USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
D. M. Gurley came to Danville from Michigan, being a native of Vermont, in 1867. He was in the hide and leather business until he retired. He was fifty-nine years old when he came and did not have many active years before him when he made the change of residence.
Judge Stansbury came to Danville with a grown family in 1867. They were a great addition to the social life of Danville. Mrs. Stansbury was an unusual woman and the two daughters were unmarried and very accomplished women. The son was a citizen of Danville for many years. Miss Elizabeth Stansbury became the wife of Mr. W. T. Cunningham and the young daughter was married to Dr. O. LeSeure, and went to Detroit to live. In 1867 Mr. A. L. Webster and Mr. George Yeomans opened a hardware store in Dan- ville. They continued in this partnership until 1871, when Mr. Yeomans sold his interest to Mr. Charles Yeomans, his brother. The firm name of Web- ster & Yeomans continued until four years later, when it was dissolved, Mr. Webster taking the heavy hardware and Mr. Yeomans the light hardware. Mr. Webster kept this sort of stock for four or five years, when he sold out to Mr. J. W. Giddings and retired from the trade altogether. He afterward went into the grocery business, eventually being in the jobbing trade. Changes of firm and company names have placed him at this time in the large wholesale business of Webster Grocery Company. This business, which is extensive, is housed in a fine building which the company owns at the corner of East North street and Washington avenue. Mr. Yeomans formed the company of Yeomans, Shedd & LeSeure, which remained the same until the death of Mr. Frank LeSeure, one of the firm, in 1884, since which time the firm has been Yeomans & Shedd. The death of Mr. Shedd last spring makes another change.
L. T. Dickason came to Vermilion County in 1867 from Ohio. He had been in the army and had a very severe wound, after which he was discharged. This was when he had almost completed his term of enlistment. Mr. Dickason went first to Fairmount and was engaged in buying and selling grain. He later came to Danville, where he was interested in the coal and timber trade very extensively. He was very popular and was elected mayor for three
222
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
terms. Mr. Dickason's extensive business interests made his residence in Dan- ville no longer possible, and he removed to Chicago, where he has since made his home. His health has been very much impaired during these last years. He was associated while here with Mr. C. L. English, in the coal and lumber trade, and this business association continued after he changed his residence.
The coal business of Vermilion County attracted Mr. W. C. McReynolds to Danville in 1867. He did not remain in this business for long, however, but went into the mill. He was booker in the Danville mill, which was one one of the largest in the county. It was built by Daniel Kyger. In 1875 he married Miss Elizabeth Pearson, the daughter of Hon. John Pearson. Mr. H. K. Gregory was one of the prominent business men of that time. He made good contracts to get out railroad ties, being associated with his brother Charles for a time and later with Mr. James Knight. Mr. Gregory went to the Pacific slope and has been for some time in the railroad interests. His residence is now in San Francisco.
A' leading dry-goods firm in Danville for years was that of C. W. and J. R. Holloway. This firm did business on the northwest corner of Main and Walnut streets. The firm was organized in 1869. Mr. C. B. Holloway came to Danville from Ohio and Mr. Jesse Holloway was a native of Virginia, coming to Danville from Georgetown, Illinois, having gone when young. He was a dry-goods merchant in Georgetown for twenty years and then moved to Danville, where he went into the Vermilion County Bank for a time, but resumed the dry-goods business when this firm was established.
E. C. Winslow, a native of Massachusetts, came to Danville after the war and opened a fine drug store on Main street, between Vermilion and Hazel, on the south side. Mr. Winslow was an experienced druggist, having liad a drug- store in Boston for twelve years before he came to Vermilion County. Mr. Winslow afterward went to California to live. He was a relative of Dr. Wins- low, the dentist and geologist. Dr. Gillette, of Massachusetts, came to prac- tice his profession in Danville and vicinity about this time. He was a skillful physician who spent his life in this community, well loved by a host of patrons and friends. When he came back to the St. Elizabeth Hospital, an incurable invalid, the people found their greatest pleasure in doing what they could to make his last days comfortable. Dr. Gillette died in the early spring of 1810.
William P. Cannon was a prominent factor in the business affairs of Dan- ville during his life in that city. He came from Tuscola, where he had been first in the practice of law and later interested in the private bank of Wyeth, Cannon & Co. Yet later Mr. Cannon organized the First National Bank of Tuscola. In 1873 he moved to Danville and organized the Vermilion County Bank, of which he was made president. This later became the Second Na- tional Bank, and Mr. Cannon was president of this bank when he died, in 1893. His death was the result of an accident. In drawing the curtains of the win- dow of the bank, he slipped on the tile floor, and falling, sustained internal injuries which were of so serious a nature he could not recover from them.
In 1867 the old charter of Danville was burned in a fire which destroyed the records of the city, and a new one was granted. The city was operated
-
١,٤٠٠
HOME OF HON. JOSEPH G. CANNON, DANVILLE
223
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
under this charter until 1874, when it was incorporated under the general act of 1872. A hook and ladder company was formed in 1867, when the first protection from fire was made. This organization gave its service without compensation of any kind. D. A. Childs was made the foreman of this com- pany, M. Redford.the assistant foreman, Charles Eoff secretary, and C. Y. Yates treasurer. That same year, under the administration of Dr. Winslow as mayor, a second-hand engine was bought and 299 feet of leather hose at a cost of $1,200, and for a time the fire department of Danville gave good service. This plan of a volunteer fire department, which has been the pride in the east, was not the continued success in Danville. So it was that in 1872, while T. H. Myers was mayor, the council determined upon buying a steam fire engine. The committee to attend to the matter consisted of N. S. Monroe, W. H. Taylor and W. A. Brown. An engine and an additional hose cart with 500 feet of the best rubber hose was bought and the company was reorganized. This time there was a fixed number of sixteen members, and a salary was paid to each. In 1875 another of the Silsby engines was bought. W. H. Taylor was made chief of the department when this office was created in 1879. A list of officers and salaries received in 1880 is interesting in comparison with those of the present: Chief, W. H. Taylor, $55 per month; first engineer, George Lupt, $50 per month; second engineer, Putnam Russell, $50 per month. Members : W. D. Dearing, $50 per month; Isaac Hurlacker, $20 per quarter ; E. Peables, $20 per quarter; A. Brant, $15 per quarter ; C. Lindsey, $15 per quarter ; William Dallas, $13 per quarter; J. Peables, $13 per quarter ; E. Brant, $13 per quarter; M. Yearkes, $13 per quarter ; Charles Adams, $13 per month; Frank Wells, $13 per month; James Harrison, $13 per month ; Jackson Brideman, $13 per month; George Cox, $13 per month.
It was in 1872 that a station was made on the Chicago & Danville Rail- road a mile south of the present site of Alvin. This was named for the pro- gressive citizen of that part of the country and called Gilbert. L. T. Dixon laid out the town of Gilbert on section 8 (21-II) and Bruce Peters and D. Mckibben started a store. Peters was made postmaster. Soon after this the store was sold to J. D. Williams and he was appointed postmaster. John Davison afterwards bought it and put in a stock of dry-goods. Dr. G. W. Akers started the drug business in 1875 and remained there for a year, when the narrow gauge road made a crossing a mile to the north and the postoffice, station, stores and all moved to this point. Gilbert became an abandoned town, but the new town built in its place must be named. So great was the appre- ciation of his neighbors for Mr. Gilbert that his name was kept for the other town, and it was called Alvin. Now Mr. Gilbert always persisted in the spelling of his given name with an "a" and the devotion of those who named the new town went to the extent of spelling it in the same way. The post- office department knew how to spell and refused to accept this spelling, but spelled the town Alvin. So it is that this town in Vermilion County has the spelling of Alvan as a railroad station and of Alvin as a postoffice. Any one can give it either spelling as he may choose and be correct. Alvan Gilbert had lived in this neighborhood for ten years and had large landed interests there, and if he demoralized the orthography of the community, it is too late
224
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
a day to make any change. Mr. Gilbert was the man who made a settlement at the site of Rossville possible in 1862. That was the date of his coming to this place, which was then called Henpeck the reason for which is unknown. This included the settlement made first by Mr. Bicknell in the earlier history of the county. There was a point of timber running into the prairie at this place where Mr. Bicknell had settled.
It was in 1871 that Hoopeston was laid out. The fight over the possession of the site of this by the two companies who were building the two railroads was a bitter one and ended in the platting of three towns: Hoopeston laid out in July where Main street is now; Leeds laid out where later the Hibbard House was built, and North Hoopeston comprised all the land north and east of the railroad. The first town was platted in the spring of 1871, the next was platted in November of that year, and the third was platted in the same year. A great factor in the growth of Hoopeston was the organization of the Hoopeston Agricultural Society. This was formed in 1873 and the stock was fixed at $5,000, and afterward raised to $10,000.
The Hoopeston Library and Lecture Association was organized December 30, 1872, and Hon. Lyford Marston elected president. After the car shops of the Eastern Illinois Railroad were built near the junction, the demand for an incorporated village of the territory lying to the northeast of that locality. A petition was filed in the county court June 25, "1874, asking the court' to direct the holding of an election to vote for or against village incorporation, setting forth that there were over four hundred people living within said limits. The petition contained the names of sixty voters who lived within said limits. The petition was granted and an election was called for July 6, 1874. At this election there were thirty-one votes cast, thirty for and one against the in- corporation. An election was held on July 31 for six trustees to perfect the organization. At this election there were thirty-four votes cast. In 1875 there were sixty-one votes cast. When the village was incorporated the people living there were largely Germans, but that did not last long, since the working men who have come into the shops are by no means all Germans, and other nationalities find their way to this village. While the employment of its citizens were men who had little farms and truck patches, there were conditions which attracted the German settler who remained the German all his life.
South Danville lies on the south side of Vermilion river, and has been the home of the miner more than of any other man. This village was incorporated in 1874. In February of that year Mr. John Lewis and thirty-five others pe- titioned the county court to order an election to vote for or against incorpo- rating under the general act with the following boundaries: commencing at the Wabash railroad bridge, thence southwest with said railroad to a point where the state road from Georgetown to Danville crosses the railroad; thence west to the Paris & Danville railroad (now the New York Central lines ;) thence north to the Vermilion river; thence along said river to the place of beginning. The petition set forth that there were five hundred people living within said limits. The election was held March 14, at which time and place seventy-seven votes were cast, fifty-one being for and twenty-five against cor-
E
GROUP OF DANVILLE CITIZENS
Reading from left to right: Standing-Prosper LeSoure, Robert D. McDonald, Samuel Craig, Victor LeSeure. Sitting-A. G. Webster. Benjamin Crane, O. L. Davis. Eben Palmer and Othneil Gilbert.
225
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
poration. An election was held to elect trustees in which seventy-three votes were cast.
At an election held in 1863 a proposition was voted upon which was called upon a system of bridges. As the vote stood 515 for and 2 against, there is reason to conclude that there was some public spirit at that time. It was in 1864 that a new cemetery in Danville was shown to be a pressing need of the times, and Spring Hill was incorporated. Up to this time the old Williams burying grounds were used, but it was beyond use, and a new one was an urgent need. Mr. J. C. Short was, as he showed himself to be, very much interested in anything to promote the welfare of Danville, and in con- nection with Mr. English, Mr. LeSeure, Dr. Woodbury and Mr. A. S. Wil- liams, an association was formed under the laws of the state and fifty acres of land was bought north of town for which $2,000 was paid, these gentlemen advancing the money, knowing it would prove a means of profit when the lots were sold. The land was a happy choice. It is dry and well located, having natural advantages tending to make it a beautiful burial place. Mr. English was elected the first president of the association, and Mr. Short secretary and treasurer, while Messrs. Williams, LeSeure and Woodbury were the directors. Mr. Bowman was given the work of laying it out. This work was admiringly done. Taking advantage of the natural lay of the land, the landscape was given all the beauty of lakes, ravines, gravelled and grassy roads and paths. It is one of the most beautiful cemeteries of Illinois. As the years passed the place made improvement or not as the men in charge took more or less in- terest in it. The present superintendent, Mr. Anderson, has done much to beautify it and to make it an attractive place to visit.
The seventies brought many changes to Danville in the way of new build- ings being built. The old court house was destroyed. There was no doubt that it was set on fire and no one had the heart to investigate the matter nor the disposition to censure, for it had long been a disgrace to Vermilion County. There is record made that one of Danville's favorite citizens, in the abandon of youth, drew a pistol and said he would shoot any one who would attempt to put the fire out. The present building was erected in 1876. The building cost, complete and ready for occupancy, the sum of $105,000. The architect and the committee who had charge of its building took great pride in the shape of the building. They never thought that their building would show the effects of wear and weather to the extent it does at present, but it is rapidly growing to the place its predecessor held in the minds of the people thirty-five years ago.
The first jail stood in the rear of the courthouse, but the fire which de- stroyed the one refused to burn the other. The old jail was made of hewn logs which dove-tailed together and were pinned together through the corners. It was about thirty feet long and had a partition put across it near the center to separate the two classes of people who were liable to be put in jail, viz., the prisoners for crime and those for debt. When the jail was built these latter were put in jail. Large river stones were put on the ground and a floor was placed on that. It was covered over with a floor like this of hewn logs. There were two windows in this building about eighteen inches square.
226
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
One man who has had charge of the jail for some time, Hiram Hickman, said there was no trouble to catch a horsethief, but the trouble was to keep him, since everyone could dig his way out before the next term of court. The jail refused to burn at the time the courthouse was destroyed, but it had to get out of the way of the new building and the old jail was removed in 1873. The new jail was built in 1874 and has always been a credit to the county. The material used in building it was Joliet stone and brick and the plan has always been pleasing. It has a front on South Vermilion street of forty-four feet and is one hundred and two feet deep and cost $52,292. The building com- mittee was the same as that of the courthouse, J. G. Holden being chairman.
Battery "A," First Regiment Illinois National Guards, was organized in 1875. It was reorganized in 1876. The Danville Guards was organized in 1876. A very valuable association to a country was formed in 1877. This was called Vermilion County Historical Society. This society was made up of men of all the characteristics most to be admired in citizens of a growing community. Yet with everything to make an effective organization, it must be admitted that the society not only disbanded, but all the valuable matter collected and the priceless relics disappeared to never be found where they could be of use. Danville is rich in relics of Indian life and the collection was of particular value in that line, which is all too rare now.
Another force for the improvement of the citizen was the Danville Lyceum, established about that time. It was organized July 4, 1878. Its object was mutual improvement of its members. It numbered forty members when first started. This was some time before the Danville Public Library was started. Mr. Culbertson had made his bequest of $2,000 to be used in the purchase of a library, one-half of which should be for the permanent benefit of the mem- bers of the Presbyterian church, and the other half for the benefit of the public. The books were bought by a committee and were kept in the library room of the old Presbyterian church, and it was the avowed desire and inten- tion of the lyceum to secure the books and make them a part of a circulating library. The officers of the Danville Lyceum were: J. D. Benedict, president ; W. L. French, vice president; W. C. Johnson, secretary. The board of di- rectors were: W. J. Calhoun, J. D. Benedict, J. B. Samuels, P. E. Northrup and J. W. Whyte.
The Vermilion Opera House was built on the corner of North and Ver- milion streets, on the northeast corner opposite the old North Street church. It was built by J. G. English, Col. Chandler and John Dale, in 1873. It was built of native brick with Milwaukee brick trimmings; 50x110 feet, with two storerooms on the first floor and a hall on the upper floor. The cost of this building was $20,000. This building was used for its original purpose for a time and after it was no longer needed for that purpose it was converted into a building for the use of the Illinois Printing Company. The Illinois Printing Company located in Danville in 1874. It was first housed in the building on North street, between Vermilion and Hazel, where the Daniel Housefurnishing store has been so long. The Great Western Machine & En- gine Shops were opened near the Wabash tracts in 1865. Frisbie & Williams began this business in 1865, and in 1869 J. V. Logue bought out Williams in- terest and the firm name was Frisbie, Logue & Co. until 1874. .
tttt
F
NORTH STREET CHURCH
227
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
Five building and loan associations were organized from the time of the act of 1872 until the last one chartered in June, 1874. The Moss Bank park was laid out by John C. Short while yet he owned the property west of Dan- ville, and promised to be a place of pride and pleasure to the citizens. The Ellsworth park was laid out in the eighties and the Lincoln and Douglas parks were made a part of Danville in the nineties.
H. A. Coffeen was a factor in the literary and business development of the county, that should not be overlooked. Mr. Coffeen's parents lived in Cham- paign, coming there in 1852. They were Ohio people. Henry A, was their second son and early set out in life as a school teacher. He was in this em- ployment until he was twenty-seven years old, the last two schools being in Hiram College, in Ohio, and as superintendent of schools in Bement, Illinois. Mr. Coffeen at last concluded to be a merchant instead of a school teacher, and started a bookstore in Danville. He kept up a fine store, where he sold books, pictures, wall paper and all that is ever found in a store of that kind. He opened the store in about 1868 and for a time carried it on by his unaided efforts, but later he took as his partner Charles Pollock, the son of Dr. Pol- lock. Mr. Coffeen was the author of the first history of Vermilion County. It is a small book, which gives many facts, valued because they were gleaned while yet it was possible to get information of the early settlers at first hand.
Mr. J. M. Clark was a dry-goods merchant who came in 1871. His store was on Vermilion street, next door to the Aetna House. He was a man who had done good service for his country during the bloody sixties, and was wel- comed as a citizen of the growing Vermilion County.
William F. Henderson came to Georgetown in 1878 and went into the bank of E. Henderson & Co. as cashier.
CHAPTER XXI.
SOME ELDER SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF VERMILION COUNTY.
JAMES O'NEAL CLAIMS TO BE FIRST WHITE CHILD OF WHITE CHILDREN-MRS. ELIZABETH (MCDONALD) HARMON, ONE OF THE FIRST WHITE CHILDREN BORN IN VERMILION COUNTY-JAMES O'NEAL, BORN IN 1822-MARY (cox) PATTERSON, BORN IN 1823-WILLIAM P. SWANK, BORN IN 1824-PERRY O'NEAL, BORN IN 1825-JAMES H. STEVENS, BORN IN 1826-D. B. DOUGLASS AND RHODA M. HESTER, BORN IN 1827-ABNER SNOW, S. P. LeNEVE AND AN- DREW GUNDY, BORN IN 1828-SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF 1829-OF 1830 OF 1831-OF 1832-OF 1833-OF 1834-OF 1835-OF 1836-OF 1837-OF 1838 -HENRY FLETCHER AND LIZZIE (LOVE) PAINTER, BORN IN 1839- SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF 1840-OF 1841-OF 1842-OF 1843-OF 1844-OF 1845-OF 1846-OF 1847-OF 1848 OF 1849.
James O'Neal and .Mrs. Elizabeth (McDonald) Harmon have both been credited with the distinction of being the first white child born in Vermilion County, in the same historical volume, but as the date of each birth is easily found, there need be no disagreement in regard to the matter. .
James O'Neal was born April 20, 1822. It was the year before this that the parents of this child came to Vermilion County, and the father took up a farm on what later was known as the Caraway farm near Brooks Point. He lived on this farm for three years and then moved to the eighty acres of land he had entered on the Big Vermilion. It was during the time the family lived near Brooks Point that James was born-the first white child to see the light of day in Vermilion County. Mr. O'Neal had a tan yard and made shoes for himself and family and leather for the moccasins the Indians wanted. James O'Neal grew up in the midst of wild life; his companions were the Indians and his associates the other boys of pioneer families who occasionally came into his life. He was skilled in all the arts of hunting and trapping, and he well knew the habits of the wild animals which were so plentiful in the timber about him. As soon as he was old enough, he went to work for himself find- ing employment in the mill on the Vermilion river afterward called the old Kyger mill. Mr. O'Neal married Miss Vesta Pratt, herself a daughter of Vermilion County, seven years younger than he. Mr. O'Neal lived all his life in Vermilion County.
Elizabeth Catherine (McDonald) Harmon was the third of the eleven chil- dren of Alexander and Catherine King (Alexander) McDonald. She was born
228
229
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
August 16, 1823, on her fathers' farm home in Carroll township, near George- town, and claimed to be the first white child born in Vermilion County. She received a common school education in the nearby country schoolhouse. She was married in 1844 to Hardy Wallace Hill M. D., a rising young physician, and went with him to his new home in Cincinnati, where they lived for five years. In 1849 a scourge of cholera visited this city and Dr. Hill, through his professional duties, fell a victim. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Hill came back to her father's Illinois home, bringing her little daughter, Eleanor, with her. Six months later her other daughter, Lillian, was born. A few years afterward she took her two children to her uncle Cunningham's home in Danville, where she lived until the time of her marriage to Mr. O. F. Har- mon, on February 22, 1854. Mrs. Harmon was again widowed after ten years by the death of her husband, then Colonel Harmon. They were the parents of three daughters and one son, who died soon after his father. Lucy, the oldest daughter, became the wife of Rev. McPherson, Fannie, the next daughter, became the wife of Frank Brooks, and after his death of
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.