North Alton, Illinois

In the southern part of the township, not far from North Alton, is a settlement comprising about twenty families. The inhabitants are mostly engaged in mining coal. There is one store, of which John and Hugh Pierce are proprietors. The Coal Branch is the name of a small stream, along which out-croppings of coal are visible. Coal was mined by Joseph and Richard Whyers, at an early date. They supplied the first coal usid in the penitentiary at Alton. The coal was procured by a drift, extending into the bank. The first pit was opened by James Mitchell, in the summer of 1848. A few months later a pit was sunk by Thomas Dunford. After ihe opening of the Chicago & Alton railroad considerable quantities of coal were shipped to Springfield, Bloomington, Chicago and other points in the northern and central parts of the state. Not only has this traffic ceased, but Alton itself is now largely supplied from more distant points. The coal is of superior quality, equal to the best mined in the state, but the vein only has a thickness of thirty inches, and the coal can not be mined as cheaply as in a larger vein. The shafts range from fifty to one hundred and twenty feet in depth. The vein is now nearly exhausted, and it is only a question of a few years when the working of the pits will be abandoned. The owneis of the pits are Dennis Noonan, James Mitchell, Peter Robinson, Charles Crowson and William Watte, Henry Camp, Peter Taylor & Co., Nathan Sydcl, Henry Conlon and John Rutledge.

Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.

They roomed together, sleeping on a rude sapling bed under which the chickens roosted. As soon as the Bishop and family were comfortably housed, Mr. Merriman left for St. Louis. For nine years he remained here plying his trade, as carpenter and builder. In 1844 he commenced farming operations in St. Louis Co., Missouri. Here he carried with him his devotion and influence as a Christian man, and was the means of establi.*hing a mission at Bridgeton, a town near his home. In 1845 his wife Edith died, leaving to his care one son and one adopted daughter. In 1850 he, accompanied by his son Charles, then fifteen years of age, went to California, crossing the plains e/i route, here he remained two years, returning via the Isthmus and New Orleans, settling finally on the farm in Godfrey township, now occupied by hia son Charles. In 1873 he moved to property purchased by him in North Alton, near the chapel, and devoted much of his time to church labor. He was married to Lucinda Wells on the 15th of December, 1845. He died August 13, 1881. At the time he was Senior Warden in the church in whose success he took so great an interest. For nearly a half century, amid the ups and downs of a more or less wandering life beset by its strong temptations, he was found always faithful and true to his trust. His memory is held in dear esteem by hosts of his friends who knew him, as an honest, upright. Christian man.

Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.

^Vas the name of a former post office which has now changed to that of North Alton. James Strong, a native of Cumberland, England, in the fall of 1837, built a large frame building, over the doorway of which the antlers of a buck were suspended, and opened it as the Buck Inn. This building stood on the south line of the township, where the Grafton road leaves the road to Godfrey. The building was burned down in 1 855, and the present brick structure was then erected. James Strong died in 1869, and his son, Jacob Strong, has since carried on a store at this point. The post office of Buck Inn was established in 1868, and Capt. P. J. Melling was the first post master. The office was kept at his house in the present"<jlodfrey township. After two years. Captain Melling was succeeded by William Hall> who removed the office to the present town of North Alton. The office was called Buck Inn, up to the time of the incorporation of the town of North Alton. In this part of Godfrey township, Adolphus Denz built a steam mill in I860. The machinery was transferred in 1882 to a new mill erecf ed just north of North Alton, on section thirty-five. There

Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.

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 Godfrey Village.