USA > Illinois > Livingston County > The History of Livingston County, Illinois : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 46
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The Masonic Lodge at the hamlet is called Sullivan Center Lodge, No. 738, and was organized under dispensation October 23, 1875. It was chartered in October, 1876, by M. W. Geo. E. Lounsbury, then Grand Master of Masons in Illinois, and the charter is signed by John F. Burrill, Grand Secretary. The first officers were W. W. Porter, Master ; Sam'l McGoodwin, Senior Warden ; Thomas W. Chandler, Junior Warden, and R. F. Griffing, Secretary. The present officers are W. W. Porter, W. Master ; Thomas W. Chandler, Senior Warden ; Abel M. Morrill, Junior Warden ; R. F. Griffing, Secretary, and the books bear the names of twenty-two members.
Sullivan was formerly a part of Sannemin Township. but, on petition, was set off about 1860. At a date still earlier, Pleasant Ridge and Charlotte were included in these as an election precinct. and also for a year or two after town-
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ship organization, when the latter two were struck off. and then, as noted above, Sullivan was separated from Saunemin. Sullivan is now known as Township 28 north. Range 8 east of the Third Principal Meridian, and is situated in the eastern tier of townships. with Ford County on the east. Charlotte Township on the south, Saunemin on the west and Broughton on the north. The first year after Sullivan was separated from Saunemin, Alexander Harbison was elected Supervisor unanimously, there not being a Democratic vote polled. Jacob Lighty was elected Justice of the Peace, and David Taylor Town Clerk, at this, the first election. Harbison was School Treasurer in addition to being Supervisor. The present township officers are as follows. viz. : J. J. Shearer. Supervisor ; James Maddin and R. C. Griswold, Justices of the Peace ; Martin Detweiler, Assessor ; Andrew Hoag, Collector; A. M. Morrill, Town Clerk.
The township has always been Republican in politics ever since its organ- ization, and did its duty nobly during the late war in furnishing soldiers to the full extent of its ability, which was, to send nearly every man subject to mili- tary duty. David Harbison was the first man in the township to volunteer. He was a brother of Alexander Harbison, noticed in another place as the first settler in the town, and " stood not upon the order of going, but went " without delay.
When Sullivan was struck off from Saunemin, it was necessary for it to have a name. After some discussion of the matter, it was agreed to call it after Mr. Sullivant, an extensive farmer of Ford County, and who owns several sec- tions of land in this township. As will be seen, the t has been dropped in the name of the township, which is the termination of Sullivant's. That of the township, however, was intended originally for the same, notwithstanding the present difference in the spelling of them.
As noted in the beginning of this chapter, Sullivan Township is prairie land entirely, with no timber but such as has been planted since the settling up of the country. With the adoption of all the modern improvements in drainage, these prairies are now ranked among the finest farming land in this section of the county.
DWIGHT TOWNSHIP.
There is nothing more astonishing to the professional traveler, or even to the staid " old fogy" New Englander who has never been beyond the shadow of his own sterile hills, than the startling rapidity with which the Great West has been developed and settled. As if by magic, towns, cities and villages have sprung up from the rank prairie grass and unfolded in grandeur and mag- nificence. Yesterday, where the tall grass waved in the wind and myriad wild flowers bloomed, and spent
ยท Their sweetness on the desert air : '
to-morrow, as it were, finds a city or village laid out, and buildings going up at a rate to startle anybody but a wide-awake Westerner who has been born and
1
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
bred to this spirit of enterprise, and views it as a matter of course. A con- versation overheard on the train, a day or two ago, between a couple of old gen- tlemen, awakened this train of thought and called up these reflections. One of them was from Western New York and the other was a native of Massachu- setts, but both now lived in Illinois. Said one, "It is the most astonishing thing in the world, this amazing growth and development of the Western country." "Yes," said the other, "down East, where I came from, there is the old road along which we went to school, and the rock where we kicked off a toe nail ; the chestnut stump that stood by the side of the road, etc. In ten years we find them just as they were in our school days. There is the rock where we stubbed our toe, and the old chestnut stump by the roadside; nothing is changed. But here in the West, what changes take place in that period ! Let ns be absent from our neighborhood for ten years, and when we return we find nothing familiar ; everything-almost the face of nature itself-has changed." Thus it is, that where, a few years ago, was a wilderness, unbroken and undis- turbed save by wild beasts, to-day are the most flourishing farms, villages, towns and cities. Little more than a quarter of a century ago, the township of Dwight was a wild prairie, untrodden by the foot of the white man, and, as we have been informed, without a single stick of timber of any kind-not even so much as a hazel or willow shrub. Now, beautiful trees and artificial groves abound in all parts of it, the result of the planting and cultivation of timber. Cottonwood, maple and elin seem to be the favorite varieties in this section, and grow and flourish in a very satisfactory manner.
Like all the prairie land, this township was not settled for more than twenty years after settlements had been made in the groves of timber and along the water courses of the county. John Conant came from Rochester, Ohio, in 1854, and settled on the northeast quarter of Section 8, which is conceded to be the first permanent settlement in Dwight Township, outside of the village of the same name. He put up a frame building, which is still standing in a good state of preservation, though its builder has "mingled with the clods of the valley." He died a few years ago, at an advanced age; but his widow is still living, and occupies the old homestead. Mr. Conant was the first Postmaster at Dwight, and the first Justice of the Peace after township organization. The next year, Nelson Cornell came to the neighborhood and put up a house on Sec- tion 5, which he still owns and occupies. Thomas Little settled near Cornell soon after. He sold out. ten or twelve years ago, and removed to Wilmington, where at present he resides.
James McIlduff, in 1854, bought the northwest quarter of Section 18, on which he had some ten acres broken very soon after his purchase. This, it is claimed, was the first "breaking of prairie" in Dwight Township. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and came to his farm the next year after this plowing, and settled permanently. He occupied his farm for a number of years, then removed to the village, where he served as Postmaster during the Presidential
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
term of Andrew Johnson. He still lives in the village of Dwight, and is at present serving his second term as Police Magistrate.
In 1855, James C. Spencer, of New York, began improvements on his farm adjoining the present village of Dwight. He was born on the Hudson River, below the city of Albany, and was a lincal descendant of Hon. Ambrose Spencer, once Chief Justice of the State, and, through his mother, of George Clinton, first Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States, and of De Witt Clinton, also Governor of New York and the projector of the Erie Canal. He owned about 1,200 acres of land here in a body, and came to the place as an engineer of the railroad company. Mr. West, mentioned in this chapter as one of the early settlers of Dwight, broke the first prairie, on Spencer's farm. It was on this farm that the Prince of Wales made his head- quarters for a few days, in 1860, as noticed further on in these pages. Mr. Spencer at present lives in Milwaukee, and is Vice President of the Davenport & Northwestern Railroad of Iowa, and Consulting Engineer of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad.
Henry A. Gardner, then a resident of Joliet, who owned 1,000 acres of land east of the village, commenced improvements on it this year. He was originally from Massachusetts, and he and Spencer and R. P. Morgan, the latter more particularly mentioned in the history of the village, were civil engineers in the employ of the " Chicago & Mississippi Railroad Company," as the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Road was then called. Mr. Gardner was employed as rodman on the Great Western Railroad in 1836, under Morgan, and soon advanced to Junior Assistant. He was engaged, at different periods, as a civil engineer on the Hudson River Railroad, the Harlem Railroad and the Mohawk & Hudson River Railroad. In 1845, he came West and accepted a position on the Illinois & Michigan Canal, and in 1853 was employed, as above stated, in constructing the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad from Joliet to Bloomington. He located his lands near the present village of Dwight, when making the railroad survey, and also settled his family here. After spending some time on his farm, he was called to a position on the Hudson River Railroad. At the time of his death, July 26, 1875, he was Chief Engi- neer of the Michigan Central Railroad. The following statement, made a short time before he died, shows his excellent business qualities : " I never had a bill, approved by me, returned for correction or explanation during my professional life." He has left behind him a family of able representatives, of whom the eldest son, Richard Gardner, occupies the original homestead.
Another of the early settlers and substantial men of the neighborhood was Benjamin Chester. He settled here in 1860, and was originally from Connect- icut, and sprung from a good old Revolutionary stock. He died in 1868, and his son, Wmn. P. Chester, who appeared fully capable of the management of their large farm, followed his father to the land of rest in October, 1869, leaving a sister, Miss Hannah Chester, the only surviving member of this excellent family.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
C. Roadnight, from the "chalky cliffs " of Old England, settled just north of the village in 1857. A man of extensive means and of fine education, he soon obtained the pseudonym of "Sir Charles," a name that ever after clung to him among the democratic citizens of this " blarsted country." He under- took to farm on the English style. but it did not result very successfully. In this country, and particularly in the great West, where there are men who own farms nearly as large as the British Empire, and on which there is annually wasted as much, perhaps, as is made on the largest English farms in a single year, there is little attention paid to scientific farming, and, indeed, in the great every-day rush, it seems that the farmers actually have no time to devote to the science of the business. Mr. Roadnight was, for a number of years, General Freight Agent of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, a position he filled with entire satisfaction.
This includes a number of the early settlers of the township outside of the village of Dwight. From this period forward, the influx of immigrants was too rapid to further admit of individual notice in the history of the town, but there are those whose histories are identified with the village, and in that con- nection will receive proper mention. The country around the little village rapidly filled up, and the new railroad, when completed, was an inducement, to people in search of homes, to bring them to this section, and soon not a "forty" nor " eighty " was left untenanted.
Like all portions of a new country, the main historical importance centers in the cities or more important villages. It is so in Dwight Township, and very few items of interest, beyond the mere fact of settlement, have occurred outside of the village limits. There are, however, one or two instances that belong in the township history, and will be given in their proper order.
One of the most important, and, perhaps, deserving of precedence, even among our republican people, who have little veneration for royalty, but a good deal of curiosity perhaps, was the visit of the Prince of Wales to this country, in 1860. All who read the public journals of the day are familiar with the main features of his tour of the United States, and it is only necessary to state here, that the Prince, en route from Chicago to St. Louis, stopped here for a few days' shooting. From a work entitled " Past, Present and Future of Dwight," written by F. B. Hargreaves, Esq., and published by The Dwight Star. we extract an account of the royal visit. Speaking of the events of the year 1860, the author says : " This year was remarkable for nothing, as far as we can learn, except the visit of the Prince of Wales. The theory of the divine right of kings has long since been exploded, and is now thrown aside by all intelli- gent people. Yet, if the theory has gone, one of the practices which it involved remains. There seems to be a natural craving in the minds of many to see a royal personage, even if it be only a second cousin. The strangest part of it is, that such a desire should be manifested in our own country, the acknowledged land of independence and the home of republican thought and feeling. It is.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
true, however, that our countrymen, and women especially, have a great reverence for foreign nobility. and the visit of the Prince of Wales, and later of the Duke Alexis, confirms the statement. That this state of things exists is not surprising. but it is sad. It would seem that if a tribute of praise or meed of honor is due to any man, it is to him who has wrought noble decds for his country ; it is to that man who, laying aside all selfishi ambition and worldly fame, devotes his faculties, his energies, his life to the welfare of our common humanity. * * *
"During his progress through our country, the Prince of Wales met with an enthusiastic reception. His visit to this neighborhood was expected, and the residence of James C. Spencer was prepared for his visit. The household fur- niture was taken away, and special furniture, sent ahead by the Prince's party. supplied its place. A crowd of citizens gathered on the edge of the railroad opposite Mr. Spencer's residence and waited for the Prince's arrival. It is mournful to be compelled to state that no triumphal arch had been reared ; no town band was there with pleasant music, no leading citizen to present an address of welcome to the youthful scion of royalty. *
About 27 minutes after 6 P. M., on September 22, 1860, the Prince of Wales arrived at this town. He was at once escorted to the residence of Mr. Spencer. where he remained during his stay here. He came to this neighborhood for the purpose of shooting, and had not been many minutes at the farm before he called loudly for his gun, and announced his intention of having some sport that evening. He only shot one bird. a little 'screech owl,' and that was enough for the time being. The next day was Sunday, when the Prince and his suite attended divine service at the Presbyterian Church. The sermon was preached by the Rev. P. D. Young. The Prince was much pleased with the service, and, in consequence, made a donation to the church. The next day, the party, numbering some twelve or fourteen gentlemen, commenced shooting in downright earnest. One day they shot from the train, and had such success that over two hundred quails and chickens were bagged. The Prince was then 19 years old, and had a good appearance. He was looking remarkably well, and enjoyed excellent health. His spirits were always good and his manner uniformly genial. He was very much pleased with our country, and expressed himself eminently satisfied with his visit to Dwight. His stay was short; he came on Saturday and went away on Wednesday. "The last day he was here, he planted an elm tree on Mr. Spencer's farm, and it has now grown to large pro- po.Itions. Those who are curious about such matters can walk up to the resi- dence of Mr. P. E. Miller and see that elm tree for themselves. It will no doubt be gratifying to look upon a tree planted by royal hands. Mr. Miller was living on the farm at the time of the Prince's visit, and has communicated many items of information to us.
" The first night, one of the principal attendants on his Royal Highness made an unpleasant and uncalled-for remark to Mr. Miller. That gentleman
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
turned round quickly and said, . If you'll just mind your business, I'll mind mine.' It is also related how Mr. Roadnight drove up one day in rattling style, and, sitting in his vehicle, called, 'Ho, there!' No reply was vouchsafed to the challenge; and when it had been unsuccessfuly repeated, the irate English- man put his whip to his horses and told the Prince .to ' go' somewhere, but history does not state positively the place. Mr. Miller says the party behaved themselves with great decorum during their stay, and as the town is also reported to have done the same, we may safely congratulate ourselves on having enter- tained the heir to the throne of England, with satisfaction and credit."
As to the tree planted by his Royal Highness, and referred to in the fore- going extract, we had the curiosity natural to a "Brother Jonathan," and paid the tree a visit. So impressed did we become with its royal greatness, that we mechanically lifted our "tile " and bowed low to its waving branches, while with awe we plucked a leaf which we bore away as a relic. Spencer's place, where the Prince was entertained, is, or was, known as "Renfrew Lodge," and is half a mile north of the village. It is occupied at the present time by Leander Morgan, whose beautiful daughter pointed out to us the memorable tree.
Some notice of a murder that occurred but a few miles from the village of Dwight, and is part of the history of this township, may be given in this con- nection. A Prussian nobleman, by name Alvin V. Panwitz, had settled a few miles from the village, where he was murdered on the 23d day of January, 1872, by his German serving man, Frederick Schafer. Panwitz was a man who drank to excess, and on the day of his murder had drawn some money remitted to him from the old country, and as usual got drunk. Late in the evening, he and his man, together with Conrad Reinmiller, started for home in his sleigh, but owing to the violent quarreling of Panwitz and Schafer, Reinmiller left the sleigh. After they had arrived at home, it seems their quarrel was renewed, and while Panwitz was lying on his bed, Schafer strnek him with a " monkey wrench " several blows, which ultimately resulted in death. ITis victim was buried in a com- post heap near the stable, and for three days Schafer hauled corn to Nevada, when, having aroused suspicion against him, he dressed himself in his late master's clothes (whom he strongly resembled, it is said), gathered up all the valuables he could get his hands on, and started with the team for Chicago. Detectives there were notified, and soon discovered him in a stable trying to dispose of the horses for a small amount. He was at once brought back to the village of Dwight, and after a preliminary hearing sent to Pontiac, where, in due time, he was tried and sentenced to eighteen years in the Joliet prison. He is still im- mured within its gloomy walls, paying the penalty of his crime.
In Dwight Township, as in all prairie country, the people were often exposed to the terror and danger of prairie fires ; many lost property, and came near losing their lives. Referring again to the history of Mr. Hargreaves, already quoted from, it says of these terrible fires : "Nelson Cornell was out hunting one day on the east side of the town, and when returning saw an immense
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
prairie fire approaching. In order to save his life, he burnt the grass in the place where he was, and stood on the hot ground while the larger fire swept by him, nearly suffocating him with smoke and ashes." Thus the early settlers of the prairies were often in danger of losing, not only their property, but their lives.
When the county was divided into election precincts, before township organ- ization, Robert Thompson, living then in what is now Nevada Township, was a Justice of the Peace in this " Election Precinct," and was the first to exercise the functions of that office here. Jolin Conant was the first Justice after town- ship organization. The first Constables were B. Losee and W. H. Ketchum ; the latter was also Collector, and Isaac G. Mott was the first Supervisor. The present township officers are : Hugh Thompson, Supervisor; John Thompson and W. H. Ketchum, Justices of the Peace ; Joseph Ford, Assessor ; Joshua Sibley, Collector ; C. M. Baker, Town Clerk, and Francis Carey, School Treasurer.
The first birth in the township was a child of Thos. Wilson, the Railroad Agent, about 1854, and died in about six months, which was also the first death in the town. It was buried in a private cemetery, before one was laid off for the vil- lage. The second death was the wife of Alexander Gourley. She was taken sick and died at Mr. West's, in 1855. She was buried in the Dutch Settlement, and an infant left by her at her death is now a young woman She has already been married twice, and in her marriage relations has received nothing but the worst of treatment. The good lady who informed us of the fact stated that her life had been a sad one from infancy,'and her married life, instead of bettering her condition, had brought her nothing but misery and cruelty, and that all the sorrows of her life would fill a volume. The first marriage of which we have any account. is Elon G. Ragan and Maria West, who were married February 19. 1856.
Politically, Dwight Township is Republican, and taken together with the village of Dwight, they give from 150 to 200 Republican majority, but for- merly, before the demoralization caused by the Greenbackers and Independents, 250 majority was about the average of the Republican strength. The war record of the town will be given in the history of the village, where, as already stated, most of the history of the township centers. As it was in the village that the first settlement in the town was made; the first church was also built there, and there the first school was taught. The name of Dwight was taken from the village of that namne, which was laid out and named before township organization.
THE VILLAGE OF DWIGHT.
Dwight is situated on the main line of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, at the junction of its Western Division, and is about seventy miles from Chicago, and twenty miles from Pontiac, the county seat. It is a place
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
of about 2,000 inhabitants, is the third in size, and one of the most important shipping points in the county. The repair shops and the round house of the Western Division of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad are located here, as well as the headquarters of the bridge builders of the main line. The tank men were stationed here until recently, when they removed their head- quarters to Bloomington. A large number of men employed by the two roads live in the village of Dwight, and have all their interests centering here.
It was surveyed by Nelson Buck, Deputy County Surveyor, for Amos Ed- wards, the regular Surveyor of the county, in the Fall of 1853, for R. P. Mor- gan, Jr., Jas. C. Spencer, John Lathrop and J. and K. W. Fell, who owned the land on which it stands. The original town embraced the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 4: also the northwest quarter of the north- east quarter, and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 9, Township 30 north, Range 7 east of the Third Principal Meridian, and on the 30th day of January, 1854, was dedicated by Mr. Morgan, and the plat admitted to record. The following are his dedicatory words : " To be known as the town of Dwight, and the streets and alleys described on the town plat are hereby donated to the public." It was named for Henry Dwight, of New York, who was a capitalist, and furnished the money to build the road from Joliet to Bloomington, known now as the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad. He is said to have lost a fortune in the construction of this road; and as a compliment to him, and in honor of his noble deeds, his name was given to the new village, which, in spite of efforts to change it, it has ever since borne. A " quill " of the time thus poetized :
" When first this village D. was thought, The friends of D. some others fought, To give a little name, and birth To homes of clay, and joyous mirth. This settled, and a sign they placed To guide the weary wanderer to rest : A hickory pole of twenty-two feet, A rusty pan did gracefully o'erleap.
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