Jersey County, Illinois - Chapter 34: English Township, 1919

First Land Entries

The English settlement west of the present city of Jerseyville, was one of the most important in Jersey County. Living in this neighbor¬ hood were Jehu Brown, Gershom Patterson, John Thornton and others. The first land entries were made by these three persons, who, on January 4, 1821, rode down to Edwardsville and began to compare the plats of survey with land they had looked over before starting. On the 5th, which was the succeeding day, Judge Jehu Brown, entered 880 acres, lying immediately below the Greene County line, in sections 1 and 2, township 8, range 12, on each side of what has since been known as the Carrollton and Grafton road. The farm occupied subsequently by L. L. Kirby was part of this entry. Philip Grimes had been cultivating a small portion of this tract for some two years, and Judge Brown paid him $300.00 for his improvement. Grimes, a few days afterward, entered a quarter section to the south of the Kirby farm.

It may be supposed that these entries were made at such a distance from each other in order that the proprietors might have ample room to make further entries.

Judge Jehu Brown

Erwin, a son of Judge Jehu Brown's youngest daughter, Mrs. Samuel Erwin, still owns her portion of her father's estate. Judge Brown was horn in South Carolina, from whence he had emigrated to Missouri, settling on a farm of fertile land at Florissant, St. Louis County. After selling this farm, he was possessed of ample means, and with them he came to Jersey County. He acted as probate judge of Greene County, which then embraced Jersey County. Judge Brown was a man of great courtesy and hospitality, and was highly respected as a man of excellent character. It is said that when his daughter, Hannah, and William Erwin started from the log cabin across the yard to the place where the young man's horse was tied, Judge Brown asked them where they were going. They replied that they were going to a justice of the peace to be married. With characteristic courtesy and decision, he replied :

At his death, which occurred in 1835, he was the owner, inclusive of what a short time previously he had given his children, of 2,000 acres of as valuable land as could he found in Jersey County, which was lying almost entirely in one body. Prior to Judge Brown's death, in 1830, the English Settlement is described as consisting of Judge Brown, and James Henson, Joel Henson and George Stamps, who were on the south. To the north were William Naim and John Brown ; to the eastward were Joseph Brown, Gershom Patterson, Thomas English, Alexander Moore, Samuel Brown, John Cope and Mrs. Sarah Hardy, and Thomas Gillham, Joseph, John and Samuel Brown, these latter four nephews of Judge Brown. Westward and near the timber, were Michael Whisman, G. W. Lowder, Henry Cope, Abram McKinney, Moses Martin, James Nairn, Major James Pruitt, Amos Pruitt, James McKinney, William B. Davis, Philip Grimes, Mathew Darr, John Vaughn, Francis Colean, Isaac Darnielle, James B. Crain, Silas Crain, Sr., Silas Crain, Jr., John Crain, Pollard Kirkland and William Adair. Next in the timber was the house of Isaac Sinclair, and at the Linn Bottom, a low flat stretch of country so-called from the noticeable growth of linn trees, were Nathan Gowan, James Waldon, Chester Bethel, Jesse Rhoades, Alfred Downing and Henry Ontus.

Major Gershom Patterson

prosperous man. He took part in the Black Hawk War, as a lieutenant in one of the companies raised. For many years he was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His death occurred in 1856.

Mathew Darr

Mathew Darr bought in 1824, from John Thornton, the land which the latter had entered, and Mr. Thornton then moved west of Fieldon, where the remainder of his life was spent. Mathew Harr came west when sixteen years old, about 1801. He stopped for a time at St. Louis, but afterwards settled in Madison County, Ill., where he was married. He came to Jersey County in 1822, and entered land in section 14, town¬ ship 8, range 13, and then removed to the Illinois Bottom, east of Mc- Fains' Lake, and finally in 1824 came to the prairie where it joined the timber, four miles west of Jerseyville, entering eighty acres, and buying the 260 acres from John Thornton, as above stated. By his industry, perseverance and prudent management, he soon began to accumulate property, and his was one of the first farms from which an overplus of provisions could be sold to the families of new settlers coming in every year and almost every month from other states. For years during the period of the early settlement of Jersey County, members of the fam¬ ilies from some distance around would now and again resort to Mathew Darr and his adjoining neighbor, Philip Grimes, for provisions, as even in the days of the patriarchs, the sons of Jacob were wont to go down into Egypt to buy corn. Mathew Darr had sixteen children, reared a large family, and was a worthy member of the Baptist Church. He died in 1853.

Philip Grimes

Philip Grimes made the entry of his land on section 23, township 8, range 12, on January 23, 1821, and with the earnest and persistent in¬ dustry characteristic of the pioneer, immediately began the work of improvement, and such was his success that every couple of years he was enabled to add to his original purchase eighty or 160 acres. He was a soldier under General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. A native of Tennessee, in 1815, he came to Illinois. While his mind was of good natural capacity, it had never been improved by education. His industry and capacity for hard work were remarkable. He was seldom seen in town, but early and late was engaged in labor on his farm. It is said that during the time of plowing out corn, he recpiired four horses every clay, two with him in the field at early dawn, and after dinner two others, fresh from the stable, to drag the plow till bedtime, while his wiry and sinewy frame was so capable of endurance that he with¬ stood these prolonged hours of labor day after day without exhaustion. Copious draughts of cold water, and meals three times a day and lunches in the intervals, were all the refreshments he required. He died in 1851. His son, Jarrett T. Grimes, was the oldest citizen of the county, born within its limits. He died in July, 1915, aged more than ninety-five years.

John Brown

John Brown, whose death occurred a few years ago, came to Jersey County in 1820, and on January 19, 1821, entered a tract of eighty acres, and six months afterwards, an additional eighty acres, in section 25, township 8, range 12. He was born in Pendleton County, S. C., in 1790, and moved with his father to Georgia. In 1802, he went west to the French territory of Louisiana, which in 1804 passed into the possession of the United States. In 1813, he volunteered in the United States Rangers, and served until the close of the War of 1812. Of those who entered land in 1821, he lived longer than any other, and died a few years ago, a respected citizen.

Other Early Entries

On January 22, 1821, Silas Crain entered 160 acres on section 15, afterwards included in the farm of Colonel Beach. In October, 1821, Abiram McKinney entered the southeast quarter of section 23, township 8, range 12, which was afterwards sold to Philip Grimes. This closed the sale of land in Jersey County for 1821. Abiram McKinney was a native of Virginia, who emigrated to Illinois and settled in Madison County, Ill., in 1818. He came to the Illinois Bottom land, in the present limits of Jersey County, in 1820, entering land as mentioned above, and in 1822 settled on section 24, township 8, range 12, where he lived until his death, in April, 1840. His eldest son was James McKinney, who was fourteen years of age when he first came to the county.

Only a small quantity of land was entered in 1822, in Jersey County. On April 2, 1822, Francis Colean became the possessor of the west half of the southwest quarter of section 13, township 8, range 12, and began its improvement. He had for his neighbors, Judge Brown on the north, and John Thornton on the south. Francis Colean was of French and

English descent, and was born at Cahokia, Ill., in 1794. Serving as a soldier in the War of 1812, he was with Jackson at New Orleans, and was slightly wounded in that campaign. He settled in the American Bottom after the war was over. His death occurred in November, 1846.

Among the newcomers who entered land and settled in this part of the county during 1823 and 1824, were John Vaughn, who located on eighty acres west of Judge Brown's, and John Falkner, who settled on section 30, township 8, range 11. Moses Martin, a native of North Carolina, in April, 1826, entered land in section 26, township 8, range 12. He lived and died on the farm which subsequently came into pos¬ session of Dennis Brown. His death occurred in 1840. William B. Davis and Michael B. Whisman made entries of land in 1828. The records show that entries of land were made in this precinct in 1829 by Samuel Brown, Amos Pruitt, Isaac Darnielle, Rial Crain, Robert Latham, James Nairn, Eli Roberts, John Cope, Jehu Brown, Jesse Barker and Chester Bethel, besides additional entries made by those who had taken up land in previous years.

Prominent Settlers

Amos Pruitt was a son of Major James Pruitt, and he in the fall of 1832 disposed of the eighty acres he had entered here to Milo Bennett, and located in Hawkins' Prairie northwest of where the town of Fidelity is now located. He was one of the three men who composed the first board of county commissioners, after the separation of Jersey County from Greene County. He died from the result of an injury caused by a horse in 1865. John Cope was a North Carolinian. He died in 1852, on land which he had entered.

According to concurrent and reliable testimony, the most social man who ever lived in Jersey County was Isaac Darnielle, who is mentioned above as entering land in 1829. It is said of him that he was more interested in riding about the neighborhood holding friendly chats with his neighbors than in attending to the more solemn and profitable duties of agriculture. At every husking, house or barn raising or log rolling for miles around, he was a constant attendant, and no political gather¬ ing or election would have been complete without his presence. Like his illustrious namesake, Isaac Darnielle of Kaskaskia, who was the second lawyer to practice in Illinois prior to 1800, he had a taste for legal matters. He was often on hand to manage for his friends' causes before a justice of the peace, and would, if necessary, follow the cases to the higher courts, and stand as chief advisor to the attorney when the case was called. In fact he never missed an opportunity of attending court, and was frequently seen outside the courthouse, the center of a group of interested listeners, and was never weary of expounding the laws and constitution, not only of our own country, but of all nations and countries known to geography. The story is told (how true the reader can judge for himself) by a lawyer formerly well known in this part of the state, that upon retiring at a certain hotel at Carrollton, his room overlooking the courthouse, he saw below Isaac Darnielle and a friend engaged in close and animated conversation. On awakening in the morning and looking out of the window, what was his surprise to see the two occupying the same position on the exact spot where he had left them the previous night, Darnielle keeping up the stream of discourse in the same earnest and voluble manner. He had so charmed his friend (as did the mariner in Coleridge's Legant) with his smooth roll¬ ing and sweet sounding words, that the stars had gone down and morn¬ ing had come before the two enthusiasts had thought of rest or slumber. Isaac Darnielle removed to Jersey ville, and after living there only a few months, was stricken down with cholera in 1849. He was a man of many good qualities, and his natural capacity and love for social chat and pleasant conversation were of a high order.

Other Land Entries

Among the entries of land made in 1830, was part of section 15, town¬ ship 8, range 12, by White R. Crain. The largest entry of land which, so far had taken place, was made by Joseph Russel, and comprised large tracts in the northwestern part of Jerseyville precinct. Hon. William Russel of St. Louis was an extensive and shrewd speculator in land, whose investments in St. Louis, Alton, Davenport and other places left his posterity wealthy, acted for nearly ten years as agent for his brother, Joseph, in the management of these large entries of land, spending every year a couple of weeks at Jerseyville, paying taxes, and at times selling some of the lands. He was also engaged in attending to other business in connection with the selection by his brother of land in Jersey County. He related the following circumstances attending the selection of these lands, which shows, at least, that even in those days, the lands of this part of the state were considered the best in the market. He said that his brother came from east Tennessee, in the fall of 1830, with $4,000.00. "I tried," to use his own words, ''to get his consent to let me invest it in St. Louis; my eye was on property a trifle west of the courthouse, hut the same looked too small for my brother. I then resolved that if he would enter lands, I would have him do it in a slave state. We mounted horses, and passed north to nearly the upper tier of counties in Missouri, turned east and crossed the Mississippi at, or just above, Quincy, and coursed east through the military tract, and to Springfield, Ill., and from Springfield to Jacksonville. South of Jacksonville the land pleased my brother mightily, but I told him that if he would locate in a free state, I knew of a tract of land that for good timber, rich land and nearness to market, was superior to the land before him. ' ' They traveled on, and emerging from the timber north of Kane, the promised land opened to view, where Colonel Fulkerson afterwards resided, and where was the old farm of Judge Powell, as well as a large body of timber west of there was located, amounting to 2,000 acres. The 1,200 acres of timber west, of where Brown and Patterson had located their farms, was entered November 24, 1830. About 1862, Joseph Russel came to the county to reside.

Among the entries made in 1831, by persons whose names have not been mentioned, were the following: A. Moore and Childers, in section 36, township 8, range 12; and James A. Carlisle, part of section 1, town¬ ship 8, range 12. In October, 1832, John N. English entered eighty acres in section 36, township 8, section 12.

Milo Bennett came from Vermont in 1832. He purchased eighty acres of Amos Pruitt, and entered eighty additional acres, but moved to Iowa about 1840, and from that state to California. He was a magis¬ trate for a time.

Capt. Jonathan E. Cooper entered land on which he resided until his death, October 5, 1895, two and a half miles southwest of Jerseyville, in October, 1832. He was born in Henry County, Ky., but left Kentucky in November, 1829, and after a trip of thirteen days on horseback, landed in what is now Jersey County. The greater part of the first winter after coming to the state, was spent in the store of his uncle at Carrollton. After entering the land, he lived upon it, being a very valued citizen of the county. At the outbreak of the Black Hawk War, he enlisted in the company commanded by Captain (afterward Governor) Carlin, and was chosen orderly sergeant of the company. The next year he was in Captain Patterson's company, and was detailed as quartermaster. Cap¬ tain Cooper had a good memory concerning the events that happened in pioneer days, and no man was more at home in the early history of

John N. English was a resident of Jersey County from 1824. His father, Thomas English, was a native of Maryland. In 1822, he moved with his family to Washington County, Ill., and lived there until 1825, when they removed to Jersey County, to which section John N. English had preceded them. John N. English, on the breaking out of the Black Hawk War, became a member of Captain Carlin's company of mounted volunteers, and the succeeding year was in Captain Patterson's com¬ pany, and took part in the battles in Wisconsin and Missouri. He was active in securing the organization of Jersey County, and was elected its first sheriff. In the fall of 1860 he was chosen a member of the legis¬ lature, a position he also filled in later years.