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 41
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On the day they moved Mr. Monroe killed a deer, and the wolves getting scent of it followed him home. That evening as he and his wife cooked it and ate the meat off the bones they threw them over the incomplete chimney into the yard, where they were eagerly snatched up by the waiting wolves without. When Mr. Monroe went out to drive them off they ran away, barking like little dogs. This winter proved to be quite a severe one. Mr. Monroe gradually completed his cabin, but in the meantime he used often to find their bed in the morning covered by an inch or two of snow. Mr. Monroe made quite a narrow escape with his life at the time of the sudden freeze in 1836. He and James Utterback started to East Fork, Coles county, for corn, when the snow was about knee deep. It began raining and continued until the ground was covered with a slush of snow and water. The men's clothes were thoroughly soaked with water and they were about half-way across the prairie when suddenly a piercing, fierce cold wind struck them. In ten minutes the slush was frozen sufficiently to bear the weight of a man. They unhitched their teams, leaving the oxen, while each mounted a horse and ran down to a Mr. Holden's. When they reached Mr. Holden's Mr. Monroe could not get off his horse. He was frozen fast to the hair of the horse, so that they had to pull him loose. He was then taken into the house, where all possible care was given himn. It was over a week before they got their teams home. When Mr. Monroe got home after his trip for corn, he found Mr. Christopher Mosbarger, an old millwright, there, with his tools. As the folks were without bread, the millwright exclaimed, "Boys, get your oxen and grub hoes and cut the ice ; by gracious, we makes a mill with prairie 'nigger-heads.'" In about four days the mill, the first on Lake Fork, was complete. The same mill was afterward moved to where Atwood now is and was run by a horse. It would grind from ten to twenty bushels a day. Mr. Monroe's folks were in the county five years before officers of any kind found them. Mr. William Monroe got up a petition which led to the location of a road from Monticello to Lake Fork, the first local road in that section of the county. William Monroe and Hiram Heath made the furrow across to Monticello. John Tenbrooke was the surveyor. After this, William Monroe got up and circulated a petition for the opening of a state road from Charleston to Bloomington. The legislature granted the petition and Daniel Stickle and Judge Hughes were appointed commissioners. George Heath was surveyor. The new road traversed the county very nearly in the track of the old road, which crossed from Monticello to
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the head of the timber, crossed the Fork and on down on the east side of the stream. A mail route was established, the mail being carried on horseback. Mr. O. C. Denslow was the first postmaster, and was on the land owned by Mr. Samuel Harshbarger. The postoffice was moved to Mr. Jesse Monroe's house and Richard Monroe was appointed postmaster. The route was discontinued after the Toledo, Wabash & Warsaw railroad was built. Mr. Monroe, when he went to Vandalia to enter his land, carried apple seeds home in his saddle- bags and planted them. He reports that he and his neighbors did well in their farming. They were all sociable and peaceable. Nor were they lacking in hospitality. Mr. Monroe states that he has taken persons into the house to stay over night, until in the morning those nearest the door would actually have to get out of the way to permit the others to arise.
MR. RICHARD MONROE, farmer, is a native of Indiana. He came to Piatt county in 1836 and has lived longer in Unity township than any other person. He was married March 1, 1863, to Anna E. Gosney and lives on his father's old homestead. Mrs. Monroe's. mother lies buried at the Bement cemetery. Her father married Mrs. M. Byers and lives in Bement. In 1876 Mr. Monroe built a very fine frame house containing ten rooms. He is gradually improving his place until in neatness and appearance it can compete with any other in the county.
MR. JOSEPH MOORE, "Buckskin Joe," farmer, was born in Ohio in 1812. He is of German and Irish descent. Twenty-four years of his life were spent in Kentucky, in which state he married Emelia B. Whittaker. He says that he visited this country about 1832, that he liked it better than the timber land where he had been living, so he went home, married, and came out here-Piatt county-about 183.6. When he reached this part of the country he had just seventy-five cents, one-third of which he gave to Henry Sadorns for meal. His father was dead, but his mother and all the family came to this county. His mother died about 1857 or 1858, and now all the family are gone except himself and one sister. Mr. Moore entered a part of his present home place in 1838, and in 1844 put up what he supposes to be the first hewed log house in the township. He still lives in the house, which is 32×36 feet, and of which all the window and door casings are of hewed wood. In 1843 he put out an orchard of abont five acres. His orchard seemed so large, his house appeared of such great size, that his neighbors declared that "he put one forty in the orchard,
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another in the house, and cut the timber off the other forty to put his house on." Mr. Moore tells some interesting facts in regard to the young ladies whom he knew in the pioneer days of this county. Two girls started from where Comargo now is and walked through Piatt county and on to the trading house which was twelve miles below Monticello. Upon their return they were overtaken by a hailstorm, and when they reached Mr. Moore's they were covered with the marks of the falling hailstones. Mr. Moore's sisters used to get on horses and travel to Charleston, twenty-eight miles distant, in order to receive letters from their lovers. When we asked Mr. Moore to tell us some hunting stories he exelaimed, "Oh, 'twill be useless to begin to tell my hunting excursions !" When asked how many deer he had killed in a day he said, " Only as high as seven in a day." Ile used to get from fifty cents to $1 for deer skins and from twenty-five cents to $1.25 for coon skins. He says that he and another man once made a bargain that they would quit hunting when they could not kill a deer a day- and they did quit. As there are four Joe Moores in Unity township, the people of that place have chosen to give the subject of our sketch the sobriquet of "Buckskin Joe." We suspect that his hunting pro- pensities had something to do with the chosen name. Mr. Moore's eldest daughter, Mary, married Mr. Martin Parrent and went to Nebraska, where she died in 1881, leaving one daughter, Mary Ruth. William Moore lives not far from his father's residence (see his name). Robert W. Moore married Melissa Shults and lives in Unity township. Their children's names are Margaret, Osear, Rhoda, Dora and Jessie. Nancy Moore married James Goodson and had one daughter, Harriet. Mr. Joseph Biggs became her second husband. They have one daughter and live in Douglas county. In 1864 Mr. Joseph Moore married Mrs. Thomas Wilkinson née Elitha Parrent. She came to the county in 1864. Mr. Moore helped to haul lumber for the first court- house in Piatt county. He remembers of loaning fifty cents to one of his neighbors (the gentleman is yet one of his neighbors) with which to pay his first taxes. Mr. Moore was wounded in 1840 by a pitchfork. As a result he has lost a good portion of the bones of one hand. One glance at " Uncle Joe," as he is often called, will convince any one that he is a pioneer settler. And he is proud of having been one. Why shouldn't he be ? We of a later generation often fail, no doubt, to give the pioneers due credit for all the work they accomplished- and under difficulties any of us would find it hard to overcome. They should, every one of them, feel a pride in that they have struggled
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through the long years and have inade themselves what they are. Mr. Moore, when we went to hear him tell his old-time tales o'er, displayed to us the characteristic and genuine pioneer hospitality. As soon as he perceived us he seemed to take it for granted that we had come to spend the day. He did not use many words but in terse pioneer sen- tences bade us welcome. We were scarcely seated in his hewed log house when we caught a glimpse of our horses disappearing into the stable. All this took place without a word that we expected to stay more than a few minutes. When the time for departure came he bade us good-bye and invited us to return in his same characteristic way. He, and his old-time stories are known throughout the county. From all parts of the county have we been directed to be sure and see " Buckskin Joe Moore" if we desired to hear some good old tales in regard to early times in Piatt county.
MR. WILLIAM F. MOORE, farmer, was married in 1867, to Elizabeth Owen, a native of Ohio, and of Welsh descent. She died of consump- tion, leaving one child, Owen. Mr. Moore next married Anna Stafford, who was born in Piatt county, but was reared in Indiana. Her father, Jno. W. Stafford, was from Virginia, and her mother from Kentucky. They lived for about fifteen years in Piatt county, and both died on the place Mr. Moore lives on now. When last married Mr. Moore settled on his present home place. In 1876 he moved the house to its present position, and in 1880 built a new barn. The farm contains 400 acres, and has improved a good deal since Mr. Moore has had it in charge. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have but one child, Carry.
MR. BENJAMIN MOORE (deceased) moved to Piatt county in 1839, and settled on land which he had entered previous to his moving out from Montgomery county, Indiana. He celebrated his marriage with Sarah Monroe just previous to moving to Illinois. Friends who were coming induced Mr. and Mrs. Moore to come to Illinois. They endured many hardships and exposures when they settled in the new country. Wolves used to run chickens up to the yard fence in day -. light. Mrs. Moore now lives in a log cabin built in 1841, and for which her husband hewed the logs. Mr. Moore died October 11, 1852, aged thirty-six years. They had four children, two of wliom are living. Aaron went into the army for three years. Upon his return he married Martha Pervine, but died about three years after, from disease resulting from exposure in the army. Allen J. lives with his mother, and has charge of the home place. Chas. B. married Martha Shonkwiler, and lives in Unity township, on part of the land that Mr.
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Moore settled on. They have two children, Adrian T. and Nellie. Ruth Ann married Geo. Wiley, and died leaving two children, Wm. and Laura.
MR. ISAAC MOORE, a farmer near Atwood, was born in Ohio in 1823. He moved from his native state to Kentucky, from there to Indiana, and thence to Piatt county about 1865. He was first united in marriage to Phebe Kelly, who died leaving one child, that also died. His second wife, née Mary Thomas, died leaving two children, Rebecca E., who has one child, and who is the wife of L. T. Hageman, a carpenter of Sullivan ; and Ezra, who is still at home. He took for his third wife Mrs. Benj. Meeks née Clementine Newton, whose daughter, Anna Meeks, is still living at home. They have four children living, Chas., Bertie, Cora and Frank. Mr. Moore owns about eighty acres of land.
MR. LUTHIER MOORE, a farmer, was born in 1814, in Scioto county, Ohio. His parents lived in Crawfordsville, Indiana, for a time. His father came to Piatt county and bought forty acres of land where Mr. Moore now liyes. Luther came the next fall, 1837. Soon after coming to his land Mr. Moore put up a little cabin, made three or four thousand rails, fenced his land and broke it, and then, in 1840, married Mary J. Stewart, of Coles county, and went right to house- keeping. He has modified and added to his residence from time to time since, until he has the present neat house. When he first came to the county he had nothing but one sled and a horse. His orchard of about one hundred trees are from seeds which were carried from Indiana in the vest pocket. Of Mr. Moore's first wife's children, Geo. W. died in the late war ; Allen married Catharine Greene, and lives in Kansas ; Isaac G. married Janie Epperson, and lives in,Polk county, Nebraska ; Sarah J., the wife of Joseph Wiley, has two children, and lives in Sedgwick county, Kansas ; Wm. H. and Hannah are twins, the former married Hester A. Taylor, has two children, and lives in Bement township ; the latter married Wm. Mosbarger, a hardware merchant of Atwood, they have two children ; Benjamin F., a farmer, married Julia Maxey, and lives in Unity township. Six of the first Mrs. Moore's children are dead. In 1864 Mr. Moore married Sarah E. Kearny, a native of Pickaway county, Ohio, and became a resident of Piatt county in 1861. Her mother died very suddenly in this year, and, her father died in 1864. Her brothers and sisters went back to their old home in Douglas county. Since then they have become widely scattered. One sister, who has been blind for twenty years,
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makes her home with Mrs. Moore. The second Mrs. Moore lias . had six children, Mary E., Harvey L., Albert T., Marion, Oliver and Harry.
MR. PETER MAXEY, carpenter, Atwood, is a native of Kentucky, his parents' natal state. He is of French descent, his great-grandfather and grandmother on both sides came from France before the revolution and settled in Virginia. His parents moved from Kentucky to Coles county, Illinois, in 1836. Peter Maxey came to Unity township in 1858, and for a time was a farmer. He helped to build some of the first houses in Atwood. In 1851 he married Minerva Fitzpatrick, of Irish lineage and a native of West Virginia. They have had ten chil- dren, seven of whom are living. Deborah J. is the wife of Mr. L. Bishop, a mechanic in Unity township; Juda is the wife of Francis Moore, a farmer of Unity township; Laura married Thos. Cogdell, a farmer; Theodore, Cora Bell and Oliver are at home. Mr. Maxey went to the Mexican war in 1846, in Co. G (the Ottawa Co.), under Capt. Reed and Col. Newby. He was in the long, wearisome and tedious march to and from Sante Fé, New Mexico. He was in no skirmishies. He was also in the late war, starting out August 1862, in Co. H of 107th Ill. reg., and remaining nearly three years. He was not wounded, but was in the following engagements: Huff's Ferry, Campbell Station, Knoxville, Rocky-faced Mountain, Dalton, Resaca and Peach-tree Creek, at which place he was taken sick. Since writing the above, have heard of the death of Mr. Maxey, which occurred June 21, 1882. About seventy-five soldiers took part in the funeral cere- monies, commanded by Capt. Anderson of Atwood. Mr. Maxey was born in Kentucky in 1830, and has been a member of the Christian church for twenty-six years.
MR. JAMES McDOWELL (deceased) was born in 1820. He was mar- ried September 25, 1845, to Lydia Mckinstry, and in 1858 moved to Decatur, Illinois. At the end of one month they moved from there to Bement, Illinois. They stayed the first night in Bement at Dr. Buck- ley's, and immediately put up a one-room shanty, 25×16, on the lot where Mr. T. T. Petit now lives. The next day after moving into the shanty they had ten boarders. In September they moved into a part of what is now the Bement House. Mrs. McDowell was in the hotel from this time until 1870. Mr. McDowell died November 1, 1860, leaving his property about $1,700 in debt. The money for the pay- ment of this debt had to all be made out of the hotel, and in less than three years Mrs. McDowell paid off the debt. She says that she will
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always feel grateful to the people of Bement and Piatt county for their kindness in this emergency. Mr. J. Virgil McDowell married Miss Gelia McCose, of Michigan. They with their one child, Amy, make their home at Champaign, where Mr. McDowell is employed in the First National Bank. Samuel married Miss Maize McCose, of Michigan, and lives in Chicago. Mary E. married N. S. Buckner, now presiding elder in Kansas, in 1869, and died in 1870. Charrles B. married Ella Felix, and is a fruit agent in New York city. Ella married Mr. Cary Moore, now a commission merchant in New York. They have three children. William McDowell is in Chicago. Mrs. McDowell married Mr. James Wharton in 1864.
MR. CHRISTOPHER MASTERSON, farmer, was born in Indiana in 1835. He is of German descent. He was married in 1861, to Elizabeth Quick, a native of Piatt county, born in 1844. He moved into Piatt county in 1875. His father bought land in Piatt county in 1857, and was well acquainted throughout the southern part of the county. His mother was a sister of Messrs. Daniel and Samuel Harshbarger. Mr. Masterson belongs to the Masonic lodge. He has been deacon in the Christian church four years, and a trustee for seven years.
DR. JNO. S. MARSHALL, a resident physician of Atwood, was born in Ohio in 1832. He is of German descent, and parents, now botlı dead, moved from their native state, Virginia, to Ohio. He moved from that state to Illinois 1862 or 1863, and has been practicing medi- cine in Unity township ever since. For eight years he has had an interest in merchandise, and for the last two years has been alone in the business. He is the oldest resident physician of Atwood. He married, in 1853, Eliza Drury, who died February 29, 1881, leaving three children. William R. married Lucinda Tarrant, who died, leav- ing three children. Albert L., who assists his father in the merchan- dise business, married Mollie A. Grove, and has one child, Bertha. Elmer E. is studying telegraphy.
MR. ISAAC C. MILLER, farmer, near Atwood, is a native of Indiana. His father was from New Jersey and his mother from Pennsylvania. He moved from Indiana to Clark county, and from there to Piatt county in 1852. He was married in Indiana in 1828. to Angelina Lee, a relative of Gen. Lee, and who died in 1833, leaving one daughter, who married O. P. Cook, of Paris, Illinois. He next married Jane Wildman in 1858, who died, leaving six children, Clarissa, Catharine, Eliza, Isaac C. B., Amzi W. and Saralı Belle. IIe was married in 1877, to Mary Green. Mr. Miller has lived on his present homeplace
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for twenty years. His father was in the war of 1812, and his grand- father took part in the revolutionary war.
MR. JACOB MITCHELL (deceased) moved from Ohio to Illinois, where he and his wife both died in 1867, leaving a family of boys. Of these, William married Lillie Taylor, has one child, and is a merchant of Mil- mine; John married Cynthia Tatman, and lias one child; Jacob owns a farm of eighty acres in Unity township; Joseph is a farmer, and George lives in Willow Branch township. Their father left about 160 acres of land in addition to some timber land.
MR. GEORGE MOON, farmer, Mackville, is a native of Virginia, from which state he moved to Indiana, and thence to Coles county, Illi- nois, and from there to Piatt county in 1857. He first married Mary Ann Babb, who was the mother of four children, Eli, Eliza, Isaac and Alfred. He next married Ellen Nelson, who gave birth to twins, Franklin and Francis.
MR. JOSEPH MCCABE, farmer, Voorhies, moved from Ohio, his native state, to Piatt county in 1865, settling in Willow Branch township, but afterward moving onto his present farm of 160 acres in Unity town- . ship. He was married in Ohio, in 1846, to Elizabeth Miller, and five of their six children are living. John married Sarah Bunyan, lives in Unity township, and has three children, Ulrich, Ellsworth and an infant ; Jos. H., Samuel, Albert W. and Charlie are at home. Mr. McCabe lias held a few of the lesser offices while living in the county.
MR. A. J. MYERS, a druggist of Hammond, is a native of Macon county. He moved to Piatt county in 1876, bought a stock of drugs of a druggist in Hammond, and built his present store building. He and his partner, Dr. Noe, have the largest drug store in Hammond. Mr. Myers was married in 1873, to Miss Ella Payne. They have three children living, Leonora May, Effie Viola and Ethyl.
MR. J. W. MERRITT, blacksmith, Atwood, was born in Virginia, * his parents' native state. They moved to Illinois in 1854. He was married in Coles county, January 16, 1857, to Irena Conly, who was a native of Indiana. They have had seven children, J. W., Jr., is mar- ried and lives in Atwood ; Anna married Robert Sipe, one of the tile · firm, Sipe & Son, and lives in Atwood. The names of the remaining children are Dazella, Elmer, May, Bertie and Claud. Mr. Merritt went to the army from Coles county in Co. E of the 25th Ill. reg. He was in the following engagements : Pea Ridge, Stone River, Chickamauga, Perryville and Corinth. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Chick- amauga, September 20, 1863, and was in four different prisons, Libby,
RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM H. PIATT.
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LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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Danville, Andersonville and Florence. At Florence the stockade was not completed and the guards were insufficient, so that he, in company with some others, made their escape. It took them seventeen days to travel from Florence to Newburn. They swam streams and traveled by night, and even then they would have had a serious time to get through had they not been helped by negroes, whom they had taken into confidence. When they got home the folks had given Mr. Merritt up as dead. He says : " All things considered, I didn't enjoy prison life very much."
MR. THOMAS MORRIS, farmer, Bement, is a native of Ireland, who came to America in 1853. In 1855 he came to Piatt county, and about fourteen years ago bought his present home-farm, which now contains 240 acres of land, which he has improved himself. The farm was bought by hard days' labor, and the improvements were made in the same manner. He was married in 1861, to Mary Connor, a native of Ireland, and has had nine children, six of whom are living, Michael, David, James, Mary, Thomas and Henry.
MR. GEORGE W. NOLIND, farmer, was born in 1822, in Pike county, Olio. His father was a native of. Pennsylvania, and his mother of Virginia. Both are dead. He moved to La Fayette, Indiana, when there were but three log houses in the place. He stayed in Indiana about twelve years and then came to Coles county, Illinois, and in 1847 moved to Piatt county. He was married in 1847, to Sally Terry, a native of Virginia. When asked if his children were boys, he said, " Yes, we had three boys -but all wore petticoats." Lieurena is liv- ing at home. Lucinda married Willis Bushell and lives in Unity town- ship ; she has four children, Rosa, Lily, Leander and George. Isabel married E. R. Richey, and lives in Unity township, they have three children, Ruth E., Elmer and Noble. Both of Mr. Nolind's daughters live on his land. He improved most of the place himself. He says that at an early day here if one did not try to be a neighbor the people would make him be one. When he first settled in the county he knew everybody in Monticello, and there were no neighbors between that place and liis farm near the southern county line. He was not a hunter, but once, after killing a deer, he labored under the delusion that he was, until he hunted a whole week without killing anything. At the end of this week he brought his gun to the house and hung it up, saying, "There ye'll hang till I sell you," and it did. After this the gentle- man said " That's George's hunting." He acknowledges that he was a great wolf chaser, and that he could soon run down a horse while after
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a wolf. He "often bought a gun, but would rub it up and sell it." Mr. Nolind is a cheerful old man, and says he "never allows to get old." He has been gray-headed ever since he can remember, and has never been confined with sickness for an hour.
D. O. NOE, M.D., is a native of Missouri, and has been in the county about six years. His practice extends throughout the southern part of Piatt county and in the northern part of Moultrie county. He is kept quite busy in his work and considers that he has been suc- cessful as a practitioner. The year of 1880 passed with his losing but one or two patients, and those just at its close. Dr. Noe's specialty is with diseases of women and children. During the summer of 1881 he did not lose a single child patient. Dr. Noe is a graduate of the St. Louis Homeopathic Medical College ; also of Missouri School of Midwifery, and of the St. Louis College of Homeopathic Physicians and Surgeons. He was first educated in the old school, but uses both the old and the new. He was married in 1875, to Clara Van Hook. They have one child, Stella.
MR. OLONZO NEWTON, of Hammond, put up the first residence in that place. He is a native of Virginia, from which state he moved to Olio, and from there to Pike county, Illinois, in 1855, and thence to Piatt county in 1859. He settled first at Monticello, and for a time was clerk in a clothing store. In 1865 lie married Mary J. Wilkinson, who is the mother of three children, Charles W., William Edward and Walter Bertie. Mr. Newton put up the first store in Hammond, was the first railroad agent there, and at present (1881) is running the first flax mill of the place. He was a captain in the late war. He went out in 1862, in Co. H of the 107th Ill. Inf. and served two years, but was in no engagement during the time.
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