USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Portrait and biographical album of Peoria County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 67
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has been so judiciously invested as to prove not only beneficial to himself but so as to advance the financial condition of township and county.
Mr. Cornwell was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., July 8, 1809. His father, Job Cornwell, was a native of the same county, and was a son of Jon- athan Cornwell, also of that county, and a grand- son of Lot Cornwell, who was a soldier in the Revolution. The father of Lot Cornwell came from England as an officer in the English armny, but in the opening days of the struggle between the Americans and the mother country, he left the British service to join the Colonists and fought with them for their freedom. After the war he settled in Dutchess County among its pioneers as a tiller of the soil.
The father of our subject learned the trade of a. blacksmith and carried it on in the town of Stan- ford in Dutchess County. He did a thriving bus- iness and employed three men to assist him, In 1830 he removed to Monroe County, and settled near Brockport, where he died in 1850 at the age of fifty-six years. He was a Democrat in polities and was very influential in publie councils and held various county offices. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Chloe Mayhue, and she was of Scotch descent and born in New York. She survived her husband several years, making Ifer home with her daughter at Grand Rapids, till her death at the age of seventy-five years. She was a truly good woman and in her the Free Will Baptist Church found a consistent member. She was the mother of eight children, as follows: Lucinda, who died in New York; Fan- nie, who lives in Michigan; Smith, who died in Illinois; Morris, who died in California; Emeline, who died in New York; Ethan, a resident of Chi- cago, who was formerly Captain in the Railway Detective service, and Charlotte, who died in Rock Island.
Our subject was reared in Stanford, and in bis younger days was a delicate, sickly lad. He ob- tained his education in the district school till be was seventeen years old when he was sent to the Nine Partners Quaker school at Mechanicsville, in his native county, and there completed an excellent course of study. After leaving school he adopted
the profession of teaching and was engaged at it in Dutchess County some twelve years, and after that taught in Long Island and for three years was principal of the schools where he was sta- tioned. In 1837 he went to Monroe County, N. Y., and eighteen months later in 1839, came to Illinois, traveling hy boat to Cleveland, by canal to the Ohio River to take a boat, but as there were none going down the river at that time, he hired a skiff, but after proceeding two miles decided that he could make better progress on foot, so he walked to the next landing and waited there four days for a boat, and as one did not come tried to secure a seat on the stage to Indiana and at length was successful, and finally found his way to Spring- field, this State. Ile then shouldered his bundle of clothes and made a pedestrian trip to the Missis- sippi River and back to Farmington in search of a school to teach. He was finally referred to Prince- ville, and here was engaged to teach in a log school with primitive furnishings. He engaged in teaching here for several years, and found it hard work as among his pupils were several large boys who could neither read nor write. He toiled faitlı- fully and made a snecess of teaching, and was en- gaged at it some three years. Ile then went to Fairview, Fulton County, and was engaged in teaching in the academy as its principal, and occu- pied that position three years.
Mr. Cornwell had previously bought this place, in 1840, or a part of it, buying a patent of one hundred and sixty acres on section 21, and made all the improvements on that tract. He located on it in 1843, and built a frame house, drawing the lumber from Ellisville, Fulton County, a distance of forty miles with an ox team. He broke prairie with oxen and a wooden mold plow, and got well started in his efforts to develop a farm, and in the years that followed was more than ordinarily sue- cessful in his work, and at one time owned over eleven hundred and twenty acres of fine farming land. He still possesses eight hundred acres, all of which is improved land with the exception of three hundred and twenty acres devoted to pas- ture, and it is well fenced and watered by springs and sloughs, having a pure spring of ever flowing water on nearly every quarter section. Ile has
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two good dwellings and other substantial buildings, on his farm, and in 1871, built here the' largest house in the township, and then retired from active business to pass his declining years in this co- ziest and most comfortable of homes. He used to operate the whole farm and had it well stocked. Ile raised full blooded Poland-china hogs very extensively, some years selling enough to bring in $3,700. Ile has other valuable property besides his farm. Ile built a house in Monies, and owns two buildings there. He rents his land, but re- tains the pasture and has one hundred head of cat- tle grazing upon it hesides other stock.
May 24, 1842, Mr. Cornwell returned to Mon- roe County, N. Y., and was married to Miss Emily Munson, a native of Connecticut, and a daughter of Caleb Munson, a farmer of Monroe County. He was extensively engaged in farming and stock- raising and was well-to-do.
Our subject and his wife are the parents of four children, William H., Julia, (wife of W. E. Elliott of Princeville Township) Charles, Ade- line, (wife of II. W. Crawford an agent for the Rock Island Railroad at Monica). William is a farmer in Waldo Township, Livingston County, where he owns three hundred and twenty acres of land. He was a soldier in the late Civil War, en- listing in 1861, when he was but seventeen years old, in the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, mustered in at Peoria. He took part in all the battles in which his regiment fought, till he was taken prisoner first in Tennessee and was subsequently paroled and was a second time captured at Essex Station, he having been shot through the hip while on his horse, and taken by the enemy. His wounds were dressed by his fellow prisoners, and he was sent to Andersonville, and remained there several months until the close of the war, and then came home nearly dead from the sufferings and priva- tions he had endured in that terrible experience of life in rebel prisons. Charles, an attorney at law, practicing in Peoria, was graduated from Cold Water Michigan College and later was graduated from the law department of the University at Ann Arbor.
Mr. Cornwell has a high reputation as a man of honor, truthfulness and unimpeachable integrity,
who has acquired his large property by honest and fair methods and he is a credit to our citizenship. He is an ardent Republican in his political views and is one of the most intelligent and liberal support- ers of his party, and has been active in its councils, and has been delegate to county conventions. He was Supervisor one year and has been Director of the graded schools, and a member of the Grand Jury several terms and the Petit Jury one term, and in each and every capacity showed marked ability as an intelligent and progressive official.
OHN M. PATTERSON. A life-long far- mer, progressive in his ideas regarding his calling, anxious to excel, and energetic in spirit. Mr. Patterson has secured a good estate, where he is enabled to surround his family with the comforts and even some of the luxuries of life. He is located on section 31, Brimfield Town- ship, his well-regulated estate consisting of one hundred and sixty aeres. He had no one to start him in life, being a member of what might be con- sidered a pioneer family in the section in which his youth was passed, and having not even the advan- tages of educational training which are secured to the young men of the present day. In lieu of these advantages he possessed a determined spirit, was bred to habits of industry and early taught the self-reliance which is so potent a factor in worldly prosperity.
Mr. Patterson was born in Rockbridge County, Va., September 22, 1832, being a son of John and Sarah Patterson, likewise natives of the Old Do- minion. The parents removed to Preble County, Ohio, when our subject was about a year old, and there, as he grew toward manhood, he took advan- tage of the limited school privileges, in the inter- vals of study acquiring a knowledge of his father's vocation. Early in the '50s the parents and their rather large family came to Peoria County, Ill., the father first locating in Elmwood Township. After a time he removed to Knox County, whence after several years he returned to Peoria County, spend- ing the remnant of his days with our subject.
Truly yours A.M. Bushnell
JennetteBushnell
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In Knox County, in January, 1860, the subject of this notice was united in marriage with Miss Melissa M. Vickery, an estimable young woman, who was well qualified for the life which lay be- fore her. She is a daughter of Elias and Polly Vickery, early settlers of Peoria County. She has borne her husband four children, and they have likewise an adopted daughter, named Edith V. Their first-born, Charles L., is deceased; Ida MI .. the second ehild, is the wife of Ferdinand E. Bowler, now living in Sheridan County, Kan .; Fred, the only son living, is a public school teacher, with an excellent reputation in his profession; Edna completes the family list, although the adopted daughter shares with them in the kindly care and affectionate oversight of Mr. and Mrs. Patterson.
Our subject has served as School Director many years, and has borne a part in advancing the inter- ests of his fellow-men in various ways. He is a believer in and a supporter of the Republican party, ever ready to cast his vote in the interest of what he considers the best of political principles.
LVIN W. BUSHNELL. Few of the eiti- zens of Peoria are more widely known and none more highly esteemed than Mr. Bush- nell and his wife, whose biographies and portraits are presented on these pages. Mr. Bushnell first came to this county in 1837, and has made his home since that time within its limits, with the exception of two and a-half years, which he spent in Chicago. He is therefore thoroughly ac- quainted with the progress of the county for more than a half century, and has borne no inconsider- able part in the development of its natural re- sources and the building up of its industries. He was born in Greene County, N. Y., January 8, 1815, and inherits from a long line of agricultural ancestors many qualifications which adapt him to carry on similar work.
The Bushnell family were first represented in America by three brothers who came together from England. The grandfathers of our subject were Elijah Bushnell and Zephaniah Chase, the latter of
whom lived in Martha's Vineyard during the Rev- olutionary War and had his potatoes taken from him by British soldiers, except a few that he sue- ceeded in secreting. Anson and Elizabeth (Chase) Bushnell were natives of Connecticut and Massa- chusetts respectively. To them were born three sons and two daughters, namely : Alvin W .; Hor- ace, who resides in St. Paul, Minn .; Eunice. de- ceased; Mrs. Mary Minor, whose home is in York, Neb .; and Lewis, a magnetic physician in Chicago.
The gentleman with whose name this sketch is introduced passed his boyhood in the Empire State, receiving his education in the common schools. Ilis first venture in the way of gain- ing a livelihood, was that of hiring out as a farm hand at 813 per month. In 1835 he went to New York City, where he learned the trade of a carpen- ter, making the metropolis his home two years. He then came to Peoria County, Ill., and for a num- ber of years carried on a farm and also worked at his trade. In 1848, he sold his estate and removing to Chicago engaged in the grocery trade, which he abandoned in 1851, to return to this county and become a resident of the county seat. He embarked in the lumber business and afterward became en- gaged in the manufacture of building materials- chiefly of asbestine stone, which is used for side- walks and other purposes.
The career of Mr. Bushnell has been an honor- able and industrious one and he is surrounded by comforts. He occupies a pleasant residence on Fourth Street, where hospitality abounds and re- fined tastes are indicated by the neatness and beauty there to be seen. He is numbered among the reliable citizens and held in good repute by neigh- bors and associates. He has been a member of the Board of Supervisors two terms, and in polities is a Democrat of the old Jackson type. He belongs to the Old Settlers' Society and the Scientific Associa- tion. His family now consists of his wife and an adopted daughter, May. They had another adopted daughter, Ella, whom they reared from childhood, giving her the advantage of a literary and musical education. She died December 19, 1889, aged thirty-seven years.
The maiden name of Mrs. Bushnell was Jennette Case, and she was born August 29, 1818. in the
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town of Sandy Creek, Oswego County, N. Y. Her parents were Imri and Chloe A. Case, natives of Connecticut and Vermont respectively. She became the wife of our subject July 12. 1841. and has proved her worth as a sympathizing companion for "lo! these many years." Since 1849 she has been a member of the Baptist Church and a faithful fol- lower of its teachings.
C HARLEY FASH, the well-known and popu- lar blacksmith and wagonmaker of Lime- stone Township, is a representative of an old and honored pioneer family of this county. He was the third child of the eleven children, six sons and five daughters, born to Daniel and Phoebe (Campbell) Fash, and is a native of New York City, where his birth occurred June 19, 1830. His parents were both natives of New York, his mother of Tarrytown, and a daughter of Joseph Campbell, of that town. His father was a son of Daniel Fash, whose wife's family name was Bogert. They were seafaring people, and were of fine physical proportions, strong constitutions and great powers of endurance, and these were also the characteristics of the Fashis.
The father of our subject was born and reared in New York City, and after his marriage in Tar- rytown. continued to reside in the city of his birth for some years. and there four of his children were born. When the son of whom we write was three years old, his father came to this county, in 1833, bringing his family with him, and though so young our subject can well remember many in- cidents connected with that ever memorable jour- ney. They packed their goods in boxes and bundles in their home on the North River, and he recollects the excitement incident thereto, and of lying on a feather bed whilst the paeking was going on. Their household effects were ship- ped to Peoria by water, their furniture being of a very fine and costly character for those days, and in some way it was missent and they never got it, but heard from it some twenty-five years later in
St. Louis. and at that time from the ill care it had received it was badly decayed and useless. Mr. Fash rigged out a one-horse wagon, in which he and his wife and four children started on their jour- ney. taking with them a large churn, which held all their provisions, which lasted until they got to Pittsburg. Pa. On their arrival in that city, they became tired of that mode of travel, and Mr. Fash sold his horse and wagon, took the boat in com- pany with old Dr. Rouse, and came the rest of the way by water to Peoria, where they landed in the fall of the year. Grandfather Fash had preceded them, and met them on their arrival, his family coming out next year overland with a number of wagons. His death, however, occurred before they got liere.
When the Fashes came to this county they found it in a very wild, uncivilized condition. There were no bridges around Peoria and the sloughs were swampy, so that they had to drive around the head of them to keep from sinking down. as at times the mud was so deep in some places that a man would sink into the soft earth up to his waist. The roads being so bad it was no easy matter to go to market, and the early settlers had to be content with living on what they could raise at hand, and much of the time their food was grated corn, which was made into what they called a "sop." They raised pumpkins, cut them in slices and dried them for future use, and the preparation that they made from that, and the prairie chickens they could track formed their chief subsistence. A neighbor, Joe Brown. built a rail pen in which he would often catch as many as two hundred chickens a day, from which he would pick the breast feathers and feed the meat to his hogs, and on Sunday the great dish for dinner would be wheat bread, which was also used on state occasions; when anyone came this bread was brought out in the shape of yellow biscuit. In cases where the visitor would be re- galed with white bread and butter, the little chil- dren would stand aside and see the precious morsels disappear with silent envy. The itinerant Metho- dist preachers of those days used to be the great and favored ones, and when they put in appearance at a pioneer home all the good things that the house afforded were set before them and each grow-
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ing boy's ambition was to be a Methodist minister. It would take nearly a week to go and return from the mill even to get corn cracked, the settlers going to Mackinaw, Rushville or Snatchmine for such purposes. They finally rigged up a rough appara- tus to serve as a mill just at the outlet of Peoria Lake, where they built a large round log across the stream in a frame, and the water cansing this to re- volve ground the corn, as at one end a rude shaft was fixed and attached to the burr in the mill, and this crude affair was all the mill Peoria had for some years, and as our informant very expressly says "a man could eat about as fast as it would grind." One of the main comforts of life was "prairie scratches," a species of itch, which was very prevalent, and at times very severe and offen- sive. This constituted the only ailment in the family of our subject, as his father never paid out any money in doctor's bills in rearing his large family of children, except when one of them was ushered into the world.
Mrs. Fash, who was a lady of refinement and considerable culture, being reared among the best families of New York City. for many years could not be reconciled to her lot, and many and many a time her hot tears poured down on the heads of her little lonesome children as she would sit and think of the life before her, as they lived in a lonely country, theirs being one of three houses between Peoria and Farmington. In the course of years, however, some of her relatives moved here and she became more reconciled and enjoyed life.
Daniel Fash moved from Peoria to Rushville not long after coming here,and built a house, but did not like the place and returned to Peoria the same year. IIe subsequently located two and one-half miles east of Farmington, in this county, where he had a cabin built by Mr. Campbell and Clem Ewalt, and also had twenty acres of the land broken. His home was in the tall timber, while his farm was on the open prairie. After a few years he built himself another house, but did not occupy it long, trading off that place as soon as possible, as he had no other but a tax title to it. He traded his land for one hundred and sixty acres where our subject now lives, and got $500 to boot. Here be and his wife made their home until
their death, which occurred in the year 1882. They had lived here nearly half a century and had witnessed and aided the growth of the county, and their memory is cherished as among our most re- spected pioneers. The father was a sturdy Jack- son Democrat in his polities, and remained faithful to his party until the day of his death.
Onr subject grew up under pioneer influences of the home that his parents had made in this county, and in 1850 was married to Miss Frances J. Smith, who bore him five children, three of whom survived and were all born in California, as our subject was a resident of that State for many years. In 1854 he started out for that land of promise with his wife and one child in an ox wagon, accompanying a train of emigrants across the plains. At Salt Lake City they abandoned the train, and for awhile he worked at his trade of blacksmithing at that place. Two months later he resumed his journey to the Pacific Slope, but when they got to the desert their team gave out and he took his child on his back and with his wife trudged on their way. A train from Iowa over- took them and he paid its captain $20 for the privilege of having his wife ride. The train sub- sequently broke up along the road and left our subject, his wife and child with their few effects sitting by the wayside. The situation was very serious, as he only had ten cents in his pocket, and scarcely knew where to turn. His wife gave way and began to cry, but he finally got her comfort- ably fixed in the woods with the baby and he went along to a wayside town, where he was fort- unate enough to secure employment for himself and wife at the rate of $3 each. They staid there until they had accumulated some money, and he opened a smithy and did work for a Mr. Hall from Peoria for a year at $90 per month, earning his employer $40 a day for every day in the year.
Mr. Fash first started in Eldorado and afterward was in many places, finally going to San Joaquin County, where he took up a farm and lived there five years. Ile then had the misfortune to lose his devoted companion, she dying in 1867 of con- sumption, leaving three little children, aged from six years to ten months. Their names are: John Daniel, Phil Sheridan and Sarah. The latter is
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the wife of Hugh Hart, an expressman of Peoria, and they have three children, two girls and a boy. Phil married and lives in Peoria. where he drives a team for a feed store; John is a blacksmith in Farmington.
After the death of his wife our subject sold his California property and returned to Knoxville. he having been on the Pacific Coast thirteen years altogether, and returned from there by the way of the Isthmus of Panama and New York. He built himself a home in Knoxville, and in 1868 bought the place on which he now lives. it being a part of the old homestead where his boyhood and youth were passed, and in 1870 he moved on to it. He was married a second time, in the fall of 1868, to Miss Mary Cover. of Knoxville, who has been to him a true wife and to his children a kind step- inother. Besides successfully carrying on a large and luerative business as a blacksmith and wagon- maker. he pays much attention to cultivating his land. having fifty acres. the most of which is im- proved.
Mr. Fash inherited in a full degree the fine physique for which his ancestry were famous, and his stalwart proportions well fit him for his call- ing. in which he is very skillful. being a first-class artisan. He is well endowed mentally, possessing a elear brain and keen wit. and is noted in this locality for his quaint and lucid expressions and humorons originalties. He is withal generons, frank and open-hearted, and is a general favorite. Mr. Fash was originally a Democrat. but later in life he became a Republican, and is still a sturdy advocate of the policy of that party.
HOMAS J. EDWARDS is one of the active and influential farmers and stock raisers of Rosefield Township. lle is a native of Mar- shall County, this State. but having been brought here in his infancy. was reared in this county and has ever since made his home on the old homestead on section 24, where he has one of the finest of farms in this section of the township.
Our subject was born December 23, 1853, and
is a son of Sylvester S. and Mary Jane (Schimp) Edwards. who were born in Hampshire County, Va. The father's parents were Thomas and Elinor (Scott) Edwards, natives of Hampshire County, Va., where they had a large plantation and owned a number of slaves. They came to this county in 1834, and settled on the one hundred and sixty acres where our subject now resides; were among the early pioneers of the county. and as such their names are held in reverence by the present gener- ation. The children were: Sylvester S., Isadora, Sarah Jane (deceased). George W., and Edward D. (deceased). The mother of our subject was the daughter of the Rev. Jacob Schimp.
The father of our subject was a lad of nine years when his parents brought him to Rosefield Township, and he has resided on the old homestead ever since with the exception of one year in Mar- shall County. He assisted his father in the pio- ncer labors of developing a farm and for a short time before the war was engaged in the grocery business. After the Rebellion broke out. he offered his services to his country and enlisted in Com- pany K. Seventy-seventh Illinois Infantry, and was given the position of Second Lieutenant. He took part in Bank's Red River Expedition and was cap- tured and imprisoned at Camp Ford, Tyler. Tex. At the time of his capture, Mr. Edwards was act- ing as Captain of Company F. He was after- wards promoted to be First Lieutenant, he having gained that responsible position by his bravery, coolness. and efficiency on the battle field, and his whole course during the war showed him to pos- sess fine soldierly qualities and to be a true leader of men, and the military record that he gained is one of which his children may well be proud. Af- ter the close of the war he engaged in farming for some time and in the winter of 1875-76, en- tered the mercantile business at Edwards' Station and was also Postmaster there.
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