History of Livingston County, Illinois.

Chicago: William Le Baron, 1878.
Pages 224-572
Transcription from book form to digital by David W. Weis, 2008.

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PREFACE.

IN presenting our History of Livingston County, we deem a few prefatory words necessary. We have spared neither pains nor expense to fulfill our engagement with our patrons and make the work as complete as possible. We have acted upon the principle that justice to those who have subscribed, be they few or many, requires that the work should be as well done as if it was patronized by every citizen in the county. We do not claim that our work is entirely free from errors; such a result could not be attained by the utmost care and foresight of ordinary mortals. The General History of the County was compiled by O. F. Pearre, Esq., of Pontiac; and the Township His­tories by our historians, W. H. Perrin, H. H. Hill and A. A.Graham. Some of the Township Histories are indeed longer than others, as the townships are older, containing larger cities and towns, and have been the scenes of more important and interesting events. While fully recognizing this important difference, the historians have sought to write up each township with equal fidelity to the facts and information within their reach. We take this occasion to present our thanks to all our numerous subscribers for their patronage and encouragement in the publication of the work. In this confident belief, we submit it to the enlightened judgment of those for whose benefit it has been prepared, believing that it will be received as a most valuable and complete work.
THE PUBLISHERS.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

A PERIOD of time which would be considered remote in the records of the civilization of Central Illinois, would be regarded as recent in the annals of the Eastern or Southern States: and in the history of a county which, less than fifty years ago, was inhabited only by the aborigines, it will not be expected that an undue flavor of antiquity will pervade the pages; still, the pages of few histories, either ancient or modern, furnish more instructive lessons than are to be found in the record of the pluck, perseverance and success of the early set­tlers of this county.
The facts pertaining to the early settlement of the county have been gleaned from the few old pioneers who still survive; and the writer desires especially to acknowledge his indebtedness to Hon. Woodford G. McDowell, who came to the Territory and settled in what is now Livingston County, forty-six years ago, for much valuable information, without which it would have been impossible to record some of the most interesting facts and incidents in the history of the county.
Of the colony which settled in Avoca Township, in the year 1832, Judge McDowell, his brothers John and James, and a sister, Mrs. Joel Tucker, still survive and are living in this county. It is fortunate for the historian that the colony reckoned the McDowell brothers among its numbers; for they were not only fully competent to do so, but did take a deep interest in preserving the more interesting details of the progress and development of the county.
The work of writing this history has been begun none too soon; as, by far, the greater number of the early settlers have passed away; and age and decrepitude are clouding the memories of some who remain; and, had the work been deferred for a few years, a considerable portion of the history would have been lost.
This work is not written for the purpose of recording panegyrics on any man or set of men; and, if an individual receives prominent mention. it is because his history is interwoven with the history of the county, in such a manner as to render it necessary.
So far as writing up the official and political portion of the work is con­cerned, care has been taken to follow the official records, so far as there were records to follow; but, beyond that, the writer has been forced to hunt his facts wherever he could find them throughout the county.

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SETTLEMENT AND POPULATION, AND WHENCE DERIVED.

Livingston County contains 1,035 square miles of territory, extending west from the north part of Grand Prairie, and having most of the characteristics of that district; and it was among the last counties of the State to attract immi­gration.

For many years after the first settlers located, our broad prairies failed to induce general settlement, as immigrants seemed to prefer the more rolling lands of the northern and western counties, or the timbered regions farther south. It was not until the building of the Illinois Central Railroad, which passed through many miles of similar country, and brought its peculiar characteristics into favorable notice, and the construction of the Chicago & Mississippi Road, which passed directly through the county, that immigrants generally began to discover the value of the lands of this hitherto neglected region.

Much of the land donated by the Government to the State, and, by the State transferred to the Central Railroad Company, lay in this county, and was put upon the market. This land rapidly found purchasers and occupants; and the building of these roads, together with the construction of the Toledo, Peoria, Warsaw Road, made it possible for producers to market their grain, and greatly enhanced the value of the land; and the real settlement of the county dates from this era.

The history of the county naturally divides itself into three epochs: First, the occupation by the Indians, from the discovery of the prairie country by the French, to the first white settlement, in the Fall of 1829. Second, from the first settlement of the whites to the building of the railroads, in 1854. Third, from that period to the present time. But, before the subject is treated in this order, a short statement of the derivation of our population will be given, and, also, the topography and geology of the county will receive attention.

The earlier settlers came, principally, from Indiana and Ohio, with only a few from the States further east and south, while a large portion of those who, during the third epoch, reduced the virgin soil to cultivation, were immigrants from foreign lands, or from the older and more populous counties of this State. These last mentioned were attracted hither by cheaper lands and by a wider range of pasturage. Nearly all of these were men of small pecuniary means, but possessed of courage, industry and thrift, and found themselves benefited by their change of locality. The older counties of La Salle, Bureau, Peoria, Knox, Fulton, Tazewell and Woodford have sent us not a few of their young and active men. Many of our most esteemed and worthy citizens are natives of Ireland, Germany, Norway and Demark. England has contributed her share, and many freedmen are settled in the county.

But it is not to immigration alone, active and constant as it has been, that our great and rapid increase of population is to be attributed. There are no statistics to show the number of births in the county previous to the present year and speculation must be left to others than the historian. Fortunately, however,

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the law which requires the registration of births and deaths has been in force long enough to give a few figures. Registration commenced in December, 1877, but it was not until late in January, 1878, that the full statistics could be ob­tained.

In four months, 318 births have been recorded, and it is believed that many others have occurred which, for various reasons, have not been reported. But this would make the number of births in this county (which contains a popula­tion of 40,000) about one thousand per year, or two and one half per cent per annum. The number of deaths registered during the same period is seventy­-six, showing that the natural increase does not vary much from two per cent during the year. The number of marriage licenses issued during this period is 140.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The county is bounded on the north by La Salle and Grundy Counties; on the east by Kankakee and Ford, on the south by Ford and McLean, on the west by McLean Woodford and La Salle Counties. It embraces Ranges from 3 to 8, east of the Third Principal Meridian; and Townships from 25 to 30, north of the base line of the State, being thirty-six miles from east to west, and twenty-four from north to south, with an addition of eighteen by nine and three­-fourths miles, lying south of the eastern half of the county. It contains twenty­-seven full Congressional Townships, namely: Reading, Newtown; Sunbury, Nevada, Dwight, Round Grove, Long Point, Amity, Esmen, Odell, Union, Broughton, Nebraska, Rook's Creek, Pontiac, Owego, Saunemin, Sullivan, Waldo, Pike, Eppard's Point, Avoca. Pleasant Ridge, Charlotte, Indian Grove, Forrest and Chatsworth; and three fractional townships, to wit, Belle Prairie, Fayette and Germantown.

In size, it is the fourth largest county in the State, being exceeded only by La Salle, McLean and Iroquois. It is principally prairie land; but timber is found along the Vermilion River and its branches, and also in some fine groves of native timber, in various parts of the county. Round Grove, near the north­eastern corner, originally contained 80 acres; Oliver's Grove about 800 acres, situated near the southeastern corner; Indian Grove, near the southwestern corner about 800 acres; and Babcock's Grove embraces 100 acres, standing on high ground near the center of the county, Packwood's Grove, near this point,  contains 20 acres; and Five Mile Grove, near the head of the north branch of the Vermilion, closes the list. Each of these, with the exception of Round Grove, which is on a branch of the Mazon, stands at the head of a small stream which, on leaving the timber, flows through the open prairie and empties into the Vermilion.

The timber land does not exceed six per cent of the area. The different varieties of oak, elm, maple and walnut predominate, while ash, cottonwood, white­wood and some other varieties are not uncommon, and a few cedars are found on the hanks of the Vermilion.

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The Vermilion River has its rise in the extreme southeastern portion of the county, and has the following tributaries: South Branch, Indian Creek, Turtle Creek, Wolf Creek, Rook's Creek, Mud Creek, Long Point and Scattering Point Creeks, most of which have their rise in the county. All of these streams are living water, fed by springs, affording ample water for stock, and splendid drainage for all parts of the county.

The Vermilion and the larger branches are well stocked with fish, of which the pickerel, bass and cat-fish are the predominant varieties. The Vermilion affords water-power for a few mills, the best point being at Pontiac, where Thomas Williams' fine grist-mill and saw-mill are located.

This river has thus been noticed by a local writer:

        THE VERMILLION.
Vermilion is no classic stream,
She is not named in song or story;
No mighty deed or poet's dream
Have placed her on the page of glory;
And yet her banks are just as fair
As those of classic rivers are.

The Rubicon with all its fame,
When sifted down is but a sham;
Vermilion is a longer name,
And quite as wide above the dam,
And as for Caesar riding through it­-
Why, any half-baked fool could do it.

Some men go out to see the Nile,
Because they think 'tis great and manly
And one stayed out there such a while,
He had to be looked up by Stanley.
It really did him no more good
Than paddling up Vermilion would.

Burns sang the praise of Bonnie Doon,
Because a song he must deliver;
Had he lived here he would as soon
Have sung thy praise, Vermilion River.
Buck's springs would then as famous be
As the castle of Montgomery.

Flow on, Vermilion, gently flow,
And turn the wheels of William's mill;
Still on thy way rejoicing go-
A river is a river still.
And all the rivers known to fame
Are made of water just the same.

The soil is principally the deep, black alluvial, common in this State. The surface is gently undulating, with broader stretches of level land than are found in the northern and western counties. The lands lying south, southwest and northwest of the center of the county are, for the most part, level, while north, east and southeast of the center, the land is more rolling, yet not so uneven as to receive any ill effects from washing, while under the plow.

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The chief advantage which land of this character has over a more rolling and broken surface is that, for many years to come, there can be no perceptible loss in its fertility, from washing while under cultivation.

GEOLOGY.
The geological formations are not unlike those common to the Grand Prairie district, with the important difference that, in this county, coal and stone are found in abundance.

For some years after the first settlement, and during the second epoch, the people lived in ignorance of the vast coal fields of the county. All residents then lived in or upon the skirts of the timber, and no fuel was needed, other than the forest supplied. It is true that the outcroppings of coal along the banks of the river, in the northwestern part of the county, were discovered and commented upon; but the pioneer had no means of utilizing it, and considered it of no value.

About the year 1860, Henry L. Marsh, who owned a large tract of land near Fairbury, had his attention called to the fact that the rapidly increasing popu­lation must necessarily require a more abundant supply and a cheaper fuel. There was not timber enough in the county to supply it for ten years, at the rate it was being consumed; and, from his knowledge of coal formation, Marsh believed that it could here be obtained, by going to a sufficient depth.

At that day, coal mining, by deep, perpendicular shafts, was unknown in this bituminous district. La Salle, Peoria and Morris were sending out the few tons they were called upon to supply, and Coalville supplied a meager local trade.

The Wilmington coal fields were not yet discovered, and Streator, which now, from its various shafts, sends up its thousands of tons per day, was unknown to the worthy man whose name it bears; and for a decade after Marsh's pioneer labors, the place was known only by the name of "Hard­scrabble." To a man of less force, will-power and energy than Marsh, the idea of mining coal on the open prairie of Livingston County would have remained an idea, or it might have grown into a desire; but he was made of the right material to push a gigantic enterprise to completion. He at once set about an investigation of the facts in the case, and, under his investigation, the possibilities steadily grew into a reality. The story of his struggles with adverse fortune, his heavy losses, his trials and failures, and his final success, would make an interesting and instruct­ive chapter of history. Water, at various depths, so flooded his work and damaged it in various ways, that his friends and backers deemed the scheme impracticable; but he was not discouraged, and, in the last extremity, he com­pleted an invention of his own, by which the difficulty was overcome. At a depth of 180 feet, he struck a paying vein of excellent coal. The success attending Marsh's efforts incited others to like enterprises, and, in 1865, a shaft was sunk at Pontiac, another shaft at Fairbury in 1868, one near Streator in

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1872, one at Cornell in 1875, and one at Cayuga in 1878. Cayuga, which is distant five miles from the river, is, thus far, the farthest point from the Ver­milion at which a paying vein of coal has been reached in the county. The efforts to find coal at Odell and Dwight have thus far proved failures. The mining at Coalville is carried on by horizontal entries, and is not so expensive to the operators. The capital invested in coal mining in Livingston will not fall short of a quarter of a million dollars, and, thus far, the enterprise has proved far more profitable to purchasers than to the proprietors of the mines. Ledges of limestone, suitable for building purposes, are found along the banks of the Vermilion; and at Pontiac and in the vicinity, inexhaustible quar­ries of calcareo-silicious stone are found. In sinking the coal shafts at Fair­bury, a fine dark sandstone of peculiar color and quality was discovered. This stone is easily dressed, and is a superior stone for building purposes.

INDIAN HISTORY.

When the white settlers first began to locate in the territory out of which Livingston County was formed, they found it in the possession of the Kickapoo and Pottawatomie Indians.

These tribes claimed the country by right of conquest, and their eventful history demands a far more extended notice than can be given to it in these pages. The final and decisive battle between the Kickapoos and the Pottawato­mies on the one hand, and the Miamis on the other, finds no parallel in history, except it be the battle of "Chevy Chase " between the followers of Douglas and Percy. This "duel of the tribes," as it is called, will again be referred to.

The "Illini " were the first inhabitants of which history gives any authentic account.

This name means "Superior men" and did not apply to a tribe, but to a confederation of tribes, composed of the Peorias, Moinquienas, Kas-kas-kias, Tamaroas and Cahokias. In 1872, this powerful confederation had dwindled to forty souls, and these were living on a reservation southwest of the land assigned by the Government to the Quapaws.

Chicago was their great chief in the days of their glory.  In 1700, this chief went to France, and was treated with distinguished honors. His son, of the same name, was also a powerful chief to the time of his death, in 1754.

Against this confederation, the Kickapoos, Pottawatomies and Miamis combined for a war of extermination. After a long and bloody struggle, the Illini made their last stand at Starved Rock, in La Salle County, in the year l774. The Illini suffered a disastrous defeat, and left their enemies in undisputed possession of the territory. But when the victorious tribes came to divide the domain among themselves, fresh difficulty arose, and they again resorted to arms.

In this struggle, the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies combined their forces. and made common cause against the Miamis. The war which followed was

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not of long duration; but it was exceedingly bloody and fatal to the participants. In the year 1774, less than twelve months from the time that they had con­quered the Illini, it was agreed that the Miamis should select three hundred warriors, and the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies a like number, and that these six hundred men should meet in combat and decide the quarrel. The opposing forces met on the banks of Sugar Creek and fought from the rising to the setting of the sun, and at the close of the day there remained only twelve men who were not killed or mortally wounded; and of these, five were Miamis and seven Kickapoos and Pottawatomies.
The ballad of "Chevy Chase" with which every student of history is familiar, and which records the only parallel of this conflict to be found in history, tells us that

"The fight did last from break of day
Till setting of the sun;
For when they rung the evening bell,
The battle scarce was done.

"And the Lord Maxwell, in likewise,
Did with Earl Douglas die;
Of twenty hundred Scottish spears,
Scarce fifty-five did fly.

"Of fifteen hundred Englishmen,
Went home but fifty-three;
The rest were slain at Chevy Chase.
Under the greenwood tree."

But this daring people had no written language, and many of their deeds of noble daring perish with them; but it would require but little imagination to quote further from the records of Chevy Chase, and apply it to this conflict:

"Next day, did many widows come.
Their husbands to bewail:
They washed their wounds in briny tears.
But all could not prevail.

"Their bodies, bathed in purple blood,
They bore with them away;
They kissed them, dead, a thousand times
Ere they were clad in clay"

In this battle, the Kickapoos and Pottawatomies were declared the victors, and the Miamis retired to the east side of the Wabash River, leaving them in possession of the territory.

The victorious tribes then divided the land between them, and the Indian trail passing near Oliver's Grove marked the dividing line. East and southeast of this line belonged to the Kickapoos, and the remainder to the Pottawatomies.

Hon. Perry A. Armstrong, a gentleman of culture and natural talent, who resides at Morris, in Grundy County, has made the study of the history of these Indian tribes a specialty for the past  twenty-five years; and it is to him that the writer is indebted for valuable dates in this connection.

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Armstrong says, in speaking of the Indian trail referred to: "It was very distinct when I last saw it, in 1845; and when I first saw it, in 1831, it was, on an average, eight inches deep by fifteen inches wide." This trail was the, dividing line between the two tribes up to the year 1835, when the Government moved them west of the Mississippi.

When the boundary line was established, the Pottawatomies retired to the vicinity of Fox River, while the Kickapoos established their headquarters on Salt Creek, near where the town of LeRoy now stands; and the vicinity was: known to the first settlers by the name of Old Town Timber. The Pottawatomies would come up as far as Rook's Creek, on their hunting excursions, and they frequently camped on the Vermilion River, in the vicinity of the present residence of Emsley Pope, in Newtown; but the boundary line was respected, and the two tribes remained on friendly terms.

In the Spring of 1828, the Kickapoos removed their headquarters within the present bounds of Livingston County. They erected a council house and built a village on the east side of Indian Grove, and the tribe at that time numbered about 700 souls. They possessed all the ordinary characteristics of the typical American Indian - the copper complexion, black, straight hair, well-proportioned limbs and keen, black eyes.

The women were far more attractive in personal appearance than the generality of squaws, notwithstanding the fact that upon them devolved all the drudgery of domestic life; and, while they remained at Indian Grove, the women cultivated the land, after a rude fashion, and raised corn, beans and potatoes, while the men devoted themselves to hunting and fishing, but the squaws were expected to dress all game after it was brought home.

In the Spring of 1830, they removed to Oliver's Grove, then known as Kickapoo Grove, where they erected a large and permanent council house, ninety-seven wigwams and several small encampments.

It was here that an exact census of them was taken, and they numbered, - men, women and children - 630 souls.

In the year of 1832, a pioneer Methodist preacher by the name of William Walker, who resided at Ottawa, Ill., visited them and established a Mission. Father Walker was at the time an old man, and the journey was a long one for him to make; but, under his ministrations, several of the tribe were converted to Christianity, among the number being a young man whom Walker ordained, and who held regular service every Sabbath when Walker could not attend. They soon came to have great respect for the Sabbath, and, at whatever distance from home they might be hunting during the week, they always returned to camp on Saturday night, so as to be in attendance at church on Sunday morning.

Their prayer books consisted of walnut boards, on which were carved characters representing the ideas intended to be impressed upon the mind. At the top of the board was a picture of a wigwam.

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These boards were quite uniform in size and appearance, and were held very sacred, and were protected with the utmost care; no Indian thought of retiring for the night without first consulting his board.

Each Sabbath they had a public dinner, of which the whole community partook. In the center of the ground in which their religious meetings were held, a fire was kindled, and over this the camp kettles were hung in a line. The men were grouped on one side of this line and the women on the other; at one end gathered the children, and at the other end stood the preacher. Two men stood near the children to see that perfect order was preserved; and no congregation, even in the days of the Puritan fathers, was more decorous than were these newly Christianized Kickapoos. While the minister preached, the dinner cooked; and when the religious services were over, the kettles were removed from the fire, and the dinner was served out into wooden bowls and trenchers, with ladles and spoons of the same material. The dinner generally consisted of venison, coon, opossum, turtle, fish, or any other animal food they could obtain, together with corn, beans and potatoes, all boiled together.

Hon. Woodford G. McDowell, on whom we have largely drawn for information, says that a dinner of this kind "generally left a quantity of soup, which was highly flavored and quite nutritious." It is natural to suppose that such would be the case.

The Kickapoos remained at this point until September, 1832, when they were removed by the Government to their lands west of the city of St. Louis.

Shabbona, the friend of the whites, with whom many of the earliest settlers were acquainted, was neither a Kickapoo nor a Pottawatomie, but an Ottawa Indian. After the death of Pontiac, after whom the county seat of Livingston County is named, the Ottawa tribe became merged into the Pottawatomies; but many individual members of the tribe clung to the old name, and cherished with pride the history of their descent from this superior stock. Of this number was Shabbona, who was very sensitive on the question of his origin. If he was called a Pottawatomie, says Armstrong, he would immediately and invariably reply: "Me Ottawa Indian; me no Pottawatomie.

The history of the great chief Pontiac is interwoven with the history of the nation; yet it has remained for Hon. Perry A. Armstrong, of Morris, to give to the world a reliable account of his last days.

The last event recorded in his career, in the commonly received history, is his attack on Capt. Dalzell, who, at the head of three hundred men, was marching to the relief of Detroit, about the last of July, 1763. Says the national historian: "Subsequent to this period, we have no reliable history of the Great Sachem of the Ottawas." Armstrong says: "He was a great brave, who had. enemies and rivals, who finally caused him to be assassinated. He was invited to a war dance on a dark night solely for this purpose. He was warned to stay away, or if he attended to take with him a strung force of braves; but aspiring to be the leader of all, he knew that if he showed fear on this occasion

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he would be forever disgraced; he started alone, and was waylaid and mur­dered before he reached his destination." This event occurred is 1772, near where East St. Louis stands.

EARLY SETTLEMENT AND INCIDENTS.

V. M. Darnall and Frederick Rook were the first white men to locate in the territory now embraced in Livingston County. Darnall erected his cabin in the southern part of the timber known as Indian Grove, in the Fall of 1829, soon after the Kickapoo Indians had exchanged this locality for Oliver's Grove.

At or about the time that Darnall made his settlement at Indian Grove, Frederick Rook located five miles west of Pontiac, on the creek which still hears his name; and, soon after, Isaac Jordan selected his location. Rook removed to Missouri at an early day, and the exact date of his settlement here cannot be obtained. These three men, with their families, were the only white persons, in this locality, who saw the "great snow" which fell in the Winter of` 1830-31. This fall of snow was phenomenal, and its like, probably, had never occurred before, and certainly has not since within the limits of the State. In a dead calm, it fell to the depth of four feet. This was followed by a drizzling rain, which soon turned to sleet. Then the weather became intensely cold, and the whole face of the country was covered with a sheet of ice, overlying a field of snow that was four feet deep on the level.

This storm was very destructive to game of all kinds, and it was several years before it again became abundant. Deer, by the hundred, starved to death, and birds, such as grouse and quail, perished in great numbers. Squire L. Payne, of Eppard's Point, who at that time resided near Danville, informs the writer that deer, showing no signs of fear, would stand and eat the branches from a fallen tree while the woodman was chopping and splitting the body of the same. He further says that, after the snow had continued for some time, the deer were not molested, as they were so emaciated as to be unfit for food, and were only occasionally killed for their skins.

At this period, the Kickapoo Indians had a village at Oliver's Grove, and they, as well as the few white settlers, suffered severely from the intense cold and scarcity of food. During the continuance of the snow, they used their large council house as a common kitchen for all. Their camp kettles were kept constantly boiling, and into them were thrown such animal food as they could procure.  A starved deer was a welcome addition to their larder, and, when other supplies failed, a pony was sacrificed, and horse soup dished out.

Frederick Rook and Isaac Jordan found their stock of provisions failing, and they conceived the idea of manufacturing snow-shoes from boards and going to Mackinaw for supplies, for it was impossible for them to travel with a horse. They accomplished the journey on their snow-shoes, and when they reached that, to them, Egyptian storehouse, they were so fortunate as to receive, each, a bushel and a half of corn. They placed this on hand-sleds and drew it home,

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arriving there on the evening of the fourth day. This corn they pounded into meal, and, by careful husbanding, made it last them till further supplies could be obtained.

When the snow began to fall, Major Darnall was over on the Mackinaw, his wife and four small children being at home in Indian Grove, with a scanty sup­ply of provisions. He waited during the night for the storm to abate; but, at the early dawn, he mounted his horse, which was an excellent one, and taking the half of a deer before him, without guide or compass, he started across the trackless snow-field for his distant home. It was a perilous undertaking and, at times, it seemed useless to try to proceed, as the horse would sink to his saddle-­girths in the snow; but horse and rider persevered, and, just as the sun was setting, he espied the smoke curling from the chimney of his little cabin, which was half buried in the snow. Imagination can paint the blissful meeting of husband and wife on this occasion; and there have been few happier family meetings than the one gathered around Major Darnall's hearthstone on that memorable evening.

Major Darnall still resides in the vicinity of Fairbury, possessed of a com­petence, honored and respected; and it is worth something to hear him recount the history of the early days of Livingston County.

During the year 1830, Andrew McMillan and Garret M. Blue located on Rook's Creek, and their descendants are numerous. Blue's name and those of his sons frequently appear in the political annals of the county.

Jacob Moon came to Moon's Point in the same year, and his progeny are among the most wealthy and respected in the county.

On the 5th day of May, 1832, William McDowell, from Sciota County, Ohio, with his five sons, John, Hiram, Woodford G., Joseph and James, and his two daughters, Betty and Hannah, settled in what is now Avoca Township, on the Little Vermilion. Their nearest white neighbor on the south was one Philip Cook; but they could call around on Frederick Rook, Isaac Jordan or William Popejoy, almost any time, by going a distance of from five to fifteen miles.

The elder McDowell displayed excellent judgment in selecting this location, for after forty-five years' contained farming, the soil is still rich and productive.

The McDowells at once proceeded to erect their cabin. The principal tool used in its construction was an axe. They brought with them a few panes of glass for a window, and, in this particular, they had the advantage of their neighbors. The boards which furnished the material for the door and window casing of this primitive dwelling, were purchased of the Kickapoo Indians, and were brought from Oliver's Grove with an ox team. The Indians had hewn them out for some purpose of their own, but were induced to part with them for a small supply of ammunition.

The Black Hawk war was then in active operation, and this settlement was within a short march of the headquarters of this terrible chief. This same year, Wm. Popejoy, John Hanneman and Franklin Oliver located, and soon took an act-

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ive part in the affairs of the settlement. Black Hawk maintained his position, and the situation of the settlers became alarming, as it was not known what attitude the Kickapoo Indians (numbering 630) at Oliver's Grove, would assume; and, on the 20th of May, they were waited upon by a deputation of whites for the pur­pose of ascertaining their intentions.

At this meeting, the venerable Franklin Oliver presided. On their return from the council, the members of the deputation stopped at the McDowell cabin and took dinner, and they advised the settlers either to abandon their homes or proceed to erect fortifications. The latter scheme was impracticable, for the reason that there were but two rifles in the whole settlement, and very little ammunition. On the 27th of May, all the white men in the settlement held a council, and it was then and there decided that the best thing that could be done, under the circumstances, was to retire to the white settlements in Indiana; and, on the evening of the 28th, the entire white population camped in and around the McDowell cabin, preparatory to a march the next morning.

This company consisted of the McDowell family, and William Popejoy, Abner Johnson, Uriah Blue, Isaac Jordan and John Hanneman, and their fam­ilies - thirty-one souls in all. In speaking of this party, Hon. Woodford G. McDowell, who was one of the number, says: "I feel sure, if the entire outfit had been required to raise twenty-five dollars among them, or be scalped by the Indians, they would have been compelled to throw up the sponge - they could not have raised the money."

On the morning of the 29th of May, the whole company of seven families, in six wagons, took up the line of march and left the embryo county in posses­sion of the Indians. Darnall must have retreated some time previous, as his name is not mentioned in this exodus, and as far as Oliver is concerned, he came and went among the Indians at his own pleasure, and without fear of molestation. He thoroughly understood their character, and was accounted a favorite among them; and, in fact, an Indian chief was called after his name.

During the march to Indiana, several interesting incidents transpired. The more timid were in hourly anticipation of an attack from Black Hawk, and could scarcely be persuaded to regulate their pace with the ox teams which drew the women and children. On the second day of their march, the wife of Isaac Jordan presented him with an infant daughter; and James McDowell, then a young man of 17 years, together with another youth, walked to a grove of timber four miles distant to procure wood enough to build a camp fire. On their return, they found the camp in great commotion. A couple of Indians had been seen on a ridge overlooking the camp, and then to disappear in the tall grass. Women and children were crying, and even some of the men were badly frightened, and counseled an immediate flight, as they supposed the Indians they had seen were scouts sent out by Black Hawk. Others were less excited, and proceeded to light the camp fire and prepare their supper, the elder McDowell remarking, as he held his frying-pan over the fire, that "he did not

235
propose to be scalped on an empty stomach." It was soon ascertained, how­ever, that the Indians were two friendly Kickapoos, who had come to bid their white friends farewell; but the incident proved the different material of which the company was composed, and had not a little to do with the estimate in which they subsequently held each other's character.

The next day, the mother and child were left at the house of Philip Cook, before mentioned, as this was considered sufficiently remote from the seat of war to be safe; and the remainder of the party pushed on to Indiana. A. B. Phil­lips and James Spence, with their families, had taken refuge within a fortifica­tion on the Mackinaw. But, in the Fall of the same year, nearly all of the persons mentioned in the exodus returned to their claims.

We have seen how near the daughter of Isaac Jordan came to being born in the limits of the county, but the first white child actually born within the bor­ders of Livingston, was a son of A. B. Phillips. He grew to manhood, and when the hour of his country's peril carne, he was one of the first to answer her call, and he gave his life to maintain her honor. Thus the county literally gave her " first born for a sacrifice." All honor to such men!

"On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards, with solemn round.
The bivouac of the dead."

The second birth in the county was J. W. Darnall, now 47 years old, and a worthy and respected citizen. When the settlers returned from Indiana, with them came Nathan Popejoy, and located a few miles east of Pontiac. At this period, Judge McDowell informs us that there were but two young ladies within a distance of fifty miles up and down the Vermilion, but this condition of things did not long exist, for the year 1833 saw a considerable influx of new families. In this year, Dr. John Davis settled near the present residence of Philip Rollins. He was the first physician in the county, and had the medical practice, without a rival, for some time. About the same time came Daniel Rockwood and the Weeds, Henry, E. F. and James, also John Recob, John Johnson, the Murry family, Squire Hayes, John Chew, Daniel Barackman, John Downey, Joseph Reynolds and his brothers. The Government had just removed the last Kickapoo west of the Mississippi, and Franklin Oliver, this year, permanently located at Kickapoo Grove, which, since that date, has borne his name. The Indian trouble was now forever settled, so far as this date, was concerned, the hardest trials were past and a brighter day was dawning; but the old settler never grows weary of talking about this period, and of recounting his trials and exploits. Among the number whose recollection is perfectly unimpaired, is John Johnson, of Rook's Creek. He was horn in Ontario County, New York, and came to Shawncetown, in this State, as early as 1821. There were only some fifty white persons in the county when Johnson settled here, and he knew them  all. He calculates that he and his sons have killed

236
over a thousand deer within the limits of the county. In the Fall hunt of 1834, they killed seventy-five and took the skins and hams to Ottawa, and received for them the sum of sixty dollars - a large amount of money in those days. Franklin Oliver, although in his ninety-second year, still retains his faculties in a wonderful degree, and is a walking encyclopedia of facts pertaining to the early settlement; also Emsley Pope (whose history will receive further mention), together with James and Woodford G. McDowell and Major Darnall are still -with us, their minds and memories unimpaired. Frederick Rook, the old pioneer, after whom Rook's Creek Township is named, is described by James ­McDowell, as a well-made, fat-faced, easy natured and accommodating German, and not at all such a character as has been described in later clays. He had a wife and family, and, at the date of his departure, his eldest daughter, Mary, was seventeen years old. He frequently deplored the lack of facilities for giv­ing his children an education, and it is stated that this was the cause of his removing from the county at an early day. He was a capital shot, a generous provider for his family, and altogether a worthy man; and the aspersions cast upon his character are without any foundation in fact, and may be considered as false.

The nearest post office at this time was at Bloomington; but, as James McDowell says, they did not take a daily paper or write many love letters in those days; they managed to live with a post office even at that distance. They took their grain fifty miles, with an ox team, to a mill owned and run by John Green, on the other side of Ottawa; and, after hauling it that distance, they frequently had to wait a day or two for their turn; and it never happened that a man went to mill, called round by the post office and returned home on the same day.

Among some of the earliest settlers were Truman Rutherford, John Foster, James Holman, William K. Brown, Judge Breckenridge, Amos Edwards and Andrew McDowell, of Long Point; Walter Cornell, Andrew Sprague, Joel B. Anderson, H. Steers, Isaac Burgit, John Darnall, John Travis, J. W. Reynolds, Charles Jones, Philip Rollins, John Marks, James Demoss, Benjamin Hie­ronymous and the Garner brothers.

It was several years before the pioneers erected a church edifice, but they were not heathens. For miles around, the community would, on a Sunday, assemble at the house of John Terhune, who possessed a book of sermons, and who would read to them on these occasions. Terhune was a man of education, who quietly came among these pioneers, and, after remaining a few years, departed as he came. His destination was not known, and the date of his departure is not fixed; and, as he was of a retiring and unobtrusive disposition, but few facts concerning him can he obtained.

In 1834, William Royle, a Methodist preacher, Established a mission in this locality; but, as his circuit embraced such distant points as Waupansee, Ottawa and Mazon, he could only hold service here on a week day; yet men would

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leave their work and come ten and even fifteen miles to attend religious service.

In the Fall of the year, the whole community - men, women and children - ­would yoke up their ox teams and go over to Mackinaw to attend camp meeting. This was considered the event of the year, and was eagerly anticipated by the young people, who had not many opportunities of enjoying each other's society and forming new acquaintances. Joseph C. Morrison, of Avoca Township, and now one of the wealthiest and most respected citizens of the county, was, at this period, one of the rising young men of the community. He says that the enjoyment of these trips could only be appreciated by a community placed in like circumstances.

Yet these pioneers were not without their amusements and recreations; but they generally contrived to combine business with pleasure. James McDowell came twelve miles, with his father, to assist in raising the first cabin that was erected in Pontiac; and he remembers it as a day given to pleasure.

Another popular amusement was to assemble the community for the "grand circular hunt." Having selected the territory, which embraced as large a tract as the number of hunters could command, they placed themselves in a circle, on the outside, and drove the game toward a common center. The game thus encir­cled consisted mainly of wolves and deer, which were always captured or killed in great numbers. The hunt, and especially the closing up of the circle, was exciting in the extreme, and no small amount of skill was displayed in the man­ner of disposing of the animals as they attempted to break through the lines of their persecutors.

The State paid a bounty for wolf scalps in those days, and this was a source of revenue to the settlers.

On one occasion, while Nicholas Heffner was both Sheriff and Tax Collect­or for the county, and Washington Boyer was School Commissioner, Heff­ner was taken sick, and requested James McDowell to go to Springfield for him and make a settlement with the State, and the School Commissioner, learning that he was about to make the trip, called on him and requested that he should bring back with him, from Springfield, the amount due the county from the State school fund.

McDowell mounted his horse and, taking a huge bag of legal tender, in the shape of wolf scalps, before him, set out on his journey, and, arrived at the State Capital, he not only paid the entire amount due the State in wolf scalps, but exchanged a sufficient number of the remainder with the State Treasurer, to cover the amount coming to the county from the school fund. Notwithstanding this remarkable instance of the profit derived from rearing wolves, their propa­gation is now entirely neglected in this county, and a wolf found occasionally is viewed as an object of curiosity.

James McDowell still flourishes in his pristine vigor, though upward of 60 years old. He owns over 2,100 acres of choice farming land in the vicinity where he first located, and is enjoying the competence he has so justly earned.

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It is a matter of wonder to many now living in the county, how the pioneers managed to live and rear large families where there was no money in the country, and no market for produce. In the first place, they did not go in debt, for they could not do so; then game was abundant, and if it would not bring a price, it :filled a very important place in the household economy. They raised their own coffee, which was prepared from parched corn, they made their own sugar, and as for store tea, that was dispensed with. Then, again, a dealer from some of the earlier settled portions of the State, would occasionally ride through this region on horseback, and purchase a few steers at a very low price, but a little money went a great way with the fathers. Deer skins and the skins and furs of smaller animals always brought cash when they could be got to market, and occasionally a pioneer would collect these and push through to some distant loot and, disposing of them, return with their value in money .

The introduction of a few sheep by Maj. Darnall helped matters very much. The carding, spinning and weaving were done at home; and cost no money. This industry was first introduced into the community by the good wives  of Maj. Darnall and A. B. Phillips, and was soon copied by other matrons. Taxes were very low; and if a settler of this period received from all sources an income of $15 or $20 per annum, he had sufficient to pay his cash expenses. The amount of money now paid for a new bonnet, or a Spring overcoat, would have sufficed to support a family at that time for six months. There were few schools for the children, and they were required to help carry on the farm work, and everything was made to count for what it was worth.

But what was already a difficult financial problem was made doubly so by the general crash which the year 1837 brought to all business and monetary affairs.

During the very year that saw our county legally organized, the State Legislature passed the bill for internal improvement at public expense; and on the passage of this suicidal law, near ten millions of dollars were appro­priated for building a network of railroads all over the State, and work was actually commenced on them at various points. The scheme bankrupted the State, and, for nineteen years, Illinois paid neither principal nor interest on her indebtedness.

Emigrants avoided a State thus incumbered; and one chief  source of ready money (that brought by new comers) was denied to us. But the pioneers of Livingston, in this extremity, showed pluck and energy  worthy  of record. There being no market for any thing in the interior of the State, they, with their ox-teams, hauled their produce to Chicago, and even drove their hogs across the pathless prairie to that point.

Joseph C. Morrison, who frequently made the trip with a drove of hogs, tells us that it was accomplished in the following manner: A number of farmers would collect their hogs and start on the journey, agreeing to feed the hogs at night by turns, each in succession returning to his home for a load of corn,

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from which the hogs were fed upon his again coming up with the drove; and thus, by relieving each other, they accomplished what would otherwise have been an impossible task.

When the slaughter house was reached, the hogs were dressed for the offal, and the dressed hogs were put upon the market; those weighing 200 and over generally selling at $1.50 per hundred. and those weighing less at $1.00 per hundred. A farmer made but one such trip during the year, and brought home with him the absolute necessaries of life.

The first mill erected in the county was run by horse power. It was built by Garrett M. Blue, near his residence, in Rook's Creek, Township. This was justly considered by the early settlers, as a most valuable acquisition to the institutions of the county. The bolting was done by tacking a yard of fine muslin on a frame, and through this was rubbed, by the hand, small portions of the crushed wheat.

In 1838, the saw-mill at Pontiac was erected by C. H. Perry and James McKee. but a grist-mill was not attached for some years.

John Foster, who resides with his son Robert, at Pontiac, is the oldest set­tler in that part of the county. He reached that point from Cayuga County, New York, in 1836. Two deserted cabins were then the only buildings on the site of the now flourishing city. The land was then considered too low and swampy to be habitable. Foster saw the town laid out, and took the contract for building the first Court House, the price agreed upon being $800. The building is still standing near the M. E. Church, and is owned by Jacob Strea­mer and leased to the city for various purposes. Foster also kept the first hotel, and, in the early days, he entertained the Judge, attorneys, juries and litigants to the satisfaction of all parties concerned.

In order to maintain his reputation as a landlord, he would, when a term of the Circuit Court was aproaching, go out into the country and borrow bed­steads, beds and bedding, and what crockery there was to loan. This manner of procedure worked very well for a time, but on one occasion, the portly Judge David Davis, who had perhaps retired to rest with a heavy case on his mind, occupied one of the borrowed bedsteads, and he quashed it. The Judge was rescued from the debris by friendly hands; but the bedstead, as a beadstead had lost its usefulness, and thereafter Foster found some difficulty in inducing his neighbors to loan furniture.

Foster, on these occasions, entertained Douglas, Lincoln, and other distin­guished lawyers, for the attorneys followed the judge from county to county. Lincoln, during one term of court paid his hotel bill by attending to a suit, in which Foster, as Constable, was concerned in the replevin of some goods taken on execution. Lincoln gained the case, and Uncle John formed a high opinion of his new boarder. Foster's recollections of these early days are vivid and interesting.

The amounts of revenue levied and collected during the first four years of the county's existence, commencing with the year 1837, are as follows : First

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year, $113.71; second year, $109.80; third year, $180.56; and the fourth year, $166.26.
When it is recorded that the levy in the county for the year 1877 is about $400,000, the figures in the former years are as astonishing as the fig­ures in the latter year are astounding.
The first post office was that established in Pontiac, in 1837, and Cornelius W. Reynolds was the first Postmaster.
Letter postage was then twenty-five cents, payable either on mailing the let­ter or at the office where it was received.
No inconsiderable number of letters came to the office unpaid, and such was the scarcity of money that some of them would remain in the office for weeks ­and even months, before they could be taken out and paid for.
Martin A. Newman was the first Route Agent. He traveled on horseback from Ottawa to Bloomington, by way of Pontiac and Lexington, and made a trip in two weeks.
The first Court House was erected in 1839-40, by Henry Weed, Lucius Young and Seth W. Young. It was accepted from them, and a bond of $3,000 surrendered, in which they had stipulated to erect the house at their own expense, provided the county seat was located on the land selected by them.
The second Court House was erected under the county judgeship of Billings P. Babcock, and was as good a building as could be erected at that time for the money expended. Judge Babcock gave the same particular care to every item of its material and construction that he displays in his own financial affairs.
The previous year, Judge Henry Jones erected, at Pontiac, the first brick building ever erected in the county. It is the one that has recently been remod­eled, and is now occupied as a residence by Joseph P. Turner. The brick of which it was composed were purchased at Bloomington and hauled to Pontiac; and, in stipulating with the contractors, Judge Babcock required the brick to he of as good quality as the material used in the building of this house. This opened up a new industry, and the first bricks were made during the same year.
The building was two stories high, having offices for the Circuit Clerk, County Clerk, Sheriff and Treasurer on the first floor, and the court room and jury room on the second floor. In 1871, a fire-proof vault, in an added wing, was completed.
On the 4th day of July, 1874, this building was destroyed by fire, together with Union Block and the Phoenix Hotel.
The present Court House was erected the following year, and was com­pleted in the month of December, and dedicated by the first Old Settlers' meet­ing. This structure is one of the finest in the State. J. C. Cochrane, of Chi­cago, was the architect, and the contract for building was awarded to Colvin, Clark & Co., of Ottawa.

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To the Building Committee of the Board of Supervisors is due an honora­ble mention for the honest and satisfactory manner in which they discharged their duty, in this connection. The names of these gentlemen were James E. Morrow, Edson Wilder, Jacob Phillips, E. G. Greenwood, Wm. S. Sims and J. B. Parsons. The entire cost of the building and furniture was $75.000.
The first jail was built at Pontiac in 1866. Previous to that time, the pris­oners of the county were kept at Joliet, Ottawa or Bloomington, where such conveniences of civilization existed. In that year, a good substantial stone jail was erected at a cost of $18,000.
The first county election was at the residence of Andrew McMillan, a mile northwest from Rudd's Mill, on the north bank of the Vermilion
The first County Commissioners and the first Sheriff performed the duties of their offices without any authority from the State, and, as they are all dead, the manner in which they obtained any authority to act will, perhaps, remain a mystery.
The ancient archives of the county contain no certificate of election or other evidence that they held their offices by virtue of either election or appointment. The records of the Secretary of State, have also been ransacked to discover, if possible, a clue to the matter; but nothing appears to indicate that either these or any other officers, previous to 1838, were legally qualified to act. In this year, Nicholas Hefner was duly elected and qualified to act as Sheriff.
It is known, however, that the form of an election had been observed, and that Joseph Reynolds had been declared Sheriff, and the Board of Commission­ers had appointed him Collector of Taxes; and as no one desired to hold office in those days, no investigating committee inquired into the irregularity. The first marriage license issued in the county was made out by H. W. Beard, Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court, and it was, no doubt, intended to authorize Mr. Williamson Spence and Miss Mary Darnall to solemnize a marriage; but so far as the record goes, it only authorized the marriage of Williamson to Miss Mary Darnall; so that, so far as the record has anything to do with the matter, The descendants of Spence are all Williamsons. It is not improbable that this clerk - H. W. Beard - was an old bachelor, and took delight in mutilating mar­riage licenses; for the next license authorized Simeon Mad, instead of Simeon Madden, to marry Elizabeth Rutherford.
Since that period, 6,000 marriages have been authorized by the various County Clerks.
Samuel C. Ladd came to Pontiac from Connecticut in October, 1842. Only two houses remain in Pontiac, which had been erected previous to his coming. One of these, is the old Court House, and the other is the building now occupied by Samuel Mossholder as a dwelling. Seth W. Young was the first man to erect a house on the site of the city of Pontiac. He died at this place, as also did his brother, Lucius Young. They were interested with Henry Weed in securing the location of the county seat at this point, and after their death, C. H. Perry, Henry Stephens, Samuel C. Ladd and some others became interested

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C. H. Perry brought the first stock of goods to the county, but before lie was established in business, S. C. Ladd bought him out. About this time, Mr. Ladd entered into partnership with Willet Gray, and they purchased James McKee's interest in the mill. Their store stood on the banks of the river near where Robert Aerl's feed yard now is. Ladd Soon after erected a frame business building on the present site of Gunsul's livery stable; and for several years, he and Gray, were the only resident merchants of the county. These merchants secured the services of John A. Fellows as salesman, and he was so popular that it was said of him that "he drew all the trade of the Vermilion Valley, and would have drawn more if the valley had been longer." C. H. Perry was then the capitalist. He brought to the place the first piano, the first "store carpet" and the first looking glass. His residence was a log cabin, and it used to be told how a horse once walked in at the open door, and stood surveying himself in Perry's looking glass, while he fought flies with his natural protector. The piano remained the only musical instrument of its kind in the county until Perry removed to Iowa and took it with him, and it was many years before its place was filled.
Samuel C. Ladd was, at once, an able and popular man. He has held the offices of Circuit Clerk, County Clerk, Recorder and Postmaster; and, in later years, he was appointed Assessor of Internal Revenue and filled the office accept­ably, from 1863 to 1869.
Emsley Pope, the pioneer of Newtown, was born in Rowan County, North Carolina, in the year l797, and removed with his father to Champaign County, Ohio, in 1810. His father enlisted in the war of 1812 but was prevented from serving by sickness. Young Pope, then but 15 years of age, begged permission to go as his father's substitute, and, permission being given, he shouldered his musket and served during the war.
When peace was restored, he resided with his father until 1836, when he was married and came to this State, and located upon the identical piece of ground upon which he has ever since resided. His house, a double log cabin, erected forty-three years ago, still serves him for a residence; and, with the exception of repairs to the roof, it has remained without alteration from the date of its erection to the present time. The only tools used in its construction were an axe, a saw and an auger. The boards composing the roof are held in place by logs upon them, through which wooden pins are passed into the raft­ers. The flooring is also secured by wooden pins, as are also the door and win­dow frames. The flooring and ceiling were hewn out; and the chimney was built of stone taken from the stream near by.
Pope's Spring, from which hundreds of red men have slaked their thirst, furnishes the family with an abundant supply of excellent water.
For a number of years after his arrival, his family, together with the families of Daniel Barrackman, Samuel Brumfield and Amos Lundy constituted the entire community. Their market was Chicago.

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In the Fall of the year, Pope, Brumfield, Barrackman and Lundy would form a company for mutual benefit and protection; and each man, with his rifle and ox-team drawing a load of corn, would start for this distant market, making calculations to be absent from home for ten or twelve days. On the route, the company camped where night overtook them, and they never slept under a roof from the time of their departure to the time of their return. There was at that time not even an Indian trail leading from that point to Chicago, but these pioneers took their way over the unbroken prairie, guided by signs and indica­tions which never led them astray. Thirty bushels of corn was their average load; and for this, on their arrival at market, they received 12-1/2 cents per bushel, and only on one or two occasions did they receive as high as 15 cents. They rarely made more than two such trips in a year; and the $6, $8 or $10 which they thus received was all the money they handled during the year, and most of this was spent in purchasing supplies in Chicago.
Pope was intimately acquainted with old Shabbona, the Pattawatomie chief, and holds his memory in great respect, and says that no white man was more welcome at his cabin than this Indian.
 This kindly feeling was doubtless reciprocated on the part of the red man, for he frequently pitched his tent near Pope's cabin, on his hunting excursions along the banks of the Vermilion.
Wild turkeys and deer abounded, and when Chief Shabbona was successful in the chase, the spoils were generously divided with his white friend; and his coming was looked forward to with pleasant anticipations of a good time, and his departure was regretted.
On one of these occasions, Shabbona and the twelve Indian hunters who accompanied him, killed fifty deer, within a circuit of three miles, taking Pope's cabin as a center. This Chief must have been, in many respects, a remarkable man, as every pioneer who was acquainted with him bears witness to his char­acter for upright and honorable dealing. This speaks volumes for Shabbona, as the whites at this time were not disposed to regard the Indians with a favorable eye. Pope is still a hale and active old man. and will tell you, in speaking of the early period, that the pioneers enjoyed themselves fully as well as people do at the present day. His early friends and neighbors have long since passed away, while he remains, a link connecting the present with the past. He is cheerful, hopeful and perfectly contented with his lot. He is the father of four­teen children, many of whom are living and are honorable members of society. Pope is much respected in his neighborhood. and he will doubtless spend the remainder of his days in the county which he has seen transformed from a wil­derness to one of the finest agricultural districts in the State.
Martin A. Newman of Newtown, justly claims to be the pioneer merchant of the county. He was born in Vermilion County in 1818, and removed to Ottawa in 1838. In the year 1847, he made a tour of discovery through Livingston County and found that there was not a store of any kind within its borders. He returned

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to Ottawa and fitted up a peddling wagon, filling it with a great variety of merchandise, from a needle to a wash tub, and, with this traveling establishment, he visited every family in the county, once in every month of the year. In exchange for his goods, he took from his customers deer-skins, mink-skins, ginseng root, feathers and many other articles. He was a great favorite, and soon built up an extensive and lucrative business. When he was on his rounds, couriers would be sent out to ascertain when he would be at a particular point, so that the products of the country might be gathered in readiness for exchange.
In the Fall of 1847, he purchased of John and Theodore Popejoy the skins of fifty-four deer, which they had killed in Avoca Township. In July of the same year, Joseph C. Morrison, who has before been mentioned, and who was the young man of the period and the leader of fashion, gave Newman an order to bring him, from Ottawa, a full suit of real linen clothes. It was strictly stipulated that the clothes should be delivered by the 3d, as there was to be a grand ball in Avoca on the 4th, and the dress suit was ordered for that occasion. Newman made the trip, executed the commission, and duly arrived in Pontiac on the 3d. Morrison was so well pleased with the fit and the price that he gave Newman an invitation to the ball; and his attendance was most opportune, for the violinist hired for the occasion got tired, and Newman had to fill his place, which he did, to the satisfaction of all parties. When Newman now meets one of his old customers, it is pleasant to see the kindly look and hearty hand­shake that passes between them as the recollections of the past are called up.
There is much that might be added concerning many others who helped to develop this great county, which is necessarily omitted.
There was Nelson Buck, who loved his profession as he did his life; and Jacob Streamer, who has long been a resident, and is well known throughout the county. He has collected all local statistics and incidents sufficient to fill a volume. O. B. Wheeler commenced business by buying a steer for $5, taking it to Chicago, dressing it and selling the meat for $7.50. This started him in business, and he is now one of the wealthy men of the county.
The mention of Morgan L. Payne must not be omitted, as he was an old and well known resident. He was Captain of a company in the Black Hawk war, and performed distinguished service. He was a Texas Ranger when the war between Mexico and this Government was declared, and was in the first battle under Gen. Taylor, on the Rio Grande. When the time of his enlist­ment as a ranger expired, he returned to Greenboro, Indiana, and raised a company of militia, and returning to Mexico, he served during the war. He was at the taking of Monterey, and the battle of the City of Mexico. He received an honorable discharge, and afterward filled many positions of public trust. When the war of the Rebellion was inaugurated, he raised a company of men in this county, was again elected and commissioned Captain, and served his country faithfully. This hero of three wars died at Pontiac, of cancer, in

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1878. He was a man of fiery and impetuous energy that overcame all obstacles with which he came in contact. He had many warm personal friends, who cherish his memory.
Isaac Wilson, who is still living, is distinguished as one of the litigants in the first law suit in the Circuit Court. William Strawn, who resides at Odell was a personal friend of Old John Brown, whose "soul goes marching on." Strawn fought by his side in Kansas. He was one of the charter members of the "underground railroad" through Livingston County, over which many a negro traveled on his way to Canada.
Pontiac has grown to be a beautiful city of near four thousand inhabitants. A few of her old stagers still remain, but, in the course of nature, they must soon pass away. Their view of the present situation is best expressed by the following :

OLD STAGER'S SOLILOQUY.
A good many strangers are coming here now.
As I told Eli Davis to-day;
New forms and new faces will make us think how
We old ones are passing away.

The town is improving, and growing so fast
Old landmarks are fading from view,
And whichever way my glances I cast,
My old eyes can see something new.

The churches, six of them, with carpets and pews,
With paid preachers to manage the works!
Elder Stubbles, in them days, preached the glad news
'Till he gave the people the "Jerks."

And the Phoenix, all brick and three stories high.
With basement - it cuts such a swell;
As I think of the days forever passed by,
When Willet Gray kept a hotel.

And the Post Office, too, is wonderful now.
With drawers and lock boxes and that;
Why, I can remember distinctly just how
Jerome carried the thing in his hat.

And them Indian signs where they sell the cigars,
Lord! once we were thankful for pipes,
When we heard not the rumble of railroad cars,
And Ladd went hunting for snipes.

And fancy saloons, with wine, rum and gin,
And little back rooms all so snug;
Why, once we were glad to take our whisky in
From the neck of a little brown jug.

And croquet and billiards and such games as these
Have banished the old games from sight;
Then, on boxes and kegs, we sat at our ease
And played good old poker all night.

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A good many strangers are coming here now,
As I told Eli Davis to-day;
New forms and new faces will make us think how
We old ones are passing away.

The fifth verse of the above requires the following explanation: Jerome Garner was the second Postmaster at Pontiac, and when he received his appoint­ment he purchased a bell-crowned stove-pipe hat, and in it he kept all mail matter which arrived at this point. He was extremely fond of fishing; and when any one was desirous of mailing a letter or expecting to receive one, it was necessary to seek for Jerome up or down the Vermilion until he was found, when he would take off his hat, perform his official duties, and then return it to his head.

HISTORY OF THE COURT HOUSE BELL.
In Troy, New York, the bell was bought;
"Out West," to Chicago, the bell was brought.

In "Eighteen Sixty" the bell came down,
For the Methodist Church in our little town.

A Methodist bell, its voice rang out
With a martial ring and a joyous shout.

As high it hung in the belfry there,
Calling the people to sermon and prayer.

Till the church grew small for the growing throng,
Who came at the call of its bold, "ding dong."

Then the house was sold to "The Band and Gown,"
And the bell from the belfry was handed down,

And placed on high in the Court House steeple.
Then sold to the county - a bell for the people.

As of yore, it did its duty well,
In its new position of  "Court House bell."

It called the lawyers to wordy fray­ -
They came to spout, and remained to prey.­

It startled the ear of the Court House rats,
As it summoned the Supervisor cats;

Saying, "Walk to your Council Chamber, please,
And examine the state of the public cheese.",
It spoke when political hacks came by,
To preach for truth some ancient lie.

It rang for joy, when the first glad ray
In the east proclaimed our Natal Day.

It shrieked aloud when the fire fiend came.
And called the people to fight the flame.

Solemn and slow was its measured toll,
As it rang the knell of the parting soul.

Slow and solemn its measured beat,
When funeral pall and marching feet

249
Went by with the dead, and the last farewell
Was heard from the throat of the sobbing bell.

But July the Fourth of "Seventy-Four,"
It rang at noon to ring no more.

And the tones that came from the quivering bell
Were the tones of its own funeral knell.

For Union Block, our city's pride,
Was bathed in a fiercely rolling tide

Of lurid, hungry flames, that clasped
The city's heart within its grasp;

And a fiend that lay in the doomed hotel.
Glared hot and fierce on the Court House bell.

With a tiger's spring and a tongue of flame,
Across the chasm the fire fiend came.

On the Court House roof, with fiery claws,
He sprang as the springing lion draws

His prey to the earth, then clasped the bell,
To his fiery breast, till it, tottering, fell

To the earth below, with burning beam.  
And blazing rafter, till a stream

Of molten metal came out to tell
The end of the Pontiac Court House bell.

OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.
In the year 1875, when the new Court House was completed, it was deter­mined by the old settlers throughout the county that a grand re-union should be held and the new building properly dedicated. A preliminary meeting was called at the fair ground early in the Fall of the year, at which C. B. Ostrander presided, and John A. Fellows was appointed Secretary.
The 30th of December was the day fixed upon for the re-union, and com­mittees of arrangements were appointed in every township in the county. On the day appointed, the old settlers turned out en masse. Tables, capable of seating fifteen hundred people, had been prepared by the citizens of Pontiac, these were all filled. James McDowell was President of the day, and John A. Fellows, Secretary. An address of welcome was delivered by Nathaniel J. Pillsbury. Letters were read from Judge Treat, who held the first term of court in Pontiac, and from Hon. David Davis and Jesse W. Fell. O. F. Pearre, who had been requested to furnish a poem for the occasion, read the following

ADDRESS TO THE OLD SETTLERS OF LIVINGSTON:
One hundred years ago to-day,
The British troops in Boston lay.
Our sires then hardly thought that they
Would found a Nation

Whose ships would whiten many seas,
Whose flag should float on every breeze,
Whose armies could maintain with ease
Her lofty station.

250
And in that hundred years ago,
The deer, the wolf, the buffalo,
At will went roaming to and fro
Where now our county
Spreads out one vast and fertile plain
Of golden corn and waving grain,
Rejoicing 'neath a constant rain
Of Heaven's bounty.

Yea, men now sitting in this hall
In mem'ry can the time recall
When nature brooded over all;
When was unbroken
The solitude that wrapped the land
Where now our smiling cities stand,
When silence reigned on every hand,
And gave no token,

Save by the hooting of the owl,
The clangor of the water fowl,
The red deer's signal or the howl
Of gray wolf, weary
In searching for his scanty food.
 Save where, perhaps, some cabin rude
 Seemed on the lonely scene to brood,
And served to point the solitude
So lone and dreary.

Oliver, Cummings, these can tell,
Wilson, McDowell and Darnell;
John Johnson knows the story well,
The quaint old story:
How Chief Shabbona and his band
Kindled their camp fires on the strand
Of fair Vermilion, when the land
Stood robed by virgin Nature's hand
In pristine glory.

Peace to thy shade; Shabbona, rest;
A warm, true heart beat in thy breast :
The white man's friend you stood confessed,
Among the bravest, truest, best,
Of those we mention.
Thy name deserves a worthy place,
Brave chieftain of a warlike race,
Hist'ry accords thee little space;
I would more worthy pen could trace,
Thy fame, and, with befitting grace.
Thy virtues mention.

But, ah! what mighty change has passed
Since the brave Chief Shabbona last
Upon the stage his vision cast.
What grandeur looming

251
Is this through which Vermilion flows
From early morn to evening's close:
Through towns and farms the trav'ler goes
Where fifty thousand souls repose;
The desert blossoms like the Rose
Of Sharon blooming.

Not Homer in his valiant crew
Could mention more good men and true;
McMillen, Breckenridge and Blue,
McDowell and Tuttle, Campbell, too,
And other worthies not a few.
Ye pioneers, it is to you
The debt of gratitude is due;
Ye builded wiser than ye knew
The broad foundation
On which our superstructure stands;
Your strong right arms and willing hands,
Four earnest effort still commands
Our veneration!

And you, who yet upon the shore
Of Time remain, strike hands once more,
To-day recount your trials o'er.
Repeat to us, from out your store,
The legions and the early lore.
Repeating
The name of Rummery, he who found
That famous railroad under ground.
Then pass the name of Corey round,
Cornell and Sprague, their praises sound;
Ladd, Dehner, Fellows, Fyfe, profound
On finance, Spafford, such names sound
In greeting.

We point to you, old friends, and say
The heat and burden of the day
You bore, and in an earnest way
We meet you.
Well pleased, indeed, to see you stand,
On this glad day, a gallant band,
Whose hands have wrought, whose brains have planned
Such vast improvement in the land;
With beating heart and open hand,
We greet you!

After these exercises, various old settlers made short addresses. and the day was spent in relating incidents and anecdotes of the early days, and a regular Old Settlers' Association was formed..
The second meeting was held on the fair grounds in September, 1876. The third meeting was held at Fairbury, September 4, 1877. and was largelyattended. The meeting was called to order by the President. James McDowell,
and Dr. Fraley delivered an address of welcome. Hon. Woodford G. McDow-

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ell delivered a historical address, and letters from various distinguished persons, who visited the county in an early day, were read.
 The officers elected for the following year, were: President, Walter Cornell; Secretary, John A. Fellows; Scribe, David Murdock; Chaplain, Rev. James Parcells. The village of Cornell was chosen for its next point of meeting.

CHURCHES.
The first religious organizations and buildings were, of course, as in all our new countries, by that glorious band of pious pioneer preachers, the Methodists. There is something so natural in their doctrines and so artless in their way of advancing them, that the history must be blind to one of the brightest lights which fails to give these plain privates their proper place in its pages.
From here and there in the log school houses, where earnest worshipers alternately wept, sung and clapped their hands, have grown the full fruition of all those early hopes and prayers.
The churches at present organized within the county are: Methodist (by Conference Report of 1877) - Fairbury, Fairbury Circuit (2), Forrest, Chats­worth, Avoca (3), Pontiac, Saunemin, Rook's Creek (2), Waldo and Nebraska (3), Reading (2), Cornell and Newtown (2), Odell, Nevada, Dwight; total, 14 charges, 21 churches, 2,561 members. Value of houses of worship, $83,900. Number of Sunday schools, 34; scholars, 3,243.
Presbyterian - Pontiac, Cayuga, Dwight, Union, Fairbury, Reading, Chats­worth; total, 7. Membership, 560. Value of church edifices (estimated), 40,000.
Baptist - Pontiac (2), Dwight (2), Odell, Nebraska, Fairbury, Ocoya; total, 8. Membership estimated at about 450.
There are six Christian churches, with an estimated membership of 400. There are four Congregational churches, with about 300 members.
There are eight Roman Catholic churches in the county: Pontiac, Nebraska, Odell, Union (German), Dwight, Broughton, Fairbury, Chatsworth, and a station at Cornell, embracing, in the aggregate, 1,135 families, with probably not less than 3,500 communicants who have received confirmation.
There are a few other scattering churches, or bare organizations, of which statistics cannot be found.

SOCIETIES.
There are Odd Fellows' Lodges at Cornell, Pontiac, Odell, Dwight, Fair­bury, Forrest and Chatsworth, eight in all, with a membership of 400, and three Encampments, with 100 members.
There are Lodges of Master Masons at Pontiac, 84 members; Odell, 63; Dwight, 55; Fairbury, 101; Forrest, 40; Chatsworth, 37; Ancona, 28; Cor­nell, 14; Sullivan, 19. Total, 441.
There are Chapters of Royal, Arch Masons at Fairbury and at Odell; and at Fairbury is a Commandery of the Knight Templars.

253
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Number of public schools sustained:
250
Number of persons between the ages of 6 and 21:
13,612
Number of male pupils enrolled:
5,715
Number of female pupils enrolled:
5,346
Number of male teachers:
188
Number of female teachers:
289
Number of graded schools:
8
Whole amount received by $152,619.54 Estimated value of school property: 204,875.00 Principal of Township School Fund: 207,732.31

With the exception of Cook County, Livingston has the largest township school fund of any county in the State.

POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL ANNALS.

COUNTY ORGANIZATION
The territory which is now Livingston County was, in the first division of the State, a portion of Cook County. After that, it became a portion of Ver­milion County, and hence the name of the river which flows through it, which had no other reason for its name, either in the color of its water or its surround­ings. Subsequently, in the organization of those counties, nearly all of it became portions of McLean and La Salle, though a portion remained attached to Vermilion until this organization. By act of the Legislature, approved and in force, February 27, 1837. Livingston was created a county with its present boundaries. Its name was suggested by Jesse W. Fell, and was due to the popular esteem in which Edward Livingston was held, in consequence of his being the reputed author of President Jackson's famous proclamation to the South Carolina nullifiers, in their first unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the Union.
In the act of organization, James W. Piatt, of' Macon County; William B. Peck, of Will County, and Thompson S. Flint, of Tazewell County, were appointed Commissioners to locate the permanent seat of justice; and they were to take into consideration the convenience of the people, and the situations of the settlements, with an eye to the future population.
Edward Livingston was a native of New York, and one of the prominent Livingston family of that State. He removed to New Orleans on account of his health, and became a leading lawyer of that city. He was appointed, by President Jackson, Minister to England and, was recalled to take the position of Secretary of State, when Jackson re-organized his Cabinet, in consequence of his quarrel with Calhoun. He was popularly credited with being the author of the proclamation which "Old Hickory" sent out against the South Caroli­nians, when they adopted the ordinance of nullification. No more worthy name could have been selected for this great county than the one popularly iden­tified with Jackson's stern determination to maintain this Union under all circumstances.

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At this date, there were no settlements to receive the commission kindly vouchsafed in the enabling act, except those along the river from Indian Grove to La Salle County; and the entire population did not exceed 450.
They were to meet at the house of Andrew McMillan, on the Vermilion River, about four miles northwest of where Pontiac now stands, on the first Monday in June, and proceed to examine and determine upon a place for the permanent seat of justice. The county seat was to be located on government land, or if upon private land, then the owners thereof should be required to donate twenty acres, or the sum of three thousand dollars, the proceeds of the land, or the money in lieu thereof, to be used in erecting county buildings. The Commissioners met and selected the ground, and accepted the offer of Henry Weed, Lucius and Seth M. Young, who, as proprietors of the land, proposed to give three thousand dollars, a block of land two hundred feet square on which to put the Court House, and an acre of land not more than thirty rods distant from the Court House block, on which a jail was to be built, and an estray pen, and agreed, further, to build a good and substantial wagon bridge across the Vermilion River at that point. They gave their bond, signed by themselves as principals, and C. H. Perry, who was the first merchant in the county, James McKee, who was interested in the water privilege at Pontiac, and J. W. Fell, as sureties for the faithful performance of the contract.
By the enabling act, an election was to be held at the house of Andrew McMillan, on the second Monday in May, for a Sheriff, Coroner, Recorder, County Surveyor and three County Commissioners, to serve until the next regular election in August, 1838. This election was held, and officers were duly elected to launch the new county on the stormy sea of political existence: Joseph Reynolds, Sheriff; Robert Breckenridge, Jonathan Moore and Daniel Rockwood, County Commissioners, who met May 18, and organized, appoint­ing Abram W. Beard, Clerk. That there was the usual amuount of log-rolling and managing to secure the location of the county seat is more than probable, as at the next session of the Legislature held after the location was made, an act was passed providing for an election in the new county to determine whether the county seat should be changed from its location.
The County Commissioners for a time held their meetings at McMillan's. There were three voting precincts in the county; the upper was called Indian Grove; the middle one Center, and the one in the northwestern portion of' the county Bayou.
The Commissioners, at their first meeting, ordered that "All horses over three years old, and all horned cattle over three years old, all sheep over one year old, all wagons, carriages, clocks, watches, jacks. jennies, mules, etc., are considered as being taxable property, upon which there shall be a tax of 1/2 per cent." The Court also ordered that an election should be held in the several precincts for the election of Justices of the Peace and Constables, on the 24th of June, and appointed John Recob, Treasurer, who gave bond in $1,000. At

255
the session of the Court July 11th, Cornelius W. Reynolds was granted a license to keep a store for a year on payment of $5. Sept. 4th, Court appoint­ed Matthias I. Ross, Clerk. Dec. 4th, James C. McMillan was appointed first School Commissioner. The Sheriff having failed to receive his commission, the Court appointed Joseph W. Reynolds, Collector of Taxes.
At the March term, 1838, the Court prepared. the first list of grand and petit jurors, which embraced such well known names as Darnall, Spence, Moore, Isaac Wilson, Popejoy, Blue, McMillan, Edgington, Barrackman, Boyer, Nor­ton, Moon, Steere and Donaho, who, or their representatives, still remain with us. It is not known that these juries performed any duty, as, by the records of the Circuit Court, no term of Court was held until October, 1839, at which Court there was no Clerk and no grand or petit jury, the Clerk, Henry Weed, having removed from the county.  Joseph Reynolds, Sheriff, presented at this term his settlement with the Treasurer, and presented a receipt for $68.71.
For the following year, the Court added to the taxable property "All town lots, hogs over one year old, stock in trade, farm and household utensils, money loaned, houses, mills and factories."
The first general election held in the county was the State election, the first Monday in August, 1838. At that election there were cast for Governor: For Cyrus Edwards, 45; for Thomas Carlin, 59. For Member of Congress - S. A. Douglas, 62; J. T. Stewart, 46. For county officers, the votes were: For County Commissioner -Uriah Springer, 90; Albert Moon, 60; William Popejoy, 59; Robert Breckenridge, 41; Robert Smith, 29. For Sheriff - ­Nicholas Hefner, 65; Joseph Reynolds, 31. For Coronor - Simeon Mead, 45; Ambrose Sprague, 17. For Clerk - James S. Munson, 58; Matthias Ross, 34. For Recorder - James S. Munson, 60; Truman Rutherford, 34. For Surveyor - Isaac Whitaker, 59; Franklin Oliver, 41.
The county formed a legislative district with Kane. De Kalb, La Salle and Iroquois Counties. Joseph H. Churchill and Wm. Stadden were elected Representatives at that election. John T. Stewart was elected to Congress from this district, which embraced all the State north of Springfield, the "Little Giant" being for the time defeated. In drawing for seats by the County Com­missioners, Uriah Springer, who was absent. drew the three years term, Albert Moon two years and Wm. Popejoy one year. This Court had more bills to pay than its predecessor. Among them was one to Henry Weed for "$4.12-1/2 for paper, sand and ink, used by him as Circuit Clerk up to this time." Just how much of it was for sand, the bill fails to mention; but it should be remembered in honor of Livingston County, that it paid for the sand its first Circuit Clerk used. April 9, 1839, the Court appointed the first Assessors, one for each precinct - Robert Smith for Indian Grove Precinct, Andrew McMillan for Center, and John Dermey for Bayou - and ordered that seventy cents on $100 be levied and collected on certain property, among which is this singular item "Slaves and servants of color." It is not generally known that the laws of

256
this State at that time, or at any time, recognized property in human chat­tels, but such was the revenue law of 1839. Robert Smith was appointed School Commissioner.
At the general election in August, 1839, Truman Rutherford was elected Probate Justice of the Peace, an office which had jurisdiction in all probate business; Lemuel White, County Commissioner; C. W. Reynolds, Recorder and County Court Clerk; Jacob Moon, Treasurer; Isaac Burgit, Coroner; Franklin Oliver, Surveyor; W. G. Hubbard and J. C. McMillan, Justices of the Peace.
Eighty-one votes were given for and fifty-six votes against removing county seat. Seventy-eight votes were given for removing to the location offered by Rockwood, Hubbard and Weed, at a point about four or five miles up the river from Pontiac, where fifty acres of land were offered; the bond for the donation having been approved by the court.
This vote was taken by virtue of an act passed March 1, 1839, directing a vote to be taken at the August election, for and against re-locating the county seat, by which it was provided that, if two-thirds of all the votes cast were for removal, and a majority were for removal to any place named, then the county seat should be removed. It lacked a few votes of the required two-thirds, though a majority favored Rockwood's.
On the 3d day of December, 1839, the County Commissioners entered into a contract with the proprietor of the town for the erection of a Court House, to be 22x30 feet, two stories high; to be built and completed within twelve months after "there is sufficient rise in the Vermilion River to allow the proprietors of the saw-mill to put said mill in operation." When completed, the Commission­ers were to cancel and deliver up the bond which had' been given for the loca­tion of the county seat.
At the general election held in August, 184,. the following vote was cast: For State Senator - John Moore, 62; David Davis, 38. For Representative, Welcom P. Brown, 62; I. T. Gildersleeve, 61; Asahel Gridley, 38; Isaac Funk, 38; A. R. Dodge 14; L. W. Leek. 32. For Sheriff - Garrett M. Blue, 66; John Foster, 29. Davis M. Pendell was elected Coroner; Andrew McMillan and Nicholas Hefner, County Commissioners. There is no record of the vote at Presidential or Congressional election.
John W. Reynolds was appointed School Commissioner, and qualified under a bond for $12,000.
The Court extended the time for building the Court House to May 1, 1841; and John Foster received an order for $5.00, for use of his room for holding Circuit Court.
Robert Smith and John Blue were appointed Assessors.
In 1841, Daniel Barrackman was elected County Commissioner; Samuel Boyer, School Commissioner; S. S. Mead, Assessor; W. G. McDowell was appointed Collector, and D. S. Ebersol was appointed Clerk of the Court.

259
At a meeting of the County Court, July 23, 1842, the Court House was accepted and occupied.
After the census of 1840, the State was re-apportioned for Congressional Representatives, giving seven Representatives instead of three, as heretofore.
This county was in the Fourth District, which first elected John Wentworth to Congress. He remained our Representative as long as we remained in that District. Previous to this, John T. Stewart, of Springfield, had been our Representative.
At the election held in 1843, the following vote was cast: For Congress­ - John Wentworth, 111; Giles Spring, 66. For County Commissioner - Charles Jones, 84 ; Augustus Fellows, 50. For County Clerk, D. S. Ebersol, 121; Win. K. Brown, 28. For School Commissioner - Samuel Boyer, 136. For Recorder - D. S. Ebersol, 121, S. C. Ladd, 16. For Probate Justice - Truman Rutherford, 82; Wm. K. Brown, 49. For Treasurer - Truman Rutherford. 92; Lyman Bergit, 45. For Surveyor - Amos Edwards, 67 , Orin Phelps, 39; Franklin Oliver, 38.
At a special election held in November, the following votes were cast: For Probate Justice - Andrew McMillan, 46; Augustus Fellows, 37; S. S. Mead, 5. For County Treasurer and Assessor - McMillan, 46; Fellows, 37; Mead, 5.
At the August Election in 1844, for Member of Congress, John Wentworth received 110; B. S. Morris, 61. For State Senator. S. G. Nesbitt received 106; G. W. Powers, 66. For Representative, James Robinson received 106; E. B. Myers, 63. For County Commissioner, Andrew McDowell received 104; Walter Cornell, 65. For Sheriff, R. P. Breckenridge received 97; Thomas Sawyer, 71. For Coroner, John Blue, 113.
At the Presidential election in November, James K. Polk received 109; Henry Clay, 66. Birney did not receive any votes in the county.
On the 2d day of December, the following minute is entered of record: "This day comes Andrew McMillan, Treasurer of Livingston County, and makes settlement with the Court, and pays over to the Court $13.00 in county orders and 20 cents in specie, it being the whole amount of funds received by him.” It is hardly necessary to add that McMillan did not default to the county during his term.
In 1845, the same Treasurer reported and turned over without default, 20 cents in silver. There is no record of what his commissions amounted to.
At the March Term, 1845, Hugh Taylor was rented the jury room, for a store, and the court room far three months, on paying $3.00 per month.
Andrew McMillan was appointed to take the census for that year.
At the June Term of the County Court, D. S. Ebersol resigned the Clerk­ship, and S. C. Ladd was appointed Clerk.
At the regular election in August, Murrell Breckenridge was elected County Commissioner; Augustus Fellows, School Commissioner; S. C. Ladd, Clerk; S. S. Mead, Coroner. And at a special election in December, S. C. Ladd was elected Recorder.

260
And again, Hugh Taylor appears of record in the following:
Ordered, That Hugh Taylor & Co. romove their goods, chattels, etc., out of the Court House by the 1st day of November next; and if they should fail to do so, then they shall pay additional rent.
As they were already paying the sum of $3.00 a month, this seemed like a threat to ruin their business.
At the regular election held in August, 1846, A. C. French, for Governor, received 124 votes; T. M. Kilpatrick, 60. John Wentworth, for Congress, received 124 votes; John Kerr, 58. James Robinson, for Representative, received 122 votes; Bissell Chubbuck, 42. R. P. Breckenridge was elected Sheriff; Charles Jones, County Commissioner, and John Blue, Coroner.
In 1847, Isaac Hodgson was elected Commissioner, S. C. Ladd, Clerk.
In September, the County Court contracted with Henry Jones, J. H. De­moss and Philip Rollings to build the bridge over the river at Pontiac, for $450.
An election was held in March, 1848, to vote upon the new Constitution and the separate articles. The vote was, for the Constitution, 71; against it, 25. For the separate article in relation to colored people, there were 89 votes; against it, 12. For the two-mill tax, which was intended to pay off the long past due State debt, 71 votes; against it, 35.
At the regular election in August, the vote for Governor was: For A. C. French, 135. For Congress. John Wentworth, 108; John Y. Scammon, 62. For Senator, Wm. Reddick, 131. Murrell Breckenridge was elected Sheriff; Henry Jones, County Commissioner, and John Blue, Coroner.
At the judicial election in September under the new constitution, John D. Caton received eighty votes for Supreme Court Judge; Lorenzo Leland, seventy-seven votes for Clerk of the Supreme Court; B. F. Fridgley, sixty-three votes for Judge of the Ninth Circuit; T. Lyle Dickey, forty-seven for Judge; Bur­ton C. Cook, eighty votes for State's Attorney, and S. C. Ladd, eighty votes for Circuit Clerk.
At this election, Dickey was elected Judge, and was for some years our Cir­cuit Judge.
At the Presidential election. Cass received 130 votes; Taylor, 82 votes; and for the first time in our history as a county, the third party received a vote. Four votes were cast for the Van Buren electoral ticket, upon which were the names of such veteran Abolitionists as President Jonathan Blanchard. For the first time also, the vote indicates a healthy increase of population in the county. Up to this year, the vote had been very nearly uniform.
In March, 1849, the bridge which had just been completed and accepted by the court was carried away by a freshet, and Rollings and Demoss were ordered to save what they could of it, and report what portion of it could be used.
At the election May 20th, M. B. Patty and L. E. Rhoads were elected County Commissioners. At the November election, J. C. McMillan received

261
161 votes for County Judge; S. Miller, 2. S. C. Ladd, 137 for Clerk; Jason Tuttle, 8. James Bradley, 114 for County Justice of the Peace; Philip Rollings, 95 for same; W. G. McDowell, 55. Franklin Oliver, 73 votes for Surveyor; Amos Edwards, 53. Walter Cornell was elected School Commis­sioner, and J. D. Garner, Coroner. 55 votes were given for township organiza­tion out of a total of 164 votes cast; not a majority.
That all the offices were not vastly remunerative is evidenced by the following order at the October term of the Commissioners' Court: "Ordered, that Andrew McMillan be allowed ten dollars ($10) for services as County Treasurer for two years."
The County Court under the new Constitution organized December 31, 1849. J. C. McMillan, County Judge; Philip Rollings and James Bradley, County Justices, and S. C. Ladd, Clerk.
At this time first appeared the constitutional clause in the oath of office : "I do solemnly swear that I have A not fought a duel, nor sent or accepted a chal­lenge to fight a duel, the probable issue of which might have been the death of either party, nor been a second to either party, nor in any way aided or assisted in such duel, nor been knowingly the bearer of such challenge since the adop­tion of the Constitution, nor will be engaged in such duel during my continuance in office."
That our foremost citizens earned their bread in those days is drawn from the following recorded order: "Ordered, that John A. Fellows be allowed sixty-two and one-half cents for chopping wood for county." It does not appear whether his services, like McMillan's were of two years' duration.
Murrell Breckenridge was elected County Judge at a special election in Sep­tember, 1850. Henry Loveless was elected Sheriff, and Joseph Springer Coro­ner, in November. At the regular election in 1852, the vote for Secretary of State was for Alexander Starne, Democrat, 209; B. S. Morris, Whig, 161; Erastus Wright, Anti-slavery, 11.
For State's Attorney, D. P. Jenkins, 158 votes; M. E. Hollister, 85 ; W. H. L. Wallace, 22. For State Senator, Burton G. Cook, 207; William Paul, l0.
For Representatives, C. I. Starlech, 207 votes; C. R. Patton, 203; A. A. Fisher, 159; George M. Radcliffe, 156; William Strawn, 26. Strawn was on the Anti-slavery or Abolition ticket.
The four Anti-slavery votes of 1848 seem to have grown into eleven this year.
Mr. Wallace, notwithstanding his small vote for State's Attorney in the county, was elected, and proved a very acceptable officer. He was a son-in-law of Judge Dickey, and went with him into the army, where he yielded up his life at Shiloh. He is spoken of as a brilliant lawyer and a very popular man.
No record of the Presidential and Congressional vote of that year is found ; but it must have been about the same as above - Democratic, 208 votes; Whig 160; Abolition, 11. Total 379, indicating a population of about 2,000.

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In 1853, the number of voting precincts had been increased by addition of Reading, New Michigan, Mud Creek and Avoca Precincts. Any inhabitant of the county will recognize these localities, although the precincts are known to the law no longer.
The vote at that election was: For County Judge - Billings P. Babcock, 243 votes; John Hoobler, 133. For Clerk, George W. Boyer  221; O. Chubbuck, 118. For Associate Justice, D. McIntosh, 4; J. P. Garner, 74; Eli Myer, 278; John Darnall, 228. For Treasurer and Assessor, Walter Cornell, 272 ; Philip Rollings, 94. County Surveyor - James Stout, 156; Charles Hustin, 73; Amos Edwards, 48; Nelson Buck, 58; E. B. Oliver, 21. For School Commissioner - Joseph A. Hews, 118; Eli Meyer, 103; H. H. Hinman 134.
This list, together with those elected to the minor offices at this election, embraces many names new to the records of the county, but which are now familiar as household words. The Breckenridges, the McMillans and other old families seem to have given way all at once to such new blood and new material as B. P. Babcock, James Stout, Louderback, Hinman, Boyer, Chub-buck and McIntosh, although Darnall seems to have have retained a place in official life.
New life was coming into the county. The first dash of the tidal wave of immigration was reaching us. The Chicago & Mississippi and Illinois Central Railroads were being built. Of the men whose names appear above, whose lives are well remembered, are B. P. Babcock, who, after a faithful term as County Judge, where he displayed the same clear, cautious and honest care in public which has always marked his private affairs, is now one of the largest farmers in the county, owning two splendid sections of land, upon which is, Babcock's Grove, of which Isaac Funk once said, that "next to Elkhart Grove, he thought nature had made this the handsome spot in this whole glorious State." Geo. W. Boyer, as his records in the different offices of this county show, was a singularly neat and efficient Clerk. Orlando Chubbuck, after having served an apprenticeship as an honest farmer and faithful citizen, read law, and now practices the same in La Salle County. David McIntosh, among many other, perhaps, as honorable things, has once faithfully served us in the Legislature. Jerome Garner was one of the first local attorneys at law. Eli Myer has passed away, leaving an honored name, which is kept alive by a large family of descendants. Walter Cornell still upholds the faith that has led him thus far, an honored, esteemed and beloved old man. Rollins is still with us, though he long since eschewed politics and office holding. Nelson Buck, after several terms of official service, and many years of active life, received an appointment to survey in Western Nebraska, and was, in 1869, massacred by the Sioux. H. H. Hinman still faithfully serves his day and generation as a missionary, after having lived many years in Africa. He now represents the Anti-Secret­ Society Association in its crusade against Masonry and kindred clans. He was

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One of the first to espouse Abolition sentiments in the county, and never let his light be hid under a bushel, or anything else. James Stout - no one living in the county from '55 to '70 but knows the intrepid, earnest, positive, lively, jagged and, perhaps, "sassy" Jim Stout. In early life, he had tried teaching school in Kentucky, but gave more attention to teaching the negroes the ety­mology of the word "freedom" than his employers approved of, and he left town between two days, without calling around to get his wages, and believes to this day that blood-hounds were on his track until he forded the Ohio River. With a not very passive nature, the little experience he had there set every drop of blood in him on fire, and he became the fiery champion of down-trodden Africa from that hour. He was possessed of a vast fund of indignation, and never failed to surround all his efforts with the glitter of attraction which that gave. At one time he helped "steal a nigger," as the phrase went, the story of which must have a place here. A fugitive slave had been taken and was before the court at Ottawa, to have his case legally determined. Stout, with some other Abolitionists, was in attendance. With most of them, it was probably their first experience, and no well developed plan was agreed upon how they might best help the slave. After as patient a hearing as could be given under the great excitement, the Court decided that the fugitive must be sent back to his master. While the opinion of the Court was being delivered, a breathless silence reigned in the court room. The Abolitionists, embracing many who hardly accepted that title, were undecided. The crisis had arrived, and Stout, carried away with excitement, sprang upon a table and shouted, "I move we form ourselves into a committee of the whole, to carry this poor slave back to slavery and bondage !" The entire room was at once in an uproar which passes all description. While attention was thus called to the mover of this resolution, the slave was spirited out of the window, put into a close carriage and, quicker than it can be told, was on his way to Canada.. The parties engaged in this rescue were arrested and tried for the crime, for it was a crime to help a fugitive away. Stout refused to employ any counsel, refused the aid of the Court, who offered to assign him a legal adviser, and persisted in defending his own case, and by his quick, sharp wit, he was cleared. All that could certainly be proved against him was his motion. His line of defense was that he had only proposed to carry the fugitive back to slavery and bondage, but the prosecution endeavored to show by the witness, Judge Caton of the State Court, before whom the former hearing had been had, that Stout, the defendant, did not mean what he said when he proposed to carry the slave back to bondage. The question was asked Judge Caton, "What is your opinion of the intent of the defendant in making that remark?" "I object!" shouted Stout. In the course of the discussion which followed, in regard to the right of an answer to the question, Stout sprang to his feet and demanded "a subpoena for God Almighty! He is the only one who knows my intent." Defendants were not then competent witnesses. The Sheriff jocularly remarked that he would find it difficult to

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serve such a subpoena. Stout sharply retorted, "You can, for it is written, 'He will be found of those who diligently seek Him.'" This turned the tide, and he was acquitted, while the others were convicted and fined. Mr. Stout. after being several years editor and proprietor of the Pontiac Sentinel, was appointed, in 1869, Receiver of Public Moneys, at Boise City, Idaho, by President Grant, where he now resides. He was possessed of more fire for the fluid ounces of blood he contained, and more fight to the square inch, than any resident of Livingston County, unless history is at fault.
At the election in 1854, which occurred in the midst of the political excite­ment in regard to Kansas, the county seems for the first time to have given majorities for the Whig and Anti-slavery, or, rather, Anti-Nebraska candidates. The vote for Congressman was: For Jesse O. Norton. 319; J. N. Drake. 207. For Representatives - F. S. Day, 317; David Strawn, 331; J. L. McCormick. 185 ; George W. Armstrong, 201. For Sheriff - W. B. Lyon, 187; M. Breck­enridge, 133; M. B. Patty, 69; Jerome P. Garner, 104. For Coroner - Laban Frakes,178; Jacob Streamer, 171; Ira Loveless, 118. For Surveyor - T. F. Nor­ton, 267; I. R. Clark, 80; N. Buck, 115. Jesse O. Norton was a Whig, a resident of Joliet, and has been nearly all the time in public life since that election until his death about two years ago. Of the Representatives voted for that year, two are well known in the county. G. W. Armstrong has served more terms in the Legislature of this State, probably, than any man now living. David Strawn, though not a resident of the county, had a large landed interest in it, and was subsequently the builder of the Chicago & Paducah Railroad. In 1855, Walter Cornell was elected Treasurer and Assessor; H. H. Hinman, School Commis­sioner; I. R. Clark, Surveyor; Thomas Croswell, Coroner. Dwight Precinct had been added. No records of the important election of 1856 are on file. At the election of 1857, two more precints had been added - Nebraska and Days, the latter embracing what is now Broughton and Round Grove. At this election, about 1,000 rotes were cast. For County Judge the vote was: For Henry Jones, 510; O. Chubbuck, 436. For Associte Justice - John Darnall, 469; J. P. Morgan, 497; Decatur Veatch, 453; Jacob Angle, 473. For Clerk - S. S. Saul, 525; S. L. Manker, 427.  For School Commissioner - J. H. Hagerty, 480; J. W. Strevell, 465. For Survevor - Nelson Buck, 493; James Stout, 444. For Treasurer - J. R. Woolverton, 488; James Gibson. 447. For Township organization. 738; against, 40. This was the last election held under the old county organization. Township organization went into effect the next year.
The election of 1858 will ever remain a memorable one. Douglas and Lincoln were before the people of the State as representatives of the two politi­cal ideas of the day. Douglas had separated from the President, and stood upon the platform of Popular Territorial Self- Government, called in derision. "Squatter Sovereignty," holding the doctrine that the people of each Territory had the inherent right to decide for themselves whether they would have

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slavery in the Territory or not; Lincoln, the chosen representative of all the various shades of political and moral opponents of slavery, conservative himself, held strongly the view that slavery could not be interfered with in States where it already existed, could be prohibited in Territories by Congress, and in States it could only be abolished by State authority.
These two leaders were candidates for the United States Senate, and made a very thorough canvass of the State. There was a third ticket in the field, which represented the ultra State Rights doctrine, that slavery could not even be kept out of a Territory, either by State or Territorial authority, but as property, slavery would go wherever the Constitution went. This ticket, how­ever, seems to have got but two votes in the county, one at Pontiac and one in Dwight. If this was, as was said at the time, a Postmaster's ticket, it probably could not now receive those two Postmaster's votes. A rapid increase of population, together with the excitement consequent on the interesting contest increased the vote to double that of the year before. The county gave about 200 majority to the Republican ticket. There were then twenty-three townships in the county. The vote was: For State Treasurer - James Miller, 1,001; William B. Fondy, 789. For Superintendent of Instruction - Newton Bateman, 998; A. G. French. 790. For Congress - Owen Lovejoy, 986; G. W. Armstrong, 794. For Representatives - Alexander Campbell, 1,003; R. S. Hick, 1,000; S. C. Collins, 784, William Cogswell, 776. For Sheriff - ­William T. Russell, 987; Joshua C. Mills, 806.
At the special election in 1859, W. G. McDowell was elected County Judge, and in November, the vote for Treasurer was: For Philip Cook, 739; J. S. Gumm, 620. For School Commissioner: I. T. Whittemore, 728; A. E. Harding, 616. For Surveyor: E. W. Gower, 498; T. F. Norton, 442; N. Buck, 417.
The interest taken in the Presidential election of 1860 was sufficient to call out a very full vote. The entire vote polled was 2,563. Lincoln received 1,475; Douglas, 1,088. The majority of Yates and Hoffman was about the same. For Congress, Owen Lovejoy received 1,451; R. N. Murray, 1,097. It is interesting to notice that in all these recorded votes. Lovejoy always lacks a few of the full party vote. He was such a pronounced Abolitionist that, probably, in nearly every county, there were some who called themselves Re­publicans who would not vote for him. Way down in the heart of many others who did vote for him; there was undoubtedly a rebellion against voting for an pronounced an Abolitionist. Still, he was one of the most brilliant men of his day. Those who had the opportunity to hear him on the canvass will remem­ber him to their dying day, as one of the very ablest and most interesting pub­lic speakers they ever heard. To those who used to hear him in the pulpit, before he became an official, the same clear elucidation of doctrine, the same fearful, rugged, pointed portraiture of wrong and error, is well remembered. The vote for State Senator for that year was : For W Washington Bushnell, 1,464

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for John Hise, 1,074. For Representatives - A. J. Cropsey, 1,474; J. W. New­port, 1,475; H. H. Brower, 1,092; Daniel Evans, 1,097. For Circuit Clerk - James W. Remick, 1,345; Ben. W. Gray, 1,229. For Sheriff -  E. R. Maples, 1,547; James M. Perry,1,023. For Coroner - Thos. Croswell, 1,475; T. B. Norton, 1,043. For State's Attorney - C. H. Wood, 927; G. H. Watson, 859; Joshua Whitmore; 829. For Constitutional Convention, l, 743; against, 120.
The election of Col. Cropsey as Representative marked the first election of a citizen of the county to either house of the General Assembly. Heretofore, candidates had been selected from other counties in the district, this county not being deemed of sufficient importance to be entitled to representation. He soon left us, however, for he early went into the military service, and soon after removed to Nebraska, where he has been honored with more distinguished official recognition.
At the June election in 1861, the unanimous vote of the county was given to Hon. C. R. Starr for Circuit Judge, who remained upon our bench until he resigned in 1866.
At the November election, in this year, there were three tickets in the field. A Union ticket was formed, which was composed of an equal number of Dem­ocrats and Republicans. Disaffection was caused in both parties, however, and party or independent tickets were named. For Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of that year, Perry A. Armstrong received 1,153 votes, and Alex­ander Campbell 1,115. On county officers the vote was: For County Judge -Jonathan Duff, 918; N. S. Grandy, 191; W. J. McDowell, 245. For Clerk - R. B. Harrington, 822; J. F. Culver, 511. For Treasurer - Samuel Max­well, 818; J. R. Woolverton, 312; T. W. Brydia, 224. For Surveyor - Nelson Buck, 925; T. F. Norton, 403. For School Commissioner - J. W. Smith, 1,096; C. M. Lee, 217.
The Union ticket was elected, but it did not stop the war.
Robert B. Harrington and Samuel Maxwell, who this year came into official notice, were influential men. and both very popular and efficient officers. ­Mr. Maxwell removed to Missouri soon after his two years' term closed. Mr. Harrington served  two full terms as Clerk, and after a short but eventful resi­dence in Mississippi, struck Nebraska, and at Beatrice now serves the public acceptably as Receiver in the Land Office.
In June, the new proposed Constitution was submitted. and received 852 votes to 1,466 against. This Constitution was not adopted by the vote of the State. At the November election, the vote for State Treasurer was - Wm. O. Butler, 1,099; Alex. Starne, 938. For Sheriff - Job E. Dye received 1,036 votes, and S. H. Putnam. 902. For Coroner - Thomas Croswell, 1,056; S. B. Norton, 971. For Congress (at large) - E. C. Ingersoll, 1.096; J. C. Allen, 954. For Congress, Eighth District - Leonard Swett, 1,110; John T. Stewart, 938. For Member of Legislature - J. O. Dent, 950; T. C. Gibson, 950; M. B. Patty, 976; A. A. Fisher, 1,085; Franklin Corwin, 1,098; Albert Parker, 1,097.

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This county composed, with La Salle, a district, and the three former were elected by 150 majority. Of these latter, Mr. Corwin was after this repeatedly elected, was twice elected Speaker of the House, and afterward represented his district (the seventh) in Congress.
In 1863, M. E. Collins was elected Treasurer, Nelson Buck Surveyor, and O. F. Pearre School Commissioner.
The Presidential vote in 1864 was: For Abraham Lincoln, 1,746; George B. McClellan, 1,100. Seven towns - Nebraska, Reading, Rook's Creek, Belle Prairie, Sullivan, Owego and Nevada - gave Democratic majorities, the latter two by only one majority each. R. J. Oglesby for Governor, William Bross for Lieutenant Governor, Sharon Tyndale for Secretary of State, O. H. Miner for Auditor, James H. Beveridge for Treasurer, Newton Bateman for Superin­tendent, S. W. Moulton for Congress (at large), S. M. Cullom for Congress, Washington Bushnell for Senator, and Franklin Corwin, John Miller and Jason W. Strevell for Representatives, each received 650 majority. Wm. T. Ament was elected State's Attorney, E. W. Capron Coroner, and Amos Hart Sheriff by the same average vote. This was Mr. Cullom's first election to Congress, although he had already served the Springfield District in the Legis­lature, was Speaker of the House, and had been a candidate for Congress at a preceding election. He continued to be our Representative in Congress until 1871. He subsequently served two terms in the Legislature, and was then elected Governor.
The election in 1865 was an exceedingly exciting one, arousing animosities which were not allayed in years. The large Republican majorities given at the last election discouraged the Democracy, while the recent return of so large a body of Union soldiers who had been for years promised by those who served in the grand army of stay-at-homes, that when "this cruel war was over" they should certainly be remembered in the distribution of offices, that the Democ­racy were easily led to unite with the soldiers in the support of a distinctly soldiers' ticket. True, nearly all the candidates on both tickets were soldiers, but the one was known as Republican and the other as the Soldiers' ticket.
The vote was: For Judge - J. F. Culver, 1,034; James Stout, 575. For Clerk - R. B. Harrington, 969; George W. Rice, 840. For Treasurer - Hugh Thompson, 1,077; B. F. Hotchkiss, 729; for Superintendent of Schools - H. H. Hill, 910; Hugh Pound, 895. For Survevor - A. E. Huetson, 1,013; Nelson Buck. 772. Of these gentlemen, B. F. Hotchkiss was for many years Chair­man of the Board of Supervisors, and was elected Surveyor, a position he resigned, and took up his home in Nebraska. In his new home, the citizens will find him a valuable and worthy man, true to convictions, and one whom to know is to love and respect. Mr. Huetson, after serving repeated terms as Sur­veyor, left us for Dakota Territory, where he can but make himself a useful and honored citizen. H. H. Hill was a successful school teacher when elected Superintendent, and served two terms in that capacity. Under his administra-

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tion of this responsible position, the schools of the county rapidly increased in efficiency, and still feel the effect of his laborious, methodical and conscientious work. Soon after retiring from office, he took up his residence in Chicago, where he is engaged in business.
At the election in 1866, over 3,300 votes were cast, and the average major­ity for Republican candidates was 1,100. Franklin Corwin, Elmer Baldwin and Capt. Wm. Strawn were elected from this district to the Legislature, over Douglas Hapeman, James Clark and Capt. M. L. Payne. The vote for county officers was: For Sheriff - James H. Gaff, 2,188; James Kirby, 1,115. For Coroner - Thomas Croswell, 2,231; Eben Norton, 1,117.
Capt. M. L. Payne, whose candidacy appeared at this election, was a well­ known citizen of the county for many years. He served as Captain of a company raised at Danville, in the Black Hawk war; as Captain in the Mexican war, and subsequently as a Captain in the war against rebellion. He was a man of great energy and indomitable courage. He died of cancer, in May, 1878, and was buried with military honors, in the cemetery at Pontiac.
Hon. Elmer Baldwin, after his service in the Legislature, served one term in the State Senate, and is the author of the very complete and valuable His­tory of La Salle County, recently published.
At the judicial election in June, Charles H. Wood received 897 votes for Judge of the Twentieth Circuit, and Geo. B. Joiner, 221. W. M. Taylor, 1,181 votes for Clerk of the Supreme Court; S. G. McFadden, 43.
In November, the vote was: For County Treasurer - Wm. B. Fyfe, 1,398; J. I. Dunlop,738; John Dehner, 597. For Surveyor - A. C. Huetson,1,525; E. B. Neville, 615; N. Buck, 555. Keeping up stock - For, 1,249; against, 977. This vote was under the provisions of a law, by which the county was to determine whether it would permit cattle to run at large or not. The adoption of the law rendered the expensive system of fencing unnecessary. No single act did as much to aid in the development of the county; yet it caused violent opposition and litigation, quarrels, and at least one death. Its application to this county was due to Capt. Strawn, and it nearly defeated his renomination to the Legislature the next year.
In 1868, 5,595 votes were cast, the average Republican majority being about 1,320. Four towns only gave Democratic majorities: Reading, 2; Sun­bury, 1; Belle Prairie, 6; Nevada, 33.
The vote for President was: For U. S. Grant, 3,448; for Horatio Seymour, 2,132. For Congress - S. M. Cullum, 3,447; B. S. Edwards, 2,134. For Senator - J. W. Strevell, 3,403; Julius Avery, 2,146. For Representa­tives - Wm. Strawn, 3,385; F. Corwin, 3,446; Samuel Wiley, 3,425; Moses Osman, 2,149; E. B. Wood, 2,147; B. M. Armstrong, 2,132. For State's Attorney - Mason B. Loomis was elected. For Circuit Clerk - J. E. Morrow, 3,476; W. W. Sears, 2,117. For Sheriff - Geo. H. Wentz, 3,422 ; W. H. Cleland, 2,144.

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This was the first time in our history that a citizen of this county was elected to the State Senate.
To the Constitutional Convention in 1869, the following were elected from this district (La Salle and Livingston) : N. J. Pillsbury, Joseph Hart, Geo. S. Eldredge, over Jonathan Duff; J. D. Caton and G. W. Armstrong.
The vote for county officers was: For Judge - L. E. Payson, 1,896; A. E. Harding, 1,126; Hiram Parsons, 108". For Clerk - Byron Phelps, 1,806; R. B. Hanna, 1,224; Eben Norton, 124*. For Treasurer - Aaron Weider, 1,844; J. McIlduff, 1,226; R. G. Morton, 103*. For Survevor - A. C. Huetson, 1,921; Charles Smith, 1,127; M. McCabe, 105*. For School Com­missioner - H. H. Hill, 1,659; Dr. M. Woolley, 1,182; A. D. Jones, 21.
The following townships voted for or against township subscription to the Fairbury, Pontiac & Northwestern R. R. Co.:
Amity: For - 90, Against - 9;  Eppards Point: For - 67, Against - 25; Newtown: For - 76, Against - 49; Ponitac: For - 374, Against - 6; Esmen: For - 75, Against -…..; Indian Grove: For - 273, Against - 211; Avoca: For - 65, Against - 63; Owego: For - 90, Against -…..
This voting in aid of the railroad was under the law of 1869, which gave to all counties, townships, cities and towns, which voted such aid, all the State tax which should be raised, for ten years after such voting, upon the increase of assessment over the assessment of the year 1868; to be used by such counties, etc., as a fund for paying the interest and meeting the principal of such bonds at maturity - commonly known as the " grab law." The law was deemed vicious in its spirit and effect, and, after several years of operation, in which millions of indebtedness was voted throughout the State, the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional - or rather, that the act had been repealed by the Constitution of 1870.
By virtue of this vote, bonds were issued by all townships thus voting, except Esmen, which ignored the vote entirely, on the ground that the seventy­-five votes cast were not a majority of all the voters of the town. This view was held by Dr. Woolley, who, as Supervisor of the Township, would not consent to the issuing of the bonds on that vote.
The bonds thus issued, aggregating $220,000, were given to the company, which built the road, now the Chicago & Paducah.
July 2, 1870, an election was held for and against the new Constitution, and the articles submitted separately, all of which received very nearly the unanimous vote of the county, the article on Minority Representation having 473 votes against it.

* Votes cast for Temperance ticket.

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At this election, Hon. John M. Scott received 1,304 votes for Judge of the Third Judicial District, and was at that time elected Supreme Judge, E. S. Terry receiving 704 votes for the same.
At the November election, the vote cast was only 3,100. The Republican ticket was elected, except Sheriff, by an average majority of about 150. Under the new Constitution, the county was a legislative district alone for that single election, and was entitled to two Representatives. The vote was: For Representatives - John Stillwell, 1,607; J. G. Strong, 1,607; Rufus W. Babcock, 1,527; J. I. Dunlop, 1,446.
For an additional Senator, the vote was: For Wm. Reddick, 1,720; For E. Follett Bull, 1,391. For Sheriff - J. W. Hoover, 1,613; S. L. Glover, 1,500. For Coroner - J. J. Wright, 1,676; Samuel Stewart, 1,444.
In 1871, Aaron Weider was re-elected Treasurer, and A. C. Huetson Sur­veyor, without serious opposition.
In October, 1870, Hon. M. B. Loomis, State Attorney, having removed to Chicago, where he was subsequently elected County Judge, Gov. Palmer appointed Chris. C. Strawn, of Pontiac, in his place. Mr. Strawn, though a ­young lawyer, just commencing practice, proved a very efficient and successful officer.
At the Presidential election, 1872, 5,355 votes were polled. U. S. Grant received 3,110; Horace Greeley, 1,888; O'Connor, 201. For Governor­ - R. J. Oglesby, 3,153; Gustavus Koerner, 2,062.
The Liberal defection from the Republican party was noticeable mostly in those townships where a strong German element existed, but its influence was somewhat felt throughout the county.
A new apportionment had been made for Congressional Representative, and the county was placed with Kankakee, Iroquois, Ford, Marshall and Wood­ford, making the Eighth District.
An earnest contest occurred in the Republican Convention for nomination for Congressman, the District being so strongly Republican that it was believed a nomination carried the certainty of election. After repeated ballots, Green­bury L. Fort, of Marshall, was nominated; and, being elected, has continued to represent the county in Congress from that time. The vote for Congressional Representative was: For G. L. Fort, 3,158; for G. O. Barnes, 2,111.
At this election, we were for the first time in a new Senatorial and Repre­sentative District, with Ford County comprising the Eighteenth District. Under a scheme known as "Minority Representation," a State Senator and three Representatives were elected. but only two of which Representatives could be on the same ticket; that is, the voter may vote three votes for the same candidate, or two for one and one for another; or one and one-half vote for each of two; or one vote each for three candidates.
The vote for Senator was: For J. G. Strong, 3,093; for Wm. Colon, 2,162. For Representatives - Lucien Bullard, 4,313; John Pollock, 4,152-1/2; John P.

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Middlecoff, 2,501; John F. Blackburn, 3,001-1/2; Robert Thompson, 2,186-1/2. The three former were elected. For States Attorney, James H. Funk received 3,116; H. H. Brower, 2,151. For Circuit Clerk - J. A. Fellows, 3,244; S. S. Brucker, 2,058; For Sheriff - B. E. Robinson, 2,883; J. W. Hoover, 2,472.
Late in this Year, a movement took form which, within a year, politically revolutionized the county. No history would be complete which did not take note of the causes which led to one of the most remarkable political movements in the history of the county.
The year had been a bountiful one in the production of the staple crop of the county, corn. During several preceding years, the crop had been meager, and prices had ruled high. With this year's extraordinary yield, the prices fell to the lowest known since the general settlement of the county. With the farmers of this county, corn is the chief article of sale. With interest to pay upon their indebtedness, which was large, payments, taxes, store bills, hired help to meet in addition to the actual family necessities, with freights as high as at any time, a feeling of uneasiness became general, and complaint grew against the oppression of capital as aggregated in the enormous railroad corpora­tions of the State.
It was believed that in justice the railroads ought to reduce their rates, and at least divide the losses which the farmers, their chief patrons, were meeting in selling their chief crop at ruinous prices. It did not reduce the general dis­satisfaction at all to be told that if it were not for the railroads they could not sell their superabundant crop at any price; nor did it meet the case to be advised that they ought to hold their crop till they could realize; for with per­haps a majority sales were necessary. About this time, the Legislature had passed a law requiring all railroads and warehouses to reduce their rates. The law was openly defied, and suits were at once commenced on the part of the people of the State to compel a compliance with the law. The idea that these monster corporations were above all law, while the natural citizen must comply or go to jail, was not a pleasant one to contemplate. It took two bushels of corn to pay the freight on one to tide-water.
With foreclosures staring many citizens in the face, and inability to pay their just debts, with the largest crop they ever raised in their possession, their ­minds were naturally led toward united political action. While in other counties the matter was hardly thought of, in this the entire community was aroused to seek any relief they could find. A few citizens of the township of Pike met together and called a County Convention to demand a redress of grievances.
The convention met and warmed up in its denunciation of monopolies, and the "Farmers' "Movement" was fairly launched in this county. Granges of the Patrons of Husbandry were started in every neighborhood, and men and women pledged each other to defend, unto death, the interests of the farmers against monopolies.

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The unfortunate result of the Greeley movement had already convinced many that the Democratic party was practieally dead, by suicide; and many who did not particularly sympathize with the farmers were anxious to find some healthy political organization with which to connect themselves. The move­ment was the outgrowth of political injustice and business oppression. The farmers had but too many reasons for feeling that their interests were deemed as naught, by the combined and controlling aggregation of capital, and, whether blind or not, saw no other way but by political organization to save themselves.
Thus was the Anti-Monopoly party formed in this county, which for years, under one name or another, exercised a controlling influence on the political affairs of the county, and gradually grew into the Greenback party.
In the judicial election of 1873, Nathaniel J. Pillsbury received the unani­mous vote of the county for Circuit Judge, and was elected, being the first citizen of this county to receive that honor. He still remains upon the bench, and is showing such excellent judicial qualifications that his continuance is apparently alone dependent on his own choice.
At the November election of this year, the two tickets in the field were Republican and Anti-Monopoly. The latter swept the county by a majority of nearly 1,400 votes. The vote was: For County Judge - R. R. Wallace, 2, 725; L. E. Payson, 1,322. For Clerk - G. W. Langford, 2,254; W. H. Jenkins,1,811. For Treasurer  -J. H. Stitt, 2,526; A. G. Goodspeed, 1,560. For Superintend­ent of Schools - M. Tombaugh, 2,728; J. W. Smith, 1,295. Republican majorities were given only in the townships of Eppard's Point, Pontiac, Indian Grove, Avoca, Odell and  Forrest. Several towns did not cast a vote for that ticket, so complete and sweeping was the revolution. The Democratic party was for the time being extinct, their vote being generally given to the new party.
In 1874, the vote was: For Sheriff -  B. E. Robinson, 2,326; A. W. Snyder, 1,926. For Coronor - E. G. Johnson, 2,185; S. Stewart, 2,052.
In 1875, the vote was: For Treasurer - J. H. Stitt, 1,943; Martin Dolde, 1,909. For Surveyor - B. F. Hotchkiss, 1,987; M. B. Logier, 1,867.
The vote polled in 1876 was 6,858, of which R. B. Hayes received 3,551; S. J. Tilden, 2,134; Peter Cooper, 1,170, and the Anti-Masonic ticket, 3. For Governor - Shelby M. Cullom, 3, 509 ; Lewis Steward, 3,327. For Con­gress - G. L. Fort, 3,538: George W. Parker, 3,310. For State Senator - S. T. Fosdick, 3,485; C. C. Strawn, 3,338. For Representative - E. C. Allen, 6,778-1/2; Geo. B. Gray. 5,546-1/2; John H. Collier, 4,920; John Richardson, 3,133-1/2. For State's Attorney - D. L. Murdock, 3,539; George W Patton, 3,297. For Circuit Clerk - Wm. H. Jenkins, 3,679; W. S. Sims, 3,157. For Sheriff - B. E. Robinson, 3,479; John Thompson, 3,316. The vote for Jenkins is the largest ever cast singly for any man in this county, and the vote for Allen the largest ever cast for one man.
At an election held August 2, 1877, for an additional Circuit Judge, Franklin Blades received nearly the unanimous vote.

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In 1877, the vote for county officers was: For Judge - R. R. Wallace, 2,677; A. P. Wright, 2,208, J. Duff, 466. For Clerk - Alvin Wait, 2,515; G. W. Langford, 2,475; J. McIlduff, 382. For Treasurer - I. J. Krack, 2,349; J. H. Stitt, 2,334; J. T. Bullard, 650. For Superintendent of Schools - M. Tombaugh, 2,866; O. F. Avery, 2,240.
This closes the political and official annals of the county. The reader will find them complete in the record of all facts of interest, except that the abstract of votes for the years 1837, 1841, 1851, 1856 and 1871 are not on file in the office of the County Clerk. They are supposed to have been lost at the time of the fire, and there is no known way of restoring them, unless the county orders them restored from the files of the Secretary of State.
ANNALS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT.
The first term of the Livingston County Circuit Court was held October 21, 1839, by Judge S. H. Treat, now of the United States Court. At the time the county was organized, it was placed in the First Circuit, but the Judge sitting in that circuit did not get time to come here, no law had been passed fixing the time for holding Circuit Court in this county, and the Clerk had moved away out of the State. By the act of 1839, we were placed in the Eighth Circuit, and October fixed for the time of holding Court. Judge Treat wrote up the record, and in the minutes his own attendance is mentioned, and that of David B. Campbell, State's Attorney; Nicholas Hefner, Sheriff; David Davis and Geo. B. Markley, attorneys. An order was entered removing the Clerk, Henry Weed, by reason of his absence from the State for more than a year, and appointing D. B. Campbell Clerk pro tem. No grand or petit jurors were summoned to this term. Twenty-nine cases were on the docket, and parties litigant seem to have been taken by surprise, for against eighteen of the cases the minute is entered, "Neither party appearing, this case is continued." Nicholas Hefner filed his bond as Sheriff, and it was approved. C. W. Reynolds filed his appointment as Clerk, and Judge Treat certified that Hefner had attended Court one day.
At the May term, 1840. W. G. Hubbard was appointed Foreman of the Grand Jury, and, being charged by the Court, retired - Judge Treat says in a letter - to some convenient saw-logs by the mill near by.
The grand jury returned five indictments, the first of which was for selling whisky contrary to the statutes made and provided. It is not, perhaps, singu­lar that the first indictment ever returned to our Court was for that, and it will not he hard to anticipate that the last one may possibly be for the same
This term, Hefner was certified to for two days' attendance.
At the October term, 1840, Garret M. Blue appears as Sheriff. At the April term, 1843, D. S. Ebersol was appointed Clerk, and Augustus Fellows Master in Chancery. At the September term, 1844, R. P. Breckenridge appeared as Sheriff, and John Blue as Coroner. At the September term, 1846,

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Andrew McMillan appeared as Circuit Clerk. At the June term, 1847, John D. Caton presided as Judge. At the June term, 1848, S. C. Ladd appeared as Clerk. At the December term, 1848, T. Lyle Dickey presided, and Murrill Breckenridge was Sheriff. At the November term, 1850, Hugh Henderson, of the Eleventh. Circuit, held court in exchange with Judge Dickey, and B. C. Cook appears as State's Attorney. September, 1851, Henry Loveless was Sheriff. September, 1852, David Davis was Judge, and J. O. Glover State's Attorney. May, 1853, E. S. Leland was Judge; Geo. W. Boyer, Clerk; Jere­miah Mathis, Sheriff; W. H. L. Wallace, State's Attorney. In September, 1853, B. C. Cook was appointed State's Attorney pro tem. In 1855, W. B. Lyon appeared as Sheriff. This brings the record down through the earlier days.
The first deed recorded was one by Benj. Darnall and wife to Garret M. Blue, consideration $100, bearing date October 15, 1836, for the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 14, Town 28, Range 4; the said land being in McLean County.

FARMING IN THE OLDEN TIME.
The way our fathers performed their farming operations is so little known to the present generation, who depend so much on improved farm machinery and require their horses to do all the work which men, women and children formerly did, that a description of the olden way cannot prove uninteresting.
Banish reapers, mowers, corn planters, sulky plows, wire-tooth horse rakes, double-shoveled plows, horse hay forks, threshing machines, grape-vine cradles, and a conception can be formed of the primitive farming facilities. Corn was "got in" in this way: After the land had been plowed, it was harrowed and "marked out" both ways, one way with a small, eight-inch mold-board plow, and the other by a marker made of 4x4 scantling, having on it four blocks or pegs, which would mark three rows at a time (if one happened to have so con­venient an article, otherwise the land was marked out both ways with the corn plow). This marker had attached to it a pair of shafts, and a bowed sapling for a handle. If the horse was "handy" and tractable, the marking could be done without the aid of a rider; but horses were so seldom driven single that the boys, who had most of this kind of work to do, could not manage them well enough to perform the work without a rider, so a "low-priced boy" was usually put astride the horse, who rode as long as the sheepskin, which reduced the terrors of bareback riding, and his unwilling seat could be induced to continue an unhappy partnership, when he was exchanged for a new recruit. Ah, the horrors of this ad sternum service! Boys who think riding horse is "just fun " should try the experiment of a week's experience during marking-out and corn plowing time, and endeavor to ascertain just how much fun can be extracted from it. "
After marking, all the children were taken out of school for a week to "drop" corn. The ancient farmer who was so unfortunate as to have no grist

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of children was in a bad row of stumps. This may account for the tendency to large families so common in past years. They had work for the children to do in those days, and Nature is kindly disposed to supply the wants of population.
Corn dropping was done from little tin pails or baskets held in the hand, or buttoned into the clothing in front, or fastened by a belt around the waist. The covering was done with a hoe having an eye into which the handle was put. This was a tedious job compared with our present plan, but "tending" the growing crop was no less so. "Plowing out" was all done with one horse, using the small mold-board, or a single-shovel plow, when again the small boy was fre­quently made to earn his bread by the sweat of his - body.
"Changing work" was a common device. While one farmer was getting his land plowed, another would employ his force of small help in getting in a crop, and then return the work.
The harvesting and securing of the small grain crops were even more tedious.
The hay was all cut with a scythe and raked into windrows with a hand rake; the grain cut with the old straight handled cradle, and raked into bundles with a hand rake. Threshing wheat was done with a flail, and other grains were trod out by keeping a troop of unshod horses circulating over it, each floor­ing requiring about an hour. Where grain raising was largely followed, "harvest hands" were scarce, and they often demanded and received two or three times as much for that as for any other kind of farm work. To swing a cradle all day was thought to be as laborious work and calling for as good pay as anything to be done, and he who could "rake and bind " and follow a cradle, keeping up his swath, need not tramp for a living during harvest time at least.
It is not easy to see how, with corn at from six to ten cents per bushel, oats little more, wheat from thirty to sixty cents, and other crops in proportion, the farmer succeeded in getting enough from the proceeds of his crop to pay for the labor he was obliged to hire. It is not difficult to understand why the best land that "ever lay out-doors" remained far so long without purchasers.
Of course the farmers in those days did not ride in carriages, nor pay heavy taxes, nor buy luxuries, nor pay hotel bills when they traveled, nor dress themselves and families in "store clothes." but some of them lived comfortably. How did they do it ?

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS.
This has been and still remains pre-eminently a farming county, very little manufacturing ever having been done here. The citizens send abroad for their clothes, their plows and farm machinery, for their boots, shoes, cheese, many of their wagons, and even in a measure for hams and bacon. Since the farm lands have come into general cultivation, it has been pre-eminently a corn raising county. It is believed that more corn is now raised and shipped from this than

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from any county in the country. In the earlier years, Winter wheat was largely and profitably grown; cases occurred where the farmer paid for his farm and implements from his single crop of wheat. It soon became an uncer­tain crop, and was gradually abandoned. The growing of Spring wheat did not long continue after it had been destroyed a few years by the chinch bug, and flour and wheat have become one of the principal imports into the county. Oats remain a standard crop, and give a fair yield. In the northwestern part of the county, timothy is largely raised for seed, it being in great demand in the Eastern States by reason of its freedom from the foul seeds which are found in that raised in older States. In the southeast, flax is a favorite crop, and its growth is extending. Rye is raised by many farmers, by reason of the cer­tainty of its yield and because its sawing and harvest occur at a time when other work is not pressing, and that it is the best crop to seed with, now that wheat has been abandoned, and oats are apt to grow so rank as to smother the young grass plants.
Corn, however, is the only real staple article of farm production. The county is in the very center of the corn growing belt; the land is better adapted to its production, the land is not liable to wash, and may be kept annually under plow without deterioration. The perfection of farm machinery has reduced the cost of production of this crop to the minimum. The rapidity with which it makes returns, the security with which it can be stored a year or more, the importance of the hog crop, and the cheapness with which it can be. marketed in that shape, are all inducements to raising corn. Besides these, are reasons found in the needs of the citizens. The population is largely made up of men with small means, who purchased small farms, but had not sufficient capital to fence and stock them for varied agriculture. Under the stimulus of the no-fence law, adopted in 1867, these open prairies were plowed and planted in corn, without a rod of fence on them, for there was no necessity for fencing their farms and dividing into fields. Among the newer settled townships, there are those which have more than four-fifths of all their land annually in corn; pastures are rare, and herds of cattle are not seen. Time will change this, however, in a measure; but the great staple will remain the principal article of production.
In the year 1877, the production of corn, by the report of the State Board of Agriculture, is put down at 10,930,000 bushels. It is believed that no other county in the world raised so much.
Fruits are receiving much attention. Apples, everywhere the staple, are becoming an important product. It will be a long time, however, before they will be found in great abundance on all farms. The borer and the blight make havoc with the young trees; latterly, the severe Winters have ruined many, old and young, besides which, the system of farming practiced is a great hindrance to growing orchards. With few or no cross fences on the farms, the cattle roam at will among the trees during the Winter and early Spring.

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The blight has left but few pear trees growing in the county. Peaches are an uncertain crop.
Grapes produce abundantly and regularly; indeed, no crop is so certain of producing a fair return. The Concord grape is as easily raised as corn, and more sure of a crop.
Small fruits are fast popularizing, where only a few years ago they were only found in the garden or on the plantation of the horticulturist.
The Snyder blackberry, by reason of its ability to stand our severest Winters, and not being injured by Spring frosts, is fast being planted; all other varieties are too uncertain.

LIVE STOCK.
At one period of the history of the county, sheep were largely raised; and dur­ing the war, the high price of wool stimulated the spread of this branch of hus­bandry unduly. Particularly was this true of the fine-wooled varieties. With the close of rebellious hostilities, prices fell, and disease began to spread among the sheep. Losses were terrible, and sheep husbandry disappeared from the county. There are now only a few of the middle wooled sheep kept, and they seem to be comparatively remunerative.
Late years have shown a decided improvement in horses. The importation of Clydesdale, Belgian and Norman horses into the county has awakened a lively interest in that line. The peculiar nature of corn farming calls more for strength and endurance than for speed and action. The farmer reasons that two horses are better than three to draw a plow, if they can draw it as well. The heavy work with corn raisers is plowing and hauling the corn to market, and both of these require heavy horses.
The time was when the cattle which roamed over these prairies showed dis­tinctly the dun, black, brindle and yellow colors characteristic of the native cattle. Now the short horns have so changed the general appearance of the herds that these colors are seldom seen. The entire "constitution" of the horned cattle has been reformed - nobody breeds or cares to breed anything else. The hog crop now cuts so important a figure in the economy of the county, that much care has latterly been taken to secure the very best breeds for profit. The Chester White gradually gave way to the Poland China, and that in turn to the Berkshire, which is now the popular, not to say the fashionable, color.
The importation of Norman horses directly from France is largely due to the active business management of John Virgin, Esq., of Fairbury. In 1870, Virgin, J. C. Morrison and Decatur Veatch formed a partnership for that busi­ness. Mr. Virgin was sent out, and brought home the first venture of that kind. That partnership was soon dissolved by the death of Mr. Veatch, but Virgin has continued the business of importation.

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Of kin to the subject is the organization of Agricultural Societies. The county society, now known as the Livingston County Agricultural Board, was formed in 1855 by a few citizens. It owns a fine fair ground on the bank of the river at Pontiac, which is beautifully shaded with native trees, and has a fine half-mile track on it.
The Fairbury Union Agricultural Society was formed in 1875, as a stock company, and owns a fine ground at Fairbury. These two stimulate a gener­ous rivalry, and are the means of vast good to the cause in the county.

RAILROADS.
The four railroads which pass through the county make no small item in the importance and wealth of the county. From their building dates the filling up of our county and the bringing its lands into market. Without them we were, and, in all human probability, would have, remained a waving prairie.
The first road in date of construction, the Chicago & Mississippi, running from Joliet to Alton, was built in 1853 and '54. A few years later, it was  sold out on the second mortgage, and bid off by Joel A. Matteson, for $6,500. He run it for a time, and then permitted it to be sold, and it was purchased by T. B. Blackstone and others, who formed the Chicago & Alton Company, and have made it a successful road. The company purchased a controlling interest in the stock of the Chicago & Joliet road, and now, practically, it is a continuous line. The stations on their main line are Dwight, Odell, Cayuga, Pontiac and Ocoya. In 1869, this road built the Western Division, running from Dwight through the northern part of the county to Streator, thence southwest to Wash­ington, in Tazewell County, with Nevada, Blackstone and Smithdale on it, and about the same time put down a second track from Odell north as far as Gardner.
This road now has sixty miles of track in the county. In the years 1858 and '59, the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw road was built through the county. it was then known as the Eastern Extension of the Peoria. & Oquawka R. R.. The road becoming embarrassed, the Peoria & Oquawka part of it possession of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R., and all the company had was an extension to a road they did not own. The company was re-organ­ized as at present known, and pushed their road on, reaching the Mississippi at Burlington, Keokuk and Warsaw. They own eighteen miles of track in this county. Its stations are Fairbury, Forrest and Chatsworth. The road now known as the Chicago & Paducah has a local history, it being a Livingston County corporation. In 1865, Mr. Samuel L. Fleming, of Pontiac, a man who had spent a small fortune in railroading, drew, and got passed by the Legisla­ture, a charter for a railroad from Ottawa to Fairbury. The corporators named in the charter were S. C. Ladd, B. P. Babcock, Samuel L. Fleming, Nelson Buck, Jonathan Duff, Wm. Strawn, R. B. Harrington, S. C. Crane.

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John Dehner, Walter Cornell, M. E. Collins, Ralph Plumb, Enoch Lundy, David McIntosh, H. L. Marsh, W. G. McDowell, J. W. Strevell, I. B. Tyler and Wm. B. Lyon.
In 1867, the charter was amended so that the road might run anywhere northerly and southerly of Pontiac - that point being retained. The name, however, in the charter was retained. Under the impetus given to railroad building by the "grab law" of 1869, the company was formed, M. E. Collins being elected President and S. S. Lawrence, Secretary. The townships of Indian Grove, Avoca, Eppard's Point, Owego, Pontiac, Amity and Newtown issued bonds, and with these in hand the Fairbury, Pontiac & Northwestern Company made a contract with Col. Ralph Plumb, of Streator, Col. W. H. W. Cushman, of Ottawa, and David Strawn, to build and equip the road, transfer­ring to them all the bonds and issuing the stock to them, so that when built it became theirs. In this contract was a stipulation that the parties of the second part would never transfer the road to the Chicago & Alton R. R. Co.; the intent being, of course, to keep this a competing road. They built the road from Streator through this county, pushing it south through Ford, Champaign, Piatt, Moultrie, Shelby and Effingham Counties to Altamont. Its stations in this county are Newtown, Cornell, Rowe, Pontiac, McDowell, Lodemia, Fairbury, Murphy's and Strawn. It connects at Streator with the Ottawa branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. It has forty-one miles of track in the county.
The Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern has about twelve miles of track through the county, having stations at Reading and Long Point.
Several other railroad projects are in contemplation or progress, principal among which, that are likely to be built at no distant day, are the road from Dwight to Kankakee, and the Decatur & State Line road to pass through the eastern tier of townships.

NEWSPAPERS.
In the early days, the newspaper was not thought to be, as now, a necessity of civilization. Men had other ways of spending their time than poring over column after column of Tribune, Inter-Ocean or Times; but with the railroad came the printing press, and we find flung to the prairie breeze, March, 14, 1855, from "Ladd's building, immediately north of the Court House, Pontiac, Illinois." the Livingston County News, published and edited by J. S. France­ -"independent in everything." It was a twenty-four column paper, we'll printed for the times, having only two columns of advertisements. Just how many subscri­bers it had is hard to state, but a reasonable guess could hardly place the number above two hundred. The first number, which is carefully preserved among a marvelous conglomeration of other county antiquities, newspapers, books, old demijohns, with their sere and yellow contents, with a chaos of unenumerated articles, by Uncle Jacob Streamer, of Pontiac, contains an editorial bewailing the lack of school houses and churches, and the blighting prevalence of intem-

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perance; an account of a temperance meeting, at which W. T. Garner, Wm. B. Lyon, H. H. Norton, I. P. McDowell and Robert Aerl were appointed a committee to call on the liquor sellers, and remonstrate with them against con­tinuing their nefarious business; upon failure to desist, they were to be prose­cuted according to law. A committee, consisting of Nelson Buck, Dr. Darius Johnson and J. H. McGregor, presented a stirring lot of resolutions, which were heartily adopted by the meeting. A list giving the discount at which bank bills were received also appears, with a long list of "closed banks," which was expected to need to be "revised and corrected weekly," like the market reports. A statement of the profit of wheat growing is made by Mr. John J. Taylor, in which he shows, in double entry, how his wheat crop of the preceding year had paid all the expense of buying, improving and working his farm, including pur­chase money, and the harvesting of his crop. An old citizen remarks that this ruined many a man, as, for several years after that, wheat raising proved unre­munerative.
D. Johnson and J. M. Perry were the physicians; J. S. France, George Bishop and McGregor & Dart the attorneys, and J. Streamer, Ladd & McDowell, Buck & Gray, the merchants, having cards in this first paper. It ought to be added here that some time before this, Thomas Cotton had published a paper at New Michigan, which did not survive its second number. The issues of his paper which did see light were devoted to enforcing Mr. Cotton's well known reform principles.
During the first year of its publication, France transferred the News to Philip Cook and M. A. Renoe; Cook soon after selling to Jones. During the proprietorship of Cook & Renoe, which was during the dark and bloody days in which "Bleeding Kansas " furnished inspiration for most political discussion, the liberal sentiments of the proprietors did not permit them to hold their peace, even in an "independent" paper. In one of the papers, the editor complains that Capt. Payne had falsely accused then of running an "Abolition paper." The younger generation will probably never know the height and the depth of infamy which attached to that term in the mind of the average Illinoian of a generation ago. Renoe &Jones sold the News to Albee, and the publication was soon after discontinued.
Cook & Gagan started the Pontiac Sentinel in July, 1858, as a Republican paper. They sold to M. E. Collins, he to Stout & Decker, they to W. F. Denslow, he to Stout. Stout, in 1866, purchased a Taylor cylinder press, at an expense of about $1,500, and soon after the entire concern was consumed by fire, with but little insurance with which to start anew. The paper was going again within two weeks, and in 1869 he sold to Jones & Renoe, who were publishing the Free Press, who consolidated the papers under the name of Sentinel and Press. In July, 1873, H. C. Jones became sole proprietor, and changed the name again to the Sentinel, and in 1875, sold to F. L. Alles, who still owns

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and edits it. During all these changes it has remained Republican, and for twenty years - the life of the Republican party - it has battled for the success of that party.
The Republican was started in 1865, by Thomas Harper, and was published by him for a year. E. B. Buck, now of Charleston, Coles County, started the Constitution in 1864, as the organ of the Democratic party, and published it about six months, when the material fell to Maxwell and Duff, who disposed of it.
Jones & Renoe commenced the publication of the Free Press, at Pontiac, an August, 1867. In 1869, it was consolidated with the Sentinel.
The Livingston County Democrat was started by Milton & Organ, in 1868. Mr. Organ soon after became sole proprietor, and sold to Peter Johnson, who published it as a Temperance paper, for about six months, when he re-sold it to Mr. Organ, who, after about a year, suspended its publication. M. A. Renoe published the National Union for several months in 1866.
Thomas Wing became possessed of a printing office and published the People's Advocate for a few months, in 1870. The material was afterward bought by Prince Kellogg, who removed it to Odell, and commenced the publi­cation of the Odell Times in January, 1872, which, in the course of a year, he sold to H. D. Wilson, who continued it for some months.
J. H. Warner commenced the publication of the Independent at Odell in 1869, and continued it several months, when it was discontinued.
John H. Hewitt published the Pontiac Herald for a year, in 1871-72. Its circulation was not large, but its proprietor was happy with his "Hurld," as he called it.
A. L. Bagby commenced the publication of the Pontiac Free Trader, May 11, 1870, as a Democratic paper. In 1871, Bagby disappeared, and the pub­lication was suspended, until C. S. Postlewait revived it, issuing the first num­ber of Volume 2 in June, 187I, with R. W. Babcock as associate editor. C. A. McGregor and E. M. Johnson purchased it in October, 1871, for $150. Mr. Johnson has continued as co-proprietor and editor without intermission from that time. Jan. 1, 1874, M. A. Renoe purchased McGregor's interest, and, in 1877 sold to John Stuff.
In 1873, the Free Trader became the organ of the Anti-Monopoly party, which grew into the Independent Greenback party of 1876, and still remains the vigorous and prosperous champion of the political doctrines of that party.
J. H. Warner commenced the publication of the Herald at Odell, in 1877. and continues to publish it.
John Harper, the great newspaper starter, commenced the publication of the Intelligencer at Fairbury, in 1863, which soon suspended; and Moses Osman published a paper for awhile.
In 1866, H. S. Decker commenced the publication of the Journal at Fair­bury. He soon after sold to I. P. McDowell, and he to Otis Eastman, in 1867, who continued to publish it until 1873.

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In June, 1871, the Dimmicks commenced the publication of the Inde­pendent at Fairbury, and in 1876 C. B. Holmes commenced the Blade. These­ papers were published until 1876, when J. S. Scibird became proprietor, and combined the two, with the title of Independent-Blade, which he publishes yet.
In June, 1868, Smith & Rutan began the publication of The Weekly Courier at Dwight, which, after six months, was discontinued.
May, 5, 1868, C. L. Palmer commenced the Star at Dwight, a two column paper somewhat larger than a good-sized shirt bosom, which he has continued without change of proprietor, except the association of his brother with him for a year in 1871-2. It has grown to a six-column quarto, with a steady growth, and has continued its issue until now.
In 1878, C. M. Cyrus commenced the Dwight Commercial, which is still published. C. L. Palmer commenced, in October, 1875, the publication of the Western Postal Review, a monthly paper devoted to matters of interest to Postmasters, with Homer A. Kenyon as editor, which is still published.
In 1873, Dimmick Bros. commenced the publication of the Palladium at Chatsworth, which they sold to George Torrance, he to C. B. Holmes in 1874. The paper was afterward changed to Plaindealer, and is now published by R.. M. Spurgen.
The press of the county has ever been marked by an intelligent and earnest desire to promote public morals and the general welfare of the county. There has been an almost universal absence of personal animosity which so frequently mars the conduct of rival papers. A generous rivalry has not awakened per­sonal hostility, and the general fairness has seldom been broken. The men who have formed the editorial fraternity have been usually worthy men, whose influence has been for good. This is particularly true of those who are at present conducting this powerful and wide-spreading department of intelligence. Who can estimate the amount of good they have and can vet accomplish? The first telegraphic dispatch ever received in the county was on election night of 1856, giving the news of the election of Buchanan. The Livingston County News the next morning contained full telegraphic news of the result of the election from all over the country. It was to all a mystery how the news was obtained, for it was not supposed that the News was able to pay for all that telegraphic matter. A friend who had somewhere learned how to read the wires supplied the enterprising publishers with them, and that night they were put in type as fast as received.

THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT.
In the earlier days of the county, very little of what was called Abolition sentiment existed. There was plenty, however, of latent anti-slavery sentiment, and it only needed a little friction to bring it out. In 1848, there were four votes cast for Van Buren, and while many voted for him in some parts of the country who were not, it is pretty sure that these four men were Abolitionists.

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It is not now possible to find out who they were, but Capt. Strawn, pretty good authority, says he believes the four pioneer anti-slavery voters were Otis Whaley, George and Xenophon Richards, and Moses Rumery. At any rate these men, together with Dr. H. H. Hinman, C. P. Paget, Capt. Wm.  Strawn, and perhaps James Stout, formed the nucleus, a few years after that date, of the first Abolition organization in the county. For some years, they had taken a decided stand against the extension of slavery, and were looked upon as dangerous men.
Word was brought to some of them that some of the officers at Pontiac had captured a fugitive slave who was pushing through the country to Canada. The story ran that the fugitive was chained to a staple driven into the floor of the old Court House. The news created considerable excitement, and was the means of the organization, by Dr. Hinman, of an Abolition society. The slave was returned to his master, but he did not suffer in vain, for if the Society thus formed did not liberate all the slaves in America, it certainly did its part toward it. Moses Rumery, who was closely identified with the movement, did not join the Society, as it was both a church and a political organization, and he, being a Methodist, could not well join it, but was with them in spirit.
These men laid the track of the underground railroad through the county, with Rumery as conductor, and Hinman, Strawn, Paget and Whaley as station agents, flagmen and stokers. No dividends were declared on the stock, but the officers worked with untiring zeal, and no more negroes were seen chained to the Court House.
About this time, an incident occurred which aroused the minds of some citi­zens who had before this been much opposed to abolition. One Sunday morn­ing, about the year 1853, Judge Babcock, who had recently purchased the Grove farm, heard a terrible racket down the road, and, accompanied by a man who was making it his home there, stepped to the road to see what was the matter, when a most singular, and to him a new sight, met his eyes. In a covered wagon were two as frightened negroes as ever drew breath in the prairie air of Illinois; beside the wagon were two men on horseback, demanding in the most boisterous tones an unconditional surrender. Between them and the two chattels, walked a man, with a pistol in each hand, threatening the lives of the two pursuers if they came any closer, and alternately threatening the fugitives if they attempted to get out of the wagon, in response to the demands of their pursuers. They were two fugitives, accompanied by a colored barber from Bloomington, and pursued by two Pontiac citizens. As soon as the pursuers saw Judge Babcock and his companion, they rushed up and demanded help, which was politely refused, and then wanted to borrow their guns, which was also refused, and the Judge was, by the force of circumstances, forced to help these fleeing fugitives on their way to Col. Stewart at Wilmington, whereas for all his life, up to that moment, he had been an opponent of all the schemes of Abolitionists. The next time he went to Pontiac, he found it generally noised

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about that "a d----d Abolitionist had just come from York State, and settled almost right in our midst."
Hon. William Strawn, whose whole heart was in the move, who not only spoke for the cause here, but went to Kansas to fight, and afterward enlisted in the war against rebellion from sentiments of anti-slavery, writes: "My partic­ular acquaintance with Livingston County did not begin till 1850. Dr. H. H. Hinman's advent into the county was, I think, in 1852. A man who, with little physical strength, possessed the most magnificent moral courage and downright integrity of any man I ever knew, save perhaps, old John Brown, who added to an equal moral courage physical courage and bodily vigor of grand proportions. The Doctor, meek, heroic, energetic, persistent for the right, like his Divine Master loving absolutely all men, instant in season and out of season in every good work, was a power for good in this county which few could rightly estimate.
"The precise date at which James Stout came into the county, I can­not say, but to him and Dr. Hinman, this county owes more than to all others combined for redemption from pro-slavery rule. Courageous to a fault, never thoroughly happy except when miserable - like the typical Englishman; never sparing his dearest friend, if he thought he caught him in a mean trick, bellig­erently honest to his convictions, he secured both the enmity and sincere regard of a vast proportion of the inhabitants of the county. * * Though not then a resident of the county, I had the honor to be the anti-slavery candi­date for the Legislature. I remember making a speech in the old Court House, to perhaps an audience of fifteen persons. S. C. Ladd was of the num­ber, who thoroughly agreed with me in all propositions, except the voting part."
In addition it must be said that Owen Lovejoy, who, as a candidate for Congress, spoke here, did much to arouse the latent anti-slavery sentiment. He was probably the most effective political speaker ever heard in this vicinity. Thoroughly at heart believing every word he spoke, clear, positive and convinc­ing, he never had his superior on the stump in this State. The remarkable unanimity with which the people of this county accept the ideas which were so unpopular a quarter of a century since, the slow growth of those ideas through the previous quarter, and until the passage of the "Nebraska bill," that Pandora's box of the propagandism, illustrates one of those wise sayings of an unlearned but very sensible negro, to a friend whose want of information he was lament­ing, "Ignorance is a mighty thing, sah! and comes without study."

NAMES OF THE TOWNSHIPS.
The curious may want to know who named and why the townships came to be named as they are. There is almost always a reason for any name. An investigator once discovered, by close study, how there came to be so many Smiths in the world. He said, after the Lord had thought of all conceivable names to give the different families, He decided to call the remainder Smith.

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The investigator has been among the townships. Reading was so named from the little village in its borders, which received its name from old Reading, in Pennsylvania. Newtown was but a slight change from New Michigan, a little hamlet in that township, named so in consequence of its being settled by Michigan folks. Sunbury, from the post office of that name in the township, kept by Wm. K. Brown. Nevada, from the prominence just then given to the present Western State of that name, just then drawing attention. Dwight, from the village of Dwight, which was named by Col. R. P. Morgan, Jr., an engineer on the Chicago & Mississippi Railroad, in honor of his friend, Henry Dwight, the builder of the road. Round Grove, from a small grove in its bor­ders. Long Point, from the stream and point of timber in it. Esmen was named by Judge Babcock. It is the first person plural of the Greek verb to be, and means "we are the chaps," or words to that effect. Odell was named by S. S. Morgan, after W. H. Odell, of Wilmington. Broughton, from and by Wm. Broughton, the first settler there. Nebraska, by Reuben Macey, from the then prominence of "Nebraska Bill," who proved to be a very important per­sonage in the affairs of this county. Rook's Creek, from the stream, named in honor of Frederick Rook, the pioneer. Pontiac, by Jesse W. Fell, from Pontiac, Mich., where the first settlers had moved from. Saunemin is a mystery; the only man living who ever knew how it derived its name, and what it means, has forgotten. Sullivan, an abbreviation for Sullivant, who, at the time it was named, owned half the town. Waldo, by Parker Jewett, who named it from his old home, Waldo, Maine. Eppard's Point, from the point of timber land in it. Indian Grove, from the grove in that township. Forrest was first named Forestville by the railroad men, who there encountered, in building, the only piece of timber land for fifty miles on their road. Frost, the President of the com­pany, came along, one day, and said it should be changed to Forrest, the name of his New York partner, and railroad Presidents were a power in those days. Chatsworth, by the officers of the railroad company, from the country seat of the Duke of Devonshire. Germantown, by the German settlement in that township.

MILITARY RECORD.
No history of the county would be complete without at least brief mention of the part taken by her patriotic citizens in the struggle to mintain the unity and the honor of the Government.
By the census of 1840, the county had a population of 759, which had increased in 1680 to 12,000. Out of this number, scarce 1800 were subject to military duty; yet Livingston County sent over 1,500 soldiers to the field. Fields of ripened grain were left to be harvested by women and children. Pastors of churches exhorted their parishioners to take up arms, and set them an example by placing their own names on the muster-roll; clerks threw down the yard-stick to shoulder the musket, and, in several instances, even those hold-

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ing public offices resigned their positions and went forward with their constitu­ents to battle for the right. A number went singly and in twos and threes, and enlisted in various batteries and regiments, which cannot find separate men­tion; but, in addition to these, Livingston sent the following companies to tile field:
January, 1861, Company D, Twentieth Illinois Volunteers, 85 men; of this number, 30 re-enlisted as veterans.
August, 1861, Company F, Thirty-third Illinois Volunteers, 40 men; 14 re-enlisted as veterans.
August and September, 1861, Company C, Thirty-ninth Illinois Volunteers, 88 men, of whom 30 re-enlisted as veterans. Six Livingston County men also enlisted in the regimental band of this regiment; and 8 men served in Com­pany D.
In July, 1861, Company C, Forty-fourth Illinois Volunteers, 38 men; 8 re-enlisted as veterans; also 5 men from this county mustered in Company 13 of this regiment.
January, 1862, Company G, Fifty-third Illinois Volunteers, 42 men, of whom 10 re-enlisted as veterans.
In August, 1862, when the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois Volun­teers was formed, the county furnished the following Companies:
Company A, 100 men; Company B, 62 men; Company C, 94 men; Com­pany E, 90 men; Company G, 101 men; Company K, 21 men; officers and non-commissioned officers. 28. Total, 496.
January, 1864, Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Illinois Vol­unteers, 13 men. April, 1864, Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Illinois Volunteers, 57 men. February, 1864, Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Illinois Volunteers, 6 men. February, 1864, Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteers, 9 men. August, 1864, Company A, Third Illinois Cavalry, 20 men. August, 1864, Company D, Third Illinois Cavalry, 20 men; August, 1864, Company K, Third Illinois Cavalry, 118 men; and in various other companies, 14 men.
The Twentieth Regiment contained many Livingston County men, among whom are such well remembered names as John A. Hoskins, John A. Fellows and Joshua Whitmore. Hoskins, who was a soldier in the Mexican war, was Captain of Company D, but was afterward promoted Major.
Fellows and Whitmore entered the service as First and Second Lieutenants of Company D. This regiment first engaged the enemy under Jeff Thompson, at Fredericktown, Oct. 20, 1861, and in the battle there fought, gave proof of the splendid material of which it was composed. On the 2d clay of February, 1862, it marched into Fort Henry, and on the 11th, it was before Donelson, and did excellent service in the famous three days' battle, which caused the surrender of that important post, together with 20,000 rebel troops. Livingston claims her full share in this important victory, which sent a thrill of joy to every loyal

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heart, and revived the fainting hope of the nation. It was here that Grant uttered his "Nothing but unconditional surrender," and the nation took it up as a battle cry, and it rang through the land, until the last foe laid down his arms. Four men of Company D were killed in this battle, and many were wounded. April 6th and 7th, this regiment fought at Shiloh, and remained in the service during the war. The troops were mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July 16, 1865.
About one-half of Company F of the Thirty-third Illinois Volunteers were from this county, and enlisted from the northwestern townships. The regiment had an eventful, perilous and toilsome service. It marched through Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, and did good service at Vicksburg, Port Gib­son and Mobile.
Company C, of the Thirty-ninth Illinois Volunteers was raised in this county, in August, 1861. It was enlisted from the central townships, and was, composed of the very best material. This celebrated regiment was better known by the name of the "Yates Phalanx," so named after the patriotic Gov­ernor of the State. It was not filled up in time to be accepted under the first call for troops, but it kept up its organization and drill, and after the battle of Bull Run it found no difficulty in entering the service. The regiment was marched to the Potomac, and was engaged in the various battles, marches and counter-marches on that historic ground. It afterward joined Gen. Foster's command, at Newberne, N. C., and was marched from there to Hilton Head; S. C. It formed the advance of the brigade in command of Col. Mann, in the siege of Fort Wagner, and marched into one end of that stronghold while the enemy were marching out at the other. This regiment re-enlisted in March, 1864, and again started for the front. In May, it was under Gen. Butler, at Drury's Bluffs, and participated in all the battles that followed, meeting with loss after loss, until the 13th of October, when it was reviewed and found to contain only two hundred men, and the highest officer left was Lieut. James Hannum, who was promoted to Captain, and who is still living, and resides near Cayuga, in Esmen Township. These gallant men were engaged in the storming of Fort Gregg, where they made a daring charge and planted the Union colors on the heights of the parapet, and placed their name forever on the pages of national history. For their heroic conduct they were presented with an eagle by Gen. Gibbon. They fought in every battle in which their command was engaged, and were present at the final surrender, and were mustered out Dec. 6, 1865, a mere handful of battle-scarred veterans.

"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo;
No more on life's parade shall meet
The brave and daring few."

About half of Company C, Forty-fourth Illinois Volunteers, was raised in Read­ing Township, and served in the Missouri campaign, "mit Siegel." It was in

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the engagement at Corinth, and at Stone River nearly half of the regiment was lost; it fought at Chattanooga, re-enlisted and again returned to the front in time to take part in the Atlanta campaign. It was in nearly all the battles which resulted from the bold attempt of Hood to overrun Tennessee and Kentucky.
In January, 1862, the old hero, Capt. Morgan L. Payne, recruited a com­pany of men at Pontiac, which entered the service as Company G, of the Fifty-­third Illinois Volunteers. Payne had served his country through the Black Hawk war, was in many a hard fought field in the Mexican war, and on the breaking out of the rebellion he closed his business engagements as soon as pos­sible, and again took the field. In March, this regiment was ordered to Savannah, Tenn., and arrived at Shiloh just in time to take an active part in that engagement; it was engaged in the siege of Vicksburg, and in the battle of Jackson fully one-half of the regiment was lost. The regiment re-enlisted and again reached the front in time to participate in the battle of Atlanta, and marched on to Savannah, and was engaged in the campaign in North and South Carolina. From thence it marched to Washington, D. C., and took part in the grand review after the surrender of the enemy.
The One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois Volunteers was organized at Pontiac, and for some time camped on the old Fair Grounds, just south of the city. Five full companies were raised in this county, four in Scott, and one in Moline, Rock Island County. Half of its regimental officers were from Livingston County, and when the regiment entered the service it was officered as follows: Colonel, George P. Smith, of Dwight; Major, A. J. Cropsey, of Fairbury; Adjutant, Philip D. Platenburg, of Pontiac; Sergeant Major, H. H. McDowell, of Fairbury; Surgeon, Dr. Darius Johnson, of Pontiac; Steward, J. A. Fel­lows, of Pontiac; Chaplain, Rev. Thomas Cotton, of Pontiac. The Pastor and every male member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pontiac, save two, en­listed in this regiment. This church contained many leading men who believed in muscular Christianity, and in "the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon;" and strange to say, after fighting innumerable battles, and undergoing all kinds of hardships, every member of this church returned alive. This regiment num­bered among its company officers such men as J. F. Culver, J. W. Smith, J. F. Blackburn, H. B. Reed, C. W. Baird, B. F. Fitch and John B. Perry, and made for itself a name that shall last as long as the history of the war shall be preserved.
The One Hundred and Thirty-fourth and One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Regiments contained many men from this county; they were 100-day men, and did service in Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, under the command of Col. J. W. Goodwin, of Pontiac.
The One Hundred and Fifty-fourth and One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Reg­iments were one year troops, and fought bushwhackers in Tennessee and Kentucky.

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Company K, of the Third Cavalry, was raised in the vicinity of Fairbury, and was officered by Aaron Weider, John Zimmerman and Byron Phelps. This dashing company served during the entire war, and saw as much hard fighting as any 118 men in the service. Their regiment was better known as the Carr Regiment, and was officered as follows, by the Carr brothers: Eugene A. Carr, of the regular army, Colonel; Horace M. Chaplain, and Byron Carr, Quartermaster.
Livingston County also gave twenty men to Companies A and D, of the Seventeenth Cavalry, thirty-seven to Coggwell's Battery, and eight to Battery M, First Light Artillery.
The county may well be proud of her war record. The great majority who went from Livingston County were men of intelligence and thought, who were willing to lay down their lives far the preservation of a principle that was dearer to them than life itself; and to such men the word "failure" was unknown.

PONTIAC TOWNSHIP.
The city and township of Pontiac, as is supposed by many, must have been, in some way, associated directly with the noted Indian Chief whose name they bear. It has been asserted by some that the site of the present city was an ancient Indian burying place, and that the bones of Pontiac lie in its soil. By others, it has been said that, at one time, the old chief, when deserted by his followers, retired to this place and made it his temporary home; and by still others, more ignorant of the life of this famous brave, it has been inferred that he actually resided in this vicinity at the time that the earliest settlements were made by the whites.
It seems a pity to spoil these pretty little romances, and one could wish that they were not fiction; but truth compels a different interpretation of the name of the city.
Pontiac was, indeed, a great Indian Chief, and that the town was named in honor of him is equally true; but that he ever even passed through this part of Illinois is not probable. That he was buried in the neighborhood is still more improbable; and that he still resided here when the whites first settled is out of the question, as he had then been dead more than half a century.
Pontiac, as has already been mentioned on page 42, was the chief of the Ottawas, and lived with his tribe, near Detroit, Mich., and, during the trouble between France and England, otherwise known in this country as the "French and Indian war," was a strong ally of the French, neither bribes nor threats being sufficient to induce him to espouse the English cause. Even after the French had treated with the English and had transferred all of Pontiac's pos­sessions to the English, he remained stubborn and spurned their proffers of friendship. On one occasion, after many of his followers and some whole tribes had given in their allegiance to the English, Pontiac answered a proposi-

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tion to take up arms against the French by saying, "When the French came among us, they took us by the hand. They lived with us in peace. They made us brothers. When the English came, they brought hornets. They destroyed our houses. They called us dogs. The French have been true to us. We will be true to them. The English are our enemies, and we can never be friends."
However, one by one the followers of Pontiac were alienated, and joined the British cause, until he was left almost alone. Disappointed and disgusted, he abandoned his home and came to Illinois. But here he was not permitted to be at peace, for an Indian spy was commissioned by British authority to accompany him in all of his movements. He had partially assented to neutrality, but was still suspected of favoring the French. In 1772, some time after settling near Kaskaskia, he was invited to a party, given by members of a neighboring tribe; and, though warned to go well protected and well prepared for trouble, he pre­ferred to go unaccompanied. On this occasion he made a violent speech against the English, when the spy, who sat near, sprang to his feet and buried his hatchet in Pontiac's brain.
The town of Pontiac, like several others in the West, owes its name to this great chief; but the true version is, doubtless, that the original proprietors of the town, having lived for some years at Pontiac, Mich., fancied the name, and bestowed it on their new enterprise.
At the date when the history of this township begins, the county of Livings­ton had not been organized; indeed, the number of residents in the county was not sufficient to warrant a separate county government.
In Avoca, Indian Grove, Rook's Creek, Amity, Reading and Oliver's Grove a few hardy pioneers had built cabins and cultivated little patches of ground, but the balance of what is now embraced within the limits of the county was all a desolate waste, literally a "howling wilderness." The tall, rank grass, the few stunted oaks, the thick and briery underbrush and the marshy soil of the banks of the Vermilion at this point must have presented but few attractions as a location for a town, or, indeed, for the opening of a farm, as, both up and down the river, settlements had been made before this point was selected by any one. Perhaps the shallow water at this point in the river, known as the "Ford," had something to do with attracting to the place Henry Weed and the two Youngs; but if their settlement was made with a view of establishing a county, with this as the central point, their vision must have been prophetic, as but few points presented scantier natural advantages. Be that as it may, in 1837 the county was formed, and the Commissioners to locate the "Seat of Justice," in consideration of donations consisting of the Public Square and Jail lot, $3,000 to build a Court House, and the construc­tion of a bridge across the Vermilion at this point, located the county seat on the land which had been pre-empted by them.

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On the 26th of July, 1837, forty-one years prior to the present writing, in accordance with this arrangement, the town of Pontiac was surveyed and platted by Isaac Whicher, County Surveyor of Livingston County, for " Henry Weed, Lucius W. Young and Seth M. Young, from the southeast quarter of Section 22 and part of the northeast quarter of the same."
The Court House Square, the Jail lot, six acres reserved for mill purposes, with all the streets as they now appear, were all designated. This, then, was the nucleus, the germ, the foundation of the first town in the county, and whose existence is co-eval with that of the county itself; and, though outranked in antiquity as a settlement, is the point from which, in a measure, has emanated and grown all of its institutions. Settlements have been made, roads and other public improvements have been established, and locations have been selected, with regard to their connection with the county seat.
By the time of which we speak, about a half dozen families had settled in what are now the bounds of Pontiac Township.
Henry Weed and the Youngs were from New York, and, as stated, settled at this place in 1833. Weed was brother-in-law to the Youngs, having married their sister. They built the first cabin in the township, in which all, including an unmarried sister of the Youngs, lived. A few years after their settlement, occurred in this family what proved to be the first marriage and the first death in the township. The wife of Weed died a year or two after coming to the place. and he soon after married the younger sister. Mrs. Weed was buried near their cabin, which stood adjacent to the spot on which C. J. Beattie erected his brick dwelling, a few years ago. Her coffin consisted of walnut slabs, hewed with an ax to a proper thickness. Her remains, with those of a few others, still lie there, but no stone or other indication marks their resting place.
The two Young boys died soon after the establishment of the town, in 1337. They were interred in a burying-place near Charles Knight's residence. These, with several others who were buried there, still lie in the place selected by themselves as a resting place for the dead.
Weed continued to reside here for some years. Though his county seat scheme turned out according to agreement it did not seem to be as great a financial success as he had evidently hoped. Soon after its location, he made a sale of lots, and a few were disposed of to James Weed; but they were afterward bought by Henry Stephens for $5.00 each. Even as late as 1850, the whole block on which now stands the McGregor House, the Filkins' houses and sev­eral more, sold for $20; and the block on which stands the American Hotel, Dr. Darius Johnson's residence and others sold for $10.
In 1839, Weed entered the land on which stood his town, and, soon after, went away from the county to assist in the survey and construction of a rail­road. While engaged in this business, he was attacked with pneumonia and bleeding of the lungs, from which he died at Binghamton, N. Y., in 1842.

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Isaac Whicher, whose name has already been mentioned in connection with the laying out of the town, came to the place in 1834. He was employed by Weed, at $50 per month, to assist in surveying. He was the first County Surveyor, being elected to that office over C. W. Reynolds, by a vote of 47 to 35, May 8th, 1837; and when Weed left to engage in his railroad enterprise, resigned his office to continue in his employ.
Nathan Popejoy was from Ohio. He came to the township, and settled about two miles east of town, and opened the farm now occupied by Philip Rollings. The date of his coming is not quite certain, but was probably in 1834. He did not buy the land on which he settled, but turned over his claim to other parties and removed to Avoca Township.
Truman Rutherford and his son Erastus, with their families, emigrated from Vermont to this place in 1835. The elder Rutherford built a cabin near the place where Samuel C. Ladd's residence now stands. Erastus lived in a cabin which stood on the lot now occupied by the Baptist Church.
Although it might admit of a very reasonable doubt whether a Methodist preacher could properly be called a settler, yet John Holman, who was of that faith and of the profession named, came to the township and resided for a time, about the years 1835 and 1836. Holman preached at dwelling houses and in the grove, as the season and the occasion seemed to indicate. Holman's daughter married Isaac Whicher, who was also a Methodist, as were all who, made professions of religion.
Truman Rutherford was, in the early times of the county, a man of more than ordinary character. At the first county election, held May 8, 1837, he was candidate for Recorder; and though he received but twenty-one votes in the whole county, it was not considered an indication of his unpopularity, as his opponent was elected by the small majority of forty-four. Mr. Rutherford was a man of strong religious principles, though somewhat liberal in his views. He was a Methodist, but about this time, Wm. Miller began to preach the "early coming of Christ," and Rutherford embraced the doctrine, and became so firm a believer that, in 1843, at the time set for the "appearing of the Lord," and the "end of the world," he bid his neighbors all good-bye, and arrayed himself  preparatory to taking his flight in the air. He, however, continued to reside here until 1845, when he died. His wife died three years later.
Of John Davis, who was the first physician in the county, but little else is known, except that he came to the township in about the year 1833, and lived a few miles east of town.
No doubt Cornelius W. Reynolds was the first physician who was an actual resident of the village. He had settled in Amity Township, in 1836, but in 1837, came to Pontiac, where he resided about four years. He was for a time Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court, and was the first Postmaster. A dozen years later, it is related that the post office at Pontiac was kept in a man's hat. In Postmaster Reynolds' time, it must have been a very small

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affair. Certain it is that postal facilities were very meager. For a number of years after his time, there was but one mail a week.
John Foster, familiarly known as "Uncle Johny," is the oldest living resi­dent of Pontiac. He first came to the county in 1836, from New York. He lived for a year in Rook's Creek Township, and then returned to his home in the East to bring out his family, making his second advent into the township in 1838, this time settling on the farm adjoining the new fair grounds, and by some known as the N. T. Hill place. When Foster came the second time, he brought his father-in-law and family, which, with his own, numbered seventeen persons.
Foster's father-in-law, at that time, was Jabez Shepard. This was a very sickly season for this country, and many people died of milk sickness and other malarious diseases. Among the number who died were Jabez Shepard and wife, and Foster's wife and two children. After residing in Pontiac a few years, Foster changed his abode to Avoca, where he remained about six years, when he again removed to Owego Township, to what is known as the Stinson farm, he in the meantime having married Widow Stinson. For the past dozen years he has resided in the city of Pontiac. "Uncle Johnny" is one of the few "old landmarks" yet remaining, and relates, with much precision, the events of the early days of the county. He takes special delight in relating how, during the time that he first resided in the village and kept a place of enter­tainment for transient people, he furnished accommodations for Judge Treat, Senator Douglas, President Lincoln, and many other celebrities. To some, whose acquaintance with Uncle John does not extend back many years, it may be interesting, if not surprising, that he organized and with his wife conducted the first Sunday School in the township. The school was held in the old Court House, and he was Superintendent by the authority of an appointment from the Presiding Elder of the Methodist Church.
Garret M. Blue came to the township in 1836, from Rook's Creek Town­ship, where he had previously located, and settled a few miles northwest of town. He was, at one time, Sheriff of the county. In his canvass for election he had for his opponent John Foster. The candidates were, doubtless, equally popular, as via counting the ballots it was found there was a tie. The usual method counting of casting lots was resorted to, and the "lot fell not upon John," but upon Garret. Blue resided here until 1849, when he died of cholera.
The first stock of goods brought to this vicinity was hauled, by ox team, from Pekin, Illinois. and displayed for sale by C. H. Perry, who had come to the place from Jacksonville, in 1836. He had his store and dwelling in a little log cabin, which stood on the bank of the river, at the north end of the bridge, on the spot now occupied by John Schneider's dwelling. He kept the store and the records of the court for M. I. Ross, for about two years, and then fol­lowed the fortunes of Henry Weed in his railroad enterprise, and never returned. While residing here, he was also interested in the mill site, and he and James McKee erected a saw-mill.

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James McKee was from Joliet. He came to this point about a year later than Perry, and, as mentioned, built the saw-mill. McKee had been one of the earliest settlers at Joliet, and at one time was proprietor of all of the West Town, which, before the completion of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, was the main town. McKee was also engaged in a mill project at Joliet, and erected, in 1832, the first flouring-mill in that city.
Joseph and Sylvester Perry were from Ohio. They came to this county in 1833, and settled a few miles northwest of town. They pre-empted land and, in 1839, bought of the Government. The latter died about the last mentioned date, but "Uncle Jo." continued to reside here until his death, which occurred October 7, 1865.
Dr. James S. Munson must have been one of the first inhabitants, for while M. I. Ross was Clerk of the Commissioners' Court, he was appointed to fill the place of Ross, who had been removed. Ross had been elected in 1837, and had served a year, when it was ascertained that he was not eligible to hold the office, as the law required that officer to reside at the county seat. On the 5th of June, 1838, the court made an order that, "the above facts appearing, M. I. Ross be removed for this cause and for no other;" whereupon James Munson was duly appointed to fill the vacancy.
Thus far we have noted the settlements of what may, with propriety, be termed the pioneers of the community, and, in most instances, have noted their nativity, advent and location with some precision. In addition to these are also remembered James Campbell, Thomas Campbell, Daniel Blue, Andrew S. McMillan, Leonard Franklin, David Demewitt, Wm. H. Wells and Joseph Hefner. Some of these are so indistinctly remembered that nothing more than the name can be recalled, while others lived such a short time in the township, before removing to another, that it is thought best to mention them in connection with their later residence. All, however, mentioned in the list had locateded prior to 1839.
It will, doubtless, be entertaining to any having a real estate intrest in the town of Pontiac, to follow, for a little distance, the chain of title of the lands which they now occupy, primarily vested by right of pre-emption in Weed and the two Youngs. The three men were originally equally interested in the town site, and in some of the adjoining lands; but, before a patent was obtained from the Government, the Youngs both died. Weed then, in 1839, entered the land and the title of the whole tract was consequently in his name. Soon after this, Isaac Fellows, a brother-in-law to the Youngs, came out from New York for the purpose of administering on their estate, and of securing to himself, as heir, their interest. Amicable settlement was made, by Weed transferring an undivided one-half interest in the tract to Isaac Fellows. Thus Fellows and Weed became joint proprietors of the town. Subsequently. Isaac Fellows conveyed to Augustus Fellows all of his interest, and some other parties, who laid some claim to the

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Young estate, quit-claimed to him. The title then vested in Henry Weed and Augustus Fellows. In 1842, Henry Weed died, leaving, as his heirs, Henry Weed, Jr., John P. Lewis and Henry Stephens - the last two by virtue of their marriage with Weed's daughters. In 1849, Augustus Fellows died, leaving the undivided half interest to his wife, who subsequently married Nelson Buck. A few years later, a suit was instituted for the purpose of dividing the property. Commissioners were appointed, and what was considered by them as an equitable portion was set off to the heirs of Weed - Lewis, Stevens and Weed - and the remainder to Mrs. Buck. This will explain how some of the oldest titles run from Weed, and some from Weed and Fellows, and why some of the more modern primary titles run from Stevens, Lewis and Weed, and others from Mrs. Buck.
The Court House which the Youngs and Weed agreed to build for the county was erected in due time, being completed in 1841 and occupied. for the first time, July 23, 1842. Though but a modest affair in the extreme, being simply a small frame building 22 feet wide and 30 long and a story and a half in height, and though much inferior to the $3,000 Court House that had been promised, it gave great satisfaction.
Previous to this time. Court had been held in a small log cabin, in which the Weeds had lived, in the east part of the town, and this was comparatively commodious and convenient. It had a court room above, which was 22x20 feet, and a small jury room 10 feet square. Below were small offices, far the various county dignitaries; and, on the whole, it answered the wants of the county.
It was, too, a great local convenience. In it have been held political meet­ings, debating societies, churches, Sunday schools and public schools, indigna­tion meetings and ratification meetings, and assemblies of all sorts and sizes except large sizes.
Another reason why the people of this vicinity rejoiced was that, as it was then believed, the county seat question was settled. Though Livingston County has been afflicted comparatively little with the removal malady, yet in the very infancy of the county, a severe attack was experienced. On the 30th of Au­gust, 1839, an election was held for the purpose of moving the "Seat of Jus­tice" several miles up the river. The arguments urged in its favor were numer­ous and forcible. Among the reasons given by the "movers'' were that Pon­tiac was not the most central point; that it was an unhealthy locality, being low and marshy; and, finally, that the proprietor of the town was not fulfilling his con­tract in making the improvements proposed. On the other hand they proposed a better site, being high and dry, a central location, being the nearest the center of any on the river, and that the Court House should be erected forthwith. The result of the election was a large majority in favor of removal 80 in favor and 56 against.
The vote, though insufficient to remove the county seat, was sufficient to infuse into the parties interested in real estate at Pontiac a disposition to hurry

300
up the building of the Court House; and it was soon ready for occupancy, as we have seen.
Though the removal question was settled, though the Court House was built and though the destiny of the town seemed to be fixed, all failed to produce results equiv­alent to the expectations of its friends; and its progress was marked only by its absence. It is true the country was receiving some accessions to its farming population, and that occasionally, on the retirement of a store keeper or a county officer, or, which was generally the case, of both - being united in the same indi­vidual - a new settler was noticed; and at the end of the first decade after its foundation, which brings us to 1847, the town of Pontiac was but a little more than a name. Travelers frequently stopped at the store, and, in earnest, inquired "how far it was to Pontiac;" and, an being informed that they were now within the precincts of that classic metropolis, gazed with looks which indi­cated mingled feelings of wonder and disgust. It consisted, even at the day mentioned, of only a half-dozen cabins beside the Court House, and these so scattered and hid among the clumps of bushes that they were thereby rendered almost invisible.
In 1842, Samuel C. Ladd came from Connecticut, and settled in the village. No accessions of any consequence had been made for two or three years, except such as remained but a short time, and are not entitled to mention as perma­nent inhabitants. Mr. Ladd proved indeed a valuable addition to the settlement, as he was a man of education, social culture and large business qualifications. Mr. Ladd resided here until the time of his death, which, at the time of this writing has just occurred; and to tell the story of his life is to give the history of the town. He was, in one sense of the word, here at the beginning, and has con­tinued to reside at the place until the present year. He has held almost every position of trust, and has been more intimately connected with the growth and development of the place than almost any other man. He taught the first school in the neighborhood, in 1843, in the old Court House. He was the first real merchant; he held numerous offices, among which were those of Postmaster, County Clerk, Circuit Clerk and Assessor of Internal Revenue, the duties of which offices he performed to the entire satisfaction of all. He was for many years engaged in agricultural pursuits, and was one of the originators of the Liv­ingston County Agricultural Society. He died at his residence, June 22, 1878.
Willet Gray, who was associated with Mr. Ladd in his mercantile enterprises, came to Pontiac, in 1844, as clerk for John & William K. Brown, of Blooming­ton. He continued with the Browns for a couple of years, when they sold out and Ladd & Gray engaged in the business. They together, for a time, also owned and operated the saw-mill which had been built by McKee & Perry. In these branches of business they continued for several years, when they sold out to B. T. Phelps, of Ottawa.
Phelps did not come to Pontiac to reside, but employed John Wolgamot to superintend the store, installing Allen Fellows as clerk.

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John A. Fellows had come to the county from New York, in October, 1847, and lived in Avoca until 1849, when he came to Pontiac to work on the farm for Augustus Fellows, and when Ladd & Gray sold out, as has already been stated, Allen "laid down the shovel and the hoe" and took up the yard stick. He made a popular clerk, and in all branches of business, society, politics and war, his peculiar faculty, then developed, of making himself agreeable has marked his life as his distinguishing feature. He has held the office of Post­master of Pontiac, Circuit Clerk and many other minor positions, all of which have been filled in a most acceptable manner.
John Wolgamot was from Ottawa, and came to the place as manager of Phelps' store. He has been Justice of the Peace, Township School Treasurer and Schoolmaster by terms. He was a good business man and, though of quiet habits, made many friends.
Philip Rollings and family came from Highland County, Ohio, in 1846, and settled on the farm two miles east of Pontiac, on which they still reside.
Chas. Jones, familiarly known as "Old Charley," who was the original owner of the land on which the town of Forrest is built, came to Pontiac and lived from 1843 till 1850. He now resides in Belle Prairie.
In 1846, Augustus Fellows, having come into possession of half of the town of Pontiac, and having removed to the place, erected the first hotel. Though accommodations for man and beast were obtainable, even in the more primitive times, yet this was the first attempt to make a specialty of serving the transient public, for a compensation. The hotel, which was afterward known as "Buck's Tavern," was ready for occupancy in 1848, and, though still incomplete, was hailed by citizens and travelers as an invaluable addition to the institutions of this part of the country. And, indeed, it proved so to be, as many a weary traveler who yet survives attests. The "tavern" was rented in the first year to Champlain, brother-in-law of Gen. Gridley, who occupied it, while Mr. and Mrs. Fellows went on a trip of business and pleasure to their former home in New York. On their return from the East, they took charge, and it was during the administration of this landlady that the tavern gained its greatest popu­larity.
And now this brings us to one of the most eventful periods in the history ,of the township. This year, 1849, was the " cholera season," and the ravages made in this section were terrible; and, for the number of inhabitants in the settlement, the fatality was greater than almost any locality in the county. Out of a total population of seventy-eight within the limits of the township, thirteen died. Among the number who perished by the awful scourge were Augustus Fellows and two children. In all, five died at the hotel. When Fellows was stricken down, Dr. Holland. who then resided in Rook's Creek, was called to attend him, was attacked with the disease and lived but a few days. Ann Oliver, sister of Franklin Oliver, mentioned in Chatsworth Township, was teaching school in Owego, and came in to nurse the Fellows family, and was

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soon numbered with the dead. Garret M. Blue, who lived northwest of town, dropped in to see the afflicted family, and while conversing with some of the attendants at the house, felt some of the symptoms of the disease. He hurried out and, mounting his horse, galloped rapidly home, where he arrived with only sufficient strength to crawl to bed, from which he never rose. In this house, five died - Blue, wife, son, daughter and grandchild. John Blue lived on the farm known in later years as the Miller farm, two miles east of Pontiac. In this family occurred three deaths out of the four members. Blue and wife and one child all perished. These were truly dark days, and no one but an actual observer can picture the gloom that settled on the little community, or describe he alarm and excitement that prevailed. At times, the number of persons afflicted was greater than the number of those who were well, and much greater than those who were willing or could be induced to wait upon them; and the disposition of the dead was a very serious question. Business of all kinds was stopped. Intercourse with the outer world was entirely cut off, as those having business at this point invariably avoided the route through this part of the county.
This proved a real drawback to the prosperity of the township, as several of its most enterprising citizens had died, and the reputation of this locality for health had suffered greatly. However, an emigrant occasionally alighted upon the place. A relative or friend, writing back to the old home in the East or South. would induce some one to come out on a visit, see the country and perhaps work a year, and once here he would likely continue.
In 1852, Jacob Streamer arrived at the place. Mr. Streamer had left his native State, Pennsylvania, in 1844, and had come to Illinois, stopping, for a time, at Magnolia. In 1850, he came to Livingston County, and clerked two years for Jerry Mathias, who was then running a store at Reading. He arrived at Pontiac May 8, 1852. Perhaps Pontiac has never had a better example of what perseverance and industry will accom­plish than that presented by Mr. Streamer. When he arrived at Pontiac, he found a poor opening for business. There were not a dozen families in the place, and, including the Court House, there were but six houses. The man­ners and style of the inhabitants were of a primitive character, and but poorly prepared to support a man in the business which Mr. Streamer proposed to carry on. With physical disabilities that would have discouraged almost any young man just setting out in life, and with but $15.00 in his possession, he yet went to work. and by constant and untiring energy has built up a large busi­ness, made himself a good home, and provided amply for his declining years. Not only so, but his house is crammed with books and other evidences of culture and refinement. His store, as well as his library, is packed with curiosities. He makes a specialty of such goods as improve with age. His old wines, brandies and cigars have become noted to such an extent that, to illustrate. the following story is current. Some years ago, he took into his store a young man

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to learn the business, and who was advised that the best way to gain such knowledge was simply to “keep his ears open." The young man soon learned that many of the articles were the more valuable as they increased in years, and soon became habituated to offering to his customers that argument in favor of the wares he desired to sell. One morning, a lady entered the store, desiring to purchase some butter of a good quality, and inquired of the Young man if he had any of the desirable article on hand. With promptness, the bright and rising merchant replied: "Yes, ma'am, we have some that is very fine - none like it in town - an article that we have had on hand over fifteen years." The story does not go further to indicate that the lady was thereby convinced of the desirable qualities to such an extent that she was induced to purchase.
After the death of Augustus Fellows, his widow married Nelson Buck, who, came about this time, from McLean County, and who has since figured largely in the affairs of Livingston, and especially in the local politics and business of Pontiac. Mr. Buck was the President of the first Board of Trustees elected in the town. He was, for many terms, elected Surveyor of the county, in the the [sic.] discharge of which duties he took the greatest pride. A few years ago, he received an appointment from the Government to proceed to the West and sur­vey some lands that were to be brought into market. Mr. Buck raised his force of assistants in Pontiac, and made his way to his field of labor. They had, however, but just begun operations, when, as is supposed, the whole party were massacred by the Indians. No positive trace of him or any of his men has ever been discovered, but indirect information has been obtained, which leaves little doubt that the above are the sad facts.
The reputation gained by the town, during the year 1849, brought an influx of doctors, and, among others, Drs. John Hulse and C. B. Ostrander. The for­mer was from Kentucky, and practiced in Pontiac several year, and then removed to Oregon.
Ostrander remained here but a short time, and changed his location to Avoca, where he still resides; and in the history of that township, he receives further attention. The Doctor was formerly very fond of placing practical jokes upon his friends; and in the largeness of his stories he had a reputation that was not excelled in the country. A story, illustrating both of these peculiarities of his character, is here related :
After he had removed to his farm, in describing the good qualities and fine features of his plantation to some of his Chicago friends, he alluded to a won­derful fish pond that occupied a corner of it, from which " barrels and barrels" of fine fish had been taken by him, in an incredibly short space of time. His friends, not dreaming that it was simply a fish story, and desiring a little rural sport, concluded to pay the Doctor a visit, and try their luck with the hook and the net, and wrote the Doctor accordingly.
A few weeks later, the party, duly equipped with fishing tackle of various kinds, drove up to the door. They were entertained over night, and the next

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morning, contrary, perhaps, to the Doctor's hopes, inquired for the fishing ground. Ostrander was equal to the occasion; and, without betraying the least hesitation, conducted them to the back of the place, to an old well, which had been dug for supplying water to the cattle. When arrived within a short dis­tance of the well, with seeming surprise, he said to the fishers, "Well, gentle­men, this is the place where the pond has been, but," pointing to the well, " I think it must all have leaked out at that hole."
The first resident lawyers were J. H. McGregor and J. H. Dart. It is not intimated that there was no litigation in this vicinity prior to their arrival, for the records of the court show that the contrary was the case. Counsel, how­ever, was obtained from Bloomington and Ottawa, and, in many cases, lawyers from Chicago practiced in this court.
McGregor was doubtless the pioneer lawyer, Dart coming in a short time after, and going into partnership with him.
About this time, or a little later, Lee & Cowan opened up, on the west side of the square, their general store. The store occupied a position near where the Livingston County Bank now stands. The former of these gentlemen, Charles M. Lee. was somewhat of a politician, and was, at one time, Judge of the county.
A. B. Cowan was a very popular merchant. He died at this place a few years since.­
J. W. Remick came from Pennsylvania, and, after arriving in this part of the county, followed the trade of miller for several years. In 1856, he was elected Sheriff of the county, in which capacity he served two years. After two years, during which time he was engaged in farming, he was elected to the office of Circuit Clerk, serving as such officer for eight years.
The Garner family, consisting of Samuel and sons - William T., Jerome and James - arrived at this place about the year 1851. Jerome was a lawyer. and practiced here until 1861, when he removed from the county.
Henry and Ira Loveless made their advent about this time. They were from Ohio. The former came through the county first as a peddler, and being pleased with the location of a little town that was being started just east of Pontiac, located there and opened a store. But the town failed, and Loveless went into politics and was elected Sheriff. Ira had aspirations for office, also, and was one of the Justices of the Peace before the adoption of the Township Organization Act. Both are long since dead.
Dr. J. M. Perry, from Ohio, came in 1852, and practiced medicine in Pon­tiac and vicinity twelve or fifteen years. He died six years ago.
After the cholera season, for five years, nothing of importance or interest occurred worthy of record. A few changes in business took place, a new family arrived once in a while, and a new house or shanty made its appearance; but, at the end of the period mentioned, but little change had been made in the general aspect of the village and its surroundings. But during the year 1854,

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an event occurred which proved to be of the utmost importance, not only to this community, but to all of Central and Eastern Illinois - an event which, had it happened in any other way, or had in the least varied from the original design, would have so affected the destiny of the town as to have made it almost useless to have written its history. Of course it will be guessed that reference is made to the completion of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, then known as the Chicago & Mississippi. For nearly twenty years had the county seat been located; but with the lack of commercial advantages, the progress of this part of the State had been extremely slow. Not only in growth and pop­ulation had there been but little perceptible change, but the morals of the people in general were not what we find them in later years. True, there were well-meaning and honest people, but society was fashioned after the frontier style. Fights were common, drinking, horse-racing and gambling were usual pastimes, and the Sabbath was almost wholly disregarded. Commerce is said to be the great civilizer and educator, and by many is deemed the Christianizer of communities as well as of nations. In this instance, it proved to be all of the above and more; it brought the people here, and improved their condition more than the most enthusiastic could have imagined. With the railroad, came the people, and with the people came schools and churches, and to these came teachers and books and ministers and Sunday schools. With the railroad, came improved methods of farming, better plows, better means of harvesting grain, better prices for grain. With the railroad, came lumber, which enabled those who would settle on the prairie to protect their grain from the stock which roamed at large, and to protect their cattle and horses and themselves from the inclemencies of the weather. This made it possible to utilize all of that vast extent of country which, till then, was thought to be useless, except for a boundless pasture field. As a consequence, we find that, within the period of two years from the time that the road became a fixed fact, ten times as much land was entered in Livingston County as had been during the fifteen years before.
As an illustration of the state of society which existed here at that time, it is related that, at one of the stations on the road between this and Chicago, an individual who had evidently taken a drop too much got aboard the train and took his seat. By the time the conductor came around, he was somewhat over­come, and to the request of the conductor to satisfy the demands of the com­pany in regard to fare, replied in a very unsatisfactory and unintelligible man­ner. The conductor allowed him to remain until after having passed a few stations, hoping that he might, in a measure, regain his senses. and then again requested his ticket or its equivalent; but the passenger was still oblivious, and answered only in words, the meaning of which was obscure. At last, the offi­cial becoming discouraged and somewhat irritated, asked him "where he was going to, anyway?" To this question, the traveler answered. with more than ordinary lucidity, that he was " going to the City of Destruction." The con-

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ductor, after cogitating a moment, replied, " Well, my friend, that station is not on this road, but I will put you off at Pontiac, which is the nearest point, and I have no doubt you will find parties there who will do all in their power to assist you to your destination." As before intimated, a new era was dawning upon the community, and a new impetus seemed to be imparted to the whole country. New houses sprang up in Pontiac; demands were made for a school house; the old Court House was soon found inadequate for its purpose; churches were in requisition, and everything had an encouraging appearance.
The first train of cars passed through the place July 4, 1854. It was a grand holiday and fuller of importance than any had dreamed. A year later, the population of the little village had increased to over three hundred; and in eighteen months the town was organized. A newspaper was started, the first number appearing March 14, 1855, only eight months after the completion of the road. As further indicating the condition of affairs at the seat of justice, a few items gleaned from its pages are here given. The first item noticed is one which shows an improved sentiment in regard to the morals of the people. A meeting had been called at the Court House to take into consideration the. means of suppressing the sale of intoxicating liquors. J. H. Dart was Chair­man and Samuel C. Ladd was appointed Secretary. After duly considering the matter, a resolution was adopted, to the effect that a committee be appointed to wait on the liquor dealers and request them to stop the business. The com­mittee consisted of Wm. T. Garner. Wm. B. Lyon, H. H. Norton, Robert Aerl and I. P. McDowell. The committee to draft the resolution was composed of George Bishop, Nelson Buck, J. H. McGregor and Darius Johnson. Indica­tive of the state of business at this time, cards are inserted in the paper showing that Ira Loveless was Justice of the Peace; McGregor & Dart were in the law and real estate business, as also was George Bishop; J M. Perry and Darius Johnson were practicing medicine, the latter having lately come to the town; Jacob Streamer had quit tailoring, and had been elected Justice of the Peace, and was selling drugs and groceries; Buck & Gray were selling clothing, dry goods and groceries; Buck had but a few years before married the widow Fellows, had been keeping the tavern, and now desired to sell the same: Buck & Gray were also buying grain; Ladd was still in the mercantile business, but with another partner, I. P. McDowell; B. J. Phelps had a general store, which was under the supervision of John Wolgamot; H. G. Challis was here then, and was carrying on the blacksmithing business, and advertised it. John Kingore, “sir." then kept the hotel "sir." A few months later, Dr. Sheldon and Dr. Thomas Croswell had arrived. Attorney Simeon DeWitt  had located here. A lumber yard was opened, by Ellis & Olmstead; A. Stephens had opened another hotel; G. H. Nettleton was finding some sale for jewelry, and clocks and watches were needing repairs. Alexander Scott found sufficient demand for harness, to induce him to set up in business here. And last but greatest, the Livingston County News, the paper from which this information has been gained, had three hundred subscribers.

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        Certainly this is a good showing for so short a time. It shows that there was beginning to be a demand for almost all kinds of goods. It shows that there were people throughout the county to use the goods, and that there was money, or its equivalent, with which to purchase them. It indicates, too, that a taste for reading and a desire for information were being developed.
Perhaps but few items of news, in a little local paper, have had more to do with settling up the country, or have had more influence in bringing people to realize the value of the farming lands in this vicinity, than the following, which is an extract from a letter written by John J. Taylor, now banker, of Fairbury, then farmer, of Pontiac Township:

I have broken my land, fenced it, built a house and stable, dug a well and paid for the land and all of the improvements, from the first crop, and have $144.00 overplus.

This was said of what is still known as the Taylor farm. Mr. Taylor had broken his land and sowed it to wheat, and the yield had been enormous, averaging over thirty bushels to the acre; and, as the land had been bought cheap, and the price of wheat that year was over $1.00 per bushel, the result was easily accomplished. This item was copied into the agricultural papers, and from them into many of the Eastern journals, and by them commented upon; so that it was brought to the notice of many who were thereby induced to emigrate to the county.
Four years after the completion of the railroad, the village of Pontiac numbered not less than 700 inhabitants. and the township 200 more.
Another newspaper, the Sentinel, was established. The old Court House had, as a temple of justice, outlived its usefulness, and a new brick one had appeared. A school house costing $2,000, had been built; and nearly all of the north side of the public square was built up. The west side of the square was almost solid. Two new church buildings, the Presbyterian and Methodist, furnished religious privileges for all who desired them, and many convenient and tasty residences had begun to appear.
In 1857, the county voted to adopt what is known as the Township Organization Act; and accordingly the first township election held in this township place April 6, 1858.
The election was held at the Court House, Dr. Darius Johnson being called to the chair. A motion was made and carried that Ira Loveless act as Moderator, and Nelson Buck was chosen Clerk. After being sworn by J. W. Remick, the polls were opened and 179 votes polled.
The result of the first election was the choosing of Wm. T. Russell as Supervisor; E. R. Maples, Clerk; S. L. Manker, Assessor; Jerome Garner, Overseer of the Poor; Wm. Manlove, James Nelson and A. D. Eylar, Commissioners of Highways; Jacob Streamer and Adams Morrow, Justices of the Peace; E. H. Masters and Joseph H. Virgin, Constables. Samuel McCormick and James W. Remick were candidates for Collector, and, each receiving eighty-nine votes, a tie was declared. The candidates agreed to a new election, which was

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held on the 24th. The second election brought out a very full vote, Remick receiving 109 and McCormick 91.
The first road authorized by the Commissioners was that known as the Avoca Road, and " extended from the south end of Locust street, in Pontiac, running south, east and south, to a point at the township line, being the southeast corner of the Taylor farm." Five other roads were also authorized and surveyed during the year.
The following shows the names of the principal officers elected at each subsequent township election, and, also, the number of votes cast at each:

Date.

Supervisor.

Clerk.

Assessor.

Collector.

Vote.

1858

William T. Russell

E. R. Maples

S. L. Manker

James W. Remick

179

1859

Jonathan Duff

R. W. Babcock

William Gore

C. N. Coe

200

1860

Henry Hill

A. W. Cowan

J. F. Culver

H. J. Babcock

121

1861

Henry Hill

J. R. Wolgamot

William Gore

J. A. Fellows

208

1862

B. W. Gray

A. W. Cowan

William Gore

J. A. Fellows

262

1863

John Denher

F. H. Bond

S. C. Ladd

G. Wolgamot

237

1864

John Denher

F. H. Bond

S. C. Ladd

J. R. Wolgamot

186

1865

John Denher

J. W. Smith

S. S. Lawrence

Robert Kingore

214

1866

John Denher

Isaac Aerl

J. H. Gaff

George Fowler

292

1867

W. B. Lyon

S. S. Lawrence

N. Buck

H. Tuckerman

259

1868

J. Duff

J. A. Fellows

William Gore

Charles Watson

387

1869

J. Duff

George Pittenger

William Gore

L. Bancroff

378

1870

J. Duff

W. H. Jenkins

William Perry

C. A. Campbell

427

1871

R. W. Babcock

J. T. Kay

William Perry

L. G. Goodspeed

458

1872

R. W. Babcock

J. T. Kay

William Perry

L. G. Goodspeed

462

1873

J. E. Morrow

A. W. Cowan

William Perry

J. H. Smith

424

1874

J. E. Morrow

A. W. Cowan

J. H. Gaff

James H. Campbell

454

1875

J. E. Morrow

A. W. Cowan

J. H. Gaff

John Egan

520

1876

J. E. Morrow

A. W. Cowan

J. H. Gaff

John Egan

537

1877

J. E. Morrow

Z. Winters

William Perry

S. Mossholder

636

1878

J. E. Morrow

A. W. Cowan

William Perry

S. Mossholder

648

In addition to the last named, completing the list of township officers elect, are the following: Township School Treasurer, D. M. Lyon; Justices of the Peace, J. W. Woodrow, M. I. Brower and Henry Hill; Constables, John Gibbons, Charles Watson, John Egan; Road Commissioners, John Wallace, Arthur Marsh and N. W. Kellogg.
It will be noticed that, while there has been no sudden increase of the vote (which is a fair indication of the population), there has been gradual and decided growth in that respect. Whatever falling off there may have been at any time can be easily accounted for by temporary causes; and the next election will show a corresponding addition. In 1862, the poll was 262. The next year, quite a number of the voting population were "off to the war," and the vote decreased to 237. The next year, the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment took nearly a hundred voters from Pontiac and vicinity, and a corresponding lack is noticed in the poll. In 1866 the war had ended, and the soldiers, whose lives were spared, had returned, and from that time forward the usual increase is noticed.
Though Pontiac Township was considered, for some years, a little backward in the attention paid to the education of the youth, in later years, ample amends

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have been made, and Pontiac Township has expended more money in the last dozen years, for school purposes, than any other in the county. Not until 1858 was there more than one school house. In 1856, but one school was supported, and that at an expense of but $100. There were in attendance but fifty-eight scholars, though there were one hundred and sixty-seven in the township. The highest wages paid to the teacher that year was $20.00 per month. The following table will show at a glance, better than a page of sentences, the growth of the school system for this locality :

Date

Schools

Teachers

Scholars

Children Between 6 and 21

Highest wages paid teachers

Total paid to teachers

1856

1

1

58

167

$20.00

$100.00

1866

6

12

421

672

100.00

3220.00

1873

10

23

931

1051

100.00

4208.00

1877

9

23

994

1137

112.00

6710.00

The most encouraging feature of the foregoing table is the evidence, not only of increase in per cent of persons in school, but the present proportion of those of school age, who receive the benefits offered by the public school system. While the attendance is not as general as that attained in States where a compulsory law is in force, it is still much greater than in most other States, and, as compared with other portions of Illinois, stands much higher in this regard than the average.
In the late war, this township took no unimportant part. Several almost entire companies were raised here, and this is one of the few townships that raised their full quota without being drafted. Notably, the M. E. Church of Pontiac sent, with the exception of two, all of its male members, including the Pastor, with the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment; and a remarkable fact may be added that, though engaged in many and fierce battles, every one returned alive.
Of those who thus took their lives in their hands, as it were, to fight their country's battles, seventy-two either died on the field in actual conflict, of wounds or of disease contracted while in the service.
A full list of all these, together with all soldiers and officers who enlisted from this township, will be found on another page.
The township of Pontiac is described in the survey as Congressional Town 28 north, Range 5 east of the Third Principal Meridian. It is one township west of the center of the county, and twenty-nine miles from the farthest corner.
The land is quite level, but not so much so as to render any part of it unfit for cultivation. Formerly, some portions were fiat and marshy; but, by good drainage, have become tillable, and prove to be of the best quality for agricultural purposes. At present, there is scarcely an acre in the whole township, except what is occupied by the bed of the Vermilion River, that is not well adapted to farming.
The Vermilion River flows through the township, from the southeast to the northwest. dividing it into two nearly equal parts. Wolf Creek runs through

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the northern part, and empties into the Vermilion after leaving the township. These furnish an abundance of excellent stock water to the farms near which they pass, and Vermilion River affords good water-power for the mill located at Pontiac. Fish, in some variety, abound.
The timber at this point is mostly oak, walnut, maple and linn, and covers the larger part of Section 7 and small portions of 17, 25 and 36. Buiding stone, suitable for foundations, is found in the western part; and on Sections 25 and 36, gravel, of a good quality for building roads, is obtained.
The Chicago & Alton Railroad, from the northeast to the southwest, and the Chicago & Paducah, from northwest to southeast, cross each other and the Vermilion River at Pontiac.

CITY OF PONTIAC.
The village of Pontiac was incorporated under the general law of the State. February 12, 1856, by the election of a Board of Trustees, consisting of Nel­son Buck, J. W. Strevelle, S. C. Ladd, Z. H. Nettleton and H. Jones - the first named being chosen Chairman or President.
Under this organization the town continued for nine years. During the time much discussion arose, and much bitter feeling was engendered, in regard to the sale of intoxicating liquors. Indeed, the local politics of the town con­sisted almost wholly in this question; and, upon this, the two parties were almost evenly divided. Sometimes the license party elected the Board, and sometimes the anti-license party succeeded.
At last, in 1865, an attempt was made, by way of legislation, to set the question at rest by obtaining a special charter, which prohibited, not only the sale of liquors, but restrained the Trustees from granting any authority what­ever to saloon keepers to vend such article. The charter, however, was satisfactory to its friends only in so far as they were enabled to elect Trusetes [sic.] who would enforce its provisions in accordance with their views of its merits, and the temperance question was not fully settled.
The other provisions of the charter were much the same as those in effect in other towns of like size; but on account of this peculiarity, it was obnoxious to a portion of the inhabitants. Attempts were therefore made to obtain a new special charter, but without effect; and the Princeton Charter, as it was denom­inated, continued in force until 1872.
In 1870, the people of the State, at a general election, adopted a new Con­stitution, in which was a clause prohibiting "class legislation;" and under this Constitution, the Legislature passed a general law in regard to the government of cities and towns, in the Winter of 1870-71.
On the 11th of September, 1872, the city of Pontiac was organized under the new law, by the election of R. W. Babcock as first Mayor; F. C. Brown, W. H. Clelland, Martin Dolde, L. E. Kent, William Perry and Charles Gross as Aldermen; and A. W. Cowan as Clerk.

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An important measure, adopted that year, has had a marked effect upon the appearance of the city, rendering it, at the same time, more substantial and handsome than it otherwise would have been. An extensive fire, consuming a large portion of the business houses northwest of the public square, had just been experienced; and, to prevent, in a measure, the repetition of such a catastrophe, the Council passed the ordinance known as the "fire limits law," which prevented the erection of wooden buildings, not only in the " burnt district," but in any part of the business portion of the city. The consequence has been that the new buildings about the square are all of brick, making this part of town not only much more solid; but adding greatly to its fine appearance.
The present officers of the city are: A. F. Fisher, Mayor; M. A. Renoe (Acting Mayor), B. Humiston, E. Wilson, H. H. Norton, J. P. Turner and Samuel Hancock, Aldermen; Z. Winters, Clerk; W. S. Lacey, Treasurer.
Until 1874, the schools of Pontiac were under the control of a Board of Directors, consisting of three persons, and ranked in their government with the other district schools of the county; but, at the date mentioned, the town having a population of over 2,000, and the friends of the schools realizing that some advantages would accrue from the adoption of the general law authorizing a Board of Education, organized under this act, electing as the first Board Jonathan Duff; J. W. Woodrow, E. W. Capron, S. O. Pillsbury, Aaron Weider and Martin Dolde, the first named being President, and the second, Secretary. Under the new system, the schools have worked with great satisfaction. A better method of grading has been adopted. Teachers have been selected more with refer­ence to qualification for the particular positions to be filled. Better rules and regulations for their government have been adopted and enforced, than formerly.
The school buildings, though yet scarcely adequate for their purpose, are the best in the county. The main building, near the center of the north side of the city, was erected in 1866 at a cost of $23,000. It is a fine building, three stories in height, containing five principal and two class rooms, and capable of of [sic.] accommodating nearly four hundred pupils. A principal and six assistants are emloyed for this building. A primary school on the south side of the river, and one oil the west side of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, are also maintained.
The present corps of teachers consists of R. B. Welch, Superintandent; Belle Borin, E. O. McCulloch, Mary Sumner, Rose Rilea, A. W. Kellogg, Josie Schneider, H. M. Fursman and Rose Camp, Assistants.
A few items taken from the Principal's report for 1876, though two years past, will not vary greatly from the report of the present year, which has not yet been submitted.

314
But few towns of the size of Pontiac are better supplied with church privi­leges than this. At a very early day in the history of the place, church services were held, but not till a comparatively modern date was there a church organization, or even regular service. A Methodist  class was organized in 1850; and irregular services by Presbyterian clergymen were held in the old Court House, and in the Buck Hotel a little later; but no building was erected, or even an organization effected, until 1855. The first preaching by a Presbyterian minister was in 1852, by Rev. Amasa Drake, of Chicago. The services were conducted in the hotel named, and were at irregular intervals. Rev. Mr. Day, of Morris, preached a few times in the old Court House, as did also Par­son High. The first regular preaching was by Rev. L. H. Loss, in 1855 when he organized the Presbyterian Church of Pontiac. The church was organized October, 1855. The original members were William J. Murphy, Sen., and wife, Abel C. Kidder and wife, and Mrs. Maria Buck; the total number being but five. The Rev. I. T. Whittemore, was the first pastor chosen, in 1856. Under his ad­ministration, was the first church building in the town and (with one exception) in the county erected. This was built in 1856, at a cost of nearly $3,000. It was considered, in its early days, a very handsome and commodious edifice, and doubts were entertained whether the society needed so extensive a structure, or would ever see the time when its capacity would be equaled [sic.] by its congregation. Not only did it outlive its usefulness, but it saw during its existence the erection of five others, four of which are larger and much more expensive. In 1872, it was decided by the society to replace their old building, by one commensurate in size to their increased wants; and their present neat and sub­stantial house of worship was erected. The old building was sold to Wallace Lord, and is used by him as an opera house, and though it is no longer a place of worship, it is still the Lord's house. The new building was con­structed at a cost of a little over $18,000, including grounds. Its size is forty-­two feet in width, and, including the chancel, ninety in length; and it is capable of seating about four hundred persons. The present membership of the church is 162. The Pastors in charge of the society since Whittemore have been Adam Johnson, Alonzo P. Johnson. J. McConnell, W. H. Gardner, R. Kesslar, and the present Pastor, Rev. Benjamin L. Swan. The Sunday school in connection with this church was organized in 1855, with forty scholars, and with Rev. W. J. Murphy as Superintendent. The next year, J. W. Strevelle was elected Superintendent, and held the office continuously until 1870. The present Superintendent is A. W. Kellogg. The school numbers at this time 180 scholars.
The M. E. Church was organized in 1861, but a class had been formed nearly ten years before, and, in 1858, they had built a house of worship. The old house, which has since been sold to the Catholic society, cost $2,600. The society, at its first organization, numbered sixty persons, and was under the pastorate of Rev. M. Spurlock. Under his preaching, and that of his success-

315
ors, the society grew rapidly in numbers, influence and wealth, until, in 1866, its demands were found to be largely in excess of the old building, and a new one, adequate to the wants and means of the congregation, was decided upon. This was the centennial year of Methodism in the United States; and, though building materials were never before nor since so high, a building worthy of the church and the year was founded, and, in due time, completed. The structure was erected at an outlay of $22,000, is forty-three by seventy feet in size, and will accommodate a congregation of 480 persons.
The society has increased steadily and rapidly, numbering at this time 265 members. In 1872, a neat and comfortable parsonage was erected at a cost of $2,000, thus making, in value, the largest church property owned by any one society in the county. The Sunday school, in connection with this church, was organized at the time the first class was formed, and consisted of about forty scholars. with Mrs. Sarah Remick as Superintendent. The school has grown to number, at present, nearly three hundred. J. F. Culver, present Pastor of the Church, is Superintendent, and has occupied the position for eighteen years.
As early as 1854, Rev. Washington Houston, a pioneer preacher of the Christian or Disciple Church, preached at this place, and organized a society of this denomination about a year later. The primary organization consisted of John Powell, William Perry, Dr. J. M. Perry, Wilson Hull, Robert Sample and their wives. Irregular services were held in the Court House and in the school house until 1865, when they united with the other denomination of Christians, sometimes called "New Lights," in the erection of a church edifice. The house was put up at a cost of about five thousand dollars, and occupied by both societies for a few years, when the latter abandoned their organization, and both societies, through financial difficulties, relinquished the building. The loss of the house proved to be a great discouragement to the society, and its organization was in a measure discontinued. However, on January 1, 1874, through the efforts of a few of the members, the society was reorganized, and Elder Charles Rowe was chosen Pastor. He served in this capacity one year, and was then followed by Elder W. F. Richardson, who has since ministered to the Church. Although they own no church property, they meet in the building formerly occupied and owned by them. The society numbers about one hundred members. The Sunday school, under the Superintendency of John Bell, numbers about sixty.
Catholic services were held here for the first time in July, 1857, by Rev. Father Hurley, and occasionally thereafter Fathers Kennedy, Sherry, Cahill and Lonergan visited the town and preached at William Cleary's house. In 1866, the Catholic Church bought of the Methodists their house of worship for $2,000, and fitted it up for the use of themselves. The first mass celebrated in this house was by the Rev. Father O'Neill. Since this time, regular services have been held here by Revs. Quigley, Fanning, Hanley and the present priest, Rev. Father Finch.

316
The Baptist denomination had held meetings here, with varying regularity, for a number of years before an organization was effected. Rev. Frederick Ketcham came and preached for them during the year 1861, and organized the society, and, in 1862 he moved to Pontiac and took charge of the public schools, and also of the church, as its Pastor. He continued to preach for the congregation until the year 1865; and during the last year of his ministry a house of worship was erected. The building is a neat frame, substantially con­structed and nicely furnished, and will accommodate about three hundred sit­tings. After its dedication, Rev. Geo. A. Simonson was called to the pastorate. He was followed in turns by Revs. William B. Watson,* C. E. Taylor and the present Pastor, J. W. Icenbarger. The Sunday school connected with the denomination is under the superintendence of Randolph Zeph. In addition to these, the colored people have two small places of worship. The colored Methodists occupy and own the building originally erected as an Academy of Music or Turner Hall. The colored Baptists worship in the old school house, which they have bought and fitted up for the purpose.
A Universalist Society was organized here about twelve years ago. They purchased and fitted up the Academy of Music for $1,000, and held meetings there for a few years. They finally sold their house to the colored Methodists, and dispensed with church services, though the organization remains intact.
A history of the press of Pontiac would not only be almost a complete his­tory of Pontiac, but a history of the county as well, as a paper was established here very soon after the town and county really began to grow. As a faithful record of passing events, in the succeeding issues of a newspaper, must con­tain everything of importance not only in the town, but in the vicinity, so files of such papers must be the most complete and reliable history obtainable. To these files we are greatly indebted for whatever worth these pages shall prove to be, as from them has been drawn, largely, the matter contained herein.
The first new paper was established here in 1855, by J. S. France, a lawyer, from Ottawa. The first number made its appearance March 14, 1855. The paper was independent in politics, and was to be devoted to the interests of the community, regardless of sect or party. The publication, however, either lacked financial strength or editorial ability; for, within a few months, the enterprise was so involved that it was found impossible to proceed, and the sureties of the concern were obliged to turn it over to other parties. This date marks the advent of one of the very few successful newspaper men that have carried on the business at this point.
M. A, Renoe came to the place June 9, and he, with Philip Cook, took possession of the office. Reno had $100, which he invested, and Cook, having nothing, gave his note in an equal amount, and with this capital the Livingston County News was again on its feet. The firm continued the publi­cation of the paper for several years, when James G. Albe came into possession, *Mr. Watson's last ministry was with this Church. He died during his last year's service.

317
and continued its issue until the beginning of the war. The News, in the meantime, had become a Democratic paper, and during the war the popular feeling in this county being largely in favor of an aggressive prosecution of the struggle, and the News being quite conservative, it met but poor encourage­ment. and was abandoned.
In 1858, the Sentinel was started, by Cook & Gagan. Philip Cook had retired from the News, and William Gagan having recently arrived the two formed a partnership to start a Republican paper in opposition to the News. They continued the publication until 1860, when, Cook having been elected County Treasurer, they sold out to M. E. Collins. Collins was, two years later, also elected Treasurer, and the paper then passed into the hands of H. S. Decker and James Stout. Later, it was published by Stout & Denslow, and again by Stout alone.
In 1857, Henry Jones and M. A. Renoe commenced the publication of the Free Press, in opposition to the Sentinel. They afterward bought out the Sentinel and merged the two publications into one, calling it the Sentinel and Press. A short time after, the latter part of the name was dropped, and the old name Sentinel only was retained; and by this name it has been known ever since. In 1875, F. L. Alles, having bought out the establishment, took control as editor and proprietor. In the meantime, quite a number of cotemporary papers had been founded, but none were entirely successful until the Free Trader was established. The first number of this publication appeared May 11, 1870. A national political campaign was approaching, and it was desirable that the Democratic party should have an organ to advocate the claims of that party in this county; hence the Free Trader, with A. L. Bagby as editor, was established. The enterprise, however, was but partially successful, until it came into the hands of McGregor & Johnson. They came into possession of the office October 28, 187l. About this time, a great wave of feeling an the monopoly question began to sweep over the country; and this county being in the midst of the flood, the time was auspicious, and the proprietors being possessed of both means and ability, the success of the enterprise was fully assured. After a short time, M. A. Renoe bought out McGregor, and the firm of Renoe & John­son published the Free Trader as an advocate of the Farmers' Movement. A little over a year ago. Renoe retired from the firm, and John Stuff became a partner.
Among the other papers established here since the failure of the News have been:
The Constitution, started in July, 1864, by E. B. Buck. It was a Demo­cratic paper, to support McClellan and Pendleton.
The Pontiac Republician started October, 1865, by T. B. Harper.
The National Union was a Democratic campaign paper, published by J. W. Youman. It appeared in October, 1866.

318
The Democrat was established at the request of the Democratic Central Committee, by Messrs. Milton & Organ. This was the Democratic organ until near the establishment of the Free Trader. The Weekly Monitor was started July 29, 1870, by T. I3. Harper, to advo­cate a county temperance ticket. In the Spring of 1870, Thomas Wing issued a few numbers of the People's Advocate. This was to be a Prohibition paper, but it lasted but a few weeks. The first number of Ford's Livingston County Democrat has just made its appearance. It is published by the authority and in the interests of the Dem­ocratic party of this county. The editor and proprietor is J. B. Ford, formerly of the Democrat, of Marshall County.
The subsequent movements of some of the persons connected with these enterprises will doubtless be interesting to many readers. Philip Cook was from New York, and came to Pontiac to work for the assignees of the News. After the expiration of his term of office as Treasurer, he removed to California, where he has resided until the present. He is now connected with the paper known as the Evening Call, at San Francisco.
William Gagan was an acquaintance of Cook's in New York, and came to Pontiac to establish a Republican paper. After closing up his affairs at this place, he also removed to California, and published the Oakland Daily News. He continued its publication until a few years ago, when he died.
Henry Jones is a son of Judge Jones, and was raised in this county. After his retirement from the Sentinel, he went to Dallas, Texas, where he is engaged in the business of publishing.
James Stout, formerly from Ohio, came from Ottawa to Pontiac in 1855. He engaged for a time in farming, and betimes practiced his profession - that of a lawyer. Mr. Stout was an Abolitionist of the most ultra character, and at a time when it was anything but popular to promulgate the doctrine. After his connection with the Sentinel ceased, he received from the Government the appointment of Receiver of Moneys of Idaho Territory, and removed thither with his family.
Henry S. Decker was from Chicago, where he had acted as foreman of the Journal office. Decker was a man who sacrificed everything for his friends, and died in want. After his connection with the press of Livingston County had terminated, he returned to Chicago, just before the great fire, broken down in health, discouraged and poverty-stricken. He and his wife both died within a few days of each other, and were buried by charity. Decker was at once one of the hardest workers and the least appreciated of all who were connected for any length of time with the press of this city.

Pontiac Lodge, No. 294, A., F. & A. M., was instituted in October. 1858. The charter was granted to William Manlove, J. R. Wolgamot, Samuel B. Nor­ton, Aaron Weider, S. C. Ladd, A. E. Harding, I. T. Whittemore and George P. Olmstead, of which Aaron Weider was appointed first Master, S. C. Ladd,

319
Senior Warden; Wm. Manlove, Junior Warden; and A. E. Harding, Sec. The successive Masters have been William Manlove, two years; J. R. Wolgamot, three years; E. R. Maples, three years; H. H. Hill, six years; A. W. Cowan, three years; J. E. Morrow, one year; and E. E. Wallace, two years. A com­plete list of the present officers is as follows: E. E. Wallace, W. M.; P. M. Schwartz, S. W.; E. E. Kent, J. W.; A. W. Cowan, Sec.; A. Brower, Treas.; A. Babcock, S. D.; F. L. Alles, J. D.; E. M. Johnson, S. S.; D. Kavanaugh, J. S.; Jno. E. Bell, Tyler; J. F. Culver, Chaplain. The present membership of the Lodge is eighty-four. The regular meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.
A charter was granted by the Grand Master of the I. O. O. F., to establish a lodge of that order in Pontiac, to be known as Pontiac Lodge, No. 262, in 1858. The charter was granted to R. W. Babcock, B. W. Gray, Jacob Streamer, John A. Fellows and F. H. Bond. Prior to 1870, the lodge had erected a neat and convenient hall for their use; but in the year named, it, with a large number of other buildings, was consumed by fire. Immediately after its destruction, steps were taken to replace it by the present handsome and com­modious building. The structure is thirty feet by eighty, and is three stories high. The first story is used for a store-room, the second for offices, and the third is the Lodge room, used by this and other secret societies. The present officers of the Lodge are E. L. Wilson, N. G.; Thomas Bowden, V. G.; J. W. Daman, Rec. Sec.; Z. Winters, Per. Sec.; M. Dolde, Treas.
In 1864, an Encampment of this order was established here, and denomi­nated Vermilion Encampment. The charter was granted to F. H. Bond, J. B. McCleary, Peter Johnson, A. Hinsey, W. W. Stinett, G. Wolgamot and others. The present principal officers, are E. L. Wilson, C. P.; Richard Smith, S. W.; C. C. Gilbert, J. W.; J. S. Lee, H. P.; H. H. Lucas, Scribe; M. Dolde, Treas.
 Company A., of Tenth I. N. G.. was organized at Pontiac in June, 1877. The company, at present. consists of seventy three men, including officers.
The officers' roster is as follows: B. E. Robinson, Captain; R. J. Johnson, First Lieutenant; J. C. Keach, Second Lieutenant; James Fenton, Orderly . The company is nicely uniformed, and armed with breech-loading needle guns. The regimental headquarters are at Dwight, Col. J. B. Parsons, commanding.
Numerous and destructive fires in the city demonstrated the fact that Pon­tiac had not only suffered severely from a lack of efficient means of controlling the element, but from this her citizens realized the necessity of more thorough organization. A fire engine of excellent quality and fine powers having been purchased by the city authorities, a company to operate it was formed shortly after. The organization took place in February, 1874. James E. Morrow was chosen Chief Marshal; J. H. Smith, Assistant: John K. Clark, Foreman of the Engine, and R. D. Folks, Assistant; James Bright, Foreman of Hose Com­pany; Charles Bigelow, Foreman of Hook and Ladder Company, and F. D.

320
Cannon, Assistant; C. R. Wheeler, Engineer, and D. Kavenaugh, Assistant. The whole number of men in the service at the time was about sixty. By June of the year named, the most of the men and some of the officers had dropped out of the organization, and in reality the companies had been almost disbanded.
On the 4th of July of this year occurred the most destructive fire in the history of the city, and this, with the proposition from the Council to grant privileges and pay, which the old company had not enjoyed, had the effect of bringing about a new organization. On the 9th of the same month, the new organization was effected, which, with immaterial change, has existed to the present. J. E. Morrow was elected Chief Marshal; J. H. Smith, Assistant; John Clark, Foreman of Engine; F. Armstrong, Assistant; C. R. Wheeler, Engineer; D. Kavenaugh, Assistant.
No single instrumentality has had more to do with the appearance of the city than that of fires; and, while they have entailed hardships on the individual owners of the property destroyed, their effect has, in the end, been to add greatly to the beauty and safety of the city.
The first fire of any considerable proportions was that which consumed the row of wooden buildings on the south side of Madison street, December 8, 1867. The fire originated in the office of the Pontiac Sentinel, and destroyed, beside this, Croswell's drug store, Schneider's meat market and several other buildings. The loss occasioned by this fire was estimated at about $20,000.
On the night of July 7, 1870, happened one of the most destructive confla­grations that have visited the city. The fire broke out in the store of Herbert & Son, which stood north of the place now occupied by the Odd Fellows' Hall, extending to the hall, consuming it, the City Hotel, and continuing its course to the corner of Mill and Madison streets, and thence west on Madison, more than half the length of the block. Twelve stores and other property, amounting in value to about $50,000, were swept away.
Where now stands a fine row of brick buildings, known as Union Block  stood prior to November 2, 1871, a row of ungainly wooden structures. On the day mentioned, these were burned. The loss was estimated at $10,000. As soon as the debris was fairly cleared away, a movement was set on foot to replace them with a fine block of stores and a hotel, that should be a credit to the town. The buildings were soon up and occupied, and the proprietors and the citizens felt almost glad that the fire had taken the old row away - certainly all felt proud of the new. However, their congratulations were of but short duration, for on the 4th day of July, 1874, they, too, with several other buildings, including the Court House, were totally consumed. It is supposed the fire originated from torpedoes, that were being thrown about promiscuously. This was doubtless the most disas­trous fire, taking into account the size of the town, that had occurred in the central part of the State. In the amount lost, the rapidity of the destruction, and the completeness of its devastation, it could hardly be equaled. The buildings

321
were new and had been but recently filled with new goods, and the hotel, which had just received its finishing touches, and was occupied was furnished in a most elegant manner. In less than three hours, this, the finest part of the city, was entirely annihilated.
On the night of the 3d of July, 1875, a saloon and two other buildings on the corner of Mill and Washington streets were consumed. All of these, including the Court House, have since been replaced with structures of such a character as makes one almost cease to regret that the fires took place. The Court House, especially, had become an "eyesore," not only to the citizens of Pontiac, but to everybody interested in the safe keeping of the county records; and in further consideration of the beautiful Temple of Justice which now graces the spot, but little sorrow is manifested for the misfortune.
The second Court House was built in 1856, at a cost of $30,000, and, at that time, was considered a very creditable affair, and such as would answer for many generations to come. Many thought it larger and more expensive than necessary. It served for a long time, not only for Court House, but for post office, and most of the lawyers found room within it for their headquarters. Its hall, until the last, was used by those denominations of Christians without houses of worship, as a place to hold church services; and public meetings of various other kinds were accommodated here. In time, as the county grew in importance and population, it began to be realized that, at no distant day, it must be replaced by something more commodious and more in keeping with the wants and ability of the county.
It is the opinion of all who have examined, and have had opportunities for comparing, that the present structure is, without exception, the best for the money in the State of Illinois. The work of rebuilding was entered upon immediately after the fire, and within a year it was ready for occupancy.
The Committee on Building consisted of J. E. Morrow, C. G. Greenwood. Jacob Phillips anti W. S. Sims. They employed J. C. Cochrane, of Chicago, as architect, and Colwell Clark & Co., of Ottawa, as builders. The cost of the building was $63,466.00, anti the architect's fees were $3,173.30,  making a total cost of $66,639.30
Contrary to the usual custom, even where officials are honest, there has never been a hint that either committee or contractors "made anything" out of the job. On the contrary, it is supposed that the contractors lost heavily. Certain it is, that the splendid edifice which now adorns the Court Square is a credit to the committee, an honor to its builders, and a source of congratulation to the people of the county.
Previous to 1866, the prisoners of the county had to be taken to other counties for safe keeping, as no jail had yet been provided. The jail lot provided for, by Weed and the Youngs, had been occupied only by a temporary building used by the town as a calaboose. Thirty years had elapsed before the county authorities found the necessity of occupying the lot. In the

322
year named, having realized the expensive method of caring for prisoners, and not being desirous longer of depending on other counties for such accommoda­tions, the Board of Supervisors erected upon the spot designed for the purpose a building eminently fitted for the purpose. It is a built of massive stone, thirty-five by fifty feet, and cost $32,000. It has been called a "model jail," and committees from various counties have been sent to examine it, with a view of making it a pattern for similar buildings.
Perhaps the case which has produced the greatest excitement - and on account of recent developments excites additional interest - that ever came before the courts of Livingston County, was a trial for murder committed in the vicinity of Pontiac, in 1858.
In October of that year, the body of a young woman named Mary Murphy was found near the railroad track, a short distance south of town. She had been missing about eighteen days, and certain suspicious circumstances occur­ring at the time led to the arrest of a colored man, who gave his name as Wiley T. Morris. He was brought to Pontiac and examined before Jacob Streamer, Justice of the Peace, and by him committed to jail to await trial. He was con­fined in the jail at Bloomington, where he lay until the Fall of 1860, when his trial came off.
It was shown on the part of the prosecution that Morris had been seen walk­ing on the railroad track, about a mile behind the girl afterward found murdered; that the rate at which he was walking, as compared with her pace, would cause him to overtake her at the point where the body was found, and that he had just been in a murderous brawl in Bloomington, and was of desperate char­acter. The evidence was wholly circumstantial, but quite strong. He was ably defended by A. E. Harding, Esq., of this city, who, however, labored greatly under the disadvantage of a popular feeling, which then existed in the community, against the color of his client.
The jury, after an absence of an unusually long time, failed to agree, and the prisoner was again remanded to jail to await a new trial.
In the meantime, the counsel for defense made application for a change of venue, which being granted, the case was carried to Kankakee County.
The second trial came off April, 1861. In this trial he was still more unsuccessful, and he was adjudged guilty of murder in the first degree, and con­demned to hang, in May of the year named.
The doomed man protested his innocence to the last, declaring that he was being murdered on account of prejudice against his race; and on the scaffold, his last words were, "You murder me! You murder me! You murder me!"
Subsequent revelations show that probably Morris was an innocent man; and, though otherwise a bad character, that he was not guilty of the murder of Mary Murphy.
A short time since, Hawkeye Bill, a notorious desperado and murderer, on his dying bed made confession that, at the time of the murder of Mary Murphy,

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he was fully cognizant of all of the facts - that he was a confederate of Bill Britt, Jo. Montana and Charles Logue. He says that these three men were on a horse stealing expedition, and were camping for a few days in the timber, near Pontiac, and that the three were the guilty parties. He gives dates and circumstances with so much precision as to leave but little doubt that they were the actual murderers. He further states that Britt and Montana have since been hung for other crimes, and that Logue has died in prison.
The Reform School at Pontiac, though a State institution, is mentioned here for the reason that the city and township of Pontiac were interested largely in securing its location at this place. The Legislature had passed an act allowing certain towns, possessing specified natural and already acquired advantages, to compete for the establishment of the school in their midst. After due examina­tion by the commission appointed for that purpose, and hearing the proposi­tions from each locality, they settled on Pontiac; and the building was com­pleted and ready for occupants in 1870. George W. Perkins, former Warden of the Illinois Penitentiary, was selected as Superintendent, and in his charge the school remained until 1872, when the present efficient Superintendent, J. D. Scouller, was appointed. Through his kindness we are able to give the fol­lowing items in relation to the institution:
There is belonging to the institution, in land, 280 acres, which is worked by the inmates. A system of thorough drainage has been commenced, and $5,000 have been spent for the purpose, including, 3,000 feet of sewer from the main building.
The buildings alone are valued at $110,000. Over 6,000 shade and fruit trees have been planted. The inmates have a large play ground of several acres, including an excellent base ball ground.
An additional building, called a Family Building, has recently been erected, Where about thirty of the better class of boys will reside apart from the others. Great good is expected from this classification by the managers.
Five teachers are employed, also a farmer, engineer, baker, overseers of shops and others to the number of eighteen employes [sic.].
The school was opened for the reception of boys, in June, 1871, and to this date there have been 756 admitted. There are at this time in the school 194.
Between seventy and eighty are employed making shoes in the factory Con­nected with the institution. Nearly 300 pairs are turned out daily. The con­tractors, Messrs. Tead & Son, pay eighteen cents per day (of six hours each) for the services of each boy employed.
About sixty of the smaller boys are engaged in caning chairs for the Bloomington Furniture Manufacturing Company. This branch is not profitable, but keeps the boys busy, and teaches them habits of industry.
The rest of the inmates are employed on the farm, in the laundry, bakery and garden, and at miscellaneous labor.

324
All clothing worn in the institution is manufactured by the inmates. Besides these duties of six hours' labor each day, all attend school four hours. All of the common branches are taught, and several of the boys have taken Latin and Greek lessons. The course of instruction is very thorough, the school being well graded, and competent teachers employed. The library consists of 1,500 volumes, and many of the boys spend all of their spare time in reading. Over twenty magazines and papers are taken for the inmates, and all are read eagerly. A large number of those committed, on entering the institution, can neither read nor write, but, when discharged, many of them are fair scholars, and have obtained and are holding responsible positions.
Nine hours are allowed for sleep, and the rest of the twenty-four is spent in play and at meals.
The Board of Trustees, at present, consists of Obadiah Huse, Evanston, Illinois; Solon Kendall, Geneseo; and J. F. Culver (resident Trustee), Pontiac, Illinois; Dr. J. D. Scouller, Superintendent.
Visitors are welcome at the school from 1 to 3.30 P. M. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and on Sunday at chapel services, at 2 P. M.
Pontiac has been honored above any other town in the county, by the number of persons selected from among her citizens for positions of honor, trust and profit.
William T. Russell, who was the first Supervisor of the township, was also the first Sheriff after the "Act for Township Organization" had been adopted. For a number of years, after his term of office had expired, he was a resident of the city. He is now engaged in farming.
S. S. Saul was from Pennsylvania, and came to Pontiac to teach school in 1854 or '55. He was elected to the office of County Clerk in 1857, and held the position until 1861.
Through the instrumentality of Saul, J. F. Culver removed to this place in 1859. Previous to his coming, he had been employed by the County Clerk to assist in the office. After the expiration of the term of office, Mr. Culver was elected Justice of the Peace, which office he resigned in 1862, to enlist in the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment. He was elected Captain of Co. A, and served through the war. On his return, he was elected to the office of County Judge. He still resides in Pontiac, and is engaged in banking and real estate business. Mr. Culver has probably done more work, physically, relig­iously and politically, for his age, than any other man in the county, having held almost every office of honor and trust in the gift of the people.
John W. Smith came from Ohio, and engaged in teaching in this town in 1859. In 1861, he was elected to the position of County Superintendent of Schools. In the discharge of the duties of the office, he was one of the most active and faithful servants the county has ever had. He too, resigned his office to take part in putting down the rebellion, and received a wound, from: which a man with less pluck would have died. He, however, lives, and is engaged in the drug and book trade in this city.

325
E. R. Maples is a synonym for "good fellow." He was one of the most genial, warm-hearted men that Pontiac ever knew. He held the office of Sheriff from 1860 to 1862. He died about a year ago; his residence prior to his coming to Ponitac was Chicago.
Job E. Dye was an early resident of the county, and made a good Sheriff. Since then he has been engaged in the grain business.
Time and space will allow only the mere mention of others, of whom we can only stop to say, they have filled their places in a manner that has given the county no cause to regret their elevation to their several places of trust.
J. W. Strevelle, member of Legislature, two terms; L. E. Payson and Jonathan Duff, each County Judge, one term; J. E. Morrow, John A. Fellows and William H. Jenkins, each Circuit Clerk, one term; C. C. Stwawn and William T. Ament, each State's Attorney, a term; O. F. Pearre one, and H. H. Hill, County Superintendent of Schools, two terms; James H. Gaff, Sheriff, one term; M. F. Collins one, and William B. Fyfe, Treasurer, two terms.
The first coal was raised at Pontiac January 12, 1866; the first lump taken from the shaft being now in the possession of Jacob Streamer, with that date attached. The shaft was sunk on contract for the Directors of the company, by Isaac Custer. This work, with the buildings, cost the company $10,000. The shaft was sunk to the depth of 253 feet, but a vein at 175 feet is the only one worked to advantage. The charter members of the company were: S. C. Crane, President; J. Duff, John Dehuer and Thomas Wing, Directors. The enterprise has not, on the whole, been very successful. Over $100,000 has been spent, and owing to fires and other misfortunes, it has scarcely in its his­tory been on a paying basis. In February of 1871 the shaft and all of its interests were sold to Messrs. Franz, Campbell & Bullock, of Woodford County, for $45,000. It is now under control of W. H. Levers, who has operated it for several years past. Statistics in regard to its present workings are not obtainable, and are necessarily omitted.
The Chicago & Paducah Railroad, at first called the Fairbury, Pontiac &  Northwestern Railroad, was built through this part of the county in 1871. The city of Pontiac and township took a lively interest in procuring its location through this part of the county, and voted the company a donation of $50,000 to effect the purpose. While some may doubt whether the interests of the city have been enhanced by the location of a second railroad at this point, it will hardly be disputed that the farming community has been greatly benefited. Much has been saved in the way of freights, as by means of this line, competi­tion has produced lower rates than otherwise would have prevailed. Small towns have sprung up along the line, and, while they have taken some trade from Pontiac, they have proved to be a great convenience to the sections in the midst of which they have been located.
As an indication of the amount of business done in this city, no page could be written that would give the reader as good an  idea as the follow-

326
ing items, furnished by the agents of the two railroads at this place, for the year 1877:

CHICAGO & ALTON RAILROAD


Received from freights forwarded

$26,233.30

Received from freights received

20,703.33

Ticket Sales

14,641.48


table element


$61,578.12

CHICAGO & PADUCAH RAILROAD


Received from freights forwarded

$11,250.00

Received from freights received

6,100.00

Ticket Sales

4,250.00




Total from both Roads

table element

21,600.00


$83,178.00



One of the results of the late war was to bring to the North a class of people previously but little seen north of the Ohio River, and, in Pontiac, almost a curiosity. Soon after the proclamation by the President which struck the bonds from several millions of these people, they made haste to profit by that act. The North had been almost drained of its laborers who had gone to accomplish indirectly this very result. Peculiarly so was this the situation in this vicinity in the year 1864. Harvest was coming on. It was great, and "the laborers were few." A few of the leading farmers in this vicinity sent a committee to Cairo, where a number of these emancipated people had gathered, and induced them to come to Pontiac. Quite a large number of families came, and were quartered for a year or two on the farms of their employers. Grad­ually they have concentrated in the city, until, with the additions made by sub­sequent immigration, nearly three hundred have found homes in Pontiac. Though their educational and moral progress has not been so rapid as was hoped by their friends, yet, taking their poverty and their former condition into account, it must be admitted that. their condition is quite satisfactory. Many of them have built and furnished little homes for themselves; their children attend school; and, as for piety, they certainly excel.

THE VILLAGE OF RICHMOND.
The reader will not be troubled to wade through statistics, as to this item, as the only thing to record is its history, and that of an ancient nature. Still, it is history and not fiction, that we write; for, though the reader may never have heard of it, the town of Richmond did exist. Not only so, but it was the rival of Pontiac, and but for a very small circumstance would doubtless have been by to-day the most flourishing city in the county. Richmond was located two miles east of Pontiac. It was regularly laid out and platted, by Franklin Oliver, County Surveyor, for Henry Jones and Henry Loveless, June 23, 1851. Rumors of a railroad through this section were afloat; and that being a nice location for a town, and that point in the river being a good one for a railroad crossing, it was not doubted by its friends that this would be the favored point.

327
Stores and shops and a school house soon sprang into existence; lots were dis­posed of for good prices; dwellings were built, and everything indicated a rising town. But alas for human hopes and desires! The road lacked just two miles of passing through the historic village, and its bright anticipations burst like a bubble and vanished almost as quickly. Some of the buildings were moved to Pontiac, some did service afterward as stables and granaries and the only monument that now exists of the once sprightly little village is an open space just south of Philip Rollings' house.

INDIAN GROVE TOWNSHIP.
The magnificent body of timber called Indian Grove, from which this town takes its name, and which extends from Belle Prairie into Avoca Township, is one of the earliest settled portions of Livingston County. Indeed, the very first settlement made in the county was at the head of this grove, as noted in the history of Belle Prairie Township, and, a few months later, white men were found in that portion of the timber lying in Avoca; while not until the Fall of 1831 was there a settlement made in what is now Indian Grove Township.
The first to locate in this immediate vicinity was Joseph Moore. He came from Overton County, Tenn., and arrived here in the Fall of 1831, as already stated above. His journey to the new country was not accomplished with all the ease and pleasure that would attend a similar one at the present day. When we reflect upon the improvements made in the mode of transit in the last forty or fifty years, we look back to the period of the early settlement of this section of the country with a kind of pity for what the pioneers had to undergo in making it what it now is. This man came through from Tennessee on horse­back, or rather his wife came on horseback and carried their only child, all infant, in her lap, while he trudged along on foot. He staked out a claim in the timber bordering Indian Creek, on which he permanently settled. He lived an honored and respected citizen of the neighborhood, and died in Octo­ber, 1851.
A. B. Phillips, commonly known as Barney Philips, settled here the next Spring. He, also, was from Tennessee, and an old neighbor of Moore's in the "land of cotton" before removing to the West. Mr. Philips is still living, a thrifty farmer, in the vicinity of where he settled forty-seven years ago. A son of his is mentioned in the general history as the first white child born in Livingston County. Judge McDowell relates the first meeting with his father's family, of Philips, which is referred to in the history of Avoca Township, as showing the quiet manner in which the people lived in those early days, and the interest a new comer in the neighborhood excited. Philips, who was hunting some hogs that had strayed away from his place, came unexpectedly on the McDowell Camp, and seemed speechless from wonder in finding white people so near, while, from his backwoods dress, the McDowells did not, at first, know

328
whether he was a white man or Indian; but soon learned, however, and a pleas­ant acquaintance was formed, which proved of mutual satisfaction.
Rev. John Darnall, a brother of Martin Darnall, the first settler of Belle Prairie, came to Indian Grove soon after Barney Phillips, and in the same Spring. The first preacher in the new settlement, and a man of a good deal of native intelligence, he was a kind of leader in all religious, social and political affairs.
Malachi Spence and his son, James Spence, and Richard Moore settled here a year or two after those already mentioned. The latter was from Overton County, Tenn., and the Spences and Darnalls from Kentucky. Mrs. Glenn Phillips, a widow lady, came from the same neighborhood in Tennessee, and about the same time that Richard Moore and the Spences came to the settle­ment.
This comprised the first batch of settlers in what is now Indian Grove Township; and some of them are still living on their original homesteads, while those who have died or removed to other States have left honored representa­tives behind them. Rev. John Darnall sold out some years ago and removed to Oregon. Malachi Spence is dead, but a son lives at the old home. Mrs. Phillips is also dead. Richard Moore and Barney Phillips are still living in the township.
In 1834, another delegation of Tennesseeans came out and settled in Indian Grove, viz.: Francis J. Moore, Jonathan, a brother, Lewis Moore, a cousin, and David Travis; who was quite an old man at the time. These came together, and were from the place before noted - Overton County, Tennessee. Several other families came with them, but settled in what is now Belle Prairie Township, where their history is given. Francis J. Moore first settled on the west side of the grove, but in a year or two "swapped" claims with a neigh­bor, and moved over on the east side, about five miles from the present village of Fairbury. He is still living, an active man for his time of life and the rough scenes through which he passed in the early days of the country. David Travis, not liking the outlook of frontier life, after a year or two, returned to Tennessee, where the remainder of his life was spent. Lewis Moore followed him in a few years; Jonathan Moore died in 1841.
This section of the country, at the period of which we write, was embraced in McLean County, and the land was not yet in market when these settlements were made. Mr. Moore says it was the custom to blaze out a claim and squat wherever one was suited, provided no one else had a previous claim; then it was not always pleasant or healthy to intrude. For many years, all new comers settled in and around the timber, without the remotest idea that the prairies would ever amount to a "pinch of snuff" for anything but pasturage. And to talk with the old settlers now, who came to the country forty or fifty years ago, nothing in the way of its development seems to surprise them so much as the settling up of the prairie land; that where, at the period of their first

331
acquaintance with the country, grew the rank grass and weeds, and wild flowers, Should now be the most productive and flourishing farms, is a point that puzzles -them to the present day.
A few years later, probably about 1835-6, a man named Donohoo, and two sons, Wilson Y. and Jefferson Donohoo, settled in this neighborhood. The old gentleman and Wilson Y. are dead, but Jefferson is still living on the old homestead.  Rev. Robert Smith, a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher, settled in the township about the same time.  He was originally from Kentucky, but came from Sangamon County to this place.  This includes all the settlers in Indian Grove Township, until the virtues of the prairies were discovered and the people began to settle away out from the timber, on the great plains.
When the first white people settled here, they had to go some distance to mill - to Green's mill, on Fox River, near Ottawa, and on Crow Creek, below Peoria.  To the latter mill Mr. Moore informed us that he made his first mill  trip, and was gone a week.  The distance was sixty miles, and was the best chance for grinding in their reach, until a mill was built on the Kankakee River, at Wilmington, which was about as far away as the one on Crow Creek.  It was sometimes about as hard for the new comer to find grain as to get it ground after he had got it, for no one had been in the country long enough to have an over-supply.  There was no mill in this township until the erection of one in the village of Fairbury, except a little horse-mill built by one Smith, about the year 1840.
For many years, Bloomington was the post office, and, at the time of the first settlements in this section, contained but one little store, which was kept in a small log house, and in it also was kept the post office.  The postage on letters was twenty-five cents, a sum not always at the command of the fortunate one to get a letter; and as a consequence, their mail would sometimes have to lie in the office a considerable length of time before the much-wished-for twenty-five cents could be procured.
The first road through Indian Grove Township was the State Road leading from the east line of the State to Peoria, but has been obsolete for many years. In those early times, the settlers hauled wheat to Chicago, and congratulated themselves highly if they were so fortunate as to get fifty cents a bushel for it. Chicago proper was not. The city had not yet risen from the bogs and marshes of Lake Michigan, and the great grain market there was not what it is to-day. Several farmers would join in a company, and, with their wagons loaded with wheat, drive through to Chicago, camping out at night, as their load of wheat would hardly have justified the paying of a tavern bill. Times, since then, have changed.
The first birth in this township was that of John R. Phillips, a son of Bar­ney Phillips, and occurred May 9, 1832. He is mentioned in another page as the first white child born in Livingston County, and received a touching tribute from the fact of having died in the army during the late war.  The first wed­

332
ding solemnized was that of John Darnall and Keziah Spence. They were married by 'Squire John Thompson, of Mackinaw, in the early part of 1832. Esther Spence died in 1832, and was buried in the little graveyard situated on the line between Indian Grove and Belle Prairie Township, near where Martin Darnell originally settled. This was the first death in the Indian Grove settle­ment, and perhaps the first in the county. Her coffin was made of walnut slabs split out of the tree, hewed down and then dressed smooth. The first Justice of the Peace was Rev. John Darnall, who, in addition to being a preacher, was a Justice of the Peace, Postmaster, and a man of considerable importance in the neighborhood. He was the first Postmaster, and was commissioned some years after the post office had been established in Avoca Township. His appointment came about in this wise: As the country settled up, the people of the neigh­borhood concluded they must have a post office, and accordingly petitioned for one. The name of Robert Smith was mentioned in the petition for Postmaster, but as he was the only Whig in the settlement, and Long John Wentworth, of Chicago, then a strong Democrat,* and Representative of this District in Con­gress (and this, it is said, was about the center of his district), thought it would not do to have a Whig Postmaster, and so, without leave or license, had John Darnall appointed instead of Smith.
It is not positively known who the first doctor was to practice medicine in this township. Some are of opinion that Dr. John Davis, mentioned elsewhere as the first physician in the county, used to extend his professional visits to this section, while others think that Dr. Ostrander, an old physician of Avoca, who, in the early times, practiced all over the eastern part of the county, was the first regular physician. It is altogether probable that the latter supposition is correct, for at that period there were very few families living in Indian Grove timber but had had occasion for Dr. Ostrander's services. It is told of him that a patron objected, one day, to the amount of his bill, when the Doctor informed him, very confidentially, that if he knew the cost of the medicine he had used in his case, he would not be surprised at his bill being so large. Upon his patron's expressing some curiosity, the Doctor told him that the medicine he had used cost $2,700 an ounce; that it required the services of ten men four months to gather one ounce, and that nine out of the ten lost their lives while at it.
The sound of the Gospel was beard in Indian Grove Township almost as soon as the pioneer's axe. Rev. John Darnall was a Baptist preacher, and the first to proclaim the word of God in the new settlement. Rev. Robert Smith, a Cumberland Presbyterian, was the next preacher. He made an effort, soon after he came to the settlement, to establish a Sabbath school, but was opposed by Rev. Darnall, who took ground against it, denouncing the measure as a kind of speculation, and drew a ludicrous illustration from the story of the Good Samaritan ; though just where the analogy came in, no one was able to discern.

*Some of his old Democratic friends here have lost faith in him since he has turned Republican, and don't swear by him as they did twenty-five or thirty years ago.

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Mr. Darnall seems to have been quite a remarkable man, and possessed a very independent way of his own. It is related of him that he was preaching one day to a large congregation, and had occasion to quote a passage from St. Paul, after which he emphatically remarked: "But I do not agree with Mr. St. Paul." And upon another occasion, he made a lengthy quotation from the man of Tar­sus, when, in a spirit of the most unbounded liberality, he observed: "And I partially agree with St. Paul." The only churches in the township, outside of Fairbury, are the Union Church, in the southern part, and the Ormish Church, in the southeastern corner. Of the latter, we have been unable to obtain any definite information. The Union Church was built in 1857, and is occupied principally by Baptists and Christians, who have their regular days, and both have established societies. As long as he lived in the country, Rev. John Dar­nall was the leading light of the Baptists, while the Rev. David Sharpless was long a leader among the Christians. Rev. John Miller organized the first society of Christians about the year 1858, and soon after the completion of the church. Rev. Dr. Green preaches for the Christians at present, and Rev. Mr. Thompson, of Ottawa, for the Baptists.
The first school in Indian Grove Township was taught by Chancy Standish, in 1835. He was from New York, and came to the settlement in the year above noted, when the people at once set to work to build a little log cabin for school purposes, and which was the first school house in the township. In this building Standish taught the first school, which was a general subscription school, and it was some time before there was any public money for educational purposes.
From the school records in possession of Dr. C. C. Bartlett, Township Treasurer, which extend back only to the year 1857. we find that on the 1st day of April of that year, "A meeting of the Trustees - James Spence, Chancy Standish and James Moore, of Township 26 north, Range 6 east of the Third Principal Meridian, was held at the house of John Darnall, the School Treasurer." The meeting was taken up mostly in examining books, papers. schedules, etc. The school fund at that time consisted of $721.20, in notes; fund for town and interest, $67.70; fund on hand in notes $170.00. There were five school districts in the township, and several schedules of teach­ers were examined and the Treasurer ordered to pay the amount demanded in them for teaching.
The early records are rather poorly kept, and to get, information from them is quite a difficult task.
A good story, not out of place in this connection, is related of a young man in the township, who, wishing a school in some particular district, went over to Lexington, where the dignitary lived who had the position at his disposal, for the purpose of procuring the required authority. Not being as well up in his examination as the law required, the certificate was at first refused, but after much importunity from the young man it was at length written, "signed, sealed

334
and delivered" to him under cover. Armed with this document, he returned to Indian Grove and presented it to the School Director or Trustee, who, on breaking the seal and taking out the certificate found it to read: "This is to certify that Mr. ----- is qualified to teach a common school in Indian Grove Township and no where else, and a ----- common one at that."
At the meeting of Trustees on the 3d day of April, 1865, Dr. C. C. Bart­lett was appointed Treasurer, an office he has ever since held.
The following is the present Board of Trustees: J. F. Fraley. S. S. Rogers and Wm. B. Cain.
From Treasurer Bartlett's last annual report we extract the following sta­tistical facts:

Number of males in township under 21 years

825

Number of females in township under 21 years

851

Total

1676

Number of males in township between 6 and 21 years

532

Number of females in township between 6 and 21 years

655

Total

1187

Number of males attending school

453

Number of females attending school

482

Total

935

Number of male teachers employed

7

Number of female teachers employed

13

Total

20

Amount paid male teachers

$2,142.08

Amount paid female teachers

3,307.44

Total

$5,449.52

Estimated value of school property

$12,000.00

Principal of school fund of township

$ 7,198.39

The township has nine school districts and ten good, comfortable school houses, all of which are frame buildings. None but first-class teachers are employed, and the schools of the entire town are in a most flourishing state.
Indian Grove, as an election precinct, embraced that portion of the county lying east of the mouth of the Little Vermilion River; or, more properly speak­ing, east of the old village of Avoca, in Avoca, Township. In the days of Whigs and Democrats, it was largely Democratic, and very ultra in its polit­ical opinions.
The first newspaper ever taken in what is now Indian Grove Township was the Chicago Journal, then a Whig paper. It had been subscribed for by John and Jesse Moore, who had done so without inquiring into the color of its politi­cal faith. When it came, and the Rev. Mr. Darnall found out that it was a Whig paper, he set his veto on it and would not let it be read in the neighborhood. It was when Avoca was the only post office in all the country round and so great was the faith of the Moores in Mr. Darnall's opinions, that they

335
refused to take the papers out of the office, and there they accumulated until the subscription expired.
Political principles have undergone a great change since those early times. At least two-thirds of the vote is now Republican, and large Republican major­ities are rolled up on all occasions where party lines are drawn. There are, however, a few old true-blue Democrats who still stand by their old party and principles, and think that Long John Wentworth has backslidden beyond hope, since he has turned over to the Republican Party.
The war record of the township is given in the history of the village of Fairbury.
Indian Grove takes its name from the Indian settlement or camp once in the fine forest along Indian Creek, which receives its name from the same cause. Pre­vious to the Indians locating at Kickapoo Town, they had their wigwams or lodges in the timber, now in Indian Grove Township. They had left the place before the settlement of the county by the whites, or at least before there were settlements made in this immediate neighborhood.
A large number of Indians were living at the Kickapoo town, not far distant; but we have no account of their ever molesting their pale-face neigh­bors, though Black Hawk made every effort to stir them up to mischief, and some of the settlers, in another part of the grove, took fright during the excite­ments of the Black Hawk war, and fled to the frontier settlements; but those who remained were left undisturbed. Soon after the close of this war, the Indi­ans were removed to reservations and hunting-grounds beyond the "Great Father of Waters," and our settlements here were no more disturbed by their war-whoop.
This township has the benefit of two lines of railway, the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw and the Chicago & Paducah Roads. The former is more fully noticed in the history of Fairbury. The Chicago & Paducah Railroad was completed through this town in 1872, since which time it has been in active operation. The people of this section seem to have awakened to the necessity of extended railroad facilities since the building of the T., P. & W., as it, we were informed, encountered much opposition form the very inception of the enterprise, until its success and energy won for it a degree of independence; while the Chicago & Paducah received a hearty and substantial support, and a stock subscription from the township of $50,000.
The benefit of these roads to this section of the county is almost incalcula­ble and the amount of grain and stock shipped over them annually is immense. When the county adopted township organization, in 1857, in the process of naming, this town was called Worth; but discovering that there was a Worth Township in the adjoining county of Woodford, it was found necessary to look up a new name for this. Francis T. Moore, a prominent citizen and one of the early settlers of the township, suggested Indian Grove, which was adopted.
At the first meeting  of' the Board of Supervisors, we find the township rep­resented by John Crumpton, as Supervisor.

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The present township officers are as follows: H. Kingman, Supervisor; O. J. Dimmick, R. B. Hanna and O. P. Ross, Justices of the Peace; T. T. Bab­cock, Assessor; N. Shepherd, Collector; N. A. Souars, Town Clerk.
Indian Grove Township is bounded on the west by McLean County; on the north by Avoca Township; on the east by Forrest, and on the south by Belle Prairie. It is about one-fourth timber to three-fourths prairie, and is drained by Indian Creek, which flows through it from the southwest to north­east, and empties into the Little Vermilion River, just beyond its borders. Corn is the main crop, and the immense quantities grown in the township would prob­ably equal the entire crops of the Nile-washed lands of Egypt.

THE VILLAGE OF FAIRBURY.
Fairbury was laid out in 1857, by Caleb L. Patton and Octave Chenute. The former owned the land on which the village stands, and in return for the influence exercised by Chenute - who was one of the Civil Engineers of tile Peoria & Oquawka* Railroad Company - with the stockholders of the road, in getting a station at this point, he received from Patton one - half of the town lots. He it was that planned the town and named it, and superintended the laying of it off. Isaac R. Clark, County Surveyor at the time, surveyed it, and made the plat on file in the Recorder's office, and from which we find that the village of Fair­bury originally embraced only the southeast quarter of Section 3, and a part of the northeast quarter of Section 10, in Township 26 north, Range 6 east, and is dated November 10, 1857. Since it was first surveyed and laid out, several additions have been made to it, as follows: By Patton, Cropsey and Chenute, August 9, 1859; by H. L. Marsh, August 9, 1859, July 27 and December, 17, 1868; by C. L. Patton, February 4, 1864, and July 9, 1869, by - Atkeins, May 8, 9 and 10, 1865, January 25, 1865, and April 30, 1868; by Isaac P. McDowell, July 12, 1865, and May 14, 1867, and by G. W. Suber, May 14, 1870. A space of 200x870 feet was reserved by the railroad in the center of the original village for depot buildings.
The first house in the village of Fairbury was built by John Coomer, who came here from Vermont, the old Green. Mountain State, in1857. The house stands on the corner, just across the street from the Fairbury Hotel, and is a good, comfortable residence at the present day. Coomer finished his house and moved into it on the last day of the year; says he came very near not getting into it in 1857 any way. The first store house was built by A. L. Pogue, David Thomas and R. P. Amsbury, who opened a store in it in the early part of 1858, and for a number of years did an extensive business. At length Thomas sold out, and went to Missouri, but the remaining partners continued in the business some time longer, when they finally dissolved, Amsbury going to the gold regions. William Mitchell built a store about the same time of the one just mentioned, in which he opened a small stock of goods and groceries. The first brick store
* The former title of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad.

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house was built by Franklin Elliott in 1864, and occupied as a store by his brother as soon as completed. The store house alluded to, as put up by Wm. Mitchell, is at present a part of the Fairbury House, and with many additions and changes, internally and externally, since the first part of the building was put up in 1857 it has become, as stated, the Fairbury House. With all the improvements and additions made to it, together with the original outlay, it has cost about $6,000, and is now kept by S. S. Rogers, who owns the building, and has made a, first-class hotel of it. The first tavern in the village was built by Geo. W. Morris in 1858, and kept by him for some time, when it changed hands and S. S. Rogers became the proprietor. It was finally moved away from its original location, and became the Central House, a name it still bears. The first post office was established in the early part of 1858, and H. H. McKee was the first Postmaster. The mail was then carried on horseback from Pontiac to Lexington, and a round trip made each week. After many changes in the administration of its affairs, the office has passed into the hands of John Virgin, who is the present Postmaster. The first blacksmith shop in Fairbury was kept by O. S. Mason and Michael Gately, two young men, who commenced the business about 1858 when the village was rushing ahead at a breakneck speed.
In 1859, a large flouring-mill was built in the village, where Coomer's lum­ber office now stands. It was built or commenced by parties for whom Judge McDowell endorsed, and upon their failure, he became the owner of the property, and completed the building. It was a frame edifice three stories high, thirty by fifty feet in size. with three run of buhrs, and cost upward of $8,000. The building was burned in 1872, and has never been rebuilt. Ben Walton built his first mill in Fairbury in 1866, at a cost of $25,000. It was a frame build­ing thirty by sixty feet, with three run of buhrs, and was burned in August, 1868. He at once commenced to rebuild, and the result was his present mag­nificent mill, which is forty-eight by sixty feet in size, four and a half stories high. and cost $35,000. It has six run of buhrs, and a capacity for making 175 barrels of flour per day. In connection with his mill is a grain elevator, with storage for 20,000 bushels, and cribbing room for 75,000 bushels. He handles annually over 300,000  bushels of grain, the most of which is sold on.the track to buyers who ship principally to the East. When his mill was burned, in 1868, in twelve days after the fire he was buying grain in a tempo­rary building, and by the next February,* had bought and handled nearly 300,000 bushels.
Fairbury is a fine grain center, and it is generally conceded that it is one of the best grain markets in the county. There are at present two large steam elevators, besides the one mentioned with Walton's Mill, and several very fine ones have been burned in the numerous conflagrations that have at different times visited the ill-fated village. The best one ever built was by Hogue & Bartlett, and the first one was built in the Fall and Winter of 1858, by Fitch
* His mill was burned on the 12th of August

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& Van Eman, who were the first men to buy grain in Fairbury. They bought and piled it up in sacks by the railroad, until shipped. This one, as well as that built by Hogue & Bartlett, were burned. One of the steam elevators above mentioned, and known as the Union Elevator, was built by H. M. Gillette, and the other by Amsbury & Jones. all of whom have formerly been extensive grain dealers.
As already stated, several additions were made to the village of Fairbury after the  laying out of the original place. One of the largest of these was made by H. L. Marsh, who, it seems, has always been one of the wide-awake citizens of the town. He built a large and elegant hotel and depot in the west end of the village, which, at the time of its building (1866) cost $17,000. But this, too, "went up" in one of the destructive fires before alluded to. Although Fairbury was laid out about the time the railroad was completed through this section, and it grew rapidly, as new railroad villages generally do, yet it was not until 1864 that it was organized under village laws and charter. At an election held on the 8th day of August, 1864, after due notice had been given, we find, upon examination of the records, that John Coomer was chosen Presi­dent, and C. C. Bartlett, Clerk. At this election, there were "eighty votes given in favor of incorporation and twenty-six votes against incorporation." Where upon it was declared that the town of Fairbury was incorporated under act of the Legislature, by more than a two-thirds vote." The first Board of Trustee, elected were H. L. Marsh, E. T. Joy, I. P. McDowell, J. H. Van Eman and Delos Wright. The Board organized by electing H. L. Marsh, President, and W. G. McDowell, Clerk. John Coomer was elected Police Magistrate, but refused to qualify, and R. W. McKee was elected in his place. The village Board at present is J. F. Fraley, H. Kingman, L. B. Dominy, George Kin­near and Jesse Hanna. J. F. Fraley is President of the Board, and L. B. Dominy, Clerk. H. Kingman is Treasurer, Nathan Shepherd, Police Magistrate, and John Allum, Town Marshal.
The first school taught in the village of Fairbury was by Alonzo Straight, in a little frame building on the south side of the T., P. & W. Railroad, but had originally been devoted to some other use. The first house built for school purposes was in 1860, and is situated on the north side of the railroad, and is still in use as a school house. It is a frame building, two stories high, and cost $2,500. The first teacher to occupy the new building was Smith Olney, who taught in it as soon as completed. The "South Side School House," as it is called, was built in 1868. It is also a frame building, two stories, and cost $3,500. Fairbury is somewhat behind other towns and villages of its preten­tions [sic.], in the quality of its school buildings, which have quite a dingy, weather-beaten appearance. Though uncomely in exterior, they are substantial in struc­ture and comfortable inside, and the village, it is said, supports most excellent schools. The Principal and corps of Teachers for the school year just closed, are as follows: Prof. C. H. Rew. Principal of High School Department; Miss

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M. M. Daly, Assistant in High School Department; Miss Ella B. Erwin, Teacher of Second Grammar Department; Philip Hutchinson, Teacher of First Grammar Department; Miss Della Chesebrough, Teacher of Second Interme­diate; Miss Cynthia E. Earnhart, Teacher of First Intermediate; Miss Laura Colvin, Teacher of Second Primary; Miss Anna E. McDowell, Teacher of South Primary; Mrs. S. M. Hempstead, Teacher of North Primary; Miss Mary Kilbury, Teacher of West Primary and Intermediate School. For the coming year, some few changes are made, but most of the old teachers remain. The following is the roster: Prof. C. H. Rew, Superintendent and Principal of High School Department; Miss Della Chesebrough, Assistant in High School Department; T. W. Gore, Teacher in First Grammar Department; Miss Ella B. Erwin, Teacher in Second Grammar Department; Miss Cynthia E. Earnhart, Teacher in First Intermediate; Miss Mary Kilbury, Teacher in Second Intermediate; Mrs. S. M. Hempstead, Teacher in First Primary, North Side; Miss Anna E. McDowell, Teacher in First Primary, South Side: MissFlora Potter, Teacher in Second Primary, South Side, Miss Ellen Vanover, Teacher in Second Primary, North Side. The attendance during the school year averages about 500 pupils for the two schools. Both of these schools are under the supervision of one Principal, Mr. Rew. They are graded, and have what is termed a High School Department, though not High Schools in the strict acceptation of the term.
The first church societies organized in Fairbury were the Methodist and Presbyterian. The Methodist Church was organized in July, 1858, under the ministerial labors of Rev. J. W. Stubbles, with the following members; Francis J. Moore, Garrison Bowen, Rachel Bowen, ----- Busey, Nancy Busey, Dr. L. Beech, Edith Beech, John Kring, Rachel Kring, Catherine Kring and John Potter. But few of these are members still, viz.: Francis J. Moore, Dr. L. Beech, John Kring, Catherine Kring, Rachel Kring, and John Potter. The others are either dead or have moved away. The first church building was erected in the Fail of 1858, and was a frame, 32x55 feet, dedicated, in the latter part of the year, by Rev. J. W. Flowers, Presiding Elder. It was enlarged in 1866 under the pastorate of Rev. J. E. Rutledge. In the spring of 1874, Dr. L. Beech, a zealous member of the church and a man of broad and liberal benevolence, headed a subscription for a new church edifice, to cost from ten to twelve thousand dollars. Dr. Beech subscribed $2,000; others put down their names for liberal amounts, and thus several thousand dollars were raised. Nothing was done, however, until the Summer of 1876, when the Trustees deter­mined to put up a substantial brick, 45x75 feet, one full story and a basement. The basement was finished in the Fall of 1876, and was dedicated by Rev. R. G. Pierce, R. B. Williams, Pastor. It was intended, in the following Fall, to have the audience room on the second floor completed, but, on the 2d day of July, 1877, a fearful tornado passed over the village, and the church was laid in ruins. In the Fall of 1877, Rev. J. Wilkinson was appointed Pastor, and

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the society, though somewhat discouraged, had determined to rebuild. Largely through the generosity of Ben Walton, an elegant brick church was erected on the foundation of the old one, and was dedicated January 20, 1878, by Rev. W. H. H. Adams, D. D., of Bloomington. The present membership of the church is 280. The first Methodist Sunday school was organized in the Spring of 1859, with Jacob Hunt as Superintendent. It is in a flourishing condition at present, and an average of about 300 children attend.
The Presbyterian society was organized July 25, 1858, with 10 original members. The first Pastor was Rev. Benjamin B. Drake. The church was built in 1862, and is a frame, 25x40 feet, costing $750. It was dedicated, when completed, by Rev. A. Eddy. The present Pastor is Rev. T. Hemp­stead, and his church numbers 88 members. A Sunday school was organized in 1863, with William Mitchell as Superintendent. With the periods of lan­guishing, usual to such organizations, it still exists, and is in quite a flourishing condition at this time. A few years after the organization of the Presbyterina [sic.] Church, it divided into the Old and New Schools, and the latter branch built a church similar to that worshiped in by the other; but, re-uniting again in a short time, the New School church was sold to the Ormish society, who still occupy it, having preaching regularly, a flourishing membership and a large congregation.
The Baptist Church was erected in 1865, but the society was organized several years previous. It is a brick edifice, 38x50 feet, costing $3,000, and was dedicated by Rev. J. Cairns, at the time its Pastor. At present, it has a large membership, and Rev. G. D. Merritt is Pastor. Its Sunday school was organized in 1864, the year before the building of the church. William Car­penter is the Superintendent, and about 140 children attend on an average.
The Roman Catholic congregation was organized about 1857, and was visited from that time, semi-annually, by Rev. B. Lonergan, of Wilmington, until 1867, when the mission was attached to Pontiac, a resident priest having been appointed there. This priest, whose name was O'Neill, was one of the oldest priests in America, the first Irish priest who ever came west of the Alle­ghanies [sic.], and was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Quigley, now of Henry, Ill. The congregation, however, had not assumed any permanent organization until 1868, when, under the leadership of Rev. John A. Fanning, the present Pas­tor, a frame church was built, 33x60 feet, to which important additions have been made, at a total cost, up to the present time, of about $4,000. The original membership consisted of some thirty families, and has since then increased to about one hundred and twenty-five families. The church edifice was dedicated on the 24th of June, to St. John the Baptist, by Rev. C. Gonaut, of Chebanse, assisted by the Pastor and other clergymen. The Sun­day school of this church was organized contemporaneously with the congrega­tion. Its first Superintendent was Owen McKay, now of Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory.

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As early as 1862, movements were made here toward developing the coal fields, believed to exist sufficiently near the surface to be reached with light expense. In the Fall of this year, H. L. Marsh commenced to sink the west shaft, and at the distance of 216 feet, struck the first vein of coal, which varies from four and a half to five feet in thickness, and produces a very fair quality of coal. At a distance of 180 feet below this vein another was found, but not of sufficient thickness to warrant its being profitably worked. It is the best coal, however, in any of the neighboring shafts, but, to quote the slang of the day, it is "too thin " to be valuable. To sink this shaft and equip it for work has cost altogether about $30,000; the works have a capacity for taking out at least five hundred tons daily, but the demand has never required it to run to the full extent of its ability. Some years ago, it passed into the hands of Eastern capitalists, who leased it to Knight & Gibb, of Fairbury, for two and a half years, which term, we believe, has expired, and the mine is at present idle, except in keeping the water pumped out. This was the first shaft sunk between Braidwood and Alton, where more than a hundred now perforate the ground. It for some time proved an expen­sive affair on account of so much water, and the third shaft was sunk before one could be secured against overflow.
The east shaft was commenced in April, 1867, and struck a profitable vein of coal at a depth of one hundred and sixty feet. This shaft was originally begun by a stock company, consisting of Jones, Amsbury, Darnall, Gibb, Atkins and Archer. Amsbury and Jones were the principal business men, and Gibb the Superintendent. The sinking of the shaft at that time cost about $15,000, but could be done for, perhaps, half the amount now. A few years after the opening of the shaft, Gibb leased it from the company, and has been operating it advantageously for the past four years. Mr. Gibb is a native of Scotland, and has been in this country since 1852. He thoroughly under­stands coal mining, and under his supervision this shaft yields on an average seventy-five tons daily, the year round. At present, they supply the railroad Companies 1,000 tons per month, while the remainder is mostly disposed of to the local trade. The different formations passed through in reaching the coal were yellow clay immediately after the soil, then quite a thickness of blue clay, after which a considerable stratum of soft stone - usually called soapstone - and then a vein of lime rock, followed by a shelly sandstone, with thin layers of sand between the layers of rock, when coal was struck. A peculiarity of the country here is the difference in the formations passed through in these shafts, which are not more than two miles apart. In the west end shaft, the clay is about the same as in the other, but much more water; after passing through the clay, two strata of lime ledges were met with; then a stratum of red fire-clay, and after it about eighty feet of shelly lime rock, followed by thirty feet of soap­stone, underlying which was the first vein of coal. In the new shaft. sunk the present season, about midway between the other two, a very soft, red rock was

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found in large quantities, and which is supposed to contain mineral properties that may be converted into something valuable. This vein, or bed of stone was found at a depth of about eighty feet, and is seven feet in thickness.
Speaking of it at the time, the Independent Blade said:

The stone is strongly impregnated with mineral, mostly iron. In color it is gray and dark brown. It also has an oily substance, that shows itself very plainly when immersed in water, the oil rising to the surface. Experiments have been made with this stone ground to powder and mixed with oil for painting purposes, and to all appearances it makes an excellent. article. We have samples of this paint in this office, which may be seen. Further tests will be made, and should it turn out as is now anticipated, there is a mine of wealth in it, and the manufacture of mineral paint may be commenced at once in this city.

This shaft is owned by Knight, Gibb & Co. They bought six acres of Mr. Marsh, with the privilege of mining under seventy acres more, belonging to the same party. They reached coal - a vein four and a half feet thick - at a depth of 176 feet, and at an expenditure of about $10,000. This is the third shaft that has been successfully sunk in the environs of Fairbury, and, next to grain, coal mining is the most extensive line of business engaged in by its citizens. Aside from the amount furnished the railroads, the trade is of a local character, mostly, and very extensive of that kind.
The first bank was established in Fairbury by Judge McDowell and Nathan E. Lyman, in 1864, and was known as the Fairbury Bank. In 1867, Jno. J. Taylor was admitted a partner, and it finally developed into the First National Bank, and was organized as such in 1874, with Isaac P. McDowell as President, and Nathan E. Lyman (now of Rockford, Ill. ) as Cashier. I. P. McDowell is still President, and T. S. O. McDowell is Cashier. Bartlett, Beech & Dominy commenced the banking business June 15, 1874, and still conduct it in all its branches.
A woolen-mill was built here about the year 1867-68, by three brothers from New York, named Barnard. It was supposed at one time that sheep raising would prove a very profitable business in this section of the country, and a number of farmers embarked in it extensively. A man named Hiner. living a little west of Fairbury, had at one time over 1,300 head of sheep, but after considerable experimenting, it was found to be a failure. Owing to the wet nature of so much of the land, the disease called "foot rot " prevailed to an extent to render the raising of sheep not only expensive, but entirely profitless, and it was finally abandoned altogether. From this fact, the woolen-mill proved  a failure, and the parties owning it took out the machinery and moved it to Los Angelos [sic.], Cal., where sheep are a spontaneous growth and are cultivated to an extent calculated to make a mill of its caliber profitable. The Chicago Paducah Railroad Company purchased the old building, after the machinery had been removed, with the intention of converting it into a grain elevator, but the partial failure of crops for the past year or two has prevented, and it still stands an empty shell, a monument of misplaced investment.
The Fairbury Union Agricultural Board was incorporated under legislative act in 1876. The certificate of organization is signed by Geo. H. Harlow, Secre-

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tary of State, under the great seal, and is dated January 19, 1876. It was organ­ized and officers duly elected March 25th, as follows: John Virgin, President; John G. Steers, Vice President; C. C. Bartlett, Treasurer, and Smith Olney, Secretary. The first Board of Directors were Jacob B. Bally, Stephen Herr, Henry Kingman, John F. Myers, Henry Skinner and George W. Myers, whose terms expire in 1877; and Robert Elmore, J. F. Earnhart, Owen Finegan, D. L. Murdock, R. E. Norman, D. R. Putter and Benjamin Cumpston, whose terms expire in 1878. Their grounds consist of about twenty-one acres of land, pur­chased at an aggregate cost of $2,800 and are located just south of the village and are excellently adapted to the purpose for which they are used. They are well improved and enclosed with a substantial fence and have large and com­modious buildings.
The first exhibition of the association was held in September, 1876, and con­tinued four days. The last election of officers resulted as follows: John Virgin, President; Joel Strawn, Vice President; C. C. Bartlett, Treasurer, and H. L. Bruce, Secretary. It is a Union Association of Livingston and McLean Coun­ties; is in a flourishing condition and is patronized and supported by both counties in a liberal manner.
The Masonic and Odd Fellows' societies are well represented in the village of Fairbury, by all the grades of those honorable bodies. Tarbolton Lodge, No. 351, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, was chartered October 3, 1860, and the document authorizing its existence as a body was signed by D. C. Cre­gier, Grand Master of Illinois at that time, and J. H. Miles, Grand Secretary. Charter members - Aaron Weider, L. H. Nash, R. Rumbold, J. B. Hulsey, O. P. Ross, S. C. Roberts, H. Remington and some others, of whom O. P. Ross and H. Remington alone are now members. Aaron Weider was the first Worshipful Master. At present, Smith Olney is Master; T. W. Duffey, Sec­retary, and 104 members are on the records. The Lodge Hall was burned March 29, 1875, and the loss in paraphernalia, furniture, etc., was about $2,000. The hall did not belong to them, but was rented for Lodge purposes, so that the loss of the building did not fall on them. The Lodge was originally organized and continued to meet there until other rooms were pro­cured.
Fairbury Chapter, No. 99, Royal Arch Masons, was chartered October 5, 1866, and their charter signed by J. A. DeLancey, Grand High Priest of the State, and J. H. Miles, Grand Secretary. The first High Priest was J. W. Peck, and H. Remington was the first Secretary. At present, W. H. Allen is High Priest, and Smith Olney, Secretary, with a present membership of 83.
Fairbury Council. No. 36, Royal and Select Masters, was chartered January 11, 1868, and J. W. Peck was the first T. I. G. M., and M. Osman the first Recorder. By a joint act of the Grand Chapter and the Grand Council of Illinois, the degrees of the latter are now conferred in the Chapter, and the Council, as a body, is discontinued.

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St. Paul Commandery, No. 36, Knight Templars, was chartered Oct. 26, 1870. Sir D. C. Cregier was then Grand Commander of the State, and as such signed the charter authorizing its organization. The first Eminent Com­mander was Sir J. J. Wright, and Sir John Zimmerman, Recorder. There are at present 56 members upon the books, and Sir John Zimmerman is Com­mander, and Sir Demas Elliott, Recorder.
Livingston Lodge, No. 290, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was organized under dispensation August 15, 1860, and chartered Oct. 12th of the same year. The charter members were J. F. Blackburn, John J. Young, W. H. Strevelle, John T. Bowen and John Zimmerman. Of these, there are still living Blackburn and Zimmerman, but the latter only is still a member of the body. The present Noble Grand is J. F. Earnhart, and J. M. Thornton is Sec­retary, with 44 members.
Fairbury Encampment, No. 71, I. O. O. F., was chartered Oct. 8, 1867, and has a large membership. At present, Benj. P. Lightfoot is Chief Patriarch; T. W. Gore, Scribe.
The history of the press extends back but a dozen years in this little city. In 1866, H. S. Decker commenced the publication of a paper called the Journal, in Fairbury, but soon sold out to I. P. McDowell, who, after a short time, sold it to a man named Eastman, and he continued to publish it until 1873. In 1871, the Dimmicks commenced the publication of the Independent and in 1876, C. B. Holmes commenced the Blade. These papers were pub­lished in the interests of the east and west ends of the village for a time, when J. S. Scibird, formerly of Bloomington, purchased the two, and consolidated them, upon the principle that "in union there is strength," and from the com­bination brought forth a kind of journalistic Siamese twins, known as the Independent-Blade. It is independent in politics, well and ably edited, and is one of the flourishing newspapers of the county.
John Virgin, J. C. Morrison and Decatur Veach formed a company, some years ago, for the purpose of importing Norman horses. In 1870, Virgin was sent out and brought the first lot across the Atlantic to this county. Their partnership was soon dissolved by the death of Veach, but Virgin still continues in the business, and has imported some very fine specimens of this popular breed.
The most extensive manufacturing of any kind in the village is George W. Kring's. He commenced, in 1866, the manufacture of cultivators, a business he is still engaged in. Lately, he has added the manufacture of check-rowers, which he makes a specialty.
The village of Fairbury makes no pretensions to wholesale business, or to extensive manufacturing, but is merely a retail place, and as such every line of business is well represented. Many large mercantile firms, whose bases no financial storms can shake, are doing a heavy but safe business.
As noted in another place, this village and township have the advantage of two railroads. The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw, formerly known as the Peoria

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& Oquawka Railroad, in the early period of its existence had a hard struggle for life. It was poor and moneyless, and, as is usually the case under such circum­stances, every one gave it a kick down the hill. No stock was taken in it in this immediate vicinity, except a little toward building a station. Owing to their straitened circumstances, and their inability to pay their obligations, the bitterest enmity arose between the road and the town, and attachments were made against everything in the way of property belonging to the road, liable to such process, and even freight bills were garnisheed before they could be collected. Every occasion was sought to annoy each other, and they did not always stop at annoyance, but did considerable injury. A train passed through the town one very dry, windy day at full speed, with fires and steam at a high stage, and emitting from its smoke-stack great blazing cinders, which caught in some combustible matter, communicated to the town, and a destructive confla­gration was the result. When the train arrived at Forrest, the next station, the engineer looked back and saw the dense smoke, then remarked that he set the town of Fairbury on fire as he came through. The road, how­ever, lived and prospered, and grew out of its financial troubles, and is to-day one of the prosperous roads in the country. Its name was changed from Peoria & Oquawka to Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway, and it is a great trunk line between East and West. It was finished through here in 1857, and there are few roads at the present time in the State of Illinois that are doing a heavier business.
The Chicago & Paducah Road is a valuable addition to this section of the county, as it unites it by rail with the county seat, and also gives competi­tion in the shipment of freights, which are extremely heavy from this point - ­as much, perhaps, as from any other in Livingston County. As an illustra­tion of its importance, we give some statistical facts, kindly furnished by Mr. Winters, of the Toledo, Peoria, & Warsaw, and Mr. Rogers, of the Chicago & Paducah, which are as follows for the  year 1871:

TOLEDO, PEORIA & WARSAW RAILROAD.

Freight forwarded

600 car loads in bulk.

Freight forwarded

60 car loads stock.

Freight forwarded

300 car loads of coal.

Total Freight forwarded for the year

About 960 car loads.

Amount received on freight for year 1877, about

$24,000.00

Amount of ticket sales for ear 1877

12,000.00

CHICAGO & PADUCAH RAILROAD

Freight forwarded - total grain, stock and coal

617 car loads.

Amount received on freight for 1877

$17,617.84

Amount ticket sales for 1877

7,990.20

Fairbury has been a most unfortunate town in the way of fires, and it would be rather difficult, perhaps, to find another place of its size that has been so often and so disastrously visited by the "fire fiend." The first great fire occur­red in October, 1868, and is the one already alluded to as catching from a pass-

346
ing locomotive, on the T., P. & W. R. R. It commenced in the Dresser Warehouse, located in East End, and communicated to a row of wooden build­ings on the north side of Locust street. Eighteen stores were burned, little of the contents saved, and the loss estimated at $75,000. Two other serious fires occurred in 1869, though neither was quite as destructive as the one just men­tioned. In the month of February, a fire broke out in a frame store building on the corner of Locust and Fourth streets, belonging to I. P. McDowell, and communicated to a row of wooden buildings adjoining on the west. Ten buildings were burned, some goods saved, and loss estimated at $20,000. Another fire occurred this year. It originated in a wagon shop, owned by N. S. McDonald, in the West End, and simultaneously in Elliott's Jewelry store, in East End, as though by a preconcerted arrangement of incendiaries to burn and plunder the entire town. Seven buildings were totally destroyed, with a loss of about $12,500. .
In addition to the hostile feelings mentioned as existing between the vil­lage and the T., P. & W. Railway, for years, quite a kindred feeling existed between the east and west ends of the village, and mutterings, "deep and dire,'' were often indulged in between the sections, which bade fair, at times, to burst out like some of their own conflagrations. As this is an unpleasant part of our work, however, we will draw the veil over these human frailties, with a Bible admonition to the citizens, to "dwell together in unity."
The village has provided itself with a pretty good and efficient fire depart­ment, and organized volunteer companies. In 1874 they purchased a couple hand engines, at a cost of about $1,800, and the village government allowed them $100 for keeping their fire tackle in good working order, while the remain­der of their services is gratuitous.
One of the most interesting and exciting little incidents that has ever occurred in this village, perhaps. was the first exercising of the rights of fran­chise by a member of the "Fifteenth Amendment." Richard Quarles, known nearly all over McLean and Livingston Counties as "Side Hill Dick," on account of one leg being several inches shorter than the other, was the first colored man to cast a ballot at an election in Fairbury. The occasion was the election of township officers, in the Spring of 1870, and called out nearly as many people, to witness the performance, as would a circus. But no one chal­lenged or contested his right to vote, and it passed off all in good humor.
There are living in and around Fairbury about 100 negroes. They came mostly from Mr. Sullivant's, in Ford County, who imported them to work on his large farm; but as times grew hard and dull, he would get rid  of his colored help, and they would wander toward Fairbury, where they found homes. They have always conducted themselves in an orderly manner, with a disposi­tion to work and get along in the world. The Supervisor says he has given less charity to negroes, in proportion, than to whites; and, taken all together, nothing can truthfully be said to their disadvantage. They have a church, of

349
the Methodist Episcopal denomination, with a regular Pastor, Rev. Aaron Ward, of Pontiac, and a local preacher, also, Rev. Washington Farrer. A Sunday school is in full operation at their church, under the superintendence of James Allen, which is well attended. Their children go to the common schools, and share all the advantages of education equally with white chil­dren.
The village has a very handsome little cemetery, which was surveyed by Isaac R. Clarke, August 30, 1855, and was originally one-fourth of northwest quarter of Section 2, and has had an addition made to it since it was laid out, of about six acres of ground. It is well improved and set in trees and shrub­bery, and much respect shown by the living to the dead. The first burial in this cemetery was a Mrs. Hughes, wife of David Hughes, and was interred soon after the grounds were laid out.
Fairbury was originally called South Avoca, but was changed by Chenute, as noted in another place. It is situated at the crossing of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw and the Chicago & Paducah Railroads, twelve miles from Pontiac and 103 miles from Chicago. Though claiming a population variously estimated at from 2,500 to 3,000, it is still under village organization. The bar is repre­sented here by Hon. D. L. Murdock, State's Attorney, Judge W. G. McDowell, A. J. Clarke, R. T. Perry and J. D. Fraley, all of whom are men of ability. There are other able men in the place, but space forbids the mention of the names of all who have distinguished themselves, but will give  only the following, who were identified with the army during the late war: Jo. H. Scibird, Major of the Seventh Illinois Infantry; John W. Morris, Captain of Company C, Sixty-eighth Illinois Infantry; J. M. Wright, Lieutenant in the Second Illinois Cavalry; John Zimmerman, Lieutenant in the Third Illinois Cavalry; H. H. Stafford, First Lieutenant Company H, Seventy-second Indiana Infantry, living at present in Fairbury.
The following went into the army from Fairbury, but are now residing in other places: Rev. A. J. Cropsey, a Methodist preacher, Major of the one Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry, and since the war has represented his district in the Lower House of the State Legislature. He at present lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. B. E. Robinson, First Lieutenant Company I, Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served a full term in Andersonville prison, with all its horrors. He has served three terms as Sheriff of Livingston Comity, having been elected in 1872, 1874 and 1876,  and is a candidate again for re-election. No man has ever held the office three terms in succession since township organization. Byron Phelps, a son of Orin Phelps, mentioned as one of the early settlers of Forrest Township, was a Lieutenant in the Third Illinois Cavalry, and after the close of the war was elected County Clerk, an office he filled satisfactorily for four years, and at present lives Decatur, Ill. Aaron Welder was an officer in the Third Cavalry, and after the war was Treasurer of the county for four years. W. H. H. McDowell was Second Lieutenant in

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the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Illinois Infantry, and lives now in Pontiac. As to those who carried muskets, their names and regiments will be found in the general war record, on another page of this work. Henry H. Rogers, a son of S. S. Rogers, of Fairbury, was educated at the Naval Academy at Annapo­lis, Md.; and when he graduated last Summer (1877), was appointed a midship­man on board of the U. S. steamer Pensacola, and is at present stationed at Mare Island, near San Francisco.
The medical fraternity of the village is as follows: Drs. S. M. & H. E. W. Barnes, J. F. Fraley, D. Brewer and James Pearson; Dr. J. R. Rayburn, dentist.
Fairbury Guards, Company C, Tenth Battalion of the Illinois State Guards, with regimental headquarters at Dwight, Ill., was organized in October, 1877, with the following officers: J. L. Sacriste, Captain; J. M. Wright, First Lieutenant; J. W. Morris, Second Lieutenant; and J. S. DeWolf, Orderly Sergeant.
Last but not least in the history of the village of Fairbury, we would men­tion in the most complimentary terms the Scibird Zouave Cadets, a company of small boys from 10 to 14 years old, and but recently organized into a military company. They have now forty members, and are being drilled in genuine military style by J. H. Scibird, Major of the Seventieth Illinois In­fantry, during the late war. Their uniform consists of red pants, blue shirts, red caps with blue top, white stockings and shoes. They have toy guns made under the direction of Maj. Scibird, and are pine stocks with tin barrels. Maj. Scibird takes great pride in drilling the little fellows, and, in justice to them, we must say that they do honor to their drill-master. Their evolutions are per­formed with perfect military precision, and older soldiers might learn much from their maneuvers. The country need fear no danger from enemies at home, or from foes abroad, which produces such manly and soldierly little boys as the Zouave Cadets. The following are their officers: Joe H. Scibird, Captain;* Thomas Baker, First Lieutenant; Willie Van Doorn, Second Lieutenant; Charley Rettenmayer, First Sergeant; Herman Gillett, Second Sergeant; Fred Baker, Third Sergeant; Frank Duell, Fourth Sergeant; Fred Wright, Fifth Sergeant; Grant McDowell, First Corporal; George Decker, Second Corporal; Clarence Murdock, Third Corporal; Eddie Smith, Fourth Corporal; Thomas Langabeer, Fifth Corporal; Henry Sweet, Sixth Corporal; Bruce Amsbury, Seventh Corporal; Robby Mack, Eighth Corporal.
And perhaps Napoleon, Wellington, Washington or Lee never wore their official greatness with more dignity than do these embryo generals. But we leave them with a word of encouragement. and a kind wish for their future happiness :
"There's a page in their story, too bright to be lost'.
 May souls so heroic win laurels and praises
 Eternal, beyond where the dark stream is crossed."
*The boys insisted on Maj. Scibird, who had organized and drilled them, being their Captain, and so unanimously elected him.

351
BELLE PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP.
Belle Prairie is known as Township 25 north, Range 6 east of the 3d Prin­cipal Meridian, and is fractional, containing only about half the amount of ter­ritory embraced in a regular Congressional Township. It lies in the extreme southern part of the county, bounded on the south and west by Ford and Mc­Lean Counties; on the east by Fayette Township; on the north by Indian Grove, and is all prairie land, except a small body, comprising but a section or so, adjoining the latter township. The land is rolling, or gently undulating, affording good drainage, and the soil is rich and very productive. It is entirely devoted to farming and stock-raising, and contains no cities or villages, nor even a post office or store. However, the people are not deprived of these accom­paniments of civilization. There are plenty of them within easy reach, and several situated on the territorial limits, are liberally patronized and supported by the citizens of Belle Prairie.
This township is noted for being the scene of the first permanent settlement in Livingston County. In the Fall of 1830, a single emigrant wagon drew up at the head of the grove of timber, afterward named by the whites Indian Grove, and the owner of the wagon, or "prairie schooner," as the big "cov­ered wagons " of the emigrants were sometimes called, proceeded to pitch his tent on the banks of Indian Creek, which has its source in this vicinity. This early pioneer was Valentine Martin Darnall, recognized as the first actual set­tler of the county. He was born in Virginia, and, when a mere child, his parents removed to Kentucky, and settled in Boone County, one and a quarter miles from Boonesboro, the site of the first settlement made in the "Dark and Bloody Ground" by the "pale face," and where Daniel Boone, the pioneer, built a fort more than a century ago. His parents died there while he was yet quite young, and some years after attaining his manhood, and having taken to himself a life partner, he came to Illinois, arriving in the settlement above Pleasant Hill, on the Mackinaw River; in October, 1830. He had three brothers-in-law living at that place, and he left his wagon and family with them while he came over to Indian Grove on a prospecting tour. After deciding upon his location, he borrowed a wagon from a brother-in-law to avoid unloading, and again loading his own, and having procured some grain, went over an the San­gamon River, eight miles from Springfield. to mill,* as he could not live, he says, even in a wilderness, without something to eat. He was gone fourteen days, as the miller couldn't or wouldn't grind for him sooner, nor hire him the mill to grind it for himself. On the 26th of October. he got back to the settle­ment, and on the 27th came over to the spot destined to be his home for many years. The first thing after pitching his tent, and getting "a bite to eat," was to cut down a "board tree" and "chop off a cut" - he had no saw - which he cut eight feet long and quartered, in order that he might "rive" boards by fire­
*The mill was owned by a man named Archie.

352
light. He informed us that he would cut house logs during the day and make boards at night, and that on the 1st day of November he raised his first cabin. His help came from the settlement at Mackinaw, a distance of ten or twelve miles, raised the house, covered it, and a portion of them went home the same day. There were no nails in this country then, and where they were needed wooden pins were used. This ancient relic, perhaps the first cabin built in Livingston County, has long ago crumbled into ruins, but a "smoke house " built the next Spring by Mr. Darnall is still standing and in a good state of preservation. It is built of red elm logs, and the original door, which is a model of architectural genius, is still to it and doing duty as such. It was made without a nail, and the frame is a small forked sapling, one prong being straight, the other standing out at an angle of about forty-five degrees, with a cross piece "let in" at the top of the straight one, and to these unique "battens" heavy slabs are fastened with wooden pins. This style of door was quite fashionable in this section of the country forty odd Years ago.
The Winter of the deep snow was the first after his settlement here. The snow commenced falling in the latter part of December and continued until it was four feet deep on the level. He had gone to Mackinaw with a wagon and two horses, for his Winter's pork, which he had bought in that settlement. And there the great snow storm caught him. Finding it impossible to get back with his team, he left his wagon and one horse at the settlement, and, wrapping him­self up securely to keep from freezing, mounted the other horse, and, with half a hog before him to live on while the snow might last, started for home. His route lay across the open prairie, and without compass or any mark for a guide, save the direction the snow was drifted by the wind, he struggled against the storm. The wind was blowing and the air filled with snow, so that at times  he could see but a few yards distant. With sad forebodings of what might be the fate of his wife and little children through the short wintry day that seemed to him very long, he toiled on through the Snow, which, he informed us, on an average, came to his knees, as his noble beast waded through it. As the shades of evening began to gather around him, an when almost ready to give up as lost on the prairie, the sun, just before setting, burst from the clouds that had shrouded his face all day, and, as his last lingering ray reflected across the great fields of snow, they tinged with gold the tops of the trees which he knew surrounded his cabin. He says, that his feelings just then may be imagined, but not easily described. But his own precarious situation had caused little of his uneasiness. He had been absent four days, and for the first time in his married life, had failed to reach home at the time he had promised his wife that he would return, and he knew not but that he would find them frozen to death. Anxious as he was. however, to learn their fate, yet knowing that if the snow remained on the ground all Winter, they could not (if his family was alive) get along without something to eat, he went out of his way, after discovering the grove of timber, to see four wild hogs that he had been trying  some time to tame

353
They were so hungry that they followed him as far as the creek without trouble. He found his family as comfortably situated as could be expected under the cir­cumstances. The snow, where the wind had whirled it around his cabin, was in places eight feet deep. When he left home, he had three young calves in a rail pen in the yard, and, after the snow came, his wife succeeded in getting them out of the pen, and into their cabin by the fire to prevent their freezing. She had dressed herself in a pair of her husband's trousers, to the better enable her to get through the snow, and had cleared it away from the calf and sheep pens. Mr. Darnall, the next day after his return home, went back and suc­ceeded in getting his wild hogs home, two of which found their way into his scanty larder during the Winter. Through the period that the snow remained, he cut timber enough to make 3,000 rails. He would cut down a tree, then tramp a road to it through the snow, so that his cattle and sheep could get to it and "browse" off the branches. It was thus, together with a very small allow­ance of dry corn, that he wintered nine head of cattle and fifteen sheep without losing a single one. There was a plum thicket near his cabin, where the snow had drifted up eight or ten feet deep, and after a crust had formed on it, the sheep would go up and browse off the tops of the bushes. When the snow melted away, the tops of the plum trees were sticking full of wool plucked from the sheep during the Winter. Of four horses he had when he settled here, three of them died the first year with the milk sickness, and he was forced to use oxen for sometime afterward. It was two months, lacking three days, from the time he had left the settlement on the Mackinaw, before he saw a human being except his own family, and his friends there were wholly ignorant and power­less to learn whether he had reached home or perished in the snow. When, at the expiration of tile time mentioned (two months), his brother-in-law came over to learn the fate of him and his family, he was rejoiced to find them all well and enjoying life to the utmost. As already stated, this is pronounced the first permanent settlement in Livingston County, as well as the first in Belle Prairie Township. And we would mention, in this connection, that Mr. Darnall is still living, a hearty and vigorous old. man, considering that he has borne the sun­shine and storms of eighty years. But his good wife, the companion of his early toils and privations, left him in September, 1872, for a home up beyond the blue skies, where the weary find rest.
The next settlement was made in this township by William Spence, * in 1831 He was a son of Malachi Spence, one of the early Settlers of Indian Grove Township. He came from Indiana to this settlement, but was originally from Kentucky, where all the Spences and Darnalls came from.
In 1834, Jeremiah Travis, James Cooper and Hugh Steers made claims in the settlement, upon which they located. The two former were from Tennessee, an the latter from Kentucky. Travis was the first white man to strike a fire on the west side of Indian Grove timber, a fact of which he was always quite
*Williamson Spence, though usually called William.

354
proud. He died upon his original settlement, in 1844. James Cooper remained in the settlement, a good citizen, until 1865, when he died. Steers died in a few years after coming to the country.
Spencer Kates, Benjamin Hieronymous and Decatur Veach are from Ken­tucky. Kates settled here in 1835-6, where he remained until about the year 1864, when he sold out and removed to Oregon. Hieronymous came to the settlement in 1838, and made a claim, on which he still lives, a highly-respected citizen. He informed us that he had hauled grain to Chicago when they had to go around by Naperville; that he had hauled peaches and other fruits there - ­had teamed it to that city, in fact, almost constantly for twenty-five years, before the day of railroads. Veach is among the early settlers of this township, and is said to have been the first Abolitionist in Livingston County.
Charles Jones and his son, Thomas Jones, and Orin Phelps came from New Jersey and settled, first, in what comprises at the present day Forrest Town­ship, in the history of which further mention is made of them. Thomas Jones settled in Belle Prairie at an early day, having remained in Forrest but a few years. After farming successfully for a number of years, he rented out his farm, which is one of the finest in Belle Prairie, and removed to Fairbury, where he engaged extensively in the grain business, but has recently quit it, and is at present superintending his farm.
The foregoing names comprise all the early settlers in this township of whom we have been able to obtain any definite information, and these settled in and around the small body of timber at the head of Indian Grove; and it was a number of years before a settlement was made out on the prairie. Mr. Dar­nall says that, when he settled in the country, he entertained not the remotest idea of ever living to see a settlement made on the prairie. Benjamin Walton was the first to venture out beyond the shelter of the timber. He was the first permanent settler on the prairie in this township, and was generally pronounced a lunatic for building a house away out on what was termed a "barren waste." He came from the old Quaker State, though stoutly denies being a Pennsyl­vania Dutchman, and settled here in 1854, buying a claim from a man named De Board, who had made a little opening on the prairie, but soon got disgusted and left it. The whole broad prairies in this section were then unbroken save by the beaten paths of wild beasts, or the neighbors' stock which grazed upon them uninterruptedly.
Mr. Walton was one of the first men in the country to advocate a stock law, and resolutions on the subject, offered by him at the county fair at Pontiac, went the rounds of the press and circulated extensively over the Western States. He argued the question on all occasions, and the debates of him and Rev. John Darnall, who lived in Indian Grove Township and took ground against the proposed measure, are quite voluminous, and, if printed, would make a rather interesting volume. Another enterprise of his was the putting up of stone corners to each section of land in the township. He made the move, and, after encounter-

355
ing considerable opposition, succeeded in carrying the point, and, to-day, every section of land in Belle Prairie Township has stones, weighing not less than two hundred pounds, at each corner. Walton is a zealous temperance man, and has published a pamphlet in the interests of the cause, in which his views are ably given. Some years ago, he removed to Fairbury, where he still lives, an enterprising business man.
R. B. Harrington came from New York, and is another of the early settlers on the prairie. While not fully ranking as an old settler, he was a man of much prominence, and deserves special mention. He was the second Super­visor of the township, and through his popularity and good business qualities was elected County Clerk in 1861 on the Republican ticket. In 1865, he was re-elected to the office, and served another four Years. During his services as County Clerk, he is said to have been one of the most popular leaders of the party it has ever had in the county. He at present lives in Nebraska, where he holds some important office in the government.
Other settlers soon located on the prairie lands, and at the present time it is the most valuable and productive in the county.
As already stated, Belle Prairie had originally but a very small body of native timber. Since the commencement of settlements on the prairie, tree-­planting has been extensively engaged in by the farmers, and with considerable success. Walnut is the favorite timber thus cultivated, and many fine groves are found throughout the township. The nuts are planted in rows, and though a rather slow growth, the walnut is hardy and well adapted to this climate.
The first white child born in the settlement is supposed to have been Will­iam Steers, a son of Hugh Steers, and was born in 1834. The first wedding was that of William Spence and Miss Mary Darnall, and the license authorizing the solemnization of their nuptials was the first issued from the Clerk's office of Livingston County after its formation. They were married by Rev. John Darnall, in 1837. Benjamin Hieronymous and a Miss Darnall, sister to the bride just mentioned, were married soon after, and were probably the second marriage in the township. Apropos of weddings; when a son of Mr. Hieronymous was married, some years ago, to a Miss Post, of Pontiac, a local poet thus rhapsodized the event:
"Hieronymous stood by his Post­
The brave young Dick Hieronymus;
Said he, my dear, I feel almost
As if I was some blessed ghost.
Said she, I feel synonymous."
Who was the first to enter the dark valley of the shadow of death in this town­ship we were unable learn. But few settlements were made until a very late

356
day, and of the few early settlers, none now living can tell who was the first to pass away.
The first Justice of the Peace in Belle Prairie Township was Spencer Kates, and was commissioned as such about the year 1840, while this town was yet a part of Indian Grove Precinct. Jeremiah Travis was the first blacksmith, and plied his vocation from his first settlement, so far as the few scattering settler, required his services. He was also a chair maker, and many of his make are still to be found in this and surrounding neighborhoods. Who the first practicing physician was is a question involved in some doubt, but was, perhaps, Dr. Ostrander, mentioned elsewhere as one of the first physicians in this part of the county, and who practiced his profession in early times, all through this entire section.
The first church and the only one that has ever been built in this settlement is the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the southern part of the township. It is a good frame building, and was erected in 1865, at a cost of $1,500, and was dedicated, on its completion, by Rev. Mr. Rhodes, then Presiding Elder of the district. Rev. Mr. Sanders is the present Pastor; his church is in a flourishing condition, and has a large membership. A good Sunday school is in successful operation, with a large attendance every Sunday, and Rev. Mr. Sanders is the Superintendent. A comfortable parsonage is attached to the church, which is a very pleasant arrangement. A handsome and well-kept little cemetery has been laid off near the church, where many of its former worshipers sleep in peace. Mrs. Hanna was among the first buried in it, if not the first. Be that as it may, however, it is agreed that her monument was the first put up in the little graveyard. Although this church was not built until 1865, and the first settlement was made here thirty-five years before, it does not follow that the people were without religious instruction. The sound of the Gospel was heard here almost from the coming of white men; and their cabins and the groves served as sanctuaries of worship, until the building of school houses. Rev. John Darnall, Rev. David Sharpless and Rev. John Miller, mentioned in other parts of this work, were among the early preachers of the time.
In 1858, the first temple of learning was built in Belle Prairie Township. A few of the neighbors resolved to have a school house, and, upon consultation with carpenters and builders, found that it would cost more than they could well afford to pay. Finally, Ben Walton took the contract and proceeded at once to put up the building. He hauled the material from Pontiac, took what pay he could get, and eventually succeeded in collecting a sufficient amount to bring down his own quota to a fair proportion with that of his neighbors. The town is well supplied with good, substantial school houses at convenient distances from each other, and within easy reach of all. The school records furnish no interest to these pages. From the last report of the

357
Treasurer, David Crum, to the County Superintendent of Schools, we take
the following :

No. of males in township under 21 years

180

No. of females in township under 21 years

176

Total

356

No. of males in township between 6 and 21 years

146

No. of females in township between 6 and 21 years

134

Total

280

No. of males attending school

112

No. of females attending school

106

Total

218

No. of male teachers employed

4

No. of female teachers employed

10

Total

14

Amount paid male teachers

$800.00

Amount paid female teachers

1,360.00

Total

$2,160.00

Estimated value of school property

4,000.00

Amount of tax levy for support of schools

2,541.00

Principal of township fund

5,772.00

Politically, Belle Prairie was very strongly Democratic, in the days of Whigs and Locofocos, but, at the present time, it is more evenly contested on the political issues of the day; though still giving small Democratic majorities, when the party lines are closely drawn. While on this theme, a little episode which occurred at the village of Potosi, just over the border in McLean County, but with some of its suburban residences extending into Belle Prairie, may not be inappropriate. Just after the close of the war, and while Hon. R. J. Oglesby was Governor of Illinois, the Democrats around Potosi, both in Livingston and McLean Counties, raised a pole at a political gathering in the village and which some imprudent Democrat denominated a "secesh" " pole. The Republicans swore that the pole should not stand, while the Democrats swore that it should and in pure defiance had run up a string of butternuts on it. Excitement was at a white heat; the war had just ended, and the " bloody chasm'' still yawned between the parties. Serious apprehensions were entertained by the more conservative of both sides that the affair would end in blood, when some "blessed peacemaker" proposed to telegraph the circumstances to Gov. Oglesby, a man whose loyalty none dared question, and abide his decision. It was agreed to by both parties; the dispatch [sic.] was sent, and quick on the lightning's wing flashed back Oglesby's answer : "Let the Republicans go home and behave themselves, and let the Democrats take down their pole and save their nuts." This dispatch [sic.] created a laugh, and put the crowd in a good humor; all shook hands across the chasm, and went home in peace and quiet. It is said that the obnoxious butternuts were sent to Oglesby as a memento of

358
his timely and successful interference in their little broil, and that he has them care­fully laid away in his office; that he frequently takes them out of their resting place, relates the story to his friends, and enjoys a hearty laugh at the recollection.
Belle Prairie was set off from Indian Grove at the time of township organi­zation, and from that time until about the year 187l, embraced Fayette Town­ship within its limits. When the county was organized into townships, the first Supervisor of Belle Prairie was V. M. Darnall, its first settler. Its pres­ent officers are as follows: Supervisor, P. O. Abbey; D. S. Crum and Wm. Younger, Magistrates; Ira C. Pratt, Assessor; Richard Smith, Collector, and J. R. Spence, Town Clerk.
The name Belle Prairie was given to the township by R. B. Harrington, mentioned in another page, who seems to have been imbued with a keen sense of the glorious and beautiful. The country to which he gave the poetical name is fine and magnificent almost beyond description, and the name is as beautiful as the sweet wild flowers of its own prairies. The name provoked quite a dis­cussion among those who wanted one more practical and suggestive of every day life, but the other was finally adopted. There is not a village, post office or store in the township, but the majority of the inhabitants receive their mail at Potosi, just over the line in McLean County. Indeed, a part of the village is in Belle Prairie, but the store and post office are across the line.
The record of Belle Prairie was good during the late war. Notwithstanding it was usually termed a Copperhead stronghold, but one draft occurred during the war, and it was for but a half-dozen men. Through the energy and enterprise of Ben Walton, then one of the leading spirits of the town, substi­tutes were procured in three days for those drafted, and at lower figures than any neighboring town had to pay for the same kind of material. While the township claims no Major Generals, or very noted or distinguished officers of any rank, it does feel proud of its brave boys who went in at the beginning and fought it out on that line.

ODELL TOWNSHIP.
Perhaps but few better illustrations of what resolution, energy and industry will accomplish can be found than that displayed by the rise and progress of the town of Odell.
But a quarter of a century has passed since the first stroke was made which has proved to be the foundation of what is now, in intelligence, wealth and thrift, one of the foremost in the county. Twenty-five years, when looked at retrospectively, seems but a short period of time; but the changes which it has brought, not only to this community but to the country in general, are remark­able. A quarter of a century has seen what was literally "a desert waste" changed into a series of well-cultivated farms and gardens. Where then roamed the wild deer by the hundred, and skulked the wolf unscared, now graze the less romantic ox and the more practical pig and other domestic animals.

359
Where now stands the prosperous and beautiful little city, with its well-built and tasty residences, its lines of stores and shops, its churches and school houses, and tall trees, shading its well-kept streets, was then - simply nothing but the tall grass; not even enough more to fill out a well-rounded sentence.
The history of Odell and the township dates back no further than to the completion of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad. In fact, we may say the railroad is, in every sense of the word, the foundation of the town and its sur­roundings. - Not only so, but that the whole country through which it passes owes its development to this enterprise is a fact acknowledged and accepted by every one acquainted with the circumstances.
In 1854, with the exception of a few small and unthrifty villages, there was scarcely a human habitation between Joliet and Bloomington. Further west, the Illinois River had attracted many immigrants, and the smaller streams, with their belts of timber, had begun to show signs of settlement; but on account of the scarcity of fuel and lumber, none dared or even seemed to think of locat­ing on the prairie. But when the road was completed, these, together with all kinds of conveniences common to the oldest settlements, appeared at once, and there was nothing that money or produce could buy but was immediately fur­nished.
When we reflect that all of these houses, all of the stone, brick and lumber of which they are composed, all of the fences, all of the orchards in their pri­mary state, all of the agricultural and mechanical implements, together with their equivalents in the shape of grain, cattle, hogs, butter, eggs and poultry, have been transferred by a single line of road, and remember that this is only a single point out of several hundreds, we begin to realize the extent and impor­tance of this grand scheme.
In 1847, the Legislature of the State of Illinois passed an act authorizing the building of a railroad from Alton to Springfield, to be called the Alton & Sangamon Railroad. and, in 1851, the charter was so amended as to include a line to Bloomington, to which place it was completed the following year.
Also, in 1851, the Legislature granted a charter for the building of what was Known as the Chicago & Mississippi Railroad, extending from Chicago, by way of Joliet, to Bloomington, thus completing a through line from Chicago to St. Louis. The road was finished through this county in 1854, and the first train passed through on the 4th day of July. The road, in its early years, suffered many reverses and drawbacks; but, under its later management, by steady and enduring perseverance and a liberal course toward its patrons, thus gaining their hearty co-operation, the line has become the most important and wealthy in the State, being placed alone by the Railroad Commissioners, in their apportionment, in Class A.
As soon as it was definitely known that a town was to be located here, settle­ments began immediately to be made, not only with a view of being within the limits of the village, but, also, of opening farms. Indeed, the prospect of the

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road had been a sufficient incentive to speculation; and the charter had no more than been obtained when crowds of speculators were attracted hither, and within the three years 1852-5, almost all of the land of this township was entered. Scarcely a whole section was taken with a view to improvement, but was entered and held for a rise in the market, which was sure to follow the comple­tion of the railroad. In this the speculators were not mistaken; and the town­ship of Odell is to-day represented by but few persons who were the original purchasers of the land.
As the immediate point of attraction for this vicinity was the station, so the first settlements were made, quite naturally, as close to it as circumstances would allow. The land on which the town of Odell has subsequently been built was owned, primarily, by James C. Spencer and Henry A. Gardner. They purchased the land of the Government May 4, 1853, exactly a quarter of a century previous to this writing. Spencer owned the north half of the quar­ter section, and Gardner the south half. Of this, Spencer sold, September 3, 1853, his land to William H. Odell, after whom the town of Odell was named, and who subsequently became one of the joint proprietors of the town. On the 7th of June, 1855, Gardner and Odell exchanged deeds of their undivided half interests in their respective pieces of land, and thus became equal partners in the northwest quarter of Section 10, which embraced all of the original town of Odell. A short time after this, June 26. 1855. S. S. Morgan, who has, per­haps, had more to do with the early growth and development of the town and township than any other man, purchased the interest of Odell; and by Morgan, and for him and Henry A. Gardner, the plat of the town was made. The town was surveyed and platted by Thomas F. Norton, Deputy County Surveyor, August, 10, 1856, the proprietors having previously conveyed to The Chicago & Mississippi Railroad Company fifty feet on each side of' the railroad track, extending through the whole quarter section. Thus was the town firmly fixed and the attention of emigrants consequently turned to this quarter.
For a year after the switch was located, the only inhabitants of the place were the few employes of the road who attended the station and the water tank and who were engaged in keeping the track in order. Of these, Daniel Smith, from New York, was the first agent; and, as a post office was established about this time, he received the appointment of Postmaster. Mr. Morgan, though at the time a resident of Joliet, alternated between that point and this and when Smith was superseded by J. H. Link (formerly of Canada) as Station Agent, Morgan was appointed, by James Buchanan, as Postmaster. Though Morgan was principal, yet Link, acting as deputy, had charge of the mails; and he also brought an a few goods and kept them for sale in the station house.
In the meantime, David Williams, from the town of New Michigan, had come to the place and erected a little shanty and displayed a few basketfuls of groceries and notions. He was, however, a chronic grumbler and chronically sick, and stayed but a few months and returned to New Michigan.

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About the time of Williams' exit, S. W. Curtiss, of Kendall County, estab­lished a general store in the warehouse that been erected by the Railroad Com­pany. Curtiss did not make this his home, but employed S. P. Lundgren, of the same county, and known to the people of Odell as "Peter," to take charge. Link, having become disgusted with the store business, and also with the annoyance from the care of the mails, was anxious to turn these two branches of business over to other parties, and in this connection, the following incident is related: Lundgren says that when he stepped off the train, on his first arrival in the Winter of 1856-7 , he was eyed sharply by Link (much after the manner of other lynx), who asked him if he was not the man who was to have the post office. Lundgren replied that he was an entire stranger, and that he was cer­tain that no such arrangement had been made. He was then questioned as to what his business was at the place. Lundgren acknowledged that be had come to take charge of business for S. W. Curtiss, but had not vet had any instruc­tion as to the location of the store. Link then turned to the station house, and, taking the bag in which he had just received the mail, began crowding into its open mouth, indiscriminately, papers, books, letters and everything pertaining to the office, remarking the while that he knew this was the man, and, having com­pleted his packing, handed him the bag. Lundgren, however, protested that he was neither appointed nor qualified, and that he could not accept it; upon which, Link gently pushed him from the door, throwing the post office after him, and no amount of argument or persuasion could induce him to again permit it to be placed in his possession. Lundgren says that, in this instance, he verily felt that the "office was seeking the man" with a vengeance. After deliberating upon the matter a few minutes, and concluding that there could be nothing criminal in caring for that which was in a fair way of being lost or destoryed, Lundgen picked up the office and, with it on his shoulder, proceeded to hunt up his other mission, which, in due course of time he found. A few days after installing himself as manager of the store - there being no Justice of the Peace or other officer qualified to administer an oath in the neighborhood - he proceeded to Mud Creek, where resided one of those worthies, and took the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and, as Deputy Postmaster to transact the business of the office according to the rules and edicts of the head of the department.
At this time, there were, besides those already mentioned, but four families. Thomas Lyons was an employe of the railroad company and pumped  water for the tank. One night, while in the performance of his duty, he discovered a colored fugitive concealing himself in the building. The fellow had evidently mistaken the newly built railroad for a branch of the "underground," and this point as one of the "stations." Lyon reported the discovery to S. S. Morgan, who says that he found the poor fellow in a bad plight. He was ragged and sore, and his feet were torn and lacerated, and were bound up with some old rags tied on with strips of hickory bark, and he looked as though he were more

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than half starved. Though Lyons was an Irishman, and he and Morgan were both Democrats and not supposed to hold stock in the underground enterprise, they could not but sympathize with the wretched man, and cared for him kindly, giving a pair of shoes and supplying him with food, which he ate so greedily that the Irishman, who stood beholding the rapid disappearance of the victuals, remarked that "Be jabbers, he ates like a ravaged dog."
The first dwelling was erected by S. S. Morgan, for the use of Lyon, who had previously been making his home in an unused box car. During the construction of the house, however, Joseph French and family, with Hiram Vanderlip and family, arrived from Bennington, Vermont, and Lyons was obliged to con­tinue in his narrow habitation and allow the two newly arrived families to occupy his house while Morgan built others.
French and Vanderlip were both farmers, and at once set about opening farms in the vicinity. French still resides in the village, but Vanderlip sub­sequently removed to the country.
Daniel Lyon, father of Thomas, already mentioned, came to the place a year or so after the son, and engaged in the sale of the article that both "cheers and inebriates." The old gentleman still resides at Odell, and, as supposed, had already reached his three score and ten when he came to the village, but as to how old he actually is, the chronicles are blank.
Joseph Baldwin and family were here almost as soon as the first, and opened a boarding house, and accommodated new comers until they could arrange for more desirable quarters.
To Baldwin was born the first child in the community. This is remembered to have been in the year 1857 .
As soon as Curtiss was fairly established in business, he took into partner­ship Oscar Dewy, of Kane County. Dewy came to Odell to reside in the Fall of 1857. He was a man of intelligence, and had the confidence of the community, and was one of the two first Justices of the Peace elected in the town. The firm, however, of which he was a partner, continued in business but a short time, closing 1858. Soon after the closing up of Curtiss & Dewy's store, S. P. Lundgren opened up a general store in the building, which has ever since been known as " Peter's." Lundgren has been a careful business man, which, combined with industry and an accommodating manner, has made him a great favorite in the community.
In the Fall of 1857, A. A. Streator came, with his family, from Mud Creek, and built the first hotel. Though a small affair, it was a very popular enter­prise, and proved a valuable addition to the little town. As soon as it was completed, Mr. Lundgren, with others, went there to board, and Peter soon fell in love with the landlord's daughter, Sarah; and, as the affection was mutual, it resulted in the first wedding in the township, which occurred November 14, 1858. The knot was tied by the Rev. T. T. Whittemore, of Pontiac, a gentle­man who figured largely in religious matters, education and politics at that

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time. Mr. Whittemore was an active man in all three of these branches, in each of which he was quite successful. He was, at that time, County School Com­missioner, and proved himself an efficient officer. He was Pastor of the Pres­byterian Church at Pontiac; preached at Odell at stated intervals, and organized the Congregational Church of this place. He preached the first sermon, the services being held in the depot building.
J. McMeans, from New Michigan, was the "pioneer blacksmith." He built his shop where Angell's store now stands. The business, at that time, was not sufficient to give him constant employment, and he worked at odd jobs about the town, as he could get such as would not interfere with "regular'' business. He soon became discouraged, and removed. Charles Finefield built a shop a short time after, and though he lacked a few months of being the pioneer in that line, he has lacked nothing in the success with which he has carried on the trade.
In 1857, S. S. Morgan came here to reside. As before stated, he had laid out the town and erected several buildings, but, until this date, his residence had been at Joliet. Mr. Morgan was the first Supervisor, bought the first load of grain in 1855, and has been connected, directly or indirectly, with almost overy [sic.] enterprise since the town started.
By the Spring of 1858, the town had increased to nearly one hundred inhabitants, numbering eighteen or twenty families, among whom, not already mentioned, were W. M. Brown, Joseph L. Walton, Eli Pearson, Levi Dell, Samuel and Charles Packwood, J. E. Williams, Augustus H. Coleman, Thomas Hamlin, George Skinner, W. D. T. Hedenberg, Elisha Williams, C. N. Coe, James Chapman, Charles Dodwell, F. J. Church, J. H. Coe, Edwin Chapman, John Evans, Hanford Kerr. Quite a number of these have settled at Cayuga, which was then a place of quite as much prominence as Odell, and several on farms in different parts of the township.
In 1858, the first election under what is known as the "Township Organ­ization Act" was held in the county. The election for township officers, for Odell Township, took place at the store of Curtis & Dewey. William M. Brown was elected Moderator, and S. S. Morgan chosen Clerk pro tem. There were twenty-three votes cast, and the following persons were elected to the respective offices: S. S. Morgan, Supervisor; A. A. Streator, Clerk; Joseph L. Walton, Assessor; Joseph French, Collector; Joseph French and E. W. Pearson, Constables; John Harbison, Augustus H. Coleman and Will­iam M. Brown, Road Commissioners; Oscar Dewey and Samuel Packwood, Jus­tices of the Peace; W. D. F. Hedenberg, Overseer of the Poor.
At this time, Union Township, which was then not sufficiently settled to entitle it to a separate organization, voted with Odell, and some of the fore­going will be recognized as inhabitants of that town.
At this meeting, an appropriation of $600 was made, for the purpose of building roads. Taking into account the number of inhabitants and the age

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of the town, this was a large amount to appropriate for that purpose, but it proved to be only the beginning of a very extensive scheme for making the highways of this township the best in the county. During the year, petitions were presented and granted, for the laying out of thirty-eight miles of new road; and, almost every year since, large appropriations have been made for their construction and improvement. In some instances, as much as $5,000 has been appropriated for that purpose. As a result of this wise course, Odell is the greatest grain market in the county; and, with two or three exceptions, the greatest on the road.
The following table shows the number of votes cast, and the names of the succeeding Supervisors and Clerks to the present time:

Date.

Votes.

Clerk.

Supervisor

1858

23

A. A. Streator

S. S. Morgan

1859

32

A. A. Streator

John Harbison

1860

38

A. A. Streator

Samuel Hoke

1861

53

A. A. Streator

H. F. Hamlin

1862

63

E. Williams

A. Arel

1863

76

J. D. Curtiss

B. F. Hotchkiss

1864

58

J. D. Curtiss

B. F. Hotchkiss

1865

77

S. H. Penny

B. F. Hotchkiss

1866

131

S. H. Penny

B. F. Hotchkiss

1867

160

S. H. Penny

B. F. Hotchkiss

1868

154

John Reeder

B. F. Hotchkiss

1869

212

John Reeder

B. F. Hotchkiss

1870

268

B. F. Pound

Stephen Wooley

1871

212

B. F. Pound

Stephen Wooley

1872

301

B. F. Pound

John McWilliams

1873

130

B. F. Pound

L. G. Green

1874

230

B. F. Pound

Michael Cleary

1875

292

B. F. Pound

Michael Cleary

1876

340

C. A. Vincent

Michael Cleary

1877

381

C. A. Vincent

Michael Cleary

1878

238

C. A. Vincent

Michael Cleary


The names of the balance of the officers for 1878 are: A. G. Goodspeed, for this and the last eleven years, Assessor; G. W. Abbaduska, Collector; C. N. Coe and J. D. Pound, Justices of the Peace; T. D. Thompson and E. Debraie, Constables; Z. Supplee, School Treasurer; S. S. Morgan, J. N. Moore and G. W. Barber, Road Commissioners.
It will doubtless be noticed that "rotation in office," "third term" and like phrases could not have entered largely into politics in this town, the main ques­tion being the fitness of the man for the position. B. F. Hotchkiss, whose name appears seven times as Supervisor, was a man eminently qualified for such a position, and so highly was he appreciated by the Board, that, while he con­tinued in office, he was honored as their presiding officer. A. G. Goodspeed has been Assessor so long, and knows so well what everybody is possessed of, that he can almost perform the duties without leaving his office. S. S. Morgan, who has had much to do with building the fine roads in this and adjoining townships, has held the office of Road Commissioner for nineteen years.

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The first grain was shipped from the station in 1855, by James Henry. This grain was not handled by any dealer, but was loaded from the wagons directly into the cars, and this continued to be the principal method of disposing of the products of the farm until 1861, when L. E. Kent, of Pontiac, built the elevator now occupied by C. A. Vincent. Prior to this, the only convenience for handling grain, beside the direct transfer from the wagon to the car, was a small board shanty that had been in use by various persons and for various purposes, and the Kent elevator was considered a fine addition to the business facilities of the place. A. Aerl, who had come from Pontiac two Years before, was placed in charge of the elevator, and continued in the grain business for some years. J. B. Curtiss also built, about the same time, the elevator occu­pied until recently by Z. Supplee. In 1866, J. & W. Hossack erected their fine elevator, which, for capacity and convenience for handling grain, has few superiors in the State. The cost of the building was $23,000; it is sixty feet in width and ninety in length, and has a capacity of 60,000 bushels. Messrs. J. & W. Hossack buy annually 700,000 bushels, and have handled, some years, over 1,000,000 bushels.
The first school taught in the township was organized in the dwelling house of Joseph French, in 1857. The school was taught by Mrs. H. H. Robinson, and consisted of seven pupils. By the next Year, 1858, there were two schools in the township, and the number of scholars in both was twenty-eight.
That the reader may he able to realize the growth of the system in the township, a few statistics are presented:


No. of Children under 21 years.

No. of Scholars in attendance.

No. of Schools

1858

65

24

2

1866

486

150

3

1877

968

490

9

The following additional items will prove interesting, as indicating more fully the state of schools at the present time:

Number of schools

9

Number of scholars enrolled

490

Number of persons between 6 and 21

637

Number of persons under 21

968

Number of teachers in the township

15

Whole amount paid for teachers' wages

$4,191.00

Amount raised for school purposes by special tax

4,840.00

Principal of township fund

7,184.00

From the above it will be seen that the schools have kept pace with the other enterprises.

VILLAGE OF ODELL.
After the surveying and platting of the village, alluded to on another page, the lots were offered for sale, and many of the best were purchased for $20 to

368
$30 each. The business lots, first sold, almost all went at the former price. At first, the east side of the square seemed to be the favorite place for business, and the first respectable sized store building erected was the one into which Curtiss & Dewey moved their goods after leaving the warehouse.
This building still stands an the corner, just south of Hossack's office, and is occupied as a saloon. But gradually the west side of the square built up; and as the newer buildings, owing to a demand for more commodious, store rooms, were larger and better, the east side, to some extent, fell behind, its smaller buildings serving the purpose of shops and the smaller class of trade. Espe­cially was this noticeable when, in 1867, Wm. Strawn erected the hotel, with a number of convenient store rooms. At the time of its erection, it was consid­ered, as it really was, the finest hotel in the county. The hotel drew about it, at once, a number of business men; and, ever since, the west side has had the lead. We left the post office on the hands, or rather on the shoulders, of Peter Lundgren. S. S. Morgan was, at that time, Postmaster; but, as soon as the duties of the office became such as to need careful attention, he, too, turned it over to other parties. His successors have been as follows: John Williams, A. A. Streator, S. H. Putnam, H. G. Challis, S. H. Putnam and the present effi­cient incumbent, S. H. Hunt, who was appointed in 1869, and has held the office continuously ever since.
As already intimated, Rev. I. T. Whittemore held the first church service in the town. After a few services had been held in the station, a carpenter shop was erected by Seymour & Nichols, who, by the way, were the first resident carpenters in the place; and in their shop services were conducted for a while. The people all worshiped together, and sect and denomination were scarcely thought of, but all were glad of the privilege of hearing the Gospel preached, even in a carpenter shop. When, in 1858, the school house was built, they were more comfortably situated. Mr. Whittemore continued to minister to the people, and with such acceptance that, in 1862, the Congregational Society was organized. Among the original members were Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Hotch­kiss, Mary P. Camp, Mrs. A. R. Morgan, Mrs. Polly Robinson, Mrs. Sarah Lucas, Mrs. S. C. Putnam.
In 1866, the society, having increased very considerably in numbers and wealth, and being desirous of possessing a house of worship which they might feel was their "religious home," erected their present neat and substantial church building. The house is thirty-eight feet in width and sixty in length, and cost the society $8,000. At the time of its erection, Rev. L. Leonard was Pastor of the congregation. He was a man of much energy and influence, and it was largely due to his zeal and management that the enterprise was begun.
The society is in quite a healthy condition, and is increasing in numbers and influence. Rev. J. Allen is the present Pastor.
The history of the Methodist Church of Odell is very similar, in many respects, to that of the Congregational just given. The two societies - or

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rather the two peoples - worshiped together in the depot, in the carpenter shop, and in the school house. Both organized about the same time, and held ser­vices alternately in the school house, and both built their houses of worship the same year. The Rev. Thomas Cotton, a man whose influence in social and religious matters in Livingston County has, perhaps, been as great as that of any other man of like profession who ever resided in its limits, organ­ized the church in 1860. The prosperity of the society has been quite marked. Beginning with a very few, they have grown in numbers until at present the church consists of 130 members, and, though laboring under the disadvantages of hard times, high material and expensive labor, erected. in 1866-7, their present tasty and commodious house of worship. It is fifty-six feet in length and thirty-six in width, and cost $6,000. The present Pastor is Rev. W. P. Graves.
In connection with the church is a very flourishing Sunday School, under the supervision of M. Tombaugh
The Catholics of this place, in 1875 completed a very large house of wor­ship. It is forty feet in width by eighty-six in length, and cost 5,300. The society consists of about 120 families. The parish is in charge of Rev. Ber­nard Boylan.
The citizens of Odell justly pride themselves on their excellent schools. In the selection of teachers, they have always been very successful; and during the eight years ending with 1873, the Odell school, with one exception, pre­pared more teachers than any other school in the county.
The Board of School Directors, as now constituted, are: S. S. Morgan, T. O. Bannister and James Funk. Teachers: W. W. Lockwood and Misses Craw­ford, Graves, Pound and Bell.
The society of A., F. & A. M. was constituted as Odell Lodge, No. 401, Oct. 5th, 1864. The charter members were L. H. Cordy, E. G. Putnam, Z. Supplee, who were the first three principal officers. The charter was granted by Thomas J. Turner, Grand Master. The Lodge numbers at present sixty members. Odell Chapter was chartered by John M. Pearson, High Priest, Oct. 7, 1870. The charter was granted to Z. Supplee, A. E. Gammon. John E. Williams, A. B. Dunlap, A. P. Wright, J. Martin, C. H. Ellenwood, R. G. Morton, J. Ford, Charles Finefield, E. Williams, A. G. Goodspeed, J. B. Garwood, H. H. Hill and R. B. Harrington. Elisha Williams was first High Priest; Z. Supplee, King, and J. E. Williams, Scribe. The present principal officers  are: R. G. Morton, High Priest; D. A. Walden, King; Joel Kidder, Scribe; J. F. Trowbridge, Secretary, and J. A. Hunter, Treasurer.
Company B, Tenth Regiment Illinois National Guards, regimental head­quarters at Dwight was organized June 25, 1876. J. F. Trowbridge is Captain; E. M. Vaughn, First Lieutenant; J. L. Trowbridge, Second Lieutenant; Wm. T. Angell, Orderly. The company, as now constituted, contains, besides the officers, fifty-three enlisted men, fully equipped, uniformed and armed with needle guns.

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Odell Lodge, No. 464, I. O. O. F., was chartered by Thomas B. Needles, Grand Master, Oct. 10, 1871, and instituted by N. J. Pillsbury, Deputy Grand Master. The charter members were J. A. Hunter, W. Dalley, E. P. Utley, Jerry Clay and I. H. Scovell. B. F. Pound was installed first N. G.; N. E. Wright, V. G.; A. P. Wright, Rec. Sec.; J. A. Hunter, Treas. The present officers are: I. H. Scovell, N. G.; E. DeBriae, V. G.; J. M. Beck, Rec. Sec.; T. O. Bannister, Per. Sec.; G. Z. T. Kenyon, Treas.
Several attempts have been made to establish a newspaper at this point, but with indifferent success. Owing to various circumstances, previous to 1877, enterprises of this kind have failed. But, during the year named, J. H. Warner. realizing that the time had come when a paper was really needed, established the Odell Herald, which bids fair to become one of the popular publications of the county. Merchants and other business men are beginning to realize that, to succeed in business, they must let their patrons know what they are doing, and, consequently, must invest in printer's ink.

A TRUE STORY OF CHARLEY ROSS.
Though but little given to sensations, the town of Odell has had enacted within its limits a little drama which, at the time, created the most intense excitement; and to this time, by many of the citizens who had the most ample means of knowing the facts, it is confidently believed that some of the persons connected with the Charley Ross abduction, together with the child in question, were the persons who figure in the following story: During the Summer of 1874, a woman, giving her name as Hannah Cole, arrived at Odell, bringing with her a child of five or six years of age, and whom she called Jimmy Hen­derson. She was a stranger to the people of Odell; but subsequent events proved her to be a relative of George W. Murkins, who lived just south of town, and with whom she took up her residence for a time. A few weeks later, another stranger, calling himself Lewis Dungan, arrived from Philadelphia, bringing another little boy, who, as afterward remembered, very much resem­bled the descriptions given of the abducted Charley Ross. Dungan also went to Murkins to reside. This, as will be remembered, was just after the abduction had occurred, and the $20,000 reward had been offered for the return of the missing child. Some of the children at Murkins' had heard the older ones of the family speak of $20,000 that Dungan was expecting to get from the East; and this item, which soon became known to some of the neighbors, together with certain other suspicious movements, excited apprehensions which led to a quiet investigation of the matter. The inquiry, though conducted quietly, was evidently not unobserved by Dungan, for he seemed to take alarm, and procuring a close carriage, and tying the child up in a bag, and placing him under the seat, started at dark for Ottawa. Near Streator, they are known to have stopped and camped in the woods until near morning, when they again pursued their journey to Ottawa. Here Dungan is known to have stopped

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with a man by the name of Tarr, who, as has since been ascertained, was an ex-convict of the Pennsylvania penitentiary, and a former confederate of the notorious Mosher who was shot in New York and who asserted that his, accom­plice in that last burglary was one of the abductors of Charley Ross. It is believed that Dungan transferred the child to Tarr, and that he took him to St. Louis, where he was lost sight of. It is known that, immediately on Dungan's arrival at Tarr's, he (Tarr) left Ottawa, having expressed his baggage to Peoria, in care of Mrs. Ellen Webster, and from there the baggage was expressed to Bloomington, in care of Madame Webster, and thence to St. Louis, in care of Mrs. Webster. While the baggage was at the express office in St. Louis, a party appeared, desiring to open one of the trunks. Procuring therefrom [sic.] a suit of child's clothing, the party stated that the trunks would be taken away in a few days; but they were never removed, by the owners, from the office. Another circumstance which the detectives hoped would lead to a clue to the mysterious movements of the parties was a personal, which appeared in the St. Louis Republican, which read as follows: "To Christian Ross, Philadelphia ---Charley will be given up for $5,000. Answer." Mr. Ross did answer, accepting the proposition; but here again, either from the departure of the persons connected with the matter, or from appre­hension that they were being closely shadowed, the thread was broken; and, Dungan (who, in the mean time, had been arrested and put in jail), having had his trial and being released, the detectives gave up the pursuit. Reverting to Dungan, after he returned from Ottawa he was arrested and, on a prelimi­nary examination, was held for bail, which being-unable to give, he was placed in jail to await trial. A few days later, he was tried, but no positive evidence appearing, he was released. He subsequently sued S. H. Penny, Solomon Bishop, Henry Curtis, E. F. Bolter, Reese Jones, C. N. Coe, J. J. Halm, Carlos Putnam, A. S. Wisner and L. Putnam, for $50,000; for trespass and false imprisonment. The jury found the first three parties guilty of trespass and allowed the plaintiff damages in the sum of one cent!
Though not marvelous for a Western town, the growth and prosperity of Odell has been not only satisfactory, but much more rapid than ordinary. From a population of about one hundred in 1858, the town has grown in twenty years to a real little city, containing at least 1,000 inhabitants, thus showing an increase, in this respect, of nearly 100 per cent, every six years.
From a few loads of grain, which were bought on the track, we now find about 1,500,000 bushels forwarded during a single year.
As indicating the amount of business done at this place during the year end­ing January 1, 1877, the following items have been kindly furnished by Mr. N. S. Hill, Agent of the C., A. & St. L. R. R., at this place:

Amount received from freights forwarded

$30,647.73

Amount received from freights received

14,638.26

Amount received from sales of tickets

4,863.80

Total

$50,149.79

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The first two items, it will be understood, represent a small per cent of the value of goods brought to this place, and of produce sent to Chicago and other points.
Odell has been honored by having had selected from among her citizens some of the most efficient and acceptable county officers that have ever served in such capacity. William Strawn, who served the county as member of the State Legislature, not only filled the office, but made a record in the Legislature of which the county of Livingston has reason to feel proud. James H. Funk proved himself to be an efficient and capable State's Attorney. Mr. Funk, but a few years ago, was teaching a small country school as a means of supporting himself. He taught it well, and the same thoroughgoing principle which made him a good school teacher has given him a place among the first in his present profession. The present worthy and justly popular County Superintendent of Schools, M. Tombaugh, is also a citizen of this place. Under his skillful direc­tion, the schools of Livingston County have been brought nearer to perfection than ever in the history of the county they had been. B. F. Hotchkiss, whose name has already been mentioned, was elected to the office of County Surveyor, and performed but one act in connection with the office, in which his constituents feel disappointed, and that was his resignation.
The village of Odell was organized under the General Act for villages and towns, on the 8th day of February, 1867, by the election of John McWilliams, John Hossack, S. S. Morgan, T. O. Bannister and Jason Curtiss as Trustees. Their first meeting was held at the office of John Hossack, on the evening of election. The oath having been administered by Anson A. Streator, a Justice of the Peace, John McWilIiams was elected President of the Board, and B. F. Washburn was appointed Clerk; S. H. Putnam, Treasurer; A. S. Putnam, Town Constable, and H. P. Graham, Deputy Constable. At a subsequent meeting, held February 20th, S. S. Morgan was appointed Street Commissioner, and at the meeting held January 25, 1868, A. P. Wright was appointed to fill the office of Clerk, which office, by occasion of the resignation of Washburn, was then vacant. The question of "license or no license" has always been the important issue in the local politics of Odell, and for the first two years a majority of the successful candidates for election to the Town Board were men who favored the granting of license, believing that the proper method was to control the liquor trade to some extent, and, in addition, obtain a revenue from those who desired to deal in the article. However, at the election held in 1869, an anti-license ticket was elected, and during the administration of this Board, no licenses were granted. Liquor, however, was sold, and several suits were brought against keepers of saloons who sold in violation of the ordinances. At times, the excitement in regard to these matters was high, and much bad feeling was engendered in consequence.
In 1869, through the influence of William Strawn, who was then a member of the Legislature from this district, a special charter was obtained for the

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town, which put the question of "prohibition or license," for a time, at rest. One section of this charter provided that the Town Board should be "prohibited" from granting a license to "vend or sell beer, ale, whisky, gin, wine or other intoxicating beverages." Some of the subsequently-elected officials were accused of favoring a "mild administration" of the provision; but, on the whole, the law worked to the satisfaction of its friends.
The Princeton Charter, as it was called, continued in force until 1872, when the town voted to organize under the general law of the State, which had, the preceding session of the General Assembly, been enacted. The first elec­tion under the general law took place April 15, 1873, at which S. S. Morgan was elected President; P. W. Kenyon, G. B. Woodbury, Joel Kidder, Charles Nichols and T. O. Bannister, Trustees; S. I. Ford. Clerk; and S. H. Penny, Police Magistrate.
The present officers of the town are: P. W. Kenyon, Charles Nichols, F. F. Parrish, Charles Finefield, William Hossack and C. A. Vincent, Trustees; Charles E. Axt, Clerk; and M. E. Wright, Police Magistrate.

VILLAGE OF CAYUGA.
The town of Cayuga is more than a year the senior of her sister town, Odell, having been surveyed and platted April 10, 1855. It was laid out by Thomas F. Norton, County Surveyor, from Section 31, for Corydon Weed, of McLean County. It will be noticed that, as a general thing, while towns established at a distance of ten or twelve miles apart have flourished, those lying between have been almost invariably less successful. Certainly no other reason can be given why Cayuga should not have developed equally with other towns along the road. There is no more pleasant situation for a prosperous village on the road. Doubtless, its close proximity to an already established trading point is the sole reason.
The first settlers in the vicinity of this station are given, as nearly in the order in which they came to the place as can now be remembered:
Edwin and James Chapman came from Lisbon, in this State, in the Fall of 1855. They were carpenters, and, previous to 1860, they either built or helped to build almost every house in the neighborhood.
J. H. Coe, from New York, settled here in the Fall of 1855, and opened a farm on the south side of the town, and resided here and in the vicinity until 1862, when he removed to Dwight.
Samuel and Charles Packwood, from New York, came in the Fall of the same year, and opened a farm north of the town. Samuel Packwood was one of the first two Justices of the Peace elected in the township. He has long since removed from the county. Charles still lives in the neighborhood, but has changed his location to the west side of the village.
F. J. Church came the next year. He was a farmer, but did not buy land, but rented, for a few years, until he was appointed Postmaster and Station

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Agent, which positions he held for a number of years. C. N. Coe, brother of J. H., was the first Station Agent, being appointed in the year 1856. He also bought the first grain shipped from this place, during the same year. Grain was handled in a small warehouse which had been built by Weed, the original proprietor of the town.
Eli Pearson, from Ohio, came in the Fall of 1855, and opened a farm just east of the village. He has since removed to the township of Esmen, where he still resides. Hanford Kerr and family, from the same State, came about the same date.
Moses Pearson arrived a few months later, and opened a farm east of the town.
In 1856, the Fish brothers, C. U. Udell and Dr. B. J. Bettleheim arrived. The last named was an eminent scholar and a learned and successful physician. He traveled extensively in China, Japan and other countries. In 1858, he gave a series of lectures at Pontiac on his Eastern travels, and on various relig­ious subjects, which were interesting and instructive in the extreme.
In 1857, Wm. Skinner, Wm. J. Murphy and a few others settled in the neighborhood. Skinner opened the farm just north of the village, where he still resides. Murphy started a broom factory. Mr. Murphy was also a preacher, and subsequently removed to Pontiac, where he took charge, for a time, of the Presbyterian Church. While at Pontiac, he opened the nursery where A. W. Kellogg now resides.
In 1858, Augustus Coleman, from Troy, Ohio, came in. Coleman was a graduate of West Point, and, on the breaking out of the rebellion, returned to Ohio, organized a regiment and took the field. He was afterward promoted to the office of Brigadier General, but was killed at the battle of Antictam.
David J. Evans opened the first store in 1857, which he continued about a year, when he closed out and was succeeded in the business by John F. Pickering.
In 1862, D. Hunt built the first warehouse, now owned and operated by C. N. Coe. In 1868, L. E. Kent, of Pontiac, erected the one now operated by him. Though the village compares but poorly with many other towns of the county, the business done here is, by no means inconsiderable as will be seen by the following items, as given by the obliging agent of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, Edwin Chapman:

Amount received on freight forwarded, 1877

$ 23,209.00

Amount received on freight received, 1877

1,644.74

Amount received on tickets sold, 1877

527.62

Total receipts

$ 25,381.36

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diagonally, from northeast to southwest, by the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, which divides it into two nearly equal portions. With the exception of a branch of Deer Creek, which takes its rise and flows through the south­western portion of the township in the vicinity of Cayuga, the township is des­titute of running streams, and, with the exception of the little groves, here and there, planted by the owners of the land, is also destitute of timber. The soil is of a very rich and fertile character, and well adapted to the raising of corn, immense quantities of which are produced.

AVOCA TOWNSHIP.
This township is situated in the southern part of the county, or south of the center, and is bounded on the north by Owego, on the east by Pleasant Ridge, on the south by Indian Grove, and on the west by Eppard's Point Township. About three-fourths is prairie to one-fourth of timbered land, while the surface is gently undulating, and better adapted to agricultural pursuits than many other portions of the county. It is drained by the Vermilion River; the con­fluence of the north and south branches is near the center of the township, and their margins and bottoms afford an abundance of excellent timber for all farm and building purposes. Avoca is known as Township 27 north, Range 6 east of the Third Principal Meridian.
The first settlement was made in Avoca Township in 1830. In December of that year, Isaac Jourdan made a claim here, upon which be settled, but a few days before the commencement of the "deep snow." He came from Brown County, Illinois, but whether that was his native place or not we were unable to learn. His wife was the first white woman in this township. William Popejoy, John Hannaman and their families settled in this neighborhood on Christmas Day of the same year, and but a week or two after Jourdan. These latter were from Ohio, and became permanent citizens. This constituted the settlements in this section up to 1832, when William McDowell came to the county and made a claim upon which he settled in May, which was the Spring of the Black Hawk war. He left his old home in Ohio in 1828, and stopped at La Fayette, Ind., on account of school facilities, as Illinois (or this portion of it) was then beyond the confines of civilization. He remained there four years, when he came to Livingston County and settled in what is now Avoca Town­ship, as noted above, in the Spring of the Black Hawk war. His family con­sisted of five sons - John, Woodford G., James, Hiram and Joseph B. McDowell, and one daughter, who married a Mr. Tucker. They, together with John McDowell, still live in Avoca; Woodford G. and James live in Fairbury, Hiram is in Kansas, and Joseph is Register of the Land Office at Lincoln, Nebraska.
Soon after the settlement of the McDowells, vague rumors began to circulate through the sparsely settled community in regard to the Black Hawk war, which was raging north of their settlement. But there was no mail nearer

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than Bloomington, no railroad or telegraph lines, and news facilities were restricted within the narrowest limits. In illustration of the disadvantages under which they lived regarding the reception of news, several weeks after the McDowells had settled in their new home, a man named Phillips, living but a mile or two distant, in what is now Indian Grove Township, was out hunting some hogs that had strayed away from him, when he came suddenly upon the McDowell encampment, and the astonishment he displayed in having neighbors of whose proximity he was ignorant was almost equal to that exhibited by Rob­inson Crusoe when he discovered the footprints on his lonely island. Rumors becoming more rife of the Indians and Indian outrages, Mr. McDowell and some of his neighbors went to the Kickapoo town, one Sunday, to church,* where there were several hundred Indians, and their suspicions were aroused at the absence of all warriors from the Indian camp. The Kickapoos informed them that the Sacs had threatened "to come and kill them if they did not join them in the war," and advised the whites, with whom they were on the most friendly terms, to return to the settlements further east. This so alarmed the little colony that, after considering the matter, they decided to return to the Wabash, and on the 29th of May, 1832, they commenced their retreat toward the rising sun. Though this retreat never became so famed in history as that of Bonaparte from Moscow, yet an event occurred upon the route worthy of record in these pages. The first night after their departure, Mrs. Jourdan, who was in a delicate condition, was taken sick, and, notwithstanding their haste and fright, the party agreed to stop a day or two, on her account. But, the next morning, their alarm was much heightened by discovering a couple of Indians ride up and take a survey of their camp from a distant elevation. Believing that an attack would be made, and notwithstanding their arms consisted of but two old fowling pieces, they nobly resolved to stand by the Jourdans. Mrs. Jourdan, however, with a courage and resolution worthy of a Spartan mother, made up her mind to travel, and the cavalcade moved on. The McDowells, who had a large "old Pennsylvania wagon-bed," surrendered it to the ladies, and they converted it into a kind of hospital for Mrs. Jourdan, and all through the long day that heroic woman bore her suffering and pain without a murmur. The next morning, and the second after starting for the east, she was delivered of a daughter, which, here be it said, grew up and made a most estimable lady. Without further incident worthy of note, they arrived at the Indiana settlement in safety.
In the Fall of 1832, after the storms of war had passed by, and the sun of Black Hawk had forever set on the plains of Illinois, the little colony returned to their claims on the Vermilion River, where they made permanent settlements. The mode of making a claim in those days was by "blazing" it out in the timber or staking it off on the prairie. The land was not surveyed until 1833, and every man squatted where it suited his inclination, providing no one else had preceded him.

*A missionary had estabrished a church in the Indian town.

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Of these few early pioneers, who came here before the Black Hawk war and who sought safety in flight, we would say, before passing to other and subse­quent scenes, that Jourdan remained in the settlement for several years, then sold out his claim and returned to the southern part of the State, from whence he came. Popejoy and Hanneman both died in the neighborhood, the latter soon after his return in the Fall of 1832, and was the first death in the new settlement. Mr. McDowell, the old patriarch of all the McDowells, died here in 1834. His widow remained on the homestead; filled the place of both father and mother toward her children, and died in 1858 at an advanced age.
Before the close of the year 1832, the little settlement was increased by the arrival of Charles Brooks, John Wright and his sister, Mary Ann Wright, who came from Indiana. Brooks was related to Popejoy and Hannaman, and came out perhaps through their influence.
M. B. Miller, from Cazenovia, N. Y., came in the Spring of 1833, and bought the claim of Charles Brooks, upon which he remained for a few years, when he sold out and removed to Ottawa.
In the Fall of the same year, Platt Thorn, from Western New York, settled in this section, but he, too, after a time, sold out and went to Ottawa. About the same time, Isaac Burgit came from New York to this settlement, and, like the other New Yorkers, finally sold out and likewise removed to Ottawa.
A young man named Richard L. Ball, very worthy and highly respected, came out with Burgit. After remaining in the settlement some ten or twelve years, he returned to his home in New York, where he committed suicide, from what cause was never known.
David Terhune and a man named Dean came from New York in 1834. Terhune bought a claim from Hanneman, upon which he settled, while Dean settled near by.
Elijah Thompson came from Indiana, in 1833, and made a claim in this section. Perhaps no man who had settled here received so warm and hearty a welcome as did Thompson; and all on account of his having in his family three very accomplished and buxom daughters, who were the first marriageable young ladies in the settlement, and of course great belles. One of them is noticed elsewhere, as the first marriage in Avoca Township. Thompson settled on what, after the lands were surveyed, turned out to be the school section, and, after the survey was made, sold out his improvements and removed "over on Kankakee," where, so far as we know, he still lives.
Harrison Fleshier came from the Mackinaw settlement, in 1834, and made a claim in this township.
Thomas G. McDowell, a younger brother of Wm. McDowell, came to Illi­nois in 1848. He settled out on the prairie, about half a mile from the timber, and was the first actual settlement made outside of the timber. It was spoken

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of in considerable wonderment, and the people used to say that "Uncle Tommy McDowell had settled away out on the prairie," which was looked upon then as equivalent to being "out of creation." He states that when he came to Avoca there were but three settlements between the Wabash country and this place. The people did their milling at Green's mill, on the Fox River, and their "store trading" at Ottawa. His first trip to mill was to the one above mentioned, and he was four days in making it. He contracted to take twenty-five bushels of grain to mill and have it ground for a man in the neighborhood, for which he was to receive fifty bushels of corn, worth then the enormous sum of ten cents per bushel.
Nathan Popejoy, James Blake and Col. George Johnson came from Ohio. Popejoy first settled in Pontiac Township, where he remained but a short time, when he removed to this section and made a permanent settlement. Blake settled here in the Spring of 1836, and in 1852 moved to Iowa. Col. Johnson settled in Avoca in 1835, and died in 1859. He had served in the War of 1812, though not as a Colonel, which title was more honorary than otherwise. He took quite an interest in fighting his battles over again, and imitating  "noble war " in drilling the militia, and thus obtained the military title.
Isaac Wilson and James Demoss were from Indiana. Wilson settled in this section in 1837, where he resided until 1853, when he removed into Pleasant Ridge Township. He was one of the first lot of Justices of the Peace elected after the formation of the county, and has served as such ten, years. altogether. He is still living in Pleasant Ridge. Demoss was originally from Ohio, but had lived for some years in Indiana before settling in Avoca Township. He came to the town in 1844, which date scarcely admits of his being termed an "old settler" in this neighborhood, where settlements extend back to 1830; but his numerous descendants, who number some of the very best families in this section, it seems meet that they should receive notice in these pages. The old gentleman himself is dead, but has left behind him a number of honorable sons, whose honesty and integrity are above reproach.
James Glennin came from Ireland, in 1845, and, like the last mentioned, hardly ranks as an old settler. He was said to have been a man of sterling integrity, and his word, in all cases, was his bond. His family, too, were as conscientious as himself.
The first white child born in what is now Avoca Township was Charles A. Brooks, a son of Charles Brooks, one of the early settlers of the place, and was born on the 1st day of July, 1833. But for the fright occasioned by the Black Hawk war, which drove the few pioneers from this section back to the Indiana settlements, Master Brooks would have been preceded some thirteen months by the little Miss Jourdan, who made her first appearance on the way back to civilization, as already noticed, and which event prevented her being born in the township.

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The first marriage was that of Harvey Rounsaville and Miss Ann Thomp­son, who were married in September, 1833.

"Will you trust me, Anna dear?
Walk beside me, without fear?
May I carry, if I will,
All you burdens up the hill? "
And she answered, with a laugh,
"No, but you may carry half."

They were married by William McDowell, a Justice of the Peace, who had been elected but a few weeks before, and this was his first official act in tying matrimonial knots. Judge McDowell informed us that his father was very much troubled about a form of ceremony to use on the momentous occasion, and did not know what to do about it. But his wife came to his rescue. She was an ardent Methodist, and, of course, possessed a Discipline, which she presented to her husband. From this book he committed to memory the entire marriage ceremony of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and used it to unite these two loving hearts.
John Hannaman died in the Fall of 1832, just after the return of the set­tlers from Indiana, where they had gone to escape the perils of the Indian war. This is one of the first deaths in the county, as well as the first that occurred in this township. His coffin was made of lumber, split out of a walnut tree, and hewed as smooth as possible with an axe. Some say that a tree was cut down, a "cut" split open and the halves dug out like a trough, in which he was put as a coffin. There was no such thing then in this section of the country as sawed lumber.
The first sermon preached in Avoca Township was at the house of 'Squire McDowell, and was preached by Rev. James Eckels in the Spring of 1833. The first religious society was organized at his house in the following Fall, by "Father Royle," as he was called, and one of the pioneer Methodist preachers of Illinois. It was a kind of mission, and was embraced in the old preacher's circuit, which extended from the Illinois River to the State line, and from Ottawa to the Mackinaw River. When the weather was favorable, he would make his round in four weeks; but in bad weather was delayed, sometimes, in reaching his appointments on time. McDowell's was the only preaching place in the settlement until the era of school houses. Judge McDowell informed us that, although his mother was blind for twenty years previous to her death, yet in all that time she never failed to have her house put in order for church. Indeed, from all accounts to be had, Mrs. McDowell seems to have been an extraordinary woman. Her husband died in 1834, and left her in an almost unbroken wilderness, with a family on her hands. But she never shrank from her trust, or sunk down in despondency. She kept her family together until all were settled in life, and her work finished. The first church in the township owes its erection principally to her and her family. It was built in 1857, and as it was the first church in this part of the country, it was named by Mrs.

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McDowell the "Pioneer Methodist Church," a name it bears to this day. The edifice is 32x50 feet, sixteen feet to the ceiling, a good frame, and cost two thousand dollars. It has quite an interesting history. After it was framed and put up, and two sides "weather-boarded" in, "the winds blew and the floods came and beat upon that house, and it fell." Literally speaking, we presume it was not founded upon a rock, but upon the sand - or soil. Any way, it was blown down, and not one stone or stick was left upon another. They went to work, however, with renewed vigor. A subscription of several hundred dollars had been made, and after the disaster, Judge McDowell was appointed Superintendent of the work, and directed to push it forward to completion. He had but little of the money that had been subscribed, and but little of his own, as he informed us, yet it so happened that never was there a bill presented to him, for work or material for the church, but he had money enough on hand at the time to pay it. When the building was finished and dedicated, they owed not a dollar, except to him, and to him their indebt­edness was $1,400, on which they agreed to pay him interest until the debt was discharged. The financial crisis of '57 followed, and the amount, prin­cipal and interest, finally reached $1,900. The Trustees concluded they must have a deed for the property, and came to McDowell, who now lived in Fairbury, to know what sum he would take and give them a deed. He told them to go back and collect all the money they could, and then come and see him again. They did so, and finally returned and told him that $200 was all they could raise. He took the amount and gave them a deed to the church, leaving the amount of his subscription to the edifice, including interest, about $1,700. The first preacher in charge of the church after it was completed was Rev. James Watson. It was dedicated by Rev. Z. Hall, of Woodford County, another of the old pioneer Methodist preachers of Central Illinois. The pres­ent Pastor of the Church is Rev. Mr. Underhill, and, all things considered, it is in quite a flourishing condition. It being the oldest church in this part of the country, many others have been formed, which drew on its membership, and thus its numbers are not so large as when it was the only house of worship for miles around. This church is the final result of the little mission established at McDowell's in 1833, by Father Royle, as already noticed.
The first post office was established in 1840, and was called Avoca. Nicholas Hefner was the first Postmaster. The petition for this post office was written by Abraham Beard, a schoolmaster of the neighborhood, and when sent on to headquarters, was found to be addressed to the "Speaker of the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois," instead of to the Post-master General of the United States. Education was not so thorough in those days as now, and many had signed the petition without reading it, while many others had signed it with a X who could not have read it if they would. The office was where the village of Avoca was afterward located, and was on the mail route between Danville and Ottawa. It continued in active operation until

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1864, when, there being others more conveniently situated, the office at Avoca was suspended.
The first store in the town was kept by W. G. and James McDowell, and was opened in 1854.
The first physician who practiced in this section was Dr. John Davis, of Pontiac, and noticed elsewhere as the first physician in the county. Dr. C. B. Ostrander was the first located physician, and still resides on his farm near Lodemia station. In early times, when his practice extended over a circuit of many miles, he never suffered any trivial excuse to keep him from the bedside of his patients. We were informed by a reliable party, who had the story from the Doctor's own lips, that he was going to see a patient one day, who had sent for him in a great hurry, and crossing Indian Creek, stopped a moment for his horse to take a few sips of water, when one end of the fore axle of his buggy dropped to the ground. Looking to see the cause, he found that one fore wheel was gone, and he had driven so fast the axle hadn't time to drop down until he stopped. On going back to find the missing wheel, he met his dog, who always followed him, coming on, dragging the wheel in his mouth. He has a fine orchard and devotes a good deal of attention to the cultivation of fruits. It is said that he has shipped gooseberries to Chicago by the car load, and boasts of having raised as much as 800 bushels of cherries in a single season.
Harrison Flesher was the first blacksmith in the town, and opened a shop on his claim late in the Winter of 1834.
In 1854, Judge McDowell and his brothers built a steam saw-mill in Avoca Township, to which was attached one run of stones for grinding corn, but the main business of the mill was sawing. In 1869, he moved the mill to Nebraska, where it was chiefly instrumental in locating the county seat of Jefferson County, at the village of Fairbury, named by the Judge for the town in which he lives. He succeeded in getting a post office and blacksmith shop at the place, then moved his mill there, and after interesting the County Commissioners, they located the county seat at his village. This was the first and only mill ever in this town, except perhaps occasionally a portable saw-mill. In the early times, most of the people of this section did their milling at Green's Mill, on Fox River, near Ottawa. This was the principal mill until one was built at Wilmington. Judge McDowell informed us that he once went on horseback to Blue's horse mill down on Rock Creek, and on his return the Vermilion was too high to cross, and he put his "turn of meal on a raft and ferried it over, and swam his horse by the side of it. At another time, he and his brother-in-law, Hefner, went to Green's Mill, and both of their horses died with the milk sickness before they could get back home.
The first public road through Avoca Township was the State road from Danville to Ottawa, and extending on to the Rock River country. The mail was carried along this route on horseback, and was Uncle Sam's first trip through here, except when his armed legions pursued the fugitive Black Hawk

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and his warriors. The road from Lafayette to Hennepin was also an early highway of travel through this country. The first ferry we have any account of in the neighborhood was at the crossing of these roads over the Vermilion River, and consisted of a raft of red elm logs, which, when seasoned, are extremely light. When the river was too high to ford, they would put the wagons and freight on the raft and take it across, while the horses were forced to swim themselves over. One day in the Winter or early Spring, a man came along in a wagon drawn by two horses and was very anxious to get over. The river had been frozen for some time and was just breaking up. The man con­cluded to try to cross on the ice, and taking out his horses led them on to a large cake of ice which broke in two after he had gotten them on it, leaving their fore feet on one piece and their hind feet on the other. With the greatest care he finally managed to get them on one piece and paddled them over in safety. He then recrossed and got his wagon on another ice cake and ferried it over without accident, hitched up his team and went on his way.
The McDowells and some of the neighbors had a canoe in partnership, which was used for neighborhood convenience. Finally, some of the stock-holders in this enterprise got at loggerheads, and to end the strife and hard feelings, Judge McDowell and his brotherr [sic.] James went down one day and measured off their own part of the canoe, and sawed it in two, and carried their half away, and left the other half floating in the river, cabled to the bank.
When the McDowells came to Avoca, they brought with them some young cattle belonging to a friend in Indiana, and which they proposed to "break to work" for him. After they had become well "broke," Woodford G. and John McDowell took them back to Indiana, and returned them to the owner, and as a kind of coincidence, Judge McDowell related to us an anecdote on the 26th of June, precisely forty-six years after he and his brother started with the young cattle for Indiana. There was not a house, at the time, for forty-five miles after leaving the settlement. For the purpose of riding, and as a protec­tion against the rays of a June sun, they had built them a sled, to which they had added a top. and with a good stock of provisions, they started for the classic land of Hoosier. The trail of emigrant wagons had made two tracks, with a kind of unbroken middle. While moving on, one day, they discovered, settled on a wild crab-apple bush between these tracks, a swarm of bees. In passing each side of them, the oxen struck their legs against the mass, knocking them off, and when the young men discovered them, they were rising around their team in an angry cloud. They whipped up their cattle and ran out from amongst them without serious results. Some distance beyond, they found a man plowing corn, to whom they related the occurrence. He went back and "hived" them, and on their return told them that their bees were  working " well.
The first bridge in Avoca was built over the south branch of the Vermilion, in 1844. Isaac Burgit, Road Supervisor on the west side of the river, and Judge

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McDowell on the east side, called out the road labor and built the bridge. It was all hewed out of the neighboring forest, and was a substantial structure.
The village of Avoca was laid out in 1854, by Judge W. G. McDowell, who owned the land on which it was located. It was surveyed by Amos Edwards, then County Surveyor.
The first store in it was opened just before it was laid out as a village, by the McDowells, as noticed in the preceding pages, and for several years it was a flourishing business place. But on the laying out of Fairbury, the sun of Avoca began to decline. Many of the houses were removed to the latter place, and the Judge at last got it vacated and discontinued by a special act of the Legislature.
Avoca Cemetery, across the creek from the village, was laid off by the elder McDowell. He and those of his family who have departed this life are buried there. Susan Philips was the first one to occupy the place, and was buried in it in August, 1833.
Moore Cemetery is a private burying ground on the west side of the Grove. Jonathan Moore was the first buried in it, and was interred there in 1839.
Nothing now remains to show where once stood a thriving village but the "Pioneer Methodist Church," which has already been noticed.
McDowell village is on the Chicago & Paducah Railroad, about six miles south of Pontiac, and has between fifty and one hundred inhabitants. It was laid out as a village in 1873, by Judge McDowell, who owns the land, and it is named for him. Chas. Hewitson surveyed it. The first house was put up by McDowell before the village was laid out, and was used as a dwelling. The first post office was kept by John Cottrell, and was established in 1872. Hugh T. Pound is the present Postmaster. The first store was built and occupied by Ben Walton, now of Fairbury. The village has two stores at present, one kept by R. B. Phillips and the other by Chas. Danforth; two blacksmith and wagon shops, the one by Henshaw, and the other by Jacob Schide. Frank B. Bregga is an extensive grain dealer, but the village has no elevator or grain warehouse. One of the principal features of the place is the stone quarry, owned by McDowell, which yields a very good quality of lime rock, quite valuable for foundations, and which makes also an excellent quality of lime. A large kiln is in full operation at present, which turns out about 300 bushels at a burning.
Lodemia Station is on the Chicago & Paducah Railroad, a short distance south of McDowell. It contains nothing but a post office and church. Has no depot, but is merely a shipping point, with switch and side track. The post office was established in August, 1877, with Dr. C. B. Ostrander as Postmaster. It is kept at the parsonage, and the minister, Mr. Underhill, attends' to the duties. The church, which belongs to the Methodists, was built here in 1876, and is a very neat little frame edifice, which cost $2,800. The society was organized in 1858, in the school house, under the pastoral charge of Rev. John W. Stubbles, and the church. when completed in 1876, was dedicated by Rev.

386
Robert G. Pearce, Presiding Elder of the District at the time. Their present preacher is Rev. Mr. Underhill, and the congregation is large and flourishing for a country church.
Champlin is also a station, or rather a shipping point in this township, and is just south of Lodemia; makes no pretensions beyond a side track for shipping grain and stock.
The first school taught in Avoca Township was by Samuel Breese, com­mencing in the Fall of 1835 and continuing until the next Spring. Mrs. McDowell, the widow of William McDowell, Nathan Popejoy, who first settled in Pontiac Township, and James Blake, built the first school house. It was a little log cabin, 16x18 feet, having a big wood fire-place that would take in a stick ten feet long; and in this cabin Breese taught the first school as noted above. James McDowell held the office of School Treasurer for twenty-seven years in succession. Lyman Burgit was the first Treasurer, but died soon after his appointment to the office, when McDowell was elected to succeed him, and held the position until his removal into Indian Grove Township. When he was first elected Treasurer, there was but one school district and it embraced the entire township, and the school fund consisted of what was termed the "College and Academy Fund," from which this township drew annually about $30. The first Board of Trustees were Isaac Burgit, W. G. McDowell and N. Hefner. When McDowell resigned the office of School Treasurer, the fund was about $4,500. At present, R. B. Foster is Treasurer; and from his last report to the County Superintendent of Schools we extract the following:

Number of males in township under 21: 200
Number of females in township under 21:  210
Total:  410
Number of males in township between 6 and 21:  153
Number of females in township between 6 and. 21:  163
Total:  316
Number of males attending school:  86
Number of females attending school: 114
Total: 200
Number of male teachers employed: 8
Number of female teachers employed: 10
Total: 18
Amount paid male teachers:  $1,061.30
Amount paid female teachers: 1,303.00
Total:  $2,364.30
Estimated value of school property:  $4,006 00
Amount of tax levy for support of schools: 2,053.87
Principal of township fund: 5,366.49

There are eight school districts in the township containing good, substantial school houses, in which schools are taught for the usual number of months in each year.

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The county adopted township organization in 1857, when this town took the name of Avoca, from the village and post office which bore the same, and had been given by Nicholas Hefner, who was the first Postmaster. It is an Indian name, but what its signification is, we are unable to say. The first Supervisor was Wm. Fugate, and the first Town Clerk, Isaac R. Clark. Gideon Hutchin­son is at present Supervisor, and J. W. McDowell, Town Clerk. Formerly, this and Indian Grove Township composed one election precinct. At that time, it was largely Democratic and contained, it is said, but seven Whig votes. But in the revolution of political parties, things have changed in Avoca Township, as well as elsewhere, and it now goes as largely Republican as it did Democratic in the old times. In the eternal fitness of things,"it is the Whig sections that have generally turned out to be the strongest Republican, and not often that a Democratic stronghold has made a change of this kind. During the late war, its record was as good as that of any township in Livingston County, according to the number of its population, and it turned out many brave sol­diers to battle for the Union. So far as can be obtained, their names are given in the general war record of this work; their deeds are engraved upon the hearts of their countrymen, and need no commendations here.
Judge McDowell was Collector of Revenues in 1844, when Avoca and Indian Grove were all one district, and at that time, as we were informed, there was a premium on wolf scalps. A man who had killed a wolf could go before a Jus­tice of the Peace and make affidavit to that effect, when he would receive a State warrant or order for one dollar, which was good for State taxes, and on presenting this document to the County Auditor, would get an order, which was current for all county taxes. The Judge says he collected almost the entire revenue that year in county orders and wolf scalps, not getting money enough to pay his own per centage [sic.] on collecting it.
The Chicago & Paducah Railroad was built through this township in 1872, and has been of paramount importance and benefit in uniting this part of the county with the seat of justice. The township of Avoca took $10,000 stock in the road, and has always shown the greatest interest in the enterprise and its success. There is but one regular station and depot in the town - McDowell -  with two other shipping points, viz.: Lodemia and Champlin. These have switches and side tracks, but at present are not provided with depot buildings and telegraph offices.
The only representative of the legal fraternity in Avoca Township was Judge McDowell, who lived in this town, where he practiced, as occasion required, until 1860, when he removed to the village of Fairbury. In 1859, he was elected County Judge, an office he filled with credit. He was Recording Stew and of the Methodist Church at Avoca for twenty-five years in succession.

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CHATSWORTH TOWNSHIP.
Chatsworth is in the eastern tier of townships, and is known as Town 26 north, Range 8 east of the Third Principal Meridian. It is fine rolling prairie, with the exception of Oliver's Grove in the southern part, a grove of, perhaps, as fine natural timber as Livingston County can furnish. Like all the prairie country, the people have devoted a great deal of attention to the plant­ing and cultivation of trees, until beautiful groves of timber are to be found on every section of land in the township. Originally, Chatsworth embraced Forrest and Germantown, and was known as Oliver's Grove Township. But many of the citizens disliking a compound name, petitioned the Board of Supervisors for a change, at their annual meeting, the second year of township organization. William H. Jones, who was the Supervisor at the time, gave it the name of Chatsworth, which it has ever since borne. The name is said to have been taken from an English story he had read, in which "Lord Chatsworth" figures as a principal character.
The first settlement made in what is now Chatsworth Township was by Franklin C. Oliver, who, at the age of 92 years, still occupies his original claim.

"The ghostly shade of a man he seemed;
His teeth were white as milk;
And the long, white hair on his forehead gleamed
Like skeins of tangled silk."

He came from the State of New Jersey in 1832, and settled here among the Indians, with whom he ever remained on the most friendly terms. When other white people in the surrounding settlements, becoming frightened at the warlike reports of the Black Hawk campaign, retreated toward the Wabash settlements, Oliver remained upon his claim, and "went in and out" among the red men without molestation. His father, he informed us, was a Quartermaster in the Revolutionary war, and many of the old soldier's official papers were in his possession until some years ago, when his house was burned and they met the fate of much of his household property. Many of these papers, he said, were rather quaint, and would present a marked contrast, doubtless, to the ponderous accounts and vouchers of a Quartermaster in our late war. Mr. Oliver and his family were the only white people in the township for many years. A number of settlements were made in Indian Grove and other timbered localities, but not till away up in the "fifties" were other settle­ments made in Chatsworth. In 1855, Job H. and George S. Megquier settled in this township. They were from Maine, and the former now lives in the village of Chatsworth; the latter died in 1871.
David Stewart came here from the State of New York in 1856. He bought land and settled in the town, where he remained for a number of years, when his wife died and he became dissatisfied, sold out and moved away.

389
Romanzo Miller was a Vermonter, and settled here in 1855. He finally sold his land and removed to Iowa, where he still remained, at last accounts of him.
John Snyder and Trueman Brockway were from New York, the Empire State of the Union. Snyder came in 1856 and made a settlement, upon which he died about 1863. Brockway had settled in El Paso in 1855, but came here in 1857. He was a single man when he came to Chatsworth, but after per­manently locating, went back to New York, married and brought his wife here to share his Western home.
Addison Holmes came from Indiana in 1855. After remaining for several years, he sold out and removed to Champaign County, in this State, where he still resides.
John P. Hart was from the blue-grass of Kentucky, and came in 1856. A young man named James Greenwood came with him, and worked on his farm as long as he remained here. Hart owned a large tract of land, but finally sold it and removed to Arkansas.
Peter Van Weir came from the "Faderland" on the banks of the Rhine. He settled here in 1858, but had lived for a while in Panola, Woodford County, before coming to this settlement. He finally removed into Charlotte Township.
Wm. H. Jones came here from La Salle County in the Fall of 1857. His family still reside here, but, he, at present, is doing business at Burr Oak Station, in Ford County.
The first birth and death are supposed to have occurred in Mr. Oliver's family, as he was here so long before any other white people settled in the town. The first marriage particularly remembered was Samuel Patton and Miss Nellie Desmond in 1861, and they were married by the Baptist minister, sta­tioned, at that time, in Fairbury. The first birth among the more modern settlers, was a child born to Trueman Brockway. The first death also occurred in his family in 1861. A man - a stranger that no one knew - was struck by lightning soon after the death of Brockway's child. He came to the village of Chatsworth, looking for work, and had been down on the prairie, where his efforts had failed, had come back, and while walking near the railroad track, was killed by lightning, not far from where Felker's store now stands. The first blacksmith shop in the town was opened by Samuel Patton in 1859. It was then the only shop between Fairbury and Gilman. William H. Jones was the first Justice of the Peace in the town, and held the office when Forrest and Germantown were included in Chatsworth. Dr. D. W. Hunt was the first resident physician. He came here, and still resides in the village of Chatsworth, and practices his profession in the township.
From the school records, we find the first meeting was held at the house of John R. Snyder. the 12th of April, 1858, when the town was still called Oliver's Grove. The following Board of Trustees were elected: Franklin Oliver, J. H. Megquier and Franklin Foot. On the 20th of the same month,

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the Trustees held a meeting and elected Wm. H. Jones, School Treasurer. In the Summer of this year, the first school was taught in the township, by Miss Jennie Adams. At present, there are seven school districts, with good, substan­tial frame houses in each district. The office of Treasurer was held by Jones until 1872, when J. T. Bullard was elected and still has the office. The follow­ing facts are taken from his last report to the Superintendent of Schools: Number of males in township under 21 years of age, 491; females, 444; total, 935; number of males attending school, 198; females, 208; total, 406; number of male teachers employed, 5; female teachers, 11, total teachers employed, 16; estimated value of school property, $15,600; estimated value of school appa­ratus, $225; principal of township fund, $8,133.01; tax levy for the support of schools, $3,365; highest monthly wages paid teacher, $110; lowest monthly wages paid teacher, $25; average monthly wages paid male teachers, $66.88; average monthly wages paid female teachers, $37.50; whole amount paid teach­ers, $4,751.25. The present Board of Trustees are J. M. Roberts, President; L. T. Stoutmeyer and S. T. Compton. The schools of Chatsworth Township are in a flourishing condition, and compare favorably with those of any other section of the county.
The first township meeting was held at the house of Franklin Oliver on the 6th of April, 1858, and officers elected for the year for the "Town of Oliver's Grove." The first election resulted as follows: James G. Meredith, Supervisor; W. H. Jones and J. G. Harper, Justices of the Peace; C. Hart and B. Harbert, Constables; John Towner, Assessor; J. B. Snyder, Collector, and Charles Cranford, Town Clerk. At the next election. April 1, 1859, William H. Jones was elected Supervisor; Charles Cranford, Town Clerk and Assessor also, and R. R. Miller, Collector. At the meeting of April 3, 1860. Jones and Cranford were re-elected Supervisor and Town Clerk; I. J. Krack, Assessor, and J. G. Meredith, Collector. The officers of the Township at pres­ent are as follows: G. W. Cline, Supervisor; J. H. Megquier and Peter Shroyer, Justices of the Peace; Charles Weinland, Assessor; Charles Reiss, Collector, and Thomas Nash, Town Clerk.
As already stated, Chatsworth, at the time of township organization, embraced the town of Forrest and the fractional town of Germantown. At the meeting of the Board of Supervisors in 1861, Forrest, on petition, was set off, and became a separate and distinct township, and at the September meeting of Supervisors for 1867, Germantown petitioned for separation, and was set off at this meeting, since which time it has been a separate town. Since these divi­sions and separations, Chatsworth remains still a complete Congressional town-ship of thirty-six sections.
When the settling up of the town began, about 1855, deer and prairie wolves were the almost undisputed possessors of the soil. In portion's of Oliver's Grove, there are still deer to be occasionally seen, but they are becom­ing very scarce, and will soon all he gone, while the wolf, the natural foe of the settler, is almost if not wholly exterminated.

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The first preacher to proclaim the Word of God in this section was Old Father Walker, as he was called, of Ottawa, who in 1832 established a mission among the Indians, whose lodges were then spread in Oliver's Grove. The following extract is from an address delivered before the Old Settlers' Society by Judge McDowell, of Fairbury, at the annual meeting in 1877: "The early footprints of Methodism began in this part of the country in 1832. Old Father Walker, who established a mission at the Kickapoo town (now Oliver's Grove), where there was, at that time, a village of ninety-seven wigwams, one large council house, several small encampments, and 630 Indians in all, men; women and children. Father Walker came out occasionally and held meetings with them, appointed and ordained a missionary minister of their own tribe, who always held services on the Sabbath, when Father Walker was not there. Their prayer book was a walnut board, on which were characters carved with a knife, and at the top an engraving. They had a great respect for the Sab­bath, and no Indian thought of retiring at night without consulting his board." These ministrations of Father Walker were the first we have any account of any in this section, and were probably the first in Livingston County. As there are no church buildings in the township, outside of the village of Chatsworth, this part of our history will be again alluded to in connection with the village.
The old Indian trail that marked the dividing line between the Kickapoo and Pottawatomie tribes was plainly visible through this town, long after settle­ments were made and the pale-faces had become numerous. And there are still settlers living here who can point out the line along which the trail led.
The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway was completed through the township, and trains commenced running regularly in 1857. This brought immigrants to the neighborhood, and was the means of the rapid settling up of this town and the surrounding county. The amount of grain and stock shipped from Chatsworth Township over this road is truly wonderful. The Kankakee & Southwestern Railroad, projected to run from Kankakee City, through Chats-worth Township, tapping the Gilman, Clinton & Springfield, at Gibson City, will probably be in process of construction in a short time. It is supposed that the Illinois Central is the "power behind the throne" in this new road, and will push it forward to completion, in order to open to them (the Illinois Central) a more direct route between Chicago and St. Louis. The new Company only ask the right of way through Second street, in the village of Chatsworth, which has been unanimously given.
Politically, Chatsworth is pretty evenly divided on national questions, prob­ably Republican by a few votes. Its record during the late war was good for so thinly a populated section as this was at that time. N. C. Kenyon, the present Postmaster of Chatsworth village, was Colonel of the Eleventh Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, one of the brave regiments of Illinois, that it is said, did as much hard fighting during the war as any regiment from the State. Conrad Heppe, a resident at present of the village, has served nine years in the

392
United States army, mostly in New Mexico. Many other brave fellows shoul­dered their muskets and went forth from this and from Charlotte Township (which at the commencement of the war was a part of Chatsworth), to the front, where "war's red blast raged the fiercest."

THE VILLAGE OF CHATSWORTH.
Chatsworth is situated on the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway, about forty miles from State line, and seventy miles from the city of Peoria. It was sur­veyed and laid out by Nelson Buck, County Surveyor, June 8, 1859, for Zeno Secor and Cornelia Gilman of New York, who owned the land on which it is located. In 1853, the land was entered by Solomon Sturges, who, in 1857, conveyed it to Wm. H. Osborn, and Osborn and wife in turn conveyed it to Secor and Gilman. The original town occupied 160 acres of land, embracing the south half of the northwest quarter, and north half of the southwest quarter of Section 3. Since then several additions have been made to the original plat at different times. It has been organized as a village under the Incorporation act, and the first board of officers were Jacob Titus, E. A. Bangs. John S. McElhiny, W. W. Sears and Albert Tuttle. Jacob Titus was elected Presi­dent of the Board, and George E. Esty, Village Clerk. At present its offi­cial board is as follows: John Young, President; W. F. Dennis, A. M. Roberts, C. Spiecher, Samuel Crumpton and C. Guenther; R. M. Spurgin, Clerk; W. H. Wakelin, Treasurer; J. M. Myers, Superintendent of Police, and T. S. Curran, Police Magistrate.
The first building was put up in the village in 1859, by Chas. D. Brooks and Trueman Brockway, both of whom were from New York. It was a store and residence combined, a frame building one and a half stories high, with rooms over the store. They afterward went into partnership, and after Brockway got married, he lived over the store. A post office was established in 1860, the first, not only in the village, but in the township. Chas. D. Brooks was the first Postmaster, an office he held several years, when Matthew H. Hall received it. He was succeeded by Col. N. C. Kenyon, who is at present Postmaster. The first hotel was built by C. W. Drake, in 1859. It has been con­verted into a dwelling house, and is now used as such. The only hotel in the village is the Cottage House, kept by Wm. Cowling. The first blacksmith, as mentioned in the history of the township, was Samuel Patton, who is still in the business, on the same old stand. He came from Ohio in the Fall of 1859, and there was at that time but one house in the village (Brooks & Brockway's store), a little grain house and an old carpenter shop. There were two others in sight - the section house, and one two miles out on the prairie, owned by Franklin Foot. Mr. Patton is the inventor of a corn husker, which seems to be a good thing. It husks corn as fast as horses will walk, and can be sold at about $225. He has not commenced the manufacture of them, but designs doing so.

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The first school house was built in 1858, on two lots donated by Osborn for school purposes. This was the first school house in both Chatsworth Township and the village. The present elegant school edifice was built in 1870. Two years ago additions were built to it, at a total cost of buildings and additions of $11,000. It is a two-story frame building, with stone basement, and is finished off in fine style. The teachers and Principal of the school for the year just closed* were as follows: Prof. J. T. Dickinson, Principal; Miss M. J. Speer, Grammar Department; Miss Brown, Miss Aiken and Mrs. Tuckerman; Mrs. Palmer, Primary Department.
The Germania Sugar Company built their large factory here in 1865, for the purpose of manufacturing sugar from the beet. The capital stock of the company was $50,000, which was all owned in Springfield, except $1,000 held in Peoria. The enterprise was projected by a man named Jennet, a German, and, after the company was organized, he had the management. It proved unsuc­cessful from the lack of water. One well bored on the premises, 1,200 feet deep, cost $6,000, and afforded an insufficiency of water to meet the require­ments of the business. It is believed that, with plenty of water, it would have proved a valuable business. The beets yielded about eight per cent of their weight in sugar. The factory was in operation here for about five years, when the machinery was taken out and removed to Freeport, where it is devoted to the same purpose as here. The property fell into the hands of Jacob Bunn; of Springfield, who furnished the funds for its operation and removal to Freeport. Though the capital stock was originally $50,000, it cost while here, we are told, about $175,000. The "vacuum pan," as it was called, alone cost $6,000 in Germany, and was an extraordinarily fine piece of machinery. But it was a losing speculation as long as it remained in this village.
A coal shaft was sunk near the village of Chatsworth, in 1867, by Capt. Beard, who had some connection at one time with the east shaft at Fairbury. A stock company was formed among the citizens of Chatsworth, of $10,000, but the stock was never all paid up. Enough, however, was collected to pay Beard for sinking the shaft, which was about 218 feet deep. The works were finally abandoned, upon the report of Beard that there was no prospect of coal. It thought by some that a good vein of coal was found, but for some reason the fact was concealed, or at least never officially reported. One of the men employed in the work said to some friends one day, that they passed through a vein of coal about five feet thick in sinking the Chatsworth shaft. Whether this is true or false, we are unable to say.
The first grain elevator was built by Charles D. Brooks, in 1861, and was burned in 1866. He then built another, which he afterward moved to Piper City. Samuel Crumpton built one next, and then Havercorn & Mette built the one now occupied by A. B. Searing. Joseph Rumbold built one, which is now owned by Searing & Crumpton. The next was an old mill, moved up by the railroad, and changed into an elevator by Chas. Weinland, and is now owned by H. L. Turner.

* Their Principal and teachers for the coming year are not yet chosen.

394
The mill above referred to was originally built by Wright, Williams & Crip­liver, and, after several changes, it was disposed of as already noted. Williams then erected his present steam mill, and commenced operating it in December, 1877. It is a frame building, with two runs of buhrs, and is used mostly for grinding corn meal and stock feed.
Another of Chatsworth's manufactures is the Star Wind Mill, which is put up by David E. Shaw, who is also the patentee of the Marvel Feed Mill, which is adapted to wind mills. Also, the wagon factory of L. C. Spiecher is quite an institution. He works seven hands, and make wagons and carriages principally.
Chatsworth has two banks - C. A. Wilson & Co., successors to the Chatsworth Bank, and E. A. Bangs & Co. Both houses do a general banking and exchange. business.
The Chatsworth Plaindealer is a five-column quarto newspaper, published by R. M. Spurgin, and is one of the flourishing papers of the county. It was established in November, 1873, by C. B. Holmes, and in August, 1876, passed into the hands of its present owner. It is an independent paper, and takes no particular side in politics,
The first religious society organized in the village of Chatsworth was the Methodist Church, in 1859, by Rev. M. Dewey, with about forty members. The charge, at that time, included Forrest, Five Mile Grove, Pleasant Ridge, Oliver's Grove and Bethel, with Rev. J. W. Flowers as Presiding Elder of the District. The society held their meetings in the school house, two blocks north of the railroad depot, until the year 1874, when they erected a good church building at a cost of about $2,500, in which they have worshiped ever since, having now upon the church rolls about 100 members. Adjacent, is a comfortable parsonage, worth about $500, and both it and the church are free of encumbrance. Rev. Samuel Wood is the present Pastor, and Rev. R. G. Pierce, Presiding Elder of the District. The church was dedicated by Rev. T. M. Eddy, D. D., of Chicago, on the 30th day of November, 1864. The Sunday school of this society was organized in March, 1862. W. H. Wakelin the present Superintendent. and the average attendance is about 100 children.
The Presbyterian Church was built soon after the village was laid out, and the society first organized in the school house, under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Thomas, who preached here and at a school house in Ford County on alternate Sundays. He then lived at Champaign. The first regular minister in charge of the society was Rev. Oscar Park. The present Pastor is Rev. Geo. F. McAfee, formerly of Missouri, but a graduate of the Northwestern Theological Seminary, and has in his charge about eighty members. A very flourishing Sunday school belongs to this church. The Rev. Mr. McAfee is Superintendent, and about one hundred and thirty-five children attend.
The Baptist Church was built in 1871, is a substantial frame building, 32x54 feet, and cost about three thousand six hundred dollars. Rev. A. Kenyon is

395
Pastor, with a membership of over one hundred, and an interesting Sunday school, of which A. H. Hall is Superintendent. There are two German socie­ties, the Evangelical Association and the Lutherans; but they have no church buildings, and we were unable to learn anything definite of their organizations.
The Roman Catholic Church was built in 1864, and dedicated, on the 17th of March, to St. Patrick, by Rev. Thomas Roy, President of St. Victor's College. The building cost about four thousand dollars, is a handsome frame, and was built under the pastorate of Rev. John A. Fanning, of Fairbury. Owen Murtagh, Patrick Monahan and William Joyce were the Building Committee. It was made an independent mission on the 22d of July, 1867, when the Very Rev. Learner Moynihan, formerly of New Orleans, and late of Jersey City, N. J., succeeded the Rev. Father Fanning. A flourishing Sunday school is attached, and the attendance, both at it and the church, are good.
Chatsworth Lodge, No. 539, A., F. & A. M., was chartered October 1, 1867. Jerome B. Gorin, Grand Master of Illinois, signing the charter, and H. G. Reynolds, Grand Secretary. The charter members were George R. Wells, E. L. Nelson, W. H. Jones, D. E. Shaw, E. A. Simmons, A. E. Anway, James Davis. J. H. Dalton, Charles L. Wells, Ira W. Trask, J. S. McElhiny and D. W. Hunt. D. R. Wells was first Master; D. R. Shaw, Senior Warden, and E. A. Simmons, Junior Warden. The present Master is N. C. Kenyon, and W. H. Wakelin, Secretary, with forty members.
Chatsworth Lodge, No. 339, I. O. O. F., chartered October 9. 1866, J. K. Scroggs, Grand Master, and Samuel Willard, Grand Secretary. Charter members - Arthur Orr, N. A. Wheeler, Peter Shroyer, T. L. Matthews, H. J. Roberts and G. W. Blackwell. Arthur Orr was first Noble Grand, and N. A. Wheeler, Secretary. C. Guenther is at present Noble Grand, and Arthur Orr, Secretary, with thirty-seven members.
Livingston Encampment, No. 123, I. O. O. F., was chartered May 31, 1871; D. W. Jacoby, Grand Patriarch, and N. C. Nason, Grand Scribe; J. B. Renne, first Chief Patriarch;  Peter Shroyer, Scribe. L. C. Spiecher is at present Chief Patriarch, and P. J. Garhart, Scribe, with about twenty members on the roll.
Chatsworth has a well organized fire department, with a good volunteer company. Their engine is the old "Prairie Queen." formerly used in Bloom­ington, and this village bought it for $1,300, which, with hose and other equip­ments, runs the cost of the department up to about two thousand dollars. The company has been a valuable acquisition, and has saved to the town more than twenty thousand dollars' worth of property since its organization.
The bar is represented in Chatsworth by Hon. Samuel T. Fosdick and George Torrence, Esq. The former was elected to the State Senate in the Fall of 1876, on the Republican ticket, receiving 5,056 votes over C. C. Strawn, of Pontiac, Democrat, who received 4,313 votes. The Senatorial District is com­posed of Livingston and Ford Counties.

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The medical fraternity here are Drs. Charles True, D. W. Hunt, Wm. C. Byington and   ------ Bostock.
John Walter, a merchant of the village, has a very ancient relic, and one to be highly prized. It is an old Bible, printed in 1536. The following is the inscription on the fly-leaf:

Printed in Zurich
By
Christoffel Froschouer
And finished on the 16 day of March
MDXXXVI.

It is printed in the Swiss dialect of the German language, hound in heavy wood backs, covered with leather, with heavy iron clasps and corners. Mr. Walter claims that it is the oldest Bible, but one, in the United States; and, for a book that is 340 years old, it is in a state of excellent preservation. It is profusely illustrated throughout the Old and New- Testaments with colored engravings of Bible scenes and incidents.
The village of Chatsworth has one of the most beautiful little parks in this section of the country. It embraces just one square, or block, in the village. and is very handsomely shaded with young maples, of which there are over 500 in the enclosure, making it a fine place to pass an hour or two of a warm evening, and a lovely promenade for the boys and girls, who

Find in their wooing much moonshine yearning,
Such as young folks always have when they are learning.

to be sweet on each other, and yearn for moonlight, solitude and the "mourn­ful cooing of the turtle dove."
Chatsworth Cemetery was laid out January 4, 1864, and an addition made to it March 2, 1865. It is a pretty little burying ground, and the good order in which it is kept shows a high regard of the living for the dead. The first party buried within its silent shades was an old German laborer who lived, at the time, with Patrick Monahan, of Charlotte Township, and was buried on the spot, before the cemetery was laid out, as noticed in the history of the latter township.

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SAUNEMIN TOWNSHIP.
At the time of the formation of Livingston County, Saunemin, Sullivan, Pleasant Ridge and Charlotte Townships were comprised in one election precinct, and it so stood until the second year after township organization, when Pleasant Ridge and Charlotte were struck off, as noted in another place. When all four of these towns were embraced in one, it was called Saunemin, after the old sachem of the Kickapoo Indians, and was given to the precinct by Oliver, of the present township of Chatsworth, who settled there when Indians were plenty in the country, and knew the old chief well. The present township of Saunemin is about seven-eighths prairie to one-eighth of timber. The prairie lies in gentle swells, just sufficiently rolling to drain well, but not enough so to wash, or to be termed knolly. The native timber is embraced in Five-Mile Grove, lying along the borders of Five-Mile Creek, and is a body of very fine timber but in the midst of a prairie country, like that by which it is surrounded, it is too small in quantity to be of any material benefit, or very profitable for building purposes.
The first settlement was made in Saunemin Township in 1845, on Five-Mile Creek, in the northern part of Five-Mile Grove. The honor of making this first settlement is given to David Cripliver and his two sons, Joseph and S. P. Cripliver. Joseph, who had settled in Wolf's Grove several years prior, came to this section and made the claim, and then the family came on, as stated above, in 1845. They came from Indiana, and on their arrival in Five-Mile Grove, went into and occupied the old "Survey hut," until they could erect a cabin of their own. Joseph Cripliver says when he first settled in Wolf's Grove in 1841, there were but eighty-two voters in the entire county. Criplivers sold their original claim to John Ridinger, then took up the claim where they still live. The elder Cripliver is dead. but his wife is still living, and makes her home with her sons.
John Ridinger was the next settler after the Criplivers, and, as already stated, bought their original claim. He was also from Indiana, and settled here in the latter part of 1850, and is still on the place where he first located. The following settlers were also from Indiana, viz.: Thomas and Robert Spafford and Samuel Scott. The Spaffords were originally from England, but had lived some years in Indiana before settling in this township in 1858. They had made their first settlement in Avoca Township, where they remained two years, when they came to their present settlements. Scott became dissatisfied soon after his settlement, sold out and removed to Missouri. Being discontented there also, he returned to this township within three months from the time he left it, and died in 1874.
 Samuel L. Marsh is a genuine New England Yankee, and came from Worcester County, Mass., in 1856. He settled first in La Salle County, where he remained two years, when he removed to Saunemin, and settled where he now

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lives. He is an enterprising and thrifty farmer; has a good farm, and is well prepared for a "rainy day," whenever it may come. When he settled here, he found quite a number already in the township, among which were the Cripliv­ers, Ridingers, Scott, and the Spaffords, who have already been noticed in the early settlements. There were living here at the time, also, the following families, viz.: T. W. Bridia, Jason Tuttle, Thomas, Oliver and John Smith - three brothers - Joshua Chesebrough, Thos. Cleland, Rev. Felix Thornton. Wm. Young, Robert Miller, John S. Thomas, James Funk and a young man named Walter Good. Of these, T. W. Bridia came from the Green Mountains of Vermont originally, but settled first in Green County, in this State, in 1837, where he remained for twenty years before coming to this neighborhood. He made a claim here, upon which he still lives. His wife, however, who shared with him his early toils, has been dead several years. Jason Tuttle came from New York about 1854. He settled in Michigan, where he remained some years, when he removed to this township, where he still lives. Thomas, Oliver and John Smith, and Joshua Chesebrough were from Ohio, and settled here - the Smiths about 1854-5, and Chesebrough a year or two later. Thomas Cleland settled here about the same time. He was a blacksmith, the first in the township, and is now living in Pontiac. Rev. Felix Thornton, who is noticed as one of the early settlers of Sullivan, and as the first minister in that town, settled here in 1858, and some years later sold out and removed to Iowa. William Young came from New York in 1855, and bought the place where Mariner now lives. He is dead, and his widow is married to Mariner. James Funk settled in the neighborhood in 1852-3, and came from McLean County to this town. He opened the place where 'Squire Bridia now lives, and, becoming dissatisfied, sold out and removed to Missouri, but after a time came back to this settlement, and died in 1867. His widow lives in the southern part of the township, near the iron bridge over the Vermilion River, between this and Indian Grove. Robt. Miller came from Marshall County, near Lacon, to this settlement in 1856. John S. Thomas was an Englishman, and

"Had roamed through many lands."

He came from Plainfield, in this State, and settled in this township about 1855. As stated, he was from England, and seems to have been a kind of roving character, as it is said that he had been all over the world. But he per­manently settled here, and died in 1873, but his widow still lives on the old homestead. Walter Good, a single man, is among the early settlers of this town, but of him little is known beyond the fact, that he enlisted in the army during the late war, lost a hand in battle, and never returned to this neighborhood. These names comprise the settlements made up to a period so modern that all who have come since cannot very well be placed under the head of early settlers.

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The sound of the Gospel is almost coeval with the first settlements of Sau­nemin Township. The Rev. Felix Thornton was the first regular preacher, although there had been sermons preached and religious services held before he settled in the neighborhood. The first permanent church society was formed by the Methodists, in the school house, near where the Bethel Church now stands. Through the influence and untiring energies of Rev. John Wilkerson, Pastor, at that time, of the congregation, funds enough were raised to build a church, and the work was commenced. Rev. Mr. Wilkerson, however, was transferred to another field of labor before the building was finished. When completed, it was dedicated by some eminent divine from Chicago, whose name our informant had forgotton [sic.]. It is an elegant frame, and was finished and opened for worship in 1872. It is known as the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church, and numbers eighty members. A Sabbath school, under the superintend­ence of Mr. C. C. Boys, has been established by the church, and is, at the present writing, in a very flourishing condition and well attended.
A society of the Christian Church was formed in 1871, in the same school house in which the Methodist Church was organized. They have no church building, and still hold their meetings in the school house. Rev. W. P. Carith­ers organized the church, and is still its Pastor, with a membership of eighty-six. A large and flourishing Sunday school is maintained, with William Watts as Superintendent.
The United Brethren formed a church in this township in 1867, under the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Elliott. Rev. Mr. Robinson was the first United Breth­ren preacher in the neighborhood. The Rev. Mr. Mitchell is the present preacher, and the school house is used as their sanctuary.
There has also been a society of the Presbyterians recently organized in this school house.* Formerly, there was a Congregational Church in the township, but it dwindled down to a handful and then died out, and this Presbyterian Church has been organized on its ruins. Rev. D. A. Wallace is the present Pastor. A Union Sunday school of this and the United Brethren is carried on at the school house, where the churches hold their religious meetings.
The first school house was built of logs, about the year 1854, and Miss Julia Hamlin is supposed to have taught the first school in it, which was the first in the township. The first school house built by public funds was in 1863, and Mrs. Bridia, nee Lilly, taught the first school in it. She commenced her school in the little log school house, before this was finished, but, on its completion, moved into the new edifice, where she finished out the session. The first School Treasurer in the township was Thomas N. Smith. The first school record we were able to find dates back to April 7, 1862. On this date, the Trustees held a meeting. The Board, at the time, was composed of Jason Tuttle, John Cotrell and S. P. Cripliver. There seems to have been but little business transacted, save the apportionment of the funds on hand, which amounted to $556.72,

*Bethel Methodist Church is, the only church building in the town.

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among the three school districts then in the town. Two new districts were created at this meeting, as previous to this date the entire town was one school district. Samuel L. Marsh was elected School Treasurer at the regular meet­ing, April 11, 1864, an office he still holds. At the annual meeting, April, 1867, we find there were five districts, and there was the additional sum on hand of $222.03, which was apportioned among the five districts as follows, viz.: District No. 1, $102.13 District No. 2, $64.60 ; District No. 3, $21.71; District No. 4, $20.02 ; District No. 5, $13.52. From Mr. Marsh's last annual report we take the following:
Number of males in township under 21 years: 240
Number of females in township under 21 years:  244
Total: 484
Number of males between 6 and 21 in township: 169
Number of females between 6 and 21 in township: 156
Total : 325
Number of males attending school: 166
Number of females attending school: 122
Total: 288
Number of male teachers employed: 6
Number of female teachers employed: 14
Total: 20
Estimated value of school property: $4,000.00
School fund of township: 8,071.25
Tax levy for support of schools: 1,529.84
Highest monthly wages paid teachers: 45.00
Lowest monthly wages paid teachers: 28.00
Whole amount paid teachers:  2,088.33
There are at present nine School Districts in the town, in eight of which there are good, comfortable frame school houses, and the coming Winter there is a house to be put up in District No. 9, which has recently been created. The Board of Trustees at present is composed of the following gentlemen: William C. Burley, Wm. T. Bridia and James M. Rhodes.
Joseph Cripliver was the first party living in Saunemin to perpetrate the act of matrimony. He married in Grundy County in 1851. The first marriage ceremony solemnized in this township was Miss Scott (now Mrs. Mariner) and William Young, but the exact date of it we were unable to learn. Catherine Ellen, daughter of Joseph Cripliver, was the first birth in the township, and occurred in January, 1852. The first death was probably the wife of John Martin, in March, 1855. A couple of twin children of John Ridinger died in March, 1855, also, and some are of the opinion that they died before Mrs. Martin, while others believe to the contrary.
A sad occurrence which took place in this township will come in appropri­ately in this connection. In the Summer of 1858, a woman was drowned in Five-Mile Creek, about one mile from the present residence of S. L. Marsh.

403
She was traveling through the country alone, and had called at the house of Mr. Thomas the evening before she was drowned, but had not, it seems, given a very definite or satisfactory account of herself, and had left late in the evening. The next day she was found in Five-Mile Creek, "cold in death." Who she was. whence she came, or whither going, none ever knew beyond mere supposi­tion, which was, that she belonged to a company of emigrants who had passed that way some time before; had become dissatisfied and homesick, and was try­ing to get back to the old home of her childhood, when fate overtook her, and her destiny was brought to an abrupt close. The people generously and kindly took the remains and decently interred them in their little grave yard in Five Mile Grove. There they still repose, and her friends, if she had any, are igno­rant of her fate to the present day.
Saunemin Post Office, the first in the township, was established in 1869, and A. W. Parks was the first Postmaster. He held the office for two years, when George D. Paddock became Postmaster, an office he still holds. The first store was opened by Paddock in the Fall of 1871, and is still in successful operation. It is located in the little village of Bethel, or, more properly speaking, Saunemin. The Methodist Church, which is located here, is called Bethel, and hence the name is often applied to the village, while the name of the post office is Saune­min. Another store was opened here in 1874, by J. H. Richter, which still exists, but the stock has run down, it is supposed for the purpose of quitting business. In addition to the two stores mentioned, and the church, there is a good, comfortable school house, a shoe shop kept by Homer Tiffany, a blacksmith shop by A. W. Young, and some half a dozen residences. These items comprise the hamlet or village of Saunemin.
T. W. Bridia was the first Justice of the Peace in this township, and the first Supervisor after Sullivan was separated and set off. Thomas Cleland was the first blacksmith, and for a number of years the only one in the township. The first bridge in the town was a rude wooden affair, built over Five Mile Creek. In the Fall of 1876, an elegant iron bridge was put up over Five Mile Creek, where the principal road crosses leading to Pontiac.
Mr.. Cripliver informed us that, when he settled in Five Mile Grove, there was not a family living nearer than five miles. They used to go down in Indian Grove, visiting, and thought that but a short trip. The small body of timber in Five Mile Grove did not present many attractions to those in hunt of homes, and the value of the prairies was yet undiscovered.
When Saunemin included Sullivan, Pleasant Ridge and Charlotte in its territorial limits, and after the county had adopted township organization, Isaac Wilson, now of Pleasant Ridge, was the Supervisor. After they had been divided up, and Saunemin became a township of itself, T. W. Bridia was the first Supervisor and Joshua Chesebrough the first Town Clerk. At present, the township officers are as follows: Thomas Spafford, Supervisor; Thomas Spafford and Geo. D. Paddock, Justices of the Peace; O. H. P. Noel, As-

404
sessor; George Dally, Collector; C. F. H. Carithers, Town Clerk. George Langford, of this township, was elected Clerk of Livingston County, and held the office for the term preceding Mr. Wait, the present incumbent, discharging the duties with entire satisfaction to himself and the county.
The little cemetery in Five Mile Grove was laid out in the early settlement of the township. The first of the grounds was one acre donated by John Ridinger, and afterward the town bought one acre more, and then had the cemetery incorporated. As stated in another place, Mrs. Martin and Ridinger's twin children were among the first burials in it.
In the days of Whigs and Democrats, Saunemin Township was Democratic, but since 1860 it has been largely Republican. When the Grange movement was in the noontide of its glory, it controlled the elections in this town, irre­spective of political parties; but of late it has fallen back on, not first, but second principles - otherwise, is Republican again.
In the late war, it did its duty nobly in furnishing soldiers for the Union army. Many who went to the front never returned. On the Southern plains, where their valor won for them a soldier's death, they sleep, no more to answer to roll-call until the great reveille shall sound in the last day. The town had but one draft during the war, and for only six men. The lucky ones were William Young, George Gray, Peter Munson and three brothers -Thomas, Oliver and John C. Smith. All other calls were filled as soon as made, either by volun­teers or substitutes.
Albigence Marsh, the father of Samuel L. Marsh, lives with his son, as also the latter's father-in-law, Mr. Lee. The elder Marsh is 87 years old, and quite a sprightly old man. He was in the war of 1812, and went out in the regiment of Col. Jonathan Lyon, but did not remain long in the service before being dis­charged and sent home. Mr. Lee, Mrs. Marsh's father, is 81 years old, and as vigorous as many men at 50. We were shown a very handsome "what-not" made by him for his daughter since he entered the "80s," and which would grace the most elegant parlor. He is a fine mechanic, or has been in his day, and many a pretty piece of furniture in Mr. Marsh's dwelling bears witness to his mechanical genius.

AMITY TOWNSHIP.
1833-1878. But little more than forty years ! Only half of a good life-time. A very short period when past. And when our vision, in its backward glance, is confined to our own narrow lives, how little has been done! Yet when we look around us, and compare the present with the past, allowing our imagination to run carefully over the intervening period, we are amazed at what has been accomplished. Forty years ago, where stands the proud city of Chicago, with its half million inhabitants, its tunnels, its water works, its custom house and its magnificent system of railroads, was a small dilapidated, wooden town, located in a marsh. More than this, forty years has seen this same town rise and fall and rise again.

405
Forty years ago, there was not a railroad in the State, now there are thousands of miles. In forty years, all of this country has been netted over with telegraph wires, so that friends and business men and officials converse as readily between New York and San Francisco, and between New Orleans and Chicago, as did neighbors across the hedge that separated their lots forty years ago. Forty years have witnessed two bloody wars in which this country has been involved. Mexico has given up her most valuable possession to the United States, and 3,000,000 of slaves have been set at liberty. Within forty years. 10,000,000 of the oppressed of other countries have found a home in this free land, many of whom have become citizens of this State, this county, this township.
During the period named, wonderful changes have come to the West in particular. At the former date, the county of Livingston had not yet been organized. Not a town, not a school house, not a church building in all the territory now embraced within its limits, had been built. In all of the thirty townships were not half as many inhabitants, and less than one-tenth the wealth now contained in Amity alone. Indeed, had these remarks been confined to the last thirty years, they would have been almost as appropriate; as the events mentioned have almost all transpired within that time.
Forty-five years ago, no white man had ever called what is now embraced in Amity Township his home. In the year 1833, Thomas N. Reynolds, Sam­uel K. Reynolds and E. Breckinridge found their way to this then desolate place, and, selecting spots on which to build, erected for themselves and families little cabins, in which they lived for some years.
The farm on which the Reynoldses built is the same now known as the J. P. Houston farm. His wife was the first white person buried in the township. She lived but a few years after coming to the country. The coffin used to inclose her remains was such as served the purpose of many a worthy pioneer. It was con­structed by splitting open a walnut log and scooping out sufficient from each portion to admit the body. These two troughs were then placed together in their original position, and, in this rude casket, Mrs. Reynolds, the pioneer woman of this township, awaits the call to proceed to a better country, where frontier hardships are not known.
Of a large number of the name who eventually made this their home, only Samuel K. Reynolds still remains. All others have either removed or died.
Breckinridge made some improvements and built a cabin on the James McKee farm. He remained here about ten years, until he found he was being "crowded," and then pushed on further west into the newer country "beyond the Mississippi." These three, with nearly all who sought this part of the county for a number of years, were from the State of Ohio; and this was, in reality, as it was named, the "Buckeye" neighborhood.
The next year, 1834, Thomas Prindle came out from Ohio and located in the southeastern part. Prindle was a blacksmith, as well as a farmer. He

406
erected a shop and plied his anvil for the accommodation of himself and his few neighbors while he stayed. But the light of his forge and the light of his life went out together in 1845, and for thirty-three years his anvil has been silent.
In the latter part of 1834 and the early part of 1835, a large number of families followed the ones already mentioned from the Buckeye region, at least six of which came to this township. They were John W., Joseph, Stephen and Cornelius W. Reynolds - brothers and cousins of the two who came in 1833 - William Springer and Thomas Campbell.
John W. Reynolds was one of the first Justices of the Peace of Bayou Pre­cinct, and performed the ceremony of marrying the first couple in the township. The happy parties on the occasion were Isaac Painter and Nancy Springer. The nuptials were celebrated in 1840 - perhaps a year earlier. The first mill built in the county was constructed by John W. Reynolds, soon after his arrival. It was as primitive an affair as any of the institutions of its time, being nothing more than a corn cracker, the motive power of which was furnished by a horse. Though a very rude concern, it was a very convenient one for this neighborhood, and was well patronized. But its proprietor "ground the last grist," and "took his last toll" thirty-five years ago.
Joseph Reynolds was a young, unmarried man, and lived with his brothers Thomas and Samuel K. He was the first Sheriff of Livingston County, being elected May 8, 1837, at a county election held at the house of Andrew McMillan. His opponent was Simeon S. Mead. He was probably a popular man, as he received, out of the eighty-five votes cast, more than eight-ninths.
At this same election, another brother, Cornelius W. Reynolds, was a can­didate for a county office, that of Surveyor; but no doubt the people thought one county office in a family was enough, for he was beaten by Isaac Whicher, who received a small majority. C. W. was a physician, and, after election, went to Pontiac and practiced medicine a little, acted as Deputy Sheriff for his brother, was Postmaster of Pontiac, and was afterward elected Clerk of the Court. He finally removed to Ottawa, at which place he is still engaged in the practice of his profession.
Stephen Reynolds resided in the township until his death, which occurred about seventeen years since.
William Springer was the forerunner of a large family, who came to the county two years afterward. He lived only a year or two after his relatives came out.
Thomas Campbell settled on Section 5, arriving at the place on the 5th of July of the year named. He continued his residence here until November, 1865, which is the date of his death. His son, Thomas M., still occupies the old homestead.
In 1836, H. M. D. Morris, Thomas Armon, William Reynolds and Samuel Boyer made their advent into the neighborhood. The first three were from Indiana, and the last from Pennsylvania.

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Morris settled on Section 17, on Short Point. He was the first preacher in the township. He was not an itinerant, but a local Methodist exhorter, who farmed all week and preached on Sunday at the cabins in the neighborhood or in the grove - " God's first temple " - as the weather or the occasion seemed to indicate. Mr. Morris died here in 1843. His son, Chester Morris, still occu­pies the old place.
William Reynolds was not a relative of the others of that name, who had settled here previously, but was a brother-in-law of Morris and Armon, they having married sisters of his. He was himself a bachelor, and remained here but a few years, when he removed to Oregon, where he lived until about fifteen years ago, when he returned on a visit, staying here a short time, and then locating permanently in Iowa.
Samuel Boyer's name was one of the most familiar in the early days. He was a man of means, education and piety, and, withal, very industrious and economical. He brought with him, from his native State, all of the wagons and farming implements needed in the cultivation of his land, bringing them all the way by boat down the Ohio, up the Mississippi, and thence up the Illinois to Hennepin. He was particularly interested in all religious services, and his house was always open to the public for meetings of this kind, and his home was the home of the missionary or others of "the cloth." He was one of the first School Commissioners, though the duties of the office then did not necessarily require either a man of leisure or great ability, there being but three very small schools in the county, and the course of instruction being of the most primary char­acter. His son, Isaiah Boyer, resides in the village of Cornell.
The year 1837 brought several new families to this locality, among which were two of the most worthy and solid that have ever made this their home. Thomas Louderback and Uriah Springer were both from Ohio, and came to the township within a few days of each other. They both had large families, and, inasmuch as they were all of the most estimable character, their coming was a valuable accession, not only to the neighborhood, but to the whole county. From that day to this, the word of a Louderback passes for currency wherever it is heard. The Louderbacks had lived a few years in Vermilion County, before coming to Amity Township. The sons, Liberty, Mills and Levi, are still here, and Thomas, Jr., is in Iowa, having left this place eight years ago. The elder Thomas Louderback died in 1854, his wife having preceded him twelve years. The old homestead on Scattering Point is still in the possession of, and occupied by the family. Uriah Springer and sons, Levi and Joseph, and son-in-law, D. M. Prindle, arrived about ten days after the Louderbacks, and settled on South Point.
Springer had been a man of some political standing in his native State, and had held the office of Magistrate for twenty years. When he came to the county, he was somewhat advanced in years, but, notwithstanding, was elected to the office of Associate Justice of the county, in the discharge of which duties

408
he gave good satisfaction. He, with Thomas Barton and A. J. Gilmore, erected the first real flour mill in the county, in 1838. The latter two were from McLean County, and came to this place for the purpose named. The mill, however, was but partially successful, as the builders were not practical architects and millers. The mill was located on the site of what is now known as the Dodwell Mill.
D. M. Prindle was cousin of Thomas, who had preceded him three years, and who had induced him to emigrate. He was a great singer, and led that part of the service in all the religious meetings. There were no organs or church choirs in his time, and he pitched the tune and sang the hymn as he was moved by the spirit, "lining out the verse" to enable all of the worshipers to join in the exercise. Prindle's voice was hushed, however, more than twenty years ago, and he now sings a new song in the great temple above. The years 1838 and 1839 brought two men to this township, of whose advent the town and the county are thankful.
Walter Cornell came from Maine, and has been notorious as a leader in every movement calculated to benefit the community. He has held several county offices, among which are named those of Treasurer, School Commissioner and County Assessor, and has filled many positions of minor importance in the township. He was the first and, until last Spring, the only Postmaster of Cornell, having filled the position since the establishment of the same.
Amos Edwards, formerly from New York, but directly from Ohio, was a school teacher in those States, and had "wielded the ferule and the birch" for a dozen years before coming here. He was the first resident teacher in this part of the county, though to him does not belong the honor of pioneer educa­tor in Amity Township, as he did not engage in the profession at once after his location; otherwise he would have received the credit, for up to this time no steps had been taken to open a school. The first school taught in this part of the county was opened in a small cabin, that had been built and occupied as a dwelling by E. Breckenridge. The school was kept by Martha Rutherford, and the enterprise bid fair to be a great success, but "Uncle Johnny" Foster, of Pontiac, had found out the worth of the young lady; and to the regret and somewhat to the disgust of the community, he paid her frequent visits, and finally persuaded her to desert the school and turn her attention to conjugal matters. To be plain about it, Foster's wife having died, and he being sadly in need of some one to look after his domestic affairs, married her. The school consisted of only a dozen children, their tuition being paid for by subscription at the rate of $1.50 per term. "Uncle Johnny" says, if they don't like the part he took in this matter, they needn't grumble, as some of them still owe for their tuition.
The same year, 1840, the first school house was erected. This was not only the first in the township, but, as indicated by the United States census taken that year, was one of only three in the whole county. Doubtless a description

409
of it will be interesting to very many of our readers. Interested parties, to the number of eight or ten, came together, by appointment, bringing with them their axes, saws and whatever implements they possessed, and built it on the mutual assistance plan. Small trees were felled and cut to the length of eighteen feet. Notches were cut in each end, to admit of others designed to rest thereon. Then the logs were built up in the manner of constructing a rail pen. When the building had been raised to a sufficient height, openings were cut out for a door, fire place and windows. The cracks between the logs were "chinked" - that is, partially filled with small pieces of wood wedged in - and then daubed with mud. The roof was of "clap-boards," very large shingles split from the bodies of straight-grained trees ; and these were held in their places by the weight of poles laid thereon. In the building of King Solomon's Temple, it is found worthy of record that it was constructed "without the sound of axe, hammer or other tool of iron." In our temple of learning, it is worthy of note that not a nail or any other piece of iron entered into its composition. The door was made of slabs split from the trees, after the manner of the shingles, and the boards were pinned together with wooden pins. The door was hung on wooden hinges, and fastened with a wooden latch, which only the ingenuity of the backwoodsman can invent. The latch was raised by means of a leather thong, attached to it, and hung through a small auger hole. a few inches above. This was a very common method of fastening the doors of the ancient cabins, and originated the saying that the "latch string is out." The floor was made of "puncheons" or logs split in two parts, each of which, with its flat surface turned upward, rested on the ground. The desks were broad boards, resting on strong pins, driven into the wall. The seats were constructed of slabs, into the ends of which were inserted wooden pins, serving as legs or supports. These benches were placed in front of the desks; and, while the children studied from their books, they made the sharp edge of the desk the support for their backs. When writing time came, the little fellows elevated their heels to a horizontal line with their eyes, and, by a movement which can be more easily imagined than described, and which must be learned by experience to be accomplished gracefully, performed a half revolution of the body, bringing the face toward the desk. When writing was over, a reverse process brought them to the origi­nal posture. The chimney and fireplace were composed of small sticks, built up after the manner of the house, and plastered with mud, the fireplace being very ample, to admit of large logs used for fuel. The windows, however, were the parts which displayed peculiar ingenuity. Glass was too expensive, and had the further objection of allowing the glaring rays of the sun to enter the room, and also of permitting the children to look out, thereby diverting their attention from their studies. So, instead of using the trasparent medium, a translucent one was invented. Strong white paper was thoroughly soaked in oil or lard, and this process rendered it permeable to light, sufficient for the purpose, and also dispensed with extra blinds. The house was located on Section 16, near

410
the northwest corner, and thus, being near the center, was not only designed for the use of the whole community, but was amply commodious, accommodating pupils from what is now known as Rook's Creek Township. The first term taught in this academy, seminary or institution was by Elizabeth Miller, afterward wife of William Eaton. This was also a subscription school, of three months, and tuition was $1.50 per term. The branches taught were reading, spelling, a little arithmetic and writing. In the last named branch the teacher was required, not only to understand the art itself, but also an art which may now almost be counted as one of the "lost arts" that of making a pen out of a goose-quill; and there are many who yet survive that declare that no pen has ever been invented which writes like the quill pen, as made with the school-master's pen-knife. The "Scattering Point Institute" served its purpose well, and in it was received much sound instruction; and many still remember the days spent within its walls, and the precepts of Betsey Miller and her successors, as the most pleasant period in their lives. However, by 1849, "Scattering Point Institute" had outlived its day, its size and location being no longer ade­quate to the increased population and the location of the newer settlers. So, with many regrets, it was abandoned, and two new institutions, built much on the same plan, and with like specifications and details, though somewhat larger, were erected in portions of the township convenient for the patrons. The course of instruction, salary, etc., were about the same as in their predecessor. Teachers received $1.50 to $2.00 per week, and "boarded 'round."
The year 1840 brought to the neighborhood two reliable and solid men - Philip Nigh and Charles Earp. They were both from Ohio, and still reside in the township.
Philip Dean was a contractor on the Illinois & Michigan Canal, which was being constructed at this time, and entered some land and resided for a few years in the township. He brought with him a few goods, and kept them for sale. After his removal, he went to Chicago, of which city he has been Mayor.
Moses and Hiram Allen removed to this part of the county, from Ohio, in 1837, the year the county was organized. The former was a man of more than ordinary character. He held several offices of trust and honor, among which was that of Supervisor of the town. He and his brother have both been dead some years.
The Mormon troubles at Nauvoo, 1840-45, were the means of bringing to this township a good family, James Bradley, who had professed the faith and taken up his residence in the Mormon territory, at the breaking up of the set­tlement, instead of following the fortunes of Brigham Young, came with his family to this vicinity. Joseph Smith, it will be remembered, never professed polygamy; on the contrary, his lineal descendant, Joseph Smith, Jr., utterly opposed that peculiar institution and became the acknowledged head of all the dissenting Mormons throughout the States, establishing his headquarters at Plano. Ill., where he still resides. To this branch Mr. Bradley and those who settled in Broughton Township afterward held allegiance.
Some of the implements of agriculture, used in the early times, were as primitive as the methods of education. At first, it was not supposed that the

411
vast prairies to the east and west would ever be utilized. The little bar-share plow, with the wooden mold-board, in common use in the Eastern States, was not to be thought of to turn over the prairie sod, matted thick with grass roots as hard almost as hickory withes. But soon the inventive genius of the Yankee supplied an article, though somewhat rude and unwieldy, with which most of these plains have been brought to cultivation. The original "sod plow" is seen no more, as it has long since outlived its usefulness. It consisted of a large share, cutting a furrow of two feet in width, with iron bars for a mold-board. The beam of the machine was fifteen feet in length. No handles were needed, though sometimes they were attached, but were used only for the purpose of starting or throwing it out of the ground. To this immense machine were hitched five to eight yokes of oxen.
The breaking was usually done late in the Spring, and with the turning over of the sod was deposited seed, which produced an inferior crop of corn the first year, which grew and ripened without further attention. From this crop has come the brand of a favorite drink in the Western country.
Hay was cut with scythes, and gathered with hand rakes. Wheat was cut with cradles, and threshed by causing horses to tread upon it.
These ancient landmarks have all passed away, and but few who wielded them still remain to tell us the story of these and the many other peculiar institutions of the olden time. Here and there is seen a whitening head. Here and there we behold a tottering frame. Ere long, they too will have passed from earth, and their places will be filled by the more modern style of humanity.
This township was perhaps the most generally settled by the date last mentioned, 1843, of any in the county. In the ten years, it had numbered within its limits not less than 200 persons, embraced in a fifth as many families, nearly all of whom had become permanent settlers. Unlike many other neigh­borhoods, whoever came usually stayed. The society was better than that found in most frontier places, and the interest manifested in educational enterprises, as we have seen, was praiseworthy.
The preaching of the Gospel led to one of the earliest church organiza­tions in the county. As early as 1840, H. G. Gorbet, a Methodist preacher, known in the time of which we write as the "Prairie Breaker," organized a society of this denomination (not Prairie Breakers, but Methodists) at the Scattering Point Institute. He seems, however, not to have cultivated the soil to any degree of success, as the organization went down in a few years. Perhaps his first crop, like the first crop of sod-corn, was not of sufficient yield to warrant in harvesting, or to encourage subsequent planting. So, in 1843, the United Brethren occupied the land. They organized a society under the leadership of Isaac Messer, of McLean County, which flourished for six years, when it, too, for want of cultivation or other cause, disbanded. In 1849, another branch of the Methodist Church - the Protestant - was organized by Jacob Fowler, under whose pastorate, and that of his successors, it has flour-

412
ished ever since. In 1876, the society having grown to number seventy-five or eighty members, built for themselves a handsome little house of worship, at a cost of $1,400. The building is 28x38 feet and will seat, comfortably, 200 persons. Rev. Mr. Darby is present Pastor, and D. H. Snyder is local preacher. In 1860, the M. E. Society, in the vicinity of Mud Creek, having, some years previously, organized a church of this denomination, built the house of worship, now at Cornell. When that village had been fully established, the building was removed to the place named and newly fitted up. The building is a comfortable frame edifice, about 30x40 feet in size, and will accommodate 250 persons. The membership is about 120. The present Pastor is the Rev. Mr. Smith. In connection with the church is a flourishing Sunday school, under the super­intendence of A. Newberry.
The township of Amity was one of the first twenty organized in the county in 1858. Electors to the number of fifty-six assembled on the 6th day of April, 1858, and proceeded to organize by the election of Liberty Louderback as Moderator, and Walter Cornell, Clerk pro tem. Reason McDouglass was elected Supervisor; Charles Hallam, Clerk; James Bradley and Liberty Louderback, Justices of the Peace; Walter Cornell, Assessor; Moses Allen, James Gourley and E. W. Breckinridge, Commissioners of Highways. On the question of keeping up stock, the vote stood singularly unanimous for allowing stock to run at large. Doubtless this can be explained by the fact that Amity Township, being one of the most heavily timbered in the county, and the farms being already fenced, the owners preferred the free use of the vacant prairie lands for pasture, rather than the trouble of herding their stock.
At the successive elections, the following are the names of the Supervisors and Clerks chosen:


Supervisor

Clerk

1858

Reason M. Douglass

C. H. Hallam

1859

Moses Allen

C. H. Hallam

1860

Moses Allen

C. H. Hallam

1861

Moses Allen

C. H. Hallam

1862

Moses Allen

C. H. Hallam

1863

Moses Allen

C. H. Hallam

1864

Walter Cornell

C. H. Hallam

1865

Liberty Louderback

C. H. Hallam

1866

Liberty Louderback

J. C. Antrim

1867

Benjamin Bedea

Amos Edwards

1868

W. D. Blake

Amos Edwards

1869

D. H. Snyder

James Bradly

1870

J. P. Houston

W. A. Tyree

1871

J. P. Houston

Uriah Springer

1872

Liberty Louderback

James Bradley

1873

Eben Norton

James Bradley

1874

Eben Norton

James Bradley

1875

Eben Norton

James Bradley

1876

Eben Norton

J. J. Reeder

1877

Eben Norton

William Miner

1878

Eben Norton

J. J. Reeder

413
The balance of the complete list of township officers elected is as follows: David Heckmann, Assessor; George Louderback, Collector; R Norton, School Treasurer; Simon Jemmison, Alfred Gourley and John Calder, Highway Commissioners; Liberty Louderback and A. L. Trim, Justices of Peace; George Louderback and John P. Guernsey, Constables.
We have seen, in 1849, two school houses had been built. In 1855, James Bradley reports an increase of one school house and numerous other interesting items, showing an increasing interest in the subject of education, which, to enable the reader to compare, are placed with like items in a convenient table :

Date

No. Schools

Scholars in attendance

Whole Amount Paid

1855

3

75

$185.03

1866

5

240

1,035.00

1873

7

340

2,264.00

1877

7

362

3,413.00

VILLAGE OF CORNELL.
The year of 1871 was an eventful one for this part of the county, as it saw the completion of a railroad through this section, and a trading point located in the midst of the township, which, within a very few years, has grown in size and influence beyond the expectations of its most enthusiastic friends. Of all the nine stations located on the road in this county, this one outnumbers in population any other more than three to one. In less than three years from the time of its survey, it had increased in population to the number required by law to organize a village government.
Some little strife was evident between parties owning land in the vicinity of the switch, as to the exact location of the business part of the town, and also as to name.
Walter B. Cornell laid out a plat on June 15th, 1871, from the southwest quarter of Section 11, and named it Cornell. Two days after, Willard D. Blake laid out, from Section 14, the town named by him Amity. And while the former name has been retained, the most of the business houses are in the portion formerly called Amity. Cornell, with other parties, built several houses on the plat laid out by him, but they have since been removed.
In 1873, the village was organized by the election of H. M. Cornell, Jason Curtis, John Withrow, George Bradley, James O. Pond and Joseph Rucker, as Trustees. At their first meeting, July 18th, Cornell was elected President; James W. Willis was appointed Clerk; Jason Curtis, Treasurer; and Samuel Blake, Street Commissioner.
The ordinances of the town of Dwight were taken as a model, but modified to suit the necessities and opinions of the Board.
A peculiar feature in the history of the town has been the continued grant­ing of license to sell spirituous liquors. However, the present year, the senti-

414
ment of the people appearing positively against it, the Board have refused authority to vend liquors of an intoxicating nature.
The Board have usually pursued a wise policy in making street and other improvements; so that the appearance of the village is such as one would expect to find in a town twice as old.
The officers of the village at present are: I. B. Santee, E. C. Newberry, J. B. Day, Philip Armon, E. Norton, James Bradley, Trustees; William Miner, Clerk; C. A. Herbert, Police Magistrate; J. Willis, Attorney.
The village, though not continuing its rapid growth of the first few years, has still continued to improve in size and appearance. Its present population is about 500. Several of the business buildings are of brick, and of a charac­ter seldom found in towns of the age of Cornell.
A Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was instituted at Cor­nell, June 23, 1876, with J. W. A. Lilly as N. G.; B. W. Conner, V. G.; J. G. Curtis, Sec.; Ordain Deeds, Treas.
The Lodge numbers at present twenty-two members. Meetings are held Saturday evenings of each week. P. K. Hilton is the present N. G.; I. A. Wilson, V. G.; Joseph F. Corbin, Sec., and Ordam Deeds, Treas.
Cornell Lodge, A., F. & A. M., was instituted December, 1877, the charter being granted to John Guernsey, J. J. Reeder, H. M. Cornell, A. K. Brower, E. Norton, H. H. Brower, Philip Armon, I. P. Santee, John Greene and H. Bolt - the first five of whom were Master, Wardens, Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.
The present officers are: I. B. Santee, W. M.; John Jemmison, S. W.; Philip Armon, J. W.; T. Jones, S. D.; H. Bolt, J. D.; E. Norton, Treas.; J. J. Reeder, Sec.; T. Coe, Tiler.
Amity Township took a prominent part in the late war. Some of the bravest and best men that went from Livingston County were from this locality. Some who enlisted from this part of the county were in the Fifty-third Infan­try, and some in other regiments, but most were in the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Infantry.
The names of all deserve honorable mention, but space permits the record, in this place, of but a few, and that number will be confined to those who not only braved the dangers of the battle field, but who, in addition, gave up their lives in defense of the principles which they went out to defend. Of these were Joseph Springer, Uriah Springer, Judson Hoag, Samuel W. Houston, Thompson Laycock, John B. Lucas and Thomas Sutcliff. There were others, accredited to other towns, which will be found in the general war record.
Amity Township is one of the best-watered and best-timbered in Livingston County. To the early settlers, there were three special attractions in a new country - wood, water and stone; and these three being found in the vicinity had much to do in drawing to this locality the people who first inhabited it. The Vermilion River passes almost directly through the center of the township,

415
from southeast to northwest. Rook's Creek comes in from the south, and forms a junction with the Vermilion, near the center. Scattering Point also flows from the south, and empties into the Vermilion, near the northwest corner. Wolf Creek flows from the northwest corner of Pontiac Township, and empties into the Vermilion near that point. Mud Creek flows through the northeastern part, emptying into the Vermilion in Newtown Township. Besides all of these, there are several small tributaries, which furnish water to almost every section of land in the township.
Each of these creeks is fringed with a belt of timber, varying in width from a quarter to a mile and a half, so that, originally, fully one-half of the township was timber land.
Underlying the whole township is, doubtless, a bed of coal. A shaft was sunk at Cornell, several years ago, and a good quality of this article found.
The Chicago & Paducah Railroad crosses the township, from northwest to southeast, cutting off about six sections from the northeast corner.
The meaning of the name of the township is friendship or good will; and if bestowed on it as denoting the peculiar trait of its inhabitants, could not have been better selected. These ancient Buckeyes have always been noted for their hospitality.

PLEASANT RIDGE TOWNSHIP.
Pleasant Ridge, at an early period in the history of Livingston County, was one-quarter of the election precinct known as Saunemin, and, as noticed in another chapter, for a year or two after township organization, was a portion of Sau­nemin Township. It was soon divided, however, leaving Pleasant Ridge and Charlotte one town, and they so remained until 1864, when, upon petition to the Board of Supervisors, Pleasant Ridge was set off from Charlotte, but through some method of sharp practice, managed to retain the original name - Pleasant Ridge - together with the township property, etc., as detailed in the history of Charlotte Township. As a political town, Pleasant Ridge is fractional. That portion lying north of the river votes and transacts all of its business in Sau­nemin Township, owing to the difficulty of crossing and re-crossing the sometimes turbulent little stream; while as a regular Congressional and School Township, it comprises the usual thirty-six sections, and is known as Township 27 north, Range 7 east. Its soil is irrigated and drained by the North Branch of the Vermilion River, which flows through the township in a westerly direction, and which is bordered by the only native timber the town affords. The name Pleasant Ridge is derived from the beautiful undulating surface of the land, which has much the appearance of the gentle swell of the ocean.
The first permanent settler in what is now Pleasant Ridge Township was Nathan Townsend. He came from Cape May County, New Jersey, and settled on the southwest section (31) of the town, in June, 1843. His settlement and claim was in the timber skirting the Vermilion River, and was the only one

416
in the territory embraced in Pleasant Ridge for a number of years. He bought his claim, which had been made originally by a man named Brooks, noticed as one of the early settlers of Avoca Township. This man Brooks, though he had built a cabin and made a claim here, and had even lived on the claim for a short time, is really not considered an actual settler, and had sold the claim to a man named Wilson, who had never lived on it, but had sold it to one Leighton, and Leighton sold it to Townsend. It seems to have been a practice of Brooks to make a claim, erect a cabin on it, and then sell it to some other party, as we hear of him among the old settlers in several differ­ent neighborhoods. After disposing of this claim, he made one in the next grove east, being just on the edge of Forrest Township, and which he made without any regard to the points of the compass, but was located on four differ­ent "forties." He finally removed to Iowa. This settlement of Townsend, however, is usually mentioned as the first in Pleasant Ridge, and, as stated above, was made a number of years before another family sought the neighborhood. For the first years of their life in the wilderness, and until they got a start, their lot was rather a hard one. When Townsend first settled here, there were few families within a radius of a dozen miles, and we have the word of Daniel Townsend, a son of Nathan Townsend, that he knew every man living between Ash Grove and Rook's Creek, a distance of sixty miles. They sometimes had hard scratching to live, and went to Chicago for salt, and to Wilmington to mill, and to Green's Mill near Ottawa. Daniel Townsend related to us how an uncle of his had been to mill once, in Winter, when the weather was intensely cold. Becoming so cold that he could not remain in the wagon, he got out to walk, when it is supposed that walking by the side of his wagon, he drew one line a little tighter than the other, thus pulling his horses round in a circle. He finally realized the fact that he was lost on the prairie, and it covered with snow, with a cold wind blowing from the North. Seeing that he must inevita­bly freeze to death if he wandered on in this way, he turned his horses loose from the wagon, thinking that they would strike out on a due course for home, and he would follow their trail, being too cold to attempt to ride; but they dashed off from the wind, contrary to his expectations. All night long he wan­dered over the prairie and through the snow, the utmost exertions required to keep from freezing to death. At daylight the next morning, he found his way to Mr. Townsend's, so nearly frozen that he fell in the yard, and but for timely aid must have died in a very short while. He was taken in and cared for, and Mr. Townsend's boys went out to look for the horses, which, however, were never found alive. They had wandered a long distance from home, and seemed to have taken refuge from the wind in a deep ravine, where they either starved or froze to death, and were found finally by tracking wolves to their skeletons.
When Townsend used to go to Wilmington to mill, there was but one cabin between their settlement and the Kankakee River, and it had been deserted for

417
a time. Of the Townsend family, there are still living in this immediate neigh­borhood three of the sons - Daniel, George and Aquilla; and two sisters - Mrs. A. Towns and Mrs. Breckenridge. Another brother lives in Wisconsin, and a sister in Texas; while the father, Nathan Townsend, has recently removed to Nebraska.
Isaac Wilson came from Indiana, in 1837, and settled in Avoca, where he is noticed in the early settlement of that township. He remained there until he came to Pleasant Ridge and settled in 1853, among the earliest, after Townsend, and where he is still living. He was the first Supervisor, and held the office when Pleasant Ridge was included in Saunemin Township, together with Sullivan and Charlotte. He was also one of the first, if not the very first, Justices of the Peace in this township, after becoming a town to itself. He stated that he used to haul grain to Chicago, when this great city was a small village almost buried in the mud and mire. Hiram Popejoy and Henry Demoss, both from, Avoca Township and belonging to families that rank among the earliest settlers there, came to this neighborhood in or about 1850, and made settlements. Popejoy finally removed to Fairbury, where he now lives. Demoss, after some years, returned to Avoca and still resides there. James Maddin is also an early settler in Pleasant Ridge, though north of the river, and in that portion of the town which votes in Saunemin. He came from Wheeling, Va., in 1834, and settled in Marshall County, near Lacon, then called Columbia. Peoria was called Ft. Clarke, and five miles up the river from the latter place was another small settlement called Little Detroit. In 1872, he came to Pleasant Ridge, and entered land upon which he still lives. He has held several local offices in the town, such as Assessor and Collector. When Mr. Maddin first settled here, his nearest neighbor, east, was forty miles distant. M. T. Veiley came from New York and settled here in 1855. He first settled in Wau­kegan, Lake County, from whence he came to this township as above stated. This comprises a list of some of the earliest settlers in the town, until they began to move in too fast to keep track of them.
The first birth in Pleasant Ridge Township is supposed to have occurred in the family of Charles Brooks, during the short time he lived on the claim that Townsend afterward bought, and was probably about 1840-41. The first death in the township was Levi Ide, a young man who came from Ohio and was living with Townsend. He took sick and died suddenly in 1848, and was buried in the Popejoy graveyard, in Avoca Township. His family afterward came on from Ohio, had his remains taken up and returned and interred them in the family burying-ground in his native State. The first marriage was a daughter of Charles Brooks and St. Clair Jones, son of Charles Jones, who then lived in Forest Township, and occurred in 1841. His people opposed the match rather strongly, but that ardent
"Young love that laughs at bolts and bars "
seemed to care little for parental frowns, and they were married in spite of all opposition.

418
Pleasant Ridge has neither a store, post office or mill within its borders. It has but one church edifice, and that belongs to the Ormish society, and is located in the southern part of the town. These people are of a rather peculiar religious belief, as noticed elsewhere in this history, and take little or no inter­est in worldly matters beyond their necessary pursuits, and hence we are unable to obtain much information in regard to their church, aside from the fact that it exists and is regularly occupied by the members of this faith in its vicinity. There is a burying-ground adjacent, the only public cemetery in the township. Notwithstanding there are no other church buildings, there are church organ­izations, which are held in the school houses. There is a regular society of the Christian denomination in School House No. 2, and services are held every Sabbath by them or by the Methodists. A large Sunday school attends this school house regularly. Services are also held in many of the other school houses in the town.
The first Justice of the Peace in Pleasant Ridge, as already stated, was Isaac Wilson, who was likewise one of the first lists of Justices elected after the formation of the county. The first practicing physicians in the town were Drs. Gentry and Hulsey, of Pontiac, who used to extend their professional visits to this neighborhood. The first bridge was a wooden structure spanning the North Branch of the Vermilion River, which was a kind of temporary affair, and was finally washed away. The spot where it was built is now adorned by an elegant iron bridge, put up in the Fall of 1874, and at a cost of about three thousand dollars.
The first schools in Pleasant Ridge were taught by Clement Hinman, in School House No. 2, and Perry Abby, in the Beal School House, in 1858. These houses were both built that year, and the schools above noticed taught immediately after they were completed. By examination of the school records in possession of M. W. Moulton, Township Treasurer, we find that the first meeting of Trustees of which there is any record was held on the 2d of March, 1861, and that there were present William R. Beatch and William R. Tucker; Henry Hefner, Clerk. Henry C. Hefner presented his bond as Treasurer, in the amount of $13,000, with Joel Tucker, James McDonald and Amos Bright as security, which was approved and ordered to be filed. At a meeting held March 18th of the same year, James Sackett was elected an additional Trustee, and Beatch President of the Board. At the April meeting, Town 27, Range 7 east, was divided into school districts, as follows, viz.: District No. 1, to be composed of Sections 36 to 25, and one-fourth from Sections 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, taken from the south side of said sections, and south half of southeast quarter of Section 19. District No. 2, of Sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 17 , 18 and 19, with some fractional parts of other sections. District No. 3 included the remainder of the township. Several schedules of teachers were presented and disposed of in the usual way. From Treasurer Moulton's

421
last report to County Superintendent of Schools we take the following statistics:

Number of males in township under 21 years

295

Number of females in township under 21 years

225

Total

520

Number of males between 6 and 21 years

231

Number of females between 6 and 21 years

147

Total

378

Number of males attending school

174

Number of females attending school

108

Total

282

Highest monthly wages paid any teacher

$48.25

Highest monthly wages paid female teacher

35.00

Lowest monthly wages paid male teacher

30.00

Lowest monthly wages paid female teacher

22.00

Average amount paid male teachers

39.87

Average' amount paid female teachers

30.13

Whole amount paid teachers

$ 1,848.61

Estimated value of school property

5,400.00

Estimated value of school apparatus

90.50

Estimated value of school libraries

12.00

Principal of township fund

7,002 47

District tax Ievy for support of schools

1,640 00

There are seven school districts in the township, in all of which there are good, comfortable frame buildings, and flourishing schools maintained for the usual term during each year. Mr. Moulton, the School Treasurer, one of the wealthy farmers of the town, came from New Hampshire and settled on his present place in 1866.
As stated in another portion of this history, Isaac Wilson was the first Supervisor of this township, and held the office in 1859. In 1861, George E. Esty was elected Supervisor, and was succeeded by C. G. Friend, in 1863, and he the next year by H. J. Roberts. L. Wallace was elected in 1865, and J. K. Clarke in 1866, who continued in office until 1870, when William Blain came in as Supervisor of the town, and was in turn succeeded by M. T. Veiley in 1873. In 1875, J. H. Carter was elected to the office, and succeeded by J. K. Clarke in 1876, and he in 1878 by M. W. Moulton, who is the present Supervisor. Other township officers are as follows: J. M. Hanna, Town Clerk; B. M. Bullard, Assessor; William Bell, Collector; J. H. Carter and Louis Holloway, Justices of the Peace.
As stated in the early part of this chapter, the only native timber in Pleasant Ridge Township is along the Vermilion River. But many of the citizens have planted and cultivated timber, until there is not a section of the prairie land, nor perhaps a quarter section, but has beautiful groves of timber on it, planted since the land was settled. Pleasant Ridge has much very

422
fine farming land, while there is some in the timber along the river that is rather thin soil. It is situated in the second tier of townships, with Saunemin on the north, Charlotte on the east, Forrest on the south, and Avoca on the west, and is probably about four-fifths prairie land.
Politically, Pleasant Ridge is strongly Republican, and has been almost from the first organization of the Republican party. Of late years, the Granger element has had some effect on its political status; yet, in all cases involving strict political principles, the Republicans carry the day.
The war record was equally good, and compares favorably with any township of a like population in the county. The names of its soldiers will be found in our war record, in another department of this history.

OWEGO TOWNSHIP.
Owego, or Congressional Town 28 north, Range 6 east of the Third Princi­pal Meridian, is the geographical center of Livingston County. The center of the township is in a direct line, twenty-five miles from the northwest corner of the county; twenty-two from the southwest; twenty-three from the northeast, and twenty-five from the southeast. It is a full town and contains thirty-six full sections of land. The township in the northern part is quite level, indeed, almost flat, but in the southern part is slightly undulating. With the exception of a little fringe of the Vermilion River, which flows through the southwest corner of Sec­tion 31, it is entirely devoid of natural timber. The only flowing stream of water is the river just named. The Felky Slough, which extends through the eastern part of the town and opens into the Vermilion River, also furnishes stock water to the adjacent farms, except in the dryest seasons. In some parts of the township, water from wells is obtained with difficulty, but when found is of an excellent quality. The land is of a very rich and productive character, and well adapted to the cultivation of corn, rye, oats and vegetables.
Prior to 1858, Livingston County was divided into voting precincts, which were, from time to time, changed in location and number to suit the convenience of the inhabitants. They were all established along the Vermilion River, as this region was the first to settle. With the exception of this belt, varying in width from one to five miles, extending from the southeast to the northwest part of the county, it was but sparsely settled - indeed, we may say it was not occu­pied at all. The earliest immigrants, being from thickly timbered localities, doubtless considered the prairie lands of but little value, except as herding places for their cattle, and so selected the timber and its immediate vicinity for their homes. The territory now embraced in Owego, being for the most part destitute of timber, was not considered of sufficient importance for, nor was the number of inhabitants adequate to, a separate precinct, but was included in what was known as the Center Precinct, which, at the first organization of the county, included an extent of about fifteen miles up and down the Vermilion River, with Pontiac near the middle. Latterly, or near the time

423
of the adoption of the township organization act, the boundaries of the Center Precinct were more limited, but still embraced the territory now denominated Owego.
Even in 1857, when the county was divided into political townships, this contained barely enough qualified persons to hold all the offices, and these were established in the southwest corner. Perhaps there were not more than a score of voters in all.
The first permanent settlement was doubtless made by Daniel Rockwood. Mr. Rockwood was not only the first resident of the township, but was among the very first in the county. He settled on the place occupied by him until recently, about the year 1833. He was a man of much influence and popular­ity in the early days of the county. He was one of the first three County Com­missioners, elected May 8, 1837, and was the only one who received a unani­mous vote at the election, and one of the very few candidates that ever has received such a compliment. It was through his influence and that of James Weed, that the county seat came so near being removed from Pontiac in 1839. Henry Weed's two partners had died, and the surviving partner becoming somewhat careless as to the fate of the county seat enterprise, his brother James, who lived near Rockwood's, conceived the idea of removing it to that vicinity, and, as stated in the history of Pontiac Township, almost succeeded in the scheme. After the adoption of the act electing Supervisors from each township, instead of County Commissioners for the whole county, Rockwood was the first Supervisor, and was twice re-elected to the office. He became a man of considerable wealth, and continued to reside at the old homestead until a few years ago, when he died. The place of his nativity was Tioga County, New York.
Probably the next settlement made in what is now Owego Township, and certainly the next permanent one, was made by James L. Stinson, nearly six years after. Stinson entered his land November 12, 1839, and resided here until his death in 1847. This, as far as can be ascertained, was the first death in the township. The widow of Stinson, a year or so after, married John Foster, and thus came to pass, also, the first wedding. With James Stinson, also, came two brothers - Alexander and Thomas. The former remained here a few years, and then removed to Lexington, McLean County. Thomas found the country too tame, even in those primitive times, and, after stopping a year or two, pushed on farther west into Kansas.
This marks the advent of John Foster into this neighborhood. "Uncle Johnny" had been in the county ten or a dozen years - latterly in Avoca Township - but, after his marriage with Mrs. Stinson, moved his effects to the Stin­son place and became a permanent inhabitant of the township.
A few years after Stinson's arrival, James Demoss came from Ohio and located in the southeast part.
In 1852, a number of families came out from Ohio, several of whom took up their residence in this township.

424
David Millham had, all his life, been a sailor, and can scarcely be said to have come from any country. He had, however, lived for a time in Licking County, Ohio, locating in this town in 1851. He died on the place to which he first came, a few years since.
In 1851, William Rollings arrived from Ohio and settled on what has since been known as the Benham farm. He was a peaceable and quiet citizen, but came to a tragical end, being murdered in cold blood April 1, 1872. The facts in the case seem to be about these: A man named John Soter claimed the land occupied by Rollings, and, although he was but a renter, he had made frequent threats on Rollings' life. On the evening of the 1st of April, in the year men­tioned, Soter, who lived on a neighboring farm, invited a party of young folks to his house to spend the evening. Among the rest was Rollings' son, who was engaged to play the violin. Late in the evening, Rollings himself came to the house and relieved his son for a while in the furnishing of the music. Though Rollings had heard rumors of Soter's antipathy toward him, but, conscious of his having had nothing to do with dispossessing Soter, and having been on friendly terms with him, did not apprehend any danger, or even that he was unwelcome at his neighbor's house. However, while engaged as stated, the party were alarmed by the report of a gun, fired near the window, and William Rollings, at the same moment, fell to the floor in a dying condition. He had received a charge of shot in his breast, from the effects of which he died a few hours later. Soter was arrested and sent to jail until the next term of the Circuit Court, which convened in May. He was tried and convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to be hanged; but the sentence was subse­quently commuted to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life. Soter, at the time of the act, was already 60 years of age, and his penalty proved to be but a short term, as he died two or three years after his incarceration.
By the Spring of 1851, several other families had settled in the town, among whom were William Wilson, who still resides here; Rudolph Patty and Elijah Justis, brothers-in-law, the former of whom is dead, and the latter now lives in Texas; L. Mixer and Samuel Wentz.
John Whitman, Jacob Dragoo and Lewis Bright came from Ohio, about 1852.
Richard Evans settled in the town in the Spring of 1855. Mr. Evans was the first Assessor of the town and has since held various offices of trust, and has been closely identified with every movement in which the town has been interested. A few years since, he changed his residence to Pontiac, where he now lives.
The railroad employ brought many good citizens to this county, among whom was James Burns, who had been employed in its construction. After the completion of the road, Burns settled in this township, and was the first settler on the north third of the township, and continued to be the only one for some time. The next year after the Chicago & Alton Railroad was completed, quite a number of settlements were made. Thomas Holman came in that year. He

425
had left Pennsylvania several years before, and had been to Oregon and Califor­nia, in search of gold, and having been quite successful in the hunt, brought it to  this township and invested it in land. When the school section was sold, he bought it all. Mr. Holman removed to Pontiac several years ago, and still resides there.
Robert Smith, James Alexander, William and Samuel Aljo, George Barr, William Harris and Ansel Hayes were here at the date last named, and still reside in the town.
After this, the additions to the settlement were so frequent that space forbids further mention of names; suffice it to say, that within three years the pop­ulation of the township was over 100.
In 1858, the township was organized. On the assembling of the voters, at the place designated in the call, at this, their first election, N. S. Grandy was elected Moderator. A motion was then made that voting for town officers then proceed; but the 'Squire, being better posted in the law of elections, refused to entertain the motion, giving as the reason that he had not yet been sworn; and there being no one present qualified to administer an oath, Grandy mounted his horse, rode to Pontiac, was sworn by the County Clerk, and received from him a ballot box and poll list, returned to the voting place and proceeded with the election.
The officers chosen at this first election were as follows: Daniel Rockwood, Supervisor; John Scott, Clerk; Robert Smith, Collector; Richard Evans, Assessor; N. S. Grandy and John Foster, Justices of the Peace; Hamilton Demoss and George Van Saun, Constables; John Benham, Thomas Holman and William Wilson, Commissioners of Highways.
The township record does not contain a register of elections for the next four years; but, as nearly as can now be ascertained, the principal officers have been as follows, to the present time :

Date.

Supervisor.

Clerk.

1858

Daniel Rockwood

John Scott.

1859

Daniel Rockwood

John Scott.

1860

Daniel Rockwood

John Scott.

1861

N. S. Grandy

John Scott.

1862

N. S. Grandy

John Scott.

1863

John Benham

John Scott.

1864

R. Smith

Geo. Van Saun.

1865

R. Smith

Geo. Van Saun

1866

R. Smith

Geo. Ferris.

1867

Orlin Converse

Geo. Ferris.

1868

Orlin Converse

Geo. Ferris

1869

James Brown

Wm. McKeighan.

1870

William Colon

Geo. Ferris.

1871

William Colon

Geo. Ferris.

1872

Geo. Ferris

Silas Hays.

1873

Geo. Ferris

Charles Swygert.

1874

S. F. Slyder

Charles Swygert.

1875

S. F. Slyder

Charles Swygert.

1876

Charles Swygert

J. G. Lewis.

1877

Charles Swygert

J. G. Lewis.

1878

Charles Swygert

J. G. Lewis.

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The balance of the officers for the present year are as follows: John Augustine, Assessor; A. Dann, Collector; B. J. Benedict, F. Fienhold and Silas Hayes, Road Commissioners; S. F. Slyder and G. B. Van Saun, Justices of the Peace, and James Cain and W. D. Irwin, Constables.
Owego Township was one of the first to give attention to means of instruct­ing the youth. As early as 1840, a small school house or cabin was erected near the Rockwood place, and a school kept. The attendance was limited to only a dozen pupils. This school house was built and the school maintained by private subscription. No public schools are reported in the township until 1855. In September of this year, the school lands were sold, and at once steps were taken to make the income arising from it available, to do which, it was necessary to establish schools and report the same. Accordingly, we find that in the Fall of this year, L. Mixer, who was the first Treasurer of the school fund for this township, makes report to the School Commissioner that: "We have supported one school in the township during the past year, which was taught by a female teacher, at $9 per month. She has taught the school to good acceptance, both to Directors and parents. The whole number of scholars in attendance at the school has been fourteen, ten of which were males and four females. There are in the township, forty-seven persons under 21 years of age. We have just sold our school land for $3,994.91." No public school houses had yet been erected, nor were any built until 1857. Then three new houses were put up, the same year. Two of these were union school houses, on the line between this and Avoca Township, and the other near the Foster farm, and known to this time as the Foster School House.
There had been a very perceptible advance in school matters by this year. R. W. Babcock, who then resided in the town, and had been appointed custo­dian of the public funds and gatherer of school statistics, makes a very full and complete report for the year, from which a few items of interest are drawn, showing the progress for the past three years.

*Number of schools taught in the township

6

Number of scholars in attendance

81

Highest monthly wages paid to any teacher

$ 33.00

Whole amount paid to teachers

233.81

Average number of months taught

8 1/8

Eight years from this time, the number of schools had increased to six; the number of pupils had doubled; but the average number of months had decreased a trifle, being only seven and a half for the year 1866. The whole amount paid as teachers' wages during the year was $658. After a lapse of eleven more years, a very satisfactory increase in all these items is noticeable. One item, however, which figures cannot indicate, deserves more particular mention. The advancement made in methods of instruction, in the government of the schools, and in the classification of the pupils, has been greater than that indicated by any statistics.
*This means two terms in each district.

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The following table shows at a glance other items of interest concerning the system at this time :

Number of schools

8

Scholars enrolled

249

Persons under 21

527

Whole number of teachers

12

Amount paid teachers for 1877

$2,115 00

Total expenditure for school purposes

3,677 00

Special tax raised

2,221 00

Principal of township fund

7,273 00

Were we to judge the piety of the people of Owego by the number of church spires, we should form a very unjust opinion of them in this regard, as but one church building is to be found, and that belonging to a German society, the English speaking people having no house of worship in the township. Though the inhabitants of the town lay no claim to excellence in this regard, it is nevertheless true that they not only avail themselves of church privileges, but contribute liberally to the support of the Gospel in other localities. Many of them attend service in the neighboring towns, where societies have been organized at convenient distances from the line of Owego. Unlike the public schools, which must be located at certain points within the limits, the church buildings have been erected outside, while some of their strongest pillars live inside the confines of the township.
The German Evangelical Society, in 1872, erected, at a cost of $2,000, a neat and substantial building, capable of seating about 200 persons. The house stands on a very fine elevation, embracing one acre of ground, in the eastern part of the township. The first minister to the congregation was the Rev. Adam Wagner. At present, the society is under the pastorate of Rev. Elfring, who resides at Weston, and conducts services here once in two weeks. The present membership is fifty-eight.
Owego did not remain an idle spectator during the great struggle of the Government for life, in 1861-65, but sent her young men to the field, and gave in abundance of her means for their support. Several who went out to fight their country's battles never returned, and some who did return died, either of wounds received in battle or of disease engendered by exposure and fatigue. Among those thus sacrificed that the Union might survive were John Evans, Nathan Hill, James Bastian and others whose names are unfortunately not credited to the town.
The politics of the town have varied with circumstances somewhat. Dur­ing its first years, it was decidedly Democratic, but, after a few years, small Republican majorities were given, especially at State or national elections; but for the last six years politics have been somewhat ignored, and a strong "anti-monopoly" sentiment has prevailed, so that it would not be safe to say that its politics were at present either Republican or Democratic, though probably on a purely political question the majority would be with the former.

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As indicating the comparative value of property in the township, for 1877, the Assessor's book shows an assessed value of $363,891. This, though quite large, is of course but little more than one-third of the actual valuation. No doubt the full value of all property, both personal and real, is considerably in excess of a million of dollars. In 1854, the total value could not have exceeded $30,000, showing an increase of more than 3,000 per cent., or a doubling of values every eight years.

NEVADA TOWNSHIP.
Washington Irving, in his history of New York, commences with the crea­tion of the world, asserting that, as the Knickerbockers were descendants of Adam through Noah, therefore, in order to a full understanding of the whole matter, their history should begin at the "beginning." And as the creation of Nevada Township was coeval with that of the Garden of Eden, so, with equal propriety, may the historian of Nevada Township begin at that remote period, by saying that but few places on the earth were created which excel it in nat­ural beauty and agricultural advantages. Its little grove of timber, fringing the beautiful little stream of Mazon; its gently undulating surface, which ren­ders it at once pleasant to look upon, and, on account of its easy drainage, desirable as farming land; and its deep, rich soil, whose productiveness is not excelled in the county or in the State, make it one of the most desirable for the agriculturist to be found anywhere. So thought and so said James Funk, as he stood upon the bank of the Mazon, thirty years ago, and looked, now upon the little purling stream, and then upon the beautiful broad prairie, stretch­ing out like a sea to the west and south, on the western shore of which could be dimly seen the grove along the Vermilion, and on the south the timber at Deer Creek. Certainly nothing else could have induced him, at that time, to take up his abode so far from friends and neighbors and the conveniences of an older and more thickly settled community.
True, to the northwest, at a long distance, there were a few settlers, and James Martin had but the year before settled a few miles distant in Grundy County; but between this point and Pontiac, a distance of eighteen miles, was not a single human habitation; to the west for an equal distance was but the open prairie; and to the east and north, clear beyond the confines of the county, lived not a human being.
If Mr. Funk was romantic, he doubtless gazed rapturously upon the beau­tiful scene; but as he was practical, he must have noticed more especially the substantial and useful features of the surroundings. He must have noted the fine range of pasture for his cattle, in which he dealt considerably, and the advantage that the running stream of water would be to his stock raising. He no doubt considered the supply of wood for fuel and lumber; for the railroad, which now brings these commodities almost to the farm, had then scarcely been thought of. He must have scratched down into the soil and observed that it

429
was of a very rich and productive nature, and, on account of its proximity to the creek, would be easily drained. All of these things he must have taken into account, as a compensation for isolation from schools, churches and society. Suffice it to say, that he concluded to locate here; and, determined upon, it was done. He selected the southwest quarter of Section 1. He no doubt consid­ered this the best location for his purpose, as he had his choice, the whole township, at that time, being government land. Mr. Funk moved to his land in 1848, opened his farm, and began raising stock. He remained here, however, but a few years, for, in 1852, we find him an early settler of Five-Mile Grove, in the history of which town he receives further notice.
James Martin, though at first not a resident of the township, deserves men­tion here, as he lived just across the line, and really broke the first land in Nevada Township, and in 1859, became an actual resident. Martin came from New York, and settled in the Grove, in 1847, where he remained until his removal to Nevada, twelve years later. In later years, he has had his home in Dwight.
Andrew Cotrel, a young man from Wilmington, bought a claim of Funk, on Section 1. It will be remembered that, prior to 1852, not a section of land in the whole township was actually owned by any one, but settlers simply "squatted" on the land and "claimed" it. A part of this claim was sold by Funk to Cotrel. Cotrel lived here but a short time, when he sold out his claim to J. M. Reeder, and removed to Five-Mile Grove.
J. M. Reeder and family came from Indiana, in 1848, and having pur­chased Cotrel's claim, settled and became permanent residents. He afterward, in 1853, purchased his land of the Government, and was one of the very first whose names appear on the original entry book. Reeder remained in the township until 1863, when he sold out and removed to Marion County.
William Kirkendall, from Indiana, and brother-in-law of Reeder, arrived with his family in 1852. He bought fifteen acres of Reeder's claim, upon which he lived about ten years, when he sold out and rented land for a few years, again purchased land on Section 1, and finally sold out and removed from the county.
Stephen Kyle and Thomas C. McDowell, the former from Ohio and the latter from Pennsylvania, came in 1853, and entered land and became perma­nent settlers.
Mr. Kyle, in the early days of the township, was one of its most prominent and respected citizens. He was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace in 1857, a year before the township was organized, and when this, with Dwight and Round Grove, were known as the Dwight Precinct. On the organization of the township, in 1858, he was elected as the first Supervisor, and re-elected to that office in 1859. He had been to the far West, and had worked for a time in Nevada; and when the townships were named he gave it the one it now bears. On the breaking out of the rebellion, he enlisted as a soldier, was elected Lieutenant of his company, and died in the service of his country.

430
McDowell was an honored and useful citizen. He lived here a number of years, and died in the township.
In 1854, Robert Thompson, George Bishop and Hosea Spencer settled in the township. Thompson was from Guernsey County, Ohio, and Bishop and his father-in-law, Spencer, were from New York. Thompson, or "Uncle Rob­ert," or the "Iron-Gray 'Squire," as he is pleasantly called, is one of the best-known and most highly-respected citizens of the county. His expressive title, the "Iron-Gray 'Squire," is variously translated. As to the first word of the cognomen, the metal may, with great propriety, be said to represent the mettle of the man, and probably but few terms could be found that would convey a better idea of his firm and steady character. As to the first word in connec­tion with the second, the term may readily apply either to the clothing or the head, both of which are distinguishing features of his outward appearance. As to the "'Squire," every one knows that. He was the first 'Squire or Justice of the Peace of the precinct of Dwight, and was elected to the office in 1855 and held it until the adoption of the "Township Organization Act," in 1858. The first summons issued by him was for a man in Round Grove. The summoned party discovered something wrong in the paper, and, on the day set for trial, appeared promptly and confidently demanded a non-suit, on the ground of irregularity. But the Squire replied that, "though the little paper might have been faulty, it had at least brought him," and refused his claim, requiring him to stand trial.
Mr. Thompson was elected Supervisor in 1860, and was re-elected, with the exception of two years, every Spring until 1871, when he absolutely refused to serve longer, and the township then elected his son three successive years. "Uncle Robert" has now retired from active business pursuits and politics, and lives a quiet life at his present home in Dwight.
George Bishop was a lawyer. He remained here but a short time, and then removed to Pontiac, where he engaged for a few years in his profession. It is related that he was once engaged by John Kingore, who at the time was landlord of the Buck Hotel, as counsel in a case in which he was one of the principals. Kingore, when highly excited, had a peculiar and amusing habit of finishing up every sentence and almost every phrase with the word "sir." In the suit referred to, Lawyer Bishop was unsuccessful, and, when the decision was ren­dered, Kingore turned to his attorney and jerked out: "Mr. Bishop, sir, I have much law business, sir, to attend to, sir; but, sir, if I ever give any more of it to you, sir, why, sir, may I be ------, sir ! "
Jason Tuttle came from New York, in 1851, and settled here, but remained but a few years, and then removed to Five-Mile Grove.
The foregoing list embraces nearly all who had settled here before the com­pletion of the railroad, which passes through the county a few miles east. This event gave a sudden impetus to settlement throughout all this section of coun­try, and by the year 1858 the township had received quite a number of acces-

431
sions. By the year named, L. E., Ross, James C. George, Stephen Morrison, Thomas Magee, John Carlisle, R. C. Adams and James C. Henry had come in. Ross was one of the first Commissioners of Highways, and held, from time to time, various offices of trust, among which was that of Treasurer of Schools. Magee was the second Township Clerk, John Carlisle second Assessor, and Adams second Collector.
In those days, though comparatively modern, many hardships to which we are now unaccustomed had to be borne, and many of the luxuries of life, now so common, were unknown. Though the soil was as productive, the price obtained for its products was far below that now obtained, and, before the com­pletion of the railroad system, everything had to be hauled as far as Morris, which was the nearest point on the canal. Poultry, sheep and even hogs were often destroyed by wolves, and corn and wheat were injured by the herds of deer which ranged through the little grove and the adjoining prairie.
The township was one of those set off in 1857 for a separate precinct, and the first election was called for and held April 6, 1858. With the exception of Stephen H. Kyle as Supervisor, L. E. Ross, James C. George and Stephen Morrison as Commissioners of Highways, and John Carlisle and Jacob Angle as Justices of the Peace, we have no means of determining who were the first officers elected - the record of the first election being lost.
At first, politics did not enter into questions relating to township matters; but after a year or two the lines were drawn tightly, and Nevada has almost always since been strongly Democratic - indeed, at times has claimed to be the banner town of the county. At the subsequent township elections, the follow­ing were the principal officers elected:

Date

Supervisor

Clerk

Assessor

Collector

1859

S. H. Kyle

Thomas Magee

John Carlisle

R. C. Adams

1860

Robert Thompson

R. B. Strong

J. C. George

John Thompson

1861

S. S. Strong

E. B. Coleman

John Thompson

John George

1862

Robert Thompson

E. B. Coleman

S. H. Kyle

J. C. George

1863

I. C. Magee

E. B. Coleman

J. M. Reeder

J. C. George

1864

Robert Thompson

C. G. Barr

J. D. Lambert

J. M. Reeder

1865

Robert Thompson

John Carlton

J. D. Lambert

Stephen Morrison

1866

Robert Thompson

John Carlton

H. B. Southworth

John George

1867

Robert Thompson

Ira W. Hand

Henry L. Badger

Benjamin Thompson

1868

Robert Thompson

Thomas Ward

Davis Atkins

Thomas Dougherty

1869

Robert Thompson

Thomas Ward

J. D. Lambert

Patrick Moran

1870

Robert Thompson

Thomas Ward

W. D. Willoughby

Patrick Moran

1871

Robert Thompson

J. B. Bell

W. D. Willoughby

Hosea Spencer

1872

Benjamin Thompson

A. C. Miller

Austin Gibbons

Charles O'Donnell

1873

Benjamin Thompson

J. B. Bell

Austin Gibbons

James Dunbar

1874

Benjamin Thompson

J. B. Bell

Johnson Vankirk

Patrick Riordan

1875

E. D. Brown

J. B. Bell

Louis Gillet

Patrick Lannan

1876

E. D. Brown

J. B. Bell

Edward Farrage

Patrick Lannan

1877

E. D. Brown

J. B. Bell

Louis Gillet

Patrick Lannan

The officers elect for 1878 are E. D. Brown, Supervisor; J. B. Bell, Clerk; Louis Gillet, Assessor; Patrick Riordan, Collector; Philip Gibbons, Peter Killeen and Matthew McDermott, Road Commissioners; M. McDonnell, Lyman

432
Moore and Peter Webber, Constables; Bernard Murphy and Joseph Bellott, Justices of the Peace, and J. A. Cavanaugh, School Treasurer.
The first school taught in the neighborhood was about the year 1852. A few families joined together and built a small log cabin, in which Hannah Putnam, as now remembered, taught the first term. The school, though organ­ized largely for the benefit of children living in Nevada Township, was in reality across the line, in Grundy County. These facilities, limited as they were, answered the demands until 1855, when what was and is still known as the "Thompson School" was organized and a school house erected. The house was erected from funds belonging to the county, which amount was subsequently paid back to the county fund. At the time of which we speak, there were but thirty-two persons under 21 years of age, and the school numbered only about eighteen scholars belonging to the township; but by a law then in force, children from adjoining districts, and even in adjacent townships, where schools had not been organized, were permitted to attend; and from these neighborhoods a few scholars attended. Ten years later, we find large accessions have been made to the population. The land has all been entered and mostly put under cultivation. Dozens of new farms have been opened, roads and bridges have been built, and the town has a largely improved appearance. In the item of schools, a decided interest has been taken, and very satisfactory advance is observable. From the little log cabin in 1852 to the more pretentious frame building in 1856, the number increased, by 1866, to five respectable school houses, with 120 scholars in attendance. From thirty-two persons under 21 years of age, during the ten years, we find an increase of nearly three hundred; and while, in 1856, the whole amount expended for educational pur­poses in this township was but $54.55, in 1866 it was $761.
An idea of the condition of schools at this date may be gathered from the following figures, extracted from the Township Treasurer's report for 1878:

Number of schools

9

Number of scholars enrolled

350

Number of persons between 6 and 21

418

Number of persons under 21

601

Number of teachers

18

Special tax raised for school purposes

$1,838.00

Whole amount paid teachers

1,760.00

Whole amount paid for all school purposes

3,547.00

Amount of township school fund

5,655.00

From the above it will be readily seen that the increase and improvement in schools must have been quite marked, comparing very favorably with other townships.
There is not at this time what might be termed a real poor school house in the township; on the contrary, all are comfortable, and most of them furnished with good desks, maps, charts and other conveniences for making first class schools.

433
The call of the country in 1861, to rescue the Government from the hands of those who sought its destruction, was not unheeded by the citizens of Nevada Township. As did Putnam, when informed that the country was being overrun by the British, they left their plows in the furrows, and, mounting the horses that had been unhitched therefrom, galloped off to the nearest recruiting office, and enrolled their names "for three years or during the war." We should like to follow them in all of their weary marches and their hard-fought battles, and give them credit for all of their bravery, for their noble endurance of hunger, thirst and cold, for sore feet and tired limbs; but time and space forbid but a short mention of the names of those who did still more - who even laid down their lives that the country which they loved better than their own lives might live. Among those who enlisted from this township, who went out to fight their country's battles and returned not, are remembered Stephen Kyle, Orson Spencer, Charles Spencer, John Collister, Henry Collister, John Kyler, Frank Kimberg and Frank Angle. Though their bones lie, some in the soil where they fell, and some nearer home, where friendly hands removed them, yet are neither they nor their valiant deeds forgotten.
Nevada Township is a full Congressional town, and is described as Township 30 north, Range 6 east of the Third Principal Meridian. It is bounded on the north by Grundy County, on the east by Dwight Township, on the south by Esmen, and on the west by Sunbury. It is crossed, from east to west, on the half section line a mile and a half from the north line of the township, by the west branch of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, and from the northeast to the southwest by the main line of the same road, which cuts off two sections from the southeast corner. The west branch of Mazon Creek rises in the southwest part, and flows northeast and north, leaving the town at a point near the middle of the north line of Section 1. This creek furnishes an ample supply of stock water for the farms through which it flows. In the north part of Section 1 is a fine little grove of timber, not so extensive, however, as formerly, as many of the trees have been felled and used for fuel and fencing. The soil is very fine and deep, being well adapted for the raising of corn, oats and rye, immense quantities of which are produced. The total valu­ation of real and personal property for 1877 was $390,760.

VILLAGE OF NEVADA.
The village of Nevada was laid out and platted for William Shephard, of Jersey County, Ill., from Section 8. The plat consists of forty-five acres, and was surveyed by A. C. Huetson, County Surveyor, February 10, 1870.
Prior to 1868, the citizens of Nevada Township had not thought of a closer market for their grain and other produce than Odell and Dwight. The valuable accession to the commercial facilities of this section, of the main line, had so recently been completed that they were scarcely ready to believe that they had need for more. However, in 1869, the western division was built, and immedi­ately a new trading point was established in the midst. The line had but

434
been completed, and the location for a station fixed, when it was realized by a, number of shrewd business men that this must soon be a point of considerable significance. With a large scope of territory, consisting of such fine farming lands as is embraced in Nevada and the eastern part of Sunbury, it could not be otherwise than that a trading point would develop here, comparing favor-ably in extent and importance with others on the line.
The first to realize these facts was E. D. Brown, who was then residing in the township. He built the first house, in the Spring of 1870, removed his family at once to the station, opened a store, and began buying grain. For the purpose of handling grain, he at first erected a small granary. To this, as circum­stances required, he made additions, until it embraced the large elevator now occupied by A. M. Wright & Co., of Chicago. He continued the store until it was burned down, in April, 1875, and the grain business until the following Spring.
Buildings were erected here as nearly in the order in which they are named as can now be remembered.
After Brown had completed the buildings already mentioned, he erected the dwelling house in which he has since resided, and into which he removed in the Fall of 1870.
Michael Bridell and family came from West Virginia in the Fall of 1870, and built a house which was at first used as a saloon, but in which, a few months later, was opened a store of general merchandise. The store, however, had but a short existence, and he returned to his former occupation, that of a carpenter, and Mrs. Bridell opened up a millinery establishment. which she has kept up ever since.
John B. Simpson came from Gardner, in the Fall of 1870, and built a blacksmith shop, and worked at the trade during the Fall and Winter. Early in the Spring of 1871, he built himself a dwelling house and brought his family to the place. His shop was the first of its kind, and the "village black-smith" still plies the bellows, and from early morn till the setting sun the sharp ring of his anvil may still be heard.
Louis, Joseph and Julius Gillet, three brothers, and Frenchmen, resided in the township when the railroad was built, and, on its completion, came to the station to live. They reared them a stable in the Fall of 1871, in which they "kept house" during the ensuing Winter and most of the next Summer. In the Fall of 1872, they built a more comfortable abode, and turned the stable over to its legitimate purposes.
H. F. Burr and family removed to this place in the Spring of 1872, and erected a store and dwelling house, in which he set up a stock of hardware. They subsequently removed to Kansas.
In the Fall of 1872, A. C. Miller arrived and built a dwelling house. He has since removed.

435
In the Spring of 1873, Thomas Brady, from Grundy County, erected a store building, for the purpose of opening a dry goods and grocery house, but did not prosper well, and returned to his former home. In the Fall of 1872, J. A. Cavanaugh and family arrived from La Salle County. He came for the purpose of engaging in the grain and stock trade, in which business he has been eminently successful. The country about the station is well adapted to the raising of corn, and immense quantities of it are shipped from this point. Cavanaugh at first built a small granary, and in this handled grain during the Winter of 1872-3. The following Spring, he erected the large elevator which he now operates.
As soon as the station was located, and people commenced to settle at the place, demands began to arise for postal, educational and church accommoda­tions. Heretofore Dwight and Odell, though somewhat distant, had served the people of this vicinity with postal facilities, but when business began to open at the station, the Government established a post office.
E. D. Brown was appointed first Postmaster. His successors have been E. F. Eaton, H. F. Brown, James K. Dean, B. Dow, Henry Devoe and George Baker. At present, the office is held by B. Dow.
The only church in the village, and indeed in the township, is that of the Methodists. It was organized soon after the village began to build, and at first consisted of about ten members. A convenient place for holding public meet­ings was very desirable, and a proposition to erect a church edifice met a hearty response; and very soon a sufficient amount was pledged to warrant the society in building. Lewis Springer, as Pastor, had charge of the society in 1873, and it was under his administration that the work began. The subscrip­tions were procured largely through the influence and personal solicitation of E. D. Brown. The house cost $1,800, and is twenty-six feet in width and forty-two in length. It is well built, neatly furnished throughout, and compares favorably in size and style with similar buildings in towns of larger size. The society has been quite successful, not only financially, but in increase of mem­bers and influence. The present membership is about one hundred. Rev. W. R. Phillips is the present Pastor, and resides in the village.
So far, educational advantages have been quite limited; and until last year no school had been organized at the place. The only privileges of the kind heretofore had been those afforded by the district school, some distance from the village. Last Winter, however, a room was hired in town, Emma Carlisle em­ployed as teacher, and a school, consisting of about forty pupils, established. The citizens contemplate the immediate erection of a school building, commen­surate with their wants, within the limits of the village.
Business is represented here at present by J. A. Cavanaugh and A. M. Wright & Co., who deal in grain and lumber; A. W. Davis and J. A. Cava­naugh, dealers in dry goods and groceries; B. B. Dow, dealer in drugs and medicines; and various other shops and stores common to a village of like size.

436
The population of the town, at this time, is about 200.
As an indication of the business transacted at the station, the following figures, kindly furnished by the Agent of the C., A..& St. Louis R. R., John Jamison, are given:

Received from freights forwarded, 1877

$8,095 00

received,

1,737.00


9,832.00

ROOK'S CREEK TOWNSHIP.
This township is one of the best watered in the county. It is crossed by Scattering Point Creek in its western part; by Rook's Creek, from which it receives its name, through the eastern and central portions; by the Vermilion River, in the northeast corner, and variously traversed by numerous small tribu­taries of these streams. The eastern and northern parts are well timbered, though the large trees fell before the axe of the pioneer, and by the old water mills were rapidly converted into lumber.
Away from the streams, the surface of the township is rather undulating, and well adapted to stock grazing. The land is very productive, and many of the farmers confine their occupation to raising grain. In the early settlement of the township, wheat was one of the principal crops grown. Of late years, however, corn has done better and is now the principal grain crop grown. Oats and rye do well and are raised to a limited extent.
The earliest settlement in this township dates prior to the Black Hawk war. It is a noticeable fact, and one the reader cannot well pass by in these pages, that all early settlers located near the timber. There were many causes tend­ing to this move. The majority came from a wooded country, and, not know­ing the prairie could be cultivated and having no implements with which to do it, had they desired, allowed it to remain as nature formed it. Being accus­tomed to log cabins, large fireplaces (and who of us does not yet love to linger over the wide old fireplace?), with the blazing log fire, they very naturally sought for the same comforts in their new home. Coal was not then to be had; hence we find the pioneers of Western life, with scarce an exception, taking their claims near the timber, and, in many cases, planting their first crops there.
The first settler in the township was Roderick Rook, from whom the creek and the township afterward received each its name. He brought his family here in the latter part of 1830, and located a claim where is now the farm of Nathan Huston. Mr. Rook came from Pennsylvania to the Sucker State, and, though this part was then a wilderness, with hardly an inhabitant, with his German pertinacity, he struck boldly out for it, and that year found a suitable home and determined to locate.
At that date, there was not a sign of civilization where Pontiac now stands, and not a village in this part of Illinois could be found. The nearest point was Bloomington, on the south, then scarcely worth the name of a village. Ottawa,

439
on the north, was just coming into notice ; Chicago was a small trading village, with more Indians than white men; Springfield was only a small town; Jack­sonville had about 200 inhabitants; while "Egypt" was the "land of corn and wine" to many a frontier settler, who replenished his crop of corn from that locality when nature failed him or his supply was exhausted.
Mr. Rook built a small cabin immediately on his arrival, and began the sub­jugation of his pioneer farm. Mr. John Johnson, who followed him in 1833, thinks he came in the Spring of 1831, and raised a crop that season. He is certain he preceded Mr. Garret Blue, the second settler in the present bounds of Rook's Creek Township, whom he thinks came in the Autumn of 1831. Mr. Rook remained on his claim until about 1835, when he sold to Robert Brecken­ridge and went to Missouri. From that State, as though desirous of getting further in advance of settlements, he went to Texas. In all his removals, his family remained with him, and with him went to the Lone Star State.
Mr. Blue, already mentioned, was a native of Virginia. From the Old Dominion, he went to Ohio, while that State was in its infancy. There he heard of the rich, grassy prairies of Illinois, and determined to emigrate thither. Hence, we find him, during the Summer of 1830 or 1831, threading his way across the State of Indiana, then thinly settled, and, by the time the frost came, he was on the banks of Rook's Creek and preparing to pass the Winter. His claim is now the farm of James Marks, whose father, Jacob, came to the settlement in 1836, and purchased Mr. Blue's claim.
Mr. Blue's family consists of his wife and several children. Mrs. Johnson thinks a daughter of his, Keziah, was the first white child born here, and that the marriage of another daughter, May, to Lemuel Barrett, was the first nup­tial event in the settlement. "We generally had a frolic, when a marriage occurred in the neighborhood," said Mrs. Johnson, in a conversation with the writer, "but when Mary was married, there wasn't enough to make a frolic, if we had invited everybody on the creek." Weddings were a source of great pleasure to the pioneers, and, when one occurred, everybody was always invited. A greater affront could not have been given than to have omitted inviting any neighbor to a wedding. It was rarely, if ever, done, and only when a feud or an ill-feeling existed between the family of the groom or bride and some of their neighbors - a state of feeling rarely existing.
A settlement of a few families was made on the eastern side of Rook's Creek about 1831 or 1832, by a Mr. Hill, David Kinkaid, and a Mr. Moxley. These persons, it seems, made a very short stay, removing in a year or two after their settlement. They were, no doubt, only looking for a permanent location, and not feeling satisfied with the country here, soon left for other parts. While living here, Mrs. Hill died. This is believed to be the first death in the settle­ment. So of all the pioneers who had so bravely endured the trials incident to frontier life, Mrs. Hill was the first to lay herself down in that quiet sleep that "knows no waking."

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We have digressed somewhat in our narrative, and will return to Mr. Blue. He, as has been narrated, sold to Jacob Marks. When Mr. Marks took pos­session, Mr. Blue went to Wolf Point, where he passed the remainder of his days. One of his daughters married and removed further west; the other is now the wife of Reuben Bennett, of Amity Township.
One of the earliest residents near the timber skirting Rook's Creek was Andrew McMillan, whose claim was in Pontiac Township. His sons were grown when they came. It was in his house that the first election for county officers was held, May 8, 1837, when the highest number of votes any candidate received was eighty-six.
Mr. John Johnson, already referred to, came to the settlement in August, 1833. He brought his family first to the cabin of Mr. Blue, with whom he remained until his crops were gathered. He then went to his own selected claim, and there he is yet living. He built a small log cabin, in which they lived until he was able to erect a better one. His first son occupied the site of his present home, and here he and his family passed many happy days.
The oft repeated story of the emigrant's removal to the West need hardly be repeated here. It was substantially the same in all cases. Almost all came in the large canvas-covered wagons, drawn by as many horses as their means allowed them to own. On the way, they camped out when no sheltering house could be found, and prepared their evening, morning and noon meals by the roadside over a fire kindled for the purpose. In this way he journeyed on, over plains, through forests, fording streams, with the sun, in many cases, his only guide from one landmark to another. When he arrived at his destination, his first care was the erection of a cabin, which, with its mud or puncheon, floor, its stick chimney, rude door, and no window save the openings left here and there between the logs, sufficed him many days for a house. Mr. Johnson says that when he arrived on the banks of Rook's Creek, no families save those  mentioned - Mr. Rook's and Mr. Blue's - were living in the confines of what is now Town 28, Range 4 east. He made the third actual settler, the families of Mr. Hill, Mr. Kinkaid and Mr. Moxley, from their short stay, not being counted among actual settlers. Mr. Johnson says concerning the time of his settlement, "The prairie west of me was as wild as it ever was. There was not a house to be seen anywhere on it, and one could travel many miles before he would find one. Wolves were as plenty as blackberries, and were rather bold in their movements. I could have shot lots of them from my cabin door. They would commonly stay in the prairie in the daytime, and come to the woods at night. Deer were not so plenty at first as after a few years. The Kickapoo Indians had hunted a good deal around here, and had driven them away. They killed more does than bucks, and hence put a check on their increase." After a few years, however, they increased rapidly, and Mr. John-son and other pioneers tell how they could go out on the prairie any time and see from fifty to one hundred. The early settlers often supplied themselves

441
with clothing by tanning the hide of the deer, dressing it with oil and making pants or cloaks. If tanned and dressed properly, the hide would always remain pliable, and not shrink when wet, and was very durable. Wild ducks, geese, cranes and prairie chickens abounded then in great numbers. They fur­nished plenty of food for the early settlers, and afforded fine opportunities to any wandering Nimrod who desired to enjoy this healthful sport. The grad­ual encroachment of the white man drove away these natives of the prairies, until now not one remains.
The next settler after Mr. Johnson was Mr. Robert Breckenridge. He came in 1834; purchased the claim of Mr. Rook; returned to Ohio, and sent his boys to the new home. They brought part of their goods in wagons, and shipped part by water around to Hennepin, where they found them, and from thence brought them to Rook's Creek.
Another native of the Buckeye State, Thomas Pendiel, with his brother David, came about the same time. They did not remain long, however, remov­ing to some other locality.
David Corbin also came to Rook's Creek about the same date, from the Vermilion River. A short time after this, the land was surveyed and the settlers were required to go to Danville to the land office and pay for their claims. They commonly paid Government price, $1.25 per acre, and were always allowed first choice in the entry of their homesteads. Did a speculator attempt to over-bid them at the land sale, they were a kind of law unto themselves, and per­suaded him not to enforce his claim, and nearly always prevented him from bidding against any of them. He must content himself with unsettled lands, and generally acceded to the demands of the settlers.
Mr. Johnson states that for several years after the settlements we have des­cribed, they were allowed to live alone, no new settlers appearing. This part of the State had as yet no outlet for its products nearer than Ottawa or Chicago. Bloomington was only a small trading place and post office, affording no market for grain or hogs. As the country nearer the river was yet thinly settled, emigrants located there, in the Western Reserve or in the Sangamon country. This retarded the upper central part of Illinois, and not until the completion of the canal and the railroads did that part of the State whose history these pages chronicle fill rapidly with settlers.
In the Spring of 1840, school was opened in a small log house, in what is now Amity Township. It stood near the line dividing Amity from Rook's Creek, neither of which were then contemplated, and was the school for all the children on the creek. Many came quite a distance and boarded with some of the nearest residents. The teacher received her pay directly from the patrons in the form of subscriptions. The school was maintained three months, and had an attend­ance of from fifteen to twenty scholars daily. The next school in the neighborhood was kept in Mr. Johnson's cabin the following Summer, and had about the same number of scholars; studied the same branches, prominent among

442
which were the three "R's." Not long after this, the community concluded a school house would be a good adjunct in their midst, and quite a number get­ting together on the farm of Mr. Breckenridge, erected a very substantial log structure, and the following Winter - 1842-43 - saw a very creditable school taught therein. Like its predecessors, it was a subscription school, and in fact for over ten years none other was sustained. In the erection of the log school house, the Edgingtons took a prominent part, and were always firm supporters of any and all educational enterprises.
In Amity Township, the principal sale of the school section was made in 1847, though five years before this twenty acres had been sold. The sale of the land created a fund for school purposes, and was the principal reason of the firm establishment of the school in the early days of that township. The peo­ple of Rook's Creek, though known there only by the Government survey, desired to profit by the success of Amity, and petitioned for the sale of their school section. November 24, 1854, this sale was effected, and, with the fund on hand derived from the State on the yearly enumeration, constituted a fund amounting to nearly two thousand dollars. With this amount secured to the township, a good beginning could be made. It is to be remembered, all this money was not paid as yet, but was secured. At a meeting of the residents in the township, it was decided to make two or three districts, and erect in the one most populous a suitable school house at once. This school was in operation during the Winter of 1854–5, as we find from a report made by William McMillan, Township Treasurer, for the latter year. From this report we learn that there was taught one school by a "male" teacher that he had 30 scholars -16 boys and 14 girls - attending his school; that he was paid $18 per month. and that there was only $21 in the treasury to pay him, compelling him to wait until the tax was collected. This report further states that the amount of the principal of the township fund was $1,853.12; that the amount of interest on township fund paid into the township treasury was $186.15; that the amount of State or common school fund received by the Township Treasurer was $216.50; that the amount of ad valorem tax was $572, which he is able to record as all paid. The Treasurer states, also, that the "whole amount paid for building, repairing, purchasing, renting and furnishing school houses was $686, and that the amount paid for school apparatus was $15.61. Mr. McMil­lan reports three districts organized at that date, including the school mentioned, the other two building houses shortly after. From the erection of the school house and its school of thirty scholars dates the beginning of the public com­mon schools of Rook's Creek Township, and from that time, as new settlements were made, other houses were built, until the common number -nine - is now reached. Good schools are now the order, and are regularly sustained from five to seven months during the year.
Religion and education generally go hand in hand in the history of our country. The first settler desires a school house and then a church, and rests

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not until he gets them. Earlier than the school, came the ministers of the Gos­pel and proclaimed its good news. But the people were poor, not able to support a minister, and contented themselves with meeting in each other's cabins and holding a service of prayer and song. After the school houses were built, they occupied those until they were able to erect a house exclusively for relig­ious purposes. The first attempts for the formation of a religious society were made in the Autumn of 1858. In October of that year, Rev. D. Anderson, a Methodist minister, who had been several times along the creek holding services in school houses and dwellings, organized a class consisting of Samuel and Martha M. Malone, John and Mary Lilly and Jesse and Catharine Legg - six members. Mr. Malone was appointed Class Leader, and Mr. Lilly, Steward. Before the year closed, this little band was joined by Mrs. Lucinda Riggle. It met in the old school house near the church, in which building the congregation met until the completion of their present house of worship.
Rev. A. C. Frick was the next preacher here, and under his labors the con­gregation increased to forty members. In 1860, Rev. ----- Brandenburg was appointed; in 1861, Rev. Robt. Pierce; in 1862, Rev. P. A. Crist; and in 1864, Rev. A. P. Hull; and as the congregation had materially increased in wealth and numbers, it was determined to erect a church. As this required a legal existence, that year Trustees were elected. Rev. A. E. Day was appointed preacher for 1865 and 1866, and during the latter year a revival was held, resulting in the accession of quite a number of members. The church was completed the next year, while Rev. Thomas Cotton was Pastor, the dedicatory sermon being preached by Rev. E. P. Hall. At the Conference the next year, the Rook's Creek Church appeared for the first time on the church records, and has since been regularly represented. This same year, the Prospect society was formed. Two years after, a class of seven members was formed at Gray's school house, and O. P. Croswell appointed Leader. In 1871, the parsonage was erected at an expense of $622. The congregation is now entirely self-sus­taining, and is quite prosperous. The Pastor is Rev. J. L. Ferris.
The Germans have a church in the northwest part of the township, erected some two or three years ago. They are quite numerous in this vicinity; are industrious, and rapidly cultivating and improving their lands.
Rook's Creek Township was one of the first formed in the county, and, as has been noticed, was named in honor of its first settler, Mr. Rook.
The first town meeting was held April 6, 1858, and the first election that Spring. William T. Garner was its first Supervisor. Among its prominent men is Mr. Geo. B. Gray, now a member of the State Legislature. He is one of the wealthiest farmers in the township; has been President of the Agricul­tural Society at different times, and has always been one of the county's most influential and honored citizens.
Away back in the annals of its earliest years, the township possessed an unenviable name in the county, owing to the presence of a few who can, if they

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choose, give an ominous name to any locality. Happily these are all gone now, and the township bears a name equally honored with all its cotemporaries. Of the time of which we are speaking, there lived on the edge of Pontiac Township Mr. John Kelley, an eccentric individual, who had a habit of coming to town every day. So constant had this practice become, that he was known by every one; and did he by chance omit his daily trip, everybody noticed it, and straightway wondered what had come over Uncle Johnny. He did not, it seems, entertain a very high opinion of Rook's Creek Township, and though a strong Universalist, would declare if there was a place of future punishment, it was in Rook's Creek or near there. A local poet thus records an absence of Uncle Johnny from town, the stir it creates, and where he was found :
"Where Rook's Creek rolls its turbid tide
To meet Vermilion's gentler flow,
Three weary travelers were espied,
Just as the setting sun was low.
Their shouts filled all the evening air:
'Where is John Kelley ; where, oh where?'

'' ' Where is John Kelley?" still they cried,
And echo rolled the notes afar,
Until a distant voice replied,
Like music from some distant star:
'You'll find me here, below the ridge,
Just northward from the Rook's Creek bridge.'

"They found him digging in the ground,
The victim of some mystic spell:
He cast his fearful eyes around:
He-said: 'I fear there is a hell.
I think that I can plainly trace
Its indications in this place.' "

Uncle Johnny is now an inhabitant of Kansas, but is well known to every settler in all this country, and many will readily trace his peculiarities in the poetry quoted.
Rook's Creek Township is now fully settled. Several excellent farms are in its boundary; and many wealthy farmers reside where once

"The Indian in all his glory stood,
The lord of all he viewed."

The present township officers are as follows: Clerk, S. L. Cunningham; Collector, H. Hutson; Assessor, S. B. Tuttle; Road Commissioner, M. Bonham; Supervisor, James Marks; and Wm. Askew and S. B. Tuttle, Justices of the Peace

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ROUND GROVE TOWNSHIP.
The settlement of Round Grove is one of the earliest in the northeast part of the county. The grove from which the township derives its name in shape is nearly round, and hence the name. Here the first settlers in this part of the county located, desirous, like others in the pioneer life of the country, to have the benefit of timber as a protection from the cold, and to be provided with fuel. The reader cannot but notice the action of all early settlers in the West in this regard. They were sagacious enough to provide against all future wants in this respect, and, too, were wedded to early home firesides, which all so well love to linger over, where the cheerful wood fire was one of the cheeriest and strongest attractions.
The first settlers here had a difficulty to overcome not often recognized at this day. There were no mills for sawing lumber here in those days, and hence they were compelled to locate where they could procure logs with which to erect a habitation. These were often primitive affairs, only intended for use until the pioneer could erect a more substantial and more comfortable house. Many of them were built without the aid of a single piece of iron. Some of our younger readers may inquire how this was done. "Necessity is the mother of invention," is a trite and true proverb. The pioneer had no nails or bolts and no money to buy them, hence what he did was the natural outgrowth of his circumstances. The logs could be cut the right lengths in the woods, hauled to the place for building the cabin, there notched, and on the raising day put in their place. When the square forming the house was completed, doors and windows would be cut out, door and window jams pinned, not nailed on, the door fastened on wooden hinges, had a wooden latch, with its provervial latch-string almost always out; the "shakes" (shingles) fastened on by weight poles and stones, the floor of slabs, or puncheons, and a large fireplace, half the length of the end of the house, completed the pioneer home for many a man who now ranks among the wealthiest in the State. Pins were invariably used for nails, and were always made of the hardest and toughest wood the forest afforded.
This grove was an object standing boldly out in the prairie, affording to the early hunter or traveler a guide in his wanderings, and here very naturally the first settler pitched his tent and began preparations for the founding of a new home.
About the year 1850 or '51, John Currier brought his family from the old Keystone State, intending to find for them a home on the broad prairies of Illi­nois. He came at first to Morris, where, hearing of the rich, unsettled lands in Livingston County, below Dwight, on the line of the proposed Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, determined at once that there he could find the desired aim of his migration. Coming into the prairie, he saw at once the desirableness of the grove, and selected it as a permanent home. Here he built a cabin,

446
and opened a claim, here he lived, and here are yet part of his family who survive him. He had been here but a short time when he was joined by Alfred Clover and his family, from Indiana. After remaining here a number of years, he sold his farm and removed farther west. Clark Pratt was the next settler in the new neighborhood. He was also from the Hoosier State. His family are yet residents of the township. The next was James Gibson, who, like Mr. Clover, did not remain here, but also went farther west. Philip Clover was probably the last of the five families settling at that time. He is still a resident of the township, and has seen it in all its changes.
These five families were the pioneers of Round Grove Township, and, until Stephen Potter settled in 1854, were the only residents here. They came before the railroad was built, when there was no Dwight or Odell, and when Pontiac was a place of small note, whose nearest railroad communication was Springfield, where was the old Northern Cross Railroad, the oldest in the State, and where, in 1851, the first railroad crossing in the State was made, when what is now the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad reached that city and crossed the old Northern Cross - now Toledo, Wabash & Western. The people of this part of the State, however, rarely, if ever, went to Springfield, preferring Morris, Joliet, Ottawa or Chicago. At the time of which we are writing, the canal was completed and Morris the chief trading point.
They broke the prairie with the large breaking plows of that time, planted sod corn, raised a few garden products, and with the wild game, then so abun­dant, were enabled to live in plenty. The next Spring, they plowed their fields again, smoothed them with a brush drag or wooden-toothed harrow, and raised a good crop of corn. Their manner of life did not vary much from this. They improved their lands as they could, built better houses as soon as they were able, and when the railroad was completed through the county, made Dwight their post office, and as soon as a store was opened there, made it their trading point.
The railroad was completed through to Joliet during the Summer of 1854. That Spring, it would not, however, carry any freight, being yet in too unfin­ished a condition.
The settlers we have named were joined that Spring by Mr. Stephen Potter, who, with his family of five persons, came here from Joliet. He had emigrated from New York to Ohio, in the vicinity of Cleveland, where he says he could have purchased many now valuable lots for a little or nothing. Like the poor individual, however, who one day demurely asked Mark Twain if he knew where he could obtain a "good square meal for a quarter," was shown by the irrepressible humorist a restaurant where such a meal could be had, and was about starting on, when the poor fellow very humbly asked him if he knew where he could get the quarter. This was too much for Mark, who immediately furnished him the desired amount. Mr. Potter states there were many places where a very small sum of money would have purchased what is now very valu-

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able property, but, like the man in the story, he didn't know where he could get that small amount of money. He, however, wanted to come farther west, and in 1844, came to Joliet, then a very small town. He remained here ten years, when, desirous of becoming a farmer, he came to Round Grove, being the sixth settler there, his arrival dating April 7, 1854. At that date, the country for nearly thirty miles south of the grove was entirely uninhabited. There was no timber, save a little along the small creeks, in all this scope of territory, that could be utilized by the pioneer. The land had been in the market at govern­ment prices over twenty years, but, owing to its remoteness from market, had failed to find purchasers, and was used as a general hunting ground by all frontier Nimrods.
Mr. Potter came from Joliet in a wagon, the railroad at this time, as has been stated, refusing to carry passengers or freight. It was yet in an unfinished condition, the only trains running over this part of the line being the construc­tion trains.
Mr. Potter brought his family, some furniture, and a few farming utensils with him, and at first occupied one of the cabins near the grove. As soon as he had placed his family in this pioneer home, he went to Morris and brought back sufficient lumber to erect a small frame "shanty," what is now the kitchen part of his house. Into this he moved his family, and occupied it while he broke the prairie and cultivated the first crop. It was then enlarged and repaired and made suitable for passing the Winter. Mr. Potter was always exceedingly fond of hunting, and was noted for his skill in the use of the rifle. He has been known to kill from six to eight deer in two hours; his boy follow­ing him with a horse and sled to haul them to the house, where the venison was prepared for future use.
This part of the country was a noted hunting ground for the Indians. Shabbona, a noted Indian chief, whose portrait and biography appear in this work, often came from his grove in DeKalb County, and hunted over these prairies. He nearly always brought several of his tribe with him. His two daughters accompanied him, to cook his meals and "jerk" the venison. One of these was very dark featured, and one just the reverse. They were clothed in calico obtained from the Indian agent, and were quite civilized in their habits. The encampment was always near the grove, where fuel and water could be easily obtained. Shabbona nearly always rode an Indian pony, and was an expert hunter. One day, while riding over the prairie in quest of game, he came upon Mr. Potter, who was then a new settler, and whom he had never seen before. Riding up to him, and as if to impress him who he (Shabbona) was, and also to let him know his name, he smote his brawny breast, saying, "Shabbona (pronouncing the last syllable like a in law, and giving it the accent), me !! Shabbona, me !" Mr. Potter nodded assent to what he said, when the chief continued, waving his hand toward the broad expanse of prairie before him, "One time white man's wo-haw plenty, plenty ; white man's

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wo-haw plenty." "You mean buffalo plenty here once?" inquired Mr. Potter. "Yes, buf-fe-lo, buf-fe-lo plenty," responded Shabbona. The chief could converse a little in the English language, and was always a steadfast friend of the white men, at one time saving many of them from the fury of his countrymen.
An important hunting expedition is worthy of record here, although it did not take place until 1860. We refer to the hunting party of the Prince of Wales. Their chief point was Dwight, although they hunted through several surrounding townships. Many stories are told how the Prince and his party slaughtered tame ducks, turkeys and chickens, and were com­pelled by the wrathful owners to pay round sums for their mistakes. They spent their time hunting steadily, carrying all their provisions with them, get­ting only tea and coffee from the inhabitants. Several of the attendant Lords were exceedingly ignorant of the American pioneers, and sagely inquired if they really did drink tea and coffee, and could read and write. Did they know where England was, and anything of her greatness? They were often corrected by being informed of things in England even they did not know. They soon learned to respect the yeomanry here, and greatly admired the intelligence exhibited among them. One day, while hunting near Mr. Potter's, in Round Grove Township, they were informed of his skill in the use of the rifle, and at once sent for him to hunt with them. They generally shot feathered game while on the wing, and Mr. P., taking the same course, surprised them by inva­riably bringing down the game. They were amazed at his skill, and could not account for the fact of a man following his profession being such a sure shot. They could not forget him, and on their return to England wrote to a resident of Dwight asking him, in language more emphatic than elegant, if that old man still lived out on the prairie who shot so accurately when hunting with them.
Lady Franklin paid the Grove a visit when on her travels through the West. She sent for the women in the neighborhood to call and see her, many of whom accepted the invitation, and were received with that ease and elegance born of royalty.
Shortly after Mr. Potter arrived, the Broughtons passed by his place on their way to the eastern part of the township which now bears their name. They came from Morris in a large moving wagon, and were the earliest settlers in that township. Dwight was then only started, and could boast of but one house, and that a board shanty where the tools were kept and some of the railroad laborers slept. Odell was not then known, and to Morris the resi­dents were obliged to go after mail. Pontiac was a small village only, with more hope than anything else.
The next settler in Round Grove Township, then known only by its gov­ernment survey as Town 30 north, Range 8 east, was William Cook, who, with his family, came from Joliet and settled in the western part of the township. He was probably one of the last settlers that Summer.

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The next Winter, 1854-5, a school was taught in one of the log cabins by Charlotte Potter, now Mrs. Charlotte Eldred. Slab seats were made, holes bored in the log walls and desks made on the pins inserted in them, a box stove placed in it, and the room was considered ready. This was the school for this community until after the township organization, in 1858. That pro­duced a change for the better, and new and more comfortable houses came into use. In the Autumn of 1858, Mr. Potter went to Joliet and procured lumber for the erection of a school house, which was completed and occupied the next Summer. School was taught in this building by Margaret Turner, of Dwight, and such was the state of the township finances that Mr. Potter was obliged to wait almost two years before he received pay for building this house. About the time the war came on, the township began to increase very rapidly in popu­lation, and other schools were added. This continued to be the case until the present number, nine, was reached. The schools are now in good condition, and are maintained fully six months in the year.
There are no established churches in the township. Several Catholics reside here, but belong to the church just south, in Broughton Township. Those belonging to other denominations generally attend divine service in Dwight. Through the Summer, Sunday schools are held in many of the school houses, and are well sustained. In the early days of the people here, services were held in each other's cabins or houses, and, after the building of the school houses, were held there. When roads were made, the people began attending church in Dwight, and still keep up the practice.
In the old log school house the first elections were held, and here votes were cast for Fillmore and Buchanan, representing the two great political parties of the day. The politics of the township have always been nearly equally divided between the Republicans and Democrats; and since the Greenback party came into prominence, it has found a good-number of adherents here.
The township furnished its full quota of men for the late war. These gen­erally went to Dwight, Odell or Pontiac to enlist, and hence in the war record printed elsewhere in this book will be found credited to those places.
We have noted the coming of the first settlers in this town, and have narrated at some length their settlement here and their trials and difficulties experienced in the subjugation of the new prairie country. We could go on in this strain to an indefinite length, giving the name of each settler and what he did when coming here. This is so fully given in the biographical part of the work, under each name, that its mention here would simply be an unnecessary repetition, and to these pages the reader is referred for the further prosecution of this subject.
A glance at the wealth of the township, as shown by the Assessor's books, shows a striking exhibit of the results of a little over a quarter of a century's growth. The Assessor reports 22,959 acres of improved lands - none unim­proved. He valued this land at $282,240. hardly one-half its real value. He

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enumerates 582 horses, 1,119 head of neat cattle, 201 head of sheep, 34 mules, 3,020 hogs, and quite a number of other domestic animals. He values these at $50,000 - an exceedingly low estimate. Corn is the principal cereal grown. Oats and rye do well, but are not extensively cultivated. Wheat has, in the earlier days of the township, formed the staple crop, but of late years has given way to corn. The last report of the Assessor shows that 32 acres were grown in wheat, 9,429 in corn, 1,427 in oats, and 960 in other field products. He also reports 2,896 acres of meadow, 2,119 in inclosed pasture, 85 in woodland, and 96 in orchards.
The face of the country included in Round Grove Township is slightly undulating, well adapted to farming and grazing, and is fully improved by the residents. It is well watered by four small creeks, running northward, afford­ing good water facilities for stock grazing.
The "Act for Township Organization" was adopted in this county in the Fall of 1857, and went into force at the Spring election of 1858. At this election, R. Eldred was elected Supervisor, and work on roads was at once inaugurated. The effect of the Township Act was the erection of better school houses, construction of better roads and bridges, and a corresponding improve­ment in all parts of the township. It is now thoroughly settled and well im­proved, and is one of the best townships in the county.
The following are the present township officers: Supervisor, J. W. Lister; Collector, George Jeffers; Road Commissioner, W. H. Lister; Clerk, Cyrus Thomas; Assessor, Thomas Feehery; Justices of the Peace, George Maxson and Samuel Casement.

CHARLOTTE TOWNSHIP.
This township, like Sullivan, is newly settled. It was more than twenty years from the time of the first settlement in Indian Grove ere the cabins of the white man began to dot the prairies of Charlotte. Being a part of Pleasant Ridge until 1864, its history and early settlement are so closely interwoven with that of the latter town as to render it somewhat difficult to separate one from the other. Charlotte lies in the eastern tier of townships, and is described as Town 27 north, Range 8 east, and is all prairie, except a few sections of timber, bordering the north branch of the Vermilion River, which flows through the township to the west.
The first settlement in what is now Charlotte Township was made by Patrick Monahan, in the Spring of 1857. He came from Old Ireland, the "Gim of the Say," and is a genuine, warm-hearted, big-souled Irishman, in the full sense of the term. His first habitation was made by planting four posts in the ground, across which poles were laid, and boards placed across the poles. As he could obtain neither wood nor coal, for the first few months his family gath­ered dried resin weeds, which were used as fuel. The fires for cooking were built on the open prairie. This was the very first opening or settlement made

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in this section. He states that he shipped the first car load of stock from Chatsworth, and brought the first load of lumber to that place. He used to go to Morris with an ox team to mill, which occupied several days, and sometimes a week. In breaking prairie, the "red roots" were carefully preserved for fuel. This was a kind of prairie shrub, somewhat similar to hazel or willow, except that it had larger roots. There was no coal then being mined in Livingston County, and it behooved the settlers to economize in every way possible the means of keeping up fires. John Monahan came with his brother, and was a single man at this time. He lived with Patrick several years before taking to himself a life partner. When the Monahans came to the settlement, one of their oxen gave out one mile west of the place chosen for their home. They came on, and left it lying by the road side, or rather, their trail, for there were no roads then, and the next morning Patrick sent his brother John back to see if the ox had sufficiently recuperated to make the remainder of the journey. He found only the bones of the poor animal, the wolves having devoured it dur­ing the night.
The same year that saw the Monahans pitch their tent upon these wild prai­ries brought Owen Murtagh and John Martin to the township. Murtagh came from Marshall County, and settled here soon after Monahan. After some years, he sold out and removed to Ford County, where he, at the last account of him, resided. Martin came from England, and seems to have been but poor material. He enlisted in the army during the late war, and after its close returned to the neighborhood, but finally left his wife, who still lives here, and went to Kansas. That is the last of him, so far as this town knows to the contrary. In the Fall of 1850, the settlement was augmented by the arrivals in it of L. W. Dart and a man named Loomis. These were rare specimens, from the accounts gathered of them. Dart came here from Woodford County, but was originally from the Green Mountains of Vermont. He built a sod house, in which he designed passing the Winter, but in the fore part of the season it was burned. He lost everything he had except his wife and children, and besides which he had little else. He had nothing to live on, and after his house was burned stayed at Monahan's several weeks, until he could find some place to go to. He appears to have been a bad manager, as he received $5,000 with his wife when he married, but lost it all in Woodford County in attempts at wheat raising, and in specu­lating, so that when he came here he was well nigh penniless. He is said to have been a man of fine intelligence, but of a disposition to render him unpopu­lar, and a character to some extent questionable. His family often suffered for the necessaries of life, sometimes living on potatoes alone, sometimes grinding corn in a coffee-mill for bread. He "lawed" the county for sixteen years for some imaginary title to land in Charlotte Township, but without profit to himself, or any one else, aside from the lawyers engaged in it. He left the town in 1876 without a dollar, and, as we are informed, without reputation, and went to the Indian Territory, where he is now, if he has not lost his scalp. His wife,

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however, was said to be a perfect lady, well raised and well liked by all. Loomis, was from New York, and was another man of little use in the community. He lived by trapping and hunting, and as game became scarce, he added the making of axe handles to his business as a means of support. Like the last mentioned, his family often suffered for provisions, and his neighbors remember a time when he had nothing in his larder but some frozen potatoes, which they lived on for days together. When he run his course here and starved out com­pletely, he took the advice of a noted philosopher, and went further West to grow up with the country. William Hefner and Elias Brown came here from Indiana in the Fall of 1859-60. They made settlements, but becoming dissat­isfied sold out and moved away about 1870.
Laurence Farrall and Owen Finnegan are warm-hearted sons of the "Old Sod." Farrall came from Ireland, and stopped at Chatsworth in 1857, before the village of that name had perhaps been thought of. He remained there until 1861, with the exception of one year spent in Fairbury, when he settled in this township, where he had bought land and erected a house two years before. He still resides on this place, and the house then built was the first frame dwelling put up in this township. Finnegan came from Ohio here, but was originally from Ireland. He stopped in Fairbury, where he remained two years, then removed three miles south of Chatsworth, and in 1862 came to Charlotte, where he per­manently settled and where he still resides. The last two, with Patrick and John Monahan, are all of the early settlers of Charlotte Township still living among the scenes of their early trials and privations.
Patrick Monahan's first residence, and the one he occupied until he got his land paid for, is still standing, a small cabin, presenting a striking contrast to his present elegant dwelling, which is one of the finest country residences in Livingston County, and cost $5,360, exclusive of his own work, which included all the hauling of material to the ground. It is a two-story frame building, with foundation of Joliet stone laid in cement. He is enjoying now the reward of the privations endured in the middle of a great prairie, twenty years ago. Then hunger often stared him in the face, and cold, with the extreme scarcity of fuel, was sometimes unpleasantly severe. He informed us that in those early days his family once lived nearly a week on potatoes and beans, and meal was sometimes almost wholly unattainable. He heard of some meal to be had at a certain place beyond the river, and after crossing the river on the ice, breaking through and nearly drowning, as well as freezing, found the place, but the meal was all gone. At another time, Brooks, who kept a store at Chatsworth, received a barrel of flour, and had to divide it into seven parts to accommodate his almost starving patrons.
The first child born in Charlotte Township was Julia A. Monahan, a daughter of Patrick Monahan, October 8, 1859. Her father took her to Morris, with an ox team, a distance of fifty miles, to have her baptized. Having no gun, he made the trip armed with a pitchfork to defend himself against the

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wolves, which were so bad that he did not know whether he would get back with his charge or not. But such is the religious zeal of that devoted people, that they will brave any danger to perform the decrees of their church. However, he made the trip in perfect safety. John Monahan and a daughter of James Glennin, of Avoca Township, who were marrried in October, 1863, was the first marriage, though the ceremony was not solemnized in the township. The first death was a boy named Thomas Bain, drowned in the Vermilion River in the Winter of 1862-63. He was skating on the ice, when he went through, and for some time his parents did not know where to look for him. They finally found where he had broken through the ice, and after breaking it still further, found him underneath in the water. His parents had come from El Paso to this settlement, and they took him back there for interment. As he was their only help on the farm, they never came back here to reside. The next death was an old German, who worked for Patrick Monahan, and died very suddenly. It was extreme cold weather, and he was taken to Chatsworth, and in almost the first vacant spot was buried. He is mentioned in the history of Chatsworth as the first burial in the village cemetery.
The first school houses were built in Charlotte Township in 1861. In that year, the houses known as the Dart and the Monahan school houses were erected. The name of the first teacher is now forgotten, but in 1862, Miss Jane Winchell taught a school, which was the second taught in the town. The first Board of Trustees were Patrick Finegan, Owen Murtagh and ----- Loomis; the latter's first name no one now remembers. The township has at present nine school districts, with good frame buildings in each district. The citizens of Charlotte boast of the fact that not a town in Livingston County has better school houses than those of their own town. The present Board of Trustees are Samuel Foreman, Lawrence Farrall and Jonathan Edwards. Owen Fine­gan is School Treasurer.
The first blacksmith, and the only resident one the town has had, was the man Dart, already alluded to. He had a few blacksmith's tools, and did a little work sometimes, when by strong persuasion he could be induced into his shop. But he usually had too many irons in the fire, metaphorically speaking, to bring himself down to good hard work.
There are three substantial wooden bridges spanning the Vermilion in this township. The first one was a rude wooden structure, built before any regular roads were laid out, and was, in a few years, washed away, when a substantial bridge was put up where the road running through the center of the town crosses the river, at a cost of $1,700. Patrick Monahan had the first road laid out, which is the one above alluded to. It runs north and south, by his resi­dence, and is the principal thoroughfare of travel through the town.
As stated in the commencement of this chapter, Charlotte was included in Pleasant Ridge Township until 1864, when the latter township petitioned the Board of Supervisors for a separation. In accordance with the law, "made and

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provided" in such cases, Pleasant Ridge, being the petitioner, would have been the one to have adopted the new name, while all the town property, such as road-scrapers, etc., would of right have belonged to the other. But through some wire-pulling process, known to politicians in all ages and in all countries, Pleasant Ridge managed to retain the old name, thereby entitling her to the town property, otherwise the road-scrapers. In this, as we are informed, the man Dart again came to the front. Being a smart man and a good talker, he argued to Charlotte that it would be much grander to have a new name and a pretty one, than "to have all the old road-scrapers in the county." His eloquence won the day, and his "oily tongue" and "smooth words" won for him the privilege of naming the new town, which he called Charlotte - the name, it is said, of a girl that he courted in Vermont in his bachelor days, and for whom he seemed to still retain a warm feeling. The first Supervisor after this became a separate township, was Thomas Cotton, who appears to not have given entire satisfaction as a representative. But good timber was scarce then, as Patrick Monahan informed us, and Tom would, for a five cent cigar, vote any way to please the Board, which was for every appropriation except for his own township. He held the office but one year, when Frank Cole was elected and held for two years; next in order came Justin Hall, who remained in office four years, when he was succeeded by C. G. Greenwood, who represented the town four years more, when John Monahan was elected and still holds the office. Other township officers at present are as follows: James M. Sleath and J. W. Wild, Justices of the Peace; Jesse Harry, Assessor; Charles Reiss, Collector, and Wm. Gingerich, Town Clerk.
There are no church buildings in the town, but religious meetings are held in the school houses and at the people's residences. Neither is there a store or post office in the township, but the village of Chatsworth being very near the line of Charlotte, it is almost as convenient to the people of the latter as to its own citizens, and hence most of the residents of this town go to Chatsworth to church, for their mail, and to do their "store trading." That is also their shipping point on the railroad, and at present they do most of their mill­ing there, as there are no mills in the town.
In the early settlement of this section, milling was quite a serious task. As stated elsewhere, Pat Monahan used to go to Morris to mill with oxen. He informed us that he once gave Mrs. Dart a sack of corn, when her family was act­ually suffering, and she took it on a horse to Avoca Township to get it ground, and on the way, fell off the horse, with the ague, and remained on the ground* until some one came along who put her and her sack of corn again on the horse. It seems that in the early days of settling up this section, everybody and everything, except the prairie wolves, had the ague and fevers, and sometimes they would "shake" an hour or two every day for a year, before they could succeed in permanently "breaking it."
*She never knew how long she remained on the ground.

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To render all these little inconveniences more aggravating, the prairie wolves were very plenty, and disagreeably familiar sometimes. Mr. Farrall informed us that they came very near surrounding him one day; he was on horseback, and was forced to run his horse for life. However, they were not often so vicious. Deer were also plenty, he stated, and would often come to his watering trough to drink. Mr. Monahan and his brother John saw a herd of deer on the prairie one day near the house of the former, so large they we're unable to count them. In these early times, when the cold Winter had draped the broad prairies in snow, and the wolves rendered desperate with hunger, and the settlers themselves not always free from its pangs, they (the settlers) experienced something of the hardships of building up homes in a new country. So great were their sufferings and privations, that Mrs. Monahan believes it would be but just that when they leave these "shores of dull mortality," they should march straightway into heaven.
As already stated, this township is prairie, except a few little groves along the Vermilion River, viz.: Eagle, Burr Oak and Crab Apple Groves, all of which are small and afford very little timber. Eagle Grove was so called from the fact that eagles built their nests and reared their young there, long after people began to settle in the vicinity. So great was the veneration of the peo­ple for these birds, or superstition it, may have been, that they would not under any circumstances touch a tree in which was an eagle's nest. But one night, a party cut a tree (a large burr oak), in which they had built and which con­tained six nests. This so incensed the people they vowed to tar and feather the man who did it, should they ever find him out. The name Burr Oak was applied in consequence of nearly all the timber in this grove being of that species, and Crab Apple, because of these bushes being scattered through the grove of that name. The north half of this town is what was termed swamp land, except Section 14, which was railroad land. The other half belonged to speculators, and was owned mostly by W. H. Osborn, Solomon Sturges and the Buckinghams.
Charlotte has no railroads through its borders, but the projected line of the Kankakee & Southwestern Road, which will doubtless be built this year, will pass through the town. The Railroad Company ask the right of way and the grading of the road by the township, through its limits, which in all probability will be given. This will be of material benefit to this section of the country, by giving it a competing line with the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Road, and a more direct route to Chicago than over the latter road.
The political record of Charlotte is noted for nothing out of the usual line of township politics. The voting population is pretty well divided on the issues of the day, and neither has much to boast of in the way of majorities or victo­ries. During the late war, this town was a part of Pleasant Ridge, where further notice is made of its war record.

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BROUGHTON TOWNSHIP.
A quarter of a century ago, not a white man dwelt in the present confines of Broughton Township. Its beautiful prairies, were traversed only by the wild game once so abundant, and the ambitious hunter in its pursuit. A branch of Morgan Creek traverses the eastern half of the township, passing northward through Round Grove. Numerous sloughs are found here and there over its surface, which, in the earlier settlement of the county, proved often an impass­able barrier to the emigrants. These are now, however, almost all drained, and many are under cultivation. They afforded, in bygone days, a safe retreat to the sand-hill crane, the wild goose or wild duck, which found ample room for their nests, and security for their young. Wild prairie wolves, deer and other game roamed these prairies then in certain security, and year after year, before the white man came, wild Indians found this place an excellent hunting ground, and here has been enacted many a savage chase and many an exciting hunt by the red man.
The coming of that harbinger of civilization, the locomotive, produced a change in all this. The railroad is a mighty agent in the hands of progress, and breaks down in its way many of the old customs, introducing more modern ideas, and changing empires in its route. Before its advent here, few thought of the rich inheritance spread out so abundantly for all, and sought other fields. They were justified in this, as at that day the prairies of Illinois afforded poor means for the transportation of the farmer's products, and the long distances he was obliged to go prevented him from settling at a time when more favored localities were fully populated. Before the completion of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, all farm produce in this part of the State had to be hauled to Chi­cago in wagons, or, after the canal was opened, transported by boat to the nearest point on that - Joliet, Morris or Ottawa.
The first residents within the boundaries of the township were the Brough­tons, from whom the township received its name, who located here in the early part of the Summer of 1854. They came here from Morris, and settled on the edge of the timber skirting the east branch of Mazon Creek, in the northeast part of the township. Here they found a moderate supply of fuel and a sufficiency of water for all practical needs. Their market and post office was Dwight, then a village of one or two dwellings, a small store or two, and a depot - all in their infancy. Shortly after the settlement of the Broughton family, they were joined by Philip Clover and John Conway, the latter afterward enlisting in the army, where he subsequently died. William Day was another early resident, but did not remain many years.
In 1857, Jonathan Sarvis brought his family from Pennsylvania and located in the southwestern part of the township. Heretofore, settlers had located near Mazon Creek, and when Mr. Sarvis arrived in the township, quite

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a settlement had been formed there. He purchased swamp land from the county at $2.50 per acre. Much of this was good farming land, and only needed proper drainage.
One short road, simply a neighborhood affair, had been opened in the eastern part of the township from that settlement to Dwight. It, like all primi­tive roads, went in as direct a line as the nature of the country allowed, and when the roads were laid out on section lines, after the township was formed, it gave way to its more modern successors. Between these two parts of the township, the land was almost entirely unclaimed. It was not, however, allowed to remain this way but a short time, for, by the time of the division of the county into townships, there were enough inhabitants in this part of the county to be included and formed into one township. Congressionally, it is Town 29, Range 8.
Before the act of township organization was adopted, the people in Broughton were a part of Round Grove Precinct, and went there to vote. In the matter of politics, the inhabitants are about equally divided - one side carries the day about as often as the other. During the war, it was strongly Republican in its sentiment, and furnished many a gallant soldier for the defense of the nation. Some of these now sleep on Southern battle fields, for many of them fell

…in the face of a murderous fire,
That swept them down in its terrible ire,
And their life-blood went to color the tide.

The township organization went into effect in the Spring of 1858. At the election, Wm. Broughton was elected Supervisor, and work on roads, bridges and township improvements was at once inaugurated. The result was the rule adopted, in all parts of the county where the surface of the country permitted it, of the laying out of roads on the section lines, building of good, substantial bridges, raising the grade of roads wherever needed, and in every other necessary manner improving the general thoroughfares.
The country continuing to fill with settlers, that important factor in modern civilization, the school house, next claimed attention. Before any organized effort had been made, and early in the life of the township, a small school house was erected in the Broughton neighborhood by the residents there, and a school opened. In this diminutive house the first election for town officers was held, when the number of voters did not greatly exceed the offices to be filled.
After the township was formed and canal lands came into market, settlers came into the township very rapidly, and the little school house was found entirely inadequate for the growing and increasing juvenile population. The next season after the school we have mentioned was taught, Mr. Sarvis em­ployed Miss Cynthia Purcell, now Mrs. Herte, to teach in his house. This school continued three months, during which time a few districts were organized and a small house, built by Mr. Clover, purchased and refitted for a school house, and the next Winter a public school opened therein. After this, as

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fast as the country comprised in the township settled up, other schools were opened, as the case seemed to require. Especially was this done after the organization of the township. In a short time, several districts were estab­lished, and, before the war opened, four or five good school houses were erected. This number has from time to time been increased, until the common quota of nine districts is now established.
There are two churches in the township, the Congregationalist and Catholic. These have been erected within a few years, and each supports regular divine services. Prior to the organization of these religious societies, meetings for worship were held in private houses and in the school houses. The Baptists were among the first to possess the religious field in Broughton Township, although they have no organization in its limits. One of their ministers, Mr. Sarvis thinks, preached the first sermon here. He was quite prominent at one time, and is said to have lost his life in the late war. His name could not be learned. After occupying private houses and the school houses until about 1874, the Catholics erected a very neat frame church on Section 3, and have maintained services therein since. They are ministered to by Father Halpin, from Dwight, and have at present quite a large congregation, numbers of the members living in Round Grove and Dwight Townships.
The Congregationalists built their church shortly after the erection of the Catholic edifice, on the southeast corner of Section 6. They are numerically not so strong as the Catholics, but own a very neat chapel, and sustain a Sunday school regularly, and are generally supplied by some of their ministers living in this part of the county.
We have thus far traced the history and growth of Broughton Township, save giving the personal history of many of its citizens. In this narrative this is needless, as it is fully given in the biographical part of the work, and to this the reader is referred. He will find here each one's story, as it were, and each one's trials and incidents in the subjugation of the country. Right here we think it worthy of remark that, were one-half the energy displayed by the labor agitators in the country and in the overcrowded cities by those who continually decry against capital, used in developing the Western country, as the pioneers of Broughton developed its grand prairies, the cry of hard times would soon cease, and the question of "Capital vs. Labor " be quickly settled.
Taking a glance at the wealth of the township as shown by the Assessor's books - generally about one-half its real value - we see a striking exhibit of the growth of the township during the twenty years of its existence.
For the year 1878, the Assessor reported 22,453 acres of improved lands. valued at $224,530. If every section of the township is full, this leaves only 587 acres of unimproved land, worth, at a very low estimate, $10 per acre. The Assessor returns 800 houses, valued at $25,390; 789 head of cattle, valued at $10,598; 3,677 hogs, valued at $5,630, and about 100 head of other ani­mals, worth $3,000. He estimates there are $13,635 acres of corn, 1,568 of

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oats, 1,667 of meadow, 2,229 of fenced pastures, 290 in orchards, and 440 of other field products. The entire wealth of the township, if accurately footed up, would undoubtedly reach $500,000, and it is even doubtful if that sum will cover it.
We have stated that the township was one of the first created in the county. The first election for officers was held in the Spring of 1858, at which time Wm. Broughton was elected Supervisor. At the last election, W. R. Marvin was elected to that office; Chester H. Gilbert, Clerk; John H. Rogers, Collector; A. Lower, Road Commissioner; Wm. Broughton, Assessor, and Sarvis and Thomas J. Johnson, Justices of the Peace.

PIKE TOWNSHIP.
This township is in the original grant of land given to the Illinois Central Railroad, and is known as railroad land. The road was completed through this part of the State in 1854, and until after that date the township remained unset­tled. The face of the country is nearly level, broken slightly by a few gentle un­dulations. Pike's Creek, a small branch of Rook's Creek, traverses the township from the southwest to the northeast; and in the southeast corner, Crooked Creek finds its way in the same direction. The soil is exceedingly rich, and of great depth. Prior to the settlement of the county, the face of the township was covered, in many places, by large swamps or sloughs, which, in many cases, contained considerable water. These were the favorite homes of the sand hill crane, wild goose and wild ducks; while on the prairies around them prairie chickens throve in great plenty and in undisputed security. Wild deer and wolves were also abundant in the first settlement of the township, and, though the former furnished venison to the pioneer, their destruction of the first crop of corn while young and tender, in many cases fully equaled their value.
At the date of the first settlement, 1855, the surface of this part of the country was in its primeval condition. "It was as wild as wild prairie, if you know what that means," said one of the first settlers. "There wasn't a road, or sign of one - not a trail or path; when we wanted to go anywhere," says Mr. Alonzo Huntoon, "we went in as straight a line as we could, only diverging from it on account of sloughs." "If we could not see our landmark," says another pioneer, "we shaped our course by the north star at night, by the sun by day, or if that was hidden by clouds, we watched the course of the wind, which very seldom failed to be perceptible, if ever so slight.
The first settlers here came in the Summer of 1855, and located near the timber skirting Pike or Crooked Creeks. Mr. Alonzo Huntoon and Mr. ----- Woodbury came about the same time, that Summer, and settled on Section 34. They were residents of Woodford County prior to their location here. Albert Parker, Messrs. Bedenger and Seawright were companion settlers, the first named locating on Section 20 ; the next on Section 32, and the last on Section

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30. A Mr. Richmond also settled on Section 21. One other person, whose name is not now remembered, located on Section 16; but he simply purchased land, and did not improve it until a year or two after. Mr. Parker was one of the largest land owners of that day, and rented to many who afterward came and preferred to wait a year before purchasing. One of the largest farmers at that time was James McFadden, who raised a great crop of wheat in 1857. He lived in Waldo Township, where he erected the first dwelling. Though a pioneer here, part of his land; comprising over three hundred acres, was in Pike Township, and a corresponding part of his labor was there.
The settlers mentioned were the major part, if not all, who located in Pike in 1855. They were the first to reduce any part of it to civilization, and ren­der it productive and provident. They found it wild. No roads, no bridges, no pathways of any kind greeted their advent, and no hand of pioneer was extended to welcome them to thier [sic.] future homes. If they desired to go to Pon­tiac, the county seat, or to Chenoa, in McLean County, their nearest railroad town and post office, they went in as direct a line as the timber, streams or sloughs allowed, and returned by the same route. These two places were their principal trading points, either of which being their post office; and until the township was settled sufficiently to justify it, they went to the county seat to vote, being attached to that precinct.
The settlers of that day came generally with several ox or horse teams and with sufficient farming utensils to subdue the native prairie and raise one crop. Their breaking plows were large, strong affairs with a capacious mold-board, and required two or three teams to draw them through the tough soil. As soon as a field had been turned in this way, "sod-corn," as it was called, was grown immediately on it. The corn was planted by simply striking a sharp hoe or pick through the sod; the hills were about three feet apart, and on every third furrow following it from one end of the field to the other. The corn, after being dropped to its place in the hole made through the sod, was covered by simply pressing the sod down with the foot, and the operation was complete. The crop was never cultivated, but allowed to grow as best it could, and often yielded abundantly. For fuel, the settlers were dependent on the dead timber found along the streams. After coal became more plentiful, and money more of a common commodity, that was purchased at the nearest railroad station and supplemented the wood.
The settlers of 1855 passed the Winter of 1855 and '56, without any events occurring out of the common routine of Western pioneer life, and in the Spring began operations for the further cultivation and improvement of their farms. That Spring and Summer, the following persons joined them, and opened farms: George and Daniel Okeson, who settled on Section 9; James and George Anderson, on Section 7; Hugh McMullen on Section 6; Edward Daugherty, on Section 30, and Edward M. Daugherty -  last renting land of Mr. Parker. During the year, a good crop was planted and safely gathered, and but little pioneer hardships experienced.

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Until this date, no school had been established in Pike Township, as the num­ber of children hardly justified it, and the distance they would have been compelled to go precluded their attendance. In the Autumn of 1856, however, Districts 1 and 2 were established and a school house built in each. In District No. 1, the school house was erected on Section 27, and in District No. 2, on Section 31. These houses, though repaired and altered to more modern tastes and conveniences, are yet used. In 1859, District No. 3 was established, and a school house built on Section 8. In this house, like its predecessors, is yet kept the district school, and to it go the sons and daughters of men and women who, in the time of which we write,

"Daily thumbed their lesson books,
And watched the master in his rounds."

The three districts mentioned supplied the educational wants of the township until 1864, after which, from time to time, others were added until the nine now erected were ready for occupancy.
The tide of emigration to Pike Township ceased almost entirely in 1858, owing to the advent of a season of unexceptionally hard times. The crop of that season was very poor, prices were low and but little incentive was offered to the farmer to bring produce to market. For these reasons, very few settlers located, and from 1858 to 1863, the population remained almost the same. The war broke out in 1861. By the next year, prices of farm products increased greatly, and the next Spring the unclaimed and railroad lands in the township were rapidly taken by settlers, and before the Autumn of the latter year a "score or more" of farm dwellings were erected, and as many new farms opened. Until this date, but few roads were laid out, the farmer generally going, as we have described, by the most direct line. The opening of new farms, however, soon put a stop to this kind of travel, and necessitated a regular system of public highways. These are almost always opened on the sectional lines running with the cardinal points of the compass. The highways of the prairies can never be the best thoroughfares, owing to the porous, loamy soil from which they are to be made. Gravel does not exist, save in few localities, generally near the rivers; hence it will be many years before macadamized roads will be as common over the prairies of the Sucker State, as they are in some of her more fortunate neighbors. Though the State lacks in this regard, she fully compensates for it in others. No other State raises such crops as Illinois, and no other State promises so much and returns so much for the labor expended as the Prairie State. It is a garden 400 miles long and 150 miles broad.
Religion and education went hand in hand in the settlement of the West. No sooner had a settler provided himself a home than a school or a church next claimed his attention. Though they were poor, and unable to build a house of worship, they freely gave their houses to the assembly in which to convene until they could construct a school house, which, in the unsettled condition of the country, provided ample room for those who could come.

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In 1863, Rev. ----- Clark, from Bloomington, organized a United Presby­terian Church with nine members, of whom Mr. A. Henry and Mr. John Ewing were elected Elders. This congregation occupied the school house, and was for a time prosperous. It had increased by 1871 to forty-five members, and had purchased a lot on which to build a church, when the greater number removed to other localities, and the organization was disbanded. The lot was sold for a cemetery, to the township, and the members who remained are now nearly all in other churches. Their last settled Pastor, Rev. William Morrow, was with them over four years.
The Methodists are generally the religious pioneers of the country. As soon as a settlement is made, some traveling preacher, braving hunger, cold and storms for his Master, places in his saddle bags a few books, his Bible, a number of tracts, and proceeds on his mission. They were the first to occupy the field in the southwestern part of the county, and for more than a dozen years had an organization in Rook's Creek Township.  To this place, those adhering to this religious body and living in Pike Township went to attend divine service. The meetings were held in a school house. The membership gained strength in Pike Township, and as the result of a revival in the Fall of 1877, it was decided to build a church. This was accomplished, and now the congregation occupies a neat, small frame edifice, completed in February, 1878. There are now about fifty members, and preaching is regularly held. The Pastor is Rev. J. L. Ferris.
The Presbyterian Church at Chenoa maintains a place of worship in a school house in the southern part of the township. They and the Mennonites - Germans - occupy the same house, one holding services in the forenoon, the other in the afternoon.
These religious bodies are all now holding divine services in Pike Township. The farmers maintain a grange, which, though inactive at present, holds its organization.
One thing more remains to be mentioned before closing this history of Pike Township - its political organization. The vote for township organization was held November 3, 1857. The next Spring, the election was held in each one, and the organization was perfected. The Congressional number is Township 27 north, Range 4 east.

WALDO TOWNSHIP.
In the Spring of 1857, Mr. James McFadden came into the present limits of Waldo Township, and purchased from the Illinois Central Railroad Com­pany a large tract of land, part of which lay in the adjoining township, east. He erected a capacious frame house on his farm, and for some time was the only farmer in the township. His house is yet standing and occupied. The entire surface of the township was unbroken prairie, undisturbed by the path of civil-

465
ized life or the tread of industry. These prairies, level as a floor, remind us of the vivid description of the late Bryant, as they

Stretch in airy undulations far away,
As if the ocean, in his gentlest swell,
Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed
And motionless, forever.

Mr. McFadden was not allowed to pass the Winter as the only resident of the township. He had raised an immense crop of wheat, and by his success had induced others to come to this, then uninhabited, part of Livingston County. The Summer before, Mr. Henry Broad, still a resident, had been over this part of the county looking for a farm. He had come from the East not long before, in obedience to an able editor's advice, and resolved to find a home on the broad Illinois prairies. At first he located near Pontiac, where he pur­chased a farm. Taken sick, he became somewhat discouraged, and sold his purchase, with a view of returning to the East. When he recovered, he changed his mind and concluded to purchase again, with the result mentioned - the home he now owns.
That same year, 1857, Richard Breeser located on Section 18, and James Sample on Section 22. Mr. McFadden had located on Section 12, owning that and parts of several adjacent sections. Other settlers of this season were James King, Isaac Burkholder, Parker Jewett and J. C. Hawthorne. Nearly all these purchased land from the railroad company, whose grant included the western tier of townships in Livingston County. The price at this date was generally $14 per acre, although in after years it was reduced to $6 and $7 per acre.
Mr. Broad, who was among the settlers of that season, says their difficulties and privations were sometimes quite severe. The corn was a poor crop, and, to make the matter still worse, prices were very low. No roads were laid out, and when any of them wished to go to Pontiac or to Chenoa, they struck across the prairie in a direct line, only diverging from it on account of sloughs, creeks or timber. There were many large sloughs in the township at that time, several of which have since been drained, and are now under cultivation. In the Winter, these sloughs would freeze over, and, when sufficiently firm, could be crossed by a team and wagon. When this was not the case, and the ice rather thin. the common mode of crossing them was for the individual to get down on hands and feet, spread himself as much as possible, and " wobble " across in this style. To one unaccustomed to this, the situation was not very agreeable, and, if the ice was thin enough to be continually cracking and bending beneath him, the sensations were not at all assuring. The object in crossing in this manner was to spread the weight as much as possible, and the longer the man the more it was "spread." In crossing the prairies without roads, and no houses in sight, it was not an uncommon thing for the traveler to get lost. When the grass was high, the settlers would often drag a harrow behind their wagon.

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which so thorougly trailed down the grass that a plain track was made, which remained several days. Any one who has, at any time in his life, been lost, knows full well the tendency to travel in a circle. This may be explained by the fact that, when such an accident occurs, a man will almost invariably travel in an excited, hurried manner. The right foot takes longer strides, under such cir­cumstances, than the left, and hence the tendency to circle. "This," says an early resident, "is the true theory, and I know, from my own experience and that of my neighbors, that it cannot be accounted for in any other way."
The item of fuel was a very important one at that date. But few settlers were able to purchase coal, and generally went to the timber skirting the streams to the east and obtained dry, dead wood, which answered the purpose, though not of the best quality. After they were able to buy coal, they made many difficult, if not dangerous, journeys for it. Referring to such a trip, an early settler says:
Three of us started early one morning, shaping our course by the North Star, for Reading, to obtain for each a load of coal. We did not have much trouble in getting there; but coming home we did. Night came on us while two of us were stuck in a little creek we had attempted to cross. After consid­erable delay, we got out and started again, when one of our horses fell down as though dead. Here we were, no house in sight, a dead horse, no feed, nothing to eat, and no place to sleep. After debating a while, we concluded to start in different directions, hallooing to each other so as not to get lost. We tied our horses to the wagons and started. Before long, one of us came to a small cabin near a piece of timber, the inmates of which were soon aroused. After getting the rest of us there, and explaining to the owner - who hardly knew what to make of us - he took us in, gave us some bran bread - the best he had - and allowed us to sleep on his cabin floor. In the morning, we were again fed on bran bread - an excellent food for a hungry man - and sent on our way, if not rejoicing, glad to get what we had. We had no trouble in finding our teams just where we left them, and, what was better, the supposed dead horse alive and well, and after allowing them to graze a while, proceeded." The party experienced but little difficulty in getting home, where one of them hid his coal under a hay stack, as he said it had a tendency to mysteriously disappear, and he did not care to repeat his journey for more.
During the first years of the township's settlement, deer, prairie wolves, sand hill cranes, wild geese, ducks and prairie chickens were as abundant as the flowers in May. The deer were rather shy and could not always be had "for the asking." They did much damage to the young corn by coming into the fields at night and trampling ,and eating the tender sprouts. Wolves were destructive to barnyard fowls; the sand-hill cranes scratched up and ate the corn, when freshly planted; while the other mentioned prairie inhabitants con­tributed, in their way, to render the life of the pioneer hard. He would, however, retaliate on them, and waged a ceaseless warfare among them, which has

467
had about the same effect as upon their former masters, the Indians, and, in time, will undoubtedly exterminate them.
In 1858, the settlers we have mentioned were joined by Nathan Hunting and a Mr. Cole, who lost his life in the late war. Leonard Smith and G. W. Stoker also located that season. John Broad, Sr., and John Broad, Jr., came about the same time, though the latter did not open a farm until the next year.
It was in May of this year, as near as any now remember, that a storm of unusual violence passed over Waldo and Pike Townships. The wind was furi­ous, tearing down and carrying away fences about the houses, out buildings, stables and, in one or two instances, overturning houses.
Many exaggerated stories went the rounds of the country, concerning this storm, and many hair-breadth escapes are chronicled, which, however, when closely hunted down for their truth, almost always were experienced by some one who has moved away.
The hard times of 1858 and 1859 retarded immigration somewhat to this part of the county, but only for a short time. The richness of the soil was a strong attraction, and by 1859 and '60, settlers came in rapidly, and in a short time Waldo Township had a sufficient population to admit of being formed into a separate township, and in 1861 the present organization was perfected.
Before this time, the territory was attached to Nebraska Precinct for judi­cial purposes, and to that township the people went to vote.
In the Winter of 1857-8, there were only four children in the township. No attempts to establish a school were made until 1859, when a school was taught that Winter, by a Miss Elizabeth Jewett, daughter of one of the first settlers.
From a report made by Mr. David Sharp, Treasurer of the township, dated September 19, 1860, we learn that there was one school in the township; that it was taught by a "female teacher," who received $20 per month for four months; that she had attending her school eleven boys and eight girls; that at that time there were in the township ninety-two children under 21 years of age, and that there were fifty-five between the ages of 5 and 21 years - showing a rapid influx of settlers.
The report states that but one district then existed, though further along it records the building of a new frame school house, at an expense of $676.72. The report states that a surplus existed in the Treasurer's hands, at that date, amounting to $217.95; that he received from the State $162.70, and raised $844.44, by district tax, for school purposes.
The report was made to Mr. Isaac T. Whittemore, School Commissioner, and is a correct exhibit of the school for that date.
The next Winter, two schools were opened; and in 1863-4, two others were added. This number was increased from time to time, until the present num­ber, nine, the usual number kept in any township, was reached. The schools are well maintained, and are supported from six to seven months in the year.

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About 1860, the German Mennonites began to come into the township, and, liking the country, prevailed on more of their countrymen to locate with them. They are an industrious, frugal class of people, fond of their church and cus­toms, and cling to them with wonderful tenacity. As the result of their coming, they have purchased almost all the land in Waldo Township, are about four-fifths of the population, and have established two prosperous churches. They were the first to build a church in the township, and are the only religious society therein. Their first church was organized very soon after coming, and for a time, meetings for divine service were held in the nearest school house. They are locally termed the "Omish churches," as they profess to be followers of Omah, a noted preacher in their country, who made many converts from the original Mennonite body. At their organization, John P. Schmidt, Joseph, Joab and John Rediger were chosen and acted as leaders. The principal mem­bers were John and Christian Ehresman, Christian, John and Joab King, David Sharp and Joseph Gering. A short time after the organization was effected, a comfortable church was erected. A division occurred about 1872, in the church, resulting in the formation of a second congregation, who now occupy a house of worship of their own. These people are exceedingly simple in their habits and dress, will not sue or be sued, leave all difficulties to be adjusted by the church, adopt the Bible as their only rule of law or doctrine, and seldom, if ever, contract any debts or vote or hold any office. They own some fine farms, and seem to improve them on the principle that a "good barn will pay for a good house, but a good house will not pay for a good barn."
On the formation of the township in 1861, it was detached from Nebraska Township, and includes all of Congressional Township 27 north, Range 3 east, and has since been a separate organization.
Scattering Point Creek is the only stream of water in the township. It rises near the center, flows northward through Nebraska, Rook's Creek and Amity townships to the Vermilion. Owing to the small supply of running water, the farmers devote their attention more to raising grain than any other branch of that business. In this they are quite successful, as their well cultivated farms will testify.

NEBRASKA TOWNSHIP.
The western part of Livingston County remained unsettled more than twenty years after the settlements along the Vermilion River. The land was in the grant given to the Illinois Central Railroad, which was completed and in operation to the Illinois River by 1854. After that date, land comprised in this grant came into market.
Mr. Isaac Sheets, a native of Ohio, and an early settler in Woodford County, came to the present limits of Nebraska Township in the Summer of 1855, and located on Section 35. Here he broke prairie, planted a crop and built a house. This was the first habitation in what is now Nebraska Township,

469
and for about a year Mr. Sheets and his family lived alone. Before his settle­ment, however, explorers and others had been over the land, and marked the rich prairies, with their gently undulating surfaces, as an inviting place for a future home. It was then just as nature had formed it, unbroken by the signs of civilized life, unmarked by the hand of the white man. The tall prairie grass waving before the wind afforded excellent hiding places for the wild prairie chicken, wild duck, sand hill cranes, or their enemy the wary prairie wolf. Here and there a large slough appeared, full of tall grasses and rank weeds, on which the crane or wild goose reared their offspring in sure security. Not a road broke the monotony of the scenery; not a house or sign of white man could be seen; and during the Summer of 1855, Mr. Sheets had an undisputed view over what is now Nebraska Township, and over a region now covered with prosperous, highly cultivated farms and tasteful residences.
The opening of the next season brought several settlers, many of whom had been over the country before and partially selected their claims. The land - each alternate section - belonged to the railroad. and from that corporation the majority purchased their lands.
The settlers of that season were, D. Graft, Adley Brock, Wm. Norris, H. Van Doren and Moses Hapwood. All of these brought families, and all entered lands. As soon as possible, each one erected a house and began improvements, and before long the life of the settlement was in full activity.
In the Summer of 1856, the settlement was constituted a voting precinct, and at the Fall election, which placed James Buchanan in the Presidential chair, the few voters assembled at the house of Mr. Van Doren and cast their votes. The precinct then included all of what is now Waldo Township, and remained in that form until after the division of the county into townships, in 1857, and until that township had enough voters in its limits to justify a township organization.
The settlers enumerated are believed to be all who made a permanent resi­dence in Nebraska Township, in 1856. As yet no school or church was established, and what few there were, assembled in the houses of those nearest the center, and held divine services there.
The opening of the next season brought the families of Mr. John Hoover, Levi James, M. Q. Bullard, Mr. Doolittle, and a few others, to the little scat­tered settlement. These built homes, opened farms, and in some instances raised crops. The plows were the large breaking plow, with the huge mold-board, and required two or three yokes of oxen or teams of horses to pull them through the new, tough prairie sod. Sod corn was the common crop the first year, or where the settler was sufficiently prepared, a crop of wheat was grown. At that date, and even until after the commencement of the war, prices for farm products were exceedingly low, corn bringing often but 10 to 20 cents per bushel. Wheat brought but little more than double that price; potatoes and other root crops did not pay for their cultivation, while fruit was not yet to be had.

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The government lands in the townships had generally been bought up by speculators, who held them at higher figures and on closer terms than the first settlers were able to pay. The common price of the railroad lands at first ranged from $10 to $20 per acre, according to location. In this township, the settlers paid from $15 to $20 per acre. They were required to pay two years' interest at the rate of 6 per cent in advance. This secured them the land, the remaining payments to be made each year, in small amounts, the railroad com­pany basing their calculations on the average cost of living and the average receipts for produce. The poor prices realized, however, did not enable many of the settlers to meet the payments when due. They could not make, owing to the low prices for everything, near what they expected. The railroad com­pany did not want them to leave, as its prosperity depended on that of the people along its route, and reasoning that the prices of labor and its products were so low and no prospect for improvement, especially if the settlers were obliged to leave, in many cases took the land for the improvements made, and then immediately resold it to the original settlers for $6 and $7 per acre, in cash. This second sale in many cases occurred just prior to the war, when a great amount of corn existed in the country, and from which the settlers afterward derived large sums of money, enabling them to materially better their condition. Where a purchaser could not pay all in cash, he was allowed a reasonable time, and by such a policy, many a home was saved which in after years, with its associates, afforded immense revenues to the company.
The settlers of 1855–59 experienced about the same trials, required the same perseverance, and lived in the same manner. Each one went upon new, raw land, as it was termed, and each one was compelled to reduce it to a state of cultivation. Among those coming in 1857 may be justly mentioned: C. Bruce, E. F. John, Peter E. and Patrick Flanagan and S. Williams. In 1858, Stephen M. Pillsbury and his family came from Bureau County, where they had been residing for two years, and purchased the farm Mr. Pillsbury yet owns. His sons have all become prominent men, one of whom, N. J. Pillsbury, is now Judge of the Appellate Court. He has been a prominent lawyer for several years, and has held several offices of trust. One other son is now a merchant in the county seat, while the two others, one a lawyer and one a physician, reside in Iowa. Samuel Wilcox, another prominent citizen of this township, came from Bureau County, which, indeed, furnished many settlers about that time.
When a school was established in the neighborhood, it very naturally took the name it now bears, "Bureau School." In the Fall of 1856, the first school in the township was established, a house built, and here J. A . Dakin, a Bureau County man, taught

"The young idea how to shoot "

for the space of three months. This school could supply the demand but a short time, owing to the rapid influx of settlers, and in 1858, four additional districts were created, and the Winter of 1858–59 saw five good schools in operation.

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The next year, in Nebraska Township, was conducted the second teachers' insti­tute held in Livingston County. The first had been held at the county seat in 1859, but as Nebraska Township contained more teachers than any six miles square in the county, and more persons interested and working in the cause of education, prominent among whom were the Pillsbury family, it was decided that the next annual institute should he held there.
The five schools in operation in 1860 soon proved insufficient, and as the population increased and occupied the township, other schools were established, until now there are nine in successful operation.
About 1859, German Lutherans came into the western side of the township and established an excellent private school near their present church, which they have always maintained, affording a course of higher education and instruc­tion in their own language. In this building they met for religious services until the completion of their church, opened in 1866. This school is well pat­ronized and has steadily kept to its purpose, holding open nearly nine months in the year. The Lutherans are quite in the majority here, and possess several fine farms. Like their neighbors in the adjoining townships, the German Men­nonites, they are a frugal, industrious class of people and adhere tenaciously to their individuality.
In addition to the German Lutheran, four other churches are maintained in the township, viz., the Baptist, Congregationalist, Methodist and Catholic. The first two are the oldest. The Baptist Church was organized early in the life of the township, and for several years held meetings, alternating with the Congregationalists, in the old Nebraska school house. In 1870 or 1871, they erected a church on the southeast corner of Section 7, which they yet occupy. The Congregationalist Church was organized about 1859 or 1860, and for some time services were held in the Nebraska school house. In 1875, they built their present house of worship on Section 11, and now have a prosperous con­gregation. The Union Methodist Church was organized about 1869, and, like the others, until it was able to build, used a school house in which to hold meet­ings. This they did until 1873, when they purchased a large school house, remodeled it, and moved it to its present location on Section 20. It is owned and controlled rather by a union than by any denomination, although the Methodists occupy it more than others, owing to their excess in numbers, and were among the principal movers in the undertaking. The Flannegan brothers, mentioned as among the early residents, were the principal supporters of the Catholic Church. It has been organized some time, and erected, in 1875, a very neat frame church on Section 36. The congregation is now prosperous, and supports regular services.
Two post offices are established in the township - one on Section 10, in a store kept by Seymour Thomas. At this place another store is also kept by Mr. Patten. The "corners" are generally known as Zookville, from Mr. B. Zook, who opened the first store here in 1872. About three years after, he

472
sold to the present owner. Another store was started in 1876, by John McCarty, who soon after sold to Mr. Patton, the present owner. A blacksmith shop always appears with every "corners," and Zookville was not long until

Week in, week out, from morn till night
You could hear his bellows blow,

and from that time, we believe, the words of the poet have been verified.
The other post office referred to is on Section 19, at the "corners," where the Lutheran school house and church stand. As a wind-mill had been built here about the first of any building, the "corners" took the suggestive name of Windtown, which appellation, like many another Western name, clings tenaciously, and probably always will, to the embryo village. A store was built here in 1872, by Herman Schmidt, who sold in 1875, to John Linnemann, the present proprietor. The post office is kept in this store, and is very conven­ient to the surrounding neighborhood. This place, like Zookville and all small villages, has its blacksmith shop and sinewy blacksmith, who made his appearance with the start of Windtown, and since then you can

Hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow.

The Lutheran school, the common school of this district, the store, the blacksmith shop and a few dwellings comprise the "corners" at Windtown.
To supply the deficiency of water-mills in the township, and make the item of milling more convenient, about 1869 a wind-mill was built on the farm of Geo. Sauer. It remained in running order and was a "thing" of great con­venience to the residents of this locality, until its removal in 1872, to Gridley, McLean County. The latter town and Minonk, in Woodford County, are the principal trading points for the people of Nebraska Township, owing to the distance from Pontiac.
The township possesses some of the finest farming lands in the county, The surface is gently undulating, and the soil exceedingly productive, and is well adapted to the raising of corn, of which cereal immense crops are grown.
The eastern portion of the township is crossed by Scattering Point Creek a small tributary of Vermilion River, which rises about the center of Waldo Township, and is the only stream of water in either that or Nebraska Townships. Good water is easily obtained in wells at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet. Wind pumps are coming into general use, and furnish a never failing supply of clear, cold water.
The vote for township organization was cast Nov. 3, 1857. At this election 738 votes were cast in favor of such a division, and forty votes against it. This decided the matter, and John Darnall, Robert Thompson and Absalom Hallam were appointed commissioners to divide the county into townships. This was accomplished by the 1st of January after, and on the 25th of that month, the committee having invited the inhabitants of each of the divisions to meet and name their townships, which we find from the records they cheerfully did, on

475
Feb. 13th made its report and was discharged. Owing to the sparse population in some parts of the county, the township organization then in some cases included what is now several townships. This was the case in Nebraska, which included, until about 1861, all of Waldo. At the first election in Nebraska, as well as in all other townships, a full set of officers were chosen, and from that time Congressional District Township 28 north, Range 3 east, has maintained an uninterrupted existence.
The farmers are in nearly all cases in good circumstances, owners of their lands and depend more on the culture of the cereals than the raising of stock, the absence of running water making this the more profitable mode of farming.

SULLIVAN TOWNSHIP.
This is one of the newly settled towns of Livingston County. Settlements were made in Belle Prairie, Indian Grove, Pontiac, Avoca, and other points along the Vermilion River, more than twenty years before the prairies and marshes of Sullivan Township were sought by the white man, or disturbed other than by the Indian and the wild beasts of the plains. These vast prairies, stretching away beyond the reach of human eye, presented to the early settler all the monotony with much of the dreariness of the African desert. And thus almost a generation had passed since the first settlements in the timber, before the most courageous ventured out on to the prairie.
Alexander Harbison pre-empted a quarter section of land here in 1855, the first claim made in the township. J. G. Chesebrough came with him to look at the land, and pre-empted a like tract, adjoining Harbison's. These gentlemen were from New York. Harbison first hauled a load of lumber to his claim, then brought his wife, and the first night slept under a shelter made of the lumber. The next night they improvised a kind of tent, and the next, which was the third night after he brought his wife to the place, they slept in their cabin, which was a small structure twelve feet square and one story high. This was the first permanent settlement in this township, and here Mr. Harbison remained for ten years, when he removed to Five-Mile Grove in Saunemin Township, and in January, 1866, removed to the village of Fairbury, where he still resides. Z. B. and J. G. Chesebrough settled in Sullivan in 1855, soon after Harbison. The Chesebroughs, as already stated, were from New York, and came West the year previous to their settlement in this town, but had stopped in Ohio, where they remained until they came here. Z. B. Chesebrough, the eldest, pre-empted land adjoining that of J. G. Chesebrough, and they built a house in partnership on the quarter section line, so as to have one-half of the house on each man's land, in order to hold the pre-emption right to both claims. The elder Chese­brough made this his permanent home, where he died in 1861. The other, a young man at the time, after some years married and removed into Saunemin Township. James Maddin came from Wheeling, Va., and settled first in Lacon,

476
then called Columbia, Marshall County, in 1834. Peoria was then called Fort Clark, and five miles above was a place called "Little Detroit." He remained there until 1852, when he came to Sullivan and settled in the southeast part of the town, where he still lives. He is in that portion which, as a Congressional township, would be in Charlotte, but owing to the Vermilion River, which runs through the latter, a part of it is attached to Sullivan, as a political and school town. R. F. Griffing came from Peoria to Sullivan in 1858, where he settled and where he still lives, one of the prominent citizens of the town.
Rev. Felix Thornton came from Tennessee, near the old home of General Jackson. Although he came from the "Land of Dixie," he was a most invet­erate Republican. When the war of the rebellion came on, he sent his two sons and his son-in-law into the Union Army, and told them that if more soldiers were needed, that "he and the old 'oman would come next." He removed from his native place, in Tennessee, to Virginia, and from the Old Dominion came to Illinois and settled in Sullivan Township, in 1856. He pre-empted his land the year before, and after settling, remained on it but about eighteen months, when he sold out and removed to Five-Mile Grove, in Sau­nemin Township. Being of a migratory, or roving disposition, he finally sold out there and removed to Iowa, where he still lives. He was bought out, in Sullivan Township, in 1858, by R. F. Griffing, who came here from Peoria, as already noticed. Oscar Adams came to Sullivan with Rev. Mr. Thornton. He was his son-in-law, and pre-empted a claim and built a house on it, but did not live long to enjoy it. He enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and died at Crab Orchard, Kentucky.
This includes the settlements made up to the period when people began to settle on what was termed the "Swamp Lands." From 1858 to 1860, the fol­lowing new comers entered land in the Swamp District, as the surrounding section was called, and, which comprised much of as fine land as any portion of the county: David Longmire, Joseph Royle, Jacob Lighty, Abraham Harsh­barger, Samuel Graybill, Joseph Small, Daniel Rowan, Hunter Randall, Fred­erick Hack, Lawrence Haag, John Heckelman, Samuel Harshbarger, George Rosenbower, James Sage and David Taylor. These settlers came in and entered lands and proceeded to make improvements, and the township settled rapidly from this time forward. Abraham Gibson came from Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1859. He lived for a time in Pontiac, until he got his buildings completed, when he settled permanently in this township.
The names already given and the settlements described were the first, as before stated, and after the date to which these extend, there came such an influx of immigrants that dates become confused, and their settlements too modern to entitle them to mention on the score of antiquity, and we pass with-out further mention of them to other incidents connected with the township's history.

477
Sullivan, being a newly settled township, has no church buildings within its geographical limits; but it is not to be inferred that the people are heathen or infidels. They are neither, but a moral and religious community, who support the Gospel as liberally as do those who worship in gilded temples. They use their school buildings for houses of worship as well as for temples of learning; and before they possessed these convenient edifices, the settler's cabin was improvised into a sanctuary of worship. Rev. Felix Thornton, mentioned as an early settler, preached the first sermon in the township, soon after his settle­ment. He was a Methodist minister, and preached his first sermon in Sulli­van Township in Mr. Harbison's cabin. Harbison, in the meantime, had built an addition to his original edifice, and had now what was considered in those days quite a commodious residence. The first school was likewise taught in Harbison's house, about the years 1857-8, by Miss Eliza Rowan. Mr. Harbison was the first School Treasurer of the township, and was elected the same year this school was taught. S. B. Chesebrough, Jacob Lighty and Samuel Graybill were the first Directors; and Joseph Royle, David Longmire and David Taylor were the first Board of School Trustees for the township. For some time after the first organization of schools, those of Sullivan and Saunemin were together; but about 1858-9, they were separated, and each town conducted its own schools according to its own notions of educational advancement. The school fund was small, and after the division of the two townships, Sullivan had but two school districts, in each of which a school was supported for the usual period each year. Harbison says that, at this early date, the funds in his hands belonging to the township were not large enough for his per cent on them to pay his taxes, which usually amounted to about six or eight dollars. From the last annual report of the School Treasurer, to the County Superintendent of Schools, we extract the following information :

Number of males in township under 21 years

286

Number of females in township under 21 years

235

Total

521

Number of males in township between 6 and 21 years

164

Number of females in township between 6 and 21 years

151

Total

315

Number of males in township attending school

106

Number of females in township attending school

109

Total

215

Number of male teachers employed

3

Number of female teachers employed

10

Total

13

Amount paid male teachers

$ 865.76

Amount paid female teachers

1,538.99

Total

$2,404.75

Estimated value of school property

$5,434.00

Amount of tax levy for support of schools

1,927.00

Principal of township fund

7,852.29

School districts

9

Schools in township

9


478
There are at present nine districts in the township, in all of which are good, substantial school houses. Schools are maintained in each district for the usual period, good, competent teachers are employed, and the schools are of a charac­ter of which the people of the township may well be proud.
The first marriage in Sullivan Township was that of Dr. Perry, of Pontiac, and Miss Emily Gibson, and took place in 1858. The solemnization rite was performed by Rev. Felix Thornton, before alluded to as the first minister in the township. The first child born was Willie L. Chesebrough, who was born on the 25th day of November, 1856. The first death that occurred in the township was Mrs. Abraham Harshbarger, who died in 1859. Several other deaths followed soon after that of Mrs. Harshbarger, but she is generally supposed to have been the first that died in what now comprises Sullivan Township.
The first blacksmith was Anson Ackley, who opened a shop at his place in 1870, and did blacksmithing for the whole neighborhood.
A post office was established in the same year, and also a store, both of which were the first of their kind in the township. The store was kept by Edward Ward, who was likewise Postmaster. The post office is called Sullivan Center, after the hamlet in which it is located, that is of the same name. The little village at present contains two stores, kept by Abel M. Morrill and Edwin B. Morrill, cousins; one blacksmith shop, kept by Frank Carry; one wagon shop, by J. J. Brown, and a shoe shop, by M. Davis; and had one physician - Z. L. Kay. The place has never been incorporated, nor has it yet risen to the dignity of a village.
The cemetery is a pretty little burying ground, and was laid out by Nelson Buck in 1863, and is kept in good order. Mrs. Griffing, wife of R. F. Griffing, was the first person buried in it. She was taken up from the farm where she had been originally interred, and removed to this new burying place, when it was found that it was all that four stout open could do to carry the coffin, a fact that gave rise to the supposition that the remains had become petrified. Her husband and friends, however, would not consent to have the coffin opened and examined.
The Masonic Lodge at the hamlet is called Sullivan Center Lodge, No. 738, and was organized under dispensation October 23, 1875. It was chartered in October, 1876, by M. W. Geo. E. Lounsbury, then Grand Master of Masons in Illinois, and the charter is signed by John F. Burrill, Grand Secretary. The first officers were W. W. Porter, Master; Sam'l McGoodwin, Senior Warden; Thomas W. Chandler, Junior Warden, and R. F. Griffing, Secretary. The present officers are W. W. Porter, W. Master; Thomas W. Chandler, Senior Warden; Abel M. Morrill, Junior Warden; R. F. Griffing, Secretary, and the books bear the names of twenty-two members.
Sullivan was formerly a part of Saunemin Township, but, on petition, was set off about 1860. At a date still earlier, Pleasant Ridge and Charlotte were included in these as an election precinct, and also for a year or two after town-
479
ship organization, when the latter two were struck off, and then, as noted above, Sullivan was separated from Saunemin. Sullivan is now known as Township 28 north, Range 8 east of the Third Principal Meridian, and is situated in the eastern tier of townships, with Ford County on the east, Charlotte Township on the south, Saunemin on the west and Broughton on the north. The first year after Sullivan was separated from Saunemin, Alexander Harbison was elected Supervisor unanimously, there not being a Democratic vote polled. Jacob Lighty was elected Justice of the Peace, and David Taylor Town Clerk, at this, the first election. Harbison was School Treasurer in addition to being Supervisor. The present township officers are as follows, viz.: J. J. Shearer, Supervisor; James Maddin and R. C. Griswold, Justices of the Peace; Martin Detweiler, Assessor; Andrew Hoag, Collector; A. M. Morrill, Town Clerk..
The township has always been Republican in politics ever since its organ­ization, and did its duty nobly during the late war in furnishing soldiers to the full extent of its ability, which was, to send nearly every man subject to mili­tary duty. David Harbison was the first man in the township to volunteer. He was a brother of Alexander Harbison, noticed in another place as the first settler in the town, and "stood not upon the order of going, but went" without delay.
When Sullivan was struck off from Saunemin, it was necessary for it to have a name. After some discussion of the matter, it was agreed to call it after Mr. Sullivant, an extensive farmer of Ford County, and who owns several sec­tions of land in this township. As will be seen, the t has been dropped in the name of the township, which is the termination of Sullivant's. That of the township, however, was intended originally for the same, notwithstanding the present difference in the spelling of them.
As noted in the beginning of this chapter, Sullivan Township is prairie land entirely, with no timber but such as has been planted since the settling up of the country. With the adoption of all the modern improvements in drainage, these prairies are now ranked among the finest farming land in this section of the county.

DWIGHT TOWNSHIP.
There is nothing more astonishing to the professional traveler, or even to the staid "old fogy" New Englander who has never been beyond the shadow of his own sterile hills, than the startling rapidity with which the Great West has been developed and settled. As if by magic, towns, cities and villages have sprung up from the rank prairie grass and unfolded in grandeur and mag­nificence. Yesterday, where the tall grass waved in the wind and myriad wild flowers bloomed, and spent

'Their sweetness on the desert air; '

to-morrow, as it were, finds a city or village laid out, and buildings going up at a rate to startle anybody but a wide-awake Westerner who has been born and

480
bred to this spirit of enterprise, and views it as a matter of course. A con­versation overheard on the train, a day or two ago, between a couple of old gen­tlemen, awakened this train of thought and called up these reflections. One of them was from Western New York and the other was a native of Massachu­setts, but both now lived in Illinois. Said one, "It is the most astonishing thing in the world, this amazing growth and development of the Western country." "Yes," said the other, "down East, where I came from, there is the old road along which we went to school, and the rock where we kicked off a toe nail; the chestnut stump that stood by the side of the road, etc. In ten years we find them just as they were in our school days. There is the rock where we stubbed our toe, and the old chestnut stump by the roadside; nothing is changed. But here in the West, what changes take place in that period! Let us be absent from our neighborhood for ten years, and when we return we find nothing familiar; everything - almost the face of nature itself - has changed." Thus it is, that where, a few years ago, was a wilderness, unbroken and undis­turbed save by wild beasts, to-day are the most flourishing farms, villages, towns and cities. Little more than a quarter of a century ago, the township of Dwight was a wild prairie, untrodden by the foot of the white man, and, as we have been informed, without a single stick of timber of any kind - not even so much as a hazel or willow shrub. Now, beautiful trees and artificial groves abound in all parts of it, the result of the planting and cultivation of timber. Cottonwood, maple and elm seem to be the favorite varieties in this section, and grow and flourish in a very satisfactory manner.
Like all the prairie land, this township was not settled for more than twenty years after settlements had been made in the groves of timber and along the water courses of the county. John Conant came from Rochester, Ohio, in 1854, and settled on the northeast quarter of Section 8, which is conceded to be the first permanent settlement in Dwight Township, outside of the village of the same name. He put up a frame building, which is still standing in a good state of preservation, though its builder has "mingled with the clods of the valley." He died a few years ago, at an advanced age; but his widow is still living, and occupies the old homestead. Mr. Conant was the first Postmaster at Dwight, and the first Justice of the Peace after township organization. The next year, Nelson Cornell came to the neighborhood and put up a house on Sec­tion 5, which he still owns and occupies. Thomas Little settled near Cornell soon after. He sold out, ten or twelve years ago, and removed to Wilmington, where at present he resides.
James McIlduff, in 1854, bought the northwest quarter of Section 18, on which he had some ten acres broken very soon after his purchase. This, it is claimed, was the first "breaking of prairie" in Dwight Township. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and came to his farm the next year after this plowing, and settled permanently. He occupied his farm for a number of years, then removed to the village, where he served as Postmaster during the Presidential

481
term of Andrew Johnson. He still lives in the village of Dwight, and is at present serving his second term as Police Magistrate.
In 1855, James C. Spencer, of New York, began improvements on his farm adjoining the present village of Dwight. He was born on the Hudson River, below the city of Albany, and was a lineal descendant of Hon. Ambrose Spencer, once Chief Justice of the State, and, through his mother, of George Clinton, first Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States, and of De Witt Clinton, also Governor of New York and the projector of the Erie Canal. He owned about 1,200 acres of land here in a body, and came to the place as an engineer of the railroad company. Mr. West, mentioned in this chapter as one of the early settlers of Dwight, broke the first prairie, on Spencer's farm. It was on this farm that the Prince of Wales made his head-quarters for a few days, in 1860, as noticed further on in these pages. Mr. Spencer at present lives in Milwaukee, and is Vice President of the Davenport & Northwestern Railroad of Iowa, and Consulting Engineer of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad.
Henry A. Gardner, then a resident of Joliet, who owned 1,000 acres of land east of the village, commenced improvements on it this year. He was originally from Massachusetts, and he and Spencer and R. P. Morgan, the latter more particularly mentioned in the history of the village, were civil engineers in the employ of the "Chicago & Mississippi Railroad Company," as the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Road was then called. Mr. Gardner was employed as rodman on the Great Western Railroad in 1836, under Morgan, and soon advanced to Junior Assistant. He was engaged, at different periods, as a civil engineer on the Hudson River Railroad, the Harlem Railroad and the Mohawk & Hudson River Railroad. In 1845, he came West and accepted a position on the Illinois & Michigan Canal, and in 1853 was employed, as above stated, in constructing the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad from Joliet to Bloomington. He located his lands near the present village of Dwight, when making the railroad survey, and also settled his family here. After spending some time on his farm, he was called to a position on the Hudson River Railroad. At the time of his death, July 26, 1875, he was Chief Engi­neer of the Michigan Central Railroad. The following statement, made a short time before he died, shows his excellent business qualities: "I never had a bill, approved by me, returned for correction or explanation during my professional life." He has left behind him a family of able representatives, of whom the eldest son, Richard Gardner, occupies the original homestead.
Another of the early settlers and substantial men of the neighborhood was Benjamin Chester. He settled here in 1860, and was originally from Connect­icut, and sprung from a good old Revolutionary stock. He died in 1868, and his son, Wm. P. Chester, who appeared fully capable of the management of their large farm, followed his father to the land of rest in October, 1869, leaving a sister, Miss Hannah Chester, the only surviving member of this excellent family.

482
C. Roadnight, from the "chalky cliffs " of Old England, settled just north of the village in 1857. A man of extensive means and of fine education, he soon obtained the pseudonym of "Sir Charles," a name that ever after clung to him among the democratic citizens of this "blarsted country." He undertook to farm on the English style, but it did not result very successfully. In this country, and particularly in the great West, where there are men who own farms nearly as large as the British Empire, and on which there is annually wasted as much, perhaps, as is made on the largest English farms in a single year, there is little attention paid to scientific farming, and, indeed, in the great every-day rush, it seems that the farmers actually have no time to devote to the science of the business. Mr. Roadnight was, for a number of years, General Freight Agent of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, a position he filled with entire satisfaction.
This includes a number of the early settlers of the township outside of the village of Dwight. From this period forward, the influx of immigrants was too rapid to further admit of individual notice in the history of the town, but there are those whose histories are identified with the village, and in that con­nection will receive proper mention. The country around the little village rapidly filled up, and the new railroad, when completed, was an inducement, to people in search of homes, to bring them to this section, and soon not a "forty" nor "eighty " was left untenanted.
Like all portions of a new country, the main historical importance centers in the cities or more important villages. It is so in Dwight Township, and very few items of interest, beyond the mere fact of settlement, have occurred outside of the village limits. There are, however, one or two instances that belong in the township history, and will be given in their proper order.
One of the most important, and, perhaps, deserving of precedence, even among our republican people, who have little veneration for royalty, but a good deal of curiosity perhaps, was the visit of the Prince of Wales to this country, in 1860. All who read the public journals of the day are familiar with the main features of his tour of the United States, and it is only necessary to state here, that the Prince, en route from Chicago to St. Louis, stopped here for a few days' shooting. From a work entitled "Past, Present and Future of Dwight," written by F. B. Hargreaves, Esq., and published by The Dwight Star, we extract an account of the royal visit. Speaking of the events of the year 1860, the author says: " This year was remarkable for nothing, as far as we can learn, except the visit of the Prince of Wales. The theory of the divine right of kings has long since been exploded, and is now thrown aside by all intelli­gent people. Yet, if the theory has gone, one of the practices which it involved remains. There seems to be a natural craving in the minds of many to see a royal personage, even if it be only a second cousin. The strangest part of it is, that such a desire should be manifested in our own country, the acknowledged land of independence and the home of republican thought and feeling. It is

483
true, however, that our countrymen, and women especially, have a great reverence for foreign nobility, and the visit of the Prince of Wales, and later of the Duke Alexis, confirms the statement. That this state of things exists is not surprising, but it is sad. It would seem that if a tribute of praise or meed [sic.] of honor is due to any man, it is to him who has wrought noble deeds for his country; it is to that man who, laying aside all selfish ambition and worldly fame, devotes his faculties, his energies, his life to the welfare of our common humanity.
***
"During his progress through our country, the Prince of Wales met with an enthusiastic reception. His visit to this neighborhood was expected, and the residence of James C. Spencer was prepared for his visit. The household fur­niture was taken away, and special furniture, sent ahead by the Prince's party, supplied its place. A crowd of citizens gathered on the edge of the railroad opposite Mr. Spencer's residence and waited for the Prince's arrival. It is mournful to be compelled to state that no triumphal arch had been reared; no town band was there with pleasant music, no leading citizen to present an address of welcome to the youthful scion of royalty.
***
About 27 minutes after 6 P. M., on September 22, 1860, the Prince of Wales arrived at this town. He was at once escorted to the residence of Mr. Spencer, where he remained during his stay here. He came to this neighborhood for the purpose of shooting, and had not been many minutes at the farm before he called loudly for his gun, and announced his intention of having some sport that evening. He only shot one bird, a little 'screech owl,' and that was enough for the time being. The next day was Sunday, when the Prince and his suite attended divine service at the Presbyterian Church. The sermon was preached by the Rev. P. D. Young. The Prince was much pleased with the service, and, in consequence, made a donation to the church. The next day, the party, numbering some twelve or fourteen gentlemen, commenced shooting in downright earnest. One day they shot from the train, and had such success that over two hundred quails and chickens were bagged. The Prince was then 19 years old, and had a good appearance. He was looking remarkably well, and enjoyed excellent health. His spirits were always good and his manner uniformly genial. He was very much pleased with our country, and expressed himself eminently satisfied with his visit to Dwight. His stay was short; he came on Saturday and went away on Wednesday. "The last day he was here, he planted an elm tree on Mr. Spencer's farm, and it has now grown to large pro­portions. Those who are curious about such matters can walk up to the resi­dence of Mr. P. E. Miller and see that elm tree for themselves. It will no doubt be gratifying to look upon a tree planted by royal hands. Mr. Miller was living on the farm at the time of the Prince's visit, and has communicated many items of information to us.
"The first night, one of the principal attendants on his Royal Highness made an unpleasant and uncalled-for remark to Mr. Miller. That gentleman

484
turned round quickly and said, 'If you'll just mind your business, I'll mind. mine.' It is also related how Mr. Roadnight drove up one day in rattling style, and, sitting in his vehicle, called, 'Ho, there !' No reply was vouchsafed to the challenge; and when it had been unsuccessfuly repeated, the irate Englishman put his whip to his horses and told the Prince to 'go' somewhere, but history does not state positively the place. Mr. Miller says the party behaved themselves with great decorum during their stay, and as the town is also reported to have done the same, we may safely congratulate ourselves on having enter­tained the heir to the throne of England, with satisfaction and credit."
As to the tree planted by his Royal Highness, and referred to in the fore-going extract, we had the curiosity natural to a "Brother Jonathan," and paid the tree a visit. So impressed did we become with its royal greatness, that we mechanically lifted our "tile" and bowed low to its waving branches, while with awe we plucked a leaf which we bore away as a relic. Spencer's place, where the Prince was entertained, is, or was, known as "Renfrew Lodge," and is half a mile north of the village. It is occupied at the present time by Leander Morgan, whose beautiful daughter pointed out to us the memorable tree.
Some notice of a murder that occurred but a few miles from the village of Dwight, and is part of the history of this township, may be given in this con­nection. A Prussian nobleman, by name Alvin V. Panwitz, had settled a few miles from the village, where he was murdered on the 23d day of January, 1872, by his German serving man, Frederick Schafer. Panwitz was a man who drank to excess, and on the day of his murder had drawn some money remitted to him from the old country, and as usual got drunk. Late in the evening, he and his man, together with Conrad Reinmiller, started for home in his sleigh, but owing to the violent quarreling of Panwitz and Schafer, Reinmiller left the sleigh. After they had arrived at home, it seems their quarrel was renewed, and while Panwitz was lying on his bed, Schafer struck him with a "monkey wrench" several blows, which ultimately resulted in death. His victim was buried in a com­post heap near the stable, and for three days Schafer hauled corn to Nevada, when, having aroused suspicion against him, he dressed himself in his late master's clothes (whom he strongly resembled, it is said), gathered up all the valuables he could get his hands on, and started with the team for Chicago. Detectives there were notified, and soon discovered him in a stable trying to dispose of the horses for a small amount. He was at once brought back to the village of Dwight, and after a preliminary hearing sent to Pontiac, where, in due time, he was tried and sentenced to eighteen years in the Joliet prison. He is still im­mured within its gloomy walls, paying the penalty of his crime. .
In Dwight Township, as in all prairie country, the people were often exposed to the terror and danger of prairie fires; many lost property, and came near losing their lives. Referring again to the history of Mr. Hargreaves, already quoted from, it says of these terrible fires: "Nelson Cornell was out hunting one day on the east side of the town, and when returning saw an immense

485
prairie fire approaching. In order to save his life, he burnt the grass in the place where he was, and stood on the hot ground while the larger fire swept by him, nearly suffocating him with smoke and ashes." Thus the early settlers of the prairies were often in danger of losing, not only their property, but their lives.
When the county was divided into election precincts, before township organ­ization, Robert Thompson, living then in what is now Nevada Township, was a Justice of the Peace in this "Election Precinct," and was the first to exercise the functions of that office here. John Conant was the first Justice after township organization. The first Constables were B. Losee and W. H. Ketchum; the latter was also Collector, and Isaac G. Mott was the first Supervisor. The present township officers are: Hugh Thompson, Supervisor; John Thompson and W. H. Ketchum, Justices of the Peace; Joseph Ford, Assessor; Joshua Sibley, Collector; C. M. Baker, Town Clerk, and Francis Carey, School Treasurer.
The first birth in the township was a child of Thos. Wilson, the Railroad Agent, about 1854, and died in about six months, which was also the first death in the town. It was buried in a private cemetery, before one was laid off for the vil­lage. The second death was the wife of Alexander Gourley. She was taken sick and died at Mr. West's, in 1855. She was buried in the Dutch Settlement, and an infant left by her at her death is now a young woman. She has already been married twice, and in her marriage relations has received nothing but the worst of treatment. The good lady who informed us of the fact stated that her life had been a sad one from infancy, and her married life, instead of bettering her condition, had brought her nothing but misery and cruelty, and that all the sorrows of her life would fill a volume. The first marriage of which we have any account, is Elon G. Ragan and Maria West, who were married February 19, 1856.
Politically, Dwight Township is Republican, and taken together with the village of Dwight, they give from 150 to 200 Republican majority, but for­merly, before the demoralization caused by the Greenbackers and Independents, 250 majority was about the average of the Republican strength. The war record of the town will be given in the history of the village, where, as already stated, most of the history of the township centers. As it was in the village that the first settlement in the town was made; the first church was also built there, and there the first school was taught. The name of Dwight was taken from the village of that name, which was laid out and named before township organization.

THE VILLAGE OF DWIGHT.
Dwight is situated on the main line of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, at the junction of its Western Division, and is about seventy miles from Chicago, and twenty miles from Pontiac, the county seat. It is a place

486
of about 2,000 inhabitants, is the third in size, and one of the most important shipping points in the county. The repair shops and the round house of the Western Division of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad are located here, as well as the headquarters of the bridge builders of the main line. The tank men were stationed here until recently, when they removed their headquarters to Bloomington. A large number of men employed by the two roads live in the village of Dwight, and have all their interests centering here.
It was surveyed by Nelson Buck, Deputy County Surveyor, for Amos Edwards, the regular Surveyor of the county, in the Fall of 1853, for R. P. Mor­gan, Jr., Jas. C. Spencer, John Lathrop and J. and K. W. Fell, who owned the land on which it stands. The original town embraced the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 4; also the northwest quarter of the north-east quarter, and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 9, Township 30 north, Range 7 east of the Third Principal Meridian, and on the 30th day of January, 1854, was dedicated by Mr. Morgan, and the plat admitted to record. The following are his dedicatory words: "To be known as the town of Dwight, and the streets and alleys described on the town plat are hereby donated to the public." It was named for Henry Dwight, of New York, who was a capitalist, and furnished the money to build the road from Joliet to Bloomington, known now as the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad. He is said to have lost a fortune in the construction of this road; and as a compliment to him, and in honor of his noble deeds, his name was given to the new village, which, in spite of efforts to change it, it has ever since borne. A "quill" of the time thus poetized :

"When first this village D. was thought.
The friends of D. some others fought,
To give a little name, and birth
To homes of clay, and joyous mirth.
This settled, and a sign they placed
To guide the weary wanderer to rest:
A hickory pole of twenty-two feet,
A rusty pan did gracefully o' erleap.

We are told that the very first indication of a town was the raising of a tel­egraph pole, with a tin pan nailed on top, which served as a landmark and guide to the surveyors engaged on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, or, as then known, the Chicago & Mississippi Railroad. The history of this great railroad, one of the leading roads in the State of Illinois, is so, well known that any notice of it in these pages seems almost superfluous. The enterprise was begun in 1853, under the style of the Chicago & Mississippi Railroad Com­pany, with the intention of building a railroad from Joliet to Alton. The road was located by Oliver H. Lee, Chief Engineer of the company, and the work pushed forward under the supervision of Assistant Engineers R. P. Morgan, Jr., H. A. Gardner and James A. Spencer, with such vigor and dispatch that on the 4th day of July, 1854, the first passenger train passed over the new road.

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Since that event, its history is so familiar to all as to need no comment here. Suffice it to say, it has made the village of Dwight what it is - a fact of which its citizens are aware, and appreciate accordingly.
In 1869, the Western Division of the C. & A. R. R., which leaves the main line at Dwight, was begun and completed, and trains running over it in 1870. This makes Dwight quite a railroad center.
The first house or cabin in the village of Dwight was built by a man from Morris, whose name is now forgotten. It was a frame building, 16x24 feet, one and a half stories high, erected on Lot 8, Block 18, in 1853, and was built originally for a store or a kind of supply depot for the railroad hands, and finally passed into the possession of Dr. Haggerty, whose family still own it.
The first permanent residence erected in the village was by Augustus West, on Lots 18 and 19, in Block 7, and was completed in June, 1854. He still owns the property, but has built a larger and more commodious house on the original site of his first cabin. Mr. West came to the State in 1853, and early in 1854 came to Dwight, where he has ever since remained, and beheld the sickly village of a quarter of a century ago grow up into a prosperous young city.
In 1854, John Campbell put up a temporary eating house, which was the first place of public entertainment the village knew. The trains stopped at it for dinner and supper, which arrangement was continued until 1855, when it was purchased by Hiram Cornell, who came from New York, and who conducted it as a hotel for some time. The following story is told of him during his first Winter as "mine host:" He had a barrel of whisky (without which the Western hotel was never found in those early days), and from some cause, wholly unac­countable, it "froze up" during the first cold snap, nor could he get it near enough to the fire nor the fire hot enough to thaw it out; and so it remained until Spring came with its warm days. Cornell remained in this little shanty until he built the "Dwight House," the first regular hotel in the village, in 1855. Since the erection of this hostlery, many changes have taken place in the hotel business, as well as in all other lines represented in Dwight. At present, the principal hotel of the place is the "McPherson House," and is rnu [sic.] by that prince of landlords, Charles Stafford.
The first regular store was built by David McWilliams, in 1855. It was painted white, and, like the telegraph pole, surmounted by the tin pan, before alluded to, served as a way mark to all in search of the new village. It is said that the first sale made by Mr. McWilliams, after opening a store here, was a lawn dress pattern, which the workmen presented to the wife of the Station Master of the railroad. The store seems to have been a house of general accom­modation, and was used as a place of worship, and also as shelter for the new comers of those early times until they had found a permanent place to lay their heads.
Mr. McWilliams came from Pike County, Ill., but was born in Ohio, his parents removing to Illinois when he was a child. He came to Dwight in

488
1854, purchased lots and made arrangements for building, but did not settle permanently until the following year. When he settled here, there was then living in the village Simeon Lutz, his father-in-law, John Routzong, a genuine old Pennsylvania Dutchman, Augustus West, James Morgan, an American cit­izen of Irish descent, Thomas Wilson and James S. Harrison. Morgan was a track-layer on the railroad, and kept a kind of boarding house for the accommo­dation of the railroad hands. Wilson was the Station Agent, but was of little account, and remained in the business but a short time. Harrison was also a track-layer, and made his home with the Wests, where he died, in 1876. Mr. McWilliams is still a citizen of Dwight, a prosperous merchant and banker, and one of the leading business men of the place.
In 1855, the population of the little village was augmented by the arrival of Hiram Cornell (who bought Campbell's eating-house), George Flagler, William Clarkson, Jeremiah Travis, Wm. H. Ketchum and B. Losee, from the Empire State; Isaac H. Baker, S. L. D. Ramsey and Dr. J. H. Hagerty, from Penn­sylvania. The latter graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1852, and was a prominent physician, and practiced his profession here until 1863, from which date until his death, September 1, 1873, he acted as consulting phy­sician only. The others were of the solid citizens of the village.
The first Postmaster at Dwight was John Conant, and the office was estab­lished in 1855. He kept it at the house of Mr. Lutz, and surrendered it to Mr. McWilliams when that gentleman opened his store in the village. The office was a small affair in those primitive days compared to it at present. H. A. Kenyon is now Postmaster.
The first wagon maker in the village was Joseph Rockwell, who came here in 1858 from Connecticut, and made the first wagon in Dwight. He also made a loom for weaving cloth, and his wife used it. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, as was also Mr. Conant, and both belonged to the same regiment.
The first religious meeting held in Dwight was in an unfinished building on Lot 17, in Block 6, in 1855, and but few persons were present, as but few lived in the village at the time. The first sermon preached in the village was over McWilliams' store, on the second Sunday in June, 1855, by the Rev. A. D. Field, of the Rock River Conference, who established the first religious society while here ever organized in the township or village. The religious history of Dwight will be again referred to before the close of this chapter.
As a village, Dwight was incorporated about 1868, but as the first record book has been mislaid, we have been unable to get the exact date of its organ­ization under the legislative act, or the names of the first Board of Village Trustees and officers. At present the Board is as follows, viz.: John Thomp­son, President; R. C. Adams, William Walker, W. H. Ketchum, E. R. Ste­vens, John C. George; C. M. Baker, Clerk; James McIlduff, Police Magistrate
W. M. Stitt, Town Marshal, and Henry Eldridge, Treasurer.

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An important feature of Dwight is the grain and stock business. The shipments from this point annually exceed those from any other place perhaps in the county. The first grain warehouse was built by John C. Spencer in 1857, but as the country was rapidly increasing in agricultural importance, in 1862 David McWilliams commenced a large warehouse, but the war, which was then assuming a fierce aspect, delayed it somewhat, and it was not until 1864 that it was completed by J. McPherson. It is still in operation; has a capacity of 60,000 bushels, and is at present occupied by S. G. Eldridge. Another, a lit­tle north of McPherson's elevator, was built in 1866, by C. S. Newell and John Campbell. It has a capacity of 15,000 bushels, and is operated by Hugh Thompson. In 1868, C. S. Newell and J. G. Strong commenced the grain business, and put up the elevator adjoining the one last mentioned on the north. It is occupied at present by Messrs. Deffenbaugh & Co., and runs by steam, with storage capacity for 15,000 bushels. In 1873, Cadwallader & Rhodes built an elevator on the east side of the track, a little south of the Round House, at a cost of about $4,000, which has a capacity of 17,000 bushels. It is now occu­pied by Cadwallader alone. Walter Bladen also put up one a little north of Cadwallader's in this year, which stores about 12,000 bushels of grain, and is being operated at present by Hahn & Kine. Several of the elevators of the vil­lage are provided with "grain dumps," and are operated by steam. In addi­tion to its great grain trade, Dwight is one of the largest stock markets in the county, and ships a large amount yearly. The following are the shipments of freight from and to this station for six months to July 1, 1878 :

Freight shipped

7,870 tons,

or 787 car loads.

Freight received

4,510

" 451 "

Ticket sales to July 1, 1878 (six months)

$6,031.10


A large stone steam mill was built in 1859. The funds were subscribed by the citizens. It has three runs of buhrs, cost originally about $16,000, and is owned at present by H. E. Segert.
The first brick house was built by Dr. Hagerty, in 1871-72, and is now occupied by C. M. Baker as a drug store. Mr. Deffenbaugh built the first brick residence.
The first school house was a rather diminutive affair, about 16x24 feet, and was put up in the Fall of 1855, at a cost of $275. It was for about three years a school house, church and public hall. The first school was taught in it by Sarah A. Snyder, and was the first in the township, as well as in the village. This was but the commencement of a thorough system of education, and the labors of the best of the citizens have been crowned with success. In 1859, it was found necessary to erect a more commodious school building, and a house was put up on the east side of the village. In 1864, this had to be enlarged, and an addition was made to the original building, making the total cost $3,500. The rapid increase of population, in a few years more, caused another extension of school accommodations, and in 1870, the elegant brick on the west side was

490
erected, at a cost of $5,000. These buildings at present suffice, and will accommodate nearly five hundred pupils. The Principal and teachers for the coming year are as follows, viz.: Jesse Hubbard, Principal; Teachers - West Side - Grammar Department, Miss Frank McClure; First Primary, Miss Emma Baker; Second Primary, Miss Emma Rodman. East Side - Intermediate, Miss Lucy Banks; First Primary, Miss Jennie Bradbury; Second Primary, Miss Agnes McIlduff. Superintendent of East Side, Mrs. T. M. Wright.
As already noted, the first sermon preached in Dwight, was by Rev.A. D. Field, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1855. His circuit, known as the "Mazon Circuit," embraced all that tract of country south of the Illinois River, and extending from Morris to Avoca Township. The society was organized with six members, viz.: Simeon Lutz, John Routzong, Isaac Baker, Isabella Baker, David McWilliams and Jeremiah Travis. John Routzong was appointed leader of the class. The Rev. Mr. Field preached a few times during the summer, and at the next meeting of the Conference, two ministers were appointed to the "Mazon Circuit," and Dwight became one of the regular preaching places. From this time forward, there was preaching every alternate Sunday in the school house, then just built. In 1862, the society was struck off from the Mazon Circuit, and Rev. O. W. Pollard appointed to the charges of Dwight, Odell and Pontiac. The society erected their first building in 1858, which was dedicated in July of that year by the Rev. Dr. Kidder, of Evanston. About 1862-63, the society had so increased in numbers, as to necessitate the enlargement of their building, and it was lengthened twenty feet. For nine years they worshiped in this building, when their present elegant church was erected, at a cost of about $16,000, under the pastorate of Rev. E. D. Hall, and dedicated in October, 1867, by Rev. Dr. Eddy, then of Chicago. It is a handsomely finished edifice, is capable of seating about 500 persons, and the society numbers 260 members, with Rev. E. P. Hall as Pastor. The Sunday school of this society was organ­ized at an early period, and is in a flourishing condition. Mr. McWilliams was the first Superintendent, a position he held for thirteen years in succession. The present Superintendent is W. Rhodes.
The Presbyterian Church society was organized in Dwight in 1856, the next year after the Methodist. Their original members were three males and five females, and their first place of worship was the school house, in which they continued to hold their meetings until the next year, when their present church building was erected, on lots donated by James C. Spencer and R. P. Morgan. This was the first church built in Dwight, and cost originally $2,620. The pulpit was filled by various ministers irregularly, until 1869, when Rev. L. F. Walker was called to the charge. In the Fall of 1871, he was succeeded by Rev. W. L. Boyd, who filled the pulpit until 1873. There is no regular Pastor at present. The Elders of the church are Hugh Thompson, Robert Thompson, James George, James Paul and John C. George. The Sunday school is in a flourishing condition, and well attended.

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The next society organized was the Congregational. December 1, 1865, the first sermon was preached in this faith, by Rev. J. A. Montgomery, a student from the Congregational Seminary of Chicago. Their meetings were held in "Gerson's Hall." On the 12th of January, 1866, a "council of del­egates" from the neighboring churches was convened, and invited to give advice regarding the permanent organization of a church, and eleven persons identified themselves with the congregation. In 1867, an effort was made to build a church, the lots procured, and the building commenced. In January, 1868, their present elegant church was dedicated, free of debt. The total cost of the building, grounds, etc., was $5,425. Rev. J. A. Montgomery was Pastor from the first organization of the church until 1873, when he accepted a call to Morris, and the pulpit is at present filled by Rev. W. C. Rogers, with about one hundred and fifteen members. It has also a flourishing Sabbath sohool [sic.], with an attendance of about one hundred and fifty, of which A. Brubaker is Superintendent.
The Baptists made the next efforts, but have not, from some cause or other, flourished as some of the other denominations have done. They own a build­ing, we believe, on the West Side, but have no settled Pastor. The German Lutheran Church was built in 1867, and cost $1,400; has about fifty members, and a flourishing Sunday school. Rev. Mr. Schleitweig, of Cayuga, is the Pastor. The German Evangelical Association, or Albright Methodists, have a handsome little frame church edifice, 22x30 feet, which cost about fifteen hundred dollars. The ministers are Revs. Willman and Shaffle, and the society has twenty-six members. A Sunday school, with an attendance of forty children, is carried on by Dr. H. G. Thole, Superintendent. The Danish Lutherans have a pretty little frame church, built a few years ago, which has a large and flourishing membership. The Pastor is Rev. Jacob Holm. There is also a Roman Catholic Church in the village, and with a membership of about fifty families. Their church is a neat and tasty little building, put up at a cost of about fifteen hundred dollars. The present Pastor is Father James Halpin, who is also Superintendent of the Sunday school, which is in a flourishing condition.
The Masonic fraternity was organized here March 1, 1862, when Livingston Lodge, U. D., was formed, with the following officers, viz.: E. N. Jencks, Worshipful Master; W. L. Gross, Senior Warden; J. W. Rockwell, Junior Warden; C. S. Newell, Secretary. October 8, 1862, the Lodge received a charter, issued by F. M. Blair, Grand Master of Masons in Illinois, and coun­tersigned by H. G. Reynolds, Grand Secretary. It has a large and increasing membership, and the present officers are: Curtis J. Judd, Master; W. S. Sims, Senior Warden, and W. S. Wilson, Junior Warden.
Dwight Lodge, No. 513, I. O. O. F., was instituted in Dwight by J. S. Hunter, of Odell, D. G. M., May 22, 1873. The first Noble Grand was C. C. Gilbert, and M. W. Tambling, Secretary. In October of the same year, a

494
charter was issued by G. M. Bross, Grand Master, to the following charter members: C. C. Gilbert, W. S. Sims, M. W. Tambling, John L. Clarke, Thomas Weldon, Hugh A. Stevens and E. P. Utley. At present, John Thompson is Noble Grand, and W. H. Robbins, Secretary.
The tub and pail factory of W. H. Conrad is quite an institution. The work is all done by machinery, which is run by steam. In connection is a planing-mill and turning lathe. Works a number of hands, and does quite a business in his way. Another is the sash and blind factory, and steam planing-mill of W. H. Walker. He was burned out, some six months ago, and lost everything, amounting to about eight thousand dollars, on which there was no insurance. His indomitable energy would not allow him to remain idle, and he immediately rebuilt, and is running again to his full capacity.
The first bank, devoted exclusively to that business, established in Dwight, was by J. G. Strong, in 1866, and continued as such for a number of years; but at present is being wound up, preparatory to engaging in some other business. D. McWilliams & Co. gradually drifted into banking from doing that kind of business in connection with their store. They now have as handsome a bank building, adjoining their store house, and with which it communicates through the rear, as is to be found in any country town.
It has been said that no "town is a town without a newspaper." In 1868, the first newspaper was established in Dwight, and a Star appeared in its firma­ment which still shines in undiminished brilliance. On the 5th of May, 1868, C. L. Palmer issued the first copy of the Dwight Star. Says Hargreave's History of Dwight: "The Editor, C. L. Palmer, issued this paper more for amusement than profit, but in a short time it was evident that the Star occu­pied a place which could not be filled by any other claimant to popular favor." Since its commencement, the Star has been enlarged nine times, is a large quarto sheet, and is in the tenth year of its existence, and the only steam printing establishment in Livingston County. It is Republican in politics, and is still owned by C. L. Palmer, its original founder. On the 5th June, 1868, the Dwight Weekly Courier made its appearance, but, after a fitful and brief existence, it quietly passed away. The Dwight Commercial was established in December, 1877, by a stock company, composed chiefly of the business men of the town. It is Independent in politics, and is edited by C. M. Cyrus; is a very handsome eight-page six-column paper. The Western Postal Review is edited by H. A. Kenyon, Postmaster, and published at the Star office, devoted chiefly to post office matters. We have thus taken a brief glance of the little prairie city, and traced its history from the first laying out of the village through the different stages of its progress and growth to its present standing as a commercial point. A local bard, imbued with prophetic wisdom, lifts the veil of Dwight's

495
future greatness, and through the columns of the Star thus sings of its glory fifty years hence :

DWIGHT IN 1928.
Dropped from above by the big balloon,
That rushes by each afternoon,
A stranger came from a distant land;
His hair was bleached and his face was tanned,
At the City Hotel he touched a spring,
Which wrote his name in a twinkleing.
A glance at the open register's date,
Showed Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-eight.
And now you'll wait awhile before,
I'll tell you the name the stranger bore  -  
For I didn't look at the book very close;
It was not good manners, just under his nose.

After dinner he sat in his chair,
And picked his teeth with an anxious air.
"What a conductor," muttered the man;
"I wanted to go to Bloomington,
But he dropped me here, did the young galoot.
And sent me down in a parachute.
I thought I was nearing a forest of trees,
And never expected streets like these;
And such big buildings   -
I can't tell 'em,
Hid by the cottonwood, maple and ellum."

All looked strange, but still there were
Tokens of things familiar.
"This can't be Dwight!" at length he cried;
"That's what they call it," quick replied.
The host, who smiled as Landlords do,
As he marked the room Two hundred and two.
"Well!" said the guest, "I once lived here,
In times gone by, full fifty year.
Then I was young and spry, and gay,
Now I am old and turning gray,
Nobody knows me, but I once knew,
Lots of men here." The landlord grew,
Quite interested, and he said:
"The men you knew are probably dead.
Charley Stafford   - A fat old person  -  
Once kept this house, then called the McPherson.
A merchant owned it   - a rich old chap,
Whose property covered half the map,
Of what was known as the village once.
(He always watched for the main chance,)
He left to the church several millions,
And the Methodists called him 'Saint McWilliams.'
Gould, Hetzel and Eldredge followed suit;
Plodding merchants of good repute.
About Dr. Keeley? the actual fact is,
That he got rich on his country practice.
I knew him well! By the old stone mill,

496
He grew quite fat, and never was ill."
"Enough of him!" said the stranger guest,
"Tell us something about the rest,
Judd and Parsons and Strong and Brad.,
Bakers and Thompsons and Kenyon and Cad."
"Well! General Parsons of the millish,
Kept his command in good condish;
But he lost his life in a Commune riot,
Since which he's been remarkably quiet.
His name appears in the patriot's list -
Brave boy, was Jim! and very much missed.
Major Judd married a prim old maid,
Who brushed his clothes and combed his head.
Of this great State he was Adjutant General,
And all the troops here went down to his funeral.
Strong grew rich and jolly again,
And died a stout old congressman.
Brad wrote poetry more and more,
And got to be a terrible bore;
Died of Astronomy on the brain,
'His loss was our eternal gain!'
 
Postoffice Kenyon kept that place,
And always won the political race.
Cad. went west for change of air,
And died a Kansas millionaire.
Bakers and Thompsons spread all over,
Children and grand-children thick as clover.
Palmer, the printer, went last week;
Died of enlargement of the cheek,
Which began growing in early youth  -  
Plain to all but himself, forsooth!''
"Give us a rest," said the man; "I think,
It is just about time to take a drink."
"No liquors now for inhibition,
We're living under Prohibition
To distil or not; that was the question,
Decided at last fall election.
None to be made or sold or drank,
For all of which we have to thank,
The Red Ribbon flag that's now unfurled,
O'er the soberest country in all the world.
The guest, disguised, turned his eyes,
And saw some bottles with surprise.
"Oh," said the landlord, with a laugh,
"That's nothing but our Phonograph;
The bottled talk of great men gone,
Sweet souvenirs! Shall I open one?"
He drew the cork and it went round;
Forth from the inside came a sound -
Rapid and rasping   - as long as he'd let it.

497
"That's what I'm telling you; don't you forget it!"
Have I no rights here? that's what I meant;
Royal old rooster!   - don't care a cent.
"Hold!'' said the guest. "That's our friend Joe,
I've heard of him oft  - he wasn't slow!''
The landlord then, with purpose cruel,
Opened a bottle marked Neilsen & Newell.
O'ercome with memories the guest shed tears,
Rushed from the room and stopped his ears.
A bottle of "Lewis" lay up on the rack,
Ready for use when he got back.
After supper he strolled around,
And viewed the once familiar ground.
The mill was mossy with decay,
And dwarfed by buildings tall and gay.
The ''Strips'' were parks with iron gates,
The railroads ran not a train but "freights.''
For passenger traffic went by balloon,
Night and morning and afternoon.
Large as cathedrals loomed the churches,
With grand and towers and spacious porches.

Oaklawn Grounds were green and sweet,
Offering a calm and cool retreat.
Distance a mile from the city limits,
Time by the air car, just three minutes.
Here, midst the fragrance of flowers rare,
Slabs and obelisks pierced the air.
Former inhabitants all were there,
Sleeping beneath the solemn trees,
'Till God shall show them His mysteries!
Town Boards, School Boards, Supervisors,
Profligate and stingy misers;
Lazy folks and early risers;
Mother and daughter, father and son,
Gathered together, one by one!
Epitaphs gave of the dead below,
List of virtues set up for show.
Phonographs treasured the precious tones,
Of old John Smith and young Bill Jones.
Photographs shown on the face of each tomb,
Glowing with faces of life-like bloom.
Said the guest, quoting against his will,
"The dead, the dead, are living still."

He saw his relations scattered around,
In every part of the burial ground.
Sabbath School teachers of goodness and truth,
And Pollard the faithful old friend of Youth,
Playmates of childhood, all dead long ago;
Lay under the grass where the roses blow.
He thought of them, and of by-gone years,
And his heart dissolved in a flood of tears.

498
Hastening back to the City Hotel,
He asked the amount of his little bill,
"Now," said he, "Landlord, here's your money;
Put your mouth to the telephunny,
And tell the night watchman to check the balloon up,
And I'll start off as soon as its moon up."
He mounted the tower for his midnight trip,
And soon was scooped by the big air ship.
I looked at his name in the book again,
And read "Bones Thompson, from Japan."

A very important part of the history of the village of Dwight is the litiga­tion concerning what is popularly known as "The Strips." These are two narrow strips of ground, 1,004 feet in length and each 50 feet in width, lying, one between East street and the railroad and the other between West street and the railroad. The first suit brought to test the question of title to these lands was a suit brought by D. McWilliams and James H. Hagerty, to enjoin R. P. Morgan, Jr. (who claimed the title), from erecting an office at the corner of East and Morgan streets, the complainants claiming that the lands had been "dedicated to the public." The case went to the Supreme Court of Illinois, and was decided adversely to the complainants.
In 1873, one R. P. Tansey, who had purchased the undivided interest of one of the original proprietors of the village, in and to all such property as had not been sold and the proceeds divided, and which belonged to the original enterprise, commenced suit for partition; and, being a non-resident of the State, the suit was brought in the United States Circuit Court, in Chicago. R. P. Morgan, Jr., the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company and others were made parties defendant, and Morgan and the Railroad Company filed cross bills, each claiming absolute title to the premises. This suit was decided in favor of the Railroad Company, but was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, where, after an able review of the facts in the case, by Justice Swayne, the decision of the United States Circuit Court was affirmed. The opinion of the Supreme Court is an able document, and we would be glad to give it in this history as an item of interest to the legal fraternity of the county, but its great length forbids it. Pending this litigation, Morgan had leased and sold different portions of the two "Strips," and a row of wooden buildings had sprung up thereon, fronting on both East and West streets; but when the opinion of the Supreme Court was rendered, the Railroad Company, having been declared the owners, as above stated, notified all parties who held titles under Morgan to vacate; and the result is, the buildings are rapidly being removed, thereby adding greatly to the appearance of the village, as well as to its safety.
The village of Dwight is distinguished for the honor of being the military headquarters of the Tenth Battalion of Illinois National Guards, Lieut. Col. J. B. Parsons, commanding. The battalion was organized August 15, 1876, com­posed of companies from Dwight, Odell, Pontiac, Streator, Joliet and Marseilles.

499
The field officers elected then were J. B. Parsons, of Dwight, Lieutenant Colonel; L. C. Miles, of Streator, Major. Staff appointed: L. C. Mitchell, of Joliet, Surgeon; Rev. J. F. Culver, of Pontiac, Chaplain; J. B. Fithian, of Joliet Adjutant, and C. J. Judd, of Dwight, Quartermaster. The battalion has since been reorganized and some of the companies attached to other commands, while two new companies have been added to the Tenth, whose headquarters still remain at Dwight. Under reorganization, it is composed of the following companies, viz.: Parsons Guards, Co. E;* Pontiac Guards, Company A; Wenona Guards, Co. B; Odell Guards, Co. D; Fairbury Guards, Co. C. The battalion officers at present are : J. B. Parsons, Dwight, Lieutenant Colonel, commanding; J. K. Howard, Odell, Major; H. E. W. Barnes, Fairbury, Surgeon; Rev. J. F. Culver, Pontiac, Chaplain; C. J. Judd, Dwight, Adjutant; Cadet Taylor, Wenona, Quartermaster. The entire command, except the Wenona Guards, is of Livingston County. They are armed with the uniform breech-loading Springfield rifles, of the Prussian pattern. The companies are well drilled and ready to meet a foe at a moment's warning. A complete roster of the Tenth Battalion will be found in the War Record of this work.
The Dwight Guards, a company of the Tenth Battalion, was organized June 20, 1874, and its first officers were: J. B. Parsons, Captain; S. H. Kenny, First Lieutenant; S. M. Witt, Second Lieutenant. Upon the organi­zation of the battalion, Capt. Parsons was promoted to its command, and his old company, the Dwight Guards, by a company vote and as a token of esteem for their late Captain, changed the name of the company to "Parsons Guards," which name they still retain. Their officers at present are as follows, viz.: S. H. Kenny, Captain; S. M. Witt, First Lieutenant; J. H. Lloyd, Second Lieutenant.
The bar is' represented in Dwight by the following gentlemen learned in the law: L. G. Pearre, R. S. McIlduff, J. I. Dunlap, W. H. Bradbury, F. B. Hargreaves, Lewis Kenyon, J. G. Strong and F. E. Peck. Of this array of native talent, Hon. J. G. Strong has represented his district in both branches of the State Legislature, while the others are all lawyers of ability. The health of the village and country is looked after by Drs. L. E. Keeley and C. D. Chalfant, of the Allopathic school, and Dr. H. G. Thole, of the Homeopathic profession.
One of the loveliest spots around Dwight is Oaklawn Cemetery, which has been laid out and improved in the most beautiful manner. A few years ago, they had a landscape artist from Chicago to lay it off and divide it into lots and plats of the most approved style of art. In 1877, they had 1,300 young trees planted, which are growing finely. On the 15th of August of this year, it was incorporated under act by H. A. Kenyon, President; C. M. Baker, Secretary; J. H. Hetzel, Treasurer; H. T. Newell, J. B. Parsons and A. E. Gould, Directors. The first party buried in this cemetery was Miss Margaret Speers,
*Formerly Dwight Guards.

500
a sister of Isaac Baker's wife and of 'Squire McIlduff 's, in 1855, the year Mr. Baker came to the country.
Like the majority of Western towns and villages which spring up in a few weeks and are usually built almost exclusively of wood, Dwight has but few brick buildings, and these few are of recent erection. Naturally, with so much combustible material and light wood buildings, it has not escaped fires. The most destructive, perhaps, occurred in 1869. The following account is from the Dwight Star, of that date: "About fifteen minutes past 1 o'clock A. M., on the 24th of March, the alarm was given that a fire had broken out in the rear of Gerson's Hall. It. rapidly spread to Harris' store, and, in a brief space of time, Hagerty & Baker's drug store, Monahan's building and Newell & Co.'s hardware store were wrapped in flames. The buildings of Mrs. Marsh, A. Wait, Dr. Morgan and M. Rearick were torn down in order to arrest the progress of the fire." After giving some further particulars, the editor summed up the loss at about $40,000, and the insurance at $25,000. In December of this same year, another fire occurred. It commenced in Mrs. Henry's millinery store, which, together with McWilliams' bank building (a wooden structure), was consumed. The, loss, owing to the exertions of the citizens, was trifling, amounting to only about $1,000.
The war history of Dwight is flattering, and presents a noble record of the loyalty of the citizens of both township and village. When the tocsin of war sounded over the land, and President Lincoln called for soldiers to defend the Union, the young men, and the old ones, too, rose up together and offered themselves for duty. Company B, of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was recruited almost entirely in Dwight. The first Colonel of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth (Smith) was from Dwight. When Company B was mustered into the service on the 8th of September, 1862, the officers were: Samuel T. Walker, Captain; George W. Gilchrist, First Lieutenant; Elihu Chilcott, Second Lieutenant; Homer A. Kenyon, Orderly Sergeant. These were all from Dwight, as well as most of the rank and file. The history of this company and of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment is important and of much interest from its first organization until mustered out of the service, and will, together with all the soldiers who went from Livingston County, be found recorded in the War History of this work.

LONG POINT TOWNSHIP.
From the year 1833 till 1845, the older settled States, especially Pennsyl­vania and Ohio, were flooded with circulars describing the beauties of the Western country, especially Central Illinois, recommending its lands, praising its climate, and offering every inducement to the homeless to emigrate. The scheme was carried on by associations or societies, somewhat after the manner

501
of the later railroad corporations, who, at the present time, spread broadcast advertisements portraying the advantages of the country still farther west.
The following is an exact copy of one of the circulars sent out in the earlier times, and which was the means of directing the attention of one of the early settlers of Long Point toward Central Illinois:
PHILADELPHIA, PA., -, 183---.
Dear Sir: We wish to call the attention of yourself and friends to the fact that we are the agents of the Central Illinois Emigrant Society, formed for the purpose of giving information and otherwise aiding those desiring to remove to the west, in selecting for themselves homes in that desirable locality. The Indian troubles are all settled, the Indians themselves having been removed to Iowa. A canal through this section of the country is projected, and will soon be built, putting this territory in close communication with Chicago and the East. The land, which has just come into market, is of an excellent character, and can be had at from sixty cents to $2.00 per acre. Wood is plenty, water is good and abundant, the soil is extremely fertile, producing crops that would astonish the Eastern farmer, and the climate is healthful. We shall be pleased to have you correspond with us, and we will be glad to give you fuller information.
Your obedient servants, J. M. TIDD & Co., Bankers,
                                                                Philadelphia, Pa.

These circulars and other advertisements were handled largely by people already in the country, who wire desirous of having their friends emigrate. and anxious to have the country fill up. Realizing the lack of social, educa­tional and church privileges, they were solicitous that the country should be immediately settled.
A few years later, when the Illinois and Michigan Canal had become a fixed fact, this additional argument was urged, and we find in a pamphlet pub­lished at that time, in the interests of emigration, a statement which, though a poor argument to-day, brought hundreds of families to this part of the coun­try. After describing the country in the highest terms, the writer proceeds to say that, within a year, the canal will be open for travel, which will maker the trip by water a comparatively easy and short one. He says:"Heretofore the journey from Erie, Penn., to Central Illinois has occupied not less than two months. After the completion of the canal, the length of time occupied in making the journey will be about as follows: Erie, Penn., to Chicago, four days; Chicago to the Rapids, on Section 21, Town 33 north, Range 1 east of the Third P. M., thirty-three hours, supposing the boats go at the rate of three miles per hour; thus making in all a trip of only five days and nine hours. Besides making the journey of such short duration, it would obviate the great fatigue and hardships incident to a trip by land." He also hints at the possibility of a railroad, which would traverse this section in the near future. Although such statements seem to us quite modest at present, it was thought by many into whose hands the information fell, that it was somewhat overdrawn. Indeed, the most enthusiastic could not have imagined that Livingston County, with a population of a few hundred, would see the time that five railroads would pass through its limits, or that Long Point Township would be settled to its entire limits within a space of twoscore [sic.] years. Such, however, is the case, and much more; for, not only has all this come to pass, but the social and educational

502
features have fully kept pace. Long Point is so called from the long stretch of timber, extending from the northeast corner of the township almost to its western limit, and lying on both sides of the creek bearing the same name. The creek itself rises in what is termed the "pan-handle" of La Salle County, and flows in a northeasterly course, leaving the township at the northeast corner. A tributary of this, called Diamond Creek, also flows from the southwest cor­ner and empties into Long Point Creek at the northeast corner of Section 10. These two creeks furnish the only natural supply of water to the township. The land is quite level, especially in the southern part, being almost flat; though, except in the wettest season, none is so level as to prevent cultivation. Proba­bly no richer land can be found in the county than that of Long Point Township. It is well adapted to the production of corn, rye, oats and vegetables of various kinds. Twenty years ago but a small portion of the township had been brought under cultivation; but, at the present writing, but a very small portion has not been utilized. The Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern Railroad crosses the northwest corner, cutting off about five sections. Since the building of this road, the village of Long Point has been established on Sections 4, 5 and 9.
Prior to 1838, none of the lands of Long Point Township had been dis­posed of, though they had been in market two years. On the 6th of November of the year named, Andrew McDowell, who had come to the township some time before, and who was the first settler, entered the first piece of land in the township. Mr. McDowell was from Pennsylvania, and when he first came to the county it must have had a wild appearance indeed, as compared with the well cultivated fields, comfortable farm houses and improved roads that he had left behind. Not only was the township entirely destitute of inhabitants, but for twenty-five miles to the west, and as many south, all was an open plain, with not a fence, or shanty, or any other indication that the country had ever been visited by man. Five or six miles to the north were the Moons and Barackmans, and on the east, in Amity Township, as many miles distant, were a few cabins; but McDowell was literally on the frontier.
Very soon after the date mentioned, Isaac Hodgson made his entry. Hodg­son was also from Pennsylvania. He lived here until 1853, when he sold out to Samuel Sillik, and removed further West.
Edwin L. and Oscar B. Wheeler were from New York. They came to this township, the former in 1839 and the latter in 1841. Both have accumulated from almost nothing, by farming and stock raising, large fortunes.
By the last named date, quite a number of accessions had been made to the community, among which are remembered James Argubright and his father-in-law Caleb Odle, John Evans, Edward, David and Orin Rhodes, David and Loman Miller, Crawford Isenhour and Lorin Pratt. The first two of these were from Ohio, while the other eight were natives of Pennsylvania.
John Evans died years ago, but the old homestead is still occupied by his son Harrison

503
The Rhodes boys were brothers and unmarried men. They resided here until about 1858, when they sold out and went further west.
David and Loman Miller were cousins, the former also being brother-in-law of Isenhour.
In 1842, Frederick, Edward and Benjamin Carlton, three brothers and Englishmen, settled in the township.
During the next ten years, the settlements in the township were very few, only one or two new families a year making their appearance; and at the end of the period named, not more than a dozen additional ones had located here. These were Erastus and William Eaton, Samuel Sillik, E. L. Stratton, E. C. Allen, Orlando Chubbuck, Aaron and Philo Zielman with their father, Hiram and Ferdinand Verner with their father, Thos. Mills, Absalom Hallam, Harvey Windsor and Jas. P. Morgan. The first six and the last named were all from Pennsylvania. The Zielmans had been living in the adjoining county of La Salle; the Verners were German, and Mills and Hallam were natives of Ohio.
Hon. E. C. Allen was Clerk pro tem. of the first election held in the township, and was elected to the office at the first township meeting. In 1859, he was elected Supervisor, and was re-elected every year until 1862. In 1870, he was again elected to the same office, and held it continuously until his elec­tion to the more honorable position of Representative in the State Legislature, in 1876, when he declined re-election.
E. L. Stratton, familiarly known as "Stub" Stratton, was elected to the office of Supervisor at least five times, and has held many other positions of honor and trust.
O. Chubbuck has figured as largely in politics, in Long Point Township, as any other man. He removed to Streator, some years since, to practice law.
Thomas Mills is one of the stanchest men, morally and socially, that the town has ever had for a resident.
Absalom Hallam was the first Postmaster. He was appointed to the office soon after his settlement, and kept the same in his house a few years, when it was moved to the house of E. L. Wheeler, who was appointed Postmaster. The office had a kind of migratory existence, until the village of Long Point was laid out, when it was permanently established at that place,. with Dr. J. N. Markle as Postmaster.
James P. Morgan came to this country in 1835, and, but for a little unfavor­able impression that he received on his arrival, we might have had the privilege of recording him as one of the earliest settlers. Mr. Morgan was a printer in his younger days; had worked at his trade at Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and for Horace Greeley, in New York; and, like most of the journeymen of that trade, desired to see some of the world. So, he packed his few effects and drifted down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and thence up the Illinois to Ottawa, where he obtained a job of work on which he was to commence on a certain day. On the morning specified, he proceeded to the print-

504
ing office and prepared to commence operations. In the mean time, the other boys rolled up their sleeves with like intentions, and Mr. Morgan noticed their arms were sore from their wrists to their shoulders; and being somewhat inquis­itive, inquired the reason of the "raw" appearance. He was informed that it was what was called the prairie scratches; and his informant, with frequent passages of the finger nails over the afflicted parts, which included not only the arms but all parts of the body, more expressive than language, continued: "We've all got it, and you'll have it, but you'll get used to it after a while." Mr. Morgan thought he had seen enough of the prairie, and without even offer­ing his hand, said "good by" and took the first boat for St. Louis. He felt itchy for several days, and could scarcely convince himself that he had not caught it. After eighteen years more of tramping, he returned to the scene of his adventure, and soon after settled in this town. On the organization of the town, in 1858, he was elected the first Supervisor. He now, at the age of 76, resides at Long Point Station.
We have reliable information in regard to the first school taught in the township. Our informant was then a young unmarried man; and, though not one of the Directors, took a very deep interest in the school and visited it frequently, in the evening, just after school was out.
There is no doubt, then, that the first school was taught in an old log cabin, on Section 4, and that the teacher's name was Jane Devens, a relative of Andrew McDowell. Our informant is certain that it was in the year 1843 - just two years after he came out from New York. School was kept here, by various parties, for two or three years, when a building was erected for church and school purposes, in the neighborhood of Absalom Hallam's. This house, like all others before 1855, was erected on the mutual plan. It was a small frame, and was used for church, school and all other purposes, for a number of years.
The first church building erected in the township was by the Evangelical denomination, about fourteen years ago, at a cost of about $1,800.
The finest church building in the township is that erected by the Methodist Episcopal Society, in 1872. It is located in the northwestern part of the township. The building, complete, cost about $6,000, and excepting perhaps one is the best of its kind in the county west of the Vermilion River.
Three years ago, the Protestant Methodists completed a neat little house of worship, in the middle of the eastern part of the township. The cost of the building was about $1,200.
The Lutherans have just completed, at a cost of $1,000, a very handsome church house, near O. B. Wheeler's.
Besides the ones already mentioned, the Methodists have a society organized at the village of Long Point. A room is hired and regular services are held.
As before stated, in 1858 the township of Long Point was organized. The following are the names of the persons elected to the respective offices: J. P.

505
Morgan, Supervisor; E. C. Allen, Clerk; O. B. Wheeler, Assessor; James Worlds, Collector; Thomas Mills, Overseer of the Poor; E. L. Wheeler and Amos Roberts, Justices of the Peace; James Worlds and William Werner, Constables; George Stilson, C. Zielman and A. J. Evans, Commissioners of Highways; E. L. Wheeler and Jeremiah McDowell, Pound Masters.
The following are the principal officers elected at each succeeding town meeting:

Date.

Supervisor.

Clerk.

Assessor.

Collector.

1859

E. C. Allen

A. J. Bosserman

E. L. Stratton

James Worlds.

1860

E. C. Allen

M. Van Fleet

James Worlds

James Worlds.

1861

E. C. Allen

E. L Stratton

A. J. McDowell

William Verner

1862

E. C. Allen

L. Stratton

A J. McDowell

Henry Roberts.

1863

E. L. Stratton

O. Chubbuck

A. J. McDowell

Henry Roberts.

1864

E. L. Stratton

Ulysses Howell

Thomas Mills

Aaron Zielman

1865

O. Chubbuck

Ulysses Howell

Thomas Mills

Milton Bayne

1866

E. L. Stratton

Stephen Coleman

A. J. McDowell

A. J. Ewart

1867

E. L. Stratton

S. D. Carson

A. J. McDowell

John Argubright

1868

E. L. Stratton

S. D. Carson

A. J. Ewart

William H. Mills

1869

E. L. Stratton

R. S. Ensign

Thomas Mills

Ulysses Howell

1870

E. C. Allen

S. Coleman

L. J. Halstead

I. T. Ramsey

1871

E. C. Allen

S. Coleman

Thomas Mills

A. J. Opdyke

1872

E. C. Allen

S. Coleman

Joseph Bayne

James Argubright

1873

E. C. Allen

R. S. Ensign

Thomas Mills

Joseph Bayne

1874

E. C. Allen

A. J. Bosserman

S. Coleman

A. J. Bosserman

1875

E. C. Allen

S. D. Carson

T. B. Ramsey

R. S. Ensign

1876

E. C. Allen

A. J. Bosserman

Andew Jacobs

Joel Hakes

1877

A. J. Bosserman

J. N. Markle

F. L. Saxton

W. S. Ramsey

The officers elect at the present time are: A. J. Bosserman, Supervisor; A. A. Graham, Clerk; J. B. Phillips, Assessor; E. L. Stratton, Collector; S. D. Carson and A. M. Taggart, Justices of the Peace; James Bradbury and Joel Hakes, Constables; H. Verner, Isaac Ramsey and A. J. Ewart, Road Commissioners; S. D. Carson, School Treasurer.
An idea of the present condition of schools may be gained from the follow­ing extract from the Township Treasurer's report for 1877:

Number of schools

12

Number of scholars enrolled

263

Number of persons between 6 and 21

404

Number of persons under 21

633

Number of teachers

18

Amount paid teachers

$2,635

Whole amount paid out

3,289

Amount of township fund

2,635


VILLAGE OF LONG POINT.
The Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern Railroad was completed through this township in 1872, and immediately there sprang up all along the line at the distance of a few miles apart, new towns, among which was the village named. The survey was made by A. C. Huetson, County Surveyor, for F. Plumb, Samuel Sillik and A. J. McDowell, from parts of Sections 4, 5 and 9.

506
As soon as it was settled that a station was to be located here, this became a busy point indeed. Lots were bought, houses were built, stores opened, shops erected, and, within less than a year, almost every kind of business carried on in a town a dozen years old was flourishing.
The first building erected was the one afterward occupied by Hiram and Wesley Grable, of Wenona, as a store room. John Gossett followed soon after with a portion of the hotel to be used as a boarding house. The first dwelling was put up by Peter Bennet.
The road at first refused to make a station of Ancona; and, consequently, some of its best institutions were removed to this point, among which were Amos Bosserman and the Masonic Lodge. Bosserman was made agent of the road at this place, and still remains in the position. The Lodge, previously known as Ancona Lodge, was removed the year following the establishment of the town; and in 1877, its name was changed to Long Point Lodge. This Lodge was organized in October, 1866. The first officers were: Abel Bradley, W. M.; O. Chubbuck, S. W.; J. C. Mills, J. W.; J. B. Phillips, Treas.; A. J. Bosser­man, Sec.; E. L. Stratton and J. C. Fulton, Deacons; and I. D. Bullock, Tiler. The present officers are A. J. Bosserman, W. M.; S. D. Carson, S. W.; E. L. Stratton, J. W., A. M. Taggart, Sec.; Wm. Miller, Treas.
The township of Long Point bore an honorable part in the struggle for the preservation of the Union. The promptness with which volunteers flocked to the standard of the country was not surpassed by that of any other community, and several of them sacrificed their lives in their efforts to protect it.

UNION TOWNSHIP.
This is one of the latest organized townships in the county. It was sparsely settled until the commencement of the war, and from the date of its earliest settlement was attached to Odell for judicial purpose. It remained in this connection until February 2, 1864, when, upon a petition from twenty-four of its citizens, it was set off into a township by itself, and named "Union." As a Congressional township, it is Town 29, Range 7.
The earliest settler in its limits was Mr. John Harbison, who, with his family, came from Pennsylvania in 1856, and settled on land belonging to Mr. Alex. Campbell, a native of the same State, and a large land owner in the township. He knew Mr. Harbison in his Eastern home, and, offering him liberal encouragement to come West, induced him to try his fortune in the Prairie State. That same season, a Mr. Scott located in the township, and Mr. Joseph Walton, with his family, came from Boston, Mass., and settled near them. These three families were the pioneers of Union Township. They were the first to subdue it from the hand of nature to its present condition, and the leaders in its cultivation. The last mentioned, Mr. Walton, sold out in 1864, and returned to the East. When they came to this part of Livingston County.

507
not an inhabitant dwelt near them, and not a road was laid out to mark their way. They found the township a beautiful undulating prairie, possessed of an excellent soil, and traversed by two small creeks. In many places large sloughs were found, which, since the settlement of the township, have been ditched, and, in many cases, are now valuable pasture lands. The township represents now an unbroken series of excellent farms, all in an advanced state of cultiva­tion, and all showing in a remarkable degree the rapid progress of its settlers.
Hardly had these three families got settled, when they were joined by Westly and Fletcher Hedenburg, who purchased a section of land on which Fletcher settled, and on which he remained in the pursuit of farming until his death in 1868 or 1869. Westly was then a resident of St. Louis, and a dealer in real estate. He never lived in the township, coming occasionally to attend to his interests here and to visit his brother. He is now living in Chicago. William and Hugh Thompson were also land owners at that date.
The first settler of 1857 was Mr. Levi Dell, who came with his family from Williamsburg, Penn., and opened a farm. When the war broke out, he enlisted in the army of the Union, and in one of the engagements was severely wounded. After his return he sold his property and removed to Chicago. Mr. Joseph Dell settled the same year. His wife died the next year, and is believed to be the first death in the limits of the township. Her grave was by some means unmarked, and is now unknown and trodden over by the foot of the plowman as he yearly turns the lea. In 1858, Mr. Arthur Marshall came from Belmont County, Ohio. He soon after married one of Mr. Thompson's­ daughters, and became a resident of the township.
The following Summer, Mr. Samuel Hoke brought his wife and three chil­dren from Blair County, Penn., and located on his present farm.
While a resident of the Keystone State and a mechanic in his native town, he became acquainted with the owner of much of the land east of Odell, in Livingston County, and, desirous of seeking a location and an avocation more conducive to his health, was induced to try the West, and became a farmer. After selling his property there, like, others of his day, he took the cars for Chicago, and from there to his newly chosen Western home. Emigrants of his day were not obliged, like their predecessors, to come West with ox or horse teams, drawing the huge emigrant wagon, but could come by a much swifter and easier way - the railroad. While many followed the example of their ances­tors, in their western journeys, none of them were compelled to, and only adopted that mode of migration from choice.
Mr. Hoke states that on his arrival, Odell contained a small grocery, the station house, and probably a small shop or two. The storekeeper was Peter Lundgren, still a resident of Odell. There was no road out to the new settle­ment, each one going in as direct a line across the prairie to his home as the nature of the country allowed. It was nearly twenty miles to the east before a habitation was encountered; while to the south it was nearly eight miles

508
before a similar structure was to be seen. In order to obtain a certain road to Odell, Mr. Hoke drove there with a heavy wagon while the ground was quite wet, and thereby made a track that remained plainly apparent some time. This track the others gradually began to follow, and the first road from Odell to Union Township was established. As many of the first residents were liable to get lost on their way to Pontiac, there being no road there, Mr. Hedenberg took his breaking plow and made a furrow directly from the settlement to the county seat. By following this, the settlers soon had a road quite plainly marked, and which remained in use until the laying out of roads on the section lines. This road was a matter of considerable importance to the earliest settlers, as they were compelled to go to Pontiac to mill, and to attend to any necessary legal business incident to the purchase of their farms, or business affairs. Odell was their post office and usual trading point, although some preferred Dwight, then a small place.
Early in the Autumn of 1859 Mrs. Walton opened, in her house, the first school in the neighborhood, and conducted it successfully a few months. On Oct. 20th, Mrs. Hoke began a similar undertaking in her residence. Mrs. Wal­ton's school was paid by subscription, the common price being $1.50 per scholar. Mrs. Hoke taught her school six months, in compliance with the law, which, at that time, required that number of months to entitle the district to any public money. She received $20 per month - $120 in all - and, what would delight many of us now, received her pay in gold. She was required to teach six days in the week; and states now, that she did all her house work mornings and evenings, and was always punctually at her post. This was the first public school in the township; and taking into account all its inconveniences, was quite a success. Mrs. Hoke relates, that while attending to her school duties, one day, she was stopped by a knock at the door, which, when opened, disclosed to her view a man, shivering with the cold, and apparently suffering from its effects. He inquired if he could bring. his family, consisting of eleven persons, to the fire to warm. It was a bitterly cold day, and the family had been, for some time, traveling over the cheerless prairie; and as they were rough looking and weary from exposure to the weather, no one would extend to them a hos­pitable hand. Mrs. Hoke, however, immediately granted their request; took all in and warmed them, and furnished them a bountiful dinner. They were exceedingly grateful for this kindness; and to render some equivalent, the stranger, who proved to be Dr. Wild, and on his way to his claim, left a colt almost old enough to work, for Mr. Hoke, refusing his note for it, telling him his word was enough, and as he desired a horse, to take this one and pay when-ever he could. It is worth while to mention, that when Mrs. Hoke finished her school, part of the money was used to pay for the colt! The doctor, after thoroughly warming himself and family, went on, a most grateful and much encouraged man. This incident, like many others of a similar nature, shows something of the discomforts endured at that date, and the dangers encountered in traveling over a new country.

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The Spring after Mrs. Hoke's school closed, Miss Ellen Craig was employed to teach a Summer school, and continued in Mr. Hoke's house. While this school was going on, the residents were erecting a school house, to be ready for the Winter term. They had experienced some difficulty with non-resident land owners concerning taxing their lands, but had carried the day, and organized themselves into a school district and were ready to open a school by the time frost came. The election for School Trustees was held in the Spring of 1860, Mr. Hoke thinks. Frank Whipple built a house on Dr. Brown's land, about this time. He and the doctor came from La Salle County. The doctor was a large land owner, and, consequently, opposed to taxation to support schools from which he derived no immediate benefit, and seemed to forget that educat­ing any persons near property belonging to him made that property more secure. The school element prevailed, as we have mentioned, and that Winter the first public school house was opened in the bounds of the township. Arthur Marshall, James Hamilton and Mr. Hoke were elected the first School Trustees, and before the year had gone by another district was formed, and soon another, and so on, until, when Union Township was formed from Odell, nine districts were made, in a part of which houses were at once built. The last school house in the township was built in 1876, and school opened in it that Winter. They are well sustained, are conducted about seven months during the year, often longer, and are a credit to the township.
Before the school houses were built, religious meetings were held in the houses of the settlers, generally at Mr. Hedenberg's. When this was not the case, especially after the roads were opened, and during that part of the year when they were in good repair, many went to Odell and Dwight to attend church. As the school houses were erected, in many of them Sunday schools were opened and sustained during the Summer months. This practice was kept up until about 1866, when the Presbyterians living in the township con­cluded to organize a church, and thereby bring preaching nearer to them. Rev. G. S. Bascom often came from Odell, afoot, to the school house where the congre­gation met, preached to them, and returned the same evening. Old Dr. Bettle­heim, a man who spoke several languages, and who at one time was interpreter to the United States Legation at Japan, often came to the little church and ministered to them. Although Presbyterian in name, it was composed of members of several denominations united under that name. Rev. Mr. Hargrave, a former missionary to India, was one of the first pastors after the church was formally organized. Rev. Dr. Rabe is the present Pastor, the congregation numbering over one hundred members, and still using the school house.
The German Catholics, formerly attending church in Odell and Dwight, in 1876 organized a church in Union Township, and soon after built a neat frame church. The congregation numbers upward of one hundred members, and at present does not sustain regular services.

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The general reader may be at a loss to know why the lands comprising this township were so long allowed to remain unoccupied. The chief reason lies in the fact that, until after the completion of the railroads through this part of the State, no market nearer than Chicago could be had to sell farm products. Another reason was this: the township lay in the canal grant of lands, and, in some instances, land was not offered for sale until after 1850. These lands at first, in this township, sold for $6.00 and $7.00 per acre, on long time. They rose rapidly in value, however, and soon brought three times those prices. When the first sale of the school section was made, one-half sold for only about $8.00 per acre. A few years after, the remainder brought $24 per acre. All im­proved land is now worth from $40 to $60 per acre.
The surface is sufficiently rolling to prevent a failure from excessive rains, or from drought. Good water is easily obtained at a moderate depth, and is gen­erally used in watering stock instead of the surface slough water, not always to be depended upon in dry seasons.
When the township was organized in 1864 active measures were at once taken to secure good roads. Mr. James C. Brown was elected Supervisor at the Spring election, and before long the benefit from this form of government from that of an adjunct of Odell Township was quite apparent. From that time forward, the progress has been strongly marked, until Union Township, although one of the youngest in the county, is now one of the best.
In politics the people are pretty evenly divided. During the war they were strongly in favor of the Union, and gave many a brave soldier to the defense of the country. As these generally enlisted in Dwight, Odell or Pon­tiac, they were credited to those places. The residents of the township will, however, know them each by name, and in the War Record of the county, pub­lished elsewhere in these pages, can readily trace each one in his life in the army.
We have stated the township was formed in February, 1864. The elec­tions have been regularly held each year since, the township making no changes in its limits. The present officers are: Assessor, Edward Collins; Clerk, William Trecker; Supervisor, W. E. Thompson; Road Commissioners, John Fulton and J. E. C. Ebersoll; Collector, Peter Trecker; William A. Hutchins and J. A. Jones, Justices of the Peace.

EPPARD'S POINT TOWNSHIP.
Town 27 north, Range 5 east, lies directly south of Pontiac, and is one of the best irrigated townships in the county. Rook's Creek traverses the western side of the township, Turtle Creek the center, and Hickory the eastern portion These all find an outlet in the Vermilion River, which flows near the northeast corner. All these creeks are more or less skirted by timber, and all of them were the scene of the first settlements in the township. The early residents found here material for the erection of their cabins, fuel and a natural

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protector from the cold of Winter. Around their primitive cabin homes clus­tered a memory fraught with incidents of the past, over which our grandsires and grandams love to linger.
Excellent timber grew along the banks of the streams, and occasionally in groves, in the early days of its settlement, and afforded a considerable source of revenue to those who cared to cut it, construct mills and saw it into lumber. The first persons engaging in this enterprise were nearly always in advance of civilization, yet a factor in the history of the country. They were not at all particular in ascertaining whether the timber land was entered or whether the General Government was paid for it. A kind of general disregard exists in the minds of many people concerning the property of governments or of large corporations. This spirit was largely prevalent among those who despoiled the forests of their choicest trees, and who thereby rendered the life of the early actual settlers more difficult.
The first settlers in the country were generally denominated "squatters." They were said to "squat" on any piece of land that suited their fancy. If they remained until the land came into market, and went to the land office to enter it legally, they were always allowed the first choice and chance in secur­ing the claim they had chosen. It was unsafe for speculators to purchase and endeavor to hold such a claim. The squatters were a kind of law unto them-selves, and dealt with such persons in a summary manner, seldom if ever allow­ing them to occupy a claim thus obtained. These measures, vigorous as they were, almost always secured them the homes for which they had labored, and considering the times and the known greed and rapacity of the speculators, the measures may be looked on as just.
The first residents of Eppard's Point were the squatters. Of those known to belong to this class, living in this township, were the Eppard, Hayes, Pendle, Brock, Suttle and Anderson families, but one of whom now remains. Just when they settled cannot now be accurately stated. It is known to be before the land came into market, and was probably about the year 1834 or 1835. When the township was organized in the Winter of 1857-58, it received the name Eppard's point from one of these families, supposed to be the earliest settler here. Of the heads of the families named, Eppard, Suttle, Hayes and Tuttle have moved away.
These persons were all squatters. Those who moved away sold their claims to others who have since improved them. When they came Pontiac was hardly known; Bloomington was a primitive frontier town; Ottawa was the principal trading point for this part of Illinois, while Chicago was one of its chief mar­kets. They are all who are now known to have located prior to 1850; and many of them made but a short stay.
In the Fall of that year, Judge Eli Myer located in the western part of the township on land previously entered by some of these squatters. He lived to become a very prominent man in the township, and held several offices of trust

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in it. He was one of the Associate Justices of the county several years before the present system of township organization was adopted. His death occurred some years since, one of his last acts being to give $600 from his property to aid in the erection of the Ocoya Baptist Church. He was always a firm friend of education and religion, and was the first teacher in the township, and the first School Treasurer and Clerk after its organization.
The next Spring, John Powell and Frank and Samuel Umphenour located. They, like Judge Myer, settled near the timber. Mr. Powell made his home on Section 29, near a fine spring. Here he lived until a few years ago, when he sold and came to Pontiac Township, where he now resides. Samuel Umphen­our yet resides in the township. Frank Umphenour died some years ago. The next year after these came 'Squire Payne, John Umphenour, Alexander and John Morton, Thos. B. Craycraft and Samuel and John St. John settled. Of these 'Squire Payne is yet on his original claim; John Umphenour is dead; John Morton is still living on his farm; Alexander Morton removed to Pontiac, where he died a few years ago; Thos. B. Craycraft is dead; Samuel St. John is now residing in Chenoa, while John St. John, his brother, is numbered among those who have gone to that bourn from which no one returns.
During the year 1853, probably in the Spring and Summer, D. W. Young, Washington Stafford, Addison Muzzy, Samuel Freeman, Wm. Vickroy, Wm. Griffith and J. H. Turman, joined the other settlers and became residents.
The next year marks the opening of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad and a consequent rush to all parts of the county was the result. Eppard's Point partook of the inflation of emigration, and filled so rapidly that to enu­merate all who came would be a repetition of names given in the biographical part of this book. Of those who came in 1853, Messrs. Young, Vickroy and Griffith moved away. Muzzy and Stafford are yet residents, and Freeman and Turman are dead.
Among those who located in 1854, Asbury Minier may well be mentioned.
The completion of the railroad in the Summer of that year gave the town, or settlement it may better be termed, a post office, near where the first school house was built, just below where the railroad crosses Rook's Creek, which name the office received, and was continued until the establishment of Ocoya.
This village was laid out by Jonathan Duff and A. W. Cowan, then partners in the banking business in Pontiac. The land where the village is situated was entered by Peter A. Badeau, in June, 1854. After passing through the hands of several owners, it was purchased by Charles Roadnight, then General Freight Agent of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, who soon after erected a small warehouse and depot.
Part of the warehouse was used as a store, Alexander Martin generally attending to the business of Agent, Postmaster and Storekeeper. D. S. Shireman and E. M. Babbitt began about this time to buy grain, and were owners of the stock of goods in the little store.

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It was during the Winter of 1858-59, that Reuben Macy came to the "Corners," as the village was then often termed, and taught the school, and with others in the community began to discuss the feasibility of getting a town here. He had been an early settler in Nebraska Township, from whence he moved to a farm near Pontiac, where he was living when he came to Ocoya to teach. Nothing further was done, however, and the town remained at a stand-still nearly ten years. A few goods were kept in the little store, a few bushels of grain annually purchased, and the mail was daily put off to the few who made this their post office.
Leaving the village, if it may be called such, we will return to the other part's of the township, which we left just entering on the year 1854.
Soon after 'Squire Payne's arrival, sickness appeared in a malignant form among his children, and before long four of them were consigned to any early grave. They were buried near the creek, on a beautiful knoll, which, in after years became a general burying ground, and which is yet used.
The year before the advent of the railroad, the settlers determined to erect a school house, for well they knew such an insitution [sic.] among them was well worth its price. They got together, as all pioneers did for such occasions, cut and notched logs for its construction, and on an appointed day, all the settlers on the creek came to assist in the raising. It was covered with "shakes," held on by weight poles, had a strong wooden door, a good floor, and, for those days, what was to many a luxury, had a good box stove, for warmth. Mr. Eli Myer taught school in this log structure, now a worn-out affair, on the farm of D. J. Taylor, where it passed away its days as an out-house for cattle. The school continued for three months, and though the first in a school house in the town-ship, was the second school therein, Mr. Myer having taught a few months the previous Winter in his own cabin.
The log school house, with its slab seats and slab desks, continued alone until about 1856, when a school house was built near the Rook's Creek Railroad bridge, the first under the district system, and here Mr. Reuben Macy taught school the next Winter.
Another was also built, in the northeastern part of the township, about this date, for a few families had located here and had succeeded in getting a school house built.
In this part of the township, Thomas Virgin, S. P. Garner, Thomas Carson and Nelson Guthrie were among the earliest settlers. Mr. Virgin was a native of Indiana, and remained here until 1865, when he sold his farm to W. H. Wagner and removed to La Salle County. Wagner is still living on this farm. Garner has also removed, having sold his farm to W. T. Russell. Carson went to Missouri, while Guthrie; of all these, is the only one still living on his first claim.
These residents erected a school house about the time mentioned, which they occupied both for educational and religious purposes as long as it could be kept

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in repair and was large enough to accommodate the growing youthful population. When more room was demanded, a comfortable brick house was erected in this part of the township, which, for a while, was large enough to accommo­date all who desired to attend from this part of the township. After the organ­ization of the township it was assigned to District No. 6, where it still fulfills its mission. It is the only brick school house in the township.
The township organization went into effect in the Spring of 1858. From the time of the building of the railroad until this date, the township had filled very rapidly with settlers, and at the Spring election, held on April 6th, the highest number of votes cast for any one candidate was 61 (for S. P. Coldren as Assessor), which showed a population of about three hundred and fifty persons. At this election, Eli Myer was elected Supervisor, receiving 40 votes; W. C. Babcock, Clerk, 45 votes; S. P. Coldren, Assessor, 61 votes; William Perry, Collector, 40 votes; T. P. Virgin, S. T. Turner and S. L. Payne, Com­missioners of Highways, the first receiving 56 votes, the second 60 and the third 59; J. A. Wright and O. P. Craycraft, Constables, receiving 51 and 33 rotes respectively; and E. B. Persons, Justice of the Peace, 54 votes. As it may be of some interest to the readers of these pages, we append the names of the Supervisors and Clerks from that year until now, giving, where the records show it, the number of votes cast for each:
1859 - Supervisor, Otis Richardson, 37 votes; Clerk, W. C. Babcock, 68 votes. 1860 - Supervisor, Otis Richardson, 39 votes: Clerk, W. C. Babcock 75 votes. 1861 - Supervisor, E. B. Persons, 32 votes; Clerk, Eli Myer, 52 votes. 1862 - Supervisor, William Manlove; Clerk, Eli Myer. 1863 - Super­visor, William Manlove; Clerk, Eli Myer. 1864 - Supervisor, Francis Umphenour; Clerk, Eli Myer. These two continued in office till 1867. 1867 - Supervisor, Francis Umphenour; Clerk, Geo. S. Babbitt. 1868-69 - Supervisor, Geo. A. Sutton; Clerk, D. J. Handly. 1870-71 - Supervisor, E. A. Sweet; Clerk, D. J. Handley. 1872-73 - Supervisor, E. A. Sweet; Clerk, Josiah Herr. 1874 - Supervisor, D. J. Taylor; Clerk, G. J. Graves. The last two named have held these offices continuously since, and still retain them. The other township officers were: Assessor, J. N. Guthrie; Collector, E. B. Myer; Road Commissioner, B. F. Myer; Justices of the Peace, Osborn Ashley and W. H. Wagner.
During all these intervening years, the growth of the township had been decidedly onward, and when the organization was effected active measures were at once inaugurated to lay out and improve the roads on the section lines. Previously, they had gone stragglingly across the prairies in any and all direc­tions, only diverging from any due course on account of the numerous sloughs in the central portions. Here the land remained idle until about 1865, when it was sold to more adventurous farmers as swamp lands, who now own prosper­ous farms. The schools partook of the change in common with the growth of he township. From a report made by Eli Myer in October, 1858, we learn

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there were for the year ending October 1, 1857, two schools in the township. One had been taught ten months by a male teacher, and one three months by a female teacher. The male teacher received $33.33-1/3 per month, the female teacher, $25.00. The amount of the principal of the township fund was $3,418.13; the amount of interest, $341.81, and the amount of common school fund received by the Township Treasurer, $273.88. The amount paid for teachers' wages was $308.33, and for building and repairing school houses, $531.09. He states that there are 92 children attending school - 48 boys and 44 girls; and for the next year reports 265 persons under 21 years of age. For 1858, he does not report an increase in schools or teachers; but after that year, owing to the organization of the township and the more effective measures adopted, a marked increase in the schools appears, until the present number  - nine - was reached.
The growth of the township carried with it a steady improvement in the dwell­ings of the people. Now many fine residences are seen, and many evidences of culture and ease appear. From the 12x12 or 16x16 cabins of the early pioneers, which in some cases, like those of Judge Myer and 'Squire Payne, who each had large families, and often were compelled to accommodate as many more travelers - for hotels were few then and far between - have grown the fine, capa­cious farm house, with its large, airy rooms, and cool, shaded yard. Instead of hauling salt, sugar or other necessaries from Ottawa, Chicago or Danville, or rafting their lumber across the streams, they now enjoy the home market, the neighborhood post office and good bridges. There was no starv­ation, however, or lack of generosity in these old-time days, for they tell us when their supply of corn meal gave out, they went to their neighbors just beyond Pontiac, eight miles away, from whom they could borrow meal for breakfast.
In the early days of the township, the Democrats claimed the greatest num­ber of adherents; since then the tide has gradually turned, and the Republicans are in the ascendency.
During the war the township furnished a goodly number of soldiers, who gal­lantly did their duty wherever called.
At the close of the war, the village of Ocoya again comes into notice. Roadnight, who had, as has previously been stated, purchased 40 acres and made a switch, built a small warehouse and depot, and leased them to D. S. Shireman and E. M. Babbitt, who continued the grain business with varying results, for several years. The village was all this time in its primitive con­dition, and making no progress. Indeed, it could not yet properly be called a village, for no plat had been surveyed, nor had any move been made toward laying out a town.
In 1869, Duff & Cowan purchased the land, and surveyed and platted the ground, giving it the old name,"Ocoya." They failed in business shortly after, however, and no plat of the town was ever recorded.

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John A. Bogie, of Paris, Bourbon County, Ky., an extensive owner of land adjoining the town, laid off "Bogie's first addition to Ocoya," April 30, 1870. The record of this plat is the only recorded instrument relating to the town of Ocoya.
On the failure of Duff & Cowan, Reuben Macy purchased the 40 acres originally intended for a town site, and in 1871 built an elevator. He was associated with C. N. Coe, of Cayuga, a short time, but, purchasing his interest, for several years managed a store, of which he became the owner. He removed here in September, 1867, and at once took an active part in the growth of the town. Finding his business too much for one person, he associated his son-in-law, John McCalla, with himself, who came to Ocoya in 1870, and at once took the store. He remained here until 1877, when he sold to the present owner, E. M. Reily, who is also Postmaster, and came to Pontiac. Macy con­tinued actively engaged in mercantile pursuits until a few years ago, when he traded his interest for 80 acres of land adjoining the village, which he now farms.
The school is still conducted in the district school house, a little south of town. In this building the first religious services in this part of the township were held. In 1865, E. A. Sweet established a Sunday school, of which he was the Superintendent twelve years. It was quite prosperous in its time, and continued to meet in the school house until the completion of the Baptist Church in the village, when it was taken there. Its average attendance has always been nearly one hundred, and it has had a marked influence for good on the community.
The Baptists were the first to attempt a religious organization in this settle­ment. It organized in the Sunday school referred to, and from that beginning arose the present church. One of its best friends and supporters was Judge Myer, who at his death willed to it $600, to be used in the erection of a suita­ble house of worship. Two lots were donated by Duff & Cowan, on which the church was to be erected; and after the Judge's death, friends of the church went actively to work to raise the balance necessary to complete the building. As it was erected when material and labor of all kinds were high, it cost nearly: $2,000, probably much more than such a building would cost now. It is a neat frame structure, and was completed in the Autumn of 1872, and has been reg­ularly occupied since. The dedication services were held on Sunday, Novem­ber 17, conducted by Elder Goss, at which time a very appropriate hymn, com­posed by Reuben Macy for the occasion, was sung.
This congregation is the only one in the township; people in the eastern and southern parts going to McDowell or Chenoa, or meeting at irregular intervals in different school houses.
But little remains to be said of Eppard's Point. In the biographical part of this work the personal history of many of its settlers is given, and in the statistical portion its yield of the cereals will be found. The people are indus-

519
trious, and need only to use the natural advantages bestowed so freely upon them to secure a competence and a life of comfort and ease in their declining years.

FORREST TOWNSHIP.
Forrest lies in the southeastern part of the county, and is bounded on the north by the township of Pleasant Ridge, on the east by Chatsworth, on the south by Fayette and on the west by Indian Grove. It is all prairie, except a narrow belt of timber along the south branch of the Vermilion River, which flows across the northeast corner of the town. The prairie portion, however, has been supplied with timber sufficient, through the energies and industry of man, for shelter from the burning rays of a Summer sun and the piercing blasts of the Winter storms. Beautiful groves are found in all parts of the town in such plenitude that, should the ghosts of Shabbona, Pontiac, Saunemin or any of their dusky warriors leave their "happy hunting grounds" for a visit to the scenes of their youth, they would, doubtless, find more changes in this section than did Rip Van Winkle in the little village among the Catskill Mountains after his twenty years' slumber. Where, a few years ago, grew the tall grass, the willows and rosin-weeds, now flourish the corn and other crops of the thrifty farmer; while little artificial groves of trees here and there relieve the level sur­face of the monotonous aspect borne by the prairies in their natural state; Much of the land in Forrest was denominated "swamp lands," and donated by the State to Livingston County, and hence, through this means, this section obtained rather a hard name abroad, and was for years avoided, save in the little skirt of timber along the river; when, after a few years of efficient drainage and good farming, these lands have become as productive and as well adapted to agricultural purposes as those of any portion of the county; and, with two rail­roads - the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw and the Chicago & Paducah - intersecting it, the town has every facility for moving the vast amount of grain and stock produced annually within its limits.
The first actual settlement made in the territory now embraced in Forrest Township was by Charles Jones. He came from Bordentown, N. J., and entered the land where the village of Forrest now stands in 1836, and remained there about seven years, when he sold out his claim and improvements to James Beard and removed into Pontiac Township. After remaining in Pontiac several years, he at last removed into Belle Prairie Township. Having lost his eyesight and become almost totally blind, with the weight of fourscore years resting upon him, he lives with his children, quietly waiting for his summons home. His wife died in 1841. His recollection is still good as to the early privations endured in settling in the wilderness. Mr. Jones relates an instance of going to Chicago with a load of produce, some forty years ago, and glutting the egg market there with a few barrels of eggs, and was compelled to throw away a part

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of them. Chicago, as well as Forrest Township, has grown and expanded some-what since that day.
John Thompson was born in the State of New York, but had lived some time in Franklin County, Ohio, from whence he came to Illinois in 1837, and settled permanently in Forrest Township, about three miles from the present village of the same name. He remained upon his original settlement until his death, which occurred in 1849. Mr. Thompson was a soldier in the war of 1812, and par­ticipated in many of the fierce battles fought during our last struggle with John Bull. The name of his Captain was Drake, but to what regiment he belonged the surviv­ing members of his family have forgotten. After his death, Mrs. Thompson suc­ceeded in getting a land warrant for his services during the war of 1812, which she laid on Section 13 - the section on which they had settled when they first came to the country. When the Thompsons first settled here, prairie wolves were plenty, and their dismal howl was the usual evening carol to lull the tired laborer to his night's repose. Mrs. Wilson, a daughter of Thompson's, now living in the village of Forrest, gave us much of the information pertaining to the family, and related how, upon one occasion, when her father was down at McDowell's, in Avoca Township, the wolves came around their cabin in such numbers and appeared so ravenous as to excite in the family fears of an attack from them. Their cabin had been but a short time built, and was without a door, other than a quilt hung before the opening. At this opening, the brave mother, Mrs. Thompson, stood with an axe to defend her offspring, whom she had placed on the bed, the safest place within the cabin, against these voracious wild beasts. The wolves, however, made no attack, but howled around their cabin, rendering the night hideous with their doleful music. Mr. Thompson had money when he settled here, and horses; but the latter all died the first season with the milk sickness, except a pony, and it he traded for provisions. He sometimes had to go fourteen miles, on foot, to get corn, and carry it home on his shoulder. It was often the case that, after he had procured corn and brought it home, he would have to pound it in a kind of mortar made in the top of a stump. This substitute for meal his wife would sift, and the finest of it make into bread and the remainder cook as hominy. Mr. Thompson seems to have been a man of iron constitution, as, in those early days in the wilder­ness, his exposure in trying to build up a comfortable home would kill a dozen men of the present day. His wife used to tell him that he would kill himself, but he would reply that it was hard to kill an old soldier. Charles Jones set­tled the year previous; and, aside from these two families, no others settled in this immediate vicinity for several years. When Nathan Townsend, the first settler in Pleasant Ridge, moved to the country, he came by where Thompson lived, and Mrs. Wilson informed us that his children were almost starved. He had been on the road some time and was out of food; the country was thinly settled and provisions almost wholly unattainable. Mrs. Thompson took them in, divided her scanty store and gave them shelter until they had somewhat recuperated and looked around for an eligible location.

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Mrs. Wilson, referred to as a daughter of Thompson's, was married first to W. C. Popejoy, of Avoca, who died some years later, when she, after several years, married Nicholas Wilson. He was a native of Sweden, and came here at an early day, and for many years was known in this section as a dry goods peddler. His team ran away with him in Chatsworth, one day, by which acci­dent he was killed.
Another of the early settlers in Forrest Township was Orin Phelps, a Bon-in-law of Charles Jones. He was originally from New Jersey, but had lived some time in St. Louis, before coming to this neighborhood. He remained in Forrest until 1847, when he sold out and removed into Belle Prairie Township, where he still resides, one of the thrifty farmers of that town. There were but few families living in what is now Forrest Township when Phelps settled in it. John Thompson, he states, was living in the little grove southeast of Oliver's Grove, and a family named Brooks, living in the creek bottom, are all he remem­bers besides Mr. Jones, his father-in-law. The man Brooks, whom he alludes to here, is the same Charles Brooks mentioned in the early settlement of one or two other townships. It was from him that Townsend bought his claim when he settled in Pleasant Ridge.
George and Frederick Cranford were among the next settlers, and repre­sent a kind of second era in the settlement of the town. They came from Mus­kingum County, Ohio, and settled here in 1853, at which time there were but a few people in the settlement, and they were squatted in the timber.
Of this latter era of settling in Forrest, Israel J. Krack occupies a prom­inent place. He came from Tippecanoe County, Ind., a county distinguished and hallowed, almost, in consequence of containing the battle field of Tippeca­noe, where Gen. Harrison won his great battle over the Indians. Mr. Krack was present on the Tippecanoe battle ground in 1840, at the grand rally, when Harrison was a candidate for President of the United States. He says that never before or since has he seen so large a crowd of people together. There were "more than any man could number" of excited Hoosiers and natives of the surrounding hills, and the burden of their song of rejoicing was:

Tippecanoe and Tyler too.
With them we can beat little Van:
Oh ! Van, Van, Van is a used-up man

The Marshals of the Day tried to form the crowd in procession, but room for the parade could not be found, and the leaders gave it up in despair. When Krack removed to Forrest, there were in that township the Thompson family (Mr. Thompson, the head of the family, had died some years before), Charles Cranford, George Williams, John Towner, Fred and James Farnsler, Samuel L. Hillery and Levi Ide. George Williams and the Farnslers were from Indiana, John Towner from New York and Ide was from Ohio. The lat­ter is mentioned in Pleasant Ridge as dying at the house of Nathan Townsend, and as the first death in that township. Hillery bought out Orin Phelps, and settled on the claim made by Phelps, where he remained some time.

522
James Beard was one of the early settlers of Forrest, but of him not much information could be obtained. He bought Charles Jones' improvements, which originally consisted of but one "forty," and around this he entered enough additional land to make a half section, and this place Krack bought when he removed to the town. It was the most important place in the neighborhood, near the center of the township, and a kind of nucleus around which other set­tlements clustered as people came into the settlement. A law suit of huge proportions was brought by Oliver in regard to this place, in which Beard, Krack and a man named Covault were made parties, involving some techni­cality in the entry of it. But after dragging some time and being continued from one session of court to another, was ultimately dismissed without trial.
Among the early settlers may also be added the following persons who settled in the township up to 1860: John Francis, John Harper, William Edwards and his sons, Charles Holmes and perhaps a few others. Francis came from Ireland, and is still living on the place of his original settlement; Harper is dead; Edwards was an Englishman, and moved away several years ago; Holmes was from the old Bay State, and lives now in Chicago. S. A. Hoyt, who is further noticed in the history of the village, is a New Yorker, and came here before there was any village. A farm, entered in that early day in what was termed the "Swamp Lands,'' was sold by him recently for $38 per acre, which shows what efficient drainage will do.
In these early times, the few people living here used to go to Indian Grove and Avoca to church, and not think it a very great undertaking either. A man would hitch a yoke of cattle to his wagon, or to a big sled, the family get aboard, and off they would go, on Sunday morning, ten or twenty miles to church. The first church services were held in people's residences, and in warm weather, under the trees. These were the temples of worship until the building of school houses. The church history is mostly confined to the village of Forrest, where it will be again referred to.
Byron Phelps, a son of Orin Phelps, is supposed to have been the first white child born in Forrest Township. He grew up to manhood's estate, and is men­tioned in another part of this history as having filled the office of County Clerk satisfactorily. He now lives in Decatur. John James Thompson, a little son of Mr. Thompson, so often mentioned in the early history of Forrest, was the first death, and took place in 1838, the next year after Thompson came here. There were no neighbors in reach, and the family themselves had to bury the child. Mr. Thompson dug a kind of trough out of a walnut tree, in which the corpse was placed, then covered with a slab, and in this rude coffin was buried by its own family. Chas. Jones' wife died in 1841, and is noted among the early deaths of this township. She was buried in the northwest corner of what is now Judge Burton's deer park, and where she still sleeps. Orin Phelps and Miss Jones, Chas. Jones' daughter, are supposed to have been the first parties to commit matrimony in the township. Since then, there has been much "marry-

523
ing and giving in marriage, "and still there are brows waiting for the orange blossoms.
Just when the first school house was built, and who taught the first school in Forrest Township, were points we could not have fully determined. Mrs. Wilson informed us that she went to school in the old Court House in Pontiac before there were any schools in Forrest, but she could not call to mind who taught the first in her own neighborhood. In 1855, the public school system was adopted in Illinois, and the people of Forrest seem not to have lost a single day in organizing their schools. On the 24th day of February, 1855, we find a record of a meeting held at the residence of I. J. Krack, at which "Three School Trustees, viz., Sam'l Hillery, Chas. Cranford and James Farnsler, were elected for Town 26 north, Range 7 east." Cranford was elected President of the Board. At a meeting held April 7, 1856, John Towner was elected School Treasurer of the town, and a tax of 10 cents on the $100 was voted for school purposes. The township was one school district. The present School Board is J. B. Hinman, N. B. Eastman and Thomas B. Riley. The last annual report of Treasurer Bullard shows the following: No. of males in township under 21 years of age, 343; females, 303; total, 646. No. of males between 6 and 21 years, 228; females, 217; total, 445. Males at school, 188; females, 152; total, 340. Estimated value of school property, $12,400; estimated value of school apparatus, $210; principal of township fund, $11,286.99; tax levy for support of schools, $3,523.22; highest wages paid any teacher, $80; lowest wages paid any teacher, $25; average wages paid male teacher, $53.92; aver-age wages paid female teachers, $36.48; whole amount paid teachers, $3,384.41. There are nine school districts in the township, in each of which there is a good, comfortable frame school building. The very best of teachers are employed, and the schools are in the most flourishing condition.
As stated in the history of Chatsworth, this township was a part of the former, and was called Oliver's Grove. At the September meeting of the Board of Supervisors in 1861, Forrest petitioned that body to be set off, which was granted. April 1, 1862, the following township officers were elected, viz.: John Towner, Supervisor; Chas. Cranford, Town Clerk; Nicholas Wilson, Collector; I. J. Krack, Assessor; John Francis and John G. Harper, Justices of the Peace; Edward Francis and Wm. Edwards, Jr., Constables; and Wm. Edwards, Sr., Overseer of the Poor.
The following table shows the Supervisors and Clerks from township organ­ization to date:


Supervisors

Town Clerks

1863

Jno. G. Harper

George H. Townsend.

1864

Jno. G. Harper

George H. Townsend.

1865

Jno. G. Harper

George Cranford.

1866

Bronson Smith

George Cranford.

1867

Bronson Smith

George Cranford.

1868

Bronson Smith

J. G. Francis.

1869

Bronson Smith

Lucian Bullard.


524


Supervisors.

Town Clerk.

1870

Bronson Smith

E. C. Keeler.

1871

Bronson Smith

G. B. Hogaboom.

1872

Lucian Bullard

A. L. Gooding.

1873

J. P. Knight

A. L. Gooding

1874

Bronson Smith

J. B. Hinman.

1875

E. W. Dickinson

J. B. Hinman.

1876

I. J. Krack

C. L. Coyner.

1877

I. J. Krack

Jas. E. Riley.

Other township officers at present are: J. P. Knight and Jacob L. Spoor, Justices of the Peace; L. Bullard, Assessor; and J. G. Fitch, Collector.
The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad was built through Forrest in 1857, and its history here is but a repetition of that in other portions of the county as given in the chapter devoted to Indian Grove and Chatsworth Townships. An item, however, gathered in Forrest regarding this road is additional to its history as already received. We learned from good authority that the Illinois  Central constructed the line, or contributed very liberally to its construction, from El Paso to Gilman, for which they obtained a twenty-years lease of it between those points, thus making a connection between their main line and their Chicago division. From its early troubles it has grown into one of the great thoroughfares of travel and traffic through our country. The town gave no assistance, beyond the right of way, to the Chicago & Paducah Road, which crosses its southwest corner, and which was built through this section in 1872. The people would not agree to pay any interest on bonds until the road was completed, and voted that way. This did not satisfy the Company, as they could not use bonds which bore no interest, and so changed the route to cross the T., P. & W. Road at Fairbury instead of Forrest, as was at first intended. The road has two small stations or shipping points in this township, viz.: Norman and Murphy. The former place contains a store, post office, blacksmith and wagon shop. The post office was established in 1875, with W. T. Kerr as Postmaster. F. M. Dwyer is the present Postmaster. The first store was opened by Kerr and Cording, in January, 1875. In 1877, Cording bought out his partner, since which time he has conducted the business. The blacksmith shop is kept by F. M. Dwyer; and the wagon shop by Albert Walter.
Murphy Station is known as McClary post office, and is but a shipping point a few miles north of Norman. The Postmaster at McClary is Geo. W. Nelson, who lives on a farm close by. J. F. Stratton, who keeps a small store and buys grain, attends to the business of the post office.
Forrest Township was named for Forrest Village, and Forrest Village for Forrest Township, and both for a Mr. Forrest, of New York, who was the busi­ness partner of Mr. Frost, President of the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad, when the T., P. & W. was known by that euphonious title. It was first called Forestville,* but at the special request of Mr. Frost, was changed to the name of Forrest, his
* Spelled with one r, but the present name is spelled with two.

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partner, and who, he promised, would do something handsome for the young village - a promise however, which still remains unfulfilled.
Among the more prominent citizens of Forrest we may mention Hon. A. A. Burton, Hon. Lucian Bullard and Messrs. Bronson Smith, I. J. Krack and S. A. Hoyt. Judge Burton was born in Garrard County, Ky., and graduated in Transylvania University, at Lexington, after which he studied law under Gen. Leslie Coombs, of Frankfort, and was appointed Criminal Judge, by Gov. Letcher, the second year after his admission to the bar. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Kentucky many years ago, and sought to have a clause ingrafted in the constitution, looking to the gradual emancipation of slaves; and was one of the very first men in the State to publicly proclaim abolition sentiments. He was Chairman of the Kentucky delegation to the Convention at Chicago, in 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for Presi­dent, and elector for the State at large in Kentucky during the canvass. Mr. Lincoln appointed him United States Judge of Dakotah, and a few years later, Minister to Bogota in the United States of Colombia, South America, which position he held for six years. After his return from Bogota he resumed the practice of law in Kentucky, with an office in Washington, D. C. And in 1871, from his knowledge of the Spanish language, was appointed Secretary and Interpreter of the San Domingo Commission, and furnished a full report of the proceedings of the Commission to the Government. A few years ago he removed to Illinois and settled in the township of Forrest, near the village of that name, where he died on the 13th of July of the present year. He owned about 800 acres of land in this township, and 1,300 acres in Minnesota; the latter yielded him last year about 30,000 bushels of wheat. Judge Burton entertained the most unbounded veneration for President Lincoln, and had carefully preserved in his spacious library a rail draped in mourning, to which is attached the following certificate:

DECATUR, ILL., June 1, 1860.
I do hereby certify that the piece of rail this day delivered to Dr. G. W. McMillan to be by him sent to A. A. Burton, of Lancaster, Ky , is from a lot of 3,000 made by Abraham Lincoln,and myself in this county, and that I have resided in this county ever since that time.
his
JOHN X. HANKS.
mark
Attest: R. J. Oglesby

He has carefully kept this relic of the honest "old rail splitter," and when he fell by the assassin's hand, he draped it in mourning, and so it remains to the present day. His library contains over a thousand volumes, and to it is added an extensive cabinet of curiosities. Although the place was draped in mourning for its late master, we received permission to visit it and examine the relics and curiosities. In it are many valuable works rarely found in a private library, among them seventy volumes of Voltaire in the French language, and over one hundred years old; also several volumes in Spanish that bear date away back in sixteen hundred. Among his relics and curiosities we noticed a por-

526
trait of the Haytian Liberator, Toussaint l' Ouverture, which bears the following inscription :

A. A. BURTON, Garrard Co., Ky.
Presented by F. L. DUTHIERS.
Port-au-Prince, Hayti, February 14, 1873.
Engraved from the only genuine portrait of Toussaint Jean Dominique 1'Ouverture in the Soulongue Palace, near Port-au-Prince.

He also has a portrait of Pizarro and a piece of his battle-flag, a sketch of Simon Bolivar in Spanish, a piece of rosewood labeled "a piece of Washington's coffin," and a vast number of curious South American relics, together with a large ornithological collection from the same country. Among his pictures is one representing the Savior of the world, at 12 years of age, disputing in the Temple with the chief priests and doctors of the law, painted on wood by Vas­quez, and which is over two hundred years old; also, one of Maria Theresa, by the same artist and of the same age. Another relic, preserved by him with much care, is a silver cross, beaten out of the crude material by a converted Indian and carried to Rome to be blessed by the Holy Father. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on Judge Barton, a short time since, by Center College, of Danville, Ky., one of the proudest institutions of learning in the State. Embraced in the Judge's spacious grounds is a handsome deer park of several acres, and in which are some dozen or more deer of various sizes and species.
Hon. Lucian Bullard, the present Postmaster at Forrest; was elected to the State Legislature, in 1874, on the Republican ticket, where he faithfully served the people of his district.
Bronson Smith has served his township six years as Supervisor. His great-grandfather settled in the old town of Milford, in the New Haven Colony, originally, but in 1773 moved to Washington, Conn. He had ten children, and when the youngest died, their combined ages were 900 years. Mr. Smith attended the centennial of his family in New England in 1873, at which were present 150 members of this Smith family, and it was known of a certainty that there were living at that time 225 members of that direct branch of the Smiths.
I. J. Krack, the present County Treasurer, has been one of the leading spirits of Forrest from the first settlement of the place. He was elected Treas­urer of the county in the Fall of 1877, an office his honor and integrity eminently qualify him to fill.
Stephen A. Hoyt is another of the solid business men of Forrest. He came here before the town was laid off, and almost before there were settlements made in it. Honesty and industry have built up a large business for him, and he ranks among the heaviest grain dealers in the county. He handles lumber, also, and in the early days of the village sold lumber to this entire section. In one, year, he informed us, he paid the T., P. & W. Road $10,000 for freight on lumber alone.
Forrest Township is Republican in politics - indeed, has long been one of the strongholds of that party in Livingston County. According to its popula-

529
tion, it gives larger Republican majorities than any other township. Its war record is on a par with other sections of the county.

THE VILLAGE OF FORREST.
Forrest village was surveyed and laid out by Alfred C. Huetson, County Surveyor, for I. J. Krack, the original proprietor of the place, on the 11th of December, 1866. It originally embraced parts of the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, and the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter, and parts of the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, and the northeast quar­ter of the southeast quarter of Section 3. He has since made two additions to it, and Bullard has made one addition, February 9, 1876. Forrest is situated on the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad, about equidistant between Fairbury and Chatsworth, and has about five hundred inhabitants. The first house was built by Mr. Krack, and he was the first Postmaster and Station Agent of the railroad. The post office was a diminutive affair then, and it is still remem­bered by many how Krack used to carry the entire office in his hat. Hoyt, who in those early times used to make frequent trips to the village of Eureka dear hunting, says that he would ask Krack to look over the mail, after it was thrown off the train, and give him his, and Krack would empty the mail bag on the ground, sort over the letters, hand out those belonging to him, and he would step on the train before it pulled out.
The village was organized under the incorporation act, in 1870; the first meeting held on the 20th of February of that year. At this meeting C. W. Wilson, J. F. Dennis, W. D. Lee, M. Clement, E. Shaw, J. Keller were elected a Board of Trustees, and organized by electing Elias Shaw, President, and Johnson Keller, Clerk. The Board qualified before S. A. Hoyt, Justice of the Peace. The present Board is L. Bullard, President; H. C. Twitchell, Clerk; and J. A. Coyner, J. L. Delatour, D. Duckett, S. A. Dunham, P. W. Burgess.
The first hotel in Forrest was built by William Umberfield, in 1870, and is now known as the "Forrest House," and is kept by Robert Russell, while Mr. Umberfield, the original proprietor, keeps a hotel and restaurant on the north side of the railroad. The only mill in the village or township was built by R. B. Wilson, about six or seven years ago. It is a frame building, and cost $1,500; has two run of buhrs, and is used mostly in grinding stock feed.
I. J. Krack built the first grain elevator put up in the village, about 1861-2, to which Hoyt & Beebe have made large improvements and additions. It is provided with "grain dumps," and is run by steam, and is one of the best appointed elevators in the county. Hoyt & Beebe handle annually about 300,000 bushels of grain - mostly corn - the larger portion of which they ship east. They likewise handle stock extensively. Miller & Kelly built the East Elevator, now used by Burgess & Son, who do a large grain business. It is estimated that Forrest handles annually over a half million bushels of grain, as well as being quite a stock market.

530
The Methodist Episcopal Church, the first church edifice in Forrest, was built in 1868. The first preacher was Rev. Myron Dewey. When he first came to the charge, Mr. Krack says, he presented a rather unministerial appear­ance. He was riding an old gray horse, with a blanket, and without saddle or stirrups. He rode up to his place, alighted from his horse and came into the yard, where he (Krack) was dressing a hog; informed him that he was the preacher sent by conference to that charge. Krack looking at him, replied, "Are you?" and continued at his work, thinking, as he says, that he was rather a hard-looking specimen for a preacher. But he was a good man, and labored faithfully in the church at this place. The next minister was Hiram, Popejoy, of Avoca Township, who, according to his own story, was rather a hardened youngster in his youth, but being converted at Fairbury, finally decided that he was called to preach, and was sent to the charge at Forrest, where he re­mained two years. Contrary to the saying that "a prophet is without honor in his own country," he was very successful in his pastorate, and left the church in a flourishing condition. The edifice is quite an elegant affair, and cost $8,000. It was dedicated by Rev. Alexander Meharry, of Cincinnati, on its completion, and is, at present, under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Eignus. The church numbers about 150 members, and maintains a flourishing Sabbath school, with an average attendance of about seventy-five children, under the superintendency of E. R. Francis.
The Congregational Church was organized in June, 1866, with an original membership of six persons; but the church building was not erected until sometime afterward. It was dedicated June 4, 1874, by Rev. Dr. Roy, of Chicago. Rev. H. G. Pendleton, now of Chenoa, was the first Pastor, and was succeeded by Rev. W. E. Catlin, who continued in charge until 1871, when Rev. David Sherrill became the Pastor, and still remains in charge. The membership, at present, is eighty-six. The Sunday school was organized about the same time as the church society; at present, it is attended by about ninety children, in charge of E. P. Beebe, Superintendent.
Both the Masons and Odd Fellows are represented in Forrest by flourishing lodges. Forrest Lodge, No. 614, A., F. & A. M., was chartered October 5, 1869, by H. G. Reynolds, Grand Master, and the official warrant is signed by O. H. Miner, Grand Secretary. William D. Lee was the first Master. At present Fred Duckett is Master and W. D. Corrie is Secretary, with forty names on the roll of membership.
Good Will Lodge No. 379, I. O. O. F., was instituted January 9, 1869, by J. W. Ellis; Grand Master, and Samuel Willard, Grand Secretary. The first officers were J. A. Fulwiler, Noble Grand, and S. A. Hoyt, Secretary. At present James E. Riley is Noble Grand and R. M. Odell is Secretary:
The elegant village school house was erected in 1869 at a cost of $6,000; is a two-story frame building, and a model of architectural beauty. The full corps of teachers for the coming year are not yet selected, but, so far as chosen;

531
are Prof. H. H. Grafton, Principal; Miss Alice Clement, Teacher. The average attendance of pupils during the school term, is about 140.
We have written of fires in Livingston County, until it has become an old song. Forrest, as many other prairie villages which have sprung up like Aladdin's castle in a night, as it were, and built almost or wholly of pine lum­ber, has been deluged in fire. In the early part of the Winter of 1868-69, its citizens,

Newly risen from troubled sleep,
Stared with uncomprehending eyes,
On homesteads smoldering, black and bare,
Beneath the dreary Winter skies.

About six buildings were burned, mostly business houses, and some of the largest in the village, including the East grain warehouse. The loss was esti­mated at between sixty and seventy thousand dollars, which was but partially covered by insurance. However, with that indomitable energy characteristic of the western people, their buildings were at once replaced, and soon all traces of the fire-fiend were completely obliterated.

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP.
Although the history of this township has quite an ancient flavor, being almost contemporary with the oldest settled neighborhoods in the county, yet we are not left in uncertainty as to the foundations of its growth, as the very first settlers within its limits are still among us, and their memories being yet unim­paired by hardships or age, we are privileged to draw from them the stories of its earliest life.
Probably no township in the county numbered, in its early days, so many men of earnest and stern purpose, or of such positive character, as did this. They were men whose aims were not solely to make homes for themselves, without a thought for the welfare of the balance of humanity; but it seems to have been a characteristic of them that their chief desire was to benefit oth­ers. Accordingly, we find its first settlers engaged in such enterprises as would be of mutual benefit. In morals, education and religion, this community took the lead. The first attempt at newspaper publishing was made here; the first church building was erected in this township; the first and only school designed for a higher course of instruction was organized in Newtown Township. This, too, was the very center for that class of philanthropists then reproached with the epithet "Abolitionist." Not only were many of the citizens members of the society, but all of their institutions, including their church and school, had the reputation of being organized and conducted in accordance with the ideas which their founders promulgated. Doubtless, most of the leading citizens were ultra on the subject, and doubtless, if tradition is to be relied on, much aid and comfort was given to the colored man, especially to such as were so fortunate as to make their way this far on their road toward freedom, and thus causing much

532
sorrow to his former master, or his agent, the pursuer. There is but little doubt that the vicinity was well known and described to the dissatisfied slave in many localities in the South, as a station on the underground railroad, and that the name of the agent, conductor, and other officers of the institution, located at this point, were minutely given to such as desired passage.
Somewhat previous to the development of the peculiarities of the community, however, two or three persons had come into the neighborhood and located, the first of which was Emsley Pope, mentioned more at length on a former page. He was a native of North Carolina, and, as has already been hinted, was a man of much more than ordinary combativeness. This seemed to be his peculiarity, as long as his physical ability warranted him in cultivating the propensity. It is, however, notorious that he always contended for right, and was seldom adjudged second best in the result. He is still living on the old place, of which he has been a resident forty-five years.
Ewin Houchin was the second settler. He came to this part of the State in 1835. He had, however, lived in what is now Logan County, for five years previous to coming to this place. He located in the northwest part of the town, about two miles from the present site of Streator. He claims to be the only man now living who built a house or cabin in the county previous to the Fall of 1835. Mr. Houchin has been a very successful farmer, and, by industry and economy, has accumulated a large property. He says that when he came to the county, a young man of 21, he worked many a day from sunrise till sunset for 25 cents per day, and was glad to take his pay in goods at prices that would be deemed exorbitant at the present day. He split more than 100,000 rails; has hauled oats to Chicago for 10 cents per bushel, and pork at $1.50 per hundred, and went to mill twenty-four miles distant, waiting five days for his grist.
M. A. Newman came to the country in 1838, and was traveling merchant for all this part of the country, and for many years was personally acquainted with every family in the county. In 1850, having frequently visited this neigh­borhood, he located at the place now occupied by the village of New Michigan. A settlement had been made in this vicinity, which bid fair to be a thriving community, and Newman conceived the idea of establishing here a town; so, proceeding to Danville, he pre-empted the land, the claim of which he had already bought. On the 7th of November, of the year named, E. B. Oliver surveyed for Newman the plat of the village, from the northeast quarter of Sec­tion 22. At about the time that Newman commenced his peddling operations, several families moved to the community.
Enoch, John and Amos Lundy and their brother-in-law, Thomas Copes, came from Logan County. They proved to be first-class citizens, whose words were counted to be as good as their notes. Samuel Broomfield came from Ottawa. He was somewhat peculiar in some respects, more especially in his notions on the subject of religion. He greatly deplored the wickedness of the world, but,

533
curious as it may seem, placed the responsibility on the Creator. He reasoned that if God created everything, He was also the author of sin. Further, that if God is omnipotent, He is not only able to control sin, but to abolish it; and that He is, therefore, directly guilty of all of the wickedness in the world. He made frequent appointments to preach his peculiar doctrine, and discoursed on the subject With much ingenuity, but with poor success in the way of conver­sions. A favorite method of presenting his faith was to arraign the Author of the Universe as a criminal before a bar of justice, and then bring witnesses to prove Him guilty. On other subjects Broomfield was sane, and transacted busi­ness with the utmost precision. Jacob Phillips came, with his father, from Ohio. The elder Phillips was a very zealous Methodist, and practiced the religion he professed. Jacob Phillips is still a resident, and is one of the old­est settlers in this part of the county.
From 1840 to 1850, Charles Paget, John and M. A. Smith, Charles Dixon, Zephaniah Schwartz, James Calder, Wm. Bowman, James and Malley Brown, Charles, Harvey and Samuel Thompson made their appearance. Charles Paget's advent into the township marks the beginning of that decided agitation of the Abolition movement which has not only made this town notorious, but has had great influence in molding the public sentiment of the whole county. He was perfectly fearless, and made assaults on the institution of slavery in every place and under all circumstances; and neither threats nor bribes were sufficient to cause him to hold his peace. The ground of his agitation has now passed away, and Paget's voice is not heard advocating the cause of the down-trodden race; but the work of liberation is credited to him, with others who were bold enough to speak his sentiments in that time. Mr. Paget is still a resident of the township, and is engaged in buying and selling cattle. The Smith families are still represented in the town, though the two original settlers of that name are both dead.
Zephaniah Schwartz came here from Magnolia and lived until a dozen years ago, when he moved to Streator, and opened the hotel now known as the Streator House. James Calder came to the township nearly forty years ago, and still resides here. John Calder, father of the above, was originally from Scotland. He died recently at the advanced age of 93, and at the time of his death was the oldest Freemason, with two exceptions, in the State. His wife, to whom he had been married sixty years, still survives, at the age of 82.
The Browns, with their father, were from Magnolia. The elder Brown died years ago, but the two sons still reside in the township. Charles Harvey was a hunter and trapper, and made his home for several years in the timber, making the business of hunting his only occupation. In the time of which we write, game of all kinds was very plenty, and old settlers are wont to tell how they killed a dozen deer in a day, sometimes bringing down two or more at a single shot. Wild turkeys and prairie chickens were so plenty as to become almost an annoyance. Harvey moved further west some years ago.

534
Samuel Thompson lived here a few years, and then changed his residence to Reading, where he still resides. Moses Rummery still resides here. He came to this vicinity in 1853. Mr. Rummery is known as one of the old "wheel horses" of anti-slavery, and has never been known to let an occasion slip of punishing his opponents when words would tell upon them.
In 1848, George Sardinia and Xenophon Richards, their sisters and brother-in-law Russell Nelson, made the first settlement on the prairie. They were from the State of Michigan. This was the year of the completion of the Michi­gan and Illinois Canal, and from this time forward, for several years, a good many emigrants came from Northern Ohio and Indiana and Southern Michigan by way of the canal. The Richardses settled in the vicinity of the site of New Michigan, and named the locality after their native State. These were enterprising and progressive men. When they went so far out on the open prairie to select their location for a home, they were pitied by those who lived near the timber, and admonished that they would scarcely survive a single Winter. They also deprecated their loss of social privileges and of neighborly protection against thieves, with which the country was then infested. However, after awhile their sympathy turned to ridicule, and finally to opposition, as the prairie settlers were stirring fellows, and the "settlement on the plains" bid fair to rival the timber people. One of the first things proposed by them was to organ­ize a school for the benefit of their own children, and the children of those who might settle near them. A few years later, a move was made by them to estab­lish a public school at this place, which met with decided opposition, as it was believed it would injure the one already in operation in the edge of the timber. However, gradually the opposition wore away and this neighborhood became popular to such an extent that it was proposed to lay off a town at the place. This, as before intimated, was done by Martin A. Newman. As soon as the town had been platted and it had become known that a trading point was to be established here, settlements in the vicinity were frequent. By this time it had been ascertained that the land was of a better quality than that in the immedi­ate vicinity of the river. Coal was beginning to be mined also, which made the prairie people more independent in regard to fuel. Then, too, the canal was completed, and lumber could be had at Ottawa, instead of the necessity of going to Chicago for it. M. A. Newman started a little store in the new vil­lage; other parties opened blacksmith shop, shoemaker shop and other branches of business, and soon New Michigan was the most thriving village in the county. The town also drew about it men of education, intelligence and piety, and churches were soon organized and houses of worship erected. In 1854, the Great Air Line Railroad, which proved to be all that its title suggested, was projected, and thus a further impetus was given to the prosperity of the village and township. Before the date last mentioned; a large number of families had made their appearance in all parts of the township, among which are remem­bered Otis Whaley, son-in-law of Moses Rummery, C. G. Cusick, Otho and

535
son Otho F. Pearre, Horace H. Hinman, Flavius Manley, Alexander Savage, James and Thomas Gibson, Eben Norton, Charles Decker, George, James and William Applegate and Joshua and son David McIntosh. Whaley and Hin­man were both of the Abolition school, not only as pupils but as teachers; and they never let a picnic or meeting of any kind pass but that a good word was said for the negro. Hinman was a man of education, as well as of ideas, and enforced his doctrine in such a manner as to almost overcome opposition.
He was the first School Commissioner after the adoption by the State of a school system.
Otho Pearre was a man of intelligence, and was highly respected by the cit­izens of the town. Joshua McIntosh was a local Methodist preacher - a man of much native talent and an impressive talker. David McIntosh is one of the best business men in the county; has been School Treasurer of the township' nearly twenty years; and as Representative in the Legislature from this dis­trict, made a record which does honor to himself and his constituents.
In 1856, there existed no doubt in the minds of the inhabitants of New Michigan and vicinity, that this would be a town of more than ordinary impor­tance. The Air Line Railroad had been surveyed through the township, and reports were current that English and American capitalists were interesting themselves, with a view to making this a national east and west railroad. It is not surprising, then, with this prospect in view, and with the intelligence and culture of the community, that a move should be made to establish in their midst an institution of learning of a higher grade than that afforded by the common schools. Accordingly the Livingston Academy was founded. The projectors and proprietors of the scheme were Washington Houston, William Strawn, Otis Whaley, C. P. Paget, Eben Norton, C. G. Cusick and Moses Rummery. With such men as these as organizers, the project was sure of accom­plishment; and a building and a corps of teachers were soon on the ground. The first year, E. B. Neville was put in charge of the institution. Though the proprietors and many of the citizens were enthusiastic in regard to the enterprise, they doubtless left out of account a few necessary elements of success, among which was the necessary growth of the town, which was dependent on the completion of the railroad, and from which was to come, in a great measure, the support of the academy. The school was kept up one year; and then, for two years, the building was idle. In the Fall of 1859, O. F. Pearre was em­ployed; and took charge of the school for three years. During his adminis­tration, through a good deal of hard work, the school was quite prosperous. However, at the end of the period named, Mr. Pearre accepted the position of Principal of the Dwight school; and then the academy drooped, and finally died. The building of other railroads - the Illinois Central and the Chicago Alton - attracted the attention of merchants, mechanics and tradesmen to other points, and in a few years New Michigan, with its institutions, lost rank. It continued to be a local trading point, until within a few years, when it was

536
overshadowed by Streator; and later, when the Chicago & Paducah Railroad was completed, and a station established within a short distance, the place, as a business point, was entirely abandoned. One of the churches was moved away, all of the stores were closed, the post office was abolished, and the academy having been a few years before consumed by fire, nothing remains but a few dwelling houses, as a monument of blasted hopes.
The first church building erected in Livingston County was the one known as the "Old Bethel," of this township. Although a very modest looking affair, as it now stands, weather-beaten and decaying, it outranks all its present contem­poraries, in the one thing that makes it interesting in antiquity. It does not look as though it could have cost more than $300 at first; and probably it did not. It was sold some years ago, by its original owners, for half the amount named. It is thirty feet wide, by forty in length, and the ceiling is only eight feet in height. It is built mostly of hard-wood lumber, weather-boarding and all. As much of the lumber as could be obtained in the neighborhood was used in its construction; the balance, such as shingles, window-sash and a small amount of pine boards, were brought from Ottawa. Amos Lundy, Ewin Houchin and Henry Lundy were some of the principal originators of the enterprise. Amos Hart, once Sheriff of Livingston County, and Orlando Chubbuck, now a lawyer of Streator, have immortalized themselves in connec­tion with this house, as its architects and builders. The building was com­pleted in 1848, and stood for nearly nine years - the only house of the kind in the county. The old church now belongs to the United Brethren society, but is not at present used for any purpose.
The United Brethren also have a comfortable house of worship in the village of New Michigan.
The first attempt at newspaper publishing was made here in 1853. Thomas Cotton, who has been mentioned in several other townships as a preacher of the Methodist denomination, was the projector of the scheme. The name of the publication was the Vermilion Herald. He obtained quite a number of subscribers and issued the first number. It is said to have been quite a sprightly little paper, and great hopes were entertained that it would be successful; but after careful calculation of expenses and profits, its proprietor concluded that it would break him up, and he did not issue a second number. He had obtained a good many cash subscribers, and on all of these he called and tendered the price they had advanced for the paper. About three years later, the first copy of the Livingston County News, published at Pontiac, made its appearance.
One of the most sad and mournful accidents that have occurred in the county happened here September 13, 1877. Three young men, Clark Cusick, Isaac Rummery and James Scovell, undertook the job of cleaning out an old well, on the farm of C. G. Cusick, formerly owned by Otho Pearre. The well was about thirty-five feet deep. Rummery was let down by means of a rope, and when within ten feet of the bottom, he let go of the rope and fell. Perceiving that

537
an accident had occurred to their companion, Cusick hastened down to his relief. but had not been let down more than fifteen feet, when he also fell. Then young Scovell, who was a grandson of C. G. Cusick, was let down; but he fell before he had proceeded ten feet. Assistance was obtained as soon as possible, and some old well-diggers coming upon the spot pronounced the well infected with "damps," or carbonic acid gas. Burning straw being thrown into the well, and instantly being extinguished, proved their theory correct, and that the persons at the bottom were dead. Grappling irons were then brought into requi­sition, and three hours after the bodies had all been brought to the surface. The names of the parties will be recognized as descendants of some of the first settlers, and most esteemed citizens of the township. The accident cast a deep gloom over the whole community.
The township of Newtown was organized April 6, 1858, by the election of Supervisor and other officers. This part of the county had, prior to this time, been set off as a voting precinct, with Judges of Election, Justice of the Peace and Constable, and was called the "New Michigan Precinct." Charles Decker, whose name will be recognized as one of the old settlers, had served in the capacity of Justice of the Peace from the establishing of the precinct in 1854, until the organization of the town in 1858. The first Supervisor was Eben Norton, who is the only man serving on the Board at the present time who was a member at the first meeting. Since 1858, the Supervisors in succession have been as follows: Eben Norton, C. H. Hart, Otho Pearre, David McIntosh, Chester Manley, Jacob Phillips, David Hoobler, Z. R. Jones and Stephen Hinds. The following is a complete list of the township officers as returned for 1878: Stephen Hinds, Supervisor; William A. Phillips, Clerk; John S. Paget, Collector; David McIntosh, Treasurer of Schools; John Forsythe, Assessor; Z. R. Jones and E. Sheibley, Justices of the Peace; F. M. Davis and A. J. Fulwiler, Constables, and Jacob Phillips, James Mortlan and Z. R. Jones, Road Commissioners.
In 1855, when the present system of schools was adopted (which indeed was the first public school system adopted in the State), Newtown Township had more schools within its limits than any other in the county. More attention was given to education in this locality than in any locality within forty miles. Though one township reports eight more children than this, Newtown had twice as many schools, and 171 scholars in the schools against 110 in any other.
A few items extracted from the report of John Hoobler, first School Treasurer, will doubtless be interesting. In many particulars, as compared with other townships at that date, they will be found much higher.

Number of schools

4

Number of persons under 21

345

Number of scholars in attendance at schools

171

Highest wages paid teachers, per month

$ 33.33-1/3

Amount paid for support of schools

1,421.00


538
For the purpose of comparing with the present, a few items from the report of D. McIntosh, for the year 1877, are also given.

Number of schools

9

Number of persons under 21

493

Number of scholars in attendance at school

293

Number of persons between 6 and 21

340

Number of teachers

21

Whole amount paid teachers

$2,705 00

Total paid for the support of schools

3,511 00

In the selection of teachers, this township has almost always been very fort­unate. Some of the best schools in the county have been taught here, and many of the best teachers have been educated in these schools.
As might be expected from the sentiments which had prevailed in this township for many years prior to the war which liberated 4,000,000 of slaves, many of the young men shouldered their muskets and marched to the scene of action, thus proving by their acts their belief in the doctrines taught them by their fathers. Some never returned alive. The names of a few are given as remem­bered: Henry F. Houston was killed at Gallatin, Tenn.; John Benrick was killed by accident in Tennessee; Wm. R. Houchin was killed at Bowling Green, Ky.; Franklin Hoobler was accidentally killed at Buck's Lodge, Tenn. Some others, whose names we could not get, died either of wounds or of army diseases, some in hospital and some living till they had reached home, dying among their friends and kindred.
Newtown Township consists of a little less than a full Congressional town, the west line of the township being Vermilion River, which cuts off all of Sections 30 and 31 and parts of 7, 18 and 19 of Township 30 north, Range 4 east of the Third Principal Meridian, and throwing this territory into Reading Township. The river, however, flows through the northeast corner of Section 30, Range 3, and these add about two sections of that town to Newtown, thus making the township consist of about thirty-four full sections. In the general appearance of its surface it much resembles Sunbury, which lies on the east, being somewhat rolling. About one-sixth of the land is covered by the timber of the Vermil­ion and Mud Creek. These streams of water, together with some small tribu­taries, furnish stock water to almost all of the farms in the western and southern parts. Coal is believed to underlie the whole township. Considerable mining has already been done in the west part, along the river, where the coal crops out.
At Vermilion City, where the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern Railroad crosses the Vermilion River, the Vermilion Coal Company have sunk shafts from which immense quantities of the article are taken. The Western Division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad crosses the township from east to west, giving the township a direct outlet to Chicago by way of Dwight. The Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern Railroad traverses a small portion of the northwestern corner, and the Chicago & Paducah passes through the town from northwest to southeast.

539
The stations on the several roads in this township are Smithdale, on the Chicago .& Alton; Collins, on the Chicago & Paducah; and Vermilion City, on the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern.

VILLAGE OF COLLINS OR NEWTOWN.
The Chicago & Paducah Railroad having been completed through this part of the county in 1871, and a switch being laid at this place, steps were imme­diately taken to found a town. On the 7th of August, in the year mentioned, M. E. Collins, who had been actively engaged in procuring the location of the road, caused to be laid out, from the southeast quarter of Section 21, the plat since known as Collins. A few weeks later, October 18th, Jacob Kuns and David Hoobler laid out a second plat of eleven acres, from the same section, naming it Newtown. While the post-office, established here soon after, has always retained the name of Collins, the village has generally been known by the other name.
The first house in the limits of the village was a dwelling, brought by M. A. Newman from his farm. Chester Manley built the first dwelling in the town; and M. E. Collins erected the first store building. David Hoobler and David Gouty moved a store room from New Michigan the same Fall. Soon after, J. & W. Hossack, of Odell, erected a small warehouse, built cribs and commenced buying grain. By the Winter of 1871-2, business was quite well established, and thus bid fair to be a town of considerable importance. Since that time, the village has continued to improve slowly, so that at present there are some twenty families in the place.
In the Fall of 1874, the Methodist Episcopal Church of New Michigan, following the example of other buildings, moved to the station. No school house has yet been erected, but one is contemplated, and will doubtless be built soon, as the wants of the town demand such accommodations.

VERMILION CITY.
This is simply a settlement made by the miners about the Vermilion Coal Co.'s works, on the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern Railroad, at the crossing of the Vermilion River, a mile southwest of Streator. A plat of the place was made by A. C. Huetson, for J. M. Walker, President, and A. T. Hall, Secretary, of the Chicago, Wilmington & Vermilion Coal Company. The plat consists of fifty-one acres, from Section 2, Township 30, Range 3. In the record of the plat, the right of mining all coal beneath the land is reserved. The town consists of forty or fifty miners and other employes of the Company, a few of whom have families.

SMITHDALE.
This is only a station on the western extension of the Chicago & Alton Railroad. Wm. Shepard laid out a town here in 1870. The plat consists of thirty-two acres, from Section 8, but has never been improved, and the station-house is all that exists to indicate the presence of a town.

540

ESMEN TOWNSHIP.
It is not only interesting and instructive to look over a map of the country as it was in the olden time, but, in a sense, quite amusing. If we compare a map of the eastern coast of the United States, as published by the authority of the British government in the year 1700, with the more modern publications of like character, we shall find features so different in the two as would not only be surprising to people ignorant of the history of the country subsequent to that date, but which would cause no little astonishment in the minds of the well informed. Look at a map of the Northwest during a period just prior to 1765, and you will find it marked as "French Territory." Then this same territory, from the date named until 1778, is delineated as a "British Province." After this, from 1778 until 1787, what is now the State of Illinois appears a part of Virginia. After this, for thirteen years, with a vast amount of other country, it was called the "Northwest Territory." In 1800, when our grandfathers were going to school, they were taught to call the whole of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan by the name of "Indiana Territory," and by this title it was known until 1809, when the map makers again had to change, and Illinois and Wisconsin were called the "Illinois Territory." In 1818, when our fathers began to study geography, the atlases in which grandfather and grandmother studied would no longer answer the purpose, for Illinois had then become a State, with boundaries co-extensive with what we now find them.
The changes which have come to the geographical features of the State since its admission into the Union are equally noticeable. The original num­ber of counties was only fifteen. These have been divided and changed so that we now have 102, each change being a source of grief to the map publishers..
The original number of voting precincts in Livingston were only Center, Indian Grove and Bayou; but these were divided as the county settled up, until 1858, when there were nine. In the year named, twenty townships were organized out of these, and since then ten more have been struck off, making at present thirty separate organizations.
The township of Esmen, like many others of the county, has worried the map makers. In 1835, there was nothing except the creeks, the little strips of timber on their banks, and a sea of grass; but since then, changes have been so frequent and marked that, almost before a chart of the township was off the press, a new one was required.
The first permanent settlement made in this township was by John Chews, from Ohio, in the year 1835. However, some young men, whose names are not remembered, came into the neighborhood a year or two before, and built a cabin, planted a little corn, and did a good deal of hunting and fishing, but had left the country before Chews came. At this time, all the country between Mud Creek (where Chews settled) and Pontiac, and for forty miles to the east, was an

541
open plain. At Pontiac were two or three cabins, occupied by the Youngs and Weed, who eventually laid out the county seat and became the proprietors of the town. There were yet no stores at Pontiac, or any other kind of business carried on either there or at any other point in the county; and Mud Creek, from all appearances, seemed as likely to become the metropolis of the county as any other location. The county had not been yet laid out, but was included in other county limits. The canal from Chicago to La Salle had not yet been built, though it had been talked of; and so the nearest market was Chicago. The early settler, however, cared but little for markets or shops. His gun and his hoe supplied him with all the real necessaries of life, including clothing; and as for luxuries, he had left them behind when he set his face toward the then far West.
Chews lived, like all pioneers, both a hard and an easy life - hard as taking into account the many comforts and advantages which abounded in the country from which he had come, and easy as regards the amount of actual labor performed to eke out a living. He remained in the township until about 1860, the date of his death.
The next settler was Wm. K. Brown. He was a mail contractor, and car­ried the bags from Ottawa to Pontiac and Indian Grove. He located in the northwestern part of the township, and made this his stopping place, and soon after obtained an order for establishing the Sunbury post-office at his house. Though in Esmen Township, it was north of the Creek, and was at first called by the name which the adjoining township now bears. What few mails were then brought to this part of the country, were, of course, brought on horseback; and, though postage was three to five times what it is now, and mails were car­ried for a very small salary, the postal service was not, in this part of the coun­try, self-sustaining. The post-boy, with his fleet horse and shrill horn to apprise the community of his approach, has become almost legendary, his place having been usurped by the steam horse and his fiery driver.
James Funk and William Ross settled in the grove, in the southern part of the town, now known as Babcock's Grove. They had been in the township a few years, when, in 1848, B. P. Babcock came from New York and bought them both out. They each owned an eighty of the grove, and, thinking to better their condition, sold their claims and removed to other parts.
"Judge" Babcock, as he is more familiarly known, came from Utica, in the year last named, and, being highly pleased with the appearance and location of the little grove, which has since borne his name, concluded to make this his home. Funk and Ross had each built a little log cabin, near where the Judge's residence now stands, and into one of these he moved and resided until he could erect a better house. Even at the time he came to the country it was but thinly settled, and neighbors were few and far between. He relates that, while moving his goods from Chicago to his future home, and when within twenty-one

542
miles of the Grove, he came upon a cabin, on the Mazon Creek, which proved to be the abode of one Salt Marsh. Babcock stopped here to water the horses, and while thus engaged the proprietor of the domicile came out and conversed with different parties of the moving company. Just as the Judge was about to move on, the resident of Mazon said to him: "Stranger, are you not the man who lately bought the grove just this side of Pontiac ?" and, on being informed that he was right in his suspicions, he continued: "Well, now, as it is late in the day, and you are to be neighbors, I would like to have you unhitch your horses and stay with me over night, so that we may become acquainted." This fur­ther illustrates the very cordial and friendly feeling that existed in those times. The stranger was perfectly welcome, and all seemed glad to contribute to each other's comfort and welfare. The petty jealousies which exist in older-settled communities were unknown.
Mr. Babcock has proved to be one of the most valuable and respected citi­zens of the county, and in its early days was one of its most popular and influ­ential politicians. He was the first County Judge, and under the administration of himself and his two associates, Eli Myer and John Darnall, the first brick Court House was built. They also built the bridge across the Vermilion, at about the same time. He relates that, while the bridge enterprise was under consideration, he was authorized to go to Chicago and contract with Messrs. Stone & Boomer to build the same. The trip to the city was taken on horse-back, and a very favorable contract was obtained. On the assembling of the court, at the next session, the Judge presented his bill for expenses attending his journey to Chicago, among the items of which was one day's board at the hotel, $1.50. Judge Myer, after examining the bill carefully, re-marked that he thought "the bill was in every respect proper, and ought to be paid; but that he thought he might have saved something by stopping at a cheaper hotel."
In 1850, Hugh Cummins came to the township to reside, and to marry the oldest pioneer's daughter. Cummins had been one of the old residents of Pon­tiac Township, having been in that vicinity six or eight years. His first wife, in the meantime, having died, and John Chew having a comely daughter, it was no hard matter to persuade Hugh that the soil in the vicinity of Mud Creek was of a superior character, and the daughter preferring to live near her pater­nal relatives, he removed his effects to Esmen and became one of its permanent and respectable citizens.
The year 1852 brought two of the most substantial and useful citizens that have ever resided in the township. Apollos Camp and his son-in-law Bennett Humiston came that year from Connecticut. Camp had been in the employ of Seth Thomas, a man whose memory time will certainly never obliterate; for if he has not made time, he surely has made more machines for computing it than any other American. Mr. Camp was the foreman of the shops of the great clock-maker, and the husband of the time-maker's daughter. Ben. Hu-

543
miston has been a most successful farmer and stock raiser, and has made a fortune from the products of the soil. Neither of these men has ever been much in politics or in office - not because their services were not desired, but because they preferred to give their attention to their own business, and allow those who had time and disposition to attend to such matters. Camp still makes his home in the township, while Humiston, having built one of the finest residences in Pontiac, has removed to that place.
By the last date mentioned, that is 1852, David Brown, Isaac Dickey, Cor­nelius Walrath and James Day had made their appearance. The first three settled on Mud Creek, and the last named was one of the first, and perhaps the very first, who ventured out on the prairie. Brown removed some years ago to Iowa. Dickey resided here until his death, which occurred several years since. His widow still occupies the old homestead. Walrath and Day have both been dead some years. The last named was a man who took much interest in edu­cation, and was the first school treasurer in this township, being chosen to that office in 1855. The next year after Camp and Humiston arrived, Moses Ross came from Ohio and settled near them in the center of the township, where he continued to live until his death, which occurred a year and a half ago. No further additional settlements are now remembered, until the completion of the railroad, and then they were so frequent as to excite but little interest, and no exact information can be had in regard to the date of their arrivals. Suffice it to say that within five years of the last-mentioned date not less than fifty families had settled within the limits of what is now denominated Esmen Township.
One family, not on account of respectability alone, but also on account of number, will receive special mention. Thomas Pearson, from Ohio, came to the township during the last-named period. He had a large family and had married a widow with another large family; and the two together coming to a new country like this, added very largely to its population. The family consisted of Thomas Pearson, Sr., Job, Ezra, William, Jesse, Moses and Thomas Jr., and on the other side Mrs. Pearson and son, John Anderson, and three daugh­ters. The sons and daughters were almost all grown and several of them mar­ried. In the meantime, William R. Babcock, J. N. Barr, C. W. Sterry, Jos. Finley, H. Marsh, John Campbell, Thornton Knight, E. Chase, Arlineus Brower and others had arrived.
By the time that the act for township organization went into effect in this county, it was found that this Congressional town contained quite enough voters for organization as a separate precinct; and it was accord­ingly set apart as one of the twenty original townships. On the 6th day of April, 1858, the first election took place, and Wm. R. Babcock was elected first Supervisor; C.W. Sterry, Clerk; John Campbell, Assessor; and

544
J. N. Barr, Collector. Their successors to the present time have been as follows :

Date.,

Supervisor.

Clerk.

Assessor.

Collector.

1859

W. R. Babcock

C. W. Sterry

John Campbell

J. N. Barr.

1860

W. R. Babcock

C. W. Sterry

John Campbell

A. W. Camp.

1861

W. R. Babcock

C. W. Sterry

H. F. Krum

S. H. Putnam.

1862

W. R. Babcock

C. W. Sterry

H. F. Krum

S. H. Putnam.

1863

W. R. Babcock

H. F. Krum

E. G. Rice

S. H. Putnam.

1864

A. Camp

Edward Gurnsey

W. R. Babcock

A. Brower.

1865

C. W. Sterry

George Clark

W. R. Babcock

D. E. Gault.

1866

Milton Wooley

George Clark

James Hannum

W. Worth.

1867

Milton Wooley

George Clark

D. Quint

H. C. Streator.

1868

C. W. Sterry

George Clark

Geo. Hobbs

Joseph Cowan.

1869

C. W. Sterry

Milton Wooley

Joseph Rucker

C. L. Dunham.

1870

Milton Wooley

Nelson A. Bemis

James Hannum

Aaron Ross.

1871

Milton Wooley

Nelson A. Bemis

John Gourley

H. H. Hight.

1872

Milton Wooley

Nelson A. Bemis

John Gourley

James Hannum.

1873

Milton Wooley

Nelson A. Bemis

John Gourley

Geo. Nixon.

1874

Milton Wooley

Nelson A. Bemis

James Hannum

J. C. Pearson.

1875

Milton Wooley

Nelson A. Bemis

Joseph Potter

J. C. McGrew.

1876

Joseph Potter

Nelson A. Bemis

P. F. McDonald

A. W. Camp.

1877

Joseph Potter

Nelson A. Bemis

P. F. McDonald

F. P. Corbin

1878

E. W. Pearson

Nelson A. Bemis

P. F. McDonald

F. P. Corbin.

The balance of the township officers elect are: Eli W. Pearson, School Treasurer; C. W. Sterry and A. W. Camp, Justices of the Peace; E. W. Pearson and Thomas Schlosser, Constables.
The first school, as noted in Sunbury Township, was taught in the northwestern part of the township by Catharine Sprague. As the grove about Mud Creek was partly in Esmen and partly in Sunbury, so, consequently, the first settlements were made near each other in what is now denominated the Two Sections. Of course the history of the two sections of the neighborhood is the same. They had the same school, the same religious meetings, and whatever was an event in one was known and commented on by all; and until the arbi­trary lines made by the commissioners were drawn, this was called the Mud Creek Precinct. So, as the foundation of the schools and churches has already been given in a former page, it is not deemed necessary to repeat the same here.
From the first report made by the Township Treasurer, James Day, in 1855, we are permitted to glean the following facts: There were in the township two public schools supported by public money; there were 97 persons under 21 years of age, of whom 42 were in attendance at the schools; they were supported at an expense of $193.00, and the highest wages paid either of the teachers was $16.00 per month.
That the reader may have an idea of the progress of education in this township during the next twenty-three years, the following table is introduced :


No. of Schools

No. of Schol'rs

Av. teachers' wages

Whole am'unt paid out

1866

6

235

$22.30

$1,905.00

1872

10

249

33.43

3,245.00

1878

9

243

31.80

3,003.00

547
Except the two branches of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, no religious societies exist in the township; though we would not have it understood that the people of this township are strangers to the influence of the Gospel, for they are surrounded on all sides by churches. At Pontiac, Cayuga, Odell, Cor­nell and Blackstone, all within convenient distance, are organizations to which many of the people of Esmen belong, and to the support of which they contribute. Sunday schools and preaching in the school houses are privileges of which they also avail themselves.
The two houses of worship alluded to are situated in the southwest corner of the township, one in the village of Rowe, and the other about a mile north-west of town. The one in the village was built in 1876, and is still not quite completed, though nearly enough so to permit the holding of services. The building is thirty by forty feet, and has cost about $1,900. Rev. J. I. Welo is the present Pastor.
The other building was erected during the war, and is of about the same size and cost about the same amount. In this building a select school is supported during a portion of the year, but more for religious training than for sec­ular, the children attending the public schools the most of the time.
The call of the President for soldiers to suppress the rebellion was heard by many in this township, and hearing, they left all - homes, firesides, friends and kindred - and followed the beat of the drum to the field of battle. A number of the brave boys who left us never returned. Their bones lie mingled with the soil of the country which they went out to rescue from the hands of traitors. The names of a few are here given. There were others, but on account of an unfortunate method of registration, many of the names are accredited to other towns. However, in the general War Record, in a subsequent portion of this work, will be found not only these, but the names of all who enlisted from the township. Among those who were killed or died from their wounds or disease, are remembered: George Perry, Henry H. Reid, Wm. H. Perry and Andrew Allen.

VILLAGE OF ROWE,
On the completion of the Chicago & Paducah Railroad, among the many little towns which sprang up along the line was this. It was surveyed and platted by A. C. Huetson, from the southeast quarter of Section 32, for James Rowe, the proprietor, July 24, 1871. As will readily be guessed, the name was for the originator of the scheme. The project has been scarcely as success­ful as many who lived in the vicinity hoped, though it has proved a great con­venience to shippers of grain and stock, and as a minor trading place; and the road has been quite an accommodation as a means of communication with the county seat. The village contains at this time about fifty inhabitants, one store, one grain elevator and one blacksmith shop. J. M. Rowe still owns the plat of the town, though he has removed to the town of Sheridan in this State.

548
Esmen, otherwise in the survey described as Town 29 north, Range 5 east of the Third Principal Meridian, is bounded north by Sunbury Township; east by Odell; south by Pontiac, and west by Amity. Its surface is slightly undulating in the eastern part, and somewhat more level in the southwestern part. Nearly all of the land is of an excellent quality, though in portions of the township, the soil, being rather thin with a clay subsoil, is rendered subject to drought. It is traversed by Wolf Creek and its branches, Baker's Run and Mud Creek, all of which flow from the township on its western side, and empty into the Vermilion. The Chicago & Alton Railroad from the northeast to southwest, cuts off a few acres from the southeast corner of Section 36, near the village of Cayuga. The Chicago & Paducah Railroad passes through the south-western part, from northwest to southeast, cutting off two sections from the south-west corner. Perhaps two sections in the vicinity of Mud Creek, and a quarter section at the head of Wolf Creek, called Babcock's Grove, embrace all of the timber in the township.
The valuation of property for the year 1877 was $475,986, as returned by the Assessor.

READING TOWNSHIP.
A few periods in the history of every nation, of every man and of every locality are seemingly of more importance than all of the balance of their existence. Probably no year in the history of Illinois has been more eventful than that of 1832. Certainly no year has brought so much anxiety and excite­ment to Central and Northwestern Illinois as did the one named. Previous to this time, it is true, there was considerable unrest and fear experienced by the inhabitants from their red neighbors, the Indians. Though, to all outward appearances, they were on friendly terms, yet the former, conscious that they were encroaching on the assumed rights of the others, and knowing full well their dispositions and their sensitiveness on the subject, were all the while apprehensive of trouble. During the year mentioned, all of their forebodings and much more were realized. Black Hawk and his allies had been wrought up to such a pitch that neither threats nor promises by the Government or the State would longer avail, and war between the two races seemed inevitable. The State and nation were prompt to deal with the belligerents, but not until a num­ber of wholesale butcheries had been perpetrated, were the Indians brought into subjection and removed from the State. In the mean time, though no actual demonstration occurred in this section, yet all were in such a state of suspense and anxiety that the county was for a time entirely deserted, some going to the nearest fortifications for protection, and others returning to their friends in the East, to be out of harm's way until the troubles might blow over. After peace and order had been restored, those who had for a time left their pioneer homes returned, bringing with them many new settlers. Of this number were Jacob Moon and his sons, Rees, Albert and Thomas, and daughter Margaret. These

549
were the original and first settlers of what is now Reading Township. They were from the State of Ohio, and, like all early emigrants from wooded countries, were attracted by the timber and water features of the country, and hence settled in the immediate vicinity of the river, and near the little stream of water which now bears their name. The point of timber, still known as Moon's Point, is one of the most beautiful spots in this part of the country, and no wonder is expressed that they should have been pleased with the fine scenery as well as satisfied with the more material prospects. At the time of which we speak, there were not to exceed a dozen families in the whole county, of which were Rook, at Rook's Creek, the McDowells at Avoca, and Darnalls at Indian Grove. These were from ten to fifteen miles apart; and it is not surprising that some trepidation was felt at the nearness of the wild men, and of their very insecure condition, should an enemy appear. Even after the troubles were all over, frequent frights occurred. It is related of one of the Moons that, one evening, on his return from work, seeing his wife at a distance from the house, he gave the well known Indian war-whoop, and was rewarded for his little pleasantry by seeing his wife go into spasms, from which she was recovered with great diffi­culty. The Moons were not alone in the township a great length of time, for in a short time they were joined by others from their native State.
Daniel Barackman, or "Bergman," as the name was spelled in the German language, came from Ohio a very short time after the Moons had lifted the light of their countenances upon the region. This family was a very large one, and this, with the large Moon family, went a good ways toward settling the township. The family consisted of Daniel Barackman, Sr., James, Upton, Jacob, Benja­min, Daniel, Jr., and daughters Harriet and Mary Ann. Of these original settlers but few still remain, but their descendants are quite numerous. The original Moons are all dead; and all of the first Barackmans, except Benja­min and Daniel, Jr., are either dead or have removed to other parts.
M. I. Ross, mentioned in Pontiac Township, settled here in 1835. He was clerk of the first precinct election, held at the house of Alexander Breckinridge in the Bayou Precinct. He was the first C. C. C. C., as he signs himself - Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court. He lived here until his death, which occurred at an early date.
It may seem almost unaccountable that for the next fifteen years, scarcely a new settlement was made in this township. However, when it is remembered that the prairie lands of Livingston County did not find purchasers until 1848, or a little later, and that though one whole side of the township is bordered with timber, it is mentioned that the Moons and Barackmans occupied nearly all of it, the explanation becomes easy. There were several of the Moon fam­ilies, and also several families of the Barackmans, and they spread themselves along the whole side of the township. In Amity it was quite different. The edge of the timber bordering on the prairies was nearly four times as great in length, and the families who settled did not usually consist of grown-up and

550
married sons and daughters; hence the amount of land occupied by a single family was much less, and there being a much longer stretch of timber, made room for nearly four times as many settlers. It was not until about 1848 that the township began to fill up, and settlements began to be made in the prairie. By 1854, which is generally named as the end of the pioneer period in these parts, about a dozen families, mostly from Ohio, moved into the neighborhood, entered land and became permanent residents. Of these were the Defenbaughs, Bussards, Mathises and Millses, almost all of whom were from the same neigh­borhood. The original Defenbaughs were Samuel, Andrew and John. The descendants of these, together with others who have come more recently to the neighborhood, constitute the largest number of a single connection in the township. The time has been when almost every second person met would prove to be a Defenbaugh.
Jacob and William Bussard were brothers, the former of whom is dead (the widow living in the village of Reading), and the latter residing in the township. Jerry and Caleb Mathis were amongst the very first who entered land here, their names appearing upon the original entry book as early as 1852. Caleb was one of the founders of the town of Reading, and for him and David Boyle the town was laid out, in the early part of 1851.
Jeremiah Mathis was the first Justice of the Peace in what is now known as Reading, being elected to the office in 1854.
John Mills and sons, John W., Joshua and Thomas, came in 1851, the first three settling in this township, and the last just across the line in Long Point. This family is known and recognized as one of the most substantial and straight in the township. John Mills, Sr., has been dead several years. The sons still reside where they first settled. J. C. Mills was the first Collector elected in Reading Township, was Supervisor a number of terms, and has held many other official positions.
Ephraim Clark is one of the solid men of this part of the county. He was one of the first two Justices of the Peace elected after the township organiza­tion act was adopted, John A. Hoskins being the other. Hoskins was a man of some note. He was one of the first to enlist in the service of the country during the rebellion, was elected Captain of Co. D of the 20th I. V. I., and was afterward promoted to the office of Major.
Richard S. Hick was also one of the early settlers. We find his name recorded in the county archives as a "Magistrate of the Precinct of Reading" in the year 1857.
Wm. B. Lyon, while he remained in this section, was one of the most prom­inent citizens; he was also a native of Ohio, and came to this part of the county in 1851. He was the first School Treasurer of Reading, being appointed to that office in 1855; and was one of the first merchants of Read­ing. Upon his election to the office of Sheriff of the county, he removed to the county seat, and thus, while the township was honored by the selection of

551
one of its citizens to an important office, it lost one of its best citizens, and Pontiac gained one.
The northwestern part of the township was settled principally by natives of the "Keystone State." Among the earliest and most prominent were the Bradfords, Woolvertons and Kysers. Joseph Woolverton was elected from this township Treasurer of the county, and removed to Pontiac, where he resided until 1876, when he again removed to Colorado. This township has been further hon­ored by the selection from among its citizens of two other men to fill prominent offices. In 1861, Samuel Maxwell was elected County Treasurer. He was at the date named the most prominent politician in Livingston County, and could manage elections and manipulate caucuses in a manner that surprised everybody, especially his opponents. Maxwell removed to Missouri about ten years ago. Amos Hart was elected Sheriff in 1864, and resided in Pontiac until a few years ago, when he went to California to hunt gold, where he is at present.
In 1858, the population of the township had increased to about 400, and the voting population was nearly 100. Previous to this, what is now Reading and a small part of Long Point, were known as the Reading Precinct; but in the year mentioned, all that portion of Town 30, Range 4, west of the Vermil­ion, and all of Town 30, Range 3, were set off by the commissioners as a sep­arate precinct or political township, and an election ordered for the 6th of April.
At this election, J. S. R. Overholt was elected Supervisor; Alex. H. Boyd, Clerk; Christopher Brazee, Assessor; J. C. Mills, Collector; Albert Moon, Overseer of the Poor; Samuel Woolverton, J. G. Defenbaugh and Hugh Grant, Commissioners of Highways.
The successors to the principal offices have been :

Date.

Supervisor.

Clerk.

Collector.

Assessor.

1859

Samuel H. Bradford

A. H. Boyd

Wm. B. Lyon

Samuel Thompson.

1860

J. C. Mills

A. H. Boyd

J. W. Mills

J. Mathis.

1861

E. S. Woolverton

A. H. Boyd

J. M. Black

J. W. Mills.

1862

J. C. Mills

A. S. Bradford

M. F. Overholt

J. W. Mills.

1863

J. C. Mills

A. H. Boyd

Wm. Wilson

J. W. Mills.

1864

J. C. Mills

A. H. Boyd

Wm. Wilson

A. Defenbaugh.

1865

J. C. Mills

J. S. Gumm

Johnson Bradley

E. S. Clark.

1866

A. H. Boyd

J. S. Gumm

C. Wulzen

J. Mathis.

1867

M. Tombaugh

J. S. Gumm

C. Wulzen

A. J. Bosserman.

1868

A. H. Boyd

J. S. Gumm

A. Defenbaugh

A. J. Bosserman

1869

J. S. R. Overholt

S. U. Thompson

L. C. Mills

J. Mathis

1870

A. Defenbaugh

R. D. Clark

Johnson Bradley

A. J. Bosserman.

1871

A. Defenbaugh

L. H. Mallery

Jacob Yothers

A. J. Bosserman.

1872

A. Defenbaugh

L. H. Mallery

A. J. Bosserman

J. M. Grove.

1873

A. Defenbaugh

L. H. Mallery

J. McFadden

J. M. Grove.

1874

A. Defenbaugh

J. F. Overholt

W. S. Krith

A. H. Boyd.

1875

L. H. Mallery

James Holt

J. F. Overholt

John Coe.

1876

John W . Mills

James Holt

L. N. Arnold

J. M. Grove.

1877

J. W. Moon

L. H. Mallery

J. Carpenter

J. Patterson.

The township officers elect for 1878 are J. W. Moon, Supervisor; L. H. Mallery, Clerk; Lovejoy Hunt, Collector; John Coe, Assessor; L. H. Mal­ery and J. H. Holt, Justices of the Peace; Samuel Yorty and Joseph Defen­baugh, Constables; and John Coe, School Treasurer.

552
Education has received due attention in this township. Our information as to the very first school, by whom taught, and when, being somewhat conflicting, it is thought best to venture no positive assertions; but that the first school opened was in a little log building at Moon's Point, and that it was at an early date is not doubted. We have reliable information for stating that, in 1856, there were two schools, one at Reading and the other in the Barackman neighhood; there were in attendance at these schools 110 scholars, and that there were two other organized districts in the township. In these last mentioned districts, which were the Ancona and Woolverton, houses were built the next year. One noticeable item in the report of the Treasurer for that year, is that the average wages paid for their Winter school was $47.50 per month. This was higher wages than that paid in any other township that year, and is a good indication of a favorable sentiment in regard to the then new public school system. Since that time material changes have taken place in population, pol­itics and society, in which the town has shown commendable progress, and the subject of education has continued to hold a prominent place, as is indicated by the following figures extracted from the report of the School Treasurer for 1877 :

Number of schools

12

Number of scholars enrolled

431

Number of persons between 6 and 21

579

Number of persons under 21

846

Number of teachers

19

Amount paid to teachers for the year

$3,410 00

Whole amount expended for school purposes

4,476 00

This township is quite well supplied with church privileges. Besides those afforded by Streator and in other adjoining townships, there are four very com­fortable and convenient buildings, situated in different parts of the township. In the village of Reading, the Methodists erected a house of worship in 1857.
A year or two later, the Protestant Methodists, in conjunction with the Christian or Campbellite denomination, built a Union Church at Ancona. A few years later, in 1867, a Union Church was erected at Coalville, which, however, has since been used mostly by the United Brethren society. In 1871-2, the Presbyterians, who had for some years been worshiping in the Methodist Church at Reading, erected a neat little house of worship a couple of miles northwest of the village.
All of these buildings are occupied by flourishing societies of the respective denominations. Sunday schools are kept up at all of them, and also in some of the school houses besides.
No township took a livelier interest in the defense of the Government in the great struggle against those who would have destroyed it in 1861-5. Reading Township furnished men for the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth, the Seventy-seventh, and several other regiments, many of whom received deadly wounds, and some fatal ones. Of those who proved their valor by such a precious sac-

553
rifice, the following are remembered: Andrew S. Bradford, S. H. Henion, David Jones, Marion Rush, William T. Boyd, Fred. W. Hall, James H. Chrit­ten, John Roberts and Stephen Shipley.
Politically, until within a few years, this township has been a Democratic stronghold, whose fortifications were impregnable to any assault which the enemy could make. However, lately, on local questions, factions of both Republicans and Democrats have united, and formed the Anti-Monopoly or Greenback party, so that it would not be safe to state positively that it belonged to either of the old parties.

VILLAGE OF READING.
Excepting the county seat, this is the oldest laid out town in the county, having been surveyed and platted previous to 1851. In the year named, it was surveyed by Franklin Oliver for David Boyle and Caleb Mathis, from the southeast quarter of Section 15. Scarcely a prettier location for a town could be found in the whole county than this. The ground is high and dry; and being on the bank of a fine little stream of water, good drainage is rendered easy. The first house built in the village was put up by L. S. Latham. Dr. Follet built an office near the same time.
The parties who laid out the town were also interested in its business and its early improvement; and David Boyle, who was one of the proprietors, and Jeremiah Mathis, brother of the other, built the first store house. Mathis also built a hotel, and was the conductor of the same. About this time the coal mines in this vicinity were being developed; and people from all sections of the country, within fifty miles, came here for coal. Being unable to make the trip in one day, and sometimes having to await their turn, necessitated hotel accom­modations for those who were obliged to stop here over night. So extensive did this business become in a few years that three hotels were at one time in successful operation. Those times are all passed; and the weary and worn traveler, unless he be so fortunate as to find a friendly villager who will take him in, must pursue his tedious journey a few miles farther. Dr. J. Hill came in soon after the town was established, and built a residence and opened an office.
C. R. Kyser, who had been living in the township, came to the village and built a blacksmith shop, and carried on the trade.
Jacob Bussard, in partnership with William B. Lyon, opened up a store a short time after. They afterward dissolved, and each carried on the business independently, thus making at one time three flourishing general stores. Prior to the establishment of Reading, the people in all of this section of country went to Lacon and Ottawa to do their trading; and, consequently, this enterprise, in connection with the coal banks, drew a large amount of business to this point. The town grew rapidly, and bid fair to be a place of importance; but railroads, built soon after in other parts of the country, drew business and capital away from the place, and Reading was left to languish. The town is still a

554
pleasant little place to live in, but the greatness that was anticipated for it has all vanished.

VILLAGE OF ANCONA.
The history of Ancona is quite similar to that of Reading. With the change of dates and names, the remarks which apply to the one, might with propriety be repeated. Ancona was, however, founded on a different basis. The Great Air Line Railroad, from Fort Wayne to Council Bluffs, had been projected, surveyed and partially graded through this section, and there was not a doubt entertained that it would be completed. Accordingly, in 1854, the town of Ancona was surveyed for Orson Shackleton and Joseph Gumm. Depot grounds were set apart, and a street for a track surveyed. True to expectation, the road was graded through the village, and then Ancona real estate was held at high figures. Lots were sold out rapidly, and buildings went up as if by magic. Stores were opened and a hotel was built. Orson and Benjamin Shackleton built the first house, a store, and occupied it with a stock of goods. The Shackletons were form New York, and remained here until about eight years ago, when they removed. L. B. Smith, who had been living in the township, and who was formerly from Pennsylvania, built the first dwelling, which was the second house in the place. He is still a resident, and occupies the same old house. William Boatman, also a Pennsylvanian, soon after erected a hotel, and as this was but a short distance from the coal banks it was well patronized. Boatman afterward sold the hotel to Joel Willet, who had been living in the township. Boatman still resides in the village. Willet is dead, but the hotel is still kept open by members of the family.
Johnson Bradley came here in 1854, from Ohio, and started a wagon shop, and still carries on the trade at or near the old stand. C. R. Kyser, who had been living in the village of Reading, this year sold out his possessions there to Jacob Bussard, and came to Ancona and opened a blacksmith shop. Joseph Gumm had also been in business in Reading, and, seeing a bigger thing here, removed his store to this point. Gumm and Kyser have both gone further west.
The enterprise that did most to actually develop and give solidity to the town was the flour mill erected by Erastus Loomis, who came here from Ohio, in 1857. At this time there was no such convenience in this vicinity, or for miles west, and it naturally drew a large amount of trade from the surrounding country. Wheat was then considered a good crop, and a great deal of flour was made, not only for home use but for the purpose of shipping abroad.
After a while, the railroad seemed to be a delusion; and, though it was a severe blow to the little village and the neighborhood, they did not continue to mourn. A few years subsequently, however, the mill was removed, and their hope of making this a town of any great consequence went out.
Streator was built a few years ago, and has quite overshadowed this place and Reading. The Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern Railroad was constructed

555
through here in 1872, and stations being made of these two places has given to them new life, and they are now convenient local trading points.

VILLAGE OF COALVILLE.
This is a little town, laid out by L. H. Mallery, October 6, 1865, near the coal beds, on Section 2. The town is occupied almost wholly by parties interested in the mining of the coal, of which immense quantities are taken out here. As much as 2,000 tons are mined per year; and before the works at Streator were established, more than double this amount was mined. The mines are owned by L. H. Mallery and others, who allow them to be worked by other parties, who pay the proprietors a percentage of the products.
Reading is a fractional township, consisting of Congressional Town 30 north, Range 3 east, except Section 1 and part of 2 (which are cut off by the Vermil­ion River), and Sections 30 and 31, and parts of Sections 18 and 19, of Town 30, Range 4. It is traversed by Moon Creek, from the west, and another small tributary of the Vermilion, flowing from the southwest.
The Western Extension of the Chicago & Alton Railroad crosses the north-western corner of Section 6; and the C., P. & S. W. R. R. divides the town-ship into two nearly equal parts, from northeast to southwest.
The land is of a very rich and productive character, well adapted to the raising of corn, oats, rye and vegetables, large crops of which are produced.

SUNBURY TOWNSHIP.
This, according to the survey, is denominated Township 30 north, Range 5 east of the Third Principal Meridian. It is a full Congressional town, being six miles square and containing 23,040 acres of land. With the exception of about one section in the southwest corner, and the little groves planted by own­ers of the land, it may be said to be without timber. The surface of the land, especially in the southern part, is quite rolling, perhaps more so than any other township in the county. The only stream of water flowing through any portion is Mud Creek, which in reality rises in the township.
The western branch of the Chicago & Alton Railroad passes through the northern part, on the half section line of the second tier of sections.
Owing to the scarcity of timber and water, but little of the township was settled until a comparatively recent date. A few sections had been selected in the southwest corner, in the vicinity of Mud Creek, prior to 1850, but the larger portion was yet unsettled five years later.
When rapidly growing cities have become so compactly built that there no longer remains ground on which buildings may be placed, or when lots have become so dear that newer comers can find no suitable location, corresponding to their limited means, on which to erect them a habitation, they are necessarily compelled to seek room at a distance from the occupied portions of the city. In this way, addition after addition is made to the original plat of the city;

556
and suburb after suburb follows, until what was at first considered a long way out in the country becomes the very heart of the city. Suburban towns thus grow and thrive from the simple overflow, until some of them even rival the parent corporation in wealth, population and power. By this means, Brook­lyn, which is truly a suburb of New York, has become the third city in popula­tion in the United States, containing half the number of inhabitants that does the city of New York. This is the history of the old world and the new. The people are being perpetually pushed off, thrust out and led forward as the hu­man race multiplies. It is the history of societies and families. When the chil­dren are grown, though their love for the paternal fireside is not less, their love for independence and freedom is greater, and, one by one, they build their own tenements and erect their own altars. Human beings, like some of the lower orders of animals, love home, and, but for the hope of bettering their condition, would be loth to change their habitations. There is no better illustration of this idea than the settlement of the prairies of the West. The Eastern States were full. There was no land there for the increasing population, and young men and women, with the constantly arriving emigrants from foreign shores, must seek homes on the borders of civilization. So they came. The first ones settled in the timber tracts, because, perhaps, it reminded them of the well remembered scenes of their youth. The later emigrant, however, was not per­mitted to rest his feet even here, but was obliged to locate at a greater or less distance on the open prairie; and now, the emigrant finds not a foothold there, but is advised to continue his journey toward the setting sun.
The groves along the Vermilion River and along Mud Creek were pretty well occupied by 1850; but yet, at that time, all to the north and east, including all of Sunbury Township and many other whole townships, was but an open plain on which not a house or a fence or any other evidence existed to indicate that a white man had ever visited the region. .
The Indian troubles of 1832 had been removed by the removal of the Indians to their reservations beyond the Mississippi. The panic of 1837 and '38 had passed, the credit of the State was beginning to recover from its effects, and settlements were again being made in this section; and, as they found the land along the creeks already occupied, shanties, here and there on the open prairie, began to appear.
The first actual settler of the township was Andrew Sprague. He came to the township in the year 1835. Mr. Sprague was from the wooded part of New York, and was doubtless pleased more with the timber feature of the township than with its rolling prairie, and therefore selected his farm on the bank of Mud Creek. He is still living, but has moved his residence to the village of Cornell. He has seen many changes, not only in the appearance of the township, but in the county, as he was one of the first settlers of this part of the State. Soon after his arrival, a great financial panic swept over the country, and especially over this State; and emigration, for several years, was materially

557
checked. For the next nine years, Sunbury did not have a single permanent addition. The few who came to the neighborhood settled in the timber; and as this belt in Sunbury was quite limited, Sprague occupying the largest and (then considered) the best portion, they were constrained to look elsewhere for their ideal of a farm.
The financial crisis, however, had passed by 1844; the Michigan & Illi­nois Canal project was again on foot; and the eyes of emigrants were again on the central part of Illinois. In the year named, Jacob Longnecker made his appearance. Longnecker was a native of Pennsylvania; but, when but a boy of ten years, went to Kentucky, where he lived until of age, when he married and removed to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and finally, in 1844, as stated, to this township.
Ephraim Sprague, brother of Andrew, though not a permanent resident, had bought land in the neighborhood, and had built cabins thereon. Into one of these cabins the Longnecker family removed, and worked the land for a year, and then, having pre-empted land and built them a cabin, moved to it. In this house the family, or members of it, resided until 1865, when the building was turned into a blacksmith shop. Mr. Longnecker died in 1861.
Three years after the coming of Longnecker, E. G. Rice and Luther Smith settled here. Rice was a native of Maine. He had left that State, however, two years before, and had spent a year in Michigan and another in Kendall County of this State. He is now a resident of the southern part of the State. His son George, who was, at the time of his father's coming to the township, but a boy, is now a resident of Pontiac. Luther Smith was the first man who had the hardihood to settle on the prairie. He selected his home in the northwest part, near the present site of the village of Blackstone. His farm has always been known as "Smith's Mound." Smith died about fifteen years ago, but the Mound is still occupied by representatives of the family.
Philip Hilton is now the oldest living resident, having come to the township a short time after Sprague.
Gabriel and Joseph Brown were also early settlers. They removed to Iowa a few years ago.
For five years after the arrival of Smith and Rice, though the timbered por­tions of the county received accessions yearly, no others had the temerity to settle on the open prairie. However, in 1852, characteristic of the man, con­trary to the advice of his friends, who added ridicule to solicitude, Asa Blakes­lee took up a claim in the central part. He was laughed at by those who lived in the timber, and was told that he would certainly be eaten up by the wolves, and that, should he live out there till he was old, he would never have any neighbors. But Blakeslee comforted himself with the reflection that he would, in that case, like Robinson Crusoe, be "monarch of all he surveyed." He bought 200 head of young cattle, and had no trouble to find plenty of pasture for them, as the adjoining sections were all vacant. Soon after coming to the

558
neighborhood, he went with his team to Ottawa, and bought a load of lumber. On his return, as he passed through the timber, he cut two forked saplings and one long pole, which he brought with him. The two saplings were planted at a distance of fifteen feet from each other, and the pole laid in the forks. The boards were then placed one end upon the pole and the other end on the ground, thus making in appearance a habitation resembling the roof of a rough stable. In this simple shelter he lived while his house was being built. For six months he did not see the face of a white man.*
He lived, for the first six months, on corn meal, pork and turnips. These items are given not on account of any peculiarity in the mode of living, but, on the contrary, because it was the usual manner with the first settlers. Mr. Blakeslee is a native of Litchfield County, Connecticut; he has been closely identified with every public and political movement of his township, and, at an advanced age, he resides in the vicinity of his first settlement.
Very soon after the advent of Blakeslee, Isaac Ames, from Maine, settled a little northeast from the point of timber on Mud Creek, and built a log cabin, in which he resided for a time, until he had erected a better house. Isaac Ames, Jr., now of Streator, had been teaching school in Michigan, and had practiced medicine there and in La Salle County in this State. He lived on the Ames place until about ten years ago, when he sold out, removed to Streator and engaged in the hardware trade.
James L. Hadley was a Methodist preacher. He came from Ohio at about the time that the Ameses made their appearance. The first preaching, except an occasional sermon, was done by him and Jacob Hoobler, of Newtown.
In 1854, the two great railroads, the Chicago & Alton and the Illinois Cen­tral, had been finished through Central Illinois, and not only conveyed immi­grants to this part of the State, but some of the contractors and laborers on the works became some of our very best citizens. During the two preceding years, Thomas F. Norton, J. O. Corey, Erastus Corey, Ansel Gammon and brothers, and Perry Corbin came to this part of the State. Thomas F. Norton was from Maine, and settled in the northeastern part of the township. He first settled in La Salle County, a little north of Ottawa, where he taught school a year before making this his permanent residence. After a short residence in the county, he was elected County Surveyor, the duties of which office he performed in a very satisfactory manner. In 1862, he was ordained as a minister of the Baptist Church, and preached at New Michigan and other points until his death, in 1866.
J. O. Corey and his brother Erastus were from Pennsylvania. The former was a man of no ordinary ability. He had been an officer of high rank in the Mexican war. At the close of the war, having distinguished himself as a soldier, he was proposed by his friends as a candidate for the office of Sergeant­-at-Arms of Congress, and, though not elected, received a very flattering vote. He was the first Supervisor of this township, being elected in 1858. He
*In the meantime, Shabbona (see Page 149) paid him a visit.

559
removed to Iowa two years ago. Erastus was a carpenter, and worked most of the time at the trade. He came to this part of the State in the employ of the railroad company, in 1853. He afterward returned to his native State, where he was killed by falling from a building on which he was working.
The Gammons were from La Salle County. They lived here for a few years, and then removed to different portions of the State.
Perry Corbin, a relative of one of the earliest settlers of Rook's Creek, came here from Virginia. He and his brother Anderson, who came a few years later, were both blacksmiths, though only Anderson worked at the trade after settling here.
Enos Thatcher, H. H. Brower, and John Gower and son, B. A. Gower; though not among the earliest settlers, are deserving of mention as men of more than ordinary character. The first was an early settler of La Salle County. He still resides in this township. Brower came from Ashtabula County, Ohio. He was a lawyer, and practiced in the courts of this county. In 1860, he was a candidate for Representative to the Illinois Legislature, but was not elected. A few years since, he removed to Nebraska, where he now resides. Gower and son were from Maine, and being men of education and ability, have proved themselves valuable accessions to the social and business wants of the community.
The first school to which the children of Sunbury had access was established in the edge of the timber of Mud Creek, just outside the limits of the township, and near the Sprague property. It was taught by Catharine Sprague, mother of Andrew and Ephraim. This was about the year 1836, and twenty years before the public school system of the State was adopted, hence was a private affair, maintained by subscription. In 1855, the Hilton school house was built, and the next year the Ames house. The report of the first School Treasurer, Thomas F. Norton, shows that in 1855 there was but one school, thirty-four scholars in attendance, ninety-two children in the township, and one teacher; the highest wages paid was $12 per month, and the whole amount paid out for school purposes was $38.75. He also reports that a canvass of all the township discloses the fact that there are 107 school books in all of the houses, sixty-five of which are elementary spellers. But few townships made more satisfactory progress during the next ten years. The one school had been multiplied by seven, each of which had a comfortable house; the number of scholars had increased to 217; the average monthly wages paid to teachers was $28.50; and the total amount paid out for the support of schools was thirty-three times as great, being, in 1865, over $1,300.
The following extract from the report of the Township Treasurer will indi­cate the condition of schools at the close of 1877 :

Number of schools

9

Number of scholars enrolled

385

Number of teachers

15

Amount paid teachers

$2,569.00

Total amount paid for support of schools

4,629.00

Amount raised by special tax

1,855.00

Principal of school fund

7,798.00

560
The first post office for the benefit of this community, like the first school, was established in Esmen Township, was called Sunbury, and kept at the Brown residence. It was afterward moved to Andrew Sprague's, and has since had a migratory existence, like all country post offices, going from one house to another, as different persons could be found who were willing to be bothered with it. At last, when the village of Blackstone was established, the post office was moved there; and, as its name was changed, it can hardly now be said to exist.
Though preachers have had a permanent residence here, and though many pious Christian people have lived here, neither church house nor organization existed in the township, until the village of Blackstone began to build. Sab­bath schools held in the public school houses, with preaching at the same places, have been as common as in other parts of the county; and the morals and religion of the people are as well cultivated as in other towns.
The township of Sunbury was organized April 6, 1858, by the election of J. O. Corey, Supervisor; J. S. Cummings, Clerk; T. F. Norton, Assessor; A. S. Blakeslee, Collector; A. Sprague, John Gower and R. C. Myer, Com­missioners of Highways; Isaac H. Ames and A. J. Collins, Justices of the Peace; A. A. Blakeslee and Wm. M. Hopkins, Constables. The whole number of votes cast at this first election was but nineteen, and as most of them were elected to an office, it will be seen that, by 1858, but few new names appear to the old settlers' list.
The following list gives the names of the principal officers elected at each successive meeting, to this date (1878), which list has been kindly furnished by Geo. H. Blakeslee, present Township Clerk :

Date.

Supervisor.

Town Clerk.

Assessor.

Collector.

1859

John Gower

J. S. Cummings

T. F. Norton

Isaac Ames.

1860

John Gower

J. S. Cummings

T. F. Norton

Wm. Hopkins.

1861

Isaac Ames

J. S. Cummings

John Gower

Geo. H. Blakeslee.

1862

H. H. Brower

J. S. Cummings

Asa S. Blakeslee

T. Roe.

1865

T. F. Norton

Geo. H. Blakeslee.

R. F. Norton

C. D. Gammon.

1866

B. A. Gower

Geo. H. Blakeslee

H. R. Hamilton

T. Roe.

1867

R. G. Morton

Geo. H. Blakeslee

R. F. Norton

J. Naugle.

1868

H. H. Brower

Geo. H. Blakeslee

Asa S. Blakeslee

T. La Vell.

1869

B. A. Gower

H. J. Oaks

E. Corey

J. Norton.

1870

M. Tombaugh

R. F. Norton

Asa S. Blakeslee

A. K. Brower.

1871

A. K. Brower

A. Corbin

Asa S. Blakeslee

Pat Ruddy.

1872

A. K. Brower

G. W. Thatcher

John Gower

Pat Ruddy.

1873

A. K. Brower

Geo. H. Blakeslee

Asa S. Blakeslee

N. Longnecker.

1874

J. O. Corey

Geo. H. Blakeslee

John Green

Pat Ruddy.

1875

J. O. Corey

Geo. H. Blakeslee

A. Corbin

M. J. Bosworth

1876

J. O. Corey

Geo. H. Blakeslee

A. Corbin

Jas. Ruddy

1877

Julius Smith

Geo. H. Blakeslee

T. La Vell

Jas. Ruddy.

The officers elect of the township are : H. H. Kent, Supervisor; George H. Blakeslee, Clerk; Bernard Demsey, Collector; Thomas LaVell, Assessor; Samuel B. Norton and M. J. Bosworth, Justices of the Peace; W. B. Hamil-

561
ton and Jas. Gordon, Constables; John Brooker, Jas. Nichols and Pat Ruddy, Commissioners of Highways.
At the last election it was found that the number of voters had increased to 209.
During the "late unpleasantness," this township bore a very considerable part. Quite a number of the young men of this vicinity enlisted in the various regiments raised in this portion of the State. Several who thus exchanged home and family comforts for the hardships and suffering of the camp and field, in addition, sacrificed their lives for the principles which they loved better than fireside, and better even than existence. Some were killed outright in the affray; some received wounds of which they died after a lingering illness; and others, though never receiving a saber cut or a musket shot, received the seeds of disease, contracted from exposure and hardships, which finally terminated their existence. All honor to the townships which they represented; and in an especial manner, all honor to the brave, representatives who proved their love of country by their valor.

VILLAGE OF BLACKSTONE.
Blackstone is situated on the western extension of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, nearly midway between Streator and Dwight, being ten miles from the former and thirteen from the latter. It is a neat little town of nearly two hundred inhabitants; and, in the amount of business transacted, is not exceeded by any town of its size in the county.
The land which constitutes its site, originally belonged to R. B. Hamilton. About the time when the line of railroad was completed through this section, the land was purchased by Wm. Shepard, of Jersey County, Illinois, and for him the village was laid out by A. C. Huetson, on January 6, 1870. The original plat consisted of eighty acres of Section 7, lying on the north side of the railroad track.
The town was called Blackstone in honor of the President of the road; and much of the plat being property of the officers of the road, the town is natu­rally looked upon as being a favored point.
The first house within the limits of the place antedates the village or the road, having been built years ago by R. B. Hamilton. As soon as the survey had been made, Frank McIntosh built a store, and this was the first building of the kind erected here. As soon as it was completed, he put into it a stock of general merchandise, and has continued in the business ever since. About the same time, R. B. Hamilton erected a warehouse and commenced buying grain. This warehouse is now idle, the whole grain business having been absorbed by the Kent Brothers, who built an elevator here a few years later. They handle about 400,000 bushels of grain per year, mostly corn.
As soon as the town had been certainly established, the post office of Sunbury was removed to the station, and Charles A. Holton installed as Postmaster, which position he still retains.

562
Among the others who manifested their confidence in the future of the place by settling here at its beginning, were J. L. Colier, Enoch Sherick, R. D. Gregg and J. A. Font. The last named was a blacksmith; and the first was a carpenter, who built nearly all of the houses that have been put up in the town.
There are no organized churches here; but religious services are held by several denominations, who occupy the school house for that purpose by turns. A Sunday school, in which all of the citizens take a deep interest, is conducted under the superintendence of M. F. Waters.
The public school is under the charge of A. H. Johnson, a competent and successful teacher.

FAYETTE TOWNSHIP.
This is a fractional town and lies in the southern tier of townships, between Belle Prairie and Germantown, with Forrest on the north and Ford County on the south. It is mostly rolling prairie, but with a few sections that are low and flat, and is wholly devoid of native timber. The latter defect, however, has been supplied by the planting and cultivation of trees; and many beautiful groves are to be seen in every part of the township. It is intersected by the Chicago & Paducah Railroad, which enters the town through Section 4, and crosses Sections 3, 10 and 15, in almost a southerly direction. Fayette is known as Town 25 north, Range 7 east of the Third Principal Meridian.
The first settlement within the present limits of Fayette was made by Rees Morgan, on Section 16, in June, 1863. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and came to Illinois in 1829, and to this neighborhood as stated above. His settlement was made on the School Section, with the expectation of long enjoy­ing the entire section; but the town developed more rapidly than anticipated, and he was only permitted to occupy it about seven years, when it was sold according to law, for school purposes. Mr. Morgan, now well advanced in years, lives in the village of Strawn, a highly-respected citizen and honored among his fellow-men. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk war of 1832, and was with Col. Stillman in his memorable defeat at Pawpaw Grove, which occurred on the 14th day of May of that year. Possessing fine conversational powers, his de­scription of the Black Hawk campaign is graphic and entertaining.
At that early period, military organizations were in their embryonic state, and the authority of a militia Major extended over an entire county. Four companies, he states, were raised in Peoria, Tazewell and McLean Counties, and he volunteered in Tazewell, under command of Captain Adams. These troops were ordered to rendezvous at Dixon, and await the arrival of the Com­mander-in-Chief, Governor Reynolds, and his forces. A dispute arose among Majors Stillman, Bailey and Johnson, as to which of them belonged the right to command the entire forces from this section. On the arrival of Governor Reynolds, Stillman was appointed Colonel of the forces from the counties

565
already named, on account of the seniority of his appointment as Major. Jealousy on the part of the other two followed as a natural consequence at the high honor conferred on Stillman, each feeling that his own peculiar fitness for the position had been wholly disregarded, and they were quite willing to encompass him with defeat, and compromise him or any one else in order to gratify an envious disposition.
On the arrival of the Governor and his forces at Dixon, Col. Stillman was sent with his command on a scouting expedition. His force numbered 200 men, while Black Hawk's was not far short of 450 warriors. Army regu­lations in the far West were not as strict then as at the present day, and each soldier was allowed a pint of whisky as a part of his daily rations. In drawing their supplies for a three-days scout, they were careful to obtain three square pints of whisky each, to the utter neglect of the more substantial necessaries. Their frequent imbibitions on the second day of their march resulted in dire confusion, and each man became his own commander. Not the slightest attention was paid to the commands of the officers, and they raced over the broad prairies, spoiling for a hand-to-hand fight with the "redskins." Near the close of the day's march (if march it could be called), Indians were seen in the distance, and immediately the whites charged pell-mell toward them. On arriving on the spot where the Indians had been seen, what was their consternation to find themselves flanked on the right and left. A "V " had been formed by the wily chieftain - a trap had been set, and into it they had ridden at full speed. And now came the time for retreat. Mr. Morgan says, if they "rode fast in coming up to the Indians, they certainly attempted to make double-fast time in coming away." The running away was as promiscuous as the advance had been, and some of the troops did not reach Dixon for two or three days, though distant but thirty miles from the scene of disaster. Stillman was defeated and disgraced, and Johnson, who succeeded to the command, correspondingly grati­fied. This little notice of a war with which all are familiar seems so appro­priate in the history of Mr. Morgan, the first settler in this township, that wedeem no excuse necessary for giving place to it.
The next settlement in Fayette was made by B. F Brandon in the Spring of 1864. He settled on Section 8, where he remained several years, and then sold out and removed to La Salle County. John and Thomas Brownlee came from Knox County, but were originally from Scotland. They settled in Fayette Township in 1865, but recently Thomas has removed into the village of Strawn and John removed to Kansas. Among other early settlers, we may notice George Seaton, Charles Wilson, James, Benjamin and Robert Turner, William Walker, John and Daniel Parsley and the McCormicks. Seaton came from New York in 1867, and when he settled in Fayette, his was the fourth house in the township. Charles Wilson was from Kendall County, and settled here in 1866, when he broke the farm and built the house where Seaton now lives. Wilson removed to Forrest when Seaton came in, and now lives in

566
Hoopeston. The Turners were from near Ottawa, and settled here in 1867, where they still reside. Walker came from Galena, and the Parsleys from La Salle County, and settled here in 1867, and still live in the township. The McCormicks were also from La Salle County, and settled here in 1865.
The first birth in Fayette Township was Rose McCormick, a daughter of James and Jane McCormick, who was born December 15, 1865. The first death was that of a young man of the name of Eaton, and occurred at the resi­dence of John Brownlee about the 1st of August, 1867. The first marriage which took place in the township was that of Moses K. McDowell and Mary Morgan; and the second, that of D. R. Morgan, a brother to the first bride, and Jennie McDowell, a sister of the first bridegroom, on the principle, we pre­sume, that "a fair exchange is no robbery." Since the occurrence of the two marriages above recorded, Frank C. McDowell and Laura Morgan have been united in holy wedlock, thus forming a triple alliance between the McDowell and Morgan families. The first physician was Stacy Stephens, who located in the village of Strawn soon after it was laid out. Dr. G. S. Harvey has recently located there, and both practice their profession in the village and township. The first Justice of the Peace in the town was H. McCormick, who was elected in 1869, and held over on the separation of Fayette from Belle Prairie Township in 1871.
It seems appropriate that some mention should be made in the history of Fayette Township of the "Burr Oak Farm," the largest farm in the world, perhaps, owned and controlled by a single individual. The Burr Oak Farm of M. L. Sullivant embraces nearly 40,000 acres, eight sections of which lie in Fayette Township and four sections in Germantown, while the remainder of it is in Ford County. People who have never visited the great West, and in whose eyes a farm of two or three hundred acres is large, have very little con­ception of the magnificent scale on which farming operations are carried on in the regions of the prairie country. Notwithstanding the vast area of this gigantic plantation, its management is reduced to so perfect a system that everything moves on with as much harmony as though but a few hundred acres were embraced in it. In 1871, the Harpers sent out a special artist and reporter to visit "Burr Oak Farm," as Mr. Sullivant's place is called, and to write a description of it, with illustrations. An issue of their Illustrated Weekly in September, 1871, contained about three columns, descriptive of this great farm and the mammoth establishment of Sullivant's, accompanied by some dozen engravings of different scenes and occupations. Among the illustrations we noticed the following: First, a striking portrait of M. L. Sullivant, the pro­prietor of Burr Oak Farm; "The Homestead, Burr Oak," "Evening in the Burr Oak Grove," "Planting Corn," "Ditching Plow," "Cultivating Corn," "Hedge Gang," "Breaking Raw Prairie," "Farm Gang," "Harvesting," "Mr. Sullivant and his Captains at Evening,"Sunday in Burr Oak Grove," etc. The system observed on this place is equal to military discipline. Sullivant

567
was Commander in Chief, then an Adjutant under him, who assisted him in the management and saw that all orders were obeyed; next, there were twelve Cap­tains, each of whom had three Lieutenants under him, and each Lieutenant had charge or a gang of six to ten hands. The farm was laid of into stations, and each station was in charge of a Captain, whose duty it was to report every day's business to the Commander in Chief at night. A bookkeeper was employed and an account opened with every station, and in this account was entered everything done on that station each day, viz., how many men were employed, how many horses, mules and oxen, together with what kind of labor each had performed.

The following table will show for one day's work :

The following table will show for one day's work :




Date.

Men.

Horses.

Oxen.

One month

4,979-3/4

7,060

1,987

ONE DAY.


Men.

Horses.


Overseeing generally

45

90


Errands and chores

31

58


Harness shop

8



Water hauling

27-1/4

27-1/4


Blacksmith shop

114


Stables

191

160


Kitchens

273


Implements

82

1


Masonry

79-1/2

18


Hedges

383-3/4

214-1/2


This is but a fragment of the list, but shows the system adopted. Nor was the Commander idle. Seldom a day passed but either he or his Adjutaut was in every field on the entire plantation; so that if a Captain had attempted a false report it would have been detected at once. The following extract is from Harpers' Weekly, of the date already alluded to: "The machinery in use at Burr Oak would handsomely stock two or three agricultural implement stores: 150 steel plows, of different kinds; 75 breaking plows; 142 cultivators, of several. descriptions; 45 corn planters; 25 gang harrows, etc. The ditching plow, a huge affair of 18 feet in length, with a share of 11 feet by 2 feet 10 inches, is worked by 68 oxen and eight men. These finish from three to three and a half miles of excellent ditch each day's work.  * *
There is 300 miles of hedge, 6 miles of board fence for stock, and 150 miles of ditching to drain the wet places. The stock of Burr Oak at present is 300 mules, 50 horses and 50 yoke of cattle. There may be 1,000 or 1,200 hogs and a magnificent herd of milch [sic.] cows - mostly Durhams - and very valuable. An entire section of land is devoted to raising produce for feeding stock and hands. There are 2,500 acres of tame grass, which will cut an average of a ton and a half to the acre; besides this, much wild grass is cut." But anything like an accurate and complete description of this immense farm would occupy more space than we can give it in these pages, and, therefore, we must let it pass with this meager notice.

568
The first school in Fayette Township was taught by Rebecca Morgan, in 1868, in a small shanty on Section 6, located on the present site of the school building near the residence of William Walker. In 1873, there were eighty-five children in the township entitled to school privileges, and seventy-six reported as attending school. Two schools were reported, with one male teacher and four female teachers. School fund, $10,803. The treasurer's last report shows the following :

Number of males in township under 21 years

192

Number of females in township under 21 years

165

Total

357

Number of males between 6 and 21 years

93

Number of females between 6 and 21 years

103

Total

196

Number of males attending school

69

Number of females attending school

73

Total

142

Estimated value of school property

$1,965 00

Principal of township fund

2,078 47

Highest monthly wages paid male teachers

40.00

Lowest monthly wages paid any teacher

30.00

Whole amount paid teachers

665.43

There are four school districts in the town and four good, substantial school houses, in which first-class schools are maintained for the usual period each year.
The building of the Chicago & Paducah Railroad through this township has been the means of developing it, and has been a great convenience to the peo­ple, particularly to those who have business occasionally at the seat of justice. The road received their hearty support and they have always been friendly toward it.
As previously stated, Fayette was a part of Belle Prairie until 1871, when it was set off by act of the Board of Supervisors. The present officers of the township are as follows, viz.: J. W. Ebersol and M. M. Gatchel, Justices of the Peace; William McCormick, Assessor; Adam Kopp, Collector; John Hopkins, Town Clerk, and D. A. Morgan, Supervisor.
The color of Fayette politics is about half and half; that is to say, it is about evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. At least, it has been so for some time past; but it is not easy to say just what effect the Greenbackers will have in the township. The war record is given in the histories of other sections of the county, as there were no settlements made here until very near the close of the war.

THE VILLAGE OF STRAWN.
Strawn is situated on the Chicago & Paducah Railroad, about ten miles south of Fairbury, and was laid out June 6, 1873. It was surveyed by Alfred

569
C. Huetson, County Surveyor, for David Strawn, the original proprietor, and for whom the village was named. The original plat contained 30.09 acres, in Section 3, of Town 25 north, etc., and has since, we believe, had some addi­tions made to it. In order to induce settlers to locate in the village, and in building it up, Mr. Strawn adopted the plan of giving every alternate lot to such as would erect houses, under certain specifications, by the 1st of September fol­owing its laying-out. The houses might be as large as the proprietors chose to build, but must not fall below certain dimensions. No shanties, either as busi­ness or dwelling houses, were to be erected. The first business house inclosed in the village was that of E. H. Roberts, who selected the first lot, on the day the village was laid out. The business houses of H. McCormick, T. H. Aaron and Brownlee Brothers were under process of erection at the same time. The first dwelling was erected by John Colfer, now owned by Hampton McCormick, and operated as an hotel. About the same time, dwellings were put up by L. L. Graves, James Stevenson and a Mr. Welch.
E. H. Roberts, now of the firm of Aaron, Roberts & Co., sold the first goods in the village. His store was opened about the 1st of July, 1873. At the present time, there are eight stores in Strawn, also harness shops, black-smith shops, shoe shops, grain firms and one saloon. Indeed, the village seems to have completely risen above the swamps and marshes, where it languished when a poet of the period evoked the muses and thus described its condition :

The frogs are hatching their spawn
In the streets of the village of Strawn;
And their music down there
Fills the ambient air
From the falling of night till the dawn.

The post office was established October 6, 1873, and E. H. Roberts was appointed Postmaster, which position he still holds. The first freight received at Strawn station was July 1, 1873, and was a barrel of meat for S. K. Mitchell, who kept a boarding house. The first shipment of freight was a carload of hogs, and was made by Walter D. Strawn, July 7, 1873. The freight shipments for the six months ending July 1, from Strawn, were as follows

Forwarded - Number of car loads of grain, stock, etc

195

" Way freights in lbs

32,000

Freight received in tons

810

Ticket sales, six months to July 1, 1878

$485.70

The amount of grain shipped from this point during the year is not far short of 250,000 bushels. The first corn bought here for shipment was by W. Reed, agent for Hoyt & Beebe, of Forrest.
The first school was taught in Strawn by Sarah Hanagan, of Ottawa, in the Summer of 1874, and a temporary school house built the same year. The village at present supports a good school, which is well patronized and maintained about eight months in the year. At the last election, a tax of $1,800 was voted for the purpose of erecting a suitable school building, and soon the

570
clangor of the seminary bell will be heard in the village, morning, noon and night.
The Methodist society was organized in the village in the Summer of 1874, under the ministerial care of Rev. R. D. Russell. The membership at the date of organization did not exceed eight persons, and the church now numbers on its roll some twenty active members, and is in a flourishing condition.
Strawn, like hundreds of other railroad towns and villages, has sprung up in the last few years like a hot-house plant. It is, however, a flourishing little place, full of energy and enterprise, and does a large amount of business. It is increasing in importance each year, and will soon overtake some of its elder neighbors, unless they rub of the rust of years, and, like Dickens' Little Joe, "move on."

GERMANTOWN TOWNSHIP.

O sprecht! warum zogt ihr von dannen?
Das Neckarthal hat Wein and Korn;
Der Schwarzwald stoht voll finstrer Tannen,
Im Spessart klingt des Alplers Horn.

Wie wird es in den fremden Waldern
Euch nach der Heimathberge Grun,
Nach Deutschlands gelden Weizenfeldern.
Nach seinen Rebenhugeln ziehn !

Wie wird das Bild der alten Tage
Durch eure Traume glauzend wehn!
Gleich einer stillen, frommen Sage
Wird es euch vor der Seele stehn.

Der Bootsmann winkt! - Zieht hin in Frieder
Gott schutz' euch, Mann and Weib and Greis !
Sei Freude eurer Brust beschieden,
Und euren Feldern Reis and Mais!

This township is very appropriately named. It is strictly a German town. Three-fourths of its population, perhaps, are from the "Faderland," and have sought the prairies of the New World, and homes where all are free and all are equal. No more honest and enterprising farmers, or quiet and peaceable citizens exist in Livingston County, than these hard-working Germans of the township heading this chapter. They move on in the "even tenor of their way" without ostentation or display, quietly enjoying their pipes and their lager beer, and very rarely interfering, to their credit be it said, in the affairs of others. Germantown occupies the extreme southeast corner of the county, and is described as Township 25 north, Range 8 east of the Third Principal Meridian. It is a fractional town, and is almost entirely prairie, with but very little native timber, and a small quantity of what was in the earlier days of settlement, termed "swamp lands." Until 1867, Germantown was included in Chatsworth Township, as noticed in that part of this work. At the meeting of the Board

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of Supervisors that year, Germantown petitioned to be set off, and thus became an independent town.
Thomas Y. Brown made the first actual settlement in Germantown Township in 1855. He came from Jefferson County, N. Y., and located as noticed above, in Germantown, where he lived until a few years ago when he retired from active business and removed to the village of Chatsworth. He still owns his farm in Germantown, which is cultivated by tenants, while he resides in the village enjoying the competence his life of industry and perseverance in busi­ness has won for him. A son of Mr. Brown's is engaged in the banking busi­ness at Chatsworth, and is one of the honorable business men of the place.
The next year after the settlement of Mr. Brown in Germantown witnessed the arrival of Nicholas Fraoeb and P. Goembel, from the "Black Forests of the Rhine." They settled here in the Fall of 1856, and were soon followed by others from "Deutschland," until today, as stated a little space ago, nearly the entire town is settled up with Germans, many of whom cannot speak a word of English, and among whom the mellow accents of Germany alone are heard. Dr. R. B. Wilson, who came from Ireland, but lived in Washington, Tazewell County, owned a section or two of land in this township. He sold the most of it to Germans, who, through his instrumentality came here and made their settlement within a few years from the time of the first opening made by Brown.
Hon. Samuel T. Fosdick is from New York City, and was induced to come West by his physician, with a hope of restoring his feeble health. He settled in Germantown in 1858. At that time, he informed us, there were living in the town Thomas Y. Brown and a few German families; the remainder of the lands were unoccupied. A few years ago Mr. Fosdick removed into Chatsworth village, where he at present resides. He is a lawyer of merit, and a member of the State Senate, from the district composed of the Counties of Livingston and Ford. But a more complete history of him is given in the chapter devoted to Chatsworth. This includes the first settlements made in this township, and brings its history up to a period when immigrants came in, mostly from the "old country," with too much rapidity for the historian to keep trace of them.
Germantown has no church edifices, nor a store or post office, within its territorial limits. There are, however, several church societies of the German Lutheran, Ormish and Evangelical Association, who hold their religious meet­ings in the school houses, and at the people's residences but of them, we were unable to obtain much definite information. Their mail is received from Chatsworth, Strawn and other offices around its borders, and their trading is likewise done at these places.
The schools of Germantown are in a very flourishing condition, and well up to the standard of public schools in any other section of the county. The first school was taught in 1859, but the name of the teacher is forgotten. We find

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from the records that in 1866 there were three school districts in the county, and thirty-five scholars in attendance. White persons under 21 years of age were forty-five, and the school fund was $146. In 1873 there were five schools; 161 children between the ages of 6 and 21 years, and the number at school 101. Two male and six female teachers were employed, and the district tax levy for support of schools was $947. The following figures are taken from the last annual report of A. B. Minnerly, School Treasurer of the township, to the county superintendent of schools:

Number of males in township under 21 years

168

Number of females in township under 21 years

158

Total

326

Number of males between 6 and 21 years

101

Number of females between 6 and 21 years

118

Total

219

Number of males attending school

75

Number of females attending school

60

Total

135

Number of male teachers employed

6

Number of female teachers employed

4

Total

10

Estimated value of school property

$4,600.00

School fund for support of schools

8,790.50

Highest monthly wages paid any teacher

46.00

Lowest monthly wages paid any teacher

25.00

Whole amount paid teachers

1,237.75

There are at present in the township, which is fractional, five school districts, in all of which there are good, comfortable school houses, and schools main­tained for the usual term each year.
We have stated that Germantown was without churches, stores and post offices, and we may add, without mills, railroads, mighty water courses or great forests. In fact it has little history beyond the settlement of its quiet citizens. It is well supplied with good roads; but these are of too modern construction to be an interesting matter of history. Its political faith is pretty evenly divided between the two great parties of the day, and indeed, it is stated that the Presidential contest in 1876 between Hayes and Tilden was a tie vote. The present township officers of Germantown are A. B. Minnerly, Supervisor; John Leggate and A. B. Minnerly, Justices of the Peace; F. C. Dassan, Town Clerk; Charles Roedel, Collector, and John Leggate, Assessor.
This concludes our history of Livingston County; and to the patient reader, who has followed us through these pages, we kindly bid you adieu.


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