USA > Illinois > McLean County > The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 83
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He has a good farm, of 200 acres, on Section 18, and is enjoying the well-earned rewards of a laborious, honest and well-spent life. He is highly esteemed, as such men always must be. With his fine family of children, and some grandchildren, to enjoy the good example of a faithful life, he does not much regret the trials and discourage- ments of his early career. He now resides in Bloomington.
In the early days, postal facilities were always of less interest than at the present. Few families took the papers, and the correspondence of an entire neighborhood, like this around Diamond and Old Town, would not amount to as much as that of a school- girl now. They depended largely on sending letters by some one going to, or returning from, the new home. Twenty-five cents for a letter was too much for frequent cor- respondence, and it was not unusual for a letter to remain in the office for weeks, especially along about tax-paying time, before the required " two bits " could be spared.
The earliest post office for this part of the county, was at Gov. Moore's, though soon after that, one was established at Lytleville, and one at Le Roy, though, in point of convenience, Bloomington was better than either. About 1856, Downs Post Office was established, and was kept at the house of Mr. Peasley until the railroad was built, and was then transferred to Downs Station, without a change of name.
Besides the good farms alluded to in the accounts of early settlement, Downs has a number of fine farms and thrifty farmers.
J. W. Kershaw owns 510 acres in Sections 21, 22 and 28. He has been largely engaged in raising and feeding, and buying for feeding cattle, and has made this business a sue- cess. Ile has a nice house, and probably the largest, best-arranged, and best barn in town. His farm is well adapted to stock-raising, and the orchards good.
Wyatt Adams has a fine farm of 210 acres on Sections 16 and 17, about two miles south of Downs Station. He has farmed this land 34 years, and there is nothing to indicate that the land is run out. He has a pleasant house, which seems, to the passer-by, to be the home of comfort and well-directed industry. He has raised a family of eleven children, and is naturally proud of them. Who wouldn't be ? for there is luck in odd numbers, and most of the early settlers of Downs brought up crops of nine, ten, or twelve. Eleven was not, by any means, a common number. Solomon Mason has 200
DD
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
acres in Section 18. It is a good farm, and Mr. Mason is nicely fixed to enjoy the frugal luxuries of a rural home.
Henry Wagner has a comfortable home and his farm of 275 acres, in Section 17. He has been a successful farmer, but has never branched out largely into the cattle business, like some of his neighbors. Everything about him bears the indication of thrift and well-directed industry.
Nelson McDaniels has been a successful stock farmer for thirty years. His farm is now in splendid condition.
Eber Hornor came onto his present farm of 200 acres, directly north of Rev. Sylvester Peasley's, in 1852, from Indiana. He bought of Mr. Dennis. The farm had been worked several years, and shows a careful, thrifty manager. He never has dealt much in cattle.
George M. Wilson has a good farm on Section 8 (21, 3), with a nice residence, and everything about the place looks tidy and well kept. He has not made a specialty of of any particular branch of farming, but has been more than ordinarily successful.
John McConnell has a fine farm of half a section in Sections 35 and 2 (21, 3). He has a good house, built two years ago, 26x30, two stories high, with three well- proportioned rooms in each story, nicely furnished, with large kitchen and summer- kitchen in the rear. The grounds are neatly adorned with evergreens and shrubbery. The barn, recently built, is large and roomy, about 40x60, and painted. A fine pair of twin boys, Eddie and Willie, now twelve years old, are one of the chief attractions of this beautiful country home. Mr. McConnell has lived here twenty years, and is a respected and honored citizen.
Cornelius and Byron Covey, father and son, have good farms about one mile north of McConnell's, and are excellent farmers.
Very few of the farmers of Downs have been led into unfortunate speculations to their financial detriment. Those who have gone heavily into buying, feeding and ship- ping cattle, during the years of gradual decline of prices of cattle, have inevitably suf- fered, and some have been bankrupted. During those years while prices were receding, of course large ventures could hardly fail to bring large losses ; but most of the farmers have cautiously kept their business within their control.
CHURCHES.
Elder I. D. Newell, a home missionary of the Baptist denomination, was in this field at work, holding meetings as early as 1836. He organized a church, and a build- ing was erected at Lytleville about that time ; and soon after him, Elder Elijah Veatch preached there and in the surrounding country. There was a church organized, and preaching maintained by it for a time, at the Macedonia Schoolhouse, in this township ; but it has disbanded. Rev. Joel Hulsey, of the same denomination, came from Ken- tucky and preached at Lytleville awhile, and, in 1838, came to this town and bought land on Section 19, and remained here for some years.
There was an organization of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and meetings were regularly maintained along the Grove; and a union church was built by that denomination, co-operating with the Methodists, on Section 2, and was occupied by those two denominations in harmony for several years. Rev. R. D. Taylor, Revs. Neal and Archie Johnson and James McDonell were the preachers of the former, and Father Shepherd, Father Royal and Rev. Miflin Harker were the Methodist preachers.
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
Rev. William Bishop, a minister of the Cumberland Church, lived here a few years, preaching and teaching. He went to Mexico in 1846.
The United Brethren early held meetings, and formed au organization very carly. In 1844, that terribly rainy season, when it rained so much that people could not work their land, and they had not much else to do but attend to their religious interests, Rev. Mr. Zook came here and held meetings around in the schoolhouses, and re-organized the church. While holding his protracted meeting, the people built rafts to get to his preaching, and the attendance was large. A church was decided on, and Solomon Mason, Lawson Downs, S. T. Richardson and other leading men took hold and erected the one standing near the township line. They have generally maintained preaching here, and usually a Sunday school.
A Methodist Church was built about 1863, on Collins' land, in Section 25. Mr. Collins, Elias Walls, Jesse and John Karr were the principal men in this enterprise. Preaching is regularly maintained. It belongs to Le Roy circuit.
The United Brethren built a church in the northwestern quarter of Section 14, about 1873, called the " Pleasant Grove " Church. James and Matthias Killian were largely instrumental in building it. It is about 26x36. It belongs to Randolph's Grove circuit.
The following figures, taken from the last report of School Treasurer E. Homer, show the condition of the schools : Principal of Township Fund, $3,683 ; whole num- ber of children under twenty-one, 607; whole number between six and twenty-one, 397 ; number of districts, 9; whole number enrolled, 370; average number of months taught, 7} ; whole amount paid teachers, $2,268; whole amount paid for other pur- poses, $868 : total amount paid, $3,136.
In addition, is the Independent Kickapoo School District, which is located partly in this and partly in Old Town.
The following is a list of those who have been elected to the township offices from the date of township organization :
Date.
Supervisor.
Clerk.
Assessor.
Collector.
1858 Sylvester Peasley.
J. Hedrick.
J. Cusey
N. McDaniels.
1859|N. McDaniels
C. E. Barclay
John Cusey
C. Il. Rutledge.
1860 N. McDaniels
A. M. Savidge
C. E. Barclay
C. H. Rutledge.
1861|C. H. Rutledge.
A. M. Savidge
William Benjamin
P. C. Eskew.
1862 C. II. Rutledge.
E. R. Young.
P. Brickey
N. McDaniels.
1863 C. H. Rutledge ..
George Waddington
John Cusey
N. McDaniels.
1864 E. Hornor
S. McTeer.
John Cusey.
J. J. Hancock.
1865 John Cusey
Joseph Null.
John Cusey
Eber Ilornor.
1866 John Cusey
Joseph Null.
J. J. Hancock
J. B. Weaver. .
1867 J. B. Weaver.
Joseph Null.
A. P. Lott.
. J. Starkey.
1868 Sylvester Peasley
Joseph Null.
John Cusey
A. Daniels.
1869 Sylvester Pcasley.
A. P. Lott
John Cusey
G. W. Downs.
1870 Sylvester Peasley ..
A. P. Lott.
John Cusey
John Lott.
1871 Sylvester Peasley.
A. P. Lott
J. McConnell
J. Savidge.
1872 Sylvester Peasley
A. J. McComb
A. P. Lott.
M. O. Stanwood.
1873 Sylvester Peasley.
A. J. McComb
A. P. Lott ..
S. Smith.
1874 Sylvester P'easley.
A. J. WcComb
C. E. Barclay
William Johnson.
1875 Sylvester Peasley
A. J. McComb.
J. McConnell.
J. R. Pogue.
1876 Sylvester Peasley ..
A. J. McComb
James Fulton
Charles Allen.
1877 Sylvester Peasley ..
A. J. McComb.
E. Landers M. O. Stanwood.
1878 Sylvester Peasley
A. J. McComb
C. E. Barclay
M. O. Stanwood.
1879 John McConnell.
A. J. McComb.
Byron Covey
M. O. Stanwood.
714
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
Justices of the Peace : A. P. Craig, S. MeTeer, John McConnell, Asa Savidge, Harvey Robertson, H. M. Morehouse, J. B. Weaver, John Price, J. E. Johnson, J. H. Simpkins.
Commissioners of Highways : J. G. Bishop, D. O. Orendorff, J. Kershaw, A. P. Craig, P. C. Eskew, O. C. Rutledge, U. S. Washburn, P. B. Price, J. McConnell, C. E. Barclay, Wiatt Adams, H. Welch, E. Hornor, D. Phillips, J. J. Hancock, A. H. Pogue, J. E. Killian, Byron Covey, Samuel Sniff, H. C. Lott, J. D. Downs, D. W. Mason.
THE VILLAGE OF DOWNS.
There seems to be a difference of opinion in regard to the true name of this station. Priceville is the name by which the neighborhood was known for several years ; when the station was established near the center of Section 4, in 1870, the railroad officials called it Downs. The same year, the Downs Post Office, which was for several years at Mr. Peasley's house, was transferred to the station, and the post office authorities have since known it as such. Soon after, the small office of " Delta," in Old Town, was discontinued, and all mail matter for that place was ordered sent to Downs. The reader will please take his choiee. P. B. Price, son of old Father Price, laid out the town and platted fifteen blocks north of the railroad.
It is nine miles from Bloomington, on the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad, and is the only station and the only post office in the township.
C. D. Bellville, as soon as the place was laid out, built a store on the block north of the depot, and filled up with a general stock of goods. He now lives at Weedman, where he is engaged in trade. In the fall of the same year, J. A. Davis and Amos Allen built a store and put in a stock of merchandise. The following spring, the Killian brothers built and occupied another. These three were more than the trade would support, and this latter firm bought out the stock of Davis & Allen, and consolidated with their own. In 1874, the Killian Bros. sold to Craig & Rodman, who continued for about six months, when Rodman sold out; and, in the following spring, John Craig sold to his brother Joseph, who elosed out the stock in 1876, and closed up the store. In the fall of 1876, Mr. Savidge moved the old storehouse from Delta, and Davis & Killian put a stoek of goods in it. In the spring of 1877, C. D. Bellville made another mercantile venture, and six months later moved the goods to Kumler, and sold the build- ing to A. Anderson, who keeps a shoe-shop there.
In the fall of 1877, John Bellville traded his store for Kansas land to John Den- ham, who closed out the stock in six months, and sold the building to Davis ; soon after this, Davis & Killian dissolved aud Cowden took an interest; O. Staten purchased the stock and good will in April, 1879.
When Davis & Killian left the store they had so long occupied, Price Bros. opened a stock of dry goods and groceries, and ran it for a year, when they closed out the bal- ance of their stock, and the store has not since been occupied.
In the fall of 1875, Drs. Montgomery & Chapin built and stocked the present drug store, and have continued to occupy, adding stationery, groceries and wares.
Dr. James Montgomery, the " father of the town," and the " good physician " for all the surrounding country, was educated in the " Green Isle " of his nativity, and after serving his adopted country for three years in Capt. Walden's company of the 94th, commenced the practice of medicine in this neighborhood. In the spring of 1871, he
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
moved to Downs Station. His partner, Dr. S. L. Chapin, came here in the spring of 1875 ; that fall, he entered into partnership with Montgomery, and, in 1878, took up his residence in Holder, north of here, in order to better accommodate his large prac- tiee in that vicinity.
P. B. Price, either alone or with J. J. and B. R. alternately, has been engaged in grain, lumber and stock trade, at Downs, ever since the town was laid out. The busi- ness, some years, has been quite large and lucrative, but at others very unsatisfactory.
J. H. Robertson came, when the village of Delta migrated southward, in the spring of 1871; his blacksmith-shop was burned in 1873, and he rebuilt and took in Frank Lewis as partner. He has all the time carried on a considerable trade in agri- cultural implements with his blacksmithing business. When the people of Downs wanted a Justice of the Peace who could " temper " the spirit of the community, they elected Robertson ; he knows how to strike when the iron is hot.
J. K. Gardner sold implements here during the seasons of 1876 and 1877. The Post- masters of Downs, since the office has been located at the station, have been C. D. Bell- ville, John Bellville, John A. Davis, and Oliver Staten, who was appointed April 1, 1879.
The railroad agents, successively, have been C. D. Bellville, from 1870 to 1873; J. A. Davis, till 1876 ; George Willhoite, until 1877, and A. Daller since.
The " Hopewell " M. E. Church was built about 1867, at where the Hopewell Cemetery was and still is. It belonged to Old Town Circuit at that time, and became attached to Le Roy Circuit in 1873. A year later, it became a station. It is about 36x50, plain, and cost about $2,400. Thomas Twining, J. N. Savidge, John Rice, Dr. James Montgomery, J. H. Robertson, P. B. Price and James Brakey, were, among others, prominent in building this house of worship.
Revs. S. Middleton, W. C. Lacey, J. G. Bonnell, T. J. N. Simmons, assisted by George Reed, S. H. Whittock, William Willis and George Scrimger, have successively served the Church at Hopewell.
In 1878, the building was moved to Downs and repaired, at a cost of $300. Rev. Job Ingram is the present Pastor, under whose earnest ministrations the church and Sabbath school are in a flourishing condition. The church numbers 130, and the school about 100.
What is known as the "Kickapoo Academy " was chartered as an independent school district in 1867. The territory embraced is about four sections in Downs (including the station) and two or three in Old Town, including Gillum Station. This district has, by its charter, a Board of Education, of six members, and certain other privileges, which, by the other school districts, are deemed unfair. One of its incon- veniences is, that the district embraces both Downs and Gillum Stations, and as there is but one schoolhouse, all the children which Gillum furnishes must take the railroad for two or three miles to school.
The present Board of Education consists of J. H. Robertson, President; J. B. Weaver, Secretary ; J. A. Davis, Treasurer; George P. Wood, P. B. Price, John Cow- den and S. Scott.
Miss Jennie Francis and Miss Wallace have been teaching; but for the summer term Miss Chatterton takes the place of Miss Franeis.
The building is 24x40, two stories. Nine months' school is maintained, and the pupils number from seventy-five to one hundred.
716
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
ALLIN TOWNSHIP.
Allin Township was formerly called Mosquito Grove. It lies on the western side of MeLean County, and is the second township from the south side of the county. It includes a full Congressional town, and no more. It is designated Town 23 north, Range 1 west of the Third Principal Meridian. It is bounded on three sides by other townships of the county, viz., on the north by Danvers, on the east by Dale and on the south by Mount Hope; Tazewell County lies on the west. The Third Principal Merid- ian forms the eastern boundary, being the line which separates it from Dale Town- ship.
Allin was first named from a small grove in the northwestern corner of the town- ship, on the branch of Sugar Creek which takes its rise in Danvers and flows through Stout's Grove. The stream is a small one, and so is Mosquito Grove. When the name was changed it was called Allin, in honor of Mr. Allin, of Bloomington, whose history is so closely identified with that of the city,
There are three considerable groves in the township. The one of most import- ance, perhaps, or, at least, the first settled, is Brooks' Grove, on the south. It is sit- uated on Brooks' Branch of Sugar Creek. Farther up on the same stream, and in the eastern part of Allin, is Brown's Grove. Then there is Mosquito Grove, already mentioned.
There are three streams, all of which flow in a southwesterly direction. They are all branches of Sugar Creek. The one farthest to the northwest cuts off only a small portion of the northwest corner. The next begins near the northeast corner, and mean- ders a little west of southwest. Brooks' Branch begins about Brown's Grove, and passes through the east and south part of the township.
With the exception of the groves already pointed out, Allin is prairie. The soil is deep, black and fertile. It produces abundant crops of corn, oats, potatoes and grass. Some wheat is still raised, but not enough to make an important item in the enumera- tion of products. There was a time in the history of this country when wheat was a paying crop, when the average farmer would not think of sowing less than twenty to thirty acres. Mr. Warlow says that he has cut as many as 300 acres of wheat and oats himself in one season. But those days are past. Farmers now raise little more than what is necessary for their own use. Hogs and cattle are raised extensively. The large elevators at Stanford indicate a heavy grain-growing community.
The prairies are tolerably level, but not so much so as to seriously affect the farm- ing interests.
The Jacksonville Division of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad passes through the township, extending in a nearly east and west direction.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The first log cabin in Brooks' Grove, was put up by Miles Brooks. He moved into it on the 14th day of March, 1830. He was a native of Virginia, but, early, moved to Kentucky. From Kentucky, he came to Indiana, and from there to Illinois, in 1829. He first stopped at Cleary's Grove, in Menard County. When he settled at the grove which has ever since borne his name, he found very few people in that part
717
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
of MeLean County. There was a cluster of families north, at Stout's Grove, and others northeast, at Twin and Dry Groves, but his neighbors were not inconveniently near nor extremely numerous. Miles Brooks opened up a farm there, and continued to reside at the grove. His son, Presley T. Brooks, still owns the farm, and has resided upon it until recently. He has been a noted man in the township from its earliest history. His children reside in the township, two sons doing business at Stan- ford. Mr. Brooks married a Larison. The Larisons are well known in the early his- tory of McLean County.
The first settlement made at Brown's Grove, was by William Brown. He was from Tennessee. He came to the grove at an early date-some say, about the time that Ephraim Stout eame to Stout's Grove, in Danvers Township. If this be true, he was the first inhabitant of what is now Allin Township. William Brown did not remain at the grove which bears his name, but sold out and moved to Mackinaw Creek, where he lived until his death. He had several children, who lived in Allin with their father. They all went with him to the Mackinaw, up above Lexington, where some of them still remain. A son-in-law of Mr. Brown, by the name of Poor, is particularly remembered. He, too, followed the sire to other parts. There were a number of the Stouts, who moved to Brown's Grove at an early date. They were some of the same company that first inhabited Danvers Township. These were given to hunting and sporting. They spent most of their time in that way. They did very little at farm- ing, and when the country began to fill up with the tides of emigration from Eastern States, they found a more congenial element in other lands.
Robert Means came early to this same grove. He afterward died of the bilious fever. Mr. Warlow says that he had a young brother, twelve years old, who died about the same time, of the same disease. When a person now has simply bilious fever, he is not considered dangerously ill. But then it was otherwise. He thinks that the doctors killed them. Bleeding was the process for all diseases. The doctors came out from Bloomington and found their patients suffering from an extremely high fever. They then performed the bleeding operation. When the patient's blood was nearly all gone, the fever would abate. When the physician again made his appear- anee, if the patient was a little better, he would bleed him again. It is true that some survived the treatment; but others died, when, it is thought, the better knowledge of to-day would have relieved the suffering and preserved the life.
Benjamin Warlow entered land on the north side of Brown's Grove in the fall of 1836. Here he built a cabin and reared his family. The Warlows were from New York. They moved to Ohio, and then to Illinois. They spent the first two years at Dry Grove. Richard A. Warlow still resides near the site of the old log cabin, first built on the north of the grove. He is the oldest inhabitant of this part of the township. He has been a prominent person in the history of the township, having held about all the offices within the gift of the people.
The settlement at Brooks' Grove grew slowly, the Brooks family being the only settlers of note for some time.
Mosquito Grove was settled by the Reddons. This grove, as remarked previously, was a small patch of woods on the branch of Sugar Creek that flows through Stout's Grove. The grove is in the prairie, some miles from any other timber. It, very naturally, was selected by a number of brigands and desperadoes as the seat of their
718
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
depredations. As early as 1836, these men began to collect at Mosquito Grove. They were led by Grant Reddon, who was assisted by his two sons, Jack and Harrison. Although these men were not quite as notorious as the terrible Benders, of Cherry Vale, Kan., whose notorious infamy aroused the whole State, yet their deeds were car- ried on much after the same fashion. The grove became the rendezvous for thieves, counterfeiters and criminals generally. This gang infested the grove for nearly ten years, and yet the people were aware of the den's location all the time. They were afraid of the Reddons, who were known to be desperate characters. Jack Reddon is said to have assisted in the murder of Col. Davenport, at Rock Island. Crimes of vari- ous kinds were committed, horses were stolen, and even murder was supposed to have been perpetrated. A peddler, who came from Peoria, was traced as far as Mosquito Grove, but was never heard of afterward. The Reddons were seen with clothes that the peddler was known to have; so that the evidence of abduction seemed almost conclusive. The brother of the peddler traced the matter so far, but none of the murderers were ever brought to trial. At last, the situation became desperate. The people began to realize that it was a great detriment to the country, as well as a dangerous thing to permit in their midst. An armed band was formed, and the Reddons compelled to leave the country. This put an end to their work in this country. Where they started again in their nefarious business is not known ; but it seems unfortunate that the leaders were not brought to trial. But, perhaps, the evidence was not sufficient to convict, although suspicion amounted to a conviction and almost to a certainty.
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.
We have no records of early religious gatherings. As Mr. Hill, of Twin Grove, would put it, "Of course, we have a few funerals," but we find no church in the town- ship at present whose history dates back to the first settlement of the township. Those of the early inhabitants who had any religious preferences seem to have united with churches in other localities. There were plenty of organizations in the various groves, and it was customary to travel what now seem enormous distances in order to reach a place of worship.
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