USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. I > Part 65
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superintendent of schools, and two physicians practicing in Illinois outside of Adams County. The other sons and the daughters (both married) reside on farms near Loraine, the latter on the old Steiner place.
LORAINE VILLAGE
The Village of Loraine is of comparatively recent growth. It is a railroad town, and was platted by Messrs. Woods and Leinberger in Deeember, 1870, while the Carthage branch of the Chicago, Bnr- lington & Quiney was in process of construction. James H. Wade opened a store at about the same time, and in the following year, when the postoffice of Loraine was established, became postmaster.
PRETTY STREET IN LORAINE
Christopher Seals, proprietor of the old Seals Corn Cracker, or, at least, of that family, also started a store and opened a hotel, under the alluring title of Traveler's Rest. In the summer of 1871 S. P. Hatton built a combined blacksmith shop and dwelling, and Dr. James S. Atkins also ereeted a building which accommodated his patients and family, without erowding. Doetor Akins afterward be- eame postmaster. D. W. Lowery was soon added to the list of mer- chants, and in the spring of 1872 George A. Yeuter engaged in the grain and live stock trade, and erected buildings for the eondnet of that business.
Several drug stores were established in the early '70s, and E. J. Selleek built a grist mill in the summer of 1873. Other merchants also entered the local field, and Mr. Lowery extended his business so as to deal in agricultural implements and railroad ties. In faet, the trade in railroad ties and lumber was already large. Henry Goodnow and others engaged in wagon-making also. In 1876 he ereeted a large
QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY
two-story building, the first floor of which was used for a store and the second as a public hall. Mr. Seals also made a two-story addition to one of his buildings and the Odd Fellows rented the upper story as a lodge hall.
And so the village progressed and has enjoyed a substantial growth since. Of the "ohl-timers," as they are affectionately called. S. MI. Curless and Dr. E. G. Hedrick are perhaps best known locally, the former being a retired merchant and the latter a fine type of the old country physician.
The Loraine of today is a place of about 700 people, with a mumber of well stocked stores, a bank, a newspaper, electric light service and waterworks, a good school. a grain elevator, a feed mill and a lumber vard. Its three churches and several lodges also testify to the fore- sight of its people in the matter of providing for those whose lives demand also social and religious nourishment.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of Loraine, which is in charge of Rev. Lewis E. Baldwin, is an ontgrowth of the old Union Society
LORMINE HIGH SCHOOL
Church, organized in 1860 and whose original house of worship stood on section 24, abont three miles east of the present village. Originally. the Baptists and Presbyterians shared the building with the Meth- odists.
The Christian Church is under the pastorate of Rev. HI. O. Rocks. and the Church of the Brethren in charge of Rev. Henry E. Pittman. The latter was organized in 1880.
Both the Masons and the Odd Fellows have lodges at Loraine. The latter, Loraine Lodge, No. 641. Independent Order Odd Fellows, was instituted in June. 1877. in the hall fitted up for the purpose over ('hristopher Seals' store.
The Loraine State Bank was organized in November. 1904, with George Steiner as president: J. G. Stuart, cashier, and George 11. Eastman, vice president. Later S. S. Groves was elected cashier, and Joab Green as vice president, to succeed Mr. Eastman. In January, 1916. Newell Sapp was elected cashier, and in December, 1917. J. A.
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Ansmus succeeded to the presidency to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Steiner. The capital stock of the bank is $25,000; surplus and undivided profits, $16,500; average deposits, $300,000.
General mention has been made of the electric light service and water supply of Loraine. The former is furnished by the Electric Light and Power Company, of which Bert Van Blair is superintend- ent. The waterworks are municipal property and comprise a pumping station, with a ninety-foot tower, and an adequate system of distrib- uting pipes-the entire plant under the management of J. H. Cub- bage. The domestic water supply and the protection against fire are therefore all that are required.
The village newspaper, the Loraine Times, was established at Ursa by R. B. Ecols in 1896. In 1906, under the editorship and proprietor- ship of Mr. Mills, it was moved to Loraine. It has been owned and edited by R. K. Adair since 1916.
CHAPTER XIX
PAYSON AND PLAINVILLE
PIONEER HORTICULTURISTS-FOUNDING OF PAYSON VILLAGE-NOTED EARLY SCHOOLS-OTHER VILLAGE INSTITUTIONS-VILLAGE OF PLAINVILLE.
The Township of Payson has been deseribed as "containing some of the richest lands and some of the poorest in the county." It is in the southern tier of townships, about five miles east of the Mississippi River, and, although it has developed no considerable village, embraces two rural settlements, away from any railroad, known as Payson and Plainville. Although they are both old. they have been content to go along slowly, it safely.
PIONEER HORTICULTURISTS
In the earlier years the Town of Payson had a high horticultural reputation, certainly taking the lead in Adams County and measuring up to the highest standard of any other seetion in the state. The first apple orchard worthy of the name was planted by Deacon A. Searbor- ough in the spring of 1838. Ilis stoek consisted of one-year-old trees. purchased in St. Louis, but raised in Ohio. During the same year he purchased of John Anderson, of Pike County, a bushel of choice New Jersey peaches, with which he started orchards of that fruit whiel. for a time, were said to have been unexeelled.
William Stewart was probably the most widely known of the early hortieulturists who gave that part of the county such a good standing. In 1836 he came with his wife and large family of children to Payson Township, his home for many years having been in the State of Maine. Not long after the family settled in Payson Township, Mr. Stewart returned to the East on a business trip and purchased a pint of apple seed in New York. With that stock he started the first orchard, or nursery, in Adams County, He not only specialized in the enltivation of choice varieties of fruit trees, but eommeneed to raise ornamental shrubbery, and many of the old homesteads in the Payson neighbor- hood, and quite a distance beyond, owe their artificial landscape attractions to William Stewart's taste and enterprise. His death oeenrred in December, 1857, and his descendants in Adams County are numerous.
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FOUNDING OF PAYSON VILLAGE
Previous to 1834 not more than half a dozen families had settled in what is now Payson Township. In the previous year John Wood, E. B. Kimball and Brackett Pottle had entered the traet upon which the village now stands at the general land office. Deacon Albigence Scarborough had already made a trip to the locality, and was so pleased with the general outlook that in the fall of 1834 he purchased of the gentlemen named the original site of the village, which he laid out in the spring of 1835. The proprietor came from West Harvard, Connecticut, and being a great admirer of Rev. Dr. Edward Payson, of Portland, Maine, named his pet village accordingly. In the laying . ont of the original lots, as well as in their sale, he was assisted by P. E. Thompson and James C. Bernard.
In the year 1835 Deacon Prince arrived with a stock of goods from New York and opened the first store in Payson. A year or two after- ward J. C. Bernard and Joseph Norwood established themselves as merchants, the latter being the first postmaster. In May, 1836, the Methodists formed the first local religious society.
In 1836 Deacon Scarborough. Deacon David Prince and Capt. John Burns commenced the building of the stone windmill which was completed about three years afterward at a cost of $13,000, and which was so long one of the picturesque landmarks of Adams County.
NOTED EARLY SCHOOLS
Pioneer life is seldom marked by the presence of many educa- tional advantages, but Payson had these advantages from her earliest days, due no doubt to the fact that the first settlers came from the East and from the old world where the school systems were well established.
In the year 1833 the land upon which Payson now stands was entered at the general land office by Hon. John Wood, E. B. Kimball and Bracket Pottle. In the same year Deacon Albigence Scarborough journeyed here, walking much of the way, in order to save the strength of his mule to carry provisions. He made a second trip with his family in 1834, purchased the land on which Payson now stands and in the spring of 1835 laid out the village, having it platted and recorded: afterward associating with himself P. C. Thompson and James C. Bernard, in the laying out and sale of lots. The first sale of lots took place on the seventh day of Angust, 1836, and these three men gave 20 per cent of the purchase money of the lots sold for the purpose of building a seminary, and four acres of land were given by Deacon Scarborough upon which to erect the said building.
However, a number of schools were carried on by subscription before the public schools were organized. The first was in an old log cabin with puncheon floor on the northeast corner of Edwards and
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Fulton streets, taught by Miss Emily Scarborough, who also was the first public school teacher.
Miss Trimble, Miss Elizabeth Scarborough and Miss Ann Prince also taught subscription schools. The Hawley boarding school was a very ambitious undertaking and teachers were brought from the East. However, it proved a financial failure, and was bought by Doctor Corbyn, who gave up his work in Palmyra because of the tron- ble stirred up by rebels there. Here a number of Quiney students received their early education, among whom were some of the Bush- nells and Bulls. Doctor Corbyn later became pastor of the Good Shep- herd Church in Quincy.
TIngh Morrow conducted classes in the basement of the Second Congregational Church, until it was destroyed by fire.
In 1846 a frame building now serving as a residence in the south part of the village was built from the academy fund upon the land given by Deacon Scarborough. This was used as a private school for two years. Afterwards it was rented by the district for a public school and remained so for a number of years. This building was finally sold and moved off the lot. Through the patient efforts of Joel K. Scarborough and his associates a new public school brick building was erected on the same lot, and a clear title to the town by quit claim deeds was insured From the early stockholders in the academy fund. The school has ever been good and always an honor to the town.
It must be remembered, however, that the Township of Payson was first laid off into school districts in 1837, for which purpose the citizens met on the 28th day of October and the first meeting of trustees then elected was held on the seventh of December following. In these districts public schools were established, although private schools were still maintained.
The Payson public school has increased in valne, today ranking second to none in the county. The influence of her scholars is evinced by numerous distinguished people of various vocations who were born and reared in the town. Among these were Dr. David Prince. a famous physician and surgeon ; Mrs. Anna Scott and others, who devoted their lives to missions in foreign fields; Prof. Edward Perry, the head of an oratorical school in St. Louis: Miss Mary Leach, a Ph. D. and Professor of Chemistry in Oxford, Ohio. Splendid teach- ers have been graduated from Payson School, as well as men in the ministry, law and business.
Among the former teachers who have done much for Payson School are Theodore C. Poling, now a successful lawyer and banker in Quincy: Professor Hall, who first graded the school: George Gabriel, who has taught in the Quincy Schools, been their superin- tendent, and is now president of the Board of Education.
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CHARLES W. SEYMOUR HIGH SCHOOL
This bronze tablet has a prominent place in the entrance hall of the Payson High School :
"This building was erected by Henry M. and Lucy W. Seymour in memory of their only son CHARLES.
May his noble and generous life, which prompted this gift, inspire all students who enter here to improve this opportunity of study and of growth. that the world may be a better place because he once lived here."
" 'A blameless nature-glad and pure and true, He walked life's morning path in happy light,
Then passed from sight. But still he lives in every kindly deed we do,
In all our love of truth and right.
Forever young, forever glad. forever true.' "
Charles W. Seymour, in whose memory the building was erected. when only sixteen years of age was almost instantly killed in a ball game on the school grounds, May 22. 1915, a pitched ball striking him over the heart. The Seymour family is one of the oldest, most promi- nent and well-to-do in Adams County. the grandfather for whom Charles was named having located in Payson in the early '30s.
Shortly after the death of their only son, Mr. and Mrs. Henry M. Seymour decided to provide this memorial schoolhouse as his monu- ment. The building was completed and dedicated December 30, 1916. It is a beautiful structure, 172 feet long, extending back on the wings 42 feet and in the center 92 feet. Its red tile roof does not flame at the sky. but merely adds a touch of restful color. Its native limestone. taken from the Seymour quarries and used for the walls of the build- ing. is just the right shade, and the Bedford stone trimmings are in most excellent taste. Over the large stone pillars in the entrance arch is earved in the stone. "Charles W. Seymour High School." The visitor enters over granite steps into a marble stepped vestibule and thence into the entrance hall, floored with quarry tile and lighted with one handsome, indirect electric fixture. Facing the door is the bronze tablet with the inscription quoted above. The hall walls are of marble. The wood work is all of quarter sawed white oak, stained silver gray. A marble base runs around the bottom of the side walls in the corridors leading right and left from the hall. Here the walls are tinted green and are offset by the French half windows. The floor is of mosaic tile. On the first floor. beside the hall and corri- dors. there are four class rooms. 24 by 32 each, an auditorium 32 feet wide and 45 feet to the stage. which is 10 by 18. and a recitation room on each side of the auditorium, 16 by 16 feet. In the light basement
IT
MY
CHARLES W. SEYMOUR MEMORIAL, HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, PAYSON
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ample provision has been made for the domestie seience and manual training departments. Here also are the large indoor play room, locker room for boys and girls, shower baths and the heating plant. The building is heated by steam, lighted by electricity, provided with hot and cold water and sanitary drinking fountains. The walls are of hollow tile and the floors of conerete and the building is fire- proof.
The memory of a sixteen-year-old boy lives today in the heart of Payson and in the pride of Adams County. So short a span of life! Just long enough to bring to the village where he was born a gift that endures forever ; for it was Charles Seymour himself who first planned the new school for Payson. It was in his boyish heart to give, when he beeame a man, an enduring monument to education, a monument which in the sad tragedy of his death has become a memorial to a boy and to his home village a surety of the things that make life worth while. In the death of Charles W. Seymour, the sixteen-year-old boy, Payson holds in her heart a memory and a gift, neither of which will ever be forgotten. In the boy there comes to the mind of Payson a lovable yonth whose thoughts, strangely enough for youth, were of other people ; a generous boy whose young heart was an inspiration to his friends, as it was a joy to his elders. In his monument they have a school beyond compare-one of the finest and most complete in the entire country.
State Superintendent of Schools Franeis G. Blair delivered the principal address at the dedieation of the memorial sehool in 1916, and in the course of his remarks said: "Helen Hunt Jackson, before her death, let it be known to her friends that she did not wish a monn- ment to be, ereeted upon her grave. She asked that her body be laid to rest upon the summit of the mountain where she had sat so often writing the stories for the children and the people of this country. She said that it was her wish that people eoming to vist her grave might piek up two pebbles from the stream on the mountain and lay them upon her grave. If they wished some remembrance of that visit, they might take away one pebble placed there by other hands.
"What has happened within the years sinee her body was buried on the mountain?" Loving feet have toiled up the mountain side; loving hands have plueked up the pebbles and cast them on her grave until a real monument has been ereeted to her memory-a monument such as any noble minded person might erave for himself.
"Here, however, we have the erection of another kind of monu- ment which, in my mind, is more noble and more abiding; here a building is ereeted within which, during the years to come, great spiritual forees are to influence the lives of children. Hundreds of boys and girls, coming under these spiritual influenees, are to earry away with them gifts which will influence every thought and aet of their lives. A monument will be built in the hearts and minds of the children which time will not destroy.
"We are told that on Mount Moriah King Solomon erected a tem-
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ple, with marble and granite hewn and fashioned in the quarries, with cedars from Lebanon, and fir trees from Tyre and Sidon ; with silver and gold and precious jewels from Ophir, and with the most skillful workmen that the ancient world could produce he constructed a temple that was the wonder of the ages, Princely potentates and crowned heads came from the four corners of the earth to look upon that mag- nificent embodiment of the architectural skill and genius. But the corroding breath of the centuries marred its beauty and the thunder- ing tread of the Chaldean sollier shook its foundations, Amid smoke and flame it tottered and fell and crumbled to dust. Today we know not even the spot on which it stood. Yes, Solomon was a mighty builder, but he could not construet out of wood and stone a monit- ment that would endure forever.
"So we turn from the dream of vanished grandeur and beauty to look into the school room, where the teacher is building another tom- ple: where she is laying its foundations deep and broad upon the eternal verities of nature and art ; where she is carving its pillars and arches out of the infinite quarries of the human soul; where she is hanging its walls with the pictures of the imagination and the tapes- tries of the heart, and where, let us hope, she is crowning the whole with a dome resplendent in beauty and radiant with the hope of immortality. And over the entrance to such a temple is written in characters of living fire :
". Ile who builds with wood and stone. Must see his work deeay. But he who shapes the human mind, Builds for eternity.
"It is because I believe that Mr. and Mrs. Seymour are building to the memory of their son such an imperishable monument that have come to join with them and the people of this community in the dedication of this building."
Governor Frank O. Lowden offered three silk flags as prizes to the schools of the State of Illinois. Payson High School won one of these flags by selling a greater number of bonds in proportion to the num- ber of students enrolled than any other high school in the State.
OTHER VILLAGE INSTITUTIONS
The Village of Payson was first incorporated in 1839, and secondly. in 1869, as a town. On April 26, 1903, it was incorporated as a village under the general state act. Its public utilities may be said to include electric lighting furnished by a local plant, of which W. K. Elliott is the owner, and a municipal well, 200 feet in depth, from which the supply for all purposes is drawn.
It also has two banks and a weekly newspaper. The latter, owned and edited by E. P. Maher and wife, is a live village institution, and has been such for a member of years, The two financial institutions
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which accommodate the village and a considerable area of surrounding country are branches of the South Side Bank and the State Savings, Loan and Trust Company of Quiney. Their respective managers are J. G. Thompson and C. E. Gabriel, cashier. The branch of the State Savings, Loan and Trust Company at Payson was opened in Decem- ber, 1909, and the new building now occupied was completed in the fall of the following year.
The Village of Payson has had a reputation for sobriety and reli- gious strength since the very early days, and the townspeople have well sustained it. At the present time the Congregationalists, Metho- dists and Disciples of Christ maintain organizations with settled pas- tors, and the Baptists have also a society. In priority of establishment the last named heads the list, a Baptist Church having been organized at Payson in March, 1834. As this was the first of the religious bodies to get a foothold, although the organization is not now strong. the event is worthy of some special mention.
The meeting to organize the Baptist Church was held at the resi- dence of W. II. Tandy, about three miles north of the village, on March 8, 1834, and besides Mr. Tandy and wife, the society comprised two married couples and a bachelor. At first meetings were held in the houses of the members, but in 1835 a log house of worship was erected in a grove near Gabriel Kay's residence. But when the Vil- lage of Payson was assured-in faet, at the second sale of Iots, in April, 1837-the Baptists purchased a site for a ehureh building. and soon afterward commenced its erection. They occupied this frame structure for twenty-seven years.
The Methodists had organized a elass in the village during 1835. and in 1840 it was ineorporated as a church. Its first building was completed in the fall of 1842, and a larger one in 1854. The present pastor of the Methodist Church is Rev. C. S. McCullom. The Con- gregationalists organized in May, 1836, the numerous Scarboroughs, headed by Deaeon Albigence Scarborough, being among the original members of the church. The first house of worship was burned not long after its completion in 1842, the second meeting house being com- pleted in the fall of 1865. Rev. T. J. Brown is now in charge of the Congregational Church at Payson. The Christian Church, Rev. Charles L. Roland, pastor, was organized in February, 1868.
Payson has a number of secret and benevolent organizations. The oldest, Payson Lodge, No. 375, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, was chartered in October, 1863. It has a present membership of about eighty. The Order of the Eastern Star has also a chapter, No. 375.
VILLAGE OF PLAINVILLE
The little Village of Plainville, southeast of the central part of Payson Township, was originally called Stone's Prairie. Samuel Stone settled in that locality in the year 1822: himself, his family and deseendants gave the settlement its early name. Among the other
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early settlers of the locality and neighborhood were Henry Wagy. Wyman Whitcomb and A. B. Vining, who came in the early 30%, and Solomon Shinn and John Delaplain, who came at a somewhat later period.
The first merchant of the place was Mr. Delaplain (deceased sev- eral years ), and the little old building in which he displayed his small stock of goods is still standing, although it has been moved to another Jot than its original site. A few years afterward John Vining opened a store. In the early 'SOs Mr. Delaplain built a new store at Plainville with a handsome residence, but both were burned some years later. The same fire destroyed several other buildings, including the "Ob- server," the home newspaper office. The publication named was owned by Chubbick & Caughlan.
For many years, while the postoffice was called Stone's Prairie. the village was popularly known as Shakerag. When Chubbick & Caugh- lan founded their newspaper they thought the village should be named in honor of its first merchant. John Delaplain, and they, with others, petitioned the postoffice department to that effect. The result was that the name of the postoffice was changed from Stone's Prairie to Plainville. It was incorporated as a town May 1. 1896. The village is represented in the newspaper field by A. J. Crimm. editor of the News, who founded that journal in October. 1915. Plainville has also a well organized State Bank, of which A. M. Carter is president and E. E. Benson cashier.
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