USA > Illinois > Coles County > The History of Coles County, Illinois map of Coles County; history of Illinois history of Northwest Constitution of the United States, miscellaneous matters, &c., &c > Part 45
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Kansas, sold him an old rattle-trap of a mill for $5,000, worth about that many cents. This stroke finished him, cleaned him up, and it is said that he is still following up the mill business, but in a second-hand way."
The large grain elevator standing by the railroad was built in 1875-76 by F. R. Coffman. One had been built here in 1872, and burned a short time after, when this one was built in its place. It is now owned by Dr. Rutherford, and is an excellent building, well-appointed in every particular, with steam- power and with a capacity of 15,000 or 20,000 bushels of grain. It is standing idle at present.
The Oakland National Bank was established in 1874, with L. S. Cash, Pres- ident, and John Rutherford, Cashier. The same officers still have charge of it, and are gentlemen of excellent business attainments, energy and enterprise.
VILLAGE ORGANIZATION.
The village of Oakland was incorporated years ago, but as the first records were not to be had we could not get the exact date, nor the names of the first Board of Trustees. The present Board is as follows, viz., William Henderson, M. W. Ammerman, J. W. Stokes, Frank Pleasant, J. R. Lawson and Merrill Hackett. William Henderson is President of the Board ; W. M. Bowman, Village Clerk ; A. A. Dunseth, Police Magistrate, and John Tibbs, Town Marshal.
The first church was organized by the Old-School Presbyterians in the year 1831. They built a small log church on the site of the " upper grave-yard," which afterward was turned into aschoolhouse. They next erected a frame building on the public square, 25x40 feet, but for lack of funds never finished it. It was finally abandoned, and, in 1844, their present church edifice was erected. Rev. Isaac Bennett was one of the first preachers. He was a native of Philadelphia, was edu- cated at Princeton and was a man of much intelligence and refinement. He was averse to noise, the cry of a child, when preaching, totally upset him. After his marriage, a " change came over the spirit of his dreams," and when two, three or four children had gathered about his knees, he was altogether another person, and could study his sermons better than ever and "preach right along in the stiffest kind of a squall." Rev. Mr. Montgomery was another preacher of this congregation ; also Rev. Mr. McDonald and Rev. Mr. Venable, of Paris. At present, there is no regular pastor. A good Sunday school is maintained, of which Mr. Eckard is Superintendent.
The Cumberland Presbyterians organized a society in 1843, under the Rev. James Ashmore, a son of Amos Ashmore and a brother to the wife of Rev. Mr. Bennett. They have an elegant little frame church in the village and a flourish- ing society. Rev. J. P. Campbell is the present Pastor. R. G. Forsythe is Superintendent of the Sunday school connected with this Church.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by Rev. Arthur Bradshaw in 1858. Their church was built soon after its organization. The society is
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
large and flourishing, and is under the pastoral charge at present of Rev. Mr. Lacy. Of the Sunday school of the Church, N. P. Smith is Superin- tendent.
The first school in Oakland was taught by Madison Ashmore, but the year is not now remembered. The first schoolhouse was a small frame building, which was used as a temple of learning until the building of the present large brick, some nine years ago. It is a spacious edifice, well designed for school purposes and cost about $7,000. Prof. Failing is Principal of the school at present ; Miss Lida Reel, Miss Kate Crawford and Miss Jessie Burr, teachers.
Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship are well represented in Oakland. Oak- land Lodge No. 219, A., F. & A. M., was organized October 7, A. L. 5856, A. D. 1856. The first officers were Thomas J. Don Carlos, Master ; William D. Martin, Senior Warden ; Alfred D. Pemberton, Junior Warden ; John W. Kurtz, Treasurer ; Robert Mosely, Secretary. The present officers are : H. D. Williams, Master : E. H. Warden, Senior Warden ; L. B. Crawford, Junior Warden ; L. S. Cash, Treasurer ; N. P. Smith, Secretary ; John Rutherford, Senior Deacon ; R. G. Forsythe, Junior Deacon, and John Menaugh, Tiler, with seventy members on the roll.
Oakland Chapter, No. 153, Royal Arch Masons, was organized October 24, 1872, with the following officers : A. P. Forsythe, High Priest ; S. M. Cash, King, and R. F. Larimer, Scribe. The present officers are: John Ruther- ford, High Priest; S. A. Reel, King ; R. F. Larimer, Scribe ; Jo. W. Clement, Captain of the Host ; D. H. Gordon, Principal Sojourner ; H. D. Williams, Royal Arch Captain ; L. B. Crawford, R. G. Forsythe, A. J. Taylor, Masters of the Veils ; L. S. Cash, Treasurer, and E. H. Warden, Secretary, with thirty members.
Oakland Lodge, No. 1,192, Knights of Honor, was instituted September 5, 1878, by Stanley Walker, D. D. Charter members : L. S. Cash, M. B. Valodin, W. C. Lacy, N. P. Smith, N. R. Moore, D. A. Rice, Rev. J. P. Campbell, William Henderson, Shep Florer, W. H. Glass, W. J. Peak, J. W. Turner, Lewis Kees, B. F. Smith, M. R. Williams, R. L. Burns, J. G. Hamil- ton and R. M. Young. The first officers were M. B. Valodin, D .; William Henderson, V. D .; L. S. Cash, Treasurer ; D. A. Rice, R .; M. R. Williams, F. R .; N. P. Smith, D. and R. Present officers : William Henderson, D .; B. F. Smith, V. D .; L. S. Cash, Treasurer ; N. P. Smith, R. ; M. R. Williams, F. R.
Oakland Lodge No. 545, I. O. O. F., was instituted April 8, 1874. The charter members were A. A. Dunseth, A. M. Merrill, R. S. Smedley, J. P. Coons, James Stiles, of which A. A. Dunseth was first Noble Grand ; A. M. Merrill, Vice Grand ; and R. S. Smedly, Secretary, and A. A. Dunseth the first Representative. The present officers are : D. A. Rice, Noble Grand ; R. Gomel, Vice Grand ; William M. Bowman, Secretary, and N. P. Smith, Deputy Representative.
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
Welcome Encampment, No. 24, I. O. O. F., organized January 5, 1876. It is the old No. 24, of Charleston, which surrendered its charter during the war, and hence lost its number. The first officers were: J. G. Crawford, C. P .; S. M. Cash, H. P .; J. A. Johnson, S. W .; J. C. Bandy, J. W .; N. P. Smith, Scribe. The present officers are Robert Rutherford, C. P., and N. P. Smith, Scribe, with twelve members.
The first newspaper in Oakland was the Herald, and was established by J. W. Crane in 1875. It is at present owned by S. A. Reel & Co., with Rev. J. P. Campbell as editor. It is an eight-page paper, presents a fine appearance, and is one of the spiciest sheets in the county. The Oakland Ledger is a small paper, recently established in the village, and is an interesting little journal.
Oakland comprises some fifteen or twenty stores of all classes, including dry goods, grocery stores, hardware stores, furniture stores, etc., also a full line of shops of all kinds. blacksmith, wagon-makers, harness-makers, etc., etc. It has two good hotels, three churches, one excellent schoolhouse, two steam- mills, one grain elevator, a railroad and depot, and its full share of professional men.
The village has two cemeteries ; one is some distance from the village, in a northeast direction, and was laid out before the village. Many of the old settlers and pioneers sleep in the " upper grave-yard," as this burying-ground is called. The other is nearer the village, and was laid out in 1855. It is a pretty little cemetery, and is well beautified and adorned with trees and shrubbery.
In conclusion of this chapter, we would say that Oakland is a model little village, with the most favorable prospects for a bright future. Though'in early days it had the name of being a rough place, with some rough characters in it, yet education and civilization have done their work, and a more refined little city cannot be found in this or surrounding counties.
MORGAN TOWNSHIP.
" In the mountain scenery yet, All we adore of Nature in her wild And frolic hour of infancy is met ; And never has a summer's morning smiled Upon a lovelier scene than the full eye Of the enthusiast revels on-when high Amid thy forest solitudes he climbs O'er crags that proudly tower above the deep,
And knows that sense of danger which sublimes The breathless moment-, when his daring step Is on the verge of the elitl', and he can hear The low dash of the waves with startled ear."-Halleck.
In this little narrow strip of earth, small and irregular in shape, known as Morgan Township, are represented the two extremes of nature, as it were-the beautiful level prairies and the wild broken country bordering the Embarrass
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
River. The latter, before the advent of the " pale-face " marred its virgin beauty, was covered with primeval forests, and to the west the prairies stretched away in nature's waving meadows. Upon the brakes and hills and bluffs rising from the river grew giant trees, which for centuries had defied the fury of the tempest.
" The century living crow,
Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died Among their branches,"
and still they had flourished in all their glory for years and ages. Giant oaks, spreading elms, towering walnuts, waving cottonwoods, with their trembling leaves, and many other magnificent forest-trees grew here in almost endless pro- fusion. And beyond, as the ocean extends out from the beach, which limits it, extended the prairies, clothed in all the beauty of nature. Such was the aspect of the section of country to which this chapter is devoted when the pale-face came with all his bustling enterprise and proceeded, literally, to turn things topsy-turvy.
Morgan Township lies in the north, or rather in the northeast, part of the county, and is bounded north, by Douglas County ; west, by Seven Hickory Township; south, by Charleston, and east, by the Embarrass River. Through the north part of the town flows the classic stream known as " Greasy Creek," which, together with the origin of the name, is referred to in the county history. A little south of Greasy Creek is Dry Branch, another little stream flowing into the Embarrass. As before stated, this township contains both timber and prairie, and is pretty equally divided between the two ; the timber-land lying adjacent to the Embarrass River, and the prairies next to Seven Hickory Township. Morgan is a fractional town, containing about twenty-four or twenty-five sections of land-two-thirds of a regular Congressional township. It has neither vil- lages nor railroads, but the Indianapolis & St. Louis and the Illinois Midland Railroads pass near enough to be of considerable benefit to it in transporting its surplus grain and stock.
SETTLEMENT.
The first white settlers in Morgan Township are supposed to have been John Caldwell and his son, who bore the same name, and John Kennedy. They came from Fayette County, Ky., near the city of Lexington, and settled in the timbered portion of the township in 1830-31. The Caldwells lived here about twenty years, when they removed to Edgar County, where the elder died several years ago, but his son is still living in that county. This is about all that is known of the Caldwells at the present day. Kennedy remained but a short time, and moved back to Kentucky, where he resided several years, when he returned to Illinois, and died a few years ago in the city of Charleston.
Aaron Collins is another of the early settlers of Morgan Township, and is supposed by some to have settled here previous to the Caldwells and Kennedy, but after this long lapse of years it is hard to say which of these families was the first to pitch their tents in this section. Collins came from North Carolina
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
in 1830-31, and built the house where his son-in-law, Reese McAllister now lives. He has been dead a number of years, but a son, Aaron Collins, Jr., still lives in the township.
Daniel R. and David R. MeAllister, the latter usually called Reese MeAl- lister, came to Morgan Township in 1833. They were from Indiana here, but were originally from Alabama. When moving to this place, they stopped in . Ashmore Township, where they remained from spring until fall, when they removed to this township. Reese has resided here ever since, upon the place where his father-in-law, Aaron Collins, first settled, and Daniel, to the time of his death, which took place in 1871. John Skidmore came from Indiana to this settlement in 1831-32. He lived here in quiet until the breaking-out of the gold fever, when he started for California, but died on the way, and never reached the land of gold. Gibson Gastin came also from Indiana about the same time Skidmore came, and after remaining in the neighborhood a number of years, removed to Texas, since which time all trace of him is lost.
David Morgan, for whom the township was named, settled near what was called Greasy Point, April 20, 1834. He was originally from Washington County, Ky., near Springfield, the county seat, but removed to Vermilion County, Ind., where he remained several years before coming to this neighbor- hood. He was a prominent man in the community, and the first Justice of the Peace. He died in 1860, but has two sons, William and James Morgan, still living in the township, splendid representatives of the honest old pioneer, who has passed away. The latter still lives on the old homestead, where his father settled nearly half a century ago. Benjamin Clarke came from Kentucky about 1830-31, and died here several years ago. His wife is still living, and is the only one of the early pioneers who came here a grown-up person that survives. A son, Jackson Clarke, and several married daughters, live in the township still, and another son lives in Kansas.
Gowin Adkins, and Abraham Adkins, a cousin, settled in the town in 1833-34. The father of the latter came with him, and was of the same name. They are all dead ; Gowin died many years ago, but had a son and daughter. The former went into the army during the late war, and died while in the service of his country. Moses Golliday came from Pennsylvania, and settled in the township a year or two before the Adkinses. He bought out Caldwell ; David, a brother, came about the same time, and both he and Moses are dead. John Golliday, another brother, is still living.
Isaac Craig, an esteemed citizen of Charleston Township, was an early set- tler of Morgan. He came here in 1835. He was originally from Kentucky, and came to Illinois with his father in 1828, first settling in Clark County. Isaac Craig remained a resident of Morgan Township about twenty years, and then removed to Edgar County, where he resided for fourteen years, and then removed to Charleston, where he still lives, just north of the city. He was in the Black Hawk war-volunteered in one of the Clark County companies, but
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
having friends in Edgar County, got a transfer to Captain Brimberry's company of Edgar County. An early settler of the name of Johnson, located on the creek, but he was a "bird of passage," and did not remain long, hence not much is known of him.
The Chastenes were rather noted characters in this settlement, in an early day. Mr. Morgan bought a claim from one of them (there were two of them, Jesse and William Chastene), upon which there was a cabin, and twenty-five . apple-trees which the old fellow had planted out. Mr. Morgan closed up the trade, and went to Palestine and formally entered the land. He then went to his home in Indiana, to move his family here, and when he arrived, old Chas- tene had dug up every apple-tree and carried them off to some new claimn. These. Chastenes are the amateur pork-packers alluded to in the general county his- torv, and from whose questionable operations the little stream of Greasy Creek obtained its classic name.
Alexander Montgomery came from Indiana to this township. He was originally from Alabama, and was a brother-in-law to the McAllisters, and settled here the fall after they came to the town. He died here years ago. These are all of the earliest settlers in Morgan Township. Next is rather a later era, and includes such as John Winkelblack, Daniel Beck, Thomas West, Irwin Digby, Cooper Wallace, Y. E. Winkler. Winkelblack and Beck came from Vir- ginia ; the latter is dead, but Winkelblack is still living. Thomas West was from Vermilion County, Ind., and came some years after the Morgans. He now lives in Douglas County. Digby came from the same section, and still lives in Morgan Township. So, also, was Wallace from Vermilion County, Ind., and his father, now living in Douglas County, was originally from Kentucky. Cooper Wallace has been dead a number of years. Winkler came from Indi- ana, but was originally from Kentucky also. He is still living. This con- cludes the list of the early settlers, so far as could be obtained.
GENERAL FEATURES.
When the first white people came to Morgan Township, there were plenty of Indians in this section. They once had a camp not far from where Reese McAllister now lives, and there are traces of it still to be seen there. The like- ness of a man cut in the bark of a tree is still visible, though it shows every appearance of having been executed years and years ago. Many places have been noticed in this immediate neighborhood, supposed to be Indian graves, though, so far as we could learn, none of them have ever been examined to see whether they contain anything like human skeletons. A year or two ago, Henry Curtis, a son of Samuel Curtis, was one day "digging fish-bait," and dug up a human skull, and, upon examination, a few other bones were found, and rocks were laid in order, as though intended to form a rude sort of covering, ere the dirt was put on the corpse. But whether this was an Indian, or some lone white man, who had been murdered* in this wild spot, will probably never be-
* The skull had a hole in the back part of it, resembling a bullet-hole.
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known. But the evidence was pretty strong that it was a human being, either white, red or black, and had been carefully buried there, near the banks of the Embarrass River.
But, although Indians were plenty here when the whites first came, they were not at all troublesome, but were quite friendly toward the white people. They would furnish them with game, and hence proved of some benefit, at least. But long years have passed since the wild yell of the savage disturbed the echoes of this - little community. But few are still left that can remember them as residents of Morgan, and soon. "Lo! the poor Indian !" will live only in fireside tales.
Wolves and panthers. with occasionally a bear. inhabited this country forty or fifty years ago, and snakes were a spontaneous growth. Rattlesnakes were also very plenty. Mr. Morgan and his sons killed ninety rattlesnakes in one sum- mer, on a ten-acre lot, and it was not a good season for rattlesnakes, either. Wolf-hunts were common, and their scalps commanded a bounty. A number of neighbors would band together, with dogs and guns, and the havoc made among the hateful little pests would sometimes be terrific. A man could pay his taxes in scalps, and, if he had an overplus, could pass them over to the Treas- urer and get a county order for the balance due him.
We don't know whether the same custom prevailed here, or in Coles County. during the circulation of wolf-scalps as currency, that we have heard of in another section of the State, viz., that a man could go into a " grocery " and get a glass of whisky, throw down a wolf-scalp, and the grocery-keeper would give him back a coon-skin, or two opossum-skins, in change. But prairie wolves, like the poor savage, have gone West to grow up with the country and the grasshoppers.
The winter of the deep snow is remembered by the few old settlers still liv- ing in this part of the country. Though this fall of snow was but little over half as deep in this latitude as in the northern part of the State, yet it is acknowledged as the deepest ever witnessed here. It fell in December, 1830. and remained on the ground until the next March. Here it was only about two feet deep, but in the northern part of Illinois it was four feet on the level prairies. It was a hard time on stock, and on people, too, in a newly-settled country. Many wild beasts died from starvation while it lasted, and domestic animals had nearly as hard a time here, for, at that early day, the few people then in Coles County had not been in it long enough to have a surplus of hay and corn.
As a sample of the hard times the pioneers had to undergo, Mr. Morgan informed us that he had known thousands of bushels of corn to sell at 8 cents a bushel, an excellent cow and c.ulf for $8, good horses for $40, and wheat from 25 cents to 373 cents a bushel And, for years, the prices ranged at these figures, and, even then, it was almost impossible to get money for anything one had to sell, for there was but little of that commodity in the country.
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
But these hard times are all past now, and Morgan Township is, to-day, as prosperous a community as one will find in Coles County. True, we still find a few of the primitive log cabins of the earlier days, but they are not used as a matter of necessity, but from choice. They have become endeared to their owners, and are cherished as sweet mementos of the past. As a rule, Morgan Township has excellent residences, well-improved farms, good roads, and, indeed, everything to indicate a prosperous community.
BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES.
Who was the first person born in Morgan Township is not now remem- bered. The first death is supposed to have been the wife of Aaron Collins, who died in the early days of the settlement of Morgan, or Greasy Creek, as the settlement was called. A child of Jefferson Florer was the first party buried in the Greasy Point Cemetery, near where James Morgan lives. This is one of the prettiest little burying-grounds we have noticed in the county. Located on high ground, and kept in excellent order, with many pretty marble slabs and some quite elegant monuments, it is, altogether, a lovely place.
The first marriage in the neighborhood was Clara Collins and Thomas Creighton, and they were married by David Morgan, a Justice of the Peace. The population of the township shows that the good old custom, begun thus early, has been kept up, and that there has been "marrying and giving in marriage," since this first couple stepped off the shores of single blessedness.
Morgan Township has never had any mills, except one or two portable saw- mills in the timbered sections along the Embarrass River; one of these, how- ever, we believe, once added a set of buhrs for grinding corn. Mr. James Morgan says that, when his father first settled in the township, they used to go to the Wabash, and to Decatur, to mill; that two or three neighbors would join together, and, hitching three or four yoke of oxen to a wagon, would start off to mill, and sometimes be absent a week or ten days. Milling is now done at Oakland and Charleston, and sometimes at mills in Douglas County.
There was no blacksmith-shop in Morgan Township at a sufficiently early day to be made a matter of history. That useful trade is pretty well repre- sented at the present day, however, and shops are to be found in every neigh- borhood. In the early day, the blacksmithing was done by the workmen in the Oakland settlement.
David Morgan was the first Justice of the Peace in Morgan Township, and when the county adopted township organization, Nathan Thomas was elected the first Supervisor, and was succeeded the next year by John Winkleblack. The present Supervisor is J. B. Williams ; J. L. Rardin and Jesse Hudson, Justices of the Peace.
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHFS.
The first schoolhouse was built in Morgan Township about 1839-40, but who taught the first school in it cannot be told at this late day. There were
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HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY.
schools in the settlement, however, before this house was built, but until it was erected, the settlers cabins were utilized as temples of learning. And as this is but a fractional town, it has but three schoolhouses within its limits, viz., Winkelblack's, Hazel Dell and California Schoolhouses. This results from the fact that many of the school districts are partnership districts with Seven Hickory Township, and with Sargent Township, in Douglas County. A strong effort is being made to get a new district in the northeast part of the township, a move that it seems should terminate successfully, for there is cer- tainly abundant territory and population for a district and a house in this section.
There are two church edifices in the township. The first sermon preached, was by the Methodists. The Revs. Fox and McCane were early in the field, but, we believe, never established a permanent society. The first Cumberland Presbyterian ministers were Revs. James Ashmore and Hill. The Cumber- land Presbyterian Union Church is located in the north part of the town, and was built in 1856-57. The society was organized in May, 1842, by Rev. James Ashmore, at the house of David Morgan. Preaching was held at the house of Mr. Morgan and at Aaron Collins', until the church was built. The present membership is 110, under the pastorate of Rev. J. P. Campbell. A Sunday school is maintained during the summer season, with an average attendance (last summer) of sixty-three children, under the superintendence of James Morgan, who is, also, Clerk of the Church Session.
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