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 38
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George Ruekle settled in Partridge about 1833-34, near where he died in 1863. His widow still survives at the age of 70 years, and is quite a sprightly old lady, and rides on horseback with as much ease as she did forty years ago.
Philip Bettelyune came to Peoria in the Fall of 1835, and the next Spring settled in Partridge Township. In about two years, they removed from their first settlement, into what is known as Partridge Bottom. He died in 1867, and his widow lives now in the village of Spring Bay. In those days, says Mrs. Bettelyune, the people would cut down saplings, and build a cabin with a mud fireplace and chimney, move into it and smoke their eyes out. Deer, wolves and turkey were plenty. She used to board wood-choppers, and they would go out and kill a turkey before breakfast, to be cooked for their dinners. Once, she says, when she was engaged with her weekly washing, a deer came up to the fence, she set the dogs on it and caught it, when she discovered it had been shot sometime before. It seemed, in its pain to have come to her, and she felt bad for the " poor thing " for several days after.
Benjamin Younger was from Ohio, and Wm. Hunter from Tennessee, and settled in this township in 1835. Dan Sowards, we find here at an early day, one of the early settlers of the Partridge Point, or Metamora settlement. He removed to Partridge among the first settlers, and spent the remainder of his life here. His widow is still living on the old place, on Richland Creek, above Louis Guibert's.
In those primitive times, trading was done at Peoria, mostly. John Ham- blin is said to have been the first man who paid money for pork, and paid either money or goods as suited his customers. Wheat was generally hauled to Chi- cago-and sometimes at 37 cents a bushel-while salt and lumber would be brought back in exchange. Peoria was for years cheir post office, and frequently the settler was put to his wits to raise 25 cents to pay the postage on his letters, which was then the tax on a letter, and was paid at the office of delivery.
BIRTH, DEATH AND MARRIAGE.
Walter Cheeny is supposed to have been the first white child born in Part- ridge Township, and was born in 1834. The first marriage was John Sharp and Miss Phoebe Ayers, daughter of Francis Ayers. They were married in 1833, by Rev. Mr. Curtis, of Pleasant Grove. The first death was an old man named Gingerich. IIe came from Germany, in 1831, the year before the Black Hawk War, and died the second Summer after he came to the country. A evry melancholy affair occurred in this township, in the Winter of 1836-7. During the time known and still talked of among the old settlers as the cold snap, a man by the name of Butler, and his daughter, a young lady, who it is said, was engaged to be married, froze to death in the woods near to their own
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
home. There is a good deal of diversity of opinion as to the exact date of its occurrence. Some hold that it was in December, a few days before Christmas, while others are equally certain that it was about the same time in the month of January. All, however, agree that it was in the Winter of '36-7. The circumstances were briefly these: Butler and his daughter had gone after a cow, or cows, that had strayed away, or that they had purchased. When they left home, in the forenoon, it was warm and pleasant; and though there was snow on the ground, it had rained some during the forenoon, and the snow became very slushy. In the afternoon, seemingly, almost in the twinkling of an eye, it turned cold as "Greenland's icy mountains," as many old settlers still can testify. He and his daughter were en route for home with their cattle, but abandoned them when the cold overtook them so intensely, and endeavored to reach home. The most plausible theory seems to be, that the girl froze first ; her father seemed to have stayed with her, until she was entirely dead, and had tied a handkerchief around her face. It is said that her clothes and skirts and lower limbs were covered very thiekly in ice, which had congealed from the slush that had splashed up from the soft snow, until they had become so heavy she could not carry them, and, no doubt, was the cause of her freezing before reaching home. When her father found she was dead, it seemed he had started to try to reach home, and succeeded in getting within a few hundred yards, when he, too, succumbed. He seemed to have even crawled some distance, after he got down on the ground and past walking. Many think that the large amount of ice frozen to the girl caused her to give up first ; and that, had he hurried home, instead of staying with her, as he seems to have done, and returned with assistance, both might have been saved. But it is not easy to say just what one would do, placed in similar circumstances. It was several days before the corpses were found; and then, in condition as described, doubled up, and froze so stiff, that all that could be done was to put them in large boxes, and, when the weather would admit, to bury them decently. They were interred but a few rods from where Talbot Hosher's present residence stands. And doubtless there are many who remember them, when they read this notice, who will indulge a melancholy sigh in memory of their mournful and sad death.
STORE AND POST OFFICE.
There are no villages in Partridge Township, nor has there ever been a regular post office. Years ago, when the mail was carried on horseback from Lacon to Spring Bay, they had a kind of accommodation post office at Chaun- cey Baker's, where the mail for that neighborhood was left by the carrier, but, so far as we could learn, there was no authorized or commissioned Postmaster. There is a similar arrangement now existing between the town of Chillicothe and Ramey's store, in Partridge. Whoever chances to go over to Chillicothe, and there is some one every week, brings over all the Partridge mail and leaves it at the store, where the neighbors get it as they come in. This little
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
store was opened in the township three years ago last Fall, by a man named Ramey, and after a year or so in the mercantile business, he was succeeded in it by Willie Crank. He finally sold out to George Ramey, who keeps a gen- eral assortment of goods adapted to the wants of the surrounding community, and which saves the people many a trip to town for small articles they chance to need.
Jo. K. Johnson was the first blacksmith in the town. He kept a shop at his mill, as soon as he settled in the community.
The township has never had a church building within its limits, but this fact does not imply that the people are opposed to religions institutions and organizations. There are several churches just outside of the borders, and their school houses serve the double purpose of religious as well as educational train- ing. Among the first preachers to proclaim the Word of God in the town were Revs. Davenport and Palmer, who used to come down from the Walnut Grove settlement and hold religions services in Partridge Bottom. An old Baptist preacher named Pigsley used to preach in the town sometimes, in the early period of the settlement. Dr. Harlow Barney was the first to practice the healing art in the settlement.
The first mill was built by Jeff Tolafero, who came from Ohio, and was among the first settlers. It was a saw-mill only, and he sold it to Jo. K. John- son, who built a grist-mill in connection with it. Soon after this, Guibert and Snyders built mills in the township.
SCHOOLS, SCHOOL HOUSES, ETC.
There is some question as to when and where the first school house was erected. One story goes that the first in Partridge Township was built in 1845- 46, in the bottom, near where Johnson lived. Another, that it was built on Richland Creek, up near where Dan Sowards lived then. Which has the pre- cedence we are unable to say.
The first school is supposed to have been taught by an old man named Plum- mer, who used to teach at the neighbors' houses, long before there was a school house in the town. He taught awhile at Francis Ayres' and at other places in the vicinity. The old man, after teaching several schools for nearly nothing, finally became a county charge, the first case of the kind of which we have any record in Woodford County.
Another of the pioneer school teachers of Partridge was an old man with one leg, named Caldwell, who taught up on Richland Creek, in the neighbor- hood of the little log school house built there so long ago.
Alexander Boulier, the present Township Treasurer, has the school records back to the formation of public schools, and from them, through his courtesy, we extract the following : The first meeting of the School Trustees was held on the 27th of November, 1844, and the Board was composed of Harlow Bar- ney, Samuel Hedlock and H. M. Curry.
-
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
The county, at that time, was divided into four election districts. and at this meeting of School Trustees, this election district, which was the fourth, was divided into four school districts, viz .: Partridge District, No. 1; Upper Part- ridge, No. 2; Richland, No. 3, and Dry Run, No. 4. Harlow Barney was elected School Treasurer.
In 1847, we find Benjamin Younger, James Cannon. Harlow Barney com- posing the School Board, and Abner Mundell School Treasurer.
These old records, however, contain nothing of any particular importance, and, with a few items from the Treasurer's last annual report to the County Superintendent of Schools, we will pass over the matter :
Number of males in township under 21 128
Number of females in townsbip under 21
134
Total 262
Number of males in township between 6 and 21
83
Number of females in township between 6 and 21. 84
Total 167
Number of male teachers employed. 1
Number of female teachers employed.
01
Total 3
Number of school districts in township.
8
Number of schools taught in township.
Number of frame schools houses in township 3
Highest monthly wages paid teachers $42 00
Lowest monthly wages paid teachers 30 00
Total amount paid to teachers. 718 00
Estimated value of school property. 1,500 00
The township, although but little short in actual arca of a full township, so much of it is untillable in swamps, bluffs and brakes, that the habitable portion has but three school districts. These have each a good comfortable frame school house, and support a good school for the usual term yearly. Partridge is known as Township 28 north, Range 3 west, with a total valuation of taxable property, in 1877, of $210,312.00. When the county was formed into town ships, under Government survey, in 1852, this town was called Partridge from the old Indian Chief Black Partridge, who, it is said, used to have his wigwam at one of the beautiful springs so common in this township. The first Super- visor of Partridge, under township organization, was Jefferson Hoshor. At present, W. Crank is the Supervisor, and is one of the solid business men of the community where he lives.
POLITICAL AND WAR RECORD.
Partridge is another of Woodford County's Democratic strongholds. It is said that in the old days when Whiggery was in the zenith of its glory, Benj. Younger was the only man in this entire section who voted the Whig ticket.
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
It is still Democratic, but probably not as overwhelmingly so as it was then. During the late war it did its duty, according to the number of its population, as well as any section of the county. Many soldiers were sent into the field from Partridge. Notwithstanding her patriotism, however, she was subjected to a draft, but for only ten or a dozen men to fill out her quota.
The following are the names of soldiers from Partridge, so far as we could obtain them : Thomas Tunis, Company I, One Hundred and Thirteenth Regi- ment Illinois Volunteers ; John and Lemuel Barnes, Company B. One Hun- dred and Eighth Regiment of Volunteer Infantry ; and Joseph Malone, Samuel Mullin, Henry and Jeff Deford, and Jacob and Matthias Taggott, whose regi- ments and companies we were unable to ascertain.
PANOLA TOWNSHIP.
EARLY HISTORY.
The completion of the Illinois Central Railroad, in 1854, marks a new era in the history of the eastern part of Woodford County. With truth, it may be said that it marks the date of the very earliest settlements, for, at that period, there were, within a territory consisting of more than a hundred square miles in this section, not more than two families. John Brewer had removed to this township from Ohio, and settled in the little grove, just north of where the vil- lage now stands. The date of his settlement was as early as 1836. At that time, his neighbors were a half dozen families, along Panther Creek, in the townships of Greene and Roanoke. He had, however, died previous to the time when the actual history of the township began.
George W. Kingston had also settled here, in 1851, and Edward Waldron and family, from England, in 1852. The location of a station, at the present site of the village, immediately brought a few railroad employes, some of whom became permanent settlers. Of these were Dennis Sharp, who has continued to reside in the neighborhood until the present. B. Stockwell was the first sta- tion agent. He stayed here but a year, when he was succeeded by N. L. Seever, who resided here some years. Stockwell was promoted until he finally became General Freight Agent of the road. William Grosley came here in the Fall of 1854. He moved a store building to the station, in the same year, and com- menced, with Thomas Patterson, to sell goods, that same Fall and Winter. Pat- terson was from Pennsylvania. This store building, besides the ones put up by the railroad company, was the first in the village, and the third in the township. The same Fall, F. I. Barnard, from the township of Greene, moved to the sta- tion, bringing the post office of Josephine, which had formerly been located there, and which was now changed, in name, to Panola.
The next year several additions were made to the village, and several farms were opened.
Games Jannes KAPPA
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
In the Spring of 1855, Robert McClelland, who was, that very Spring, elected Supervisor, arrived with his family. McClelland was from the northern part of the State. He was an active man in politics, and all public measures affecting the interests of the community. He resided here a number of years, but finally removed to Chicago, where he still resides.
In the Fall of the same year, William Tompkins, father-in-law of McClel- land, came in. He was a native of New York, but had lived for some time in the north part of Illinois.
James Dye, from Virginia, came in the Spring of 1855, and opened a lumber yard ; Mr. Dye still lives in the township.
The next to arrive were Henry Saltsman and family. Mr. Saltsman had really been here the year before, but had gone back to New York after his wife and children. They arrived here in the Fall. Mr. Saltsman built the seventh house in the township. He was, as soon as he had gained his residence, elected to the office of Magistrate, and continued to deal out justice to the community until one year ago ; having held the office continuously for twenty years. About the same time, Jacob C. Myers, a native of Pennsylvania, came with his family ; and following soon after-early in the Spring of 1856-his brother, O. P. A. Myers, and family came. They had resided, for some years previously, in Greene Township, and were not only pioneers of both Panola and Greene, but O. P. A. Myers was really the proposer of the name for Greene Township, which was thus named in honor of his native county.
About the close of the year, Levi Hodgson, who had been living in Pekin, Ill., arrived, with his family, and opened a farm on Section 28. Thus we find, at the close of the year 1855, a little community of sixteen families. Most of them were earnest, honest and industrious men and women. They filled their places in their little society and in their various political positions with credit to themselves and with advantage to the neighborhood, not only for the time being, but for many years to come. Six of these heads of families still reside in the township ; some are dead and some have moved to other fields of labor, and all are remembered with feelings of that regard which naturally attaches to the pioneer.
EARLY DEATHS.
As happens in almost all newly-settled places, many of the early deaths are by violence or accidents ; so this was no exception. In the Fall of 1855, the section boss, Horace Allen, died from the poison of the bite of a rattlesnake. In pulling some weeds from the ground, near the track, he received from one of these venomous reptiles, that lay concealed there, the poison which, in a few days, terminated his life. At this time, there was no burial place in the town- ship, and he was interred in a grave on the company's land, a little northwest of the village. A plain marble slab marks the lonely resting place. This was not the first death in the township, though it was the first burial. Two years before, John Brewer and daughter had died of typhoid fever, and had been
L
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
buried in Greene Township. Three years after Allen's death, another employe of the road came to his death under very peculiar circumstances. A Mr. Bar- low, it is said, had dreamed, on several nights, that some fatal accident would occur to him ; and so impressed was he with what he believed to be an omen of evil, that he took especial pains to avoid any contingency of the kind. On the day that he met his death, instead of riding on the car, as was his custom, with the omen in his mind, he selected a hand-car, to which a rope was attached. The rope he held in his hands, and, by some casualty, it became entangled in the wheels and began drawing Mr. Barlow closer and closer. Though he might have dropped the rope, some fatality seemed to compel him to hold on, and his arms were drawn into the wheels and literally ground off. Though, at the time, not considered fatal, the accident proved to be so, as he lived but a few days.
FIRST MARRIAGE.
The first wedding in this township took place in the Fall of 1856. The contracting parties were John Tyler, nephew of Henry Saltsman, and John Brewer's daughter, Sarah. It was quite an event in the history of Panola, and was all the town talk for many weeks afterward. In one point, at least, it was of great importance-it was the first wedding between La Salle and Blooming- ton, on that line of road.
A NOTABLE PERSONAGE.
Apropos of the fact that the railroad system has had so much to do in the development of this part of the country, Panola Township contains a resident who was one of the three ladies who rode on the first railroad engine ever run in the world. Mrs. Martha Wilkinson, who now resides with Mr. George Thorpe, relates that, on the day before the engine was attached to the train that drew the unfortunate Lord Huskingson and his party from Manchester to Liv- erpool, she, with two other ladies, made the trip on the engine. This was in 1830. The following day, during the first regular trip, or, rather, the trial trip, Lord Huskingson was killed.
Mrs. Wilkinson, though now 76 years of age, remembers the incident, and relates the circumstance with much precision.
CHURCHES.
The preacher and the school teacher are the pioneers of civilization. In almost every new country or town, the first on the ground is one or both of these. Panola was not an exception. As early as 1854, religions services were held here, sometimes in the station house and sometimes in private houses. No regularly organized church existed here, however, nntil 1857.
Like a number of other public institutions of Greene Township, the Willow Tree Baptist Church, which had been organized there the year before, was removed to the village. At the ontset, it consisted of sixteen members. This number has gradually increased until the present. Its membership at this time
405
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
is seventy-five. In connection with the church was organized, in 1858, a Sun- day school, which, since its first session to the present, has never missed a meeting. The society, during the first ten years of its existence, was without a place of worship that could be called its own. By this time, it had increased very materially in numbers and wealth, and it was thought safe to undertake the building of a house. So. in the year 1866, the enterprise was begun and completed. The building is a neat, substantial and commodious frame, thirty- two by fifty feet, and has a seating capacity of about three hundred. It cost the society $3,000. The first minister of the society was Rev. Mr. Branch. His successors, in order, have been Frederick Ketcham, --- Stimpson, John D. Cromwell, William Parker. R. C. Palmer and G. N. Drury, the last named having been in charge since March, 1872.
The United Brethren, as early as 1862, held meetings, and organized a class in the central part of the township. This, with two other classes, was in charge of Rev. C. P. Hoy. The three classes, in 1868, united for the purpose of organization; and, in the same year, erected a small parsonage on the southwest corner of Section 11. Services were held regularly in the school house, until 1875, when they concluded to build their present house of wor- ship. The building is a plain, but substantial and commodious one, being forty feet in width and sixty in length, and nicely furnished throughout. It cost the Brethren $1,920. The society now numbers seventy-eight members, with Rev. S. W. Dixon as Pastor.
SCHOOLS.
The subject of education was one of the very first to receive attention from the early inhabitants of Panola, and steps were taken to put in operation the means for ensuring the youth of the village and township instruction in the branches usually taught in the common schools.
The first school house in the township was built in the village of Panola, in the year 1857, and Jane Nesmith was installed as teacher. The building cost $600.00, and was paid for by subscription. This building, with an addition in 1865, has been in use, for this purpose, ever since. During the next year, two other school houses were erected; and, in 1859, a fourth one was built. The first four houses were built by the township, the board paying back to the donors their subscriptions to Panola house. Other districts were laid out and houses built, as the wants of the increasing population demanded, until, at this time, the township contains ten school buildings, which furnish educational accommodations for over 400 pupils.
The school land was sold, in parcels, between the years 1861 and 1864. The sales aggregated the sum of $6,046.00, which, with a few small additions, constitutes the township school fund.
HIGHWAYS.
Much attention has been given to the improvement of roads and the build- ing of bridges. The township is laid out into fifteen road districts, and at every
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
annual election a Road Master for each district is appointed. Road making in this part of the county, though comparatively a small matter, is never com- plete, as the keeping in order is an affair that requires constant attention and labor-there being in this part of the State no materials for making a sold road. Nearly one hundred miles of road have been surveyed and graded, and the thoroughfares are in as good a condition as those of other townships in the county.
ORGANIZATION.
At a previous general county election, on the petition of the requisite number of voters, the question of "township organization " had received a majority of votes in the county ; a commission of three residents of the county had been appointed to divide it into precincts, and the County Board had ordered the first election to take place April 3, 1855. The Commissioners were authorized by statute, in case a congressional town did not contain a suffi- cient number of inhabitants for organization, to add it to some adjoining town. This was the case with both Panola and Minonk. At the time of the adoption of the act by the county, there were, in the two congressional towns, barely a sufficient number of qualified persons to hold the offices. In the whole precinct of seventy-two square miles there were but eleven legal voters ; and at the first election, which was held April 3, 1855, there were but twelve votes cast, though the number of voters had really increased to about fifteen.
The first election of the precinct was held at the passenger house, at Panola Station. The following persons were elected to the various offices : Robert A. McClellan, Supervisor ; William Tompkins, Assessor ; Horace G. Allen, Clerk ; William A. Grosley, Overseer of the Poor ; Francis I. Barnard, Joseph Hanna and Thomas Patterson, Highway Commissioners ; William H. Brewer and Charles Dobson, Constables ; Samuel G. Lewis and Samuel Work, Magis- trates ; James Dye, Overseer of Roads.
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