Livingston County, Illinois - The whole text, 1878 (part 13 of 25)

Mr. Hoke states that on his arrival, Odell contained a small grocery, the station house, and probably a small shop or two. The storekeeper was Peter Lundgren, still a resident of Odell. There was no road out to the new settlement, each one going in as direct a line across the prairie to his home as the nature of the country allowed. It was nearly twenty miles to the east before a habitation was encountered ; while to the south it was nearly eight miles before a similar structure was to be seen. In order to obtain a certain road to Odell, Mr. Hoke drove there with a heavy wagon while the ground was quite wet, and thereby made a track that remained plainly apparent some time. This track the others gradually began to follow, and the first road from Odell to Union Township was established. As many of the first residents were liable to get lost on their way to Pontiac, there being no road there, Mr. Hedenberg took his breaking plow and made a furrow directly from the settlement to the county seat. By following this, the settlers soon had a road quite plainly marked, and which remained in use until the laying out of roads on the section lines. This road was a matter of considerable importance to the earliest settlers, as they were compelled to go to Pontiac to mill, and to attend to any necessary legal business incident to the purchase of their farms, or business affairs. Odell was their post office and usual trading point, although some preferred D wight, then a small place.

Early in the Autumn of 1859 Mrs. Walton opened, in her house, the first school in the neighborhood, and conducted it successfully a few months. On Oct. 20th, Mrs. Hoke began a similar undertaking in her residence. Mrs. Walton's school was paid by subscription, the common price being $1.50 per scholar. Mrs. Hoke taught her school six months, in compliance with the law, which, at that time, required that number of months to entitle the district to any public money. She received $20 per month - $120 in all - and, what would delight many of us now, received her pay in gold. She was required to teach six days in the week ; and states now, that she did all her house work mornings and evenings, and was always punctually at her post. This was the first public school in the township; and taking into account all its inconveniences, was (juite a success. Mrs. Hoke relates, that while attending to her school duties, one day, she was stopped by a knock at the door, which, ,when opened, disclosed to her view a man, shivering with the cold, and apparently suffering from its effects. He inquired if he could bring, his family, consisting of eleven persons, to the fire to warm. It was a bitterly cold day, and the family had been, for some time, traveling over the cheerless prairie ; and as they were rough looking and weary from exposure to the weather, no one would extend to them a hospitable hand. Mrs. Hoke, however, immediately granted their request ; took all in and warmed them, and furnished them a bountiful dinner. They were exceedingly grateful for this kindness; and to render some equivalent, the stranger, who proved to be Dr. Wild, and on his way to his claim, left a colt almost old enough to work, for Mr. Hoke, refusing his note for it, telling him his word was enough, and as he desired a horse, to take this one and pay whenever he could. It is worth while to mention, that when Mrs. Hoke finished her school, part of the money was used to pay for the colt ! The doctor, after thoroughly warming himself and family, went on, a most grateful and much encouraged man. This incident, like many others of a similar nature, shows something of the discomforts endured at that date, and the dangers encountered in traveling over a new country.

The Spring after Mrs. Hoke's school closed, Miss Ellen Craig was employed to teach a Summer school, and continued in Mr. Hoke's house. While this school was going on, the residents were erecting a school house, to be ready for the Winter term. They had experienced some difficulty with non-resident land owners concerning taxing their lands, but had carried the day, and organized themselves into a school district and were ready to open a school by the time frost came. The election for School Trustees was held in the Spring of 1860, Mr. Hoke thinks. Frank Whipple built a house on Dr. Brown's land.^ about this time. He and the doctor came from La Salle County. The doctor was a large land owner, and, consequently, opposed to taxation to support schools from which he derived no immediate benefit, and seemed to forget that educating any persons near property belonging to him made that property more secure. The school element prevailed, as we have mentioned, and that Winter the first public school house was opened in the bounds of the township. Arthur Marshall, James Hamilton and Mr. Hoke were elected the first School Trustees, and before the year had gone by another district was formed, and soon another, and so on, until, when Union Township was formed from Odell. nine districts were made, in a part of which houses were at once built. The last school house in the township was built in 1876, and school opened in it that Winter. They are well sustained, are conducted about seven months during the year, often longer, and are a credit to the township.

Before the school houses were built, religious meetings were held in the houses of the settlers, generally at Mr. Hedenberg's. When this was not the case, especially after the roads were opened, and during that part of the year when they were in good repair, many went to Odell and Dwight to attend church. As the school houses were erected, in many of them Sunday schools were opened and sustained during the Summer months. This practice was kept up until about 1866, when the Presbyterians living in the township concluded to organize a church, and thereby bring preaching nearer to them. Rev. G. S. Bascom often came from Odell, afoot, to the school house where the congregation met, preached to them, and returned the same evening. Old Dr. Bettleheim, a man who spoke several languages, and who at one time was interpreter to the United States Legation at Japan, often came to the little church and ministered to them. Although Presbyterian in name, it was composed of members of several denominations united under that name. Rev. Mr. Hargrave, a former missionary to India, was one of the first pastors after the church was formally organized. Rev. Dr. Rabe is the present Pastor, the congregation numbering over one hundred members, and still using the school house.

The German Catholics, formerly attending church in Odell and Dwight, in 1876 organized a church in Union Township, and soon after built a neat frame church. The congregation numbers upward of one hundred members, and at present does not sustain regular services.

The general reader may be at a loss to know why the lands comprising thi» township were so long allowed to remain unoccupied. The chief reason lies in the fact that, until after the completion of the railroads through this part of the State, no market nearer than Chicago could be had to sell farm products. Another reason was this : the township lay in the canal grant of lands, and, in some instances, land was not offered for sale until after 1850. These lands at first, in this township, sold for $6.00 and $7.00 per acre, on long time. They rose rapidly in value, however, and soon brought three times those prices. When the first sale of the school section was made, one-half sold for only about $8.00 per acre. A few years after, the remainder brought $24 per acre. All improved land is now worth ft'om $40 to $60 per acre.

The surface is sufficiently rolling to prevent a failure from excessive rains, or from drought. Good water is easily obtained at a moderate depth, and is generally used in watering stock instead of the surface slough water, not always to be depended upon in dry seasons.

When the township was organized in 1864 active measures were at onc& taken to secure good roads. Mr. James C Brown was elected Supervisor at the Spring election, and before long the benefit from this form of government from that of an adjunct of Odell Township was quite apparent. From that time forward, the progress has been strongly marked, until Union Township, although one of the youngest in the county, is now one of the best.

In politics the people are pretty evenly divided. During the war they were strongly in favor of the Union, and gave many a brave -soldier to the defense of the country. As these generally enlisted in Dwight, Odell or Pontiac, they were credited to those places. The residents of the township will, however, know them each by name, and in the War Record of the county, published elsewhere in these pages, can readily trace each one in his life in the army.

We have stated the township was formed in February, 1864, The elections have been regularly held each year since, the township making no changes in its limits. The present officers are: Assessor, Edward Collins; Clerk, William Trecker ; Supervisor, W. E. Thompson ; Road Commissioners, John Fulton and J. E. C. EbersoU ; Collector, Peter Trecker; William A. Hutchins and J. A. Jones, Justices of the Peace.

Town 27 nortlf, Range 5 east, lies directly south of Pontiac, and is one of the best irrigated townships in the county. Rook's Creek traverses the western side of the township, Turtle Creek the center, and Hickory the eastern portion These all find an outlet in the Vermilion River, which flows near the northeast corner, ,A11 these creeks are more or less skirted by timber, and all of them were the scene of the first settlements in the township. The early residents found here material for the erection of their cabins, fuel and a natural protector from the cold of Winter. Around their primitive cabin homes clustered a memory fraught with incidents of the past, over which our grandsires and grandams love to linger.

Excellent timber grew along the banks of the streams, and occasionally in groves, in the early days of its settlement, and afforded a considerable source of revenue to those who cared to cut it, construct mills and saw it into lumber. The first persons engaging in this enterprise were nearly always in advance of civilization, yet a factor in the history of the country. They were not at all particular in ascertaining whether the timber land was entered or whether the General Government was paid for it. A kind of general disregard exists in the minds of many people concerning the property of governments or of larore corporations. This spirit was largely prevalent among those who despoiled the forests of their choicest trees, and who thereby rendered the life of the early actual settlers more difficult.

The first settlers in the country were generally denominated "squatters." They were said to " squat " on any piece of land that suited their fancy. If they remained until the land came into market, and went to the land office to enter it legally, they were always allowed the first choice and chance in securing the claim they had chosen. It was unsafe for speculators to purchase and endeavor to hold such a claim. The squatters were a kind of law unto themselves, and dealt with such persons in a summary manner, seldom if ever allowing them to occupy a claim thus obtained. Tliese measures, vigorous as they were, almost always secured them the homes for which they had labored, and considering the times and the known greed and rapacity of the speculators, the measures may be looked on as just.

The first residents of Eppard's Point were the s(|uatters. Of those known to belong to this class, living in this township, were the Eppard, Haves, Pendie, Brock, Suttle and Anderson families, but one of whom now remains. Just when they settled cannot now be accurately stated. It is known to be before the land came into market, and was probably about the year 1834 or 1835. When the township was organized in the Winter of 1857-58, it received the u?me Eppard's Point from one of these families, supposed to be the earliest settler here. Of the heads of the families named, Eppard, Suttle, Hayes and Tuttle have moved away.

These persons were all squatters. Those who moved away sold their claims to others who have since improved them. When they came Pontiac was hardly known ; Bloomington was a primitive frontier town ; Ottawa was the principal trading point for this part of Illinois, while Chicago was one of its chief markets. They are all who are now known to have located prior to 1850 ; and many of them made but a short stay.

In the Fall of that year. Judge Eli Myer located in the western part of the township on land previously entered by some of these squatters. He lived to become a very prominent man in the township, and held several offices of trust in it. He was one of the Associate Justices of the county several years before the present system of township organization was adopted. His death occurred some years since, one of his last acts being to give $600 from his property to aid in the erection of the Ocoya Baptist Church. He was always a firm friend of education and religion, and was the first teacher in the township, and the first School Treasurer and Clerk after its organization.

The next Spring, John Powell and Frank and Samuel Uraphenour located. They, like Judge Myer, settled near the timber. Mr. Powell made his home on Section '29, near a fine spring. Here he lived until a few years ago, when he sold and came to Pontiac Township, where he now resides. Samuel Umphenour yet resides in the township. J'rank Umphenour died some years ago. The next year after these came Squire Payne, John Umphenour, Alexander and John Morton, Thos. B. Craycraft and Samuel and John St. John settled. Of these 'Squire Payne is yet on his original claim; John Umphenour is dead; John Morton is still living on his farm ; Alexander Morton removed to Pontiac, where he died a few years ago ; Thos. B. Craycraft is dead ; Samuel St. John is now residing in Chenoa, while John St. John, his brother, is numbered among those who have gone to that bourn from which no one returns.

During the year 185o, probably in the Spring and Summer, D. W. Young, Washington Stafford, Addison Muzzy, Samuel Freeman, Wm. Vickroy, Wm. Griflfith and J. H. Turman, joined the other settlers and became residents.

The next year marks the opening of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad and a consequent rush to all parts of the county was the result. Eppard's : Point partook of the inflation of emigration, and filled so lapidly that to enu- i merate all who came would be a repetition of names given in the biographical i part of this book. Of those who came in 1853, Messrs. Young, Vickroy and i Griffith moved away. Muzzy and Staftbrd ai'e yet residents, and Freeman and > Turman are dead.

The completion of the railroad in the Summer of that year gave the town, or , settlement it may better be termed, a post ofiice, near where the first school house *l was built, just below where the railroad crosses Rook's Creek, which name the ' oflice received, and was continued until the establishment of Ocoya.

This village was laid out by Jonathan Duff" and A. W. Cowan, then partners ?1" in the banking business in Pontiac. The land where the village is situated was entered by Peter A. Badeau, in June, 1854. After passing through the hands of several owners, it was purchased by Charles Roadnight, then General Freight Agent of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, who soon after erected a small warehouse and depot.

Part of the warehouse was used as a store, Alexander Martin generally attending to the business of Agent, Postmaster and Storekeeper. D. S. Shireman and E. M. Babbitt began about this time to buy grain, and were owners of the stock of goods in the little store.

It was during the Winter of 1858-59, that Reuben Macy came to the "Corners," as the village was then often termed, and taught the school, and with others in the community began to discuss the feasibility of getting a town here. He had been an early settler in Nebraska Township, from whence he moved to a farm near Pontiac, where he was living when he came to Ocoya to teach. Nothing further was done, however, and the town remained at a stand-still nearly ten years. A few goods were kept in the little store, a few bushels of grain annually purchased, and the mail was daily put oif to the few who made this their post office.

' Leaving the village, if it may be called such, we will return to the other part^ of the township, which we left just entering on the year 1854.

Soon after 'Squire Payne's arrival, sickness appeared in a malignant form among his children, and before long four of them were consigned to any early grave. They were buried near the creek, on a beautiful knoll, which, in after years became a general burying ground, and which is yet used.

The year before the advent of the railroad, the settlers determined to erect a school house, for well they knew such an insitution among tliem was well worth its price. They got together, as all pioneers did for such occasions, cut and notched logs for its construction, and on an appointed day, all the settlers on the creek came to assist in the raising. It was covered with '' shakes," held on by weight poles, had a strong wooden door, a good floor, and, for those days, what was to many a luxury, had a good box stove, for warmth. Mr. Eli Myer taught school in this log structure, now a worn-out affair, on the farm of D. J. Taylor, where it passed away its days as an out-house for cattle. The school continued for three months, and though the first in a school house in the township, was the second school therein, Mr. Myer having taught a few months the previous Winter in his own cabin.

The log school house, with its slab seats and slab desks, continued alone until about 1856, when a school house was built near the Rook's Creek Railroad bridge, the first under the district system, and here Mr. Reuben Macy taught school the next Winter.

Another was also built, in the northeastern part of the township, about tliis date, for a few families had located here and had succeeded in getting a school house built.

In this part of the township, Thomas Virgin, S. P. Garner, Thomas Carson and Nelson Guthrie were among the earliest settlers. Mr. Virgin was a native of Indiana, and remained here until 1865, when he sold his farm to W. H. Wagner and removed to La Salle County. Wagner is still living on this fai-m. Garner has also removed, having sold his farm to W. T. Russell. Carson went to Missouri, while Guthrie, of all these, is the only one still living on his first claim.

These residents erected a school house about the time mentioned, which they occupied both for educational and religious purposes as long as it could be kept in repair and was large enough to accommodate the growing youthful population. When more room was demanded, a comfortable brick house was erected in this part of the township, which, for a while, was large enough to accommodate all who desired to attend from this part of the township. After the organization of the township it was assigned to District No. 6, where it still fulfills its mission. It is the only brick school house in the township.

The township organization went into effect in the Spring of 1858. From the time of the building of the railroad until this date, the township had filled very rapidly with settlers, and at the Spring election, held on April 6th, the highest number of votes cast for any one candidate was 61 (for S. P. Coldren as Assessor), which showed a population of about three hundred and fifty persons. At this election, Eli Myer was elected Supervisor, receiving 40 votes ; W. C. Babcock, Clerk, 45 votes : S. P. Coldren, Assessor. 61 votes ; William Perry, Collector, 40 votes ; T. P. Virgin, S. T. Turner and S. L. Payne, Commissioners of Highways, the first receiving 56 votes, the second 60 and the third 59 : J. A. Wright and 0. P. Cray craft. Constables, receiving 51 and 38 votes respectively ; and E. B. Persons, Justice of the Peace, 54 votes. As it may be of some interest to the readers of these pages, we append the names of the Supervisors and Clerks from that year until now, giving, where the records show it, the number of votes cast for each :

1859 - Supervisor, Otis Richardson, 37 votes ; Clerk, W. C. Babcock, 68 votes. 1860 - Supervisor, Otis Richardson. 39 votes : Clerk, W. C. Babcock 75 votes. 1861 - Supervisor, E. B. Persons, 32 votes; Clerk, Eli Myei, 52 votes. 1862 - Supervisor, William Manlove ; Clerk, Eli Myer. 1863 - Supervisor, William Manlove: Clerk, Eli Myer. 1864 - Supervisor, Francis Umphenour; Clerk, Eli Myer. These two continued in office till 1867. 1867 - Supervisor, Francis Umphenour; Clerk, Geo. S. Babbitt. 1868-69 - Supervisor, Geo. A. Sutton; Clerk, D. J. Handly. 1870-71 - Supervisor, E. A. Sweet; Clerk, D. J. Handley. 1872-73^Supervisor, E. A. Sweet; Clerk. Josiah Herr. 1874 - Supervisor, D. J. Taylor ; Clerk, G. J. Graves. The last two named have held these offices continuously since, and still retain them. The other township officers were: Assessor, J. N. Guthrie; Collector, E. B. Myer; Road Commissioner, B. F. Myer : Justices of the Peace, Osborn Ashley and W. H. Wagner.

During all these intervening years, the growth of the township had been n decidedly onward, and when the organization was effected active measures were at once inaugurated to lay out and improve the roads on the section Imes. Previously, they had gone stragglingly across the prairies in any and all dn-ections, only diverging from any due course on account of the numerous sloughs « in the central portions. Here the land remained idle until about 1865. when > it was sold to more adventurous farmers as swamp lands, who now own prosperous farms. The schools partook of the change in common with the growth of < he township. From a report made by Eli Myer in October, 1858, we learn i there were for the year ending October 1, 1857, two schools in the township. One had been taught ten months by a male teacher, and one three months by a female teacher. The male teacher received $33.33^ per month, the female teacher, $25.00. The amount of the principal of the township fund was $3,418.13 ; the amount of interest, $341.81, and the amount of common school fund received by the Township Treasurer, $273.88. The amount paid for teachers' wages was $308.83, and for building and repairing school houses, $531.00. He states that there are 92 children attending scliool - 48 boys and 44 girls; and for the next year reports 265 persons under 21 years of age. For 1858, he does not report an increase in schools or teachers ; but after that year, owing to the organization of the township and the more eftective measures adopted, a marked increase in the schools appears, until the present number - nine - was reached.

The growth of the township carried with it a steady improvement in the dwellings of the people. Now many fine residences are seen, and many evidences of culture and ease appear. From the 12x12 or 16x16 cabins of the early pioneers, which in some cases, like those of Judge Myer and Squire Payne, who each had large families, and often were compelled to accommodate as many more travelers - for hotels were few then and far between - have grown the fine, capacious farm house, with its large, airy rooms, and cool, shaded yard. Instead of hauling salt, sugar or other necessaries from Ottawa, Chicago or Danville, or rafting their lumber across the streams, they now enjoy the home market, the neighborhood post office and good bridges. There was no starvation, however, or lack of generosity in these old-time days, for thev tell us when their sup])ly of corn meal gave out, they went to tlieir neighbors just beyond Pontiac, eight miles away, from whom they could borrow meal for breakfast.

In the early days of the township, the Democrats claimed the greatest number of adherents ; since then the tide has gradually turned, and the Republicans are in the ascendency.

At the close of the war, the village of Ocoya again comes into notice. Roadnight, who had, as has previously been stated, purchased 40 acres and made a switch, built a small warehouse and depot, and leased them to D. S. Shireman and E. M. Babbitt, who continued the grain business with varying results, for several years. The village was all this time in its primitive condition, and making no progress. Indeed, it could not yet properly be called a village, for no plat had been surveyed, nor had any move been made toward laying out a town.

In 1869, Duff & Cowan purciiased the land, and surveyed and platted the ground, giving it the old name. "Ocoya." They failed in business shortly after, however, and no plat of the town was ever recorded.

John A. Bogie, of Paris, Bourbon County, Ky., an extensive owner of" land adjoining the town, laid off " Bogie's first addition to Ocoya," April 30, 1870. The record of this plat is the only recorded instrument relating to the town of Ocoya.

On the failure of Duif & Cowan, Reuben Macy purchased the 40 acres originally intended for a town site, and in 1871 built an elevator. He was^ associated with C. N. Coe, of Cayuga, a short time, but, purchasing his interest, for several years managed a store, of which he became the owner. He removed here in September, 1867, and at once took an active part in the growth of the town. Finding his business too much for one person, he associated hi* son-in-law, John McCalla, with himself, who came to Ocoya in 1870, and at once took the store. He remained here until 1877, when he sold to the present owner, E. M. Reily, who is also Postmaster, and came to Pontiac. Macy continued actively engaged in mercantile pursuits until a few years ago, when he traded his interest for 80 acres of land adjoining the village, which he now farms.

The school is still conducted in the district school house, a little south of town. In this building the first religious services in this part of the township were held. In 1865, E. A. Sweet established a Sunday school, of which he was the Superintendent twelve years. It was quite prosperous in its time, and continued to meet in the school house until the completion of the Baptist Church in the village, when it was taken there. Its average attendance has always been nearly one hundred, and it has had a marked influence for good on the community.

The Baptists were the first to attempt a religious organization in this settlement. It organized in the Sunday school referred to, and from that beginning arose the present church. One of its best friends and supporters was Judge Myer, who at his death willed to it f 600, to be used in the erection of a suitable house of worship. Two lots were donated by Duff k Cowan, on which the church was to be erected ; and after the Judge's death, friends of the church went actively to work to raise the balance necessary to complete the building. As it was erected when material and labor of all kinds were high, it cost nearly $2,000, probably much more than such a building would cost now. It is a neat frame structure, and was completed in the Autumn of 1872, and has been regularly occupied since. The dedication services Avere held on Sunday, November 17, conducted by Elder Goss, at which time a very appropriate hymn, composed by Reuben Macy for the occasion, was sung. ,

This congregation is the only one in the township ; people in tlie eastern and r southern parts going to McDowell or Chenoa, or meeting at irregular intervals in different school houses.

But little remains to be said of Eppard's Point. In the biographical part of this work the personal history of many of its settlers is given, and in the statistical portion its yield of the cereals will be found. The people are indus- trious, and need only to use the natural advantages bestowed so freely upon them to secure a competence and a life of comfort and ease in their declining years.

Forrest lies in the southeastern part of the county, and is bounded on the north by the township of Pleasant Ridge, on the east by Chatsworth, on the south by Fayette and on the west by Indian Grove. It is all prairie, except a narrow belt of timber along the south branch of the Vermilion River, whicii flows across the northeast corner of the town. The prairie portion, however, has been supplied with timber sufficient, through the energies and industry of man, for shelter from the burning rays»of a Summer sun and the pierx)ing blasts of the Winter storms. Beautiful groves are found in all parts of the town in such plenitude that, should the ghosts of Shabbona, Pontiac, Saunemin or any of their dusky warriors leave their " happy hunting grounds " for a visit to the scenes of their youth, they would, doubtless, find more changes in this section than did Rip Van Winkle in the little village among the Oatskill Mountains after his twenty years' slumber. Where, a few years ago, grew the tall grass, the willows and rosin-weeds, now flourish the corn and other crops of the thrifty farmer ; while little artificial groves of trees here and there relieve the level surface of the monotonous aspect borne by the prairies in their natural state.. Much of the land in Forrest was denominated "swamp lands," and donated by the State to Livingston County, and hence, through this means, this section obtained rather a hard name abroad, and was for years avoided, save in the little skirt of timber along the river ; when, after a few years of efficient drainage and good farming, these lands have become as productive and as well adapted to agricultural purposes as those of an}^ portion of the county ; and, with two railroads - the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw and the Chicago & Paducah - intersecting it, the town has every facility for moving the vast amount of grain and stock produced annually within its limits.

The first actual settlement made in the territory now embraced in Forrest Township was by Charles Jones. He came from Bordentown, N. J., and entered the land where the village of Forrest now stands in 1836, and remained thero about seven years, when he sold out his claim and improvements to James Beard and removed into Pontiac Township. After remaining in Pontiac several years, he at last removed into Belle Prairie Township. Having lost his eyesight and become almost totally blind, with the weight of fourscore years resting" upoi» him, he lives with his children, quietly waiting for his summons home. His wife died in 1841. His recollection is still good as to the early privations endured in settling in the wilderness. Mr. Jones relates an instance of going to Chicago with a load of produce, some forty years ago, and glutting the egg market there with a few barrels of eggs, and was compelled to throw away a part

John Thompson was born in the State of New York, but had lived some time in Franklin County, Ohio, from whence he came to Illinois in- 1837, and settled permanently in Forrest Township, about three miles from the present village of the same name. He remained upon his original settlement until his death, which occurred in 1849. Mr. Thompson was a soldier in the war of 1812, and participated in many of the fierce battles fought during our last struggle with John Bull. The name of his Captain was Drake, but to what regiment he belonged the surviving members of his family have forgotten. After his death, Mrs. Thompson succeeded in getting a land warrant for his services during the war of 1812, which she laid on Section 13 - the section on which they had settled when they first came to the counti-y. When the Thompsons first settled" here, prairie wolves were plenty, and their dismal howl was the usual evening carol to lull the tired laborer to his night's repose. Mrs. Wilson, a daughter of Thompson's, now living in the village of Forrest, gave us much of the information pertaining to the family, and related how, upon one occasion, Avhen her father was down at McDowell's, in Avoca Township, the wolves came around their cabin in such numbers and appeared so ravenous as to excite in the family fears of an attack from them. Their cabin had been but a short time built, and was without a door, other than a quilt hung before the opening. At this opening, the brave mother, Mrs. Thompson, stood with an axe to defend her offspring, whom she had placed on the bed, the safest place within the cabin, against these voracious wild beasts. The wolves, however, made no attack, but howled around their cabin, rendering the night hideous with their doleful music. Mr. Thompson had money when he settled here, and horses ; but the latter all died the first season with the milk sickness, except a pony, and it he traded for provisions. He sometimes had to go fourteen miles, on foot, to get cam, and carry it home on his shoulder. It was often the case that, after he had procured corn and brought it home, he would have to pound it in a kind of mortar made in the top of a stump. This substitute for meal his wife would sift, and the finest of it make into bread and the remainder cook as hominy. Mr. Thompson seems to have been a man of iron constitution, as, in those early days in the wilderness, his exposure in trying to build up a comfortable home would kill a dozen men of the present day. His wife used to tell him that he would kill himself, but he would reply that it was hard to kill an old soldier. Charles Jones settled the year previous ; and, aside from these two families, no others settled in this itoniediaie vicinity for several years. When Nathan Townsend, the first settler in Pleasant Ridge, moved to the country, he came by where Thompson lived, and Mrs. Wilson informed us that his children were almost starved. He had been on the road some time and was out of food ; the country was thinly settled and provisions almost wholly unattainable. Mrs. Thompson took them in, divided her scanty store and gave them shelter until they had somewhat recuperated and looked around for an eligible location.

Mrs. Wilson, referred to as a daughter of Thompson's, was married first to W. C. Popejoy, of Avoca, who died some years later, when she, after several years, married Nicholas Wilson. He was a native of Sweden, and came here at an early day, and for many years was known in this section as a dry goods peddler. His team ran away with him in Chatsworth, one day, by which accident he was killed.

Another of the early settlers in Forrest Township was Grin Phelps, a sonin-law of Charles Jones. He was originally from New Jersey, but had lived some time in St. Louis, before coming to this neiirhborliood. He remained in Forrest until 1847, when he sold out and removed into Belle Prairie Township, where he still resides, one of the thrifty farmers of that town. There were but few families living in what is now Forrest Township when Phelps settled in it. Jolin Thompson, he states, was living in the little grove southeast of Oliver's Grove, and a family named Brooks, living in the creek bottom, are all he remembers besides Mr. Jones, his father-in-law. The man Brooks, whom he alludes to here, is the same Charles Brooks mentioned in the early settlement of one or two other townships. It was from him that Townsend bought his claim when he settled in Pleasant Ridore.

George and Frederick Cranford were among the next settlers, and represent a kind of second era in the settlement of the town. They came from Muskingum County, Ohio, and settled here in 1853, at which time there were but a few people in the settlement, and they were squatted in the timber.

Of this latter era of settling in Forrest, Israel J. Krack occupies a prominent place. He came from Tippecanoe County, Ind., a county distinguished and hallowed, almost, in consequence of containing the battle field of Tippecanoe, where Gen. Harrison won his great battle over the Indians. Mr. Krack was present on the Tippecanoe battle ground in 1840, at the grand rally, when Harrison was a candidate for President of the United States. He says that never before or since has he seen so large a crowd of people together. There were "more than any man could number" of excited Hoosiers and natives of the surrounding hills, and the burden of their song of rejoicing was :

Tippecanoe and Tyler too. With them we can beat little Van : Oh ! Van, Van, Van is a used-up man ! The Marshals of the Day tried to form the crowd in procession, but room for the parade could not be found, and the leaders gave it up in despair- When Krack removed to Forrest, there were in that township the Thompson family (Mr. Thompson, the head of the family, had died some years before), Charles Cranford, George Williams, John Towner, Fred and James Farnsler, Samuel L. Hillery and Levi Ide. George Williams and the Farnslers were from Indiana, John Towner from New York and Ide was from Ohio. The latter is mentioned in Pleasant Ridge as dying at the house of Nathan Townsend, and as the first death in that township. Hillery bought out Orin Phelps, and settled on the claim made by Phelps, where he remained some time.

James Beard was one of the early settlers of Forrest, but of him not much information could be obtained. He bought Charles Jones' improvements, which originally consisted of but one "forty," and around this he entered enough additional land to make a half section, and this place Krack bought when he removed to the town. It was the most important place in the neighborhood, near the center of the township, and a kind of nucleus around which other settlements clustered as people came into the settlement. A law suit of huge proportions was brought by Oliver in regard to this place, in which Beard, Krack and a man named Covault were made parties, involving some technicality in the entry of it. But after dragging some time and being continued from one session of court to another, was ultimately dismissed without trial.

Among the early settlers may also be added the following persons who settled in the township up to 1860 : John Francis, John Harper, William Edwards and his sons, Charles Holmes and perhaps a few others. Francis came from Ireland, and is still living on the place of his original settlement ; Harper is dead ; Edwards was an Englishman, and moved away several years ago ; Holmes was from the old Bay State, and lives now in Chicago. S. A. Hoyt, who is further noticed in the history of the village, is a New Yorker, and came here before there was any village. A farm^, entered in that early day in what was termed the " Swamp Lands," was sold by him recently for $38 per acre, which shows what efficient drainage will do.

In these early times, the few people living here used to go to Indian Grove and Avoca to church, and not think it a very great undertaking either. A man would hitch a yoke of cattle to his wagon, or to a big sled, the family get aboard, and off they would go, on Sunday morning, ten or twenty miles to church. The first church services were held in people's residences, and in warm weather, under the trees. These were the temples of worship until the building of school houses. The church history is mostly confined to the village of Forrest, where it will be again referred to.

Byron Phelps, a son of Orin Phelps, is supposed to have been the first white child born in Forrest Township. He grew up to manhood's estate, and is meutioned in another part of this history as having filled the office of County Clerk satisfactorily. He now lives in Decatur. John James Thompson, a little son of Mr. Thompson, so often mentioned in the early history of Forrest, was the first death, and took place in 1838, the next year after Thompson came here. There were no neighbors in reach, and the family themselves had to bury the child. Mr. Thompson dug a kind of trough out of a walnut tree, in which the corpse was placed, then covered with a slab, and in this rude coffin was buried by its own family. Chas. Jones' wife died in 1841, and is noted among the early deaths of this township. She was buried in the northwest corner of what is now Judge Burton's deer park, and where she still sleeps. Orin Phelps and Miss Jones, Chas. Jones' daughter, are supposed to have been the first parties to commit matrimony in the township. Since then, there has been much " marry-

Just when the first school house was built, and who taught the first school in Forrest Township, wex-e points we could not have fully determined. Mrs. Wilson informed us that she went to school in the old Court House in Pontiac before there were any schools in Forrest, but she could not call to mind who taught the first in her own neighborhood. In 1855, the public school system adopted in Illinois, and the people of Forrest seem not to have lost a single day in organizing their schools. On the 24th day of February, 1855, we find a record of a meeting held at the residence of I. J. Krack, at which " Three School Trustees, viz., Sam'l Hillery, Chas. Crauford and James Farnsler, were elected for Town 26 north. Range 7 east." Cranford was elected President of the Board. At a meeting held April 7, 1856, John Towner was elected School Treasurer of the town, and a tax of 10 cents on tiie $100 was voted for school purposes. The township was one school district. The present School Board is J. B. Hinman, N. B. Eastman and Thomas B. Riley. The last annual report of Treasurer Bullard shows the following : No. of males in township under 21 years of age, 343 ; females, 303 ; total, 646. No. of males between 6 and 21 years, 228 ; females, 217 ; total, 445. Males at school, 188 : females, 152 ; total. 340. Estimated value of school property, $12,400 ; estimated value of school apparatus, $210 ; principal of township fund, $11,286.99 ; tax levy for support of schools, $8,523.22 ; highest wages paid any teacher, $80 ; lowest wages paid any teacher, $25 ; average wages paid male teacher, $53.92; average wages paid female teachers, $36.48 ; whole amount paid teachers, $3,384.41. There are nine school districts in the township, in each of which there is a good, comfortable frame school building. The very best of teachers are em))loyed. and the schools are in the most flourishing condition.

As stated in the history of Chatsworth, this township was a part of the former, and was called Oliver's Grove. At the September meeting of the Board of Supervisors in 1861, Forrest petitioned that body to be set off', which was granted. April 1, 1862, the following township officers were elected, viz. : John Towner, Supervisor ; Chas. Cranford, Town Clerk ; Nicholas Wilson, Collector; I, J. Krack, Assessor; John Francis and John G. Harper, Justices of the Peace ; Edward Francis and Wm. Edwards, Jr., Constables ; and Wm. Edwards, Sr., Overseer of the Poor.

Other township officers at present are : J. P. Knight and Jacob L, Spoor, Justices of the Peace ; L. Bullard, Assessor ; and J. G. Fitch, Collector.

The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad was built through Forrest in 1867, and its history here is but a repetition of that in other portions of the county as given in the chapter devoted to Indian Grove and Chatsworth Townships. An item, however, gathered in Forrest regarding this road is additional to its history as already received. We learned from good authority that the Illinois . Central constructed the line, or contributed very liberally to its construction, from El Paso to Gilman, for which they obtained a twenty-years lease of it between those points, thus making a connection between their main line and their Chicago division. From its early troubles it has grown into one of the great thorotighfares of travel and traffic through our country. The town gave no assistance, beyond the right of way, to the Chicago & Paducah Road, which crosses its southwest corner, and which was built through this section in 1872. The people would not agree to pay any interest on bonds until the road waus completed, and voted that way. This did not satisfy the Company, as they could not use bonds which bore no interest, and so changed the route to cross the T., P. & W. Road at Fairbury instead of Forrest, as was at first intended. The road has two small stations or shipping points in this township, viz. : Norman and Murphy. The former place contains a store, post office, blacksmith and wagon shop. The post office was established in 1875, with W. T. Kerr as Postmaster. F. M. Dwyer is the present Postmaster. The first store was opened by Kerr and Cording, in January, 1875. In 1877, Cording bought out his partner, since which time he has conducted the business. The blacksmith shop is kept by F. M. Dwyer, and the wagon shop by Albert Walter.

Murphy Station is known as McClary post office, and is but a shipping point a few miles north of Norman. The Postmaster at McClary is Geo. W. Ne)son, who lives on a form close by. J. F. Stratton, who keeps a small store and buys grain, attends to the business of the post office.

Forrest Township was named for Forrest Village, and Forrest Village for Forrest Township, and both for a Mr. Forrest, of New York, who was the business partner of Mr. Frost, President of the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad, when the T., P. & W. was known by that euphonious title. It was first called Forestville,* but at the special request of Mr. Frost, was changed to the name of Forrest, his

Among the more prominent citizens of Forrest we may mention Hon. A. A. Burton, Hon. Lucian Bullard and Messrs. Bronson Smith, I. J. Krack and S, A. Hoyt. Judge Burton was born in Garrard County, Ky., and graduated in Transylvania University, at Lexington, after which he studied law under Gen. Leslie Coombs, of Frankfort, and Avas appointed Criminal Judge, by Gov. Letcher, the second year after his admission to the bar. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Kentucky many years ago, and sought to have a clause ingrafted in the constitution, looking to the gradual emancipation of slaves ; and was one of the very first men in the State to publicly proclaim abolition sentiments. He was Chairman of the Kentucky delegation to the Convention at Chicago, in 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, and elector for the State at large in Kentucky during the canvass. Mr. Lincoln appointed him United States Judge of Dakotah, and a few years later, Minister to Bogota in the United States of Colombia, South America, which position he held for six years. After his return from Bogota he resumed the practice of law in Kentucky, with an office in Washington, D. C. And in 1871, from his knowledge of the Spanish language, was appointed Secretary and Interpreter of the San Domingo Commission, and furnished a full report of the proceedings of the Commission to the Government. A few years ago he removed to Illinois and settled in the township of Forrest, near the village of that name, where he died on the 13th of July of the present year. He owned about 800 acres of land in this township, and 1.300 acres in Minnesota ; the latter yielded him last year about 30,000 bushels of wheat. Judge Burton entertained the most unbounded veneration for President Lincoln, and had carefully preserved in his spacious library a rail draped in mourning, to which is

Dfcatur, III., June 1, 1860. I do hereby certify that the piece of rail this day delivered to Dr. G. W. McMillan to be by him sent to A. A. Burton, of Lancaster, Ky , is from a lot of 3,000 made by Abraham Lincoln and myself in this county, and that I have resided in this county ever since that time.

He also has a portrait of Pizarro and a piece of his battle-flag, a sketch of Simon Bolivar in Spanish, a piece of rosewood labeled "a piece of Washington's coffin," and a vast number of curious South American relics, together with a large ornithological collection from the same country. Among his pictures is one representing the Savior of the world, at 12 years of age, disputing in the Temple with the chief priests and doctors of the law, painted on wood by Vasquez, and which is over two hundred years old ; also, one of Maria Theresa, by the same artist and of the same age. Another relic, preserved by him with much care, is a silver cross, beaten out of the crude material by a converted Indian and carried to Rome to be blessed by the Holy Father. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on Judge Barton, a short time since, by Center College, of Danville, Ky., one of the proudest institutions of learning in the State. Embraced in the Judge's spacious grounds is a handsome deer park of several acres, and in which are some dozen or more deer of various sizes and species.

Hon. Lucian Bullard, the present Postmaster at Forrest, was elected to the State Legislature, in 1874, on the Republican ticket, where he faithfully served the people of his district.

Bronson Smith has served his township six years as Supervisor. His greatgrandfather settled in the old town of Milford, in the New Haven Colony, originally, but in 1773 moved to Washington, Conn. He had ten children, and when the youngest died, their combined ages were 900 years. Mr. Smith attended the centennial of his family in New England in 1873, at which were present 150 members of this Smith family, and it was known of a certainty that there were living at that time 225 members of that direct branch of the Smiths.

I. J. Krack, the present County Treasurer, has been one of the leading spirits of Forrest from the first settlement of the place. He was elected Treasurer of the county in the Fall of 1877, an office his honor and integrity eminently qualify him to fill.

Stephen A. Hoyt is another of the solid business men of Forrest. He came here before the town was laid off, and almost before there were settlements made in it. Honesty and industry have built up a large business for him, and he ranks among the heaviest grain dealers in the county. He handles lumber, also, and in the early days of the village sold lumber to this entire section. In one year, he informed us, he paid the T., P. & W. Road |10,000 for freight on lumber alone.

Forrest Township is Republican in politics - indeed, has long been one of the strongholds of that party in Livingston County. According to its popula-

The Village Of Forrest

Forrest village was surveyed and laid out by Alfred C. Huetson, County Surveyor, for I. J. Krack, the original proprietor of the place, on the 11th of December, 1866. It originally embraced parts ojt" the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter, and the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter, and parts of the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, and the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 3. He has since made two additions to it. and Bullard has made one addition, February 9, 1876. Forrest is situated on the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad, about equidistant between Fairbury and Chatsworth, and has about five hundred inhabitants. The first house was built by Mr. Krack, and he was the first Postmaster and Station Agent of the railroad. The post office was a diminutive affair then, and it is still remembered by many how Krack used to carry the entire office in his hat. Hoyt, who in those early times used to make frequent trips to the village of Eureka dear hunting, says that he would ask Krack to look over the mail, after it was thrown off the train, and give him his, and Krack would empty the mail bag on the ground, sort over the letters, hand out those belonging to him, and he would step on the train before it pulled out.

The village was organized under the incorporation act, in 1870 ; the first meeting held on the 20th of February of that year. At this meeting C. W. Wilson, J. F. Dennis, W. D. Lee, M. Clement, E. Shaw, J. Keller were elected a Board of Trustees, ani organized by electing Elias Shaw, President, and Johnson Keller, Clerk. The Board qualified before S. A. Hoyt, Justice of the Peace. The present Board is L. Bullard, President ; H. C. Twitchell, Clerk : and J. A. Coyner, J. L. Delatour, D. Duckett, S. A. Dunham, P. W. Burgess.

The first hotel in Forrest was built by William Umberfield, in 1870, and is now known as the "Forrest House," and is kept by Robert Russell, while Mr. Umberfield, the original proprietor, keeps a hotel and restaurant on the north side of the railroad. The only mill in the village or township was built by R. B. Wilson, about six or seven years ago. It is a frame building, and cost I ^1,500; has two run of buhrs, and is used mostly in grinding stock feed.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, the first church edifice in Forrest, was built in 1868. The first preacher was Rev. Myron Dewey. When he first came to the charge, Mr. Krack says, he presented a rather unministerial appearance. He was riding an old gray horse, with a blanket, and without saddle or stirrups. He rode up to his place, alighted from his horse and came into the yard, where he (Krack) was dressing a hog; informed him that he was the preacher sent by conference to that charge. Krack looking at him, replied, "Are you? " and continued at his work, thinking, as he says, that he was rather a hard-looking specimen for a preacher. But he was a good man, and labored faithfully in the church at this place. The next minister was Hiram Popejoy, of Avoca Township, who, according to his own story, was rather a hardened youngster in his youth, but being coviverted at Fairbury, finally decided that he was called to preach, and was sent to the charge at Forrest, where he remained two years. Contrary to the saying that " a prophet is without honor in his own country," he was very successful in his pastorate, and left the church in a flourishing condition. The edifice is quite an elegant affair, and cost $8,000. It was dedicated by Rev. Alexander Meharry, of Cincinnati, on its completion, and is, at present, under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Eignus. The church numbers about 150 members, and maintains a flourishing Sabbath school, with an average attendance of about seventy-five children, under the superintendency of E. R. Francis.

The Congregational Church was organized in June, 1866, with an original membership of six persons; but the church building was not erected until sometime afterward. It was dedicated June 4, 1874, by Rev. Dr. Roy, of Chicago. Rev. H. G. Pendleton, now of Chenoa, was the first Pastor, and was succeeded by Rev. W. E. Catlin, who continued in charge until 1871, when Rev. David Sherrill became the Pastor, and still remains in charge. The membership, at present, is eighty-six. The Sunday school was organized about the same time as the church society ; at present, it is attended by about ninety children, in charge of E. P. Beebe, Superintendent.

Both the Masons and Odd Fellows are represented in Forrest by flourishing lodges. Forrest Lodge, No. 614, A., F. & A. M., was chartered October 5, 1869, by H. G. Reynolds, Grand Master, and the ofiicial warrant is signed by 0. H. Miner, Grand Secretary. William D. Lee was the first Master. At present Fred. Duckett is Master and W. D. Corrie is Secretary, with forty names on the roll of membership.

Good Will Lodge No. 379, I. 0. 0. F., was instituted January 9, 1869, by J. W. Ellis, Grand Master, and Samuel Willard, Grand Secretary. The first ofiicers were J. A. Fulwiler, Noble Grand, and S. A. Hoyt, Secretary. At present James E. Riley is Noble Grand and R. M. Odell is Secretary.

The elegant village school house was erected in 1869 at a cost of $6,000 ; is a two-story frame building, and a model of architectural beauty. The full corps of teachers for the coming year are not yet selected, but, so far as chosen.

We have written of fires in Livingston County, until it has become an old song. Forrest, as many other prairie villages which have sprung up like Aladdin's castle in a night, as it were, and built almost or wholly of pine lumber, has been deluged in fire. In the early part of the Winter of 1868-69. its

About six buildings were burned, mostly business houses, and some of the largest in the village, including the East grain warehouse. The loss was estimated at between sixty and seventy thousand dollars, which was but partially covered by insurance. However, with that indomitable energy characteristic of the western people, their buildings were at once replaced, and soon all traces of the fire-fiend were completely obliterated.

Although the history of this township has quite an ancient flavor, being almost contemporary with the oldest settled neighborhoods in the county, yet we are not left in uncertainty as to the foundations of its growth, as the very first settlers within its limits are still among us. and their memories being yet unimpaired by hardships or age, we are privileged to draw from them the stories of its earliest life.

Probably no township in the county numbered, in its early days, so many men of earnest and stern purpose, or of such positive character, as did this. I They were men whose aims were not solely to make homes for themselves, without a thought for the welfare of the balance of humanity ; but it seems to have been a characteristic of them that their chief desire was to benefit others. Accordingly, we find its first settlers engaged in such enterprises as would be of mutual benefit. In morals, education and religion, this community took the lead. The first attempt at newspaper publishing was made here ; the first church building was erected in this township ; the first and only school designed for a higher course of instruction was organized in Newtown Township. This, too, was the very center for that class of philanthropists then reproached with the epithet "Abolitionist." Not only were many of the citizens members of the society, but all of their institutions, including their church and school, had the reputation of being organized and conducted in accordance with the ideas which their founders promulgated. Doubtless, most of the leading citizens were ultra on the subject, and doubtless, if tradition is to be relied on, much aid and comfort was given to the colored man, especially to such as were so fortunate as to make their way this far on their road toward freedom, and thus causing much sorrow to his former master, or his agent, the pursuer. There is but little doubt that the vicinity was well known and described to the dissatisfied slave in many localities in the South, as a station on the underground railroad, and that the name of the agent, conductor, and other officers of the institution, located at this point, were minutely given to such as desired passage.

Somewhat previous to the development of the peculiarities of the community, however, two or three persons had come into the neighborhood and located, the first of which was Erasley Pope, mentioned more at length on a former page. He was a native of North Carolina, and, as has already been hinted, was a man of much more than ordinary combativeness. This seemed to be his peculiarity, as long as his physical ability warranted him in cultivating the propensity. It is, however, notorious that he always contended for right, and was seldom adjudged second best in the result. He is still living on the old place, of which he has been a resident forty-five years.

Ewin Houchin was the second settler. He came to this part of the State in 1835. He had, however, lived in what is now Logan County, for five years previous to coming to this place. He located in the northwest part of the town, about two miles from the present site of Streator. He claims to be the only man now living who built a house or cabin in the county previous to the Fall of 1835. Mr. Houchin has been a very successful farmer, and, by industry and economy, has accumulated a large property. He says that when he came to the county, a young man of 21, he worked many a day from sunrise till suns'et for 25 cents per day, and was glad to take his pay in goods at prices that would be deemed exorbitant at the present day. He split more than 100,000 rails ; has hauled oats to Chicago for 10 cents per bushel, and pork at $1.50 per hundred, and went to mill twenty-four miles distant, waiting five days for his grist.

M. A. Newman came to the country in 1 838, and was traveling merchant for all this part of the country, and for many years was personally acquainted with every family in the county. In 1850, having frequently visited this neighborhood, he located at the place now occupied by the village of New Michigan. A settlement had been made in this vicinity, which bid fair to be a thriving community, and Newman conceived the idea of establishing here a town ; so, proceeding to Danville, he pre-empted the land, the claim of which he had already bought. On the 7th of November, of the year named, E. B. Oliver surveyed for Newman the plat of the village, from the northeast quarter of Section 22. At about the time that Newman commenced his peddling operations, several families moved to the community.

Enoch, John and Amos Lundy and their brother-in-law, Thomas Copes, came from Logan County. They proved to be first-class citizens, whose words were counted to be as good as their notes. Samuel Broomfield came from Ottawa. He was somewhat peculiar in some respects, more especially in his notions on the subject of religion. He greatly deplored the wickedness of the world, but, curious as it may seem, placed the responsibility on the Creator. He reasoned that if God created everything, He was also the author of sin. Further, that if God is omnipotent. He is not only able to control sin, but to abolish it; and that He is, therefore, directly guilty of all of the wickedness in the world. He made frequent appointments to preach his peculiar doctrine, and discoursed on the subject with much ingenuity, but Avith poor success in the way of conversions. A favorite method of presenting his faith was to arraign the Author of the Universe as a criminal before a bar of justice, and then bring witnesses to prove Him guilty. On other subjects Broomfield was sane, and transacted business with the utmost precision. Jacob Phillips came, with his father, from Ohio. The elder Phillips was a very zealous Methodist, and i^racticed the religion he professed. Jacob Phillips is still a resident, and is one of the oldest settlers in this part of the county.

From 1840 to 1850, Charles Paget, John and M. A. Smith, Charles Dixon, Zephaniah Schwartz, James Calder, Wm. Bowman, James and Malley Brown, Charles, Harvey and Samuel Thompson made their appearance. Charles Paget's advent into the township marks the beginning of that decided agitation of the Abolition movement which has not only made this town notorious, but has had great influence in molding the public sentiment of the whole county. He was perfectly fearless, and made assaults on the institution of slavery in every place and under all circumstances ; and neither threats nor bribes were sufficient to cause him to hold his peace. The ground of his agitation has now passed away, and Paget's voice is not heard advocating the cause of the downtrodden race ; but the Avork of liberation is credited to him, with others who were bold enough to speak his sentiments in that time. Mr. Paget is still a resident of the tOAvnship, and is engaged in buying and selling cattle. The Smith families are still represented in the town, though the two original settlers of that name are both dead.

Zephaniah Schwartz came here from Magnolia and lived until a dozen years ago, when he moved to Streator, and opened the hotel now known as the Streator House. James Calder came to the township nearly forty years ago, and still resides here. John Calder, father of the above, was originally from Scotland. He died recently at the advanced age of 93, and at the time of his death was the oldest Freemason, with two exceptions, in the State. His wife, to whom he had been married sixty years, still survives, at the age of 82.

The Browns, with their father, were from Magnolia. The elder Brown died years ago, but the two sons still reside in the township. Charles Harvey was a hunter and trapper, and made his home for several years in the timber, making the business of hunting his only occupation. In the time of which we write, game of all kinds was very plenty, and old settlers are wont to tell how they killed a dozen deer in a day, sometimes bringing down two or more at a single shot. Wild turkeys and prairie chickens were so plenty as to become almost an annoyance. Harvey moved further west some years ago.

Samuel Thompson lived here a few years, and then changed his residence to Reading, where he still resides. Moses Rummery still resides here. He came to this vicinity in 1853. Mr. Rummery is known as one of the old " wheel horses " of anti-slavery, and has never been known to let an occasion slip of punishing his opponents when words would tell upon them.

In 1848, George Sardinia and Xenophon Richards, their sisters and brotherin-law Russell Nelson, made the first settlement on the prairie. They were from the State of Michigan. This was the year of the completion of the Michigan and Illinois Canal, and from this time forward, for several years, a good many emigrants came from Northern Ohio and Indiana and Southern Michigan by way of the canal. The Richardses settled in the vicinity of the site of New Michigan, and named the locality after their native State. These were enterprising and progressive men. When they went so far out on the open prairie to select their location for a home, they were pitied by those who lived near the timber, and admonished that they would scarcely survive a single Winter. They also deprecated their loss of social privileges and of neighborly protection against thieves, with which the country was then infested. However, after awhile their sympathy turned to ridicule, and finally to opposition, as the prairie settlers were stirring fellows, and the " settlement on the plains " bid fair to rival the timber people. One of the first things proposed by them was to organize a school for the benefit of their own children, and the children of those who might settle near them. A few years later, a move was made by them to establish a public school at this place, which met with decided opposition, as it was believed it would injure the one already in operation in the edge of the timber. However, gradually the opposition wore away and this neighborhood became popular to such an extent that it was proposed to lay off" a town at the place. This, as before intimated, was done by Martin A. Newman. As soon as the town had been platted and it had become known that a trading point was to be established here, settlements in the vicinity were frequent. By this time it had been ascertained that the land was of a better quality than that in the immediate vicinity of the river. Coal was beginning to be mined also, which made the prairie people more independent in regard to fuel. Then, too, the canal was completed, and lumber could be had at Ottawa, instead of the necessity of going to Chicago for it. M. A. Newman started a little store in the new village ; other parties opened blacksmith shop, shoemaker shop and other branches of business, and soon New Michigan was the most thriving village in the county. The town also drew about it men of education, intelligence and piety, and churches were soon organized and houses of worship erected. In 1854, the Great Air Line Railroad, which proved to be all that its title suggested, was projected, and thus a further impetus was given to the prosperity of the village and township. Before the date last mentioned, a large number of families had made their appearance in all parts of the township, among which are remembered Otis Whaley, son-in-law of Moses Rummery. C G. Cusick, Otho and son Otho F. Pearre, Horace H. Hinman, Flavius Manley, Alexander Savage, James and Thomas Gibson, Eben Norton, Charles Decker, George, James and William Applegate and Joshua and son David Mcintosh. Whaley and Hinman were both of the Abolition school, not only as pupils but as teachers ; and they never let a picnic or meeting of any kind pass but that a good word was said for the negro. Hinman was a man of education, as well as of ideas, and enforced his doctrine in such a manner as to almost overcome opposition.

Otho Pearre was a man of intelligence, and was highly respected by the citizens of the town. Joshua Mcintosh was a local Methodist preacher - a man of much native talent and an impressive talker. David Mcintosh is one of the best business men in the county; has been School Treasurer of the township' nearly twenty years ; and as Representative in the Legislature from this district, made a record which does honor to himself and his constituents.

In 1856, there existed no doubt in the minds of the inhabitants of New Michigan and vicinity, that this would be a town of more than ordinary importance. The Air Line Railroad had been surveyed through the township, and reports were current that English and American capitalists were interesting themselves, with a view to making this a national east and west railroad. It is not surprising, then, with this prospect in view, and with the intelligence and culture of the community, that a move should be made to establish in their midst an institution of learning of a higher grade than that afforded by the common schools. Accordingly the Livingston Academy was founded. The projectors and proprietors of the scheme were Washington Houston, William Strawn, Otis Whaley, C. P. Paget, Eben Norton, C. G. Cusick and Moses Rummery. With such men as these as organizers, the project was sure of accomplishment; and a building and a corps of teachers were s6on on the ground. Thefirstyear, E. B. Neville was put in charge of the institution. Though the proprietors and many of the citizens were enthusiastic in regard to the enterprise, they doubtless left out of account a few necessary elements of success, among which was the necessary growth of the town, which was dependent on the completion of the railroad, and from which was to come, in a great measure, the support of the academy. The school was kept up one year; and then, for two years, the building was idle. In the Fall of 1859, 0. F. Pearre was employed, and took charge of the school for three years. During his administration, through a good deal of hard work, the school was quite prosperous. However, at the end of the period named, Mr. Pearre accepted the position of Principal of the Dwight school ; and then the academy drooped, and finally died. The building of other railroads - the Illinois Central and the Chicago k Alton - attracted the attention of merchants, mechanics and tradesmen to other points, and in a few years New Michigan, with its institutions, lost rank. It continued to be a local trading point, until within a few years, when it was overshadowed by Streator; and later, when the Chicago & Paducah Raih'oad was completed, and a station established within a short distance, the place, as a business point, was entirely abandoned. One of the churches was moved away, all of the stores were closed, the post office was abolished, and the academy having been a few years before consumed by fire, nothing remains but a few dwelling houses, as a monument of blasted hopes.

The first church building erected in Livingston County was the one known as the " Old Bethel," of this township. Although a very modest looking aflair, asit now stands, weather-beaten and decaying, it outranks all its present contemporaries, in the one thing that makes it interesting in antiquity. It does not look as though it could have cost more than $300 at first ; and probably it did not. It was sold some years ago, by its original owners, for half the amount named. It is thirty feet wide, by forty in length, and the ceiling is only eight feet in height. It is built mostly of hard-wood lumber, weather-boarding and all. As much of the lumber as could be obtained in the neighborhood was used in its construction; the balance, such as shingles, window-sash and a small amount of pine boards, were brought from Ottawa. Amos Lundy, Ewin Houchin and Henry Lundy were some of the principal originators of the enterprise. Amos Hart, once Sheriff of Livingston County, and Orlando- Chubbuck, now a lawyer of Streator, have immortalized themselves in connection with this house, as its architects and builders. The building was completed in 1848, and stood for nearly nine years - the only house of the kind in the county. The old church now belongs to the United Brethren society, but is not at present used for any purpose.

The first attempt at newspaper publishing was made here in 1853. Thomas Cotton, who has been mentioned in several other townships as a preacher of the Methodist denomination, was the projector of the scheme. The name of the publication was the Vermilion Herald. He obtained quite a number of subscribers and issued the first number. It is said to have been quite a sprightly little paper, and great hopes were entertained that it would be successful ; but after careful calculation of expenses and profits, its proprietor concluded that it would break him up, and he did not issue a second number. He had obtained a good many cash subscribers, and on all of these he called and tendered the price they had advanced for the paper. About three years later, the first copy of the Livingston County News, published at Pontiac, made its appearance.

One of the most sad and mournful accidents that have occurred in the county, happened here September 13, 1877. Three young men, Clark Cusick, Isaac Rummery and James Scovell, undertook the job of cleaning out an old well, on the farm of C. G. Cusick, formerly owned by Otho Pearre. The well was about thirty-five feet deep. Rummery was let down by means of a rope, and when within ten feet of the bottom, he let go of the rope and fell. Perceiving that an accident had occurred to their companion, Cusick hastened down to his relief, but had not been let down more than fifteen feet, when he also fell. Then young Scovell, who was a grandson of C. G. Cusick, was let down ; but he fell before he had proceeded ten feet. Assistance was obtained as soon as possible, and some old well-diggers coming upon the spot pronounced the well infected with "damps," or carbonic acid gas. Burning straw being thrown into the well, and instantly being extinguished, proved their theory correct, and that the persons at the bottom were dead. Grappling irons were then brought into requisition, and three hours after the bodies had all been brought to the surface. The names of the parties will be recognized as descendants of some of the first settlers, and most esteemed citizens of the township. The accident cast a deep gloom over the whole community.

The township of Newtown was organized April 6, 1858, by the election of Supervisor and other officers. This part of the county had, prior to this time, been set off as a voting precinct, with Judges of Election, Justice of the Peace and Constable, and was called the " New Michigan Precinct." Charles Decker, whose name will be recognized as one of the old settlers, had served in the capacity of Justice of the Peace from the establishing of the precinct in 1854. until the organization of the town in 1858. The first Supervisor was Eben Norton, who is the only man serving on the Board at the present time who was a member at the first meeting. Since 1858, the Supervisors in succession have been as follows : Eben Norton, C. H. Hart, Otho Pearre, David Mcintosh, Chester Manley, Jacob Phillips, David Hoobler, Z. E,. Jones and Stephen Hinds. The following is a complete list of the township officers as returned for 1878 : Stephen Hinds, Supervisor ; William A. Phillips, Clerk ; John S. Paget, Collector ; David Mcintosh, Treasurer of Schools : John Forsythe, Assessor ; Z. R. Jones and E. Sheibley, Justices of the Peace ; F. M. Davis and A. J. Fulwiler, Constables, and Jacob Phillips, James Mortlan and Z. R. Jones, Road Commissioners.

In 1855, when the present system of schools was adopted (which indeed was the first public school system adopted in the State), Newtown Township ha(|| more schools within its limits than any other in - the county. More attention was given to education in this locality than in any locality within forty miles. Though one township reports eight more children than this, Newtown had twice as many schools, and 171 scholars in the schools against 110 in any other.

A few items extracted from the report of John Hoobler, first School Treasurer^ will doubtless be interesting. In many particulars, as compared with other townships at that date, they will be found much higher.

In the selection of teachers, this township has almost always been very fortunate. Some of the best schools in the county have been taught here, and many of the best teachers have been educated in these schools.

As might be expected from the sentiments which had prevailed in this township for many years prior to the war which liberated 4,000,000 of slaves, many of the young men shouldered their muskets and marched to the scene of action, thus proving by their acts their belief in the doctrines taught them by their fathers. Some never returned alive. The names of a few are given as remembered : Henry F. Houston was killed at Gallatin, Tenn. ; John Benrick was killed by accident in Tennessee; Wm. R. Houchin was killed at Bowling Green, Ky. ; Franklin Hoobler was accidentally killed at Buck's Lodge, Tenn. Some others, whose names we could not get, died either of wounds or of army diseases, some in hospital and some living till they had reached home, dying among their friends and kindred.

Newtown Township consists of a little less than a full Congressional town, the west line of the township being Vermilion River, which cuts off all of Sections 30 and 31 and parts of 7, 18 and 19 of Township 30 north. Range 4 east of the Third Principal Meridian, and throwing this territory into Reading Township. The river, however, flows through the northeast corner of Section 30, Range 3, and these add about two sections of that town to Newtown, thus making the township consist of. about thirty -four full sections. In the general appearancet of its surface it much resembles Sunbury, which lies on the east, being somewha %olling. About one-sixth of the land is covered by the timber of the Vermilion and Mud Creek. These streams of water, together with some small tributaries, furnish stock water to almost all of the farms in the western and southern parts. Coal is believed to underlie the whole township. Considerable mining has already been done in the west part, along the river, where the coal crops out.

At Vermilion City, where the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern Railroad crosses the Vermilion River, the Vermilion Coal Company have sunk shafts from which immense quantities of the article are taken. The Western Division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad crosses the township from east to west, giving the township a direct outlet to Chicago by way of Dwight. The Chicago, Pekin k Southwestern Railroad traverses a small portion of the northwestern corner, and the Chicago & Paducah passes through the town from northwest to southeast.

The stations on the several roads in this township are Smithdale. on the Chicago & Alton ; Collins, on the Chicago & Paducah ; and Vermilion City, on the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern.

Village Of Collins Or Newtown

The Chicago & Paducah Railroad having been completed through this part of the county in 1871, and a switch being laid at this place, steps were immediately taken to found a town. On the 7th of August, in the year mentioned, M. E. Collins, who had been actively engaged in procuring the location of the road, caused to be laid out, from the southeast quarter of Section 21, the plat since known as Collins. A few weeks later, October 18th, Jacob Kuns and David Hoobler laid out a second plat of eleven acres, from the same section, naming it Newtown. While the post-office, established here soon after, has always retained the name of Collins, the village has generally been known by the other name.

The first house in the limits of the village was a dwelling, brought by M. A. Newman from his farm. Chester Manley built the first dwelling in the town ; and M. E. Collins erected the first store building. David Hoobler and David Gouty moved a store room from New Michigan the same Fall. Soon after, J. & W. Hossack, of Odell, erected a small warehouse, built cribs and commenced buying grain. By the Winter of 1871-2, business was quite well established, and thus bid fair to be a town of considerable importance. Since that time, the village has continued to improve slowly, so that at present there are some twenty families in the place.

In the Fall of 1874, the Methodist Episcopal Church of New Michigan, following the example of other buildings, moved to the station. No school house has yet been erected, but one is contemplated, and will doubtless be built soon, as the wants of the town demand such accommodations.

Vermilion City

This is simply a settlement made by the miners about the Vermilion Coal Oo.'s works, on the Chicago, Pekin & Southwestern Railroad, at the crossing of the Vermilion River, a mile southwest of Streator. A plat of the place was made by A. C. Huetson, for J. M. Walker, President, and A. T. Hall, Secretary, of the Chicago, Wilmington k Vermilion Coal Company. The plat consists of fifty-one acres, from Section 2, Township 30, Range 3. In the record of the plat, the right of mining all coal beneath the land is reserved. The town consists of forty or fifty miners and other employes of the Company, a fcAv of whom have families.

This is only a station on the western extension of the Chicago & Alton Railroad. Wm. Shepard laid out a town here in 1870. The plat consists of thirty-two acres, from Section 8, but has never been improved, and the stationhouse is all that exists to indicate the presence of a town.

It is Dot only interesting and instructive to look over a map of the country as it was in the olden time, but, in a sense, quite amusing. If we compare a map of the eastern coast of the United States, as published by the authority of the British government in the year 1700, with the more modern publications of like character, we shall find features so different in the two as would not only be surprising to people ignorant of the history of the country subsequent to that date, but which would cause no little astonishment in the minds of the well informed. Look at a map of the Northwest during a period just prior to 1765, and you will find it marked as " French Territory." Then this same territory^ from the date named until 1778, is delineated as a "British Province." After this, from 1778 until 1787, what is now the State of Illinois appears a part of Virginia. After this, for thirteen years, with a vast amount of other country, it was called the "Northwest Territory." [n 1800, when our grandfathers were going to school, they were taught to call the whole of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan by the name of " Indiana Territory," and by this title it was known until 1809, when the map makers again had to change, and Illinois and Wisconsin were called the " Illinois Territory." In 1818, when our fathers began to study geography, the atlases in which grandfather and grandmother studied would no longer answer the purpose, for Illinois had then become a State, with boundaries co-extensive with what we now find them.

The changes which have come to the geographical features of the State since its admission into the Union are equally noticeable. The original number of counties was only fifteen. These have been divided and changed so that we now have 102, each change being a source of grief to the map publishers.

The original number of voting precincts in Livingston were only Center, Indian Grove and Bayou ; but these were divided as the county settled up, until 1858, when there were nine. In the year named, twenty townships were organized out of these, and since then ten more have been struck off, making at present thirty separate organizations.

The township of Esmen, like many others of the county, has worried the map makers. In 1835. there was nothing except the creeks, the little strips of timber on their banks, and a sea of grass ; but since then, changes have been so frequent and marked that, almost before a chart of the township was ofi" the press, a new one was required.

The first permanent settlement made in this township was by John Chews, from Ohio, in the year 1835. However, some young men, whose names are not remembered, came into the neighborhood a year or two before, and built a cabin, planted a little corn, and did a good deal of hunting and fishing, but had left the country before Chews came. At this time, all the country between Mud Creek (where Chews settled) and Pontiac, and for forty miles to the east, was an open plain. At Pontiac were two or three cabins, occupied by the Youngs and Weed, who eventually laid out the county seat and became the proprietors of the town. There were yet no stores at Pontiac, or any other kind of business carried on either there or at any other point in the county ; and Mud Creek, from all appearances, seemed as likely to become the metropolis of the county as any other location. The county had not been vet laid out. but was included in other county limits. The canal from Chicago to La Salle had not yet been built, though it had been talked of; and so the nearest market was Chicago. The early settler, however, cared but little for markets or shops. His gun and his hoe supplied him with all the real necessaries of life, including clothing ; and as for luxuries, he had left them behind when he set his face toward the then far West.

Chews lived, like all pioneers, both a hard and an easy life - hard as taking into account the many comforts and advantages which abounded in the < ountry from which he had come, and easy as regards the amount of actual labor performed to eke out a living. He remained in the township until about 1860, the date of his death.

The next settler was Wm. K. Brown. He was a mail contractor, and carried the bags from Ottawa to Pontiac and Indian Grove. He located in the northwestern part of the township, and made this his stopping place, and soon after obtained an order for establishing the Sunbury post-office at his house. Though in Esmen Township, it was north of the Creek, and was at first called by the name which the adjoining township now bears. What few mails were then brought to this part of the country, were, of course, brought on horseback ; and, though postage was three to five times what it is now, and mails were carried for a very small salary, the postal service was not, in this part of the country, self-sustaining. The post-boy, with his fleet horse and shrill horn to apprise the community of his approach, has become almost legendary, his place having been usurped by the steam horse and his fiery driver.

James Funk and William Ross settled in the grove, in the southern part of the town, now known as Babcock's Grove. They had been in the township a few years, when, in 1848, B. P. Babcock came from New York and bought them both out. They each owned an eighty of the grove, and, thinking to better their condition, sold their claims and removed to other parts.

"Judge" Babcock, as he is more familiarly known, came from Utica, in the year last named, and, being highly pleased with the appearance and location of ,the little grove, which has since borne his name, concluded to make this his ihome. Funk and Ross had each built a little log cabin, near where the Judge's jresidence now stands, and into one of these he moved and resided until he could 'erect a better house. Even at the time he came to the country it was but Ithinly settled, and neighbors were few and far between. He relates that, while Tfioving his goods from Chicago to his future home, and when within twenty-one miles of the Grove, he came upon a cabin, on the Mazon Creek, which proved to be the abode of one Salt Marsh. Babcock stopped here to water the horses, and while thus engaged the proprietor of the domicile came out and conversed with different parties of the moving company. Just as the Judge was about to move on, the resident of Mazon said to him : " Stranger, are you not the man who lately bought the grove just this side of Pontiac ? " and, on being informed that he was right in his suspicions, he continued : " Well, now, as it is late in the day, and you are to be neighbors, I would like to have you unhitch your horses and stay with me over night, so that we may become acquainted." This further illustrates the very cordial and friendly feeling that existed in those times* The stranger was perfectly welcome, and all seemed glad to contribute to each other's comfort and welfare. The petty jealousies which exist in older-settled communities were unknoAvn.

Mr. Babcock has proved to be one of the most valuable and respected citizens of the county, and in its early days was one of its most popular and influential politicians. He was the first County Judge, and under the administration of himself and his two associates, Eli Myer and John Darnall, the first brick Court House was built. They also built the bridge across the Vermilion, at about the same time. He relates that, while the bridge enterprise was under consideration, he was authorized to go to Chicago and contract with Messrs. Stone & Boomer to build the same. The trip to the city was taken on horseback, and a very favorable contract was obtained. On the assembling of the court, at the next session, the Judge presented his bill for expenses attending his journey to Chicago, among the items of which was one day's board at the hotel, $1.50. Judge Myer, after examining the bill carefully, remarked that he thougTit " the bill was in every respect proper, and ought to be paid ; but that he thought he might have saved something by stopping at a cheaper hotel."