USA > Illinois > Livingston County > The History of Livingston County, Illinois : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 31
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The first school in Indian Grove Township was taught by Chancy Standish, in 1835. He was from New York, and came to the settlement in the year above noted, when the people at once set to work to build a little log cabin for school purposes, and which was the first school house in the township. In this building Standish taught the first school, which was a general subscription school, and it was some time before there was any public money for educational purposes.
From the school records in possession of Dr. C. C. Bartlett, Township Treasurer, which extend back only to the year 1857, we find that on the 1st day of April of that year, "A meeting of the Trustees-James Spence, Chancy Standish and James Moore, of Township 26 north, Range 6 east of the Third Principal Meridian, was held at the house of John Darnall, the School Treasurer." The meeting was taken up mostly in examining books, papers. schedules, etc. The school fund at that time consisted of $721.20, in notes ; fund for town and interest, $67.70; fund on hand in notes, $170.00. There were five school districts in the township, and several schedules of teach- ers were examined and the Treasurer ordered to pay the amount demanded in them for teaching.
The early records are rather poorly kept, and to get information from them is quite a difficult task.
A good story, not out of place in this connection, is related of a young man in the township, who, wishing a school in some particular district, went over to Lexington, where the dignitary lived who had the position at his disposal, for the purpose of procuring the required authority. Not being as well up in his examination as the law required, the certificate was at first refused, but after much importunity from the young man it was at length written. "signed, sealed
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and delivered " to him under cover. Armed with this document, he returned to Indian Grove and presented it to the School Director or Trustee, who, on breaking the seal and taking out the certificate found it to read : "This is to certify that Mr. is qualified to teach a common school in Indian Grove Township and no where else, and a - common one at that."
At the meeting of Trustees on the 3d day of April, 1865, Dr. C. C. Bart- lett was appointed Treasurer, an office he has ever since held.
The following is the present Board of Trustees : J. F. Fraley. S. S. Rog- ers and Wm. B. Cain.
From Treasurer Bartlett's last annual report we extract the following sta- tistical facts :
Number of males in township under 21 years .. 825
Number of females in township under 21 years. 851
Total. 1676
Number of males in township between 6 and 21 years 532
Number of females in township between 6 and 21 years 655
Total. 1187 ยท
Number of males attending school. 453
Number of females attending school. 482
Total. 935
Number of male teachers employed.
Number of female teachers employed. 13
Total 20
Amount paid male teachers. $2,142 08
Amount paid female teachers. 3,307 44
Total. $5,449 52
Estimated value of school property ...
$12,000 00
Principal of school fund of township. $7,198 39
The township has nine school districts and ten good, comfortable school houses, all of which are frame buildings. None but first-class teachers are employed, and the schools of the entire town are in a most flourishing state.
Indian Grove, as an election precinct, embraced that portion of the county lying east of the mouth of the Little Vermilion River ; or, more properly speak- ing, east of the old village of Avoca, in Avoca Township. In the days of Whigs and Democrats, it was largely Democratic, and very ultra in its polit- ical opinions.
The first newspaper ever taken in what is now Indian Grove Township was the Chicago Journal, then a Whig paper. It had been subscribed for by John and Jesse Moore, who had done so without inquiring into the color of its politi- cal faith. When it came, and the Rev. Mr. Darnall found out that it was a Whig paper, he set his veto on it and would not let it be read in the neighbor- hood. It was when Avoca was the only post office in all the country round, and so great was the faith of the Moores in Mr. Darnall's opinions. that they
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
refused to take the papers out of the office.and there they accumulated until the subscription expired.
Political principles have undergone a great change since those early times. At least two-thirds of the vote is now Republiean. and large Republican major- ities are rolled up on all occasions where party lines are drawn. There are, however, a few old true-blue Democrats who still stand by their old party and principles, and think that Long John Wentworth has baekslidden beyond hope, since he has turned over to the Republican Party.
The war record of the township is given in the history of the village of Fairbury.
Indian Grove takes its name from the Indian settlement or camp onee in the fine forest along Indian Creek, which receives its name from the same cause. Pre- vious to the Indians loeating at Kickapoo Town, they had their wigwams or lodges in the timber, now in Indian Grove Township. They had left the place before the settlement of the county by the whites, or at least before there were settlements made in this immediate neighborhood.
A large number of Indians were living at the Kiekapoo town, not far distant ; but we have no account of their ever molesting their pale-face neigh- bors, though Black Hawk made every effort to stir them up to mischief, and some of the settlers, in another part of the grove, took fright during the exeite- ments of the Black Hawk war, and fled to the frontier settlements; but those who remained were left undisturbed. Soon after the close of this war, the Indi- ans were removed to reservations and hunting-grounds beyond the " Great Father of Waters," and our settlements here were no more disturbed by their war-whoop.
This township has the benefit of two lines of railway, the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw and the Chicago & Paducah Roads. The former is more fully noticed in the history of Fairbury. The Chicago & Paducah Railroad was completed through this town in 1872, since which time it has been in active operation. The people of this section seem to have awakened to the necessity of extended railroad facilities since the building of the T., P. & W., as it, we were informed, encountered much opposition from the very inception of the enterprise, until its success and energy won for it a degree of independence ; while the Chicago & Paducah received a hearty and substantial support, and a stock subscription from the township of $50,000.
The benefit of these roads to this section of the county is almost incalcula- ble. and the amount of grain and stock shipped over them annually is immense.
When the county adopted township organization, in 1857, in the process of naming, this town was called Worth ; but discovering that there was a Worth Township in the adjoining county of Woodford, it was found necessary to look up a new name for this. Francis J. Moore, a prominent citizen and one of the early settlers of the township, suggested Indian Grove, which was adopted.
At the first meeting of the Board of Supervisors. we find the township rep- resented by John Crumpton. as Supervisor.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The present township officers are as follows: H. Kingman, Supervisor ; O. J. Dimmick, R. B. Hanna and O. P. Ross, Justices of the Peace ; T. T. Bab- cock, Assessor ; N. Shepherd, Collector ; N. A. Souars, Town Clerk.
Indian Grove Township is bounded on the west by McLean County; on the north by Avoca Township ; on the east by Forrest, and on the south by Belle Prairie. It is about one-fourth timber to three-fourths prairie, and is drained by Indian Creek, which flows through it from the southwest to north- east, and empties into the Little Vermilion River, just beyond its borders. Corn is the main crop, and the immense quantities grown in the township would prob- ably equal the entire crops of the Nile-washed lands of Egypt.
THE VILLAGE OF FAIRBURY.
Fairbury was laid out in 1857, by Caleb L. Patton and Octave Chenute. The former owned the land on which the village stands, and in return for the influence exercised by Chenute-who was one of the Civil Engineers of the Peoria & Oquawka* Railroad Company-with the stockholders of the road, in getting a station at this point, he received from Patton one-half of the town lots. He it was that planned the town and named it, and superintended the laying of it off. Isaac R. Clark, County Surveyor at the time, surveyed it, and made the plat on file in the Recorder's office, and from which we find that the village of Fair- bury originally embraced only the southeast quarter of Section 3, and a part of the northeast quarter of Section 10, in Township 26 north, Range 6 east, and is dated November 10, 1857. Since it was first surveyed and laid out, several additions have been made to it, as follows : By Patton, Cropsey and Chenute, August 9, 1859; by H. L. Marsh, August 9, 1859, July 27 and December 17, 1868; by C. L. Patton, February 4, 1864. and July 9, 1869 ; by - Atkeins, May 8, 9 and 10, 1865, January 25, 1865, and April 30, 1868; by Isaac P. McDowell, July 12, 1865, and May 14, 1867, and by G. W. Suber, May 14, 1870. A space of 200x870 feet was reserved by the railroad in the center of the original village for depot buildings.
The first house in the village of Fairbury was built by John Coomer, who came here from Vermont, the old Green Mountain State, in 1857. The house stands on the corner, just across the street from the Fairbury Hotel, and is a good, comfortable residence at the present day. Coomer finished his house and moved into it on the last day of the year ; says he came very near not getting into it in 1857 any way. The first store house was built by A. L. Pogue, David Thomas and R. B. Amsbury, who opened a store in it in the carly part of 1858. and for a number of years did an extensive business. At length Thomas sold out, and went to Missouri, but the remaining partners continued in the business some time longer, when they finally dissolved, Amsbury going to the gold regions. William Mitchell built a store about the same time of the one just mentioned, in which he opened a small stock of goods and groceries. The first brick store
* The former title of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
house was built by Franklin Elliott in 1864, and occupied as a store by his brother as soon as completed. The store house alluded to, as put up by Wm. Mitchell, is at present a part of the Fairbury House, and with many additions and changes, internally and externally, since the first part of the building was put up in 1857, it has become, as stated, the Fairbury House. With all the improvements and additions made to it, together with the original outlay, it has cost about $6,000, and is now kept by S. S. Rogers, who owns the building, and has made a first-class hotel of it. The first tavern in the village was.built by Geo. W. Morris in 1858, and kept by him for some time, when it changed hands and S. S. Rogers became the proprietor. It was finally moved away from its original location, and became the Central House, a name it still bears. The first post office was established in the early part of 1858, and H. H. McKee was the first Postmaster. The mail was then carried on horseback from Pontiac to Lexington, and a round trip made each week. After many changes in the administration of its affairs, the office has passed into the hands of John Virgin, who is the present Postmaster. The first blacksmith shop in Fairbury was kept by O. S. Mason and Michael Gately, two young men, who commenced the business abont 1858, when the village was rushing ahead at a breakneck speed.
In 1859, a large flouring-mill was built in the village, where Coomer's lum- ber office now stands. It was built or commenced by parties for whom Judge McDowell endorsed, and upon their failure, he became the owner of the property, and completed the building. It was a frame edifice three stories high, thirty by fifty feet in size, with three run of buhrs, and cost upward of $8,000. The building was burned in 1872, and has never been rebuilt. Ben Walton built his first mill in Fairbury in 1866, at a cost of $25,000. It was a frame build- ing thirty by sixty feet, with three run of buhrs, and was burned in August, 1868. He at once commenced to rebuild, and the result was his present mag- nificent mill, which is forty-eight by sixty feet in size, four and a half stories high, and cost $35,000. It has six run of buhrs, and a capacity for making 175 barrels of flour per day. In connection with his mill is a grain elevator, with storage for 20,000 bushels, and cribbing room for 75,000 bushels. He handles annually over 300,000 bushels of grain, the most of which is sold on the track to buyers who ship principally to the East. . When his mill was burned, in 1868, in twelve days after the fire he was buying grain in a tempo- rary building, and by the next February .* had bought and handled nearly 300,000 bushels.
Fairbury is a fine grain center, and it is generally conceded that it is one of the best grain markets in the county. There are at present two large steam elevators, besides the one mentioned with Walton's Mill, and several very fine ones have been burned in the numerous conflagrations that have at different times visited the ill-fated village. The best one ever built was by Hogue & Bartlett. and the first one was built in the Fall and Winter of 1858, by Fitch
*Ilis mill was burned on the 12th of August.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
& Van Eman, who were the first men to buy grain in Fairbury. They bought and piled it up in sacks by the railroad, until shipped. This one, as well as that built by Hogue & Bartlett, were burned. One of the steam elevators above mentioned, and known as the Union Elevator, was built by H. M. Gillette, and' the other by Amsbury & Jones, all of whom have formerly been extensive grain dealers.
As already stated. several additions were made to the village of Fairbury after the laying out of the original place. One of the largest of these was inade by H. L. Marsh, who, it seems, has always been one of the wide-awake citizens of the town. He built a large and elegant hotel and depot in the west end of the village, which, at the time of its building (1866) cost $17.000. But this, too, " went up " in one of the destructive fires before alluded to. Although Fairbury was laid out about the time the railroad was completed through this section, and it grew rapidly, as new railroad villages generally do, yet it was- not until 1864 that it was organized under village laws and charter. At an election held on the 8th day of August, 1864, after due notice had been given, we find, upon examination of the records, that John Coomer was chosen Presi- dent, and C. C. Bartlett. Clerk. At this election, there were " eighty votes given in favor of incorporation and twenty-six votes against incorporation." Where- upon it was declared that the town of Fairbury was incorporated under act of the Legislature, by more than a two-thirds vote." The first Board of Trustees elected were H. L. Marsh, E. T. Joy, I. P. McDowell, J. H. Van Eman and Delos Wright. The Board organized by electing H. L. Marsh, President, and W. G. McDowell, Clerk. John Coomer was elected Police Magistrate, but refused to qualify, and R. W. McKee was elected in his place. The village Board at present is J. F. Fraley, H. Kingman, L. B. Dominy, George Kin- near and Jesse Hanna. J. F. Fraley is President of the Board, and L. B. Dominy, Clerk. H. Kingman is Treasurer, Nathan Shepherd, Police Magis- trate, and John Allum, Town Marshal.
The first school taught in the village of Fairbury was by Alonzo Straight. in a little frame building on the south side of the T., P. & W. Railroad, but had originally been devoted to some other use. The first house built for school purposes was in 1860, and is situated on the north side of the railroad, and is still in use as a school house. It is a frame building, two stories high, and cost $2.500. The first teacher to occupy the new building was Smith Olney, who taught in it as soon as completed. The "South Side School House," as it is called, was built in 1868. It is also a frame building, two stories, and cost $3,500. Fairbury is somewhat behind other towns and villages of its preten- tions, in the quality of its school buildings, which have quite a dingy, weather- beaten appearance. Though uncomely in exterior, they are substantial in struc- ture and comfortable inside, and the village, it is said, supports most excellent schools. The Principal and corps of Teachers for the school year just closed. are as follows : Prof. C. H. Rew. Principal of High School Department ; Miss
339
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
M. M. Daly, Assistant in High School Department ; Miss Ella B. Erwin, Teacher of Second Grammar Department ; Philip Hutchinson, Teacher of First Grammar Department ; Miss Della Chesebrough, Teacher of Second Interme- diate ; Miss Cynthia E. Earnhart, Teacher of First Intermediate ; Miss Laura Colvin, Teacher of Second Primary : Miss Anna E. McDowell, Teacher of South Primary ; Mrs. S. M. Hempstead, Teacher of North Primary ; Miss Mary Kilbury, Teacher of West Primary and Intermediate School. For the coming year, some few changes are made, but most of the old teachers remain. The following is the roster : Prof. C. H. Rew, Superintendent and Principal of High School Department ; Miss Della Chesebrough, Assistant in High School Department ; T. W. Gore, Teacher in First Grammar Department ; Miss Ella B. Erwin, Teacher in Second Grammar Department : Miss Cynthia E. Earnhart, Teacher in First Intermediate ; Miss Mary Kilbury, Teacher in Second Intermediate ; Mrs. S. M. Hempstead, Teacher in First Primary, North Side ; Miss Anna E. McDowell. Teacher in First Primary, South Side; Miss Flora Potter, Teacher in Second Primary, South Side ; Miss Ellen Vanover, Teacher in Second Primary, North Side. The attendance during the school year averages about 500 pupils for the two schools. Both of these schools are under the supervision of one Principal, Mr. Rew. They are graded, and have what is termed a High School Department. though not High Schools in the strict acceptation of the term.
The first church societies organized in Fairbury were the Methodist and Presbyterian. The Methodist Church was organized in July, 1858, under the ministerial labors of Rev. J. W. Stubbles, with the following members ; Francis J. Moore, Garrison Bowen, Rachel Bowen, - Busey, Nancy Busey, Dr. L. Beech, Edith Beech, John Kring, Rachel Kring, Catherine Kring and John Potter. But few of these are members still, viz .: Francis J. Moore, Dr. L. Beech, John Kring, Catherine Kring, Rachel Kring and John Potter. The others are either dead or have moved away. The first church building was erected in the Fall of 1858, and was a frame, 32x55 feet, dedicated, in the latter part of the year, by Rev. J. W. Flowers, Presiding Elder. It was enlarged in 1866, under the pastorate of Rev. J. E. Rutledge. In the Spring of 1874, Dr. L. Beech, a zealous member of the church and a man of broad and liberal benevolence, headed a subscription for a new church edifice, to cost from ten to- twelve thousand dollars. Dr. Beech subscribed $2,000; others put down.their names for liberal amounts, and thus several thousand dollars were raised. Nothing was done, however, until the Summer of 1876, when the Trustees deter- mined to put up a substantial brick, 45x75 feet, one full story and a basement. The basement was finished in the Fall of 1876, and was dedicated by Rev. R. G. Pierce, R. B. Williams, Pastor. It was intended, in the following Fall, to have the audience room on the second floor completed, but, on the 2d day of July, 1877, a fearful tornado passed over the village, and the church was laid in ruins. In the Fall of 1877, Rev. J. Wilkinson was appointed Pastor, and
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
the society, though somewhat discouraged, had determined to rebuild. Largely through the generosity of Ben Walton, an elegant brick church was erected on the foundation of the old one, and was dedicated January 20, 1878, by Rev. W. H. H. Adams, D. D., of Bloomington. The present membership of the church is 280. The first Methodist Sunday school was organized in the Spring of 1859, with Jacob Hunt as Superintendent. It is in a flourishing condition at present, and an average of about 300 children attend.
The Presbyterian society was organized July 25, 1858, with 10 original members. The first Pastor was Rev. Benjamin B. Drake. The church was built in 1862, and is a frame, 25x40 feet, costing $750. It was dedicated, when completed, by Rev. A. Eddy. The present Pastor is Rev. T. Hemp- stead, and his church numbers 88 members. A Sunday school was organized in 1863, with William Mitchell as Superintendent. With the periods of lan- guishing, usual to such organizations, it still exists, and is in quite a flourishing condition at this time. A few years after the organization of the Presbyterina Church, it divided into the Old and New Schools, and the latter branch built a church similar to that worshiped in by the other; but, re-uniting again in a short time, the New School church was sold to the Ormish society, who still occupy it, having preaching regularly, a flourishing membership and a large congregation.
The Baptist Church was erected in 1865, but the society was organized several years previous. It is a brick edifice, 38x50 feet, costing $3,000, and was dedicated by Rev. J. Cairns, at the time its Pastor. At present, it has a large membership, and Rev. C. D. Merritt is Pastor. Its Sunday school was organized in 1864, the year before the building of the church. William Car- penter is the Superintendent, and about 140 children attend on an average.
The Roman Catholic congregation was organized about 1857, and was visited from that time, semi-annually, by Rev. B. Lonergan, of Wilmington, until 1867, when the mission was attached to Pontiac, a resident priest having been appointed there. This priest, whose name was O'Neill, was one of the oldest priests in America, the first Irish priest who ever came west of the Alle- ghanies, and was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Quigley, now of Henry. Ill. The congregation, however, had not assumed any permanent organization until 1868, when, under the leadership of Rev. John A. Fanning, the present Pas- tor, a frame church was built, 33x60 feet, to which important additions have been made, at a total cost, up to the present time, of about $4,000. The original membership consisted of some thirty families. and has since then increased to about one hundred and twenty-five families. The church edifice was dedicated on the 24th of June, to St. John the Baptist, by Rev. C. Gonaut, of Chebanse, assisted by the Pastor and other clergymen. The Sun- day school of this church was organized cotemporaneously with the congrega- tion. Its first Superintendent was Owen McKay. now of Cheyenne. Wyoming Territory.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
As early as 1862, movements were made here toward developing the coal fields, believed to exist sufficiently near the surface to be reached with light expense. In the Fall of this year, H. L. Marsh commenced to sink the west shaft, and at the distance of 216 feet, struck the first vein of coal, which varies from four and a half to five feet in thickness, and produces a very fair quality of coal. At a distance of 180 feet below this vein another was found, but not of sufficient thickness to warrant its being profitably worked. It is the best coal, however, in any of the neighboring shafts, but, to quote the slang of the day, it is "too thin"-to be valuable. To sink this shaft and equip it for work has cost altogether about $30,000; the works have a capacity for taking out at least five hundred tons daily, but the demand has never required it to run to the full extent of its ability. Some years ago, it passed into the hands of Eastern capitalists, who leased it to Knight & Gibb, of Fairbury, for two and a half years, which term, we believe, has expired, and the mine is at present idle, except in keeping the water pumped out. This was the first shaft sunk between Braidwood and Alton, where more than a hundred now perforate the ground. It for some time proved an expen- sive affair on account of so much water, and the third shaft was sunk before one could be secured against overflow.
The east shaft was commenced in April, 1867, and struck a profitable vein of coal at a depth of one hundred and sixty feet. This shaft was originally begun by a stock company, consisting of Jones, Amsbury, Darnall, Gibb, Atkins and Archer. Amsbury and Jones were the principal business men, and Gibb the Superintendent. The sinking of the shaft at that time cost about $15,000, but could be done for, perhaps, half the amount now. A few years after the opening of the shaft, Gibb leased it from the company, and has been operating it advantageously for the past four years. Mr. Gibb is a native of Scotland, and has been in this country since 1852. He thoroughly under- stands coal mining, and under his supervision this shaft yields on an average seventy-five tons daily, the year round. At present, they supply the railroad companies 1,000 tons per month, while the remainder is mostly disposed of to the local trade. The different formations passed through in reaching coal were yellow clay immediately after the soil, then quite a thickness of blue clay, after which a considerable stratum of soft stone-usually called soapstone -- and then a vein of lime rock, followed by a shelly sandstone, with thin layers of sand between the layers of rock, when coal was struck. A peculiarity of the country here is the difference in the formations passed through in these shafts, which are not more than two miles apart. In the west end shaft, the clay is about the same as in the other, but much more water; after passing through the clay, two strata of lime ledges were met with ; then a stratum of red fire-clay, and after it about eighty feet of shelly lime rock, followed by thirty feet of soap- stone, underlying which was the first vein of coal. In the new shaft, sunk the present season, about midway between the other two. a very soft. red rock was
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