Cass County, Illinois - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 3 of those read), 1882

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

The way our fathers performed their farming operations, is so little known to the present generation who depend mostly upon farm machinery, requiring the horses to do all the work which men, women and children formerly did, that a description of the olden way, gathered from conversations with some of the oldest farmers still living, can not prove otherwise than interesting to some of our young farmers of the present time. Just banish from the farm all such modern innovations as reapers, mowers, corn-pliiriters, hayrakes, threshing-machines, sulky-plows, riding corn-cultivators, and a slight conception can be formed of primitive farming facilities. To jjrepare the ground for planting corn it was plowed over with a wooden-mold board plow, which had to be cleaned every few rods with a paddle which hung to one of the handles ; it was then scratched over with a wooden-toothed harrow, after which it was "laid-ofF" both ways with the one-horse shovel-plow. It was then ready for planting. This was done by the boys, the women, children and men ; the smallest of the children dropping the grains of corn in the " crosses," where it was covered with hoes by the men and larger boys and women. After the planting, and when the corn had come up, then came the hoeing, now superseded by the improved cultivators. Plowing corn with the single- shovel-plow, was common until a few years ago, but it has had to take its place with the old spinning-wheel and loom, and they arc now counted^as relics of a past age. Cutting wheat, rye, oats and grass was formerly a laborious process. Even within the recollection of comparatively young men of the county, the scythe and cradle were considered as improved implements of husbandry ; but the reaper and mower now in use not only do a much better job but transfers the hardest of the labor to the horses.

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

It is difficult to comprehend how, with corn at from six to ten cents per bushel, oats but little more, wheat at from thirty to fifty, and other products in proportion, with the market at Alton, Chicago and St. Louis, a farmer succeeded in obtaining enough for his products to pay for saving them. It is not so difficult to understand why so much of the county lay for so many years without an occupant. Of course, the farmers in those days did not ride in carriages, pay heavy taxes, wear fine clothes or indulge in many luxuries ; but they rode to meeting on horsel.ack or in the farmwasron, wearing their every-day clothes done up clean for Sunday, and paid the preacher with a bag of corn or potatoes, or not at all, as they felt able. Yet, to say that they did not live comfortably and independently, would be a great mistake. The rifle supplied, from the timber, venslon and other game, an 1 the actual needs of life were all satisfied, though it would seem a great hardship to go back to what some are pleased to call the " good old times."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A writer on Kentucky Short-horns has the following on the genuine breed: "Shorthorns of a true type and good shape, that is to say, level backed, wide crops, wide hips, swelling sides, fine bone, fine tail, neat bloodlike appearance, straight lines across the hips, straight from the point of the hock to point of hip near the tail, straight along the belly from the brisket to the end of the flank, smooth shoulders, not sinking at the girt, soft elastic skin, good handlers, placid, calm eye, short in the legs, short tapering horns, waxy horns well set on, quiet disposition, good milkers, clean, clear muzzle, solid colors, either red or roan, these have long been sought after, bred for and purchased when attainable, and breeders with pride in their stock have endeavored to produce them from the earliest known period in Short-horn history, ancl it is not surprising that breeders have in the main owned many that were never defeated in the show ring. And as such stock has been the result of much trouble and experiment, so it has and ever will deservedly command high prices. Requiring several generations of judicious crossing, weeding out defects, meting out to the breeders many blanks with the prizes, it is a fascinating pursuit, and is increasing daily the number of its votaries."

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

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

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

The railroads of the County will be written up in other chapters of this volume. Railroads are the great features that make a country powerful and add to its material wealth and prosperity. The railroads intersecting Cass County, are the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville; the Springfield division of Oliio and Mississippi; the St. Louis division of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; and the Western division of the Chicago and Alton. Thus it will be seen the County is well supplied with these useful internal improvements.

The press of the county, and the war history also, will be found in other and appropriate chapters, together with other subjects of local and general interest.

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

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

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

of the lands. Pioneer life, in all time, has been characterized by incidents peculiar either to the locality or the make-up of the pioneers themselves. Western pioneer life has been subjected to conditions common to the experience of all early settlers. The primary elements in the composition of those who have taken their lives in their own hands and battled successfully with the privations and hardships incident to settlements in the wilderness, without companions, save their " household gods," away from the echoes of civilization, depending for subsistence upon their own good right arms, were will-power, physical vigor and energy. Thus endowed, the brave pioneer boldly cuts loose from the moorings of civilization, turns his face toward the wild, unknown West, and after days and weeks, perhaps months, of weary journeying over trackless prairies, tangled woodland, rocky steeps and through rushing torrents, at last determines the spot where his future home shall be, at once makes a start by erecting a little cabin, breaking a small patch of ground and planting a little corn. Soon he is joined by others, and the feeble settlement becomes the foundation of one of those prosperous communities which are to-day the pride and boast of our western country. But we are digressing from the more specific part of our subject.

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

In 182() he was elected to the Senate from the district composed of the counties of Morgan, Pike, Adams, Schuyler, Fulton and Peoria. During this service of eight years, his constituents never had cause to regret his election, nor to complain of his want of devotion to their interests. He maintained the character of an honest, fearless, intelligent and industrious representative. In 1830, he was again a candidate for the Senate, but was defeated, not because of any complaint of his previous action, or of any want of confidence in his ability and integrity, but because the Whig party, with which he was identified, was in the minority. Upon the passage of tiie law providing for the building of the State House at Springfield, because of his known integrity and intelligence, he was appointed one of the State house commissioners. At the time of his death he was about ninety years of age. Mrs. Job, it is said, never saw the face of a white woman for six months after landing in this county. She used to say that she had very good neighbors among the Indians, who were then numerous in this section. Their nearest neighbors lived fifteen miles distant, and St. Louis was their post office. Mr. Clark came in 1827 and settled at North Grove, three miles west of the present town of Virginia. In 1836 he moved to Iowa, but in 18 0 returned to Cass County, and settled again in the neighborhood. He afterward removed to Bluff Springs, where he died in 1852.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Charles Oliver, Thomas Gatton, John Epler and .Jacob Petefish, were also early settlers of Virginia Precinct; but first located on Little Indian, in what is now Princeton Precinct, where they will be further noticed. Epler came from Pennsylvania, and has a good manj' descendants still in the county. Gatton came from Maryland, and was one of the early merchants of the county. Oliver came to Virginia in 1835, and was for a time a clerk for Dr. Hall. Mr. Petefish also has a number of descendants in the county. There are many others, doubtless, who deserve mention among the early settlers of the precinct, but their names have faded from the memories of the pioneers still left among us. JIany, in fact most of the first settlers of the precinct who were prominently indentified with its early history, have passed away " as a tale that is told." A few have scattered to other lands, but far the greater number have gone to the land of dreams.

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

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

or brick, for the reason they could not procure them. Their houses were small, consisting of one story, built of logs or poles, unhewed, with the ends projecting from six inches to two feet at the corners, and the cracks between the logs were filled with sticks and daubed with clay. The doors were made of boards fastened in place with wooden pegs and hung with wooden hinges. A wooden latch raised by a string, served as a fastening ; the string had one end tied to the latch and the other passed through a small hole above it, and when the door was fastened, one end of the string was hanging out. " The latch-string out" was the pioneers' emblem of hospitality. The fireplaces were from six to ten feet in width, and in them large logs blazed on winter nights, warming the entire household. At one side of these capacious hearths, one article always stood conspicuous, viz : the kettle of "blue dye," with which the old ladies colored their "yarn" for weaving. This kettle being covered with an old barrel head, or something of the kind, often did service as a seat for some members of the family, and even for visitors. Young fellows, when on courting expeditions, sometimes found it a very convenient seat with the objects of their affections in close proximity. "Some of the best men or our country," an old gentleman informed us, who had probably been there himself, "wooed and won their brides, seated on a kettle of 'blue dye,' by the blazing fire of the backwoodsman's rude cabin." On the outside of the houses, it was no uncommon thing to see a goodly number of raccoon and deer skins "stretched" against the wall to dry, and occasionally the skin of a wild cat, wolf or bear. The projecting ends of the logs, at each corner of the cabin, served as places to hang the various utensils used on the farm, such as hoes, rakes, bridles and harness, or "gears," as they were then called. The first improvement of importance to the pioneer, after he has erected a shelter for himself and family, is a mill, an industry that always advances with civilization. Judge Shaw tells us in his centennial address on Cass County, that the first mill accessible tc the pioneers of the county was Jarvoe's mill on Cahokia Creek, and that in 1821 a mill was erected on Indian Creek, and later a horsemill was erected at Clary's Grove, in Menard County. These mills served the people in this section until able to build mills for themselves. One of the first in this precinct, of wh'ch we have any account, was built by a Mr. Street, about 1831-2, on the southeast quarter of section 29, town 18 and range 10. It was a primitive aifair, but, as we were informed, was "better than none at all." H. H. Hall built a water grist mill some two miles northeast of the present city of Virginia, about 1838, on Job Creek. It was for grinding corn and wheat, and had but one run of burrs, driven by a horizontal water-wheel with upright shaft. Its capacity was about eight to ten bushels per hour. As population incrL'ased,'and the community became wealtliy. other mills were built for the accommodation of the growing population. Other improvements were male in the precinct. Roads were laid out, and put in order, thus rendering travel a less task than formerly, and where they crossed streams and sloughs, bridges were built. Good roads now pass through the precinct in every direction, diverging from the county seat, and while they do not compare with macadamized roads, they are about as good as Illinois soil will make without artificial aid.

The pioneer fathers were alive to the advantages of education, and lost no time in establishing schools in the different settlements. Mr. Keiling Berry is authority for the fact that a school was taught in the precinct as early as 1830. During the first few years after settlements were made, there were no siliOiiUiouses or churches built in the precinct. Schools were taught in abandoned cabins, nnd conducted on the subscription plan. Tlio teacher made out his proposition on paper, and the parents " signed " as many scholars as they had, or could afford to pay for, agreeing to pay a specified sum for tuition a certain number of months. The first school taught in the precinct, so far as we l-ave learned, was taught by M^illiam Holmes, in one of these abandoned cabins, at Sugar Grove, Mr. Berry says, about the year 1830. Keiling Berry himself taught a subscription, or on the select school plan, from November 19, 1839, to September 1, 1840, in a log cabin still standing on the soiitheast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 27, township 17, and range 10. This is doubtless the oldest building now standing in the neighborhood, used as a temple of learning. The Angier school house which stood on the northwest corner of section 4, is believed to have been the first built in the precinct, especially for school purposes. It was erected by the people of the community by their own mutual labor, and afterward became the property of the district. It was burned some eight or ten years ago.

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

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

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

McNeil, Henry Bierhause, and Daniel Biddlecome. The cluirch lias now forty members, under the pastorate of Rev. J. E. Roach, and a good comfortable church building.

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

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

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

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

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

The city of Virginia, to which this chapter IS devoted, and the county seat of Cass County, is beautifully situated in a fine reg'on of country, near the geographical centre of the county, and is surrounded by some of the best and most productive farms in the State. The Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville Railroad, and the Springfield division of the Ohio & Mississippi, cross here, and furnish the citizens of the place, and the farmers of the adjacent neighborhood, ample facilities for shipping, as well as travel.

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

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

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

An addition of public grounds was made V'y Dr. Hall, surveyed by Wm. Holmes, county surveyor, on the 21st of June, 1838. Virginia had then become the county seat, and Mr. Holmes drove down a stake in the center of the public square, as the spot whereon the court house should be built. The addition comprised fifteen acres, donated by Dr. Hall, and deeded to the commissioners of Cass County for public buildings. A court house was erected on the square, and after the county seat was moved liack to Beardstown, the house and grounds were sold to the town for school purposes, and with the house rebuilt, are still so used. Originally the business section was in the western part of town, and there still remains many traces of the old business houses around the square, now the school grounds, as the laying out of a square and the erection of a court house drew the business around it.

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

When the court house was built in the square now occupied as the city school, the business was drawn around it as it is now around the present square, and as we have said, some of the old business houses are still standing, and there are traces of others. No one with an eye for the glorious and beautif il can see any improvement made, either in location or beauty, by the removal from the " West End Square " to the present business location. Hall's, we have seen, was the first store opened. Charles Oliver was a clerk in Hall's store, but in a year or two went into business on his own account. He kept the second store in Virginia, and remained a merchant of the place for many years. His store was on the southwest corner of the old square, south of Beardstown street, while N. B. Thompson - probably the next merchanthad his store on the same corner, but north of Beardstown street. Portions of these old buildings are still standing, but with changes are now dwellings, or parts of dwelling-houses. Dr. Hathaway opened a drug-store on the northwest corner of the old square, the first one in Virginia. Other branches of business were established, and other stores were opened. The house, or the brick part of it, where Harry Thompson now lives, was a store-house with a hall in the second story, that used to witness strange events during the late unpleasantness. The old-fashioned brick, a little iurther east from Thompson's, and on the same side of the street, was also a store-house. Thus, a quarter of a century ago, was a busy town, where now are but a few private residences around a beautiful square, in which stands a rather dilapidated looking temple of learning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The bank has had a varied career in point of business ; it has gone through panics, depressed and prosperous times, and through all has maintained its high standard of credit and fair dealing, at all times paying particular attention to the development of the local industries and enterprises, as well as aiding its customers to successfully manage their private business. While not being organized as a corporation, it has always been rated as high in credit and business ability as any of the leading baidiS in Central Illinois, and at all times employing sufficient capital to supply the legitimate demands of business men who are dealing with it. The private means of the members of the firm are stated at over three hundred thousand dollars, composed of personal property, moneys and credits, and unencumbered real estate, of the latter of which tlu'v own near five thousand acres of the best improved lands in the county, and all of which represents their credit in the bankino- business, as they are individually liable for all the business transacted at the bankcounter. This fact alone has added largely to their long list of customers, as they well know no financial crisis can alfect their interests when so thoroughly protected by private wealth.

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

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

Such is a short synopsis of the business of this firm, which has grown from a small beginning to be the most extensive in Cass County, and equal to the largest in other important counties. Its business interests diversifies into all the different neighborhoods in the county, and its credit is now as wellknown abroad as it is at home. With ample means and unlimited credit, it is so situated as to thoroughly put through any business enterprise it may undertake, and the business ability of the individual memljcrs of the firm.

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

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

The Centennial National Bank was incor porated April 11, 1876, with the following officers and directors, viz: A. G. Angler. John A. Petefish, Daniel Biddlecome, T. J. Crura, J. H. Bates, A. Struble, Robt. Hall, W. L. Black and Thomas Dunnaway. John A. Petefish was elected president, and John H. Wood, cashier. The original stockholders were, John Fielding, D. R. Downing, W. M. Gorellery, Thos. Dunnaway, Daniel Biddlecome, Wm. Lindsey, John A. Petefish, A. G. Angler, Cyrus Cruin, G. W. Goodspeed, .lohn Epler, A. G. Epler, Wm. Epier, John A. Jones, N. W. Spillman, Geo. A, Woodworth, P. M. Petefish, J. F. Black, Joseph Wilson, James Thompson, T.J. Crura, J. W. Savage, W. L. Black, Geo. A. Beard, J. H. Bates, Henry Quigg, Amos Cox, Robert Hall, A. Struble, John Edwards, J. H. Tureman, R. W. Mills, Mrs. M. S. Caldwell, A. C. An-ier, Jno. H. Melone, Mary E. Henderson, John D. McHenry, E. A. Gridley, T. J. Nesbitt and A. S. Montgomery. A portion of the above names are not on the rolls now, and in addition to those given, are the following, who have since come in: Maria Cunningliam, B. Fielding, Martha B. C. Downing, Henry Philips, Mrs. E. J. H. Tomlin, Thos. Mead, A. Petefish and G. W. Crum. The capital stock was $60,000 until 1877, when it was reduced to $50,000, with a circulation of $45,000. The bonds were bought when they were high, and depreciated to such an extent, that they absorbed the earnings of the bank up to 1879, when the first dividend was declared, which was ten per cent. An annual dividend has been declared every year since of eight per cent. During the past four years the business of the bank has more than doubled.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"The business enterprises of the little city now include nine grocery stores, eiglit dry goods stores, three drug stores, two hotels, five churches, two millinery stores, four blacksmith shops, two merchant tailoring establishments, one first-class clothing house, two barber shops, two livery stables, one flour mill, one brick yard, three boot and shoe shops, five saloons, one dairy, two hardware stores, two stove and tinware establishments, two wagon manufactories, one meat market, three banks, one bakery, two restaurants, two harness shops, two furniture stores, two under- takers, one lumber yard, two agricultural implement dealers, three grain dealers, one photograph gallery, three sewing machine agencies, two title abstract offices, nine lawyers, six physicians, two jewelry establishments, one book store, two dentists, three painters, three contractors and builders, one marble shop, and two printing offices.