History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 115

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 115

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JA Smith

battles, and marches in which it was engaged, and remained in the service until the close of the war. He was mustered out and honorably discharged August, 1865. He returned home and re-engaged in farming. In 1869 he moved to Lafayette county, Missouri, and remained there until 1875, then returned to where he now lives, and there he has re- mained to the present. On the 8th of February, 1860, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Polly Ann, daughter of William A. and Eliza Lanterman. She was born in Fort Russell township, June 3, 1840. By this union there were twelve children, of whom there are six sons and two daughters living. The names of the children in the order of their birth are: Margaret Eliza, who died in infancy ; Ruth A, born Oct. 22, 1862; Clara Estella, born May 24, 1864, and died Dec. 20, 1865; Frederick J. A., born July 6, 1866; Lewis James, born January 6, 1868; William Norman, born Sept. 24, 1869; Joseph E., born Feb. 25, 1872; Martha Letitia Harriett, born January 4, 1874; Frankin, born April 10, 1876; Mary Elizabeth, born April 30, 1878, died May 24, 1878; John Henry, born March 26, 1880, died August 4, 1881; Chester Marshall, born December 14, 1881.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the old school Presbyterian church. Politically he has always voted the Republican ticket. Mr. Smith's occupation and business through life has been that of a farmer and stock raiser, in which he has been more than ordinarily successful.

COAL SHAFT

EUXINE, NO. IN REGISIER 3803.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

FARM RESIDENCE OF W. A. SMITH SEC. 6, T. 5, R. 8, (FORT RUSSELL TR) MADISON Co., ILL.

489

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

ONE of the enterprising farmers of Fort Russell township, and an old settler of Madison county, was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, Nov. 26, 1815. The family is of Ger- man ancestry. His father, Daniel A., was a native of Penn- sylvania, and from there moved to Kentucky, where he remained until 1818, when he brought his family to Illinois, and settled in St. Clair county. One year later he removed to Madison, and located on section 19, T. 5-8, and com- menced farming. He taught school for several terms during the winter seasons, and was one of the early teachers in what is now Fort Russell. He remained in the township, engaged in farming aud living a quiet life until his death, which oc- curred in 1865. He married Sarah Luman, a native of Kentucky. She died in 1849, leaving two sons-the subject of this sketch and Peter Lanterman, now deceased He subsequently married Mrs. Elizabeth Irwin, widow of John Irwin. She died October 4th, 1874. By the latter union there was one child, a daughter, named Elizabeth Lanter. man. She died March 15, 1870. The subject of this sketch is the sole survivor of the family. He was in his fourth year when his father came to Illinois, and here in Madison county he has passed his boyhood, manhood, and maturer years.

His education was limited to the common schools of his neighborhood. He remained at home, assisting his father upon the farm, until he attained his twenty-third year. Ile then moved on a forty acre tract in section 16, and com- menced its improvement. To these original forty acres he 64

has added, until he is now recognized as one of the substan- tial farmers of the township.

On the 3d of January, 1839, he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Luman, a native of Lewis county, Ky. Her parents, John and Polly Luman, emigrated from Kentucky to Madison county, Ills., in 1828. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Lanterman has been blessed with ten children, six of whom are living. Their names, in the order of their birth, are : Polly Ann, who is the wife of William A. Smith, a prominent farmer of this county ; Melinda, wife of S. B. Waples, a farmer and resident of Montgomery county, Ills. ; Harriett, wife of A. C. Drennan, a farmer and resident of Woodburn, Macoupin county, Ills. ; William H., who mar- ried Miss Jennie Russell ; Edward A., and John B. Lanter- man. The sons are now farming upon the home place.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Lanterman are members of the Pres- byterian Church. Politically, Mr. Lanterman was originally an old line Whig, and cast his first presidential vote for W. H. Harrison in 1840. He joined the Republican party in 1860, and has been an active supporter of that political organization to the present. He has held the office of Jus- tice of the Peace for nearly sixteen years. He was the first collector in the township, when the county was changed to township organization, and has held other offices of minor importance. Nearly sixty-five years have fled since Mr. Lanterman came to and has been a resident of the county ; and in all those years he has sustained the character of an upright man, good neighbor and honest citizen.

MORO.

ORO is situated in the northern tier of townships, bounded north by Macoupin county, east by Omph-Ghent, south by Fort Russell and west by Fosterburg. It comprises congressional township 6, range 8; the northern tier of sections being fractional. The surface is gener- ally rolling, with considerable timber along the various streams. The prairies are small, and extend in a northerly and southerly direction. Paddock's creek, Indian creek, Rocky Branch and their tributaries furnish a good system of drainage. They run in a southerly direction across the township. The soil is rich and productive, and the improvements are among the best in this part of the county.

This portion of the county was settled at a much later date than the central and southern portions. - We find on the records of land entries that Zenas Webster and S. W. Paddock entered the first land December 11. 1820. It was the N. E quarter of the S. E. quarter and the S. E. quarter of the S. E. quarter of section 34, eighty acres. Zenas Webster settled on the former tract and was the first resident in the township. His cabin was located near the Springfield road, on the east side. He resided here a number of years. The next settlement was made in the southwestern part of the township in section 19, near Rocky Branch, in the fall of 1828, by Thomas Luman ; he came from the Wood river settlement, and Abraham Prenitt and others assisted in raising his cabin. Luman died there of fever in 1832; his widow soon afterward married John Norton, who moved up on Macoupin creek, in Macoupin county. This settlement was soon followed by Thomas Wood, in the same year, 1828. He is a native of Kentucky, born in 1808, and came to Illi- nois in the year above named. He was then a single man and stopped for a short time with his uncle at Troy, in this county. He settled on the Springfield road, on the south- east quarter of section 10, where he has ever since resided ; he married Jane Tolon, of this county, by whom he had a family of thirteen children, six of whom are living. His wife died October 12, 1875, and he still survives, hale and hearty.

The second land entry was made by Solomon Preuitt, March 30, 1830, consisting of two tracts in the southwest quarter of section 8, eighty acres, and was settled by his son, Abraham Preuitt, on the 9th day of May, 1830. Abraham Preuitt was born in Wood river township, October 12, 1810, where he grew to manhood and married Mildred Wood,

daughter of Ephraim Wood, another old settler of Wood river. He has been twice married, the second time to Mrs. Louisa Wells, in 1861, and reared a family of nine children ; he has two children living by his former wife: Valentine, who joined the army in 1861, and still remains in the service, and Matilda, who married Jonathan Wood, and resides in the county. Mr. Preuitt is now living in the third house on his place ; his first was a rough log cabin, which was burned ; the second a hewed log house, and the present one a frame building. Another land entry was made February 27, 1830, by William Jones, the southwest fraction of section 4, 751% acres, and two more in 1831, by - Wood and James Mason.

In 1830, Joseph Hughes came from St. Clair county and located in the northeast corner of section 18, in the fall of the year ; he brought with him a family of young children. About 1832 Solomon Preuitt bought him out and entered the land on which he had settled, and Hughes removed to Macoupin county. In 1831, Louis D. Palmer came with his family from Kentucky and settled on section 28. He was the father of Hon. John M. Palmer, ex-Governor of Illinois, who is now practicing law in the city of Springfield. He purchased and entered land, and improved a farm, where he continued to reside until 1844, when he sold his farm to William Cooper, and removed to Jerseyville, and sub- sequently to Litchfield, where he died in 1869, in his eighty- eighth year. Henry Thornton Carter, a native of Tennessee, born June 19, 1811, came to Illinois in 1827, with his father, Edward Carter, who lived in Madison and St. Clair counties. June 6, 1833, H. T. Carter married Hannah Davis, which was the first marriage ceremony performed in Omph-Ghent township, where her father lived. In October, 1834, he and his young wife settled on the north half of the southeast quarter of section 26, of this township, which he afterwards entered ; he died here July 21, 1844, and left a family of five children, all of whom are yet living. His widow cor- tinued on the homestead, reared her children and improved the place, and is still living there with her son, Henry D. Carter, in the sixty-seventh year of her age.

Samuel Sanner, another prominent arrival in 1833. was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, September 12, 1803. Ile was of German origin. April 26, 1827, he was married to Barbara Paul, and in May, 1833, they emi- grated west, and settled on the Springfield road, in this town- ship. A family by the name of Lathey accompanied them from Pennsylvania, and in partnership with them purchased a farm of 160 acres. After living there about seven years

490

491

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Mr. Sanner sold his interest in the farm and purchased another about a mile distant, on which the family resided until their removal to Shelby county in 1866. Mr. Sanner was a very industrious and energetic man, and succeeded in accumulating a competence and being owner of a fine and valuable farm consisting of 400 acres, situated in sections 26 and 27. As above stated he moved with his family to Shelby county, this state, in 1866, where he purchased between two and three thousand acres of unimproved land. He resided there until his death, April 19, 1880. Ilis widow still survives. John Mahuern, from Kentucky, emigrated to Illinois with his father, Samuel Mahuern, settling in Wood river in 1816 ; married a daughter of Captain Abel Moore, and located in Moro, in 1833, on section 18; he lived 1 here but a short time. An Irishman, by the name of John Kingston, settled the Gay place, near Moro, about the same time in 1833, and resided here until his death several years afterward.

John Speer and Low Jackson also settled in 1833. In May of the following year (1834), came Nimrod Dorsey, a native of Maryland. He was born in 1789, and went to Kentucky, where he married Matilda Dorsey, a cousin, and in the year above named emigrated with his family to Illi- nois, and settled in the northeast quarter of section 29 of this township, where he resided until his death, in August, 1849. His widow survived him until 1881, being in her eighty-eighth year. They had a family of eleven children, five of whom came with them to this State, viz : Samuel L., Edward J., Nimrod M., Susan, who married Anthony B. Hundley ; Urath M., who married Adam Blair, and after- ward Minor O'Bannon, all of whom are now dead except Samuel L. He was born in 1814, and has lived in this township ever since his father settled here. Ile has been three times married, and reared a family of six children.

Isaac Preuitt, brother of Abraham Preuitt, located on section 7, in 1834. He was born Aug. 14th, 1812, and mar- ried Susannah Braden, and reared a family, some of whom are residing in the county and others in the west. In 1849 he emigrated to Texas, but returned the following year, and is now residing in this township.

Jacob Preuitt was born Jan. Ist, 1815, married Clarinda Starkey, and settled in section 17, in 1835, and is now resid- ing in Texas.

Martin Preuitt settled the William Butcher place in 1839, and afterward sold out and moved to Gillespie, Ma- coupin county, where he died. James Preuitt located on the northeast quarter of section 17, about 1840, and is now liv- ing with his son, E. K. Previtt, on the Dorsey place. These are all sons of the old pioneer, Martin Preuitt, a complete history of whom can be read in the Wood River history.

In 1834, Buford T. Yager, who was born January 30th. 1806, in Virginia, settled on section 30, in the fall of that year He came from Kentucky, whence he had removed with his father, at the age of nine years. Ilis wife, Juda Ann Wilhite, born in June, 1814, is a native of Kentucky. They had a family of thirteen children, seven of whom are now living in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Yager are still living on the spot where they settled.

Fleming Huestis came in 1835, and located in section 15. He was born in New York in 1797, was twice married, and reared a large family. IIe died in Aug. 1876. His brother, Benjamin Huestis, born in the same State in 1799, came in 1836, and entered 160 acres in section 22. where he resided until December 19, 1880. He was also twice married, and his second wife is still living on the old homestead. There were three children born to him, two sons and one daughter. William E. is residing on the home place. Benjamin L. Dorsey came from Kentucky, and first located near Bethal- to, where he remained a few years, and removed to section 17 of Moro, settling on a beautiful little prairie which has ever since borne his name. This was in 1836. Ile resided here until his death in the fall of 1880. Only three of his family are now living in the township, viz: William, Theo- dore, and John. Mr. Dorsey was a very energetic and en- terprising man, and succeeded in accumulating considerable property.

Frederick Meyer, a native of Germany, came to this country about 1836, settled in Madison county, and after- ward became a resident of this township. He died in 1866, and his widow, an old resident of the township, still survives.

John A. Campbell, born in New Jersey in 1812, also settled in section 11 in 1836, and is still residing there. William Cooper, J. M. Cooper, and Henry Cooper, three brothers, natives of England, came to this country and set- tled in Moro in the decade of 1840. After they had been here a short time, they brought their father and mother to this country. The father, John Cooper, died here, and their mother returned.

Cornelius Mckinney and Jonathan Smith were also early settlers.

C. II. Hatcher, a Kentuckian, settled at Ridgely in 1856. Although not an old settler in this county, Mr. Hatcher made a tour through the country in 1818. He visited most of the settlements in this county that year, and continued his trip to Vandalia, where he taught school for a short time, and the following year clerked in St. Louis. He was twice married, and reared a family of seven children, all of whom are still living. He died in 1865, and his widow still survives, residing in Tennessee.

We have mentioned the names of many of the earliest settlers in Moro township. It is not necessary, neither would it be interesting to name them all, even were it possible to do so. Many of those who first came remained but a short time, and their history would be of little value. The permanent settlers,-those who have helped to make the township what it is to day,-are the ones we seek to place v.pon the historic page.

This township has been represented in the board of super- visors by Elias K. Preuitt, who was elected in 1876 and served till 1880, when N. S. Gay was elected, and is the present incumbent.

RIDGELY,

Is a point at the junction of the Alton and Hillsboro and Springfield road, in section 22, where, at one time, consider- able business was done. About 1850, a store was kept by Richard O'Bannon ; two saloons, a post-office, a blacksmith

492

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

shop, and three churches, Catholic, Christian, and Metho- dist. At present there is no business transacted herc.

DORSEY STATION,

Is situated in section 16, on the line of the Indianapolis and St. Louis railroad, which is a great convenience to the citi- zens of the northern part of the township. There is a store kept hy H. L Koeneman, and a blacksmith shop by Fred. Best, at the station. The

VILLAGE OF MORO,

Started with the building of the railroad through here in 1853. It was first called Hampton, and was laid out on the southwest corner of the southwest quarter of section 32, and blocks 34 and 35, on the southeast quarter of section 31, by James H. Smith and James Montgomery, and plat recorded March 7, 1855. August 23 of the same year, the same par- ties made a small addition, replatted the town, and named it Moro.

Hugh and James P. Smith built a frame store-house soon after the road was completed, and put in a general stock of goods. The next house was a residence, built by Samuel Smith, a frame two story and a-half dwelling.

Lowder Tatman, Peter Hassinger, Mrs. Matilda Dorsey, and several others began building about the same time, and, in a year or two, quite a nice little village had sprung up. A large general warehouse, for shipping purposes, was also soon erected by James Montgomery.

In 1856, James Montgomery and Hugh Smith erected a large frame three story steam flouring-mill, with a run of three burrs. It did a good business until the winter of 1870- '71, when it was destroyed by fire.

The old school Presbyterian church, a frame structure erected in 1852, was the first and only house of worship built in the village. It stands just across the township line in Fort Russell. There is a good one story brick district school house located about three-quarters of a mile north of the town. It was built in 1880, and cost $2500. First black. smith was Mr. Skiles.

PRESENT BUSINESS.

General Stores .- William Montgomery, T. A. Mutchmore. Blacksmith Shop .- John Klaus, George Griffith.

Shoemaker Shop .- Carl Boettger.

Tailor .- William Zoelzer.

Wagon Maker .- T. J. Sapp.

Saloon .- George Schubert, William Meyer.

Post Muster .- William Montgomery.

Physician .- Frank Gere.

Brick Yard .- Henry De Werff. about three quarters of a mile north from the village, manufactures a very fine quality of brick. Has a well arranged yard with kiln, and burns about 140,000 brick per year.

There are two or three coal mines, operated by horse- power, in the vicinity of Moro. The vein is about five feet thick, and coal is found about thirty feet from the surface.

BIOGRAPHY.

WM. C. FORMAN,

WAS born in Lincolnshire, England, February 28th, 1833, being the son of Samuel and Eliza Forman. When an in- fant, his mother died. His father married again, and in 1845 emigrated to America, with his wife and two children, William C. and Alfred. Samuel Forman came directly to Madison county, and settled in Fort Russell township, where he still remains, having followed the profession of farming since the period of his arrival in this country. The subject of this sketch remained at home with his father until his nineteenth year; he then went west, and for nine years was principally engaged in mining operations in Nevada,

which proved very successful. Immediately after Mr. For- man's return from the mines he sought an opportunity for investing his capital, and became the owner of the farm he now occupies, in Moro township, formerly known as the Nimrod Dorsey farm. An illustration of the same can be seen on another page of this work. Mr. Forman has con- fined himself exclusively to farming operations since his return from the West, and has his land in an excellent state of cultivation. In 1874 he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Tipton, daughter of Elijah Tipton, a former resident of Macoupin county. By this union there has been born a family of four children, Samuel E, William, Nellic, May and Sarah. Politically Mr. Forman is a stauneh Republican.

7-9

"HOME" THE RESIDENCE OF THE HON. NEWTON S. GAY, SEC.31, T. 6, R. 8, ( MORO TP.) MADISON, CO. ILL.

MARINE.

HIS beautiful, fertile and highly improved ; in the southeast corner, afford an abundant supply of pure township, now covered with valuable water for stock, and excellent drainage, as well. farms, dotted with handsome and com- fortable homes, and commodious barns, PIONEER SETTLEMENTS. teeming with their rich stores of agri- Major Isaac H Ferguson and John Warwick, brothers- in-law, were the first to intrude upon unbroken nature in this township. They built their cabins in the edge of the timber on the southwest quarter of seetion 33, in 1813. Major Ferguson came to this section of the country as an officer in the United States army, as early as 1806, and lived in the vicinity of Fort Russell for several years. He was a ranger during the war of 1812. He eon- tinued his residence in the township until 1842, when he sold his home to Jacob Spies. and went to Texas. When war was declared against Mexico, though an old man of seventy five years of age, he enlisted and participated in the war; and while in the city of Mexico, was taken sick and died. His children were Melinda, who married Nicholas Kyle, and died in St. Jacob's township in 1880; John L., who was born in a block house in Fort Russell township in 1807, married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Curtis Blake- man, Jr., and lived in Marine township, continuously, until his death, which occurred in 1878: his widow still sur- vives him ; Lucinda, married Henry Riggin, and subse- quently became the wife of Squire Peterson, and now re- sides in Bond county ; Elizabeth Ann, became the wife of a German, named John; Minerva Ann, married Thomas Uzzell. The two last named, with the other children, Wil- liam, Justice, Nicholas and Mary, accompanied their father to Texas. cultural wealth; and the large herds of stock grazing upon the rich herbage of the meadows, are but the indices to the people, who are now reaping and enjoy- ing the fruits of those pioneers, who bore the brunt and withstood the privations incident to the early settlement and development of a wild region. The early history of the township precedes the admission of Illinois into the Union as a State. Among the early settlers were found the athletic and hospitable Kentuckian ; the hardy backwoodsman from the mountains of Tennessee; the thrifty and bargain-driving New Englander; the Knicker- bocker, and the chivalrous gentleman from Virginia. The present generation are a people of intelligence, education and enterprise. They are now enjoying the products and blessings of a civilized community, surrounded by all the necessaries, comforts and even Inxuries so essential to man's happiness and contentment. They are the debtors of the sturdy yeomen of pioneer days for much of what they now enjoy. Through the efforts of the pioneer, the land has been made to blossom and bring forth the fruits of civiliza- tion and prosperity; and while history may bear their names down to posterity, the early struggles with untamed nature and its final subjugation through their labors and the results thereof erect a lasting monument to their mem- ories.

Marine township lies east of the central portion of the county, and is bounded on the north by Alhambra, on the east by Saline, on the south by St. Jacobs and on the west by Pin Oak. In form it is a perfect square, and contains thirty-six full sections. The township received the name of " Marine Settlement " at a very early day from the settlement of so many sea captains within its limits.

The surface is beautiful rolling prairie, save that portion bordering on the water courses, which was formerly covered with heavy forests; but time, the fertility of the soil, and the necessity of man, have transformed nearly all into fertile farms. The soil is rich, and produces large yields of the cereals and hay. Sugar Fork of Silver Creek, which enters at section three and traverses the township from north to south, finding its way out in section 33, several small streams upon each side, and the east Fork of Silver Creek

John Warwick remained but a short time, sold his im- provement to Capt. Blakeman and left the settlement. John Laird was also an early settler and the first magistrate in the settlement, receiving his appointment from the Legis- Jative Council. He left the township prior to 1819. Other pioneers who made permanent settlements were John Woods, George Neweomb, Joseph and Absalom Ferguson, Aquilla Dolahide, Abraham Howard and John Dean, who settled in 1813 and 1814 and Chester Pain, John Campbell John Giger and Thomas Breeze in 1815. On the 19th day of September, 1817, a company left their pleasant homes in New York city, and turned their course westward, to seek homes in the vicinity of Edwardsville, Illinois, where some of the party, the Masons, had been the previous year, and brought back favorable reports of the new country. Row- land P. Allen, his wife and son, George T .; a negro boy, Henry, and a negro girl, Jane, servants given to Mrs. Allen

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 115

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