USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois : biographical and pictorial, Volume I > Part 48
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Jesse and Bird Peebles came here in 1834, from Kentucky.
P. B. Solomon came to Macoupin county from Kentucky in 1827, and a few years later became a resident of Chesterfield township. He was at one time postmaster in the village of Chesterfield.
Horace J. Loomis, a native of New York, became a resident of the township in 1838.
William Duckles and wife came here in 1834 from Yorkshire, England, and established a home on section II. Other early settlers were: John Richardson, who settled on section 22, in 1831 ; John Armour, who came here from Kentucky in 1828; P. R. Gillespie, who settled on section 24, in the year 1823; J. H. Will- iams, who came in 1837; J. R. Cundall, who located on section 9 in the year 1834; and Nicholas Challacombe, who came here from Devonshire, England in 1840, settling on section 21. He became a prominent farmer and stock-raiser.
The first entries of land were made as follows: Jacob Rhoads, eighty acres on section 8, in 1830; Jesse Rhoads, eighty acres on section 28, in the same year ; and Daniel Morfoot, eighty acres on section 9, in 1830.
The first sermons in this district were delivered to the settlers north of the creek by Baptist ministers by the name of Samuel Lair and Joseph Pierce. This was in 1829. Jacob and John Rhoads preached about the same time at Rhoads' Point. Rev. Gideon Blackburn, a Presbyterian minister, preached in the settle- ments south of the creek in 1833 and 1834. In the latter year he organized the first Presbyterian society in this locality and in the same year a house of wor- ship was built on the creek, which was known as Spring Cove church. It was a very small structure constructed of poles set in the ground for the frame work and the sides and roof were made of clapboards. It was seated with puncheon benches. A little later the Baptists erected a similar structure at Rhoads' Point.
The first school was organized in 1834 at the Spring Cove church and the first schoolhouse was located on section 32. It was fourteen feet square, built of logs and had a dirt floor. The first teacher was a Mr. Anderson.
Dr. Henry Rhoads began the practice of medicine at Rhoads' Point in 1831 and was followed in 1833 by Dr. Coward.
In 1831 the first mill was erected here by Peter Etter. It was located on section 6 and was a small one-horse cog-wheel mill, used for grinding and crack- ing the corn. In this mill the owner was later murdered by one Sweeney, which was the first crime committed in the township.
A mill used for cracking corn was built on the Blackburn farm on section 21 and John Rhoads also built a similar mill on section 31, at Rhoads' Point. Another was built in 1833 by a Mr. Marshall.
In 1838, Horace Loomis, Sr., emigrated to this locality from New York and settled on a farm of three hundred acres, located two miles east of Chesterfield. He established here the first cheese factory, which proved a profitable enterprise.
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He kept as high as one hundred and seventy cows, and shipped his product to the Alton and St. Louis markets. He died here in 1851.
Captain Gelder brought the first Durham cattle here in 1844 and he it was who first introduced the imported English broad back hogs.
CHESTERFIELD.
This village is located in the northeastern part of the township on section 2, and was laid out by Jesse Peebles and Aaron Tilley in 1836. >
That year Joseph Batchelor established the first store in the village. Z. B. Lawson, John Vial, W. Lee and Jesse Peebles were also some of the first business men in this place.
Two years prior to the platting of the town, a log schoolhouse was built and the first teacher was a man by the name of Dooner.
In 1864, Messrs. Penn, Rogers and Padget erected a steam flour mill in the place and previous to this time W. B. Loomis erected a mill two miles east of the village.
MEDORA.
The town of Medora is located in the extreme southwest corner of the town- ship, with a small portion lying on section 6, of Shipman township. It is situated on the line of the Rock Island division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy rail- road, which runs throug the town and out of the county about a mile northwest of the place. The village was laid out by Thomas B. Rice and surveyed by T. R. McKee in 1859. Prior to this time the place was known as Rhoads' Point.
Medora lies south of Summerville. It is one of the best built and prettiest villages in the county. The citizens of Medora have every incentive to make them proud of their town. The business houses are modern and tasteful in de- sign and the school building, campus and other surroundings are preeminently artistic in design and pleasing to the eye. The early history of Medora is written, and that by a master hand. In 1910, Lyman L. Palmer wrote a series of articles, pertaining to Medora and vicinity, which were published in the Medora Messen- ger, running several months. No one, who settled in this vicinity, has been over- looked by 'Mr. Palmer and the history of Medora is told in a concise and illu- minating manner.
In the fall of .1897 the whole business section of Medora was destroyed by fire. The citizens were not at all discouraged by the disaster and at once began to rebuild. The present beautiful city is the result. The village, however, is not as large as it was twenty years ago. In 1890, the population was 1,498. It is now 1,386.
SUMMERVILLE.
This is but a hamlet of a very few houses, but at one time was a place of some importance, especially to the early settlers. In his reminiscences of early days, Lyman L. Palmer writes voluminously and most entertainingly of this
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village and those who settled in and near it, and therefore the reader is referred to Mr. Palmer's articles in this volume.
SHIPMAN TOWNSHIP.
Shipman township lies in the western tier of townships and is bounded on the north by Chesterfield, on the west by Jersey county, on the south by Brighton township, and on the east by Hilyard township. The surface is mostly rich prairie land and the township is one of the best improved in the entire county. Piasa creek rises here, while Coop's creek flows through the northeastern part and emp- ties into Macoupin creek, two miles north of the township line.
In 1830 the first settlement in the township was made by Rev. William Peter, who located on section 31. He died soon after and the family removed to Upper Alton, but in the following spring Mrs. Peter returned here and erected a cabin, the first in the township.
In 1831 Benjamin Stedman came here from Edwardsville, Illinois, and en- tered land, on which he later located.
In 1833 James Honchance built the second cabin in the township on section1 15. Other settlers of that year were Aaron Arnold and his sons, Smith and Edwin : George D. Randle and a Mr. Houston, both of whom settled near Coop's creek; James Haycraft. Samuel Haycraft, Joel Parker and a Mrs. Cleaver, who constituted what was known as the Haycraft settlement; George D. Arnold, Nimrod Dorsey. William P. McKee and Dr. B. F. Edwards, who came from Madison county, Illinois ; and Silas Crane and James Haley, who settled on sec- tions 29 and 30, respectively.
In 1835 George Parker settled in the township and in the spring of 1836 William H. Wilson, Sr., and R. Meatyard settled near Piasa creek and they were soon followed by Thomas B. Rice.
In 1836 George D. Randle laid out twenty acres on section 24 in town lots and called the town Brooklyn. He built a store and brought the first stock of goods here. The sanie year the Methodist denomination built a church, which . was afterward purchased and used as a dwelling by Peter Schneider .. In this church the first school was taught by Miss Maria Arnold.
The Brooklyn election precinct was organized in 1837 and George D. Randle was elected the first justice of the peace.
. In 1844 Horace Mead, John R. Denny. William Prosser and John Richard- son settled in the township and about this time the first log schoolhouse was erected. It was also used for religious services.
It was not until 1849 that a frame schoolhouse was built, which was located at Piasa.
The first religious services in the township were held at the home of Mrs. Keziah Peter, Rev. Otwell conducting the services. For many years services were held in the homes before a church was erected.
Dr. John Ash, who located at Piasa about 1850, was the first practitioner in the township.
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Those who made the first entries of land were: William Peter, May 26, 1830, eighty acres on section 30; Thomas Love, May +21, 1831, eighty acres on section 30; Robert Hargraves, July 18, 1832, forty acres on section 31.
Among some of the early settlers may be mentioned Samuel Trible, C. C. Rhoads, John T. Jolley, T. H. Stratton, B. E. Parker and B. C. Rhoads.
SHIPMAN.
The town of Shipman was named in honor of John H. Shipman, one of the original proprietors, who laid out the town. John L. Roberts was the other proprietor, and the surveyor was George H. Holliday, who surveyed it in 1852. It lies on section 24.
The first dwelling in the town was erected by a Mr. Phillips, while Leonard Loveland, Jr., built the first store and stocked it with groceries. In 1853 Messrs. Denny and Meatyard engaged in the mercantile business here, having erected a store building for the purpose. In 1855 a third store was opened by I. & E. Green.
In the fall of 1854 M. W. Seaman located here for practice and in the spring of 1855 he was followed by Dr. J. W. Trabue.
A schoolhouse was built in 1857, while in 1858 the first church was erected by the Methodists.
In 1852 the Chicago & Alton railroad was built through the town. The town was incorporated in 1867.
The town of Shipman was larger twenty years ago, when there were 410 people. At this time there are but 392, which shows things have been practically at a standstill.
The Shipman Banking Company was organized in 1895, and has a cash capital of $15,000. S. P. Saner is president ; A. Dehl, vice president ; James B. Metcalf, cashier.
PIASA.
The town of Piasa took its name from the creek which bears the name. It is located on the line of the Rock Island division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, where the corners of sections 19, 20, and 29 and 30 join.
The first person to locate in the town was George Parker, who built a log cabin in the spring of 1836. The following year, 1837, R. Meatyard came and located in the town.
In November, 1849, William Baily opened the first store in the town. It was managed by a Mr. Smith and subsequently kept by J. W. Warren.
In 1849 a schoolhouse was erected at a cost of $250. The first postoffice was established in 1850, with Charles Talley as postmaster. The same year H. G. Talley opened a blacksmith ship.
Charles Justison was the first person buried in the Piasa cemetery. This was in March, 1850.
REMINISCENT.
A TALE WELL TOLD BY J. B. ANDREWS OF EARLY DAYS IN SHIPMAN TOWNSHIP- HE TELLS OF THE FIRST BAPTIST SOCIETY-THE PRIMITIVE SCHOOLS-MANU- MITTED SLAVES AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD-LACK OF MEDICAL AT- TENDANCE.
At the time of the beginning of our story there were 150,000 inhabitants in the state of Illinois. Probably nine-tenths of these were south of the 40° parallel of latitude, and perhaps not an incorporated city in the state. Chicago was a hamlet, included in an area of three-eighths of a square mile. There were two or three cabins among the hills at Alton. Hostile Indians had all been driven out except in the Rock river region, in the northwestern part of the state, where there was a desultory war against predatory Indians who came across the Mississippi river, whence they had been driven in 1827. After the battle of the Bad Axe in 1832, which closed the Black Hawk war, the people of the state of Illinois were not molested by hostile Indians.
The history of a country or a locality begins with its occupation by those who are capable of transmitting the story of their achievements in some durable form. It is hardly proper to say the aborigines of America really possessed the land. They did not so much as drive a stake in the ground as a symbol of their possession.
Before the busy hand of man changed the face of nature by reducing it to his uses and purposes, the timber lines stood out in bold relief like promontories extending far out into the ocean, and they served the weary traveler as landmarks to guide him to his goal. In those old days, the hunters, rangers and Indians burned the prairies in the fall of the year, but the permanent settlers soon put a stop to that. It appears that the channels of the larger streams checked the progress of the fires and protected the forests along their courses, so that the timber along the creeks was good, there being white oak, black oak, red oak, post oak, hickory, elm, ash and some walnut. One of the attractions to the first settlers in this region was the abundance of limestone which cropped out in the streams in five places, first in the Piasa creek on the Jersey county line, one and a fourth miles west of Piasa, thence appearing on four branches nearly on a line south by west for a distance of about two and one-half miles in the same direction.
The fauna of the Piasa were in part deer and wolves in abundance, a few panthers, wild cats, and one Canada lynx was seen by a young man named An- drews, who was driving an ox wagon on a road near a rail fence, when he saw
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crouched upon a top rail a strange animal. From his description of the animal it was a lynx. 4
There was in those days always a thin line of hunters, adventurers and rangers who preceded the earliest permanent settlers, and, generally when a settlement was started within ten or twenty miles of them, they moved on. They had their mission in that they removed some of the obstructions in the way of a per- manent occupation of the country.
According to the custom of the time the region between the Piasa creek and Wood river was called Brown's prairie, its first settler being a man named Oliver Brown, who built his cabin in the edge of the woods, where the village of Brighton now stands, in 1829. He was a near relative of the late Michael Brown, an honored citizen of Brighton for about seventy years. In the spring of 1830 Mr. Brown broke a patch of ground and planted corn and raised a good crop.
On the 12th of October, 1830, Joseph Andrews arrived from Todd county, Kentucky, and pitched his tent on the brow of a hill of one of the larger branches of the Piasa creek. There were four young men and three boys in the family. Andrews and his eldest sons were pioneers in western Kentucky and knew how to take care of themselves in a new country. They built a large double log cabin of hewed logs. At the foot of the hill on which the cabin stood was a deep hole of pure water, from which they had an abundant supply. By the time they had got pretty well fixed, the big snow came. They had bought a dozen hogs from a man living north of the Macoupin creek, near. where Rockbridge now is, and several wagon loads of corn from Mr. Brown of Brighton. The meat and corn were all the food they had while the big snow lasted. The corn was boiled until soft, then beaten in a trough, dug out of a section of a log. So much has been said and written about the big snow that it seems unnecessary to give the details of the experience of any particular settler, for they were all very much alike.
The Simmons family had built a cabin on the north bank of Piasa creek, about three miles west of where the village of Piasa now stands, in the spring. of 1830. There were four grown young men in this family, named Richard, Samuel, Thomas and John. They each built for themselves homes, near to- gether, and formed the nucleus for a settlement. Shortly after, the Bells, David- sons and Chapmans and one or two other families moved in. The locality occu- pied by the above named settlers was called Simmons prairie, and included the region between Piasa creek and Phills creek to the north in Greene, now Jersey county. (Jersey county was organized in 1839.)
A family named Rhoads had built a cabin in or near where Medora now is, in the year 1829. Shortly after, about 1831 and 1832, three or four other families settled there and the place was called Rhoads Point.
In 1832 the first Baptist society, in all the region of which we write, was organized. The seventy-fifth anniversary of this society was recently celebrated in the Baptist church in Medora.
In the fall of the year 1830, the Browns of Brighton, the Simmons and An- drews of Piasa, and the Rhoads of Medora were all the inhabitants between a small settlement near Godfrey, or where the village of Godfrey now is, and
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Macoupin creek. These families each formed a nucleus for settlements, the boundaries of which were recognized for a number of years.
The first settlers of this region did not live long in their mud-daubed and stick-chimney cabins before they began building better homes. The Andrews' young men set up a primitive lime kiln at one of the rock quarries and made good lime and mortar, with which they plastered the spaces between the logs of their cabins, and a brother-in-law made a kiln of brick, with which they built their chimneys on the outside of their houses, with large fire places opening on the inside. They made shingles from white oak trees, which were split from sec- tions sawed from the logs, eighteen inches long, and shaved with a drawing knife to a uniform thickness and width, with a thick and thin end as shingles are now made. Nails were procured in St. Louis. Oak boards were obtained from a sawmill on Macoupin creek. These boards were planed on one side and straight- ened, with which smooth floors were laid. The shingled roofs lasted about twenty-five years.
Joseph Andrews, the first settler between the Piasa and the Little Piasa creeks, built his permanent home near the northeast corner of section 6, in township 7 north, range 9 west, about a half mile from the timber, on what was then called a state road which had been located from Jacksonville to Alton. This road was sixty feet wide and ran diagonally across the prairie from Piasa to Brighton. This road has been relocated on section lines and their parallels, and reduced to forty feet width.
In the years 1831 and 1832 several families moved into the neighborhood. Among them were Alexander Miles, Colonel Miles' father, Robert Hargrave, George Settlemire, the father of D. O. Settlemire, who recently retired from the banking business in Litchfield, and one or two other families. Soon after these families came they built a log schoolhouse about a half mile west of the present residence of John E. Andrews, which was his father's home. This temple of learning was the first educational institution between Godfrey and Macoupin creek. School was held in this building until the year 1842, when it was aban- doned and a frame building was erected for school, about a mile south of the old log schoolhouse. This new schoolhouse was called the Jefferson school.
Little Piasa creek is the largest branch of the main creek and runs parallel with the larger creek. Between these two streams the prairie extended like an estuary of the sea with many inlets. The Jefferson schoolhouse stood in the edge of the woods, and forty acres of open prairie on the other side, which seemed to be space enough for a playground. South of this, across the creek, and alongside of another extension of the prairie, stood the Washington school- house, which was built about the same time. About half the pupils of the Jef- ferson school lived in Jersey county and half in Macoupin county.
A spirit of intense patriotism and loyalty to our civil institutions was incul- cated by the teachers of these schools and this was generally done throughout the country. When the Civil war came, nearly all the boys who had attended the old Jefferson school went into the army, and more than half of them lost their lives in the service of their country.
In the year 1844 a slaveholder in the state of Missouri manumitted his slaves and sent about fifteen of them to Illinois. They came to Alton on a boat but the
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citizens would not permit them to land. They were taken up the river to the mouth of Piasa creek and put ashore in the woods. They made their way to the vicinity of the present village of Piasa and secured a right to some land in some manner and built several cabins, forming a community to themselves, where they lived for many years. They have all died or moved away except two families, with only one who came out of bondage, he being John Arbuckle, who is a patriarch among his people.
At the time of the first settlement of the Piasa there seems to have been no improvement in the methods of farming since the days of the Pharaohs of Egypt. It is said that the ancient Greeks invented a machine to cut small grain, which was drawn by animals, but the knowledge of its structure was lost. The farmers on the prairies as late as the fourth decade of the nineteenth century plowed. their ground with a wooden plow, with an iron share made by a common black- smith. This plow was generally drawn by oxen. The ground was harrowed with a wooden harrow-not a particle of iron about it. The seed was sown broad- cast by hand, then again harrowed. The wheat and other small grain were cut with a cradle,-a scythe with a broad blade and a wooden frame attached to gather the grain as the implement was swung through the grain, which was thrown in a swath by the cradler. These things may seem trivial but our ex- istence depended upon a vigorous use of these rude implements. The prairie was broken with a heavy plow, cutting a furrow two feet wide from eight to ten inches deep. The beam of this plow was fastened at the front end to a pair of trucks made of sections sawed from the end of a log. From four to five yoke of oxen were required to pull this plow through the strong sod. The wheat was threshed by horses upon a cleared circular space, on which the grain was stood up in a circle. with an open space in the center. The horses were ridden upon the wheat by boys until the grain was threshed out, then the straw was raked off and the grain in the chaff was piled in the middle of the tramping ground. In the evening of each day the wheat was fanned and put in shelter.
When the Andrews came to this section, a deep, narrow valley of a large branch, a mile and a half southwest of Piasa, was covered with buffalo bones. How these bones got there was a mystery. It does not seem probable that a large herd of buffaloes could have been caught in such a place by a prairie fire or a blizzard. In a few years these bones all disappeared.
In the years 1835 and 1836 several families came, among whom was Howard Clark, from Kentucky. He came first to Edwardsville in 1831. Mr. Clark had five sons who attended the Jefferson school. These boys all made their homes in Macoupin county, in and near the village of Brighton. They were studious and orderly boys in school and made excellent citizens. None of them are now living. George H. Clark, who is in the mercantile business in Piasa. is a son of Edward B., the eldest son of Howard Clark.
Several English families came about the same time-the Tribles, the Wil- sons, the Meatyards and a little later, the Beebys and the James. They were in- dustrious and thrifty people and an important acquisition to the settlement.
George Parker and one of the Trible families were the first settlers in what is now the village of Piasa. The place was first known as Mt. Pleasant, a name
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given to a society of Methodists organized in an early day, and is still the name of the Methodist church in Piasa.
About the year . 1851 Samuel Stratton, now of Los Angeles, California, then a boy about seventeen years old, built a twelve by fourteen feet store, on the corner. of the cross roads now belonging to Mrs. Mary Bateman, of St. Louis, in which the boy began business. Mr. Stratton is now a wealthy man. Piasa, not having the advantages of a suitable location for business, except to a very limited extent, is yet a hamlet with a population of 116 and thirty-nine dwelling houses.
A man named John Hart came from Kentucky in the year 1836, or near that time, and made a home two miles northwest of Brighton, between the two Piasa creeks. His home was a station on the underground railroad, where many run- away negroes found a hiding place and transportation to the next station at Carlinville. Mr. Hart was a very peculiar man. He professed to be a disciple of Voltaire and Tom Paine. His life and property were in constant peril. Sev- eral attempts were made to assassinate him, but failed. He was a most innocent appearing man but his neighbors knew he was a dangerous man to assault. He never talked to his neighbors about being connected with the business of helping slaves to freedom. He had for his associates Messrs. Griggs, Burbank and one or two others. But one fugitive was arrested during the many years Mr. Hart was engaged in the business of assisting runaway slaves. This one was taken before a justice of the peace in Brighton for trial. During the progress of the investigation, Hart and his associates by a ruse got the accused away from the constable and safely started on the way to Canada. Mr. Hart lived ten or twelve years after the close of the Civil war.
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