McLean County, Illinois - The whole text, 1879 (part 16 of 42)

Le Roy

The location of Le Roy was one of the most beautiful in the county, and its selection anomalous. Near the line between Sections 21 and 22, almost in the exact center of the township, was a round elevation of land, hardly amounting to a hill, still so descending in all directions as to make drainage easy. About one mile to the grove on three sides, and on the north about three miles from Old Town Timber, its peculiar fitness as a convenient point for the settlers who inhabited the grove, to the number of some twenty-five families, was apparent. Gen. A. Gridley and Gen. Merritt Covel, of Bloomington, readily saw the peculiar position of this little mound, and in 1835, purchased the eighty acres of land and laid out the town, making the mound the center of it. At the sale of lots in December, the bidding was spirited, and some of them sold at very good prices. Building was, however, very slow. Two years later, Gridley induced Hiram Buck to go there and build a hotel. In the fall of 1836, there were a few log houses there, and Edgar Conkling put up a frame store. The same fall, Buck surveyed and platted Conkling & Woods' addition, embracing about one hundred and twenty acres, lying on three sides of the original town, east, north and west. Mr. Conkling was the first to do any business here. A post^route was established in 1838, and a post office was opened, with Hiram Buck first Postmaster. The route was from Danville through Bloomington to Peoria. At first, the service was by post-rider, and then by Fink & Walker's mud-wagons, which, by courtesy, were called stages. This firm, for a long time, ran nearly all the stage lines in the northern half of this and the adjoining State. Mr. T. J. Barnett, who came to this township in 1832, and commenced trade in Le Boy in 1852, says that Amos Neal and J. W. Baddeley were the first to'sell goods here, and the Conklings and Proctor were among the first. Neal & Withers put up a log cabin in 1836, east of the public square, and, about the same time, Baddeley put up one on the south side of Center street, between the hotel and the public square. He had laid out the town of " Munroe," and commenced selling goods one mile south of here, and had been offered very liberal inducements to abandon that and make Le Roy the place of business. He conducted trade here for several years. James Wiley, an Irishman by birth, came here from the West Indies, and engaged in trade on the north side of Center street, on Block 15, where the meat market now is. He was successful and bought a fine farm from Conaway, and others east of town, and died there.

E. E. Greenman, one of the old guard, who has lived here and been engaged in active business during nearly all the life of Le Roy, came here in 1843. He is now one of the oldest residents of the county now living in it. He helped to build the house of James Allin, in Bloomington, and lived a neighbor to him.

In 1843, he was engaged in peddling through this part and some of the citizens, who thought he would be a valuable addition to the town, bantered him to hire a hall and locate here. He made a contract for board at $1 per week as long as he wished to stay, and rented the store near by for $1 per month as long as he wanted to keep it. He stocked up and sold goods there one year, when it was rented to some one else for $2 per month, and he had to get out. He bought the corner lot across the street where Fisk's drug store now is, for $10, and sent a man into the woods to hew the timber and in twenty-one days moved into his new store. S. D. Baker, now of

Bloomington, entered into partnership with him, and the firm remained in business onthat corner fourteen years and was quite successful. Since retiring from business, Mr. Greenman has bad a good deal to do with the schools, and his prompt, correct business habits have been of great service to the community in many ways. His health is not very good now ; has headache a good deal when folks bother him, but he looks as though he would hold out several years yet.

Richard Edwards took the store which Greenman left in 1844, and continued in business several years. B. E. Dodson rented in the hotel at first, and after that he occupied the building on the corner of Center street and the public square.

Kimler & Bishop opened business about 1847, where the meat market now is. They continued a few years and then bought the old harness-shop, and moved it east to its present position, and built the corner store, and Minor Bishop continued to trade there. L. H. & B. F. Park occupied the old meat market building which K. & B. had got out of, a few years, and then bought on the other side of the street east, where Stearns' boot and shoe store now is. This firm continued until the rebellion, when it was dissolved by the military service of L. H. Park, and Mr. B. F. Park continued in trade until he died. L. H. returned and commenced business again and still remains in business, the oldest in mercantile life in town.

Baker & Greenman, after a few years' trade in the frame building on the corner of Center street and the public square, moved it off and built the present fine brick building in 1857, at a cost of $3,000. It was a fine building for its day and was a credit to the builders, for it was, like them, substantial and business-like.

T. J. Barnett commenced trade about 1852, like his predecessors, in the "old meat market." The next year, he built the post office building, which was the first brick building in Le Roy and was way out of the " business center," for up to that time all the trade was on Center street within one block of the public square. Barnett continued in the post office building ten years and then bought the Greenman brick building and still owns it. For a time he was in partnership with J. Keenan. This made a strong firm, and sold in flush times $55,000 worth per year. Crumbaugh & Reed did a large trade in 1854 and 1855. David Cheney carried on a considerable trade here for some years. Amos Neal put up the first log house in LeRoy in 1835, and the next year T. J. Barnett built the next one near by it, on Block 15, where Wright's blacksmith-shop now stands. It was a good-sized building for the times, 14x16. It was built for his mother who continued to occupy it until he was able to do something better for her.

Mr. Conkling put up a number of small frame buildings on his lots, intending them to help sell his lots. Mr. Neal took the contract for putting up a lot of them. The lumber to cover and finish them was split out, and dressed down with a drawing-knife. They were small and decidedly primitive. Some are now standing. The speculation proved abortive, and the panic of 1837 carried him with it.

Dr. Morau, a well-educated physician, came to Buckles' Grove in 1834, and continued to practice his profession here until he moved to Springfield, in 1857. Dr. Welden bought him out and remained three or four years, and went to Covington, Ind. Dr. Stephen Noble, a nephew of Dr. Noble of Randolph, came here in 1850 and remained till 1865. when he went to Bloomington, where he died in 1871. He came to the county in 1831, and studied medicine with his uncle and at Bloomington. He came to Le Roy to enter a partnership with Dr. Cheney. He was several times President of the County Medical Society, and once of the State Society.

The first goods brought here were purchased at St. Louis and brought up the river to Pekin, which was the sea-port for all this country till 1855, when the building of railroads changed all trade to Chicago. Farmers hauled their wheat to Pekin (corn could not be sold at any price), and sometimes went to Chicago with loads to get salt, which was one of the articles of prime necessity among so many cattle, and could not be got at St. Louis without paying too much for it.

At first, the people had to go to the Wabash and to the Illinois River to get grinding done. They had small horse-mills along the timber. The first good mill built here was by Elisha Gribbs, about 1841, on the south side of town. It was about 40x46, two and a half stories high, and had one set of three-foot stones, a saw-mill, and two sets of carding machinery. It was run by steam, and cost about $4,000. It was in all respects a good mill for the times. It was burned in 1844.

Buckles & Farmer built a steam grist and saw mill about 1853, on the east side of town. It came into the hands of Morehouse, and burned about 1856.

Hobert & Dickerson built the large steam mill near the railroad depot, three blocks west of the public square, in 1859, at an expense of about $30,000. Dickerson sold to Bruner & Barnum, and Bruner to Keenan. Barnum & Keenan now run it strong-handed, and, in connection with it, their large grain and lumber trade. It is a first-class mill, and, probably, the best one in the eastern part of the county.

The Le Roy races were the standard Saturday sport of the old town, long before circuses and other ways of spending money had come into vogue. The race-track ran entirely around the town, which was then confined to the few blocks lying around the hotel. Every Saturday that the weather was suitable, the crack runners from the surrounding country showed their speed and tried their mettle on this track. Dr. Winn, from Waynesville, the Funks, who always had good horses, old Sammy Ogden, from upon the Mackinaw, with his " Clear the Kitchen " and " Juliet ;" Yazel, from Saybrook, and other old sports who never could see any fun in trotting, were generally here. The Bloomington boys used to come down and leave their tracks on the sand and their money with the boys. Betting ran high, and men were drawn to the place whose presence gave rise to many well-founded rumors of more objectionable vocations than horse-racing. An impression got abroad that, under the cover of " the races," gambling, counterfeiting and kindred crimes were not unknown in Le Roy. How much truth there was in these surmises is not our province to decide, but racing, betting and drinking were common, and from these it is fair to presume that men with criminal intent were drawn there.

The growth of the town was slow, and for a long time there was not much to encourage, but there are now many substantial and good buildings, which reflect credit on the builders. S. D. Baker, of the firm of Greenman & Baker, who now resides in Bloomington, built, in 1849, a nice two-story frame house on the north side of the public square, in which he lived twenty-five years. In 1850, Mr. Greenman built the house now owned and occupied by Rev. D. R. Taylor. In 1855, he built the house now occupied by John Young. Dr. S. W. Noble built a good residence, now occupied by T. J. Barnett. M. E. Ferguson built tbe house now occupied by Mrs. Arnold as the Cottage Hotel, in 1862, and J. H. Arnold built the one now occupied by Mr. Murray in 1865.

Dr. Fisher built and occupies the finest brick residence in town, in the northeast corner of the city. It is a neat and tasty building. John Kline, the present Supervisor of Empire, built, about the same time, a frame residence of the same style of architecture, near by Dr. Fisher's. Dr. Cheney and A. C. King put up nice residences about 1860, in the north part of town.

P. P. Watt and Dr. Cheney put up a fine brick block of three two-story-and-basement stores on Center street. B. F. Brinley built a similar store, and L. H. Park and the Odd Fellows a similar one. J. Keenan built the two-story brick on the corner of Chestnut and Center streets, now occupied by his store and bank. G. W. Potts built the brick store now occupied by him and owned by Keenan.

Mr. Joseph Keenan has been for some years one of most energetic business men of Le Roy. Besides his store and bank, he is interested in the mill, the lumber and grain trade, and alive to every interest which is vital to Le Roy.

The first newspaper ever issued in Le Roy was the Exchange, published by J. W. Wolfe September 29, 1870. It contained an account of the excursion train, the first one run over the I., B. & W. R. R., from Urbana through Bloomington to Peoria on the 13th of September, containing seven coaches, filled with the guests of the road, participating in this opening. The paper was well conducted and showed a healthy amount of advertising patronage. He continued it about two years. He is now publishing the Citizen at Mt. Pulaski.

While the Exchange was still being published, Mr. J. S. Harper, the great newspaper " starter," who has started more papers and run fewer beyond the first six months than any other man in the State, commenced, in 1871, the publication of the Sucker State. Harper had a kind of pre-emption on "starting papers" in this State. Most any newspaper man can count up about three dozen of his various enterprises, without much effort of memory. It never made a particle of difference to him whether there was an opening or not - whether the location had all the papers it could support - if he could find a vacant loft, he just moved in and went to work. This lived as long as any of his papers, and then he struck Saybrook, where his reception was no more encouraging, and he came back to Le Roy.

In November, 1874, C. M. Davis commenced the publication of the Enterprise, a five-column quarto, independent in politics. It is a neatly-printed, well-conducted sheet, devoted to the local interests of Le Roy, and apparently receiving an encouraging support.

Churches, Schools And Societies

The first intelligent account of stated preaching and church organization comes from Father Silas Waters, who, for nearly fifty years has been a soldier of the Cross here fighting in the M. E. division of the church militant. The year he came to Buckles' Grove, Rev. James Latta was a missionary here, and held his meetings in William Conaway's house. A class was organized, of which Mr. Waters was leader, composed of eleven members, by Rev. S. R. Begg in 1831. William, Nancy and Chalton Conaway,

Matilda Barnett, James Merrifield and wife, Jane and Rachel Conaway, Silas and Christiana Waters and Catharine Barnett were members of this first class. Preaching service was held every four weeks by Mr. Begg. The circuit embraced Hurley's Grove (Farmer City), Old Town, Bloomington, Randolph's Grove and Hidell's Grove (Clinton), larger than a Presiding Elder's district now. William Crissey and William Royal followed Begg on this field. The Clearwater schoolhouse was built in 1834, and they began to have the service there. Rev. Z. Hall, Mr. Cummings, J. E. French and Mr. Mozier served the little church when it met in the schoolhouse. The church was commenced in 1838. Edgar Conkling gave the lot, which was about sixty rods north of the present church. The building was 30x45, and it was no easy matter in those discour-' aging times to get the church built, and thus a renewed effort was made to get it seated. It was completed in all its necessary appointments in 1840. The seats were good, but not very comfortable. The pulpit was a three-story affair. Some years later, a bell was put in. The names of those who acted as pastors during the occupancy of this -church, as recollected by Mr. Waters, were Richard Bird, Mr. Gentry, James Rucker, Mr. Hendal, Sam. Martin, Sampson Shinn, Preston Wood, Mr. Norton, Ira Emerson, B. Barthlow, Mr. Aymold, Harker Smith and Amos Garner.

One of the ministers created a considerable feeling during the Black Hawk war, by saying in a sermon that if the Indians should come to his house in his absence and murder and scalp his family he would not be justified in killing them. These peace doctrines were not very popular.

This old church was sold in 1867 to Elias Wall for a barn, and the present brick edifice erected. It is 40x60, with spire, and cost about $10,000, free of debt. D. L. Morehouse and'Silas Waters were the leading spirits in the building. Rev. Amos Garner was Pastor. It was then Le Roy circuit. The following year it was divided. The following pastors have served no church since : Greenbury Garner, James Seymour, Mr. Bates, C. B. Obinchane, W. C. Lacey, P. De Clark, S. H. Whittock, J. Seymour, Mr. McCoy, J. D. Fry. A Sabbath school is maintained, averaging about two hundred members, largely through the instrumentality of Mr. Waters, Mr. Davison, T. F. Hamand, Mr. Barley and Mr. Fry. The official brethren are Silas Waters, D. L. Morehouse, Henry Long, James Kimler and B. F. Brinley. It belongs to the Bloomington district.

The Cumberland Presbyterians were among the first to establish regular religious services here. The Rev. R. D. Taylor (an imperfect sketch of whose life and services in this part of the State will be found in " Downs"), the Revs. Archer and Neal Johnson, and the Rev. James Davis were believed to be the earliest Christian ministers of that denomination working in the field. The Buckles family were attached to that Church, and naturally took an interest in getting a house of worship and regular preaching. Mr. Taylor still resides in Le Roy. Mr. Johnson went to Kansas and died there three years ago. Mr. Davis lives on the Mackinaw. This belonged to the Mackinaw Presbytery as early as 1838, for in that year Mr. Taylor was ordained to the Christian ministry by that body, he having been licensed to preach before leaving Kentucky, in 1836.

Just when the Church was organized seems to be involved in obscurity. Thomas Buckles and James Rutledge were the first Elders ; and with J. D. Baker and Peter Buckles, were the leaders in getting up the first house of worship. Elisha Gibbs put

No one seems to be found to father the architecture of this old church, which, from all accounts, was one of the oddities of the age. It was forty feet square, and the entrance was at the side, under the eaves, back in the alley. The windows had about fifty lights of glass each, which were square. The pulpit way up to the ceiling. Rev. A. J. Thomas, who lor a long time was supply, and afterward Pastor, first came herein 1851 , and while living at Atlanta, came here frequently to preach. In 1857, he moved here on account of the advantages of the seminary which was constructed here under the auspices of the Cumberland Church. Mr. Thomas had been educated in Indiana. He served the Church as stated supply until 1858. For a year, R. D. Taylor and William M. Taylor, now of Macon County, preached, and Mr. Thomas was installed Pastor, which relation he maintained for twelve years. During his pastorate, the present neat brick church was built, in 1863. It is 36x50, with spire 72 feet high. Downey & Hardy were architects and builders. It cost $3,600, and is free from debt. Mr. Thomas still lives here, and is now in the employ of the Bloomington Chair Company as purchasing agent. He was a preacher of more than ordinary force, and under his pastoral labor, the Church increased in numbers to 230 members, built their fine churchr maintained a good Sabbath school, and grew in strength and efficiency.

Since the close of Mr. Thomas' labors, Rev. R. T. Marlon, Rev. J. D. Best and Rev. M. H. Kimberlin have preached, each for a year or two. Rev. J. R. Laurence, of Lincoln, supplies the pulpit half of the time.

Connected with the Church, as really a part of its work, was the Le Roy Seminary, an institution for higher education than the common schools of that day furnished- Rev. Robert Patten, from Tennessee, had charge of it from 1854 to 1859, and had several assistants. Miss Maltby, Mr. Roach and Miss Conkling were engaged in teaching. The Seminary was a success until the building-up of the graded common school, when it was abandoned. The building stood in the north part of town, and was used by the graded school until the new brick edifice was completed, and then moved to and became a part of the hotel.

The Le Roy graded school, which is the successor of the Semiuary, occupied that building for a few years, when the citizens decided to have something better.

In 1864, E. E. Greenman, Dr. Cheney and B. F. Park were Directors, and they purchased Block 112 of Conkling's Addition, paying $150, and built the two-story brick schoolhouse, 34x48, at a cost of $4,200.

W. A. Munroewas first Principal, then J. W. Barley, J. X.Wilson, C. A. Barley and M. Jess. The school officers have been fortunate, perhaps attentive to their trust is a better term, in the selection of principals for this school. Mr. C. A. Barley, who taught the school for five years previous to the five-years term of the present Principal, was a thorough teacher, with peculiar fitness for management, and excellent judgment in all that appertains to efficiency and welfare of the school. When Mr. Jess, the present Principal, took the school, he found it in first-rate condition. He pays a high tribute, evidently a just one, to Mr. Barley's administration of the schools. Since he left the school, Mr. Barley has been in business in Le Roy, as insurance and real estate agent, and, with the useful disposition which possesses him, is often called into serving the public in ways almost innumerable. No one in Le Roy ever thinks of starting a society, company or any public undertaking, without Charley Barley's assistance. Really a useful man in the community and one who is willing to be so. In clerical work he has few superiors.

Mr. M. Jess, who has, since Mr. Barley's close five years ago, had charge of the schools, was educated in New York, has taught ten years in Champaign County and at Farmer City, giving everywhere good satisfaction. He grades the school in eleven sections from the primer through to the graduation from the high school, without reference to the time employed. When the pupil has performed the work in one section, he is promoted to another, making the teacher responsible for the proper conduct and instruction of the pupil.

The course embraces languages, higher mathematics, civil government, the sciences and history. Each pupil who passes a satisfactory examination is given a diploma, certifying his or her completion of the prescribed course. The graduating classes average about nine ; and most of the graduates have made successful teachers.

Mr. Jess is an accomplished educator, seeming to control without an effort, with a wealth of resource without limit for interesting and leading his pupils up the hill of knowledge. From the estimation in which he is held, it seems as though his tenure is certain.

The average attendance for the winter term was 275. The teachers are, First Assistant, Miss Anna Sutherland ; intermediate, Miss Susan E. Irwin ; second primary, Miss Alice King ; first primary, Miss Nora Kline.

The Lodge can hardly be called a dark-lantern affair, for its night for meeting is the Tuesday before the full moon. Thus, if almanacs can be relied on, having moonlight for their meetings.

Lodge No. 149, 1. 0. 0. F., was organized in 1854, with sixteen members. Of the original members, B. F. Parks is the only one left in the Lodge now. Present membership, fifty-three. More than two hundred and fifteen have belonged at different times. The Lodge has been very successful. It owns the lodge-room, and has funds besides- James Wright is N. G-. ; W. C. Cochran, V. G-. ; Z. Chick, Secretary and Lodge Deputy. Meets each Thursday evening whether there is a moon visible or not.

Le Roy Encampment No. 32 numbers twenty-three members. Alexander Mcllfresh, C. P.; James Wright, H. P.; W. C. Cochran, S. W.; J. H. Cochran, Scribe; G. S. Crumbaugh, Treasurer. Meets second and fourth Fridays of each month. The Encampment is joint-owner of the hall with the Lodge.

The Empire Building and Loan Association was organized under authority of an act of the Legislature " to enable associations of persons to become a body corporate to loan money to their own members," June 3, 1874. C. A. Barley, B. Brinley, J. M. Stearns, S. F. Barnum, A. R. Arbuckle, are the corporators. S. F. Barnum, President; C. A. Barley, Secretary ; J. Keenan, Treasurer. The capital stock is 1 ,000 shares of SI 00 each. There are now 100 members, and about $55,000 in the fund. Interest is payable monthly at six per centum. In its workings it has proved a complete success. The object is to enable laboring men to own their own homes for just about what they would otherwise pay for rent. So far, about forty have been assisted to get homes. The charter is limited to eight years.

The Le Roy Library and Reading Association was organized in May, 1875> by Dr. T. D. Fisher, C. A. Barley and C. M. Davis. The capital stock is $5 a share. There were eight to commence with. Subscriptions to the capital stock could be paid in books. Mrs. N. T. Humphrey, President; Dr. Fisher, Vice President; Gr. L. Sheldon, Secretary; Mrs. T. A. Taylor, Librarian. There are 700 volumes. Loan tickets are $2 per year, or 75 cents per quarter. Stockholders pay, $100 per year. The affairs of the Association are under the management of an Executive Committee. Mrs. Taylor has been Librarian from the beginning. From her last report it appears 1 ,500 books had been taken out during the year.

While yet in its infancy, no one can estimate the influence of this in the present, or on the future. There are already many valuable books upon its shelves. We notice sets of " Chambers' Miscellany," Rollins' and Macauley's histories, Wilson's " Rise and Fall of the Slave Power," " Plutarch's Lives," and many of the standard works of travel, history, fiction and poetry. The citizens can well afford to give it a wider influence. The Havana, Rantoul & Eastern Railroad is, or at least the recently built section from Fisher to Le Roy is, a Le Roy enterprise, and its history belongs here.

March 24, 1876, the company was organized here to build a narrow-gauge road from Fisher to Le Roy, an extension of the road already built from Rantoul to Fisher. James Bishop was elected President, C. A. Barley, Secretary, and J. Keenan, Treasurer. This action was taken because the people of Empire Township, which had donated $75,000 to the I., B. & W. R. R., felt that they had been discriminated against in the matter of freights, and they had assurances that if this road was built, their grain could be shipped off at less freight than they were paying.

Fifteen thousand dollars was subscribed to the stock, when the death of Mr. Bishop put a stop to the matter for awhile. In the spring of 1868, B. J. Gifford, of Rantoul, was elected President, the capital stock was increased to $30,000, the right of way was mostly donated, and in ten months from his election, the road was built and in running order. Two-thirds of this stock was subscribed in Empire Township, creating no debt. The road thus built is twenty-three miles long, and has eight stations on it. It has already met all expectations, freights are lower than ever before, and the road is doing a good business. It has good Eastern connections, and will, probably, in time, be continued west to Havana.

The successive Postmasters of Le Roy have been Hiram Buck, Dr. S. J. Weldon, S. D. Baker, James Kimler, S. A. Moore, Gr. D. Crumbaugh and J. W. Brown.

The town of Le Roy was incorporated in 1853, and remained under town organization until the spring of 1874, when the fire which burned out the corner opposite the Le Roy House, burned up the town records. In this fire, two stores, Sill's drug store, a hotel, ten-pin alley, Dr. Fisher's office and two other wooden buildings were destroyed. A petition was presented to the Board to permit a city organization. A census was taken, which showed a population of 1,018.

On the 16th of July, an election was held to vote for or against city organization. B. F. Brinley, L. H. Parks and H. M. Phillips were Judges of Election. The vote was 99 for to 11 against city organization, and 91 for to 14 against "minority representation." On the 10th of August, an election was held for a Mayor, Clerk, Attorney and six Aldermen, at which election A. J. Thomas, M. S. Stout and C. Howard acted as Judges; 179 votes were cast, and the following officers were elected : M. S. Stout, Mayor; J. W. Brown, Clerk; A. R. Arbuckle, Attorney; James Wright, A.

B. Johnson, J. M. Stearns, William Buckworth, John Kline and A. T. Bishop, Aldermen. For license, 97 ; against license, 81. August 14, the new officers assumed the duties of their offices, and J. Keenan was appointed Treasurer ; J. F. Mcllfresh, Marshal and Street Commissioner.

In 1877, J. M. Suggett was elected Mayor; Barley, Clerk ; Keenan, Treasurer; Moore, Attorney, and J. B. Patterson, R. C. Hallowell and I. N. Kaughman, Aldermen. Rev. R. D. Taylor was appointed Marshal and Street Commissioner. In 1878, A. B. Johnson was elected Mayor, to fill a vacancy ; T. L. Buck, J. F. McKinzie and E. M. King, Aldermen.

The city is provided with a Champion fire-extinguisher, in charge of a regularlyorganized fire department, of which George Phillips is Foreman.

The wealth and magnificence of McLean County grew from its beautiful groves as much as from any other one thing. These goodly forests in their primeval beauty drew the pioneer as surely as the magnet does the needle. No other considerations overbore the generous shelter which these islands of shade and their accompanying cool streams gave - about the only comforts which the early settlers found in their new homes. All other were surroundings of discomfort. The cramped cabins, the absence of schools and markets, sickness - always the attendant on new locations - severe storms, depredations of wild beasts, fires, snakes, poorly paid toil, and the uncertainties of the future, all gave way to the supporting shelter of a grove of timber.

When Jonathan Cheney first saw the grove, which took its name from him in 1825, it covered nearly all of Sections 19, 20, 28 and half of 27 and 21 , something more than four square miles in all. The Sangamon River, here large enough to be of good value for watering stock the year around, ran directly through it, and the timber was of good strong growth for lumber. Cheney gave his name to this grove, and in turn the grove gave the name to the voting precinct, where, until 1858, the people assembled to perform the glad, glorious duties of Americans - to vote without the modern inventions of "bulldozing" or bribery. This in turn gave the name to the township when it was organized ; but a little incident will show how near this last scheme came to failing. When the name Cheney's Grove had been decided on and sent to the Auditor's office at Springfield, the chirography as may well be supposed, was not perfect, and the official mistook the name for Cherry Grove, which name had already been pre-empted by a township in Knox County, and he informed the Board of Supervisors that another name must be selected ; but the error was discovered in time to save the name.

Cheney's Grove is in the eastern second tier from the southern line of the county, and has Anchor on its north, Belleflower on its south, Arrowsmith on its west, and Ford County on its eastern boundary. It is a full Congressional Township, and is described as Town 23, Range 6 east of the Third Principal Meridian. The Sangamon River touches it at the center of its western boundary, and passes through in an east-southeasterly course, passing out at the extreme southeast corner, the grove lying along both sides of this, with Saybrook nearly in the center of it. The high rolling prairie which marks the northern boundary of the Sangamon Valley, all through eastern McLean extends through the northern portion of the township, and out into Ford County, toward Gibson City, forming the delightful variety frequently alluded to in this work. The land in the Grove and most of that south of it is also sufficiently . rolling for good drainage and the highest cultivation.

The LaFayette, Bloomington & Muncie Railroad runs through the township from east to west, having on it the only village or post office in the town - Saybrook. Jonathan Cheney with his wife and eight children, Mary, Thomas, Owen, Keturah,- Emilia, George^ William Haines and Catharine, came here in 1825. Two little twin girls and one other whose stay was not long, were left buried at their old home in Ohio, and two children, Return Jonathan and Rebecca, were born here. Of these thirteen, all but the three above mentioned lived to grow up, and all but one of them married. The grandchildren of the aged pair numbered fifty-nine; their great-grandchildren have not yet been numbered. His homestead was on Section 28, south of the Grove, and several children settled around him there. The elder Cheney was a man of strong will and great determination ; a man of good judgment, but seems to have been very undecided in his earlier days, for he moved frequently. Came with his family once to Illinois and returned; came again, leaving them here, he returned to Ohio, and wrote them to sell out and come back. They did not follow his advice, however, and he returned to Cheney's Grove, and the next boy which was born to him he named Return Jonathan, a name which might well have been given to the father. He had returned, however, for the last time now, for he remained here to see his children grow up around him prosperous and respected. Nearly all of them lived in the county and became well off financially, though most of them died at a less age than he and his estimable wife attained to. He died in 1862, at the age of seventy-seven. His widow surviving him about fifteen years.

Of his children, Thomas and Owen early entered considerable land in Padua, and became important citizens in the early history of that part. The latter died, and the former removed to California.

George and William Haines owned and lived upon large farms in the southern part of this township, where their widows yet reside. Return owned a large farm just south of them, in Belleflower Township, which, a few years since, he sold, and still resides near Saybrook.

Catharine and Rebecca married the brothers, John and Benjamin Prothero, prosperous and successful farmers, who live, the former in Saybrook and the latter on a fine farm south of the Grove.

Mary became Mrs. Stansbery, and lived near the grove on the south, and Emilia, Mrs. Horr, and are both dead. William Haines was elected State Senator for this district to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Isaac Funk, who died while he was in office. He served in an acceptable manner for the single year which he sat in the Senate. His tragic death is too recent and the circumstances too sad to call for reproduction here. He was long one of the best known and most generally respected men in this part of the county.

Probably, next to Jonathan Cheney, in point of fact, though not, perhaps, of date, the man who did most to " settle " Cheney's Grove and make life comfortable here was old Robert Cunningham, who came here from Clarke County, Ind., in 1829, where he had lived twenty years. He had done good service under Harrison in the war of 1812, and was present at the battle of Tippecanoe.

He took up 400 acres of land, rightly judging that his family would want nearly as much as that. He built a log house in the northeast corner, and went to work making a farm with the aid of his boys. Three or four years after (we are sorry the date cannot be accurately established), he built the first and only water grist-mill ever built on the Sangamon River in McLean County. It was a curiosity in its way, and if such a mill could now be exhibited at Bloomiugton, bolts, bins, stones and all, it would make a larger return of Shekels to its owner, at 5 cents a sight, than it would to be run as a merchant-mil). There was probably not a sawed board or stick in it; in fact, no sawing was being done yet in this part of the county. It is evident that sawing was not in demand, or he would have put up a saw-mill instead.

His " kit " of millwright tools to build it consisted of an ax, adz, jackplane, drawing-knife, and, possibly, a jack-knife, hammer and saw. Most of the work was done with the three former-named implements.

The building was of logs, and it is believed he did every bit of the work on it, except raising the logs, himself. The stones were the common prairie bowlders, cut down to get about two-feet face on them. The floors, meal-bins, flume and all other " nice work " were puncheons, split out and dressed down to match. The latter did not always " hold water," and he had to " dust " it down with gravel, very frequently, to keep the water from running through the widening cracks. The wheel was made out of the same handy puncheons, and the bolting-chest similarly. For a long time, he had no elevator to carry the ground matter up to the bolt, and it was lugged up in the halfbushel and emptied on a platform - the original Saybrook platform, it may be - where a low-priced boy (the older ones had to be kept at work on the farm) sat hour after hour poking the product of the stone into the upper end of the bolt. This was business for the boys, and it will not be doubted when they say they sometimes got very tired of it. No smut-machine nor middlings-purifier cumbered up the old mill ; but the people esteemed it a decided improvement over pounding their grain in a mortar.

There was sufficient water to run about six months in the year, and, in 1838, he built a saw-mill, with the old-fashioned gate-saw, which, in flush times of water, would, go up one minute and down the next. The rainy season of 1844, the stream was too high, during a great portion of the spring and summer, to run the mill, as indeed the long-continued rains prevented almost all labor ; planting, tilling and travel were impeded, and it was one of the most discouraging years the old settlers ever knew. Mr. Cunningham continued to run these mills for about fifteen years, and until Mr. Blakesley built the old steam-mill.

Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham were the parents of fifteen children, all of whom grew up, married and had families of their own, though none of them seemed to have been blessed by Providence with the same number. All of them lived around here for a while, and four still live in McLean County. Eleven are still living. The names of these children, ten danghters and five sons, together with the number of children each has been the parent of, are here given, and until some one in McLean County can show a better record, Saybrook will claim the championship for the Cunninghams : Sarah, 12 ; Phoebe, 6 ; Anna, 5 ; Mary, 9 ; Thomas, 6 ; Jesse, 3 ; Abby. 7 ; Farily, 8 ; King Solomon, 6 (he had only one wife) ; Sardelia, 6 ; Emeline, 4 ; William E., 8 ; Jeremiah, 5 ; Aphia, 5 ; Robert, 6. Total, 96.

Mrs. Cunningham, in addition to the daily household work and the exacting duties pertaining to maternity, carded, spun and wove the wool which made their daily clothing; brought thus safely through the mumps, measles, whooping-cough, croup, cholera morbus and courting, and lived to the good old age of seventy-five years, without ever losing a child or losing her firm faith in fore-ordination and predesti«ation, which is the central doctrine in the faith of that branch of the Baptist Church of which she was a bright and shining light. It never has been fully understood by mothers of the present day how those old mothers in Israel got along. That they had some strong sustaining aid in the way of sense of duty, and, perhaps, in most cases, the aid of faith in the promises, is more than likely. Indeed, it can hardly be conceived that such an endless round of pressing and exhausting labors, running through nearly thirty years of woman's life, could be borne without such aid. The sense of duty is one of the strongest, and nerves weak mortality to the most laborious and heroic acts. That which could have driven Mrs. Cunningham to her grave or to destraction was, possibly, to be endured even with joy and pleasure under the incentives of faith, duty and love. Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham were members of the Antinomian, or in common parlance, " Hardshell," Baptists. Their house was the' place of the stated preaching of that sect. Rev. John Darnall, of Indian Grove, was for years the regular preacher here. The membership here was limited, and now seems to have entirely disappeared. It is due to them to say that, at least in their case, none of the absurdities which, by common fame, attached to some of the disciples of this sect were ever acted on by them. While holding to all the doctrines of the sect firmly, they were sensitive to any irregularity of conduct as they could have been had they believed in salvation by works alone.

James, a brother of Robert Cunningham, came here at the same time, and lived with him, or near by, where he lived on Section 27, where James Thompson now resides.

Robert Means came from Kentucky and settled on the Little Vermilion in 1829. The next year, he came to Cheney's Grove and settled north of the Grove, where James Vanscoyoc lives. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, and again shouldered his musket when the Black Hawk war sent a thrill of fear through these settlements. His first winter here was the one of the deep snow, when everybody hereabouts had to do their own grinding. He used an old iron wedge for his millstone, and fastened it by a pole to a spring-pole overhead, and utilized the power of his children to drive it. It was a novel experiment, but worked well.

He died in 1835, leaving a widow and ten children with but little means of support ; but they were used to work and got along without suffering more than many others. Six of his children now live here - James R., Owen A., David D., Mrs. Ball, Mrs. McMackin and Mrs. Vanscoyoc. The former is a Justice of the Peace and a business man of Saybrook, and has repeatedly held important trusts. He is recognized as a man of strict integrity and very good business habits.

W. H. Riggs came here from Kentucky, in the fall of 1830, just before the snow fell, with his brother-in-law, Henry Pitts. They were on the way to the Wabash, with a drove of hogs, when the deep snow fell, and nearly froze to death on the way back. Their feet and faces were badly frozen, and they considered themselves fortunate in escaping death. They settled on the farm where John Newcomb . now lives. Mr. Riggs took a claim on Section 17, and pounded his own corn in a hominy mortar for two months. He was the first Class-leader of the first Methodist class that was formed here. He and his wife had been members of the church in Kentucky, and, coming into the new settlement, resolved to bring their religion with them. His coming here was largely owing to his objections to the institution of slavery, and ,he did not mean that his children should come up under its influence. He and his wife still live here, and own and occupy a good farm of 200 acres. Their six children have grown up around them, honored, respected and enterprising citizens. Mr. Pitts traded a horse to Mr. Clark for his claim, and lived on it awhile. Snowden Ball came here from Kentucky, in 1831, at the age of seventeen, and commenced working on a farm. In 1835, he married a daughter of Robert Means. He died in 1873, and left a widow and eight children. Mrs. Ball and three of the children still live on the farm north of the Grove.

His brother, Hilleary Ball, came at the same time, the young men accompanying their uncle, with whom they lived after the death of their father. Mr. Ball was married in 1 838 to a daughter of Aaron Hildreth, who was one of the first settlers in Arrowsmith Township. He has been a prosperous farmer, and he and his wife still live here. Five of their children have grown up and live near them.

Ephraim S. Myers, who is now the oldest resident of the township, came to what is now Vermilion County from Kentucky, in 1826, when twenty-five years old. After working around awhile, he married, and farmed two or three years, and then, in 1830, came to where he now lives. Only Jonathan Cheney, the Cunninghams, Robert Means, Benjamin Thomas and a Mr. Clark then resided here. He was a hearty, driving, hardworking man, with a constitution like iron, and a disposition to make the most of life. Full of tunes - in fact at the age of seventy-seven they are not all out of him - work, hunting, visiting and other duties were all alike to Uncle Ephraim. He didn't much care which it was, he enjoyed them all. When the deep snow fell, he had just returned home with a quantity of meal for his winter's use ; but before the snow was gone he had to pound hominy like the rest of his neighbors. He says he has hunted in every timber grove -and on every stream and spring from the Little Vermilion to the Mackinaw, and every species of game known in these pans, from wild-hogs to rattlesnakes. The old settlers never tire of telling of Myers' hunting exploits. He and Cheney went down to what is now called Drummer Grove, to hunt, and took along a dog which bore the name of Drummer. The dog behaved so unreasonably that they killed him ; and ever afterward the piece of woodland was called Drummer's Grove, and the township in which it stands took its name from that dog, which, by the way, was not so famous in his life as honored in his untimely death.

Mr. Myers has been twice married, and is the father of twelve children, most of whom are living within a few miles of his home. Every male member of his family, except Ephraim himself, who was old enough to enlist, joined the grand army of the Union, and marched into Dixie to sustain the old flag. Five of his own sons, a stepson and a young man whom he had brought up in the love and admiration of the flag of his country, seven in all, went forth from his roof. One, Jacob, his eldest never returned to tell the story of his trials and triumphs.

Abram Stansbery, one of a large relationship which has numerously settled or grown up here in the eastern part of the county, came here about the same time, and, in 1832, while the fright in regard to the Black Hawk war was at its height, he married a daughter of Jonathan Cheney. A wedding at any time in the new settlement u caused talk," but this one at a time when it was not known what moment the red-skins might pounce down on them and carry the tomahawk, the scalping-knife and the fire brand through the Grove, caused many remarks. But Abram's faith was strong, and answered all by quoting the slightly changed apostolic injunction, " Better to marry than to enlist." At this time, only one house - that of Father Newcomb - -eighteen miles away, stood between here and Urbana, at Newcomb's Ford. Mr.

Stansbery died leaving two grown children and a considerable estate. Edward Stansbery came here from East Tennessee in 1833. With the neighbors' help, they fixed up their little cabin and got to living before winter set in, but the next year they all had the ague so badly that they could not do anything.

He entered the land he had a claim on in 1835, in Section 20, and sold this and bought another. He died in 1860. His son, W. K., for a long time and still Postmaster at Saybrook, was thirteen years old when he came - just the right age to be very thoroughly impressed with matters, and with a good memory, his assistance kindly furnished to the writer of this sketch is hereby gratefully acknowledged. Mr. Edward Stansbery was for more than fifty years a firm and consistent member of the Methodist Church ; was one of its earliest promoters here. Of his seven children, only two remain here - one son and one daughter. He was a very small man in stature, but large in manliness, abounding in faith and good works. His brother Ezekiel came here at the same time and settled on Section 19. He had a good farm of 120 acres. He died there leaving nine children, two of whom still remain here. E. K. Stansbery had a chance of schooling such as was to be found in the Grove at that time, and made good use of it.

The first schoolhouse was built in 1832, between where the mill and the cemetery now are ; indeed, this schoolhouse and cemetery were the " first beginnings" of Saybrook. A Mr. Rowland taught school, and a Mr. Harbison followed him. The school was run by subscription. The teacher and some of the citizens carried a subscription-paper around, and such as felt able subscribed for one or more children's schooling at §2 per term. The attendance upon school was not limited to the scholars subscribed for, but the teacher would not undertake the school unless a sufficient number of subscriptions were made to pay him for his services. While lame William Johnson was teaching, the schoolhouse burned down, and his school was transferred to a vacant house of Mr. Cheney's during the remainder of the term. A schoolhouse was then built one mile west of the present Saybrook, which also burned, when one was built a mile and a half east, which soon became a third scholastic feast for the "devouring flames." Just why all these " cool retreats " of learning thus burned is not known unless it is found in the fact that the youths here had such a " burning desire " for education that the buildings themselves caught the enthusiasm and went up in smoke.

Isaac, another of the numerous name of Stansbery came to the Grove in 1836, and commenced farming on his brother Abram's place, and has lived to see nine of his ten children grow up to manhood and womanhood, most of whom settled near him. His son Isaac gave his life to his country, and died at Milliken's Bend.

Otha Owen came here an orphan boy of eleven with his Uncle Elias in September, 1834, who settled and took a farm on Section 35, south of the Grove and near the river. He died in 1862. Otha lived with him eleven years, went to school at the old log schoolhouse near the cemetery until it burned and followed the fortunes of the others. He well remembers the " sudden change" in 1836. His uncle was away and his aunt kept him home from school to dig a trench around the barn to keep the water and slush from running into the stable. When the " change " struck him, he bethought himself to cut the night's wood. The cold was so intense that he could only remain at the wood-pile about three minutes at a time ; but the wood had to be cut, or the family would certainly freeze to death before morning. It was a lively time for the lad, and the hour that he spent trying to cut wood without freezing to death will never he forgotten. He remembers as but yesterday seeing the mail-carrier going by on his way to the next post office east, which was more than five miles away. He felt sure the man could not stand the trip, but believes he did, for he never heard of his death. When he arrived at age, he entered eighty acres of land where he now lives, in Sections 34 and 35. He owns 147 acres here and has seen eight of his eleven children grow up around him.

The year 1844, all the flat land of this country was afloat all summer ; not corn, enough was raised to feed the teams on, and small grain was cradled in the standing water.

Mr. Owen says that the county road before spoken of was laid out on the halfsection line to accommodate those who were trying to build up Saybrook, which was also the fact in regard to the settlers at Indian Grove, directly north of Saybrook.

Ethan Newcomb came to Newcomb's Ford, a kind of a half-way place of entertainment down the river, twenty miles from Cheney's Grove, in 1828. In 1835, he removed with his family to Section 17, Cheney's Grove, where he made the first frame house that was built here. The lumber was sawed with a whip-saw as there was no mill then running here. He bought the claim of Henry Pitts ; the same on which John Newcomb lives. One of his daughters married 0. H. P. Vanscoyoc ; one, Jacob Smith, of Arrowsmith, and one, William Arbogast, of the same township. His sou John lives there yet on Section IT. His son Joseph split rails and made a farm on Sections 18 and 19, where he still resides. Nine of his eleven children live, most of them near him.

James Vanscoyoc came from Ohio to Old Town Timber in Padua in 1829. After living there some years, he came to Cheney's Grove and settled on the Means place. Five of his seven children are living either in this or the adjoining townships. One son, Walter, was for some years in business in Arrowsmith, and did much to build up that village and often occupied positions of trust in the official matters of the town. The family is recognized as one of the most enterprising and successful in this part of the county - not in the sense of acquiring large property, for none of them have become wealthy, but as strong, good citizens and valuable accessions to any new neighborhood.

John Prothero came from Canada to Cheney's Grove in 1840. He located on what is part of the Haines Cheney farm, and entered the land in 1842. In 1857, he went to Bloomington and returned here in 1873. He owns a good farm north of Saybrook, but lives in the village now. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1875, and is giving his best endeavors to keeping up the reputation which Saybrook has always had for peace and quiet.

Benjamin Prothero followed him in 1848. He lived with his brother awhile, and then took up land south of the Grove and east of Cheney's land. He has about five hundred acres of as fine land as there is in the town, and is a prosperous farmer and a careful manager.

Elijah Ellsworth came from Ohio in 1856, and settled out on the prairie, on the northeast quarter of Section 24. He has upon his place the identical log house which Return J. Cheney was born in after his father returned from Ohio.

J. W. Bowie has a fine farm on the same section, and Jack Cunningham has a. farm on Sections 24 and 25, which he improved in 1859. James Vanscoyoc improved a farm in that part of the township in 1860. About this latter date, the township filled <up, and its history has since been one of continued prosperity. Their crops, their fruits and their herds have been good - success has waited on the farmer's labors everywhere. A few of her best young men put out their young lives in their country's service. Many have gone West, and a good many yet live among us.

A number of nice farms and good farm-buildings dot the township. The Haines dheney farm, now occupied and owned by his widow, just south of Saybrook, is a beautiful one, with a nice two-story brick house, probably the finest country residence in the township.

Hilleary Ball has a fine farm of 300 acres north of town. He is a neat farmer, has good buildings and extensive orchards. Mr. Ball has been engaged in cattle-raising largely.

G. W. Riggs, northwest of town, has a fine farm of 300 acres, well fixed with fine buildings, and every appointment as though he calculated to live there.

Below will be found, in tabular form, the township officers elected since 1861, the records failing; to show who were elected before that time :

The following have been elected Justices of the Peace : M. C. Young, J. T. Voss, John Clark, George A. Black, Thomas Kendall, T. F. Rhea, J. B. Henderson, E. B. Dyer, J. Prothero. J. R. Means.

The following have been elected Commissioners of Highways : G. W. Riggs, George Cheney, Benjamin Prothero, J. S. Vanscoyoc, Otha Owen, J. J. Follick, W. H. Riggs, J. W. Pugsley, F. Mechling, H. Warford, C. Palmer, John Newcomb, James Rowland, R. J. Cheney, W. A. Stewart, O. Springstead, P. W. Zook.

SAYBROOK. For nearly twenty years, the settlements around had looked to other places for trade, and no attempt had been made to " start a town," as the more modern parlance has it. In 1846, Eli Blakesley built a steam saw-mill a little east of where the present mill stands, and built two houses. Soon after this, a blacksmith-shop was built, and these convenient and useful things constituted the beginnings of Saybrook.

But it was not until 1854 that J. B. Beckwith commenced the first grocery store which was known here. He started with about $300 capital, but with abundance of push and energy. He soon added dry goods to his stock in trade. About 1858, together with his brother, he put up a steam saw-mill at Lyons, Iowa ; but, a year later, took it down and moved it to Saybrook and ran it several years. The lumber was mostly for buildings and fences, and the building of neighboring towns. For a while, a good deal of black walnut was sawed into silling and lumber for the finishing-off of houses ; but latterly, it was only made into merchant lumber. A large amount of blackwalnut logs have been shipped away to Indianapolis, to be sawed up there for Eastern market.

Mr. Beckwith was very successful in business, and is popularly supposed to have left here with a hundred-fold more than he brought, when he went to California in 1876.

William Beckwith and T. J. Warren formed a partnership for the mercantile business, which continued until 1865, but continued in trade until 1870.

Gallager & Harrison opened trade here in 1859, and continued till 1867, when Harrison bought out the interest of his partner and remained in trade here until 1877.

When the railroad was built, grain and lumber became, of course, the two important lines of trade. Rev. Mr. Baldwin began buying grain in 1871, before the road was built. Thomas Kendall entered into the grain trade here in 1872. J. P. Wheeler, of Boston, had buyers out here. Rhea & Lowery bought for him ; and James R. Means was in the market as a purchaser for some time. W. H. Beckwith and A. Vincel commenced soon, and still continue large buyers, the latter having recently made arrangements to buy and ship from Taylor's Station, a point half-way between Saybrook and Gibson City. Overhall & Co. also bought for awhile.

Dr. J. E. Davis, the present hotel-keeper at Gibson, was the first practicing physician here. He came here before Saybrook was booked, and lived at William Riggs'. He remained here eight or ten years, when he retired from practice and purchased a large farm at Drummer's Grove, and for several years was a successful and prosperous farmer. Dr. Crain was here a few years and then sold out his practice to Dr. Ballard.

For the two last years, Saybrook has exceeded any other station on the line of this road in the amount of grain shipped on this road. The average for these two years has been greater than any years before and has been about as follows : 300,000 bushels of corn, 100,000 bushels of oats, 60,000 bushels of rye and other grains. The disposition of many of the wealthy farmers to feed less of their grain to cattle will account for part of this increase. From the peculiar nature of her position, the range of country tributary to Saybrook has not been tapped by any of the new railroad enterprises which have taken form during the past year or two. Formerly, the grain here went through to New England ; now the buyers find themselves compelled to sell on track.

The post office was # established in 1831, and was held some years by Jonathan Cheney. It was then called Cheney's Grove. It was served once a week by the route running through from Danville to Pekin. In 1843, Mr. McMackin was appointed

Postmaster; he lived farther west, but was on the same route. The mail used to come Saturday, and he would carry it over to church and lay it on the table. When the service was over the people would '* come around the table " and select their own without the newsboys cry of " 'ere'syour Sunday Tribune! " "She-cago Times! All about the latest scandal."

M. C. Young was appointed in 1845, and, about 1850, it was brought to Saybrook. David Polk laid out the town in 1854, and W. H. Beckwith named it. Beckwith was appointed Postmaster in 1865, and got the name changed to correspond with that of the village.

W. K. Stansbery was appointed in 1870, at which time, mail was carried twice a week to and from Bloomington, and once a week east to Ludlow, until the railroad was built, and then daily each way.

The Saybrook Lodge, No. 468, Free & Accepted Masons, was organized in 1863. The charter members were P. H. Hart, La. F. Grant, J. G. Davis, W. H. Guthrie, T. F. Rhea, H. Warford, G. W. Wheeler. The first officers were: P. H. Hart, W. M.; L. F. Grant, S. W.; T. F. Rhea, J. W.; H. Warford, Treasurer ; W. H. Guthrie, Secretary. There are now sixty-five members. The Masonic Building Association is a trustee for the lodge for the purpose of building and holding its property. This association owns the upper story of the double brick three-story store in which the Masonic and Odd Fellows' Halls are. The present officers are : P. W. Hart, W. M.; T. S. Collins, S. W.; J. Moran, J. W.; 0. Springstead, Secretary; J. A. Myers, Treasurer ; T. J. Horsley, S. Deacon ; S. R. Wills, J. Deacon.

The Saybrook Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., was organized in 1871. Charter members, T. B. Crigler, William Van Voris, 0. C. Sabin, G. W. Barton, C. W. McCord. Ten were added at the first meeting. The officers are : 0. C. Sabin, N. G.; C. W. McCord, V. G.; William Van Voris, Secretary. The Lodge has always been prosperous. The hall which it uses belongs to the Masonic Association. Meets Thursday evenings.

Among the first of that pioneer advance-guard of religious teachers, the Methodists, who labored for the good of souls here, the names of Messrs. Zadoc Hall, Maynard, Brittenheim, Bird, Norman Allen, Mr. Hindal and S. H. Martin are remembered. Father Biggs, who was the first Class-leader here, thinks Mr. Beggs was the first preacher, and that Mr. Duty, who organized the class, followed him. This class was organized, probably, in 1833, possibly a year earlier, in the schoolhouse which stood by the cemetery, and consisted of five members - Mr. and Mrs. Biggs, Mrs. Pitts, Mrs. Eliza Myers and Mrs. Sarah Thomas. Of this number, only the now venerable leader and his wife remain to continue the good work they then assumed to perform. Fortysix years of fitful changes have not changed their " relations " with the church militant.

For many years, the servants of God, the pioneer preachers, held their services around in houses, and it was not until 1843 that the first M. E. Church was built on the land of Mr. Edward Stansbery. The circuit then used to embrace the Big Grove (Champaign), Middletown (Mahomet), Cheney's Grove, Indian Grove, Mackinaw (Lexington), Blooming Grove, Hurley's Grove (Farmer City), and required four weeks to make the circuit. The new church was a great triumph for the people, and they naturally felt proud of it. It was framed, 30x40, and it never will be known how much it cost. A " bee " was made to hew, frame and inclose it, and the plastering was done rainy days. Not much money was contributed or handled in this primary affair. It answered the purpose very well for twenty years, when it was sold and the large new one was put up in the village under the preaching of Bev. C. G. Bradshaw. The Saybrook charge became a station in 1862. The new building was 40x60, framed, two stories high, and was built by a queer kind of partnership between the church and state, or, rather, the school district. By this partnership, the lower story was used for the school. The church, through its constituted authorities supplied a well-qualified principal to conduct a high school, and two assistants were provided by the district. This partnership did not work smoothly, and was, indeed, a very unnatural one. After a few years, the Methodists sold out their interest in the building to the district, and it is now occupied for school purposes only. Five departments are maintained in the fall and winter terms, and three in the summer, under the efficient management of Mr. Oliver Springstead an experienced and thorough educator.

The present fine brick church of the Methodists was built in 1876, at a cost of $7,000. It is 40x70, with belfry and towers running up from the corner. It is handsomely done off, carpeted and pleasantly seated. Bev. John Kumler was in charge of the church when it was built.

The United Brethren Church, next to the Methodist, was the pioneer religious organization here, sending its patient and laborious workers into every nook and corner of these early settlements.

Bev. Mr. Parks, from Lexington, preached here, irregularly, as early as 1853, and some of the other brethren before him. Bev. M. T. Chew, now of Decatur, commenced traveling this circuit in 1855, and was followed by the veteran, Hiram Stoddard, in 1857. Mr. Stoddard has been preaching forty -two years, formerly in Ohio, most of the time as a circuit preacher.

Pres. Ills Wes. Univ

The Randolph Grove Circuit then embraced portions of six counties, and is now divided into nine circuits. From Randolph Grove, the line extended to Wapella, Clinton, nearly to Decatur east, to where Bement now is, to Champaign ; thence to the Upper Wabash Conference, north through Ford to Paxton, west to the Kickapoo charge. It included twenty-three appointments, and took three weeks of daily preaching in houses, shops, groves or schoolhouses wherever the people could be best accommodated.

While Mr. Stoddard was on this circuit, there was no time that interesting revivals of the Spirit were not in effective operation at some points. This was in the Illinois Conference, and the annual conferences were held west of the Illinois River. In 1864, the Central Illinois Conference was formed of what was before a Presiding Elder's district, with Rev. Jacob Kanoyer as Elder.

Rev. Mr. Van Gordon followed Mr. Stoddard, and Mr. Gomline succeeded. Mr. Stoddard then returned for two years, by which time the circuit had been divided by the State road running to Danville. Mr. Warner succeeded him.

Mr. Stoddard continues to reside here at Saybrook, and still preaches ; but, at his own request, on account of failing health he has been assigned evangelist's work. He thinks there is no such work as itineracy. Had he his life to live over again, he would choose it above and before any other field of labor or occupation. Yet how the human constitution can stand such a life appears a mystery. Being out in all weathers, through storms and extremes of heat and cold, often without an opportunity to change wet clothes before an appointment, and riding afterward to some other appointment or to lodgings, changing beds every night - now sleeping in an open cabin, now in a comfortable bed - with every variety of cooking, preaching three or four times Sunday, and, through the week, almost daily. It was apparently violating every known law of health. Now, at sixty-six years of age, he enjoys looking back over a life well spent in his Master's service, with no regrets except the feebleness of his labors - a happy, faithful, pious old man.

The congregation continued to worship in the schoolhouses until 1865, when the present plain, neat edifice was built - 30x40, and cost SI, 800. Edward Byers, D. G. Tear and John Prothero, Esq., were Trustees, who had the building in charge, and Rev. Mr. Cornell was Pastor in charge. James Perry was builder. A Sabbath school has been maintained since the church was built, and for seven years continually, winter and summer. The school numbers about fifty. Levi Heller, Superintendent.

Elders G. H. Adams and Harry Vandervoort have regularly served the Church with occasional services conducted by Dr. Sabin, Speed Stagner and Elder Tipton.

These regularly-organized churches are supplemented by an active Young Men's Christian Association, organized in 1879. Rev. James Miller, W. H. Schureman, John M. Howard and 0. C. Sabin were instrumental in organizing it. They have a nicely-furnished room, with reading, music, etc. They expect to establish a library. The officers are not permitted to contract any debt. The officers are W. H. Schureman, President; H. P. Cummer, Vice President; J. M. Howard, Secretary ; O. C. Sabin, Treasurer.

Incorporation

An election was held May 28, 1866, for or against town incorporation, which: resulted in the affirmative. June 6, an election was held for five Trustees under this charter. Hamilton Warford, L. B. Grant, W. K. Stansbery, J. W. Lowery and C. W. Atkinson were elected. H. Warford was chosen President and C.»W. Atkinson, Clerk. The boundaries were fixed at one mile square, being the south half of Section 21 and north half of Section 28. A special charter was granted by the Legislature, approved March, 1867. By this charter the limits were restricted by leaving out the south half of the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 28. Under this the people elected a President and four Councilmen ; they to appoint an Attorneyr Clerk, Treasurer, Assessor and Collector, and such other officers as were necessary to enforce the authority and powers conveyed by the charter. Very full powers were granted. An election was held April 6 for or against the adoption of this charter,, which resulted in sixteen votes for it and none against.

Another election, of course, followed, for the average young American, whether it , be a natural or artificial person, is not satisfied long at a time without an electionr at which H. Warford was elected President, M. R. Stansbery, Police Magistrate, and W. K. Stansbery, T. J. Warren, J. L. Ballard and Samuel Watson, Council.

After the general incorporation act was passed in 1872, the town, by an election, accepted that, and since have been under it. A vote is taken each year whether license for the sale of drinks shall be granted. In the years 1873 and 1875 only, the vote has resulted in favor of license. About one hundred and fifty votes were cast at the last election. There are about one hundred and seventy-five voters in the corporation.

Business Houses

The hotel block was built in 1871 by Alexander McKensie and T. J. Warren for hotel and store-room. It is frame, 60x80, two stories high and basement. It is on the south side of the street, while all the other stores are on the other side.

The Crigler Block was built by Drs. J. M. Crigler and J. L. Ballard on the corner of Main and Lincoln streets. It is one of the finest in town - two stories and basement, the post office and a store on the first floor and offices above. It cost about $7,000.

The three-story and basement brick block on the corner of Lincoln and Cyprus streets was built by M. B. Rankin up to the third story in 1872. The third story was built and is owned by the Masonic Building Association. The first story is occupied by stores, the second by offices and the Young Men's Christian Association, and the upper by the lodge rooms of the Masons and Odd Fellows.

The next store east was built the same year by the Robinson Brothers, who live in Ohio. The next one by Dr. C. T. Amor and T. A. Stansbery the same year. The next one by Dr. Crigler and Jack Hepburn.

The finest block in town was that built by O. C. Colebyin 1871, right west of the Union Hotel. It was a double store, brick, two stories and basement, with a fine hall above. It burned in the winter of 1873, which was the only really disastrous fire Saybrook has ever had.

Saybrook has several very pretty residences ; in fact, its buildings throughout are rather a credit to a young village which has grown up in the woods. Hilleary Riggs built, in 1874, a fine frame house with ten rooms well finished off, costing about $6,000. It occupies a block standing about in the center, with the grounds in good order and fine outbuildings.

T. J. Warren built a similar one in 1875, which is nicely arranged, good basementstory, nice grounds, good barn and a very pleasant location. J. M. Crigler has a neat cottage on the north side of Lincoln street, with ample grounds, good outbuildings, fence and shrubbery. It was built by William Lewis, in 1869, but Dr. Crigler has remodeled and beautified it.

0. C. Sabin, Esq., has a neat, two-story brick residence in the north part of town, which, with its surroundings, is neatly adorned by a wealth of floral display which is rare to find in a quiet country home. The ample grounds are diversified by mounds, trees and rare plants, while along the winding paths the pleasant foliage and bloom of thousands of Grod's loveliest ornaments send up their kind return of thanksgiving for the care which makes them beautiful.

A conservatory on the ground keeps it always within the power of the family to have the sweet influence of floral assistance in beautifying their pleasant and modest home. Mrs. Sabin owns a half-section of land in Anchor Township, where the old Stackpole residence stands.

J. A. Myers has a nice residence in the south part of town. The grounds comprise seven acres, delightfully suited to display and decoration. A nice home built by M. T. Hall, in 1865, now owned by the Brittin estate, upon a five-acre lot, is of the same order.

Prof. Oliver Springstead, west of town, has a beautiful five-acre lot, with a nice two story brick residence, octagonal in form and neat in appearance ; the grounds are good. The house was built in 1870.

It is not often, by the way, that school-teachers are able to live in such elegance ; but Mr. Springstead, fortunately, has " husbanded his resources," and does not intend to go out to commons in his declining years.

O. C. Smith has a nice little house, tastefully set off with a beautiful display of flowers and shrubbery. Everything about it shows the good taste which reigns there.

J. S. Harper was the first to try his fortune in the newspaper line at Saybrook, as he was in many other places ; indeed, he has been the great newspaper starter of the day. He commenced the publication of the Saybrook News in 1872, about the time the railroad was completed, and continued it about a year. He then went to Farmer City, on account of some little difficulty with the village authorities.

In December, 1872, H. H. Parkinson moved his printing-office from Lexington to Saybrook, and began the publication of the Saybrook Banner. He continued the publication a year, with the assistance of those ready writers, 0. C. Sabin and Esquire Van Voris, when he went to Wilmington, having sold his paper to Mr. Sabin, who, in August of that year, changed the name to McLean County Anti- Monopolist, a defender of the special views of those engaged in the " farmers' movement." In January,

1875, first as a five-column folio, then as a four-column quarto for one year, then as a six-column folio. It is a neatly-printed, non-partisan local paper, and seems to be receiving a generous support.

The Sunbeam, a paper under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association, commenced its publication May 1, 1879, W. H. Schureman, manager, the editorial department being in the care of 0. C. Sabin, Esq. Its peculiar field is literature and the causes of temperance, religion, intelligence and morality.

Gridley Township is the largest in the county, being a full Congressional Township and a half; is nine miles long east and west, by six miles north and south, embracing Township 26, Range 3 east, and east half of Township 26, Range 2 east of the Third Principal Meridian. The Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway runs through the northern tier of sections, and on the south the Mackinaw Creek runs through three sections of its southern tier. It is all prairie except the four or five sections along the Mackinaw, which were formerly well timbered with oak, black walnut, maple, ash, basswood and such other kinds of timber as grow naturally in this part of the State. The land is quite level in the northern part, but farther south it is quite rolling. The soil is rich and deep, fully equal to any in the State. The township lay wholly within the belt, the even sections of which (except the school section) Were given to the Illinois Central Railroad. That company at once brought the land into market, and it was rapidly sold to actual settlers. Their terms of sale were easy, although their prices were kept high. The price was scaled from $8 to $18, according to distance from a station. The terms were two years interest in advance, and payments to be made in four equal annual installments after the expiration of two years ; the purchaser to pay to the agent 50 cents per acre for his commission, if he bought of the agent. As this town had very few settlers, nearly half the land went into the possession of the railroad on the passage of the act of incorporation. Ashael Grridley, then as now a prominent citizen of Bloomington, was agent for the sale of these lands in the district which embraced all the land between the Illinois River at La Salle and the southern boundary of McLean County. When the land was all wild and unfenced it was not an easy matter to tell just where to find the section lines and corners. And it was necessary for the agent to keep in his employ men that knew every foot of the ground - knew where the corner-stakes could be found, and could read the resin-stalk on the prairie " like a book." One of these was a Boston Yankee, who had served his time on the ocean wave, and came out here to seek his fortune - G. W. Kent - who afterward became proprietor of the town of Gridley, and named itafter his employer. When township organization was adopted, the name clung to the township.

It was formerly believed that these wild prairies never would be inhabited. That these lands might do for cattle to roam over, as they do over the vast pampas of South America. And as late as 1850, the argument used by Douglas in securing the passage through Congress of the act granting to the State the alternate sections of land for six miles on each side of the railroad to be built, was that in no other way could these vast prairies be settled. For twenty years the land now comprising the township of Gridley had been in the market without a tithe of it being sold, and less even cultivated. Nobody wanted it, for they could not make a living from it. This Illinois Central Railroad, for years after it was built, did not carry passengers and freight enough to pay running expenses. But as soon as it was built, its lands, in such townships as this, went off very fast. The terms of payment were made so easy that it induced many to buy who otherwise would not have thought themselves able to pay $10 or $12 per acre. Indeed it was a fact that some were able to pay for their land out of the firstcrop of wheat ever raised ; but they never got such a crop again, from that time to this. But it helped to sell the land and increase the population. Most of the land was never fenced. The owners early set out hedges, which now form the principal fencing. Since the first two years' experience, corn has become the principal crop, and probably mu*t remain so ; though there is reason to believe now that crops must rotate, in order to keep up the average yield of former years. A gentleman fully qualified to form an estimate, from his long acquaintance and from business transactions running through fifteen years here - Mr. W. H. Boies - says that an " average " corn crop is under, rather than over, thirty bushels per acre in the two townships of Gridley and Waldo (and there are no better corn tracts certainly east of the Illinois River). It would look as though men must find some cheaper way of living before they can get rich on thirty-cent corn.

The first commercial venture, in the way of shipping produce, was by Kent & Young in 1859 and 1860. They brought a Buckeye mower onto this prairie, and cut several hundred tons of prairie grass; bought whatever else they could, and baled it and sent it to Peoria. It cost them, at Peoria, $4 per ton. There may be yet a return to first practices. The raising of grass, as an alternate crop, may prove advisable.

The first white men known to have made their home in this township were James Bigger, in 1833; Reuben and Taylor Loving, in the spring of 1835. These men have passed away and their families are gone, none of them, it is believed, now residing in the township. At the same time, or in the same year, came Enoch Beem, from Indiana. In August, of that year, he was sick with the chills. Partially recovering, he went out and ate wild plums which were hardly ripe, and died soon after. He was an exemplary man and devotedly pious. His was the first death inside the limits of this township. He was buried at Clarksville, a hamlet a little way up the stream, which was and con. tinued to be until the building of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, a rival of Lexington in prospective importance. Beem left a widow and five small children, and some property for their support, but not much. Mrs. Beem managed carefully and brought up

The same fall John Slown came into the little settlement on the Mackinaw. He was of Irish descent, and came here from Kentucky, and still lives in Gridley. He is the oldest resident now living in the town. He rented some land and worked in sawmills for a few years. There was no mill on the stream at that time above Kappa, but others were soon built. The nearest mills where grinding could be done were at Peoria and Kankakee. When they took their grists to mill, they were obliged to take their turn ; and it often required two or three days to grind out what was ahead of them. The land was not in market then, but came into market the following year. Three years later he built the first frame house in the township. The clapboards were black walnut and the shingles oak. Pine had not come into use in these wilds at that time. The inside finishing was black-walnut. Mr. Slown was elected Constable in 1843; and when the township was organized, was elected Justice of the Peace, and has continued to serve as such, being elected each term either as Justice of the Peace or Police Magistrate. In 1862, he enlisted in the Ninety -fourth, under Captain, now Governor, John L. Routt, and served two years. He has always been a firm temperance man, even when along these timber-skirts nearly every one was accustomed to drink intoxicating liquors. At the age of eighteen, he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has lived consistently up to his profession. He was the father of eight children - five of whom survive - one of whom lives near his old home on the Mackinaw. Mr. Slown now lives in Gridley village, engaged in the furniture and agricultural implement trade. Notwithstanding the hardships incident to pioneer life, he still thinks they enjoyed life better then than now.

John B. Messner, known far and wide as a hunter, came to his present home in Gridley the same year. He had come on to the Mackinaw five years previous, and married into the Patten family, one of the first to settle in the vicinity of Lexington. He was long considered one of the most daring and successful hunters among many who at that time gave much attention to that avocation, either for sport or as a partial livelihood. He gave the names to the two streams which run into the Mackinaw at this point - Buck Creek and Turkey Creek. In this following, he met some narrow escapes, one of which, twenty years ago, nearly ended his life and practically closed his career as a hunter. While chasing a deer from Rook's Creek, his horse stepped into a dangerous hole and threw him with such violence that the injury nearly cost him his life. Hunting, as carried on in the earlier days, has, of course, with the spread of civilization, disappeared, and there is not enough of danger and adventure in the hunting of to-day to lure such men as Mr. Messner into it. It was not uncommon for Messner to kill fifty deer in a single season, running through the late fall and early winter. One of the singular incidents of his avocation is thus related by Mr. Messner : When out on a tramp a cold day, he drew off his boots to more carefully approach the deer he was following. In the excitement of the chase some considerable time elapsed before he returned to the place where he had left his boots. When he did so, he found them so frozen that they resisted every effort to draw on, and he was actually obliged to go home in his stocking-feet. He learned a lesson, however, by this experience. At another time, a buck which he had wounded, caught him in the nether garments by his antlers, and nearly destroyed him and his valuable clothing. He has latterly given more

to farming. He has raised a large family of children, several of whom live near him. He and his son John own 440 acres in Sections 27 and 34 in Town 26, Range 2, and are recognized as good and successful farmers.

In 1844, Jonathan Coon commenced to improve the place where John Slown had lived, the principal attraction to which was the fine spring of water on the place. He had been among the early settlers of the county, and had followed building as a business. He built the first Court House of Pontiac about 1839, a building which still stands there, showing excellent workmanship.

Adam Coon, the father of Jonathan, Isaiah and James S. Coon, came with his sons to the county in 1836. He resided two years where Towanda now is, and two years at Clarksville before coming to Gridley. He died here at the residence of his son in 1863. He and his sons, while not of the very earliest settlers of Gridley, came here when no farms had been taken up on the prairie, and largely helped to change the early wilderness into farms. They were fond of hunting, and still relate many instances of decided excitement in that line. They at one time found a lynx, an animal not common here, and killed it. Many people remember the tornado of May 13, 1858. Mr. Isaiah Coon, whose habit is to keep a record of the weather, gives a very intelligent, minute account of it. It differed from the usual sultry weather tornadoes which are common, in that it was a steady wind of near two hours' duration, strong enough to blow down timber, unroof houses and level fences. The track of the storm's path through Mackinaw timber was nearly seven miles wide, and is yet discernible. This is the same storm which took the early settlers of Chenoa by surprise, and leveled some of their new-made homes.

George W. Cox, who has been long a prominent man in town, came to the county in 1837, and, in 1842, married a daughter of Taylor Loving, since which time he has resided in Gridley. In 1844, he broke the prairie, where he now lives. He has been successful as a farmer, and having received a good education in Maine, before coming to this State, was looked to by the early settlers as one to look after the public affairs. Old Sammy Ogden, as he is familiarly called, after living several years in Money Creek Township, took up the land he now lives on, in Sections 34 and 35 (Range 3), about 1840. He was fond of horses, and racing was a passion with him. He used to attend every horse-race between Peoria and Le Roy, and usually had a horse that could win. In selecting the farm he now lives on. he was governed by the fine stream - Buck Creek - which runs across it. He has been largely engaged in raising and feeding cattle, and has been successful. He has a good farm of 280 acres, well stocked, and gives it good attention.

Jesse Stretch commenced early what is now a very good farm of 240 acres in Section 26. Like most of his neighbors, he has fed cattle largely and made it a good business.

John Gregory, who, although not one of the very earliest, came here at an early day, and, by good management, hard work and practical sense, has accumulated what seems to be a very good share of this world's goods and lands. He owns something .over 2,000 acres, lying in Sections 20, 21, 28, 29, 30, 32 and 33 (Range 3), which is under good cultivation, well fenced, and is considered the finest stock-farm in Gridley. Mr. Gregory has for many years made the raising and feeding of cattle his principal business. He had not many advantages in early life, but such as he had, he made good use of, and is spoken of by those who have long been his neighbors, as a man of large intelligence, decided convictions and positive qualities. He was at one time the candidate of his party for Representative, and it is believed he would have proved a useful member. His party was, however, largely in the minority, and the system of electing minority representatives had not then come into constitutional use. He resides now at Normal, though he still owns his large farm. Joseph Houseman for many years carried on a large stock-farm.