound township, are James Y. Taylor, residing on section 4, who came in 1836 ; W. F. Muir- licad, a Virginian living on section 33, located in the county in 1830; Hon. William T. Moffett, at present representing the county in the state senate, is a native of Sangamon county, Ill., and loca- ted in this county in 1841, and is now living on section 32 of this township. John M. Moffett settled here in 1843, and now resides on section 34; Vincin Morris, an Ohioan, now residing on section 8, settled in 1847 ; Henry T. Brown, also a native of Ohio, came in 1859, and lives on section 3; G. F. Cattle, an Englishman, living on section 6, came to the county in 1857. Fred. Bailey, a native of Germany, settled in the county in 1853, and now resides in sec- tion 16; E. W. Crow came in 1857; Henry Josser in the same year; W. H. Wcatherford, a Virginian, and E. F. Delbridge, Jr. a Prussian, in 1858.
The first land entered in the township was by James Edwards, March 16th, 1833, 40 acres in section No. 20; Garland Hall en- tered December 18th, 1833, 77.40 acres in section 19 ; and Demp- sey Pope entered on the same day 80 acres, same section-all in township No. 15 N., R. 1 E. of the 3d P. M. Benjamin Wilson entered Nov. 13th, 1827, 160 acres in section 34; also 80 acres in section 35 ; and on the same day Francis G. Hill enters 80 acres in section 36. The last three entries are in township No. 16 N., R. 1 E. of the 3d P. M.
For facts pertaining to the first schools and teachers, see article on Common Schools. The first church erected in this township. was the one known as the " Mosquito Church," near the Mosquito creek, in the neighborhood of section 20. Rev. Mr. Paisley was the first preacher to locate here. Willis Zachariah Pope, son of Dempsey and Sarah (Edwards) Pope, in the year 1828, was the first child born in this township. The first death was that of Nancy Wilson, the daughter of Benjamin Wilson ; this occurred in 1828, being the next year after the Wilson family settled herc. Benjamin R. Austin, a native of Virginia, who came to this county in 1825, was the first justice of the peace; he was elected in 1822, and held this position for a number of years. He was a surveyor, and sub- sequently became quite prominent in Macon county. To him is due the honor of having laid out the original town plat of the city of Decatur. Austin township, in the extreme north-western part of the county, was named in his honor. Mr. Austin and his wife, Margaret (Warnick) Austin, who was a daughter of William War- nick, a colonel in the Black Hawk war, were the first couple mar- ried in this township. This occurred about the year 1825. Wil- liam A. Austin, who married Eleanor Warnick, also a daughter of
Col. William Warnick, settled here in 1828. Not until as late a date as 1854 was there a mill of any kind erected in this township, when Marshal Randle built a horse-power saw-mill on section 19. Greenbury Call established the first blacksmith shop in 1840, on section 35, where he did a general blacksmithing business for a number of years. The first post-office in the township was estab- lished at the town of Boody in 1870, with Frederick Nientker as post-master.
The supervisors who have represented this township since its organization may be seen below : J. C. Armstrong was elected in 1860 ; W. T. Moffett in 1861 ; F. A. Brown in 1862, and re-elected in 1863; W. T. Moffett re-elected in 1864, and by re-election con- tinued to hold the office to 1869 ; R. H. Hill, elected in 1870, and re-elected in 1871 ; D. F. Barber in 1872; Frank Coleman in 1873, re-elected in 1874 and '75 ; W. T. Moffett in 1876; H. H. Rosen- grants, 1877 ; R H. Hill, re-elected in 1878 ; H. H. Rosengrants, re-elected in 1879 and 1880.
TOWN OF BOODY.
This place is located on the line of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway, in the eastern portion of the township, on each side of the line dividing sections 11 and 12, about six miles south- west from Decatur. The town was named in compliment of the Hon. William Boody, the first president of the Decatur and East St. Louis Railroad. The town was originally laid out by Messrs. Neintker and Smith on sections eleven and twelve, in the year 1870. Frank Reafly erected the first dwelling-house in the same year the town was laid out ; and Frederick Nientker, one of the original proprietors of the town, erected and opened the first store with a general stock of goods for sale. This was also in the same year, 1870. In 1872, Charles Mush established the first blacksmithing business The first elevator was built by a gentleman named Bink- ley, about 1871 ; its capacity was about five thousand bushels. The post-office-Boody-was created in 1870, and Frederick Neintker was appointed the first post-master. Dr. A. C. Douglass was the first physician to locate here. In 1874, four years after the found- ing of the town, the first school-house was erected, and Byron Lewis became the first teacher. T D. Weems was another early teacher in the Boody school. Among the present business houses of the town will be found : General Stores-Sauter & Hauck, Hill & Blankenship, Martin Loewer. Elevators-Hill & Blankenship, with a capacity of six thousand bushels, run by steam ; Sauter & Hauck, with a capacity of five thousand or six thousand bushels, steam power.
Although Boody is but a small place, with perhaps not more than one hundred inhabitants, it rivals many others much larger in point of business and shipping. It is in the heart of some of the best improved and richest farms in the state, and large quantities of grain are annually handled by the two elevators above mentioned.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
HON. WILLIAM T. MOFFETT.
IN Mr. Moffett we have represented one of the old pioneer fami- lies of the state. His father, John B. Moffett, whose portrait is shown on another page, was a native of Bath county, Ky. Moved to Sangamon county, Illinois, in 1821, and located seven miles south-west of Springfield. He was married the same year to Miss Patsey C. Morgan, of Southern Indiana, and just prior to his re- moval to Illinois. This lady died in 1826, leaving a family of three children ; two daughters, Rebecca and Elizabeth, and Wm. T. who was born February 19th, 1826. After the loss of his wife, Mr. John B. Moffett continued to work hard at his trade, that of a wheelwright, in order to supply the wants of his orphaned children and to get a start, in our then, new and growing state. He was a natural mechanic, and could turn his hand to almost anything in the way of the use of tools, and was considered the handy man of his community. We next hear of him as a cabinet-maker in Springfield, and afterwards as a builder ; and to his architectual skill the county was indebted for its court-house. Next he turned his skill to the trade of millwright, and in the spring of 1831 he began the erection of a steam saw and flouring mill, at Rushville, Schuyler county, Illinois, which was probably the first steam flour- ing mill erected in the military district, that part of the state lying between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and set off for the benefit of the soldiers of the war of 1812. He located in that town the same year with his family, having been married in the meantime to Miss Polly A. Taylor, the daughter of Judge Taylor of Springfield. He remained in Rushville, employed in the mill- ing business ten years, besides giving some attention to the im- provement of his farm in Blue Mound township, an investment made while a citizen of Springfield. He moved to this farm in 1842, and spent the subsequent part of his life as a husbandman, dying here in the fall of 1862. His second wife died in 1849, and he was married again. His third wife was Mrs. Nancy McDowell, relict of Rev. Abner McDowell, of Rushville, and sister of Henry Grider, a well-known' Kentucky politician who represented the Bowling Green District in Congress some thirty years. Altogether he raised a family of ten children, five only of whom are still living, and was a kind husband and dutiful father.
He was a man of powerful physical build, of great force of character, much 'above the average in intellectual abilities, and possessed a fine discriminating judgment. For many years he was an elder of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and did mnuch in his day towards the work of evangelization. He was public- spirited, and never let an opportunity pass without encouraging all measures having in contemplation the social, religious and educa- tional welfare of his community. He was the builder of the second school-house of this township, and the first of his settlement after locating here in 1842. He died amidst his friends and
family, loved by all as a man who loved God and his fellow-men, and who had lived without reproach, and whose enthusiasm in- spired men to do and dare in the cause of right and public good.
Mr. Moffett, our subject, being the eldest son, became the con- fidant and companion of his father in business from the time he arrived at the proper age to exercise the requisite judgment and discretion. He received his first schooling in Rushville, which consisted of an ordinary course as then taught in the common- schools, if we except mathematics for which he had a penchant, and in which he made considerable advancement. He inherited a fine constitution, and at the age of twenty-one considered himself equal to almost any requirement in which bodily vigor was con- cerned, and he determined to make a trip to the Pacific slope. He accordingly joined a company of overland emigrants in 1849, and arrived the same year in California, where he remained only eighteen months. While there he was employed principally in trading, at which he made some money, though he had only pro- perly matured business plans when by the failing health of his father, he was unexpectedly called home. He aided in placing his father's estate in the desired condition, and then turned his atten- tion to his own immediate private interests.
He had already bought a quarter section in Blue Mound town- ship, the nucleus of his present fine homestead, and on this tract he began the work of improvement, which has given Macon county one of its most substantial estates.
He was united in wedlock with Miss Helen L. Barrows, of Bridport, Vt., in 1856, with whom he has lived happily ever since, and by whom he has a family of six-an equal division in sex-and all bright, perfect and dutiful children. Mrs. Moffett is the daughter of Josiah Barrows, by his wife, formerly Miss Susan Walker, and is a lady well qualified to preside over their elegant and hospitable home, and by that delicacy peculiar to the gentler sex, to give those with whom Providence has blessed them, correct impressions and motives ; those earlier sentiments that remain fixed throughout all after life.
Mr. Moffett never designed becoming a politician, and such an idea would have provoked a smile when he first began work here years ago as a plain farmer. His promotion is to be accounted for only by those peculiar influences which act externally on human destiny. He first became supervisor, which office he held for several terms. This led to the state legislature in 1870, and again in 1872. He was elected to the State Board of Equalization in 1876. Served two years and then resigned to take his seat in the State Senate, an incumbency not yet expired. His actions as a legislator have been carefully guarded and well prepared, and to him the people are partly indebted for some timely and appreciated enactments. He was an active supporter of the present temperance law, and to the passage of that measure gave the best endeavors of
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John B. Hoffell
LOG BARN
GRANDPA AND GRANDMA'S HOME.
OLD FAN
A
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RESIDENCE AND STOCK FARM OF G. F. COTTLE, SEC. 6. T.15. R.I. ( BLUE MOUND TP.), MACON CO.ILL.
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
his mind and heart. The present division of the state into con- gressional districts is in a large degree in conformity with the slate which he prepared for the occasion.
In his second term he served as chairman of the committee on Agriculture, where his practical knowledge of general husbandry enabled him to suggest such measures as were required at the hands of the committee, and appropriate for action, so far as the law- making power can aid in forwarding this great industry of Illinois and the west.
He was chairman of the sub-committee on railroads, and was instrumental in preparing the present statute regulating freight and passenger traffic on the various lines of roads traversing the state in every direction. Throughout his official life Mr. Moffett has not aimed at brilliancy, but straightforward honesty in our law-making halls, and in no instance has he swerved from his convictions of right, either by the lobby influences of capital or the heat of partizan debate. Though a republican, he is so, be- cause he thinks this party is most able and best qualified to control the destinies of the different states and nation, and looks to it as the great media of right and good policies to the people.
From the best recollections the Moffett family line runs back to Scotland, or what is now understood as Scotch-Irish. Two brothers came over from the north of Ireland and settled in Virginia. One of these was the Senator's grandfather, William. He became a pioneer of Kentucky, and took part in the various troubles and conflicts with the red men, which for years made the common- wealth a battle-field between the two contending races. He died in that state venerated as a gentleman of sterling ability and untainted honor ; leaving the legacy of a good name and a patriotic example.
JNO. H. SLEETER
WAS born in this county, January 14th, 1850. He was married March 27th, 1872, to Miss Annie H. Harmel, daughter of Louis and Matilda Harmel, natives of Germany, formerly of this county but now of St. Clair county, in this state. This marriage occurred in St. Joseph, Missouri, and the young couple immediately located on their present homestead in this township. They have three children, viz. : Reynolds, Clara M., and Olga.
It was the intention of Mr. Sleeter's parents to have him enter some of the popular professions, he being of a naturally delicate constitution, and to this end a course was early begun. He spent seven months at Mt. Zion Academy, in this county ; seven months at the Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois, and then seven months at the Wesleyan College, Warrentown, Warren county, Missouri. The death of his father about this time rendered it necessary for him to return home and aid in the support .of the family, a circumstance that directed his course to agriculture as a business, in which he has not only been successful, but which ha conferred on him a sound and healthy constitution. Thus does Providence direct men aright in the affairs of this life.
Mr. Sleeter has shown great taste and judgment in the arrange- ment and improvement of his property, in which he has brought to his aid all the scientific help accessible, and he has as a result one of the most presentable, refined and cultivated homes of his township. He has been perfectly temperate in his habits all his life, and is an advocate of the temperance cause, and hopes to see the time come when the curse of intoxicating beverages will be banished by the force of appropriate legislation from the entire nation. He is a republican in politics and a Methodist by religious profession, his lady being with him a member of the same communion, in which
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tlicy are known as active workers. He is also a musician, and has taught a number of terms in training the young in the use of the vocal organs in the divine gift, and has otherwise proved himself a valuable aid in building up the social interests of his neighborhood and community.
His father William was a native of Prussia. He migrated to this country when a young man, and was married to Miss Amelia Varnhorst, daughter of John Varnhorst, a native of Prussia, and also an old settler of this county. He became a well-to-do farmer, and was well known in business circles as a gen- tleman of enlarged views and public spirit. He hoped to scc his children not only well settled in life but graduated in the best schools, but death put an end to his mortal career in 1866. He left behind him a wife and five children, all still living. John, William, and Mrs. Lottie Hauck are residents of this township, and the mother (now Mrs. Philip Pinger) and the other heirs are in Buchanan county, Missouri.
GEORGE F. COTTLE.
ENGLAND is a grand country, has a proud military history, can boast of her magnificent navy, and can point with pride to her benevolent and literary institutions; but while she has much to swell the emotions of national pride, she has also much to cause her fair name to be justly reproached. Her poor are oppressed, her real estate is owned only by a titled few, and the curse of caste is a blight on her society. While the nobility revel in the profusion of voluptuous wealth, the toiling masses can hardly eke out a subsist- ence by the hardest manual labor and the closest economy. We have a fair illustration of the privations and hardships of the poor of that country in the early life of Mr. Cottle, one of Albion's native sons, and whose later history as an honored citizen of the United States exhibits the effects of our own beneficent institutions as com- pared with those of the "mother country." When he first went out to serve, as all the sons of the poor have to do there, he received less than five cents a week-" three ha'-penny." His pay was after- wards raised to "nine pence," maximum wages for the ordinary workman. No wonder then that the poor look with longing eyes across the "briny deep" to a country where labor is not only remu- nerated but dignified, and where all have an equal chance in the battle of life.
Mr. Cottle was born November 11th, 1834, in Somersetshire, and is the son of Charles Cottle and Martha Weeks, average livers among the yeomanry. When about fourteen years of age, a family council resulted in a decision to emigrate to the United States. All the available means were barely sufficient to pay his passage to America. He arrived in the state of New York in 1848, and at once set about the work of raising means for the transit of his family, which safely arrived at the port of New York, July 4th the following year. A location was made in Onondago county, where the usual work began to earn a support in the New World.
At the age of sixteen Mr. Cottle bought his time of his father, and turned the first proceeds of his labor towards purchasing a home for his parents, which required all his earnings for the next two years. When about eighteen he resolved to come further west After stopping a short time in Indianapolis he came to Illinois, and assisted in the management of the Sloan farm, now the property of Mr. Brown. After remaining there three years he found employment for a similar length of time with J. Y. Taylor, another old and well-known settler. Next he started for Pike's Peak, but turned back after reaching St. Joseph, Mo., and bought
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
an eighty-acre tract of John B. Moffett, Sr., which he improved, and afterward exchanged with Hon. W. T. Moffett for his present homestead, giving his notes for 85,300 as an equivalent. Here he has since resided, employed in the usual duties of farming. By hard work he has managed well, and now has his obligations as good as liquidated, and owns 133 acres of as good soil as is to be found in the county. The improvements are good, and the land is in an excellent state of tillage.
In a large measure he attributes his success to the co-labor and encouragement of his estimable wife, formerly Miss Susan E. Brown- ing, daughter of William N. and Frances (Johnston) Browning, formerly of Clark county, Kentucky, but now residents of this state and county and on Mr. Cottle's premises, where their welfare is looked after and their wants provided for. They have four surviv- ing children-James E., Annie M., Susan, and Raymond A.
Mr. and Mrs. Cottle are both members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which they joined in 1866, and of which he has been a deacon since 1867. In political belief and action he is identified with the republican party, which he deems the safest party to entrust with the destinies of the Republic, in which he ever feels the liveliest interest.
Mr. Cottle has learned the great lessons of life in the strict and practical school of experience, and his history takes in the social habits and conditions of two nations, with their diverse forms of government, and he feels now that he is not only a freeholder but a freeman in a free country. He is temperate, industrious, and frugal, but not in any sense parsimonious, giving liberally to the church, to the poor, and to all enterprises having in contemplation the social, moral, and material welfare of his neighborhood, county or country. He has a pleasant, refined home, a happy family, and a good neighborhood. Mr. Cottle has the warmest feelings for his friends, and the people of the county at large, and acknowledges with gratitude the goodness and providence of the Creator in directing his way to this country, state, and county.
JOHN MOFFETT.
THE subject of this sketch, the son of John B. Moffett and Polly A. Taylor, was born December 14th, 1836, in the town of Rushville, Schuyler county. He was five years old when his father located on his farm in this township, and was here raised up to the calling of a farmer. He received a fair common school education in his younger days, and at least sufficient to qualify him well for the ordi- mary business transactions of life. June 26th, 1860, he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth J. McDonnald, daughter of James and Chrysteyann McDonnald, natives of Indiana county, Pennsyl- vania. After his marriage he settled down on a raw tract of land near his father's homestead, and at once began the work of improve- ment. He has reduced his lands to a fine state of cultivation, and had about reached a state of independence, when in an unlucky hour he endorsed largely, and became a heavy loser. He is again on the high road to prosperity, and has about made up all his past losses, after meeting all liabilities.
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