History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 108

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 108
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 108

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

Adams county, they removed in the spring of 1850 to Hancock county, and in the same year to Henderson county, Illinois, where he bought land on the S. W. } of Sec. 29. This land he sold to John Wasson in 1867, and a quarter of unimproved land in Sec. 30. March 4, 1844, he was married to Miss Nancy Jane Mattock, of Adams county. This marriage has been productive of the following children : Julia A. (deceased), wife of R. HI. Barnes, editor of the Raritan "Bulletin "; George H., who resides in Jackson county, Kansas ; Charles C., a student of Eureka College ; John, who died at the age of twelve ; Tobias, and James P. During the excitement consequent upon the first discovery of gold in California, Mr. Butler determined to join a band of emigrants and seek a fortune on the Pacific coast. Accordingly, in 1850, he crossed the plains in company with a party who started from Hannibal. He was chosen captain of the party during their travels. Dissatisfaction having arisen among the party, he, in company with a few others, left the main party and took a route by themselves, and reached the destined place in safety. On his return from California he followed farming until the breaking out of the late civil war of the rebellion of the southern states. He then enlisted as a private in the 118th Ill. Inf., and when the company reorganized he was elected lieu- tenant, and served with the same until failing health necessitated his leaving the field. On entering the field the regiment was consigned to Gen. Osterhaus' division, and was a participant in the following battles : Hain's Bluff, Arkansas, surrounding of Vicksburg, Port Gibson, and charge at Black River bridge. Mr. Butler is a member of the Christian church, and a member of the republican party.

JOHN GOODNIGHT (deceased) was born in Stanford, Lincoln county, Kentucky, on May 4, 1794. He was a soldier under Gen. Jackson at New Orleans during the years 1814-5. He was married to Rhoda Brown October 18, 1820. She died in 1823, and he was married a second time to Agnes Jones December 22, 1825. She died December 13, 1874, leaving him once more alone. He removed to Indiana in 1827, and here in Monroe county lived the greater part of his time for twenty-five years. Under the eldership of Michael Combs he embraced the doctrine of the Christian church in the year 1833. He removed to Adams county in the fall of 1852, and early in the spring of 1853 removed to a farm one mile east of Bedford church in Henderson county, and from there to Blandinsville in the spring of 1876, where he died at the age of eighty-five years, one month and twenty-four days. He was an exemplary christian, and as a man he was honest in all his dealings, ever ready to denounce evil on its first appearance ; the poor never left his door uncared for ; the hungry were bountifully

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supplied from his table, and the naked were clothed by his generous hand. He died June 25, 1879. By his first marriage with Miss Rhoda Brown he had two children : Isaac, born July 3, 1821; Sarah M., August 19, 1822. Isaac died in infancy, and Sarah married Samuel A. Moore February 12, 1846. Agnes Jones, his second wife, was born in 1800. . They were married December 22, 1825. The following children were born to them: Elizabeth A., born October 16, 1826 ; Mary J., April 14, 1831 ; Martha E., February 26, 1834 ; Amanda F., April 24, 1836; Thomas H., December 8, 1840; Francis M., Jan- uary 12, 1845.

The Tharp family is of German extraction and originated in Hol- land. They emigrated to America in a very early day. In this family there were eight children, as follows : Abner, Cristopher, John, Peter, Arthur, Mary, Ellen and Eliza. Mr. Tharp was mar- ried in 1839 to Debora Wagner and became the father of eight children : Kaziah, Jacob, Amanda, Larinda, Lottie, Emma J., Maggie K. Jacob served three years as a soldier in the war of the rebellion and was a member of the 14th Ill. Cav. When our subject first came to Illinois, in 1851, he bought 149 acres of land on the S. W. ¿ of Sec. 12, at which time there were no houses to be seen anywhere around, neither were there any fences, and when once turned loose to graze cattle and horses would wander far away through the tall prairie grass, which would often cause several days' hunt before they were again found. The nearest trading place at that time was at Burling- ton. He remembers having hauled wheat to that market which he sold at thirty cents per bushel, and oats from twelve to fifteen cents. Corn was selling at eight cents, during which time the railroads were charging ten cents per hundred for carrying it to Chicago. A cow and calf were worth from $10 to $12, and horses $60. But notwithstanding all the disadvantages incident to those times, Mr. Tharp's pioneer life was a success, and he is now enjoying the fruits of his labors. In politics Mr. Tharp was rocked in the very cradle of democracy, but still he denied secession as a constitutional provision on the one hand and the doctrine of federal aggression on the other. He stood with Senator Stephen A. Douglas at the commencement of hostilities be- tween the two sections, as against two extremes, North and South.

JACOB and H. V. YOUNG were born in New Jersey and came to Fair- view, Fulton county, Illinois, about the year 1840 or 1841, whither they were soon after followed by their parents and two other brothers. Their parents located permanently near Fairview, where they died and were buried. Our subjects removed from Fairview to Henderson county about 1865 or 1866. They immediately after their arrival bought a

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

farm of 160 acres of land on the N.E. ¿ of Sec. 22. The country was just then in its infancy, and out of the wild prairie they have made a fine farm, and the substantial farm buildings erected by them show evidence of enterprise and a verification of the old adage that in union there is strength. The two brothers live and work together. Mrs. H. V. Young's grandparents were among the very first settlers in Fulton county. Her father is still living at the good old age of eighty years, and her grandfather was a revolutionary soldier.

We dedicate, with pleasure, a part of these pages to a family that has been long and well known in Henderson county. There are many others who have equal, and in fact prior, claims upon the community if we esteem only the date of their settlement in the county, but desiring to put upon record the prominent and worthy of the day in which we write, we take up the account of the family of DAVID GEAR- HART. In doing so, we realize the fact that at best we can only leave a finger-board to guide the future biographer to a more successful account of the family. The subject of our sketch was born in 1819, in New Jersey, where he was educated at a common school and brought np to farming. He moved, in 1852, to Fulton county, Illinois, where he immediately renewed his occupation. He was married, in Fulton county, to Miss Catharine Young, September 24, 1856. By his mar- riage lie had four children. After a residence of eight years in Fulton county, he removed to Warren, where he remained two years. In 1854 he came to Henderson county, to visit and look at the country. Returning to Warren, he moved to this county in 1862, at which time he bought eighty acres of land on Sec. 12, and afterward 300 acres. By his second marriage, with Mrs. Elizabeth Perrine, they have five children.

GARRET SIMONSON was born in New Jersey, where he was educated and raised to farming. He came to Henderson county in the spring of 1857, and bought eighty acres of land of his brother on Sec. 8, where he at present resides. He was married in New Jersey, in 1845, to Miss Martha Dunham. Three children were the result of the mar- riage. R. B. D. is principal of the high school of Troy, Missouri, where he graduated with high honors, after earning money with which to pay his tuition. D. Simonson, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in New Jersey, and is of German descent. He was twice married, and his children are: Rev. John Simonson, Garret, D. M. Simonson, Dennis S. (deceased), James W. (a resident of Rock Island county, and member of the legislature), Marie (wife of Abram Wycoff), Gertrude E. (wife of Parker Wright, of Chicago), Balinda M. and Annie live at Port Byron.

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BEDFORD TOWNSHIP.

JOHN S. NEVIUS was born in 1820, in New Jersey, where he re- ceived the advantages of a common school education and afterward learned the carpenter trade, at which he worked until he came to Henderson county in 1836. On his first arrival here he purchased 160 acres of land, broke the same, and began making a farm. He was married in New Jersey in 1846, to Miss Maria Ann Brokaw. They have had eight children, as follows: Simon, Catherine, Peter (deceased), Sarah Jane, Mary B., David (died when three years old), Peter B. (at home), and Brachie. His parents were Simon and Brachie (Simonson) Nevius, who were both born in Somerset county, New Jersey. His father died in 1862 and his mother in 1876. They were buried in Redington cemetery, Hunterton county, New Jersey. Their family consisted of nine children, six boys and three girls ; David resides in New Jersey ; Mary Ellen, wife of Benjamin Voorhees, died 1868 ; her remains repose at Bushnell ; Simon Peter resides in Henderson county ; Elizabeth Ann, wife of M. Lane, Dennis, re- sides in New Jersey, formerly lived here; Abram V. Garrett and Anna J. are deceased. Simon Addis, grandfather of Mr. Nevius, was a revolutionary soldier, and Mr. Nevius still remembers seeing him go through the manual of arms. Mr. Nevius has been a member of the Reformed church for twenty-three years, and has been chosen deacon at different times.

JAMES H. HAZELWOOD, farmer, was born in 1830, in the state of Indiana, where he received the advantages of a common school educa- tion and was reared to farming. His parents, Joseph and Mary, were born and raised in Kentucky, where they were married, but moved to Indiana in an early day, and remained there until 1852, at which time they removed to McDonough county, Illinois. Our subject was married in 1860 to Miss Mary J. Duncan, of Henderson county, and by the happy union they have been blessed with three children. As a citizen Mr. Hazelwood's life has been characterized by honest and fair dealing. He is a member of the Masonic order and also a . member of the chapter of La Harp. He is also a member of the Christian church.

AARON JOHNSON was born in Hunterton county, New Jersey, 1833. He was educated at a common school, and learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, which he has since followed. In 1857 he came to Fulton county, where he sought and found employment at his trade, at which he worked for nine months, after which he removed to Henderson county, in the spring of 1858. He was married in the spring of 1859 to Miss Catharine Coozatt, of Fulton county, Illinois. By this nnion two children were born to them : Liddie and Minnie C.,

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

who are living at home. In Mr. Johnson's father's family there were eleven children, of whom he was the eldest : Emma E., died and her remains repose in Somerset county, New Jersey ; Cornelius resides in New Jersey ; Mary J., wife of A. E. Reed, John M., Jacob W., Hannah M., Ellen and Sarah, all reside in New Jersey ; Dewitt lives in Adams county, Iowa ; Liddie Josephine died when seven years old. Mr. Johnson's father, of German descent, was born in New Jersey, and is still living at the age of seventy years. His mother's maiden name was Liddie Wycooll and was also of German ancestry. During the late war our subject was a member of the 30th Ill. Inf., and was engaged with his regiment at the battles of Nashville and Kingston. He served until the close of the war in 1865. His regiment formed a part of the 17th Army Corps, under Gen. Sherman. Mr. Johnson has never had any political aspirations nor sought for office, neither has he connected himself with any of the benevolent organizations of the present time, but is social and free in his habits and opinions, and liberally supports the cause of education, religion, good morals and public progress. The estimate here placed upon his character is a willing testimony of many who have known him for years.

R. V. CORTELYON was born in New Jersey in 1821. His parents were Aaron and Elizabeth VanArsdale, of German descent and born in New Jersey. They had four children, our subject being the second of the family. Mariah, the eldest, died in New Jersey ; Ellen is married and resides in New Jersey; William resides near Raritan, this county. Mr. Cortelyon was married in New Jersey in 1847 to Miss Catharine Stevens. The following children have been born to them : Margaret (deceased), Harvey, Stephen (deceased), Eddie, Eugene (deceased). The family remained in New Jersey for eleven years after their marriage. They then came to Henderson county. Immediately after their arrival here he purchased 160 acres of land on the N. W. { of Sec. 10, forty acres of which was already improved. Mr. Cortelyon began life with but little, but by industry and good man- agement has succeeded well. For a large share of his success in life he attributes to the influence of noble woman, first to the counsels and admonitions of a kind mother, and second to the encouragement of a judicious wife.

ROBERT H. BARNES, editor of the "Raritan Bulletin," is perhaps as well known and respected as any man in Henderson county. He was born in LaHarpe, Hancock county, Illinois, April 29, 1849 ; is the son of H. H. and M. D. Barnes. He commenced learning saddlery with George Newton in 1862, and worked at that trade and shoemaking for three years. He sold notions, etc., from 1866 to 1870, when he quit

J. J. Brook

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BEDFORD TOWNSHIP.

business on account of declining health, and in that year, 1870, went to Arkansas. Here he spent his time for awhile in hunting, clerking on a cotton plantation and overseeing about ninety hands, mostly negroes. In the spring of 1871 he returned to La Harpe and was married to Miss Julia A. Butler March 19, 1871. Immediately thereafter returning south, he settled on a small farm near Raleigh, Tennessee, a watering place about nine miles northeast of Memphis. In the fall of the same year he returned to Raritan, Illinois, and started a saddlery and harness shop. in company with S. D. Parsons. In 1873 he bought property and built a shop, 16×32, two stories high, the upper room of which was used for a grange and masonic hall. In 1875 S. D. Parsons retiring from business, he formed a partnership with G. H. Butler, his brother-in-law, and put in the first exclusive stock of hardware, and enlarged the building to 32×48. In the fall of 1876 he issued the first copy of the " Raritan Bulletin," a two-page paper, in size 5×7. This was issued in the interest of Hon. John Hungate, candidate for congress, and self. The subscription fee charged for this sheet was ten cents per annum. In about six months after he increased the size of the paper, as well as the subscription to twenty-five cents. The next year it was made a five-column two-page paper, and later a five-column four-page, and the subscription placed at $1 per annum, and finally in 1878 to a five-column eight-page, at the same price, circu- lating all over the Union. His wife died September 18, 1877, leaving a small babe five days old, Julia A., who is living with her grand- father Butler. Mr. Barnes was married a second time to Miss Ida M. Beard, March 17, 1880. By this union they have one child, Jettie M., born February 14, 1881. She died September 11, 1881. In the fall of 1881, he built a large business house, 32×64, two stories high, the upper part of which is wainscoted and ceiled with matched and grooved flooring, and is used as a towu hall and for storing furniture. The lower floor of the building is used for storing implements.

JAQUES VOORHEES, one of the early pioneers of Bedford, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, August 21, 1825, and was raised to farming. At the age of twenty-one he came with his father's family to Greene county, Illinois, in 1847. They made the journey through with teams and wagons and were twenty-four days on the road. On arriving at Greene Castle, Indiana, they were delayed and compelled to wait on account of high water. After waiting two days for a ferry to take them over the river, they went to work driving stakes in the river, by which means they managed to take their wagons to the other side, after which they swam their horses across. The next year after his arrival in Illinois he returned to his native state, and in 1850 cele-

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

brated his marriage with Miss Sarah Voorhees, after which he returned to Illinois, settling first in Fairview, Fulton county, where he bought a farm and remained till 1855. He then removed, settling near Raritan. At this time the whole country was one vast prairie. He bought 160 acres of choice prairie land of John Huston, on Sec. 10. After a resi- dence of two years he left the farm and moved to town and engaged in the mercantile business, in company with Abram Gulick. He con- tinued the business until 1876, when he sold his interest to Adam Crist. Eight children have been born to bless the happy home of Mr. and Mrs. Voorhees : Mary Jane, Henry N., Lucian A., Eddie and Edwin, twins, Abram J., Elmer E., and Emerett. Mary J., Eddie, Abram and Emerett are deceased. Mr. Voorhees is of German descent, his grandfather, Abram J. Voorhees, was Holland Dutch. He was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, in 1798. His parents emigrated to America in an early day, and settled in New Jersey. His mother was of French descent ; her maiden name was Mariah De Harp. His grandmother on his mother's side was Margarett Howell, and on his father's side Sarah Wycoff. Jaques Voorhees, father of our subject, was first married to Miss Sarah Allen. She died while our subject was young. He was married a second time, to Miss Sarah . Schenck. She having died in 1849, he married Nancy Slack. By this union they had six children. Mr. and Mrs. Voorhees are con- nected with the Baptist church of Raritan.

There is probably not an old settler in the precinct of Bedford but , who, if he were asked who the Tharp family are, would answer with- out any hesitation : "One among the first and most honorable families of Henderson county." WILLIAM THARP, the subject of this sketch, was born .in Hunterton county, New Jersey, in 1835, were he received a liberal education at a common school, and was raised to farming. He came with his father to Fulton county in 1854, and a short time after came to Henderson county, where they purchased land on section 14, near the site of where Raritan now stands. He remained with his father, assisting him in the improvement of the new farm, until the spring of 1857, when he began clerking for Jaques Voorhees. Here he obtained a knowledge of the mercantile business, in which he afterward embarked in company with Lewis B. Eltinge. They continued the busi- ness until 1859, when Eltinge sold his interest in the business to one Grovendyke. In 1860 he bought out Grovendyke's interest and has since that time carried on the business alone. In 1873 he built the largest and most substantial store building in Raritan, if not in the county, on lots 8 and 9, block G. The size of the building is 28×40, with twenty- two feet posts. The upper story is used as a masonic hall. His father,

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BEDFORD TOWNSHIP.

Peter Tharp, was born in Hunterton county, New Jersey, in May, 1801, and was married to Miss Catharine Bogart in August, 1828. The family moved to Fulton county in 1854. Mr. Tharp staid there a short time, and leaving his family he and William came to Raritan and bought a half section of land on the south side of the road west of town. When he came here there were no improvements on the prairie and only two or three houses in the neighborhood,-one two miles east of town known as the Hazelton house, one one-and-a-half miles southwest on Cornelious Schenck's farm, and one on William Cortelyon's farm one and a half miles west. They camped and lived in wagon box put on stakes driven in the ground to keep the snakes out, for six weeks, while they were putting up a house. After getting everything in readiness the family came on out, and they all com- menced battling for a livelihood. Uncle Peter, as he was familiarly called, next bought the quarter section upon which the northeast part of Raritan now stands. He gave the ground for the school-building, and also for the cemetery. He was one of the first officers elected in the Reformed church, of which he was an honored member. If uncle Peter Tharp had an enemy in the neighborhood it is said that no one ever knew of it. Three daughters and four sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Tharp. Three sons and one daughter are still living, all of whom are living in Illinois except Isaac, who is living at Nortonville, Iowa. Mrs. Tharp was laid to rest in the beautiful little cemetery of Raritan, four years prior to Mr. Tharp's death. Before his death he had erected to her grave a beautiful head-stone, with two pillars, one of which was left blank to mark his own last resting-place.

DR. E. BEARD is not identified with the history of Henderson county for so long a period as some others, but he has reached a position of prominence in the community by his own exertions as a successful practitioner. He attributes success to the fact that experience has taught him to throw aside many of the old dogmas of the early prac- tice, and to use suchi remedies as prove the least harmless, and afford the most speedy relief to the patient. Mr. Beard was born in Lees- burg, Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1820. In 1829 he removed from that state to Ohio, where he received liis education, and graduated at the medical college of Columbus, Ohio. Soon after this he began the practice of medicine in that state, and continued it for seventeen years. He removed to Henderson county, Illinois, in 1865, and during his residence here his practice has extended over a large portion of the county, and he is classed among the most skillful and successful of the profession. He was married in Ohio in 1841, to Miss Mary Brady. Ten children, five boys and five girls, were born to them. Dr. Beard's

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IIISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

ancestry were of Scotch-Irish descent, and runs back to the Moors and Bradys, of Virginia. His grandfather was born in Virginia in 1761. He removed from that state to Ohio, where he died at the advanced age of ninety-two. When a young man, he was a drummer in the revolution, and joined the army in company with a man with whom he was at that time learning a trade. After his service and the war was over, he followed shoemaking as an occupation.

The subject of this sketch, S. B. VAN ARSDALE, who is now passing his declining years in the village of Raritan, with all the comforts of life spread around him, was one among the first few enterprising band of pioneers who came to this county in "days that tried men's souls," and through whose influence the pillars of society were founded on the principles of virtue and knowledge. He was born in New York in 1815, and is the third child of a family of six children, and three only of whom are living. His sister, Catharine, wife of Garrett Statts, resides in New Jersey ; Peter B. resides in Fulton county, Illinois, and S. B. Van Arsdale resides at Glen Garden, New Jersey. His father having died in 1836, and his mother May 26, 1847, he came to Illi- nois, settling in Fulton county, in 1850. There he bought some land and began to improve and make a farm. During his settlement there he made a visit to Henderson county and was attracted with its natural advantages for agricultural purposes, but not until some time after this could he be induced to remove to the new eldorado. They returned to Fulton county and in a short time sold their farm there, and in the spring of 1856 came up and bought 160 acres of land on Sec. 22. He improved it and traded it for 180 acres on Sec. 7. Having bought a residence in town, he retired from business. He was married in New Jersey, in 1836, to Miss Joanna V. Bergen. Six children was the result of the union : Abraham, the eldest, born March 1, 1838, mar- ried Miss Mary Ann Huston, daughter of George Huston, one of the first early pioneers of Bedford precinct ; they have four children and live sonth of Raritan. Peter, born May 9, 1842, married Miss Amanda J. Huston ; they have three children. J. B. Van Arsdale, born October 30, 1844, married Miss Ann M. Lewis ; she having died, he married Sarah M. Brokaw. Peter served three years as a soldier in the late war, as a member of the 14th Ill. Cav. Mr. Van Arsdale's grandfather, Abraham Van Arsdale, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, December 2, 1750. He was a magistrate. His father was born in Holland, and emigrated to America in an early day and settled on Long Island. He was an only son, as was Mr. Van Arsdale's father. He was buried in Harlingen cemetery, Somerset county, New Jersey. Mr. Van Arsdale's grandmother, Margaret Keneday, was born in

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 108

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