History of Macoupin County, Illinois, Part 58

Author: Brink, McDonough & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 440

USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois > Part 58

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When the family came to Macoupin county in 1854 there were five children ; P. H. Luken, now residing on section six ; Mary E. Luken, living on the same section ; Joel B, Luken, who died in 1864; Fernando C. Luken, whose death occured in 1874, and Thomas J. Luken. He first began farm- ing in 1857 in partnership with his brother Fernando C., who remained at home and managed the farm while Mr. Luken was in Colorado. In the fall of 1874 his brother visited St. Louis, and after his return was attacked by the small-pox. He died October 31, 1874, and the decease spread till all the members of the family, fourteen in number, were seized with it, and for several months the household were entirely shut off from the rest of the community. Three deaths in all took place; his brother, Fernando C .; his daughter, Maggie L., then only nine months old, and a man named Charles Ayers, who was employed on the farm. Mr. Luken is well known as a good citizen.

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THE FARM & RESIDENCE OF P. H. LUKEN , SEC . 6 , DORCHESTER TP, MACOUPIN CO, ILL.

E .. ADDEN. [LIVERY & FEED STABLE

C. NIEDERMEIER WAGON SHOP.

THE TOWN PROPERTY OF CHRISTIAN NIEDERMEIER, MOUNT OLIVE, ILL. .

THE RESIDENCE OF. THE LATE THOMAS TURK, SEC. 16. DORCHESTER TE MACOUPIN CO. ILL.

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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

P. H. LUKEN.

THIS gentleman was born on the Juniata river in Mifflin county, Pennsyl- vania, October 20th, 1820. His father moved to Cambria county, Pennsyl- vania, when Mr. Luken was six or seven years of age, and to Illinois in 1837. He was seventeen years old when he came to this state. He lived with his father on a farm in Madison county till his marriage, which took place in the early part of the year 1843, to Martela Miller, born in Tennes- see, and a daughter of Alexander H. Miller, who settled in Madison county, on emigrating to Illinois. After he was married he went to farming for himself, on land adjoining his father. His wife died January 1st, 1850; he afterward sold his farm, and in the fall of 1851 went to California with the purpose of trying his fortune mining gold ; he was engaged in mining prin- cipally in El Dorado county, and for a short period, in Yuba county ; he returned to Illinois in the spring of. 1855, having been absent three years and three months; he then purchased a farm in section six, Dorchester township, where he has since resided. He had two children ; one of them, Julius Shields Luken, died at the age of four years while Mr. Luken was in California ; the other, Washington Orlena Luken, enlisted in an Illinois regiment during the war of the rebellion, when seventeen years old; he never returned, and it is supposed that he met his death from some un- known and never discovered cause. A view of Mr. Luken's residence where he lives, together with his sister, Mary C. Luken, appears on another page. He has never taken an active part in politics, but has always voted the democratic ticket.

DANIEL B. SAWYER

WAS born in Tyrrel county, North Carolina, September 24, 1813, the fifth of a family of eight children of Josiah Sawyer and Hannah Sykes. His ancestors had been residents of North Carolina for a long period. In his eighteenth year he decided on leaving home. He started for Illinois in August, 1831, and came directly to Dorchester township, Macoupin county. He assisted in building a log cabin for his brother-in-law, made some rails in the winter of 1831-2, and the following spring began improving the farm on which he now resides on West prairie, in this township. At that time there were but few families living in Dorchester township, and with two ex- ceptions Mr. Sawyer is now the oldest settler on West prairie. December 25, 1834, he married Minerva Scroggins ; she was born in Dickson county, Tennessee, 1816; and came with her mother to Madison county, Illinois, in 1829, the family first settling near Edwardsville and afterward on Silver creek. Mr. Sawyer has since been living in this township. He has had eleven children, all of whom have grown to maturity and received a careful education. John, the oldest son, graduated at Shurtleff college and afterward at the Theological seminary at Rochester ; the remainder of his life was spent in the active ministry in the Baptist church ; he was pastor of churches in Massachusetts and Illinois, and died in Colorado February, 1878 ; the oldest daughter, Mary J., is the wife of Frank Godfrey ; Harrison Saw- yer is a graduate of Shurtleff' college and the Theological department con- nected with it; Susan died when an infant ; Ellen graduated at Almira col- lege at Greenville, and died within a year after her marriage to Alexander Sinclair; Sarah E. also graduated at Almira college, and died at the age of twenty-three; Thomas died when an infant, and Daniel Addison at the age of three years; William Taylor Sawyer died at the age of nineteen, while pursuing a course of study at Shurtleff college ; the death of Frank occurred at the age of eighteen at Fort Scott, Kansas, while on a visit to Texas; Dempsey B. is the name of the youngest son. Mr. Sawyer was originally a democrat, but from what he saw of the workings of the institution of slavery in North Carolina in his boyhood he became strongly anti-slavery in his sym. pathies. He was an early subscriber to Lovejoy's paper at Alton, the publi- cation of which resulted in the murder of the editor in 1837, and never made any attempt to disguise his sentiments when opposition to slavery was much less popular than it has since become. He was an early member of the re- publican party, and has supported it since its organization.

CHURCHWELL W. WAYNE.

MR. WAYNE'S grandfather, John Wayne, was a brother to the celebrated General Mad Anthony Wayne, one of the most renowned characters of the Revolutionary war. John Wayne was born of Scotch ancestry in Pennsyl- vania, and like his brother was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, serving

in the Continental army as an officer under Washington. He was in numerous battles, gained a marked reputation for bravery, was twice wounded, and bore a full share of the hardships and privations of that long and bloody struggle which resulted in the independence of our country. From Pennsylvania he moved to Virginia, and from the latter state to Ken- tucky, where he settled in Bourbon county eleven miles from the town of Paris. Mr. Wayne's father, Benjamin Franklin Wayne, was born and raised in Virginia and married Nancy Tankesly, who was a native of Ireland, and came to Richmond, Virginia, with her parents when quite small. Directly after this marriage the whole family, including both the father and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, emigrated from Virginia to Ken- tucky. Benjamin Franklin Wayne was a soldier in the war of 1812, and served under General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans.

Churchwell W. Wayne was the third of a family of eleven children. He was born at Stepsey's Cross Roads in Bourbon county, Kentucky, February 3, 1816. He was named by his grandfather, Churchwell Jones Washington Wayne, the first part of the name being in honor of Churchwell Jones, a comrade of his grandfather from Virginia in the Revolutionary war, who was shot by his side in battle and died in his grandfather's arms. Mr. Wayne has since abbreviated the name to Churchell W. After improving a farm in Kentucky his father, like many of the pioneer settlers of that state, lost it through a defect of title, and after spending considerable money in litigation determined to remove to Illinois. He came in 1818, while Illinois was yet a territory, and settled in Edgar county, then a wild and thinly settled country abounding with Indians. Mr. Wayne remembers that the Indians on frequent occasions would gather into the little log school-house in which he first went to school and crowd the scholars away from the fire, much to the terror of the younger children, who were glad to run away to their homes for safety. His father had a contract for carrying the mail between Terre Haute and Decatur, and Mr. Wayne, when a boy of thirteen or fourteen, rode horseback over the route, distributing the mail at only three points. The country was full of Indians and wolves, and these rides (part of the distance having to be travelled at night) over uninhabited prairies and through dark sloughs were solitary and lonesome enough. The people where he was raised knew little about the improvements and inventions further East The first school teacher, Joel Dougherty, who had made a Congress Improvement, fenced it with some rails, and then went to teaching school. There was some talk of the construction of a railroad, and the school teacher remarked that " he wished to gracious a railroad would come along, for he would have a chance to sell his rails." When the railroad was built Dougherty was probably surprised to find out that the cars ran on something different from oak rails. With such teachers as these it is not surprising that the sons of Western pioneers grew up with- out much education. When about twenty-one he went to Kentucky, and spent two years in the neighborhood where his father and grandfather had formerly lived. In 1829 he was mining lead in Wisconsin. February 25, 1840, he married Sarah J. Keller ; she was born near Louisville, Kentucky ; her father, Isaac Keller, was from Virginia, and her mother from Maryland.

He became a resident of Macoupin county in 1842, and bought one hun- dred acres of land in Dorchester township, where he has been residing ever since. His first wife died October 12, 1870. His second marriage occurred May 15, 1872, to Mrs. Mary Beere, formerly Miss Mary Eaton. Mrs. Wayne was born in Limerick county, Ireland, April 27, 1834; she came to New York in 1851; in January, 1858, married Henry Beere, and the same year came to Macoupin county. Mrs. Wayne has eight children; William F., farming in the American Bottom in Madison county ; Isaac, Silas, Vetuvia, who married John McDonald, and is now deceased; Sarah J., Mary, wife of Beverly Martin of Staunton; Jennie, wife of Jessie Sawyer, and Henrietta. The last named is by his second marriage. He has always been a democrat, and his first vote for President was cast for Jackson in 1832. It may be mentioned that his grandfather, John Wayne, removed from Kentucky to Edgar county, where he died at the remarkable age of one hundred and four ; the bones of the old revolutionary soldier now repose at the head of Catfish Point, eleven miles north of Paris, where also are buried his grandmother and parents.

DR. CHARLES H. BLACK.

THIS gentleman, who has been practicing medicine at Dorchester since November, 1873, is a native of Greenville, Bond county, Illinois, born October 20th, 1849. His father, John H. Black, was born

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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

in Mercer county, Kentucky, November 26th, 1805, and lived there till he was grown. On coming to Illinois he first lived for a short time in Bond county, and then went to St. Louis, where he resided several years, and then returned to Bond county, and lived at Greenville during the remainder of his life. He was married in Bond county, about the year 1835, to Cynthia P. White, who was born in Lincoln county, North Carolina, July 5th, 1814. Her father, John White, in 1817, the year before the admission of Illinois as a state, settled at Bethel, in Bond county, and was among the pioneer settlers of that community. Dr. Black's mother was three years old when she came to this state, and when about ten her father died. She has been accustomed to relate that in her girlhood the wolves were so bad that calves and sheep left out in the fields were unsafe from their attacks. Even in the daylight they would approach close to the house, and pursue a man without hesitation. One day, when her brother Edward, who was then quite a lad, was coming from mill after night with a sack of flour, on horseback, the wolves made a ferocious attack on him, snapping their teeth and endeavor- ing to jump on the horse, and at one time succeeded so nearly that he was almost dragged to the ground and made their prey. The only mill they had was a horse mill, and each man ground his grist with his own horse. Some- times it was necessary to wait two or three days for a turn, and the family were often obliged to boil wheat for food, till the grinding could be done.

The subject of this sketch was the youngest of nine children. He was raised in Bond county, and obtained his education in the public schools of Greenville. Two of his older brothers had adopted professions. One, Henry D. Black, attended Rush college in 1862-3; enlisted in the 135th Illinois regiment, under the hundred days' call for troops during the war, and con- tracted diseases during his service, from which he afterward died at home. Another brother, Samuel E. Black, went out to Kansas, and engaged in the practice of law, and is now probate judge at Eldorado, in Butler county. In 1870 Dr. Black began reading medicine in the office of Dr. William A. Allen, of Greenville, and in the fall of 1871 entered the Chicago Medical College, from which institution, after attending two full courses of lectures, he graduated in the spring of 1873. Soon after his graduation he began practicing his profession at Woodburn, in this county, and November 26th, of the same year, established himself as a physician at Dorchester. He has a good professional record, and has remained at Dorchester, though several competitors have meantime located there and gone away.

CHARLES FOSTER COX.

THIS gentleman, now a resident of Dorchester township, was born at Mt. Holly, New Jersey, October 21st, 1830. His ancestors were residents of West Jersey from the time of the first settling up of that country. It is said that three brothers by the name of Cox emigrated. from Scotland to America, one of whom settled in East Jersey and another in West Jersey. Some of the early members of the family were Quakers. His grandfather, Jesse Cox, was long engaged in the mercantile business at Mt. Holly. The firm of Jesse Cox & Sons (of which his father was also a member) carried on a large store, ran a flouring and paper mill, and stood high in mercantile circles. His father, John Wood Cox, was a leading business man of Mt.

Holly. He was gifted with strong, natural executive ability, and managed business with marked success. He was engaged in the banking business, and by disposition and training was fitted for the position of a successful financier and careful capitalist. He was frequently called upon to conduct public business and act as administrator and executor of estates; he was appointed by the governor of the state as commissioner to assist in the divi- sion of counties. Although he had numerous opportunities to go into pub- lic office he always declined to leave his personal business to accept public station. He was in business in Mt. Holly from the time he was nineteen till his death, which occurred at the age of sixty-nine. Mr. Cox's mother's name was Hannah Rush. His maternal grandmother's name was Foster, a half sister to William Foster, at one time a prominent and wealthy business man of Philadelphia.

The subject of this biography was raised in Mt. Holly, where he attended school. He afterward entered Marshall College at Mercersburg, Pennsyl- vania, since removed to Lancaster. After leaving school he was farming at Cream Ridge, in Monmouth county, New Jersey. He subsequently became interested in the manufacture of the " Union Repeating Gun," and in 1856 went to New York to superintend business connected with it. Cyrus W. Field became associated also in the enterprise, and he and . Mr. Cox visited Europe in its interests. A company was formed known as the American Arms Company, of which Mr. Cox was president. The gun proved a valuable weapon, and several batteries were supplied to the Union army during the recent war of the rebellion, and several to foreign governments. After his father's death Mr. Cox purchased the farm in Monmouth county, New Jersey. After the close of the war he invested in raising cotton in Mis- sissippi and Louisiana, but the speculation did not prove particularly success- ful. His father at one time was interested in the banking business at Kankakee City, Illinois, and also at Madison, Wisconsin. His brother also had property in the West, to see after which as administrator Mr. Cox first came to Illinois. He became interested in the fruit business in Madison county, and, in partnership with Noah S. Hart, erected near Melville, four miles from Alton, a large fruit distillery, which has since been in successful operation, and has a capacity for manufacturing forty thousand bushels of fruit annually. The firm of Taylor & Cox now carry on this establishment and manufacture all kinds of fruit brandies. In March, 1878, he moved to his present residence, a mile and a half east of Bunker Hill, where he in- tends erecting machinery to evaporate fruit according to the Alden process. He was married in New York, January 16th, 1856, to Miss Lillie M. Miller, daughter of Rev. William Miller, who was a native of Nova Scotia, but was preaching in Connecticut at the time of this marriage. Her death oc- curred from congestion of the lungs, on the 11th of January, 1864. His second marriage was on the 5th of December, 1865, to Miss Bashie Pease of Carrollton, Montgomery county, Ohio. Her family came from Suffield, Connecticut, and settled at Dayton and Carrollton, Ohio. Mr. Cox has not been an active politician, but came from a family of old line whigs, and he himself is inclined to support the principles and policy of the republican party, though he is conservative and independent, and inclined to vote for men who will advance the interests of the country rather than further party ends.

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GIRARD FLOURING MILLS , THE PROPERTY OF R. J. WALKER AND T. L. MINIER, GIRARD, ILLINOIS .

WORKSHOPS

HEGANS.

WAGON & CARRIAGE SHOPS &º OF L. HEGANS , VIRDEN, ILL.

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GIRARD TOWNSHIP.

THIS township is formed from the southern half of township 12, N. Range 6. The land is very fertile. It is drained by a branch of Otter creek, and a branch of the Macoupin, on the south. There is very little timber found in the township, and for that reason the settlers did not come in as early as in some of the adjoining townships-with the exception of a few families in the south-west corner- who came in the year 1830; there names were Daniel Black, Wm. and Charles Cox, Jessie Ashlock, Mr. Mathews, Harlam Warren and Thomas Warren. The increase of population was very slow previous to the year 1840. In the year 1835, John Henderson located at the Cross-roads, one and a half miles north of the present village of Girard, where he kept accommoda- tions for travelers and stage horses, as it was on the stage line running from Springfield to Alton. The place was long known as Henderson's, and after- wards Virden's stage stand.

About 1834 Dr. Edwards and Coe Mather, laid out a town at the point of timber, partly on the same ground where the village of Girard now stands. They named the town Girard, and the town plat was never re- corded ; the only improvement was a brick-kiln.

Before the railroad was in operation the farmers would take their produce to Alton and St. Louis, selling wheat for 25 to 50 cents per bushel.

The first death, was the wife of Thomas Warren, about 1833.

The first marriages, were Elisha Smith and Susan Evans, and Mr. Duff and Juliett Henderson.

First Sermon preached, was by a traveling minister of the Methodist de- nomination at one of the settler's dwellings. But for a long time the resi- dents went to North Otter township to attend religious services at private houses. John Steward and Bird England, were local preachers, also P. Lamay, of the Baptist denomination, occasionally came up and held meeting at " father Spenner's."

The first mill was a horse mill, erected by Mr. Sprouse. Steam mills were soon put up at Waverly and Lick creek, also a water mill on Sugar creek. At this time people went to mill in wagons. In 1846 and '47, B. Boggess built a steam saw and grist mill, in North Otter. It was a great convenience to the people of Girard. In September, 1852, the railroad was finished from Alton to Springfield.

VILLAGE OF GIRARD

was laid out in the spring of 1853, and 1854, by C. H. Fink and B. Bog- gess. The survey was made by Nathan Savage, covering part of the same land where Edwards and Mathers contemplated a town years before. It is located on a beautiful prairie, laid out at right angles, reserving in the centre a large square, which has been set out with trees, and now adds much to the beauty, health and comfort of the village.

Thomas Lewis and John Way, made the first addition in the year of 1855 on the south side. They had a sale of lots, August 21st, 1855, selling from $20 to $60 each. The second addition was made by B. Boggess, Sept. 1st, 1866, on the north and east side of the town, and comprised about sixty acres.

The village has met with drawbacks in the shape of fires, two of which were very large. The first and largest fire, broke out at night in a dry- goods store, kept by James Burton, during the summer of 1861 ; the flames spread to the adjoining business houses, and destroyed one half of the north

side. The goods were mostly saved. The second fire was the planing mill and two ware-houses near the depot.

The first building erected, was a small dwelling, moved from the country by B. Boggess, and was occupied by Dr. Abraham Miller and family ; it is the house now owned by J. Birzelle, but has since been enlarged. In the fall of 1853, and almost at the same time, the following buildings were put up: a dwelling by Dr. Miller; one by N. Branham and one by C. H. Fink ; a store-house by Boggess, and a blacksmith shop by J. S. Warfield. The first store was kept by A. S. Mayfield, in the summer of 1853.

The first school was taught by a Miss Purdy in a partly finished dwelling- house, during the fall of 1853. The first school-house erected, was a one- story frame building, and occupied the ground where the present public school building now stands.

The first church edifice was finished in the spring of 1855. It was a Union church; in time each denomination built a church for themselves, and the old church was sold to the Presbyterians about 1864. There are at pre- sent five churches, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Christian and Uni- versalist.

The first post-master was James Mitchel, who was appointed about 1854 : before that time the neighborhood received their mail at Pleasant Grove, in North Otter township.

The first warehouse was built by J. W. Woodroof, in the fall of 1854. He bought and shipped the first car of wheat.

The first flour mill was put up by H. Hall, in 1855, and occupied the ground where the old woolen mill now stands. There are now three mills in the" place. One owned by J. W. Woodroof, with three run of burrs, has a capa- city of 80 barrels of flour per day. The mill of Walker & Miner has also three run of burrs, with a capacity of 150 barrels per day. Lancaster & Erwin's mill has three runs of burrs, with a capacity of 100 barrels of flour in twenty-four hours.

A coal shaft was sunk in the fall of 1869 and spring of 1870. A seven foot vein of coal was reached three hundred and fifty feet below the surface ; the proper machinery was erected at once. It is now owned by the Girard coal company. The village improved very rapidly the second and third year of its existence. Its growth has been gradual and permanent since, and now may be classed among the active towns of the county. The total valuation of real and personal property of the village and township of Girard as taken from the assessor's book of 1879, as follows: Acres improved land 11,103, value 94,484 dols; value town lots 48,947 dols. No unimproved lands re- ported. Horses 386, value 7568 dols ; cattle 957, value 8141 dols ; mules 67, value 1385 dols; sheep 143, value 143 dols; hogs 1141, value 1151 dols ; carriages and wagons 184, value 2633 dols ; 178 watches and clocks, 139 sewing machines, 19 pianos, 27 organs. Total value of personal property 54,895 dols.

Among the business houses and business interests may be mentioned the following :

Dry Goods .- B. R. Bellamy, Joseph Carter, S. Anderson (supt.) Grocer- ies-Bellamy and Drum. Groceries and Drugs .- J. D. Metcalf, C. C. Arm- strong. Clothing .- Carr & Lowe. Hardware and Furniture .- H. Magoon. Furniture .- J. C. Beebe. Girard Bank .- J. D. Metcalf, president, Henry Hamilton, cashier. Boots and Shoes .- George Dohm and M. Gleason.

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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Hotels .- George Yerrington, Thomas Duncan. Lumber Dealers .- Anders, Macknet & Flood. Grain Dealers .- Bennison & Garretson, Woodroof & Bristow. Harness Maker .- Edward Parks. Confectionery .- A. G. Leigh. Gunsmith .- B. Bjhor. Grange Store. Lawyers .- Geo. A. Eastham and M. M. Duncan. Physicians .- Cowan, Simmons, and Mitchell. Milliner and Dress Maker .- Mrs. Lightburn. Blacksmiths .- T. F. Burnett, H. Doephive, J. Birzelle, J. Myers. Dentist .- A. H. Barnes. Stock Dealers .- Cherry & Son. Merchant Tailor .- J. Willet. We beg to return thanks for the above information to B. Boggess, C. C. Armstrong, J. D. Metcalf, and others.

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History of Macoupin County, Illinois, Part 58

Author: Brink, McDonough & Co. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 440

Author: Brink, McDonough & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 440