USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 24
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Joseph M. Satterthwait was another of the new comers of 1854. He settled on a farm near Rossville in Vermilion County. He was the third postmaster of Rossville.
In 1862 he moved into Indiana and settled near Indianapolis, where lie re- mained for ten years when he returned to Illinois and settled at Hoopeston, where he lived up to the time of his death on September 21, 1877. Mr. Satter- thwait left four daughters, all of whom were settled in homes of their own. He lived a strict member of the Society of Friends.
W. R. Nesbitt came to Vermilion County in 1855, and starting with little of this world's goods he accumulated a good farm. He has been engaged in the fruit culture to a greater extent than any other man of recent years. Mr. Nes- bitt has been prominent in the Holiness movement of the county, which has resulted in the establishment of the institution of learning located at Georgetown.
Asa M. Bushnell, the Bismarck merchant and moneyed man of Vermilion County, came with his parents to Vermilion County while yet a small boy in about 1855. They first settled in Newell township, but after a few years moved back to Cook County, returning to Vermilion County in a few years when they settled in Rossville. In 1873 he began his career as a merchant. He afterward went to Bismarck, where he was subsequently postmaster and in a general merchandise store in partnership with Mr. Francis M. Gundy.
JAMES H. PHILLIPS
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
Mr. Spencer N. Monroe opened a jewelry store in a small frame house on the southwest corner of the plaza in 1855. From here he went to No. 67 West Main street. Here he remained as a fixture of the street, others coming and going around him, but his store was the same for many years, until his death.
Peter Walsh, another well known citizen of Danville, came in this same year of 1855. He came from New York city, an orphan seeking friends. He enlisted in the Union army in 1861 and served three years doing good service. He was in Company K, Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers. After the close of the war he studied law, attending the law school at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was admitted to the bar in 1867. While studying he was in the office of Mark Hawes. Mr. Walsh was popular and held several offices of trust. He was city attorney, for five terms and states attorney for the county.
Danville had a new city charter in 1855.
The Newell Horse Company was organized in 1854 and held its first quar- terly meeting in October of that year. This company was composed of many of the best citizens of Newell township. The earliest records have been de- stroyed. The object and purpose of this organization are expressed in the preamble to the constitution as follows: "to shield us from the depredations of horse-thieves, counterfeiters, and swindlers, and to afford mutual assistance in reclaiming stolen horses and in apprehending thieves."
Up to this time there had been much trouble in this part of the county on ac- count of horse-thieves-a man's property was always in peril. Just over in In- diana there was a nest of horse-thieves who combined counterfeiting with this other breaking of the law. A combination against them was imperative. To this end John Deck, Sr., George Lucky and a few other men who had suffered from them and vainly had urged other men to organize some means of protec- tion, made a compact, pledging themselves to assist to protect one another. Soon others were attracted to the compact and when the number reached twenty-five, an organization was effected at a meeting at the Navoo schoolhouse, a constitu- tion and by-laws was adopted and officers elected. This body grew in number and efficiency until it became a standing menace to the depredators and a val- uable protection to the law-abiding citizens of the community. Counterfeiting presses were captured, stolen property was recovered, and horse-thieves and counterfeiters ferreted out and apprehended. The gang which infested this country was broken up and one of their number was so thoroughly overawed (his name was Lane) that whenever he was asked for information he gave it so completely as to convict his associates. He afterwards moved to another county where he and his son became notorious as counterfeiters and thieves and were, both of them, killed. One case of summary execution is on record of the early days of this organization. A horse had been stolen; the thief was overtaken at Beaver Lake, and he was about to escape. Abiah Lucky could not bear to see him get away so he snatched a fowling piece from the hands of a gamester among the crowd and commanded a halt on the part of the man pursued. This demand was not heeded and Mr. Lucky shot him on the spot, killing him instantly.
The meeting places of this organization were at the Navoo schoolhouse at first and later at the Rutledge schoolhouse and yet later at the Smith school-
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house. This organization was one of forty-eight similar ones, all belonging to the Wabash general association of detective companies. These companies saved property and life at a time when nothing else could do so.
J. E. Tuttle became a resident of Vermilion County in 1856, locating at Myersville. He began the study of medicine with Dr. Henton there, in 1862, and three years later became a graduate of Rush Medical College. He re- turned to Vermilion County and began practice at Blue Grass. Here he re- mained until 1869 when he went to Myersville, practicing there until 1874- when he went to Danville, where he lived the rest of his life.
H. M. Kimball was one of the men who came from New England and made his home in Vermilion County. He was a native of New Hampshire spending the early part of his life in that state. He came to the middle states and did some construction work on the railroads in 1856. A great part of this was the stone piers and abutments of the Wabash railroad at Danville. He located here and superintended that work and when it was complete, he established the first marble works at Danville. He later went into the grocery business and yet later kept a furniture store. He accumulated much property and later in life retired and enjoyed his last years without work. Mr. Kimball died in 1907 leaving his wife and one daughter, who had become the wife of W. R. Jewell, Jr. Another new comer in 1856 was Mr. J. H. Palmer, who made Danville his home, coming from New York. These two men came from the east and several came to the county from the South, among whom was J. P. Cloyd, coming from Tennessee. He taught school for six years, when he read medicine and attended lectures at Rush Medical College, graduating and settling at Georgetown, where he practiced his profession ever since. He married Miss Hannah Golden, a native of Vermilion County.
Joseph McClure came to Vermilion County, a miller and ground the first grist in the Henderson and Kyger mill. He later was with the firm of M. M. Wright.
Mr. A. C. Daniel was one of the most prominent men in Vermilion County for many years. He was identified with the coal interests of the section dur- ing its most prosperous period more conspicuously than any other man unless, perhaps, Michael Kelley.
Mr. Daniel was born in Roxbury, New York, in 1835, and was a young man of twenty-two, when he came to Illinois, locating in Danville. His entire possessions at that time was an extra suit of clothing and $2.50 in money.
The coal mine attracted him from the first, and he worked in every depart- ment so that his knowledge of the coal interests was practical to the extreme. Mr. Daniel accumulated wealth and died not only a rich but a very influential man. He married the daughter of L. T. Palmer.
Raymond W. Hanford was a popular citizen of Danville, as lawyer, editor and politician. He came to Danville in 1856 and was a poor boy. He was born in Ohio. He was obliged to leave home when but fifteen years old to learn the printer's trade. He studied law under the instruction of J. M. Les- ley, after he came to Danville, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. He re- sponded to the first call for troops from the government, enlisting for three months, and when the term of service was over he reenlisted for
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three years. He remained with his regiment during all this time, returning in 1864 to Danville and went into partnership with H. W. Beckwith in the practice of law. He was elected county judge in 1868 and held that office for more than ten years.
William Mann, the merchant, came from Philadelphia, about this time, lo- cating in Danville. In 1861 he enlisted in the Twelfth Illinois Volunteer Infan- try, Company C, first for three months, and after the term was ended he re- enlisted for the remainder of the service. He was in the army until the close of the war when he returned and again became a merchant with a line of dry goods, remaining in this business the remainder of his life.
In 1857 Abraham Gernand settled in Danville and for a year and a half was in the lumber business. In the spring of 1859 he bought 320 acres of land two miles north of Rossville and later added to this farm until the farm became one of value.
John Leemon came to this county in 1857, locating on a 444 acre farm of unimproved land near Mr. Hoopes in the northern part of Vermilion County. He lived here alone, improving his farm and boarding at Mr. Hoopes.
John Beard has been a conspicuous citizen of Vermilion County during the years he has resided here. He came here when but a boy, and as soon as he had reached the years that warranted it he became a merchant giving his at- tention to the grocery trade. Growing ever of more and more influence, Mr. Beard had the community dominated and turning his attention to politics, he was before long the leader of his party. It was through the influence of Mr. Beard that the democratic party grew in power and Danville became a demo- cratic town. Mr. Beard was a shrewd politician and had a faculty of turning the desires of men his way. He possessed all the characteristics of a successful politician and held the city of Danville in his power for years. Only poor health and at last complete failure of strength weakened his power. He has become a confirmed invalid.
Leonard Myers came to Vermilion County in 1858, and began dealing in stock, having a farm. This he kept up for about five years when he moved to Danville and began the butchering trade. At the same time he continued buy- ing and selling stock, horses being the particular line he most favored. He shipped many carloads to the east. He was more than a decade in the office of marshal of the city of Danville and was a very well known citizen of this community.
Mr. Myers was very well liked by every one and the police department of the city was apparently his permanent care. Mr. Myers spent his remaining life in Danville after he located here.
Joseph Shipner came to Danville in 1858 and hardly became settled before he entered the army as volunteer. Mr. Shipner was in the service during the war and upon his return he became superintendent of Mr. Bowers' mill.
After filling this position for eleven years he and his son formed a partner- ship and became merchants, taking the line of groceries.
T. H. Myers, the express agent, was very popular because of his suave man- ners notwithstanding he had but minority influence in his politics. Mr. Myers came from Virginia and located in Danville at a time when southern ideas and
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institutions were not at all popular with the majority of people. Mr. Myers opened a grocery store when he first came to Danville and later became the agent for the U. S. Express company and yet later of the American Express company.
Fred Buy is yet a grocer who came in 1858. He had been but one year's distance from Prussia, when he came and worked for five years in the Danville Woolen mills. He then began clerking in a dry goods store where he remained for a year, then went into the grocery store of E. B. Martin & Company. His experience as clerk taught him the business and he has had a grocery store of his own for these last years, where he has made a comfortable living.
Harry Raimer is now starting to change his residence which has for thirty- two years been in Danville, Illinois. He came here in 1858 and has resided here continuously, ever since. He was a tailor and has for more than a quarter of a century made clothing for many of the men of Danville and vicinity. Mr. Raimer leaves this winter, with his wife for the Pacific slope to make his home. His one daughter lives in Oregon, and his son lives in Danville. Mr. Raimer married Miss Caroline Payton, granddaughter of Mr. Valentine Payton, Sr.
Bryon Haggard was a favorite merchant in the sixties and early seventies in Danville. He was 'residing in LaFayette, Indiana, when in 1858 he was offered a position in the store of Mr. Moore at Danville, which he accepted arriving in his new home in 1858. Mr. Moore sold out in a few years and Mr. Haggard went into partnership with Mr. Miller. The firm of Miller & Hag- gard confined their line to boots and shoes and continued until 1861, when they were burned out. But they were plucky and rented a small store room and put in a new stock of boots and shoes, which increased and when after a short time Mr. Miller went out of the firm, Mr. Hagagrd continued the business as long as he lived. Mr. Haggard died in 1872, leaving a family of four daughters as well as his wife.
Charles Keesler came to Vermilion County in 1858 and established his new home in Pilot township. He yet lives there a retired farmer of means. His son has been prominent in politics and he himself was for some time the chairman of the board of supervisors.
James Knight came to Danville in 1858, being interested in work for the Wabash railroad. He was conductor for a number of years and finally located in Danville, being station agent for that railroad. Later he was interested in the boot and shoe business and then in buying and selling real estate, but he gave up all business for several years before his death. In 1860 Mr. Knight married Miss Elizabeth Probst, and they were the parents of three children, one son and two daughters. Mr. Knight died in 1900. In 1858 James Hoover came to the eastern edge of Vermilion county, where he located in Stateline. He there was in the building trade and remained there until 1871, when he changed his resi- dence to Ross township, where he had a farm of 160 acres, upon which he lived and which he improved until he retired to Alvin in 1899.
Among the new comers of 1859, one in particular is to be counted, who was a man well known at home and away during the years of rapid development of Vermilion County in the seventies and eighties and indeed until his death. So prominent a citizen was he that he has been chosen as a distinguished citizen and will be considered in the chapter devoted to them.
JOHN W. DALE
A. H. MOZIER
HERALD CATLETT
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THOMAS HIOOPES
II. W. HARRIS
JAMES MILLER
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
Dr. J. M. Wilkin began his career as a practitioner in Vermilion County. in 1859, settling in Conkeytown. There he remained until 1863 when he went to Fairmount. where he resided until 1880, when he moved to Kansas. He made several moves after this and returned to Fairmount in 1901 and again took up his practice in Vermilion County.
N. A. Kimball became a resident of Vermilion County in 1859. His home was in New Hampshire, and he came to work for Colonel Chandler, who needed some one to act as weigh-master in the coal mines. He worked at this for some time and then for three years was farming, after which he engaged in various enterprises until in 1872 he formed a partnership with Chas. W. Mor- rison, and went into the furniture trade. They did business together for two years and Mr. Kimball sold out and four months later took the stock of coffins and from that time on carried on a business of selling coffins. He kept up this business until his death.
The Farmers and Mechanics Institute was organized in 1859 and held an- nual fairs for many years there afterward. Their grounds were adjacent to the limits of Danville as it was at that time, on the north, now of Seminary Street.
There were sixteen acres bought and laid out and the fairs were for a time popular and profitable. A good showing of blooded stock was always to be found there and many mechanical displays made a crowd always to be found. The first officers were president, L. T. Dickason; vice president, James Knight ; secretary, W. M. Bandy; assistant secretary, W. S. McCenathen; treasurer, V. LeSeure.
While the vote to form a new county which came before the town meeting in 1857 was voted down, by a big majority, the proposition to erect the county of Ford in 1859, met an enthusiastic support.
This same year the question was up before the people, whether to continue township organization and was overwhelmingly in favor of continuance.
The greatest land sale ever known in eastern Illinois and western Indiana was conducted by John Sidell.
John Sidell was living in the northern part of Edgar County until in 1860 when he began his operations in Vermilion County. He came into this county and, using borrowed money, bought up the land which up to this time had been owned by small farmers. These small farms he combined and bought yet more and more land. At last he had reached the amount of 6,000 acres. Mr. Sidell was not yet a rich land owner because he did not yet own any consid- erable extent unhindered by any debt. That fact occasioned the great sale. Mr. Sidell spared no trouble nor expense, for the sale was to be the most exten- sive ever had in the county, and it was to be the chance for him to keep the re- mainder of the six thousand acres.
John Sidell's father died when he was but eiglit years old and he was obliged to make his own way early in life. His home was in Ohio and when he was nineteen years old he went on horseback through Illinois and Iowa, looking for something to do better than he could find in Ohio. Not being satisfied with what he found he went back to Ohio and engaged to cut cordwood at thirty- three and a third cents per cord. When he went west he was getting the sum
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of twelve dollars per month. This was small wages for hard work but he stuck to it until he found something better.
When Mr. Sidell came to Illinois he settled not far from Paris in Edgar County and grazed cattle until he could buy some for himself. He was some- thing of a carpenter but was determined to find some means of speedily making money. He rode across Illinois and Iowa, crossing Illinois nine times on horse- back. He traveled through Texas, being in that state before it was one of the states of the United States. Sam Houston was the great sovereign of that country at that time, and John Sidell built him a house. At last Mr. Sidell looked upon the land of southern Vermilion County to covet it and he went to work on a great land deal. Borrowing money to make the purchase, he went into the farms of what is now Sidell township and bought them as far as he could, paying the price asked for whatever he could. It is said to this day that he was stopped only by the determination of Mr. Sconce, who in his turn had already transformed the small farms into his fine farm, to keep the land. A record of an old collector's book seen the other day is to the effect that the farms in the southern part of the county were all small, of perhaps eighty or even less acres. Early settlers had spent a limited sum in entering land and then he sold to those coming afterward in yet smaller parts. All these small farms were objects of Mr. Sidell's desire and he accumulated seven thousand acres before he sold out any. Mr. Sidell's money came quickly when he had bought western cattle on these fertile fields made ever more fertile by their presence. He sold off his land to the amount he needed to carry him over and secure the land he desired to save. Mr. Sidell went into politics and was elected to the legislature. He was a man of strong personality and very generous im- pulses. He was liberal in giving to advance the enterprises he thought for the good of the public welfare. He was instrumental in taking the C. & E. I. R. R. to Sidell and freely donated the right of way. People had confidence in him and business men invested their money there.
Mr. Sidell was a natural promoter and at one time himself chartered a train and ran it free from Columbus, Ohio, to Sidell, Vermilion County, for the benefit of people who wanted to make their homes in the west. Sidell was laid out in 1884 and Mr. Sidell lived to see its marvelous growth, but not to carry out any possible plans he had for its future. He died in the early days of 1889 and was buried with the honors of the Masonic order.
CHAPTER XIX.
VERMILION COUNTY DURING THE CIVIL WAR.
PUBLIC SENTIMENT IN 1860-VOLUNTEERS TO THE SERVICE-REGIMENT FORMED FROM VERMILION COUNTY MEN WHOLLY OR IN PART-WHAT THE WOMEN DID-NEWCOMERS FROM 1860 TO 1864-RIOTS IN DANVILLE DURING THIS TIME.
To a reader of history who studies causes and effects, Vermilion County, at the beginning of the Civil war, presents interesting conditions. The entire country was in an unsettled state, none the less was this section. Nearly a hundred years had passed since the founding of the new government in Amer- ica, and the people subscribing to the constitution by which it should be en- forced had yet the same disagreement in the interpretation of this organ which met it at first and they were not satisfied. The country was extensive and con- ditions of living differed in different sections. One part of the country was riclı in natural products and another facilities for manufacturing. Little means of transporting the raw product from the southern part of the country, or of inter- course, each section with the other ; ideals of all sorts diverse and strong, and con- stantly growing more intense ; all these things tended to separate the states on the geographic lines. Such were the conditions which naturally led the United States toward sectionalism. Below the Mason and Dixon line there was but one ex- pressed opinion. The institution which their neighbors to the north hated, seemed to them of absolute importance to their life. Anyone who did not like the sys- tem of slavery must leave that section; and people with these sentiments de- veloped in rising generations, did leave, coming often to the nearest free state, which was either Indiana or Illinois. That a state had a right to do anything it desired, was accepted doctrine in the South. Above this imaginary line of division a man held more independent ideas. Generally speaking, the majority agreed that the government of the United States was for each and every citizen equally ; that slavery was unconstitutional, as well as subject to a higher stand- ard of judgment, and protested against its extension. The wealth of the South came as the result of another's labor, while that of the North came as the reward of each man's efforts. Sectionalism increased constantly, the Southern states carrying the matter of state rights so far as to the right to dissolve the union of all states at the will of any one. This the people of the North would not admit, even to the length of taking up arms in defense of the existing government. In the Eastern states the people were, by descent as well as other conditions, liberty-loving and independent of thought, and the views of the South were appalling to the majority of them. In the Western states,
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or rather, those which at the time were the Western states (particularly In- diana and Illinois), the people had such a recent inheritance of these same views, that the position of the South to them was different. Southern Illinois was settled from the Southern states. This was true of the central part of the state. Vermilion County, it has been seen, was settled largely from Kentucky, Vir- ginia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. While some of these people came to get away from the institution of slavery, more of them came with prejudice in favor of the Southern ideas and institutions. During the fifties immigra- tion came from the East, and northern Illinois was dominated by the ideas of that section. A close observer of settlements in Vermilion County will see this new force coming in, like the entrance of a different stream into a flowing river, and like the onrush of a second mighty stream, where the meeting took place, there were turbulent waters. The land of central and southern Indiana and Illinois was a perpetual battlefield. Public sentiment in Vermilion County was not all given to either side without conditions. This warfare was not without its advantage, however; such opposition always makes the individual opinions the stronger.
When the struggle actually came on, when the flag of the country was fired upon and the President of the United States called for volunteers, the men and boys of Vermilion County responded in a goodly number, ready and willing to defend the honor of their land, even with their lives. Business in- terests were laid aside, family obligations were suspended, and there was no waiting to be forced into the service of their country on the part of the men of Vermilion County. The many belonging to the Society of Friends who had largely come into this county from Tennessee to get away from the institution of slavery were, of course, kept from taking up arms by reason of their faith, yet many enlisted and of those who remained at home their help was freely given to their neighbor who could go to the battlefield, and his family was sure of friends while he was gone. The first call for men was to service for three months. To this call many made response, and when the time passed and their term of service was over they reenlisted. There were several regiments in which many of the volunteers were men from Vermilion County.
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