Blue Grass, Illinois

The town of Middle Fork, as its name indicates, lies in that part of the county where the three main branches unite and form the stream of that name. It is bounded on the north by Butler, east by Ross, south by Blount and Pilot, and west by the county line; is parallelogram in form, and geographically embraces the north half of town 21, range 13; the southern four tiers of sections of town 22, range 13; the northeast quarter of town 21, range 14, and the southern four tiers of the east half of town 22, range 14.

Passage source: History of Vermilion County, Together with Historic Notes on the Northwest, Gleaned from Early Authors, Old Maps and Manuscripts, Private and Official Correspondence, and Other Authentic, Though, for the Most Part, Out-of-the-way Sources, published 1879.

At the time of township organization it included not only all of Butler township, but all of what is now Ford county, running up to the Kankakee River, and was more than sixty miles long. At that time (1851) there was not an inhabitant north of what is known as Blue Grass Grove, until von reached the vicinity of the Kankakee River, where a few families had collected around Horse Creek, who, in their pioneer independence, were unwilling to recognize the authority which held its seat of justice at Danville, seventy-five miles to the south.. Uncle Richard Courtney, who, by the untrammeled and virtuous suffrages of the honest yeomen of Middle Fork, in the year 1852, was elected to the lucrative office of assessor, relates a little incident which occurred to him in the official discharge of his duties, with these "Horse Creek" denizens, which is laughable enough, but which did not strike Richard as at all funny when it happened. "With a due regard for the sanctity of his oath, and determined to leave no property unassessed, after he had carefully noted down all the wealth which lay scattered between Blue Grass and Higginsville, he bestrode the best horse he had, and, taking three days' rations of dried venison and cold corn-cake, he took his lonely way across the grand prairie to search out the tangible property, moneys and credits of these few families whose vast accumulations of filthy lucre and hidden treasure were problematical, to say the very least. Courtney was no novice at this business of hunting out

Passage source: History of Vermilion County, Together with Historic Notes on the Northwest, Gleaned from Early Authors, Old Maps and Manuscripts, Private and Official Correspondence, and Other Authentic, Though, for the Most Part, Out-of-the-way Sources, published 1879.

Indeed he was a man of large experience in financial affairs, having early, when even yet a boy, engaged in trade, and had bought and sold a great deal of land. A hard day's drive brought him to the cabins on Horse Creek, and, taking a night's rest, at the first he proceeded to unfold to the inhabitants, in "a few well-chosen remarks," the objects of his mission. They theoretically placed their thumbs on their noses and wagged the extended fingers of their hands, which was pioneer parlance for " you can't come it." He expostulated, reasoned of the righteousness of his cause, the temperance of his manner, and the judgment which was sure to come upon them if they resisted his meek measures : but, unlike Felix, they did not tremble worth a cent. They told him they never heard of Middle Fork ; had never attended her town meetings, and utterly repudiated her authority ; tha't the year before a Kankakee assessor had come prowling around nosing into their affairs, wanting to assess them, and that they would bring to grief any Vermilion assessor who undertook to do what the Kankakee chap found he could not do. To make matters worse, a Protestant Methodist preacher, whose name is forgotten, or he certainly should have the benefit of a first-class notice, fell on poor Richard, who was only a Methodist Episcopal christian, and brother of a preacher of that persuasion, and told him he did not expect anything better from such as he ; that his entire church was a priest-ridden, bishop-ruled, elder-dictated, poor, despised, crushed community, and poured a flood of light into the benighted mental vision of the publican, which an entire course in a Methodist theological seminary could hardly have equaled. He pointed to Courtney in fiery language, highly touched off with a flavor of sulphurous smoke, what a religion which pinned its faith to the surplices of a bench of bishops must inevitably lead to, and plainly intimated to the crowd that this assessor was a minion of the Episcopacy thinly hid behind the gauzy veil of township organization. Asserting that it was what he had long expected, and slapping his hands together, said that this expectation was the very thing which had induced him to break with the priest-ridden M. E. church. To make the matter short, they set the women on him with brooms and mopsticks to drive him from their midst. He was not in the habit of giving up at trifles, but the array of armed women was no trifle in Courtney's estimation, and he betook himself to contemplative study. There stood his oath, recorded in heaven, that he would assess the value of these people's property. What was he to do ? A bright thought struck him. There resided in their midst a sort of backwoods lawyer, whom they called 'squire, whose words and opinions had come to be considered law in the settlement. As he had no property of his own, he could well afford to offer his services to help Courtney out. His kind offer was thankfully accepted, and " Richard was himself again.'' So it was arranged that the heads of the dozen families living there should come to the '"squire's" cabin that night, and he would make known their duty under the law. "Law is law!" sententionsly said the accommodating '"squire," "and I cannot let these neighbors of mine be dragged away from their families a hundred miles by your sheriff in Danville, if I can be the happy means under Divine Providence of preventing it." The convocation was held, and, in an orderly manner, Courtney explained the situation. He had a fair share of eloquence for a young man of limited word power, and presented his side of the case in a masterly manner. After long discussion the 'squire decided that their little property was liable to assessment, and the faithful assessor felt as a great general does when a great victory is won. He felt different, however, a few moments later, when the kind 'squire charged him $2.50 for his friendl3r counsel. It was not safe to leave that county without paying the bill, and it took all the money he had. He got back to Blue Grass, however, without losing his horse or throwing up his commission. The board of town auditors allowed and paid him £3 for that part of his services. It was several long years before he was induced, by "the urgent request of his friends," to accept the office of assessor again, and for many years he has held to the opinion, pretty strongly, that until the unwelcomed advent of that horde of Chinese barbarians upon our Pacific slope there was not in America a class of people who had darker ways or vainer tricks than the lawyers. "When the collector went there the following winter to make collections, he found a few parties who would not pay their tax, and he levied upon the only articles he could transport; and, thinking he could not find anv bidders in that neighborhood, he carried a shotgun and a log-chain all the way to Danville, out of which to make the tax.

Passage source: History of Vermilion County, Together with Historic Notes on the Northwest, Gleaned from Early Authors, Old Maps and Manuscripts, Private and Official Correspondence, and Other Authentic, Though, for the Most Part, Out-of-the-way Sources, 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 Middlefork Township - it names this place 13 more 13 times.