History of Macoupin County, Illinois, Part 68

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

USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois > Part 68

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Judge Solomon was in his thirteenth year when he came to Illinois, and in his fifteenth when he came to Macoupin county. When his father moved to this county only three settlements had been made in North Palmyra township, and consequently no schools had been established. For a few days in the summer of 1829, he attended a school kept by his brother-in-law, James Howard. But his opportunities for acquiring an education were lim- ited, and a few months would comprise all the instruction he ever received. He was a boy of bright faculties, learned rapidly, and in boyhood laid the foundation of a good education. He especially excelled in mathematics-his favorite study. He and his brothers were hired out by the month, and were also the principal dependence of their father in carrying on the farm. His father borrowed the money with which to enter the first eighty acres of land, paying the exorbitant interest of twenty-five per cent., and when he died owned a farm of two hundred and fifty-six acres. In the year 1832 when twenty years of age, Judge Solomon volunteered in the Black Hawk war. He enlisted as a private in the company commanded by Capt. John Harris, in the third regiment of which A. B. De Witt was colonel. He left Jackson- 1

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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

ville April 25, 1832; rendezvoused at Beardstown ; reached the Mississippi at the present town of Oquawka; thence marched to the mouth of Rock river, where they were mustered into the United States service, with Gen. Atkin- son in command. The force next marched to Dixon, from which place a detachment of 250 advanced twenty miles, and attacked the Indians, but were repulsed by Black Hawk. The next day the main army (in which was Judge Solomon), advanced to the battle ground, and buried the dead. They returned to Dixon. Supplies from down the river had failed to arrive, and the men in his regiment were five days without bread. The regiment afterward took twelve days' rations, marched up Rock river, crossed over to the Fox, and returned home by way of Ottawa. During his two months' campaign he experienced considerable hardships. On starting out he weighed 150 pounds, and on reaching home had lost twenty-five. Soon after his return he was elected corporal in the militia. Subsequently he was chosen captain, and not long afterwards major of the 62d regiment, 2d battalion. While holding these positions he gave much attention to military tactics, and was considered one of the best militia officers in the state.

When about twenty-one he engaged in farming on his own account. He had been paid thirty-six dollars for his services during the Black Hawk war, and sixteen dollars he borrowed from his brother-in-law, and paid for it by making rails at forty cents a hundred. With this money he entered forty acres of land, a quarter of a mile west of the town of Palmyra. He also grubbed land for his brother-in-law, who paid him by giving him one- quarter of what he raised on his farm of about forty additional acres. He chopped wood at Jacksonville in 1834 for forty cents a cord and boarded himself, and the succeeding winter took a contract to cut 500 cords at fifty cents a cord. From the proceeds of his first work he obtained good clothing, and from his last contract he made enough money to enter forty additional acres of land. In the summer of 1835 he went to the lead mines at Galena, but was unsuccessful in making money, and returned home. In the fall of 1835 he visited relatives in Kentucky, and the next winter made rails to fence his land in Palmyra township, having determined to settle down in some per- manent location. Accordingly, in the spring of 1836 he bought a team on credit, began breaking prairie, built a cabin, and June 23, 1856, married Nancy Ann Fink, a native of Kentucky, daughter of John Fink, one of the early settlers of Barr township. He bought ten additional acres of land, endeavored to get his farm into as good a condition as possible, and kept a sharp look-out for business advantages, so that in 1849, the year his father died, he had four or five hundred dollars surplus money. He then purchas- ed the interest of the other heirs in his father's estate, and in the spring of 1850, moved to the homestead farm, where he lived till 1854. He had intended moving to the Military tract, but finding no location to suit him in that country, he purchased 360 acres of land in sections four, eight, and nine, North Palmyra township, for five thousand dollars cash. This farm, which has fine improvements, has since been his home. He is the owner of the largest body of land in the possession of one man in North Palmyra town- ship, consisting of a few acres less than eight hundred.

His first wife died September 18, 1863. He was married again May 8, 1866, to Mrs. Mary Ann Butcher. Her maiden name was Baker. She was born in Morgan county, in February, 1831. By his first marriage he had twelve children, of whom nine grew to maturity, as follows : Louisa, who married Henry Yowell ; her husband died in 1864: Francis Marion, who is farming in North Palmyra township; Thomas Jefferson, who died December 3, 1875; Dempsey N. who is farming in North Palmyra town- ship, and in 1878 represented that township in the Board of Supervisors; Annie E., Martha, John L., Lafayette, and Allen B.

In his political belief he has always been a democrat. At Jacksonville, on his return from the Black Hawk war in the fall of 1832, he cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson, for President. He has been a democrat, and his political hopes and sympathies have been closely allied to the party which has numbered among its advocates such illustrious men as Jefferson and Jackson. On financial questions his views have coincided with those of the national greenback party, but he advocates the old, well-settled, and first established principles of democracy. He was a Union man and a leading war democrat during the Rebellion. He assisted in sending to the front forty-three men from Palmyra precinct, two of whom were substitutes, for three years ; whom he placed in the field with his own means. Judge Solomon is a man who has received numerous tokens of the public confi- dence and the esteem of the people. The first position to which he was

chosen was in 1839, when he was elected to the comparatively humble office of constable, the duties of which he discharged for four years. He was ap- pointed by the county court in 1839, and in 1840 assessor, and assessed one- third of the county. He was elected justice of the peace in 1843, and held the office till his resignation in 1854. His first election to the legislature occurred in 1852, when he was chosen representative on the democratic ticket, with John A. Chesnut as the opposing whig candidate. From 1857 to 1861 he acted as county judge. In 1861, he was elected a member of the constitutional convention, the nomination being tendered him by the demo- cratic convention without his making any effort to secure it. In 1870 he was elected to the state senate from the district embracing Macoupin, Mont- gomery, Shelby and Christian counties. While in the legislature Judge Solomon was an active and efficient member, devoting his attention to leg- islation which would secure the best interests of the people. While he was in the house the democrats were in the majority. While a member of the constitutional convention he served on several important committees, among them the committee on revision. In the senate the republicans controlled the organization of the body, but he served on three or four important com- mittees, among which were the committees on revenue, on charitable institu- tions, and on fees and salaries. He took a moderate stand, and his views commanded the respect of the republican majority, among which he had considerable influence. He was the author of the bill giving land-owners a right to redeem lands sold at tax sales at twenty-five per cent. addition the first six months, fifty per cent. the first twelve months, one hundred per cent. for two years, and after that no redemption ; the previous law requir- ing an addition of one hundred per cent. penalty any time after the sale. He was also author of the bill giving counties a right to work county con- victs. Politically he has acted from conscientious motives. In his views he has been moderate rather than partisan, and when a candidate has always received a considerable republican vote from his friends in the county. As a public officer he endeavored to discharge the duties of his position with- out regard to party, and in an impartial and honest manner, and he has always retired to private life conscious of having done his best to serve the interests of the people. Scarcely a man in the county has held so many public positions or received so many marks of popular favor. Upon his character for honesty and integrity there has never breathed suspicion. His life has been open to the view of the citizens of the county, and not a stain can be found on his record as a public officer or as a private citizen. He is a man of unquestioned morality, and though not a member of any religious denomination, has liberally supported the churches of his part of the county. He believes that Christianity consists in deeds, not in words, and that he is the best Christian who lives a life of the strictest rectitude, and who does the most good to his.fellow-men.

ROBERT HORTON.

THE Horton family traces its history back to Virginia, from which state came so many families who have been identified with various portions of the Great West, and have assisted in its development and progress. The home of the family in the Old Dominion was in Fauquier county. Mr. Horton's grandfather, Augustine Horton, was born and raised in Fauquier county, and on reaching manhood married Mary Taylor. The birth of his father, OSWELL HORTON, occurred in Fauquier county, Virginia, May 26th, 1809. He was only two years old when the family moved to Green county, Ken- tucky, in 1811. He was raised there on a farm, and the opportunities he enjoyed in the way of obtaining an education were of a very ordinary char- acter. Subscription schools were the only ones in existence, and these were held in log school-houses with puncheon floors and slabs for benches. The children of the present generation may congratulate themselves that they have advantages largely in advance of those belonging to those early pio- neer times. He only went to school when quite small. As soon as he was large enough, so that his services became of much value, his father kept him at home. The principal experience which he remembers in his boyhood days, consisted in clearing up wild land and cultivating tobacco, the raising of which was a great industry in that country. He remained in Kentucky till twenty-one years of age, and then concluded to try his fortune in Illi- nois. He came to Morgan county, and secured employment as agent for a stage company, and was thus engaged for several years. He lived at Jack- sonville a while, but most of the time at Springfield. He had charge of the line between Carrollton and Springfield via Jacksonville, and from Jackson- ville to Beardstown. He afterward took charge of the Springfield and

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FARM RESIDENCE OF DANIEL CHAPMAN, SEC. 24. NORTH PALMYRA TP., MACOUPIN CO., ILL.

STOCK FARM & RESIDENCE OF J. M. MILLS , SEC. 10. NORTH PALMYRA TP, MACOUPIN CO., ILL. ( Farm Containing 390 Acres.)

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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Peoria, and the Springfield and Terra Haute lines. His duties were those of a general superintendent, looking after the drivers, and seeing that the horses were in good order and the coaches in good repair. He was obliged to be on the road almost constantly, and the consequent exposure and loss of sleep had an injurious effect upon his health. Accordingly in 1842 he con- cluded to go to farming. He had saved enough money to purchase, in North Palmyra township, 120 acres of prairie and two hundred of timber. When he came to Palmyra township in 1842, only fifteen acres were improved, and he went to work and soon brought a fine farm under cultivation. . He had been married in February, 1835, to Matilda Norvell, a native of Summer county, Tennessee. His wife died in 1844. By this marriage there were four children, two of whom died in infancy. The other two are living in North Palmyra ; Robert Horton, and Mary, now Mrs. George B. John. In politics Oswell Horton has always been a member of the democratic party, though he has taken no active part in political movements, and has pre- ferred living the quiet and retired life of a private citizen. During his resi- dence in Macoupin county he has borne the reputation of an enterprising and progressive farmer, and a man of strict honesty and integrity.

ROBERT HORTON, the oldest child, was born at Jacksonville, in Morgan county, Dec. 26th, 1836. He was in his sixth year when he came to Ma- coupin county, where he has grown up and lived from boyhood. His educa- tion was obtained in the common schools of Palmyra township, and at a school in Morgan county, which he attended for some time. On the 22d of March, 1860, he married Rebecca J. Rice, daughter of Jasper Rice, an old citizen of North Palmyra township, a sketch of whose history may else- where be found. Mrs. Horton was born in North Palmyra township, on the 6th of May, 1843. Up to the year 1865 he was farming in partnership with his father, and has since carried on farming on his own account. He is the owner of the old homestead farm ; has bought additional land ; and now owns 670 acres, 620 of which lie in one body. He is known as one of the enterprising farmers of Macoupin county, and has been success- ful both as a farmer and a trader. He has made the matter of dealing in stock a specialty He is one of the prominent agriculturists of the county, and a director in the Macoupin county Fair Association. He has had little to do with politics; is a man of energy, industry, and superior business qualifications. His four children are named Edward L., William H., John L., and Luther O. Horton.

IMRI B. VANCIL. .

FOR more than twenty years Vancil's Point has been the name of a post- office in North Palmyra township. It received its name from the Vancil family, who settled near there in 1828. Edmund C. Vancil, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Muhlenburgh county, Kentucky, May 1st, 1799; was raised principally in Logan county; settled in Union county, Illinois; in 1824 married Mary Byers, born in Kentucky in 1804, and whose father settled in Jackson county, Illinois, in 1808; moved to San- gamon in 1827, and in 1828 settled in North Palmyra township. He put up the first horse-mill in the northern part of the county, and also the first distillery ; he possessed remarkable mechanical genius; manufactured his own boots and shoes, built his own wagons, constructed a superior flat boat, and invented an excellent plow for breaking purposes ; at the time he erected his present dwelling in 1848, it was considered the finest farm resi- dence in the county. In 1852 he erected a steam saw-mill : he and his wife are still living in the enjoyment of a hale and vigorous old age.

Imri B. Vancil was born in U'nion county, Illinois, October 15th, 1825. He was raised in North Palmyra township, and attended Illinois College two years. In the winter of 1844-5 he visited Texas, and the winter of 1847-8 attended medical lectures at Cincinnati. He then ran a saw-mill in Pal- myra township, and in 1850 went to California, going overland, and reach- ing Sacramento City, August 13th. He returned to Illinois in the spring of 1852. He subsequently went to farming for himself in North Palmyra township. April 4th, 1860, he married Elizabeth S., daughter of Judge Thomas B. Rice of Medora, whose biography is furnished elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Vancil was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, November 17th, 1832. Since 1860 he has been living on his present farm, of which he has been the owner since 1852. He is one of the largest farmers of North Palmyra township, and owns 640 acres of land. He is a democrat in poli- tics, and inclined to support the financial theories of the National Green- back party. For twenty-five years he has been township trustee, and is the present township treasurer. He was elected in 1871 the first member of

the Board of Supervisors from North Palmyra township, and served for seven successive terms. He has one son and three daughters. He made a trip to California and Oregon in the spring of 1879, spending two months on the Pacific coast, and revisiting scenes with which he was familiar nearly thirty years ago.

JASPER RICE,

WHO has been living on his present farm in North Palmyra township since 1832, was born in Green county, Kentucky, on the 13th of May, 1812. His birth-place is now included in the new county of Taylor. Both his father and grandfather were former residents of Frederick county, Virginia, and their names were both Edwin Rice. His father was born and raised in that part of Virginia, and married Elizabeth Bayley. They emi- grated to Bourbon county, Kentucky; the date of their removal to Ken- tucky is not exactly known, but it must have been at a period very early in the history of the state, for Mr. Rice was born in 1812, and was the young- est of seven children who grew to maturity, nearly all of whom were born in Kentucky. From Bourbon the family moved to Greene county. Mr. Rice's father had two brothers who were soldiers in the Revolutionary War ; and he was probably too young to go into the army. On a visit back to Virginia not long after the Revolution, he was poisoned by some tories; the poison did not cause his immediate death, but its effects remained in his system for years, and probably hastened his death ; he died in 1814 when Mr. Rice was eighteen months old. His mother married again a man named Hunt, came to Illinois, and is buried at Palmyra. When sixteen Mr. Rice left home and began life on his own account; he only received at first twenty-five cents a day for his labor, and by the time he had secured sufficient clothing he had little money left for schooling. He attended school a short time for two or three winters-not more than six months altogether. He afterward worked on a farm by the month in Kentucky, not getting more than eight dollars wages. He left Kentucky in 1832, arriving in Palinyra township on the 28th of August. He had no money, and in fact, was eight dollars in debt. In the winter of 1832-3 he was employed at Springfield scoring and hewing timber for houses then being built in that town ; and the last part of the winter also worked at Jacksonville. He returned to Palmyra town- ship in March, 1833, and the following 16th of May married Mary, daughter of Stephen Jones. Her father was a Virginian, who emigrated to Ken- tucky, came to Illinois in 1819, and settled in Madison county six miles from Edwardsville; afterwards on the Mauvais Terre in Morgan county ; and who came to North Palmyra township in 1831. Mrs. Rice was born in Cumberland county, Kentucky, March 19th, 1816. The year that he was married, Mr. Rice built a small log house, eighteen by twenty feet, nearly on the same spot where his present residence now stands. He had no money with which to buy land, but he was energetic and industrious, dug wells, hewed and scored timber, and did anything he could in order to accumulate a little money and get a modest start in the world. In December, 1839, he entered forty acres of land, the first he ever owned. He improved this, and gradually succeeded in reaching better circumstances.

Mr. and Mrs. Rice have had fourteen children, of whom eight are now living. They are, Stephen, now a resident of Kansas; Jemima, wife of John L. Hodges; Louisa, wife of William J. Bates, of Waverly ; Edwin Anderson, who has a farm in Kansas, but has returned to Illinois on account of his health ; Rebecca, the wife of Robert Horton ; Joseph, who is farming in North Palmyra township ; and Helena, the wife of Charles Al- ford. Martha, the youngest daughter, died after being grown; Richard Henry died in the spring of 1878 at the age of twenty-three; William G. was a soldier in the Union army during the war of the rebellion ; he enlisted in the 32d Illinois regiment in the spring of 1864, served in Georgia, took part in several hard marches, and died in the hospital at Marietta, Georgia, in the fall of 1864, at the age of nineteen. Stephen was also in the army. He enlisted in 1862 in the 122d Illinois, and served throughout the war, taking part in the battles of Parker's Cross Roads, Tupelo, Nashville, and Fort Blakely. Edwin was a soldier in the 32d Illinois; he enlisted in Au- gust, 1861, served in the Army of the Tennessee, and took part in several battles, including Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Hatchie River, the siege of Vicks- burg, and the siege of Jackson, Mississippi. The last year of the war he was at home sick. He was wounded at Shiloh. In politics Mr. Rice was originally a whig, and voted first for Henry Clay for President, in 1836. He was opposed to slavery, although raised in a slave-holding state; and be- came a republican on the formation of that party. Mr. and Mrs. Rice have been members of the Methodist church since 1833.

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SOUTH PALMYRA TOWNSHIP.

OUTH PALMYRA TOWNSHIP occupies the congressional town 11 north, range 8 west, and is bounded on the north by North Palmyra, on the east by South Otter, on the south by Bird, and on the west by Barr township.

The first settlers in the township were Seth Hodges and John Love. Hodges came from Tennessee, and settled in this township, near the south line, on a stream, now called Hodges' creek, deriving its name from that family. John Love and family settled near Mr. Hodges' .* Levi Day and family came about 1824; he erected a small cabin, and improved a piece of ground. George Mathews and family arrived about 1827 ; he was from near the banks of the Cumberland river, in Tennessee. About 1823 David T. Taylor, with his family, removed from Tennessee, and settled on the creek above Hodges' ; he afterward moved near the present town of Palmyra ; he was one of the first constables in this part of the country. Felix Hoover settled on the place where John Richardson lives, about 1829. William Hodges (a relative of Seth Hodges), a local preacher, came in the year 1829. Rev. John Howerton, a member of the Baptist denomination, arrived about 1830 ; he was a native of Tennessee. James Cave came here about the same year. Isaac Massey and his family, also from Tennessee, about 1829. Ezekiel Ross and family came from near the Cross-roads, in Tennessee, about 1833. His brother, Robert Ross and family, settled first in North Palmyra, about 1829; after living there a few years he moved to South Palmyra, and settled on section 8. Judge Samuel Lair moved from Carlinville township, where he had settled at an early day, and arrived here about the year 1833 ; he raised a large family ; his education was limited, but he was a man who possessed a large share of common sense ; he had been a member of the County Court, and died January 16th, 1870. Elijah Wills and family were from Kentucky; he first settled in North Palmyra at an early date, but moved to South Palmyra, on section 6, about 1832. Andrew Russell came very early, and settled near the present town of Palmyra. John G. Chiles, father of T. W. Chiles, was a native of Virginia ; he removed to this town- ship in 1833, and located on a farm on section 3. Another well-known set- tler was Oakes Shaw, a native of Cummington, Mass. ; he became a resident of this township in 1836, and located in what was then Newburg ; soon after, the name of the village was changed to Cummington; he built the first frame- house in the town of Cummington ; he removed from the county in 1848, and died at Lincoln, Illinois, in 1856.

It is quite probable that Felix Hoover raised the first wheat about 1830, as he broke the first prairie land in the township

W. B. and James Gardiner, brothers, from Kentucky, came here in 1836; they both had families, and settled near the old town of Cummington, where they continued to reside until their deaths; James was quite noted in those early days as an auctioneer, and W. B. was a man of a jocular disposition. Henry and James Solomon were early settlers, and became residents of the township about 1834. Jos. B. Steidley, also an early settler, bought out the improvements of James Solomon in 1836.

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History of Macoupin County, Illinois, Part 68

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

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