Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 58: Fort Russell Township, 1912

No spot in the Madison county of 1812 was of greater interest historically, or of greater importance in the military affairs of that day, than was Fort Russell, and it was highly proper that this township (5-8) should be named for this noted frontier post. It occupied a half¬ acre in the northeast quarter of section 34, be¬ ing in the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of the above-named quarter section, the site being the property, in 1912, of the heirs of Mrs. Nellie (Burroughs) Wiseman. Quot¬ ing from Davidson and Stuve's History of Illi¬ nois (1874) : - ''The most notable, as also the largest, strongest, and best appointed in every respect, of the stockade forts, was Fort Rus¬ sell (named after Col. William Russell), estab¬ lished by Gov. Edwards early in 1812. The cannon (five) of Louis XIV., which had done service in the ancient Fort Chartres, were re¬ moved hither and placed in position. This stockade was made the rendezvous for the militia and the regulars, and the main depot for military supplies. Gov. Edwards here established his headquarters, during the peril¬ ous times of 1812, and gathered about him the beauty and chivalry of those days. Within the protecting walls of this stockade were at¬ tracted and found shelter much of the talent, fashion, and wealth of the country, and here his Excellency presided with a courtly grace and dignity, well befitting his fine personal appearance and his many accomplishments."

Quoting again from the reminiscences of the old settler, Solomon Preuitt: "Fort Russell was a stockade, with huts inside, half an acre being picketed in."

This township is the largest in extent of any of the twenty-three townships of the county, comprising 23,359.24 acres. In the north tier of sections some quarter sections contain as much as two hundred acres.

The census returns of i860 give the prairie (improved) and the timber (unimproved) lands as about equally divided, but this pro¬ portion has since changed largely, until, the proportion of improved to unimproved lands was in 1912, probably three to one. By the census of i860 again, taken by Deputy Marshal W. B. Dorsey, the township is given a popula¬ tion of 796, a real estate value of $277,336, and a personal property value of $90,729. The 1910 census gives the township a population of 1067. The total assessment of the township in 1911, on a one-third basis, was $648,125, ex¬ clusive of railroad, telegraph, etc.

Three streams are found in Fort Russell township. Cahokia creek passes through the southeast portion and after a protracted storm or a heavy thaw of snow is a veritable river and can not be crossed for several days. Indian creek traverses the entire length of the town¬ ship from north to south, running from section

There are four lines of railroad in this town¬ ship, with only one depot, - at Bethalto, in the extreme western edge of section 6. The Big Four (New York Central lines) has two lines, the old railroad running through section 6, one mile, (formerly called the Alton & Terra Haute,) and the new "cutoff" built in 1904, traversing the south half of the township from southwest to northeast. The Wabash has two tracks here, one being the old Madison county coal road, formerly running to the river west of Edwardsville crossing, now used by the Illinois Terminal railroad; the other Wabash line runs through the southeast corner of the township, being formerly known as the Toledo, Wabash and Western.

In early days two main wagon roads ran through this part of the county; the ''Alton and Greenville road" entered the township in section 7 and ran almost due east, and the "Springfield road" ran practically north and south from section 3 to Edwardsville. On this latter highway, on May 8, 1822, was estab¬ lished a U. S. mail-route in connection with the stage service between St. Louis and "San¬ gamon Courthouse." Many other roads and crossroads have since been opened, and Fort Russell has now about sixty miles of public highway.

The soil of this township is much varied. With the exception of a belt of rich soil, a mile or more in width and extending from sections 6 and 7 northeast, most of the good soil of the township is found in the middle and western portions, south of the Greenville road and west of the Edwardsville-Prairietown road. Wheat, corn, hogs, and cattle are the leading products ; much fruit is raised for home con¬ sumption, and the housewives reap an amazing harvest from poultry. Wherever railroad fa¬ cilities are within reach, dairying is becoming a much practiced industry and is much needed to conserve soil fertility. Splendid timber is found along the water courses.

No towns are within the limits of Fort Rus¬ sell, save one-fourth part of the village of Bethalto, in which are located a custom mill, a creamery, a hotel, a four-room school and four churches. About 1850 quite a village flourished in section 9, known as "Libertyville" or "Gooseville," where were a tavern, store, and blacksmith shop.

In 1838 a postoffice, "Paddock's Grove," was established, with Volney P. Richmond as first postmaster, at the Paddock settlement on the Springfield road stage coach line. When rail¬ roads superseded the stage coach, the mails came to Bethalto, Edwardsville, Moro, and Wanda. A "star-route" mail was run for many years between Edwardsville and Bunker Hill, through the eastern part of the township, and on this route was established "Liberty Prairie" P. O., located first at the F. Gaertner residence, in section 23, and later moved to J. Russell Newman's home, opposite Liberty Prairie school house, where he and his suc¬ cessor E. A. Lanterman, kept the postoffice un¬ til the township was granted R. F. D. service in December, 1902.

The first schoolhouse was built in section 20 in 1819, although Rev. William Jones con¬ ducted a school one year earlier, in the block¬ house in section 18. Another of the pioneer school houses was located on the John Estabrook farm, in the extreme northwest corner of section 14. After many years of meager school facilities, the present division into school districts was made, whereby almost all pupils are within reasonable distance of a school.

23, by the German Lutherans, west of the Gaertner cemetery. In 1850 the Methodist Episcopal church on the John Estabrook farm was erected, in section 15. In 1871, the Cum¬ berland Presbyterian church of Liberty Prai¬ rie, the successor of the Omphghent church, was built. In the northwest corner of Fort Russell are found six churches - the Presby¬ terian near Moro, the German Evangelical southeast of Bethalto, and four in the village - the Methodist Episcopal, Catholic, Presby¬ terian and Baptist. In pioneer days there was a strong congregation in attendance at "Beth¬ lehem" church, located in the extreme south¬ east part of section 18; the old building has in recent years been removed to the premises of Z. B. Owens, a descendant of the pioneer Jones family.

Isaiah Dunnegan, a native of Georgia, was Fort Russell's earliest white settler, so far as known. He made his home in section 31, very near the present Wanda, in 1803, erecting there a log cabin for his small family. Two boys, Joshua and Thomas, were born before the Dunnegans came to Illinois, and later were born four more children - Louisa, Abner, Jo¬ seph and Isaiah, Jr. He died in 1814 and his widow survived him twenty years. Before her death, she entered forty acres of land for each of her children in sections one and twelve of Chouteau township.

In 1804, Joseph Newman, a Pennsylvanian, settled in section 34, bringing a wife (maiden name Raab) and four children: Zadock, Maria, John and Andy. One daughter, Emily, was born after the family moved here. Joseph Newman died about 1825. His eldest son, Za¬ dock, was married, in 1810, by Rev. William Jones to Martha Ewing, to which union six children were born, among them John Russell and William E. Newman, lifelong residents of this township. At one time Joseph Newman owned several sections of land in the south cen¬

Maj. Isaac Ferguson came in 1806 to sec¬ tion 18, and here his son John L. Ferguson, the first white native child of the township, was born ; but this family soon left for the Marine settlement, selling out to the pioneer Baptist minister, teacher and legislator, Rev. William Jones. The old block-house, erected on Martin Preuitt's farm in section 18 (north part), was moved in 1817 to Rev. Jones' place, and in this blockhouse home was born James Jones, a life¬ long resident of this neighborhood. Rev. Jones died in 1844, and is buried in the old "Pioneer" cemetery in section 24 of 5-9. Ephraim Woods (brother-in-law of Rev. Jones) and John Finley were other pioneers in this neighborhood, - then called "Rattan's Prairie," after Thomas Rattan, a pioneer of Wood River township. William Montgomery, a native of Kentucky, was another pioneer of this vicinity, coming in 1814. A carpenter by trade, he wedded Sarah Rattan and later moved to Wood River township.

John Springer, the pioneer head of a most worthy family, settled in section 30 in 1814, where he built a hewed log house, said to have been on the exact site of the Thomas O. Springer homestead, now owned by Mrs. E. Gusewelle. John Springer and wife were vic¬ tims of the cholera epidemic in 1849, and were buried in one grave.

No account of early days in Fort Russell is complete without prominent mention of Maj. Solomon Preuitt, who with his father Martin Preuitt came in 1806 to the sand ridge prairie, a few miles east of Alton, and in 1818 moved to section 18 of this township. Maj. Preuitt served in the Ranger companies during the In¬ dian disturbances of 1812 and following years, and was also a Black Hawk veteran. He died in 1875, at the age of eighty-five. He was said to be "a history within himself of the pioneer times of Madison county" and many of the most valuable, because reliable, portions of "Hair's Gazetteer of Madison County" (pub¬ lished 1865) had their source and authority in Maj. Solomon Preuitt.

John Estabrook, Gaius Paddock and Gershom Flagg came to this township in 1818, all of them from New England and all of them making their homes on the "Springfield road," theirs being the first homes erected on that road in this county north of Edwardsville. Mr. Paddock had a large family and had come first to St. Charles, Missouri, then to St. Louis and lastly to section 3 in Ft. Russell, where he spent his declining years. He was a Revolu¬ tionary soldier, and participated in several im¬ portant battles. He died in 1831 and was buried in Paddock cemetery.

Next to John Newman's frame house, the Paddock house, still standing (1912), was the first frame house erected in this part of the county. John Estabrook put up a log cabin on his land in section 14 or 15, and kept bachel¬ or's hall until his marriage, in 1820, to Nancy White. A large family of children were born to this union, and many of Mr. Estabrook's de¬ scendants live in different parts of the county and state. Gershom Flagg, also a bachelor, set¬ tled in the southeast quarter of section 3, where he paid special attention to starting an orchard of grafted apple trees. He served sev¬ eral terms as justice of the peace in the twen¬ ties and thirties. In 1827 he married Mrs. Jane (Paddock) Richmond, daughter of his neighbor, Gaius Paddock. He died in 1857, leaving one son, Willard C.

In 1819 Daniel A. Lanterman, a Kentuckian, came to Fort Russell, having settled in St. Clair county the year previous. He taught school many years, and later bought the farm of Jacob Linder in section 19. He died in 1865, leaving a son, William A., a justice of the peace for many years.

The Robinson homestead in section 11 was settled in 1832 by William S. B. Robinson, fa¬ ther of Sidney Robinson, and a son of Joseph Robinson, who had come from North Carolina to Madison county in 1815, settling in Ed¬ wardsville township. In the 'forties came the C. P. Smith family, which has large interests in the south central part of Fort Russell. Philip and Mary (Mueller) Smith came from Hesse- Darmstadt, Germany, with their three children. He purchased an eighty-acre tract in Fort Rus¬ sell, upon which had been erected a cabin, seventeen by twenty feet. The son, Christian P. Smith, conducted a steam saw mill in sec¬ tion 33 and became one of the largest landowners of this county.

Hon. John C. Burroughs should be men¬ tioned in any history of Fort Russell, being one of the most public spirited and energetic of her citizens. Coming from Maryland in 1857 and first teaching school at the "Progress" schoolhouse, and later studying law, he turned to agriculture, making a specialty of stockraising, and lived in section 27 until his un¬ timely death in 1876, in his 38th year. In the same neighborhood lived another prominent resident, F. Gottlieb Stahlhut, who after work¬ ing by the month for Gershom Flagg in the 1840's went to California at the time of the gold fever in 1849; on returning to Madison county, he settled in section 22 and amassed a very large estate.

since the township was organized in 1876. Prior to that time, the north half of the town¬ ship, east of Indian creek, was in Omphghent voting precinct, with the polls at Omphghent schoolhouse; all of the voters living west of Indian creek voted in Bethalto precinct; and the remainder of the township was in Edwardsville precinct.

In January, 1808, John Messenger surveyed the south boundary lines of 5-8 (see Vol. 12, U. S. Records) ; the boundary lines on the west were run by Gilbery Marshall in March, 1812 (see Vol. 57) ; and the east and north bound¬ aries and the subdivision were surveyed in March and April, 1814, by J. Milton Moore (see Vol. 44). The 90th degree of longitude west of Greenwich approximately divides the eastern two-thirds of Ft. Russell township from the western one-third.

The public officers of the township in 1912 were: Supervisor, Z. B. Owens; town clerk, John Jinkinson; assessor, John Helmkamp; collector, Charles Wiemers; highway commis¬ sioners, S. Tuetken, H. A. Hellrung, Charles Knoche ; justices of the peace, Wm. H. Lanterman, Michael Neunaber.