USA > Illinois > Piatt County > History of Piatt County; together with a brief history of Illinois from the discovery of the upper Mississippi to the present time > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
.
415
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
children ; John H., now in an abstract office at Charleston, and a soldier for five and one-half years in the late war, married Susan McNutt. Mr. Clark was married the second time, to Nancy A. Tout- man, who is the mother of nine children, all of whom are living. Chas. A. married Jennie Kinzer, and lives in Cerro Gordo township. They have one child, Lyman. Thomas married Francis Lindsay, farms in Cerro Gordo township, and has two children, Horace and Benjamin. Henry Clay and wife, née Hannah Thompson, with three children, live in Missouri. Francis married Mary Hedges, and they, with their one child, live on Friends creek. Wm. E. is at home. Lida, the wife of Thos. Killian, a farmer in Morgan county, has one child. Alfred, Mary N. and Jennie D. are at home. Mr. Clark has never lost a child, nor has either of them ever deprived him of a whole night's rest. Mr. Clark relates that his son, John H., was on the frontier during the war, and that, after his time was out, the regimnent was ordered to proceed farther. J. H. wrote to his father of the affair, and Mr. Clark was advised to see Mr. Oglesby, and he wrote to him, referring to several leading men of Springfield. As a result Mr. Oglesby wrote an excellent letter to Mr. Clark, stating that the regi- ment was ordered back within three-quarters of an hour after the receipt of the letter.
MR. O. T. CHAMBERS, native of Indiana, moved from that state to Piatt county, Illinois, in 1864. He first rented a farm one mile from where he now lives, and then bought a farm near Pierson station. He and his wife own 280 acres of land. He was married in 1871, to Sarah Wildman, and has three children living, Augustus, Hattie Daisy and Jesse Orville. Mr. Chambers went into the army from Indiana in 1861 in Co. F, 31st Ind. reg. The principal battles he engaged in were those of Fort Donelson and Shiloh. He was wounded at the latter place in September, 1862, and was discharged on account of the wound, which did not heal until two years afterward.
MR. HENRY P. CHAMBERS, farmer, moved from Indiana, his native state, directly to Piatt county in 1864. He owns 40 acres of land, which he has improved himself. He was married in 1875, to Sarah E. Stark, a native of Indiana. They have had two children, Eliner P. and Myrtie Stella.
MR. G. W. CARTER, a farmer in the southwestern part of Unity township, was born in Ohio and reared in Kentucky. He moved from the latter state to Vermilion county, Illinois, in 1852. From this county he moved to Macon county and, in 1869, settled on the place
416
HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
-
where he now lives. At that time the place was raw prairie. He has put all improvements on it, including the setting out of about four hundred and fifty trees. Mr. Carter made mention of a deer which was killed in Unity township in 1870. This was probably the last deer killed in the county. On March 12, 1835, Mr. Carter and Miss Sarah M. Fugate were married. They have had sixteen children, only five of whom are living. Sarah married Mr. John B. Starr, who died, leaving one child, Fannie ; she married Mr. A. Foreman, and they with their one child live in Champaign county. Mrs. Starr married Mr. John J. Neyhard and lived in Piatt county until her death; she left five children. Cora B., Sally, Anna and George are now living with their grandfather, Mr. G. W. Carter. Joseph Carter married Rebecca E. Ward ; he died, but three of his children, Rosa, Dora and Taylor, are still living ; Mrs. Carter married again and is now living in Macon county. Richard A. Carter married Margaret Clifton ; they had five children, George, Jared, William, Joseph and D. Rich- mond. Zachariah T. Carter married Jane Davenport ; she died, leaving two children, one of whom, Addy Nevada, is now living ; he married Mrs. Fannie Fisher, and now is a farmer in Missouri. Mary C. married W. Benjamin McDaniel, a farmer, who lives in Kansas ; they have five children. Lemuel S. Carter married Katie A. Brown and lives on a farm in Unity township ; they have two children, Clara M. and Leon M. Mr. Lemuel Carter is probably the only pro- fessional hunter in this county. He has been a hunter ever since he was a child. He ships yearly on an average 700 ducks, 1,200 rabbits, 1,500 prairie chickens, 2,500 quails and 2,500 snipe. He ships to Chicago over $1,000 worth of game a year. He has killed as high as forty-two prairie chickens in one day, and in one day's hunt lie has slot, one at a time, sixteen dozen snipe. He sold this lot to another hunter on the ground for $25. He considers that he handles the finest dogs in the state ; they are imported, and are Irish setters, English pointers and Scotch pointers. He owns one dog now for which he has a standing bid at St. Louis of $300. Mr. G. W. Carter was ordained a Baptist minister in 1844. He has preached in Ver- milion, Champaign and Christian counties in this state. Mr. Carter's eldest son, George, married Martha V. Foreman, and has four children, Charles T., Mississippi, Susan and Flora Belle.
MR. J. W. LOWTHER, farmer, Voorhies, is a native of Ohio, who moved from there directly to Illinois and settled in Piatt county in
417
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
1869. He owns 120 acres of land. He went into the army from Ohio in the 140th Ohio reg., national guards.
MRS. GEORGE DEEDS, née Eunice » Wildman, is a native of New York. She moved to Pennsylvania, from there to Ohio, and then came to Piatt county in 1845. She was married in 1846, and moved to Will county, where she lived till 1861, when she came back to Unity township, where she has lived in one house for eighteen years. Mr. Deeds went to Missouri, and while at his brother's he took sick and died. Mr. Deeds was a farmer. They had no children. Some of Mrs. Deeds' nieces have from time to time lived with her.
MR. S. S. DUDLEY, a farmer in Unity township, is a native of Ash- land county, Ohio. He moved from Ohio to Connecticut, and from that state to Illinois in 1864, and in 1866 settled in Piatt county on the land where he now lives. He owns 240 acres of land, and has put all the improvements on it, including the planting out of some two hundred fruit and ornamental trees. He was married in 1867, to Miss Elizabeth J. Porter, of Moultrie county. They have two children, Eddie Earnest and Mary Ethel. Mrs. Dudley has been afflicted with the third-day ague for six years, three weeks being the longest absence of the chill during that time. This fact shows that the malaria is not yet all out of Piatt county. Mrs. Dudley, in speaking of her early home on the prairie, stated that it was quite customary for herself and her several mile distant neighbors to exchange visits, taking their cows and staking them out to enjoy a new field of grass while the women chatted over knitting or sewing. While making these visits Mrs. Dudley became quite an expert snake-killer. In speaking of the first settlers in his immediate neighborhood, Mr. Dudley stated as his opinion that a Mr. J. P. Way, who settled in T. 16, R. 5, Sec. 23, was the earliest settler in his vicinity. Mr. Way was from Connecticut, and moved from this county to Nebraska. The most of the land in the southern part of this county was formerly owned by speculators. Those who settled in the prairie tried to open farms without fences, and immediately trouble arose between the stockmen, who wanted plenty of range for their stock, and the farmers, who wanted to till the land. They almost fought over the matter. A gentleman who is now, a prominent citizen of Moultrie county was once known to watch his stock all day with a gun in hand. The first few years Mr. Dudley farmed he used to get up each night and ride over the place to see if stock was on the farm. Wolves have frequently been seen in Mr. Dudley's neighborhood since the war. A
418
HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
deer was killed by Tom Loyd, of Macon county, in section 23 of Unity township, in 1867, which was one of the last killed in Piatt county. The first six winters Mr. Dudley was in this state he was a school teacher. He taught two schools at Milinine, two at Ridge Chapel, and two at Lovington. He was school treasurer for six years of district No. 6, township 16. He was the third treasurer, William Bouser being the first, and John Carothers the second. In 1870 school land was sold in this township for $13,660. At first the whole school township was laid off into four districts, but finally, after quite a struggle among the people, it was laid off into nine districts. Mr. T. J. Kiser, of Hanmond, is the present treasurer of the township. Mr. Dudley was not in the army, but during the war was in the government employ, and helped to rebuild Fort Hale, at New Haven, Connecticut. Since being in this county he has been connected with the Sabbath-school movement. For two years he was president of the Unity Township Sunday-school convention. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
MR. JAMES DAVIES, a farmer of Unity township, was born in England in 1812. His parents were natives of the same country. He came to America, in 1856, at the instigation of a brother then in California, and who afterward moved to that state. While crossing the ocean they encountered a fearful storm, which lasted two days and nights. Mr. Davies' mother came to America, and died at the age of seventy-nine. Upon landing in America he moved to Ohio, and from there, in 1863, he emigrated to Coles county, Illinois. He next moved to Douglas county, and in 1867 he settled in Piatt county. Mrs. Davies, née Anne Phillips, was born in England in 1815, and in 1840 her marriage with Mr. Davies was celebrated in Shropshire, , Both have where they lived until their emigration to America. relatives in England and in America. They have had six children. Walter was killed at the battle of Murfreesborough. Elizabeth mar- ried Mr. Easton (see his name). The rest of the family are all school teachers. Diana attended school at Valparaiso. Anna has taught about twenty-four terms of school, and attended school at Valparaiso. Hortense H. has attended the State Normal and the school at Valparaiso. Her school-teaching experience lasts through twenty terms.
MR. JOHN H. EASTON, farmer, is a native of Ohio. His father was a native of Massachusetts, and his mother of New York. He is of English lineage. In 1854 he moved from Ohio to Illinois, spending
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 419
the winter in Will county, but was bound for Piatt county. After farming for others for five years, he began teaching, and has taught in this and other counties for sixteen years. He bought land with the fruits of his educational labors. He bought his present home, a farm of 120 acres, in 1881. His first wife, née Elizabeth Helton, died March 25, 1865. She had one son, Henry O. He next married Elizabeth Davies, August 12, 1868. She has had three children, Alberta D., Maud Mary and Walter. Mr. Easton went to the army, in Co. F, of the 2d Ill. Cav., and was out thirteen months, but, though in plenty of skirmishes, was in no regular battles. Owing to sickness, lung and typhoid fever, he had to come home. Mr. Easton tanght eight terms of school at Mackville. He has been township assessor.
MR. JAMES M. EYRSE, farmer, Unity township, is of Scotch and Irish lineage, and a native of Virginia. He can trace his ancestors back to Virginia colony days. He moved from Virginia to Tazewell county, Illinois, in 1854, thence to Macon county, and from there to Piatt county in 1871. At that time he bought his farm of 120 acres, where. he now lives. In 1849 he married Ann Eliza Whisman, who died in 1859, leaving three children. Eliza Y. married David Lewis, a farmer in Douglas county. They have one child. Virginia A. is unmarried, and lives at home. Henry J. married Sally M. Galford, a native of Ohio, and lives in Unity township. They have one child, Laura Belle. At the time of Mr. Eyrse leaving Virginia, he ranked as major in the militia of that state. He served in the Mexican war in a light infantry company from Virginia. He was in the 1st Va. reg., Augusta volunteers, under General Taylor. He was in no regular battle, and the principal skirmishing was done in opening communi- cation after the battle of Beuna Vista between Camargo and Monterey. Upon our asking for camp-fire stories, Mr. Eyrse remarked that their company was made use of, and had "no chance to joke over camp- fires." Mr. Eyrse is regarded as quite a good drill master at the present day.
MR. EZRA FAY (deceased) was born May 27, 1813, in New York. He was of German and Irish descent. Moved from New York to Ohio, and from there to Illinois in 1835. His widow lives on the land he bought soon after coming to the county. He married Acena Holden, October, 1831. She died in 1839, leaving one daughter, who married Samuel Vanfleet, of Indiana. He next married Elizabeth Hogland. Three of their children are living. Richard, a farmer in Unity. town- ship, married Mary Frellinger, and has four children ; Sarah J. mar-
-
420
HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
ried John Nighswander ; Riley is living with his mother in Unity township. Mr. Fay died April 6, 1877.
MR. JOHN FORD, a farmer in Unity township, is a native of Ireland. He came to America and to Monticello in 1859. He moved onto the present farm of about two hundred acres near thirteen years ago. He has been a hard worker, and got his farm by feeding cattle and work- ing by the month. He was married in 1866, to Elizabetlı Madden, a native of Ireland. They have six children living : Maggie, Patrick, Malci, Jane, John and Kate. Mr. Ford is a member of the Catholic church.
MR. ISAAC FULTON, proprietor of the second store (grocery) in Pierson, started in business there in 1881, and anticipates making Piatt county his home. He was married in 1878, to Miss Anna Wacaser, and has one child, Harry Lee.
MR. GAMALIEL GREGORY, farmer, is a native of New York. He moved to Ohio, and in 1855 to Piatt county. His father, Josiah Gregory, was of English descent. He settled in Champaign county in 1858, and moved to Bement in 1878. Mr. G. Gregory married Mary Monroe, November, 1856, born in this county July 29, 1837. Her parents both died in this county. She has five sisters and two brothers living. She lias three children living. Wm. G. Gregory married Kate Crawford, has one child, and is a druggist in Coles county ; J. R. is farming at home ; Rosalia married George Mumper, a farmer in Champaign county. Mr. Gregory has been town col- lector and town clerk, and is a member of the masonic lodge at Bement.
MR. GILBERT GREENE, farmer, was born in Tennessee in 1824. He lived in Kentucky until he was twenty-five, and in 1854 came to Piatt county. He started to Champaign county, "got out of the way a little, found this county good enoughi, and so stopped." He first settled about one and a half miles below his present home, then, after two years' residence in Champaign county, settled on the Prairie in Bement township. The next move was to the place he now lives on, which he has improved. He has a fair sized orchard, which bears a good deal of fruit. He was married in 1845, to Martha Ramsey. Of Mr. Greene's children, Wm. Boyd married Mary Lane, and in 1871 moved to Nebraska ; they have four children. Ruth married Shannon Fristoe, and lives in Bement; they have three children, Horace, Walter and Jesse Pearl. Margaret C. married Allen Moore, and lives in Neosho county, Kansas ; they have five children. Susan married
421
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHIES.
Wm. Curren, and lives in Sangamon township. John, Simon, Frank D. and Ella R. are at home.
MR. JOHN W. C. GRAY, farmer, is a native of Pickaway county, Ohio. His mother is a native of Ohio and lives with one of her chil- dren in Iowa. His father was a native of Iowa. Both of Mr. Gray's grandfathers were in the revolutionary war, and two of his brothers went to the late war, one of whom served throughout the rebellion. Mr. Gray is one of a family of six children. He would not have settled in Piatt county had it not been for Mr. Jack Riddle. While on business in the county for Mr. Kious, Mr. Riddle persuaded him to work for Mr. John Piatt. While working for him he was hired to ship cattle in 1856. A portion of the year 1856 he herded cattle at Blue Mound for Mr. John Piatt. Mr. Gray relates some interesting items in regard to snakes, which were found on the prairie at an early day here. He says that by actual count and record in the season of 1856 he killed 1,100 rattlesnakes, and lias killed as high as thirty-three in one day. That same season he saw as many as from nineteen to twenty- nine deer in one herd, and he captured eleven fawns, some of which were sent back to New York. Mr. Gray was married in October, 1861, to Mrs. Eliza Crain, who died February 26, 1876. In April, 1877, he married Mrs. R. (Murry) Myres, who had one child at the time of her last marriage. She is a native of New Hampshire and came with her parents to Menard county, Illinois, in 1846. When Mr. Gray began improving his farm, it was overrun with hazel-brush and willows. His ten acre orchard is in as good a condition as any orchard in the county and contains all small fruit that will succeed in growing in this part of the state. He built his present residence about nine years ago. He thinks he has the best cellar in the county. He settled on his present farm in 1869, having previously lived where Mr. James Wharton now lives. Mr. Gray's well selected library of at least two hundred volumes shows that he is one of the farmers of the county who believes in keeping up with the times. He was justice of the peace for six years and has been elected road commissioner and supervisor.
MR. HENRY GROSS, a merchant and farmer of Mackville, is a native of Germany. He came to America in 1853, and for eight years remained in New York, and then moved to Chicago, where he remained till 1857, when he moved to Marion county. In 1858 he moved to Piatt county and settled on the land where Mackville is located. Mr. Gross came alone from Germany, the rest of his family came after-
422
HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
-
ward. He now has four brothers and one sister in the county. His parents, Casper Gross and wife, came to America during the war. Mr. Henry Gross married Sophia Gross, a native of Germany, in 1861. They have had eight children, two of whom are dead. Sigel T. Gross is bookkeeper in the store of Gross & Biggs, of Mackville. Anna, Alexander, Thusnelda, Henry and Sophia are at home. Mr. Henry Gross is the first and only postinaster that Mackville has had. He was school director for ten or twelve years, and filled a vacancy as justice of the peace. He has also been collector, clerk and supervisor of Unity township.
MR. JNO. GORDON (deceased) was a farmer in Unity township, and owned 120 acres of land. He married Anna Sloam. Both were natives of Ireland, came to America in 1863, and to Piatt county in 1866. They had eight children, six of whom are living, Felix G., Rosealla, Maggie, Mary, Ida May and Catharine S. On the 17th of March, 1879, one of their boys was buried; on the 18th of the same monthı their house burned down ; on the 29th of the month an infant was born ; and about a year from this time Mr. Gordon died.
MR. GEORGE GOODSON (deceased) was a native of Douglas county, Illinois. He moved in Piatt county in 1873. He was married in 1871, to Candacy Pierson. She has no children. Her parents were from Indiana, and moved to Piatt county in 1867. Mr. Charles Goodson was married, January 28, 1882, to Emma Gow, who until recently made her home at John Harshbarger's. They reside near Goodson station.
MR. JNO. GOODSON, farmer, was born in Douglas county, Illinois, and came to this county in 1878. In 1862 he went to California and began farming and stock raising, and remained there fourteen years. He was married in California, to Miss Julia Ingerham. They have one daughter, Mollie. Mr. Goodson came back in 1879 and built a nice farm residence of nine rooms. He is fast getting things in good shape about the farm, and it bids fair to be one of the best places in the county. He is a stock dealer and has some fine sheep and cattle. Mr. Goodson went to the army, was taken prisoner and sworn not to fight until he was exchanged. He was not exchanged and so went to California.
MR. ROBERT GRIFFIN (deceased) was married in Indiana, to Louisa Thompson, and moved to Piatt county in 1870. He lived on Mr. Quick's place for a time, and then moved to the place he lived at the · time of his death about five years ago. He left a widow and five
3
423
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
children. Laura married John Bogard, and moved to Missouri. Harriet, the wife of Christopher Denny, lives with her child, Myrtle Olive, in Unity township. Mary Ellen, Henry Charles and William Edgar are at home. Mrs. Griffin owns about twenty-one acres of land. Mr. Griffin was a soldier in the late war.
MR. DANIEL HARSHBARGER, a retired farmer, was born in Cham- paign county, Ohio, and is of German descent. His father moved from Ohio to Montgomery county, Indiana, and in 1823 made the ,second settlement in that county. He died in Illinois in 1857. His wife died in Indiana in 1853. Mr. Daniel Harshbarger was married in 1834, to Miss Huldah Quick, of Montgomery county. They moved to Piatt county in 1837, and for the first summer lived with Daniel's father in a cabin built the same year. In the fall Daniel went into his own round-log cabin covered with clapboards and containing a hickory pole bedstead. When he came to the county he had $200 in money, five sheep, one horse, one cow, one hog, and some spinning wheels upon which Mrs. Harshbarger did all the spinning for the family. Mr. Harshbarger now has a walnut chest which is a hundred years old and a pair of steelyards, which came from Germany, that are one hundred and fifty years old. This family remained in their round-log cabin until 1848, when they built the second brick house in the county. The brick was burned by Jim ·Bennet on Mr. Harshbarger's place. Mr. and Mrs. Harshbarger still occupy this with their son John and his family. When about fifty-five years of age Mr. Harshbarger stopped his long- continued hard labor and deeded his ten or eleven hundred acres of land to his children, with the proviso that they were to keep himself and wife. After stating this fact to us lie very contentedly remarked, " the children all appear to be reconciled to the way I divided it." Mr. Michael Harshbarger is Mr. Daniel Harshbarger's oldest living son '(see his name). His daugliter Sarah married Mr. Joseph Baker (see his name). Mr. John Harshbarger was married in 1868 to Anna Gaw, from Indiana. Their children are Carrie, William D. and Frank Merritt. John is a farmer and stock dealer and lives on the old home- stead place where lie has lived all his life. Miss Emma Gaw, Mrs. John Harshbarger's sister, is making her home with them at present. Miss Emma seeins to possess natural talent for drawing. We suggest that she should embrace all possible chances of cultivating such talent. Barbara Harshbarger married William Carroll and is living in Douglas county. Their children's names are Ivory Belle, Ivol, Icel Lee and Florence Mabel. Mr. Daniel Harslibarger was the first justice of the
424
HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
peace in his section of the county. He served as such for twelve years, until they began lawing, when he refused to serve longer. A gentleman who has known "Uncle Dan " a long while says that he is " as honest as the day is long," and that his extreme sense of justice led him to be considered one of the best peacemakers in the county. His law was, " Do right whatever the consequences," and he has been known to prevent suits many times by going out of his way to see the men and persuading them to come to settlement. He married the first couple who united in the bonds of matrimony in Unity township, and for six or eight years performed the marriage ceremony for all who were married in Lake Fork timber. We must tell a little joke on " Uncle Dan " which was related to us by a neighbor of his. What we have already told of his peace-making abilities would lead one to think that it would grieve him very much to have a neighbor think ill of him. One morning when out he met a neighbor, Mr. Thomas Good- son, who, instead of giving his usual "good morning !" said in a very sober tone of voice "I thought I would tell you there is a coolness between us." "Uncle Dan," with a surprised and anxious look, and in that deep and earnest tone of voice of his, said, "Why, Tominy, Tommy, what is it ! I never had a hard feeling toward you in the world." Mr. Goodson, after carrying his joke to the desired extent, remarked that "it was the sharp breeze which caused the coolness between them." Mr. Harshbarger held the office of supervisor for one year. He was the first person to make a profession of religion on Lake Fork and was baptized June 28, 1842, by Mr. John Collins, and in the same fall Mrs. Harshibarger, Mrs. Joseph Moore and Mrs. James Utterback were baptized. Mr. Harshbarger relates that in early days in their neighborhood the people used often to get quite lonesome. At Mr. Monroe's they used to go on top of the house to watch across the prairie, hoping to see some one coming. In case they should, word would soon be sent around and all the neighborhood would collect at one house. Since writing the above we have received the following items from Mr. Jolin Harshbarger. He took the measure of twelve of the apple trees which his father set out in 1839 and found that they averaged in circumference five feet and one inch-the largest measur- ing seven feet and three inches. The tallest tree was forty feet and seven inches in height, and in the twelve the following varieties are represented, Early Harvest, Golden Pippin, Vandaver Pippin and Spitzenburg. These trees are in a thriving condition and in 1881 some of them bore as high as twenty-five bushels of apples apiece. Mr.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.