History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois, Part 24

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Globe Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 704

USA > Illinois > Clay County > History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois > Part 24
USA > Illinois > Wayne County > History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois > Part 24

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At the election in December, 1877, for the next year, L. J. Rider, G. M. Davis, John W. Tullis, C. C. Wickersham and J. P. Rider were elected the board. Tullis was appointed President of the board; Davis, Treasurer; Wickersham, Clerk; and Crabb, Marshal.

At the December election, 1878, for the next year, the following board was elected: S. M. Steally, J. D. Shaeffer, G. W. Johns, H. F. Sibley and N. J. Odell. Johns was elected President; Steally, Treasurer; Sibley, Clerk; and William Head, Marshal.

At the December election, 1879, for the next year, E. W. Pendleton, T. M. Rogers, O. P. Patterson, B. E. Johnson and John Morris were elected Trustees. Rogers was elected President; Morris, Clerk; Johnson, Treasurer; and P. M. Crabb, Marshal.

At the December election in 1880, for the | ensuing year, the following board was elect- ed: L. J. Rider, E. S. Black, J. L. Handley, C. W. Summers and Ed Bonham. The latter was appointed President; Handley, Clerk; Black, Treasurer; and William Rea, Town Marshal.

At the December election in 1881, for the ensuing year, William G. Carothers, Robert E. Mabry, B. E. Johnson, Dr. C. W. Sibley and James R. Norris were elected Trustees. Carothers was chosen President; Mabry,

*There is a break in the records from 1860 to 1869, and hence the boards for those years could not be obtained.

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

Clerk; Sibley, Treasurer: and R. B. Schell, Marshal.

At the election in December. 1882, for the ensuing year, Thomas L. Cooper, John L. Handley, John Morris, E. Steiner and L. J. Rider were elected Trustees. Cooper was appointed President of the board; Handley, Clerk; Steiner, Treasurer; and R. B. Schell, Town Marshal.

At, the December election in 1883 (the present year), for the next year. Thomas L. Cooper, E. W. Pendleton, John Morris, A. H. Baker and J. F. Fleming were elected the board. At our latest advices, however, the new board had not organized or elected their officers.

An item worthy of note in the town organ- ization of Fairfield is that at the election of Trustees in 1866 a temperance board was elected. The members were George Scott, Isaac Fitzgerrell, L. D. Bennett. Ed S. Slack and W. D. Barkley. This was a straight anti-whisky board, and, with the beginning of its administration, saloons were closed, and have never, to this day, been re opened. For nearly eighteen years all whisky drink. ing in Fairfield has been done from private jugs or behind the door, as no licenses have been granted to saloons since the election of the first temperance board. This speaks well for the morals of the town and the temper- ance habits of its citizens.

CHAPTER XV .*

BARNHILL AND BIG MOUND TOWNSHIPS-THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES-SET- TLEMENT-AN INCIDENT OF DAVIS-WHO THE PIONEERS WERE, WHAT THEY DID, AND WHERE THEY CAME FROM-EARLY IMPROVEMENTS AND INDUSTRIES-TIIE FIRST EFFORTS AT MERCHANDISING-WRIGHT'S STORE, MILL AND TANYARD-A BUSINESS PLACE-SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES IN BARNHILL-THE SAME IN BIG MOUND-ODDS AND ENDS-FAIRFIELD'S BIRTH, ETC

HE history of Barnhill and Big Mound, surface may be termed generally level or uu- T Townships is so interwoven that it can- not very well be given otherwise than in a single chapter. Both townships were settled early; they lie side by side, and the county- seat is alike situated in both, thus rendering much of their history identical. Each town- s hip contains fifty-four seetions, or one and a half Congressional townships, and the quality of the land partakes much of the same nature in its topographical features throughout the two entire divisions. The

dulating. But little of it is low and flat, nor is much of it broken and hilly. There is, however, a considerable quantity of what is termed " swamp land " iu both townships. A large swamp takes up nearly all of Sections 25 and 26 of Barnhill, into which flows sev- eral small streams. Plenty of artificial drainage will, no doubt, reclaim even these swamp lands in time, and make them valua. ble for farming purposes. A swamp runs entirely through Big Mound Township, be- ginning in Section 31, and passing through

*By W. H. Perrin.

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

Sections 32, 33, 28, 27, 34, 3 and 2, and like that in Barnhill, is fed by numerous streams, which keep it filled with stagnant waters the greater part of the year. The principal water-courses are Skillet Fork in Big Mound and Pond Creek in Barnhill, both of which are considerable streams, with a number of small and nameless tributaries. These town- ships are bounded on the north by Jasper and Lamard Townships, on the east by Leech, on the south by Hamilton and White Counties, and on the west by Four Mile and Arrington Townships. Barnhill, under the Government survey, comprises Township 2 and one-half of Township 3 south, Range 8 east; and Big Mound, Township 2, and one- half of Township 3 south, Range 7 east, of the Third Principal Meridian. The latter township received its name from an elevation of land which is known as " Big Mound," and is perhaps the highest point in the coun- ty. The " Air Line " Railroad passes over it, and a depot has been built upon the sum- mit of the elevation known as " Boylston Station. " Barnhill was named in honor of the Barnhill family, who were among the earliest settlers. The name was suggested by Mr. W. W. George, at township organi- zation, and was unanimously adopted. Both townships were originally heavily timbered, with the exception of a few small prairies which, however, do not take up much of their area. A great deal of the timber has been cut off, but there still remains enough for all domestic purposes. The predominat- ing timbers are several kinds of oak, ash, hickory, sweet gum, elm, swamp maple, etc., with numerous shrubs. Barnhill and Big Mound have the advantage of two railroads, viz., the Louisville & St. Louis Air Line, and the Springfield Division of the Ohio & Mis- sissippi, which have done much to increase the value of lands and other property.

The settlement of these townships, and particularly Barnhill, may be classed among the early settlements of the county. Nearly seventy years ago, homes were selected in what is now the latter township by white people. This is but a short period when considered in the world's chronology, but in the history of this part of our country it seems a long, long time. Many and start- Jing events have transpired since then -1813 -throughout this country and the old world. Thrones and kingdoms have passed away; empires have risen and flourished and fallen, and the remembrance of their glory has almost faded from the minds of men, as the waves of dark oblivion's sea sweep o'er them, and scarcely leave a track to tell us how, or where, or when they sunk. Ancient palaces, in whose spacious halls the mightiest rulers proudly trod, show the ivy clinging to their moldering towers, and

"Victor's wreaths, and monarch's gems, Have blended with the common dust."

In our own county mighty changes have been wrought. Political revolutions have shaken the continent, and " Red Battle, with blood-red tresses deepening in the sun," and " death-shot glowing in his fiery hands, raged and maddened to and fro " in our fair land, and the shackles of slavery have been stricken from four millions of human beings. But these are the least of the great events the past seventy years have witnessed. Hu- man progress and human inventions have done more in those years than in ten centu- ries before. The railroad, the telegraph, and improved machinery of every kind and de- scription attest the rapid strides of the age. The early simple settler of the country little dreamed what his short span of life would witness.

The Barnhills were the first settlers in this part of the county. A tradition is cur-

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

rent that Gen. Hargraves and his rangers encamped at a spring in 1813, near the north- west part of the present town of Fairfield. and that some of the Barnhills were with him. The tradition is further authority for the fact, that while the rangers were en- camped here, the Barnhills selected the lands npon which they afterward settled. In the absence of authentic information to the con- trary, we will give them the credit of being the first settlers here, and of dating their coming back to the year mentioned above. The elder Barnhill, the patriarch of the tribe, died in Gallatin County, where he bad located very early, but his widow came here with her family, and settled in the north or northwest part of this township. The Widow Barnhill has a grandson living in Fairfield, now quite an old man. Another grandson was killed in the late civil war, but at the time lived in Xenia, Clay County. The older members of the family are all gone, and nearly forgotten, too, by the growing up gen- eration. They came here because the coun- try, although but a wilderness, was beautiful to behold, and the abundance of wild ani- mals gratified their passion for hunting. They flinched not from the contest that met them on the wild border, and even their women and children often performed deeds from which the iron nerves of manhood might well have shrunk in fear. In their death passed away some of the landmarks that divide the past from the present. Their names should not be suffered to sink in ob. livion, but as the pioneers of this immediate vicinity, they should be kept in bright re- membrance. Much is said of the Barnhills in other chapters of this volume.

Other early settlers of Barnhill were Will- iam Watkins, Asa Haynes, Walker Atteberry, Nathan Arteberry, Renfro brothers, Archi- bald Roberts, William Simpson, Jr., Daniel

Gray. Moses Musgrave, James H. Smith, William Davis, James and John Butler. Daniel Kinchloe, Henry Tyler and his mother, John Cox, David Wright, the Tur- neys, Stephen Slocumb, David and Lewis Hall, Stephen Merritt, Sr., - Stanley, George Borah. Jacob Beard, Day brothers, Gillem and Isaac Harris, - Puckett, and perhaps others whose names have been for- gotten. Puckett had one of the early mills of the township. Gillem and Isaac Harris were among the earliest, and were great bear hunters. The Day brothers came in early, and are both now dead, but a son of one of them still lives ir the township. Daniel Kinchloe and Jacob Beard were brothers-in- law. Both were very early settlers, and Kinchloe lived to be ninety-five years old be- fore passing to his reward. George Borah settled early and was a man of some note. He was a man of more than ordinary intelli- gence, took much interest in educational matters, and exerted a great influence in the community. His farm was one of the larg- est and best improved in the neighborhood. He farmed extensively, raised stock, and was a successful farmer and a useful man in the township.

Archibald Roberts came from Virginia, and settled in Barnhill in 1817. His father was killed in that State by the Indians, wlien the remainder of the family moved to Ken- tucky, and afterward to Illinois. Archibald located in the south part of the township, and there commenced the mannfacture of hats. He afterward moved to Fairfield, where he long continued the same business, but finally went to Mount Carmel and there died in 1863. A man named Stanley, whose first name is forgotten, came early, and was the first cooper ever in Wayne County. Stephen Merritt, Sr., was an early settler. He had three sons, Stephen, George and William, who

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

came at the same time, and also rank as early settlers. They were from Kentucky, and are all now dead except George, who is still liv- ing in the township. The Halls were also early settlers. A son of one of them now lives on the old Hall homestead. The Slo- cumbs settled here as early as 1816. Stephen Slocumb, the father of Rigdon B. Slocumb, came from Union County, Ky., and settled in this township, where the family figured act. ively for many years. So much is said of them in other chapters, particularly of Rig- don, that anything here would be but a repe- tition. A Mrs. Tyler, whose husband died before she came here, was an early settler. Henry Tyler, a son of hers, is looked upon as an early settler. William Watkins settled in the southeast part of Section 9, on the place now owned by Gideon Gifford. He came from Kentucky, and was a zealous preacher in the Baptist Church, as well as an enterprising farmer. William Simpson came from Tennessee, and had a large family. They were all thrifty farmers, and a large number of the name still live in the township. Daniel Gray came from South Carolina and settled on Section 11. He sold out here to W. W. George, and moved into White Coun- ty, where the remainder of his life was spent. G. A. Church now owns the place on which he originally settled. The Butlers settled on Section 28, and were energetic farmers. They accumulated considerable property, and died well off, so far as this world's goods go. Representatives of the family still live in the township. Walker Atteberry settled on Sec- tion 8, and Nathan Atteberry settled on Sec- tion 29, on the west border of the township.

The Turneys settled in Section 10, and came from Kentucky. The elder Turney was a man of ability and energy. He reared several sons, who partook largely of the father's strength of character and intellect.

Daniel Turney, one of these sons, was a phy - sician, who attained to eminence in his pro- fession, and also in politics, and was several times elected to the Legislature. He had a son, who, like his father, was a physician, and at one time was a member of the State Senate. William, a brother of Dr. Daniel Turney. was also an eminent physician. The old man died in the township. and most of his progeny have followed him to the land of shadows. Only one representative of the family now remains in Barnhill Township. Asa Haynes married a daughter of Turney. He was a plain farmer, and died in the township several years ago.

An early settler of Barnhill was William Davis, who settled on Section 34-afterward known as the Moses Musgrave place. Davis was a great hunter, and quite an eccentric character. He was once elected to the Legis . lature, and many incidents, some of them very ludicrous, are related in connection with his public service. The following is a sample : When the clerk of the house asked him his occupation, he was unable to obtain a direct answer. "Are you a farmer?" asked the clerk. "No," replied Davis. The same ques- tion was asked of all the other trades and professions, receiving each time the answer of no. The clerk very impatiently demanded -- " What in the Helen blazes are you then ? " To this Davis replied, " A hunter by G-d," and was so recorded among the faithful. The proceedings of the Legislature show that his only great act during his term of service in the House, was upon a certain occasion when there was a bill pending, which he thought, effected his constituency. He arose, and tremblingly addressed the speaker as follows: " Mr. Speaker, I would thank you to lay that bill on the table," and then sat down, over- come by his own great effort. When Moses Musgrave came to the township he settled on

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

the place on which Davis had originally set- tled. James H. Smith settled in northi part of the township; Kinchloe and Tyler settled on Section 31, Cox on Section 30 and David Wright on Section 20. The Renfro brothers settled on Section 7, in the southern part of the township. Most of the settlements men- tioned were made in the southern part, and were scattered principally along the old State road, leading from Fairfield, through Carmi and on to Shawneetown.

The following entries of land in Barnhill will add something perhaps, to the history of its early settlement. Many persons, however, entered land who never even settled in the county, much less in this township, and the following is given merely as a bit of ref- erence :

Nathan Owen, in 1819. in Section 1; Adam Murray, in 1818, in Section 3; Mat- thew Kuykendall, in 1818, in Section 5; Ormsby and Hite, in 1818, in Section 5; J. Felix and H. Barnhill, in 1818, in Section 6; John Carson, in 1818, in Section 7; An- drew Carson, in 1818. in Section 7; J. Dun- lop, in 1818, in Section 7; Joseph Martin, in 1818, in Section 11; Robert Leslie, in 1818, in Section 12; R. B. Slocumb, in 1818, in Section 13; William S. Merrill, in 1818, in Section 13; Ralph Hatch, in 1818, in Section 14; A. C. Ridgeway, in 1825, in Section 20; Caleb Ridgeway, in 1818, in Section 21; Joseph Cnndiff, in 1819, in Sec- tion 24; Robert B. Knight, in 1817, in Section 27; Thomas P. Fletcher, in 1818, in Section 27; James Butler, in 1818, in Section 28; Jacob Ridgeway, in 1818, in Section 30; | John Johnson, in 1818, in Section 30; Peter Staton, in 1819, in Section 30; Thomas Cox, in 1819, in Section 30; A. Hubbard, in 1818, in Section 30; Henry Tyler, in 1819, in Section 30, and all in Township 2 south, and Range S east. John Moffitt, in 1818, in

Section 1; Joseph Campbell, in 1818, in Section 2; Alexander Campbell, in 1818, in Section 2; Blissett heirs, in 1818, in Section 5; George Close, in 1817, in Section 9; William Wakins, in 1817, in Section 9; Archibald Roberts, in 1818, in Section 11; William Gray, in 1817, in Section 11; T. Simpson, in 1818, in Section 12; William Simpson, Jr., in 1818, in Section 13; Solo- mon Stone, in 1818, in Section 13; J. Armstrong, in 1817, in Section 13; William Simpson, Sr., in 1819, in Section 14; G. S. Taylor, in 1817, in Section 14, all in Town- ship 3 south, and Range east, being the southern part of Barnhill as at present bounded.

Settlement of Big Mound .- Among the early settlers of Big Mound Township, as it now exists, were the following, who were all English people: Hefford, Sargentpree, James Simms, John White and the Widow Walton. The last two mentioned are long since dead. Simms is still living and is now about ninety- five years old. He came here a stripling of a lad with Hefford and Sargentpree, and lived with them for some time after they settled here. Hefford and Sargentpree went to New Orleans, where they opened a com- mission house, and for years did a large business. But they finally failed and came back to Illinois. Hefford afterward went to Mexico, and Sargentpree located in Carmi and died there some years later. Mr. Simms is, perhaps, the oldest settler now living in the township.

John and James Young, two brothers, came about the year 1818. John was a man of fine intelligence, but uneducated-illiter ate but not ignorant. He loved money and held on to it like grim death, which eventu- ally gave rise to the belief that he was a downright miser. His cabin was of the usual pioneer style-built of logs, and in

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

one of these, which, like the Hardshell preacher's "board tree," was " holler at the butt," he hid his money, afterward plastering over the aperture with mud. When on his death-bed he told his son of the hiding-place of his money, and upon searching according to the old man's directions quite a sum of gold and silver was found. He died but a few years ago, at an advanced age, and was rich, having considerable property in addi- tion to his hidden wealth. He was a man of fine taste and excellent judgment; he bought but little, but that was of the very best quality. He possessed little of the re- finements of life, indeed, lived almost like an animal, and with his animals. Ewing Young, a son of John, still lives in the county. In many respects, he is like his father, being intellectual, enterprising and wealthy, and like his father is fond of money, and takes care of what he gets. He owns several good farms well improved and stocked.

Two early settlers of what is now Big Mound Township were a couple of old Rev- olutionary soldiers named Stewart and Gas- ton, but whose first names are forgotten. Gaston was a fleshy, large, unwieldy man, and having ridden one day to Fairfield on horseback, to draw his Revolutionary pen- sion, his horse became frightened and un- manageable, throwing him violently to the ground, from the effects of which he died in a few hours. He has no descendants in the county nearer than a great-grandson. But John Gaston, a son, was among the early settlers and was a soldier of the war of 1812. He, too, is long since dead. Cyrus Gaston was a brother of John's, and moved away from this section. Stewart, like Gas- ton, was a Revolutionary soldier, and died many years ago. Hugh Stewart, a son, and whom many of our readers will remember,

was an old settler in this township. He af- terward moved into the town of Fairfield. where he spent the remainder of his life in active business. More is said of him in the history of Fairfield.

The Books were early settlers of the town- ship. Michael and William were brothers. The former was a hatter by trade, and worked at the business here for many years. He had a son named Michael, who is still living, and is an excellent citizen of the township. The Clarks were also early set-

tlers. There were four brothers-John, James, Andrew and Alexander. John, who was known as "Jackey," was a great deer hunter, and is said to have killed more deer than any other man who ever lived in the county. He spent most of his time in the delightful pastime, and was remarkably suc- cessful in bringing down the game. James was also a hunter, but was not so successful as his brother. Andrew was a plain old farmer. Alexander was a man of some note, and represented the county a time or two in the State Legislature. They came originally from Kentucky, and settled in Gallatin Coun- ty prior to the war of 1812, and a few years after its close came here. A man named Livergood came in early. He was a Yankee, and had one of the first mills in the town- ship.

Other settlers of the township were Enoch Neville, Andrew Hall, John Bovee, Capt. John Clark, -- Robinson, Daniel Cleven- ger, etc. Enoch Neville was a great story- teller, a kind of a Joe Mulhatton of a fel- low. He could entertain his listeners by the hour with the most wonderful stories that could be imagined. He talked through his nose, and this lent additional interest to his yarns. Andrew Hall was a perfect giant; loved whisky and a row better than anything else. He was the bully of the neighborhood,

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

and never missed a fight if there was any chance to get into it by fair or foul means. John Bovee lived near the Lamard line, and had an early mill. Robinson was a man of some note, and served several terms in the State Legislature. Clevenger was a Yankee, and a great coon hunter, and in those early days coonskins were a legal tender, and paid all debts, and were even taken at par for whisky. So the township settled up, and people came in, at last, faster than we are able to keep trace of them. Both Big Mound and Barnhill Townships were soon dotted over with cabins, and smoke from pioneer settlements began to ascend from all quarters.

A kind of sympathy or brotherhood existed among the pioneers which has almost faded away with other landmarks of the early pe- riod. When a " covered wagon " was espied coming over the prairies or through the for- est, the cry would be, "There comes another settler," and all would start to meet the new- comer, and give him a hearty welcome. They would take axes and help to cut out a trail to his land, and aid him in selecting a good site for his cabin. When all was agreed on, they would chop and roll two logs together, kindle a fire between for the good woman to cook and provide something to eat, while they went to work clearing off a spot on which to erect a cabin. In two or three days sufficient logs would be cut. and the cabin erected, a hole cut in one side for a door, and the fam- ily housed in their new home. This was pio- neer friendship and hospitality, and was far more sincere than they are at the present day.

The following pioneer reminiscence is illus- trative of the period of which we write, and many of the older citizens of the county, will doubtless be able to appreciate it:

"I have seen a whole family, consisting of father, mother, children, pet pigs, young ducks and chickens, and two or three dogs,

all occupying the same room at the same time. Some endured hardships, having large families to support and no money; meat could be obtained from the woods. The writer of these lines has seen the time (and more than once, too), when he has brought home a sack of meal, and did not know where the next was to come from. When I look back half to three-quarters of a century, and see this country a howling wilderness, thronged with wild beasts of various kinds, hardly a white inhabitant from here to the Rocky Mountains, I am struck with wonder and surprise at the progress of our nation." This is but the experience of hundreds of others who settled here when Illinois was the extreme portion of Anglo-Saxon civiliza- tion.

One of the earliest manufacturing estab. lishments in Barnhill Township was a tread- mill -- that is, a mill, the power of which was received from a tread-wheel. It was built and owned by Samuel Leech, and to the mill was added a distillery, for the purpose of making up the superfluous corn and rye into whisky. A large business was done by it for some years; people came long distances to it, and remained sometimes several days, in order to get their grinding. It was at the time the largest mill in the county. Another mill was built by John Butler. It was but a corn-cracker, and Butler would throw a " turn of corn" into the hopper at night, and then go home, and by morning it would be about all ground out. It was built on a little wet- weather stream that is nameless, and has long since passed away. Lock also built a very early mill. It was a horse mill, but ground both corn and wheat, and did good work for the time. Puckett had a horse mill on the road from Fairfield to Burnt Prairie, which was an excellent mill of the kind. David Wright, later on, built a horse mill on

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History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois, Part 24

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : Globe Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 704

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Globe Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 704