USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 50
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The United Presbyterian church, of Bethel, not far from Hanna City, was organized June 3. 1853, by Rev. William E. Erskine. James Pinkerton and John McCullough were chosen as ruling elders. The first church building was a frame structure erected in 1854. The present one was built in 1874 at a cost of something over $3,000. The first pastor was Rev. Philip A. Brennan, who served two years and was succeeded by Rev. Elijah McCoy. His successor was Rev. T. P. Proudfit, whose pastorate extended from 1867 to 1871. The services of this church were conducted in connection with the church of Harmony.
The Salem Presbyterian church was organized May 9, 1849, by Rev. Samuel C. McKune and William McCandish, with nine members. William Stewart and James H. Patterson were the first elders. The first pastor was Rev. J. C. Hanna, and it was under his ministry that the first church building was erected. In 1892 the meeting place was at Hanna City, where a house for religious services was erected at a cost of $2,500. There is now a parsonage which cost $1.500.
PRINCEVILLE TOWNSHIP
Princeville lies in the northern tier of townships and has for its northern boundary Stark county. On the west of it is Millbrook township, on the south Jubilee and on the east Akron township. It was organized in 1850 and had at that time a population of 100. At the first election were returned for supervisor, Leonard B. Cornwell; clerk, Jonathan Nixon; collector, William C. Stevens; assessor, Seth Fulton; justices of the peace, Solomon S. Cornwell and William C. Stevens ; constables, John Fulton and John E. Secry ; commissioners of high- ways, William P. Blanchard, Ira Moody and William P. Smith.
The first to settle here was Daniel Prince, and no better relation of this pioneer can be presented to the readers of this work than that appearing in Mc- Culloch's history, written by Edward Auten. What that interesting writer had to say of Daniel Prince is here reproduced: "Seeking a free and open country, Daniel Prince came from Indiana, and in 1822 was the first white man to live among the Indians in what three years later was the northern part of Peoria county. In a few years other white men, some of them friends or employees of Mr. Prince, gathered around the attractive timber and the settlement became known as Prince's Grove. Mr. Prince, as he drove into Peoria market in the winter of 1832-33, is thus described by John Z. Slane, then a small boy living in Peoria : 'The men shouted that Prince was coming and he was a nabob. Clad in a homespun and homewove blue-jeans, overcoat reaching to his ankles, with
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an old felt hat, a comforter over his hat, brought down over his ears and tied in front, with long, large whiskers, and chewing tobacco, Prince came up with his three-yoke team of oxen. His load was hogs, dressed. Mounting his wagon, he slung off, first the hay for the cattle, then quilt after quilt, and then hurried the unloading of the meat. After feeding his oxen in the rail fence enclosure and perhaps eating his own lunch there, and perhaps lying on the floor at the Indian store over night, Mr. Prince returned to his home.' Mr. Prince is described as a modest man, tall, but stooping, with brown curly hair, red cheeks and light eyes, probably blue. At home he was more easy going than when seen in the Peoria market. He was a farmer on a large scale, furnishing employment to all who needed it, and very generous. Different men, who were then boys, tell of his butchering a steer or a hog and giving a quarter here and a quarter there. If any neighbor needed something to eat and had nothing Mr. Prince furnished it ; payment was to be made whenever that neighbor found it convenient, and if it was never made, Mr. Prince did not complain. It is needless to say that it was for Daniel Prince that Princeville township and Princeville village were later named. His brother, Myron Prince, was an early settler a few miles to the north- west, later keeping a hotel in Princeville, and Myron Prince's son, George W. Prince, is now congressman from the Galesburg district.
"Mr. Prince's log cabin was on section 24, a few rods west of Sylvester and Elizabeth Slane's present residence ( 1902). This was on the 'edge of the timber,' and the next three cabins, remembered at this time, were 'along the hollow' to the north of Prince's. One was very near Higbee's present coal shaft, on Mrs. Jacob Fast's land ; one double cabin was at a fork in the ravine a few rods south, and another a few rods east of that. All these cabins-and in fact the entire west half of section 24-belonged to Mr. Prince. The cabin near Higbee's coal shaft was occupied by Dr. Oscar Fitzalen Mott, of the old 'Thomsonian' school. The double cabin had an ox mill in one end of it for grinding corn.
"This was the country in the early day, up to about 1835 or 1836. The In- dians had left immediately after the Black Hawk war of 1832. The prairies grew prairie grass, rosin weed, 'red root' and 'shoe string.' Near the timber and in the timber were often patches of hazel brush, sumach, blackberry bushes, and gooseberry bushes. Now and then eight, ten, or a dozen deer could be seen in the edge of the hills. Along Spoon river, tradition says, there were droves of deer with sometimes as many as one hundred and fifty head together. There were also wild cats 'as large as lynxes,' and plenty of wolves, both the coyotes or prairie wolves and the gray timber wolves. The timber was of large growth and had very few small trees. Daniel Prince appreciated the timber and took means to preserve it. He plowed two sets of furrows and burned the grass between them around both the 'North Grove' and the 'South Grove' to protect from prairie fires.
"By 1830 the country was too thickly settled to suit Mr. Prince. His cattle. roaming around, found neighbor's hay stacks to hook. The neighbors, in turn, 'sicked the dogs' on Prince's cattle and he would have no more of it. lle moved in that year, 1839, or 1840, to Missouri, where the country was free."
The first settler, however, to come into the township and locate with his family was Stephen French, a native of Connecticut, who first settled in Sanga- mon county in the '20s. In 1828 he came to Peoria county and for a while lived near Peoria but soon afterward located in Princeville, becoming the first post- master and justice of the peace of the community. His son, Dimmick French, was the first white child born in the county. In the northwest corner of the township along the Spoon river, which was bordered with a fine grove of timber, settlements were made almost as early as at Prince's Grove. Those who were in this locality as early as 1832, now remembered, were Hugh White and Chris- tian Miller and sons, Christian, Henry, Daniel, James and John, Ira Moody and Robert Caldwell were also here about that time or not much later. James Morrow is known to have gone from Prince's Grove to Spoon river in 1832 but soon
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returned whence he came, through fear of the Indians. Walter and Rachel Payne settled on section 7 in 1842 and previous to this, John Miller located on section 16, south of whom were at this period B. S. Scott, Boling Hare, John Dukes, James Debord and Oliver Moody. In the central and southwest parts of the township early in its history lived William P. Blanchard, Solomon S. Corn- well, William Parnell, John McKune, John Hill, Joseph Lindell, William Cum- mins, John Nelson, Lawrence Seery, William Lynch, John O'Brien, Reuben Deal and Roger Cook.
The first land allotted for the burial of the dead in Prince's Grove was on section 25. There still remains traces of these graves by sunken places in the earth. In White's Grove district a burial place was located on section 8.
Strange to relate, it was not until several years after the township had been settled that coal was discovered, and not even then were its virtues realized. The first of this fuel to be utilized was about 1847. It was mined from the James Mor- row farm on section 18. Sometime later Charles Plummer took coal from a bank on the same farm and William Hughes opened a mine on section 7. It was quite the usual practice in those days for the settlers to go to the banks and mine their own coal. In later years, however, modern shafts were sunk in various parts of the township. There are now in operation mines on sections 18, 10, II and 24, near the village of Princeville. They employ quite a body of men. By 1840 the township was pretty well settled.
That locality, now the site of Princeville, appealed to the admiration of Wil- liam C. Stevens, who happened in the neighborhood in the early '30s, and about 1838 he purchased the southeast quarter of section 13, near which, on section 24, a tract of land was owned by Benjamin Clark and Jesse M. Mccutcheon, land dealers. Together with Clark and MeCutcheon, Mr. Stevens platted the original town site of Princeville, which plat was filed for record June 22, 1837. About 1841 there were nine families in the town as follows: Benjamin Slane, William Coburn, Peter Auten, George MoMillan, Samuel Alexander, Jonathan Nixon, Moses R. Sherman, Seth Fulton and William C. Stevens. There had been others here who had left the place: Daniel Prince, Lawrence Mckown, John F. Garrison and Elisha Morrow. Just northwest of the village lived Stephen French. Thomas Morrow, who settled in the township in 1831, lived southeast of the village, and George I. McGinnis, who had settled in the township in 1835, had located northeast of the village.
The first schoolhouse had been built on the northwest corner of section 19 in Akron township. Here a school was taught by Miss Esther Stoddard, her pupils coming from all directions as far as Spoon river to the northwest. This primi- tive educational institution gained considerable fame in those early days. Among the successors of Miss Stoddard may be mentioned Miss Phoebe Stoddard, Mrs. Olive L. Cutter, Jane Hull, Theodore F. Hurd, Peter Auten, S. S. Cornwell, a Mr. Newell, B. F. Hilliard, Daniel B. Allen and Isaac Moss. The little log school- house was used not only for pupils and teacher but for public meetings, elections and religious services. It was destroyed by fire in 1849. In the fall of 1847. however, the attendance becoming so large, the pupils were transferred to a stone building which had been erected for the purpose on lot 5, block 13, Canton street. This schoolhouse was erected through public donations of material used and what little money was needed. B. F. Slane was the first to teach in this stone school- house. His successor was John M. Henry. Women taught in the summer months. The building was used for over a quarter of a century, when it was abandoned for one that had been completed in 1874-a brick structure. At the time of the building of the stone schoolhouse there were three school districts in the town- ship but by 1871 there were nine districts- the present number. The first school in Akron township was one of three or four others supported by subscriptions. Another school was located near William P. Blanchard's, now on section 22; another on section 16; one on section 5; and one on section 8. These schools were held in the homes of the settlers.
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The schools of Princeville have kept pace with the demands of the time. A high-school course, including Latin and twelfth grade work is in vogue. Four large assembly rooms of the brick building are taxed by the ten upper grades and the primary grades occupy Edward Anten's academy building.
PRINCEVILLE ACADEMY
The demand for higher education prompted Milton S. Kimball in 1856 to start a school in the Presbyterian church, which later developed into the first Princeville Academy. Later a two-story frame building was erected on the south side of Main street, just east of the present public-school square. The academy Hourished with a large attendance until the outbreak of the Civil war, when the institution dwindled into insignificance. Others of the principals were: Revs. William Cunningham and Jared M. Stone. Finally the school was discontinued entirely, the building was sold and moved to Canton street and occupied for many years by E. C. Fuller, who carried on a mercantile concern. Later J. L. Searls' grocery became its tenant.
Another Princeville academy was started in 1887 through the efforts of some of the old pupils of the former. Classes were taught the first year in the old Seventh Day Adventist church ; the next two years in the chapel rooms of the Presbyterian church, and from 1890 to the present time in the old Second Meth- odist Episcopal church building, purchased by Edward Auten for the purpose. In this academy many young men and women have been fitted for schools of greater facilities. Among the principals may be mentioned James Stevens, C. F. Brusie, B. M. Southgate, Edwin B. Cushing, H. W. Eckley, T. H. Rhodes, Ernest W. Cushing, Royal B. Cushing, and J. E. Armstrong.
The public square, now covered with growing trees and familiarly called a park, was given to the village by its founder, Mr. Stevens. In 1874 the officials attempted to erect on this square a village hall and lock-up. This did not meet the views of certain of the citizens and injunction proceedings were started by Peter Auten, Mr. Stevens and others. On the testimony of the donor that he had given the square to be an open space, park or square "for light and air, and to be for the beauty of the village and the health of its inhabitants," a perpetual injunction was granted and the tract remained and was retained for the purpose for which it was intended.
The founder of Princeville was a very generous man and donated land both for church and school purposes. The lot on which the stone schoolhouse stood was donated by him.
"Taking the Civil war as a dividing line between early and present Princeville history, no question of greater import-even Princeville's welfare today-could be raised than the personal character for godliness, integrity and learning of the quiet, determined teachers. They came from time to time, studied and taught, labored and made homes, and left their impress on the young in this now thriv- ing town. Among these teachers there are still remembered the names of Andrews, Aldrich, Allen, Auten, Breese, Burnham, Carlisle, Clussman, Cooper, Cunningham, Cutter, Cutler, Egbert, Foster, Farwell, Goodale, Hinman, Kimball, Means, Munson, Noyes, Page, Julia Rogers, Ann Rogers, Stanley, Stone, White, Wright and many others. Private schools were conducted at different times by Mrs. Hannah Breese, first in a little building in block 9. said to have been the first frame building in Princeville and near the west end of the large Hitchcock building. and later in her home, which became the property of Mrs. Willian Bennett, on the township line about eighty rods north of Canton street, by Miss Lydia Auten at her home. Miss Julia Rogers in the little house occupied by Guy Bouton on North street, Mrs. Ann Rogers at the home of her brother-in-law, Peter Auten, Miss Lizzie Farwell, at the home of William C. Stevens."
West Princeville sprung up at about the time of the building of the O'Brien wagon and blacksmith shops in 1857. These shops were located on the south
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side of the road between sections 19 and 30, about a quarter of a mile east of the Millbrook line. They were built by John O'Brien and his sons, James, Joseph and "Billy," for the manufacture of wagons, cultivators and harrows. "Billy" O'Brien invented and got a patent on a three wing iron harrow, which the firm manufactured and shipped in large quantities far and wide. Eventually the O'Briens sold out to Jesse Carey and removed to Kewanee, and later to Tiffin, Ohio. A grocery store was kept in a small building by William P. Hawver. He also made and repaired boots and shoes. The pioneer blacksmith of this section was Robert Lovett.
The Mount Zion Episcopal church was organized in this neighborhood in 1858, the first meetings being held in the Nelson schoolhouse. The society built a church on the southwest corner of section 20, a little east of West Prince- ville, in 1867. It was a frame structure, 32x45 feet and cost about $2,000.
The starting of Cornwell, now known as Monica, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, settled the fate of West Princeville. Most all of the build- ings, including the church, were moved to the new town.
In the '50s, on section 27, southeast of West Princeville, was located an oil factory on the farm now owned by Joseph E. Hill. It consisted of a refinery and six or eight retorts. The company had a house dignified by the name hotel, and office and store combined, and a number of small buildings. Here was manufactured from cannel coal an oil which was designated as kerosene. Bar- relled and hauled by wagon to Chillicothe, the product brought from $I to $1.10 per gallon, but the discovery of oil at Pennsylvania was a death blow to the industry. The buildings were torn down and removed. At one time, however, there were from forty to fifty men employed.
Stone quarries were opened early in the history of the township. Among the first were those of B. F. and J. Z. Slane, on the southeast quarter of section 24: Austin and T. P. Bouton, on section 25. The Slane brothers also made lime.
Market points for the people of Princeville and vicinity of the early days were Peoria, Lacon and Chillicothe. Often, however, trips were made even by ox teams to Chicago, where wheat was taken to the market, the proceeds of which would often be invested in lumber. salt, clothing and other necessaries. The windows, doors and casings of Dr. Charles Cutter's house were secured this way from Chicago, also the shingles for the First Presbyterian church. Lumber was also obtained from sawmills on Spoon river and Kickapoo creek. There were other mills familiar to the pioneers, such as Cox mill and the Rochester mill on Spoon river ; Evans' mill in Radnor township; Miles' mill at Southport, Elmwood township; and the Spring Valley mill. There were other mills closer than these just mentioned. There was "Jimmie" Jackson's "whip-saw" mill, also Erastus and Thomas Peet's sawmill. James Harrison's saw and grist mill and Hawn's mill, all in Akron township, and Hawn's mill within the village limits. In 1867 or 1868 the firm of Hitchcock, Vorhees & Seed put up a grist mill in the northwest corner of section 19, Akron township. It was burned about 1884. In the triangular piece of ground east of the property, John Bowman operated a mill for several years.
FIRST STORE
Elisha Morrow kept the first store in Princeville in a little frame building which stood either on block 8 or 9. The structure was the first frame one to be erected in the village and the siding was made from logs secured in the vicinity. Mr. Morrow was a brother of the wife of Amos Stevens. His first competitor in business was William Coburn, who had a small building in block 2. He sold out to a Mr. Ellsworth, who in turn disposed of his stock to W. C. Stevens. Mr. Stevens "kept store" in the front room of his residence. He was wont to take orders for various articles of merchandise which he would purchase in Peoria. Soon other merchants came, among them being Greenleaf Woodbury, Rowley &
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Hitchcock, Myron Prince and J. W. Gue. The latter died from cholera in 1852, the only death known to have occurred from that disease in Princeville. His wife, Jerusha T. Gue, continued the business in a store room in block 18, recently occupied by Blanchard & Sons. In the summer of 1851 Elbridge & Parker built what is known as an up and down board store building in block 17, where the Park hotel is now situated, and the same year a man by the name of Gray opened a grocery and notion store but soon closed it for want of sufficient patronage. In the next thirty years the following merchants were located at this place: A. G. Henry, D. W. Herron, John T. Lindsay, Thomas Alwood, George W. Emery, Hiel Bronson, John H. Russell, Charles and Joseph German, Bohrer & Fergu- son, A. G. Persons, G. W. Hitchcock, John Alter, Day & Hitchcock, William Simpson, A. D. Sloan, Cecil Moss, William De Bolt, Solomon Godfrey, Webber & Bochtold, Henry Clussman, J. L. Blanchard and John E. Henseler.
FIRST HOTEL
Seth Fulton's tavern was a log building that stood in block 9 and was built in the early '30s. He is credited with having been the first boniface in Peoria and came from there to Princeville. His house of entertainment, the "Traveler's llome," was a two-room log house, one room above the other, with a lean to, also constructed of logs. The next hostelry was "The Rising Sun," built by William Coburn in 1840. Later on Rowley & Hitchcock erected quite an addition to the building, with a hall above. Among those who have entertained the traveling public may be mentioned Myron French, G. Woodbury, Cyrus Beach, Thomas Myers, John Moore, Ashford Nixon and Rowley & Hitchcock. The Arlington House has been used for hotel purposes since 1848. Captain John Williams kept hotel in the E. Russell house from 1848 to 1855, and in the latter year Wil- liam Owens bought the entire south half of the block and built a larger hotel. After conducting the hostelry for eight years he sold to John Baldwin in 1863. James Rice took charge in 1865 and continued until 1889, with the exception of the interims when he leased to John G. Corbet, Lucius Wilkington, Thomas Painter and James Rice, Jr. In 1889 Rice sold to A. C. Washburn. There have been other hotels in the town. Chief among them was the Eureka House, run by W. G. Selby, and which was continued under the management of Mrs. Selby, changing the name of the place to the Park House, over which she presided until 1902, when the building was leased to Mrs. Kate Schneider.
The first physicians to practice in Princeville were Drs. Morrow, Waters and Mott. Mott and Morrow, however, were hardly entitled to the title as defined in these later days when all who practice the healing art must first have obtained a license from the state. Dr. Moss was the first regular physician and Dr. Charles Cutter next. Others to follow him were Israel G. Harlan, George W. Emery, Robert F. Henry, L. M. Andrews, M. S. Marcy, T. E. Alyea, Watkins Warren, W. J. Price and C. H. Wilcox.
FIRST BANK
George W. Alter and Peter Auten in 1872 established a private bank under the firm name of Auten & Alter. Mr. Alter died the same year and Edwin Anten becoming a partner, the firm name was changed to Auten & Auten, which con- tinues up to the present time. Peter Auten lived to be past ninety years old and was at the time of his death the oldest resident of the township. There was another bank in the village which was conducted by W. B. Kaiser and R. C. Henry from 1892 to 1893, when it ceased to exist.
PRINCEVILLE INCORPORATED
The village of Princeville was incorporated under a special charter, April 15, 1869, as the town of Princeville, and on March 24, 1874, under the general law
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it was incorporated as the village of Princeville. The principal advantage in separating from the township was to meet the desires of the majority then living in the vicinity who were radically opposed to the liquor traffic. The anti-saloon license party carried the first election but were unsuccessful from 1870 to 1878, when they again wiped out the saloons. The license party was in the ascendant from 1880 to 1883 and the "drys" from 1883 to 1885. From that time on until 1895 it was almost anybody's fight. Since 1895 the saloon has been out of exist- ence in Princeville, and during that period there have been many public improve- ments in the way of substantial streets and cement and brick sidewalks. In 1891 a brick city hall was erected, with rooms set apart for the council, fire department and lock-up. The'cost was about $5,000.
TRANSPORTATION
Princeville before the advent of the railroads was a stopping place on the stage routes running from Peoria and Chillicothe through Southampton to Prince- ville and to the west and northwest. The stage carrying both passengers and mail stopped at first once a week, then twice a week and later three times a week. Its headquarters were at Bliss McMillan's hotel.
The first railroad to be built through the township was the Peoria & Rock Island, now Rock Island & Peoria. In 1870 the railroad company was given assistance by the township to the extent of $50,000. A short time previous to this, however, the Buda branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy was com- pleted but received no bonus from the township. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad was constructed and entered the township on the east in 1887, mak- ing a junction with the Rock Island & Peoria at Princeville, and with the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy at Monica.
MONICA
As has heretofore been related, Monica was first called Cornwell in honor of Solomon S. Cornwell. It is located on section 21 between Spoon river and Kickapoo creek and was founded about two years after the completion of the Burlington road. The first store was built and started by Andrew D. Rogers. The building was burned in 1890 and the second in 1896. The third structure to be erected in the town was a large store building of Mrs. Wilts'. By 1897 there were three grain elevators but that year one of them burned to the ground. The place is quite a little business village, is a good grain and stock market and has good schools. The population is about 250.
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