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 58
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MR. WILLIAM A. KELLER, carpenter, Mansfield, is a native of Moul- trie county, Illinois. He moved to Sangamon county, to Woodford county, and then came to Piatt county in 1865. In 1874 he located in Mansfield and began the mercantile business, but of late has been giving his attention to carpentering. He owns his residence and one lot in Mansfield. He was married April 29, 1869, to Alice E. Miller, and has three children, Lettie, Josephine and Mary D. Mr. Keller has been alderman and town clerk.
MR. WILLIAM S. LITTETON, grocer, one of the early settlers of Blue Ridge township, was born in Ohio. His father, a native of Maryland, died in Ohio. His mother, a native of Virginia, died in Monticello. He moved in 1856 direct from Ohio to Piatt county, and settled within two miles of Mansfield. In 1875 he sold the farm and moved into Mansfield and went into the grocery business. He was justice of the peace a number of years. He was school treasurer about fifteen years, and is town treasurer at the present time. He was married in 1838, to Miss Eliza Falkenburg. Of his children, William died in the army ; Elizabeth is the wife of Joseph Wooding (see his name); Theodore M. married Susan M. Miller, has two children, and lives in Kansas ; Louisa married Alpheus Holloway; Amanda married H. C. Hyder, a native of Virginia, and Mr. Littleton's partner in the grocery business, has one child and lives in Mansfield ; Charles M. was married in the fall of 1880, and is railroad agent at Hammond.
MR. ANDREW J. LANGLEY, farmer, Farmer City, is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, and is of Irish and German descent. His parents were
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from Pennsylvania and moved to Macoupin county in 1856. Mr. Langley moved to his present farm of 320 acres in 1864. It formerly belonged to Mr. John Keenan, and was one of the first settled places in Blue Ridge township. Mr. Langley has been farining, and until the last two years has had a nursery on the place ever since moving to the county. He now has an orchard of two hundred trees and has twenty acres of fine walnut and maple groves. In 1881 he built a commodious house of twelve rooms. It is in the midst of a grove of trees and presents a fine appearance. Mr. Langley and Celia A. Curtiss were united in marriage in 1859. Four of their six children are still living, Elmer E., Freddie L., James C. and Roy. Mrs. Langley's mother makes her home at Mr. Langley's. His father is still living, but his mother died over a year ago. Two of Mr. Langley's brothers, Russell S. and D. Porter, settled in this county, but the one is now in Nebraska while the other is in Minnesota. Mr. Langley is present supervisor of Blue Ridge township.
MR. WILLIAM M. LINDSEY, fariner, Blue Ridge, is a native of Ohio, from which state he moved directly to Piatt county about fourteen years ago. He bought his present farm of 320 acres soon after coming, has improved it and has lived on it ever since. He 'was married in Ohio to Rebecca J. McKelvey and has had seven children, Joseph L., William G., Charles W., Flora B., Alfred A., Samuel S. and Robert M.
MR. V. S. LINDSEY, formerly a resident of Piatt county, is a native of Ohio. His father was from the Keystone State and his mother from Virginia. They moved to Ohio at an early day, and it was from that state that the subject of our sketch moved to Piatt county in 1866. In the same year he settled on the north half of section fifteen in Blue Ridge township and was the owner of section ten in McLean county. He once put the whole of section ten in corn. Seventeen teams ploughing at once did the work. While living on the farm Mr. Lind- sey kept as high as 300 head of logs, 300 head of cattle and 1,000 head of sheep. At one time he hauled three loads of wool to Cham- paign which sold for $1,816.40. When he first came to the county. after the war he was surprised to find the people wanted to sell out. He bought his tract of land for $8.33} an acre. But soon a change came over the country. Real estate advanced rapidly. He remem- bers of eight land buyers taking dinner with him at one time. When Mr. Lindsey first located in the county le once offered a inan fourteen cents a bushel for oats. His offer was not accepted for some reason and
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the oats were hauled to Champaign where they sold for eleven cents a bushel. Mr. Lindsey sold his 960 acres of land to Mr. C. W. Fair- banks for $33,600. At the time of the sale the whole place was in pasture and there were ten miles of hedge fence on the farm. Mr. Lindsey had lived on this place about eight years. After coming to this part of the county, however, he spent three years of his time educating his children in Champaign. After leaving the farm he located in Farmer City, where he had bought a large brick house of ten rooms and forty acres of land for $3,575. He now owns a section of land in Champaign county and 230 acres in De Witt county. Mr. Lindsey was married in July, 1849, to Eliza C. Simmons and has had three children, two of whom are living. Mary Virginia is the wife of Emory F. French (an agricultural implement dealer in Farmer City), and the mother of three children. William M. married Fannie Cornell, has two children and lives in Farmer City.
GEN. JOHN LUTZ MANSFIELD (deceased) was born in Brunswick, Germany, in 1803. He was educated at Gottingen, where the cele- brated and national university of Brunswick and Nassau is situated, and also at Heidelberg. At the age of twelve he had never seen a book on mathematics. After buying his first algebra he shut himself up and did not stop until he had mastered the book. He was educated for an astronomer, and was once offered the charge of the observatory at Jena. He was examined in mathematics by the celebrated Gauss, one of the first mathematicians, of the age, and was awarded the highest honors. His education was broad. He was a fine student in language and literature, and was well versed in the different styles of architecture. Mrs. Mansfield, when but nine years old, heard him deliver an address in Latin at the Transylvania University at Lexing- ton. Gen. Mansfield was a great student all his life. The summer before his death he often spent fifteen hours a day in studying. He left the manuscript for a geometry and trigonometry which he expected to publish soon. The manuscripts, however, were destroyed when the residence burned, in 1878. Mr. Mansfield left Germany in 1823, and after remaining one year in England came to America, where he soon obtained a position in the Washington Institute. From this place he went to Lexington, where Judge F. L. Turner, one of the trustees, offered him the chair of mathematics in the Transylvania University. For one year he had entire charge of the school and taught all the classes. He was a professor at this school for a good many years. He was married in 1841, to Josephine Turner, daughter of Judge Fielding
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L. Turner, of the criminal court of Louisiana. They moved from Kentucky to Indiana that they might educate their children in a free state. Their eldest son, Fielding, was made a colonel in the late war before he was twenty-one years of age. He married Miss Nellie Adae, of Cincinnati, has four children, and is a manufacturer of St. Louis ; Margaret, the wife of M. C. Straight, of Indianapolis, has one daughter ; Oscar married Miss Elizabeth Root, has two children, Jose- phine and an infant, and resides in Mansfield; Maria received her education at the State University, while Charley attended school in Wisconsin and at the University of the South, on the Cumberland mountains, Tennessee. Gen. Mansfield moved from Indiana to his land at and about the town of Mansfield in 1870, and was living at this place at the time of his death, September 20, 1876. He inade several donations to the public, such as the park, two lots for a school-house, and a lot each for the Methodist, the Episcopal and the United Brethren churches. At the time of his death he owned about twelve hundred acres of land near Mansfield. When a child Mr. Mansfield was quite weak, but as he grew older endeavored to strengthen himself by carrying stones up the Hartz mountains and rolling them down. In his prime, however, he was considered one of the strongest men in the United States and his reputation as a gymnast was very great. Not only was he noted for his strength, but in Kentucky he was regarded as one of the most perfect gentlemen and scholars of the day. Mr. M. T. Scott, of Bloomington, at our request, kindly furnished some items in regard to Gen. Mansfield, which we are glad to insert. In the main we will use Mr. Scott's own words. He says: "I first knew Gen. Mansfield when, in 1843, he filled the chair of professor of mathematics in Transylvania University at Lexington, an old institu- tion of learning honored in the distinction attained by its alumni, and honored earlier by the patronage of Gen. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who each gave $100 to aid in its establishment, more than ninety years ago. It was a great honor to Gen. Mansfield to have been selected to fill a place in that college, located in the ' Athens of the West,' as Lexington was then justly called, and was entitled to be so considered, by reason of the residence there of such lawyers as .Henry Clay, the Breckinridges, the Wickliffes, the Marshalls and the Prestons, to which names might be added a long list of other lawyers at Lexington and in its neighboring villages, and the list of professors distinguished over the country, such as Drs. Dudley, McDowell, Cross and the Richardsons.
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HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
The name Gen. Mansfield bore when at Lexington was John Lutz, Esq., and which name he always honored, but it was changed by act of legislature at his own request for the purpose of Americanizing his name as well as his citizenship, an act evincing his loyalty to the country of his adoption hardly less than the periling of his life in the late war to save the Union, whereby he earned the title of general. The citizenship in your county of Gen. Mansfield and the influence and honor resulting therefrom to the city of Mansfield, is due to some extent to the investinent of Gen. Mansfield's money by Mr. Milton and myself in the government lands now comprising, in part of his land locations, the estate he left at and about Mansfield, Illinois." Mr. Mansfield enlisted as a private in the late war, but in a few months was promoted to general and also held the position of brigadier-general and brevet-major-general.
MR. SAMUEL MCKEE, farmer, Mansfield, was born in 1823, in Athens county, Ohio. He moved to Indiana about 1830, and in 1842 he came to Piatt county, Illinois. His father was in the Black Hawk war. He came to Illinois after his son did and lived here for several years, but moved to Iowa, where he died, leaving his last wife and several children, who still live there. Samuel came out to this county by himself, and when he got here he had just $5, one-half of which he loaned. That $2.50 was all that kept him in Illinois, he says. He began working as soon as he could and continued laboring hard for several years, and finally bought the farm he now lives on. The money he bought the place with was obtained by hard days' labor. He says he never had fifty cents given him in his life. He owns two farınş of 160 acres each. He has put all the improvements on his home farm. He has planted at least five hundred trees, and in 1874 built a large frame house. A wire fence, probably the best around a private yard in the county, divides the yard from the road. He is gradually adding improvements to his place, all of which shows Mr. McKee to be a successful and energetic farmer. When he first came to the county he was quite a successful deer hunter. He remembers of being one of a company who killed a very large deer, the largest he ever saw, on Camp creek. Dr. Hull was one of the party. Mr. McKee remembers of counting one hundred and thirty deer in one gang. The subject of our sketch was first married to Miss Penitta A. Wright, who died, leaving two children. Of these, Mary E. married Charles Jess, has two children, Laura and Mary, and lives in Blue Ridge township. John McKee is not married. In 1852 Laura JJelly
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became Mr. McKee's second wife. She died in 1869, leaving five children, one of whom has died. Amanda became the wife of Elsie Ashby, who died, leaving two children, Lillie and Walter; William H. married Lizzie Brown, has one son, Loren, and lives near Mans- field ; George W. and Frances S. are at home. Mr. McKee was next married in 1872, to Mrs. Rogers née Margaret Adel. She was a native of Ohio, from which state she moved to Piatt county. Her husband died, leaving three children, two of whom, George and James, are living. Since her last marriage she has had two children, Arthur and Charles.
MR. ROBERT MCKEE, farmer, Mansfield, is a native of Ohio, and is of Irish and German descent. . He moved to Indiana when small, and lived there about twenty years. He then moved to Champaign county, where he lived several years, and then entered land one inile east of Mansfield in the spring of 1854. He was married in Indiana in 1841, to Martha Nana. They have seven children living : Ira married Auna Chambers, has three children, and lives on Mr. McKee's place ; Hiram married Elizabeth Johnson, has two children, and is also living on his father's place ; Marilla married Wm. Raney, has three children, and lives in Champaign county ; Cornelius married Mary Brown, and lives on Mr. McKee's place ; Mary J., Franklin and Robert are at home.
MR. ADAM MELIZA, farmer, Mansfield, was born in Virginia in 1830. He is .of German descent. His parents, also from Virginia, emigrated to Indiana in 1832. In 1854 they moved to Illinois, and both died here. Mr. Meliza's grandfather was in the war of 1812. Mr. Meliza settled in De Witt county in 1856, and in 1865 he moved to his present home of seventy acres in Blue Ridge township. He bought the land of Mr. Jos. Moore, a resident of Pennsylvania. He hạs put all the improvement on the place, from the plowing of the first furrow to its present condition. Several hundred forest trees have been planted, and there is a three-acre orchard. The present neat house was built two years ago. A portion of it, however, was built soon after he bought the place. Mr. Meliza was married in 1852, to Anna Minnick. They have had four children. Eliza C. married Win. Collins, and lives in Blue Ridge Township (they have three children, Edgar F., R. Guy and John) ; Sarah Christina is living at home ; Win. L. married Priscilla McGath, has one child, and lives in Blue Ridge township ; Frank H. is living at home.
MR. N. B. MOBERLY. farmer, Farmer City, is a native of Kentucky.
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HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
He moved from there to McLean county about 1851. Ile moved to Livingston county next, and about 1874 settled in Piatt county. He owns 240 acres, upon wnich he las put a good deal of improvement. At least one lrundred and fifty trees have been planted and some ditch- ing has been done. He was married in 1854, to Harriet L. Hopping, and has had nine children, seven of whom are living, Chas. H., Jas. Franklin, Albert, Harry, Ira, Hattie and Thomas. Mr. Moberly has been roadmaster and school director.
MR. GEORGE T. MARK, farmer, Farmer City, is a native of Penn- sylvania, from which state he moved to Indiana, from there to Missouri and from thence to Piatt county in 1867. He settled where he now lives, on the southern line of Blue Ridge township. He owns 200 acres of land upon which he has planted over 250 trees, has made one and a half miles of open ditch and has made all other improvements. He was married in 1853, to Mattie Head, and has had five children, three of whom are living: Edward, who was married in 1876, to Lucy Coon, and has two children, Clara F. and Louis E. ; Emma, who lives at home, and Stella.
MR. GEORGE MILLER (deceased) was a native of New Jersey and went to Fulton county when fourteen years old. He was married in 1859, to Christiana Kline, a native of Pennsylvania. In 1876 tlrey came to Piatt comty and bought land. There are 213 acres in the farm. Over 130 trees have been planted on tlie place, some tile ditcli- ing has been made and some fencing has been done. Quite a nice seven-room frame house was erected in 1881. Mr. Miller died in 1879, leaving five children : Sasan Emily married Fleming F. Osburn and has one child, Effie May ; Lizzie Blanche, Frank L., Clara M. and George Arthur are all at home. Mr. Miller was a member of the Baptist church for thirty years before his death. He was an economi- cal and hardworking man and never failed to attend to his christian duties. He was a regular attendant at church and Sunday school. He was a kind, indulgent husband and an affectionate father. He died after four months' sickness, very resigned and happy.
MR. A. F. PITTMAN, farmer, Mansfield, was born in Ohio in 1813. He moved from there to Illinois in 1853 and in 1854 moved to Piatt county. He owns 160 acres of land, upon which he has put all the improvements. Over 120 fruit trees have been planted and some ditching and hedging has been done. The barn was built in 1872 and a neat frame house was completed in 1881. He has had some extra good crops of grain. In 1879 his corn averaged sixty bushels to the
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acre. He was married April 24, 1831, to Catherine Bake, wlio was born in 1815. They celebrated their golden wedding in 1881. About sixty-two persons were present. They have had eight children, six of whom are living : Joseph Pittman married Elizabeth Mansfield, has a large family, and lives in Champaign county ; George is living at home ; Johnson, a soldier in the late war, died at the age of thirty in 1870 ; lie was a practicing lawyer in Monticello at the time of his death ; William A. is living at home ; Leonard, also a soldier in the late war, married Sarah Mounts, has five children and lives in Cham- paign county ; Frank married Laura Clouser ; Eliza is living at home. Mr. Pittman has held some offices in the township. He has been pathmaster, school director and assessor. He was one of the early settlers in his part of the township. When he first moved here there was but one house between his and Salt Creek timber.
MRS. JANETTE PATTERSON is a native of Darmstadt, Germany. She had a good common school education, and then after studying in col- lege two years stopped school on account of ill health. She was mar- ried in Germany, to Mr. H. C. Kroell, and after the birth of one daughter, Mrs. Clemens, moved in 1847 to United States. They were on the ocean forty-six days, and Mrs. Kroell was sick every day. Mr. and Mrs. Kroell first settled in Ross county, Ohio, and after living there twenty-three years moved in 1869 to Macon county, Illinois. They next moved to Monticello, Piatt county. Mr. Kroell died in this county. When living on a farm four miles southwest of Mans- field, Mrs. Kroell married Mr. Samuel Patterson, who only lived about three and a half years after his marriage. Mrs. Patterson moved to Mansfield when there were only four or five houses in the place. She bought lots of Gen. Mansfield and built the house she now occupies. She opened the first boarding house in the town, and kept it until the spring of 1881. A few times stopping at Mrs. Patterson's boarding house was sufficient to convince any one that she did herself great credit in her work. She has five children living: Elizabeth Kroell, formerly a milliner and dressmaker, of Monticello, married Mr. Clemens, now a bookkeeper in Indianapolis, and has one child ; Louis Kroell was at home during the summer of 1881, and had the management of the first brick-kiln started in the vicinity of Mansfield ; Chas. Kroell married Mina Stickle, and at present is buying grain in Mansfield ; Miss Alpha is still at home with her mother ; Florence was married in December, 1880, to Mr. Wm. Fairbanks, and lives on a farm four miles from Mansfield.
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HISTORY OF PIATT COUNTY.
MR. WILLIAM L. ROBINSON, farmer, Fariner City, is a native of England, from which country he moved to America in 1822. He first settled in Dearborn county, Indiana, but in 1856 he moved onto the farm in the extreme northwestern part of Piatt county. He was married in Indiana, to Mary Blasdel, and seven of their nine children are now living : Ann married Wm. Weger, and died in Missouri, in 1881, leaving six children : Clementine married James Lemon ; he was lieu- tenant in the army, and was killed there. She next married David Welch, a lawyer in McPherson, Kansas, and has three children : Carrie, the wife of G. W. Freelove, of McPherson, Kansas, has three children : J. R. married Mary Cox, she died, and he was married to Mary Mote ; Jennie married Chas. Miller, but died, leaving two chil- dren ; he married again and lives in Kansas ; Thomas married Hannah Sappington, and lives in Kansas City ; Lide is the wife of J. C. Smith (see his name) ; Addie, a student of Danville, Illinois, has taught sev- eral terms in the county ; Mollie is now the wife of Mr. Betzer, prin- cipal of the East-side Champaign schools. Mr. Robinson has held some of the offices of Blue Ridge township. He made a visit to his native country in 1881.
MR. LEONARD ROBERTSON, farmer, Farmer City, is a native of Mc- Lean county, from which place he moved to Piatt county in 1867. He first settled on the place of eighty acres upon which he now lives. He has put all the improvements on the place. About five hundred trees liave been planted. One hundred rods of open ditching has been done, a barn was built in 1865, and in 1881 the neat frame resi- dence was erected. The farm is all under cultivation, and the average crop for fourteen years has been thirty-five bushels to the acre. He was married November 2, 1865, to Margaret Kennedy. They have no children of their own, but have adopted one, Lilian. Mr. Robert- son was school director three years and is trustee of town twenty. He went to the late war from McLean county in Co. K of the 26th Ill. reg. He went out in 1861 and remained until 1865. He was with the regiment all the time and was in every one of the fifty-seven battles except one. According to the report from the adjutant-general's office, the regiment marched 6,931 miles. The principal battles were those of Atlanta, Corinth, Island No. 10, Kenesaw Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Vicksburg.
MR. FRANCIS A. Ross, merchant, Mansfield, is a native of New Jersey, and is of English and German descent. His people came to , Illinois about 1843, and some of them are living at White Hall now.
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He was married December 31, 1863, to Francis Cotter, a native of Green county, Illinois. Her people came to Illinois at quite an early day. His father is the oldest citizen of White Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Ross have one son, Albert. They moved to a farm four miles north of Mansfield in 1865, after which they moved to Farmer City, and then about eight years ago settled in Mansfield. He first opened a grocery store and then made his store one of general merchandise. Mr. Ross has been a merchant of Mansfield longer than any other merchant there. At present he is a member of the town board and one of the strongest temperance men of the place. He was in the late war for one and a half years. After the battle of Belmont he was taken sick and was sent to the hospital.
MR. J. H. RITCHIE, present street commissioner and constable, was inarried in McLean county, has one child and moved to Piatt county in 1872. In 1873 he moved into Mansfield. He is a member of the I.O.O.F. lodge.
MR. WILLIAM RUCKMAN (deceased) came to Sangamon township, Piatt county, about 1850. His wife died in about a year after their coming to the county, and left four children. Of these, Harriet married John Miller, who was killed in the army. She next mar- ried John Shepherd, but died about 1874. She was the mother of three children. Nancy married George Davis, who was a soldier in the late war, has six children, Louisa, Irene, Harvey, Bessie, Mahala, and an infant, and lives in Blue Ridge township; James W. Ruck- man is not married, but lives in Blue Ridge township ; T. J. Ruckman was married in November, 1871, to Martha McMillian, a native of Vir- ginia, and has two children, Clement and Edward. He owns eighty acres of land in Blue Ridge township, upon which he has put all the improvements. Over one hundred and fifty rods of tiling has been done, fruit trees have been planted. and the lumber is hauled for a new barn. The present residence was built in 1875. Mr. James M. Ruck- inan also owned land in Piatt county. He and his sister kept house until his marriage when fifty-three years old to Mrs. Brown. He died about six years ago, leaving a wife and two children. His sister made her home with T. J. Ruckmau until her death, three years ago. She and her mother were members of the Presbyterian church of Monti- cello, and used to ride horseback fifteen mniles in order to attend said church.
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