Groveland, Illinois

This township received its name from the village of Groveland, and it from the beautiful groves in the neighborhood. A visit to the township at this late day shows it to have been very appropriately christened. The first settler to locate here was James Scott. He built his cabin in the timber on section 35, as early as 1827. Others who came in shortly afterwards were Milton Shurtleif, John O'Brien, Daniel and John Mooberry, John Anderson, Joseph Landes, Benjamin Dobsone, Alexander Caldwell and George Dupree. The only ones of these pioneers now living are John Mooberry, Joseph Landes and John O'Brien. The first school in the township was taught by John McGinnis, in a little log cabin built for that purpose on the southwest quarter of sec. 11, in the winter of 1834-35. Some claim that Mathew Kingman was the first " master."

Passage source: History of Tazewell County, Illinois ; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois ... Digest of State Laws, published 1879.

Alexander McKnight had a horse mill here, where the settlers could get all kinds of grain ground, but the bolting had to be done by hand. This mill was located on section 1, Elm Grove township, three-quarters of a mile from the south line of Groveland. There was another mill in Elm Grove, driven by tread-wheel power, using horses or oxen. Bolting was also done by hand here. Both mills did good work. The latter, Mr. Shipman's mill, was running in 1830, how long previous, not known. A negro by the name of Mose was the miller. A fuller sketch of this historic individual may be found in the history of Sand Prairie. The other of the three mills in the county, at this time, was a small water mill in Dillon township. This did the bolting by water power ; it could only run, however, in wet seasons. In an early day there was a saw-mill on sec. 27. It was first run by horse-power, afterwards by steam. It was built by Charles Hinnian, but changed hands many times afterwards. Others have been built and flourished for a time, but only one remains, and it is in the north part of the township.

Passage source: History of Tazewell County, Illinois ; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois ... Digest of State Laws, published 1879.

The oldest house in Groveland is owned by Thomas Hancock, section 27. Some twenty years ago it was moved from the bottoms near Wesley City, and is said to be over fifty years old. It is made of logs and looks quite pioneer-like, as also the present owner, who believes in old-time ways and customs, and has never been on a railway car. Although he does not believe in sewing machines and many other modern improvements, yet we see he has a modern mowing machine. Still he is of that liberal turn of mind which leaves every one, without let or hindrance, to enjoy his own chosen ways.

Passage source: History of Tazewell County, Illinois ; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. History of Illinois ... Digest of State Laws, 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 Groveland Township - it names this place 13 more 13 times.