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 83
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at the latter place through both thighs, on the last day of the battle,- on the 7th of April, 1862. He was sent to the hospital at Louisville, Kentucky, where he lay until the 13th of May, when he went home on a discharge furlough ; on the 27th of July following he was enrolled in the 107th Ohio Vols., but was rejected for his minority. He enlisted the third time, on the 27th of July, 1863, in Co. G, 46th Penn. Vols., and was engaged at Raccoon Ford. Lookont Mountain, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Burnt Hickory and Peach Tree Creek. He marched to the sea, through the Carolinas and Virginia, to Washington City, where his active military career terminated in the grand review of Sherman's army, on the 25th of May, 1865. He was mustered out on the 16th of July following. Mr. Bartges was married on the 23d of October, 1877, to Mary E. Ford, who was born on the 31st of January, 1852. They have one child, Olivena, born on the 15th of December, 1878.
Emory F. Birch, Rossville, druggist, was born near Attica, Indiana, on the 7th of October, 1845. He is a son of Thomas and Love N. (Satchel) Birch. He enrolled in Co. G, 40th Ind. Vols., and mustered into United States service on the 10th of October, 1861; fought in the battles of Shiloh, Mission Ridge, Buzzard Roost, Rocky Face Ridge, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesborough, Frank- lin and Nashville. Veteraned on the 1st of February, 1863, and was mustered out on the 24th of February, 1866. On returning from the army he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Attica, Indiana, and has fol- lowed the same since that time. He moved and located at Rossville, Vermilion county, Illinois, at the close of the year 1869. Mr. Birch was married on the 7th of October, 1868, to Miss Anna, daughter of Joseph M. Satterthwait, who was born on the 2d of January, 1847. They have had four children : Earnest L., Edith L., Edgar L., who died on the 11th of October, 1873, and Harry W. In politics he is a republican.
Wm. S. Demaree, Rossville, implement dealer, was born in Park county, Indiana, on the 5th of March, 1841, and is the son of Samuel . and Nancy (Curry) Demaree. His early life was spent in cultivating a farm. On the 17th of September, 1861, he enlisted in Co. H, 38th Ind. Vols., and bore an honorable part in the battles of Perryville and Stone River. He was mustered ont in May, 1863, on account of chronic diarrhea, from the effects of which he still suffers in some degree. He was married on the 30th of October, 1866. to Perlina B. Watson. In 1871 he removed to Illinois, and located near Rossville, Vermilion county, Illinois, where he farmed until the spring of 1875, when he rented his place and moved to Rossville and opened an agri- cultural implement house. He is still pursuing this branch of trade.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
Mr. Demaree was village trustee from May, 1875, to May, 1876, and is now police magistrate of the town. He is the father of five living chil- dren : Omar 1., Mary U., Nancylena, Bertha L. and Maggie W. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he has been a ruling elder since 1874. In polities he is a republican.
Francis D. Tomlinson, Rossville, farmer, was born in Warren coun- ty, Indiana, near Marshfield, on the 25th of March, 1842, and is a son of Jesse and Mary (McFarland) Tomlinson. In 1853 his parents died, leaving him an orphan. He lived with his brother-in-law, Enoch Wat- kins, by whom he was raised, until of age. Afterward he attended the Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Indiana, nearly two years; then went to work on a farm of four hundred and forty acres of wild land which had descended to him from his father's estate. This is situated in sections 14, 19, 22, 23 and 24, town 22, range 11. He owns twenty- nine acres near Marshfield, Indiana. He has added by purchase till now his landed property amounts to five hundred and thirty-one acres, valued at $16,000. He was married on the 12th of November, 1872, to Matilda C. Young, daughter of Chas. S. Young, an old and wealthy settler of Vermilion county. Mr. Tomlinson is the father of the fol- lowing children : Mary Jessie, who died on the 10th of September, 1874; Walter D., who died on the 25th of July, 1876, and Elizabeth Franees. He is a member of the republican party, and his wife of the M. E. church.
Harry Shannon, Rossville, postmaster and notary, was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, on the 23d of April, 1841, and is the son of Hugh and Catharine (Harrod) Shannon. He was bred to agricultural pursuits. He enlisted, on the 4th of September, 1861, in Co. H, 34th Ind. Vol. Inf., and was mustered into the service of the United States on the 21st of the same month. The following are the conspicuous events in his military career : Operations at Island No. 10, battles of New Madrid, Port Gibson, and Baker's Creek or Champion Hills, and the siege of Vicksburg. He reenlisted on the 14th of December, 1863, when his regiment "veteraned." On the 13th of May, 1865, before news of the termination of the war had reached that distant quarter, he, with three or four hundred of his command, fell into a small en- gagement on the Rio Grande, and on the old Palo Alto battle-ground. Eighty of them, himself with the number, were captured and held as prisoners of war eight days, when they were released on parole. He filled all the non-commissioned offices in his company, and on the 1st of August, 1865, was commissioned first lieutenant. He was mustered out on the 3d of February, 1866. Immediately on quitting the army he attended two terms at the Kokomo Normal School, and after that
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taught for several years during the winter season. He was married on the 10th of October, 1872, to Mary A. Jones, daughter of Jolin P. Jones, one of the earliest settlers of Vermilion county, Illinois. He settled in Ross township in 1872, and has been postmaster at Rossville since January, 1879; and was connected with the office as an assistant for three years prior to that time. He is the father of one child : Frank Curtis, born on the 29th of June, 1877. He is a republican, and a member of the Christian church.
Emil H. Langhans, Rossville, merchant, was born in Aurich King dom of Hanover, Germany, on the 9th of April, 1836, and is the son of John and Louisa (Clemens) Langhans. He was instructed in the regular schools of the country, and was four years under the private tutorship of the Rev. Hulcher. At seventeen he came from the Fatherland, and settled at Canton, Ohio, where he was employed by his uncle in a store four years. He went to Wooster, Ohio, and en- gaged in business for himself four or five years; then traveled in Mid-
Tennessee, looking for a business location ; but signs of the war appearing, he returned north, and went into business in Lafayette, Indiana, part of the time as principal, part of the time as employé. In 1862 he employed a substitute for the nine-months service, paying him one hundred dollars. He served in Co. K of an Indiana militia regiment six weeks, in pursuit of John Morgan. He recruited in Co. K, 50th Ind. Vols .- one-year men, -and was commissioned captain. He served in Virginia, chiefly in the Shenandoah, participating in some skirmishes. After the war Mr. Langhans resumed his former occupa- tion, a portion of the time as commercial traveler in the wholesale dry- goods business. In 1873 he settled in Rossville, this county, where he has continued in mercantile pursuits. He was married to Elizabeth Black in January, 1855. He is the father of three living children : Emil D., Doretta and Edward G. He is an independent in politics, and a Methodist.
Ritchie A. S. Williams, Rossville, music teacher, was born in what was then Greenbrier county, Virginia, on the 18th of May, 1824, and is the son of Richard and Thankful (Morrison) Williams. He was educated at Winchester, Virginia, and afterward took a full course of music at the Friendship Musical Academy, New York. He followed the profession of school-teaching eight or ten years at first, but after that devoted his time principally to instruction in music. In 1846 he left Virginia and settled at Lafayette, Indiana. He lived there a few years, and removed to Delphi, where he married Miss Sarah A. Reed, on the 13th of January, 1850. In 1862 he removed to Brookeston, residing there till 1873, when he located at Rossville, Vermilion county,
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
Illinois. Mr. Williams is the father of one son, Wright, born on the 10th of July, 1852. He is a republican in politics.
Oscar Soderberg, Rossville, railroad agent and operator, was born near Stockholm, Sweden, on the 27th of July, 1844. He is a son of Robert and Catharina (Malmberg) Soderberg. He was educated at the high-school at Linkoping, attending there most of the time before he came to America, in 1869, and acquiring a classical education. On his arrival from Sweden he spent two years working on a farm near Mo- mence, Kankakee county, Illinois, after which he became employed on the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes railroad, where he learned tele- graphy. He then took charge of the Grant office above Momence one year, when he was transferred to Rossville, where he has remained the past five years. He was married on the 16th of October, 1872, to Miss Mary Young, daughter of Rev. Timothy C. and Margaret Young. Mrs. Soderberg was born on the 17th of April, 1852, in the town of Cornwall, Connecticut, and became an orphan by the death of her mother on the 23d of the same month. They have two children: Carl, born on the 6th of October, 1873, and Walter, born on the 15th of September, 1876. Mr. Soderberg is a republican, and both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
Washington Watson, Rossville, banker, was born in Portage county, Ohio, on the 16th of July, 1835, and is the son of Stephen and Eliza- beth (Clark) Watson. His parents moved to Parke county, Indiana, then to La Salle county, Illinois, when he was quite young. His early life was passed on a farm. Afterward he ran a combined flouring and planing mill, and carried on the building business in conjunction with it until 1874, when he settled in Rossville, where he has since kept a banking house. He is agent for the German Fire Insurance Co. of Peoria, and loans money on real estate. Mr. Watson was married on the 20th of August, 1854, to Charlotte M. Worth, who died on the 22d of Jannary, 1870. He then married again, on the Sth of Febru- ary, 1871, to Udora W. Dewalt.
Newton L. Bowman, Rossville, farmer, was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, on the 23d of May, 1853, and was reared a farmer. He attended the high school at Bedford, Indiana, three years, and afterward two terms at college. Quitting school, he began as a dry- goods clerk at Assumption, Illinois. Four years later he went to farming. He was married on the 30th of October, 1878, to Olivia Maddox, who was born on the 7th of December, 1848. Her mother died when she was very young. Her father, Nelson Maddox, was a New Light minister, and preached about thirty-five years. He filled the offices of justice of the peace and constable in Danville township
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many years, and was an extensive dealer in eattle, which he bought, fed and drove to Chicago. He was born on the 10th of June, 1810, and died on the 15th of March, 1875. Her brother Franklin was born on the 14th of December, 1850 ; an engraver by trade; was apprenticed to S. N. Monroe, of Danville, with whom he was employed at the time of his death, which resulted from cerebro-spinal meningitis, on the 12th of March, 1873. He was a member of the Kimber M. E. Church of Danville, very exemplary in his life, and a great favorite with all. Mr. Bowman is a republican. He owns eighty acres of land, worth $2,500.
John Milligan, Rossville, grain dealer, was born in the county of Fermanagh, Ireland, on the 19th of February, 1835, and is the son of John and Fanny (Funston) Milligan. He was reared a farmer. At the age of seventeen he came, in company with his brother Oliver, to Toronto, Canada, and next year (1852) the whole family came and bought a farm of two hundred and nine acres in the county of Simcoe, fifty miles north of Toronto, where his father still lives. Here the subject of this sketch worked about four years, when he obtained the position of steward of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, Toronto, which he retained until 1863, when he was transferred to the Malden Lunatic Asylum at Amherstburgh, county of Essex, continuing in this position six years. He was married on the 26th of January, 1864, to Caroline Charlotte Crane, who was born in Suffolk, England, on the 28th of February, 1838, and emigrated with her parents to Galt, Canada, in 1853. Mrs. Milligan was appointed matron of the Malden Asylum, and discharged the duties of that position three years, and until her husband severed his connection with the institution. In July, 1875, the family came to the states and settled in Rossville, Vermilion eoun- ty, Illinois, where Mr. Milligan opened a general store in company with his brother-in-law, Oscar G. Crane. In the fall of 1878 he sold his interest to his partner, and is now engaged in handling grain. He is the father of three children: Mary Maud, Frances Caroline and . Edith Blanche. Mr. and Mrs. Milligan are members of the Episcopal church.
George W. Akers, Alvin, physician and surgeon, was born in Put- nam county, Indiana, on the 20th of March, 1839, and is a son of Thomas and Margaret (Allen) Akers. He was reared a farmer; studied medicine under Dr. Cross, a prominent physician of Bainbridge, Put- nam county, Indiana, and attended a course of lectures at the college of physicians and surgeons at Kansas City, Missouri, in the winter of 1874-5. During the winter of 1877-8 he attended a second course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Indianapolis, Indiana, and
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
graduated on the 22d day of February, 1878. He received from the medical college of Indiana, on the 28th of February, 1879, an ad eundem degree. In December, 1863, he settled at Paola, Miami county, Kansas; lived there twelve years and removed to Vermilion county, Illinois, and settled at Gilbert, and afterward at Alvin, on the removal of the former place. He was married on the 22d of March, 1860, to Maggie M. Steele. He was a charter member of the Miami County Kansas Medical Society, which was organized in 1868, and is a member of the North Vermilion and of the Vermilion County Medical Societies. He has contributed to the following medical journals: "Cincinnati Repertory," "Lancet " and "Observer," of Cincinnati, and the "Ameri- can Practitioner" of Louisville and Indianapolis. Mr. Akers has been a reporter for country papers where he has lived the past twelve or thirteen years. His pen has been employed in literary ventures through the press at different times. He is at present correspondent of the " Danville Commercial." He has been a member of the Presbyterian church for twenty years. In politics Mr. Akers is a republican.
Joseph S. Christman, Rossville, farmer, was born on the 30th of January, 1854, in Warren county, Indiana. He is the son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Gundy) Christman. He was reared a farmer. In Decem- ber, 1871, he entered Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College, Indi- anapolis, and graduated in May, 1872. In the fall he began clerking in a dry-goods store in Attica, and early in the following year went to Indianapolis and engaged in merchandising until the fall of 1875, when he came to Rossville and took a position behind the counter in the establishment of W. J. Henderson & Co., retaining the same until the spring of 1878.
George W. Salmans, Rossville, attorney, was born in Vinton county, Ohio, on the 9th of January, 1849, and is the son of George and Re- becca (Hudson) Salmans. He was a student at Evans' Union College, State Line City, for fifteen months. He taught district school half the . time for ten years -just sixty months. In the fall of 1871 he entered the law department of the Michigan University, attending lectures one term. From this time till the fall of 1875 he worked on a farm, taught school and read law privately, when he returned to the university, fin- ished his course, and gradnated on the 29th of March, 1876. He estab- lished himself at once at Rossville, where he is successfully practicing his profession. He was married on the 12th of October, 1876, to Ra- chel Alison, daughter of Mark M. Alison. He is the father of one child: Edwin, born on the 7th of May, 1878. He is an independent in politics and in religion.
James A. Williams, Alvin, hardware and lumber dealer, was born
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in La Fayette, Indiana, on the Sth of November, 1845, and is a son of Harrison and Hannah (Gish) Williams. He was bred to farming, and lived near Pond Grove, in Warren county, Indiana, until 1873, when he began traveling for the benefit of his health, meantime studying medicine, and graduating at the Hygieo-Therapeutic College, at Flor- ence Heights, New Jersey, on the 10th day of April, 1876, delivering the valedictory address of his class on that occasion. In the winter of 1873-4 he took the course in Drew's Business College, and graduated on the 2d of March, 1874. In 1864 he enlisted in the 135th Ind. Vols., a regiment of one-hundred-days men. He was married on the 17th of April, 1879, to Sarah E. Salmans. In March, 1877, he located in Alvin, where he has since carried on the lumber and hardware trade. In politics Mr. Williams is a republican.
GRANT TOWNSHIP.
Grant township was, until 1862, a portion of Ross. and as now con- stituted, occupies the northeastern corner of the county, having Indiana for its eastern boundary, Iroquois county for its northern, Butler town- ship for its western, and Ross for its southern. It is rectangular in shape; is twelve and one-half miles long by seven and one-half wide, containing fifty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty acres, being the largest township in the county. It contains all of townships 23, range 11 and 23, range 12, one and one-half miles off the north side of townships 22, range 11 and 22, range 12, and a narrow strip of the west side of 22, range 10 and 23 range 10. It was almost entirely prairie, having but a few acres of timber near the center of its sonthern line, known as Bicknell's Point, and formed the great treeless " divide" between the head waters of the Vermilion and of the Iroquois. As late as 1860 but little of its land had been brought into cultivation, although the great highway of travel from the south to Chicago ran directly across its center twenty-five years before that time. When in 1872 the railroad was built through it but few farms were intersected. The great prairie from Bicknell's Point stretching north was the dread of the early settler when he became benighted on his return from Chi- cago after a ten days' trip to that their only market. The dark, stormy, wintry nights carried terror to many a household when it was feared that the father or husband or son was trying to find his way home over the treeless waste of the great divide.
A single incident of such tragic nature as to be told over and over
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
again at every fireside in the west forty years ago (which the writer well remembers to have frequently heard told when the wintry winds were whistling their threats at the few obstructions which the early set- tlers had erected against their unobstructed sweep), will serve to show the terrors which in those days were consequent upon winter travel. In December, 1836, on a mild warm day in which rain and snow mingled until the ground was covered with slush, and everything which travelers wore was wet through, the thermometer ranging above forty degrees, two travelers, Frame and Hildreth, were making their way back toward the settlements on the Vermilion, and, just after night overtook them, when not far from where Hoopeston now stands, the " sudden change" so often alluded to by old settlers struck them. The weather, from ranging above freezing, suddenly dropped to twenty degrees below zero, accompanied by a wind which was severe enough to freeze every article of wet clothing in an instant. The ground, full of water, became frozen in a very few minutes, and no man could stand it for even a short time on horseback. The men walked for a while, until they became numb and lost. To be lost on this great prairie at any time, and under any circumstances of weather, is one of the most painful conditions, mentally, one can be placed in; but lost in a storm, conscious that one is gradually and surely becoming less and less able every moment to care for himself, is as near like enduring the torments of the damned as one can well imagine. On, on they went, vainly hoping to reach some place where they might at least be pro- tected from the fearful blasts. They had given up the hope of getting what King James asked in somewhat similar circumstances-"rest and a guide, and food and fire"; but they still hoped to find the friendly shelter of Bicknell's Point. But finally that hope also abandoned them, and, with almost the certainty of death, they decided to kill their horses and disembowel them, hoping that the friendly shelter of the stiffening carcass and the warmth of the animal heat might save them from certain death. Unreasonable as their hope seems, they actually carried their plan into partial execution, by killing one of the horses, and pushing him over as he fell so that the back would lie toward the west, and protect them in a measure from the terrible blast. The other horse for some reason was not killed, and the two half-frozen men made themselves as comfortable as possible in the shelter which they had thus prepared. In the morning Frame was dead, and Mr. Hildreth was so badly frozen that he suffered partial amputation. He died in Carroll township some three years since, liv- ing to see almost forty anniversaries of that dreadful night.
When the old township of Ross was divided the name of Lyon was
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given to this. When the name was sent to Springfield, the auditor notified the supervisors that there was already a township named Lyons in Cook county, and it would be necessary to find another name. A western captain who had been for some years carrying on a lim- ited tanning business, of Galena, smoking his pipe very regularly, and talking very little about politics or anything else, had, a year before this, offered his services to the governor of the state in any position that he should deem him worthy to fill, in aid of organizing regiments for sending forth to put down armed treason in the south. He was sent to the adjutant-general's office with a request to put him to work. In less than twenty-four hours the adjutant-general found out that this qniet, almost speechless man knew more than the whole office. A regiment was then quartered at Camp Butler almost in a state of mutiny, and Governor Yates found that it would be necessary to dis- place the colonel and give the command to some one who could man- age it. He appealed to Capt. Grant, who at once replied that he thought he would have no trouble with as good a regiment as that. He took command, marched the men across the country to Quincy, and went to the front. He had, at the time a new name was to be selected for this township, just electrified the country by his reply to the rebel commandant at Fort Donelson, that no terms but "unçon- ditional surrender" would be accepted. It was the first great victory of the war, and it was believed that a great future awaited the new general. About the first great honor paid him was the naming of this magnificent township after him.
The earliest settlements were made along the Chicago road extend- ing from the present Rossville north. As early as 1835, George and William Bicknell took up the land at Bicknell's Point, which was the last piece of timber on the route to Chicago until the valley of the Iro- quois was reached. Asel Gilbert entered a quarter-section south of Bicknell's Point, about 1838. Oliver Prickett, who had come from Brown county, Ohio, in 1832, after farming awhile near Danville, came to live in the vicinity of Rossville. Albert Comstock had come to where B. C. Green now lives in 1837. A few years later he sold to Green and purchased in the vicinity of the Point, and lived there for several years. B. C. Green purchased the land where Thomas Armstrong lived before he bought where he now lives, which was probably about 1840, but he did nothing to improve it, as at that time he was a " bachelor of moderate means and no family." James R. Stewart, a brother-in-law of the Bicknells, came in and settled on the Chicago road, south of the Point, where the house known as the "Townsend Honse," which was built in 1847, now stands. Stewart
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY.
was at one time postmaster of North Fork postoffice before the name was changed to Rossville.
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