The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 66

Author: Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, Pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : W. Le Baron, Jr.
Number of Pages: 1092

USA > Illinois > McLean County > The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 66

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

by Hobson & Havens. They ran it for some time, and then it passed into other hands. This was the first of the kind in the township. There had been a horse-mill for grind- ing corn, at an early date, on the farm of Ephraim Stout, near Sugar Creek. John Guthrie ran the first blacksmith-shop in the village. The first in the township was on the farm of Robert McClure, and was operated by a Mr. Burt. Mr. Reyburn's was the first regular store in the township, but there had been a few goods kept before this by Thomas. Drain. Concord continued to grow for ten or twelve years, until it became a village of considerable trade. But after that time, for more than half a score of years, it was almost lifeless. Mr. Ira Abbott, the present Postmaster and oldest busi- ness man in town, came here in 1854. At that time, T. J. Bunn, now of Blooming- ton, and Kaufman, of Pekin, were in business here: but there was a long time after this that Mr. Abbott kept the only store in the village. From 1854 to 1862, there were not more than three houses built.

The first post office was established here in 1848 or 1849, but it was called Stout's Grove Post Office. Israel W. Hall was the first Postmaster. The village was called Concord until 1861. Ira Abbott was appointed P. M. in 1861, and immediately got up a petition to have the names changed. A meeting of the citizens was held at Mr. Abbott's store. It was first decided to call the place Sumner, but there was a post office of that name already in the State. It was then agreed to name it Danvers, out of regard for Israel W. Hall, who came from near Danvers, Mass. These are the only two places in the United States of this name.

Since the beginning of war times, Danvers has had a fair growth for a country village. It has always operated under its special charter, until recently, when it was incorporated under the general laws of the State. The incorporation takes in one mile square. There are, at present, four general stores, kept by Ira Abbott, C. C. Rowell & Co., Randolph & Hougham, Naffziger & Crist ; four groceries-C. R. Stuckey, Jacob , Yoder, George Bunn, who also keeps a loan office, M. Sebastion, who also adds boots and shoes to his line of trade ; Popple Bros. keep hardware and farming implements ; D. H. Parkhurst keeps a drug store. The lumber-yard is owned by S. W. Baker. The staff of life may be obtained from Wheeler & Fansom, at their large flouring-mill-at least, the necessary ingredients may be had there. William Naffziger will accommodate the traveling public at his hotel on the corner. Miss Williams will adorn the young ladies so that " catching beaux " will be no difficulty and prepare married women to keep their husbands at home, if they will patronize her millinery-shop. Meat-shop is kept by Edward Bunn.

The first school-building was erected in 1852. Who taught the first school in it we were unable to learn. In 1864, a new house was built. This has continued until the present. It is a two-story frame, and though somewhat worse for the wear of fifteen years, furnishes comfortable apartments for their excellent schools. Two teachers are employed. The Principal, John P. Yoder, has had charge for a number of years, and enjoys a deserved popularity.

Although Danvers was forty-three years old on the 7th of March, 1879, no attempt has been made to establish a publication of any kind until quite recently. On the 29th of March, 1879, appeared the first issue of the Danvers Independent. This journal is issued every Saturday by Dr. D. C. Gideon and George Bunn, who are editors and pro- prietors. It is devoted to the business interests of Danvers and vicinity. It is a neat,

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twenty-four column paper, run by energetic business men, and will, as it grows older, no doubt, receive a large patronage and be a credit to the village.

The Methodists were the first to build a church. They built a house of worship in 1852. It was 30x36 feet. It is still standing, but is not put to use of any kind. The meetings are now held in the Presbyterian Church. Preaching is had every two weeks by Rev. Mr. Van Pelt, of Bloomington. The Methodists have their times of refreshing and of religious dearth. At present, the society is not large.

The Congregational Church was organized in January, 1862. Their first Pastor was Jerome D. Jones. They began with about twenty members. Prominent among them may be mentioned I. D. James, Dr. Parkhurst and Ira Abbott. The church was erected in the fall of 1862. It is 35x50 feet ; cost of construction, $1,600. This was considered very cheap for the times and the character of the edifice. The present num- ber of communicants is about fifty. The Rev. M. M. Longley is Pastor. This is the only Congregational Church ever in the township.

The Cumberland Presbyterians, as noted in the history of this township, were the first to organize a church at Stout's Grove. The society met in the church at the Grove for a great many years ; but after the village of Danvers began to grow, the greater portion of the membership was on the east side. It was decided to build in Danvers. Accordingly, in 1865, a house was erected. This was just at the close of the late war, when everything was costly. The building cost about $6,000. It was dedicated in April, 1865. Size of church, 40x50 feet. First preacher in the new church, J. A. Chase. Since the first, they have had a number of ministers. The pres- ent Pastor is the Rev. J. C. Van Patten. The Presbyterians have ever been strong and influential in this part of the county. Besides being the first to organize, they have been the most permanent and numerous of the English churches. Their house of wor- ship is the largest in the village. The present membership is about one hundred.

Although the Baptist Church is the most recently built and its membership gath- ered together at a comparatively recent date, the edifice is one of the neatest churches to be found anywhere. It was built about five years ago. The Pastor at the time of building was H. H. Ballard. The house cost $2,700. They have a very fair member- ship and respectable congregation.

It will thus be seen that Danvers has four organized churches in town, with several not far off in the country. They certainly have the opportunity to be a religious people.

THE CEMETERY.

" Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a moldering heap,

Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."

When the Cumberland Presbyterians built their first church, in 1834, they very naturally prepared a burial-place for their dead. This cemetery is located beside the railroad, about two miles northwest of the village of Danvers. It is the principal place of burial for all this section of country. There are other cemeteries, but here are found the resting-places of many of the pioneers. Here, too, with regard to Danvers, " The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." Many tokens of affection may be seen in this beautiful country cemetery. It is cozily hovered round by the native forests, and

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

the only thing that would seem to disturb the slumbering spirits is the thundering by of the iron steed. It seems quite out of taste to us that railroad companies must carry their traffic beside the quiet churchyard, where rest the only mementoes of many sacred dead.

Among the many tombs --- some with elegant and costly, others with humble and touching monuments-we noticed only a few. Here rest the remains of Matthew Robb and wife ; there, those of the Drain family ; and farther along, some of the McClures. Yonder is a poor fellow who was killed by a runaway team ; while here is an inscrip- tion in memory of one who died in the Sunny South. Passing on, we find the names Stevenson, Wheeler, Danly, Taylor, Naffziger, Rowell, Wilson and hosts of others, inscribed on glistening marble, bringing to mind days long past, and telling of the saered memories that still linger in the hearts of the living.

HAMLIN

was a small post village, four miles west of Danvers. It was on the old State road, and had, at one time, more than " half a score of dwelling-houses, a blacksmith-shop, two grocery stores and a saloon." The mail was carried by the stage-coach line, in those days, from Bloomington to Pekin, and, as this little place was on the route, a post office was established there in 1861 ; James Dunseth was made Postmaster. The office was afterward moved a mile farther west, but was still called Hamlin. In 1867, James Parker was made Postmaster. But the I., B. & W. R. R. began to carry the mail in 1870. The office was then moved still farther west, across the line, into Tazewell County, and is now at Lilly, the next station west of Danvers, on the I., B. & W. R. R.

WILKESBOROUGH

was a little village on the old State road in the eastern edge of Danvers Township. It · lay on the west side of the Third Principal Meridian. This meridian forms the east boundary of Danvers Township. Wilkesborough was never a place of much importance. It had a little store or two and a post office. Mr. J. O. Barnard was Postmaster. There was an office here for, perhaps, ten years. It remained until 1848 or 1849. The exact date we could not ascertain. All this time the people of Concord, now Danvers, were obliged to go to Wilkesborough for their mail. When the office was discontinued at Wilkesborough, it was moved to Concord, and called Stout's Grove Post Office, and so remained till 1861, when the names of the post office and village were changed to Danvers.

The village of Wilkesborough is not now recognized. There is nothing to indicate to the stranger the previous existence of any such place. Its course has long since been rur. It lives only in records and the memories of those who still cherish fond recol- lections of the " good old times in McLean County."

MOUNT HOPE TOWNSHIP.

This township occupies the extreme southwestern part of MeLean County. It is bounded on the north by Allin Township; on the east by Funk's Grove; on the south by Logan County, and on the west by Logan and Tazewell. The surface of country embraced by these lines is, for the most part, undulating without being hilly, and no part of the township is so level as to be termed flat. The land is of an exceedingly

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

productive character, being well adapted to the raising of corn, rye, oats and the vege- tables common to this climate. Hogs and cattle in great numbers are raised ; indeed, Mount Hope Township is noted as a stock region. It is watered by branches of Sugar Creek which flow through from east to west. These branches afford good stock water and drainage for the farms lying adjacent ; they also afford sufficient water and fall for mills of moderate power, though they are not utilized for that purpose. The Chicago & Alton Railroad passes through the southeastern part, and furnishes an outlet for the products of this and adjacent townships. The township is now almost devoid of timber. Formerly one or two sections were covered with wood, but the pioneer's ax materially reduced that small area, and it may now be said that this is a region without groves except the artificial ones planted by the early settlers. The township is described in the Congressional survey as Town 22 north, Range 1 west of the Third Principal Meridian, and the north third of Town 21, in same range. The township therefore consists of forty-eight full sections, or nearly 31,000 acres.

When McLean County was first organized, this township, with others in this part of the county, was embraced in what was called the Kickapoo Precinct, extending not only further north and east, but also four miles further south, including within its boundaries all that part of Logan County now called Atlanta Township. The pre- cincts of the county were at various times changed in size and shape to suit the con- venience of the inhabitants, until 1858, when Mount Hope Township was formed, with boundaries co-extensive with what we now find them.

The township derives its name from a company that was formed in 1835 for the- purpose of opening up Western lands, of which more hereafter.

FIRST SETTLERS.

In 1824, the Funks had already occupied a considerable portion of the timber lying along the east branch of Sugar Creek. In those times, the timber-land was the great desideratum, and it was occupied first. The southwest part of the grove, how- ever, was vacant, and here the first settlers of Mount Hope Township located. They came at various dates between 1824 and 1835, from the State of Ohio, several of them having been acquaintances of the Funk family, and being guided by their advice to this region. As nearly as can now be remembered, they settled here in about the chrono- logical order in which their names appear.

William Johnson appears as one of the first Justices of the Peace of the Kickapoo. precinct, and also as one of the three County Commissioners at a later day. Isaac Baker was a leading man in the early times of this county. The early records of the county testify to his competence as a public officer. The neat and well-kept record of the County Court is one of the very few exceptions to a bungling and almost unintel- ligible chirography, which graces nearly all of the early county records of the State. The fact is, the office of "C. C. C. C.," as Mr. Baker signed himself, was not then equal to that of Township Clerk at this time, either in emoluments or in time required to perform its duties. About three days' work at each quarterly session, at $2 per day, was the allowance of the Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court-an office which now requires the continual services of a Clerk and two or three assistants. Then, too, the county was double the size we now find it; but it will be remembered that the whole population did not exceed one of the most thinly settled townships of to-day.

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

Philip Cline and James Murphy came about the same time. Murphy was one of the first Justices of the Peace of the Kickapoo Precinct. It is said that Murphy was a noted hunter in the early times, and made a good share of his living by the use of his rifle. Indeed, we may well believe that many of the early settlers were experts with the gun, and that a good many of them were guided to this part of the country by reports of the abundance of game that was to be found here. Deer, wild turkeys, pheasants and prairie chickens could be killed in almost any amount; and some of the stories told by the pioneers, in relation to their hunting expeditions, sound marvelous in the ears of the younger people. Jacob Moore, John and Robert Longworth, Daniel Proetor, Ezra Kenyon and Nicholas Darnall were also among those who located here at a very early date. This settlement was, in reality, a part of the Funk's Grove neigh- borhood, and had no connection with the grand scheme of colonization inaugurated in the central part of the township a few years later.

MOUNT HOPE COLONY.

This was a grand enterprise which originated in Rhode Island, in 1835, and had for its object the opening up of Western lands, and of settling the same with respectable and enterprising farmers, mechanics and tradesmen. A charter was obtained from the State and a company formed, with a capital stock of $12,500. A constitu- tion and by-laws were formed, and everything arranged in the most business-like shape. The stockholders were men of means and intelligence, and had for their objeet not only to make money, but to benefit, financially and morally, some of their poorer neighbors and acquaintances, who might contemplate emigration to a Western country.

At that time there was a perfect flood of emigration setting in toward this State. Hundreds of similar schemes were being organized throughout the East ; hundreds of thousands of circulars, similar in import to what we now see advertising the lands of Kansas, Nebraska and Texas, were sent everywhere, and the eyes of people in moderate circumstances and those without means were turned to Illinois.

A provision of the by-laws was, that each stockholder was entitled to 320 acres of land, to be afterward selected by a competent agent. Each stockholder was also to have four lots in the proposed town or village of Mount Hope. It was further stipu- lated that the stockholder should either himself settle upon the land apportioned to him or cause it to be occupied by an active, energetic farmer, and that, within a specified time, each tract should be improved to the extent of at least $300.

Accordingly, a committee was appointed, consisting of John C. Cass, Seth Talbot and two other men of the name of Carpenter, to come out to this place and locate the land. Twenty-two sections, as nearly in a block, without interfering with the claims of others who had already settled, were located in the name of John C. Cass, Agent of the Providence Farmers' and Mechanics' Emigrating Society. Then William Peck, their own surveyor, was sent out to survey the lands and plat the prospective town. In this work, Mr. Peek seems, from the record still extant in the archives at Bloomington, to have been assisted by Elbert, then Surveyor of MeLean County. The town, with its streets and alleys and publie square, was duly mapped out, a stone being planted at the northwest corner of the public square, from which it was decreed that all future surveys should be made. Alas for all human calculations! The stone is about all that is now left of the onee prospective city.

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

After Mr. Peck had made the survey, he returned to his constituents, made his report, and then the land, to the amount of 320 acres each, was apportioned to the stockholders. This still left some 6,000 acres unapportioned, which was to be held in trust by duly-appointed Trustees. These Trustees were Royal Chapin, John H. Mason and Asa Pearce. From these Trustees the stockholders received their deeds. The lands were afterward appraised by disinterested parties, and rebates awarded to such as happened to draw traets considered of less value.

Under this arrangement, about fifteen families came out from Rhode Island and Massachusetts and settled upon their respective tracts of land. All the preliminary arrangements had been made by the spring of 1837, and during that year and the fol- lowing, the settlements were made. Only three of the stockholders ever came here to reside permanently. These were John Rathbone, Dr. J. Whipple and Seth Talbot.

But for the crash that came to the country that year, these splendid calculations might have proved a reality. No scheme was founded on a better basis than the Mount Hope enterprise, but business of every kind that year was prostrated, and the founders of the colony had other use for their spare means than the improvement of Western lands. Times were even harder in the East than the West, and in that one feature seems to have been the secret of the failure. The weak point in the enterprise was in having non-residents for stockholders. Had the stockholders all been actual settlers, who had invested their means in the project, and had they removed to the place, doubt- less the result would have been different. As it was, most of the tenants sent out soon became dissatisfied, some returning to their homes in the East, and others seeking new Eldorados further on. The few who remained, struggled along, but accomplished but little of the grand work that had been expected of them. A few houses were erected in the intended metropolis, a school and church were organized by the help of friends in the East, but beyond this the project was a failure. The lands of the company were held in trust until about 1854, when a company of gentlemen residing in Bloomington, of whom William McCulloch, E. H. Rood and Hudson Burr were members, bought the remaining lands at prices ranging from $3 to $5 per acre, and the Mount Hope Colony ceased to be.

Perhaps the event which had the most to do with the immediate abandonment of the company project was the completion of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad through the eastern part of the township, leaving the nucleus of the company's town several miles to the west. The road was completed through here in 1853, and was the means of building up many thriving and substantial towns and cities along its line and wherever a town was unhappily left outside of its track, it as certainly collapsed. This was notoriously the ease with the respective towns of Mount Hope and MeLean. The lands of the company, together with all other unoccupied lands in the township, were, very soon after the completion of the road, occupied by a second flood of emigration from the East, and the settlements made subsequent to that date were of such frequency that we do no not attempt to record them.

The next event of publie consequence was that of the organization of the township as a separate precinet. This was accomplished in 1858. In November of the preceding year, the aet authorizing township organization had been adopted by the county, and this portion of the county had been set off as a separate precinct. The first election in this township occurred April 6, 1858. At this first election, Daniel Winsor was elected

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Supervisor; Adam Stubblefield, Clerk ; Samuel B. Kinsey, Assessor ; E. H. Valentine, Collector; Thomas J. Enslow, Overseer of the Poor; Elbridge G. Clark, John H. Young and Joseph A. Pitts, Commissioners of Highways; John Kellogg and James Palmer, Justices of the Peace. Of these, John Kellogg has held the office ever since, having held the office of Squire for twenty-four consecutive years, and Samuel B. Kin- sey, the then Township Assessor, appears in the list of township officers for 1878-79, as Supervisor.

The full list of officers, as at present constituted, consists of Samuel B. Kinsey, Supervisor ; Lafayette Archer, Collector ; Stacy B. Kinsey, Assessor ; Samuel I. Leach, Clerk ; A. J. Nelson, Edward Stubblefield and Samuel B. Kinsey, Commissioners of Highways ; John Kellogg and Samuel Y. Ewing, Justices of the Peace ; and William Carrington and Charles B. Wright, Constables.

The largest number of votes ever cast at an election was 335, though the number of voters in the township at this time probably exceeds 350.

The politics of the township have always been decidedly Republican, the ratio being about two to one of the opposition.

A decided cast to the complexion of politics was given by the early settlers of the colony. They were, with scarcely an exception, rank Abolitionists. Indeed, if tradi- tion is to be relied on, a regular station of the underground railroad, with agent and con- duetor, existed in the neighborhood. John Moss was suspected of being connected with the scheme of aiding and abetting and otherwise assisting runaway slaves in their efforts to gain their freedom. It is said that in Moss' cellar was a secret chamber, of which no man except John Moss knew the location or existence until his old house was removed, when, this same tradition says, it was brought to light. In this dark recess, during the day, at the approach of danger, the dark objects of Mr. Moss' solicitude received by way of the railroad during the previous night, were concealed until the danger was past. The following night, Moss or some other sympathizer would convey the human chattels to Aunt Polly Mahan's station, at Lexington ; or, if the nights were long and the roads and weather good, to that equally notorious nest of Abolitionists in New Michigan, in Livingston, to be cared for in a similar manner by Charles Paget and his coadjutors.

THE WAR.

With the next important event in the history of this township, the underground railroads and their necessity passed away, as at one grand stroke the shackles of those yet remaining in bondage were struck off, and their perilous pilgrimage to Canada thus dispensed with.

It is not to be wondered at that this township, whose political education had con- sisted largely in means of bringing discomfort to the slave-owners and their hired slave- Catchers, should take a deep interest in a war which, though not, primarily, waged in the interests of the colored race, must, nevertheless, result in their liberation. To that end, Mount Hope made a large and precious sacrifice. The alarm of war had scarcely sounded before the able-bodied citizens of the township were seen marching toward the nearest recruiting-stations, as it were, in squads. Most of those who went from this township enlisted in the Second and Fifth Illinois Cavalry and in the Seventh and One Hundred and Seventeenth Infantry. Company A of the One Hundred and Seventeenth was made up almost wholly of Mount Hope soldiers. It is difficult to say, at this time,

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how many actually went from this township, as many went to other towns and enlisted there, and were never credited to this township. Notwithstanding this apparent loss, the town- ship was never drafted, and, at the close of the war, had more than furnished its full quota.

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The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 66

Author: Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, Pub Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : W. Le Baron, Jr. Number of Pages: 1092

Author: Le Baron, Wm., Jr. & Co., Chicago, Pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : W. Le Baron, Jr.
Number of Pages: 1092