Button Township (part 2 of 2)

Joseph Harris was born in (lermany, JMarch 25, 1888. When nineteen years old he came to America, and in 1857, located in Ford county. In 1860 he was united in marriage with ]\Iiss Josephine Strayer, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Strayer. She was born in Fountain county, Indiana. They had nine children. Mr. Harris, for five years, worked by the month. In 1865, he bought land of the Illinois Central Railroad Company.

J. C. KiRKPATRiCK was bom in Adams county, Ohio. He came to Button township in 1861, settling on section 17. Mr. Kirkpatrick was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. White, of Oak Grove, McLean county. They had eight children. Several years ago he engaged in the hardware business in Clarence ; he also dealt in grain, coal, lumber and agricultural implements.

William A. Hutchison was born in Wayne county, Ohio. He came to Ford county in 1868. He was married to Miss Margaret Ghormley, of Ohio, His father, Samuel Hutchison, helped lay out the village of Clarence. The su):»ject of our sketch was postmaster of Clarence and also ran a grocery store,

William T. Patton, a son of David Patton, w^as ])orn in Fountain county, Indiana, and came to Button township in 1854, locating on section 33.

James H. and Arthur F. Flagg, brothers, natives of the state of Maine. James H. came west and settled in Button township in 1859. Arthur F. came to this township in 1861.

iMiTCHEL A. Karr, son of John Karr, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, and came west to Illinois and settled in Button with his father in 186-1.

William T. Morrison was a native of Adams county, Ohio, and settled in this township in 1868. He lived closed to the village of Clarence, in one of the finest houses in Button township.

THE FOLLOWING ARE EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERESTING VOLUME, ENTITLED "remembrances OF A PIONEER," PUBLISHED IN BOOK FORM IN 1904, BY MRS JANE PATTON, WHO IS STILL LIVING ON THE OLD HOMESTEAD IN BUTTON TOWNSHIP.

In 1884, my husband and I moved to Vermilion county, Illinois. We bid farewell to the home of our childhood and the homes that we had lived in and the p:ood people that had lived there. Some of them live there yet, and I love to visit those old scenes of my young- days. How sweet is their memory after so many years spent away from them !

The day we loaded our wagons to leave for Illinois, we had a house and yard full of people. They were so glad to get us away that they all wanted to help us start. They made us a barrel of kraut, and loaded five wagons, and al)out sundown we came across the creek to one of the places that I never get tired of going to, that was my Aunt Jane Campbell's and Uncle Samuel and Joseph Campbell's and spent the night. It was a hard trial to leave all the relatives and neighbors behind, - ]\Irs. Harshbarger, ]\Irs. Dice, Mrs. Greenley, an 1 many more that had been good to me in so many ways, besides all the relatives, but we had decided to come, and I think it was for the best that we did.

We were two days on the road. We brought two cows, four horses, chickens and turkeys. We stayed at Mr. Joseph Delay's, six or seven miles from the State line city, and ate dinner at INIarysville, what is Potomac now. We got to our future home in the afternoon, in time to unload our goods and put up four beds and the cook stove. These were essential things that night, for there were five men came with us besides our own family; they came to drive the teams and have a good time, and th('\' liad it. We had brought lots of things cooked, and had a turkey for tlie first meal in our new home, and we all enjoyed our supper that evening.

That was Thursday evening, and all stayed with us until IMonday morning, and then started for home. They had all seen those black prairies, but before they started for home they visited the deep cut prairie, Prospect City, what was afterward Paxton, but the railroad was the object in view. None of them had ever seen a railroad, as far as I know. I know I had not. There was only one house in Paxton, or what is Paxton now. The IMr. Stites' family was there, and the trains stopped when needed.

The boys wanted to get something to take home with them, and found some beans for sale, and bought them to take home. They wanted to kill a deer to take home, but did not get to do that, but got some venison some place, I think, but am not sure of that. Deer were plenty then, for you could see them almost every morning going from the timber out on the prairie, but they could see you about as soon as you would see them.

The Illinois Central commenced to run trains the spring that we came here : in the fall there was no railroad at Danville, Illinois. Then men came to our house from Covington and the country around there more than once to go to Loda or Paxton and take the train to Chicago.

I forgot to tell the names of the ones who came with us when we moved to this country - Obidah ^larlatt, long since dead, my uncle, Samuel Campbell, Joseph Douglas, a cousin, and my own brother, S. Cade.

The first Sunday ]\Irs. William Robison came. I had never met her, but she and ]\Ir. Robison came here from Fountain county. Some of the Robisons and Woods live there yet. They lived in the field just south of here, but there is no house there now. She died the next June.

She came the first Sunday and was very cheerful and friendly. It did me lots of good to have a neighbor so soon. She helped me just as if she had always known me, but she was taken suddenly sick of inflammation of the stomach, and died. We miss our friends when they are gone, and do not forget their kindness.

I will now tell about who lived here when we came here that fall. Uncle Tommy Lion lived at Sugar Grove then - in the house that has always stood there until lately. Mr. Riffle bought ]Mr. Lion out. and then Mr. Patton bought the land of I\lr. Biftle. Mr. Hiram Driskal and his family lived on the Driskal farm. All these have gone to their long homes, Mrs. Driskal lately. A Dr. Ilobert lived in what is now a cattle pasture, just east of the Sugar Grove schoolhouse. His family all died, three or four with what is known as milk sickness, and then he left and got married again, and then died. Vannata lived at what is known as the Lamb farm ; ^Mr. David ^Morehouse lived where Joseph Kerr lives now; ^Ir. Jesse Piles lived on tlie Piles farm, the farthest out from the timber. IMrs. Piles still lives in Iloopeston, but Mr. Piles had gone to his long home. Estrige Daniels lived on the farm that La Fayette Patton lives on, but the house was over in the field. Elihu Daniels lived south of William iMoudy's. There is no house there now.

Three families of Tanners lived up close to where the frame and brick churches are now; the father, old Mr. Tanner, lived west of the brick church, and Peter lived southeast, close to the frame church, and John lived north. Uncle John Dobbs, as every one called him, lived between the two churches, on a farm known as the old Walker home. His house was the place where we all went to church, had preaching every three weeks, and class meeting every Sabbath, something we do not have now.

The house was a large hewed log house, with a fireplace, and room for three beds, and for all the people that there was to come. Uncle John D<ibbs was class leader, and a good one. I would like to go to a meeting of that kind now.

There was John P. Dobbs. and he lived close there, but the next spring he moved out on the prairie, not far from old Pellsville, the farthest out of any one then. He built a house with one room upstairs and one room downstairs. Obidah IMarlatt gave it the name of the North Pole, and that was the name of the neighborhood for a while. That was the first house north of us until we got to Ash Grove. That spring two more families moved out on the prairie, ]\Ir. Dove and Mr. Shannon, one east of us, and Mr. Dove northeast of us. I remember seeing Mr. Dove's team the first trip he made with the material for his house. I think the team nuist have been three miles from our house. There was nothing there then but the prairie grass, green or brown, as the season might be. Southeast of our home half a mile, Harmon Strayer and his brother John lived, and northwest of us about three miles ]\Iilton Strayer lived. He is remembered as one of the good men of this world. He was kindness to perfection ; and IMattlunv Elliott, father of W. H. II. Elliott, and he and his family were all IMethodists of the old-time religion. Their house was the first house I ever ate in away from home, after coming to Illinois. We went to church to our home. Uncle John Dopps, and went there for dinner. We had venison for dinner, I remember. I thought then we had good people here, and I think so yet. We had been here about three weeks then. There has been regular preaching by the IMethodist preachers right in the same place. Only a short time after Uncle John Dopps went away, preaching w^as in the schoolhouse until the church was built.

I Avould like to tell the names of the ministers that have been here in these forty-four years, but I think many of them are reaping their reward, and their works do follow them. I will not say anything more about this eventful year at the present time.

1885. That winter was one of the cold, stormy winters of that time, and we got the full benefit of the winds and the snow. I think the snow stayed on the ground perhaps six weeks or more, and cold all the time, and only two rooms to our house, and a smokehouse and a stable for the horses and two cows ; no fence, only a pen for the corn fodder for the cows and horses. W^. bought that, and the cows would stay for the feed, for there Avas no fence to keep them.

Mr. Patton hired the rails made to fence one hundred and sixty acres of land, a good fence staked and tow rails on the top, and INIr. Patton and Obe Marlatt hauled all the rails to fence it, through the storms and snows. Sometimes the snow would blow and drift so that we could not see the tracks of the wagon of the next load. I could see them when they left the timber, and get almost any kind of a dinner, except cook dry beans, before they would get home to dinner. It was a mile and three Cjuarters straight west of the house where we lived to the edge of the timber where they got the rails, and I could see them very plainly.

In the after part of the winter Obe Marlatt went to Bloomington after plows to break the prairie ; that was as near as they could be gotten. He bought five, some for the neighbors. I think if some of the people had to do as we did they would think they would have a hard time now. Well, that spring it was break prairie witli our own four-horse team and an ox team. The man broke by the acre, $2.50 per acre, broke and planted sowed corn, about one hundred and forty acres, and raised the best vegetables of all kinds, melons, pumpkins by the wagon-load, and the best corn. We sold one hundred acres of it to cattle feeders the next fall for five hundred dollars, and was pleased with our year's Avork.

Money was very plentiful that summer or spring. John Adamson that lived at Covington, brought two hundred and over of four-year-old steers to be herded on the prairie, and they were so large and got so fat on the grass without any expense except to pay the herder and for salt, the prairie grass was so fine.

1856 was another year of improvement. We set out the fence to take in more land, hauled more rails, and built two houses on the farm that winter for two tenants to move on the farm in the spring.

That spring I was sick, had a spell of fever, mikI had a girl to stay with me. I had gotten so I did not need her, and she was going home Sunday morning, but Saturday evening she took a chill and was so bad Sunday Ave sent for her aunt, Mrs. Solomon Koder, but we did not know anything about the disease then. It M^as spinal or spotted fever, and the doctor nor any one else could do any good, as doctors fail in most cases of that disease. Her name was Nancy Skinner. There were three of them. They were orphan children, and their aunt, ]\Irs. Koder, had raised them. All three of them were about grown, and all of them died in a very short time. They had such a good home with their aunt and uncle.

That summer everything was corn. We could not see the country so far away, and the people had come to the country so fast that there were new houses on all sides of us. There was lots of corn, and no sale for it, unless cattlemen came in with cattle to feed the corn to. Corn would grow then if you planted it, without any tnmble. The weeds had not got a start then, only the tumbleweeds, and they would roll over the field and lodge against the fences as high as the fence.

1857 was a new year, and how manv times we make resolves to lead a better life if these things concern our future welfare which it should. If we start wrong in our work we are very sure to come out wrong, unless we repent and go back and do our work over again. It is so much easier to make good resolutions than it is to keep them. I have found this true all through life. How true the words prove, "Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love."

This winter we did not do much work on the farm and improve it so nuu'h. and March 2;3d there came to our house another baby boy. We called him Charles Delaware, the -Delaware being the name chosen by his oldest brother.

This summer was the same; plow, raise corn, cut prairie grass, and cut up corn, and have lots of men to work, as we always had. But the last of this year there came the greatest calamity that we were ever called to pass through. Mattie, our oidy girl, came home from school sick with what proved to be cerebral spinal fever and as spotted fever. She was very bad from the first, and her suffering was simply agonizing. Her muscles were contracted, and sometimes her head would be drawn to her hij)s almost like a hoo]). We had a Dr. Courtny from Blue Grass Grove, and a Dr. Whitmore, l)ut they did not do any good, neither do I think any other doctor would. Their princip;il medicine was solelia.

She was very sick eight weeks. When we would go to turn her in bed and let her limbs fall it would almost l<ill liei- ])ut she lived through all this intense suffering. So ninny times she would have spasms, and we would think she would not live one hour, but she got over all this suffering without being left with some mark of it for life. She was past seven years old at that time.

One or two days after IMattie was taken, LaFayette was taken bad also. He had more fever, and his muscles did not contract so much; it was more in his head, and it has left its mark with him for life, for he has always been deaf ever since that time. He had gone to school just two or three days. He was sick seven weeks, and when he got better so he was conscious and knew us, we did not know that he had lost his hearing, and was to be deaf all his days. But one niglit some one was there and brought a little dog, and it came close to his bed and lie laughed at it. AVe talked to him about it and he would not say a word, and then we knew he could not hear, but it never came to my mind that it was to be permanent, or it would have lieen much harder to bear. His speech did not leave him. He just forgot most of the words, being so young, just two or three weeks past four years old, and he says' words yet.

There was living at our house wnth us a good, sweet girl. Her name was IMargaret Shoey. She had been with us about a year and a half. She had a mother and an inhuman stepfather, and the neighbors got her away from them. Mr. Dove had lived close to them, and got us to go and get her, but she hid from him the first time, and the second time she just told him she would not go.

She took the same as the others had Saturday evening. Both doctors were there, but there was no help for her. The spots were more marked than on our own two children. She died Monday night or Tuesday morning at one or two 0 'clock.

The disease was epidemic. There were fourteen deaths in the surrounding country, but our neighborhood suffered the most. One little girl about two years old, Sl.>^'ester King, half a mile north of our home, died. She was sick just two or three days. John Wilson's half a mile southeast of us, lost a sweet little girl about the same age ; and INIrs. David Morehouse, half a mile south of us. All these were taken away in two or three days' sickness.

We were all just like one family around there then. I left my own sick ones to go and prepare the bodies of those that had died. I speak of when our house was full of people helping us with our sick ones.

There were no trained nurses then, and no coffins kept in the furniture store for sale. The first thing after death was to straighten the body and take the measure for a coffin, and go to the carpenter's and get a coffin made, for that would take some time and the funeral would be appointed accordingly. I have helped take the measure of a great many people for a coffin, for I was a born leader in takinji' eare of the sick and caring for the dead. I commenced that kind of work before I was married. I remember a little baby just a few days old that I took on my lap and dressed for tlie grave, when I was not more than seventeen years old. I think this will sound strange to some.

1858 came with all of the sickness and death. Some had died before the new year came, and some after it came in. ^Ir. Elihu Daniels, south of the Will ]\Ioudy farm, died, and ]\Ir. Lucas had a daughter about fourteen years old to die ; A Mr. INIullen, that lived west of the brick church, had two little children that lived with them. They had no children of their own, and these two died. I think the disease Avas not contagious, but it was epidemic. I never want to see another time like that. There was a family lived east on our farm. Their names were Ilartman. They jiLst stayed at our house. They had two little girls, and they slept on the bed with our sick children. Mr. Ilartman would only go home to feed his things, sometimes for two or three days; then they would go home to sleep and rest, and come again, and his brother stayed all the time, and their children never took the disease. Who can forget the people that do so nuich for you in such distress and affliction? The people did not do any work around there, only what had to be done, and went where they were needed the most. I could write about it, and never get done telling how good the people were to us, and all the rest that had sickness and death in their family. The tears will come sometimes yet wli£n I think of it.

That spring the creeks were very high. AVe could not cross the middle fork of the Vermilion for six weeks, there was so nuuli rain, and no bridges then. There was a man drowned that spring in the creek, close to Charley Wood's home and it was more than a week before the body was gotten out of the creek.

IMr. Patton's father came out to see us that spring, and went home and took sick, and died ]\Iay 31, 1858. Some one came after Mr. Piitton, aiid he went and found his father very sick. He stayed a few days and then came home, but he was soon sent for again to attend the funeral.

The east fork of the Vermilion was very high. He went horseback, and had to swim bis horse to get over the creek. No way to go on the railroad and no telegraph dispatches then.

We took a wagon and went over into liuliaiia in August to attend the sale of the personal property, Mr. Patton and bis brother being the administrators of his father 's estate.

1859 came, and nothing special happened until fall, when >\lr. Patton rented out our farm here to a Mr. Hunt and Isaac Brown, of Indiana, for five years, and made arrangements to move ])ack to Indiana, his father having left him a farm. He had two wagons loaded to go back, but I was not very much in favor of going- and leaving more here than we could get there. That night after supper ]Mr. Patton came down to "Sir. Wm. Robinson's and bought his farm of two hundred acres of land, the forty that our house is on and the one hundred and sixty south of our home. We never thought of going back to Indiana since, but loved to go and visit, and to see the old home of my childhood, but the most of the ones that I knew so well are gone.

1860. And who is it that is fifty or sixty years of age that does not remember the first five years of the sixties; about Abraham Lincoln and the war times, and how we would watcli for the news if we did not have any friends there.

That spring we moved from the house we had lived in about one-quarter of a mile from the house I call home now, into a double hewed log house, wnth an entry between them. On January 22d there was another one added to our family, and we called him Franklin. He was a very delicate little one and always was through life.

We built our house that fall under many difficulties. The first house we lived in the luml)er was all hauled from Indiana, and we expected to have the inside work of our present house of black walnut lumber, but got it home from Indiana, and put it in a kiln to dry, and it took fire and all burned np, except enough for our front door, three wagon loads. All the lumber was hauled from Paxton, and the brick for the cellar from Ten IMile Grove, the other side of Paxton. In October, William went to get a load of brick, and as he was coming home he had a barrel on his wagon on top of the brick, and he Avas on top of the barrel. The barrel fell off and he also, and the wagon ran over his legs and mashed one of them as wide as the wagon tire, so some of the pieces of bone were on the outside of his leg when I got to where he was. He crawled to the horses and unhitched them and got on and rode one of the horses to ]\Ir. IMontgomery's and we were sent for.

]\Ir. Patton was after cattle up at Paxton. He was sent for and brought two doctors. Dr. L. B. Farrar and a Dr. Smith of Loda, and we had sent for a doctor five or six miles south of our home. We got him home about midnight, and all three doctors held a consultation. Two doctors were for amputation, but Dr. Farrar would not give up to have it done, and the doctors set the limb and Dr. Farrar took the case. Billy, as we called him, had almost bled to death before the doctors got there, and the doctor had cold water poured on his limb for several days every half hour or so, and saved his foot, and Dr. Farrar, of Paxton, should have all the credit that Billy Patton has two feet to walk on to-day.

U4 History Of Ford County

Well, I did not have a very easy time that fall - all the carpenters and the men to cut corn, for that had to be done if we got anything for the corn; Billy and a sickly baby to care for. I had two girls to work for me some of the time. Mr. Antony Godson worked here, and the girl that afterwards became his wife, Snsan Keplinger. John Harmon that lives in Los Angeles, California, did the outside carpenter w^ork, but had Uncle John Koder and a IMr. William Civill to help, and after the building was enclosed Mr. Kucler did the inside work and Mr. AVm. Kinmin did the mason work - the fastest man I ever saw work at any kind of work.

1861 came as all years do, and we had moved in our new house, which was a good one for those times in this country, full tAvo stories high, with tive rooms above and four below, and a cellar under the house. It has been a comfortable home for forty years, but sorrows have come often, and pleasant times also. If it were possible for me to live in this house for forty more years and I would take care of it as I have done, it would be a good house at the end of eighty years if fire or cyclone did not destroy it.

I would like to see all the different people that have made their homes for a long and some for' a shorter time with us in this house in the forty years that it has been my home. IMany have gone to their long home that had a home wnth us and were employed by us to work in the house and on the farm. I would like to see them all at one table. I think it would reach a long way.

1862 came and passed without any special incident to our family, only the same routine of work that comes to people in every-day life. The horrors of the Civil War were thought more of than anything else those times, and how anxious we were to hear from the ones that left.

1863 came and without incident, only we had plenty of work to do. We had a large drove of cattle that year, and herded them on the prairies that summer. We did lots of farming, and raised wheat, at that time, here on the prairie better than can be raised now on the prairie.

In June that year, the 2r)th, there came a little girl lo oui- home, and we called her Ida J., and she made lots of racket most of the time when her eyes were open.

That December l^illy came home from Indiaiuipolis. He liad been tliere at school, and soon after coming home to spend the holidays took the lung fever and was very bad sick ; and one week aft(>r that, his father took sick with the same dis-

1864 came as no other year that I ever saw, and never to be forgotten. The first day of that year was the worst storm or blizzard. You could not see three steps from you, and it was so cold that you would freeze in a very short time. Sammy Patton and a Mr. Smith had a hundred and twenty-five head of cattle about one mile east of our house that they fed shock corn to, and they would never have gotten home that day if it had not been that there was a rail fence that they got close to and followed to our hous(> and liarn. Tlicre was a number of people perished that day and night in Illinois. So man^' school children started home and were lost by the way, and lost their lives or limbs.

Mr. John Wilson, a neighbor, lost over one hundred head of hogs in that storm. Dr. L. B. Farrar came next morning to see our sick folk, and stopped on the v/ay and warmed at Mr. Button's and when he came to our house he was so cold he could hardly get to the house, and the snow was drifted so that it was almost impossible to get any place. Almost all the chickens in the country froze to death.

Mr. Patton took sick that New- Year's day and Dr. Farrar was attending to Billy, and then we sent to Urbana for Dr. Summers to come. Mr. Daniel Moudy went after Dr. Summers. Mr. Moudy will never forget that trip, he almost sacrificed his life for us in that great affliction. Dr. Summers came and stayed three day and nights, and Dr. Farrar was liere most of the time. He came through the bitter cold weather and the snow drifts which lasted several weeks, the like of which I have never seen in this country before or since. IMr. Patton was not expected to live, and Billy was very sick all this time.

Eight days after Mr. Patton took sick, Samuel, the second son, took as the rest; the red, brick-colored spittle, and pain in the left side like all the others. The doctor was here at the time he took down, but could not check the disease, and he was very bad sick. Three beds in two rooms, and most of the time three men to care for the sick and sometimes more, day and night. There were no trained nurses at that time, but I got to be a pretty good one before all got well, especially in taking care of fly blisters. Three men sick at one time. It did not take me long sometimes to shed tears with all the care and trouble I had and hard work, and to think of things out of doors and in the house.

Joseph Harris came and left his home and stayed twenty-six days, and fed the cattle and took care of the other stock, and in the deep snow and very cold weather. Money does not pay for such work at such times, and the men in the neighborhood would come and stay, sometimes two or three days and then go home and sleep and rest, and then eume back ag'ain. What woukl we have done if the neighbors hadn't been so good? I never got tired of doing something for the sick after that, as long as I was able, if I could do it, no matter who they were.

After all I have told about this siege of sickness in our own family, Charles McGlaughlin, an old Irishman that had no home only our house, took down with the same disease one week after Sammy took sick : three downstairs and one upstairs ; four beds occupied with the sick ; one or the other of the doctors was there almost all the time.

Franklin Rice went to Indiana after William Patton, and to tell the folks over there about the family all being sick, and William Patton came and stayed

If we never got sick we would not be thankful for good health. I thought sometimes that I was nearer worn out than the sick M'ere ; I would go out in the kitchen sometimes after something and forget what I went after, but never gave up but once and that was the afternoon that Samuel came in and I had to fix another bed for him. I sat down on the floor and cried, aiul thought I could not do anything more, but I thought this will not do, and I had to do all I could do, and was thankful I had so much help. This is enough for one year, but not half I could tell about it.

1865 was a year of no special incident in the family, only the common work on the farm and in the house. There was always plenty to do that year. Billy came home from Jacksonville the 15th of April, the day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and when lie came about five o'clock in the evening I went to meet him, and the first word that lie said was to ask if I knew that the President was killed. I had not heard it until then. A IMr. Ballard had just moved in the house we first lived in, and I went there the next day, and when I told bim he just walked the floor, he was so excited that he did not know what he was doing hardly. The whole country was stirred up and in mourning for tlie l)eh)ved President's death. His name will live through ages to come.

February 27, li)02. After almost one year of the time has passinl I will try to finish the sketches T connnenced some time ago, and will Icll something of what happened in the year that has just closed, the year li)()l. In this year I have passed through the greatest affliction of my lift' of bodily suffering that it was possible for me to i)ass through, and still live to tell about it, but I will

May 8, 1901, I ran a small oak splinter in my forefinger on my left hand, and blood poisoning started from the effects of the splinter. The next day, the 9th of ^lay. we called Dr. Wylie. of Paxton. and Dr. Hester, of Clarence, and they split my finger. The next day they came and split my finger and the third time had eight or nine places opened on my hand. I did not know much hy this time, and when the doctor would dress my hand it was all I could d(^ to stand it. The doctor came twice a day for a while, and then went to Chicago for a trained nurse, and she stayed ten days. I had to have medicated water poured in every two hours, and take whiskey and strychnine every four hours The perspiration from the poison was very offensive, and I had to have alcohol baths twice a day and a chill one every twenty-four hours, and suffered intensely then. I would sometimes look at my hand and wonder if it would ever get better.

Oh, how glad I would be when the doctor would get through dressing it ! But everything has an ending, and so did my trouble wnth blood poisoning, after being under Dr. Hester's care from May 9th until July 17th, making fifty-nine visits. I thank him for his kindness to me all this time. May (lod's blessing be with him through life, and may he live a righteous life, and be a blessing to the people wherever he may be.

"I am exulting while I may. For joy is uppermost today. ' ' 1866. This year there was lots of work to do. Some of the children at school and some at work at home. I will here write a subscription, or copy of it, which was written March 13, 1866, for John Kepling>>r, who lost his limb just at the close of the war. They were our neighbors then.

Sugar Grove, Champaign County, 111. We, the undersigned, agree to pay John Keplinger, wdm has lost a leg in defense (^f our country, the sum annexed to our names, for the purpose of assisting him to get an artificial leg.

H8 History Of Ford County

In the winter of 1866 we had a revival in the church. Here, I see hy a letter that I wrote then, that Billy joined the church at Jacksonville that winter, and some names here at home that united with the church - IMrs. Hiram Daniels, George Tanner, and some of the Sedletter boys. The Rev. Bannan was the pastor at that time, and stayed with us while the meeting lasted; and ]\Irs. Search had so much influence in the church that winter. The Search faniil.\' moved to Southern Illinois that spring, and we were sorry to see them leave the neihgborhood, for INIr. Search was the life of the Sabbath school in the Flagge schoolhouse at that time.

1867 came with its sorrows and ,ioys, as most years do. On Fel)ruarv 20, 1867, there came to onr house a new baby girl, and she got to be the pet of the family, and ruled things as slic pleased in her babyhood and girlhood also. That winter I had lung fever, and came near leaving tin's world ; was sick a])out four weeks. We named the baby Allie, and now there had been eight children added to the family in a little over twenty-one years, and how many wants are to be supiilied with eight children to care for. When Henry C. Dodge wrote "Nobody knows but mother," I think he was right.

Old School House History Of F0R13 County 151

Nobody knows of the work it makes To keep the home together, Nobody knows of the steps it takes, Nobody knows but mother. ' ' ]\rary Frayne was here, and had been for over one year, and stayed until the next May or June. She was a kind, good girl.

Billy taught school at the Flagge school house that winter, and Sammy and La Fayette went to Jacksonville, Illinois, to school. Sammy to the Illinois College, and La Fayette to the deaf-mute institution.

Times have changed since then. I see by a statement today with a Paxton hardware and implement store, that Mr. Patton settled February 7, 1867, with the hardware man at Paxton. He had bought two Schuttler wagons, and they cost $242.50, and one barrel of fiour $14.50 and one $13.50, and there were no trusts then. And sold eleven hundred bushels of rye at 85 cents per bushel. This is all about 1867 that I want to tell.

1868 was a new year with many things connected with it. Who is it that enters a new year without making resolves to live a better life, and we should thank the Lord for all the blessings we receive at his hand. We should praise God for a home and the blessings of a home.

I forgot to tell about the building of the first church that was built in the country around here. It was built in 1868. It was a Methodist Episcopal church, and still stands a monument to many that have gone to their long homes, and there has never been a time when there has not been preaching services in it. It was dedicated in November, 1868, by the Rev. Dr. R. N. Davies. It is known as Pleasant Grove Church.

I have before me a note that ]\Ir. Patton paid September 2, 1871, that had been given to make up a deficiency on account of some of the subscribers failing to pay their 8ii])serii)ti()n - I think over three liuiuli-ed doUars in all; Init ^Ir. Patton was very proud of our ehureh and paid it willinyly.

1870. This year was without special events to our family. Christmas of that year I went to Chicago with Edd Kingon, a deaf-mute that stayed with us that year, and when he w(Mit home to spent the holidays. T went witli him. and stayed four days. I had a nice time, and was very much interested in what I saw in Chicago, but it was not much like it is now. I was at an entertainment at the Wabash Avenue M. E. church, and to the First M. E. church, and to the First Presbyterian church, and to the Museum, and everything was different from what I had ever seen. I thought it wonderful, and IMr. Kingon and family entertained me royally, and showed me around the city. I came home, but Edd spent some time before he came back.

September 3d of this year I got the first sewing machine that I ever had, only a little hand sewing machine to fasten to a table; but the Grover and Baker machine cost seventy-five dollars, a note on a year's time. "P. S. Point Pleasant, Robert Bradley, Agent," so says the old note before me.

1871. The years come and go, whether we are ready or not. Our home affairs were just the same as usual throughout this year, as far as I can remember. The last days of September, Mr. Patton and I went to Indiana, and came home the first week in October, I think the dryest time I ever saw, and the great fire at Chicago the 9th of Octolx^r made us all feel sad; and the forest fires filled the air so full of smoke that you could not see very far. We had no deep well then. and had to haul water for a mile, and the stock had to be taken to the creek for water. It took the cattle herder half of the time to get the cattle to the wati'iand back.

1874. The new year had dawned upon us in (juiet beauty, and the sunshine of God's love is over us. The dear old year was kind to us. Each day brought some new blessing to us, whether we were thankful for the blessing or not. The new year brought to us a deep well, witli fine water after three months of hard work and many discouragements, Mr. Ketchum and ]\Ir. William Le Fever sank a well, or made a trial for a well, and did not succeed, and then moved to another place, where our well is at the present time; and oh. the joy that came to us wlien tlie well was completed tluit .June, and tlie windmill of the Haliday make was ])nt up and ready for work, and the well-house finished and a tank for the milk put in. There was not any place that I enjoyed at our house so nnich as the well-house, and why should I not, after twenty years of getting water sometimes one place aiul sometimes another. One shallow well would go dry aiul we would go to another, and then when it rained they woidd ail have watei- in and would overflow, and tlu' water would not be tit to use, not even to wasli dishes in. Sometimes I could not get supper until the men would eome home from the field and haul Avater. This was Illinois before deep wells were made. 2 Peter ii ; 17; Wells witliout water. Rev. xxi : 6: I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. All the years since that time the well has never gone dry, for the supply has never run out.

1875. Again a new year has eome to us. The old year was kind, and waited and watched to supply all our needs. Tliis year in many tilings was the same to us as other years.

W. T. Patton, or Billy as we called him when we wanted him to get up to breakfast, thought the l)est thing he could do would be to get married. So November 25, 1875, he was married to Fanny M. Flagge. Our family had been going up the mountain, and stopped on the top when Allie was born in 1867, and stayed there for seven years, and then commenced to go down on the other side, one by one, until all are gone, and I am left alone. Billy sat at our table longer than he has at his own, at this writing.

The realm of advanced activity in the years since that time is everywhere manifested ; the resources of every department are being fully taxed. Daring adventures, mechanical inventions, scientific discoveries, commercial enterprises - all these give signs of progress and unparalled activity in the years since the date of this page.

This year was centennial year, and many memories of that time cling to 1776 and to the year 1876, for the celebration of the year at Philadelphia that year w^as a grand celebration of the one hundred years befor(\

There was no special occurrence in our family that year that I remember of until October. Mr. Patton went to visit his old home in 5\)untain county, Indiana, where he ahvays loved to go so well, and his oldest sister came home wath him to visit us a week and then return home. Mr. Patton was going to take her home, but on Friday evening she took a chill. She was very sick from the first, and died the next Wednesday, the 20th of October, 1876. The body was taken back home. It was so sad for- us to think how well she was when she came to us, and how soon she was taken from us. When we went over to her home, my brother and his wife had gone to Philadelphia to the Centennial. This is all I will say about this year. So many sad things come to us in our lives.

1877. The new .years eonie to us with many memories of the past, and of our duty before us for the future for each other, and to live for the good of others, and that the world might be benefited by us being in it if we live right.

The lltli of February the first granddaughter was born to us. W. T. Patton and Fanny JM. Patton. A bright little babe, and how much we were all interested in its welfare; l)ut alas, how soon it was taken from us! It was named Eva.

Some time before this I had been called to superintend the arrangements where there was a new baby, and looked after the welfare of the mother and child, and I can say I went wherever I was called, day or night, rain or shine, and I always asked God to guide me aright in whatever I did, and success attended all my work of this kind, and there was never a death of mother or child in the more than twenty years of my practice of that kind of work within a circle of three or four miles, and sometimes five or six miles. I was called to visit the sick and care for the dying. There were no trained nurses at that time, and the undertaker was not sent for as they are now. I always knew that there was no one sick or I would know of it, for I was often sent for before the doctor, and if I said a doctor was needed, that was sufficient, he was sent for. I would often stay with the sick and the dying two or three days. IMy motto was that if I could be more l)en(^fit away from home than at home there was the i)lace I wanted to be. I never lived for myself alone. I always took an interest in other people's welfare. I rejoice that I was permitted to live at the time I did, and in the evening time of life I would do as much as ever if strength would permit me to do it; but now I will do as much as I can with my pen by writing letters and cheering w^ords to all. Poverty and riches have little to do with our happiness in this life.

1879. This year is not to l)e forgotten by some of our family. This year, the 10th of April, the oldest daughter of the family left the home of her childhood, the family circle, the loving mother, the kind and indulgent father, and the affectionate brothers and sisters, for the affections of another, and changed her name from Martha I. Patton to Martha I. Flagg, to shar(> the joys and sorrows of a husband, James W. Flagg. One moi-e had left the parental roof. The family are going down on the other side of the hill one by one.

This was a prosperous year on the farm. The lai-gest and best crop of wheat that year, and our- cattle were fine and did well. We got a good price for everything.

1880. This year came in with joy and gladness, ])nt how soon our joy may ]«' turned to sorrow. We never know what a day may bring to us. and we will be called to endure trials that we think we cannot bear up under. This was the case with me at this time.

IMr. Patton left home February the 20th of this yeni-, on Friday morning, and went to his old home over on Coal Creek, what he always felt was his home more than Illinois; after living here twenty-six years; Fountain county was dearer to him than the home we had here.

That night he took a chill, pneumonia developed, and there was no remedy. The doctors were powerless. Dr. Spinning of Covington, and Dr. Pettit, of Veedersburgh were both called. He had gone to the farm that his father had given him to stay all night. A Mr. Isley lived there, and had the farm rented. I was telegraphed for, and went to Rankin that night and stayed, and left the next morning at four o'clock. I got there at noon, and found him very sick.

I dispatched for Charley, and he got th(>re Thursday, and Thursday I sent for Samuel, and he got there Friday, and all the rest came Saturday, and Sunday about eleven o'clock the suffering was all over with him. He was conscious to the last, and had been all through his sickness and what a consolation it was to hear him tell all about every arrangement that he wanted made, and about the place he wanted his remains laid to rest. He wanted the Rev. IMushgrove sent for. He was pastor of the church at Danville at that time, and he came. He put his arms around Mr. Mushgrove's neck and talked to him so much. The consolation there was in all this. His life was ended February 29, 1880.

This year there were two grandsons born in the family. A son to W. T. and Fanny Patton, the 5th of July, 1880, and was another addition to the name of Patton, and he was named David. On the 8th of August, 1880, a son was born to J. W. Flagg and INIartha I. Flagg, and he was David Ross Flagg. He ought to be true to his country if his name has anything to do with it.

September 28, 1880, La Fayette Patton and Ella McHenry Were married; another one less to sit at the table, and one more towards the bottom of the hill when all will be gone. They were married at Sparta, Illinois. None of our family at the wedding only Charley Patton.

This year, April 19, 1883, there was a boy came to live with W. T. and Fanny Patton, and they named him Charley. A large fat baby, and he is that way now, only he is not a baby. In September of this year, little Fred-

1885. February of this year saw one of the family leave the home of her childhood for the protection of another. Ida J. Patton and Charles Agiistus Lamb were married, and one less on the side of the hill and one less in the home. Oh how sad we feel sometimes, when one ]).\' one they leave the home ! But such is life. They were married February 12. 1885.

September 28. 1885, another son Ijorn to J. W. Flagg and IMartha I. Flagg, and they named him Willie, and that is all the name he has yet, poor boy !

Well, things went along as usual, but all these years I always attended churcli, and enjoyed going to church more than anything else, and teaching little boys in Sabbath school. The weeks were not so long when I got to go to church on the Sabbath day.

On December 13, 1885, there was born to Ida J. Lamb and C. A. Lamb a sweet little Iamb for them to fecnl and care for, and they named her Nellie, and that is her name yet, and she is larger than her mother now.

The 3d of February, 1886, I went to Indiana for my brother's birthday. I thought he had lived sixty years and I wanted to eat dinner with him that day. I went without any announcement of my coming, and surprised him a little perhaps. It was the -Ith of February, but the next time they expected me to be there, and the event is celebrated yet at that home.

This year on August 11th, a little girl made its api)earance at W. T. and Fanny Patton 's, and claimed admittance as one of the family, and they adopted her and called her Carrie Patton.

October 18, 1888, there came to Billy and Fanny, a little girl, and they called her Elsie. She is not very large yet, but the baby of the family is almost always babied too nuich for their own good.

This April, Grace Kirkle\' came to our house to board and teach school at the Sugar Grove schoolhovise, and afterward changed her name to Patton.

What a trial to give up the last girl of the family! All say, "Now what will you do?" "Who will you live with now?" "Will you move to town?" All had some advice to give as to what wcmld be the liest thing to do. Well, I did just as I had been doing. Stayed in the old home, which was home to me still. I always loved my home better than I did any place else, but I have to depend on other people's children to help me make it a home for myself, and the different ones that have stayed with me in these years have all been good to me, and I have had a good home with the different ones. I have tried to make a home for them, for some of them did not have any home but my hoiao, l)iit liow well have I succeeded? T do not know what tliey say about it, but I hope that I did not do anything wrong about the way I treated them. JMary Allie Patton and David Henry Cade were married June 7, 189-1:, and wont to Chicago the same evening, and came back to visit his folks at Peresville. Indiana, and soon after went to housekeeping in Potomac, Illinois.

Lived Since That Time

It was not a l)arren waste; it was a bleak cold place in the winter time. The snow went the way the wind took it as far as it wanted to go, and the tumbleweeds aLso ; but in the summer time it was all grass and flowers, and you could see as far as the strength of >-our eyes would let you see. and the tall grass, when the wind blew, was like the waves of the sea, beautiful to behold. If you knew where you wanted to go you had nothing to do but to start out and go, but look out for the ponds of water or you would be right in one if you did not, for the grass in the ponds would be higher than your head, and it would be lots more trouble to get out than to get into a pond. They were just like getting into trouble about other things, it was easier to get in than to get out. Now you have the hedge fence and the straight roads and the square corners and the groves, and you can't see a wagon five miles on the prairie as you could then.

When we came to this count\' it was Vermilion county. That was in November 2, 1854. It was a lonely place a little farther out on the prairie than our neighbors were at that time, for the people that were here wanted to live close to the timber. The wolves would howl and make the nights seem lonely.

Our neighbors at that time were ]\Ir. Thomas Lions. He lived at what was called Sugar Grove, and which still has that name. Their house was just west of the Patton Cemetery, in the corner close to the timber; the old house was there until about five years ago. ]\Ir. Lions died in Paxton.

Mr. Vannata lived on what is called the Lamb farm. INIr. Pliny Lamb bought the farm of Vannata in 1856, and died there in 1858. Mr. David Morehouse lived where Joseph Kerr lives now; Mrs. ]\Iorehouse died in 1858, and Mr. ^Morehouse married again and moved away from the country.

Eastidge Daniels lived on the land that La Fayette Patton lives on at this time ; he sold the land to David Patton, and moved close to Danville, Illinois, and died there; Elislia Daniels lived on the farm that William Moudy owns at this time, and he died there in 1858, loved and respected by all who knew him.

Mr. John Dopps lived between where the two churches now stand, just where the house is that JMr. Daniel JNIoudy owns at this time, and that was the place where we went to church at that time, and we still ^^o there. Uncle John Dopps, as we all called him, could sin^ and shout and praise God every Sunday in tlie year. The circuit preacher came every three weeks at that time. One daughter died while they lived there, but Mr. Dopps sold out and went West, and how we missed him. Then we had preachino- in the Flagg schoolhouse until we built the church in 1868.

A. Mr. Turner lived just west of where the brick church is, but soon left the country. Mr. Matthew Elliott lived close to where Roy Elliott, a grandson, lives, and he lived and died on that farm. Ilis life was always for the right, and he was never absent from church when it was possible for him to be there. One son, W. H. H. Elliott, still lives, and the old home is still dear to him; two daughters live at Catlin, Illinois, a Mrs. Boggus and a Mm. Wilson.

Mr. David Robison lived where I now live, in a log house. William Robison lived south and a little east of our house. There is no house there now. His wife died there the next June, 1855. She was a good woman, and left one little boy; she came to our house the first Sunday after we came to this Illinois home, and helped me get dinner. There were five men helped us move here. We got here Thursday evening, and all stayed over Sunday. I was pleased to have her come to visit us so soon, but she was soon taken away from us. William Robison got married again, and went west.

Mr. Harmon Strayer and his brother lived on the farm now owned by Mrs. Grace Culbertson, but Harmon Strayer sold it to Mr. John Wilson, and then bought land northwest of here and improved it. His father, INIr. Jacob Strayer, lived south of where Harmon Strayer lived, and Milton Strayer lived half a mile east of his father. There* was a father and five sons, all passed from earth - all good, joeaceable men.

Hiram Driskel lived south of Sugar Grove. He died several years ago, but has two sons living, George and Ephraim. Mr. Jesse Piles lived on what is known as the old Piles farm. He came to what is now Butler township in March, 185;?, and was the first settler in what is now Butler township, and lived on the same farm until his death, July 4, 1884.

When we went to Indiana, we went past the Piles home, and that was the last house but one between Sugar Grove and Marysville, now Potomac. There was one house, but I cannot locate the place. A man hy the name of ]\Iedsker lived there. You could not stop and ask, ''Is this the right road?" or "How far is it to Marysville ? " at that time, for there was no one to ask, and tlie road paid no attention to section lines then.

Everything for our house and stable Avas hauled along that road. Mr. Patton started at three o'clock one morning to go to Marysville to get nails to l)uild our stable. Our flour and everything we used was hauled from Covington, Indiana, or some place along the road, and the countr^y mills.

There was not a railroad in Danville at that time, but the Illinois Central was running trains. They had commenced in the spring of 1854, and the company that built the road got every other section of land on either side of the road for ten miles, and some places farther, but there was only one house at Paxton at that time, and the company has never been willing or able, after fifty years, to l)uild a decent depot to accommodate the traveling public.

In a year or two great changes took place in this country; the land was all taken up, and that that had been bought for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre and up w^as sold for five or six dollars per acre, and has increased in value ever since, and the improvements have kept pace with the value of the land.

Then we put bells on our horses and cows, so we could tell where they were on foggy mornings, but now the bells are in the churches and on the railroads.

All that part of Ford county lying in range 7 and 8 east was originally called Drumm.er Grove. In 1861 steps were taken by the citizens to have the name changed to Dix, in honor of General Dix, of New York. The petition was granted by the board of supervisors. Afterward the following townships were created or set off from Dix, viz : Drummer, Sullivant and Peach Orchard, leaving the jjresent township of Dix.

Among the early settlers of this township were John Waggoner, John D. Bell, David Metcalf, Ephriam and James A. Blackford, Samuel Todd, George Waggoner, Asa Trickel, John Wallace, Jackson Pitser, R. Stephen Chamberlin, Joseph Kendall, John Brown, James Reed, Levi Foutz, Leonard Pierpont, David Pollock, John Schoonmacher, Jonathan Bedell, Charles Wilcox and Peter Beatty.

The first postoffit-i' in Dix towiisliip was East Bend, with Joliii S. AVayyoner first postmaster; his coiiiiiiissiou was dated November 26, 1859.

Tlie first sehoolhonse built in this township was in district No. 2, built in the spring- of 1859. IMiss Cynthia Newlin, daughter of William Newlin, of Patton township, taught the first school in this district and in the township.

The first religious service held in Dix township was at the house of John S. Waggoner, by Rev. Mr. Wenner, who was a United Brethren minister.

Elliott

The land where Elliott stands was donated by S. P. Bushnell, Samuel Elliott and Gustave Punke. It was the undivided half of forty acres. Mr. Elliott contributed twenty acres, ]\Ir. Bushnell ten acres and Mr. Punke ten acres. It was surveyed and laid out by County Surveyor II. J. Howe. John Richardson built the first elevator in Elliott. J. J. Crawford was the first postmaster, and Hugh Lambert was the first station agent. The village was named after Samuel Elliott. The village is surrounded by a fine farming country and is a good trading point.

The first town meeting was held at the Oregon schoolhoiLse, on the 4th day of April, 1865. The meeting was called to order by A. ]\I. Smith, the town clerk. J. S. Brown was appointed moderator. At this meeting, the following township officers were elected: supervisor, Ephriam IM. Blackford; town clerk, A. M. Smith; assessor, William B. Holmes; collector of taxes, Benjamin Smith; justices of the peace, Leonard Pierpont and Johii S. Waggoner; highway commissioners, John Bell, Joseph Kendall and David Pollock.

John S. Waggoner, one of the old settlers and bnsiness men of Dix township, was born in Lewis comity, Virginia, June 28, 1822, where he lived several years; then moved to lioone county, Indiana. Tie made his home there for abont twenty years. lie came to Ford county in the fall of 1855 and settled on section :V.]. Mr. Waggoner was the fii-st justice of the peace of the township. He held Ihc office many years and was also ])()stmaster at East Bend several years.

John D. Bell was born in England, November 22, 1819, where he remained until he was twenty-two years of age.' He came to America and settled in Providence, Rhode Island, M^here he worked at his trade in the print works for five years. lie came to this township in 1857. In 1863, he enlisted in the Chicago Mercantile Battery and served with it for three years. Mr. Bell was the first town clerk of this township and also held the office of assessor and collector. He was the first trustee of the schools.

David Metcalf, a native of England, county of Westmoreland. Here he was born November 26, 1823, and lived at his home, working at the cooper's trade, for twenty-eight years. Emigrating to America, he settled in Ford county. In I\Iay, 1851, he married Miss Sarah Bell.

John Richardson, a native of Liverpool, England, emigrated to America in 1849 and landed in Canada. He moved to Bufi'alo, New York, learned the mason's trade, and worked at it in Detroit, Michigan. In 1856 he moved to Iowa and prospected around until his funds were nearly exhausted. He came to Paxton and worked at his trade several years. He then rented a farm, and in time, by his frugality and industry, he was able to purchase eighty acres of land. To this he added year by year until he had accumulated five hundred acres. This farm he exchanged with Judge Patton, of this county, for one thousand acres lying in Patton and Dix townships. In 1873, he came to Elliott and engaged in the grain business. In 1855 he married Miss Sarah Simons, of Michigan. They had seven children.

Cyrus R. Marshall was born in Windsor county, Vermont, in 1837, where he lived until 1850, working on a farm. He then moved to Woodford county, Illinois. In 1878 he came to Dix township and bought one hundred and sixty acres in section 3. In October, 1857, he married Elvira Johnson, of Peoria county, Illinois.

Abel Hanson was the first Norwegian who moved into Dix township. He came here in 1871 and rented a farm for three years. He then purchased eighty acres in section 14, and later eighty acres in section 22.

Andrew Hamilton was born in Fairview township, York county, Pennsylvania, November 6, 1836. He lived there, working on a farm and at the carpenter's trade, over twenty-eight years. He came to Illinois, first settling in Livingston county, where he remained nine years, then moved to Dix township. He was married, September 14, 1862, to Mrs. Martha E. Carothers. They had three children.

A. A. Barrow wji.s born in Vir<;inia, July 8, 1848. where he remained until 1867, when he removed to Bloomington, Illinois, with his father, who came to Ford county and bought several luuidred acres of land. ]\Ir. Barrow was married, December 25, 1872, to ]\Iiss ]\Iartha E. Barrow.

George Henry Trailor was l)orn in Illinois, Octol)er 20, 1836. He lived in Bureau county for thirty years, engaged in farming. He then sold out and came to Livingston county, Avhere he Ijonght a farm and lived for six years. In 1859 he crossed the plains and went into the gold mines of the far west, meeting Avith good success. In 1861 he married IMiss Eliza J. Swisher, who died in three years, and l)y whom he had twin daughters. His second wife Avas ]\Iiss IMary Butts.

Jesse Tonn was born in Indiana in 1834. where he lived seventeen years. He then moved to Vermilion county, Illinois. Soon after, he came with his father to Dix township. He married JMiss Rosanna Hagin, March 18. 1858, in Urbana, Champaign county, Illinois. They had eight children.

John M. Miner came to Illinois in 1858 and settled in Homer township. Champaign county, Illinois. lie moved into Ford county in 1863 and was superintendent of the great Sullivant farm for several years. He was town collector, town treasurer and school director for many years.

J. C. Thornton was l)orn in Vii-ginia, in 1835. He was married to IMiss Anna ]M. Johnson in 1863. He moved to Ford county in 1864. Here he held vai'ioiis town offices.

IMattiiew^ Speedie came from Scotland in 1850 and settled first in Fall River, Massachusetts, where he pursued his trade of millwright for sixteen yeai-s. lie came to Dix in 18()(). He was married .Iun(\ 1847. to Isal)ella Colston, of Scotland.

Henry Harrison Atwood was man-icd. February 28, 1862, to Miss L. INF. Daniels, of "Woodbury, Vermont. He was born in Lamoille county, Vermont, in 1836. and caine west in 1850. locating in Ohio. He came to Dix townshii) in 186() and hecaiue the ownei- of a Tai'in of i'onr hundred and eighty acres, on which he raised fine stock.

Samup:l Elliott was born in TIolnK^s connty, Ohio, in 1837 nud lived there thirty-five years, then came to Dix townshij). In 1860 lie married JMiss Anna Crawford, of Coshocton county, Ohio. ]\Ir. Elliott was instrumental in layingout the villaije in this township that bears his name.

John W. Edwards was born in Morganfield, Kentucky, in 1842. In 1868 he moved to La Salle county, Illinois, from there he went to IMarshall county ; and came to Dix township in 1877. lie married ]\Iiss Chrissa L. Lonii', of ]\Iarshall county, in 1866.

Aaron C. Bullington was born in Quincy, Illinois, in 18-4-4. His parents moved to Jefferson .county, Missouri, soon after he was born, living there several years. They came to Woodford county, Illinois. In 1862 the subject of this sketch enlisted in the Eighty-sixth Illinois Infantry and served in the Civil war for three years. Mr. Bullington was twice married, first in 1869 to jNIiss Mary C. Leonard, ])y whom he had two children. His second wife was Atlanta V. Blake, of this township, by whom he had three children. Mr. Bullington settled in this township in 1876. In 1882 he was elected supervisor.

J. E. IIagin came to Ford county in an early day. He was born in Cape May county. New Jersey, in 1836. In 1859, he married ]\Iiss Barbara E. Crothers. She died several years afterward, and his second wife was IMiss Ellen Myers.

C. G. Ryerson was born in Norway in 1832, emigrating to America in 1857. He settled first in La Salle county, then came to Ford county, locating on section 28. In 1861 he married Miss Knutson, a native of Norway.

Henry Shields was born in Ireland in 1835. He came to America and settled in New York state in 18-4-4. He came to Ford county a few years later. He was married to Miss Almira Sharp in Januar^^ 1865. He was again married, to Anna Eliza Spencer in 1875.

A. T. Blake was born in Virginia, March 28, 1824. His parents moved to Ohio, where he lived until twenty-two years old, helping his father in cultivating hops. In 1847 he left Ohio aiul moved to Wayne county, Illinois, where he lived on a farm for seven years ; then went to Logan county and farmed for sixteen years; then settled in Ford county. He was postmaster at East Bend for eleven years; keeper of the ])oor house for six years; road commissioner for nine years; and held various other trusts in Ihe gift of the people. In 1847 he married Cyntha Staffs.

John Keesey was born in Maryland in 1814. where he lived for seven years ; then emigrated to Ohio, where he lived about thirty years. He then came to Ford count}', first settling in Patton township, where he lived on a farm for eighteen years; then moved to Elliott and opened a meat market. He was twice married - first in Ohio in April, 1837, to Saloma Crise. They had ten children. In 1880 Mr. Keesey was married to ]\Irs. Jane Culbertson. John Shilts, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, came to the United States in 1853, and to this county in 1868, residing on section 24.

The territory now organized into Pella township originally formed a part of Stockton, and from 1861, when Brenton was organized, vip to 1870 it formed a part of that township.

This to-wnship was the youngest of the sisterhood of townships in Ford county, and was unfavorably located for early settlements, on account of its being mostly a low, level prairie and exceedingly wet, except in the driest times of the year. The Vermilion swamps extend across the northern part of the township, the south fork of the north Vermilion river, a slow, sluggish stream, flows across the center, and various marshes and sloughs are scattered over the township, and much of the land was long regarded as irreclaimable. But of late years many Irish families have moved in and bought the wet lands, and at once began the work of ditching and tile draining, and such other changes were made as to warrant the belief that Pella ranks as one of the best townships in the county.

The first settler in this township was Robert Hall, who bought land in sections 16 and 28; he came in 1857. The next settler was Henrj^ Atwood, who settled on the southwest (juarter of section 22. Henry ]\Iitchinson came the same year and settled on the northwest quarter of section 22. Lyne Starling, a cousin of IM. L. Sullivant. of Sullivant township, settled on section 35.

The first man to locate in Pella after the war, was John Bales; the same year James IMcCarty and James Taggart came. In 1868, Edward Doran. The ]\IcTier family, Robert Wells, Andrew Hickman, Hugh Rice, Abraliam Fadden, M. C. Kice, Daniel IMarble, William Andrews and Owen Murtaugh, setth'd ill 1his township, and about the same time Charles Yates, James Sheldon, llic K'ccd ])oys, Charles, Arby, Thomas- Butlei- and Va\. Thcmias Correll, J. S. Ruff, Patrick McNouglitou, Andrew Stuart, William Michael, and John Ward.

Ljaie Starling, who came from New York, built the house in section 35, known as the old Brenton House. This house was built of the best material and in a very substantial manner. The building of this large house and the extensive preparations for farming on a large scale by Mr. Starling were quite an encouragement to the settlers. The Starling property was all of sections 1 and 3, east half of 17, and northwest quarter of 5, in Brenton, and 31, 33 and 35 in Pella.

The first marriage in Pella was between Henry Atwood and j\Iiss Mary Wylie. They were married by W. P. Pearsons, of Onarga, November 16, 1850.

The first school taught in Pella was at the house of Henry Atwood in 1863, his wife being the first teacher. The first schoolhouse built w^as the Reed schoolhouse, in district No. 1, Butler Reed being the first teacher.

There is no village, postoffice or church in this township, the trading point for most of the citizens being Piper City, which lies close to the south line of the township.

Joseph Mitciiinson, one of the leading citizens, was born in England, in June, 1838. His parents were farmers, and Joseph worked on the farm for several years, then left there and came to America. He settled in this township in 1858, on section 22. He became the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of rich farming land. In 1865 he married Elizabeth Agnew, of England, by whom he had six children.

William P. Moore, one of the leading farmers and stock-raisers of Pella, was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 1834. He left there in 1866, and settled in Warren county, Illinois; after living there two years, he moved to Pella township and settled on a farm in section 32. In 1862, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fourteenth Ohio Regiment, and served in the Civil war until its close. He was married to Eliza Hickman, of Pennsylvania, in 1857, by whom he had six children. Mr. Moore was road commissioner for many years.

Charles A. Cook was born in London, Ontario, November 3, 1845. He left Canada and settled in La Salle county in 1857, and came to Ford county, Pella township, in 1870. He became the owner of a rich farm in section 30. ]\Ir. Cook was twice married ; first to Angeline Dean, in 1870 ; she died in 1877. In 1879 he married INIiss Carrie ^lontelius; she died in 1883.

Wall townsliip was ors:anizod out of the original township of Patton in 1867. It is bounded on the nortli by Lyman township ; on the east by Iroquois county; south by Patton township, and west by the townships of Dix and Peach Orchard. It was named after Abraham Wall, the first settler wlio came to this township from Marshall county, Illinois, in ISo-I. Among other early settlers were Fred Dienelt, James Simpson, Christian Snyder, Samuel Bell, William Noel, AVilliam Kenward, J. Bonsel, Paul Cooley, John Travis, Levi ]\[iller, Agrippa Wells, Seth Lytle, William Liggett, James Barnes, John ]\Iorris, John Richardson, John Bayne, and Edgar Sharp.

The first town meeting was held at the Stringtown schoolhouse district No. 2, when the following were elected the first township officers: William Liggitt, supervisor; Steven Fry, town clerk; John INIorris, assessor; John Richardson and John i\Iorris, justices of the peace.

The first schoolhouse erected in Wall was the Noel schoolhouse, and William Noel's wife was the first teacher. The Stringtown schoolhouse was tli3 next one built, and Miss Emma Simons, daughter of the first county clerk, taught the school for two years.

John F. Kenney was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in ISof). He came to this township from Putnam county in 1872, settling on section 14. He married Miss Mary E. Phelps, of Putnam county, in 1860. ]\Ir. Kenney was one of the many men who came to this county from the east without capital, and by his hard work he became the owner of three hundred and sixty acres of land.

William Kenwakd, a native of Sussex county, England, came to Illinois in 1851. He was twice married - first to Elizabetli IMcConaty, a native of Lnki^ county, Illinois, who died in 1871. In 1873 he married Rhoda Snclling, a native of Harrison county, Ohio. Mr. Kenward came here poor, but liy hard work, economy and strict integrity, became the owner of two hundred and

Fred Dienelt, boni in Brunswick, Germany- in 1828. In 1813 lie went to sea, sailing around llic world before he was seventeen years old, and there are few places in this hemisphere that have not been visited by him. lie came to Ford county in 1858, being the second settler in this township. He was twice married - first to ^lary Kaminsky, of Germany, who died in 1872, and the following year he married IMattie WelLs. His lil)rary was considered the largest and most valuable of any person's - exeei)ting professional men - in the county, and much of his time was passed in reading scientific works and studying astronomy.

Levi Miller was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1881. lie moved to Illinois from Ohio in 1854, and to Wall township from La Salle county, in 1864. In 1852, he married INIaria Werts, of Preble county, Ohio, by whom he had ten children. He laid out the road districts of Wall township.

William Kenney was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania. He came to this township in 1875. He was married in 1850 to Mary McVane, by whom he had six children.

Richard Trigger was born in Devonshire, England, in 1832. He came to America in 1859, settling in Peoria county. He came to Ford county in 1869, purchasing the north half of section 11. He was married to Elizabeth A. Stoves, of England, in 1855. They had nine children. , Mr. Trigger was highway commissioner for a number of years.

Saunders McCormick was born in La Salle county, Illinois, in 1836. He taught in the public schools of his native comity for several years. He spent two years in the gold mines of the western territories, and also was bookkeeper for a cotton merchant of Texas. He came to Ford county in 1868, settling on the northwest quarter of section 9. He was justice of the peace for many years.

William A. Campbell was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, in 1843. He moved to Fountain county, Indiana, where he resided for a short time; then came to Ford county, settling in Trickel's Grove, Button township. He was married to Elizabeth C. Irwin in 1868, by whom he had four children. His father, 0. H. Campbell, was one of the early settlers of Ford county.

Robert M. Karr was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1834. In 1869, he came to Ford county, becoming the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land in section 34. He was married in 1858. He enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-third Hundred Day service, and served one year.

Worth IMcCormick was born in La Salle county, Illinois? in 1853, living there until nine years of age, then came to Drummer township, where he lived until he moved to Wall township. In 1877, he married Miss Samantha English, of Picpia county, Ohio.

John IIamlon was a native of All)any, New York. lie came to Chicago in 18-43 and was bound out to a farmer in Kendall county for eleven years, lie married i\Iary Baxter in 1861. lie became the owner of two hundred and eighty acres of fine farming land. He was road commissioner and school director for several years.

Charles Spellmeyer was born in Prussia, in 1831. He emigrated to the United States in 1853, settling in Putnam county. He moved to this township in 1875, settling on section 16, where he became the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land. He was married in 1857 to Louisa Kottkamp, by whom he had seven children.

George ]\Iincii was l)()rn in Tazewell county, Illinois, in 1847. where he lived until 1881, when he moved to this township. He became the owner of the northeast quarter of section 3, and two hundred and forty acres in section 22, Lyman township. He was married in 1869.

Charles Phillips was b(n'n in Lancashire, England, in 1814. He came to Philadelphia when ([uite young, where he remained for a short time, then moved to the state of Delaware. In 1854 he came to Putnam county, Illinois, where he lived for eighteen years, then came to Ford county. He was married in 1843.

Edgar G. Sharp was born in New York in 1833. In 1855 he went to Wisconsin, living there three years, then came to Wall township, settling on section 30. He was married in 1853 and was the father of eight children.

James H. Snelling was a native of Illinois. He came to Ford county in 1877, and settled on section 11. INIr. Snelling was teacher of penmanship for many years, he being the finest penman in this part of the state.