USA > Illinois > Livingston County > The History of Livingston County, Illinois : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 25
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
from any county in the country. In the earlier years, Winter wheat was largely and profitably grown ; cases occurred where the farmer paid for his farm and implements from his single crop of wheat. It soon became an uncer- tain crop, and was gradually abandoned. The growing of Spring wheat did. not long continue after it had been destroyed a few years by the chinch bug. and flour and wheat have become one of the principal imports into the county. Oats remain a standard crop, and give a fair yield. In the northwestern part of the county, timothy is largely raised for seed, it being in great demand in the. Eastern States by reason of its freedom from the foul seeds which are found in that raised in older States. In the southeast, flax is a favorite crop, and its growth is extending. Rye is raised by many farmers, by reason of the cer- tainty of its yield and because its sowing and harvest occur at a time when other work is not pressing, and that it is the best crop to seed with, now that wheat has been abandoned, and oats are apt to grow so rank as to smother the. young grass plants.
Corn, however, is the only real staple article of farm production. The county is in the very center of the corn growing belt; the land is better adapted to its production, the land is not liable to wash, and may be kept annually under plow without deterioration. The perfection of farm machinery has- reduced the cost of production of this crop to the minimum. The rapidity with which it makes returns. the security with which it can be stored a year or more, the importance of the hog crop. and the cheapness with which it can be- marketed in that shape, are all inducements to raising corn. Besides these, are reasons found in the needs of the citizens. The population is largely made up of men with small means. who purchased small farms, but had not sufficient capital to fence and stock them for varied agriculture. Under the stimulus of the no-fence law, adopted in 1867, these open prairies were plowed and planted in corn, without a rod of fence on them. for there was no necessity for fencing their farms and dividing into fields. Among the newer settled townships, there are those which have more than four-fifths of all their land annually in corn ; pastures are rare, and herds of cattle are not seen. Time will change this, however, in a measure ; but the great staple will remain the principal article of production.
In the year 1877, the production of corn, by the report of the State Board of Agriculture, is put down at 10,930,000 bushels. It is believed that no other county in the world raised so much.
Fruits are receiving much attention. Apples, everywhere the staple, are becoming an important product. It will be a long time, however, before they will be found in great abundance on all farms. The borer and the blight make havoc with the young trees ; latterly, the severe Winters have ruined many, old and young, besides which, the system of farming practiced is a great hindrance to growing orchards. With few or no cross fences on the farms, the cattle roam at will among the trees during the Winter and early Spring.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The blight has left but few pear trees growing in the county. Peaches are an uncertain crop.
Grapes produce abundantly and regularly ; indeed, no crop is so certain of producing a fair return. The Concord grape is as easily raised as corn, and more sure of a crop.
Small fruits are fast popularizing. where only a few years ago they were only found in the garden or on the plantation of the horticulturist.
The Snyder blackberry, by reason of its ability to stand our severest Winters, and not being injured by Spring frosts, is fast being planted ; all other varieties are too uncertain.
LIVE STOCK.
At one period of the history of the county. shecp were largely raised : and dur- ing the war, the high price of wool stimulated the spread of this branch of hus- bandry unduly. Particularly was this true of the fine-wooled varieties. With the close of rebellious hostilities, prices fell, and disease began to spread among the sheep. Losses were terrible. and sheep husbandry disappeared from the county. There are now only a few of the middle wooled sheep kept, and they seem to be comparatively remunerative.
Late years have shown a decided improvement in horses. The importation of Clydesdale, Belgian and Norman horses into the county has awakened a lively interest in that line. The peculiar nature of corn farming calls more for strength and endurance than for speed and action. The farmer reasons that two horses are better than three to draw a plow, if they can draw it as well. The heavy work with corn raisers is plowing and hauling the corn to market. and both of these require heavy horses.
The time was when the cattle which roamed over these prairies showed dis- tinctly the dun. black, brindle and yellow colors characteristic of the native cattle. Now the short horns have so changed the general appearance of the herds that these colors are seldom seen. The entire "constitution" of the horned cattle has been reformed-nobody breeds or cares to breed anything else. The hog crop now cuts so important a figure in the economy of the county, that much care has latterly been taken to secure the very best breeds for profit. The Chester White gradually gave way to the Poland China, and that in turn to the Berkshire. which is now the popular, not to say the fashionable. color.
The importation of Norman horses directly from France is largely due to the active business management of John Virgin, Esq., of Fairbury. In 1870, Virgin, J. C. Morrison and Decatur Veatch formed a partnership for that busi- ness. Mr. Virgin was sent out, and brought home the first venture of that kind. That partnership was soon dissolved by the death of Mr. Veatch, but Virgin has continued the business of importation.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Of kin to the subject is the organization of Agricultural Societies. The county society, now known as the Livingston County Agricultural Board, was formed in 1855 by a few citizens. It owns a fine fair ground on the bank of the river at Pontiac, which is beautifully shaded with native trees, and has a fine half-mile track on it.
The Fairbury Union Agricultural Society was formed in 1875, as a stock company, and owns a fine ground at Fairbury. These two stimulate a gener- ous rivalry, and are the means of vast good to the cause in the county.
RAILROADS.
The four railroads which pass through the county make no small item in the importance and wealth of the county. From their building dates the filling up of our county and the bringing its lands into market. Without them we were, and, in all human probability, would have, remained a waving prairie.
The first road in date of construction, the Chicago & Mississippi, running from Joliet to Alton, was built in 1853 and '54. A few years later, it was sold out on the second mortgage, and bid off by Joel A. Matteson, for $6,500. He run it for a time, and then permitted it to be sold, and it was purchased by T. B. Blackstone and others, who formed the Chicago & Alton Company, and have made it a successful road. The company purchased a controlling interest in the stock of the Chicago & Joliet road, and now, practically, it is a continuous line. The stations on their main line are Dwight, Odell, Cayuga, Pontiac and Ocoya. In 1869, this road built the Western Division, running from Dwight through the northern part of the county to Streator, thence southwest to Wash- ington, in Tazewell County, with Nevada, Blackstone and Smithdale on it, and about the same time put down a second track from Odell north as far as Gardner.
This road now has sixty miles of track in the county. In the years 1858 and '59, the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw road was built through the county. It was then known as the Eastern Extension of the Peoria & Oquawka R. R. The road becoming embarrassed, the Peoria & Oquawka part of it passed into the possession of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R., and all the company had was an extension to a road they did not own. The company was re-organ- ized as at present known, and pushed their road on, reaching the Mississippi at Burlington, Keokuk and Warsaw. They own eighteen miles of track in this county. Its stations are Fairbury, Forrest and Chatsworth. The road now known as the Chicago & Paducah has a local history, it being a Livingston County corporation. In 1865, Mr. Samuel L. Fleming, of Pontiac, a man who had spent a small fortune in railroading, drew, and got passed by the Legisla- ture, a charter for a railroad from Ottawa to Fairbury. The corporators . named in the charter were S. C. Ladd, B. P. Babcock, Samuel L. Fleming, Nelson Buck, Jonathan Duff, Wm. Strawn, R. B. Harrington, S. C. Crane,
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
John Dehner, Walter Cornell. M. E. Collins, Ralph Plumb, Enoch Lundy, David McIntosh, H. L. Marsh, W. G. McDowell, J. W. Strevell, I. B. Tyler and Wm. B. Lyon.
In 1867, the charter was amended so that the road might run anywhere northerly and southerly of Pontiac-that point being retained. The name, however, in the charter was retained. Under the impetus given to railroad building by the " grab law " of 1869, the company was formed, M. E. Collins being elected President and S. S. Lawrence, Secretary. The townships of Indian Grove, Avoca, Eppard's Point, Owego, Pontiac, Amity and Newtown issued bonds, and with these in hand the Fairbury, Pontiac & Northwestern Company made a contract with Col. Ralph Plumb, of Streator, Col. W. H. W. Cushman, of Ottawa, and David Strawn, to build and equip the road, transfer- ring to them all the bonds and issuing the stock to them, so that when built it became theirs. In this contract was a stipulation that the parties of the second part would never transfer the road to the Chicago & Alton R. R. Co .; the intent being, of course, to keep this a competing road. They built the road from Streator through this county, pushing it south through Ford, Champaign, Piatt, Moul- trie, Shelby and Effingham Counties to Altamont. Its stations in this county are Newtown, Cornell, Rowe, Pontiac, McDowell, Lodemia, Fairbury, Murphy's and Strawn. It connects at Streator with the Ottawa branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. It has forty-one miles of track in the county.
The Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern has about twelve miles of track through the county, having stations at Reading and Long Point.
Several other railroad projects are in contemplation or progress, principal among which, that are likely to be built at no distant day, are the road from Dwight to Kankakee, and the Decatur & State Line road, to pass through the eastern tier of townships.
NEWSPAPERS.
In the early days, the newspaper was not thought to be, as now, a necessity of civilization. Men had other ways of spending their time than poring over column after column of Tribune, Inter-Ocean or Times ; but with the railroad came the printing press, and we find flung to the prairie breeze, March 14, 1855, from "Ladd's building, immediately north of the Court House, Pontiac, Illinois," the Livingston County News, published and edited by J. S. France- "independent in everything." It was a twenty-four column paper, well printed for the times, having only two columns of advertisements. Just how many subscri- bers it had is hard to state, but a reasonable guess could hardly place the number above two hundred. The first number, which is carefully preserved among a marvelous conglomeration of other county antiquities, newspapers, books, old demijohns, with their sere and yellow contents, with a chaos of unenumerated articles, by Uncle Jacob Streamer, of Pontiac, contains an editorial bewailing the lack of school houses and churches. and the blighting prevalence of intem-
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
perance ; an account of a temperance meeting, at which W. T. Garner, Wm. B. Lyon, H. H. Norton, I. P. McDowell and Robert Aerl were appointed a committee to call on the liquor sellers, and remonstrate with them against con- tinuing their nefarious business ; upon failure to desist, they were to be prose- cuted according to law. A committee, consisting of Nelson Buck, Dr. Darius Johnson and J. H. McGregor, presented a stirring lot of resolutions, which were heartily adopted by the meeting. A list giving the discount at which bank bills were received also appears, with a long list of "closed banks," which was expected to need to be " revised and corrected weekly," like the market reports. A statement of the profit of wheat growing is made by Mr. John J. Taylor, in which he shows, in double entry, how his wheat crop of the preceding year had paid all the expense of buying, improving and working his farm, including pur- chase money, and the harvesting of his crop. An old citizen remarks that this ruined many a man, as, for several years after that, wheat raising proved unre- munerative.
D. Johnson and J. M. Perry were the physicians; J. S. France, George Bishop and McGregor & Dart the attorneys, and J. Streamer, Ladd & Mc- Dowell, Buck & Gray, the merchants, having cards in this first paper. It ought to be added here that some time before this, Thomas Cotton had published a paper at New Michigan, which did not survive its second number. The issues of his paper which did see light were devoted to enforcing Mr. Cotton's well known reform principles.
During the first year of its publication, France transferred the News to Philip Cook and M. A. Renoe; Cook soon after selling to Jones. During the proprietorship of Cook & Renoe, which was during the dark and bloody days in which " Bleeding Kansas " furnished inspiration for most political discussion, the liberal sentiments of the proprietors did not permit them to hold their peace, even in an "independent " paper. In one of the papers, the editor complains that Capt. Payne had falsely accused them of running an " Abolition paper." The younger generation will probably never know the height and the depth of infamy which attached to that term in the mind of the average Illinoian of a generation ago. Renoe & Jones sold the News to Albee, and the publication was soon after discontinued.
Cook & Gagan started the Pontiac Sentinel in July, 1858, as a Republican paper. They sold to M. E. Collins, he to Stout & Decker, they to W. F. Dens- low, he to Stout. Stout, in 1866, purchased a Taylor cylinder press, at an expense of about $1,500, and soon after the entire concern was consumed by fire, with but little insurance with which to start anew. The paper was going again within two weeks, and in 1869 he sold to Jones & Renoe, who werepub- lishing the Free Press, who consolidated the papers under the name of Sentinel a d Press. In July, 1873, H. C. Jones became sole proprietor, and changed the name again to the Sentinel, and in 1875, sold to F. L. Alles, who still owns
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and edits it. During all these changes it has remained Republican. and for twenty years-the life of the Republican party-it has battled for the success of that party.
The Republican was started in 1865, by Thomas Harper, and was published by him for a year. E. B. Buck, now of Charleston, Coles County, started the Constitution in 1864, as the organ of the Democratic party, and published it about six months, when the matcrial fell to Maxwell and Duff, who disposed of it.
Jones & Renoe commenced the publication of the Free Press, at Pontiac, in August, 1867. In 1869, it was consolidated with the Sentinel.
The Livingston County Democrat was started by Milton & Organ, in 1868. Mr. Organ soon after became sole proprietor, and sold to Peter Johnson, who published it as a Temperance paper. for about six months, when he re-sold it to Mr. Organ, who, after about a year, suspended its publication. M. A. Renoe published the National Union for several months in 1866.
Thomas Wing became possessed of a printing office and published the People's Advocate for a few months, in 1870. The material was afterward bought by Prince Kellogg, who removed it to Odell, and commenced the publi- cation of the Odell Times in January, 1872, which, in the course of a year, he sold to H. D. Wilson, who continued it for some months.
J. H. Warner commenced the publication of the Independent at Odell in 1869, and continued it several months, when it was discontinued.
John H. Hewitt published the Pontiac Herald for a year, in 1871-72. Its circulation was not large, but its proprietor was happy with his "Hurld," as he called it.
A. L. Bagby commenced the publication of the Pontiac Free Trader, May 11, 1870, as a Democratic paper. In 1871, Bagby disappeared, and the pub- lication was suspended, until C. S. Postlewait revived it, issuing the first num- ber of Volume 2 in June, 1871, with R. W. Babcock as associate editor. C. A. McGregor and E. M. Johnson purchased it in October, 1871, for $150. Mr. Johnson has continued as co-proprietor and editor without intermission from that time. Jan. 1, 1874, M. A. Renoe purchased McGregor's interest, and, in 1877, sold to John Stuff.
In 1873, the Free Trader became the organ of the Anti-Monopoly party, which grew into the Independent Greenback party of 1876, and still remains the vigorous and prosperous champion of the political doctrines of that party.
J. H. Warner commenced the publication of the Herald at Odell, in 1877. and continues to publish it.
John Harper, the great newspaper starter, commenced the publication of the Intelligencer at Fairbury, in 1863, which soon suspended; and Moses Osman published a paper for awhile.
In 1866, H. S. Decker commenced the publication of the Journal at Fair- bury. He soon after sold to I. P. McDowell, and he to Otis Eastman. in 1867, who continued to publish it until 1873.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
In June, 1871, the Dimmicks commenced the publication of the Inde- pendent at Fairbury, and in 1876 C. B. Holmes commenced the Blade. These papers were published until 1876, when J. S. Scibird became proprietor, and combined the two, with the title of Independent-Blade, which he publishes yet ..
In June, 1868, Smith & Rutan began the publication of The Weekly Cou- rier at Dwight, which, after six months, was discontinued.
May, 5, 1868, C. L. Palmer commenced the Star at Dwight, a two column paper somewhat larger than a good-sized shirt bosom, which he has continued without change of proprietor, except the association of his brother with him for- a year in 1871-2. It has grown to a six-column quarto, with a steady growth, and has continued its issue until now.
In 1878, C. M. Cyrus commenced the Dwight Commercial, which is still published. C. L. Palmer commenced, in October, 1875, the publication of the Western Postal Review, a monthly paper devoted to matters of interest to. Postmasters, with Homer A. Kenyon as editor, which is still published.
In 1873, Dimmick Bros. commenced the publication of the Palladium at Chatsworth, which they sold to George Torrance, he to C. B. Holmes in 1874. The paper was afterward changed to Plaindealer, and is now published by R. M. Spurgen.
The press of the county has ever been marked by an intelligent and earnest desire to promote public morals and the general welfare of the county. There has been an almost universal absence of personal animosity which so frequently mars the conduct of rival papers. A generous rivalry has not awakened per- sonal hostility, and the general fairness has seldom been broken. The men who have formed the editorial fraternity have been usually worthy men, whose influence has been for good. This is particularly true of those who are at present conducting this powerful and wide-spreading department of intelligence. Who can estimate the amount of good they have and can yet accomplish ? The first telegraphic dispatch ever received in the county was on election night of 1856, giving the news of the election of Buchanan. The Livingston County News the next morning contained full telegraphic news of the result of the election from all over the country. It was to all a mystery how the news was obtained, for it was not supposed that the News was able to pay for all that telegraphic matter. A friend who had somewhere learned how to read the wires supplied the enterprising publishers with them, and that night they were put in type as fast as received.
THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT.
In the earlier days of the county, very little of what was called Abolition sentiment existed. There was plenty, however, of latent anti-slavery sentiment, and it only needed a little friction to bring it out. In 1848, there were four votes cast for Van Buren, and while many voted for him in some parts of the .country who were not, it is pretty sure that these four men were Abolitionists ..
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
It is not now possible to find out who they were, but Capt. Strawn, pretty good authority, says he believes the four pioneer anti-slavery voters were Otis Whaley, George and Xenophon Richards, and Moses Rumery. At any rate these men, together with Dr. H. H. Hinman, C. P. Paget, Capt. Wm Strawn, and perhaps James Stout, formed the nucleus, a few years after that date, of the first Abolition organization in the county. For some years, they had taken a decided stand against the extension of slavery, and were looked upon as dangerous men.
Word was brought to some of them that some of the officers at Pontiac had captured a fugitive slave who was pushing through the country to Canada. The story ran that the fugitive was chained to a staple driven into the floor of the old Court House. The news created considerable excitement, and was the means of the organization, by Dr. Hinman, of an Abolition society. The slave was returned to his master, but he did not suffer in vain, for if the Society thus formed did not liberate all the slaves in America, it certainly did its part toward it. Moses Rumery, who was closely identified with the movement, did not join the Society, as it was both a church and a political organization, and he, being a Methodist, could not well join it, but was with them in spirit ..
These men laid the track of the underground railroad through the county. with Rumery as conductor, and Hinman, Strawn, Paget and Whaley as station agents, flagmen and stokers. No dividends were declared on the stock, but the officers worked with untiring zeal, and no more negroes were seen chained to the Court House.
About this time, an incident occurred which aroused the minds of some citi- zens who had before this been much opposed to abolition. One Sunday morn- ing, about the year 1853, Judge Babcock, who had recently purchased the Grove farm, heard a terrible racket down the road, and, accompanied by a man who was making it his home there, stepped to the road to see what was the matter, when a most singular, and to him a new sight, met his eyes. In a covered wagon were two as frightened negroes as ever drew breath in the prairie air of Illinois ; beside the wagon were two men on horseback, demanding in the most boisterous tones an unconditional surrender. Between them and the two chat- tels, walked a man, with a pistol in each hand, threatening the lives of the two pursuers if they came any closer, and alternately threatening the fugitives if they attempted to get out of the wagon, in response to the demands of their pursuers. They were two fugitives, accompanied by a colored barber from Bloomington, and pursued by two Pontiac citizens. As soon as the pursuers saw Judge Babcock and his companion, they rushed up and demanded help. which was politely refused, and then wanted to borrow their guns, which was also refused, and the Judge was, by the force of circumstances, forced to help these fleeing fugitives on their way to Col. Stewart at Wilmington, whereas for all his life, up to that moment, he had been an opponent of all the schemes of Abolitionists. The next time he went to Pontiac, he found it generally noised
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
about that "a d-d Abolitionist had just come from York State, and settled almost right in our midst."
Hon. William Strawn, whose whole heart was in the move, who not only spoke for the cause here, but went to Kansas to fight, and afterward enlisted in the war against rebellion from sentiments of anti-slavery, writes : "My partie- ular acquaintance with Livingston County did not begin till 1850. Dr. H. H. Hinman's advent into the county was, I think, in 1852. A man who, with little physical strength, possessed the most magnificent moral courage and downright integrity of any man I ever knew, save perhaps, old John Brown, who added to an equal moral courage physical courage and bodily vigor of grand proportions. The Doctor, meek, heroie, energetie, persistent for the right, like his Divine Master loving absolutely all men, instant in season and out of season in every good work, was a power for good in this county which few could rightly estimate.
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