Livingston County, Illinois - The whole text, 1878 (part 11 of 25)

So far, educational advantages have been quite limited ; and until last year no school had been organized at the place. The only privileges of the kind heretofore had been those afforded by the district school, some distance from the village. Last Winter, however, a room was hired in toAvn, Emma Carlisle employed as teacher, and a school, consisting of about forty pupils, established. The citizens contemplate the immediate erection of a school building, commensurate with their wants, within the limits of the village.

Business is represented here at present by J. A. Cavanaugh and A. M. Wright & Co., who deal in grain and lumber; A. W. Davis and J. A. Cavanaugh, dealers in dry goods and groceries ; B. B. Dow, dealer in drugs and medicines ; and various other shops and stores common to a village of like size.

This township is one of the best watered in the county. It is crossed by Scattering Point Creek in its western part ; by Rook's Creek, from which it receives its name, through the eastern and central portions ; by the Vermilion River, in the northeast corner, and variously traversed by numerous small tributaries of these streams. The eastern and northern parts are well timbered, though the large trees fell before the axe of the pioneer, and by the old water mills were rapidly converted into lumber.

Away from the streams, the surface of the township is rather undulating, and well adapted to stock grazing. The land is very productive, and many of the farmers confine their occupation to raising grain. In the early settlement <if the township, wheat Avas one of the principal crops grown. Of late years, however, corn has done better and is now the principal grain crop grown. Oats and rye do well and are raised to a limited extent.

The earliest settlement in this township dates prior to the Black Hawk war. It is a noticeable fact, and one the reader cannot well pass by in these pages, that all early settlers located near the timber. There were many causes tending to this move. The majority came from a wooded country, and, not knowing the prairie could be cultivated and having no implements with which to do it, had they desired, allowed it to remain as nature formed it. Being accustomed to log cabins, large fireplaces (and who of us does not yet love to linger over the wide old fireplace ?), with the blazing log fire, they very naturally sought for the same comforts in their new home. Coal was not then to be had; hence we find the pioneers of Western life, with scarce an exception, taking their claims near the timber, and, in many cases, planting their first crops there.

The first settler in the township was Roderick Rook, from whom the creek and the township afterward received each its name. He brought his family here in the latter part of 1830, and located a claim where is now the farm of Nathan Huston. Mr. Rook came from Pennsylvania to the Sucker State, and, though this part was then a wilderness, with hardly an inhabitant, with his German pertinacity, he struck boldly out for it, and that year found a suitable home and determined to locate.

At that date, there was not a sign of civilization where Pontiac now stands, and not a village in this part of Illinois could be found. The nearest point was Bloomington, on the south, then scarcely worth the name of a village. Ottawa, on the north, was just coming into notice ; Chicago was a small trading village, with more Indians than white men ; Springfield was only a small town ; Jacksonville had about 200 inhabitants; while "Egypt" was the "land of corn and wine " to many a frontier settler, who replenished his crop of corn from that locality when nature failed him or his supply was exhausted.

Mr. Rook built a small cabin immediately on his arrival, and began the subjugation of his pioneer farm. Mr. John Johnson, who followed him in 1833, thinks he came in the Spring of 1831, and raised a crop that season. He is certain he preceded Mr. Garret Blue, the second settler in the present bounds of Rook's Creek ToAvnship, whom he thinks came in the Autumn of 1831. Mr. Rook remained on his claim until about 1835, when he sold to Robert Breckenridge and went to Missouri. From that State, as though desirous of getting further in advance of settlements, he went to Texas. In all his removals, his family remained with him, and with him went to the Lone Star State.

Mr. Blue, already mentioned, was a native of Virginia. From the Old Dominion, he went to Ohio, while that State was in its infancy. There he heard of the rich, grassy prairies of Illinois, and determined to emigrate thither. Hence, we find him, during the Summer of 1830 or 1831, threading his way across the State of Indiana, then thinly settled, and, by the time the frost came, he was on the banks of Rook's Creek and preparing to pass the Winter. His claim is now the farm of James Marks, whose father, Jacob, came to the settlement in 1836, and purchased Mr. Blue's claim.

Mr. Blue's fiimily consists of his wife and several children. Mrs. Johnson thinks a daughter of his, Keziah, was the first white child born here, and that the marriage of another daughter. May, to Lemuel Barrett, was the first nuptial event in the settlement. " We generally had a frolic, when a marriage occurred in the neighborhood," said Mrs. Johnson, in a conversation with the writer, " but when Mary was married, there wasn't enough to make a frolic, if we had invited everybody on the creek." Weddings were a source of gi-eat pleasure to the pioneers, and, when one occurred, everybody was always invited. A greater affront could not have been given than to have omitted inviting any neighbor to a wedding. It was rarely, if ever, done, and only when a feud or an ill-feeling existed between the family of the groom or bride and some of their neighbors - a state of feeling rarely existing.

A settlement of a few families was made on the eastern side of Rook's Creek about 1831 or 1832, by a Mr. Hill, David Kinkaid, and a Mr. Moxley. These persons, it seems, made a very short stay, removing in a year or two after their settlement. They were, no doubt, only looking for a permanent location, and not feeling satisfied with the country here, soon left for other parts. While living here, Mrs. Hill died. This is believed to be the first death in the settlement. So of all the pioneers who had so bravely endured the trials incident to frontier life, Mrs. Hill was the first to lay herself down in that quiet sleep that "knows no waking."

We have dio-ressed somewhat in our narrative, and will return to Mr. Blue. He, as has been narrated, sold to Jacob Marks. When Mr. Marks took possession, Mr. Blue went to Wolf Point, Avhere he passed the remainder of his days. One of his daughters married and removed further west ; the other is now the wife of Reuben Bennett, of Amity Township.

One of the earliest residents near the timber skirting Rook's Creek was Andrew McMillan, whose claim was in Pontiac Township. His sons were grown when they came. It was in his house that the first election for county officers was held, May 8, 1837, when the highest number of votes any candidate received was eighty-six.

Mr. John Johnson, already referred to, came to the settlement in August, 1838. He brought his family first to the cabin of Mr. Blue, with whom he remained until his crops were gathered. He then went to his own selected claim, and there he is yet living. He built a small log cabin, in which they lived until he was able to erect a better one. His first son occupied the site of his present home, and here he and his family passed many happy days.

The oft repeated story of the emigrant's removal to the West need hardly be repeated here. It was substantially the same in all cases. Almost all came in the large canvas-covered wagons, drawn by as many horses as their means allowed them to own. On the way, they camped out when no sheltering house could be found, and prepared their evening, morning and noon meals by the roadside over a fire kindled for the purpose. In this way he journeyed on, over plains, through forests, fording streams, with the sun, in many cases, his only guide from one landmark to another. When he arrived at his destination, his first care was the erection of a cabin, which, with its mud or puncheon, floor, its stick chimney, rude door, and no window save the openings left here and there between the logs, sufficed him many days for a house. Mr. Johnson says that when he arrived on the banks of Rook's Creek, no families save those mentioned - Mr. Rook's and Mr. Blue's - were living in the confines of what is now Town 28, Range 4 east. He made the third actual settler, the families of Mr. Hill, Mr. Kinkaid and Mr. Moxley, from their short stay, not being counted among actual settlers. Mr. Johnson says concerning the time of his settlement, "The prairie west of me was as wild as it ever was. There was not a house to be seen anywhere on it, and one could travel many miles before he would find one. Wolves were as plenty as blackberries, and were rather bold in their movements. I could have shot lots of them from my cabin door. They would commonly stay in the prairie in the daytime, and come to the woods at night. Deer were not so plenty at first as after a few years. The Kickapoo Indians had hunted a good deal around here, and had driven them away. They killed more does than bucks, and hence put a check on their increase." After a few years, however, they increased rapidly, and Mr. Johnson and other pioneers tell how they could go out on the prairie any time and see from fifty to one hundred. The early settlers often supplied themselves with clothing by tanning the hide of the deer, dressing it with oil and making pants or cloaks. If tanned and dressed properly, the hide would always remain pliable, and not shrink when wet, and was very durable. Wild ducks, geese, cranes and prairie chickens abounded then in great numbers. Thev furnished plenty of food for the early settlers, and aftbrded fine opportunities to any wandering Ninirod who desired to enjoy this healthful sport. The gradual encroachment of the white man drove away these natives of the prairies, until now not one remains.

The next settler after Mr. Johnson was Mr. Robert Breckenridge. Ho came in 1834 ; purchased the claim of ^Ir. Rook ; returned to Ohio, and sent his boys to the new home. They brought part of their goods in wagons, and shipped part by water around to Hennepin, where they found them, and from thence brought them to Rook's Creek.

Another native of the Buckeye State, Thomas Pendiel, with his brother David, came about the same time. They did not remain long, however, removing to some other locality.

David Corbin also came to Rook's Creek about the same date, from the Vermilion River. A short time after this, the land was surveyed and the settlers were required to go to Danville to the land office and pay for their claims. They commonly paid Government price, $1.25 per acre, and were always allowed first choice in the entry of their homesteads. Did a speculator attempt to overbid them at the land sale, they were a kind of law unto themselves, and persuaded him not to enforce his claim, and nearly always prevented him from bidding against any of them. He must content himself with unsettled lands, and generally acceded to the demands of the settlers.

Mr. Johnson states that for several years after the settlements we have described, they were allowed to live alone, no new settlers appearing. This part of the State had as yet no outlet for its products nearer than Ottawa or Chicago. Bloomington was only a small trading place and post office, affording no market for grain or hogs. As the country nearer the river was yet thinly settled, emigrants located there, in the Western Reserve or in the Sangamon country. This retarded the upper central part of Illinois, and not until the completion of the canal and the railroads did that part of the State whose history these pages chronicle fill rapidly with settlers.

In the Spring of 1840, school was opened in a small log house, in what is now Amity Township. It stood near the line dividing Amity from Rook's Creek, neither of which were then contemplated, and was the school for all the children on the creek. Many came quite a distance and boarded with some of the nearest residents. The teacher received her pay directly from the patrons in the form of subscriptions. The school was maintained three months, and had an attendance of from fifteen to twenty scholars daily. The next school in the neighborhood was kept in Mr. Johnson's cabin the following Summer, and had about the same number of scholars ; studied the same branches, prominent among

were the three " R's." Not long after this, the community concluded a school house would be a good adjunct in their midst, and quite a number getting totrether on the farm of Mr. Breckenridge, erected a very substantial log sti-ucture, and the following Winter - 1842-4:3 - saw a very creditable school taught therein. Like its predecessors, it was a subscription school, and in fact for over ten years none other was sustained. In the erection of the log school house, the Edgingtons took a prominent part, and were always firm supporters of any and all educational enterprises.

In Amity Township, the principal sale of the school section was made in 1847, though five years before this twenty acres had been sold. The sale of the land created a fund for school purposes, and was the principal reason of the firm establishment of the school in the early days of that township. The people of Rook's Creek, though known there only by the Government survey, desired to profit by the success of Amity, and petitioned for the sale of their school section. November 24, 1854, this sale was effected, and, with the fund on hand derived from the State on the yearly enumeration, constituted a fund amounting to nearly two thousand dollars. With this amount secured to the township, a good beginning could be made. It is to be remembered, all this money was not paid as yet, but was secured. At a meeting of the residents in the township, it was decided to make two or three districts, and erect in the one most populous a suitable school house at once. This school was in operation during the Winter of 1854-5, as Ave find from a report made by William McMillan, Township Treasurer, for the latter year. From this report we learn that there was taught one school by a "male" teacher ; that he had 30 scholars - 16 boys and 14 girls - attending his school ; that he was paid $18 per month, and that there was only $21 in the treasury to pay him, compelling him to wait until the tax was collected. This report further states that the amount of the principal of the township fund was $1,853.12 ; that the amount of interest on township fund paid into the township treasury Avas $186.15 ; that the amount of State or common school fund received by the Township Treasurer was $216.50 ; that the' amount of ad valorem tax was $572, which he is able to record as all paid. The Treasurer states, also, that the "whole amount paid for building, i-epairing, purchasing, renting and furnishing school houses was $686, and that the amount paid for school apparatus was $15.61. Mr. McMillan reports three districts organized at that date, including the school mentioned, the other two building houses shortly after. From the erection of the school house and its school of thirty scholars dates the beginning of the public common schools of Rook's Creek Township, and from that time, as new settlements were made, other houses were built, until the common number - nine - is now reached. Good schools are now the order, and are regularly sustained from five to seven months during the year.

Religion and education generally go hand in hand in the history of our country. The first settler desires a school house and then a church, and rests not until he gets tliem. Earlier than the school, came the ministers of the Gospel and proclaimed its good news. But the people were poor, not able to support a minister, and contented themselves with meeting in each other's cabins and holding a service of prayer and song. After the school houses Avere built, they occupied those until they were able to erect a house exclusively for religious purposes. The first attempts for the formation of a religious society were made in the Autumn of 1858. In October of that year. Rev. D. Anderson, a Methodist minister, who had been several times along the creek holding services in school houses and dwellings, organized a class consisting of Samuel and Martha M. Malone, John and Mary Lilly and Jesse and Catharine Legg - six members. Mr. Malone was appoint^ed Class Leader, and Mr. Lilly, Steward. Before the year closed, this little band was joined by Mrs. Lucinda Riggle. It met in the old school house near the church, in which building the congregation met until the completion of their present house of worship.

Rev. A. C. Frick was the next preacher here, and under his labors the congregation increased to forty members. In 1860, Rev. - Brandenburg was appointed; in 1861, Rev. Robt. Pierce; in 1862, Rev. P. A. Crist; and in 1864, Rev. A. P. Hull ; and as the congregation had materially increased in wealth and numbers, it was determined to erect a church. As this required a legal existence, that year Trustees were elected. Rev. A. E. Day was appointed preacher for 1865 and 1866, and during the latter year a revival was held, resulting in the accession of quite a number of members. The church was completed the next year, while Rev. Thomas Cotton was Pastor, the dedicatory sermon being preached by Rev. E. P. Hall. At the Conference the next year, the Rook's Creek Church appeared for the first time on the church records, and has since been regularly represented. This same year, the Prospect society was formed. Two years after, a class of seven members was formed at Gray's school house, and 0. P. Croswell appointed Leader. In 1871. the parsonage was erected at an expense of $622. The congregation is now entirely self-sustaining, and is quite prosperous. The Pastor is Rev. J. L. Ferris.

The Germans have a church in the northwest part of the township, erected some two or three years ago. Thoy are quite numerous in this vicinity ; are industrious, and rapidly cultivating and improving their lands.

Rook's Creek Township was one of the first formed in the county, and, as has been noticed, was named in honor of its first settler, Mr. Rook.

The first town meeting was held April 6, 1858, and the first election that Spring. William T. Garner was its first Supervisor. Among its prominent men is Mr. Geo. B. Gray, now a member of the State Legislature. He is one of the wealthiest farmers in the township ; has been President of the Agricultural Society at different times, and has always been one of the county's most influential and honored citizens.

Away back in the annals of its earliest years, the township possessed an unenviable name in the county, owing to the presence of a few who can, if they choose, give an ominous name to any locality. Happily these are all gone now, and the township bears a name equally honored with all its cotemporaries. Of the time of which we are speaking, there lived on the edge of Pontiac Township Mr. John Kelley, an eccentric individual, who had a habit of coming to town every day. So constant had this practice become, that he was known by every one ; and did he by chance omit his daily trip, everybody noticed it, and straightway wondered what had come over Uncle Johnny. He did not, it seems, entertain a very high opinion of Rook's Creek Township, and though a strong Universalist, would declare if there was a place of future punishment, it was in Rook's Creek or near there. A local poet thus records an absence of Uncle Johnny from town, the stir it creates, and where he was found :

Uncle Johnny is now an inhabitant of Kansas, but is well known to every settler in all this country, and many will readily trace his peculiarities in the poetry quoted.

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

The settlement of Round Grove is one of the earliest in the northeast part -of the county. The grove from which the township derives its name in shape is nearly round, and hence the name. Here the first settlers in this part of the county located, desirous, like others in the pioneer life of the country, to have the benefit of timber as a ))rotection from the cold, and to be provided Avith fuel. The reader cannot but notice the action of all early settlers in the West in this regard. They were sagacious enough to provide against all future wants in this resjiect, and, too, were wedded to early home firesides, which all so well love to linger over, where the cheerful wood fire was one of the cheeriest and strongest attractions.

The first settlers here had a difficulty to overcome not often recognized at this day. There were no mills for sawing lumber here in those days, and hence -they were compelled to locate where they could })rocure logs Avith which to erect a habitation. These were often primitive afflairs, only intended for use until the pioneer could erect a more substantial and more comfortable house. Many of them were built without the aid of a single piece of iron. Some of our jounger readers may inquire how this was done. "Necessity is the mother of invention," is a trite and true })roverb. The pioneer had no nails or bolts and no money to buy them, hence what he did was the natural outgrowth of his circumstances. The logs could be cut the right lengths in the woods, hauled to the place for building the cabin, there notched, and on the raising day put in their place. When the scjuare forming the house was completed, doors and windows would be cut out, door and window jams jnnned, not nailed on, the door fastened on wooden hinges, had a wooden latch, with its provervial latch-string almost alway.s out ; the "shakes" (shingles) fastened on by weight poles and stones, the floor of slabs, or puncheons, and a large fireplace, half the length of the end of the house, completed the pioneer home for many a man who now ranks among the wealthiest in the State. Pins were invariably used for nails, and were always made of the hardest and toughest wood the forest afforded.

This grove was an object standing boldly out in the prairie, aff'ording to the -early hunter or traveler a guide in his wanderings, and here very naturally the first settler pitched his tent and began preparations for the founding of a new home.

About the year 1850 or '51, John Currier brought his family from the old Keystone State, intending to find for them a home on the broad prairies of Illinois. He came at first to Morris, where, hearing of the rich, unsettled lands in Livingston County, below Dwight, on the line of the proposed Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, determined at once that there he could find the desired aim of his migration. Coming into the prairie, he saw at once the desirableness of the grove, and selected it as a permanent home. Here he built a cabin, and opened a claim, here he lived, and here are yet part of his family who survive him. He had been here but a short time when he was joined by Alfred Clover and his family, from Indiana. After remaining here a number of years, he sold his farm and removed farther west. Clark Pratt was the next settler in the new neio^hborhood. He was also from the Hoosier State. His family are yet residents of the township. The next was James Gibson, who, like Mr. Clover, did not remain here, but also went farther west. Philip Clover Avas probably the last of the five families settling at that time. He is still a resident of the township, and has seen it in all its changes.

These five families were the pioneers of Round Grove Township, and, until Stephen Potter settled in 1854, Avere the only residents here. They came before the railroad was built, when there was no Dwight or Odell, and when Pontiac was a place of small note, Avhose nearest railroad communication was Springfield, where was the old Northern Cross Railroad, the oldest in the State, and where, in 1851, the first railroad crossing in the State was made, when what is now the Chicao-o, Alton & St. Louis Railroad reached that city and crossed the old Northern Cross - now Toledo, Wabash & Western. The people of this part of the State, however, rarely, if ever, Avent to Springfield, preferring Morris, Joliet, OttaAva or Chicago. At the time of which we are writing, the canal was completed and Morris the chief trading point.

They broke the prairie Avith the large breaking plows of that time, planted sod corn, raised a few garden products, and Avith the Avild game, then so abun- -dant, were enabled to live in plenty. The next Spring, they ploAved their fields again, smoothed them with a brush drag or wooden-toothed harrow, and raised a good crop of corn. Their manner of life did not A^ary much from this. They improved their lands as they could, built better houses as soon as they Avere able, and when the railroad was completed through the county, made Dwight their post office, and as soon as a store Avas opened there, made it their trading point.

The railroad Avas completed through to Joliet during the Summer of 1854. That Spring, it would not. hoAvever, carry any freight, being yet in too unfinished a condition.

The settlers Ave have named Avere joined that Spring by Mr. Stephen Potter, who, with his family, of five persons, came here from Joliet. He had emigrated from NeAv York to Ohio, in the vicinity of Cleveland, Avhere he says he could have purchased many now valuable lots for a little or nothing. Like the poor individual, however, who one day demurely asked Mark Twain if he knew where he could obtain a '"good square meal for a quarter," was shown by theiirepressible humorist a restaurant Avhere such a meal could be had, and was about starting on, Avhen the poor felloAV very humbly asked him if he knew where he could get the quarter. This was too much for Mark, who immediately furnished him the desired amount. Mr. Potter states there were many places where a very small sum of money would have purchased what is now very valu- able property, but, like the man in the story, he didn't know where he could get that small amount of money. He, however, wanted to come farther west, and in 1844, came to Joliet, then a very small town. He remained here ten years, when, desirous of becoming a farmer, he came to Round Grove, being the sixth settler there, his arrival dating April 7, 1854. At that date, the country for nearly thirty miles south of the grove was entirely uninhabited. There was no timber, save a little along the small creeks, in all this scope of territory, that could be utilized by the pioneer. The land had been in the market at government prices over twenty years, but, owing to its remoteness from market, had failed to find purchasers, and was used as a general hunting ground by all frontier Nimrods.

Mr. Potter came from Joliet in a wagon, the railroad at this time, as has been stated, refusing to carry passengers or freight. It was yet in an unfinished condition, the only trains running over this part of the line being the construction trains.

Mr. Potter brought his family, some furniture, and a few farming utensils with him, and at first occupied one of the cabins near the grove. As soon as he had placed his family in this pioneer home, he went to Morris and brought back sufficient lumber to erect a small frame "shanty," what is now the kitchen part of his house. Into this he moved his family, and occupied it while he broke the prairie and cultivated the first crop. It was then enlarged and repaired and made suitable for passing the Winter. Mr. Potter was always exceedingly fond of hunting, and was noted for his skill in the use of the rifle. He has been known to kill from six to eight deer in two hours ; his boy following him with a horse and sled to haul them to the house, where the venison was prepared for future use.

This part of the country was a noted hunting ground for the Indians. Shabbona, a noted Indian chief, whose portrait and biography appear in this work, often came from his grove in DeKalb County, and hunted over these prairies. He nearly always brought several of his tribe with him. His two daughters accompanied him, to cook his meals and "jerk " the venison. One of these was very dark featured, and one just the reverse. They were clothed in calico obtained from the Indian agent, and were quite civilized in their habits. The encampment was always near the grove, where fuel and water could be easily obtained. Shabbona nearly always rode an Indian pony, and was an expert hunter. One day, while riding over the prairie in quest of game, he came upon Mr. Potter, who was then a new settler, and whom he had never seen before. Riding up to him, and as if to impress him who he (Shabbona) "was, and also to let him know his name, he smote his brawny breast, saying, " Shabbona (pronouncing the last syllable like a in law^ and giving it the accent), me I Shabbona, me!" Mr. Potter nodded assent to what he said, when the chief continued, waving his hand toward the broad expanse of prairie before him, " One time white man's wo-haw plenty, plenty ; white man's wo-haw plenty." " You mean buifalo plenty here once ? " inquired Mr. Potter. " Yes, buf-/e-lo, buf-/e-lo plenty," responded Shabbona. The chief could converse a little in the English language, and was always a steadfast friend of the white men, at one time saving many of them from the fury of his countrymen.

An important hunting expedition is worthy of record here, although it did not take place until 1860. We refer to the hunting party of the Prince of Wales. Their chief point Avas Dwight, although they hunted through several surrounding townships. Many stories are told how the Prince and his party slaughtered tame ducks, turkeys and chickens, and were compelled by the wrathful owners to pay round sums for their mistakes. They spent their time hunting steadily, carrying all their provisions with them, getting only tea and coffee from the inhabitants. Several of the attendant Lords were exceedingly ignorant of the American pioneers, and sagely inquired if they really did drink tea and coffee, and could read and write. Did they know where England was, and anything of her greatness ? They were often corrected by being informed of things in England even they did not know. They soon learned to respect the yeomanry here, and greatly admired the intelligence exhibited among them. One day, while hunting near Mr. Potter's, in Round Grove Township, they were informed of his skill in the use of the rifle, and at once sent for him to hunt with them. They generally shot feathered game while on the wing, and Mr. P., 'taking the same course, surprised them by invariably bringing down the game. They were amazed at his skill, and could not account for the fact of a man following his profession being such a sure shot. They could not forget him, and on their return to England wrote to a resident of Dwight asking him, in language more emphatic than elegant, if that old man still lived out on the prairie who shot so accurately when hunting with them.

Lady Franklin paid the Grove a visit when on her travels through the West. She sent for the women in the neighborhood to call and see her, many of whom accepted the invitation, and were received with that ease and elegance born of royalty.

Shortly after Mr. Potter arrived, the Broughtons passed by his place on their way to the eastern part of the township which now bears their name. They came from Morris in a large moving wagon, and were the earliest settlers in that township. Dwight was then only started, and could boast of but one house, and that a board shanty where the tools were kept and some of the railroad laborers slept. Odell was not then known, and to Morris the residents were obliged to go after mail. Pontiac was a 8ma)l village only, with more hope than anything else.

The next settler in Round Grove Township, then known only by its government survey as Town 30 north. Range 8 east, was William Cook, who, with his family, came from Joliet and settled in the western part of the township. He was probably one of the last settlers that Summer.

The next Winter, 1854-5, a school was taught in one of the log cabins by Charlotte Potter, now Mrs. Charlotte Eldred. Slab seats were made, holes bored in the log walls and desks made on the pins inserted in them, a box stove placed in it, and the room was considered ready. This was the school for this community until after the township organization, in 1858. That produced a change for the better, and new and more comfortable houses came into use. In the Autumn of 1858, Mr. Potter went to Joliet and procured lumber for the erection of a school house, which was completed and occupied the next Summer. School was taught in this building by Margaret Turner, of Dwight, and such was the state of the township finances that Mr. Potter was obliged to wait almost two years before he received pay for building this house. About the time the war came on, the township began to increase very raj)idly in population, and other schools were added. This continued to be the case until the present number, nine, was reached. The schools are now in good condition, and are maintained fully six months in the year.

There are no established churches in the township. Several Catholics reside, here, but belong to the church just south, in Broughton Township. Those belonging to other denominations generally attend divine service in Dwight. Through the Summer, Sunday schools are held in many of the school houses, and are well sustained. In the early days of the people here, services were held in each other's cabins or houses, and, after the building of the school houses, were held there. When roads were made, the people began attending church in Dwight, and still keep up the practice.

In the old log school house the first elections were held, and here votes were cast for Fillmore and Buchanan, representing the two great political parties of the day. The politics of the township have always been nearly equally divided between the Republicans and Democrats ; and since the Greenback party came into prominence, it has found a good number of adherents here.

The township furnished its full (|Uota of men for the late war. These generally went to Dwight, Odell or Pontiac to enlist, and hence in the war record printed elsewhere in this book will be found credited to those places.

We have noted the coming of the first settlers in this town, and have narrated at some length their settlement here and their trials and difficulties experienced in the subjugation of the new prairie country. We could go on in this strain to an indefinite length, giving the name of each settler and what he did when coming here. This is so fully given in the biographical part of the work, under each name, that its mention here would simply be an unnecessary repetition, and to these pages the reader is referred for the further prosecution of this subject.

A glance at the wealth of the township, as shown by the Assessor's books, shows a striking exhibit of the results of a little over a quarter of a century's growth. The Assessor reports 22,959 acres of improved lands - none unimproved. He valued this land at ^282,240. hardly one-half its real value. He enumerates 582 hoi-ses, 1,119 head of neat cattle, 201 head of sheep, 34 mules. 3,020 hogs, and quite a number of other domestic animals. He values these at 350.000 - an exceedingly low estimate. Corn is the principal cereal grown. Oats and rve do -well, but are not extensively cultivated. Wheat has, in the earlier davs of the township, formed the staple crop, but of late years has given way to com. The last report of the Assessor shows that 32 acres were grown in wheat. 9.429 in com, 1,427 in oats, and 960 in other field products. He also reports 2,896 acres of meadow, 2,119 in inclosed pasture, 85 in woodland, and 96 in orchards.

The face of the country included in Round Grove Township is slightly undulating, well adapted to farming and grazing, and is fully improved by the residents. It is well watered bv four small creeks, runnins: northward, affording good water facilities for stock grazing.

The '-Act for Township Organization" was adopted in this county in the Fall of 1857, and went into force at the Spring election of 1858. At this election. R. Eldred was elected Supervisor, and work on roads was at once inaufTurated. The eifect of the Township Act was the erection of better school houses, construction of better roads and bridges, and a corresponding improvement in all parts of the township. It is now thoroughly settled and well improved, and is one of the best townships in the county.

The following are the present township officers : Supervisor, J. W. Lister ; Collector. George Jeffers ; Road Commissioner, W. H. Lister ; Clerk, Cyrus Thomas : Assessor. Thomas Feehery ; Justices of the Peace. George Maxson and Samuel Casement.

This township, like Sullivan, is newly settled. It was more than twenty years from the time of the first settlement in Indian Grove ere the cabins of the white man began to dot the prairies of Charlotte. Being a part of Pleasant Ridore until 1864. its history and early settlement are so closely interwoven with that of the latter town as to render it somewhat difficult to separate one from the other. Charlotte lies in the eastern tier of townships, and is described as Town 27 north. Range 8 east, and is all prairie, except a few sections of timber, bordering the north branch of the Vermilion River, which flows through the township to the west.

The first settlement in what is now Charlotte Township was made by Patrick Monahan, in the Spring of 1857. He came from Old Ireland, the '- Gim of the Say," and is a genuine, warm-hearted, big-souled Irishman, in the full sense of the term. His first habitation was made by planting four posts in the ground, across which poles were laid, and boards placed across the poles. As he could obtain neither wood nor coal, for the first few months his family gathered dried resin weeds, which were used as fuel. The fires for cooking were built on the open prairie. This was the very first opening or settlement made in this section. He states that he shipped the first car load of stock from Chatsworth, and brought the first load of lumber to that place. He used to go to Morris with an ox team to mill, which occupie«l several days, and sometimes a week. In breaking prairie, the " red roots ' were carefully preserved for fiiel. This was a kind of prairie shrub, somewhat similar to hazel or willow, except that it had larger roots. There was no coal then being mined in Livingston C'ountv. and it behooved, the settlers to economize in everv wav possible the means of keeping up fires. John Monahan c-ame with his brother, and was a ^'mc\e man at this time. He lived with Patrick several vears before taking to himself a life partner. When the Monahans came to the settlement, one of their oxen gave out one mile west of the place chosen for their home. They came on. and left it Iving bv the road side, or rather, their trail, for there were no roads then, and the next morning Patrick sent his brother John back to see if the ox had sufficiently recuperated to make the remainder of the journey, lie found only the bones of the poor animal, the wolves having devoured it during the night.

The same year that saw the Monahans pitch their tent upon these wild prairies brought Owen Murtagh and John Martin to the township. Murtagh came from Mai-shall County, and settle*! here soon after Monahan. After some years, he sold out and removed to Ford County, where he, at the last account of him. resided. Maitin came from England, and seems to have been but poor material. He enlisted in the army during the late war, and after its close retume*! to the neighborhood, but finally left his wife, who still lives here, and went to Kansas. That is the last of him, so far as this town knows to the contrary. In the Fall of 1850. the settlement was augmented bv the arrivals in it of L. W. Dart and a man named Loomis. These were rare specimens, from the accounts gathered of them. Dart came here from Woodford Countv, but was originallv from the Green Mountains of Vermont. He built a sod house, in which he designed passing the Winter, but in the fore pan of the season it was burne»i. He lost everything he had except his wife and children, and besides which he had linle else. He had nothing to live on, and after his house was burned staved at Monahans several weeks, until he could find some place to go to. He appears to have been a bad manager, as he received §5,000 with his wife when he married, but lost it all in Woodford County in attempts at wheat raising, and in speculating, so that when he came here he was well nigh penniless. He is said to have been a man of fine intelligence, but of a disposition to render him unpopular, and a character to some extent questionable. His family often suftered tor the necessaries of life, sometimes living on potatoes alone, somenmes grinding corn in a coffee-mill for bread. He "* lawed "' the county for sixteen years for some imaginary title to land in Charlotte Township, but without profit to himself, or anv one else, aside from the law vers engaged in it. He left the town in 1876 without a dollar, and. as we are informed, without reputation, and went to the Indian Territorv, where he is now, if he has not lost his scalp. His wife.

however, was said to be a perfect lady, well raised and well liked by all. Loomia was from New York, and was another man of little use in the community. He lived by trapping and hunting, and as game became scarce, he added the making of axe handles to his business as a means of support. Like the last mentioned, his family often suffered for provisions, and his neighbors remember a time when he had nothing in his larder but some frozen potatoes, which they lived on for days together. When he run his course here and starved out completely, he took the advice of a noted philosopher, and went further West togrow up with the country. William Hefner and Elias Brown came here from Indiana in the Fall of 1859-60. They made settlements, but becoming dissatisfied sold out and moved away about 1870.

Laurence Farrall and Owen Finnegan are warm-hearted sons of the ^ Old Sod.'" Farrall came from Ireland, and stopped at Chatsworth in 1857, before the village of that name had perhaps been thought of. He remained there until 1861, with the exception of one year spent in Fairbury, when he settled in this township, where he had bought land and erected a house two years before. He still resides on this place, and the house then built was the first frame dwelling put up in this township. Finnegan came from Ohio here, but was originally from Ireland. He stopped in Fairbury, where lie remained two years, then removed three miles south of Chatsworth, and in 1862 came to Charlotte, where he permanently settled and where he still resides. The last two, with Patrick and John Monahan, are all of the early settlers of Charlotte Township still living among the scenes of their early trials and privations.

Patrick Monahan's first residence, and the one he occupied until he got his land paid for, is still standing, a small cabin, presenting a striking contrast to his present elegant dwelling, which is one of the finest country residences m Livingston County, and cost $5,360, exclusive of his own work, which included all the hauling of material to the ground. It is a two-story frame building, with foundation of Joliet stone laid in cement. He is enjoying now the reward of the privations endured in the middle of a great prairie, twenty years ago. Then hunger often stared him in the face, and cold, with the extreme scarcity of fuel, was sometimes unpleasantly severe. He informed us that in those early days his family once lived nearly a week on potatoes and beans, and meal was sometimes almost wholly unattainable. He heard of some meal to be had at a certain place beyond the river, and after crossing the river on the ice, breaking throuo-h and nearly drowning, as well as freezing, found the place, but the meal was all gone. At another time, Brooks, who kept a store at Chatsworth, received a barrel of flour, and had to divide it into seven parts to accommodate his almost starving patrons.

The first child born in Charlotte Township was Julia A. Monahan, a daughter of Patrick Monahan, October 8, 1859. Her father took her to Morris, with an ox team, a distance of fifty miles, to have h^r baptized. Having no gun, he made the trip armed with a pitchfork to defend himself against the wolves, which were so bad that he did not know wliether he would get back with his charge or not. But such is the religious zeal of that devoted people^ that they will brave any danger to perform the decrees of their church. However, he made the trip in perfect safety. John Monahan and a daughter of James Glennin. of Avoca Township, who were marrried in October, 1863, was the first marriage, though the ceremony was not solemnized in the township. The first death was a boy named Thomas Bain, drowned in the Vermilion 'River in the Winter of 1862-G3. He was skating on the ice, when he went through, and for some time his parents did not know where to look for him. They finally found where he had broken through the ice, and after breaking it still further, found him underneath in the water. His parents luid come from EI Paso to this settlement, and they took him back there for interment. As he was their only help on the farm, they never came back here to reside. The next death was an old German, who worked for Patrick Monahan, and died very suddenly. It was extreme cold weather, and he was taken to Chatsworth, and in almost the first vacant spot was buried. He is mentioned in the history of ChatsAVorth as the first burial in the village cemetery.

The first school houses Avere built in Charlotte Township in 1861. In that year, the houses known as the Dart and the Monahan school houses were erected. The name of the first teacher is now forgotten, but in 1862, Miss Jane Winchell taught a school, which was the second taught in the town. The first the latter's first name no one now remembers. The township has at present nine school districts, Avith good frame buildings in each district. The citizens of Charlotte boast of the fact that not a town in Livingston County has better school houses than those of their own town. The present Board of Trustees are Samuel Foreman, Lawrence Farrall and Jonathan Edwards. Owen Finegan is School Treasurer.

The first blacksmith, and the only resident one the town has had, Avas the man Dart, already alluded to. He had a few blacksmith's tools, and did a little work sometimes, when by strong persuasion he could be induced into his shop. But he usually had too many irons in the fire, metaphorically sj)eaking, to bring himself down to good hard Avork.

There are three substantial Avooden bridges spanning the Vermilion in this township. The first one was a rude wooden structure, built before any regular roads Avere laid out, and was, in a fcAv years, washed away, when a substantial bridge Avas put up where the road running through the center of the town crosses the river, at a cost of $1,700. Patrick Monahan had the first road laid out, which is the one above alluded to. It runs north and south, by his residence, and is the })rincipal thoroughfare of travel through the toAvn.

As stated in the commencement of this chapter, Charlotte was included in Pleasant Ridge ToAvnship until 1864, when the latter township petitioned the Board of Supervisors for a separation. In accordance with the law, " made and provided ' in such cases. Pleasant Ridge, being the petitioner, would have been the one to have adopted the new name, while all the town property, such as road-scrapers, etc.. would of right have belonged to the other. But through some wire-pulliag process, known to politicians in all ages and in all countries. Pleasant Rid-^-e managed to retain the old name, therebv entitling her to the town property, otherwise the road-scrapei-s. In this, as we are informe<l. the man Dart aorain came to the front. Being a smart man and a good talker, he argue<l to Charlotte that it would be much grander to have a new name and a pretty one, than "to have all the old road-scrapers in the county." His eloquence won the day, and his "oily tongue and "smooth words" won for him the privilege of naming the new town, which he called Charlotte - the name, it is said, of a girl that he courted in Vermont in his bachelor days, and for whom he seemed to still retain a warm feeling. The first Supervisor after this became a separate township, was Thomas Cotton, who appears to not have given entii*e satisfaction as a representative. But good timber was scarce then, as Patrick Monahan informed us. and Tom would, for a five cent cigar, vote anv wav to please the Board, which was for every appropriation except for his own township. He held the office but one year, when Frank Cole was elected and held for two years : next in order came Justin Hall, who remained in office four years, when he was succee<led by C. G. Greenwood, who represented the town four years more, when John Monahan was elected and still holds the office. Other township officers at present are as follows : James M. Sleath and J. W. Wild, Justices of the Peace: Jesse Harry, Assessor; Charles Reiss. CoUector, and Wm. Gingerich. Town Clerk.

There are no church buildings in the town, but religious meetings are held in the school houses and at the people's residences. Neither is there a store or post office in the township, but the village of Chatsworth being very near the line of Charlotte, it is almost as convenient to the people of the latter as to its own citizens, and hence most of the residents of this town go to Chatsworth to church, for their mail, and to do their -- store trailing." That is also their shipping point on the railroad, and at present they do most of their milling there, as there are no mills in the town.

In the early settlement of this section, milling was quite a serious task. As stated elsewhere, Pat Monahan used to go to Morris to mill with oxen. He informed us that he once gave Mrs. Dart a sack of corn, when her familv was actually sufiering, and she took it on a horse to Avoca Township to get it ground, and on the way, fell ofi" the horse, with the ague, and remained on the ground* until some one came along who put her and her sack of com again on the horse. It seems that in the early days of settling up this section, everybody and everything, except the prairie wolves, had the ague and fevers, and sometimes they woidd "shake" an hour or two every day for a year, before they could succeed in permanently "breaking it."

To render all these little inconveniences more aggravating, the prairie were very plenty, and disagreeably familiar sometinfes. Mr. Farrall informed us that they came v.ery near surrounding him one day ; he was on horseback, and was forced to run his horse for life. However, they were not often so vicious. Deer Avere also plenty, he stated, and would often come to his watering trough to drink. Mr. Monahan and his brother John saw a herd of deer on the prairie one day near the house of the former, so large they we're unable to count them. In these early times, when the cold Winter had draped the broad prairies in snow, and the wolves rendered desperate with hunger, and the settlers themselves not always free from its pangs, they (the settlers) experienced something of the hardships of building up homes in a new country. So great were their sufferings and privations, that Mrs. Monahan believes it would be but just that when they leave these "shores of dull mortality," they should march straightway into heaven.

As already stated, this township is prairie, except a few little groves along the Vermilion River, viz.: Eagle, Burr Oak and Crab Apple Groves, all of which are small and afford very little timber. Eagle Grove was so called from the fact that eagles built their nests and reared their young there, long after people began to settle in the vicinity. So great was the veneration of the people for these birds, or superstition it, may have been, that they would not under any circumstances touch a tree in which was an eagle's nest. But one night, a party cut a tree (a large burr oak), in which they had built and which contained six nests. This so incensed the people they vowed to tar and feather the man who did it, should they ever find him out. The name Burr Oak was applied in consequence of nearly all the timber in this grove being of that species, and Crab Apple, because of these bushes being scattered through the grove of that name. The north half of this town is what Avas termed swamp land, except Section 14, which was railroad land. The other half belonged to speculators, and was owned mostly by W. H. Osborn, Solomon Sturges and the Buckinghams.

Charlotte has no railroads through its borders, but the projected line of the Kankakee & Southwestern Road, which will doubtless be built this year, will pass through the town. The Railroad Company ask the right of way and the grading of the road by the township, through its limits, which in all probability will be given. This will be of material benefit to this section of the country, by giving it a competing line with the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Road, and a more direct route to Chicago than over the latter road.

The political record of Charlotte is noted for nothing out of the usual line of township politics. The voting population is pretty well divided on the issues of the day, and neither has much to boast of in the way of majorities or victories. During the late war, this town was a part of Pleasant Ridge, where further notice is made of its war record.

A quarter of a century ago, not a Avliite man dwelt in the present confines of Broughton Township. Its beautiful prairies, were traversed only by the wild game once so abundant, and the ambitious hunter in its pursuit. A branch of Morgan Creek traverses the eastern half of the township, passing northward through Round Grove. Numerous sloughs are found here and there over it& surface, which, in the earlier settlement of the county, proved often an impassable barrier to the emigrants. These are now, however, almost all drained, and many are under cultivation. They afforded, in bygone days, a safe retreat tO' the sand-hill crane, the wild goose or wild duck, which found ample room for their nests, and security for their young. Wild prairie wolves, deer and other game roamed these prairies then in certain security, and year after year, beforej the white man came, wild Indians found this place an excellent hunting ground, and here has been enacted many a savage chase and many an exciting hunt by the red man.

The coming of that harbinger of civilization, the locomotive, produced a change in all this. The railroad is a mighty agent in the hands of progress, and breaks down in its way many of the old customs, introducing more modern ideas, and changing empires in its route. Before its advent here, few thought of the rich inheritance spread out so abundantly for all, and sought other fields. They were justified in this, as at that day the prairies of Illinois afforded poor means for the transportation of the farmer's products, and the long distances he^ was obliged to go prevented him from settling at a time when more favored] localities were fully populated. Before the completion of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, all farm produce in this part of the State had to be hauled to Chicago in wagons, or, after the canal was opened, transported by boat to the nearest point on that - Joliet, Morris or Ottawa.

The first residents within the boundaries of the township were the Broughtons, from whom the township received its name, who located here in the earlyi part of the Summer of 1854. They came here from Morris, and settled onj the edge of the timber skirting the east branch of Mazon Creek, in the northeast part of the township. Here they found a moderate supply of fuel and sufiiciency of water for all practical needs. Their market and post office w£ Dwight, then a village of one or two dwellings, a small store or two, and depot - all in their infancy. Shortly after the settlement of the Broughtoi family, they were joined by Philip Clover and John Conway, the latter afted ward enlisting in the army, where he subsequently died. William Day was another early resident, but did not remain many years. |

In 1857, Jonathan Sarvis brought his family from Pennsylvania and located in the southwestern part of the township. Heretofore, settlers had located near Mazon Creek, and when Mr. Sarvis arrived in the township, quite a settlement liad been formed there. He purchased swamp land from the county at |2.50 per acre. Much of this was good farmiifg land, and only needed proper drainage.

One short road, simply a neighborhood affair, had been opened in the eastern part of the township from that settlement to Dwight. It, like all primitive roads, went in as direct a line as the nature of the country allowed, and when the roads were laid out on section lines, after the township was formed, it gave way to its more modern successors. Between these two parts of the township, the land was almost entirely unclaimed. It was not, however, allowed to remain this way but a short time, for, by the time of the division of the county into townships, there were enough inhabitants in this part of the county to be included and formed into one township. Congressionally, it is Town 29, Range 8.

Before the act of township organization was adopted, the people in Broughton were a part of Round Grove Precinct, and went there to vote. In the matter of politics, the inhabitants are about equally divided - one side carries the day about as often as the other. During the war, it was strongly Republican in its sentiment, and furnished many a gallant soldier for the defense of the nation. Some of these now sleep on Southern battle fields, for many of them fell

The township organization went into effect in the Spring of 1858. At the election, Wm. Broughton was elected Supervisor, and work on roads, bridges and township improvements was at once inaugurated. The result was the rule adopted, in all parts of the county where the surface of the country permitted it, of the laying out of roads on the section lines, building of good, substantial bridges, raising the grade of roads wherever needed, and in every other necessary manner improving the general thoroughfares.

The country continuing to fill with settlers, that important factor in modern civilization, the school house, next claimed attention. Before any organized effort had been made, and early in the life of the township, a small school house was erected in the Broughton neighborhood by the residents there, and a school opened. In this diminutive house the first election for town officers was held, when the number of voters did not greatly exceed the offices to be filled.

After the township was formed and canal lands came into market, settlers came into the township very rapidly, and the little school house was found entirely inadequate for the growing and increasing juvenile population. The next season after the school we have mentioned was taught, Mr. Sarvis employed Miss Cynthia Purcell, now Mrs. Herte, to teach in his house. This school continued three months, during which time a few districts were organized and a small house, built by Mr. Clover, purchased and refitted for a school house, and the next Winter a public school opened therein. After this, as fast as the country comprised in the township settled up, other schools were opened, as the case seemed to require. Especially was this done after the organization of the township. In a short time, several districts were established, and, before the war opened, four or five good school houses were erected. This number has from time to time been increased, until the common quota of nine districts is now established.

There are two churches in the township, the Congregationalist and Catholic. These have been erected within a few years, and each supports regular divine services. Prior to the organization of these religious societies, meetings for worship were held in private houses and in the school houses. The Baptists were among the first to possess the religious field in Broughton Township, although they have no organization in its limits. One of their ministers, Mr. Sarvis thinks, preached the first sermon here. He was quite prominent at one time, and is said to have lost his life in the late war. His name could not be learned. After occupying private houses and the school houses until about 1874, the Catholics erected a very neat frame church on Section 3, and have maintained services therein since. They are ministered to by Father Halpin, from Dwight, and have at present quite a large congregation, numbers of the members living in Round Grove and Dwight Townships,

The Congregationalists built their church shortly after the erection of the Catholic edifice, on the southeast corner of Section 6. They are numerically not so strong as the Catholics, but own a very neat chapel, and sustain a Sunday school regularly, and are generally supplied by some of their ministers living in this part of the county.

We have thus far traced the history and growth of Broughton Township, save giving the personal history of many of its citizens. In this narrative this is needless, as it is fully given in the biographical part of the work, and to this the reader is referred. He will find here each one's story, as it were, and each one's trials and incidents in the subjugation of the country. Right here we think it Avorthy of remark that, were one-half the energy displayed by the labor agitators in the country and in the overcrowded cities by those who continually decry against capital, used in developing the Western country, as the pioneers of Broughton developed its grand prairies, the cry of hard times would soon cease, and the question of " Capital vs. Labor " be quickly settled.

Taking a glance at the wealth of the township as shown by the Assessor's l^ooks - generally about one-half its real value - we see a striking exhibit of the growth of the township during the twenty years of its existence.

For the year 1878, the Assessor reported 22,453 acres of improved lands, valued at $224,530, If every section of the township is full, this leaves only 587 acres of unimproved land, worth, at a very low estimate, $10 per acre. The Assessor returns 800 houses, valued at $25,390 ; 789 head of cattle, valued at $10,598 ; 3,677 hogs, valued at $5,630, and about 100 head of other animals, worth $3,000. He estimates there are $13,035 acres of corn, 1,568 of oats, 1,667 of meadow, 2,229 of fenced pastures. 290 in orcliards, and 440 of other field products. The entire wealth of the township, if accurately footed up, would undoubtedly reach $500,000, and it is even doubtful if that sum will cover it.

We have stated that the township was one of the first created in the county. The first election for officers was held in the Spring of 1858, at which time Wm. Broughton was elected Supervisor. At the last election, W. R. Marvin was elected to that office ; Chester H. Gilbert, Clerk ; John H. Rogers, Collector ; A. Lower, Road Commissioner ; Wm. Broughton, Assessor, and Sarvis and Thomas J. Johnson, Justices of the Peace.

This township is in the original grant of land given to the Illinois Central Railroad, and is known as railroad land. The road was completed through this part of the State in 1854, and until after that date the township remained unsettled. The face of the country is nearly level, broken slightly by a few gentle undulations. Pike's Creek, a small branch of Rook's Creek, traverses the township from the southwest to the northeast ; and in the southeast corner, Crooked Creek finds its way in the same direction. The soil is exceedingly rich, and of great depth. Prior to the settlement of the county, the face of the township was covered, in many places, by large swamps or sloughs, which, in many cases, contained considerable water. These were the favorite homes of the sand hill crane, wild goose and wild ducks ; while on the prairies around them prairie chickens throve in great plenty and in undisputed security. Wild deer and wolves were also abundant in the first settlement of the township, and, though the former furnished venison to the pioneer, their destruction of the first crop of corn while young and tender, in many cases fully equaled their value.

At the date of the first settlement, 1855, the surface of this part of the country was in its primeval condition. "It was as wild as wild prairie, if you know what that means," said one of the first settlers. " There wasn't a road, or sign of one - not a trail or path; when we wanted to go anywhere," says Mr. Alonzo Huntoon, "we went in as straight a line as we could, only diverging from it on account of sloughs." "If we could not see our landmark," says another pioneer, " we shaped our course by the north star at night, by the sun by day, or if that was hidden by clouds, we watched the course of the wind, which very seldom failed to be perceptible, if ever so slight.

Woodbury came about the same time, that Summer, and settled on Section 34. They were residents of Woodford County prior to their location here. Albert Parker, Messrs. Bedenger and Seawright were companion settlers, the first named locating on Section 20 ; the next on Section 32, and the last on Section

30. A Mr. Richmond also settled on Section 21. One other person, whose name is not now remembered, located on Section 16 ; but he simply purchased land, and did not improve it until a year or two after. Mr. Parker was one of the largest land owners of that day, and rented to many who afterward came and preferred to wait a year before purchasing. One of the largest farmers at that time was James McFadden, who raised a great crop of wheat in 1857. He lived in Waldo Township, where he erected the first dwelling. Though a pioneer here, part of his land, comprising over three hundred acres, was in Pike Township, and a corresponding part of his labor was there.

The settlers mentioned were the major part, if not all, who located in Pike in 1855. They were the first to reduce any part of it to civilization, and render it productive and provident. They found it wild. No roads, no bridges, no pathways of any kind greeted their advent, and no hand of pioneer was extended to welcome them to thier future homes. If they desired to go to Pontiac, the county seat, or to Chenoa, in McLean County, their nearest railroad town and post office, they went in as direct a line as the timber, streams or sloughs allowed, and returned by the same route. These two places were their principal trading points, either of which being their post office ; and until the township was settled sufficiently to justify it, they went to the county seat to vote, being attached to that precinct.

The settlers of that day came generally with several ox or horse teams and with sufficient farming utensils to subdue the native prairie and raise one crop. Their breaking plows were large, strong affairs with a capacious mold-board, and required two or three teams to draw them through the tough soil. As soon as a field had been turned in this way, "sod-corn," as it was called, was grown immediately on it. The corn was planted by simply striking a sharp hoe or pick through the sod ; the hills were about three feet apart, and on every third furrow following it from one end of the field to the other. The corn, after being dropped to its place in the hole made through the sod, was covered by simply pressing the sod down with the foot, and the operation was complete. The crop was never cultivated, but allowed to grow as best it could, and often yielded abundantly. For fuel, the settlers were dependent on the dead timber found along the streams. After coal became more plentiful, and money more of a common commodity, that was purchased at the nearest railroad station and supplemented the wood.

The settlers of 1855 passed the Winter of 1855 and '56, without any events occurring out of the common routine of Western pioneer life, and in the Spring began operations for the further cultivation and improvement of their farms. That Spring and Summer, the following persons joined them, and opened farms : George and Daniel Okeson, who settled on Section 9; James and George Anderson, on Section 7 ; Hugh McMullen on Section 6 ; Edward Daugherty, on Section 30, and Edward M. Daugherty - the last renting land of Mr. Parker. During the year, a good crop was planted and safely gathered, and but little pioneer hardships experienced.

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

The three districts mentioned supplied the educational wants of the township uutil 1864, after which, from time to time, others were added until the nine now erected were ready for occupancy.

The tide of emigration to Pike Township ceased almost entirely in 1858, owing to the advent of a season of unexceptionally hard times. The crop of that season was very poor, prices were low and but little incentive was offered to the farmer to bring produce to market. For these reasons, very few settlers located, and from 1858 to 1863, the population remained almost the same. The war broke out in 1861. By the next year, prices of farm products increased greatly, and the next Spring the unclaimed and railroad lands in the township were rapidly taken by settlers, and before the Autumn of the latter year a "score or more" of farm dwellings were erected, and as many new farms opened. Until this date, but few roads were laid out, the farmer generally going, as we have described, by the most direct line. The opening of new farms, however, soon put a stop to this kind of travel, and necessitated a regular system of public highways. These are almost always opened on the sectional lines running with the cardinal points of the compass. The highways of the prairies can never be the best thoroughfares, owing to the porous, loamy soil from which they are to be made. Gravel does not exist, save in few localities, generally near the rivers ; hence it will be many years before macadamized roads will be as common over the prairies of the Sucker State, as they are in some of her more fortunate neighbors. Though the State lacks in this regard, she fully compensates for it in others. No other State raises such crops as Illinois, and no other State promises so much and returns so much for the labor expended as the Prairie State. It is a garden 400 miles long and 150 miles broad.

Religion and education went hand in hand in the settlement of the West. No sooner had a settler provided himself a home than a school or a church next claimed his attention. Though they were poor, and unable to build a house of worship, they freely gave their houses to the assembly in which to convene until they could construct a school house, which, in the unsettled condition of the provided ample room for those who could come.

In 1863, Rev. Clark, from Bloomington, organized a United Presbyterian Church with nine members, of whom Mr. A. Henry and Mr. John Ewing were elected Elders. This congregation occupied the school house, and was for a time prosperous. It had increased by 1871 to forty-five members, and had purchased a lot on which to build a church, when the greater number removed to other localities, and the organization was disbanded. The lot was sold for a cemetery, to the township, and the members who remained are now nearly all in other churches. Their last settled Pastor, Rev. William Morrow, was with them over four years.

The Methodists are generally the religious pioneers of the country. As soon as a settlement is made, some traveling preacher, braving hunger, cold and storms for his Master, places in his saddle bags a feAV books, his Bible, a number of tracts, and proceeds on his mission. They were the first to occupy the field m the southwestern part of the county, and for more than a dozen years had an organization in Rook's Creek Township. To this place, those adhering to this religious body and living in Pike Township went to attend divine service. The meetings were held in a school house. The membership gained strength in Pike Township, and as the result of a revival in the Fall of 1877, it was decided to build a church. This was accomplished, and now the congregation occupies a neat, small frame edifice, completed in February, 1878. There are now about fifty members, and preaching is regularly held. The Pastor is Rev. J. L. Ferris.

The Presbyterian Church at Chenoa maintains a place of worship in a school house in the southern part of the township. They and the Mennonites - Germans - occupy the same house, one holding services in the forenoon, the other in the afternoon.

One thing more remains to be mentioned before closing this history of Pike Township - its political organization. The vote for township organization was held November 3, 1857, The next Spring, the election was held in each one, and the organization was perfected. The Congressional number is Township 27 north, Range 4 east.

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

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

Mr. McFadden was not allowed to pass the Winter as the only resident of the township. He had raised an immense crop of wheat, and by his success had induced others to come to this, then uninhabited, part of Livingston County. The Summer before, Mr. Henry Broad, still a resident, had been over this part of the county looking for a farm. He had come from the East not long before, in obedience to an able editor's advice, and resolved to find a home on the broad Illinois prairies. At first he located near Pontiac, where he purchased a farm. Taken sick, he became somewhat discouraged, and sold his purchase, with a view of returning to the East. When he recovered, he changed his mind and concluded to purchase again, Avith the result mentioned - the home he now owns.

That same year, 1857, Richard Breeser located on Section 18, and James Sample on Section 22. Mr. McFadden had located on Section 12, owning that and parts of several adjacent sections. Other settlers of this season were James King, Isaac Burkholder, Parker Jewett and J. C. Hawthorne. Nearly all these purchased land from the railroad company, whose grant included the western tier of townships in Livingston County. The price at this date was generally $14 per acre, although in after years it was reduced to $6 and $7 per acre.

Mr. Broad, who was among the settlers of that season, says their difficulties and privations were sometimes quite severe. The corn was a poor crop, and, to make the matter still worse, prices were very low. No roads were laid out,, and when any of them wished to go to Pontiac or to Chenoa, they struck across the prairie in a direct line, only diverging from it on account of sloughs, creeks or timber. There were many large sloughs in the township at that time, several of which have since been drained, and are now under cultivation. In the Winter, these sloughs would freeze over, and, when sufficiently firm, could be crossed by a team and w^agon. When this was not the case, and the ice rather thin, the common mode of crossing them was for the individual to get down on hand;^ and feet, spread himself as much as possible, and " wobble " across in this style. To one unaccustomed to this, the situation was not very agreeable, and, if the ice was thin enough to be continually cracking and bending beneath him, the sensations were not at all assuring. The object in crossing in this manner was to spread the weight as much as possible, and the longer the man the more it was "spread." In crossing the prairies without roads, and no houses in sight, it was not an uncommon thing for the traveler to get lost. When the grass was high, the settlers would often drag a harrow behind their wagon.

which SO thoroiigly trailed down the grass that a plain track was made, which remained several days. Any one who has. at any time in his life, been lost, knows full well the tendency to travel in a circle. This may be explained by the fact that, when such an accident occurs, a man will almost invariably travel in an excited, hurried manner. The right foot takes longer strides, under such circumstances, than the left, and hence the tendency to circle. " This," says an earlv resident, "is the true theory, and I know, from my own experience and that of my neighbors, that it cannot be accounted for in any other way."

The item of fuel was a very important one at that date. But few settlers were able to purchase coal, and generally went to the timber skirting the streams to the east and obtained dry, dead wood, which answered the purpose, though not of the best quality. After they were able to buy coal, they made many difficult, if not dangerous, journeys for it. Referring to such a trip, an settler says :

-'Three of us started early one morning, shaping our course by the North Star, for Reading, to obtain for each a load of coal. We did not have much trouble in getting there ; but coming home we did. Night came on us while two of us were stuck in a little creek we had attempted to cross. After considerable delay, we got out and started again, when one of our horses fell down as though dead. Here we were, no house in sight, a dead horse, no feed, nothing to eat, and no place to sleep. After debating a while, we concluded to start in different directions, hallooing to each other so as not to get lost. We tied our horses to the wagons and started. Before long, one of us came to a small cabin near a piece of timber, the inmates of which were soon aroused. After getting the rest of us there, and explaining to the owner - who hardly knew what to make of us - he took us in, gave us some bran bread - the best he had - and allowed us to sleep on his cabin floor. In the morning, we were again fed on bran bread - an excellent food for a hungry man - and sent on our way, if not rejoicing, glad to get what we had. We had no trouble in finding our teams just where we left them, and, what was better, the supposed dead horse alive and well, and after allowing them to graze a while, proceeded." The party experienced but little difficulty in getting home, where one of them hid his coal under a hay stack, as he said it had a tendency to mysteriously disappear, and he did not care to repeat his journey for more.

During the first years of the township's settlement, deer, prairie wolves, feand hill cranes, wild geese, ducks and prairie chickens were as abundant as the flowers in Mav. The deer were rather shy and could not always be had " for the asking." They did much damage to the young corn by coming into the fields at night and trampling ,and eating the tender sprouts. Wolves were destructive to barnyard fowls ; the sand-hill cranes scratched up and ate the corn, when freshly planted ; while the other mentioned prairie inhabitants contributed, in their way, to render the life of the pioneer hard. He would, however, retaliate on them, and wacred a ceaseless warfare among them, which has

In 1858, the settlers we have mentioned were joined bv Nathan Hunting and a Mr. Cole, who lost his life in the late war. Leonard Smith and G. W. Stoker also located that season. John Broad. Sr., and John Broad. Jr., came about the same time, though the latter did not open a farm until the next year.

It was in May of this year, as near as any now remember, that a storm of unusual violence passed over Waldo and Pike Townships. The wind was furious, tearing down and carrying away fences about the houses, out buildings, stables and, in one or two instances, overturning houses.

Many exaggerated stories went the rounds of the country, concerning this storm, and many hair-breadth escapes are chronicled, which, however, when <-losely hunted down for their truth, almost always were experienced by some one who has moved away.

The hard times of 1858 and 1859 retarded immigration somewhat to this part of the county, but only for a short time. The richness of the soil was a strong attraction, and by 1859 and '60, settlers came in rapidly, and in a short time Waldo Township had a sufficient population to admit of being formed into a separate township, and in 1861 the present organization was perfected.

In the Winter of 1857-8, there were only four children in the township. No attempts to establish a school were, made until 1859, when a school was taught that Winter, by a Miss Elizabeth Jewett, daughter of one of the first settlers.

From a report made by Mr. David Sharp, Treasurer of the township, dated September 19, 1860, we learn that there was one school in the township ; that it was taught by a '-female teacher," who received 3-0 per month for four months ; that she had attending her school eleven boys and eight girls ; that at that time there were in the township ninety-two children under 21 years of age, and that there were fifty-five between the ages of 5 and 21 years - showing a rapid influx of settlers.

The report states that but one district then existed, though further along it records the building of a new frame school house, at an expense of 3^76.72. The report states that a surplus existed in the Treasurer's hands, at that date, amounting to ^217.95 ; that he received ft-om the State ^162.70, and raised $844.44, by district tax, for school purposes.

The next Winter, two schools were opened ; and in 1863-4, two others were added. This number was increased from time to time, until the present number, nine, the usual number kept in any township, was reached. The schools are well maintained, and are supported from six to seven months in the year.

About 1860, the German Mennonites began to come into the township, and,, liking the country, prevailed on more of their countrymen to locate with them. They are an industrious, frugal class of people, fond of their church and customs, and cling to them with wonderful tenacity. As the result of their coming, they have purchased almost all the land in Waldo Township, are about fourfifths of the population, and have established two prosperous churches. They were the first to build a church in the township, and are the only religious society therein. Their first church Avas organized very soon after coming, and for a time, meetings for divine service were held in the nearest school house. They are locally termed the " Omish churches," as they profess to be followers of Omah, a noted preacher in their country, who made many converts from the original Mennonite body. At their organization, John P. Schmidt, Joseph, Joab and John Rediger were chosen and acted as leaders. The principal members were John and Christian Ehresman, Christian, John and Joab King, David Sharp and Joseph Gering. A short time after the organization was effected, a comfortable church was erected. A division occurred about 1872, in the church, resulting in the formation of a second congregation, who now occupy a house of worship of their own. These people are exceedingly simple in their habits and dress, will not sue or be sued, leave all difficulties to be adjusted by the church, adopt the Bible as their only rule of law or doctrine, and seldom, if ever, contract any debts or vote or hold any office. They own some fine farms, and seem to improve them on the principle that a '' good barn will pay for a good house, but a good house will not pay for a good barn."

On the formation of the township in 1861, it was detached from Nebraska Township, and includes all of Congressional Township 27 north. Range 3 east, and has since been a separate organization.

Scattering Point Creek is the onl^ stream of water in the township. It rises near the center, flows northward through Nebraska, Rook's Creek and Amity townships to the Vermilion. Owing to the small supply of running water, the farmers devote their attention more to raising grain than any other branch of that business. In this they are quite successful, as their well cultivated farms will testify.

The western part of Livingston County remained unsettled more than twenty years after the settlements along the Vermilion River. The land was in the grant given to the Illinois Central Railroad, which was completed and in operation to the Illinois River by 1854. After that date, land comprised in this grant came into market.

Mr. Isaac Sheets, a native of Ohio, and an early settler in Woodford County, came to the present limits of Nebraska Township in the Summer of 1855, and located on Section 35. Here he broke prairie, planted a crop and built a house. This was the first habitation in what is now Nebraska Township, and for about a year Mr. Sheets and his family lived alone. Before his settlement, however, explorers and others had been over the land, and marked the rich prairies, with their gently undulating surfaces, as an inviting place for a future home. It was then just as natui-e had formed it, unbroken by the signs of civilized life, unmarked by the hand of the white man. The tall prairie grass waving before the wind afforded excellent hiding places for the wild prairie chicken, wild duck, sand hill cranes, or their enemy the wary prairie wolf. Here and there a large slough appeared, full of tall grasses and rank weeds, on which the crane or wild goose reared their offspring in sure security. Not a road broke the monotony of the scenery ; not a house or sign of white man could be seen ; and during the Summer of 1855, Mr. Sheets had an undisputed view over what is now Nebraska Township, and over a region now covered with prosperous, highly cultivated farms and tasteful residences.

The opening of the next season brought several settlers, many of whom had been over the country before and partially selected their claims. The landeach alternate section - belonged to the railroad, and from that corporation the majority purchased their lands.

The settlers of that season were, D. Graft, Adley Brock, Wm. Norris, H. Van Doren and Moses Hapwood. All of these brought families, and all entered lands. As soon as possible, each one erected a house and began improvements, and before long the life of the settlement was in full activity.

In the Summer of 1856, the settlement was constituted a voting precinct, and at the Fall election, which placed James Buchanan in the Presidential chair, the few voters assembled at the house of Mr. Van Doren and cast their votes. The precinct then included all of what is now Waldo Township, and remained in that form until after the division of the county into townships, in 1857, and until that township had enough voters in its limits to justify a township organization.

The settlers enumerated are believed to be all who made a permanent residence in Nebraska Township, in 1856. As yet no school or church was established, and what few there were, assembled in the houses of those nearest the center, and held divine services there.

The opening of the next season brought the families of Mr. John Hoover, Levi James, M. Q. Bullard, Mr. Doolittle, and a few others, to the little scattered settlement. These built homes, opened farms, and in some instances raised crops. The plows were the large breaking plow, with the huge mold-board, and required two or three yokes of oxen or teams of horses to pull them through the new, tough prairie sod. Sod corn was the common crop the first year, or where the settler was sufficiently prepared, a crop of wheat was grown. At that date, and even until after the commencement of the war, prices for farm products were exceedingly low, corn bringing often but 10 to 20 cents per bushel. Wheat brought but little more than double that price : potatoes and other root crops did not pay for their cultivation, while fruit was not yet to be had.