The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois, Part 64

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 848

USA > Illinois > Mason County > The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois > Part 64
USA > Illinois > Menard County > The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois > Part 64

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Saidora Station, in the south part of the town, has scarcely attained to the dignity of a village. It consists of a store, depot and grain elevator, but has · never, we believe, been laid out as a village. The station is located on the land of Joseph Adkins, and the only store of the place is kept by a son of Adkins, who also buys grain for Low & Foster, of Havana. Large shipments.

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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

are made from this point, considering its close proximity to Bath and Chandler- ville.

NON EST INVENTUS.

Among the early villages laid out in what is now Mason County, were those of Matanzas and Moscow. But they have paid nature's great debt, and no trace of them remains at the present day to mark their site. Matanzas was laid out April 10, 1839, by V. B. Holmes and a man named Watkins Powell, and was located on portions of Sections 28 and 33, of Bath Township, near the northern part. When laid out, it was in Tazewell County, Mason not being created until two years later. J. H. Schulte, an early settler of Havana Township, had the first store in Matanzas, and was followed later by one or two others. Shops were established, a steam saw-mill was built, which did a large business for several years. It became quite a point for grain-shipping, and, being located on the river, it was confidently believed that its situation would be the means of making a town of it. We believe, too, that it once entered into com- petition for the county seat, after the formation of Mason County. But. Havana on the one side and Bath on the other, soon blasted its hopes in that direction, and, literally speaking, swallowed it up. Its streets, public parks and pleasure gardens are now corn-fields, and the passing stranger would be struck with wonder, that a lively town had once flourished there.

The fate of Matanzas will also apply to Moscow. It is another of the villages of Bath Township that was and is not. It was laid out May 30, 1836, on Section 24, by Erastus Wright, for Ossian M. Ross, and was, at one time, an enterprising little village. Joseph A. Phelps had a store here, perhaps the first one in the place. Situated on the river, it, too, was a grain point of con- siderable note, Maj. Gatton being one of the most extensive operators here. But in the zenith of its glory and prosperity, it never equaled in magnificence its namesake-the ancient capital of Russia. Since the day of railroads in Mason County, Moscow has disappeared, and, like Matanzas, the site whereon it stood is now a productive farm. Thus two lively villages of Bath Township have been totally eclipsed by more fortunate rivals, and the places that once knew them will know them no more.

MANITO TOWNSHIP.

He who attempts to present with unvarying accuracy the annals of a county, or even of a district no larger than a township, the history of which reaches back through a period of more than a quarter of a century, imposes upon him- self a task beset with difficulties on every hand. These difficulties are often augmented by statements widely at variance, furnished by early settlers and their descendants as data from which to compile a true and faithful record of past events. To claim for a work of this character perfect freedom from the slightest inaccuracies would be simply to arrogate to one's self that degree of

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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

wisdom which alone resides in the councils of the omniscient I Am. If, there- fore, kind reader, the time and place of recorded events may not, in every par- ticular, agree with your individual opinion, please bear in mind we will ever incline to those statements which seem supported by the greater weight of tes- timony. To give FACTS, and facts only, should be the highest aim and ambi- tion of every writer who professes to deal with incidents of the past. This shall be our goal, this our guiding-star. How well the task shall be performed, we submit to the judgment of a discriminating public. The township of Manito is situated in the northeast corner of Mason County, and comprises within its present limits a little more than forty-five sections. It is somewhat irregular in shape, being eight miles in extent along its northern boundary line, by nine miles north and south along its eastern boundary line. The extreme west line of the township is but four miles in extent from north to south. With the exception of two or three small groves in the north and northwestern portions of the township, the entire area of Manito Township is prairie. The central, eastern and southeastern portions are somewhat flat, yet for the most part easily susceptible of drainage. When the first settlers came, much of these portions were denominated swamp-lands, but these, by artificial drainage, have been converted into the most productive farms within her limits. And where once wild geese and ducks in countless numbers swam lazily about amidst the rank-growing rushes or floated calmly and undisturbed upon the stagnant waters, may now be seen finely cultivated fields teeming with the fast-ripening harvest. The soil in this portion of the township is of a deep black loam, freely intermixed with sand, but is exceedingly fertile and productive. Indeed, such a vast amount of corn, oats, rye and wheat is annually produced in this portion of Manito and those adjacent to it, that the citizens have for many years recognized the propriety of designating it as their Egypt. Corn, how- ever, is the staple product of this, as well as most other portions of the county. No tortuous stream courses its way through the township. Water, however, is easily obtained even in the highest portions at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet. A hollow, pointed iron tube, one and one-half inches in diameter, with slottings near the point for the admission of water, is driven to the required depth below the surface, and, when once a vein is tapped, an inexhaustible supply is afforded. In this manner, a "drove-well " thirty feet deep can be begun and completed in a few hours' time. The northwestern and western por- tions of the township varies in its surface configurations from that which we have described. The soil is of a somewhat different character, the lighter colored and more argillaceous subsoil appearing at or near the surface. The surface is a plane of higher elevation and is somewhat broken and hilly. It is, however, quite productive and yields fine crops of corn. One peculiar characteristic of the soil is that it can withstand excessive drought or long con- tinued wet weather better than that portion known, as Egypt. The greatest drawback to this section is its lack of pasturage and meadow lands. Farmers

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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

are necessitated to feed their stock throughout the entire year and to procure their hay from a distance, varying from twelve to fifteen miles. In position, this township lies north of Forest City Township, east of Quiver Township, south and west of Tazewell County. Passing from the topography of the township, we enter at once upon that period of its history pertaining to its

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

As has already been stated, the timbered area of Manito Township was of limited extent. Black Oak Grove in the northeast, Coon Grove on Sections 31 and 32, together with the outskirts of Long Point Timber on the extreme western boundary, comprise the timbered district, with the exception of a small grove on Section 30, not exceeding six acres in extent, called Walnut Grove, from the character of the timber found there. And as in other portions of our Western country, the earliest settlements and improvements are found in and along the outskirts of the timber, so, likewise, the earliest settlements were inade here in the groves of this township. No matter how unproductive the soil along the timber line, nor how rich and fertile the broad acres of out- stretching prairie might be a few miles away, the early pioneer built his rude log cabin near the timber and began the work of opening up his farm, leaving for those who should succeed him after the lapse of a decade or more of years, the most productive and finest farming lands in all his section of territory. Among the earliest, if not the earliest settler of the township, was one William Herron, who settled as early as 1838 or 1839, just east of the present village of Manito, on the farm now owned by John Woodworth. He had emigrated from Ohio to Mackinaw, Tazewell County, some years earlier, and from Mack- inaw to Mason County, and settled in the edge of Black Oak Grove, as before stated. A maiden sister kept his house for him. He lived the life of a bach- elor and, dying, was buried on the farm on which he settled. H'ew, if any now living, can point out the exact spot where repose the mortal remains of Man- ito's earliest settler. To him may be applied most fittingly the words of the poet :

" Not in the churchyard's hallowed ground, Where marble columns rise around, By willow or by cypress shade, Are thy poor mortal relics laid. Thou sleepest here, all, all alone -- No other grave is near thine own. 'Tis well, 'tis well, but oh, such fate Seems very, very desolate."

At or near the same time came Stephen W. Porter, accompanied by his wife, and settled near the edge of the pond now included within the corporate limits of the village of Manito. Porter was a nephew of Herron's, and came here from Mackinaw. He continued to live in this section of the county up to the date of his demise. A man by the name of Ray came from New York

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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

and settled in Coon Grove, or rather between Coon Grove and Long Point timber, on the farm now owned by W. H. Cogdell, as early as 1840. He built a log cabin and was the third permanent settler in the township. Soon after coming, he planted a quantity of apple-seeds, and from the seedlings thus raised put out the first apple orchard made in this section of the county. The line of the P., P. & J. R. R. passes through this orchard a short distance north- east of Forest City. There yet remain a few of the trees planted by the hands of the early settler nearly forty years ago. After a few years' residence, he sold out his possessions and started back to the Empire State, but sickened and died on the way. As an evidence that labor was cheap and money scarce with the early settlers, it may be stated that the making of rails could be con- tracted for two bits or 25 cents per hundred, and the pay was taken in meat at 12} cents per pound, two pounds paying for the labor of making one hundred rails. Of settlers in the township as early as 1845, the following names occur : Abel Maloney, Layton Rice, George Baxter, John Davis, King Hibbard, James Green, Thomas Landreth, Zeno Ashmon, William Mayes, Douglas Osborne, Alexander and Wesley Brisbaur. Maloney came originally from the Old Dominion and settled in Menard in 1838. In 1841, he came to Manito Township and settled in Coon Grove near the location of Union Station, on the P., P. & J. R. R. He was in poor circumstances when he came, but accu- mulated means rapidly and was considered wealthy at the time of his death, which event occurred in 1849. His son William and his daughter, Mrs. Rob- ert M. Cox, at present reside in the village of Manito. Rice came from Ken- tucky and first settled in Menard, but, in 1842, came to Coon Grove and began the improvement of a farm. George Baxter was from Kentucky, and "squat- ted " in the edge of Long Point timber as early as 1843. He was somewhat noted among the early settlers but not by any means popular, as his precon- ceived notions of the eternal fitness of all things had led him to form a matri- monial alliance with one of Kentucky's ebon daughters, whom he made the sharer of his sorrows and the doubler of his joys. He had come to this great and growing State, where he might enjoy the society of his loved companion and the comforts of his home unmolested, where, figuratively speaking, he might worship beneath his own vine and fig-tree, but soon it seems the red hand of persecution was raised against him. Robert Green entered him out in 1845, and he next located west of Simmond's Mills, in Quiver Township. Green followed him up, and, a few years later, he moved with his fair bride to the State of Missouri, and was seen no more in this goodly land. The year 1843 brought into the settlement Davis, Hibbard and Green. Davis was from Virginia, and had first settled in Menard before coming to Mason County. He settled the farm now known as the Randolph farm, and had, at the date of his settlement, a family of four girls and three boys. He is remembered among the old settlers as the man who never was seen wearing a pair of gloves or mittens. No matter how inclement the weather, his labor

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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

was always performed bare-handed. Hibbard came from Mackinaw, and set- tled at the north end of Black Oak Grove. After a residence of a few years, he sold out, purchased three yoke of oxen from Thomas Landreth and started by the overland route for Oregon. As he was never heard of afterward, it is presumed that both he and his family fell victims to the unerring rifle or tomahawk of the noble red man of the forest. James Green came from Men- ard County to Coon Grove, but, a few years later, returned to his former resi- dence. About the same date, Indiana furnished to the population Zeno Ash- more and a brother named Calvin, the latter popularly known far and wide as "Jefunky." The Ashmores are represented as being rather shiftless in their dispositions. Zeno settled and lived for a time on what is known as the Mc Harry place, a part of which is included in the present limits of the village of Manito. "Jefunky " lived around promiscuously for a number of years and finally located in Washington, Tazewell County, where he died some eight or ten years ago. Thomas Landreth came from Virginia and settled at Mack- inaw, Tazewell County, as early as 1824 or 1825. In 1844, he came to Coon Grove, Mason County, where for $200 he purchased the claim of Layton Rice. Rice returned to Menard County, and now resides not far from Mason City. Landreth became a permanent settler, remaining until his decease. At the . date of his coming, he had a family of six children. He was twice married and was the father of twenty-two children. His son, John S. Landreth, is now a citizen of Manito Village. William Mayes and Douglas Osborne were from Kentucky, and the Brisbaurs from Mackinaw. These came in during the year 1845. Mayes was familiarly known as "Hame-Legs" Mayes, a name applied to him on account of his excessive bow-leggedness. Of the Brisbaurs, it may be stated that in quite an early day, Alexander removed to Texas and Wesley to Oregon. While this portion of the county did not rapidly increase in population till some years later, nevertheless there was annually a steady, healthy increase. As early as 1850, we may add to the list of names already given, those of Jacob Jacobs and family, James Overton, Amos Ganson, William and Nult Green, and that of Col. Robert S. Moore. Jacobs was from New York and Overton from Kentucky. Amos Ganson settled in Egypt, southeast of Manito, and opened a blacksmith-shop, the first in the township. Col. Moore was originally from Kentucky. His parents settled in Sangamon (now Menard) County, in 1837. He was a soldier in the Mexican war, and participated in the battles of Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, etc. He located his land warrant in Manito Township, and became a resident of the county in April. 1849. He was the founder of the village of Spring Lake, a village established at the head of a small lake of the same name, near the boundary line between Tazewell and Mason Counties. He built a grain warehouse here as early as 1850 or 1851, and engaged in buying and shipping grain. John Pemberton, Emery Hall, Matthew Langston, James M. Langston, M. W. Rodgers, James K. Cox and his son Robert M. Cox, Riley Morris and John

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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

O. Randolph were citizens of Manito Township as early as 1851. Pemberton and Hall may possibly have come as early as 1849. The others all came in 1850, except the Coxes, who came in 1851. The Langstons came from Ten- nessee to that part of Morgan County afterward included within the limits of Scott County, and from Scott to Mason. Rodgers was from Kentucky. The Langstons and Rodgerses purchased the pre-emption rights and improvements of James McCoy, who had settled just across the line in that part of Tazewell County lying east of Manito Township. Matthew Langston had served in the war with Mexico, and laid his land warrant in Section 1, Manito Township. James M. Langston located in the same section, and Rodgers just north of the Langstons, on Section 35. These were among the earliest settlements made on the prairie any considerable distance from the timber. Joseph Leese settled in the immediate neighborhood in the summer of 1850. He came from England, and, after a residence of fourteen or fifteen years, sold out and returned to his native land. James K. Cox was a native of Virginia. In 1810, he emigrated to Tennessee, thence to Madison County, Ill., in 1819. From there he removed to Morgan County in 1822, and, in 1851, to Mason County, locating on the site of the present village of Manito. During the years 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854 and 1855, the prairie portion of the township settled up very rap- idly, so that any attempt to give the names of settlers and the order of their coming in would be utterly vain. With this somewhat hasty glance at the early settlements of the township, we will proceed at once to note, somewhat, the general appearance of the country as it appeared to the early pioneer, and some of the many difficulties with which he had to contend in procuring and establishing a home for himself and those dependent upon him.

GENERAL FEATURES, ETC.

When the first settlers came, the prairie, stretching back east from the river, presented to the eye a grand and imposing scene. As far away as the eye could reach, the tall, blue-stem prairie grass was waving in the autumn breeze like a boundless sea. This, with the myriads of flowers of all hues and colors inter- spersed, awakened feelings of admiration which the finest landscape gardening fails to inspire. Nature had wrought a work which art can never equal. Many of the flowers planted and nourished by the hand of Nature's God far surpassed in delicacy and beauty those of rarest culture of to-day. Every fall, the whole face of the country was swept over by fire, the flames of which would reach high up toward the heavens, tlien swoop down, reaching a hundred feet ahead, taking into their grasp the tinder-like material. None but those who have seen our prairie fires of twenty or thirty years ago can comprehend their magnifi- cent grandeur. At the date of the' earliest settlements, game of all kinds abounded in plenteous profusion. It was by no means an uncommon thing to see herds of deer ranging in numbers of from seventy-five to one hundred, and their course was plainly marked by the parting of the tall grass. Oftentimes

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would they approach within rifle-distance of the pioneer's cabin, and many the fine fat buck or juicy doe that paid the forfeit of its life for this act of forward. ness. Oftentimes, too, would they put the husbandman's labor to naught by completely destroying his patch of "garden-sass" in a single night. Wild geese, ducks, cranes and other water-fowls were here in abundance, and were not a little source of annoyance to the early settlers in the destruction of their crops. Sometimes, an entire field of wheat would be destroyed in a few days by flocks of geese, as the biting of the geese seemed to poison the tender plant and utterly destroy it. The wily wolf and artful fox came in for their share- of depredations, in robbing hen-roosts, pig-sties and sheep-cotes ; and what a wolf didn't know about howling wasn't worth knowing. When Abel Maloney, who has already been mentioned as one of the earliest settlers, first came, he brought with him his two oldest boys, William and John, together with sonie little stock. After erecting his log cabin, he returned to Menard County for his companion and the rest of the family. The boys were left to take care of the house and look after the stock. William, who now resides in the village of Manito, thus relates his experience : "Soon after my father left us, a continu- ous rain set in, by which the Sangamon and its tributaries were so swollen that he was unable to return until after the lapse of four long weeks. During that period, we looked upon no human face save that of each other. At night, we would take the geese, ducks and chickens, along with the dogs, into the cabin and securely bar the doors, preparatory to trying to sleep. As soon as the twi- light began to deepen, the wolves began their orgies. Between the squealing of the hogs and the howling of the wolves, night was rendered hideous and sleep seemed to be forever divorced from our eyelids. Indeed, we sometimes. feared, from the vigor with which they howled around our cabin and scratched at its rude door, that they might effect an entrance and make mincemeat out of our poor little bodies ere the coming of the gray morning in the east should force them again into their secret coverts. Not a hog was left out of the num- ber brought, on my father's return. You may imagine we welcomed the old folks right heartily when they did put in an appearance." Coon Grove was so- named from the vast number of coons found there in an early day. The same authority states that, when they came in 1841, " the woods were full of 'em." Many of the trees were hollow, and had beside them Indian ladders (saplings with the limbs cut off some distance from the body), and holes chopped into the trees-evidently the work of the Indians, made in their attempts to catch "old Zip Coon." At certain seasons of the year, Mr. Maloney states that they were wont to go, about sunset, and drive them from the fields like droves of sheep. . The were very destructive to crops near the grove. While the early pioneers of this section were exempt from many of the graver difficulties with which the settlers of other portions who had preceded them by a decade or more of years were forced to contend, yet theirs was by no means a life of ease and luxury. Homes were to be provided, farms to be made, and implements necessary to their

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successful cultivation to be procured. Money with them was scarce, for, generally speaking, they were men of limited means, who had left the more densely popu- lated portions of our own country to, try their fortunes in the great and grow- ing West. Their milling was done, oftentimes, fifteen to eighteen miles away. Their principal trading was done at Pekin, Mackinaw, Delavan and Havana. At these points, they sold their products and laid in their supplies of dry goods and groceries. In times of high-water, they would take their grists to Spring Lake by ox-team, and from thence in skiffs down through the lake, up the river, and thence, through Copperas Creek, to Utica, in Fulton County, rowing a distance of eight or ten miles. If a plow needed repairing, it must needs be carried to Pekin, Mackinaw or Havana. It took all summer to raise a crop, and all winter to deliver it. .

If we may credit the statements of their descendants, the early settlers of this section were not men of deep religious convictions. Although the invin- cible circuit-rider was among them at an early day, we hear of no general religious awakening until comparatively a recent date. An unfailing indica- tion that the Sabbath Day had dawned, was to see the women equipped with fishing-tackle, the men with their guns and accouterments, all parties mov- ing out headed toward Spring Lake. Here the day was passed in pleasure- seeking and merry-making. Sometimes the men would stake off a race-course, and, attired in a garb which was rather an abridgment of a Hottentot's costume, would indulge in foot-racing. We are by no means to conclude from this that they were savage in their dispositions, for none more hospitable to the stranger, or the one in need, could be found than the early settlers of Manito. It was simply their way of having sport. Fighting and quarreling were almost unknown amongst them; and if a friendly fisticuff sometimes occurred, the combatants generally left the battle-field good friends. They did not forget nor neglect the early educational interests of their children. Consequently, we find them at an early day in their history building a schoolhouse, and main- taining a school by subscriptions. The first schoolhouse in the township was erected near the site of the present residence of William Starritt, in Coon Grove. It was constructed of round logs, notched down at the corners, and was chinked and daubed after the approved pioneer style. The building was sixteen feet square, had one window of three lights, 8x10, and a door of entrance. It may have been a little dark for purposes of study on a cloudy day, but it was certainly admirably adapted to weak eyes. It was covered with clapboards, and when it rained drops came down about as well inside as out, though not quite as fast. Stephen W. Porter is given as the first Solon who directed the footsteps of the aspiring youth of Manito up the rugged steeps of science. The second school building was a hewed-log house, erected in the limits of the present village of Manito. Miss Adeline Broderick and Mrs. Rachel Ott were among the first teachers in this house. At present the township has seven school buildings, · each a neat frame, supplied with the more modern improvements for the

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The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois, Part 64

Author: Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 848

Author:
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 848