Bernadotte, Illinois

This township is bounded upon the north by Cass, upon the cast by LewistoNvn, south by Pleasant and upon the west by Farmer's. It is a timbered township and contains a greater number of miles of Spoon river than any other townshij) in the county. There is, however, much good land in the township and many fine forms. William Walters came into the township about 182(3, being its first settler. In a short time he sold out to Isaac Stewart and moved over into Farmer's township, where he passed the remainder of his days. Soon came in Daniel Walters, who settled upon section lo. Then came Solomon Sherwood, who built the first mill in the township. This was a horse-mill and did grinding for the settlers for many miles around, until Joseph Coleman built his water-mill on Spoon river, at the site of the present town of Bernadotte. John Camron built a grist and saw-mill upon the same river in LS31. These improvements brought settlers from adjoining counties, and many are the incidents connected with their tri])s to these mills, related by the pioneers. They would come for many miles, and often upon their arrival would find many ahead of them, and they would have to wait sf>metimes for days before their turn came. Sometimes they would find the mill out of repair, the dam washed away or something to detain them. They would then go to work and help rebuild the dam or do whatever the miller would direct. Men have told us that they have gone t(» the Bernadotte mill with a load of grist and have worked at hard labor for almost a week before they could get their grain ground. They would work late and early as though they were regularly employed and j)aid hands.

Passage source: History of Fulton County, Illinois;, published 1879.

Thus was this point on Spoon river visited by many people, until Mr. Coleman's enterprise suggested to him the feasiliility of laying off a town. Accordingly in 1835, upon section 19, he plaited a town and called it by the name of Fulton. The name was soon changed to Bernadotte. It grew rajiidly and at one time ranked among the leading towns of the county. It failed to secure a railroad, and when one was constructed within a few miles of it the inevitable result cpiiekly followed, and Bernadotte surrendered her prosperty to other places. There are now several .stores here that do a fair business, a good mill, etc. Other settlers who came during an early day were Charles Howard, William Crosby, John Harris, who afterwards moved to Harris township, John Littlejohn, William Wilson, Anderson Beadles, Mr. Toler and others. The first

Passage source: History of Fulton County, Illinois;, published 1879.

William B. Cannon, sec. 14; Bernadotte tp. ; P.O., Ijcwistowii ; was born in Cass tp., March 12, 1834; removed to Cok)rad() in 1858; in 18G4 he came back, bnt returned to Colorado and after one year's stay found his way to Fulton county. Has held office of School Trustee in this township. Was married at Bernadotte Aug. 12, 1863, to Miss Lucretia Steward. This union has been blessed with two cliildren (twins), Edwin and Oscar. Mrs. C. is a member of the M. E. Church. But few men of the township have seen as much of the world as Mr. C, and but few of his age can be found here that were born in this county. Democrat.

Passage source: History of Fulton County, Illinois;, published 1879.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Bernadotte Township - it names this place 10 more 10 times.