Madison County, Illinois - Biographical sketches (2 of 2 so headed), 1882 (part 10 of 12)

William E Hill, a native of Kentucky, emigrated to Illinois in the spring of 1830. He stopped one summer in St. Clair county, and then entered and settled on 160 acres of land in section twenty-six, and has lived there ever since. Mr. Hill is among the oldest and best citizens of to-day.

John Vanuatta, a native of New Jersey, came west, and settled on the northeast quarter of section twfenty-one, in 1832, where he still resides, at the age of 77 years. He reared a family of ciiildren, some of whom are now residing iu the state, and one in this county, the wife of C. C. Brown, in Fosterburg

Joseph Sherfy was born in Tennessee, and settled in Wood River township in 1823, where he resided about two years, and moved to Missouri. Remaiued iu that State until 183+, when he returned to Madi.sou county, and located in Fosterburg township, where he has since continued to reside. In digging the cellar for his residence on section sixteen, he came upon what was evidently an old burying-ground, Some of the bones were still almost perfect, and seemed much larger than those of our race. Richard Jones, another old settler, a native of Tennessee, came to Illinois in 1834, lived part of his time in this township, and died here. His son, James Jones, is an old and influential citizen, still living.

William Dillon, an Ohioan, located within about one mile of Fosterburg, on section 23, where he entered land, reared a family, and is at present living retired in Fosterburg with his children. His brother, John D. Dillon, a native of the same state, settled in the township in 1837 He had the first blacksmith shop in Fosterburg township. It was located on section 23. His wife, Nancy Preuitt, is a daughter of Solomon Preuitt, born in this county in 1826.

George Wood, the father of Joshua Wood, whose name is familiar to all the older citizens, entered land in the northeast quarter of section thirty four, about 1821. He was a carpenter by trade, and was not a permanent resident.

year of his age. He had a family of ten children, four of whom are still living. His widow still survives, residing on the old homestead, in the 71st year of her age, and is still hale and hearty. She is a daughter of James Huston, an old resident of the county, who was a native of Christian county, Kentucky, and came from there to Alton, May 22, 1819. In the fall of the same year he moved out into Wood River township, on the place owned by Capt. Abel Moore, where he lived for about three years, then entered the southwest quarter of section 32, and lived there until the fall of 1835, when he moved and settled near Shipman, where he died Nov. 12, 1846. His widow survived until 1856. He had a family often children, only two of whom are living - Sarah, the widow of Joshua AVood, above mentioned ; and Elizabeth, the wife of George N. Sapping, residing in Iowa. The Nichols, John Young, Alexander Hart, James Drennen, William and Mark Crowder, William England, Samuel S. Wilson, David Hill, Asa Brooks, Alford AUford, Ransom Chandler, Thomas Eaton, James Reading the Titchenals, David Rodden, Nelson, David Jones, Hugh

Jones, and James Bevill were also among the early residents of the township. Mrs. Susannah Thompson is a daughter of Ransom Chandler, and came to this county in 18:-!9. Her first husband, Eldred Foster, was born in Madison county in 1821 ; and Jacob Thompson, her second husband, was an Ohioan, and came here in 1834. Hazel Luman, residing on section 25, is an old resident, and came here from Kentucky in 1828. His wife, whose maiden name was Williams, was born in this county in 1833. Mrs. Nancy Cavault, formerly the wife of John Deck, became a resident of Madison county in 1817. She is now residing with her husband, Abraham Cavault.

The first graveyard was that located on the Jacob Deck place. The next was the Short graveyard, now incorporated as a cemetery, and named " Delraont." Mrs. Jacob Deck, jr., a daughter of Green W. Short, was the first person buried there. Members of the Wood family were also buried in the old part of the cemetery.

School was first taught in a log house, built on Perry W. Short's place, on section thirty-four, iu 1832. It was used a short time for both school and church purposes. The earliest Sunday-school was organized in it. The logs of this house were subsequently moved from there and used in the construction of J. M. Cooper's residence. There are now seven school districts, and one fractional, in Fosterburg^ all of which have neat and substantial houses, where school is taught the greater part of the year.

The old Antioch church was the first house of worship in Fosterburg township. It was a log structure, neither chinked nor daubed, erected in the latter part of 1832. There was afterward a frame church erected at the same place, which was destroyed by fire iu 1863. These were built by the Christian denomination.

There have been only three attempts made at building mills in this township, the first being erected by Samuel and William Dillon, on section 23, in 1834. It was a sawmill. The second was to be a flouring mill ; it was, however, only partially completed when it was destroyed by fire

The first post-office was establisheJ duriug the days of stages, on the Springfield road, half a mile north of the village of Fosterburg. John Nichols was the first post-master.

There is an abundance of coal underlying the whole surface of Fosterburg township, and several mines have been opened and worked to a limited degree, to supply only the local demands. The vein averages about four and a-half feet in thickness, and is found from sixty to eighty feet below the surface. There are at present three mines in operation, worked by the following parties: John Hill, William Challingsworth and John Hankhaus, all located on section 26, and worked by shaft with horse-power.

The inhabitants of Fosterburg township are an enterprising and intelligent people, who are using their united efforts to advance the township in wealth and prosperity. They are almost all of the agricultural class, industrious and l)ains-taking, and their improvements are equal to any in

There have been only two gentlemen who have had the honor of representing this township in the board of supervisois - Edmund Dooling and John S. Gulp. Mr. Dooling was eleced in 1876, and, by re-election, served until 1881, when Mr. Gulp was elected, and has ever since continued in that position.

Is a little village situated in the southwest quarter of secti.m 14, and was laid out by Oliver P. Foster, the proprietor. The plat was recorded in the office of the county clerk, Oct. 12, 1»57. It was first called " Foster," but when application for a post office was made in 1858, it was found that there was another office of the same name, and the " burg " was attached. C. F. Lobbig has had the honor of being post master ever since the office was established. The first dwelling, house was erected by Kansom Ghandler. G. F. Lobbig opened the first store.

This neat village contains several very good residences and business buildings. The principal street has good plank sidewalks, and is kept up in nice style. The place is a great convenience to the citizens of the township. It contains three brick churches, - the German Presbyterian, erected in 1858 ; the German Baptist, in 1 865, and the German Methodist, erected in 1864. The district school-house located in Fosterburg, is a brick structure, one story high, with a frame addition. It employs two teachers.

Fosterburg Cemdiry was originally a private burying ground. John G. Young and Thomas Eaton each donated a fraction of an acre, after which it was used by the public until 1873, when an association was organized and a charier obtained under the general law for a cemetery. The association purchased more laud, added to it, and made considerable improvements. The village has 130 inhabitants.

wood's station, Is located on section 29, on the line of the Ghicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad, which passes from north to south through the western part of the township. It is a great convenience to the people in that neighborhood.

William E. Hill

Was born in Livingstone county, Kentucky, on the 11th day of January, 1807, being the fourth child in a family of eight children, of whom five were boys and three, girls. Their father, David Hill, was a native of North Garolina, who removed to Kentucky, and settled on a farm, near the close of the last century. W. E. Hill, when a youth, attended school ; but the facilities fi r learning were so slight that he reached the age of manhood before making much progress in the art of reading or writing. Upon leaving school he worked upon his father's farm, and at the age of twenty-two, married Miss Mirtha Wilson, the daughter of a neighboring farmer. For a brief period after marriage, he remained located upon a portion of his father's farm, and then removed, with his young wife, to the State of Illinois, and settled on a farm in the northern part "f St. Clair county, a little south of the town of Golliusville. Here Mr.

Hill had the misfortune to lose h'9 wife, who died, leaving one son, named Anthony, who lived to the age of fifty. One year later, in 1831, Mr. Hill, not being satisfied with the location, removed to Madison county, and settled upon a half section of land in what is now Fosterburg township.

About the year 1835, Mr. Hill again married. The name of his second wife was Mary Brooks, daughter of Asa Brooks, of Fosterburg, and formerly of New York. By this union he has had a family of thirteen children, six of whom are now living, namely : Henry, John, George, Annie,

Martha and Charlotte. Mr. Hill has now a fine farm in a good state of cultivation, to which he has given almost his entire attention. Mr. Hill has acted as school director for a number of years, the only official position he would accept. In politics he was originally a Whig and strong Abolitionist and staunch supporter of his intimate friend, L')vejoy. Religiously, he was inclined to the Presbyterian faith, but, as there was no church of that denomination in the neighborhood, he has lately become a member of the Methodist church.

New Douglas

JIIIS, one of the smallest townships, is situated in the northeast corner of the county, and is a rectangle five and a half miles long by three and threequarter miles wide, bounded on the north by Montgomery county, on the east by Bond county, on the south by Leef and on the west by Olive township. The south and west is drained by tlie tributaries of Silver Creek. Dry Fork Branch is in the northeast part, where it is slightly timbered. There is some timber also on the west side. The remainder and greater j>art of the township is a beautiful prairie that has been settled principally within the past thirty years. The first settler was Daniel Fundcrburk, a native of South Carolina, born in 1786 and served through the war of 1812, under Gen. Smith. He located on section seven in the fall of 1819. For several years he was the only resident of the territory that now comprises this township. In 1823, he taught the first school in a small cabin built near his residence. The children attending lived in the adjoining township. Mr. Funderburk lived on the place that he improved until his death December 11, 1838. He raised a family of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, viz : Sarah, Thomas, John, Elizabeth, Martha, Henry, Daniel, Julia A., Emily, Samuel, and Edward who died in the late war. Only two of his children now live near the settle ment, Thomas and Julia, now Mrs. Kell. The latter resides in Worden, and Thomas is a prominent farmer in the southern edge of Macoupin county, and has served the people at various timt-s in different positions of trust. John L. Carlock came into the township about 1831 December 14, 1833, entered the first tract of land, the northwest quarter of the njrtheast quarter of section 19, now part of the S.

A. Isaacs place. Carlock improved a forty acre form, and moved from here to Adams county, and subsequently went to Missouri. The Methodists held their early meetings at his residence. Cornelius Wood, a brother-in-law, located on a place southwest of Carlock's in section 19, about the same time. He improved a small farm here, and filled the office of Justice of the Peace for some time. He afterward moved to Bond county where he died. Robert Greening came in 1830, and located on the same seciion, south of Wood's, now the Fred Rinner place, where he continued to reside until his death. He was a strict member of the Baptist church, and meetings were conducted at his house regularly for many years. Jackson Allen, a native of Virginia, came to the county in 1837, and settled in the township on section 17, in the spring of that year. His location was some distance out in the prairie, where he improved a good farm and continued to reside until he lost his wife in 1862. He then lived princip.-illy at his daughter's near by until his death in 1870. He raised a family of seven children, six boys and one girl, viz. : Andrew, George, Abraham, Isaac, David, Thomas, and Mary who married Andrew Jackson. Abraham who lives in the village of New Douglas, is the only one of the family now in the county. John P. Lindsey settled the H. Manshott place in section 20, in 1840. He was the second to settle out on the prairie.

The second school house, a log building put up about 1839, stood on the west part of section 18. Nelson Sparks was the first teacher. John Funderburk, son of Daniel and Mary. Funderburk, was the first born, September 3, 1S22. The first death that of Mary, wife of Daniel Funderburk, occurred August 7, 1838. To the first marriage, the contracting parties were Aaron Voyles and Sarah Funderburk, in 1834.

Oliver Foster, who settled in Salu aud afterward at Fosterburg, where he died. Mr. A. Foster came to New Douglas township in 1857. He was born in Main^, and was three years of age when his father settled in Madison county. When he located on section 16, in 1857, all the region about him was an open prairie. He laid out the town of New Douglas, September 5, 1860, on the west part of the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 16. The original town contained twenty acres. Foster and Owen laid out an addition afterward on the west side of the road, and other additions have siuce been laid out. The corporate limits now include the whole of section 16. The T. C. and St. Louis extends through the township, intersecting the southern corporate limit of New Douglas. In 1860, Costen Sawyer put up the first business house, in which he opened a small stock of goods. The same year he built a blacksmith shop and employed John Trype to work in it; Trype afterward conducted a shop on his own account. The second store was started by Dr. William F. Rubottom in 1863. He got a post-office established the same year, with mails twice a week from Staunton. The town Las now a daily mail from the same place. Dr. Rubottom was the first physician. He came in 1860, and continued to practice about five years and then went west. The, first regular hotel was built in 1876, by Rodo Latowsky, the present owner and proprietor. The public school building was rebuilt after the cyclone on a larger plan. It is a two story frame building with three rooms, where three teachers are employed. The flouring mill, with two run of burrs, was built by Martin B. Day on a cheap plan. After about five years it was improved by R. P. Finney. Subsequently it was improved by Foster & Dee. In 1879, Murdock & Fletcher became the owners and improved the machinery. They sold it to Mrs. Anna Easton, and the mill is now run by Amos Easton. No town in the county, in proportion to its size has so many churches, there being six. The Methodist South was erected in 1867. It was destroyed in the cyclone of 1876, and rebuilt in 1880, on a plan somewhat less than the original. The Baptist church, 30x44 feet, was built in 1869.

In 1874, the Lutherans built a neat frame church that was destroyed in the cyclone and was immediately rebuilt about its former size. The Catholics, who have the largest congregation, erected their church in 1870. The Methodist church, a neat brick edifice, was built in 1877. The Christian church was erected in 1878.

Madison Lodge, No. 560, A. F. and A. M , was chartered October 1, 1867, with the following charter members: John J. Wilber, Master ; M. A. Cline, John L. Steward, Francis Reeding, G. W. Bently, J. A. Whiteside, H. C. Young, William Denney, B. J. Vallentiue, Willis McGilvary, A. J. Fleming. Present membership thirty-three.

The 27th of February, 1876, a very violent cyclone passed through the township, entering at section 30, traveling in a due northeast direction taking its exit in section 3, on the south side of Dry Fork Branch. It passed dire(!tly through the western part of the village of New Douglas, entirely demolishing eleven dwellings, two churches, schoolhouse and Masonic hall. It damaged a great many other buildings, by removing them from their foundations, unroofing, etc. The cyclone struck the M. E. Church South while an afternoon meeting was being conducted. About forty persons were in the building at the time. Henry C. Young, a local minister and resident of the town, was killed. The church, a frame, 30 by 40 feet, was torn to atoms and sent whirling through the air. A great many were seriously injured. The German Lutheran church in the line of the storm was also made a total wreck. The five persons that were in Masonic Hall at the time it was destroyed all received more or less injury. The most seriously injured was Robert Alsop, who was taken out from the broken timbers with a crushed limb In the edge of the village farther north, although not in the exact line of destruction, some friends wpre performing the la^t sad rites of the dead, when the storm came uj/on them_ spreading devastation and horror on every side. Wagons were overturned, the beds crushed to splinters and carried away. Several women seeing the storm approaching ran to a house near by for refuge. No sooner had they gained the inside than the building was picked up, whirled round and dashed to the ground a mass of broken timbers mingled with mangled humanity ; one lady had a babe killed in her arms, in the Board of Supervisors aj>pear below : Andrew Jackson was elected in 187(5 and held office one term ; Abram Allen was Supervisor in 1878-79 ; Martin Jones, elected in 1879, served one term ; J. F. Long was first chosen in 1880, and has since held the office, being the present incumbent.

Hamel

^RIOR to township organization, Hamel contained a part of Edwardsville, AVorden, and OmphGhent precincts. It now comprises the whole of town five, range seven, bounded on the north by Omph-Ghent, east by Alhambra, south by Pin Oak, and west by Fort Russell. It is drained by Cahokia and Silver creek and their tributaries. The former flows through the northwest part in a southerly direction, and the latter in the same direction through two sections in the southeast part. Along the Cahokia a con.siderable quantity of timber is found, and the land is somewhat broken. The larger part of the township is a beautiful prairie, well adapted to agriculture. The Wabash railroad extends through it, entering at section nineteen and passing out at section two. Carpenter is the shipping point. To the papers of Hon. Robert Aldrich we are largelv indebted for much of the data in this chapter. Mr. Aldrich was born in Worcester county, l\Iass., January 4th, 1794. In the fall of 1816, he, in company with his brother Anson, started on foot for the Illinois Territory. On their way westward, in the vicinity of Xenia, Ohio, they met some Massachusetts friends who had preceeded them, with whom they remained and worked until tlie following fall, when they resumed their journey. At Cincinnati they fell in with Henry and George Keley, brothers, who with the family of Henry Keley were on their way to Edwardsville, Illinois. The Rileys had what was called a family boat, and the Aldrich brothers decided to go with them. The party floated down the Ohio until they reached Shawncetown. This was in October 1817. Here the Keleys decided to follow the river no farther and disembarked. They had brought three horses and a wagon on the boat. Here the little band decided to go first to Kaskaskia. The horses were hitched to the wagon, the women, children and household effects placed in it, and the journey commenced overland, through a country devoid of bridges. Oftentimes the wagon box had to be utilized as a ferry boat. Swimming the horses over was an easy task, but the danger of getting the family across swollen streams with floating timbers, in this frail craft, was perilous. The party consisted of the two Keleys, Mrs. Ann Young, her two grandchildren, viz: Henry T. Bartling and Harriet Bartling, Mrg. Henry Keley and Robert and Anson Aidrich.* After arriving at Kaskaskia and resting the horses a few days, Henry Keley and the Aldriches mounted and rode up to Edwardsville, leaving George Keley with the women and children. Tlicy arrived at Edwardsville in the early part of November, and put up at the public house of Col. John T. Lusk. They secured the services of George Coventry who was acquainted with the country to show them around. After inspecting the settlement for a time, Mr. Keley decided to locate in section twenty-nine of this township, the north line of which was the limit of the government surveys that had been made up to this time. On this section Henry Keley assisted by the Aldriches, built a cabin, and on the 4th of January, 1818, his family having arrived from Kaskaskia, they began their cabin life, the Aldriches boarding with them. With the exception of a small improvement made in the year 1811, and abandoned at the commencement of the war of 1812, by a man named Ferguson on section sevtn, just below the crossing of Cahokia creek by the Alton and Greenville road, this house of Capt Keley 's was the first dwelling erected in the township. The Kaskaskia and Peoria Trace, an old track made before the commencement of this century, passing along the center of Ridge Prairie (called by the French Fraire Du Long) through this towi,. ship, and a "trail " made by rangers from Wood river to B.)nd county, were the only roads in 1818.

Thomas Barnet, a native of Gibson county, Tennessee, in 1817, started to emigrate to Missouri and arrived at Edwardsville late in the fall of that year. He was a married man at that time and had one child, Juliet. She is now Mrs. William H. High, a widow, and lives in St. Joseph, Missouri. The winter coming on, Mr. Barnet concluded to remain at Edwardsville until spring, when he would continue his journey. He rented a small cabin of John T. Lusk, that stood near the old fair grounds, iuto which he moved his family. He eing an active man, and desiring some occupation for the coming winter, entered the southwest quarter of section '^i, O ;tob3r 2S, 1817, and built a cabin and made other improvements, such as splitting rails> etc. This was the third entry in the township. John Edgar made the first, April 29th, 1815, entering five tracts in sections eighteen and thirty. Joseph Smith made the second, October 21st, 1817, entering two huudred and forty acres in section twenty-five. Mr. Barnet was the first to improve entered land. He erected his cabin where the house of his sou K. T. Barnet now stands. He worked diligently on the place all winter and, in the following March, moved the family out from Edwardsville in order to he near his work, but with the firm intention of selling out during the summer and continuing his journey to his intended destination, as soon as the roads would permit. But after becoming settled he concluded perhaps this was as good a country as he could find on the west side of the Mississippi. So he remained and died here, April 2d, 1852, aged seventy-three years. His wife died June 25th, 1846. They had eight children born to them in this county, viz: Nancy B., Ruth, Samuel P., Thomas J., Kimbrough Tinsley 0 , Sarah M., Rufus C, and Alfred P. The four brothers live in the settlement and are farmers. Thomas J., the oldest of the brothers, was born September 10th, 1824, on the old pl.ace, and is n iw the oldest native born citizen of the township. Bennet Jones occupied a cabin on section three, during the early part of 1818. Allen and Keltner made small improvements on section five, the same year, but sold out directly and left. Archibald Lamb commenced his improvement in 1818, in section three, where he maile a good farm on which he lived until his death. In 1818, Samuel Walker built a cabin on section thirty, where B. Bange now lives. He lived a few years and then moved away. William Mize settled the Col. Thomas Judy place. Francis Roach born in Fairfax county, Virginia, a Revolutionary soldier, and Indian fighter in Kentucky, came into the Illinois Territory, in 1807, and into this township twenty years later and located on section three, where he lived until his death, in the year 1845, at the advanced age of one hundred and six years. He was a man of very small stature, and of wonderful activity. When quite advanced in life he delighted to go out with the boys and "lay patterns," as he called it, for them to jump to. He would jump up and strike his heels twice together before coming down, and then laugh heartily to see the youth of the neighborhood try it again and again without success. His son, David, also died near the old place. His daughter married John Armstrong, who was the first settler in the northern part of Shelby county, Illinois. James Wilder settled the George McCune place in an early day. Robert Aldrich settled on the east side ofsection twenty-nine. The cabins of Capt. Keley, Wilder and Aldrich stood in a row extending east and west on the .same section. Keley and Wilder afterward moved away, and none of their descendants now live in the county. Aldrich improved a good farm here, married, reared a family, and became one of the prominent citizens of the county. He represented the county in the state legislature of 1842. His death occurred on the old

" Wheat that was sown in the fall of 1818, proved to be a good crop. It was the first harvested in the township. Many of the wheat fields, in 1820, were affected with what was termed ' sick wheat.' Persons who ate bread made from it would sicken and proceed to vomit, but instinct taught the brute creation to reject it. A dog might snatch a piece of bread thrown to him but would immdiately drop it. Neither cattle nor swine would eat it, and some farmers burned their sliicks, deeming it utterly worthless." About 1820, Henry Keley built on section twenty-nine, what was called a" bandmill," in which rawhide bands were extensively used instead of cogs It contained a good bolting cloth and chest, but was operated for a short time only as it did not pay. In Mr. Aldrich's reminiscences he ^ays : " There was not an apple, pear, peach, or cherry tree or any thing of the sort, except such as were in the wild state, in the township when I reached it in 1817. It was a wilderness. In 181. i, Henry Keley and Anson Aldrich went to Griffith's nursery at Portage, Des Sioux, in St. Charles county, Missouri, and got apple grafts. They wrapped deerskins around the middle of their packages, so they could be placed before them on their horses, and thus they were brought to our settlement. That was the start of my old orchard, fifty-six years ago which bore fruit last year, 1874. Not far from the same period Archibald Lamb and Thomas Barnet set out apple ( rchards." Of the early settlers of Madison county, none are more widely known than the Judys. Col. Thomas Judy was a son of Col. Samuel Judy. He was born December 19th, 1804, at the old Judy homestead in the Goshen settlement. He was three times married. His first wife was Lavisa Snyder, daughter of Jacob Snyder, one of the early settlers of Madison county, whom he married March 23d, 1826 The children of this union all died youug, excepting Margaret, who became the wife of James L McCorkell.

Col Judy married Nanc.y Hayes in 1833. She died eleven years later. His third wife was Mrs. Demaris Barnsback, widow of George Barnsback. He lived in the American Bottom until 1849, where he improved a large and valuable farm. In 1850 he came to this township. He was a very successful farmer and an extensive land owner. In 1852 and '53 he represented his county in the Legislature. His death occurred October 4th, 1880, at a good old age. His widow survives him, and lives at the place where he spent the last thirty years of his life. He reared a large family, now mostly deceased. His sons, Thomas and William, are prominent farmers of the county and live on parts of the old homestead, the former in Pin Oak township, and the latter in Hamel. John and Jefl^erson Fruit were among the first to improve farms in the prairie in the southern part of the township. A more extended notice of this family will be found in the Pin Oak chapter. Among the prominent early settlers was Judge H. K. Eaton, a native of Adams county, Mississippi. He was born April 4th, 1811, but spent his early manhood in the state of Kentucky, where he married Miss Elizabeth Pomerny. In 1836 he moved to Illinois, and located in Edwardsville, his first residence being the house now occupied by F. A. Wolf. He was a caliinet maker bv trade, and for many years followed his trade in the city of Edwardsville. By his probity aud uprightness in business matters, he gained the full confidence of the people. His good qualities soon pointed him out as one to be trusted with public matters, and he was chosen to the office of county commissioner, and probate judge, the duties of which he discharged with remarkable ability and fidelity Although he was no lawyer by profession, his excellent judgment and sound common sense, peculiarly fitted him for either the Bench or Bar. After serving the people of the county so faithfully and well he withdrew from public life and retired to his farm in what is now Harael township. It was here that he died, the 1st of April, 1881, being nearly three-score and ten years of age. His .son, W. P. Eaton, now resides on the homestead.

The first death in the township was that of Mrs Harber. while she with her husband was on a visit to an old acquaintance in the vicinity of Archibald Lamb's place.

The Omph-Ghent post office is kept at the residence of John Weaver in the extreme northwest part of the township. Hamel's corner was started by Frederick Wolf in 1865. He built a large brick building and opened a general stock of goods. He also built a feed stable and entertained travelers. Before the railroad was built through the township there was a considerable amount of travel on the St. Louis and Hillsboro and the Alton and Greenville roads, which passed the corners He did quite a thriving business until 1874, when he rented his establishment to his brothers, Ernest and William. The former has since purchased the building and bought his brother William's interest, and is now conducting a good payiog business. In 1867 Christian Traub started a blacksnnth shop and continued the business until he died three years ago. The same year, after the blacksmith shop was started, G. A. Engelmann built a wagon shop and has continued in the business to present time. In 1869 A. J. Hamel, John Handshy & Sparks built a flouring-mill with two run of burrs. About four years after it was moved away. The upper story was cut off and converted into a blacksmith shop, now the property of William Wendlandt. In 1868 Hamel built a frame store building and opened a general store. He sold out afterward and the firm changed several times. The building and most of the stock of goods were c insumed by fire in the spring of 1880. Hamel sold to George H. Engelmann in 1871, who had a post office established the following year For a time the mail was carrierl from Worden in a common two-bushel wheat sack by a private carrier, paid by the citizens. The mail now comes from Carpenter once a day, Ernest Wolf being the present postmaster. Dr. Jo.seph Roth commenced the practice of medicine in 1869 and continued several years. The place now has no physician. Hamel's Corner received its name from A. J. Hamel, a farmer who lived here and owned all the land originally on the north side of the Alton and Greenville road, near the corners. When township organization was effected his name was given to the township.

Hamburg was laid out in 1860 by Heiiiy Morrison and F. Soehlke aud was situated on the south part of the northwest quarter of section twenty-two. At one time it supported a blacksmith.

Carpenter

In the spring of 1877 the Wabash railroad put in a spur a half-mile northeast of the station, and it was called " Nobody's Switch." Six months later a switch was put in where the station now stands and the place was called Carpenter, by order of the company The same year twenty thousand bushels of corn were shipped from this point. The grain office of H. Breed & B. Clark was erected in January 1877. The following month F. H. Clark established a building attached to the grain office and opened a general store in it He was also the railroad agent. The following May a post office was established, with F. H. Clark as postmaster. He has filled the office to the present time. In the fall of 1877 Peter Balmer built a house and opened a hotel. The following winter John Brown built a residence and blacksmith shop. In the summer of 1877 Breed & Clark erected the grain house east of the office with a capacity of 5000 bushels. D. S. Shellabarger & Co., of Decatur, in 1881 built a grain house south of the depot with a capacity of 30,000 bushels. In 18S0 the railroad company constructed the tank and pond. T. H. Clark built his present business house in 1881. Carpenter was laid out by John F. Opel, and the plat was recorded IMay 9th, 1877. It is situated on the north half of the east half of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section eight.

Millersville was laid out and recorded by Fritz Miller. It is situated on the west half of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section eight.

The gentlemen whose names appear below have represented the township in the Board of Supervisors : William A. Mize was elected in 1876 and held office for one year. Isaac Hall, elected in 1877, served three terms. John Weaver was supervisor for 1880-81. He was succeeded in office by William P. Eaton, who served one term. Mr. Weaver was again elected in 1882, and is the present incumbent.

The first school-house in town five, range seven, was built on the land of Robert Aldrich in 1825, and stood near his residence. It was a temporary structure, and was used but a short time. There were but few families in the neighborhood, and the school was too small to be a source of sufficient profit to a competent teacher, Mr. Carver and Joseph Thompson each taught a short time in it. Not far from the same time a log school-house was built near Archibald

Lamb's. It was dignified with a stone chimney. This school-house also served as a church. The Lutheran church, a good substantial brick building standing in center of section one, was erected in 1861. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, located on the southeast corner of section twenty-seven, was built in 1872. The Evangelical church, on the northeast quarter of section twenty-two, was constructed in 1873.

Mrs. Demaris Judv

The Judy family were among the pioneers of Illinois, and the earliest settlers of Madison county. Jacob Judy, the ancestor of the family, was a native of Switzerland, and emigrated to America in 1777, and settled in Maryland, where he remained ten years. In 1787 he came west to Kaskaski, and in 1800 came to the territory now comprising Madison county. His son. Col. Samuel Judy, the father of Thomas, was bom August 19th, 1773. He was a prominent man in his day, and was elected as Territorial Repre" sentative of the Kaskaskia District, which included the county of Madison. Upon the organization of Madison county, he was elected one of the Commissioners, and served the people for many years in that capacity. He was, during the Indian wars, one of the best Indian fighters that graced the annals of pioneer life in Illinois. He was always a leader, and was found in the front ranks in every perilous expedition against the savages. No family of the early days of Illinois can show a better record for fearless devotion to home and country than the Judys. He was united to Miss Margaret White.side, sister of General Whiteside, who was also a noted Indian fighter and altogether one of the most remarkable men who figured prominently in the early days of the west. Of that union, was Thomas Judy. He was born in Madison county, December 19, 1804. He grew to manhood, and on the 23d of March, 1826, was united in marriage to Miss Lavina, daughter of Jacob Snyder. There were several children by that union, none of whom are living. Mrs. Judy died ;' after which Mr. Judy contracted a second marriage with Miss Nancy Hays, the date of which was March 22d, 1833. She die<l in 1844. There were two daughters by that union, named Eliza, wife of Rufus C. Baruett, and Sarah, wife of Isaac C. Davis.

On the 8th of January, 1845, he married Mrs. Damaris Barnsback, widow of George Barnsback and daughter of Judge James Yowell, who settled in Macoupin county in 1827, by which marriage there are three surviving children. She was born in Shelby county, Kentucky July 13, 1817, and died in Hamel township, in this county in the summer of 1882. She had survived her husband several years. Col. Judy died October 4th, 1879. The names of the surviving children are, Thomas .1., born May 15, 1846, and was married to Miss Nancy M , daughter of Robert and Nancy McKee.

March 17th, 1870 ; William S., bom December 29, 1848. and married Miss Rhoda A., daughter of Jesse Bartlett, Feby. 22, 1871 ; Mary, born Sept. 24, 1850, and married Benjamin R. Burroughs, January 29th, 1873. Col. Thomas Judy was elected to represent Madison county in the General Assembly of Illinls, in 1852. In that position he sustained himself with credit and gave satisfaction to his constituents. He was often in the Indian wars in the early days of Illinois and was a man of great physical strength and undoubted courage, a true type of that pioneer class who are rapidly passing away.

In his nature he was singularly kind and obliging. No one ever called upon him for aid or assistance, but that it was readily and cheerfully granted. He was a man of more than usual good judgment. In those things in which he took an interest he was more than ordinarily successful. He was eminently a faithful and honest man. What he said he believed to be true and whatever he promised he was faithful tu perform. Generous to all men he was lasting and true to his friends. In 1857 he made a profession of religion, and attached himself to the Methodist church, and ever after exhibited the genuineness of religious experience and true Christian faith. His wife was also a member of the same church. She was a kind and generous neighbor and friend, a true and feithful wife and devoted mother.*

Leer

(HIS township is wholly prairie, with the exception of about two hundred and forty acres on Silver creek, in sections thirty-three and thirty-four, which are timbered. The township is drained by the head- waters of Silver creek flowing in a southerly direction. It contains thirty sections of laud, all of which is arable, and is bounded on the north by New Douglass and Bond county, on the east by Bond county, on the south by Saline, and on the west by Alhambra. In a point of timber on the east side of Saliu'j creek, in section thirty-four, in 1818, James Pearce made the first settlement^ It properly belonged to the Silver creek settlement, and hig cabin was the most northerly situated, as the old settlers spoke of it, at the head of Silver creek. All north of him was an unbroken prairie, for many years, with only a trail here and there through it from the settlement in Bond county, to the settlements on the west fork of Silver creek. He was the first land owner in the township. April 14, 1817, he entered the west half of the southeast quarter of section thirty-four. January 16, 1818, he entered eighty acres more in the same section. Hugh A. Pearce, his sou, entered the east half of the southwest quarter August 3d, 182i). All other entries here were of a later date. Mr. Pearce was born in North Carolina. His parents went to Kentucky^ where he grew up, and afterward married Miss Lucy Alii, son. Three children were born to them in that State, Hugh A., Robert, and William W. In 1815, he emigrated to

Madison county, and lived for three years in the vicinity of Edwardsville, where he settled as above stated. He was twice married. Six children were born to him by his first wife, after coming to this county, viz: W^iley, Joseph B.^ Alfred C, Meliuda, Francis M., and James. His second wife was Miss Frances Martin, whom he married in 1837, and by whom he had five children, viz : Mary, who died in infancy ; Mathias B., Thomas N., Sarah E., and Rachel. Of the children, Hugh, Robert, W^iley, Joseph B., and Alfred C, when they grew to manhood, went into the southern States and settled. William W. located in Alhambra, where he now resides, as one of the largest land owners in the county. Francis M. has been a practicing physician in this and Macoupin counties for the past twenty-six years. He has represented his county in the legislature, and he now lives in the village of Alhambra. James was a farmer of this and Macoupin counties until 1881, when he moved to Kansas, where he now lives. Mathias B. is a farmer of Olive township. Thomas N. now resides in Texas, where he went only a few years ago. Sarah E., now the wife of Dr. William Allen, lives in Edwardsville. Rachel, now Mrs. James Tabor, lives in Alhambra township. Mr. Pearce was the first justice in the township. He filled the office for manv years. His house stood on the Vandalia and St. Louis road, and from the time the road was laid out shortly after he settled here, until it was changed and made to run farther south in 1835, he kept the stage stand. The first death was that of an infant child of his (the seventh son) in 1824. The first-born was Joseph B. Pearce, in 1820.

The first marriage was that of Hugh A. Pearce in 1859, to Miss Susan Carson of Saline township. The old gentleman lived in this settlement until 1848, when he moved into what is now Olive township, where he lived until his death in 1864, at the age of seventy- fur years. Jesse Alli.-^on, Thomas Allison and Thomas Johnson, were the other early settlers of Leef. Jesse Allison, a brother in-law of James Pearce, settled what is now the William Serumpf place, in 1824. Some years prior to his settlement here, he had lived in the vicinity of the Biggs' salt workS: where he worked fir Biggs several years. He lived in Leef until 1839, when he went to Highland, and subsequently to Cooper county, Missouri, where he died. Th.onias Allison, his brother, built a cabin on the land of James Pearce in an early day. Here he lived a short time, and then moved to Cooper county. Missouri, where he was killed during the late war by the bushwhackers.

Thomas Johnson, Jr., built a cabin a short distance north of where the Salem graveyard now is, about 1830. His father, Thomas Johnson, Sr., settled near the north line of Saline township, in 1818. The junior Johnson lived here about thirty years and then moved west. Hugh A Pearce settled a place north of his father's in 1829, where he lived until he moved south, in 1834. D. Charter located in the forks of Silver creek, about ten years later, where he improved a good farm. The first farms made north in the prairie, were improved by G. W. Rockwell, A. J. Flinnand Frank Housong. Mr. Rockwell lives on the northwest corner of section sixteen. He was born in Clay county, Missouri, and came to Madison county in 1838 His wife, now deceased, who was a Miss Catharine Peterson, was born in Madison county in 1834. The farmers of this township are principally Germans, and Jacob Leef, who was born in Canton Schaffhousen, Switzerland, was the first of his nationality to settle here. And when the county passed under township organization, this township was named in his honor. In 18 i4, then nineteen years of age, he came alone to America, landing at New Orleans. He had just money enough to reach St. Louis, where he remained until 1840. He then came to Saline township and went into the employ of S. H. Mudge, where he remained five years. In the meantime he earned and saved money sufficient to buy a little farm. In 1845 he purchased forty acres in section thirty-three, where he now resides, and began farming fir himself. His place was originally settled by Benjamin Furbee, and at the time he located here, the prairie north of him for milej was an unsettled country, and remained so substantially until after the late war, when, in a short space of time, ii: was wrested from nature's domain. Mr. Leef was married April 8th, 1844, to Miss Regina Reichet. By this union there were born eleven children. He, by industry and economy, increased his possessions to upward of three hundred acres of land, and he is now living in the enjoyment of a competence, respected and honored by his fellow neighbors. John Ambuhl, a well-to do farmer on section twenty-eight, was born in Switzerland, and came to Madison county in 1839. Francis M. Wagoner settled on the eighty acres east of the village of Saline. He is one of the prominent farmers of Sa-

This U a pleasant little village of about one hundred and fifty inhabitants, lying on the township line, partly in Leef and partly in Saline townships. It was first called Fitz James, and was laid out in 1840, by Henry K. Lathey, James Carpenter, George Fulls, Jonas R. Gale, Z. Lowe, and William F. De Wolf, on the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter section thirty-three. John Duncan opened a store in 1840. His house stood on the north side of the road that runs on the township line. He kept a public house, and put up a large sign inscribed in prominent letters " Fitz James Hotel by John Duncan." He continued here in a fair [layiiig business, until his death, after which the buildings were burned. Some years after this, the town in the meantime making little progress R D. Leggitt put up a second store. This also stood on the north side of the road. After about two years, he sold out to William Schum, who subsequently sold to John Bardill and brothers. Mr. Bardill afterward purchased his brother's interest in the store and conducted the business for many years. He was instrumental in getting a post-office established, called Saline. The department ordered the name changed, and the citizens christened it Grant Fork, which is the [iresentname of the post-office. Martin Ruch, in the early history of the village, opened a store on the south side, where he is still engaged in business. In 1840 one Herrin opened a blacksmith shop in a little log cabin that stood just cast of the Douglas store building. He was not an expert at his trade, but could mend a chain or clevis, and was looked upon as quite an acquisition to the settlement. He afterward left, and for many years there was no blacksmith John Link was the second snaith. The Catholic church is a handsome brick edifice, built in 1872. There is a school conducted in connection with the church. The Lutheran church is a neat brick structure erected the same year. The public school is a brick building, one story high, with two rooms, in charge of James Lane at the present writing.

The following named gentlemen have been members of the board of supervisors : Daniel Ruedy was chosen in 1876, and was in oflice until he was succeeded by John Bardill in 1879. John Mulloy was elected in 1880, and has held the office four successive terms, and is now the incumbent.

Omph-Ghent

(HIS, is one of the noithern townships, and received its name from the church that stood near tlie residence of David Swett. Originally Oniph-Ghent comprised all the territory between east and west Cahokia creeks, from the county line south to a line running east and west, in the center of town five, range eight. Since township organizations, it comprises the whole of town six, range seven, bounded on the north by Macoupin county, on the east by Olive, on the south by Hamel, and on the west by More township. It is drained by Cahokia and Swett creeks, and their tributaries,- running in a southerly direction through the more central part of the township. Along these streams the land is considerably broken and is timbered. The best farming land is found on the east and west sides of the township. The Wabash railroad extends through four sections in the southeastern part, and Worden, a thriving village on this line, is the principal trading poiut.

Near where the Oraph-Ghent church now stands, in the fall, or winter of 1820, David Swett, a native of Pennsylvania, erected the first cabin. October 6th of that year, he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land. It was the first tract of land entered. He came to Edwardsville, in 1817, from his native state. His father died when he was quite a boy. His mother bouud him out to learn the shoemaker's trade. After serving out his time, he started west immediately, arriving here at the date above stated, when four years later he married Miss Elizabeth Tindall, who was born in North Carolina, and came here an orphan girl with her uncle, Thomas Tindall, in 1817, at the age of seventeen years. In the spring of 1821, Mr. Swett, with his young wife moved into his cabin, and began in earnest the improvement of his place. He became the first permanent settler in the prairie, near the creek now bearing his name. He was the fir^t justice in the district, and afterward represented the county on the Commissioners' Board. He died nearly half a century ago, regretted by all who knew him. His worthy example in conducting public business is still remembered with pride by many of the old citizens of Madison. He built the first frame house in this settlement, and it was on his land that the Omph-Ghent church, the first in the township, was built, in 1848. His widow, a much esteemed lady, lived at the old homestead until her d^ath which occurred April 1st, 1877. At Mr. Swett's death, he left six children. Three only are now living : Emily, is the wife of John Kell, and now resides in Mi-ssouri. Helen, the wife of Dr. J. A. Slaughter, lives at Greenville, Illinois. Adeline, widow of Templeton Elliott, now resides at Litchfield, Illinois. Mat bias Handlou entered eighty acres in section thirty-three, the same day Swett made his entry. If he ever lived on this land, it was only for a short time, as he is forgotten by the oldest citizens in this settlement. In 1825 Charles Tindall settled the George Belk place. He came to the county in 1?17, and lived at Edwardsville, until he began his improvement in this township. As early as 1830, in company with David Swett, he built a horse mill on his place. He was a carpenter by trade, but improved a good farm, where he died in 1843, leaving a widow, who died in 1851. They had a family of eleven children, seven of whom grew to man and womanhood, viz : Parham, Thomas, Dora, Emily, Nancy, Edward and Sarah. Mr. Tindall filled the office of Justice of the Peace many years, and lived the life of a much respected citizen, leaving his widow and children in good circumstances when he died.

In 1826 Ezekiel Davis, from New Jersey, settled the Henry Moritz place, section thirty-one. Two years later he entered eighty acres of laud here, and this was the fourth entry in the township. He aud his wife both died on this place, the latter in 1844, and the former about fifteen years ago. Of their children, only three are now living. Hannah, now Mrs. Thornton Carter, a widow, lives in Moro township. Hiram lives at Dorchester and Howell in the west.

Samuel H. Denton, a native of Tennessee, came to Edwardsville in the spring of 1817, where the following year, August the sixth, he married Miss Mary Tindall. In 1833, he settled in the edge of the timber, section thirty, east side of Denton's branch, where he gathered a good deal of property about him. His farm comprised upward of four hundred acres. He raised horses and cattle in great numbers, allowing them to run on the range during the entire summer and fall at will. He was one of the early botanic doctors of the county. A Whig in politics, he never aspired to any office. He died on the place he improved, March 1st, 1869. Mr. and Mrs. Denton had born to them a family of nine children. Three died in infancy. James died in 1880. Jefferson in 1865. Martha, now deceased, married Amos Hodgeman. Benjamin is in the western country. Henry is a farmer, living on the old homestead. Sarah, now deceased, married Henry Moritz, and at his residence, Mrs. Denton now makes her home. She is the only old settler now living in the Omph-Ghent settlement. She was born in Ruthford county. North Carolina. Her father, Thomas Tiiidall, emigrated to the Territory of Illinois, in 1816, arriving at Edwardsville in November of that year. He was a native oF Virginia, and in that state he married Miss Martha Wall. They had two children born to them in Virginia, viz : Charles and Francis ; four in North Carolina, William, Mary, Parliam and David ; three in Christian county, Kentucky, George, Lewis and Richard. Mrs. Denton says when her father started west from Kentucky, he was accompanied by the families of Bennett Jones, Thomas Wall and Joseph McKinney. Their intention was to visit the Goshen settlement, and, if not pleased with that, to go on to Boon's Lick, in Missouri. The party camped and cooked dinner about where the Court House now stands. After dinner the teams were hitched and their heads turned westward for the Mississippi ferry, where lower Alton now stands. In passing through old Edwardsville, Edward Fountain, who was a hotel keeper there, recognized Mr. Tindall. They had been school-mates in Virginia. Fountain induced the party to stop for a few days. They went into camp near where the lower Wabash depot now stands Tindall soon moved his family into the old log court-house, where he wintered. There was no floor or chimney to the building. The fire was built in one corner of the room and the smoke escaped the best it could through a hole in the roof The second Monday in March, 1817, the court convened and the Tindall family had to abandon the court-house During the winter, Mr. Tindall built a comfortable hewed log house that stood nearly opposite the place where Jud^e Gillespie now lives. Here he resided until he died in 1832. He followed teaming and farming. His wife survived him until 1851. Mrs. Denton is now the only survivor of the family. At the age of eighty she is hale and hearty, and looks much younger than her years. Her hair is raven black, with here and there a tinge of gray. Her memory retains its early vigor, and with ease she talks over pioneer times, giving facts and dates with much accuracy. In 1830, Parham Wall built a double log house, a little east of the place where Adam Hohe now lives, where he had the misfortune to lose his wife. He then returned to Kentucky, where he lived many years. He afterwards came back to Madison county and died in Alton. Benjamin Bond, sr., came from Tennessee and settled in the northern part of section thirteen, in 1826, with his wife and family of five children, viz : Thomas, Elizabeth Jane, Benjamin, Mary and William. Holland was born on the old homeplace, this county. Mr. Bond's wife died about eight years after his coming here. Lucy Ann, the only living child of Mr. Bond's second marriage, is now the wife of Joseph Lamb, one of the prominent farmers of the townshFp. Mr. Bond was married the fourth time, and now lives at Staunton, iu his eightj'-sixth year. He was a farmer of the township until about twenty years ago. William and Benjamin are farmers here. Mary, now Mrs. Jordon Best, lives in Olive township.

One of the oldest citizens now living in the township, is Mrs. Nancy Wilcox, widow ol Stephen Wilcox, who settled in the northeastern part as early as 1825. Mr. Wilcox operated a horse-mill here for many years. Mrs. Wilcox came to the county a widow. Her brother, George Kinder, brought her and her mother from Kentucky. He had lived here many years before he brought them out. Mrs Wilcox's first husband was Jeremiah Brown. He died in Kentucky, leaving her with three children. She married Mr. Wilcox in 1834. He died thirty-five years ago. Since that time she has lived here on the old Wilcox homestead and only a short distance from where they first settled She has only one child living, Thomas Minter Brown, who is a well to-do farmer in Iowa. She has grand-children and several great grand-children living io this settlement. Mrs. Wilcox was born in 1796. Her mother was a daughter of John Schmidt, who with his wife came from Germany and settled iu Pennsylvania, where they died. Miss Schmidt first married Jacob Kinder, who was afterward killed by the Indians in the early settlement of Kentucky. She then married Thomas Miuter, who also died in Kentucky. The early preaching in this part of the township, for many years, was at the residence of Stephen Wilcox, by the Rev. Peter Long. The Leraens and Days were all of the Baptist denomination. Gjorge W. Beaird, one of the early settlers in the northeastern part, was a blacksmith, wagon maker, gunsmith, and shoemaker. He died near where Worden now stands, in 1846. His widow yet survive* him at the age of seventy-one. She is a native of Tennessee, and has lived in this immediate vicinity since 1830. William and James Best, sons of Michael Bast, a well-known old settler of Macoupin county, improved places in the northeastern part of this township among the early settlers. William died in Staunton, and James now lives in Kansas, but still owns his farm here. Thomas Grant Sr., settled in the edge of Macoupin county, on the north line of this township, in 1831. His son, Thomas, one of the early settlers of this townsliip, was born in S )uth Carolina. He has been twice married. His second wife, Nancy, was a daughter of Col. Samuel Judy, born in the county in 1809, and is the only survivor of Col. Judy's falhily, by his first wife. She has twelve children, four boys and three girls living. Her marriage with Mr. Grant, in 1840, was her third. Since marriage they have lived in section thirteen, this township. She is a hale and hearty old lady, with a good memory and is very correct in facts pertaining to the early tioies. A short distance up the branch from where Mr. Grant now lives, in the early diys was a deer lick An ambuscade was arranged here by the settlers, and the deer coming to the lick fell an easy prey to the unerring rifle of the pioneer. Mrs Grant says that when she was a girl, she often passed this place on horseback going to and from her home to relatives who lived iu Macoupin and Greene counties.

The vicinity of the deer lick was a desolate looking place, and the land looked white and poor. She often thought to herself if any body ever entered this land it must be a fool. She jokingly said that she afterward entered it herself, and on trial found it equal to any land iu the vicinity for productiveness. Captain Samuel Jackson, who in his early days was a sea captain, came to this township among the early settlers, and located a place on section fourteen, where Frank Peters now lives. Here he resided until his death some twenty years ago. He was born and raised in North Carolina. There was a little " affair of the heart " connected with his life. Through some misunderstanding between him and his intended, the marriage was never consummated, and he spent his days in smgle blessedness. He lived here in a small cabin and did his own cooking. He was a very eccentric character, and at one time in his life he had the impression that some evil-disposed person contemplated placing poison in his well. This thought so brooded upon his mind that he virtually became a monomaniac upon the subject. He accordingly built a cabin over his well, and ever afterward kept it securely locked. This delusion led him so far, that if he at any time discovered any white substance upon his farm, he would view it critically with suspicion. He accumulated much property, land and personal, and took extra pride in his horses, and he always had some fine ones ; and yet his custom was to walk to church bare foot during the summer months. He joined the Methodist church, and at one time the preacher conducting the .'ervice asked him to lead in prayer. The congregation all knelt down as was the custom, then after several moments of suspense, the old gentleman spoke out, " I am not praying." The preacher remarked, " I see you ain't," and then asked some other brother to offer prayer. This was the first call for prayers that the old man had been solicited to perform. One can easily imagine the embarrassment of the situation, but the event passed off without any further observation on the part of the congregation. He was an excellent performer on the violin, and always kept two or three instruments at hand. He would use a different violin for each occasiun, and thus he would entertain his friends, and while away many a lonesome hour. Every Friday, it was his custom to fast. He often went to the cabin of Thomas Grant. One day he stopped in just as dinner was on the table. The smoking chicken and new potatoes, the first of the season, fairly captivated the old man, Mrs. Grant said, Take some dinner with us. Captain. No, said he, this is my fast day. Mrs. Grant said. This is Thursday, Captain. Said he, Well Nancy, if this is Thursday, I will believe you and eat. When the Captain died it was the general belief that he had money buried on his premises, and some parties did some digging in the vicinity of his house, without accomplishing anything, and if the old gentleman did bury his surplus money here, the secret of its whereabouts was buried with him.

Jonathan McMannus, a Tenuesscean, was one of the early settlers. He built a saw and grist mill on Cahokia creek, west of where AVorden now ^tands, in an earlj' day, and continued to run it fur many years. He improved the farm where W. J. Piper now resides. He was very handy with tools of all kinds, and often made the remark that he could make any thing out of wood or iron He had a blacksmith shop at one time on the Piper place. For many years he lived on the west side of the Cahokia creek. He was twice married and reared a family of four children, by his first and five by his second. In 1856, he went to Te.xas, where he died about ten years afterward. W. J. Piper, who lives on section twenty-four, was born in the Piper settlement, on Silvfr (re(k, Alhambra township, in 1819, where he lived until about 185l>, when he located where he row resides. His father and mctbfr ditd ( n the place thi y settled on Silver creek, the latter in 1861, and the former in 1864, leaving a family of nine childien, six sons and three daughters, five of whom are yet livirg, W. J., leii g the only one of the family that is now a resident of the county. Moses Barker was one of the early residents en the cast side of the Cahokia. He vas an eastern man of good education, and po.'sessed eonsideiable ability, and was one of the prominent citizens of his time. He died on his old homestead many years ago, and was one of the first buried in the New Hope grave- yard.

Edmund Butler settled near the center of the township on the west side of the Cahokia, about 1833. The improvement was first started in 1832, by Richard Wall, who built a cabin but never lived here. Butler died on this place nearly thirty years ago. His widow still survives him, and lives on the old homestead. In 1833 Darius Sprewell settled the P. C. Eandall place. He and his wife both died here. They left six children. His youngest daughter, Mrs. P. C Randall, now lives on the old homestead. The Edward McDonnell place was settled by Robert Page, as early as 1830. Edward McDonnell was killed on this place in the spring of 1879 in a cyclone. This storm appeared like a huge ball and seemed to revolve, moving along within a few feet of the ground. Houses were raised clear off their foundations, smashed to atoms and the pieces hurled in every direction. Trees were uprooted or twisted off close to the ground, and animals and persons were picked up and carried for quite a distance through the air, then dropped, bruiseel and bleeding to the ground. L. R. Weeks was among the early settlers in the northern part of the township. He improved a good farm, on which he died, leaving quite a large estate. His wife still lives on the old place. William Kell, a native of North Carolina, came to Madison county in 1829. He entered three hundred and twenty acres near Where now stands the town of Worden. He reared a family of eleven children, all of whom giew up and married. His son, James Kell, who, in 1845, started out in life for himself upon a farm near AYorden, took an active part with Jeihn C. Worden and others in getting the T. W. & W. R. R. extended through the town. He died in Worden, in 1S76. Robert Roseberry settled just south of where Worden now is, in 18.S6. Part of the town has since been built on his land. He lived here until his death in 1848. His widow who was boru in the Territory of Indiana, in 1800, survived him until ISTO. She was the mother of seven children, four sons anil three daughters, and had lived a member of the Baptist church since 1821. Mr. Roseberry for several years filled the ofiice of Justice of the Peace.

Sandford Dove and Samuel Walker were early settlers here. The death of the latter's wife was the first in the northeastern part of the township. The first death occurred in the Oniph Ghent settlement, and was that of the wife of a squatter named Camp. He was a trapper and hunter, and lived in the timber east of George Belk's place, in a pole camp, prior to the settlement of David Swetc. Mrs. Camp was laid to rest in the timber :icar by. Her coffin was truly a primitive affair. It was made by splitting a log into halves and bollowing them out like troughs, and fitting them together. They were fastened with wooden pins. If not as elegant as the modern style it was in keeping with the times of long ago. The first birth in this settlement was that of Mary Swett, daughter of David Swett, January 1822. Richard Sandbach. Sr., who was born in London, England, rame to the township in 1839. He bought a place in sections 22 and 23, where his son-in-law, James A. Welch, now lives. He opened a general store here immediately after his arrival, which he continued to run until his death, in 1854. His widow carried on the business, with John C. Worden as manager, until her death, about ten years ago. Mr. Sandbach was twice married. His children were: William, Richard, George S. and Alice A. The first school taught in Omph-Ghent settlement was in a small log building that stood near the present site of the church, in 1825, by Springer. The first schooling the children received in the northeastern part of the township was at a log house that stood where the Staunton graveyard is now located. At a later date school was kept by Henry Haveren, on the township line, in an abandoned cabin built by Benjamin Bond. The first Sunday-school was held by Joseph Gordon, a Presbyterian, in David Swett's liig barn, in 183 >. The Omph-Ghent church was built by that congregation in 1848. New Hope Baptist church, north of Wurden, wa? built thirty years ago. Frederick Handshey was the first German to settle in the Omph-Ghent settlement. He lo ated a short distance south of Swett's, in 1833. He died in Hamel township, in 1852. Four of his children, two sons and two daughters, now live in the county. Among the older German citizens are: Adam Hohe, Frank Peters, Rev L. Blume, Christian and Julius Kohlenburg, Herm Wiseman, Fred and Henry Durstmann, Fred Klein, J. C Schafer, Fred Hillebrand, Fred Lesfmann ai.d H. C. Nobbe. On the Cahokia and its tributaries are found, in large quantities, building stone of easy access, such as limestone, freestone and soapstone. Some of the quarries have been worked (fuite extensively. But, owing to their distance from the railroad, none of them are now being worked except to supply the immediate neighborhood.

Worden

John Lamb, one of the early settlers, lived where his fon, Joseph Lamb, now resides, in section 25. Nearly half-a-mile southwest of Lamb's a saw-mill was built and a post-office, called Lamb's Point, was established there by William Ro.seberry,who lived near by. Afterward the office was kept by James Burley, who lived just across the road from Ro.seberry. In 1857 this office was moved south to the farm residence of Hampton AVall, and kept by him Two years later Mr. Wall started a store here, and in 1860, he laid out the town of New Hampton, comprising ten acres, in the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 35. Mr. AVall was a son-in-law of Robert Roseberry, and he now lives in Staunton, Macoupin county, and is one of the pmrninpnt and much respected citizens of that county. Mr.

Wall, in 1867, sold his store and interest in the town to John C. Worden, who, in 1870, laid out in town lots the balance of the north eighty of the northeast quarter of section 35. INIr. Worden came to the county in 1^54, and by this time had a good deal of experience in store keeping, having, as before stated, superintended his aunt's, Mrs. Sandbach's store, for several years. He continued the business in the store purchased of Mr. Wall, with a steadily increasing trade. After the railroad was built through the place in 1870, the company, in honor of Mr. Worden, who had taken a very active part in securing for the conij)any the right of way and furthering the interests of the road, called the place AVorden. The name of the post office was then immediately changed. The first mail by rail was received here October 12, 1870. Mr. Worden was the first railroad agent, and did the company's business f >r seven years, at the same time attending to his store. For eleven years he was the postmaster. This town was originally a country cross-road. In 1867, W. F. Robinson started a grocery store. William Wyatt was the first blacksmith. He opened a shop in 1861. Frank Ferliwasthe second. After the railroad was built the place received new life, and during the years of 1873, '74 and '75, grew rapidly. H. 11. Dorr, M. D. was the first physician. In 1871, the Methodists built their frame church, 30x40 feet, at a cost of nearlv S3,000 In 1876, the German Lutheran church was built and is used by them also for a school building. There are two steam elevators here. John C. Worden and James Kell built the first in 1870. At that time steam was not used as a ra')iive power by this firm. It has since been greatly enlarged : it is now owned and conducted by C. A. King cfe Co., of Toledo, Ohio The secoi d was built by George Breed & Bros., who are still the owners, and are residents of the place. In 1873, Joseph Floyd it Co. built a flouring mill of three run of burrs. This mill, through bad management, never accomplished much. After running about six years it was moved to Jonesborough, Illinois, and subsequently destroyed by fire.

The Worden Mining Co.'s shaft was commenced in the winter of 1876. The first coal was sold the following year, June 26, 1877. The first wagon load of about twenty bushels', raised on that day, was drawn through the town, and then sold at auction to the highest bidder. Robert Nfethercott, then of the Worden City Mills, bought it at the highest bid, $52.00. After much jollification the load waa driven to the mill and burned in the furnace. The company is composed of farmers and business men of the vicinity. The depth of the shaft is two hundred and fifty feet, and the vein of coal averages from six to eight feet in depth. The Wabash Coal Mining Co.'s shaft on the farm of Joseph Lamb, was sunk in 1881, and it is owned by F. P. Baker &, Co., of St. Louis. J. H. McDonald and others are sinking a shaft on the land of W. J. Piper, section 24, and at this writing are at a depth of two hundred and fifty feet. They commenced work late in the fall of 1881.

Business Directory Of Worden

Worden is young in years, situated twenty-nine miles from St- L )uis. The census of 1880 gave it a p<ipulation of 384. Since that time it has considerably improved and with the growiugcoal interests and other natural advantages, and from the fact that it controls a wide scope of country as a shipping point it bids fair to become a town of some importance.

Prairie City

Maurice Hartnett was the first settler of Prairie City. He built a small log house at the northwest corner of the four corners, in 1858. The same year the town was laid out by L L Dorsey. Mr. Klump, the ne.x:t year, started a saloon. The same year F. and E. Be.«t began blacksniithing, and continue in the business to the present time. In 1860 a general store and saloon was started by John SchafTer. Richard Richards built about the same time and opened a general store. Mr. Schaffer had a post office established shortly after he began business, and was the first post master. The office is Prairie Town. The mail is a tri-weekly one on the Edwardsville and Bunker Hill route. Dr. Martin was the first phj'sician. The brick Lutheran church, a short distance west of the village was built in 1874 at a cost of $11,000. The frame church near by, of the same denomination, now used for school purposes, was built in 18'33. The following is the present business : - E. Engel, physician. M. Kyle, H. Grote and John McDonnell, have general stores. M. Kyle is the post master. F. & E. Best, Albert Earner, blacksmiths. John Hess, wagonmaker. V. Schulz, C Bockoer, boots and shoes. With a population of one hundred and twenty-five, it is situated in a beautiful prairie, surrounded by a thrifty class of farmers, and all the facilities of an inland town that one could wish.

The gentlemen whose names appear below have served the township as supervisors : James Kell was elected in 1876 and was in office two terms. He was succeeded by W. F. Kell, one term. Henry Dorr was chosen in 1879 and reelected for successive terras till 1881-'82, when Joseph Floyd, the present incumbent, was elected.

John C. Worden

The founder of the village of Worden, in this county, is a native of England, born at Preston, Lancashire, June 24, 1834. He was the second son of Peter and Ann (Charnock) Worden, whose ancestry date back many generations in England, and members of the same family were among the earliest settlers on that narrow strip of country lying directly south of Cape Cod, in JIaM;achu.-etts. Peter Worden once owned land where now stands Yarmouth Port, in Barnstable county of that State, where he was married, and died at the age of seventy years. Mr. Worden has in his possession a genealogical history of the Worden family covering a period of three hundred years. When, at the tender age of si.x, Mr. Worden had the misfortune to lose his father. He remained with his mother until the age of thirteen, when that ambition, so marked a characteristic in his life, tempted him to emigrate to America, which he did, locating at Albany, N. Y. Here he found employment for six months at the public works, with a salary of seven shillings a daj'. Soon afterward he apprenticed himself for one year to learn blacksmithing at Schenectady. While thus working at the trade he attended regularly the night schools, and by studious application to liis books, made rapid progress in education. After the expiration of his apprentictship, he became a canal-boy on the Erie canal ; but being desirous of improving his education, he soon left, and sought a position with a farmer, paying his board by labor, and attending school during the winter months.

His next occupation was working in a brick yard at four, teen dollars a month, which he continued during the brickmaking season of six months. To further resume his studies he attended for one term, Whitestown Seminary, after which he purchased a half interest in a canal boat. Ever changeable, this business did not occupy his attention more than six months. During the following winter he drove a stage from Mohawk to Herkimer, and in the ensuing spring clerked in a provision store.

Mr. Worden, now competent to teach school, engaged in that profession in the winter of 185.3-5-1-, in western New York State. The next spring he again entered a provision store, in which he remained eight months, leaving in 1854, to engage with his aunt (Mrs. Elizabeth Sandbach), then residing in this county, about two miles northwest of the present village of Worden. Mr. Worden was in his aunt's employ about five years, and had now grown to manhood, and during the period of his rambling career, had managed to save money, and concluded that he could not do better than to devote a portion of it to visiting the home of his childhood. Accordingly, early in 1856, he returned to England, where he spent nine months with his relatives, and availed himself of the opportunity offered, during his stay, of visiting the many places of interest in his native country.

Mr. Worden came back to this country in the fall of the same year, and taught school in St. Louis county. Mo. At ihe completion of his scholastic duties there, in 1857, he school in Moultonville, where be continued for five winters. In the meantime he was appointed Deputy Sheriff and Deputy Assessor. After the close of his school in Moultonville, he went into business for himself at New Hamj)ton, now the village of Worden.

On the 26th of November, 1867, he was married to Miss Virginia J., daughter of G. S. and Nancy. J. Weaver. By this union six children were born, two of whom have since died. On the twelfth of September, 1881, Mr. Worden had the misfortune to lose, by death, his most estimable wife.

In 1809 was in contemplation the Decatur k, East St. Louis Railroad, now the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific. An election was held to consider the matter of contributions, and decided against the railway. A subsequent election, brought about by the exertions of Mr. Worden and a few others, resulted in a contrary manner. A short but pointed speech was made upon this occasion by Mr. Worden, in relation to the future prosperity of the town bearing his name, and the surrounding country. When the railroad was completed the following September (1870), the town was laid out by Mr. Worden.

Politically he is a Democrat, and in religion he is a member of the Methodist church. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity. Few of our citizens can present such a varied career as the subject of our sketch - thrown entirely upon his own resources and in a strange land, at the early age of thirteen ; selfeducated and self-made - showing what a brave and determined spirit can do in battling with the world. The doubts, difliculties and impediments were each in turn overcome, and Mr. Worden stands to-day a representative of the most enterprising men of our country, and one of the most successful and best respected citizens of Madison county.

Saline

'HIS divi.-ion of Madison county contains all of town five, range five. It is bounded on the north by Leef, on the east by Bond county, on the south by Helvetia, and on the west by Marine. The St. L. V. T. H. & I. R. R. enters the township at section thirty two, and extends in a northeasterly direction, p; passing out near the center of section twenty four. When the territory of the township was first settled it was about equally divided, between timber and prairie lauds ; but at present comparatively little timber remains standing. It is drained by Silver and Sugar creeks. Silver creek flows in a southerly direction through the western part. Sugar cretk drains the eastern and more central portion. In the edge of the Silver creek timber, on the east side of section thirty-one, the first cabin was erected in the southeast part of Madison county, 1809. It was built by the widow Howard, who emigrated from Tennessee with her family, consisting of several sons and daughters, some of whom were nearly grown. Abraham and Joseph were the eldest of the sons. They selected for their home a beautiful locatiou on a ridge, in the edge of Looking Glass Prairie, from which they had an uninterrupted view of the landscape for many miles toward the south. This, the first cabin, stood on the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of the section. The Hon. Solomon Koepfli in an article says, "In 18.'51 this cabin had been removed to another place, but Joseph Howard, one of the sous of Mrs. Howard, pointed out to me the place where in 1809 they had built the first house on the south side of the tract above named. A fine spring on the north side of the ridge furnished them with water. Mr. Howard showed me a large oak stump which had been hollowed out and wherein they had made their first meal by beating corn with a club. A small field was enclosed south of this cabin. Joseph Howard was about twelve years of age when he arrived with his mother in this prairie, 1809. A mere boy, he served his country as a Ranger in the war from 1812 to 181.5, protecting then the settlements of the Mi-ssissippi Valley. The neighbors said of him, that he killed several bears and panthers in this neighborhood, and the tree was pointed out to me where he shot the last panther, in 1818. In 1820, he married the daughter of Samuel McAlilly, and built a cabin on a beautiful hill, now called Souneuberg. Directly aLer our arrival I had the good fortune to form his acquaintance. A truer and better mun I never knew.

Of his learning and preaching. I cannot judge, but this I know, his life was that of a true Christian. His wants were not great, and it left him plenty of time to aid new comers in their early str\iggles, to help them with rare disinterestedness by giving advice and assistance. When he heard of a neighbor's sickness, leaving him unable to attend to his crops, you were sure to see Joseph Howard the next day in the sick man's field plowing his corn or attending to his harvest, and in the night waiting upon him. This he did regardless of any difference of religion. It nas enough for him to know of one of his fellow-men being in distress to hasten to the place to give relief and ease, should it lay in his power." Rough and rude though the surroundings may have been, the pioneers were none the less honest, sincere, hospitable and kind in their relations. It is true as a rule and of universal application that there is a greater degree of real humanity among the pioneers of any country than there is among the inhabitants of a rich aud populous country. If there is an absence of refinement that absence is more thau compensated by the presence of generous hearts and truthful lives. Neighbors generally did not even wait for an invitation or request to help one another in case of need. They came forward with as little hesitation and with as much alacrity as though they were all members of the same family aud bound together by the ti^s of blood.

It is related by an old settler and a relative of the Howards that, in 1811, when the eirthquake of that year caused so much terror among the pioneers, the Howards felt the shock so perceptibly that they thought the Indians were on the cabin roof with murderous intentions. With the bravery characteristic of the Howards, Abraham aud Joseph took up their riiSes and opened the cabin door cautiously, and after peering around and seeing no Indians while the shaking yet continued, came to the conclusion that the Indians were surely on the house top, where they had no business. That they must be dislodged immediately for the safety of the family flashed through the minds of the Howards. So they walked backward cautiously out of the cabin with uplifted rifles ready to shoot the first copper-colored peace-disturber that became visible. One of them went to the right and the other to the left until they came in sight of each other in the rear of the cabin when, to their surprise, no Indians were to be seen. They looked about them, and all was still as death. They re-entered the cabin believing they had been made the victims of a practical joke, by some lonely hunter that had been passing by. Mrs. Howard was quite an old lady when she immigrated here, and only lived a few years. Her death was the first in the settlement. Joseph and Abraham received eight}' acres of land each, from the government, for services rendered in the war of 1812. The former was a preacher of the Presbyterian faith. He married Jennie McAlilly, and they reared a large family of children. He settled the widow Rilliet place, and subsequently went to Iowa, where he died. All of his descendants live in that state. Captain Abraham Howard, in 1830, went to Fayette county and settled a place east of Vandalia, now known as Howard's Point For further history of the Howards see the chapter on St. Jacobs. In 1810, Abraham Huser, of German descent, who married a Howard, settled not quite a mile north of the Howard place, and near some springs not far from the cd ter of section 29. This was the place which James Reynolds, twenty years later, adopted for his home. Abraham Huser, about 1815, selected a new place some miles south of Troy, and there laid the foundation of the Huser settlement.

Archibald Coulter was the first settler in the north part of the township. He came from Kentucky in 181G, and located where the widow Mudge now resides. About ten years later he left the settlement and located farther south in the state. July 29, 1817, Robert Coulter entered the second tract of land here, one hundred and sixty acres in section 4. Rebecca Brotherton entered one hundred and sixty acres in section 8, July 3, 181T. This was the first entry. James East, a Kentuckian, arrived in 1816, having left his wife at home. He erected a pole cabin, and planted twoacresof cornin the edge of the prairie with a spade He then returned to Kentucky for his wife. Afterward he built a good hewtd log house. He was a man of industrious habits, accumulated a good deal of property, raised a large family of children, eight sons and three daughters, and died in the township. Samuel ]\IcAlilIy was born in South Carolina, near Chester, and was of Scotch descent. He married in his native state and immigrated to Tennessee, where he lived until 1818 He then emigrated to Illinois, with his family of four boys and three girls. At the time two of his sons, John and Samuel, were married. The others were William, James, Jennie, Elizabeth and Mary.

He arrived at the cabin of Archibald Coulter, in the fall of 1818, where his family remained until a cabin could be erected. Building a house in the early times was a job of short duration ; for every man " turned out," and while the men cut and laid up the logs that) furnithed the primitive dwelling place, the women prepared the dinner. Sometimes it was cooked by big log fires near the site of the building, or it was prepared at the nearest cabin, and at the proper hour carried to the men where they were at work. The ladies of to-day, familiarized with elegantly fashioned cooking stoves, would make a sorry efibrt were they compelled to prepare a meal with no other conveniences than those of pioneer times. The cabin when finished stood in the southeast part of section thirty, on the present site of the Highland Cemetery. Mr. McAlilly dug two wells here upward of sixty feet deep, but could obtain no water. The place was abandoned after a few years, and he built a second cabin on what is now the Frank Lorenz place, where he lived until 1832. He then moved to the M. Journey place, now the

Chas. Chipron farm, where he died two years later of cholera. In four days his wife followed him. John McAlilly built a hewed log house near that of his father, where he lived a few years, and then went to Alabama. In 1826, he returned to the settlement, and subsequently located in Fayette county, north of Vandalia, where he died in 1872, leaving a family of two sons and four daughters. Samuel McAlilly, Jr., also built a cabin near his father's, where he lived some years. William C., Elizabeth and Matilda were born here. He then returned to Kentucky. After three years he came back to the settlement and rented the farm now owned by F. Ryhiner, to which he moved his cabin. Melinda and Mary were born on this place. In 1835, he bought out the heirs of his father, and moved to the old home place, where he lived many years. William C , the only son, lives in the northeast part of St. Jacob's township, William SIcAlilly also lived near his father's. His wife died after being married about two years, leaving one child, James J., who now lives in Clinton county, Illinois. Mr. McAlilly afterward married the widow of Adam Kyle, Jr , and lived east of Highland until his death, at which time he had three daughters.