History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 127

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 127
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 127

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Mr. McQuown, whose home is on the S. W. } of this section, emi- grated from Washington county, Virginia, to this county in 1842, with three horses and a wagon containing all his worldly goods, and one horse and carryall (light square-box buggy) containing his wife and small children. IIe started from the place of his birth and the home of his fathers for the Far West, and after a journey of six weeks arrived in Biggsville on October 3. Mr. McQuown at onee with his character- istic industry went to work, and is now enjoying the sure reward of a life well spent. So guarded has been his every act, and so serupulously honest in all his dealings with men, that now, after nearly half a cen- tury's active business life and relations, none have but the highest words of praise to offer in his behalf.

John Rezner, who owns a large amount of land in the northeast part of this township, and resides on Sec. 11, where he has recently erected a costly residence, has been a resident of Henderson county since 1845, though as early as 1840 he emigrated from Washington county, east Tennessee, to Warren county. There he engaged in farming, as a renter for a start. He is now a large stock raiser and farmer, and turns all his attention in that direction, rather than giving time to anything of a literary nature. Not so, however, with his brother, Eli Rezner, whose home is always provided with the current newspapers, secular and religious periodicals and publications of the day. He is the youngest of the two, and remained with his widowed mother till 1847, when he turned over to her all he had but $5, with a promise to work while his clothes were good. He then came direct to Henderson county, Illinois, where he has since resided, made good his promise, and is now one of this township's wealthy and pros- perous farmers and stock raisers, mentioned on another page.

William John Hutchinson, whose portrait appears in this work, and whose personal history is briefly given in the history of T. 10, R. 5, settled in this (T. 10, R. 4) township on Sec. 9, S. ¿ , as early as about

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1842. He owned a farm of 400 acres there, and as a farmer, stock raiser and shipper was a decided success. He did not live to be defeated in what he undertook, and seemed to easily accomplish what most men would hardly dare to undertake. In his early death the town lost one of its most valued and active citizens, and his children an honored father.

Thomas Records settled on and owned for many years the farm now owned by Dr. Nelson, in the N. & of Sec. S. He and his brother Spence came to Oquawka with their mother and step-father, Judge Pence, prior to 1840, and after selling his farm to Mr. Nelson removed to California.

Levi Bebee, Miles Gordon, Isaac Van Tuyl, John Jamison, Samnel G. Plummer and John C. Jamison were all old settlers in the north part of the township, while in the south part Samuel C. Douglass, Andrew Douglass, David Mundorf, John Worden, Stephen Holmes and uncle Jacob Akerman had settled and were known among the quite early on the prairie.

Up to the year 1850 no doubt many had come and gone, some perhaps whose names were familiar to those with whom they asso- ciated, but have since quite passed out of memory.

As in almost all other early settlements so it was in this. Not a few of the first to come were also the first to go, and no doubt the writer of the pioneer history beyond the Mississippi would find names once familiar here, but that they had moved on toward the setting sun, fol- lowing in the footsteps of the noble redman and glorying in the name of hardy pioneer. A few, it is to be presumed, growing disheartened by the hardships and privations of frontier life, made their way back to their old eastern homes, carrying with them an everlasting indignation at and contempt for a life on the prairies of the far west, foolishly pre- ferring a life of servitude than to crack corn for bread in a mortar or grind it in a coffee mill for a season, and finally become rich and inde- pendent in a home of luxury, and be able to call it their own, to be honored and respected by their friends and feel a just pride in them- selves. But perhaps the largest number of those who early settled here now rest beneath the sod, here and there in little groves or beside some little brook, with scarcely a head-mark to their almost unknown graves.

A few at first buried their dead for convenience on their own claim, with the intention of later transferring their remains to cemeteries, when such should be organized. At the southwest end of the point in the bend of the creek southeast of the village of Biggsville is yet to be seen two lonely graves with small rough stones at their head, on which

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are no names inseribed. 'Many others may exist in this township, of which the writer has no knowledge.

But to come down to the days of later improvements, we find out- side of the thriving little village of Biggsville (the prospective county seat) many beautiful farms, the result of continued application and long years of patient toil.

Paul D. Salter, Robert A. Mckinley, Samuel C. Douglass, Samuel Stewart, Stephen Staley, William Rankin, Arthur O. MeQuown, Isaac MeQuown, G. H. Cowden, James A. Graham, Paul D. Gibb and James Gibb, might be mentioned as taking the lead in agricultural pursuits in the south part of the township, and John H. MeDougall and Dr. J. G. Stewart as giving their attention (in addition to farming) to the introduction into this part of the county of a better grade of stock. Mr. McDougall has recently purchased and imported a thoroughbred Cleveland bay or English coach horse for the improvement of that class of horses in this section. To Mr. McDougall much credit is due for an early step in the right direction, as fine stock is as essential to the building up and successful growth of a community as is the cultivation of the soil.

The thoroughbred short-horns of this country have been long known as the most successful competitors of the best American herds. A herd of these valuable bovines has been lately purchased by and can now be found in the pastures of Mr. Stewart's stock farm. `In the north part of the township, Dr. Nelson, R. M. Hutchinson, W. B. Graham, Robert McMillan, J. W. Jamison, Eli Rezner, John Rezner and Wm. Weigand are among the largest agriculturists, and John R. Foster is giving some attention to fruit growing and the raising of nursery stock, and the present indications are that in the near future Larch farm will be an attractive feature in this part of the township.

Reader, let us now ask your attention for a short time to a further review of the habitations of your honored dead. As the country began to settle up more thickly and deaths occur more frequently, the necessity for a burial-place for the dead became in reality a need that should be satisfied ; whereupon John Worden and Michael Van Tuyl donated to the citizens in general five aeres in the beautiful grove on the N. W. and N. E. corners of Sees. 35 and 36, T. 10, R. 4, which" was to be known as Salter's Grove cemetery. This ground was, and yet is, free to all, but is the property of the Methodist Episcopal church of that place, and is under the control of its officers. To this place many of the first buried were removed and are now taking their last long sleep with those of the later dead. Here are also the bodies of some of the fallen heroes of our country who lost their lives on south-

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

ern soil while fighting for their country's honor and her flag. John Shook and Samuel Wilkins, who fell at the battle of Stone River, De- cember 31, 1862, among the number. On this same ground a neat and substantial church was erected, in size 28×42, by a few members of the Methodist Episcopal faith and their friends during the summer of 1875, and was dedicated June 4, 1876, by Rev. Jesse Smith, who also laid the corner-stone. The moving spirits in this enterprise were John Worden, William Harbison, Adoniram Edwards, Rev. James Tubbs and H. M. River, though the credit of building and keeping up the church was largely due to Mr. Worden, who, with his family, had been prominent in church and Sabbath school work for many years previous to the building of the church. It has, since his removal west, been on the decline. They now have a membership of about twelve, with Mr. C. P. Davidson as leader of the class and superin- tendent of the Sabbath school. It should be here stated that Mr. John Worden, in an early day, held meetings in his own house, and later preached in the school-house at the grove ; kept the class in a state of prosperity and the Sunday school in good working order till his removal to Bloomington, Illinois ; then the interest died out and the wolf got among his scattered flock. It was after his return to his old home that he gathered together the few friends of the cause, established order and built, or was the means of building, the church, and has since, unfortunately for the society, moved west. This church is known as the Salter's Grove Methodist Episcopal church, and the appointment is supplied by the preacher in charge at Kirkwood. It is surrounded by a beautiful grove and is a credit to its members and the community to which it belongs.

In about 1848 another cemetery was donated to the public by Mr. James Huss, on Sec. 31, T. 10, R. 4, containing two acres. The first to find a resting-place here was Aunt. Susan Wilkinson, in 1848. The donor of the land is also buried here, as well as many others of the county's early settlers.

The next important cemetery in this township was organized in 1877, and chartered by the state government under the name of the Biggsville Cemetery Association, May 17, 1877, with the following board of directors : John Folmer, Robert Gibson, Jos. M. Michener, David McDill, Abner Graham and Eli Beaver, with R. A. Mckinley, president ; John McKee, vice-president ; Thomas Bell, secretary, and John Folmer, treasurer. This year, 1882, the directors and officers are : John McKee, president ; R. A. Mckinley, vice-president ; Robert Gibson, secretary ; John Folmer, treasurer, and John E. Pearson. This burial-place is beautifully located on a slightly elevated piece of ground

11/ Afutchinson

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by the roadside, on Sec. 8, T. 10, R. 4, about one mile north of the village of Biggsville, and shows the characteristic good taste and fore- sight of the authorities of the village in locating their graveyard well out of town. During the summer of 1882 a new fence made of pick- ets and painted white was built along the road and in front of the ground, inside of which may be seen some substantial monuments, and on them suitable inscriptions to hold in memory departed friends.

PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.

The first road laid out through this township was the Monmouth and Burlington state road. It entered the township near the northeast corner, and passing through to the southwest left the township at Sec. 30, near the southwest corner of the township. Like all other roads in an early day, without any attention being given to lines, it passed from one leading point to another. traversing the most convenient route and fording streams in the safest and most accessible places. The South Henderson creek was usually crossed at a point where the wagon bridge has since been built, on the road leading out north of town from Elm street, and exactly where the bridge spans the railroad cut on the same street, passing through what is now the business part of Biggsville, over ground now known as lots 1 and 2, block 3, and left the village a little to the west and north of the residence of B. H. Martin.

At a point near the stores of G. W. Holmes and John McKee, on lots 1 and 2, block 3, corner of Main and Johns street, once stood the "lord of the forest," a massive oak, to which was nailed guide-board pointing out the direction of Burlington and Monmouth, and the distance to either hamlet was given in rude figures. But this road, like many of its predecessors in older settlements, is a thing of the past, and exists only in memory.

In speaking of the roads of this township, and in fact of the county, nothing flattering can be said. A few of the leading roads on which is the most travel are at times fairly passable, yet their extreme narrowness renders it almost impossible to ever make them what might be called good, while in many places they are but narrow lines mean- dering from farm to farm regardless of lines or directness of ronte. The excuse generally offered for the poor condition of the country roads is the "elements," which of course should be largely accepted, as it is impossible to keep bridges and culverts in place during a sea- son of rains and floods like that of the summer of 1882.

Nine schools have an existence in this township, many of them wearing the appearance of neglect. The one known as Salter's Grove

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on the S.E. } of Sec. 26 is no doubt a relic of the old-time cabin school, erected and operated by John McKiney and Dykeman Shook. If so, it has not kept up with the rapid march of its sister institutions, as it has the appearance of a school abandoned twenty years ago. Dutch Row schocl-house, formerly located on Sec. 29, but recently removed to the northwest corner of Sec. 34, was. it is said, the second in the township, built in the fall of 1856 by R. G. Duncan, D. Raw- houser and Samuel Stewart, directors. The David Graham school- house on the S.E. { of Sec. 19, a neat little frame structure, needing the protecting influence of a few shade trees, was perhaps the third, while the fourth is said to be the Records school-house, located on the S.E. Į of Sec. 5. It is of good size, is painted white, and at once attracts attention on account of its pleasant location on the cross-road and the few trees that adorn its yard. Fairview school-house on Sec. 2, southeast corner as its name would indicate, has a pleasant sightly appearance, but seems to lack the expenditure of a sufficient amount of money to make the building equal to its surroundings. Situated on the N. E. Į of Sec. 15 is the MeLain school-house and is supposed to be the sixth in the township in the order of their building. It shows the appearance of being in the care of neat and careful hands, with its white coat of paint and green window shutters contrasting with the dark and frozen ground of our dreary fall and winter seasons. Paul D. Salters and Dr. William McMillan's school-houses, located on Sec. 24 and the S. W. { of Sec. 31, complete the list. Many changes have been made, many are being made, and changes will no doubt continue for some time to come before the school system of this town- ship is considered complete; hence a detailed history of each country school would be superfluous. For a more extended pioneer school history the reader is referred to the history of Walnut Grove, where it is pictured in panoramic clearness by the able writer of that chapter and is withheld here to save repetition.

HENDERSON COUNTY AGRICULTURAL BOARD.

The first agricultural society of Henderson county having the appearance of organization met and held its fair at Oquawka, in the street, near the county court-house on October 24, 1855, under the man- agement of the following board of officers : Samnel Darnell, presi- dent ; Col. Samuel Hutchinson, Isaac Van Tuyl and John Curts, vice- presidents ; Hiram Rose, recording secretary; E. H. N. Patterson, corresponding secretary ; W. D. Henderson, treasurer, and E. Chapin, John Cooper, N. H. Davis, John Curts and John B. Fort, executive committee. By the time of the next annual meeting the

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executive committee had secured and enclosed suitable grounds a little southeast of the village of Oquawka, where the citizens of Henderson county continued to meet and exhibit their stock and other interesting articles of their county's production up to and including the year 1866. The incompatibility of holding the fair so remote from the center of the county had begun to be felt and talk of removal freely indulged in, and to this end the newly elected executive committee and official board, in session on the fair ground, resolved to meet at Biggsville May 25, 1867, to receive bids and hear arguments as to a more central and at the same time suitable location. Biggsville and vicinity was equal to the occasion and generously raised by subscription $1,684, which was used in fencing and fitting up in suitable shape the beanti- ful piece of land about one mile south of town, the use of which was donated to the society free of charge by the enterprising Adam Sloan for a term of six years. This offer, it is needless to say, was accepted, and the next exhibition of farm produce, fine herds and fast horses took place on the new fair grounds at Biggsville in October, 1867, and proved a decided success. The by-laws of this society require that on the last day of each annual fair the board of officers for the ensuing year shall be elected, and in accordance with this law the old board, which was composed of Robert Gibson, president ; E. Hollingsworth and A. McDougall, vice-presidents ; H. F. McAllister, recording secretary ; R. S. McAllister, corresponding secretary and treasurer ; Col. Samuel Hutchinson, Samuel McElhinney, O. W. Milliken, John H. 'Rice and William Tharp, executive committee, retired, giving place to Samuel Hutchinson, president ; Preston Martin and R. A. MeKinley, vice-presidents ; A. R. Graham, treasurer ; R. S. McAllis- ter, corresponding secretary ; H. F. McAllister, recording secretary ; A. MeDougall, Jos. S. King, M. HI. Mills, John HI. Rice and John B. Fort, executive committee.

The next change of any importance to note, with reference to this organization, was the expiration of their lease to the ground. This was, however, arranged by renting the same of Mr. Sloan at a rental of $150 per year, which was soon found to be too heavy a tax on their receipts, and a movement was accordingly put on foot by the citizens of the county to purchase the land, 152 acres in the S. W. Į of Sec. 21. T. 10, R. 4, of Mr. Sloan. This was a fortu- nate step, at least to the Henderson county agricultural board, as a contract between them and the purchasers of the land secured to them, at comparative small cost, the use of a commodious and well arranged fair ground. Since then, and in fact since its removal to Biggsville, the fair has been a success in display, but not in finances. It is now

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

under the supervision of the following efficient board : Paul D. Sal- ter, president ; Thomas G. Richey, vice-president ; and John H. Mc- Dougall, Elijah Beal, I. H. M. McQnown, James Duke, J. H. Woods, Joseph Linell, Com. P. Davidson and Paul D. Gibb, executive com- mittee ; R. A. McKinley, recording secretary ; Geo. W. Holines, cor- responding secretary ; Geo. McDill, treasurer.

As above stated, a number of the citizens of the county, especially those having the interest of the fair at heart, purchased the land and formed themselves into a joint stock company ; was incorporated Jan- uary 12, 1880, in accordance with the state laws as the Henderson Coun- ty Agricultural Fair Ground Corporation, and now control $1,200 in stock, which is divided in shares of $10 each, on which they receive from the agricultural board ten per cent in gate tickets. They are under the guardianship of a board of directors, of whom A. L. Porter has been president since they became an incorporate body. For the interest of the general readers it might be here mentioned that the official members of the agricultural board, after they had decided on removal to Biggsville, met and procured men and teams to go to Oquawka with a view to also removing the old fair ground outfit, but their return empty is evidence that they had no legal claim to the property. The friend of the Oquawka faction held a fair on the old grounds the season of 1867, which was the last effort to sustain a second institution in that line in the county.

VILLAGE OF BIGGSVILLE.

The early settlers of this county, like those of the state, had no thought that their solitude would be so soon invaded by the greatest of all improvements, a railroad. Yet such is the case, and to-day train after train goes hurrying past their doors with their many cars heavily laden with the vast productions of the then unknown country, far beyond the Father of Waters. Though they waited patiently for the development of their country, and watched with pride and joy every phase of its onward march and improvement, yet few for a moment anticipated that soon would they be in communication with the great outside world by means of anything other than the old stage coach. But in 1852 surveyors and engineers, looking for a route for the Peoria & Oquawka railroad, put in an appearance, and the talking of railroad by day and dreaming of cars by night was but an infantile anticipation of what was in waiting for these sturdy sons of toil. A line was soon established entering this township from Warren county at the center of Sec. 13 and passing through the south half of Secs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. and leaving the township near the N.E. corner of Sec. 18, a route

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which would seem to the minds of ordinary men the most inaccessible, as it followed the bottom lands of Henderson ereek through Secs. 16, 17 and 18, necessitating bridging the stream in several places. The line being located grading was at once begun, and soon the great iron horse put in an appearance and infused into the inhabitants new life and vigor. But it was not until 1854 that the Peoria & Oqnawka rail- road was completed, that there was any marked change in this part of the county. In that year Andrew and Samuel C. Donglass platted the first lots in the town on the N. W. + of S. W. 4, T. 10, R. 4, and named it Biggsville, in honor of its early founder, John Biggs. This plat consisted of one row of lots ou the north and one on the south side of Main street, and from the depot on the east to the mill race on the west. Thus matters stood until 1856, when Solomon Essex, George and Smith Wax came to the newly laid out but yet unsettled town. They each bought lots and built houses which are now occupied by Sol. Essex, Wm. Bell and Jerome Fuller. The same fall Michael Farley built two houses on the south side of Main street near the west end of the new plat. Grain was bought at and shipped from this point by Robert Moir and John MeKinney, of Oquawka, and it was not until the summer of 1857 that the grain trade became a commercial attrac- tion. In that year B. II. Martin purchased the old South Henderson United Presbyterian church and removed it to Biggsville, where it kept up its former reputation by doing good service as a grain warehouse. Here Mr. Martin actively embarked in the grain trade, which soon grew to large proportions. The first corn bought here by Martin was shelled by hand, weighed in a flour barrel on a small pair of Fairbanks scales and loaded on the cars on track. The growth of business can be better illustrated in giving the figures furnished by Mr. T. W. Dennis, as the transactions of one day : Three hundred and ninety-eight loads of grain received, twenty-six cars of grain loaded, twenty-two cars of stock loaded, making two full trains of twenty-two cars each, which was pulled out at night, leaving four cars of grain standing on the side track. The same day Mr. Crosthwait removed the furniture from his parlor and filled the room with grain, and then turned his horses out and filled the stable. But in later years Biggsville boasts of no such days of trade. Grain, however, is still raised in large quantities and finds a firm and steady market here. M. Beklen, at the old ware- house of B. H. Martin and the enterprising James Montgomery up in town are the buyers.

Up to 1858 the Peoria & Oquawka and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads then operating on the now great Chicago, Burlington & Quincy line had no agent, and only sold tickets at Monmouth, Kirk-

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wood and Oquawka junction, carrying passengers between these points without stopping at Biggsville unless to take water at the tank, then located near the bridge north of town. The only passengers sure of an accommodation were large shippers or those expert enough to get off of a moving train. In the same year, 1858, one Noah Purcell removed a small shanty (called a store) and a stock of goods here from Kirkwood and in a small way engaged in merchandising in calico, tea, coffee, soap, molasses and whisky. His stay, however, was of short duration, and between two days for forgery he left the country, leaving the constable asleep in the bed they were both to occupy. After con- siderable correspondence Mr. Martin induced Mr. H. W. Crosthwait, of Iowa, to come to Biggsville and put in a stock of goods. This was also in 1858. This stock was only such as was most needed, such as tea, coffee, sugar, molasses, and other groceries, and opened out to the trade in a corner of Martin's warehouse. It was the custom of Mr. Crosthwait to go to Burlington and purchase his goods by wholesale and bring them back in his arms. While on these trips Mr. Martin usually clerked for him.

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 127

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