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 112
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Thomas Watson, Bismark, farmer, was born in Newell township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 18th of February, 1846, and is a son of Jolin R. and Susannah (Martin) Watson. He was married on the 21st of September, 1865, to Sarah, daughter of Samuel Adams, born on the 1st of January, 1846. He lived in Danville during the years 1873-4, engaged in the saddle and harness trade. ' In addition to his farming operations Mr. Watson buys and feeds a good deal of stock, in which business he enjoys a rare degree of prosperity and success. He is the father of four living children: Dora E., born on the 26th of July, 1866; Samuel R., February 13, 1868; Bertha A., March 26,
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1873; Earnest M., January 10, 1876. He is an independent in poli- tics.
Corydon H. Campbell, Danville, farmer and fine-stock breeder, was born in Seneca county, New York, on the 19th of December, 1825, and is a son of John and Elmira (Hewitt) Campbell. The substantial prosperity which Mr. Campbell has wrought out for himself little indicates his humble beginning. His early life was spent in roving more or less in the southwest, and in handling and driving stock. In 1840 he went to Missouri and lived there seven years, meantime buy- ing and driving hogs to the Cherokee nation, and returning with cattle to Milwaukee. He brought three herds through from that country. For many years he has been an extensive stock-raiser, and has devoted his attention largely to the breeding of blooded stock, of which he keeps the best strains in the country. Mr. Campbell was married on the 11th of November, 1849, to Julia A. Howard, who died on the 1st August, 1850. His second marriage, on the 22d of November, 1852, was to Mary W. Brittingham, who died on the 13th of March, 1869. His third marriage was to Sarah E. Current, on the 1st of January, 1870. He is the father of three living children : John J., Joseph B., Benjamin. He owns eight hundred and sixty acres of land, worth $34,500.
Peter Voorhees, Danville, farmer, was born on the 26th of June, 1827, in Butler county, Ohio, and is a son of Stephen and Rachel (Elliott) Voorhees. When he was two years old his parents removed and settled in Fountain county, Indiana. In 1848 he came to Ver- milion county, Illinois, locating in Newell township, where he now resides. He has been supervisor of Newell township, and held minor offices of trust and responsibility. Mr. Voorhees is a large-hearted, public-spirited man, who has been abreast of the foremost in the ac- tivities of his community, and who has made his energy felt on all occasions. He is a brother of Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees, present United States senator from Indiana, who has made a national reputa- tion as a lawyer and statesman. The management of a large farm has chiefly engrossed his attention during a busy life. Like thousands of others, he has not escaped the vicissitudes of the times. He was mar- ried on the 1st of April, 1848, to Mary Button. They have five living children : Rachel R., Julia E., Arthur E., Daniel, and Philip B. He owns five hundred and forty acres of land, worth $27,000.
Jacob Robertson, State Line, Indiana, farmer, was born in Newell township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 22d of September, 1848, and is a son of Zachariah and Abigal (Starr) Robertson. He was mar- ried on the 6th of February, 1872, to Melissa Brittingham, who was
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
born on the 24th of November, 1848. He has one child, Hallie Ger- trude. Mr. Robertson is an independent in politics, and in religion a Methodist.
Theodore L. Stipp, Bismark, farmer, school-teacher and minister, was born in Newell township, on the 24th of December, 1848, and is a son of George Y. and America A. (Smith) Stipp. He began private law studies in 1868; was admitted to practice in the Circuit Court of Warren county, Indiana, in the April term of 1870. He attended a course of lectures at the University of Michigan in the winter of 1870-1, graduating the 29th of March, 1871. Finding the law not congenial to his tastes, he abandoned the profession and became identified with the Church of Christ, and was ordained a minister on the 24th of Aug- ust, 1873. His labors have since been extended over a wide field, em- bracing Warren, Fountain and Vermilion counties, Indiana, and Cham- paign and Vermilion counties, Illinois. Mr. Stipp has never been a political aspirant for office, but in the campaign of 1875 was favorably mentioned as a candidate for congress on the independent ticket, and received the support of the Vermilion county delegation in the Tolono convention, which nominated J. H. Pickrell. He was married on the 28th of March, 1872, to Emma P. Norris. They are the parents of two living children : Emma Belle and Theodore E. Mr. Stipp owns sixty acres of land, worth $1,800.
Martin Powell, State Line, farmer, was born on the 13th of Decem- ber, 1811, in Llanwenarth parish, Monmouthshire, England, and came with his parents, Thomas and Jane (Pritchard) Powell, to America in the spring of 1823, and settled in Dearborn county, Indiana. At the age of twelve he went to Baltimore, Ohio, where he spent five years in learning the trade of cloth-dressing and carding, but he has never fol- lowed the business. On his return to Indiana he went into the woods and began clearing up land and farming. On the 12th of April, 1838, he was married to Jeanette Churchill. Between the years 1835 and 1845 Mr. Powell labored in the capacity of pedagogue in the log school- houses of Indiana. At different times in his life he has filled the sacred desk. His two sons, Thomas and John, served in the army during the rebellion, the former three years in the 33d Ind. Inf., and the latter two years in the 86th. Mr. Powell is a highly-respected and valued citizen, who is always prominent in local enterprises. He has held some town offices. He owns six hundred and eighty acres of land, worth $20,500. He has five living children : William M., Thomas C., Mary A., Alvah M. and Eliza J.
James A. Andrews, Bismark, farmer, was born in Newell township, Vermilion county, Illinois, on the 3d of June, 1850, and is a son of
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David P. and Rhoda (Zumwalt) Andrews. He was married on the 2d of April, 1878, to Annie Johnson, who was born on the 18th of March, 1855. Mr. Andrews has an undivided half of two hundred and thirty acres of choice prairie land, and an undivided fourth of forty acres of timber, the whole valued at $4,000. He is a republican in politics.
Samuel Chester, sr., Danville, farmer, was born in Ross (now Fair- field) county, Ohio, on the 9th of October, 1810. His father, Thomas Chester, was a soldier in the second war with Great Britain, and died of rheumatism and congestive chills in the year 1813.' Samuel's mother, whose maiden name was Ruth Peterson, was thus left with seven small and helpless children, and being poor, as the majority of the people then were, Samnel was indentured at the age of seven to Elias Florence, and served with him till he attained his majority. Im- mediately on becoming of age he was married to Elizabeth Castel, on the 16th of November, 1831. In 1834 he commenced driving fat cat- tle and hogs over the Alleghany mountains to New York, seven hun- dred miles ; to Philadelphia, six hundred miles, and to Baltimore, five · hundred miles. His droves ranged from one hundred to one hundred and fifteen head. The round trip to New York occupied eighty-three days; to Philadelphia, seventy-three days, and to Baltimore, fifty days. He followed this business eleven summers, and while thus employed, bought one hundred and five acres of land in the neighborhood where he had been raised, for $525. In 1852 he sold it for $2,100, and moved to Vermilion county, Illinois, settling in Danville township, where he purchased six hundred and twenty acres on the Middle Fork. This he afterward sold for $8,500. Leaving the farm, he lived in Danville six years. In 1862 he bought and moved on the place where he is now residing, one and a half miles north of Danville. Mr. Chester's first wife died in March, 1858. On the 11th of June following he was mar- ried to Elizabeth Skeels. She died on the 14th of August, 1878. He married again on the 4th of November, 1878, to Susan Barker. Mr. Chester received but two months' schooling. He made his start in life by investing in three ewes, the increase of which amounted, in seven years, to seventy-three head. In politics Mr. Chester is a staunch re- publican. He owns at present two hundred and eighty-seven acres of land, valued at $12,000.
Robert Phillips, Bismark, merchant, was born in Switzerland coun- ty, Indiana, on the 22d of January, 1835, and is a son of William and Julia Ann (Luckey) Phillips. He came and settled with his parents at Myersville in 1844. He worked nine years in the Myersville mill.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
He was married on the 20th of January, 1879, to Martha Cating. In politics he is a republican.
Charles R. Andrews, State Line City, Indiana, farmer, was born in Newell township on the 26th of April, 1853, and is a son of David P. and Rhoda (Zumwalt) Andrews. He has been engaged in school- teaching since he was twenty years of age. Mr. Andrews graduated from Mayhew's Commercial College, Danville, in the spring of 1875. He has traveled across the continent. In politics he is a republican.
Benjamin F. Bonebrake, State Line City, Warren county, Indiana, merchant, was born on the 22d of March, 1839, in Fountain county, Indiana. He is the son of Jacob and Mary Magdalen (Null) Bone- brake. His father was born on the 28th of February, 1789, near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and his mother near Richmond, Virginia. The family settled in Newell township on the 8th of October, 1856; the father dying on his farm on the 25th of July, 1869, and the mother on the 21st of March of the same year. Benjamin enlisted in August, 1862, in Co. B, 125th Ill. Vols., Captain Robert Stewart, and was mustered into United States service as private on the 3d of September, 1862. He was promoted to sergeant on the 3d of December, 1862, and to the rank of orderly-sergeant on the 22d of February, 1863. He became sergeant-major of the regiment on the 3d of September, 1863, and was in the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, and marched to the relief of Knoxville, Tennessee. After that he bore a part in the battles of Buzzard Roost, Resaca, Dallas and Kenesaw Mountain. At the last named place he received a severe wound in the head, fracturing the skull. He was in the hospital at Nashville five and one-half months, and rejoined his regiment at Savannah, Georgia, on the 14th of January, 1865. On his return a commission as first- lieutenant awaited him for gallant and meritorious conduct at Kenesaw Mountain, bearing date of December 5, 1864, and giving him rank from the 10th of December, 1864. He commanded Co. B thencefor- ward till the close of the service, participating in the final event which signalized it, namely : the grand review of Sherman's army on the 25th of May, 1865, in the capital of the nation. He was mustered out on the 9th of June ; paid off at Chicago, and disbanded the 29th. Mr. Bonebrake was married on the 2d of April, 1866, to Mary M. Lindsey. They have two living children : Ralph and Mand. Lillie died on the 5th of August, 1875.
Asa M. Bushnell, Bismark, merchant, was born in Cook county, Illi- nois, on the Sth of December, 1850, and is a son of Henry and Lavina (Dayton) Bushnell. He removed with his parents at the age of five years and settled in Steuben township, Warren county, Indiana. Sub-
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sequently they moved into Newell township, and after four or five years returned to Cook county, remaining there two or three years, when they went to Iroquois county and spent a year, after which they settled in Rossville. At this place, in 1873, Mr. Bushnell embarked in mer- chandising. He is postmaster at Bismark, and is keeping a general store in partnership with Francis M. Gundy. Mr. Bushnell was mar- ried on the 15th of October, 1873, to Wilhelmina Shockley, who was born on the 17th of April, 1856. They have three living children : Clyde, born on the 7th of June, 1875; Mabel, on the 30th of Septem- ber, 1876; Frank, on the 23d of April, 1878. In politics Mr. Bush- nell is a republican.
James H. Burgoyne, Danville, brickmaker, was born near Union- town, Muskingum county, Ohio, on the 15th of June, 1834. When ten years of age his parents, James and Mary (Minor) Burgoyne, moved with him to Wayne county, Indiana. In 1859 he came to Catlin, Ver- milion county, Illinois, but after a brief stay went to Kansas, where he lived a year or two and then returned to Vermilion county on the 3d of September, 1862. He was enrolled for three years in Co. G, 125th Ill. Vol. Inf., and bore an honorable part in the battles of Perryville, Chieamanga, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesborough, and in Sherman's march to the sea, and in the later and greater campaign through the Carolinas, which practically ended with the battle of Bentonsville, in which he was engaged. He passed through Richmond, Virginia, on the homeward march, and was mustered out of the United States' service at Washington City, on the 9th of June, 1865, and the regiment disbanded at Chicago on the 2d day of July. Mr. Burgoyne was married on the 31st of December, 1867, to Miss Louie Butler. They have three living children.
Joseph S. Johnson, State Line, farmer and stock-shipper, was born on the 16th of September, 1827, in Hendricks county, Indiana, and is a son of George and Polly (Walter) Johnson. He was married on the 16th of March, 1854, to Matilda M. Kemper. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits from 1848 to 1855. He settled in Newell town- ship in 1864, and has taught school and music, and has traveled exten- sively in the middle portion of the Union. In Indiana he was county commissioner, real estate appraiser, deputy sheriff and notary public. In Newell township he has been assessor and collector, and at the present time is justice of the peace. Besides these, he has held other offices. He is the father of nine children. He owns eighty-five acres of land, and is an independent in politics.
B. F. Marple, State Line, merchant, was born on the 28th of Feb-
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
ruary, 1837, in Knox county, Indiana, and is the son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Boyd) Marple. His father died in October, 1842. His early life was devoted to farming. He clerked in the railroad office at State Line for some time, but abandoning this employment he em- barked in the drug trade, which he has since continued. He has been trustee of schools in Kent township three successive terms. Mr. Marple was married on the 16th of June, 1864, to Mary E. Duncan. They have three living children : Charles, Grace and Stella. In politics Mr. Marple is a democrat, and in religion a Methodist.
Wmn. R. Campbell, State Line, Indiana, farmer, was born in Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of September, 1823, and is a son of Obadiah and Delilah (Treen) Campbell ; descended from revo- lutionary stock. When he was one year old his parents removed to Pickaway county, Ohio, thence, in 1830, to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and in 1837 to Fountain county, where Mr. Campbell resided until 1866, when he came to Newell township. He was married on the 28th of December, 1847, to Melinda A. Lucas, who was born on the 2d of January, 1828. He has been in the mercantile business six years. He served as school trustee several years, and filled the office of super- visor for Newell township four terms. He has four living children : Maria E., Josephine, John F. and Charles A. He owns three hundred and fifteen acres of land, worth $12,500.
Jonathan Lesher, deceased, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania' in 1831. He was married on the 1st of November, 1855, to Mary Lang, in Fountain county, Indiana. He was a firm supporter of the war for the Union, and being examined was found unfit for military service; nevertheless he afterward furnished a substitute for the army. In 1869 he removed to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled in Newell township, where he died on the 1st of November, 1872. Mr. Lesher united with the Lutheran church at the age of fourteen, and continued a consistent member throughout his life.
Ezra Peters, Bismark, physician, surgeon, oculist and aurist, was born in Licking county, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1846, and is a son of Tunis and Mary (Dicas) Peters. He enlisted in Co. C, 95th Ohio Vol. Inf., on the 12th of August, 1862, when but sixteen years of age. He was engaged at Richmond, Kentucky, where he was taken prisoner; held three days and paroled; took part in the battle of Jackson, Mis- sissippi, on the 14th of May, 1863 ; siege of Vicksburg; siege of Jack- son ; battles of Tupelo, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee ; the siege of Spanish Fort, Alabama, and was mustered out on the 14th of August, 1865. He began his education at the University of Michigan, where he spent two years, taking two courses of medical lectures at
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that institution. He practiced medicine first at Grand Rapids, Michi- gan ; then at Central City, Nebraska, and again at the former city - eight years altogether. He entered the Bennett Eelectic College of Medicine and Surgery, graduating therefrom on the 21st of February, 1878, and on the 23d of the same month graduated from the Chicago College of Ophthalmology and Otology. Since his recent settlement at Bismark, Mr. Peters has successfully operated for cataract in a num- ber of cases, extracting the lens and restoring sight. He has contrib- nted one of these cases to the Chicago Medical Times. He was elected vice-president of Illinois State Eclectic Association, held at Springfield on the 4th and 5th of June, 1879, and was delegated to the national association, which convened at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 18th of June, 1879. He was married on the 1st of September, 1869, to Edith Conrad.
VANCE TOWNSHIP.
Vance township, as now bounded, occupies a position on the west- ern border of the county, and is in the second tier of townships from the southern line, having Oakwood on its northern boundary, Catlin on its eastern, Sidell on its southern, and Champaign county on its western. The Salt Fork of the Vermilion river runs through its north- ern part nearly the whole length, which is skirted by timber on an average of about one mile on either bank. The township is seven miles long east and west, and five miles wide, and contains one section less than a full congressional township. The State Road from Danville to Decatur runs through, keeping as nearly as possible about one and one half miles away from the Salt Fork ; and the Wabash railway runs very nearly through its center, having the village of Fairmount, a neatly built and pleasantly located town, situated about one mile from its eastern border. Abundance of building-stone is found along and in the bed of the stream, and ledges of calcareo-silicions stone erop ont on the prairie near the center of the town, which is the best known material for making roads, and makes an excellent quality of lime for building purposes, and for dressing for wheat lands. This stone is hard enough to withstand natural destruction from the elements, and soft enough to wear smooth under wagon-wheels, giving just the quality suitable for McAdam roads. It is being sparingly used here as yet, but in other places in this state where it has been used for years its value has been thoroughly tested and abundantly proved. There is a mine of wealth in these ledges of stone, such as crop out on the Big
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
Spring farm of J. C. Sandusky. The ridge, or divide, between the Salt Fork and the Little Vermilion runs along the southern border of Vance, and the prairie land all sheds toward the north, being freely supplied with streams and small branches, which beautifully water the farms and afford fine drainage. The surface is neither flat nor hilly, having sufficient undulation to make it capable of tillage all seasons, with here and there small mounds or easily rising hills, which add variegated beauty to the scene no less than real value to its worth. Originally about twelve square miles of its territory was timber land, being about one third of its present surface. This proportion is not much varied, for few farms have been made on that portion which was timber, although, of course, some of it was cut off by early settlers. It is as fine a tract of farming land as can be found in this or any other state. Let any one who has an eye to that which is both beautiful and useful in nature and in rural life drive along the State Road in May or June in the cool evening, and see, where only a few short years ago all was as nature had prepared it for man, the wealth which has sprung from well directed toil and the frugal lives of those who rescued these acres from wild nature, the substantial farm-houses, with their sur- roundings of groves, orchards, herds and buildings, well-tilled land and thrifty crops, and his doubting will be turned into conviction of the strongest type. Here one sees farm-life arrayed in its goodliest adornments. The small farms that have come down from father to son show the qualities which time lends. The tiresome appearance of newness which everywhere in the prairie country confronts us is want- ing. Everything which adds to comfort is here found.
The earlier settlements were made along this State Road; or, to state it more correctly, they were made along the border of the timber, and the State Road was made here because of this fact. At first the road wound in and out wherever clearings were made; and, through the influence of Col. Vance, who was then a member of the legislature, the road was straightened and adopted as a state road.
The railroad was graded through this townfin 1836. It was one of that network of "internal improvements" that the state proposed at that time to prosecute for the purpose of developing the country. It is looked upon now as a wild and visionary scheme. John W. Vance, from whom this township was named, aroused serious opposition, and destroyed whatever prospects he may have had for political promotion, by opposing the railroad scheme, or "ring " as it would now be called. His reasons for opposing it were, that it was far in advance of the necessities of the times, and must result in failure. He, of course, did not suppose that such a revulsion as came in 1837, was at hand ; but
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his argument was based upon sure and certain business principles. He said, in justifying his opposition, that there was not then, and for years could not be, business to support so many railroads as they were pro- posing to build ; that a single road would carry all there was to be car- ried to market for years to come. This was undoubtedly true, and yet those whom he was opposing sought to find in his opposition some selfislı, hidden reason. He was a statesman, and was about as far in advance of his time as the railroads of 1836 were. No better evidence of his ability as a legislator is wanted than his record on this matter. His brother was governor of Ohio, and it is said by those who knew them both, that John was by far the abler man of the two. The town- ship that received his name embraced a portion of what is now Oak- wood until 1866, and he resided in that part of the township.
As soon as the railroad was located, Ellsworth & Co. entered all the land along its line, from Danville to Decatur, that had not previously been taken, and held it for speculation. Owing to the revulsion which, in due course of nature's law, must, and did, follow the flush times of 1836, the speculators did not get an opportunity to sell their land for twenty years. With the actual building of the Wabash road came their opportunity to sell at from five to eight dollars per acre, so that their speculation was not a magnificent one by any means, for though taxation was much lighter then than now, the interest on their invest- ment, and taxes for twenty years, amounted to no inconsiderable part of the receipts.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The first settler known to make a home within the bounds of Vance was Thomas Osborne, who made a little cabin in section 32, a mile or two northwest of Fairmount, in 1825. He did not do any large amount of clearing or farming, but spent his time in fishing and hunting, which latter was by far the most profitable business of that day and age. The skins and furs of a winter's crop were worth more than a corn crop. Osborne did not stay here long after the game began to grow scarce, but went on west. Mr. Rowell and Mr. Gazad had cabins near by, and, as " squatters," remained around here a short time. In the same neighborhood James Elliot, James French and Samuel Beaver com- menced a year or two later. They also pushed on farther west, and William Davis bought their claims when he came here soon after. Beaver was a tanner, and kept and worked a small tan-yard, the mate- rial for which business was plenty here at that time. His house stood exactly where the Baptist church was built, - in fact, the church was, for some reason not now known, built around the house, which was torn down and carried out after the church was enclosed. The church
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