USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 21
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John Fletcher came to Vermilion Grove with his parents, himself a young man, in 1836, John Smith (Eng.), as he always signed his name, came to Ver- milion County in 1836 and was a conspicious citizen of Middlefork township all during the remainder of his life. Mr. Shepherd came to Vermilion County in 1836 and settled in what was afterward Oakwood township. He built a mill on Salt Fork that cost $3,000, but died before it began to run. Henry Harbaugh.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
who is the oldest man in Vermilion County, yet living, came into this section in 1836. He now lives with his children and grandchildren, at the advanced age of one hundred and six years. He is clear in his statements of early days, and tells how he came "down the Ohio and up the Wabash" as far as Perrysville, when he walked on to Danville, thence to Denmark and Higgins- ville, where he located and where he remained. Thos. B. Newlin came to Ver- milion County from Champaign County in 1835, having located in the latter, coming from Virginia some years earlier. He entered land in Catlin township and married a daughter of Stephen Griffith. George W. Wolf of Catlin is one of the few early settlers who can tell the story of pioneer days from memory. His story of a farm in Tennessee where comfort and prosperity was to be had, exchanged for a piece of worthless land in the wilderness of Illinois in the early thirties, by his unsuspecting father who came with his wife and children to Vermilion County at that date, is one of many. The little boy was but a baby and much of the memory shows the suffering of the mother told in after years. Mr. Wolf's parents lived but a short time and his childhood was not a sheltered condition. He early had to make his way in the world, but he made it to some purpose, and now at seventy-eight, he is clear of brain, accurate, and trustworthy as authority on matters in the history of Vermilion County. Mr. Wolf has served the county as Supervisor and in other offices. He was among the last to work in the Salt Works, having been employed there when he was eighteen years old. In 1835, a charter was secured for the Chicago and Vincennes Railway, among the charter members being Gurdon S. Hub- bard, (who had moved to Chicago before this time), John H. Murphy, and I. R. Moores of Danville. The same year, a charter was secured from Quincy, to the Indiana state line in the direction of LaFayette, via Springfield, Decatur and Danville, under the name of the North Cross Railroad. Robert Kirkpatrick built a mill on Stony Creek in 1835. It was a saw-mill. He ran it for some years, and then it was abandoned. The historic "Kyger's Mill" was built in 1835. Mr. Hale, the first capitalist to come to Vermilion County, built a mill in 1836. The year 1836 witnessed several changes in Vermilion County, a few of which are here recorded. The State Bank had been chartered in the previous year, and now Danville thought the demand for such an institution merited one being established here. The State Bank was patterned on that of the United States, and had various branches in different parts of the state. A charter was granted incorporating the Danville Academy, in 1836.
Amos Williams built the mill on the Big Vermilion river long known as the cotton mill in 1836. The first steam saw-mill was built in this year. The grading of the North Cross railroad was done through Vance township in 1836. It was a part of the net-work of "Internal Improvements" which swamped the state at this time and were lost in the revulsion of the next year. A number of postal routes were established during that year. One went from Danville to Spring- field via Decatur. Another went from Danville to Ottawa. Yet another went to Indianapolis via Danville (Ind.), Rockville, Montezuma and Newport. The western terminus of this line was Danville, Ill. Samuel Porter came from Mary- land to Vermilion County in 1826 and settled about a mile and a half east of Indianola, where he died in 1848.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
Jesse Liggett came to Vermilion County in 1836, and located on eighty acres of land one mile northeast of Newton. Later he bought 160 acres and yet later added more land, until he owned 600 acres in this section. A part of this land was on Middle Fork, but the last purchase was on the prairie. Mr. Liggett had a mill in the bottoms of the Middle Fork which supplied the neighborhood. He lived on the timber farm until he bought the land on the prairie, after which he spent the remainder of his life on the new farm. Mr. Liggett's parents went from Virginia to Ohio when that state had but just been transformed from a territory. He was but one year old at the time of the change of residence. He came to Illinois in 1836, so that his life was almost entirely spent in pioneer ways of living. He was an extensive breeder of cattle and swine and kept this industry up after his retiring to his Muncie home. His last years were spent in comfort in the home in Muncie. Mr. Liggett was the father of eight children and at his death he left each of them forty and more acres of land.
Of the men who came to Vermilion County to help in its development it must not be neglected to mention one who did so much by strength and skill of trade as Mr. Tilton, who established a brick kiln and at the same time worked at his other trade of builder. Among other work he built the dam across the Vermilion river for Amos Williams' mill.
Dr. A. M. C. Hawes came to Georgetown in March, 1836, and was an ex- tensive practitioner in that part of the country all the remaining years of his life. The year after his coming he married Miss Wilmoth Walters. They were the parents of twelve children.
William J. Terrill came to Georgetown about this time, coming from Ohio. He was a good carpenter and his work was found in the early homes.
Seneca Stearns came to Oakwood township, in Vermilion County, one mile northeast of Fithian in 1836. Mr. Stearns was born in Vermont, but had moved to Ohio, at which place he was married to a girl of Ohio. He entered land which he improved and lived on until the death of the wife, after which Mr. Stearns lived with his children. He died in 1898.
The next three years of the thirties witnessed the building of many mills. Early in the year 1837, the grading of the North Cross railroad was begun and was completed from the Champaign County line east. This was done through the influence of Dr. Fithian, who was in the state legislature and foresaw the crash which was to come when this work would be impossible. The Vermilion Rapids was platted and abandoned in the year 1837.
Among the newcomers of 1838 and 1839 can be counted a number of men who afterward were prominent in the affairs of the county. The list would in- clude John Cole, Wilson Burroughs, John Newlin, Abraham Sandusky, William Giddings, Mr. Menely and Henson Vinson, as well as Samuel G. Craig, John E. Cooper, Robert Mills, David Clapp. Thos. Church and others.
Newtown was surveyed and laid off in 1838 by Benj. Coddington from the southeast quarter of section 25, T. 20, R. 13. The lots were made three rods wide and six rods long; the alleys were one rod wide. Main street was to extend north and south four rods wide. High street extends east and west of the same width. The plat of the village was recorded June 15, 1838, and given under the hand of Owen West, county surveyor. The first man to locate in the
WILLIAM MEADE
SENECA STEARNS
DARIUS DUNCAN
T. W. DOUGLASS
ROBERT CHESLEY
FRANCIS M. ALLHANDS
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
vicinity of this place was Stephen Griffith, but Mr. Griffith was not connected with the town. Mr. Coddington was the first to build a dwelling and within a year Hezekiah Miner built the second. About this time Jonathan Harris put up the first store. William Reed, the first sheriff of Vermilion County, built a dwelling here in 1837. This town, which was never much more than a cross road, had a prosperous life until the railroads brought their stations to compete with it. Its glory has departed so far as being of any worth as a business point, but it is far from having the appearance of an abandoned town one would ex- pect to find. Its few dwellings, church and other buildings are kept painted and an air of being as self-respecting as any town pervades the little hamlet.
Benjamin Stites, with his wife, came to Blount township in 1837. They set- tled at Rickard Corner. The next year they moved to a place two miles south of Myersville, and lived there until in 1857 they moved out of the county.
John Cole, one of the most successful of the many men who found pros- perity in Vermilion County, came in 1837. He first located on section 20 and 30, in Danville township, and in 1839 he went back to Vermont and brought back a bride. Later he entered and bought much land until he was one of the largest land owners in the county. He had his land in three farms and the one on which he lived was among the best farms in the county. Mr. Cole was mar- ried three times. His first wife left him a daughter, who became the wife of Mr. McKee and lived in Danville and whose death was greatly mourned by a host of friends. His second wife was the daughter of Michael Weaver, and at her death she left one son. His third wife was the mother of one child, a daughter. Mr. Cole lived to an advanced age and died in 1910.
Jesse Burroughs came to Vermilion County in 1839 from Dearborn County, Indiana, and settled on a farm near Catlin. They lived there a number of years and then changed their residence to Fairmount. Mr. Burroughs died there in 1880. His wife survived him less than a year.
Abraham Sandusky (or Sodowsky) came to Vermilion County from Ken- tucky in 1837. He and his brother Isaac were the founders of the name in this country which has stood for prosperity and success. He had five children when he came to Illinois and settled on land which he made his home as long as he lived. It was on the Little Vermilion and was of great value and has been in- creased and added to by two generations until now the land which is still in possession of his heirs, and that which they have gained, covers a large part of the southern part of the county.
William Giddings was the only member of his father's family who came to America. He crossed the ocean and came directly to Vermilion County in 1837. He was like most of the men who came here, that is, not possessed of much of the world's goods. But he had that which is better, which is a heart full of hope and courage to win. He began at once working at his trade, that of journeyman. Soon with his savings he was able to buy his employer's business, and began the manufacture of wagons and plows. The plows he first made had wooden mold- boards. The woods were searched to find the giant shaped trees from which to make these boards. Later he made carriages, wagons and steel plows and made a fortune. He died in September, 1875. He left a family of eight children. His wife, who was born in the same place as he, died the year before he did.
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Her brother came with her from England, but they stopped in Massachusetts.
John Rickart was a settler of Blount township who came in 1836 and went to about nine miles northwest of Danville. Mr. Rickart, with his family, came from Ohio in a covered wagon and bought a tract of land of Mr. Skinner which had some improvements already made on it. He built his family a good house and was well fixed for the remainder of his life.
Malichi Mendenhall came to Carroll township in 1838 and lived the re- mainder of his life there in peace and quiet. He was a native of North Caro- lina, who spent some time in Ohio, where he was married and whence he came to Illinois.
Mr. Allen Lewis came on foot all the way from his native state, New York, to Vermilion County in 1838. He did not walk all the way, there being some fourteen miles where he rode. He took up ninety-seven acres on section 22, and stayed six months, when he went back to his old home and remained three years. During this time he married and in the specified time brought his young wife to his Illinois home. They came to Chicago by water and thence in a prai- rie schooner. They stopped at near Rossville for a time, perhaps four or five years, then rented a hotel where he entertained the traveling public on their way from Milford. It was the first house of this kind in this section found to be of profit. Mr. Lewis filled the place as host for three or four years. Meanwhile he entered land, but not thinking it of much value, he sold it for $4 or $5 per acre. Before there was a postoffice at Rossville Mr. Lewis was made the post- master at a small town called Rio. The income from this office frequently was but $1.25 per quarter or $5 or $6 per year. Mr. Lewis was the first postmaster in this part of the county, and he held the office for about four years. Mr. Lewis assisted in the establishing of the first school and has a large part of his time been school treasurer.
George Olmsted came to Vermilion County in 1839. Their son Stanley came with them. The father died two years after coming to this section. In coming west this family went down the Wabash river and up the Vermilion river, as far as Perrysville, thence going to what is now Batestown. They set- tled in that vicinity. The father, Stanley Olmsted, operated a saw-mill known as the Olmsted mill, and beside manufacturing lumber engaged in building flat- boats, that being the only mill where such boats were built, and the most of those used in this part of the country were built here. Mr. Olmsted was a member of the Masonic fraternity and a prominent and popular man in the community. When he died in 1848 it was considered a great loss to the county.
In closing the list of newcomers to Vermilion County in the thirties it is with a regret that not more of them could be numbered therein. Many prominent early settlers have doubtless been omitted, for it would not be possible to name all. The connection is so close with the life of the next decade that many who are missed here will be found in the following pages, they having come a year or two after the time they were supposed to have come. This decade appears to have seen more people come into the north and west parts of the county than they did before. Even yet there are few in the extreme northern part, but these years have opened up the part of the county covered by Blount, Pilot and Middlefork townships. As the decade previous had witnessed the settlement of
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
the southeastern part and subsequent years opened the northern part the years of the thirties were the time of settlement of the central and eastern part of Ver- milion County. At their close all parts, excepting the north and northwestern and a small part of the western portions, of the county have been settled. Cheap land is to be bought, but from individuals rather than from the govern- ment.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MEN AND EVENTS FROM 1840 TO 1860 IN VERMILION COUNTY.
NEW COMERS IN 1840-REV. ASHMORE'S WORK-O. L. DAVIS CAME TO VERMILION COUNTY IN 1841-HENSON VINSON-NEW COMERS IN 1842 AND 1843-JOIIN L. TINCHER-DR. SAMUEL HUMPHREY-NEW COMERS IN 1844 AND 1845- WILLIAM I. ALLEN-SAMUEL H. VREDENBURGH, M. D .- OLIVE BRANCH LODGE ORGANIZED-FIRST BRASS BAND- NEW COMERS IN 1846 AND 1847-NEW COMERS IN 1848 AND 1849- DANVILLE SEMINARY INCORPORATED IN 1850- CHAS. WOLVERTON-ODD FELLOWS' CHARTER-HIGGINSVILLE POST-OFFICE ESTABLISHED-VERMILION COUNTY AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL ASSO- CIATION-UNION SEMINARY ORGANIZED-NEW COMERS OF 1850, '51 AND '52- VERMILION COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-THOS. HOOPES-J. G. ENGLISH- NEW COMERS IN 1853, '54 AND '55-NEW CITY CHARTER FOR DANVILLE- NEWELL HORSE COMPANY-H. M. KIMBALL-A. C. DANIEL-RAYMOND W. HAN- FORD-CHAS. W. . KEESLER-JAMES KNIGHT-JOHN BEARD-A. H. KIMBROUGH, M. D .- NEW COUNTY VOTED DOWN-NEW COMERS IN 1856, '57 AND '58 FARMERS AND MECHANICS INSTITUTE-VOTE ON FORMING FORD COUNTY-NEW COMERS-JOHN SIDELL.
As the period of pioneer days passed the new comers differed somewhat. Whereas in the Twenties and Thirties the population came from the south to a large extent, after that time there were many leaving the far Eastern states and New York who sought new homes in Vermilion County. The natural direc- tion of emigration is due west. The new Territory of Kentucky formed after the close of the French and Indian War, (in spite of the edict of the King that all land west of the Alleghany mountains should be reserved as a hunting ground for the Indians), was an overflow from Virginia, and the Northwest Territory. which lay within the bounds north and west of the Ohio River, was largely peo- pled at first by those who, for some reason, desired to leave their old homes in Virginia, or the Carolinas. The exception can be made in Ohio since conditions caused the northern part of the state an attraction to settlement. Emigration from the northeastern states was attracted thither.
But it was not until after the Indians were driven from northern Illinois that this section was in a condition to attract settlements. When northern Illi- nois was open to settlement, the people came from the East to that part of the state and some of these found their way to central Illinois as well. This brought a new element into this section. However, immigration was not stopped from
172
PETER VOORHEES
J. W. GOODWINE. SR.
LUKE REILLY
GEORGE W. INGLE
REV. W. H. WEBSTER
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
the south, although many went beyond the river to Missouri who might, a few years before, have been attracted to this part of Illinois. It has been a fact before noticed that the red man traveled from west to east, and from the north- west to the southeast, in seeking new locations. The white man as conspiciously traveled from east to west with a tendency to northwest. Among the new comers in 1840 there was a man whose birthplace was in New England, although his youth and early manhood were spent in Michigan and Indiana. This was Noah Hubbard, a name which has been familiar in Vermilion County for seventy years. He died but this last summer at the advanced age of ninety-six years. The youth and young manhood of Noah Hubbard was one of unusual influence and shows the confidence of the time when the Mormon faith was being fol- lowed in eastern Illinois and western Indiana. The father of Noah Hubbard came to Michigan when the son was five years old. He had been a farmer in Massachusetts, and ran a distillery and saw-mill. He lived in Michigan for two years and then decided to go to Indiana whither he drove with an ox-team, while he sent his family on the river in a log canoe. When he reached Ver- milion County, Indiana, he bought land and also a hemp-mill. This was the same year that Seymour Treat settled at the Vermilion Salt Springs, and the year previous to the coming of James Butler to Butler's Point and Mr. Johnson to Johnson's Point.
. Here this family of Hubbards lived until 1835, when the father became in- terested in the faith of the Mormons and went to Missouri where they were established before they went to Navoo in Illinois. After two years the Mor- mons left Missouri and came to Navoo in Illinois and Mr. Hubbard went with them and remained with them as long as they remained in Navoo. When the Mormons were driven from Illinois, Mr. Hubbard returned to his old farm in Vermilion County, Indiana. He was never satisfied, however, and lived there but two years when he and his wife went on to Salt Lake City to again live with the Mormons. They had but reached Council Bluffs when Mr. Hubbard became ill and died. The mother then came back and lived with her children. Meanwhile the son, Noah, had left home several years before his father went to the Mormons, when he was seventeen years old, and gone to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he worked in a tan-yard for four years, receiving his board and clothing for his service. When his father went to the Mormons, Noah Hubbard went back to the old homestead where he lived until 1840, when he came to Vermilion County, Illinois.
He crossed the state line and located in Georgetown township at what is now known as Hubbard's Ford on Big Vermilion. This ford may have been given that name because of Gurdon Hubbard. There he became superintendent of a saw-mill at fifty cents per day, and followed that work for six years. His next move was to what is known as the Sprouls' farm on section 36, Georgetown township, where he bought the land and lived there until 1867. At that time he moved to the farm upon which he lived until his death this last summer. Five years after he moved into the county, Mr. Hubbard was married to Miss Cath- erine Ogden, who was the daughter of one of the early settlers of Vermilion County. They became the parents of six children, all but one of whom grew to maturity and had families of their own. Mr. Hubbard has been a great factor
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in the making of Vermilion County in the years of the latter half of the Nine- teenth Century. He cleared and improved his farms and made them second to none in the county. He was well and very favorably known. During the latter days of his life his home was known as one of the most attractive houses in the county.
Mr. Valentine Payton came to Vermilion County in 1840 and settled first near where Muncie is now located. He was a shoe-maker by trade and also farmed his land. When the farming season was over he and his boys would spend their time in making shoes. Mr. Payton came from Clinton County, Olio, going there from the locality known as Apple Pie Ridge in Virginia. Mr. Pay- ton was the father of ten children. These children and their children have been identified with affairs of the county for the last seventy-five years.
Two or three of the children of Valentine Payton went to Danville and located. The children of these men are well known, among whom is Mr. Will Payton whose residence is on Logan Avenue. He is a prominent citizen of Danville with money interest in the West and Arkansas. Mr. Valentine Payton and Mr. Isaac Payton, the one of Los Angeles and the other of Spokane, are men of wealth along the Pacific Slope. Mr. Clark Payton lives in Chicago. These are the best known of the grandchildren.
John McCarty came to Vermilion County in 1840 and located in Oakwood township. He came from Ohio. Mr. McCarty was a well known citizen of this township for forty years. He was both a constable and justice of the peace.
Rev. James Ashmore came to Vermilion County and organized both the Mt. Vernon and the Mt. Pisgah churches in the year 1840.
Oliver Lowndes Davis was one of the men who came to Vermilion County in the early Forties from the East. He was a native of New York City, where his father was a shipping merchant. Oliver Davis attended school in his native city and afterward went to Hamilton Academy and yet later went to the academy in Cannandaigua, N. Y. After he was through school he went into the service of the American Fur Company and continued with this company until in 1841. when he determined to make the West his home and he came to Vermilion County and settled in Danville. He had always wanted to study law and did so at this time. His subsequent history is such as to reckon him among the dis- tinguished citizens of the county.
George M. Hooton came to Vermilion County with his father in 1842 when but a lad of seven and has been a citizen ever since. While a young man he did some farming, as most of the young men did, learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner at which he did some work, as well as teaching several terms of school. In 1876 the firm of Hankey and Hooton was formed and for many years it was a familiar one in Danville. After that firm ceased to exist Mr. Hooton did the same business under the name of Hooton & Son, which has con- tinued to this time.
Francis D. Coburn, a native of New Hampshire, came to Illinois and located on a farm in Danville township. He had married the widow of Geo. Bocke, the son-in-law of Achilles Morgan, and after his residence in this county Mr. Mor- gan made his home with this daughter. Mr. Coburn died at his home on the farm in 1871. Mr. Coburn's son, George F., was a child of but two years when
DANVILLE SEMINARY Built in 1850
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
he was brought to this county. Here on the farm he grew to manhood, working in the fields in the summers and teaching school in the winter months. He began this teaching when he was nineteen years old and kept it up for five years. He later read law under Judge O. L. Davis, and in 1867 was admitted to the Illinois bar. Mr. Coburn has practiced ever since in the courts of Dan- ville.
(This brief sketch was written by a personal friend of Mr. Tincher soon after his death and no better tribute to this prominent man could be made now.)
John L. Tincher was born in Kentucky in 1821. Eight years later his parents moved to Vermilion County, Indiana. When he was seventeen years old, he found himself an orphan, and he set to work to acquire an education. He at- tended school for about three years in Coles County, Illinois, and then took service in the store of Jones & Culbertson at Newport. In 1843 he came with J. M. Culbertson to Danville, and was a clerk in his store until 1853, when the firm of Tincher & English was formed, first as merchants and afterward as bankers. The First National Bank stands as a monument of their united energy, labor and prudence. Mr. Tincher was elected a member of the lower house of the general assembly of the state in 1864. In 1867 he was transferred to the senate, to membership in which he was re-elected in 1870. He was also in 1870 a member of the committee to revise the laws of the state. For many years Mr. Tincher's business affairs were very exacting, and in the later years of his life official trusts increased the demands upon his energies, and added to these were church and social obligations, in all, making the demands upon him very onerous ; the increasing strain upon his mind and body may be supposed to have shortened his life. In 1845 Mr. Tincher united with the Methodist Epis- copal church and soon afterward was chosen to occupy a subordinate clerical relation to the church, which relation he maintained until his death. He was frequently called upon to preach. Though without classical education or technical theological training, he was a forcible, logical and acceptable preacher. It would be impossible for one not endowed with superior powers of mind to meet the degree of success in business, in politics and in social life that attended Mr. Tincher. It is not an extravagance of language to say that he was a gifted man.
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