Iroquois County, Illinois - Biographical sketches, 1880 (part 17 of 20)

One of the first, as well as one of the most influential, of these Canadian immigrants was Anthony Lottinvillc. With his family, consisting of wife and seven small children, he took passage on the ill-fated steamer Atlantic, for Detroit, in the summer of 1851. He had sold his farm there, and had with him his all, except some that was coming from deferred payments on his land, which fortunately he was not able to realize on. The steamer had some 600 passengers on board, and in the night, while all were in bed and nearly all asleep, a terrible collision occurred, and in twenty minutes the steamer went down, carrying all but 120 of her passengers. The scene during that twenty minutes of agony can never be described. The shrieks, the prayers, the moanings, and the hurrying to and fro of those hoping to escape impending death, can be faintly imagined. Women and children were partially saved by the ropes in the hands of strong men who stood upon the propeller which at once came to the rescue, only to drop into the water before they could reach the deck. In the panic and fright, unaccountably to himself, Mr. Lottinville succeeded in rescuing all his family, and in the thankfulness of his heart hardly mourned the loss of all his earthly possessions. He came forward to Bourbonnais, where the open aid of Noel LeVasseur, and his ever-ready purse, aided the rescued family in a strange land to get a comfortable start. It is said to have been only characteristic of the old pioneer, whose recent death has called forth many expressions of remembrance of kindly acts on the part of the old man toward those in need. Mr. Lottinville came soon after to section 22, range 12, on the creek, where he took np half a section of land and built a frame house, the lumber for which he hauled from Chicago, fording streams swollen by the continual rains of that season. He hired forty acres broken, then with all his family " took the ague," - a regular standby with new settlers in those days, - which shook them up for a year. This was one of the rainy seasons, which all pioneers recollect as occurring regularly each seventh year. For several years after Mr. Lottinville came here wheat was a good crop, and the demand for it was good from those then coming into the country. The acorns in the woods served the hogs well, and hogs always brought cash once a year, so that farming prospects were good, but there was no school for ten years. His children had had but slight opportunities, the older ones in schools in Canada, and that only in Frenchspeaking ones. Here they never got a day's schooling except in the rough school of pioneer drudgery. That the five sons, who are known throughout the county as the Lottinville boys, are everywhere recognized as among the best educated and most correct business men in this portion of the county is due alone to their own native strength of character and versatile tact. They have for years been entrusted with the official business of the township, and, as will be seen by the record, of the village, and have been continually the business men of the place; and in conversation show a breadth of acquaintance with general history and affairs of the country which marks them as educated men. The aged parents died about 1866. They had been the parents of sixteen children, several of whom, however, died during their childhood. Three of the brothers married sisters, two of whom have already presented twins to doting fathers. The value to a new country of such a family, as settlers, is difficult to estimate with the data at hand.

Joseph Delude came here about 1850, and built a log cabin on the bank of the creek. He was deluded with the notion that the Beaver would make a very valuable water privilege. He dammed the creek and built a saw-mill on it. It was one of those old-fashioned gate saws, that go up in the spring and come down with the fall freshets. He soon damned the stream and mill both, with a slight variation in the spelling and accent, and sold out to Moses Langellier, who still resides there, and returned to Bourbonnais.

The Methodist church, known as the Boucher or Switzer church, was commenced in 1867 and dedicated in 1871. It is about 30 x 50, and cost about $3,300. In 1873 it was removed from its foundation by a hurricane, but otherwise was but little damaged. It was replaced at a cost of $350. John Switzer was class-leader, and after him M. E. Posson. The present membership is eighteen. At the time of the organization of this township the name of Weygandt was given to it, receiving its name from a numerous family of that name living here. Martinton was cut off in 1858, and the name was changed to Papineau in 1863. The first supervisor of Papineau was Thomas Maggee; clerk, E. M. Hammond; assessor, A. Bender; collector, William Thompson ; magistrates, S. S. Green and S. S. White. The present officers are : William Jones, supervisor ; C. F. Lottinville, clerk and collector; George Ducharme, assessor; and W. F. Risley and Joseph Langellier, magistrates.

In 1856 thirty-three votes were cast in favor of calling the town Pike Creek. In 1858, by reason of a division of the township, and the principal officers residing in the southern portion of the township, there was no election held, and the board of supervisors appointed at its next meeting the township officers. August 25, 1868, a special town meeting voted, by 47 to none, in favor of a tax for the Chicago, Danville & Yincennes Railroad. August 8, 1870, a special town meeting voted 67 to 34 in favor of donating $6,350 in bonds to the same railroad, on condition that a depot should be located and permanently maintained in the town. The bonds were issued, and have since been litigated, and the payment of the interest on them enjoined in consequence of a decision of the supreme court on a case which was so similar as to warrant the belief that the same rule would apply to this case.

Papineau Village

When the railroad was built, there was some question about what the town would donate, and the company did not locate the depot, and the town plat was not laid out, until the following spring, 1871, when Dr. D. K. Cornell and Mr. Hay, who owned about half a section in T. 28, laid out 60 acres of the north half of the southeast quarter into blocks and lots. Dr. Cornell was a physician here, and now resides at Taylorville. Mr. Hay resided at ISTashville, Illinois, and died there. In the fall of 1870, however, Rice, Lottinville & Co. built a depot for the company north of Beaver creek, and erected a set of scales there and commenced buying corn and live stock. They purchased 190,000 bushels of grain that winter. The next spring the depot and business was moved here. Savoie & Barney put up the first building to keep store in. It stands on the corner north of the post-office. They carried a general stock of goods, and were assisted by Mr. Charles F. Lottinville, a young man of excellent natural abilities, aided by considerable experience at Cairo and other places. This firm continued in business a year. The next store was built by Hubert Lepage on lot 6, block 6. He put in a stock of goods, but soon sold to Barney & Co. Dr. Wagner commenced business and carried it on a while, and is now engaged in keeping hotel and in insurance. Oliver Barney engaged in mercantile business in 1876. Thomas Lottinville bought Savoie's interest in the store in 1874, and in 1876 Charles F. and Henry, his brothers, entered into a partnership with him, which has proved successful and has continued. Charles is postmaster and carries on the drug trade. Philip Kaufman opened a store in 1874, which he sold the following year.

William E. Stone bought grain here during the first year, and was succeeded the next year by Massy, Letourneau & Co., who continued the grain and lumber trade for two years, when Mr. Comstock put up the warehouse and extensive cribs. W. F. Risley, from Joliet, commenced the same year to buy grain for Simon & Co., and continued until 1875. Rosenberger & Co. bought grain for a time, and Mr. Pape became a partner for one year. C. F. Lottinville was appointed postmaster first in 1871, and served three years. Mr. Risley succeeded him two years, then Josaph Langellier two years, when Mr. Lottinville was again appointed. This was made a money-order office July, 1879. D. K. Cornell was first physician. Dr. Critzer, the present physician, is county coroner.

Papineau was incorporated under the general act in 1874. Under the first election F. Langdoc was president ; John Massy, Ezra Savoie, Octave La Plante, A. P. Shipley and Thomas Lottinville, trustees; C. F. Lottinville, clerk; and Joseph Laveaux, treasurer. The present officers are : Thomas Lottinville, president ; Ezra Savoie, Theodore Englebert, Frederick Tegg, Anthony Goyette and Milton Froge, trustees; C. F. Lottinville, clerk; Henry Lottinville, treasurer; E. P. Shipley, police magistrate; and A. W. Froge, constable. The school is in charge of Mr. S. H. Byrns, a very successful teacher.

The Roman Catholic Church, a neat and substantial structure, 30 X 55, was built in 1872, at a cost of about $1,200. It is yet unfinished internally. It suffered a partial removal once, having been blown from its foundation in a severe gale. Rev. Father Rouquier, of St. Mary's, and Rev. Father Lettellier, of St. Anne, have in turn ministered to the people here, but they have no resident priest.

David N. Lowe, farmer and stock-raiser, Kankakee, was born at Covington, Indiana, November 23, 1827. He is a son of Peter and Julia A. Lowe, and came with them to this county in 1834. They settled near Mount Langham, in what is now Kankakee county. His early youth was spent with his parents, engaged in farming and stockraising, the country at that time being very new and sparsely settled. His advantages for education were very limited, yet he has become sufficiently educated to do an immense business in his line. He is truly one of our self-made men, beginning with nothing and now owning 800 acres of very valuable land in this county and some in Nebraska. He raises and deals in large numbers of cattle yearly, and has made the breeding and raising of graded short-horns a specialty the last few years. February 24, 1859, he married Miss Martha J. Pruett, daughter of Meredith Pruett, late of Iroquois county, and immediately located on his present home farm, on Sec. 14, T. 29, R. 13, which is now one of the finest in this part of the county. His success has been equaled but by few in this part of the state. He has seven children, all living: Flora M., Lloyd W., Bell A., Perry B., Melvin M., David N. and Mary Leonora. His political principles are republican, but he takes no active part in politics. He has been strictly temperate from youth.

Philip Jones, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, was born in what is now Papineau township, Iroquois county, Illinois, March 28, 1839. He is the first person born in the township that is now living in the same, and is a son of Mr. Henry Jones, the first settler and pioneer of the township. His early youth was spent with his parents, engaged in farming and stock-raising and attending school, though his advantages for education were very limited ; yet by the care of his parents, the aid of a teacher hired by subscription, and a determined will, he acquired a good common-school education. He was one of the first to attend the first school taught in the township of Papineau, - Miss Dilly being the teacher. June 4, 1861, he volunteered his services to his country, and became a member of Co. F, 25th 111. Vol. Inf. His first engagement with the enemy was at the battle of Pea Ridge. From that time on he participated in much hard fighting. He was wounded at the battle of Stone River by a ball entering the corner of his mouth, coming out of the back part of his cheek, and was honorably discharged September 5, 1864. On May 2, 1867, he married Miss Margaret, daughter of Mr. Thomas Satnmons. one of the early pioneers, and fourth sheriff of this county. She was born November 1, 1844, in what is now Kankakee county, Illinois. He has one child,

William Henry, and owns 100 acres of land (apart of the old farm on which he was born), and is engaged in farming and stock-raising. He is one of the true men of which his neighbors should be proud.

Fabien Langdoc, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, whose portrait appears in this work, was born March 24, 1830, in Papineauville, Canada. He. is a son of Joseph Langdoc, formerly a member of the house of representatives of Canada. He lived with his parents, engaged in farming, till 1850. He then came to Illinois and settled in Papineau township, Iroquois county, and engaged in farming and stock-raising. January 7, 1851, he married Miss Margaret Miner, a native of Canada, who was born July 8, 1831. He had sixteen children, ten living : Joseph, Victoria, Victor, Josephine, Salem, Arcade, Albert, Fabien T., Samuel and Saul. He has filled the office of supervisor one term, county coroner two terms, and school treasurer eleven years. He owns 240 acres of land, and commenced in Illinois with $2.50. He is a gentleman of ability, integrity and honor, and was never known to waste time or money in anything.

Henry Lottinville, dealer in general merchandise, Papineau, came to Illinois in 1851, being then about two years old. With his parents and their family he was almost lost by shipwreck on Lake Erie, August 19, 1851, while on board the steamer Atlantic, which sunk on that date. He was rescued the last minute before she went down. His early youth was spent in Iroquois county, Illinois, with his parents. He was deprived of the advantages of education, as the country was new when he came to this county ; but a determined will secured him a fair education. February 6, 1865, he enlisted in Co. K, 147th 111. Inf., and served one year. He then engaged in farming for others, but in 1868 bought a farm, and in 1870 engaged in farming and stockraising, and followed that business about six years. He then sold his farm and engaged in the mercantile business in the village of Papineau, as one of the firm of Lottinville Brothers, in which business he is now engaged. January 6, 1872, he married Miss Georgiana Boulle, who is a native of Canada. He has two children : Eugene and Jose-

Thomas F. Switzer, farmer and stock-raiser, Waldron, Kankakee county, was born in Ross county, Ohio, June 25, 1823. At the age of six years he came to Warren county, Indiana, where he lived with his parents, engaged in farming and stock-raising, that part of the country then being very new and very few white settlers. He was deprived of the advantage of education, but by the aid of his parents and his own determined will he obtained a fair education. April 20, 1851, he married Miss Margaret Connor, a native of Indiana, and on the next day started tor Iroquois county, Illinois, with an ox-team and wagon, with all his worldly effects, and after three-days travel arrived in what is now Aroma township, Kankakee county, Illinois, at that time it being Iroquois eount}^. His farm now joins the Iroquois county line, where he preempted government land and engaged in farming and stock-raising, which business he now follows, making it a success not equaled by many in this part of the state. At the time he settled here his nearest market vras Chicago, where he has hauled corn a distance of seventy-five miles and sold it for twenty-five cents per bushel. He has hauled wheat from Warren county, Indiana, to Chicago, a distance of 150 miles. December 12, 1862, his wife died, and on July 2, 1865, he married his second wife, Mrs. Susan Hall, who is a native of New York, and was born June 15, 1830. He had five children : Casandra J., Martha E., Americus, Thomas B. and Bertha A. He owns 740 acres of very valuable land, all earned by industry and close attention to business. Since 1867 he has turned his attention to the breeding and raising of full-blooded short-horn cattle. He is a member of the M. E. church, and aided largely in building the Boucher Chapel. He has been strictly temperate from his youth.

Thomas Lottinville, merchant, Papineau, son of Antoine Lottinville, was born at Riviere du Loup, Canada, March 20, 1840. He lived there till 1851, when with his parents he removed to Papineau, Iroquois county, Illinois. His first year in Illinois MTas spent clerking in Bourbonnais and St. Anne. After that he engaged in farming with his father, and so continued till 1862. He then married Miss Dilema Savoie, who was born July 31, 1842, and was a native of Canada. February 10, 1865, he volunteered his services to his country, and became a member of Co. K, 147th 111. Inf. He served one year, returning home February 10, 1866, and again engaged in farming till 1868, when he sold out and moved to Kankakee city, and returned again in 1869 to Papineau. The village at that time was located, and he engaged in the grain business, putting up the first scales and buying the first load of corn bought in the town. In 1873 he engaged in the mercantile business, in which he still remains. He has filled the office of assessor six years, constable seven years, and president of the village four years. On his way from Canada he was shipwrecked on Lake Erie while on board the steamer Atlantic, August 19, 1851, and was rescued from the sinking vessel the last minute before she went down, losing all he had but his night-clothes. He has four children ; Flora, Adeline, Mary and Nellie.

his youth he remained on the farm with his parents, engaged in farming and going to school. October 30, 1873, he married Miss Sallie C. Clark, of Iroquois county. They have one child, Inez. In November, 1877, he located in Papineau, and engaged in the lumber and coal business. His father, Mr. Arthur R. Frogge, was born January 14, 1811, in Kentucky. During his early youth he lived a short time in Tennessee. In 1851 he came to Iroquois county, Illinois, bought a farm and engaged in farming and stock-raising. He has six children : Ellen, Milton, Sarah, Arthur W., Benton and Frank. He now lives in the village of Papineau, and is quite smart for a man of his years.

George Ducharme, farmer and stock-raiser, St. Anne, was born in Montreal, Canada, July 24, 1832. After living near where he was born thirteen years, with his parents he came to Chicago, and there remained about eight years attending school. April 9, 1852, in company with his brother he started for California with a team via the plains, arriving in Hangtown, California, August 9 of the same year. After a stay of about two years he returned home by the way of the Isthmus, crossing at Nicaragua, arriving in Chicago October 13, 1854, bringing back $1.200 in gold. In the autumn of the same year he removed to St. Anne, Kankakee county, Illinois, and about a year later removed to Iroquois county, and settled and built the first house where St. Mary now stands. Having bought a farm he engaged in farming and stockraising, and so continued eight years. He sold his farm there and again bought land, this time in the northeast part of Papineau township, in section 15, town 29, range 13, where he now lives engaged in the business of farming and stock-raising. He now owns 240 acres of land all earned by his own careful management and industry. February 5, 1855, he married Miss Delphine Faucher, who is a native of Canada, and was born October 15, 1841. They have nine children : Delia, David, Levi, Sophia, Flora, Ida, Ellen, Philip Louis and Egla. He has filled the office of school trustee since 1864, collector seven years, assessor five years, and commissioner of highways two years. His health has been so broken down the last fourteen years as to render farm labor to him impossible.

Philip LaPlante, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, was born near Montreal, Canada, August 18, 1838, where he lived till about the age of thirteen years. With his parents he then removed to Clinton county, New York, where he engaged in a nail factory and attended school till about the age of sixteen years, when he removed with his parents to Illinois, and two years later he settled in Papineau township, Iroquois county, <md engaged in farming till August 5, 1862. He enlisted as private in Co. D, 76th III. Inf.; November 28, 1862, he was appointed first sergeant ; May 27, 1864, sergeant ; and July 22, 1865, was commissioned by his excellency Richard J. Oglesby, governor of Illinois, to the position of second lieutenant, and was finally discharged with his regiment after participating in the battles of Talahatchee, Yicksburg, Jackson, Tennessee, Jackson cross-roads and the siege and charge on the Blakeley batteries near Mobile, Alabama. He then returned home and engaged in farming and stock-raising in Papineau township, Iroquois county, Illinois, in which business he is now engaged. In the spring of 1860 he married Miss Flavie Gaudreau, a native of Canada, who died in November, 1862. December 16, 1865, he married Miss Josephine, daughter of Mr. Moses Langellier. She is a native of Canada, and was born August 5, 1839. He has three children : Florence E., Irena A. arid Lionel C. He owns 160 acres of land two miles northeast of Papineau village.

Charles Ezra Savoie, farmer, Papineau, a native of Riviere du Loup, Quebec, Canada, and son of Mr. John Savoie, was born November 17, 1837. He lived there till 1847, when with his parents he removed to Illinois and settled in Bourbonnais Grove, Kankakee county, where he lived with his parents, engaged in farming and stock-raising and attending school till 1855, when he came to Papineau, Iroquois county, and again engaged in farming and stock-raising. December 8, 1860, he married Miss Melena Mercier, a native of Canada. July 27, 1862, like other patriotic men, lie volunteered his services to his country, and became a member of Co. D, 76th 111. Inf. After eigh teen-months service he became disabled by sickness and was transferred to the Invalid Corps, and July 3, 1865, was honorably discharged. After his return home he again engaged in farming, in which business he is still employed. He has filled the position of commissioner of highways the last fifteen years, and village trustee since the organization of the village of Papineau. He has five children living: Delia, Hattie, Ezra, Lucy and Adalore. He owns eighty acres of land in and adjoining the village of Papineau, all earned by his own industry.

William S. Jones, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, is a native of Meigs county, Ohio, where he was born January 2. 1834. He came to Illinois in 1837 with his parents, his father being the first settler in Papineau township, their nearest market for many years being Chicago by team via the old Hubhard trace. January 17, 1856, he married Miss Hester A. Canady, who was a native of Ohio, born January 19, 1834. and died June 18, 1864. Mr. Jones again married, December 15, 1864, Miss Mary Canady, who is a native of Illinois. He has six children : Eugene and Philip, by his first wife ; and Calvin, Addie Bell, Leon and Albert by his last wife. He is now acting supervisor of

Papineau township, and is engaged in farming and stock-raising. He owns 170 acres of land. He has sound business principles, and has won for himself many friends. He is also engaged in buying and shipping fat stock.

Hugh McSweeney, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, March 13, 1843, where he lived till eleven years old. With his parents he then removed to La Salle, Illinois there going to school till the excitement of the gold discoveries at Pike's Peak. He fell in with the tidal wave and went west, but returned in 1858 and settled with his father in Iroquois county, Illinois, and engaged in farming. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in Co. I, 20th 111. Inf., but after eight-months service, on account of sickness, he became disabled and was sent to the hospital at Chicago, where he remained unable for duty till the winter of 1863, when he was discharged. He then again engaged in farming as a hired hand till August, 14, 1864. He married Miss Harriet Jones, of Iroquois county, who was born October 24, 1844. He has eight children : Charles H., Sarah E., William E., Hugh, Olla, Peter E., Eugene and Wilbur. He now owns a home of 160 acres of land, the reward of strict economy and industry, in Sec. 35, T. 29, R. 13.

Christopher S. Guthrie, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, is a son of Henry P. Guthrie, of Ohio, and was born December 22, 1838, at Mount Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio. At the age of eight years he moved with his parents to Wheeling, West Virginia, but soon after returned to Ohio and lived with his parents till 1857, when he came to Kankakee, Illinois, in company with a Mr. Hoyle, bringing with them the first steam threshing-machine ever introduced in this part of the state. January 1, 18ti2, his patriotic impulses induced him to offer his services to his country, and he joined Co. *E, 53d 111. Inf. He was stationed at Chicago guarding rebel prisoners, under Col. Mulligan, for some time. From there he went direct to Shiloh, and participated in that memorable battle and the advance on Corinth. He was actively engaged from there on in many battles and skirmishes, till July 12, 1863; in the charge on Jackson he was captured by the rebels, and endured the horrors of prison life in all the principal prisons of the south, at one time paying twenty-five cents for one ear of corn, and was finally paroled at City Point, Virginia, in October, 1863. He was after that ordered with Gen. Sherman, and participated in his great march to the sea, and was finally mustered out of service at Goldsboro, North Carolina, in March, 1865, and returned to Illinois and engaged in fanning and stock-raising. December 25, 1865, he married Miss Mary J. Warden, who was born in Grcencastle, Indi- ana, in 1844. They have five children : Frances I., Henry W., James B., George C. and Mai hid a C. He owns 160 acres of land, all earned by his industry.

August Lottinville, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, was born at Riviere du Loup, Canada, where he lived till about the age of ten years. His parents at that time came to Illinois. An incident occurred on their way from Canada which must here be mentioned. August 19, 1851, the steamer Atlantic collided with a schooner on lake Erie, and the former sank soon after. The family, however, were all rescued the last minute before she went down, losing all they had but their night-clothes. Coming to a new country in his youth, he was deprived of the advantages of education, but a determined will overcomes obstacles of every kind, and he acquired a fair education. September 21, 1861, he volunteered his services to his country, and became a member of Co. K, 4th 111. Cav. He was engaged in the battles of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth and many others. August 1, 1862, he was appointed fifth sergeant, and honorably discharged .November 3, 1864. April 22, 1866, he married Miss Josephine Paradis, a native of Canada, born March 1, 1847. In 1865 he bought the farm on which he now lives, and engaged in farming and stock-raising, which business he now follows, about half a mile north of the village of Papineau. The farm comprises 160 acres of land, all earned by his own industry and hard labor. He has five children, as follows : Ida, Anna, Cora, Georgiana and Adalore.

Andreas Streigel, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, son of Sebastian Streigel, was born in Baden, Germany, October 20. 1828, remaining at home with his parents and learning the trade of cabinet-maker till twenty years of age. He was then drafted to serve three years in the army, which he did with credit. June 20, 1853, he married Miss Kathrena Billharz, who is a native of Baden, Germany. In the winter of 1854 he left his native country and sailed for America, and landed in New York April 24, 1854. He worked one year at his trade in Boston and Carnbridgeport. In April, 1855, he came to Illinois, bought a farm in Kankakee county and engaged in fanning, in which business he continued till August 5, 1862, when his adopted country needed his services, and he volunteered and became a member of Co. F, 76th 111. Inf. He served his adopted country faithfully, as he did that of his nativity, three years, and was honorably discharged, July 22, 1865. He lived in Kankakee city till April, 1867, when he came to Papineau, Iroquois county, Illinois, and bought the farm on which he made his present home. He immediately engaged in farming and stock-raising, in which business he is still successfully employed. He

L. W. Critser, M.D., physician, Papineau, was born January 13, 1827, in Bartholomew county, Indiana. With his parents he soon after removed to Warren county, Indiana, and there attended school till the age of twenty, when he went to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and engaged in school-teaching three years. He then attended the High School at Greencastle one term, and again engaged in teaching till February 3, 1853. He married Miss Rebecca Parker, who was born January 13, 1835. He then went into mercantile business till 1862. He then began the study and practice of medicine under Dr. Ogborn, till 1868, when he removed to Iroquois, Illinois, where he is still engaged in the practice of his profession. He graduated in 1878 at the Eclectic Medical Institute, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and in the same year was elected coroner of Iroquois county, which position he now fills. He has three children living : Hattie A., Katie I. and William L.

William T. Hiser, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, was born in Warren county, Indiana, January 13, 1844. He lived with his mother till the age of fourteen, when he came to Iroquois county, Illinois, and lived with his uncle, engaged in farming and going to school. In July, 1869, he bought a farm in Papineau township, on which he now lives actively engaged in farming and stock-raising. January 9, 1870, he married Miss Sarah E., daughter of Mr. John Dugan, who was born in Ohio in 1847. They have four children : Nellie, Frank, Eva Maud and Eva May. He owns 358 acres of land all in one farm, and has it well stocked and improved. His careful and close attention to business secures him remarkable success. He takes no interest in politics, neither has he ever been known to waste time or money in anything intemperate.

Alexander P. Shipley, farmer and gardener, Papineau, was born January 28, 1826, in White county, Illinois. He lived there till seventeen years old, when he removed to Washington county, Illinois, and there engaged in mercantile business, and so continued till 1860. He then engaged in milling in a steam flourlng-mill, in Richview, in the same county, till 1865. He then went to Cairo, Illinois, where he remained till 1870, when he came to Iroquois county, Illinois, and settled in Papineau township, and engaged in farming arid gardening, which business he still follows. He is justice of the peace and commissioner of highways. In 1849 he married Miss Mary A. Bingham, who died March 12, 1864. He was again married October 28, 1866, to Mrs. Martha Phillips. His children are: Georgiana H., Eliza and Bell, by his first wife; and Adelbert and Abba by his present wife.

Narcisse Gaudreau, farmer, St. Anne, Kankakee county, is a native of St. George, Canada, and a son of Fabien Gaudreau. He was born May 22, 1841. At the age of six years he with his parents came to Illinois, and settled at Aurora, Illinois, but four years later came to Iroquois county, and permanently located in Papineau township and engaged in farming. November 17, 1863, he married Miss Mary Tatro, a native of Canada. In July, 1872, he bought the farm of 160 acres on which he now lives, and is engaged in farming and stock-raising. He has made all his property by industry and close attention to business. He has six children : Ismeal N., Henry W., Samuel, Henry, John and Frank. He is a quiet, unassuming citizen and neighbor. He has filled the office of township clerk for three years, and school director many years.

Samuel H. Byrns. lawyer, Papineau, a son of James Byrns, one of the early pioneers of this county, was born October 4, 1846, in Kankakee county, Illinois. His youth was spent at home farming and stock-raising and attending school. At the age of twenty he went to study law at the law school of Ann Arbor University one term, and then went to Chicago Law School, where he finished his course, and engaged in the practice of his profession in that city. In 1875 he returned to his old home, and for awhile engaged in farming. In the autumn of 1877 he located in the village of Papinean, and engaged in school-teaching, in which profession he is still employed. In April, 1872, he married Miss Lena Wadley, daughter of Mr. Case Wadley, the oldest settler in this part of the state, coming here in 1826. He has one child, Walter Herbert.

Henry Jones, the first settler in Papineau township, was born -in Meigs county, Ohio, January 17, 1811, and died May 24, 1859. On March 23, 1835, with his wife (Sarah Hester), and their infant son, (William S.), Seth and Hepsabah (his parents), two brothers, three unmarried sisters, Jephtha Hayrnan (a son-in-law of Seth Jones), Ophania (his wife), and two children, Hamilton Jefferson, his wife and ten children, twenty-six in all, he embarked at Graham's station, near his home. They floated1 down the Ohio, and forced their boat up the Wabash to Tillotson's ferry, where they arrived May 8. On the 10th they reached Georgetown, Vermilion county, Illinois. The next season Henry Jones and his father, with Jefferson, made a trip to Spring creek and the Iroquois river. The subject of this sketch located on fractional N.E. £ of Sec. 34, T. 29, R. 13 W., and his father a short distance from him. In 1837 they moved their families to the cabins prepared for them. His first wife, Sarah, to whom he was married February 7, 1833, was born June 10, 1811, and died February 6, 1853.

Their children were: William S., Philip, Harriet and Sarah E. On January 6, 1854, Mr. Jones married Maria Sammons, who was born in Montgomery county, New York, February 10, 1833, arid emigrated with her parents, Thomas and Sarah, who settled at Sammon's point, near the Joneses. Henry C. was his youngest son. By his industry and good management Henry Jones accumulated a large property, consisting of over 500 acres of valuable land, and left a good farm for each of his sons. Being a man of uncommon energy and thrift, his neighbors consulted him on all occasions of importance. At an early date he commenced keeping medicines, and for years the sick of the neighborhood thanked him for relief. He made boots and shoes for his family and many others, working on the bench at night. In fact, he was a kind of universal genius. He never learned a trade, but like his father could make anything, from a spinning-wheel to a house. His own buildings were evidences of his skill. In 1847 he hauled lumber from Chicago and built a large barn, doing all the framing himself. He was a man greatly respected and honored by all who knew him.

Henry C. Jones, farmer and stock-raiser, Papineau, is a son of Henry Jones (one of the pioneers of this county), and was born December 25, 1856, in Papineau township, in this county. When he Mras about three years old his father died, and he was left to the care of his affectionate mother, who also died when he was about eighteen years of age. She was a daughter of Thomas Sammons (deceased), who came to this county in 1836 or 1837, when she was three or four years old. His early youth was spent with his mother in the old home, engaged in farming and attending school until the death of his mother. He then went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and attended high school about two years, when he returned to his old home and engaged in farming and stock-raising, in which business he is now actively employed. He now owns, besides his stock, 150 acres of valuable land, and is a sharp, energetic young man.

By M. H. Messer, Esq

In the original division of the county into political townships Onarga embraced all of town 26 north, of ranges 10 and 11 east and 14 west of the 2d principal meridian, and four tiers of sections in town 27 through the same ranges, making a territory twelve and three-quarter miles east and west, by ten miles north and south. In 1861 two tiers of sections of T. 25, R. 10 E., Sees. 1 and 12 ; R. 11 E., and Sees. 3 to 10 inclusive in same town. Ranges 14 west were taken from Loda and added to Onarga, and the north boundary was changed to the line five and a half miles further south, commencing at the quarter corner on the west boundary of Sec. 12, T. 26, R. 10 E., and running east to the corresponding corner on the east boundary of Sec. 12, T. 26 W., R. 14 W. In 1864 the south boundary was changed to the half section line, through the first tier of sections in T. 25 N., ranges 10 and 11 E. and 14 W. Another change was made January, 18T9, when the town of Ridgeland was organized from territory in the west part of it, leaving the boundary as follows : Commencing at the quarter section corner between Sees. 11 and 12, T. 26 K, of R. 10 E., thence east on the half section line to the quarter corner on the east boundary of Sec. 12, T. 26 K, of R. 14 W., thence south to the southeast corner of T. 26, R. 14 W., thence west two miles, thence south to the quarter corner between Sees. 2 and 3, T 25 N., of R. 14 W., thence west on the half section line to the center of Sec. 2, T. 25 N., of R. 10 E., thence north on the half section line to the center of Sec. 35, T. 26 N., of R. 10 E., thence east to the section line, thence north to the place of beginning. The records of the September meeting of the board of supervisors, 1879, show the west line was straightened so as to run on the half section line from the center of Sec. 11, T. 26 N., of R. 10 E., south to the center of Sec. 2, T. 25 N., of R. 10 E. The legality of this last change is questioned.

Spring creek enters the town by three branches in the southwest part, and leaves it near the northeast corner. Shave Tail from the south unites with it in the east part of the town. When the first settlers came there was a fine body of timber along the stream. The land is of good quality ; that portion east of the creek is not surpassed in the county, while that on the west side is a little lighter, a sand ridge extending through its entire north part.

Long before the white man traversed the wilds of Grand Prairie, the Indians hunted the deer, the elk and buffalo on its grassy plains, fished in the streams flowing through it, and had their camps and villages on their banks. Their trails leading from point to point on the streams, and from grove to grove, were common and well defined. The one from the mouth of Sugar creek to Kickapoo (Oliver's) "Grove, crossed the creek in section 12, then along the north side of the timber over the site of D. K. Thomas' dwelling to the round grove, thence near the northwest corner of S. H. Harper's farm, then south of the beaver swamp to the highest ridge in the village of Onarga, thence west on the highest land to the northwest quarter of section 19, where it left the county and continued to the grove. G. S. Hubbard was over this route as early as 1822, and he says at that time it was nearly abandoned by the Indians. Save the United States surveyors, who were here May 15 of that year, Hubbard is the first white man known to have been in this town. The Indian camping grounds were designated by the remains of their wigwams and the bluegrass growing at the places. There were several of them. The lone tree in Sec. 28, T. 26, E. 10 E. was a great resort in certain seasons; the numerous springs near by made that neighborhood a place for deer and elk to come for water. Here at an early day there were several acres well set in bluegrass, and July 4, 1839, Samuel Harper and T. M. Pangborn, with their sickles, cut several bundles of it for the seed. At Del Hey was a sugar camp used by them in 1834, and several wigwams were there in good condition when the first settlers came on the creek ; west of the Pierce farm were camp-poles and wigwam bark. The Pangborn grave-yard is on the other of them. About a quarter of a mile east of this was one of similar character, camp-poles and holes in the ground being at the latter place, a few rods northeast of the east end of Pangborn bridge ; at round grove, and on the creek bluff, southeast of the latter, all three on section 16, and another, the last, on the east bank at the crossing on section 12. On the sand ridge where the trail passed over blocks 19 and 20, of the village of Onarga, was the only camping ground out of the timber. At this place numerous poles for wigwams, quantities of bones, both of animals and fish, and parts of brass kettles were found ; and three years since a stone spear head, seven inches long, was found two feet below the surface, in front of M. H. Messer's dwelling. A silver bracelet was found by Daniel Wiswell near the basin, and M. H. Messer found a part of a pistol on his lot. In June, 1834, the last band of Indians, thirty or forty in number, were on Spring creek ; they were seen by Amos and Miller to cross near W. A. Boswell's and go toward Kickapoo Grove.

The Butterfield trail, the second great thoroughfare through the county, over which all the early settlers on Upper Spring creek caine, crossed at the gap on Sec. 13, T. 25, N. of R. 10 E., turned abruptly north, toward Philip Reed's dwelling, then straight to the west side of the big bog at John Lehigh's, along its west border, where the road now is, crossed one branch of the creek at H. Lyons', the other near Boswell's house, then to the point of timber a quarter of a mile further north, then northeast on the north part of B. F. Lindsey's farm to E. Doolittle's south dwelling, to S. H. Harper's, (the road past his house is the old trail) then through C. S. Pangborn's farm, and to the big slough about a mile west of the creek, on the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw railroad, then to a point a half mile east of the Barden Farm, in Sec. 24, T. 27, R. 14 W., where it turned north. Ben Butterfield looked out this route from Lockport to Danville in April, 1831, on his way from the former to the latter place. (See description of this trail in county history.) Prior to Butterfield making this trail, and as early as 1829, Enoch Yan Vickie, of Vermilion county, came to this neighborhood hunting bees; the early settlers of that county often came for that purpose. Samuel Copeland, of Blount township, same county, informed E. S. Ricker, in 1879, that Solomon Kooder was on Spring creek in the fall of 1832, hunting bees, and discovered a vast quantity of them, most all through the timber; the ground was covered with acorns, and wild artichokes grew in great abundance along the skirt of the prairie. Kooder reported the fact to his neighbors. Samuel Copeland, Evart Van Vickie, his two sons, Enoch and Benjamin, David Reeiz, William Rees, William Wright and Lewis Swisher, immediately drove 300 hogs to this creek to fatten. Copeland, Van Vickie and his son Benjamin rode the whole length of the creek, crossed at its mouth, and back to their camp on the other side, and saw no hogs or any signs of them. Some of the owners came frequently to look after their property, and when fattened, they drove them away. There were a few left, and for the three succeeding years the same men hunted their winter pork in this timber. At this time, the fall of 1835, they sold their interest in the hogs on Spring creek to Lindsey and Lehigh, and after this they were common property for all the settlers. In 1826 Hubbard brought hogs to his farm at Bunkum ; some of them soon became wild and stocked the timber along the streams, and doubtless they strayed to Spring creek. As early as 1829 wild hogs were found near Pigeon Grove.

The first settler in the present limits of the town, or anywhere along the creek, was Jesse Amos. He had been living on Sugar creek for a year or two, and in 1833 was with the Indians a part of the summer and fall, near the present town of Del Rey. Early in the spring of 1834 he moved his family, consisting of his wife and three children, and made a claim on the S.W. J of Sec. 36, T. 26 N. of R. 10 E. Their first habitation was made by the Indians. It consisted of poles and bark ; was about ten feet long and eight wide, closed at the sides and west end ; the east end was open, and faced a large burr-oak log, against which Mrs. Amos built the fire and did the cooking. Tom Lindsey and John Miller pointed out to the writer this log, on the 24th of March,. 1880. The limits of the wigwam can now be traced ; there is a small ditch at the western end, leading south, to carry water away. About eight rods west of this log was their well - it can be readily recognized. That fall he sowed about one acre of rye in this natural clearing, and for many years it was known as the rye-field, or patch. In the latter part of the season he erected a cabin farther west, and near the edge of the timber where the old frame house, built by James M. Smith, now stands. It was built of small logs, such as could be readily handled without calling on his neighbors, who were twenty miles away. This claim he sold to James Smith, in the fall of 1834, for $300, and built a cabin on the south bank of Amos creek, at its junction with the south branch of Spring creek, where he made a second claim. In a year or two he made another dwelling southwest of the second, where "William Hollingsworth's young orchard is. At his new home he had a handmill for grinding corn ; the burrs were procured of William Pickerel].. This mill he had as early as 1836, and probably in 1835. A few yearslater he procured a pair of burrs much larger than the first. These were arranged to be run by horse-power, and are now in the possession of John Miller ; they are twenty-three and a half inches across. Settlers came to this mill to grind corn, when prevented going to watermills from thirty to sixty miles distant. Mr. Amos' family consisted of Rachel, his wife; Betsey, who married Moses Lacy (this was the second wedding on Spring creek), and lived on the bank of the creek where plastering sand is now obtained. It was east of Amos' last dwelling. Rebekah, the second daughter, married Blanchard Freeman. She died at John Miller's, at twenty-two years of age. Wilson, the only son, died June 12, 1847, aged twenty years. Spico was born at their last home and went with her parents when they moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the fall of 1848. Lacy had moved to that place before 1840.

The second settler, John Miller, was born in West Virginia, February 12, 1801. He married Peggy Stewart, November 2, 1826, in Bath county, same state, and on April 7, 1831, arrived with his family in Covington, Indiana, where they stopped till the spring of 1834. In May of that year they started for Fox river, and arrived at Amos' on the 17th. Amos had preceded him about a month. Liking the location, Miller made a claim of his present farm, and at once built a shelter about fourteen feet square, of thin puncheons split from lynn and walnut, fastened to poles. This shelter was open on one side, but in it they lived two seasons, returning, however, to Covington the first winter on account of sickness in the fall. The first spring he broke about five and the second about twenty acres, and the latter year raised a good crop. Miller came with four good horses, and the second time he brought from Covington three cows. George Kirkpatrick helped drive them through. In the fall of 1835 he moved into a comfortable log cabin (destroyed by fire February 13, 1868), converting the first shelter into a stable. Kirkpatrick left with Philip Procus for Milwaukee early in the fall, and returned to the Wabash next winter. George Procus worked for Miller and Lehigh the same season. On Miller's land there was a wigwam in good condition ; his horses fled to it for shelter from the green-head flies. Near it was an oak log under the side of which the Indians had hid their brass kettles. Amos bought and took them away. Miller paid him $1.50 for one. By trade he was a wagon-maker, and did repairing for himself and neighbors. His family at that time consisted of his wife, who died February 5, 1840, and four children. Miller is hale and hearty, and lives with his third wife. Frontier life suits him.

Ira Lindsey, Jonas Smith (James, his son), and J. B. Grice, left West Virginia, September 10, 1834, and by wagons arrived at Perrysville, Indiana, in fifteen days, where Lindsey's family stopped with Abram Lehigh, an old acquaintance, and Smith's went to Grand View to Jonathan "Wright's. The men made an extensive trip into Illinois to select land. Lehigh had left the same place in Virginia a few years before, and concluding to emigrate with his friends, he accompanied them in search of a new home. They traveled over much of the north part of the state, and not finding places to suit them turned toward their families, and following the Butterfield trail in that direction, brought the"m to Amos' ; liking the place as it then appeared in its natural state, and finding the timber better than elsewhere, they concluded to stop. Lindsey made his claim on the S.E. ^ of Sec. 36, T. 26, R. 10 E., where B. Frank Lindsey and his mother now live. James Smith bought the claim made by Amos, and Lehigh made a claim to lots 5 and 6. N.E. £ Sec. 1, T. 25, R. 10. Jonas Smith, an old man .sixty-six years of age, lived with his son ; J. B. Grice was a single man, and neither of them took land. Lindsey and Lehigh at once built cabins for their families, and the Smiths went on to Grand View. Lindsey by mistake built his cabin on Smith's claim ; it stood a few rods southwest of the brick house which he built in 1843. Lehigh located his on the bluff south of the passenger house at Del Rey. Grice helped build both cabins. These preparations being made they returned for their families, and November 4, 1834, Lindsey moved into his new home. Smith reached his a few days sooner, and in March, 1835, Lehigh, with his son William G., Mary and Alvira, and a hired man (Merideth Print), with an ox-team moved from Perrysville to the new home. As soon as the children were well settled Mr. Lehigh returned for his wife and the other children. Mrs. Mary Harper says it was a long and anxious seven weeks before father, mother, and the smaller children arrived. In the meantime the young folks had made about a half-barrel of maple sugar. Lehigh had secured his timber land and at once made another claim on lots 4 and 5, N.E. ^ of Sec. 2, and moved into a new cabin, where H. Lyons now lives. The next winter Mr. Lehigh went to Indiana to work at teaming, and in April, 1836, word came to his wife that he was dangerously sick. She, on horseback, with Frederick A., about six months old, (the first white child born on Spring creek, August 14, 1835,) in her arms, and her son William, made the trip (sixty-three miles) in a day and a half. Her husband was speechless and died in an hour after her arrival. Mrs. Lehigh always thought he recognized her. Thus early in the efforts to secure a home was she left a widow, with a family of eight children. A neighbor woman said of her: "She did nobly; her judgment and management are seldom surpassed." The farm was paid for and the family kept together, and received all the advantages a new country affords. She died March 28, 1860, at fifty-eight years of age.

Jonas Smith was a well educated man and a most excellent surveyor; he had been employed on some of the United States land surveys in Arkansas, and was the first county surveyor, and held the office till 1839. He died March 22, 1843, at seventy-five years of age.

James Smith was a genial, whole-souled gentleman, full of energy, and did all he could to develop the country ; he had a clearer and a more comprehensive view of its future than any other man in the county. He died September 24, 1839, thirty-two years old. At his house was held the first election in Spring creek precinct in the fall of 1835. The judges appointed by the county court were Levi Thompson, Ira Lindsey and John Johnson. The precinct was bounded as follows: Commencing at the mouth of Beaver creek, then west to tbe county line, south to southwest corner of the county, then east to the west boundary of Sugar creek precinct (about on the line between ranges 13 and 14), then north to the northwest corner of Sugar creek precinct, east to line between ranges 12 and 13 west, north to Beaver creek and down it to its mouth. Smith was road supervisor for this whole territory, and one of the petit jurors for that year. The last of this family has passed away and not one of their descendants remains.

Ira Lindsey had considerable means, and entered a number of choice tracts of timber which he sold to those who came in after years. In 1843 he built a brick house, now the residence of Mrs. Boyd ; also a large frame barn. The pine lumber in both was purchased in Chicago and delivered at his farm at a cost of $10 per thousand. The bricks were made close at hand by Lorenzo Dow Northrup, at a cost of $4 per thousand, and were laid by Joseph B. Dean ; Seneca Amsbary and his father (Hamlet) did the carpenter work on both buildings. This was the first house, other than log cabins on the creek, and the bricks were from the second kiln made here. He was justice of the peace, and officiated at the wedding of R. B. Pangborn and Margaret Harper. This was his first effort in that direction, and he was more frightened than they. After this he was often called upon for similar official acts. He was the first grand juror from this precinct; in May, 1836, he paid $9 into the county treasury, fines he had collected. He was one of the jury that tried Joseph Thornason for murder, and hung the jury three days, the evidence being circumstantial. He was one of the leading men in the settlement.

James Martin, an Irishman, was a character that must not be overlooked. Martin drove a team from Virginia for Lindsey, worked for him for two years, then for Ayers till about 1846, when he married Hannah Gillitte, a widow. This man was one of " the four or five men " who rowed the boat that took Commodore Perry from his sinking flag-ship Lawrence to the Niagara, at the battle of Lake Erie. He died about 1848, and was buried in the Lehigh grave-yard. No monument marks this hero's grave.

Jonathan Wright came in the fall of 1835. His family, Rachel his wife, and Charlotte, who married John Paul, of Sugar Creek, Louisa, Nancy, Noah, Joseph and Benjamin stopped with his son-in-law. Smith, that winter, and the next year opened the farm where Philip Reed lives. The first wedding on Spring creek was that of Louisa Wright with Jacob A. Whiternan, of Bunkum, in the summer of 1836. After her death he married Nancy.

In the spring of 1835 Col. James Frame, his wife (Mary), three sons and three daughters; George Whitfield Rounsaville, his wife (Mary), a daughter of Frame, came from Indiana, and built their cabin near the center of the east half of N. W. £, S. 16, T. 26, R. 14 W. They brought a hand-mill, which was much used by the neighbors for grinding corn ; it was the second mill on the creek. In 1836 Rounsaville moved to Plato and kept a boarding house when the steam mill was being built ; they soon returned and commenced a farm, near Frame's, on the same section. Rounsaville died in 1857 ; one son was killed at the battle of Shiloh, and the widow soon after the war moved to Kansas. Thomas Frame, one of the three sons, was in Danville on December 19, 1836, and entered the northwest quarter of the S. W. of Sec. 15, T. 26, R. 14; on his way home the next day was frozen to death ; he was buried on his late purchased land. This was the fourth death. James Frame, Jr., erected his first cabin on the same land in about 1842. To obtain fire when they first came, Rounsaville carried a tea-kettle of coals from Lindsey's, five miles. Jacob Knoyer and Jane Frame were married about April 5, 1840 ; the snow was about a foot deep, and the visitors went in sleds. The second election was held at Col. Frame's, the first Monday of August, 1836. Levi Thompson, Jacob O. Feather and the Colonel were appointed judges by the court ; two of them being absent, Ira Lindsey and Hamilton Jefferson filled their places. James Smith and Jonathan Wright were the clerks ; there were present and voted besides these : John Miller, Jesse Amos, Joseph Wright and Jedediah Darby. Jonas Smith, Thompson and Feather were the other three voters in the precinct.

James McKuhn, a native of Kentucky, came to Miller's in the fall of 1836, and died in about two months; this was the third death. William Whiteman settled on the Hull Farm in 1836, remained there about two years, when he sold to George L. Conn. Whiteman went back to the Wabash, and in a few years to California.

In the early part of May, 1836, Thomas M. Pangborn, Caleb Jewett and Oliver Miller came from Ohio by way of Parish's Grove, to Milford, then to Levi Thompson's, on their way to the Rock river country to find a place to settle. Before going further they concluded to examine the land on Spring creek. They went up on the east side, crossed over to Frame's and stopped over night ; the next day on the north side to Smith's, where they stopped three days, during which time they selected land and went by the way of the Butterfield trail to Danville, where they entered their several lots. T. M. Pangborn entered 220 acres, the present Doolittle Farm, and for his brother (Ransom) 80 acres, his present farm, and 80 acres of timber. Jewett entered the Horace Barnes Farm, 80 acres of timber and other lands, where J. W. Grubbs and David Risser live, and a lot near John Miller's. Oliver Miller entered the W. A. Davis Farm. Jewett at once returned and built a cabin on the north end of his timber lot, a few rods east of the Pangborn burying-ground. On October 2, 1837, the Pangborns and Harpers moved into the Jewett cabin : the Harpers had bought that lot of Jewett.

Ten grown persons, Samuel and Mary Harper, Thomas M. and Jane Pangborn, Alexander and Diana Harper, Ransom Pangborn and Samuel H., Margaret and Mary Ann Harper, wintered in this sixteenfeet-square building. In December, Johnson T., infant son of Thomas M. and Jane, died ; he was one year old, and was the first person buried in that burying-ground. The next spring Thomas built his cabin a few rods from his child's grave, and lived there until 1845, when he erected a new house of hewed logs, on the Butterfield trail. April 10, 1856, it was destroyed by fire, and the south house, on the same farm, was at once erected on the same piace. Mr. Pangborn was elected associate judge in 1853, and served four years. Ransom B. Pangborn married Margaret Harper, June 24, 1838; this was the third marriage in the settlement. They lived with Thomas till the fall of 1840, when he moved on his own land, which he now owns. Alexander Harper entered the E. -| of the S.E. \ of Sec. 19, and commenced living there in 1838. His widow, Diana Harper, lives on the same farm. He died February 14, 1845. Mary Ann died March 25, 1839. Samuel H. Harper and his parents continued to live in the Jewett cabin till 1839, when they moved it to the prairie, where he now resides. Samuel H. Harper married Mary Lehigh, April 16, 1839. Father Harper died

Pioneer Log Cabin

February 23, 1846, and his widow July 9, 1852; they were natives of Pennsylvania. The two Pangborns and the latter Harper have raised large families who, with their parents, occupy respectable positions in the community. One of the first things this little colony did in the spring of 1838 was to carefully plant a parcel of apple seed they had brought from Ohio : from these seeds came the first of their orchards.

On the return of Lindsey, Lehigh and Grice, from their prospecting tour in the fall of 1834, the}'- found Samuel Mason Ayers at Covington, and when Lindsey returned to build his cabin Grice and Ayers accompanied him. Ayers remained about a month, made a claim, and returned to Virginia. In the fall of 1835 or 1836 he moved his family, and spent the winter at Lindsey's, whose wife was his sister, and the next spring moved to his claim, lot 2, N.E. £ of Sec. 1, T. 25, E. 10. Elizabeth, his first wife, died April 25, 1854, and was buried in the Lehigh burying-ground, where four of her infant children were also buried.

In the spring of 1837 or 1838 a fruit-tree peddler appeared on Upper Spring creek. Lindsey, Wright, the Smiths and the widow Lehigh bought out his entire load and set their orchards. Miller not getting any of these trees, went to the Wabash with an ox-team, and purchased enough for a small orchard. These were the first fruit trees planted, and some of them bear fine apples to this day, as the writer can bear witness.

Reuben Skeels, with his wife (Sally), four sons (Henry, Orvis, Nelson and Reed), two daughters (Cyntha, and Almira Root with her two children, Clinton D. and Mary Ann), came with the Pangburns and Harpers. Mr. Skeels was through this county in June, 1836, with Stephen Tripp, and bought land of James Smith, and als<> made a claim. Tripp made his selections and settled on the Iroquois river, near Plato. Skeels built his cabin on the N.W. I of Sec. 31, T. 26, R. 14. South of the ditch, near the northwest corner of that lot of land. This was his home for many years. His wife died July 16, 1838. In April, 1843, he married Plannah Kyrk, by whom there were two sons (Irvin and Orvis), now living near the old home. His second wife died April 6, 1855, aged forty-eight years, and he April 22, 1864, aged seventy-six years. Henry Skeels married Sally Roberts, of Ash Grove, April 18, 1839; Ira Lindsey, Esq., went. to that settlement to tie the matrimonial knot. In 1841 Skeels commenced the Pierce farm in N. i of S.E. £, Sec. 31, T. 26, R. 14, and died February 4, 1849. Robert Skeels and Mrs. David Bullington are two of his children. The same year his brother Orvis improved the Metzger place. He married Rachel Brock, of Ash Grove, March 26, 1840, and died September 19, 1841. John Kyrk bought the Oliver and Nelson-Miller land, and moved on it in the spring of 1837. His cabin stood a few rods from . the present residence of W. S. Davis ; the artesian spring close by determined the location of his dwelling. There were two sons (Isaac A. and William) and three daughters (Hannah, Mary and Mahala); the latter married Loved Evans. Kyrk brought a hand-mill with him. It was the third of that class in the precinct. Kyrk died May 5, and his wife August 13, 1847.

Benjamin W. Rackbold, with his wife (Sarah), and several children, came in the spring of 1837. Their cabin was being raised on the day the Pangborns and Harpers drove past on their \vay to the Jewett cabin. It was about a half mile south of Wright's. Mr. Rackhold died July 29, 1854, and his wife September 23, 1856. Melissa Jane,

Hamilton Jefferson, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, with Sarah (his wife), and her son (Spencer Sayers), their four sons (Henry, Hamilton, George and Thomas); their five daughters (Ann Maria, Cerene, Ophana, Hannah and Martha), with the families of Seth Jones, Henry Jones and Jephtha Hayman, twenty-six persons in all, embarked March 23, 1835, with their household goods, at Graham's landing, Meigs county, Ohio, in a boat seventy-five feet in length and about twelve in width. They floated down the Ohio nearly 1,000 miles to the "Wabash ; up the latter river they towed and poled their bark 400 miles to Tilsou's Ferry, where they landed on the 8th of May. For thirty days the men labored at the oars, poles and tow-ropes, forcing the boat up the stream. At night on the 10th they were in Georgetown, Vermilion county, Illinois. In the summer of 1836 Jefferson and the two Joneses came to Iroquois county to select land for their homes. They made claims on the Iroquois ; the Joneses remained there, but Jefferson abandoned his claim when informed by the Indians that colts and pappooses could not be raised there on account of the cold fever (milk sickness); they assured him these desirable accompaniments of farm and home life were in no danger of that disease on Spring creek. This brought him to the point of timber ever afterward known as Jefferson's Point. He entered the W. % of S.W. \ of Sec. 12, T. 26, K. 14 W., and in February, 1837, built a cabin. In October he moved his family to their new home. At this time he hauled fifteen bushels of corn meal and a half-barrel of flour from Danville. After getting well settled his first work was to construct, with a seven pound wedge, a spring pole and a log made concave on top, a machine for pounding hominy. The machine occupied one end of the dwelling ; it was a grand success in preparing that kind of food for a family of twelve persons. Jefferson and his step-son Sayers had raised a crop in the neighborhood that season. Two daughters were added to this already large family after arriving in Illinois, one while living in Vermilion county, the other in their new home. Thomas, and Hannah Oppy are the only representatives left. Hamilton went to California about 1854, and has not been heard from for over twenty-three years. Mrs. Jefferson, while on a visit to her relatives in Ohio, died, October, 1858, and was buried there. January 10, 1859, he married Mrs. Nancy Eoff, with whom he lived till his death, September 28, 1878, leaving one daughter by her, who lives with her mother in Onarga. The second year Jefferson resided on the creek he dug a well forty-eight feet deep; finding no water he bored twelve feet, when' the water suddenly carne np, tilling the excavation several feet. The water was so impregnated with sulphur that it was never used. The boring was accomplished by a pod auger made from a dry hickory rail ; the cutting part was cased with tin from milk pans. This is the first boring for water in the county of which we have any knowledge.

John Churchman, his wife Caroline, and three or four children, came in 1837, probably in the spring. His dwelling stood on the N. W. \ of Sec. 15, T. 26, R. 14, on the east side of a small ravine. A large cottonwood tree now marks the place. He entered several tracts of land, and made some improvements. In 1848 he sold out and went to California, where he died. The family then moved to South America, where the widow died, leaving several of the children in the latter country.

William D. Robinson commenced a farm adjoining and north of Jonathan Wright's in 1838. With much energy and good calculation he accumulated a fine property. Mr. Robinson died January 3, 1856, at forty-seven years of age. His wife, Lovina, died March 26, 1854, aged thirty-eight years.

Henry Root drove a horse-team from Ohio in the fall of 1838, and late in December arrived at Reuben Skeel's, where his family had been for more than a year. Root made a cabin on the S. W. fractional \ of Sec. 30, T. 26, R. 11 E., where he now lives. This has been superseded by a frame house. The back pension of $1,700 which Mrs. Root has lately secured, on account of the death of her son, Clinton D. Root, in the late war, has enabled them to build a nice residence for their old age.

- From this date, while the advent of new settlers is of equal importance, as regards the individuals our time and space will allow only the brief mention of their names, without adverting in detail to their subsequent movements. Among the last named are remembered Loved Evans, Dr. Andrew E. Manderville, a skillful physician, Thomas A. Norvell, keeper of the first hotel in Onarga, Moses Oppy, a notorious hunter, John Freeman, Daniel Gavin, who taught the first school in the Pangborn cabin, and Seneca and Carlos Amsbary. The Dean brothers were also among the early settlers. They were all school teachers, and have left their impress upon many who were then among the youth but have now grown to manhood and womanhood in these and other parts.

field, and they were often found feeding among the cattle. Venison was always on their tables. Wild fowl, ducks, geese, brants and prairie chickens were too plenty to be profitable. Wild hogs for some years furnished pork, and for a few years a stray flock of turkeys could be found. At the same time the land was almost overrun with snakes. Often, in closing a land of a few acres plowing, the last day's work was fraught with danger to man and beast from the numerous rattlesnakes, driven, day by day, to the center. They were so plenty that the sturdy oxen would become almost unmanageable. It was not uncommon for a man, in a month's breaking sod, to kill a hundred or more of these poisonous reptiles. In early spring the more harmless snakes would come from their winter quarters in great numbers, and in a sudden chill they would gather in masses as large as a bushel basket and remain for the warm rays of the sun to give them more life. T. Lindsey attat-ked such a mass with an ax, and demolished a large number of them.

Corn bread was the staple in that line. For weeks at a time wheat bread would not appear. The children were glad to see a visitor at the cabin, especially a neighbor woman or the preacher, for their presence told of warm biscuit. In most of the families flour bread was furnished on Sundays. This made Sunday a welcome day to the little folks, and the parents felt thankful that they were so well provided for. The reader may think such a life would be unendurable, but, in the language of an old settler, "You could stand it if you had to."

Besides being a religious and law-abiding people, the first settlers of Onarga knew the importance and value of education, and at an early day put forth an honorable effort in that direction. In the fall of 1836 a school was organized, and taught by Marilla Ayers. In the Lehigh cabin, Louisa Wright taught in the same room in 1837. In 1838 Mrs. Diana Harper taught about twenty scholars in the same place. For her services she received $1.50 per week, which was regarded at that time as high wages. William Prentiss taught the following winter in one of the Amos cabins. Caroline Grice and Nelson Skeels were teachers in an early day in the Lindsey neighborhood. Caroline Webster, daughter of Chauncey Webster, of Sugar Creek, was employed in the summer of 1839. John Wilson was employed in the winter of 1840-41, and kept a school of about thirty scholars. The house was about thirty rods southeast of H. Lyon's residence. It soon became necessary to have a school in the Pangborn neighborhood, and in the winter of 1842-3 Thomas

M. Pangborn taught in one of the Kyrk cabins, where Ruth Hibbard's dwelling now stands. The next fall, late in November, a log school-house was built on the west bluff of the basin, northeast of E. Doolittle's dwelling ; the ditch at that place occupies the site. Daniel Gavin was the teacher that winter, and Alvira, Lehigh the next summer. At this time there were two schools on Upper Spring creek. In the summer of 1843, after Lindsey's family moved into their brick house, Mrs. Lindsey taught a school in their cabin. In 1845 there were two schools ; in 1850, four ; in 1858, seven ; in 1860, nine ; and 1880, thirteen. Among the teachers from 1840 to 1850, we find Rev. T. B. Hall, Mary Darling, Julia Leggett, Mahlon Boyd, Mary Vroman. From. 1850 to 1860 : Maranda Miller, Addison Lockwood, Mary Evans, Yioletta Boswell, James Lindsey, Alfred Fletcher, Miss V. Bennett, Dr. E. P. Squires, T. M. Snow, J. Edwin Smith, Miss M. E. Needham, Hezekiah Storms, Lizzie Hastings, M. Wilson, Molly Denton, C. R. Eager. The number of schools, from the first one, in 1836, has kept pace with the increase of population, and their efficiency is well attested by the general intelligence of the people. It has been said for many years, by the postal clerks, that more reading matter came to Onarga, in proportion to its population, than to any other town on the Illinois Central railroad. The village has for many years been the educational center of the county.

In the fall of 1856 H. H. and F. L. Stone built a school-house on their addition to the town, and that winter D. P. Norton taught the first school in the village. The following May a building on the east side of the railroad, where A. K. Doe now resides, was rented, and Harriet M. Messer (now Culver) was employed three months. In August, 1857, Union school district No. 1 was organized, and at the election on October 6, Dr. J. L. Parmalee, Enoch C. Hall and William C. Moore were elected directors. The same teacher, with Helen Skeels (now Eager) as her assistant, was employed for the winter of 1857-8. The school was in the stone school-house. The difference in compensation for the same kind of work, in 1838 and 1858, is shown by $6 per month in the former year, and $28 in the latter.

The rapid growth of the village made it necessary to furnish more and better rooms for schools ; and, in the spring of 1858, a house 30x48, 12 feet high, was built. For putting up this structure Horace Pinney was paid $1,025. At that time it was the largest and best school building in the county. Fannie E. Murdock and Jennie Sheffield opened the school in this house about the middle of July.

A. C. Burnham (now a resident of Champaign) in 1860, opened a private school in the upper room of C. A. Newton's store building. At one time a private school was taught in the house now occupied for a dwelling by J. C. Culver, Mrs. Culver being the teacher.

July 19, 1867, the directors contracted with Ralph McKenney, Cyrus Austin and R. B. Cultra for the erection of a two-story brick school-house, 32 X 50. It was completed that year, dedicated January 6, 1868, and cost, when furnished, $5,749.57. The year following an English cast-steel bell, costing $140, was put in the tower.

As early as 1865 schools were organized for the colored children, who at that time had no school rights under the laws of the great state of Illinois. The expense of such schools was paid by contribution till, on December 28, 1868, the board of directors "voted to admit the children of the colored population of suitable age to all the rights and privileges in the public school which other children have"; A. E. Donaldson and M. H. Messer for, and J. C. Culver against, the proposition. This action of the board drew forth a shower of opposition, and January 1, 1869, the citizens held a meeting, and by resolution requested the school officers to open a separate school for the colored people in their church at least six months each year, and pay the expense out of the common school fund. Consequently, in November, 1869, Miss Annie Allen was employed at $33 per month to take charge of such school. It soon became apparent that it would not be a judicious expenditure of money to continue this school in the spring for the few who would attend in the warm weather, and there being plenty of vacant seats in the brick house, to it they finally found their way, and in a year or two the separate school for their benefit was discontinued. In 1872 F. P. Beach took the contract to build an addition to the school building, 25x40, two stories, with a mansard roof. When completed and furnished it cost $4,189.92. It is a beautiful structure, an ornament and a credit to the town. The seating capacity of the house is 275. The present directors are : George B. Winter, James B. Baldwin and Joseph D. Long ; the teachers are : A. K. Carmichael, principal ; Mrs. Kate Hanby, Mrs. Eva L. Evans, Lizzie Soule, Hattie Harper and Mary Slattery. It is worthy of note that Miss Soule has been a teacher in this school since 1865, except in 1872. Mrs. A. E. Rumley was a teacher for five years, Hattie Davis for six years, and Hattie Harper for five years ; Mrs. Kate Hanby eight years out of eleven.

Onakga Towxsttif

school in about 1862. The rooms over Pierson's store. were used for that purpose. This school continued about two years, and was successful. In the spring of 1865 W. P. Pierson, at his own expense, erected a substantial building, and May 1, 1865, Emily and Mary Wilson opened a school in it. It was known as the Onarga Institute. Under the management of these ladies the school became well and favorably known. In the winter of 1868 it numbered over 100 pupils, and four teachers were constantly employed. The Rev. A. G. Wilson attended to some of the advanced classes. Mr. Wilson was president of the official board. This school continued till June, 1872, when it suspended.

Grand Prairie Seminary And Commercial College

In the spring of 1863 the following questions were submitted by the Rev. P. T. Rhodes, presiding elder of the Middleport district, to each of the quarterly conferences in his charge : First, ' ' Does the country which the said district embraces, and the country contiguous to the same, demand a high-grade seminary?" Second, "If so, should the M. E. church establish an institution of learning of a character adapted to meet the wants of a rapidly growing section of our state ? " Upon mature deliberation each quarterly conference elected a delegate, whose duty was, with the preacher in charge, to attend a convention to be held at Onarga in an early part of the summer. June 10, 1863, the educational convention of Middleport district met at Onarga. At 9 o'clock A.M. P. T. Rhodes was called to the chair. G.W. Gray, J. H. Rheaand O.W. Pollard were committee on credentials, and they reported that Dr. Steward, of Chebanse ; A. O. Whiteman, of Sheldon ; C. D. Chapman, of Chebanse ; Lorenzo Beech, of Fairbury ; Alonzo Taylor, of Ash Grove, and M. H. Messer, of Onarga, were proper delegates. P. T. Rhodes was declared a member of the convention, he being the presiding elder of the district. The friends of the movement, from Buckley and Kankakee city, and other places, were invited to participate in the discussion. The places competing for the location of the institution were Kankakee city, Onarga, Buckley and Middleport ; Onarga on the final vote receiving 13 out of the 22 votes cast. The following persons were appointed to call a meeting, according to the statutes, to elect trustees, and to decide upon a name for the institution : W. P. Pierson, W. G. Riggs, P. T. Rhodes, Charles H. Wood and G. W. Gray. Pursuant to a call made by the committee appointed, a meeting was held June 26, 1863, and P. T. Rhodes, Ransom B. Pangborn, Samuel II. Harper, Winslow Woods, of Onarga ; William G. Riggs, of

Buckley ; C. D. Chapman, of Chebanse ; and I. J. Krack, of Forestville, were elected trustees. C. H. "Wood was elected treasurer. July 9, P. T. Rhodes was appointed financial agent for Grand Prairie Seminary, to solicit funds and appoint local agents. It was determined to open the school by October 1, and the M. E. church was used for a school-room. Shortly afterward a building, 14x40, 9 feet high, was erected on the church lot, and used for school purposes till the seminary was completed. Rev. George W. Gray was elected principal, and his wife professor of languages and natural sciences. It was thought best to organize a primary department, and J. E. Smith was appointed to take charge of it and teach vocal music. In April, 1864, G. W. Gray and wife were continued in their respective positions. Rev. O. W. Pollard was elected professor of commercial science ; Mrs. Sarah Marston, preceptress ; Mrs. Louis A. Crawford, teacher of instrumental music ; Hattie Packer, teacher of German; Charles H. Wood, commercial law. J. E. Smith retained control of the primary department. Before it was decided to locate the institution at Onarga, the citizens, with their usual liberality, had subscribed toward the erection of the necessary buildings about $7,000: Elder Rhodes, with his untiring energy, commenced the work early in the spring of 1864, .and in the latter part of the summer a building, 40 X 60, three stories high, was completed, and in the fall occupied by the institute. The structure cost $10,000, and to fence the grounds and improve the same left a debt of $1,100 to be provided for. At this time, the fall of 1864, the institute was well organized ; with a full official board, a complete corps of efficient teachers, a sharp and energetic financial agent, and a fine building located in the central part of a rich farming district, rapidly increasing in population, and under patronage of a most powerful church organization in the northwest, this school commenced its work. Rev. G. W. Gray resigned February 27, 1865, and O. W. Pollard was elected the second president of Grand Prairie Seminary. In the fall of 1867, a colored man applied for admission to the school. The faculty held a meeting for consultation and decided to admit him ; this created much opposition among some of the patrons of the school, and the official board was asked to disapprove the faculty's decision ; the result was, the faculty was sustained. In April, 1868, the stockholders decided to admit persons of color to the seminary. In November, 1868, D. K. Pierson, of Chicago, donated $500 for the seminary library, provided a similar sum be added to it. The records of the next April state that $1,000 has been added to the library. This includes the D. K. Pierson contribution, which was made in books. To place the institution on a sure foundation it was necessary to endow it ; to accomplish this object its friends in this part of the state, in 1872 (the M. E. centennial year), made an effort to that end, and raised by subscription $22,026.50. By reason of the hard times, and the conditions under which the donation was received, that fund has shrunk to about $16,500, which is now placed beyond the probability of loss. Rev. J. T. Dickinson was president for six years, ending July, 1877", at which time Rev. John B. Robinson took his place, and is the present incumbent. Besides the regular academic courses usually taught in such institutions, a complete course is given in commercial science ; this department is now, and has been for the last ten years, in charge of Prof. John H. Atwood. Ellen J. Benharn, lady principal, and Phcebe Yan Benshoten, teacher of French, Latin and English, have been teachers in their several branches for the last seven years.

From the beginning music has received its share of attention, and in June, 1878, G. Frank Page was engaged to take the entire charge of the department. The professor is a finely educated musician, in the theory as well as the art. His study of music was completed by a two-years course in the world-renowned school in Leipsic, Germany, under the tuition of the German masters ; this preparatory training has made him a superior teacher. From the crude organization existing when he came, he has now one of the most complete conservatories for musical culture in the state. A separate building was prepared for his use, and in the beginning of 1880 the Congregational church was leased for a term of years, and a number of rooms arranged for instruments and classes. There are six pianos and one large pipe organ, furnished by him for his pupils. Vocal culture, theory and composition are made prominent features of this school. Thus far it has proved a complete success, and bids fair to hold its present high reputation.

For the last two winters President Robinson has furnished a course of popular lectures. Ex-Vice-President Colfax, Gov. Cumbach, of Indiana; Dr. Gregory, of the State University of Champaign, and other eminent men, were among the speakers. The proceeds were for the benefit of the school, resulting in the purchase of astronomical apparatus, and lastly a fine five-foot telescope. The whole number of pupils attending the seminary proper the last year was 227 ; in the commercial department, 47 ; conservatory of music, instrumental, theory and composition, 59 ; vocal classes, exclusive of the juvenile and citizens' classes, 200. Of the number, 206 are enumerated twice, leaving the total number of different pupils in this institution, 327. Rev. George W. Gray was elected first principal ; Rev. O. W. Pollard, February 27, 1865 ; Rev. N. C. Lewis, September 20, 1865 ; Rev. O. W. Pollard, June 5, 1866 ; Prof. C. Loza Smith, January 21, 1868 ; Rev. W. C. Knopp, January 8, 1868 ; Prof. W. J. Beams, August 6, 1869 ; Prof. H. C. Burch, August 18, 1870 ; Rev. J. T. Dickinson, president, July 12, 1871 ; Rev. John B. Robinson, May 28, 1877.

The first preacher on Spring creek was the Rev. Mr. Springer; he was the first Methodist minister located in the county, and lived at John Nelson's, on Sugar creek, in 1854. He held meetings at Abraham Lehigh's and Jesse Amos' in 1835. Rev. A. Wiley and Rev. Leander Walker preached at the same places and at Jonathan Wright's the succeeding two years. Louisa Wright taught a Sunday school in the summer of 1837 : some of the children had testaments, and some had spelling-books.

In the winter of 1838 a church was organized. Reuben Skeels and his wife Sally. Henry Skeels, Mrs. Diana Harper, Margaret and Mary Ann Harper, Mrs. Jane Pangborn and Orvis Skeels were its founders. The sermon on that occasion - the evening of Febru- ary 1 - was preached by Justus Ryman from Luke xii, 32, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." In a short time Mrs. Almira Root became a member. The next summer Thomas M. Pangborn joined, and not long afterward Samuel H. Harper and his wife united with the little church, as did some of the Frame family. The first meetings were held at the house of Reuben Skeels, afterward at Alexander Harper's, his house being more central. A Sabbath school was organized, but on account of prevailing sickness it was discontinued till the summer of 1839. Mr. Skeels brought a collection of Sunday school books from Ohio ; these were used for a library. The county at that early day was a missionary field, and was known as Iroquois mission as late as 1844. At the organization of the church Mr. Skeels was appointed class leader, and in 1840 T. M. Pangborn took his place. The latter has held that position ever since. Hooper Crews was the presiding elder, and lived at Danville. G. "W. Robins, also of Danville, succeeded him. His successor was John W. Phelps, who lived at Washington, Tazewell county. Then came John Morey, of Abingdon, who was followed by Orlando Walker, from near Joliet, and John Chandler, of Peoria. Z. Hall was here in 1855. John W. Flowers, P. T. Rhodes, J. S. Cummings, G. R. Palmer and H. I. Brow were the elders since Z. Hall. The preachers from 1838 to 1856 were : Justus Ryman, John W. Parsons, L. Oliver, Samuel T. Burr, William Gage, Lewis Roberts, S. Stover, Reuben Moffatt, George W. Homes, Uriah Giddings, Alonzo D. Feidler, with Mrs. Royal as assistant, Joseph Wilson, William R. Irving, James Watson.

After the log school-house was built, in 1843, at the basin, meetings were regularly held in it. This was the place of worship until 1853, when the new school-house was erected. Middleport circuit was made about 1844. It included Spring creek settlement, and in about 1850 the circuit of Ash Grove was organized, including this settlement. In 1856 Onarga circuit was created, and November 22 of that year the first quarterly conference in it was held at Body's school in Belmont. Z. Hall was the elder, and William A. Presson preacher in charge. He was "allowed $225 table expenses and $216 quarterage." There were four classes: Onarga, Lower Spring Creek, Williams at Samuel Williams', and Oxfords, near Hamilton Jefferson's. The church had increased till it was able to build a place for worship, and in the summer of 1856 erected a structure, 30x40 feet and 18 feet high, with tower. This building was located on lot 2, block 17, of Onarga, donated by David A. Neal, of Salem, Massachusetts. The dedication sermon was preached by the Rev.

Mr. Slanter. On that occasion the people donated $354 to liquidate the debt. The building cost about $1,500. At that time it was the best meeting-house in the county. In 1865 this building was sold, and the church has held its services since in the chapel of Grand Prairie Seminary. From the little band of eight organized into a church in 1838, in a log cabin, it has grown into a church of 150 members; Sabbath school numbers 100. Dr. H. M. Laney is the preacher in charge.

As early as 1843 the United Brethren had a representative on Spring creek ; the Rev. Kenoyer, of Beaver lake, held meetings at Frame's and' Mrs. Lehigh's. An organization was perfected, but the members being few, regular preaching was not secured for many years. In 1856 a church was formed, and held regular meetings each two weeks at the River school-house until about four years since, when the place was changed to the west school-house. A Sabbath school is well attended in warm weather, and is suspended in the winter. Samuel Zook is presiding elder, Henry Merideth, preacher, and Richard Barrett, class-leader. The membership is twenty-five.