History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois, Part 25

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 25
USA > Illinois > Wayne County > History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois > Part 25

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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the road, three miles south of Fairfield. He ; history, and needs no repetition here. A attached a cotton-gin, the only one ever in | brief allusion is all that is required. the county run by horse-power. He also had a tanyard and a store, and thus made himself one of the most useful men in the community. His place was at one time more noted than Fairfield, and did consider- ably more business. Charles Wright, a son, now owns and lives on the homestead, and is a highly respected and worthy citizen.

In Big Mound Township, one of the first mills built was Bovee's and Livergood's. The latter gentleman was from some one of the Eastern States, and was termed a "Yankee." He finally sold out his mill and other belong- ings here and moved away. Bovee was also an Eastern man, and of course a Yankee. He had a horse mill, which was one of the early institutions of the township.

Hugh Lyon manufactured castor oil in Big Mound Township, when the castor oil busi- ness was one of the largest and most exten- sive in the county. He bought beans in Fairfield, but had his factory in this town- ship, and for many years carried on a large business. This comprises, so far as we could obtain, the early manufacturing industries of the township. Nothing of late years has been added to it, unless it has been a few saw and grist mills. Big Mound is decidedly an agricultural region, and the people devote their time and energies principally to agri- cultural pursuits.

Of the early schools of Big Mound Town- ship we know little or nothing beyond the fact that they were of the usual pioneer style and taught by the usual pioneer teachers. At present there are good comfortable school- houses on Sections 4, 17, 14 and 29. In these, good schools are taught for the usual terms each year by competent teachers.

The church history of the township is written up in a chapter of the general county

The Methodists were the first religions sect in the township. Hugh Stewart was a zealous Methodist, and took great interest in church matters. After he moved to town, Rev. Chambers, a local Methodist preacher, took his place, and " kept the ark a-moving." The Baptists were the next denomination which organized churches. There are now a Baptist Church on the northwest corner of Section 3; a Baptist Church on Section 16; New Hope Baptist Church on Section 25, near the town- ship line.

The first schools of Barnhill, like those of Big Mound Township, were primitive, and would be considered by us at the present day as very poor institutions of learning indeed. It is not known now who taught the first one in the township. The schools of the present day, however, will compare favorably with those in any portion of the county. But this is not paying any extravagant compliment to the schools of Barnhill, for the entire system, not only of the county, but the southern part of the State, might be vastly improved. We have now in this township schoolhouses on Sections 1, 4, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 29, 34, 6 and 10. The last two mentioned are in the fractional part of the township. The houses are comfortable and commodious, and good schools are maintained.

The church history of this township will also be found included in a chapter upon the churches of the county. The early settlers were disposed to be religious, and early or- ganized societies and built churches. We will not repeat the church history of the township in this chapter. There are churches now as follows: Pleasant Hill Church on Section 14; Shiloh Church on Section 29; Pleasant Grove Church on Section 34; Hope- well Church on the line between Sections 8

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

and 9; a Christian Church on Section 9. The Inst two are situated in the fractional part of the township.

Barnhill Township was loyal during the late war, and turned out a goodly number of soldiers. In fact, kept its quota filled, or rather, more than filled, so that no draft was ever levied in the township.

The township voted $20,000 to the railroad -the Springfield & Southeastern, as then called, but now a division of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad-on the condition that the road would establish two depots in the township. With this condition, the road failed to comply, and in retaliation, or by way of revenge, the township repudiated its subscription.

The first roads through Barnhill and Big Mound Townships, were trails through the forests and across the prairies. These had first been trod by the red man, and the pale face, following close in his footsteps, had improved them, entting out the trees and leveling down embankments, until they be- came wagon roads. The township now has as good a system of wagon roads as can be seen in this portion of the State. There are no turnpikes, but, for dirt roads, these can be but little improved.

There are no villages in Barnhill and Big Mound outside of the county seat -- Fairfield --- with the exception of a few stations on the "Air Line " Railroad, places that have sprung up as towns since the building of the road. They are too young to have any history, be- yond tho mere fact of birth, and are little moro than a depot, post office, a store and shop or two. What celebrity they may attain to will be properly recorded in the next cen- tennial history of the county.

We have now given most of the history of Barnhill and Big Mound Townships of espe- cial interest, except that of the county seat

itself, which, as we said in the opening of this chapter, is situated in both townships. Hence a great deal of their history centers in Fairfield, as is usually the case with town- ships containing county seats. With a few parting words in memory of the early set- tlers and pioneers, we will close the sketch of Barnhill and Big Mound, and in a new chapter take up the history of Fairfield. which was laid out as a town about sixty-four years ago.

The generation now prominent upon the stage of action, as they behold the "old sot- tler," can scarcely realize or appreciate the hardships through which he passed, or the part he performed in reclaiming the country from savage tribes that roamed at will over all parts of it. "Young America," as he passes the old settler by, perhaps unnoticed, little dreams that he has spent the morning and the noontide of his life in helping to make the country what it now is, and in pre- paring it for the reception of all those mod- ern improvements which surround us on every side. But few, very few of the pio- neers are left, and those few are fast ap- proaching, or have passed the allotted three- score and ten and are stooped and bent with age. The importance that attaches to the lives, character and work of these humble laborers in the cause of humanity and civilization will some day be better understood than it is now. They will some time, by the pen of the wise historian, take their proper place in the list of those immortals who have helped to make this world wholesome with their toil and their sweat and their blood. Of them all, the pioneer was the humblest, but not the meanest, nor the most insignificant. They laid the foundations on which rests the civilization of the great West. If the work was done well, the editice stands upon an enduring rock; if ill, upon the sands; and

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when the winds and the rains beat upon it, it will tremble and fall. "They, it is true, builded wiser than they knew," and few, if any, of them ever realized the transcendant possibilities that rested upon their shoulders. As a rule, their lives were aimless and ambi- tionless, with little more of hope, or far- reaching purposes than the savages or the wild beasts that were their neighbors. Yet there stands the supreme fact that they fol- lowed their restless impulses, took their

lives in their hands, penetrated the desert wilderness, and with a patient energy, reso- lution and self-sacritice that stands alone and unparalleled. they worked out their allotted tasks, and to-day we are here in the enjoy- ment of the fruitage of their labors.

Fairfield, the county seat of Wayne County, now claims our attention. In a new chapter we will take up its history from the period of its being laid out as a town, and follow it in important features down to the present time.

CHAPTER XVI.

JASPER TOWNSHIP-TOPOGRAPHY, DRAINAGE, SOIL AND BEAUTIES-ITS STREAMS, LAKES, TIM- BERS AND WILD FRUITS-BEES, HONEY, FLORA AND FAUNA-JOSHUA GRAHAM, THE FIRST SET- TLER-THEN CAME JAMES DICKINSON, THE CANNONS, WILLIAM HUSK, GEORGE FRAZER,

JOHN PITCHETT, JOSEPH MARTIN, THE BORAHS, THOMAS BRADSHAW, TIIE OWENS, JONATHAN DOUGLAS AND MANY OTHERS-HOW THEY LIVED AND STRUGGLED- FIRST BIRTH AND DEATH-THE FIRST HOUSE, MILL, BLACKSMITH SHOP, LIME-

KILN AND LAND ENTRY, AND MARRIAGE-A PANTIIER ATTACKS A WOMAN - FIRST SCHOOLS AND SINGING SCHOOLS, AND WHO TAUGHT THEM-

FIRST SERMONS AND PREACHERS-WHEN LEADING FAMILIES CAME.

"Tread lightly! This is hallowed ground, tread reverently here!

Beneath this sod, in silence, sleeps the brave old Pioneer:

Who never quailed in darkest hour; whose heart ne'er felt a fear.

Tread lightly, then! and now bestow the tribute of a tear."

WILLIAM HUBBARD.

W ITH the best written description of a township before ns, without behold- ing for ourselves, one must draw largely npon the imagination, and then only secure twilight glimpses, while many readers are left in uncertainty, however plain the por- trayal may be, and are possessed of no ade-

quate conception of the realities described, though the work be done with consummate skill. In attempting a physical description of Jasper Township, we shall only write a brief, plain account, that can be understood by all, and we trust, to some extent appreci- ated by the patrons of this work.

To the inquisitive, who are curious to know the origin of the name of this truly beautiful township, [we would [answer"that it was __ named __ in __ honor"of"the" indomitable Sergt. Jasper, of the Revolutionary war, and had been so called"long prior to the adoption of the present system: of' township organiza- tion in the county. [Jasper is the corporate name of [ the _Congressional Township 1

* By Frank M. Woolard.

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

south. Range S east, of the Third Principal Meridian; and though short from east to west, and shorter still from north to south, it has not been short in public spirit. noble men and women, patriotic deeds and good morals.

The soil is very productive and well culti- vated; there is timber enough for domestic purposes, and some for exportation, and stone easy of access, in quantity sufficient for all practical purposes. Almost the entire surface of the township is gently undulating, with no abrupt hills or precipices, the slopes ranging from a quarter to a half mile in ex- tent. The valleys intervening between the higher lands are so inclined as to need but little drainage, and in fact almost every foot of land within the bounds of the township is susceptible of easy cultivation. Few purely agricultural regions present a more fascinat- ing appearance as you stand upon some one of her elevations, and view the surrounding rural scenery, decked with farm houses and barns, orchards and meadows, fields of wav- ing grain and herds and flocks.

Jasper Township is well drained by a number of small streams, amply sufficient to carry off the surplus rainfall, within a few hours. Elm River, bearing in a southeast- erly direction, runs through the northeast corner, and after leaving the east line, empties into the Little Wabash. Borah Creek, from near the center of Section 28. flows easterly into Elm River. The south- east is drained by Owen's Creek and the northwest by Martin's Creek and its tributa- ries.

Between Martin's Creek and Pilcher's branch, at the intersection of Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8. exists one of those low depressions, frequently found in the central and the northern part of Illinois, but not so often in this portion of the State; not very deep, but with insufficient outlet, forming a basin of ranger in the war of 1812.

soveral acres in extent, that retains water during the greater portion of the year, and is called by the unpoetical name of "the goose pond." on account of the large number of wild geese that congregated and rested on its surface, when on their migratory flights in the spring of the year.

Commencing in the southwest corner of Section 2, and bearing southeast across Sec- tion 11, is a body of water somewhat noted in the surrounding country, and known by the name of "Grinnell Pond," in honor of that most active, energetic and "hard-to-catch" member of the finny tribe, the grinnell, which is unquestionably the dominant race in its placid waters. This pond is about one and one- fourth miles long, averaging one furlong in width, with a depth of fifteen feet in places, and is supposed to be fed by living springs in the bottom. For an outlet, it has a shal- low, sluggish channel, leading into Elm River, when the flats are overflowed. The banks are low. being composed of the river bottoms surrounding it, and along its shallow borders the button willows grow in thickets, while bullrushes and water lilies flourish in abundance in the borders of the water. Tall trees stand at the brink, and appearances would indicate that at some remote period in antiquity there had occurred a down-sinking of its surface, by which means the basin had been formed. Considerable numbers of fish are caught with the seine when the waters are low, and, upon the whole it affords rather a pleasant place to camp and angle with hook and line.

In the southeastern portion of Jasper Township, occupying about three square miles in extent, is a beautiful, undulating region, called " Tom's Prairie." Why it was so named is not certainly known, but is sup- posed to be in honor of Capt. Thomas, a

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

Near this prairie were formed the earliest settlements in the township and around its border cluster the memories of many of the earlier pioneer scenes and incidents. Its fine farms are generally owned and occupied by the descendants of the first settlers.

Hargrave Prairie covers about eight sec- tions of land in the western part of Jasper Township, and was named in honor of Capt. Willis Hargrave, who, with his company of stalwart rangers in 1814, traversed this sec- tion for some time, guarding the lower settle- ments, and having his headquarters at a spring, northwest of the present town of Fairfield.

Jasper is joined on the north at the base line by Elm River Township, on the east by Massillon, on the south by Barnhill, and on the west by Lamard. There has not at any time been a village or post office within her bounds, but her citizens have procured their mail and merchandise at Fairfield.

The population has steadily increased from the commencement of the first settlement, until the present time, the United States cen- sns of 1880 showing a population for that year of 1,143.

Running northwest through Jasper Town- ship is a famous old buffalo trace, visible in many places at the present day, along which lay many bones, scattered and bleaching, when the white man came to possess this goodly land.

The timber growth consisted principally of the different varieties of oak, elm, hick- ory, walnut, cherry, ash, pecan, sassafras, locust, gum, box-elder, persimmon, linn, hackberry, sycamore, mulberry, maple, cat- alpa and others, some of which are nut-bear- ing. The wild fruits indigenous to the soil were blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, plums, haws, cherries, crab-apples, persimmons, papaws and others, greatly in

excess of the demand, and some of which surpassed in flavor the "improved " varieties to which the skilled arts of culture have been applied.

After the departure of the Indian, the pioneer hunter was attracted to this section by large numbers of deer, bear, an occasional elk, wolves, foxes, panthers, wild cats, cat amounts, raccoons, opossums, beavers, otters, mink and some smaller " varmints." Of the feathered tribes, wild turkeys, prairie hens, quail, ducks, eagles, hawks, cranes, swan, wild geese, brants, owls, pelican, thrush, mocking birds, with many others, like Col. Seller's imaginary profits, were by the " mill- ion." In addition to those above mentioned, were flocks of paroquets, a beautiful bird of the parrot family, possessing groat wealth of green plumage, hard to catch, but easily do. mesticated, and vicious when provoked.

Domestic bees, having run wild, had trav- eled so far in advance of civilization, that bee-trees, laden with large quantities of honey, were found in considerable numbers awaiting the huntsman's as. It was not un- common to secure a barrel of wild honey for a family supply during the year. Troughs were sometimes dug out, and filled with honey, where barrels could not be obtained. The " bee-moth " was unknown, and the bees' only enemies were men and bears.

If a strictly accurate account of all the early incidents and first white settlers in Jas- per Township were imperatively demanded at our hands, it is improbable that, at this late date, we could give entire satisfaction, for the very simple reason that the sources of in- formation within reach, though strictly reli- able as to integrity, differ so widely as to un- important matters, that it has been difficult to determine with certainty in many instan- ces. But in all cases we have done the very best we could, having no interest whatever

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in overdrawing or lessening the proportions of any incident in these pages; and after the most diligent research, things not thought of before for years will be called to mind. It must be remembered that it is hard, after sixty-six years have borne their burdens into eternity, to gather unwritten history with certainty. The earliest pioneers of Jasper Township have all passed to the shades, many of them, doubtless, to grand and glorious re. wards, having lived lives of virtue and honor amid their privations and hardships here.

We are indebted to Mr. Jacob Hall, Messrs. William and J. Bailey Borah, Judge Samuel Wilson and others for the chief information contained in this account.

The first white settler in Jasper Township, was probably Joshua Graham, a bachelor, who came in 1817 from Indiana, being at. tracted by the abundance of wild game in the country after the Indians were driven out. He built a pole cabin on the northwest quar- ter of the southeast quarter of Section 13 (the place now occupied by E. B. Pilcher), in which for many years he lived a bachelor's life, following the chase as a means of sup- port. It is said that he carried corn meal on his shoulder from Carmi to make his bread. He is remembered as having a very small face, as tall as Dave Barkley, and casting even a thinner shadow, very close in his dealings, sa ing his money and bartering for his necessary supplies. He died about 1840, leaving two sons, John and Joshua, residents in the township.

Shortly after his coming, and through his influence, came James Dickinson and the Cannons, from Kentucky, when Dickinson and Jesse Cannon, two bachelors, built a log cabin on the northwest quarter of the south- west quarter of Section 23, where they kept bachelor's hall, and enjoyed, according to tradition, " a high old time." Dickinson was . business. On one occasion, when he was in-

emphatically a woodsman, one of the " hunt- ers of Kentucky," pre-eminent as a bee hunter; could not be lost in the woods on the darkest night or be bewildered in the day. He blazed the first road from Elm River crossing to Fairfield, traces of which are yet visible at Ansley Johnson's farm and some other places. Consumption claimed him for its victim, carrying him off in a few years.

Jesse Cannon was keen and sharp; culti- vated his wits much more than the soil; a horse jockey in the fullest sense of that term; wild. hilarious, and full of mischief; the father of whisky-drinking and card-playing in the community; cunning and clever, he kept in the back-ground, while others went forward: hence the uncertainty of melon harvest, and he is said to have trained sev- eral young men from good families in im- moral ways. He died on his way to Califor- nia in 1849.

William Husk and family kept house for Dickinson and Cannon in 1821. But little is known of him, except that he soon moved to White County. in this State, where he reared a family, some of whom were living a few years since.

Dick Cannon moved to Northern Illinois in 1833, and died there. William Cannon, for some years a bachelor, lived and died on the southeast quarter of the northwest quar- ter of Section 13, in Jasper Township. Some of the descendants of the Cannons are still respectable residents of the county.

George Frazier came from South Carolina with Russell, to whom he was related, in 1817 or 1818. He was the fourth in the quartette of early bachelors, whose nick-names termin- ated in "ell," viz .: "Moz-ell, "Mik-ell," " Zeek-ell " and " Sam-ell." Frazier is re- membered as a miser, very industrious, a quiet citizen, attending strictly to his own

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viting his neighbors to a corn-husking, Mrs. Borah, solicitous for the comfort of his guests, inquired if any addition was needed to his larder, to which he replied that he had plenty of "buck and bacon." The venison was boiled with green cabbage leaves, in true bachelor style, but the bacon, which cost money, was not discovered at the repast, while the pot liquor was of lean quality, and none of the guests were accredited with rav- euous appetites. He afterward so far re. formed as to take to himself an additional "rib." and lived until about 1830.

John Pritchet came from South Carolina in 1817, with Enoch Beach, his brother-in- law, in his (B.'s) big schooner wagon, and settled on Section 35, a part of what is now the John M. Creighton estate. A man of more than ordinary intelligence, with a good education for the times, he was well read, and a good man generally. He was an un- fortunate man: his horses would die early, and blight, with a deathly grasp, seemed to lay hold on most of his undertak- ings. His neighbors would plow his ground in the spring, and he would cultivate his crops with the hoe. A large family of girls greatly increased his burdens, without diminishing his embarrassments or aiding in the increase of his exchequer. As an instance of pioneer female courage, an incident in connection with Mrs. P., the sister of Beach, the great bear hunter of this region, will not be out of place. On one occasion the dogs had treed a large bear near their house, when the Madame seized the rifle, and, with the cool- ness of an old hunter, brought bruin tum- bling to the ground, thereby adding to the larder, so accustomed to chronic depletion. a bountiful supply of bear meat. At a later period, on another place, their dogs treed a · was soon scattered. cub bear, when Mrs. P. galloped in haste to John Borah's in the true trooper style of

riding, and procured Mr. B. to shoot the bear. It was the last one killed, so far as is now known, in Jasper Township. Mr. Prit chet, after the death of his wife, married a Widow Caudle, and, like Wilkins Micawber, when life's sun had began to descend its western slope, he became comfortably situ- ated, and died greatly respected about 1852.

Joseph Martin came from Kentucky to Bear Prairie in 1818, purchased the southwest quarter of Section 7, in Jasper Township, of Clarinder Hooper, where he settled in 1819, and. entering other lands, immediately im- proved a large farm. He was reputed the richest man that had ever moved to Warne County, having, brought it was said, a half bushel of silver money with him. His energy, enterprise and wealth rendered him an im- portant factor in the county. He built on his place, in 1819, the first horse mill in Wayne County; and a mulberry post of this mill, after sixty-four years of exposure, is still standing. Mr. Martin burnt the first brick- kiln, built the first brick chimney, dug the first well and established the first blacksmith shop in Jasper Township. He employed men to work, created a demand for many things, disseminated money through the country where it was greatly needed, and was a bene. factor to the community; but his career of great usefulness to the material prosperity of the country was cut short by his death, which occurred in 1821. He was was buried on his own premises on the banks of Martin's Creek, a place now known as Buckeye Cemetery. The loss of such a man in that day was irre- parable, as there were none to take his place, for a rich man. with generous impulses, and enterprise, can greatly benefit a community.

After Mr. Martin's death, his tine estate

James B. Martin came to Illinois about the same time that Joseph did, but. moved to

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Arkansas some years later and died. There were some others of the Martin family who have left descendants in the county.

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History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois, Part 25

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