History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 106

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Illinois > Mercer County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 106
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 106

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The Huston families are well remembered in connection with pioneer times, and their children compose a large share of the popula- tion of the precinct. Archibald Huston settled a little farther up about the same time. He died many years ago, but his widow, now Mrs. Bowman, is still living and is quite active for one of her years. She is a Tennesseean by birth. The family moved from that state to

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Indiana, and in company with her father, James Owen, sister and two brothers came to this state on horseback. Bowman, her last husband, was killed by lightning some thirty-eight years ago. They settled in the edge of the timber on section 29 or 30, and their house was the only one between that and Honey creek. They used to do all their trading with old Billy Smith at LaHarpe, which was but a small town then. The trip to and fro was usually made with old Buck and Berry and not at a 2:40 gait, but at about the rate of three or four miles per hour.

The date when Isaac Crenshaw settled here is not exactly known, but it is thought to have been directly after Bowman. He was born in Georgia, from whence he removed to Tennessee when young, and from there to Adams county, Illinois, when after a residence of two years he moved to Iowa. He came back three years later and settled here on sections 30 and 31. Crenshaw died in 1880, and was buried at Hillsborough church, four miles south of his home. Mrs. Crenshaw is still living in the neighborhood, as are many of her children. Indi- ans were quite plentiful in these days. Mrs. Crenshaw remembers seeing them while in the timber making sugar. They were peacefully inclined and anxious to trade with the whites. A fact which more than one historian has failed to note, is that in nearly all the troubles between the whites and Indians, the former were the aggressors.

We have mentioned the principal pioneers of the southwest portion of Bedford precinct ; others may have lived here who deserve a notice in the history of the community, but no matter how deserving, unless some one is left to tell the story, their deeds of heroism must sink into oblivion, or perchance live in better lives of those who have been led they know not by whom. From 1851 to 1858 a new tide of emigration set in, mostly Jerseyans from Fulton county, Illinois, where had settled many from Somerset, Middlesex, Hunterton, Sussex, and other towns along the Raritan, and having settled in the vicinity of what is now Raritan, the demand for a trading point soon began to press its claims, and the settlers began to dispute the point at which it should be located. Josiah Brokaw and a few others living on the west side of Honey creek branch, contended that near his place was the proper and the only place for a town, while Peter Tharp and others living in the vicinity of the proposed location, said no, this shall be the place, and thus the two factions contended like two hungry dogs pulling at a bone, each trying to get the advantage of the other, until it was decided to take a vote on the subject, which ended the strife and located the town on its present beautiful site, and indeed a more pleasant and natural place could not be found, situated, as it is, between the two

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branches of Honey creek. The land slopes toward the north, south and east. We have no dates to show when this dispute arose and how long it continued, but it was not until 1856 that M. M. Field built the first store building. A. Tharp and Josiah Brokaw came here about the same time, in 1851; which of them was the first is hard to decide, as difference of opinion exists in regard to it. Brokaw was called the father of the settlement. There were no houses in sight of his when he settled, and when the tide of immigration had set in, the first ser- mon preached on the prairie was delivered in his house. He lived until the country changed from its wild state to civilization, when an accident by lightning caused his death. Tharp bought 149 acres on the S. W. ¿ of See. 12, on which he is still living. He was the first to cut hay with a reaper, in 1855. The same year he raised a crop of wheat that averaged thirty bushels to the acre. He has in his posses- sion a piece of money worthy of note. It is an old continental shilling, upon one side of which is stamped a tea leaf, emblematical of the unpleasantness at that time; on the left hand corner, "Death to Conn- terfeit"; on the right, "Burlington, New Jersey. Printed by Isaac Collins, 1770."

John Goodnight settled one mile east of Bedford church in 1852. He was from Stamford, Lincoln county, Kentucky. He had served as a soldier under Gen. Jackson at New Orleans, during 1814 and 1815. From Monroe county, Indiana, he came to Adams county, and from there to Henderson county. The date of unele Peter Tharp's arrival here is between 1854 and 1855. He and his son William came on and built a small house, when the family came on. This time there was a house two miles east known as the Hazeton house, another one and a half miles southwest on Cornelius Schenek's place. Uncle Peter bought the one-quarter of land on which Raritan is now situated. He gave the ground for the cemetery and school-buildings. H. D. Voor- hees came in 1855 and settled on eighty aeres near where the town is located. He worked some at blacksmithing and improved his farm. In 1858 he lost one of his arms in a corn sheller, after which he moved to Raritan. Zelota Britt and Abraham Brokaw came the same year. They both settled east of town. These men are both dead. Some of their children remain in the neighborhood. Mrs. Brokaw lives on the old homestead two miles west of town. James Hageman settled in what is now popularly known as the Prairie Side farm in 1856.

Soon after, William Van Arsdale came here. He was ont on the prairie one day preparing to build a stable which he intended to use for awhile for a house, when who should come along but uncle George Huston, and wanted to know "what in the world he was trying to

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do." "Build a stable," said Mr. Van Arsdale. He laughed at the idea and said. "Van Arsdale, you will live until your hair is quite gray before you ever make a farm here. Why, this land will never be worth more than it is at present." Although Mr. Huston's judgment was good on other matters, he made a mistake that time, for that has proved to be the garden-spot of the precinct. F. A. Hixon came from Hunterton county in 1854, and was the first settler nearest the limits of Raritan. His place of settlement was section 15, on which there was a log house and a three-rail fence around the place. A part of the land had been broken. A party was surveying and a regular laid out road in use in the south part of the county. M. M. Field came in 1854. Jaques Voorhees about 1855. From this time on to 1859, attracted by the glowing accounts of the early settlers, many flocked here with their families and settled close together in this vicinity. The arrivals were so frequent and near together that to determine who had the precedence is quite difficult. Suffice it to say that at an early date came Jaques Voorhees, R. V. Cortelyon, Garret Simonson, Peter Goven, Aaron Johnson, Wm. Van Arsdale, Judge Eltinge, James Berry.

The town of Raritan takes its name from the Raritan river in New Jersey, from near whose banks came most of the inhabitants that people the town. The river was named for a tribe of Indians who were encamped near it. A town called Bedford was started just across the south line of the precinct at a point called Bedford. It was a regularly laid out town. A store was kept there by Adams & Hardy. The buildings have since been moved away. The population at one time was four or five families.

Raritan seems to be quite well adapted to the growth of such organizations as practice their peculiar rites and ceremonies with none to behold but the all-seeing Eye and those who have been so fortunate as to be admitted behind the vail of secresy. To say that, in quite an nnostentatious manner (fulfilling the command of the great Master, to let not the right hand know what its fellow-member is doing), they have performed many acts of benevolence, is to say only what many who have been the recipients of their benefactions would testify.

The Masons are entitled to the credit of being the pioneers. They established themselves as an organization as early as 1875. The number of its lodge is 727. The preliminary meeting was held November 9, 1874, at which time Eli T. Hinman, R. L. Taylor and J. V. D. Kelley were appointed a committee to draft resolutions. Up to the granting of the charter they worked under a dispensation. Silas D. Parsons, Jacob A. Anderson and Robert L. Taylor were the

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principal officers, being worshipful master, senior warden and junior warden.

The Independent Order of Odd-Fellows were granted a charter for the purpose of performing mystic rites and for the purpose of prac- ticing the principles of F., L. and T. in their own peculiar manner. Raritan Lodge, No. 616; received its charter June 30, 1866. The charter members were M. M. Field, A. E. Stanley, J. C. Coulson, C. W. Hardesty and L. W. Calhoun. The order did not prosper well, or for some other reason not known to the outside world, moved across the line to Terre Haute in the spring of 1868.

The following, by a local poet, is inserted here at the request of many citizens of Raritan and vicinity .- [ED.

Full twenty years ago, and more, when Raritan was new,- When on these plains the prairie grass and prairie flowers grew,- When from our native eastern hills and valleys we had come To seek, in this far-distant land, a resting place and home ;- Wild and unbroken was the view, unturned the virgin soil, The prairies broad on every hand, inviting honest toil, Tall herbage nodded gracefully before the passing breeze,

And far and near were pleasing forms of native shrubs and trees.

The sacred ties of friendship, yea, the love of nearest kin, Had been ignored, tho' felt to be a sacrilege and sin, From scenes of earliest childhood days, deep graven on the heart, From long-loved homes, we felt constrained with sad regrets to part, Not as when first from dear old Jerseys rode in wagons new The Wilsons, Pumyeas, Voorhees, to what is since Fairview, Where now, when the enlivening sound of her church-going bell, The honored sons of worthy sires in peace and plenty dwell. Not thus, but gliding swift along at railroad speed, we hied From homestead of old Somerset, from where the gentle tide Of Raritan's "North Branch," and south toward the Atlantic flows, And where, athwart the sunset sky, grand Pickel's summit rose. From Middlesex, from Hunterton, and Sussex, too, they came ; From classic Middlebrook, of Revolution fame,

From Fox Hill, where the sweet delicious huckleberry grows, From Pluckmin, from Peapeck, and where Rockaway's streamlet flows, From quiet homes of Readington, where Dominie Van Liew Full forty years proclaimed the truth, beloved by all he knew, From Lebanon's peaceful valley, where Van Amburg's earnest voice Made sinners tremble and believe, and Christian hearts rejoice ; From Rocky Hill, from Six Mile Run, and streams of lesser fame, From obscure towns and villages to prairie land they came ; Full joyfully and hopefully forsaking native land

And all that made it home for them, to join our pioneer band. When this glorious "Sucker State " then hath, perchance, been found, No other soil where health and wealth and pleasure more abound. So Judge Brokaw and Nevius 'twould be, when they came to seek Full twenty years ago and more, their home on Honey creek.

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Then 'twas the "Jersey Settlement " - what now is Raritan,

Few names will nicely rhyme with it - go find out if you can ; Scarce, also, as the visits of angelic messengers Are towns so proud of her folks as Raritan of hers. Some following those first pioneers came others from afar, Still toward the Occident they haste- westward their guiding star, Even Fulton county was too old for restless enterprise,

And Fairview furnished some recruits for our new paradise. Enshrined in sacred memory will ever be the name Of each new settler from the east who left their homes and came To cast their lot with us and share the pleasing novelty Of prairie life, so full of mirth, so peaceful and so free. Of such were Voorhees, Morris, Tharps, not less than half a score, Grooms, Kelleys, Posts, Fields, Simons, a baker's dozen more, The Gulicks, Hardins, Cortylyons, Van Arsdales, Groendykes, Schencks, Clawsons, Halls, Quicks, Hagemans, all Jerseymen alike, These all and some whose names refuse to jingle well in rhyme. Forth came among the earliest, and more in course of time, From many another sister state to Illinois have come, And here to-day, enjoy with us, this happy harvest home. To our first prairie Sunday school, within the humble shop, On yonder farm yet standing, there from valley and hill top, From calm, rude or half built house, across the prairies wild Came many a one who is here to-day, who then was but a child, And to that shop, our prairie church, each holy Sabbath day, Good father Morris came to preach, and people came to pray, The Baptists and Methodists, the Lutherans and the Dutch, All Christians, faithful and sincere, not righteous overmuch. Their children now to womanhood and manhood quickly grown, Remember with complacency those happy days their own, Those halcyon days, when school was kept but six months in the year, And teachers ruled the young ideas by love and not by fear, When breaking teams, five yoke of oxen, turning the prairie soil Ne'er turned before, gave novelty and zest to daily toil, When half-mile furrows making the bound'ry line 'twixt neighbors Gave promise of sod-corn and wheat, best fruits of farmers' labors. Post offices were far between when these old farms were new, Our nighest one was Dug Out near the margin of a slough. Some found their mail at Ralekins and others at Shake Rag, Euphonious name, derived from what was once a Union flag. Kind Uncle Sam heard our petition, laid it on the shelves, And granted us the privilege of carrying mail ourselves, As often as once every week, and at our own expense, Each took his turn across the plains, through creeks, and over fence. Mail days with glad expectancy, our population came, And thronged the village store, where Gulick, honored name, Announced each letter, then towards him who answered to the call. O'er heads it flew, to reach the floor or strike the opposite wall. One question, whether fences be required on the prairie, Was settled, it was thought, by statute, quite contrary,

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As also by the cattle and their owners, for this true, The letter would influence the former's taste for pastures new. But growing crops would not "pan out " if totally neglected. There was Kelley's wheat and Hixon's corn must be someway protected, Then posts from Groosendreck's timber hauled, with wires in close suspense, Or piekets driven in the ground, would do for lawful fence. Of man's first struggles with the beasts that roved this fenceless plain, Long-horned and short, imported straight from Texas or Des Rains, Sing, gentle muse, that from the ruins in some ravaged field, Inspired with deep, mysterious thoughts, and caused our faith to yield. . To robust prairie steers our fences were an aggravation,

'Twixt loosened wires they went for crops with brutish exultation, By day, by night, at work, asleep, was heard that ominous rattle Of crushing stalks, and crushing ears, devoured by ravenous cattle. More dangerous to integrity than common-place temptation Was this, to see our crops destroyed without a compensation ; From wire to boards, from boards to hedge, from hedge to piekets driven, We felt one consoling thought, there'll need no fence in heaven. Coeval with the incipient church and mission Sabbath school, A band of skillful singers rose the harmony to rule. With them all joined with one accord in sweet melodious lays. Few lacked an ear and voice to sing, who had a heart to praise. Heard ye the rhythmic melodies of that first prairie choir, Their sweet hymns and anthems then our every heart inspire, And still, as time rolls on, that choir is to our memory dear. Oft in the stillness of the night their songs I seem to hear, When the shadowy portals of the dim, oblivious past Fond memory catches glimpses, too evanescent to last, Of those who left us years ago for some far distant shore, And some whose once inspiring voice shall greet our ears no more. Hail, music! best interpreter of every kind emotion, Heaven born dispenser of delight and soul of our devotion. Without thy cheering influence our home had been too sad; Thy solace kept our thoughts at ease, and made our spirits glad. A town was wanted-then was felt what well was known before, That every one could not secure a town by his own door ; With stores, and shops, and week-day schools, and Sunday congregation, So greatest good to greatest number, settled the location. A store was erected where the farmers bought and sold, And then a house for school and meetings-some say now it's sold- In Christian sympathy, denominations could unite ; In Christian union there was strength to work for truth and right. A house of worship much was needed, soon the people joined To build a temple for the Lord-for worship more refined- In His own name the truth to preach, to Him glad songs to raise, Devoted to His service consecrated to His praise. The caravan of sturdy teams, some twenty years ago, Which from Oquawka's sandy banks moved ploddingly and slow- Up o'er the Junction's steep ascent, thro' lone Colomas street- Hard by Olena's clay-brown hills, where wooden valleys meet,

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Full freighted with strong beams and joists and sills of wondrous length, And faultless boards of Holland mills-for beauty and for strength, Swift plunging through the Henderson and Honey creek unspanned, To where had already fixed the site of Raritan.

That was a sight, and those were scenes to be remembered long; The people had a mind to work, their faith and zeal were strong. To build this sacred house for God, His friendly aid besought, And like the Jews in Solomon's day, their grateful offerings brought. First Reformed church in Henderson, around it clustered soon, Our thriving village, with its business stores a timely boon To husbandmen of prairie land who hither came in scores, To market their surplus products and lay in family stores. May we boast of our heritage this the garden state; Our progress, our resources, correspondingly are great ; The fertile earth, at our behest, hath yielded much increase, And God hath blessed our western home with plenty, health and peace. Full twenty years ago no thorny hedges intervened

To shade the traveler's winding course across the grassy scene; When we to Monmouth, Burlington and Blandonville would go, No lengthy lanes nor sharp rectangles, made the journey slow.

What, tho' in sloughs and unbridged creeks our teams were often found,

With borrowed chain and doubletree we'd reach the solid ground. It's bilious, Simon used to say, when he would pull us through ;

Next time we'll find some shallower ford, and head that awful slough.

When, with our dominie Morris, in the days of long ago, We took an apostolic ride, a mission work to do,

Hard by old Deerpark and the home of Cruser just begun ;

To far-off Bushnell held our course, nor reached till set of sun.

Then Stewart, Willis, Wyckoff, Sperling, Crusier, Posey, others, United in their christian efforts, as a band of brothers,

To give their town its earliest church; that was their noblest mission, And Bushnell sees their noblest labor blessed, their homes in full fruition. We take a retrospective view : the forgotten past,

Full of unnumbered hopes and joys too sweet it is to last,

Looms up on memory's faithful page, as if 'twere yesterday

When o'er those plains so vast and wild we our devious way,

Admiring nature's beauties round us on every hand,

Full well resolved from that time forth to dwell in this fair land;

O'er hills and dales of Honey creek surveyed the prospect wide,

Found there our chosen dwelling place and made a prairieside.

Those lofty trees, whose grateful shadows shelter us to-day, Remind us forcibly that the time is passing swift away ; While those for our enjoyment made and those ordained for food All say to us, in cheerful tones: behold, our God is good.

Down the dim vista of the years I see these shrubs and flowers, New planted, bursting into bloom, fostered by heaven-sent showers And genial sunshine, steady growing thro' each yearly stage, Developing their marvelous beauties with advancing age. Fond recollections cluster 'round the settler's new-made home ; Each one had formed a pleasant refuge, never more to roam ;

John M. Buen

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As each with others sympathized in loving brotherhood,

Each, while providing for his own, toiled for the general good. Through many a slough, up many hills, desponding and weary,

Hedged in with thorns, our path of life seems often rather dreary ; Yet who that recollects the charm of prairie toil and strife, But will confess those early days the happiest of his life. For there were social parties then, and many a banquet rare; To excel in serving up a feast was each good housewife's care; The girls improved their taste for dress and studied the arts of charming, While sons and sires discussed the modes of western farming. 'Twere not for me in fulsome strains of flattery to speak Of early pastorates, when yet in numbers we were weak: The name of Bumstead every heart with fond remembrance thrills; From Adams we were loth to part; Pfanstiehl we cherish still. Our harvest song, be it loud and long! and as our gifts are greater, So let us praise, in loftier lays, the name of our Creator; He hath blessed us more in our earthly store than we in weakness pleaded ; His sun and rain hath given us grain, and every blessing needed. This year our land, on every hand, yields us a bounteous treasure; We thankful keep, and as we reap, our harvest yields us pleasure. What if in spring we could not sing, so sad seems our condition, He, while we wept, His promise kept, and gave us glad fruition. The warbling bird, whose song is heard within yon leafy bower, Each shining day seems thus to say : sing of His love and power. Then come and sing, your music bring ; we'll chant " that old, old song, Till life shall end, then joyful spend a harvest home in glory."

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Personal liberty and freedom of conscience were the germinal ideas that induced the oppressed and proscribed to leave the different coun- tries of Europe and adjacent isles ; to abandon all dear social scenes and fond influences which cling around nativity, and brave the perils attendant upon the settlement of a new and distant country, inhabited by different tribes of unknown savages. All the sacrifices, however, involved in a separation from home and friends were counted by them of little relative value, when they thought of gaining the privilege of being free men in the full import of the term. Our fathers brought with them, when they crossed the turbid Atlantic, our civil and relig- ious institutions locked up in their brave hearts, and an Allwise Provi- dence directed their pilgrimage to a land whose broad expanse of ter- ritory, deep, swift rivers, lofty mountains and rich soil constituted a fit arena for the birth of the struggling thoughts of world-beneficent con- ception and the maturity and development of those noble sentiments which are as soul to one of the finest countries which the sun looks down upon from his throne in the heavens.

It was a wise policy on the part of the framers of our constitution,

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and in perfect harmony with the magnanimous and generous spirit that animated our ancestors, to throw open wide the door of citizenship, that the oppressed and honest masses of other countries might here find that liberty and freedom of thought and action forbidden by other governments. Thousands every year crowd to our shores, attracted by the superiority of and the advantages and privileges afforded in the United States to those of other nations. And some of the most patriotic and honorable citizens of which our country can boast are to be found among those who have come to this country that they might make it their home by adoption.

In this class is included many of the best citizens of this and other localities, whose forefathers purchased liberty, not at the price of eternal vigilance, but at the risk of their lives.

REV. A. A. PFANSTIEHL, of Raritan, Henderson county, Illinois, was born at Holland, Ottawa county, Michigan, November 14, 1856. His parents were Hollanders, who moved from the Netherlands in 1848 on account of religions persecutions. The national church of the Nether- lands about 1844 becoming very rationalistic and domineering over the consciences of religious worshipers, a large number of people rebelled, thinking it their unqualified right to worship God according to the dic- tates of their own consciences, and accordingly seceded from the na- tional church, growing into what is now the Seceded Church of Hol- land. In consequence of this secession they were persecuted by the government, until 1847 a large number of families, under the leader- ship of the late Rev. A. C. VanRalte, D.D., emigrated to America and settled in the woods of Michigan, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Abont the same time another colony, under the leadership of Dr. Schouton, emigrated to Iowa, and built what is now the town of Pella. This emigration has gone on more or less ever since, until in Michigan alone there are nearly 30,000 Hollanders. Though poor, yet possessed with the riches of hardihood, frugality and the Dutch characteristics of indomitable perseverance and energy, they soon built a town and settled the country with comfortable homes. Wherever they have settled the place is marked by the progressive spirit charac- teristic of the nationality. Not long after settling they built a college, which has sent forth many professional men both to the east and west. This college is under control of the general synod of the Reformed Church of America, and is incorporated under the name of Hope Col- lege, at Holland, Michigan. Here A. A. Pfanstiehl received his edu- cation, graduating in 1876. He studied theology in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Northwest, at Chicago, and graduated from that seminary in 1879. Having received a call from the Reformed

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 106

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424