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HISTORY

CASS COUNTY,

ILLINOIS.

EDITED BY WILLIAM HENRY PERRIN.

I L It a 3 T^^ TED.

CHICAGO:

O. h. BASKIN & CO., HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS, LAKESIDE BUILDING.

1882.

■"•"^^^^J CHICAGO LEQAL NEW9 00., PRINTERS. «"*t^<-«»'

7// A

PEEFACE.

A FTER several months of laborious research and persistent toil, the history of Cass
-^-*- County is completed, and it is our hope and belief that no subject of general importance
or interest has been overlooked or omitted, and even minor facts, when of sufficient note to be
worthy of record, have been faithfully chronicled. In short, where protracted investigation
promised results commensurate with the undertaking, matters not only of undoubted record
but legendary lore, have been brought into requisition. We are well aware of the fact that it
is next to impossible to furnish a perfect history from the meager resources at the command
of the historian under ordinary circumstances, but claim to have prepared a work fully up to
the standard of our engagements. Through the courtesy and assistance generously afforded

O by the residents of Cass, we have been enabled to trace out and put into systematic shape the

Ln greater portions of the events that have transpired in the county, up to the present time, and

I' wo feel assured that all thoughtful persons interested in the matter will recognize and appre-

5^ ciate the importance of the work and its permanent value.

gi A dry statement of facts has been avoided, so far as it was possible to do so, and anecdote

^ and incident has been interwoven with plain recital and statistics, thereby forming a narrative

C" at once instructive and entertaining.

To those who have assisted our corps of writers in gathering material, or who have fur-
nished, direct, matter incorporated in the work, our thanks are due, and to Hon. J. Henry
Shaw and Judge Jno. A. Arenz, of Beardstown, we acknowledge special indebtedness.

^ Septembee, 1882. THE PUBLISHERS.

214:266

CONTENTS.

PABT I.

Page.

CHAPTER I.— Cass County— Early Notes on Illinois— The
French Travelers and Explorers — The Indians-
Wars of the Iroquois and Kiekapoos— Legend of
Monsoela — Different Owners of Illinois— Beards-
town Mound — Purchase of the Country from the In-
dians— Miscellaneous, etc - 11

CHAPIER II.— Settlements of the Country Not Included
in Cass County— Some of the Pioneers and Where
Thpy Settled— The Sangamo Country— Its Fertility
—Prairie, Schooners — First Land Entry— Beard's
Ferry— Beard & Marsh's Entry of Land— First Set-
tlers of Beardstown— Deed of Defeasance — Going to
Egypt for Corn— Arrival of Other Settlers— The En-
trj'of Land, etc 18

CHAPTER I.— Increase of Population— The Deep Snow
of 1830— The Black Hawk War— Rendezvous of Sol-
diers at Beardstown — Cause of Dr. Chandler's Settle-
ment — Meeting Between Him and Abraham Lincoln
—Business of Beardstown in 1834— The Early Log
Cabins— Yankees and Yankee Tricks— Com Bread,
etc 25

CHAPTER IV.— Organization of Cass County— The Con-
vention at Rushville — Legislative Act Creating the
County— Other Acts— First Election for Officers —
The Numberof Voters— An Incident of a Wolf— The
Cold Day of 1837— Location of the County Seat-
Scarcity of Money — The County Machinery Put in
Motion- The Courts— Trouble from Horse Thieves —
Eugene Honorius— The Census, etc 36

CHAPTER v.— Fertile Lands of Cass— Its Geological For-
mations — Coal Measures — Different Deposits — Coal
— Building Stone — Legislative Representatives from
Cass County — Principal County Oflicers Since For-
mation—Illinois River Items, etc 52

CHAPTER VI.— Agriculture of Cass County— Farming in
the Primitive Times— Improved Farm Implements
—Agricultural Fairs and Associations— Lists of Offi-
cers— Cass County Park Association- Its Organiza-
tion, etc.— Fine Stock of the County— Short Horn
Herds, etc.— The Railroads, etc 66

CHAPTER VII.— Virginia Precinct— Description, Bound-
aries and Topography— Western Pioneer Life— Set-
tlement of the Precinct by White People— Character
of the Pioneers— Their Trials, Troubles and Hard-
ships—Early Improvements and Industries— Roads,
Bridges, etc.— Schools— The First s'chool-houses—

Early Teachers— Present Educational Facilities-
Churches and Preachers— Old Shiloh Church— Mis-
cellaneous, etc "^2

CHAPTER VIII.— City of Virginia— Its Birth, Location
and Growth— Sale of Lots, and Additions to the
Town— Dr. Hall, Founder of Virginia— First House
and Store— Public Square and Court House— Busi-
ness in the West End— The Present Business Center
—Hotels, Mills, etc.— Doctors and Lawyers— Bank-
ing Business — Incorporation of the City — Municipal
Offices— Summary, etc '?9

CHAPTER IX.— Virginia— Its Growth and Develop-
ment as a City— The Era of Railroads— Project of
Building the Illinois River Railroad— The Ohio and
Mississippi, etc.- Newspapers of Virginia- First
Paper Established in the Town— The Present City
Press— Court Houses and the County Seat Question
—The Jail— Miscellaneous, etc 91

CHAPTER X. — Virginia — Religious History — First
Churches and Preachers— The Different Denomina-
tions and Their Temples of Worship — Sunday
Schools, etc.— Educational— The Early Schools of
Virginia— Pioneer Teachers— The Public Schools—
C. P. College— War History— Secret and Benevolent
Institutions, etc 57

CHAPTER XI.— Beardstown— City and Precinct— Laying
OutoftheTown— Its Location— Organization— First
Officers— The County Seat Question— Churches —
Schools— The Press— Railroads— The Professions-
Early Settlers— Business Interests— War Record,
etc 108

CHAPTER XII.— Chandlerville Precinct— Topograph-
ical Features— Pioneer Times— Early Families —
Educational — Societies— Mills— Village of Chand-
lerville.. 122

CHAPTER XIII.— Ashland Precinct— Physical Features
—Early Settlers — Pioneer Times — Schools and
Churches— The Village of Ashland 133

CHAPTER XIV.— Arenzville Precinct— Its Early History
—The Three Mile Territory— Early Residence of the
Settlers— Emigrants from Germany— School-houses
and Churches in the School Districts— The Village
of Arenz\'ille— First Lots Surveyed— Business of the
Town— Churches and School-houses in the Villages
— Some of the Prominent Men of the Time— Francis
Arenz, John L Cire, Dr. George Engelbach, and
Others— Miscellaneous, etc 143

CHAPTER XV.— Princeton Precinct— General Descrip-
tion—Boundaries. Topography and Surface Feat-

CONTENTS.

Page.
nres— The Early Settlement^Pioneer Hardships-
First MUl, and other Improvements— Walnut Grove
School-house — Present Schools— Churches — Old
Princeton, and its Business Enterprise— Little In-
dian Village 155

CHAPTER XVI.— Kichmond Precinct— Physical Features
—Indians— Pioneer Times— Early Settlers— Schools,
Churches and Stores 160

CHAPTER XVII— Philadelphia Precinct^Descriptive—
Topography and Physical Features— Organization
as a Precinct— The Settlement of the Whites— Their
Life on the Frontier— Pioneer Improvements —
Churches, Schools, etc.�� Philadelphia and Lan-
caster—A Lost City, etc 166

CHAPTER XVIII.— Monroe Precinct — Description —
Physical Features — Settlement and Pioneer Times —
jTowth and Improvement — Churches, Schools,
etc 170

CHAPTER XIX.— Oregon Precinct- Description and
Settlement— Pioneer Life — Indiana — Churches and
Schools 178

CHAPTER XX.— Hickory Precinct— Physical Features—
Fii-st Settlement and Subsequent Growth— Progress
of Industries and Improvements — Churches and
Schools 183

PART n.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Virginia— City and Precinct 193

Beardstowu— City and Precinct 227

Page.

Chandlerville Precinct 281

Ashland Precinct 303

ArenzviUe Precinct 313

Indian Creek Precinct i. 324

Princeton Precinct 327

Richmond Precinct 330

Philadelphia Precinct 337

Monroe Precinct 340

Oregon Precinct 347

Hickory Precinct 355

PORTRAITS.

Arenz, J. A 45

Boone, N. H 279

Brauer, Frederick 135

Campbell, William 207

Carr, David 189

Chandler, Charles 63

Clre, L. J 315

Crum, James 133

Decker, John 117

Engelbach, Herman 243

Leeper, W. D 3.51

Linn, William 333

Lohmann, Frank 261

NoUsch, Gottlieb 297

Petefish, s. H ."■ 81

Shaw, J. Henry 27

Sklles, Ignatius 99

Tureman, J. H 171

Wagner, David 225

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PAKT I.

HISTORY

C^SS COUNTY

CHAPTER I.

CASS COUNTY*— EARLY NOTES ON ILLINOIS— THE FRENCH TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS
THE INDIANS—WARS OF THE IROQUOIS AND KICKAPOOS— LEGEND OF MON-
SOELA— DIFFERENT OWNERS OF ILLINOIS— BEARDSTOWN MOUND
—PURCHASE OF THE COUNTRY FROM THE INDIANS-
MISCELLANEOUS, ETC.

ILLINOIS dates its white settlements among
the first in North America. Four years
prior to the settlement of Plymouth, Le Baron

had explored Upper Canada, and twenty
years later the hardy and ambitious French
traders and voyageurs and zealous mission-
aries had erected trading- posts and missions
along the rivers and upon the lake shores,
now within the jurisdiction of Illinois and
Wisconsin.

At that period the surface of Illinois was
much lower, geologically considered, than it
is at the present time. Since its creation,
the thin crust of the earth has been under-
going slow mutations, breathing, as it were,
by centuries, elevating and depressing in the
lapse of ages under the influence of its
mighty lungs of fire, sinking slowly and im-
perceptibly beneath their former level con-
tinents and islands, and as gradually raising
others above the waste of waters.

While the countries bordering upon the

* The Chapters on the County at large are written for this
work by Hon J. Hen y Shaw, of teardstown.

Levantine seas have been gradually en-
croached upon by the water, there has been a
corresponding rise in the earth's surface here.
Two hundred years ago the white settlers
of Illinois navigated the Mississippi and Illi-
nois rivers to the great northern lakes.
French pirogues and Indian canoes found no
difficulty in passing through the portages of
the North to Hudson's B ly. The routes from
the Mississippi river — up the Wisconsin and
down the Fox to Lake Michigan ; and uj> the
Illinois or "River of the Mianiis," as it was
then called, to ('hicago river; or up the Kan-
kakee and down the St. .loseph — were well
known and navigated. Indeed, but a few
centuries since, these rivers were the south-
ern outlets for the waters of the great lakes,
and the Illinois penitentiary, near Joliet, now
stands upon a ledge of rocks over which a
great river once flowed in rapids similar to
those of the Upper Mississippi.

In the southern part of the State, at that
point now known as Tower Rock, this great
river was dammed up by a wall of rock, over

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

which it fell one hundred feet, forming a
cataract of such volume and height as to rival
even Niagara. But the continual wearing
power of the water, aided materially by earth-
quakes, which have left their sign in the vicin-
ity, finally opened the present channel of the
Mississippi, and gave an outlet to the ocean of
waters that lay stagnating in the swamps,
now prairies, above, and causing the present
agricultural productiveness of the ancient beds
of these great waters.

Two hundred years ago Northern and
Central Illinois was inhabited by two power-
ful nations of liidians, the Illinois and the
Miainis. The latter occupied the northern
part of the present State and part of Wiscon-
sin, and their chief town was upon the present
site of Chicago.

The Illinois tribe occupied the country
l)ordoring upon the Illinois river, called by
the French the " River Seignelay, " and all the
country between that and the " River Col-
bert," or Mississippi.

The principal tribe of the Illinois were the
Muscootens, and their town was upon the
present site of Beardstown, on the east bank
of the river, at the foot of Muscooten Bay,
and was called by the French the " Mound
Village." The Peorias, another of the Illi-
nois tribes, generally occupied that portion of
the country between the rivers, having their
town on the west l).ink of the Illinois river,
four miles above the Muscooten village, upon
the bluffs back of the present town of Fred-
erick. The present site of Beardstown was
at that time an island, surrounded on the
north, east and south by almost impassable
swamps, containing dangerous quicksands
and quaking bogs, and which could be cross-
ed only in canoes, or by Indians jumping
from hillock to hillock of the turf gras-j with
which these swamps were interspersed, and on
the west by the Seignelay or Illinois River.
The Indian town of the Muscootens was a

beautiful place. It was built upon a series of
mounds, covered with grass, and partially
shaded by tall trees, which stood like sentinels
upon the hills, or ornamental trees upon a
lawn, so scattered as not to obstruct the view
of the whole town from the river. The island
had evidently been selected, not only on ac-
count of its natural beauty, but for its easy
defense and safety from enemies.

By two bends in the river, forming two ob-
tuse angles, the allied villages of the Peorias
and the Muscootens stood at the two elbows,
in plain sight of each other, the i)road river
foi-niing a straight sheet of water between,
while north of the Mound Village, and in
front of the Peorias, spread the wide and
glassy surface of Muscooten Bay, separated
from the river by a narrow peninsula. Back
of the swamp which protected the rear of the
town, was a wide belt of rich prairie bottom
land, and beyond, six miles, loomed up the
Sangamon Bluffs, looking like miniature
Andes in the distance, between wliicli and the
island, in the day time, all approaching foes
could be discerned.

This island town was a favorite resting
place with the weary voyageurs and devout
missionaries; a large cross was erected here,
and friendly relations established between the
"children of the forest" and the white men.
This favoritism on the part of the French
towards the Illinois Indians, excited the jeal-
ousy of the Mianiis, and they determined
upon revenge. In vain did the missionaries
try to prevent animosities. The Miamis in-
vaded the country of the Illinois, and took
some prisoners.

At this time the Chevalier La Salle, who
had built a fort called Creve Cceur, or the
Broken Heart, where the present city of
Peoria now stands, in order to prevent further
hostilities, made a journey alone down the riv-
er to the Muscooten Village, but his efforts
were without avail, and the war continued.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

The Muscootens believed that La Salle was
acting as a spy for the Iroquois, whose chief
town was then where Buffalo, N. Y., now is,
and who were the most powerful Indian nation
upon the continent. This impression seemed to
be confirmed when it became known to them
that the Iroquois and Miamis had formed an
alliance for the purpose of exterminating them.

Many battles were fought between these
hostile nations, but, by the superior numbers
of their enemies, the Illinois were worsted and
liesieged in their towns. The Peorias forti-
fied themselves with earthworks upon the
l)!uffs at their village, and passed men down
the river in canoes, as necessity required, to
th3 Mound Village, or received help from
there, the river being protected from tl'.e
arrows of the enemy by marshy ground on
one side and the bay on the other, which for-
bade their near approach.

The Muscootens were beseiged in their
island town. Occasionally they were assailed
l)y parties of their enemies, who, more coura-
geous than their fellows, crossed the swamps
in the night, on the grassy hillocks, with the
help of poles. On these occasions fierce bat-
tles were fought, and none of the daring as-
sailants survived to recross those trembling
hillocks. At each defeat the Miamies and
Iroquois became more enraged. In the night
time, when out of danger from arrows, the
allied Indians cut grass and smxil trees, and
gathered floating wood, and built a causeway
across a part of the swamp. When it was
completed, with the aid of canoes disguised
by branches of trees, in the night time, they
rushed upon the island, and for several days
the battle raged fierce. y. There was no
quarter given or asked. Death was dealt by
uns])aring hands on both sides. They had
been rendered doubly savage by hunger and
delay. Their revenge had long been at
usury, and they were now satisfying principal
and interest.

The battle at intervals temporarily sub-
sided, but only when the combatants became
exhausted, and was resumed when rest
brought returnitig strength. Those who from
fatigue were unable to rise, were scalped and
tomahawked, entering from the dreamland of
life to the dreamland of death.

At length, exhausted and overwhelmed by
superior numbers, the Muscootens began to
fall back towards the river, when with yells
of victory their allied enemies rushed upon
them, and with tomahawks and scalping
knives ended the battle. A few of the un-
fortunate Muscootens swam the river, and
concealed themselves until night in the high
swamp grass beyond, and a small number of
men, women and children fled in canoes to
the village of the Peorias, and some were
taken prisoners.

The battle being over, then came the
mourning for the slain. Funeral rites, in
which the missionaries took part, were per-
formed, and in the great mound on tiie bank
of the river, which had been raised centuries
before by a long forgotten race, they buried
the slain warriors with their bows, arrows and
tomahawks, together with the silver and Hint
crosses of the missionaries.

After these ceremonies were concluded,
the Iroquois returned to their own country.
The Miamis, with their prisoners, encamped
upon the present site of Chandlerville, where
game was plenty, and attended to their sick
and dying, great numbers of whom did not
survive their wounds.

Tliose that died were buried in the bluffs near
by, and long after the settlement of Chand-
lerville their ghastly skeletons lay in white
rows, exposed to the sun, laid bare by the ac-
tion of the wind up )n their sandy covering.

Many years ago, at the request of a young
friend, the writer put into verse and rhyme
one of the incidents related above, which is as
fo lows :

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

THE LEGEND OF MONS(ELA.

Far, far into the long ago, and upon the very place
Where Beanlstown stands, there lived and loved and

died a noble race.
Where pretty lawns and spacious streets and lofty

buildings stand,
Monsoela'a Indian village stood upon the hills of sand.

It w.as an island then, and round the hills on v/hich it

stood
The river ripples wandered in a long continuous flood;
While over all the tall oaks waved in foliage bright

and green.
And the trees and tents were mirror'd on the broad

and glassy stream.
Far above the stars were shining, bathed in clouds of

silv'ry light.
And the gentle breeze of summer-day h.ad slumbered

into ni;.;lit;
The mui-mur of the wavelets flowing, and hum of in-
sect wings.
Fell lightly on the sleepers' ears, nor waked their

slumberings.

Three weary moons two Indian tribes had been in

deadly strife,
And Miamis and Muscoutens had yielded many a life ;
Till the allies of the Muscoutens had left them all

alone.
And the Miamis besieged them upon their island home.

Slowly, at night, across the waters upon the southern

side.
The Miamis were paddling up their canoes against the

tide ;
While in advance of every boat was held a branching

bough,
Which from the gaze of watching eyes might shield

the advancing prow.

Upon the island, faint and tired, the Muscoutens lay at
rest,

All witless of the coming foe as the flowers which
they pressed ;

They had fought them day by day, their watchfires
burning night by night,

Until glimmered on their ashen beds the last faint
rays of light.

Just as the distant glittering beams that led the morn-
ing sun

Sat lightly on the yellow knobs of the bluffs of

Sangamon,
A yell as of a thousand fiends fell on the startled

ears,
And sleepers woke to sleep again pierced by the foe-

niens' spears.

Monsoela then, Muscouten's Chief, raised high the
battle cry,

And bade his warriors follow him and win the fight or
die ;

Now on the left, now on the right, his ponderous war-
club foil,

And many an Indian skull crushed he, and stifled
many a yell.

Now backward borne, now pressing on, Muscouten's

wavering liraves
Proved that the blood that nerved their arms was never

meant for slaves ;
'Till overpowered, and rank by rank fell weltering in

their blood.
The lirave Monsoela fought alone amidst the crimson

flood.

Then the ohl chiefs daughter, White Wing, ran

tlirough the rift of spears ;
'Thoujh gentle as a fawn, that day she showed no

childish fears ;
Pierced to the heart, into his arms she threw herself,

a shield,
He grasped her lifeless form and slowly bore her from

the field.

Where the golden grass was waving on the river's

western shore,
Monsoela's birchen shallop touched the flowery bank

once more ;
There oft before the same proud chief had pushed his

light canoe,
With warriors in sinewy keels — three hundred bravt

and true.

Near two hundred years have entered into the dreamy

past
Since thechief of the Muscoutens on his village looked

the last —
One longing, lingering look he gave toward his island

home,
Then drew his mantle round him and wandered forth

alone.

Some years later, Mound Island was taken
posses ion of by the Kickapoo Indians, upon

HISTORY OF CASS COUXTY.

^\hich they built a village, known as " Kicka-
poo Town," although still remcmbererl by the
French Missionaries as the "Beautiful Mound
Village." This became a favorite trading
post and missionary station, and continued in
the possession of the Kickapoos until its set-
tlement by Thomas Beard, in 18"20, after
whom the present city of Beardstown was
named.

A few years later the great mound in
Beardstown began to be encroached upon by
the spade and pickaxe of the avaricious
white man. Still later, Horace Billings built
upon its river front a huge mill, for the pur-
pose of grinding corn, bolting it fine like
wheat flour, kiln-drying, sacking it, and ship-
ping it to Europe as bread stuff. This build-
ing was five stories high, a massive frame, and
the mound was so excavated with winding
roads that teams could be driven to three
different stories, to load and unload.

This enterprise proved a ruinous failure.
The drying process destroyed the vitality of
the meal, and prevented its sale. The build-
ing was destroyed by fire. The earth, of
which the mound was composed, and which
is supposed to have been taken by its builders
from the bottom of the river, was stolen away
by wagon-loads to cover house lots and streets
with, and its site was finally reduced to the
level of the adjacent streets.

The decaying bones of the red warrio-s, as
they lay in their quiet an4 lovely resting
place, with the implements -,of war around
them; the silver and flint crosses of the mis-
sionaries, even the beautiful mound itself,
which as an ornament and historic feature to
the town and river, should have been held
sacred, could not restrain the money- making
white man from destroying it, and it is now
recollected only by the old settlers, who used
to sit upon its summit and watch the passing
away ofthelast of two races — the Indian in his
cano2, and the French voyageur in his j)irogue.

In 1700, Illinois was a part of the territory
owned by the French government, and was
called New France.

In 17^0, all the country west of the Missis-
sippi River belonged to Spain, with Santa Fe
as its capital.

In 17G3, Illinois was ceded by France to
Great Britain, after a " seven year's war,"
Many French inhabitants, rather than live
under British rule, joined La Clede and set-
tled in St. Louis, then French territory.

In 1778, the Illinois country was conquered
from Great Britain by troops from the State
of Virginia, under the command of General
George Rogers Clark, which was an inde-
pendent military enterprise of that State; and
on the 4th day of July of that year, General
Clark and his troops took possession of Kas-
kaskia, the capital of the British possessions
west of the AUeghenies, and declared the
Illinois country free and independent of Great
Britain, thus making the -ith day of July the
natal day of this State as well as of the Na-
tion. In that year, Illinois was created a
county of Virginia, and Timothy Dernanbrun
was appointed by the governor, Patrick Henry,
a justice of the peace, to rule over it; which
was probably the most extensive territorial
jurisdiction that a magistrate ever had.

In 1794, the legislature of the Northwest
Territory divided it into two counties, Ran-
dolph and St. Clair.

In 1800, Illinois was declared a separate
territory.

In 1812, Madison County was organizeil
from St. Clair, and then contained all of the
present State north of St. Clair and Randolph.

In 1818, Illinois was admitted into the
Union as the twenty-second State.

In 1821, Green County was formed from
Madison County.

In 1823, Morgan County was formed from
Green County, which included the territory
now known as Cass County.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

During the first quarter of the present cen-
tiuy, immigration to the Illinois country was
retarded by frequent earthquakes; indeed,
from 1811 to 1813 they were as severe as ever
happened on this continent, and the few set-
tlers then here were in constant dread from
these disturbances. New Madrid, a flourish-
ing town near the mouth of the Ohio, was
utterly destroyed and partially swallowed up.
But in 1825, the Erie Canal was completed,
and steamboats had been introduced upon the
Mississippi and its tributaries, and immigration
received a new impulse and flowed in vigorous-
ly. This immigration excitement was called
east of the Alleghenies, the "western fever; "
and it carried many a good man ofi^ — loest.

Another circumstance which prevetited im-
migration into central Illinois during the
same period was, that all that portion of it
that lay south of the Kankakee, east of the
Illinois, west of the Wabash and north of a
line drawn from the mouth of the Illinois
eastward to the Wabash, including the present
Cass County, was owned and in possession of
the Kickapoos, a powerful and warlike tribe
of Indians, who conquered this territory about
the middle of the last century from the Illi-
nois Indians. The Kickapoos, while friendly
with the French, lookeil with extreme jeal-
ousy upon the Americans, and discouraged
their settlement in this territory. This wide
scope of country, included the best and most
fruitful portions of Illinois, and pioneers were
anxious for the general government to pur-
chase it of the Kickapoos, and open it to set-
tlement. Several efforts were made by the
government to treat with them for their lands,
but being of a haughty spirit, no satisfaction
could be obtained from them, until Gen. Har-
rison defeated them at the battle of Tippe-
canoe, which so diminished their vanity that
they sought to treat, but Gen. Harrison re-
fused. Shortly afterward they were again
defeated by Col. Zachary Taylor, and in Octo-

ber, 1812, Co!. Russell defeated thcmatKick-
apooTown.on the Illinois River, the present
site of Beardstown, and again, in November
Col. HopkinsHestroyed one of their towns on
Wildcat Creek. They then sued for peace,
and their chief. Little Otter, met Gen. Harri-
son. The treaties of Portage des Sioux (Sept.
2, 1815) and Fort Harrison (June 4, 1816), fol-
lowed. These treaties being indefinite in
their results, the Kickapoos still retaining
their lands, many of them religiously believ-
ing and maintaining that they were granted
them by the Great Spirit as their possession
forever, and that he would be angry if they
sold them; the following order was issued by
the general government, addressed to Gov.
Wm. Clark, Indian Superintendent at St.
Louis, and to Gov. Ninian Edwards, Gov-
ernor of the Territory of Illinois:

" Department of War, Nov. 1, 1817.

" Gentlemen: — I have the honor to enclose
you a commission, for the purpose of treating
with the Illinois, the Kickapoos, the Potta-
watomies and other tribes of Indians within
the Illinois territory. The object of this nego-
tiation is to obtain a cession from the tribes
who may have a claim to it, of all that tract
of land which lies between the mo.st north-
eastern point of boundary of the lands ceded
by the Kaskaskias in August, 1803, the San-
gamo and the Illinois rivers; and which tract
of land comj^letely divided the settled parts
of the Illinois Territory from that part which
lies between the Illinois and Mississippi
rivers, and which has been lately surveyed for
the purpose of satisfying the military land
bounties, a circumstance which makes the
acquisition of this tract of country peculiarly
desirable.

"If either of the tribes who have a claim
to the land is desirous of exchanging their
claim for lands on the west of the Mississippi,
you are authorized to make the exchange, and
your extensive local knowledge of the coun-

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

try will enable you to designate that part of it
where it would be most desirable to locate
the lands to be given as an equivalent. To
other tribes who may not wish to remove, you
will allow such an annuity, for a fixed period,
as you may deem an adequate compensation
for the relinquishment of their respective
claims. To enable you to give the usual pres-
ents on such occasions, you are authorized
to draw on this department for §G,000.

"The contractor will furnish, on the re-
quisition of either of you, the rations that
may be necessay for the supply of the Indians
while attending the treaty. Your compensa-
tion will be at the rate of eight dollars per
day for the time actually engaged in treating
with the Indians; and that of the secretary,
whom you are authorized to appoint, will be
at the rate of five dollars a day.

"I have the honor to be, with great respect,
"Your obedient servant,

"George Geaham,
"Acting Secretary of War."

Under these instructions, such negotiations
were had with the Kickapoo Indians, that on
the 30th day of July, 1819, that tribe ceded
to the United States all the above described
tract of land. The final treaty was signed on

the part of the government by August Choteau
and Benjamin Stevenson, and by twenty-three
chiefs of the Kickapoos, who reluctantly
placed their awkward but significant sio-n-
manuals thereto. Among other things, and
together with many presents and much amuni-
tion, the United States agreed to pay them
$3,000 a year for fifteen years, and assigned
them a large tract on the Osage. From the
date of tlie treaty they began to remove from
the State, but very slowly and reluctantly,
and in 1823 there were still four hundred
Kickapoos remaining in Central Illinois, and
up to 1821, quite a large number of them
remained within the present limits of Cass
County, and at their town on the present site
of Beardstown. A few of them, who had
connected with the French by marriage, re-
mained in Beardstown and on the islands
near by, many years afterward.

This purchase from the Kickapoos, opened
the most beautiful portion of the State to set-
tlers. That part of it now included in the
counties of Cass, Morgan, Scott, Mason, Men-
ard, Sangamon, Logan, Macon and some oth-
ers, was known far and near, as the " Sangamo
Country," and its fertile soil soon attracted
great numbers of actual settlers, who made
farms, laid out towns, built roads and bridges.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER n.

SETTLEMENTS OF THE COUNTRY NOT INCLUDED IN CASS COUNTY— SOME OF THE PION-
EERS AND WHERE THEY SETTLED— THE SANGAMO COUNTRY— ITS FERTILITY-
PRAIRIE SCHOONERS— FIRST LAND ENTRY— BEARD'S FERRY— BEARD &
MARSH'S ENTRY OF LAND— FIRST SETTLERS OF BEARDSTOWN—
DEED OF DEFEASANCE— GOING TO EGYPT FOR CORN- AR-
RIVAL OF OTHER SETPLERS- THE ENTRY OF LAND,
ETC., ETC., ETC.

IN 1818 a man by the name of PuIIam
settled upon Horse Creek, a tributary of
the Sangamon river, and later, in November
of that year, Seymour Kellogg first settled
the country afterward included in Morgan
County, and it was at his house that the first
white child of the Sangamo country was born.

The first actual and permanent vfhite set-
tler within the limits of the present city of
Beardstown, was Thomas Beard, who came
here on horseback when it was a Kickapoo
town, in 1819, and made it his home as a
trader among the Indians.

JNIartin L. Lindsley, together with his wife
and two children, John C. and Mary A., and
Timothy Harris and John Cettrough, settled
in Beardstown in 1820, and afterward located
in " Camp Hollow," a mile east of the present
county farm, where Mr. Lindsley built a cabin,
and the first white child born in this (after-
ward) Cass County, was added to his family.

During the year 1820, a family named Eg-
gleston settled on the site of Beardstown.

Major Elijah lies, now a resident of Spring-
field, 111., landed in 1819 where Beardstown
now is, on his way to the " Keeley Settle-
ment," afterward named Calhoun, and now
Springfield, the State capital. He says that at
that time there was a hut at Beardstown, built
of birchen poles, standing on the bank of the
river, but unoccupied. As the Indians lived
in tents, this hut was probably erected by the

French traders nearly a quarter of a century
before the landing of Major lies.

Archibald Job settled first at Beardstown,
and then at Sylvan Grove, in the north edge
of North Prairie, in the spring of 1821, sur-
rounded by Kickapoo Indians.

There were other pioneers who temporarily
settled here about that time, whose names we
have not learned.

In 1821, there were but twenty white fam-
ilies within the present limits of Morgan,
Cass and Scott Counties.

But when the reputation of the " Sangamo
Country" for unrivaled fertility, and that the
Indian title to it had become extinguished,
and the lands would soon be surveyed and
offered for sale by the government, had
reached Kentucky and Tennessee, the sturdy
and enterprising farmers of those States be-
gan to remove thereto in great numbers.

There was at that time in common use, a
craft known as the "prairie ship," or as some
called it the "prairie schooner," and nothing
similar to it ever floated or moved in or
upon or between the waters of the earth. It
was constructed with four huge wheels, upon
which was a great bed or box, formed like a
quarter of a moon, with the bend hanging be-
tween the fore and aft wheels. The solid
running gearing, well and fantastically ironed,
the broad felloes heavily tired, the tongue
arranged for a propelling power of either

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

horses or oxen, its high end-boards and curv-
ing side-boards, ribbed and barred and riveted,
glaring in red or blue paint, was not gotten
up merely for show. It made no pretensions
to beauty. It was thoroughly a substantial
craft. What has l)ecome of the old "prairie
ship," with the four horses before it, and the
driver in his saddle (Sn the near wheel-horse,
twitching at a single rein?

The old " prairie ship," with its great white
cover and flapping curtains, looking at a dis-
tance on the prairie like a ship on the ocean,
was the great original of the emigrant wagon
of the West. This craft was of vast capacity.
It contained ample bedding for a large fam-
ily, made up of all ages and sexes. It held
cooking utensils, provisions, ammunition,
tubs, buckets, besides the family. The wagon
box or bed was fitted with flat iron staples,
about eighteen inches apart, along its sides,
and in those were placed ashen hoops which
bended over from side to side of the wagon
box, leaving a roomy space inside about five
feet high and twenty feet more or less long,
■which when covered with canvas, looped over
at the ends, made a comfortable room, high,
dry and safe from storms. Upon the sides of
the wagon box were cleats to secure the crow-
bar, axes, spades, mattocks, chisels and
augurs; and underneath hung the kettles, tar-
bucket, water-bucket and baskets. An extra
log-chain was coiled around the coupling pole
under the wagon for use in emergencies,
which frequently happened.

It was in these prairie schooners that most
of the first settlers of Cass (then Morgan)
County emigrated from the older States. These
journeys were not altogether pleasure trips, al-
though there were pleasant features connected
with them, and thej' were usually terminated
with every member of the family in robust
health, sickness verj' rarely afflicting those who
traveled in this way, yet they were sometimes
attended with dangers, hardships and "hair-

breadth 'scapes," which were profitably re-
counted by the participants in after life to the
rising generation. There were but few roads
and bridges at that time, and the prairies had
to be crossed on Indian trails, the rivers
forded where there were no ferries, and the
creeks and brooks, where the banks were
steep, were still more difficult to cross.
In such case, sometimes a bridge was impro-
vised, or a tree was felled across it, the limbs
removed, the wagons taken all apart, and
each separate piece and article of freight
carried by hand across over the fallen tree,
and set up and loaded on the other side,
Sometimes a single "mover" would do all,
this alone. But, for convenience, these
"movers" would sometimes travel in com-
panies or caravans, and in that case assist each
other, and thus make the journey much more
pleasant, safe and expeditious. It was a
common sight upon the Illinois prairies in
those days to see such a caravan, the white
canvas tops of the prairie schooners looking
in the distance like a fleet at sea under sail.
These emigrants generally drove along with
them a few head of cattle, or led some brood
mares, so that in the new country they were
prepared to raise cattle and horses. Some
also brought in a coop lashed to the wagon, a
few fowls, for the purpose of raising chickens
in the new home.

Let us suppose several of these prairie
schooners, in the early "twenties," have
reached the northern part of Morgan County
(now Cass), and, enraptured with the view,
unhitch the teams and look around. The
land was surveyed and offered for sale by the
government for the first time in November,
1823, so that all those who settled here pre-
vious to that date were only "■squatters " on
the public lands, waiting for the time to come
when they could pre-empt or buy. Our im-
aginary immigrants, having looked around
find there is a navigable river, the Illinois, a

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

few miles distant, which will insure them a
future market for their produce. They find
good, rich prairie land for their farms, and
plenty of timber for housing and fencing.
They conclude this will do. Having selected
the tract of land that suits them, they go to
some distant town for a surveyor, who comes
and gives them the numbers and metes and
bounds. They then make a weary journey on
horseback of a hundred miles to Edwardsville,
where the government land office is located,
to enter or buy the land. Having secured the
land — the family having domiciled in the
wagon in the meantime — the men-folks pro-
ceed to build a log cabin, in the structure of
which not a nail, or bit of iron or glass is used.
The outside walls are made of round or hewn
logs, fitted together at the ends and chinked
with chips and clay between them. The floor
is made of split logs. The roof is covered
with rived weather-boards, kept in their
places by poles laid across them. The chim-
ney is made with logs and sticks and clay.
The doors are made with split boards, fas-
tened together with wooden pins, swung on
wooden hinges, and fastened only with a
wooden latch. Bedsteads are improvised of
poles, and benches of split logs on sapling
legs.

Tlius the " first families " of Cass County
started in life, and most of the great farms
within its borders had such a beofinninof.

The first land " entry" (i. e. purchase from
the government,) was made by Thomas Beard
and Enoch C. March, jointly, upon the north-
east quarter of Section 15, in Township 18,
Range 13, September 23, 182G. It was upon
this fractional quarter section that Mr. Beard's
cabin was built. It was placed upon the
steep bank of the river, at the present foot of
State street, near where he afterward built
his brick hotel. In the following spring it
was discovered that this cabin had been built
over a den of snakes, and thousands of them.

of many kinds, came out upon the ojiening
of warm weather.

The first licensed ferry across the Illinois
river was established June 5, 1836, by Thomas
Beard, and a license was granted him by the
county commissioners of Schuyler county,
upon his paying six dollars per annum into
the treasury of that county. That ferry is in
operation yet by the assigns of the Beard
heirs, at Beardstown, where it was first lo-
cated. There was at that time no road from
Beardstown through Schuyler county, but
blazes on the trees was made out as far as
where Rushville now stands. Schuyler county
had been organized, and the county seat had
been located near where Pleasant View now
is, and, strangely enough, that was named
Beardstown, too. Why this was so named,
so soon after Thomas Beard had named his
town, is now past finding out. But the location
was soon after removed to Rushville, or Rush-
ton, as it was first called.

Thomas Beard's ferry-boat was managed by
himself alone, the propelling power being a
pole in his strong hands. It was so small
that only one wagon and two horses could be
crossed at one time, and then very little stand-
ing room was left for passengers.

On the 28th day of October, 1827, Beard
and March entered the northwest quarter of
section 15, township 18, Range 12, which ex-
tended their river front down below the great
mound.

Thomas Beard individually entered the
west half of the southwest quarter of section
15, township 18, Range 12, October 10, 1827;
and John Knight entered the east half of the
southwest 15, 18, 13, July 17, 1828. Thus
there were three men entered the entire sec-
tion upon which the original town of Beards-
town was located, in the years 182G, 1827 and
1828.

The original town of Beardstown consisted
of twenty-three blocks, fronting on the river.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

three tiers of blocks deop, reaching from Clay
to Jackson streets, of which block ten, lying
between the Park and Main street, and State
and Washington, is the central one. It was
laid out and platted by Enoch C. March and
Thomas Beard, and acknowledged before
Thomas B. Arnet, a justice of tin psace of
Jacksonville, Sept. 29, 1829, and is recorded
on page 228 of Book Bof the Morgan County
Records, a transcript of which is in the Cass
Countj' Records.

Among the first settlers in Beardstown,
after it became a town site, were Francis
Arenz and Nathaniel Ware, who purchased
an interest and became joint landed proprie-
tors with Beard and March. The town was
named after Thomas Beard.

The first deed from March and Beard upon
record of lands within the present limits
of Beardstown, was made before the town
was laid out, and is dated August 21, 1828,
to " Charles Robinson, of New Orleans," for
the consideration of one hundred dollars,
being for a " part of the fractional part of the
northwest quarter of Section 15, Township 18,
Range 12, beginning at a forked birch tree
on the Illinois river bank, marked as a cor-
ner, running thence down the river meanders
thereof, so as to make two hundred yards on
a straight line, and from thence running out
from the river at both ends of the above line
by two parallel lines, until they strike the
north line of the east half of the southwest
quarter of Section 15, Township 18, Range
12, supposed to contain twelve acres.

Immediately following this deed upon the
record is this singular " deed of defeasance,"
executed by Charles Robinson :

DEED OP DEFEASANCE.

"I having this day bought of Enoch C
March and Thomas Beard and his wife, Sarah,
a p^ece of land on the river below the ferry
of the above Beard, and have this day re-

ceived from them a deed for the same; 1
hereby declare that it is my intention to do a
public business on the said land between this
date and the first day of October, next year,
and if I have not upon the land by that date,
persons and property to effect the same, or
actually upon the way to do so, I will return
the above deed, and transfer back the land to
them upon receiving the consideration given
them for the same. The above public busi-
ness means a steam mill, distillery, rope-walk
or store. Witness my hand and seal, this 21st
day of August, 1828.

"(Signed) Charles Robinson, [seal]"

The certificate upon this deed shows it to
have been acknowledged August 1, 1828,
before Dennis Rockwell, clerk of the circuit
court of Morgan County; recorded June 29,
1829, in Book B of deeds, page 180. The
land described in the deed from March and
Beard to Robinson is part of the original
town of Beardstown.

Mr. Charles Robinson, party to these deeds,
now dead, was until recently a resident of
Cass County, near Arenzville. On the 8th
of February, 1872, he wrote a letter to the
Chicago Journal, from which we make this
extract:

" Fifty years ago, or in the summer of 1821,
there was not a bushel of corn to be had in
Central Illinois. My father settled in that
year twenty-three miles west of Springfield.
We had to live for a time on venison, black-
berries and milk, while the men were gone
to Egypt, to harvest and procure breadstufFs.
The land we improved was surveyed that
summer, and afterwards bought of the gov-
ernment, the money being raised by sending
beeswax down the Illinois river to St. Louis,
in an Indian canoe. Dressed deer skins and
tanned hides were then in use, and we made
one piece of cloth out of nettles instead of
flax. Cotton matured well for a decade,
until the deep snow of 1830."

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

The southern part of the State, referred to
by Mr. Robinson as " Egypt," received this
appellation, as here indicated, because, being
older, longer and better settled and culti-
vated, it " gathered corn as the sand of the
sea," and the immigrants of the central part of
the State, after the manner of the children of
Israel, in their want, " went thither to buy
and bring from thence corn, that they might
live and not die."

In the early years of the white settlements
here, wheat was not to be had, and corn meal,
the only bread-stulf, was exceedingly hard to
obtain, as mills were scarce. Jarroe's Mill,
on Cahokia Creek, was for a long time the
only one accessible to our pioneers. In 1821,
a small horse-mill was erected on Indian
Creek by Richard Sheppard. Then a horse-
mill was put up at Clary's Grove. Still later.
Ogle's water mill was built on Indian Creek.
To these mills the boys of the families had to
make frequent and tedious journeys on horse-
back, to procure corn meal for bread. The
corn for this purpose had to be shelled by
hand, as there were no corn-sheller machines
then. Each boy could take but one sack,
containing two or three bushels of corn. If
the sack got misplaced on the horse, or fell
off, the boy was in trouble, as he had not
strength sufficient to replace it. For this rea-
son, several boys of a neighborhood would
club together in going to mill, and thus light-
en their labors and responsibilities. When
at the mill, the boys must wait their turn, and
when great numbers were in before them,
would have to frequently stay all night at the
mill, and sometimes two days, depending
upon parched corn for sustenance after their
lunches, which they had brought with them,
had become exhausted.

Reddick Horn, a Methodist preacher, settled
at Beardstown in 1833, and entered lands
near the bluffs; after Cass county was formed
he became clerk of the circuit court.

The Cottonwood school hovise, in the San-
gamon bottom, was built in 18130, and is still
known by that name.

The exact date of the arrival of each of
the settlers is very hard to obtain, as those of
them now living differ in their recollections
of those who have precedence; but, by tak-
ing a conspicuous event, as, for instance, the
deep snow, which occurred in the winter of
18 30-31, it becomes more easy to decide who
then lived in the different neighborhoods.
At the time of the deep snow, upon the
Sangamon Bottom road there were the follow-
ing named settlers : The first above Beards-
town was Solomon Penny, in Section 10, 18,
11, where Richard Tink novv lives. The next
was John Wagoner, who lived where the
Bottrell farm is now. Above him were the
Carrs — Elisha, William and B3njamin — and
their father; Elisha lived on the present Ken-
dall farm. Next above the Carrs was Grandpa
Horrom. Then Jerry Bowen, where Calvin
Wilson now lives. Next, the widow Stewart.
Next, Shadrach Richardson, on the present
Brauer farm. Then Thomas Plaster, Sr.,
where Jep ha Plaster's farm is now.

These were all that then lived below where
Chandlerville is now, on this road. The first
above these was Robert Leeper, on the Cleph.
Bowen place. Next, William Myers ; next,
Henry McHenry; and in their order above
him were Peter Dick, John Taylor, William
Morgan, 'James Hickey, Amos Ogden; and
then Isham Reavis, who afterwards moved
below Chandlerville. James McAuley and
Elijah Garner settled in 1833.

Among the earliest settlers in the vicinity
of Arenzville were Henry McKean, John Me-
Kean, Alexander Pitner, William Pitner, .fohn
Melone, William McHenry, James Davis,
George Bristow, Aquilla Low, J. A. Arenz,
Richard Matthews, Charles Robertson, James
Crum, Christian Crum, Peter Hudson, Charles
Wiggins, David Black, Alexander Huffman,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

li njiiniia Matthews, William Summers, An-
drew Williams, and Richard Graves. Most of
those persons came about 1830.

John, Stephen and Jasper Buck and John
Sliafur were also early settlers. John Savage
came in 1823.

In 1830, there was a water-mill for grinding
corn at Arenzville, where Ens^elbach's steam-
mill now stands. The power was obtained by
changing the channel of Indian Creek fully a
quarter of a mile north from the bed where it
now runs. There was formerly an ancient
Indian town and burial place on Prairie Creek,
about three miles north-east of Arenzville.

Among the first settlers in the centre of
the county, near where Virginia now stands,
were Captain Jacob Yaple, who set out the
first apple orchard in the county; Henry
Hopkins, Elijah Carver,- Charles Brady, John
Do Webber, Thomas Hanby, John Dawsy,
Samuel Way, William Weaver, Thomas Gat-
ton, Ha'sey Smith, a preacher named Cham-
bers, and others. Some of those settled as
soon as the lands were offered for sale by the
government at the new land office at Spring-
field, others a few years later.

The next installment of settlers, ranging
fioni 182G to 1832, were James Stephenson
and his five grown sons, Wesley, James, Wil-
liam, Robert and Augustus ; Charles Beggs,
Jacob and John Ej)ler, John Hiler, Rev.
John Bi'ldlecomo, Isaac Mitchell, William
Kinner, Jesse AUred, Nathan Compton ;
John C, Peter and William Conover ; and a
widow Pratt, and her four sons — William,
Charles, Rogers and Haramel. A school-
house was built of logs in this neighborhood
in 1829. Samuel Thompson built a horse
mill in 1830. James Richardson built the
first blacksmith shop in 182(3. Peter Conover
and Elizabeth Marshall were the first to marry
here, which was in 1827. The southeast part
of the county was settled early by James,
Davis, who made an improvement on the

farm now owned by Travis Elmore, at the
head of Little Indian Creek. He sold out to
Strother Ball, and he to Isaac Bennett. B ii-
nett sold to William Grove, who entered the
land in 1826. Eli Cox settled here as early
as 1820, in Cox's Grove, so named from him,
and entered the land as soon as it came into
market, in 1823. William Cooper, a negro
with a white wife, settled here also ; and
S'.ophen Short, with his four sons, James
Benjamin, George and Albert, Stephen Lee,
Tilman Honihuckle, and Dr. Stockton, settled
in Panther Grove in 1830. John Miller,
James Thompson and Daniel Blair settled
near by on the prairie. Stephen Short was
the first justice of the peace. Rev. William
Crow, the first preacher.

Further north, on the east side of the
county, among the first settlers were George
and John Wilson, in 1824 ; William Daniels,
in IS','5; B.irtlett CoJiyors, .John Lucas, John
B. Witty, and RoSert Hawthorn, in 1826.
The first child born in this neighborhood was
Lucinda Daniels, in 1828. The first marriage
was Miles Hamilton and Barbara Baeger. In
the northeast part of the county, on and near
the Sangamon Bottom, the first settlers were
Amos Ogden, in 1830, who built a house of
hewn logs in 1831, and rode three days to get
eight men to help him raise it. The men who
helped him were those other old settlers:
Joseph Hickey, James Watkins, John Hiekey,
James Hiekey, Isham Reavis, Daniel Ater-
bury, and a Mr. Mounts.

The first school-house was of logs, built on
Amos Ogden's farm. The first blacksmith
shop was owned by Matthew Holland in 1835.
The first mill was a small specimen of a
water-mill, owned by .James Watkins in 1832.

The five Dick brothers, William Lynti an 1
William P. Morgan, settled herein 1831; and
Dr. Charles Chandler, Marcus Chandler and
Mr. Inglis, in 183 i. Dr. Chandler's cabin
was in the centre of where the present town

HISTORY OF UASS COUNTY.

of Chandlerville now is, where the first Con-
gregational Church now stands, tlie land be-
ing subsequently donated by the doctor for
that purpose. South of the Chandler settle-
ment, on the Sangamon Bottom, were David
Clopton, Robert Leeper, William Myers,
Oliver Coyne, William McAuley and Mark
Cooper, in 1831 and 1832. The first preach-
ing there was by Rev. Levi S[)ringer.

I.,1ST OF ALL TII0S15 WHO ENTERED LaND.

The following is a list of those who entered
land (i. e., bought from the government),
•within the present limits of Cass County, 111.,
including the " three mile strip," before the
deep snow in the winter of 1830-31; and in
what township and in what year the entry
was made. Where a person entered land in
more than one township, his name is given
for that tract only which he first entered.

/ IS, 12. Thomas Beard lS2ti

•■ Enoch C. March 1326

•• John Knight 1328

, 12. Frci'Mian Skinner IMO

'■ Kiniljall i Knapp 1.S30

" Asa C. New 1S.30

13, 11, Henry Snmniers ISIO

" Richard Gainea 1330

■■ J.itin S. Warfield 1330

•• R,)l.ert Farrell 1330

" .Tohn Farrell 13.30

" Temperance Baker.... 1329

17. 11, James Orchard 1826

■• Oswell Thompson, jr. 1.330

•' Jos. L. Kirkpatrick...IS30

•• Joseph C. Cliristy 1829

•• Frederick Troxel 1S28

'• Peter Karges 1830

~ •' D.vid Black 1829

" James Smart 1327

•• John R. Sparks 1823

•■ Aqnilla Low 1827

•' Ahraham Gish 1.S23

" Charhs Robertson 1323

•• Petev Taylor 1S27

" Martin Robertson 1828

" James H. Richards.... 13:»

•' Jonah H. Ca,se 1.326

" Daniel R. Scaffer 1329

•• Thomas Clark 1831

■■ David B. Carter 1&T0

" James Davis 1326

" Andrew Williams 1827

** Alexander Huffman. ...1327

" William Summers 132r

" L. L. Case 1826

" John Savase 1-330

" Dennis Rockwell 1325

" Ansustus Barber 1326

" Joseph P. Croshwait.. 1330

Thonnia WigeiTis 1329

■■ George F. Miller Is23

'■ Henry McKean 1329

•' Daniel T. Matthews. 1323

•' John SIcKean 1329

•■ Daniel Richards 1329

•• Jnhn luppy 1.530

" Patrick Mullen 1827

•• Shadrick Scott 1S23

•' Benjamin Matthews.. 1827

** Samuel Grosong 1326

•■ William S. Hauby 1.326

18, 10, John E.Scott 1316

" John De Weber 1-5^3

■• A. S. West 1326

" John Ray 1826

.— '• Joshua Crow 1.326

— " Benjamin Stribliug....l830

" John G. Bergen 1323

" Phincas riidenvood....l326

" Henry M.ulison 1323

17, 10, Jacob Yaple 182.)

'• Alexander D. Cox 1.<'6

" Henry Madison 1.32i>

" James Marshall K26

A " Jesse AUred 1.3L'6

■• Isa^ic Mitchell 1329

^•* Thonms Redman 1.32'i

" George Tureman 1327

•• Edward Fuller 133.1

. " Levi Springer I.-^:*.))

" William M. Clark n27

" George Freeman 1327

" Thom:i3 Payi e LWO

" Luclan T. Bryai.l 13.30

" William Lamme 1326

*' Silas Freeman 1828

•' Isaiah Paschall 1328

" Littleherry Freeman.. 1330

" !3i].;i>i Freeman 1828

19. 9. David McGinnis l.s:'.0 17.10,

" Stephen Handy 13:!n ^ "

" Thos. Plaster 1828

" William Linn 16.30 "

" Richard McDonald....l829 -"

" Wilson Runyon 18.30 — *'

" William D. Leeper.. ..13.30 — "

'• William MIyers 1830 — •"

" John Taylor 1829 — "

'• Elias Rogers 1830 "

Jesse .Armstrong 1830 "

1.3, 8, William Holmes 1826 "

— " John Lee 1330 "

— '• Joseph Lee '8.30

- '• Robert Nance 1330

•' James Fletcher 1829

17,0, John Hughes 1827

■• Susanna Walker 1.S21

" Solomon Redman 1326 "

_;i^ Henry Kittner 1826 "

-" Martin Hardin 1827

•■ Josiah Flinn 1,326 17,^9,

~ " David >[anclie3ter 1.331 — •=-

■■ William Miller 1326

•• Strother Hall I.s26 — "

*' Samuel Montgomery.. 1.330 ~ "

18, 11, William W. Babb 1529 "

•' EIred Renshaw 1330 "

18, II, Sam'l B. Crewdson.,..l.S29 "

Solomon Penny 132.3 "

" Benjamin L'arr 1829 "

'* Amos Hager 1830 "

" Reddick Horn 1826 ~"

" Elisha Carr 1.329

" John Waggoner 1829 — "

" James Scott 1829 ~ "

17, 11, Alexander Pitner 1829 "•

" John Thompson 1.S.30 "

18. 10, William Myers 1.327 "

'-" Thomas Gatton 1829

" James Mason 1329 "

■"" Nathan Compton 1.328

" John Robertson 1.323 "

" Street li Bland 1327 "~^'

" Susan Washburn 1^27 19, 8,

" Henry Traughber 1.326

•• William McCord 1.3.30

•• Robert Alexander 1329 18, 8,

" Ralph Morgan 1.3,30

-^ " John Biildlecome 1.3.30

'• Sijdoc W. Flyun I.s29 ~-"

" Peter Cirr 1.328 . — "

•• William C.rr 1.323 - • "

•• William D.Stnrgis....l8.30

" ShadrMi Richardson. ...1.330 ~"

■• Robert H. Ivers 1.3.30 — "

" Josiah Rees 1S30\17, 8,

" Joseph Baker 1829 — "

~" Thom.w Plaster 1.3.30 — "

•• William .Sewa'l 1.3.30 ■—••

17, 10, William Chambers 1826 "

" John C. Oonover 1827 ^'

" Susanna Pratt I.32fi . — **

" D.ivid Black 13i0

" James Marshall 1.326

^ •' Jacob W.ird 1829

These make 21'Z persons
in what is now Cass Con
deep snow.

William Porter 1820

J.acob Lawrence 1826

Carrollton R. Gatton. .1826

Thomas Gatton 1326

Archibald Job 1326

Peter Oonover 1826

William Conovcr...'....IS26

Abner Tinnen 1326

Nathan Compton 1326

Joseph T. Leonard 1826

Bazaleel Gillett 1830

George T. Bristow 1826

William H. Johnson.. 1830

William Br.edc-n I,'i27

Peter Taylor.... .'..1.329

Jolin Re.ini 1830

Samuel Way 1828

Archer Herndon 1.327

Evin Martin 1.327

James Sturgis 1827

Jonathan Atlierton...,l830

Burton Litton 1.330

Page A. Williams 1.326

Morris Davis 1826

Josiah Sims 1826

Robert Fitzhugh 1,326

Jesse Gum 1827

TbonijLS .\tkinsou 1826

John Vance 1826

James Welsh 1327

Richard Jones I.S2fl

James Fletcher 1829

Andrew Beard 1827

John Bridges 1826

John Creel 1827

Joseph McDonald 1,326

Gersham Jayne 1,329

Jonas McDoinild 1328

Anthony M. Thomas.. 1826

Alexander Beard 1329

John Robertson 1829

Felix French 1829

Richard A, Lane 183U

John BIcDonald 1828

Isb im Reavis 18:10

Robert Taylor I.s3u

Wm. P. Morgan 18.30

Samuel Reid 1828

Robert Elkins 1829

R.Uph Elkins 1829

Henry Williams 1.328

Eaton Nance 1828

John Luciis 1829

Susan Washhurne 1328

D.ivid Williams 1829

Joel Ragsdale 1,329

James B. Watson 1326

Wm. Cooper 1326

Stephen Short 18.30

Wm. Crow \ti2G

Lewis Fanner l&3i»

Stephen Lee 1830

Eli Cox 1S21

Robert Johnson Is2i

G. W. Wilson 1.S29

Wm. T. Hamilton 1826

who entered land
ty, previous to the

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTEE III.

INCREASE OF POPULATION-THE DEEP SNOW OF ISIO-THE BLACK HAWK WAR-RENDEZ
VOUS OF SOLDIERS AT BEARDSTOWN— CAUSE OF DR. CHANDLER'S SETTLEMENl'—
MEETING BETWEEN HIM AND ABRAHAM LINCOLN— BUSINESS OF BEARDS-
TOWN IN 1834— THK EARLY LOG CABINS-YANKEES AND YANKEE
TRICKS— CORN BREAD— ETC., ETC., ETC.

BY the year 1830, the population of the
State had increased to 157,447, and was
confined mostly to the borders of rivers and
creeks and woodlands. As yet but few set-
tlements had been made anywhere in the open
prairies.

The early settlers were apprehensive of a
future scarcity of wood, and carried their
fears to such an extent, tliat much of their
money was invested in useless woodland, which
they needed to begin farming with. But
their fears in this respect seems now to
be allayed, as it has been shown thiit the sup-
ply increases rather than diminishes. Many of
those who for the sake of a near and conven-
ient supply of wood, settled in and along the
borders of the timber-lands, got the poorest
of the farm lands, and when they su]5posed all
the good lands had been taken up, later set-
tlers came in and entered the dry, rolling
prairie lands, and thereby got the best farms,
and were in no want for plenty of timber
either.

The winter of 1830-31 was a remarkable
one, and will always be remembered by old
settlers as the most terrible for suffering with-
in their memories. The snow fell at first
about thirty inches deep, then the weather
settled, and another snow fell, and another,
until it was from four to six feet deep. In
drifts it was much deeper. Fences were cov-
ered and lanes filled up. There was much
suffering everywhere. Stock died for want
of food. Deer stood in their tracks and died.
Prairie chickens and quails having alighted

in the snow, could not get out. Man was
the only animal that could walk, and game
alone, of the food kind, was all he had in
plenty. That could be had for the picking
up from the snow, for it was helpless. But
finally, even game became so poor from
starvation that it wai unfit for food. The
snow staid on the ground all winter, until
March, and people ran short of everything,
particularly fuel. Thomas Beard, recollect-
ing a widow with a small family living at the
bluffs, generously walked out there, and
found her and her family on the verge of
starvation, and hovering over the last rem-
nants of a fire, she having used all her fuel.
Mr. Beard tore up some fencing and chopped
a large pile of wood for her, and afterwards
carried provisions to her through the snow on
foot, a distance of seven miles, as a horse
could not travel.

What little corn had been raised in the
county, was generally ungathered when the
snow came, and yet in the fields, and men
took sacks and waded out into their fields
and gathered and carried it on their shoul-
ders to their cabins, and to their horses, cat-
tle and hogs, feeding it to them as they best
could. The snow that fell first, thawed a
little on top, and then froze, forming a crust
which would break upon being stepped on
by man or beast. Upon this there fell two
feet or more of snow, which went through
the same process of thawing and freezing,
leaving a c;ust on top not strong enough to
be r much weight. Through this no animal

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

but a man could walk. The black-jack tim-
ber surrounding Beaidstown for miles, had
been a favorite resort for vast numbers of
deer, and here they were caught in this ter-
rible snow, and died, being unable to travel.
From this time, the climate changed percept-
ibly colder. Previous to 1831, the most of
the pioneers raised sufficient cotton for their
own use, and it ripened well, but subsequent
to the deep snow, all efforts to raise it in this
State were futile. We have no means of in-
formation as to the extent of country covered
by this deep snow, as not a history of Illinois
even mentions it, which leads us to conclude
tiiat it was not general, but confined to cen-
tral Illinois, or, perhaps, even to so compar-
atively small a surface as the Sangamon
country.

In 1831 the Indians became very troublesome
in this State, and threatened to overrun the
white population. They were led by Black
Hawk, their chief and prophet, who pretended
to have power given him b}' the Great Sjiirit
to destroy the pale-faces. He attacked the
whites with so much vigor that militia com-
panies were formed for self-protection. A
battalion of this militia, of 275 men, com-
manded by Major Israel Stillman, of Fulton
County, was, on the 1-lth of May, 183:i,
attacked by Black Hawk on a small branch of
the Sycamore Creek and badly defeated and
cut up. This was called the battle of "Still-
man's Run." The first call which Gov. Rey-
nolds made for troops was in May, 1831, for
all able-bodied men who were willing to fight
the Indians, to the number of seven hundred,
to rendezvous at Beardstown, on the 10th day
of June. "^ On that day they assembled in
Beardstown in three times that number. Gov.
Reynolds organized them at once by appoint-
ing Joseph Duncan, of .lacksonville, brigadier-
general, and Enoch C. March, of Beardstown,
quartermaster. March was equal to the oc-
casion. He was so well acquainted with this

vicinity that ho soon furnished the necessary
supplies. But Gov. Reynolds was at a loss to
know how to arm those who had not brought
rifles. In this emergency, Frances Arenz
came to the rescue. He was a merchant in
Beardstown, and had previously purchased
some light brass-barreled fowling-pieces,
which had been manufactured in the East for
a South American government, and not an-
swering the purpose for which they were made
they were shipped West to shoot birds with.
These answered excellently for arms for light
horsemen and skirmishers. The troops were
encamped above town, where the saw mills
now stand, until they took up their march.
In their ranks were some of the best men of
the country.

The whole briffade was organized into two
regiments and two battalions. The first regi-
ment was commanded by Col. James D.
Henry, Lieutenant Col. John T. Stuart,
Major Thomas Collins, Adjutant Edward
Jones, quartermaster, and Thomas M. Neal,
paymaster. The captains were Adam Smith,
William F. Elkin, A. Morris, Thomas Carlin,
Samuel Smith, John Lorton and Samuel C.
Pearce.

The second regiment was commanded by
Colonel Daniel Lieb, Major N. Butler. The
captains were H. Mathews, John Hanes,
George Bristow, William Gilham, Capt.
Kondall, Alexander Wells and William
Weatherford, usually called " Old Buck," of
Morgan County.

The odd battalion was commanded by Major
N. Buckmaster, James Semple, adjutant,
Richard Roman, surgeon, and Joseph Gilles-
pie, paymaster.

The Spy battalion was commanded by Gen-
eral Samuel Whiteside, Major Samuel F.
Kendall, Adjutant John S. Greathouse, and
Paymaster P. H. Winchester. Captains Wil-
liam B. Whiteside, William Miller and Solo-
mon P. Witt. The little army started on

tifK^

M'^

W^^ ^r^

Mi:

-if:

E^r^

■ -^ffyK3CTWi»..vV»aa!g-v^

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

tlieir campaign June 15, 1831, for Rock
Island.

We will relate one incident only, connected
with the Black-Hawk "War, to show how it
affected the then future history, of at least a
portion of Cass County.

David Epler, a resident of North Prairie in
this county, came to Beardstown to purchase
two barrels of salt. He drove two beautiful
horses, well harnessed, and a good wagon;
altogether just what Col. March wanted for
war material. He accordingly seized them,
under that law so universally adopted in war
times, that "might makes right," and took
them from Mr. Epler, nolens volens. But
Mr. Epler refused to give them up, and, his
face livid with anger, declared that he would
defend them with his life, and that the colonel
and his troops would have to walk over his
dead body before he would give up his favor-
ite team; at least, until he was paid their
value. Col. March then offered to pay for
them what two disinterested men should say
they were worth. This was agreed to. There
were then stopping in Beardstown two com-
parative strangers. Dr. Charles Chandler and
a man named Cr.awi'ord; to them the cause
was referred. They, having come from the
East, were wholly unacquainted with the low
prices of this new country, and priced the
team at eastern values, which Col. March felt
in honor bound to abide by, and the conse-
quence was Mr. Epler got $350 for his team,
which was a large price then.

This incident leads us to relate how Dr.
Chandler came here. He left Rhode Island,
where he had a good practice in his profes-
sion, and a new house which he had just built,
and started westward with his family, with
the intention of settling at Fort Clark, where
Peoria now stands.

When the steamer, upon which he came up
the Illinois River, arrived at Beardstown —
tlia h()stil'=! attitude of the Indians in the

vicinity, and the preparations for a general
Indian war, induced the captain to discharge
his passengers and freight at Beardstown, he
thinking it unsafe to go any further north
with his boat.

While here, Dr. Chandler took a ride up
the Sangamon Bottom with Thomas Beard,
and he was so well pleased with that part of
it where Chandlerville now stands, that he
determined to go no further north, but to
settle there. This was in the spring of 1832.
The bottom and bluffs had been burned over,
and the new, fresh, green grass and beautiful
flowers had sprung up; the trees, and vines and
shrubbery were dressed in their most inviting
foliase, and he had never seen so beautiful a
sight. In a short time he took his wife and little
daughter to see their future home, and they
were equally delighted with it. Thei-e was a
wagon road up the bottom, winding along the
bluffs, in about the same place it now does,
hut so little was it traveled that it had not
hindered the fire passing over it, and in the
middle of the road, between the two horse-
paths, was a ridge of green grass mingled
with strawberry vines, which lookeil like a
row of cultivated strawberries, and these
right in the road; the doctor and his wife and
little daughter ate in abundance the large,
ripe berries. The doctor entered 160 acres of
land where the town of Chandlerville now
stands, and built his cabin upon the site of
the present Congregational Church. He
broke up three acres of land that spring, late
as it was,' and raised a crop of buckwheat
upon it, without an\- fence around.

There was a universal custom among the
settlers at that time, that every man should
be entitled to 80 acres of land on each side of
the land already entered by him, until such
time as he was able to enter it, as it was
called, or, in other words, until he could raise
money enough to buy it from the Government
at ^1.35 per acre ; and it was considered as

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

mean as stealing for another man to enter it.

Shortly after the doctor had settled there,
a man stopped there named English, who was
so well pleased with the prospect that he con-
cluded to enter land and settle there. The
doctor assisted and befriended him all he
could, and, to induce him to stop, offered to
give up his claim to one-half of the eighty
acre tract, next to the land that English
wanted, and let him enter it. English told
him that he v.-as going to Springfield and
enter the whole tract ; that he did not care
for the customs of the country ; and that
he was going to have it rigiit or wrong,
and started for Springfield. All of Dr.
Chandler's expostulations with him did not
avail anything. The doctor v?ent to his
cabin and looked over his little pile of
money and found that he had fifty dollars.
He thought that his neighbor MoAuly had
some money, and saddling his best horse, he
rode to McAuly's house and borrowed fiftv
dollars more. Thus provided, he too'k a dif-
ferent route through the woods and prairies
from that chosen by English, and putting his
horse to his best speed, started for the Land
Office.

When about ten miles of Springfield, he
overtook two young men on horse back, and
as his horse was foaming with perspiration,
and nearly tired out, he rode slowly along
with the j'oung men, as well to rest his horse,
as to relate to them the cause of his haste.
When he told them of the meanness of the man
English, one of the young men was so indig-
nant that he offered the doctor his own compar-
atively fresh horse, that he might make all haste
and thwart the efforts of English, while the
young man would ride the doctor's horse
slowly into town. But the doctor rode his
own horse, got safely to the Land Office and
entered the land before English got there.
Sometime after that he wanted to have his
land surveyed, and the county surveyor lived

at Jacksonville, but a neighbor told him that
there was a better surveyor living at Salem, in
Sangamon County, named Abraham Lincoln.
So the doctor sent for him, and when he
came with his implements to do the surveying,
the doctor found that Abraham Lincoln, the
surveyor, was the same young man who had
so kindly offered to lend him his horse, so
that he might defeat the rascally man English.

Dr. Chandler was the first physician in Cen-
tral Illinois who adopted quinine in his prac-
tice as a reniedy; the first who introduced
the practice of the infliction of bodily pain
as a remedy for overdoses of opium ; and
the first who opposed bleeding as a remedy.
When he went to Sangamon Bottom, he was
called into practice before he could build a
stable, and for weeks, when at home, tied his
horse to a tree and pulled grass to feed him
on, having no scythe to cut it with. He built
the first frame house within the present limits
of this co'jnty. It was 10x13 feet, one-story,
and shingled with split and shaved oak shin-
gles, which made a good roof for twentj'-five
years — a fact worthy of notice. He built it
for a drug store and office, and it is still in
existence. In 1836, he built his present large
residence. His reason for building so large
a house at that early day was, that it was ex-
act'y like the one ho had built and left in
Rhode Island; and as his family had sacri-
ficed so much in leaving their comfortable
home for the wilds of the West, he wished to
make a home as near like their former one as
possible.

In 1833, Jackson was President ; John
Reynolds, Governor; and Clay and Webster
were in their glory. Beardstown was quite a
flourishing town, and the port on the river
from which most towns in the interior of the
State got their supplies of goods, and from
which their produce was shipped to market.

In that year Francis Arenz began publish-
ing the first newspaper north of Jacksonville

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

and south of Chicago, entitled, The Beards-
lown Chronicle andlllinois Military Bounty
Land Advertiser. This paper did the ad-
vertising for the counties of Mason, Warren,
Brown, Schuyler, McDonough, Stark, Knox,
and Fulton, as there were no newspapers
printed in those counties. There were no
lawyers in Beardstown then, but those usually
consulted by our citizens were: John J. Har-
din, Walter Jones, Aaron B. Fontaine, Josiah
Lamljorn, and Murray McConnell of Jackson-
ville, and William H. Richardson of Rush-
ville.

In 183.3, there was not a single merchant
north of the Mauvistarre, outside of Beards-
town, and not one advertised in The Beards-
toion Chronicle; and money was so scarce
tiiat it was almost impossible for any kind of
business to be transacted. Francis Arenz
humorously ascribes the phenomenon of the
great meteoric shower of that year, to the
fact, that a day or two previously a subscriber
had paid him two dollars, all in cash, for a
year's subscription to the Chronicle.

The names of the steamers which navigated
the Illinois River in 1833-34, were the Peoria,
E.xchange, Ottawa, Ceres, Utility, Cavalier,
Express, Black Hawk, and Olive Branch.

James B. Kenner kept the Bounty Land
Hotel at Beard's Landing, on the west bank
of the river, opposite Beardstown.

Prices of staples in 1833, at Beardstown,
were : Flour, imported, per barrel, |i4.;i5;
wheat, in 90 days, per bushel, 50c.; wheat,
cash, per bushel, 45.; salt, per bushel, 75c.;
corn, per bushel, 13 to 16c. ; beans, per bushel,
50c.; whisky, per gallon, 48c.; pork, per lb.,
2|c.; butter, per lb., 10c. ; beef, per lb., 'l^c;
cigars, per 10 JO, $1; cigars, per box, best, |il.

The business men of Beardstown in 1834,
Avere: Francis Arenz, L. W. Talmage & Co.,
T. & J. S. Wibourne, J. M. Merchant & Co.,
Haywood Read, J. Parrott & Co., merchants;
Juhn Alfred, M. Kingsbury, and Liscomb &

Buckle, tailors; J. Roulstoii, hat maker; Henry
Boemler, cabinet maker; M. McCreary, cooper;
Malony & Smith, forwarding and commission
business; Knapp and Pogue, steam mill; Gat-
ton, Judson & Elliott. Tiiere were also: ]3r.
J. W. Fitch, Dr. Owen M. Long, Dr. Chas.
Hochstetter, and Dr. Rue.

As descriptive of the business of Beards-
town, we will quote the following extract
from/an editorial in the Beardstown Chron-
icle oiU&xch 1, 1834:

" Since the opening of the river, there has
been shipped from this place, 1,502 barrels of
flour and 150 barrels of pork. Ready for
shipment at the warehouses at this time, 581
barrels of flour, 400 barrels of pork, and 150
kefS of lard. This is a fair commencement

of exporting surplus produce from a country
where a few years ago many of such articles
were imported. Two steam flouring mills
and one steam saw mill are now in operation.
A large brewery and distillery are being built,
with a grist mill. Besides, arrangements are
being made for building ware, store, and
dwelling houses. Four years ago only three
families, residing in log huts, lived in this
place, and now, we venture to assert, more
business is transacted in this town tiian any
other place in the State."

The old brick school house in Beards-
town, since a part of Dr. Theo. Hoffman's
premises, was built in 1834, by Beard and
Arenz, and presented by them to the inhabi-
tants, and for many years was the only place
for public meetings.

At that time great stress was laid upon the
nagavibility of the Sangamon River, as boats
frequently passed up and down that stream.
(In 1833, a steamboat of the larger class went
up the Sangamon to within five miles of
Springfield, and discharged its cargo there.

The farm houses, just previous to the or-
ganizing of Cass County, were mostly built of
logs, and in many cases, innocent of glass.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

The doors were made of puncheon or split
logs, as saw mills wei'e few and far between.
The fire-places were made of logs filled up
with clay dug from beneath tlie iloors. A
temporary wall would be built about two feet
inside the log wall; the space then filled with
earth, and wetted, was pounded or rammed
down solid. The inner wall was then taken
away and a fire built inside, which baked the
jams like brick. Then this was surmounted
with a stick an 1 clay chimney, a pole was run
across to hang ketth>s on; and the chinks be-
tween the logs of tlie house were filled up
with sticks, cliiy, and cho|)ped straw. The
doors and roof of the house were made of
split boards, and frequently not a nail or any
iron was used in the whole house. The roof-
boards were kept in their places by logs
weighing tlieni down; the doors, held together
by wooden pins, hung on wooden hinges, and
latched witli wooden latches. The houses
generally had but one room an<l two doors,
but no window. Usually one door of the
house was left open, no matter how cold the
weather was, to admit light; and rarely both
doors were closed, except when the family
were about to retire to rest. So habituated
were people to open doors, that that custom
prevailed even after the introduction of glass
into the cabins, for wimlows. It is related,
that on a very cold dny, an eastern man who
was visiting a friend at his log cabin, proposed
to close the door to make the house warmer.
The proprietor expressed his surprise at the
proposition, but did not object to try it as an
experiment. After the door had been shut a
few minutes, he seemed much pleased with
the result, and said, " Well, I declare! I be-
lieve it does make a difference."

A rural poet has truthfully stated that —
"In every country village where

Ten chimneys' smoke perfume the air
Contiguous to a steeple.

Great getit'e-f'olks are fount! a score,

AVho can' I associate any more
With common country people."

So even in our early days we had some
aristocrats. Occasionally a man was found
that built his house of hewn logs, and had
sawn jilanks for his floor, and perhaps a glass
window. And then some ambitious neigh-
bor must overtop him, and the wonderful pal-
atial double-log-house, with a porch between,
appeared. By the youngsters this seemed ex-
travagant and useless ; but the surprise of
everybody was Dr. Chandler's large, well-fiii-
islied frame house. Even beds were more
accommodating then than now, and would
hold many more occupants. There was one,
usually, in each of two corners in every log
cabin, and under each of these was a trundle-
bed which pulled out at night ; and then
there was bedding to spare in most houses,
and when friends called and stayed all night,
which they usually did, 9. field-bed was made
that accommodated all. When meal time
came, a large amount of good wholesome
provender woukl be supplied, considering the
few cooking utensils that were used. Even
in well-to-do families the articles for cooking
consisted of a Dutch oven, which was simply
a shallow kettle, with a cover made for
holding hot coals, in which first the bread
and then the meat was cooked, a coffee-
pot, and a kettle to cook vegetables, when
they had any. Wheat bread was scarce, and
corn bread was universally used. When
bread was spoken of without a prefix, corn
bread was meant ; any other kind being des-
ignated as v}Jieat bread or rye bread. I rec-
ollect a circumstance which will illustrate
how corn bread was respected. When Major
Miller kept the Western Hotel in Jackson-
ville, in 1836, there was a saloon, then called
a grocery, under it called " Our House." A
Yankee, who had been stopping with the
Major, called into the grocery to get his bit-
ters, and outraged the thirsty customers at the
bar by an offensive allusion to the corn bread
he had had sot before him at the hotel table,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

stating among other remarks, that corn bread
was only fit for hogs to eat. At this an irri-
table native took offense ; he peeled off his
coat, and sijuared his brawny shoulders before
the astonished Yankee, and said, "See yer,
stranger, I don't know who you are, and I
don't keer a durn, nuther ; but I'll have
you understand that the man that makes fun
of corn bread makes fun of the principal
part of my living." It was with considerable
difficulty that a fuss was prevented, and then
only by the Yankee apologizing and treating
the crowd to the drinks.

While speaking of Yankees, I might just
as well say, that this part of Morgan County
was settled principally by citizens from south
of the Potomac and Ohio rivers; and a strong
prejudice was felt against people from New
England, who were all denominated " Yan-
kees ; " and, to be just, candor compels me to
admit that the representatives of the descend-
ants of the pilgrim fathers, who peddled
clocks and tinware, and notions, and essences,
and the like, through this part of the country
at that time, were not calculated in every
instance to inspire any high respect for them
as a class.

Fitz Greene Halleck, the poet, writes of
them as

" Apostates, who are meddling
With merchandise, pounds, shillings, pence, and

peddling ;
Or, wandering through southern countries, teaching

The A, B, C, from Webster's spelling book ;
Gallant and godly, making love, and preaching,

And gaining, by what they call "hook and crook,"
And what the moralists call overreaching,

A decent living. The Virginians look
Upon them with as favorable eyes
As Gabriel on the devil in paradise."

In fact, a mean trick was always expected
from a Yankee ; while there is reason to be-
lieve that, really, there were sometimes just as
mean things done by persons from other por-
tions of the nation. To illustrate : About

forty-five years ago, I attended a wolf hunt on
Indian Creek. There were about a hundred
of us, on horseback, up on a rise in the tim-
ber, waiting to hear from the hounds, and
passing the time in conversation. The sub-
ject of discussion, a not unusual one, was the
Yankees, and each man had a story to tell of
some Yankee trick. Finally, old Uncle Bob
Martin, who had but one eye, but was, never-
theless, quite an oracle in such matters, had
his say in this wise : "Well, gentlemen, I'll
tell yer what it is. I've seed a heap 'er Yan-
kees in my day, and I know all about 'em.
I know 'em like a book, inside and out, and I
tell yer what it is, gentlemen, all the Yankees
don't come from New England, nuther, not
by a durn sight. And the meanest Yankee I
ever seed, gentlemen, was a Kanetucky
Yankee."

I said corn bread was the principal article
of diet then. But there were various kinds
of corn bread. That most in use was corn
dodger. This was simply made of corn meal,
hot water and a little salt, stirred together to
the consistency of dough; then a double hand-
ful was rounded, flatted, and placed in a hot
Dutch oven, surrounded with glowing embers.
An oven would hold three or four of these,
and they were cooked so quickly that a woman
could keep quite a large number of hungry
men in business. Then there was the pump-
kin bread, made by mixing pumpkins and
meal, and the pone. This last was considered
suitable for kings, and I must tell j'ou how it
was made. It was thus: Take as much corn
meal as is wanted for use; sift it; put it in an
iron kettle and pour on it boiling water; stir
it till it becomes well mixed and quite thin;
this being right, let it remain in the same ves-
sel till morning, and if kept warm it will be
well fermented (which is necessary); then put
it into a hot Dutch oven, it being heated be-
fore the dough is put in it; apply good live
embers on the lid of the oven as well as under

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

it, being careful not to burn it. These were
s^metimes baked in hot ashes and embers,
without an oven. These were called ash-
pones.

Butter was not conuiion, except in the
spring and summer; but large quantities of
fat bacon and hams were used instead, which
were kept the year round, in the smoke houses,
one of which every family had. Potatoes were
unknown for many years; and when they
were introduced, they were at first very un-
popular. People that ate them were stigma-
tized as Irish. Deer, prairie-chickens and
other game, as well as domestic fowls, were
very plenty and much used for food.

The principal clothing worn by the men
was of Kentucky and homo made jeans, made
into pants and hunting shirts. Under-clothing
was hardly ever worn, even in winter, and
overcoats, never; yet men seemed as warm and
comfortable then as they do now, with under-
garments and overcoats. The ladies dressed
principally in linscy of their own weaving.
1 well recollect when calico was first gener-
ally worn. Patterns with large flowery fig-
ures were preferred; and although our prairies
were covered all over in profusion with the
most beautiful of flowers, like unto a garden
of the gods, yet, I must admit, the prettiest
flowers or, at least, the most attractive were
those printed upon calico. And I might ad-
mit further, that they are not altogether dis-
pleasing to most men even now. At the
huskings, weddings, meetings, and merry-
makings, the girls looked as pretty then, in
their home-made suits as they do now, though
arrayed in all the gaud and glory of the mil-
liner.

The principal occasions of great public
gatherings were political discussions; for,
either fortunately or unfortunately (and which
it is is a great moral question), there never
was a man hung witiiin the limits of this
county at the hands of justice, so the public

have never been called together out of curi-
osity on that account. Among our public
speakers at that time were: Lincoln, Hardin
Baker, Lamborn, Richardson, and more lat-
terly, Yates and Douglas, besides many from
a distance. Besides these occasions, we had
preaching in the schoolhouses and barns and
groves. Often have some of us, now living,
listened to Re idick Horn, Cyrus Wright
Peter Cartwright, " Old Man Hammaker," of
North Prairie, and many others. How many
of the old settlers recollect Old Father Doyle,
who used to shout "power " until the far-off
woods rang, and the hills sent back the echo.
Oh ! those public meetings in the woods;
how grand they were ! Bryant sings of them
and says —

" The groves were God's first temples.

Ah ! why should we in the world's riper years neglect

God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore

Only among the crowd, and under roofs

That our frail hands have raised."

There used to be a famous camp meeting
ground for many years at " Uncle " William
Holmes', northeast of Virginia, and people
attended it from twenty miles around. When
this county was first formed, there were but
few farms on North Prairie, except those
skirting the edge of the timber; and a man
could cross it anywhere on horseback, led
only by Indian trails, or the points of timber.
For instance, a man could start from the
Jacksonville road at Yaples or Peterfish's
farm, south of where Virginia now is, and go
straight to Holmes' camp ground, a distance
of about ten miles, northeast, and not pass a
fence.

In 1835, the Beardstown and Sangamon
Canal Company were incorporated, and there
was considerable interest taken in that work.

In ] 83G, on the 16th day of June, Dr. H.
H. Hall laid out and platted the town of Vir-
ginia, he having entered the land upon which
it stands a short time previously. _

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

At this early date, before there were any-
other towns than Beardstown, localities were
known by other names, as for instance, Rob-
inson's Mills, Panther Creek, Miller's Ferry,
Schoonover's Ford, North Prairie, Jersey
Prairie or Workman Post-office, Panther or
Painter Grove, as it was called; Painter
Creek Post-office, where Chandlerville is now;
Little Painter, Middle Creek Settlement, Fly
Point, Sylvan Grove, Puncheon Camp, Lynn
Grove, etc.

In 1835, The Jacksonville & Meredosia

railroad was incorporated by the legislature
of Illinois, which was the first railroad built
west of the Alleghenies.

About this time, the Sangamon and Spoon
rivers, and Crooked Creek to Henly's mill
were declared navigable by the State.

The manner of voting at that time was
viva voce, the elector announcing to the judges
and clerks of the election, in plain voice, the
man or measure he intended to vote for, so
that it was publicly known how each man
voted.

o(3

mSTOKY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER lY.

ORGANIZATION OF CASS COUNTY— THE CONVENTION AT RUSHVILLE— LEGISLATIVE ACT
CREATING THE COUNTY— OTHER ACTS— FIRST ELECTION FOR OFFICERS— THE NUM-
BER OF VOTERS— AN INCIDENT OF A WOLF-THE COLD DAY OF 1837— LOCA-
TION OF THE COUNTY SEAT— SCARCITY OF MONEY— THE COUNTY
MACHINERY PUT IN MOTION— THE COURTS— TROUBLE FROM
HORSE THIEVES— EUGENE HONORIUS— THE CENSUS, ETC.

State, Vandalia or Alton would gain it. The
people in the northern portion of the State
were willing to sacrifice Peoria, but the people
of Central Illinois were divided between
Springfield and Jacksonville. There was a
growing feeling, however, in favor of Spring-
field, as being the most available ; and a con-
vention was called by the central and northern
counties, to meet at Rushville, on the 7th day
of April, 1834, to unite on one point to sup-
port for the State capital. Jacksonville was
opposed to this, and favored the deferring
the removal of the seat of government to
some future time, hoping to gain strength by
this line of policy. Consequently, Jackson-
ville refused to take part in the Rushville
convention, while the northern part of the
county met at Beardstown, decided to take part
in the convention, and elected Archibald Job
and Thomas Beard to represent them there,
which they afterwards did. This occasioned
a discussion between the newspaper of Jack-
sonville, conducted by Josiah Lamborn, and
the Chronicle on the part of Beardstown,
by Francis Arenz.

To show the state of this feeling as early as
1834, the following is from the Chronicle
of March 35th, of that year:

" In the ' Chronicle,' No. 35, we published
the preamble and resolutions adopted at a
public meeting held in Beardstown on the
20th of February last. In one of the resolu-
tions, Archibald Job and Thomas Beard were

ABOUT this time there became a gradually
growing feeling of dissatisfaction in this
the northern part of Morgan County, with the
management of county aiFairs at Jacksonville.
It seemed to the people here, that Morgan
County was ruled by Jacksonville, and that that
village was ruled by a clique, or ring, as it
would now be called. This feeling became
more conspicuous,as at that time the removal of
the State capital was being worked up. It was
provided in the Constitution of 1818, while the
capital was at Kaskaskia, that the Legislature
should locate a newtown, which should be the
capital for twenty years. This the Legislature
did, and named the place Vandalia. The
constitutional limit of that location was fast ap-
])roaching, and anew seat of government was
to be selected.

A statute was passed February 5, 1833,
providing, that after the expiration of the
time prescribed by the constitution for the
seat of government remaining at Vandalia,
the people should vote for one of the follow-
ing named places for the permanent seat of
government, to- wit: " The geographical centre
of the State," Jacksonville, Springfield, Alton,
Vandalia, and Peoria, and the point receiving
the highest number of votes should forever
remain the seat of government. The south-
ern part of the State was at that time most
thickly settled, and it soon became evident
that, unless the people of Central Illinois
united upon a town in their portion of the

HISTORY OF CASS COUXTY.

appointed to attend as delegates at Ruslivllle,
on the first Monday of April next, to repre-
sent the wishes of the people in the northern
part of Morgan County.

" In our last number we published the pro-
ceedings of a meeting held in Jacksonville on
the 3d inst. One of the resolutions adopted
at that meeting, declares, that ' from the neu-
tral position of Morgan County in relation to
locality and interest, it is inexpedient, at this
time, for citizens of our county to send dele-
gates to the convention proposed to be held
on the first Monday of April next.'

"We also published a letter from J. Lam-
born, Esq., to the editor of this paper, ex-
planatory of the views and feelings of those
attending the Jacksonville meeting towards
their fellow citizens of the northern part of
Morgan County, who composed the Beards-
town meeting; but as this letter was not part
of the proceedings at Jacksonville, and the
resolutions adopted are contrary and in op-
position to the friendly feelings privately ex-
pressed by Mr. Lamborn, we have to take the
sentiments as expressed by the meeting.

" The meeting at Beardstown was composed
of freemen. They acted for themselves, and
appointed two delegates to represent their
wishes at the proposed convention, leaving
four delegates to be chosen in other parts of
Morgan County. If our fellow citizens at
Jacksonville, and in the southern and western
parts of the county, did not choose to send
delegates, no objection or dissatisfaction
would have been entertained; but a meeting
composed of about one hundred and fifty indi-
viduals at Jacksonville and vicinity (being ac-
quainted with the sentiments expressed here),
have assumed to indicate in their resolution
that it is inexpedient^ at this time, for the
citizens of our county to send delegates. To
this decree the citizens of the north will not
submit. We unhesitatingly say, that two
delegates will attend and represent their

wishes. We believe the time has gone by
when a few leaders of Jacksonville controlled
the votes of Morgan County; and we would
advise those who have influence in and about
Jacksonville, to use it with discretion. The
people north of Indian Creek, and we doubt
not in other parts of the county, understand
their own interest, and will act accordingly."

The convention was held at Rushville at the
appointed time, and such united action was
taken as eventuated in the passage of a
statute on the 3d day of February, 1837,
which permanently located the seat of gov-
ernment at Springfield, and Archibald Job,
of this county, A. G. Henry and Thomas
Hunghan were appointed commissioners to
superintend the erection of the State House.

At the very same session which removed
the capital, on the 3d day of March, 1837, a
bill was passed that the people of Morgan
County should, on the third Monday of April
of that year, vote for and against the division
of that county, on the line running through
the middle of townships seventeen, north,
and in case the vote favored it, all north of
that line to constitute a new county, to be
called the county of Cass ; that the county
seat should be at Beardstown, until the peo-
ple should permanently locate the county
seat by election; and the school fund should
be divided according to the number of the
townships between the two counties.

We will here insert this, and other statutes
concerning the early history of Cass county,
for the reason that the books in which they
are contained are probably not to be found
in Cass county, outside of our library, and
are not for sale anywhere, and they will proba-
bly never be reprinted, and are very rarely
found except in the State libraries. By re-
printing them here they will be preserved.

AN ACT FOE THE FORMATION OF THE COtJNTY
OF CASS — IX FORCE MARCH "3, 1837.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted b>j the people of the

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

State of Illinois, represented in the General
Assembly, That all that tract of country
within the following boundaries to wit: Be-
ginning at a point in the centre of the main
channel of the Illinois river, where a line
running through the centre of townships
seventeen north intersects the same, in range
thirteen, west of the third principal meridian,
thence east with said line to the east side of
the county of Morgan, from thence north to
the centre of the main channel of the San-
gamon river, thence down said river to the
centre of the main channel of the Illinois
river, thence down said river to the place of
beginning, shall constitute a new county to be
called the county of Cass.

Sec. 3. The county aforesaid is created
upon the following conditions: The people
of the county of Morgan as the same is now
organized, shall meet at the several places for
holding elections for Representatives and
Senators in said county, on the third Monday
of April next, and proceed to vote in the
same manner of voting for Representatives
and Senators to the general assembly, whether
said county shall be created or not. The
judges of elections in said county shall give
twenty days' notice of the time and place of
holding said elections, by posting notices
thereof at six public places in the county, and
on said day shall open a poll book at each
election precinct, in which they shall rule two
columns, in one of which they shall set down
the votes given for the creation of said county,
and in the other column the votes given
against the same, and said judges shall conduct
said election, and make returns to the clerk of
the county commissioners' court of Morgan
County, in the same manner as is now pro-
vided by law in the case of elections for Sen-
ators and Representatives for the general as-
sembly, and said returns shall be opened and
counted in the same manner as in such elec-
tions, and if a majority of all the votes given

at said election shall be in favor of the crea-
tion of said county, a certificate thereof shall
be made by the clerk of said county com-
missioners' court, under the seal of said court,
and transmitted by him to the office of the
Secretary of State, of the State of Illinois, to
be filed in his office as evidence of the exist-
ence of said county, and said clerk shall make
a like certificate and file the same in his of-
fice, which shall be entered of record at the
next succeeding term of the said County
Commissioners Court, and shall be sufficient
to prove the facts therein stated, after which
said county shall be one of the counties of the
State of Illinois. The Clerk of the Commis-
sioners Court of Morgan County shall cause
a notice of said election to be published in all
the newspapers published in the County of
Morgan.

Sec. 3. If said county shall be created as
aforesaid, the legal voters of said county shall
meet on the first Monday of May next, at the
several places of holding elections in said new
county, and vote for the place where the county
seat of said county shall be located, and the
place receiving the greatest number of votes
shall be the permanent seat of justice of said
county, and on the first Monday of August
next said county shall proceed to elect all
county officers for said county, to be commis-
sioned and qualified as in other cases.

Sec. 4. The owner or owners of the land
where said county seat shall be located, shall
donate and convey to said county of Cass, at
least fifteen acres of land at the place where
said seat shall be located, which may be dis-
posed of in the manner the county commis-
sioners' court of said county shall deem
proper, the proceeds whereof shall be applied
to the erection of the court house and jail,
and clerk's offices of said county, but if the
county seat aforesaid shall be located at
Beardstown in said county, the corporation of
said town shall, within one year from the said

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

location, pay into the county treasury of said
county, not less than ten thousand dollars to
be applied in the erection of said public
buildings.

Sec. 5. Said county shall vote with the
county of Morgan for Senators and Represent-
atives until the next apportionment, and said
county shall make a part of the first judicial
circuit, and so soon as said county shall be or-
ganized, the clerk of the county commission-
ers' court of said county shall notify the judge
of the said circuit, and it shall be his duty to
appoint a clerk and hold a court in said county
at such times as said judge shall apjioint.
The seat of justice of said county shall be lo-
cated at Beardstown, until the public build-
ings are erected. But if the county seat shall
be located at Beardstown, and said corpora-
tion of Beardstown shall not pay to the treas-
urer of said county, said ten thousand dollars
for the purpose of erecting said public build-
ings within one year after the location of said
county seat, then the county commissioners'
court of said county shall locate the county
seat at some other point near the center of
said county, when the quantity of land men-
tioned in the fourth section of this act shall
be donated as therein provided.

Sec. 6. The school funds belonging to the
several townships in said county, and all
notes and mortgages pertaining to the same,
shall be paid and delivered over to the school
commissioners of said county of Cass by the
school commissioners of the county of Morgan,
so soon as the said county shall be organized,
and the commissioners of school lands shall
be appointed and qualified according to law,
together with all interest arising out of said
money, that has not been heretofore expended
for schools within that part of Morgan County
now proposed to be set off into the county of
,Cass. This act shall take effect according to
the conditions thereof, from and after its pas-
sage.

Sec. 7. In case said county of Cass shall
be created under the provisions of this act,
then until the next apportionment of Senators
and Representatives to the General Assem-
bly, the said county shall be entitled to one
Representative to the General Assembly, and
shall at the next election vote with the county
of Morgan for one Senator, also at every suc-
ceeding election for said Senator, and the
county of Morgan shall be entitled to five
Representatives and two Senators. Approved,
March 3d, 1837.

The election was had; the feeling between
the northern and southern sides of the
county was such that the election was favor-
able to division, and the northern townships
immediately called an election for officers
with which to organize the new county of
Cass.

There were then but three voting precincts
in this part of Morgan County, which was
about being formed into a new county; they
were: Beardstown, Virginia and Richmond,
and the following are the names of every
man that voted at that election, with the
names of the precincts they voted in:

Poll Book at an election held at the house
of Moses Perkins, in the Beardstown Pre-
cinct, in the County of Cass, Ills., August 7,
1837. Thos. Beard, James Arnold, John
Scheffer, judges; T. U. Webb, C. W. Clarke,
clerks.

John F. Bailey,
Alex. King,
Ben. Beasley,
Christ. Shanks,
Jerem. Wilson,
Jordan Marshall,
Jos. Britton,
Geo. Bryant,
Jas. King,
Geo. McKay,
John C. Linsley,
Elizur Anderson,
Edmund Ensly,

C. F. Kan d age,
Elisha Marshall,
John Marshall,
Jos Seaman,
Isham Revis,
Nich. Parsons,
Lewis G. Lambert,
Vim. Cox,
Frankl. Stewart,
Sam. Hunt,
Jas. Pounds,
Fredy White,
Landerick Eale,

HISTORY OF CASS COUXrY.

Evan Jenkins,

Nich. Rheim,

Jn. Miller,

Fred. Krohe,

T. C. Mills,

Moses Derby,

Lewis Haiues,

Caleb Lee,

Wm. Turkymire,

Jas. Bonnett,

Pbil. Schaffer,

Thos. Carroll,

J. W. Crewdsou,

Curtis Hager,

Gottlieb Jokisch,

Phil. Kuhn,

Thos. Haskins,

Dan. Wells,

Jn. H. Treadway,

G. Kuhl,

Andr. Keltner,

Hy. P. Ross,

John Richardson,

John Rohn,

Amnsa Reeves,

Hy. Kemble

Christ' n Kuhl,

Jac. Downing,

Chr. Boyd,

Eilw. Saunders,

John Ilolkmon,

Dav. Tureman,

Jos Haskins,

Adolph Shupong,

Seymour Coifren,

Dav. Spence,

Milton Parmele,

G. Ruhl, 2d

Wm. Home,

Moritz Hallenbach,

John Quail,

Heuiy T. Fostei-,

Thos. C. Black,

Hy. Boemler,

Bernard Beist,

Wm. Bi'yit.;.,

Owen Clemens,

Dav. Emerich,

Ben. Britton,

Dav. Marshall,

Bradford Rew,

L. H. Wilkey,

Geo. Cowan,

B.uford Haines,

Lewis Cowan,

Thos. J. Moseley,

J. N. Jenkins,

Hy. Schaffer,

Nich. Coteral,

Joel K. Bowman,

Dan. Britton,

Thos. Pierce,

Gottlieb Jokisch,

Wm. W. Gillet,

Sam. Grosliong,

Jacob J. Brown,

Jn. Cuppy,

Wm. W. Hemminghouse,

John Keltely,

Jackson Stewait,

Godfr. Gullet,

Fred. Kors,

Wm. Quigg,

Jos. Canby,

John C. Scott,

John Decker,

Marcus Chandler,

Geo. Garlick,

Wm. H. McKanley,

Chs. Garland,

Leander Brown,

Jas. Dickinson,

Alex. RatcliJf,

John Brackle,

Jas. Garlick,

Westley Payton,

Math. McBride,

Chr. Hell,

Dan'l Boyne,

I^aac Short,

John Burns,

Elisha Olcott,

Thos. Proctor,

Amasa Warren,

John Bridgewater,

Absalom Spence,

Rich'd Graves,

Geo Schaffer,

John A. Thomas,

Wm. Ritchie,

Rich' dwells,

Asa Street,

John Buck,

Hy. Miller,

George Brown,

Jas. Roach,

Wm. R. White.

M. Kemper,

Ben. Horom,

Jas. A. Carr,

Jn. W. Anderson,

Wm. Moore,

Jos. H. Clemens,

John Haram,

Henry Collins,

Sam. Shaw,

Jas. Neeper,

Zach. Bridgewater,

Hy. Boha,

Jos. McClure,

Jackson Scott,

Wm. Moore,

Wm. Bassett,

Wm. Dougall,

Stephen Buck,

Wm. R. Parks,

Jas. Davidson,

Wm. Holmes,

Wm. Shuteman,

John P. Dick,

Robt. Lindsay,

Lewis Nolte,

Edward Salley,

Joshua Morris,

Wm. Cross,

Wm. Clark,

Demsey Boyce,

Wm. W. demons,

Jn. Wilbourns,

B. W. Schneider,

Aaron Powell,

J. Philippi,

John McKean,

Francis Rice,

Jerm. Bowes,

Jas. Scott,

Jas. Logan,

Aug. Knapp,

Jas. Case,

Jas. Cook,

Jos. Baker,

Dan. Scott,

A. Philippi,

John Gutliff Berger,

Christ. Newman,

Martin F. Higgins,

P. Philippi,

Fred. Krohe,

Thos. Stokes,

Dudley Green,

W. W. Gordon,

Aug. Krohe,

Jasper Buck,

Thos. Wilbourne,

Ily. Havekluft,

f red Inkle.

Jas. Davis,

Hy. Braker,

Jac. Fisal,

Louis Sudbrink,

Jas. Bell,

0. Long,

John Nevrman,

Adam Krough,

E. B. Gillett,

John Schaeffer,

John Yokes,

Montela Richardson,

J. B. Pierce,

T U. Webb,

Orria Hicks,

Rucy Richardson,

Harmon Byrnes,

J. Blackman,

John Waggoner,

W. Moody,

Joshua Alexander,

Pet. B. Bell,

Thomas Cowan,

Sam. Fletcher,

Edw'd Treadway,

Morgan Kemper,

John Hicks,

L. H. Treadway,

Chs. Chandler,

Thos. Bryant,

DaT. Newman,

John Price,

Peter Light,

Otto Wells,

G. A. Bonny,

Reuben Alexander,

Wm. B. Gaines,

J. W. Lippincott,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

VVm. Shcpard,

Jn. Steele,

John Wilson,

Calvin Wilson,

Sam. Thompson,

Arn. Arenz,

Oliver Lege,

Charles Scaggs,

Hy. Hendricker,

Pet. Douglas,

Wm. Lucas,

Wm. P. Morgan,

Rob. Moore,

Hy. Kashner,

Aaron Wright,

Riley Claxton,

Win. Sewell, y

J. M. Quale,

John Pryor,

Zachariah Hash,

Sam. McKee,

Jn. W. Gillis,

Standley Lockerman.

John Cook,

T. A. Hoffman,

Pav. Jones,

Henry S. Dutch,

Clinton Wilson,

Reuben Hager,

Jos. W Hardy,

Robert Nance,

Henry McHenry,

John Duchardt,

Wm. Miller,

Wm. Myers,

John Johnson,

Wm. L. Felix,

Christ. Trone,

Wm. Myers,

Mathew Loundsberry,

John Ayers,

Jessie Ankrom,

Amos Dick,

Frederick McDonald,

Hammer Oatman,

John McKowan,

Henry Dick,

John Leeper,

Thos. Saunders,

Hy. Whittick,

Jonathan N. I.oge,

Pleasant Rose,

A. Williams,

Carlton Logan,

John Hathorn,

Geo. Fancier,

J. B. Wilson,

Wm. Butler,

Colman Gaines,

James Bonnet,

Thos. Payne,

H. Smith,

John Davis,

Cyrus Elmore,

Wm. B. Ulside,

J. 0. Spence,

Daniel Robinson,

Thomas Jones,

Dan. Sheldon,

Nich. Kelly,

John Lucas,

Henry D. Wilson,

John McLane,

Wm. W. Bolt,

Robert Leeper,

John L. Witty,

Lewis Kicker,

Wm. DeHaven,

John Taylor,

Henry Taylor,

F. Arenz,

Hy. Wedeking,

Robert B. Taylor,

Alfred Daniels,

Moses Perkins,

Dan. Riggle,

James B. Conner,

Marcus Cooper,

Ily. Pheboe,

G. F. Miller,

Willis Daniels,

John B. Thompson,

Butler .\rnold.

C. J. Norbury,

Wm. S. demons,

Eaton Nance,

Isa.iG Plasters,

T. Graham, Jr.,

Ro. ert Carter,

James Hathorn,

Z. P. Harvey,

Lemuel Plasters,

James Wing,

John Pratt,

Wm. H. Williams,

Jac. Anderson,

Washington Daniels,

H. W. Libbeon,

Ralph Morgan,

Hy. McKean,

Ely Cox,

Sylvester Sutton,

J. P. Crow,

John W. Pratt,

James Hickey,

Robert G. Gaines,

Austin 8hiitenden,

Juhn Bull,

John Baldin,

Amos Bonney,

C. W. Clark,

Lewis Stoner,

Ashley Hickey,

James Roles,

John Cushman,

Thos. Beard,

John B. Witty,

Cyrus Wright.

J. S. Wilbourne,

J. Arnold,

Wm. Scult,

N. B. Thompson,

Election at the

house of John Dj "Weber,

Eihv. Collins,

A. Batoagfe,

in the Virginia Precinct, in the Comity of

John Pierson,

Day. White,

Cass, Illinois, August 7, 1837. This cer-

Lewis Pijer,

tificate is added:

" The County not being or-

Poll Book at Rich

mond Prec'nct election of

ganized, and, of

course, no Justice of Peace,

l.v3r.

or appointed Jut

ge, Mr. Win. Clark admin-

Mat'w Soundsberry, Jr

Obadiah Morgan,

istered the oath

to the other acting judges

John Hillis,

Horatio Purdy,

and Mr. .lames D

aniel administered it to him

Wm. T. Kirk,

Jerry W. Davis,

and to the clerks.

Subscribed by us.

Thos. Lockermand,

John Roberts,

" Wm. M. Claek,

Azariah Lewis,

John Chesshire,

"James Daniel."

Levy Dick,

Thomas Plasters,

Gibson Carter,

Abner Foster,

Louis Thornsberry,

John Slack,

David Pratt,

Peter Dick,

Wm. Paton,

Ezra Dutch,

John lancier,

Cary Nance,

Wm. Graves,

Young Phelps,

Henry Nichols,

Wm. Linn,

Levi Springer,

John Craig,

Jacob Bixler,

Enoch Wheelock,

P. S. Oulten,

L. B. Ross,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Thos. Plaster, Sr.,
Benj. Corby,
John Glover,
P. Underwood, Jr.,
perry G. Price,
Thos. J. Joy,
John Daniel,
Wm. B. Kirk,
Jeremiah Northern,
Jos. McDaniel,
Felix Cameron,
Robt. Davidson,
H. Osborne,
Beneiiici Cameron,
Anderson Phelps,
Zeb. Wood,
Jesse Spicer,
Wm. Craig,
Jas. Bland,
L. Carpenter, .
John Clark,
L. Clark,
Geo. Cunningliam,
Michael Reed,
Green H. Paschal,
Onslow Watson,
John McDonald,
Joel Home,
Charles Brady,
Wm. Daniels,
W. P. Johnstone,
W. P. Finch,
John Carpenter,
Thos. Lee,
Thos. G. Howard,
Joshua Price,
Green Garner,
Aaron Bonny.
Amos L. Bonny,
Ephraim Moseley,
Jas. Ross, Sr.,
T. S. Berry,
A. Bowen,
John Long,
Evan Warren,
John Cunningham,
Jas. Holland,

Wm. Fields,
Alex. Bain,
Jas. Garner,
John Biddies,
Phillip Cochrane,
H. II. Hall,
A. Elder,

A. S. West,
Wm. M. Clark,
Wm. Blain,
Titus Phelps.
Jas. Williams,
Henry Hopkins,
Thos. Boicourt,
John Robinson,
George Sliaw,
J. M. Ross,
Pleas. Scott,
Jas. Biddle,

J. T. Powell,
John De Weber,
Reddick Horn,
Archibald Job,
George Beggs,

B. Stribling,
Chas. P. Anderson,
S. Steveson,

Jas. Daniels,
James B. Davis,
John Redman,
Elias Matthew,
Thos. Finn,
Daniel Cauby,
L. B. Freeman,
J. M. McLean,

B. A. Blantin,
Jos. Jump,

C. H. Oliver,
Alex. Huffman,
Jonas McDonald,
John Peirce,
John Biddlecome,
Jas. Berry,

"M. O'Brien,
Isaiah Paschal,
M. H. Biddies.

CANDIDATES.

Probate Juslke. J. S. Wilbourue, 65 ;
26; Jas. Berry,15.

Wm. Scott,

Sheriff. Lemon Plaster, 81 ; M. F. Higgins, 1 'i ; J.
B. Bueb,;70.

Recorder. N. B. Thompson, 30 ; Thos. Graham, 1 ;
Dr. 0. M. Long, 7 ; Alfred Elder, 64.

Count;/ Commissionera' Treasurer. Thos. Wilbourn,
14; J. C. Spense, 84.

County Commissioners' Clerk. J. M. Pratt, 52 ; R.
G. Gains, 49.

County Commissioners. Amos Bonney, 60 ; G. P.
Miller, 16; H McKean, 30; Benj. Stribling, 95;
Henry McIIenry, 7.

County Surveyor. Wm. Holmes, 86; Wnt. Clark, 19.

Coroner. C. Rew, 27 ; J. Anderson, none ; Halsey
Smith, 75.

The election was held on the first day of
August, 1837, and the following named officers
were elected: Joshua P. Crow, Amos Bonney,
and George F. Miller, County Commissioners;
John S. Wilbourne, Probate Justice of the
Peace; John W. Pratt, Clerk of County Com-
missioners' Court; Lemon Plaster, Sheriff.
These men were sworn into office by Thomas
Pogue, a Beardstown magistrate.

On tlie 1-tth day of August, 1837, the
county commissioners met and organized Cass
County. At this first meeting of the board,
the new county was divided into six precincts,
which were named : Beardstown, Monroe,
Virginia, Sugar Grove, Richmond and
Bowens.

When this county was organized there was
not a house, built exclusively for relisrious
worship, in it, and not one in all Morgan
County outside of Jacksonville. Physicians
were scarce, and fever and ague quite com-
mon. Game was plenty, some of which was
verv disagreeable, particularly wolves, and an
occasional panther. The wolves very sel-
dom did violence to human beings; but when
the weather was cold and stormy, and the
ground frozen, they were so bold and threat-
ening, that nobody cared to risk himself out
alone at night. The only instance of violence
to a man within our recollection, was the case
of Esquire Daniel Troy, living near Bethel

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

who was walking home one night from town,
carrying a quarter of beef on his shoulder.
He was attacked by a gang of wolves, the
beef taken away from him, and he very
roughly handled.

There were a few large gray wolves also,
that were very much feared. One cold, bright,
moonshiny night, we heard an uncommon
fuss with our dogs, and opened our cabin
door. A favorite little black dog immediately
pounced into the house, and t)ie largest gray
wolf, we ever saw, which was after him, tried
to follow. The door was open, and we had
no time to get our rifle. The only weapon
at hand was a stick of fire wood, but with this
we did good execution, and Mr. Wolf had to
beat a retreat. So severely had we beaten
him, that he immediately left our premises.
We afterward heard a fuss among the dogs
at a neighbor's, Armstrong Cooper's house,
and then the crack of a rifle, and in a short
time we lu>ard the dogs and another rifle at
Mr. Lamb's liouse, and then all was still. We
found next morning that these shots of Cooper
and Lamb had killed him. He was a mon-
ster, and measured nine feet and nine inches,
from his nose to the end of his tail.

At that time there was very little litigation
among the country people, and personal alter-
cations were usually settled by a resort to
blows.

It was in the winter of 1836-37, we be-
lieve, although we defer our recollection to
others, if they think we are mistaken,
that we had what we called the " sudden
change " in the weather, the most remark-
able one we ever saw, heard of, or read
of. On Saturday morning there was snow
on the ground. The following Sunday
was a very warm day, and Monday, until
about one o'clock p. m., was still warmer,
and on both days there was considerable rain.
The snow had melted into slush and water,
which was standing in ponds on the level

ground, and roaring down declivities. At
that hour the weather turned suddenly very
cold. In one hour after the change began
the slush and water was frozen solid; and in
two hours from that time, men were hur-
riedly crossing the river on the ice. A vast
amount of cattle, fowls and game, and many
persons, were frozen to death. We heard
of one man, who was crossing a prairie, on
horseback, who had killed his horse and
taken the entrails out of him and then
crawled inside of him for protection, was
found there frozen to death. We don't
know how the thermometer stood, for we had
none.

On Monday, during this sudden change. Dr.
Chandler was returning home from a pro-
fessional trip up the bottom. His overcoat
was covered with slush and mud, and in a
few minutes after the change began his coat
was frijzen stift", and he felt that he was in
danger of being frozen. He stopped at the
store of Henry T. & Abner Foster, at Rich-
mond, on the land since owned by John P.
Dick, where he was warmed up and thawed
out. He then mounted his horse and started on
a gallop for home, about six miles distant, but
soon found himself freezing again. He
stopped at another house, and warmed, and
started again, with like results. He thus was
forced to stop at four different houses, be-
tween Foster's store and his house, to prevent
freezing to death. When he arrived within
sight of his own house his horse fell down,
and left him helpless on the ice, and his
family dragged him, in a helpless condition,
into the house.

At the special session of the Legislature,
in the summer of 1S37, was passed a pream-
ble and statute to the following effect :

Whereas, at an election held in the county
of Morgan, according to the provisions of
" An act for the formation of the county of
Cass," it appeared tiiat a majority of the

HISTORY OF CASS COU.\TY.

voters of said county voted for the creation
of said county ; and, whereas, at an election
for the county seat of said county. Beards-
town received the highest number of votes for
the county seat, and whereas, some doubts
have been expressed as to the legality of the
proceedings of said election, now, therefore,
to remove all doubts on that subject :

Sec. 1. He it enacted by the people of the
State of Illinois represented in the General
Assembly, That the county of Cass, as desig-
nated and bounded in the " Act for the
formation of the county of Cass," approved
March 3d, 1837, be, and the same is hereby de-
clared to be, one of the counties of this State.

Sec. 2. The county seat shall be located
at the city of Beardstown, in said county ;
Provided, however., that the provision of the
act above referred to, shall be complied with
by the citizens, or a corporation of Boards-
tc^n, in relation to the raising the sum of
ten thousand dollars, to defray the expenses
of erecting public buildings for said county.

Sec. 3. The corporation of Beardstown
shall be allowed the period of one, two, and
three years, for the payment of ten thousand
dollars, aforesaid, to be calculated from the
passage of the law aforesaid, which sum shall
be paid in three equal payments. The County
Commissioners' Court of said county shall
make their contracts for erecting the pulilic
buildings in said county, so as to make their
payments thereon when the said installments
aforesaid shall become due and payable.

Sec. 4. The court house of said county
shall be erected on the plat of ground known
as the public square, in said town of Beards-
town.

Sec. 5. Returns of the elections for the
county officers of said county, to be elected
on the first Jlonday of August next, shall be
made in Beardstown, to O. M. Long and
Thomas Poyne, notaries public in Beardstown,
who shall open and examine the poll books of

said election in the presence of one or more
Justices of the Peace in and for said county ;
and said notaries public, after due inspection
and examination of the poll books, according
to the laws of this State, shall make out certi-
ficates of election of those persons who have
received the highest number of votes, which
certificates shall be such as those required to
be made by the Clerks of the County Commis-
sioners' Court, and shall receive and be en-
titled to the same effect in law.

This statute also provides how the school
fund of Morgan County shall be divided with
Cass County.

At the session of 1839, on the 2d day of
March, the Legislature made this preamble
and statute :

" Whereas, it was provided, by the act for
the formation of the county of Cass, that, in
case the county seat of said county should be
located at Beardstown, the corporation or in-
habit;uits should, within one year after the
location, pay into the county treasury tiie sum
of ten thousand dollars, to be ajs plied to the
erection of public buildings; and whereas, by
the act passed 21st of July, 1837, in relation
to said county, further time was allowed said
corporation to make said payment, the said
corporation having failed to pay the said ten
thousand dollars, and not having complied
with, or agreed to comply with the provisions
of the last recited act, the County Commis-
sioners of said county, under the provisions of
the first recited act, located the county seat at
Virginia, and contracted for the erection of a
court house and jail in said county; and doubts
being entertained as to the true construction
of the act last recited in relation to the rights
of said corporation, and the duties of the
County Commissioners, therefore:

" Sec. 1. He it enacted by the people of the
Slate of Illinois represented in the General
Assembly, That the county seat of Cass
Countv shall be and remain at Virginia, and

/^(c^f^t^^U^

!■ •,"•'( 1

LINOI?.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

tlie courts of ^^aid county shall hereafter be
held at that place; and the several county
officers, who are required to keep their offices
at the county seat, are required to remove
their respective offices, and all bonds, docu-
ments, books and papers pertaining to the
same, to Virginia, on or before the first day
of May next, and thereafter hold and keep
their respective offices at that place; and in
case one or more of said officers shall fail, or
refuse to comply with the provisions of this
act, such officer shall forfeit his office."

In the years 1838 and 1839, wasbuilt, aswe
believe, the first railroad west of the Alle-
ghany Mountains, running from Meredosia to
Springfield. "We particularly recollect this
great enterprise, for two reasons: first, we took
a trip in 1838 from Meredosia to Jacksonville,
on the first passenger train that ever ran on that
road; and second, because it was built by the
State, and was a part of that great internal
imnrovement policy, which bankrupted and
disgraced the State, and spread miserj' among
the people. Of all the hard times that the
people of Cass County, and indeed of the
A^hole State, have ever seen, these were the
hardest.

This was caused by a passage of a bill in
the Legislature, providing for a general sj's-
tem of internal improvements by the construc-
tion of nearly 1,300 miles of railroad, and the
improvement of various rivers. These im-
provements never paid the interest on the
money they cost, and in 1840, after a short
but eventful life of three years, fell the most
stupendous, extravagant and almost ruinous
foil}' of a grand system of internal improve-
ments that any civilized community, perhaps,
ever engaged in, leaving a State debt of 81-4,-
23?, 348.00, and a population of less than half
a million to pay it. For this the people
could not blame the Legislature, or the poli-
ticians, for the people themselves had de-
manded and clamored for it, and the Legisla-

ture only obeyed their behest in granting it.
At the same time, the State banks suspended,
and left us with a depreciated currency.
The State Bank of Shawneetown collapsed
with a circulation of §1,700,000, and the State
Bank with §3,000,000. The people were left
destitute of an adequate circulating medium
and were not supplied until the ordinary pro-
cess of their limited commerce brought in
gold and silver and bills of solvent banks
from the other States, which was very slow.
Even immigration was stopped, owing to the
general financial embarrassment, high taxes,
and disgraceful condition of the State.
When money was abundant, credit had been
extended to every body. With the vast sys-
tem of internal improvements, and the large
circulation of the banks, this was the condi-
tion of our people. They were largely in
debt on account of speculations, which proved
to be delusions. Contracts matured, but no-
body paid. The State had sold and hypothe-
cated her bonds until its credit was exhausted.
Then no further effort was made to pay even
the interest on the State debt. Then the
State bonds went down, down, until they
were worth but fourteen cents on the dollar.
The people were unable and unwilling to pay
higher taxes, and what might almost be called
a general bankruptcy ensued. The people
owed the merchants; the merchants owed the
banks, and for goods purchased abroad; while
the banks, having suspended specie payment,
owed every one who carried one of their rags
in his pocket. None could pay in par funds,
for there were none to l)e had. In this dilemma
the Legislature tried to come to the relief of
the people, but instead of relieving them
from their wretched condition by summary
legislation, they, as such bodies usually do, in
like circumstances, only made matters worse.
Among- other statutes passed with this gener-
ous object, was one that we have no doubt
many citizens of Cass will recollect, which was

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

known among the people as the slay laic, or
two-thirds law. It serves to illustrate both
the hard times and the inconsiderate and un-
just legislation of that day, although done
with the intention of affording relief to the
debtor class, without ajiparently thinking that
it was at the expense of the creditor. This
law provided that property levied upon by
e.\(>cution should be valued as in "ordinary
times;" the valuation to be made by ihree
householders summoned by the officer
holding the writ of whom the debtor,
creditor, and officer should each choose one,
thus placing it in the power of the officer to
favor either party at his option; the property
was not to be sold unless it brought two-thirds
of its valuation; no way was provided by
which the creditor if two-thirds of its valua-
tion was not bid, could hold his lien; thus
forcing him to stay collection or suffer dis-
count of '33j( per cent. This law was made
applicable to all judgments rendered and con-
tracts accruing prior to the 1st of Maj', 1841,
without reference to the legal obligations of the
time when contracts were entered into; beincr
in violation of that clause of the constitution
of the United States, declaring that "no law
shall be passed impairing the obligation of
contracts." In the case of McCracK-en v.
Howard, 2d Howard, COS, the Supreme Court
of the United States subsequently held this
law to be unconstitutional. But, in the mean-
time, the law had performed its mission, and
had rendered the collection of debts almost
impossible. The condition of our people was
truly distressing. There was an utter dearth
and stagnation of businesg. Abroad, the
name of the State was associated with dis-
honor. There were no immigrants but those
who had nothing to lose; while people here,
with rare exceptions, were anxious to sell out
and flee a country presenting no alternative
other than exorbitant taxation or disgrace.
But property would not sell, nor was there any

money to buy with. Indeed, money, as a
means of exchange, became almost unknown.
Payment was taken in trade, store pay, etc.
Merchants and other dealers issued warrants
or due bills, which passed for so much on the
dollar /n trade. Even the county commission-
ers' court of Cass County came to the relief
of the people, and had a plate engraved, and
issued vast quantities of county warrants, or
orders, in the similitude of one dollar bank
bills. But these coimty orders, and others
like them, were made invalid by an act of the
legislature passed in the interest of the banks;
so that even this charitable act on the part of
our county commissioners to relieve the local
scarcity of money, failed in its office.

At this time money was so scarce that it
was with great difficulty that farmers, owning
good farms, could get the money to pay their
postage. It was not necessary then to prepay
postage. Domestic letters cost from five to
twenty-five cents apiece, according to the
distance they had come; and foreign letters
were still higher.

What was wrorse, they must all be paid for
in silver, and it often occurred th.at a letter
would lie in the office for weeks before its
owner could get the silver to redeem it. If
the farmers wished to get goods from the
store, they were forced to buy on credit, and
pay in grain or other produce, or take butter,
eggs, poultry, game, honey, wood, or other
articles, to exchange for store goods.

Produce continually fiuctuated in price,
even in store pay. We have seen corn sell at
six cents often, and have heard farmers re-
mark that ten cents in cash was all that
corn ought to and probably ever would
bring, and that farmers could get rich at
that price. We have sold wheat in Beards-
town at thirty-five cents per bushel, and pork
often at one and one-quarter cents per pound.

One of the first acts of the County Com-
missioners' Court after the organization of

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

this county, was to arrange for raising a rev-
enue, and they passed an order that the fol-
lowing kinds of property be taxed at the rate
of one-half per cent.: Town lots, "inden-
tured or reg-istered negro or mulatto servants"
(for this had not ceased to be a slave State at
, that time), pleasure carriages, stocks in trade,
horses, mules, " and all neat cattle over and
under three years old," hogs, sheep, wagons
and carts.

A public notice was given to " all persons
trading in Cass County " to procure a license
according to law. Under this notice, at the
September Term, 1837, Spence & Foster, T.
& J. T. Wilbourn, and Parrot & Alcott, got a
license to sell goods, wares, and merchandise
in Beardstown ;'and Beasley & Schafer, a sim-
ilar license at Monroe ; and all such licenses
were fixed at five dollars each. Tavern li-
censes were granted at seven dollars each. At
the same term, a license to keep a ferry-boat,
for one year, at B Mrdstown, was granted to
Thomas Beard for twenty-two dollars.

The first county order drawn on the treas-
urer, was for twenty-two dollars and fifty
cents, in favor of N. B. Thompson, for the
books of the County Commissioners' Court.
The second was in favor of N. B. Thompson,
for thirty dollars, and was for three county
seals, in full, September 6, 1837.

The first term of the Circuit Court of Cass
County was held in Beardstown, November
13, 1837, in a one-story frame building stand-
ing at the corner of Main and State streets,
where Seeger's hall now stands. Present :
the Hon. Jesse B. Thomas, Jr., judge of the
First Judicial Circuit ; Lemon Plaster, sheriff;
and as the Circuit Clerk was not an elective
ofBce at that time, N. B. Thompson was ap-
pointed clerk by the judge.

The grand jury at that time consisted of
Thomas Wilbourn, foreman, Isaac Spence,
Augustus Knapp, James H. Blackman, Alex-
ander Huffman, Robert Gaines, Richard

Graves, William Shoopman, Benjamin Strib-
ling, John Daniels, Phineas Underwood, Eph-
raim Moseley, John Robinson, Elijah Carver,
John P. Dick, William McAuley, Marcus
Chandler, Henry S. Ingalls, Jeremiah Bowen,
Amos Hager, and Jeremiah Northern.

There was no petit jury at this term, but
talismen were drawn as they were wanted.

At the May term, 1838, Nathan alias
Nathaniel Graves, was indicted for the mur-
der of an eastern man lamed Fowie, which
murder took place at what was known as
Miller McLane's grocery, kept in a log house
which stood on the present site of Philadel-
phia. Fowle and Alec Beard were sitting
down on a log outside the grocery, talking in
a friendly manner. There was quite a num-
ber of persons around. Graves and Richard
McDonald came riding up on horseback from
different directions about the same time.
Graves dismounted, leading his horse towards
Fowle, drew a pistol and shot and killed him.
He was so near Fowle that the fire burnt his
clothes. The men standing around were so
surprised that they stood still while Graves
mounted his horse and started to ride away.
At this time McDonald cried out, " Men, why
don't j'ou arrest him?" and rode alter him.
When Graves saw that McDona'd was about
to catch him, he drew a knife and turned
around. McDonald caught him by the throat
and choked him till he surrendered, but was
himself badly, almost fatally, wounded in the
struggle. Graves took a change of venue to
Green County, where, breaking jail, he escaped
to Kentucky, where he died a natural death.

In 1839, the town of Arenzville was found-
ed by Francis Arenz.

Thus matters stood from 1837 to 1843, dur-
ing which time there grew a feeling of dis-
satisfaction among the people of the southern
half of the townships seventeen and other
parts of Morgan County, with Jacksonville;
and there was such effort made to dissever

HISTORY OF CASS COU>'TY.

their relations, that two statutes were passed
by the Legislature in the session of 1843,
which provided for the accoraplishmetit of
three objects: one of which was that a vote
be taken whether Morgan County should be
divided into two counties, one of which was
to remain by the name of Morgan County,
and the other by the name of Benton; second,
that the tier of half townships, known as
seventeen, or the " three mile strip," on the
north side of Morgan County, be added to
Cass County; and third, that Cass County
should vote for the selection of a permanent
county seat. The election on the first propo-
sition was held in Morgan County on the first
Monday in August, 1843, and resulted unfav-
orably to the creation of the county of Benton
The proposition to annex the " three-mile
strip," was held in the four different precincts
in that strip of territory, on the first Mon-
day in May, 1845, and stood as follows:

For attaching to Cass. Agaiust attaching.

Arenzville 115 5

At the house of Ilenry Price 70 14

Princeton 41 35

At the house of Wm. Berry 20 24

M tjority for attaching the "three-mile strip"
to Cass, 168.

On the first Monday in September, 1843,
there was an election held in Cass County to
determine the permanent location of the
county seat, at which election the vote stood
as follows:

Precincts. For Beardsto^vn. For Virginia.

Virginia 2 234

Richmond 21 34

Monroe 17 7

Beardstown 413 13

Majority for Beardstown, 165.

The county seat was removed to Beards-
town, and on the eighth day of February,
1845, the town of Beardstown presented the
county commissioners' court with lot one, in
block thirty-one, in that town, with the court

house and jail thereon completed. On the
sixth of March, 1846, Reddick Horn sold his
farm, consisting of 134 acres, in sections
twenty-eight and twenty-nine, in township
eighteen, range eleven, to the county of Cass,
for a " home for the poor of the county," for
$1,500.

By the breaking out of the Mormon war,
in 1845, Beardstown again became the rendez-
vous for the State forces called out to coerce
into obedience to our State laws that peculiar
people. The troops were under the com-
mand of Brigadier- General John J. Hardin,
of Jacksonville, Illinois.

The town of Chandlerville was begun in
1848, by Dr. Charles Chandler; and Ashland
in 1857.

From 1850 to 1852, Cass County was in-
fested by horse thieves, who resided in the
county, some half dozen of which were ar-
rested in the latter year, and brought before a
magistrate lor examination. One of the
number was a large, powerful, good-looking
young Hungarian, named Eugene Honorius.
We were prosecuting the case, and felt satis-
fied from what we could learn, that he had no
heart in that nefarious business, but was in-
duced to stay with the gang out of love for
the sister of one of them. Not having suf-
ficient testimony, we pressed him into the
service as witness, and by a rigid examina-
tion, extorted all the necessary facts from him
sufficient to hold the rest of the gang, who
were committed to jail.

Before the sitting of the Circuit Court,
however, they all broke jail, and fled to Kan-
sas; from whence the girl to whom Honorius
was attached, wrote back to a friend the
statement: That by an arrangement with the
gang, after they had escaped from jail, one
Sunday she asked the Hungarian to go to a
religious meeting with her, down on Indian
Creek. That they started on horseback, but
that she decoyed him away down on Hog

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Island, where they met the gang, who shot
and killed him in revenge for his having
"■peached" on them; and that if the prose-
cutors wanted to use him for a witness again
they could find him at a certain place on Hog
Island, and designated it.

Upon being informed of this, John Craig
and the writer rode down there, and at the
place designated in the girl's letter, we found
the bones of a man, evidently about the large
size of Honorius, but so much torn to pieces
and broken bv animals, that we could find
but three whole bones, the two thighs and the
jaw bone, which we have yet in our posses-
sion. The perpetrators were never re-taken,
but the county was not troubled with horse-
thieves for a long time afterwards.

By virtue of the State Constitution of 18-18,
a statute was passed by the legislature of 1849,
abolishing the County Commissioners' Court,
and the office of Probate Justice of the Peace,
and creating instead the County Court, con-
sisting of one judge and two associate justices
of the peace.

The first court elected under the new law
was: James Shaw, judge; Wm. Taylor and
Thomas Plaster, associates.

At the same session an act was passed
authorizing counties to adopt township organ-

ization, if a majority of the citizens should
favor it. An effort was made at that time,
and several others by a vote of the people
have been made since, to adopt that form of
county government in Cass County, but have
failed; the people in every instance prefer-
ring to remain under the old form of organi-
zation.

In the same year, 1849, Beardstown was
incorporated as a city, with the same charter
as those of Springfield and Quincy. In this
year also occurred the third election for loca-
tion of the county seat, which was decided
in favor of Beardstown. Another election
was had in 1857, and another in 1868, for
the same purpose, but the county seat still
remained at Beardstown. Another election
was held in 1873, under the Constitution of
1870, and a new general statute governing re-
location of countj' seats. The history of this
last election and its results is too fresh in the
memory to need repeating now. By it the
county seat was removed to Virginia, where
it now remains.

The first census taken after Cass County
was formed, was in 1840; it then had a total
population of 2,981. In 1850, it had 7,253;
in 1860, 11,325; in 1870, 11,580; in 1880,
14,493.

;\i«"

fl^^*^

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER Y.

FERTILE LANDS OF CASS— ITS GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS— COAL MEASURES— DIFFERENT

DEPOSITS— COAL— BUILDING STONE— LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVES FROM CASS

COUNTY — PRINCIPAL COUNTY OFFICERS SINCE FORMATION — ILLINOIS

RIVER ITEMS, ETC.

CASS County, being highly favored with fer-
tile lands, and all which, with industry,
goes to make up wealth, has prospered ever
since it was formed. In the beginning it had
but little developed wealth. A few farms
scattered along the edges of the timbered
lands or in the river bottom-lands and the
little town of Beardstown was about all.
But notwithstanding its small territory, it has
bounded along and now competes with its
most progressive neighbors. Its prairie and
bottom lands are now in cultivation, and
great farms and substantial farm houses now
stand where a few years since were waste
places. A few years ago the barren lands,
(so-called because a former growth of timber
was supposed to have exhausted the soil) were
unsettled, and considered almost worthless,
but now they are known to be very produc-
tive, especially for wheat, and have been all
taken up and mostly cultivated. Also the
sand-ridges scattered along the river bottoms
are found to be profitable for the production
of melons, sweet potatoes, beans, etc., and
have been turned to account for these pur-
poses. Our cities and towns are in a prosper-
ous condition, having their fair share of
manufactories, and commerce and other
means of continued prosperity. We have
the Illinois river and abundance of railroads
for business and pleasure ; the St. Louis &
Rock Island, Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville,
and Chicago & Alton R. R.'s running north
and south, and the Beardstown and Spring-

field branch of the O. & M., running east and
west.

The history of the present generation of
the prominent and representative people of
Cass County will be found in the biographies
and in the description of its cities, towns and
business, as set forth in other parts of this
work, and which will form a continuation of
this history.

Cass County is bounded on the north by
Mason County, on the east by Menard County,
on the south by Morgan County, and on
the west by the centre of the channel of the
Illinois river. Its superficial area is about
four hundred and sixty square miles. The
level of its high prairie lands is about six
hundred and thirty feet above that of the
ocean, forty-five feet above the level of Lake
Michigan, and three hundred and forty feet
above low water at Cairo, in the Illinois
river.

The surface of the county is, for the most
part, gently undulating, becoming hilly and
broken only along the courses of the streams.
In the western part, along the Illinois river,
there is a strip of bottom land, varying in
width from three and one-half to five miles.
This extends also along the Sangamon river,
on the northern border.

The soil of the prairie portion of this county
is the same as that in the whole of this por-
tion of the State, a dark-colored loam with a
lighter colored clay sub-soil. On the ridges
and bluffs which skirt the streams, we find

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

this sub-soil everywhere, except upon the
Loess formation, exposed at the suifacj of
the ground, and •generally bearing a heavy
growth of timber. On the bottom lands the
soil is an alluvial arenaceous loam, and, ex-
cepting in localities where the sand too
greatly predominates, is an excellent and
productive soil.

The principal kinds of timber upon the up-
lands are the common varieties of oak, hickory,
elm, sugar maple, black and white walnut,
linden, and various species which are rather
less frequent. On the bottoms there are the
willow, soft maple, ash, sycamore, cottonwood,
water oak, etc., in addition to some of the he-
fore-mentioned species, forming a consider-
able proportion of the timber. The propor-
tion of prairie to wooded land is probably
nearly evenly divided.

The geological formations in this county
consist of the Quaternary deposits, the Loess
and Drift, and the Coal Measures, which alone
of the older formation underlie the surface
beds of clay, gravel, etc. The Loess forms
the bluffs along the Illinois and Sangamon
bottoms. Its general features here are the
same as in the other river counties, and it
forms the same bold bluffs that are seen in
other localities along the Illinois and Missis-
sippi Rivers. The material here is an ash or
buif-colored marly sand, containing fossil
fresh-water shells of existing species. The
thickness of the formation is considerable,
some sixty or seventy feet immediately at the
bluffs, but it rapidly thins out in the back
country, in many places disapjiearing entirely
within a very short distance. It appears to
extend the farthest inland along the Sanga-
mon River north of Virginia, and several good
sections of this deposit may be seen in the
cuts on the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville
Railroad, between that place and Chandler-
ville.

The Drift Deposits consist of brown, yellow

and blue clays, with boulders, while sand and
gravel seams are of frequent occurrence amid
the mass. The thickness can hardly be esti-
mated, as experiments have not been made,
but will probably range between forty and
one hundred feet.

Coal Measures, so far as developed, com-
prises a thickness of over three hundred feet
of the middle and lower portion of the series,
and contains two or three seams of coal of
workable thickness. The principal exposures,
commencing with the lowest, are as follows:

In the southwest part of section 21, town-
ship 18, range 11, where the wagon road be-
tween Virginia and Beardstown comes down
through the bluffs to the bottom lands along
the Illinois river, there are several old coal
shafts, only one of which (late Mr. Kinney's)
is now worked. This is reported to have
afforded the following section:

1. Soil (Loess) 15 feet.

2. Brownish sandstone, containing many vegeta-

ble impressions 13 ''

3. Limestone (" Blue Rocli ") 2 "

4. Clay Shale ("Soapstone") 12 "

5. Coal (No. 1 of Illinois river section) 3 "

6. Fire clay, very hard 4 "

No. 3 of this section crops out along the
bluff road, at the edge of the bluffs, and a
few rods farther west, in ledges several feet
in vertical exposure. It is a soft micaceous
sandstone, of a light brown or whitish brown
color, and appears slightly crumbling at this
locality. Aliout a quarter of a mile further
north the coal seam No. 4 is reported to have
been reached by digging in at the foot of the
bluff and worked by stripping. Still farther
to the northward, in the northwest quarter of
the same section, in an old quarry on the side
of the bluff, a little to the right of the wagon
road, is an exposure of about ten feet in
thickness, of a heavy bedded sandstone, the
same as that which is met with in the shaft,
and exposed on the roadside near by. A lit-

5-t

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

tie farther northeast, near the eastern line of
section 16, the coal seam is said to appear
again, and to have been worked to a slight
extent in the side of a ravine about half a
mile from the road.

Above the north line of section 21, the
bluffs, for about two miles, are mostly of
Loess, and it is necessary to go up the side
ravines in order to see the exposures of
rock. About half a mile up the large ra-
vine, which cuts through the bluffs in the
southern part of section 10, on the eastern
side, there is another exposure of the sand-
stone (No. 2 of the section), and a little above
this, near the northwest corner of section 14,
there is about ten feet exposed of the shales
No. 4, capped by a single layer of limestone
two feet thick (No. 3).

The coal seam must be very near the bot-
tom of the ravine at this point, but it is not
exposed.

The outcrops of the sandstone continue up
this ravine and its branches in the eastern
part of section 14 and the western part of
section 15, for about three-quarters of a mile
above this point, and then disappear entirely.
The rock is, in most respects, the same as in
the localities before described, a soft, even
textured sandstone, varying in color from
brownish red to a dirty white, and in some
portions having a light bluish tinge and a
slightly variegated appearance.

It contains a great abundance of fossil
vegetable remains, calamites, etc., but from
the nature of the rock very few are found in
a good state of preservation.

From the mouth of this ravine, for a short
distance to the northeast, along the face of
the bluffs, there are no very good exposures
of any of the beds. There seems to be here,
however, a low anticlinal, the strata having
gradually risen until, at this point, the coal
seam No. 4 has been worked by drifting into
the side of the bluff almost midway between

the base and summit. The crown of the arch
is very near this point, and the direction of
the axis of the fold must be, judging from ap-
pearances, about southeast.

The seam of coal is said to be about three
feet thick at this point, but at present only
the entrances to the old drifts and the debris
can be seen, no work having been done here
for a number of years.

A short distance further along the bluff
road, nearly on the line between sections 10
and 11, another large ravine opens out, and
the rock again appears. The coal seam was
formerly worked also at this point, at a level
some fifteen or twenty feet above the road,
though its outcrop is not now visible. Just
below the level of the old drift there is an
outcrop of what appears to be a nodular ar-
gillaceous limestone, which is probably just
underlying the fire-clay.

Above the opening of the drift the Shale
No. 4 appears, and still higher up the bank
the Limestone No. 3 has been slightly quar-
ried, and above all the sandstone No. 2 ap-
pears, but at present the debris of the sand-
stone and shale covers all the lines of junc-
tion, and no very reliable measurements of the
thickness of the beds can be taken. The
sandstone continues to appear in the sides of
the ravine, and in the bed of the small stream
which occupies it for upwards of half a mile.
Its total thickness, although in no place so
fully exposed as to afford an opportunity for
accurate measurement, can hardly be less
than fifty or sixtj' feet.

East of the mouth of this ravine, through
the northern half of section 11, this sandstone
appears in ledges in the bluffs, at an elevation
of fifty feet or more above the road, and has
been quarried in some of the small ravines.
In one of these ravines, in the Northeast
quarter of section 11, there was a single out-
crop of the coal seam, the exposed thickness
I of which is about three feet. This is on the

HISTOiiY OF CASS COUNTY.

Northeastern slope of the anticlinal, and only
a little fui'tlier on the Loess and Alluvium
come down to the road, and the exposures of
rock cease to appear for the distance of sever-
al miles.

Leaving the last mentioned localities, and
continuinof eastward alongr the base of the
bluffs, the next prominent exposure is met
with near the center of the western part of
section ten, township eighteen, range ten, on
the left bank of Job's creek, just above the
])oint where it comes out of the bluffs and enters
the bottoms. Here the Sandstone No. two
lias been quarried in the hillside, some thirty
feet or more above the water, presenting pre-
cisely the same appearance as at the other
localities already mentioned. The lower beds
of limestone and shale, and the coal seams, if,
indeed, they occur above the bottom of the
ravine at all, are completely hidden by the
fragments and debris from above. The sand-
stone appears again at one or two points
further east, within the distance of one mile,
in the northeast quarter of section ten, and
almost on the line between sections ten and
eleven.

The only remaining locality in Gass County,
where the older rocks appear at the surface,
or are artificially exposed, is on Panther creek,
near Chandlerville, in sections five and six,
township eighteen, range nine. A shallow
coal shaft in the southeast quarter of section
six, afforded the following section :

feet, inches.

1. Surface .«oiI 4

2. Gravel (blue bind) 4

3. Black slate 2

4. Clay shale (soapstone) LS

5. Coal 2 6

6. Fir-' clay, passing (lownw.arJ into

nodular limestone 2

7- Clay, penetrated 2

The shale and slate appear in the bank of
the creek for upwards of half a mile above the
coal diggings, seldom rising more than two
or three feet above the water's edge. No

fossils were discovered. It seems quite prob-
able that this seam of coal is the same as that
in the exposures further west, although from
the lack of continuity in the exposures, and
other sufficient evidence, it may, perhaps,
be best to refer to it only provisionally.

Coal. — All parts of Cass County appear to
be underlaid by the coil measures, which here
include the horizon of four or five different
seams of coal. It seems highly probable, in-
deed, that there is no portion of the county,
excepting the bottom lands along the Illinois
and Sangamon rivers, that is not underlaid by
at least one coal bed of workable thickness.
The lowest of these seams, which is exposed
or worked anywhere in this region is prob-
ably the coal No. 1 of the general sec-
tion of the State, identical with the Exeter
coal of Soott County, although it is possible
that it may prove to be No. 2 of the general
section, or the same as the Neeleyville coal in
Morgan County.

The ab.sence of black slate in the roof and
the great thickness of the sandstone above,
are facts which seem to slightly favor this
view, but are, however, not conclusive.

The absence of exposures in the southwest-
ern portion of Cass County is to be regretted,
as not affording the means of positively de-
termining this question.

This seam of coal is now actively worked
at only one or tvro points in Cass County, al-
though it was formerly much more extensively
mined along its out-crop on the side of the
bluffs of the Illinois and Sangamon rivers.
The seam will average three feet in thick-
ness, and is of fair quality. The discontin-
uance of the most of the mining operations
was mainly due to the small local demmd
and the competition of other mines in the
adjoining counties on the Illinois rivej.

Building Stone. — The brownish sandstone
which occurs in very heavy beds above the
roof shales of coal No. 3, promises well for

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

this purpose. It is usually of a reddish-brown
color, though in some places it approaches a
dirty white, or has a bluish tinge, is very soft
and easily dressed when first quarried out,
but is said to harden on exposure. At the
junction of this rock and the underlying
shales there is generally from one to three
feet in thickness of limestone, which has been
also quarried to some extent at a few points.
The quantity of this sandstone is such that it
is practically inexhaustible; it is probable, how-
ever, that all parts of it will not be found to
answer equally well as a building stone.

OrnicE Building Materials.^ — -Limestones
suitable for the manufacture of a fine article
of quicklime are found wherever limestone
can be obtained for building stone. Some
selection, however, has to be made among the
beds at some points for a material which will
afford an article of lime suitable to supply
the local needs.

Clay and sand for brick making are found
in abundance in all parts of the county, and
will probably become one of the chief sources
of building material in those parts distant
from available stone quarries.

The general surface configuration and soils
of the county have been noticed in this
sketch, and but little more need lie said on
that branch of the subject. The soil of the
upland prairies takes rank with the best in
Central Illinois in general agricultural value.
The soil of the timbered portions is also pro-
ductive when properly cultivated.

Along the Illinois and Sangamon rivers, in
the bottom lands, there are occasinnal sandy
tracts or ridges, generally covered, before
being put into cultivation, with a dense
growth of stunted oak and black-jack, and
frequently with prickly pears, which are, of
course, inferior in richness of soil, but which
are of late years being successfully used in
the cultivation of melons, sweet-potatoes,
beans, grapes, etc.; but, as a general thing, the

soil of these bottoms is a deep rich arenace-
ous loam, which, when sufficiently elevated,
or properly drained, or guarded with dykes
to prevent overflows of water from the rivers,
is one of the most productive soils in the
State.

One of the greatest difficulties which a
large portion of the farmers of Cass County
will have to encounter in the future, is the
washing of hilly uplands by heavy rams,
and the consequent covering and ruin of rich
bottom lands by sand and poor clay silt. Al-
ready much damage and many lawsuits have
grown out of it, and unless some concerted
and united action is had by the parties inter-
ested, the future will bring much greater
damage and increased litigation. Another
important matter that should be taken into
consideration, is the frequent and destructive
overflow of the creeks. This could be rem-
edied in most instances by straightening the
creeks by cutting channels across the bends,
and removing the drift wood from the bed,
by a combination of neighborhoods, all those
interested working together for the common
good ; or a remedy could be had under the
drainage law.

But the above remarks are sufficient for a
general description of the county and its
wealth-producing qualities. For the geo-
logical facts herein contained I have mostly
drawn on the " Economical Geology of Illi-
nois," a work of undoubted authority.

The following are the names of the resident
representatives of Cass County in the Legis-
lature :

William Holmes for the yours 18-38-40

Amos S. West " " 1840-42

David Epler " " 1842-44

John M. Pratt " " 1842-4(3

Francis Arenz '' " 1844-4tj

Edward W. Turner. " " 1846-48

Richard S. Thomas " " 1848-50

Cyrus Wright " " 18.52^54

Samuel Christy " " 185G-58

HISTORY OF

VHy. E. Dumraer, Senator " " 1860-6-t

Frederick Rearick. " " lfjBO-62

James M. Epler :.. " " 1862-61

James M. Epler " " 1866-68

James M. Epler, Senator " " 1868-72

Williara W. Easley " " 1870-74

John F. Snyder " " 1878-80

John W. Savage. " " 1878-80

J. Henry Shaw " " 1880-82

Tlic principal officers of Cass County since
its formation, are as follows :

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, CASS COUNTY.

CASS COUNTY.

Joshua P. Crow.

Amos Bonney [■ Elected August 7, 1837.

George F. Miller J

Joshua P. Crow.

Amos Bonney.

Isaac C. Spence Elected August 6, 1838.

Amos Bonney.

John C. Scott Elected August 3, 1840, for 3 years.

Marcus Chandler. . . " " 2 "

John C. Scott.

Marcus Chandler.

W. J. Dellaven Elected August, 1841.

John C. Scoit.

W. J. DeHaven.

Robert Leeper Elected August, 1842.

John C. Scott.

W. J. De Haven.

Henry McHenry. . .Elected December 26, 1843.

W. J. DeHaven.

Henry McHenry.

Jesse B. Pence Elected August 7, 1843.

Henry McHenry.

J. B. Pence.

George B. Thompson . Elected August, 1844.

J. B. Pence.

George B. Thompson.

Wm. McHenry. . .Elected Ist Monday of August, 1845.

J. B. Thompson.
William McHenry.

Henry McHenry. .Elected 1st Monday of August, 1846.

William McHenry.

Henry McHenry.

George H. Nolte. .Elected 1st Monday of August, 1847.

Henry McHenry.
George H. Nolte.
Geo. W. Weaver. .Elected Ist Monday of August, 1848.

COUNTY COURT, ESTABLISHED 1849.

James Shaw, Judge ■>

William Taylor, Associate [-Elected November 6, 1849.
Thomas Plaster, Associate i

James Shaw, Judge.

Thomas Plaster, Associate.

Jacob Ward, Associate Elected May 19, 1851.

John A. Arenz, Judge ....■>

Isaac Epler, Associate,,,, I Elected November, 1853.

Sylvester Paddock. J

John A. Arenz, Judge.

Sylvester Paddock, Associate.

John M. Short, Associate Elected November, 1855.

H. C. Havekluft, Judge... %

Wm. McHenry, Associate. \ Elected November, 1857.

G. W. Shawen, Associate. J

F. H. Rearick, Judge Elected November, 1861.

Wm. McHenry, Associate.

G. W. Shawen, Associate.

John A. Arenz, Judge ■>

Jennings G. Mathis, Associate \ Elected November, 1865.
Samuel Smith, Associate. ... J

Alexander Huffman, Judge -i

Andrew Struble, ^«socia(e. [-Elected November, 1869.

Jepthah Plaster, Associate. J

F. H. Rearick, Judge Elected February 24, 1872.

Andrew Struble, Associate.
Jepthah Plaster, Associate.

John W. Savage, Judge Elected November, 1873.

Jacob W. Rearick, Judge Elected November, 1877.

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.

Wm. Campbell . . \

John H. Melone. I Elected Nov. 1873.

Robert Fieldcn. . ;

William Campbell.

John M. Melone.

Luke Dunn Elected November, 1875.

John JI. Melone.

Luke Dunn.

Robert Crum Elected 1876.

HISTUKY OF CASS COUNTY.

Luke Dunn.

Robert. Orum.

Robert Clark Elected 1877.

Robert Crura.
Robert Clark.
Thomas Knight Elected 1878.

Robert Clark.

Thomas Knight.

Robert Crura Re elected 1879.

Thomas Knight.

Robert Crura.

Lewis C. Hackman Elected 1880.

Robert Crum.

Lewis C. Hackman.

Luke Dunn Re-elected 1881.

PROBATE JU.STICES — 1837 TO 1849.

John S. Wilbourne Elected August 7, 1837

Joshvia P. Crow " " 1839

I Alexander Ilutfmann " " 1841

"•H. E. Dummer " " 1843

Hulelt Clark " " 1847

^ H. E. Duraraer " May 13, 1849

SHERIFFS.

Lemon Plasters Elected August 7, 1837

John Savage '• " 1841

Joseph M. McLean " " 1848

J. B. Fulks " November, 18.50

William Pitner " " 1852

James Taylor " " 18-54

James A. Dick " " 1856

Francis H. Rearick " " 1858

James Taylor " " 1860

Charles E. Yeck " " 1862

James A. Dick " " 1864

Charles E. Yeck " " 1866

Thomas Chapman " " 1868

Horace Cowan " " 1870

George Volkmar " " 1872

William Epler " " 1874

A. H. Seilschott " " 1876

«' " " " 1878

«< <■ " " 1880

CLERKS OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT.

John M. Pratt Elected in 1837

H. H. Carpenter. " 1845

Lewis F. Sanders '. " 1847

CLERKS OF THE COUNTY COURT.

Lewis F. Sanders, elected in 1849

Allen J. Hill, " 1857 |

James B. Black, " 1873

CLERKS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT.

Nathaniel B. Thompson, appointed by the Judge 1837
James Berry, " " "

date of appointment not known.
Roddick Horn, appointed by the Judge, date of

appointment not known.

Thomas R. Sanders, elected in 1848

Sylvester Eramons, " 1852

James Taylor, " " 1856

Henry Phillips, " 1860

C. F. Diffenbacher, « 1868

Albert F. Arenz, " 1872

Thomas V. Finney, " 1876

Finis E. Downing '< 1880

SUPERINTENDENTS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.

Richard S.Thomas 1845

John B. Shaw 1849

Frank Holenger 1857

James K. Vanderaark, 1861

Harvey Tate 1869

John Gore 1873

Allen J. Hill, 1877

state's ATTORNEYS.

Linus C. Chandler, elected in 1872

Arthur A. Leeper, " 1876

Reuben R. Hewitt, " 1880

COUNTY ASSESSORS AND TREASURERS.

*Thoraas Wibourue, -v

Isaac W. Overall i 1837-1838

William W. Babb, )

*NOTE.— Thomas Wilbourne iv as elected Treasurer, Aug-
7, 1837, and afterward resigned, anrl Isaac W Overall was
elected Deccmb;r 16, 18 !7, to fill the vacancy, and took pos-
session of the office and entered upon its duties, but his elec-
tion was contested by William W. Babb, and Babb was de-
clared the rightfnl incumbent.

JIartin F. Higgius was re-elected Assessor and Trea.surer.
November 8, 1.8.5."!, but died shortly afterward, and Phineasr
T Underwood was elected to fill the vacancy, and re-elected
in 185.5.

John L. Cire died during his last term of office, and John
Rahn was appointed by the County Commissioners to fill the
vacancy, and he was elected by the people November 1881, to
fill a constitutional interim of one year.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

William H. Nelms. 1838-1839

Robert G. Games 1839-1847

John Craig 1847-1851

Martin F. Higgins, term of office 1851-1853

Phineas T. Underwood, " 1853-1857

Frank A. Hammer, " 1857-1859

David C. Dilley, " 185,1-1871

rhillip H. Bailey, " 1871-1873

JohnL. Cire, " 1873-1881

JohnRahn, " 1881

Illinois River Memoranda. — The follow-
ing we have collected from various sources, as
■well as largely from our own observation :

1640. — Twenty years after the settlement
of Plymouth Colony, the Illinois river was first
navigated by white men in pirogues and birch
canoes, and Illinois was colnoized by French-
men, and added to the French DorainioM.

1673. — Marquette and Joliet with five fol-
lowers, crossed Wisconsin in canoes to the
Mississippi river, down that stream and up the
Illinois to Lake Michigan, the point of their
departure, the entire route being at that time,
and for a hundred years later, navigable for
pirogues and canoes, the route being via Green
Bay, and the Wisconsin, Mississippi, Illinois,
Kankakee and St. Joseph rivers. There was
another navigable connection, during the
whole of that period, between the Illinois and
Lake Michigan, by means of the DesPlaines
and Chicago rivers, which men now alive
h:ive traveled in pirogues, all the way.

1070, Dec. — The Illinois, Kankakee and St.
Joseph route was navigated by La Salle and
thirty-three followers.

1081, Aug. — Illinois, Kankakee and St.
Joseph route again navigated by La Sallo
and party.

1682. — La Salle and party navigated the
waters from Lake Michigan, across Wiscon-
sin, down the Mississippi, up the Illinois,
Kankakee and St. Joseph, to the lake. At
that time Beardstown was upon an island,
the water surrounding it the year round,
permanently.

1687, Sept.— The Illinois, Kankakee and
St. Joseph route navigated by seven French-
men, mutineers and nmrderers of La Salle,
on their way from Arkansas to Lake Michigan.
1693. — Gravier and his followers settled at
Kaskaskia, Cohokia and Peoria, and from this
time for fifty years the Illinois was continually
navigated by canoes, pirogues, and other s^mall
boats.

1725— The first of the four greatest floods
of the Westen rivers.

1750 — Vivier says that forty vessels from
the Illinois River landed at New Orleans,
laden with lumber, brick, beef, tallow, cotton,
myrtle, wax, leather, tobacco, lead, iron, cop-
per, wild game, tar, skins, furs, pork, bears'
oil, flour, and other articles of produce.

From this time on for many years, the
principal part of the produce received at New
Oileans was shipped from the Illinois River.

1763 — LaClode founded St. Louis, which
gave a new impetus to commerce in the Illi-
nois River, it being a nearer market. At
this time the Illinois country was ceded by
France to Great Britain, which closed the
French war.

1772— Second great flood.
1778 — Illinois was conquered and taken from
Great Britain by Virginia, and was added
to that State, and named Illinois County.

1785 — A great flood on the Illinois and all
Western Rivers, the third highest ever known.

1786 — Another great flood. The Ohio rose
fifty-nine feet above low water mark. The
stage of water in the Illinois River is not
recorded that I can find, but known to be
very high.

1792 — Another great flood. The Ohio rose
sixty-three feet above low watermark. Stage
of the Illinois not recorded, but very high.

1800 — The population of Illinois, on the
borders of its rivers, 3,000.

1810 — Great flood in all the Western
rivers. The Ohio at Pittsburg higher than

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

ever before known. Stage of the Illinois not
recorded. Steamer " Orleans," the first on
Western rivers, built.

1811 — On the 16th day of December began
the most remarkable phenomena that ever
occurred in North America : an earthquake,
the continued shocks of which lasted for the
space of three months, a longer period than
ever before known ; the effects of which
were felt in Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee,
Kentucky and Arkansas, the focus of which
seemed to be about the mouth of the Ohio.
It made great commotion in the rivers, the
banks of which caved in by whole acres at a
time. Large islands disappeared under the
waters. The town of New Madrid, Missouri,
was destroyed, and the river now runs over
part of its former site. The balance of it is
lower by twenty-five feet than it was before.
The bed of the river just below the mouth of
the Ohio raised up like a bow and turned up
stream, until its pent-up waters with accumu-
lated force swept over the barrier and poured
into the craters and fissures of the ground,
when they were again thrown out in huge
streams higher than the trees.

The river was navigated at that time by
many flat-boats from the Illinois, Uj)per
Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, some of which
were swallowed up in the great chasms of
the river. There was much loss of life and
property. Fortunately at that time the coun-
try was sparsely settled; for no building could
have withstood its fury.

This calamity checked the commerce of the
Illinois River, as indeed also the general pros-
perity of the Western States. All immigra-
tion stopped, and the impression became gen-
eral in the Eastern and Middle States that
Illinois and Missouri were so subject to earth-
qialces, as to be forever unsafe as a place of
hibitation. But in a few years this impres-
sion with its attendant fears wore away, and
iimnigration a^ain was resumed.

There have been but two earthquakes in
Illinois since that time, one in 1840 and the
other in 1862; both slight shocks; the one in
1840, however, doing some little damage to
brick buildings and chiitineys.

1815 — The steamer "Enterprise " iniilt, and
run from New Orleans to Louisville, the first
steamboat which ever run up stream in
the AVestern rivers. The "Orleans" was
able only to run down stream, and
had to be cordelled back. From 1815, steam-
boats multiplied very fast, and the pirates,
who in large numbers had infested the west-
ern rivers, began to disappear, and finally
ceased their depredations altogether.

1826, June 2. — The Illinois and Mississippi
were higher than before known for forty years.
The river was up to Main street, in St. Louis,
which caused great destruction of property.

1827.— Steamer "Mechanic," John S.
Clark, captain, first steamboat ever up the Illi-
nois river.

1828. — Another great flood, supposed to be
as great as that of 1T92.

] 829. — Beardstown was founded by Thomas
Beard.

1830, 31. — The great snow, six feet deep.

1836. — The Illinois and Mississippi again
flooded. The water at St. Louis was fifty-
four feet above low water mark, being nine
feet ten inches higher than in 1810.

18 57.^Stoamer "Wave " burned near Peru;
one man lost, a passenger, who was drowned.

1844. — This was the greatest flood on rec-
ord in this or any other country, since the
days of Noah. Every river west of the Alle-
ghanies and north of the gulf of Mexico, rose
simultaneously, and the channel of the Miss-
issippi was unable to pass out the vast amount
of water which came into it. Four hundred
human beings, and a great number of horses
cattle and other stock lost their lives.

The water was one foot deep on Main
Street, in Beardstown, and this city again

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

became an island, with ten feet depth of water
between it and the bluffs. The water rose
to a level with the second story windows on
Front Street, St. Louis. A great many towns
were inundated and houses washed away.

The four greatest floods on the Mississippi
River and its tributaries, within the last 150
years, are those of 1725, 1773, 1785 and
1814.

ISiS — " Planter" exploded and burned at
Jones' Ferry on the Illinois River. Five
persons were killed and many scalded, some
of whom afterward died. The captain
escaped harm, but was shortly afterward
killed by the explosion of the " Saluda," on
the Missouri River.

184:9- -Another flood this year. The water
was on a level with Main Street, in Beards-
town, and again it became an island. The
people on the lower Mississippi suffered more
than in 184-1, on account of crevasses, their
losses amounting to $30,030,000. The water
was ten feet deep in some of ths streets of
New Orleans. At this time, and for several
years afterward, steamboating on the Illinois
River arrived at the zenith of its glory and
prosperity. During these years it boasted
the finest vessels which ever flouted on its
waters ; among vphich were the Die Vernon,
Prairie State, Cataract, Garden City, Ocean
Wave, Belle Gould, Polar Star, and many
others ; they were truly floating palaces, and
the travel was upon the river and canal ex-
clusively, there being no railroad convenient
for that class of travelers. Oa May 17th of
this y-ear, occurred the great confligratiou in
St. Louis, by which several whole blocks of
buildings and twenty-three steamboats were
burned, among which were the Prairie State
and Acadii, Illinois River packets.

1850 — Financier, an Illinois River packet,
exploded at Alton. Seven lives lost.

1851 — August 20, Dacotah exploded at
Peoria; eleven lives lost. November 27, Die

Vernon and Archer collided three miles above
the mouth of the Illinois River; the Archer
sank immediately; tvventy-three persons were
drowned, whose names were known, also quite
a number on deck, whose names were un-
known. In this year there were two floods,
the two continuing so long as to cause more
damage than any former one. The water was
highest on the 11th of June, when it was four
feet nine inches lower than the high water
mark of 1844.

1852 — Prairie State No. 2 exploded April
25th, at Pekin; twenty lives lost. In April,
the Illinois was very high, but no unusual
damage was done. The Ohio rose as high as
in 1832, doing an immense injury to prop-
erty.

185G — Illinois River on a level with Main
street, running over at one place, Lafayette
Street. March 22, Tropic and Challenge
first boats up. Ocean Spray burned. De-
cember 14, river closed.

In 1852 and 185G, during the high water,
first-class steamboats went entirely around
Beardstown without anv difficulty.

1857 — February 18, Brazil first boat up.
River moderate. November 19, river closed.
December 1, opened and remained navigable
until Fe'iruary 19, when it closed.

1858 — March 11, river opened; Adriatic
first boat up. River did not close again.
Prairie State collapsed a flue; one man killed.
This spring the river was very high, being
nearly as high as in 1844. The water crossed
over Main Street, and all the lower parts
covered. The city again an island, and a first-
class steamer, loaded with passengers, went
around it.

1859. — January 21, River closed for the
first time. Open to St. Louis on the 28th.
February 3, closed again. February 16, F.
X. Aubry first boat up. December 15, closed.

I860.— February 21, Polar Star first boat
up. Belle Peoria burned. November 24,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

river closed. December 7, Sam Young came
up. December 13, river closed. January 1,
deep snow ; very cold ; railroads generally
blocked up ; mails stopped ; and traveling
suspended two weeks.

1861. — February 16, Polar Star first boat
up. Still very cold ; some ice running. Feb-
ruary 22, Minnesota Belle came up. Decem-
ber 36, river closed.

1862.- March 12, Minnesota Belle first
boat up. December 6, river over the Schuy-
ler bottom lands, and closed. December 12,
river open. La Salle first boat up.

1863. — February 3, river closed until Feb-
ruary 13. Lacon first boat down. December
9, river closed.

1864. — February 2, Schuyler first boat up.
February 16, river closed. February 22, riv-
er opeu. From September 1 until October
13, only two feet of water in channel, and nav-
igation suspended. December 9, river closed

1865.— February 30, City of Pekin first
boat up. December 13, river closed. De-
cember 21, thermoneter 14° below 0, Fahren-
heit. December 33, 14° below.

1866. — January 31, six o'clock p. .m., tlier.
mometor 4° above, with heavy rain, freezing
as it fell, and heavy thunder and lightning
mercury falling rapidly meantime, until nine
o'clock P. M. it stood 8° below, where it stood
until morning. Thunder and lightning listed
one hour, say until seven o'clock p. Jt. It
will require a skillful meteorologist to explain
these phenomena. February loth, thermoin-
eter 36° below at Beardstovvii, which was the
coldest day ever known in this county. In
the northern counties of this State it ranged
from 30 to 40° belovF. February 16, ther-
mometer 16° below. March 1, Schuyler first
boat up; river over bottom lands. Steamer
Farragut collided with the Meredosia bridge,
whereby the canal boat Ajax, with entire
cargo was lost, and .John Quigg drowned.
The Ajax was in tow of the Farragut. March

17, thermometer 7° above, but river remained
open. Fall quite warm and pleasant until
December 11; turned cold, mercury 8° above.
December 13, 4° above, and ice running thin.
Illinois run down in the morning, cutting her
way through. Same day river got clear of ice
and B'arragut went down. December 15,
snowed six inches; weather moderate; 36°
above, but ice running; 17th, 3° below; 19th,
river opened and boats run until Christmas;
25th, ice running; and 26th, river closed, 2
above.

1867. — February 9th and 10th, thermome-
ter 10° below. March 8, river clear of ice;
Farragut and Gem started down. Boats run
all the week. March 13, weather turned sud-
denly cold, 6° below, ice running; and March
14, river closed. March 30, river open; water
all over the low lands and within three feet
of the surface of Main street, Beardstown.
June 14, Peoria City's last trip down; low
water began. July 20, Illinois' last trip
down. August 8, City of Pekin's last trip
down. Gem collapsed a flue; two men
killed. September 18, Lancaster's last trip
down. December 1, Lakin's last trip down.
December 5, Beardstown's last trip up. River
closed.

1868. — March 4th, river open ; Schuyler
first boat up. March 5, City of Pekin up.
Miircli 9, Beardstown up. March 10, Illinois
up. July 7, Low water began; Schuyler's
last trip down. July 13, Illinois' last trip
down. November 15, river in good stage;
Illinois began regular trips. December 4,
snow six inches; thermometer 33° above.
Belle Pike burst a cylinder; one life lost, one
wounded. December 9, 4° below; river
closed. Illinois last boat up. December 12,
Mercury 10° below. The second week in this
month was the coldest week ever experienced
in this State, the mercurj' 26' below, Fahren-
heit.

1869. — January 1, weather warm. .January

^>i^V

^yt^^J^

/P^t^^^

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

6, river opened; Pekin up. April 2, river
moderately high, and ferry-boat ran to Fred-
erick. River continued gradually to rise
until August 3, when it reached its highest,
being on State street, in Beardstovsrn, within
one foot of the level of Main street. The
rainiest season ever known. River open to
navigation until January 7, 1870.

1871. — November 11, river closed, and re-
mained closed all winter.

1873. — January 38, coldest night ever
known in this State. Early in the morning
the thermometer stood 40° degrees below
zero, Fahrenheit. Mercury congealed. Snow
16 inches deep.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER VI.

AGRICULTURE OF CASS COUNTY— FARMING IN THE PRIMITIVE TIMES— IMPROVED FARM

IMPLKMENTS— AGRICULTURAL FAIRS AND ASSOCIATIONS— LISTS OP OFFICERS-

CASS COUNTY PARK ASSOCIATrON— ITS ORGANIZATION, ETC.— FINE STOCK

OF THE COUNTY— SHORT HORN HERDS, ETC.— IHIi RAILROADS, ETC.

CASS County has the reputation of being
a fine agricultural region, and indeed
the larger portion of the county is as choice
land as may be found in the State. Its
claims to superiority are well founded.
While some counties may show more of rich
soil, and while other counties may be
better adapted to some specialty, yet
it is safe to say that there are few counties
that can lay claim to all the advantages in
climate, soil, water, timber and general health-
fulness that are possessed in a great degree
by this. While in some sections a certain
specialty, may, with propriety, be claimed as
peculiar, we believe that no county combines
so many natural advantages. In some of the
more northern counties we find perhaps larger
crops of corn, and in some of the more south-
ern, a greater amount of fruit; but these
specialties, even in the localities named, are
not a certain crop. The farmer's safest course
is a diversity of produots, and Cass County
furnishes an example of soil and climate
which makes it in an eminent degree fitted
for such pursuits. For a number of years,
the natural advantages of this region were
scarcely appreciated, as the farming was car-
ried on in such a manner as to obtain results
far below those now realized. Better farm
machinery, better methods of planting and
cultivation, and the adoption of crops better
suited to the soil, have wrought great changes.
In an especial rnaiiiipr is this true in regard

to methods of planting, cultivating, harvest-
ing and taking care of products.

The way our fathers performed their farm-
ing operations, is so little known to the
present generation who depend mostly upon
farm machinery, requiring the horses to do
all the work which men, women and children
formerly did, that a description of the olden
way, gathered from conversations with some
of the oldest farmers still living, can not prove
otherwise than interesting to some of our
young farmers of the present time. Just
banish from the farm all such modern innova-
tions as reapers, mowers, corn-pliiriters, hay-
rakes, threshing-machines, sulky-plows, riding
corn-cultivators, and a slight conception can
be formed of primitive farming facilities. To
jjrepare the ground for planting corn it was
plowed over with a wooden-mold board plow,
which had to be cleaned every few rods with
a paddle which hung to one of the handles ; it
was then scratched over with a wooden-toothed
harrow, after which it was "laid-ofF" both
ways with the one-horse shovel-plow. It
was then ready for planting. This was done
by the boys, the women, children and men ;
the smallest of the children dropping the
grains of corn in the " crosses," where it was
covered with hoes by the men and larger
boys and women. After the planting, and
when the corn had come up, then came the
hoeing, now superseded by the improved
cultivators. Plowing corn with the single-

HISTORi' OF CASS COUNTY.

shovel-plow, was common until a few years
ago, but it has had to take its place with the
old spinning-wheel and loom, and they arc
now counted^as relics of a past age. Cutting
wheat, rye, oats and grass was formerly a
laborious process. Even within the recollec-
tion of comparatively young men of the
county, the scythe and cradle were con-
sidered as improved implements of husband-
ry ; but the reaper and mower now in use
not only do a much better job but transfers
the hardest of the labor to the horses.

The old methods in vogue three thousand
years ago, treading out wheat with oxen or
knocking it out with flails, were scarcely im-
proved upon until within a comparatively
recent date. In the early history of this
county these ancient methods prevailed. By-
and-by, came the old thresher — the ground-
hog, as it was called — that merely knocked
the grains from the chaff, leaving the same to
be separated by some other process. One
of these marvelous old machines has not
been seen in Cass County for many a year ; but
in its place we now have the steam thresher,
which not only separates the grain from the
chail and straw, ready for the mill, but sacks
and counts the number of bushels, and the
next improvement will doubtless be to grind it
and bake it into bread.

It is difficult to comprehend how, with corn
at from six to ten cents per bushel, oats but
little more, wheat at from thirty to fifty, and
other products in proportion, with the market
at Alton, Chicago and St. Louis, a farmer
succeeded in obtaining enough for his products
to pay for saving them. It is not so difficult
to understand why so much of the county lay
for so many years without an occupant. Of
course, the farmers in those days did not ride
in carriages, pay heavy taxes, wear fine
clothes or indulge in many luxuries ; but they
rode to meeting on horsel.ack or in the farm-
wasron, wearing their every-day clothes done

up clean for Sunday, and paid the preacher
with a bag of corn or potatoes, or not at all,
as they felt able. Yet, to say that they did
not live comfortably and independently, would
be a great mistake. The rifle supplied, from
the timber, venslon and other game, an 1 the
actual needs of life were all satisfied, though
it would seem a great hardship to go back to
what some are pleased to call the " good old
times."

Cass County has kept up with the improve-
ments, not only in farm machinery, but in the
new methods of farming, and no section of
the State, perhaps, can boast of a finer state
of agriculture than this county. Agricultural
fairs and associations have been organized
for the general improvement of stock, farm
machinery and agriculture.

The Cass County Agricultural Society, was
organized in the court house, at Beardstown,
January 5, 1856. A preliminary meeting had
been held previously, at which a committee on
constitution and by-laws had been appointed.
The committee made a report at this meeting
which was accepted, and at a meeting held in
Virginia, June 15, the Constitution, as report-
ed by the committee, was adopted. Ten acres
of ground were purchased of Robert Hall, ad-
joining the town of Virginia, at a cost of
S400, for Fair Grounds. A Fair Ground
Association was formed, which leased to the
Cass County Agricultural Society, the grounds.
The Fair Ground Association was incorporat-
ed by special act of the Legislature, approved
February 18, 1857. The Association and
the Agricultural Society were composed
mostly of the same individuals (but were two
distinct corporations), and frequently the same
set of officers were elected in both.

The first officers of the Agricultural Society
elected, were as follows : Francis Arenz, Pres-
ident; Ezra J. Dutch, Treasurer; John W.
Sweeney, Secretary; and John W. Seaman,
James Hickey, Milton Stribling, John Prunty,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

and Ebenezer Fish, Directors. At the next
meeting, March 6, 1858, the election resulted
as follows: William Stevenson, President;
Henry S. Sava;re, Secretary; Z. W. Gatton,
Treasurer; and William Stevenson, David
Epler, Thomas Plasters, John W. Seaman, Z.
W. Gatton, E. W. Turner, and John Pnuity,
Directors. March 5, 1859, the old olEcers
were re-elected, and William Stevenson, J.
M. Hill, William Petefish, John Prunty, I. M.
Stribling, Z. W. Gatton, and John W. Seaman,
Directors. At tiio election March 3, 1860, J.
M. Hill was elected President; John W. Sea-
man, Vice-President; Z. W. Gatton, Treas-
urer; H. S. Savage, Secretary; and J. M. Hill,
N. Seaman, D. J. Cole, J. M. Epler, A. G.
Angier, John Prunty and Z. W. Gatton, Di-
rectors. No officers were elected in 18G1; but
on the 3d day of March, the following Di-
rectors werj elected: John Prunty, William
Stevenson, E. W. Turner, J. M. Hill, D. J.
Cole, I. M. Stribling and H. H. Hall. March
1, 1862, .lolni M. Epler was elected President;
1. M. Stribling, Vice-President; Z. W. Gat-
ton, Treasurer ; H.S. Savage, Sjoretarv ; and
John M. Epler, I. M. Stribling, H. S. Savage,
Z. W. Gatton, H. H. Hall and A. G. Angier,
Directors. March 7, 18lj:i, Isaac M. Stribling
was elected Piesident ; D. .1. Cole, Vice-
President ; Z. W. Gatton, Treasurer ; H. H.
Hall, Secretary; and I. M. Stribling, D. J. Cole,
H. H. Hall, Z. W. Gatton, J. M. Epler, S. H.
Petefish, A. G. Angier and John Prunty, Direc-
tors. The next fair was to be held on the 1st
and 2d days of the following September.

At the election held March 5, 1864, I). J.
Cole was elected President ; Z. W. Gatton,
Treasurer ; H. H. Hall, Secretary ; and Wm.
Petefish, A. G. Angier, John Prunty, John
W. Seaman, S. H. Petefish and H. S. Savage,
Directors.

April 1, 1865, John Prunty was elected
President ; I. M. Stribling Vice-President ;
Z. W. Gatton, Treisurer ; ' H. II. Hall, Secre-

tary; and John Prunty, I. M. Stribling, Z. W.
Gatton, William Stevenson, John W. Seaman,
J. Dunnaway, James L. Beggs and Samuel
Petefish, Directors.

March 2, 1866, John Prunty was re-elected
President ; Z. W. Gatton, Treasurer ; Rufus
Rabourn, Secretary ; and John Prunty, I. M.
Stribling, J. H. Bates, A. G. Angier, J. Dun-
naway, H. H. Hall and W. Petefish, Directors.
An order was passed to sell the grounds, but
there is no further record in regard to such
sale.

March 2, 1877, J. W. Seaman was elected
President ; A. G. Angier, Vice-President ; R.
W. Rabourn, Secretary; Z. W. Gatton, Treas-
urer; and I. M. Stribling, William Stevenson,
J. H. Bates, J. A. Petefish and H. H. Hall,
Directors. There is no record of an election
of officers in 1868.

March 6, 1869, J. W. Seaman was elected
President; A. G. Angier, Vice-President ; R.
W. Rabourn, Secretary ; E. T. Oliver, Treas-
unn- ; and Z.W. Gatton, I. M. Stribling, S.H.
Petefish, Robert Hall and D. J. Cole, Direc-
tors.

March 5, 1870, old officers re-elected, and
Joseph Black, John Prunty, J. A. Petefish,
William Stevenson and Robert Hall, Direc-
tors.

March 4, 1871, old officers re-elected, and
John Prunty, William Stevenson, I. M. Strib-
ling, Robert Hall, and J. A. Petefish, directors.

March 3, 1872, I. M. Stribling was elected
President; J. A. Petefish, Vice-president; E.
T. Oliver, Treasurer; R. W. R.ibourn, Sec-
retary, and John Prunty, A. G. Angier, Rob-
ert Stevenson, Robert Hall, and Williaia
Stevenson, Directors.

March 1, 1873, Robert Stevenson was elect-
ed President; J. M. Epler, Vice-president;
Z. W. Gatton, Treasurer; R. W. Rabourn,
Secretary; and Robert Hall, .John Prunty, I.
M. Stribling, A. G. Angier, and J. W. Sea-
man, Directors.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

fl9

March 7, 1874, J. M. Epler was elected
President; P. A. Biiker, Vice-president; R. W.
Rabourn, Secretary; J. A. Epler, Treasurer;
and T. J. Crum, Robert Hall, T. J. Stribling,
and Robert Stevenson, Directors. The time
set for the next fair was the 1st, 2d, 3d and
4th of September following.

March G, 1873, J. M. Epler was elected
President; T. J. Crum, Vice-president; J. A.
Epler, Treasurer, R. W. Rabourn, Secretary;
and .John Pruiity, T. J. Stribling, Robert
Hall, Morrison Graves, and Robert Stevenson,
Directors.

March 4, 1876, J. W. Seaman was elected
President; T. J. Crura, Vice-president; Mor-
rison Graves, Treasurer; K. W. Rabouru,
Secretary, and the old directory was re-
elected.

March 3, 1877, Morrison Graves was elected
President; Robert Hall, Vice-president; R.
W. Rabourn, Secretary; S. H. Petefish,
Treasurer, and John Prunty, J. B. Stevenson,
Oswell Skiles, Robert Hall, C. M. Savage, T.
.1. Stribling, and M. Graves, Directors.

March 2, 1878, Morrison Graves was elect-
ed President; T. J. Crum, Vice-president;
R. W. Rabourn, Secretary; S. H. Petefish,
Treasurer, and M. Graves, O. Skiles, John
Prunty, T. J. Crum, C. E. Lippincott, Robert
Stevenson, and W. S. Vance, Directors.

March 1, 1879, J. M. Epler was elected
President; P. A. Buraker, Vice-president;
O. Skiles, Treasurer; R. W. Rabourn, Secre-
tary, and J. M. Epler, C. W. Savage, Henry
Campbell, P. A. Buraker, I. M. Stribling, W.
H. Thompson, and Robert Hall, Directors.

March 13, 1880, J. M. Epler was elected
President; O. Skiles, Treasurer; R. W. Ra-
bourn, Secretary, and G. A. Beard, T. J.
Striblng, C. W. Savage, A. G. Eplar, Robert
Hall, Henry Campbell, and John W. McCul-
loun-h, Directors. The time for holding the
next fair was set for the 17th, 18th, 19th and
20th of August following.

March 3, 1881, Oswell Skiles was elected
President; W. C. Barkley, Vice-president;
George Conover, Treasurer; R. W. Rabourn,
Secretary, and Oswell Skiles, W. S. Vance, T.
J. Stribling, W. C. Barkley, G. W. Rawlings,
George Conover, and Morrison Graves, Direct-
ors.

The officers for the present year (1882) are
as follows: J. M. Epler, President; John A.
Jones, Vice-president; G. L. Warlow, Secre-
tary; George Conover, Treasurer, and J. M.
Epler, J. A. Jones, M. Graves, R. W. Ra-
bourn, W. S. Vance, J. B. Stevenson, and F.

E. Downing, Directors. The next fair will
be held September 12, 13, 14 and 15, follow-
ing. The superintendents of departments, at
the next meeting, are as follows: Fine Art
Hall — F. E. Downing, and Assistant — Mrs.

F. E. Downing; Fruit and Vegetables — Tho-
mas Dunnaway; Preserves, Jellies, etc. — C.
W. Black and Alice Dwclle; Agricultural
Hall— J. F. Black; Poultry— J. N. Gridley;
Sheep and Swine — Robert Stevenson; Horses
and Mules — A. G. Epler; Cattle — Watson
Sinclair. From preparations already being
made the coming meeting will be an interest-
ing one.

The Cass County Park Association was or-
ganized a few years ago. This association
purchased and now owns the grounds, and
leases them out for fairs, races, and for other
purposes, as may seem legitimate to the
Board of Directors.

The fine stock interest is taking high rank
in Cass County, and has grown to large pro-
portions, particularly that of fine cattle.
The writer has seen all the fine herds of Short-
horn cattle in the famous blue grass region
of Kentucky, and in his capacity as historian
has visited many of the stock farms of that
world-renowned section, but he has seen some
cattle in this county that are unsurpassed by
Kentucky, or any other state. The herd, for
instance, of William Stevenson is, probably.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

without a superior in quality in any country.
His Sliort-horn bull, Duke, was purchased of
Hutchcraft, one of the most extensive herd-
ers of Bourbon County, Kentucky, for $1,000,
when a yearling, and is one of the finest ani-
mals of his kind, while Mattie Belle, 2d,
calved June 30, 1S77, is the finest cow we
have seen in the State. But to do justice to
Mr. Stevenson's herd would be to particular-
ize every one. He makes a specialty of rear-
ing Short-horns, and like the larger breeders
of Kentucky, has his annual sales of all those
aside from his regular breeders.

C. E. Lippincott took an active interest a
few years ago, in breeding Short-horns, but
did not remain long in the business. Mr. J.
M. Epler, also, has a small herd of very fine
animals, and devotes considerable attention
to breeding; also, Watson Sinclair, doing
something in the same line, and has several
fine animals. The time, doubtless, is
near at hand, when Cass County will become
famous as a fine stock region, and noted for
the rearing of Short- horn cattle. The start
made has proven its adaptability to the in-
dustry, and shown the value of the business.

A writer on Kentucky Short-horns has the
following on the genuine breed: "Short-
horns of a true type and good shape, that is
to say, level backed, wide crops, wide hips,
swelling sides, fine bone, fine tail, neat blood-
like appearance, straight lines across the hips,
straight from the point of the hock to point of
hip near the tail, straight along the belly
from the brisket to the end of the flank,
smooth shoulders, not sinking at the girt, soft
elastic skin, good handlers, placid, calm eye,
short in the legs, short tapering horns, waxy
horns well set on, quiet disposition, good
milkers, clean, clear muzzle, solid colors,
either red or roan, these have long been
sought after, bred for and purchased when
attainable, and breeders with pride in their
stock have endeavored to produce them from

the earliest known period in Short-horn his-
tory, ancl it is not surprising that breeders
have in the main owned many that were
never defeated in the show ring. And as
such stock has been the result of much trou-
ble and experiment, so it has and ever will
deservedly command high prices. Requiring
several generations of judicious crossing,
weeding out defects, meting out to the
breeders many blanks with the prizes, it is a
fascinating pursuit, and is increasing daily
the number of its votaries."

It is worth while to notice, in passing, the
change in the colors of Short-horns. Most
every one, who has paid attention to the mat-
ter, can remember that there was a time with-
in their memory that Short-horn cattle were
uniformly white and roan, with here and there
a red. Take, for example, one of the leading
herds of the country in 1851, 1853 and 1853,
of fifteen head recorded in Volume H, A. H.
B. Eight were roans and seven whites. The
same breeder would not allow a white animal
to be used on his herd for a homis of $3,000 a
year. Who knows but the stylo and fashion
may change back again into its former chan-
nel? It is well to observe that the scarcer
and more rare Short- horns of peculiar quali-
ties become, the higher prices they are held
at in some quarters. While on the other
hand, it is with satisfaction that we observe
many new beginners whose names appear at
the annual sales, from New York to Califor-
nia, and from Minnesota to Texas, indicating
that the people, as a mass, are beginning to
appreciate the value of an infusion of thorough-
bred blood into scrub herds, and to at last
acknowledge that a two-year old thorough
bred, or even high grade, is equal to a three-
year-old of common, or mongrel stock.

There is an increasing attention yearly tc
the improving of other stock in Cass County,
as well as to cattle. Many thoroughbred
horses from Kentucky are being introduced.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

among which we have noticed some members
of the Mambrino family, one of the finest
reared in Kentucky. The original Mambrino
Patchen, sold for 625,000, and Mambriuo
King, sold at Lexington, Ky., a few weeks
ago, for 815,000. Fine sheep and hogs, also,
are being greatly improved, and many of the
farmers are devoting special attention to rear-
ing the best breeds of these animals. It is
then, not saying too much, to predict for Cass
County a brilliant future as a stock-raising
region. The start is made, and perseverance
will accomplish the rest.

The railroads of the County will be written
up in other chapters of this volume. Rail-

roads are the great features that make a
country powerful and add to its material
wealth and prosperity. The railroads inter-
secting Cass County, are the Peoria, Pekin
and Jacksonville; the Springfield division of
Oliio and Mississippi; the St. Louis division
of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; and
the Western division of the Chicago and
Alton. Thus it will be seen the County is
well supplied with these useful internal im-
provements.

The press of the county, and the war his-
tory also, will be found in other and appro-
priate chapters, together with other subjects
of local and general interest.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER Yn.

VIRGINIA PRECINCT— DESCRIPTION, BOUNDARIES AND TOPOGRAPHY— WESTERN PIONEER
LIFE— SETTLEMENT OF THE PRECINCT BY WHITE PEOPLE— CHARACTER OF THE
PIONEERS— THEIR TRIALS, TRQUBLES AND HARDSHIPS— EARLY IMPROVE-
MENTS AND INDUSTRIES— ROADS, BRIDGES, ETC.— SCHOOLS— THE
FIRST SCHOOL HOUSES— EARLY TEACHERS— PRESENT EDU-
CATIONAL FACILITIES— CHURCHES AND PREACHERS-
OLD SHILOH CHURCH— MISCELLANEOUS, ETC.

IT was a beautiful sentiment of Goethe
when he compared our little round of being
to a summer watering place: " When we first
arrive, we form friendships with those who
have already spent some time there, and must
soon be gone. Their loss is painful, but we
content ourselves with the second generation
of visitors, with whom we spend some time,
and daily become more intimate; but these
also depart, and we are left alone with a third
set, who arrive just as we are prepared for our
departure." This is not inapplicable to the
settlement of this section of the country.
It is a sad realization of the inscrutable de-
cree that, " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return," when we come to collect the
history of a county or people. Here, in Vir-
ginia Precinct, we look around us for the
pioneers, and find most of them sleeping in
the quiet graveyard. The first generation of
visitors to the "summer watering-place" are
mostly gone, and the second and third, and
even the fourth generations are crowding on
to fill their places. Those of the " first set "
who still linger, are bent with age, and a few
more rolling years will take them from our
sight for ever. Wonderful are the chang-es
wrought since they first beheld this beautiful
land, once the home of the lordly savage, and
the hunting ground of his kindred. The
pioneers, who braved the dangers of " flood
and field," to open these broad and product-

ive plains and valleys, have melted away like
mists before the morning sun, and are now
gathered to the land of dreams. From the
few still left, we have gleaned a few facts
pertaining to the early settlement of this
section, and to pioneer life, which form the
subject-matter of this chapter.

Virginia Precinct is rather large, and con-
tains portions of townships 17 and 18, in
ranges 9 and 10, west of the 3d principal me-
ridian. It is generally level or undulating,
resembling somewhat the swell of the ocean
after a storm, and originally comprised both
timber land and prairie. On the north it is
bounded by Husted Precinct, or Hickory, as
now called, and Chandlerville Precinct, on
the east by Oregon and Princeton Precincts, on
the South by Princeton Precinct and Morgan
County, and on the west by Monroe Precinct.
It is drained and watered by Clear Creek,
Prairie Creek, Little Indian, Job's, Little
Panther and Lost Creeks, all tributaries of the
Illinois River. The Peoria, Pekin and Jack-
sonville railroad (now a part of the Wabash
system), and the Springfield division of the
Ohio and Mississippi railroad, intersect it,
crossing at the City of Virginia, the capital
of the County, and afford ample accommoda-
tions in shipping and transportation.

The settlement of Virginia Precinct dates
back to the year 1821, when the first whites
came in and commenced the improvement

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

of the lands. Pioneer life, in all time, has
been characterized by incidents peculiar either
to the locality or the make-up of the pioneers
themselves. Western pioneer life has been
subjected to conditions common to the experi-
ence of all early settlers. The primary ele-
ments in the composition of those who have
taken their lives in their own hands and battled
successfully with the privations and hardships
incident to settlements in the wilderness, with-
out companions, save their " household gods,"
away from the echoes of civilization, depend-
ing for subsistence upon their own good
right arms, were will-power, physical vigor
and energy. Thus endowed, the brave pioneer
boldly cuts loose from the moorings of civili-
zation, turns his face toward the wild, un-
known West, and after days and weeks, per-
haps months, of weary journeying over
trackless prairies, tangled woodland, rocky
steeps and through rushing torrents, at last
determines the spot where his future home
shall be, at once makes a start by erecting a
little cabin, breaking a small patch of ground
and planting a little corn. Soon he is joined
by others, and the feeble settlement becomes
the foundation of one of those prosperous
communities which are to-day the pride and
boast of our western country. But we are
digressing from the more specific part of
our subject.

Archibald Job, Henry Hopkins and Thos.
Redmon, were early settlers in Virginia Pre-
cinct. Mr. Job was a native of Maryland, and
settled in what he called Sylvan Grove, now
the present site of Virginia, in Cass County,
in 1820. From an article, in the Jacksonville
Journal, written by William Thomas in 1874,
we extract most of our information concern-
ing Mr. Job. hi 183 2 he was elected to the
legislature from the district, composed of the
county of Greene, and the territory afterward
included in Morgan County, and again in
182i, fromthe counties of Morgan and Greene.

In 182() he was elected to the Senate from
the district composed of the counties of Mor-
gan, Pike, Adams, Schuyler, Fulton and
Peoria. During this service of eight years,
his constituents never had cause to regret his
election, nor to complain of his want of
devotion to their interests. He maintained
the character of an honest, fearless, intelligent
and industrious representative. In 1830, he
was again a candidate for the Senate, but was
defeated, not because of any complaint of his
previous action, or of any want of confidence in
his ability and integrity, but because the Whig
party, with which he was identified, was in
the minority. Upon the passage of tiie law
providing for the building of the State House
at Springfield, because of his known integrity
and intelligence, he was appointed one of the
State house commissioners. At the time of
his death he was about ninety years of age.
Mrs. Job, it is said, never saw the face of
a white woman for six months after landing
in this county. She used to say that she had
very good neighbors among the Indians, who
were then numerous in this section. Their
nearest neighbors lived fifteen miles distant,
and St. Louis was their post office. Mr. Clark
came in 1827 and settled at North Grove, three
miles west of the present town of Virginia.
In 1836 he moved to Iowa, but in 18 re-
turned to Cass County, and settled again in
the neighborhood. He afterward removed to
Bluff Springs, where he died in 1852.

Hopkins was a native of Delaware, and emi-
grated first to Woodford County, Kentucky,
then to Clarke County, Indiana. From there
he removed to Morgan County, Illinois, in
1825, and located in Sugar Grove the next
year, and which was in Virginia Precinct un-
til a few years ago, when Philadelphia Pre-
cinct was formed. He lived there until in
1875, then removed into Virginia, and died
in 1879, at the age of eighty-five years. He
was married in 1817, and his widow still sur-

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

vives him at the age of eighty-four, and is
the mother of twelve children, ten of whom
are now living.

About the year 1825-26, William Holmes
came to the precinct, and was followed the
next year by Thomas Redmon, Benjamin
Stribling, and a man named Street. Holmes
was from New York, and made his home with
Hopkins until his marriage, in 1828-29. They
improved their land in common, and for
several years farmed in partnership. He was
a man of intelligence, of considerable public
spirit, and a graduate of an Eastern college ;
probably the first college graduate who ever
settled in Cass County. He commenced his
public career' as a school teacher in his own im-
mediate neighborhood. He served as county
surveyor, and as the first representative in the
legislature from Cass County, after its forma-
tion in 1837. Redmon settled about half a
mile south of Hopkins', and was from Logan
County, Kentucky. Although a man of quite
ordinary intellect, he was very pious, upright,
a kind of exhorter or local preacher of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and took an
active part in molding the society of his day
and generation. He died about 1810, and is
without relatives or descendants now in this re-
gion. Stribling was also from Logan County,
Kentucky, and first located near the present
village of Liter, now in Morgan County, but
in 1829 bought out Street, who had settled
and improved the farm now owned by J. M.
Stribling. After selling out to Stribling,
Street moved about a mile and a half west,
and improved another place, upon which was
built one of the primitive grist mills of Cass
County. He left about 1834, and went to
Iowa, where he was lost sight of long since.
None of his descendants now live in the
county.

Among other pioneers of this precinct, may
be mentioned Anthony Thomas, Col. A. S.
West, Joshua P. Crow, Thomas S. Berry,

Benjamin Cauby, Berry Freeman, a man
named Paschall, and others whose names are
now forgotten. Anthony Thomas came about
1827-28 and located on what is now known
as the Frotter farm, lying on the south side of
Sugar Grove. He sold out in 1840 and re-
moved with his family to the Rock River
Country. Sugar Grove and Sylvan Grove,
which have been several times referred to,
were two bodies of timber, situated about three
or four miles southeast of the present city of
Virginia.

Col. West came in about 1828, and im-
proved the farm now owned by Cain Owens,
lying north of the city, and partly inside of
the corporate limits. He was a very enter-
prising and active business man, and was the
second representative in the legislature, from-
Cass County, succeeding Mr. Holmes in that
august body. He was for a time a merchant
in the town of Virginia, and traded extensive-
ly in cattle and pork, a business he com-
menced in 1839. Like many other good
business men, he failed in the financial crash
of 1840-42. Crow first settled where William
Campbell now lives, in 1828-39, to whom he
sold out, and afterwards moved to Missouri.
He served for a number of years as a justice
of the peace. In 1843, he was the Demo-
cratic candidate against John W. Pratt, for
the State Legislature, but was defeated by 27
votes.

Thomas S. Berry emigrated to Cass County,
from near Fredericksburg, Virginia, a distance
of about nine hundred miles. He came
through on horseback, with his entire posses-
sions in apair of saddle-bags, and reached Ben-
jamin Stribling's in November, 1829, where
he spent the winter. He assisted Stribling
in sjatherinof corn in the field,* and brinffingf it
in to feed stock, and the remainder of his
time he spent in hunting. He taught school
about two years, worked on a farm by the
month, and in August, 1833, assisted his father,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

William S. Berry, to remove his family to
Cass County. In 1834:, he bought a farm in
Virginia Precinct, on which he resided until
his death in 1847. James Berry came to Cass
County in 1830, from Orange County, Virgin-
ia. He taught school and worked on a farm
until 1833, when he purchased land of L. T.
Bryant; he died in 1849. Benjamin Cauby
came to Virginia Precinct in 1830, and was
a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher. He
organized, or rather reorganized old Shiloh
Church; was a zealous Christian and an able
minister. He died in 1845, in the prime of
life. Freeman and Paschall were brothers-in-
law, and settled a little northeast of town,
about 1830. They were both thrifty and in-
dustrious men, and bore an active part in
subduing the country, and opening it up to
civilization. The only son of Freeman vvas
a lieutenant in Company D, One Hundred
and Fourteenth Illinois Infantry, in the late
civil war, and was captured at Guntown, Miss-
issippi. He was put on a train with other
captured oflBcers, and started south to prison,
but jumped from the train while running at
the rate of twenty miles an hour, and made
his escape from the guards. After spending
a week in wandering through the country, he
finally found his way to a camp of Union
soldiers, and was sent at once to his regiment,
with which he served until the close of the
war.

Charles Oliver, Thomas Gatton, John Epler
and .Jacob Petefish, were also early settlers of
Virginia Precinct; but first located on Little
Indian, in what is now Princeton Precinct,
where they will be further noticed. Epler
came from Pennsylvania, and has a good manj'
descendants still in the county. Gatton came
from Maryland, and was one of the early
merchants of the county. Oliver came to
Virginia in 1835, and was for a time a clerk
for Dr. Hall. Mr. Petefish also has a num-
ber of descendants in the county. There are

many others, doubtless, who deserve mention
among the early settlers of the precinct, but
their names have faded from the memories of
the pioneers still left among us. JIany, in
fact most of the first settlers of the precinct
who were prominently indentified with its
early history, have passed away " as a tale
that is told." A few have scattered to other
lands, but far the greater number have gone
to the land of dreams.

When the first settlements were made here
game was plenty, and the people depended
mostly on it for meat; game and corn-bread,
with wild honey, constituted the almost uni-
versal diet for several years. The clothing
worn by both the male and female members
of the family, was manufactured at home by
the women, on the old fashioned spinning-
wheel, cards and loom. The men dressed
deer skins, out of which were made panta-
loons, hunting shirts and moccasins; they
made shoes from leather tanned at home by
themselves; of course this kind of material
made rather a rough shoo, but being the best
that could be procured, they were content; in
fact, such shoes best suited the rough jaunts
taken on foot by many of the pioneers
through brush, briers, swamps and grass,
wet with dew and rain.

Everything not manufactured at home was
termed a " store " article, as " store shoos,"
"store hat," etc., and any one attired in
" store clothes," excited envv in the younger
members of the community, and many a
young lass, when appearing in pul>lic, consid-
ered herself highly honored if so fortunate
as to secure the attention of a " feller " ar-
rayed in " store clothes," furnishing striking
instance of that weakness in human nature,
quite as common in this enlightened age —
that of judging persons by external appear-
ances.

In those early days, the people managed to
get along without nails, glass, sawed lumber

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

or brick, for the reason they could not procure
them. Their houses were small, consisting of
one story, built of logs or poles, unhewed,
with the ends projecting from six inches to two
feet at the corners, and the cracks between the
logs were filled with sticks and daubed with
clay. The doors were made of boards fast-
ened in place with wooden pegs and hung
with wooden hinges. A wooden latch raised
by a string, served as a fastening ; the string
had one end tied to the latch and the other
passed through a small hole above it, and
when the door was fastened, one end of the
string was hanging out. " The latch-string
out" was the pioneers' emblem of hospitality.
The fireplaces were from six to ten feet in
width, and in them large logs blazed on win-
ter nights, warming the entire household. At
one side of these capacious hearths, one ar-
ticle always stood conspicuous, viz : the kettle
of "blue dye," with which the old ladies
colored their "yarn" for weaving. This
kettle being covered with an old barrel head,
or something of the kind, often did service as
a seat for some members of the family, and
even for visitors. Young fellows, when on
courting expeditions, sometimes found it a
very convenient seat with the objects of their
affections in close proximity. "Some of the
best men or our country," an old gentleman
informed us, who had probably been there
himself, "wooed and won their brides, seated
on a kettle of 'blue dye,' by the blazing fire
of the backwoodsman's rude cabin." On the
outside of the houses, it was no uncommon
thing to see a goodly number of raccoon and
deer skins "stretched" against the wall to
dry, and occasionally the skin of a wild cat,
wolf or bear. The projecting ends of the
logs, at each corner of the cabin, served as
places to hang the various utensils used on
the farm, such as hoes, rakes, bridles and
harness, or "gears," as they were then called.
The first improvement of importance to the

pioneer, after he has erected a shelter for
himself and family, is a mill, an industry that
always advances with civilization. Judge
Shaw tells us in his centennial address on
Cass County, that the first mill accessible tc
the pioneers of the county was Jarvoe's mill
on Cahokia Creek, and that in 1821 a mill was
erected on Indian Creek, and later a horse-
mill was erected at Clary's Grove, in Menard
County. These mills served the people in
this section until able to build mills for them-
selves. One of the first in this precinct, of
wh'ch we have any account, was built by a
Mr. Street, about 1831-2, on the southeast
quarter of section 29, town 18 and range 10.
It was a primitive aifair, but, as we were in-
formed, was "better than none at all." H.
H. Hall built a water grist mill some two
miles northeast of the present city of Virginia,
about 1838, on Job Creek. It was for grind-
ing corn and wheat, and had but one run of
burrs, driven by a horizontal water-wheel
with upright shaft. Its capacity was about
eight to ten bushels per hour. As population
incrL'ased,'and the community became wealtliy.
other mills were built for the accommodation
of the growing population. Other improve-
ments were male in the precinct. Roads
were laid out, and put in order, thus render-
ing travel a less task than formerly, and where
they crossed streams and sloughs, bridges were
built. Good roads now pass through the
precinct in every direction, diverging from
the county seat, and while they do not com-
pare with macadamized roads, they are about
as good as Illinois soil will make without
artificial aid.

The pioneer fathers were alive to the ad-
vantages of education, and lost no time in
establishing schools in the different settle-
ments. Mr. Keiling Berry is authority for the
fact that a school was taught in the precinct
as early as 1830. During the first few years
after settlements were made, there were no

IlISTOUY OF CASS COUNTY.

siliOiiUiouses or churches built in the precinct.
Schools were taught in abandoned cabins,
nnd conducted on the subscription plan.
Tlio teacher made out his proposition on pa-
per, and the parents " signed " as many
scholars as they had, or could afford to pay
for, agreeing to pay a specified sum for tui-
tion a certain number of months. The first
school taught in the precinct, so far as we
l-ave learned, was taught by M^illiam Holmes,
in one of these abandoned cabins, at Sugar
Grove, Mr. Berry says, about the year 1830.
Keiling Berry himself taught a subscription,
or on the select school plan, from November
19, 1839, to September 1, 1840, in a log cabin
still standing on the soiitheast quarter of the
southeast quarter of section 27, township 17,
and range 10. This is doubtless the oldest
building now standing in the neighborhood,
used as a temple of learning. The Angier
school house which stood on the northwest
corner of section 4, is believed to have been
the first built in the precinct, especially for
school purposes. It was erected by the people
of the community by their own mutual labor,
and afterward became the property of the
district. It was burned some eight or ten
years ago.

School facilities increased with the advanc-
ing tide of immigration, and new houses were
liuilt as they were needed. At the present
time there are some half a dozen school houses
in the precinct outside of the city of Virginia.
Those are good, comfortable houses, fitted up
with modern furniture, and present quite a
contrast to those of fifty years ago.

There are at present two churches in Vir-
ginia precinct outside of the city. Shiloh
Cumberland Presbyterian Church is located
some three and a half miles west of the city
of Virginia, and was built in 1857. The con-
gregation was organized at the house of
Nathan Compton, in Jersey Prairie, in Mor-
gan County, in the fall of 1827, by the Rev.

J. M. Berry. After the congregation was
permanently organized, it was attached to the
Sangamon Presbytery, and was represented in
the semi-annual meetings of that boily, from
time to time, until about the year 1835.
Hitherto the church had been supplied with
preaching, chiefly liy Kevo. Berry and William
M Cord, the latter of whom died in August,
1833. Rev. Benjamin Cauby, who moved
into the bounds of the church about the year
1830, began to preach to this and neighboring
societies after Mr. McCord's decease. Mr.
Compton, one of the first elders, had moved
away, and the records of the church were
either lost or mislaid. Under this state of af-
fairs. Rev. Ciuby diemed it proper to re-or-
ganize the congregation, which was done in
1837, at the Shiloh meeting house, and which
had been built upon land donated by Mr.
Cauby for that purpose. The f .Uowing reso-
lution was adojjted : " W/urcs, We, the
undersigned, believe it to be our privilege and
duty to attach ourselves to some branch of
the church of God and, so far a we have read
and examined, the government and discipline
of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church also
believing that it agrees with our views most
in accordance with Apostolic mode, do and
hereby order our names to be enrolled as
members of the Mount Pleasant Congregation
of the Presbyterian Church." Following are
the names of those who signe 1: Rev. Benja-
min Cauby, Joseph Cauby and wife, Abner
Tining, Richard Matthews, Sarah Street,
Susan and Mary Beasley, Nancy Morgan, D.
A. McCord, Ann, Elizabeth, Sarah and Eliza
Jane McC rd, Elizabeth Thompson, Sarah
Fraesell, James B. Thompson, William and
Sarah Lowrance, Margaret Schaffer, Richard
D. and John B. Thomps n, Amanda Matthews,
Samuel B., Matilda, Matilda J., and Sarah J.
Thompson, Catharine Pratt, and H. S.
Schaffer.

The present elders of the church are: L.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

McNeil, Henry Bierhause, and Daniel Bid-
dlecome. The cluirch lias now forty mem-
bers, under the pastorate of Rev. J. E. Roach,
and a good comfortable church building.

A Sunday-school of about twenty- live pupils
is carried on in connection with the church.
Daniel Biddlecome is the present superinten-
dent, a position he has held for the past
twelve years. The school was held at the
Union school-house until within the past two
years, when it was removed to the church
where the church organ adds a pleasant ac-
companiment to the singing and to the gen-
eral interest of the school.

Bethlehem Methodist Church is located

about three miles south of Virginia, on the
road to Jacksonville. It was built more than
thirty years ago, and was originally a kind of
vuiion church, being used by several denomi-
nations, but for many years has been occupied
onlv by the Methodists.

Virginia Precinct contains the county-seat
of the county, and as is usually the case, much
of the history of the precinct centers in the
county seat, leaving but little to say in the
preliminary chapter, beyond the mere settle-
ment of the precinct, and the mention of a
few minor topics. With this brief sketch of
Virginia procinct, we will close this chapter,
and in a new one take up the city's history.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTEE Yin.

CITY OF VIRGINIA— ITS BIRTH, LOCATION AND GROWTH— SALE OF LOTS, AND ADDITIONS
TO THE TOWN— DR. HALL, FOUNDER OF VIRGINL-V— FIRST HOUSE AND STORE-
PUBLIC SQUARE AND COURT HOUSE— BUSINESS IN THE WEST END— THE
PRESENT BUSINESS CENTRE— HOTELS, MILLS, ETC— DOCTORS AND
LAWYERS— BANKING BUSINESS— INCORPORATION OF THE
CITY— MUNICIPAL OFFICES-SUMMARY, ETC., ETC.

IN historic annals we are enabled to meas-
ure social progress. Society, as it circles
outward from a common centre, has a ten-
dency to degenerate from its original and
higher type to one of a lower tone and stand-
ard. History reveals the fact that every re-
cedinof circle of civilization has lessened the
forces forming and completing a perfect state
of society. On nearly every wave of immi-
gration some good seed is borne to grow up
in the opening soil of the new country. The
good seed is usually sufficient to begin the
work of raising society to a higher level of
civilization, and their transforming power
counteracts those demoralizing influences
which tend to social degeneration and disrup-
tion, as the lawless and vicious seek the
frontiers, where there is less restraint from
civil power. This good seed becomes the
nuclijus around which gather those influences
necessary to carry society onward to a state
of comparative perfection. By a comparison
with the rude and rough scenes of the past,
we may see how much has been done in this
respect. The moral and social standard of
the community afford unbounded evidence
that much good seed has fallen in this local-

The city of Virginia, to which this chapter
IS devoted, and the county seat of Cass
County, is beautifully situated in a fine re-
g'on of country, near the geographical cen-

tre of the county, and is surrounded by some
of the best and most productive farms in the
State. The Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville
Railroad, and the Springfield division of the
Ohio & Mississippi, cross here, and furnish the
citizens of the place, and the farmers of the
adjacent neighborhood, ample facilities for
shipping, as well as travel.

Virginia was laid out by Dr. H. H. Hall,
who owned the land upon which it is lo-
cated. It was surveyed by Johnston C. Shel-
ton. May 17, 1836, and the original plat oc-
cupied a portion of township 17, range 10,
west. The first sale of lots was made Au-
gust 6, 1836, and the records show that Joel
Horn purchased lot 5; E. B. Gentry, lot 6;
George Garlick, lot 7; M. H. Beadles, lots 8
and 9; Isaiah Paschal, lot 10; J. B. Gentry,
lot 11; Zebedee Wood, lots 13, 18, and 19;
Franklin Marshall, lot 20; William S. Horn,
lot 31; Henry T. Foster, lot 23; L. S. Saun-
ders, lot 34; Joel Horn, lot 28; William
Quigg, lot 33, etc., etc. Dr. Hall made an
addition to the town, which was surveyed and
platted, July 1, 1837, and on the 2.Jth of Au-
gust the sale of lots in this addition took place.

A number of them were sold on the day of
the sale, and the remainder before the close
of the year. The town, for a new place, in
a sparsely settled district, grew rapidly, and
bid fair to become a place of considerable
business.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Dr. Hall, the proprietor and founder of
Virginia, was a native of Ireland, and a reg-
ular graduated physician. He served for a
time as surgeon in the British navy, and in
that capacity came here in the vcar of 1813,
remaining in this country after its close, and
in 1818 settling in Virginia. He remained a
citizen of the Old Dominion until his removal
to Illinois in 1835. He first visited the West
in 1831, and during his stay entered several
hundred acres of land, upon a portion of
which the city of Virginia now stands. Re-
turning to his hofcie, he remained there until
1835, when he removed to Illinois and settled
upon the lands he had already entered here,
and the next year laid out the town of Vir-
ginia, which he called after the State he had
first chosen for his home after becoming a
citizen of the United States. Up to the time
of his death, which occurred in 18-17, he was
the ruling spirit of the growing town, and one
of its chief business men, fully alive to its in-
terests, as well as to those of the county, and
manifesting his zeal by encouraging all enter-
prises looking to the development and im-
provement of the common country and to
his own county. He built the first house
within the present limits of the city, and
prior to the laying out of the place. It stood
on what is now Springfield street, one block
east of the public square, and was a frame
building a Story and a half high. He was not
only the first settler of the town of Virginia,
but was also the first merchant, and opened
the first store in the place in 1836, having for
a clerk at the time Charles Oliver, afterward
a prominent merchant himself. The first
sale made from Dr. Hall's store was by Mr.
Oliver, and consisted of three pairs of shoes
for the family of Wm. S. Berry, and the pur-
chase of which was made by his son, Keiling
Berry, still a well known citizen of Virginia.

An addition of public grounds was made
V'y Dr. Hall, surveyed by Wm. Holmes, coun-

ty surveyor, on the 21st of June, 1838. Vir-
ginia had then become the county seat, and
Mr. Holmes drove down a stake in the cen-
ter of the public square, as the spot whereon
the court house should be built. The addi-
tion comprised fifteen acres, donated by Dr.
Hall, and deeded to the commissioners of
Cass County for public buildings. A court
house was erected on the square, and after
the county seat was moved liack to Beards-
town, the house and grounds were sold to the
town for school purposes, and with the house
rebuilt, are still so used. Originally the bus-
iness section was in the western part of town,
and there still remains many traces of the
old business houses around the square, now
the school grounds, as the laying out of a
square and the erection of a court house drew
the business around it.

Hall & Thomas made an addition to Vir-
ginia, May 15, 1839; surveyed and platted
by John Clark, county surveyor. The same
parties made another addition June 13,
1856; it was surveyed by John Craig, and ac-
knowledge before Henry Rabourn, a jus-
tice of the peace. Robert Hall has made
several additions; one surveyed by John
Craig, June 26, 1856, and another platted
by the same surveyor August 29, 1859,
and acknowledged before Squire Henry
Rabourn. Barton & Wood made an addition
June 21, 1856; surveyed by R. C. Cruiupton.
H. H. Hall, Jr., made an addition Marcii 5,
1SG6, which was surveyed by J. T. Dunbar,
county surveyor. Several other additions have
been made by different parties, until at the
present day, Virginia covers enough ground
for a city of ten thousand inhabitants.

When the court house was built in the
square now occupied as the city school, the
business was drawn around it as it is now
around the present square, and as we have
said, some of the old business houses are still
standing, and there are traces of others. No

Jlf^^s^"^'

y ,>^^^|'^'

t'N'VEh;

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

one with an eye for the glorious and beauti-
f il can see any improvement made, either in
location or beauty, by the removal from the
" West End Square " to the present business
location. Hall's, we have seen, was the first
store opened. Charles Oliver was a clerk in
Hall's store, but in a year or two went into
business on his own account. He kept the
second store in Virginia, and remained a mer-
chant of the place for many years. His store
was on the southwest corner of the old square,
south of Beardstown street, while N. B.
Thompson — probably the next merchant-
had his store on the same corner, but north
of Beardstown street. Portions of these old
buildings are still standing, but with changes
are now dwellings, or parts of dwelling-houses.
Dr. Hathaway opened a drug-store on the
northwest corner of the old square, the first
one in Virginia. Other branches of business
were established, and other stores were open-
ed. The house, or the brick part of it, where
Harry Thompson now lives, was a store-house
with a hall in the second story, that used to
witness strange events during the late un-
pleasantness. The old-fashioned brick, a little
iurther east from Thompson's, and on the
same side of the street, was also a store-house.
Thus, a quarter of a century ago, was a busy
town, where now are but a few private resi-
dences around a beautiful square, in which
stands a rather dilapidated looking temple of
learning.

Charles Oliver, the second merchant, sprang
from a family of merchants. His father was
a heavy importer, and two uncles — brothers
of his father — were wholesale merchants of
Philadelphia, while four of his sons were
merchants. One of these sons — William A.,
opened the first store on the south side of the
present public square, in the Mead building,
now occupied by J. O. Hammer as a saloon.
Hu had entered Dr. Hathaway's drug store,
aiiil after bocominsf familiar with the business.

not having means to go into the drug busi-
ness, his father divided his own stock of goods
with him, giving him some five or six hun-
dred dollars worth of goods out of his store,
which he opened out, as we have said, on the
south side of the present square. Influences
wore at work then, which eventually resulted
in the removal of the business to its present
location, affording at least one instance of the
star of empire moving eastward instead of
westward.

Jake Dunnaway, who was a mail contractor,
had purchased the stage-stand in Virginia,
which was then kept in what is now the Virginia
house, or a part of it, and this was one of the
influences in moving the business in this di-
rection. The proposed Illinois river railroad
was another. These, together with other in-
ducements, which finally culminated when
the county-seat was moved to Beardstown,
accomplished the change. N. B. Thompson,
whose store we have mentioned as standing
on the southwest corner of the old square,
and a man of keen penetration in business
affairs, saw the tendency of the town to move
eastward, and built a store house on the south
side of the present square. He did not occupy
it, however, but rented it to other parties,
and continued at his old stand sometime
longer. Finally he moved his store house,
now a part of the city hotel, from the old
square, to the site of the hotel on the north
side of the present square, and opened his
store in it, though there was no other house
then in the vicinity. But, he said, his trade
would follow him wherever he went, an asser-
tion that proved true, as he was one of the
successful merchants of the town for many
years. Milton Trotter built the first brick
store house on the present square, which is
known on the plats as " Washington B^ount-
ain Square." It comprises two stores below
and Trotter's hall above. After this time
business built up rapidly in the new locality.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

and business hovises were erected, until the
present state of improvement was reached.
The war between the east and west ends,
which was carried on with considerable ardor
at times, after the removal of the county-seat
back to Beardstown, in 1845, gradually sub-
sided, and the east end became the establish-
ed scene of business and trade.

Mr. Hall, besides building the first store
house and residence, built also tlie first tavern
in the town, which was first kept by Powell
& Beadles. With many changes and im-
provements, xnoilernizations, etc., until but
little of the original building is left, it is now
the Virginia House, and is kept at present by
J. B. Craft. It, and the City Hotel, kept by
the jolly and genial John Gore, are the hotels
of the town.

A post-office was established at Virginia,
and L. F. Sanders was appointed postmaster.
It was a primitive affair, with its one and two
mails a week, presenting quite a contrast to
Mr. Wilson's well-arranged and lucrative
office.

The first steam mill within the corporate
limits of Virginia was built by N. B. Burs.
It was a modern two-run mill, and did good
•work until 1852-3, when it was burned. The
city was without a mill then until the present
one was built by Armstrong & Beasley, some
twenty years ago. It became the property
of Jacob Dunnaway, who sold it to Mr. Cos-
gro, the present owner, in 1871. He re-
modeled and improved it in every respect,
and made it thoroughly a first-class mill.
Originally it had but one run of buhrs, but Mr.
Cosgro has added two more, and all the latest
improved machinery, purifiers, Moline clean-
ing machinery, etc. He makes the patent
process flour as well as straight grade flour,
and turns out at the rate of forty barrels every
twelve hours. The production of his mill is
consumed mostly at homo, though he ships
considerably at certain seasons of the year.

and grinds winter wheat altogether. Mr.
Cosgro learned the milling business in New
York State, at Albany, Oswego, etc., and
came West in 1860, stopping at Peoria, where
he was engaged in the Fort Clark and City
Mills, coming to this city in 1871, as stated
above.

There is an inevitable meanness in every
grand event, and homeliness of detail in each
heroic life, which time does not wholly erase.
We go a thousand miles away to get the
mountain's height, and we are, it may be, too
near the men and things of which we write.
It is difficult to compose a history of the city
on ])erspective, and, like a Chinese draughts-
man, leave the background and shadow out.
Any one can be wise for yesterday, for he has
results to jjuide his iudofinent. But Viririn-
la's yesterday is long gone by, and her history
has lost much of the morning freshness. The
incidents of its first years, however, are as
freely canvassed as those of the present. Each
feeling and prejudice has been nursed to
keep it warm.

Dr. Hall was the first physician. Although
he had graduated from the best schools and
colleges of Europe, and had served in the
British navy, he never practiced his profes-
sion after settling here, except in case of ex-
treme emergency, but devoted himself to
other business interests. Dr. M. H. L.
Schooley was the next physician, and com-
menced practice about 1836. He was the first
who opened a doctor's office, as Dr. Hall did
not practice. He graduated at Philade'phia
Medical College, and continuei] in practice in
A^irginia until 1867, when he removed to Cass
County, INIo., where later he died. Dr. Lord
came about 1846, and practiced some three
j-ears in partnership with Schooley. Dr. Tate
came in 1841. He was a graduate of the
Medical College of Ohio (Cincinnati), in the
class of 1840. Dr. Hathaway came in 1844, and
k'^pt the first drug .store opened in the town;

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Dr. Snyder came in 1863. The last named
has a fine museum which he values very
highly, and indeed, there are very few such
private collections to be found in the country.
At the present time there are six practicing
physicians in Virginia, viz.: Drs. Tate, Good-
speed, Snyder, Hubbard, Colladay, and Smith.

" When lawyers take what they would give;
When doctors give what they would take ;
******
Till then let Cummmings blaze away.

And Miller's saints blow up ihc globe;
But when you see that hap ly day,
Then order your ascension robe."

The first lawyer was ilr. Friend, who open-
ed an office here in 183B. He was licensed
to practice, and was a very successful lawyer.
R. S. Thomas, probably the next lawyer,
fame in 1839, and was a brother to Judge
Jesse B. Thomas, one of the early United
States senators from Illinois. R. S. Thomas
was a man of considerable energy. He
was president of the old Illinois River Rail-
road Co.; was elected to the legislature in
1847, and for a time was editor of a Whig
paper, the Cass County Times. He remained
in Virginia until 1865, when he removed to
Chicago, where he died about 1869. Mark
W. Delaha was another of the early la'.\yers,
and located in Virginia in 1844. He was a
man of ability, a fine orator, and a most radi-
cal Whig, and edited, for a while, the first
paper established in Virginia, The Chrofiicle,
an ultra Whig paper. Lee Carpenter, .1. N.
Gridley and R. W. Mills came in at a later
date. The bar of Virginia comprises now some
nine members, as follows: J. N. Gridley, R.
W. Mills, A. A. Leeper, G. L. Warlow, Henry
Philips, George Martin, W. H. Thacker, C.
M. Tinney and Charles Martin.

The banking business is represented in
Virginia by three banks, firmly established,
and comprising considerable capital.

The Farmers National Bank, of Virginia,

was organized in 1865, with the following
officers: S. S. Vance, president; H. H. Hall,
vice-president, and John H. Wood, cashier;
the first board of directors were S. S. Vance, H.
H. Hall, I. M. Stribling, William Stevenson,
John A. Ptitofish, N. B. Thompson and A. G.
Angier. The capital was originally $50,000,
and the circulation $15,000, but in 1869 the
capital was increased to $150,000, and the
circulation to $14-5,000. In 1876, Mr. Wool
resigned his position as cashier, and organized
the Centennial National Bank, and Mr. J. T.
Robertson was appointed cashier in his stead,
which position he now holds.

July 16,1867, H. H. Hall was elected presi-
dent, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the re-
signation of Mr. Vance, which position he
held for two years. A. G. Angler succeeded
Mr. Hall; John A. Petefish and John Robert-
son held the position of president one year
each, succeeding Angler. Then George Gat-
ton for one year, x\iigier again for one year,
then Gatton for three years. In January,
1874, Xjeorge Virgin was elected president,
and has continued in the position to the pre-
sent time. The present board of directors
are: George Virgin, William Stevenson, Z.
W. Gatton, Robert Taylor, J. G. Rexrout,
John Robertson and J. T. Robertson. Z. W.
Gatton, an old resident of the count}', has been
connected with the bank almost from the time
of its organization to date, as a director or
officer.

The bank building which this bank now
owns, is as good a banking-room as may be
found in Central Illinois. A pleasing feature
of the institution is the kind and courteous
book-keeper, Miss Virgin, whose pleasant face
is always to be seen above the book-keeper's
desk.

Petensh, Skiles & Co., is one of the leading
banking houses in Caes County, and was or-
ganized as a private bank in 187 , by Samuel
H. Petefish, Ignatius Skiles and Jacob Epler.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

It commenced business under rather unfavor-
able circumstances at that time, having to
contend with old established banks in adjoin-
ing towns, as well as with a local bank. The
office was placed in charge of Mr. Richard
Elliott, as cashier, who continued with the firm
for two years. At the end of the first year,
Mr. Epler retired, ami the business was con-
tinued for some eight months, when Mr.
George Virgin was admitted as a partner.
In September, .8 2, the management of the
business was transferred to Mr. E. T. Oliver,
who was also ailuiitted as a member of the
firm, and who has continued to act as cashier
up to the present time. The copartnership
continued until April, 187j, when Ignatius
Skiles, one of the leading members of the
firm died, leaving interest in the business
which was continued by his administrator un-
til September, 1875, when Oswell Skiles was
admitted as a member of the firm to take his
brother's place. In March, 1876, Mr. George
Virgin retired, and Messrs. William Campbell
and George Crum became members of the
firm — it being composed of Samuel H. Pete-
fish, Oiwell Skiles, E Iward T. .Oliver, Will-
iam Cainpljell and Gjorge Crum, who have
composed the firm from tlie latter date up to
the present time. Although numerous changes
of personal members, the firm name has re-
mained the same from the first, and it has be-
come as thoroughly known and establishde in
the county as any public institution.

The bank has had a varied career in point
of business ; it has gone through panics, de-
pressed and prosperous times, and through all
has maintained its high standard of credit and
fair dealing, at all times paying particular at-
tention to the development of the local indus-
tries and enterprises, as well as aiding its
customers to successfully manage their private
business. While not being organized as a
corporation, it has always been rated as high
in credit and business ability as any of the

leading baidiS in Central Illinois, and at all
times employing sufficient capital to supply
the legitimate demands of business men who
are dealing with it. The private means of
the members of the firm are stated at over
three hundred thousand dollars, composed of
personal property, moneys and credits, and
unencumbered real estate, of the latter of
which tlu'v own near five thousand acres of
the best improved lands in the county, and all
of which represents their credit in the bank-
ino- business, as they are individually liable
for all the business transacted at the bank-
counter. This fact alone has added largely
to their long list of customers, as they well
know no financial crisis can alfect their
interests when so thoroughly protected by
private wealth.

In February, 188 L, the firm bought out the
banking house and business of Messrs. H. T.
Chandler & Co., of Chandlerville, and re-
ceived as a local member of the firm at that
place, Mr. W. K. Mertz, who had been in the
office for some nine years, an 1 opened the
doors of the new firm of Petefish, Skiles &
Mertz, February 1, 1881. Having placed the
business upon a firm financial basis, and prac-
tic:tlly ch.mgod the workings of the former
office, the public soon appreciated the efi"orts
the new firm were making to furnish them
first-class banking fauili ies, and the rapid
increase of business has attested the value of
their regard. The business is under the im-
mediate management of Mr. Mertz, but the
general direction is from the head firm at
Virginia, whose large acquaintance and busi-
ness experience enable them to furnish all ac-
commodations needed, and to supply all de-
mands in a proper manner.

For some time it had been apparent to the
home office that a bank was needed at Ash-
land, and acting upon their own judgment
in the matter, in addition to urgent requests
from the business men of that placj and vi-

IirSTOUY OF CASS COUNTY.

cinity, they, in September, 1881, estaMished
a private bank in that town, under the firm
name of Skiles, Rearick & Co., being com-
posed of the present firm at Virginia, and re-
ceiving as an additional member, Mr. Walter S.
Rearick, of Beardstown, who for some eight
years had been connected with the Cass
County bank at that place. Being successful
in securing the services of a practical business
man, the office was, upon September 5,188 1 , op-
ened to the public; not having time to provide
a suitable office for transacting their business,
the firm for three months occupied the rear
part of a drug store in the place, during
which time the builders were rapidly at work
erecting a neat office building, which was oc-
cupied by the firm about the 5th of Decem-
ber. The immense corn business at that
point, and the mercantile trade growing out
of it, demanded good banking facilities, and
the satisfaction of the customers of the bank
shows it has been render^'d equal to all
demands. Like the Chandlerville office, the
immediate management of the business
is conducted by the local member, Mr. Rea-
rick; but the control and direction of it pro-
ceeds from the home office, and the firm feel
very well pleased with the present business
now in their hands at that place, and only hope
their efforts to accommodate their present line
of customers may be the means of enlarging
their list of patrons.

Such is a short synopsis of the business of
this firm, which has grown from a small be-
ginning to be the most extensive in Cass
County, and equal to the largest in other im-
portant counties. Its business interests di-
versifies into all the different neighborhoods
in the county, and its credit is now as well-
known abroad as it is at home. With ample
means and unlimited credit, it is so situated as
to thoroughly put through any business en-
terprise it may undertake, and the business
ability of the individual memljcrs of the firm.

gives increased confidence to its patrons. To
Mr. Samuel H. Petefish, the only living mem-
ber of the original firm, is due in a great part
the present prosperity of the business, and
who at all times has the interest of the county
as his objective point. Being the prime
mover in the organization of the bank, he
naturally feels very proud of its present pro-
portions, and at is all times ready to advance
the interests of its customers.

Each member of the firm feels the respon-
sibility resting upon him, in having the sur-
plus wealth of so many of the citizens of the
county deposited with them for safe keeping,
and to keep their honor and credit untar-
nished, and attend properly and in a business
manner to the demands of their patrons, is
their chief aim in the management of the
business.

The Centennial National Bank was incor
porated April 11, 1876, with the following
officers and directors, viz: A. G. Angler.
John A. Petefish, Daniel Biddlecome, T. J.
Crura, J. H. Bates, A. Struble, Robt. Hall, W.
L. Black and Thomas Dunnaway. John A.
Petefish was elected president, and John H.
Wood, cashier. The original stockholders
were, John Fielding, D. R. Downing, W. M.
Gorellery, Thos. Dunnaway, Daniel Biddle-
come, Wm. Lindsey, John A. Petefish, A. G.
Angler, Cyrus Cruin, G. W. Goodspeed, .lohn
Epler, A. G. Epler, Wm. Epier, John A.
Jones, N. W. Spillman, Geo. A, Woodworth,
P. M. Petefish, J. F. Black, Joseph Wilson,
James Thompson, T.J. Crura, J. W. Savage,
W. L. Black, Geo. A. Beard, J. H. Bates,
Henry Quigg, Amos Cox, Robert Hall, A.
Struble, John Edwards, J. H. Tureman, R.
W. Mills, Mrs. M. S. Caldwell, A. C. An-ier,
Jno. H. Melone, Mary E. Henderson, John D.
McHenry, E. A. Gridley, T. J. Nesbitt and
A. S. Montgomery. A portion of the above
names are not on the rolls now, and in addi-
tion to those given, are the following, who

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

have since come in: Maria Cunningliam, B.
Fielding, Martha B. C. Downing, Henry
Philips, Mrs. E. J. H. Tomlin, Thos. Mead, A.
Petefish and G. W. Crum. The capital stock
was $60,000 until 1877, when it was reduced
to $50,000, with a circulation of $45,000. The
bonds were bought when they were high, and
depreciated to such an extent, that they ab-
sorbed the earnings of the bank up to 1879,
when the first dividend was declared, which
was ten per cent. An annual dividend has
been declared every year since of eight per
cent. During the past four years the business
of the bank has more than doubled.

John A. Petefish continued as president
until his death. May 24, 1880, when A. G.
Angier became president, a position he still
holds. T. J. Crum is vice-president at pre-
sent. John H. Wood continued cashier until
June 15, 1878, when he resigned, and the pre-
sent incumbent, Mr. James B. Black, took his
place.

We have noted the beginning of business
in Virginia, and traced it from an insignificant
village store to the present large and increas-
ing business and trade.

The town boasts no manufacturing enter-
prises, to speak of, unless it be the tile fac-
tory, now in the course of construction, and
which will be, when completed, a good thing
for the city, as it will be the begiiming of
manufacturing industries. It is manufactur-
ing that makes a town, and the discovery re-
cently of a fine vein of potter's clay in the
vicinity of Virginia, ought to lead to the
erection of works for the making of stoneware
at no distant day.

The business of Virginia is strictly retail,
and considering the competition it has in the
neighboring towns, and the close proximity
of Springfield, Jacksonville, and even St.
Louis, it is large. The class of business
houses are good for a town of this size, and
are a credit to the business men ; banking

facilities are excellent, many of the residences
are handsome, and the churches are spacious
and commodious.

An item of interest that should not be
overlooked, is the set of abstract books of J.
N. Gridley. He has devoted much time, and
expended about $10,000 in money, to the
compiling of one of the finest and most
complete set of Abstract books in the State
of Illinois. They contain a correct copy of
the entire records of Cass County, showing
all the titles and all transactions affecting the
titles of any and all real estate in the county,
together with plats of all the towns, cities
and villages, certificates of organization of
all societies and incorporations, which exist or
have existed, and much other valuable infor-
mation. The entire set of records are sup-
plemented with an official certificate, by the
proper officer over the county seal, vouching
for their correctness. It is not an easy mat-
ter to estimate the value of this set of re-
cords, particularly if the original records of
this county ever be destroyed. The records
were made almost entirely by Miss Mary E.
Hill, one of the most efficient pen women and
thorough book-keepers in Virginia. As a
work of art alone, they are worthy of perusal.

The Virginia Building and Savings Asso-
ciation was chartered by the Legislature in
1876, with a capital of $500,000. The object
of the association is to purchase and build
city residences, thus aiding specially the
working classes. The first officers were:
James Thompson, President; John McHenry,
Vice President; M. Graves, Treasurer, and
R. W. Rabourn, Secretary. Directors: Jo-
seph F. Black, P. H. Bailey, Robert Hall, M.
Graves, and E. T. Oliver. It has already
built about forty residences, and loaned out
some $40,000. The association is composed
of about one hundred of the best citizens of
Virginia.

Virginia was incorporated as a village,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Ausrust 19, 1857. The first board of trustees
was as follows: Alexander Sample, Stephen
P. Gvviiin, S. W. Neely, .L E. Haskell, and .1.
B. Thompson. The first officers were: C. H.
Oliver, President; John W. Nay lor, Town
Clerk; L. S. Allard, Treasurer; James H.
Harris, Town Constable, and John A. Giles,
Street Commissioner. The town remained
under this style of government until 1872,
when on the 22d of August, of that year, it
was incorporated as a city, and the first set of
officers elected, were as follows, viz.: J. A.
Petefish, Mayo-; E. M. Dale, Clerk; J. N.
Wilson, Treasurer; R. W. Mills, Attorney,
and Messrs. E. T. Oliver, A. E. Wyatt, John
Rodgers, .Joseph Wilson, and Morrison Graves,
Councilmen. Since then the following gen-
tlemen have served as Mayor of the city, viz:
J. A. Petefish (two terms), 1872-3; Dr. G. W.
GoodsjDeed, 187-4; D. N. Walker, 1875; W.
W. Easley, 1876; P. H. Bailey (two terms),
1877-8; John A. Petefish, until his death,
which occurred in May, 1880; and J. T. Rob-
inson was elected to fill out the unexpired
term, until April, 1881; P. H. Bailey, 1881,
and served until he moved away, when A. G.
Epler was elected, and is (1882) the present
incumbent. Other officers are R. W. Ra-
bourn. Clerk; J. B. Craft, Treasurer; R. W.
Mills, Attorney, and Marlin Cosgro and Reu-
ben Lancaster, Councilmen from the First
Ward; George E. Harris and Dr.- D. G. Smith,
Councilmen from the Second Ward; W. W.
Bishop and Oswell Skilos, Councilmen from
the Third Ward, and Daniel Murray, City
Marshal.

The last premium list (1882) of the Cass
County Fair Association, issued from the of-
fice of the Virginia Enquirer, contains an
historical sketch of the county, and of the
city of Virginia, from which we make a brief
extract, in conclusion of this chapter. It is
a kind of peroration of the writer's article on
Virginia, and shows the business and import-

ance of the city at the present time. It is as
follows:

"Forty-six years laden with sorrows and
joys, bright anticipations and vanquished
hopes, have added both age and dignity to
our little town since it was first laid out.
Many of the old citizens who were wont to
dream pleasant dreams over what the town
would some day be, are quietly sleeping their
last sleep. The boys and girls of those early
times are boys and girls no longer. They
have taken the places of men and women in
the ranks, and are earnestly endeavoring to do
the work laid out for them. The reflections,
however, of what they were in their youthful
days, can be seen in the many bright and
happy faces of the scholars who attend the
public schools. During all these years, Vir-
ginia hassteadily gained in financial strength,
and it is to-day not only one of the solidest
but one of the most beautiful little towns in
Central Illinois. Nature has freely laid her
golden off 'rings at our feet, but only those
found on th surface have as yet been utilized.
Some day in the future, perhaps, we may
muster sufficient courage to investigate the
mysteries beneath our feet, and when the light
of day is once permitted to shine upon them,
a transformation of our little town will take
place, equally as amazing as those accom-
plished by Alladin and his wonderful lamp.

"The business enterprises of the little city
now include nine grocery stores, eiglit dry
goods stores, three drug stores, two hotels,
five churches, two millinery stores, four black-
smith shops, two merchant tailoring establish-
ments, one first-class clothing house, two bar-
ber shops, two livery stables, one flour mill,
one brick yard, three boot and shoe shops,
five saloons, one dairy, two hardware stores,
two stove and tinware establishments, two
wagon manufactories, one meat market, three
banks, one bakery, two restaurants, two har-
ness shops, two furniture stores, two under-

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

takers, one lumber yard, two agricultural
implement dealers, three grain dealers, one
photograph gallery, three sewing machine
agencies, two title abstract offices, nine law-

yers, six physicians, two jewelry establish-
ments, one book store, two dentists, three
painters, three contractors and builders, one
marble shop, and two printing offices.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER IX.

VIRGINIA— ITS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT AS A CITY— THE ERA OF RAILROADS— PRO-
JECT OF BUILDING THE ILLINOIS RIVER RAILROAD— THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI,
ETC.— NEWSPAPERS OF VIRGINIA— FIRST PAPER ESTABLISHED IN THE
TOWN— THE PRESENT CITY PRESS— COURT HOUSES AND THE COUNTY
SEAT QUESTION— THE JAIL- MISCELLANEOUS, ETC., ETC.

IN the preceding chapter we have seen how
Virginia grew and developed into a pros-
perous town, and then into a lively little city,
governed by city rules, laws and regulations,
and with a rapidly increasing population is
quietly gliding on in the full tide of "success-
ful experiment." Her growth and develop-
ment, unlike many towns and cities of the
West, have been rather slow, but all the
more sure for being slow, and it requires no
prophet to foresee her prosperous future, if
her business men keep their eyes open and
continue to do their whole duty. " A city
that is set on a hill cannot be hid," and one
that contains a plentiful stock of business
energy cannot fail to prosper.

The railroads have added very materially
to the growth and prosperity of Virginia, as
they must do to every community through
which they pass. A brief sketch of the roads
passing through the city will not be out of
place in this connection.

The Illinois River Railroad was agitated as
eady as 1850, but it was some years later
before the project assumed a tangible form.
In 1853, Gen. Ruggles of Mason County, was
elected to the State Senate, from the district
comprising the counties of Sangamon, Men-
ard and Mason, and at the first session in
1853, he preferred and secured the enact-
ment of the charter under which the road was
built. Under this charter Gen. Ruggles went
to work and procured subscriptions amount-
ing to over $100,000, and organized a com-

pany. At the first election. Judge William
Thomas, of Morgan County, R. S. Thomas,
of Cass County, J. M. Ruggles and Francis
Low, of Mason County, and Joshua Wag-
gonseller, of Tazewell County, were elected
Directors; R. S. Thomas was elected Presi-
dent; M. H. L. Schooley was elected Secreta-
ry; and Thomas Plasters, Treasurer. With
some slight changes this directory continued
until the road changed its name and owner-
ship. Of this directory, the Havana Herald,
of Sept. 11, 1857, said: "The election of direct-
ors of the Illinois River Railroad took place
at Chandlerville, on Saturday of last week.
A large number of persons were present
on the occasion, and an amount of stock was
represented equal to $350,000. Considerable
interest was manifested among those present,
in regard to who should be elected to the
directory, and as to how they should be ap-
pointed. But after the manifestation of con-
siderable feeling in regard thereto, matters
were finally arranged, as we presume, to the
entire satisfaction of all parties, and directors
were elected. The selection of a more effi-
cient Board of Directors could not have been
made. They are the very best men to be
found along the line of the road, and their
selection will meet the approbation of a large
majority of the citizens of the different coun-
ties through which the road will pass, and
give renewed confidence to the friends of
this great improvement."

The counties and principal towns through

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

which the road was surveyed, subscribed
liberally toward building it. Morgan County
voted $50,000 stock; Cass, $100,000; Mason,
$100,000— $.50,000 at two different times; Ha-
vana, the county-seat of Mason, voted $15,000;
Bath, in Mason County, $10,000, while other
cities did well in the same substantial manner.
W. G. Wheaton of Peoria, was the first en-
gineer employed, but soon developed a dis-
position to locate depots and speculate in
town lots, which led to a disruption with the
directory, and finally resulted in his discharge
from the employment of the company, and the
salection of another engineer.

The contract was let in May, 1857, for grad-
ing, bridging and furnishing cross-ties be-
tween Pekin and Jacksonville, a distance of
about seventy miles. Allen and McGrady, of
Indiana, became the contractors, and the work
began at Bath in September, 1857, and was
pushed forward rapidly until completed from
Pekin to Virginia, which was accomplished
in 1859. The section from Pekin to Peoria
was finished in 1864, and from Virginia to
Jacksonville in 1869; thus completing an un-
broken line from Peoria to Jacksonville. For
a local road it has always done a heavy busi-
ness. During the late civil war, the road
changed hands, by reason of a foreclosure of
first mortgage, and the name was changed to
that of Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Rail-
road, and for years, was operated for that com-
pany, by John Allen and J. P. Kelsey, who
gave very general satisfaction in their man-
agement. In 1878, the road went into the
hands of a receiver, Mr. John Allen, and some-
time after, the controlling interest passed to
the Wabash Railway, since which time it has
remained a feeder to that great system.

It is a matter of wonder to all strangers
who visit Virginia, and a source of consider-
able profanity to the majority of commercial
travelers, that the depot of this road, was lo-
cated almost as near to Springfield as it is to

Virginia, and " thereby hangs a tale." One,
however, which we shall not attempt to "un-
fold," further than that its being partly at
least, caused by the war then existing between
the east and west ends of the city, by little
under-currents of feeling, local prejudices, and,
in fact, wheels within wheels, which together,
resulted in the road being located beyond the
eastern limits of the city. It is of considerable
inconvenience to the citizens of the town and
to visitors, and the project now agitated to
some extent, of building a union depot, would
be hailed by all with unbounded pleasure.
However, what is a loss to the citizens and
traveling public is a gain to others — the bus
men.

The Springfield division of the Ohio & Mis-
sissippi Railroad crosses the Peoria, Pekin &
.lacksonville road at this place. It was char-
tered as the Springfield & Illinois Southeast-
ern, and was built through this section in 1871-
72. Cass County manifested her interest in the
enterprise by voting $50,000 stock, for which
bonds were issued of $1,000 each. Twelve of
these bonds have been paid. The road be-
came involved, and after the usual amount of
wire-pulling it was sold, and purchased by the
Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, March 1, 1875,
since which time, it has been known as the
" Springfield Division of the Ohio & Mississip-
pi." While it is not kept in the best condition,
yet it has been of great advantage to Virginia
in giving her a more direct outlet to Eastern
markets, and connections at Springfield with
several first-class roads. These two roads
have made Virginia what she is, and afford
her ample means of transportation and travel.

The Press. — No art save that of printing
can reproduce the original emanations of
genius in unlimited number, and as long as
time shall last. Statues, monuments, paint-
ings, molder and fade, and with them the
names of those they were intended to me-
morialize; but the volume of to-day may be re-

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

printed ten thousand years hence, if the
world shall endure so long, anJ the last copy
will be, for all practical purposes, as available
as the first. In this age of refinement and
civilization, of education and letters; an age
in which a Henry Clay rises from the humble
"Mill-boy of the Slashes" to the greatest
statesman the world ever saw, and an Abra-
ham Lincoln steps up by regular gradation
from a gawky rail-splitter to President of the
United States; in this age of advancement we
say, a town of any importance at all, without
a newsj)aper, would indeed be phenomenal.
It is to be regretted, however, that many sec-
tions of the country pay so little attention to
their newspapers, and contribute so little to
their support. Said Daniel Webster: " I care
not how unpretending a newspaper may be
every issue contains something that is worth
the subscription price." In Ohio it is a State
law that every newspaper published in the
county, shall be kept on file in the office of
the County Auditor, and at the end of each
year be bound in volumes at the public ex-
pense. This is a good move, and should be
followed in the other States. There is no other
way so correct of preserving the country's
history as through the medium of the press.
The very advertisements eventually become
historical facts, and sometimes of the greatest
value. The press of to-day, it can not be dis-
puted, is the ruling element, not only in the
jx)litical, but in the social world.

The newspaper history of Virginia dates
back to 184:7, when the Chronicle was estab-
lished. It was an ultra Whig paper, and was
originally started by a Mr. Tilden, an own
cousin, it is said, of the Sage of Gramercy
Park, Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. Mark
W. Dellaha became the editor and proprie-
tor, and conducted the paper until 1852, when
he sold out to parties who removed the paper
from the town. Mr. Dellaha was a lawyer
of considerable prominence and ability, and

a fine orator. After selling out the Chronicle
he removed to Kansas, in 1853, and estab-
lished the first paper at Leavenworth, pub-
lished in the State. Subsequently he became
Judge of the United States District Court of
Kansas.

The Cass Coxmtu Times was the next paper
established in Virginia, and sprang into exist-
ence about the year 1855, through the energy
and enterprise of Richard S. Thomas, one of
the most pushing, and live, wide-awake busi-
ness men in the town. Mr. Thomas conducted
the Times as a neutral paper until the cam-
paign of 18G0,when it raised the standard of the
Republican party, as led by Abraham Lincoln
in the contest for the presidency. Thomas
disposed of the editorial management of the
Tirnes to Prof. McDowell, by whom it was
operated until the close of the year ISGO, or
beginning of 18G1, when it was sold to Mr.
Naylor, and the office removed to Pekin, a
move which resulted in establishing the Taze-
well Republican.

During the hotly contested and exciting
campaign of 18G0, a company was formed
which started the Cass County Union, a
Douglas paper, edited by Lafayette Briggs,
who published it until the fall of 18G4. It
had become the property of Jacob Dunnaway,
who sold it to a gentleman, and it was moved
to Beardstown, but was shortly after again re-
moved, and this time to El Paso. Virginia
was now without a paper, and remained so un-
til 1867, when a Republican paper was estab-
lished by John S. Harper and N. S. Pur-
viance. It was shortly after purchased by L.
S. AUard, who changed it, or commenced the
publication of the Cass County Courier.
While these changes were taking place, the
Democrats again established a county organ,
with a Mr. Friend as editor; it finally fell in-
to the hands of J. J. Bunce, who published
for a time the Je.ffersonian; but later moved
the office to Chandlerville. The Courier v.as

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

published by L. S. Allard, until in February,
18 2, when he leased the office to his son, H.
C. Allard and W. M. Summers, by whom
the name of the paper was changed to the
Gazette, and operated by the firm about one
year. Mr. Allard then retired and Mr. Sum-
mers became editor and proprietor of the pa-
per. The Gazette under the management of
Mr. Summers, at once took rank with the
best conducted newspapers of the State, be-
ing bold and fearless in its advocacy of what
its editor deemed right and just. Every issue
of the paper was eagerly read by an increas-
ing list of subscribers, and while many may not
have agreed with the editor in his policy, or
endorsed his methods of treatingmen and
measures, all admitted his earnestness, and ad-
mired the bold and manly course he pursued
in treating of local issues andcounty affairs.

In the memorable contest over the removal
of the county seat, the Gazette was a staunch
and able advocate of the Virginia interest, and
in the county elections pending the contest,
to his efforts, more than to any other one man,
may be ascribed the successful issue of the
" People's movement," which placed in most
of the county offices men who were pronounced
for Virginia. To say that Mr. Summers was
without enemies would be to assert that which
is not borne out by the facts. A man of so
pronounced a character, so bold in speech, so
strong a hater, and so earnest a friend, must
needs have enemies, and they lost no oppor-
tunity to heap abuse upon him. Through all
the Gazette continued to prosper, and became
widely known as a fearless, able and out-
spoken paper. In February, 1876, Mr. Sum-
mers's health failed. He had suffered the
previous year with disease of the lungs, and
was unable at all times to attend to the duties
of his office. After vainly seeking health in
the cooling breezes of the north, he was com-
pelled to retire from the Gazette, which was
j)urchased by Messrs. Brownlee & Allard, who

assumed charge February 25, 1876. Mr.
Summers died in Petersburg, III., in Novem-
ber following.

Mr. Allard, of the firm of Brownlee & Allard,
was, together with Mr. Summers, a founder
of the Gazette. Mr. Allard retired in Sep-
tember, 1876, and Mr. Brownlee continued
alone until August 17, 1877, when T. L. Mat-
thews and W. H. Thacker became proprietors.
Mr. Matthews bought out Thacker, January 18,
1878, and January 3, 1879, H. C. Allard again
became interested in the paper. During the
campaign of 1880, C. M. Tinney, the present
editor, had editorial control, while Mr. Allard
was in Fort Smith, Ark., conducting the Neio
Era, owned by Hon. V. Dell, then United
States Marshal of the Western District of Ar-
kansas. April 29, 1881, Mr. Tinney bought the
Gazette, and assumed full control of it, which
position he has ever since maintained. Under
his management, the Gazette has lost nothing
of its former high standing as an able and
influential newspaper, but continues to im-
prove in character and excellence. It ranks
among the very best papers in Central and
Southern Illinois, and is the leading Repub-
lican paper in this section. Mr. Tinney is
an able and efficient writer, and a live, and
wide-awake newspaper man, deserving of
liberal support from the town and county.

The Virginia Enquirer is a weekly paper,
published in Virginia. It is the official orgai:
of the Democratic party in Cass County, and
an able and earnest exponent of the principles
of the Jacksonian Democracy.

The Enquirer was started by John S. Harper
and J. J. Bunce, in the spring of 1874, and
the first number was issued about the first of
August in that year. After an existence of
about two months, Mr. Bunce sold his half
interest to J. H. Remtsen. A few weeks later
Mr. Remtsen disposed of his interest to John
S. Harper. After running the paper seven or
eight months, Mr. Harper sold the establish-

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

nient to a Democratic Stock Company, and
the management of the paper was entrusted
io C. A. Ciandall and Thomas Thompson. In
the winter of 1876, the Stock Company dis-
posed of the property to William T. Dowdall,
of the Peoria Democrat. In March, IS? 7,
John Frank, the present proprietor, purchased
the paper from Mr. Dowdall, and issued his
first number on the nineteenth of that month.
Mr. Frank gave the paper a new dress, put in
new job material, and otherwise increased the
facilities of the office. As time rolled on, the
business grew and prospered, and he was com-
pelled from time to time to enlarge the paper.
The subscription-list is, at this time, five times
as large as it was when Mr. Frank took pos-
session. The paper is a large seven column
quarto, whose advertising columns are crowded
with advertisements from the best houses in
central Illinois. It is a live local sheet, and
ranks among the sterling Democratic papers
of the State. Mr. Frank has labored hard to
bring it up to its preser.t standard, and the
success that has attended his efforts, is no
more than he deserves.

The people of Virginia and the surround-
ing community, have two as able local
newspapers in the Enquirer and Gazette as
are to be found in any c. unty in the State.
They should feel proud of their city press,
and support it as it deserves to be supported.

Court Houses. — Virginia has twice been
the seat of justice of Cass County. The
county was organized in 1837, and Bjardstown
was made the seat of justice, but, as we learn
from Judge Shaw's Centennial address, failed
to comply with the act of the legislature re-
quiring the sum of ten thousand dollars to
be paid in to the county treasury for the erec-
tion of public buildings, and the County
Commissioners, under a provision of the act,
locat.'d the county seat at Virginia. The fol-
lowing act was passed by the legislature and
approved M.irch 2, 1S3'J:

Be it enacted by the People of the State of
Illinois, represented in the General Assembly,
That the county seat of Cass County shall bd
and remain at Virginia, and the courts of said
county shall hereafter be held at that place;
and the several county officers who are required
to keep their offices at the county seat, are re.
quired to remove their respective offices, and all
bonds, documents, books and papers pertain-
ing to the same to Virginia on or before the
first day of May next, and thereafter hold and
keep their offices at that place, etc., etc., etc.

Thus the county seat was moved to Vir-
ginia in an early period of the county's exist-
ence, and also in an early period of the exist-
ence of Virginia, which had been laid but a
year or two before. Fifteen acres of land were
donated by Dr. Hall, the proprietor of Vir-
ginia, for the purpose of erecting public build-
inrrs. A public square had been laid out, be-
ing that in th.i west end of the town, upon
which the public school building now stands.
Upon this square a court house was erected at
a cost of near ^-^jOOO. It was a two-story
brick, and served as a temple of justice until
the county seat was moved back to Bjards-
town in 1843—14. The vote was taken in
September of 1843, resulting in the '■'■perma-
nent location of the county seat at B^irds-
town," but which proved to be otherwise than
" permanent." It was not, however, until
the famous election in 1872, that the ques-
tion of the county seat was settled, perhaps,
forever, by again moving it, or re-locating it
at Virginia. There is little fear of its ever
being moved back to Beardstown, and, in-
deeil, looking at the matter from a disinter-
ested standpoint, we can really see no reason
why it should not rem lin where It now is. It
is near the geographical centre of the countv,
has two railroads crossing almost at riglit
angles, an excellent court house and jail, all
of which considered, will no doubt conspire tj
keep it at Virginia henceforth.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

• The present court house is a modern brick
structure, erected on the new public square
of Virginia, " Washington Fountain Square,"
in anticipation of the removal of the county
seat back here. It cost about $35,000, and
was built by the business men and citizens of
the town, and presented to the county for a
court house. The removal of the county
seat was, in a manner, caused by this liber-
ality of the citizens, as its removal involved
the county in no expense. The court house
is a substantial and elegant building, con-
taining the county offices, court room, jury
rooms, etc., and stands in the center of a
beautifully shaded square. But few counties
in the State have a better court house for the
money it cost, than the one that now decks
the public square of Virginia.

The jail building was erected in Virginia
in 1876, and is a substantial building, costing
about $15,000. It is a safe depository for
criminals and evil- doer.-, and is finished off in
the strongest manner possible. To it is at-
tached a sheriff or jailer's residence, which
is quite a comely building. The prison part
of the building is of stone, containing eight
cells ; the sheriff's residence is of brick, with
stone trimmings, which sets it off in handsome
style.

Virginia has never been troubled very se-
riously with fires. It is an axiom of military
law, that " in time of peace prepare for war,"
and no one can say just when some raischiev-
ious cow will take it into her head to kick
over a coal-oil lamp. There are many wooden
buildings in town that would burn like — ,
well, just like houses. For instance, if a fire
was to break out some day — windy day or
night, on the east side of the square, and get

five minutes the start, it would take some-
thing more than the little machine pointed
out to us the other day as Virginia's fire ap-
paratus, and which might be taken, at acaus-
ual glance, for a wheelbarrow or a delivery
hand cart, to extinguish it. A few public
wells or cisterns, and a good fire engine, may
sometime save the town from a destructive
conflagration.

It has ever been a custom of mankind to
care for the dead. Loving hands lay them
away to their last rest, with faces looking up-
ward and eastward; because, from the ele-
vated Orient, the Archangel will come to
summon them to judgment. In an early
period of Virginia's history, a cemetery was
laid out west of the town, upon land donated
by Dr. Hall; this was used until the laying
out of the present cemetery, when most of
the bodies were taken up and moved to the
new burial grounds. Walnut Ridge, the
present city cemetery, was surveyed and laid
out July b, 1873, and the plat made by J. S.
Lynch, county surveyor. The cemetery was
established under an act of the legislature,
authorizing cities and towns to buy, hold and
improve cemeteries as public property, under
restrictions adopted by city councils. Thus
Walnut Ridge Cemetery was purchased and
improved. It is a beautiful location for a
burying ground, and with plenty of time
and money spent upon its improvement, it
can be made a place of surpassing loveliness.
Already there are many beautiful lots laid
out with taste, and ornamented with flowers
and shrubbery, while neat stones and monu-
niLMits, rising here and there, symbolize the
affection of surviving friends for their loved
and lost ones.

HISTORY OF CASS COTINTY.

«7

CHAPTER X.

VIRGINIA— RELTCinuS HISTORY-FIRST CHURCHES AND PREACHERS— THE DIFFERENT

DENOMINATIONS AND THEIR TEMl'LES OF WORSHIP— SUNDAY SCHOOLS, ETC.—

EDUCATIONAL— THE EARLY SCHOOLS OF VIRGINIA— PIONEER TEACHERS—

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS— C. P. COLLEGE— WAR HISTORY— SECRET AND

BENEVOLENT INSTITQTIONS, ETC., ETC.

CHRISTIAN truth is the superstructure on
which every society which approximates
perfection, must rest. Said an old minister of
the (xospel : " It used to make my heart sick
in the early years of my ministry to dismiss
members of my charge to churches in distant
regions, and have brothers and sisters and
neighbors leave us for the new settlement in
the opening Territories. But as I have
grown older and followed these emigrants to
their new homes, and have found them far
more useful in church and State than they
ever could have been in the regions they have
left behind, where others held the places of
influence — as I have seen them giving a
healthy and vigorous tone to society, while
the separation causes a pang of sorrow, the
good accomplished more than compensates
for the pleasure lost." It was to such emi-
grants as those mentioned in the foregoing
extract, that Illinois is indebted, for the
Christian civilization she to-day enjoys. The
good seed brought hither by these humble
pioneers, have produced an hundred fold.

The first Church Society formed in Virginia
was by the Protestant Metho.lists. They
built a church edifice upon the site of Traph-
agan's horse barn, in the rear of Mrs. Free-
man's. It was a frame structure about 30x50
feet, and without any of the modern improve-
ments. . The Protestant Methodist organiza-
tion his been extinct in Virginia for a num-
ber of years.

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was
the ne.xt organized in Virginia. It was form-
ed of meml)ers principally from Shiloh church,
by Rev. Thomas Campbell, February 26,
1842. Among the original members were:
William Naylor, BMijamin Bjasley, William
Shilly, Harvey O'Neil, William Blair, David
Blair, Daniel Cornell, Louise O'Neil, Susan
Beasley, Melville Blair, Mary A. Cornell,
Margiiret Weaver, Mary A. Lindsley, Mary
Lorance, and Elizabeth Biddlecome. The
first elders were William Naylor, Benjamin
Beasley, and William Shilly. Their first
place of worship was the old court house,
which stood where the public school building
now stands. In 184:3, they built a frame
church on Job street, opposite Dr. Tates,
which would seat about 250 persons. The
new church, which stands in the eastern part
of the city, was built in the summer of 1879,
by J. F. Black, and cost about $4,600. It is
a handsome brick edifice of modern architec-
ture, and will seat some fifteen hundred peo-
ple. Rev. J. E. Roach is the present pastor,
and the membership is perhaps fifty. A Sun-
day school of some fifty or sixty children is
maintained, under the superintendence of
Mr. S. A. Gould.

The Church of Christ, of Virginia, was re-
organized in 1875 (of its previous history we
were unable to learn anything definite), by
electing C. W. Elder and .1. E. Turner as
church elders, and C. W. Black and J. B.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Black, deacons. These officers resigned in
1877, and C. W. Elder, J. F. Black, and
F. A. Wade were elected elders; C. W. Black,
I). D. Wilson, J. B. Black and T.J. Kemper,
deacons. M. Graves, Joseph F. Black, T. J.
Kemper and J. E. Turner were elected trus-
tees, John Wear holding over, making five
trustees. The church began holding Sunday
meetings in 1873, without electing officers,
elder C. W. Elder preaching occasionally un-
til the organization was perfected. He was
then employed by the -church, and preached
until 1878, when elder J. L. Richardson was
employed, remaining two years, when he re-
signed, and accepted a call to Europe. He
preached there one year, and then returned
and resumed his charge here in 1881, and is
now pastor of the church. During the time
Eider Richardson was in Europe, Elder
James McGuire was engaged as pastor. Up
to the fall of. 1879, services were held in the
old church building in the west end of the
town. The house was then torn down,
the material removed, and a new church
erected (in 1879) on the corner of Cass and
Beardstown streets, at a cost of about $4,000,
including furniture. It was dedicated by Ei-
der B. J. Radford, president of Eureka Col-
lege, in Woodford County. J. F. Black was
architect and builder of the new church edi-
fice, and displayed much taste in the design.
The church now has 143 members.

The Sunday school was organized contempo-
raneously with the re-orgauization of the
church, and has continued ever since. The
present superintendent is Charles Martin; Dr.
D. G. Smith, assistant, with an average at-
tendance of about 85 children.

The Ladies' Christian Missionary Society
of this church, was organized November 7,
1880, with eleven members, of whom Mrs. J.
A. McGuire was elected President; Mrs. James
Black, Vice-president; Mrs. Mattie Rummel,
Secretary, and Mrs. A. A. Leeper, Treasurer.

The contributions of the society for the first
year, were twenty-three dollars. Its present
officers are Mrs. Charles Black, President;
Mrs. James Black, Vice-president, and the
Secretary and Treasurer as above given. The
society is growing in strength and increasing
in usefulness. Its contributions will probably
reach near thirty dollars the present year.

The Catholics have had a partial organiza-
tion in Virsrinia since about 1840. For a
number of years mass was said in the houses
of catholic families, until something like or-
ganization was effected, when they used as a
church an old building which stood on the
south side of the square, in the west end, and
in which the present St. Luke's Catholic church
was fully organized. The present handsome
church was commenced in 1880, and is about
40x90 feet. When finished, its cost will be
near 810,000, and it is by far the most elegant
church edifice in the city. The painting and
frescoing is just finished, and reflects great
credit on Messrs. Peters & Son, the firm who
did it. Rev. Father Michael Ryan has been
pastor of St. Luke's church since 1876. About
45 families compose the present m mibership
of the church, and a Sunday school of about
50 children is regularly maintained.

The Methodist Episcopal Church ol Virginia
was organized about 1 836, as a pai t of the
Petersburg circuit, under the Presiding Elder-
ship of Rev. Peter Cartwright. Among the
first members were Rev. Levi Springer, a local
preacher, and his wife, P. S. Ough en and
wife, M. H. Baadles, G. W. Harris, ! nd his
wife and daughters, and others not now re-
membered. Rev. Enoch Faulkner was one
of the first pastors, and when this church was
a part of a circuit, large in extent. For some
time the society held its meetings in t. e old
Protestant Methodist Church, already fre-
quently alluded to in these pages, and after-
ward the court house in the West End was
used as a place of meeting. The pr. sent

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V>i>^^^

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

101

IVaino church, standing on Springfield street,
west of tiie court house — was erected in 1856,
at a cost of about $2,500. The membership
is now 120, and is under the pastorate of Rev.
Mr. Auer. The Sunday school has a regular
attendance of about 100 children; Mr. Henry
lierry is the superintendent, and devotes con-
siderable attention to its interests, and the
moral improvement of its members.

The Presbyterian Church of Virginia. —
The following sketch was furnished by Rev.
J. P. Dawson, the pastor : Although the
present house of worship was erected in
1857, and was occupied as a Dreaching sta-
tion, by stated supplies, there was no regular
Presbyterian organization until the year 1803.

On the 12th day of June, 1863, the follow-
ing petition was sent to the Presbytery of San-
gamon. ^'' Dear Brethren: — We, your petition-
ers, members of Providence Church, and
others, respectfully ask you to organize us in-
to a separate church, to be called the 'Presby-
terian Church of Virginia, Illinois,' under your
care and supervision, if in your judgment
the same should be for the interest of Christ's
cause." (Signed) G. W. Goodspeed, Sarah
vV. Goodspeed, Alice H. Goodspeed, I. N.
White, George Wilson, Jane B. Wilson, Be-
linda M. Wilson, John N. Wilson, R. M. Wil-
son, Wlliam C. Wilson, Rev. J. Dale, N. S.
Dale, Eliza J. Dale, G. Clendenin, Helen Clen-
denin, Mary H. Stowe, Mary McCawly,
Mary E. Haynes, Eliza C. Heslep, D. R.
Downing, Mary Downing, N. H. Downing,
A. G. Angier, Eliza A. Angier, Robert Barr,
Jane Barr, Hattie Angier, Grace Suffren,
Mildred Berry, .lohn .1. Bergen, S. S. Bergen,
James McAllister, William McAllister, Eliza
McAllister, Charles Sloan, and Mary A. Sloan.

In compliance with this petition, the Rev.
J. G. Bergen, D. D., as commissioner of San-
gamon Presbytery, preached at Virginia, on
the 4th day of July, 1803, and afterward pro-
ceeded to organize the " Presbyterian Church

of Virginia." George Wilson, Dr. G. W.
Goodspeed and David R. Downing, were
elected and installed as elders, and Glasgow
Clendenin, J. N. Wilson, J. J. Bergen and
A. G. Angier, were ordained deacons.

The organization of the church was largely
due to the efforts of Rev. .lohn Dale, who as
stated supply of Providence Presbyterian
Church, had preached at this point for several
years. After the organization the church em-
ployed Rev. George K. Scott as stated supply,
who labored acceptably for nearly two years.
After he was called to another field, a young
licentiate named David J. Strain, labored here
until April, 1805. The people were well
pleased, and through the Presbytery extended
to him a regular call to become their pastor,
which call was accepted, and on the 20th of
June, 1805, the Presbytery of Sangamon met
in Virginia, and ordained Mr. Strain to the
gospel ministry, and installed him as pastor of
this church. The blessing of God followed,
and he remained the faithful and efficient
shepherd of this flock for more than fourteen
years. But on account of failing health he
was led to resign the charge, and the pastoral
relation was dissolved in July, 1880. In Oc-
tober of the same year the church, employed
Rev. J. P. Dawson as stated supply, and at
the end of the year extended to him a regular
call, which was by him accepted, and he was
duly installed as pastor of the church by a
commission of Springfield Presl)ytery, on the
23d day of October, ] 881, and he is now (1882)
the pastor of the church.

The church is united and prosperous ; has
a comfortable house of worship and parsonage;
has about 120 members, and a Sabbath school
of about 100 members.

Educational. — Through the medium of the
common schools are the rising generation of
all nationalities assimilated readily and thor-
oughly, forming the great American people.
The common shools are alike open to the rich

102

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

and the poor, the citizen and the stranger. It
is the duty of those to whom the administra-
tion of the schools is confided, to discharge
it with magnanimous liberality and Christian
kindness. Diligent care should be taken by
instructors, to impress upon the minds of
children and youth committed to their care,
the principles of morality and justice, and a sa-
cred regard for truth, love of their country,
humanity and universal benevolence, sobriety,
industry and frugality, chastity, moderation
and temperance, and all other virtues which
ornament society.

The early residents of Virginia were alive
to the value of education, and opened schools
as soon as they could support tiiem. The
first school of which we have any reliable ac-
count, was taught in the second story or attic
of the old Protestant Methodist church, al-
ready described. It had been fitted up for a
school room, by lathing and plastering to the
rafters, making a room about l-txoO feet, and
in this unique building the youth of the early
town learned the first rudiments of an educa-
tion. The first teachers were Miss x\nn Jour-
dan, a Protestant Methodist preacher, a Miss
Williams, Mrs. Blackman Ross, now of Jack-
sonville, Miss Mary Ann Lindsley, now Mrs.
John Ruckley, of Philadelphia, and others
whose names are forgotten. The first school-
building owned by the city was the old court
house, which was purchased by the county for
school purposes after the county seat had been
moved back to Beardstown, and was occupied
as such about 1846. It was used until 1867,
when it was torn down and re-built, and has
since served the city, until the purchase of
the old Cumberland Presbyterian College
building, now used by the city for a high-
school department, and which will be again
referred to further on. The city schools are
in a flourishing condition, and compare favor-
ably with any other town in this section of
the State of a like popidation.

The High School was organized by Prof.
Loomis, the present principal of the city
schools, though he has not been principal
ever since. Several who have filled the posi-
tion have become somewhat distinguished
men. Prof. J. A. Johnson, one of these ex-
principals, is now a practicing lawyer at Oak-
land, Oregon. Another, Prof. R. H. B !ggs,
is the present Superintendent of the schools
at Denver, Colorado. We are unable, how-
ever, to sketch each and every one of them,
and tell whether they rank as great or small,
among the men of the time.

The teachers for the ensuing year are as
follows, viz.: Prof. John Loomis, Principal ;
Miss Lucy B. Duer, Assistant Principal ;
Miss Rachel Berry, teacher 6 th, grade ; Geo.
J. Kelley, 5th grade ; Miss Monie Tate, 4th
grade ; Miss Belle Rodgers, 3rd grade ; Miss
Mary Billings, 2nd grade ; Miss Mary E.
Wright, 1st grade ; attendance about 350
pujiils. Springer School, Edward Missie,
teacher ; about 15 in attendance.

Union College. — The history of this insti-
tution is brief, and its career was shcjrt and
unprofitable as a school. When tJie Sanga-
mon Presbytery of the Cumberland Pres-
byterian Church, concluded to build a
Seminary, three difl'eriuit p'aces were des-
ignated as the point where the school should
be located, and the choice was to fall to the
most liberal bidder. In other words, the
town, which would extend the most liberal
contribution toward building the Seminary,
was to become the place of its location. This
led to the erection of three buildings at as
many different points, viz.: at Virginia, Cass
County ; at Mt. Zion, Macon County, and at
Lincoln, Logan County. The school at Mt.
Zion died an early but natural death, soon
passing out of existence.

The school, in the meantime, which had
been established at Virginia, was changed
into the Union College, but never prospered

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

liK!

to any extent. It became involved in debt
and was finally sold to the city of Virgii'.ia,
and is now known as the City High School
Building. The school at Lincoln flourished
in proportion to the decline of the others. It
became a college, then a university, and is
now known as Lincoln University. The
Virginia school was run under denomina-
tional rule from its commencement, about
1865. It was sold to the city about 1870, for
$7,500, and the proceeds used to strengthen
the Lincoln school, which is still owned by
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

War History. — In a work of this kind, it is
not intended to write a history of the late
civil war, but to allude very briefly to the
part Virginia took in the matter. A war of
any sort, from a " war of words" to bloody
battles between contending armies, is but a
sickly detail of horrors, and a civil war is the
most deplorable of all. It would be well if
we could drop a veil over our late war be-
tween the States, and blot out the remem-
brance of it forever. It is a species of history
better forgotten than perpetuated.

The Nineteenth Illinois Infantry was the
first regiment that drew anything like a com-
pany from Virginia and vicinity. Company
F was from this place, and was officered as
follows; Luther S. Allard, Captain; K. H.
Chandler, First Lieutenant; and James G.
Campbell, Second Lieutenant. Captain Al-
lard resigned December 1, 18G1, and Lieu-
tenant Chandler was promoted to Captain,
and afterward killed in buttle, when Lieu-
tenant Campbell became Captain, who re-
mained as such until the expiration of the
regiment's term of service. Upon the pro-
motion of Lieutenant Campbell, Samuel L.
Himilton was promoted to Second Lieuten-
ant, and then to First Lieutenant, and mus-
tered out with the regiment. John Hill was
promoted Second Lieutenant, January 2,
1863, and resigned (says the Adjutant-gen-

eral's Report), " for the good of the service."
The same authority makes the same report of
Silas W. Kent, who was promoted Second
Lieutenant on the 3rd of June, 1803.

Of the service of the Nineteenth, the Ad-
jutant-gonerars report gives no record, fur-
ther, than that it was mustered out of the
service at the close of its three years term of
service.

The Thirty-third Illinois Infantry was the
ne.xt regiment in which Virginia was repre-
sented. In the Thirty-third almost an entire
company was enlisted from Virginia and the
immediate vicinity. Company K was the
Virginia company, and Charles E. Lippincott
was its Captain. None of the other commis-
sioned officers, however, were from Cass
County, except Second Lieutenant William
H. Weaver, who was from Beardstown.
Lieutenant Weaver resigned March 22, 1862,
came home and raised a company for the 100
days' service, of which company he was Cap-
tain. Capt. Lippincott was promoted to
Lieutenant-colonel, March 1, 1863, and to
Colonel on the 5th of September following,
he was mustered out of the service with the
regiment, and was promoted Brigadier-gen-
eral for gallant and meritorious services. We
have not space to give the names of the entire
company, but from the Adjutant-general's
report will give a synopsis of the history of
the Thirty-third, of which Company K formed
a part.

The Thirty-third Infantry was organized at
Camp Butler, Illinois, in September, 1861, and
mustered into the United States service by
Capt. T. G. Pitcher, U. S. A. Its first service
was in Missouri, where it did little but scout
duty, until March, 1862, when it moved into
Arkansas, and was engaged in a number of
skirmishes, and several rather severe battles.
It remained in Arkansas until in the spring
of 1863, when it was ordered to St. Genevieve,
Mo., from whence it embarked for Milliken's

104

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Bend, La. Attached to the 'I'hirtepiith Army
Corps, it participated in all its battles — Port
Gibson, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge,
siege of Vicksburg, siege of Jackson, etc. In
August it was ordered to New Orleans, where
it was engaged in several raids and expedi-
tions, and in November was ordered into
Texas, where it did considerable manoeuvering,
if nothing more serious. The regiment re-en-
listed in the spring of 18G4, and on the 14th
of March arrived at Blooming ton. 111., where
they received veteran furlough. It was re-
organized in April, 18ii4, at Camp Butler, and
proceeded to New Orleans. It remained in
Louisiana on guard duty at dilferent points,
and in March, 1865, was ordered to join the
Sixteenth Army Corps. On its way the train
was thrown from the track, and 9 men killed
and 70 wounded. Company K had fortunately
remained behind, guarding transportation,
and escaped the catastrophe. After the cap-
ture of Mobile the regiment moved to Mont-
gomery, Ala., where it arrived on the 25th of
April, and where it received the news of Lee's
surrender. It was mustered out of the service
November 34, 1865, at Vicksburg, and was
sent home to Camp Butler for final dischare,
after more than four years continual service.

The One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois
Infantry contained two companies from Cass
County, one from Virginia and one from
Beardstown; the latter company will be writ-
ten up in the chapters devoted to Beardstown.
Company ]). was Irom Virginia, and was or-
ganized with the following commissioned of-
ficers: Benj. C. Berry, Captain, Thos. S.
Berry, First Lieutenant, and David N. Down-
ing, Second Lieutenant. Capt. Berry resigned
January 3 ', 1865, and George H. Martin was
promoted Captain June 26, 1865, but mustered
out as Sergeant August 3, 1865. Lieutenant
Thomas S. Berry was honorably discharged
May 15, 1865, and Henry D. Freeman was
promoted June 3ti, 18 35, to First I^ieutenant,

but mustered out as Sergeant with the regi-
ment. Second Lieutenant Downing died at
Duckport, La., May 22, 1863. The following
facts are gleaned from the Adjutant-gen-
eral's reports of the movements of the regi-
ment to which this company belonged.

Tiie One Hundred and Fourteenth was re-
cruited during the summer of 1862, and mus-
tered into service on the 18th of Sep-
tember at Camp Butler, Illinois. The regi-
ment left for Memphis, Tenn., on the 8th of
November, arriving on the 26th, and starting
at once on the Tallahatchie campaign. Early
in I860 it returned to Memphis. It was or-
dered to Louisana, and on the 2nd of May
returned to the rear of Vicksbnrg, and was
engaged in the battle of Jackson, Miss.,
where it lost five men, killed and wounded,
and arrived in the rear of Vicksburg on the
18th, participating in the siege, with a loss of
twenty in killed and wounded. It did little
but scout and guard duty until in .lune, 18'i4,
when it went against Generals Forrest and
Lee at GunJ;owu, Miss. The battle at this place
commenced early in the afternoon, and the
troops, worn down and exhausted by a double
quick march of three miles, were hurried into
action, and after fighting five or six hours,
were repulsed. The 114th reiuained as rear
guards, and assisted in holding the enemy in
check during the whole of the first night's
retreat. Out of the 397 men of the 114 th
engaged, it lost 205 in killed, wounded and
missing. Among the wounded was Lieuten-
ant T. S. Berry, of Company D.

The regiment, from this time until August,
was engaged in numerous scouts and expedi-
tions, and had many skirmishes with detach-
ments of the enemy, in which it did consider-
able severe fighting. In August, 1864, it
was ordered to Duvall's Bluff, Ark. It left
Brownsville, Ark., in pursuit of Gen. Price,
and marched to Cape Girardeau, Mo., in sev-
enteen days on ten days' rations. After long

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

105

and tedious marches, and travel by rail and
boat, it reached Kansas City, whence it was
ordered to St. Louis, arriving there Novem-
ber 15. From St. Louis it was ordered to
Nashville, Tenn., where it arrived in time to
take part in the battles of the loth and IGth
of December. The One Hundred and Four-
teenth was attached to McMillan's brigade,
McArthur's division of Gen. A. J. Smith's
corps, which brigade was especially coinpli-
niented by Gen. Thomas in his report to the
War Department. After the surrender of
Mobile, the regiment marched to Montgom-
ery, Ala., arriving April 24, 1865, and bridging
the Alabama river with pontoons, remained
on duty at the bridge until July 17, when it
was ordered to Vieksburg, and mustered out
of service August 3, 18G5. It arrived at
Camp Butler, Illinois, on the 7th of August,
and on the 15th was paid off and discharged.
These regiments are all that contained any-
thing like an organized body of men from
Virginia. A number of men from the city
and vicinity, were scattered through various
other regiments, but none in organized
bodies. From the foregoing sketch of the
33d and the 114th, it will be seen that Vir-
ginia's gallant sons performed their duty
nobly, during those four long and dreary
years, and that some of them came not back
when the contest ended. From bloody fields
of war and carnage, they crossed over the
river to join the grand army on the other side.
Thev need no mausoleum ! Their fame is a
part of the nation's history; their epitaph is
engraved upon the hearts of men. In the
language of the gallant O'Hara :

" The muffled drum's sad roll has beat

The soldier's last tatoo ;
No more on life's parade shall meet

The brave and fallen few.
On Fame's eternal camping-ground,

Their silent tents are spread ;
And glory guards with solemn round

The bivouac of the dead."

Secret and Benevolent Institutions. — Be-
nevolent institutions have existed so long,
that no records tell of their organization,
and they will, doubtless, continue, "until
time shall be no more." The history of Free
Masonry is veiled and clouded by almost un-
written centuries ; yet amidst the political
fluctuations of the earth, and the downfall of
States and Empires, its traditions have been
borne to us on the current of time, and been
gathered together by the Masonic student for
the meditation and instruction of the Craft.
All who have considered the origin of Free
Masonry have been convinced that the germ
from which it sprang was coeval with that
wonderful command of Jehovah: "Let there
be light," and from the coincidences found to
exist between it and the ancient mysteries,
they were very similar in character. We know
that the aims of these institutions are good,
because the results achieved are so grand and
glorious. We believe that the world is better
for their existence, secret though they are in
their workings, and agree not with those who
believe that everything is evil which is veiled
in secrecy, and hidden from the eyes of tlie
curious.

Free Masonry is represented in Virginia by
the Blue Lodge only. The institution, it
seems, has never flourished very vigorously
here — the more 's the pity. Like the seed that
fell in stony ground, it has probably been
choked by the briars and brambles. Virginia
Lodge No. 544, was organized under dispen-
sation, April 2, A. L. 5867, and was chartered
October 1 following. The charter members
were G. F. Hellig, W. A. Harding, L. P. K.
Yaple, Casper Magel, F. Underwood, H. H.
Hall, James Smith, James M. Rodney, William
Cox, L. S. Allard, Lee Carpenter and H. Bar-
den. The first Master was G. F. Hellig ; the
first Senior Warden, William A. Harding ;
and the first Junior Warden, L. P. R. Yaple.
The lodge now has some thirty members, and

106

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

is officered as follows: G. F. Hellig, Wor-
shipful Master; D. G. Smith, Senior Warden;
A. A. Leeper, Junior Warden; Thomas Dun-
naway, Treasurer; T. M. Hubbard, Secretary;
George Davidson, Senior Deacon ; Parker
Thompson, Junior Deacon; and Robert Chet-
tick, Tiler.

There has never been a Chapter, Council
nor Commandery of the order in the town,
and, as we remarked above, the institution,
from some cause, has never flourished here as
in the majority of Illinois towns. With the
amount of first-class material at hand, how-
ever, the time will come, perhaps, when it
■will flourish here as it deserves to flourish
everywhere.

Odd Fellowship, the twin-sister of Free
Masonry, though comparatively modern in
organization, possesses the same virtues, and
exerts the same wide-spread influence for
good. It is represented in Virginia by Saxon
Lodge No. 68, which was instituted in Virginia
by Deputy Grand Master James Leonard,
March 14, 1850, with P. O. Bryan, N. B. New-
man, R. S. Lord, I. N. White, Charles Boyd,
W. H. H. Carpenter, and William Collins
charter members. The first officers were:
R. S. Lord, N. G.; W. H. H. Carpenter, V.
G.; I. N. White, Secretary; and N. B. New-
man, Treasurer. Charles E. Lippincott (now
General Lippincott), was the first member
admitted into the new lodge. He was a mem-
ber of mini Lodge No. 4, at Jacksonville,
and as soon as Saxon Lodge was instituted,
took out his card of withdrawal, presented it
for admission to this lodge, and was elected a
member. H. H. Hall, now of Jacksonville,
was the first initiate, being elected and in-
itiated at the first meeting.

The first hall or place of meeting used by
the lodge, was in a church that stood near
where Traphagan's livery stable now stands,
and was burned in 1872. This building was
used for town hall political meetings, school

house, and preaching place for all religions
denominations, and was not the most secret
and retired room for the meetinsrs of a lodg-e.
It was used however, for four years, and in
1854, the lodge moved to the upper room of
the frame building on the southwest corner of
the square, now occupied by D. J. McCon-
nell as a grocerv store. After remaining here
two years, it was moved to the West End, where
most of the business of the town was then
done, and occupied the brick building now
used by Harry Thompson as a residence. In
1860, it bought the property now owned by
J. G. Campbell, and occupied by the Dan
Leonard saloon, on the west side of the square.
It used the upper story for a lodge room, and
rented the lower story until 1864, when, owing
to the rapid increase of membership, which
had reached fifty-four, it became necessary to
again move to larger quarters, and the prop-
erty was sold to Mr. Campbell, and the lodge
rented the room over the Farmers' National
Bank, which gave it very commodious quart-
ers. With the proceeds of the sale of its old
building, it bought the lot on the north side
of the square, on which it afterward built a
hall. It bought also at the same time the lot
adjoining it on the east. The lodge remain-
ed, however, in the room in the bank build-
ing until 1873, during which time it had ac-
cumulated something over $1,300. It now
determined to build on its ovpn lots, and ac-
cordingly contracted for a brick building
20x80 feet, two stories high, to cost about
$5,000, and with its $1,300 issued bonds to
the amount of $3,700, which were sold, and
in the fall of the same year the building was
completed. The lower room was occupied by
John Rodgers' furniture store, and the upper
room was occupied jointly by the Odd Fel-
lows' and Masonic Lodges. The crisis of
1873-74 caused many of its members to drop
out of the lodge, and the debt under which
the lodge was laboring so embarrassed it.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

107

that in 1881, after struggling long and hard
against many difficulties, it succeeded in re-
ducing its debt to $3,600, had $175 in the
treasury, and but twenty-two members on the
roll. Under this state of circumstances it
proposed to the bond-holders to give theia
the $175, and a deed to the property, to be
released from all further obligation, which
was accepted. The lodge then rented the
upper room for one year, and at the close of
1881, rented the suit of rooms now occupied
in the Skiles building, on the southwest cor-
ner of the square, and moved into them in
January, 1883. Here it has one of the best
arranged halls in Central Illinois, and at the
present time (1883), has a membership of
over ninety, comprised of the best men in the
county.

The present officers of Saxon Lodge are as
follows : Henry H. Berry, N. G., Geo. L.
Warlow, V. G., Geo. J. Kelly, Recording
Secretary; George R. Berry, Permanent Secre-
tary, and MattYaple, Treasurer.

Advance Encampment No. 139, was insti-
tuted November 39, 1871, at Paxton, Ford
County, 111., and the charter members were
Stacey Daniels, A. F. Blake, Charles Guth-
man, Dan. Guthman and H. C. Funk. The
original charter was destroyed and a new one
issued by T. Warren Floyd, Grand Patriarch,
October 13, 1874. The Encampment was re-
moved to Virginia, and re-organized under
a dispensation June 23, 1880, from W. E.
Carlin, Grand Patriarch. The first officers at
Virginia were S. M. Colladay, C. P., F. E.

Downing, H. P., A. A. Leeper, S. W., S. P.
Henderson, J. W., C. W. Black, Scribe, and
J. W. Wilson, Treasurer. The present officers
are: E. D. C. Woodward, C. P., Jas. A. Mar-
tin, H. P., H. H. Berry, S. W., S. M. Colladay,
J. W., J. W. Stanley, Treasurer, and F. E.
Downing, Scribe. The Encampment has
now about thirty members, and is in a flour-
ishing condition. It owns no property, but
uses the hall in common with the lodffe.

mini Lodge No. 854, Knights of Honor,
was organized January 16, 1878, with the
following charter members: J. B. Black, C
W. Black, W. W. Bishop, C. A. Bruce, John
Black, J. T. Black, George Conover, C. A.
Crandall, F. E. Downing, J. M. Epler, W. W.
Easley, H. D. Freeman, M. Graves, James
Hunt, C. M. Hubbard, Reuben Lancaster,
Wm. Murray, T. L. Matthews, T. A. Morrison,
E. T. Oliver, W. B. Payne, J. L. Richardson,
J. W. Rearick, J. W. Savage, C. N. Savage,
J. H. Tureman, J. W. Virgin, N. S. Vance,
Jno. H. Wood, W. W. Walker, D. T. Walk-
er, D. N. Walker and J. B. Vanderventer.
They have paid out for widows and orphans'
benefit fund about $3,000, and have lost two
members. The oflBcers are T. L. Matthews,
P. D., M. Graves, D., C. W. Black, V. D.,
J. W. Savage, A. D., W. W. Easley, G., J.
L. Richardson, C, Wm. Murray, R., C. A.
Bruce, F. R., George Conover, T., W. W.
Bishop, G., W. W. Walker, Sentinel, J. B.
Black, J. H. Wood and D. N. Walker,
Trustees.

108

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTEE XL*

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT— LAYING OUT OF THE TOWN— ITS LOCATION— OR-
GANIZATION— FIRST OFFICERS— THE COUNTY SEAT QUESTION-CHURCHES—
SCHOOLS— THE PRESS— RAILROADS— THE PROFESSIONS— EARLY SET-
TLERS— BUSINESS INTERESTS- WAR RECORD, E'IC.

THOMAS BEARD and Enoch C. March
entered the northeast quarter of Section
15, in Township 18, North of Range 12 West,
on Sept. 23, 182G, and Oct. 8, 1827; the same
parties entered the northwest quarter of said
section. Thomas Beard entered the west
half of the southwest quarter of the afore-
said section on Oct. 10, 1827, and March and
Beard also on the same date entered fraction-
al section 10 in said Township, embracing ail
the lands upon which Beardstown is now lo-
cated, except the southeast quarter of section
15, and the west half of section 14, which
two last mentioned tracts were donated by
Congress, in lieu of the deficiency of section
16 for school purposes. The School Commis-
sioner of Morgan county divided this land
into 173 blocks and fractional blocks, which
was designated as the School Commissioners'
addition to Beardstown, and the first sale or
blocks in said addition was on April 16, 1832,
when seventy-five blocks were sold therein,
and the remaining blocks were subject to pri-
vate entry at affixed prices.

The original town of Beardstown was laid
off and platted by Enoch C. March and Thom-
as Beard, Sept. 9, 1829, and recorded at Jack-
sonville, Morgan County, in Book B, page
228.

The town having grown rapidly, an addi-
tion was made, called " March & Beard's" ad-
dition to Beardstown, recorded March 6, 1833.
Soon afterward, Mr. March, having sold his

* By Judge J. A. Arenz.

interest in Beardstown to N. A. Ware, an-
other addition was made by Beard & Ware
May 10, 1836, and also a further addition was
made by Beard & Arenz, July 1, 1837.

There were also additions made to Beards-
town by John Ayres, David Clendenin, A. B
Dennison, and many school blocks have been
subdivided into lots.

The location of Beardstown is a very favor-
able one, being situated on the Illinois River,
about midway between Peoria and St. Louis.
It is connected directly with St. Louis and
Chicago, by the Chicago, Burlington and
Quincy Railroad, and with Springfield and
Southwestern Illinois to the Ohio River at
Shawneetown, by the Ohio & Mississippi
Railway. Another railway from Burlington
to the Ohio River is contemplated, running
through Beardstown, which in all probability
■will soon be built.

For purposes of manufacturing, Beardstown
is not surpassed by any town in Illinois, pos-
sessing all facilities; for there is plenty of
water at all times, and coal, timber and other
building materials can be obtained in its im-
mediate neighborhood.

The first licensed ferry across the Illinois
River was granted by the County Commis-
sioners of Schuyler County, to Thomas Beard
June 5, 1826.

The first organization of the town govern-
ment of Beardstown, was by the election of a
Board of Trustees in September, 1834. Hay-
wood Reed was elected President of the
I Board; John B. Fulks, Clerk; Edward Tull,

HISTOUY OF CASS COUNTY.

109

Assessor; Martin S. Trent, Collector; Isaac
C. Spence, Treasurer; William H. Nelms,
Supervisor.

The first set of ordinances were passed
Sept. 22, 1834.

This town government continued from year
to year, by the election of new oiBcers, until
Feb. 4, 1850, when a city organization was
established.

"By an act of the General Assembly of
March 3, 1837, declaring the County of Cass
to be one of the counties of the State of Illi-
nois, Beardstown, the largest town in Cass
County, and having the most numerous popu-
lation in said town and immediate vicinity,
was designated to be the county seat, pro-
vided the citizens or corporation of Beards-
town raise the sum of $10,000, to defray the
expenses of erecting public buildings, and
that the Corporation of Beardstown shall be
allowed the period of one, two and three years,
for the payment of said sura, in three equal
payments. The court house shall be erected
on the public square of Beardstown."

At that time it was not a very easy matter
to raise $10,000 at short notice, and the
hand}' mode of running a town in debt by the
issuing of bonds had not then been discovered.
There was also a great diversity of opinion
among the people of Beardstown ; some would
much rather pay nothing, alleging that the
county ought to pay for its own buildings;
others objected to erecting the buildings on
the public square; and others, although wil-
ling to furnish their proportion of the funds
required, were unwilling to foot the bill
alone.

Therefore, in order to raise the amount re-
(juired upon equal terms, an act of the legis-
lature was obtained July 21, 1837, authoriz-
ing the corporation to levy a tax of six per
cent, per annum on all real estate in Beards-
town, according to the value thereof, for the
purpose of raising the sum of $10,000.

But the County Commissioners, then in
office, Amos Boiiney, Joshua P. Crow, and
Geo. F. Miller, were determined to locate the
county seat at Virginia.

February 24, 1838, the board of trustees at
Beardstown appointed a committee to inform
the County Commissioners that Beardstown
will comply with the requirements of the law,
establishing the county seat at Beardstown.
This committee consisted of Thomas Graham,
Edward Tull and Thomas R. Saunders, and
having brought the matter by the County Com-
missioners, reported to the town trustees that
they had presented the matter to said County
Commissioners' Court, while in session, and
Mr. Bonney, the presiding officer of said court,
had treated the same with contempt.

In March, 1838, another eifort was made
by the board of trustees to satisfy the Com-
missioners' Court, if possible, by informing
said court that Ben. H. Gatton had made
proposals for building the court house and
other public buildings at Beardstown, to
which the following answer was returned by
order of said court:

"To Thomas Wilbourn, President of the
" Board of Trustees, Beardstown.

"I am directed by the County Commis-
" sioners' Court to inform j'ou that they have
"considered the propositions submitted to
" them from B. H. Gatton through your
" board, and regret that they do not feel
"themselves authorized by law to acceed to

"it.

" Signed, J. W. Pkatt, Clerk."

The County Commissioners had entered
into an agreement with H. H. Hall, a resi-
dent and large property holder of Virginia,
on the 21st of April, 1838, for erecting a
court house and jail, at Virginia; and said
Hall reported at the September term, 1839,
that said buildings were completed ; where-
upon the commissioners accepted the same,
and notice was given at said Septemijer term,

11L>

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

1839, to the county officers, that their offices
were ready for use in the court house at Vir-
ginia.

The manner, in -which the county seat of
Cass was thus located was by no means satis-
factory to the citizens of Beardstown, and the
western portion of the county, and it is to be
regretted, that out of this proceeding, arbi-
trarily and highhanded, as some called it,
and a desire that Beardstown again wished
to obtain, what Virginia then had got, grew
up that unfriendly feeling between these two
places, which existed, and still exists, to the
detriment of both.

That the county seat has never been any
material benefit to either place, has been
demonstrated, for each town has had it long
enough to prove this. The only benefit in
reality is the convenience of access to the
records, offices and courts. The strife for
county seat, between the two rival places,
has cost the people immense sums of money,
caused much hard feeling, and prevented
or ruined many a useful enterprise.

The next election about the county seat
resulted in favor of Beardstown, and at the
March term of the County Commissioners'
Court, H. E. Dummer, Esq., on behalf of the
corporation of Beardstown, presented before
said court, a deed from Thomas R. Saunders,
to the County of Cass, for Lot 1, in Block 31,
in Beardstown ; also a receipt from B. W.
Schneider, contractor for building the court-
liouse at Beardstown, and a receipt from
Thomas Beard, contractor for the erection of
a jail, and also the certificate of the suffi-
ciency of said buildings from the Hon. Sam-
uel D. Lockwood, presiding judge of the
Cass Circuit Court; all of which papers were
ordered to be filed. Upon which the Court
adjourned, to meet at Beardstown, on Mon-
day, March 3d, 1845. Beardstown remained
in possession of the county seat until 1875,
when it was removed to Virginia, after the

election in 1873 had been contested and car-
ried tiirough the courts, resulting finallj' in a
decision that said election had been in favor
of Virginia by a majority of eight votes.

Beardstown adopted a city organization on
February 4, 1850, when the following persons
had been elected as officers:

John A. Arenz, mayor ; Eli S. Houghton,
marshal.

Aldermen of the 1st ward — Thomas Eyre
and Jesse Riggins; 2nd ward, James Hope
and Joseph Stehlin; 3rd ward, George
Gucnther and Jacob Ritcher.

S. Emmons was appointed city clerk, and
T. A. Hoffman, treasurer.

The present officers in 1883 are:

J. J . Beatty, mayor.

Aldermen of the 1st ward — H. C. Meyer
and S. O. Buck; 2nd ward, B. F. Epler and
H. B. Wilson; 3rd ward, H. Schmoldt and
Henry Huge; 4th ward, George F. Frauman
and H. Schroeder.

Charles E. Fulks, clerk; Franklin A. Ham-
mer, treasurer; J. G. Liston, marshal.

Churches. — The first church was erected
in 1S41 or 1843, at the corner of Fifth and
Washington Streets, and designated as, "the
German Evangelical Church at Beardstown."
Mr. Beard and wife executed an amended
deed for the lot of ground, upon which it had
been built in June, 1842.

Mr. George Kuhl, Christian Kuhl and Wil-
liam Hemminghouse, were elected trustees of
said church, to hold their offices until suc-
cessors should be elected and qualified. The
church was open to all denominations, and
independently of synods, bishops or confer-
ences. For some years it proved to be a very
useful institution, filled to its full capacity on
Sundays for worship, and for school purposes
on other days of the week. After the expira-
tion of several years, some of the most ortho-
dox members came to the conclusion that, in
addition to services on Sundays, there should

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Ill

also be held prayer- meetings and religious
exercises on certain evenings during the
other days of the week. In this movement
Mr. Hemminghouse and Mr. Geo. Kuhl were
the leaders, and for a considerable time such
meetings were held in the town school-house,
or in a building on Main Street, belonging to
Geo. Kuhl, and resulted finally in the organ-
ization of the German Methodist Church,
about the year 1845.

Although the German Evangelical Church
continued on for several years, it decreased
in members, because other religious societies
had been established, erecting places of wor-
ship of their own until finally it was dissolved
as a church organization, and the building
was sold in 1881, to Mr. H. T. Foster, who
constructed it into a dwelling house, which
he now occupies as a family residence.

The second church in Beardstown was
erected at the corner of Third and Washing-
ton Streets, in 1845, as a Presbyterian Church,
but in February, 1850, the Congregational
form of government was adopted, and it be-
came, " the first Congregational Church at
Beardstown."

Horace Billings and Dr. V. A. Turpin were
the first deacons. Mr. Billings continued to
hold office until his removal to Jacksonville
in 1867. The Rev. Socrates Smith was the
first minister of the church, and Dr. B. F.
Grey is pastor now.

The Methodist Church was organized in
Beardstown at an early day, supposed to be
in the year 1837 or 1838, and a church was
built on the corner of Fifth and State Streets
in 1848, and an addition in 1874.

Rev. J. K. Miller is the present pastor. In
the year 1846, the German Methodists erected
a building for worship on State street, which
was also used for school purposes. In 1848,
when William Bauermeister was pastor, a
dilTerence arose between the members about
some question of belief, or government, of the

nature of which we are not informed, and a
division occurred, Mr. Bauermeister and
thirty-two members withdrawing from the
church and forming the Evangelical Lutheran
Church.

In 1851, the German Methodists built their
church at the corner of Fifth and State
streets, and the old building was converted
into a dwelling for the pastor.

The first pastor of the church was Peter
Wilkens, and the present one is John Ritter.

The members who had withdrawn from the
German Methodist Church with William
Bauermeister organized as " the First Evan-
gelical Lutheran Church at Beardstown," with
William Bauermeister as pastor, and in 184S
erected a building used as church and school-
house, and shortly afterward erected a church
at the corner of 4th and Lafayette streets, in
1850. This church has a fine organ, and is
well fitted out. Rev. William Bauermeister
was its pastor from May 22, 1848, until Oc-
tober, 1850. The present pastor is Rev. John
Bond.

The church increased rapidly in members,
and in 1871, when Rev. Robert Knoll was its
pastor, dissention arose between the members,
an'd the result was that the pastor with his
adherents withdrew, and established another
Evangelical Lutheran Church on 6th street.
This later church claims the same name as tho
former ; the one on 4th street adhered to the
synod of Illinois, and is now connected
with the general synod, whilst the church on
6th street is under the Missouri synod.

The first pastor of the 6th street church
was Rev. Robert Knoll, and his successor is
Paul Merbitz.

In 1871 the church on 6th street built a
house, which was used for a place of worship
and school purposes, and in 1873 erected a
very neat church at the corner of 6th and
Jefferson streets. This church contains a fine
organ, and the windows are of stained glass.

112

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

The erection of this church shows what can
be acoompHshcd by determined ]3eople. Al-
though the number of members was small at
first, they nevertheless put up buildings cost-
ing over $8,000, without calling for any aid
outside of its own members. Both the Lu-
theran Churches are in a very flourishing con-
dition. The services on Sundays are well
attended, and each congregation keeps up a
school, with a teacher.

The Catholic Church was built in 1855, on
5th street, and was considerably enlarged in
1860. Its present pastor is Rev. Father Weig-
and.

Schools. — The first school-house was built
by Thomas Beard and F. Arenz, in 1833,
which was also used as a place of worship oii
Sundays.

In 1853 a commodious school-house was
erected on block 36, on 4th street. This
building and the former court-house are now
used for public school purposes, but additional
buildings are much needed.

The Catholics and two Lutheran Churches
have also schools of their own. There is also
outside of Beardstown a school-house near
Casp. Stock's farm.

The enumeration of children in township
18, range 12, of which Beardstown alone
contains nearly the whole population, in July,
1882, shows that there are

Males under 21 years 797

Females « " 867

Total, 1,664
The population of Beardstown is about
5,000 inhabitants.

Ifeicsjyapers at Heanlstoten. — The first
newspaper was established by Francis Arenz,
and was published in 1833 and 1834; Francis
Arenz, editor, and J. B. Fulks, publisher. It
was called The Beardstown Chronicle and
Illinois Military Bounty Land Advertiser.
Then for some time there was no newspa-

per published here, until in 1845; S3'lvester
Emmons established and published The
Beardstoicn Gazette, the first number being
issued in August, 1845. At this time the
newspapers nearest to this place were publish-
ed, to wit: one at Jacksonville, two at Spring-
field, two at Quincy, two at Peoria, and one
at Burlington, Iowa. In 1846, the Gazette
published the delinquent tax list for the
counties of Cass, Mason, Schuyler and Brown,
it being the only paper located nearest the
county seat of the respective counties. This
paper was continued by Mr. Emmons until
1852, when it was sold to C. D. Dickerson
who published the paper about eighteen
months; when it was sold to J. L. Sherman,
who afterward sold out to B. C. Drake, who
issued the paper, and for some time also pub-
lished a daily; then the paper was published
for a time by a Mr. Mitchell, and afterwards
passed into the hands of L. U. Reavis. Mr.
Reavis having published the paper for sever-
al years, it passed into the hands of a com-
mittee, composed of members of the Repub-
lican party, of which J. A, Arenz was the
chairman. This committee were the owners
of the paper for several years, and it was
published by different persons, until in 1867,
the paper came into the hands of John S.
Nicholson.

From the time of sale by Mr. Emmons, the
name of the paper was alternately the Gaz-
ette and Central Illinoisan, which latter
name it still retains.

Mr. Nicholson has published the paper reg-
ularly, and under many trying circumstances,
to the present day. It was first located in the
building known as " the Great Western,"
which burned down. Then he moved the
printing office into the Billing's block, in the
third story, when in the night of Nov. 26,
1875, the entire block was consumed by fire,
which destroyed the press and everything be-
lonsring to the office. The Illinoisan is now

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

lis

]iublished up stairs in the building owned by
Siieriff Sielschott, on Main street. From its
long publication, and faithfully and ably advo-
cating the interest of Beardstown, it deserves
the patronage of the citizens of Beardstown.

In 1876 another paper was established,
called The Cass County Messcmjer, of which
Mr. George Dann was editor and publislior.
This paper was purchased by Joseph P. Sailor
in 1880, who changed its name to Cass
County Democrat. The paper is published
on the second floor of the building owned by
the estate of H. Mohlmann, at the corner of
Main and Jeiferson streets. Mr. J. P. Sailor
is its editor, and the paper is well gotten up
and full of news.

The German newspaper was first established
in 1877, by Rev. A. Sehaberhorn, under the
name of The JBeohachier am Illinois Fluss.
Mr. Sehaberhorn being the editor and pro-
prietor until 1878, when it was purchased by
Mr. Theodore Wilkins, who edited the same
under the name of The JBeardstoim Wochen-
blatt, until his death in 1881, when the paper
was purchased by Ross & Son, who continue
to edit and publish the same.

This paper has a very large circulation, and
is gotten up with considerable ability and in-
dustry. It is of large size with a supplement
to each number, and deserves the support
and patronage it at present enjoys among its
German readers.

liaiiroads. — When the era of railroads had
come, causing a great revolution in business
matters, benefiting some places, and cutting
off the trade of towns which were not so for-
tunate as to obtain a railroad, Beardstown
was for some years at great disadvantage, and
desperate efforts were made by its citizens to
secure railroad facilities.

Large sums were subscribed by the cor-
poration, and large amounts were subscribed
1)V private citizens, and Beardstown has now
the benefits which arise from two railroads,

and there is a very fair prospect that there
will be very soon a third one added.

The first subscription of the corporation
was made March 1, 1857, to the Rockford,
Rock Island & St. Louis Railroad Co., of '1^.50,-
000, and between Dec. 1, 1857, and Feb. 1,
1SG9, another subsci'i[)tion of $10,000 was
made to the same conipaiiy, and on Nov. 1,
18G0, a fuither subseri()tion was made to the
same company for §12,000.

January 1, 1871, there was issued to the
Pana, Springfield & Northwestern R. R. Co.,
the sum of §8,000, and to the Rockford, Rock
Island & St. Louis R. R. Co., Aug. 1, 1871,
the further sum of §1:0,000.

Bonds were issued for said amounts, run-
ning twenty years, and bearing interest at the
rate of six, seven, and ten per cent., respec-
tively. The whole amount issued is §150,-
000, of which §125,000 remain unpaid at this
time.

The Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis R.R.
is now in the possession of the C, B. & Q. R.
R. Co., and the Pana, Springfield & North-
western is now controlled by the O. & M. R.
R. Co. The Ro kford. Rock Island & St.
Louis was completed between 18Gi( and 1871,
and the Pana, Springfield & Northwestern in
1871.

Lmiyyers and Doctors. — The lawyers of
Beardstown are: J. Henry Shaw, who is now
the oldest practicing attorney here; Thomas
H. Carter; Charles E. Wyman, city attorney;
R. Hewitt, prosecuting attorney of Cass
County; B. F. Thacker.

Doctors of Medicine are: H. H. Litth^fiehl^

II. Ehrhardt, B. Halm, George Bley,

Avery, T. A. Hoffmann, B. F. Grey, Moses
M. Dowler.

Dentists. — F. Smith and William Hare.

Danls. — The Cass County Bank is man-
aged by F. A. Hammer, president, and Charles
E. Fulks, cashier; and the People's Bank.
J. H. Harris, president, and Thomas K. Cou-

114

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

dit, cashier. Both banks do a flourishing
business.

The American Express Company has an
office here, which is managed by its efficient
and popular agent, E. F. Derr.

Secret Societies. — The Masons, Odd Fel-
lows, Knights of Honor, Druids, A. O. U.
Workmen, Mutual Aid, Young Men's Social
Club, and other societies have lodges here.

There is also a temperance organization
with a large membership, who meet once
every week.

f Ettsiness Affairs at JBeardstown. — Before
the railroad era, when the rivers were the
main channels for carrying merchandise and
])roduce, Beardstown was in possession of
the most extensive pork trade of any western
town, competing even with Cincinnati.

From 40,000 to 75,000 hogs were slaughter-
ed annually, between the months of November
and February.

Among the firms most largely engaged in
pork-packing, of which some were large deal-
ers in grain, were: Houston & Co., Cincin-
nati, Ohio; Gano, Thoms & Talbot, Col.
McKee, Wheeling, Va.; Sydam, Sage & Co.,
New York.

The Beardstown grain dealers were: Nolte
& McClure, S. M. Tinsley & Co., H. F. Foster,
Horace Billings, D. Kreigh & Co., John
McDonald, H. Chadsey & Co.

There were also many others, pork-packers
in smaller quantites.

Among the dealers in grain before the rail-
road era, were Knapp & Pogue; Basset &
Taylor; George Kuhl; Chase, Rich & Parker;
George Volkmar & Co.; E. J. Dutch & Bro. ;
Thompson & Eatnes; J. W. Thompson & Co.;
H. F. Foster & Co,>

The present dealers in grain are: Garm
Wilson & Co.; George Kuhl; Hagener & Bro

The business at the present time in Beards-
town, in full operation, are: three houses deal
ing in agricultural implements, two banks

four bakeries, four boot and shoe stores, four
barber shops, four blacksmith shops, four
butcher shops, one brick yard, one brewery,
nine boarding and eating houses, four clothing
stores, five dry good stores, one distillery, four
drug stores, one foundrj', two flouring mills,
two furniture stores, eleven grocery stores,
eight halls, three hardware stores, three hotels,
ten large ice houses, four jeweler stores, two
lumber yards, two livery stables, four milli-
nery stores, one opera house, two photograph
galleries, two saw mills, three saddle and har-
ness shops, one scouring and dying establish-
ment, three dealers in sewing machines, three
stores of general merchandise, two tinware
and stove stores, two undertakers, four watch
a;id clockmakers, one sash and door factory.

There are also the shops of the C. B. & Q.
railroad located here. Two railroad depots,
one telephone office, having also connection
with the city of Virginia, 13 miles distant.

Among the prominent men, now resting
among the dead, who whilst living her.',
spent much of their time and means for pro-
moting the interests of Beardstown, should be
mentioned: Thomas Beard, Francis Arenz,
Thomas and John Wilbourn, Thomas Gra-
ham, Knapp and Pogue, Thomas and Ed-
ward Saunders, B. W. Schneider, Bassett and
Taylor.

Some of these honored dead have loft no
children or near relations living here to fur-
nish a narrative of their lives, and a short
sketch is therefore prepared by one who knew
these men personally. The most of them
were doing extensive business here at an
early day in Beardstown. Messrs. Knapp
and Poo-ue occupied the front rank in busi-
ness affairs at the time when Beardstown be-
came a town, and when that firm finally failed
in business, Mr. Pogue acted as justice of the
peace, until his death. Mr. Knapp went to
New Orleans. The firm built several large
business establishments, among which was

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

115

(hat capacious storehouse called " the Great
Western," none of which buildings are now
standing. Messrs. Thomas and John Wil-
bourn, among other buildings, erected a large
mill, which afterwards burned down, and
upon the lot where it stood, Messrs. Baujan
& Co. erected a few years ago, their new mill.
Wilbourn built also a store building upon the
lot upon which the opera house now stands.
That firm dissolved, and Nolte and McCluie
purchased their store goods. This latter firm
moved their store to Main street, where for
many years they transacted a very large
amount of business, erected several sulistan-
tial buildings, and contributed very materially
to advance the interest of Beardstown.

Thomas Graham was a native of the city of
Philadelphia, where his father was a promi-
nent business man. He came here at an early
day, and for several years kept store. His
wife, also a Philadelphia lady, brought with
her a piano, which was the first and only
piano for several years in this part of the
country. After the death of his wife, and re-
versals in business, he returned to Philadel-
phia.

Messrs. Basset & Taylor came here from
Springfield and entered into the forwarding
and commission business, dealing also in
pork, grain, dry goods, groceries, etc., for
many years. After the death of Mr. Bassett
Taylor left here.

Thomas and Edward Saunders came from
Philadelphia at an early day. They were en-
gaged in business here for several years.
Thomas R. Saunders was Recorder of Cass
County. He died in Beardstown, leaving a
widow and several children. Edward Saun-
ders went to Chicago, where he died some
years ago.

B. W. Schneider came to Cass County in
1834; was engaged in farming near Arenz-
ville for several years. He then came to
Beardstown and purchai^ed from F. Aenz

his store on Main street, which he occupied as
a liquor dealer and for other purposes. He
purchased the lot of ground upon which the
Opera house now stands, and erected a large
hotel, which was carried on by himself and
others, called the " Schneider House." He
erected also other houses, but none of those
buildings are now existing. He died here,
leaving a widow and several children, none
of whom are now living in Beardstown.

Mr. Thomas Beard was born in Granville,
Washington County, N. Y., in 1795, from
whence his father moved to Burton, Geauga
County, O., in 1800.

Thomas Beard came to the State of Illinois
in 1818, and for some time lived about Ed-
wardsville and Alton, where he formed the
acquaintance of Enoch March. Then he came
to Beardstown in 1820, where his immediate
neighbors, for a considerable time, were In-
dians and a few white people. He established
the first ferry across the Illinois river, and
obtained a license therefor from the County
Commissioners' Court of Schuyler County, in
1826. In 1827 he, with Enoch March, a man
of means, entered the land upon which Beards-
town is located, and in 1829 the original
town of Beardstown was laid out, platted and
recorded; and several additions were made
t the town afterward.

Mr. Beard was tveice married. His first
wife was Sarah Bell, by whom he had three
children, of which only one is now living, in
Nebraska. This marriage proved unhappy,
and after his wife left him, a divoice was ob-
tained in 1835, Mr. Beard retaining the chil-
dren. Some years afterward he married a
widow Dickerman, who had an only son, Wil-
lard A. Dickerman, who afterward became
Colonel of the 103d Illinois Regiment, and fell
in battle near Atlanta, Georgia, in the war
for suppressing the Rebellion.

With his second wife, a lady of the mosst
amiable and excellent character, esteemed by

116

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

every one, he had three children, of whom two
are now living. Mr. Beard died here in No-
vember, IS i9.

Mr. Beard, although he had not the advan-
tages of a superior education, neve theless
was a man who had educated himself to such
degree that he could get along very well in
ordinary business matters. For industry, lib-
erality, kindness and honesty, he had no
superior.

The widow of Mr. Board resides now in
New York city, with her married daughter, a
Mrs. Doane.

Mr. Horace Billings was a native of the
State of Vermont, and came to Boardstown in
the year 1843. Having been engaged in
business in New York, Canada, and other
places, he dashed into business hei-e at once.
There was nothing salable or purchasable
in which he did not trade. Trading and
speculating seemed to be his element. He
was very quick of perception and in deciding
the course to pursue, and there was no enter-
prise in or about Beardstown wherein Mr.
Billings had not a leadi^^ hand. Sometimes
he would miss his aim and sustain a loss,
which, however, he bore like a true philoso-
pher, neither lamenting nor fretting; but he
generally succeeded, and his pork and grain
speculations at times brought him very large
returns, which he again applied to the exten-
sion of his business, and new enterprises. No
one man has done more to build up the town
and put it on the track to future prosperity
than Mr. Billings. Among the many build-
insrs he erected, the Park House is one. Some
of these buildings are now standing, and some
were consumed by fire. His energy was also
directed to discover new channels for employ-
ment and traffic, and he added much to increase
the population of Beardstown by inducing
skillful mechanics and business men to settle
here. Mr. Billings was a very good citizen,
strictly temperate in his habits, using neither

strong drinks nor tobacco. He was a highly
valued member of the Congregational Church,
to which he contributed very liberally.

Mr. Billings married twice. His first wife,
a very estimable lady, from New York, with
whom he had two daughters, died here. His
second wife, a very highly educated and very
worthy lady, he married here, with whom he
had one daughter.

When advanced age prevented Mr. Bill-
ings from active business engagements, he
took up his place of residence in Jacksonville,
in 1867, where he died in 1870.

Henry E. Dummer came to Beardstown
about the year 1812, after he had resided in
Springfield and Jacksonville before, and was
the first, and for several years the only attor-
ney-at-law, and his influence and counsel has
been of very material benefit to the citizens
of Beardstown. Very amiable and kind in
disposition, and reliable in his counsel, he
enjoyed the esteem and respect of all classes.
Although a man of law, he never encouraged,
instigated or favored litigation, and always
advised amicable settlements and comprom-
ises, if possible; but when a case was carried
through court he advocated faithfully and
skillfully the interests of his client. He was
very moderate in his charges, and felt more
disposed to render services to his fellow men
than to make money. In Beardstown he
married Miss Phebe Van Ness, a very worthy
young lady, which marriage proved to be a
very happy event for both.

Mr. Dummer made himself useful when
and wherever his fellow citizens desired his
services. He served in the town and school
board, as Alderman, City Attorney, Judge of
Probate, member of the Constitutional Con-
vention, State Senator, and other offices, all of
which he filled with honor, and for the best
interests of the people. He joined the church
here, and became a sincere, true Christian.
In 1805 Mr. Dummer removed to Jackson-

ef^/yn.£^^^

IIISTUIIY OF CASS COUNTY

lUl

ville, whore he at once ohtainoil a lucrative
practice until the time of his death, about two
years ago. He left a widow, two sons, and
three daughters. As a lawyer he occupied
the front rank, and as a citizen he had no
siipc lior. His memory will live in the hearts
of his many friends until they also moldor in
their graves.

War Record. — The following comprises
the names of the persons, who entered into
the service of the United States from Beards-
town and Piecinct, for the suppression of the
late Rebellion:

Third Regiment of Illinois Cavalry, Com-
pany C: Captain, Charles P. Dunbaugh;
Adjutants, .1. S. Crow and Theodore Lelland;
Lieutenant, August Tilford; Q. M. Sergeant,
Burr Sanders; Sergeant, Norman Parsons;
Corporals, M. Richards, C. E. Burns, James
Nason.

Privates: Joseph Anderson, Charles Box-
nieier, William Boxmeier, Robert Bailey,
Thomas M. Cuppy, William H. Chamljlin,
Charles Coleman, Martin Finney, Daniel
Grant, Adam Gruling, Josiah jMcCandlesS)
John Minick, William Nicholson, W. H. Per-
cival, Horatio G. Rew, jr., John G. Reeves,
George Spicker, H. C. Simpson, George Wag-
ner, William Wells, Joseph Barwick, John H.
Beadles, John Hatfield, John Miller, Martin
Tread way.

Recruits: Aaron Abney, Henry Coleman,
George Chamblin, William De Haven, David
Griffin, William Snow, George W. Snow, John
R. Stephens, Henry Sturtevant, David A TuU,
David H. Wells.

Thirty-second Illino's Regiment, Co. G.:
First Lieutenant, Charles A. Eames; Sec-
ond Lieutenant, William Hitchcock, and mu-
sician, William J. Center.

Privates: John Beals, promoted to first
lieutenant Co. E, Sixty-first 111.; Melvin Burk,
Thomas Barry, Thomas Bird, James Burns,
Edward Cottrell, David Connell, Thomas Dar-

kin, Samuel DeHaven, Hugh Donnelly, Ben-
jamin Eyres, John Fitzpatrick, John Flani-
gan, Andrew Gemming, Peter Grime, .John
Haven, .Tames Harrell, William Hugo, Anton
Hoffman, John B. Looman, William McDow-
ell, George Swan, Jnhn Triliey, Setli Thom[>-
soii.

Thirty-third Illinois Regiment, Company K.
Captain, Charles E. Lippincott (promoted
Colonel); Quarter-master of Regiment, R. B.
Fulks.

Com]iany Officers: Captain, E. H. Twining;
1st Leiutenant, J. H. Schuler; 2nd Lieuten-
ant, W. H. Weaver; 1st Sergeant, H. P.
Grund.

Privates: Herman Bohne, George Boem-
ler, J. H. Betz, Moses M. Dowler,Thoinas Eyre,
George French, Conrad Hendrickcr, George
C. Kuhl, George S. Kuhl, John Lauler, R.
F. Lasley, David Matson, Charles Ojten,
William Paterson, Louis Benz, Joseph Sis-
sick.

Recruits: Edwin Carman, David J. Curry,
Thomas Foxvvorthy, Josiah Hawkenberry,
John Hawkenberry, George Hucke, Samuel
Lyon, John Orr, Ab. Shoemaker.

F»)rty-seventh Illinois Regiment, Company
F. — Privates — A. F. Cottrel, Benjamin Harris,
Dewitt McCandles, Thomas Paschal, Wood-
ford Sills.

One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Regi-
ment. Major, Joseph M. McLane; Second
Lieutenant, Albert McClure.

Sergeants: Norman Hitchcock (promoted
First Lieutenant, Company K. 71 U. S. col-
ored), Frederick Haid, Joseph Milton Mc-
Lane.

Corporals: Joseph Wright, John Mar-
shall, Joseph Riifer, Christ. Pilger.

Captains: Richard B. Adams, A. D. Ad-
kins, John Anderson.

Privates: Louis Boemler, M. L. Brown,
J. M. Cafferberger, William F. Crow, F. M.
Davis, Asa Dean, Pet(»r Douglas, Ezra Fish,

120

HISTORY OF CASS COHNTY.

(promoted First Lieutenant Company K.), R.
F. Kippenberg, C E. Lawson, Kiley McLane,
Robert McCarty.

Eleventh Illinois Regiment: Luther J.
Main, Thomas Millei-, Asa N. Paschall (died in
Anderson ville, Aug. 20, 1SG4), Zach. Taylor,
Geo. F. Unland, John T.Webb, Henry Weber,
John Worm, John H. Wedeking, Thomas H.
Williams, Joiia Kleinsteuber, .John Davis,
John Truebswasser (died at Mound Uity hospi-
tal).

Recruits: Charles Boekemeier, Henry
Fredenberg, Win. Meizer, Piiilip Smith.

Second Illinois Battery : Lieutenants,
Hoyer, Adolf Geils.

United States Navy: C. H. Gulick.

One Hundred and Forty-filth Illinois
Regiment — 100 day men:

Captain, W. H. Weaver; Second Lieutenant,
Ebenezer Fish; Sergeants, William De Haven,
Edwin C. Foster; Corporals, James Caldwell,
James A. Lindsay, William McClure, Edward
Logan, Samuel Webb, Clinton Garrison, J.
B. Sanders.

Privates: Abraham Black, Randall Block,
Louis Cowan, Allen Cunningham, Thomas
Cowan, David Clendcnin, Ernest Corte, J. W.
Chase, Charles Dunbaugh, Thomas J. De
Haven, John S. Fulks, James Griffin, J. W.
Hamilton, Guilford Judd, H. Livingston, H. C.
McLane, George McDonnel, William Mayer,
Henry C. Milnor, James H. Mathews, A. J.
Norton, Rudolph Oliver.

One Hundred and Forty-Fifth Illinois Reg-
iment. Privates: Frank Paterson, W. C. Rew,
S. W. Robinson, William Roach, J. H. Rose, L.
O. Spangler, Charles Schneider, Louis Ware,
Eason White, Willis White, Christ. Mertz.

Third Illinois Cavalry, Company I. Ben-
jamin F. Barron, Casper Coleman, James
A. Geer, Warren H. Monett, Joshua Mibb,
George Olden, William Ruff, William Rhodes,
David Schrader, J. L. Wolford, Peter T. ^Vol-
ford.

Second Illinois Cavalry. Private : F. Ab-
bott.

Twelfth Regiment, Illinois Infantry. Com-
pany A: Thomas Bern hard, Martin Gott-
lieb.

Eighteenth Regiment Illinois Infantry.
Company G: Sergeant, George Rauch; Cor-
porals, Jas L. Black, W. O. Willis.

Privates: Andrew Blattncr, Henry Brocker,
Peter Flanery, Fred Holden, Thomas Har-
mel, .Joseph H-'ine, Henry Knoess, Henry
I^ynn, A' lam La fie, Hugh Lyden, William
Meyer, George J. MeD.tirel, F. K. Shever,
George Taylor.

Eighty-second Illinois Regiment, Company
E: Corporal, Simon Benz.

Privates: Anton Bihl, Charles BoeKe-
meier, .John Hieg, August Petri, William
Ram, Anton Seller, Philip Schmidt.

Fourteenth Regiment Illinois Infantry,
Company A: Major, J. F. Nolte; Captain,
Thomas M. Thompson; Captain, Charles
Opitz; 1st Lieutenant, Henry Rodecker;
and Augustine Snow; 2nd Lieutenant, Da-
vid S. Finney; Sergeant, Eben H. Richard-
son; Corporals, Ed. E. Foster, Charles H.
Harris, W. H. Dutch, David Carr.

Privates: William Armstro'ig, Ijester
Beals, Amos Burkhardt, Alonzo Buck, George
Cummings, Ernest Corte, August ChristianiM-,
Joseph Ewing, Joseph Heine, John Hess, Jo-
seph Huber, Caleb James, Edward Knight,
Christian Kuhl, Thomas Lincoln, Abner Liver-
more, Dexter Loomis, Charles Luecking,
Archibald McConnel, John S. Morgan,
William. C. Marrow.

Company G: Conrad Meyres.

Company A: Wm. Nelson, Charles Nickel,
Andrew J. Norton, Lester J. Parmenter,
William H. Parson, Henry C. Pheljis, Reu-
ben B. Pool, George M. Rhineberger, Will-
iam Roach, Abraham J. Saylor, Christian
Schramm, William Snow, William Sales.

Company G: William Stauf,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

121

Company A: George H. Tracy, William
Wisbey, Charles Williams.

Recruits: Charles Burrows, Henry C.
Brown, James M. Ewing, Martin Finney,
James S. McLin, George H. Parmenter, John
W. Richardson, Henry Roach, Alonzo Snow,
John F. Switzer, Louis Weaver, Benjamin
Wood.

Sixty-first Regiment of Illinois Infantry,
Company E. Privates: Edward W. Ellkin,
John W. Glover, Anthony Hill, Daniel Row-
ley, William A. Squires, George W. San-
ders, Nicholas Shoopman, Jacob O. Wells,

Madison Woods, Alpheus Wells, Asa F. Win-
free.

Recruits: John C. Menkel, John McCor-
mick, Peter Baxton, Walter Beals, Daniel B.
Grant, William T. Melton, Charles Meyer,
George T. Ruby, George L. Stone, George
W. Shoopman, John H. Shoopman, Frederick
Schnitker, Jacob Trommen.

The names of the persons serving during
this war in the United States army, from the
adjoining precincts of Arenzville, Indian
Creek, Hickory and Monroe, are not herein
given.

122

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER XII.*

CHANDLERVILLE PRECIlSrCT-TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES-PIONEER-TIMES-EARLY FAM-
ILIES-EDUCATIONAL— SOCIETIES-MILLS-VILLAGE OF CHANDLERVILLE.

" Ye pioneers, it, is to you
The tieht of gnuituJe is due;
Ye builded wiser than ye knew

The broad foundation
On wliicli our superstructure stands ;
Your strong right arms and willing hands,
Your earnest efforts still command
Our veneration."

pHANDLEKVILLE Precinct lies on the
y^ sotitheni side of Sangamon river, where
a broad strip of bottom land, varying from
one to two miles in width, forms the entire
northern boundary of the precinct. This
bottom land is, no doubt, the richest soil in
the county, for the Sangamon river may be
called the Nile of America, for it annually
overflows, adding new deposits to the present
richness of the soil.

Where the bottom lands terminate inland,
a series of very high hills tower in natural
majesty above the surrounding country, ap-
pearing at a distance like a range of moun-
tains. These hills are now mostly overgrown
with scrubby timber and dense underbrush,
but in the memory of some of the old settlers,
not a twig or tree could be seen over the
broad surface of this elevated height. The
Indians annually burning off the prairies, the
fire would sweep over the hills, destroyino-
the young timber that had started during the
year. The oldest settlers say that at the
present time there is five times as much tim-
ber in this part of the county as there was
when they first settled in the country.

At the present time there are many beauti-

*By J. L. Nichols.

fill groves clustering at the foot of these hills,
where many fine residences and beautiful
gardens peep out amid their inviting foliage.
There is considerable good timber on the
banks of the Sangamon, along the bottoms of
Big and Little Panther creeks, and along the
valleys whiding among the hills. The kinds
of wood that grow native, are oak, maple, elm,
sycamore, walnut, hickory, pecan, persimmon,
and paw-paw. On the low grounds in early
days the grass grew very tall, reaching to a
man's waist on horseback, and the' grass on
the hills grew much higher and thicker than
it does at the present day. Game at that
time was very plenty. Wild turkeys and
prairie chickens were witliout nutnber; deer,
wolves and raccoons were very nuinerous,
and an occasional panther and lynx wandered
through. All the game that is left now that
in any way can interest the sportsman, are
wild ducks, which yet continue to visit the
Sangamon Bottoms when overflowed, in great
numbers, hunters of ordinary skill killing
from 80 to 100 ducks per day, 50 being con-
sidered a very poor day's work during the
duck season.

The Pottawatomie Indians lived here till
the year 1835, but they were of a very friendly
character, and never molested in any way the
peace and prosperity of the settlers. The
precinct back from the hills is considerably
rough and broken, and a large portion of that
land was sold for 25c. per acre; the United
States giving it to the State, and \he State in
turn gave it to the county, and the county
sold it to the settlers at the above rate; much

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY:

123

oTthat land, however, at the [iresent time is
worth from 8-5 o $40 per acre. There was
governmeat land in this precinct as late as
1856. The precinct at first was mostly settled
by Sjuthern people, and very few other 'a:iii-
lies cime till about 1832, except a few Yan-
kee peddlers, who occasionally visited the
settlement.

Who the first settlers were the writer finds
some difficulty in ascertaining. Robert Leep-
er, James and Elijah Garner, William Myres,
Tnomas Plasters, Ma k Cooper and Dr.
Chandler, were probably among the first.

The settlers here, as in other new countries,
came very poor. They lived in log cabins,
many of them without floors or windows,
using greased paper for the latter, and what
little grain they raised had to be hauled to
Beardstown and sold at a nominal price, and,
there being no bridges at the time, it was
often a difficult and dangerous journey.

The first bridge that was built was across
Panther Creek, in 1838, just south of the vil-
lage. A bridge was built by a Mr. Stindy
across the Sangamon, but being so poorly
framed and constructed, it gradually sunk,
broke and separated by its own weight. It
was re-built by Samuel Cook, of Chandlerville,
in 1874, and is a permanent structure that
will stand till its timbers decay. It braved
the torrent of 1882 without yielding a timber,
or the fragment of one. This bridge is a
great benefit to the village of Chandlerville,
as it brings a large proportion of trade from
Mason County.

The first school taught within the present
limits of the precinct, was the one taught by
Mrs. Ingalls, given in the village history
below ; the second that the pioneer families
patronized, was located about two and a
half miles northeast of Chandlerville, on
the land now owned by Moses Harlinson.
Mr. Martin Morgan taught the first school,
and the following wore some of his schol-

ars: John Hash, James Dick, and his
sister Sallie, and the children of the My-
res family. The school-house was built by
the charity and energy of Robert Leeper, and
as a pioneer he deserves the highest en-
comium. There are now five district schools
in the precinct ; they are respectively known
as the Levi Spring School, Brick School, John
Way School, German School, and the Wil-
son School. The schools are well attended,
and teachers are paid a salary, varying from
$25 to $50 per month, according to the
qualification and experience of the teacher.

The first saw and grist mill was built in
1828, on Panther creek, by A. S. West and
William Morgan, Mr. Z. Hash getting out
most of the timber for the mill. Robert
Leeper subsequently bought the mill and run
it for several years, when it was carried down
stream by extraordinary high water. The
second mill was built by Richard McDonald,
one-half mile above Mr. Leeper's mill, on the
same stream, and shortly after the building
of the McDonald mill, Henry L. Ingalls built
a mill about one-half mile below Mr. Leeper's
mill. There were then three mills within one
and a half miles of each other. Their princi-
pal business was sawing, but they also
cracked corn. These two latter mills were
also swept down stream, leaving scarcely a
trace of their former existence. Panther
creek was subject to a very sudden rise of
water, and it came in such torrents as to
sweep every thing before it. There are no
mills on that stream at the present day. It
does not run more than six months of the
year in ordinary seasons, and could not in any
way be considered a stream that would support
the power for a mill of the smallest character,
except in these extraordinary torrents that
spare neither roads, bridges, or railroads.

The first road that received any degree of
travel was called the Bottom Road to Beards-
town. This was a winding route over the

124

HISTORY OF UASS COUNTY.

most elevated portions of the bottom, as the
low places were often marshy and very diffi-
cult to cross. On the ridge formed in the
middle ot this road by the horses and oxen
wearing out foot-paths, as is often seen now
on our prairie roads, there used to grow and
flourish some of the finest wild strawberries
that were produced on the bottoms. They
looked like a row of cultivated fruit, and in
their season were truly an inviting curiosity.
Travelers that came during that time can
never forget the richness and beauty of those
almost endless rows of native berries. Wild
fruit was very common here in an early day.
Plums, persimmons, raspberries, blackberries,
and strawberries were very plentiful and
much more numerous than at the present day.
It was all the change the early settlers had
from coarse bread and pork, as but very little
sugar or dried fruits could be afforded or in-
dulged in, in those days of pioneer economy.
The wild land has all been subdued or
turned into fine pastures. Beautiful homes
and cultivated fields smile all over the pre-
cinct. The farmers have improved their stock)
and some of the finest horses, hogs, and cattle
that the State produces are raised in this part
of the county.

CHANDLEEVILLE.*

Early in the spring of 1832, a colony from
Rhode Island were about to leave their native
hills and seek homes in the distant wilderness
of the West. But the members of the colony
hearing of so many Indian massacres in the
Western States, there was but one of the
party that dare venture and carry out the or-
iginal design; that man was Dr. Chas. Chand-
ler. While coming up the Illinois river with
his wife and little daughter Jane, now Mrs.

*The writer, having found some matters particularly ap-
propriate to Chandlorville, in the oration delivered in lS7fi,
liy Hon. J. H. Shaw, he has taken the liberty of incorporat-
ing them in this article.

Shaw, and hearing of the Indian troubles at
Ft. Clark, since called Peoria, the place of
destination, they concluded to go no further,
and consequently landed at Beardstown.
While there Dr. Chandler took a ride up the
Sangamon bottom with Thomas Beard, and
was so charmed by the lay of the land and
richness of the soil, and the thrift of vegeta-
tion, that he determined at once to make a
settlement, and immediately entered 160 acres
of land where Chandlerville now stands, and
before the summer of his first arrival had passed
he had built a comfortable log cabin and found
a crop of buckwheat blossoming at his door.
His cabin was erected on the spot now occu-
pied by the Congregational Church, and his
plow was the first that stirred the native soil
within the limits of the village. He was a
man of untiring industry, and began at once
the practice of his profession, performing
wonders in the healing art, and prodigies of
toil, often riding seventy or eighty miles,
and not unfrequontly one hundred per day.
His practice extended over what is now known
as Cass, Morgan, Brown, Schuyler, Sanga-
mon, Menard, Mason, and Fulton Counties. In
December, 18313, the humble cabin received a
brother of the Doctor, Marcus Chandler, wife
and only son Knowlton, with Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Ingalls. In 1831, Squire Bonney and
family, with a nephew, Geo. Bonney, also Mr.
Hicks and family, were added to ihe colony.

A Sabbath school was early in 1835 organ-
ized through the united efforts of Mrs.
Marcus Chandler, Mrs. H. S. Ingalls, and Mr.
Robert Leper, which was well attended and
did much good.

The Sabbath school was held at the resi-
dence of Mrs. Ingalls, and may be said to be
the first religious assembly ever held in the
community.

The settlers at this time marketed all their
grain and farm produce at Beardstown, and
purchased all the necessary articles within

HISTORY OF CASS COUSTY.

their means that their families and farms wore
most sorioiisly in need of; also most of their
ro]iairing was done there.

(^In ISoi or '35 Dr. Chandler built a li'ack-
sraith-shop. and the year following built the
first storejwhere now Mr. Pilcher's place of
business stands. Dr. Chandler did not do
this so much as a business speculation and to
make money, as he did to benefit and acoom-
moilate the settlers, many of them having
nothing but ox-teams, and a journey to Beards-
town was not at all a desirable trip, or one
that many of our farmers desire to-day with
all our modern improvements.

Dr. Chandler continued in business about
two years, when he closed out his stock to C J.
Newberry, who was shortly after succeeded by
Mr. Chase, and he, alter continuingbusiness for
several years, was bought out bylDr. Chandler
and his brother Marcus.) They V did a very
flourishing and extensive business, and in
connection with their general ; they bought
and packed pork, putting up about three
thousand hogs annually for many years in
succession."^ In 1849, the two prosperous
brothers met with the misfortune of having
their store burned down, and their stock
liadly damaged, but the store was quickly re-
built, and their former business re-established.
(At one time they had about four hundred
uushels of pecan nuts, for which they paid
one dollar and fifty cents per bushel, and
shipped the same to St. Louis, and sold them
for three dollars per bushel.') In 1850, Dr.
Chandler and his brother sold their entire
business to William Way, who has been in
business, and witnessed the prosperity of the
vdlage from that time to the present.

The early growth of the village was not
rapid, for in 1848 there were but the following
families within its limits: Dr. Chandler, Rev.
S. Smith, O. Hicks, .1. B. Shaw, Elisba Olcutt,
D. Marcy, Levi McKee, H. L. lugalls. Widow
Harbeson and Mr. Chase.

The mail at this time was brought from
Beardstown by the little sons of Dr. Chandler,
and distributed at his place of business, he
being the regular appointed postmaster, and
assisted by Mr. Shaw, then a clerk in the
store. The post office was known as Panther
Creek till 1851, when Gen. C. E. Lippincott
wrote to Col. E. D. Baker,* then member of
Congress, and had the name of the office
changed to Chandlerville.

A cooper shop was started about this time,
also a wagon shop. The latter business was
one of the most successful enterprises of the
settlement, Levi McKee being the proprietor.
And the McKee wagons were known all over
the country as the most durable and best
made wagons of the county. Dwight Marcy
in 1849, kept the first hotel just north of
Panther creek, on the land now owned by
Gen. Lippincott, where he continued business
till the present hotel was converted from a
■warehouse into a hotel, being built by Dr.
Chandler, and used for a general house of
storage, etc., while he continued in business.

In 1850, Mr. Olcutt, who had for several
years been a clerk for Dr. Chandler, built a
store and warehouse in company with Mr.
Sanders, where a thriving business for several
years was carried on. The firm dealt largely
in wheat, hogs, tallow, &c. In 1854, Dr.
Reed and T. N. Canfield built the first regu-
lar drug store, drugs having been kept and
sold by the other stores many years previous,
but no separate store had been built before for
thatspecial purpose. The building was erected
in the western part of Dr. Reed's present lot,
and long since has been removed. This store
was a very attractive place of business for
many years. Dr. Reed had an extensive prac-
tice, and like Dr. Chandler, not unfrequently
traveling 100 miles a day to visit a patient.
( There was an unusual custom among the

« Who was kiUed at Ball's Bluffs.

126

HISTOUY OF CASS COUNTY.

settlers that every man should be entitled to
eighty acres of land on each side of his first
entry as soon as he could pay for it at govern-
ment price, $1.25 per acre. And it was con-
sidered as mean as stealing for another man
to violate this established custom of the set-
tlers. Shortly after Dr. Chandler settled here,
a man by the name of English came to the
settlement and was much pleased with the
country. The Doctor assisted and befriended
him all he could, and offered to give up a
a claim to one eighty to induce him to stay,
but English, hog-like, told him that he was
going to Springfield and enter the whole
tract adjoining ; that he did not care for the
customs of the country, and that he was go-
ing to have it right or wrong, and started at
once for Springfield. The Doctor went to his
cabin, counted his money, and found only
fifty dollars. The deficit was made up through
the kindness of his neighbor, McAuly. Thus
provided, he started at once for the State cap-
ital with the determination of beating Eng-
lish if possible. He took a different route
through the woods and prairies from that
chosen by his greedy friend. When about
ten miles from the land office, he overtook two
young men on horseback, and his horse foam-
ing in perspiration was about tired out ; and
•while riding along with these young men, he
related to them the cause ot his haste, when one
of them, the tallest of the two, was so indignant
that he offered the Doctor his own horse, which
■was comparatively fresh, so that he might
defeat the plans of English; but the Doc-
tor declined the courtesy, got there on his
own horse, and entered his land before his
rival got to the city of Springfield. Some-
time after Dr. Chandler wanted his land sur-
veyed, and sent for a young surveyer who
lived at Salem, Sangamon county, and when
he arrived he proved to be the same young man
that the Doctor had overtaken on his way to
Springfield, and that had so kindly offered his

horse. That man was Ahrah im Lincoln, and
the land, where Chandlerville stands, and
some considerable country adjacent, was sur-
veyed by him.

Dr. Chandler was a man of stirring energy.
He built the first frame house, 10 by 12, one
story, ever built in Cass County, and he built
the present large residence on the Chandler
estate in 1836, which is yet among the finest
residences in the village. He was one of the
first physicians in Central Illinois who adopt-
ed quinine in his practice as a remedy, and the
first who opposed bleeding as a remedy for
disease. When he first came to the Sanga-
mon bottom he was called into practice before
he could build a stable for his horse, and when
at home, for weeks his wife cut grass with
the shears to feed it, as there were no scythes
in the vicinity to be had for love or money.

The Doctor was also a man of charity
as well as enterprise. He gave all the lots
on which all the churches are built, except the
Christian church, and that he sold to the society
for half its real value; he also gave the lots for
the three public parks, and donated the land
for the cemetery. He was always a liberal
contributor to the church, and all benevolent
institutions. He was the founder of the town,
and a father to it while he lived.

Since 1856, many valuable accessions to
the social and business power of the commu-
nity have been made; good mechanics, active
business houses, sustained by a large intelli-
gent farming population, energized by the
iron aid of a new railway, passing directly
through their midst, and all tolerably per-
meated by Christian character and influence,
Chandlerville hopes a future of useful thrift.

The present village was laid out in 1818,
when the first lots were sold. The town was
first incorporated in 1858, under the General
Act, and under a more special act in 18G1.
The incorporate area is exactly one mile
square. ,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

127

The first members of the first village coun-
cil were Dr. Chas. Chandler, J. W. Gladding,
W. S. Way, Elisha Olcutt, Levi McKee,
with Gen. C. E. Lippincott, as clerk. The
present members of the board are: A. G.
Colson, W. K. Mertz, Roljert Clark, August
Zorn, C. C. Brown, W. H. Pilcher, with A.
G. Colson, as president, E. H. Henkel, clerk,
and S. C. Fielden, treasurer.

At present there are twenty-nine business
places in the town; many of the buildings
are of brick, and the village, in general, has
very a promising business outlook.

The first Masonic Lodge was chartered
October 7th, 1S74, with the following charter
members: Linus C. Chandler, C. C. Brown,
John Chandler, J. A. Paddock, L. M. Dick,
Robert Clark, N. H. Boon, H. T. Chandler,
N. S. Reed, Isaac Buther, John Kershaw,
John Mullen, Thos. Mullen, J. M. Telles, Wm.
Swartwood, T. A. Skaggs, Henry C. Neff,
Commodore Silvernail, and John C. Morse.
L. C. Chandler was elected the first Worship-
ful Master, and John Morse, secretary. The
present officers: Levi M. Dick,,W. M.; Rob-
ert CUrk, S. W.; Thomas Skaggs, J. W.; T.
P. Renshaw, Treasurer; Arthur Pendleton,
Secretary; L. C. Chandler, S. D.; J. B. Mor-
gan, J. U.; August Zorn and M. D. Skaggs,
Stewards; T. R. Say, Tyler. The Lodge was
first organized through the efforts of L. C.
Chandler. At first a dispensation was re-
fused, but Mr. Chandler went to Dixon, inter-
viewed the grand master, and by urgent ap-
peal, he set aside his former decision and
granted a dispensation and charter. The first
meeting was held in June, 1874.

In the spring of 1883, Chandlerville suffered
considerably from high water; many of the
houses were surrounded with water up to the
windows, and the water reaching up Main
street as far as the Chandlerville mill. The
water was higher than it ever was known be-
fore.

The Sangamon Valley Mill was built in
1873, by Messrs. Paddock & Slink. It is a
handsome brick structure, costing $10,000 to
complete it. The above parties did a success-
ful milling business for two years, when they
sold two-thirds of their interest to James Ab-
bott and William Howarth, Mr. Paddock
holding a third interest till his death, which
occurred two years after. Messrs. Abbott &
Howarth then purchased the remaining third
from the heirs of Mr. Paddock. In 1871, the
boiler exploded, damaging the mill to the ex-
tent of |i3,000, and killing the engineer,
Joseph Davis. Mr. Davis had been a success-
ful engineer all his life, and the cause of the
explosion will no doubt always remain a mys-
tery; whether it occurred by neglect, or
through some defect of the machinery can not
be ascertained.

Smith & Carr's grist mill was raised in 1875,
at a cost of $5,000, by G. B. Skaggs & Bro.
They continued in the mill sixteen months,
when they sold it to James Tantrum, who, in
turn, sold it to W. W. Baker, and shortly af-
terward it was sold to the present owners,
Messrs. Smith & Carr, who have been
doing a very flourishing business for the past
two years, grinding about 50,000 bushels of
grain annually. The engine is in charge of
Mr. A. Garrett, who is an old R. R. engineer,
and thoroughly understands the business. The
millers are also men of tried experience, and
Chandlerville can boast of as good flour as is
made in the State.

In 1874, the first newspaper of the village,
called the New Era, was edited by J. J.
Bunce (S Son. After running the paper with
very moderate success about one year, they
closed out their interest, for the people did
not seem to appreciate the depth of their ed-
itorials, or the newsy merits of their local
columns; or in other words, were not as hun-
gry for " Era " news as the proprietors of the
paper had at first anticipated.

128

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

The next paper that broke the monotony
of village gossip, was the Cass County Jour-
nal., which was established by Chas. A. Pratt,
August 5, 1876. This paper was fairly
patronized, and prospered with a good home
reputation. It continued under the name
and management to the middle of February,
1878, when the office was purchased by G. B.
Skaggs, who was assisted by his brother, J.
W. They brought out their first issue, March
16th of the same year, under the firm name
of J. W. & G. B. Skaggs. As the paper
■was of different parentage from the Journal,
it was no more than right that they should
give it a name of their own choice. They
called it the Chandlerville Independent, a
name well chosen, and adapted to the posi-
tion the paper politically assumed. It was
successfully conducted by the two brothers
till Nov. 11, 1878, when J. W. Skaggs re-
tired from the publishing business. The pa-
per was then under the sole management of
G. B. Skaggs up to Dec. 5, 1879, when the
name of the firm was changed to Skaggs &
Spink, Mr. E. Spink, of Havana, having as-
sumed one-half interest. The Indej)endent
was then very satisfactorily managed till Sep-
tember, 1881, when Mr. Spink, by mutual con-
sent, withdrew from the firm, leaving the paper
under its present manager. The paper is now
on solid basis, nearing its 7th year of unabated
prosperity, and having a fine run of advertising,
a growing subscription list, and a man widely
known and highly respected for its editor and
manager. Its future truly looks promising.

"Beneath the rule of men entirely great
The pen is mightier than the sword."

Schools. — One of the most popular and in-
teresting features in the history of Chandler-
ville, is the growth and prosperity of her
schools. The village spares neither labor nor
money to make the public school one of the
most progressive of the county. The civilized
world is fast realizing that one school master

with his primer is worth a legion of soldiers.
The sword with its blood and cai-nage has
done its cruel work. We now have more
need of teachers than of soldiers; reason and
common sense are fast taking the place of
the musket and the cannon, and books have
becotne the arsenals of great nations. After
a few families had clustered beneath the
shadows of the great hills that overlook the
site of the present village, they began to look
after educational interest of their growing
families. About the year 1835, Mrs. Henry
Ingails opened a select school at her own
residence, and among some of her first
scholars were: Mary J. Chandler, now Mrs.
Shaw, Sarah Perrin, who became the wife
of Marcus Chandler, Nancy Leeper, after-
ward the wife of Mr. S. Paddock, Nolton H.
Chandler, Louis Bonney, Mary Wing, and
J. Piasters. Mrs. Ingails, after teaching
several terms, discontinued the work, owing
to the increasing cares of her family, and was
succeeded by Emily Chandler Allen, who
taught one year in the residence of Dr.
Chandler. Mr. John Rickert then opened
his private residence for the education of the
youth, three-fourths of a mile south of the
present village, on what is known as the Hash
farm, and taught one of the best pioneer
schools of the country. He was a Quaker by
profession and practice, and ruled not with
the ferule and rod, but with love and Christ-
ian kindness.

In 1838, Dr. Chandler built a small frame
building about 12 by 12, in the eastern part
of the village, and fitted it up with necessary
seats, etc., for a school-room, and gave the
use of it free of all charge to the community
for three years. Mrs. Ingails, meantime, had
resumed the work of teaching, and taught till
the spring of 1841, when the building put
up by Dr. Chandler became too small for
school purposes. It was concluded to re-
move the school to the Congregational Church,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

129

which was built that same year, and complet-
ed before the winter term of school was to be
opened. The school was then successively
taught by Miss Dunham, who afterward be-
came the wife of Amos Bonney, Miss E.
Pease and Miss Hosford; the latter was sent
from Vermont by Gov. Slade, .Dr. Chandler
guaranteeing a certain salary, but the people
failing to patronize the school as much as he
anticipated, he was compelled to makeup the
deficit by paying it out of his own pocket.
Mr. D. Craig, Peter Rickert, and Emily Chand-
ler, were among the successful teachers that
followed.

Miss Helen Cotton and a Miss Harris, in
1851, came West, to follow the profession
of teaching; one was to land at Beardstown,
and the other at Chandlerville, and they con-
cluded to decide by lot where each was to
settle in the chosen work. It fell to Miss
Cotton's lot to come to this embryo village
and assume ihe work of teaching. No better
fortune could have favored the citizens of
this place. She was a woman of brilliant
talents, and made use of every opportunity
to do. good and enno.'ale the minds of those
under her care and supervision. She after-
ward became Mrs. Goodell, but losing none
of her energy and influence by assuming the
duties of the family. Mrs. Ingalls, Mr. Rick-
ert and Miss Cotton, were the pioneer teach-
ers of Chandlerville, who have yet among
modern teachers to find a rival. The schools
up to this time were all selec", each scholar
paying iji^.oO per quarter tuition. The teach-
ers were usually boarded by the patrons or
friends of the school, free of charge.

Previous to 1841, a log cabin was used for
a time as a school house, where the boys
with baited fish-hooks and lines, used to fish
for rats through the open cracks in the floor,
that being their only pastime, while the
vigilant eyes of the teacher were not upon
them. In 1S56, a common frame building

was erected on one of the same lots now en-
closed within the limits of the present school
yard. Mr. N. S. Canfield was among the
first teachers who taught in the new building.
The school now began to assume some pro-
portions of size, and much more attention
began to be paid to educational matters.

In the autumn of IStj <, a part of the pres-
ent brick building was designed and built by
the following committee: Dr. Chandler, P.
Neif, and P. T. Norton. In 1878 the school
building seemed insufficient to comfortably
seat all the pupils attending school, and an
addition of two rooms was added by the di-
rectors, L. C. Chandler, Robert Clark, and R.
R. Cromlich. The whole building now con-
tains five rooms, and cost the village 16,000.
The first principal in the new building was
Maria Elam, and her first ass'stant Ella
Duneway. The present board of directors
are: Robert Clark, B. Bowman, and Albert
Smith. The building now is used exclusively
for school purposes, but the wooden building,
previous to the present structure, was built
with the understanding that its doors should
be open to all public speakers, lecturers,
Church services, shows and elections, or any
thing by way of public instruction or enter-
tainment of a moral eh iracter.

The public school of Chandlerville is very
popular. It is patronized by citizens of all
classes and of all denominations; sectarian
and political biases have been sedulously
avoided in its management, and it is the sin-
gle aim of those in charge of the school, and
of the citizens alike, to give the youth of the
town the best possible training, both in intel-
lect and morals. The course of study is
so arranged that pupils leaving school at the
a"-e of twelve or fourteen, are able to write
and read well, have a good understanding ol
the fundinental principles of arithmetic, and
a general knowledge of geography, and a
good preparation for business in general.

130

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Congregational Church. — In the fall of
1836, October 16th, a Presbyterian church
was organized by Revs. Albert Hale and
Slierron Baldwin, holding their services for
the time being in the house of Dr. Chandler.

The church at first was composed of five
members only, Mr. and Mrs. Sewall, Mr. Mar-
cus Hicks, Mrs. Marcus Chandler, and Mrs.
Lavinia Ingalls, all being Presbyterians in
their religious proclivities, except the two lat-
ter, who bringing letters from Congregational
churches, were united with the society.

About 181:1 or 1843, a church building was
erected at cost of $700. It was then decided
by a vote of the members (the number hav-
ing been increased to nearly twice the origi-
nal number), that the building should be
known as a Congregational church; but there
remains no formal record of any formal
change in the ecclesiastical relation of the
church organization till October, 18i7, when
it became Congregational, according to the
reports made to the Southern Association of
Illinois, with which it is at present connected.
In the early beginning, the little band of
Christ's disciples were indebted to the mem-
bers of the Illinois College Faculty for nearly
all their spiritual food — President Sturtevant
and Professer Turner preaching to them, and
administering the Sacrament. Revs. Hale and
Baldwin also visited them at stated times, to
aid the society in their Christian work.

The first pastor was Prof. J. B. Turner,
from Jacksonville, who in 1841 was succeed-
ed by Rev. Mr. Pond, and Mr. Pond was
succeeded by Rev. Socrates Smith, who came
under the auspices of the American Home
Missionary Society, and he was followed by
the following ministers: Thomas Lippincott,
the father of General Lippincott, Allyn S.
Kollogg, Wm. Barnes, O. C. Dickinson, J. R.
Kimnedy, George Paddock. P. A. Beane, S.
B. Gtx>d«nough, Hemy Perkins, aud J. M.
Bowers.

The present officers of /he Church are Dr.
N. S. Read, Thomas Ainsworth and J. H.
Goodell, and this Church has a membership
of 51, who are all liberal and enthusiastic in
their Christian work.

The Sabbath school is a very prominent
feature of the Church, largely attended, and
far superior to most of the Sibbath schools
found in similar villages. Dr. N. S. Read has
been its Superintendent for the past twenty-
seven years, beginning with but 25 scholars
and now numbering over 200. Dr. Rjad has
been a zealous worker, and the prosperity
and progress of the Sabbath school is largely
due to his untiring energy. He is the right
man in the right place.

31ethodist Church. — A few Methodist fam-
ilies held their first meetings at the resi-
dence of Squire Bonney, whenever they were
able to secure the services of a minister from
the neighboring settlements. Revs. Springer,
Cartwright, Ridgeley, Garner and Wyatt,
were among the first clergymen that ad-
ministered to the spiritual wants of their
brethren at Chandlerville. The Society was
first placed in circumstances to employ a reg-
ular minister by Messrs. Bonney, Richard,
McDaniel, Proctor and Hicks. These were
men of energy, and labored not only for
themselves, but for the benefit of the com-
munity and the moral elevation of their fel-
low-raen. They hired the Congregational
church for their Sabbath services, and con-
tinued there for about three years, when they
found themselves eufficiently strong to build
an edifice of worship for themselves. This
latter enterprise was larg^y brought about
by the labors of Elisha Olcutt. They built
their present church about the year 1851, at a
cost of $1,200, the lot being donated by Dr.
Chandler.

The church grew very prosperous, and its
membersiup quite large. It was doing a noble
work in the Christian cause, when it was des-

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

131

tilled to suffer greatly from emigration, many
of its leading members going West, or set-
tling in different parts of the State, among
whom were: Mr. Olcutt, John Boycourt, N.
Canfield and T. Way. The church, how-
ever, though somewhat embarrassed, did not
lose courage, but kept its armor bright, and is
still " marching along" with moderate pros-
perity. Rev. Charles Forree is the present
pastor.

Catholic Church. — The members of the
Catholic Society held their first meetings at
the residence of Mr. P. Neff for about three
years, when they formally organized in 1874,
and thereafter continued their Sabbath wor-
ship in the hall, over the store of Mr. Neft'.
Father Ryan has officiated as pastor for the
past four years.

Mr. Neff was the leading spirit in originat-
ing and pushing the society organization; he
organized a Sablsath school about one year
before the church society was organized, pay-
ing twenty-five dollars rent out of his own
pocket. He has kept up the Sabbath school
ever since, and no doubt will continue to
figure as one of the most prominent men of
the society till a church is built, furnished
and supplied.

Christian Church. — Elder D. W. Shurt-
leff came from Beardstown in the winter of
1862, and preached to a few Christian families
in the vicinity of Chandlerville, and February
15th, of the same winter, at Pleasant Ridge
school-house, the church was first organized
with the fellowiiig members: Mr. and Mrs.
C. J. Wilson, W. D. Leeper, S. B. Jones, Mr.
and Mrs. Wm. Bradshaw, Smith Wilson,
Nancy Smith, Lucy Curtis, .Tulia Curtis,
Clarissa Briggs and Barbara Lucus. W. D.
Leeper, assisted by S. B. Jones, were the
prime movers in getting Elder D. W. Shurt-
leff into the settlement. They were the men
that formed the first nucleus of the church,
and around which clustered the developing

interest of the Christian work. The church
was greatly stimulated and strengthened by
some stirring revivals. Prof. McCaukle, of
Eureka College, and Elder A. G. Kane, oi
Springfield, were among the most prominent
that awoke the community to a Christian
sense of duty. Their words of warning and
entreaty sank deep and reverently into many
hearts, and great numbers were converted
and added to the fold of the Master. The
members were united, and as one, in their
social and religious relations, brotherly and
sisterly love ruled every motive, and ere three
years had scarcely passed I'rom the date of
their first organization, they found themselves
sufficiently strong to build a church of their
own; the present handsome, convenient frame
building was erected at a cost of $3,700. The
building committee that designed and con-
structed, and supervised the work in general,
consisted of the following persons: Robert
Cole, .LA. Raines, S. B. .Tones, and James Arm-
strong. Elders John Raines and Albert Rice
preached on alternate Sabbaths, the first year
after the church was completed. The church,
under the leadership of J. W. Monser and
M. R. Elder and the two pastors, just men-
tioned, saw its brightest days ; its member-
ship was swelled to one hundred or more
members ; peace and prosperity smiled upon
the church.

A Sabbath school, numbering some seventy
or eighty scholars, was among one of the
most interesting and progressive features of
the society. Dr. N. H. Boon and Douglass
McGee were among the most earnest workers
in the Sabbath school, one or the other being
superintendent most of the time for many
years.

It was wonderful to see how rapidly the
church grew, but more wonderful to see how
quickly it crumbled and its members divided
and scattered. " A house divided against
itself can not stand."

132

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

For the past two years no regular Sabbath
services have been held, though occasional
services occur.

Lutheran Church. — The German Evangel-
ical Lutheran church was built in the year
1870. The society was organized about six
months previous and held their meetings in the
Congregational and Christian churches.

The original members of the church were:
J. Eichenaur, H. Schneider, J. Craft, J. Mush,
G. Zorn, F. Brauer, H. During, C. Boensel
and H. Joeckel. Eichenaur, Schneider, Brauer
and Boensel being: all that are left of the oria--
iiial little band of worshipers. The church
has been very progressive under the following
pastoi^: Mr. Weisinger, Mr. Baumann, A.
Willner and A. D. Greif; the latter being
the present pastor, and of an earnest, indus-
trious turn of mind. He has organized a
day school, and teaches four days of the
week. The church building is an ordinary
wooden frame, not large but pleasantly situ-
ated. The membership is thirty, which is
considered large for the number of German
families residing in the vicinity.

Professional. — The legal or forensic inter-
est of the village is exclusively in the hands
of Hon. L. C. Chandler, a son of Dr. Chand-
ler. He has been prosecuting attorney one
term of four years, and a member of the leg-
islature. He is a man widely known, and
does all the business in his line that origin-
ates in the town.'

Dr. Reed and Dr. N. H. Boon lead the
medical profession of the village, being men
of large experience, and widely known.
People do not hesitate to employ them. They
have a large practice and are among the old-
est and most respected citizens of the village.

In closing our chapter of Cbandlerville, we
can not refrain from offering a brief tribute to

the memory of its founder. Dr. Chandler. The
early community of Cbandlerville was patri-
archal in its characteristics. It originated in
the self-sacrificing devotion of its founder; its
first steps were directed and carefully guarded
by his judgment, and in its maturor years
bears his name and the impress of his char-
acter.

It is difficult to imagine the early prosperity
of this settlement vrithout the material and
moral support of Dr. Chandler. He w.is the
central figure in its early history, and lost
none of his prominence while he lived. Com-
ing as a benefactor, he allowed no desire for
private ends to swerve him from his chosen
course. He sought to establish a center of
civilizing influence; his was a mission of good,
and the records of his time bear ample testi-
mony of his faithfulness to such a cause; the
sick, the unfortunate, found in him a helpful
friend; public enterprises were placed beyond
the danger of failure by his efi'orts; strugglin::;-
merit never failed for lack of material aid
when solicited of him, while his old account-
books, bearing the names of every member of
the settlement in those early days, tell matiy
a tale of his devotion to his people. His sup-
port of the Church and school was liberal,
frequent and voluntary. He labored for the
common good and the elevation of mankind.
Some three years ago, to the regret and sor-
row of all who knew him, "God's finger
ouched him, and he slept."

All honor be, then, to these gray old men,
When at last they are bowed with toil;
Their warfare then o'er, they battle no more,
For they've conquered the stubborn soil.
And the chiwplet each wears, is the silver hairs,
And ne'er shall the victor's brow
With a laurel crown to the grave go down,
Like the pioneer sons — of fame, renown.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

133

CHAPTER Xin.*

ASHLAND PRECINCT— PHYSICAL FEATURES— EARLY SETTLERS— PIONEER TIMES— SCHOOLS
AND CHURCHES— THE VILLAGE OF ASHLAND.

THE first settlers, who gazed upon the broad
waste of prairie, the unmolested groves,
dense and tangled with brush and briar, be-
fore a plow had touched the virgin soil, or an
ax had struck a tree, little thought that all
this wilderness, in their own day, before their
own locks were silvered with the thread of
time, would be made to blossom as a garden.
Little thought had they of seeing beautiful
homes, waving fields of golden grain, green
pastures and grazing herds, where the
bounding deer, crouching panther and howl-
ing wolf, held unmolested sway.

Little thought they that in their time, fur-
naces, forges, fire and steam, amid the noise
and whirl of swift and bright machinery,
would sow, reap, bind, thresh, grind and
market their grain. Labor and invention are
man's greatest functions, and wonderful are
the changes the past half century has wrought.

Ashland Precinct has an area of twenty-
two miles. It formerly was much larger, in-
cluding a greater portion of Philadelphia
Precinct within its original boundary. There
is but little timber within its present
limits ; Panther Grove, in the northern por-
tion of the precinct, with here and there a few
scattering trees, may be said to be all the
timber worth mentioning. The land origi-
nally was mostly prairie ; it is quite level
but very productive. The soil is of a dark
color and varies from one to three feet in depth.

There are no streams worthy of mention in
the precinct; Panther Creek takes its rise in

• Hy J. L. Nichols.

Panther Grove, and becomes quite a stream in
its course to the Sangamon River.

Mr. Eli Cox was the first settler who came
into Ashland Precinct; he " blazed" the first
tree on the corner of his claim in 1818, and he
is one of the oMe t settlers of Cass County.
He is very peculiar and anomalous in his
ways, accumulating considerable property and
money, but never could be induced to deposit
his surplus mone / outside of his own house
or premises, deeming the banks very hazard
ous and unsif , and consequently he has been
the victim of robbers for the third time. The
last time he was assaulted was Aug. 19, 1S8;2.
A party of masked villains burst into his
apartments, thinking he had some $3,000 in
his possession, and tortured him in a very
brutal manner; they placed burning coals at
his feet, heated a poker, and cruelly and dan-
gerously burnt other portions of his body;
also hanging him by the neck several times,
hoping thereby to force from him a confession
as to th ' whereabouts of his money, but the
Wednesday previous he had been prevailed
upon by his lawyer in Jacksonville to de-
posit his money in a bunk, and conspquently
the fiends sf^cured but $45 as the reward of
their midnight assault upon a helpless and
d^'fonceicss old man. A family by he name
of Shiltz occupied a portion of the house, but
their guns being unload d, the family were
rendered helpless, and with cocked revolvers
at their door were quietly requested to icinain
in their apartments.

In 1850, Mr. Cox settled on his present
farm, where he has ever since resided. Will-

134

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

iam Crow and William Cooper settled in the
precinct soon after Mr. Cox had located.
Ashland Precinct was not generally settled
till comparatively a late date, the land beinjr
mostly prairie, and the first settlers, coming
from timbered countries, thought it impossible
to locale on the prairie, where there was no
timber. David R. Short made an effort in
1830, to get away from the timber, and took
up a claim where Joshua Atkins now resides,
but after the first year's trial he became dis-
couraged, and sold out his interest in the
land to his uncle, Samuel Short, who resided
then in Sangamon County. Even at that late
date it was thought by most of the settlers
that the^prairies would remain an " everlasting
waste," but they were soon undeceived, for
the prairie lands soon became the most desira-
ble to be secured. In 1831, Stephen Lee
built a cabin in Panther Grove, and John
Miller and Alfred Dutch soon moved into the
precinct, and began improving farms. In
1824, when Adams, Jackson and Clay ran for
president, there were not enough settlers in
the precinct to organize an election, and it
was several months after the election before
they heard the result.

The deep snow occurred in the winter of
1830 and 1831, and this seems to be the
principal data the old settlers have, dating
most of the events of their early history in
the settlement of the county, as occurring be-
fore and after that winter. Charivaring and
dancing were the principal amusements of the
young. The charivari is of French origin,
but quite generally practiced as a means of
amusement in that early day, and to some
extent at the present.

Mr. Alfred Dutch built the first frame house
ever erected in the precinct, in 1834. It was
an elegant building for those early times, but
he came with some means, and took pride in
making himself and family comfortable.

The first settlers received but little mail,

and the first post office was at Jacksonville.
Their market was St. Louis, and the journey
there, a distance of lOO miles or more, took
from seven to eighteen days, tlie roads being
very roundabout, and often very difficult.
They drove, also, their cattle and hogs to that
distant market, a task which the farmers of
to-day would deem almost an impossibility.
Those who have lived only in the era of rail-
roads, steamships and electricity, know but
little of the privations, hardships and suffer-
ings their pioneer fathers endured; they know
but little of what it was to build cabins, subdue
the wild prairies, and narrow down the groves,
with no tools or machinery except the ax,
spade and plow; but those times have forever
passed away, and will only be known as facts
of history.

The first pioneers of the precinct were not
a Godless people, but early and devotedly
counseled together, devising every means
possible for promoting religious and moral
influences in the community. They held
meetings in private cabins, school-houses
and groves; wherever a few Cliristian families
could assemble, the word of God would
be preached. Peter Cartwright, the famous
pioneer preacher, was a devoted friend to the
early settlers in this section of the country.
As early as 1823 we find him preaching in
the cabin of Mr. Crow, to the following fami-
lies: Samuel Short, William Cooper, S;ephen
Short, John Cox, Samuel Robinson, R. Heads-
peth, William Miller, and James Watson.
Many similar meetings in various cabins of
the settlers were held for many years.

The Centenary M. E. Church, in the north-
ern part of the precinct, took its name from
the Centennial year of Methodism in America.
The church society was first organized at the
the residence of Samuel Sinclair, in 1853,
with the following families: Joseph Bowers,
John Cheatham, John Gill, and Jonathan
Gill. Mr. Sinclair was a minister of the

<J)it^/tH^-C ^C^^*^^^^

l'^/lv^

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

137

gospel himself, and he and his wife, Myra
Ann, did more than all others in working up
the interest which finally culminated in the
present prosperous church organization.
They opened their own house for church ser-
vices, entertaining and feeding all that came.
They were a very hospitable family and did
much good, not only as christian workers,
but as citizens and neighbors; they were ever
ready and willing to assist those who were
less fortunate than themselves.

Rev. James Garner was among the first
ministers of that neighborhood, and held oc-
casional services at the residence of Mr. Sin-
clair, till the fall of 1857, when the school
house was built, where he, in connection with
Lewis Mathews, M. Monroe, and Revs. Ayers
and Hewitt continued preaching for three
years or more. The Circuit was then organ-
ized ind Rev. J. Mitchell was appointed as
the regular pastor. Mr. Mitchell was one of
the most successful revivalists that was ever
appointed to the charge; he often preached
five and six weeks in succession without any
assistance, holding meetings every afternoon
and evening. Peter Cartwright, the Presid-
ing Elder, called him " Whalebone," a term
very appropriate, considering his ambition
and endurance. The society built their pres-
ent church in 1866. It is a beautiful frame
building, very conveniently adapted for the
purpose for which it was built.

Rev. William Stribling, from Jacksonville,
a retired minister, gave five acres of land for
the building and support of the church. Mr.
Stiibling was very generous in the use of his
acquired property, giving a greater portion
of it to the schools and churches of the coun-
try. The building committee was made up of
the two Samuel Sinclairs and John Beggs.
The first trustees of the church were: John
Beggs, Samuel Sinclair, Joseph Bowers, and
Levi M. Ream. The present membership of
the church is forty.

A Sabbath school of considerable inter-
est has been successfully conducted in con-
nection with the church. It was first organ-
ized in Fly Point school-house, with about
thirty scholars. At present both church and
Sabbath school are very interestedly at work,
and the work of both has become a strong,
stimulating force in the community.

There were no schools organized in the pre-
cinct, till a comparatively late date, for the
prairies were not generally settled till about
1858 or '(30. The first school-house built in
the precinct in 1855, was known as the
Begg's school-house. The children in the
southern part in an early day, attended a
school in Morgan County, located in the grove
near Mr. John Cox.

At the present day school-houses are con-
veniently located all over the precinct, no
scholars being compelled to walk to school
more than a mile, or a mile and a half, at
most. The educational interests are well
guarded, and the general intelligence of the
growing youth is ample testimony that the
present schools and present school systems
are not, and have not been, a failure.

Ashland Village. — The name was taken
from the home of that great Kentucky states-
man, Henry Clay, who was long known as the
Sage of Ashland. Many of the earlier settlers
coming from Kentucky, it is not strange that
they should associate the name of their town
with the memory of that noble and eloquent
orator, so long the pride of their native State.

In 1857, shortly after the Tonica & Peters-
burg Raih'oad, since known as the Alton, was
surveyed, a company was organized for the
purpose of laying out a town and speculat-
ing in the sale of lots. This company con-
sisted of Elmore Crow, James L. Beggs, Will-
iam G. Spears, Richard Yates (the famous
war-governor of Illinois), and others, whose
names we were not able to obtain. The
trustees of the Jacksonville Female Academv

138

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

purchased a half interest, for the purpose of
adding the net proceeds of the sale of lots to
the general fund of the school.

The land upon which the village is located
was originally owned by Elmore Crow, who
reserved a proportional interest when he
deeded the land to the company. He owned
al)out GOO acres, of which nearly one half was
laid out into village lots. The boundary of
the village, as originally laid out, was as fol-
lows : Commencing at a point one-fourth of
one mile due west of the southeast corner of
section twenty-nine, township seventeen,
range eight, west of the third principal mer-
idian in the County of Cass, State of Ills.,
running due north one half mile, thence due
east one mile, thence due south one mile,
thence due west one mile, thence due north
one half mile, to the point of starting. Be-
side the public squares and commons, tlie
lots were divided into 144 blocks.

The laying out of Ashland was not a mat-
ter of speculation alone. Those that invest-
ed in lots, made the purchase with the view
of improving them for either a residence or
place of business, and often both. A thriving
corn crop was growing on the ground when
the lots were staked off. Several who are
now residents of the village, remember dis-
tinctly when they bound wheat and husked
corn on the very ground where the principal
business places are built. Mr. Crow's house
was the first building erected within the
present limits of the town; he being a farmer
and owning the land, had improved it to a
limited extent. The old building yet stands,
and is known as the Douglass boarding house.
About forty buildings were on the grounds
the first year. A little village or burgh, con-
sisting of perhaps a dozen houses, and known
by the name of Rushaway, was moved to
Ashland and became a part of the town. The
first two public sales of lots amounted to
$102,000. There were also many jjrivate

sales, and the business of selling lots for a
time was financially a success.

W. R. Hunter was among the first merch-
ants of the village. He built a store on Main
street and began a general grocery and dry-
goods trade, and continued in business at
the above named place some four years,
when he entered into partnership with J. M.
.lones. They continued business under the
firm name of Hunter & Jones, buying grain in
connection with their general store trade till
1873, when Mr. Hunter sold out his interest
in the store and entered exclusively into the
grain trade. Mr. Hunter may be called the
oldest business man in the village, he being
one of the first to engage and has ever since
been identified with the business of the town,
biung at present largely interested in the
grain trade.

William Goble and Alexander Mansfield
built a store and began business about the
time Mr. Hunter opened his store. They
continued business about two years, when
they became financially embarrassed, and
their stock was sold out under the Shoriif 's
hammer. The building which they erected,
however, is still in existence, being changed
to a dwelling, and at present is owned by Mr.
O. P. Lewis.

From 18G3 to 1866, there was but one gen-
eral store in the town, viz.: Hunter & Jones.
They did an extensive business, and were
widely known as straightforward, thorough
business men. The first post office was kept
in their store, and W. R. Hunter was the regu-
larly appointed postmaster. He was succeeded
by W. AV. Redman, who has held that position
ever since. Mr. llediaan was also interested
in the drug business previous to the fire. He
is a man widely known and universally re-
spected.

Previous to the opening of the present post
office, the settlers procured their mail at Lan-
caster, some three and a half miles distant.

IIISTOKY OF CASS COUNTY.

139

Tlie first hotel of the villaare is the present
brick building now used for that purpose, and
owned and run by J. L. Clark. The building
was first built by a company consisting of the
following persons : Elmore Crow, James L.
Bcggs, and William Spears.

The first blacksmith shop was put up by
Leander Grandy, just north of the present
site of the Methodist Church.

Another about the same time was started
by Andrew Henderson, who was shortly after
bought out by John L. Douglas, and he in
turn after continuing the business for one
year or thereabouts, sold out to Messrs.
Crow and Beggs. This shop stood just west
of the present hotel, on the south side of the
street. It has long since disappeared and
others hive taken its place. About the same
time the blacksmith business was begun, a
wagon shop was opened by William Bready.
He followed the business with moderate suc-
cess for three years. The present wagon
shop is doing a prosperous business, and is
run by Charles Goodman. In 18T3 the pres-
ent elevator was built by Messrs. Hunter,
Duey & Co. It is the only building of the
kind in the town. Mr. Hunter, since the com-
pletion of the building, bought out the inter-
est of his partners and conducts the business
himself. It is a frame structure, conveniently
built and modernly improved, costing $8,000.
Mr. Hunter is one of the prominent grain
deale.-s of the village, and handles over 100,-
000 bushels of grain annually. The other
grain firms doing business in the town are,
E. Beggs, and Hamilton & Duey.

January 18, 1868, a meeting of the promi-
nent citizens took place for the purpose of
arranging an election for the purpose of in-
corporating the village. Tlie election which
shortly afterward followed, resulted in thirtv-
five ballots in favor, and four against, incor-
poration, and the following persons were
elected as members and officers of the villao-e

board : Stephen Barnes, President ; W. R.
Hunter, Clerk; J. G. Smith, Police Magis-
trate ; James L. Beggs, A. L. Corson, and J.
G. Smith.

Previous to the building of the O. & M. R.
R., in J 871, the growth of the town was not
rapid, and the business it did was not of a
very pressing character ; but on the comple-
tion of the new railroad, real estate business,
and building took a new start, and Ashland
at once took her place as one of the most
prosperous business towns of the county, and
at its present ratio of progress it will soon
rival the county-seat itself.

In 1877 the village met with a serious
draw-back and heavy losses by fire. The
most central and thriving business portion of
the town was totally consumed. The fire
originated in a small barber shop some time
early in the evening, and was not discovered
till midnight, when it was found to be entirely
lieyond all control; but new and better build-
ings have taken the place of the old, and the
prosperity of the town seems in no way to
feel the effects of that devastating fltme.
There are now many brick buildings orna-
menting the business streets, and many more
are contemplated ; the future business out-
look seems very flattering.

The members of the present village board
are David Middour, President; Myer Hexter,
Treasurer ; Samuel Short, Police Magistrate ;
William Duke, Street Commissioner ; John
Fansher, Frank Lohman, T. A. Duey, Eli M.
Wyatt, John King, and J. G. Pearn, Clerks.

Schools. — The founders of the villag-e of
Ashland early looked after the culture, char-
acter and education of their children. They
seemed to heartily indorse the idea of plac-
ing them early under the influences which
awaken their faculties, inspires them with
higher principles, and fits them to bear a
manly, useful and honorable part in the
world. To take the child in all his ignorance,

140

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

weakness, ami dopen<Jence, exposed to evil
influences and tc'inptations on every hand,
and lead him through the devious and danger-
ous paths of childhood and youth, and finally
place him upon the battle-field of life, with
the proper armor of truth and education, is a
duty and a responsibility that no parent should
neglect or set aside with indifference for the
purpose of economy or the care of business,
for no language can express the folly of that
economy, which, to leave a fortune to a child,
starves his intellect and impoverishes his heart.

The citizens of Ashland, mindful of these
weighty responsibilities, organized a school
in 18.59, in an old grocery building, near
where Mr. John Huston now resides. The
building had previously been used for a store-
house, then a saloon, and finally metamor-
phosed into a school-room. Mr. George
Coffin had the honor of governing and teach-
ing the first school within the village limits.
He laid the foundation to the present school
system, which, in past years, has reflected so
much credit upon the town and surrounding
country. The school was continued iiere till
the fall of 1862, when it was moved to the
present site, or near where the present brick
school building stands. The school was then
continued in the old building till 1866, when
the present building of two rooms was erected.

The directors that designed and directed
the work were W. S. Douglass, Madison Dad-
isman and J. M. Jones. But the following
year tested the strength and durability of the
walls ; quite a severe storm occurred, and the
upper portion of the building was totally de-
stroyed, the walls of the lower story alone re-
maining. It was not so much in the extra-
ordinary severity of the storm, as it was in
the defect of the masonry and architectural
structure of the building in general. It was
poorly built and its fall was only a matter of
time. The community were very fortunate, for
there was no s hool in progress, or otherwise

many scholars might have been seriously in-
jured, if not killed.

The building was at once repaired, and is
j^et in a state of good preservation. Mr. .fohn
Full was the first teacher in the new brick
building, and did much credit to himself in the
able manner in which he conducted the school.

A new building is now in progress, the
cost of which is estimated at $8,000. The
citizens of Ashland do not propose to be be-
hind their neighboring villages in school
buildings or in general school work. The
contemplated building will probably be the
finest and best building in the town, and no
pains or cost will be spared to make it one of
the best schools of the county. The di-
rectors who have the building in charge are
William S. Douglass, William M. Jones and
Silas Hexter. The present teachers are John
Pearn and Carrie Redman.

Churches. — Ashland M. E. Church was
first organized in 1857, at what was known as
the Mi;chell school-house, one mile southwest
of the present site of the village of Ashlaml.
The members that constituted the first organ-
ization are as follows: Asel, Jane, Ann, Mary,
Maria J., Mahala, and A. C. Douglass, Samuel
and Lavina Short, John L. Douglass, Mary
Holaway, Thomas Foxvvorthy, Andrew Welch,
Nancy and G. W. Foxworthy. The first
minister that administered to the spiritual
wants of the settlers, was Rev. W. J. Newm ,n,
with Rev. G. M. Crays as assistant. Rev.
George Rutledge was the first presiding
elder. The society held irregular meetings
at the above named place for several 3'ears.
A Sabbath School of some considerable inter-
est was annually organized, and successfully
conducted through the year by leading mem-
bers of the Society. The meetings were usu-
ally well attended, and the children were well
represented in the Sabbath School. In 1861,
the church was re-organized in Ashland,
with the following members: James and Sarah

HISTOUY OF CASS COUNTY.

14)

Cresse, Asel, Jane, Ann, Mary, Mahala, and
A. C. Douo'lass, J. Bdycouit, Basil Green-
wood and wife, Mary Boycourt, Richard Arn-
old and wife, Mary Campbell, George Coffin
and wife, Jane High, John Townseri, Charles
and George Zirkle, Israel, Mary and Cecilia
Towsen, Jacob, Mabel, and Margaret Shuck,
AVilliam Bearden, Samantha Brcady, Francis
Mitchell, Ellizalieth Bready Hathaway, Leland
and Addie Mitchell, S. E. Beggs, Trifena
Greenwood, William W. and Nancy J. Red-
man, Henry HoUinshead, Eliza, Madison,
Silva and William Campbell.

Ashland had been laid out but a few years,
and a place of meeting was with some diffi-
culty secured. The first meetings were hold
in a store or store house, now owned by
Austin Lewis. These were the first religious
services held in the village of Ashland. In
those first devotional Christian meetings, dedi-
cating the embryo village with its business,
with its prosperity, and with its prospects to
God, has not been entirely without fruit.
There are many happy homes, happy wives,
and happy children, who owe their pleasant
circumstances and surroundings to the social
and religious influences of the Methodist
Episcopal church. Though there is much
wickedness in their midst, the friends of
strong drink are numerous; religion and tem-
perance have not the desired control, but
those dedicating prayers were heard, and will
yet be answered. "Though the mills of God
grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding
small; though with patience He stands wait-
ing, with exactness grinds He all."

The meetings were continued for a time in
the above named place; the building being
needed for other purposes, the society con-
tinued their regular sabbath services in the
rooms of the hotel, and shortly after occupied
the Ashland school house, where regular ser-
vices were continued till the present church
was built. During the time the meetings

were held in the store, hotel and school- house.
Rev. Jeremiah Mitchell officiated as pastor.

The present church was built in 1870, at a
cost of $4,000. It is a handsome frame struc-
ture, built upon the lots given to the society
by the village authorities. It is at present
the finest church edifice in the precinct. It
was dedicated by the Rev. Mr. Buck, who
preached a very appropriate and soul-stirring
sermon. The building committee was made
up of the following members viz.: James L.
Beggs, Jesse Newman and J. M. Jones. The
present trustees are Samuel Hamilton, Edwin
Beggs, Robert G. Hewit, and W. W. Redman.
The present membership is 70. The promi-
nent pastors who have labored for the spiritual
interests of the society, were E. K. Shields, J. J.
Garner, Wingate Newman, G. Garner, and E.
B. Randle, the latter being the present pastor.

A Sabbath School of more than ordinary
interest has been successfully kept up in con-
nection with the church ever since its first
organization. At present about 100 scholars
are in attendance, and M. F. Short is the
present Superintendent. He is a man well
qualified, and has long been identified as one
of the most energetic Sunday school workers
of the county.

The Church has at times been greatly
strengthened, and its membership considera-
bly increased, by the zealous labors of some
of its prominent pastors. Perhaps the most
prominent revival in the history of the Church
was that conducted by the talented E. K.
Shields, who in the winter of 1875, converted
nearly one hundred persons. The town be-
came thoroughly awakened by his stirring and
pathetic appeals; his sermons, though strong,
forcible and eloquent, were touching, and
reached the heart of many an erring sinner.

The church at present is very prosperous;
Rev. Mr. Randle is a young man of consider-
able ability, and is earnest and untiring in
his ministeral labors.

143

HISTORY OF CASS COaNTY.

Tlie Ashland Catholic Church was first
organized at the residence of Martin Tyes, in
February, 1871, by the Rev. Father August
Joseph Sauer, and the following members
with their families, professing the Catholic
faith, were present; Thomas Guley, Edward
Leahy, Wm. Kennedy, John Martin, Morris
Burus, Cornelius Hurley, and some others
whose names the writer was not able to ob-
tain. The society, after being formally organ-
ized, as above mentioned, held their next
meetings in the Ashland school-house, where
they continued their regular Sabbath services
for nearly two years, when they purchased
two lots of Matthew Jones, and built a small
frame-building, in which the society has held
its regular meetings till the present time.
The capacity of this building was too small to
conveniently accommodate the increasing
membership of the church, and in 1880 Rev.
Father T. M. Hogan was appointed to the
charge, for the purpose of investigating the
prospects of building a new church. He
found the members not only financially able,
but enthusiastic, willing, and ready, to enter
heartily into the work. Father Hogan is a
man of stirring energy as well as talent, and
ably fitted for the work that is now so
prosperously in progress. His first collection
in the winter of 1881 amounted to $1,800.
The fair in January, 1882, under his immediate
supervision, netted |il,314, making a total of
$3,114 as a preparatory fund for beginning
the contemplated church. Fivj lots, located
in the western portion of ihe town, were at
once purchased from William Mathers, at a
cost of $300, and the work of building imme-
diately begun. The building was begun
May G, 1882, and it measures ninety-six feet
in length and forty feet in width, its spire
seventy-five feet in height. It is a frame-
fitructure, and when completed will be one of
the finest churches in the county. Its cost is
estimated at 85,500.

The members that constitute the building
committee are James Collins and Edward
Leahy. Father Hogan, however, personally
supervises the work and sees that suitable
material is used and proper labor emplo3-ed.

The Church at present has sixty members
as heads of families. The pastors of the
Church, from the first organization to the pres-
ent time, are as follows: J. A. Sauer, Michael
Ryan, Father O'Hare, and T. M. Hogan.

The Church has a prosperous outlook for
the future, and, no doubt, will in time become
one of the strongest and most permanent of the
Churches of the country.

Societies.— Oak Lodge I. O. O. F., No. 341,
was first organized at Prentice, Morgan Coun-
ty, Oct. 9, 1867, and moved to Ashland Oct.
10, 1877. The members that were most en-
ergetic in originating the movement of organ-
izing a lodge were the charter members,
which are as follows, viz.: John L. Douglass,
John M. Berry, John M. Brockman, John W.
Daniel, Martin Berry, Sumner Daniel, Samuel
Hurt, Benjamin Berry, and John W. Crura.

The first election of officers in the order re-
sulted in the following choice: John M. Ber-
ry, N. G., John Crum, V. G., John Brockman,
Secy., Albert Short, Treas., John L. Douglass,
Warden, and John Daniel, Conductor. The
lodge meets every Tuesday evening, and has
a membership of twenty- three. The present
officers are: David Middour, N. G., T. A.
Duey, V. G., Myer Hexter, Secy., John L.
Douglass, Warden, Eli J. Salsenstein, Treas.,
Silas Hexter, Conductor.

The following members have been honored
with the office of Noble Grand, viz. : John
L. Douglass, Albert Short, John Daniel, Sum-
ner Daniel, Silas Hexter, Myer Hexter, B. C.
Elmore, Eli J. Salsenstein, T. A. Duey, Wil-
liam Duke, and a few others, whose names
could not be obtained. The lodge, though
not large, is progressive, and a large member-
ship is but a matter of time.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

143

CHAPTER XIY.*

ARENZVILLE PRECINCT— ITS EARLY HISTORY— THE THREE MILE TERRITORY— EARLS"
RESIDENCE OF THE SETTLERS— EMIGRANTS FROM GERMANY— SCHOOL-HOUSES
AND CHURCHES IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS— THE VILLAGE OF ARENZVILLE—
FIRST LOTS SURVEYED— BUSINESS OF THE TOWN— CHURCHES AND
SCHOOL-HOUSES IN THE VILLAGES— SOME OF THE PROMI-
NENT MEN OF THE TIME— FRANCIS ARENZ, JOHN L.
CIRE, DR. GE0H6K ENGELBACH, AND OTHERS-
MISCELLANEOUS, ETC., ETC.

IN order to prepare a complete history of
the orecinc-t of Arenzville, it will be nec-
essary to refer to some events which preceded
its organization.

By an act of the legislature, passed in
1837, it was declared that the County of Cass
should be one of the counties of this State,
that the county seat should be located at
Boardstown on the public square, that the cit-
izens or corporation should raise ten thousand
dollars to defray the expenses of erecting
public buildings, payable in one, two and
three 3'ears from the passage of the law afore-
said; that an election for county officers should
be held on the first Monday of August, 1837;
that Thomas Pogue and Dr. O. M. Long, no-
taries public in Beardstown, should open and
examine the poll books in presence of one or
more justices of the peace, etc.

This act contai led in it the germs from
which afterward bitter contentions arose
about the county seat.

Cass County having been formed from the
northern part of Morgan, this last mentioned
county had retained the south halves of the
townships north of the line, dividing town-
ships Sixteen and Seventeen. This caused
considerable dissatisfaction among the inhab-
itants of what was generally called "the

• liy Judge J. A. Arcnz.

three-mile territory," because the geograph-
ical situation of the country and the then ex-
isting settlements, were of such nature as to
incline the people to prefer to belong to
the County of Cass.

Arguments were futile, and it was useless
to expect to obtain relief by means of a new
election when it was known by everyone
that the county of Morgan could outvote
Cass ten to one upon any question upon
which both might be interested.

Finally John W. Pratt, the member in the
legislature from Cass, with the assistance of
Francis Arenz, who at that time was one of
the six members from Morgan and a resident
within this three-mile territory, succeeded in
obtaining the passage of an act of the Gen-
eral Assembly on Feb. 26, 1845, allowing the
people within said three miles to decide by
their votes, at an election to be held on the
first Monday of May, 1845, to which county
they would prefer to belong. This act further
provided that all justices and constables in
Morgan, who may reside in this territory,
should hold their offices in the county of
Cass, and for judges of election at the desig-
nated places of voting; the following persons
were appointed: David Epler, John A.
Arenz and Edward W. Turner, at Arenzville;
Jacob Yaples, George Petefish and Peter Con-
over, at the house of Henry Price; Jonathan

144

HISTOUY OF ( ASS COUNTY.

C. Bergen, William Montgomery and Z. W.
Gatton, at Princeton; William Berry, Alfred
Dutch and John Miller, at the house of Will-
iam Berry.

This election resulted in nearly a unani-
mous vote for Cass County, only a few dis-
senting votes having been cast.

John A. Arenz and Charles Coffin, having
been elected justices of the peace in Morgan
County, continued to hold their offices in the
new precinct of Arenzville, with the following
boundary: commencing on the line between
Morgan and Cass Counties, at the southeast
corner of section 33, town 17.11, thence run-
ning west to the Illinois river, thence along
said river to the dividing line between sec-
tions 2 and 11, in township 17.13, thence run-
ning east on said section line to the northeast
corner of section 9, township 17.11, thence
south to the place of beginning.

The persons voting at Arenzville, for or
against attaching the three-mile territory to
Cass County, are as follows: Joseph Thomp-
son, Thomas Thompson, Jacob Lawrence,
John Altman, Frederick Lang, G. H. Rich-
ards, David Epler, William Taj'lor, E. Hardy,
H. B. Dun, Shad. Dun, Henry Meyer, Will-
iam Kimball, L. B. Kimbal, Thomas Cook,
Peter Light, Julius Philippi, Jacob Heinz, Jno.
Orchard, James Jackson, J. L. Cire, Omar
Bowyer, David Griffin, James C. Robertson,

D. Wagner, Joel Stewart, Christ. Lovekamp,
Frederick Brauer, Charles Sandman, W. H.
Houston, Peter Arenz, I. P. McLane, Francis
Mitchell, J. Creson, Goorge W. McLane,
Jep. Weagle, Jacob Epler, James New-
man, George* McPherson, Richard Mathews,
N. Carter, Frederick Lovekamp, Henry
Howell, Alexander Ferguson, Henry Wede-
king, Jacob Drinkwater, Frederick Kilver,
Sq. Houston, H. Lippert, James V. Pierce,
Charles Cooper, Jeremiah Cawood, Joseph
Houston, Daniel Sumner, Peter Schaaf, Elder
Hardy, George A. Treadway, Charles Rob-

e rtson, Christ. Rahe, John Marshall, Christ
Grave, Victor Krueger, Henry Goedeking,
Philip Yaeck, Louis Boy, Isaac Drinkwater,
Henry Phelps, Silas Miller, Randal Miller,
Thomas Burnet, Samuel Harris, George Heg-
ener, Henry Lovekamp, Frederick Fricke,
Daniel D. Comstock, David Sharp, Isaac
Houston, Adam Schuman, Frederick Wede-
king, William Teilkemeier, Herman Love-
kamp, Frederick Hackman, J. L. Comstock,
Daniel Dun, Henry Carls, John Carls, Henry
Krems, John Houston, William Hackman,
William Meyer, Herman Eberwein, J. F.
Skinner, George Manuel, Alexander Pitner,
Henry Detraer, Joseph M. Webster, George
Gunther, John Thompson, George Diehm,
Henry Buck, J. C. Carter, John James, Tenna
James, Nicholas Houston, Theo. Burchird,
Isaac Coy, Henry Menke, Jacob Menke,
Frederick Kummel, Charles Merz, John Wies,
John Doell, Christ. Crowell, John Masch, M.
P. Bowyer, V. G. Smith, J. A. Arenz, Joseph
Thompson, Joseph Kircher, G. Hackman.

There were also inhabitants of the Arenz-
ville Precinct, who voted at the house of
Henry Price, which was their nearest voting
place; among that number were: Oswell
Thompson, Christ. Crum, James Crum, who
came from Indiana in 1830, and who is the
only living person among the first settlers in
that neighborhood, and nearly 76 years old.
There also voted Thomas Fozzart, John
Wood, Charles Jockisch, William Reside,
Ernest Fletcher, David Wilson, John Dobson,
John Clark, William Nesbit, Anthony Boston,
William C. Miller, L. C. Pitner, Thomas
Nesbit, David Hamacker, J. H. Melone,
Samuel McClure and others.

The residences of the people at an early
day were log houses, having generally one or
two doors, one little window, or none at all,
a big fire-place, and the furniture therein was
generally a table or big chest, a bed and a
a few split-bottom chairs, which so completely

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

145

covered the floor, that only a few visitors at a
time could ffet inside the house. The door
had on such occasions to be 'eft open, so that
one could at least see who his next neighbor
was. These cabins were so open and airj-,
that in winter the snow would blow through
the cracks, and in summer swarms of mosqui-
toes would surround the sleeper, and if ^he
party could not afford the luxury of a bar, he
must either have the hide of an elephant or
be entirely insensible to pain. To scare off
mosquitoes, some people made a big fire of
weeds before their cabins in the evening, or
in the fire-place, and under cover of the tre-
mendous smoke arising, under coughing and
sneezing, the evenings were passed, and
thus the nights. Very early rising was the
order of the day, for as soon as daylight
faintly approached, every one hurried to leave
his bed. There was no necessity of calling
any one to get up; the flies would relieve the
mosquitoes from duty and perform this work
effectually. In almost every house, or in the
shed part of the cabin, was found a spinning-
wheel and loom, to manufacture the yarn and
weave the clothing and bedding for family
use. The women were exclusively the manu-
facturers of these useful things, and on days
of gatherings, or on Sundays, when people
assembled for church purposes, before the
service commenced, it was spoken of, how
many yards of jeans, linsey-woolsey, socks,
etc., had been manufactured by Mrs. So and
So. The surplus of these articles not used
for family purposes, were brought to the stores
for sale, and jeans, socks, knit gloves and mit-
tens, came in such abundance, that the store-
keeper could not dispose of the same here,
and had to ship them to St. Louis, then the
New York of the western country.

Among the early emigrants from Germany,
were many who had been accustomed to good
society, and had enjoyed the advantages of
superior education. Some held diplomas from

colleges and universities. As most Germans,
they were lovers of music, and some could
play on one or more musical instruments.
The pioneer lives in a new country, where
hard labor, coupled with innumerable priva-
tions, without amusements of any kind, neces-
sarily drew that class together, who could not
bring themselves to the belief that the only
aim and object in life should henceforth be
devoted to hard work only, for which they at
best could only get l)oard and clothing.
They were generally called the "Latin farm-
ers."

A club, or society circle was formed, and
social gatherings were had, sometimes at the
house of one member, sometimes at another.
Little concerts were gotten up, the instruments
being piano, violin, flute, and violoncello.
Dancing parties were occasionally arranged,
and large hunting parties. A musical band
was afterwards organized under the leader-
ship of a Mr. Holtzermann. Tliis social circle
continued for many years, until finally, when
the number had increased to such proportion
that no room was large enough to liold them,
and some of the original members had by
death, or removal to other parts of the country,
made their places vacant, this very pleasant
and useful club came to an end.

Whenever an opportunity offered to play
some practical joke upon a new comer, it was
eagerly seized. One of these, which caused
considerable merriment, is herewith narrated:
Several new emigrants having arrived, some
of the older settlers went with them into the
prairie, to select a piece of land for farming
purposes. A skunk, or pole-cat, was seen in
the grass, and it was given out that these
animals were highly prized for their beauty
and valuable fur, and it ought to be secured
by all means. To shoot it would d image the
fur, as it was alleged. One of these new
ones was told to approach very cautiously
and cover it with his hat, which ho adroitly

146

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

accomplislietl; but the animal at that moment
squirted its perfume at him, some of which
reached his face and bosom. The man ran
and jumped about, gesticulating wildly witii
arms and body, vomiting and hallowing, " Oh
Lord! Oh Lord!" He was asked what was
the matter, whether he was sick; to which ho
replied, " Don't you smell that infernal stink,
or are your noses lined with cast iron? " Al-
though it was at first pretended that no bad
smell was noticeable, the hearty laughter of
some of the party brought him to realize that
a joke had been practiced upon him. Noth-
ing could induce him to take the skunk, which
had then been shot, home with him. He
picked up his hat, which was a new one,
carrying it at arms length from his body,
marcliing sulkily in the rear of the party, and
when Arenzville was reached, the hat was
gone too — he had lost it willfully.

The hunting parties also furnished a great
many amusing incidents. Game of all de-
scription, was found in abundance. The ponds
along Indian Creek were, in the spring and
fall at times so covered with ducks that no
water could be seen.

In the summer of 1844, when the river had
been the highest ever known, the deer had
to leave the low land and retreat with their
young: to the sand-ridges, which were also sur-
rounded with water. Mr. William Carter,
then livingnearest to the Illinois river, caught
a great many fawns, which he penned up, and
when fully grown, shipped them to St. Louis.

The eastern portion of the Arenzville Pre-
cinct is upland and hilly, and from Arenzville
to the river, fine bottom land, interspersed
occasionally with sand-ridges. Indian Creek
is the main water course, into which the
Prairie Creek empties. The bottom lands
about Arenzville were covered with the finest
body of timber that could be found anywhere.
Od,k, maple, sycamore, backberry and walnut
trees, were of such gigantic growth, that many

furnished three saw logs, from three to four
feet in diameter.

After the population had increased, the
precinct was divided, and the western part
was named Indian Creek Precinct*

These precincts contain parts of Town 17.-
11, nearly all of Town 17.12, and Town 17.13.

In Town 17.11 are the following school-
houses:

District No. 1. Schoolhouse, also a church
near Monroe.

District No. 2. Schoolhouse, also a Ger-
man Methodist Church.

District No. 3. Two schoulhouses at Arenz-
ville, also three churches.

District No. 4. One schoolhouse, also a
Union church.

District No. 5. Schoolhouse, near Spring-
ger's.

District No. 6. Schoolhouse near Mathews.

District No. 7. Schoolhouse near Love-
kamp's.

Township 17.12.

District No. 1. Schoolhouse near Teilke-
meyer.

District No. 2. Schoolhouse near Wagner.

District No. 3. Schoolhouse near Thomas
Wilson.

District No. 4. Schoolhouse near A. Schu-
man; also a German Methodist and Lutheran
church.

Township 17.13.

District No. 1. Schoolhouse.

District No. 5. Schoolhouse near H. Kors-
meyer; also German Lutheran church near
Korsmeyer, and a Lutheran church near G.
H. Jost.

The Toton of AreuzvHle. — The first lots
wore survej-ed by J. A. Arenz in 1839, and

*The precinct of Indian Creek was set off from Arenzville,
in 1S67, but the history of the two precincts (Arenzville and
Indian Creek), are so closely interwoven, that the one can
hardly be written without the other, and all the history per-
taining to Indian Creek, wlH be lound in this chapter.
-Ed.]

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

147

he also made a survey of the town, to be called
Arenzviile, in 1852, which plot was filed and
recorded, Auafust 3, 1852. In 1857, the ex-
ecutors of F. Arenz, made an addition to said
town, and finally Thomas V. Finney prepared
a plot of Arenzviile and additions, which was
recorded October 20, 1870, in Vol. 31, page
364:, and adopted by the town trustees as to
the limits of said town, on Mav 22, 1878, and
organizing the town under the State laws.
The first organization of the town of Arenz-
viile occurred July 9, 1853, when the first
election for town trustees was held. Of the
board elected, Francis Arenz was the Presi-
dent; Dr. Julius Philippi, Clerk; Herman En-
gelbach, Treasurer; John Goebel, Supervisor;
Charles Heinz, Town Constable.

A set of ordinances were adopted.

The present officers of the town of Arenz-
viile, are: William L. McCarty, President; L.
J. Wallich, Clerk; R. J. Cire, Treasurer.
Town Trustees: Joseph Amtzen, Christopher
French, Daniel F. Fischer, Frederick Bode,
and J. W. Swope; W. B. Smith, Super-
visor; Henry Schaefer and James Wood,
Justices of the Peace in the Arenzviile Pre-
cinct; and Christopher French and Joseph
Richards, Constables.

The funded debt of the town amounts to
6*4,000. Saloon license is fixed at ^200, and
beer license at |)40 per annum.

There are in the town of Arenzviile eighty
dwelling houses, with about five hundred in-
habitants. The town is in a flourishinir con-

dition, and the following mentioned branches
of business are carried on there:

Estate of Herman Engelbach — General
store of merchandise, lumber yard and flour-
ing mill, with five runs of stones and a capac-
ity of eighty bbls. of flour per day; also an
elevator.

Hysinger & Graham — General store of mer-
chandise, clothing, boots and shoes. Sale,
last year, about $30,000.

J. L. Dyer — General store of merchandize.

Rigler & Shoopman — Grocery store.

L. Adams — Grocery store.

Cire & Cire — Books, stationery and no-
tions.

Swope & Yeck — Drugs and hardware..

William L. McCarty & William F. Arenz—
Drugs and hardware.

Mrs. C. H. Dahman — Millinery and ladies'
furnishing goods.

Mrs. S. E. Cutler — Millinery and ladies'
furnishing goods.

George Weeks — Saloon.

Edward Heinz — Saloon.

Michael Koerner — Brewery and saloon.

Charles Rewitz — Shoe and boot maker.

Henry Schaefer — Shoe and boot maker.

Joseph Richards — Barber.

Charles Rewitz, Jr. — Barber.

W. W. Dickerson — Barber.

Christopher French — Blacksmith and agri-
cultural implements.

John Rogge — Blacksmith and agricultural
implements.

William Dreesbach — Tannery.

B. F. Weeks— Tinner.

E. Heinz — Harness maker and saddler.

H. F. Meyer — -Wagon maker.

Frederick Nordsick — Wagon maker.

Henry Joeckel — Wagon maker.

G. F. Gerbing — Butcher.

Daniel Fischer — Carpenter and builder.

C. W. Kuechler — Carpenter and builder,
and paper hanger and painter.

L. J. Wallich — Furniture and undertaker.

M. B. Shewsbery — Painter.

J. W. Norton — Painter.

H. E. Rahn — Painter.

Frederick Bode — Brick yard.

Joseph Baujan — Brick yard.

Adam Herbert — Mason and bricklayer.

Val. Herbert — Mason and bricklayer.

Joseph Herbert — Masou and bricklayer.

Adam Herbert — Summer garden.

148

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

AYilliam Kraft — Cooper shop. '

J. M. Swope — -Physician.

John Dorpat — Physician.

W. B. Rigler — Physician.

JohnRahn — County assessor and treasurer.

E. Heinz — Boarding house.

F. Eastman — Dealer in grain.
HagenerBros. — Dealer in grain.

^ A. J. Saylor — Shipper of stock.

Theo. Launer — Shipper of stock.

L. J. Wallich — Notary Public.

C. H. Condit— Notary Public. '

There is also a branch of the Peoples' Bank
at Arenzville: C. H. Condit, Cashier, and A.
J. Saylor, Vice President.

The public school at Arenzville is visited
by about one hundred scholars: T. W. Dyer,
Principal, with one assistant. There is also
a private school. The first school-house v^as
built in 1839, and the present public school-
house was erected in 18G6. The old school-
house was also used for church purposes for
all denominations.

Churches. — In Arenzville are now three
churches, belonging to the following denomi-
nations: The Cumberland Presbyterians, the
Lutherans, and Catholics. The Presbyterians
have at present no regular minister. The
pastor of the German Lutheran is J. Droge-
miller, and the Catholics are supplied from
Beardstown.

After the new church had been built, in
1860, by the citizens of Arenzville, there was
a deficiency of funds to pay the contractor,
George Gunther, and the building was used
by all denominations, until finally in 1870, the
Cumberland Presbyterians became the owners
by paying the debt.

The first building used for religious services
was erected in 1839. It was open to all de-
nominations on Sundays, but at all other
times was devoted to school purposes. In the
year 1844, a German Lutheran church was
in the Howell neighborhood, an 1 soon after-

ward a German Methodist church, and in 1870
a very handsome new Lutheran church was
erected, and the old one used for a school
house. R. G. Linker is the pastor of the
Lutheran church, and Mr. Barth of the Meth-
odist church. About the year 1875, a Meth-
odist church was built in the neighborhood of
L. D. Graham's; also, five or six years ago,
two German Lutheran churches were erected
in the neighborhood of the farm of G. H. Jost,
of which Revs. Bosin and Merschroth are the
pastors.

A Union church was lately built near the
farm of J. Melon e.

School Hotises. — Among the first school
houses outside of Arenzville was one near
Pitner's farm, one on the land of George
Eng-elbach, and one in the Skinner neighbor-
hood. There were also schools established for
teaching in the winter in several neighbor-
hoods. Some person who was able to read or
write was engaged as teacher, and when the
season for farm work commenced again, these
teachers hired themselves to farmers.

An Odd Fellows' Lodge was organized in
1874, and the Order of the United Working-
men in 187G. Both were organized by L. J.
Wallich, who moved to Arenzville in 1869.
He is a native of Pennsylvania, and is 54 years
old; was also the Superintendent of the Union
Sabbath School from 1869 to the present
time, and for many years a Justice of the Peace
of the precinct, which office he filled worthily
and with ability.

Arenzville is a station on the Chicago, Bur-
lington & Quincy Railroad, 11 miles south-
west of Beardstown.

At the northern edge of the town of
Arenzville was a nice locust grove, wherein
generally the political meetings were held.
Men, who afterwards became distinguished
in the State and national councils, have made
speeches in this grove. Among the names
are mentioned: Stephen A. Douglas, Jas. A,

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

149

McDougal, John J. Hardin, Newton Cloud,
John Henry, Richard Yates, Murray McCon-
nell, Thos. M. Kilpatrick.

Morgan County then had two Senators and
four members in the House. In 1836 it was
customary that the candidates for office of
both political parties, at an appointed day and
place came together to address the people,
speaking alternately, the bank and tariff
questions furnishing the main subjects, the
speaker's stand being a large box or a table.

At such a meeting, in 183G, Mr. McDougal,
who was somewhat of a dandy, alwaj'S neatly
dressed, in his speech anathematized tiieWhig
party, calling the Whigs bankworshipers,
monopolists, aristocrats, silk stocking gentry,
etc. Mr. Hardin, who was slovenly in dress,
and cared nothing whether his shoes had any
strings to them or not, and who had taken his
seat on a corner of the speaker's table, seized
one leg of Mr. McDougal, held it up, point-
ing out to the crowd the fine prunella shoes
and silk stockings which he wore, saying that
the silk stocking gentry strutted upon Demo-
cratic legs, which raised a tremendous laugh-
ter.

The first funeral at Arenzville was that of
John Fuschka. He was an old bachelor
without any living relatives, had drifted
about in the world from place to place, never
receiving kind words or treatment, as he told
it, until he came to Arenzville, and found em-
ployment with Francis Arenz. By industrv
and frugal habits he had saved his wages and
acquired possession of eighty acres of good
land near the town. His last will and testa-
ment was writen by J. A. Arenz, to whom he
offered to bequeath one half of his land, and
the other half to his brother Francis. It was
pointed out to him, that neither of them need-
ed any such gift, and that he would perform a
generous act of benevolence, and perpetuate
his memory, by bequeathing his farm to the
school at Arenzville, to which he cheerfully

assented. Mr. Fuschka was not captivating
in appearance, small in size, but he possessed
a large soul, full of honesty and trustworihi-
ness. The citizens of Arenzville should honor
his grave and remember his generosity. The
farm is now cultivated by Casper Becker, and
the annual rent goes to the school fund.

John L. Cire came with Henry Kircher,
Frederick Diekel, Charles Coupor, Dr. Engel-
bach,H.Lij)pert, and others, in the latter part of
1834, having finished his education in the
seminary at Fulda. He built the first frame
house in Arenzville, where he kept a little
store, increasing his business from time to
time, as circumstances would permit. He
was Postmaster, Justice of the Peace, Town
and School officer, for many years. At the
time of his death, in 18S1, he held the office
of County Assessor and Treasurer, to which
he had been elected for the second time. He
left seven cliildrpn.

Dr. George Engelbach came here in 1831,
and bought the farm of Peter Taylor, where
he resided till his death, in 1811. By pro-
fession he was a doctor of medicine, but gave
up his practice and devoted his energies to
fanning. Having lost his wife by death, he
brought with him to this country his only
child, a boy about four years of age, named
Herman, and his aunt Link. Although un-
used to farming, by his iron will and industry
he became in time a pretty good farmer.

In 1810, he was elected to the office of
County Commissioner of Morgan County,
which place he filled with honor to himself,
and the approval of the people. He was the
only person of the so called " Latin farmers"
who held out, all the others having arrived
at the knowledge that farming was not profit-
able or pleasant, in the long run, and had
chosen other employments.

At the death of Dr. Engelbach, his son was
left under the care of Henry Kircher, as his
guardian, and exceedingly well and faithlul

150

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

was this trust performed. Young Encrelbach
received a very good education, and when he
had become of age, he made a trip to Europe,
visiting his relatives there. Upon his return,
in 1853, he associated himself with Peter
Arenz, and they bought the mill, store, and a
tract of land of Francis Arenz, and did a
very successful business until 1859, when
that firm was dissolved, and H. Engelbach
carried on the business thereafter in his own
name, until his deatli, on December 16, 1880,
caused by being caught in the machinery
of his elevator.

He was a very honorable man, of exceeding-
ly industrious habits, never idle forone moment
from morning till night. He left a widow with
s X children, and a considerable estate.

In the board of town trustees he has filled
for several years the offices of President or
Clerk.

Francis Arenz was born in Blankenbr!rg,
Province of the Rhein, Prussia, Oct. 31, 1800.
While yet very young he engaged in mer-
cantile business, and in 1827 emigrated to
the United States, making his home for two
years in the State of Kentucky, following the
business of merchandising. In the vear
1829, he went to Galena, Illinois, and was
for a short tims engaged in the lead trade,
and then came to Beardstown, where he again
followed the business of merchandizing and
dealing in real estate. He very soon foresaw
that Beardstown, on account of its favorable
situation and surroundings, was destined to
have a prosperous future, and used ever}'
means in his power to draw attention to this
place and invite emigration. Ho expected t\\i
best mode to accomplish this purpose to be the
establishment of a newspapor, and he accord-
ingly, in 1834, commenced the publication of
The £eardsioien Chronicle and Illinois
J3onnty Land Advertiser^ of which he became
the editor and proprietor, with John B. Fulks,
as publisher. This paper was then the only

newspaper west of Jacksonville and Spring-
field. It could not be expected that at this
early day such an undertaking would prove
profitable, and having been published for
nearly two years at considerable loss, its pub-
lication was abandoned, after having accom-
pliahed, however, its object. Beardstown, a
very good landing point on the Illinois River,
had become the port of entry for all the goods
designed for Springfield, Petersburg, Rush-
ville, McComb, and other places, and from
here were also shipped the pioduce and pork
of the surrounding towns and country.
Heavy loaded teams with merchandise and
produce, could daily be seen on the roads
leading to and from Beardstown, and there
was no point in the ^Yest where more hogs
were slaughtered than here.

Durino- the Black Hawk war, Beardstown
was the general rendezvous for the State
troops, and Mr. Arenz furnished supplies for
the army at the request of Gov. Reynolds,
and also a portion of the arras, which had been
purchased by Arenz, and originally destined
for the South America service.

New roads were surveyed and opened, and
the plan was conceived by Mr. Arenz, that
the construction of a canal from Beardstown
to the Sangamon River, to a place called
Miller's Ferry, and then by slackwater naviga-
tion to continue to the neighborhood of
Springfield, whereby also the bottom lands of
the Sangamon valley would become drained
and useful for agricultural purposes, would be
of great benefit to Beardstown.

An act of the Legislature was obtained in
1836, for the incorporation of the BearJstown
and Sangamon Canal Company, of which
company Mr. Arenz was elected President,
and Dr. O. M. Long, Secretary and Treasurer;
William Pollock, as Engineer, and John A.
Arenz, as Assistant Engineer, commenced the
survey on September 1, 1836, and in December
following a very favorable report was niade ;

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

151

but for want of sufficient means and on account
of the hard times soon following, this project
failed.

The citizens of Beardstown and the north-
ern portion of Morgan County had become
aware that their interest would be better
promoted by a separation from Morgan, be-
cause every public improvement, and partic-
ularly the contemplated railroad, running
from Springfield, by Jacksonville to Quincy,
which in their opinion, ought to have been
located by the way of Beardstown, being the
nearest and best route between Sprinarfield
and Quincy.

Morgan had at that time six and Sangamon
nine members in the Legislature, and the two
counties combined, could carry most any
measure, and Jacksonville and not Beards-
town, would be the recipient of its benefits,
for all the members from Morgan were either
citizens of Jacksonville or vicinity. For
these and other reasons, a division of the
county was agitated, and continued until 1837,
when the county of Cass was formed. In all
these matters Mr. Arenz was the leader and
main worker. In the year 1835, he gave up
his mercantile business in Beardstown, and
took up his residence on his farm, about six
miles southeast of Beardstown, which he
named " Recluze." Here he had a house
built, which had a good sized room in the
center, surrounded by shed rooms and a
porch. It was covered by shingle roof, weath-
er-boarded and painted, and was built on
the brow of a high hill, near the edge of
the timber, commanding a very fine view.
It was certainly the hottest jilace in the
summer and the coldest in winter, and the
house appeared from a distance very much
like a good sized tent. Here he resided un-
til 1S39, when he made his permanent home
at Arenzville.

In 1833 he had purchased of a Mr. Smart,
who had a little mill on Indian Creek, that

mill and a large tract of land in Section 31,
Township 17, North of Range 11 West,
where now Arenzville is situated.

Indian Creek forms here a considerable
bend, and to increase the volume of water, a
large ditch was cut between said bend, and
at the upper end a dam was constructed. A
new saw mill was built on said ditch, Mr. John
Savage, afterward Sheriff of Cass County, be-
ing the builder. It was a diflicult matter to
keep up the dam, which was constructed of
timber and earth, no stone being at hand.
The soil being rich and alluvial, the lainks,
musk-rats and crawfish would in some way
undermine or work around the edges of the
dam, so that at times of high water it would
be damaged or carried away entirely, which
required the time of low water for making
repairs.

"When the timber yielding saw-logs had
been consumed, the saw-mill was turned into
a flouring mill and rebuilt ; but the dam still
proved a failure, until finally steam power
was applied. These drawbacks would have
discouraged most men, but not him, although
he had several times either sold or leased the
property, but it always came back to his
hands, like counterfeit money.

Mr. Arenz wa,s pretty successful in his
many enterprises, but in the milling business
he proved to be a complete failure, and by it
sunk a great deal of money.

In 1838 he engaged also in the mercantile
business, and took in partnership his brother,
J. A. Arenz, and the name of the firm was F.
Arenz & Co. This partnership continued for
about six years, when his brother withdrew
from the firm. Finally in 1853 ho solil the
mill and store with a tract of land, to Herman
Eiigelbach and Peter Arenz, in whose hands
the concern proved very profitable.

It seemed to be a great relief to Mr. Arenz,
when he got rid of his business and obtained
more leisure time for other matters. Tie was

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

very often absent from home, attending meet-
ings of all sorts, having an object for the im-
provement of the country. He was very fond
of politics and a member of the Whig party.
He liked company, was of a very generous
and social disposition, and his house was
scarcely ever without visitors. There was no
session of the legislature, when he failed to
go to the capita] of the State, to be on hand
whenever anything could be accomplished for
the benefit of Cass County. He was ac-
quainted with the leading men of the State,
and many of them were his warm friends.

In 1852 he was the bearer of dispatches
from the Secretary of the United States, to
the embassadors at Berlin and Vienna. He
was one of the organizers of the State Agri-
cultural Society at Sjiringfield, on .lanuary 5,
1853, and was elected one of its vice-presid-
ents, which position he continued to hold to
time of his death.

He also organized, on January 5, 1855, the
Cass County Agricultural Society, and was
elected president thereof.

Men of the stamp and character of Francis
Arenz, gifted with power to look ahead, and
shaping matters for paving the way to accom-
plish praiseworthy results, have to encounter
and overcome a great many obstacles; such
men necessarily have and gain many friends,
but they will also have envious, bitter enemies.
This was also the case with him.

Mr. Arenz died April 3, 1856.

Tiie executive committee of the State
Agricultural Society, then in session at Spring-
field, adopted April 3, 1850, the following
resolutions :

Jiesolved, That in the death of Francis Arenz,
late member of this board, it lost a co-worker,
kind, courteous and able, and always in his
place; the society, one of its most talented,
energetic and ardent friends; the State and

community at large, one of its most honor-
able, respected, and revered citizens; and
that while we bow in humble humility and
awe before Almighty God, we tender our
most sincere and heartfelt sj^mpathies to the
family and friends of the deceased, hoping
that their loss and our loss is his gain.

liesolved. That a copy of these proceedings
be sent to the family and friends of the de-
ceased, to the Prairie Farmer, and to the
papers in Beardstown, Jacksonville and
Springfield, with the request that the same be
inserted in the papers indicated.

There are now eight children of Mr. Arenz
living, four boys and four daughters, all of
whom are married.

Among the men who contributed their
share to the development of the town of
Arenzville, must be mentioned the firm of
Kircher & Goedeking.

Mr. Jos. Kircher came in 1834. He had
received a collegiate education, and settled on
a farm near Arenzville. When some years
afterwards Mr. Henry Goedeking arrived, he
took up his residence on the same farm. Mr.
Goedeking was a native of Berlin, Prussia,
where his father was an officer of the royal
mint.

After farming a few years, they arrived at
the conclusion that such employment was
neither suitable nor profitable for them, and
they moved to Arenzville and- engaged in
mercantile business. About five or six years
afterward they took up their permanent res-
idence at Belleville, Ills., where they estab-
lished a hardware business. Mr. Goedeking '
became Mayor of Belleville, and died some
years ago, never having been married. Mr.
Kircher is still living and is the father of five
children, honored and loved by all who are
acquainted with him.

Hd/t^yyT--^

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

155

CHAPTER XY.

PRINCETON PRECINCT— GENERAL DESCRIPTION— BOUNDARIES, TOPOGRAPHY AND SUR-
FACE FEATURES-THE EARLY SETTLEMENT— PIONEER HARDSHIPS— FIRST MILL
AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS— WALNUT GROVE SCHOOL- HOUSE— PRESENT
SCHOOLS— CHURCHES— OLD PRINCETON, AND ITS BUSINESS ENTER-
PRISE-LITTLE INDIAN VILLAGE.

A3 we travel along the highways that trav-
erse this beautiful section of Cass
County, it is difficult to realize that scarcely
half a century ago these luxuriant plains were
peoj)led by a few wandering savages and
formed part of a vast, unbroken wild, wliich
gave but little promise of the high state of
civilization it has since attiined. Instead of
the primitive log cabin and diminutive board
shanty, we see dotting the land in all direc-
tions comfortable and eh-gant mansions of
the latest stylos of architecture, graceful, su'i-
stantial and convenient. We see also the
bosom of the country decked with churches
of all religious denominations, and well-built
school-houses at close intervals. The fields
are laden with the choicest cereals, pastures
are all alive with numerous herds of the finest
breeds of cattle, and other stock of improved
quality, while everything bespeaks the thrift
and prosperity with which the farmer in this
fertile division of the county is blessed.

Princeton Precinct lies on the Southern
border of the county, and is one of the smallest
divisions, containing scarce fifteen sections or
square miles; and a story told of the State of
Rhode Island, may be applied to Princeton;
that when the people wish to communicate
with each other, they do not write letters or
send messages, but go out in the yard and call
to them. Although small in extent, it is in
many respects, one of the best precincts in
the county. Virginia and Philadelphia Pre-
cinct bound it on the North, Philadelphia lies

on the East, Morgan County is its Southern
boundary, and Virginia Precinct, a narrow
strip of which extends to the south line of the
county, bounds it on the West. It lies in
township seventeen, and in ranges nine and
ten. Little Indian Creek is its only water
course of any note, and flows southwest,
through a corner of the precinct. The land
lies well, and is all susceptible of cultivation,
and when first seen by white people, contained
much valuable timber, as well as prairie land.
The Peoria, Pekin and .lacksonville Railroad,
now a divison of tiie Wabash system, traverses
it from north to south almost throuffh the
center, with one station. Little Indian, in the
precinct, from which much stock and grain
are annually shipped.

Among the earliest settlements in Cass
County, made by white people, was that, in
what now forms Princeton Precinct. From
old Kentucky, that famous land of blue grass,
fine stock, pretty women and good whisky,
came the pioneers of this portion of the coun-
ty. They were, so far as we could learn,
Jesse AUard, Nathan Coinpton, James Tilford,
James Stevenson, Jacob Lorance, Samuel
Montgomery, Thomas Gatton, William Con-
over, Alexander Beard, Isaac Mitchell, John
Epler, and others. These families, with one
or two exceptions, were, as we said, from Ken-
tucky, and came hither in the usual pioneer
style, on horseback, in wagons drawn by
oxen, and even on foot. Some had left homes
of affluence behind them, others were poor.

l.JU

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

and all came for the purpose of bettering
their condition, and laying up something for
that proverbial rainy day. Mr. Allard came
about the year 1830, and settled on the place
now owned by Philip Buracher, of Virginia;
Nathan Compton arrived previous to 18"28,
and was one of the pioneer school teachers.
He married a daughter of one of the Bergens,
bought a farm, but sold out afterward, and
moved to Schuyler County. Tilford located,
in 18;J7, on the place now owned by William
Black, in Walnut Grove timber, township
seventeen, range nine. He sold out in 1840,
and moved away. James Stevenson, with
five grown sons, Wesley, James, William,
Robert and Augustus, came in 1839, and
bought land of Thomas Gatton, who had pre-
ceded him several years, and had taken up
land in section twenty-six, township seven-
teen. He was from Maryland, but had resid-
ed in Kentucky several years before coming
to Illinois. He opened one of the first stores
■within the present limits of Cass County, and
was long a prominent business man. He has
a son, Z. W. Gatton, residing in Virginia,
who for years has been identified with the
town.

Mr. Stevenson was a native of Virginia,
but liki; Mr. Gatton, had emigrated to Ken-
tuckj' in the pioneer period of the dark and
blood)' ground, where he was forced to con-
tend with the Indians for his very life. He
bought land, as already stated, from Thomas
Gatton, upon which he settled and upon
which he died in 1851, at the age of ?4 years.
His son, William Stevenson, now lives on the
place and is noticed in another chapter, as
one of the most extensive breeders of short
horn cattle in this section of the State. Lor-
ance was originally from North Carolina, but
like hundreds of other early settlers in South-
ern Illinois, ha, had stopped for a time in
Kentucky. He located on North Prairie, on
section 25, township 17 and range 10, on the

place now owned by Wm. Hemerron, who
also lives on it. Mr. Lorance has one son still
living in this region. Montgomery was from
Adair County, Ky., and came here in 1839,
locating on section 30, township 17, on the
place where his son now lives. John Epler
came here from Clark County, Ind., about
the year 1831-32. In another department
will be found an extensive sketch of the Ep-
ler family, and anything said here would be
hut a repetition. Mr. Conover settled at
Walnut Grove in 1832, on the place now owned
and occupied by George Virgin. Beard set-
tled here in 182G, on the farm now owned by
his son, George Beard, of Virginia. Isaac
Mitchell was from Logan County, Ky., and
settled on the place in 1837, where Robert
Taylor now lives.

Other pioneer settlers in township 17 and
range 10, and many of whom were in what is
now Princeton Precinct, were Peter Conover,
Jacob Yaples, John Dorsey, a man named
Chambers, George Bristow, a widow Cantrel,
a widow Richardson, and Thomas Hanby.
These were all among the earliest settlers in
this region, and some of them will be further
mentioned in the history of Philadelphia Pre-
cinct. A few years later the " Imlian Creek
Settlement," as it was called, and a part of
which still remains in Morgan County, and in
the edges of Virginia and Philadelphia Pre-
cincts, was further augmented by the arrival
of the following pioneers: Jacob Epler, John
Hiler, Charles Beggs, a man named Nancesy,
Rev. John Biddlecome, William Kinner, a
widow named Pratt, with four stalwart sons,
and several more, whose names are forgotten.
The first of these pioneers settled in the tim-
ber, avoiding the prairie as they would a
desert. It was not until all the timber-land
had been taken up that emigrants began to
venture out on the prairies. Single families
tried it at first, then they came in groups of
three or four, locating at difi"erent places,

HISTORY OF CASS COUXTY.

157

until soon the prairie was thickly dotted with
pioneer dwellings. Soon school houses were
built, churches were organized, mills were
erected, and the foundation laid for a pros-
perous community, where shortly before had
been a desert-prairie and wilderness. This
remarkable development has been brought
about within a comparatively short time, for
looking back through the vista of fifty odd
years, these broad plains were the grazing
places of numerous herds of wild denizens
of the forest and prairie, and the camping-
ground of savages. Now the rich soil is
broken everywhere, woods have fallen, pleas-
ant drives, well-tilled fields, beautiful orchards
and delightful homes, checker the view, speak-
ing volumes for the enterprise of the pioneers
of this portion of the county.

The people in the early days lived in the
most frugal manner — corn bread and wild
meat being the principal diet during the
first years. The clothing was cheap, and
that for both sexes was made at home by the
pioneer mothers, who were no more afraid of
work than their husbands. In the words of
Eugene Hall —

" They worked with the spindle, they toiled at the
loom,
Nor lazily brought up their babies by hand;"

and all members of the household, male and
female, men, women and children, were
usually employed in some part of the manu-
facture of this family clothing. It is still a
mystery how the people lived and prospered
in those early days. The manner of cultivat-
ing the crops was so simple, the tools so dif-
ferent and rude, and the distance to market
so great, and the prices so incredibly low,
that we wonder how any one, even with the
strictest economy, could prosper at all. The
farmers of to-day, who have reduced agricul-
ture to a science, and cultivate their lands al-
most entirely by machinery, know little of

what that same work required here fifty or
sixty years ago. The farmer now would
expect to starve if he had to sell his corn
at from six and a-half to twelve and
a-half cents per bushel, and wheat for twenty-
five cents, and haul it to St. Louis or Chicago,
even at those figures. But times have
changed, and the world, or the people who
inhabit it, have grown both older and wiser.

The emigrant, when he locates in a new
country, generally thinks of a mill, as the first
improvement. He can do without fine clothes
and many other luxuries, but he can not get
along very well without bread. The first mill
of which we have any reliable account, was
built by John Epler, and was of the most
unique and primitive style. This mill was
run by horse power, but geared in a peculiar
manner. Mr. Epler had cut off smoothly, a
stump, into which he bored a hole. Upon
this he fastened a shaft, which had a wheel at
the other end, running upon a circular plat-
form, and from this singular arrangement a
shaft extended, which operated the mill. It
was a great benefit to the community, and
people came from the Sangamon country,
camping all night, in order to secure the first
turn in the morning. With a good team the
buhrs would grind from one to two bushels
of corn per hour. This was the way the
pioneers had of getting their bread. " In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," was a
text they could all appreciate. But other
mills were built in the neighborhood as the
increasing population demanded, and this
trouble of procuring meal was forever set at
rest.

The first school house in the precinct, and,
in fact, in all that region of country, was a log
building, about 18x20 feet, of the usual pioneer
type, and was built in the fall of 1833. In
this old log school house, where the floor

"Was naked earth, with weight-pole roof.
That seldom proved quite water-proof;

158

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

With slabs for seats, with rough split-pegs,
In two-incli auger-holes, for legs,"

the youth of the neighborhooJ learned their
A B C's. It was constructed mostly of bass
wood, and finally was treated to a plank floor,
a shingle roof, and was heated by a stove, the
first stove ever in this part of the county. It
was known far and wide as Walnut Grove
schoolhouse, in consequence of standing near
a ))ody of walnut timber, on section tliirty-one,
township seventeen, and range ten. Joel C.
Robins<in was one of the first teachers in it;
he taught there in 1835-.36, and afterward went
to Kentucky, near Louisville, where he was
shot in a difficulty with a pupil. Among those
who attended at this old school house, were
the children of Samuel Montgomery, John
Epler, Isaac Mitchell, Jacob Lorance, James
Stevenson, Nathan Compton, Charles Beggs,
and oth-ers. The house stood and was occu-
pied for school purposes until June, 1844,
when it was blown down in a wind storm.
Previous to this, however, other school houses
had been erected in the precinct, and the loss
of this pioneer relic was not, after all, a serious
backset to the cause of education.

School houses now dot the country through-
out the precinct, and the facilities for receiving
a good common school education are excel-
lent. For the usual term each year, good
schools are taught by competent teachers,
and every means employed to furnish knowl-
edge to the masses.

The first church building erected in the
precinct of Princeton, was at the village of
Old Princeton, in 1835, and was Missionary
Baptists. Afterward a Christian Church was
built about 1838, but both of these have past
away, and there are now but two churches in
the precinct, viz.: Zion Presbyterian, and
the Swedish Church at Little Indian.

Zion Presbyterian Church first held its ser-
vices in Zion brick school house, and in Jacob
Lorance's bam, which was sufficiently large

for church service, having a partition wiih
folding doors in it. The church building
now standing, is owned jointly by the Metho-
dists and Presbyterians, who use it in com-
mon. The Presbyterian Church Society was
organized April 35, 1830, by Rev. J. M. Ellis,
then living at Jacksonville. The first elders
were: Jacob Lorance, Benjamin Workman,
and Samuel Montgomery. Rev. W. J. Fraser
was the first regular pastor. Among the first
regular members were: Jacob and Isabella
Lorance, Delilah Richards, Benjamin and
Margaret Workman, Mary Tilford, Samuel
and Mary Montgomery, James and Harriet
Stevenson, Daniel and Susan Stone, Morgan
and Sarah Green. The Methodist Society
was not organized until some years later.

Old Princeton. — The village of Princeton
was laid out by .Jonathan Berger, February
19, 1833, and was the second town laid out
in what is now Cass County. It was located
on the east half of the southeast quarter of
section 30, township 17, range 10, and was,
at the time it was laid out, in Morgan County.
Bergen, the proprietor of the town, was one
of the early settlers of this section, and a
stirring, energetic man.

The first goods sold at Princeton, was by
Stephen Mallory, or the firm of Mallory &
Lewis, who opened a store about 1836, sev-
eral years before the town was laid out. Mal-
lory sold out and returned to Kentucky,
whence he came, and Lewis carried on the
business until 1833-34, and then sold out to
Talraage, who shortly after sold to Parrot &
Alcott. After continuing the business about
three years, Alcott bought out Parrot and
took Jacob Bergen in as a partner, about the
year 1836. Alcott retired about 1840, and
Mr. Bergen continued the business up to
1869. Win. Kinner opened a stock of goods
at Princeton about 1838-39, and Wm. Brown
started a store there also about 1840 and took
Kinner's stand. Thus Princeton becama

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

159

quite a thriving little town, and did a large
business. Thomas Cowan and Henry Murray
were early blacksmiths of the place. Wm.
Brown was the first Justice of the Peace in
this whole section of country, and was com-
missioned as such in 1840. The town in-
creased until at one time it had some two
hundred inhabitants.

A wool carding machine was started by
John Camp, about 183G, and was operated for
several years. It had a tread-wheel, and the
power was furnished by oxen, placed upon
this large wheel. About the year 18-tl it
was removed to Virginia, where it did good
service for a number of years. Clifford Wear,
a wagon-maker, plied his trade for a long
while ; a shoe-shop was also carried on by a
man whose name is now forgotten. Zirkle
Robinson carried on tailoring, and all other
branches of business common in a country
town were established. But the time came
when it began to decline, and as steadily as
it had grown, it now faded away. The town
of Virginia was rising into a place of note ; a
railroad was built which left Princeton out

in the cold, and it was finally vacated April
31, 1875. Princeton is blotted from the map,
and may now rank with the lost cities of the
plain; — Sic transit gloria, etc.

Little Indian Village, or Station, is located
on the Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville Railroad,
about four miles south of Virginia. It stands
on the northwest quarter of section 35, town-
ship 17, range 10, and is but little else than
a shipping station on the railroad. It has
never been laid out as a village, and, indeed,
makes no pretensions to that dignity. Jacob
Epler was the first white man to locate near
the place, and afterward James Stevenson
settled there. A burying-ground was laid
out very early, where the water-tank of the
railroad now stands. Human bones were
exhumed, when the road was being built, and
were buried at Zion Church, about a mile
distant.

Little Indian merely comprises a railroad
station, a shipping point, one store and a
Swedish church. Mr. Stevenson is the agent
of the railroad here, and has been ever
since its completion and opening to business.

IGO

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER XYI.

RICHMOND PRECINCT-PHYSICAL FEA.TDRES-INDIANS-PIONEER TIMES-
TLERS— SCHOOLS, CHURCHES AND STORES.

-EARLY SET-

' It was all a wilderness, a wild waste."

SUCH are the expressions that everywhere
meet the ears of the inquirer seeking in-
formation of the early settlement. To the
generation of to-day the phrase has become
trite and nearly meaningless, but the thought-
ful observer can not fail to notice that it is far
otherwise to the man who knew the country
when it was houseless, roadless and pathless—
" Where nothing dwelt but beasts of prey.
Or men as fierce and wild as they."

The present generation knows nothing of
trackless forests, unbridged streams, pangs of
hunger, days of struggle and nights of fear.
We can not get any degree of experience of
pioneer life in our day; no adequate idea can
possibly be presented; it is lost only as we see
some of the effects of those early trials and
hardships in the wrinkled brows, scarred hands,
and tottering limbs of a few of the old pio-
neers, who leaning upon their staffs in the
helpless infirmities of age, are to be spared
but a few short summers at most. We are
apt to forget in the whirl and hum of the
nineteenth century, with one invention hurry-
ing another out of date, that there ever was
any necessity for pioneers. The man who
opens up a new country to-day, can not be
called a pioneer in the true sense of the word.
In seeking a home in the West, the traveler
sits in a palace coach instead of an ox cart,
and is hurried over streams and rivers, through
State after State, with the swiftness of an
eagle's flight; his pockets are crammed with

*By J. L. Nichols.

maps and information of the great railroad
corporations, which offer him land on a long
time and easj- payments. Deciding to buy
land, his household goods and a house framed
and ready to be put up, are shipped almost to
his door (!) at reduced rates, while improved
implements and all the advantages of a
pioneer experience of a hundred years,
unite to make his work effective. In ten
years he is in the center of civilization, com-
bining more privileges than the proudest and
oldest community of New England knew,
when the pioneers of this land were young.
What difficulties they encountered, and with
untiring fortitude overcame the hardships that
so numerously were heaped upon them, it is
the purpose of these pages to relate. When
they sought the untried country of the West,
the}' launched out like a mariner, on an un-
known sea; following a wagon track till that
ceased, they passed the frontier and entered
an unmapped wilderness, guided only by
compass and deed; arriving at their destina-
tion without protection or shelter, they built
a house of such material as the scrubby tim-
ber permitted, unassisted by mill or machin-
ery. Their log house, with mud to make it
tight, the rude doors, and for a time, win-
dowless, and chimneys made of a tottering
mass of mud and sticks, the remains of which
here and there are seen, was their home.
The fitful flame of the hickory was their light
and fire, the babbling brook furnished them
water till the spade penetrated the unsounded
depths, securing a purer source of God's
sparkling liquid. But all this is of the past.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

IGl

About us are gathered the fruits of their toil
in a civilization to which the world elsewhere
is a stranger, and, looking back along the
way over which the pioneers have strolled and
toiled, we can say with a full and overflowing
heart of gratitude, " Well done, thou good
and faithful servants."

The land-marks of pioneer times are fast
passing away with those that placed them,
and all is change.

Richmond Precinct is bounded on the north
by Sangamon river, which in pre-historic
times formed a broad surface of bottom land on
each side of its present course, and there is but
little doubt that the original channel once ex-
tended from bluff to bluff, and as the waters
gradually settled and were withdrawn, the
present bottom lands were gradually formed.

In 1883, the water, owing to the heavy
rains of the winter and spring, covered the
entire bottoms, leaving scarcely a perceptible
spot above the vast ocean of water; in conse-
quence of which a large portion of the bottom
land the past year has been without cultiva-
tion. These overflows are not uncommon,
however, for they occur nearly every year, but
not to such a height, bringing so much ruin
and destruction to the settlers, as the past
year. The water during the year was higher
than it was ever known by any of the settlers,
but Shick Shack, a chief of the Pottawatomie
tribe, pointed out a high water mark to Philip
Hash, one of the first settlers, that reached
nearly one third of the way up Shick Schack
Knob, one of the highest hills of Richmond
Precinct; whether he saw this himself or
whether it was simply a matter of tradition,
can never be ascertained; but this we know,
should such a flood as that occur at the present
day, every building on the bottoms, and Chand-
lerville with all her trees, bridges and im-
provements, would be swept down the lUi-
"ois River, and not a trace of human existence
left in the course of the torrent.

The surface of the precinct we find is con-
siderably broken after entering what is called
the upland; there seems to be nothing but a
succession of hills, as though some mighty
force had collected those majestic heaps and
then promiscuously threw them together, some
falling upon each other, and others sparingly
strewn over the remaining surface. These
hills may be called the Alps of Illinois, with
a scenery as beautiful as any elevated upland
in the State. Amid these apparent mountains
where a half century ago the foot of a white
man iiad scarcely trod, there are now beau-
tiful homes, cultivated fields and grazing
herds.

The farmer, long toiling in subduing his
fields, improving his buildings, would not ex-
change his hilly home for the sunniest and
fairest of Illinois prairie; the hills are no
longer obstacles to the owners and tillers, but
a source of pleasure and satisfaction. Many
of the farmers have become wealthy, some
have retired from active labor and removed to
some quiet village; others are quietly enjoying
life on the scenes of their pioneer struggles.

The timber, where in an early day there was
bvit little, is now quite numerous. Puncheon
Grove, about tlie centre of the precinct, was
the principal source of timber from which
many of the earlier cabins were built, and is
yet one of the best localities for good useful
timber.

In the Spring of 1836, Mr. Philip Hash, be-
ing of a roving, hunting turn of mind, found
himself on the bottom lands of the Sangamon
river, as the first white settler. He hastily
constructed a temporary cabin, and at once
began preparing foracrop. The Indians were
then his only neighbors, and it was here that
his little son, Zaohariah Hash, now one of the
oldest and most esteemed citizens of Chand
lerville, first made his acquaintance with
them, and learned considerable of their lan-
guage. The following year a man by the

i(;2

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

name of Richard Chowning came from the
South and located near the cabin of Mr. Hash,
on the land now owned by the widow Tan-
trum. He having a large family of boys, be-
gan at once the cultivation of tobacco, a crop
which he had always cultivated as a business.
He sold his crop at Springfield at a handsome
price, and after continuing on the bottoms a
few years, he moved to parts unknown, none
the poorer for his short sojourn on the Sanga-
mon Bottoms.

Robert and Eaton Nance and Peter Dick,
with his two sons, Levi and Henry, were
added to the little colony about 1S"^9, and
others soon followed, among which were John
Witley, .lohn Lucus, .James Fletcher, Thomas
Jones, Joshua Nance and Gary Nance. This
made up a happy, lively and prosperous
colony. But previous to the coming of the
last named settlers, the community were con-
siderably agitated and scared over the float-
ing reports that the Indians were preparing
to attack and massacre the settlers; they all
left their cabins and took refuge at Clary's
Grove, where a few settlers had located, but
after remaining three weeks in a military
state of defense, they all returned to their
deserted firesides and resumed their usual
labors. The Indians were of a friendly
character, and never molested the settlers ex-
cept by the annoyance of begging, which
they practiced to no small extent. To show
their native customs in heaping drudgery
upon their wives one incident will suflice.
An Indian and his squaw came to the cabin
of Philip Hash, when Zachariah was a boy,
and begged a bushel of corn; being very
cold and wintr}', Mr. Hash gave them the
corn, and invited them into the cabin to shell
it, that it might be less bulky and burden-
some to carry. They both sat down upon the
floor, before the fire-place, and silently began
their work; the Indian, after shelling an ear
or so, broke the silence with an " och," and

pointing to the palm of his hand, as though
it hurt, said to Mr. Hash: "Hurt Indian;
squaw no hurt;" and she without a word, or
without even lifting her eyes from her work,
completed her task, shouldered the sack of
shelled corn, and then followed her master on
a dog trot homeward toward the wigwam.

It is said by some of the early settlers, that
there was a custom prevailing among the
Indians that when they married, the Indian
presented his wife with the shank-bone of a
deer, and she in turn presented her husband
with an ear of corn, the ceremony indicating
that he will furnish the meat, and she the
corn.

The first crops that the early comers prin-
cipally raised, were mostly wheat, buck- wheat,
sod-corn, cotton and melons ; the latter article
was very largely raised. In those days people
buried them some four feet in the sand, kept
them till Christmas, when they had, what was
called their melon-breakings," which were
among the liveliest entertainments of pioneer
times.

Cotton was considerably cultivate<l till
after the big snow in 1831. Previous to that
people raised enough for their summer cloth-
ing, and plenty for their quilts and bedding
in general.

People in an early day did nearly all their
teaming and farming with oxen. Many of
the settlers were not able to own horses, and
those that were, were not able to use them
during the greater part of the day in the fly
season, as these green-heads were so numer-
ous that a horse could not resist them, but
would lie down and roll in the harness, or
under the saddle, or do anything to shake off
the blood-sucking swarms that would literally
cover its body.

Rattlesnakes at this time were very num-
erous on the bottom lands. Mr. Hash had
one field of oats in which he killed over forty
I of the'se venomous reptiles. They were so

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

163

iium ;rous that he was unable to secure har-
vest help, and consequently had to do it all
himself, and did it without accident or harm,
though often binding bundles under which
the drowsy rattlers lay coiled.

Till 1833, there was no physician nearer
than Beardstown or Petersburg. Dr. Chand-
ler then came and did a humane work among
the early comers. He traveled night and
day, giving all of his patients the same care
and attention; whether rich or poor, with or
without money; a noble, generous man was
Dr. Charles Chandler.

Many of the first settlers did not remain
long, coming in from eastern and southern
States and settling in a wild country; poorly
clothed and more poorly sheltered, they
would be taken with the ague or other fevers,
and as soon as they could close out their in-
terest in the land and harvest their crop, they
departed wiser, but not richer than they
came.

The first mill patronized, was a mill run by
horse power, on Rock Creek, a Mr. Bowen
owning the mill, and also a cotton gin. Jn
those days there was no bolted flour; every
patron bolted their own, or ate it as the
chronic dyspeptics of to-day do, bran and all.
There was little farm machinery used; sowing,
reaping, mowing and threshing, was all done
by the muscle of men and sturdy youths, who
labored for health as well as wealth. Grain
was hauled to Beardstown or to Petersburg;
cattle were driven often to St. Louis, a dis-
tance then averaging from 130 to 170 miles,
as the roads were often impassible in places,
and much time and distance taken to go
around in search of better and more passable
places.

The only road in Richmond Precinct in
1833, except here and there a lone wagon
track, was the Bottom Road, leading from
Beardstown to Petersburg.

The second road was called the State Road,

le;iding to Springfield and going through
Puncheon Grove.

The settlers of 1833 were Philip Hash,
James Hickey, Henry McHenry, John Hamby,
John Taylor, Peter Dick, Jesse Armstrong,
Wm. P. Morgan, and C. J. Wilson. These
pioneers in their war with nature were not
entirely without amusement, religious wor-
ship or educational training for their children.

Mr. Zachariah Hash tells us that it was not
uncommon to see a young man with his girl
start out with an ox team and go eight or ten
miles to a dance. Cotton pickings, carding
and spinning parties, were very common, the
girls working all day, and the boys coming
in the evening to participate in the dance,
and to see that their girls got home safely.
They did not then have halls and waxed floors
to glide over in whirling the dizzy waltz ; it
was a puncheon-floor, with such openings
that often the broad foot of the pioneer girl
would slip through or become entangled, so
it became necessary for her partner or lover
to show his gallantry by helping her out. For
many winters a negro by the name of Robert,
from Tennessee, was the noted musician of
the Sangamon Bottom. The sweet strains
of his violin roused the most indifl'erent, and
brought the heaviest of cow-hide boots quick
and strong down upon the heavy timbered
floor. Such was the dance of the pioneer.

In 1839 or 1830, the first religious assembly
that ever convened in Richmond Precinct,
was at the residence of Philip Hash, Reddick
Horn, an old pioneer minister, preaching.
Revs. Levi Springer and Peter Cartwright
also quite frequently visited the settlement
on their spiritual missions, but Rev. Reddick
Horn was quite a constant visitor of the settle-
ment for many years.

Meetings were held in the cabins of the
settlers till Chandlerville churches were or-
ganized, when all church-believing and
church-going people attended there.

1B4

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

The second church society that was organ-
ized in the precinct was at Big Puncheon
Grove, and the first settlement around the
vicinity of that grove was made about 1830.
In 1838 we find the following families in that
neighborhood: John Lucus, George Thatcher,
Joshua and Robert Nance, John Chesser,
Joseph Goble, John Howton, John Bingley,
Bartlet Conyers and Elijah Watkins.

The Puncheon Grove Baptist Church,
sometimes known as the Iron Side Baptist,
was first organized by the religious zeal of
Wm. Watkins, Thomas Plasters, Daniel Atter-
berry, Wm. Armstrong, JamesWatkins, Elijah
Watkins. The society held their first meet-
ings at private houses, till 1842, when they
built a church near the site of the present
school house. As to the cost, it is difficult
to say, for the members of the society con-
tributed miscellaneously money, labor, lumber,
timber, etc., till the religious edifice was com-
pleted. Cyrus Wright was their first pastor,
and continued till his death; since then no
regular services have been held.

The church was used for school purposes as
soon as completed ; elections, law- suits, etc.,
were held within the sacred sanctum, and
consequently, considering the numerous uses
to which its doors were open, it did not last
very long, and has since been torn down, and
its decayed timbers replaced with a house of
education.

No Sabbath school was ever conducted in
connection with the church, as the Old School
Baptists do not believe in that system of
teaching and propagating religion.

One peculiarity about the members of this
church, was their extreme enthusiasm, but
though extreme in their religious views, they
were in a secular sense among the best and
most honest citizens in the precinct; at present
there are but four male members remaining
out of their former number of forty.

Schools. — The first school of the precinct

was a rude log house built on the Sangamon
Bottom, on the Beardstown and Peters-
burg Road, on the land now owned by the
heirs of Joshua Morse; the land was then
owned by Henry McHenry, who was most
active in planning and carrying out the enter-
prise.

The first scholars that attended that school
are now gray headed old men and women
whose shadows are fast lengthening in the
path of life, and nearing the eternal sunset.
Many already have gone; the rest soon must
follow. C. J. Wilson, one of the first schol-
ars, retains in memory the names of but few
of his school mates, John Hash, Pollie Dick,
Henry Taylor, James and Levi Dick, and the
children of Absalom Bowling are all he can
mention.

The school was taught by an Englishman who
came from the East, by the name of James L.
Grant. He was a man of excellent intellectu-
al understanding, a good scholar and good fel-
low, and taught a good school, but he had one
weakness, and that was taking a little too
much grog under very frequent circumstances.
Drinking spirits in these days was considered
a necessary matter of health. Every farmer
kept it in the pressing seasons of work, and
many of the farmers keeping a little copper
still, where they manufactured their own
whisky and supplied their neighbors. Then
it was a pure article that men drank, now the
man that desires his morning dram must pour
into his stomach four parts of poisonous com-
pound to one of pure whisky. No wonder
we have drunkards. The school continued its
progressive work, till the present building
known as the Dick school house was erected.
Girls in the first schools of the country
brought their work and knitting just as much
as their books. They were expected to im-
prove their noon and recess in preparing
stockings for the family, and doing such other
work as could be conveniently carried to tho

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

165

bouse of instruction. Such were our pioneer
schools.

There are now four district schools annually
taught in the precinct. The Dick school
bouse has already been mentioned. The
Lynn school, Pontiac school, and Green Ridge
school, are the other three.

Shick Shack Knob, known as the summer
resort of an Indian chief of the same name,
was first entered by James Hickey, and ho
purchasing other lands adjoining, found it nec-
essary to have it surveyed that his boundary
lines might be more definitely located. He
being acquainted with a young surveyor in
Menard county, by the name of Abraham
Lincoln, had him come and survey the land;

Shich Shack Knob consequently can never be
forgotten. The land will ever be sacred to
the memory of the martyred President.

The business of the precinct is of a very
limited character outside of farminar and

stock raising.

Henry T. and Abner Foster kept store
for a time on the land since owned by John
P. Dick; at that time the mail was distributed
there and the post-office was known as Rich-
mond. Their goods were hauled from Beards-
town and Petersburg; they kept a good stock
for that early day, and continued a successful
business for several years. They closed out
in 1837 or 1838 and Richmond ceased to be
the centre of pioneer trade.

1G6

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER XVn.

PHILADELPHIA PRECINCT— DESCRIPTIVE— TOPOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES-OR-
GANIZATION AS A PRECINCT— THE SETTLEMENT OF THE WHITES— THEIR LIFE ON
THE FRONTIER— PIONEER IMPROVEMENTS— CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, ETC.—
PHILADELPHIA AND LANCASTER— A LOST CITY, ETC.

FANCY yourself standing upon yonder
swell of the ground fifty years ago. It
is June, say; your senses are regaled with the
beauty of the landscape, the singing of the
birds, the fragrance of the air, wafting
grateful odors from myriads of flowers of
every imaginable variety of size, shai^e and
hue, blushing in the sunbeam and opening
their petals to drink in its vivifying rays.
While gazing enraptured, you descry in the
distance a something moving slowly over the
prairies, and through the forest and among
the gorgeous flowers. As the object nears
you, it proves to be a wagon, a "• prairie
schooner," drawn by a team of oxen, contain-
ing a family and their earthly all. They are
moving to the "far West" (now almost the
center of civilization), in quest of a home. At
length they stop, and, on the margin of a grove
rear their lone cabin, amid the chattering of
birds, the bounding of deer, the hissing of ser-
pents, and the barking of wolves. For all the
natives of these wilds look upon the intruders
with a jealous eye, and each in his own way
forbids any encroachments upon his fondly-
cherished home, and his long and undisputed
domain. From the same point of observation,
look again in mid-summer, in autumn, and in
winter. And lo! fields are enclosed, waving
with grain, and ripening for the harvest.
Look yet again, after the lapse of fifty years,
and what do you see? The waste has become
a fruitful field, adorned with ornamenal trees,
enveloping in beauty commodious and even
elegant dwellings. In short, you behold a

land flowing with milk and honey (figuratively
speaking), abounding in spacious churches,
schools and academies, and other temples of
learning; a land of industry, and wealth, check-
ered with railroads and public thoroughfares.
A land teeming with life and annually send-
ing off surplus funds with hundreds, not to
say thousands, of its sons to people newer
regions beyond. A land whose resources
and improvements are so wonderful as to
stagger belief, and surpass the power of de-
scription. It reads like a magic story, like a
tale of enchantment, and yet, it is the true
history of our own country — our great West.
Philadelphia Precinct lies east of Virginia,
and is one of the most recently created in the
county. It was made from a part of Oregon,
Lancaster, Virginia and Princeton Pre-
cincts, and embraces about twenty-four
square miles. Like Virginia and Princeton,
it is a fine body of land, lies well, and was
originally both prairie and timbered land, the
prairie predominating. It is bounded on the
north by Virginia and Oregon Precincts;
on the east by Ashland (formerly Lancaster);
on the south by Morgan County; on the west
by Princeton and Virginia Precincts, and lies
in township 17, and range 9, west of the third
principal meridian. It has but few natural
streams, and they are very small. Little Indian
and Cox Creeks are all that are laid down on
the map. The Springfield division of the Ohio
and Mississippi passes through the precinct,
and the station affords a shipping point for the
surplus products of the surrounding country.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

IG-

Philadelphia Precinct, as we have said, is
but a newly created division of the county. It
was organized September 6, 1876, and was
formed principally out of what was formerly
known as Lancaster Precinct, though a small
portion was taken from each, Virginia, Ore-
gon and Princeton Precincts. The remainder
of Lancaster was called Ashland, and thus
old Lancaster Precinct was blotted out of
existence, just as whole States in Europe are
often blotted out in some war or revolution.
From its ruins have arisen Ashland and Phila-
delphia, two precincts that will compare fav-
orably with any in Cass County, in fine land,
wealth and general prosperity.

The settlement of Philadelphia Precinct is
so interwoven with that of Ashland, Vir-
ginia and Princeton, of which it was a part,
until so recently that little here need be said
upon the subject. Indeed, there can be but
little said, without repeating what has been
said elsewhere, of the setilement of the sur-
rounding community. Many of the early set.
tiers mentioned in Virginia, Oregon and
Princeton, were residents of those parts now
embraced in this.

Among the early settlers in this section
were the Cunninghams, Redmons, and others,
who have already been mentioned as settiino-
in Sugar Grove, and the other bodies of tim-
ber which were in the present limits of Phil-
adelphia Precinct. James Davis, William
Crow and Eli Cox were also early settlers in
this region. But, as already stated, the
names of the early settlers of this entire re-
gion have been given in other chapters of
this volume, and it issuperflurous to recapit-
\ilate them. As the larger portion of the
present precinct was prairie, it was not set-
tled so early as the timber portion of the
county, save in the few small groves it con-
tained. The early settlers of Cass County, as
well as of the entire State of Illinois, were
mostly from a timbered countrj-, and believed

that the great prairies would never be fit for
anything but pasture. Hence, it was not un-
til the timber land was all occupied, and
farms had sometimes changed hands several,
times, that settlers begun to venture out on the
prairies. Slowly at first, they occupied the
vast plains, and that too, near the timber.
But time and experience soon proved the
merits of the prairie lands for agricultural
purposes, and as this knowledge dawned up-
on the people, tbey lost no time in securing
prairie land, with as much zeal as they had
avoided them. Thus, family after family came
into Philadelphia, until the entire precinct
was occupied.

The young men and women of the present
time have no conception of the mode of life
among the early settlers of this country from
forty to sixty years ago. In nothing are the
habits and mnnners of the people in any res-
pects similar to those a half century ago.
We are at a loss where to begin, so as to give
the youth of to-day anything like a just idea
of this matter. The clothing, the dwellings,
the diet, social customs — in fact, everything,
has undergone a total revolution. The houses
were all built of logs, the cracks filled with
" chinks," and then daubed over with a mor-
tar made of clay or " prairie dirt." The floor
was the smooth earth or was made of rough
" puncheons," and the spaces between these
were often such that the younger children
had to exercise great care not to step through
these crevices. The roof was made of
" boards," as they were called by the west-
ern people, but known among the Yankees as
" shakes," and when put down, were held to
their places by weight-poles. The fire-place
occupied one end of the cabin, and is
described elsewhere in this volume. Tlie ar-
ticles used in cooking were as few and simple
as can be imagined. An oven or skillet, a
frying-pan, an iron pot or kettle, with occas-
ionally a coifee-pot, completed the outfit of

168

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

the best furnished kitchen. Stoves were en-
tirely unknown, and all the cooking was done
in and around the fire-place, a fact that our
modern young ladies would not relish, as it
would burn and spoil their pretty faces.

Among the clothing of the pioneers, every-
thing was plain, simple, and in conformity
with the strictest economy. This was not
only true of their dwellings, furniture and
provisions, but also of their clothing. The
men mostly wore hunting-shirts and pants of
buckskin, and caps of coon or fox skin, while
both sexes wore moccasins instead of shoes.
Many were the expedients devised by the
prudent dames in the matter of clothing; for
ever since that wonderful triumph of millinery
art — the construction of an entire wardrobe
from fig-leaves, devised long years ago in the
world's early dawn, woman has been very
gifted in laying plans, and adopting expedi-
ents in the matter of clothing. But, un-
fortunately for her skill and industry, the
country afforded but little more in the line of
feminine wearing apparel than did Eden in the
days of our first parents. Cotton and flax
were produced for some years, but they could
not be raised to do much good on account of
wolves and bears. Hence the people had no
choice between adopting expedients and ap-
pearing in a somewhat modified phase of the
Highland costume. The tools and agricul-
tural implements were on a par with every-
thing else. The ground was broken with
wooden mold-board plows, and the corn
cultivated with hoes and " bull-tongue " or
shovel plows. The teams wore piincipally
oxen, both for plowing and hauling. But
these times of self-denial and privation are
long since past. Upon the very face of
nature the rolling years have writ en their
record, and the wilderness has been trans-
formed into a scene of loveliness. The ox-
mill has given place to the steam mill, while
improvement in farm machinery has kept

pace with everything else, and our clothing,
particularly that of the female portion of us,
is — well, wonderful to contemplate.

The people of Philadelphia worshiped in
the early churches of Princeton and Virginia
Precincts. There is but one church within
the limits of the precinct at present, at least
so far as we could learn, and that is the Chris-
tian Church, at the village of Philadelphia.
It originally stood in Princeton Precinct, but
the membership dwindled down so small, that
the church was finally moved to the village of
Philadelphia. There is no regular pastor, we
are informed, at present, but a Sunday school
is kept up, and occasional preaching by visit-
ing ministers.

The first schools of the precinct, like the
first churches, are described in other chapters,
and need no repetition here. There are now
some four or five school houses in the precinct,
good, substantial edifices, in which schools are
maintained during the usual terms each
year.

The old town of Lancaster, like the pre-
cinct which forme ly bore that name, has
passed away, and nothing now remains to
show where once it stood. It wis laid out by
Jo, n Dutch, who had one hundred acres sur-
veyed into lots in the nort' east quarter of the
northwest quarter of section 25, township
17 and range 9 west. It was surveyed a d
platted by William French, County Survey, r.
The entire plat was conveyed to Erastus W.
Palmer, May 8, 1837, for $400. The town
was vacated by A. Dutch, June 6, 1843. The
Lancaster post-office continued until the
abandonment of Philadelphia Plat in 1881.

John Dutch, the original proprietorof Lan-
caster, was an old sea captain, and like most
of that class, was very profane. Sometime
after laying out his town, 1 e went back ta
Boston, whence he had come, and begged
contributions to build a church, as he .said, to
Christianize the heathenish wester. i people.

HISTORY UF CASS COUNTY.

1G9

He raised considerable money and came back,
and really did build a cliurch, which was used
as such for many years, and then moved
away and changed into a barn. Mr. Dutch
had been very wealthy, but had lost most of
his riches. He had saved enough, however,
to enter a la ge body of land in Cass County.
He built a fine two-story hotel, where he
laid out his town on the ^p^ingfield and
Beardstown State road. He kept tavern here
for a good many years, but his town never
grew to very large proportwns, and as we
have said, was finally vacated, and the very
spot whereon it stood, is known to but few of
the citizens of the county.

Philadelphia was laid out on the school
section (16) of township 17, range 9, and the
plat recorded July 11, 1836. Archibald Job
qualified as trustee to section 16, July 17,
1846, and the plat of the town was made by

him as trustee. One of the first business
houses of the place, was a grocery store kept
by a man named Miller McLane. The town,
at one time, was quite a business place and had
an extensive grain trade. But the building
of the railroad throusrh Virjjinia drew much
of the business to that point, and Philadelphia
steadily declined from that time.

There is now one store, one wagon shop,
one blacksmith shop, and still quite a grain
market. There is one church of the Christian
denomination, which has already been no-
ticed.

This comprises a brief sketch of Philadel-
phia, from the time of its organization and set-
tlement, aside from what has been given in
other chapters. It may be that there are rep-
etitions, from the causes given in the preced-
ing pages, but, we think, to no great extent.

170

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

CHAPTER XYin.*

MONROE PRECINCT— DESCRIPTION— PHYSICAL FEATURES— SETTLEMENT AND PIONEER
TIMES— GROWTH AND IMPROVEMENT— CHCRCHES, SCHOOLS, ETC.

TTERE in Monroe Precinct the bold immi-

grant pitched his lonely tent and staked

all beside some cool bubbling spring, within
the shades of some thriving gi-ove, where his
ax fertile first time rang out amid the mighty
solitudt!, frightening the denizans from their
peaceful slumbers, and starting those rever-
berations, whose last re-echo has changed into
the screech of the iron hor^e and the hum of
a thousand industries, which had their begin-
ning in the rough, ru le cabins of those sturdy
pioneers, who first penetrated the forests and
prairies of the West.

We would ask for no pleas inter task than
that which falls upon the chronicler of early
history, could we picture and reproduce the
scenes of half a century ago, that the reader
might see in his imagination the unhewn
log hut, with its clay filled crevices, its mud
or adobe chimney, its rudely proportioned
fire-place, its rough, unseemly furniture, and
the general surroundings of a pioneer cabin;
could we paint the rude shed with its pro-
jecting poles, covered with brush, the fore-
runner of the fine frame barns of to-day,
groaning under the loads of grain and pro-
duce, gathered from the fields which our fore-
fathers conquered and subdued; could we
show the roads through tangled brush,
swampy slough, and unbridged streams, over
which the first settlers struggled and drew
their loads; could we picture all these
scenes in their wild but natural beauty, as
they were and existed, we would bring be-

»By J. I... Nichols.

fore many a reader similar scenes, whose im-
press have been left indelibly upon the
mind by the oft repeated stories of the gray-
haired sires, recounted with many an animated
gesture, as he lived over again those olden
times.

The historian, like an insurance agent or
an undertaker, has a thankless task to per-
form, no matter hovv diligently he may rum-
mage through the dusty memorials of the
past, putting forth his gi'eatest powers to en-
compass ever3'thing of any degree of appro-
priate importance, and to hand down to poster-
ity an accurate and comprehensive record; it
falls far short of what a great majority of
people anticipated it would be. But there is
one satisfaction, the coming generations will
become more fair and consistent in taking in
the situation, and will more fully appreciate
the labors of the h'istorian. It must be tak-
en into consideration, that but few of the
first settlers are living; those that are, their
memories and recollections are not what thev
were in the prime of life, and a history at
best must consequently be but a partial narra-
tion of events.

Monroe Precinct has no village within its
present limits; about half of its surface was
originally prairie, and the rest brush and
timber land. The timber was scattered over
the precinct in little groves, which were often
of considerable length along the ravines and
streams. There is some very beautiful level
land in places, along the streams; and around
the groves it is considerably broken and
often blufTy. Perhaps no better fruit pioduc-

>^^yC>^^^^^^^«^;,^^^^'^^^>fi^^^?>^zL_

f'V/

^f/?s,

'-'»i$.

HlftiTOKY OF CASS COUNTY.

173

iiig land can be found in the county. The
soil seems less sandy than the land in the
northern part of the county, and more pro-
ductive and more easily cultivated, excL'pt-
in"- the Sangamon Bottom. Wheat and corn
seem to be the staple productions, thougli
there are a goodly number of stock farms,
and some very fine blooded stock raised.
Farmers are fast learning that the improve-
ment of their stock has become a very profit-
aljle investment.

There was a village named Monroe, laid
out June 27, 1836, and surveyed by Johnston
Shelton, for Morgan County, while this vpas a
part of Morgan. It was on the west half of
southwest quarter of section 11, township 17,
range 11, and was about four and a half miles
from Virginia. The place has long since
been abandoned and vacated, and only a
church uow marks the site.

There are three creeks, namely: Lost, Clear,
and Prairie, that run across the precinct
from east to west in almost parallel lines.
Along the banks of the two first, some very
good timber in an early day was found; along
the latter was mostly prairie. Some portions
of the year these streams assume the size of
rivers, but it is not unusual to see them dry,
or nearly so, during the summer months of the
year.

The first settlers were seemingly afraid of
the prairie, and would not locate unless they
could secure a site for a cabin within the
sheltering shades of some grove, or strip of
timber. The immigrants coming mostly from
timbered localities, thought it impossible to
settle on the naked prairie. And thus we find
the first settlers closely hugging the timber,
and every neighborhood was known as such a
grove, the name being taken from the first
settler that pitched his tent or built his cabin
there.

The first man that entered the present lira-
its of Monroe Precinct as a settler is not

definitely known; but as early as 1827, the
following families were here: Benjamin Ma-
thus, Thomas and William Clark, George
Ruby, James Davis, Alexander Huffman, and
Richard Graves; of all of these, Mrs. Elizaljeth
L. Davis is the only survivor. She is eighty-
two years of age, and lives on the old home-
stead with her son George. It is but a mat-
ter of a few years, when she too will enter the
sleep of her fathers, and the last of Monroe's
pioneers will have passed away. It is sad to
follow the old venerable pioneer veterans one
by one to the grave, and cover them with the
sod which they struggled so many years to
conquer and subdue, but " All that lives must
die."

" Of all the men
Whom day's departing beam saw blooming there.
In proud and vigorous health ; of all the hearts
That beat with anxious life at sunset there,
How few survive, how few are beating now !

Mr. Mathus settled on the land now own-
ed by Elias Davis; William Clark on Edward
Davis' present farm. Thomas Clark settled
on Clear Creek, on the farm now owned by
Henry Pratt. The land Mr. Ruby purchased
is still owned by his heirs. The Hufi'man and
Graves estates which they respectively pur-
chased and improved, is also owned by their
heirs. Isaiah Huffman, James Graves, George,
Turminan, and James Alien Davis, are the
prominent descendants of the first settlers now
living in the precinct. Mr. James Davis was
one of the first settlers of the County, coming
in 1821, and settled on Indian Creek, where
he lived till 1827, when he moved to Monroe
Precinct.

To show the manner of building the earlier
cabins of the country, it will be necessary to
to^ivebutone instance. Mr. James Davis
came in the winter of 1827, and built his log
house near where he afterward built his
present frame building; and after complotinar
it and closing it up, he returned to hisfuiiiiiy

174

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

and when they moved in March to their pre-
viously built cabin, they found three feet
of snow on its floor. So open and poorly con-
structed were the first cabins, that the stars
could be counted at night through the roof,
and wolves shot through openings in the sides.

Previous to 1833, the settlers had no road
to Beardstown ; what little trading and selling
they did was at Springfield.

There was but little grain raised, however,
to be carried to that distant market, as the
new immigrants annually coming in consumed
nearly all of the first crops that were raised.

The road to Beardstown was traced out by
a committee appointed especially for that pur-
pose by the settlers, three of the committee
were .Joshua Crow, James Davis and Benja-
min Mathus, the names of the others, like
many events and facts of early settlements
have passed into oblivion.

The road was cut through and completed to
Beardstown in 1833 or thereabouts. This
made a nearer or better market, and also a
post-office, and a cheaper place of purchase,
thereby not only benefiting the country in
the immediate vicinity of Monroe Precinct,
but many miles beyond. Previous to this,
the settlers had but little mail or beard
scarcely any news. About the only com-
munication they had from friends and relat-
ions left behind, was by settlers coming in or
some one returning, through whom friendly
messages were communicated.

In those days it cost money to receive a
a letter. Our modern postal system had not
then been developed; the iron horse, with his
heart of fire and flaming breath, did not
sweep through the country with the swift-
ness of an eagle's flight. There were no
stoves, no matches; people were compelled to
seek their neighbor's house for fire should
their own go out. Living now and fifty vears
ago are decidedly two different things.

In 1832, the following families were

then in the precinct: Benjamin Mathus, James
Davis, Alexander Huffman, George Rul)v,
Thomas and William Clark, Richard Graves,
Austin Sims, Benjamin Montgomery, Joshua
Grow, and a Mr. Black.

During the deep snow there was much in-
convenience and some considerable suffering.
John "VV. Davis was visiting at the resi-
dence of Austin Sims when the storm began.
Durinor the night his horse broke loose and
attempted to return home, but was never
seen after; his bones were found the follow-
ing spring several miles away.

Deer were easily caught that winter, by
riding upon them with a horse. Mr. James
Davis, who had never killed a deer in his life,
decided to try his luck one morning. Seeing
one struggling in the snow but a short dis-
tance from his house, he took out his horse,
easily overtook the timid animal, and in a
moment of excitement found himself straddle
of the deer, without knife or gun, or anything
with which he could make himself master of
the situation; but he finally griped the nose
of his prey, and succeeded in so twisting its
neck that he broke it and thereby secured his
game.

Mrs. Low, on Little Indian Creek, killed
two deer with a meat ax. Two bucks,
in testing their physical strength, became an
easy prey, by locking their horns so tightly
together that they could not separate from
one anpt(|^er, and Mrs. Low, taking in the
situation, and with "the courage and bravery
of an Indian, marched to the scene and suc-
cessfully dispatched both animals.

The first settlers had their first milling
done at Mr. Quiller Hall's horse-mill, on
Little Indian Creek. They patronized that
mill till Mr. Streetsput up his, some four miles
north of the present site of Virginia. Ben.
Montgomery run a horse mill on a small scale,
on the farm now owned by Rosa Huffman,
for several years. It had a grinding capacity

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

175

of about twelve bushels per day, yet there
was scarcely an hour of the day but what
there was a team standing at his door, wait-
ing for a grist. He also run a small copper
still for a time, which perhaps added some-
thing to the patronage of his mill. It was
no mark of disgrace at that day for a man to
manufacture or drink whisky. Every farmer
kept it; nearly every man drank it. It was
tliought impossible to harvest a grain crop
without it. But times, and men, and whisky
have changed, the two first for the better, the
latter for the worse.

Schools. — The cause of education received
the early and timely attention of the pioneers
of Monroe Precinct, and to-day the fruit of a
hundred fold may be seen in the intelligence
and culture of the descendants of those early
and honest settlers. Though in the first settle-
ment there were a great many influences that
worked against the development of a general
system of education, neighborhoods were
thinly settled, money scarce, and people gen-
erally poor, no school-houses, no public fund,
no trained and qualified teachers, no books,
and nothing characteristic of the present
schools was at the command of the pioneers,
yet they organized schools, their children
were taught, and grew to manhood and to
years, wiser and more learned than the vener-
able sires that gave them existence and
watched and rocked their cradles. When
we look at the poverty and early condition of
the settlers, the untiring industry of both
sexes, old and young, we are surprised that
they had schools at all. Private residences,
vacated cabins, barns, or any place of shelter
where fire could be protected from the falling
rains or drifting snows, were used for school
purposes. These rude temples of learning,
in which the pioneer children of the county
studied and shivered, were not to be despised,
for they were the best that the wealth and
circumstances of the country permitted.

The early settlers were not unmindful of
the care, education and culture necessary to
prepare their children for the trying struggles
of life, that they might be a credit to their
parents and a benefit to the country. They
performed well their duty, and many a rich
harvest has been the reward of their labors.

In the year 1829, Mr. James Davis offered
a portion of his premises, just south of his
residence, for a school-house, to be used also
for church purposes, or anything of an edu-
cational or moral character.

The neighbors found Mr. Davis very liberal
and enthusiastic in his proposition; he offered
not only the site for the building, but also
money and labor necessary for completing
the house and conducting a school. A log
house was at once erected by the united labors
of the neighborhood, each contributing logs,
labor, or money, according to their means, and
ere a month had elapsed the building was com-
plete and ready for the service for which it
was built.

Mr. Jesse Pierce had the honor of being
the first teacher of Monroe Precinct, and
taught a good and satisfactory school. Among
his scholars were the following : Isaiah and
Svlvester Huffman, David, Thomas and Pa-
tience Clark, Julia Ann, John, Thomas and
James A. Davis, Emily Spencer, George
Savage, Mary, Logan and Samuel Wilson,
Mary, James and Nelson Graves, and Jake
Shoopman.

The second teacher that was given author-
ity in this log temple of learning, was a Mr.
Chapman. He was shortly after succeeded
by .lohn Galesp, who perhaps was among the
most successful teachers of the precinct. Ho
taught several years, and it was during his
time of service that the building caught fire
and was consumed. The chimney became
defective, being made of sticks and mud,
which was verj' characteristic of the early
style of chimneys, and caught fire and made

176

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

such rapid progress that it could not be over-
come.

The settlers were not discouraged, but im-
mediately put up a new building within two
hundred yards of the first, also on Mr. Davis'
land. This was also built of logs, with pun-
cheon floor, slab seats without backs or sup-
port, but it had one decided advantage over
the old building, that in that day was consid-
ered a very great improvement. Instead of
greased paper for windows, it was supplied
with regular sash and glass window-lights.
Besides the regular building, a shed at
one end was attached, in which school was
kept during the summer months of the year.
School was kept in this building some ten
years or more, when a building was put up at
Monroe, with but very little improvement on
the old, except the logs were hewn a little
smoother, and a little better fitted together,
the seats or benches being about the same.
School was successively taught here, from
1843 to 1854, when the present building was
erected, and where school has successfully
been taught ever since.

Mr. Alexander Hoffman, about the year
1842, taught a private school at his own house,
which was considered a great benefit to the
community. A school-house about this time*
was built on the land of Richard Graves, but
after the second term it took fire and was con-
sumed.

Clear Greek Church. — One of the first
things which our Pilgrim Fathers did, after
crossing the storm-swept ocean, was to as-
semble upon the frozen, barren rocks of Ply-
mouth, in the great temple, whose majestic
dome was the over-arching skies, and offer
prayers of thanksgiving for their safe voyage
and successful landing. So it was with the
first settlers of Cass County. Whenever a
few families were sufficiently near to each
other to be called a neighborhood, we find
them often assembled, either in the open air.

or within the narrow confines of some pioneer
cabin, blending their hymns with the moan
of the autumn winds, and returning thanks
amid the screams of the panther and the
howling of wolves. In all the trials, priva-
tions, and sufferings that attended the first
subduing of the forests, or the taming of the
prairies, the settlers forgot not that God was
the great source of blessing, and would not
forsake them in their hour of need.

Clear Creek church was first begun at the
residence of Mr. John Ray, about the year
1S32. He being a minister of the gospel, in-
vited in a few families, and under his own
roof first began the work of organizing a
a church. The members that first added
their names to the roll of membership were,
himself and wife, Joshua Crow and wife,
James Davis and wife, John Mathews, Benja-
min Mathews and wife, William Shoopman
and wife, and Nancy Hill.

Meetings were continued at the cabin of
Rev. Mr. Ray, for two years or more, when
he removed to Texas, and left the settlers
without a minister, and a regular place of
meeting.

Rev. Cyrus Wright came among the set-
tlers about that time and offered his services
to the community, which were gladly and
thankfully received. Meetings were then
held at the cabin of Mr. Shoopman, who re-
sided on Clear Creek, and the church from
that took its present name. After continuing
the meetings for some time at the residence
of Mr. Shoopman, the society decided to
hold their meetings at the cabin of Mr. James
Davis, where services were continued for
fourteen years. Rev. Cyrus Wright being the
officiating minister. During this time the
following members were added to the so-
ciety: D. Hardy and wife, Elijah Davis and
wife, Julia Ann Davis, Millie Hoffman, Nancy
Rnby Mr. Harding, Betsy, Bridgewater, Thom-
as Cowcn, Mrs. Morgan, Lucy Bridgewater,

Hiyruuv OF cass county.

177

Peter Hudson and wife, John Howell and
wife, Joshua Howell and wife, James Blan
and wife and two daughters, Mr. Richards
and wife, Rachel Epler, Nancy Hill, Ira
Crow and wife, Amanda Thornsberry, Thomas
Buck and wife. Miles White and wife, and
Mr. Ephraim White. At the present day
but few of the above members are living.

In 1852, they built their present church, at
a cost of $500, besides the time and labor
contributed by the individual members.

The building committee was made up of
the following persons: Alexander Hoffman,
James Davis, and William Shoopman. The
above committee were also elected the first
trustees of the church, to which a deed of the

land was given by John Schaffer, free of all
cost.

No regular services at present are held.
William Dyre occasionally preaches to the
few members that are left. The church at one
time had a large membership, and was among
the most prosperous of the county.

The society saw its brightest days of pros-
perity when the church was first built, and
Rev. Mr. Wright was pastor. After his death,
Rev. Mason Beadle took the charge as pastor,
and at the close of his ministerial services,
many of the members moved away, others
died, and now there are but fifteen members
remaining of that once prosperous body.

178

IIISTOIIY OF CASS COIJXTY.

CHAPTER XIX*

OREGON PRECINCT — DESCRIPTION AND SETTLEMENT — PIONEER LIFE — INDIANS —

CHURCHES.

" Once o'er all this famous land

Savage wilds and darkness spread,
Sheltered now by thy kind hand,

Cheerful dwellings rear their head.
Where once frowned the tangled wood,

Fertile fields and meadows smile,
Where the stake of torture stood,

Rises now thy churches' pile."

THE world is now taking time to look back
and the story of the pioneer is becoming
one of absorbing interest. Illinois was for a
long time considered "out West," and its
people, scarcely yet out of the prairie wastes,
took little interest in those traditions relating
to a condition of society but little removed
from their own. But the onward rush of the
quick march of civilization, has pressed back
the western frontier, making the once north-
western territory the central link in the
brilliant chain of states. This awakening to
the true value of the pioneer history of this
country comes in many respects too late.
The children of the pioneer settlements have
been fast gathered to the rest of their fathers
within the past decade, and the old land-
marks, one by one, have decayed and passed
away with those that placed them.

The men who first burst into the native sod
that hugged the hills and valleys of Oregon
Precinct; the men whose axes rang first along
its winding groves, where the foot-prints of
the red man were imprinted in the sands; the
men whose bullets first pierced the bounding
deer that played and hid among its countless
hills, have long since passed away ; their lips

*By J. L. Nichols.

SCHOOLS.

are hushed in sleep that never can impart the
hunger, and hardships, and trials of their
pioneer struggles. " The half can never be
told." It must rest in secret and in silence
in the pulseless bosoms that know no waken-
ing.

"Great God of love, we dedicate these hiUsaud vales to
Thee,

To hold Thy dead of every name, God's Acres let them
be.

And may the souls whose bodies lie within this beau-
teous calm

Be resting in the bosom of The Heavenly Taschal
Lamb."

We honor those pioneer veterans for their
self-sacrificing devotion in opening up for us
such a country of richness, of happy homes
and of glowing prospects for the future.

The path which men pursue in life, the dark
waves they struggle to repel, the rough
waters they endeavor to traverse, and their
temporal happiness, depends almost wholly
upon surrounding circumstances. See the
life and pursuits which the pioneer has chos-
en; he knew there was but hardship, priva-
tion and long suffering in store for him; the
vigorous years of his manhood must be given,
and the strong muscular frame must be weak-
ened with age to secure a brief respite from
toil in the autumn of his declining years.
Such was the character and make-up of the
first settlers of Oregon Precinct, and the suc-
cess of their labors, and the realization of
their most sanguine expectations, no one will
question ; the churches, school houses and
beautiful homes that everywhere meet the eye,
are the monuments of their pioneer industry.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

179

Oregon Precinct, like Richmond, is rather
too undulating for convenient travel over its
roads. There seems to be nothing but hills,
over one only to be at the foot of another,
and so on throughout the precinct; yet as
broken and bluff-like as the country seems to
a passing traveler^ it contains some of the
best and most productive farm lands in the
county.

The land that is too broken for cultivation,
makes admirable pastures for sheep and cattle,
and the fanners with their improved and im-
ported stock, find abundant wealth in the Ore-
gon hills.

There are three streams that form the prin-
cipal drainage of the precinct. Coxe's Creek,
running through the Western part, is quite
heavily timbered; some portions of this tim-
ber, in the past has been of more than
an ordinary growth, but the best part
has been cut down, and a dense, thrifty
growth of young trees has taken rapid pos-
session of the ground. Panther Creek rising
in the centre of the precinct, is rather a small
stream whose banks in many places are very
high and bluffy; there is also some timber
scattered along its banks, and quite a grove
where it takes its rise and from which it de-
rives its name. Middle Creek flows through
the Northeastern corner, and contains very
little water, and has but very little timber
growing along its banks till it reaches Rich-
mond Precinct, where it is quite heavily tim-
bered. These streams are comparatively
small, and only in places contain water the
year round; they invariably cease running
about the first of June, and in very dry seasons
scarcely any water can be found in the entire
length of their channels. While in the dry
portions of the summer they can scarcely be
termed creeks of the smallest character, in
Spring, after the heavy rains, they become
raging, roaring rivers, sweeping through the
lulls with such velocity and force that bridges,

fences, trees, and everything of a movable
character that comes within their reach, is
swept awaj' and rushed down stream.

Timber is more or less scattered throughout
the precinct. It is mostly of a young growth
that has started since the prairie fires ceased
to rage and sweep over the country. The best
and most timber is found in the southeast por-
tion of the precinct, and in the western part
along the banks of Coxe's Creek.

The first settlement in Oi'egon Precinct
was on Middle Creek. Mr. McDonald and
Mr. Redman were the first to penetrate the
pathless wilds and seek homes among the In-
dians and wild beasts that roamed over the
hills and woods of the country. They built
their cabins near the present site of New-
mansville, in 1824, and lived there in the soli-
tude and silence, with Salem their nearest
post-office, and Eli Cox, who had settled at
Coxe's Grove in 1830, their nearest neighbor,
till 1828, when Bartlet Conyers and Henry
Hopkins were added to the little settlement.

Beardstown or Salem were the only places
where farm produce or grain could be sold,
and groceries and household necessaries pur-
chased. At this time, however, there was but
one store at Salem, kept by Messrs. Hill &
McNamer. In reaching either of the above
named places, the early settlers found much
difficulty; the country was rough, the streams
unbridged, and the only way farmers could
travel was for several to go together and
double up their yokes of cattle in the bad
and difficult places of the road, and help each
other through. And after getting their grain
to market through these trying circumstances
they could realize but 10 cents per bushel for
their corn and 40 or 50 cents for their wheat,
the corn being shelled and the wheat
threshed by hand.

Bangs, frizzes, paint and lily hands were un-
known among the rustic maidens of pioneer
times. They spun and wove their own cloth-

180

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

iiig; went into the field with their brothers
and fathers; mowed, reaped, bound, raked, and
cut wood, were strong, rugged, and perfect
pictures of health. But very little luxury
was enjoyed on the part of the pioneer in these
days; during the big snow of 1830 and '.31,
many families lived exclusively for months on
corn bread and parched corn, the meal being
prepared in a mortar, as there were no mills
that could be reached.

In 184-1: we find in the other portion of the
jirecinct the following settlers: Mr. and Mrs.
Cress; G. Wood, on Sec. 34; Elijah Carver;
James Garner, See. 3; Geo. Beggs, Sec. 34;
John Sherrer, Sec. 3. In 1846 the cabin of
Joseph Allison was put up with no other
neighbor but Amos Garner, who lived then on
the farm now owned by his brother William.
Much of the land in Oregon was sold for 50
and even 25 cents per acre, and there was
government land as late as 1854; the farm
now owned by R. P. Bell was sold that year,
among one of the last pieces, at the low gov-
ernment price of 25 cents per acre.

Game, as in other parts of the county, was
very plenty. It seems buffalo and elk once
hid their habitation here, as many of their
bones and horns were seen by the early set-
tlers, strewn over the prairies and through the
forests. Wolves were very numerous, though
seldom doing violence to human beings; yet
no one cared to risk himself at night among
them without some sort of protection. There
is but one instance in the county where a
man was attacked by them, and that was
Daniel Troy of Bethel, who returning late with
a quarter of beef, was forced to give it up and
to beat a hasty retreat to protect himself.

Thomas Boycourt was one of the most dis-
tinguished hunters in the precinct while re-
siding on Section 34. His eagle eye allowed no
deer or wild turkey to escape when once his
trusty rifle was leveled upon it.

The early amusement of the young people

was principally dancing. An old settler tells
us, notwi.hstanding the dancers had a rough
punclieuii floor and no better beverage to en-
liven their spirits than home-made whisky,
sweetened with maple sugar, yet it is doubt-
ful if the anniversary of American Indepen-
dence was ever celebrated in the State by
more joyful and harmonious gatherings than
those who danced the scamper down, double-
shuffle, Western swing and half-moon, in the
frontier-cabins of our early settlers, here in
the county.

Newmansville was laid out in 1858, by Mr.
W. Newman, who built a blacksmith shop
and rented it to Thomas Joyce ; he after-
wards sold it to Alexander Robinson, who has
been in active business ever since. A wagon
shop is also connected with the blacksmith
shop, where considerable repairing is done in
that line.

Thomas P. Way built the first and present
store building, and did a good business for
three years, when he sold out to Pilcher and
Murphy, who continued the business for
seven or eight years, when they sold out and
moved to Chandlerville. The store then
changed hands very frequently for several
years, or till 1881, when the present occupant,
J. S. Struble, purchased the stock, and has
since been doing a fair business for an inland
country trade. There are six residences in
the village.

The post office is generally kept by the
party in business. The office was first known
asHigley, and since changed to Newmansville.

The first doctors in Newmansville were
Kilburn Hathwell and James Galloway. As
the country began to settle, Dr. Logan came
in 1857, and has continued in active practice
til! within a few years; liis health failing him,
he was compelled to give up the greater por-
tion of his ride. A young physician, Charles
Matthew, has been practicing for the past
four years with very good results.

HISTORY OF CASS COUXTY.

IRl

The M. E. Church, known as the Orogon
Chapel, was first organized in 1848, by the
following persons, holding class and prayer
meetings at the residence of John S. Boy-
court, Joseph Allison, R. Robinson, Amos R.
Garner, John and Joseph Allison, Jr., Jam>s
Wyatt, and James R. Garner. These men
were the first movers in the Christian cause
which has developed into the strength and
prosperity of the present church. The Soci-
ety for a time held its meetings at the resi-
dences of the different members. In 1855 the
Oregon school-house was built, and after that
the Society held their meetings there. Brother
I. Groves being the first minister, who
preached two years. The Society continued
to hold their regular Sabbath services at the
school-house for fifteen years. During this time
the church was aroused, and the community,
awakened by some soul-stirring revivals.
Brother Geo. Wolfe in one winter drew about
thirty converts to the church by his zealous
preaching. Brother Warfield several years
after brought the community to a sense of
Christian duty by pointing out the wicked-
ness and careless neglect of the world. Many
were brought to Christ and drawn into the
safe confines of the church. Many other re-
vivals, says Brother Allison, have been held,
though not so enthusiastic and full of interest,
yet great good has been done.

In 1869 or 1870 Joseph Allison gave to the
society a lot for a church, upon which the
present edifice was built at an expense of
$1,500. The building committee were J. M.
"Wyatt, H. Monroe, Wm. Watkins, and Wm.
Garner. The first trustees were: .John M.
Wyatt, Charles Deadorf, Samuel Hitchey,
Wm. Garner, Hooker Monroe. Rev. P. Lyons
was the first pastor after the church was com-
pleted. The present pastor is Rev. George
Fower. Present Trustees, Joseph Allison,
Wm. Garner, M. Arthurbury, Wm. Watkiiis
niid Mary Wyatt.

A Sunday school has always been kept up
in connection with the church. The first
superintendent was John S. Bo^'court ; he
began with twenty-five scholars, and now the
school has more than double the original
number. W. S. Garner, John M. Wyatt and
Samuel Hinchey, have had charge of the Sab-
bath school as superintendents most of the
time since the time of J. S. Boycourt.

The church has never been without a
regular pastor since it was built. The mem-
bers are earnest in the work, and can boast
of sixty-seven active members.

Newmansville M. E. Church society was first
organized at the residence of Bartlet Conyers,
a resident of Menard County, living just
across the line. In the spring of 1829, Rev.
David Carter preached at his cabin, which
was the first meeting and preaching in that
community ; the following families wore
present : David Williams and wife, Joseph
Regsdell and wife, and Mr. Conyers and wife.
That constituted the nucleus around which
the early religious interest clustered. Rev.
Mr. Carter resided in the county and visited
the neighborhood often on his pious mission.
The first circuit ministers were Revs. McKane
and Benson.

In 1840, the Church Society united with
the community in general, built a school
house with the understanding that it should
be used for church purposes as well as school.
In 1855, the society built their present church,
where they have held regular Sabbath services
ever since.

Peter Cartwright was the first presiding el-
der. The church is progressive, and has a mem-
bership of sixty, with a flourishing Sabbath
school of nearly the same number.

The school house known as the Quebec
school, was built about the year 1840, by
Messrs. Mathews, Garner, Carver and Wood.
Previous to the building of this school house,
the children of the community were much

182

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

neglected, as they were compelled to walk
from three to five miles, a distance that
would exhaust both mind and bod^', and a
pupil could do but little in applying the mind
alter such a distance had been traveled. Some
of the first scholars were William, Martha and
David Crews, Nancy Carver, Charles Carver,
Henry, Jerry, and Katie Sherrer. Wm. Pal-
lett and Miss D. Major, were among the first
teachers. The school has been in active
operation ever since, employing the best
teachers, and a high grade of studies are
usually taught.

The Oregon school house was built in 1855.
This was a good work, from which much edu-
cational fruit has been realized. The first
teacher was Jefferson Boycourt, and some of
the first scholars were Ellen and James Rob-
inson, Amos Wilson, Martha Wyatt, Mary
Boycourt. This school is among the most
progressive of the precinct

Let knowledge grow from more to more.

But more of reverence in us dwell,

That mind and soul, according well,

May make one music as before,

But vaster. Tenntson.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

183

CHAPTEE XX.*

HICKORY PRECINCT — PHYSICAL FEATURES — FIRST SETTLEMENT AND SUBSEQUENT
GROWTH— PROGRESS OF INDUSTRIES AND IMPROVEMENTS-
CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.

THIS precinct in almost every respect is su-
perior to any other in the county. Its
fertile soil, valuable timber, winding streams
and beautiful lakes, cannot fail to be appre-
ciated bj' the most indifferent or sluggish
mind. Its garden-landscape, spreading out
from the river till its undulating folds lap over
the feet of the hills, which stand like martial
sentinels guarding the plumed fields that di-
versify the bosom of that extended scope, is a
scene of which the eye can never tire. San-
gamon river, that deep, swift stream, winding
along its northern border; Clear Lake and
various gorges or chasms which are cut deep-
ly into the soil, disslosing perpendicular em-
bankments, furnish abundant material upon
which the hand of art in future years may
labor. Each lake, each stream, each hill and
vale, will be in time associated with some
event around which the fairy fingers of hal-
lowed recollections will entwine the sweet
flowers of other years. Even at this early day
local names spring up from surrounding
events, names that will live when those per-
sons associated with them, have long since
passed into oblivion. Other names will come,
as time sweeps onward, and for the pleasure
and satisfaction of those who live in the
future, these, and the circumstances which
gave them birth, must be carefully recorded.

"The sweet remembrance of the just,
Like a green root revives and hears
A train of blessings for his heirs
When dying nature sleeps in Just."

•By J. h. Nichols.

A greater portion of Hickory Precinct is
made up of bottom land, the Sangamon River
forming its northern boundary, and from
which on each side a broad strip of deep, rich
and sandy soil extends. This is the best and
most productive farm land in the county; all
kinds of grain and all manner of fruit that the
climate of Illinois will permit to grow, flourish
here in rich and luxuriant abundance; ex-
treme seasons, whether wet or dry, do not
seem to affect the yield of grain or the abun-
dance of fruit; it is land that never fails, or,
at least, never has failed, to produce a grain
crop since the first settler touched his plow to
its virgin soil. " It is a land that flows with
milk and honey."

The early settlers feared these bottoms;
many, looking for land and homes, passed by
and settled on farms that by years of cult-
ure, and with thousands of dollars worth of
improvements, to-dav is not worth one-half as
much per acre as the bottom land without
fences and unimproved, which they could
have purchased for less money. They feared
the ague floods, and fevers, and would not ex-
pose themselves and families to such supposed
dangers. The land which they could have
purchased for $1.25 per acre, now sells readi-
ly for $100 per acre.

The upland, of which the Southern portion
of the precinct is composed, is very hilly and
broken. It is largely used for pasture lands,
as there is comparatively but little that can
be conveniently cultivated. There is con-
siderable timber over this broken territory.

184

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

It formerly was found only along the streams
a:i(l ravines that wind around among the hills,
but of later years it has been gradually creep-
ing up the sides of those miniature mountains,
until their bald heads have become completely
covered with a young and rapid growth of
of timber. There is also some good timber
found in the northwestern corner of the pre-
cinct, on the banks of the Sangamon.

Many small ravines have furrowed broad
and deep channels through the soil in their
course to the river. There are no streams,
however, that continue to flow the year
round except in very extraordinary wet
seasons.

Job's Creek, passing through the North-
eastern corner of the precinct, is, in some
seasons of the year, a very extraordinary
stream. It empties into a small chain of
lakes which in places are never less than sev-
eral fathoms in depth. In high water this
miniature river almost becomes a Niagara,
roaring, rushing and sweeping everything be-
fore it.

The first settlers that dare risk life and
health on the sickly bottoms of the Sangamon,
of wiiich there was so much dread, were John
Baker, Amos Hager, John Carr with his sons
Elish, Peter, William, Benjamin, Jeremiah
and Divid, and John Wagner, a son-in-law
of Mr. Carr's; of these, John Baker was the
first, and probably came as early as 1823.
Mr. Hager and Mr. Carr and family came
sometime during the year of 1824. Mr.
Baker settled on the land now owned by
Thomas Knapp, and Mr. Carr and family on
the site of what is now called the Brick Cor-
ners. S. Richardson, Solomon Penny and I.
Revis came about 1827, Mr. Richardson oc-
cupying the land now known as the Frederick
Bower farm, and Mr. Penny settling on the
land now owned by Richard Tink. Of all of
these there is but one living, Mr. James Carr,
who resides in Fulton County. There are

but two grandsons of John Carr remaining in
the precinct, David and Dallas Carr. These
are the sons of David Carr, Sen., who married
Miss Julia A. Wells, who is still living, as al-
most the only representative of the early set-
tlors of Hickory Precinct. She at present
resides in Chandlerville, and to her we are in-
debted for much of the early history that is
connected with the first settlement of the
precinct.

In 1828 and 1829 the following families
were added to the scattering community;
Daniel Wells, Robert Ivers, Widow Stuart
and Benjamin Horrom. Mr. Wells came with
nine sons and one daughter, and settled three
miles West of Hickory.

The first settlers were compelled to go to
Jacksonville for their mail, groceries, etc., till
Thomas Pogne and Augustus Knapp started
a small store at Beardstown. When Mr.
Daniel Wells came to Beardstown, in 1828,
Thomas Board was keeping a hotel in a small
log cabin. Mr. Wells came up the Illinois
riverin the steamer known as the Dewitt Clin-
ton the first trip she ever made. The settlers
that were on the bottoms during the deep
snow were John Baker, Amos Hager, I. Revis,
Solomon Penny, S. Richardson, Daniel Wells,
John Carr, John Wagner, Jeremiah Bowen,
William Scott, Michael Pearson and a Mr.
Anderson.

During the autumn of 1830, previous to the
big snow, wild fruit was very abundant;
plums, berries, and grapes have never seemed
so plenty since. Wild bees were numerous
and honey very plenty; bees seemed to flour-
ish in a wild state better than they have later
years. The bottoms were then, during the
summer months, but a vast and unbroken
ocean of beautiful flowers, whose sweetness
were ample to the wants of the buzzing mil-
lions which fed upon them.

There was much suffering during the win-
ter of the big snow; it was impossible to

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

IS")

reach mills, towns, or any place where provis-
ions and clothing could be procured. Many
families had no greater luxuries for months
than cracked and boiled corn, with now and
then a little venison. Deer during that winter
became very poor, and so reduced by hunger
that they entered the yards of the settlers in
search of hay and scattering husks. At this
time there was no nearer mill than Salem;
people found it very difficult and tedious to
to travel that distance, and a Mr. Street, tak-
ing in the situation, put up a horse mill about
half way between Hickory and the present
site of Virginia, and did an immense business,
running night and day year after year. Farm-
ers, in order to secure their turn in time to re-
turn the same day, often would start at mid-
night, or even before, and remain nearly all
day at the mill before they could secure their
grist.

In the fall of 183-i, the first subscription
school was organized, and taught by B. F.
Nelson in a vacated log cabin on the premises
of David Carr, Sen. Early in the autumn
Mr. Nelson made his appearance in the settle-
ment, and solicited the privilege of getting
up a school. Mr. Carr gladly gave him the
use of the cabin above mentioned, and fur-
thermore, agreed to board him while engaged
in the mission of teaching. He was a man of
prepossessing appearance, a scholar and a
gentleman, but after getting nicely initiated
into the work, he was found to be a man
decidely wanting in energy and industry,
and at times beastly intemperate, and in no
way fitted to stimulate the morals and minds
of bis pupils. But as no other teacher could
be secured, he was tolerated, with a fair at-
tendance of scholars, till sometime in the last
of February or the first of March, when, by
gross neglect, he left the fire in such condi-
tion when leaving the building that it caught
fire and burned up, thus bringing the school
very suddenly to a close.

The cabin was located within a few rods of
the present residence of Jacob Houke. Some
of the scholars that attended this were: John
Wells, Harvey, Elizabeth and Nancy Carr,
Eliza Ann Turner, Philora Willis, John Hagor,
Jacob Monroe, David Wagner, Peter Wag-
ner, and the boys of Wm. Cole. The second
school that was taught in the precinct, was
on the premises of Wm. Cole, who built a
small cabin, especially for that purpose, and
freely donated its use to any one qualified
and willing to teach. Qualification then and
now were decidely two different things. At
that day any one that had the mechanical
skill to cut out and trim up a quill pen, an 1
read and figure interest, was considered well
qualified if he had the muscle necessary for
applying the rod or ruler. The first teacher
that availed himself of Mr. Cole's generous
offer was Carlatan Logan, who, in the winter
of 1830, taught a very good and satisfactory
school. Some of the scholars that attended
this school were C. Bowen, Ruth and Mar-
garet Bovven, Jacob Pearson, Sallie and
Austin Scott, William and Naomi Revis,
Mary Jane Briar, children of W. Cole, and
Carrie and Oliver Carr. The school was well
attended, and many others attended, whose
names cannot be recalled.

About 1840, a log school-house was erected
at Hickory, David Carr, Sen., giving the land
upon which it was built. A Mr. .lames Grant
was among the first teachers. Hs, taking his
bitters a little too frequently, which often got
the better of him, was the greatest objection
that the community had against him.

In 1857, a wooden frame building was
raised near the site of the old log house,
where school was continued till the present
neat and convenient brick building was com-
pleted. It is nicely finished, seated and
painted, and is said to be one of the nices;
country school-buildings in the county. It
was begun and completed in 1881, and coit

18C

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

$1,200. The committee that had the plan-
ning and building in charge was made up of
David Carr, Jr., William Taylor and Andrew
Schaad; they being the directors elect, were
considered competent without oiEcial instruc-
tion to design and complete the work.

Previous to the building of the present
brick, L. U. Re vis taught some five years in
succession. He was considered among the
best and most active teachers that ever taught
ill the district. He is a man now well known
over the entire United States, as the author
and able advocate of moving the national
capital to St. Louis, and those who have read
his speeches and pamphlets on that subject
cannot but be impressed with the weighty
and forcible logic of his arguments.

The district was formerly much larger than
at the present time. In ISfiO or 1861, the voters
began to talk about replacing the old build-
ing with a new one, but the northern portion
of the district objected unless the new build-
ing was so placed that it divided more evenly
the distance between the northern and south-
ern portions of the district ; this was refused,
and the northern part of the original district
seceded and built a school-house for them-
selves, where they have been very progres-
sive and earnest in keeping up a lively inter-
est in their school. This school is known as
the Secession school, a term synonymous
with its origin. There is one other school in
the precinct, which is known as the Cotton
Wood school. This is situated in the west-
ern part of the precinct, on section 11, and is
among one of the progressive schools of the
county. Hickory school pays the largest
salary to teachers. The directors there pay
from 140 to $(50 per laonth. The people are
fast realizing that a few dollars per month in
a teacher's salary is not at all to be considered
or com]5ared to a poor school in the hands of
a cheap teacher. ^

Tliere are a few facts of more tlian onliiarv

interest connected with the history of the
precinct, facts that will stand associated with
the names of the great actors that gave them
birth, when the marble and bronze upon
which their epitaphs are lettered and their
names engraved, have crumbled and been de-
faced.

Stephen A. Douglas, the great American
orator and statesman, made his first public
speech in Hickory Precinct, under a walnut
tree, long since dead and removed. The little
American giant and the giant of the forest
alike have yielded to the withering touch of
time and decay, and passed away. Several
years ago the old walnut died, and Gen.
Lippincott in his deep veneration for the
the name of the great American champion,
purchased the tree, had it made into furniture
and canes. The latter he presented to his
friends, and they are .now carried in almost
every State of the Union, and will be treas-
ured by father and son for generations to
come as relics of priceless value. Gen. John
J. Harding, who was killed in the Mexican
War, lost his eye on the Sangamon Bottoms,
in Hickory Precinct, while pursuing a deer.
Col. E. D. Baker, who lead the Union forces
across the Potomac at Ball's Bluff, and died
so nobly in defending the Hag of his country,
the man who, if he had lived, would have
risen to have smothered treason in the very
birth-place of liberty, often hunted on the
bottoms of the precinct, coming annually for
years to pursue the chase, and rest from the
fatiguing and confining labors of his e.xtensive
law practice. But he is gone, and died the
death of a patriot.

" To every man upon this earth

Death cometh soon or late,
And how can man die better

Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers

And the temples of his gods.'

Tn the broad bottom of the Sangamon river.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

187

the solitary settlers in the early days of their
pioneer struggles, rejoiced to hear the early
messengers of God proclaim the glad tidings
of great joy, or wept at the story of Pilate,
the crown of thorns and the agonies of Gol-
gotha and Calvary. It is a fact highly com-
mendable to the early settlers of Hickory
Precinct, that with all their trials incident to
settlement in a new and undeveloped country,
nought but hardships and poorly compensated
labor to weary and burden the mind, they did
not forget nor forsake their God, the source
of all life, light and happiness.

On the fifth Sabbath of July, 1848, we find
a few Christian families assembled about five
rods east of the present residence of Robert
Taylor, under a temperary shelter made by
setting a few posts into the ground and hast-
ily covered with brush. The services were
conducted by Rev. Daniel Bell, who was then
residing in Mason County, at Bath or there-
abouts, and being a special and intimate friend
of Mr. Morgan, then a renter. on the premises
where the meetings were held, and having
a vacation about that time, he was induced by
him to come and preach to a few families un-
der the circumstances above mentioned. After
continuing the meetings about one week, and
finding so much religious interest manifested,
it was thought advisable to continue the meet-
inars and secure additional clerical assistance.
Revs, .fames White, then residing on a farm
at Clary's Grove, and Nathan Downing, of
Virginia, were then sent for, and in the mean-
time the place of meeting was moved to or
near the present site of the Cumberland Pres-
byterian Church building, in a grove (since
cut away). A stand was prepared between
two native cherry trees, for the ministers, and
rude seats arranged under the cooling canopy
of leaves, for the audience. These meetings
continued about three weeks in this beautiful
grove, people gathering from far and near to
hear God's glorious truth proclaimed amid the

hymns of praise that in the open air were
wafted heavenward in a loud chorus of re-
joicing voices.

"The groves were God's first temples."
These meetings were, no doubt, the most
interesting ever held along the Sangamcm
bottoms; about sixty souls were converted
and added to the believing followers of
Christ.

In August, 1848, a session was convened
for the purpose of completing the organiza-
tion of the church, consisting of Revs. Down-
ing and White, and Lachlin McNeil, Elder
of Mount Pleasant church, and opportunity
being given to join the Cumberland Presby-
terian Church, the following members came
foward and gave a relation of their experi-
mental acquaintance with the religion of
Jesus Christ, which was considered satisfac-
tory, and they were received as members of
the church, viz : Thomas Wilson, George,
William, Charles, Elizabeth and Ellen Briar,
Susan, Mary Jane and Cyrus Horrom, Wni.
Cook, Thomas Montgomery, James Fairon,
Thomas and Ann Cooper, Emeline Anderson,
Elizabeth Richardson, Hannah Capper, Su-
sannah Harrington, Mary Carr, Sarah Horn,
Aiigeline Torry, Manelis More, an 1 J.Coolv.
These after being duly enrolled, were soon af-
terward baptized by the Rev. N. H. Dow-
ning. The church also received the following
by experience: John Horrom, .J.un^s Briar,
Mary Briar, Joseph Cook, Sidney Ann B iar,
Mary Briar, Janet Taylor, Eliza Canby and
Wright Gill, all of whom had been previously
baptized.

The above named converts having ex-
pressed a desire to organize a church, Robert
Tavlor having presented a certificate of mem-
bership in Mount Pleasant congregation, de-
sired to unite with them, and was unanimously
accepted and became a member.

In the organization of the church, N. H.
Downing was installed as the regular pastor,

1?8

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

and Robert Taylor, Thomas Wilson and
George Briar, were elected by the Congrega-
tion to the office of ruling Elders, and were
ordained by Rev. N. H. Downing, and Thomas
Wilson was elected Session Clerk.

After the above mentioned elections and
business transactions, they decided to con-
tinue regular weekly meetings at the Hickory
school house, where they met regularly every
Sabbath till 1849, when they built their pres-
ent church at a cost of $1,000, besides the la-
bor that was voluntarily given.

The lot of the chuich was purchased from
H. Horrom, and deeded to the trustees of the
church. The building committee was made up
of the following members, viz.: John Horrom
and Archibald Taylor. The following mem-
bers were elected trustees of the church: Rob-
ert Taylor, John Horrom, Archibald Taylor,
Win. Briar, and Ralph Morgan; of these,
Robert and Archibald Taylor are the only
two living members, and virtually the only
trustees of the church. Rev. N. H. Downing
was the first pastor of the new chuich; and.the
most prominent ministers from that time to
the present were: Abram Goodpasture, Wm.
Bell, David Jolley, R. S. Schull, Amos Cox,
J. E. Roach, and David Jolley, the latter being
present pastor; also was pastor some fifteen
years previous. The church has never been
without a regular salaried minister since it was
built. Peace and prosperity have attended
the growth and progress of the society; God
has blessed it, and great good has been ac-
complished, and its influence has reached far
and wide.

Many years since the Baptists and Presby-
terians united in organizing a Sabbath school.
It has been very prosperous and progressives
some fifty scholars are in attendance. No
nobler work could enlist the united eft'orts
of the chiirches. Several years ago an organ
was purchased, and more life and interest
addid to the school. Mnggie Taylor, Alice

Kendall, Emma Fieldeii, and Miss M. Taylor,
have officiated as oi-g mists. D. J. Cole,
David Carr, and Robert Fielden have been
Sabbath school superintendents most of the
time, the latter being the present superin-
tendent.

The Missionary Baptist Church at Hickory,
was first organized in a small log cabin on the
premises of Wm. Cole, built by him especial-
ly for school and religious purposes. Mr.
Cole was the prime mover and the most active
member in the little society. A man whose
purse as well as heart was open to the Chris-
tian cause.

Rev. John Daniels, originally from the State
of Virginia, was the first minister that preach-
ed to the little band of devoted followers of
Christ. Services at the little cabin were
continued for two years or more, with a
growing interest. A Baptist church society
was then organized, September 29, 1838, with
the following members, viz.: William Cole,
John Hicks, Amos Smith, Thomas J. Mosloy,
Mrs. Ellen Cole, Lucy Smith and Mrs. J.
Logan.

After the society had completed a prelim-
inary organization, T. J. Mosley was ap-
pointed to attend the Springfield Baptist
Association, to request admittance into their
union, which was unanimously granted. Mr.
Amos Smith was appointed to write the
church letters, with the approval of the
pastor.

In 1839, a revival of more than usual in-
terest was held at their regular place of meet-
ing by Rev. John Daniels, and the following
persons were converted and baptized: Mary
E. Cole, Nancy Cooper, James M. Kemper,
Allen Ingram, Robert Cole, Wm. W. Cole,
B. J. Smith, Lydia Smith, Eliza Cooper,
James Ingram, and M. Ingram ; and Luther
A. Jones, Druzilla Jones and Nancy May
were received by letter.

In 1811, or thereabouts, the Hickory sciiool

SQ Oytn^cC /C cu

uAA

UNlVt*^^

•1 >■

,,»9.

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

191

house was built near the site of the present
school building, and the Baptist Society find-
ing their place of meeting too small to accom-
modate their increasing numbers, adjourned
to the school house, where they continued
meeting till their present church was built.
They held their services in the school build-
ing in winter, and in the little grove near the
school building (since cut away) in summer.

It was quite customary in that early day
for a large proportion of the settlers to
shoulder their rifles and spend the holy Sab-
l)ath in pursuing the game of the country, as
there was little of a religious character to in-
terest a roving, hunting disposition, and at
these meetings held in the grove, the hunters
would gather from the hills and the bottoms,
stack their guns and listen to the sermons of
Rev. Daniels, who being a man of eloquence
as well as piety, soon converted many of these
Sabbath breaking wanderers, and the crack
of the rifle on the sacred Sabbath was much
less frequently heard. The present church
was built in 1853, and Mr. Wm. Cole, Sr.,
contributed about half the fund; it is a neat
convenient frame building, costing some
11,500 to complete it.

The building committee were R. S. Cole,
D. J. Cole, L. M. Jones and T. Smith. The
church at this time had some thirty members
to contribute to its support.

The first board of trustees was made up of
the following members: D. J. Cole, Luther
M. Jones and James Fielding, the latter be-
ing the only trustee of the church remaining
in the settlement. Rev. Mr. Hays, in 1854,

held an interesting series of protracted meet-
ings at the church, and many were converted
and added to the church. Rev. John Daniels
was the first and also the last pastor of the
church. He was pastor a greater portion of
the time from the founding of the church till
his death. A subscription is now being taken
up to erect a monument to his memory ;
money could not be contributed to a worthier
cause or nobler purpose. Rev. John Daniels
was one of the first ministers of Hickory pre-
cinct; long, tireless and faithful were his labors
in the service of the Master. He has o-one to
his long home.

Since the death of Rev. Daniels, no regular
Sabbath services have been held, and no reg-
ular salaried minister employed. Many of
the old members have moved to other parts,
others have died, and are sleeping beneath
the changing shadows of the hills, and so
weakened the membership of the church,
that the few scattered families remaining find
it very difficult to revive its former interest,
or build up its decaying strength.

In conclusion, we shall only say that far-
mers of the precinct as a general thing, are
well to do, or wealthy and prosperous. They
have seen the Sangamon Bottom changed
from a wilderness of tangled grass, dense
brush, and scrubby trees, overflowed and
steaming with poison and miasma, shaking
the inhabitants with ague and burning them
with malignant fever, to a garden spot of
Illinois, surpassing in loveliness and fertility
anything we have ever seen.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

VIRGINIA-CITY AND PRECINCT.

THE BLACK FAMILY. — William
Black. The grandfather of our subject was
William Black, a militia captain, during the
approach of the Revolutionary War. He was
one of the first officers of the country who re-
fused allegiance to the British crown. He died
about the time the war commenced. ^His wife's
maiden name was Beard. Thomas G. Black,
one of his sons was born in January, 1772,
in Mecklenburg County, N. C. He married
Miss Polly, daughter of William and Eliza-
beth (Shepherd) Callahan, Feb. 26, 1795.
She was born April 7, 1773. Her fa-
ther was of Irish, and her mother of Ger-
man, descent. Thomas G. departed this life
Nov. 20, 1823, and his wife, Polly, died
March 20, 1853. William, who still lives in
Virginia, in Cass County, is one of the off-
spring of this union, and was born in Geor-
gia, Jan. 3, 1796. He married in Tennessee,
Dec. 4, 1823, Miss Mary S., daughter of
Dixon and Susan Vaughn. She was born
Nov. 1, 1803, and as a result of this union,
they have born to them ten children. Six of
their oldest were born in Tennessee, and the
remaining four in Morgan, now Scott, County,
HI. Thomas G., the eldest of these, was
born .fune 15, 1828. He served as a colonel
of the Third Missouri Cavalry, in the late
■war, about three years, and is now practicing
medicine at Clayton, Adams County, this
State.

Amanda C, was born May 25, 1S2G. She
died July 33, 1837.

Joseph F., was born Feb. 23, 1828.
Was six years of age when the family moved
to Illinois, and consequently received his ru-
diraental schooling in Scott County. His
father came to Cass County in 1846, and
Joseph commenced business for himself as a
farmer, and followed it for several years.
Being of a mechanical turn of mind, he be-
came engrossed in the invention of a self-rak-
ing reaper. With years of experimenting,
and the expenditure of some money, he de-
veloped a successfully working machine, upon
which he secured a patent in 1856, and the
binding attachment he sold to the Wood
Reaper Manufacturing Company, and the
same is now in use on their machines. Mr.
Black is an architect of several years' success-
ful experience. Has erected on contract
many of the best buildings of Virginia, Jack-
sonville, and also built the Christian Church
at Springfield, 111., in 1880-81. Since 1876,
he has been a resident of Virginia. He has
been twice married; first to Miss Mary F.
Wilmott, daughter of Charles R. Wilmott, a
resident of Morgan County. She died Jan.
26, 1879, leaving five children, Charles
W., Mary B., now Mrs. Armsted Mains, a
farmer of Cass County, Eva L., or Mrs. Win.
G. Payne, of Virginia. Robert W. and
Joseph F.. jr., reside at home. May 2, 1882,

194

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Mr. Black again married, Mrs. Mary J. Skiles,
of Virginia, widow of Ignatius Skiles (de-
ceased). Mr. Black is a member of the Chris-
tian Church, and of the I. O. O. F., and K. of H.

William L., was born June 8, 1829. He
commenced life as a farmer in Cass County.
and continued in that business until the fall
of 1878, and in 187J entered mercantile busi-
ness with his brother, John, under firm name
of Black Brothers, in Virginia. March 3ith,
1837, he married Miss Adromcha, daughter
of Alexander and Martha (Clark) Naylor,
natives of Kentucky. She died Jan. ifl,
1879, leaving three daughters: Alice, Carrie
and Fannie. Mrs. Black was a member of
the Christian Church, as is also Mr. Black.
He is a life-long Republican, and a mem-
ber of the I. O. O. F., Virginia Lodge.

Richard v., was born October 27, 1S31;
moved to Nebraska about 1860, and located
near Nebraska City, where he is engaged in
farming. He served three years in the One
Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Volunteer
Infantry. He entered as a Sergeant, and was
soon advanced to a Captain.

John Jefferson, was born Oct. 34, 1833,
and died August 22, ]839.

Green V., was born on the 3d day of Au-
gust, 1830. He is a resident of Jackson-
ville, and a successful dentist. He served a
short time as a volunteer soldier in the late war,
but was discharged on account of disability.

.Iames B., is the seventh son of his
father, and was born Oct. 9, 1839, in Scott
County; he attended the common schools
of Cass County, and later, the Cumberland
Presbyterian Academy, in Virginia. At the
age of 19, he cothmenced teaching school in
Cass County, and in the fall of 1861, he en-
listed in Company C, Third 111. Vol. Cavalry,
in which he served about two years. While
in service, he was engaged in several battles,
among which was Pea Ridge; was with
Sherman at Vicksburg. He entered as a pri-

vate and was promoted to First Lieutenant
of his company. He was compelled to resign
his commission in 1863, on account of ill
health; returned home, and resumed teaching.
He served as instructor in the State Institu-
tion for the Blind, at Jacksonville, in 1864,
'05 and '60, and afterward became principal
in the public schools of Jacksonville. After
farming four years, he was in 1873 elected
clerk of Cass County, which office he has con-
tinuously held. Since July, 1878, he has also
been the cashier of the Centennial National
Bank, of Virginia. July 1, 1867, he married
Miss Eliza J. Ewing, daughter of William
Ewing (deceased), of Jacksonville. They have
one daughter, May.

Maky J., was born Dec. 13, 1840. She
was married in 1857, to George A. Beard,
a prominent farmer of Cass County. She
died Feb. 26, 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Black are
members of the Christian Church, and he of
the A. O. U. W. and K. of H. John, the
youngest of the family, was born Dec. 21,
1844, in Scott. He entered the mercantile
business in Virginia in 1876. He married
Maggie Blair, March 15, 1866, and they have
five (laughters: Emma L., CoraE., Ida F., Jes-
sie G., and Maggie E. Mr. and Mrs. Black
are both members of the Christian Church.
Ho is a Republican, and a member of the K.
of H. of Virginia.

Charles W., was born in Princeton Pre-
cinct, Sept. 19, 1850; is the oldest son of
Joseph F. Black, of whom an extended men-
tion is made in the foregoing sketch of the
Black family. He received his education
at the Washington School House, near Phila-
delphia, this county, except a si.x months
commercial course in the Business College
in Jacksonville, this State. Nov. 34, 1870,
he married Miss Elsie E. Buckley, daugh-
ter of Mark and Cornelia Job Buckley,
in Philadelphia Precinct. Mark Buckley is a
native of England, and his wife was born at

VIRGINIA-CITY AND PRECINCT.

195

Sylvan Grove, this county, Dec. 30,1823, and
is daughter of Archibald and Jane (Brierly)
Job, of whom see Historical Sketch elsewhere
in this volume. Mr. Black engaged in farm-
ing for three years, and in 1873 was appointed
Deputy Clerk of Cass County, and has since
that time filled the position with such efficien-
cy, that he has received the nomination on the
Republican ticket to succeed his uncle, .James
B. Black, Clerk elect. Mr. and Mrs. Black
have three children: Mabel Ora, Roy Lcstie,
and Mary Lora. Since 18G7 they have been
members of the Christian Church of Virginia,
and Mr. Black is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and A. O. U. W.

HENRY BEVIS, Virginia City, one of the
respected and thrifty citizens of Cass County,
is a native of the Buckeye State, and was
born near the city of Cincinnati, Oct. 23, 1836.
He is the oldest son of David and Achsah
(Stout) Bevis. David Bevis was also a native
of Ohio, his father Jesse having come to
Hamilton County about the year 1800; Jesse,
his father, was the third son of a family of
six sons and si.x daughters, and was for about
forty years U. S. Postmaster at Bevis Post-
office, which took its name from the family.
Our subject received his education at the
Farmers' College, about six miles north of
Cincinnati. After leaving school he taught
one winter. April 20, 1854, he married Miss
Sarah J. Stout, daughter of Philemon Stout,
a native of New Jersey, and came with his par-
ents to Hamilton County, O., when a small boy,
and in 1831 to Cass County. Mr. Bevis came
to Illinois in October, 1857; he has since that
time followed his trade as a carpenter and
builder, except about five years, spent in the
mercantile business at Philadelphia. He serv-
ed as surveyor of Cass County one term of
four years from 1867. Mr. Bevis is a Demo-
crat. Himself and wife are members of the
Presbyterian Church, and they have four chil-
dren: Flora, Albon, Philemon, and Grace.

LEVI CONOVER, deceased. Among the
sturdy pioneers who converted the wild
prairie into productive £arms, and built up
the little commonwealth of Cass County,
was the lamented Levi Conover. His grand-
father, Dominions Conover, emigrated from
Holland about 1830, and settled in New
Jersey. He had five sons : William, John,
Garrett, Levi, and Peter. The least of
the five brothers when of middle age,
weighed 250 pounds, and the largest 295.
The fourth of the sons of Dorainicus (Levi)
was the father of the subject of this sketch,
and was born in 1760. He entered the Federal
Cavalry service in 1776, being in his seven-
teenth year. He served five years, as did his
brother Garrett. In the year 1785, being
twenty-five years of age, he married Catha-
rine Dye, and in 1790 he and his brother Gar-
rett, with their families, removed to the State
of Kentucky, and settled near Lexington.
In 1795 both brothers removed to Adair Coun-
ty, Ky., and purchased farms near Columbia.
Their brother Peter followed them from New
Jersey in 1800, and settled near Lexington,
their two older brothers, William and John,
remaining in New Jersey. In 1801 Levi's
wife died, leaving him seven children. In
1802 he married Mrs. Jane Gelbirth Turnbow;
she had by her former husband two sons,
John and Hugh, who were brought up by
their uncle, Hugh Gelbirth. They were with
General Jackson in 1S12, at the battle of
New Orleans. Five children, two daughters
and three sons, were the fruits of this second
marriage: Peter, James, Matilda, Levi, and
Jackson. Levi was born Jan. 14, 1808; his
brother Peter, in the year 1825, came to Illi-
nois, and entered the Gilmore farm, two miles
south of Princeton, then in Sangamon, now
in Morgan County. In 1827 he sold his first
purchase, and entered 240 acres just east of
the Jeff Crum farm, in this county, where he
remained until 1860. He then moved to

196

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Mason County, this State, where he still lives,
at the advanced age of seventy-eight years.
In the year 1833, the subject of this sketch,
and his sister Matilda, with her husband, Asa
B. Lane, came to Illinois. He was then
twenty-two years of age. His outfit upon
leaving Kentucky consisted of a good horse,
a fine mare and colt, and a small amount of
money. After having traveled three days, he
awoke one morning to find that his mare and
colt had been stolen, and a week was spent
by the entire party in a fruitless search for
the missing property. On reaching Illinois
with one horse, his money was all spent, and
he was in debt to his brother Peter and Mr.
Lane. Thus, one of Cass County's most suc-
cessful pioneers commenced his career with-
out means, except that most valuable capital,
health, honesty, industry, and economy. He
purchased another horse of his brother Peter,
for $35, paying for the same by splitting rails
at fifty cents per hundred. After paying
this debt he continued rail splitting until he
had accumulated $105 in silver. This he
loaned to a man who moved to Iowa, and he
never collected a cent of the debt. In the
spring of 1834, he went to Galena and work-
ed in the lead mines at Mineral Point, until
fall, when he returned and emigrated to
Iowa. There he bought a claim for $75, and
divided it with a friend. They returned to
Illinois, purchased oxen and wagons, and
then returned to Iowa, and spent the next
summer in breaking and improving their
farms. During the spring of 1835, he, Mr.
Conover, built for himself a substantial hewed
log house, 16x18, a smoke-house, and a stable.
Unable to obtain plank, a quilt was hung
up at the opening left for a door, to keep the
wolves out. Finally the door and floor were
made of puncheon. In November, 1836, he
married Miss Elizabeth Petefish, of Cass
County, sister of S. H. and Jacob Pete-
fish, and they soon after proceeded to their

Iowa home. They returned to Illinois in
August, 1837, on a visit. Mr. Conover re-
turned to Iowa after a two weeks stay, leav-
ing his wife to complete her visit. She was
soon taken sick and died the latter part of
that same month. So imperfect were the
mail facilities at that time, that he did not
learn of her death until two weeks after her
burial. This sore bereavement unsettled his
plans, and he sold his claim of 560 acres for
$3,000 in silver, with which he returned to
Cass County, and loaned it to his friends,
Jacob Epler, Capt. Charles Beggs, and J.
Bradley Thompson. In January, 18-41, he
purchased the old homestead of the family,
from his cousin John, son of Peter Conover,
which was settled in 1823. His experience
on first settling in this county was not unlike
that of many of the energetic and resolute
class of men who were the pioneers of the
West, and to whom the public are indebted
for the orderly and intelligent character of
the society we now enjoy. His second mar-
riage was to Miss Phebe A. Rosenberger, who
with three children, George, Charles W., and
Ellen, now survives him. Mrs. Conover's
father, .lohn Rosenberger, and her mother,
were both of German parentage, and came to
Illinois and settled at Princeton, in 1836.
They raised a large family, of which Phebe
A., was the oldest; George, the oldest living
son of the Conover family, was born Sept. 11,
1846, at the Conover homestead near Prince-
ton. He is the fourtti of the family, two
older sisters tiaving died, and one, Mrs. Will-
iam Epler, still survives. He received his
rudimental schooling at Zion school-house,
and afterwards attended theWesleyan Univer-
sity at Bloomington, 111., and took a commer-
cial course at Bryant & Stratton's Business
College, Chicago. At twenty-one years of
age he commenced farming, in which busi-
ness he remained from 18^0 to 1876, when he
became connected as a partner in the bank-

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

197

ing firm of Petefish, Skiles & Co., and since
that time has acted as assistant cashier and
book-keeper. Feb. 23, 1871, he married Vir-
ginia Bone, a daughter of William Bone, of
Sangamon County, later of Lincoln, 111. Mr.
Conover was the fourth of a family of five
children, and was born Sept. 11, 1846. They
have two children, William B. and Earnest
B. Mr. Conover is Secretary of and a stock-
holder in the Importers and Breeders' Asso-
ciation of Cass County, and also a member of
the Buildintj Association of Virgrinia. Charles
W., is the fifth youngest of the family, and
was born April 1, 1849, on the homestead; he
was educated and brought up a farmer, and
has steadily adhered to his calling. He
owns and lives on the Conover homestead,
which he has successfully managed since it
came into his possession. He married Miss
Louise Dever, April 1, 1875; she is a daughter
of John Dever (deceased), a farmer and na-
tive of Ohio. They have three children:
Millie, Dasie L., and an infant not named.
Mr. Conover is a thrifty farmer,'*a Democrat,
and much respected in the community.

WILLIAM CAMPBELL, one of the most
enterprising, energetic and prosperous pio-
neers of Cass County, was born in Ireland,
April 15, 1818. His father, Archibald, had
four daughters and three sons. Our subject
emigrated to America and to Cass County in
the spring of 1840. His sister Mary preceded
him, and another sister, Catharine, came after-
ward. He located upon his present home-
stead, and commenced laying the foundation
of a success, seldom enjoyed by any who com-
menced in so humble a manner. Mr. Camp-
bell brought with him only a small amount of
money, all of which was expended in starting
him on his first piece of land. He is now
owner of about nineteen hundred acres of
Cass County soil; also holds a considerable
amount of Virginia City property, and is a
member of the well known banking firm of

Petefish, Skiles & Company. October 10, 1845,
he married Miss Mary Studbrank, a native
of Germany. Her father, Fredric Studbrank,
emigrated from Germany when she was
small, and located in Cass County. Mrs.
Campbell died May 33, 1872, in the forty-
seventh year of her age, leaving three sons
and one daughter, Henry J., Alfred, Edwin,
and Emma J. Ann L., William E., Charles,
and an infant, are deceased. Mr. Campbell
has held the office of County Commissioner
several years, and is a member of the Presby-
terian Church. Henry J. was born Nov.
25, 1850. He received his schooling in Vir-
ginia, and entered farming in 1875. March 1,
1877, he married Miss Maggie Taylor, daughter
of Robert and Jenette (Cunningham) Taylor,
of the Sangamon Bottom, Cass County, a
sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this
volume. Mrs. Campbell is the third of a
family of seven daughters and five sons,
and was born Dec. 2, 1852. Mr. and Mrs.
Campbell have one son, William V. Mr.
Campbell owns a farm of 200 acres; being
a practical farmer, seldom fails of a profitable
year's business.

J. B. CRAFT, proprietor Virginia House,
is a native of Fayette County, Pa., and was
born at Brownsville, July 30, 183S. His fa-
ther, William B. Craft, was a manufacturer of
grain-cleaning machines, and was also a
native of the Key-stone State. He married
Evaline White, a native of Ohio. They
raised a family of seven children, and our
subject was their second child. J. B. received
his schooling in Brownsville, and there learned
the carriage maker's trade, which he followed
about eight years. He came to Cass County in
1864. In 1871 he took charge of his present ho-
tel, and from that time until the present, except
one j'ear (1874) spent in the grocery trade, has
been its proprietor. William B., his father,
died in the year 1855, and his mother is still
living, a resident of Fulton County. Our sub-

198

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ject was married Oct. 9, 1862, to Miss Phoebe
L. Dunaway, daughter of James Dunaway, a
farmer of Fayette County, Pa., where she was
born March 5, 1845. They have six children,
four sons and two daughters, viz.: Annie E., W.
Earnest, Edward, Thomas, Bertha and George.
Mr. Craft has been from time to time identi-
fied with the public interests and growth of
Virginia, aside from providing the city
with an all important adjunct, " a first-class
hotel;" has served as a member of the City
Council about six years. He has been for
several years a member of the School Board,
Police Magistrate, and is at present the City
Treasurer, which position he has filled about
eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Craft are both
members of the Christian church.

DR. S. M. COLLADAY, for several years
a successful practicing physician of Virginia,
is a native of the city of New York; was
born Aug. 27, 18i2. His father, Charles H.
Colladaj-, was a native of Philadelphia, Pa.,
and was by occupation a last manufacturer,
and carried on business in New York for
about twenty-one years. He was from Ger-
man and French Huguenot descent; married
Miss Sarah Jane Lutes, a native of Orange
County, N.Y., who was of German and of Pu-
ritan stock. He died in 1856; whereupon,
our subject came west to Fulton County, 111.
In 1861, he entered the army, enlisting in the
5th Michigan Vol. Infty., from Macomb
County. His regiment was assigned to Gen.
Kearney's division of the 3d corps, in which
division he served until his discharge on ac-
count of disability, in November, 1862. Dr.
Colladay studied medicine in Fulton County,
111., and afterward entered the medical de-
partment of the Michigan State University,
and graduated from that institution in the
class of 187-3. He spent two years practic-
ing his profession, at Kansas City, Mo., and
in 1875 came to Virginia and entered the
drug bnsiness with Mr. J. W. Wilkinson, un-

der the firm name of Colladay & Wilkinson.
In 1819, Mr. C. B. Gatton purchased Mr.
Wilkinson's interest, and the firm of Colladay
& Gatton continued the business until Jan-
uary, 1881, when Dr. Colladay withdrew, to
devote his time to the practice of his profes-
sion. October, 1874, he married Miss Cor-
nelia H. Wilkinson, of Vermont, Fulton
County, 111. Mrs. Colladay is a native of
Pennsylvania, and from childhood has lived
in Fulton county. They have two sons,
Charles and Edward. Mrs. Charles Colladay,
the doctor's mother, is still living at Lincoln,
Neb. Of her six children, three are still liv-
ing: our subject; Frank, a hardware mer-
chant, of Waterloo, Iowa; and Louise, now
Mrs. Dr. E. P. Hemer, of Lincoln.

DAVID M. CRUM; farmer, P. O. Virginia;
was born in Arenzville Precinct, Dec. 25,
1853, and is a son of Christian Crura. He re-
ceived a good education, having attended the
Wesleyan University, at Bloomington, Ills., for
some time, and engaged in farming, which oc-
cupation he still pursues. In Virginia, this
county, Nov. 24, 1875, he married Henrietta
B. Payne, a native of Missouri, born Sept. 21,
1856, daughter of W. B. and Elizabeth Payne
of Virginia, this county; by this union they
have been blessed with three children: Bessie
L., Vida v., and Mabel A. Mr. Crum is a
member of the M. E. Church and is Secretary
of Lodge No. 68, I. O. O. F. of Virginia, this
county; he is a Democrat.

FINIS E. DOWNING, Circuit Clerk of
Cass County; is a native of the city of Virginia,
Cass Co., and was born Aug. 24, 1846. His
father, Nathan H. Downing, was a Cumber-
land Presbyterian Clergyman, a native of Ken-
tucky, and a son of John Downing, who was a
native of Bedford County, Va., and married
Susannah Hall, a native of same place. John
Downing had a family of twelve children,
nine of whom lived to maturity. He removed
from Virginia to Kentucky with his parents

VIRGIXIA— CITY AXD PEECI>'CT.

199

in early life, and from thence to Marion Coun-
ty, Mo., in 1837, and pursued farming
until his death, in June, 1833. His wife sur-
vived him until March 3, 1861. Nathan H.
Downing came to Cass County in 1843. He
married Miss Eliza Head, a native of Howard
County, Mo., and a daughter of John Head,
a farmer and surveyor. He died in Virginia,
Nov. 30, 1853. They had five children, two
sons and three daughters, viz.: John C,
Finis E., Lucy J., now Mrs. Green Middle-
ton, of York County, Neb. John C, who
died in a hospital at Memphis, Miss., April 10,
1863. He enlisted in the 1 l-tth 111. Vol. Inf ty.
August 13, 1863, a historical sketch of which
appears elsewhere in this book. Finis mar-
ried Jan. 15, 1868, to Miss Sue H. Payne,
daughter of William B. Payne, of Virginia.
They have one son, Harry. Mr. Downing was
elected to the oflSce of Circuit Clerk of Cass
Countj- in November, 1880. He first entered
business as clerk for William B. Payne, and
continued with him about five years, and
after the first year was his partner. He re-
moved to Missouri in 1869, and there remained
until 1875, and then returned to Virginia and
clerked for Mr. Payne until his election. He
is a member of the I. O. O. F., A. O. U. W.,
and A. F. and A. M., of Virginia.

JOHN M. DIRREEN, Deputy Sheriff of
Cass County, Virginia, is a native of Cass
County, and was born in Virginia, July 39,
ISiO. His father, Edward, was a farmer, a
native of Ireland, and came to Cass County in
April, 1837. His mother was formerly Miss
Jane Himphey, and also a native of the
Emerald Isle; came to Cass County in 1835,
and is still living. She has nine children,
three of whom are deceased; the remaining six
are still living, viz.: Catharine, Eliza, Alice,
Michael, Edward, and our subject, who was
brought up a farmer, and followed that busi-
ness until February, 1878. In 1871, he mar-
ried to Miss Nancy Cunningham, a native of

Cass County. She died February 33, 1878,
leaving one daughter, Josephine. 3*Ir. Dir-
reen is a Democrat in politics, and since
Aug. 33, 1878, has held his present respon-
sible position, which he has thus far filled
with satisfaction to the people of his county.
ELI M. DALE, one of the thrifty farmers
of Cass County, was born at Bedford, Law-
rence County, Ind., Jan. 1, 1844, and is a son
of Eli and Elizabeth (Waugh) Dale. The
former a native of Cumberland County, Pa.,
born Feb. 3, 1816, and the latter 1831, in
North Carolina. Mrs. Dale died, leaving four
sons and two daughters, namely: Samuel, a
lawyer for five years in Beardstown, now in
Colorado; Eli M., our subject, Emily M., Wil-
liam W., Mary A., George A. Eli Dale's
grandfather on his mother's side, McCracken,
was an Irishman; he came to America in time
to serve eight years in the Revolutionary war,
and fought on the American side. His grand-
father on his father's side (Dale) was a Ger-
man. Eli M., our subject, received his
schooling in his native county; came to Cass
County in 1865, and engaged in the manufac-
ture of brick, and in building, in company with
his father, Eli, and his brother, under the
firm name of Eli Dale & Sons. The firm
continued in this business successfully until
1876, and since that time he has been farming
in Virginia Precinct. Our subject entered
the army for the suppression of the Rebellion
in 1863, from Indiana, in the Sixty-seventh
Volunteer Infantry, in which regiment he
served about nine months, as a private, and
was discharged on account of disability. Up-
on sufiSciently recovering, he again entered
the army in the One Hundred and Thirty-
Sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which be
served one hundred days, the full time for
which he enlisted, and received his discharge,
and a third time enlisted; this time in the
One Hundred and Fortieth Indiana Infantry,
and served until the war closed. This record

200

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

speaks 'for itself, and shows that the patriotic
zeal of our subject must have been inherited,
or he would, on general principles, have got
enough of the war on first trial, after having
lost his health. Durins his term of service

he was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant of
his company, and participated in several se-
vere engagements. Ho was discharged in
18G5, and came to Illinois, as before men-
tioned. Dec. 20, 1860, he married Miss Lida
E. Tureman, daughter of George and Eliza-
beth (Glover) Tureman, who was born Dec.
21, 1851. Mr. Tureman is a native of North
Carolina, and Mrs. Tureman of Morgan Coun-
ty. They have two children: Stella M. and
Cora T.

WILLIAM DOWDALL, a thrifty farmer
of Cass County, Virginia precinct, came to
Cass County in 1851, via New Orleans, hav-
ing landed there direct from Ireland, where
he was born, Sept. 10, 1830 ; his native home
was within sixteen miles of the renowned
city of Belfast, the pride of the Emerald
Isle. His father, Hugh Dowdall, was a
farmer, brought up his sons as farmers, and
our subject shows, in his methods of direct-
ing his farm, the thoroughness that charac-
terized his father's labors. Mr. Dovs'dall lo-
cated on his present place of 176 acres, soon
after his arrival in Cass County, and in Dec.
18, 1853, was married to Miss Jane Havern,
also a native of Ireland, who came to Amer-
ica on the same ship with Mr. Dowdall. Thev
have four children: Hugh H., William J.,
S imuel W. and Mary Jane. Mr. and Mrs.
Dowdall are members of the Presbyterian
Church, of Virginia, and he belongs to the
Republican party.

THE EPLER FAMILY is of German ori-
gin. Abeam Eplee, was born in Lancaster
(now Dauphin) County, Penn., Feb. 28, 1709.
He was married in 1791, to Miss Anna Old-
weiler. She was born Oct. 26, 1768. In 1798
he emigrated to Kentucky, and settled n^ar

the falls of the Ohio, from whence he removed
across the Ohio river, into what is now Clarke
County, Ind. He was a man of commend-
able enterprise and industry, a miller, dis-
tiller and farmer, and disposed of the prod-
ucts of his varied business in southern mar-
kets, principally New Orleans, transportation
being by flat boats, steamboats not yet hav-
ing been introduced on Western waters. In
1832, Abram Epler removed to Illinois,
settling on Indian Creek, in Morgan
County, Ills., on section two, township six-
teen north, range nine west, of the third
principal meridian, where he died Jan. 22,
1837. Abram Epler was the father of a
family of six sons and five daughters, who
widely scattered, settling in various parts of
the West. John, Jacob, David and Isaac pre-
ceded him to Illinois, and settled on farms now
embraced within the limits of Cass County.
George, the youngest son, remaining with
his parents, attending them in their removal
to Illinois, resided at the old homestead un-
til his removal to Sangamon County, near
Farmingdale, where he died Sept. 5, 1867.
John and David are deceased, Jacob resides
at Pleasant Plains, Sangamon County, 111.,
which prosperous village he settled and
founded about the year 1848. Isaac resides
in Otoe County, Neb., near Nebraska City.
The above named, John, Jacob, David, Isaac
and George, were enterprising and eminently
successful farmers, and were among the lead-
ers of that noble class of men, who by their
industry, morality and exemplary citizenship,
laid the foundations of our social and civil in-
stitutions, with credit to themselves, and
with honor to their country. Anna, the
mother of this family, died May 3, 1817.

John Epler, the oldest son of Abram, was
born in Lancaster County, Penn., April 15,
1795, being about four years of age when
his parents settled in Clark County, Ind., and
being the oldest son, was ahvays his father's

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

201

right hand business man. Early in youth he
assumed the more weighty responsibilities of
his father's heavy river transportation, and
often made long and profitable trips down
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, with the
cargoes of the product of his father's business.
Closing out, perhaps, at New Orleans, he
would purchase a saddle horse, and return
home across the country. He married Miss
Sarah Beggs, a daughter of Captain Charles
Beggs, a pioneer of 1829, of Morgan County.
She was born at the falls of the Ohio, April
38, 1800. John Eplor came to Cass County,
located at Little Indian, in 1831, and up to
the time of his death, which occurred in Cass
County, May 26, 1876, was one of the most
active citizens, and enterprising farmers of
that county. He was no scholar, yet his read-
ing took a wide range, and but few in busy
life possessed the historical information
which he did. In Biblical, Ancient and
Modern History he was considered an author-
ity by all who interested themselves in such
studies. He raised a family of twelve chil-
dren: Charles B., who married to Miss Mary
Lurton, daughter of Dr. Lurton, of Jackson-
ville, 111.; died 1855, leaving no offspring.
Abram, the second, died Aug. 7, 1847, un-
married. Cyrus is a resident of .lacksonville,
and Judge of the judicial district, of which
Morgan County is a part. Mary, and the
fourth child, married Richard Barnett, of
Sangamon County. She died in 1859. Sarah
is now Mrs. D. W. Fairbank, a merchant of
Jacksonville; Elizabeth the sixth child, married
H. H. Hall, now of Jacksonville. She died at
Faribault, Minn., in 1869, leaving five children-
John M., one of the prominent farmers of
Cass County, was in early life one of the
main stays of his father's family. He attend-
ed the common schools of the county, and at
twenty-one years of age, purchased a portion
of the land now comprising his estate of 200
acres. He has for years past devoted much

time to the breeding and raising of short-horn
cattle, of which he has a fine herd. Has been
twice chosen a member of the State Board of
Agriculture, and has for twenty years been
connected with Cass County Agricultural
Society, and for five years a presiding officer
of the organization. March 29, 1855, he mar-
ried Miss Nancy A., daughter of Hon. David
and ( Eachael R. Johnson ) Epler. She was
born Oct. 27, 1833, and is mother of seven
children, viz.: Edward E., Laura, Marv A.,
John W., Frankie, Charles and Frank, who
died in infancy. Mr. Epler is one of the
charter members of the Knights of Honor of
Virginia, and is identified with the Demo-
cratic party.

William, the eighth of the family, now a
prominent citizen of Virginia, is a grain deal-
er and shipper. At the age of twenty-eight
was a member of the first Constitutional
Convention of the State of Nevada, held at
Carson City in 1863, in which State he was for
eight years engaged as Civil Engineer and
Deputy U. S. Land and Mineral Surveyor
and during a part of that time connected with
the engineering department of the Central
Pacific Railroad Company, of California. In
1869, he returned to Cass County and settled
on his farm near Little Indian. In 187-1:, was
elected Sheriff of Cass County, where he has
since resided. He married Miss Jennie Wood-
man of Paw Paw, Van Buren Co., Mich. The
ceremony took place April 12, 1859, at Du-
luth, Minn., and was the first marriage of
white persons pronounced in that city. Mrs.
Epler died at Star City, Humboldt Co., Nev-
ada, Oct. 2, 1863, leaving one daughter,
Miss Nellie W. Mr. Epler again married.
Miss Ellen Conover July 5, 1870. Ellen is
daughter of Levi Conover ( of whom see
sketch elsewhere in this volume ), and they
have two children, Florence and Myron.

David was the ninth child of the family,
and died at the age of two years.

202

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Myrox, the tenth child, lived to acquire an
excellent education, and a thorough knowl-
edge of the law, and located in Chicago.
Hard study had shattered his constitution,
and in spite of much travel and most stren-
uous efforts to regain his healtli, he died at
Helena City, Montana, Se|)t. 5, 1866.

Makgaeet E. received a Seminary education
at Monticello, 111.; married John W. Price, a
prominent druggist of Princeton, Bureau Co.,
III.

Albert, the youngest of the family and the
present Mayor of Virginia, was born Jan.
22, 1845 at the Epler homestead. After re-
ceiving his rudimental schooling at home, he
took a course of study at the Wesleyan Uni-
versity, at Bloomington, finishing in 1864:. He
then engaged in farming until 1871, when he
entered the livery business for two years.
Since that time he has been engaged in the
sale of agricultural implements and farm
hardware, and dealing in grain. In 1880-81,
he served as alderman of his ward, and in the
fall of 1881 was elected to the city Mayorship.
He married Miss Martha J. Vance, daughter
of Samuel S. Vance (deceased), who was a
prominent farmer and stock man of Cass
County. Mrs. Epler was born in Morgan
County, Aug. 9, 1845. Thev have seven
children, viz.: Nellie, Edgar, Lizzie, Ada L.,
Frederick, Jessie, and Ralph, of whom Fred-
erick is deceased.

. JACOB A. EPLER, farmer; P. O. Virginia
City; for many years one of the thrifty agri-
culturists of his county; is a son of David
Epler, who was the son of Abraham, of whom
we find more particular mention in a sketch
of the Epler family, elsewhere in this work.
David Epler was the second son of his father,
a successful teamster, and later, a farmer of
the early-day type. He came to Cass County
a short time previous to the deep snow of
1830, located in North Prairie, on Section 35,
Tp. 17, Range 11, where he improved a farm

of about 640 acres. He married Mis-n Rachel
R. Johnson, of Louisville, Ky., and a native
of that State. They raised a family of eight
children, viz.: Joseph A., John T. (deceased),
Nancy A., now Mrs. John Milton Epler (see
sketch), Mary A., James M., an able law-
yer of Jacksonville, William F., Assistant
Cashier in the First National Bank of Jack-
sonville, Jacob A, and Rachel L., now Mrs.
John McHenry, a farmer of Cass County and
a resident of Virginia. Jacob A., our sub-
ject, spent his latter school-days in the Illi-
nois College at Jacksonville, and from that
time has been a successful farmer. He lives
in Virginia, and has for several years Ijeen
connected with the banking interests of his
town. Nov. 13, 1861, he married Miss Sarah,
daughter of Oswell Thompson, a native of
Ohio, and one of the earliest pioneers of Cass
County. Mr. and Mrs. Epler have three
children: Fannie M., Nancy J., and Albert E.
J. N. GRIDLEY, attorney, of Virginia
City, and one of the most successful in the
prcfession in Cass County, is a native of
Manchester, N. H. His father, John J.
Gridley, was for many years a Methodist
preacher, and preached throughout the States
of New York, Michigan, and Northern Illinois.
He is of English descent, and married Miss
Elizabeth Mitchell, a native of Portsmouth,
N. H., and is of English and Scotch ancestry.
He now resides at Greenville, Mercer County,
Penn.; Mrs. G. died in August, 1865. James
N., our subject, is the oldest of the family,
and was born June 15, 1842. He has two
sisters younger, Miss Kate, and Elizabeth, who
is now Mrs. William Bennett, at Beardstown.
The youngest of the family was Albert, a
farmer and teacher of Cass County. He
went to Minnesota to recover his lost health,
and there died Aug. 18, 1874. Our sub-
ject, in the year 1861, entered the Michigan
State Agricultural College at Lansing, as a
Freshman. He remained there about seven

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

203

months, and then went to Ypsllanti, same
State, where he spent two years in a Seminary,
under Prof. Estabrook. In 18C3, Mr. Grid-
ley came to Oregon Precinct, Cass Co., and
began farming. He taught during the
winter season in the puljlic schools of Vir-
ginia, and devoted a portion of his time to
the study of law, and in August, 1868, was
admitted to the bar of the State. Since then
his time has been given mostly to the j)ractico
of his profession. He commenced the prac-
tice of law alone, and in 1871 he formed a
partnership with I. J. Ketcham, of .lackson-
ville, wiiich arrangement still exists. Since
its organization, the firm has done a profitable
business, their practice being principally in
criminal, chancery and real estate. Further
mention of the firm and of Mr. Gridley's ab-
stract business, will be found elsewhere in
this volume. Mr. Gridley married Oct. 11,

1871, Miss Frances A. Hill, daughter of Ebe-
nezer Hill (deceased), and Maiy B irden Hill
(also deceased). Mr. Hill was a native of
New York, and Mrs. H. a native of Connecti-
cut. Mr. and Mis. Gridley have lour chil-
dren: Charles, Nellie, Burton, and Harry. In
politics, Mr. Gridley is a Democrat; he is a
member of the Knights of Honor, Virginia
Lodge.

MORRISON GRAVES, one of the oldest
natives of Cass County, and for many years a
business man of Virginia, was born in Monroe
Precinct, Aug. 39, 1835. His father, Richard,
was a native of Kentucky, and came to Illi-
nois in the year IS'^8; loeTated in the above
named precinct, on the fai m now occupied by
Mr. James M. Graves, one of his sons. He
married Miss Nancy Martin, also a native of
Kentucky, and they raised a family of three
sons and two daughters. Our subject received
his schooling entirely in Cass County, and
made farming his occupation up to the year

1872, when he came to Virginia, and entered
the livery business with A. G. Epler, under

the firm name of Graves & Epler. Mr. Graves,
this same year, 18(io, also engaged in buying
and shipping stock and since that time
has followed the business. The firm of Graves
& Epler continued until about 1876, and in
1878, Mr. Reuben Lancaster bought one-half
interest in the stock, and the present firm of
Gr^ives & Lancaster has continued up to the
present time. Mr. Graves was married, Nov.
]'J, 18.57, to Miss Julia C. Nail, daughter of
Charles Nail, then a farmer of Cass County,
now in Macon County, Mo. Mr. Nail is a
native of Kentucky, and came to Illi-
nois about 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Graves have
three children: Willis S., Appeline and Nellie
May. They are both members of the Chris-
tian Church, and Mr. Graves is a Republican,
a member of tlie Knights of Honor, A. O.
U. W., and the I. O. O. F. of Virginia Lodo-e.
JOHN GORE, for nine years a resident of
Virginia, is a native of Taylorsvill^, Kv., and
was born Jan. 14, 18M. His father, R'ctor
Gore, was a farmer by occupation, a native of
the same State, and was born in the year
1809. He married Miss Amanda, daughter of
David anil Susan (Willet) Gratf, also natives
of Kentucky. Mrs. Gore died in the year
1834, having borne three children, viz.: Josh-
ua, now a farmer of Menard County, this
State, Evaline, who died when small, and
our subject, the youngest. Mr. Gore sur-
vived until 1859. John, being an infant when
his mother died, was consigned to the care
and protection of his grandparents, the Graffs,
and they, in that same year (1834), came to
Illinois, and settled on a farm in Morgan
county. He remained with them until he
had reached years of discretion, and was able
to care for himself. He attended the com-
mon schools of their neighborhood, and later,
the Illinois College at Jacksonville; graduated
from that institution in 1854, and received the
degree of B. S. He commenced teaching
school at sixteen years of age, and followed

204

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

it, as a profession, for about twenty -five years,
in the counties of Morgan, Adams, and Cass.
As an instructor he has been successful, to the
extent of having acquired some means, which
he has mostly invested in Cass County farm-
ing land, and was called by the people to serve
as the Superintendent of the Public Schools of
Cass county in 1872, for four years, or one
term. March 3^d, 1859, he married Miss
Mattie Easum, daughter of Charles and Mar-
garet (Swope) Easum, he of Maryland, she of
Kentucky. They came to Illinois in 1854, and
located on a farm in Adams county; raised a
family of ten children, of whom Mrs. Gore
was the second born. Mr. Easum died Aug.
21, 1871, and Mrs. Easum Jan. 8, 1865. Mr.
Gore has recently become proprietor of the
City Hotel, which he conducts with the same
degree of success that has thus far character-
ized his life. He and Mrs. Gore are mem-
bers of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr.
Gore is a member of the I. O. O. F., Virginia
Lodge.

Z. W. GATTON, banker; Virginia City.
Among those of the early and sturdy pioneers
of Cass County, was Thomas Gatton, a native
of the State of Maryland, and father of the sub-
ject of this brief sketch. He lived in Maryland
until January, 1779, when he emigrated to
Kentucky, settled in Allen County, and en-
gaged in merchandising. There he remained
until he came to Illinois in 1824, and located
about one quarter of a mile east of where
Little Indian Station is now located. At
this point he opened the first store in what
was then Morgan County, but now Cass.
Thomas Gatton raised a family of six sons
and four daughters. All but one, the young-
est, were born in Kentucky. Zachariah W.
was the fourth son, and was born Nov. 13,
1812, being about twelve years of age when
they came to Morgan County. It is well-
known what the school advantages of those
days were, and the young Gattons shared the

common lot of other young pioneers, studied
such books as were within their reach, and
from stern experience learned the common
every-day lessons not found in books, of how
to earn a living, and get a start in the world.
Our subject has, from the time of his advent
into Illinois, been closely identified with the
agricultural interests of his county. In 1847
he married Miss Sarah C, daughter of Arthur
Saint Claire Miller, a speculator, of Covington,
Ky., and they have had six children, all born
in Virginia Precinct, of whom four are now
living: Emma K., Kate A., Charles B., and
William R. Charles B., the second of the
family, is a resident merchant of Virginia;
was born April 14, 1850. After attending the
public schools of his native town, he entered
the grocery business, being at that time nine-
teen years of age. He continued in that
business until 1879, and then entered the
drug and hardware business, in which he is
still successl'ully employed. He married
Nov. 13, 1879, Miss Mary Kemper, daughter
of Thomas J. Kemper, now of Springfield;
and they have one daughter, Floy, and a son,
Roscoe B.

CHARLES M. HUBBARD, physician, Vir-
ginia City. Doctor Charles M. Hubbard, one
of the most successful physicians of Cass Coun-
ty, was born July 25, 1848, at Lempster, New
Hampshire. His father, George N. Hubbard,
a native of Vermont, and for more than thirty
years a merchant of Providence, R. I., came
West, located in Chicago, and engaged in the
tin ware and stove business, until he retired
in 1855. He died from the efi^ects of a stroke
of lightning, in Menard County, 111., in March,
1871. He married Miss Sarah Vance, who
became the mother of five sons and one
dauarhter. Mrs. Hubbard survives her
husband and resides with one of her sons,
Thomas, in Chicago, at the age of fifty-four
years. The subject of this sketch is the old-
est of the family. He received his rudiment-

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

205

al education in the common schools of Chi-
cago, and later, attended in Jacksonville, 111.,
and Springfield, and graduated from the high
school of the latter place. At Terre Haute,
Ind., he gained a knowledge of dentistry, and
in 1871 came to Virginia and opened a dental
office. He had during 18G9 and 1870 read
medicine with Dr. J. B. Stevenson, of Spring-
field, and during his practice of dentistry he
prosecuted his medical studies. He attended
medical lectures at both the Ohio Medical
College, and the Eclectic Medical School of
Cincinnati, and received diplomas from those
institutions, in May, 1871. May 20, 1871, he
married Miss Charlotte L. StoU, daughter of
H. B. and Susan (Hall) StoU, both natives of
New .lersey. Mrs. Hubbard was the oldest
of a family of six children, and was born July
35, 1848. Her father died in March, 1865,
and Mrs. Stoll resides at Terre Haute, Ind.
Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard have two sons, Henry
C. and Frank L.

HENRY F. KORS, Deputy Circuit Clerk
of Cass County, Virginia City ; was born at
Beardstown, Cass Co., Dec. 2, 1846. H. Fred-
erick Kors, his father, was born Sept. 25, 1804,
and Maria (Herainghouse) Kors, his mother,
were natives of the Kingdom of Hanover, which
was formerly a portion of northwestern Ger-
many. Mr. Kors was a plasterer by trade,
which business he followed until his death,
in 1865. Mrs. Kors died in 1846, leaving
two children: Catharine, now Mrs. Boy, of
Hickory, and our subject. He received his
schooling in the public schools of Beardstown ;
learned the harness makers and carriage trim-
mers trade, which he followed for a time, and in
1868 entered the business for himself. He sold
out in 1869. After making a trip to Missouri, he
followed merchandising, as salesman, until
December, 1876, when he was appointed
Deputy Circuit Clerk of Cass County, by
Thomas V. Finney, and has since that time held
that position. January 13, 1869, he married

Miss Laura Finney, daughter of Thomas V.
Finney, Sr., an early resident of Cass County.
They have three sons: Martin L., Tad S., and
Preston V. Addie and Ida, two older daugh-
ters, are deceased. Laura Davis has been a
member of the family about six years. She
is their niece, and a daughter of F. M. Davis,
formerly of Beardstown, a farmer, now de-
ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Kors are members of
tlie Presbyterian Church. Mr. Kors is a
Democrat, and a member of the I. O. O. F., of
Virginia.

JOSEPH S. LYNCH, Virginia City, County
Surveyor ; is a native of Lancaster County,
Penn.; was born Aug. 13, 1838, at a town of the
same name. His father, James Lynch, now de-
ceased, was of Irish descent, born in the same
town; he was a merchant by occupation, and
married Miss Elizabeth Schmaling, of German
extraction. Joseph S. received his schooling in
the schools of Lancaster, and renuiined at home
until about eighteen years of age. In 1861
he entered the Union Army, enlisting at Free-
port, Stevenson Co., 111., in the 11th III. Vol.
Infantry ; Feb. 16, 1863, he was taken pris-
oner at Fort Donelson. He was held by the
enemy about eight months, at Macon, Ga.,
and then exchanged. He immediately re-
turned to his regiment, served in the forty
days campaign before Vicksburg ; July 7,
1864, he received a severe musket Ijall wound,
in both thighs, at the battle of Jackson Cross-
roads, Miss., was left on the field as mortally
wounded, picked up by the enemy, and
was again imprisoned in a rebel hospital
at Clinton, Miss., for about two months,
whereupon he was again exchanged. He
then reported to his regiment in Arkansas.
His time having expired, he received his dis-
charge, Sept. 13, 1864, and returned to Illi-
nois. He soon entered farming in Stevenson
County. Still suffering from the effects of his
wound, he was after two years' trial obliged to
abandon the farm, and in 1866 came to Cass

2nr,

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCIIEi^.

County, and commenced tcachinw school,
which he continued for about five years. He
then took up the profession of surveying, and
has from that time on made it his principal
business. He was elected to the office of Sur-
veyor of Cass County, in 1872, and served one
term, with satisfaction to the citizens of the
county, anil was again elected in 1879, since
which time he has held the office. May 30,
1872, he married Miss Matilda J. Martin,
daughter of Joel and Eliza Martin, now living
in Nebraska. Mr. Lynch is a life-long Re-
publican, and a member of the A. O. U. W.,
of Virginia City.

JOHN MARTIN, (ileceased); was born in
Pennsylvania, in 1829, and was a son o*' Will-
iam and Mary (Anderson) Martin, the former
of Irish descent, and his wife of American
ancestry, so far as known. John was the old-
est of their family of five sons and one
daughter, and the only one that ever came
West. He was a guiismitli by trade, and
made it the jjrincipal occupation of his life.
He left his native State and came to Ohio in
1853, located at Gil more, Tuscarawas Co.,
where he married Miss Rose Ann Turner,
daughter of James and Julia (Romig) Tur-
ner. James Turner is of English descent,
and a native of Maryland, and Mrs. Turner
is a daughter of Jacob Romig, of German de-
scent, a native of the Keystone State, and
by occupation a farmer, and a saddler by
trade. Mr. and Mrs. Turner came to Illinois
from Ohio in 1853, lived for a time at Deca-
tur, in Macon County, and in 185G came to
Cass County, Hickory precinct (then Vir-
ginia), located on a farm, where they still
live, surrounded with a family of grown-up
children, and the comforts of a well regulated
country home. Mrs. Martin was the second
child of the family, and was born Feb. 7,
1835. Mr. Martin pursued his calling, in Vir-
ginia, coming directly from Ohio in 1853. In
1358 he went with his familv to Paris, Edgar

County, and there followed his trade, until'the
breaking out of the Rebellion, in 18G1, when
he enlisted, in response to President Lincoln's
first call for volunteers. He was enrolled
from Edgar County, but the 14th 111. Vol.
Cav. being full, his entire Co. I was mustered
into the first Mo. Vol. Cav. He was soon
promoted from a private to first lieutenant,
but died of sickness at Rolla, Mo., just before
his commission reached him. The sad news
of his death reached his bereaved widow, left
with six fatherless little ones, all too young
to fully understand the loss of their nearest
and most valuable earthly friend. Mrs. Mar-
tin's experiences, for the years that have now
passed, were only a repetition of what many a
brave and widowed mother was in those
days called upon to withstand. Left upon
her own resources, she kept her little family
together, afforded them every advantage
within her reach, to gain an education, and a
clear understanding of what was right and
wrong; and her faithfulness is duly rewardcMl
by living to see her boys all settled in life,
and each prospered in his adopted calling.
She died May 23, 1878, in Virginia.

J. A. Martin, the well known merchant
tailor, of Virginia, was born May 9, 1853, in
Ohio, and is the oldest living son of the
family. He attended the common schools of
Cass and Edgar Counties, this State, and later
the Illinois College at Fulton, Whiteside Co.,
111. He learned the tailor's trade with Mr.
H. W. Leach, of Bloomington, at fourteen
years of age, and has from that time followed
it. He engaged permanently in business in
Virginia in 1876, and most of the time at his
present location. No. 10, West Beardstown
St. Mr. Martin conducts a first class
tailoring establishment, in every respect, and
always has on hand a complete stock of
goods in the latest patterns. He was married
March 4, 1874, to Miss Ida C. Herr, daughter
of H. S. and Rebecca (Myers) Herr, of

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

209

Bloomington, 111. They have three chil-
dren : Nellie, Guy C, and Edna M. Nel-
lie died, at two years of age, in 1877.

The second living son is John S., a marble
cutter, born in Cass County, this State,
June 35, 1854. He received his schooling in
the pioneer schools of his native county, and
came to Virginia in 1ST6. He attended the
Illinois College at Fulton, and in 1870 entered
a marble shop as an apprentice; served eight
years in the business, with marked success.
In 1876 he visited Philadelphia, and other
eastern cities, making his trip a valuable one,
in observing much pertaining to his chosen
profession. As a sculptor, Mr. Martin has dis-
played talent, having produced several very
creilitabl}' wrought pieces of statuary. As a
monumental designer, his ability is shown by
by some extensive plans of a monument to
be submitted to the Garfield Monument As-
sociation, of Cleveland, Ohio. His plans con-
template an expenditure of $250,000. Mr.
Martin married Miss Alice L., daughter of
William L., and Andromache B. (Naylor),
Black of Virginia. George W. was the next
born, his birthday being January 4, 1856, in
Virginia, and is the third of the family now
living. He received his education at the State
Normal School, of Normal, 111., and graduated
at the Wesleyan University, from the law de-
partment, with the class of 1876, and was ad-
mitted to the bar in June of that year. He
practiced his profession, in Bloomington, in
company with Messrs. Straight and Coy, and
continued with them until he came to Virginia,
in 1877. Since that time his practice has been
steadily increasing, with bright prospects for
the future. He married Oct. 5, 1881, Miss
Quintella D., daughter of John Sallie (deceas-
ed), formerly a farmer of Virginia. Charles
^jSOP, the fourth of the family, was born Nov. 4,
1857, in Virginia, Cass Co. His people, about
this tim? moved to Edgar County, and he re-
riMvcd his early schooling there. Later, he at-

tended the High School at Bloomington. At
sixteen years of age he learned the painter's
trade, and developed a taste and talent as
scenic painter. He followed his trade in
Bloomington, St. Louis, and other large cities,
with success. He entered the law office of
W. S. Coy, of Bloomington, and continued
with him as a student until 1877, when lie
came to Virginia, taught school, and pros-
ecuted his law studies, and was admitted to
the bar at Springfield, in 1880, and since that
time has practiced in Virginia. Sept. 8,

1881, he married Miss Sallie R., daughter of
James M. Beadles, of Virginia. Jex.vie R.,
is the sixth child of the family, and now
Mrs. George W. Berris, of Sedalia, Mo. Will-
iam R., the youngest, was born at Paris, Ed-
gar County, III., May 5, 1861. He attended
school about three months in Virginia, and
later, at the Soldiers' and Orphans' home at
Bloomington. He learned the tailor's trade of
his brother James A., and is now associated
with him in business. He married Feb. 22,

1882, Miss Harriet E., daughter of James
Beadles, before mentioned.

HENDERSON E. MASSEY, of Virginia
Precinct, was born July 27, 1810, at Horse-
shoe Bend, Culpepper Co., Old Virginia.
Samuel Massey, his father, was a native of
Halifax, Md., of German descent, and was
a soldier in the war of 1812; served as a Cap-
tain at the battle of New Orleans, 1813, and
died soon after his return home, in 1815, of
fever, contracted in the service. He was
married to Miss Olive, daughter of
Mordecai Choplain, who was of French de-
scent. They had a family of eight children,
all of whom lived to maturity, but our sub-
ject is the only one now living, and was the
sixth child. Henderson E. was raised a
farmer, although his father was a school
teacher, and a man of excellent education.
Mr. Massey first came to Morgan Countv, in
1820, but remained only a short time, wlu-n

210

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,

he made a trip to Wisconsin, and fiom tliat
State entered the Black Hawk war, in 1833,
in which he served about six raonths, liaviiig
been attached to the Mining Battalion, and
served as keeper of the peace, after the hottest
of the conflict was over. He permanently
settled in Illinois in 1833, near Mount Ster-
ling, Brown Co., where he remained about
four years. He then came to North Prairie,
his present home, in the southern part of
Virginia Precinct, near Little Indian. His
first purchase of land here, was 250 acres, to
which he has added, until he now owns about
800 acres. He married Miss Martha,
daughter of James Marshall, an early pioneer
of North Prairie, and a native of Glasgow,
Scotland. He was a merchant in Scotland,
and emigrated to Kentucky, where he lived
until he came to Cass County. He had a
family of eight children, and Mrs. Massey
was the fifth. Mrs. Massey died March 29,
1874, leaving the following children: James
F., Elizabeth A., Mary J., Henry C, Samuel,
Henderson R., John H., Esther M., Harriet
M., Bell H., George, and Emma L. Four
sons are married, two are located in Cass
County, one in California, and one at Litch-
field, Montgomery Co. Mary is now Mrs.
George Laurie, of Morgan County; Elizabeth
married Mr. William Nisbet, of Cass County,
and the other daughters are still at home.
Mr. Massey is not a partisan in politics, but
votes for the best candidate.

T. L. MATHEWS. The subject of this
brief sketch is a native of the Keystone State,
and was born in the town of Florence, Wash-
ington County, Penn., March 1, 1849. When
quite young his parents moved to Kentucky,
where the early years of his life were spent,
■with the exception of about three years
spent in Rushville, Schuyler County, 111.
When the war broke out the family returned
to the East, and there remained until the
spring of 1805, when Mr. Mathews again

came West, stopping at Rushville a few
months, and then located at Vermont, Fulton
County, 111. Here he started in as an ap-
prentice and learned the trade of a carriage-
builder, and became an expert workman. In
the spring of 1809 he removed to Beards-
town, where he pursued his trade two years,
and was promoted to the position of collector
and salesman for the firm that employed him.
In the winter of 18T2 he entered the New
York Store, in that city, as a salesman. In
the spring of 1873 Mr. Mathews was appoint-
ed Deputy Sheriff of Cass County, by George
Volkmar, then Sheriff and Collector, and was
placed in charge of the revenue department
of the office. He served through Mr. Volk-
niar's term, and was re-appointed by Sheriff
elect, William Epler. He served in this ca-
pacity about four years, with satisfaction to
the citizens of Cass County, and credit to
himself. In 1870, Mr. Mathews was nominat-
ed by his party as their candidate for Circuit
Clerk of Cass Co.; and tiiough receiving
more than his party vote, was swept aside by
the Tilden and Reform tidal wave, and failed
of an election. In August, 1877, he, in com-
pany with William H. Thacker, purchased
the Virginia Gazette. The following Decem-
ber Mr. Mathews bought Mr. Thacker's inter-
est, and successfully continued the publica-
tion alone al>out one year. Jan. 1, 1879, lie
sold out to Mr. Cad. Allard, and returned to
the service of his county, receiving the ap-
pointment of deputy, by .James B. Black,
County Clerk, and served four years in that
office. In 1882, Mr. Mathews was elected
member of the Board of Education of Vir-
ginia City, and upon organization of the
Board, became its Secretary. At the date of
writing Mr. Mathews is the Republican can-
didate of the Thirty-fourth Senatorial District
for Representative in the State Legislature,
and as a minority candidate his election is
certain. Mr. Mathews was married at Beaids-

Vli;«;i\IA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

211

town, Sept. 26, 1872, to Miss Lou. E. Thorii-
bur}', daughter of J. A. Thornbury, an early
resident of Cass County. They have two
children: Earl and Ruse. Florence died
Aug. 17, ISSO.

WIIXIAM MOORE, deceased, one of the
respected pioneers of Cass County, vvas a na-
tive of Maryland; was born March 8, 1799.
He had four brothers: George, Robert,
Thomas and John, and three sisters: Martha,
Sarah and Nancy. In early manhood Mr.
Jfoore was a boatman on the Ohio and the
Mississippi rivers. Oct. 4, 1831, he married
Miss Keziah Moore (not a relative), daughter
of Isaac Moore, who was a farmer by occupa-
tion. Mrs. Moore's mother, whose maiden
name was Rachael Lewis, died when she was
about four years of age, and she was left to
the care of an uncle and aunt, who gave her
school advantages, and made for her a com-
fortable home. Mr. Moore first came to Cass
County in 1834, and landed at Boardstown in
April. He made purchase of the present
Moore homestead, and moved on to it the fol-
lowing August. The place formerly compris-
ed 204 acres, but parcels have been sold from
it, until it now contains about 44 acres. Mr.
Moore was an honest, conscientious citizen,
and a thrifty farmer. He died April 26, 1865,
leaving his wife surrounded by a famiiv of
thirteen children, viz.: Manilious, now Mrs.
Carle Pond, of Morgan County ; James N., now
at home, once married, and has one son;
Nancy F., now Mrs. J. A. Bond, of Menard
County; Robert B., at home; Thomas S., of
Washington County, Kan.; Amanda M., now
Mrs. Robert MoNeal, of Cass County; William
A., in Montgomery County, Iowa; John I., of
Cass County; Charles B.; Ulysses S., a farmer
of Cass County; Lorinda A., now Mrs. George
Wubker, of Virginia, Cass County; George C,
died an infant, and Alma A., is at home. Mrs.
Moore has now forty-three grandchildren.

R. H. MANN, photographer, Virginia City;

was born in Wilmington, Jan. 29, 1855.
His father, H. T. Mann, was a carriage trim-
mer, and a native of London, England. Em-
igrated to America at about twenty-five
j-ears of age. His mother was, before mar-
riage, Matilda Stevens, and married Mr.
Mann, in London, and Robert H. was the old-
est of their two sons. Our subject received
his primary education in his native town, after-
ward attended Lockport, 111., High School,
and later in Bloominorton. Mr. Mann grained
his first experience as a photographer in Fari-
bault, Minn., where he continued work for
about four years. He then went to St. Paul,
same State, where he made the art of re-touch.
ing a specialty for the best establishments of
that city. He next came to Jacksonville, 111.,
and there spent two years with A. W. Cad-
man, and July 29, 1879, came to Virginia,
bought out C. H. Cummings, and since that
time has successfully conducted the business,
making for himself the reputation of producing
as good work as any artist in Central or South-
ern Illinois. Aside from the fact that Mr.
Mann is a thorough and practical artist, he has
a commodious gallery, constructed especial-
ly for his business, which is well stocked with
all the latest modern appliances for producing
first-class work. He married Mrs. Maggie
Hickox of Virginia, Feb. 28, 1882.

LACHLAN McNeill, one of the early
comers to Cass County, vras born in Argvle,
Scotland, Jan. 25, 1809. He received his ed-
ucation in Scotland, and was a shepherd and
a fsrmer previous to coming to America, as
was also his father, Charles McNeill. He left
his native home to seek his fortune in a
strange land. May 6, 1837; brought with him
his wife, whose maiden name was Flora Tay-
tor, and his first born child. They terminated
their long and tedious sea voyage at Montre-
al, Canada, where they remained about six
weeks, and there a second child was born to
them. They soon proceeded on their journcv

212

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

westward, and spent one year in Clark Coun-
ty, 111., one year in Champaign County, and
in 1839 came to Cass County and located on a
farm near his present home. His faithful and
devoted wife died Sept. 3, 1859, having bless-
ed him with seven children, four of whom are
now living: Robert, a farmer of Cas; County,
Flora, Margaret (now Mrs. Daniel Carr, of
Sangamon Bottoms), and Charles. Mary,
Paschal and Elizabeth are deceased. Mr. Mc-
Niell has ever been an industrious and a fru-
gal farmer, a good and enterprising citizen, is
one of the oldest living members of the Shi-
loh Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of Vir-
ginia Precinct, and is truly one of Cass
County's pioneers.

WILLIAM T. MELONE is a son of .John
and Elizabeth Ann (Morrow) Melone; the for-
mer came to Virginia in 1837, and settled five
miles southeast of Arenzville, then in Sanga-
mon County, but now Cass, being in the three
mile strip taken from Morgan County. .lohn
Melone was an early school teacher of Scotch
descent, and came to Illinois about 1842-3.
His wife was a native of Kentucky. They
had eight children born to them, four of whom
are still living: William T. (our subject), Jen-
nie H., Oscar, and Lulu B. Mary C, Lucy A.,
Ida L., and George W., are deceased. Will-
iam T., our subject, was born November 24,
1844, in Cass County, and educated in the
schools of his neighborhood. Farmingr has
been his business. He was married February
2, 1876, to Lucy A. Conover, a daughter of
•John and Nancy (Bennett) Conover. (See
sketch.) She was the ninth child, and one of
twins. Have three children: Edgar, born Feb.
7, 1877; Nettie, born March 23, 1879; and
Mary L., born Nov. 21, 1880. Mr. Melone
is a resident of Virginia since- December,
1871; a member of the Methodist Church,
and Mrs. Melone of the Christian Church.

RICHARD W. MILLS, attorney-at-law,
Virginia; was born Aug. 3, 1815, in Morgan

County, 111. His father, Chesley Mills, a
native of North Carolina, was a mason and
builder by trade, and came to Illinois in the
year 1813, with his father, Charles Mills, who
was a farmer by occupation, a native, and in
early days, a slave holder of the above
named State. He located at Hannibal, Mo.,
where he died. Chesley learned his trade in
St. Louis, and followed it in Edwardsville,
.Jacksonville, Quincy, and finally located at
Lynnville, Morgan Co. He married Miss Har-
riet, daughter of Dr. George Cadwell, and
granddaughter of General Mathew Lyon.
Chesley Mills had three sons and two daugh-
ters. All are living, and but two, beside
our subject, are residents of Illinois. Thomas
is a miner, of Wyoming Territory; George
a stock broker, of San Francisco, Cal.; Emily,
now Mrs. T. W. Jones, of Wilmington,
111.; Maria is now widow Demorest, and
lives with her mother, in Morgan County.
Our subject, the youngest, attended the public
schools of Jacksonville, and later, the Illi-
nois College. He studied law with Judge
Epler, of that city, and was admitted to
the bar of the State, at Springfield, in

1870. He came to Virginia in January,

1871, having formed a partnership with Mr.
Epler, his former law tutor. Their part-
nership lasted until January, 1873, when Mr.
Epler was elected to the bench of Morgan
County. Mr. Mills married Feb. 4, 1873, to
Miss Matilda, daughter of Dr. Harvey Tate,
one of the oldest and most respected physi-
cians of Cass County. A sketch of Dr. Tate
may be seen elsewhere in this volume. Mr.
Mills served as Master in Chancery, during
the years of 1874 to 1880, City Attorney of
Virginia, 18T2-'3, also in 1881 and 1882. He
is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and K. of
H. Mr. Mills enlisted at fifteen years of age,
in Company B, Tenth Illinois Volunteer In-
fantry, for three months; but was not ac-
cepted, on account of age and size. He made

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

213

a second trial in Chicago the following month
of May, and passed muster for three years, in
Company F. Nineteenth Illinois Volunteer
Infantry. Participated in battles of Stone
River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, and was
mustered out July 11, lSi34.

WILLIAM L MITCHELL, one of the
most energetic and enterprising farmers of
Ashland Precinct, is a native of Cass County,
and was born in the above Precinct, March
6, 1848. His father, Washington A. Mitchell,
of whom a sketch appears in this volume, is a
native of Kentucky, and married Miss Re-
becca W. Crow, daughter of William Crow,
an early pioneer of Cass County, and they
had five sons and two daughters; of these our
subject is the second oldest. He received his
schooling in the common schools of his native
precinct, and later, attended the Wesleyan
University, at Blooraington. He taught
school in southern Cass County, and some in
Morgan, for about seven years, doing farming
between school terms. He purchased a farm
in Ashland Precinct, but sold it in 1878. He
married, on Oct. 21, 1879, to Miss Reasie A.
Skiles, daughter of Ignatius Skiles, deceased,
of whom a sketch and full page portrait ap-
pears in this volume. They have one daugh-
ter, Mabel S., born Aug. 1, 1880. Mr. Mitchell
is extensively engaged in farming and stock
raising, on a portion of the Skiles estate, com-
prising about 640 acres of valuable land,
lying about two and one-half miles east of
Virginia.

EDWARD T. OLIVER, banker, Virginia;
was born in the city of Virginia, Cass County,
April 23, 1849. His father, Charles Oliver,
was one of the pioneers of Cass County, and
in the year 1835, in company with Dr. Hall,
came to Virginia. Dr. Hall was o;:e of the
first merchants of Virginia, and Charles Oliver
■was for a time his clerk, and in time following
entered the mercantile business for himself,
in which he continued with success until his

death, which occurred Sept. 5, 187 i*, he at
that time being sixty-three years of age. He
married Lydia Ann Job, second child of
Archibald and Jane (Bricrly) Job, one of the
earliest settlers of Southern Illinois. Mr. and
Mrs. Oliver had five sons and one daughter,
viz.: William A., Charles R., Morrison J.,
Rudolph B., Edward T., and Harriet, deceased
at two years of age. Thus it will be seen,
that Edward T. was the fifth son. He re-
ceived a thorough common school education,
and gained a thorough and practical business
exoerience while in the employ of his father
as salesman in his store. In 1866 he entered
the Farmer's National Bank, as a book-keeper.
In 1872, the management of this house prac-
tically had a change, and as Mr. Oliver's posi-
tion in the concern was wanted by another,
he was retired. His ability as a rising young
business man was very generally recognized
in business circles, and his talents found a
ready market, as he was immediately called
to assume a more responsible position in
the well known banking firm of Petefish,
Skiles & Co. Since his connection with
this institution, he has been the cashier,
and a partner in the business. Oct. 20, 1870,
Mr. Oliver married Miss Maggie S. Vance,
daughter of Samuel S. and Martha (Steven-
son) Vance. Mr. Vance was one of the old
settlers of Morgan County. He died in 18G8.
They have had four children, viz.: Edward C,
Bertha L., George W., and Rena, who died in
1873, when three months old. Mr. and Mrs.
Oliver are, since 1874, members of the Pres-
byterian Church of Virginia. Mr. Oliver is
regarded as one of the most substantial and
enterprising business men of his city; is alive
to any and all business enterprises tending to
the prosperity of his town, or the general
public good. He was active as a member of
the City Council, when it authorized the build-
ing of their present commodious court-house,
and afterward became a member of the Build-

214

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ing Committee. A sketch of the banking
house of Petefish, Skiles & Co., with which
Mr. Oliver is connected, appears elsewhere in
this volume.

SAMUEL H. PETEFISH, banker. Very
few of the present citizens of Cass County
have been and are more closely identified
with the business interests of their prosper-
ous little city, than has been and is the sub-
ject of this sketch. Mr. Petefish came to
Cass County at a time when men of pith and
energy were most needed to develop its un-
seen resources, and establish its growth upon
the foundations of solid business principles;
and the success of this work, done by the pi-
oneers of his and earlier days, stands out in
bold relief as a monument to their industry
and perseverance. Mr. Petefish's parents
were natives of Old Virginia. They emi-
grated from that State and settled in Morgan
County in 1835, upon the three-mile strip,
finally attached to Cass County and about five
miles south of the present location of the city
of Virginia. His father, Jacob, died in ISiO,
on the homestead, and his mother was former-
ly Elizabeth Price. They raised a family of
ten children, six sons and four daughters:
^Yilliam, Jacob, Samuel H., John A., Andrew
J., and Thomas B. Besides our subject, Ja-
cob and John are residents of Cass County;
William and Thomas reside in Douglas Coun-
ty, Kan.; Andrew fell a soldier in the late
war. Mrs. Sarah (Robert) Maxfield is the
only surviving daughter. She and her hus-
band reside in Macoupin County, in which lo-
cality died her sister, Mrs. Ellen (Joseph)
Crum. Mrs. Dinah (Rev. Daniel) Short died
in Sangamon County. Christian Petefish,
our sul)ject's grandfather, came to this coun-
try as a Hessian soldier. He deserted the
English army soon after the battle of Prince-
ton, and joining the patriot forces, fought no-
bly for the independence of America. He
settled in Old Virginia after the close of the

conflict, where he raised a family of children,
viz.: John, Christian, Georg j, Jacob, and Mrs.
Catharine Chamberlain, who now lives in Ne-
braska. March 18, 1848, Mr. Petefish mar-
ried Miss Nancy M., daughter of Peter and
Melinda (Huffman) Hudson. Mrs. Petefish is
a native of the State of Virginia. Her
father removed from that State to Kentucky,
and then to Cass County, in the year 18ii7, lo-
ing in township seventeen, range eleven,
on section fourteen. He was twice married,
Melinda being his first wife,wUo left him two
sons and three daughters. Mrs. Petefish was
the elder, and was born May 'Z, 1827, soon
after her parents arrived in Cass County.
With the exception of five years spent in Mc-
Donough County, he lived in Cass County.
Mrs. Hudson died in June, 1853, and in 1855
Mr. Hudson married Mrs. Mathias. Mr.
and Mrs. Petefish have been blessed with
eight children, of whom three only are liv-
ing: Miss Mary E., married Joseph Chamber-
lain, Louis, and Miss Ada L. Mr. Chamber-
lain died in Missouri about 1870, and Mrs.
Chamberlain is living with her parents. Hen-
ry T., a lad about twelve years of age, was
lost during the burning of the steamer Ocean
Spray, which sad catastrophe occurred on the
Mississippi river, about five miles above St.
Louis. Mr. Petefish is known through Cen-
tral Illinois as being one of the most enter-
prising and successful business men of Cass
County, and at the head of three successful
banking houses, sketches of which appear
elsewhere in this work, and also a lull page
portrait of our subject.

JACOB PETEFISH was born in Rock-
ingham County, Va., and came with his
father and family into the present limits of
Cass County in 1835. A settlement was made
in Tp. 17 north, range 10 west, where his
parents continued to reside until taken away
by death. His father departed this life in
1849, and his mother in 1853. They were

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

215

members of the Lutheran Church, and had
the reputation of being devout Christian peo-
ple. They raised the following family: Mrs.
Mary (Reuben) Faltz, and William (twins),
Dinah, Mrs. (Rev. Daniel) Short, Elizabeth,
Mrs. Sarah (Robert) Maxfield, and Mrs. Helen
(Joseph) Crum, Jacob, Samuel H., and John A.
Of these, Andrew was in the Union service
during the late rebellion, and was mortally
wounded at the battle of Look Out Mountain.
Thomas, the youngest, resided in Kansas. In
May, 1855, our subject married Miss Nancy
C, daughter of Benjamin and Margaret
Strickler, of Rockingham, Coutity, Va., by
whom he had the following children: Benja-
min S., Berryman S., Edward E., Joseph H.,
Andrew J., Marcellus C, Nellie, Frank, and
Lizzie L. Mr. Petefish's paternal grandfather.
Christian, was one of the Hessians, hired, or
rather sold, into the English service against
the Infant Colonies, confederated against Brit-
ish oppression. True to the native instincts
of a noble manhood, he deserted the English
army and espoused the cause of patriotism.
After the close of the war, he settled in Vir-
ginia, where he died. In this State his son
Jacob, father of our subject, was born and re-
sided, and there married Miss Elizabeth
Price, the mother of the children pre-
viously mentioned. Mr. Petefish, when
about of age, purchased on his own re-
sponsibility, about 200 acres of land and com-
menced farming. W^ith industry and perse-
verance he has added to his estate until he
now owns about GOO acres of finely improved
land, which includes his father's old homestead.
It may justly be said of Mr. Petefish and
his family, that they form one of the honest
and trustworthy elements of Cass County.
Mr. Petefish, besides being a successful agri-
culturist, has done something in the way of
grazing and stock feeding.

ADAM PRICE (deceased), one of the first
settlers of Cass County, was a son of Adam

and Elizabeth (Miller) Price, and was born in
the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, in Rocking-
ham County, in August, 1803. Here he lived
until about thirty-t.vo years of age. In 1833
he married Miss Susan Rosenberger, and
came to Cass County the same year. He was
the first emigrant, direct to Cass County, from
the Old Dominion State. He first located in
Morgan County, near Arcadia, and remained
there until his removal to Virginia Precinct,
in 1853, settling on section 28. He raised a
family of three sons and four daughters; five
of his oifspring having died in infancy. Of
these, William T., and Adam C, are still resi-
dents of Cass County. William T. was born
Nov. 6, 1839. In 1861, he entered the Union
army, and was mustered in at Springfield, and
assigned to the 114th 111. Vol. Infantry Co.
D. The regiment did valiant service in the
department of the lower Mississippi, and was
engaged in several lively battles, including
the forty days' campaign before Vicksburg.
Mr. Price was taken prisoner at Grand Tower,
Miss., June 10, 1864, and confined at Ander-
sonville, Millen, and Florence prisons, for
about eight months, and finally paroled in
February, 1865. He was then furloughed for
thirty days, reported again to his regiment,
and received his discharge at the expiration
of his term of enlistment, Aug. 13, 1865. Mr.
Price was married Dec. 29, 1800, to Miss Ra-
chel Augusta Marshall, daughter of William
Marshall {deceased). Mr. Marshall was also
one of the early pioneers of Cass County, and
located and owned at one time a laro;e landed
estate, a portion of which Mr. Price now owns
and lives upon. James Marshall, Sen., and
father of William Marshall, came to Cass
County as early as 1825, from Kentucky, and
was a native of Woodford County. Mrs. Price
is the eldest of her father's family; Miss Jen-
nie M. was next, and Louise W. (deceased
1863), was the third. William T. Price is an
active, industrious, and successful farmer, as

216

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

is his next younger brother, Adam C. Price,
who was born in May IG, 1844, in Morgan
County. He was the third child of the fami-
ly, attended the common schools of Cass, and
commenced farming for himself at twenty
years of age. He married Miss Ruth Bacon,
daughter of Ira Bacon, a farmer of Arcadia,
Morgan Co., in November, 1864. Mr. Ba-
con is a native of Connecticut, married Ann
Christie, a native of the Empire State. Mrs.
Price is the oldest of the family of eight chil-
dren. Mr. and Mrs. Adam Price have eleven
children, as follows: Ann, Thomis, Edwin,
Harry, Minnie, Delia, Adam, Frederick, Ber-
tie, Archie, and Mary.

WILLIAM B. PAYNE, the leading dry-
goods merchant of Virginia, was born at
Nicholasville, in Jessamine Co., Ky., August
24, 1824. His father, Flemming Payne, was
a native of the same State, Todd County,
Green River Country; was a tailor by trade,
and made it the occupation of his life. He
married Miss Susan Hightower, daughter of
Captain Richard Hightower, a native of
Old Virginia, a farmer and hotel-keeper.
Flemming Payne's father was Charles Payne,
who raised a family of eleven, the youngest
of which lived to be thirty years of age, and
the oldest ninety-three, and two are still living
at an advanced age. They all settled in Ken-
tucky, but the two now liying are residents of
Missouri. Flemming was the seventh of the
family, and raised two sons and one daughter.
Charles F. (deceased 1860) was a farmer of
Cass County, Mo.; Miranda H. is now widow
of Charles F. Lowery, a merchant of Lexing-
ton, later Circuit Clerk of Fayette County. She
still resides there at fifty -five years of age.
William, our subject, attended school at
Nicholasville, and left home at sixteen years
of age. He clerked in a store for a time in
his native town, and then went to Lexington
and clerked about five years. At twenty-
three years of age he entered the dry-goods

business at Oxford, Scott County, Ky. In
1853 he went to Cass County, ilo., and fol-
lowed farming successfully for about eight
years. He came to Virginia, Cass Co., in
1SG4, and re-entered the mercantile business,
and has since that time continued in trade.
Mr. Page has spent about thirty years as a
merchant, and eighteen years in Virginia.
He was married February 24, 1848, to Miss
Hannah E. Allender, daughter of Edward
Allcnder, of Lexington, Ky. They have
nine children living: Sue, now Mrs. Finis E.
Downing, present Circuit Clerk of Cass
County; Charles F., a merchant of Ashland,
Cass Co., this State; Miranda H., wife of
A. M. Thompson, farmer, Cass County; Hen-
rietta, B., or Mrs. D. M. Crum, farmer, of this
county; Wm. G., who married Miss Eva L.
Black, of Virginia; Richard H., James S.,
Eva L., and John S. are still at home. Mr.
and Mrs. Payne are members of the Metho-
dist Church, and Mr. Payne is a member of
the I. O. O. F., of 36 years' standing.

HENRY QUIGG, of Virginia Precinct, a
native of Wilmington, Delaware; was born
May 22, 1827. His father, William Quigg,
was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to
America in the year 1822, and brought with
him his wife and one child. Mrs. Quigg was
also born in Ireland, and her maiden name
was Sarah Rogers. William Quigg was by
occupation a contractor, and did quite a suc-
cessful business in this country, especially in
the East. In 1832, he superintended the con-
struction of Pennsylvania avenue, Washing-
ton, D. C, the famous street, one mile in
length, that connects the United States Capitol
building with the White House. This was in
its day a very important job, as was all the
work that pertained to the permanent laying
out of our Nation's Capital. Mr. Quigg after-
ward became a contractor on the Baltimore
and Ohio R. R., and in 1834 came to Cass
County. He brought with him his family,

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

217

including wife and one son, our subject. A
second son, Mathew, was born to him after
his arrival here, who is now a wholesale mer-
chant of Atchison, Kansas. Mr. Quigg was a
prosperous and thrifty farmer, and a shrewd
business man. He died in 1867, his wife having
preceded hin to the land of eternal rest about
ten years. Henry Quigg, our subject, received
his schooling almost entirely in Cass County,
attending at last in Beardstown. He com-
menced farming for himself in the year 1853,
on the old homestead, and removed on to his
present place in April, 1856. February 22,
1852, he married Miss Margaret Cotney, daugh-
ter of Thomas Cotney, of Kent County, Mich.,
who was of Irish nativity. This union has
been blessed with seven children, five sons
and two daughters. James F., a farmer of
Virginia Precinct, who married Catharine
Treadway, William, Thomas John M., Henry
C, Steven A., Sarah A., and Annie. Mr. and
Mrs. Quigg are members of the Catholic
Church of Virginia.

JUDGE J. W. REARICK, Judge elect, of
Cass County; was born in Prussia, on
March 17, 1833, and is the fifth of seven
children. In 1837, his father emigrated
with his family from Prussia to this country,
settling first in Franklin County, Pa. Here
he engaged in work at his trade, that of a
tinner. About the year 1856, he came West
in quest of a location, and fixed upon Beards-
town, 111., as his future home, to which town
he soon removed. Here he commenced work
at his trade, which he prosecuted with s-uc-
cess, until his death, which occurred in 1868.
He was known as a workman of more than
ordinary skill, a substantial and fair minded
citizen. It is scarcely necessary to add, that
the father was careful that his sons each ac-
quired a trade, to the end that they might be
more useful men, and independent citizens,
Jacob W. accordingly received instructions
in tin-smithing of his father. Ho also ac-

quired a fair schooling. He preceded his
father to Beardstown, having located there in
1854, and commenced work as a tinner with
his brother, Francis H., who was at that time
established in business there. With the lat-
ter Jacob W. soon formed a partnership,
which lasted for nineteen years. During this
time he also formed a partnership with
another brother, Frederick, and the firm
erected, and for about five years conducted, a
steam flour mill. Mr. Rearick at the same
time continuing with Francis H., in this busi-
ness, which had merged into a general hard-
ware and agricultural implement trade. Judge
Rearick was married April 29, 1862, to
Miss Elizabeth Kuhl, daughter of George
Kuhl, of Beardstown. Mrs. Rearick died
April 17, 18G3, leaving an infant son, George
EVancis. Judge Rearick again married on
April 3, 1866, to Miss Amanda, daughter of
William L. Sargent, Esq., of Morgan County.
By this union they have eight children, all of
whom are living, viz.: Elsie, Ann, Lydia, John
H., Susan A., Frederic, Elizabeth and Jennie.
In November, 1877, Judge Rearick was
elected to the Judgeship of Cass County, and
since that time has filled the responsible posi-
tion with entire satisfaction to the citizens of
the county. His re-nomination was strongly
urged by many of his friends, but the de-
mands of business and other duties made
upon his time, was his excuse for declining
further honors, and at the expiration of his
present term of office he intends to retire from
politics. The success of Judge Rearick in
rising from comparative obscurity to the
prominent position he now occupies as a citi-
zen, standing at the head of the public
affairs of his county, is worthy of note, as
showing what uprightness, and increasing
energy, worked with a purpose, will accom-
plish in our country of free thought, free
speech, and free institutions.

GEORGE W. RAWLINGS, farmer, P. O.

21S

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Virginia; Mr. Rawlings was born Dec. 23,
1834, in Cecil County, Marj'land, and is the
oldest son, and third child of Greenberry
Rawlings and Elizabeth Dobler Rawlings,
who raised a family of four sons and three
daughters, having lost one son and one daugh-
ter. Greenberry Rawlings was also a native
of Maryland, and a hatter by trade, which oc-
cupation he followed until 1837, the year
that he came West, and located about four
miles west of Virginia in Cass County. He
was of Scotch and English extraction, a
thrifty and enterprising citizen, and a most
successful farmer, which business he followed
until his death, in 1864. His family all lo-
cated in Cass County, except one son in Kan-
sas, and a daughter in Jacksonville, Morgan
County. Our subject received his schooling
in the common schools of Cass County; was
brought up a farmer; has been engaged in
that occupation and stock feeding up to the
present time. Nov. 18, 18G0, he married
Miss Martha E. Robertson, daughter of
Charles Robertson, an early resident of Cass
and Morgan Counties. She was born Feb.
18, IS-l-l, and was the fifth of a familv often
children. Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings have had
nine children, seven of whom are living, viz.:
Charles W., Franklin E., Greenberry A., Will-
iam E., George E., John T., Samuel J., Harry,
and Mary C. George died at four years of
age, and Harry at the age of three. Mr.
Rawlings \vas a life-long Republican; voted
first for John C. Fremont. He cast the first
Republican vote in his precinct, and at a
time when there were but two Republi-
can voters in his voting precinct. He is a
member of the Masonic Lodge, and of the A.
O. U. W. of Virginia.

OSWELL SKILES, one of the substantial
citizens of Cass County and most enterpris-
ing business men of Virginia ; was born
Oct. 18, 1828. He is son of Harmon and
Polly (Thompson) Skiles, who was twice mar-

ried. Polly was his first wife, and was mother
of Ignatius, and died leaving Oswell an
infant. They were natives of the State of
Pennsylvania, Ross Co., where their chil-
dren were both born; Mr. Skiles was a fanner,
in humble circumstances. Our subject, inci-
dent to the death of his mother, was adopted
by one George Smith, a farmer of Ross
County, and he soon removed to Washing-
ton County. Here Oswell grew up, and was
the youngest in a family of ten children. He
worked three years in a harness shop, learned
the trade, and in the fall of 1851 came to
Cass County and worked for an uncle, Os-
well Thompson, near Arenzville, about one
year. In 1853 he made an overland trip to
California. There he worked for a farmer
one year in the Sacramento Valley, and up to
1861 followed mining. He saved about one
thousand dollars, returned home, and entered
stock dealing with his brother, Ignatius, do-
ing a shipping business. This he followed
with marked success until the year 1870, and
since that time he has been engaged in farm-
ing and banking. Mr. Skiles married Miss
Anna Conover, daughter of Levi Conover
(deceased). She died March 31, 1877, leav-
ing one son, Lee Harmon. In 1879 he was
married to Miss Eliza Epler, daughter of
George Epler, of Sangamon County. Mr.
Skiles is a member of the well known bank-
ing house of Petefish, Skiles and Co.,
Virginia; Skiles, Rearick & Co., of Ashland,
and also of Petefish, Skiles, Mertz & Co., of
Chandlerville; is a member of the Building
Association of Virginia, the A. O. U. W.,
I. O. O. F., and he and Mrs. Skiles are mem-
bers of the Presbyterian Church.

IGNATIUS SKILES, deceased, whose
portrait appears in this volume, was born in
Ohio, August 10, 1827, and was a son of Har-
mon and Mary (Thompson) Skiles, the former
of whom was born in Pennsj'lvania and the
latter in Ohio. The elder Skiles followed

VIRGINIA-CITY AND PRECINCT.

219

farming, and died in Ohio. Our subject left
home when a small boy, and came to Indiana,
where he lived with a man named Kirkpat-
rick, until he was twenty-one years old, receiv-
ing as compensation, when he became of age, a
good suit of clothes, a pony, and forty dollars
in money. With this he came to Cass
County, Ills., in 1848, and commenced the
battle of life on his own account. He was a
man of but little education; leaving home
early in life, as he did, deprived him of op-
portunities to attend school, and he was com-
pelled to make his way with what little
knowledge he could pick up at odd times.
Upon his arrival in Cass County he began
farming and stock-dealing, a business he fol-
lowed successfully, becoming one of the
largest stock-dealers in the county, and amass-
ina: considerable wealth. At the time of his
death ho was the largest stockholder in the
banking house of Petefish, Skiles & Co., a
bank wliich is still in existence. He married
Mary .1. Thompson, in 1853, a daughter of
Oswell and Elizabeth (Henderson) Thomp-
son, natives of Ohio, but who came to Cass
County in an early day; he was a farmer,
and died in 1864, at the age of fifty-six years;
his wife is now living in the City of Virginia,
at the age of sixty-seven years. Both were
members of the Protestant Methodist Church.
He took an active part in the Mormon war
at Nauvoo, Ills. Mr. and Mrs. Skiles had
five children born to them, three of whom are
living, viz.: Ressie A., wife of Wm. T.
Mitchell; Hattie L., and Jessie E.; two died
in infancy. Mr. Skiles died in 1873, and his
widow afterward married Mr. Joseph F.
Black, whose sketch appears in another page
of this work.

I. M. STRIBLING, farmer, P. O., Vir-
ginia ; was one of the oldest citizens and
foremost agriculturists of Cass County ; is
a native of Logan County, Ky., and was
born January 13, 1831. His parents, Benja-

min and Nancy (Washburn) Stribling, emi-
grated from Logan County to Morgan County,
111., in the fall of 1837, and located near Lit-
erberry. Benjamin Stribling was a native
of old Stafford County, Va., and was born
Feb. 11, 1797, and his parents moved from
there to Kentucky about the year 1803. He
remained in Morgan County until 1830, when
he removed to near the present location of the
City of Virginia, and until his death, which
occurred June 2.5, 1880, he was a permanent
citizen of Cass County. He was a man of his
day ; always identified himself with every
movement set on foot for the advancement of
education and the rights or the interests of his
State and county, or the public good. He will
long be remembered as one of the stalwart
pioneers of Cass County. Isaac M. is the second
of a family of three sons; besides our subject,
his brother, B. Franklin, jr., now deceased, lo-
cated in Cass County, and his younger brother,
Thomas, lives in Iowa. He resided with his
parents until of age. Sept. 13, 1842, he mar-
ried Miss Margaret Beggs, whose parents,
Charles and Mary (Rudell) Beggs, were also
early settlers on Jersey Prairie. By this
union they had five children, two sons and
three daughters. At the time of their mar-
riage Mr. Stribling's father made him sole
owner of about two hundred acres of land.
This property he set about improving. He
also engaged in stock dealing in a small way,
and very successfully, and this business grew in
proportion until he became one of the most ex-
tensive feeders and dealers in his county, rais-
ing all the produce required in his extensive
business, and also a large quantity for the
market. On Sept. 26, 1856, Mr. Stribling
was made to mourn the loss of a faithful and
devoted wife, and his family a loving mother.
CHARLES W. SAVAGE, Virginia; was
born .Ian. 12, 1853, at the Savage homestead,
in Virginia Precinct, Cass Co. His father,
Henry S. Savage, was a native of Morgan

220

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

County, and was born April 2..', 1821, in Jaclv-
soMville Precinct, and his fatlier, Jolni Savage,
was one of the first pioneers of Morgan, having
come to the county in 1823, where he became
a successful farmer, an occupation that he
followed during his life. He was a native of
New York, and married Miss Elizabeth,
daughter of Guy Smith, Esq. John Savage
was son of James Savage, who was an Irish-
man, and came to America during the Ameri-
can Revolution as a British soldier, fought
under Burgoyne, and was taken prisoner by
the American troops at Ticonderoga. He was
paroled, and upon becoming convinced of the
injustice of the war against the Americans, he
fought on the American side. Henry S. Sav-
age was the fourth child, and third son of John
Savage, and was born April 22, 1824, at Dia-
mond Grove, three miles southwest of Jackson-
ville. He married Miss Sarah F. Ward, daugh-
ter of Jacob Ward, deceased. Mr. Savage was
a thrifty farmer, and one of the most energetic
and enterprising business men of his day in
Cass County. He met death by injuries re-
ceived from an unmanagealjle colt, March 39,
1865. He left a family of four sons and one
daughter. Three sons, our subject, C. W., Ed-
ward E., and Louis L., are residents of Cass
County. Ella B. and Henry S. are living with
their mother, in Jacksonville. Mr. Savag-e left
a valuable estate. Charles W. received his
schooling first in Cass County, and later, in the
Illinois College, at Jacksonville. He entered
farming on the homestead in Virginia Precinct,
in 1879. In 1881, he entered the lumber and
grain business, in company with J. B. Steven-
son. He was married on Jan. 6, 1875, to Miss
Kitty Kelly, of Davenport, Iowa, daughter of
Moses Kelly, a native of Massachusetts, for
twenty-five years a resident of that place, and
is now retired. Mr. and Mrs. Savage have
three daughters, viz.: Anna L., Bertha M., and
ILittie L. Mr. Savage is a member of the I.
O. O. F., and the A. 0. U. W., of Virginia.

J. B. STEVENSON, grain and lumber
merchant, Virginia, Cass Co.; was born
July 11, 1847, at Little Indian, Princeton
Precinct. He is the sixth of the family of
William and Francos (Berry) Stevenson, of
whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this
work. Joseph B., after attending the schools
of his district, took a course of study at the
then Cumberland Presbyterian College at
Virginia. He married, April 17, 1870,
Miss Dora Vandemeter, daughter of Fenton-
ville Vandemeter, then a farmer of Cass
County, now a resident of Springfield. Mrs.
Stevenson was born April 11, 1849, in Cass
County. Mr. and Mrs. Vandemeter are both
natives of Kentucky, and came to Illinois at
an early date. They raised a family of ten
children, and Mrs. S. was the seventh child.
Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson have one child,
Mary F. Mr. S. has been associated in busi-
ness with Mr. C. W. Savage, since the fall of
1880, and is also a partner with his father in
the grain trade, at Little Indian.

ADOLPH H. SIELSCHOTT, sheriff elect,
of Cass County, was born in the Kingdom of
Hanover, on June 3, 1835. In 1854 he came
to this country. He first did farm labor for
about two years in the vicinity of Beards-
town, after which he learned the carpenter
trade. He followed his trade until 1862,
when he engaged in merchandising until
1870. In 1868, he, in company with Robert
Schmoldt, purchased a saw mill, located in
the upper part of the City of Beardstown,
which business the firm conducted with suc-
cess until 1875. In the year 1876, Mr,
Sielschott was elected to the office of Sheriff
of Cass County, and has acceptably filled this
responsible office si [ice that time. During
the years 1871 to 1874, Mr. Seilschott filled
the office of Mayor of Beardstown, with the
entire api)roval of the citizens of that pros-
perous and enterprising ciiy. In 1862, Mr.
Sielschott married Miss Ellen Peeper, a native

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PRECINCT.

2L'l

of Hanover, who emigrated to this country
with her parents when quite young. They
have three children: Adolph F., Alice A.,
and Martha M.

EDWARD \V. TURNER, deceased. Ed-
ward W. Turner was a native of Bourbon
County, Ky. — a wagon maker by trade,
which business he followed for many years
of his early manhood. His father was one
of the pioneers of Kentucky. Our sub-
ject left his native State, came to Illinois in
1825, and became one of the prosperous pio-
neers of Cass County. He was energetic,
thrifty, and public-spirited. He represented
his county in the State Legislature of 1840 and
1848. He made farming his business after
coming to Illinois, but erected and run a wag-
on shop for a time upon his farm, near Virginia,
soon after locating. He married in Fayette
County, Ky., Miss America Morrow. Her
father's farm joined the Ashland home of the
lamented Henry Clay, near Lexington. They
raised a family of eight children, all living to
mature years but one, Thomas B. Sarah, the
oldest, is now deceased; lived to marry W.
W. Ward, a farmer of Cass County; Elizabeth
J., is now Mrs. B. G. Troutman, of Cass Coun-
ty; James E. is a merchant of Virginia; John
"W., a farmer of Oregon Precinct; William
A., a farmer in Kansas; David S., R. R. Ex-
press Messenger; Henry H., Express Agent,
Virginia; and Charles is out of business.
James E. was born Dec. 13, 1843, and has for
several years been engaged in the mercantile
business in Virginia, and is at presont; has
one of the most extensive furniture stores in
Cass County. He married, Feb. 35, 1803,
Miss Henrietta Conover, daughter of John
Conover, of whom see extended mention else-
where in this volume. They have live chil-
dren: Anna L., Linna M., Katie, James A.,
and Fred. They are both members of the
Christian Church, and Mr. Turner is member
of the A. O. U. W. and I. O. M. A. William

A., a farmer in Kansas, furnishes us the follow-
ing data: He was born 1845, in the month of
August, on the Turner homestead, in Cass
County. He commenced business as a farmer
in Princeton Precinct, and later, farmed at
Walnut Grove. He built and run the only
|ilaining mill ever run in Virginia, in 1871).
The venture was not a success, however, and he
closed out the business and returned to farm-
ing on the old Downing farm, which he
sold and went to Wichita, Kansas, in 1870.
He married March 6, 1806, Mira Berry,
daughter of William M. Berry, a farmer of
Morgan County. They have three children,
Nellie, Nina, and David. H. H. Turner, the
sixth son, was born Nov. 23, 1850, in Cass
County. He attended the Kentucky Univer-
sity at Lexington, during 1868-9, and after-
ward engaged in the dry goods business in
Virginia, and later, the grocery trade, having
at times been associated with W. W. Early,
Bowman Craft, and M. J. Oliver. He al)nn-
doned the mercantile business in 1874, and
since that time has been acting as agent for
the American and United States Express Com-
panies, and also engaged in insurance busi-
ness. He married Dec. 3, 1871, Miss Alice
R. Buckley, daughter of Mark Buckley, a
pioneer of Cass County. They have three
children: Olive, Coral, and Ralph. Mr. Tur-
ner is a member of the I. O. O. F., Saxon
Lodge, No. 68.

H. C. THOMPSON was born Aug. 6, 1848,
in Virginia, Cass County, and is the third son
of N. B. Thompson, now of St. Louis, Mo.,
and for many years one of the foremost and
successful business men of Cass County. He
first came to Virginia as Clerk and Recorder of
Cass County, upon the first removal of the
county seat from Beardstown, and was the
first Clerk of the county, receiving his
appointment from Judge Jesse B. Thomas, the
first County Judge. He commenced mer-
chandising in Virginia and continued until

222

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

the year 1867, when he removed to St.
Louis, where he lives in retirement. He
was married March 30, 1837, to Miss Louise
Dutch, daughter of Israel J. Dutch, of Mor-
gan County. He was a native of Massachu-
setts; married Miss Caroline C. Thorington, of
New York City. He is of French descent,
and Mrs. Dutch of English. Mr. and Mrs.
Thompson have raised a large family, all of
whom are still living in independence, being
successful in their several undertakings, and,
as will be seen from the following, are
filling honorable positions, both of a business
and professional nature. Louise A., wife of
Abrara Bergen, a prosperous lawyer, of the
State of Kansas; Josephine married John
Anderson, a farmer of Saint Clair County, of
this State; Eliza, wife of Mr. G. Polland, an
able attorney of St. Louis, Mo.; the Hon-
orable W. B. Thompson is also an attorney
of Saint Louis, Mo., and represented the
Twenty-eighth Senatorial district of that
State in the Forty-sixth General Assembly; L.
C Thompson is a merchant of Mount Vernon,
Jefferson County, 111.; Harry C, our subject,
is a thrifty farmer and a stock-dealer, of Cass
County; he married Miss Lila Hall, daughter
of Robert Hall, one of the wealthiest and
extensive agriculturists of Cass County, of
whom see sketch in another chapter of this
work; Harry C. is an enterprising, public
spirited and go-ahead man of business, and
quick to see the business bent of a transac-
tion. Mr. Thompson is the oldest of his fa-
ther's family, and was born Oct. 14, 1861;
Mary, wife of Mr. J. A. .lohnston, head sales.
man for Mermod, Jaccard & Co., No. 4 Locust
St., St. Louis; Frank P. is a resident of Cass
County, Mo.; George D. is a physician and
surgeon at the Marine Hospital, St. Louis;
and Ella B. is at home with her parents, in St.
Louis. The Thompson property interests in
Cass County and Virginia are large, and
as yet have not l)een divided.

THOMAS WILSON, of Virginia, was
born April 15, 1816, in Lancashire, England.
His father, David Wilson, raised a family of
ten children, and Thomas was the second
youngest of the family. He married Mar-
garet Coates, before he left his native land, in
the year 1837, and in 1841 they emigrated to
the New World, in company with two sisters,
Hannah and Sarah. Mrs. Wilson, also a na-
tive of England, was born about July 18,
1817, and lived until Oct. 18, 1880, being
sixty-three years of age, at the time of her
death. She left six sons and one daughter to
mourn her loss: James, born Dec. 19, 1839;
David, born Aug. 2, 1842; Joseph, born May
3, 1844; Sarah J. (deceased), born Aug. 24,
1846, died Nov. 3, 1865, at nineteen years of
.ge; William R., born April 18, 1849; John
T., born Julv 3, 1851; Charles, born Aug. 13,
1853; and Mary E., born May 20, 1857. The
subject of this sketch first settled near the
Sangamon Bottoms, about seven miles north-
west of Virginia, in Virginia Precinct, and
farmed with success until 1861, when he re-
moved to Virginia and retired. He has in-
vested a liberal capital in city real estate, and
is one of the public spirited and substantial
citizens of the town, and a member of the
Cumb rl.ind Presbyterian Church. Of his
iamily, Joseph, John, Charles, and the only
living daughter, Mary (who is at home), live
in Cass County; David is in Kansas; James
is in Missouri; William is in Menard County,
tliis State. They are all farmers but Joseph,
who is a tinner by trade; he has for several
years been a successful merchant in Virginia,
in company at different times with D. N.Walk-
er, and A. G. Angier. He received his school-
inn- at Sugar Grove, Cass Co., and learned his
trade at nineteen years of age. He has been
a successful business man, and has some of
his present means invested in Cass County
farming lands. May 26, 1872, he married
Miss Nancy R. Berry, daughter of James and

VIRGINIA— CITY AND PUECIXCT.

Sinah (Roe) Berry, deceased, formerly of Vir-
ginia Precinct. They have three children,
viz.: Anna L., Frank H., and Alice. Jlr.
and Mrs. Wilson are both members of the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He is a
Democrat, and a member of the A. O. U. W.,
and 1. O. O. F., and Secretary of the Virgin-
ia Lodge.

D. N. WALKER, Police Magistrate of the
city of Virginia, was born in Fauquier County,
State of Virginia. His father, Solomon
Walker, is also a Virginian by birth, and a
farmer by occupation. He married Miss Em-
m;i Wilkins, a native of Virginia, and daugh-
ter of Thomas Wilkins, a Virginia farmer.
Mr. Walker (our subject) is the third son of a
family of seven sons and two daughters, and
was educated in the common schools of his
native State, and was Ijrought up a farmer,
lie came to Illinois with his father's family
in 1855, and in 18(50 commenced farminuf in
Hickory Precinct, Cass County. He spent
the years of 186"^-3 and a part of ;804, in the
mining fields of Oregon and Idaho, and then
returned to Cass County. In 18G6 he took
up his residence in Virginia, and followed
contracting and building until 18G8, when he
entered the tin and hardware business. He
continued in this business, in company with
Angier, and later, with Joseph Wilson, until
1873, since which time he has occupied the
position he now holds. Mr. Walker was
elected Mayor of Virginia in 1876, hut re-
signed after having served a part of his term.
He married Nov. 21, 1861, Miss Elizabeth
Adam^, a native of Macoupin County, 111.
She died JIarch 3, 1873, leaving one son,
John L., and a daughter, Mary E. Mr. Walker
again married in January, 1876, Miss Martha
E. Clark, of Schuyler County, and many years
a resident of Cas.s. In politics, Mr. Walker is a
D'^mocrat. He is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
and of the Knights of Honor, of Virginia.

JOHN N. WILSON, the present efficient

postmaster of Virginia City, was born in
Licking County, O., June 1, 1833. George
Wilson (deceased), his father, was a native of
the Old Dominion State; was born Oct. 30,
1795, and by occupation was a farmer; lie
removed from his native State to Ohio about
the year 1805, and thence to Virginia Pre-
cinct, Cass Co., and entered farming in
1842, and there died in 1873. He married
Jliss Jane B. Moore, a native of Pennsylva-
nia, in the year 1819. They had nine chil-
dren — four sons and five daughters; John, our
subject, was the si.Kth born, and was about
ten years of age v;hen his parents came to
Cass County. He received his schooling in
Virginia public schools, and entered a dry
goods store and post-office as a clerk, in 1856,
at twenty-four years of age, for S. W. Nealy.
He continued with Mr. Nealy for about six
months, after which he entered the drug bus-
iness for about two years. He served as the
Virginia agent for the Wab ish Railroad
Company two years, and in 1867 was ap-
pointed postmaster of Virginia, by Andrevv
Johnson, and has continuously held the posi-
tion with entire satisfaction to the public up
to the present time. In 1873, Mr. Wilson
opened in the same room with the post-office,
a full and complete stock of books, stationery,
wall paper, news, notions, etc., and takes the
lead in his line of trade in the city. Oct.

7, 1858, he married Miss Rachae'. M. Berry,
daughter of Thomas S. and America Berry,
and a native of Cass County. She di d Oct.

8, 1873, leaving three chi dren: Kate, .lessio
and Ella, who died at eight months of
age. He again married, January 20, 1861,
Miss Mary F. Walker, of Virginia, C.-iss
Co., and a native of the State of Vir-
ginia. She died January 11, 1877. Asa third
wife, he took Miss L. H. Ainsworth, Feb. 8,
1878; she is a native of Vermont, and daugh-
ter of Samuel Ainsworth, deceased. Mr.
Wilson is of Scotch-Irish descent. His fa-

224

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ther, Georgf, was a son of Archibald, who
was one -of the first pioneers of the Buckeye
State, and his father, also Archibald, came
West to fight the Indians, about 1760. Our
subject was the first City Treasurer of the

City of Virginia, and has twice been a mem-
ber of the City Council. He is a Republic-
an, a member of the Presbyterian Church,
aad of the A. O. U. W., Virginia Lodge.

"^■^!^WWW

,^y^ c-^Z^.j^-t.^^^ ^^'A^f^iL.^^^'t.^i^JL.,^^

•INlVtPS\l

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

BEARDSTOWN-CITY AND PRECINCT.

JUDGE JOHN A. ARENZ, Beardstown ;
was born Oct. ::iS, ISIO, in lJlaiikoiil)eriv,
Province of tlie Rhine, Prussia. After hav-
ing received a good school education, he was
sent to an institute, where he received in-
struction in languages, drawing, engineering,
surveying and music. Then he was employed
for a year in a corps of surveyors, working for
the government. He then entered as a stu-
dent in a college, and for two years in the
seminary at Bruhl, near Cologne. After hav-
ing passed his examination, he received an
appointment as teacher, and after having
served in that capacity one year, was promoted
to the office of principal, with three assistants.
He held that position until 1835, when he re-
signed, and came to the United States, at the
solicitation of his brother Francis, with whom
he resided for several years. In 1836 he was
employed as assistant engineer in the survey
of a canal. For the purpose of perfecting
himself in the English language and acquiring
a knowledge of mercantile business, he entered
a store at Springfield, where he remained
until 1838, when his brother took him as a
partner in his business. In 1844, he became
the editor of a campaign paper, advocating
the election of Henry Clay for the presidency,
])ublished at Springfield in the German
language. He has been engaged in various
business enterprises, and held many different
offices. His first commission as Justice of the
Peace, is dated Aug. 21, 1843; his first com-
mission as Notary Public, is dated May 1, 1850,
which office he held ever since. He was the
first Mayor of the Cit>' of Beardstown, in 1850.
He was twice elected to the office of County
Judge, was admitted, to the bar March 13,
18(55; he also holds a diploma from the Ger-

man National Society for Trade and Industry,
dateil Feb. 2'2, 1850, at Leipzig. Hi; never
followed the practice of law before the courts;
but he has settled up more estates, and of
more value, than any man in Cass Countv.
In the memorable county seat contest, in 18G7,
between Beardstown and Virginia, be was the
Justice chosen by Beardstown, and selected
by the two other justices, as presiding officer.
The citizens of Beardstown were so well satis-
fied with his services, that when the decision
had been made, they serenaded him. He has
retired from all active business affairs, to
settle up his own matters. He married in
1849, Miss Mary L. Miller, who is yet living,
and the mother of two daughters, one of whom
is the wife of Philip Kuhl, in Beardstown, and
the other the wife of S. O. Spring, in Peoria.
FRANK J. ARENZ, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown; was born near Arenzville, this
county, April 8, 1838, and is a son of Francis
and Louisa (Boss) Arenz. Francis i\renz, a
politician of some note, and by occupation a
merchant, miller and farmer, died in Morgan
County; his wife died in Arenzville, this
county. They had ten children, five sons
and five daughters, of whom one son and one
daughter are deceased. Mr. Arenz received
his primary education in Arenzville, after-
ward attending the Illinois College, .lackson-
ville, III., for two years, and the Business
College at Rockford, III., for one year. He
then engaged in farming, in this county,where
he has since pursued that occupation. In
Arenzville, Feb. 31, 1860, he married Caroline
B. Cire, who was born there, Feb. 4, 1839, and
who has borne him live children: Katie
L., Ada, Et a J., Frank C, and Lena.
Mrs. Arenz is a daughter of John L. and

22S

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Catherina (Hamm) Cire; he a native of Kur-
hessen, Prussia, was horn May 4, ISOO; she
also a native of Prussia. Mr. Arenz has been
Deputy Assessor and School Director for two
years. He is a Republican.

ERNST ARNOLDI, farmer, P. O. Bluff
Springs; was born in Nassau, Germany, Sept.
13, 1823; son of Gustave and Margaret (En-
dris) Arnoldi. Gustave Arnoldi, who was an
Inspector of Forests, died in Germany, in
1834; his wife also died in Germany, in 1872;
they had seven children. Our subject
attended school for seven years in Germany,
where he began life as a farmer, which occu-
pation he has pursued since he came to this
country. In this countv, March 7, 1850, he
married Amelia Winhold, a native of Gi-r-
many, born April 13, 1833, daughter of Wil-
liam and Barbara Winhold; from this mar-
riage six children have been born: Bertha,
Ferdinand (deceased), Gustave, Jennie, Ella,
and an infant (deceased). Mr. Arnoldi is a
member of the Lutheran Church; he is a Re-
publican.

MENDALL AARON, merchant. Beards-
town; was born in Prussia about the year 1834,
and early learned the butcher's trade with his
father, who kept a meat market. In the fall
of 1862, he emigrated to this country; worked
at his trade in New York City, three months;
then in St. Louis, about a month, and then
traveled on foot with a pack of dry goods and
notions, for about six months. After some
time he procured a horse and wagon, for a
very small sum, and traveled about three
months, selling goods. In 1804, he opened a
store at Kampsville, a little village in Calhoun
County, Ills., invested about $1,200 in goods,
and carried on business there for nine years.
He then sold out, and moved to La Grange,
Mo., where he invested $9,000 in a rolling-
mill, but unfortunately lost his investment;
he engaged in mercantile business for four
years, in La Grange, then moved to Hardin,

Calhoun County, 111., rented a store a short
time, then built a substantial store and dwell-
ing, and carried on mercantile business, and
dealt in land there for seven years. He then
sold out his town property and part of his
farming land, and Sept. 21, 1881, came to
Beardstown, and opened a general store at the
corner of Main and JeiFerson streets, where he
has since done a good trade, employing two
assistants. He married Oct. 8, 1862, Florence
Driesen, a native of Prussia.

J. BAUJAN & CO., Home Mills, Beards-
town; .lohn Baujan, was born in Prussia,
April G, 1820, where he learned the brick-
mason trade, beginning his apprenticeship at
the age of eighteen, and serving four years.
Ho followed his trade in Europe until 1849,
when he came to this country, landing in
Now Orleans; thence came to St. Louis, Mc.,
where he worked at his trade for a year.
From St. Louis he came, in 1850, to Arenz-
ville, this county, where he pursued his trade
seven ye irs; then came to Baardstown, start-
ed a brick-yard, and followed brick laying
and brick making, building many houses in
this county. He built the saw mill now owa-
ed by H. C. Meyer, and run it for five years.
In 1876, in company with John Schultz he
built the present Home Mills, of which he has
since been part owner. In April, 1852, he
married Catharine Yeck, of this county, a
native of Wurtemberg, Germany; they have
seven children living, five sons and two
daughters. .lolrn Schultz, junior partner in
this firm, was born in Ottersheim, Bavaria,
June 1, 1849, and at the aire of fourteen
years, apprenticed to the carriage making
trade, working at the wood work branch of
that business in his native State or four years.
In 1867 he came to this country and located
at Beardstown, where he worked at his trade
two years; afterward carried on a wagon mak-
ing and repairing shop at Rushville, Hi., two
years, then returned to Beardstown, where ho

BEAKDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

225>

engaged in mercantile business about three
years. In 1875, he became a member of the
firm of Scheber, Schultz & Gemming, which
began building the present Home Mills on
the site of the old City Mills; before the com-
pletion of tiie mills, however, the; firm chang-
ed to J. Baujari (Jt Co., who have since ope-
rated them, doing a merchant and exchange
business. The mills are run by a fifty-horse
power engine; have six run of stones, and
three sets of rollers, having a capacity of 100
barrels a day, and employ from twelve to
sixteen men. They manufacture four brands
of flour: " Fancy Patent," " Viola," " Crown
Jewel," and "XXX," which find a ready
market. The building is a three story frame,
5i)x40 feet, with engine room 21x30 feet.

JOHN J. BEATTY, hardware merchant
and present Mayor, Beardstown; was born in
Franklin County, Pa., Oct. 22, 1846, and
came West in 1855, with Jacob Rearick, who
raised him, his parents having died when he
was an infant. After coming to this section,
he learned the trade of tinsmith, and in 1866
he went to Marion County, Mo., and worked
at his trade, at Hannibal, Palmyra and Can-
ton; also in Quincy. In 1874 he returned to
Beardstown, and entered the old firm, buj'ing
a half interest therein, the style of which has
since been Rearick & Beatty. They orig-
inally dealt only in stoves and tinware, but,
about 1877, they added hardware and agri-
cultural implements. Mr. Beatty was elected
Mayor in 1881, and re-elected in 1882, and
takes considerable interest in politics. He
was married in Missouri, in 1873, to Miss
Mary F. Pickering, of Canton, that State.
Thev have two sons living.

DR. GEORGE BLEY, Jr., Beardstown;
was born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 14, 1851;
eldest son of a family of three sons, and three
daughters, born to Dr. George and Elizabeth
(Lavis) Blej'. Dr. Giiorge Bley, Sr., was
born in Wurtembcrg, Germany, came to the

United States in 1831, being then about
eleven years old, and received his education
in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia,
Pa.; his wif^; is a native of that city, her
father being for many years foreman of the
Philadelphia Licxhjir. The subject of this
sketch removeil in 1855, witii his parents-, to
Scott County, Iowh, thence in 1858, to Rock
Island, 111., remaining there one year, and,
after residing one year in Monroe County,
111., settled in Staunton, Macoupin County,
111., in 18(31, where he received both a good
English and German education. At the age
of fifteen he entered his father's drug store
in Staunton, 111., remaining there till 1873,
when he moved to Bethalto, 111., and opened
a drug store there on his own account, con-
ducting business there until 1879, when he
sold out and began the study of medicine
with his father. In September, 1879, he en-
tered the .lefiferson Medical College, at Phila-
delphia, Pa., from which he graduated March
12, 1881; came to Beardstown in May, that
3'ear, and began the practice of his profes-
sion, and now enjoys a large practice. In
1872, he married Mary E., daughter of Green
B. Hill, of Christian County, 111.

JAMES BUCK, gardner and farmer, P. O.
Beardstown; was born in Newark, Licking
County, O., July 3, 1817. He followed farming
in his native State till 1839, when he married
Susan Daugherdy, and in the spring of the
same year settled at Bluff Springs, in this coun-
ty, where he first entered forty acres, where the
Poor Farm now is. He farmed there until
1855, raising grain, hogs and sheep, and ac-
cumulated a good property. He was super-
intendent of the county farm from 1851 to
1855. In the latter year he moved to a farm
of one hundred and twenty acres, in the San-
gainon bottoms, where he remained a year,
then came to Beardstown, and, with the ex-
ception of five years (1873-78), during which
he farmed in Atchison County, Mo., has lived

•230

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

in the vicinity of Beardstovvn ever since. He
has owned a larg-o number of farms, and is at
present engaged in raising vegetables and
small fruiis, at Ravenswood. His wife died in
1878. They had eigl.t children: Eliza J.,
Mrs. John Nicholson, of Beardstown; Mary
F., Mrs. William Heminghouse, of Pekin, III.;
Julia A., Mrs. George S. Kuhl; Harvey, died
aged two years; John H., of Beardstown;
Edgar .1., engineer on the Chicago, Burling-
ton and Quiucy Railroad; Louisa, died aged
twenty-three years, and Samuel O., of Beards-
town. Mr. Buck is a Republican. In Janu-
ary, 1876, James and .lohn H. Buck bought
of F. A. Hammer, their present stables, on
Main street, Beardstown, whore they conduct
a livery and feed business, and also an agency
for the sale of buggies and carriages. Their
stables contain stall room for one hundred
horses.

CHARLES E. BURNS, carpenter; P.
O. Beardstown; was born in Springfield,
111., July 25, 1842; son of T. J. and Eleanor
(Craig) Burns. T. J. Burns, who was a car-
])enter, architect and builder, was born in
Baltimore, Md., in 1811, and died in May,
18G8; his wife, who was a native of New
York City, died Nov. 1, 1866. They had a
family of eleven children. Charles E. receiv-
ed a fair education, attending the Beards-
town school, the brick school house, five miles
east of that town, and also the brick school
house in Beardstown Precinct. He began
the business of life as a carpenter, in Chica-
go, 111.; engaged in farming for a time; trav-
eled several years on account of ill-health,
and for the last five years has been contract-
ing and building in Beardstown. He was in
the army three years, serving in Co. C, Third
111. Cav., under Capt. Dunbar; in Co. A.
]4th 111. Infty., under Captains Thompson and
Nolton, and also in the 47th 111. Infty., under
Capt. Licks. In Beardstown, July 25, 1869,
he married Caroline Brown, a native of Man-

chester, England, born Sept. 15, 1846, daugh-
ter of Samuel and Elizabeth Brown, and by
this union they have been blessed with four
children: Eleanor E., Lida M. (deceased),
Benjamin If., Russell C. (deceased). Mr.
Burns is a Democrat; is a member of Protec-
tion Lodge No. 32, A. O. U. W., in Beards-
town, aTid is connected with the Congrega-
tional Church.

C. A. BUSSMANN, contractor and builder;
Beardstown; was born in Osnabruck, Han-
over, May 18, 1822, and at sixteen years of
age began learning the manufacture of spin-
ning wheels, gears and reeds, at which he
worked till he was twenty years of age.
In 1842, he emigrated to this country, and
came via Baltimore and Pittsburg to Cincin-
nati, O., where he worked a short time on the
National road, and late in the same year
moved to St. Louis, Mo. He then worked on
farms in different places till February, 1843,
when he eame to Beardstown, where he
worked at various employments, and about the
year 1845 apprenticed to the carpenter's trade,
with a Mr. Cassau, and served three years. He
has since been a contractor and builder, em-
ploving from five to eighteen workmen on his
contracts, and has built many of the principal
public and private buildings of Bjirdstown,
and the county generally. In 1860, he built a
two-story brick planing mill, on the corner of
Monroe and Sixth streets, where he dresses
the lumber and mouldings used in h's con-
tracts. In 1848 he married Mary Hackmann
a native of this county, and by this union
they have seven children living. Mr. Buss-
man n is a member of the German Methodist
Church.

GEORGE H. BROWN, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown; was born in Brattleboro, Vt.,
April 1, 1829; son of George W. and Xylphia
(Chase) Brown ; parents of five children: he, a
weaver by trade, but chiefly engaged in farm-
incr; she died in 1851. Mr. Brown attended

BEAKDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECIXlT.

231

school in Vermont, Fulton Co., Ills., for a time,
but received only a limited education. He
learned the blacksmith's trade in Vermont,
Fulton Co., 111., and followed it until 185S,
since which time he has engaged in farming.
He mirried here, Aug. 5, 1855, Sarah J. Hager,
born in this precinct. May 20, 1840, who has
borne him three children: Charles L., Henri-
etta, and Laura B. Mr. Brown is a Democrat.
His wife is a member of the M. E. Church.

SAMUEL L. CALIF, farmer; P. O.,
Beardstown; was born in Sullivan County,
N. H., June 25, 1830; son of Nathaniel and
Sarah Pettingill, both of whom had been
married before and had children. His father,
■who was a farmer, was born in Salisbury,
K H., Oct. 26, 1768. Samuel L. attend-
ed school in Plainfield, formerly Grant-
ham, N. H., then at Canaan, N. H., and af-
terward at Lebanon, N. H. He hired out
and worked on a farm for a while, near Plain-
field, N. H., and in September, 1844, came to
this county, where he taught school for a
time, and afterward engaged in his present
occupation, farming. He married in this
county, April 22, 1854, Lucy A. Main, a na-
tive of Ohio; born Oct. 15, 1828; daughter of
Loderick L. and Sarah Main; he, born in
Connecticut, March 24, 1796; she, a native of
New Hampshire. Mrs. Calif is a member of
the M. E. Church; Mr. Calif was Township
Trustee for some time, and School Director
for many years. He met with an accident
shortly after he came to this county. He was
out on the Sangamon Bottom, hunting deer,
■when the horse he was riding became scared
at some object; he threw his gun from him,
■which exploded, the shot striking him in the
face, inflicting a bad wound.

THOMAS H. CARTER, attorney-at-law,
Beardstown; was born in Little York, York
Co., Penn., Oct. 11, 1823, and his parents
dying when he was quite young, he was
taken by an uncle to Connecticut, where he

remained till he was twenty years of age.
He then commenced teaching school, which,
in addition to his attending school himself, in
the summer season, occupied his time till
1844, still continuing his classical studies till
1847, at which time he went to Ohio and
read law at Canfield, with Judge Newton, and
was admitted to practice in 1851. He then
went to Ballston Springs, N. Y., and entered
the law school, from which institution he
graduated in 1802. In September, 1852, he
married Miss Marcia L. Peck, and the next
month moved to Beardstown, where he has
since remained in the practice of the law.
Mr. Carter was Postmasfer at Beardstown
from 1858 to 1861. He was originally a
Whig, but since 1856 has been a Democrat.
Has been City Attorney and Alderman. He
has one son, Augustine P., in the Master
Mechanics' office of the C, B. & Q. R. R.
His father was named Bushnel, and his
mother's maiden name was Julia Laub; they
had three sous. Father and mother are both
dead. The father was an able lawyer.

ANTONIO CASANOVA, bar- tender,
Beardstovpn; is a native of Switzerland, born
July 15, 1845; son of Balzer and Margarite
(Herman) Casanova, natives of Switzerland.
Balzer Casanova, who is still living, was born
in 1810, and was for many years a member of
the Swiss Legislative Department; his wife,
who is still living, was born in 1812; they are
the parents of ten children. Antonio at-
tended school several years, in Ober Saxon,
Switzerland, where he was afterward em-
ployed as a letter-carrier, for three years and
three months. He then engaged in the coffee
house business, for ten years, and March 4,
1869, landed in New Orleans, La., and has
since followed the saloon business in this
country. Mr. Casanova has spent a great
deal of time in traveling, and has visited all
the principal cities of this country, as well as
those of Germany and France. For the past

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

year he has been tending bar in the Park
Hotel saloon, in Beardstown. In New Or-
leans, La., Feb. 3, 1876, he married Julia
Frederick, a native of Germany, born in 1853,
who died of yellow fever, in Memphis, Tenii.,
Sept. a, 1879 ; she was a daughter of George
and Katie Frederick. His second wife, EfFa
Frederick, sister of his first wife, has borne
him two ohildron; by his first marriage, he
had three children; of the five children, three
are deceased: Julia (deceased), Antonio (1)
(deceased), Antonio (2) (deceased), Julia and
George. Mr. Casanova is a member, in good
standing, of Gerniania Lodge, No. 309,
Knights of Honor, of Memphis Tenn.

THOMAS J. CHALFANT, wagon maker,
Beardstown; was born in Wheeling, W. Va.,
March 5, 1823, and came with the family of
Lawrence Clark, who had adopted him, to this
county, then Morgan County, and settled three
miles south of Virginia, in December, 1835.
Mr. Chalfant received such an education as
the schools of that day afforded, and remained
with Mr. Clark until he was eighteen years old;
then worked in the plow shops of William and
John Clark, completing his trade with John
Whiteside. He then run a shop for himself
a year; afterward made wood work for porta-
ble saw mills, for about a year, for John Webb,
with whom he came to Beardstown, in 18-48
remaining with him about twelve years, and
after that, in 1849 or 1850, became pattern-
maker, and took charge of the wood- work de-
partment, till 1859. He then carried on a
jobbing shop till 1862, when he became fore-
man ship carpenter for Capt. Ebaugh, assist-
ing in the building of the " Farragut," the first
steamboat built here; worked on river boats
two seasons, and was then employed as fore-
man in John Webb's wagon and plow shop
for two years. In 1867, he opened his pres-
ent shop, and has since made wood work for
plows and wagons, James Hood making the
iron work. In November, 1848, Mr. Chalfant

married Anne E., daughter of Thomas P.
Norton, of Beardstown, a native of W. Vir-
ginia; they have had six children, five of
whom are living.

JULIUS CIRE, farmer; P. O. Beardstown;
is a native of this county; born in Arenzville,
March 13, 1846; son of John L. and Catherina
(Hamm) Cire; natives of Prussia, and parents
of nine children. His father was born May
4, 1806. Mr. Cire received his education in
Arenzville, where he attended school several
years, and began life as a farmer, in
this county, where he has since pursued that
occupation. He was also engaged in the
sewing machine business for about four years.
In Arenzville, Oct. 37, 1869, he married Car-
oline C. Durham, who was born Nov. 6, 1844:.
They have had one child — May. Mrs. Cire
is a daughter of Ezra J. and Sophia Durham;
the latter, born in 1811, died Dec. 3, 1867.
Mr. Cire has been Deputy Assessor for seven
years. He is a R 'publican, and a member
of German Lodge A. O. U. W., in Beards-
town. His wife is a member of the Congre-
gational Church.

CHARLES CLARK, restaurateur; Beards-
town; is a native of Beardstown; born
May 1, 1835; is a son of Charles and Catha-
rine (Schaffer) Clark, and is probably the old-
est native resident now living in Beardstown.
His father, Charles Clark, a native of London,
England, when a young man, came to this
county, where he married Catharine, daugh-
ter of John Schaffer, of Monroe Precinct. He
was book-keeper for Knapp & Pogue, of
Beardstown. He died about the year 1836,
leaving four children, of whom our subject,
and Mrs. Sockmann, of Peoria, are living.
Mr. Clark worked on boats on the Illinois
and Mississippi rivers as cabin boy for about
four years, and at the age of eighteen began
learning the cooper's trade, serving his ap-
prenticeship with his step-father, Thomas
Elam. After working at his trade with dif-

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

233

fcrent persons till 1861, he was employed
during the war as cook and steward on vari-
ous steamboats; afterward engaged in various
pursuits till 1877, when he opened a restau-
rant on Main street, Beardstown, where he
lias since carried on that business, and also a
confectionery, with good success. In 1857,
ho married Miss Staten, who has borne him
four children, of whom one is living. In
1870, he married Mary McKnight, of Beards-
town.

J. K. CLARK, farmer; P. O. Bluff Springs;
was born in Monroe Precinct, this county,
then Morgan Coun^, May l-t, 1828, and is a
son of Tiiomas C. and Julia Ann (King)
Clark. Thomas C. Clark was born in Penn-
sylvania, Feb. 24, 1785; was married in Bar-
ron County, Ky., April 23, 1807, to Julia Ann
King, who was born in Green County, Tenn.,
Oct. 15, 1790. They moved to Tennessee,
where they lived seventeen years, then came
to Illinois, and, after several changes of loca-
tion, located, in 1846, at Bluff Springs, where
they died; he, Aug. 16, 1852; she, Aug. 2,
1866; of their thirteen children, four sons
and five daughters grew to maturity, of
whom three sons and three daughters are liv-
ing, all in this county. The subject of this
sketch attended school near Mount Pleasant,
la., for about four years, afterward attending
the schools of this county some time. He
first taught school for some time, and then de-
voted his attention to farming, which occupa-
tion he has since pursued. Mr. Clark was,
for many years, Road Supervisor, and School
Director; he is a Democrat.

J. H. CRAMER, grocer, Beardstown; was
born in Beardstown, March 29, 1859; son of
Jacob H. and Charlotte (Trampe) Cramer.
Jacob H. Cramer, subject's father, was born in
Germany, Oct. 5, 1823; he was a carpenter by
trade. In St. Louis, Mo., March 8, 1851, he
married Charlotte Trampe; he died in Boards-
town, May 7, 1872; he had nine children.

J. Edward, at Portland, Oregon; Engelbert, a
farmer, in this county; Amelia M. M. (deceas-
ed), Julius Henry (subject), Adelia M., Charles
William, Henrj' (deceased), Katie, and Ber-
tha (deceased). The subject of this sketch
received his education in Beardstown, and at
the age of 14 years began learning the cigar-
maker's trade with Henry Dettmer, serving
one and one-half years in Beardstown, and
one year in Meredosia; then worked as jour-
neyman at various places for one and one-half
years; also engaged in farming with his
brother, in this county, for a short time. He
then worked in a flouring mill at River Falls,
Wis., sixteen months, and in the fall of 1880,
returned to Beardstown, where he worked as
core-maker in a foundry, until the fall of 1881,
when he built his present store, at the corner
of Fourth and State streets, on a part of
his father's estate, where he has since carried
on the grocery and provision business.

CHARLES H. CUMMINGS, photograjiher
and real estate agent, Beardstown ; was born
in Scott County, 111., Dec. 6, 1842 ; son of
Henry B., and Ruth Anna ( Freeborn ) Cum-
mings. Henry B. Cummings, was born in
Maj'sville, Ky., and moved to Exeter, Scott
Co., 111., in 1840, where he engaged in mer-
cantile business until his death, which occur-
red in the spring of 1850 ; he left two chil-
dren. Charles H. received his education at
Exeter, 111., and at the age of fourteen became
a brakeman on the Great Western Railroad,
and after a few months, was promoted to con-
ductor, and ran a j^assenger train until 1862.
He then began learning photography in Fair-
field, Iowa, thence went to Dos Moines, Iowa,
where he remained until 1804, thence to In-
dianapolis, Ind., working as an operator there
until 1866 ; then operated in a gallery in St.
Louis until 1870; then conducted a photo-
graph gallery in Mattoon, 111., two and a half
years; and at Charleston, 111., three years.
After spending a, year in Jacksonville, 111.,

234

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

and conducting a gallery in Virginia, this
county, three years; he came to Beardstown
in the fall of 1879, where he bought his pres-
ent photograph gallery, which he has since
conducted with good success, employing one
operator, two assistants, and a clerk. He
was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1880,
re-elected in 1881, and resigned the office in
the spring of 1883, and was elected Police
Magistrate for four years ; he was also com-
missioned a Notary Public in 1883. He car-
ries on a large real estate and collecting busi-
ness. At Charleston, 111., in 1874, he mar-
ried Carrie Poorman of that place. He is a
Democrat.

THOMAS CLARK, deceased, was born in
Franklin County, Tenn.,Sept. 14, 1830. (For
parents, see sketch of his brother, J. K.
Clark, which appears elsewhere in this
work.) He received his education partly
in Iowa, and partly in Monroe Precinct,
this county, and began life as a farmer,
which occupation he followed until his death_
He died from lockjaw, caused by a nail run-
ning into his foot, Nov. 8, 1878. He was
married in Beardstown, April 13, 1851, to
Sarah E. Jumpp, born in Grant County, Ky.,
Nov. 35, 183G, daughter of Valentine and
Mary Jumpp. By this union they were bless-
ed with eleven children: George E., Alice A..
Henry J., Sophronia, Adelaide (deceased),
Delia, Marion M., Noah N., Mary M. (deceas-
ed ), Barbara and Maud ( deceased ). Mr-
Clark was a Democrat, and a member of the
M. E. Church.

WILLIAM DUVAL, farmer; P. O., Ar-
enzville; was born in Beardstown, Jan. 35,
1837, and is a son of William H. and Eliza-
beth (Duvandach) Duval, natives of Hanover,
Germany. William H. Duval was born in
1806 ; was a shoemaker, carpenter, and
farmer; he died in August, 1880. His wife
was born in 1804; they had nine children.
The subject of this sketch received his edu-

cation in Beardstown, worked at the printer's
trade two years, and has since been a farmer
in this county. He married April 1, 1859,
Mary Meier, a native of Prussia ; and from
this union the following children have been
born : Hannah, William, John, Minnie, Ed-
ward, Henry, Emma, Louis and Lucy. Mr.
Duval has been School Director and Trustee
for nine years ; is a member of the Lutheran
Church, and an adherent of the Republican
party.

EDWIN F. DERR, American Express
Agent; Beardstown; was born in Lebanon
Penn., March 8, 1844. He enlisted Feb. 2S,
1862, for three years, in the Twelfth Penn-
sylvania Volunteer Cavalry, re-enlisted in
January, 1SG4, and was discharged July 30,
18G5, at Philadelphia, Penn. During his
term of service he participated in many im-
portant engagements; he served under Gen.
Pope in the second battle of Manassas, was
in the battles of South Mountain, Harper's
Ferry, and Antietam; was with General Sher-
idan at Winchester, Fisher's Hill and New-
town; was in the fight at McConnellsburg,
Penn., and was with Gen. Milroy when he
was driven out of Winchester, Va. He served
two years in the ranks; was Orderly Sergeant
and was tendered a commission as First Lieu-
tenant, by the Governor of Pennsylvania, but
declined. In March, 1806, he came West;
stayed in St. Louis, Mo., for a time; engaged
for one and a half years as a clerk in the
Quarter-master's Department, at Fort Gibson,
Indian Territory; was clerk for the Kansas
Pacific Rail Road, at Kansas City, four years,
and in 1874 came to Illinois. He was clerk
in the Freight Department of the C, B. & Q.
R. R., at Rock Island, 111., for a year, then
agent at Piasa, 111., for same road; from July,
1877, to January, 1879, was agent for the C,
B. & Q. R. R., at Beardstown, and has since
been the agent of the American Express
Company here. Mr. Derr married in Beards-

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

235

town, Jan. l-i, 1879, Statia Cornelius, of Peo-
ria, 111.

LUKE DUNN, farmer; P.O. Beardstown ;
is a native of Cornwall, England; was born
May 20, 1824; son of Luke and Elizabeth
(Bullen) Dunn; also natives of Cornwall. His
father was a farmer by occupation; his mother
died Dec. II, 1831; they had eight children.
Our subject received his education in the
j)arish of Alternun, in England, and began
farming in this county, where he has since
followed that occupation. He married, March
2i, 1846, in Cornwall, England, Elizabeth
Jasper, a native of that country, and daughter
of Thomas and Elizabeth Jasper. By this
union they have had eight children. Mr.
Dunn is now serving his second term as
County Commissioner; he is a member of
Lodge No. 26, 1. O. O. F., and of Lodge No.
726, Knights of Honor, in Beardstown.

ROBERT H. DUNN, hardware merchant,
Beardstown; son of Luke Dunn, was born in
Beardstown Precinct, April 2, 1852. In ad-
dition to his common school education, he at-
tended the Illinois College, at Jacksonville.
In September, 1881, he, in conjunction with
his cousin, William, purchased the old estab-
lished hardware business of Abner Foster,
and continued under the firm name of W.
T. and A. H. Dunn, till March 6, 1882,
when Robert H. became sole proprietor. He
is doing a very fair business, which is con-
stantly growing. His father, Luke Dunn,
was elected County Commissioner, at the last
election, on the Republican ticket, receiving
a majority in this Democratic county, of 216
over a very popular Democrat.

JOHN DUNN, farmer; P. O. Beards-
town; was born in Cornwall, England, Aug.
1, 1812. (For parents see sketch of his
brother, Luke Dunn, which appears in this
work.) Mr. Dunn received his education in
the Parish of Alternun in England, and
began farming in this county, whore he fol-

lowed that occupation until his death, which
occurred Oct. 4, 1875. He was married in
this precinct, July 20, 1840, to Caroline
Tread way, a native of Harford County, Md.;
born May 13, 1817; still living. By this
union they were blessed with nine children:
Elizabeth (deceased), Mary A., Martha J. (de-
ceased), John G. (deceased), Emeline (de-
ceased), Sarah E., William T., Charles N.
and an infant (deceased). Mrs. Dunn is a
daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Treadway.
Mr. Dunn was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church; he was a Republican.

DUCHARDT BROS., butchers and cattle
dealers, Beardstown; George and William M.
Duchardt, the members of this firm, are the
sons of John and Frederiecke (Krohe) Du-
chardt. George, the elder brother, was born
in Beardstown, Feb. 22, 1849; William M.
was born Sept. 20, 1850; they both early en-
gaged in the butcher business with their fath-
er, who was a butcher by trade. In 1869, the
brothers formed a partnership, and purchased
their father's slaughter houses, butcher shop,
and dwelling house, and under the firm name
of Duchardt Bros., have since carried on a
prosperous business. They have a good meat
market on State street; for some years they
packed pork and handled all kinds of meats,
tallow, and lard; they buy and ship all kinds
of live stock. Their father, John Duchardt,
was born in 1795, in Hesse Darmstadt, Ger-
many, where he learned the butcher's trade.
At twenty years of age, he emigrated to
America, landing in Baltimore, Md., thence
went to Cincinnati, O., where he remained
until 1832 or 1833; he then went to St. Louis,
which was at that time but a small French
village; then came to Beardstown about
1833, where he opened a butcher shop, sup-
plying meat to the river steamboats, and do-
ing a general trade. He took real estate in
payment for some of his meat bills, and a farm,
which he got for one of these bills, he after-

2:}6

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ward sold for $5,000. He engaged in the
butchering and pork packing business in
Beardstown, till 1869, when he retired, his
sons taking the management of the business.
He built a slaughter house on the west side of
Second street, and for several years butchered
for a Chicago beef packer, killing as high as
seventy beeves per day. He is now residing
on his farm in Beardstown Precinct. He
married a daughter of FredKrohe,of Beards.
town; he had six children, five of whom are
living: Louise, wife of George Volkmar, of
Beardstown, Henry, George, William, and
Louis.

JOHN R. DUTCH, grain dealer, Beards-
town ; was born in Cape Girardeau, Mo.,
Sept. 7, 1830, and came to Illinois with his
parents in 1837. In 1849, he joined the Cass
County Company, consisting of twenty-one
persons, who went overland to California
where he worked at mining until the fall of
1850, when he returned to Cass County, and
in 1851 entered McKendree College for one
year, after which he engaged in merchandis-
ing in Beardstown with his brother, which he
has continued; also dealing in grain. In 1879,
this firm purchased a steamer and several
barges, and operated largely in grain along
the river from Peoria to St. Louis, handling a
large amount of grain. Capt. E. J. Dutch
was born in Salem, Mass., in 1783, and fol-
lowed the sea for twenty-five years, being
commander of many vessels, and sailing all
over the world. He first located at Cincin-
nati, and afterward went to Cape Girardeau
and helped lay out the town. In 1886, he
came to Cass County, where he died in 1849.
He married in New York City, and had ten
children, six sons and four daughters, John
R., (our subject) being the third son. Three
brothers and three sisters are living,

F. M. DAVIS, merchant, Beardstown;
was born in Monroe, Cass Co., July 'iO,
1844; sou of John and Elizabeth (Dobson)

Davis, he (.lohn) being born near Ashland,
this county, Nov. 16, 1823, and was the first
white child born in Cass County. She (Eliza-
beth) was a native of Kentucky. They were
married Nov. 16, 1842, and five children were
born to them. Mr. F. M. Davis, our subject,
for a young man, has had a varied life. At
the age of eighteen he enlisted in the One
Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Infantry,
and served as drummer till May 24, 1865,
nearly three years, being in numerous hot
engagements, including Vicksburg, Jackson,
Nashville, etc. Returning after the war, he
clerked awhile, and then entered a commer-
cial college. After his marriage with Miss
Lizzie King, he removed to Secor, but re-
turned to Beardstown and entered into busi-
ness on his own account, in which he has
since continued. His wife is a lady of much
business ability and enterprise, and she has
for many years successfully conducted the
millinery and dress-making business. She is
a native of North Carolina, born March 15,
1846.

HENRY B. DeSOLLAR, dealer in agri-
cultural implements, Beardstown; was born
in London, England, February 11, 1820. His
father, who was of French parentage, was
born in Amsterdam, Holland. Mr. DeSollar
came to America in 1834, and located at
Brantford, Upper Canada, and when fifteen
years of age was apprenticed to the carriage
and wagon-making trade, at which he served
three years. He served in the militia in the
Canadian rebellion of 1837, for six months.
In 1838, he moved to Akron, Ohio, where he
worked at his trade as journeyman nine
months; then started a shop of his own in
South Akron; afterward moved to Hartford,
O., where he ran a shop for eighteen months.
In July, 1842, he came to Bethel, Morgan
County, III., where he carried on business for
some years. In 1848, he came to Beards-
town, bought a shop, and carried on the man-

BEARDSTOVVN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

237

ufacture of carriages and wagons, until 18(58,
wlien he turned his shop into warerooms for
agricultural implements, and has since en-
gaged in the implement business. In Akron,
O., in 1839, he married Christina Clemens,
who died in Bethel, 111., in 1847, leaving
three children. In 1849, in Beardstown, he
married Miss Cook, and from this second mar-
riage four children have been born.

OLIVER DECKER, farmer and grain-
buyer; P. O. Bluff Springs; is a native of
this county; born Jan. 29, 1839; son of John
and Mary Ann (Guyott) Decker. John Deck-
er, whose biography appears elsewhere in
this work, was born in Germany, May 21,
1804, and is still living near Bluff Springs,
this county; his wife is deceased. They had
two children: Oliver and Oscar, the latter de-
ceased. Oliver received but a limited educa-
tion, attending for a short time the country
schools and the school in Beardstown. He
began life as a farmer, and has since followed
that occupation; he also deals in grain. He
married in this precinct, Dec. 18, 1867, Jose-
phine L. Rew, born Jan. 22, 1843, who has
borne him two children: John W. and Charles
H. Mrs. Decker is a daughter of Bradford
B. and Julia Ann Rew; he, a native of New
York, born Jan. 12, 1816 ; she, a native of Ohio,
born Aug. 25, 1821; still living. Mr. Decker
is a supporter of the Democratic party, and
has been Road Supervisor two terms.

JAMES A. DICK, farmer; P. O. Beards-
town; was born in Simpson County, K}'., June
10, 1823. His parents, Peter and Clu'istina
Dick, were natives of North Carolina, and
are both deceased; they had a family of eight
children — five boys and three girls; his father
was a farmer. James A. attended school in
his native county, and afterward in Sangamon
and Cass Counties, of this State, receivino- but
a limited education. He began life as a
farmer, and has since followed that occupa-
tion. He was married in this county Oct 7,

1845, to Mary Bowen ; born in Monroe County,
O., Sept. 27, 1819; daughter of Jeremiah and
Ellen Bowen; from this marriage they have
had the following children: Samuel (de-
ceased), Ellen, Nancy (deceased), Amanda
(deceased), James M., Mary A. and William
F. Mr. Dick was elected Sheriff of this
county in 1856, and served two years; was
re-elected in 1864, and again served two
years. He has been School Director and
Road Supervisor; and is a member of Ark
Lodge No. 23 A. F. and A. M. in Beards-
town; he is a Democrat.

JOHN DECKER, farmer; P. O. Bluff
Springs; one of the oldest settlers of this
county; was born in Germany, May 31, 1804.
His parents, Nicholas and Mary (Kersting)
Decker, had five children, three boys and two
girls: John, Antony, Theresa, Elizabeth and
Henry. Mr. Decker received his education
in Germany, where he attended school seven
years, till he reached the age of fourteen,
and began farming in Germany, and since the
year 1835 has pursued that occupation here.
In this precinct, in 1835, he married Mary
Ann Guyott, who was born in St. Augustine,
Florida,' in 1797, and died Nov. 28, 1873;
they have had two children: Oliver and Oscar.
When Mr. Decker came here, he bought
320 acres of land, at eight dollars per acre,
which is still in his possession. He is a
Democrat, and a member of the Methodist
Church.

DAVID C. DILLEY, insurance; Beards-.
town; was born in Columbiana County, O.,
Sept. 3, 1828, and was raised near Warren,
Ohio, where, at the age of eighteen, he ap-
prenticed to the harness-maker's trade, at
which he worked there till 1850. In the fall
of that year he came to this county; lived for
a time east of Virginia, then moved into that
town, where he worked at his trade till 1853;
afterward engaged in farming for about three
years. In 1858 he came to Beardstown,

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

where he worked at his trade a year, and in
the fall of 1859 was elected County Treasurer
of this county, which position he held twelve
years. Since 1S70 he has been engaared in
the insurance business. In June, 1853^ he
married Melvina Hall, of Virginia, 111.

J. C. H. EBERWEIN, merchant, Beards-
tow"n; was born at Giessen, Hesse-Darmstadt,
Germany, in March, 1819, and received his
education in the University of Giessen. In
1837, he came to this country, and in 1838, to
Beardstown; worked for a time in a packing
house and on a farm, and for about two and a
half years in a store. In 1842, he moved to
Butler County, O., where he married Miss
Maria Gungerich, and, returning to this
county, engaged in farming, near Arenzville,
until the death of his wife, in the spring of
1846. He then spent some time in Wiscon-
sin, New Orleans, La., Kansas and Nebraska.
He kept store at Richland, 111., for about two
years, for Mr. Moore, and in 1849 engaged
in business with a partner, to whom he sold
out his interest in 1851. He then entered
one hundred and twenty acres of land in
Monroe Precinct, this county, improved about
fifty-three acres, and in 1852 went to Califor-
nia, with a party of four, by the overland
route. He traded in piovisions between Sac-
ramento and Nevada City, Cal., and in 1853,
returned via the Panama route. He then
engaged in business for two years with a part-
ner, whose interest he then bought out, and
carried on business in the same store till
1880, when he built his present business
house, where he carries on a general mer-
chandising business, assisted by his two sons.
In 1853, he married Christina Tucken, of
Beardstown, and by this union there have been
born four children: August, Herman, Christina
and William. By his first marriage he had-
two children: Lena and Bertha. Since 1853
he has been engaged in the pork-packing
business.

JOHN EDDY, foun'dry; Beardstown; was
born Dec. 25, 1830, in Cornwall, England,
where he served seven years apprenticeship
to the machinist's trade. In 1857, he came to
this country, and located at Beardstown, where
he worked at his trade until the breaking out of
the late war, when he went to St. Louis, Mo.,
and there became foreman in a gun-boat yard
during the war. In lstj7, he returned to
Beardstown, and till 1871, was foreman in Mr.
Ebaugh's machine shop and foundry there. He
then engaged as engineer on various steam-
boats, which Mr. Ebaugh commanded on the
Illinois River, till 1874, and in 1875 again en-
tered the foundry and soon became foreman
of the machine shops, which position he
still holds. The foundry and machine shop,
when running full time, employ twentj'-four
hands, and are now filling contracts for the C,
B. & Q. R. R.

FREDERICK W. EHRHARDT, manu-
facturer, Beardstown; is a native of Han-
over, Germany, born March 24, 1842. He
was educated in Brunswick, where he received
a university course, and afterward learned
the mercantile business, being employed with
cotton and linen manufacturers. He came to
the United States in October, 1867. Re-
mained in New York two years. He was en-
gaged in the manufacture of neckwear in Chi-
cago, for about two years, and came to
Beardstown in 1871. Tne first j'ear, he was
engaged in the manufacture of neckties, and
the sale of special lines of furnishing goods.
In 1873, he began the manufacture of baking
powder and extracts, and in 1875, added the
manufacture of ginger ale and white beer. In
1879, he added the minufacture of soda and
mineral waters; and then blueing and per-
fumeries. He has a large sale for his different
productions, and especially, his Universal
Baking Powder. His sales average about
ilO,000 per year, selling mostly to wholesale
dealers. In 1870 he married, in Chicago,

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

2:!0

Miss Rosa Rosenmerkel, and has five cliililren
living, two sons and three daughters.

JUDGE SYLVESTER EMMONS, de-
ceased, was born in Hunterdon County,
N. J., Feb. 28, 1808. In 1831, he went to
Philadelphia, Pa., where he studied law;
was admitted to the bar in Hancock Coun-
ty, 111., in May, 18-13; and in 1844, be-
came editor of an anti-Mormon paper, called
the Nauvoo Expositor, only one number of
which was published, when the press was de-
stroyed. He came to Beardstown in 1844,
and conducted the Beardstown Gazette ujitil
1853. He served as Circuit Clerk of this
county nine years; was appointed Postmas-
ter of Beardstown, in 184'J; was Mayor of
Beardstown two terms; was Master in Chan-
cery of this county several terms, and was
Police Magistrate and Justice of the Peace
here, for many years. He was originally an
old line Whig, afterward a Republican. In
1847, he married Elizabeth Miller, sister ofE.
B. Miller, and from this union four children
were born: Alice, Arthur, and two others,
who died in infancy. Judge Emmons died
Nov. 15, 1881. He was a member of the
Methodist Church.

HENRY T. FOSTER, retired, Beardstown;
was born in Lincoln County, Me., Feb. 3,
1815, son of Robert Foster and Maria (Emer-
son) Foster; he, a native of Boston, born in
1773, and she, a native of New Hampshire;
they had eleven children. Robert was a mer-
chant and shipbuilder, and came to Illinois in
1835, but returned to Westchester, Pa., where
he died in 1847, his wife having died in 1831.
Our subject came to Illinois in 1835, and in
1836 opened a store, which after two years he
sold out. He then made a trip to New York,
and returning, went into partnership with his
brother for several years. He wastne of the
joint purchasers of the Wilbourn Flouring
Mills, which he assisted in conducting about
three years. From 1840 till 1853, Mr. Foster

was engaged in farming; also in packing and
shipping hogs, for the Eastern markets, and
from 1853 till 18 TG, he was engaged in mer-
chandising, and the agricultural implement
business.

ABNER FOSTER, retired; Beardstown ;
was born in Union, Lincoln Co., Me., Aug.,
3, 1817, and came west at the age of eighteen
years, locating in Schuyler County, 111., but
shortly afterward removed to Richmond,
where he remained two years, merchandising,
in connection with his brother Henry. In
1838, he and his brother came to Beardstown,
and began merchandising. In 1840, he with
two others, bought a mill, and continued the
business two or three years. He then engag-
ed in farming. In 1849 he quit farming, and
came to Beardstown, and conducted the lum-
ber business till 185G, when he went to Han-
cock County, and run a steam saw mill. In
1860, he returned to Beardstown. In 18G8 he
a^ain eno-asred in the lumber business, and in
1873 commenced the hardware business,
whxh he continued until 1881. In 1876, he
was elected President of the Cass County
Bank, in which he has been a director and
stockholder for many years. In 1844, he
married Miss Sarah J. Ward, daughter of Col.
John M. Ward, of Menard County, and two
children were born, both of whom are dead.

COL. JOHN B. FULKS, deceased, was
born in W^estmoreland County, Virginia, in
1805. His mother died when he was an
infant; his father married again, and John
B., at the age of eleven years, went to live in
Kentucky. He received a good education in
Frankfort, Ky., where he learned the printer's
trade; he was U. S. Marshal, and a member
of the Kentucky Legislature. He came to
Beardstown, April 4, 1834, where he worked
at his trade; he afterward started a paper in
Jacksonville, Ills.; thence removed to Rush-
ville. Ills., where he published a paper four or
five vears, and in 1841, returned to Beards-

240

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

town. In 1851 he was elected Sheriff of this
county; he was the first City Clerk of Beards-
town. He married Feb. 26, 1835, Sarah
Crewdson, a native of Logan County, Ky.,
daughter of James and Elizabeth (Bell) Crewd-
son, natives of Westmoreland County, Va.,
who came to this county in 1831 from Logan
County, Ky. Mr. Fulks died Nov. 1, 1866,
leaving a widow and seven children: Timole-
on C, editor of the Marion Co. (LUs.) JSnquir-
er,' Richard B., merchant, of this place; Sam-
uel, TJ. S. Express Messenger in Wright City?
Mo.; Mary, Emma, at home; Charles C,
cashier of, Cass Cu. Bank; and Frank M.^
clerk in a store. Mrs. Fulks came to Beards-
town with her parents in 1831, where she re-
ceived her education. Richard B. Fulks,
second son of Col. John B. and Sarah (Crewd-
son) Fulks, was born at Rushville, Ills., Feb.
6, 1840. At the commencement of the late
war he enlisted in Co. " K," 33d Illinois In-
fantry, and after serving two and one-half
years in the ranks, was commissioned Quarter-
master, and served in that capacity till the
close of the war. In July, 187"-i, he opened
the Great Western grocery store in Beards-
town, but after two months it burned out, en-
tailing a loss to him of $1,000; he then started
business in another store, which was also con-
sumed by fire, Nov. 37, 1875; he again start-
ed in business, and was again burned out. In
August, 1876, he moved to the Opera House
Block, where he has since carried on an ex-
tensive grocery and dry goods business.

CHARLES E. FULKS, cashier of the
Cass County Bank, Beardstown; was born in
Beardstown, Feb. 10, 1856, and received a
good education in the schools of that place.
At the age of twelve years, he entered the
office of the Central Illtnoiscm, where he
worked six years. He then engaged as clerk
for R. B. Fulks, seven years. In October,
1881, he was elected cashier of the Cass
County Bank, which position he has since

filled. He was also elected City Clerk of
Beardstown, in November, 1881.

ANTON GREVE, cigar manufacturer;
Beardstown; was born in Hanover, Ger-
many, January, 38, 1847, ai«d at the age of
eleven years began learning the cigar-maker's
trade, which he completed when seventeen
years old, having in the meantime received
his education by attending school in the
mornings. He worked as a journeyman for a
year in his native State, and in 1865 came to
the United States, and followed his trade
about three years in New York city. In the
spring of 1868 he came to Beardstown, where
he worked at his trade as journeyman for
about seven years, and in 1875 opened a cigar
I'actDry in the room now occupied by the
post office, and the following year entered
into partnership with his brother, in company
with whom he carried on business for four
years. They then dissolved partnership, and
since the fall of 1 880, Mr. Greve has carried
on business alone. His present factory, No.
39, Fourth District of Illinois, is situated on
State street, opposite Park, where he removed
from his old stand in 1881. He employs two
cigar makers, and manufactures on an aver-
age 130,000 cigars annually; his principal,
brands are "Smoking Car," and "At Home."
In Beardstown, in 1873, he married Mary
Pauk; they have four children.

ROBERT H. GARM, merchant tailor and
clothier; P. O. Beardstown; is a native of this
county; born Aug. 30, 1854, and at the age of
ten years moved with his parents to Beards-
town, where he received his education. He af-
terward took a business course in the Bryant &
Stratton Commercial College, St. Louis, Mo.,
from which he graduated in December, 1S71.
In February, 1873, he became a member of
the firm of Garm & Benneson, merchant tai-
lors and clothiers, he having one-half interest
in the business; after two years, Mr. Pilger
bought Mr. Benneson's interest, and after

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

241

carrying on business two years, under the
firm name of Garm & Pilger, Mr. Garra sold
out his interest to his partner. Mr. Garm, in
company with his father, then engaged in
business under the firm name of Henry Garm
& Son, until Sept. 1,1877, when G. M. Pitner
bought Henry Garm's interest, and the busi-
ness was conducted on the same stand, under
the firm name of Garm & Pitner, until August,
1879, when Mr. Garm bought out his partner's
interest and Jan. 1, 1880, moved to his present
place of business, where he has since carried
on the clothing business.

HENRY GARM, grain buyer; P. O.
Beardstown; is a native of Germany; born
May 23, 1831; son of Henry and Margaret
(Albers) Garm, natives of Altenburg, Ger-
many, and parents of two children. Subject's
father, who was a farmer, was born in 1798,
and died in Washington, D. C, in 1840. Mr.
Garm attended school in that city several
years, and began the business of life as a
farmer in this county in 1852. He ran a saw
mill six years; then kept a lumber-yard; en-
gaged in the merchant tailoring business; af-
terward in the ice business, for three years;
and finally engaged in his present business,
dealing in grain. He married here, in May,
1851, Mary D. Harris; born March 23, 1831,
who has borne him eight children, five of
whom are living: Robert, John, Mamie, Jo-
seph and Frank. Mr. Garm is a Democrat;
has been Master of Lodge No. 23, A. F. and
A. M., three years; has been Aklerman four
years. He is a member of the M. E. Church.

GEORGE W. GOODELL, ice dealer,
Beardstown; was born in Cuyahoga County,
Ohio, April 39, 1823. At the age of seventeen,
he began boating on the Ohio Canal, running
from Portsmouth to Cleveland, and soon be-
came captain of a boat. In 1848 he became
captain of a freight boat, running from Chi-
cago to La Salle, 111.; in 1851, he took com-
mand of a boat running from La Salle to St.

Louis, Mo., and during the twelve years
which he spent on the river, commanded
freight, tow and passenger boats; he made
one trip up the Missouri River. During the
late war he engaged in the ice business, in
which he had been previously interested, and
in 1871, located in Litchfield, Ills., where he
lived eight years. In 1875, he began cutting
ice on Muscooten Bay, and built an ice
house near the C. B. & Q. Railroad depot,
from which he shipped ice by rail. In 1880,
he formed a partnership with Huse, Loorais
& Co., of St. Louis, Mo., the firm here being
known as Huse, Goodell & Co., and built an
ice house on the Bay, having a capacity of
18,000 tons, and enlarged the capacity of the
houses on the C. B. & Q. Railroad, to 13,000
tons. Their houses are fitted up with all mod-
ern contrivances, and with a hoisting appara-
tus, invented by Mr. Goodell. The firm of
which Mr. Goodell is a member, is one of the
most extensive ice companies in the West,
and employs about 250 men in the cut-
ting season, and the great portion of the ship-
ping season, from forty to fifty men.

THEODORE HEINZ, deceased, was a
native of Germany, born near Frankfort-
on-the-Main, February 4, 1830. His mother
died when he was a babe, and his father,
Jacob Heinz, came to America in 11341 or
1843, and located in Arenzville, this coun-
ty, and sent for his family of three small boys
in 1842. Jacob Heinz worked at carpenter's
and other trades. Mr. Heinz lived in
Arenzville till he was about seventeen years
old, then came to Beardstown, where he was
employed as clerk in a general store, till he
reached the age of twenty-two; then he re-
turned to Arenzville and engaged in mer-
chandising about three years. He then re-
turned to Beardstown, where he was engaged
as book-keeper for Nolte & McClure for a
number of years; then engaged in the cloth-
ing and merchant-tailoring business, which

S>42

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

he followeJ until his death, in June, 1877.
He was married in Beaidstown, in November,
1851, to Ellen A. Uoolidge, a native of Massa-
chusetts, born in 1832. From this union
eight children were born, five sons and three
daughters, all living. Mrs. Heinz came to
Beardstowii in 1849, with her sister, Mrs. Jo-
seph McGee, now of Waukegan, 111., and
taught in a Beardstown private school, be-
fore her marriage, and in the public schools
for the last five years. Mr. Heinz served as
City Clerk, and in other city ofEces. He was
a Republican.

LYMAN HAGER, farmer, P. O. Beards-
town ; was born in New Hampshire, Aug. 30,
1828; son of Reuben and Sarah (Reed)
Hager; also natives of New Hampshire; he,
a farmer, born March 8, 1793, died March 32,
1871 ; she, born April 4, 1795, died Sept. 12,
1846 ; they had a family of seven children.
Lyman received a limited education, having
attended but a short time the schools at
Beardstown and Blufl" Springs, and also at
the Cottonwood school house. He began
farming in this precinct, where he has since
followed that occupation, with the exception
of four years, which he spent mining in Cali-
fornia. In Beardstown, this county, June 15,
1855, he married Cornelia Spalding, a native
of Indiana; born Jan. 15, 1838, and died Dec.
23, 1878, leaving nine children: Rose A.,
Edward, Douglas, Clara, Esther, Emma,
Christina, Mary and Joseph. Jan. 5, 1879
he married his present wife, Annie Devlin;
born near Dublin, Ireland, June 29, 1847;
daughter of Patrick and Rose Devlin ; from
this marriage two children have been born,
William and Charles. Mr. Hager is a Demo-
crat ; his wife is a member of the Catholic
Church.

WILLIAM RILEY HAGER, farmer; P.
O. Beardstown; is a native of Beardstown,
this county; born Oct. 29, 1850; son of Cur-
tis F. and Elizabeth (Horrom) Hager. Curtis

F. Hager, a native of New Hampshire, and
a farmer by occupation, was born June 21,
1815, and died Jan. 1, 1877; his wife, a na-
tive of Indiana, was born in 1809, and died
April 14, 18G7; they were the parents of six-
teen children. Mr. Hager attended the
schools of this district about ten years, and
has since followed farming here. He married
here, Sept. 11, 1873, Hannah E. Bristow, born
in Missouri, July 25, 1856, daughter of George
W. and Mary E. Bristow. Their children
are: Arthur L., born Jan. 23, 1877, and Clar-
ence, born May 18, 1880. Mr. Hager is a
Democrat; is connected with the M. E.
Church, and is a member of Lodge No. 16,
I. O. O. F., in Beardstown.

JAMES M. HAGER, farmer; P. O.
Baardstown; was born here, April 39, 1849,
He began life as a farmer, and has since pur-
sued that occupation. In Beardstown, this
county, Aug. 13, 1872, he married Elizabeth
Chesscher, a native of Illinois, born Nov. 20,
1848, daughter of Thomas and Esther Chess-
cher. From this union eight children have
been born: James, Sarah, Elora, Esther,
Marv (deceased), and three others who died
in infancy. Mr. Hager is a Democrat; he is
a brother of William R. Hager, whose biog-
raphy appears elsewhere in this work.

JOHN H. HAGENER, lumber and grain
dealer, Beardstown ; was born in Beardstown,
111., Jan. 7, 1850; son of William Hagener, a
native of Hanover, Germany, who came to
Beardstown in 1842, having lived in St. Louis
a short time before coming here, and there
married Miss Lenora Peters. He was a car-
penter and builder, and died in 1856, aged
fifty-nine years. His wife and three sons
only survive him. Our subject, after receiving
an ordinary education, learned the trade oi
stone cutter, but afterward was a clerk and
bookkeeper for several years. In 1874, he em-
barked in the lumber and grain business, first
by himself, and afterward in connection vvitb

^^/i^^-2<^^ *^^f>i^t^^^^.^^ -£^^y^^

ynivEf,

BEARDSTOWN-CITY AND PRECINCT.

245

his brother. They own warehouses at Beards-
town, Hamilton, and Arenzville, and have
agencies at other points. They do a very ex-
tensive business in both lumber and grain.
Mr. Ilagener, as stated in this work, under
the hoad of Peop'e's Bank, has been a direc-
tor ol' that institution since its orgaiiizatior. ,
he has also held other positions of trust. H<!
was married in 1875, to Miss Kate Pappmeier,
daughter of J. F. Pappmeier, and has three
children living.

WILLIAM HUPPERS, mercliant tailor
and clothier, Beardstown; was born in Prus-
sia, Oct. 1, 1839, and at the age of thirteen
years beg.an learning the tailor's trade in his
native land, at which he served two years, and
then worked in Belgium and Paris for several
years. March 17, 1863, he arrived in New
York city, and went from there to Columbus,
Oiiio, but in June he came to Beardstown,
and worked at his trade till 1869, when he
started for himself, shortly afterward taking
in as partner Pliilip Miller, and so continued
until Feb. 1, 1881, Mr. Miller retiring at that
time; since when Mr. Huppers has conducted
the business by himself, at the corner of Main
and State streets, where he keeps a full line
of merchant tailoring goods, employing six or
seven hands. He was married in 1805, to
Miss Minnie Henkel, of Arenzville.

JOHN H. HARRIS, banker, Beardstown;
was born in Cornwall, England, April 4, 1833,
and came with his parents to the United States
in 1838, first going to Louisville, and in 18-40
removing to the Sangamon Bottoms. In
1854, our subject entered McKendree Col-
lege, where he remained three years, 'and then
took a course at a commercial college in
Philadelphia, from which he graduated in
1858. and at once entered the office as book-
keeper for John Gregg, afterward becoming
agent for the sale of that gentleman's lands
in Illinois, with headquarters at Beardstown.
In 1864, Mr. Harris also entered the lumber

business for five years, and the dry goods
trade at the same time. In 1877, he became
stockholder at the organization of the Peo-
ple's Bank, was elected its first president,
and has filled that position ever since. In
Lebanon, this State, in 1800, he married Miss
Phehe Padon, who bore hini five (;liildien,
and died in 1873. In May, 1S75, ho mar-
ried Mrs. Ann TuU, widow of David Tull,
and two children have blessed this union.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcojial
Church.

FRANKLIN A. HAMMER, banker,
Beardstown; was born in Rockingham Coun-
ty, Va., April 12, 1829; son of John and Eliza-
beth (Marica) Hammer,Virginians, but of Ger-
man descent. Franklin came with his parents
to Illinois, in 1835, and in 1843 removed to
Beardstown. The father had been a black-
smith and merchant, but after coming to
Beardstown kept the Virginia House. He
afterward bought a farm, upon which he lived
until 1807, when he moved to Beardstown,
where he died in 1808. Our subject taught
school one year, but went to farming in 1852,
co.;tinuing six years. He served as Treasurer
of Cass County in 1857-58. In 1852, he
married Margaret Ann Lee, daughter of
Caleb Lee, one of the pioneers of Cass
County. In 1858, Mr. Hammer came to
Beardstown, and was engaged in the livery
business for sixteen years. In 187G, he be-
came a stockholder in the Cass County Bank,
was elected a Director in 1878, and at once
chosen President of the same. He is a Demo-
crat, and takes an active interest in all public
affairs.

DAVID HENDERSON, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown; was born in Pikeion, Pike Co.,
O., April 20, 1825; son of James and Rachel
(Henderson) Henderson, natives of Virginia,
both deceased. James Henderson was born
April 23, 1789; followed the occupation of a
civil engineer and surveyor, and died March 1 1 ,

246

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

1849; his wife, born March 25, 1793, died Oct.
31, 1863; they had a family of nine children.
David attended school in his native town till
he was fourteen years old, and in May, 1844,
came to Illinois, and located in Meredosia;
afterward lived in Arcadia, 111., two years, and
in March, 184(3, came to this county, and set-
tled near Beardstown. He learned the car-
penter's trade with his father, in Piketon, 0.,
and worked at it till he came here, since
which time he has followed farming. In
Beardstown, this county, Aug. 14, 1873, he
married Martha Morgan; born in North Caro-
lina, Dec. 15, 1847; daughter of George and
Louisa Morgan; from this union four children
have been born: James H., Mary G., Gertrude
and Fannie A. Mr. Henderson is a Republic-
an; his wife is a member of the M. E. Church.
DAVID M. IRWIN, real estate and insur-
ance, Beardstown; was born in Philadelphia,
Pa., Feb. 6, 1814; son of John and Elizabeth
(Muhlenburg) Irwin; he, a shipping merchant
of Philadelphia, Pa.; she, a daughter of Fred-
erick Augustus Muhlenburg, first Speaker of
the House of Representatives. David M. was
educated in private schools in his native city,
and at the age of thirteen became a clerk in
a wholesale dry goods store, and afterward
book keeper in an importing and shipping-
house. In 1841, he came to Springfield, Ills.,
engaged in mercantile luusiness there, four
years, and afterward in St. Louis, Mo., four
years. In 1848 he came to Virginia, this
county, where he kept a general store till 1853,
then entered a tract of prairie and timber land
in Hickory Precinct, part of which he still
owns. In 1853, he opened a general store in
Beardstown, and remained there till 1805
then moved to Peoria, Ills., where he carried
on business three years. He returned to
Beardstown in 18G8, and has since been en-
gaged in the real estate, loan, and insurance
business there, and has devoted his means
argely to improving and building upon his

lots. In Chester, Pa., in 1839, he married
Sibylla Birchell, who died in 1841, leaving
one son, John H., one of the inventors of the
Bell Telephone, and holding previous claims
to Bell's, by which, on compromise, he receives
an annual stipend of $10,000. Mr. Irwin mar-
ried in Springfield, Ills., in 1843, Virginia G.
Payne, and from this second marriage there
has been one daughter, Ellen. He is a Re-
publican.

L. A. JONES, Jr., postmaster, and agent
of the O. & M. Railroad, Bluff Springs ; was
born in Hickory Precinct, this county, Feb. 17
1847, and is a son of Luther A. and Drusilla
C. (Calif) Jones, who were the parents of
four children. Luther A. Jones, who is a
iariner by occupation, was born in 1813, and
now resides in Marshall County, 111.; he ran
the ferry at Beardstown for thirteen years.
Louis A., received his education principally
in Beardstown, and engaged as agent for the

0. & M. Railroad, which position he has held
at Bluff Springs for eight years ; he also en-
gaged in mercantile business here for a year.
In Beardstown, Feb. 23, 1873, he married
Rosa Dale, who was born in Frederick, Schuy-
ler Co., III., Aug. 3, 1850, daughter of Hick-
man and Amelia Dale. By this union they
have been blessed with four childien: Charles
F., Luther A., died March 23, 1870, aged ten
months, Emma L. and Louis A. Mr. Jones
is the present postnuister of Bluff Springs ;
he is a Republican.

WILLIAM JOCKISCH, retired, Boards-
town; was born in Saxony, German}', March

1, 183;J, and in 1833 came with his pa-
rents to America, landing in New Orleans,
La., after a voyage of eight weeks. Gotthalf
Jockisch, our subject's father, was a native of
Saxony, and after coming to America, settled
on one hundred and sixty acres of land in
what is now Arenzville Precinct, this county,
and added to his original purchase till he had
four hundred and eighty acres of good land.

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECIXCT.

247

He died in 1850, aged fifty-five years, leaving
an estate wortli over twenty-five thousand
dollars. His wit'e, Elizabeth, who died in St.
Louis, while on iicr waj' to this county, V)ore
him nine children, of whom one died in Sax-
onv. There are five sons living, William be-
ing the youngest but one. Our subject re-
ceived a fair English and German education,
and after his father's death purchased a part
of the homestead farm, on which he followed
farming until 1S?0, when he built a substan-
tial residence on Sixth street, Beardstown,
where he has since lived, giving his family a
good education. He still owns two hundred
acres of land in Beardstown Precinct; he has
been a stockholder and director of the Peo-
ple's Bank, of Beardstown, since its organiza-
tion. Mr. Jockisch married Nov. 1, 1855,
Elizabeth Rahn, a native of Beardstown.
They have had five children, two sons and
three daughters: Victor, Elizabeth, Annie,
Rosa and Rudie.

CHARLES T. JOKISCH, farmer; P. O.
Bluff Springs; is a native of Saxony; born
Jan. 4, 182^; son of Charles G. and Mary E.
(.Jacob) Jokisch, also natives of Saxony.
Charles G. Jokisch, who was a farmer and dis-
tiller, was born June 20, 1796, and died in
this county, Oct. 9, 1851; his wife, born in
1794, died in St. Louis, Mo., while on the
way to this county, Jan. 24, 1835; they had
fifteen children — nine boys and six girls.
Charles T. received a fair education, having
attended school in Saxony six years. He en-
gaged in the hrewe.-y business with his uncle
for some time, afterward learned the cooper's
and carpenter's trades, and finally became a
farmer. In Beardstown, this county, March
27, 1S50, he married Mary E. Carls, a native
of Hanover, Germany; liorn Aug. 28, 1834;
daughter of John F. and Elizabeth Carls;
from this union twelve children have been
born: Louis, Phiiiipena, Edward B., Albert
W., George F., Emma, Elizabeth, John Wes-

ley (died March 23, 1870, aged 3 years and
one month), Ida E., Richard R., Cornelia P.
and Otillia. Mr. Jokisch is a Republican;
was Road Supervisor and School Director in
1878, and is at present School Trustee; he is
a member of the German Methodist Church.

GOrTHALF .JOKISCH, deceased, was
born in Saxony, Feb. 22, 1820; son of
Charles G. and Mary E. (Jacob) Jokisch,
natives of Saxony, and parents of fifteen
children, nine boys and six girls. Charles G.
Jokisch, born June 20, 1796, was a farmer
and distiller, and died in this county Oct. 9,
1851; his wife, born in 1794, died Jan. 24,
1835, in St. Louis, Mo., while on the way to
this county. Gotthalf was always a farmer.
In this county, Dec. 12, 1846, he married
Eleanor Carls, a native of Hanover, Germany,
born Nov. 2, 1824, who bore him ten chil-
dren: Mary, Maurice, Philip, Matilda, Ame-
lia, Edward, Harry, Theophilus (deceased),
George (deceased), and Otto (deceased). Mr.
Jokisch was a member of the M. E. Church;
he was a Republican.

J. LEWIS KUHL, grocer, Beardstown ;
was born in Beardstown, July 16, 1850, and
is half brother of the Kuhl brothers; his
father having married at the death of his first
wife, Mrs. Heminghouse, who bore him four
children: J. Lewis, Mary, Henry, and Lydia.
Our subject, after a common school educa-
tion, took a course at the Central Wesleyan
College, Warrenton, Mo., also a partial course
at the Illinois Wesleyan University, and a
commercial course at the Gem City Business
College, graduating from that institution in
1872; after which he clerked for some years
for Kuhl Bros, and at Pekin. In 1881, he
embarked in the grocery business, on the
corner of Sixth and Monroe streets, where he
has a fine trade in groceries and queensw^are.
Jan. 23, 1879, he married Miss Emma J.
McVey, daughter of Rev. W. H. McVey, of
Griggsville, III.

248

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN KNIGHT, banker, Beardstowii; is
a native of Cornwall, England; born Feb. 5,
1838. His father, Thomas Knight, also a
native of Cornwall, England, was a cooper,
and followed his trade in the town of Cum-
bron, England, before coming to America.
He married Elizabeth Burlase, of Cornwall,
England, who bore him three sons and three
daughters, John being the youngest son, and
fourth child. The children are as follows :
IMary, Mrs. D. Bottrell, of Christian Co., 111.;
William J., of Beardstown; Thomas, John
(subject); Elizabeth J., Mrs. Chauncey Rice;
and Emily, who died at New Orleans, after
the voyage from England. Subject's father
died in this county, about the year I8G7; aged
sixty-seven years. His mother, who was born
Nov. 25, 1798, died Aug. 21, 1879. Mr.
Knight came to the United States in 184(3,
■with his parents, who settled in Beardstown
Precinct, and farmed for several years in the
Sangamon Bottoms; then bought a farm of
264 acres of land of Abner Foster. He re-
ceived a good common school education, and
became owner of the homestead farm during
the late war. He engaged in farming there
till 1871, when he rented his lands, and moved
to Beardstown. He has been Director of the
Cass County Bank four years, and Vice Presi-
dent during the same period. In 187(1, he
married Augusta, daughter of Henry Thei-
bagt, of this county.

HENRY C. KEIL, hardware merchant,
Beardstown; is a native of Hesse-Darmstadt,
Germany; born Nov. 7, 1848. He learned the
tinner's trade, and worked some time at Frank-
fort-on-the-Main, and came to this country in
the spring of 1867. He worked in New York
some time, and then came to Jacksonville,
111., where he remained two years, coming to
Beardstown in the fall of 1869, where he re-
mained till 1872, when he went to Europe,
and spent a year. On his return he worked
at his trade, and in 1876, started for himself.

where he has continued ever since, doing a
large and constantly increasing business. In
188(1, he bought his present iwo-story brick
building on Main street, and added to his
line of stoves and tinware a stock of hard-
ware and farm implements. In 1877, he mar-
ried Miss Sophia Weiss, daughter of John
Weiss, of this county.

GEORGE KUHL, retired, Beardstown ;
was born Sept. 17, 1807, in Hesse-Darmstadt,
Germany; son of Christian and Elizabeth
(Ganz) Kuhl. Our subject learned the trade
of baker, and worked at that for a number of
years. In 1833 he came to America, and
worked in Richmond, Va., a couple of years,
and in 1836 came to Beardstown with his
])aronts. In 1837 he started in the bakery
business, which he continued till 1848. He
then erected larger warerooms, and bought
grain and sacked provisions for many years.
In 1861 he built another business room on
Main street, and opened a dry goods store,
continuing the grocery business in another
room. In 1876 Mr. Kuhl retired from busi-
ness, leaving it in the hands of his sons, George
and Philip. In 1838 he married Miss Chris-
tiana Becker, who died in 1848, and three sons
are living by that marriage. He was again
married in 1849, to Mrs. Femmyhouse, and
four children have been born to them.

GEORGE S. KUHL, of Kuhl Bros., dealers
in dry goods, groceries and notions, Beards-
town ; is a native of Beardstown, born Aug.
28, 1841, where he received his primary edu-
cation, finishing at Quincy College. He be-
gan clerking in a grocery store when young,
and remained at that occupation till 1861, when
he enlisted in Co. K., 33d 111. Vol. Infantry,
and served in Missouri two years, under Gen-
erals Steele and McClernand. In the spring
of 1862, he was detached from the ranks, and
served as a clerk in the mustering office for
nearly two years, and was discharged in 1864,
having served three years. In 1872, he and

BEARDSTOVVN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

249

his two brothers, William P., and Philip, en-
tered into partnership, and carried on busi-
ness for five years, when William P. retired
from the firm, and George S. and Philip have
since carried on the dry gfoods and grocery busi-
ness, employing three salesmen. In 1881, the
sales in the two dejiartments amounted to
$50,000. In 1868, Mr. Kuhl married Julia
E., daughter of James Buck, of Boardstown.
They have one son and one daughter.

HENRY KUHLMAN, farmer; P. O.,
Beardstown; is a native of Germany, born
March 23, 1841, son of Gottlieb and Mary
(Markman) Kuhlman. His father, who is still
living, was born in Prussia, in 180G, and is a
farmer. Henry attended school seven years
in Germany, where he afterward learned the
tailor's trade, at which he worked till he
came here, since which time be has followed
farming. He served three years in Co. C,
3d Ills. Cavalry, under Colonel Carr. In this
county, Feb. 5, 1868, he married Sarah E.
Dunn, a native of this county, daughter of
John and Caroline Dunn; from this union six
children have been born: John W., Albert H.,
Elizabeth C. (died May 11, 1875,) Frederick C,
Editii A., and an infant yet unnamed. Mr.
Kuhlman is a Republican and a member of
Lodge No. 22, A. O. U. W., in Beardstown;
his wife is a member of the M. E. Church.

WILLIAM KUHLMAN, farmer; P. O.
B(!ardstown; was born in Prussia, Germany,
June 19, 1840; son of Gottlieb and Mary
(Markman) Kuhlman. His father is still liv-
ing, and follows the occupation of a farmer;
he was born in Prussia in 1806. William re-
ceived his education in his native land, where
he attended school seven years; then began
learning the brick-mason's trade, at which he
worked in Germany; but since 1860 he has
followed farming. In Beardstown, this coun-
ty, Sept. 14, 1865, he married Nancy J. Mc-
Lin, born in Morgan County, 111., Jan. 4, 1844,
wliu has borne him seven children: Ella,

Elizabeth C, Clara M., Harry, Charlie, Myr-
tle, and Edgar. Mrs. Kuhlman is a member
of the M. E. Church; she is a dauQ-hter oi
John and Charity McLin. Mr. Kuhlman is a
Republican, and a member of Protection
Lodge No. 23, A. O. U. W., in Beardstown,
this county.

AUGUST E. KAMMERER, jeweler,
Beardstown ; was born in Wheeling, Va.
(now West Virginia), Aug. 3, 1847, where
he received his education. At the age of
seventeen he apprenticed to the watchmaker's
and jewelers trade, at which he served four
years in his native city, and in 1865, started
in business in Little Rock, Ark., where he
remained till 1869. He then moved to St.
Louis, Mo., where he remained till 1877, when
he came to Beardstown, and in 1880 opened
his present jewelry store on Main Street.

LYCURGUS S. LEE, farmer; P. O. Bluflf
Springs; is a native of Maryland, born Sept.
14, 1827, son of Caleb and Matilda (Higgins)
Lee, also natives of that State, and parents of
ten children. Caleb Lee, who was a farmer,
was born in 1789, and died Dec. 10, 1847; his
wife was born in 1802, and died in 1875.
Lycurgus S. received his early education in
what was then known as " the corner " school-
house in Morgan, now Cass County, and began
life as a farmer, and has since continued in that
occupation on the sami; home farm. He will
have been in tiiis precinct 50 years ne.vt Octo-
ber. In this county, Sept. 14, 1854, he married
LuvinaReam; born in Morgan County, 111., in
1833, daughter of John and Catharine Ream;
by this union six children have been born:
Charles W., Dora A., Mary M., Anna M.,
Solon S. and Ada T. Mr. Lee has been
School Director and Road Commissioner; he
is a Republican.

CHRISTIAN T. LAUNER, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown; was born in Pennsylvania, Jan.
30, 1839, and is a son of Frederick and Lydia
(]\Iarty) Launer. Frederick Launer, who was

2")0

BIOGEAPIIICAL SKETCHES.

!i Lutheran minister, was born in Berne,
Switzerland, ii; ] ^96, and died in tiie fall
of 1870; he was tlie first preacher in this
county; his wife, also a native of Switzer-
land, was born in 1830, and died Jan. 4,
1876; they were the parents of seven chil-
dren. Mr. Launer came with his parents
to this county in IS-il; he received but
a limited education, as he attended school
but a short time. He began life as a farmer,
and has ever since followed that occupation
in this county. He married here March 10,
1870, Josephine Winhold, who was born in
Pennsylvania, Sept. 13, 1837; the}' have had
eight children: Bertha, Edward (deceased),
Ida, Rosa, Richard, Edwin (deceased), Cora
and Robert. Mr. Launer is a member of the
Lutheran Church, and a supporter of the Re-
publican party.

DR. H. H. LITTLEFIELD, Beardstown;
was born in Wells, York County, Me.,
Sept. 25, 1823. His parents moved to Great
Falls, N. H., when our subject was thirteen
years old. After receiving a primary educa-
tion, he began the study of medicine. In
1843, he came West and taught school two
years. In 1846, he attended two courses of
medical lectures at Bowdoin College, gradu-
ating in 1848, and locating in Beardstown for
one year; then removed to Schuyler County,
where he lived till 1860, when he returned to
Beardstown, where he has since remained,
with the exception of two years' service in the
Union army, as Assistant Surgeon. He
was with Grant's army, and consequently saw
much service. He is a member of the Illinois
State Medical Society; also of the American
Medical Association, since 1875.

JACOB LEBKNECHER, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown; was born in Bavaria, Germany,
June 22, 1836; son of Jacob and Margaret
(Kohlman) Lebknecher, natives of Germany;
he, a farmer by occupation, born in 1812, died
D c. 17, 1838; she, born in 1808, died March

13, 1859; parents of four children. Jacob re-
ceived his education in Germany, where he
attended school seven years, and began the
business of life as a cigar-maker in Philadel-
phia, Pa. He afterward worked for four-
teen months in a wholesale tea and cof-
fee house in New York city; then engaged
in the brewery business in Peoria, III., and
was afterward engaa-ed in the same business
in Beardstown, this county, thirteen years.
He has followed farming in this county eight
years. He was married in New York city,
Nov. 12, 1859, to Kathrina Burkheiser, a na-
tive of Germany, born April 4, 1839, daugh-
ter of Karl and Mary A. Burkheiser. They
have had nine children: Anna M., Frank J.,
Charles, Jacob, Lena (deceased), Emma (de-
ceased), William, Katie, and Tillie. He is a
Democrat, and a member of Lodge No. 57,
A. O. U. W., in Beardstown.

ALEXANDER LAMMERS, merchant,
Beardstown; son of William and Mary (Hut-
macher) Lammers, was born in Burgsteinport,
Prussia, May 28, 1809. At the age of four-
teen, he was apprenticed to the trade of car-
penter and builder, at which he worked sev-
eral years in his native country, and in 1836,
he came to the United Slates. He first set-
tled in New York, then in Cleveland, and
then in Indiana; after which he went to Miss-
issippi, working at his business, and from
there to the mines at Galena, Ills., and Wis-
consin. He first visited Beardstown in 1842,
but settled there in 1849, and opened a gen-
eral merchandising business, where he has
been ever since, himself and two sons con-
ducting the same. Mr. Lammers has built a
a large number of business and private build-
ings in Beardstown, and has been a stock-
holder in the Cass County Bank since its or-
ganization. In 1850, he married Miss Eleo-
nora Christianer, of Beardstown, a native of
Germany; and one son and two daughters
were born from this marriage; one daughter

BEAR DSTOWX— CITY AND PEECI.NXT.

251

living, wife of John Listinan. Mrs. Lanimers
died June 5, 1855. Dec. 24, 1855 he married
Anna Maria Eleonora Gersnieyer, of Beards-
town, a native of Germany, who bore five
children, one of whom died; those living are:
Augusta, Alexander, Bertha, and Frank.
Mrs. Lammers died Aug. 2, 1849.

HENRY C. MEYER, brick manufacturer
and ice dealer; Beardstown; is a native of
Prussia, Germany; born Sept. 20, 1835. In
1844, he came to the United States with his
parents, who settled on a farm in Knox
County, Ind., where he lived till he was
twenty-two years of age. He early began to
learn brick-making, at which he worked about
eight years in Knox County, Ind. In 1857,
he came to Beardstown, and started a brick
yard near the town, and, after running it one
year, took as a partner J. Baujan, and they
run the business in company about five years,
when Mr. Meyer retired from the busi-
ness, and bought a farm in Arenzville Pre-
cinct, this county, and engaged in farming
there about five years. He then resumed
brick-making, and has ever since been en-
gaged, more or less extensively, in that busi-
ness. In 1870, he bought a half interest in
ihe present saw-mill on the bay, and, in com-
pany with Mr. Baujan run it for two years;
then bought out his partner's interest, and
has since run the mill on his own account,
employing eight or nine men constantly.
The mill cuts on an average 4,000 feet per
day. For the past six years Mr. Meyer has
been engaged in the ice business, and has
four ice houses with a capacity of 6,000 tons;
his farm, mill, ice business, and brick-yard,
furnish employment for a large force of men.
He married Jan. 1, 18G3, Amelia, daughter of
Lewis Boy, of this county; they have had six
children, one deceased. Mr. Meyer is a mem-
ber of the present City Council; he is a
Democrat.

REV. C. R. MORRISON, M. E. minister;

Bluff Springs; was born in Scott County,
111., Nov. 27, 1852; son of Robert and Alvira
A. (Gillham) Morrison. Robert Morrison is
a native of Virginia; born Dec. 12, 1811; he is
a farmer by occupation, and resides in Fre-
mont County, la.; his wife was born in what
is now Scott County, 111., in May, 1821, and
was the first female white child born in that
county; of their eleven children, five are de-
ceased. Mr. Morrison received his primary
education in the country schools; in 1871,
he entered a preparatory school in Jackson-
ville, 111., and in 1873, entered the Illinois
College in that place, where he graduated in
1878, being valedictorian of the graduating
class. He afterward spent one year in the
Theological Seminary at Evanston, 111. He
began his career as a minister of the M. E.
Church, in the Waverly Circuit, Morgan
County, 111., and has ever since been a minis-
ter of the gospel. In Jacksonville, 111., Feb.
2, 1882, he married Margaret Rees, a native
of Morgan County, 111., born June 2, 1803,
daughter of Dr. Edwin and Margaret R>es;
he, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1810;
she, born near Jacksonville, 111., in 1828.
Mrs. Morrison was a graduate of the Illinois
Female College class of 1881. Mr. Morrison
is a Republican.

WILLIAM H. McCORMICK, "distiller,
Beardstown; was born in Indianapolis, Ind.,
Feb. 24, 1838, and received his education
in his native city. At fourteen years of age
he began working as train boy, and at other
employments, and at the age of nineteen be-
came conductor of a train running between
Indianapolis, Ind., and Cincinnati, O., re-
maining in that position, on that road, till
1873, with the exception of four years, which
he spent in Tennessee. He went to that
State in 1863, and was employed as ccfnchictor
on the Nashville and Chattanooga, and Nash-
ville and Northwestern Railroads till 1866,
when he returned to Indianapolis, and was

252

BIOGRArHICAL SKETCHES.

employed by the company he had formerly
worked for as conductor, running between
Cincinnati, O., and Lafayette, Ind., until
1873. In that year he retired from railroad-
ing', and devoted his attention to the livery
business, in Lafayette, Ind., till 1870, when
he sold out and removed to Beardstown. He
then again engaged in his former occupation
of conductor, on the Springfield division of
the O. & M. Railroad, until the spring of 1880,
when he engaged in the distilling business in
Beardstown. In 1858, he married Emma A.
Brown, of Indianapolis, Ind.

HENRY MENKE, retired druggist;
Beardstown; was born in Bremen, Germany,
Dec. 15, 1813; his father was a native of
Bremen, Germany, was born Feb. 4, 1780,
and died in 185i; his mother, Maria (Lamke)
Menke, died in 1847; they came to America
in 1834. Of their family, Henry and Mrs.
Hoffman are the only survivors. Henry be-
gan learning the baker's trade at the age of
fourteen, and afterward spent a year and a
half learning the brewing business. He came
to America with his parents, and settled near
Arenzville, in 1834, where his father purchased
200 acres of land, on which our subject lived
for about thirteen years. He then, in compa-
ny with his brother, engaged in the drug busi-
ness in Beardstown, in 1847, and his brother
dying in the fall of that year, he continued the
business alone about two years, then sold out
to the former proprietor, Dr. T. A. Hoifman,
and remained in the employ of the latter
ten years; then bought the business back
again, and continued it until 1879, when he
sold out and retired from business life. He
became a stockholder and Director of the
Illinois Insurance Company, and was its first
President; the charter and name of this
company, about two years later, was changed
to the Cass Countj' Bank, and Mr. Menke has
acted as President of the organization, in all,
about ten years. He married, Jan. 13, 1848,

Alice A. Fletcher, a native of Lancashire,
England, who died in October, 1873. She
bore him three sons, two living — Henry and
William Edward. In June, 1874, he married
Mrs. Mary Dennis, nee Osmotherly, a native
of Kent, England.

Z. E. MAINE, farmer; P. O., Beards-
town; is a native of this county; born in
Beardstown Precinct, near the town of Beards-
town, March 30, 1849, son of Loderick L.
and Sarah (Calif) Maine. Loderick L. Maine
was born in Stafford Springs, Conn., March 24,
1786, and is still living; he was a carpenter
by trade ; his wife was a native of New Hamp-
shire; they had had five children. Our sub-
ject attended school in this precinct eleven
years, and also two years in Beardstown, and
engaged in farming in this precinct, where he
has since pursued that occupation, with the
exception of two years, 1870-71, which he
spent in Iowa. He married in this precinct,
Feb. 23, 1869, Ellen McKean, a native of
Monroe Precinct, this county, born March 23,
1847, who has borne him three children : Minta
(deceased), Lucas A. (deceased), and Minnie.
Mrs. Maine is a daughter of John and Nancy
McKean; he a native of Pennsylvania, born in
1806; she, a native of West Virginia. Mr.
Maine is a Greenbacker, and a member of
Lodge No. 23, A. F. and A. M., Beardstown.

EDMUND P. MILLER, livery; Beards-
town; was born in Greenburg, Green County,
Ky., March 25, 1819; son of Major William and
Martha (Winlock) Miller. Major William
Miller was born in Virginia in 1790; removed
to Green County, Ky., when a boy, and
learned the carpenter's trade, at which he
worked several years; afterward kept hotel in
Greenburg, Ky., in Springfield, 111., and in
Jacksonville, 111. In 1843 he removed to this
county, and died in Beardstown in 1864. He
served in both campaigns of the Black Hawk
War, being captain during the first, and pro-
moted to the rank of Major in the second

BEAUDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

253

campaign; he was a stanch Whig. His wife,
who was a native of Virginia, died in 185(3,
aged sixty-eight years; they have had eight
children, six of whom are living: Edmund P.
came with his parents to St. Louis, Mo., in
1827, then in 1839, to Jacksonville, 111., where
he resided until 1843; and in the fall of 1844
came to Beardstown, and purchased a farm
four miles from the town, and engaged in
farming in this precinct until 1881; he owned
some of the best farms in the county, and en-
gaged largely in raising grain. He purchased,
at the administrator's sale of the effects of the
late David Drake, his present livery stables,
and does a good livery and feed business; has
accommodation for fifty horses. In 1857
he married Catharine, daughter of William
Wright, of Schuyler County, 111.; they have
five children living.

PHILIP MILLER, retired; Beardstown;
was born in Schoenberg, Hesse- Darmstadt,
May 1, 1835. At the age of sixteen he began
learning the tailor's trade, in his native State,
at which he served three years, then traveled
--as_a^ journey man for five years, and in 1850
came to America, and worked two and a half
years in the city of New York. In October,
1853, he came to Beardstown, where he con-
ducted a tailor shop for some time, then be-
came cutter for Von Alstine three years, then
for E. P. Chase nine years. In 18G9, in
partnership with William Huppers, under the
firm name of Huppers & Miller, he opened a
merchant tailoring and clothing house, and
after changing their location, they built the
business block now occupied by Huppers &
Cowen, where they carried on business till
February, 1881, when Mr. Miller sold out his
interest in the stock and building, and retired
from active business life, on account of failing
health. In November, 1855, he married
Sarah, daughter of Joseph Ruff, of Beards-
town.

WILLIAM F. MOHLMANN; Beards-

town; was born in the village of H;ifer, Prov-
ince of Minden, Prussia, Dec. 13, 1836, and
came to this country when thirteen years of
age, with his father, who settled at Beards-
town in 1849. He learned the carpenter's
trade; also studied architecture. His father
was a cabinet-maker, and was born in 1813,
his wife being Miss Anna Teilkemeyer, and
raised four children, W. F. being the oldest.
The father died Jan 10, 1883. He served as
alderman, and was a member of the Lutheran
Church for thirty-three years. Our suljject in
1875 bought the furniture factory of his father,
and carried on the business there till January,
1883, when he moved into the building, which
he erected in 1881, on the corner of Jeffer-
son and Second Sts., where he keeps a large
and well-assorted stock of furniture. He
also attends to the undertaking business.
In 1858 he married Miss Lydia Looman, of
Beardstown, and has three sons and three
daughters living.

CHARLES J. NORBURY, merchant and
salesman, Beardstown; was born in Philadel-
phia, Pa., May 33, 1813, and at seventeen
years of age entered a commission house in
that city, and was afterward in a wholesale
dry goods house there till 1836. In April of
that year he came to Beardstown, where for
four years he managed the receiving and
shipping business for Mr. Bassett, who did
an extensive forwarding and commission bus-
iness, chiefly in pork, lard and grain. In
1840, Mr. Norbury bought a wharf boat, and
engaged in the receiving and shipping busi-
ness, on his own account, for several years;
then carried on a boat store, supplying pack-
ets with provisions, etc., for three or four
years. About the year 1855 he became a
member of the firm of George Plahn & Co.,
with which he was connected in the general
merchandising business, for fourteen years.
He then engaged in the same business on his
own account, till 1874, and for the past five

254

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

years has been employed as salesman for
Reariok & Beatt}'. In January, 1839, he
married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Thomas
Spence; they have had thirteen children, two
of whom are deceased.

WILLIAM C. NOLTE, grain merchant,
Bluif Springs; was born in Beardstown, Nov.
15, 1844; only child of Louis H. and Mary
(Boldt) Nolte, natives of Germany. Louis
H. Nolte, who was a carpenter by trade, died
in October, 1846; his widow, who is still liv-
ing, was born in October, 1807. Mr. Nolte
attended school in Beardstown till he was
fourteen years of age, and then began life as
a farmer; afterward he learned the cooper's
trade, and worked on the C. B. & Q. and the
O. & M. Railroads, for some time. During
the late war he served ten months in Co. A.,
65th 111. Vols., under Captain McClellan. He
married, Oct. 4, 1866, Mary M. Jaques, born
Jan. 13, 1849, who has borne him five children:
Ellen E., Louis W., Harry F., Carrie A. and
Maud M. Mrs. Nolte is a daughter of
William C. and Elizabeth A. Jaques, natives
of Pennsylvania; he, born April 25, 1833;
she, born Jan, 19, 1830. Mr. Nolte is a mem-
ber of Lodge No. 97, Grand Army of the
Republic, in Beardstown; he is a Republi-
can.

J. W. NEWBURNE, farmer and gardener;
was born in Glassboro, N. J., June 10, 1846;
only surviving child of a family of nine,
born to John and Lydia (Simmerman) New-
burne, natives of New Jersey. John Ncw-
burne, subject's father, was born in 1816, and
engaged in the manufacture of glass, and also
in farming, and at present resides in Glass-
boro, N. J., retired from active life; his wife
was born in 1830. J. W. resided in his
native town till he was twelve years of age,
when he removed to Clayton, N. J., then
called Fislertown, where he attended school
until 1864, then taught school until he was
twenty-two years of age. In 1868 he married

Rebecca, daughter of John and Martha Flem-
ing, of Paulsboro, N. J., and in 1809 settled
near Beardstown, this county, where, seven
years after, Mrs. Newburne died, leaving two
children — twins. In 1875 he returned to
New Jersey, where he married Elizabeth,
daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Zane,
of Glassboro, N. J., and returned to this
county the same year. He makes a specialty
of raising melons and sweet potatoes, and
has met with good success. He shipped the
first forty barrels of sweet potatoes by boat
to Chicago, and afterward the first car-load
shipped from this county to that city. He
has one child living, Harry Walter, the
other, Emily Luella, having died when one
year old. Mrs. Newburn's father was born
in Philadelphia, Penn., in 1812, and for many
years followed the trade of glass-blowing,
but of late years has engaged in farming.

PEOPLE'S BANK was organized in April,
1877, as a private banking institution. Its
first Board of Directors were John H. Harris,
John H. Hagener, William Jockisch, J. A.
Arenz, S. L. Calif. The capital stock was
S10,000, originally, and in less than five years
returned in dividends seventy per cent of its
capital stock, besides a reserve of 81,50 >.
Feb. 1, 1883, the capital stock was increased
to ^15,000, at the same time establishing a
a branch bank at Arenzville. John H. Harris
and T. R. Condit are, and have been since its
organization. President and Cashier, respect-
ively, of the institution. The present Direct-
ors are Harris, Hagener, Soliultz, Jockisch,
and Saylor. A. J. Saylor is President, and
C. H. Condit, Cashier, of the branch at Arenz-
ville. Mr. Thomas H. Condit was born in
Winchester, Scott County, 111., on Feb. 11,
1856, and at the age of seventeen commenced
as book-keeper in First National Bank, at
Winchester. In 1874 he came to Beards-
town, and took the position of cashier of a
private bank; in 1877 was elected cashier of

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

255

the People's Bank, and still holds that posi-
tion. He married, in February, 1877, Miss
Hattie Dutch, daughter of John R. Dutch, of
Beardstown.

WILLIAM H. PASCHALL, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown; was born in Hancock County,
111., May 4, 1840; and is a son of Coleman
and Sarah (Street) Paschall, natives of Ten-
nessee, and parents of eleven children; he, a
farmer by occupation, born in 1809, died in
April, 1852; she, born in 1810, died in 18U3.
Mr. Paschall received a fair education, and
has always been a farmer in this county,
where, Dec. 24, 1863, he married Emeline
Dunn, daughter of John Dunn, whose sketch
appears elsewhere in this work; she was born
in this county June 30, 1845, and died Sept.
2, 1872; from this marriage four children
■were born: Harriet E., William Robert
(deceased), John Albert, and Mary A. Mr.
Paschall married in December, 1873, Mary
A. Dunn, sister of his first wife, born in this
county March 13, 1843; from this marriage
there has been born one child. Myrtle. He
is a member of the M. E. Church, and a Re-
publican. *

HERMAN PHILIPPI, farmer; Beards-
town; was born in this county, April 23, 1844;
son of Pompeius Philippi, whose biography
appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. Philippi
received his education chiefly 'in Arenzville,
and has always been a farmer in this county.
He married April 9, 1870, Mary Weinhold, a
native of this county; born March 2, 1847,
daughter of William and Barbara Weinhold;
to this union five children have been born:
Lena, born May 14, 1871; Emma and Einil
(twins), born May 14, 1874; Lula, born Doc.
23, 1878; and Laura, born Sept. 12, 1879.
Emil died Sept. 3, 1874. Mr. Philippi is a
supporter of the Republican party.

STARK H. PHELPS, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown; is a native of Bertie County,
N. C, born Nov. 2, 1847; son of William II.

and Martha (Measels) Phelps; parents of
seven children. William H. Phelps was
born in North Carolina, Feb. 2, 1817, and is
still living; he is a cooper by trade. Stark H.
received his education in this county, and
began life as a farmer, which occupation he
still pursues. In this precinct, Jan. 30, 1878,
he married Clara M. Hager; born Dec. 10,
1861, daughter of Lyman and Cornelia (Spald-
ing) Hager; he, a native of New Hampshire,
born Aug. 30, 1828; she, a native of Indiana,
born Jan. 15, 1838, died Dec. 23, 1878. Mr.
and Mrs. Phelps have had three children:
Herbert E. (died Nov. 10, 1878), Charles E.
and Olive M. Mr. Phelps is a Republican;
he is a member of Lodge No. 16, I. O. O. F.
in Beardstown, and is connected with the
M. E. Church.

C. E. PARKER, Physician, Beardstown;
was born in Amherst, Hillsboro Co., N. H.,
Oct. 4, 1813. He entered Dartmouth Col-
lege in 1830, and graduated in 1834. He then
entered upon a course of medical study: first
in Dartmouth, then Harvard, and graduated
from Yale Medical Department in 1837. He
located at the Insane Asylum, at Pepperell,
Mass., where he remained until 1855, himself
and uncle being proprietors of the establish-
ment; also engaged in general practice. In
1855, he came to Beardstown, and with the ex-
ception of six or seven years in the drug bus-
iness in Springfield, has practiced in Beards-
town. The Doctor is a member of the Illinois
Medical Society, and is known and recognized
as one of the oldest practitioners of his pro-
fession in the State.

JOHN F. PAPPMEIER, jeweler, Beards-
town; was born in Hanover, Germany, Jan.
13, 1830, and came to this country with his
parents when four years of age, settling in
the fall of 1833, on a farm near Beardstown
where, three years later, Peter Pappmeier, the
father, died. Mrs. Pappmeier afterward mar-
ried John F. Heinkel, who raised our subject,

256

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

and who worked on the farm till twenty-one
years of age, when he came to Beardstown and
served three years at the jewelry trade, but
his sight failing, he went back to the farm.
In the meantime his stepfather and his mother
had both died. In 1856, he commenced re-
pairing watches, and keeping a small stock of
jewelry, and although located six blocks from
the business center, such has been the quality
of his work, that he has been exceedingly
successful. In 1876, he built a fine brick store
and residence; keeps constantly employed
three persons, and carrying a large stock of
clocks, watches, jewelry, silverware, etc. In
1851 he married Miss Eliza, daughter of
Clamor Tiemeyer, of Beardstown Precinct,
and he has two sons and two daughters: John
A., H. Lewis, Katie E., wife of John H. Hag-
ener; and Eida. One son and two daughters
are dead. He owns two fine farms, and is al-
so interested in the culture of bees, having an
apiary containing 130 swarms.

NORMAN PARSONS, postmaster, Beards-
town; was born in Enfield, Hartford County,
Ct., November 6, 1811, and went to Ohio
with his father in 1815. At the age of six-
teen he was apprenticed to the tannery trade,
and followed that occupation for many years,
at Chardon, O., running a tannery of his own
until 185-1; also conducting a store, a farm,
and operating in the real estate business. He
was a Colonel of Militia, and a Justice of the
Peace, and was Vice-President of the first
Anti-Slavery Society of Geauga County, and
which was organized by Joshua Giddings and
Theodore W. Wells, in 1848. In 1854, Mr.
Parsons came to Beardstown, where he was
engaged in the wagon-making and black-
smithing business for several years; he also
opened a farm and improved it. In 1861, he
enlisted in the Third Illinois cavalry, and
served until the close of the war; was with
Fremont and Curtis until after the fall of
Vicksburg; was mustered out as Orderly,

having been Sergeant, Commissary Sergeant,
etc.; was ia the campaign in front of
Richmond; was in the battles of Pea
Ridge, First Vicksburg, Walnut Hill, Ar-
kansas Post, Nashville, and many minor
engagements; also, on recruiting service.
Exposure incidental to life in the army in-
jured Mr. Parsons to such extent as to disable
him for active labor since. In 1869, he was
appointed Postmaster at Beardstown, which
position he yet ably and acceptably fills. In
1836 he married Miss Fannie A. King, of
Ohio, and two sons were born to them: Mel-
bourne N. and William E. Mrs. Parsons died
in 1850; and in 1856 Mr. Parsons married
Mrs. Sarah C. Saunders, of Beardstown. Both
his sons, and a step-son served in the late war.
Has been a Congregationalist and Methodist
for over fifty years.

MELBOURNE N. PARSONS, assistant
postmaster, Beardstown; was born in Char-
don, Geauga County, O., April 30, 1841, and
when thirteen years old, came to Beardstown,
and apprenticed to the jeweler's trade, with
John Putinan, with whom he worked for four
years and three months; then engaged in
farming. On Aug. 19, 18G3, he enlisted in
Co. C, 73d 111. Vol. Infantry, for three years,
his company forming a part of the 1st Board
of Trade Regiment, raised by postmaster
Scripps, of Chicago, and participated in a
number of important engagements during his
term of service, and after being confined by
sickness to the Nashville hospital, from No-
vember, 1864, to May, 1865, he was dis-
charged. On his return from the army he be-
gan working at the painter's trade, which he
had learned when a boy, and followed paint-
ing until 1874, when he became assistant
postmaster, under his father. On March 21,
1861, he married Emma F. Ward, of Athens,
III., who died Nov. 18, 1880. By this marriage
four children were born, two of whom are
living, viz.: Jennie and Willie. April 10,

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AXD PRECINCT.

257

ISS'i, he married Mrs. Loretta H. Robinson,
of Augusta, 111. William E. Parsons was
born in Chanlon, Ohio, in November, 18! 3 ;
enlisted in April, ISGl, in the lith 111. In-
fantry, in the three months' service, and at
the end of that time re-enlisted in Co. A, of
the same regiment, for three years. He was
poisoned at Rolla, Mo., in 1862, and came
home, and at the end of three months, joined
his regiment, participated in several impor-
tant engagements, and after being confined to
the Memphis hospital about six months, was
discharged in 1864, and after returning home,
died March 17, 1864.

JOHN E. PUTMAN, jeweler, Beardstown ;
was born near Rushville, Schuj^'er Co., 111.,
April 20, 1846; son of W. B. G. and Martha
(Eliiins) Putman, he, a native of New York
State, she, of Vermont. John E. received his
education in Rushville, and in January, 1866,
went to Racine, Wis., where he apprenticed
to the jeweler's trade, with his uncle, John
Elkins, and served three years, and Feb. 25,
1869, came to Beardstown, and bought the
jewelry store of H. Christianer, and remained
in business till August, 1875; then sold out,
and dealt in land for a time ; bought a hard-
ware store in Beardstown, in exchange for
land, and conducted the business for some
time, under the firm name of J. E. Putman &
Co. He then secured a patent for an im-
provement on seat guards for harvesters,
which has proved remunerative, and he is
still interested in the introduction of his in-
vention in different States and territories.
March 1, 1882, he opened a jewelry store in
Beardstown, and is doing a good trade. He
owns about 1,000 acres of land in this county,
some in Schuyler County, and some in Ne-
braska. He married Emma, eldest daughter
of Dr. F. Ehrhardt (deceased), April 20, 1871,
and as issue of this union there were born
four sons, two of whom are living : George,
aged eight, and Ralph, aged five years. Mr.

Putman was elected Alderman of second
ward, Beardstown, in 1879, and served one
year; elected Mayor in 1880, and served one
year in that capacity. He is a Republican.

CHRISTIAN PILGER, of Pilger & Huge,
merchant tailors and clothiers. Beards,
town; was born in Waldeck, Prussia, in
April, 1836, and at the age of fourteen ap
prenticed to the tailor's trade, at which ha
served two and one-half years. He then
traveled for some time as a journeyman, and
in June, 1855, came to this country and lo-
cated at Beardstown, where he worked on a
farm a short time, then worked at his trade
in St. Louis two years; returned to Boards-
town in 1857, and worked at his trade till
1873, with the exception of three years,
during which he served as a soldier in the
late war. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Co.
A, 114th Ills. Vol. Infantry, which joined
the Army of the Tennessee at Jlemphis, under
General Logan, and remained in active ser-
vice till August, 1865, when he was mustered
out at Vicksburg, Miss.; dur.ng his terra of
service he participated in the engagements
rv)und Memphis, Messenger's Ford, Jackson,
Miss., and Brandon; and in the pursuit of
General Price. In 1873, he became a partner
in the firm of Garm & Pilger, in Beardstown,
and carried on a merchant tailoring and cloth-
ing business under that name till 1875, when
he became sole proprietor and carried on the
business alone till Feb. 1, 1882, when he took
in his present partner, W. F. Huge, the busi-
ness being since conducted under the firm
name of Pilger & Huge. Mr. Pilger married
in 1858, Margaret, daughter of Jacob
Schuman.

ANTON RINK, brewer, Beardstown;
was born in Bavaria, Germany, August 9,
1838, and in 1850 came to this country with
his parents, who settled on a farm in Perry
County, Mo. Anton remained on the farm
about eight years, when his father died,

258

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

and he went to St. Louis, Mo., where he
boaran learningr the brewinsr business with
Kunz & Iloffineister, with whom he worked
till 1860, then worked in a brewery in
Peoria, 111., till 1804. In August of that
year he came to Beardstown, and with a
partner bought a small brewery on La Fay-
ette street, which they rau under the firm
name of A. Rink & Co., till 1867, then built
the present three story brick building, 42x1-1:7
feet, at a cost of $30,000, and continued busi-
ness until February, 1874, when the partner-
ship was dissolved, Mr. Rink becoming sole
proprietor, and he has since conducted the
business with good success. The establish-
ment, which has a capacity of fifty barrels
per day, employs from six to ten men; about
1877, Mr. Rink established bottling works;
he also manages a retail liquor store on Park
Row; liis ice houses have a capacity of 2,000
tons. In 186.5 Mr. Rink married Margaretha
Schultz, of Beardstown; they have five chil-
dren living.

HENRY RLPPEL, dealer in boots and
shoes, Beardstown: was born in Hesse-Darm-
stadt, Germany, Jan. 28, 1836. At the age
of fourteen he began learning the shoe-
maker's trade, at wbich he served three
years' apprenticeship. He then worked
about six months at Frankfort-on-the-Main,
Germany, afterward conducting a shop in
his native village till 1854, when he emi-
grated' to this country. He worked at his
trade for a time in New York City, and at
Rushville, New York, and after working at
various occupations in different places, found
employment at his trade in Rochester, N. Y.
He left there in January, 1856, and came, by
way of Chicago, to S()ringfield, 111., and
worked as journeyman there until December,
1857, when he visited his native country, re-
turning the following year to Springfield,
111., where he worked for his former employer
till 1859. He then carried on a custom shop

in Springfield, where, in 1860, he married
Elizabeth Weigand, who was born in his na-
tive village, Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1861, by
the failure of the Illinois banks, he lost 1400,
and again worked as a journeyman until 1869,
when, in March, that year, he came to Beards-
town, where he and his brother, Adam, bought
a stock of boots and shoes, and carried on
business in company till 1873, when Henry
bought out his brother's interest, and since
January, 1880, has occupied his present place
of business, carrying a large stock of boots
and shoes, also doing repairing. His store,
which is sixty-five by twentv-two feet, is one
of the finest in Beardstown. Mr. Ruppel
has six children living.

F. G. I. RATCLIFF, baker, Beardstown;
is a native of Satfordshire, England; born
March 5, 18'^3. At the age of eighteen he be-
gan learning the baker's trade, in Newcastle,
Eng., to which he served an apprenticeship
of three and a half years. He worked at his
trade at Liverpool, and at other places till
18! 9, when he came to this country, worked
a short time in Troy, N. Y., afterward worked
at Andover, Henry County, Ills., about six
months, then went to New Orleans, La.,
then to Baton Rouge, where he was pastry
cook in a hotel four years. In 1854, he
opened a bakery in Rock Island, Ills., which
he cirried on there three years, then came to
Beardstown, where he has since carried on
the bakery business, doing the principal
wholesale trade of the town; he is assisted by
his two sons, Richard and Thomas. Mr.
Ratcliff is also proprietor of a barber shop;
he cooked the first meal served in the Park
House, and held the position of cook there
till 1863, when he paid a visit to his native
country. In Mobile, Ala., in 1852, he mar-
ried Rebecca Morrow, who has borne him ten
children, five of whom are living.

CHAUNCEY RICE, druggist, Beards-
town; was born in St. Lawrence Count}-,

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AXD PRECINCT.

259

N. y., Feburary 21, 1830, and in 1842 came,
with his parents, to Williams County, O. In
18i6, removed to Hancock County, 111., where
he engaged in farming till the fall of 1849,
and taught school two winters. In the sum-
mer of 1850 he entered the drug store of
James G. McCreary, of Rushville, 111., and
clerked for six years. In 1S5G, he came to
Beardstown, and entered into partnership
with E. R. Maxwell, in the drug business
there. They conducted a drug store under
the firm name of Rice & Maxwell, till 18<)5,
when Mr. Rice bought out his partner's in-
terest; afterward bought out the stock of
Henry Menke, and is conducting the two
drug stores in his own name, his son James
G., managing one store. He has occupied
his present site, on Park Row, for twenty-
three years. Mr. Rice has been twice mar-
ried. In Hancock County, 111., in the fall of
1852, he married Emily .1. Denny, of Au-
gusta, III., who died in July, 1878, leaving
three children: James G., Mrs. H. J. Nead,
of Nebraska, and Chauncey J. In 1879, he
married Elizabeth J. Knight, of Beardstown.
James G. Rice, son of our subject, was born
in Rushville, 111., in 1853, and at thirteen
years of age began clerking in his father's
drug store, remaining in the same store thir-
teen years; and in 1879 he became a member
of the firm, and took charge of a branch store
on Main street, which he has since conducted
with good success. He married, March 0,
1882, Eva Shutts, of Camanche, Iowa.

HENRY ROTES, grocer, Beardstown; was
born in Beardstown, Aug. 4, 1849. His
father, Henry Rotes, was born in Oldenburg,
Germany, about 1811; emigrated to America,
and worked for a cotton planter some time,
then came to Beardstown, where he married
Mrs. Mary Nolte, ne'e Bolte, of that town, who
bore him two children, viz.: Henry (subject),
and Carrie, both living. Subject's father died
about the year 1SU9. Mr. Rotes, at eighteen

years of age, began farming on a part of his
father's place, and followed that occupation till
1876, when he engaged in the grocery business
with J. L. Black, under the firm name of
Black & Rotes, for two years, when Mr. Rotes
sold out his interest in the business to his
partner, and until May, 1880, worked in the
boiler shops of the C. B. & Q. R. R., when he
purchased the grocery business of J. L. Black,
on Main street, and has since been engaged
in that business, meeting with good success.

HENRY RICKS, saloon, Beardstown; was
born near Hamilton Station, this county, Sept.
12, 1850, and is a son of Conrad and Juliana
(Landmann) Ricks, natives of Germany. Con-
rad Ricks, a farmer by occupation, was born
Nov. 30, 1815, and died July 10, 1877. His wife
was born June 3, 18i2, and died Aug. 29, 1877.
They had five children, two boys and three
girls. Our subject received his education in
the "Warrior School," near Bluff Springs, this
county, and also attended the Beardstown
school. He farmed for several years near
Bluff Springs, and has for the past six years
been keeping a saloon in Beardstown. In
Virginia, this county, Feb. 5, 1876, he mar-
ried Minnie Vellor, a native of this county,
born May 24, 1857. They have three chil-
dren, viz.: .lohn H., William G., and OJelia.
Mrs. Ricks is a daughter of Frederick and
Mary Vellor; he, a farmer, born Feb. 24, 1814;
she, born Oct. 30, 1830; both in Germanj-.
Mr. Ricks is a Democrat. His father came
to this county in 1842.

W. H. RHINEBERGER, carpenter and
builder, Beardstown; was born in Marietta,
O., June 10, 1844. His father was born in
New York State, June 12, 1816; was raised
in Wheeling, W. Va., and has been a resi-
dent of this county since 1846; he is a carpen-
ter by trade, and is now engaged as a con-
tractor and builder in Ashland, this county.
He has been twice married; his first wife,
Julia Dunham, whom he married in Virginia,

2G0

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

died in Marietta, O., leaving three sons, of
whom W. H. is the youngest; his second
wife, Mrs. Martha Morrow, whom he married
in Beardstown, has borne him five children.
The subject of this sketch came to Beards-
town in 1846, with his father and grandfather,
who settled on the land where the Central
Hotel now stands. June 28, 1861, he enlisted
in the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteer In-
fantry, of which Grant was colonel, and
served three years, participating in the en-
gagements at Fredericktown, Mo., Resaca,
Stone River, and Chickamauj>a. He received
a flesh wound in tlie neck at Kingston, Ga.,
May 19, 1864, and on July 9, that year, was
mustered out at Chattanooga, Tenn. After
his return from the war, he learned the car-
penter's trade with his father, and in 18G7
went to Linn County, Kan., where he owned
a farm, and worked at his trade for eight
years. He returned to Beardstown in 1875,
where he has since been a contractor and
builder, employing from two to ten men on
his contracts. He has been twice married;
May 39, 1867, he married Nannie Richards,
of this county, who died May 13, 1879, leav-
ing four children, of whom two daughters
are living. June 7, 1882, he married Delia
Clark.

W. C. REW, merchant, Bluff Springs; is a
native of this county; born Jan. 21, 1845, in
an old log house, on the Springfield road, built
by his grandfather, one of the first houses in
this county. He is a son of Bradford B. and
Julia Ann Rew; he, a native of New York,
born Jan. 12, 1816; died in Biardstown, this
county; she, born in Ohio, Aug. 25, 1821; re-
sides in this county with her daughter, Jo-
sephine Decker. W. C. attended a school
near Beardstown six or eight years, and about
two years in Beardstown; afterward worked
on a farm, and then taught school for about
five years. He married in Quincy, 111., May
2, 1875, .Josephine Wither, who was born in

this county, Nov, 5, 1855. They lived in
Quincy about eight months, after which he
entered into partnership with Oliver Deck-
er, in the general merchandising business
here. Jan. 1, 1870, he bought out Mr. Deck-
er's interest, and has since carried on the
business on his own account. In 1861, he
enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and
Forty-fifth 111. Infantry, under Capt. Will-
iam Weaver, and after serving five months
was obliged to return home on account
of ill health. Mr. and Mrs. Rew have had
two children: Mabel, born Nov. 30, 1879,
and Henry B., born March 7, 1882; died
March 21, 1882. Mr. Rew is a Democrat; is
township School Treasurer of this township
(No. 18), and has fo;- many years been a mem-
ber of Lodge No. Ki, I. O. O. F., in Boards-
town; his wife is a member of the Methodist
Church.

HON. J. HENRY SHAW, attorney-
at-law, Beardstown, was born in Boston,
Mass., July 25, 1825. His father, Joseph
Shaw, had been a book-publisher of that city,
but, meeting with financial reverses, and pos-
sessed with but small means, in 1836 he re-
moved to Morgan County, Illinois, which
then included Cass County, and settled near
Jacksonville, where he pursued farming a
few years, and afterward, merchandising at
Beardstown, where he died in 1868. While
he was living and working upon his father's
farm as a boy in 1837, Henry received three
weeks' instruction at a country school, in
which he obtained the elements of the arts of
reading and writing, which was all the school
education he ever received; this was not he-
cause his father did not appreciate the advan-
tages of an education, but because all the as-
sistance that could be obtained was necessary
to carry on the farm, and Henry's education
was put off for a more convenient season; the
school which he attended for so short a term,
was held in a log cabin in Diamond Grove,

s >J

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HNIVEHSirv ^'' 'LLINOIS.

KKARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

263

near Jacksonville. There was a good school
at that time in Jacksonville, and Illinois Col-
lege was in infantile operation, but Henry
was needed to help work the farm, and seemed
destined by circumstances to grow up in igno-
rance; but it is a way that self- made men have,
to control and direct, or at least divert, cir-
cumstances. His father, being a practical
printer, was frequeatly called from his farm
to assist a friend, Mr. Edwards, in publishing
the Illinois Patriot, a Jacksonville news-
paper, and brought home manv of the news-
paper exchanges from the Patriot office;
these were eagerly perused by Henry; his
taste for reading increased with his opportuni-
ties, and having no books of his own, and no
money to buy any with, he borrowed of who-
ever had them who were willing to lend; his
time being occupied in working on the farm
in fair weather, his reading opportunities
were restricted to rainy days, Sundays, and
nights; often wiiile the family were sleeping
he was spending the silent hours of the night
in the little attic between the ceiling and roof
of his father's log cabin, poring over a bor-
rowed book by a dim light made by a cotton
rag and lard or butter in a saucer. Whenever
his occupation was of suoii a nature as to
allow of it, he carried a book with him, and
read at intervals while the team rested, and
generally held a book in his hand and read
while plowing — a seemingly difficult task,
but yet not so with him; he generally carried
something to read or write upon wherever he
went, and improved his leisure moments.
Mills were scarce in Illinois in those days,
and one of the valuable uses that young
Shaw was put to, was to go on horseback with
a sack of corn and get it ground at some dis-
tant niili; Henry, riding upon the top of the
sack, was usually lost in the mazes of his bor-
rowed book; he was habituated to reading
whenever he had a minute tliat could be util-
ized for that purpose, and felt unhappy if he

sat down even for a moment with nothing to
read; he read everything he could get hold
of, even scraps of newspapers and old alma-
nacs, and used to saj' that he learned something
from every scrap of paper that had any read-
ing on it. He was also in the habit of writ-
ing down everything that occurred to him
as of sufficient importance, both original
and selected. As writing paper cost money,
and he had no money to buy it with, he util-
ized the margins of newspapers, the blank
leaves of books, and made marginal notes to
such books as he was able to purchase. The
other boys in his neighborhood, having neither
knowledge nor the desire for it, other than for
those things that appertained to the usual
avocations and pleasures of life, derided hira
for his peculiarities, and he avoided, so far as
he could, being seen by them with a book.
Even the men shook their heads forebodingly
at him, and said that if he kept on in this
course he would some day try and get his
living without work and come to a bad end.
Indeed, book learning was contemptuously
spoken of by the country people, and it was
not uncommon for justices of the peace and
preachers to be without the qualifications of
reading and writing. The most of his youth-
ful life was passed in this manner, during
which time he had read largely in history,
ancient and modern classics, and general lit-
erature and intelligence, and had begun to
attract attention, not only for what he knew,
but for his ability to express himself in good
language, either orally or in writing, on any
occasion, and frequently before he was twenty
years old, made speeches on public occasions.
He also, while yet a mere plow-boy, wrote
articles for the newspapers, which attracted
the attention of public men, and although
they appeared without signature, inquiries
were made and the writer was sometimes
made known. It was by means of his news-
paper articles that Richard Yates, then just

L'W

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

entering upon his public career, was attracted
toward him, and the acquaintance thus formed
subsequently ripened into a friendship. He
also cultivated a taste for writing poetry,
much of which was suggested by public occa-
sions in his vicinity, and many songs that
were sung at festivals were of his pro-
duction, but the author was seldom known
by those who enjayed them, as he had
a dread of being sneered at as a coun-
try poet. One of his articles, which was
published in the Jacksonville Journal, under
his usual nom de plume of " Hal Heryn,"
during the war with Mexico, is here inserted
as a fair specimen of his boyish muse. The
subject was suggested to him by reading a
letter from a soldier in the army, from Mor-
gan county:

THE MORGAN SOLDIER.

Kefrain: " Bingen on the Rhine."

" While we were camped on the Rio Grande, A. G. S.
died: a noble soul as ever bore musket. His last mur-
murings were of somebody by the name of Mary — his
sister, I believe, in Morgan county." — Taken from a
Soldier's Letter.

Where the moonbeams shimmer brightly

Upon the silvery sand,
And the little waves tiow lightly

Along the Rio Grande ;
Where the breeze a requiem weaves

Among the wildwood leaves,
And the star-robed rivur, gently,

To the summer wind upheaves,
And dew-tears, pearl like, nestle

In meek-eyed flowers around,
Like fragile spirits drooping

With sorrow to the ground ;
There lay a dying soldier,

His life fast ebbing forth,
And he had come from Morgan,

Old Morgan in the North.
Worn and wasted were his features

With a long-enduring pain.
And with incoherent murmurs

Hard he sought to speak, in vain.
Low and sad I bent me o'er him.

And I scarce could hear him say
That his heart, though weak and blighted,

Was upon the northern way.
Then he whispered of a cottage

In the distant prairie-land;
And he said a weeping sister

Beckoned with a gentle hand :
I fancied that he said his sister,

But it might have been his bride ;
She was fiir away in Morgan —

Old Morgan, Honor's pride.
He would show to me a treasure,

All he had to cheer him there ;
'Twas a little heart-shaped ringlet

Of his sister's silken hair ;
In his hand he held it, fondling,

And essayed to speak a name ;
But the leaves and wavelets murmured,

And I sought to hear in vain.
The stars looked down : the soldier died

Upon the Rio Grande.
His last look toward his sister's home

Far in the prairie-land:
Perchance 'twas not his sister,

His bride it might have been :
She was far away in Morgan —

Old Morgan, tressed with green.

Upon arriving at the age of twenty-one
years, Henry, at the suggestion of Richard
Yates, began the study of law, Mr. Yates
lending him the necessary books, and encour-
aging him with kind words to proceed.
These books he took, one at a time, and read
them at home while working on the farm.
The same plan he had pursued with his boy-
ish studies, he continued while preparing
for his professional life. He utilized the
nights atid rainy days. Every spare moment
found him with a book in his hands.
He has a well-worn copy of " Gould's Plead-
ings," which he read over and over while he
was plowing, holding the book in one hand
and guiding the plow with the other, while
the horses were held in place by a line over
his shoulder and under one arm. He became
so attached to this book that Mr. Yates pre-
sented it to him, and it was the first law-book

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINXT.

205

he ever owned. He occasionally reported
progress to his friend, and received further
encourao-enient, but never recited a lesson to
him, or received any instruction beyond a
recornniendation of the jiroper books to read.
M'^licn he became twciitv-live years of asje,
notwitlistanding he had continuously labored
on a farm, he felt sufficiently advanced in
his studies to warrant him in applying for a
license to practice law, and with Mr. Yates
he went to Springfield, where he was ex-
amined by the Judges of the Supreme Court,
and admitted to the bar. He then removed
to Beardstown, and commenced the practice
of the law, where he has ever since remained.
During his many years of practice, he con-
tinued as before, a laborious student. He
has not confined himself wholly to the law,
but has wandered into the by-paths of litera-
ture, and has contributed many able articles
to magazines, newspapers, law-journals, etc.
As an orator, he has taken a front rank, and
at the bar has met but few superiors in the
later years of his practice. In 1873 he met
with an irreparable misfortune, which, at
least in a measure, blighted his further aspira-
tions. By severe professional labor, he
brought on himself a slight attack of paraly-
sis, and although he was confined to his room
but a few days, yet it was an imperative no-
tice to him that his constitution had begun to
give way under the constant mental strain it had
been subjected to, and that he must change
his laborious life to a more quiet and less
ambitious one. He was then but forty-eight
years old, in the prime of life, and at a time
when he might reasonably claim a reward for
his past labors and perseverance ; he was
warned in this solemn manner, that he must
retire to the shade trees, and rest among the
weary toilers, who had borne the heat and
burdens of the field. This unfortunate oc-
currence grieved and disappointed him, as he
was ambitious of further distinction among

his compeers, and hoped to rise to a position
among the highest. But this result can hard-
ly excite surprise, when we consider the cir-
cumstance of his past life. Perhaps no man
ever achieved an education and jiosition
under such apjiarendy insurmountable diffi-
culties, and no young lawyer ever had a
brighter array of competitors for business and
glory than he. He found practicing in the
courts where he must practice, such men as
Lincoln, Douglas, Baker, Yates, Richardson,
McConnell, Blackwell, Browning, Williams,
Walker, Smith, Brown, Dummer, and a host
of stars of only a degree lesser magnitude,
and among these giants he was compelled to
parry and thrust with his home«made sword.
But, notwithstanding his wading through
Scylla and Charybdis, he had strength and
nerve enough to throw stones even at the
Cyclops. At the time he was stricken with
paralysis, he was getting his cases ready for
the August term of the Cass Circuit Court,
1873, and was also preparing an historical
address for a meeting of the "old settlers"
of Cass, Brown and Schuyler Counties. The
attack began ten days before court, the bus-
iest time in the life of a lawyer. At the sit-
ting of the court, although he was present,
his brother lawyers kindly attended to
his business for him, and his friends
and physician advised him not to deliver
the address at the "old settlers" meet-
ing, but as he had expended much labor
in its preparation, he concluded to deliver
it, which he did at great risk of a relapse.
He then spent some months at the east-
ern sea-coast and mountains, and returned
home much refreshed. Since then, by advice
of his physicians, he has avoided the more ex-
citing and litigous practice, and confined
himself mostly to office business and consulta-
tions. He continues to read extensively,
and sometimes writes for the press; his men-
tal powers are unimpaired, and his knowledge

266

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

of the history and present condition of the
nations and peoples of the world is remark-
able. While he has mingled much in polit-
ical controversies, both on the rostrum and in
the public journals, yet he has never made
any effort to obtain office, and although he is
now the representative of the counties of
Cass, Brown, Menard and Mason, in the State
legislature, yet it was without his own solic-
itation. As a legislator, he is noted for his
ability and strict regard for duty ; and in the
committees to which he belongs, particularly
the " Judiciary, ' and "Canals and Rivers,"
two of the most important, he is influential
and indefatigable in his labors, and constant
in his attendance. Dui-ing the session of
1880, 1881, and the special session of 1882,
he labored for the improvement of the great
water-ways of the State, originating a bill to
enable steamboats to pass from St. Louis to
Chicago, offering competition to the railroads
of the State, and thus securing to producers
cheap transportation. As a testimonial of his
eminent services we insert the following
resolution, passed at the Cass County Demo-
cratic Convention, held in Virginia, July 1,
1882. "Whereas, The Hon. J. Henry Shaw
has ably and honorably represented this the
XXXVITH Senatorial District as a member of
the last General Assembly of Illinois, be it
Resolved by this Convention, that we en-
dorse his action and conduct in said last Gen-
eral Assembly, and trust that as an endorse-
ment of his action he may be returned to the
next General Assembly as our representative."
Previous to the year 1873, he led a very
active life. Not a minute was allowed to be
wasted. He gave his time and labor freely
to public matters, without remuneration
frequently making speeches or writing for the
papers, in aid of railroad building and other
enterprises, and for the advancement of the
interests of the people. He wrote and pub-
lished many historical sketches local to the

Mississippi Valley, and at one time contem-
plated, and had in course of preparation, a
history of Illinois ; but the publication of
Davidson and Stuve's excellent work about
that time, caused him to abandon this project.
His story is simple and short, but it has points
worthy of record. It shows that even a small
boy may form a resolution which will be a
miignet and polar star to him through life.
That teachers, schools and colleges may be
convenient for the indolent, and advanta-
geous as a luxury, but are not absolutely
necessary to any one who is deter-
mined to get an education without them.
Tiiat a person who has learned to read, bus
tr.ereby in his possession a key, which, by ap-
plication, will unlock all other sources of
knowledge; that while circumstances may in-
fluence a man's destiny, yet the continuous
exercise of his will in a great measure con-
trols it. Mr. Shaw has been identified with
Cass and Morgan Counties and acquainted
with their people and affairs, nearly half a
century, and has been one of the most influ-
ential citizens of Cass County for thirty
years. In 187G, by suggestion of the Presi-
dent of the United States, and by a resolu-
tion of Congress, the people of every county
and city in the Union were requested to ap-
point a suitable person to deliver, on the
Fourth of July of that year, an oration, con-
taining a brief account of such county or
city, so that its local history should be per-
petuated. Mr. Shaw was appointed to deliver
the oration for Cass County, which he did,
giving a complete history of it, occupying
two and a-half hours in its delivery. And
now, as api)licab.e to the closing of this
sketch, we deem it best to give his peroration
on that occasion : " I have now told you, in a
comparatively short time, what I can con-
dense of a half century's history of this
county, nearly all of which period has passed
under my own personal observation. How

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

267

strange that a man should see the birth and
infancy, and live on through the youth, to the
maturity of a great State! How passing
strange that the pioneer of the prairie and
the forest should witness all the mysteries of
the building — the sub-structure — and the
super-structure: should with his own hands,
help, not only to lay the foundation ro.'ks
deep in the soil, but also to bear up the
pillars of strength, and assist in rearing upon
them the dome and pinnacle of an Em-
pire State! But so it is. In other coun-
tries, generations after generations pass away,
and witness no perceptible change in their
communities; but here men have passed their
lives in log cabins, who now rest from their
labors in rosewood caskets, enshrined in mar-
ble. And what may we learn by to-day's
lesson? It is this, if no other: that whatever
condition in life circumstances may place us,
to act well our part, and then we can not
fail to become important factors in the making
up of the State in which we live. Nations
are but a conglomerate of smaller communi-
ties, and communities of individuals; and the
State looks to every man to do his duty. And
now, finally, as this is a county festival, the
people of which are assembled to celebrate
this, the Centennial Anniversary of our coun-
try's independence, let us ask ourselves this
question: Has Cass County, during the near
half century of its history, done its duty to
the State and Nation, its duty to God, and to
the great world of humanity outside of it —
its duty to itself and to the future genera-
tions that are to succeed us? And in response,
I believe we can lay our hands upon our
hearts, and our consciences will tell us that
ihis county, as a community, has done its
duty, and results show it. There is probably
as much wealth, intelligence, and happiness
in it, present and prospective, as in any rural
district of its size and population in this great
valley. The patriotism of its people and the

integrity of its magistracy stands unim-
peached. No duty to the Nation or to hu-
manity has been left unperformed. And the
generation now passing away can say to the
one just stepping upon the platform: (iro and
do likewise, and your reward shall be equal,
and we trust even an hundred-fold more
abundant,

LEWIS F. SANDERS, real estate and in-
surance, Beardstown; was born in Loudoun
County, Va., .July 23, 1809; son of Britton
and Mary (Gill) Sanders, natives of Virginia,
and parents of ten children — nine sons and one
daughter, Lewis F. being the seventh son.
Britton Sanders was a farmer by occupation.
Lewis F., engaged from 1832 to 1835 as a dry
goods clerk in Washington, D. C, and in Ju-
ly of the latter year, came to Jacksonville, 111.,
and soon after engaged with Dr. Henry H.
Hall, as a clerk in his store, near where Vir-
ginia now stands, in August, 1835. In 1837,
he opened a general store and carried on bus-
iness on his own account, till 1839; in 1838
he was appointed postmaster of Virginia. In
1839, he moved to Stevenson, now Rock Is-
land, Illinois, and engaged in merchandising
there till 1841; then moved to St. Louis, Mo.,
where he remained till the spring of 1843,
when he came to Beardstown. He was ap-
pointed Deputy Circuit Clerk; also acted as
Deputy County Clerk; was afterward elected
County Clerk, which office he held eight years;
has been twice re-elected Justice of the Peace,
and has held the office of Police Magistrate
many years. In 1859, he engaged in the in-
surance business, and in addition kept a gen-
eral store for a few years. In 1863, he was
appointed Assistant U. S. Revenue Assessor
for the 9th District of Illinois, which position
he held till 1865; and has since been engaged
in the insurance business. In 1839, he mar-
ried Ellen Clendenen, of Morgan County, 111.,
daughter of John Clendenen, of Harford
County, Md.; they have had five children, two

268

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

of whom are deceased. Mr. Sanders was for-
merly a Whig, now a Republican.

CHARLES M. SPRING, druggist. Beards-
town; is a native of Pike County, 111., born
March 29, 1851, and at fourteen years of age,
entered a drug store at Naples, Scott Co.,
111., remaining there five years. He then en-
gaged with Anderson & Watt, wholesale drug-
gists, of St. Louis, Mo., with vrhom he remain-
ed three years, engaged as traveling salesman
a portion of the time. In 1872, he came to
Beardstown and opened a drug, book and
jewelry store, on Park Row, where he has
since carried on business, meeting with good
success. In 1880, in addition to his other bus-
iness, he established a wholesale tobacco, ci-
gar, confectionery and grocery house, and the
following year a retail grocery. In 1882, he
bought a half interest in the Park House, the
management being under the firm name of
Spring Bros. In 1876, he married Maria,
daughter of E. B. Seward, of Beardstown.

SAMUEL SHAW, retired; Beardstown;
was born in Cincinnati, O., March 12, 1815,
and was raised in the village of Newtown, O.,
where he afterward worked in a distillery un-
til 1838, when he came to Exeter, Scott
Co., 111., where he worked in a distillery
two years. He then moved to Springfield,
111., where he remained five years as manager
of John A. Kidey and S. M. Tinsley's busi-
ness, and in 1842, in company with S. M.
Tinsley, built a 500 bushel still-house in
Beardstown, where they ran a distillery about
four years, under the firm name of Tinsley
& Co. Mr. Shaw then sold out his interest
in the distillery to his partner, and bought a
tract of 666 acres of land, on the Sangamon
Bottoms, which he improved and farmed for
twelve years, and on which he raised as high
as 8,000 bushels of potatoes in one year. He
sold his lands, returned to Beardstown in
1863, and is living retired from active busi-
ness life. He married Aug. 3, 1839, Mary A.

Fleming, of Exeter, III., who has borne him
nine children, four of whom are living: John,
William, Harry and Ella. Mr. Shaw was a
director of the Cass County Bank for seven
years, being one of the corporators of the old
Insurance Company; was U. S. Revenue In-
spector for the Ninth District; he is a Demo-
crat; himself and family are members of the
M. E. Church. During his stay in Spring-
field, 111., Mr. Shaw's firm obtained control of
the first railroad in the State, running from
Springfield to Meredosia.

ABEL M. SMITH, fisherman, Beards-
town; was born near Chillicothe, Ohio, in
March, 1823, and in October, that year, his
father, Thomas Smith, moved with his family
to Illinois, and settled at Naples, in Scott Co.,
then a part of Morgan County. Thomas
Smith, who was a farmer, died when our sulj-
ject was about eleven years old. Abel M.
remained on the farm till he attained his ma-
jority, and in 1841 went to New Orleans,
La., where he worked at the plasterer's trade
three years. In 1847, he went to Cincinnati,
Ohio, and in June, that year, married Mary
M. Redding, of that city, and worked at his
trade there till 1850; then pursued his trade
in Naples, 111., till 1862, when he abandoned
plastering, having become crippled by a fall
which he had received in New Orleans, La.
He then engaged in fishing, in the Illinois
River, at Sharp's Landing and vicinity, for
nine years. In 1873 he came to Beardstown,
where he has since resided. At Naples, 111.,
that year, he built his family boat, also a fishing
boat, the former being sixty-five feet long
and sixteen feet wide, the latter, forty-two
feet long and sixteen feet wide. For the past
three years he has been fishing in company
with George Swan; they employ four men,
and handle over 100,000 pounds of fish annu-
ally; their largest catch was taken in Mus-
cooten Bay, in August, 1878; they dispose of
their fish in the local markets, and also shio

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND TKECINXT.

209

to St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Smith has four chil-
dren — three daughters and one son.

FRANK H. SPRING, Park House, Beards-
town; was born in Pike County, 111., in 185G;
son of Joseph M. and Hannah E. (Fisk)
Spring'. He began clerking in a drug store
in N.iples, 111., in 1809; in 1870, he came to
Beardstown with his parents, and in 1872 en-
gaged as clerk in C. M. Spring's store, where
he remained five years. He then kept a drug
store for two years, then sold out, and became
clerk for his father, in the Park House, and
in February, 188:i, bought a half interest in
that house, which is now conducted under the
management of Spring Bros. Joseph M.
Spring, subject's father, was born in Cuyahoga
County, O., March 4, 1831; he came to Pitts-
field, Pike Co., 111., in 1830, where, after the
death of his father, he took charge of the
family, and worked the farm until 1860. He
then ran a stage from Pittsfield to Naples,
about four years; he engaged in the livery
business about three years in Naples, 111.,
and ran the old Naples House and the
Strother House until 1870; he was also in the
hotel business in Warrensburg, Mo., a short
time. He came to Beardstown in August,
1870, leased the Park House, which he after-
ward bought in 1873, and conducted it for ten
years, and after several changes in the man-
agement, sold it in February, 1883, to Charles
M. and Frank H. Spring. It is a first class
hotel, with forty-five sleeping rooms, five
sample rooms, three of which are on the first
floor, and all modern conveniences. Joseph
M. Spring married, March 2, 1849, Hannah E.
Fisk, of Maysville, Pike Co., 111.; they have
had six children: Sylvester Omar, Charles
Merrick, Frank Howard, Lucy E., wife of H.
G. Unland, of Beardstown, Elmer Ellsworth,
and a daughter, deceased. Joseph M. Spring's
father, Sylvester O. Spring, located in Ohio,
in 1819, and married Frances Merrick, of
Pittsfield, Mass.; he died in 1839; she, about

the year 1865; they had two sons and four
daughters.

THEODORE SCHAAR, manufacturer of
accordeons, Beardstown; is a native of Prussia;
born Dec. 8, 1845. His father was a manufac-
turer of accordeons, and at the age of sixteen,
Theodore began learning the trade with him,
and worked with him till he was twenty-two
years old. In 1867, he emigrated to the
United States, and conducted a shop in St.
Louis, Mo., two years. In 1869, he returned to
Europe, and was married in his native town, to
Johanna Kuehn, in January, 1870; and the
Franco-Prussian War then breaking out, he
was obliged to remain in Prussia till 1871.
He then returned to the United States and
came to Beardstown, in July, that year, and

has since been enofasced there in the manu-
re o

facture of accordeons, and the repairing of
all kinds of musical instruments, employing
at one time five hands, and at present, two,
the mouldings being manufactured in St.
Louis, Mo. His instruments find ready sale,
both wholesale and retail; he manufactures
on an average, forty-five dozen instruments
annuallv.

WERNER STEUERNAGEL, merchant;
Beardstown; was born in Altenburg, Hesse-
Darmstadt, Germany, Dec. 10, 1837; and in
1854, he came to the United States with his
parents, who settled at Wheeling, W. Va.
In 1855, he engaged as cabin boy on an Ohio
River steamboat, and followed that occuj)a-
tion over two years; he then conducted a
restaurant in Jacksonville, 111., for five years,
and in 1862 came to Beardstown, and engag-
ed in business. In 1864, he opened a grocerj'
store, which was burned in September, that
year, but late in the same year he again
started in business; in 1868, he formed a
partnership with J. L. Black, with whom he
continued in business six years, then bought
out Mr. Black's interest, and has since carried
on the business alone. He has occupied the

270

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

same site on State street since 1868; the
building is brick, tvvo stories high, the
lower story containing a general stock of
groceries, glass, queensware, wooden and
willow-ware. In .Jacksonville, 111., in 1859,
he married Margaret Kelly, of New York.

ROBERT SCHMOLDT, proprietor of saw-
mill and lumber dealer, Beardstown; was
born in the village of Ritsch, Hanover, Ger-
many, Aug. 2, 1830, the eighth son of a family
of fourteen children, born to Hermann and
Margaret (Eilraann) Schmoldt. His father
was a large land-owner and farmer in Han-
over. Mr. Schmoldt received a fair educa-
tion, and assisted in the farm work, his father
being in feeble health. At nineteen years of
age he shipped at Hamburg, Germany, as a
seaman, and sailed for two years between
Europe and America, making several trips.
In 1853, he was married by the American
Consul, at Hamburg, to Johanna Blohm, a
native of Hanover, and came to the United
States and located in New York. He sailed
on a coast schooner during the summer, and
afterward worked in a sugar refinery. In Ju-
ly, 1853, he came to Beardstown, where he
worked at various employments for one or
two years, then bought eighty acres of wild
land in Monroe Precinct, this county, which
he farmed for seven years, with good success,
and in 18U0 paid a three months' visit, with his
family, to his native land. From 1863 to 1869,
he engaged in merchandising in Beardstown;
then sold out his store and engaged in the mill-
ing business, buying his present saw-mill on
Muscooten Bay, of W. Weaver, and has since
run the mill, buying his logs, which are rafted
down the river. The mill cuts, on an average,
four thousand feet daily, and gives employ-
ment to seven men. He established lumber
yards on Third street, in 1881. He still owns
considerable land in this county. He has
five sons living.

FIELD SAMPLE, Virginia House, Beards-

town ; was born near Jacksonville, Morgan
Co., 111., March 26, 1828, where he lived on a
farm till 1879. At twenty-one years of age
he began farming on his own account, which
occupation he followed till 18'('9, when
he rented his land and came to Beards-
town. In addition to farming, he had fol-
lowed brick-making for eleven years. In
1879, he and his brother, F. M. Sample,
bought the furniture and fixtures of the
Virginia House, which they ran under the
firm name of Sample Bros., till May, 1883,
when F. M. retired, leaving Field sole propri-
etor. Mr. Sample was twice elected Coroner of
Morgan County, 111., and also served as Deputy
Sheriff of that county. In 1857, in Morgan
County, 111., he married Mary, daughter of
David Ribelin, a farmer of that county. They
have had six children, four of whom are liv-
ing. John Sample, the father of our subject,
was born in Warren County, Ky., about 1797,
and when fourteen years old, came to Bond
County, 111., with his parents, who settled
there. He served in the war of 1812. In
Bond County, 111., about the year 1816, he
married Sarah Prewitt, a native of Kentucky,
and in 1824 he settled on a farm near Jack-
sonville, where he resided the remainder of
his life; he died in 1869, aged seventy-two
years. He served as County Commissioner
of Morgan County for three years; he was a
Democrat. Field is the seventh child of a
family of nine sons and four daughters, of
which six sons and two daughters are living.
JOHN W. SEAMAN, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown ; was born in JeiFerson County,
Va. (now West Virginia), Sept. 21, 1820; son
of Joseph J. and Nancy A. (Deaver) Seaman.
Joseph J. Seaman was born Jan. 19, 1793; fol-
lowed the occupation of a carpenter and boat
builder, and died March 19, 1850; his wife is
also deceased; they had two children: Isaac
and John W. Mr. Seaman received but a
limited education, attending school a short

BEARDSTOWN-CITY AND PRECINCT.

271

time at Beardstown and Rushville. He first
worked as a carpenter in Springfield, 111., for
some time; afterward engaged in the livery
business in Beardstown for nine years, and
has since followed farming in this county. In
Beardstown, Nov. 9, 1848, he married Mary
E. Thompson; born Jan. 14, 18'28, daughter
of George B. and Hannah Thompson. By
this union they have been blessed with the
following children: Anna, Harriet (deceased),
John W., Hannah, Cora B., Frank (deceased),
Charles (deceased), George W., Frederick
and Bertha. Mr. Seaman is a member of Ark
Lodge, No. 23, A. F. and A. M., in Beards-
town; he was a Constable for some time; was
Road Supei-visor, School Director and School
Trustee from 1874 to 1879; he is a Democrat.

Z. T. SMITH, surgeon dentist, Beardstown;
was born in Hart County, Ky., May 16, 1849,
and being left an orphan when very young,
was taken by his sister to her home in Clay
County, Mo., where he lived till he was six-
teen years of age, and received a good educa-
tion in the William Jewell College. He then
went to Virden, Macoupin Co., 111., where he
studied dentistry, with Dr. G. W. Dillon,
about three years. In 1869, he came to
Beardstown, where he has since practiced
dentistry, with the exception of the years
1871-3. For the past ten years he has been
located on State street.

RICHARD TINK, farmer; P. O. Beards-
town; is a native of Cornwall, England; born
Sept. 33, 1834; son of Samuel and Catharine
(Mutton) Tink, also natives of Cornwall, Eng-
land, and both still living. Samuel Tink, a
farmer, was born March 4, 1797; his wife was
born in 1807; they are the parents of ten
children. Richard received his education in
the schools of his native country, and began
life as a farmer, and has remained in that oc-
cupation ever since on the place where he
now resides. In Beardstown, this county,
Nov. 14, 1861, he married Mary Mutton, a na-

tive of Cornwall, England, daughter of Will-
iam and Elizabeth Mutton; three children
have been born from this union: Edmund S.,
Richard G., and Cora E. Mr. Tink is con-
nected with the M. E. Church; he is a mem-
ber of Ark Lodge, No. 33, A. F & A. M., and
also of the I. 0. O. F., in Beardstown; is a
Republican; has been School Director during
the years 1877-78-79, and has been Super-
visor of Roads some time.

DAVID P. TREADWAY, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown; was born in this county, July 36,
1845; son of Lawson H. and Catharine J.
(Pittner) Treadway. Lawson H. Treadway
was a native of Maryland; born March 21,
1816; he followed the occupation of a farmer,
and died in November, 1868; his wife, born
in Tennessee, Dec. 23, 1814, is still living;
they had five children. David P. receiv-
ed his education mainly in this precinct;
also attended the schools at Concord and
Beardstown, and has always been a farmer.
During the late war he served one year and
eight months in the Fourteenth 111. Infan-
try, under General Howard, his company
being commanded by Capt. Gillespie. He
was married in Beardstown, Nov. 20, 1867, to
Mary H. Chalfant, born in Beardstown, Aug.
14, 1849, who has borne him five children:
Lucia v., Anna L., Harry C, Walter A. and
Edgar V. Mrs. Treadway is a daughter of
Thomas .1. and Ann E. Chalfant, natives of
Wheeling, W. Va.; he was born March 5,
1823, and she was born Nov. 33, 1829. Mr.
Treadway is a Republican; is now School
Trustee, and has been School Director several
years; his wife is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church.

LEWIS TREADWAY, Central Hotel,
Beardstown; was born near Monroe, in this
county, March 3, 1837, and came to Beardstown
with his parents in 1843. His father, John
Treadway, was a native of Maryland, and a
cooper by trade, with whom the son learned

272

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

that trade, and at which he (our subject) worked
until 18G4, running a shop of his own for four
years in Beardstown, after which he engaged
in merchandising for thirteen years, traveling
for a house in Peoria two years. In 1874 he
bought the old Palmer House, which he ran
five years, when it was destroyed by fire. He
built the present Central Hotel on its site,
which contains twenty-one large rooms for
guests, a sample room and all modern conveni-
ences. The father and three uncles of our sub-
ject were in the war of 1812. In December,
18:^2, the father married Miss Rebecca Mc-
Kane, of Hamilton, Ohio, who bore her hus-
band eleven children. The old couple are
still living, he, in his eighty-seventh, and she,
in her eighty-second year.

SETH J. THOMPSON, Beardstown Ferry,
Beardstown; is a native of this county; born
in Monroe Precinct, June 8, 1840. George B.
Thompson, subject's father, was born in
Orange County, N. Y., Sept. 23, 1800, and
married in New York, Hannah Beers, who
bore him four sons and two daughters. He
came to Monroe Precinct in 1839, moved from
his farm there in 1812, and after various
changes of location and occupation, he and
his son went, in 1850, via the overland route,
to California and Oregon, remaining twenty-
one months, and returned via Nicaragua and
New Orleans, staying ten days in Havana,
Cuba, during the Walker Expedition. He
run the Beardstown ferry from 1852 to 1858,
then engaged in the grocery business till 1863,
our subject assisting in the forwarding and
commission business, and afterward engaged in
glass and queensvvare business several years,
and also in farming three years; he died June
2, 1872. Our subject enlisted Oct. 18, 1861,
in Co. G, 32d 111. Volunteer Infantry, and
served three years in the Army of the Ten-
nessee; was first duty Sergeant, and was mus-
tered out near Rome, Ga., Oct. 24, 1864. He
participated in the battle of Shiloh, the sieges

of Corinth and Vicksburg, and the Meridian
Raid. After his return from the war, he
worked awhile on the Beardstown Ferry, af-
terward, in company with Luther A. Jones,
ran it for five and one-half years, then, in
company with John W. Seaman, for two years,
and, from 1873 to July, 1881, ran it in compa-
ny with John Rohn, he having bought Sea-
man's interest; since that time it has been
controlled by Thompson & Co. Mr. Thomp-
son was licensed as pilot and captain on the
river from St. Louis to La Salle in 1872, and
has run, almost every season since, on various
steamboats. He married, Dec. 7, 1860, Addie
Rahn, of Beardstown.

EDWARD N. TREADWAY, farmer;
P. O., Beardstown; is a nafive of Ohio; born
Feb. 23, 1825, son of Edward and Elizabeth
(Anderson) Treadway, natives of Maryland,
and parents of seven children. Subject's
father, who was a farmer by occupation, was
born in 1783, and died in 1858. Edward N.
received his education in Monroe Precinct,
this county, and has since followed farming
here. He married, Dec. 2, 1851, Louisa J.
Sallee, who died, Nov. 8, 1867, leaving three
children: Elizabeth J., NorrisA., and Edward
L. On March 27, 1860, he married his pres-
ent" wife, Sarah F. Phelps, born in Septem-
ber, 1841, daughter of William and Martha
A. Phelps, and from this marriage ten chil-
dren have been born: Louisa E., Caroline B.,
Martha A., William Henry, Sarah F., Edward
N., Hans A., Margaret, Annie G., and an in-
fant, unnamed. Mr. Treadway is a Democrat,
a member of Lodge No. 16, I. O. O. F., in
Beardstown, and is connected with the M. E.
Church.

JOHN W. THOMPSON, farmer; P. O.
Beardstown; was born in Lancashire, Eng-
land, in 1827; only child of Thomas and Mary
Thompson, natives of England; he, a carpen-
ter by trade, deceased; she, died in this coun-
ty in 1842. Mr. Thompson received his edu-

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

cation in England, where he afterward work-
ed in a cotton factory. In 18J:3 he came to
this country, where he has since followed
farming. He is one of the most prominent
farmers of this county, where he owns 612
acres of land; the somewhat famous "Clear
Lake," of this county, is mostly owned by him.
He is a member of the M. E. Church; was
School Trustee in 1863-4; he is a Democrat.
HENRY G. UNLAND, merchant, Beards-
town; was born in Hanover, Germany, April
14, 1844, and in the spring of the following
year was brought to this country by his par-
ents, who settled on a farm in Arenzville
Precinct, this county, his father entering a
large tract of wild prairie land there. Mr.
Unland lived on the farm till he attained his
majority, then attended the Central Wesley-
an University, at Warrenton, Mo., for two
years, afterward was clerk in the general
store of Leonard Bros., Beardstown, for two
years, then clerk for Kuhl Bros, about two
years. In 1872, he became a partner in the
firm of J. H. Pieper & Co., remaining iu
that firm until 1874, when he engaged in
business on his own account, on the corner of
Main and State streets. After conducting
the store for a time himself, the management
became H. G. Unland & Bros., and since
1877 C. H. Unland has managed the business,
which has, since February, 1880, been carried
on in the Seeger Block, the corner room
being devoted to groceries and drugs, our sub-
ject having charge of the grocery department.
In Beardstown, in November, 1873, Mr. Un-
land married Lucy E., daughter of Joseph M.
Spring, of Beardstown. Casper H. Unland,
Dur subject's father, was born in the city of
Osnabruck, in Hanover, Germany, Sept. 29,
1808, and followed farming in his native
country. In January, 1845, he landed in
New Orleans, La., having left Europe Oct. 4,
1844. He settled on 100 acres of land near
Bluff Springs, this county, and engaged in

farming there five years. He then sold that
farm and bought two hundred acres of land
in Arenzville Precinct, this county, which he
still owns, and where he lived until 1876, with
the exception of three years, during which he
resided in Beardstown, in order to give his
children an education, then moving back to
his farm, a school house having been built in
the vicinity, of which he was Director for
some years. He owns the general store in
Beardstown managed by his three sons; he
also has three hundred and sixty acres of land
in Arenzville Precinct. In October, 1829, he
married Mary Carls, also a native of Osna-
bruck, Hanover. Of their eleven children,
eight were born in Europe, and three in this
country. Nine children are living, eight
sons and one daughter.

DR. WILLIAxM G. UNLAND, Beards-
town; is a native of this county: born near
Bluff Springs, in July, 1846, and was raised
on a farm. He attended the Beardstown
schools four years, Quincy College one year,
and four years at the Wesleyan College at
Warrenton, Mo. In 1869 he began the
study of medicine with Drs. Smith and Cook,
of Quincy, 111., and in 1870 entered the St.
Louis Homeopathic College of Physicians and
Surgeons, where he took a course of lectures,
and completed his studies in the Hahnemann
Medical College, Chicago, from which he
graduated in the spring of 1871. He then
practiced for a year in Pittsfield, 111., and in
the spring of 1872 went to Europe, and con-
tinued his medical studies in the universities
of Berlin and Vienna for over a year, and on
his return, in 1873, located at Quincy, III.
He remained there but a short time, then
moved to Lincoln, Neb., where he remained
two years; afterward spent about two years
in Pekin, III., and in March, 1880, came to
Beardstown where he has since been en-
gaged in the drug business in connection
with the practice of his profession.

274

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

HERMAN H. UNLAND, merchant,
Beardstown; was born in what is now Monroe
Precinct, this county, May 12, 1848. At
eighteen years of age he entered the Central
Wesleyan University, of Warrenton, Mo.,
where he spent three years, 1867-70, then en-
tered the Northwestern University at Evans-
ton, 111., from which he graduated in June,

1875. In the fall of that year he became prin-
cipal of the High School at Pekin, 111., which
position he held for a year; and in the fall of

1876, became a member of the firm of H. G.
Unland & Bros., which carried on business for
a year under that name. He then engaged
with C. H. Unland, and since 1880 has had
charge of the dry goods department of his
store. In 1876, he married Emma Smith, of
Will County, 111.; they have two children.

JOHN H. UNLAND, farmer; P.O., Beards-
town; is a native of Germany; born July 30,
1833; son of Casper H. and Mary (Carls)
Unland, natives of Germany; he, still living,
a farmer by occupation, born in 1808 ; she,
born in 1811; parents of thirteen children.
John H. attended school in Weimar, Ger-
many, three years, and also about one year
here, and began farming in this county, and
has ever since followed that occupation. He
married, in this county, Nov. 19, 1857, Eliza-
beth Christianer, born in Germany, in 1830,
daughter of Jost H. and Angel Christianer;
they have had nine children: George H., Lu-
cinda, Mary, Henrietta, Frank J., Henry W.,
William F., Louis (deceased), and an infant,
(deceased). Mr. Unland is a Republican, and
a member of the M. E. Church.

JOSEPH WEAVER, contractor and brick-
layer, Beardstown; was born in Putnam Coun-
ty, Ind., Oct. 22, 1832. George W. Weaver,
subject's father, was born in Fluvanna Countj^,
Va., and moved to Kentucky when a boy;
in 1833 he came with his family to this
county, then Morgan County, settling on a
farm in Jersey Prairie, where he lived for

many years; he also lived several years in
Virginia, this county, where he was engaged in
brickmaking; he built the Virginia Seminary.
He came to Beardstown about the year 1850,
where he engaged in the milling and lumber
business about fifteen years. He served one
term as County Judge of this county, some
time between 1840 and 1850, and was Mayor
of Beardstown for three terms. He retired
from business life several years before his
death, which occurred March 8, 1881, he being
then in his seventy-seventh year. His wife,
Martha Carver, bore him twelve children, of
whom three sons and four daughters are liv-
ing, Joseph being the eldest living son. Our
subject learned the trades of bricklaying
and brickmaking with his father, and took bis
first contract in Beardstown, in 1856, and has
since been contractor and foreman on brick
work there, with the exception of four years,
which he spent in Hancock County, 111. In
Beardstown, in April, 1862, he married Mary
Collins, daughter of Edward and Thalia
(Beard) Collins. Edward Collins was born in
Enfield, Ct., in 1797, and in 1836 moved with
his family to a farm in Beardstown Precinct,
this county, where he farmed until about
twelve years before his death, spending his
last years in Beardstown; he died in 1803;
his wife died in 1860. He came to Beards-
town from Ohio in 1832.

SAMUEL WORTMAN, blacksmith, BlufiF
Springs; was born in Rush County, Ind., May
16, 1829. His parents. Smith W. and Mary
(Wagoner) Wortman, both died in 1859; his
father was a native of North Carolina; his
mother of Bourbon County, Ky.; they had six
children, five boys and one girl. Samuel re-
ceived but a limited education, attending
school in Rush and Shelby Counties, Ind. He
worked at the blacksmith's trade in Sangamon
County, 111., about a year, then came to this
county, where he has since remained, and
where he was married, Oct. 17, 1852, to Es-

BEARDSTOWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

275

ther Taylor, a native of this county, born
April 16, 1833, daughter of John and Mary
Taylor; he, still living, she, deceased. By
this union seven children have been born:
Eliza J., Amos (deceased). Levy (deceased),
Francis M., Ann E. (deceased), Marvin T. and
Alice L. Mr. Wortnian is a Democrat; his
wife is a member of the M. E. Church.

HENRY WITTE, farmer; R O. Beards-
town; is a native of Prussia; born Aug. !J,
IS'Zi; son of Frederick W. and MenaO. (Esa-
raann) Witte; he, a farmer by occupation,
died in Beardstown, in 1870, where his wife
also died, in 1868; they were the parents of
nine children. Henry received a good educa-
tion, having attended the schools of Germany
seven years; he engaged in railroading, and,
also served two years as a soldier in Prussia,
in the loth Regiment of Volunteers, under
Capt. August Menkoff. He has since follow-
ed farming. In Beardstown, this county,
April 3, 1856, he married Mena Vette, born
in Prussia, April 2, 18o-±, daughter of Freder-
ick and Crystal Vette, and from this union
eight children have been born: Henry W.,
Caroline (deceased). Bertha, Anna, Maria,
Louise, Edward (deceased) and Mena. Mr.
Witte is a member of the Lutheran Church;
he is a Republican.

REV. W. WEIGAND, Beardstown; was
born in Zanesville, O., in April, 1852; son of
John and Elizabeth Weigand. In 1854 his
parents moved to Mt. Sterling, Brown Co.,
111., where our subject lived till he was fifteen
years of age, when he entered upon his pre-
paratory course at St. Francis' Seminary, Mil-
waukee, Wis., and completed the course at St.
Joseph's Ecclesiastical College, at Teutopolis,
111., in 1873. In 1875, he entered Mt. St.
Mary's Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, 0.>
from which he graduated in the spring of 1878,
receiving the major and minor orders, and
that of Deacon, from Archbishop Purcell, of
Cincinnati, O. He was ordained to the priest-

hood, Nov. 10, 1878, by Bishop Baltes, of
Alton, III., and in December of the same year
was established Rector of St. Alexius Church,
of Beardstown, where he has since oiBciated;
has established a parish school, and freed the
church from debt.

DAVID WAGNER, farmer, P. O., Beards-
town; was born in Monroe County, O., July
26, 1823, and is the only surviving child of a
family of seven children, born to John and Je-
mima (Carr) Wagner. John Wagner, who
was a blacksmith, and also a sickle, scythe and
axe maker, was born in Pennsylvania, in 179-1;
his wife was a native of Monroe County, O.
Mr. Wagner attended school but little, but
being an extensive reader, stored his mina
with useful information. He early engaged
in farming, which occupation he still follows.
He has been twice married. His first wife,
Sarah E. Blake, whom he married March 8,
1849, bore him four children: John, Sarah J.,
William, and Rufus; the latter deceased. His
present wife, whose maiden name was Eliza
J. Brown, is a native of Ohio, and daughter
of John and Polly Brown; from this second
marriage six children have been born: Mary
Ann (deceased), Adeline, Fannie, Fratiklin,
Charles, and Ida. Mr. Wagner was formerly
a Whig, and is now a Republican; he was for
several j'ears Road Supervisor, and also School
Director.

DR. DAVJD WHITNEY, retired dentist,
Beardstown; was born in Franklin County,
Mass., Jan. 29, 1803, and was educated in
Conway, his native town. At twenty-two
years of age, he began the study of medicine,
and graduated from the Pittsfield College, in
1831. In 1832, he removed to western New
York, practiced his profession six years, and
then moved to Indiana, where, his health fail-
ing, he relinquished medicine partly, and
practiced dentistry till 1856, when he remov-
ed to Beardstown, where he has since remain-
ed, having practiced dentistry for twenty

276

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

years; during the last six years, however, he
has retired from active practice. In 1826, he
married Miss Elizabeth S. Granger, of North
Hadley, Mass., and seven children v?ere born
to them, three of vehom are dead. Those liv-
ing are: Cornelia, Mrs. Wallsworth, Ellen,
Benjamin R., civil engineer, David V., physi-
cian. For many years Mrs. Whitney has made
a study of geology and archaeology, and has
one of the finest collections of fossils and
prehistoric implements in the State. The
Doctor is a Baptist, and Mrs. Whitney is a
Congregation alist.

HENRY B. WILSON, grain merchant,
Bijardstown; was born in Bertie County, N.
C, Sept. 3, 1829, and is the eldest of a family
of eleven children, born to James D. and
Sallie (Mizell) Wilson. James D. Wilson was
born in North Carolina, Jan. 9, 1806; he was
a cooper by trade; and in 1851 settled on a
farm in Arenzville Precinct, this county,
where he died in 1857; he was married in
October, 1838, to Sallie Mizell, who died in
February, 1881, age 73 years; of their eleven
children all are living, save one son. Mr.
Wilson learned the cooper's trade with bis
father, and worked at it in his native State;
after his father's death he worked the farm
until 1860; he then came to Beardstown, and
after clerking a short time there for Mr.
Seeger, bought out his stock, which he sold
in 1863, and then was employed by different
firms as salesman, until 1870. In that year
he entered into partnership with John R.
Dutch, in company with whom he carried on
a general merchandising and grain business,
until the fall of 1874, when their store, stock
and warehouse were burned, entailing a lo.ss
of $35,000. Mr. Wilson then engaged in
the grain business, and in 1878, became a
member of the firm of Garm, Wilson & Co.,
who bought the steamboat " Maggie P," and
barges, carrying on an extensive grain busi-
ness until the s[)ring of 1882 when thov so'd

the steamboat. They have warehouses at
Beardstown, Bluff Springs, West Point and
Bath, and have leased others on the Illinois
River. In 1861, Mr. Wilson married Angel-
ine, daughter of G. H. Seeger, of Beardstown;
they have had seven children, of whom two
sons and two daughters are living.

THEODORE WILKINS, deceased; was
born in the city of Berlin, Germany, Dec. 13,
1830; his father was a major in the Prussian
army. Mr. Wilkins completed a college
course, and at the age of seventeen entered
the army as a private soldier; he passed his
examination at the end of three months, and,
after attending an artillery and engineer's
school at Berlin, received a lieutenant's com-
mission, and served until 1847, when he re-
signed. He then came to the United States,
and settled near Washington, Franklin Co.,
Mo., where he engaged in farming, and where,
in 1849, he married Matilda Manlinckrodt,
who died in 1853, leaving one son, Paul, a
teacher in St. Louis, ilo.; she was a daughter
of Julius Manlinckrodt. In 1855, he married
Bertha Setzer; her father emigrated from
Hamburg, Germany, and settled at Hermann,
Mo., in 1837, she being then a child of nine
years. In 1858, Mr. Wilkins moved to St.
Louis, Mo., having previously sold his farm,
antl been engaged in the drug business in
Washington, Mo. He was a Collector in St.
Louis until the breaking out of the late war,
when, in April, 1861, he was elected Captain
of a Home Guard Company, afterward serving
in the Second Missouri Artillery three years
as major, being in active service at the cap-
ture of Camp Jackson, at Carthage, and other
points. After the war he was Assessor in St.
Louis, Mo., until 1868, when he came to
Beardstown. Here he engaged as Secretary
of the Illinois Insurance Company, and was
afterward Cashier of the Cass County Bank
until 1878, when he resigned that position,
and became editor of the Beardstown Wochen-

BEARDSTUWN— CITY AND PRECINCT.

277

blatt, a German paper, which he edited until
the time of his death, which occurred May 11,
1881. By his last marriage seven children
were born, four of whom are living, two sons
and two daughters.

GEORGE WAGNER, farmer, P. O., Bluff
Spring!); is a native of Germany; born Dec.
14, 1825; son of Theodore and Elizabeth (An-
dreas) Wagner; he, a piano maker by trade;
she, died in 1837. Mr. Wagner attended
school for eight years in his native country,
where he began life as a farmer; he served
two years in the 3d Regiment of Prussia — a
Hessian regiment — under Captain Otto. He
came to this county in 1850, where he has
since been engaged in farming. In Beards-
town, in 1851, he married Mary Derr, a native
of Germany, born Nov. 11, 1825, who bore
him live children: John, Theodore, George,
Elizabeth, and Mary. In 1864, he married
Catharine Deitrick, also a native of Germany,
born in 1835, and by this marriage six chil-
dren have been born: Emil, Harry L., Rosa,
Edward, Lydia, and Anna Eliza. His step-
daughter, Mary Webel, eighteen years of age,
resides with him. He is a Republican.

JOHN H. WEDEKING, cigar manufact-
urer, Beardstown; is a native of Beardstown;
born May 11, 1844; son of Frederick Wede-
king, a native of Germany, who came to
Beardstown in 1833, and finally settled on a
farm in Arenzville Precinct, this county, in
1844, where he still resides, aged seventy-three
years. John H. received an ordinary educa-
tion, and remained on the farm till 1802, when
he enlisted in Co. A, 114th Ills. Volunteer
Infantry, and during his term of service par-
ticipated in the battles of Jackson, Miss., and
Vicksburg, and again at Jackson, Jliss. At
the latter place, July 16, 1803, he received a
gunshot wound, which necessitated the ampu-
tation of his leg at the thigh; he lay in Mem-
phis Hospital till May, 1804, and was mustered
out that year at Jefferson Barracks. On his

return to Beardstown, he began learning the
trade of cigar making, at which he served two
years. In 1866, he oj)ened a cigar factory at
Lincoln, Logan County, 111., where he carried
on business one and a half years, then returned
to Beardstown, and for six years worked for
John Limberger. In 1880, he opened his
present cigar factory, No. 36 Fourth District
of Illinois, and has since carried on business
here; he employs three men, and manufact-
ures about 200,000 cigars annuallj-, making
four brands. In 1866 he married Helena
Tembick, of Beardstown.

JOHN WEBB, retired from business;
Beardstown; was born near Manchester,
England, Dec. 9, 1813, and came to the
United States with his parents in 1818, who
settled in Baltimore, Md. He learned the
trade of a machinest, and afterward worked
in the shops of the B. & O. R. R. Co. He
worked upon marine engines, and for the
Savage Manufacturing Company, till 1838, in
which year he went to Springfield, 111., and
from there to Petersburg. In 1844, he came
to Cass County, and started a shop about
three miles from Virginia, for the manufac-
ture of Page's portable circular saws, but his
business increased to such an extent that he
was compelled to seek better facilities, and he
moved to Beardstown, where he erected a
foundry and machine shop, running the same
till 1850, when his works were burned out,
with a loss of $17,000; no insurance. He re-
built, however, and continued the business
until 1806, when he sold to Ebaugh & Quin-
lan. He afterward went into the manufacture
of wagons, which he continued till 1875,
when he retired, leaving the business in the
hands of his sou and son-in-law. He mar-
ried in Baltimore, in 1834, Miss Eliza A.
Kahaley.

W. B. WILLIAMS, farmer; P. O., Bluff
Springs; is a native of North Carolina; born
Jan. 0, 1848. His parents, W. A. and Mar-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

garet (Thomas) Williams, are both still living,
and have had five children; his father, who is
also a native of North Carolina, and a farmer
by occupation, was born Jan. 8, 1818. Mr.
Williams received but a limited education in
the schools of his precinct, attending school
but a short time, and has always been a
farmer. For the past three years he has been
the keeper of the poor-farm. In Beardstown,
Aug. 8, 1873, he married Mary J. Heatoii, a
native of England; born May 15, 1850, who
bore him two children, John E. and William
H. Mrs. Williams died March 1,1881; she
was a daughter of John and Mary Jane Hea-
ton, who now reside in Virginia, this county.
His second wife, whom he married July 28,
1881, is Anna Gough.

CHARLES E. WYMAN, attorney at law,
Beardstown; was born in Roxbury, Mass., in
May, 1852, and at the age of four years came
West with his parents, who settled on a farm
in Ford County, 111., where he remained till
he was eighteen years of age. He then be-
gan the study of law with his brother Gilbert,
in Chatsworth, 111., and in connection with
his law studies engaged in teaching school
and in other pursuits for three years. He was

admitted to the bar at the session of the Su-
preme Court held in Ottawa, 111., in Septem-
ber, ]8r5, and after practicing a year in Gil-
man, 111., came to Beardstown in the fall of
1876, where he has since resided, enjoying a
good practice in this and adjoining counties.
He is now serving his third term as City At-
torney of Beardstown. In 1877, he married
Maggie, daughter of John Fidler, of Beards-
town.

HENRY WINHOLD, farmer; P. O. Bluff
Springs ; is a native of this county ; born
May 7, 1843; son of William and Barbara
(Weber) Winhold, natives of Hessen, Ger-
many. William Winhold was born Feb. 1,
1809, and is a farmer by occupation. He
came to this country in 18 5, landing in Bal-
timore, Md., August 28, that year, and settled
in Pennsylvania, where he remained nearly
seven years; and in 1811, came to this count}'.
His wife, who was horn in 1805, is also living.
They are the parents of seven children: two
boys, and five girls. Mr. Winhold received
his education in the schools of this county,
and began life as a farmer, which occupation
he has ever since followed in this county. He
is a Republican.

j^^Xf^

ll'liy

Lh,

>'.S.

CHANDLERVILLE PRPXIXCT.

281

CHANDLERVILLE PRECINCT.

THOMAS AINSWORTH, capitalist ;
Chandlerville. Among the most active, up-
right and liighly respected citizens of Cass
County, who have achieved success by their
own indomitable energies, rather than by any
outside aid, is the subject of this sketch.
His record is that of hundreds of others of
the self made, self reliant men, to be met
with in the every-day walks of life, and his
career has been marked with the varied ex-
periences common to all of the class referred
to. Mr. Ain^worth is a native of Lancashire,
England, having been born Jan. 30, 1814, to
Thomas and Sarah (Townley) Ainsworth, both
natives of England. He was denied the
privilege of attaining other than a limited
mental culture in youth; but his was an en-
ergy that was not easily thwarted by obstacles,
and by dint of his own perseverance, he suc-
ceeded in gaining a fair business education;
nor was he more fortunate in this world's
goods. Standing on the threshold of his
young manhood, he could easily count the
dollars that were his upon the fingers of his
hand. His had ever been a cradle rocked by
the hand of adversity ; but his heart was
strong, his courage great, his energy remarka-
ble; and lured by hope, he pressed steadily
forward, placing his trust in Him who heareth
ever the cry of the raven, and who has prom-
ised to reward the faithful worker. His early
life was spent at home, and at an early age
learned to earn his own livelihood in a cot-
ton factory, where his father was also em-
ployed. At the age of twenty-eight years he
bade his home and native country farewell.
He emigrated to America in 1843, and the
same year moved to Illinois, settling in Mason
County, where he entered eighty acres of

wild prairie land, and remained on the samo
for thirty-five years, and during that time saw
this country ilevelop from a wilderness to its
present highly cultivated condition. In 1876
he erected, from his own designs, a neat and
commodious residence in the stirring little
town of Chandlerville, and moved to the same
in the spring of 1877, where he may now be
found, surrounded with those comforts, and
enjoying those pleasures that are ever the re-
sult of honesty, industry and economy. Mr.
Ainsworth is one of the largest stockholders
of the Valley National Bank of St. Louis, is
largely interested in Colorado mines, and is
the owner of over two thousand acres of the
best land of Illinois. His marriage occurred
in 1837, to Miss Maria Abbott, a native of
Lancashire, England, born in November, 1814.
The result of this union was ten children, of
whom seven are now living: Nancy, the wife
of Agustine Witt, a wholesale merchant of
Decatur; William Henry, a prominent mer-
chant of Rood House, III.; Alice, the wife of
William Casey, a retired farmer, of Centralia,
111.; Thomas T., a farmer of Mason County;
Sarah E., wife of George Ransome, a farmer of
Mason County; Mary A., wife of Thomas Saye
furniture dealer, of Chandlerville, and Jo-
seph, who is farming upon the old homestead
farm, in Mason County. Among his children
Mr. Ainsworth has divided over $80,000
worth of property. He and wife are con-
nected with the Congregational Church. He
was formerly an old line Whig, but is now a
Republican. He has never taken part in po-
litical demonstrations, but evidently takes
quite as much interest in what he has not
done, as in that which he actually has accom-
plished.

282

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

FRIEDRICH BRAUER, retired farmer;
P. O. Chandlerville. Hanover, formerly a
State of the German Confederation, situated
in Northwestern Germany, has furnished a
larger proportion of solid, substantial, thrifty
emigrants to America, perhaps, than any por-
tion of country of equal size on the continent.
Of the number referred to belongs the sub-
ject of this sketch, who was born in Hanover,
May 10, 1822. Here were his parents also
born. Notwithstanding the beauties in na-
ture, art, science and literature, that charac-
terize the "German Fatherland," the great
Republic that has sprung into existence
vpithin the last century in North America,
has presented quite enough in attractions to
seduce many thousands of Germans to our
shores, where, to their honor, be it said, they
contributed largely by their industry and
thrift, to the material wealth of the country
of their adoption. Christ. Brauer, the father
of the subject of this memoir, set sail for this
country, with his family, in 1842, landing at
New Orleans. From this point he embarked
by water for Beardstown, 111., where he re-
mained two months looking for a suitable
farm, -which he found, and purchased of Wil-
liam Taylor, three miles north of Arenzville.
Here Mr. Brauer died in the spring of 18-13 ;
his wife surviving his death until 1853. In
1853, previous to the death of his mother,
Mr. Brauer sold the homestead farm, and
bought two hundred acres of land about one
mile north of Arenzville, where he remained
for thirteen years, when he sold it, and bought
of John Fielding, in Sangamon Bottom, 280
acres of land. In 1880, he rented his farms,
bought a handsome residence in Chandler-
ville, and removed to it the same year, it
being his desire to retire from active labor
and enjoy the fruits of his past labors. As a
business man Mr. Brauer has been very suc-
cessful. He now owns 1,000 acres of splen-
did farmitig land, as good as is to be found in

this part of Illinois. Mr. Brauer was married
in Cass County in 1817, to Miss Elizabeth
Brunker, a native of Germany. The result
of this union was twelve children, of whom
five are now living: Mary, widow of .lohn
Ackerman; Lewis, a farmer of Christian
County, who married Miss Lizzie Bloone, of
Menard County; Lizzie, the wife of Epha-
mire Henry, a farmer of Christian County;
Hannah, wife of Charles Grape, a farmer of
Christian County; and Minnie, at home with
her parents. Mr. Brauer and wife, are mem-
bers of the German Lutheran Church. In the
life of our subject we have demonstrated
s(ime of the possibilities of human energy
and perserverance in overcoming difficulties.
We have seen him launched out in life empty
handed, battling with poverty, with a family
to support, steadily gaining and increasing
his possessions, until to-day he looks out on
his fine farms, covered with a rich harvest,
ready for the reaper, and furnished with all
conveniences of well ordered and improved
farms.

DR. NATHANIEL H. BOONK, Chand-
lerville ; was born in Troop Co., Georgia,
June 6, 1836, to William and Martha E.
(Bradford) Boone; born in South Carolina in
180G; farmer; and died in Mississippi in 1855;
bis wife, the mother of our subject, was
born in South Carolina in 1808, and is now
residing in Oxford, Mississippi. She is the
mother of ten children; five of whom are
living; of whom the Doctor was the third.
When but six years old he was removed by
his parents to Alabama, and at the age of
nine to Oxford, Mississippi. His literary ed-
ucation was received at the Oxford Univer-
sity, after which he entered the Nashville
Medical College, in 1854, and graduated
March 4, 18G0, when he began the practice
of his profession at Pine Bluff, Arkansas; and
in 1864 removed to Chandlerville, 111., his
present residence, where he has a large and

CUANDLKKVILLE PRECIXCT.

283

increasing practice, and socially enjoys the
highest esteem. In IStJl, in Arkansas, he
married Miss Julia (J. Blackwell, a native of
Georgia. She died in 1867, aged twenty-six
j'ears, and was the mother of two children,
James and Howard N., both dead. In Sep-
tember, 1S?0, in Menard County, 111., he mar-
ried' Miss Harriet Coddington, a native of
Menard County, 111.; born in November,
1837. She is the mother of two children,
both of whom are dead. Politically, Dr.
Boone is identified with the Democratic party.
ALBERT BUCK, merchant; Ciiandler-
ville ; was born in this county. June 10,
ISiO ; son of Jasper and Sophia Buck ; he,
born Dec. 17, 1702, and died March 1, 1841 ;
she, born April 26, 1797, and died Dec. 37,
1866. They were the parents of thirteen
children, seven of whom are now living :
Thomas C, born July 4, 1815, died Dec. 5,
1875 ; Charleton, born June 28, 1817, died
Aug. 6, 1856 ; Sarah (Conrad) Reinning,
born July 31, 1819, living in Arenzville Pre-
cinct ; Martha, widow of Michael Buxton,
born Aug 29, 1821 ; Margaret, May 7, 1824,
died Oct. 8, 1831 ; Elizabeth and James,
twins, born Nov. 14, 1827 ; James died in in-
fancy, and Elizabeth married Richard L.
Davis ; James H., born Jan. 30, 1830, died
May 6, 1857 ; John H., born March 27, 1832;
Stephen D., born July 14, 1834 ; Jasper J.,
born Oct. 15, 1836 ; Mary, wife of Mathew
Bowyer, born July 20, 1838, died April 2,
1880 ; and Albert, the subject of this sketch.
Jasper, with two brothers, John and Stephen,
came from Bertie County, N. C, between
the years 1825 and 1830, and settling in what
is now known as Arenzville Precinct. Jas-
per was a man highly respected in his day,
and filled the position of Justice of the Peace.
Albert, being the youngest, remained on the
farm with his mother, until the breaking out
of the late war, when he, in August, 1SG2,
volunteered in Company K, 101st Illinois

Infantry, serving until the close of the war,
at which time, 1805, he began farming on the
home place. June 9, 1868, he was married
to Miss Sarah Naomi Stanley, by whom he has
had two children : Sarah Ellen, born April 3,
1869 ; and Chas. Oliver, born April 29, 1870.
He continued farming until February, 18? 2,
when he met with an accident that disabled
him from farm duty ; when he moved to
Arenzville in 1873, and opened a grocery
store. He was elected Justice of the Peace.
In the fall of 1875 he sold out his business in
Arenzville, and moved to Chandlerville,
where he has since continued in business.

CHARLES C. BROWN, drugs and hard-
ware; Chandlerville; was born near Cleveland,
O., Dec. 22, 1846, to O. P. and Lydia B. (Bee-
be) Brown ; born in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1826, and
when a child was taken to the Western Re-
serve, O., by his parents, where, after he
grew to manhood, became a prominent law-
yer and judge of Portage County; was a
member of the Legislature for several terms,
and State Senator, and enlisted in Seventh
Ohio Regiment, but died soon after the break-
ing out of the war. Gen. J. A. Garfield was
one of his law students, and he nominated the
future President to his first political office.
His death occurred in 1802. His wife, the
mother of our subject, was born in Chardon, O.,
in 1828, and died in 1862; she was the mother
of three children, of whom Chas. C. was the
oldest son. In 1861 he went to Cleveland,
and engaged as clerk in wholesale drug busi-
ness for about five years, with the exception
of eleven months, while he was in the war —
150th Ohio Regiment, Cleveland Grays, Com-
pany C. In 1866 he commenced in the mer-
cantile business in Warren, Ohio. In 1807
he removed to Chandlerville, Cass County,
where he engaged as clerk in different drug
stores. In 1868 he started a dry goods, grain
and grocery business in (Jhandlerville. In
1873 he started in the drug business with

284

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Mr. Ira N. Read, where he has since re-
mained, engaged extensively in the drug-
business, also handling a large stock of hard-
ware. He has been a member of the Town
Board nearly all the time since he came to
the county, and has filled other town offices.
Oct. 12, 1881, he married Miss Anna Saunders,
a native of DeWitt County, Iowa; was born in
1854; is a member of A. F. and A. M., and has
served as Master; is a Republican, and has
been several times Chairman of the Central
Committee.

B. E. BOWMAN, dealer in agricultural im-
plements, Chandlerville ; was born in Ruther-
ford County, Tenn,, April 23, 1844, to James
T. and Mary (Brown) Bowman; he born in
Tennessee, a farmer, and dying in January,
1854, aged forty-seven years ; she, also a
native of Tennessee, died in July, 18G6, aged
fifty-four years. She was the mother of twelve
children, and of them B. E. Bowman was
the ninth. In 1862 he was conscripted
into the Confederate army, and served in the
45th Tenn. Reg., under Bragg. He was cap-
tured at Look Out Mountain in December,
1864, taken to Rock Island, and stayed until
July, 1865, when he went to Mason County,
where he worked as a farm hand, and con-
tinued until 1869, when he rented a farm in
Cass County, where he has since been engaged.
He married April 14, 1869, Sarah J. Hash, a
native of Cass County, born June 17, 1849,
and died in December, 1872, leaving two
children, Ella and Arthur, both at home.
Oct. 14, 1874, he married Miss Mary Parrott,
a native of Missouri, born in 1846, who was
the mother of three children, only one of
whom is living, Clark E. Mr. Bowman has
served as School Director, and self and wife
are members of the Christian Church. He is
a Democrat.

REV. JOHN M. BOWERS, Congregational
clergyman, Chandlerville; was born in Wash-
ington, Washington County, Penn., March 14,

1835, to George and Catharine (Snyder)
Bowers ; he, born in Germany, in 1806, and
emigrated to America in 1833, settling in
Pennsylvania, but subsequently in Mansfield,
Ohio, in 1836; is a blacksmith by trade, and is
still living. She, also born in Germany, in 1812,
came to America in 1832, and was married in
1834 ; is still living. She is the mother of
nine children, John M. being the oldest. The
nine children are all living, viz.: John M.,
Margaret, Caroline, Catharine, Lewis, Bar-
bara, Louisa, George, and William. John M.
received his education at the Michigan Uni-
versity, at Ann Arbor, and Vermillion Insti-
tute, at Hayesville, Ohio, and his theological
train ing at Oberlin Institute. Was ordained
to the Congregational Church at Sedalia, Mo.,
April 16, 1866. His. first church was at Seda-
lia; he was the organizer of the church there.
In 1872 he removed to Lexington, Ohio,
where he remained until 1874, when he re-
moved to Parkesburg, Iowa, and remained for
three and one-half years, and Earlville, Iowa,
for three and one-half years. In 1881 he
came to Chandlerville and took charge of the
Congregational Church of that town, built in
1880. On March 8, 1870, he was married to
Helen A. Knapp; born in Indiana, Jan. 15,
1852. She is a daughter of J. H. and Lydia
(Currier) Knapp. Mr. and Mrs. Bowers are
the parents of six children, viz.: George, Marv,
Laura, Emma, Helen, and Clara. Mr. Bowers
was in the 84th Ohio Reg., Col. Lawrence,
commander.

GEORGE BRIAR, deceased; was born
in New Jersey, Aug. 13, 1817, and was
a son of James and Mary Briar, who were
the parents of nine children. His education
was received in the common schools of Penn-
sylvania, and in 1835 he came to this county;
settled in the Sangamon Bottom, and engaged
in farming until his death, which occurred
Jan. 90, 1882; he had at the time of his
driitli 200 acres of improved land. In this

CHAXDLERVILLE PRECIXCT.

285

county Sept. 4, 1844, he married Sidney Ann
Capper, a native of Ohio; born Jan. 28, 1824,
who died Jan. 31, 18 r3, leaving six children:
James D., born Nov. 26, 1846; Robert E.,
Feb. 13, 1848; George W., Dec. 13, 1849;
Charles M., March 9, 1852; Alice, March 24,
1856; and Susan, Jan. 8, 186 , all of whom are
at the honiestead farm except James D., who
is in Missouri. Mrs. Briar was a daurrhter of
Meredith and Eliza Capper, natives of Ohio.
Mr. Briar was a member of the Presbyterian
Church, and a supporter of the Republican
party.

LINUS C. CHANDLER, lawyer ; Chand-
lerville ; was born in Chandlerville, Aug. 9,
1846, to Dr. Charles and Clarissa (Child)
Chandler ; he was born in Connecticut, July
2, 1806, and died April 7, 1879 ; emigrated
to Chandlerville in the winter of 1831 — being
the founder of Chandlerville — where he was
President of Town Board for many years.
He took an active part in the business affairs
of Chandlerville; he was a druggist and mer-
chant for many years. He was a graduate from
the Dudley Academy in Connecticut, and
the Medical College, June, 1827, at Castleton,
Vermont. Began the practice of his profes-
sion in 1829 in Scituate, Rhode Island, and
continued the practice of his profession to the
time of his death, with the exception of a few
years. Was married in Connecticut in 1827,
to Mary C. Rickard; she died in 1840 or
1841. In 1842, in Chandlerville, he married
a second time, Clarissa Child, of Connecti-
cut. By the first marriage there were five
children : Mrs. Shaw and Mrs. Gen. C. E.
Lippincott, of Chandlerville, Mrs. Frackelton,
of Petersburg, Charles E., of Knoxville, Illi-
nois, and Harrison T., of Cleveland, Ohio.
By the second marriage there were three
children ; Linus C, our subject, being the
only one living. Linus C. attended Phillips'
Academy, Andover, Mass., and Illinois Col-
lege, and graduated from Harvard Law Uni-

versity in June, 1871, when he went to Chi-
cago, and entered the office with Higgins,
Swett & Quigg, and afterward with Nolton,
Smith & Scales, until the fire in Chicago,
when he returned to Chandlerville, and
opened a law office, where he has since remain-
ed. In 1872 was elected States Attorney
for Cass County, and served four years. In
1880 was elected to the Legislature, and
served two years. Was Justice of Peace, and
President of Town Board at Chandlerville.
On Sept. 5, 1873, he married Sarah L. Beane,
a native of Lisbon, N. H. She is the mother
of two children : Carl, born Feb. 16, 1876 ;
William C, Feb. 21, 1879. Mr. C. is an
active member of the Masonic order, hav-
ing been Master of his lodge for eight years.
Is a Republican.

SILAS CARR, farmer; P. O. Chandler-
ville; was born in Monroe County, 111., Nov.
10, 1810; son of Leonard and Mary (Groats)
Carr. He, a native of Hardy County, Va.;
born June 4, 1771, and died June 4, 1851.
His business was that of a blacksmith and
a farmer; was an early settler of Illinois.
She, a native of Randolph County, 111., and
dying in September 1821, aged 40 j-ears.
Our subject after receiving the education af-
forded by the schools of his native county, as-
sisted his father on the farm until he was
twenty-one years old. He came to Cass
County, 111., in April, 1863, and is now
the owner of 150 acres of land. He was mar-
ried Feb. 8, 1838, to Miss Delia Sharp, who
has borne him three children, two of whom
are now living, viz.: Francis M., and Stephen
A. Douglas. Mr. Carr and wife are connect-
ed with the Methodist Church. He stands
high in the estimation of the people as a citi-
zen and a gentleman. His political views
are in accordance with the principles of the
Republican party.

A. G. COLSON, dealer in furniture
and agricultural implements, Chandlerville;

286

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

was born in Menaid County, 111., Jan. 6'
1851, to Isaac and Dilue (Overstreet) Colson;
he, born in Maine, April 34, 1803; emigrated
to Illinois, and settled in Menard County
about 1830. During his life he followed the
occupation of a farmer, and was one of the
largest and most successful farmers of that
county; he accumulated about 10,000 acres
of well improved land, which he owned at the
time of his death, which occurred March 31,
1854. His wife, the mother of our subject,
was born in Virginia, March 15, 1814, and
died May 13, 1859. They were the parents
of one child, our subject. Mrs. Colson was
formerly Mrs. Dilue Anderson, and by him
had three children. Mr. Colson was educated
at Petersburgh and Shurtleff College. la
1873 he engaged in the mercantile business
at Oakford, Menard Co., 111., and continued
the same for about five years. In 1877 he
sold his business and removed to Chandler-
ville, where he engaged in the hotel business
for about one year. In 1878 he engaged in
the commission grain business for about four
years, and in the fall of 1881, gave his at-
tention to the agricultural implement busi-
ness. On Dec. 15, 1870, he was married
to Miss Susan E. Davis, a native of Menard
County, 111., born May 10, 1854; died Dec-
35, 1871. Nov. 21, 1873, he married Miss
Rachel Skeggs, a native of Mason County,
111.; born January 16, 1859. She is the
mother of five children, of whom but one is
living — Blessie, born May 25, 1876. Mr.
Colson is President of the Board of Trustees,
and a member of the order A. F. & A. M. He
and his wife are members of the Congrega-
tional Church. He is a Democrat.

JEREMIAH W. DAVIS, deceased. Refer-
ence to the prominent and highly industrious
class of the citizens of Cass County would be
incomplete without a brief "mention of the
active career of Jeremiah W. Davis, deceased.
He was born in Greene County, Ky., Sept. 5,

1816. He was brought to Illinois by his par-
ents, who settled in Cass County about the
year 1839. His early life was spent in receiv-
ing a limited common school education, and
assisting in tilling the home farm. At the
age of twenty years, he left his home and em-
barked on life's rugged pathway, as a farmer,
continuing the occupation to the time of his
death, which occurred in 1863. He was mar-
ried March 10, 1836, to Miss Cassandra E.
Gunn, who bore him nine children, of whom
four are now living, viz.: Jesse A., born Jan.
38, 1843; John B., B'eb. 10, 1852; Jemima
M., April 36, 1846; and Jeremiah W.,
Sept. 15, 1854. Mr. Davis commenced
life a poor boy, and by hard work succeeded
in gaining a good property. At the time of
his death he was the owner of 1,000 acres of
good land. Such, very briefly, is the career
of one who through life was highly energetic
and progressive, and whose many excellent
qualities of head and heart enabled him to
gather about him an unusually large number
of friends.

CHRISTIAN DUCHARDT, farmer; P. O.
Virgina; was born in Germany, June 21, 1830;
fifth child of a family of eleven, born to Carl
and Mary (Link) Duchardt, both natives of
Germany, where also both died; Carl Duch-
ardt was a butcher by trade. Christian re-
ceived his education in the common schools
of Germany, and at the age of seventeen emi-
grated to America, landing in New York City
in 1838. In that same year he came to this
county, where he followed the butchering
business about twenty years, and in 1858
bought eighty acres of land, and has since
devoted his attention to farming, and is now
the owner of 560 acres of improved land, all
of which has been acquired by his own labors.
He was married in this county in 1852, to
Mary A. Nollsch, a native of Germany; born
in February, 1830, who has borne him two
children: Lizzie, wife of Mr. William Neeham,

CHANDLERVILLE PRECIXCT.

287

and John. Mr. DucharJt and family are
members of the Methodist Church; he is a
Republican.

JAMES FIELDExN, farmer; P. O. Chau-
dlerville; was boru in Roachdale, England,
Jan. 10, 1829, to James and Betty (Bellfield)
Fielden; he, born in England about the year
1800, and died in this county, in 1858; he
was a son of John Fielden; she was born in
England in 1800, and died in Cass County in
18G1. They were the parents of eight chil-
dren, of whom James, the subject of this
sketch, was the youngest. He came to Amer-
ica with his father and grandfather in 1842,
and remained with his parents to the age of
twenty-five years. He learned the trade of
shoe-making, but subsequently began farm-
ing. He commenced life, as he says, — " worse
than poor," and by his industry and economy
has succeeded in accumulating 286 acres of
the best land of Cass County. His farm is
under a high state of cultivation, and has all
the modern improvements in the way of a
fine residence, barns, etc. Mr. Fielden was
married in Cass County on the fourth day of
Fehruar}', 1857, to Miss Elizabeth Briar.
Mrs. Fielden was born in Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania, in November, 1838. Mr. and Mrs.
Fielden have been blessed with seven chil-
dren, of whom four are now living: Mary,
Emma, Lincoln and Lannes. He is a mem-
ber of the Baptist Church, and she of the
Cumberland Presbyterian. Politically, Mr.
Fielden, like his father and grandfather, was
a Whig, but now unites with the Republican
party.

ROBERT FIELDEN, farmer ; P. O.,
Chandlerville, is a native of Lancashire, Eng-
land; born Feb. 23, 1819; for parents, see
sketch of James Fielden. He received his
education in his native country, and in 181:2,
in company with his parents and his grand-
father, emigrated to America, and settled on
the Sangamon Bottoms, in this county. When

thirty-one years of age, he began farming on
his own account, on a part of his father's
farm, and now owns three hundred acres of
land, part of which is well improved. He has
been twice married; in this county, in January,
1850, he married Matilda Cook, a native of Ire-
land who died in 1 858, aged thirty-seven years,
leaving four children: Samuel, in Chandler-
ville; Elizalseth J., at home; James E., a
farmer, in Kansas, and John J., at home. In
1863, ho married Sarah L. McKinnell, a native
of Lancashire, England, who died in March,
1873, aged thirty-seven years; from this mar-
riage four children were born: Henry, Benja-
man, David and Jonathan, twins. McFielden
is a Republican; he has been County Com-
missioner two years; has been Township Treas-
urer about ten years, and now holds that of-
fice; he is a member of the Baptist Church.
JOHN H. GOODELL, farmer and lumber
merchant ; P. O. Chandlerville; was born in
Thompson, Windham County, Conn., April
15, 1832, to Horace and Lucy P. (Rick-
ard) Goodell. He, born in Connecticut in
1802, came to Illinois in the spring of 1837,
and settled in Cass County, he is a farmer, and
now in the eightieth year of his age ; his
father was a captain in the Revolutionary
War. The mother of our subject was born
in Windham County, Conn., in 1808, and
died in ]868. She had seven children,
of whom John H. was the second. At the age
of eighteen he left his home and apprenticed
himself at the carpenter and joiner trade, and
followed that for about twelve years. In
1862 he enlisted in the army, and served
three years in the 114th Illinois Regiment,
Company A, under command of Capt. John-
son. He was in the battle of Vicksburg.
When Price made his march through Mis-
souri, he, in his regiment, marched from Du-
val's Bluff through to Missouri, and returned
to Nashville. In 1865, after his return homo,
he resumed his trade, and worked at it for

238

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

about two years in Jacksonville. In 1866 he
commenced farming in Cass County. In
1876 he started a large lumber business at
Chandlerville. Mr. Goodell is the owner
of about 230 acres of land, in Cass County.
In 18.51 he married Miss Helen E. Cotton, a
native of Franklin County, New York; born
in March, 1833, and died in 1863. In 1865,
Dec. 27, he married Miss Harriet A. Sewall,
a native of Cass County; born April 14, 1838.
She is the mother of seven children, six of
whom are living : Lucy, Lydia, William,
John, Andrew, Susan; all at home. Mr.
Goodell is now holding his second term as
Justice of the Peace. Self and wife are
members of the Congregational Church.
Politically, he is a Democrat.

GEORGE GEBHARTT, farmer; P. O.
Chandlerville; was born in France, now Ger-
many, Jan. 3, 1828; is the fourth child of a fam-
ily of eight children, born to Andrew and
Katerine (Derr) Gebhartt, natives of Germany.
Andrew Gebhartt was a tailor by trade, and
died in Germany. Our subject was educated
in the common schools of Germany, learning
both the French and German languages, and
remained with his parents engaged in farm-
ing until 1854, when he emigrated to Amer-
ica. He landed at New Orleans, thence came
to Beardstown, this county, and immediately
obtained emplojment on the farm of Gottleib
NoUich, with whom he remained about two
vears. He then bought eighty acres of land,
which he increased, till he now has 236 acres,
after dividing 160 acres in Christian County,
among his boys; he has on his farm a good
residence and outbuildings. In this county,
in 1857, he married Elizabeth Derr, a native
of Germany, who has borne him eight children,
six of whom are living, viz.: George W.,
John H., Amey, Franklin, Elizabeth, and
Frederick William. Himself and wife have
been members of the German Methodist church
for ^twenty-seven years; he is a Republican.

A. D. GREIF, Pastor of German Lutheran
Church, Chandlerville; was born in Meinin-
gen, Germany, June 16, 1849, to C. F. and
Susanna (Seugling) Greif, natives of Ger-
many, where they are now living. Our subject
was educated at Real Sohule College, and in

1868 emigrated to America, and landed Oct.
15, 1868, in New York, where he began teach-
ing German in the German American Insti-
tute, of Gerke Koessly, on Twenty-third
street. His pupils paid $300 per term; one
of them was the son of President Arthur. In

1869 he attended the Lutheran Theological
Seminary at St. Louis, and in 1870 graduat-
ed, and was ordained to the ministry by Dr.
C. F. W. Walther. He went to Texas in
July, 1870, where he took charge of a church
at Independence, and afterward at Serbiu. In
December, 1875, he removed to Little Rock,
Ark., where he took charge of a congrega-
tion for one and one-half years. In August,
1877, he removed to Chandlerville, this coun-
ty, where he has since remained in charge of
the German Lutheran Church. While in
Texas, he met with several mishaps: once be-
ing bitten by a rattlesnake in the back of the
head; again, by being threatened by a mem-
ber of his congregation with a butcher-knife;
and by being nearly drowned in quicksand.
In New Orleans, April 17, 1874, he married
Miss Louisa Odendahl, a native of Rostock,
Mecklenburg, Germany; born Sept. 5, 1847.
They have two children which they have
adopted — Herman and Frieda Greif.

MOSES HARBISON, farmer; P. O. Chan-
dlerville. The father of our subject w^as
Adam B. Harbison; he was born in Virginia,
on the 10th of April, 1797, and was taken to
Kentucky by his parents, when a small boy;
he was married in Kentucky, and emigrated
to Cass County, Illinois, in December, 1839,
where he engaged in farming, to the time of
his death, which occured Aug. 31, 1841. The
mother of our subject was Hannah Rhea;

CHANDLERVILLE PRECINCT.

2S9

bom in Barren County, Ky., on the 16th
of May, 1808, and dying on the 25th of Nov.
183-1. She was the mother of three children,
of whom Moses Harbison is the only living
child. He was born in Metcalf County, Ky.,
on the 3rd of Sept. 1831. His early life was
spent at hard work; after the death of his
father he made his home with John Dick
and Marcus Trobridge; at the age of fifteen
he commenced work for himself as a farm
hand. In Cass County, Jan. 7, 1858, he
married Jliss Mary A. Davis; she was born
in Cass County, Aug. 10, 183&, and died
Jan. 17,1863. In 1864, on the 13th of March,
he married Miss Lydia F. Mason, who has
borne him nine children: Sarah V., Charles
C, Mary C, James A., Robert F., Estella
F., Alice, Martha E., and Emma. He is now
the owner of 376 acres of land, and is consid-
ered one of the substantial, enterprising citi-
zens of Cass County.

FRIEDERICH HERRMANN, farmer; P.
O. Chandlerville; is a native of Wurtemberg,
Germany, and son of Martin and Margaret
Herrmann. He was born Feb. 16, 1824. His
father was born in Germany, and during his
life followed the occupation of a farmer; he
died in 1846, aged sixty-five years. His
mother was also a native of Germany. She
died in 1853, aged seventy-two years. Our
subject was educated in the common schools
of Germany, and when quite young was ap-
prenticed at the shoemaker's trade, which he
followed in Germany until 1848, when he
came to America. He made his first stop in
Mason County, where he worked at his trade
for six years, and then began farming. He
came to Cass County in 1876, and is now the
owner of 560 acres of land. In November,
1823, he married Catharine Smith, who has
borne him five children: Leonard, Henry,
Catharine, Fred, and Josephine, all of whom
are at home. Mr. Herrmann and family are
religiously connected with the German Luther-

an Church. He is a thorough business man,
and highly esteemed by the community, and
is always first in any public enterprise. He
is a good neighbor, a kind husband, and an
indulgent father.

ZACHARIAH HASH, retired farmer; P.
O. Chandlerville; was born in Green County,
April 6, 1812, to Philip and Sarah (Nance)
Hash. Philip Hash, our subject's father, was
born in Virginia, Jan. 31, 17'J0; emigrated to
Kentucky with his parents when a small boy;
in 1822, he came to Illinois, and settled in
Cass County; followed the occupation of a
farmer, served in the war of 1812. He died
in Missouri, Aug. 5, 1849. He was a son of
Thomas Hash, a native of Virginia; born Feb.
13, 1756, and died in Missouri, Dec. 5, 1848.
Our subject's mother was born near Rich-
mond, Va., Oct. 24, 1791, and died Feb. 24,
1847; she was a mother of fifteen children, of
whom our subject was the second child; her
father, Zachariah Nance, was born in Virginia,
served through the Revolutionary war, under
Washington. Our subject was brought to
Illinois by his parents in 1822, and was edu-
cated principally in Sangamon, now Menard
County. On June 26, 1834, he was married
to Miss Mary Dick, a native of Kentucky;
born Feb. 16, 1817, and died June 22, 1857;
was the mother of seven children, of whom
three are living, viz.: Phillip, Peter, and
Martha, wife of John Plunkett. He first
rented a farm in this county, on Sangamon
Bottom; he has since been engaged in farm-
ing in this county, and is now living upon
his farm, one mile southwest from Chandler-
ville, but has been retired from active labor
for several years. His second marriage oc-
curred in Mason County, April 3, 1862, to
Mrs. Susan Shelton, formerly a Bowman;
was born in Rutherford Co., Tenn., March 17,
1825; she is a daughter of Daniel Bowman,
a native of Maryland, born March 11, 1799,
and died Sept. 14, 1859. Mr. and Mrs. Hash

290

BIOGRAnirCAL SKETCHES.

have had two children, both dead. Mr. Hash
is the owner of about 200 acres of land; our
subject and wife are members of the Christian
Church. He is a Democrat. Mr. Hash says
he was often compelled to give up his house
on account of the Indians, and at other times
used to associate among them. He was
always very daring. Old Dr. Chandler, who
first laid out Chandlerville, said he had
doctored five generations of the Hash family.

ALBERT G. HAYNES, grain and imple-
ment dealer, Chandlerville; was born in Ross
County, O., Dec. 23, 1835, to Joseph and
Agnes (Clark) Haynes; he, born in Ohio in
1808, and removed to Illinois in 1854, settling
in Cass County, where he died in 1856; she,
born in Ohio, on June 13, 1813, and died in
Cass County, June 13, 1872; she was the
mother of eight children, our subject being the
second child. At the death of his father, in
1856, he commenced farming on his own ac-
count. May 1, 1872, he removed to Chand-
lerville, engaged in the mercantile busi-
ness for about six years, when he engaged in
the grain and agricultural implement business,
in the firm of A. G. Haynes & Co., in grain,
and Bowman, Haynes & Co., in the implement
business. In May, 1857, he married Miss
Julia A. Benson, a native of Steuben County,
N.Y.; she, born June 4, 1837; she is the mother
of one child — Eva, born in 1860 — at home. Mr.
Haynes has been a member of the Town
Board, and was President of the same. Polit-
ically he is a Democrat.

WILLIAM KIRCHNER, farmer; P. O.
Chandlerville; was born Jan. 19, 1834, in Ger-
many; his parents were Gottlieb and Elizabeth
(Aarps) Kirchner, natives of Germany. His
father died in 1845, aged 48 years. He was a
farmer. The mother of our subject died in
1843, aged 53 years. They were the parents
of three children, William being the youngest.
He remained with his parents until he
was twenty-one years old, and then sailed for

America, landing in New York in July, 1854;
for fifteen months his time was chiefly spent
in Wisconsin and Michigan, engaged in the
lumber business. In 1859, he came to Cass
County, where he has since remained, engaged
in agricultural pursuits. He is now the owner
of 480 acres of good land. In Cass County,
Dec. 26, 1858, he married Miss Elizabeth
Yeck, who has borne him eight children, viz.:
Mary, William, Louis, Matilda, Lizzie, Emma,
Anna and Frank. Mr. and Mrs. Kirchner are
members of the German Lutheran Church.
Mr. Kirchner, as a farmer, is practical and
prosperous; as a citizen he is enterprising and
progressive, and, together with his estimable
wife, are intelligent and esteemed citizens.
He is a Democrat.

JOHN H. KINNEY, furniture and agri-
cultural implements ; was born in Chicago,
Feb. 18, 1849, to John and Harriet (Smith)
Kinney ; he, born in Ireland, emigrated to
America, and settled near Chicago, dying
July 29, 1849 ; she, born in Ohio, in March
17, 1833, and died July, 1878 ; was the mother
of two children, John H. being the youngest.
When he was two years of age, he was given
by his mother to his uncle, Seth Houston,
and remained with him to the time of his
death, which occurred in 1881. At the age of
fourteen, Mr. Kinney began farming on his
own account in Cass County, and continued the
same until 1877, when he removed to Mason
Co., and there also engaged in agricultural
pursuits. Jan. 37, 1883, sold his farm in Ma-
son Co. and removed to Chandlerville, where
he engaged in partnership with Mr. A. G.
Colson, in a large furniture and agricultural
implement business. Mr. Kinney retained
a fitie farm of 100 acres, which he rents.
May 20, 1869, he married Miss Sarah R.
Keeth, a native of Mason Co., 111., born Feb.
4, 1846, daughter of Zeph. and Luzannah
Keeth. Mr. and Mrs. Kinney are the parents
of 6 children, 4 of whom are living : Mary E.,

CHANDLERVILLE PRECINCT.

291

Lotta, and Luzaiinah E. He is a member of
the Gc»jd Templars, and self and wife are
connected with the Cumberland Presbyterian
church. Politically, he is identified with the
prohibition ])arty.

GENERAL C. E. LIPPINCOTT, retired
physician ; ex-auditor-general ; was born at
Edwardsville, 111., on January 36, 1825, and
is the son of Thomas Lippincott and Cath-
erine n^e Leggett. His father removed to
Illinois in 1818, and took a conspicuous stand
against slavery. He afterward became a
Presbyterian minister, and remained such un-
til his death, which occurred in April, 1869.
Mr. Lippincott's mother was the daughter of
Major Abraham Leggett, of Revolutionary
fame, and was married in 1831. Our subject
after dividing his time between school and
farm life for some years, went to the little
village of Collinsonville, on the bluffs oppo-
site St. Louis, and in company with several
other young men, rented a house, worked for
his means, and entered upon a systematic
course of preparation for college. He after-
ward entered Illinois College, but being com-
pelled to abandon his course before complet-
ing it, did not obtain his degree until some
years later. In the spring of 1849 he grad-
uated from the St. Louis Medical College.
After he graduated he located at Chandler,
ville, and engaged in the practice of his pro-
fession. In the spring of 1852, owing to his
failing health. Dr. Lippincott visited Cali-
fornia. He remained there five years. While
there Dr. Lippincott was elected to the senate
by a large majority, and after serving out his
term of two years, was re-nominated, but
through trickery was defeated. In 1857, he
returned to his home in Illinois and resumed
his profession. At the breaking out of the
Rebellion he raised almost an entire company,
and after the quota of the State was filled,
again resumed his practice. After the battle
of Bull Run, he immediately wrote to Gover-

nor Yates tendering himself to the service in
any capacity. The answer came, " Bring
men." He enlisted a full company in one
week, known as Company K of the Thirty-
third Illinois Infantry, and was elected Cap-
tain. At the organization of the regiment,
he was tendered the Lieutenant-Colonelcy by
Governor Yates, but declined. Within six
weeks after he entered the service he had a
desperate fight, with but half his company
against 300 rebels under General Jeff. Thomp-
son. He was in command of the Thirty-
third regiment from the spring of 186"-i till
the fall of Mobile. He was commissioned
Captain of Company K, September 18, 1861;
Lieutenant-Colonel, March 1, 1863; Colonel,
September 5, 1862. Was mustered out Sep-
tember 16, 1865, as Brigadier-General. Upon
his return to his home. General Lippincott
was nominated Republican candidate for
congress; the district had a Democratic major-
ity of over 3,000, and he was defeated by about
500. In January, 1867, he was elected Sec-
retary of the Illinois Senate ; and during the
session was chosen door-keeper of the House
of Representatives at Washington. Before
the expiration of that congress he was elected
Auditor of Public Accounts of Illinois, and
qualified during the first week of January,
1869, and was re-elected in 1873. He was
married on December 25, 1851, to Miss Emily
Webster Chandler, daughter of one of the
earliest settlers of Cass County, a celebrated
physician.

WILLIAM DUDLEY LEEPER, de-
ceased; was a native of Greene County, Ky. ;
born Feb. 17, 1817, and was a son of Robert
A., and Frances (Summers) Leeper; the for-
mer was born in Kentucky, and emigrated to
Illinois in 1829, and came to Cass County in
1830, settling near Chandlerville; the latter
(Mrs. Leeper) was also a native of Kentucky.
They had nine children, of whom the subject
was the second, and the eldest son. He was

292

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

educated principally in the common schools
of the county, and remained with his parents
to the time of their death. Of the entire
family but one is now living — Robert, in
California. Mr. Leeper, during his life, fol-
lowed farming and stock-dealing, and by strict
integrity and business energy amassed consid-
erable wealth. He was married June 17, 1858,
in Beardstown. His second wife was Mary
Hermyer, a native of Germany, and was born
Sept. 30, 1832. She was a daughter of Henry
Hermyer, who was born in Germany, and
came to Beardstown at an early day. By his
first marriage Mr. Leeper had three children.
viz.: George W., Albert A. and Arthur. By
his second marriage he had two children —
Mary E. and Henry S. Mrs. Leeper and her
daughter are members of the Christian
church.

JACOB METZMAKER, Jr., proprietor
Park House, Chandlervilie; was born in Au-
gusta County, Va. on the 1 6th of January,
1844, and is the son of Jacob and Susan
(Chapman) Metzmaker. Jacob, Sr., was born
in Augusta County, Va, Jan. 1, 1803; he
emigrated with his family to Cass Coun-
ty, and settled in Virginia in the fall of
1855. His business is that of a farmer, at
which he still continues in his seventy-ninth
year. His wife, and mother of our subject,
was born in Rockingham County, Va., in
1802, and died in Cass County in 1871; she
was the mother of twelve children, ten girls
and two boys. Jacob, Jr., our subject, was
the ninth child. His education was ad-
vanced in Augusta County, as he says, "as
far as the single rule of three." He also at-
tended the High School at Virginia, Cass
County; he remained with his parents until
he was twenty-one years of age, and then em-
barked on his career in life as a farmer. He
continued farming until 1881, when he came
to Chandlervilie and bought the Park House.
He was married Nov. 15, 1867, to Pris-

cilla Evans, a native of Morgan County ; she
has borne him the following children: Ethel
G., born Feb 5, 1869; Veffie G., born
March 5, 1870; Otto O., born July 1, 1871;
Eulalie, born May 7, 1875. Mr. Metzmaker
served the people of Virginia as Precinct Con-
stable and City Police, and is filling the same
office in Chandlervilie to the entire satisfac-
tion of the community. He has the only pub-
lic place of entertainment of the place; by
careful management and study of the needs
of the traveling public, he is making a suc-
cess of the business. Mr. Metzmaker is a
Republican; he is a stirring, energetic man,
who has been careful to dabble in no busi-
ness to bring his name into disrepute, and as
a consequence he enjoys an honorable name
and reputation.

CHARLES McKEE, lumber merchant,
Chandlervilie, was born in Bristol, Connecti-
cut, Sept. 3, 1833, to Levi and Sophia
(Alcott) McKee; he was born in Connecticut,
and emigrated to Illinois in 1843, settling in
Hancock County, and in 1846 removed to
Cass County; was a wagon-maker, and died
in Chandlervilie. His wife, the mother of
our subject, was a native of Connecticut, and
died in 1877; she was the mother of nine chil-
dren, of whom Charles was the sixth. At
about twenty years of age he apprenticed
himself at the wagon-maker's trade, and
worked at the same until 1860, when he en-
gaged as clerk in a drug store in Chandler-
vilie, and continued for about four years. In
1864 he went west to Kansas and Iowa,
where he clerked for about two and a half
years. In 1867 he returned to Chandlervilie,
and in 1876 engaged in partnership with Mr.
Goodell, in the lumber business. In 1860 he
married Ellen Thompson, a native of Ireland;
born in 1843 and dying in 1863; leaving two
children, one of whom is still living: Robert
J. Mr. McKee is a Mason, a member of the
Congregational church, and a Republican.

CHANDLERVILLE PRECINCT.

293

W. K. MERTZ, banker, ChandlerviUe; he
was born in Beardstown, Cass Co., Dec. 18,
1853, to J. Henry and Louisa E. (Hardt)
Mertz; he was born in Germany, in 1810, emi-
grated to America in ISoO, and settled in
Williamsburg', N. Y., but soon after removed
to Chicago, where he remained but one year,
when he removed to Beardstown, Cass Co.,
dying in 1875 ; his wife, the mother of our
subject, was also born in Germany, in 1814,
and is now residing in Beardstown, enjoying
good health; she is the mother of six children,
of whom W. K. is the fifth. Our subject for
several years clerked at various places, and in
April, 1873, came to ChandlerviUe and en-
tered the employ of Lippincott, Chandler &
Co, bankers, and remained with them until
they sold out, in February, 1881, when he
became a partner in the firm of Petefish,
Skiles & Mertz, and has since conducted the
business. On June 23, 1870, he married Miss
Kate Norton, in Cass County, daughter of P.
T. Norton, of ChandlerviUe. She died May
5, 1881, leaving one child, William Norton.
Mr. Mertz is Township Treasurer, and a mem-
ber of the town board. Politically, he is a
Republican.

GOTTLIEB NOLLSCH, farmer, P. O.,
ChandlerviUe, whose portrait appears in this
work, was born April 3, 1832, in Dtlrnau,
Wurtemberg, Germany. His parents, John
R. and Elizabeth (Gerber) NoUsch, kept a ho-
tel and bakery. They had eleven children,
as follows: John L., living in this county;
John P., in Quincy, 111.; Mary, deceased;.
John E., deceased; Mary Duchardt, Qass
county; John, Springfield; Gottlieb, this
county; Lena Eckart, this county; Thomas,
Montgomery County, Kansas; Frederick, de-
ceased, in August, 1841. Mr. NOllsch's pa-
rents removed to Illinois, and settled three
miles from the present site of Virginia. Gott-
lieb remained at home, working on the farm,
until he was about twenty-six years old. On

March 13, 1848, he was married to Miss Dor-
othy Lutz, daughter of Laurence Lutz, who
is of French birth. Her parents removed to
this county in 1837. Mr. NOllsch had born to
him six children, as follows: Laurence, borv
Dec. 11, 1851; infant, Nov. 7, 1853, died a.\
birth; William Henry, March 23, 1855; Gott.
lieb Benjamin, April 13, 1857, deceased Oc.
tober, 1859; Carl Edward, June 19, 1859, de-
ceased January, 1869; Gottlieb Benjamin,
March 2, 1863. His oldest son, Laurence,
was married March 11, 1873, to Martha E.
Jokisch. They have five children: Susan,
Louisa, Bismark, Charley and Albert. In
1851, Mr. Nollsch bought his first land, one
hundred and sixty acres, and he began buy-
ing and feeding cattle and hogs. He paid
off the first purchase, and has since continued
to add to the farm, until at present he owns
eight hundred and forty-five acres of land,
under a high state of cultivation. The fam-
ly residence is a beautiful and commodious
brick structure, built by the design of Mr.
Nollsch. On Sept. 24, 1804, Mrs. Nollsch was
called to leave her companion and children.
She was a member of the Gorman Methodist
church from childhood. On Nov. 28, 1804, Mr.
Nollsch was again married to Mrs. Catharine
Mauler, widow of Henry Mauler, and daugh-
ter of John and Barbara Hobig. She had
two children by her first husband, Amelia E.,
born July 5, 1858, Caroline, May 15, 1860.
By this wife, Mr. Nollsch has born to him
seven children: Annie Margaret, born Oct.
8, 1865; Mary Magdaline, Feb. 10, 1867;
Adolph Walter, Nov. 22, 1868; George Thom-
as, Oct. 18, 1870; George Herman, March
33, 1873; Alfred, Dec. 5, 1876; Phillip,
July 13, 1879. Mr. Nollsch and lady are
members of the German Methodist Church,
in which denomination they have faithfully
served their Master, the former for thirty-four
years, and the latter twenty-eight years.
PIUS NEFF, merchant; ChandlerviUe;

294

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

was born in Germany, April 29, 1834, to
Ignatz and Mary A. (Bower) Neff. Our sub-
ject attended the common schools of Ger-
many until he was ten years of age, when
with his parents he emigrated to Pennsylva-
nia, where he succeeded in acquiring a good
business education. At the age of twenty-
three he began working upon a farm, which he
continued for several years, when he entered
the store of J. J. Mish, of Peoria, as Clerk,
where he continued until 1863, when he
started a grocery store in Peoria. In 1864
he sold out his business, and removed to
Chandlerville, where he has since remained
enaraged in mercantile business, being one of
the leading business men of Chandlerville.
In 1857, in Pennsylvania, he married Miss
Elizabeth Glaus, a native of Pennsylvania,
born in 1833. She is the mother of eleven
children, six of whom are now living, viz.:
Mary, wife of Jacob Euteneuer, of Havana,
111.; Frank, George, Gustavus, William, and
Leo. The father of our subject was born in
Germany, in 1800, and died in 1871. He
was in the old country a potter, and in Amer-
ica followed farming; he came to America in
1844. The mother of our subject was born
in Germany in 1802, and is now residing in
Pennsylvania, enjoying good health; she is
the mother of eleven children, of whom Pius
Neff was the sixth. He has been School
Treasurer of Chandlerville Township for ten
years, and still holding that office. He has
held Town Board office six times, and acted as
President of the Board for three terms. Our
subject and family are members of the Cath-
olic church. Politically, he is a Democrat.
When Mr. Neff first came, he was one of the
Board of School Directors, and with the
other members, was influential in building
the large and commodious school house of the
city.

WILLIAM A. NEILL, postmaster, Chan-
dlerviilr; was born in Knox County, O.,

April 18, 1841, to William and Sarah (Gibson)
Neill. William Neill, our subject's father,
was born in Pennsylvania, in February 1807;
removed to Ohio at an early day, and from Ohio
to Illinois in 1848, and settled in Morgan
County, where he is now residing; has followed
the occupation of a farmer, but is now retired.
His wife, and mother of our subject, was born
in Ohio, in 1812, and is still living; she is the
mother of twelve children, of whom William,
our subject, and John F., of Arcadia, 111., are
living. Our subject lived at home till he was
twenty-one years of age, when he enlisted in
Co. G,Thirty- fourth Illinois, under command of
Col. Ed. P. Kirk, and served for seven months.
He then returned to Morgan County, and was
apprenticed to the harness maker's trade, and
worked there for about one and a half years.
In May, 1865, he moved to Chandlerville,
where he worked as a journeyman at his trade
for several years, and in 1870 opened a harness
shop there. In 1876 he was appointed post-
master, which office he is now holding; he
also works some at his trade; and also does
some first class job printing, for the accommo-
dation of the business men of town and vicini-
ty; and also keeps a stationery and cigar store,
in connection with his other business. On
Feb. 21, 1866, he married Maria J. Parr, a
native of Illinois, daughter of Oliver Parr (de-
teased). Mr. and Mrs. Neill are the parents
of one child, Fred; born May 24, 1879.
Mrs. Neill is a member of the Congregational
Church, and Mr. Neill of the Methodist. He
is a Republican, and cast his first vote for
Abraham Lincoln, the first time be ran.

PHILO T. NORTON, tin and hardware;
Chandlerville; was born in Wheeling, Va.,
April 29, 1826, to Thomas P. and Mary E.
(Goldenborough) Norton; he, born in Massa-
chusetts, and emigrated to Burton, O., in 1812
removed to Pittsburg, Pa., in 1822 removed to
Wheeling, Va., and in 1844 emigrated to Cass
County, and settled in Beardstowu, where he

CHANDLERVILLE PRECINCT.

295

remained to the time of liis death, which occur-
red in 1853; his Nvit'e was also a native of
Wheeling, where she died, and was the mother
of seven children, Philo T. being the oldest.
He was a cabin-boy on a steamer on the Ohio,
and at the age of eighteen years came with his
parents to Beardstown, Cass County, and with
his father, started a tin and hardware store.
In 1859 he came to Chandlerviile, where he
also engaged in the tin business, being one of
the leadinff business men of the town. In
1852, in Beardstown, he married Miss Mary
E. Clark, a native of Beardstown, who is now
dead; she was the mother of four chil-
dren, two of whom are now living: Charles C.
and Emma. In Beardstown Mr. Norton acted
as Marshal for two years (in 1853 and 1858),
and also Deputy Sheriff and Coroner for
eight vears, beinff elected in 184G; he is a
member of the A. F. and A. M., and a Demo-
crat.

CAPT. SHERMAN PADDOCK, retired
sea captain, Chandlerviile; was born in Middle-
town, Conn., June 4, 1831, to Joseph and Mary
H. (Austin) Paddock; he, born in Connecticut
in October, 1798; followed the occupation of a
farmer, and died in his native State Dec. 6,
1877; his wife, the mother of our subject, was
born in Connecticut, May 3, 1799, and died in
the same State Jan. 8,1881; she was the mother
of five children, of whom the Captain was the
fourth. He received his education in the
schools of his native county, and at the age of
fourteen made his first voyage to the island
of Santa Cruz. At the age of seventeen was
second mate of a vessel, and at the age of
eighteen became first mate, and continued as
first mate until he was twenty-two years of
age, at which time he became master, and
served in that position until July 15, 1879 on
different classes of vessels. The Captain has
made many trips to Europe, South America,
the East Indies, and, in fact, to nearly all parts
of the world. During his sea life he became

interested in the ownership of several vessels,
and is at the present time part owner in sev-
eral vessels. In 1879 he made up his mind
to retire from sea life, and in August of that
year, removed his family to his present resi-
dence, it being his intention to remain here
until the Supreme Captain of the Watch should
call him to his last " eight bells below." The
Captain enjoys good health, and is considered
one of the substantial men of Cass County.
In 1853, he was married to Miss Henrietta
Spencer, a native of Middletown, Conn. She
died in 1870, leaving two children : Carry,
residing in Middletown, Conn., and Frederick
S., of Connecticut. July 28, 1880, he married
Caroline Joeckel, a native of Indiana. Polit-
ically, is identified with the Democratic party.
In his sea life he never met with an accident.
His oldest brother was one of the oldest set-
tlers of Chandlerviile.

JEPTHA PLASTER, retired farmer; P.
O. Chandlerviile; he was born on ^le 19th
day of March, 1837, in Robertson County,
Tenn., and is the son of Thomas and Eliza-
beth (Batts) Plaster. Thomas Plaster, his
father, was born in Robertson County, Tenn.,
on the Gth day of May, 1803; emigrated to
Cass County, 111., in 1838, where he entered a
small tract of land. He followed farming
until his death, which occurred May 30, 1858.
He served in the " Black Hawk " war. His
mother was born in Robertson County, Tenn.,
in 1803, and died in 1853. Mr. Plaster's
early education was quite limited, although
later in life he succeeded in gaining a good
practical business education. ^.& followed
farming, until the spring of 1881, with the ex-
ception of about one year, while he was en-
gaged in mining in California. In 1880, he
erected, by his own design, a large commodi-
ous residence in Chandlerviile, where he now
resides. He is now the owner of about 900
acres of land, the most of which is under a
hiu-h state of cultivation. Our subject was

296

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

married in Mason County, Oct. 14, 1858, to
Miss Elizabeth, daughter of John and Rosanna
(Adkins) Johnson. Mrs. Plaster was born in
Cass County, on the 15th of March, 1838. Mr.
Plaster was elected, and served the people
four years, as Associate Justice.

A. M. PENDLETON, dealer in grain and
agricultural implements, Chandlerville ; was
born in Monroe County, Mo., Dec. 28, 1840,
to John and Elizabeth (Odell) Pendleton.
John Pendelton was born in Culpepper
County, Va., Aug. 1, 1805 ; emigrated to
Missouri in 1830, where he is now residing,
engaged in farming. His wife, the mother of
our subject, was born in Rappahannock, Va.,
Aug. 22, 1812, and died in 1871. She was the
mother of ten children, of whom Arthur M.
was the third ; of the ten children but four
are now living. At about the age of twenty-
one years, he entered as clerk in a drug store
in Paris, Mo., where he continued until about
the time of the war. In 1861, he enlisted
in the Third Missouri Reg. State Troops, and
served for about fifteen months. After his re-
turn from the armj', he again engaged as
clerk in a dry goods store at St. Louis, and
various other places. In 1867, he removed
to Illinois, and engaged in teaching school in
Menard and Cass Counties, and in Chandler-
ville High School, of which he was Principal
for three years and a half. In 1879, he en-
gaged in the grain and agricultural imple-
ment business. In 1869, he married Miss
Hester Hewitt, a native of New Jersey ;
born Nov. 9, 1843 ; she is the mother of
three children, two of whom are living : Stel-
la, aged ten years, and Arthur M., jr., aged
eight. Is a member of the A. F. and A. M.;
is Secretary of the Lodge. He has held the
office of Village Clerk for two years. Polit-
ically, Democratic.

N. S. READ, M. D., Chandlerville, was born
in Ashtabula County, O., July 25, 1820, to Ira
and Mary (Smith) Read; he, born in Tyring-

ham, Mass., Feb. 25, 1790; he was a farmer;
emigrated to Ohio about 1815, and died Oct.
31, 1861; she was born in Tyringham, Mass.,
July 23, 1790, and died April 21, 18G9; was
the mother of six children, four boys and two
girls, N. S. being the third. Of the six chil-
dren, five are now living. In 1811, our sub-
ject began the study of medicine, with his
brother, A. N. Read, of Norwalk, O. In 1843
entered the medical college at Cleveland, O.,
and graduated in 1844; His first practice of
his profession was in Ashtabula County, O.
In 1846 he removed to Geauga County, O.,
where be remained until 1852, when he re-
moved to Illinois and settled in Chandlerville,
his present residence, where he has since re-
mained. Oct. 1, 1811^, in Geauga County,
O., he married Miss Lydia C. Canfield, a
native of Geauga Cjuiity, born Jan. 11,
1826. She is the daughter of Orin and Anna
(Beard) Canfield. Mr. and Mrs. Read are
the parents of five children, two of whom are
now living: Ira, and Lucy, wife of John
Morse, of Chandlerville. He is an active
member of the A. F. & A. M., and of the
Chapter. Self and family are members of the
Congregational Church, and he has acted as
superintendent of the Sunday school for
twenty-nine consecutive years. Politically, he
is a Republican. Is a member of the Morgan
County Medical Society, the Illinois State So-
ciety, and the American Medical Association.
PETER W. RICKARD, farmer; P. O.
Chandlerville; is a native of Windham
County, Connecticut. He was born Aug.
26, 1823, and is the son of Peter and Mary
(Heley) Rickard. His father was born in
Massachusetts, in 1769, and died in July,
1823. He was killed in the Revolution-
ary war. His mother was also a native of
Massachusetts. She was born in 1783, and
died in 1852. Peter W. was educated in
Connecticut in the Duley and Thompson
Academies. His early life was spent at the

■'■*•%

i^rti

^^m'r

"^Uls.

CHANDLERVILLE PRECINCT.

299

home of his brother-in-law, Erastus Childs.
In ]8J:-i, he came to Cass County, where he
has since remained, engaged in teaching
school, merchandising and farming. At the
present time he is tilling the soil of 230 acres
of well improved land. In 184Q he was mar-
ried to Miss Elizabeth Peas, who bore him one
child, Henry, now living in Morgan County-
He married a second time, Mary Harbison,
who died a few years afterward, and in 1859
he married Mary C. Taylor, who has borne
him six children, viz.: Charles E., John T.,
Frank M., Emma and James A. Mr. Rickard
is a Republican, and he and Mrs. Rickard are
members of the Congregational Church.

JOSEPH RAWORTH, farmer; P. O.
(/handlerville; was born in Sheffield, England,
Dec. 30, 1820, and is the eldest of two chil-
dren, born to Ebenezer H. and Sarah (Wing)
Raworth, natives of England. Ebenezer H.
Raworth, who was a grocer, died Aug. 11,
1858, aged sixty-six years, and was interred
at the Cemetery Church, Sheffield, England;
his wife, born in 1799, died in 1824. Joseph
received his primary education in the parish
schools, finishing at Mooregate Academy, near
Rotherham, England. In 1844, he came to
America, landed in New Orleans the fifth of
April that year, engaged in steamboating two
years, taught school three months in 184G,
■went to Scott County, Ills., and began farm-
ing, and in 1860 came to this county. He
has since followed farming in this county,
and now has 105 acres here and 320 acres in
Nebraska, all of which has been made by his
own labors, he having had only a crown in
his pocket when he landed in New Orleans.
He married in Mason County, Ills., in August
1857, Alice Tomlinson, a native of England,
born in February, 1832. From this union six
children have been born: Ebenezer, Mary,
John, Emeline (deceased), Elizabeth, and
Richard D. Mr. Raworth is a Greenbacker;
he and his wife are Methodists.

ALFRED T. SMITH, miller, Chandler-
ville; was born in Chemung County, N. Y.,
Jan. 20, 1831; to Samuel and Anna (Roads)
Smith. Samuel Smith was born in New
York, November 27, 1790; removed to Illi-
nois in fall of 1837, and settled in Menard
County, where he followed the occupation of
a farmer; in 1852 he removed to this county,
where he also engaged in farming; he died
Jan. 21, 1871?; he was in the war of 1812.
His wife, and mother of our subject, was
born in Duchess County, N. Y., January
15, 1802, and died July 11, 1870; she was
the mother of ten children, five boys and
five girls, all of whom lived to maturity.
Of the ten children, Alfred T. was the fifth
child. When six years of age he came to
Illinois with his parents, and at the age of
twenty-two engaged as a farm hand; he contin-
ued in that occupation about three years;
then followed the trade of house painting in
this county, until 1879, when he engaged in
the milling business with Mr. W. W. Baker,
at Chandlerville; the present firm is Smith
and Carr; their mill is called Chandlerville
Mills, and makes the well known brand of
"Gilt Edge," flour in which they have a
large trade. The mill has now a capacity of
fourteen barrels per day, and they intend en-
larging and improving it. April 15, 1866,
he married Miss Laura J. Chapman, a native
of Illinois, born Sept. 24, 1842, daughter
of Jesse M., and Margaret (McGahan) Chap-
man; he, born March 4, 1794, died November
5, 1871; she, born August 8, 1800, died April
27, 1848. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have five
children: Albert, Charles C, Anna M., Laura
and Edward. He is independent in politics.

B. H. SHANKLAND, retired farmer; P.
O. Chandlerville; was born in Nicholas Coun-
ty, Ky., Nov. 23, 1843, son of A. G. and Judith
(Stoops) Sliankland. He, A. G., was a native
of Nicholas County, Ky., and was mar-
ried Doc. 29, 1825, moving to Brown County,

300

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

III., in 1853, where he remained till 185(5,
when he moved to his late residence, where
he lived till death called him away. May 7,
1881, aged 74 years. He raised a family of
nine children, four girls and five boys, all of
whom are living, except one, Mrs. James
Plew, who died three years ago. Mr. Shank-
land was a useful and consistent member of
the Methodist Church for over fifty years, and
was loved and respected by all who knew
him. His wife, who is still living in Brown
County, was also a native of Nicholas County,
Ky., and was born within 11 days of the birth
of her husband. At the age of 19, our sub-
ject left home, and began farming on his own
account, but removed in 1874 to this county.
In April, 18S1, he retired from farming, and
removed to Chandlerville. He owns about
600 acres of land. April 3, 1861, he married
Miss Henrietta Briggs, a native of Brown
County, who died in 1871, leaving five chil-
dren, only one of whom is now living, Laura
Belle, born Nov. 24, 1871. Feb. 2, 1876, he
married Mrs. Elizabeth Dick, of Menard
County, daughter of William and Jane Peak,
natives of Kentucky. Two children are the
result of this union: Lee, born May 30, 1878,
and Ora, born May 20, 1881. Mr. Shankland
served in the late war about six months, as a
member of Company F, 135th Reg. Ind. Vol.
He and wife are Methodists, and he is an A.
F. and A. M., and a Democrat.

THOMAS P. TAYLOR, retired merchant,
Chandlerville; was born in Lancashire, Eng-
land, June 18, 1828, to Mark and Ann (Scott)
Taylor; he, born in Lancashire, England, in
J 779, and died in 1844; she, born in Lanca-
shire, England, in 1789, and died in 1864; she
was the mother of thirteen children, of whom
Thomas was the eighth. He began working
in a cotton factory when eight years old, and
was principally engaged in the factory until
he was twenty-two years of age, when he
came to America, and made his first stop in

Delaware County, Penn., and engaged in a
woolen mill. In 1853, he went to Pottsville,
Penn., and from there to Delaware, and then
returned to Pennsylvania and remained about
twelve months. In 1855, he removed to Illi-
nois, and settled in Morgan County. In
March, 1850, he removed to Cass County, and
settled on the bottom lands, and engaged
with one Mr. Fielding upon a farm, until
1802, when he bought a farm of about 250
acres in Cass County, and began farming on
his own account. In 1877 he removed to
Chandlerville, and engaged in mercantile
Ijusiness, which he continued until April,
1882, when he sold his business to Mr. Morse,
and retired from active labor. In July, 1862,
he married Miss Ann Fielding, a native of
England; born Feb. 28, 1821; a daughter of
James and Betty (Bellfield) Fielding. Mr.
and Mrs. Taylor were the parents of one
child, who is dead. Our subject and wife are
members of the Baptist Church. Politically,
he is a Republican.

Z. A. THOMPSON, merchant; Chandler-
ville; was born in Petersburgh, 111., Dec.
27, 1858, to Aaron and Amanda ( Flinn )
Thompson ; his father was born in New Jer-
sey, Jan. 28, 1810; was a sea captain and
emigrated to Illinois about 1830, settling in
Sangamon County, and removed to Menard
County in 1835, where he is still residing, en-
gaged extensively in stock raising and farm-
ing. His wife, the mother of our subject,
was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Sept.
22, 1837, and is the mother of five children,
of whom L. A. Tliompson is the second child.
In addition to the ordinary schools, he attend-
ed the Illinois College from 1874 to 1877, and
in 1878 he entered the University of Ann Ar-
bor, Mich., where he studied law. In 1879, he
engaged in the mercantile business at Chand-
lerville, where he has since remained engag-
ed in the same business, and is at the present
time considered one of the leading business

CHANDLERVILLE PRECINCT.

301

men of the town. He is a member of the
A. F. and A. M. Politically, he is identified
■with the Democratic party.

PETER VOLLMERR, grocer; Chandler-
ville; was born in Hanover, Germany, Aug.
6, 1848, to Peter and Margaret (Klinck) Voll-
uierr; he was born in G(Mman\', where he fol-
lowed the occupation of a farmer, dying in
1881, aged eighty years. His wife, the moth-
er of our subject, was also a native of Ger-
many, where she died when Peter was an
infant. They were the parents of six boys
and one girl, our subject being the only one
in America. He left his home when he was
twenty years of age, and landed in New York,
Dec. 14, 1808; then went to Charleston, South
Carolina, where he remained two years. In
1870 he came to Chandlerville, where he en-
gaged as a farm hand for about four years,
when he built a fine brick block, and started
in the grocery business, where he also con-
ducts a bakery. He has met with good suc-
cess, having commenced poor, and is now
among the leading businessmen of Chandler-
ville. He was married in Cass County in
1876, to Miss Lettie Durring, a native of Ger-
many, who is the mother of two children:
Alice and John. He and wife are members
of the German Lutheran Church; and he is a
Democrat.

WILLIAM L. WAY, grain dealer, Chand-
lerville; was born in Crawford County, Ind.,
Nov. 3, 18-23, to Samuel and Ruth (Parr) Way.
Samuel Way was born in Bristol, England;
emigrated to Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 18, 1819,
and settled in Crawford County, Ind., where he
married ; he came to this county in November,
1837, where he followed farming to the time of
his death, which occurred in 183G ; his wife was
born in Adair County, Ky., and died in Chand-
lerville, this countv, in April, 1864; she was
the mother of seven children, five boys and
two girls, our subject being the oldest. At
twenty-four years of age he engaged as

clerk in a store in Morgan County, 111., and
after two years went to Beardstown, where he
was engaged by John McDonald, as dry goods
and grocery clerk. He remained with Mr.
McDonald as clerk, one year, when the latter
started him in business in Chandlerville under
the firm name W. L. Way & Co., and after
continuing under that name three years, Mr.
Way bought out the interest of his employer,
and carried on the business alone until 1865,
when he sold out and went to Iowa, where he
sold goods and packed pork. In 1867 he re-
turned to Chandlerville, where he has since
remained, engaged in the grain and mercan-
tile business. He was married in this county
in 1804, to Emeline, daughter of David Carr,
and a native of this county. They have three
boys : David Henry, assisting his father in
the grain business, Thomas Edward and Will-
iam Carr, also assisting their father. He is a
member of the A. F. and A. M., and I. O. O. F.

ELIJAH WATKINS, livery and sale sta-
ble, Chandlerville; was born in Cass County,
111., Feb. 3, 1859, and is the son of William and
Emeline (Hinchee) Watkins. His early life
was spent in receiving such an education as
the common schools of his native county af-
forded, and assisting in tilling the soil of his
father's farm. Being raised on a farm, Mr.
Watkins in 1879 began farming on his own
account, working a farm of sixty-five acres.
In 1883 he bought, of Mr. Philo T. Norton, the
sale and livery stable which he is now man-
aging. By careful management, and study
of the needs of the traveling public, he is
making a success of this business. In 1879,
he was married to Miss Anna Cone. Two
children are the result of this union, viz.: Ora
Lee, and an infant (unnamed).

FRANK ZILLION, farmer, P.O.Virginia;
is a native of Prussia, Germany; born Aug.
24, 1835; son of Godfried and Louisa (Prong)
Zillion, natives of Germany, where they both
died. He is the fifth child of a family of

302

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

eight children, and received his education in
^the common schools of his native land. At
the age of sixteen he apprenticed to the black-
smith's trade, at which he worked till 1855,
when he emigrated to America, and landed in
New York; moved to Illinois the same week;
worked at Quincy at his trade for about a
month, then came to this county, settled in
Virginia, and worked by the month on a farm
for three years. In 1858, he rented land in
Sangamon County, 111., which he farmed two
years, then came back to this county and en-

listed in the 6th 111. Cavalry, and after serving
four years and two months, returned to tliis
county, where he bought eighty acres of land,
and has since followed farming. During his
services he took part under Gen. Hunt, in
the engagements around Nashville, Tenn.
He married in this county in 18G6, Kate Yeo-
mens ; they have nine children, of whom
seven are living, viz.: Joseph, Charles, Willie,
Eliza, Frank, John, and Kate. Mr. Zillion is
a Republican.

ASHLAND PRECINCT.

303

ASHLAPJO PRECiNCT.

ISAAC N. BEAVER, druggist, Ashland,
was born in Champaign County, Ohio, Jan-
uary 3, 1833, to Isaac and Rachael (Boj-er)
Beaver, natives of Virginia. His father was
born January 5, 1793, and was a farmer by oc-
cupation ; his death occurred May 1,
1847; his wife died in 1839, aged about
thirty-five years; she was the mother of eight
children, of whom Isaac was the sixth child.
When he was thirteen years of age, he en-
gaged to learn the trade of a tanner, at which
business he remained about nine years, after
which he farmed ten or fifteen years, and
then entered the drug business. In the spring
of 18S0, he came to Ashland, this county,
where he purchased the drug business of B.
C. Randall, and has since continued in that
business, at which he has been more than or-
dinarily successful, and has built up a large
and steadily increasing business. He was
married in Champaign County, Ohio, March
7, 1854, to Miss Ruannah Hess, who was
born in Seneca County, Ohio, June 26,
1832; she is the mother of six children, of
whom three are still living, the balance of
whom died in infancy; those living are Ella,
wife of Dr. Shannon, of Industry., Ill; Ro-
manus, living at home and interested in the
drug business with his father; Orra, residing
at Industry, engaged in the drug business,
with his brother-in-law. Dr. Shannon. Mrs.
Beaver is a daughter of Abraham and Sarah
(Zerkle) Hess, natives of Virginia, and of
German descent; both still living near Indus-
try, Illinois. Mr. Beaver has been an active
member of the fraternity of A. F. and A. M.
for about 26 j'ears, and has held offices of more
or less importance about one-half of the time.
Politically he has been a life long Republican;

always takes a part in any county enterprise
that favors the interest of the county, such
as churches, schools, and all other public im-
provements.

JOHN BLANK, hardware merchant; Ash-
land; was born in Germany, Nov. 15, 1840; re-
ceived his education in his native land, and as-
sisted in a bakery until he was seventeen years
of age, when he emigrated to America, and lo-
cated at Quincy, Illinois, where he remained
about five years, and during the time learned
the trade of a tinner. In 1871 he removed to
Ashland, and worked for a Mr. Cullum,
whom he bought out, and continued the bus-
iness upon his own account; at present his
store is well stocked with the goods usually
found in a hardware store and tinshop com-
bined. He was married Nov. 25, 1867, to
Almira Best, who was born in Cass County,
June 19, 1850; she is the mother of four
children: Leonia, Delia, Gertrude and John.
Mrs. Blank is a daughter of "Wilson J. and
Nancy (Miller) Best. John Blank, Senior,
was a native of Germany, a farmer by occu-
pation, and died in 1864, aged sixty years.
Christenia Blank, his wife, was also a native
of Germany, and died in 1847, aged about
fifty-two years; they bad six children, of
whom John was the youngest. Although he is
a man not much interested in politics, his
sympathies are ^N-ith the Republican party.

ALONZO F. BURNHAM, physician and
surgeon, Ashland ; was born in Mason Coun-
ty, 111. June 29, 1853 ; son of Henry C.
and Angeline (Currier) Burnham. Henry
C. Burnham, a farmer by occupation, was
born at Hampton, Windham Co., Conn., .Ian.
30, 1826, and has, since 1853, resided in Salt
Creek Township, Mason Co., 111. ; his wife

304

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

was born at Canandaigua, Ontario Co., N. Y.,
Dec. 16, 1835 ; they are the parents of seven
children. The doctor received his primary
education in the country schools, and after-
ward attended an academy, after which he
taught school and worked on the farm. At
the age of twenty-two he began the study of
medicine with Dr. J. P. Walker, of Mason
City, 111.; and attended the Rush Medical Col-
lege three winter terms and one summer
term, and graduated in 1878. He came to
Ashland, April 3, 1878, and entered into
partnership with Dr. John Walker ; they
practiced in company until October, 1880,
when, on account of ill health, Dr. Walker
retired from the practice of his profession,
and Dr. Burnham has since practiced alone,
meeting with good success. He was married
Oct. 29, 1879, in Mason Co., 111., to Emma
Blunt, a native of that county, born .Jan. 3,
1859, daughter of A. A. and Martha A. (Trail-
er) Blunt ; he was born in Hart Co., Ky.,
Feb. 21, 1831 ; she was born in Springfield,
111., June 23, 1831 ; from this union they have
had one child, P. Garfield, born April 4,
1881, died Aug. 2, 1881. The doctor is a
Republican and a member of the I. O. O. F.,
the K. of H. and the A. O. F.

JOHN BEGGS, farmer and stock-dealer;
P. O. Ashland; was born in Morgan County,
Illinois, Aug. 7, 1831. At the age of eighteen
he began farming in Morgan County, where
he remained until 1858, when he removed to
his present place of residence, where he has
since remained, engaged more or less exten-
sively in farming and in stock-dealing. His
large and commodious farm residence is one
of the finest in the county. He has been
identified with the Republican party since
the days of the old line Whigs. He was mar-
ried in Cass County, Dec. 18, 1855, to Miss Sai-
lie Sinclair, daughter of Samuel and Malinda
(Bird) Sinclair, natives of Kentucky, both de-
ceased. Mrs. Beggs was born in Morgan

County, March 16, 1834. She is the mother
of seven children, viz.: Emma, wife of Ed-
ward C. Beggs, of Ashland; Anna, Charles
S., John T., Nellie, Myra and Samuel
W. Charles Beggs, the father of our sub-
ject, was born in Rockingham County, Va.,
Oct. 30, 1775; he was a farmer by occu-
pation, and was a noted politician at an early
day, and was a member of the Constitutional
Convention that framed the constitution of
Indiana; he served several terms in the Leg-
islature of Indiana, and was captain of cavalry
in the war of 1812, and was in the engage-
ment at Tippecanoe; his death occurred Oct.
21, 1869. His wife, Mary Ruddell, a native
of Hardy Co., Va., was born April 28, 1790,
and died Aug. •!, 1871. She was the mother
of nine children, of whom John, the subject
of the sketch was the youngest. Religiously,
himself and wife are connected with the
Methodist Church.

JOSEPH BOWERS, farmer, P. O. Ashland,
was born in Derbyshire, England, Nov.
26, 1816. His early life was spent in the
cotton factories of England, and when twen-
eight-years of age he emigrated to Amer-
ica, and located at Philadelphia; in 1849 he
moved to Cass County, Illinois, and took upon
himself the duties of farm life; in 1858 he
purchased a quarter section of wild prairie,
upon which he now resides. He was married
in Cass County, July 19, 1846. His wife,
Hannah Gill, was born in Yorkshire, England,
March 6, 1817; she has borne him seven
children: Richard, a prominent young farmer,
living near the homestead; James, in Denver,
Colorado, speculating in mines; Mary A.,
wife of Wat Sinclair; Thomas, farmer, single,
living at home; Jennie, wife of John Sinclair,
living near home; William, a graduate of the
Illinois College, at Jacksonville, a teacher by
profession; Joseph, at home. Mrs. Bowers
was a daughter of Richard and Betty (Hinch-
cliff,) Gill, native of England, deceased.

ASHLAND PRECINCT.

305

Joseph Bowers, the father of the subject of
this sketch, was a native of England, a me-
chanic by occupation; born March 4, 1790;
died April 8, 1854. Betty Howe, his wife,
■was also a native of England; born August
1, 179o; died December 29, 185G; they
were the parents of fifteen children, of whom
only four are now living, and of whom Joseph
is the third child. Mrs. Bowers is a Metho-
dist, and Mr. Bowers has always been identi-
fied with the Republican party.

JOHN L. DOUGLASS, retired blacksmith,
Ashland; was born at Midison, Jefferson Co.,
Ind., June 3, 1823; son of Asahel and Jane
(Kikindall) Douglass. Asahel, a native of
Connecticut, was born May 19, 1791, and died
Jan. 21, 1880; his wife, born in Pennsylva-
nia, Nov. 6, 1802, died Nov. 28, 1879; they
were the parents of eleven children; John
L., when two years of age, went with his
parents to Lexington, Ky., thence to Metcalfe
Co-, that State, where his youth was spent in
assisting his father in his mercantile and
trading interests. When about twenty years
of age he began blacksmithing with his father,
and after having learned the trad(!, came, in
1857, to Virginia, this county, and the fol-
lowing j'ear removed to Ashland, and pur-
chased a shop which had been in operation
but a few months. Here he continued in
business until 1881. He served as magistrate
one year, and is now performing the duties of
that office, having been re-elected in the fall
of 1881. During the late war, he entered the
service in Co. I, 1st I. V. I., under Capt. Jesse
F. Newman, the regiment being commanded
by Col. Charles Fox, and remained in service
three years. In Adair Co., Ky., April 27,
1847, he married America E. Yates, born in
Kentucky, May 31, 1831, daughter of Mel-
ford and Catherine (Creels) Yates, natives of
Adair Co., that State. From this union twelve
children have been born, viz.: Melford A.,
John W. O., Jane C, Onin A. (died July 12,

1858; was the first person who died in Ash-
land), Louan, Rebecca C, Luthor H., Maud
L , Maria O., Mary E., George T., and Reu-
ben C. M". Douglass and wife are connected
with the Methodist church; he has been an
active member of the L O. O. F., for a num-
ber of years; was one of the charter members
of Oak Lodge No. 341, at Ashland. He was
originally an old line Whig, and is now a
Republican.

WILLIAM S. DOUGLASS, retired car-
penter, Ashland; was born in Lexington,,
Ky., July 1, 1827. He received an ordi-
nary education, and at the age of 22, left
home and engaged in farming for about
nine years; then learned the carpenter
trade, at which he worked till 18G2, build-
ing some of the first houses erected in Ash-
land, and assisting in the erection of the princi-
pal business blocks of the town. In Jackson-
ville, 111., Feb. 20, 1855, he married Mary
Virginia Job, born in Morgan County, 111., Dec.
14, 1830, who has borne him four children, viz.:
Charles F., Grace, Helen and Willie T. Dur-
ing the late war, Mr. Douglass enlisted in
Co. D, 114th 111. V. I., under Capt. Berry, the
regiment being in command of Col. Judy, and
served three years, and during that time par-
ticipated in fourteen battles. Mr. Douglass
retired from active life some time since, has
been a member of the town board of Ash-
land, and school director for twelve years; he
is a Republican, and was formerly a member
of the I. O. O. F.

ALONZO S. FAY, Lawyer, Ashland, was
born in Virginia, in October, 1853; son of
Perry and Ellen (Rasenberger) Fay. Perry
Fay, subject's fatlier, was born in New York
in 1814, came to Illinois in 1848, and taught
school till 1854, when he started West, and has
not since been heard of; his wife, born in the
State of Virginia, in 1820, died at Princeton,
111., in 1858, leaving tvvo children, viz.: Alon/o
S. and Luela (died in July, 1881.) Subject

306

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

followed farming for a tiiiio; then entered the
Asbury Institute of Indiana, where after pur-
suing his studies in the classical course for six
years, he graduated in June, 1879. He then
entered the law office of Epler & Gallon, in
Jacksonville; and, after reading law there two
years, was admitted to the Bar at Springfield,
111., in November, 1881; then formed a part-
nership with Hon. J. M. Epler, and located at
Ashland, where he is engaged in the practice
of his profession. He is a Democrat, and a
member of the I. O. O. F.

WATSON W. GAILEY, Physician, Ash-
land, was born near Newcastle, Pa., July 19,
1843, of Scotch parentage, and claims an an-
cestry running back to the House of Stuart;
the grand maternal uncle of his mother,
Elizabeth Stuart Macready, being none other
than Charles Stuart, the Pretender; his
father John Gailey, is a descendant of one
of those gallant Highlanders who were
banished from their native land, and took
refuge in the North of Ireland. Our subject,
after obtaining an ordinary education, at-
tended medical lectures in Philadelphia. In
1862 he entered the medical service of the
United States, and was assigned to duty in
front of Richmond. After the close of the
war, the Doctor traveled to some extent, but
finally located in Morgan Co., 111., at the little
village of Prentice, which has so decreased
since the rise of Ashland, that it is almost
obliterated. He has a fine practice. April
13, 1865, he married Miss Luella E. Carson,
daughter of John and Nancy Carson, who
bore him two children, Ernest C, and Louis,
both of whom are dead. Mrs. Watson also
died July 19, 1868. In January, 1873, he
married Miss Lizzie M. Sinclair, daughter of
Samuel Sinclair (Virginia Sam). Four boys
have blessed this last marriage: Byron, Dar-
win Spencer, Eugene Paul and Marsh Draper,
the last named being now dead. In 1877 the
Doctor built a fine residence at Ashland,

where he resides. He has a very extensive
practice, and always keeps fully up to the
front in advanced medical and surgical prac-
tice. He is a republican in politics and
religion, meaning by the latter that he ac-
knowledges the good in all churches.

LEWIS C. HEWITT, Farmer, P. O.
Ashland, was born at Cape Newtown, New
Jersey, May 22, 1849. At the age of 37 years
he left home and began working as a farmer,
locating in Cass Co., 111., where he has since
remained, engaged more or less extensively
in farming. In 1877 he removed to his pres-
ent place of residence, located three miles
west of Ashland. His farm consists of 400
acres of choice rolling land, all under a high
state of cultivation. He deals, to quite an ex-
tent, in stock of all kinds. He was married at
Virginia, Cass Co., January 4, 1876, to Miss
Alice Long, who was born in Cass Co., Oct.
35, 1858. She is the mother of three child-
ren, viz., Jessie, Allie, and Lewis. Mrs.
Hewitt was a daughter of Jesse and Maria
(Grisby) Long, both deceased. Thomas Hew-
itt, the father of Lewis, who was born in New
Jersey, was one of the early settlers of
Menard Co., and still follows the occupation
of a farmer; he was born in 1833. His wife,
Abigail Hand, also a native of New Jer-
sey, died in, or about, 1858, aged about thirty-
four years. She was the mother of four chil-
dren, of whom Lewis was the eldest. Po-
litically, he has always been identified with
the Democratic party.

SAMUEL L. HAMILTON, grain dealer,
Ashland, a son of Charles B. and Sarah Claphan
(Lucket) Hamilton, was born in Loudoun
County, Va., Dec. 17, 1835. Charles B. Ham-
ilton, subject's father, a native of Virginia, a
farmer and merchant, died in 1864, asred 56
years; his wife, also a native of Virginia, is still
living, and is about 73 years of age; of their
nine children our subject is the third. Samuel
L., in 1870 engaged in the mercantile business

ASHLAND PRECINCT.

307

in Mason County, 111., and after remaining
there three years, removed his business to
Ashland, his family accompanying him. In
1880, he sold out the mercantile business, and
gave his attention to the grain and stock trade,
but at present is engaged in grain dealing
only. In May, 1870, he married Eleanor,
daughter of Samuel Sinclair; she was born
January 23, 1830, and died December 1, 1881,
leaving five children, viz.: Charles S., Maud,
Samuel S., Lloyd L. and Sarah E. Mr. Ham-
ilton served three years and three months in
the late war; he enlisted in Co. "F," 19th
III. Volunteer Infantry, under Capt. AUerd,
Col. Scott commanding the regiment. During
his army service he received an injury which
laid him up for nearly two years. He is a
Republican, and a member of the I. O. O. F.
WILLIAM M. JONES was born in the
State of Indiana, County of Tippecanoe, on
July 31, 1826, and came within four miles of
where Ashland now is, in the spring of 1847;
has seen, where Ashland now stands, growing
in wild prairie grass, and has seen it also in
a farm, growing grain, and now sees it in a
beautiful little town. Commenced the prac-
tice of law in 1857, tvas admitted to the bar
as an attorney to practice law by the Supreme
Court of the State, on October 20, 1871; came
to the village of Ashland in the spring of
1870. Never studied law in attorney's office,
except his own. Never was in college a day
in his life; came here as soon as he was dis-
charged from the Mexican war at Newport
Barracks, Kentucky, and was mustered out at
New Orleans. He also served in the late war
for the suppression of the rebellion. He was a
private in Co. D, 26th 111. Infantry, and was
mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, and
discharged at Springfield, Illinois. He was
wounded in Mexico, and carried the bullet for
thirty-six years, and then had it taken out,
and yet he has received no pension, for he has
never asked Uncle Sam for any help.

THOMAS B. LaTOUCHE, merchant, Ash-
land, was born in St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 8, 1852.
At an early age he was employed in assisting
his father in the mercantile business, and
afterward clerked in Mason County. In 1875
he went to Ashland, and clerked for S. L.
Hamilton until the fall of 1880, when he pur-
chased the business from Mr. Hamilton, where
he has continued since. His trade, already
large, has steadily increased, until now he has
the satisfaction of conducting one of tho
largest business interests at Ashland. He
was married in Mason County, May 30, 1875,
to Miss Capitola Dongler, who was born in
Bath, Mason County, June 17, 1859. She is
the mother of three children, viz.: Arthur,
Myrtle, and an infant. Mrs. LaTouche was a
daughter of George and Catharine Dengler,
natives of Pennsylvania, still living. The
father of our subject, John LaTouche, was
born in Canada, was a merchant, and died in
the army in 1801, aged about 35 years. His
wife, Eraila McClintock, was a native of New
York State, and is still living, aged about 40
years, wife of Bernard Donlin. By her first
husband she gave birth to three children, of
whom Thomas was the eldest child. He has
held the offices in the village of Ashland, of
Clerk, Treasurer, and President of the town
board. Politically he is identified with the
Democratic party.

FRANK LOHMANN, farmer and brick-
maker, P. O. Ashland, was born Dec. 3, 1834,
in Germany, of which country his parents,
Frank and Elizabeth (Burns) Lt)hmann were
natives. Mr. Lohmann, Sr., our subject's
father, died of cholera, Nov. 1, 1850, aged
about 62 years; his wife died in 1SG5, aged
also about 62 years. Frank, the youngest of
a family of five children, received an aca-
demic education in his native land, and assist-
ed his fjither in the coal and salt business, and
in running a boat. At the age of sixteen he
began learning the bakery and brewing trade,

308

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

and in May, 1855, came to America and
located at Wheeling, W. Va; in March,
1875, came to Ashland, and in 1876, started
a brickyard, where he still carries on the
brick- making business, and in addition is also
ensasred in farming. Ho had the misfortune
to be burnt out once, with a loss of $3,500,
but has since erected several brick blocks at
Ashland, and has done much to make the
town what it is. At Dixon, Lee Co., Ills., he
married Dina Pahl, a native of Germany, born
May 27, 1836; died in 1869. His second wife,
whom he married June 26, 1876, is Artilicia
D. Clark, a native of Menard Co., 111., born in
1844. He has five children, viz.: Joseph B.,
Frank, Lewis, Sophia and Bertie. Mr. Loh-
mann is a member of the Town Board, and of
the County Central Democratic Committee;
while at Beardstown he held the office of
Supervisor. He is a Democrat, and a mem-
ber of the A. F. and A. M., and Knights of
Honor.

GEORGE M. LEITCH, painter, Ashland;
was born in Lenawa County, Mich., July 11,
1853. At 14 years he engaged to learn the
trade of coach painter, at which he worked in
various places many years. Went to New
Orleans, and was one of the force that frescoed
the St. Charles Opera House. Upon his re-
turn from the South he took a trip through
Canada, frescoing churches, etc. Returning
to the States, he eventually settled in Ashland,
this county, where he has since remained, en-
gaged in painting, graining and frescoing.
He was married in Ashland July 24, 1877, to
Miss Louisa A. Douglass, who was born to
John L. and Ellen (Yates) Douglass, in 18G0.
She is the mother of two children, viz.: John
W., born Oct. 10, 1881; Estella, Nov.
22, 1879. William M. Leitch, the father of
our subject, was born in Huron County, Ohio,
in 1816, a retired contractor and builder, liv-
ing at Blissfield, Michigan. His wife, Emily
S. Randall, born near Biddeford, Maine, in

about 1821, died Oct. 10, 1881. She was
the mother of five children, of whom George,
our subject was the third child. He has al-
ways taken more or less interest in the politi-
cal issues of the times, and his sympathies are
with the Democratic party. His father and
one brother were in Company C, Fourth
Michigan Cavalry, and one brother, Captain
of Company K, Eleventh Infantry.

ALFRED E. MICK was born in Tippe-
canoe County, Ind., Dec. 22, 1837 His
father, Daniel Mick, was born in Ross County,
Ohio, and his mother in North Carolina. In
an early day they left their native States, and
located in Indiana, where they were married
in the year 1836, locating on a farm in Tippe-
canoe County. His mother died in April,
1851, and his father in September, 1872.
Th -y had nine children, five boys and four
girls. After a preparatory course of study at
Shawnee Academy, he entered Wabash Col-
lege at Crawfordsville, Indiana, and two years
later attended Asbury University at Green-
castle, Indiana. In 1859 he left his native
State, and located in Petersburg, Menard
County, 111., and was elected county surveyor
in 1864, and filled the position until 1869.
During: President Johnson's administration he
was appointed postmaster at Petersburg.
Mr. Mick was elected county clerk in Novem-
ber, 1869. During this time he was licensed
to practice law by the Supreme Court of the
State, following that profession until 1877,
when he purchased the Petersburg Democrat.
In 1881 he published the Petersburg Me-
P'ublican, continuing until January, 1882.
In March of this year he established the
Sentinel, which he is now publishing at Ash-
land, Illinois. On April 15, 1865, he was
married to Mary E., the daughter of Milo and
Elizabeth A. Wood ; she was born in Morgan
County, 111., April 29, 1833. Milo Wood was
a native of North Carolina, born May 23,
1795, and Elizabeth A. Wood was born in

ASHLAND PRECINCT.

Tennessee Jan. 11, 1797; they emigrated to
Illinois in the year 18:20. Mollie O., Leslie
P. and Claude W., constitute the children of
Mr. Mick's family, now living. He was
raised under the influence of the Methodist
Church, but as yet has not become identified
with any religious denomination. Mary E.,
his wife, has been a member of the Presby-
terian Church for more than thirty years.
In his political convictions Mr. Mick has al-
ways been identified with the Democratic
party. He is an Odd Fellow of fifteen years
standing, and was one of the charter members
that assisted in establishing Charity Encamp-
ment at Petersburg, Illinois, about ten years
ago.

NELSON A. NEWMAN, grocer, Ashland ;
was born near Meredosia, Morgan Co., 111.,
July 30, 1848. In addition to the common
schools, he attended for a short time the Illinois
College at Jacksonville, and Wabash College
at Crawfordsville, Indiana. In 1871 he be-
gan dealing in stock in St. Louis; is now en-
gaged in keeping a first-class grocery. He
was married at St. Louis, June 23, 1880, to
Miss Louisa J. Rogerson, who has borne one
child, Mildred, born May 15, 1881. Mrs.
Newman is a daughter of Thomas Rogerson,
a native of England, now living at St. Louis.
Jesse T. Newman, the father of Nelson, was
born in Marietta, Ohio, in 1824; followed
different occupations, but principally mer-
chandising. His death occurred July 7, 1881.
His wife, Esther Jane Gillham, was born in
Scott County, 111.; she is the mother of- nine
children, of whom Nelson was the oldest.
Politically he is identified with the Republi-
can party; his wife is connected with the
Presbyterian Church. The father of our sub-
ject served as Lieutenant Colonel in the
One Hundred and First 111. Vol. Inft., organ-
ized at Jacksonville.

JOHN G. PEARN, teacher, Ashland; was
born in Beardstown, Cass County, Oct.

3, 1855, son of William and Mary (Mutton)
Pearn, both natives of England, he being a
farmer, and dead, she still living; they had
five children. Our subject was educated at
Lincoln University and McKendree College.
March 30, 1880, he was married to Miss Annie
Cunningham, born in Lebanon, Illinois, in
1858, daughter of R. F. and Mary (Risley)
Cunningham. Mr. Pearn has been teaching
school six years. He is an Odd Fellow and a
Republican.

WILLIAM W. REDMAN, Postmaster,
Ashland; was born in Logan County, Ky.
Aug. 16, 1S20, and was brought to Morgan
County, 111., when five years of age. At the
age of seventeen years he moved with his
parents to Van Buren County, Iowa, where
he assisted his father upon his farm until he
reached the age of twenty-one years, at which
time he began farming for himself, and re-
mained in Iowa until 1851, when he went to
California,where he remained about five years
engaged in mining. He then returned to
Jacksonville, 111., where he remained three
years. In 1860 he came to Ashland and en-
gaged in the drug business, afterward spend-
ing three years upon a farm; in 1871 he was
appointed deputy Postmaster, and in 18 r4
was made Postmaster, which office he still
holds. He was married Oct. 7, 1845, to Miss
Nancy J. Rucker, who was born in Kentucky,
in 1825; she is the mother of five children: Ra-
banus, Carrie C, Lester L., Lua, and an infant
not named, the two latter deceased. Mrs. Red-
man was a daughter of John Rucker, a native
of Kentucky, deceased. Solomon Redman, the
father of our subject, was born in Kentucky,
in 1794; a farmer by occupation; his death oc-
curred in 1849. His wife, Rebecca Williams,
was also a native of Kentuck}', born in 1800,
died in 1870; she was the mother of nine chil-
dren, of whom William was the oldest. Him
self and wife are members of the M. E.
Church. Politically he is a Republican.

310

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

REV. EDWIN B. RANDLE, clergyman,
Ashland; was born in Madison Co., 111., Dec.
15, 1852, to William S. and Sarah (Hans-
barger) Ran die; he was born in North Caro-
lina, and was brought to Illinois by his parents
■when a child; a lawyer by profession, but
conducts a farm also; now resides in Chris-
tian County. His wife, Sarah, is a native of
Kentucky, and came to Illinois when she was
about eighteen years old; she is still living, and
is the mother of seven children, of whom our
subject is the oldest. At the age of eighteen
years, he began teaching, and continued in
that occupation six years. In the fall of 1878,
he joined the Methodist Conference at Jack-
sonville, having preached one and a half years
previously. His first pastoral charge was at
Irving, Montgomery County, where he re-
mained two and a half years, and then remov-
ed to Harristown, Macon County, where he
remained two years, and in the fall of 1881,
came to Ashland, where he now has charge of
the Ashland Circuit. He was married at Har-
ristown, 111., Aug. 25, 1881, to Miss Mary
Stookey, who was born at Bloomington, III.,
in August, 1856, to Daniel and Caroline
(Goodner) Stookey, natives of St. Clair Co.,
111., and both still living. Mr. Randle has
been an active member of the I. O. O. F. for
several years. He acts as correspotident for
the Chvistain Advocate, the church paper of
the denomination in whose interest he so zeal-
ously works, and his letters and contributions
are able, interesting, and full of the love and
grace of the Master, in whose footsteps he
endeavors to tread.

JOHN L. REILEY, station agent, Ash-
land; only child of Alfred T. and Mary (Lee)
Reiley, was born in Howard County, Ind.,
Dec. 28, 18G1. Alfred T., the father of our
subject, is a farmer, and was born in Rush
County, Ind., in 1829; his wife, a native of
Tipton County, Ind., died Dec. 31, 1861, aged
twenty-two years. John L., after receiving

an ordinary education in Clay County, 111.,
learned telegraphy in Isola, Ind., and, when
a thoroughly proficient operator, took charge
of the telegraph office at Farmingdale, 111.,
where he remained thirteen months, then re-
moved to Jeffersonville and stayed one and
a-half years, after which he took charge of
the station at Ashland, where he has since
remained. At Jeffersonville, Ind., June 29,
1S80, he married Flora B. Caddy, who was
born in Allen County, Ohio, in September,
1862, who has borne him one child, Ethel,
born Sept. 23, 1881. Mrs. Reiley is a daugh-
ter of Charles and Anna (Straley) Caddy.
Mr. Reiley owns a good village property, con-
sisting of a house and two lots; himself and
wife are members of the Methodist Church;
he is a Democrat.

GEORGE M. RANDALL, clerk, Ashland;
was born in Vienna, Scott County, Ind.,
April 21, 1856. His father, George W. Ran-
dall, who followed the occupation of a farmer,
was born in New Albany, Ind., in 1826,
and died June 2, 1S76. His mother, Mary J.
Swope, who is still living, was born in Spencer
County, Ky., in 1828; of her nine children,
George M. is the fifth. He received a good
education in the High School at Vienna, Ind.,
and having fitted himself for a teacher, taught
school in Scott County, Ind., for some time;
he afterwards taught in Cass County for six
years. He has been engaged in his present
business, clerking, in the employ of T. La
Touche, for about three months. In Scott
'County, Ind., July 15, 1876, he married Jem-
ima Whitson, a native of that county; born
November 28, 1854, daughter of Lorenzo D.
and Jemima (Collins) Wliitson, both natives
of Clark County, Ind., he, still living; she
dead. From this union three children have
been born, viz.: Linneaus, Olvia and Nor-
man. Mr. Randall is a Republican.

SAMUEL SINCLAIR, deceased, son of
•John and Rachael Sinclair, was born in Ten-

ASHLAND PRECINCT.

311

nessee, July 17, 1808. After a residence of
a few years in Kentucky, the family moved to
Illinois, and finally settled on a farm some
eight miles northeast of the city of Jackson-
ville, in a settlement yet known under the
name of Hebron, where they located in 1835.
Here the heads of the family died, the mother
in 1844, and the father in 1850. They were
both consistent members of the M. E. Church.
When about 23 years old, he married Miss
Melinda Bird, by whom he had one daughter,
Mrs. Sally (John) Beggs. This wife died in
1837. Oct. 22, 1845, Mr. Sinclair was married
to Mrs. Myra A. Williams, relict of Page A.
Williams, and daughter of John and Eliza-
beth Rucker. Of this union there were born
four children: Mrs. Elizabeth (Warner) Cow-
ell, of Vernon Co., Mo. ; Samuel W. ; Mrs.
Mary T. (Leni) Leatherton, and William O.
Mrs. Sinclair raised three children by her first
husband, viz.: John, Ellen and Newton. Mrs.
Sinclair's parents were natives of Virginia.
Mr. Sinclair, immediately after his second mar-
riage, moved to Apple Hill, Cass County,
where he remainedabout eight years, when ho
sold his farm and moved to Panther Grove,
Cass Co., where he bought 800 acres of
very fine land. He died May S, 1868. He
was a member of the M. E. Church. He had
the reputation of being a good citizen — honest,
upright, temperate, and patriotic, and a kind,
indulgent, affectionate husband and father.
He made a specialty of fine cattle and hogs.
The Sinclair family are of Scotch descent.
Mrs. Sinclair is a native of Kentucky. She is
a member of the M. E. Church. She had
seven brothers and sisters, raised to maturity,
viz. : Presley, Eliza, Sedonia, Elizabeth, Sarah,
Greenberry, and Nancy. The homestead
farm is now managed by William O., who was
born June 19, 1855. His education was com-
pleted in a high school, since which time he
has been engaged in general agricultural busi-
ness, and handling a large amount of stock.

He was married in Sangamon County, March
16, 1866, to Miss Eva Tonilin, daughter of
Edward and Myra (Rucker) Tomlin, born
July 20, 1855. They have one boy, Carl,
born Jan. 31, 1877. Mrs. Sinclair is a con-
sistent member of the M. E. Church. Politi-
cally Mr. Sinclair is a strong Republican.

SAMUEL SINCLAIR, farmer, P. O. Ash-
land; is a native of Loudoun County, Va., son
of George Sinclair, a man of remarkable pru-
dence and judgment, who brought up his
family with great care. Our subject came to
Morgan County June 8, 1-33, an anniversary
of his birth, and entered 280 acres of land
with a portion of $400, that he brought with
him, afterward adding 40 acres more, making
just one-half of a section. This land lies
eight miles north-east of Jacksonville, near the
little village of Sinclair, named in honor of
our subject. After securing the land, he re-
turned' to Virginia, Loudoun County, and
Oct. 28, 1834, married Miss Euphemia
Craven, daughter of Josiah and Elizabeth
(Shepherd) Craven, from which union there
were born nine children: George, Ellen, Peter
Akers, Virginia, Henry Clay, May and James,
twins, Ruth and John. Mrs. Sinclair died
April 23, 1861; she had been for many years
a devout member of the Methodist Church,
and a lady of many lovable qualities. October
21, 1863, Mr. Sinclair married Miss Dolly
Beggs, daughter of Charles and Mary (Rudale)
Beggs; and two children have blessed this
second marriage: Emma Lou, and Maggie.
The Sinclairs are of Scotch lineage, and trace
their ancestry back to the famous Clan-Sin-
clair, confreres of the Douglass and other
noted Highlanders. George died 1850. Mr.
Sinclair is a Christian gentleman, and has
been a strong Union man, having given three
sons to the cause during the late war. He
owns 887 acres of splendid land, which is un-
der a high state of cultivation, and contains all
the modern improvements in farm a]iplianccs.

312

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

WILLIAM SYBRANT, farmer; P. O.
Ashland; was born Jan. 11, 1833, in Wash-
ington County, N. Y., of which county
his parents, Samuel and Lydia (Robinson)
Sybrant, were natives. Samuel, who followed
the occupation of a farmer, died in 1859,
aged seventy years; his wife is also deceased;
they were the parents of seven children, our
subject being the fifth. William, on attain-
ing his majority, hired out as a farm hand,
and, after having made some money, bought
his first property in Crawford County, Pa.
He came to this county in 1865, where he
has since been enofaffed in farming:; he owns
130 acres of land, on which he raises the usual
grain crops. In Crawford County, Pa., in
September, 1844, he married Sally Bassett, a
native of Massachusetts, born June 25, 1823,
daughter of Rufus and Mrs. (Colfax) Bassett,
natives of Rhode Island (both deceased) and
from this union one child has been born, viz.:
Parmelia, wife of Joseph D. Turner. Mr. and
Mrs. Sybrant are , members of the Christian
Church; he is a Democrat.

JOSEPH D. TURNER, farmer, Ashland;
was born in England, Nov. 16, 1836; eldest
child of a family of seven, of whom four
are now living, born to John and Juliet
(Dale) Turner, natives of England, and both

still living; he, a farmer, and also a mechanic,
born in August, 1810, now residing in Henry
County, Ills.; she, born in 1811. Joseph D.,
came to America with his parents, when he
was but two years of age; attended school in
Scott County, Ills., and came to Cass County,
in 1856, where he has since resided, with the
exception of the time he served in the army.
At the age of 20 years he began learning the
blacksmith trade, at which he worked twelve
years. In this county, October 1, 1865, he
married Pamelia Sybrant, born in Pennsyl-
vania, Aug. 5, 1845, daughter of William
and Sarah (Bassett) Syl)rant, both still living;
he, a native or New.York; she, of Vermont;
from this union two children have been born,
viz.: Ella Louisa and Mary Juliet. Mr. Tur-
ner, during the late war, enlisted in Co. K.,
33J Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Capt.
C. E. Lippincott, the regiment being com-
manded by Col. Havey, and remained in ser-
vice three years and two months. After leav-
ing the army he engaged in farming, which
occupation he has since pursued. He owns
156 acres of land on which he raises consider-
able stock, as well as the usua! crops. Mr.
Turner is an adherent of the Republican
party. His wife is a member of the Christian
Church.

ARENZVILLE PRECINCT.

ni3

ARENZVILLE PRECINCT.

"WILLIAM F. ARENZ, druggist, Arenz-
ville; was born in Arenzville, Jan. 3, 1860;
son of Peter and Mary L. (Baerholdt) Areuz;
parents of two children ; he, deceased ; she, still
living. (A full sketch of Peter Arenz, subject's
father, will be found in the historical portion of
this work.) The subject of this sketch re-
ceived his primary education in Arenzville,
afterward finishing at Jacksonville, III., and
engaged in the drug business in Arenzville,
where he has since followed that business.
He is a Democrat.

PETER ARENZ, harness maker,Arenzville;
was born in Arenzville, Oct. 5, 180^, and is a
brother of William Arenz, whose sketch ap-
pears elsewhere in this work. His education
was received chiefly in Arenzville; he also at-
tended the Jacksonville Business College for
some time. He began learning the harness
maker's trade in Arenzville with Edward Heinz
and has since followed that occupation there.

E. E. BEARD, farmer, P. O., -Arenzville;
was born in Augusta County, Va., Sept. 5,
1848, and is a son of John C. and Mary A.
(Bates) Beard, natives of Virginia. John C.
Beard, who was a farmer, died in March, 1881;
his wife is still living; they had thirteen chil-
dren. The subject of this sketch received his
education in this precinct, where he began
life as a farmer, and where he has since pur-
sued that occupation. He married, in this
county, Oct. 7, 18^5, Julia Berry, a native of
Jersey County, 111., and daugliter of David
and Hannah Berry. Mr. and Mrs. Beard are
the parents of three children: Clarence A.,
Grace, and John E. Mr. Beard is a member
of Arenzville Lodge No. 481, I. O. O. F.; in
politics he is a Democrat. His father came to
this county twenty-seven years ago.

THE CRUiM FAMILY.— James Ceum,
farmer, Arenzville Precinct. The father of
our subject was Matthias Crura, a native of
Virginia, and was born July 10, 1774. He
lived in the old dominion State until matun;
in years, and then emigrated to Kentucky.
While in this State, he taught school, and
there married Miss Margaret Spangler, a na-
tive of Louisville; born Nov. 18,1779. Her
father, Daniel, was an early comer to that
portion of the State, and was killed by the
Indians, while attending to stock on his larin.
Matthias Crura came from Kentucky to Mor-
gan County, in 1833, and brought with him
his wife and family of six children. He lo-
cated in Morgan County, and there resided
until his death, March 8, 1841, being then
sixty-seven years of age. His wife survived
him, and died April 34, 1853. His father al-
so, Matthias Crum, was a native born Ger-
man, a stone mason by trade. He crossed
the ocean three times in his life; was a
thorough workman, as many of the old stone
chimneys erected by him in the old Domin-
ion State, for the F. F. V's, are still standing,
as a monument to his skill. James Crura,
our subject, and his oldest brother. Christian,
made their first visits to Cass County in the
year 1830; another brother, David, also came
with them, but he pushed on to Missouri, and
there died. James and Christian located 330
acres of land in Section thirty-five, township
seventeen, range eleven. This they owned
and improved in common. Upon this tract
they built a small log cabin, and occupied it
until they were both married, and their in-
terests became divided. James married .Ian.
31, 1833, to Miss Christiana Ream, daughter
of John Roam, a native of Pennsylvania, and

314

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

came to Ohio, thence to Illinois in 1830. He
lived with his brother until he had completed
his first log cabin in 1834, which he first oc-
cupied the winter of 1834-35. Mr. Crum
was born Sept. 33, 1806. He commenced
farming in an humble way on eighty acres of
land. To this he steadily added, until he
had at one time several hundred acres. Of
this he has sold but little, but has settled it
upon his sons and daughters, and now owns
about 800 acres, which comprises the home-
stead. Mrs. Crum died May 1, 1878. Their
children, born in the following order, are:
David M. (deceased), T. Jefferson, James F.,
Sarah M., now Mrs. John F. Wilson, of Men-
ard County, Mary E., or Mrs. William H.
Thompson, of Jacksonville, Amanda C, now
Mrs. W. H. Thompson, of Arenzville Pre-
cinct, John M., Marcellus, George W., Mar-
cus L., Charles P., and Oscar (deceased). Mr.
Crum cast his first vote for General Jackson,
at Charlestown, Ind. He has always evinced
a lively interest in the cause of education,
and is awake to the public interests of his
county and State.

Thomas Jeffkeson, his oldest living son,
was born July 9, 1835. He received such
schooling as the early advantages of those
times afforded, and grew up to assist his fa-
ther at a most propitious time, when there
was much to be done. He was reared to be
a successful farmer. In 1853 he started in
life for himself, with a worthy gift from his
father of 350 acres of Cass County land.
March 11, 1855, he married Miss Sarah A.,
daughter of William and Lucinda (Turner)
Henderson. Mr. Henderson is a native of
Indiana, and Mrs. Henderson of Kentucky.
They came to Morgan County in 1830. Mrs.
Crum, born May 7, 1840, and she has eight
children living, as follows: Charles E.. Marah
T., Marion O., Willey S., OUie E., May L.,
Henry O., Eben R. Two died in infancy
without names.

Makcellus also received 250 acres from
the old homestead, upon which he located.
He was born Jan. 9, 1844, and is the sixth
living child of his father. He attended the
Wesleyan University at Bloomington; after-
ward took a commercial course in Chicago.
Married, Oct. 19, ISiO, to Mary E. Graff,
daughter of Washington Graff, of Morgan
County. They have four children: Alma C,
Jessie F., Elton M., Reuel G.

Dr. George W. Crum, the seventh living
child, was born on the homestead, Oct. 1,
1848. He attended school at the State
Normal University, two and a half years,
at Bloomington, in 1868, 1869, and a
part of 1879. Ho then entered Adrian Col-
lege, at Adrian, Mich., and in 1873 receiv-
ed the degree of A. M. He then returned
to the Wesleyan College, and graduated as
an A. B. In the meantime he spent two
years in the study of medicine, at the St.
Louis Medical College, and graduated in
1874, receiving his degree as M. D. The
course of study he pursued may seem rather
irregular, but it was taken as his choice, to
avoid the discipline under one set of minds.
Dr. Crura practiced medicine about four years,
but is gradually abandoning practice, and has
embraced farming, on account of failing
health. He entered farming in 1869, when
he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of
land adjoiningthe homestead. Aug. 21, 1878,
he married Mary E. Malone, daughter of Da-
vid Malone, of EvaiisviUe, Ind. Mrs. Crum
is a o-raduate of the Jacksonville Athasneum,
and was born April 10, 1856. They have two
children: Cora A. and Olga I.

Marcus L. Crum was born Jan. 16, 1851,
on the homestead. He received his educa-
tion at the State Normal University, at Nor-
mal, 111., and at the Wesleyan University,
Bloomington, where he graduated in the class
of 1874. He first took the degree of B. S.,
and since an honorarv degree of M. S. has

J. Qsl. LcAJLy

L«NIV'

AKENZVILLE PRECINCT.

317

been conferred upon him. He, with the
others, received 250 acres from the homestead
property, as a present, and to that has been
added, until he now owns about 560 acres,
160 acres having been presented to him by
John Stubblefield, whose daughter. Miss
Mary F., he married March 30, 1875. They
have three chiliben: Edith W., Arthur E.,
and Oral C. A full page portrait of our sub-
ject appears elsewhere in this volume (see
index).

CtEORGE a. CRUM, farmer; P.O., Ar-
enzville; is a native of Arenzville Precinct,
tliis county; born Oct. 39, 1855; son of Chris-
tian and Mary (Robertson) Crum, natives of
Clarke County, Ind. Christian Crum, our sub-
ject's father, was a farmer by occupation; was
born May 11, 1803, and died Dec. 30, 1881;
his wife, born May 17, 1813, died March 9,
1883; they were the parents of eleven chil-
dren, three deceased, our subject being the
youngest child. His early education was re-
ceived in the Union School House, Arenzville;
at seventeen years of age he went to the
Wesleyan College, Bloomington, 111., where
he studied for three years. He then devoted
his attention to farming, and also engaged in
the livery business. He was married in
Beardstown, this county, July 5, 1881, to
Lucy G. Morris; born in this county, Jan. 13,
1863; daughter of John C. and Nancy Mor-
ris. Mr. Crum is a Democrat, and a member
of the I. O. O. F.

RICHARD J. CIRE, merchant, Arenz-
ville; was born in Arenzville, July 20, 1853;
son of John L. and Catherina (Hamm) Cire,
natives of Prussia, and parents of nine chil-
dren. He received his education in Arenz-
ville, afterward taking a business course in
the Jacksonville Business College, of which
institution he is a graduate. He then clerked
in his father's store in Arenzville for some
time, and afterward devoted his attention to
farming. For the past two years he has car-

ried on a general merchandising business in
Arenzville, and has been postmaster therei
and still holds that office. He is at present,
and has been for some time. Town Treasurer,
and also Township Treasurer. In Arenzville,
Feb. 35, 1877, he married Mary E. Briugman,
who was born in Concord, Morgan Co., III.,
Aug. 3, 1856; daughter of William F. and
Elizabeth J. Bridgraan. They have one
child, Edna G., born Feb. 34, 1878. He is a
Republican, and a member of Lodge No.
481, I. O. O. F., in Arenzville.

HERMAN ENGELBACH, deceased; was
born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, D !C. 33,
1839; only child of George and Matilda (Meyer)
Engelbach, natives of Germany. Dr. George
Engelbach, subject's father, was born Oct. 16,
18l)4, and died Jan. IG, 1845; his wife, born
Dec. 19, 1807, died Nov. 16, 1831. The sub-
ject of this sketch received his education in
Jacksonville, 111., graduating from the Illinois
College, in that place, in 1849. He then en-
gaged as book-keeper in a wholesale hard-
ware house in St. Louis, Mo. In 1853 he re-
turned to Arenzville, and engaged in milling
and mercantile business until his death, which
occurred Dec. 16, 1880. He was married in
this county, July 16, 1859, to Elizabeth Goe-
bel, a native of Germany, who was born
March 21, 1835. By this union they were
blessed with seven children: George, Chris-
tina, Henry, Herman, Frederick, William
and Marie; the latter born June 8, 1873, died
April 31, 1873. Mrs. Engelbach is a daughter
of John and Christina Goebel; he, born in
1811; she, in 1808. Mr. Engelbach was a
member of the German Lutheran Church,
and in politics a Republican. (A more ex-
tended sketch of our subject and his father.
Dr. George Engelbach, will be found in the
historical portion of this work, devoted to
Arenzville Precinct.)

CHRISTIAN FRENCH, blacksmith, Ar-
enzville; is a native of Bavaria, Germany,

318

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

born July 24, 1835, and son of John and Lou-
isa (Wolf) French. John French was born
in Germany in 1810; was by trade a lock-
smith, and died in 1846; his wife died in 1879;
they were the parents of six children. Chris-
tian received his education in his native coun-
try, where he attended school for seven years,
and in 1858, came to this country. He learn-
ed the blacksmith's trade, in Cleveland, Ohio,
and has since worked at that occupation. In
Beardstown, in 18G1, he married Sarah E.
Norton, a native of Wheeling, W. Va., who
has borne him ten children: Mamie, OUie, Ed-
ward, Ida, Harry, Walter, Leroy G., and three
others, who died in infancy. Mr. French is
connected with the Lutheran Church; is a
member of Lodge No. 346, A. F. and A. M.,
at Concord, 111., and of Beardstown Chapter;
is also a member of Lodge No. 528, I. O. O.
F., and Lodge No. 38, A. O. U. W., in Arenz-
ville. He is a Republican.

WILLIAM J. GREEN, farmer, P. O., Ar-
enzville; was born near the county line, be-
tween Cass and Morgan Counties, 111., Jan. 8,
1844; son of William and Sarah C. (Long)
Green; he, born in 1813, a farmer by occupa-
tion, still living in Morgan County, 111.; she,
died in 1855; parents of nine children. Will-
iam J. received his education chiefly in Morgan
county, where he began farming, but, since
1861, he has been a farmer in this county.
During the late war, he served three years in
the 101st Illinois Volunteers, under Col. Fox,
of Jacksonville, III. In this county, Feb. 27,
1868, he married Theresa K. Cire; born in
Arenzville, March 21, 1842, and from this
union six children have been born: Richard J.,
Alice C, Lillian A., Amelia, Florence, and
Charles. (For Mrs. Green's parents see
sketch of her brother, Richard J. Cire, which
appears elsewhere in this work.) Mr. Green
is a supporter of the Democratic party.

EDWARD HEINZ, saloon and harness
shop, Arenzville; was born in Gladeiibach,

Germany, Feb. 23, 1827; son of Jacob and
Louisa (Beyer) Heiuz. Jacob Heinz, a na-
tive of Germany, followed the cooper's trade,
and was traveling agent for a wholesale wine
house in Frankfort, Germany; he also ran an
oil and grist mill, and at one time owned an
iron mine; he came here in 1839; his wife
died in 1831; they had four children. Ed-
ward attended the Giessen University, in
Germany, for about four years, and began
life as a cooper in this town, afterward work-
insr on a farm for Dr. Georjje Engolbach, theu
for Mr. Skinner, and then for Mr. Thouipson.
He served during the Mexican war as bugler,
in Capt. Mear's Cavalry, 1st 111. Reg., under
command of Col. John J. Hardin. During
the late war he served in the 14th 111. Reg.,
under Col. John M. Palmer. He also served
five years (from 1849 to 1854) in the regular
army. Mr. Heinz has been twice married;
first, Aug. 1, 1852, to Caroline Walt, who died,
leaving four children: Amelia, Louisa, Albert
and Charles. His present wife, Mary Doolin,
whom he married in May, 1877, has borne
him three children: Dolores, Leopold and
Maggie. Mr. Heinz is a Democrat, and a
member of Liberty Lodge No. 28, A. O. U.
W., in Arenzville; his wives were both Cath-
olics; he is a member of the German Lu-
theran Church.

JOHN F. HACKATAN, farmer; P. O.,
Arenzville; is a native of Hanover, Germany;
born July 10, 1817; son of Aberhardt and
Mary E. (Struve) JIackman; also natives of
Hanover, Germany; he, a farmer, born in
1778, died in August, 1835; she, born in
1792, died in 18lil; they had a family of five
children. John F. attended school eight
years in Germany, and came to this county
(then Morgan County) July 21, 1835, where
he has since been engaged in farming. In
this precinct, June 24, 1841, he married Wil-
helmina A. Myers; born in Hanover, Ger-
man. v, in August, 1823; daughter of Gerhardt

ARENZVILLE PRECINCT.

319

H. and Elizabeth Myers, and from this union
eleven children Lave been born: Eliza (de-
ceased), Maria (deceased), John (deceased),
Wilhelmina, Herman W., Sophia, Matilda,
Edward, Sarah, Emma (deceased), and Henry.
Ml'. Hackiiuiii is a Re|Hil}lican, and a n)einl)er
of the M. E. Church.

WILLIAM HACKMAN, farmer; P. O.,
Arenzville; is a native of Hanover, Germany;
born Sept. 13, 1820. He attended school for
seven years and a half in his native country,
and also for some time here. He came
to this county in June, 1^35, and has since
resided here, engaged in farming. In this
county, May 22, 1845, he married Elizabeth
Meyer, a native of Germany; born March 22,
182G. They have had the following children:
Louis C, Louisa, Lucinda, Matilda (deceased),
and Edwin (deceased). Mr. Hackman is a
member of the M. E. Church, and is a Dem-
ocrat.

THOMAS JACKSON, farmer; P. O., Ar-
enzville; was born in this county, July 10,
184:0; son of James and Polly (Carter) Jack-
son; natives of Kentucky. James Jackson,
who was a farmer by occupation, was born in
1810; his first wife, subject's mother, who
died in 1853, bore him six children; his sec-
ond wife bore him two children; he died in
this county, in 1857. Mr. Jackson received
his education in this county, also attended
school in BluiF City, Scott Co., 111., for some
time, and began life as a farmer, which occu-
pation he has since followed in this county,
with the e.xception of five years, during
which he farmed in Morgan and Scott Coun-
ties, 111. During the late war he served for
two years and ten months in Co. I, llnth 111.
Vols., under Col. J. H. Moore, of Decatur,
111., participating in the battle of Chicka-
mauga, and the last battle at Nashville. In
this county, Jan. 10, 18G7, he married Louisa
Yeck; born in Meredosia, Morgan Co., 111.,
May 22, 1845; daughter of John B. and

Catharine Yeck. From this union six chil-
dren have been born: William E., Arthur M.,
Kittie A., Thomas H., Lulu G., and James G.
Mr. Jackson is connected with the Christian
Church, and is a Republican.

TIIH:0D0RE LAUNER, farmer and stock
dealer; P. O., Arenzville; was born in Beards-
town, this county, May 2, 1842; son of Fred-
erick and Lydia (Marty) Launer, natives of
Switzerland. Frederick Launer, who was a
clergyman of the Lutheran Church, and the
first preacher in this county, was born in
Vi'JG and died in the fall of 1870; his wife,
who was born in 1830, died Jan. 4, 1876;
they had seven children. Theodore received
his education in this county, where he began
farming on the homestead place. He after-
ward learned the carpenter's trade, at which
he worked for some time, but has since de-
voted his attention to farmingr and dealins: in
Stock. He was married in this county to
Louisa, daughter of August and Christiana
Krohe, natives of Sa.xony. From this union
seven children have been born: Louis (de-
ceased), Edward (deceased), John (deceased),
Oscar, Christiana, Amelia and Lena. Mr.
Launer is a member of the Lutheran Church,
and in politics is a Democrat.

W. L. McCARTY, druggist, Arenzville;
was born in Ohio, March 5, 1848; son of G.
A. and Lydia (Knopp) McCarty; natives of
Ohio. G. A. McCarty, who is still living, a
farmer by occupation, was born in 1818; his
wife, also living, was born in 1821; they are
the parents of thirteen children. Our subject
attended the schools of this precinct, and af-
terward went to school for some time in Jack-
sonville, 111., receiving a good education; he
then engaged as clerk for Albert Felkner, of
Arenzville, with whom he remained five years,
then entered into partnership, in the general
merchandising business, with G. Phili|i|)i,
and after carr^nng on business together to:-
two years, Mr. McCarty sold out to his part-

•520

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ner. He afterward clerked for some time in
Meredosia, Morgan Co., 111., and in 1880, be-
gan the drug business in Areuzville, where he
has since remained, doing a good trade. In
Areuzville, Sept. IG, ISi'o, he married Mary
L. Arenz, a native of Germany; they have
had three children: Lydia L., Walter and
Lawrence. Mr. McCarty, is a member of
Lodge No. 481, I. O. O. F., in Arenzville; in
politics he is a Democrat.

POMPEIUS PHILIPPI, farmer, P. O.,
Beardstown; was born in Hamburg, Germany,
Oct. 29, 1806; son of John A. and Louisa
Philippi, also natives of Hamburg, Germany;
he, a watchmaker and engineer, born in 1774,
and died in March, 1831; she, born in 1780,
died here in 1845; they had seven children.
Pompeius received a good education, having
attended school in his native country eleven
years, and began life as a civil engineer, in
his native city. He came here in the year
1834, and has since devoted his attention to
farming. He was married near Hamburg,
Germany, April 6, 1834, to Carlena L. Richel-
niann, who was born near that city, July 15,
1811; daughter of John C. and Louisa A. Ri-
chelmann, and from this union ten children
have been born: Louisa, Anna, Bertha (de-
ceased), Victor J., Amelia (deceased), Her-
man J., Charles A. (deceased). Bertha, Ame-
lia, and Paul Pompeius. Mr. Philippi is a
supporter of the Republican party.

EDWARD PFEIL, livery, Arenzville
was born in Morgan County 111., near Ar-
enzville Nov. 23, 1859, and is a son of
John C, and Amanda (Hamaker) Pfeil, both
of whom are still living. John C. Pfeil is a
native of Germany, and learned the tailor's
trade, but, after coming to America, followed
peddling for some time, then engaged in
farming, which he has pursued for many years;
his wife is a native of this county; they are
the parents of nine children. Edward re-
ceived his education in Morgan County, III.,

and engaged in farming there. In company
with William S. Houston he carries on a liv-
ery stable, doing a good trade. Mr. Pfeil is
a member of Concord Lodge, I. O. O. F., in
Concord, Morgan County, 111.; he is a Dem-
ocrat.

JOHN RAHN, County Assessor and Treas-
urer, Arenzville; was born in Hesse-Darm-
stadt, Germany, about fourteen miles from
Frankfort-on-the-Main, April 19, 1839, and
is a son of John and Ann M. Rahn, who
were parents of four children. His father,
John Rahn, a native of Germany, and a
farmer by occupation, still living; emigrated
to America, and Oct. 12, 1854, located in
Arenzville Precinct, on Sec. 32, town 17,
range 11. Our subject received a good edu-
cation, having attended school in Germany
eight years, and, after coming here in October,
1854, attended the Arenzville schools, and
also in Morgan County for some time. He
began life as a farmer in this county, where
he has since followed that occupation. Dur-
ing the late war he served two years in Com-
pany I, 115th Illinois Volunteers, under Col.
Jesse Moore, of Decatur, 111., and was dis-
charged on account of disability. In Morgan
County, 111., Nov. 5, 1863, he married Susan
Coffin, a native of that county; born Nov. 7,
1843; daughter of Charles and Olive Coffin.
From this union six children have been born:
Charles J., James M., George H., Lizzie,
Hattie and Olive. Mr. Rahn is present
County Assessor and Treasurer of this county,
being elected to each office for a two years'
terra; has been for twelve years a member of
the School Board, and was recently elected
for another term of three years. He is a
member of the Lutheran Church; is Recorder
and Lodge Representative of Lodge No. 28,
A. O. U. W., in Arenzville; he is a Demo-
crat.

HENRY E. RAHN, grain dealer, Arenz-
vilie;'w;is born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany,

ARKNZVILLE PRECf.N'CT.

321

July 13, 1850. (For parents, see sk<'tcli of
his brother, John Rahn, which appears else-
where in tills work.) Mr. Rahn attondcd
school in this county, and also in Morgan
County, 111., for some time, and besjan the
business of life as a farmer; afterward learned
the blacksmith's trade in Arenzviile, where he
followed that trade for several years. He
then learned the painter's trade at Galesburg,
111., and since 1869 has followed that trade,
at intervals. He is at present engaged in
dealing in grain; he is a School Director, hav-
ing been elected for a term of three years; he
is a Democrat. In Arenzviile, July 18, 1871,
he married Lillian M. Wallich; born in Knox-
ville, Knox Co., 111., March 2"2, 1851; daughter
of Matthias and Elizabeth Wallich. By this
union they have been blessed with five chil-
dren: Frederick E., Wineford E., Ruel R.,
Elra A. and Ora E. Mr. Rahn is a member
of Lodge No. 28, A. O. U. W., in Arenzviile;
his wife is a member of the Cumberland Pres-
byterian Church.

THOMAS RICHARDS, farmer; P. O.
Arenzviile; is a native of Arenzviile Precinct;
born May 20, 1837; son of James H. and
Delilah (Larence) Richards. . James H. Rich-
ards, a farmer, was born in Botetourt County,
Va., April 15, 1800, and died June 2!l, 1866;
his wife was born in North Carolina, May 2,
1802, died Sept. 2, 18G0; they had eleven chil-
dren, of whom four are deceased, Thomas be-
ing the eighth child of the family. He re-
ceived an ordinary education in this precinct,
and has always been a farmer. In Morgan
County, 111., March 2, ISG-t, he married Martha
A. Dinwiddle, a native of that county; born
Nov. 7, 184:4; daughter of Thomas and Vizilla
Dinwiddle, natives of Kentucky; from this
union have been born five children: Amie
R., William T. U., Andrew F., James D.
(deoeased) and Clara B. Mr. Richards is a
member of the A. O. U. W.; he is a Demo-
crat.

ANDREW J. RICHARDS, farmor; P. O.
Arenzviile; was born in Arenzviile Precinct,
this county', April 20, 1835; son of James H.
and Delilah (Larence) Richards. James H.
Richards, who was a farmer' by occupation,
was born in the State of Virginia, April 15,
1800, and died June 29, 1860; his wife, who
was a native of North Carolina, born May 2,
1802, died Sept. 2, 1800. Andrew J. is the
seventh child of their family of eleven chil-
dren, four of whom are deceased. He re-
ceived his education in the schools of his na-
tive precinct, and began life as a farmer
which occupation he has since followed. Mr.
Richards is a Democrat; has been School Di-
rector; is a member of Arenzviile Lodge, No.
481, I. O. O. F.; is also a member of the A.
O. U. W.

CHARLES ROBERTSON, deceased; was
born in New York State, June 26, 1810; son
of Alexander and Elizabeth (McDonald) Rob-
ertson; natives of Scotland. His father, who
was a farmer by occupation, was born about
the year 1780, and died in Morgan Countv,
111., in 1855. Mr. Robertson received but a
limited education, and began life as a farmer,
in Morgan County, 111.; came to this county
May 2, 1821, and died March 8, 1877. He
married Bathsheba Drinkwater, who bore
him ten children: Sarah E., Alexander, John
T., Franklin C, Martha E., Cyrus D., Jacob
N., Mary J., Charles and Daniel. Mr. Rob-
ertson was a member of the Old School Pres-
byterian Church, and was a supporter of the
Republican party. His son, Alexander Rob-
ertson, was born in this county, Jan. 15, 1838;
received his education in the Union School
house in this county, where he has since been
engaged in farming. During the late war he
served three years in Company K, One Hun-
dred and First Illinois Regiment, under Colo-
nels Fox and La Sage. He is a member of
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and, in
politics a Republican.

322

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

HENRY SCHAEFER, shoemaker; Arenz-
ville; was born in Germany, Sept. 1, 1833,
and is a son of Conrad and Christina (Eiler)
Schaefer, also natives of Germany. Conrad
Schaefer, a shoemaker and farmer, was born
in 1807, and died in 1839, in Germany, where
also his wife, who was born in 1810, died in
1SC5; they had two children. Our subject
attended school in Germany for eight years;
came to this country in 1850, and learned the
shoemaker's trade in Maryland. In 1856 he
came to Arenzville, where he has since pur-
sued his trade. During the late war he was
a member of Company G, Eighteenth Illinois
Volunteers, under Colonel Webber. In
Maryland, Feb. 23, 1854, he married Dora
Reuschlein, a native of Germany; born April
2, 1837; daughter of Andrew and Margaret
Reuschlein. By this union they have been
blessed with twelve children: Frederick, born
in Maryland, April 6, 1855; J. Henry, born
June 8, 1857; George, Jan. 3, 1859; Anna,
Jan. 17, 1861; William, May 5, 1863; Eliza-
beth, June 8, 1867, died in Arenzville Oct.
10, 1877; an infant (deceased); Mary, born
Dec. 31, 1869; Edward, Feb. 22,1871; Lula^
June 8, 1873; Maggie, Sept. 23, 1875, and'
Charles Oct. 11, 1877. Mr. Schaefer is a
member of the Lutheran Church, and is a
Democrat.

DR. J. M. SWOPE, Arenzville; was born
in Scott County, Iiid., Dec. 13, 1854, and is
a son of A. F. and Caroline T. (Sullivan)
Swope; both are still living. A. F. Swope, a
farmer by occupation, was born in Kentucky;
his wife is a native of Indiana; they are the
parents of seven children. The doctor receiv-
ed his primary education in Adams County,
111., and, having chosen the medical profes-
sion, entered the Medical University of Louis-
ville, Ky., of which institution he is a gradu-
ate. He began the practice of his profession
in Scott County, 111., and in the spring of
1880, moved to Arenzville, where he has since

been engaged in the duties of his profession,
meeting with good success, and having a
large and steadily increasing practice. In
Arenzville, Dec. 7, 1880, he married Mollie
J. Yeck, who was born in Arenzville, Dec. 5,
1862. They have one child, Nina Grace.
(For Mrs. Swope's parents, see sketch of her
brother, Edward Yeck, which appears else-
where in this work.) Dr. Swope is a member
of Clayton Lodge, No. 147., A. F. and A. M.,
and of Arenzville Lodge, No. 481, 1. O. O.F.;
he is a Democrat.

ALFRED M. THOMPSON, farmer; P. O.
Virginia; is a native of Arenzville Precinct,
this county; was born Feb. 27, 1850; son of
Oswell and Elizabeth (Henderson) Thompson;
natives of Ohio; he, a farmer by occupation,
died Sept. 28, 1864; she, living in Virginia,
this county. Alfred M., who is the seventh
child of a family of eight children, received
his primary education in the Union School, in
this precinct, finishing at the Normal School,
McLean County, 111. He has since followed
the occupation of a farmer. He married in
Virginia, this county, Sept. 10, 1872, Miranda
L. Payne, a native of Cass County, Mo.; born
July 25, 1854; daughter of William B. and
Hannah E. Payne; her father was born in
Kentucky, Aug. 24, 1824. Mr. and Mrs.
Thompson are the parents of four children:
Nellie (deceased), William H., David U. and
Edith P. Mr. Thompson is a Democrat; he
is a member of the M. E. Church; has held
the office of School Director.

FERDINAND WINHOLD, farmer; P.
O., Beardstown; was born in Pennsylvania,
Nov. 26, 1839, and is a son of William and
Barbara (Weber) Winhold; natives of Hessen,
Germany. William Winhold, a farmer by
occupation, still living; was born Feb. 1, 1809;
came to this country in 1835, landing at Bal-
timore, Md., Aug, 28, that year, and in i841
came to this county; his wife, also living, was
born in 1805; they are the parents of seven

AkENZVILLE PRECINCT.

323

cliildreii — two boj-s and five girls. Mr. Win-
hold received his education in this county
where he has always followed farming. In
this county in 1866, he married Bertha Phil-
ippi; born here Oct. 17, 184G; daughter of
Porapeius Philippi, whose sketch appears else-
where in this work. From this union nine
children have been born: Rudolph F., Julius
W., William P., Lena, Charles H., Eugene S.,
Paul, Bodo H., and Hugo B. Mr. Winhold
has been School Director five years, and Road
Supervisor one term, and at present holds the
latter ofiBce; he is a Republican, and a mem-
ber of the Union League.

EDWARD YECK, druggist, Arenzville;
is a native of Arenzville, born Oct. 29, 1859,
and son of Charles E. and Nancy J. (Beard)
Yeek. Charles E. Y eck, who was a merchant,
was born in Pennsj'lvania, and died Aug. 7,
1880; his wife, who is a native of Virginia, is
still living; they had five children. The sub-
ject of this sketch received his education
principally at Quincy, and also attended
school for some time at Beardstown, this coun-
ty. He began the business of life as a drug-
gist and hardware merchant in Arenzville,
where he has since carried on business, doing
a good trade. He is a Democrat.

:iL'4

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

INDIAN CREEK PRECINCT.

P. H. CORCORAN, farmer; P.O. Meredo-
sia, Morgan County ; was born in County Kil-
kenny, Ireland, in 1834; came to the United
States at the age of fifteen years, and landed in
Chicago about Dec. 1, 1849, where he worked
three months for a railroad company, receiv-
ing fifteen cents per hour. From Chicago he
came to Meredosia, Morgan County, where he
worked for Thompson Bros., pork packers,
three months; then hired to a farmer named
John Dampey ; worked for hira three years,
and lost $360 of his wages by the failure of
his employer. He went North in the fall of
1853, worked six months in the pineries of
Wisconsin and Michigan; returned to Morgan
County in 1854, and hired by the month at
farm work for the next three years. In April,
1857, he married Miss Laurinah Graham,
daughter of L. D. Graham, his employer ;
from this marriage seven children were born,
three of whom are living, viz.: Martha E.,
married to Robert McAllister, of this county;
Mary L. and George E. at home. He owns
350 acres in town seventeen, in this county, all
with exception of twenty acres under good
cultivation. He is a Democrat, and cast his
first vote for James Buchanan. Thomas Cor-
coran, our subject's father, was born, and is
still living in, County Kilkenny, Ireland, in
advanced age; his wife died at the old home,
in Ireland, in 1877. Mrs. Corcoran was born
in Ross County, O., Aug. 15,1828; her father,
L. D. Graham, is a native of Ohio, and came
to Morgan County, 111., at an early day.

ISAAC DRINKWATER, deceased ; was
born Feb. 17, 1817, in Indiana, and when
quite young, came to Cass County, 111. In
December, 1847, he was married to Miss Sa-
rah Hardy, of North Carolina, born in Ber-

tie County, in December, 1823, and came to
Cass County when ten years of age. This
union resulted in four children, two of whom
are living; they are Henry, born July 14,
1860, and .loseph, born July, 27, 185G; both
are unmarried, and live with their mother.
Mr. L.inkwater died March 13, 1873, and
Mrs. Drinkwater now owns the farm, con-
sisting of 380 acres, valued at 15,500, where
she has lived since 1847, she being the oldest
settler of the precinct, with the exception of
Mr. A. S. Wagner. Mrs. Drinkwater is a
member of the Union Baptist Church.

J. F. HOLTMANN, farmer; P. O. Meredo-
sia, Morgan County. The subject of this
sketch was born in Hanover, Germany, Nov.
14, 1841. At the age of twenty, he began
learning the carpenter's trade, working at it
three years. In the spring of 1864 he was
married to Miss Johanna Steinsbimkt, of
Hanover, Germany; born in 1844, died in
this county in 1866. Our subject emigrated
to the United States in company with his
father's family in 1866; landed at New York
city; thence by rail to Naples, 111.; thence
to Indian Creek Precinct, this county, and
in 1870 bought the farm on which they are
now living, consisting of 197 acres, of which
135 are under cultivation. In the fall of
1881, our subject married Miss Henrietta E.
Sollman, who was born in Hanover, Germany,
in 1863, and came to the United States with
her parents in the fall of 1881. Mr. Holtmann
is the second of a family of six children, all
of whom, except the oldest, reside in Illinois.
He has one child, by his first marriage, viz.;
Julia H., born in Germany, in August, 1866.
John Henry Holtmann, our subject's father,
is a native of Hanover; born in 1815. At

INDIAN CREEK PRECINCT.

32a

the age of twenty he entered the regular
army, and served twenty years. His wife,
also a native of Hanover, was born in 1813.
Both are living with our subject. Our sub-
ject and his father are both Republicans.

G. H. .lOST, farmer; P. O., Meredosia,
Morgan Co.; was born in Hanover, Germany,
in February, 1817. When eighteen years old
he enlisted as a soldier in the Infantry of the
national army, and served five years, receiving
his discharge in IS-tO. In 1845 he sold his
farm and emigrated to the United States,
coming by way of New Orleans to Beards-
town in November, 1845. He settled on
a farm of 120 acres, on Indian Creek,
where he lived eleven years ; then sold out,
and bought a half section of land, where he
now lives. He married a daughter of Henry
Deackmeyer, of Hanover, Germany ; she
was born in 1823, and died in this county
in 1877, having borne him ten children, six of
whom are living, and five married. The follow-
ing are the names of those living in order of
birth: A. H., born in Germany, 1842; Louisa,
born in this county in 1846; John, born 1849;
Caroline, born 1853; Annie, born 1856; Har-
mon, born 1866. The average annual yield
of Mr. Jost's farm in corn is 3,000 bushels;
wheat 1,500 bushels; the farm is valued at
$12,000. He is a Republican and has filled
several offices of trust in his precinct.

G. H. KREMS, farmer; P. O., Meredosia,
Morgan County; was born in the kingdom of
Hanover, Germany, Dec. 18, 1820. At the
age of fifteen he came to the United States
with his parents, landing at Beardstown, this
county, on Jan. 18, 1845. In the spring of
1847 his father purchased a farm in Indian
Creek Precinct. Our subject, when twenty-
six years of age, was married to Miss Mary
Schroeder, daughter of Fred. Schroeder, of
Germany; she was born in Hanover, Germany,
in 1834, and came to the United States with
the family of Mr. Kreras. From this union

five children were born, two of whom are
living, viz: Frederick, born in 1857, and
Mary, in 1859. His first wife having died in
1861, in the spring of 1863 Mr. Krems again
married, this time to Mrs. Catharine Bloom,
widow of Hunry Bloom. She was a native
of Prussia; born in 1822, and died at the
present residence of Mr. Krems in February,
1874. From this union there were born three
children, of whom two are living, viz: Lizzie,
born April 6, 1864, and Hcrmon H., born
Aug. 35, 1867. Mr. Krems owns 489 acres
of land, 300 of which are under cultivation,
and engages in farming and stock-raising; his
estate is valued at $15,000. He is a Repub-
lican, and a member of the Lutheran Church.

J. KNIPPENBERG, farmer; P. O. Mere-
dosia, Morgan Co.; was born in 1837, in the
Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, where he
received a common school education. He
came to the United States in the fall of 1860;
landed at New York city, thence by rail to
Beardstown, this county. He worked on a
farm by the month for ten years. In 1870,
he was married to Mrs. Mary Schroeder,
widow of Henry Schroeder; she was born in
Germany, in 1837; came to this country in
1846; from this union three children have
been born, viz.: John H., born in Septem-
ber, 1869; John Ernst, born April 7, 1871;
Harmon, born in 1874, died in September,
1876. By her first marriage Mrs. Knippen-
berg has three children: Annie M., married;
W. H., and Emma. Mr. Knippenberg owns
ninety acres of land valued at $30 per acre.
He is a Republican, and has served three
terms as School Director of his district. A.
J. Knippenberg, father of our subject, was a
native of Hanover, Germany, where he spent
his life, and died at a very advanced age.

CHARLES MAYES, farmer; P. O. Arenz-
ville; was born in England, Nov. 5, 1836,
and on attaining his majority, embarked
for the United States in the fall of 1857,

325

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

and after a three months' voyage, landed
in New Orleans, La. Thence he went to
Meredosia, Morgan County, 111., and remained
in that county seven years, engaged in farm-
ing on a rented farm. In 1867 he purchased
a tract of land in Indian Creek Precinct, this
county, where he has since pursued farming.
The farm consists of eighty acres of prairie
and ten of timber land, and is valued at forty
dollars per acre. He married March 9, 1859,
Mary, daughter of William Sims, of Rut-
land, England, where she was born Nov. 23,
1838. By this union they have been blessed
with seven children: Charles, born Sept. 2,
1859, died in infancy; Anna E., July 26,1861;
Eliza Jane, July 17, 1864; Richard William,
Sept. 4, 1865, died Sept. 10, 1860; Charles
William, Oct. 17, 1867, died March 27, 1869;
George M., Dec. 16, 1869, and James F.,
June 25, 1877. In August, 1861, Mr. Mayes
enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and
Fifteenth Illinois Volunteers, and served un-
til April, 1862, when he was discharged on
account of injuries received at Louisville,
Ky. Mr. and Mrs. Mayes are members of
McKendree M. E. Church, which is situated
one and a half miles southwest of their resi-
dence; he is a Democrat.

MRS. ELIZABETH STURMAR, farmer;
P. O. Meredosia, Morgan Co.; widow of Kas-
per Sturmar, who was born in Germany in
1827. He served as a soldier in the German
army, and in 1851 came to the United States;
remained in Beardstown, this county, some
time, and worked by the month on the farm
of Mr. Skinner for three j'ears. He married
in 1856, Miss Elizabeth Kahlman (the sub-
ject of this sketch), who was born in Hano-
ver, Germany, in March, 1824; was educated in
her native land, and emigrated to the United
States in 1855. They had no children of
their own, but they raised and educated two

adopted children, viz.: Henry Schleter, born
in Beardstown, this county, in April, 1870;
and Samuel Kahlman, born in August, 1873,
in Indian Creek Precinct, this county. Since
the death of her husband, who died in March,
1871, Mrs. Sturmar has managed the farm,
which consists of 200 acres, about half of
which is under cultivation, the remainder be-
ing timber land. Mrs. Sturmar is a member
of the Lutheran church.

A. S. WAGNER, farmer; P. O. Mere-
dosia, Morgan Co.; was born in Greene Coun-
ty, 111., March 22, 1825. His father moved
from Greene County, and settled on the farm
now owned by our subject, in Indian Creek
Precinct; he was a native of Pennsylvania,
born in 1802; served as a soldier in the Black
Hawk War, and afterward assisted in the
survey of this county, acting as cook for the
company, when it required great courage to
guard their encampment against the prowling
Indians. Our subject remained with his father
till the time of his death, which occurred in
1862. In December, 1862, he was married to
Miss Mary J. Houston, daughter of Nicholas
Houston, of Arenzville Precinct; she was born
in this county, March 10, 1831 ; they have
had no children of their own, but have assisted
in the rearing: and educating of six children
who were in need of homes. At the death
of his father, Mr. Wagner bought the interest
of William S. Wagner, joint heir to the
homestead farm, and now controls the whole,
consisting of 160 acres, 120 of which is
under cultivation. Mr. Wagner is a Demo-
crat. He had two brothers in the late war,
one of whom died in the army; the other died
in this county in 1868. Mrs. Wagner's father
came to this county previous to the settlement
of Beardstown, and lived here until his death,
which occurred in 1872; he raised a family of
thirteen children, six of whom are still living.

PRINCETON PRECINCT.

327

PRINCETON PRECINCT.

ALBERT J. COONS, station agent, Little
Indian, born in Morgan County, 111., Feb. 14,
1852. Received a common school education
principally- in Sangamon County. At the age
of twenty-two years left home and commenced
railroading at Berlin, 111. Oct. 2, 1S76, he took
charge of the station at Little Indian, since
which time he ha.s been in the employ of the
Wabash R. R. He was married in Cass County
Oct. 14, 1880, to Miss Laura, daughter of John
and Nancy Epler. (See liistory.) She was born
Sept. 18, 1858. George M. Coons, the father
of Albert, was born at Lexington, Ky., Sept..
3, 1816. Came to Morgan County in 1S"25; is
a farmer by occupation, and still living; his
wife, Mary J. Sturges, was born near Arcadia
Morgan County, Nov. 11, 1828, and died Sept.
28, 1861. She was the mother of ten children
of whom Albert was the fifth child. He is
highly esteemed in the community where he
resides, and is considered a thorough business
man. Politically he is a Republican.

REV. G. GARNER, Methodist Cler-
gyman, Little Indian; was born in Clarke
County, Ind., March 11, 1816. When 14
years of age he was removed by his parents
to Cass County, 111., near where he now re-
sides. His educational privileges were not
of the best, but he eventually fitted himself
for the ministry. In 1841 he was licensed to
preach, and spent the following four years as
a local minister. He became attached to the
Illinois Conference of Jacksonville, in 1847;
his first charge was at Waterloo, Monroe
County, where he remained one year. He
preached in different localities until 1877,
when he returned to this county, and has
since had charge of the Zion M. E. Church.
His term of thirty-five years in the Illinois

Conference has been one of continuous labor.
At Hebron March 31, 1836, he was married
to Miss Mary J. Rebman, who was born in
Greene County 111., Nov. 18, 1821. They
are the parents of ten children, three of whom
are deceased; those living are: Hannah E.,
wife of Rev. George B. Wolf, of Jacksonville,
III.; Charles W., residing in Oregon Town-
ship, this county; Isaac C, in Ashland;
Mary, wife of J. C. Bagby, of Chicago; Har-
rie^t E., wife of Ross Her, of Pike County;
George, living at home, and Minnie Lee, liv-
ing in Chicago with her sister, Mrs. Bagby.
Mrs. Garner is a daughter of James and Mary
(Bowen) Rebman, natives of Kentucky', both
of whom died of cholera in 1832. James Gar-
ner, the father of our subject, was a native of
North Carolina; came to Illinois in about
1830, and was one of the early settlers of Cass
County. He was formerly a minister, but
after his arrival in Illinois, followed the occu-
patio