USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 15
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the Presbyterian church in Danville. He was the father of thirteen children by his first wife and two by his second wife.
HEZEKIAH CUNNINGHAM.
Hezekiah Cunningham, who was a prominent citizen of Danville at an early day, was born in Virginia, whence he came in 1819. He was accompanied by his ' mother and with them were the Murphy family. They came in wagons, it taking them seven weeks to make their trip to the North Arm in Douglas county. At that time there were but ten families in that part of the country. In 1825 Mr. Cunningham came to Vermilion County, following Mr. J. B. Alexander, and mar- ried his daughter, Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham were the parents of five children, two of whom grew to manhood and womanhood. These were Mr. W. T. Cunningham, who was well and favorably known and the daughter, who be- came the wife of Judge O. L. Davis. In 1828 Mr. Cunningham moved to Dan- ville where he lived the remainder of his life. While a resident of Danville he was interested in all affairs for the advancement of the town. His name is writ- ten frequently in the history of the county. He built the storehouse which had a hall in the upper story where meetings of all kinds were held. He was a mer- chant for many years. Mr. Cunningham, together with his brother-in-law, Mr. J. H. Murphy, were men of public spirit and to them there is much of the pros- perity of Danville in its growing years due.
ELI HENDERSON.
Mr. Eli Henderson came to the country about the Little Vermilion in 1824 and brought his son, Elam, a boy of about fourteen, with him. Mr. Eli Hender- son lived in this community until his death in 1833. Soon after the death of his father, Elam Henderson married Mary Golden and they moved to Georgetown township, where they accumulated a large property.
Mr. Henderson was elected to the office of County Commissioner in 1836. After filling this office three years, he was elected associate justice. He kept this office about nine years or until the county went under township organization. Mr. Henderson became a merchant in 1853 and continued in that business for more than twenty years. With the exception of two years he was supervisor of his township from 1857 to 1873. Mr. Henderson was an old line whig up to the dissolution of that party after which he was a staunch republican. He was con- nected with the Society of Friends, as was his father before him.
JOHN BROWN ALEXANDER.
It was while yet the present United States were the colonies of Great Britain that a ship crossed the Atlantic, having on board a man who was to be a strong factor in the making of Illinois. This man was John B. Alexander. On board the same vessel was another young man who, too was seeking a home beyond the sea whose posterity was destined to be a conspicuous part of the history of this section. Beside these two men there was a family whose acquaintance they made
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on the passage. The family consisted of at least two daughters and a son of a Scotchman by the name of King. The acquaintance which might have been of longer standing than the weeks on shipboard, and might not, ripened into ardent affection on the part of young Alexander and McDonald toward the daughters of Mr. King. The result of this or rather these romances was that both the young men, Alexander and McDonald, married his daughters. Mr. King and both John B. Alexander and Donald McDonald, located in Tennessee and there re- mained for some time.
In due course of time, Donald McDonald's son, Alexander McDonald, to- gether with J. B. 'Alexander's son, came to the then new state of Illinois. Since the wife of Alexander McDonald, was Catherine Alexander (the daughter of Mr. Alexander) and his son as well were seeking homes in the new country, the father came with them. Mr. McDonald and his wife came on to the attached part of Edgar County, soon after reaching Illinois, and located in the neighbor- hood of the Little Vermilion, but Mr. Alexander and his son located in Edgar County, at Paris. There they remained until the new county of Vermilion was formed when Mr. Alexander came to that territory and had much to do in put- ting the machinery of the new county in working order.
Mr. Alexander was a man particularly fitted to do this work, and it is a fortu- nate thing that he was willing to cast his lot with the fortunes of the new county. He was the first commissioner and it was through his influence doubtless that Amos Williams was brought here from Edgar County. Mr. Alexander did not come into this wilderness without a sacrifice. His was of a nature that could find expression in intercourse with men. He was a well read man and could give as well as find pleasure among men of letters. His library was a wonder, and his manners were far from those of the pioneer. A memory of his granddaughter that she cherishes with fondness is, when she was a girl of perhaps nine he took the trouble to take into his private room and unlocking the desk, unwrapped a book which he showed her, telling her that it was the first book he procured for her father, Gen. M. R. Alexander. Then he carefully wrapped it up and put it away in the desk which he locked. Mrs. McMillen, his granddaughter, goes on to say, Grandfather told me of his young manhood, he was but a boy when he saw his future wife on ship board, near Charlotte, N. C. How on one occasion riding through the British camp on his way with a sack of corn on his horse going to mill to have it ground. He also told me what an exciting time they had when the whole community assembled in Charlotte to sign and ratify the Declaration of Independence in May, 1775. I said, "Grandpa, were you a democrat then?" Throwing his hands on his breast he said, "Politics, we had no politics, we were patriots." This answer and earnestness impressed me greatly. I thought he was the grandest man I ever had seen.
WILLIAM TRIMBELL.
William Trimbell came to Vermilion County in 1826, riding on horseback. He was accompanied by his wife who also rode her horse all the way from Ken- tucky to this county. He was one of the first settlers in what is now Pilot town- ship. He came direct from Kentucky but was born and raised in New Orleans.
HOME OF ENOS CAMPBELL Drawn and photographed by his son, A. R. Campbell
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He made money in feeding cattle and became possessed of land of value. Mrs. Trimbell long kept the dress she wore on her trip into this county and showed it to her children and grandchildren. It was made of some wool goods which she had spun and woven herself and had dyed a blue color. Mr. and Mrs. Trimbell were the parents of nine children all but two of whom grew to maturity, and had families of their own. Of these children William, the eldest, was the only one not born in this county. Elizabeth became the wife of John Vinson, Sarah be- came the wife of Gentry Williams, Mary became the wife of George Brown and Harvey Piper married Rebecca, the youngest. John Trimbell married Clara Meade, the daughter of Nathaniel Meade, William Trimbell, Jr., married Zella Qutan and Paris Trimbell married a Miss Cook. When William Trimbell took the long ride from Kentucky, with his wife, who carried their boy on the horse with her the country was rough and unsettled. He entered land, as did all the early settlers near a stream and did not dare go outside the timber to build his house, but stuck to the timber and put the prairie to the apparent natural use as grazing ground for the cattle which brought him great wealth. When his daugh- ter married he gave her a farm on the prairie that her husband could care for the stock.
AMOS WILLIAMS.
Amos Williams, one of the most prominent among the makers of Vermilion County, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1796. He came to Illinois in After going to he settled in Paris where he was clerk of the court and surveyor. It was Amos Williams who surveyed Paris and platted it. When in 1825, the newly organized county of Vermilion was in need of a man to act as clerk, J. B. Alexander was one of the commission- ers and much depended upon him to set the machinery going. He knew the ability of this young man and at once took steps to secure his services for Ver- milion county. Mr. Alexander had, until quite recently, lived in Paris where his son, at that time, was in business, but his sons-in-law had lived in this part of the attached territory to Edgar County and he had kept in touch with the needs of the territory. He knew not only that it would be a hard matter to get as good a clerk as Amos Williams made, but that there was not the material for such use in this section. The commissioners sent for Mr. Williams to change his residence. Amos Williams consented, and there is a letter in the possession of one of his grandsons written to his mother just before he left Paris, which shows with what serious thought he contemplated the change of location. He also states that he had just married the daughter of Judge Shaw, of Paris. The other daughter of Judge Shaw became the wife of Dan Beckwith, afterward. . Mr. Williams, located at Butler's Point, that being the place where the Vermilion County Court was held until a county seat was located. Amos Williams became an active citizen of the county from the first. He assisted in surveying the coun- ty, locating the county seat and he built the first house in Danville. He was both clerk of the circuit court and judge of the probate. He was appointed the first postmaster of Danville and also Notary Public. He held all these offices without interruption from the organization of the county until 1843, and some of them, until 1849-a period of twenty-three years. So faithful was he in his service
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that many thought there was no other man in the county qualified to do his work. The records need but to be seen to show his proficiency as a scribe. Amos Wil- liams was anxious for all measures which promised the betterment of Vermilion County. He was most active in advancing education in the county and particu- larly in Danville. For many years he personally owned the only schoolhouse in Danville, which he had built for that purpose. This building was opened to the use of all denominations as a place of public worship, also for public speak- ing, lyceums, and all entertainments of an educational or instructive character, and always without charge. Although in public office for so long a time, there was never a charge of incompetency or questionable business methods made. He died November 15, 1857, and was buried in the Williams burying ground. When this burying ground was sold to the city that a street might be extended further east, his remains were removed to Spring Hill Cemetery.
LEVI BABB.
Levi Babb was born in Green County, Tenn., Dec. 26, 1788. He came to Ver- milion County, in October, 1826, and stopped near Yankee Point for a short time. In December of the same year he located on section 14, range 11, Elwood township. He remained there about three years and a half, entering the west half of the southeast quarter of the section named, where he built the house which not only served him but his son after him for a home. During the time of his early residence in Vermilion County, Mr. Babb entered in all about six hun- dred acres of land. The Indians had their camping ground about the house he built. There has been much evidence of this particular place being the scene of an Indian battle in the long ago by the many flint arrow heads found on the grounds. There was even a stone axe discovered there at one time.
In the early days of his first coming Levi Babb was obliged to go to Raccoon and Sugar creeks to mill. He endured many hardships and privations as did all the pioneers. He came from Tennessee in a five horse wagon, riding a distance of six hundred and fifty miles. He became a fluent speaker of the language of the native Indian and taught the son of the chief to plow, and in many ways en- deared himself to them, and made them his friend forever. He was a tireless worker and in every thing that pertained to his farm he spared no pains to pro- cure the best. He would haul his produce to Chicago and return with salt and groceries. He was offered forty acres of land where Chicago now stands for a yoke of oxen, but he thought the land would never be of any account and so refused the wonderful bargain. Mr. Babb was married twice and was the father of thirteen children. He died March 23, 1872. His first wife was Susannah Dillon, and his second wife who survived him less than a year, was the daughter of Alexander Prevo, a pioneer of Fountain County, Indiana.
WILLIAM WATSON.
William Watson was a native of Nelson County, Kentucky, and he went from there to Harrison County, Indiana, thence to Vermilion County, Illinois, in 1826. He bought land and developed a farm, at least was doing what he
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could, when three years later he died. His son John was not much more than a boy, but boys grew up quickly in those days of responsibility, and John Wat- son was the same as other boys and early took a man's part. He served in the Black Hawk war and shared all the privation of a pioneer's life. His capital of determination and a pair of good strong arms and willing hands was worth more than money would have been at that time. He entered and bought land until he owned about a thousand acres. His home was about five miles north- east of Danville. He remained on his farm until, in 1873, when at the age of sixty-three, he bought residence property in Danville and made that his home for twenty-five years.
MICHAEL WEAVER.
Michael Weaver was born in Washington County, Maryland. His father died while yet he was a lad and his mother took him to North Carolina, but he ran away from home with a cattle drover's outfit and he returned to Mary- land where his older brothers yet were. From that time he made his way in the world. When he became a man he married Elizabeth Specard. of Hagerstown, and about a year later they moved to Pennsylvania. They later made their way down the Ohio to Kentucky where Mr. Weaver bought a farm and they lived here for three years when they crossed the river into Clermont County, Ohio, and soon afterward went to Brown County in the same state. He remained on that farm for ten years when he put his wife and ten children in a big covered wagon and well supplied with provision and all needed for a new home, they started for Sugar Creek, Indiana. He did not like this location when he reached it, however, and so went on beyond to Vermilion County, Illinois. He settled in what is now Car- roll township and entered land which he proceeded to improve. He had to go to Palestine to enter the land. The Weaver family found a cabin which some- one else had built, which had two rooms and a kitchen built on. This they made do until they could get something better.
A part of Mr. Weaver's family was his son-in-law and his family. They' arrived here November 12, 1828. Mr. Weaver was a man of a high sense of honor and justice. He would never accept more than six per cent interest for money loaned, nor would charge or take more than twenty-five cents for a bushel of corn. He declared that was all it cost to raise it. He was very be- nevolent and always had his house open for any one. Nothing pleased him more than to help those who tried to help themselves. Mr. Weaver lived to be more than one hundred years old and in his old age he was a man of great wealth. He was the father of seven children who married into the families of the prom- inent settlers and settled in the neighborhood so that many in that part of the county are direct descendants.
ABEL WILLIAMS.
Abel Williams came into this county in 1826, bringing his wife and four chil- dren. They came from Tennessee, his father having gone there from North Carolina. He and his wife were both members of the Methodist Episcopal
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church and when he came here the first thing he did was to build a place of worship. He did it without help from any one until it was almost completed. It was the first house of worship ever built in Carroll township. It was built about a mile southwest of Indianola, and was the center of Methodism for many years and several counties. Mr. Williams was the first advocate of "total absti- nence" in Vermilion County. When he first came there was not a man but who drank more or less intoxicating liquor. The church members were no exception. When Abel Williams began to advocate "teetotalism," as it was called, he made many enemies as may be supposed. He lived, however, to see intemperance dis- counted in the church and public sentiment banish it from the best society.
Abel Williams was the second justice of the peace and held the office twelve years. It was well known that he would not issue papers for law suits until he had exhausted every means of other settlement. His decisions were always sus- tained by the higher courts. Abel Williams came of Quaker stock.
SAMUEL GILBERT AND SONS, AND SOLOMON GILBERT.
The family of Gilberts are well considered together, since all of them were more or less great factors in the making of Vermilion County. Samuel Gilbert, with his family, consisting of his wife and three sons, Alvan, James and Elias, came to Vermilion County from Ontario County, New York, in 1826. They had really come west the previous year but stopped in Crawford County until this time. When they came to Vermilion County they settled two miles south of Dan- ville. There was, at that time, no town in the county containing more than fifty white families. The nearest mill was at Eugene. The great need of this section . was a mill and in 1831, Mr. Solomon Gilbert, the brother of Samuel came from the east and put up one at near the mouth of the North Fork of the Big Vermilion. Another brother, Jesse, established a ferry across the Vermilion river, a much needed improvement.
Mr. Samuel Gilbert lived in Danville until 1839, when he went to Ross town- ship and there was made the first justice of the peace. He was also the first post- master, serving in this office for twenty years. He held the office of justice for ten years. Mr. Gilbert's wife died the year he moved from Danville, and was buried in the Williams' burying ground. Mr. Gilbert afterward married Mrs. Elizabeth (Dougherty) Ferrier, the daughter of one of the early settlers of Vance township. Mr. Samuel Gilbert lived to be seventy-two years old. He died and was buried in the Williams' burying ground.
Alvan Gilbert, the oldest son of Samuel Gilbert, was fifteen years old when he came to Vermilion County. He spent the first years after coming here in the work provided by the many interests of his father and uncles. In 1831 he mar- ried Miss Matilda Horr and the following year he went with his father to Ross township, where his father-in-law owned land. Mr. Gilbert bought a small farm of his father-in-law which he afterward enlarged to 240 acres. This farm he afterward sold to his father and brother James, and bought another farm of his uncle Solomon. This later farm included the northern limits of Rossville. He lived her about three years when he again sold and bought another farm of Mr. Leggitt which included a part of the southern limits of Rossville. He traded
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extensively in real estate and personal property, and it has been claimed that dur- ing his life he had more deeds recorded than any other man in the county. Mr. Gilbert's first wife died in 1840, leaving two daughters, one of whom afterward married George C. Dickson and the other became the wife of Frederick Grooms. Mr. Alvan Gilbert served as Supervisor of his township for many years, being president of the Board for a part of the time. Upon the adoption of the town- ship organization he was one of the three commissioners appointed to divide the county into townships. He was also one of the three commissioners appointed to divide the swamp lands between this county and Ford, when Vermilion lost that territory. Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Lamm represented the old county and Judge Patton, the new one. He had Judge (Guy) Merrill and John Canaday as asso- ciates in the act of making the division of the county into townships. The three who divided the swamp lands were about three months in making the division. Mr. Alvan Gilbert's second wife was Nancy (Horr) Elzy.
SAMUEL BAUM.
Samuel Baum came to Vermilion County at the same time as his father-in- law, Michael Weaver, and settled on the Little Vermilion. His brother Charles came nine years later and together they became the founders of the family of that name of whom there have been many in Vermilion County. Samuel mar- ried Sarah, the daughter of Michael Weaver, while they were in Ohio and had a family of two children when he came west. After coming to Illinois there were six more children born to them. Sarah (Weaver) Baum died and Samuel Baum married Mrs. Polly Matkins, the widow of William Matkins, and they became the parents of four children. Samuel Baum was a large, powerful man, six feet one inch in height, and weighed three hundred pounds. He was jovial and good hearted, always a good tempered man. He took the first produce he raised in Vermilion County to Chicago, driving five yoke of oxen. His sole possession when he came to Illinois was a horse, a bridle and a saddle, and at the time of his death in 1861 he was the owner of 1,500 acres of well cultivated land, besides personal property. He belonged to the Republican party and died at the age of fifty-six. His brother, Charles Baum, who came to this county some years after took up 160 acres of land from the government, and made later purchases until, at one time, he owned 1,660 acres, besides the 200 acres that was the gift to his wife from her father. Charles Baum was married three years after coming to Vermilion County to Miss Catherine Weaver, who was the fourth daughter and sixth child of Michael Weaver. Mrs. Baum was born in Clermont County, Ohio, and came to Illinois at the same time as her father, she being but eight years old at the time. Mr. Baum lived on his home farm which his wife's father gave her.
JOHN LARRANCE.
John Larrance was a native of North Carolina, but he came to the Little Ver- milion directly from Tennessee in 1827. He had his choice of almost the whole of Vermilion County at that time and he made a good one. He entered 240 acres of land, paying the government price, and thereon built a cabin made of round
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logs. It had but one room and was not at all luxurious. The floor was logs split in two with the flat side up, a clapboard roof and doors of the same material. They lived happily for one year in this house and were determined to make a comfortable home of it in spite of inconveniences. For nine years Mr. Lar- rance's wife cooked all the meals on the fireplace, using a long handled skillet and a brick bake oven. At the end of that time he went to Chicago for some pur- pose and brought back a cook stove. This was the first one in the neighborhood, and was a great curiosity. The maiden name of Mrs. Larrance was Ruth Mills, she being the daughter of John Mills. She was the mother of nine children.
Mr. Larrance's oldest son was nearly ten years old when they came from Tennessee, and he soon grew to take his place in the affairs of the county. His education in books was had in the old school-house with greased paper for win- dows, stick and clay chimney, slab benches and wall desks, of the pioneer days of Illinois. The school course was limited to two or three months in the winter. Moses Larrance married Nancy, the daughter of Aaron Mendenhall. Mr. Men- denhall had been living in this part of Vermilion County for three years when Mr. Larrance came from the same place in Tennessee. Mr. Mendenhall owned the same farm that Silas Baird later purchased. Mr. Moses Larrance was the father of thirteen children, who have married among the children of the early settlers until they are related to many. He and his household have, as had his father before him, been strong supporters of the Society of Friends.
WILLIAM CURRENT.
William Current came to Vermilion County in 1827 and settled five miles northeast of Danville in Newell township. He was a man of twenty-four and his wife, hardly more than a girl, being but twenty, yet having been married five or six years. They came from Pennsylvania and endured the common trials of pioneer life. Mr. Current secured a good tract of land and built up a fine home- stead. The family came in time to experience the suffering of the winter of the deep snow. Mr. Current volunteered in the Black Hawk war and served until discharged with the other troops. William Current was the father of thirteen children and died in 1851 at the comparative early age of forty-three. His wife survived him, remaining a widow for thirty-three years. She died in 1884.
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