USA > Illinois > Stark County > History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 13
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LOMBARDVILLE
On June 15, 1870, Edwin Butler, then county surveyor, surveyed the Town of Lombardville for Julia A. Lombard and Dr. Alfred H. Castle, and the plat was filed on the 8th of July following. Lombard- ville is located on the Buda & Rushville division of the Chieago, Bur- lington & Quiney Railroad, on the line dividing seetions 2 and 11, Osceola Township. The original plat shows 104 lots, with State, Franklin, Lombard and Dunean streets running north and south, and Howard, Main and Washington run east and west. The hotel and elevator were completed in the fall of 1870, the Lombardville Mining Company began operations about the same time, and for some time the village showed signs of becoming a town of some importance. But the coal deposits were worked out, much of the trade was diverted to Bradford and other towns and Lombardville never came up to the expectations of its founders. A publie school, a general store and grain elevators are the principal institutions. Mail is delivered by rural carrier from the postoffice at Bradford.
MASSILLON
Says Mrs. Shallenberger: "Massillon was situated seven miles nearly due south of the present Town of Toulon, not far from the southern boundary of the county. Its projector and proprietor was Stephen Triekle. Date of survey, April, 1837."
This is the only written account of Massillon that the writer has been able to find. It is known that one of the preeincts of the county was named "Massillon," from which it may be inferred that the town was onee a place of some consequence, though it is now nothing more than a memory.
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MODENA
The Village of Modena is located in the southeast quarter of sec- tion 1, in the northeastern part of Toulon Township and on the west bank of Spoon River. It was surveyed on March 24, 1853, for Miles A. and Williston K. Fuller. The plat was filed in July and shows thirty-one lots, with Main and Second streets running north and south and Locust and Chestnut, east and west. The flour mill and the coal mines in the immediate vicinity were the principal industries of early days. A. Y. Fuller, who was one of the early purchasers of lots, opened a general store, and B. A. Newton also conducted a store here for some time. Mr. Sandham says the name was suggested by Modena in Italy. A Baptist Church was erected here about 1836. In 1915 a general store and the public school were the principal fea- tures of the village, which reported a population of 35 in 1910. It is on one of the rural mail routes from the postoffice at Wyoming.
MORSE
This is one of the new towns of the county and owes its existence to the building of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad through the county in 1901-02. It is located in the extreme northeast corner of the Township of Osceola and is only a short distance east of Lombard- ville. No official plat of the village was ever filed in the office of the county recorder, but an atlas of the county. published in 1907, shows fourteen lots-six north and eight south of the railroad station. Rand & McNally give the population in 1910 as 50. Mail is delivered by rual carrier from Bradford.
MOULTON
The extinct town of Moulton was located near the northern border of Essex Township, about three miles west of Wyoming, in the Indian Creek Valley. It was surveyed in August, 1836, by Robert Schuyler, Russell H. Nevins, William Couch, David Lee and Abijah Fisher. George and William Sammis had a store.on the site at the time the town was laid out. At one time Moulton had aspirations to become the county seat of Stark County. but Toulon won that honor and the close proximity of Wyoming also contributed to Moulton's down- fall. A frame house was erected there by Eugenius Frum a year or two after the town was platted, but this building was afterward par-
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chased by Benjamin Turner and removed to Tonlon, where it stood umtil 1886.
OSCEOLA
The village of Osceola is situated in the southeast quarter of section 11, Elmira Township, a small portion of the place extending south- ward into section 14. The first settlers in this part of the county came late in the year 1835. Among them were Giles C. Dana, Isaac Spencer, James Buswell, Thomas Watts and the Pratts, one of whom was a physician. Mrs. Shallenberger says: "They came out under the auspices of Maj. Robert Moore, who encouraged emigration hither, with a view to building up a town, which he had surveyed and called Osceola."
If such a town was ever surveyed it failed to become a reality, though the first settler named the grove in which they built their cabins "Osceola Grove," after the celebrated Seminole Indian leader in the Florida war. When the postoffice was established there in 1837 it was named Elmira, as already stated, and a settlement grew up around the postoffice. After the removal of the postoffice to the present village of Elmira, the village where it was first established took the name of Osceola. Being some distance from a railroad, the village has never grown to any considerable proportions, but it forms a trading point and meeting place for the people in the northeastern part of Elmira Township. The population in 1910 was only 55. It has a general store, a Baptist Church, a Methodist Church and parsonage, a publie school and a few dwellings, and is on one of the rural mail routes from Neponset, in Bureau County.
PLEASANT GREEN
An old map of Stark County shows the settlement of Pleasant Green near the center of section 33, Osceola Township. It was never formally laid out as a town, but a rural postoffice was maintained here for some time in early days and some eoal was mined in the vicinity. The distriet school known as the "Pleasant Green" school is all that is left to tell the story.
PUCKERBRUSH
This is another settlement that "just growed." It is located in section 7, Penn Township, a little south of the site of the old village of Walden, and consists of six lots along the south side of the high- way. Just how the settlement obtained its name is uncertain.
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SLACK WATER
Just east of the Spoon river, in section 33. Essex Township, is the old village of Slackwater, which at one time was a trading point and neighborhood center of some importance. The building of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and the founding of the town of Duncan, only a mile and half east on the railroad, robbed Slack- water of its prestige and it sank into insignificance.
SPEER
While the Peoria & Nelson branch of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad was under construction, James A. Speer, who owned a farm on the line of the railroad in section 36, Valley Township, con- ceived the idea of founding a town. Accordingly, on December 5, 1901, Henry H. Oliver, county surveyor, platted the town of Speer, in the northwest quarter of the above named section. The original plat showed twenty-four lots west of the railroad, but on April 15, 1903, Mr. Oliver made a revised plat of the original town and Speer's first addition thereto. Front Street rums north and south next to the railroad and farther west is MeKinley Avenue. The streets run- ning east and west are Main and South, and one not named on the plat. Speer soon came into prominence as a trading and shipping point for the southeastern part of the county. It reported a popula- tion of 150 in 1910: has general and hardware stores, a bank, livery barn, planing mill, postoffice. lumber yard. grain elevators, and is one of the flourishing little towns of Stark County.
STARK
Five miles east of Wyoming, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, is the little village of Stark, which grew up soon after the railroad was completed, but was never officially platted. A postoffice was established in the early '70s: Simpson & Smith and Charles N. Hull opened general stores; Joseph Anderson began dealing in grain and drain tile, and a few other business enterprises were established. In 1910 the population was 75. It has a large grain elevator. general stores, a Congregational Chureh, ete., and does a good business in shipping grain and livestock. It derives its name from the county.
STARWANO
No plat of this settlement-for it can hardly be called a town- was ever recorded. It is located in West Jersey Township, near the
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eastern boundary. A Methodist Church was organized here at an early date and is still in existenee, but the commercial activity of Star- wano has departed.
STRINGTOWN
In the atlas of Stark County, published in 1907, is shown a thickly settled neighborhood in the southwestern part of Essex Township (sections 30 and 31) which has long been known as "Stringtown." Its location is almost identical with that of the old Town of Massillon pre- viously mentioned. A church and publie school are the only institu- tions worthy of note.
WADY PETRA
This little town with the oriental name was platted on June 2. 1873, by Edwin Butler, then surveyor of Stark County, for Mrs. Anna K. Chase. It is located on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, in section 31, Valley Township, only about one mile east of the Village of Stark. Front Street runs parallel to the railroad and a square farther east is Chase Street. The north and south streets are Main and Hamilton. The original plat shows fifty-five lots. Wady Petra is a typical little railroad station, with the usual local business enterprises. In 1910 the population was given as forty-five. Mail is delivered by rural carrier from the postoffice at Stark.
WALDEN
The old Town of Walden was situated in the north side of section 7. Penn Township, just across the Spoon River from Modena. It is said to have taken its name from Dexter Wall, and was sometimes written "Wallden." Mr. Wall built a steam mill there at an early date and a general store was opened, but the name of the pioneer merchant has apparently been forgotten. "Wall's Schoolhouse," which stood not far from the mill, was a favorite place for holding religious services by ministers of different denominations. In time Mr. Wall removed his mill to Wyoming and the Town of Walden disappeared from the map.
WEST JERSEY
Early in the year 1856 Jacob Young employed Carson Berfield. who had previously served as county surveyor, to lay off a town
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almost in the exact geographical center of West Jersey Township, which town was named West Jersey. Seminary and Jersey streets and Phim Alley are shown on the original plat as the thoroughfares. The plat was filed for record on February 19, 1856, and ten years later only twenty-four lots had been sold. During the next twenty years the growth was "slow but sure." and in 1886 about seventy lots had been sold. Among the early industries and business houses of West Jersey may be mentioned Snediker's mill, John Catton's coal mines, Giwitts & Son's planing mill. W. H. Little's harness shop, William Atkinson's blacksmith shop and W. H. Johnson's store. The Methodist Church was built about 1869. A postoffice was estah- lished here before the Civil war, but it has been discontinued and mail is now addressed to Toulon and delivered by rural carrier. West Jersey has a public school building, a church, general stores. some smaller business concerns. a hall for public entertainments. and in 1910 reported a population of seventy.
POSTOFFICES
With the introduction of the free rural delivery system. several of the postoffices of Stark County were discontinued. The United States Postal Guide for July, 1915, gives the following offices in the county. the figures in parentheses following the name indicating the number of rural mail routes: Bradford (5) : Castleton. Duncan, Lafayette (2): Speer (1): Stark (1) ; Toulon (5) : Wyoming (+). Every office in the county is authorized to issue money orders. Those at Bradford. Toulon and Wyoming issue international money orders and are postal savings depositories.
CHAPTER IX MILITARY HISTORY
WAR OF 1812-BLACK HAWK WAAR-WAAR WITH MEXICO -- WAR OF 1861- `65 -- CONDITIONS LEADING UP TO THE WAR-THE SLAVERY QUESTION -COMPROMISE LEGISLATION-KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL-POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860-SECESSION OF THE SLAVE STATES -- FALL OF FORT SUMTER-CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS-WAAR MEETING AT TOULON-ILLI- NOIS' RESPONSE-EARLY ENLISTMENTS-BRIEF HISTORIES OF THE REGIMENTS IN WHICH STARK COUNTY WAS REPRESENTED-ROSTER OF STARK COUNTY COMPANIES-MISCELLANEOUS INFANTRY ENLIST- MENTS-CAVALRY SERVICE-ARTILLERY-SOLDIERS' MONUMENT- THE WORK AT HOME.
At the time of the War of 1812 there was not a single white man living within the present borders of Stark County. As previously mentioned, the United States Government, soon after the elose of that war, set apart a large traet of land in Illinois, including the present County of Stark, to be given to those who had served as volunteers during the war. A few veterans of the War of 1812 afterward became residents of the county, though the most of them sold their land warrants to speculators for a small pittance. In the fall of 1860 a meeting of old soldiers of 1812 was held at Toulon, at which probably a dozen were present.
In the Black Hawk war of 1832 the name of Thomas Essex ap- pears upon one of the muster rolls-the only one from Stark County --- though the county was not then organized and there were but few white men living within its limits.
On March 1, 1845, Congress passed a bill to annex the Republic of Texas to the United States. This brought on a war with Mexieo, which country claimed Texas, and Gen. Zachary Taylor was sent with the "Army of Oeeupation" to hold the territory until the bound- ary question could be settled. Taylor fought the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, defeating the Mexieans in both engage- ments, and on May 11, 1846, two days after the battle of Resaea de
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la Palma, Congress declared that "war already exists by aet of the Mexican government." placed a fund of $10,000,000 at the disposal of the administration, and authorized the President to accept the services of 30.000 volunteers.
Within a few days Illinois offered the President 8,370 men, but only 3,720 were accepted. These men formed the first six regiments of Illinois Infantry. A few Stark County men were inehuided in the enlistments, but in the absence of mmuster rolls it is impossible to give their names.
THE WAR OF 1861-65
Soon after the establishment of the American Republic, the slav- ery question became a "bone of contention" that was gnawed at by politicians for years in nearly every campaign. In 1808. the earliest date at which legislation on the subject could be constitutionally en- acted. Congress passed a law abolishing the foreign slave trade. By 1819 seven of the thirteen original states had abolished slavery. Ken- tucky. Tennessee, Louisiana. Mississippi and Alabama had been admitted to the Union as slave states, and Vermont, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois as free states, making eleven of each. This was the situa- tion in 1820, when the people of Missouri asked for admission. After a long and somewhat acrimonious debate, that state was admitted under the provisions of the act known as the "Missouri Compromise," which agreed to the admission of Missouri without any restrictions as to slavery, but expressly stipulated that in all the remaining portion of the Louisiana Purchase north of the line marking the latitude of 36 30' slavery should be forever prohibited.
The Mexican war gave to the United States a large territory, to which the advocates of slavery laid claim. According to the views of the opponents of slavery. the "Omnibus Bill." or Compromise of 1850, was a violation of the terms of the Missouri Compromise, in that it sought to extend slavery north of the line of 36' 30'. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854 added fresh fuel to the already raging flames. The passage of this bill was one of the principal causes that led to the organization of the republican party, which opposed the extension of slavery beyond the territory where it already existed.
In the political campaign of 1860 some of the southern states annonneed their intention of withdrawing from the Union in the event of Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency. The people of the North regarded these declarations as idle threats, made solely for political effect. Through a division in the democratic party, Mr. Lin-
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT, TOULON
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA
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coln was elected and on December 20, 1860, South Carolina proceeded to carry out her threat to withdraw, a convention of delegates, chosen for the purpose, passing an ordinance of secession, declaring that all allegiance to the United States was at an end. Mississippi followed with a similar ordinance on January 9, 1861; Florida, January 10th; Georgia, January 19th: Louisiana, January 26th, and Texas, Febru- ary 1, 1861. On February 4, 1861, delegates from six of these states (Texas was not represented) met at Montgomery, Alabama, adopted a provisional constitution, elected Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, provisional president, and Alexander II. Stephens, of Georgia, pro- visional vice president of the "Confederate States of America." Davis and Stephens were inaugurated on February 22, 1861, the anniversary of the birth of George Washington.
Hence it was that when Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, he found seven states, with an organized government, in open opposition to his administration. Notwithstanding this serious con- dition of affairs, the President, his immediate advisers and the people of the North generally, entertained the hope that the situation could be met without an open rupture between the North and South, and that the citizens of the seeeded states could be persuaded to return to their allegiance. Vain hope!
About the beginning of the year 1861, Maj. Robert Anderson, who was in command of all the defenses of the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, decided that Fort Sumter offered a better oppor- tunity for defense than Fort Moultrie, where he and his garrison were stationed. Seeretly removing his stores and men, he ordered the guns at Fort Moultrie to be spiked, rendering them unfit for service. Major Anderson's action immediately raised a storm of protest from the secessionists. They claimed that the removal to Fort Sumter was a violation of an agreement made with President Buchanan. Lincoln's predecessor. On the other hand the people of the North upheld Anderson and the northern press was almost a unit in demanding that additional supplies be sent to Anderson, and that he be given a force sufficient to hold the fort. President Buchanan was still in office, and not liking to invoke too much criticism from the loyal North, he sent the steamer Star of the West, with 250 men and a stoek of provisions, munitions of war, ete .. to Fort Sumter. On January 9, 1861, as the vessel was passing Morris Island, she was fired upon by a masked battery and foreed to turn back. This inei- dent is regarded in the official records as the beginning of the Civil war. though the popular awakening did not come until about three months later.
Vol. 1- 9
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Early in April, 1861, General Beauregard, who was in command of the Confederate forces at Charleston, opened negotiations with Major Anderson looking to the evacuation of Fort Sumter. Ander- son's provisions were running low and on April 11, 1861, he advised General Beauregard that the fort would be vacated on the 15th, unless orders were received from the war department to remain and the needed supplies were sent to the garrison. This answer was not satisfactory to Beauregard, who feared that Anderson might be rein- forced before that time. He therefore sent back the reply, at 3:20 A. M. on Friday, April 12, 1861, that within an hour fire would be opened upon the fort. At 4:30 Capt. George Janes, commanding a battery at Fort Johnson, fired the signal gun and the shell burst almost directly over the fort. A few moments later a solid shot from a battery on Cummings Point went crashing against the walls of Fort Sumter. The war had begun.
The garrison responded promptly and the cannonading continued throughout the day. Fire broke out in one of the casemates of the fort, which was observed by the Confederates, who increased their fire, hoping to force a surrender. Anderson held out against des- perate odds until Sunday morning, when he was permitted to leave the fort with honors of war, even saluting his flag with fifty guns before hauling it down.
When the telegraph flashed the news of Sumter's surrender through the North, all hope of conciliation was abandoned. Political differences of the past were forgotton in the insult to the flag, and there was but one sentiment: "The Union must and shall be pre- served." On Monday, April 15, 1861, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 militia and appealing to "all loyal citizens for state aid in this effort to maintain the laws, integrity, national union, perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs long enough endured."
WAR MEETING
The first war meeting in Stark County was held at Toulon on Monday evening, April 15, 1861, the very day that the President issued his eall for 75,000 volunteers. Judge Elihu N. Powell presided and James A. Henderson was chosen secretary. George A. Clifford, Dr. William Chamberlain, J. H. Howe, Levi North, Alexander Mc- Coy and Thomas J. Henderson all made short addresses urging the necessity for united action in support of the national administration. Among the resolutions- unanimously adopted-was the following:
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"That in the present erisis of our country, we will ignore all mere party considerations and uphold the administration in enforeing the laws North and South, and in putting down rebellion wherever it may arise. And to that end we invoke the entire power of the Govern- ment, and we hereby adopt as our motto those memorable words uttered long since by a patriot now in his grave: 'Liberty and Union now and forever, one and inseparable.'"
MALINOIS' RESPONSE
When the war commenced the prevailing opinion throughout the North was that it would be of short duration -- a mere "breakfast spell." That this view was entertained by the President is seen in his first call for only 75,000 troops, which he thought would be sufficient to suppress the rebellion. Before the conclusion of the conflict over two million loyal citizens of the North had been ealled into military service. Illinois promptly responded to each eall for volunteers and during the war furnished 185,941 infantry, 32.082 cavalry, and 7,277 artillery, a grand total (not ineluding reenlistments) of 225,300 men. Stark County was represented in thirty-six infantry regiments, five cavalry regiments, and the Second Light Artillery. Having fur- nished six regiments of infantry in the Mexican war, the first regi- ment that went out from Illinois in 1861 was the
SEVENTH INFANTRY
This regiment was mustered in at Camp Yates on April 25, 1861, for three months service, during which time it was on guard duty at Alton. Cairo, St. Louis and other points. It was reorganized for the three years' service on July 25, 1861. Early in 1862 it joined the army under Gen. U. S. Grant, took part in the capture of Fort Donelson and the battle of Shiloh, after which it continued in service in Mississippi and Tennessee. It was veteranized in December, 1863, and in Company B of the Veteran Seventh the following men were credited to Stark County: Hugh J. Cosgrove, captain; George II. Martin, first lieutenant; Andrew Nelson and Isaiah V. Bates, ser- geants: Alexander Headley and Henry Stauffer, corporals.
Privates-Henry II. Ballentine, Jacob Bogard, Oliver Boggs, Willis Burgess, Silas Chappell, Thomas H. Crowe, John Dawson, Thomas Dawson, John Ditman, Henry Duckworth, Thomas Fal- coner. John L. Foulk, John Garvin, Jasper Graves, William W.
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Isenberg, James L. Jarman, John Martin, John Otto, Patrick Phil- ben, Franklin Pratt, Timothy Rateliff, Henry Rouse, John Rouse, William Shipley, Mason Stauffer, Jotham K. Taylor, Stephen Tim- mons, Edward H. Trickle, David White, Henry H. Witcher, Ben- jamin Witter and William Zumwalt. The regiment was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 9, 1865.
EARLY ENLISTMENTS
In several of the first regiments that went out from the state there were one or more Stark County men. Henry Speers was a reeruit in Company C. Eleventh Infantry; Thomas Carroll was a private in Company II. Twelfth Infantry, until wounded and discharged in August, 1862; Michael Casey, Thomas Doyle, James Maloney and Frank Williamson were enrolled in Company C, Fourteenth Infantry: in the same regiment Thomas J. Marshall and John Norris served in Company E: Livingston Sharrach, Company G: and Samuel A. Patten was a corporal in Company Il ; Thomas D. Bonar and David W. Snyder enlisted as privates in Company D. Seventeenth Infantry. in May, 1861; and in Company F. Eighteenth Infantry, were George W. Bowers, Charles MeLaughlin, John Madden and John P. Smith.
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