Russellville, Illinois

USSELL township is bounded on the north by Crawford county, on the east by the Wabash, on the south by Allison, and on the west by Lawrence and Bond. The northern and western portions were originally, and are still, to some extent, heavily timbered. A part of Purgatory Swamp is embraced by the township, in the southwest. Most of congressional township 4 north, range 10 west, is an elevated sandy plain. Sugar creek flowing into Purgatory Swamp, and Flat creek emptying into the Wabash at Russellville, are the principal sources of drainage.

Passage source: Combined History of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash Counties, Illinois. With Illustrations ... and Biographical Sketches of Some of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers, published 1883.

They came from Kentucky with families. Samuel's | children were Daniel, John, Isaac, Richard, Samuel, Jr., I Nancy, Lydia, and Phebe. Jonathan had three sons, protection against the Indians, and stood in what | is now the northern part of Russellville It was | projected and built by Samuel Allison. About this whom became inmates of the fort, and probably assisted in its construction. Mills was from Kentucky and had eight children, viz., Edward, John, Thomas, Jr., Mary, Lydia, Amy, Rebecca, and Matilda. He had prior to entering the fort made an improvement about two hundred yards north of its site, to which in the spring of 1815, he returned, and which was his permanent home. Stockwell was likewise a Teunesseean. Hischilden were Wm., Jesse, Henry, Thompson, Michael, Rachel, and Eliza. The brothers Kuykendall came from Ohio. Henry was married and lived on the present site of Russellville. Hogue immigrated from Kentucky, and had one son, Jeremiah. He settled on the N. W. } of section 28, township 5, range 10, and subsequently moved to a point opposite Terre Haute, and there died. McBane had one son and two daughters, Mary and Ellen. He located about three-fourths of a mile north of Russellville. The Ind'an hostilities checked immigration till 1815. Then came Peter Price from Ohio, with nine children, Henry, Peter, Jr , Michael, David, George, John, William, Mary, and Sarah, and settled on the N E. i of the S. W. \ of section 15, township 4, range 10. In 1818 he moved to the E. i of S. E. } of section 33, township 5, range 11. With Price came his cousin Jeremiah Price, also a married man. One Garner, from Ohio, about this time, 1815, settled on the S. W. J of section 10, township 4, range 10. In the same neighborhood lived a family of Manns, who came from Ohio. Joseph and James Baird, probably as early as 1814, settled on the N. W. \ of section 18. James was shot by an Indian while plowing. William Miller, in 1816, brought from Ohio, a family of nine children, viz , Robert, John, Jane, Thomas A., Samuel, Elizabeth, Rachel, and Belinda, and settled on the N. W. i of section 28, township 5, range 10. Israel Price came with Miller, and settled in the township. Samuel and Eli Harris, came from Tennessee, with families, in 1815, and settled on section 13, in what was known as the Christian settlement. Samuel had two sons, John and Perzas, and two daughters. Eli was one of the earliest teachers in Centre school-house, and also taught singing school there. Chas. Emmons, formerly from Virgiuia, came to the township from Kentucky, in 1818, and settled permanently on the W. i of section 3. He brought with him nine children, William, Wesley, Charles, Sinclair, Thornton, Wyley, Martha, Elizabeth, and Fannie. In this year, came the Pinkstaff families, from Kentucky. Andrew Pinkstaff settled on the S. \ of the N. W. i of section 2, where he made his permanent home, and died at the age of about ninety-nine years. He had served as a soldier in the war of the revolution. His son, John, brought five children, Andrew, John, Owen, Nancy, and Cynthia, and settled on the~N. E. } of the S. E. 1 of section 3, township 4, range 11, where he died at the age of about seventy-five years. The Pinkstaff family is a quite j numerous one in the northern part of the county. John j Felton, came from Pennsylvania, a single man, in 1818. j Married Huldah Harrimau, and settled on the S. E. } I of section 29, township 5, range 11. The Harriman family came from New York. The children were John, Luke, Stephen, and Huldah, just mentioned, and Clarissa. John was a mechanic. Samuel Haskins, also I from New York, in 1818, had a family of five children, Robert, Hiram, Samuel, Abigail, and Maria. He settled about a mile southeast of Russellville, and kept a hotel. | One Lamfere, with a family, was among the earliest j arrivals. About 1818, he established a ferry a short 1 distance below the present site of Russellville. It continned in operation about ten or twelve years. The boat was sufficient to carry a team and wagon. Austin Tann, a negro, who had been an inmate of the fort, and was afterward a member of the Shaker community, about 1820, settled on the N. W. i of section 10, township 4, range 11. He was quite intelligent, and was influential among those of his own race. The central portion of so much of Allison prairie, as lies in the township, was but little settled until about 1829 or '30. At this time Adam Lackey, John Ashbrook, and John Organ, all settled in section 8. Peyton Moler settled on the S. \ of section 5 ; James Vance, on the N. W. 1 of section 9 ; Jas. Fisher, on the N. W. \ of section 17 ; Abijah Emmons, on section 18 ; and James Mickey, on the S. W. t of that section. The latter was from Pennsylvania with a family of seven children.

Passage source: Combined History of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash Counties, Illinois. With Illustrations ... and Biographical Sketches of Some of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers, published 1883.

In 1817 a school was taught in an old cabin that stood on the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 4, township 4, range 10. A round log school-house was built about 1822 on ihe southwest quarter of section 5. Samuel Borden, a young man from New Jersey, taught the first school. The first school in the western part of the township was taught by Borden in a log school-house about 1821. Little Village Cemetery was laid out by John Mills m 1818, just north of Russellville. Old Mr. McBane was the first person buried here ; the next was Samuel Allison, and the third, Daniel Kuykendall.

Passage source: Combined History of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash Counties, Illinois. With Illustrations ... and Biographical Sketches of Some of Their Prominent Men and Pioneers, published 1883.

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 Russell Township - it names this place 3 more 3 times.