History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois, Part 28

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 28
USA > Illinois > Wayne County > History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois > Part 28

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Among others who settled in Massillon Township many years ago, were Samuel Al- lison, James Simms, W. If. Porterfield, Daniel Spitler, Stephen West, and his son Michael, the homeliest men in the world, J. J. Lum, George L. Borah, George W. Court- right, W. M. Shearer, John Hays, Clifton Boles, James Wheat, Marvel Hill, Thomas St. Ledger, Walter Dunn, James Thomas, Hi- ram Miller, Charles Iles, Stewart Cunning- ham, Levi Garrison, Daniel Kendrick, Will- iam Collins, Cyrus Oakley, Isaac Tree, A. Mason, James Lane, J. A. Paul, Lee Duck- worth, Willin McCollum, and his brothers, John, Daniel, James and Samuel.

Hugh, Joseph, James and Green Walker came about 1832. An account of, Richard Hall will be found in the general history of the county.

The Government land in Massillon Town- ship was surveyed in 1809. The entry price was for many years $2 per acre, with the privilege of partial payments.

Many entered more than they could pay for, but were allowed to apply all their pay-

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

ments on smaller tracts, and thus secure homes.

Many settled on Congress land without purchasing the same, and were called " squat- ters." The homes of the squatters were sometimes entered by others, and they lost their homes. As before stated, much of Massillon Township is composed of swamp lands, and the growth of the community bas been retarded by unfavorable litigation in connection with the same.

The county has expended many thousands of dollars in this litigation, but somehow has always met with repulse and defeat.

Seven or eight years ago, Col. H. Thomp kins came to Wayne County and undertook to remove the cloud from the title of many tracts of this land for private owners. After a long and tedious struggle for many weary years, he has recently obtained decisions from the highest tribunal in the State, con- firming the title in the rightful owners. The test case was " Scates vs. King."

The careful student of the world's economy will have observed that the natural blessings to mankind have been tolerably evenly dis- tributed by a kind and overruling Providence. One country will surpass another in many respects, while it has its drawbacks, and is more than equaled by the other in other qual- ities. Life, health, soil, materials, oppor- tunities and many other conditions enter as competitors in these lists in the conflicts of life.

The pioneers in Wayne County were nearly all poor, and forsook the many advantages of older communities, depriving themselves of many comforts, and enduring many hardships that they might better their own condition, and secure a settlement with homes for their children. A majority of them came on pack horses, others in pirogues, and some even on foot. There were no roads in the country,

and they were under the necessity of follow- ing a course or mere trail to their destina- tion, and even after their arrival and settle- ment with most of them it took many weary years of toil before they could hope to be- come moderately comfortable. Few of them had money, and what they had was reserved to purchase the much-coveted homestead.

A Mr. King's, brother-in-law to Beach, and grandfather to Mr. Clay King, is thought to have been the first death in Massillon Town- ship.

Mr. Haulcome, a school teacher, was the next victim, so far as is now known. He died of milk sickness, and was the first to tell what his ailment was, having been ac- quainted with the same disease in Indiana. On the 22d of August, 1822, David Monroe and Nancy Crews were married, Archy Rob- erts officiating. This was undoubtedly the first matrimonial venture in the township, and proved to be a good one. August 13, 1821, Owen Martin and Polly Crews were married by the same, but the alliance was not a fortunate one. On May 13, 1822. Abraham Beach was joined in bonds matri- monial to Anna Price, by Owen Martin, Esq.

The early pioneers were necessarily self- reliant, and many shifts were resorted to in their penury that would seem ridiculous to the present dependent generation. In their labors and plannings, as is generally the case, the noble women bore a generous and heroic part. It has been said that " woman is God's noblest and best gift to man," and without her refining and restraining influence man becomes a savage, and soon sinks low in the descending scale of human depravity.

The pioneer cabins were built of small logs, and covered with clapboards, upon which were placed weight poles to keep them in place, nails being out of the question, and those used long after were forged by the

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

blacksmith. The chimney, which occupied a large portion of one end of the house, was built on the outside, of sticks and clay. The floor was made of hewed puncheons, and the door of riven board, and hung on wooden hinges. For the window, a small hole was cut, through which one could peep out, and it was many years before the people generally could afford the luxury of a glass window. This one room was used for kitchen, parlor, dining-room, dormitory, and chapel, and con- tained the spinning wheel, reel, winding blades and loom, besides the family and cas nal visitors. Ten to sixteen children were esteemed no disgrace, and often constituted the family's greatest wealth. Trundle beds were used to stow away children at night, but placed under the larger steads in day time. The larger children slept up stairs, or rather climbed a ladder into the loft, where beds were spread for them. Four or five children in one bed were supposed to keep each other warm in winter. Cook stoves were unthought of, and the cooking was done on the hearth before the fire, by means of pots, skillets and pans. Gourds were used for drinking cups, and in them were often stored lard, salt, soap, honey and the oil from wild animals. The dishes were often made of pewter, and could not easily be broken. In summer, strips of venison were cut and hung in the chimney above the fire to be tried, and was called " jerk." Corn was grated when soft, or pounded in wooden mortars, before mills were erected.

The blades of corn were stripped off and cured, as they are in the Southern States to- day, for fodder. Prairie grass was often cut, and made excellent hay. Oxen were used for plowing and drawing loads, and sleds and truck wagons were common vehicles. The plows were primitive, but answered their purpose in the redundant soil. Flour was

but little used, and was not so highly esteemed for bread as corn meal.

The first school in Massillon Township was taught by William Aldrich in a house built by Welch on the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 30. There are only two schoolhouses in the township at present, but some union districts have houses in adjoining townships, the low lands being so distributed as to make such divisions necessary.

The first singing school was taught at Richard Hall's by James Miller.

Preaching by the Cumberland and also Old School Presbyterians, the Methodists and Baptists was commenced and kept up in pri- vate houses almost from the first settlement. The morals of the first settlers were generally good.

Grain cradles came into use about 1830, and rats first made their appearance in this township in 1840, coming gradually from the direction of Shawneetown.

Of accidents and incidents of a tragic character, Massillon Township has furnished a fair proportion. If an old tradition be ro- liable, a man by the name of Dubose, on his way from Vincennes to Kaskaskia, was drowned in the Little Wabash River, at or near the present site of New Massillon, pre- vious to the war of 1812.

While the rangers were camped near the same place, in sight of the Indian camp fires, a man by the name of Hensley shot and killed a comrade named Hughes, mistaking him for an Indian. George Laird was drowned at Massillon, while swimming his horse across the river, about 1860.

Isaac, a twelve-year-old son of William Collins, fell from a canoe at the lower bridge on Elm River, and was drowned, about 1850. About 1855, a man named Orr, while drunk, was killed by a man whose brother he was

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

assaulting. A daughter of Samuel Duck- worth was thrown from a horse and killed · near the town of Massillon a few years since.

In 1841, Judge Wilson, while hunting near the place of his present residence, shot and wounded a very large buck, and suppos- ing him to be killed, as he was down, gath- ered hold of him, but to his sorrow found him to be only stunned. A terrible struggle ensued, sometimes one and then the other having the advantage, but finally the deer escaped, leaving Wilson shirtless, the skin on his back split, his few remaining articles of apparel in shreds, and himself in no elegant plight to appear in drawing-room or parlor.

While John McCollum was one night hunt- ing in the bottom, near the mounds, he treed, as he thought, four coons on a large water oak having many limbs. As was often done, he climbed the tree to drive off the game that his dogs might catch them when they should come to the ground, but to his amaze- ment a large wild-cat sprang on top of his head with a scream and made her escape, but McC., letting all holds go, tumbled from limb to limb till he reached the ground con- siderably bruised, but more scared than hurt.

In 1843, Newbery Cline laid off the village of New Massillon. on the south half of the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 15 in Massillon Township. There were six blocks, composed of six- teen lots, each lot 50x100 feet square .. William L. Gash was the Surveyor. North" street, leading north, was forty feet wide, and intersecting this street at right angles, was Main street, fifty feet wide and Second street, forty feet wide.

On the 25th of November, 1849, Wiley Webb, assisted by Thomas R. Burket, the Surveyor of Edwards County, made an ad- dition to the town, and on the 13th of March, 1850, Mr. Webb made another adddition, in-

creasing the number of lots in the village to sixty, at the same time establishing Mill and Water streets. William Whitacre was the surveyor, and the true meridian is given, and also the magnetic meridian, with a bear- ing of 70' 30' east.

It seems that a man named Saunders erected a water mill for grinding, at this place, as early as 1825, which he afterward sold to Samuel McCollum, when he moved to Arkansas. McCollum operated this mill till about 1836, when it was washed away. Wiley Webb built a mill on or near the same site, for the purpose of grinding and sawing, in 1849, which he operated for many years. The village grew rapidly, and became a com- peting point in population and business with Fairfield, though it is hardly probable that it ever equaled the county seat in these respects.

In 1854, there were sixty families living in New Massillon, and town lots were sold as high as $50 each. At that time there were three general stores in the village, kept by Harris & Vandaveer, Dr. W. H. Camp and Ed Willey, the latter being succeeded by Alvis Boze. Two saloons also flourished at this time, and were not looked upon as they would be at the present in Wayne County. where there has been nothing of the kind for the past seventeen years.

Benjamin Harris was the first Postmaster, and is remembered as an enterprising and most excellent man. He moved to Clay City subsequently and died.

Samuel McCollum operated a tanyard, while the cooper shop was run by a man named Entriken, and the coffins and wagons were made and chimneys built by Justice Beach. James L. Vandaveer was the black- smith. There was a toll bridge across the river, but it fell down about 1855.

Benjamin Harris was the Justice of Peace. Wiley Webb carly built a steam saw and

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

grist mill, so that the village had two mills running at the same time. Wiley Webb seems to have been one of the most enter- prising men that ever lived in the township. Considerble quantities of pork were packed at this place during its prosperity, which was transported to New Orleans on flat-boats. A number of flats, loaded with produce, were sent down the river from New Massillon. Martin and Henry Webb, and Crews & Camp- bell shipped several boat-loads of loop. poles.

A Methodist parsonage existod here, and the pastor of New Massillon Circuit lived in it. The Baptist Church at one time had a membership of about sixty people in this vicinity, and the Methodists were probably equally flourishing, but neither of them have

been prospering for a number of years past. The town of New Massillon was quite a village in its day, being at least the second in importance in Wayne County. But, like many ancient cities, it enjoyed its periods of rise, growth, maturity and decay; and upon the establishment of Mount Erie, New Mas- sillon began to decline, some of the houses being torn down and removed to that villago, while others were taken to different places in the surrounding country, until at this writing very little remains to mark the spot where New Massillon one flourished.

Upon the establishment of township organ- ization in Wayne County in 1859, the town- ship was called Massillon in honor of the village of that name.

CHAPTER XVIII."

LAMARD TOWNSHIP-DESCRIPTION-TOPOGRAPHY, ETC .- EARLY SETTLEMENTS-PIONEER IM- PROVEMENTS AND INDUSTRIES-CAUDLE'S DISTILLERY AND THE EARLY USE OF WHISKY -CHURCHES AND CHURCH BUILDINGS-SCHOOLS-DR. JONES, THE FIRST TEACHER-HOW HE WENT SNIPE HUNTING-JEFFERSONVILLE LAID OUT AS A VILLAGE-ITS GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND INCORPORATION-BUSINESS STATISTICS, ETC.

"Like the one

Stray fragment of a wreck, which thrown With the lost vessel's name ashore, Tells who they were that live no more." -Moore.

H NEW studies are more interesting and profitable to mankind than that of the past experiences, deeds, thoughts and trials of the human race. The civilized man and the untutored savage alike desire to know the deeds and lives of their ancestors, and strive to perpetuate their story. National patriot- ism and literary pride have prompted many

in all times to write and preserve the annals of particular people, but narrow prejudices and selfish interests too often have availed to suppress the truth or distort the fact. It is the aim of the writer to collect and prepare in a readable form some of the facts of the early settlements and subsequent growth of Lamard Township, which furnishes the sub- ject-matter for this chapter. The families whose ancestors were early on the ground, and whose members have made it what it is, are worthy of remembrance, and their diffi- culties, sorrows, customs, labors and patriot-

* By J. M. Runk.

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

ism should not be allowed to fall into ob- livion.

Lamard Township was organized as such in 1859. From 1819 up to its organization, it was classed in the precinct system. It is located near the center of the county, and is bounded on the north by Bedford, on the east by Jasper, on the south by Big Mound, and on the west by Arrington Townships. It comprises thirty-six sections, and is known as Congressional Township 1 south, Range 7 east.

A large portion of the township is a beau- tiful prairie,

" Where travelers entering behold around A large and spacious plain on every side,

Strewed with beauty, whose fair grassy mounds, Mantled with green, and beautified With ornaments of Flora's pride."

The soil of this prairie is of great fertility, and well adapted to the growth of almost all crops cultivated in this region, and particu- larly to grasses. Hundreds of acres of "red top" is grown, and the seed procured from it brings from 50 to 75 cents per bushel, thus furnishing a large portion of the revenne of the people. The woodland is somewhat of a rolling nature, but is also productive, and yields crops of corn, wheat, rye, oats and vegetables. Almost all the fruits common to this latitude are cultivated here in abundance.

At the time of the early settlements in the territory now included in Lamard Town- ship, many wild animals were then abundant. Now all is changed, as the ax and plow, gun and dog, railway and telegraph have meta- morphosed the face of nature, and the wild animals have been either exterminated, or have hid themselves away in the wilderness. The only stream of any importance is Martin Creek, which has its source in Section 9, from where it makes a horseshoe bend through Sections 25 and 32, passing out of

the township, and through Section 12, of Jasper Township, and thence empties into Deer Creek.

Tradition seems to be the only authority for naming the township in honor of a sup- posed settler, by the name of Lamard. Of him or his actual settlement we know but little, and that is not such as to warrant our naming his nativity or telling what became of him. There is little doubt, however, that such a man did live in the township, and if not the first, he was among the first white men within its present limits.

John Moore was among the very first set- tlers of the township, and came from Meigs County, Ohio. At one period he possessed about 1,600 acres of land near the present site of Jeffersonville, where he had originally settled. He died here, and his widow sur- vives in Jackson County, this State. Moore's children were James, Luther, Mary A. and Malantha. Moore was a man of rigid belief, yet perhaps, in some respects, a little preju- diced, and, coming from Ohio, he entertained political sentiments at variance with the ma- jority of his neighbors. He was what was then termed an Abolitionist, and at the time was not so popular as he might have been. He employed several negroes to labor on his farm, and was finally arrested, being charged with having induced some of the colored race to locate in Southern Illinois. He was acquitted on the ruling of a certain Judge "that the United States Government had brought them to Cairo."

The Buckeye State gave birth to many who were early settlers in Lamard Township. John Moreland, Townsend Richards, Jesse Milner, H. Henthorn and Jesse Ward were all Ohioans. Moreland came in 1838, and hailed from Columbiana County, and settled on Section 6 (now Jasper Township), where he purchased about 200 acres, and engaged

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

in rural pursuits until about the close of the late war, when he moved to Jeffersonville, where he has since resided, and is character- ized as an exemplary man, and as having been a zealous and active worker in the Christian Church. Mr. Richards was also from Columbiana County, and came here in IS38, settling one mile west of where is now Jeffersonville, and, like Moreland, was an energetic churchman. He died of paralysis, leaving a number of sons, among whom were William, Isaac, Sylvester, John, David and James; daughters, Rhoda and Sarah. Jesse Ward came in 1841, and was from Washing- ton County. He settled on Section 17, where he lived until 1875, when he became a per- maneut resident of Jeffersonville. Milner settled on Section 1, and reared fourteen children, of whom Mary, Elizabeth, Jehu, David, Jesse and Harmon are living. Hen- thorn is still living in the township. Elisha Emmons settled near where the old fair grounds were located, and his sons were Jes- se, Walter, Eli, and his only daughter mar- ried John Black, of Fairfield. Mr. Emmons was a hunter of some notoriety, and a usual remark of his was that the day before Mon- day was his lucky and most successful one to hunt. He was, however, an upright man and a good citizen.

Edward Puckett came from Tennessee about 1837, and located on Section 6. He was a good man, and was ordained Elder of what was known as the Buckeye District Christian Church.

Dr. T. P. Green settled here in IS38. His original settlement was ontside of the town- ship, and he was one of the first physicians in the country. About 1840, Isaac Brock and Jonathan Hayes settled on land adjoin- ing, about one mile north of Jeffersonville. The former died here at the good old age of eighty years. and the latter spent the most

of his time hunting. but as the settlements grew, the bustle and hostility of the new comers drove the wild animals away, and he followed them whither they went, where he finally ended his allotted time in the full en- joyment of his favorite pursuit. Isaac Whittaker, and Aaron. William and Phin- eas, his sons, were among the first settlers in the vicinity of the old Buckeye Church. In the same neighborhood, John Blackford, David Metz and Cornelius Ades, settled a little later. James Ades, the father of Cor- nelius, is living, and is probably the oldest man in the county. Cornelius Ades was a minister of the Christian Church. Joshua Caudle and son, Thomas, came from Tennes- see. The former was peculiar and eccentric, but was a zealous member of the Christian Church. During the latter years of his life, he would hobble to church, and upon reach- ing the entrance to the sacred tabernacle, he would yell at the top of his voice, " Brethren and sisters, how do you all do?" And it made no difference if services had commenced, as was usually the case upon his arrival, his greeting was as above stated. For a long time previous to his decease, he expressed the most ardent desires to meet the grim monster, and seemed to entertain no fears whatever of crossing the cold dark river.

Isaac Jerretts and a Mr. Sumter were set- tlers at a subsequent date. The latter located on the farm now owned by Jesse Ward. and after spending the most of his time hunting here, he went with the wild game to other homes in the West.

The early settlers of Lamard Township in common with the pioneers of other portions of the county, were subjected to the dangers and privations of the times. One of the great drawbacks was the procuring of bread. The hand-mill and mortar were the first modes of, getting meal. Next was the horse

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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.

mill. Joshua Caudle had the first one of the latter makeshifts. It was located on his farm, and he not only ground corn but wheat also. He put up a distillery, and for some time manufactured whisky, an article said to have been used extensively as an antidote for snake bites, but now as a beverage, until the snakes bite inside of some men's boots.

The fair grounds of the County Agricult- ural Association were for some time located in Lamard Township, near Jeffersonville. The selection was made of this place by a vote taken of the people, with Fairfield and Jeffersonville heading the respective tickets. Recently a change was made of the grounds.

Early in the history of the township, a number of Ohio people settled in and adja- cent to Section 1. In a short time they or- ganized a Christian church in their midst, which they named "Buckeye Church." Among the first ministers was Moses Good- win, and in the preceding pages some of the leading members have been mentioned. They built a hewed-log house in which they held meetings for many years. They have subsequently built a house about three quar- ters of a mile north of the old one, where services are now conducted and a good Sunday school mantained. A graveyard was laid off near the old church, and within its gloomy precincts slumber many of the early members of the church and pioneers of the township. It is thought that one of the first schools taught in Lamard Township was in this old church, but the first teacher's name is not remembered. The township now has a number of substantial and comfortable schoolhouses, and excellent schools are kept up during the usual term.

Village of Jeffersonville .- The original plat of Jeffersonville was surveyed in 1853, by William Whittaker, from the land of Jas- per Branch. In 1855, William Gash sur-

veyed what was called the Thorn Addition, from the property of Elisha, Dickerman and Stoddard Thorn, sons of Leonard Thorn, who came from Ohio to this place in 1852. The town was named by Jasper Branch. It is said that he desired to perpetuate himself hy naming the town, and the nearest he could come to it was to call it Jeffersonville, which, with his own name of Jasper. commenced with the same letter of the alphabet.

The first building erected was that now owned by Charles Wolfe. A short time af- terward, or perhaps not until 1854, J. S. Rinard put up three small clapboard houses in a row. He kept a general store in one, selling a general line of goods to the inhab- itants, and taking in exchange such produce as they had to spare, which consisted mostly of deer, raccoon, fox and opposum skins. These he sold to the American Fur Company, and hauled them by teams mostly to Vin- cennes, Ind. Mr. Rinard lived in another of these cabins, and rented the third to Thomas Johnson, who came from Ohio and erected the first saw mill in the village. The next store was kept in the first building erected in the town, by a man by the name of Baily. He subsequently transferred his goods to a building which was erected by Adam Rinard and Nathan Sidwell which was the third store room put up in the place. Soon after laying away his stock in the latter building, Baily failed and returned to Wa- bash County, from whence he came. A post- office was established in the old house first occupied by Baily in 1856 or 1857, and N. Branch was the first Postmaster. D. C. Por- ter kept the first blacksmith shop, where John Lusk's butcher shop is now. A school, the first in the town, was taught in a frame building put up by N. Phelps, for a dwell- ing. Dr. Jones was the teacher, and retired at the end of the first term. He was au old

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History of Wayne and Clay counties, Illinois, Part 28

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