Chestnut Township

Chestnut Township

Spoon river enters this township near the center of section 24 and flows west one mile, and south one mile, west again a mile and a half, then south, making its exit near the center of section 34. For agricultural purposes Chestnut ranks among the best townships in Knox county. The village of Hermon is in this township near its western line.

In 1833 Anson Dolf broke ground and sowed wheat on section 17, but did not make a permanent settlement here until the spring of 1834. That year John Terry came and settled on section 16. He was from Greenbriar county, Virginia. William McFarland came in 1839. He came from Loudon county, Ya. Both these pioneers now reside in Abingdon. John Terry was the first Justice of the Peace and performed the first marriage ceremony, by uniting a Mr. Gray to to a Miss Cope, both coming from a distance riding the same horse. The first child born was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Shaver, on section 17, in 1835. The first death was that of Jacob Harford.

Source changes here: from Portrait and Biographical Album of Knox County, Illinois, by Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago, published 1886; 1,453 words in this source stream.

Chestnut Township

.HESTN'UT TOWNSHIP is located in the < uLithern tier of townships and is num- bered 9 north of range 2 east. It has for its northern boundary Orange Township, its eastern Maquon, on the south lies Fulton County and on the west Indian Point Town- It is quite liberally watered and fairly lim- Sjxxin River enters the township on section 24, and, meandering in a southwest direction, passes out on section 34. Other little streams, tributary to this river, course through the township, which afford ample drainage. The surface of the land is mostly rolling prairie, and is very productive. In the southwestern part and along Spoon River, the land is broken and pretty heavily timbered. Chestnut was among the early settled townships of the county. In 1833 its beautiful prairies attracted the attention of .'Xnson Dolf, who came in and made a claim for a home on section 17. The following spring Mr. Dolf permanently located here and commenced the improvement of his farm. He did not dwell here long alone, for this same year came John Terry and settled on the adjoining section 16. Mr. Terry was a Virginian, and came from Greenbrier County. It was not long before William McFarland, another Virginian, came in. In the latter part of 1834 Mr. Shaver moved in, locating on section 17. From

1839 the township settled up quite rapidly, and with a sturdy, thrifty and an intelligent class of settlers. John Terr)- had the honor of serving the township as the first Justice of the Peace. 'Squire Terry also performed the first marriage ceremony, that of Mr. Gray and Miss Cope. The first natural increase to the population of Chestnut was through tl'.e agency of Mr. and Mrs. Shaver, in the birth of a daughter, in 1835.

There is no town of any importance in this township, there being no railroad passing through it, and the people do their trading mostly at Abingdon. In

1840 a town was platted by Archibald Long, on section 19. It never grew to be more than a small hamlet. It was named Hermon. At this place at an early day a Christian Church was organized, the membership of which was at one time quite large. It is still in a good, healthy condition, and is presided over by a minister from the Abingdon Christian Church.

Chestnut is one of the best townships in the county, and ranks about third in stock-raising, and is hardly excelled by any in the production of grain. Its farms are well laid out, intelligently cultivated, and adorned with good houses and farm buildings. Take it altogether, it is a very attractive township, and a man who has a home here can very easily be contented with this life.

The population according to the census of rSSo was 1,087, and it is estimated that there has been an increase since that time. From the County School Superintendent's report for the year 1885, the following items were taken :

There are eight school districts, with no graded schools. The school buildings are all frame, with a valuation of school property of §5,800. There is one library. Of persons under 2 i years of age there were 455, of whom 330 were of school age, 26 r being enrolled. The highest wages paid male teachers was $50 per month, the lowest §25 ; the highest wages paid female teachers was $45, the lowest $25. The ta.x levy was $3,566.07. From the Assessor's report for 1885, the following items are obtained :

Copley, Clerk. There were 50 votes cast, resulting in the election of the following-named officers: John O. Stanley, Supervisor ; Norton Kelsey, Clerk ; J. M. Perkins, Assessor; Austin Gaines, Collector; Isaac Copley and A. W. Buckley, Justices of the Peace; Aaron A. Smith, S. McCornack and Joseph Airie, Highway Commissioners ; Jeremiah Collison, Overseer of the Poor.

Copley is numbered 12 north of range 4 east, and is bounded on the north by Walnut Grove, on the east by Victoria, on the south by Persifer, and on the west by Sparta Townships. It is very well watered by Court Creek, which runs southwesterly, and then southeasterly, emptying into Sparta River, Foreman Creek, which runs northeasterly, and a branch of Spoon River, running southerly. The northern portion is fine, rolling prairie, and the south- ! em broken and very well timbered. It is especially adapted for raising the cereals, oats and corn being the best crop, and in this production Copley ranks among the first townships in the county. Matthew Herbert was the pioneer settler in this township. He came with his family in the spring of 1837 and made a claim on section 14. He subsequently moved away and is now dead.

Next EHas and Rachel Hurr, Alex. Stephens, John McDowell, Sr., David Ogden, John and Wm. E. Foster came into the township with their families. Stephens, McDowell and Ogden located on section 14. McDowell was from Scotland and Ogden from Ohio. The Fosters settled on section I. John had seven children. He died on the farm in 1844 and his widow in September, 1866. Wm. Foster is still living in Nebraska. McDowell died on the old homeslead in 1867. Ogden moved away, as also did Matthew Herbert. With Mr. Hurr came four children - I. E., Edward L., Margaret, and J. B. Hulick, a stepson, locating on section 3. They were from Clermont County, Ohio. Mr. Hurr went back and died on his return to the township. His widow died in 1875, at the old place. All the children are living but Hulick, who died in 1863.

I. E. Hurr married, in 1867, Miss Mary M. Eckley, and is living on section 3. He is a good citizen, an industrious and well-to-do farmer, but is more especially distinguished for the possession of a most remarkable and peculiar memory. (See biography, page 916.) These settlers formed the nucler.s from which, with additional incoming new settlers and the natural increase, the present fine population was derived.

A son of Matthew Herbert was the first child born in the township, in 1838. The first death was that of Harriet Foster, sister of John Foster, in 1842, on section i, where she was buried. The first couple married were Mrs. Hurr and Charles Bostick, in September, 1840. The first sermon preached was by Rev. Charles Bostick, a Methodist preacher, in a school-house, in 1840. About that time a Methodist class was formed. Mary Jane Smith was the pioneer teacher, gathering her little flock about her in a log school-house on section i, in 1842. Miss Smith was married to John Becker, Oct. 12, 1845, and they are now living in Galesburg.

The Indians had been living about the township before the whites came in, but they " left the country " - so to speak - after the incoming of the pioneers. Samuel Berry is credited with erecting the first frame building, in 1840, on the northeast quarter of section 9. Mr. Berry died in 1881.

The Swedish Methodist Society was the first to erect a church building, which was in 1854. The Methodist Episcopal Cliurch building was erected in 1855, and was dedicated the 9th day of September, same year, by Rev. S. Bowles, of Chicago. Rev. Mr. Falkenlnng dedicated ths Swedish Church.

The Scotch Presbyterian Church building was erected in 1862, and dedicated June 11, 1863. It was called the John Knox Church. Services are held there every Sunday, Rev. E. H. Post being the pastor, with a flock including about 50 persons.

Services are held at the Swedish Church by Rev. Mr. Anderson. Rev. W. A. Cumming is pastor of the Methodist Church, with services regularly every Sabbath. Its membership is about 100.

A part of the village of Victoria lies in this township, on sections 12 and 13. Here, and at Oneida and Waiaga, the people do most of their marketing and trading. Copley is a good township to live in ; the general outline is attractive, the soil fertile and the location fine. Its farms are well cultivated, and its farm buildings comfortable and homelike. Its population in 1880 was 1,07 i, and it is estimated that there has been a slight increase since that time.

There are nine school districts in this township, with nine ungraded schools and nine frame schoolhouses. The school property was valued at $4,400. Of persons under 21 years of age there were 392, of whom 289 were of school age, 227 being enrolled. The highest wages paid male teachers were $35 per month, which were also the lowest; the highest wages paid female teachers were $37, and the lowest $25. The tax levy was $1,675.

Source changes here: from Annals of Knox County : Commemorating Centennial of Admission of Illinois As a State of the Union in 1818, by Knox County (Ill.). Centennial Historical Association, published 1921; 1,204 words in this source stream.

Chestnut Township

The earliest settler of Chestnut Township was Anson Dolph, who came from Kentucky in 1833. He raised a crop of wheat that year on Section 17, and in 1834, came as a permanent settler. In the year last named came also John Terry, from Virginia, who settled on Section 16, and became the first Justice of the Peace. He enjoyed the distinction of having performed the first marriage ceremony in the township, the contracting parties being a Mr. Gay and a Miss Cope, whose wish for a legal union was sufficiently strong to induce them to ride a long distance on a single horse. Those early marriages often presented romantic features wholly lacking in the fash- -ionable weddings of these days of purer refinement and higher civilization. To illustrate: One of the marriages solemnized by 'Squire Terry was that of a couple who stood on one bank of the Spoon River, while he pronounced the fateful words on the other, the stream being too swollen to permit either party to cross to the opposite bank. Mr Terry afterward engaged in trade, and amassed what in those days was regarded as an independent fortune.

In 1836, Robert Leigh and Archibald Long came from Ohio and settled on Section 33, where Mr. Leigh remained until his death. Soon after his arrival he commenced raising hemp, and, there being no market for the raw product, he constructed a factory of a rude description, where he manufactured his own and his neighbors' hemp crops into rope. For a time the industry proved very profitable, and he, too, amassed a comfortable fortune. Mr. Long, soon after settling on Section 33, removed to Section 19, where, in 1842, he platted the village of Hermon.

He was a local Methodist preacher, and soon after his arrival at his new home he organized a Methodist class, which met regularly at his house for many years. The last of this devoted band was Mrs. Sally Shafer.

Among the early settlers should be also mentioned 0. P. Barton. He was famous in those times as a pedestrian, and gave repeated evidence of his prowess and power of endurance in this description of exercise. Once, starting on foot at the same time with several horsemen for the land office at Quincy, one hundred miles distant, he out-stripped them all, securing the prize offered to the winner of the race which consisted of

The first house was built of logs by Mr. Dolph on Section 17, in 1833. The first brick house was that of Robert Leigh, erected about 1845 The first road was the old State road, from Peoria to Oquawka, which ran diagonally through the township from southeast to northwest. Its course, however, has been since changed, so that it now follows section lines. The first bridge was built about 1846, at the point where the old road crosses Spoon River. It was a very cumbersome, wooden affair, which was carried away and demolished bv a flood in 1855.

The first graveyard was on Section 33, and was established by Robert Leigh, soon after he settled on the section. It is not now used as a burial spot, though the few graves there are well cared for by his son Benjamin, who is a prominent citizen of the township. Two other cemeteries have been laid out, as follows : One on Section 19, near the Methodist Church, by Archibald Long, which has been several times enlarged, the other inl863, by the trustees of the Christian church, near their house of worship on Section 18.

The first school house, after the fashion of those early days, was built of logs, and was exceedingly rude as regarded both its exterior and interior. It was put up in 1836, and some years afterward was replaced by a frame building which, after undergoing many alterations, is still used as the school house of District No. 3. Two years later (1838) the second school house, likewise of logs, was built on Section 28. It disappeared long ago, and the site is now occupied by the Church of the United Brethren. The first school teacher to exercise his vocation was Mr. Haskins, who taught in what is now District No, 3. At present, 1899, the township has eight schools, none of them graded, occupying buildings valued at six thousand, five hundred dollars The aggregate attendance is two hundred and forty-three, out of a total population of three hundred and eighty-six minors.

The first mill was built by Mr. Howard on Haw Creek about 1845. It was designed both for sawing lumber and grinding corn, but was used only a few years and has long since been only a memory. There was also a saw mill on Litler's Creek, on Section 25, about the same time, which has shared the same fate. Early in the forties, Mr. Parker manufactured brick on Section 23, for several years.

its stock was very limited. A Mr. Moor early established another on Section 15, but it proved unsuccessful and he soon abandoned the enterprise.

One of the earliest taverns was kept by Jonathan Potts, on Section 22, on the old State road. The first physician was Dr. Porter, who came in 1838 and remained but a short time. He was succeeded Dr. Morris, and he, in turn, by Dr. Wilson.

The first settlers of the township were compelled to depend on Troy, in Fulton County, and on Knoxville, then the county seat, for postal facilities, but in 1848 a post office was established at Hermon, the mail being brought from Knoxville once a week. The first postmaster was a Mr. Massie.

The township was organized at a meeting held in 1857, by the choice of the following officials : Samuel Collins, Supervisor ; John Terry and David Massie, Justices of the Peace ; Mr McCoy, Clerk ; William Graves and Freeman West, Constables ; Robert Benson, Collector; and Owen Betterton, Assessor.

Justices of the Peace since the first elected have been Owen Betterton, Hiram Culver, Walter Bond, Samuel Jamison, Henry Bond, George Haver, Marion Dyer, T. J. Routh, Clayton Trumbeel, J. W. Ogden and John E. Davis and Lee Lucas, the present dispensers of justice, (1899), for the township.

There is but one village in Chestnut, originally called Harrisonville, but now known as Hermon. A village was laid out in Section 23, in 1852, by Andrew J. Parker. It was situated on the right bank of the Spoon, near where the present bridge crosses that stream. It never grew, and the plat was vacated by the legislature in 1869.

The Christian Church in the township was organized in 1854, by Revs. John Miller and Gaston. The Church of the United Brethren was organized in 1859, and the denomination has a well-built edifice, on Section 28.

The Methodist church was first organized by Archibald Long, an early settler and local preacher. Through his efforts a modist church building was erected in 1842. The Baptist Society was organized early in the forties by Elders A. Gogorth and C. Humphrey-

The township furnished its quotas to the Civil War and to the wars since then. It's citizens have had a conspicuous part in the affairs of the county.