USA > Illinois > Menard County > Past and present of Menard County, Illinois > Part 9
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
51
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
ocean. and being the first Irish to settle here. and among the very first white people here. it is not strange that one of these groves should be called "Irish Grove." William Blane died in an carly day ; John soon returned to Ireland. where he remained about twenty- five years, and then returned to the settlement : Robert and the sister removed to Wisconsin, leaving George and the mother on the place that they originally settled. In 1823 George and his mother sold their place to Leonard Alkire, and removed to the northwest side of the grove, where they both died. The Blanes were well educated men. and George in early times held many offices of trust and honor. He was an old line Whig, and after its organ- ization he joined the Republican party, in which faith he lived and died. In the year 1820. Roland Grant came to the Grove and brought with him a lot of sheep. the first of these animals that were brought to this part of the country. Grant came here from Ohio. but he was originally from Kentucky, and when a year or two later the Alkires came. he sold out to them and removed to Island Grove, in Sangamon county. His brother. William Grant, who came with him to the Grove, also sold out to the Alkires and removed with his brother. Like many other settlements in the county, many of the pioneers were from Virginia and Kentucky. The following Kentuckians came here among the early set- tlers : Leonard AAlkire and family. William Engle, Lemuel Oflille, the Inghes. Wesley Whipp. Samuel Me Nabb. the Pentecosts. John and George Stone, a man named Parsons, Mat- thew Bracken. William Douglas, and perhaps several others. The Alkires and William Engle came here from Ohio, but they were originally from the Old Dominion, thence went to Kon- tucky, and afterward to Ohio. William Engle came in the spring of 1823, raised a crop and then went back and brought out the family of Leonard Alkire. (This is the statement gen- erally made. but the writer is satisfied that Mr. Engle came in 1822. for the testimony of all is that Alkire bought the claims of Mea- dows. Bover, and others, in the spring of 1×23.) Mr. Engle was a bachelor when he came to Ilinois but he soon after married the
daughter of Leonard Alkire. Mr. Engle be- came one of the most prominent and best known men in this section of the state and did more for the material development and ad- vancement of that part of Menard county than any other man. He took an active part in the organization of the county, was one of the first commissioners, represented the county in the state legislature and was the first mer- chant in east Menard outside of Athens. Mr. Engle was liberal in his views, a nover-tiring advocate of religion and education. and always stood as an advocate of the right. As before stated. he married a daughter of Leonard Al- kire and they spent their first winter in a camp that stood near where the village of Sweet- water now stands. He then built a cabin northwest of the village. where he lived and reared his family. He lived to a good old age. respected by all, and was prominent in all the affairs of that section of Illinois for more than half a century. He died in March. 1820. le reared a large family, several of the sons being still living, scattered over the west. Only two of the family still live in this county : Mrs. William C. Smoot, of Curtis; and Mrs. William Claypole. four miles cast of Green- view. Mr. Engle's mother (a widow at the time) came to this settlement about ten year- after her son. She was a genuine pioneer lady. large and almost as stout as a man. kind and benevolent to all. a great nurse and friend in times of sickness and distress. She passed to her reward long years ago. her memory revered and honored by all who knew her. As already stated. Leonard Alkire was a native of Vir- ginia but emigrated to Kentucky or was taken there by his parents when very young. Arris- ing at man'- estate and having taken to himself a wife. he removed to the state of Ohio. where he remained until he removed to Illinois, in the spring of 1823. While he resided in Oho be to a large extent followed the business of buying up stock. which he drove to more east- ern markets, a business at that day exposing one to considerable danger. On one of his trips home. after having disposed of his drove of stock, he traveled on horseback. having the money he had received. which was nearly all silver. in a pair of saddlebag- on his saddle.
55
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
"In swimming the Ohio river," says a local writer, "perched on his hands and feet on top of the saddle, his sturdy and trusty roadster. stemming the rapid current with great conr- age and energy, when nearing the opposite shore suddenly went down, but with a last desperate struggle, as if for life, ho succeeded in landing his master on the solid ground. when Mr. Alkire made the discovery that the saddle-bags, filled with the silver, had in some way fallen from his horse, but had hung 10 the stirrup in such a way as to greatly impede the efforts of the horse while struggling in the water. thus imperiling not only the hard- earned cash of the owner but the life of both horse and rider." Hearing so many repeated stories of the amazing beauty and fertility of the "far west." as Illinois was then called. he made a trip of inspection to the country. Alone and on horseback be explored this then almost unbroken wilderness. By chance his route led him to Sugar Grove. Entering it upon the south side. he reached a point from which the scene was viewed to advantage and stopped to look around him. He was so im- pressed with the wealth and splendor of what he saw, that though there alone and no one to hear he reined up his horse and shouted at the top of his voice: "Hurrah for old Kon- tueky, the garden spot of the world!" Very soon he came upon the claim of James Mca- dows, and being so pleased with the country and the surroundings, he soon bought the clann of Mr. Meadows. He then returned home, sold his Ohio farm and. the following spring. he enme to the Grove and settled where the re- mainder of his life was spent. John Alkire. his father, came in a few years, John Alkire had removed from Virginia to Kentucky in an early day. during those bloody wars with the Indians which gave that stato the appella- tion that it has ever since worn and will wear in all coming time, "The Dark and Bloody Ground," and like all the other pioneers of the time he bore an active part in those wars. He died here and was buried in what is known as the Blane graveyard. Leonard Alkire built the first brick house that was built in the thon county of Sangamon. now Menard. As noted elsewhere. George Spears, of Clary's Grove,
built the second brick house that was created in the same county. Alkire's house was built seventy-seven years ago, and it was still stand- ing a few years back. To his son, Milem .11- kire, and to John Engle and Jesse England, we are indebted for most of the facts con- corning the carly history of this section of the county. The writer has in his old diarios many stories fold by these men and William Engle, James Meadows, and ofher old citizens all over the county. Leonard Alkire died in 1812. The following will show the energy and public spirit of the man. Abont 1828 or 1830, he was appointed by the commissioners of Sangamon county, road supervisor of the district he lived in, which was larger than the present county of Menard. He was ordered to open a road from near the mouth of Salt creek to Havana, on the Illinois river. A great im- pediment to travel in that route in those days was the Crane creek swamp. He called to- gether all the able-bodied men in that region. and taking wagons, teams, axes, etc., he pro- ceeded to the timber, where he made rails, hauled them to the swamp, and laid them down for a foundation for a road : then he cut large quantities of swamp grass, which grew there in abundance, and spread this over the rails. He next drove forked sticks astride poles, which were laid lengthwise across the ends of the rails to keep the water from floating the rails away. and then spread five or six inches of sand over the grass. In this way he constructed a road over the swamp, which served the purpose fully. and lasted for many years without repair.
Lemuel Offille and the Hughes came among the early settlers about the same time. James Hughes was a New Light, or as called now. a "Christian" preacher, and one of the first of this denomination in this part of the country. although one of their founders, Barton W. Stone, had preached in the Clary's Grove set- thement a little before this. One of his sons. Daniel T. Hughes, was one of the respected preachers of this church. in this part of the stale, and lived in this section until his death. some twelve or fifteen years back. One of Jaime- Hughes sons, Hugh D. Hughes, was one of the first residents of the village of Sweetwater and was one of the buillers of the
56
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
mull which was operated there so long. Oflille and the Hughes came here from Indiana. but they were originally from Kentucky. Hugh D. Hughes married a daughter of Mr. Oflille. Wesley Whipp came about the time of "the deep snow." He married a daughter of Leon- ard Alkire, died many years ago and was laid to rest in the Sugar Grove cemetery. One of his sons. Leonard Whipp, one of the leading lawyers of the place. now resides in Peters- burg. Samuel MeNabb came previous to 182.4 and his brother-in-law came about the same time. They have both been dead many long years. Pentecost, and his sons, William, John and George, came in 1821 or 1825. The old gentleman's first name is not remembered and he and all his sons left the neighborhood a great many years ago. John Stone came about the time of the "deep -now." He had a number of -one: William. James, Stephen. Henry. Boyd and Oliver. A man named Parsons, a brother- in-law of the Stones, came to this country with them. or about that time. He had two sons. William and Joseph. The old gentleman and William died many years ago, but Joseph was mail carrier between Sweetwater and Green- view a great many years. William Dougla- was here as early as 1831 or 1832. and settled in Irish Grove. Matthew Bracken came in 1821 of 1825. and settled here but afterward Sold out to Nicholas Projet and removed to Woodford county. where he died long since. A man by the name of MeKinney ranks among the early settlers of this section but we are unable to learn the particulars concerning his life. With several others he was returning from a horse race and they got up a race of their own, in which MeKinney was thrown from his horse and so badly injured that he died from the effect in a short time. It is said that he was probably the first one buried in the Sweetwater cemetery and that some one stuck the switch, with which he was riding when he was thrown. in the center of his grave and it took root and grew and is now a huge tree. Any way, the tree is still pointed out, and it Jeaves no sign of any grave having over been there. Enoch B. Smith came to this settle- ment in 1821 and his nephew. Josiah B. Smith. in 1821. The latter was an old line Whig, and
took a very active part in politics. Enoch B. Smith settled in south end of Irish Grove and his son Jordan settled in the same vicinity. Enoch B. Smith died in 1811 and all his l'am- ily are dead, so far as we can learn. Mrs. Jesse England was his daughter. Jesse Eng- land settled here in 1824 and lived here his entire life, dying on his old homestead in 1903, having lived there for seventy-nine years. Mr. England's father came from Ohio to Sanga- mon county in 1819 and was the first white man to settle on the east or north -ide of the Sangamon river, and his daughter was the first white woman to settle north of the Sangamon. John S. JJennison was a native of the old Bay State, and came to Sugar Grove in 1822 or 1523. He sold his claim to Leonard Alkire and moved to Baker's Prairie. His son. Luther Tennison, lives on a farm near Greenview, as does his daughter. Mrs. JJerman Tice, and an- other son. John Jennison, has lived for some years in California. About the year 1825. two brothers. Joseph and Samuel Powell. and brothers-in-law of Leonard Alkite, came from Ohio here, but were native of the Old Dominion. They reared large families here and finally died, and their families scattered and moved away, some going to Fulton county years ago, and others going to Oregon. Nicho- las Propet came here from Virginia and set- tled in Sugar Grove before the winter of "the deep snow." He was of German descent and a very eccentric, though a good. man. He died many years ago. A cabinet-maker in the neigh- borhood was indebted to him and not having the funds on hand to cancel the obligation. he told Propst that he would make him anything in the furniture line that he might need. Propst told him that he did not need anything in that line just at the present but that some day he would need a coffin and if he chose to make him one he might do so. The cabinet- maker went to work on the collin and Mr. Projet superintended the work and had it com- pleted to his own taste. When the coffin was done there was still a small balance due to Mr. Projet, so he had him make a long beach on which to lay him out when the time came for him to "shutle off this mortal coil." Being thus far prepared for final dissolution,
51
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
he made further arrangements for his last rest by having a tombstone cut out of a solid limestone, with the simple inscription : "Nich- olas Propst." hewn on it. When he finally died he was laid away in Sugar Grove burying- ground, and this same stone. without any other letter or mark, was set up at the head of his grave and marked his humble bed till time crumbled it back to dust. After the cothin was completed he got into it. as he said, "to try it. to see how it would fit." Hle afterward told Rev. John Alkire that it scared him like h-1 when he got into it. John Wright came. some time before 1830. it is believed from Ohio but of this we are not sure. He bought ont Samuel Alkire, a cousin of Leonard Al- kire, who had settled here in 1824 or 1825. and he removed to Indiana after selling to Wright. After living in the Grove for soy- eral years Wright sold out and removed to Petersburg, and afterward he built the first bridge over the Sangamon river at that place. William Gibbs came here from Baltimore but was an Englishman by birth. He bought Wright out when he removed to Petersburg. Reuben D. Black came from Ohio, and after living here for a time he married a daughter of Leonard Alkire. Black was a physician and years ago left here, removing to Missouri.
1819-1905.
Eighty-six years: What an insignificant point of time, when compared to the ages of the world's past history! Even time itself is only
"_a brief are. Cut from eternity's mysterious orb. And rast beneath the skies
and get what a vast record these eighty-six years have borne with them from the world. Revolutions have swept over the earth, as troubled visions sweep over the breast of dreaming sorrow. Cities have arisen and flour- ished for a little season and then have perished from the earth, leaving not even a trace to mark the spot where once they stood. Nations and empires have sprung into being, gathering. in a few decades, the strength of centuries. and then as suddenly have sunk from the world forever. The changes and mighty events that.
have occurred in our own county, in a few short years, are equally astounding. The coming of the steamboat. the building of the railroad. the telegraph, the telephone, and all the won- derful work of electricity are but a few of these astounding events. Eighty-six years ago when James Meadows erected a log cabin in Sugar Grove, he could not have believed that to-day would present the changes that we see. even if one had "arisen from the dead" to proclaim it. Where were the wild prairies and the densely wooded groves and tangled dells, inhab- ited only by Indians, wolves, panthers, and other wild animals, are now vast fields of war- ing grain : and the palatial home of the farmer. with every comfort and convenience that the heart could wish. now stands where the hunter's cabin or the Indian's wigwam then stood. All these changes are difficult to realize by any but those who have witnessed them. Think for a moment of some of the trials that these pioneers experienced ; the difficulty. for in- stance, of securing the absolute essentials of life. Sometimes a trip was made to St. Louis for such supplies as salt. flour, sugar and cof- fre. when the settler could afford such his- uries. James Meadows made more than one trip to that city, in a canoe. by way of the Sangamon, Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
James MeNabb taught the first school in that settlement. in a log cabin that stood near where Gregory Lakins lived so long, west of Sweetwater. As his old pupils, if any of them are still alive, look back to the days when he ruled with a rod of iron, they may call to mind. no doubt, the familiar lines of Goldsmith : "Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way,
With blossoming Turze unprofitably gay. There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule. The village master taught his little school : A man severe he was and stern to view : I knew him well. and every truant know : Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace
The day's disaster in his morning face :
Full well they laughed, with counterfeited
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he : Full well the busy whisper circling round Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned : Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught.
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
The love he bore to learning was his fault. Amazed the gazing rusties ranged around: And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew
That one small head could carry all he knew."
If this teacher could be permitted to return and see the state of education now and look into our schoolrooms and see the helps and ad- vantages that our children now enjoy, he would conclude doubtless that his sleep in the grave had been much longer than it really has.
The religious history of this section is given in another place, but we will enter into some detail, in this case, that we may not be obliged to do so in other cases, as the history of the trials and difficulties that one community had to meet, is similar to that of all others.
Rev. John Alkire. Rev. Hughes and Rev. Ahner Peeler (who after a few years removed to Woodford county) were the carly divines of the New Light, or, as they afterward pre- ferred to be called. Christian church. A con- gregation of this faith was organized here in quite an carly day. They first worshipped in a house that stood near the old home of Greg- ory Lukins and was used for both church and school purposes. It was built of logs. had a puncheon floor, was covered with clapboards. and had a fireplace. with stick or "cat and clay." chimney. at each end. In 1838 they built a frame church, eighteen by twenty feet. on the same site, and it. like the former. was used for both church and school purposes. In 1848 this frame building was replaced by a brick edifice on the same site. After the vil- lage of Sweetwater was laid out this church was converted into a dwelling, and the society erected a large and substantial brick church in the village. This building still stands and is occupied by the congregation, seemingly in as good a state of repair as when first built. It is still occupied by a prosperous congregation.
The Presbyterians have a good house of wor- ship in Sweetwater and the Rev. Thomas preaches regularly to them.
Sweetwater was laid out by William Engle and the Alkires in the year 1853. It is located on sections 31 and 32. m township 19, range . It is near Sugar Grove, which, before the woodman's ax had defaced its beauty. was one
of the prettiest groves of timber in Illinois. Engle had for some time had a store on his farm and when the village was laid out the Al- kires opened a store there, and soon after this Mr. Engle moved his store there too. Soon after the village was laid out a petition wa- -ent up asking for a postoffice at Sugar Grave. Mr. Harris then represented this district in congress and when he made the application ho was informed that there was a Sugar Grove postoffice in the state already, and he wrote to this effect to Mr. Engle. He consulted with some of the neighbors about the matter and they decided that as the water of the sugar- trees, which formed the grove, was sweet, that Sweetwater would be next thing to Sugar Grove, and so that name was adopted. One citizen informed the writer. however, that the town had another name, that it was often called "Chloeville." Pointed questioning drew from this citizen the following statement : At one time there was an old lady lived in the village whose first name was Chlor. "and some one. in acknowledgement." -aid our informant. "of her general cussedness, as a burlesque. called the town after her." William Engle was the first postmaster in the place: Jacob Propst. Jr., was the first blacksmith : Dr. John 11. Hughes was the first physician : Deal & Hughes built and operated the first mill. The business of the Town, at the present. may be thus summed up: Two good general store. a blacksmith shop. a physician. Dr. Ilill. two churches, and a schoolhouse of two rooms. The town. we believe, has never been incorporated. but the general moral sentiment is such that they do not need such protection as this would bring. The writer has no disposition to make light of sacred things, but if the story of the "Soul Sleeper" troubles in the Sweetwater church could be told, as a citizen once told it. the demand for these pages would be innnense. but this we will not undertake to do, and will close this chapter by a brief reference to the churches here. The schoolhouse was built in INGS or 1870, at a cost of about four thousand. tive hundred dollars. The Christian church was built years ago, at a cost of about three thon-and. five hundred dollars. The congre- gation was a large. peaceful and prosperous
59
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
one. as any in the land, till one Elder Speer. of Indiana, was called to the pastorate. lli- preaching was all right for a time, for he was a man of far more than ordinary ability, but by and by he began to preach the most material form of "soul-sleeping." It is enough to say that the church was rent asunder, the greater part of the members, perhaps, endorsing the now doctrines, and so infatuated and insane did they become that they were absolutely look- ing for the immediate coming of Christ. Some went, so far as to say that they expected to go fishing with the Savior in Salt creek. Elder J. K. Speer would not accept a stipu- lated salary, "O. no, all he wanted was a liv- ing," and the faction that followed him off were wealthy and full of zeal, and "he was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day." Of course the church divided : the staid and reasonable part stayed with their church, while the fanaties pulled out. The Soul-Sleepers built a neat frame church in the village, at a cost of two thousand five hundred dollars. They lived awhile, Speer got all he could out of them and left, and most of them. from the best that we can learn, drifted into infidelity. It took the Christian church years to recover from this stroke. The Methodists bought the Adventist's house, when they went up, or rather when they failed to go up. The Methodist- were unsuccessful and in a little while they sold the house to the Pres- byterians, who still own it, and have a pros- perons congregation there, and to whom Rev. Thomas preaches regularly.
JOHN WILKINSON.
The history of Sugar Grove would be in- complete without a sketch of the Wilkinson family. Fred Wilkinson, of Petersburg. Illi- nois, is a grandson of the great ironmonger of England and a son of John Wilkinson of Menard county, who died in Greenview many years ago. John Wilkinson was intimately as- sociated with Janus Watt. the inventor of the steam engine, and with many of the greatest scientific men of his day, but he never acquired the notoriety even in England that he deserved.
Few old people are now living who can remem- be; the great ironmaster and his deeds of enter- price. Strange tales, however, could these few tell of his "cast iron colier," that could get coal by machinery, of his recentricity, of his wealth, and of his singular superstition. . Is an illustration of this latter. we are told, that on his deathbed be declared his conviction that at the end of seven years he would return to the earth again. His work people showed a singular aversion to handing his name down to posterity, as if they felt themselves the securest guardians of his virtue and his fame. For his wonderful ability, for his depth of scientific research. Wilkinson deserves to live in the annals of industry and enterprise. His friend- ship for Boulton and Watt makes it remark- able that his name should have been passed over by biographers of the inventors of the steam engine. Surely. "the father of the iron trade." as he has been aptly named, deserved at least a passing mention in the biography of his friend James Watt. John Wilkinson was born in 1228 and under circumstances which the superstitious people of the vicinity believed por- tended that "JJohnny would some day he a great man." His mother was in the habit of going every day to the market with the products of their little farm and on this occasion, as she was returning to her home, the son was born in the cart. John Wilkinson was the inventor of iron boats. The first one ever tried was built at his foundry and was named the "Trial." Ile was also the first to use coal successfully in smelting iron. His life. like that of Oliver Cromwell's, was attended by a very singular circumstance. As September Bd was the dies mirabilis in the Protector's history, so was July Ifth in the life of Wilkinson. He came to Staffordshire on July 11, 1256. He attended the great banquet in Paris July 11. 1186. 11. launched the first iron boat on July 11, 1282. He obtained a patent for the improvement of the steam engine July 14. 1999; and be closed his mentful and useful life on the 11th of July. 1sos. He left a vast fortune in money and real estate. His children, a number of them being quite young. were left to the care of guardian -. John Wilkinson, the father of Fred Wilkin- son, of Petersburg, was but six years of age
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.