USA > Illinois > Washington County > This is Washington County; its first 150 years, 1818-1968 > Part 9
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Wamac, at the border of three counties. and getting its name from the first two letters of Washington, the first two of Marion and the "c" from Clinton, had the honor of having the first woman voter in Illinois. She was Mrs. O. W. Coleman, who voted on July 5, 1913 at the first election after Woman Suffrage was made legal in the state. This also was the first election held in the newly formed town of Wamac.
In 189-1. Coxey's Army camped on Crooked Creek, on its way to the capitol at Washington. in one of the first "protest marches" to make the headlines. Jacob Sechler Coxey, popularly known as "General Coxey," later ran for U. S. President, was defeated. Coxey's grandiose plan was to put all unemployed at building roads.
When the Nashville Fire Department sold its old pump- er, back in the thirties. it was purchased by Oscar Decker, a farmer, who used it to irrigate his fruit orchards.
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The late Julius Temme, long an assessor of Okawville township was conceded to be the tallest man in the county. He stood six feet, seven inches in his stocking feet.
St. Luke Church at Covington was built in 1885; St. John's Church at Plum Hill was built in 1851, upon four acres of land given by J. F. Mangenalker; St. Paul's E. & R. Church, southwest of Okawville, was built in 1850.
Nashville was honored by a visit from Charles A. Lind- bergh, who stopped there to visit relatives soon after his record trans-oceanic flight in 1927.
In 1860. Ashley had 4 dry goods stores, 2 grocery stores, 3 hardware stores, a furniture store, 3 blacksmith shops, 1 mills. a jeweler, meat market, 3 restaurants, 2 shoe shops. 3 livery stables and 3 grain dealers. There were also two Methodist churches, a Baptist, Christian and Universa- list church.
Haley's Comct, still remembered by many of the county's senior citizens, was visible here in 1910. At the time, many predicted the end of the world.
Without doubt, Judge W. P. Green held the county record for elective judicial office, being elected in 1910 and retiring in 1950.
Limestone, secured from the state penitentiary at Ches- ter. was first spread on the Hinkley farm, Ashley. in 1907, inaugurating the movement of soil improvement that has continued ever since.
St. Ann's Catholic Church at Nashville started as a mission from Okawville. Its first buikling was destroyed by fire. Today, its fine church and school is considered one of the outstanding achievements of a dedicated parish.
OKAWVILLE'S BAPTIST CHAPEL
The Okawville Baptist Chapel had its birth in the home of Thomas W. Luker on February 21, 1965, with eleven in attendance. under the leadership of Rev. John Wittmer, superintendent of missions of the Nine Mile Association. There were seventeen present in the meeting on the follow- ing Sunday. On March 7. 1965 services were moved to the Riechman building near the depot. On September 1, 1965 this building was purchased. The Sunday School was of- ficially organized into classes and departments. Other Bap- tist churches contributed to the development of this new charge. When the mission came under the sponsorship of the Beaucoup Baptist Church of Pinckneyville, the charter membership was established in this union with the mother church. There were 20 charter members. The mission con- tinued with supply preachers and an interim pastor, Ernest Queen of DuQuoin.
In September. 1965, Rev. Bill Williams was called as pastor. assuming his duties on October 31. With his wife, Beverly and daughter, Julie, he moved into the newly re- modeled parsonage. above the chapel. in November.
During the past 18 months, Sunday school enrollment has grown from 10 to 65. and sixteen new members have joined the church, nine by letter from other churches and seven by baptism. The chapel held its initial Vacation Bible School in 1966, with 10 enrolled, anticipates an even larger enrollment this year. A strip of ground immediately ad- joining the chapel in the rear has been purchased. A revival was held in April, another is anticipated. The mission is looking forward to the day when the body will be strong enough to constitute a church.
BAPTIST CHAPEL
The Okawville Baptist Chapel.
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METHODISM-AND WASHINGTON COUNTY
We do not know who was the first Methodist to set foot in Washington County. It might have been Captain Joseph Ogle, one of George Rogers Clark's soldiers, who so well liked the land he had helped conquer from the British that, along with a group of veterans of that cam- paign, he returned and settled in Monroe and St. Clair counties. between 1782 and 1785. Ogle was a Methodist and one of the first zealous religious leaders in Illinois.
It could also have been Rev. Ilosea Riggs, an early Methodist preacher in Illinois. It is known that Riggs journeyed to Mount Gerizim, Kentucky. where the western conference of the Methodist Church was holding its annual session, and appealed for official help to meet the oppor- tunities and challenges in the new land.
The conference, which at that time covered all Metho- dist endeavor west of the Alleghanies, responded by ap- pointing Benjamin Young a missionary to Illinois. The date was 1803, and Young could well have been the first Methodist. Also, it could have been the veteran sin-splitter. the Rev. Jesse Walker, who was appointed the first pre- siding elder of what was called the Illinois District of the Methodist Conference. in 1806.
The first county records we have tell of Methodist class organization in Beaucoup township in 1819, led by three local preachers who had settled there. Mr. James Walker, Mr. Daniel Whittenberg. and Mr. Rhodum Allen. Soon there was an increasing number of Methodists here, and for years the Beaucoup community was a strong Metho- dist center. A camp meeting was annually held there on the spot where the present Beaucoup Mehodist Church stands, continuing for years.
By this time. Methodism in Illinois had five circuits served hy ordained ministers. Since 1815 the church here had been part of the Missouri Conference, Washington County being included in the Okaw circuit. Sometime later, Orcenith Fischer, local preacher, settled in Nash- ville township, built the first dwelling there in 1830. In 1824, all of Illinois. had its own Methodist conference.
The Nashville Methodist Church dates from 1832. Many of these first Methodists were people of Irish descent who came from Tennessee, and among their leaders were such men as Dempsey Kennedy, a well-to-do planter who came north to get out of a slave state because slavery had no place in his religion. After his arrival here, he freed his slaves.
Washington County was part of the Mt. Vernon Meth- odist Circuit until 1837 when it separated to become the Nashville Circuit. Liberty Church in section 24, Beaucoup, was started in 1831. Richview Church in 1842 and Ashley in 1810.
In the autumn of 1844. Nashville was the scene of an event which has had considerable weight on the Methodist Church nationally. Possibly this was the most important his- torical event that ever occurred in this county.
In the Spring, the general conference of the church had met, with the slavery issue the focal point of contention. Soon an impassé developed to the point where it was clear a division of the church was inevitable. The southern section which threatened to secede wanted to take with them half of all the nationally-owned property of the church, its publish- ing house and colleges. No definite conclusion was reached. and it was left to the action of the various other conferences as to which plan should be approved. The Illinois delegation had been divided.
When the conference met in Nashville. there was one noted person present. all prepared to sway the conference to the view that southerners would be secessionists if they broke the unity of the church.
This was the Reverend Peter Cartright. the veteran cir- cuit rider, who had fled Kentucky years ago because it was a slave state. Cartright was noted for never mincing words. for being a gifted speaker. an untiring servant of the church, al- beit in hot water at times for his propensity to mix religion and politics, having served as legislator for some years.
The conference voted to sustain Cartright and demand that the church nationally defend itself against all secession- ists. As this was a first annual conference of the church, its action had a great effect on all the other succeeding ones, and a large majority followed suit. Thus. a first division was formed on a national scale over the slavery question in a large religious denomination. The form it took was influ- enced by the action of the Illinois conference in Nashville.
In 1852 the Southern Illinois Conference was created by dividing the Hlinois Conference, and even before this, the German immigrants in the area started work for a separate district. The Rev. William Heminghaus was the first among these men in this county. His group was organized in Nash- ville in 1853. with the Rev. Peter Hehners as pastor, includ- ing members from Nashville. Little Prairie, North Prairie and other nearby communities in the circuit. The Nashville First Church became a station, apart from the circuit in 1857. Before the Civil War, churches had been organized in Irvington and Okawville.
When the war broke out, the Southern Illinois Confer- ence was strongly pro-Union despite the fact that many of its members were of southern descent. Many of these fami- lies. be it remembered. had come to Illinois to flee slavery, and some strongly opposed it.
The Southern Illinois Conference furnished more chap- lains to the Union Army than did many larger groups. When the war ended, however, a feeling persisted by many that the church had gotten into politics too much with its strongly pro-Union stand, these families handed into groups seek- ing separate organizations. They were about to effect a mer- ger when it was learned that the M. E. Church South would welcome them. This was an answer, and it was agreed they
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would become a part of the Illinois conference of the M. E. Church South. A first session of this group was hell on Oc- tober 16, 1867 at the Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Bishop D. S. Doggett presiding.
County-wise, a group had been in existence since 1864, and in 1867 they erected a building, later took the name of Forman Memorial Church.
After the Civil War, Methodist churches were organized in DuBois. Bethel ( section 32. Beaucoup Township ) ; Pleas- ant Grove (section 2, Beaucoup township): Locust Creek (section 35, Nashville township ); and Maple Grove in ( sec- tion 29, Irvington township ). There also was a rather short- lived congregation in Hoyleton which was largely succeeded by Bethel Methodist Church of the German conference, due to the German infiltration in that community. German churches were also organized at North Prairie. (section 20, Hoyleton township), and at Pilot Knob.
All of these various groups reflected an expanding pop- ulation and the desire to have a church nearby, due to trans- portation via horse and buggy.
The German congregations of Southern Illinois became a part of the Southeast German Conference in 1861, and a few years later joined the German Conference of St. Louis.
Assimilation into American life and World War I brought about the end of need for such, and in 1926 it was merged in the geographical conferences. The four German Methodist churches in the county joined the Southern Illi- nois conference. Changing times and especially the advent of the automobile brought about the end of some of the small- er churches. In 1939 there was a union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church into the Methodist Church. Once again there was only one Methodist body in Washington County.
In 1953, the three separate congregations in Nashville merged into one, named Grace Methodist Church.
Today there are Methodist congregations in Nashville, Okawville, Hoyleton. Irvington, Richview, Ashley, Beaucoup and DuBois.
Okawville's Post Office Through the Years
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Unique as it sounds. Okawville's first postmaster was a woman. Mary A. White, who assumed office August 1, 1884. The post office at that early date was located in that segment of the community called "South Okawville." evi- dently not within the town itself. Mrs. White served until May 31, 1889. when she was succeeded by Hy. Strauss, whose term for some reason was of short duration, April 1, 1889 to June 15, 1889.
Herman Schulze assumed office June 1, 1889, served until June 30, 1893, when Mrs. White came back into the service, starting July 1, 1893, terminating August 31, 1897.
Thomas Cantrell was Okawville's next postmaster, as- suming duties September 1, 1897. to December 31, 1907. The post office at that time was in a room north of the Moehle-Tscharner store, the former bank building. Hanover and St. Louis streets.
Geo. F. Tscharner succeeded Cantrell. assuming duties January 1, 1908. Until June 1909, Okawville was a fourth class office, but in July of that year it was advanced to third class, maintaining that status for 15 years.
Tscharner served until June 16, 1913, when he was succeeded by W'm. F. Hagebusch, who took office June 17, 1913, continued in that capacity until August 17, 1921. The office was now in the W. G. Frank building, Front & Wal- nut streets, having moved there in 1915.
J. W. Miller succeeded Hagebusch, serving until June 24, 1930, when he was succeeded by Chester A. Bailey (June 21, 1930 to July 31. 1931), when Frank H. Morgan took over the duties, serving until July 31, 1919.
Arthur 1. Koetting. Jr., the present incumbent, started his duties August 1. 1919. The move to the new post office building on Nashville & High streets took place May 14, 1960. The office is now advanced to second class. Mrs. Kathleen Grattendick and Mrs. Bertha Schwankhaus are assistants. Stanley W. Garbs is the rural carrier.
Jacob H. Stricker and Wm. F. Lohmeier, both de- ceased. served long tenure- as rural carriers out of the local office, with Fred Schorfheide as assistant. August Grefe currently is the assistant carrier.
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THE WASHINGTON COUNTY HOSPITAL
Washington County is one of the few counties in the state that can boast it has a $750.000 modern hospital. debt free. (Actual cost of hospital, including new equipment that has been added is $751,224.92).
No tax was collected to pay the hospital cost. The only tax is a small operational tax charged to people in the hos- pital district. All memorials, donations, and funds that are received go toward future expansion and added equipment, to better serve the medical needs of the entire county.
Here is rather an amazing statistical tabulation:
Hospital site (5 acres) was donated by Amos H. Watts and Wadsworth W. Watts; Rueter estate, $194,283.88: pledges and donations from organizations and individuals of Nashville and Washington County. $287.613.97; Hill Burton Federal Grant, $183,000: City Government of Nash- ville, $97.500; Memorials. $17.943.73.
The hospital has 37 beds with four extra in time of overflow. Several times during the past year all beds have been full.
There were 112 births at the hospital in 1963; 104 in 1961; 100 in 1965; 82 in 1966, and 48 (so far) in 1967, making a total of 446.
Total patients average daily census: 16.5 in 1963; 21.8 in 1961; 19.4 in 1965; 21.1 in 1966; 24.9 in 1967. Total admissions, 3,686. Total dollars medical service rendered, 1966, $251,722.27. The hospital has 65 full time and five part time employes. Five county doctors are on the staff, as well as 32 consulting physicians, and three dentists.
The Bridget Hughes Hospital
Nashville's first hospital, started as a $5,000 corpora- tion in 1907, was through an initial gratuity of Bridget Hughes, whose will left most of her estate for that purpose. The hospital (now the Farm Bureau building ) was opened in the fall of 1910. with 25 beds. As an early hospital, it did an admirable job, but was forced to close during the summer of 1922. Bridget Hughes, whose life was the hard work of a domestic, also left small sums to several county churches and the orphanage at Hoyleton.
Revolutionary War Burials in the County
According to Harriet J. Walker's much-used record of Revolutionary Soldiers Buried in Illinois, published in 1918, upon the anniversary of Illinois' first one hundred years, there were four recorded burials in Washington county, as follows:
GEORGE BROWN was from Virginia, born in Chester- field county in 1752. He enlisted in Charlotte county March, 1780, serving two months with Capt. Thomas Williams; again in 1781 for two months under Capt. Dudley Barrel and Col. Peter Muhlenberg: again he served for two months under Capt. Pickeway and Col. Holt Richardson. He re- moved to Washington county, Illinois, where he died March 24, 1842. He was pensioned.
JAMES CRABTREE was from Virginia, where he served in the war as ensign in the Washington county line of troops. He came to Washington county, Illinois. and died there. He was pensioned.
CONRAD GOODNER was from North Carolina, and served from that state. He came to Illinois, settling in St. Clair county, but removed to Washington county, where he died. Ile was pensioned.
THOMAS McCLERKEN was from Chester county, Camden district, South Carolina. He removed to Kentucky, and from there to Indiana, and thence to Washington coun- ty, Illinois, where he died. and is buried near Sparta. A stone tells of his being a Revolutionary soldier. Each year the Grand Army post places flowers on his grave. At the age of 95 years he applied for a pension, but doubtless died before it was granted. "County and Family Histories."
There have been unconfirmed stories of other Revolu- tionary War burials in Washington County. in unmarked or forgotten graves. Perhaps some of this is true, but as far as the editors of this book can attain, there are no records of the same.
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History of St. John's Church, Johannisburg
Early in the 1800s. Napoleon had most of Europe anxious and afraid. Because of war, poverty and fear of the future, many German people came to America in an effort to find freedom and a better life. Some of these Germans who came from Hanover and West- phalia in the northern part of the province, settled in the Johannisburg community. Their faith was that of the Evangelical Church of Prussia, which was a union of the Reformed and Lutheran faiths.
These people organized the Independent Evan- gelical Lutheran St. Johannes Congregation here in 1837. (The first written history, by Rev. Adolf Diet- rich, begins in 1883, however judging by the first list of children who were baptized, it is concluded that the congregation existed as early as 1837.) The first church building was of logs. erected on the northwest corner of the present park block. It also served as a schoolhouse, where the children were taught the Ger- man language and the Christian religion from the Lutheran catechism and the Bible.
In 18-12 the church in Venedy separated from the Johannisburg congregation. A disagreement about the hymn books is given as the reason for the separation. This group, in turn. joined the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church.
St. John's congregation continued to grow. A new church building was completed and dedicated on Palm Sunday, April 13. 1851. This building did not have a steeple. and the bell was hung in a wooden frame alongside the church.
In 1857 some of the members of St. John's who lived in Elkhorn Prairie separated from the mother church and organized the St. Peter's Church and school there. This was a friendly separation, because of distances involved. This new community was first called St. Petersburg but later changed its name to Stone Church.
In 1865 the old log schoolhouse was found in- adequate and a new brick building was built. The present park was laid out in 1878.
In 1883 the steeple, with two rooms, was added to the church building, increasing it to its present length. In 1891 the building was renovated and arched windows set in. In the same year the first pastor of the Evangelical Synod of North America was called. Up to this time the pastors were "free" ministers. This new Evangelical pastor was Rev. C. J. Knicker, who in- troduced the Evangelical Hymnal and Catechism.
In 1893 the present parsonage was built, super- ceding a small building of two rooms. Later a kitchen
St. John's Church at Johannisburg, before the fence was removed.
and two rooms were added. In 1912 the brick school- house was partially destroyed in a heavy rainstorm. It was decided to build a new frame building, larger than the old structure.
In 1913 the Ladies Aid Society was organized while Rev. Th. Uhdau was pastor. This group financed the renovation of the church interior in 1925. On October 3. 1937. St. John's joined the South Illinois Synod of Evangelical and Reformed Churches. In 1948 the church interior was again redecorated, a utility room added and a furnace installed.
In 1959 St. John's formed a "charge" with St. Peter's at Stone Church, in which they agreed to share one pastor. New E. & R. hymnals were pur- chased in 1961.
Herewith is the list of pastors who served the congregation: Ottomar Fuerbringer, Wm. Frank, Wm. Flickinger. Christoph H. Erni, R. Knoll, Gustav Staig- er. Gustav Scydel. P. Lorentzen. Adolph Von Menger- shansen. Carl Munter, P. W. Schaefer, Adolf Dietrich, Adalbert Hammerschmidt. W. Weber, A. Hauft, C. J. Knicker. E. Hugo. A. Seffzig. Fr. Ilempelmann, Wm. Schuessler. P. Krickhahn, Chr. Bendigkeit, J. Krause, Theo. Otto Uhdau, Theophil Wittlinger. Fred Bock, Dr. Theol. C. Schieler, Herman Erber. Rev. Eggen, Rheinhold Schmiechen, Carl A. J. Buck, J. M. Hertel. Edwin Figenrauch, Hans M. Nottrott.
Editor's Note: Photogenically, the Johannisburg church easily is a "prize" in the county. its simple yet dominant architecture reminiscent of an age that is fast disappearing from the American scene).
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COAL . AND WASHINGTON COUNTY
Coal has been part of Washington County's in- dustry for decades. The Number Six vein is too deep within county borders for the inroads of the big strip- ping shovels, but deep-shaft mines have tapped this vein at various spots, to consistent, long-lasting com- mercial profit. Some of the county coal mines have been short-lived, others just the opposite. The Bois Coal Company mine, closed in September 1961, long a Landmark at DuBois, was the oldest mine in Illinois.
VER DÝ COAL CU.
The Venedy Coal Company Mine, only remaining mine in Washington County.
Nashville, currently without a coal mine, has had two deep-shaft mines in its past. The old Huegely Mine, south of present Illinois Highway 460, near the Missouri-Illinois tracks, is little more than a memory.
Nashville's second mine, operated by the Nich- olson Coal Company, later selling out to Clarkson,
closed about 1939, after an old oil well flooded the tunnels, making operation unprofitable. This mine, alongside the L&N tracks east of the depot, once served as a coaling station for the railroad before the days of the diesels. Nothing remains of the mine today.
Ashley had a deep-shaft mine, south of route 460, but it has been closed for a long time.
Okawville's first coal mine was sunk near the spot where the state highway building now stands. It went down to the No. 6 vein, but the coal here had a bad fault. about two feet of slag mixed in the vein, so really only about four feet of coal could be mined. The mine closed shortly after World War I as an un- profitable operation. It's hoisting engine and cages were purchased by the new mine at Venedy.
Okawville's second mine, sunk southeast of the L&N depot, on what is now the Riechmann land, had a short life as well, closing in 1941, about two years
The Clarkson mine at Nashville before it was dismantled.
after it started operation. The shaft here went down to the No. 6 vein, but a fault in the coal seam made mining unprofitable. All that remains of this mine today is a pile of rubble that was once part of the boiler room.
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The DuBois mine before it was abandoned.
Washington County's only operating coal mine today is the deep-shaft mine of the Venedy Coal Com- pany, currently employing 22 men. The mine was started by the Adolph Brockschmidt family. Ed. Petri. William Bergmann and Herman Maschoff. baek in 1921. mining its first coal in 1922. The shaft here is 260 feet deep, to the No. 6 vein, which at this point often reaches a depth of eight feet. The Scanlan Brothers took over the operation of the mine in July, 1946. Recently the mine set a production rec- ord of 240 tons of coal in a single day.
The twin shafts of the Darmstadt Coal Company, started about 1910. were so near the county line in Washingon County that the mine produced coal from both this county and St. Clair County.
The No. 5 Mine of the Centralia Coal Co., located just inside Washington County borders at Wamac, is
the only mine within the county ever suffering a major tragedy. On March 26. 1947, a dust explosion at 3:30 trapped nearly 130 men in the tunnels. When the dead were brought up from the smoking death- trap, one by one. the total finally reached 111, rated as one of the worst mine disasters in Illinois. Operat- ing full blast in the war years, with little thought for the safety of the men. accumulation of coal dust in the tunnels finally triggered the blast.
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