Cass County, Illinois - Richmond Precinct, 1915

Richmond Precinct

SITUATION - BOUNDARIES - EARLY POLITICAL ACTIVITIES - LUCAS PRECINCT THE ORIGINAL NAME - CHANGED TO RICHMOND - THREE WATER COURSES - MIDDLE CREEK - CLEARY'S CREEK - PANTHER CREEK - VARIETIES OF SOIL - MUCH WEALTH AMONG THE FARMERS - EARLIEST SETTLERS - THEIR DESCENDANTS - BIG SNOW _ RECALLED - TOBACCO AND COTTON ONCE GROWN EXPERIMENTALLY - SCHOOL DISTRICTS - CH URCHES - BAPTIST - METHODIST EPISCOPAL - CEMETERIES - NO VILLAGES - PRECINCT POLLING PLACE - SHICKSHACK KNOB.

Situation

Richmond Precinct was a voting precinct of Morgan County before any part of that county was cut off to form Cass County. It occupies the extreme northeast corner of the county and is bounded on the north by Mason County, separated by the Sangamon River; and on the east by Menard County, separated by the middle line dividing range 8, the western half of this range lying in Cass County. The precinct was called Lucas before it became a part of Cass County, and was treated to the discourtesy of having its vote rejected on the question of forming the new county of Cass, at the vote taken in April, 1837. The precinct of Lucas had voted against the formation of the new county; not that the voters of that part of the county did not want a new county, or desired to remain a part of Morgan County, for they were in the farthest part of Morgan from the county seat, but because the act of the legislature had not included within the boundaries of the proposed county the south half of township 17, which they, with others, had petitioned for. The Jacksonville promoters of the proposition hoped that if the county could be created with the boundaries offered in the bill presented for ratification, that then they would be forever secure as a county, and also retain the Three Mile Strip, so would not permit the vote of Lucas to be counted. The rejection of that vote, together with the vote of Meredosia, another remote precinct, decided in favor of the creation of the county of Cass, and Lucas, with the rest of the north end of the county had to submit. When the new county officers were elected for Cass County, in August, 1837, and met soon after, one of the first things the county commissioners did was to create new voting precincts, one of which was Richmond, made out of the old precinct of Lucas with some territory added, and to it they gave the name of an embryo town which had been platted and staked along the banks of the Sangamon River by a man named Thomas Wynn, who cherished the fond hope that in a short time the Sangamon River would be cleared of its brush and fallen timbers, and would be navigated by numerous steamboats from Beardstown to Springfield. With this optimistic view in mind, he had caused a board to be erected upon the bank of the river, on one of the river front lots of New Richmond, bearing the legend, "Landing for Boats," but a fre~het came and washed away the sign and some of the lot, and submerged the ambitious dreams of Thomas Wynn. No house was built upon the platted ground, except a temporary cabin by James M. Robinson, in the fall of 1883.

Richmond Precinct has three water courses, the main one being Middle Creek, which flows through the central portion, rising up in the level extension of the bluff or timber land, and breaking out into the Sangamon Valley in section 80, township 19, range §. From there it makes its course across the alluvial bottom farms to the Sangamon River. At times of heavy rains it becomes quite a stream, and rushes out of the hills with tremendous force. Cleary's Creek crosses the northeast corner of the precinct from south to north, emptying into the Sangamon. Panther Creek crosses the southwest corner of the precinct on its way towards Chandlerville, beyond which it also pours its waters into the Sangamon. A greater portion of the land of the precinct is rough and hilly, but the southern part has some level land of fairly good soil which the residents have cultivated and improved until there are many excellent and valuable farms. The portion lying in the Sangamon Valley is exceptionally rich soil, and since levees have been built to keep off the river and the overflow of the creeks in time of high water, abundant crops of all kinds of cereals have been grown and harvested, and farmers have become wealthy and the whole conununity has a progressive, prosperous appearance.

Earliest Settlers

Fletcher, Joshua and Cary Nance, Philip Hash, James Hickey. Henry McHenry, William P. Morgan, C. J. Wilson, William Lynn, Jesse Armstrong and John Taylor. About 18380 George Thatcher. Bartlet Conyers, John Houghton, John Bingley and Elijah Watkins arrived.

There are a number of the descendants of the old settlers yet living in Richmond Precinct. William Lynn had come to Sangamon bottom in 1830 and entered a large tract of land. He was a miller by trade and had conducted a mill on Richland Creek in Sangamon for a number of years before coming to Cass. It is said that he made the first barrel of superfine flour sold at Springfield. One son of William Lynn yet lives in Richmond Precinct, Timothy T. Lynn, who is eighty-five years old, but is in excellent health and resides on the farm where he has lived since his marriage in 1852. He has a very large farm, and has seen his children become settled and prosperous in life, living near him in Cass and Menard counties. Robert D. Morgan is another of the old settlers still living on the farm where he was born eighty years ago. Nathan Sutton, who came to Pecan bottom, which is in the northern part of Richmond, in 1833, has a number of descendants living on and about the old homestead. Still another old settler who has resided in Richmond Precinct all his life, is Francis Miller, who is now seventyfive years old, and was born near his present home. He has been a justice of the peace in Richmond for thirty years, and although unique in his dealings with questions of the law, generally reaches an equitable conclusion. However, a large number of the present residents of Richmond are new comers, although the oldtime names of Watkins, Frankenfield, Gerdes, Milstead, Morgan, Lynn and Sutton, are seen in the lists of voters of that precinct.

Tobacco And Cotton Grown

Before the "big snow" of 1830, cotton and tobacco were grown along the bottom land next the bluffs. A man named Richard Chowning came from Kentucky in 1827, bringing with him his large family of boys. Tle did not enter any land but took possession of vacant land that his experience in his native state taught him would produce tobacco, and with the help of his family raised a very large crop, which, when matured. he sold in the village of Springfield for an excellent price. After a few crops of tobacco, with a little cotton, he folded his tent and silently slipped away for parts unknown. There was a gristmill over on Rock Creek in Menard County to which the settlers took their cotton, but after the winter of 1880, cotton was not grown to any great extent, nor was tobacco for the market, but each farmer had a small patch for his own use.

School Districts

which has a building with two rooms and employs two teachers. The first school was in the Dick district, where one is still maintained, the others being Green Ridge and Pontiac. All have excellent schools under the splendid country school system prevailing in Cass County.

Church Societies

In 1842 there was a Baptist church society at Puncheon Grove, with a comfortable frame building. Rev. Cyrus Wright was the preacher and after his death the congregation disbanded. A Baptist church is yet in existence at Mt. Olive, with services at irregular intervals. A neighborhood cemetery with many handsome monuments lies across the road east from the church. There is also a Baptist church standing near the Pontiac school in the south part of the precinct. The Methodists have a house of worship, known as Shankland Chapel, and a cemetery is lying to the east of it near Middle Creek.

Precinct Polling Place

The precinct never had a village or town Within its borders, except the proposed town site from which it takes its name, but in 1835, Abner Foster and his brother, Henry T. Foster, opened a general store on: the Sangamon bottom road, near the Dick school. After two years they sold, and the stock of goods was moved to Hagley, which is now known as Newmanville, just over the south line of the precinct into Oregon. The polling place for the precinct is at the Pontiac schoolhouse in the southwest quarter of section G, township 18, range S. It has been the custom for years to make some schoolhouse the polling place for the country precincts of the county, and the Pontiac is more nearly in the center of the precinct than any other. It is now accessible by excellent highways from all parts of the precinct, and is situated about eight miles southeasterly from the village of Chandlerville.

Shickshack IXnob, which was the summer home of the Pottawatomie Indian chief of that name, is in the precinct on the east side of Middle Creek, being one of the highest peaks on the tall bluffs in that neighborhood. It is on the farm of J. W. Lynn, a grandson of the early settler, William Lynn.