History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 126

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 126

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).

Robert Crow was born in 1781, in Wythe county, Virginia, and was married in that State, then moved to Christian county, Kentucky, and subsequently to Sangamon county, arriving in 1822 in what is now Auburn township. Mr. Crow died September 23, 1840.

Alvin Cross was born in Madison county, Kentucky, and when a young man moved to Humphreys county, Tennessee, where he married Margaret Forbes. Subsequently he moved to Johnson county, Illinois, and from there to San- gamon county, arriving January, 1829, in what is now called Auburn township. He lived a few years, and died in 1849,

James Nuckolls was born January 5, 1777, in Botetourt county, Virginia, and the family mov- ing to Grayson county, same State, he was there married January 5, 1804, to Janey Swift, who

was born March 2, 1781, in that county. In 1818, moved to Madison county, Illinois, and moved to what became Sangamon county, arriving in 1820, in what is now Auburn township. Mr. Nuckolls died in 1859.

James Patton, one of the best known of the early pioneers of Auburn township, was born March 17, 1791, in the city of Baltimore, Mary land. When a child, his parents moved to Stan- ton, Virginia, and from there to Clark county, Kentucky, in 1798. There James was apprenticed to the tanning business, and in 1808 the family moved to Christian county, where he joined them in 1810, having finished his apprentice- ship. James Patton and Polly Husband were there married, April, 1855. Subsequently they moved to what became Auburn township, in Sangamon county, arriving in the spring of 1820. Mrs. Pelly Patton died February 15, 1844, and James Patton was married in 1846, to Mrs. Lettie Nifong, who died February 6, 1856, and he was married August 1, 1865, to Mrs. Eliza- beth Gregory. She died June 23, 1875. He was always known as Colonel Patton, a title he acquired in connection with early military train- ing in the county. He established a tannery soon after he settled in the county, and supplied the early settlers with leather for miles around. The nearest mill to him at the time he settled there was at Edwardsville, sixty miles south. He was in better circumstances than most of the early settlers, and when he saw a family labor- ing under disadvantages, he interested himself in their welfare, and assisted them in many ways. Noah Mason, of Springfield, speaking of their early experience in the new country, says: "My father found a true friend in the now ven- erable Colonel James Patton, which lasted to the end of his life, and is gratefully remembered by his descendants." He was strictly honorable in all his transactions, and was highly esteemed by his neighbors and acquaintances. He was a generous, noble-hearted man; no one in distress ever applied to him in vain. Although not a classical scholar, he was better educated than many of the early settlers of the country, and being possessed of fine common sense and excel- lent judgment, he was frequently called upon by his neighbors to arbitrate their disputes, and so keen was his sense of justice, and so correct was his judgement, that he rarely failed to settle their difficulties, and thereby save them much trouble and expense. His father was a tanner, and dealt largely in leather, saddlery and har- ness, in the city of Baltimore. He equipped one of General Washington's regiments during

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

the Revolutionary War. Colonel Patton died where he located when he first came to the county, two and one-half miles southeast of Auburn, September 12, 1877, leaving a large number of descendants, the most of whom re- side in this county.

Joseph Poley was born in Logan county, Ken- tucky. His father was a native of France, and was educated there with a view of becoming a Lutheran minister. When he came to America he abandoned the ministry, married in Logan county, and raised a family. Joseph was mar- ried there and came to Illinois and settled in Auburn township in 1829. Joseph Poley died August 17, 1866, and his widow, Mrs. Frances Poley, resides at the family homestead, two and a half miles southeast of Auburn, Sangamon county, Illinois. Joseph Poley acted as Justice of the Peace for many years; he was a man whose counsels were often sought by his neigh- bors. His advice, when followed, always led to the settlement of difficulties without litigation, and in a peaceful and friendly manner.

Mr. Poley brought some money with him to the county, but his greatest success was after coming here. Ile left his heirs the title to three thousand acres of land, two thousand five hun- dred of it was in one body. He died in 1867.

Nicholas Pyle and wife, with their two youngest sons, came to Auburn township in 1825. Mr. Pyle died in 1829.

Power, in his history of the early settlers, thus speaks of Johan Jacob Rauch:

Johan Jacob Rauch was born July 25, 1796, in Stutgardt, Wirtemburg, Germany. He came to America in 1818, and was eleven weeks on the passage from Amsterdam, arriving at Phila- delphia in September. He entered into an agree- ment, before starting, with a man who came on the same vessel, by which that gentleman was to pay his passage across the ocean in exchange for labor Mr. Rauch was to perform. He had ful- filled part of the agreement before starting, and acted as servant to the gentleman and his wife on board the vessel. On arriving at Philadel- phia, he found that the money had not been paid. The only excuse the man made was that his wife objected to it. In the early history of the American colonies, some of them enacted laws under which emigrants might be sold at auction to pay for their passage across the ocean. The custom still prevailed at the time Mr. Ranch arrived in the country, but I have thus far failed to learn that there was any law for it at that time. Seventy dollars was the amount de- manded by the owners of the vessel, and he was

put up at auction to raise the money. The lowest, and perhaps the only bid, was to pay the money on consideration of his serving three years in return, at hard labor, as the following paper will show:

PHILADELPHIA.

This Indenture Witnesseth: That Johan Jacob Rauch, of his own free will, to go to Ala- bama Territory, hath bound himself servant to Francis C. Clapper, of Philadelphia, merchant, for the consideration of $70, paid to Lewis, Haven & Co., for his passage from Amsterdam; as, also, for other good causes, he, the said Johan Jacob Rauch, hath bound and put himself, and by these presents doth bind and put himself, servant to the said Francis C. Clapper, to serve him, his executors, administrators, and assigns, from the day of the date hereof, for and during the full term of three years, from thence next ensuing. During all which term the said servant, his said master, his executors, administrators, and assigns, faithfully shall serve, and that hon- estly and obediently in all things, as a good and faithful servant ought to do. And the said Francis C. Clapper, his executors, administrators, and assigns, during the said term, shall find and provide for the said servant sufficient meat, drink, apparel, washing and lodging, and to give him, at the end of the term, two complete suits of clothes, one thereof to be new. And for the true performance hereof both the said parties bind themselves firmly unto each other by these presents. In witness whereof they have inter- changably set their hands and seals. Dated the second day of October, A. D. one thousand, eight hundred and eighteen.

F. C. CLAPPER.

Bound before Conrad Wile, Register.

Mr. Rauch was at once sent to Alabama, and labored fathfully for two and a half years, the principal part of the time at boat-building, and must have earned many times the value of the money paid out for him. His food and clothing during the whole of that time was of the very worst description, in addition to which, he was treated to all manner of indignities on account of his lack of knowledge of our language, and for any other cause which the caprice or malig- nity of those with whom he was associated might suggest. Six months before the expira- tion of his time his hardships became intolerable. He left Alabama and made his way into Muhlen- burg county, Kentucky, arriving in 1821. There he found German people who gave him employ- ment by which he was soon able to cloth himself decently, and began to save money. He worked

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

both in wood and stone as the opportunity for either presented itself. October 24, 1824, he was married to Pauline Poley, sister to Joseph Poley. Soon after his marriage he built a saw-mill on a small stream, and occasionally worked at his trades, doing a good business. As Mr. Rauch learned more of the influence of slavery, he re- solved to seek a free country in wnich to bring up his family. He accordingly removed with his wife and two children, to Illinois, arriving October, 1829, in Sangamon county. In Decem- ber he bought threc-fourths of section thirty- three, which is in the southern tier of sections in this county. It is in Auburn township, between the towns of Auburn and Virden. The stream called Sugar creek ran through his land, and among the first things he did was to build a saw and grist-mill, and for many years Rauch's mill was known far and near, and hundreds of weary emigrants found rest under his roof, his house being on the road from Springfield to St. Louis.

John Jacob Rauch died November 23, 1843, where he settled in 1829; His widow, Mrs. Pauline Rauch, resides there with her son Charles. It is in Sangamon county, near Vir- den, Macoupin county, Illinois.

Mr. Rauch left his family with the title to a sufficient quantity of land to make a good farm for each one; with a large amount of personal property, and his children are among the most respected citizens of the county. When we con- sider that he was twenty-two years of age at the time he came to America, without a knowledge of our language, compelled to lose so much of the best time of his life to pay for the privilege of coming, and that he died before he was fifty years of age, his success was wonderful, and it is highly probable that his early death was caused by over exertion. Although he had been so treacherously dealt with on coming to the coun- try, and for the first three years after his arrival; yet his abhorrence of anything like repudiating a contract was such, that he charged his sons if the duplicate to the contract by which he was robbed of his three years time, should ever be presented, they should pay the whole seventy dollars, for the reason that he had not rendered the last six months service, and that because it was physically impossible for him to endure it. In the later years of his life, when pondering ou the hardships and indignities he had endured, he wrote in German on the margin of the contract quoted, "Jacob Rauch says this indenture was not good." He doubtless alluded to the fact that it was not binding because it was never signed by himself. The back of the indenture bears an

inscription, also in German, in his own hand- writing. It appears to have been more intended as an expression of a sentiment than an address to any particular one of his children. It is in these words:

"Dear child, you had better remain in a low station of life; the higher you stand the more you may be humbled; and the Lord will love you better, for He is the Most High, and does great things by means of the lowly.

JACOB RAUCH."

James Wallace, was born in 1776, in Pendle- ton district, South Carolina, of Scotch Presbyte- rian parents. They being Whigs, were driven from their home by the British and Tories, pre- vious to his advent in the world, and he was born in a camp. On arriving at the age of man- hood he went to Nova Scotia, and was there mar- ried to Ann Doole. About 1816, he moved back to South Carolina. Having lived where all men were free, on his return to his native State, it appeared to him as though slavery was indeed "the sum of all villainies," and he determined to seek a land of freedom in which to bring up his family. He accordingly moved to Sangamon county, Illinos, arriving November 3, 1822, in what is now Auburn township, one mile south of the present town of Auburn. Subsequently he removed to Macon county, and died in 1845.

William Wood was born in Knox county, Tennessee, and came to Sangamon county and Auburn, in the fall of 1818.

SCHOOLS.

The first school house in the township was erected in 1828, of logs, and was situated on the premises of James Patton, and was known in after years as the "Patton School House." The first school taught in this building was by Wil- liam Fritz. There are now eight school houses and ten whole and fractional school districts in the township. The school houses have a total valuation of $14,000. Schools are kept about nine months in the year.

CHURCHES.

The first church was erected by the Old School Presbyterians in 1845. It was a modest frame structure, and was located in the edge of the woods, just west of Crow's old mill. It was used some years, and subsequently moved to the vil- lage of Auburn and used as a dwelling house. There are now eight church buildings in the township, of which six are in the village of Auburn.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

It is not known where the first religious ser- vices were held in the township, but Revs. James Sims, Rivers Cormack and Peter Cart- wright were early Methodist Episcopal minis- ters; Elder Simon Lindley, the first Baptist, and Rev. J. G. Bergen, one of the first Presbyterian ministers. The first church organization was doubtless that of the Old School Presbyterians, organized in 1830, at the house of Samuel McEl- vain, which yet exists.

FIRST THINGS.

The first marriage in the township was that of Gideon Vancill and Phoebe Wilson, in March, 1820. The ceremony was performed by Rev. James Sims, a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was for many years sup- posed this was the first couple married in the county.

A daughter was born to the foregoing couple in 1821, and supposed to be the first birth in the township.

The first death was that of Mrs. Elizabeth Walker, daughter of Samuel Vancill, who died in the fall of 1819, and was buried in what is now calle l the "Winmer burying ground." An incident occurred at the time of this death that exhibits one of the dangers that beset the early settlers. While the friends were gathered around the dying bed, it was discovered that a prairie fire was rapidly approaching, propelled by a strong westerly wind. The grass, seven or eight feet in height, was as dry as powder. By the most vig- orous exertions in keeping the end of the cabin near the fire, wet, the house was saved, but all the hay stocked for winter feeding, was de- stroyed. In the midst of the excitement the sick woman breathed her last.

The first tan-yard was established in 1826, by James Patton.

The first orchards were planted by Robert Crow and Philip Wineman, in 1825, and the first cider was made by the latter a few years later.

MILLS.

The early settler had great difficulty in se- curing mill privileges, and the building of a mill in any neighborhood was hailed as a joyful event.

The first grist mill in Auburn township was built by James Sims, and stood on the north part of the Wineman farms, east of the present village of Auburn.

The first water mill was only for sawing lum- ber, and was built in 1825-6 by Robert Crow, on Sugar creek, about a mile northeast of the pres- ent village of Auburn. The mill was subse-

quently lebuilt by E and W. D. Crow, sons of Robert, and a pair of burrs attached.

The second water mill, which was both a saw- and grist-mill, was built by Jacob Rauch, some six miles above Crow's, some years later. Not long after James Wallace erected a saw-mill on the creek, between the two. Nearly all traces of these mills are now obliterated.

The first steam mill was built in 1838, by A. & G. Eastman, on the branch, about a quarter of a mile north of the present village of Anburn. This was also a grist-mill. The engine and machinery were afterwards removed and taken to Springfield.

In 1856-7, Bond & Ely erected an extensive steam flouring mill in the village, at a cost of $15,000, which finally ruined the projectors, and it afterwards fell into the hands of J. U. Grove, who, in 1864, used the engine, boiler, and machinery, in the outfit of a new mill in Carlin- ville.

There are now two grist-mills in the town- ship, one owned by Morris, Harris & Co., in the village, and the other situated South of Auburn, and owned by Joseph Poley, Jr.

TOPOGRAPHICAL.

The face of the country is generally level, except along the water courses, where it is undu- lating. The soil is unsurpassed in richness, and is well adapted to corn, oats and grass. Spring wheat yields well. The land is about all under cultivation.

The timber land comprises about one-sixth of the territory, and is mostly of a good quality, consisting of white, red, black, Spanish and bur-oaks, scaly bark and white hickory, sugar and white maple, ash, black walnut, sycamore, cherry, red and slippery elm, black and honey locust, hackberry, cottonwood, linden or. bass- wood, and mulberry.

WATER COURSES.

The principal stream is Sugar creek, which rises in Macoupin county, and entering the township in section thirty-two, flows in a north- east course, emerging from the township on sec- tion one. Panther creek, a branch of Sugar creek, also runs in a northeasterly course through sections thirty, nineteen, twenty, seventeen, eight, nine, four and three, into Chatham town- ship, where it joins Sugar creek. Kessler branch and Little Painter creek also water the town.

ORGANIC.

Auburn township was organized in 1861, and the first election held in April of the same year.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

The following named were then elected: Super- visor, Mathew Patton; Town Clerk, M. G. Wads- worth; Assessor, N. C. Brooks; Collector, A. S. Orr; Overseer of the Poor, W. D. Wheeler; Road Commissioners, E. Stout, Peter Yates, John R. Fletcher; Constables, William II. Wine- man, James Rauch; Justices of the Peace, Joseph Mckinney, A. Rauch. At this election there were one hundred and fifty-eight votes cast.

On the organization of the township it com- prised only Congressional township thirteen, range six west. In 1869 a part of Pawnee was added, consisting of twelve sections on the west. This change was made for the reason that it was more convenient for the voters living in the two mile range taken off, to meet with Auburn than Pawnee. The township now comprises forty- eight sections or square miles.

The following is a complete list of the town officers for the time mentioned:

1862 .- Supervisor, Mathew Patton, senior; Town Clerk, M. G. Wadsworth; Assessor, L. B. Richardson; Collector, J. G. Spencer.

1863 .- Supervisor, Mathew . Patton, senior; Town Clerk, Mathew Patton, junior; Assessor, J. W. Ten Brook; Collector, William C. Brooks.

1864 .- Supervisor, L. B. Richardson; Town Clerk, E. M. Tucker; Assessor, J. H. Hart; Col- lector, W. C. Brooks.

1865 .- Supervisor, J. W. Ten Brook; Town Clerk, M. G. Wadsworth; Assessor, Charles Rauch; Collector, W. C. Brooks.

1866 .- Supervisor, A. S. Davenport; Town Clerk, John Piper; Assessor, Jas. M. Stont; Col- lector, Jesse Plain.

1867 .- Supervisor, John Buck; Town Clerk, John W. Hart; Assessor, L. M. Bumgarner; Col- lector, M. G. Wadsworth.

1868 .- Supervisor, Matthew Patton, senior; Town Clerk, John McInnes; Assessor, D. F. Kessler; Collector, W. W. Lowdermilk.

1869 .- Supervisor, Mathew Patton, senior; Town Clerk, M. G. Wadsworth; Assessor, S. P. Hart; Collector, W. W. Lowdermilk.

1870 .- Supervisor, J. M. Lochridge; Town Clerk, D. W. Savage; Assessor, M. G. Wads- worth; Collector, W. W. Lowdermilk.

1871 .- Supervisor, J. M. Lochridge; Town Clerk, A. D. Sanders; Assessor, W. II. Wine- man; Collector, S. P. Hart.

1872 .- Supervisor, J. M. Lochridge; Town Clerk, A. D. Sanders; Assessor, O. J. Sanders; Collector, M. G. Wadsworth.

1873 .- Supervisor, J. S. Organ; Town Clerk, D. W. Savage (appointed); Assessor, W. H. Wineman; Collector, M. G. Wadsworth.

1874 .- Supervisor, J. S. Organ; Town Clerk, Chas. Scholes; Assessor, J. T. Welch; Collector, M. G. Wadsworth.

1875 .- Supervisor, J. S. Organ; Town Clerk, Jas. H. Burtle; Assessor, J. T. Welch; Collec- tor, M. G. Wadsworth.

1876 .- Supervisor, J. S. Organ; Town Clerk, A. M. Gordon; Assessor, J. T. Welch; Collector, Wm. Burtle.

1877 .- Supervisor, F. J. Nuckolls; Town Clerk, J. W. Lowdermilk; Assessor, Wm. Brownell; Collector, M. G. Wadsworth.

1878 .- Supervisor, A. S. Davenport; Town Clerk, D. W. Savage; Assessor, Geo. W. Hut- ton; Collector, M. G. Wadsworth.

1879 .- Supervisor, A. S. Davenport; Town Clerk, D. W. Savage; Assessor, A. S. Orr; Col- lector, M. G. Wadsworth.

1880 .- Supervisor, L. B. McCarter; Town Clerk, D. W. Savage; Assessor, A. S. Orr; Col- lector, M. G. Wadsworth.

1881 .- Supervisor, J. A. Able; Town Clerk, D. W. Savage; Assessor, J. S. Organ; Collector, Elihu Stout.

Three hundred and sixty-seven votes were polled at last township election, April, 1881.

OLD AUBURN .*

The original Auburn, of which the present town is a namesake, occupied some forty or fifty acres of the east half of section three. The spot where the public square was situated is in the northeast quarter of three. Patton street, in the west part of this town, if continued far enough would strike the centre of it. The town was laid out by Asa and George Eastman, in 1835. The land was bought from Messrs. Godfrey & Gilman, Alton. The town was named "Auburn" by Miss Hannah M. Eastman, (now Mrs. Brown) sister of the proprietors. The place was very pleasantly located, the square comprising quite an elevation, that commanded a fine view.

In 1840, Auburn contained but five or six dwellings. A two-story tavern, built by the Eastmans, stood on the west side of, and facing the square. This was occupied by William S. Swaney, an Ohio man, with a large family, a blacksmith by trade, who kept a man working in the shop, and devoted the greater part of his own time to trips abroad in his buggy, being absent, frequently, weeks at a time. It was ac-

*From a Sketch in the Auburn Citizen, by the Editor.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

cepted as general rumor that he handled cards very successfully and that this was the secret of his mysterious journeys. There came a time when he failed to return. Weeks rolled into months, and finally the papers reported the find- ing of the body of a man who had evidently been murdered, near Ewington, in the east part of the State. The clothing was described quite min- ute.y. The widow visited the place and fully identified the clothing. The body had been dead sometime when found, and was already buried. It was supposed that some gambling. comrade whom Swaney had fleeced, had taken this means to obtain revenge and re-secure his wealth, for no money was found upon his body.

On the north side of the square, and fronting it, stood a story and a half house, occupied by Asa Eastman and family, consisting of himself and wife, and little boy, his sisters, Misses Ann H. and Hannah M., and brother, George; Wm. B. Fondey, (a cousin of Mrs. Eastman,) who afterwards settled, married and died in Spring- field, was a boarder there. Rev. Wm. C. Green- leaf and lady, lived in a small house just north of the latter. Mr. G. had a small nursery on his premises, from which fruit trees were dispensed to the farmers of the neighborhood, and the good man delivered excellent practical discourses to the people on the Lord's day. Just west of Mr. Eastman dwelt Platt S. Carter and wife; young married people, from Litchfield county, Connec- ticut, who had recently emigrated west to take possession of the farm that Mr. C. had recently opened west of town. North of this house stood a log house, occupied by a Maryland family, Evan John, his wife, and children, Martha, George and Edith. With these, boarded Elwood Ewing, a fellow conntryman of Mr. J. He was a cabinet-maker, and had a shop in the rear of the house.

A family-man and wife-named Daniels, from Missouri, lived temporarily in the school house, ( there being no school that winter.) This was the only building east of the public square. A substantial two-story house had been com- menced the previous summer, on the south side of the square, for Mrs. Susan Eastman, step- mother of the Eastmans above mentioned, and was occupied during the following winter by two families; Mrs. Eastman, her son, S. F. and step-daughters, and Daniel Wadsworth, who with family, four in number, had just removed from Maine. Mr. David Eastman and family, wife and sons, Augustus F., Charles H. and George L. lived just southeast, but out of the town limits.

The two-story house above alluded to, ( the Eastmans having several years previously re- moved from the town,) was finally purchased by Peter S. Freeman, a blacksmith of Chatham, who had bought a tract of land near Elm Grove, some six or seven miles southwest of this. He attempted to remove the house to said tract, across the open prairie, with ox teams. The building was a very heavy one, everything being of hard timber. It was a tedious journey, occu- pying, I think nearly a whole summer. The labor was finally accomplished with thirty yoke of oxen. The blacksmith's bills for mending broken chains, etc., were a pretty serious matter to Mr. Freeman.

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History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 126

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084