USA > Illinois > Mason County > The History and Mason Counties, Illinois > Part 36
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VILLAGE OF GREENVIEW.
This little village is eligibly located in the midst of a fertile and productive region, on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, about eight miles from
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
Petersburg. It is on Section 23, of Town 19 north, Range 6 west of the Third Principal Meridian, according to Government survey, and was laid out October 2, 1857, by William Engle, elsewhere mentioned as one of the pioneers of the county. The land upon which the village stands was originally owned by Charles L. Montgomery. The name of Greenview was given in honor of William G. Greene, a prominent citizen of Menard County, residing in the pre- cinct of Tallula. The first dwelling-house erected in the village was put up by Robert McReynolds, soon after it was laid out, and very soon after this, James Stone erected a dwelling. The first brick house was built by John Wilkinson, and is now used as a hotel. One of the first business houses of importance was built by McReynolds, and afterward occupied by him as a store. There is some question at the present day as to whether McReynolds was the first merchant in the place, or whether Emanuel Meyer & Bro. deserve the honor. These were, probably, the two first stores in the village. Silas Beekman had a store here the fall the railroad was completed through the town. The first tavern was kept by John Wilkinson, and is still in existence (in the brick house mentioned above), but is now conducted by the widow of Mr. Wilkinson and their son. It is an excellent hotel for a village of the size of Greenview. The first blacksmith was Jacob Propst, who opened a shop soon after the laying-out of the village. The first physicians were Drs. Davis and Calloway. At present, the practitioners of the place are Drs. S. T. Hurst and W. A. Mudd. A mill was built some years ago (the exact date we could not obtain), by McCormick Brothers. In January of the present year, it was burned to the ground. It was a frame building, two stories high, with two run of buhrs originally, but a third run was added at a later day, and the entire structure was erected at a cost of about $10,000. It has not been rebuilt, which leaves quite a large scope of country between Petersburg and Mason City without a mill. Harvey Yeaman was the first man who handled grain at this point. He built a part of the present grain elevator, and then sold out to Morse & Co., who raised the elevator and built another story under it. This seems to have been on the principle of the Irishman's mode of building a chimney, viz. : "Laying down a brick and putting some others under it." While it is quite common to build another story on a house, it is rarely we hear of one having a story built under it. They also added cribs, machinery and all modern improvements. It is now owned by Petrie & Co., who are the only grain- buyers in the village.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in Greenview in the fall of 1858. This Church was originally formed at New Market, but, upon the lay- ing-out of the village, was moved, or rather re-organized within the corporation, and the church building erected the same year. It is a frame edifice and cost about $3,000. The present minister in charge is Rev. S. H. Martin, with an active membership of about twenty-five persons. Its members have been greatly reduced in number by death and removals. About thirty-five children
4
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
regularly attend the Sunday school, under the superintendence of Hugh Foster.
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized in the village in 1858, or rather, was moved from the Knowles' Schoolhouse in Indian Creek, and was originally organized in the now extinct village of New Market. The society erected a church edifice in Greenview in the year named above, which cost about $1,200, and is a substantial frame building. The first Trustees were Thomas Stone, Allen Knowles, Robert McReynolds and Luther Jenison. The congregation at present numbers about one hundred members, but has been much larger. A flourishing Sunday school is maintained. For the early his- tory of this venerable Church. our readers are referred to Indian Creek Pre- cinct.
The Baptist Church was built in 1868, and is occupied jointly by the Bap- tists and Christians, the latter denomination having no sanctuary of their own. The building cost about $2,000 and is a substantial frame. The Baptists have no regular pastor at present and their membership is rather small. The Christians organized their society in the fall of 1869, and have a membership at present of about sixty, under the ministerial charge of Elder D. T. Hughes. A union Sunday school of the Baptist and Christian denominations is car- ried on, under the superintendence of M. M. Engle, with a regular attendance of about forty children.
The Catholics have an organized Church society, which meets for worship in Hatch's Hall, and has been ministered to by Father Sauer. of Petersbug. But, as he has very recently resigned the charge at the latter place, the society here is without a minister until other provisions are made for their spiritual welfare.
Greenview Lodge No. 653. A. F. & A. M., was organized under dispensa- tion May 12. 1870, and chartered at the following session of the Grand Lodge. The charter members were F. E. Wilson, W. H. Crites, H. K. Rule, Charles Atterberry, W. S. Morse. J. A. Rule. Abner Engle. Jacob Propst. Jr .. Fred Wilkinson. M. S. Eby. William Houston, D. A. Petrie, Robert Hornback. Jacob Killion, John Johnson, F. A. Craig. C. R. Pierce. R. B. Godby. A. H. Whit- ney and Hosea Dockum, of whom the following were the first set of officers : F. E. Wilson, Master: William II. Crites, Senior Warden ; II. K. Rule. Junior Warden: Charles Atterberry, Treasurer : W. S. Morse. Secretary: John 1. Rule. Senior Deacon : F. A. Craig, Junior Deacon, and Jacob Propst. Tiler. The present officers are: W. H. Williamson, Master: II. K. Rule, Senior Warden: Edward Johnson, Junior Warden : Alexander Montgomery, Treas- urer ; E. D. Taylor, Secretary ; D. A. Petrie, Senior Deacon : Samuel Rogers, Junior Deacon, and Thomas Robinson, Tiler. The roll contains the names of thirty-six members, but has greatly decreased by removals, as at one time the lodge numbered over sixty members. The hall is an elegant one for a country town. and is handsomely furnished, but the building does not belong to the
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
fraternity. The Odd Fellows had a Lodge here at one time, but from some cause it has ceased to exist.
There was no school taught in the village until after the completion of the new schoolhouse in September, 1870. The following winter, Prof. Harris taught a school in the new building. Previous to the erection of this building. the children of the village patronized the district schoolhouse which stood just outside of the corporate limits. There was, we believe. a private or subscrip- tion school taught in the village, in a vacant building somewhere, before the new building was erected, but of it we could learn nothing definite. The elegant brick schoolhouse which adorns the village was completed, as we have said, in 1870, and cost about $10.000. It is one of the finest school edifices in the county. The corps of teachers for the coming year is as follows, viz .: Prof. W. HI. Williamson, Principal (his third year in that position); Miss Fuller, Intermediate Department. and Miss H. A. Mayfield, Primary Depart- ment. The average attendance during the school year is not far short of one hundred and twenty pupils.
Greenview was incorporated as a village, under special act of the Legisla- ture, and its charter dated 6th of May, 1869. The first Board of Trustees were C. R. Pierce, G. W. Hatch, John Anderson, Fred Wilkerson and A. H. Bogardus. This was the Board upon organization under the charter, but as far back as March, 1868, the records show regular proceedings of a Board of Trustees, which were as follows : C. R. Pierce, J. W. Guyer, John Anderson, Fred Wilkerson and A. H. Bogardus. and were sworn in by H. H. Marbold. Of the first Board under the charter, C. R. Pierce was President and W. S. Morse, Clerk. On the 7th of March, 1877, it was re-incorporated under the generał law of the State. The following is the present Board of Trustees: T. C. Pond, J. D. Alkire, James A. Bracken, J. L. Knoles, P. J. Palmquest and M. M. Engle. T. C. Pond is President of the Board; A. P. Blane, Clerk; A. A. Fickes, Police Magistrate: H. K. Rule, Treasurer, and George W. Chamberlain, Town Marshal.
It may be an object of interest to some of our readers to know that A. H. Bogardus, the champion shot, was once a resident of this little village. For a number of years, this was his home, and. as he moved about among the quiet citizens of the place, they appeared wholly ignorant of the fact that their town contained "more than Cæsar and his fortunes." For several years past, news- paper writers have made the world familiar with "Captain " Bogardus.
The village of Greenview is a flourishing place, containing some 500 or 600 inhabitants, and, considering its proximity to Petersburg on one side and Mason City on the other, enjoys quite a large trade. Its business is about as follows: Two dry-goods stores with groceries added. one store of groceries exclusively, one drug store, one store of hardware and stoves, two blacksmith and wagon shops, one harness shop, one shoe shop, two saloons. two carpenter shops, one undertaker. one livery stable. one jeweler, one bank, two lumber
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
yards, two physicians, one hotel, one butcher shop and one grain elevator. Marbold. Alkire & Co., carry on the banking business in all its details. A very handsome public square has been set apart in the center of the village and inclosed with a substantial fence. It is well set in trees and grass, and it is intended, we learn, to lay it out in walks, plant shrubbery and arrange rustic seats. When this is done, it will be a spot of which the citizens of Greenview may well feel proud.
A strange feature in the history of the village is the fact that it has no cemetery. Its dead are taken mostly to Petersburg for burial. There are also several burying-grounds in the immediate vicinity, where repose many of the early dead, and these cemeteries receive additions, now and then, from the vil- lage ; but, as we said, most of its dead are taken to the cemetery at Petersburg. But the village, in our mind, should have a cemetery of its own. Such a place. kept as it should be, adds much to the interest of a town.
" A prophet is without honor in his own country," has grown into a common saying, and often bears upon its face more truth than poetry. In proof of this, the little village of Greenview contains a genius, of whose existence its citizens seein almost wholly ignorant. We allude to the eminent lecturer, Miss Righter. She is a lady of commanding intellect, a lecturer of considerable note, and has a reputation in the lecture-field that is rapidly increasing. A graduate in the science of phrenology, she used to devote much time to the subject, but recently, we learn, has laid it aside, and is now giving her time and talents to the sub- jects of metaphysics and of temperance. She is well known in many portions of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa as a pleasing and fluent speaker. A feeling of pride in home talent should prompt the people of Menard County to highly cherish this gifted woman.
SUGAR GROVE PRECINCT.
If the garden of Eden was not in Sugar Grove Precinct, then we are inclined to believe that there was some mistake as to the place of its location. So must have thought the early comers to this land of " corn and wine and oil," as they beheld
" Earth's unnumbered flowers All turning up their gentle eyes to heaven , The birds, with bright wings glancing in the sun, Filling the nir with rainbow miniatures,"
and combining to restore, in all its loveliness, "lost Eden's faded glory." No finer section of country should mortal erave than is embodied in this division of Menard County. Fine rolling prairie, rich in soil, with here and there a grove of timber. scattered over the broad plains like " the islands that slumber in the ocean," is no untrue description of Sugar Grove Precinet, and, but for the absence of the " apples and fig-leaves." might have been mistaken for the original garden.
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
The hand of civilization has been laid upon it to improve, and not to destroy, its virgin beauty. It has but improved under the sway of man, as the pro- ductive fields and handsome residences abundantly show. The wild prairie grass and the myriads of wild flowers have given place to the corn and wheat, and to the shrubbery. and cultivated flowers of men (or women, rather), and the orchards of luscious fruits are to be found on nearly every plantation. And so on, ad finem.
Sugar Grove Precinct lies in the eastern part of Menard County, south of Greenview Precinct, east of Indian Creek, north of Athens and west of Logan County. By Government Survey, it is located in Townships 18 and 19 north, and Ranges 4, 5 and 6 west of the Third Principal Meridian, and contains about thirty-five sections of land. Some three-fourths or perhaps four-fifths is prairie land, sufficiently rolling to need little artificial draining. The timber is principally in what is known as Sugar Grove and Irish Grove ; the latter grove being about half in this precinct and the other half in Greenview. Sugar Grove Creek is the only water-course and is but a small stream the greater part of the year ; but several fine springs are found here, which is a rare occurrence in this portion of Illinois. The name Sugar Grove is obtained from the little body of timber in the northwest part of the precinct, and in which the sugar-maple predominates. Formerly, Greenview was included in this precinct, and was called Sweetwater, after the little village by that name, but, being large in extent, a division was made about 1871-72 and Greenview created into a separate pre- cinct. The name of this one was then changed to Sugar Grove. No railroads mar its soil, but the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad comes so near its borders that it serves all the purposes of its people almost as well as if it ran through the center of the precinct. The village of Sweetwater is a small place in the edge of Sugar Grove timber, and is scarcely large enough to entitle it to the name of village.
THE SETTLEMENT.
One of the first settlements in Menard County was made in what is now Sugar Grove Precinct. In 1819, the same year that the Clarys settled in Clary's Grove, James Meadows settled on the eastern side of Sugar Grove tim- ber on the place owned by J. Alkire. He came from Ohio, and located first in the vicinity of Alton, in 1818, and the next season came to this place. He remained here until 1823, when he sold out to Leonard Alkire, and removed to the west side of the grove, where he lived until a few years before his death, which occurred in the village of Greenview in 1869. This last settlement was on the place now owned by II. II. Marbold. a banker of Greenview, and one of the prominent men of the neighborhood. Mr. Meadows was a millwright, and built a mill on this place, which accommodated the neighbors for a period of about eight years. It was of the tread-wheel pattern, and is more particularly mentioned in the history of Greenview. There are but two representatives of the Meadows family now living, viz., Alexander Meadows, living in the village of
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
Greenview, and Mrs. O. P. Bracken. Jacob Boyer came with Meadows, and their first night in this region they encamped at a spring ou the present farm of Milem Alkire, near Sugar Grove Cemetery. The next morning, being struck with the beauty of the surroundings, and the abundance of pure water afforded by the spring. Mr. Boyer remarked. " this is my future home." and proceeded at once to stake off his elai. Meadows moved on to the place as noticed above (the Jack Alkire place), where he, too, located at a fine spring. Boyer also sold out to Leonard Alkire, upon his removal to the country in 1823. A few days after the settlement of Meadows and Boyer. the Blanes came to Sugar Grove. There were four brothers, viz., Robert, William, John and George. their mother and a sister. They were from the " Gim of the Say," and. being the first IrisInnen in the neighborhood, Irish Grove, a part of which is in this precinct, received its name from them. William died in an early day ; John soon returned to Ireland, and remained there some twenty-five years, then came back to this settlement. He raised quite a large family, most of whom are still living in the county. Robert and the sister removed to Wisconsin. leaving George and his mother on the place of their original settlement. This place they sold to Leonard Alkire. in 1823, and moved to the opposite side of the grove, in what is now Greenview Precinct. where they both finally died. The Blanes were well educated, and George, in the early time, held many oflices of trust and honor. He was an Old-Line Whig, and afterward Republican in polities. In 1820, Roland Grant came to Sugar Grove, and brought with him a number of sheep, the first of these animals introduced in this section of Illinois. He was from Ohio here, but originally from Kentucky, and when the Alkires came a few years later, sold out to them and removed to Island Grove, in Sangamon County. William Grant, a brother, came with him, and also sold his claim to Alkire, and moved away with his brother.
As in the different settlements of Menard County, many of the pioneers of Sugar Grove were from Virginia and Kentucky. The following Kentuckians came here among the early settlers : Leonard Alkire and family, William Engle, Lemuel Offille, the Hugheses, Westley Whipp, Samuel McNabb. the Pentecosts, John and George Stone, a man named Parsons, Matthew Bracken, William Douglas, and perhaps a number of others. The Alkires and Engles came from Ohio here, but were from Kentucky to the Buckeye State, and originially from Virginia to Kentucky. William Engle came in the spring of 1823, raised a erop and then went back to Ohio, and brought out the family of Leonard Alkire. Mr. Engle was a bachelor at this time, but soon after the arrival of the Alkires, he married the daughter of Leonard Alkire. He was a prominent and leading man in the community for a period of nearly fifty years : he died in March, 1870. Hle took an active part in organizing the county of Menard, was one of the first County Commissioners, represented the county in the Legislature, and was the first merchant in the territory now embraced in Sugar Grove, Greenview and Indian Creek. Was liberal in his views, an ardent supporter of Christianity,
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
and a zealous advocate of education. As stated, he married a daughter of Leonard Alkire, and their first winter was passed in a small cabin near the vil- lage. He then built a cabin where his son, John Engle, now lives. His widow, is still living on the same place, and is an active old lady for her years. The inother of William Engle (a widow at the time), came to the settlement about ten years after her son. She was a genuine pioneer lady, large and stout almost as a man, kind and benevolent to all, and a great nurse and friend in cases of sickness. William Engle has eight children still living ; one daughter in Lin- coln, a son in Decatur and the remainder of the family (including his widow) in this county.
Leonard Alkire, as already stated. was a native Virginian, but emigrated to Kentucky, or was taken there by his parents, more properly speaking, when very young. Arriving at man's estate, and taking to himself a wife, he removed to Ohio, where he resided until his removal to Illinois, in 1823. While a resi- dent of Ohio, he followed, to some extent, the buying-up of cattle and driving them to Eastern markets; a business at that day exposed to considerable danger. On one of his trips home, after having disposed of his drove, he traveled on horseback at the rate of eighty miles a day, carrying the cash, mostly in silver, received for his cattle, in his saddle-bags. "In swimming the Ohio River," says a local writer. " perched upon his hands and feet on the top of his saddle, his sturdy and fleet roadster stemming the rapid current with great power and speed, when nearing the opposite shore, suddenly went down : but with a terrible struggle for life finally succeeded in landing his precious freight on terra firma, when Mr. Alkire made the discovery that his saddle- bags (filled with silver) had drifted back by force of the current, remained suspended by the stirrups, the whole weight resting on the hocks of the noble animal and cramping his movements, thus jeopardizing his life as well as the life and hard-earned treasure of his master." Hearing frequent stories of the beauty and richness of the "Far West," as Illinois was then, he made a trip of inspection to this country. Alone and on horseback, he explored this then almost unbroken wilderness. His route led him to Sugar Grove. Entering it upon the south side, and upon obtaining a favorable view of the surrounding country, he stopped his horse and " viewed the landscape o'er." When fully comprehending the scene, he shouted out at the top of his voice, " Hurrah for old Kentuck, the garden spot of the world !" He soon came upon the cabin of James Meadows, already referred to, and being highly pleased with the sur- rounding country, he finally struck a bargain with Mr. Meadows, buying his
claim. He returned home, sold his farm in Ohio, and the following year removed to Illinois, locating in this precinct, where the remainder of his life was spent. John Alkire, his father, came a few years later. He had removed from Virginia to Kentucky in an early day, during the bloody wars then with the Indians, which gave rise to the appellation the State still bears. that of the " Dark and Bloody Ground," and, like all the other pioneers of the time, he
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HISTORY OF MENARD COUNTY.
bore an active part in those wars. He died here, and was buried in what is called the Blane Graveyard. Leonard Alkire built the first brick house in the then county of Sangamon (now Menard) in 1828, just fifty-one years ago. It is still standing, though a more elegant and modern brick has been reared upon the farm where this original brick house was erected. Three daughters and two sons are still living in this county, a son in Denver and one in Missouri. To his son Milem Alkire, we are indebted for much of the early history of this precinct, as well as to John Engle and Jesse England. Without their aid, and that of Alexander Meadows, our history of Sugar Grove, the early part of it at least, would have been rather meager. William Alkire, of Greenview, is a brother to Leonard, and is also an old settler of this section. Leonard Alkire died in 1877. The following will show the energy and public spirit of the man : About 1828-30, he was appointed Road Supervisor of his district, by the Sangamon County Commissioners, which was then larger than Menard County at the present day, and ordered to open a public road from near the mouth of Salt Creek to Havana, on the Illinois River. A serious difficulty to travel at the time was the Crane Creek Swamp. He called together all the able-bodied men, and proceeded to the place with wagon, tools, provisions, etc., and set to work making rails in the forest and hauling them to the swamp. Then he would ent down a large quantity of the swamp grass, which grew in great abundance and luxuriance. With this he would spread a thick bed on which to lay the rails. After laying down the rails he would place long poles across the ends of them, which would be secured by driving forked limbs astride of them, to prevent the water from floating them off. Then put on more grass, covering it finally with two or three inches of sand. He thus built a road over the swamp, which lasted many years without repair.
Lemuel Offille and the Hugheses came among the early settlers and about the same time. James Hughes was a Christian preacher, and one of the first of that denomination in this part of the country. A son. Daniel T. Hughes, now living in the village of Greenview, is also a Christian preacher. James Hughes' family moved into Greenview in 1839, he having died several years previously. Hugh 1). Hughes, his son, was one of the first residents of the village of Sweetwater, and one of the builders of the mill at that place, as noticed in the history of the village. Oflille and the Hugheses came to this settlement from Indiana, but, as stated, were originally from Kentucky. One of Oflille's daughters married Hugh D. Hughes. Offille died some years ago, and none of his family, we believe, are here now. Westley Whipp came about the time of the " deep snow." He married n daughter of Leonard Alkire, and died several years ago, and is buried in Sugar Grove Cemetery. Two sons are living in Petersburg. Samuel MeNabb was a brother-in-law of John Jenison and came previous to 1824, and has been dead some time. Pentecost and his sons, William, John and George, camein 1824-25. The old gentleman's first name is not remembered ; all of them are gone from the neighborhood. John Stone came about the "deep snow,"
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