Livingston County, Illinois - The whole text, 1878 (part 8 of 25)

There is belonging to the institution, in land, 280 acres, which is worked by the inmates. A system of thorough drainage has been commenced, and $5,000 have been spent for the purpose, including 3,000 feet of sewer from the main building.

The buildings alone are valued at $110,000. Over 6,000 shade and fruit trees have been planted. The inmates have a large play ground of several acres, including an excellent base ball ground.

An additional building, called a Family Building, has recently been erected, where about thirty of the better class of boys will reside apart from the others. good is expected from this classification by the managers.

The school was opened for the reception of boys, in June, 1871, ami to this date there have been 756 admitted. There are at this time in the school 194.

Between seventy and eighty are employed making shoes in the fictory connected with the institution. Nearly 300 pairs are turned out daily. The contractors, Messrs. Tead & Son, pay eighteen cents per day (of six hours each) for the services of each boy employpd.

About sixty of the smaller boys are engaged in caning chairs for the Bloomington Furniture Manufacturing Company. This branch is not profitable, but keeps the boys busy, and teaches them habits of industry.

All clothing worn in the institution is manufactured by the inmates. Besides these duties of six hours' labor each day, all attend school four hours. All of the common branches are taught, and several of the boys have taken Latin and Greek lessons. The course of instruction is very thorough, the school being well graded, and competent teachers employed. The libiary consists of 1,500 volumes, and many of the boys spend all of their spare time in reading. Over twenty magazines and papers are taken for the inmates, and all are read eagerly.

A large number of those committed, on entering the institution, can neither read nor write, but, when discharged, many of them are fair scholars, and have obtained and are holding responsible positions.

The Board of Trustees, at present, consists of Obadiah Iluse, Evanstou, Illinois ; Solon Kendall, Geneseo ; and J. F. Culver (resident Trustee), Pontiac, Illinois ; Dr. J. D. Scouller, Superintendent.

Pontiac lias been honored above any other town in the county, by the number of persons selected from among her citizens for positions of honor, trust and profit.

William T. Russell, who was the first Supervisor of the township, was also the first Sheriff after the "- Act far Township Organization " had been adopted. For a number of years, after his term of office had expired, he was a resident of the city. He is now engaged in farming.

S. S. Saul was from Pennsylvania, and came to Pontiac to teach school in 1854 or '55. He was elected to the office of County Clerk in 1857, and held, the position until 1861.

Through the instrumentality of Saul, J. F. Culver removed to this place in 1859. Previous to his coming, he had been employed by the County Clerk to assist in the office. After the expiration of the term of office, Mr. Culver wa& elected Justice of the Peace, which office he resigned in 1862, to enlist in the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment. He was elected Captain of Co. A, and served through the var. On his return, he was elected to the office of County Judge. He still resides in Pontiac, and is engaged in banking and real estate business. Mr. Culver has probably done more work, physically, religiously and politically, for his age, than any other man in the county, having held almost every office of honor and trust in the gift of the people.

John W. Smith came from Ohio, and engaged in teaching in this town in 1859. In 1861, he was elected to the position of County Superintendent of Schools. In the discharge of the duties of the office, he was one of the most active and faithful servants the county has ever had. He too, resigned his office to take part in putting doAvn the rebellion, and received a wound, from, which a man with less pluck would have died. He, however, lives, and is engaged in the drug and book trade in this city.

E. R. Maples is a synonym for " good fellow." He was one of the most irenial, warm-hearted men that Pontiac ever knew. He held the office of Sheriff from 1860 to 1862. He died about a year ago: his residence prior to his <',orainc!; to Pontiac was Chicago.

Time and space will allow cmly the mere mention of others, of whom we can only stop to say, they have fdled their places in a manner that has given the county no cause to regret their elevation to their several places of trust.

J. W. Strevelle, member of Legislature, two terms ; L. E. Payson and Jonathan Duff", each County Judge, one term ; J. E. Morrow, John A. Fellows and William H. Jenkins, each Circuit Clerk, one term ; C. C. Strawn and William T. Ament, each State's Attorney, a term ; 0. F. Pearre one, and H. H. Hill, County Superintendent of Schools, two terms ; James H. Gaff", Sheriff", one term ; M. E. Collins one, and William B. Fyfe, Treasurer, two terms.

The first coal Avas raised at Pontiac January 12, 1866 ; the first lump taken from the shaft being now in the possession of Jacob Streamer, with that date attached. The shaft was sunk on contract for the Directors of the company, by Isaac Custer. This work, with the buildings, cost the company $10,000. The shaft was sunk to the depth of 253 feet, but a vein at 175 feet is the only one worked to advantage. The charter members of the company were: S. C. Crane. President ; J. Duff", John Dehuer and Thomas Wing, Directors. The enterprise has not, on the whole, been very successful. Over |100,000 has been spent, and owing to fires and other misfortunes, it has scarcely in its history been on a paying basis. In February of 1871, the shaft and all of itsinterests were sold to Messrs. Franz, Campbell & Bullock, of Woodford County, for $45,000. It is now under control of W. H. Levers, who has operated it for several years past. Statistics in regard to its present workings are not obtainable, and are necessarily omitted.

The Chicago & Paducah Railroad, at first called the Fairbury, Pontiac k Northwestern Railroad, was built through this part of the county in 1871. The city of Pontiac and township took a lively interest in procuring its location through this part of the county, and voted the company a donation of $50,000 to eff"ect the purpose. While some may doubt whether the interests of the city have been enhanced by the location of a second railroad at this point, it will hardly be disputed that the farming community has been greatly benefited. Much has been saved in the way of freights, as by means of this line, competition has produced lower rates than otherwise would have prevailed. Small towns have sprung up along the line, and, while they have taken some trade from Pontiac, they have proved to be a great convenience to the sections in the midst of which they have been located.

As an indication of the amount of business done in this city, no page could be written that would give the reader as good an idea as the follow-

Chicago & Alton Railroad Chicago & Paduc.4H Railroad

One of the results of the late war was to bring to the North a class of people previously but little seen north of the Ohio River, and, in Pontiac, almost a curiosity. Soon after the proclamation by the President which struck the bonds from several millions of these people, they made haste to profit by that act. The North had been almost drained of its laborers who had gone to accomplish indirectly this very result. Peculiarly so was this the situation in this vicinity in the year 1864. Harvest was coming on. It was great, and "the laborers were few." A few of the leading farmers in this vicinity sent a committee to Cairo, where a number of these emancipated people had gathered, and induced them to come to Pontiac. Quite a large number of families came, and were quartered for a year or two on the farms of their employers. Gradually they have concentrated in the city, until, with the additions made by subsequent immigration, nearly three hundred have found homes in Pontiac. Though their educational and moral progress has not been so rapid as was hoped by their friends, yet, taking their poverty and their former condition into account, it must be admitted that their condition is quite satisfactory. Many of them have built and furnished little homes for themselves ; their children attend school ; and, as for piety, they certainly excel.

The Village Of Richmond

The reader will not be troubled to wade through statistics, as to this item, as the only thing to record is its history, and that of an ancient nature. Still, it is history, and not fiction, that we write ; for, though the reader may never have heard of it, the town of Richmond did exist. Not only so, but it was the rival of Pontiac, and but for a very small circumstance would doubtless have been by to-day the most flourishing city in the county. Richmond was located two miles east of Pontiac. It was regularly laid out and platted, by Franklin Oliver, County Surveyor, for Henry Jones and Henry Loveless, June 23, 1851. Rumors of a railroad through this section were afloat; and that being a nice location for a town, and that point in the river being a good one for a railroad iTossing, it was not doubted by its friends that this would be the favored point.

Stores and shops and a school house soon sprang into existence ; lots were disposed of for good prices : dwellings were built, and everything indicated a rising town. But alas for human hopes and desires ! The road lacked just two miles of passing through the historic village, and its bright anticipations burst like a bubble and vanished almost as quickly. Some of the buildings were moved to Pontiac, some did service afterward as stables and granaries, and the only monument that now exis<-s of the once sprightly little village is an open space just south of Philip Rollings' house.

The magnificent body of timber called Indian Grove^ from which this town takes its name, and which extends from Belle Prairie into Avoca Township, is one of the earliest settled portions of Livingston County. Indeed, the very first Settlement made in the county was at the head of tliis grove, as noted in the history of Belle Prairie Township, and, a few months later, white men were found in that portion of the timber lying in Avoca ; while not until the Fall of 1831 was there a settlement made in what is now Indian Grove Township.

The first to locate in this immediate vicinity was Joseph Moore. He came from Overton County, Tenn., and arrived here in the Fall of 1831, as already stated above. Ilis journey to the new country was not accomplished with all the ease and pleasure that would attend a similar one at the present day. When we reflect upon the improvements made in the mode of transit in the last forty or fifty years, we look back to the period of the early settlement of this section of the country with a kind of pity for what the pioneers had to undergo in making it what it now is. This man came through from Tennessee on horseback, or rather his Avife came on horseback and carried their only child, an infant, in her lap, while he trudged along on foot. He staked out a claim in the timber bordering Indian Creek, on which he permanently settled. He lived an honored and respected citizen of the neighborhood, and died in October, 1851.

A. B. Philips, commonly known as Barney Philips, settled here the next Spring. He, also, was from Tennessee, and an old neighbor of Moore's in the "land of cotton" before removing to the West. Mr. Philips is still living, a thrifty farmer, in the vicinity of where he settled forty-seven years ago. A son of his is mentioned in the general history as the first white child born in Livingston County. Judge McDowell relates the first meeting with his father's family, of Philips, which is referred to in the history of Avoca Township, as showing the quiet manner in which the people lived in those early days, and the interest a new comer in the neighborhood excited. Pliilips, who was hunting some hogs that had strayed away from his place, came unexpectedly on the McDowell Camp, and seemed speechless from wonder in finding white people 80 near, while, from his backwoods dress, the McDowells did not, at first, know whether he was a white man or Indian ; but soon learned, however, and a pleasant acquaintance was formed, which proved of mutual satisfaction.

Rev. John Darnall, a brother of Martin Darnall, the first settler of Belle Prairie, came to Indian Grove soon after Barney Phillips, and in the same Spring. The first preacher in the new settlement, and a man of a good deal of native intelligence, he was a kind of leader in all religious, social and political affairs.

Malachi Spence and his son, James Spence, and Richard Moore settled here a year or two after those already mentioned. The latter was from Overton County, Tenn., and the Spences and Darnalls from Kentucky. Mrs. Glenn Phillips, a widow lady, came from the same neighborhood in Tennessee, and about the same time that Richard Moore and the Spences came to the settlement.

This comprised the first batch of settlers in what is now Indian Grove Township ; and some of them are still living on their original homesteads, while those who have died or removed to other States have left honored representatives behind them. Rev. John Darnall sold out some years ago and removed to Oregon. Malachi Spence is dead, but a son lives at the old home. Mrs. Phillips is also dead. Richard Moore and Barney Phillips are still living in the township.

In 1834, another delegation of Tennesseeans came out and settled in Indian Grove, viz.: Francis J. Moore, Jonathan, a brother; Lewis Moore, a cousin, and David Travis, who was quite an old man at the time. These came together, and were from the place before noted - Overton County, Tennessee. Several other families came with them, but settled in what is now Belle Prairie Township, where their history is given. Francis J. Moore first settled on the west side of the grove, but in a year or two " swapped " claims with a neighbor, and moved over on the east side, about five miles from the present village of Fairbury. He is still living, an active man for his time of life and the rough scenes through which he passed in the early days of the country. David Travis, not liking the outlook of frontier life, after a year or two, returned to Tennessee, where the remainder of his life was spent. Lewis Moore followed him in a few years; Jonathan Moore died in 184L

This section of the country, at the period of which we write, was embraced in McLean County, and the land was not yet in market when these settlements were made. Mr. Moore says it was the custom to blaze out a claim and squat wherever one was suited, provided no one else had a previous claim ; then it was not always pleasant or healthy to intrude. For many years, all new comers settled in and around the timber, without the remotest idea that the prairies would ever amount to a " pinch of snufi"' for anything but pasturage. And to talk with the old settlers now, who came to the country forty or fifty years ago, nothing in the way of its development seems to surprise them so much as the settling up of the prairie land ; that where, at the period of their first acquaintance with the country, grew the rank grass and weeds, and wild flowers, sliould now be the most productive and flourishing farms, is a point that puzzles them to the present day.

A few years later, probably about 1835-6, a man named Donohoo, and two sons, Wilson Y. and Jefferson Donohoo, settled in this neighborhood. The old gentleman and Wilson Y. are dead, but Jefferson is still living on the old homestead. Rev. Robert Smith, a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher, settled in the township about the same time. He was originally from Kentucky, but came from Sangamon County to this place. This includes all the settlers in Indian Grove Township, until the virtues of the prairies were discovered and the people began to settle away out from the timber, on the great plains.

When the first white people settled here, they had to go some distance to mill - to Green's mill, on Fox River, near Ottawa, and on Crow Creek, below Peoria. To the latter mill Mr. Moore informed us that he made his first mill trip, and was gone a week. The distance was sixty miles, and was the best -chance for grinding in their reach, until a mill was built on the Kankakee River, at Wilmington, which was about as far away as the one on Crow Creek. It was sometimes about as hard for the new comer to find grain as to get it ground after he had got it, for no one had been in the country long enough to have an over-supply. There was no mill in this township until the erection of one in the village of Fairbury, except a little horse-mill built by one Smith, about the year 1840.

For many years, Bloomington was the post office, and, at the time of the first settlements in this section, contained but one little store, which was kept in a small log house, and in it also was kept the post office. The postage on letters was twenty -five cents, a sum not always at the command of the fortunate one to get a letter; and as a consequence, their mail would sometimes have to lie in the office a considerable length of time before the much-wished-for twenty-five cents could be procured.

The first road through Indian Grove Township was the State Road leading from the east line of the State to Peoria, but has been obsolete for many years. In those early times, the settlers hauled wheat to Chicago, and congratulated themselves highly if they were so fortunate as to get fifty cents a bushel for it. Chicago proper was not. The city had not yet risen from the bogs and marshes of Lake Michigan, and the great grain market there was not what it is to-day. Several farmers would join in a company, and, with their wagons loaded with wheat, drive through to Chicago, camping out at night, as their load of wheat would hardly have justified the paying of a tavern bill. Times, since then, have changed.

The first birth in this township was that of John R. Phillips, a son of Barney Phillips, and occurred May 9, 1832. He is mentioned in another page as the first white child born in Livingston County, and received a touching tribute from the fact of having died in the army during the late war. The first wed- ding solemnized was that of John Darnall and Keziah Spence. They were married by 'Squire John Thompson, of Mackinaw, in the early part of 1832. Esther Spence died in 1832, and was buried in the little graveyard situated on the line between Indian Grove and Belle Prairie Township, near where Martin Darnell originally settled. This was the first death in the Indian Grove settlement, and perhaps the first in the county. Her coffin was made of walnut slabs split out of the tree, hewed down and then dressed smooth. The first Justice of the Peace was Rev. John Darnall, who, in addition to being a preacher, was a Justice of the Peace, Postmaster, and a man of considerable importance in the neighborhood. He was the first Postmaster, and was commissioned some years after the post office had been established in Avoca Township. His appointment came about in this wise : As the country settled up, the people of the neighborhood concluded they must have a post office, and accordingly petitioned for one. The name of Robert Smith was mentioned in the petition for Postmaster, but as he was the only Whig in the settlement, and Long John Wentworth, of Chicago, then a strong Democrat,* and Representative of this District in Congress (and this, it is said, was about the center of his district), thought it would not do to have a Whig Postmaster, and so, without leave or license, had John Darnall appointed instead of Smith.

It is not positively known who the first doctor was to practice medicine in this township. Some are of opinion that Dr. John Davis, mentioned elsewhere as the first physician in the county, used to extend his professional visits to this section, while others think that Dr. Ostrander, an old physician of Avoca, who, in the early times, practiced all over the eastern part of the county, was the first regular physician. It is altogether probable that the latter supposition is correct, for at that period there were very few families living in Indian Grove timber but had had occasion for Dr. Ostrander's services. It is told of him that a patron objected, one day, to the amount of his bill, when the Doctor informed him, very confidentially, that if he knew the cost of the medicine he had used in his case, he would not be surprised at his bill being so large. Upon his patron's expressing some curiosity, the Doctor told him that the medicine he had used cost $2,700 an ounce ; that it required the services of ten men four months to gather one ounce, and that nine out of the ten lost their lives while at it.

The sound of the Gospel Avas heard in Indian Grove Township almost as soon as the pioneer's axe. Rev. John Darnall was a Baptist preacher, and the first to proclaim the word of God in the new settlement. Rev. Robert Smith, a Cumberland Presbyterian, was the next preacher. He made an effort, soon after he came to the settlement, to establish a Sabbath school, but was opposed by Rev. Darnall, who took ground against it, denouncing the measure as a kind of speculation, and drew a ludicrous illustration from the story of the Good Samaritan ; though just where the analogy came in, no one was able to discern.

*Some of his old Democratic friends here have lost faith in him since he has turned Republican, and don't swear by him as they did twenty-five or thii-ty years ago.

Mr. Darnall seems to have been quite a remarkable man, and possessed a vei^ independent way of his own. It is related of him that he was preaching one day to a large congregation, and had occasion to quote a passage from St. Paul, after which he emphatically remarked : " But I do not agree with Mr. St. Paul." And upon another occasion, he made a lengthy quotation from the man of Tarsus, when, in a spirit of the most unbounded liberality, he observed : " And I partially agree with St. Paul." The only churches in the township, outside of Fairbury, are the Union Church, in the southern part, and the Ormish Church, in the southeastern corner. Of the latter, we have been unable to obtain any definite information. The Union Church was built in 1857, and is occupied principally by Baptists and Christians, who have their regular days, and both have established societies. As long as he lived in the country. Rev. John Darnall was the leading light of the Baptists, Avhile the Rev. David Sharpless was long a leader among the Christians. Rev. John Miller organized the first society of Christians about the year 1858, and soon after the completion of the church. Rev. Dr. Green preaches for the Christians at present, and Rev. Mr. Thompson, of Ottawa, for the Baptists.

The first school in Indian Grove Township was taught by Chancy Standish, in 1835. He was from New York, and came to the settlement in the year above noted, when the people at once set to work to build a little log cabin for school purposes, and which was the first school house in the township. In this building Standish taught the first school, which was a general subscription school, and it was some time before there was any public money for educational purposes.

From the school records in possession of Dr. C. C. Bartlett, Township Treasurer, which extend back only to the year 1857, we find that on the 1st day of April of that year, " A meeting of the Trustees - James Spence, Chancy Standish and James Moore, of Township 26 north. Range 6 east of the Third Principal Meridian, was held at the house of John Darnall, the School Treasurer," The meeting was taken up mostly in examining books, papers, schedules, etc. The school fund at that time consisted of $721.20, in notes; fund for town and interest, $67.70; fund on hand in notes, $170.00. There were five school districts in the township, and several schedules of teachers were examined and the Treasurer ordered to pay the amount demanded in them for teaching.

A good story, not out of place in this connection, is related of a young man in the township, who, wishing a school in some particular district, went over to Lexington, where the dignitary lived who had the position at his disposal, for the purpose of procuring the required authority. Not being as well up in his examination as the law required, the certificate was at first refused, but after much importunity from. the young man it was at length written, "signed, sealed and delivered " to him under cover. Armed with this document, he returned to Indian Grove and presented it to the School Director or Trustee, who, on breaking the seal and taking out the certificate found it to read : ''This is to

The township has nine school districts and ten good, comfortable school houses, all of which are frame buildings. None but first-class teachers are employed, and the schools of the entire town are in a most flourishing state.

Indian Grove, as an election precinct, embraced that portion of the county lying east of the mouth of the Little Vermilion River ; or, more properly speaking, east of the old village of Avoca, in Avoca Township. In the days of Whigs and Democrats, it was largely Democratic, and very ultra in its political opinions.

The first newspaper ever taken in what is now Indian Grove Township was the Chicago Journal, then a Whig paper. It had been subscribed for by John and Jesse Moore, who had done so without inquiring into the color of its political faith. When it came, and the Rev. Mr. Darnall found out that it was a Whig paper, he set his veto on it and would not let it be read in the neighborhood. It was when Avoca was the only post office in all the country round, and so great was the faith of the Moores in Mr. Darnall's opinions, that they

Political principles have undergone a great change since those early times. At least two-thirds of the vote is now Republican, and large Republican majorities are rolled up on all occasions where party lines are drawn. There are, liowever, a few old true-blue Democrats who still stand by their old party and principles, and think that Long John Wentworth has backslidden beyond hope, since he has turned over to the Republican Party.

Indian Grove takes its name from the Indian settlement or camp once in the fine forest along Indian Creek, which receives its name from the same cause. Previous to the Indians locating at Kickapoo Town, they had their wigwams or lodges in the timber, now in Indian Grove Township, They had left the place before the settlement of the county by the whites, or at least before there were settlements made in this immediate neighborhood.

A large number of Indians were living at the Kickapoo town, not far distant ; but we have no account of their ever molesting their pale-face neighbors, though Black Hawk made every effort to stir them up to mischief, and some of the settlers, in another part of the grove, took fright during the excitements of the Black Hawk war, and fled to the frontier settlements ; but those who remained were left undisturbed. Soon after the close of this war, the Indians were removed to reservations and hunting-grounds beyond the '" Great Father of Waters," and our settlements here were no more disturbed by their war-whoop.

This township has the benefit of two lines of railway, the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw and the Chicago & Paducah Roads. The former is more fully noticed in the history of Fairbury. The Chicago & Paducah Railroad was completed through this town in 1872, since which time it has been in active operation. The people of this section seem to have awakened to the necessity of extended railroad facilities since the building of the T., P. & W., as it, we were informed, encountered much opposition from the very inception of the enterprise, until its success and energy won for it a degree of independence ; while the Chicago & Paducah received a hearty and substantial support, and a stock subscription from the township of $50,000.

The benefit of these roads to this section of the county is almost incalculable, and the amount of grain and stock shipped over them annually is immense.

When the county adopted township organization, in 1857, in the process of naming, this town was called Worth ; but discovering that there wag a Worth Township in the adjoining county of Woodford, it was found necessary to look up a new name for this. Francis J. Moore, a prominent citizen and one of the early settlers of the township, suggested Indian Grove, which was adopted.

The present township officers are as follows: H. Kingman, Supervisor; 0. J. Dimmick, R. B. Hanna and 0. P. Ross, Justices of the Peace ; T. T. Babeock, Assessor ; N. Shepherd, Collector ; N. A. Souars, Town Clerk.

Indian Grove Township is bounded on the west by McLean County; on the north by Avoca Township ; on the east by Forrest, and on the south by Belle Prairie. It is about one-fourth timber to three-fourths prairie, and is drained by Indian Creek, which flows through it from the southwest to northeast, and empties into the Little Vermilion River, just beyond its borders. Corn is the main crop, and the immense quantities grown in the township would probably equal the entire crops of the Nile-washed lands of Egypt.

The Village Of Fairbury

Fairbury was laid out in 1857, by Caleb L. Patton and Octave Chenute. The former owned the land on which the village stands, and in return for the influence exercised by Chenute - who was one of the Civil Engineers of the Peoria & Oquawka* Railroad Company - with the stockholders of the road, in getting a station at this point, he received from Patton one-half of the town lots. He it was that planned the town and named it, and superintended the laying of it ofi". Isaac R. Clark, County Surveyor at the time, surveyed it, and made the plat on file in the Recorder's office, and from which we find that the village of Fairbury originally embraced only the southeast quarter of Section 3, and a part of the northeast quarter of Section 10, in Township 26 north, Range 6 east, and is dated November 10, 1857. Since it was first surveyed and laid out, several additions have been made to it, as follows : By Patton, Cropsey and Chenute, August 9, 1859 ; by H. L. Marsli, August 9, 1859, July 27 and December 17, 1868 ; by C. L. Patton, February 4, 1864, and July 9, 1869 ; by - Atkeins, May 8, 9 and 10, 1865, January 25, 1865, and April 30, 1868 ; by Isaac P. McDowell, July 12, 1865, and May 14, 1867, and by G. W. Suber, May 14, 1870. A space of 200x870 feet was reserved by the railroad in the center of the original village for depot buildings.

The first house in the village of Fairbury was built by John Coomer, who came here from Vermont, the old Green Mountain State, in 1857. The house stands on the corner, just across the street from the Fairbury Hotel, and is a good, comfortable residence at the present day. Coomer finished his house and moved into it on the last day of the year ; says he came very near not getting into it in 1857 any way. The first store house was built by A. L. Pogue, David Thomas and R. B. Amsbury, Avho opened a store in it in the early part of 1858, and for a number of years did an extensive business. At length Thomas sold out, and went to Missouri, but the remaining partners continued in the business some time longer, when they finally dissolved, Amsbury going to the gold regions. William Mitchell built a store about the same time of the one just mentioned, in which he opened a small stock of goods and groceries. The first brick store liouse was built by Franklin Elliott in 1864, and occupied as a store by his brother as soon as completed. The store house alluded to, as put up by Wm. Mitchell, is at present a part of the Fairbury House, and with many additions and changes, internally and externally, since the first part of the building was put up in 1857, it has become, as stated, the Fairbury House. With all the improvements and additions made to it, together with the original outlay, it has -cost about $6,000, and is now kept by S. S. Rogers, who owns the building, and has made a first-class hotel of it. The first tavern in the village was, built by Geo. W. Morris in 1 858, and kept by him for some time, when it changed hands and S. S. Rogers became the proprietor. It was finally moved away from its original location, and became the Central House, a name it still bears. The first post office was established in the early part of 1858, and H. H. McKee was the first Postmaster. The mail was then carried on horseback from Pontiac to Lexington, and a round trip made each week. After many changes in the administration of its affairs, the office has passed into the hands of John Virgin, who is the present Postmaster. The first blacksmith shop in Fairbury was kept by 0. S. Mason and Michael Gately, two young men, who commenced the lousiness about 1858, when the village was rushing ahead at a breakneck speed.

In 1859, a large flouring-mill was built in the village, where Coomer's lumher office now stands. It was built or commenced by parties for whom Judge McDowell endorsed, and upon their failure, he became the owner of the property, and completed the building. It was a frame edifice three stories high, thirty by fifty feet in size, with three run of buhrs, and cost upward of f8,000. The building was burned in 1872, and has never been rebuilt. Ben Walton built his first mill in Fairbury in 1866, at a cost of |25,000. It was a frame building thirty by sixty feet, with three run of buhrs, and was burned in August, 1868. He at once commenced to rebuild, and the result was his present magnificent mill, which is forty-eight by sixty feet in size, four and a half stories high, and cost $35,000. It has six run of buhrs, and a capacity for making 175 barrels of fiour per day. In connection with his mill is a grain elevator, with storage for 20,000 bushels, and cribbing room for 75,000 bushels. He landles annually over 300,000 bushels of grain, the most of which is sold on the track to buyers who ship principally to the East. When his mill was burned, in 1868, in twelve days after the fire he was buying grain in a temporary building, and by the next February,* liad bought and handled nearly 300,000 bushels.

Fairbury is a fine grain center, and it is generally conceded that it is one of the best grain markets in the county. There are at present two large steam elevators,. besides the one mentioned with Walton's Mill, and several very fine ones have been burned in the numerous conflagrations that have at difterent times visited the ill-fated village. The best one ever built was by Hogue & Bartlett. and the first one was built in the Fall and Winter of 1858, by Fitch

& Van Eman, who were the first men to buy grain in Fairbury. They bought and piled it up in sacks by the railroad, until shipped. This one, as well as that built by Hogue & Bartlett, were burned. One of the steam elevators above mentioned, and tnown as the Union Elevator, was built by H. M. Gillette, and the other by Amsbury & Jones, all of whom have formerly been extensive grain

As already stated, several additions were made to the village of Fairbury after the laying out of the original place. One of the largest of these Avas made by H. L. Marsh, who, it seems, has always been one of the wide-awake citizens of the town. He built a large and elegant hotel and depot in the west end of the village, which, at the time of its building (1866) cost $17,000. But this, too, " went up " in one of the destructive fires before alluded to. Although Fairbury was laid out about the time the railroad was completed through this section, and it grew rapidly, as new railroad villages generally do, yet it wasnot until 1864 that it was organized under village laws and charter. At an election held on the 8th day of August, 1864, after due notice had been given, we find, upon examination of the records, that John Coomer was chosen President, and C. C. Bartlett, Clerk. At this election, there were " eighty votes given in favor of incorporation and twenty-six votes against incorporation." Whereupon it was declared that the town of Fairbury was incorporated under act of the Legislature, by more than a two-thirds vote." The first Board of Trustees elected were H. L. Marsh, E. T. Joy, I. P. McDowell, J. H. Van Eman and Delos Wright. The Board organized by electing H. L. Marsh, President, and W. G. McDowell, Clerk. John Coomer was elected Police Magistrate, but refused to qualify, and R. W. McKee was elected in his place. The village Board at present is J. F. Fraley, H. Kingman, L. B. Dominy, George Kinnear and Jesse Hanna. J. F. Fraley is President of the Board, and L. B. Dominy, Clerk. H. Kingman is Treasurer, Nathan Shepherd, Police Magistrate, and John Allum, Town Marshal.

The first school taught in the village of Fairbury was by Alonzo Straight, in a little frame building on the'south side of the T., P. & W. Railroad, but had originally been devoted to some other use. The first house built for school purposes was in 1860, and is situated on the north side of the railroad, and is still in use as a school house. It is a frame building, two stories high, and cost $2,500. The first teacher to occupy the new building was Smith Olney, who taught in it as soon as completed. The " South Side School House," as it is called, was built in 1868. It is also a frame building, two stories, and cost $3,500. Fairbury is somewhat behind other towns and villages of its pretentions, in the quality of its school buildings, which have quite a dingy, weatherbeaten appearance. Though uncomely in exterior, they are substantial in structure and comfortable inside, and the village, it is said, supports most excellent schools. The Principal and corps of Teachers for the school year just closed, are as follows : Prof. C. H. Rew. Principal of High School Department ; Miss

M. M. Daly, Assistant in High School Department ; Miss Ella B. Erwin^ Teacher of Second Grammar Department ; Philip Hutchinson, Teacher of First Grammar Department ; Miss Delia Chesebrough, Teacher of Second Intermediate ; Miss Cynthia E. Earnhart, Teacher of First Intermediate ; Miss Laura Colvin, Teacher of Second Primary ; Miss Anna E. McDowell, Teacher of South Primary ; Mrs. S. M. Hempstead, Teacher of North Primary ; Miss Mary Kilbury, Teacher of West Primary and Intermediate School. For thc^ coming year, some few changes are made, but most of the old teachers remain. The following is the roster : Prof. C. H, Rew, Superintendent and Principal of High School Department ; Miss Delia Chesebrough, Assistant in High School Department ; T. W. Gore, Teacher in First Grammar Department ; Miss Ella B. Erwin, Teacher in Second Grammar Department : Miss Cynthia E. Earnhart, Teacher in First Intermediate ; Miss Mary Kilbury, Teacher in Second Intermediate ; Mrs. S. M. Hempstead, Teacher in First Primary, North Side ; Miss Anna E. McDowell, Teacher in First Primary, South Side ; Miss Flora Potter, Teacher in Second Primary, South Side ; Miss Ellen Vanover, Teacher in Second Primary, North Side. The attendance during the school year averages about 500 pupils for the tAvo schools. Both of these schools are under the supervision of one Principal, Mr. Rew. They are graded, and have what is termed a High School Department, though not High Schools in the strict acceptation of the term.

The first church societies organized in Fairbury were the Methodist and Presbyterian. The Methodist Church was organized in July, 1858, under the ministerial labors of Rev. J. W. Stubbles, with the following members ; Francis

Beech, Edith Beech, John Kring, Rachel Kring, Catherine Kring and John Potter. But few of these are members still, viz. : Francis J. Moore, Dr. L. Beech, John Kring, Catherine Kring, Rachel Kring and John Potter, The others are either dead or have moved away. The first church building was erected in the Fall of 1858, and was a frame, 32x55 feet, dedicated, in the latter part of the year, by Rev. J. W. Flowers, Presiding Elder. It was enlarged in 1866, under the pastorate of Rev. J. E. Rutledge. In the Spring of 1874, Dr. L. Beech, a zealous member of the church and a man of broad and liberal benevolence, headed a subscription for a new church edifice, to cost from ten ta twelve thousand dollars. Dr. Beech subscribed $2,000 ; others put down .their names for liberal amounts, and thus several thousand dollars were raised. Nothing was done, however, until the Summer of 1876, when the Trustees determined to put up a substantial brick, 45x75 feet, one full story and a basement. The basement was finished in the Fall of 1876, and was dedicated by Rev. R. G. Pierce, R. B. Williams, Pastor. It was intended, in the following Fall, to have the audience room on the second floor completed, but, on the 2d day ot July, 1877, a fearful tornado passed over the village, and the church was laid in ruins. In the Fall of 1877, Rev. J. Wilkinson was appointed Pastor, and the society, though somewhat discouraged, had determined to rebuild. Largely through the generosity of Ben Walton, an elegant brick church was erected on the foundation of the old one, and was dedicated January 20, 187b, by Rev. W. H. H. Adams, D. D., of Bloomington. The present membership of the church is 280. The first Methodist Sunday school was organized in the Spring of 1859, -with Jacob Hunt as Superintendent. It is in a flourishing condition at present, and an average of about 300 children attend.

The Presbyterian society was organized July 25, 1858, with 10 original members. The first Pastor was Rev. Benjamin B. Drake. The church was built in 1862, and is a frame, 25x40 feet, costing $750. It was dedicated, when completed, by Rev. A. Eddy. The present Pastor is Rev. T. Hempstead, and his church numbers 88 members. A Sunday school was organized in 1863, with William Mitchell as Superintendent. With the periods of languishing, usual to such organizations, it still exists, and is in quite a flourishing condition at this time. A few years after the organization of the Presbyterina Church, it divided into the Old and New Schools, and the latter branch built a church similar to that worshiped in by the other ; but, re-uniting again in a short time, the New School church was sold to the Ormish society, who still occupy it, having preaching regularly, a flourishing membership and a large congregation.

The Baptist Church was erected in 1865, but the society was organized several years previous. It is a brick edifice, 38x50 feet, costing $3,000, and was dedicated by Rev. J. Cairns, at the time its Pastor. At present, it has a large membership, and Rev. C. D. Merritt is Pastor. Its Sunday school was organized in 1864, the year before the building of the church. William Carpenter is the Superintendent, and about 140 children attend on an average.

The Roman Catholic congregation Avas organized about 1857, and was visited from that time, semi-annually, by Rev. B. Lonergan, of Wilmington, until 1867, when the mission was attached to Pontiac, a resident priest having been appointed there. This priest, whose name was O'Neill, was one of the oldest priests in America, the first Irish priest who ever came west of the Alleghanies, and was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Quigley, now of Henry. 111. The congregation, however, had not assumed any permanent organization until 1868, when, under the leadership of Rev. John A. Fanning, the present Pastor, a fiame church was built, 33x60 feet, to which important additions have been made, at a total cost, up to the present time, of about $4,000. The original membership consisted of some thirty families, and has since then increased to about one hundred and twenty-five families. The church edifice was dedicated on the 24th of June, to St. John the Baptist, by Rev. C. Gonaut, of Chebanse, assisted by the Pastor and other clergymen. The Sunday school of this church was organized cotemporaneously with the congregation. Its first Superintendent was Owen McKay, now of Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory.

As early as 1862, movements were made here toward developing the coal fields, believed to exist sufficiently near the surfjica to be reached with light expense. In the Fall of this year, H. L. Marsh commenced to sink the west shaft, and at the distance of 216 feet, struck the first vein of coal, which varies from four and a half to five feet in thickness, and produces a very fair quality of coal. At a distance of 180 feet below this vein another was found, but not of sufficient thickness to warrant its being profitably worked. It is the best coal, however, in any of the neighboring shafts, but^ to quote the slang of the day, it is "too thin" - to be valuable. To sink this shaft and equip it for work has cost altogether about $30,000 ; the works have a capacity for taking out at least five hundi-ed tons daily, but the demand has never required it to run to the full extent of its ability. Some years ago, it passed into the hands of Eastern capitalists, who leased it to Knight & Gibb, of Fairbury, for two and a half years, which term, we believe, has expired, and the mine is at present idle, except in keeping the water pumped out. This was the first shaft sunk between Braidwood and x\lton, where more than a hundred now perforate the ground. It for some time proved an expensive affair on account of so much water, and the third shaft was sunk before one could be secured against overflow.

The east shaft was commenced in April, 1867, and struck a profitable vein of coal at a depth of one hundred and sixty feet. This shaft was originally begun by a stock company, consisting of Jones, Amsbury, Darnall, Gribb, Atkins and Archer. Amsbury and Jones were the principal business men, and Gibb the Superintendent. The sinking of the shaft at that time cost about $15,000, but could be done for, perhaps, half the amount now. A few years after the opening of the shaft, Gibb leased it from the company, and has been operating it advantageously for the past four years. Mr. Gibb is a native of Scotland, and has been in this country since 1852. He thoroughly understands coal mining, and under his supervision this shaft yields on an average seventy-five tons daily, the year round. At present, they supply the railroad companies 1,000 tons per month, while the remainder is mostly disposed of to the local trade. The different foi*mations passed through in reaching coal were yellow clay immediately after the soil, then quite a thickness of blue clay, after which a considerable stratum of soft stone - usually called soapstone^-and then a vein of lime rock, followed by a shelly sandstone, with thin layers of sand between the layers of rock, when coal was struck. A peculiarity of the country here is the diflerence in the formations passed through in these shafts, which are not more than two miles apart. In the west end shaft, the clay is about the same as in the other, but much more water; after passing through the clay, two strata of lime ledges were met with ; then a stratum of red fire-clay, and after it about eighty feet of shelly lime rock, followed by thirty feet of soapstone, underlying which was the first vein of coal. In the new shaft, sunk the present season, about midway between the other two. a very soft, red rock was found in large quantities, and Avhich is supposed to contain mineral properties that may be converted into something valuable. This vein, or bed of stone, was found at a depth of about eighty feet, and is seven feet in thickness. Speaking of it at the time, the Independent Blade said :

The stone is strongly impregnated with mineral, mostly iron In color it is gray and dark brown. It also has an oily substance, that shows itself very plainly when immersed in water, the oil rising to the surface. Experiments have been made with this stone ground to powder and mixed with oil for painting purposes, and to all appearances it makes an excellent article. We have samples of this paint in this office, which may be seen. Further tests will be made, and should it turn out as is now anticipated, there is a mine of wealth in it, and the manufacture of mineral paint may be commenced at once in this city.

This shaft is owned by Knight, Gibb & Co. They bought six acres of Mr. Marsh, with the privilege of mining under seventy acres more, belonging to the same party. They reached coal - a vein four and a half feet thick - at a depth of 176 feet, and at an expenditure of about $10,000. This is the third shaft that has been successfully sunk in the environs of Fairbury, and, next to grain, coal mining is the most extensive line of business engaged in by its citizens. Aside from the amount furnished the railroads, the trade is of a local character, mostly, and very extensive of that kind.

The first bank was established in Fairbury by Judge McDowell and Nathan E. Lyman, in 1864, and was known as the Fairbury Bank. In 1867, Jno. J.. Taylor was admitted a partner, and it finally developed into the First National Bank, and was organized as such in 1874, with Isaac P. McDowell as President, and Nathan E, Lyman (now of Rockford, 111.) as Cashier. I. P. McDowell is still President, and T. S. 0. McDowell is Cashier. Bartlett, Beech & Dominy commenced the banking business June 15, 1874, and still conduct it in all its branches.

A woolen-mill was built here about the year 1867-68, by three brothers from New York, named Barnard. It was supposed at one time that sheep raising would prove a very profitable business in this section of the country, and a number of farmers embarked in it extensively. A man named Hiner, living a little west of Fairbury, had at one time over 1,300 head of sheep, but after considerable experimenting, it was found to be a failure. Owing to the wet nature of so much of the land, the disease called " foot rot " prevailed to an extent to render the raising of sheep not only expensive, but entirely profitless^ and it was finally abandoned altogether. From this fact, the woolen-mill proved a failure, and the parties owning it took out the machinery and moved it to Los Angelos, Cal., where sheep are a spontaneous growth and are cultivated to an extent calculated to make a mill of its caliber profitable. The Chicago & Paducah Railroad Company purchased the old building, after the machinery had been removed, with the intention of converting it into a grain elevator, but the partial failure of crops for the past year or two has prevented, and it still stands an empty shell, a monument of misplaced investment.

The Fairbury Union Agricultuial Board was incorporated under legislative act in 1876. The certificate of organization is signed by Geo. H. Harlow, Secre- tary of State, under the great seal, and is dated January 19, 1870. It was organized and officers duly elected March 2r)th, as follows : John Virgin, President ; John G. Steers, Vice President ; C. C. Bartlett, Treasurer, and Smith Olney, Secretary. The first Board of Directors were Jacob B. Bally, Stephen Herr, Henry Kingman, John F. Myers, Henry Skinner and George W. Myers, whose terms expire in 1877 ; and Robert Elmore, J. F. Earnhart, Owen Finegan, D. L. Murdock, R. E. Norman, D. R. Potter and Benjamin Cumpston, whose terms expire in 1878. Their grounds consist of about twenty-one acres of land, pur- <-hased at an aggregate cost of $2,800, and are located just south of the village and are excellently adapted to the purpose for which they are used. They are well improved and enclosed with a substantial fence and have large and commodious buildings.

The first exhibition of the association was held in September, 1870, and continued four days. The last election of officers resulted as follows: John Virgin, President ; Joel Strawn, Vice President ; C. C. Bartlett, Treasurer, and H. L. Bruce, Secretary. It is a Union Association of Livingston and McLean Counties ; is in a flourishing condition and is patronized and supported by both counties in a liberal manner.

The Masonic and Odd Fellows' societies are well represented in the village of Fairbury, by all the grades of those honorable bodies. Tarbolton Lodge, No. Sol, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, was chartered October 3, 1800, and the document authorizing its existence as a body was signed by D. C Cregier. Grand Master of Illinois at that time, and J. H. Miles, Grand Secretary. Charter members - Aaron Weider, L. H. Nash, R. Rumbold, J. B. Hulsey, 0. P. Ross, S. C. Roberts, H. Remington and some others, of whom 0. P. Ross and H. Remington alone are now members. Aaron Weider was the first Worshipful Master. At present. Smith Olney is Master ; T. W. Duftey, Secretary, and 104 members are on the records. The Lodge Hall was burned March 29, 1875, and the loss in paraphernalia, furniture, etc., was about |2,000. The hall did not belong to them, but was rented for Lodge purposes, so that the loss of the building did not fall on them. The Lodge was originally organized in Remington's parlor, and continued to meet there until other rooms were procured.

Fairbury Chapter, No. 99, Royal Arch Masons, was chartered October 5, 1800, and their charter signed by J. A. DeLancey, Grand High Priest of the State, and J. H. Miles. Grand Secretary. The first High Priest was J. W. Peck, and H. Remington was the first Secretary. At present, W. H. Allen is High Priest, and Smith Olney, Secretary, with a present membership of 83.

Fairbury Council, No. 30, Royal and Select Masters, was chartered January 11, 1808, and J. W. Peck was the first T.-. I.-. G.\ M.\, and M. Osman the first Recorder. By a joint act of the Grand Chapter and the Grand Council of Illinois, the degrees of the latter are now conferred in the Chapter, and the Council, as a body, is discontinued.

St. Paul Commandery, No. 36, Knight Templars, was chartered Oct. 26^ 1870. Sir D. C. Cregier was then Grand Commander of the State, and as such signed the charter authorizing its organization. The first Eminent Commander was Sir J. J. Wright, and Sir John Zimmerman, Recorder. There are at present 56 members upon the books, and Sir John Zimmerman is Commander, and Sir Demas Elliott, Recorder.

Livingston Lodge, No. 290, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was organized under dispensation August 15, 1860, and chartered Oct. 12th of the same year. The charter members were J. F. Blackburn, John J. Young, W. H. Strevelle, John T. Bowen and John Zimmerman. Of these, there are still living Blackburn and Zimmerman, but the latter only is still a member of the body. The present Noble Grand is J. F. Earnhart, and J. M. Thornton is Secretary, with 44 members.

Fairbury Encampment, No. 71. I. 0. 0. F., was chartered Oct. 8, 1867, and has a large membership. At present, Benj. P. Lightfoot is Chief Patriarch; T. W. Gore, Scribe.

The history of the press extends back but a dozen years in this little city. In 1866, H. S. Decker commenced the publication of a paper called the Journal, in Fairbury, but soon sold out to I. P. McDowell, who, after a short time, sold it to a man named Eastman, and he continued to publish it until 1873. In 1871, the Dimmicks commenced the publication of the Independent, and in 1876, C. B. Holmes commenced the Blade. These papers were published in the interests of the east and west ends of the village for a time, when J. S. Scibird, formerly of Bloomington, purchased the two, and consolidated them, upon the principle that "in union there is strength," and from the combination brought forth a kind of journalistic Siamese twins, known as the Independent-Blade. It is independent in politics, well and ably edited, and is one of the flourishing newspapers of the county.

John Virgin, J. C. Morrison and Decatur Veach formed a company, some years ago, for the purpose of importing Norman horses. In 1870, Virgin was sent out and brought the first lot across the Atlantic to this county. Their partnership was soon dissolved by the death of Veach, but Virgin still continues in the business, and has imported some very fine specimens of this popular breed.

The most extensive manufacturing of any kind in the village is George W. Kring's. He commenced, in 1866, the manufacture of cultivators, a business he is still engaged in. Lately, he has added the manufacture of check-rowers, which he makes a specialty.

The village of Fairbury makes no pretensions to wholesale business, or to extensive manufacturing, but is merely a retail place, and as such every line of business is well represented. Many large mercantile firms, whose bases no financial storms can shake, are doing a heavy but safe business.

As noted in another place, this village and township have the advantage of two railroads. The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw, formerly known as the Peoria

& Oquawka Railroad, in the early period of its existence had a hard struggle for life. It was poor and moneyless, and, as is usually the ease under such circumstances, every one gave it a kick down the hill. No stock was taken in it in this immediate vicinity, except a little toward building a station. Owing to their straitened circumstances, and their inability to pay their obligations, the bitterest enmity arose between the road and the town, and attachments were made against everything in the way of property belonging to the road, liable to such process, and even freight bills were garnisheed before they could be collected. Every occasion was sought to annoy each other, and they did not always stop at annoyance, but did considerable injury. A train passed through the town one very dry, windy day at full speed, with fires and steam at a high stage, and emitting from its smoke-stack great blazing cinders, which caught in some combustible matter, communicated to the town, and a destructive conflagration was the result. When the train arrived at Forrest, the next station, the engineer looked back and saw the dense smoke, then remarked that he set the town of Fairbury on fire as he came through. The road, however, lived and prospered, and grew out of its financial troubles, and is to-day one of the prosperous roads in the country. Its name was changed from Peoria & Oquawka to Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway, and it is a great trunk line between East and West. It was finished through here in 1857, and there are few roads at the present time in the State of Illinois that are doing a heavier business.

The Chicago & Paducah Road is a valuable addition to this section of the county, as it unites it by rail with the county seat, and also gives competition in the shipment of freights, which are extremely heavy from this point - as much, perhaps, as from any other in Livingston County. As an illustration of its importance, we give some statistical facts, kindly furnished by Mr, Winters, of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw, and Mr. Rogers, of the Chicago & Paducah. which are as follows for the year 1877 :

Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad Chicago & Paducah Railroad

Fairbury has been a most unfortunate town in the way of fires, and it would be rather difficult, perhaps, to find another place of its size that has been so often and so disastrously visited by the "fire fiend." The first great fire occurred in October. 1868, and is the one already alluded to as catching from a pass- ing locomotive, on the T., P. k W. R. R. It commenced in the Dresser Warehouse, located in East End, and communicated to a row of wooden buildings on the north side of Locust street. Eighteen stores were burned, little of the contents saved, and the loss estimated at $75,000. Two other serious fires in 1869, though neither was quite as destructive as the one just mentioned. In the month of February, a fire broke out in a frame store building on the corner of Locust and Fourth streets, belonging to I. P. McDowell, and communicated to a row of wooden buildings adjoining on the west. Ten buildings were burned, some goods saved, and loss estimated at |20,000. Another fire occurred this year. It originated in a wagon shop, owned by N. S. McDonald, in the West End, and simultaneously in Elliott's jewelry store, in East End, as though by a preconcerted arrangement of incendiaries to burn and plunder the entire town. Seven buildings were totally destroyed, with a loss of about $12,500.

In addition to the hostile feelings mentioned as existing between the village and the T., P. & W. Railway, for years, quite a kindred feeling existed between the east and west ends of the village, and mutterings, " deep and dire,'' were often indulged in between the sections, which bade fair, at times, to burst out like some of their own conflagrations. As this is an unpleasant part of our work, however, we will draw the veil over these human frailties, with a Bible admonition to the citizens, to " dwell together in unity."

The village has provided itself with a pretty good and efficient fire department, and organized volunteer companies. In 1874, they purchased a couple <»f hand engines, at a cost of about $1,800, and the village government allowed them $100 for keeping their fire tackle in good working order, while the remainder of their services is gratuitous.

One of the most interesting and exciting little incidents that has ever occurred in this village, perhaps, was the first exercising of the rights of franchise by a member of the " Fifteenth Amendment." Richard Quarles, known nearly all over McLean and Livingston Counties as " Side Hill Dick," on account of one leg being several inches shorter than the other, was the first colored man to cast a ballot at an election in Fairbury. The occasion was the ^lection of township officers, in the Spring of 1870, and called out nearly as many people, to witness the performance, as would a circus. But no one challenged or contested his right to vote, and it passed off all in good humor.

There are living in and around Fairbury about 100 negroes. They came mostly from Mr. Sullivant's, in Ford County, who imported them to work on his large farm ; but as times grew hard and dull, he would get rid of his colored help, and they would wander toward Fairbury, where they found homes. They have always conducted themselves in an orderly manner, with a disposition to work and get along in the world. The Supervisor says he has given less charity to negroes, in proportion, than to whites ; and, taken all together, nothing can truthfully be said to their disadvantage. They have a church, of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, with a regular Pastor, Rev. Aaron Ward, of Pontiac, and a local preacher, also, Rev. Washington Farrer. A Sunday school is in full operation at their church, under the superintendence of James Allen, which is Avell attended. Their children go to the common schools, and share all the advantages of education equallv with white children.

The village has a very handsome little cemetery, which was surveyed by Isaac R. Clarke, August 30, 1855, and was originally one-fourth of northwest quarter of Section 2, and has had an addition made to it since it was laid out, of about six acres of ground. It is well improved and set in trees and shrubbery, and much respect shown by the living to the dead. The first burial in this cemetery was a Mrs. Hughes, wife of David Hughes, and was interred soon after the grounds were laid out.

Fairbury was originally called South Avoca, but was changed by Chenute, as noted in another place. It is situated at the crossing of the Toledo, Peoria k Warsaw and the Chicago & Paducah Railroads, twelve miles from Pontiac and 103 miles from Chicago. Though claiming a population variously estimated at from 2,500 to 3,000, it is still under village organization. The bar is represented here by Hon. D. L. Murdock, State's Attorney, Jiidge W. G. McDowell, A. J. Clarke, R. T. Perry and J. D. Fraley, all of whom are menof ability. There are other able men in the place, but space forbids the mention of the names of all who have distinguished themselves, but will give only the followino-, who were identified with the army during the late war : Jo. H. Scibird, Major of the Seventieth Illinois Infantry ; John W. Morris, Captain of Company C, Srxty-eighth Illinois Infmtry ; J. M. Wright, Lieutenant in Second Illinois Cavalry ; John Zimmerman, Lieutenant in Third Illinois Cavalry ; H. H. Stafford, First Lieutenant Company H, Seventy-second Indiana Infantry, livino- at present in Fairbury.

Tlie following went into the army from Fairbury, but are now residing in other places : Rev. A. J. Cropsey, a Methodist preacher, Major of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry, and since the war has represented his district in the Lower House of the State Legislature. He at present lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. B. E. Robinson, First Lieutenant Company I, Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served a full term in Andersonville prison, with all its horrors. He has served three terms as Sheriff of Livincfston County, havinobeen elected in 1872, 1874 and 1876, and is a candidate again for re-election. No man has ever held the office three terms in succession, since township organization. Byron Phelps, a son of Orin Phelps, mentioned as one of the early settlers of Forrest Township, was a Lieutenant in the Third Illinois Cavalry, and after the close of the war was elected County Clerk, an office he filled satisfactorily for four years, and at present lives in Decatur, 111. Aaron Weidcr was an officer in the Third Cavalry, and after the war was Treasurer of the county for four years. W. H. H. McDowell was Second Lieutenant in the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Illinois Infantry, and lives now in Pontiac. As to those who carried muskets, their names and regiments will be found in the general war record, on another page of this work. Henry H. Rogers, a son of S. S. Rogers, of Fairbury, was educated at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. ; and when he graduated last Summer (1877), was appointed a inidshipman on board of the U. S. steamer Pensacola, and is at present stationed at Mare Island, near San Francisco.

The medical fraternity of the village is as follows: Drs. S. M. & H. E. W. Barnes, J. F. Fraley, D. Brewer and James Pearson ; Dr. J. R. Rayburn, dentist.

Fairbury Guards, Company C, Tenth Battalion of the Illinois State Guards, with regimental headquarters at Dwight, 111., was organized in October, 1877, with the following officers : J. L. Sacriste, Captain ; J. M. Wright, First Lieutenant ; J. W. Morris, Second Lieutenant ; and J. S. DeWolf, Orderly Sergeant.

Last but not least in the history of the village of Fairbury, we would mention in the most complimentary terms the Scibird Zouave Cadets, a company of small boys from 10 to 14 yeai'S old, and but recently organized into a military company. They have now forty members, and are being drilled in genuine military style by J. H. Scibird, Major of the Seventieth Illinois Infantry, during the late war. Their uniform consists of red pants, blue shirts, red caps with blue top, white stockings and shoes. They have toy guns made under the direction of Maj. Scibird, and are pine stocks with tin barrels. Maj. Scibird takes great pride in drilling the little fellows, and, in justice to them, we must say that they do honor to their drill-master. Their evolutions are performed with perfect military precision, and older soldiers might learn much from their maneuvers. The country need fear no danger from enemies at home, or from foes abroad, which produces such manly and soldierly little boys as the Zouave Cadets. The following are their officers: Joe H. Scibird, Captain;* Thomas Baker, First Lieutenant ; Willie Van Doom, Second Lieutenant ; Charley Rettenmayer, First Sergeant ; Herman Gillett, Second Sergeant ; Fred Baker, Third Sergeant; Frank Duell, Fourth Sergeant; Fred Wright, Fifth Sergeant ; Grant McDowell, First Corporal ; George Decker, Second Corporal ; Clarence Murdock, Third Corporal ; Eddie Smith, Fourth Corporal ; Thomas Langabeer, Fifth Corporal ; Henry Sweet, Sixth Corporal ; Bruce

" There's a page in their s(ory, too bright to be lost ! May souls so heroic win laurels and praises Eternal, beyond where the dark stream is crossed.''

Belle Prairie is known as Township 25 north, Range 6 east of the 3d Principal Meridian, and is fractional, containing only about half the amount of territory embraced in a regular Congressional Township. It lies in the extreme southern part of the county, bounded on the south and west by Ford and Mc- Lean Counties ; on the east by Fayette Township ; on the north by Indian Grove, and is all prairie land, except a small body, comprising but a section or so, adjoining the latter township. Tlie land is rolling, or gently undulating, affording good drainage, and the soil is rich and very productive. It is entirely devoted to farming and stock-raising, and contains no cities or villages, nor even a post office or store. However, the people are not deprived of these accompaniments of civilization. There are plenty of them within easy reach, and several situated on the territorial limits, are liberally patronized and supported by the citizens of Belle Prairie.

This township is noted for being the scene of the first permanent settlement in Livingston County. In the Fall of 1830, a single emigrant wagon drew up at the head of the grove of timber, afterward named by the whites Indian Grove, and the owner of the w\agon, or "prairie schooner," as the big "covered wagons " of the emigrants were sometimes called, proceeded to pitch his tent on the banks of Indian Creek, which has its source in this vicinity. This early pioneer was Valentine Martin Darnall, recognized as the first actual settler of the county. He w^as born in Virginia, and, when a mere child, his parents removed to Kentucky, and settled in Boone County, one and a quarter miles from Boonesboro, the site of the first settlement made in the '' Dark and Bloody Ground " by the " pale face," and where Daniel Boone, the pioneer, built a fort more than a century ago. His parents died there while he was yet quite young, and some years after attaining his manhood, and having taken to himself a life partner, he came to Illinois, arriving in the settlement above Pleasant Hill, on the Mackinaw River, in October, 1830. He had three brothers-in-law living at that place, and he left his wagon and family with them Avhile he came over to Indian Grove on a prospecting tour. After deciding upon his location, he borrowed a wagon from a brother-in-law to avoid unloading, and again loading his own, and having procured some grain, went over on the Sangamon River, eight miles from Springfield, to mill,* as he could not live, he says, even in a wilderness, without something to eat. He was gone fourteen days, as the miller couldn't or wouldn't grind for him sooner, nor hire him the mill to grind it for himself. On the 26th of October, he got back to the settlement, and on the 27th came over to the spot destined to be his home for many years. The first thing after pitching his tent, and getting " a bite to eat," was to cut down a " board tree" and " chop off a cut " - he had no saw - which he cut eight feet long and quartered, in order that he might " rive " boards by fire- light. He informed us that he would cut house logs during the day and make boards at night, and that on the 1st day of November he raised his first cabin. His help came from the settlement at Mackinaw, a distance of ten or twelve miles, raised the house, covered it, and a portion of them went home the same day. There were no nails in this country then, and where they were needed wooden pins were used. This ancient relic, perhaps the first cabin built in Livingston Coun.ty, has long ago crumbled into ruins, but a "smoke house" built the next Spring by Mr. Darnall is still standing and in a good state of preservation. It is built of red elm logs, and the original door, which is a model of architectural genius, is still, to it and doing duty as such. It was made without a nail, and the frame is a small forked sapling, one prong being straight, the other standing out at an angle of about forty. five degrees, with a cross piece "let in " at the top of the straight one, and to these unique " battens " heavy slabs are fastened with wooden pins. This style of door was quite fashionable in this section of the country forty odd years ago.

The Winter of the deep snow was the first after his settlement here. The snow commenced falling in the latter part of December and continued until it was four feet deep on the level. He had gone to Mackinaw with a wagon and two horses, for his Winter's pork, which he had bought in that settlement. And there the great snow storm caught him. Finding it impossible to get back with his team, he left his wagon and one horse at the settlement, and, wrapping himself up securely to keep from freezing, mounted the other horse, and, with half a hog before him to live on while the snow might last, started for home. His route lay across the open prairie, and without compass or any mark for a guide, save the direction the snow was drifted by the wind, he struggled against the storm. The wind was blowing and the air filled with snow, so that at times he could see but a few yards distant. With sad forebodings of Avhat might be the fate of his wife and little children through the short wintry day that seemed to him very long, he toiled on through the snow, which, he informed us, on an average, came to his knees, as his noble beast waded through it. As the shades of evening began to gather around him, and when almost ready to give up as lost on the prairie, the sun, just before setting, burst from the clouds that had shrouded his face all day, and, as his last lingering rays reflected across the great fields of snow, they tinged with gold the tops of the trees which he knew surrounded his cabin. He says that his feelings just then may be imagined, but not easily described. But his own precarious situation had caused little of his uneasiness. He had been absent four days, and for the first time in his married life, had failed to reach home at the time he had promised his wife that he would return, and he knew not but that he would find them frozen to death. Anxious as he was, however, to learn their fate, yet knowing that if the snow remained on the ground all Winter, they could not (if his family was alive) get alono- without something to eat, he went out of his way, after discovering the grove of timber, to see four wild hogs that he had been trying some time to tame

They "were so hungry that they followed him as far as the creek without trouble. He found his family as comfortably situated as could be expected under the circumstances. The snow, where the wind had whirled it around his cabin, was in places eight feet deep. When he left home, he had three young calves in a rail pen in the yard, and, after the snow came, his wife succeeded in getting them out of the pen, and into their cabin by the fire to prevent their freezing. She had dressed herself in a pair of her husband's trousers, to the better enable her to get through the snow, and had cleared it away from the calf and sheep pens. Mr. Darnall, the next day after his return home, went back and succeeded in getting his wild hogs home, two of which found their way into his scanty larder during the Winter. Through the period that the snow remained, he cut timber enough to make 3,000 rails. He would cut down a tree, then tramp a road to it through the snow, so that his cattle and sheep could get to it and browse " off the branches. It was thus, together with a very small allowance of dry corn, that he wintered nine head of cattle and fifteen sheep without losing a single one. There was a plum thicket near liis cabin, where the snow had drifted up eight or ten feet deep, and after a crust had formed on it, the sheep would go up and browse off the tops of the bushes. When the snow melted away, the tops of the plum trees were sticking full of wool plucked from the sheep during the Winter. Of four horses he had when he settled here, three of them died the first year Avith the milk sickness, and he was forced to use oxen for sometime afterward. It was two months, lacking three days, from the time he had left the settlement on the Mackinaw, before he saw a human beins;, except his own family, and his friends there were wholly ignorant and powerless to learn whether he had reached home or perished in the snow. When, at the expiration of the time mentioned (two months), his brother- in-laAv came over to learn the fate of him and his family, he was rejoiced to find them all well and enjoying life to the utmost. As already stated, this is pronounced the first permanent settlement in Livingston County, as well as the first in Belle Prairie Township. And we would mention, in this connection, that Mr. Darnall is still living, a hearty and vigorous old man, considering that he has borne the sunshine and storms of eighty years. But his good wife, the companion of his early toils and privations, left him in September, 1872, for a home up beyond the blue skies, where the weary find rest.

The next settlement w^as made in this township by William Spence,* in 1831. He was a son of Malachi Spence, one of the early settlers of Indian Grove Township. He came from Indiana to this settlement, but was originally from Kentucky, where all the Spences and Darnalls came from.

.In 1834, Jeremiah Travis, James Cooper and Hugh Steers made claims in the settlement, upon which tliey located. The two former were from Tennessee, and the latter from Kentucky. Travis was the first white man to strike a fire on the west side of Indian Grove timber, a fact of which he was always (juite proud. He died upon his original settlement, in 1844. James Cooper remained in the settlement, a good citizen, until 1865, Avhen he died. Steers died in a few years after coming to the country.

Spencer Kates, Benjamin Hieronymous and Decatur A^each are from Kentucky. Kates settled here in 1835-6, where he remained until about the year 1864, when he sold out and removed to Oregon. Hieronymous came to the settlement in 1838, and made a claim, on which he still lives, a highly-respected citizen. He informed us that he had hauled grain to Chicago when they had to go around by Naperville ; that he had hauled peaches and other fruits there - had teamed it to that city, in fact, almost constantly for twenty-five years, before the day of railroads. Veach is among the early settlers of this township, and is said to have been the first Abolitionist in Livingston County.

Charles Jones and his son, Thomas Jones, and Orin Phelps came from New Jersey and settled, first, in what comprises at the present day Forrest Township, in the history of Avhich further mention is made of them. Thomas Jones settled in Belle Prairie at an early day, having remained in Forrest but a few years. After farming successfully for a number of years, he rented out his farm, which is one of the finest in Belle Prairie, and removed to Fairbury, where he engaged extensively in the grain business, but has recently quit it, and is at present superintending his farm.

The foregoing names comprise all the early settlers in this township of whom we have been able to obtain any definite information, and these settled in and around the small body of timber at the head of Indian Grove ; and it was a number of years before a settlement was made out on the prairie. Mr. Darnall says that, when he settled in the country, he entertained not the remotest idea of ever living to see a settlement made on the prairie. Benjamin Walton was the first to venture out beyond the shelter of the timber. He was the first permanent settler on the prairie in this township, and was generally pronounced a lunatic for building a house away out on what was termed a "barren waste." He came from the old Quaker State, though stoutly denies being a Pennsylvania Dutchman, and settled here in 1854, buying a claim from a man named De Board, who had made a little opening on the prairie, but soon got disgusted and left it. The whole broad prairies in this section were then unbroken save by the beaten paths of wild beasts, or the neighbors' stock which grazed upon them uninterruptedly.

Mr. Walton was one of the first men in the country to advocate a stock law, and resolutions on the subject, offered by him at the county fair at Pontiac, went the rounds of the press and circulated extensively over the Western States. He argued the question on all occasions, and the debates of him and Rev. John Darnall, who lived in Indian Grove Township and took ground against the proposed measure, are quite voluminous, and, if printed, would make a rather interesting volume. Another enterprise of his was the putting up of stone corners to each section of land in the township. He made the move, and, after encounter- ing considerable opposition, succeeded in carrying; the point, and, to-day, every section of land in Belle Prairie Township has stones, weighing not less than two hundred pounds, at each corner. Walton is a zealous temperance man, and has published a pamphlet in the interests of the cause, in which his views are ably given. Some years ago, he removed to Fairbury, where he still lives, an enterprising business man.

R, B. Harrington came from New York, and is another of the early settlers on the prairie. While not fully ranking as an old settler, he was a man of much prominence, and deserves special mention. He was the second Supervisor of the township, and through his popularity and good business qualities was elected County Clerk in 1861 on the Republican ticket. In 1865, he was re-elected to the office, and served another four years. During his services as County Clerk, he is said to have been one of the most popular leaders of the party it has ever had in the county. He at present lives in Nebraska, where he holds some important office in the government.

As already stated. Belle Prairie had originally but a very small body of native timber. Since the commencement of settlements on the prairie, treeplanting has been extensively engaged in by the farmers, and with considerable success. Walnut is the favorite timber thus cultivated, and many fine groves are found throughout the township. The nuts are planted in rows, and though a rather slow growth, the walnut is hardy and well adapted to this climate.

The first white child born in the settlement is supposed to have been William Steers, a son of Hugh Steers, and was born in 1834. The first wedding was that of William Spence and Miss Mary Darnall, and the license authorizing the solemnization of their nuptials was the first issued from the Clerk's office of Livingston County after its formation. They were married by Rev. John Darnall, in 1837. Benjamin Hieronymous and a Miss Darnall, sister to the bride just mentioned, were married soon after, and were probably the second marriage in the township. Apropos of weddings ; when a son of Mr. Hieronymous was married, some years ago, to a Miss Post, of Pontiac, a local poet thus rhapsodized the event :

Who was the first 'to enter the dark valley of the shadow of death in this township we were unable learn. But few settlements were made until a very late

The first Justice of the Peace in Belle Prairie Township was Spencer Kates, and was commissioneii as such about the vear 184r0, while this town was vet a part of Indian Grove Precinct. Jeremiah Travis was the first blacksmith, and plied his vocation from his first senlement. so fer as the few scattering settlei"s required his services. He was als<-^ a chair maker, and many of his mak^ are still to be found in this and surrounding neighborhoods. Who the first practicing physician was is a question involved in some doubt, but was. perhaps. Dr. Ostrander. mentioned elsewhere as one of the first physicians in this part of the county, and who practiced his profession in early times, all through this entire section.

The first church and the only one that has ever been built in this settlement is the Metho^iist Episcopal Church, in the southern part of the township. It is a good frame building, and was erected in 1865. at a cost of §1.500. and was dedic-ated. on its c-ompletion. by Rev. Mr. Rh<3des, then Presiding Elder of the district. Rev. Mr. Sanders is the present Pastor : his church is in a flourishing con<iition. and has a large membership. A good Sunday school is in successful operation, with a large attendance every Sunday, and Rev. Mr. Sanders is the Superintendent. A comfortable parsonage is attached to the church, which is a very pleasant arrangement. A handsome and well-kept little cemetery has been laid off near the church, where many of its former worshipers sleep in peace. Mrs. Hanna was among the first buried in it. if not the first. Be that as it may. however, it is agreed that her monument was the first put up in the linle gravevard. Although this church was not built until 1865. and the first settlement was made here thirty-five years before, it does not foUow that the pec»ple were without religious instruction. The sound of the Gospel was heard here almost from the coming of white men : and their cabins and the groves served as sanctuaries of worship, until the building of school houses. Rev. John Damall. Rev. David Sharpless and Rev. John Miller. mentioned in other parts of this work, were among the early preachers of the time.

In 1858, the first temple of learning was bmlt in Belle Prairie Township. A few of the neighbors resolved to have a school house, and, upon consultation with carpenters and builders, found that it would cost more than they could well afford to pay. Finally. Ben. Walton took the contract and proceeded! at once to put up the building. He hauled the material from Pontiac, took what pav he could get. and eventually succeeded in collecting a suflBcient amount to bring down his own quota to a fair proportion with that of his neighbors. The town is well supplicl with good, substantial school houses at convenient distances from each other, and within easy reach of all. The school records furnish no

Politically. Belle Prairie was very strongly Democratic, in the days of Whigs and Locofocos. but. at the present time, it is more evenly contesteil on the political issues of the day ; though still giving small Democratic majorities. \vhen the party lines are closely drawn. While on this theme, a little episode which occurred at the village of Potosi, just over the border in McLean County. but with some of its suburban residences extending into Belle Prairie, may not be inappropriate. Just after the close of the war. and while Hon. R. J. Oglesby was Governor of Illinois, the Democrats around Potosi, both in Livingston and McLean Counties, raised a pole at a political gathering in the village, and which some imprudent Democrat denominated a ** secesh " pole. The Republicans swore that the pole should not stand, while the Democrats swore that it should, and in pure defiance had run up a string of butternuts on it. Excitement was at a white heat : the war had just ended, and the " bloody chasm " still yawneii between the parties. Serious apprehensions were entertained by the more conservative of both sides that the affair would end in blood, when some "blessed peacemaker" proposed to telegraph the circumstances to Gov. Oglesby. a man whose loyalty none dared ijuestion. and abide his decision. It was agreed to by both parties ; the despatch was sent, and quick on the lightning's wing flashed back Oglesby's answer: "Let the Republicans go home and behave themselves, and let the Democrats take down their pole and save their nuts." This despatch created a laugh, and put the crowd in a good humor : all shook hands across the chasm, and went home in peace and quiet. It is said that the obnoxious butternuts were sent to Oglesbv as a memento of liis timely and successful interference in their little broil, and that he has them carefully laid away in his oflfice ; that he frequentl}^ takes them out of their resting place, relates the story to his friends, and enjoys a hearty laugh at the recollection.

Belle Prairie was set off from Indian Grove at the time of township organization, and from that time until about the year 1871, embraced Fayette Township within its limits. When the county was organized into townships, the first Supervisor of Belle Prairie was V. M. Darnall, its first settler. Its present officers are as follows : Supervisor, P. 0. Abbey ; D. S. Crum and Wm. Younger, Magistrates ; Ira C. Pratt, Assessor ; Richard Smith, Collector, and J. R. Spence, Town Clerk.

The name Belle Prairie was given to the township by R. B. Harrington, mentioned in another page, who seems to have been imbued with a keen sense of the glorious and beautiful. The country to which he gave the poetical name is fine and magnificent almost beyond description, and the name is as beautiful as the sweet wild flowers of its own prairies. The name provoked quite a discussion among those who wanted one more practical and suggestive of every (lay life, but the other was finally adopted. Thefe is not a village, posf office or store in the township, but the majority of the inhabitants receive their mail at Potosi, just over the line in McLean County. Indeed, a part of the village is in Belle Prairie, but the store and post office are across the line.