New Athens, Illinois

The land on which the town of Isabel now stands was formerly owned by John Stokes, who subsequently sold to James M. Sherman. In 1868, John Corzine came from Ohio, bought the land and moved to the farm the next year. The railroad was not then thought of, and the only public attraction peculiar to this locality was the little village of New Athens adjacent.

Passage source: The History of Edgar County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County--its Cities, Towns, &c. : Directory of Its Tax-payers; War Records of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map of Edgar County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest, Illustrated; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c. Illustrated, published 1879.

Dr. J. G. Mulvane came from Ohio and settled here in 1872, and began the practice of medicine. He also built a dwelling and storehouse and put in a stock of drugs. There were, at the time of the founding of the town, twTo stores, a blacksmith-shop and a dozen other houses in New Athens ; most of these have since been moved to Isabel. Prior to 1877, school was kept in a part of a dwelling-house ; but during the year mentioned, a neat frame build¬ ing for school purposes was erected at a cost of about $500. James Browning is in charge of the school at present. The population of the village has increased to about one hundred, at this writing., Isabel is nicely located in the western part of the township.

Passage source: The History of Edgar County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County--its Cities, Towns, &c. : Directory of Its Tax-payers; War Records of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map of Edgar County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest, Illustrated; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c. Illustrated, published 1879.

S. R. ARBUCKLE, farmer and stockraiser; P. O. Isabel ; one of the early and prominent settlers, was born in Knox Co., Ohio, Oct. 11, 1820 ; came to this State and settled about five miles south of Paris, Edgar Co., in 1851; from that date until his removal to Embarrass, his pursuits were that of a miller and contractor; he is the constructor on the I. M. R. R. of all wood-works from Paris to Isabel, and on the Paris & Danville he was con¬ structor of all wood and trestle works ; his farm consists of 450 acres, valued at $18,000. He was married to Miss Lamanda Yandervort, who was born in Fayette Co., Penn., Sept. 3, 1828; they have had seven children, five of whom are living, viz., Medora, Alphonso T., Bion E., James L. and Walter V. ; de¬ ceased - Florence and Albion.

Passage source: The History of Edgar County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County--its Cities, Towns, &c. : Directory of Its Tax-payers; War Records of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map of Edgar County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest, Illustrated; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c. Illustrated, 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 Embarrass Township - it names this place 1 more 1 time.