USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 102
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Dr. Samuel T. Smith was born in Fayette county, Tennessee, on the 11th of December, 1818. His father was Nicholas Smith, a farmer, and also an ordained elder in the Christian church. Dr. Smith is of Ger- man descent. He moved to Wayne county, Ohio, with the family, in 1820. Here there were a vast number of the Smiths-over four hun- dred. The Doctor was raised on a farm. He moved to Williams county in 1840, and remained there till 1850. He sold his farm and went to studying medicine in 1845, with Drs. Hall and Morrison. He served as justice of the peace at this time. He stayed here till 1850. At the breaking out of the California excitement he engaged with a train from St. Louis, and went as physician in the Great April Line. Here he learned much of cholera. He came back in 1852 to Ohio, and next year to Illinois. He practiced medicine in Grundy county four years, and then came to Vermilion, in 1858. He went into the 39th
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
Ill. Reg. as physician; was post surgeon at Mitchellville, Tennessee. His health failed and he came back to Conkey Town, and then to Fithian, in 1871. In 1877 he moved to Muncie, where he still remains. In 1866 he was married to the widow of Simon A. Dickson. They have three children. The Doctor has a large practice in this part of the county, and is well known in professional circles over the county as a first-class M.D.
William H. Noble, Fithian, farmer, was born in Butler county, Ohio. His father was a farmer. They came to Indiana and then to Illinois in 1858. Mr. Noble bought land close to Fithian. He has been on the place most of the time since, although he went to the rail- road when the new station started up. Mr. Noble has been an officer in Oakwood for a long time. He is noted as an officer of wonderful executive ability, accuracy in transacting business, and ability to please.
James W. Barton was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, on the 4th of August, 1845. James came to this county when thirteen years old. He enlisted in the United States army at St. Joseph, Champaign county, in the 51st Reg., Ill. Vol. Inf., Co. B. They went to St. Louis first, and then to Cumberland, Kentucky. They wintered at Nashville, and were in the fight at Murfreesboro'. Then they went to Chatta- nooga. Mr. Barton went into the hospital on the 4th of April, 1864. He was in hospital at various places, but recovered sufficiently to join the regiment again at Nashville ; but his health soon failed, and he was discharged on the 4th of December, 1864. He came back, and has been in this county since. Exposure to the inclemency of the weather, long marching and the hardships of army life have broken his constitn- tion, but he has been unable so far to get a pension.
W. J. Gohn, farmer, is a native of Ohio, being born in Wayne county on the 23d of March, 1845. His father was a shoemaker by trade. He came to Illinois in 1862 from Indiana, where he had lived two years. W. J. went to Indianapolis in 1864, and staid till January, 1870. He was dealing in agricultural implements. He came back in 1870, and went in the same business in Danville, in 1870-71. Since that time he has been on the farm. He was married to Hannah J. Campbell on the 14th of September, 1871. She is a daughter of Joseph Campbell, one of the earliest settlers of Newell township. They have two children.
William C. Harrison, deceased, was born in Indiana on the 25th of March, 1837, near Ladoga. His father was a farmer, and an early settler in that county ; he is still living. Mr. Harrison came to Ver- milion county in the spring of 1862. He was married to Nancy Graybill in Indiana. She was a native of that state. They settled
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OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP.
on a farm half a mile south of Oakwood Station. He bought fifty acres first, and increased it to two hundred and seventy-two. Mr. Harrison died on the 23d of February, 1879. He took a severe cold and a sudden attack of lung fever. Mr. Harrison was an honorable and upright citizen. He was a member of the republican central com- mittee. He was prompt and reliable in business, and offered a life worthy of emulation. He died without owing a cent except his doctor bill. His children are: James H., John K., Robert I., Charles B., Sarah E., Thomas S., William Scott, Clark E. Two of the eight are dead.
Ezra J. Bantz is of English and German descent, his ancestor being from Maryland and Kentucky. He was born in Preble county, Ohio, on the 12th of January, 1827. His father was a farmer, and taught his son the same business. When Mr. Bantz was seven years old his father moved to Delaware county, Indiana. Mr. Bantz, sen., died there, and the son began for himself. This was in 1848. Mr. Bantz came to Vermilion county in December, 1864, but moved his family in 1865. In March, 1848, he enlisted in the U. S. army, in the 15th Inf., regulars, under Capt. Jones. He enlisted at Logansport, Indiana. They went to Newport, Kentucky, and remained in the barracks there till ordered to New Orleans. But before the command had time to start, the city of Mexico had been taken, and the troops never went. Mr. Bantz has a medal, given him at Washington, D.C., which recognizes him as one of the veterans of the Mexican war. E. J. Bantz was married to Nancy Thornburg on the 9th of November, 1848, in Indiana. They have five children : two daughters and three sons. When he first came Mr. Bantz bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, but has increased it to four hundred and five.
William Hill was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, on the 7th of March, 1836. His father was a farmer, and brought his son up in the same vocation. Mr. Hill came to Vermilion county in 1864. He was married on the 2d of October, 1856, to Corrilla Francis. They have five children. They first came to one and a half miles north of New Town. They moved to their present residence in March, 1879.
James Hargan, farmer, was born in Hardin county, Kentucky. His father was a farmer, who lived and died on the same place that he first occupied after his marriage. James Hargan left Kentucky in the fall of 1853, and went to Putnam county, Indiana. Mr. Hargan was born on the 6th of March, 1826. He was married on the 21st of February, 1856, to Catharine Grantham. They have seven children living. Ida May died in the spring of 1879. The two eldest boys are married; they entered the matrimonial state in the spring of 1879. Mr. Har-
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
gan came to Illinois in 1865, and came to the place where he now lives at that time. He is a man who takes an interest in public wel- fare, and is now one of the highway commissioners of this township. He takes interest in organization of societies, both church and other- wise, and is himself a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
It is with pleasure we record the facts in regard to a man's history whose life presents a record of services rendered for the public good. George W. Graham was born in Monongalia county, Virginia, now Marion county, West Virginia, on the 25th of October, 1835. His father's name was Ebenezer Graham. George W. was brought up on a farm, where he remained until his fourteenth year. The ten years succeeding this date found him in various parts of Marion and Wirt counties. At the expiration of this time he came to Henry county, Indiana, where he remained nearly two years. When the spring of 1861 came it found him wending his way to his native state. The war cloud was threatening, and he proposed to be on the scene of action. He entered the service immediately as a scout and guide, being em- ployed by Gen. George B. McClellan on the recommendation of Gov. Pierpoint. He continued in this service about three months, until the 7th of August, when he enlisted in the three years' service of the Union army. He remained in the 6th Va. Inf. nine months under Capt. Manlsby. The company was then transferred to the In- dependent Battery Light Artillery. During 1862 they served in vari- ous parts of West Virginia, keeping the front line of the rebels back till they were sent into the valley, in the winter of 1862. The first fight of importance in which they were engaged was at Martinsburg, on the 15th of June, 1863, where Capt. Maulsby was wounded and Mr. Graham took command. He led the battery from this time on. They were at Winchester on the 22d and 24th of July, and followed the illustrious Sheridan through his valley campaign. Mr. Graham's career was marked with success from the beginning. As a scout and gnide, he rendered important service in directing the movements of the army, on account of his acquaintance with the country. When he enlisted he entered as a private. He held all the noncommissioned offices in the company, and then went through the commissions to the head of the list. He received his first commission in the spring of 1862; was afterward first lieutenant, and then took command of the company in June, 1863. He was mustered out at Harper's Ferry in the fall of 1864. He staid in Virginia about one year afterward, and then came to Vermilion county, Illinois, in summer of 1865. He first stopped on Salt Fork, near old Major Vance's salt works, bought forty acres of coal land, and worked a good part of the time in the coal busi-
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OAKWOOD TOWNSHIP.
ness. He came to Fithian in the spring of 1871; here he united with his brother, and formed the firm of Graham Brothers, and has con- tinned in the mercantile business ever since. These gentlemen have been quite successful in life, and by their industry have gained a con- siderable portion of this world's goods.
Enoch T. Graham, of the firm of Graham Brothers, is a native of Virginia. He was born in Monongalia county on the 4th of May, 1820. Ilis father, Ebenezer Graham, was a farmer, and brought up his children in that best of methods, the method that makes honest toil the base of future prospects. Enoch remained on the farm nntil he reached the years of maturity. After the death of his father he bought out part of the heirs, and held the homestead. He held this until the year 1862. Mr. Graham was established in mercantile busi- ness in Wirt county, Virginia, for some time. Before the beginning of the war in 1861 he closed out, and, having sold ont his interest in the homestead, came to Henry county, Indiana, in 1866. Here he bought a farm, and remained two years. Then he bought eighty acres of land in Champaign county, Illinois, and remained there two years. From Champaign county he came to Vermilion, in 1871. He and his brother formed the partnership which still exists, and began business immediately in the village of Fithian. They keep a general stock of dry goods, groceries, clothing, etc. Mr. Graham has never been pierced by Cupid's arrows, but remains a free, untrammeled man of single blessedness. The season of his life which Mr. Graham regards as most trying was from 1861 to 1863. He was a delegate from Wirt county to the convention which met at Wheeling, on the 11th of June, 1861, to reorganize the government of Virginia. As will be remem- bered, this convention appointed Pierpoint governor, and he went ahead with the restored government till the state of West Virginia was admitted to the Union. Mr. Graham was elected, on his return, clerk of the circuit court, and held the office till 1863. These men were all declared traitors by the old government, and many of them were caught and sent to Libby prison. Mr. Graham had to fly to the Ohio River twice during his term of office, in order that raiding par- ties might not destroy the public documents in his possession.
L. R. Myers is a native of Pennsylvania, but was brought up on a farm in Ohio, where he moved when young. He came to Vermilion connty to the place where he is now living just north of Muncie. He is operating the old Vance place, which belongs to the heir of Richard Fox. In 1869 he married Sarah E. Lowman, who was living in this county at the time. They have six children.
Although Mr. G. W. Purnel is not one of the old settlers of Ver-
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
milion county, he is a native of the Wabash valley. He was born in Fountain county, Indiana, fifteen miles east of Covington, on the 13th of February, 1834. His father was one of the earliest settlers of that part of the country, and his mother is still living. She is eighty-four years old, and as lithe and active as many a young woman. She can walk a mile almost as quick as anyone, and is constantly engaged in some kind of work. Her husband cleared seventy acres of heavy timber in those early times, and she spun and wove the cloth for the children's clothing. Mr. Purnel, jr., was brought up on the farm near Covington. His father died in 1852. In 1854 he married Nancy Henry. He came to his present residence, just south of Muncie, in 1871. He bought two hundred and fifty acres of land here, and has a fine farm clear of encumbrances. He has four children.
Thomas Firebaugh, Ogden, farmer, was born in Champaign county, Illinois, on the 22d of August, 1845. His parents were early settlers in that part of the state. Thomas came to Vermilion in 1872, and settled where he now lives. He was married in 1868 to Lucinda Hobick. He has five children. He bought eighty acres of land here from Thomas Hannah in 1871. Mr. Firebaugh is a member of the Christian church.
BLOUNT TOWNSHIP.
Blount township, which received its name from Mr. Blount, who had been an early settler in the town, but who had moved away before he became famous, lies in the exact center of the county, having two tiers of townships north of it, two south of it, and Pilot to the west and Newell to the east. It was formerly attached to and a portion of these two latter, for political purposes, but the two streams North Fork and Middle Fork formed such barriers to the convenient interchange of neighborly civilities and the transaction of official business, that in 1856 the supervisors erected that portion which lay between the two streams into a separate township, and called it Fremont, after the popu- lar, dashing general, who that year was the republican candidate for president. This name did not prove entirely acceptable to the demo- cratic " element," which was a rank growth of that time, in this Messo- potamia, and they decided on the present name. The lines which form its eastern and western boundaries are very irregular, but follow, as near as straight lines and right angles can keep, within hailing distance of a creek. It embraces all the southern half of town 21, range 12, two half sections of town 21, range 11, three and one half sections of
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BLOUNT TOWNSHIP.
town 21, range 13, all except nine sections of town 20, range 12, and a narrow strip of the west side of town 20, range 11, making, in all, slightly more than a congressional township and a half. Its surface is higher in the middle and north, where the prairie lies, and was princi- pally covered in its southern half and along its eastern and western boundaries with a stalwart growth of forest trees of oak, walnut, maples, and here and there a beech, which is, so far as the writer knows, the most northerly appearance of this forest tree in this state. The timber line has been very materially increased since the earlier settlements by the protection which civilization has thrown around it. Where originally only a few scattering trees stood, like sentinels on an advanced picket, is now found a full growth of beautiful timber. A few farms have been made, of course, where timber originally grew, but an old resident says there is much more forest in the township now than when white men first came into it.
The Indians were still here along the banks of the Middle Fork when the early settlers came. For four or five years they were here irregularly, remaining a part of the year near the famous spring, which attracted their attention, on the present farm of Cyrus Crawford, on or near section 8 (20-13). They always appeared friendly, and did not seem jealous of their new neighbors. Mrs. Hannah Fairchild, who lived near them, says they often came to her home for such articles as they wanted, and seldom gave her any cause for alarm. At this time the Indians were not permanently located here, but spent a portion of their time here, while getting ready to move across the Mississippi River. They numbered fifteen hundred at that time.
Samuel Copeland was among the first to settle here, if not the very first, in Blount township. He settled in a bay of the prairie, on section 14, and resides at the same place yet, within a few rods of the place where he stuck stakes fifty-one years ago. He was led to settle here because he thought it was healthy and would soon settle up. His wife and four children accompanied him. He had hired a man to cut some rails, and brought a load of plank with him. His first care was to get some place to live. He leaned the rails up against a tree, and put the planks down on the ground for a floor and bed, and went to hewing logs for his house. As soon as he could get the logs hewn he sent to State Line for help to put them up. A house-raising was one of those occasions which required the aid of the entire neighborhood, and in his case of another neighborhood, also, for he could not get men in his own to put it up. It was thought to be no more than a duty which one owed to any new settler, to " help him raise." No special invita- tion was thought to be necessary. Notice was sent to make known
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
the fact that a house was to be raised, and everyone who got notice deemed it just as much his duty to go as to "fodder his stock " or cut his night's firewood. When Copeland got his logs ready he sent out notice, and men came on horseback six or eight miles to put them up. The first day it rained, and they had to go back home without accom- plishing the work, but the next day every man came back to finish the job. Nobody thought of accepting pay for such acts. If a house was to be moved, the habit was to turn out with their oxen and hitch to it and move it to the desired location. If a lunch was spread it was all right and was enjoyed, but if not convenient, the men would go home after their neighborly work was accomplished. He erected his first house right across in front of where his present house stands. This house was sold after he built his present residence, and moved to Blue Grass Grove, and after that was moved to Buck Grove, and may be in Chi- cago or Milwaukee by this time, if it kept on moving on the approach of civilization. The early settlers came principally from Ohio, Indi-
A PIONEER CABIN.
ana and Kentucky. When Copeland came here, in 1828, Ware Long lived out east of him in the timber, and remained there until he died. Amos Howard, Mr. Shokey and Mr. Priest lived in the southern part of the township, each of whom had families. Ezekiel Knox lived about three miles south. He made a good farm, and left a family when he died. Several families soon settled around, on and near sections 26 and 35 (20-12), near the south line of the township. This was for a long time known as Howard's neighborhood.
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BLOUNT TOWNSHIP.
The first school-house built in town was the old log house one half mile east of Mr. Copeland's house. The neighborhood built it in 1830. It was a considerable undertaking for the time, as there were few to help, and voting taxes for schools and school-houses had not then been invented. But these people rightly estimated that what they did in the way of improving their condition in a financial point of view would be of little value to their children unless they could have schooling. John Skinner was the first teacher. The earliest scholars were William, George and Perry Copeland, William Wright, Nancy and Susan White, Mr. Fairchild's children, Mr. Louin's and Mr. Swisher's. Three years later the settlement around Copeland's had stretched out so far west that a frame school-house was erected on the road half a mile west of Mr. Copeland's honse. In this new house, which still lacked all the modern improvements of swing-back seats and lock-drawer desks, blackboards, etc. John Higgins and John Stipp taught. At that time it did not cost, including books, to exceed three dollars a term to school a child ; at present the amount is hardly less than four or five times that.
The first preaching in the township was by the Rev. Mr. McKain, in 1829, at John John's house, about three-fourths of a mile northeast of Mr. Copeland's.
In the first building of that city which is now the wonder of the world, immediately after the close of the Blackhawk war, about 1833, quite a trade sprang up between it and this part of the country. Wheat and oats were the principal products which the farmer had to exchange for what he wanted to buy. They used to go there with ox-teams, camping ont every night on the road. Wheat would bring from fifty cents to seventy-five cents, and at one time oats brought one dollar per bushel. All the grain taken there was measured when sold, in the half-bushel. Bags were the only granaries, and the " elevating" was done by throwing it on your shoulder and carrying it where it was wanted. Corn was too cheap to make it an ordinary item of mer- chandise.
The same year, 1828, the Fairchild family, a family which has, per- haps, exerted as wide an influence as any one in the township, came here to reside, and formed the nucleus of what was known as the Fair- child neighborhood, nearly two miles northwest of Mr. Copeland. It consisted of old Daniel Fairchild and his five sons: Timothy, Zenas, Orman, Lyman and Daniel, and his daughter Mrs. Blevens. They were all married, and with their young families commenced in earnest to make homes in the new country. The old gentleman was quite old, nearly blind and helpless, and did not live long after coming here. All
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
the children are now dead, but the widows of three of them still live here with several of their children to recount the exciting circum- stances of their early labors here, and hold the line between the pres- ent and the past.
Of this family, Rev. Daniel Fairchild was best known, and, perhaps, was most widely influential. He was converted at a camp-meeting, near Evansville, Indiana, when eighteen years old, and was almost immediately licensed to preach in the Methodist church. His license was annually renewed by authority of that church. In 1850 Bishop Hamline ordained him a deacon, and in 1859 Bishop Simpson ordained him elder. During the long years of his busy life here he was engaged in preaching the gospel up and down through this part of the county, in an acceptable manner to all classes of people. He did more to keep alive the spirit of vital religion than almost any man in the vicinity, and never tired of the good work which he was specially ordained and selected to do. When he came here he was only able to enter forty acres of land, and moved into a little log house with puncheon floor, on the edge of the prairie near where his brick residence stands. His wife, who still survives him, enjoying the love of her large family of children and grandchildren, was a poor orphan girl whom the kind parents of Mr. Fairchild took when homeless. The third and fourth generations of Daniel Fairchild, sr., now live in Blount, a shining ex- ample of the fulfillment of the promise. Everywhere a Fairchild, or the descendant of a Fairchild, is respected.
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Fairchild lived here on the place he first en- tered, on section 4, bringing up their large family to honest industry. For twenty years the mother, with such help as her children could give her, performed the glad duties which this swarm of little ones imposed on her; made the cloth which clothed them ; kept the minister's home for this neighborhood, and, in her husband's frequent absence on his missionary work, had imposed on her the double parental duties. She and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Hannah, or Aunt Hannah, as she is better known, boarded the hands who made all the bricks for the church, as their contribution to the work. Of fourteen children born, eleven grew up, and nine now live near her. Forty-eight grandchildren have learned to lisp her name.
Mrs. Hannah Fairchild, the widow of Orman, lives just south of where their brother Daniel long lived. They were married at Evans- ville, Indiana, when she was only sixteen, and came on the farm where most of the active years of her life have been spent, while the Indians still inhabited the grove near their home. They came to live in a lit- tle log house without any chimney, and tried to make one which should
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BLOUNT TOWNSHIP.
serve the purpose out of mud and sticks, but the wind blew it down one stormy night, and they had to devise some better plan. They had no money to enter land, and for fifteen months went without meat, so that they could turn their growing stock into money to pay for the land they lived on. A little incident will show how neighborly these people were. Samuel Copeland was one of their nearest neighbors, a mile or more away. He was well-to-do, and in that early time his word was as good as a bond. A stranger who was looking for a good piece of land to enter told Mr. Copeland that he believed he would enter the tract that Orman Fairchild was on. Copeland told him if he did that, if he ever got out of fire he would not give him a brand at his house. To refuse one a brand of fire before the days of friction matches was abont as severe a punishment as one in a new country could inflict. That Sammy Copeland would have kept his word to the claim- jumper no one who knows him would doubt. The first year their only horse died, and Mr. F. got hold of a yoke of steers which for two years was his only team to plow or to mill or church. Commencing married life so young, Mrs. F. found it necessary to work harder than many women to make up the cloth and other articles necessary for comforta- ble living. Usually in those times the young women gave some years to making up the wearing apparel necessary to commence housekeep- ing. She commenced the life of a pioneer at an age when she had had little chance to prepare anything. Taking the flax from the ground and the wool from the sheep's back, she " pitched in," as she says, mak- ing the most of every minute to keep ahead of the new recruits which were coming in rapid succession to fill up the Fairchild home. "How did you women manage," asked the writer, "to do the enormous amount of labor which was imposed on you, making all your cloth, clothing, sugar, butter, cheese, soap, candles, coloring, rendering your lard and tallow, taking care of your lambs, calves, etc., garden, and all the thousand and one things that devolved on you, and visit the sick and those in need, with a baby to take care of most of the time? You are perhaps aware that now-a-days the mother who raises two children keeps a hired girl, hires her own sewing done, buys her husband's and sons' clothes ready made, and keeps a horse and carriage to ride in, thinks she is most worn out at forty." The answer was not long de- layed : " I have had thirteen children, and when my first was small I had two wheels, a large and a small one. I made a sling of my apron to put him in, squaw-fashion, and ling him over my back, and kept the big wheel going. When he needed nourishment I took him on my lap and sat down to the small wheel. By this change of position I was rested and the baby was cared for. Not only did I have all this
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