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 118
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J. L. McCauley, Rankin, dry goods and groceries, section 10, was born in Ohio on the 1st of August, 1845. His father died when he was quite young, leaving him to the care of his mother. He came to this state in 1860, and commenced business in Rankin when the village first started. He bought the first load of corn sold in the place. He has been in the dry goods and grocery business in Rankin for three years, and is getting a first-class trade. He owns 80 acres of land, worth $40 per acre, two lots, a storehouse that cost $1,400, one dwell- ing-house, and a half interest in one hundred acres of land in sec- tion 19.
James H. Applegate, East Lynne, Farmer, section 10, was born in
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
Montgomery county, Indiana, on the 16th of May, 1838. He was mar- ried to Mary A. Armantrout on the 24th of December, 1858. She was born in Indiana on the 7th of April, 1836. They are the parents of four children : Henry E., Edwin A., Simon L. and Ezra H. Mr. Apple- gate came to Illinois in 1860, and now owns a farm of two hundred acres, valued at $30 per acre. He is a deacon in the Christian church, and is regarded as one of the best of citizens. Mrs. Applegate's par- ents are natives of Virginia.
C. D. Dewey, Pellsville, farmer, section 3, was born in La Salle county, Illinois, on the 28th of May, 1841. He spent his boyhood days on a farm, where, by his habits of industry and economy, he learned not only how to save property but to accumulate it. He was married on the 22d of April, 1863, to E. F. Blodgett. She was born in Seneca county, Ohio, on the 7th of July, 1840. They have two children : Walter H., born on the 10th of August, 1864; Frank E., born on the 31st of May, 1868. Mr. Dewey makes a specialty of handling fine stock, having at present some of the best in the country. He had, when married, no property, and now owns one hundred and sixty acres of land, worth $40 per acre. He is a republican, and in religion a Methodist.
John R. Bowers, Rankin, grain merchant, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, on the 11th of August, 1823. He moved with his father to Indiana when fourteen years old, and in 1858 came to this state and remained one year. He then returned to Indiana, where he remained until 1864, at which time he returned to this state, where he has re- mained since. He commenced the grain trade in 1872, and handled in one year $25,000 worth of grain. He has been twice married : first, to Phobe Hains, in 1848. She was born in Ohio in 1826, and died in 1863. They had five children, four now living: John H., Charles L., Warren C. and William. The deceased, Lizzie. He was then married to Laura Pine in 1864. She was born in Indiana in 1843. They have had seven children, four living: Henry C., Mary E., Lina, Edward, and three infants deceased.
O. F. Taylor, Pellsville, physician, was born in Champaign county, Ohio, on the 21st of March, 1841, and remained home with his parents until twelve years of age. He came to this state in 1849, and com- menced the study of medicine in 1864. He attended the Bennett Med- ical College one term, and the Rush Medical College two terms, at the expiration of which he received a diploma for the practice of medicine. He first practiced in Peoria for six months, and then came to this township, where he has been since, and has had quite an extensive practice, which has been attended with good success. He was married
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BUTLER TOWNSHIP.
on the 31st of December, 1867, to Nellie Clark, who was born in Ver- mont, on the 10th of May, 1845. They have had two children by this union, one living : Freddie, born on the 16th of September, 1873. The Doctor is a republican and a Methodist.
Charles Stamp, Pellsville, farmer, section 14, was born in Steuben county, New York, on the 14th of October, 1842. In 1865 he enlisted in the late war, in Co. E, 149th Ill. Inf. Vol. He served one year, doing picket duty. Was married to Lizzie Jones in 1867. They are the parents of three children : Rosa, Frank and John. Mr. Stamp has held the office of constable one term. He had but little property with which to start out in life, but by economy, industry and. good manage- ment, now owns one hundred and sixty acres of well-cultivated land, worth $35 per acre. He is a republican, and as regards religion, enter- tains liberal views. His parents were natives of New York.
John L. Anderson, Pellsville, farmer, section 3, was born in Sweden, on the 4th of April, 1841. He came with his father to America in 1852, settling in Indiana, where he remained until 1866. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. H, 72d Mounted Inf., and served three years, being in the battles of Chickamauga and Atlanta; was in a skirmish with the guerillas, and was with Wilson on one of his raids. He belonged to the division that captured Jeff Davis, and was mustered out at Nash- ville, Tennessee. He was married on the 6th of June, 1868, to Ida Bergren, born in Sweden, on the 29th of June, 1859. They are the parents of six children, four of whom are living : Charles A., John E., Oscar V. and Augustus T .; the deceased are Joseph and one infant. Mr. Anderson is a republican, and in religion a Lutheran. He owns eighty acres of land, worth $30 per acre.
B. L. Adamson, Pellsville, farmer, was born in Marion county, Ohio, on the 18th of June, 1849. For some years he assisted his father in farming and running a saw-mill, and then moved to Indiana, where he remained some time, and then went back to Ohio, and after staying awhile, in 1869 came to this state, and settled in Champaign county, where he stayed three years. He carried the United States mail one year from Paxton to Rossville, and then went into mercantile business in Rankin, but after being in this business three years was burned out. However, he rebuilt, and continued his business for one year, and then- went to farming. He was married on the 10th of August, 1871, to Mary Wilson. She was born in Indiana in 1848. They are the parents of four children : Anna M., Maude, Emma G. and Alice J. Mr. Adamson is a republican ; is an industrious young man, and highly respected by the community.
George Stamp, Pellsville, farmer, section 10, was born in New York
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
on the 7th of August, 1828. He came to this state with his father in 1854, and settled near Chrisman, Edgar county, where he remained fifteen years. He then, in 1869, came to this township, where he has since remained. He was married to Sarah Bacon in December, 1855. She was born in New York state. They have had six children, five of whom are living: Charles A., Edward B., Riley, Ira and Arthur B. Mr. Stamp has held the offices of school director and road commissioner. In 1863 he enlisted in the 79th Ill. Inf. Vol., and was in the battles of Buzzard's Roost, Dalton, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta and Jonesbor- ough. He was captured by Wheeler's men, and paroled. He served three years, and was mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee. He owns eighty acres of land, worth $30 per acre. He is a republican and Baptist.
Andrew F. Wardlaw, Pellsville, farmer, was born in Warren county, Kentucky, on the 5th of June, 1827. He came to this state in 1841, and settled in Putnam county, where he remained until 1869, when he removed to Vermilion county. He was married on the 5th of Sep- tember, 1850, to Naney J. Moon, who was born in Menard county, Illinois, on the 26th of March, 1831. They are the parents of three children: Sarah J., born on the 16th of June, 1851, now wife of W. H. Lyon, of Butler township; Artiemissa, born on the 23d of January, 1854; Charley T., born on the 29th of June, 1858. Mr. Wardlaw has held the office of school director five, and pathmaster four years. In 1862 he enlisted in the war, in Co. E, 4th Ill. Cav., and was wounded in the shoulder in the battle of Coffeeville. He was in several skirm- ishes, and served two years and nine months. Mr. Wardlaw is a republican and a Presbyterian.
Owen S. Rollins, Pellsville, mechanic and carpenter, was born in New Hampshire, on the 25th of May, 1836. He worked in his father's mill until tyenty-one years of age. He then learned the cabinet- maker's trade, and then that of the carpenter. He came to this state in 1866, settling in Bureau county, where he remained till 1868, when he removed to Champaign county, and there stayed two years. He then moved to Blue Grass, and then to Pellsville. Mr. Rollins has been twice married : first to Louisa A. Tilton, on the 14th of Decem- ber, 1855. She was born in New Hampshire, on the 26th of Septem- ber, 1835, and died in 1865. They had one child, which died in June, 1856. Mr. Rollins was then married to Izalinda Moore, in September, 1869. She was born in 1847. They have by this marriage five chil- dren : Harry, Berton, Eddy, Helen B., Halycon. Mr. Rollins is a republican and a Methodist.
M. C. Small, East Lynne, farmer and stock-dealer, section 23, was
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BUTLER TOWNSHIP.
born in Montgomery county, Indiana, on the 10th of October, 1833. He came to this state in 1870. He was married on the 21st of Decem- ber, 1869, to Sarah M. McAlister. She was born in Indiana in 1842. They have two children : Laura E. and Charley E. Mr. Small has held the offices of school trustee and school director; has also been deacon in the Christian church. He fattens and ships from fifty to one hundred head of hogs a year, and handles some cattle. He is a repub- lican in politics.
George Ensminger, Pellsville, wagon-maker, was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of November, 1836, and came to this state in 1872, settling in Pellsville. He has been twice married : first to Angeline C. Snyder, in 1862. She was also born in Perry county, Pennsylvania. She died in 1870. They had two children by this marriage: Mary S., born in 1863, and Aaron B. S., born in 1864. He was then married to Matilda J. Casise, in 1873. She was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania. Mr. Ensminger is doing a good business, being the only wagon-maker in the village. He owns seven lots, a dwelling and wagon-shop in Pellsville. He is a democrat, and in religion entertains liberal views.
Benjamin R. Cole, Rankin, dry goods and groceries, was born in St. Joseph county, Indiana, on the 9th of February, 1841. His father died when he was fifteen years old. In the late war he enlisted in Co. C, 73d Ind. Inf., as private, but was soon after promoted to orderly ser- geant. He served thirty-five months, and was in the battles of Perrys- ville, Kentucky, Stone River, and several other battles. He was taken prisoner near Richmond, and was taken to Indianapolis and exchanged. Mr. Cole was married to Elisabeth Hays on the 27th of May, 1866. She was born near Crawfordsville, Indiana, on the 24th of June, 1846. Mr. Cole has held the office of town clerk one term, and has been post- master for the past four years. He commenced the mercantile business in Rankin in 1874. A few years ago he had but little property, but by his honesty, perseverance and economy, now owns eighty acres of land, worth $2,000, and has about $7,000 invested in his store. He is a republican and Methodist.
F. M. Hall, East Lynne, grain merchant, was born in Maine, and was raised on a farm. He came to this state in 1848, and first settled in La Salle county. He remained there twenty-seven years, and then came to this county, and, in 1878, went into the grain business in East Lynne. He enlisted in the late war in August, 1862, in Co. D, 104th Ill. Inf. Vol., and served until the close of the war. He was in the battles of Hartsville, Chickamauga, Lookont Mountain, Mission Ridge and Resaca. Mr. Hall has been twice married: first, to Addie L. Kel-
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
ley, in October, 1865. She was born in Ohio in 1843. They had three children : Arthur, Eva R. and Claudie B. He was then married to Ella F. Wilson on the 26th of April, 1877. She was born in Illinois in 1856. Mr. Hall has held the office of constable one term, and town- ship collector one term. He owns two hundred acres of land half a mile from East Lynne, valued at $35 per acre. He is a republican and a Baptist.
Bradley Butterfield, Rankin, farmer and carpenter, was born in Ben- nington county, Vermont, on the 24th of December, 1829. He came to this state in 1854, and settled in Putnam county, where he remained for sixteen years, working at the carpenter's trade. He came to this county in 1870. He was married on the 14th of February, 1861, to Priscilla Gurned, born in 1829. They are the parents of two chil- dren, one living, Edwin S .; deceased, James W. Mr. Butterfield has held the office of township collector and constable. He is at present supervisor. He owns one hundred and forty-five acres of land, worth $35 per acre. His father was a native of New Hampshire ; his mother, of Massachusetts. He is a republican.
Justin S. Hall, East Lynne, farmer, section 15, was born in Maine, on the 24th of April, 1840. When he was eight years old he came with his father to this state, settling in La Salle county, where he re- mained twenty years, farming and teaching. He then moved to Liv- ingston county, where he stayed six years, and came to this county in 1874. He enlisted in 1862 in Co. B, 104th Ill. Inf. Vol., and was in the battle of Hartsville. He served three months, and was discharged on account of sickness. Mr. Hall was married on the 28th of Janu- ary, 1869, to Sarah M. Stanford. She was born in La Salle county, on the 7th of May, 1845. They are the parents of three children, two living: Emery S. and Ralph E .; deceased, Elber J. Mr. Hall owns one hundred and sixty acres of land, worth $25 per acre. He has held the offices of town clerk, supervisor of township, and road commissioner. He is a republican and Baptist. Mrs. Hall is a Congregationalist.
E. H. Whitham, Rankin, banker and grain merchant, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, on the 8th of November, 1847. He spent his early life on a farm, and his educational advantages were only those of common district school. He came with his father to this state in 1866, and in 1875 settled in Rankin, commencing his banking business and grain buying. He was married to Elisabeth George in January, 1879. She was born in Ohio. Mr. Whitham is a republican and a Presby- terian. His father, a native of Virginia, was a very noted minister of Presbyterian church. He owns sixteen lots and a house and bank in Rankin. Mrs. Whitham's parents were natives of Ohio.
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BUTLER TOWNSHIP.
N. R. Hall, East Lynne, farmer, was born in the state of Maine on the 13th of December, 1844, where he remained until 1848, when the family of which he was a member removed to this state, settling in La Salle county. Here Mr. Hall was married to S. Augusta Knapp, a native of the county named. They are the parents of three children : George W., Lucia K. and S. Lloyd N. In 1875 the family removed to East Lynne, since whiel time Mr. Hall has been engaged in handling hardware, lumber and agricultural implements, in addition to his orig- inal business -that of farming. By industry and economy he has acquired quite a competency, being possessed of considerable property in and about the village.
C. B. Eells, Rankin, farmer, section 25, was born in La Salle county, Illinois. His father was one of the pioneers of this county. He was with the Indians, and for two years did not see the face of a white man. Mr. Eells assisted his father on the farm in La Salle county until the year 1875, having been previously married to Francis E. Maines. She was born in New York on the 24th of July, 1847. They are the parents of three children : Nellie, Manford and Milton C. Mr. Eells has held the office of school director. His grandfather was in the Black Hawk war.
James Sloan, Rankin, farmer, section 5, was born in Ireland on the 15th of June, 1846. He came to America in 1854, and settled in Ohio, where he remained for a period of twelve years, engaging in farming pursuits. He then moved to Cass county, Illinois, where he remained ten years, and then, in 1876, came to this county, where he has since resided. He was married to Matilda Simpson in 1875. She was born in Ireland. They have two children : John C. and Lillie J. Mr. Sloan is a republican, and in religion a Presbyterian. He owns eighty acres of land.
Aaron D. Darnall, East Lynne, attorney-at-law, was born in Edgar county, Illinois, on the 20th of February, 1847, being a son of the Rev. Aaron Darnall, of that county, who was born in Bourbon county, Ken- tucky, in 1809, and was one of the pioneers of Edgar county ; also was a Baptist minister of considerable note. The subject of this sketch, in 1875, commenced reading law with R. N. Bishop, of Paris, Illinois. After attending Ann Arbor law school one year, he was admitted to the bar in 1877, and has been practicing since, bidding fair to rank high in his chosen profession. He was married on the 29th of August, 1878, to Catharine A. Rice. She was born in Putnam county, Illinois, on the 15th of January, 1855. They have one child, Oliver Leslie, born on the 15th of March, 1879. Mr. Darnall is a democrat, and in religion a Baptist.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
John B. Hazel, Rankin, practicing physician, was born in Cham- paign county, Ohio, in 1843. He remained on the farm until he was sixteen years of age, at which time he commenced attending medical lectures, first at the Rush Medical College, at Chicago, during one course. In 1862 he enlisted in the late war, in Co. I, Znaves, and served until the close of the war. He then resumed his studies, and at the expiration of two years received a diploma for the practice of med- icine from the college before mentioned. He commenced business in Farmer City, Illinois, and then went to Penfield, where he met with eminent success for seven years. He came to Rankin in 1878, and is here meeting much encouragement. In 1868 he was married to Miss D. Rollins, a native of Champaign county. They have one child : Hallie.
N. F. Ketcham, Pellsville, lumber merchant, was born in Roches- ter, New York, on the 24th of April, 1829. His chances for an early education were good, having attended the Baptist Seminary, of New York, and the Methodist Seminary, of Ohio. He was married in 1854, to Helen A. Wilkinson, born in Waterloo, New York. They have had five children, four of whom are living: D. Ernest, born on the 6th of August, 1855; Clara A., born on the 4th of June, 1857; Lottie, born on the 21st of July, 1860; M. Cassius, born on the 15th of April, 1863; Charley, born on the 27th of November, 1867, and died in 1868. When he came to this state, in 1864, he settled in Kankakee, where he was deputy circuit clerk three years. He has in Vermilion county held the offices of town clerk and of deputy circuit clerk one term. He is steward and class leader in the Methodist church, and has taught school twenty different terms. He commenced the lumber business in Pellsville in 1878.
SIDELL TOWNSHIP.
The township of Sidell occupies the southwestern corner of the county, having Edgar and Champaign counties respectively for its southern and western boundaries, and Vance on its northern and Car- roll on its eastern sides. Until 1867 it formed a portion of Carroll township for political purposes. When it was erected into a separate township the name was given to it in honor of Hon. John Sidell, who owned an extensive farm here. The valley of the Little Vermilion, . here an inconsiderable stream, runs nearly through its center, having the ridges or strips of high land which bound this valley on the north- ern and southern boundaries of the township. This beautiful valley,
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SIDELL TOWNSHIP.
more of a basin in appearance here, because so nearly destitute of trees, encloses within its pale some of the richest farming lands of Vermilion county. It was all originally prairie, except six small groves, aggre- gating less than two square miles of timber land. For this reason alone it failed to attract attention for the first twenty years of the coun- ty's history. The little groves had been taken, but the broad expanse of prairie, which forms the real wealth of this prairie township, was in- habited only by those pestiferous things which are disastrous alike to the peace of man and beast. Perhaps there never was, in the same range of country, so many inhuman flies as only a few years ago lived and made day noxious in the limits of this prairie basin of the Little Vermilion, now known as Sidell. "Flies till you couldn't rest " is a mild way of putting it. During the month of August people found it necessary to travel by night to save their horses from being almost eaten np.
There were a few scattering residents in the township before 1850, but it was not until 1855 to 1860 that anything like general cultiva- tion can be said to have taken place. In 1853 Michael Sullivant, whose recent sudden death, followed so close upon the loss of his large prop- erty, was so startling, began making his large entries of land in this and the adjoining counties. He entered forty-seven thousand acres lying in a body in Sidell township and in Champaign county. About the same time he entered over fifty thousand acres in Ford and Living- ston counties. The portion which was in Sidell came into possession of his son Joseph, and he has from that time been managing it as a stock farm until last year. The Sullivant land in Champaign county, after having been brought into cultivation, was sold to Mr. Alexander, when Mr. Sullivant concluded to bring his large farm, lying in Ford and Livingston counties, into cultivation. His ambition was to have a large farm and work it by hired help. No portion of his land was leased, and he depended entirely on the grain that he raised and the sale of it.
The farming operations of Joseph, in Sidell, were of a different nature. He went largely into cattle feeding with very fair results and flattering prospects. About 1867 the attention of farmers here was first called to the cheap cattle in Texas and the Indian Nation, where upon the large prairies they were raised cheaply until three or four years old, and then collected and driven across the country to be grass- fed, and then grain-fed. The increasing demand for cattle, the reduced range in Illinois, and the other circumstances consequent upon Illinois emerging from a "state of nature," had so restricted the supply of " stockers" that cattle-men began looking elsewhere for them. The
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
" Texan steers" could be bought for about thirty or forty per centum less than the high grades which were raised here. They were hearty feeders, and when well fatted were worth only a trifle less than the short-horns. Here then was a sufficient inducement for men who, like Mr. Sullivant, had large tracts like this Sidell farm, to take cattle where they could buy them cheapest. It looked like a very sure road to fortune. Mr. Sullivant put seven hundred Texans on his farm about this time. These cattle, before becoming acclimated, were liable to what was familiarly called the "Texan fever," a disease which pre- vailed among them during the first summer of their life north, and which was so contagious that the natives here contracted it, and great numbers died. It was more fatal to the natives than to the Texans. This disease, like most of the other prevailing contagions, seems to have lost, with time, a portion of its virulence, and is hardly known now, or owing to the different treatment of the Texan herds, it has so nearly ceased to exist that the present generation hears nothing of it. It was a terrible blow to cattle men in this state. Instances occurred where train loads of cattle were unloaded in consequence of an accident on the road, and were left to wander over the prairies for a day or two, thus carrying the infection, which proved fatal to all cattle in the vicinity. The authority of the state was invoked, and the legis- lature passed stringent laws forbidding the importation into the state of Texan cattle. This proved only a partial remedy, as, when cases were tried in the courts, defendants pleaded the unconstitutionality of the act of the state legislature, claiming that under that clause of the national [constitution which gives congress authority " to regulate com- merce among the several states," the state could not interfere to regu- late or prohibit such importation. This had the effect to protract legal proceedings, and gave to the corporations a chance to worry the farmers out. Some of these cases are still in court.
From this disaster Mr. Sullivant was never able to recover, and after years of heroic trials he saw his splendid farm sold out, and notli- ing was saved out of the wreck of a magnificent fortune. Edward Clark became the purchaser of most of the land, and still owns it.
A few only had found homes in this township before the advent of Mr. Sullivant. A man by the name of Boose, about whom little is known, beyond that he was one of those uneasy, roving specimens who never do much but hunt places and game, made a settlement at Jack- son's Grove in 1828, but did not stay long. Bob Cruisan settled at Sidell's Grove a year or two later, but soon after went to Douglas county. Hammer and Myers were first in Jackson's Grove, but Thos. Brewer "entered them out" and they went away. Brewer sold to
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