USA > Illinois > Woodford County > The Past and present of Woodford County, Illinois : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c.; a directory of its tax-payers; war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics etc > Part 36
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After these settlements were made, one family after another took up their residences on what might be called the second tier of farms from the timber of Crow Creek, in nearly the following chronological order: William and Simeon Linn, after whom the township was named; John P. Davison, Amos West, Alfred Combs, Samuel Jackman, H. Simpson, John and Isaac Fisher, Joseph Martin, Benjamin Wilson, William Parks, Lewis Wyanteer. These had all settled, and made some improvements on their lands, before the organization of the two townships, in 1855.
Pushing on further east, across the meridian line, but still hugging up close to the timber, farms were now beginning to be opened in Clayton. In 1854,
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early in the Spring, probably in February, John Linn, from the State of Ken- tucky, commenced to build a house on Section 19. Following very soon after (April), James Livingston began to build. Mr. Livingston had been in the neighborhood, prospecting, the year before, but had gone back to New Hamp- shire after his family. Milton Hicks and Jefferson Shepler, with their families, came a little later in the same year, and began buildings. In the early Spring of 1855, John M. Davison and family took up their residences in the township. By the end of this year, or early in the next, Jacob McChesney, Jacob Robinson, Samuel Knowles, Henry Lohnes and Josiah Gardner had arrived and began making improvements. In the meantime, the population of Linn had increased to fully one hundred and fifty, and of Clayton to half as many.
The social, religious, educational and commercial privileges were yet very scanty ; and these might all, with great propriety, be called pioneers. The Illinois Central Railroad was but just completed ; and as there were at the different stations along the line yet no stores or shops, trade was carried on wholly with the river towns, most families in this part of the county doing their marketing at Lacon, on the Illinois River.
ORGANIZATION.
The northeastern portion of Woodford County was the last to be occupied, and as the main cause of its, development was the opening of communication and trade with outer world by means of the Illinois Central Railroad, the inter- ests of the whole section, iatterly constituting the townships of Linn, Clayton and Minonk, were almost identical, and continued so for many years. Peculiarly so has it been with Linn and Clayton, which were, until 1859, four years after the " Township Organization Act" was adopted by the county, embraced in a single precinct. At the time of the adoption of the " Act," there were barely a suffi- cient number of inhabitants in the two towns for one organization, so it has been impossible to write the history of one without including the other.
The precinct embracing the Congressional Towns 28 N., R. 1 W., and 28 N .. R. 1 E., was organized April 3, 1855, and, in anticipation of a future separa- tion, was called " Linn and Clayton." The officers elected were : Isaac Fisher, Supervisor ; John B. Fisher, Collector ; Harrison Simpson, Overseer of the Poor ; William Jury, Assessor ; Jesse Pickard, Clerk ; James M. Martin and Cyrus Acres, Commissioners of Highways ; and Angus Thom, Constable.
There could not have been a very great desire at that time to hold office, as two of the elect, a Constable and a Commissioner of Highways, failed to qualify, and, in consequence. their names are lost to history. The number of votes cast at the election was sixty-five
During the four years that the two townships remained in one precinct, the population increased very rapidly, so that, at the time the separation took place, there were two hundred and seventy voters in Linn and Clayton, and the actual
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population was not less than twelve hundred. This was an increase of about three hundred per cent.
Other changes, quite as marked as these, occurred. While the land was rapidly settling, farms continually opening and houses and barns building, public improvements, such as roads and bridges and school houses, were receiv- ing their share of attention, so that the union of the townships may with truth be said to have been a season of great prosperity, such a season, indeed-taking all the circumstances into account, increase of population, etc .- as never before nor since has visited them.
HIGHWAYS.
Before the organization of the precinct, the wide prairie between Crow Creek and Panther Grove was tracked in all directions by the teamster, who chose his own route to market and to mill, the road usually selected being the shortest cut across the prairie, in the direction of the point of his destination. leaving to his right or left his only impediment, the sloughs. But. as the prairies began to be improved, fences and fields began to present new obstacles to his progress ; and by the time of the adoption of the " Township Organiza- tion Act," by Woodford County, there was a demand for regularly laid out and improved highways. The crossing of the slonghs could not, as formerly, be selected at the pleasure of the traveler, and they must, necessarily, be bridged. Therefore, as soon as the townships were authorized to lay out and improve thoroughfares, a great clamor immediately arose for them in all directions.
The precinct had but just been organized, when the Commissioners were petitioned for a road, running from the south line of Clayton to the north line of the same, on the half section line dividing Sections 5, 8, 17, 20, 29 and 32. Owing, however, to some informality, the petition was rejected, and the road was not granted. A petition was then circulated, and a survey made, for a road six miles long, on the meridian line. The petition had been drawn with care, all of the requirements of the law had been complied with, and, on the 10th of October, the prayer of the petitioners was granted. This constituted the first township highway, and is the present boundary between Linn and Clayton ; and, though it was in the midst of the precinct, was considered an improvement on the eastern section.
The next year, 1856, petitions followed thick and fast, and twenty-two and a half miles of new road were granted. The first was for a new road in the west- ern section ; this was for five and a half miles, commencing at the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of Section 19, and running north to the county line. Petitions were being circulated, at the same time, for a new road through the two townships, beginning at the northwest corner of Section 18, in Linn Township, and extending to the northeast corner of Section 13, in Clayton ; and for a new road of five miles in length in Clayton, on the half section line, extending from the southeast corner of the northwest quarter of Section 29 to the north line of the township. The petitions were all granted, and this made, in all, twenty-
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eight miles of highway laid out in less than two years. This was increased during the next two years, to the time of separation, to over fifty miles.
In 1855, there were two road districts in Clayton and Linn. The first dis- trict constituted all of the north two tiers of sections in both townships, the balance of the territory, embracing sixty sections, constituting the other district. To work these two districts, there reported for the first, forty-five men, and to manage the sixty sections, there was a force of twenty-five men.
In 1858, the number of road districts had increased to six, and the number of men liable for duty in all of the districts had increased to two hundred and fifty-eight. In the meantime, quite a number of bridges had been built, a good deal of grading had been done, and the highways were taking on an improved appearance.
FENCES.
Perhaps no public measure has been adopted in this part of the country, which has had so marked an effect on the appearance of the country, as resolu- tions passed by these townships, in regard to the keeping up of stock. The traveler notices, on coming into this vicinity, an almost entire absence of fences. To early settlers, with limited means, this was a very important measure. After buying their prairie farms, they found that to prevent stock of all kinds from encroaching on their possessions and destroying their crops, it would be neces- sary to expend an amount equal to the original cost of the land. Before the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad, much of the lumber used for the purpose of building fences was hauled by wagon from Chicago; and, even with lumber brought to within a dozen miles by rail, it was a very serious matter, involving an expense which very many could illy afford, and which, it was claimed, was greatly in excess of the accommodation to be derived from allow- ing cattle and hogs to run at large. Accordingly the precinct had but barely been organized, when a move was made looking toward the adoption of what is known as the " Hog Law." A petition was presented to the Township Board, and by them an election was ordered to be held, for the purpose of deciding the question, and for voting for the location of the pound. The election took place May 19th, 1855. There was but little opposition, and the measure was adopted. Rules were laid down governing the building of such fences as were required to turn cattle. An appropriation was made for building the pound; a site was selected for the same; rules adopted for its government, and a Pound Master was chosen.
Seeing the amount of money thus saved, and noticing the successful opera- tion of the law, a further move for the abolition of all fences was made the fol- lowing year. At an election called for this purpose, August 23, 1856, it was resolved that " farmers be not required to build fences for the protection of their crops, but that every person owning cattle be required to care for the same, either by herding, or by securing them in such enclosures as would prevent them from overrunning fields and injuring grain." This law was to be in force con-
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tinuously, with the exception of the first two weeks in February, when stock might run at large for the purpose of feeding upon the husks and waste corn of the recently harvested fields. At first this plan met with some opposition from adjoining townships, where fences had already been built, and where no such law was in force, and the conflicts with the anti-no-fence-law people were some- times sharp and decisive, as well as amusing. . Hundreds of cattle were pas- tured together in a single herd. They frequently, from fright, stampeded : and, in their flight, they respected not the field of the supporters or opposers of the cattle laws, but trampled corn, and turnips, and squashes, leaving behind a waste as complete as that left in the track of the tornado. These outbreaks and the impounding of stray cattle led to numerous quarrels and petty lawsuits, but the law stood and still remains in force. It has doubtless been the means of saving the farmers of these two townships many thousands of dollars. It has also given those who desired to fence an opportunity of planting and culti- vating hedges, without the necessity of building a fence for their protection. And though, to one unused to it, the appearance of the country is quite novel, yet it is by no means so unpleasing as field and lane separated by such ungainly and tumble-down fences as are to be found in many other neighborhoods.
PEACEABLE SECESSION.
The two townships of Linn and Clayton had thus lived in peace and pros- perity for nearly four years ; and, for aught we know, and for aught that the most enthusiastic had anticipated, might thus have dwelt, under a single organ- ization, for ten or twenty more. It is true, there were some petty jealousies as to improvements, in the respective ends of the precinct ; and it is true that some inconvenience was experienced in the matter of elections, and other pub- lic meetings; and it may be true that some may have thought of the increase of offices that would necessarily follow. At any rate, the population had in- creased so rapidly that it was found that either township was now much stronger than both had been at the first. Therefore, on the 27th of September, 1858, the legal voters of that part of the precinct known as Linn formally presented to the Board of Supervisors, then in session, a petition, setting forth their de- sire to be separate and apart, an organization by themselves. There appearing no good reason to the contrary, their request was granted, and separate elec- tions were thereupon ordered for the next Spring.
ORGANIZATION OF CLAYTON.
After the order for the separation had been given, the voters of Clayton, to the number of seventy-nine, assembled at the appointed time and place-at the Jefferson school house, April 5, 1859-and proceeded to elect officers, in com- pliance with the law.
The officers of the newly organized township were : J. P. Robinson, Super- visor ; Henry Lohnes, Clerk ; James Livingston, Assessor ; J. Forney, Collect-
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or ; Thomas Shreeves, Poor Master ; F. P. Tuthill and F. H. Lockwood, Mag- istrates ; Hiram Livingston, William Linn and C. N. Darling, Commissioners of Highways ; C. H. Robinson and W. Cole, Constables.
At this time, there was a population in the township of 398, which has in- creased to 1,120, in 1878.
The present officers are : P. H. Davison, Supervisor ; B. F. Zinser, Clerk ; Philip Peterson, Assessor ; John Uphoff. Collector ; Henry Heneke, M. Kolb and S. C. Frye, Commissioners of Highways ; F. D. Learned and J. B. Renne, Magistrates ; F. W. Uphoff and Andrew Rufing, Constables.
DESCRIPTION OF CLAYTON TOWNSHIP.
Clayton, or Congressional Township 28 north, Range 1 east of the Third Principal Meridian, is bounded on the north by Marshall County, on the east by Minonk Township, on the south by Greene, and on the west by Linn. It is six miles square, and contains thirty-six full sections. It is crossed, almost diagonally, from northeast to southwest, by the C., P. & S. W. R. R., and by a branch of Crow Creek, from the southeast to the northwest. The land in the eastern part is nearly level ; but in the western part, somewhat rolling. The land is very rich, and the soil deep. and well adapted for the production of corn, immense quantities of which are raised. Scarcely an acre in the township is not tillable; and almost all is either under cultivation or devoted to pasturage. With the exception of groves, which have been set out by the owners of the land, the township is devoid of timber. The sloughs and the branch of Crow Creek are the only natural supply of stock water: but an abundance of good water is obtained from wells, at from twenty to forty fect below the surface of the ground-indeed, there are indications of artesian water, one flowing well being found, on Section 3, on the farm of B. F. Winsteer. Doubtless coal un- derlies the whole territory, and could be obtained at any point where a shaft could be sunk.
THE LATE WAR.
The alarm of war, and the cry that the country's life was in danger, was not unheeded by Clayton Township. Many of her bravest men tarried not, but, rushing to the nearest recruiting office, enrolled their names "for three years or during the war."
Most of those who went from this part of the county enlisted in the Seventy- seventh Illinois Infantry. Space will not permit, in this part of the history, a repetition of the names of all who went out; but- among those who returned not are remembered Joseph Stodiker, William Worthington, Freeman Wilson, Isaac Grove, James Brooks, Milton Linn, H. Sampson, Edwin Sampson, An- drew Sampson. The last three were the sons of Elder H. Sampson-all that he had.
Let it not be supposed that those who stayed behind were uninterested specta- tors. They gave their means, their encouragement, their prayers and their sons.
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
CHURCHES.
The churches of Clayton are but two in number. The privileges of this character are largely supplied at Minonk, and the Lutheran Churches in the eastern part of Linn.
The church first built, and known as the Clayton Baptist Church, is situ- ated on Section 34, a mile or so east of Benton. The organization of the soci- ety took place February 14, 1859, with a membership of about twenty persons, the Rev. M. L. Fuller being the first Pastor in charge. At this time and for some time previous, services had been held, by this denomination, at private houses in the neighborhood, and sometimes in the school house.
This part of the county was sparsely settled at that time ; most of the people were struggling to pay for their lands and build themselves houses ; and, though a permanent place of worship was greatly to be desired, it was an enterprise that must necessarily be postponed for some years. However, seven years after, December, 1865, the society had grown in numbers and wealth, until the build- ing of a house was not only a possibility and a necessity, but an accomplished fact. The building is a neat frame structure, thirty feet wide and forty long, and has a seating capacity of about two hundred. It cost the society eleven hundred dollars. The Pastor in charge at the time was Rev. William Parker.
In 1872, feeling the necessity of having the continuous services of a Pastor, a neat little parsonage was erected, at an expenditure of five hundred dollars. The growth of the society, for a country place, has been quite satisfactory, both in numbers and influence. It now has a membership of one hundred and eighteen persons. The present Pastor is Rev. A. J. Colby.
In connection with the Church are two thriving Sunday schools, one of which, with A. W. Forney as Superintendent, is held in the church ; the other, with T. E. Coleman as Superintendent, is held in the village. The average attendance at the two schools, last year, was ninety-three.
The Catholic Church, located in the southeastern part of the village of Ben- son, is a very nice and substantial frame, forty feet wide and, including chancel, sixty feet long. and nicely finished throughout. It was completed in 1875, and cost the denomination seventeen hundred dollars. Services are conducted two Sundays in each month, by a priest residing at Metamora.
RAILROADS.
The people of Clayton Township, though not without railroad facilities, prior to 1872, were yet conscious that an additional line would be of much advantage to this part of the county. At this time, new lines of road were being projected in all directions, and the railroad excitement was running high. The means of communication with the county seat were very bad. Freights were high, consuming much of the profits of both merchant and farmer, and a new line would make competition. These were some of the arguments used in favor of the projected line, then designated the Chicago & Plainfield Railroad,
Abner, Mundelf
METAMORA TP.
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
but now known as the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern Railroad. A majority of the voters of Clayton were not hard to persuade that they would be bene- fitted at least $20,000 worth, and so, on the 6th day of March, 1869, voted that amount, to induce the company to run its line through this township. Whether or not their anticipations have been fully realized, it cannot be doubted that much benefit has been derived therefrom.
SCHOOLS.
The first school in Clayton Township was taught in an upper room of the dwelling house of John M. Davison. P. H. Davison is entitled to the honor of being the pioneer educator, as he was the instructor of the fourteen youngsters who presented themselves daily during the three Winter months of 1856-7. Mr. Davison was not only a pioneer, but has continued to interest himself in school affairs in the township ever since, being at this time Township School Treasurer.
The first school house was erected during the next Summer. It was a little shanty, built on the southwest corner of Section 5. In this, James McChesney taught the first term. This building has long since given place to one much more commodious and substantial.
At a meeting of the School Trustees, John M. Davison, Samnel Shepler and Jacob P. Robinson, on June 2, 1856, after electing Robert S. Hester, Treasurer, they proceeded to lay out the township into nine distrtcis, consisting of four sections each ; and, thongh at that time some of the districts did not contain enough inhabitants to organize, yet, under the law as it existed at that time, none were prohibited from attending those already organized, though inhabitants of another district.
This left the first school in what is now known as District No. 3, or the Jefferson District. Other organizations followed, and new school honses were built, from time to time, as the increased settlements required, until every dis- trict is now supplied with a convenient house, and the school privileges of this are not excelled by any township in the county. The building recently erected in the village deserves more than a general notice. The location of the site of Benson left the school house of District No. 8 nearly a mile out of the limits. As the village increased in population, a demand grew for a larger house and a more accessible location. Accordingly, at an election held for this purpose, a levy for a new house was made, and a new site, in the northwest part of the village, was selected. The house is now nearly completed. It is a frame building, twenty-eight by forty-six feet, two stories high, and contains two rooms sufficiently large to accommodate 150 pupils. There is, also, within the limits of Benson, a private German school. The Germans of the com- munity, in 1875, erected, for their own nse, a building costing $400. In this school is kept continnonsly. Instruction is given only in the German language.
K.
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY
FUEL, WATER AND WIND.
Among the drawbacks to the rapid development of the prairies was the lack of stock water and mill power. The sloughs, through the Summer, when water for stock was required in greater abundance, were liable to be dried up, and pumping water from wells for this purpose was very laborious. Flour and feed- mills were indispensable ; but, there being no streams of water, there were no mill sites, and a lack of fuel left steam mills out of the question. Both of these problems have since been successfully solved. A few feet " underneath the ground " has been found an exhaustless supply of fuel, greater in quantity than the original forests of Ohio and Kentucky, all stored up out of the way and ready for use. Wind-mills, on many of the farms, supply, by pumping from wells, plenty of water without the loss of ground resulting from a running stream.
In this connection, the wind-mill erected by the Schmidt Brothers, of Ben- son, is worthy of more than a passing notice. The mill was erected by them in 1873 for the purpose of driving machinery. It is something of a novelty in this part of the country, being built on the Holland plan. The wings are four- in number ; they measure forty feet in length, or eighty in distance from oppo- site ends. They present to the wind two thousand feet of surface, which pro- duces a power, in a moderate breeze, equal to that of sixty horses. The tower is fifty-six feet in height, and the highest point reached by the extremity of the fan, in its revolution, is nearly one hundred feet. The mill, including machinery, cost over $10,000. It was all, with the exception of buhrs, built on the spot. It drives a corn sheller and three runs of buhrs for grinding wheat, rye and feed for stock. These mills are very simple in their construction, strong, and not liable to get out of order. Mr. Schmidt says that a mill constructed on this plan will last, with care, more than fifty years.
CHEESE FACTORY.
The establishment of Warren Coles, on Section 36, is the only one in the county, and, indeed, the only one in this part of the State. It was started in 1864, and has proved a great success, market being found near home for all produced. Cheese is made from the Ist of May till December, and butter the balance of the year. The product is 2,000 pounds of butter and 20,000 pounds of cheese, obtained from forty cows. The average price received for butter is 25 cents, and for cheese, 12 cents per pound.
TORNADO.
The tornado mentioned in Roanoke, and which struck there first, continued its ravages in this township with unabated fury. It passed through the south- east part of Linn, a distance of a couple of miles, and then, striking Clayton a- mile and a half north of the southwest corner, proceeded without hindrance with its work of destruction. The first object of its wrath was the house of F.
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
Duis, which it tore to atoms. From here it passed to Mrs. Charlotte Stimpert's house, a fine residence a short distance to the northeast. The family, of six persons, were inside, and, seeing the storm approaching, all, with the exception of Mrs. Stimpert's son, Philip, who remained behind to bolt the doors, ran into the cellar. Philip had not completed the fastening of the doors, when the house was raised bodily from its foundation and carried through the air. When it had been carried some rods from its original location, he, by some means unac- countable to himself, tumbled out and fell to the ground, but neither the house or any portion was ever afterward seen. It was as completely demolished as if it had been consumed by fire. At this place two horses were killed by rails being driven completely through their bodies. Three wagons were carried away and crushed so that the largest piece that could be found was the hub of one of the wheels. The next house in the track was the one occupied by Mrs. Mary De Freese. There were two persons within, one of whom, Mrs. De Freese, was very severely injured. The buildings here shared the fate of others that had preceded. From here the course of the storm lay toward H. B. Mem- men's place. His stabling and trees were blown away as though they had been so many feathers.
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