Garden Plain Township

Garden Plain Township

ARDEN PLAIN Township never had any identity as a precinct, but the territory of which it is now composed was embraced in Van Buren Precinct, and later in that of Albany. The County Commissioners' Court, in 1852, defined its boundaries, and gave it its name. As at present organized, it is township 21 north, of range 3 east of the 4th principal meridian. It is not a full Congressional township, unless those sections extending into the Mississippi River are counted. Its organization was completed at a meeting held April 6, 1852, in the school-house at Garden Plain Corners.

Samuel M. Kilgour was called to the chair, and James A. Sweet acted as Clerk. Upon taking a ballot Samuel M. Kilgour was elected Moderator, and James A. Sweet, Clerk. The result of this meeting was the election of Samuel M. Kilgour for Supervisor; Daniel Kilgour, Clerk; David Miller, Assessor; J. W. Baker, Collector; Edward White, Overseer of the Poor; and E. Kilgour, R. Blean and Francis Parker, Commissioners of the Highway.

Garden Plain has the Mississippi River and Fulton Township on the north, Union Grove on the east, Newton on the South, and Albany and the Mississippi on the west. The topography of this township is varied. Commencing near the southwestern portion, ranging along near the banks of the Mississippi for some distance, and then coursing to the eastward, are a line of bluffs, or perhaps, more appropriately speaking, a Succession of hills.

The Cattail's western outlet is through this township, and it is watered by several other small streams. In some parts the land is rolling, in others slightly undulating, with extensive level fields. The soil is mostly a rich vegetable mold mixed with sand ; the higher ground partakes more of a clay soil. Corn is regarded as the best crop in the township, though all cereals and vegetables do well.

David Parker, with his large family, began the settlement of Garden Plain, in the spring of 1836, making a claim in what was afterwards known as Parker's Grove. Here he built a cabin, which was the first in the township. A more particular history of this pioneer, and his large family, will be found in the biographical part of this work.

Joseph Bacon, who came in about the same time that Parker did, put up the next cabin. Stephen Sweet came in 1836, and made a claim on section 8, called the Holland Farm, section 4. He was in the War of 1812. Mr. Sweet married the widow of Thomas Sey, in 1840. By this marriage they had one son, who enlisted in the War of the Rebellion, and was killed. Among the early settlers coming in and making claims from this period to 1840, were John Redfern, Alpheus Mathews, Charles R. Rood, James A. Sweet, Isaac Crosby, David Mitchell, William Minta, Ira Burch, Henry M. Grinnold, Samuel Robbins, Thomas Sey, John Grant, and Samuel M. Kilgour. Most of these pioneers had families.

This territory was, as before stated, in the Albany Precinct, but when the townships were surveyed and organized, and the sections laid out, the locations of the settlers became better known. Mathews and Sweet came around the lakes to Chicago, and footed it from there to their new home. Samuel Robbins and John Redfern located on what is now known as the Ham Farm. When the township lines were drawn they divided the farm, placing Mr. Redfern in Fulton and Mr. Robbins in Garden Plain Township. Alpheus Mathews settled on section 13, where he made a claim, and for some time lived in David Parker's cabin. Joseph Bacon located on section T3, and Charles K. Rood on section 22. Ira Burch located on section 12. Abel Parker and James A. Sweet planted the first crop - a sod crop - in the township, in 1837, at the Grove farm. Mr. Parker did not improve the Garden Plain Corners farm until 1839, when, after his house was finished, he moved in. This afterward became the property of David Parker, the oldest son of Abel Parker. It is now owned by Charles D. Parker, grandson of Abel, and son of David Parker.

In the early days this house was opened for the accommodation of the traveler, and was known far and wide as " Parker's," from the name which was painted on a post near by. It is a two-story house, the first part built of walnut, with additions made since. It id still in good repair, especially the old part, and until recently was the residence of Charles D. Parker. This celebrated country hostelry was loved by the old pioneer travelers, for its good entertainment ; for the kind, sympathetic treatment and warm greeting extended to them by its host ; and for the social, convivial hours spent there. The old road from Union Grove, and extending on to Dixon and to Chicago, passed by this house, and thence on to Albany. The Fink & Walker stages ran on this road for many years. The old track, or wagon road, can be seen now beneath the grass leading up to the front of the house. The grounds in front are shaded by large trees, which were planted by the Parkers. Though the doors of this famous tavern has long been closed to the public, yet no man have ever been turned away from its hospitable roof hungry or without shelter.

The first child born in the township was Mary, daughter of Alpheus and Abylene (Bethea) Mathews. The date of her birth was August 20, 1840. She was married to Samuel Montgomery in 1861, and died at her home in 1872. The first marriage celebrated was between Samuel Robbins and Clarissa Parker, eldest daughter of Abel Parker. This very interesting event, not only to those parties directly concerned, but to all the Garden Plain settlement, occurred in the winter of 1839. They were married by Esquire Buckingham, of Albany. Alpheus "Mathews and Abylene (Bethea) were the next couple to enter into wedlock. Miss Bethea was from Tennessee.

The first preaching extended to the good people of Garden Plain was by Rev. Mr. McKean, a Methodist (mission) preacher. Services were held in the school- house.

Early attention was given by the people to their wagon roads, and throughout the township now the public thoroughfares are first-class. The Clinton branch of the C., B. & Q. Railroad completed its line through the township in 1872, making a station at Garden Plain, which affords the people ample and ready means of transportation. Their nearest trading towns are Albany and Fulton. There is a small store at Cedar Creek, kept by John Burns, and one at Garden Plain Corners, by E. W. Sayre. R. R. Murphy has a creamery on section 27, where he makes during the season about 6,000 pounds of butter per week. C. D. Parker is giving a good deal of attention to breeding Short-horns and the red Jersey pig. J. B. Krames, on section ri, is also breeding Short-horns. Fruit has been cultivated by the people here, and there are many valuable orchards throughout the township. The greater portion of the roads are bordered with hedges, which are generally well trimmed. About the farms and roads shade trees have been set out, which adds much to the adornment of the country.

To one with a cultivated eye, and fond of pastoral scenes, no more pleasing country could be visited than Garden Plain Township. The farms are magnificent, the dwellings good, and constructed with taste. It was an old saying by the people of New York, when they wanted to express a measure of value for anything, that they would not take an " interest in Goshen for it ; or it was " worth an interest in Goshen ;* referring to a township in that State noted for its richness and beauty. The same expression, with only the change of the name, could, with all modesty, be applied to this township.

The old Grant school-house at the " Corners " has been carefully preserved and kept in good repair. By its side has been erected, to meet the demands of an increased population, a larger one - a two-story, building, with a hall above. They have a good school here, with an average attendance in the winter of 55 pupils, while in the summer- about 37 pupils attend. W. S. Ellison is the present teacher. The old school-house is used for town purposes.

The postoffice, as has been previously stated, was first established in 1846, with C. R. Rood as Postmaster. Mr. Rood resigned in 1851, and James A. Sweet was appointed, who held the place until the office was discontinued on account of the withdrawal of the Fink and Walker stage line, which was caused by the completion of what was then called the Dixon branch of the Chicago & Galena Railroad. It was re-established in 1862, with D. H. Knowlton as Postmaster.

It was again discontinued in 1864, and so remained until 1876, when it was re-established, and L. P. Hill was appointed to the office. Mr. Hill was succeeded by A. J. Stowell, who is the present postmaster.

A. O. U. W. Lodge No. 220, was organized June 7, 1882; with 26 charter members. C. D. Parker was chosen M. W. and J. B. Kearnes P. M. W. They have a hall in the school building, section 22, which is appropriately furnished. The lodge is prosperous. Has had but one death since its organization. Present M. W., J. B. Kearnes; P. M. W., J. Simpson.

The Presbyterian Church. - This society was organized March 16, 1850, in the old Grant Schoolhouse, by Rev. J. J. Hill. Francis Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Kilgour, and Mrs. E. Zorn, composed the first membership.

Rev. W. T. Wheeler commenced his labors in the Church in the fall of the same year, services being held in the school-house. Mr. Wheeler died in the fall of 1851. Rev. J. Walker was a supply preacher until the fall of 1855, when Rev. Nathaniel Pinne was called to take charge, remaining about two years.

In Feb., 1858, Rev. Josiah Leonard assumed the pastoral duties. He remained until September, 1871. In Oct. of the same year, the society called Rev. E. E. Bayless, who remained but a short time, and was succeeded by Rev. M. D. Graves, who remained until March, 1884, after which Rev. E. H. Sayre, the present pastor, assumed charge. They have a neat little edifice, and also a parsonage - all costing about $7,000. They have at present about 60 members, and a flourishing Sabbath-school ; services every Sunday. This church is located on section 23.

Methodist Episcopal Church has an organization in this township, with a church building located three miles southeast of the "Corners." Rev. F. Lines, from Albany, holds services here every Sunday afternoon, and preaches to about 40 members.

Cemetery

The inhabitants of Garden Plain have provided a place for their departed friends. They have a beautiful little cemetery, situated upon a rising piece of ground near the Corners, and shaded by fine old trees. It contains some fine monuments. Abel Parker and his son David are buried here. The first interment was the body of A. M. George.

Source changes here: from History of Whiteside County, Illinois from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908 : Illustrated, with Biographical Sketches of Some Prominent Citizens of the County, by Davis, William W, published 1908; 1,843 words in this source stream.

Garden Plain Township

These are the gardens of the desert, these The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, For which the speech of England has no name, - The prairies - Bryant.

After John Howard Bryant and his brothers came from Massachusetts in 1831, and settled around Princeton, Bureau county, their famous brother, William Cullen Byrant, paid them a visit. He had much travel over the prairies, and was struck with the virgin beauty of these vast plains, so different from the narrow wooded valleys of New England. No wonder he burst into song as a hundred images excited his mind of the flame-like flowers, the breezes of the south, the prints of the buffalo, the mounds of the Indian, the birds and the insects reveling in the summer sun, the sly wolf and the playful gopher, "the graceful deer that bounds to the wood at my approach." Then he becomes prophetic:

The sound of that advancing multitude Which soon shall fill these deserts. From the ground Comes up the laugh of children, the soft voice Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn Of Sabbath worshipers.

No wonder, following Bryant, the early emigrants were enraptured, and felt as Daniel Boone did when he gazed on the valleys of Kentucky. Abel Parker, with his lively family of six sons and three daughters from Vermont, 1836, was the happy man to build his cabin first amid these charming surroundings. Others soon followed, the land was rapidly taken up, farms were opened and the rich soil began to blossom as the rose. Only a small portion of the township is not open to the plow. On the north are the Mississippi bluffs, and here and there a strip of sand or slough, but ditching and labor have brought every available acre to a high state of cultivation.

The Village

Garden Plain, proper, or the "Corners," as it used to be designated, has grown at the intersection of two roads and consists of a group of tasteful residences, two general stores and the usual shops. It has the advantage of the Mendota Branch of the Burlington railroad, which was built in 1871. The school is in charge of Minnie Mouck from Fulton, her second year, with 32 pupils. The village stands almost in the center of the township. The first schoolhouse was erected here in 1850, a better edifice for graded purposes was dedicated in 1869. Like the other emigrants from the east, they from the first gave earnest attention to the training of their children.

organized in 1863 with James A. Sweet, C. S. Knapp and Alexander Wilson as trustees. The society really began, as usual, in a schoolhouse at the ' Corners in 1850, and the first communion was observed March 24 of that year, Rev. J. J. Hill officiating. A succession of pastors. For a time the pulpit was supplied by ministers in connection with other charges, Albany and Fulton. The present structure was dedicated in October. 1870, at a cost of $4,000. South of the church is the parsonage, built at an expense of $1,750. Both are ornaments and a credit to the community.

Rev. Archibald G. Stewart is now the pastor, coming east from Livermore, Iowa. He is a clergyman of thorough preparation, having pursued his college course at Monmouth, and his theological at McCormick Seminary, Chicago, 1899. Mrs. Stewart is also a lady of culture, a graduate of Lenox college. Iowa. There are 100 members in the church, and besides the Sunday school, a Christian Endeavor, Junior Endeavor aid society and missionary society. This Garden Plain charge is in connection with that in Newton. One quarter the services in the morning at Newton, and the next at Garden Plain.

In the eastern part of the village is the cemetery, and here lie many of the first people of the settlement: Senior, Baker, Reams, Stone, Storer, Kilgour, Snyder. Side by side, Charles Rood, 75, and Sarah, his wife, 88, who died in 1904, having long survived her husband. On the tomb of Eliza Ann Short, 1814-1884, "To dear mother." Grounds in good order. Several soldiers, whose graves are not marked with flag or record of company and regiment to which they belonged. Some of the bodies buried here were moved from farms where they were first interred, as there, was no cemetery. The land belonged to the Abel Parker estate, Edwin told the writer.

A few miles south of the village, on a corner, is a white frame church belonging to the Methodists. The society was organized in 1848, and in 1860. the -building was erected at a cost of $2,000, the first church in the township. It was built on the land of William Minta. First on the Albany and then on the Fulton circuit. No regular services now, and' the house looks lonely and deserted. The original members are dead or away, and the people -who have come since are of other denominations. This is not the only case in the county, where the church homes of early worshipers are left standing among strangers who have no attachment.

Mutual Insurance Company

At the annual meeting of the Garden Plain Mutual Fire Insurance Company, held in the town hall at Garden Plain in January, 1908. this report was read:

This company was organized and began business, in June, 1874. with policies written at that time amounting to $50,000. Since then it has had a steady growth until the membership has reached 666 with insurance amounting to $999,995.

When the company was first organized it included for territory the towns of Garden Plain, Newton and Fenton. Since then the towns of Fulton, Ustick, Albany and Erie have been added. The present secretary, J. M. Eaton, has held that office continuously since 1875, a period of thirtytwo years.

To show the price of land, we may mention that the C. R. Rood farm in Garden Plain of 160 acres was sold in 1908 to James Smith of that town for $125 an acre. Mr. Smith had rented the farm and conducted it for several years previous to the purchase.

Early Gardeners

. We have several familiar names of men who were well known throughout the county. James A. Sweet, 1839, who was elected Sheriff in 1844, and supervisor for years. His wife, Miss Judith Greenborn, Lyndon, formerly from Vermont, died in 1877. Mr. Sweet was a New Yorker. William Minta, England, 1839, had thirteen children. Consumption carried off most of the family. A devout Methodist, and he gave the ground for Zion church. Three children removed to California.

Another New Yorker was Charles R. Rood, who came to Whiteside in 1836, but did not make a permanent residence in Garden Plain till 1844, when he returned with his wife, Miss Sarah Churchill, of Clinton county, N. Y. Mr. Rood was a surveyor, a master in his profession, and on the organization of Whiteside in 1839 he was elected county surveyor. Harrisburg and Chatham, Lyndon, Albany, Fulton, as well as main roads, farms and blocks, were laid out by his compass. He was first postmaster at Garden Plain. From Ohio, the state of Grant and McKinley, came David Mitchell in 1838 to Albany, where he lived until he bought his farm in Garden Plain. Highly esteemed, and served as county treasurer from 183& to 1841. He died in 1850.

The writer had an interesting chat with Edwin Parker, who lives on his farm near the village. He found the gray-haired pioneer doing his evening chores in the barn .yard. He is one of the six sons of Abel Parker, 1836, David, Jacob, Truman, Francis, Hiram, himself. Three sisters, Clarissa, Eliza, Mina. He spoke of his older brother, David, who kept travelers when they wanted lodging and meals, and of his going to California when the gold fever broke out. Edwin was born in Vermont in 1831, and married Mary Jane Dewey in Fulton in 1858. In those days wolves were troublesome. Although 75, Mr. Parker is spry and able to attend to the lighter duties about his place.

In the village we called upon the oldest woman of the place, Mrs. Margaret Storer, who makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Andrew Stowell, in a comfortable cottage. Her maiden name wa? Curry. She was born near

Pittsburg, Pa., 1818, Dec. 29, and is now in her ninetieth year. She came west in 1853 by boat on Ohio and Mississippi, landing at Albany in this county. Mrs. Storer is naturally somewhat feeble, but sits in her chair and enjoys visitors. She spoke of Mrs. Happer, of Albany, ninety-one, as her older sister.

The Creamery

Not far south of Garden Plain on the direct road is a creamery, which has been in operation for 25 years. It is in charge of Samuel Murphy, butstarted by Robert from Ohio. Samuel has been the manager for four years. Churning is done every day in summer but Monday. The butter product for September, 1907, was 17,800 pounds, but the amount has reached 26,000. It is shipped to Chicago, Clinton, and other points, besides furnishing a large local trade. A high reputation in market. Four men are employed, and three teams of their own gather the cream. The residence is near the factory.

The Roads

The road running alorg the Mississippi from Rock Islard to Galena, a stage route, was the main line of travel before any of the present towns were laid out. It is now the Fulton and Albany road. A second road ran from Union Grove to Albany. In 1839 the most ambitious scheme was undertaken in the construction of a highway across Cat-tail slough with rails and earth, a sort of corduroy, and over this the Frink & Walker stage company organized a lightning express from Chicago to Albany, then the exporting metropolis of the county, a point for the landing of emigrants from the east or shipping grain on the river. It is now the Albany and Morrison road.

The postoffice at Garden Plain was established in 1846, and Charles R. Rood was appointed postmaster. The first mail was carried from Peoria to Galena, and afterwards from Chicago to Rock Island. This was by stage. Then came the railroads.

The old ferry from Garden Plain to Clinton across the Mississippi river was called the Aiken Ferry, and it was used until the railroad bridge was built.

Father McKean, Methodist minister, living at Elkhorn Grove, who as a kincl of home missionary, a second Peter Cartwright, traversed the country, preaching as he could, and in Garden Plain held services in the log schoolhouse.

Two tornadoes have visited the township. One on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 11, 1875. coming from the southwest, destroying buildings, fences, hogs, cattle, poultry and trees but doing no injury to people. The other was the memorable cyclone of June 3, 1860, which ravaged the southern section of the county.

The citizens have always shown a deep interest in moral questions. At ah early day was a temperance reform club. Wherever possible Sunday schools and religious services are held in the school houses. There is a