History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 105

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698

USA > Illinois > Madison County > History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches > Part 105

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JOHN S. HOERNER,

THE able editor of the Highland Union, was born January 28, 1846, in Remlingen, Bavaria, Germany. He came to

America with his parents in 1856, arriving in Edwardsville in October of that year. After obtaining a common school education, he commenced as apprentice to the printer's trade, October 17, 1860, in the office of the Madison Advertiser. From there he went to the office of the Free Press. In order to perfect himself in the art he learned to love, he served an additional apprenticeship in the large book and job printing house of A. Weibusch & Son, St. Louis, Missouri. Having quite mastered his trade, he went to Alton, where he worked in both the Telegraph and Democrat offices. Thence he went to Highland in the fall of 1865, where he took charge of the Union office as foreman. In December of the same year he purchased the Union office in connection with Dr. G. Rutz, and in 1874 became sole proprietor of that office. As editor and proprietor of the Union, he has estab- lished a fine reputation, and his is one of the best equipped offices to be found in southern Illinois.

His father died in 1859, three years after reaching this country. Thenceforward the support of a widowed mother devolved upon him, and well did he discharge his duties as a son. During the first year after his father's death, he was compelled to saw wood for neighbors to gain a livelihood. His mother died in Highland, January 2d, 1874. He was married to Rosa Eggen, daughter of Jacob Eggen, May 9th, 1878.

Mr. Hoerner is a pronounced and active republican. As editor of a republican paper he has contributed much to his party's success. He is a member of several orders, in the workings of which he takes a lively interest. Among them are the Masonic, Knights of Honor, and Turnverein.

Mr. Hoerner is an honor to his profession,-a live, thorough-going business man, of that systematic class who succced.

JARVIS.

HIS TOWNSHIP, the boundaries of which coincide with those of congres- sional township, 3 North, range 7 West, was so named in honor of the Jarvis family, menbers of which were among the early settlers of this part of the county.

The first settlers in the township arrived in 1803. In the spring of that year, the Greggs, ( sometimes spelled Gragg ), came from Kentucky, and Robert Seybold from Virginia. In an address delivered by Dr. John S. Dewey, on the 4th of July, 1876, he states that "Jacob Gregg, the father, settled the Baird place and planted the old pear tree in 1804, which has done faithful service since, and in 1864, yielded a crop which sold in Dubuque, Iowa, for one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Philip Gregg settled the place owned by Julius A. Barnsback ; Titus, the place owned by Ignatius Riggin ; John, James II. Taylor's place on the west of the prairie, and Herman Gregg, the site of Troy. Robert Seybold made a settle- ment on section eight, not far from John Gregg and near the head of Cantine creek. The township was not surveyed till the year 1806. These pioneers were soon followed by other settlers, among whom were William F. Purviance, John Jar- vis, Robert McMahan, Jesse Renfro, William Hall, James Watt, and some others, all of whom had made their homes here previous to the organization of the state government in 1818. The first entries of land in the township were made on the 10th of September, 1814, by Titus Gregg and John Jarvis. The former entered the north half, and part of the south half, in all five hundred and twenty acres, in section four. Robert Seybold entered one hundred acres, part of the northwest quarter of section seven, Oct. 20th, 1814. September 23d, 1815, David Gaskill entered seventy- mine and a half acres in section seven. May 1st, 1815, Pierre Menard entered one hundred and sixty acres in section one.

William F. Purviance, whose name appears above as one of the early pioneers, was born in Cabarrus county, North Carolina, in 1783, and came to Illinois in 1809. He first worked at the trade of a wheelwright with Titus Gregg, who was a wheelwright and blacksmith, and carried on those branches of business on the present farm of Ignatius Riggin, north of Troy. After paying a visit to Tennessee, he was married in 1811 to Rebecca, daughter of Robert Seybold, and then settled two miles north of Troy, in what is now Pin Oak township. About the year 1816 he moved back to Jarvis township, settled on section seven, west of Troy,

where he lived till his death in December, 1870. He was a member of the first grand jury convened at Edwardsville after the orginization of Madison county, and survived longer than any other member of that body, He was once appointed a justice of the peace while Illinois was yet a territory, but never transacted any of the duties of that office. For many years he carried on a wheelwright shop on his farm. In the early times he made spinning wheels, both for spinning flax and cotton, and at his wheels the pioneer wo- men of the country spent many a busy hour. Two of his children are yet living in the county; James Purviance, who was born in 1811 and resides on part of the land which his father entered, and William II. Purviance, a citizen of Troy. James Purviance is now one of the oldest persons living in the county, who was born within its limits.

George Bridges and Daniel Semple settled southeast from Troy in 1808, and Walter Denny and William Skinner also came up at a very early period. John Lamb became a citizen of this part of the county in 1810. All these were from Kentucky and Tennessee.

Robert McMahan settled on Ridge prairie, two miles and a half southwest from Troy. He was born in Virginia, emigrated thence to Lexington, Kentucky, and in that state married Margaret Clark. He removed to Illinois in 1793, and settled near New Design. His wife and four children were killed by the Indians, and he and his eldest daughter taken prisoner. He married a second, wife and raised a large family. He died in 1822, at the age of sixty-three. In 1795, John Jarvis, a native of Virginia, became a mem- ber of the settlement on the Ist of January, 1813. He moved from Turkey Hill, a short distance southeast of Belleville, in St. Clair county, where he had settled about the year 1806. The Turkey Hill settlement was the only American settlement made in St. Clair county previous to the year 1800, and in the history of St. Clair county we find that Franklin Jarvis, a brother of John Jarvis, was a member of the original colony which settled Turkey Hill in 1797. John Jarvis bought of Herman Gregg his improve- ment. On the 10th day of September, 1814, he made the first entry of land from the government ever made in Jarvis township. He kept a house of entertainment for the accom- modation of the emigrant travel moving, westward, and in 1816 built a band mill. This mill was a great convenience to the settlers. The travel to it caused the convergence of the rude bridle paths and cart ways to this point, so that the site of the mill became the most desirable place in the vicini- ty for the establishment of a store. Jarvis' band mill may

438

439

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

thus be said to have been the origin of the town of Troy. Jarvis left behind him the name and reputation of a good man. Although in his youth accustomed to slavery he be- came conscientiously opposed to the practice of holding human beings in bondage, and sacrificed his own pecuniary interests in slaves. He was probably the first practical abolitionist in Jarvis township. He requested that his faith- ful old slave, Ben, should be buried near him. Ile died on the 29th of October, 1823. He had three sons (by the second marriage,) John, Wesley and Fletcher, who grew up and lived in Troy till they died. Many of their descendants still reside at Troy.

George Churchill, who settled on section eight, west of Troy, was one of the most remarkable men who ever lived in the township. In early life he had learned the printing business and after coming to the township, he at intervals went to St. Louis and worked in the printing offices of that place. He remained a bachelor, and his habits were pecu- liar and eccentric. He, however, was held in high estima- tion by the community, and was several times sent as a rep- resentative to the legislature. Here, though he was no ora- tor, and indeed never attempted to make a speech, his talent as a ready writer came in play, and he drafted a considerable part of the bills brought forward by his side of the house. He was one of the most active opponents of the efforts to in- troduce slavery into the state in 1824. His votes in the leg- islature excited the displeasure of those opposed to his views, and he and Nicholas Hanson, a fellow member of the assem- bly, were burned in effigy, at Troy.

Jesse Renfro, who lives a mile and a half east of Troy, is now one of the oldest residents of Madison county. He was born in Lincoln county, Kentucky, in 1796. In the year 1810, when he was fourteen, his father, James Renfro, emi- grated from Kentucky to Illinois. The family spent the winter of 1810-11 in Ridge Prairie, three miles south of Troy, a short distance from Downing's station, a fort erected for the protection of the settlers against the Indians in the edge of the present county of St. Clair. In the spring of 1811, the family moved to section twenty-four of township three, range eight. James Renfro died in the fall of 1814, while on a visit to Kentucky. In the spring of 1814, Jesse Renfro, then not quite eighteen, enlisted as a mounted ran- ger in Capt. Samuel Whiteside's company which was en- gaged in the protection of the frontier settlements. He served a year as a ranger and six months additional in the militia service. In September, 1817, he married Letty West, daughter of Isaac West, one of the pioneer settlers of the present Collinsville township, and settled in section eleven of Jarvis township, where he has resided ever since. This marriage ceremony was performed by Joseph Eberman, a son-in-law of John Jarvis, who at that time filled the office of justice of the peace. Mr. and Mrs. Renfro lived together quietly on this spot nearly sixty-five years, till the death of Mrs. Renfro, which occurred in March, 1882. In the year 1817, when Mr. Renfro settled at this place he remembers the following persons who were living in the township :

At Troy, John Jarvis to whom reference has already. been made.

Joseph Eberman, a son-in-law of Mr. Jarvis. He was the first justice of the peace in the township, having received his appointment soon after the war of 1812-14. He built a house at the corner of Main and Market streets, on the spot now occupied by Fred. Auwarter's store, which he used as a tavern. Titus Gregg, who lived north of Troy on the present farm of Ignatus Riggin. Mr. Renfro re- members him as a conservative and unprogressive man who grumbled excessively at the passage of the law establishing a free school system to be supported by taxation. He thought every man should school his own children. The land on which Herman Gregg lived covered the site of Brookside. About the year 1818 a Kentuckian by the name of Laban Smart began making an improvement on section one. Samuel Wood, who lived on section five, was a native of Kentucky. He was a Baptist preacher, and an honest, upright man, held in estimation by the community. His son, Andrew Wood, is still a resident of the township. Calvin and Horatio McCray came to the township and made settlements on section five in the year 1816 or 1817. They were from Connecticut. Most of the early settlers were of Southern origin, and the McCrays on account of their New England birth, were called "Yankees," a term which had been brought into some disrespect by the sharp tricks of some Yankee clock peddlers and itinerant vendors of various articles, who had traveled through the country. The name, however, was subsequently redeemed by settlers from the eastern states who set the community good ex- amples of sobriety, thrift and enterprise. Horatio McCray was one of the first to give much attention to the raising of stock. Calvin McCray was for some years engaged in the mercantile business at Troy. About the year 1830 he started on his farm a mill for grinding grain which was in operation only a short time. It was worked by means of a tread power and a yoke of oxen. Bennett Posey, one of the early residents of section six, is still living in Pin Oak township. Ilis father, Jubilee Posey, came to this county during the winter of 1810 11, and took an active part in the ranging service during the war of 1812-14. James White- side made an early improvement on section six. His father, Joel Whiteside, and his uncle, Capt. Samuel Whiteside, were among the first settlers of what is now Collinsville township. Gaines Moore, a son-in-law of John Jarvis, lived in 1817 on section cight. Jesse Rountree in 1818 began making an improvement on part of the land entered by Jesse Renfro in section eleven. He afterward moved to one of the coun- tics north of Madison. David Hendershott, a Virginian by birth, was one of the early settlers on section ten. He was in favor of slavery, and is said to have been one of those connected with the burning of Churchill and Hanson in effigy at Troy for their opposition in the legislature to the efforts of the pro-slavery men to secure in Illinois the adop- tion of the slave system. Ile thought that the establishment of slavery would raise the price of land and he would be enabled to sell out at a good figure. William Vinyard, previous to 1820, had made a settlement on section two. I section twelve Stephen Collyer was an early resident. He was a tanner by trade, and carried on a tan yard on his farm.

440

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

The first house on scetion thirteen was built by a man named Nowland. He was a local Methodist minister and preached occasionally. He sold his place to one Maxey, and though the property has sinee passed through several different hands, part of the original log house now used as a barn, is still standing. Section fourteen was first settled by two brothers, John and Jacob Hagler. Cleveland and Benjamin J. Hagler were sons of John and Jacob Hagler. William Good was also an early resident on this section. The Hag- lers and Goods lived within a short distance of one of the oldest schools in the township, a circumstance which was of much convenience, for Benjamin J. Hagler had thirteen children in his family and William Good fifteen. William R. Hagler, an early resident of the county, was a native of North Carolina. After residing some years in Tennessee he came to Illinois and settled in Jarvis township in 1818. He died in 1832. On section sixteen the early settlers were Abraham Van Hooser, Daniel Reese, and Coulson Townsend. Van Hooser's land remained in the possession of his de- scendants till within a year or two. J. P. Anderson had settled south of Troy, at a comparatively early date, and -was prominent and active as a business man. To the south of Troy, John and Charles Edwards were early settlers. John Edwards filled for many years the position of justice of the peace, and discharged the duties of this office in a satis- factory manner. William Hall became a citizen of the township in 1815, and selected a location on section twenty- nine. He had a family of six sons and two daughters, and many of his descendants are now honored and respected resi- dents of the county.

James W. Watt settled in the prairie two or three miles south of Troy in 1817. He came to Illinois from Green county, Kentucky, and was the son of James Watt, who had been a soldier in the war of the Revolution. Mr. Watt was for fifty-eight years a leading member of the Methodist Epis- copal church. He died in December, 1861. He left several children residing in the county. John Cook, the father of Harrison, William and Wesley Cook, was an early resident of the township. The place originally settled by John Gregg, in section seven, was afterwards purchased by Syl- vanus Gaskill, a native of the State of New York. Gregg moved to Arkansas. Between 1825 and 1830 Gaskill carried on a horse mill at this place. Early Methodist meetings were frequently held at Gaskill's house. S. W. Cowles, who is now a resident of Troy, became a citizen of Jarvis township in 1829. His step-father, James Mills, with whom he came, settled two miles south of Troy.

Josiah Caswell came from Vermont in 1823, and after living for a time east of Troy, purchased the place now owned by William Donoho, west of the town. On the west edge of the town, from 1834 to 1838, he kept a store. Ile moved to Macoupin county in 1838, and afterwards died in Green county. His son, O. H. Caswell, is still a resident of Troy. John Cook, father of William Cook, now residing in the township, first settled in the present Collinsville town- ship, and afterward became a resident of this township. The house which he built is still standing. Morris M. Armstrong,

a native of Warren county, Kentucky, and now a citizen of Troy, has been a resident of the county since 1816.

We give in this form a list of the early settlers of the township. Many of their names have been already referred to :

Titns Gregg,

William Hayes,

John Jarvis,

David Moore,

Joseph Eberman,

Gaines Moore,

Abraham Van Hooser, sr.,

llenry Ilall,

Abraham Van Hooser, jr.,

William Hall, jr.,

Henry Peck,

William Kingston,

Daniel Reece,

Joshua Armstrong,

William Robinson,

Job Robinson,

Stepben Dewey, William Beard,

George Churchill,

Israel Turner,

William Howard,

John Riggin,

William Vineyard,

Milton Hall,

Jesse Renfro,

William W. Hall,

Cleveland Ilagler,

George Bolton,

Benjamin J. Hagler.

Thomas Bolton,

Andrew Stice.

William Hall,

John 1Iall,

Robert McMahan,

Noah Hall,

Samuel Vincent,

Lyman Gillet,

Anderson Smith,

Jonathan Denton,

James Simmons,

Sylvanus Gaskill,

Andrew W. Waddle,

David Gaskill,

Hardy Warren,

William F. Purviance,

Walter Denny,

Valentine Van 1looser,

Isaac Clerk,

Joseph Snodgrass,

Isaac K. McMahan,

Robert K. McMahan. jr.,

Ilarry Riggin,

Andrew Moore,

James Riggin,

Dr. Thomas Baker,

Whitmill Harrington,

Calvin McCray,

Nicholas Russell,

Iloratio McCray,

John Painter,

Samnel Wood,

Henry A. Longstaff,

Alexander Conlee,

Jesse Rountree,

John Conlee,

Andrew Black,

Isaac Confee,

James Watt.

The first school taught in the township, was on the western line of section eight in the year 1811. The teacher was Greenberry Randle, who agreed to teach the principles of arithmetic as far as the " Double Rule of Three." In this school the Kiuders, Jarvises, Gaskills, and others of the early settlers received the first elements of an education and laid the foundation for their subsequent usefulness as honored and respected citizens. No school was established in Troy till the year 1824. One of the early teachers of the town- ship is still living, Jesse Renfro. He one year taught a six months' school on section ten for one hundred dollars, and furnished the necessary books to all the scholars.

Among the early churches of the township was the Gilead Methodist church, which stood on section fourteen. This was the first building erected in the township for religious purposes, though early Methodist meetings had been held at the house of John Jarvis and elsewhere. The church was also used as a school-house, and Jesse Renfro taught here several years between 1830 and 1840. The old church was a plain, square frame structure, about twenty by thirty feet in dimensions, weather boarded on the outside with clap-boards. The interior was plastered. Logs split open with pins fastened in the round side formed the benches.

Giles Kelley,

G. W. Kerr,

Elijah Renshaw,

Thomas S. McMahan,

James Newell,

John C. Riggin,

John Harrington,

David Hendershott,

Field Jarvis,

Jacob Gregg,

James Downing, of Down-

ing Station,

Josiah Caswell,

Samson Kingston,

Baptiste St. John,

Rivers McCormack,

441

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

The edifice was of course, destitute of paint. Among the early preachers here were the Rev. Samuel H. Thompson, John Dew, J. H. Benson, and Washington C. Ballard, a lo- cal minister.

On the southwest corner of the same section (fourteen) a church was subsequently built by the Baptists, in which preaching was only held a few years. In the northern part of section fourteen is an old graveyard still in use, in which the first interment was the wife of John Hagler. An Old School Baptist church was established on section sixteen. The Methodists of the western part of the township found the Zion Methodist church on section nineteen; the present building was erected in 1838.

A Roman Catholic church was established on section twenty-seven, with the services in the German language.

The land of Troy township is a good average in fertility and value of the lands of Madison county. About one- third of the township is embraced in Ridge prairie, than which there is no better land in the county. The bottom of Silver creek, which flows south through the eastern part of the township, is unusually wide and subject to overflow, which lessens its value for agricultural purposes. South of Troy, is what is known as the " black jack " district. It contains a good deal of fine land, is excellent for the cultivation of wheat, and the farms here sell at high figures. This part of the township is inhabited mainly by a German population, most of whom are good farmers.

SUPERVISORS.

Ignatius Riggin was the first elected in 1876, and served two terms, and in 1878 was succeeded by J. A. Barnsback, who by re-election has continued in the office to the present.

TROY.

The land on which the town of Troy is mainly built was entered by John Jarvis in September, 1814. In 1818, the year Illinois became a state ; there was a store carried on here by Stephen Dewey, a tavern by Joseph Eberman, and the place was called Columbia. Jarvis had a horse mill at his residence. In the year 1819, Jarvis sold ten acres of the land lying south of his residence to James Riggiu and David Hendershott, who surveyed the tract into lots and laid off the town of Troy. Ten dollars an acre was the price paid for this land. The name of Troy was given to the place by James Riggin.

James Riggin and his brother, Harry Riggin, had come to Troy in 1818, and afterward, in 1822, were followed by another brother, John C. Riggin, father of Iguatius Rig- gin, now a resident of Jarvis township. They were born in Sevier county, Tennessee. Their father was a Methodist preacher who traveled a circuit in East Tennessee eight years, and then went to farming with the view of securing a better support for his family.

After the town was platted a store was started in which James Riggin, Harry Riggin, and Samuel Reid were part- ners. All were alike withont means or any previous know- ledge of the mercantile business, but with Henry Hayes who lived in the Six-mile prairie in the Bottom as their backer,

they bought three hundred dollars worth of goods and began business. Afterward, George W. Carr, came out from St. Louis, to help run the establishment. He had a good edu- cation, bright talents, and was a good business man though inclined to dissipation. From him James Riggin learned the business, but the store not proving profitable, he loaded the goods in a one-horse wagon and moved them to Lebanon, where he engaged in the mercantile business for many years, and accumulated considerable property. Harry Riggin moved to Menard county. In 1829, John C. Riggin pur- chased the farm north the of town originally settled by Titus Gregg. The money with which to buy this land he secured during a trip to the Galena lead mines in 1828. He lived on this farm till his death in 1869.

One of the earliest buildings in Troy was a house on the sonthwest quarter of Main and Market streets, built by David Gaskill. It was so rough in its construction that Mr. Carr aud others, in a playful spree, tore it dowu and burned the rough, round logs that they might not again dis- grace the town. On the northwest corner of the same streets stood a building which in 1822 was occupied by Calvin Mc- Cray as a storehouse. McCray was one of the early mer- chants of the town, and carried on business for a number of years. He owned the whole block. A log cabin stood on it, and to this a frame addition was made, and in this Horatio McCray, a brother to Calvin, kept " accommoda- tions for travelers." The block pissed into the possession of Jacob C. Gonterman, who continued the tavern. A frame store-house was built by Riggin and Hendershott on the northeast corner of Main and Market streets, and on the southe ist corner Joseph Eberman built a frame honse for tavern purposes.

The growth of the town was slow. It was not till many years afterward that the inhabitants were acco nmodated with a post office, and then the appointment was given to George Churchill, whose house was in the Ridge Prairie a mile and a quarter west of the town. This was in the year 1833.

In the year 1831, the firm of White & Merritt conducted the only store in town. It stood on the corner where Fred Auwarter's store now is. Lewis Scantland kept a public house which occupied the site of the present White Horse hotel. 1Ie subsequently sold out to a man named Hickman. A harness maker, named Abner Kelly, was also a resident of the place at that time.

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 105

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698