Magill House

The larger portionia of the history of Clinton township really belongs to the city of Clinton, as the township was not among the first settled, and Clinton soon became the objective point. It was named by Hon. James Allen of Bloomington in honor of De Witt Clinton, formerly a governor of New York, of whom Allen was a great admirer. The first village plat was made October 3d, 1836, by James Allen and Jesse M. Fell, and is decribed as follows: Being a part of the north-east quarter of section 34, township 20 north, range 2 east of the third principal meridean, and was in the form of a perfect square. This was then a part of Macon county, and John D. Wright did the surveying, he then being the deputy county surveyor of said county, since which time there have been fourteen additions made as follows : Brown & Fraley's, Gideon's, Cushman's, Yazel's, Dye's, Rucker's, Ashley's, Slatten's, Madden's, Crang's, Argos', North- West, McGraw's and Madden's second addition.

Passage source: ... History of De Witt County, Illinois. With Illustrations Descriptive of the Scenery, and Biographical Sketches of Some of the Prominent Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

The first house constructed in the town was a small log cabin, built by James Miller for a store-house, and situated on the west side of the square on the ground now occupied by Dahl & Gay's boot and shoe store. This was in the fall of 1835, just after the first survey was made. It was afterwards used as a carpenter shop, and was subsequently destroyed by fire. Within the old log house was sold the first goods in Clinton. The stock was a meager supply of groceries, notions, etc., usually found in a small country store. That the reader may have a better idea of what constituted a stock of goods at that time, we will relate the following incident as given us by one of the pioneers : "It occurred in 1841, six years after the first goods were sold, and at the time when Judge McGraw was filling the office of County Clerk. At this time mo.t of the merchandise brought to Clinton was bought in St. Louis, transported up the rivers to Pekiu, and from thence across the country to the little inland towns. It became necessary for the county clerk to furnish his oflice with a new heating stove. Every one that came in would have to inquire all about that stove ; where he got it, how much it cost, when he received it, etc., etc. The Judge finally became tired of answering these often repeated questions, and, therefore, posted up a very prominent written notice in his office to this effect : " This stove was purchased in Pekiu, at the cost of .Sr2.50, and was hauled here by William Lane." Everybody coming in would stare and gape at the notice in large letters, then turn to the clerk with an inquiring look, but would rarely venture to a-k any questions.

Passage source: ... History of De Witt County, Illinois. With Illustrations Descriptive of the Scenery, and Biographical Sketches of Some of the Prominent Men and Pioneers, 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 Clintonia Township - 20,653 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.