J. Newton Conger House

As an agricultural township, Ontario is one of the very finest in the State. Its groves and orchards, its dwellings, barns and outbuildings are among the very best ; and its fine stone bridges are unsurpassed. This township is without a parallel, in the regularity of its roads, although its highways are all parallel, or cross each other at right angles, and its roads are all on section lines, except oner a half mile in length, crossing the center of section 13. The first settlers were largely from Oneida county, New York, among whom were the "Wetmores, Chapmans, Cranes, Camps, Mosher, Hollister, Savage, Powell, and others. Among the early officers of the township were Wikoffs, Hammonds, Brott, Butler, Haskins and others. Before it was organized, April 3, 1853, Rio township was united with it, as a voting precinct. The first Justice of the Peace in the precinct was Royal Hammond. The election was held in what is now Rio township. A warm time was had, and the merits of the Abolition candidate hotly discussed. However, he was elected, and after the first case, which proved to be a dog case, - Thomas v. Maxwell , - in which the plaintiff was awarded the verdict, the Justice was declared " white" by his opponents. The first child born in this township was Sarah Elizabeth Melton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Melton; and is now Mrs. Ralph Yoris, of Oneida. The first school-house was built on the northwest quarter of section 32, in 1839. Ontario township was organized, and the first annual meeting was held in the schoolhouse on section 32, April 5, ,1853. I. M. Wetmore was moderator an I W. J. Savage clerk. After adopting the order of business for annual meetings and the usual prelemminary work was disposed of, the following gentlemen were elected as the first officers of the town- ship: Supervisor, Edward Crane; Town Clerk, Wm. J. Savage; Assessor, John Bnrt; Collector, E. C. Brott; Overseer of the Poor, T. F. P. Wetmore; Commissioners of Highways, G. W. Melton, James Hammond and John Powell; Constables, E. C. Brott and J. W. Crane; Justices of the Peace, Ezra Chapman and S. E. Mosher. The following named gentlemen have served as Supervisors of Ontario township, since 1853: Ed. Crane, the year 1853; James Hammond, 1854-5-6-7; W. B. LeBaron, 1858; James Hammond, 1859; W. B. Le Baron, 1860-1-2-3-4; A. S. Curtis, 1865; Orin Beadle, 1866-7-8-9 70-1; A. S. Curtis, 1872; O. B. Beadle, 1873; Ed. Crane, 1874; A. S. Curtis, 1875-6; Geo. L. Stephenson, 1877-8. The present officers of the township are: Supervisor, G. L. Stephenson; Town Clerk, O. P. Cooley; Assessor, B. S. "West; Collector, L. Burt; Commissioners of Highways, J. C. Burt, 1ST. Fay and Wm. Smith; Constables, F. M. Doolittle and O. Powell; Justices of the Peace, E. Shedd and D. K. Drenkel.

Passage source: History of Knox County, Illinois, published 1878.

Religious services of some kind were maintained by the early settlers in this neighborhood from the very first. After the school-house on section 32 was built, preaching was kept up by ministers of different denominations, with considerable regularity. Revs. Waters, Bartlett, Bremer, Moore and Gale were among the ministers who preached the gospel here then. The first church organization was effected by the Presbyterians, in 1840, Rev. J. G. Wright officiating, at Henderson. The services alternated between Henderson village and the school-house, in Ontario, then called the Camp school-house. This church is now extinct. There are now three church edifices in Ontario township outside of Oneida.

Passage source: History of Knox County, Illinois, published 1878.

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 Ontario Township - 47,831 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.