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 164

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 164

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).

John Rhea, farmer and stock raiser, post office New Berlin, was born in Barren county, Ken- tucky, July 14, 1817; son of James and Rachel (Jolleff) Rhea. Was reared on a farm and re- ceived his education in a log cabin, attending about three months in the winter. He married Miss Julia A. Starks, November 14, 1839; she was born in Rutland county, Vermont, June 21, 1821; was baptized into the fellowship of the Berlin Baptist Church in 1842, and retained her mem- bership in the same church until her death. She was deeply interested in the benevolence of the church, in ministerial education, home and for- eign missions; she was a true Christian woman of the noblest type. A large concourse of peo- ple attested her worth at her funeral, at Berlin, Rev. J. Bulkley, of Alton, officiating. Mr. and Mrs. Rhea had seven children, four of whom are living, viz: James B., Stephen E., Thomas T., and Martha E. Mr. R. has been identified with the interests of the county all his life; has seen the broad prairies change from their wild and uncultivated state, to one of the best cultivated counties in the State. He can remember when there was but one house in Waverly, and at the time it was called Shurtleff Point. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and has been since its organization. He has a fine farm of three hundred acres near New Berlin, where he resides.

Thomas F. Rhea, farmer and stock-raiser, post office, New Berlin, is a brother of the pre- ceding, and was born in Jefferson county, Illi- nois, July 27, 1824; son of James Rhea, born June 3, 1780, and Rachel (Jolleff) Rhea, born

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

November 16, 1783; were married in Virginia, November 20, 1801, and in an early day emi- grated to Boone county, Kentucky. In 1812, he enlisted in the war and was with Commodore Perry, at the battle of Lake Erie. After the close of the war he returned to Kentucky, where he remained until 1820, when he left his Ken- tucky home for the far west, or the Sangamo country, as it was called at that time. He lo- eated in what is now Jefferson county, Illinois, where he remained until 1827, when he came to Sangamon county, where he bought and im- proved eighty aeres of land, with a log cabin into which the family moved, and remained until he could build a more commodious one. He remained here until his death, which oc- curred February 12, 1843. They were members of the Emancipation Baptist Church, and were instrumental in organizing the first Sabbath school in Berlin township. They died as they had lived, sincere Christians. The subject of this sketch came to this county when he was three years old; was reared on a farm, and re- ceived his education in the pioneer school house. He married Miss Lucinda Wilcox. She was the daughter of Ellis Wilcox, a native of Kentucky, and was born February 15, 1825. They had five children, viz: Annie L., born August 17, 1845; Clarinda, born August 1, 1850; Eliza E., born April 3, 1852, and died in child- hood; Rebecca, born December 2, 1856, and died December 20, 1865; Lou, born December 7, 1859. Mrs. Lucinda Rhea died December 7, 1877, a member of the Missionary Baptist Church; was respected by all who knew her. For his second wife Mr. Rhea married Mrs. Louisa Yates, a widow of Henry Yates, deceased, who died October 3, 1871, leaving four children: Henrietta, Minnie L., Grace, who died July 20, 1872, and Laura. Mrs. Rhea was the daughter of Francis Arnz, who figured prominently in the political arena, in Cass county; held several local offices in the gift of the people, represent- ing his district in the legislature; also was ap- pointed Minister to Austria and Germany. Mr. Rhea came to the county in an early day; has seen it from its infancy to one of the most flour- ishing counties in the State. He has five hundred and five acres of beautiful land, all under a high state of cultivation, valued at $50 per acre, and is one of the large and prosperous farmers of the county; has held several local offices, and represented his people as supervisor.

Joseph S. Smith, farmer and stock-raiser, post office, Bates, is the father of the preceding, and was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, July 21, 1827;

son of Joseph Smith, who was born in Loudon county, Virginia, October 3, 1794. His parents moved to Harrison county, Ky., when he was seven or eight years old. At the age of fifteen he entered a store in Paris, Kentucky, as clerk, and afterwards became a merchant in Frankfort. He was married April 9, 1822, in Franklin county, to Sally Taylor, who was born Novem- ber 22, 1807, in that part of Gallatin that after- wards became Trimble county, Kentucky. The family residence, at the time, was on a very elevated site opposite the city of Madison, In- diana, and was called Mount Bird. Joseph Smith and wife had four children in Franklin county, Kentucky, and moved to this county in October, 1834; he settled on Richland creek, in what is now Cartwright township, where two children were born. The father of Mr. Smith followed farming, and at the same time was in the mercantile business in Springfield, in connee- tion with James F. Bradford. He represented' Sangamon county in the State Legislature; died in August 1862, on the farm where he settled in 1834. His widow, Mrs. Sally Smith, resides with her son Joseph S., at Bates, in this county.

Major Smith the subject of this sketch, re- mained on the farm until the fall of 1861, when he enlisted in the Tenth Illinois Cavalry, and was commissioned as Captain of Company B; before leaving Springfield he was promoted to Major, serving his country nearly three years; previous to the expiration of the term of service, they veteranized and the Major resigned.

In the spring of 1865, he went to California, at that time he was handling corn, hauling it with mules from the Missouri river to Salt Lake, and receiving twenty-five cents per pound, or $14 per bushel. In 1867 he went to Abilene, Kansas, where he engaged in the traffic of Texas cattle; since 1875, he has been buying and driving them into Colorado and other parts, and handles ten thousand head a year. He has four hundred and fifty acres of valuable land, which is located near Bates Station, on the Wabash Railroad, valued at $60 per acre.

Dewitt W. Smith, farmer and fine stock breeder, is a son of Joseph and Sally Smith, who emigrated to this county from Franklin county, Kentucky, and he was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, December 13, 1844. He re- ceived an academic education, besides attending Bryant & Stratton's Business College, in Chi- cago and St. Louis. In September, 1864, he married Miss Adelia McConnell, a daughter of Andrew B. and Augusta McConnell. She was born in this county, February 22, 1845. They

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

had four children: Sidney, Eliza, Temple, and Augusta. Mr. Smith is one of the large and ex- tensive farmers of the county; has under his im- mediate supervision one thousand eight hundred acres of land; raises one thousand one hundred acres of corn; is also an extensive breeder of fine blooded stock, of which he has some sev- enty-five head of shorthorns on his place, and feeds. His corn crop averages from three thous- and five hundred to five thousand bushels yearly.

In the years of 1876 and 1880, he represented his district in the legislature, and in 1879, was elected supervisor of the township; was also elected chairman of the board. In politics, is Democratic.

John P. Stephens, farmer, post office, New Berlin, was born in Huntingdon county, Penn- sylvania, October 14, 1842; son of George W., and Martha (Patterson) Stephens. The family consisted of seven children, four sons and three daughters. In 1848, his parents emigrated to Exeter, Scott county, Illinois, where they re- mained until the fall of 1875, when his mother died; they then came to this county. In August, 1861, he enlisted in the Twenty-eighth Regi- ment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served three years. Participated in the battles of Shiloh, Pittsburg Landing, siege of Corinth, Vicksburg and at Jackson, Mississippi. After the war he returned to Scott county, where he followed farming. November 3, 1864, he mar- ried Miss Eliza Anderson, of Morgan county, Illinois, where she was born in April, 1843. They have had six children, five of whom are living: Laura B., Mary A., Ava L., Charles and Nellie. Mrs. Stephens died June 22, 1879, in this county. February 18, 1881, Mr. S. mar- ried Mrs. Harbour, widow of Levi Harbour, who was among the early settlers of Sangamon county. She was the daughter of Robert and Sarah Young, natives of Kentucky. Robert Young married Miss Elizabeth Breeding, in 1818, by whom he had three children: John, Jane and Louisa. John died while on his way home from the Mexican War; Mrs. Young died in 1825. For his second wife, Robert married Miss Sarah Vigus, in 1828; she was born in Kentucky in 1808. They had nine children, seven of whom are living, viz: Joan, Sarah, Nathan M., William A., George W., Robert G., and Viola. In 1830, Mr. Young left Kentucky for Illinois, coming through with a team, Mrs. Young riding on horse-back on a pack and carry- ing her infant. They camped out on the prairies and did their cooking by camp-fires. He located

in what is now Scott county, near Winchester, where they remained one year, then went to Greene county, where Mrs. Young remained. Mr. Y. went to the Black Hawk War; was on the battle-field with General Stillman, and helped to bury the dead. After the war he returned to Greene county, and in the fall of 1832 to Ken- tucky, on account of sickness in that county. He remained until 1853, when he thought he would again try his fortune in Illinois. He re- mained until his death, which occurred in Logan county, in 1876. Mrs. Stephens owns one hun- dred and eighty-seven acres of land under a good state of cultivation, valued at $55 per acre.

Ferdinand Stelte, farmer and stock raiser; post office, New Berlin; was born in Prussia, Germany, May 15, 1830. In 1857, he emigrated to the United States in a sailing vessel, and was seven weeks and four days on the water. He landed in New Orleans; thence, via steamer, to St. Louis, from there to Alton, then to Spring- field, where he engaged to work by the month. In 1863, he married Elizabeth Knust, who came to this State one year previous; she was born October 24, 1845. There are seven children: Mary, born January 31, 1864; Gertrude, May 14, 1866; Francis, October 8, 1869; Minnie A., September 13, 1872; Ann M., September 27, 1875; Maria C., April 16, 1878; August J., March 13, 1880. After his marriage, Mr. S. rented for four years, then bought his present place, of one hun- dred and sixty acres, valued at $60 per acre. He is a member of the Catholic Church.

Francis Taylor, farmer and merchant, New Berlin; was born in Fairfield, county, Connecti- cut, on the 27th day of November, 1821; son of Daniel and Sally Taylor, natives of Fairfield county, Connecticut, where they were married, and eight children, were born, four sons and four daughters, three of whom are living: Edward W., now of Fairfield, county, Connecticut; William H., now a resident of Boston, and Francis. His father was a boot and shoe manufacturer and farmer. In politics, was an old-line Whig; his parents died in Connecticut, after living together more than a half century.

Francis was raised on a farm, and received an academic education. In 1845, he married Miss Henrietta B. Morehouse, a daughter of Samuel T. Morehouse; she was born in Connecticut, in 1827. By this union there were four children, viz: Mary C., Albert J., Frank I., and Edward H .; Mrs. Taylor died in 1862. He was again married, to Harriet R. Rumsey, a daughter of Aaron B .; she was born in Fairfield county,

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

Connecticut, in 1839; by this marriage there were four children, viz: Charles R., William F., Har- riet S., and Frederick D. Mr. Taylor came to Sangamon county, Illinois, in 1851; the imme- diate vicinity of New Berlin was sparsely settled, there being but one store building in the village when he located and made a farm, and afterwards engaged in the real estate business; has nine hundred acres of land in Sangamon county, all of which is under cultivation, valued at $65 per acre; the present season he has four hundred and fifty acres of corn on his place. In 1881, he embarked in the mercantile business, in company with his son, where they carry a stock of dry goods, boots and shoes, and everything that is usually carried in a village store; carries a stock of $10,000. Mr. Taylor is a large dealer in western land, owning between two and three thousand acres.

Mr. Taylor has been identified with the county thirty years, and has seen the various changes. By good management he has accumulated a fine property, and is one of the large and well-to-do business men of the county. In politics, he is a Republican.

J. V. Thon, furniture, tin-ware and stove dealer, Berlin Illinois, was born in Prussia, Germany, December 12, 1833. When twenty- four years of age he came to the United States in a sailing vessel, and was forty-nine days in making the trip, landing in New Orleans. The vessel, having cholera on board, he had to re- main on board for several days. He remained but a short time in New Orleans, then went to St. Louis, where he worked a short time, then came to Jacksonville, where he worked at any- thing he could get to do. He married Miss Eva Rodenheber, who was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, July 29, 1845; they have two children John, born January 10, 1867, and Katie, born June 22, 1868. He is a member of the Catholic Church of New Berlin, and in politics is a Dem- ocrat. Mr. Thon has a property valued at $3,000. Carries a stock of $3,000, of furniture, stoves and tin-ware.

William M. Warren, banker, New Berlin, Illinois, was born May 27, 1828. Son of Wil- liam B., who was born in 1802, and Ann (Price) Warren, born in 1811. They were married in Scott county, Kentucky, in 1827. They had five sons and seven daughters, five of whom are living, viz: William M., Phil., now of Spring- field, a farmer and stock dealer; Maria A., now Mrs. William A. Turney, of Springfield; Louisa, now Mrs. Thomas Booth, of St. Louis ; Agnes,

now Mrs. V. M. Kenney, of this county. In 1833, the parents of Mr. Warren left their Ken- tucky home, in wagons, and located in Jackson- ville, Morgan county, Illinois. Mr. Warren was an attorney at law, but, on account of poor health, never followed his profession.

Major Warren was a man of action as well as words, and at the time of the breaking out of the Mexican war, was one among the first to give his services. Colonel Hardin, W. B. Weatherfield and Major Warren organized the First Illinois Regi- ment. Colonel Hardin was to have command of the regiment, W. B. Weatherfield Lieutenant- Colonel and Mr. Warren Major. Mr. Warren participated in the Mormon war, and acted as Assistant Adjutant General. After the Mexican war was over he was elected Clerk of the Supreme Court, which office he held six years. He returned to Jacksonville where he dealt in real estate, and remained until his death, which occurred April 12, 1865.

The subject of this sketch attended school in Jacksonville until he was seventeen years old; in the meantime had fitted himself for surveying, which he followed from 1845 to 1866, being employed most of the time in Sangamon, Morgan and Cass counties. In 1849, he married Miss Prescilla A. IIitt, daughter of Samuel Hitt, of Kentucky, who came to Morgan county in 1832. She was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, October 19, 1829. They had eleven children, six of whom are living, viz: William B., a prac- ticing physician of Old Berlin; Sally, Robert H., John F., Maggie and Agnes. In 1854, Mr. W. left Morgan county and came to Sangamon county, where he located on a farm, in the mean- time, following surveying. In 1865, he was admitted to the bar, practiced in the circuit courts, and still follows his profession. In 1877, he embarked in the banking business, in New Berlin. In politics, he is a Democrat, and has held several local offices of trust in the gift of the people; has been supervisor eleven years, and five of those was chairman of the board. Mr. Warren has fifteen hundred acres of land in this county, all of which is under cultivation, valued at $50 per acre.

Lieutenant James H. Yates, farmer, New Ber- lin township, was born in Island Grove town- ship, this county, son of Thomas and Nancy (Higgins) Yates, natives of Kentucky. He was reared on a farm, and received a good business education. In 1861, he enlisted in the Twenty- sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company D, and participated in the battles of Island No. 10, siege aud battle of Corinth, Jack-

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

973

sonville, Mississippi, and Mission Ridge. At the expiration of his term of service, he re-en- listed in the Sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company C, and was commissioned as First Lieutenant. On the 22d day of July, he was struck by a musket ball in the wrist; re- turned home on a furlough; while returning to his regiment, was detailed at Louisville, Ken- tucky, to take through a thousand head of cattle to Sherman's army, making him too late to go

with Sherman to the sea, but later he joined him at Hilton Head, North Carolina; afterwards made a raid through the State, and at the termi- nus of the war, was mustered out in North Car- olina, being discharged and paid off in Spring- field. He married, in 1868, Miss Barbara Dei- bert. She was born in Germany in 1845. They had six children, four of whom are living: Frederick, Philip, Hawes, and Mattie. In poli- tics, he is a Republican.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

CHAPTER XLIV.

TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE OF PAWNEE.

Pawnee township is located in the extreme southeastern part of the county, and was one of the earliest settled townships in the county. The soil is a deep black loam, well adapted to the raising of corn. The township is watered by Brush, Horse and Clear creeks, the former entering the township on section twenty-one, township thirteen, range five west, and passing in a northeast direction emerges on section two, same township and range. This creek was so named on account of the brush along its banks, which was so thick in the early day as to make traveling quite difficult. One branch of Horse creek enters upon section thirty-five, township thirteen, range five west, and the other upon sec- tion thirty-two, township thirteen, range four west, uniting on section twenty, the latter town- ship and range, runs almost due north, emerging on section six, township thirteen, range four west. Tradition says the creek was so named from the fact that the dead body of a man was found on its banks at a very early day in the winter, and the next spring the horse was found upon its banks which the dead man had ridden.

Justus Henkle was the first settler in the township. He was born about 1775; in Vir- ginia. Elizabeth Judy was born about 1778, in Randolph county. They were married in Ran- dolph county, Virginia, and had eleven children in Virginia, and moved from there to Belleville, Illinois, in the fall of 1817. They moved from there to the San-ga-ma country, arriving about the middle of March, 1818, at the west side of Horse creek, in what is now Pawnee township, about one mile north of Pawnee. Mr. Henkle made improvements there, and entered the land when it came into market. Mr. Henkle died in 1842. His son, Jacob, now owns the old home- stead, and lives near by.

Martin Baker was the next settler after Henkle, and came the same year. He settled on the southeast quarter of section nine. Mr. Baker was from Tennessee. He only remained here about three years, when he returned to his native State.

William Baker came next, and settled upon the same quarter with Martin. He subsequently moved to what is now Rochester township, where he remained a few years, and then moved to Texas, where he died.

George Dixon was among the number who came in 1820. He subsequently moved to Buck Hart, where he died.

Joseph Dixon was among the earliest settlers on Horse creek. He was the principal mover in establishing Zion Chapel, in Cotton Hill township, to which he afterwards deeded five acres of land for church and cemetery purposes. His family are buried there, but he died in 1844, at the house of a daughter, near Franklin, Mor- gan county, Illinois, and was buried there.

Elisha Sanders was also among the early settlers. He was born Jannary 16, 1804, in Green county, Kentucky. He was married Jan- mary 17, 1824, in the same county, to Jane Faucett. They had three children there, and moved to Sangamon county, December 16, 1829, and stopped two miles west of Springfield. Elisha Sanders was for many years a licensed preacher, previous to May, 1863, when he was ordained, at Horse creek regular Predestinarian Baptist Church.

Joseph Durbin was born about 1776, in what afterwards became Madison county, Kentucky. He was married there to Elizabeth Logsdon, and moved his family to Sangamon county, Illinois, arriving in 1829, and settled in what is now Pawnee township.

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

The south half of Pawnee was entirely un- settled up to 1850, but is now thickly settled and under a high state of improvement.

EDUCATIONAL.

The township of Pawnee was settled some six years before the school-master came, the first school being held in an upper room or loft of the log cabin of Justus Henkle, in 1824. John Johnson in the summer of that year succeeded in gathering some ten or twelve children to- gether, and in the room mentioned, endeavored to instil into their mind the difference between A and B. From this loft the next step was the old log school house, a description of which has been so often given, where are slab seats so high their feet could not touch the floor, without backs, and on one side the house a small opening covered with greased paper for window light, the old fire place, almost large enough to hold a quarter of a cord of wood, which the older scholars were often required to furnish, here they were instructed in the three R's-readin', 'ritin', and rithmetic. In reading it mattered not what book was provided, anything would do; in writing the teacher who occasionally could scarcely write his own name, made pot-hooks and other symbols for those who were desirous of learning how to write. No arithmetic was required, the teacher having the only copy nec- essary, and he would give out the "sums" for one to figure and instruct the scholars "how to do them." All this has been changed in the last quarter of a century. The old log school house has given place to the more modern frame or brick, and the modern appliances for the school room has been provided in nearly all the school houses. Outside of the village in district num- ber one, there is a graded school worthy of almost any town. Within the limits of this dis- trict, in Pawnee township, in 1847, there were but two dwelling houses, one by William Brad- ley, on the north side of the creek, and the other by Elisha Sanders, on the south side. Between these two men there was a competition for the custom of the stage line from Springfield to Vandalia, by way of Seward's Point. In 1850, J. J. Megredy and Colby Smith, settled lower down on Brush creek, Smith on the land now occupied by Alfred W. Curtis and Megredy near his present location. In 1851, a log house was purchased on Lick creek, removed to and erected on a lot on the northeast corner of the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section three, for a school house. The school section remain- ing unsold, and there being no money in the

township for school purposes, it was necessary the school should be taught gratuitously. The first term was taught by J. J. Megredy in the winter of 1851-2. He had some twelve or fifteen scholars on his roll. The spring and summer following, school was taught by Miss M. A. Thompson, a niece of the present Judge Math- eny, the principal part of the salary being paid by Mr. Megredy and Mr. Smith. The second winter term was taught by B. F. Fox, Jr., and the summer term by Mr. Smith.

In 1852, the school section having been sold, the township was laid out into districts,'and the settlement around Brush creek became the first district. Megredy, Smith and Courtney were the first directors of the district.

A tax was assessed, by order of the directors of District No. 1, of thirteen or fifteen, for the purpose of raising means for the erection of a new and better school house. An effort was made by certain speculators to stay the collec- tion, but without avail. A house eighteen by twenty-two feet was framed and placed upon the location agreed upon by the citizens interested, when by some means a special act of the legis- lature was secured, providing for the removal of the house to the prairie, beyond the reach of any family living in the district. The provisions of the act were carried out, and the house was re- moved. Those interested in having a school at once took steps to secure the passage of an act by the legislature empowering the directors to sell the house, which was accordingly done, it being purchased by J. J. Megredy, and by the district removed to the present location of the school building, on the northwest corner of sec- tion two, township thirteen, range five.

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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 164

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