USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., gathered from mattter furnished by the Mercer County Historical Society, interviews with old settlers, county, township and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources as have been available : containing also a short history of Henderson County > Part 11
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
at the age of seventy-four. His father was seventy-eight years of age at his death. O. C.'s father built the first grist mill in the county about 1838. In 1858 he built a large and commodious mill near the site of the old one. O. C. Lutz started out in life with limited means. Hle has gradually worked his way up until he now owns considerable property. The first real estate he owned was eighty acres in Eliza township. This he sold in 1873 and went to York county, Nebraska, where he became the owner of 480 acres of land. which yields him an annual income of $700. In March. 1881, he bought the mill estate of his father's in Mercer county, Illinois, and returned in October of the same year, and has refitted the mill and is now prepared to compete with any other mill in the country. November 1. 1871. he was married to Miss Permelia, daughter of Henry and Permelia Hempton. She was born October 12. 1854. They have had two children. In connection with his mill property he owns 167 acres of land. . Mr. Lutz is a republican and cast his first vote for Lincoln.
THOMAS WILLITT. farmer, was born August 22. 1846. in Mercer county, Illinois. His parents were Kentuckians. He was married September 18, 1871. His wife was the daughter of David and Nancy Brought. She was born in Hancock county, Ohio. December 9, 184S. In 1862 Mr. Willitt enlisted in the 30th reg. Ill. Vol. He served his country until the close of the war, and then returned to his home and engaged in agriculture. He received a common school education. He makes a living for himself and family by honest toil.
LYMAN H. SCUDDER was born in Cattaraugus county. New York, October 29, 1829. In the year 1847 he came to New Boston, where he resided until the spring of 1852, when he started with an ox team for California, and arrived in Placerville in September of that year. He was engaged in mining and farming until the summer of 1855, when he returned to New Boston. Ile then engaged in the livery business, which he followed until the summer of 1862. In July of that year he enlisted, and on the tenth day of September he was mustered into the service of the United States as captain of company G. 124th reg. Ill. Vol. Inf. His regiment became a part of the third Division of the 17th Army Corps, which was then engaged in preparing for the capture ef Vicksburg, Miss. He participated in several skirmishes and battles, in one of which (Champion Hills, Miss.) he was wounded, and in July. 1864, owing to ill health, he resigned his commission and returned to his home. He has been a resident of New Boston ever since. The subject of this sketch has been twice married. May 13. 1861. he was married to Miss Fanny E. Ives, of Oquawka, Illinois, who died in May, 1865, leaving one son. February 11. 1866, he was
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NEW BOSTON TOWNSHIP.
married to Miss Helen L. Moore, daughter of George and Jemima Moore, of New Boston. She was born in Eliza township, four miles from her present residence, on May 10, 1837. She has a just claim to be called one of the early settlers. In politics Captain Scudder is republican, having voted and advocated the principles of that party ever since its organization. For the past sixteen years he has resided on a farm three miles north of New Boston and has taken considerable interest in apiarian pursuits.
The subject of the following sketch is not identified with the his- tory of Mercer county for so long a period as some others, as he did not come until 1848. Mr. ISOM JACKSON was born in Hancock county. Indiana, April 4, 1839, and consequently was nine years of age when he came to this county with his parents. He is the youngest child of Dempsy and Mary Jackson. His parents are still living at the age of seventy-five each. As a tiller of the soil Mr. Jackson has worked at it all his life. By grasping the few advantages afforded in early times he obtained a common school education. He was married May 29, 1864, to Miss Salinda, daughter of John and Rachel Fisher. Mr. Jackson was always a democrat until 1876, when he joined the green- back party, of which he has been a member ever since. They have had six children, all of whom are living: they are Ed., John, Homer, Thomas, Bert and Edney. Mr. Jackson has been very successful in accumulating property. At present he has 240 acres of land. 200 of which is in New Boston township and 40 in Eliza. In response to his country's call he enlisted in the 124th regiment. and after serving eleven months, was wounded in the left hand and right arm, from which he has been a cripple ever since.
Among the well-to-do farmers of New Boston township may be mentioned THOMAS J. JACKSON, who was born in Hancock county. Indiana, July 24, 1837. He is next to the youngest child of Demsy and Mary Jackson. When eleven years of age he came with his parents to Mercer county, Illinois, settling in New Boston township, where he has resided ever since. His parents are still living at the age of seventy-five each, and in good health. Mr. Jackson worked with his father until twenty-one years of age, when he commenced farming for himself, in which business he has been engaged ever since with the exception of two years spent in California, where he went in 1862, staying two years. He went by the way of New York, down the Atlantic, across the Isthmus of Panama, and up the Pacific ocean to San Francisco, and returned in 1864. Received a common school education. He was married to Miss Samantha Drew, daughter of Harrison and Eliza Drew, March, 1860. They had one child, which
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
died April, 1862. His wife died March, 1863. He was married again August 12, 1868, to Miss Louisa, daughter of David and Eliza Honey- man. They had one child: Gid, who was born April 23, 1875. Mr. Jackson owns the northeast quarter of section 8, in New Boston town- ship, 80 acres of which he bought in 1873 and 80 in 1875.
MARSHALL FLEMING, farmer, was born in Henry county, Indiana, September 8, 1831, and is the oldest child of John W. and Angeline (Cellars) Fleming. He came with his parents to Mercer county, Illi- nois, in the year of 1849. Two years later he commenced farming for himself. His father was born in Fairmont county, West Virginia, April 20, 1809, and departed this life February 26, 1854. His remains- rest in the New Boston cemetery. His mother was born in 1812, in Brown county, Ohio, and is still living at the age of seventy years. Marshall was married to Miss Nancy Rader August 20, 1853. She is. the daughter of Abraham G. and Catharine Rader. Her parents were among the early settlers of the county, coming in the year 1838. She was born September 27, 1836, in Henry county, Indiana. The young couple started out in life with nothing but a two-year-old colt. For their household goods and one horse they went in debt. This horse and his two-year-old colt made his team. Thus he went on adding a little each year to his capital, until he has acquired a good, well- improved farm, having twice taken the first premium. His farm is situated two miles northeast of New Boston. He and his wife have been members of the Methodist church since 1872. In politics he is a republican. They have had two children : Josephine, born November 27, 1858; Elsie, born January 29, 1862, and died October 8, 1863.
G. W. BRIDGER, farmer, was born January 13, 1858, in Mercer county, Illinois, and is the oldest son of Charles H. and Martha F. Bridger. He was married February 3, 1881, to Miss Josephine Flem- ing, daughter of Marshall and Nancy Fleming. He lived with his father and worked on the farm until nineteen years of age, when he- determined to have at least a common school education. Working in summer he earned enough to send him to the village school of Viola during the fall and winter. This he followed up for three years, work- ing summers and attending school fall and winter. He then taught school for a number of terms. At present he is engaged in farming.
JAMES P. POWLEY, farmer, was born in Hancock county, Indiana,. September 4, 1832. He came to Mercer county, Illinois, in 1849. He was married February 22, 1854, to Sarah J., daughter of Andrew and Jane Malady. He has been in Mason since 1861. He owns a. farm of 140 acres, well improved. Mr. and Mrs. Powley have had born to them two children.
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NEW BOSTON TOWNSHIP.
GEORGE H. SIGNOR, grocer, was born in New York in 1835. He was the oldest son. His parents, John and Araminta C. (Lawrence). Signor, had eleven children, and in 1839 they removed with them to Ross county, Ohio. In 1845 the family emigrated still farther west, settling in Columbus City, Louisa county, Iowa. Living there a year, they next came to Oquawka, where his father shortly after died, aged about forty-six years. In 1853 Mr. Signor settled in New Boston, where he was married and has since had his home. His mother is still living at the age of seventy-three. It is a curious fact that the ages of her nine living brothers and sisters average her own age. His mar- riage on January 1, 1857, was with Miss Maria Alyea, of New Boston, daughter of Joseph Alyta, one of the first settlers and business men in the place. Mr. Signor was employed by him as a clerk when he first came. Both he and his wife are communicants in the Methodist church, of New Boston, of which he is steward. He takes a lively interest in the temperance cause, and has always taken a leading part in organizations of that nature. He has filled the highest position in three Good Templar lodges and is an Odd-Fellow of twenty-five years' standing. Raised a whig, he voted first for Fremont, and has since trained strictly with the republicans. In 1880 he started in the grocery trade.
GEORGE GORE, banker, was born in Maryland in 1837, and was the only son of Philip and Susannah (Baughman) Gore. He had six sisters. In 1841 his parents moved west and settled in Columbus City, Louisa county, Iowa, where his mother died the next year at the age of forty-two. In 1846 his father married again, this time Mrs. Margaret Alexander, and in 1854 moved with his family to Keiths- burg, where he engaged in merchandising. He had been previously selling goods in Columbus City. Mr. Gore remained with his father at Keithsburg until 1864, when he went to Montana for the benefit of his health. Being restored, he returned at the end of nine months and settled in New Boston, and during the succeeding eight years was in the service of Wells Willits as book-keeper. In 1873 he embarked in trade on his own account, and was in partnership the first two years with C. H. Bell. Impaired health caused him to sell out in 1880, and with his family he went to Florida, spending seven months there. Returning somewhat improved, he engaged in banking in the autumn of 1881. Mr. Gore has been a Mason since 1874, and has held the office of alderman and mayor. He was mayor of New Boston in 1879, and as a firm supporter of the temperance programme and princi- ples was chosen to that place to further the interests of the community from that standpoint. Always a democrat in politics, he stood
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
with those who gave hearty encouragement to the Union cause throughout the war. In local elections he votes for whomsoever is, in his judgment, the best man. He was married in July, 1861, to Miss Emily C. Hubbell, step-daughter of H. G. Calhoun. Their only son, Clair, is nine years old.
KEITHISBURG TOWNSHIP.
This is township 13, range 5, embracing fifteen full and four frac- tional sections. The soil is generally sandy, particularly so along the river which is skirted above Keithsburg by a narrow belt of timber. It lies upon the elevated bottom lands below the bluff, which once confined a mightier and more majestic flood than the "Father of Waters," whose headstrong tide washes its western boundary in easy and graceful curves.
The first settler was John Vannatta. He came alone from Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, arriving here about the first of May, 1827, and opened a supply yard for wooding steamboats. A year or two afterward his brother Benjamin followed him, and the two carried on together the peaceful employment of cutting and selling wood, until interrupted in 1831 by disquieting rumors of the uneasy disposition of the Indians and their preparations for war. Their neighbors at the Upper Yellow Banks, the Denisons, left their home for two months, and it is probable that these families also went away until security was assured. Next year the Black Hawk war broke out - a war in which the excitement was more disproportioned to the danger than in any other of which we read. But the danger was real and imminent in this region. Yet these white families remained busy at their toil, un- moved by the warnings and entreaties of their dusky friends, tarrying in the face of peril, refusing to depart. How was it hundreds of miles away? The people, alarmed by exaggerated reports, had loaded their wagons for possible flight, and regularly laid down to their slumbers with barricaded doors and in feverish anxiety. On the day that the Denisons came down on their way to Pence's fort, so-called, the Van- nattas gathered up their goods, and with their families went out and stayed all night in a low place on the prairie. The following day they reached Pence's, where the inhabitants had collected from the sur- · rounding country. This place and Monmonth were the rallying points for a large section during the war. Pence's stockade was made of logs split once in two, stood upright and close together with one end in the ground, forming a palisade not less than twelve feet high and
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KEITHISBURG TOWNSHIP.
enclosing about 700 square yards of ground. After a few months' absence the Vannattas returned. Benjamin Vannatta had a pre-emp- tion claim to the S. E. { of Sec. 22, where Keithsburg now stands.
About the month of August, 1833, John Bates settled on the N. W. ¿ of Sec. 33, and made a small farm which was occupied some three years afterward by Isom Lakey, who continued to reside in this township with his family up to 1860 or 1861. The next settler was Erastus S. Denison, who came down from the Upper Yellow Banks (New Boston) in 1835, and made a claim upon the N. E. ¿ of Sec. 1. Samnel Vannatta joined his brothers about the spring of 1835. In the fall of that year they sold out their claims to Robert Keith, a Scotchman, who had emigrated to America the year before, and who took possession the following spring, when the Vannattas all removed to the vicinity of Muscatine (then called Bloomington), Iowa.
As the founder of Keithsburg Robert Keith is entitled to more than incidental notice. He was reared in Belfrone, Scotland, where he received a liberal education.
After his second marriage in that country in 1821, he lived two years in London, and was a traveling salesman for a book establish- ment. He then went to Dublin, where he had control of a similar house, and whence he embarked for this country. He left New York and came direct to Quincy, Illinois, in the spring of 1835, and in the autumn following made his selection for a permanent home at this place, which became known as Keith's Landing.
In the spring of 1836 Abner Martin settled on the southwest quar- ter of section 13, and in the same year sold out to John McIl. Wilson, who occupied the premises the following year and lived in the same place until his death in 1879. He was one of the most respectable citizens of the township.
The same spring William Sheriff and Paul Sheriff settled on the west half of section 24, and on the southwest quarter of the same sec- tion the latter is still a resident and prosperous farmer. In 1837 William Sheriff erected a saw-mill on Pope creek on the northeast quarter of section 23, and expended a large amount of money upon a dam which was a total loss, owing to quicksand in the bed of the stream, rendering the structure unserviceable. The mill rotted down, but at low-water mark some of the spiles in the bottom of the creek on which the dam rested may still be seen. J. McH. Wilson, Paul Sheriff, A. B. Sheriff and T. B. Cabeen were employed as laborers, and did many hard days' work upon this mill and dam, and all except Wilson are still living in the township. This was the only attempt ever made io erect a dam on Pope creek in this township. A. B. Sheriff
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
came in 1836, and Matthew Sheriff a year or two later. The latter died in 1863.
In 1836 Daniel Justice began to improve a farm on the southwest quarter of section 1, where he made a fine home and resided until the summer of 1851, when he sold to John Doak and moved to Polk county, Iowa. William Wilson, formerly of Danville, Pennsylvania, then of Chicago, Illinois, settled also in 1836 on the east half of the northeast quarter of section 13, where he improved a good farm and where his wife died in 1844, and he himself about two years later. John McH. Wilson was his son. His daughters, Hannah Nevius and Lucy Cabeen, are still residents of this township. About the year 1838 Joel A. Hall, the mill-wright who had charge of the work on William Sheriff's mill, entered and settled on the northwest quarter of section 13, but resided there only a year or two, when he sold out and went west. Near the same time Bennett Hurst settled on the north- east quarter of section 2 and made his home in that place up to 1850, when he disposed of his farm and bought other property in the town- ship, and has been a citizen here till a recent date. Benjamin F. Gruwell moved from Indiana and took up a farm in November, 1837, on the northwest quarter of section 1 ; in 1852 he sold out and came to Keithsburg, where he kept hotel a number of years and has since resided. In 1837 or 1838 John W. Nevins began a home in the township. He lived here till his death in 1875. Joseph J. Wordin emigrated from Ohio and landed at New Boston in 1837. The follow- ing spring he became a resident of this township, and has had his home in Keithsburg nearly ever since. His wife died here in 1873.
Robert Keith laid out the town in 1837, and between that date and 1846 not more than half a dozen families, including Mr. Wordin's, came to reside in the place. The Rev. James Ross, a local preacher of the United Brethren church, arrived with his family about 1841, and was the first minister to take up his residence here. Both he and his wife died in this township some five years afterward, and many of their descendants can yet be found in this vicinity. In 1841 B. L. Hardin began a home on the S. E. 4, Sec. 11, where he still resides and has become one of the solid farmers of the neighborhood. About 1842 James Garner came to Keithsburg with a few trifling articles of trade and a barrel of whisky, and made the first attempt at merchandising in the township. The business was unremunerative, and he sold out to David Bowen, who had come in 1839, and moved on to the N. E. }, Sec. 25. In 1847 he left that place and came again to Keithsburg and this time went to keeping hotel. In the same year, and again in 1849, he was elected justice of the peace, and at one time was sheriff of the
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county two years. Not long after his first election as magistrate he presided in a jury trial, with C. M. Harris, of .Oquawka, and John Mitchell, of Monmouth, as opposing attorneys. The former was a man of admirable physical resources, while the latter would scarcely weigh a hundred pounds, and, besides, was disabled in the left arm from a wound received in the Mexican war. Harris stated the case to the jury and sat down. Mitchell arose and had proceeded but a little way with his statement when Harris in bullying tones said, "That is a lie!" A glance from Mitchell was all the attention that this sally received. A few moments elapsed and again Harris interposed, say- ing, "That is another lie !" Mitchell turned to him with gleaming eye and warned him not to repeat that insult or he would strike him, and then went on. A minute or two more and Harris broke in: "And that is an infernal lie!" The words were not more than uttered before Mitchell delivered a stunning blow between his eyes which sent him over backward to the floor. Some one interfered to separate them, while the justice was standing and looking over his table in bewilder- ment to see the fight go on. All of a sudden, as soon as it was over, he involuntarily brought his finger-tips down upon the board with a thud, exclaiming, in blank astonishment: "Well, I'll be d-d!" but instantly recovering himself and his dignity he called out to the offenders : "Gentlemen, I fine each of you $10, by -! "
A small chapter of such court incidents could be written, but this furnishes fully enough at one view of the manners of the period. Many years ago Mr. Garner removed to Millersburg where he still lives, holding on to life by feeble tenure.
Soon after purchasing Garner's mercantile stand Bowen closed up the business and moved to Rock Island, of which city he is still a resi- dent. His son George was born on election day, August 3, 1840, and this is supposed to have been the first birth in Keithsburg. This elec- tion is said to have been the first held in the place. "A quart cup of whisky was kept standing on the judges' table all day for an hour glass," writes Mr. Bowen. About 1843 an old Frenchman by the name of Rochelle landed here in a small boat, bringing with him a few goods with which he started a country store. Shortly after a family named Omy came to the settlement, and it has always been reported that the young men made an excursion down the river one fine day in an open boat, accompanied by Rochelle, who suspiciously failed to return, and that his companions appropriated his effects.
In 1842 Zephaniah Wade made a claim to the N. W. ¿ , Sec. 14; he died in a few years, but his widow survived until a few months since, when she passed away in Keithsburg among her decendants.
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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.
In 1843 Nicholas Edwards settled on section 5, at the mouth of the Edwards river, where he and William Willett and Isaiah Brown had the year before erected a saw-mill. This year Willett sold his interest to Brown. After doing a successful business for sometime Edwards removed to his farm in Mercer township and is now a resident of Aledo. Brown went to California, where he died.
Another settler, who was less conspicuous for the term of his resi- dence than for his ambition to become the builder of a town, was a man named Gavitt who made a claim about a mile below the landing, where in 1837 he laid off a town and designated it Columbia city. It occupied a high plateau which bore signs of having been formerly an Indian encampment. There was the field where the squaws had raised their corn ; the pits in which it had been buried ; and the places where their fires had burned were yet visible ; and poles still standing in the ground showed where their lodges had stood. Gavitt's plat was not. recorded, and he was not long in this vicinity. Alexander Davis bought his claim and entered the land.
We borrow the following sketch of "What Grandmother Said," which gives a very fair idea of the methods and resources of every day life in the pioneer period: "We came here in October, 1832. We lived the first winter in a log cabin made of hickory. We had a door made of clapboards, and a crack between the logs for a window. Our bedstead was made in the corner with one leg drove into the ground (we had no floor) and slabs laid across. The straw would freeze to the slabs. We had two chairs, brought with us from Kentucky ; grandfather made stools for the children. We built our fire on the ground, and our chimney was made of sticks and danbed with mnd. We baked our bread in a skillet, and made our own coffee by scorching meal and pouring boiling water on it. We had no table, so we ate on a goods box. We bored holes in the logs and put pins in and made our cup- board. I swept our floor with a bunch of hazel brush or a hay broom. In those days we never had to scrub or mop. When we butchered we made a scaffold on one side of the chimney and laid our meat up there, so the dogs and wolves could not get it. When I washed I went down to the spring, a quarter of a mile from the house, and carried the clothes. I had neither tub, board, nor boiler, but washed on my hands, in a large bucket, and did the boiling in an iron kettle. I have the kettle yet.
" This is the way we lived the first winter, and we were glad to get. so good a house. I lived happier then than I do now in a fine house. There were two or three log cabins and a log court-house in Mon- mouth. The mail carrier carried the mail from Oquawka to
WM GAYLE.
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Monmouth in the top of his hat. We had to go to Rock Island to mill. We lived here one year without cows, sheep or chickens. We had one horse and two yoke of oxen that we moved here with, and a few hogs. In the fall of 1834 my husband died and left me with five little children. That fall the Indians burned our flax and wheat. When the children saw the flax burning they said : ' Oh! mother, what are we to do for clothes ? our flax is burning up !' I paid my children's schooling, and my store bill, and my expenses for one year, with $15. My taxes on half a section of prairie land and eighty acres of timber were two or three dollars."
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