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 52
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
GEORGE S. YOUNG
WAS born in County Down, Ireland, November 14th, 1820. The Young family, are natives of Ireland and of Scotch ancestry. Robert Young, the father of George S. was a merchant and manu- facturer of boots and shoes, and carried on an extensive business. He emigrated with a part of his family to America in 1832, and settled in New York ; went from there to Ohio, where he died in 1837. He married Elizabeth Martin ; she died in Ireland in 1826 There were eleven children in the family, seven sons and four daughters. Two of the children have survived the parents, viz. : Elizabeth, and the subject of this sketch, who is the youngest son Hc, while in Ohio followed ditching, building mill-dams and clear: ing land. In 1848 he came west, and stopped in the southern part of Illinois, in Marion county, where he bought out a claim. In the. fall of 1848 he came to Piatt county, and took a job of digging a mill-race. He afterwards ditched in De Witt county. In 1852 he traded his land in Marion county for land in Champaign county, and afterwards entered land in the same county. Hc traded that land for two hundred acres in section 18, T. 18, R. 4 E. This was in the years 1852-3. He then took charge of his father-in-law's farm, and remained so employed until 1854, when he commenced improving his own land in section 18. It was raw land, and all the improvements have been placed there by him. He has remained to the present time, and has a fine farm under good cultivation. A view of the farm and improvements can be seen by reference to another page in this work. On the first of June, 1852, he was united in marriage to Miss Otillia Long, daughter of Joseph D. Long, who was among the early settlers of Macon county. Mrs. Young was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, and came west with her parents when she was seven years of age. By this union there have been seven children, five of whom are living. Their names arc Clara, wife of Newton Bricker; Ada, Joseph L., John Oscar, and Nellie G. Young. Winfield S. died at the age of nine years, and Margaret J. at six years. Mr. Young is an honored member of the order of Frec Masonry. He joined the Monticello Lodge, and became a mason in 1849. He is now a member of Maroa Lodge, No. 454, and Monticello Chapter, R. A. M., No. 48. Politically he
was originally an old-line Whig, and east his first presidential vote for Henry Clay in 1844. In 1856 he joined the republican party, and has continued a member of that political organization to the present time. Mr. Young is a warm-hearted, generous man, like the most of his countrymen. In his neighborhood he is respected by all who know him, and is regarded as an honorable and honest inan, and upright citizen.
WILLIAM J. MYERS
WAS born in Marion county, Illinois, June 24th, 1843. His father, Emanuel Myers, was a native of Kentucky, and came to Illinois while he was yet a boy. He was born in 1818, and married Martha D. Watson, a native also of Kentucky, and died in De Witt county, Illinois, in 1863. He moved to Macon county in 1851, and in the spring of 1853 moved to De Witt county, where he remained until his death at the date above stated.
The mother of William J. is still living in this township. The subject of this sketch remained at home until the breaking out of the late war, when, in July of 1861, he enlisted in Co. "F," 2d III. cavalry. The company was organized at Monticello. He enlisted for three years, and was honorably discharged and mustcred out, January 4th, 1864, at New Iberia, Louisiana. He then re-enlisted or was veteranized. His second enlistment dates January 5th, 1864. He was mustered out and finally discharged at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., August 24th, 1865. The 2d Ill. cavalry was attached for the greater portion of the time to the army of the Ten- nessee and in the department of the Gulf. After the close of his army life, he returned home, and remained there, until the spring of 1874, when he came to section 7, in town 18, range 4 east, where he engaged in farming, and where he has since resided.
On the fourteenth day of August, 1873, he was united in marriage to Miss Miriam, daughter of James and Elizabeth Querrey, whose parents are among the pioneers of Macon county. Mrs. Myers was born in Macon county. This union has been blessed with three children, whose names are Mary Florence, Olive Belle, and James Emanuel Myers.
Politically, Mr. Myers is a republican. He was elected justice of the peace in May, 1873, served four years, and was re-elected in 1878, and is at present serving in that official position.
WILLIAM DICKEY. (DECEASED).
WILLIAM DICKEY, the grandfather of the present Dickey family, was a native of Alabama, and came to Macon county and settled on Friend's Creek as early as 1828. The family were among the first settlers in this section of the country. William Dickey re- mained here until his death, which occurred June 28, 1832. His son, John Dickey, was also born in Alabama, and came with his father to Kentucky, then to Illinois, at the date above mentioned. He died while on a trip to Chicago, with producc. He was found dead in the road, his team standing close by. The exact cause of his death was never known. The date of his death was October 22, 1846. William Dickey, his son and father of the present family, was born in Kentucky, October 11, 1814, and dicd Janu- ary 17, 1875, in the sixty-first year of his age. On the 19th of October, 1852, William Dickey was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Ann Brennan. Bernard Brennan, her father, was a native of Ireland and his wife a native of Vermont. They were married in New York and afterwards moved to Canada, and in 1849 came
1
.
FARM RESIDENCE OF G. S. YOUNG, SEC.18, T.18, R.4, ( FRIENDS CREEK TP. MACON CO.ILL. /
FARM RESIDENCE OF HENRY MARTIN, SEC.2. T. 17, R.2 ( HICKORY POINT TP.) MACON CO. ILL.
203
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
to Illinois and settled on Friend's Creek, where Mr. Brennan re- mained until his death, which occurred January 13th, 1857. His wife and mother of Mrs. Dickey is still living, a strong, hearty woman, although in the eighty-fifth year of her age. Mrs. Sarah Ann Dickey was born in Canada August 25, 1828. She, by a former marriage to Hiram H. Warner, had one child, a son, named Hiram H. Warner, now a resident of Kansas. Mr. Dickey, also by a former marriage, had six children, three of whom are living. John B., the eldest sou, was a member of the 116th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers during the late war, and was taken prisoner and died at Andersonville. David A., another son by this marriage, was a member of the same regiment, and was killed on the 23d of July, 1864, in one of the battles before Atlanta. By the marriage of
William and Sarah A. Dickey, there were nine children born to them. The names of those living are : Claretta J., wife of H. C. Griffin ; Sarah I .; Henry E .; Charles A .; Margaret C .; Mary B., and James H. Dickey. Mr. Dickey iu his life was a consistent and active member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and was for nearly forty years an elder in that religious organization. In his locality he was a man of considerable influence, which he al- ways wielded for the good of the community. He was a kind- hearted man, and suffered considerably in a financial way by going security for others, and then being compelled to mnect their obliga- tions. To his family he was a kind husband and an affectionate father, and his death was a great loss to them and to the entire community.
HICKORY POINT TOWNSHIP.
HIS township constitutes the congressional T. 17 N. R. 2 E., and is bounded on the north by Maroa, east by Whit- more, south by Decatur and west by Illini township. It is drained by Stevens creek and its tributaries ; there is a narrow belt of timber running along the banks of the creek and some of its tributaries. The Illinois Central Railroad crosses the township from north to south ; the Pekin, Lincoln and Decatur passes diagonally through the south-west corner, and the Champaign, Havana and Western touches it in the south-east corner of sec- tion 36.
To David Florey, at present an old and highly respected citizen of Whitmore township belongs the credit of having made the first settlement in Hickory Point. It was in the year 1825, that he emigrated from Virginia to this county and settled on section 35, in this township. He was then a young man and full of vigor and energy, as was John Draper, another Virginian who accompanied him in his mission.
Mr. Draper resided in this township about three years, when he removed to Whitmore township and became the first settler there. In 1826, Phillip D. Williams, a native of New York, a very intel- ligent and useful citizen, came to Hickory Point. James Johnson was also a very early settler in this county. He was a native of Virginia. Robert Johnson and his wife, both Virginians, settled here in the fall of 1831. They located in the edge of the timber on or near section 28. David Florey, above mentioned, built the first house. It was a log cabin, and located on section 35. The Small- wood's, also natives of Virginia, were among the early settlers, and several of them and their descendants are still living in the southern part of the township. Zebedee Sergeant and Nancy Manly were the first parties joined in the holy bouds of wedlock in this township. The first birth, was that of Sarah J. Smallwood, which occurred on the 27th day of July, 1827. She died in 1846. By the year 1841, the settlements in the southern part of the township had grown to such a number that a school-house became a necessity and one was constructed of logs during this year. It stood in section 34, just inside of the line dividing this township from that of Decatur. But
as many as ten years prior to this there had been a private school taught at the different farm-houses throughout the settlement. Walter Robbins is said to have been the first teacher.
The Rev. Robert Hensen, who came to this township in 1832, was the first preacher to locate here. It was not until 1857, however, that a house of worship was erected. In that year there was a frame church of ordinary size built on section 32.
Phillip D. Williams, already mentioned as one of the earliest set- tlers, was made the first Justice of the Peace. The first blacksmith shop opened, was in 1828, by James Johnson, who afterwards became very prominent in the Black Hawk War, rising to the rank of Co- lonel on May 16, 1832.
The first laud entries in the Precinct were Randolph Rose, Feb. 5th, 1830, 80 acres in section 32. James Johnson entered on the same day 80 acres in section 34. The third entry was made June 5th, 1830, by William Lemon, to wit : The W. ¿ of the S. E. } of section No. 32 in T. 17 N., R. 2 E. of the 3d P. M. containing 80 acres.
We mention below a few of the oldest residents now living in the township. John Y. Braden, who was born in Tennessee, March 22, 1818, settled in this county in 1829, and his wife, Laura A. Hunt- ing, a native of Vermont, came here in 1830. They now reside on section 26 Robert Johnson and wife, now residing on section 34, are both natives of Kentucky, and were married in that state, April 5, 1831, and in the following fall, in the month of October, they emigrated to this county. Mr. Johnson was born in Bath county, Ky., March 3, 1807, and his wife, Luann Church, July 13, 1813. In November, 1836, Ulysses Huston, now living on section 34, came to Macon county. He was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, August 25, 1824. He was married to Matilda McCoy, Feb. 25, 1847, who was born May 19, 1825, in Montgomery county, Indiana. Geo. W. Schroll, now residing on section 15, is a Pennsylvanian, and came to Macon county in 1842. His wife, Lethe A. Hornback, was born in this county in 1836. Henry Schroll, residing on section 27, was also born in Pennsylvania, and came here in same year. Mary D. Taylor was born in Macon county in 1839. David Hou-
204
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
ser, a native of Pennsylvania, came with his wife in 1845. W. H. Gepford, D. S. Weigel, Wm. T. Grubbs, John H. McKinley, John Weaver, N. S. Batchelder, Hilleary Major, James B. Good, and Henry Martin, may also be mentioned among the early and promi- nent citizens of Hickory Point.
The Supervisors who have represented this township since its or- ganization may be seen in the following list : J. Y. Braden, elected in 1860, and by re-election held this office till 1866, when W. F. Montgomery was elected and held this office for two consecutive years. H. S. Mannon was elected in 1868. A. McBride, elected in 1869, and re-elected in 1870, '71 and '72; H. Lehman, in 1873; A. W.McBride, re-elected in 1874, and '75 ; H. Lehman re- elected in 1876, '77, '78 and '79 ; Volney Barber elected in 1880.
FORSYTHE,
is a pleasant little village, located on the line of the Illinois Central
R. R. in section 14 of this township. It was laid out in 1864, by E. Smith. In 1865, George Shaffer crected the first house. A little later in the same year Charles Ruhel opened the first store in this place. The first school-house was built in 1864. Rufus Cross- man was the first teacher.
In 1868, the first church was erected, and Rev. Wm. Nugent was the first preacher. The post-office was established in 1868, and N. F. Fitch was the first post master.
In 1865, Dr. Baxter located here and was the first to engage in the practice of medicine. Hiram Eppler opened the first black- smith shop in the year 1865. The town has its business houses re- presented in the following list. General Stores-Mrs. E. Petsch, E. Weilepp, V. W. Benton. Drug Store-G. W. Drury. Blacksmith shops-Isaac Hornback, David Plank. Wood Work & Repairing- Herman Nicholls.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
JOHN HANKS.
JOHN HANKS, whose name will go down in history as an early associate of Abraham Lincoln, was born in Nelson county, Ken- tucky, three miles from Beardstown, on the 9th of February, 1802. His father, William Hanks, was a Virginian who came to Ken- tucky at an early day, and settled on the Kentucky river, in Mercer county. His mother's name was Elizabeth Hall. The family lived in Hardin and Breckenridge counties, Ky., till the subject of this sketch was seven years of age, and then moved to Grayson county. He first became acquainted with Lincoln in Hardin county. Mr. Hanks was a first cousin to Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks. In the year 1822, when he was twenty years old, he went on a visit to Spencer county, Indiana. He was there two years, and made his home with the Lincolns, who had removed from Kentucky to that statc. Abraham Lincoln was seven years younger than himself, and they worked together for two years, making rails, grubbing land, and performing the other labor required in the development of a farm in a new country. Mr. Hanks bought a piece of land next to the Lincoln farm, which he improved, and then went back to Kentucky. Hc afterward made several trips, twelve in all, down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. The only means of disposing of surplus farm pro- ducts in those days was by floating them, on flat-boats, down to New Orleans, where a ready market was found. In the year 1826, he married Susan Wilson, a native of Grayson county, Kentucky.
In the fall of 1828 he moved to Illinois, and settled on the farm which he now owns in Hickory Point township, four miles north- west of Decatur. On his way from Kentucky to Illinois he passed through Spencer county, Indiana, and stopped for a while with the Lincoln family, and Thomas Lincoln, Abe's father, told Hanks to write back when he got to Illinois, and inform them what kind of a country he found, and if it was better than Indiana the Lincoln family would remove to Illinois also. Mr. Hanks wrote back, ac- cordingly, soon after he settled in Macon county, that he liked the .
country, and considered it superior to that part of Indiana in which they lived. Consequently, Thomas Lincoln moved with his family to Macon county, in March, 1830. When he first came to Macon county, Mr. Hanks had cut enough logs for a house on the Sangamon river, but on account of not being able to get any prairie broke, had settled instead in Hickory Point township. On the arrival of Thomas Lincoln, he told him he might have the logs to build a cabin if he liked the location. The offer was accepted, and young Abe Lincoln hauled the logs together with a yoke of oxen, and a cabin was built near the Sangamon, in Harristown township, in which the Lincoln family lived while they resided in Macon county. In the summer of 1830, he went down to help the Lincolns fence a tract of land, and he and Abe cut and split enough rails to fence fifteen acres. From this lot of rails was taken those displayed at the Chicago convention, in 1860. In the spring of 1831, he and Lincoln built a flat-boat at Sangamon town, five miles from Springfield. They went there in March, cut the timber, built the boat, and in May floated it out of the Sangamon. At St. Louis, Mr. Hanks left the boat to come home and see his family, and left Lincoln and the rest of the crew to navigate it down the Mississippi to New Orleans.
In 1832 Mr. Hanks was in the Black Hawk war, having enlisted in a company commanded by Isaac C. Pugh. He came back to Macon county, and was engaged in farming till 1850, and then went to California. He was occupied three years in mining within sixty or seventy miles of Sacramento, and came back in 1853. On the breaking out of the war of the rebellion he volunteered, and cnlisted in Co. A, of the 21st Illinois regiment. This was the regi- ment as colonel in command of which Gen. U. S. Grant entered the war. Mr. Hanks was fifty-nine years old when he enlisted. He served over two years as wagon master. While Grant had command of his regiment he had charge of his staff team. He served in Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi. Becoming incapacitated from duty by the rhcuma-
SCENES ON THE FARM OF N.S.BATCHELDER SEC.8, HICKORY POINT TP.(17) R.2, MACON CO.ILL.
205
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
tism, he was honorably discharged at Winchester, Tennessee, after two years' service.
Since the war, Mr. Hanks has been three times to California and Oregon, and altogether has seen a considerable portion of this country. He has never held any office, nor has cared to occupy any public position. After Lincoln had been elected president he invited him to dinner at Springfield, and offered to do anything in his power for his old comrade, but he declined to accept any office, preferring to remain at home with his family. Before the war he was a democrat, but always supported Lincoln when he was a candidate for any office, and since the rebellion has been a strong republican. His wife died in March, 1863. He has had eight children, of whom six are now living. William resides near Monticello, in Piatt county. James Lewis lives in Lake county, Oregon. Jane married Alexander T. Medlin, and is now dead. John Felix died at the age of twenty-one. Emily is the wife of Elijah Loomis of Hickory Point township. Grayson lives in north-west Missouri. Mary Ellen married John Manning, and now lives in Humboldt county, California, and Levi Hanks, the youngest son, lives near Moawequa.
JAMES R. BLACK,
OF Hickory Point township, is one of the few surviving soldiers of the Mexican war, living in Macon county. His father, James B. Black, was a native of Humphreys county, Tennessee, and when a young man came to Caldwell county, Kentucky, where he married Mary McCaslin, who was born in Caldwell county. Her father, whose name was James McCaslin, emigrated to America from Ireland. The oldest of the four children of James B. and Mary Black was James R. Black, who was born in Caldwell county, Kentucky, on the fifteenth of October, 1825. In the year 1830, when he was five years old, the family moved to Illinois, and settled on Beaver creek, in Bond county, six miles south of Green- ville. After living there ten years they moved to the southern part of Montgomery county, ten miles from Hillsboro. In that vicinity Mr. Black grew to manhood, attending school as he had opportunity. The schools were usually held in summer, from three to six months in the year, and he obtained a fair education for that day.
In the year 1844, when nineteen years old, he left home and went to the state of Arkansas. He secured work in a tan yard, at Morrison's Bluffs, in Johnson county. Arkansas was then a wild and rough country. He was living in that state at the time of the breaking out of the Mexican war in 1846, and on the 15th of June, of that year, enlisted in company C, of the first Arkansas cavalry, for service against the Mexicans. From Little Rock, Arkansas, the regiment marched through a wild and uninhabited region to Texas. Arriving at San Antonio on the 28th of July, they re- mained in camp at that place till the following 18th of September. They then marched into Mexico, crossing the Rio Grande at Pre- sidio del Norte. The regiment went into camp near Saltillo. It took part in the battle of Buena Vista, which was fought on the 22d and 23d days of February, 1847. The First Arkansas was composed mostly of men used to a frontier life, and embraced good fighting material, though ordinarily, the men were hard to disci- pline and keep in subjection. The regiment fought bravely, was in the thickest of the fight, and did its full share toward securing a brilliant victory over the Mexican General Santa Anna and his forces, which greatly outnumbered the Americans. The Arkansas troops were in General Wool's command. After the battle of
Buena Vista, they lay in camp, near the battle-ground, till June the 5th, when they set out for Camargo, where they were dis- charged, their term of enlistment having expired. This was the only regiment which Arkansas sent to the war. From the mouth of the Rio Grande, he sailed in a vessel across the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, and then came by boat to St. Louis.
On returning to Illinois, he bought a tan-yard, four miles north of Greenville, which he carried on three years. On the 22d of February, 1848, he married Mary Jane White, who was born and raised in Bond county. After quitting the tanning business he cn- gaged in farming. He resided in Bond county till 1866, and then came to Macon county and settled in Hickory Point township. The death of his first wife happened in June, 1867. He was mar- ried to his present wife on the 25th of December, 1867. Her maiden name was Rachel Ritchie, daughter of Samuel Ritchie. She was born in the state of Pennsylvania. Mr. Black has nine children, whose names are as follows : Henry C., Albert H., Mary A., William F., Arthur A., Edward R., Ella, Ida F. and Clara S. All but the last two were children by his first marriage. He has lived on his present farm of one hundred and eighty acres, in sec- tion 18, of Hickory Point township, since 1872. He was at first a member of the old whig party, and in 1848, after returning to Illinois, he had the pleasure of casting his first vote for president, for General Zachary Taylor, the hero of the Mexican war. When the whig party went to pieces he became a republican, and has since voted that ticket. His name deserves a place in this work, not only as a good citizen of Macon county, but as one of that con- stantly increasing number which took part in the most brilliant war in which this country was ever engaged. A war which added much wealth to the United States, extended its territory, and in which every battle was a victory.
NATHAN S. BATCHELDER.
NATHAN S. BATCHELDER, a view of whose farm appears on the opposite page, has been a resident of Hickory Pt. township since 1857. He is descended from a family which has resided in New England for several generations. His ancestors were early settlers at Deer- field, New Hampshire. His father, Edmund Batchelder, was born and raised at Deerfield. His mother, Nancy Smith, was a native of Seabrook, Rockingham county, New Hampshire. The subject of this sketch was born at Deerfield, Rockingham county, New Hampshire, on the nineteenth of October, 1830. He was the second of a family of four children, of whom two were sons and two daughters.
He obtained a good education in the common schools. His father was a man in comfortable circumstances, and owned between two and three hundred acres of land -- a fair-sized farm for New Eng- land.
On growing up, he made up his mind that New Hampshire was not the place in which he could best make his way in the world, and concluded to go West.
In the fall of 1855 he came to Coles county, Illinois, where he remained till July, 1856, when he came to Decatur. He found employment for some months in Decatur, and in the spring of 1857 assisted in building a house on the Bloomington road, about nine miles north of Decatur.
The following summer he went into the business of breaking prairie.
In the autumn of 1857 he purchased eighty acres of land in sec- tion eight of Hickory Point township, which he began improving
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.