The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 67

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 67

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Of those who went out to fight the battles of their country and who returned not, are remembered Daniel Feathers, Adam Hoffman, Michael Kauffman, Nathan Kinsey, J. Ewing. William Stone, John Harley, William . Waltman, D. Perstannie, Emanuel Keeve, D. Brock, Peter Burbank, George Brown, Casper Heckard, John Caton, Caleb Chapin, William Haughey, William Owen, Clarence Trott, Edward Butts, Emery Crawford and David Mason. Quite a number of these were killed in actual conflict, some died in rebel prisons of starvation, and others of wounds or disease contracted in the army. Their bones lie mingled with the soil of the country which they went out to rescue from the hands of those who sought the destruction of the Union. The sacrifice was a costly one, but their country demanded and they gave it willingly.

The township was honored by the selection from the ranks of its brave boys of quite a number to fill high positions in the army. In Company A of the One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment, the commissioned officers were all Mount Hope men. Samuel B. Kinsey, who had resigned his office of Supervisor, was Captain; H. W. Wood, who had also resigned the office of Constable, was First Lieutenant, and Dennis Kenyon was Second Lieutenant of the same company. Charles Beath was promoted to the office of Captain of Company A in the One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment ; Benjamin Hieronomous, to First Lieutenant, and George W. Brown, to Second Lieutenant. F. A. Wheelock and C. W. Wheelock were both promoted to captaincies in the Fifth Cavalry. A. H. Dillon was First Lieutenant in the Thirty-eighth Regiment ; James Palmer, Second Lieutenant in the One Hundred and Fifty-second Regiment, and Austin Rollins was promoted to a Lieutenaney in the First Missouri Cavalry.

EDUCATIONAL.

Mount Hope Township is noted for its good schools. No interest has received greater attention than that of education, and the amount expended for the purpose of educating the youth is greater than that paid out for any other single objeet of a pub- lie character.

A lady of the name of Pierce taught in her own house the first school in this part of the county. She was one of the Mount Hope Colonists, and her house was just east of the village. The school consisted of a few of the children of the colonists, and the branches taught were a little reading, writing and arithmetic.

A schoolhouse was built in very early times on Section 32 in Town 21, which was then in this county, but now in Logan, and near where Atlanta now stands. A school- house was also built at an early date in Funk's Grove, a little west of the present site of Funk's Grove Station. These two schools were attended by the children of Mount Hope Township for several years, when a house was erected in the colony neighborhood. This was a small frame building, and was erected for both school and church purposes. The building was erected partly with means obtained from persons in the East friendly to the colonists. It was used for a number of years as a house of worship and as a school- house. Soon after the village of McLean was laid out, it was removed to that place, where it was devoted to similar purposes until its usefulness had been outlived and more commodious quarters, both religious and educational, had been provided.

Albert Stetson. Eleldon.

PROF. OF LANGUAGE ILLS. NORMAL UNIVERSITY

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

At the time the boundaries of Mount Hope were fixed, in 1858, there were in the township five schoolhouses, mostly of rather an inferior character. At that time, the school law of the State had been in operation but three years, and a few items extracted from the report of Daniel Wilkins, then School Commissioner of McLean County, will be interesting and instructive, as compared with similar items of the present year.

*Extract from Daniel Wilkins' Report, 1858 :

Whole number of schoolhouses 5

Number of scholars 129

Number of persons between 5 and 21 287

Average wages paid to teachers per month. $28 00

Whole amount expended for school purposes. $671 00

Extraet from N. I. Leach's Report for 1878 :

Number of schools in township. ..

Number of scholars.

436

Number of persons between 6 and 21 517

Number of persons under 21 759

Whole amount expended for school purposes .. $5,000

Estimated value of school property. $13,000

Township school fund. $5,000

The first Township Treasurer was John Longworth, who held the office until 1874, when the present Treasurer, I. N. Leach, was appointed.

The people of Mount Hope are proud of their school system, of their comfortable and well-furnished schoolhouses and of their efficient school officers, and believe firmly that they will compare favorably with those of any township in the county.

MILLS.

Mill interests in the early history of the county were considered of much greater importance than at present. The easy communication between neighborhoods, towns and cities by means of the railroad has revolutionized almost everything, but nothing more than that of transforming the grain into flour or meal. To the early settler, one of the most important items in his calculations was the grinding of his grain. There were no steam-mills then, and a site for a water-mill was an important thing. The pioneers were all poor, and, though mill-sites might have been plenty, they could not improve them. Therefore, numerous devices were invented to convert wheat and corn into bread. A few were possessed of hand-mills not greatly unlike those in use some thousands of years ago, and to which allusion is made in the Bible (Matt., xxiv, 41) : " Two women shall be grinding at the mill," etc. By and by, some of the more fore- handed farmers brought in a kind of horse-mill, which, though a very primitive affair, was considered a valuable accession to the industries of the neighborhood, and a wonderful convenience. These mills were mostly used for simply cracking corn, upon which the old pioneers lived. Corn was the staple feed for man and beast, and upon it they all thrived and grew healthy and strong.

About fifty years ago, Isaac Baker began the erection of a water-mill on Sugar Creek in Funk's Grove, but for some reason, the enterprise was abandoned. It was at about that time that he was elected to the office of " C. C. C. C.," when he removed to

* This includes the portion of Town 21 north, Range 1 west, lying in McLean County.

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

Bloomington to assume the duties of said office; and this may explain why such an important project was allowed to fail.

About ten years later, John Caton erected a small water-mill on Sugar Creek, which has not yet ceased its busy din. The mill, though a small affair, had, in its early days, an enviable reputation, and was looked upon as almost an indispensable thing. Things are different now. Mills are now usually extensive establishments, and furnish flour to consumers hundreds of miles away. Formerly, it was the universal custom for farmers to make their monthly trips to the mill with a bag of wheat, and, returning a week later, find it ground into flour for the family use. Now, most farmers sell all of their grain at the nearest railroad station. The grain-buyer sends it to the city, there to be handled and commissioned by the elevator. Then it is bought by one of those extensive grinding establishments, made into flour, put up in barrels or neat little sacks, and sold to a wholesale dealer in flour. From there it goes, by way of the same railroad that carried it as grain, back to the village, where it was formerly bought to be handled by the grocer and sold to the same man who produced it. Everybody who touched it in the long round has made a little money out of it, and this leaves us in a quandary how all this can be done and still compete with good mills near home. Per- haps some of the late disclosures on adulterated food may yet throw light on the subject.

The little mill was years ago purchased by Jacob Moore, by whom it is still operated.

VILLAGE OF MCLEAN.

The year 1852 was an eventful one for the region of country through which the Chicago & Alton Railroad was built. Along the completed part of the line, sprang up a score or more of villages and towns heretofore undreamed of. The products of the prairie, in a very short time, from various causes based directly on the completion of this enterprise, doubled, trebled, and then quadrupled. This required a corresponding increase of trades to handle the same, and the railroad company gave every encourage- ment toward the development of the country and the villages along its route. Though McLean did not at once spring into prominence, it may be said it is, in every sense of the word, a creature of the road.

The town was laid out by Peter Folsom, then County Surveyor for Franklin Price, from the southeast quarter of Section 35, Town 22, Range 1 west. A stone planted in the northeast corner of Lot 1 of Block 1, was planted for the guidance of all future surveys.

The town was laid out June 20, 1855, but it does not seem to have improved much for a few years.

G. L. and F. A. Wheelock were in the neighborhood in 1854, and, in 1855, they moved into the station-house, and transacted the business of the company at this point. E. G. Clark, a relative of the Wheelocks, came about the same time. The next persons of importance to locate here were H. W. Wood and John Kellogg. They came to the place in 1856-Mr. Wood from Massachusetts, and Mr. Kellogg from Tre- mont, where he had resided many years previously. Dr. F. P. King, about the same time, removed from Menard County to this place, and engaged with Mr. Kellogg in the mercantile trade. The Wheelocks and Wood also opened a store. Perhaps we have made the impression that the above were the first merchants here. That was not

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

strictly the case, as John Goodhue had kept a few groceries and notions prior to the opening of these stores. Mr. Goodhue was also the first Postmaster; afterward, Mr. Kellogg was appointed Postmaster, and kept the office in his store. Kellogg & King soon dissolved partnership, and the latter went to Wilmington to take charge of the Stewart Hotel of that place.

A. H. Dillon, in company with Mark Marion, erected a small warehouse and com- menced buying grain. J. S. and G. P. Barber soon after built a warehouse and bought grain.

In 1866, Thornton B. Colton erected an elevator, which was the first of the kind here ; three or four years later, the building was burned. In 1867, M. G. Haughey's elevator was built. This building has a handling capacity of about six thousand bushels.

The Mount Hope mills and elevator were built in 1868; the mill by Stone, Aldrich & Co., and the elevator by C. C. Aldrich. The cost of both establishments was over $25,000. The mill has four runs of buhrs, and the elevator has a storing capacity of 20,000 bushels. These are said to be the most complete of their kind in Central Illi- nois. Every convenience and modern improvement that money would buy have been put in. An institution of this kind is a credit to the town and its founders.

We had almost forgotten that another attempt at milling was made here prior to the establishment of Mount Hope Mills. In 1865, G. L. Wheelock purchased a flour-mill at Waynesville and removed it to this place. It was fitted up and run for awhile, and then sold to Cyrus H. McCormick, who subsequently removed it to Greenview.

The first blacksmith-shop was put up in 1857, by F. A. Wheelock. Mr. Wheelock was not a blacksmith, but built the shop more for the purpose of starting the business than for any other. He soon sold the building to George A. Glotfelter, a practical work- man. In 1859, Glotfelter and H. W. Wood added their wagon and carriage factory, which is still operated by Messrs. Wood & Stones. Like almost every other branch of industry, the wagon and carriage business is being monopolized by the large corpora- tions, and Messrs. Wood & Stones, though they still do considerable in that line, do but little compared to their former business.

EDUCATIONAL.

The first school-building was the one mentioned on another page as having been removed from Mount Hope. The building is familiar to the earlier residents of the village, but to the new-comers it may not be known that the old Congregational Church and schoolhouse is still in use in the village, but since 1868 as a carpenter-shop. This his- toric building was donated by the Mount Hope people, in 1857, to the School District of McLean and removed to this place the same year. The house, with some refitting, was the schoolhouse and church for those who chose to occupy it, until 1868, when the new and substantial building now used for school purposes was erected. This is one of the most convenient of its kind to be found in towns of like size in the country. It is a solid frame building 40x60 feet, two stories high ; it contains four large sitting-rooms, besides halls, recitation-rooms, etc. The cost of the building was $10,000. The school sustained here is a graded one of four departments. A. M. Scott is Principal.

RELIGIOUS.

McLean is well supplied with church facilities, there being in the village three good church-buildings, occupied by as many organized religious societies.

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

The Congregational Church organization dates back to the formation of the Mount Hope Colony ; and though at times the society had a precarious existence, the original books, with entries regularly made, indicating its removal to this place, and other facts, showing a complete chain of evidence, are still in existence.

The Atlanta Congregational Church drew largely from the original organization ; but the root of organization still remained alive at Mount Hope, and, putting forth a small shoot in later years and being properly cultivated, has grown and thrived of late years in a very satisfactory manner.

The society recently erected a very handsome church-building, 31x42 feet in size, costing, including the lot, $2,000. The present membership of the Church is about thirty. Rev. J. H. Shay, of Bloomington, is Pastor. In' connection with the Church is a prosperous Sunday school of about sixty scholars, of which F. H. Doane is Super- intendent.

It is claimed for this society that it was one of the first in this part of the State to espouse the cause of the colored people, then in bondage, and also one of the first to take advanced grounds against the liquor traffic. When both of these questions were unpopular, this organization heralded to the world that it would affiliate with no man or set of men, religiously, who could not adopt their views.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of MeLean was organized in 1857. Capt. I. C. Trott and John Kellogg and a few female members constituted the first class, with Capt. Trott as Class-Leader. This has been a most prosperous society. From the small beginning indicated, the Church has grown to number about one hundred and seventy- five. The Pastor is Rev. Thomas D. Weems. The Sunday school connected with this Church was started in 1857, by John Kellogg, with just three scholars. Mr. Kellogg was Superintendent, teacher and all for a time. The school now numbers, in regular attendance, eighty members. A. R. Dillman is Superintendent.

In 1866, this society built their present neat and commodious building, at an out- lay of $3,725. It is 35x55 feet in size, and will accommodate about three hundred sittings.

The Baptists of McLean and vicinity organized a society of that denomination in 1858. This event was brought about by Rev. John Merriman. A couple of years later, the mutterings of war began to be heard throughout the land, and all kinds of enterprises, including churches, were at a standstill, and the infant society named was not an exception. But little was done in the way of church work for six or seven years, during part of which time no meetings were held. In 1867, through the advice and assistance of Rev. E. J. Thomas, now of Atlanta, the MeLean Baptist Church was re-organized, and a house of worship erected the next year. The church-building is a neat frame 24x40 feet in size, and cost the society $1,400. There is no preaching service held here at present, though prayer-meetings and Sunday school are kept up. The Sunday school numbers about forty members in regular attendance, of which Mrs. Henrietta Clark is, and has been for the last five years, Superintendent. The Sunday school has the reputation of being conducted on the most approved plan.

Besides the above, two other churches of the Methodist denomination are to be found in the township outside of the village. The Mount Hope Church, near the ancient village, was started nearly forty years ago. Some of its original members were James Murphy, Jacob Moore, Ezra Kenyon and John Longworth. Dr. Daniel Proctor

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HISTORY OF McLEAN COUNTY.

and John Stubblefield were among its first preachers. The society built a house of worship about ten years since. It is a plain frame building about 28x40 feet in size. About twenty-five members belong to the society. Rev. Thomas D. Weems is present Pastor. Sunday school is sustained during the summer, but owing to the distance from the church at which many of the members live, it is suspended during the winter.

Ebenezer Church is located near the center of Town 22, being on Section 17. The society was formed about ten years ago and the house of worship erected at the same time. About fifty persons belong to this organization. Rev. Mr. Shinn is Pastor.

A., F. & A. M.

MeLean Lodge, No. 469, was chartered in October, 1866, with B. E. Pumpelly as W. M .; H. W. Wood, S. W .; Charles H. Hitchcock, J. W .; E. G. Clark, Secretary ; T. D. Cotton, Treasurer, and James Gibbs, Tiler. Samuel B. Kinsey, Thomas McGary and M. H. Reed were also charter members.

The present membership is twenty-nine. They have lost by death four, and by dimission fully fifty.

The present officers are: C. C. Aldrich, W. M .; Clark Snedeker, S. W .; John Yates, J. W .; Samuel I. Leach, Treasurer; H. W. Wood, Secretary ; D. J. Palmer, S. D .; A. W. Bascom, J. D., and George Youngman, Tiler.

ORGANIZATION OF MCLEAN.

"The legal voters of the village were notified to meet at John Kellogg's office on Saturday, May 19, 1866, to vote for or against organization." The first record of the village, still extant, reads as above. On the day appointed, a meeting was held in con- formity to the notice and resulted in a vote of twenty-nine in favor of, and four against, incorporation. The meeting at which this action was taken, was called to order by E. G. Clark. On motion of Charles S. Beath, E. B. Johnson was elected President of the meeting and E. G. Clark, Clerk. The oath of office was administered by James S. Barber, who was then a Notary Public. At this meeting, it was also agreed to hold the election for officers at the same place on the 26th, being one week later. At that election, E. B. Johnson, Daniel Tenney, Edward Bonifield, John E. Rawlins and H. W. Wood were elected Trustees, the first-named being President. E. G. Clark was appointed Clerk and Collector ; Thornton D. Cotton, Treasurer, and Edward Bonifield, Assessor. The vote polled at this first election was forty-one. This organization, which was under the general law of the State, continued until 1873, when, in the mean time a new general law having been passed, the new act of incorporation was adopted by a vote of thirty-two to seventeen.

The present officers of the village are: John Kellogg, President; W. O. Jeffrey, C. C. Aldrich, Charles M. Noble, Lewis Fay and A. C. Stonaker, Trustees, and H. W. Wood, Clerk.

TOWANDA TOWNSHIP.

Towanda Township is situated in the geographical center of MeLean County. It ineludes one Congressional town, and is known as Town 24 north, Range 3 east of the Third Principal Meridian. It is bounded on the north by Money Creek Township ; on the east by Blue Mound ; on the south by Old Town, and on the west by Normal.

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

The surface of the country is varied and interesting. Towanda Township is not so level as many parts of Illinois prairie. The surface has sufficient slope to drain itself without the assistance of tiling, unless it be in a few exceptional instances. The greater portion of the township is prairie, but there were, originally, two important groves. Most of the timber has been cleared away, with the advance of civilization and the con- version of the wild prairie lands into fruitful farms.

The grove lying farthest south, near the center of the township, on the west side of Money Creek, is known as Smith's Grove. It was so named from David Smith, who settled there in 1830. The other woodland is known as " Money Creek Timber." although Smith's Grove is properly Money Creek Timber. But when the name Money Creek Timber is used, reference is always made to that portion lying in the north part of the township. It is the beginning of a large body of timber which extends down Money Creek, through the township of the same name, to the Mackinaw. The southwestern part of Towanda lies on "the divide," between the waters which flow into the Mackinaw and those which flow into Sugar Creek. This is the prairie which the early settlers considered worthless, but which now is among the most enviable por- tions of this thriving township.

The only stream worthy of notice is Money Creek. The headwaters of this little creek take their rise in Padua and Arrowsmith Townships. After passing through the southwestern part of Blue Mound it enters Towanda near the northeastern corner of Section 25. It passes in a northwesterly direction through the township, leaving it near the line between Sections 4 and 5. The remainder of its course lies in Money Creek and Hudson Townships, where it enters Mackinaw near the line between Hudson and Gridley Townships.

The Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad crosses the northwestern corner of Towanda, extending directly northeast and southwest. This road was built in 1853, and soon began to do a large shipping business to Chicago and the Northeast from this part of the country.

The soil in this township is not surpassed in fertility by any in the county, and the amount of corn and oats annually produced is immense. This is, also, a good grass country, and a considerable number of cattle are raised. Hogs abound. At one time, there was a fair proportion of wheat raised, but it is not now extensively sown, several failures having deterred the farmers from further efforts in this direction.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

As is well known, all old settlers were found along the creeks and near the groves. As a consequence, this township presented two points for early settlement-Smith's Grove and Money Creek Timber. The former was settled first, so far as Towanda is concerned. But, by the best authority now attainable, it appears that there was a settlement on Money Creek almost as early as that made by John Hendrix at Blooming Grove. Louis Soward and Jacob Harness must have settled in Money Creek Township as early as 1824 or 1825, near the line between that and Towanda.

The first settlers within the present limits of Towanda Township were John Trimmer and family. John Trimmer came from Hunterdon County, N. J. He came across from the Wabash country by an Indian trail, and camped at what was afterward called Smith's Grove. This was in August, 1826. Few white men were to be seen in

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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.

these parts at that time. It is said that the Trimmer family saw no white man after they left the Wabash until they came in here. Indians were plenty, and the only play- fellows the Trimmer children had were young Indians. Soon after reaching their early home, and while they were still in camp, the father died, leaving the widowed mother with eight children to provide and care for. She moved from the Grove to the head of Money Creek Timber soon after the burial of her husband, and there remained. Of the eight children some are dead, and others have moved away, so that none are left on Money Creek but Jesse Trimmer, who was but a lad when the family came West.

After the Trimmers moved away, Frederick Rook came to Smith's Grove. He was a German, and remained little more than a year, when he left for Livingston County, and settled on a creek which afterward bore his name.

David Smith and family came next. Smith was of German descent, and came originally from North Carolina, although he had lived in Kentucky and Indiana. The family reached the Grove, which has ever since borne the name, in the spring of 1830. John Smith entered the land where the Jones family now lives. Later, a large tract of land in that vicinity passed into the hands of the Joneses. The earliest of the Jones family was N. M. Jones, who still lives, and is quite an extensive farmer and dealer in fine stock.

Soon after the Trimmers moved to Money Creek Timber, or, at least, about that time, Elbert Dickason moved to the head of the Timber. He was from Ohio. The early settlers called him "Major " Dickason. He was one of the most prominent men in the township in that early day.

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The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, Part 67

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