USA > Illinois > Menard County > Past and present of Menard County, Illinois > Part 12
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Tarleton Lloyd opened the first blacksmith shop in this territory. in 1822 or 1823. and did this line of work for the surrounding country for a number of years. Rev. Mr. Simms built a mill here, of a very primitive type, in 1823. It was propelled by horse-power and served to crack the corn for the community, and they even "mashed" wheat with it and then sifted out the brand, some careful housewives bolting it through home-made cloth, thus having a semblance of wheat flour. This mill long, long ago ceased to be, and the people now do their milling at other points. The first justice of the peace is supposed to have been a man by the name of Syniard, who was among the early settlers but who left here in a few years. One of the Bones was, at one time. a justice of the peace for this section. As illustrative of the courts of this carly day. the following is told at the expense of Esquire Syniard: Two of the neighbors had gotten into a wrangle over a debt which one owed the other and which the debtor agreed to pay in hogs. In the fall.
when the hogs had grown fat on the mast and the debt was to be paid, it happened that fat hogs were a good price. so the debtor sold his fat logs for cash, and delivered an old sow and pigs to the ereditor. To this the creditor demurred, saying that he was to be paid in hogs. The debtor replied that he was to pay in hogs, and that he had brought the sow and pigs. The creditor demurred still and a law- suit was the result. It came up for trial be- fore Esquire Syniard. and after very patiently hearing both sides of the question. he rendered judgment in favor of the creditor. deciding that in a legal sense a sow and pigs were not hogs. In the year IS ?? a postoffice was established here, located on the ereck. near the old Isaac Cogdell place, and was called the Lloyd post- office, in honor of the then-living oldest eiti- zen. L. B. Conover was the first postmaster. Politically Rock creek has always been Demo- cratie to the backbone. When the election drew near John S. Hurie and Frank Duncan rallied the faithful, and on election day the gathering clans went to the polls and victory was achieved. This has been the story in all the past. Even in the dark days of 1904. the prairies and woods of this section sent out its undaunted mossbacks, and when the returns came in from over the land. bringing the story of disaster and defeat on every hand. word came that in spite of Parker and Plutocracy. Wolf county had maintained her old time integrity and was the one green oasis in the dreary desert of Democratie disaster.
During the Civil war Rock creek was loyal to the core and turned out as large a number of soldiers in proportion to her population as any part of Menard county. The men of this see- tion volunteered into the regiments in the ad- joining country, which drew their chief strength from this county, and among these were the Fourteenth and the One Hundred and Four- teenth Regiments of Illinois Infantry. No men had better records as soldiers than the boys from this section of "Little Menard."
Rock Creek is to-day one of the finest sec- tions of farming country in the entire county. By nature some of the soil may not be as rich as may be found in some other localities, but taken all in all it stands in the very front.
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
While it has no towns or villages, nor railroads. made beyond the timber till necessity compelled vet it is one of the most delightful communi- ties in the land. They have a coal shaft in their midst, and what other parts of the county do not have. they possess, we mean stone for building purposes. Their farms are produc- tive and well cultivated : their homes are elo- gant and comfortable: their schools are of the best. and no more social or happy and pros- perous people can be found in central Illinois : and when the interurban electric road is fin- ished. as it will be soon. running through the very heart of this community. and connecting them with Springfield. Petersburg and all the world. their cup of fortune and happiness will he full to overflowing.
INDIAN CREEK.
The prairies of the west. though possessing a soil equal to any in the world, and having a climate unsurpassed. and being splendidly watered, were yet slow to attract the carly emigrant. because most of these were from see- tions of the country abounding in timber and the pioneer seemed to think that no one could survive on these bare plains. When Illinois began to attract the emigrant. we find him steering his "prairie schooner" toward the groves of timber. In fact they really believed that those prairies would never be settled up. James Short told the writer that in an early day, as he and his father were looking across the strip of prairie lying between their larm and Sugar Grove, a distance of a little more than two miles, the old man said: "Jimnie, there will be open range for our stock there for a hundred years to come." In less than a score of years it was a solid, unbroken son of corn. It was not till almost every acre of tim- ber land lying adjacent to the streams had been claimed that any one thought of venturing ent on the prairie. With the utmost cantion they ventured out beyond the shelter of the protect- ing trep-, and a- cabins rose up on the broad plains the croakers uttered dire predictions about freezing to death or ixing blown away by storms. This was the case in this settlement. as well as elsewhere, and no settlement- were
the increasing population to "move on." In- dian Greek settlement included as fine a ser- tion of country as is to be found anywhere. consisting of timber along the streams, with broad areas of the finest prairie. The surface is not hilly, nor is it flat and level, but the whole surface gently undulates, more like the swelling waves of the ocean. than anything we can compare it to. It is well drained and watered by Salt creek on the north. the Sanga- mon on the west. and Indian creek and other small streams flowing through it. No village or town now breaks the monotony of the scene at the present time, though years ago New Market. a thriving village, was located hore. Curtis, a way-station and postoffice on the ('hi- cago & Alton railroad, is in this area. but as there is but one family there and no buildings adorn it. except the one residence, a store and a grain elevator, it is not entitled to the name village. This settlement was first made by people mostly from Kentucky, with a few from Virginia, to give dignity to the community. From the best information that can be had. James Short was the first white man to settle in this territory. He located here in 1821 but in 1828 he removed to Sangamon county. The old Blue Grass state sent in the following re- cruits: Solomon Taylor. Robert and James Bracken. Andrew Trumbo. Abraham Horn- back and sons. Elijah Scott. Francis Rayburn. William Brower and son. Samuel Rogers and son. Alexander Crawford. David Onstott. John Pentecost and sons, Michael Killion. William Denton, William and James Estill. Coleman Smoot. Hamilton Elliott, Isaiah Low and per- haps others. Robert and James Bracken. brothers, came in 1826-21. Solomon Taylor came in 1828. Andrew Trumbo came in 1828 or 1829. Abraham Hornback and his sons, John. Jesse and Andrew, came in 1826. AH of these are long since dead but Andrew lived until not a very great number of years ago and died at a very advanced age. Francis Ray- burn came in 1ses and after a great many years he removed to lowa, where he died. Wil- liam Brower and his son John came in 1827 or 1828, and both died here. Samuel Rogers and his son, Joseph Rogers, came in 1825.
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
Alexander Crawford canwe in 1827. and has lien dead almost or quite fifty years. David Onstolt came in 1825 and erected a mill and distillery. The mill was run by horse-power and a little copper still was attached. In this mill the corn was cracked for meal and hominy for the settlers, and the little still- such as the moon-shiner- now use in Tennessee and North Carolina-worked up the surphis corn into spiritus frumenti, which the citizens used only for the "chills" and snake-bite. This is the extent of the milling there, except that later there was a water-mill on Indian creek. at what is now called Indian Creek hill. Onstott was a man that could not be surrounded. as one old citizen expressed it. and when the set- tlement began to fill up he pulled out for Arkansas. He said he had waded through h-I to get here and he did not propose to be crowded. John Pentecost and his sons. Wil- liam. Heury and John, came in 1821. William Denton came in 1830 and died long ago, and all of his children are gone except George W. Denton, who is still living. a citizen of Green- view. Michael Killion came in 1830. When Russel Godby came in 18:30 and built a cabin out on the prairie. Killion said that the fool Virginian would freeze to death. William Estill. a brother-in-law of Killion, came in 1825 or 1826. James Estill. a brother of William. came at the same time. They are both long since dead. Hamilton Elliott and two sons. Richard and Hadden. came in 1830. Richard later removed to Fulton county. He is described as an enterprising man. who en- gaged considerably in speculation. Our in- formant said that he would risk his life for a coonskin. Afterward he went to California and amassed a large fortune. Hiram Chapin and Benjamin Day come at a very early day but did not remain long. Coleman Smoot came in 1831 and bought out Onsteit. lle was an intelligent, active business man, and acquired a handsome property. He died many Years ago. His son. William C. Smoot. is one of the wealthy men of Menard county. He is a cotreientious Christian man. gained his wealth by honest means and no one envies him in the enjoyment of it. He married a daughter of William Engle, of Sweetwater. They are
both living, enjoying a peaceful off age, for although Mr. Smoot has been entirely blind for several years he still enjoys life. When he is gone he will be universally missed and his memory will be revered by all who knew him. The settlers thus far named were all from Kentucky, though many, or most of them, wore originally from Virginia. as Kentucky was largely settled by Virginians. From Virginia. the venerable mother of presidents, the follow- ing additions were made: Russel Godby. Isaac Snodgrass. Fielding Ballard. William Samp- son and probably a few others. Godby came in the spring of 1830 and his first winter. therefore, was that of the deep snow, and it cast a damper (especially in the spring when it began to thaw) over the feeling with which he had regarded the fair prairies of Illinois, as compared with the red hills of "old Virginia." He was the first man in all this region to ven- ture out into the open prairie and he did not get far from shelter. Snodgrass and Ballard were brothers-in-law to Godby and came the same season that he did. Sampson came some time before Godby. Snodgrass and Ballard, probably in 1826. He lived in the community till his death, which occurred in ISTO. Philip Barnett was an castern man and a brother-in- law to Godly. These four gentlemen. Godby. Ballard, Snodgrass and Barnett, married sis- ters. John King came from North Carolina in 1826. He was born in 1:15, and died in 1826, at the age of one hundred and one years and twenty-nine days. He was a soldier in the Indian wars of the south and in the war of 1812. in which he served under General Jack- con, and he was a firm believer in and a great admirer of "Old Hickory" to the close of his life. le first came to Ilinois in 1821 and settled in the south part of the state, where he lived until coming here. Before his death he and Tarleton Lloyd were the only living soldiers of that war in the county. He was buried in Rose Hill cemetery. Dedman Power was an early settler but of him we could gather no particulars. William Duff came in 182 :. but where from no one can tell. He is spoken of as "a hard old customer." rough, profane and a poor acquisition to any community. He re- mained only a few years. John Clary was an
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
carly comer, for Esquire Godby says he was tending Onstott's mill when he came in 1830. This brings this settlement down to the time when the tide of immigration was becoming so strong that it would be impossible to secure any correct account of it.
One of the first moves made by the early pioneers, after getting a shelter for the wife and children, was in the direction of education and religious worship. In the summer of 1830 John Pentecost walked three miles from his home to a cabin on the land of Samuel Rogers to teach a little school there. The next school was taught by Dr. David Meeker, in an aban- doned cabin on the land of Coleman Smoot. The first regular schoolhouse built in this set- tlemem was on the land of Mr. Smoot and was of the primitive pattern. This was built in 133. and the first pedagogne to preside here and impart wisdom within its classic walls. was Silas Alexander. In this log cabin. known as the "Smoot schoolhouse." many of the old men and women of this vicinity. when children, took their first lessons in Webster's old blue- backed sjulling book and in shooting paper wads. We make great >port of these old schools, but we are impressed to say that three things were often better taught then than they are in a great many of our boasted up-to-date schools of to-day: we refer to spelling, arith- metic and English grammar. Those old text- books, some way or another, led the pupil to understand the fundamental principles of the branches of which they treated. Pike's and Smiley's arithmeties and Murray's and Kirk- ham's grammars left the pupil no excuse for not mastering the subject, but with the ad- vantages that we have now. as compared with those of that time, our teacher- and pupils should do marvelous things.
The first minister who preached to the peo- ple of this settlement was the Rev. John M. Berry, the great apostle of the Cumberland Presbyterian church in central Illinois. We wonder what he would think and say if he could rise up now and see what those snobs. who are trying to destroy the church that he labored so hard for, have in view.
did have a beginning here, as the present popu- lation emphatically shows. The first death is supposed to be that of Fielding Ballard's mother. She came here with him and being very old and feeble she died the next year. The first physician in the neighborhood was a Dr. Walker but whence he came or whither he went no one knows. however, he remained Int a short time. The next was David Meeker. who combined physic and school teaching as the practice of medicine wa- not then a very paying business, for people did not call a phy- sician for every little ailment. and as a result there was less sickness-no offense meant to the medical fraternity -and fewer doctor's bills. Coleman Smoot was the first justice of the peace and Russell Godby was the second. Wo mentioned the village of New Market in another place. but we feel that it should be spoken of here, because many people do not know that there was once a village here which not only aspired to be the county seat of Me- nard county but actually set herself to be the capital-the seat of government. of the great state of Illinois. Such is the unvarnished truth. It was laid out by Dr. Ballard and a man by the name of Speer. Ballard put up a large two-story building. intended to be used as a hotel, but the glory of the town waned so fast that it was never used. A store was opened by one Clark, who later sold out to Ballard & Speer. A blacksmith shop was opened by George Saunders and William F. Rogers, and the place put on quite a town-like appearance. Then. as said above. she aspired to be the county seat and not only this but she was actually a rival of Springfield for the state capital. but after the location of the seat of justice at Petersburg, it faded into nothing- ness. It became a village of the dead, rather than the living: a grave for ambition: an antidote for pride. The ruins of Baalber are. in many respects, a mystery : Palmyra, at least in vastness, surpassed even Baalber: Athen -. Rome, Jerusalem, and other scenes of decay appeal to our pity and touch our hearts, hut for New Market. the mighty city of lofty as- pirations, we can only. like the Hebrew cap- tives of old. hang our harps non the willows
The first birth and marriage are forgotten but as everything must have a beginning these and weep for fallen pride. It owed its origin
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
to a rather wild ambition and waned to its cx- tinction when fate decided adversely to its hopes and wishes.
"Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn. Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms with- drawn :
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is scen, And desolation saddens all thy green; One only master grasps the whole domain. And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain ; No more thy glassy brook reflects the day. But, choked with sedges, works its weedy way; Along thy glades, a solitary guest- The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest ; Amidst thy desert-walks the lapwing ilies. And tires thy echoes with unvaried cries. Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all. And the long grass o'ertops the moldering wall,
And trembling. shrinking from the spoiler's hand,
Far, far away thy children leave the land."
Finally when it was evidenced to them ho- yond a doubt that the town was "born to blush unseen. and waste its sweetness on the desert air." it was vacated. by legislative enactment. and nothing now remains to point out where once it stood. Where it busy inhabitants once toiled. the rank corn now rustles in the passing breeze.
GREENVIEW AND IRISH GROVE.
Greenview, as a precinct. is one of the youngest in the county. I'ntil some years ago it was included in what is now Sugar Grove preeinet, with the voting place at the village of Sweetwater. The later was remote from the people in the extreme northern part. and the intelligent voter. from this small drawback. often neglected to exercise the right of fran- chise. Hence the result was a division of Su- gar Grove, or Sweetwater as it then was, and the creation of a new precinct, now known as Greenview. It includes almost the entire northeast part of the county. It is well drained by Salt ereck and Pike creek, with other small branches, which carry off the surface water. Irish Grove les east of Greenview, running to the Logan county line. As an agricultural ro-
gion this is not surpassed by any section of country anywhere. Its farmers are among the most thrifty and most wealthy in central Illi- nois. The Chicago & Alton Railroad runs di- agonally through Greenview precinct. Green- view. the metropolis of this section. is an en- terprising little town in the southwest part of Greenview precinct. on the Chicago & Alton Railroad and will be more fully spoken of further on.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
There is no reliable proof that any white man settled in the boundary of this territory earlier than 1823. Eighty-one long years stand between that point and the present. and that period, what changes have taken place not only in Menard county, but throughout the world. Ancient palaces. in whose spacion- halls the mightiest monarchs proudly trod. now show "the ivy now clinging to their mold- ering walls." Thrones tottering. have crum- bled into dust : empires have fallen, and their places blotted forever from the map of the world. In our own beloved country, intestinal war has raged with tornado-like fury, drench- ing the soil in fraternal blood : and for a time threatening the very life of the republic. Four millions of beings in human form, once in chains, have been made freemen. Spain's op- pressive tyranny over millions of helples- peo- ple has been broken forever: and revolutions have shaken the civilizations of the earth to the center. And in these eighty-one vears the territory of Greenview and Irish Grove, one of the minute units that go to make up this mighty country. has been transformed from a wilderness, into a blooming paradise compared to its original state.
In the year 1823 James Meadows settled in the limits of this territory on the farm where Il. H. Marhold now lives. He came from Ohio to Edwards county, near Alion, in 1818. the year that Illinois was admitted to the Union. The next year be removed into the territory of. what is now. Sugar Grove pre- einet. where he resided till he removed to the place above mentioned. Mr. Meadows built a mill on the Marbold place, which was the see- ond mill erected in east Menard. Soon after Mr. Meadows settled here. George Blane and
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
his mother came to the neighborhood. They. like Mr. Meadows, had settled on the east side of Sugar Grove, but in the spring of 1823 they sold out to Leonard Alkire and removed here as above stated. A large majority of the first installment of settlers in this section Word "Buckeyes" and settled in Irish Grove. From that state came a number of reernits, namely : .Joseph Lucas. George Borders, John Martin, George and Peter Price. John Waldron and John Hamill. Lucas "squatted" in the Grove about 1825 or 1826. le was a genuine fron- tiersman and only remained till game began to grow scarce. When that occurred and the Indians had gone he followed in the wake of the "noble red man" and died some years lat- er in the settlement at Mackinaw. The next settler found his cabin standing. with three acres of land around it cleared and fenced. Ile had two sons who settled in what is now Logan county. Another son. Abraham, settled in Irish Grove, where he lived and died. Bor- ders and Martin came in 1821. George Price came in 1826. and his brother. Peter Price, came in 1829. They were of the regular fron- tier type and followed the Indian and the game as they wandered toward the setting sun. William Walker bought the claim of Peter Price in 1830. John Hamill came in 184 ?. lived there all his life, rearing a large and re- spectable family. and died a number of years ago.
Following close on the heels of this "Buck- eye" outfit came a large delegation from "The Dark and Bloody Ground." From Kentucky caine William Walker. his son. Joseph M. Walker, and his brother-in-law. David Walker. William Stott -. William Patterson. Alexander Gilmer. William A. Stone. John W. Patterson and Robert Rayburn. This last named gentle- man was born in the Old Dominion, but em- igrated to Kentucky when it was the hunting ground of numerous tribes of hostile Indians. From Kentucky he came to Illinois in 1827 and settled in Irish Grove. Some of the de- soundants of Mr. Rayburn are still in that see- tion of country. Robert Rayburn's wife was a Logan, of the family of Logans so celebrated in the Indian wars of Kentucky. Robert Bay- buro died in 1836. William Walker came 10
Illinois in the fall of 1828 and stoppet im Mor- gan county. He spent three weeks riding over the country on horseback, searching for a call- in to shelter his family in during the winter, but failing. he went back to Clark county. In- diana, and wintered there. In February 1830. as before stated. he came to Irish Grove and bought the claim of Peler Price. He died in August, 1836, and his son, Joseph M. Walker, lived and died on the farm. David Walker. a brother of the wife of William Walker, and who came to the settlement soon after the lat- ter. bought the claim of Joseph Lucas, lived on it till 1836, when he removed to lowa and died there years ago. Captain William A. Stone was also born in Virginia but was taken to Kentucky by his parents, when quite young. whence he emigrated to Illinois in 1830. His father. Moses Stone, came to the settlement at the same time and was the head of a large fan". ily. Both he and wife died the next year. leaving a family of twelve children to battle with the world. John W. Patterson came in 1830, and his brother William in 1832. Stotts came in 1830. but in 1810 he removed to lowa. William Eldridge came in 1810. He came from the chalky cliffs of Old England: lived for many years in the Grove: then removed to Greenview : and died there a few years ago. at a ripe old age. Dr. Eldridge. of Greenview. is his son. This comprises all of the early -et- flere of which any knowledge is to be gained. Doubtless there were other transient settlers who were there for a lime, but we have given an account of all the permanent old settlers. The winter of the deep snow .- a landmark that all will recognize .- ( 1830-31) but remembered by few. if any. now living. was a time that did in- dood try men's souls. The snow began to fall just before Christmas and continued till. as many claim. a depth of four feet on the level lay all over the land. The ground was not visible any more till after the middle of the following March. Joseph Walker told the writer many years ago that this snow caught his father's family without meal or flour. For- tunately, they had laid in a suppl. of pirat and this, with pounded corn. was all they had 19 eat for over six long weeks. The corn was standing in the field or in shocks and every
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