Locust Township

Locust Township

HIS township derives its name from a stream so called, which traverses a portion of its territory. It comprises the congressional township twelve, range one west, being six miles square, containing an area of 23,040 acres. It is intermediate between Pana and the county seat ; bounded on the north by May ; east by Assumption and

Pana ; south by Rosemoud ; west by Johnson township. There is considerable timber along the west and south-west side of the township along Locust creek and its tributaries, which drain the township.

came after the year 1850. Soon after this date a number of emitrrants from Ohio, and other sections of the country, settled here. The wild [irairie was soon dotted over with a thrifty business pojiulation Among the i)ionccr settlers were: Wesley Westhrook, who came in 1>S;>") ; Josiah Anderson, came in 183!); G. Wash. Cheek and a Mr. Ilarlick, came in 1838; Thos. D. Chastaiu, Matthew Durbin, James Bradley, and Thomas Bradley, came in 184(;; Joseph P. Durbin, in 1850, - all of whom are now deceased Among other early .-ettlers were: James Durbin, Elisha Durbin, Elisha Logsdon, Martin Overholt, W. H. Madison, James M. Painter, B. C. Cochran, John McCune, Edward Lawton, John White, William Hunter, Achilles Morris, and William Lawton.

On the 10th of September, 1858, the county court, on the petition of P. D. Vermillion and sixty other legal voters, formed "Locust Precinct," selecting Joseph P. Durbin, James Bradley, and Seth W. Benepe, its first judges of elections, and appointing the place of voting at Benepe's school-house, located on the sixteenth section. Its first Justices of the Peace were : Thos. W. Cochran and Seth W. Benepe. G. Wash. Cheek and John W. Hunter were elected the first constables November 2d, 1858.

During the fii-st settlement to realize on their corn crops the farmers had to feed it to their stock, which they disposed of annually about Christmas. They would frequently drive their hogs to the St. Louis markets, a distance of about one hundred miles. But with the advent of railroads in this county the order of things was changed. The first lot of hogs shipped by rail was by Dr. U. C. McCoy, Joshua Pepper, and John White, in the winter of 1855-56. They shipped six car-loads at Pana, on the Terre Haute, Alton and St. Louis Railroad, the first that passed over that road after its completion. The first threshing-machine was brought to Christian county by William Hunter in 1855 ; it was a " Marsilon Separator," and attracted much attention in the fiirming community. Its owner had calls for its use from all parts of the county. The old grocery store and saloon was a notable in.stitution on the public road from the county seat to Pana. It was located at an early date, on the north-west corner of section twenty-seven, town twelve, range one, and was a place of great resort for the lovers of foot-races and shooting-matches. As the township increased in population there wa.s a greater demand for postal accommodation. The passing of the tri-weekly stage suggested the idea of a postoffice. It was established in 1857, and was the first one in the township. Judge Yandeveer suggested the name, " Owaneco," whicli was adopted. J. M. Weaver was appointed the first postmaster, :ind the ofliee was kept in a little frame building, near the late residence of Esquire Joseph P. Durbin, on the borders of Locust Creek timber. In the office was kept a few dry goods, groceries, and an ai)undant supply of " tangle-foot." The house was sold at one time by the United States Deputy Marshal for a failure to p:iv Internal Revenue wdiisky tax. The post-office changed hands, and at one time the following amusing incident occurred :

One day, as the mail-coach approached, the stageman souiukHl his bugle, and drove up to the post-office door. The driver sprang from the box, and was dragging the mail in the direction of the office, when a stalwart backwoodsman came to the dnor, ami in Comnumding tones cried out :

"Tuck it along; tuck it back, I say; needn't fotch it in lure!" " And why not?" again queried the driver, wliu by tliis time had come to a halt.

A passenger volunteered to open and assort the mail belonging to that office, provided the key was furnished. It was soon prodnced, and to the prottered services of that pas.senger the inhabitants of the Owaneeo region were indebted for the news of that day.

In 18(i(i, on the adoption of township organization, this township remained unchanged as to its boundaries. At the election held April 3d, 1866, B. C. Cochran was elected its first supervisor; John W. Hunter and Philip Baker were elected justices of the peace ; and Daniel Orr and David Jarvis, constables, on the 7th of November, 1865. These officers held over till the expiration of the time for which they were elected. The ( ). and M., formerly called the Springfield and S. E. R. R., runs diagonally through the township, entering it on sec. 6 and leaving it on sec. 36. There are two stations in this township on the line of the road, Owaneco and Millersville. That part of the township lying south of Locust Creek forms a part of the territory of what is termed " Buckeye Prairie." It derived its name from a number of emigrants from Ohio, the Buckeye state, settling in this prairie. Its first settler on the Cottonwood Forks was Martin Overholt, in the fall of 1851. He built the first house, and moved into it in an unfinished state, for a time affi)rding only a pretext for shelter from the wintry blasts ; it was situated on the west half of south-west ipiarter section twenty-nine. The house is still standing, and now owned by B. C. Cochran ; it was near the " Buckeye school-house."

Lumber for building purposes could not be obtained short of Lucas' saw-mill, several miles distant, and the hauling of rails and wood from the timber, some three or four miles distant, was a serious inconvenience.

In the years 1852-53 there was quite an influx of emigration to this country from Ohio; among them were John McCune, B. C. Cochran, and William Hunter; the two former settled and built houses a short distance from Martin Overholt's. This little band w'ere deprived of many of the advantages which older settlements enjoy. No church, no Sabbath nor day-school ; all around it was silent and dreary. If a census of the prairie had been taken at that time it would probably have shown : - adults, six ; children, sixteen ; total, twenty-two souls all told, (^uite a little colony. Schools claimed its attention at an early date. Cochran met Joshua Peppins and arranged Buckeye school di.strict.

The first three named persons were elected directors. The " Buckeye School-house" was built in 1856, on the head waters of Cottonwood creek, on the N. E. corner of sec. 31, town 12 - 1 W. H. L. Mull was its first teacher, in the winter of 1856-7. A writer states : " From this period dates the Elizabethian or golden era of Buckeye history."

The Rev. Shunk, pastor of the Taylorville circuit, was the first minister to make his advent into this new colony. He preached at the cabins of William Hunter, James Witlow and Samuel Cowgill, He was followed by Rev. John Slate.

The JI. E. Society was organized during the winter of 1856-7, and a Sabbath school at the same time. The school-house being liuilt, the society worshiped in that for a time, alternating the Sabbaths with the Christian Society. The latter had been holding their meetings at the residence of B. C. Cochran, services being conducted by Elders A. McCollum and P. D. Vermillion. In the summer of 1866 the Buckeye M. E. Church was built near the township line, intermediate between Buckeye and Sherman schoolhouse, on the south-east corner of sec. 31, at a cost of 86,000. The " Buckeye Cemetery," located in 1853, 'is near the church.

The lands in this township were originally surveyed by Enoch Moore, Deputy U. S. Surveyor ; returned and certified January 25th, 1819, by William Rector, Surveyor-General.

Justices of the Peace - John J. Danford, elected 1870; Z. F. Bates, '70; John J. Danford and Z. F. Bates, '73 ; John J. Danford, re-elected '77 ; Richard Anderson, '77.

Is located on the S. W. S. W. 1 sec. 15, and a part of S. E. S. E. ] sec. 16. It was laid out and surveyed by Elisha Gimlin, on Oct 1st, 1869, for J. C. Helmick and John Foggitt, proprietors. It derived its name from a post-office located not far distant, on Locust creek. The town is prosperous, aud is situated in the midst of a rich agricultural district, and is one of the stations on the O. & M. railroad. There is a large amount of grain and stock shipped from this point yearly. For a time the village was checked in its growth by the death of its chief proprietor, J. C. Helmick, a banker of Pana.

Dr. J. S. Cussing, Physician (Old iJrugyist ; John Ward, Flouring Mill; Alexander Montgomery, Saddle and Harness Shop; Dr. R. McShea, Physician and Grocer ; J. C. Hunter, Dry Goods, Groceries and Post-master ; Price & Wilkinson, Grain Dealers; R. Turgeon, Xotions and Groceries; John C. Handel, Blacksmith and Wagon-maker.

Secret Society - Locust Lodge, A. F. & A. M., X"o. 623, was chartered in 1869. Xumber of charter members, 12. A. B. Leaper, first W. M., who also fills the office at the present time.

Mili.Er.Sville

This town was laid out Sept. 20th, 1873, by M. G. Okev, as a midway station between Pana and Gwaneco. It is located on sec. 26, in the south-eastern part of Locust township, and was surveyed by Elijah Gimlin, a resident of the township, for its proprietor, who acknowledged the same before W. M. Provine, X. P., January 20, 1874. It contains four blocks, aud its principal streets are " Center," on the north side, and " Bismark," on the south side of the railroad.

There are at present the following business hou.?es : Ballord & Miller, Elevator (with a capacity of 50,000 bushels); Price i^- Wilkinson, Grain Dealers ; L. Kirkpatrick A Co., General Merchants.

Biographical Sketches

A. E. LAWTOX, Has been living in Locust township since 1853. His father, Edward Lawton, was born in Xottinghamshire, England, in the year 1811, aud married Mary Ann Hinds, who was a native of the same part of England, and was born in 1813. This marriage took place in the summer of 1832, aud immediatel}' afterward they sailed for America. After living six years in Canada they settled in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where the family lived till the spring of 1853, and then came to this state. His fiither bought two hundred and forty acres of land iu sections four and eighteen of Locust township, and the same year built the house on section four, in which A. E. Lawton now lives. At that time the only settlements in Locust township were along the timber, and the prairie was entirely wild and uncultivated. The Lawtons were the first to settle on the prairie in the township. The subject of this sketch was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, near Canal Dover, on the sixth day of October, 1844. He was in his ninth year when his father came to this county. His father was a man of great industry and energy, who brought up his children to habits of industry.

He was married on the fifth day of April, 1853, to Miss Frances E. Painter, who was born near Palestine in Crawford county, in this state. Her father was Benjamiu Paiuter, who was born in Virginia, in the year 1803, and came to Crawford county, Illinois, in 1805, when two years of age, and lived in that part of the st.ate till his death in 1877. Since his father's i-emoval to Taylorville in May, 1873, Mr. Lawton has been engaged in farming the old homestead. He has had three children, Mary F. ; Benjamin E., who died in 1878 one year and two months old ; and an infant daughter. He has always been a republican in [)olitics, aud cast his first vote for President, for Grant in 1868.

Like many of the substantial tarmers on the Buckeye prairie, Mr. Hunter is a native of (?)hio. He was born in Tuscarawas county, of that state, on the twenty-fourth of November, 1832. His ancestors, at an early date, settled in the state of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Hunter still has in his possession a conunission as lieutenant in the 128th regiment of Pennsylvania militia, which was held by his grandfather, James Hunter. His commission is signed by Thomas McKean, then governor of PeniLsylvania. James Hunter moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and was one of the pioneer settlers of Tuscarawas county. William Hunter, the father of the subject uf this sketch, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and was a small boy when he came to Ohio. He was raised in Tuscarawas county of that state, and married Susan Butt, daughter of William Butt. The Butt family eau\e from Maryland, and were among the pioneer settlers of Ohio.

Tiie oldest of nine children by this marriage was John W. Hunter. He was raised on the same farm where occurred his birth. In the days of his boyhood the same ample provision for the education of children had not been made as at the present time. The schools were held usually only in the winter. The boys attended school only a few weeks, and tiien through the next summer generally forgot all that had been learned during the winter. Mr. Hunter's father was a man accustomed to hard labor, and brought up his children to follow, in this respect, his example. In the fall of 18-33 the family moved from Ohio to this county. His father had previously visited the state, and selected a location on section twentyeight of Locust township, to which the family removed, after living one year in May township, east of Taylorville. Mr. Hunter's father improved a farm there and died in the fall of 1858 ; his mother died in the spring of 1861.

His marriage occurred on the twenty second of May, 1856, to Miss Martha J. Vermillion, a native of Sangamon county. Her father, Birch Vermillion, was a Kentuckian, who came to Sangamon county in the year 1833, and settled fifteen miles west of Springfield, where he died. Mrs. Hunter's mother moved with her family to Christian county in the spring of 1856. In the fall of 1856, Mr. Hunter began improving the farm on which he now lives, in section thirty-three of Locust township. He built a house, into which he moved the spring of 1857. He has been living on the same farm ever since. His farm consists of 233 acres. Besides being employed in general farming, he has been engaged, to a considerable extent^ in raising stock. Of late years he has devoted his attention to fine cattle and hogs. On his premises may be seen as good sliort-horn cattle as can be found in the county, and his breeds of Berkshire hogs are as pure as can be obtained. His name appeal's in several instances in the published volumes of the American Berkshire Eecord, as the owner of several animals. He is also one of the members of the American Short-Horn Breeders' Association. He was one of the gentlemen interested in the Christian County Agricultural Association, and for a number of years took an active part in the annual fairs. As a member of the Board of Directors, he did all in his power to make these fiiirs a success, and was usually

He -nas one of tlie early members of the republican organization, and his family on both sides were supporters of the old whig party. He sympathized with the aims of the republican party from its organization, and in 1800 voted for Lincoln for pre-sident. Although of late years his views have ditiered somewhat from the financial theories which have found favor with the majority of the republican party, and he believes that that party has made grave mistakes in the management of the currency, still he is a republican, and with the exception of a couple of years, has always voted the republican ticket. He is a man whose sympathies have been with the people in opposition to mouopoli&s. At the convention of the farmers' movement, when that organization promised to become of some solid advantage to the agricultural community, he took a deep interest in it, and for a time served as Vice-President of the State Farmers' Association for this congressional district, and assisted in organizing several societies in the central part of the state. He also, for a number of years, filled the office of the Justice of the Peace. He represented Locust township in the Board of Supervisors, and while on the board, was principally influential in the establishment of the county poor farm. He has been one of the enterprising citizens of the county. For a number of 3-ears he has been a member of the Buckeye ilethodist Church. He now has four children, whose names are as follows : Cynthia S., Charles F., Hattie Belle and Gertrude. Three, Alvin Orlando, Ellen and Lucy, are deceased. His portrait appears at tlie head of this sketcii.

E. R. Shepherd

Henry Shepherd, father of E. R. Shepherd, an illustration of whose farm in Locust township appears on another page, is now one of the oldest men living in Christian county, and one of the few surviving soldiers of the war of 1812. Henry Shepherd was born in the town of Tinmouth, Rutland county, Vermont, on the 12th of April, 1792. He is, consequently now in the eighty-ninth year of his age. His father, David Shepherd, had been a soldier in the war of tiie Revolution, and was with Gen. Ethan Allen at the taking of Fort Ticonderoga. He was also one of the Green Mountain Boys, whose bravery saved the day at the battle of Bennington. After the Revolution, he married and settled at Tinmouth, Vermont, and subsequently moved to Castleton, in the same state. David Shepherd was in Capt. David Beecher's company, raised in the town of Castleton, for service in the war of 1812, and took part in the Canada campaign. In September, 1812, Henry Shepherd enlisted in Capt. White Young's company, 15th regiment United States Infantry. This regiment was commanded by Col. Zebulon M. I'ike, one of the most illustrious characters of the war, in whose honor Pike's Peak received its name. His company was composed of soldiers from Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Xew Jersey. He served eighteen months in the state of New York and in Canada, and was in the engagement at Sackett's Harbor, New York, and of the Stone Mill, Canada. His term of enlistment expired in the spring of 1814.

In 1815, he determined to make his home in the west. That was at a day when the whole western country was a wilderness, and Ohio was regarded as a frontier state. He made the whole journey on foot, from Vermont to Cleveland, (_>hio, which was then a small village recently founded. He was one of the earliest settlers of Cuyahoga county. When he first saw Cleveland, it contained only a few log buildings, two taverns, and a log jail and court-house. Most of the time while living in Ohio, he worked at the carpenter's trade. In the month of January, 1820, he married Cynthia Jones, who died in June, 1821. His second wife was Matilda Richmond, who was born at Peru, Massachusetts, and whom he married in the spring of 1823. Her death happened in 1864.

In 1860, he removed to this state, first settling in Stephenson county, and in 1861, came to this county. He was old enough to vote for pr sident in 1816, at the time of the election of James Monroe. But there was no rigid division of party lines at that time, and no excitement about the election, and as he would have been obliged to travel a long distance to vote, he did not cast a ballot at that election. He did not vote till 1824, when Clay, Crawford, Adams, and Jackson were the opposing candidates, and Adams was chosen by the House of Representatives. When the country came to be divided into the whig and democratic parties, he gave his support to the whigs, and generally voted for their candidates. At the election of 1824, he voted for Adams ; he supported the same candidate in 1828; in 1832 he voted for Henry Clay; in 1836 also for the whig candidate; in 1840 for Harrison; and in 1844, again for Clay. His convictions on the subject of slavery made him one of the earliest adherents of the free soil movement. In 1848, he voted for Van Buren, who was nominated for the presidency by those opposed to the extension of slavery. In 1852, he favored the election of Franklin Pierce, as being least obnoxious to the free soilers, and on the organization of the republican party, a couple of years later, he became one of its earliest members and most ardent supporters. He voted for Fremont in 1856, for Lincoln in 1860 and 1864, for Grant in 1868 and 1872, for Hayes in 1876, and at this writing, hopes to be on this footstool in November, 1880, to cast his vote for James A. Garfield, a native of the same county in which, for so long a time, he had his home in Ohio.

E. R. Shepherd was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, twelve miles from Cleveland, on the 19th of January, 1838. His mother was Matilda Richmond, his father's .second wife. She was the daughter of Elihu Richmond, one of the early settlers of Cuyahoga county, Ohio. In Ohio the liimily lived in a well-settled country, and the district schools atibrded good opportunities for obtaining an education, but on their removal to Illinois, they settled in a part of Stephenson county, which at that time contained few settlers, and scant educational advantages. In 1861, Mr. Shepherd came with his father, to this county, first residing in May township. In 1864, he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in section one of Locust township. On the 18th of November, of the same year, he married Sarah Ring, who was born in Cabell county, Virginia, in August, 1846. Her tather, Andrew Ring, was a native of Pennsylvania ; moved from that state to Virginia, thence to Kentucky, and about the year 1850, to Missouri, where he finally settled at La Grange. Her father died in June, 1857, and her mother on the 28th of March, 1880. Mrs. Shepherd went to Assumption to visit some relatives, and thus made her husband's acquaintance. Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd have had five children : the oldest, Emma, died in infancy; the others are Annie, Bertie, Harry J., and Eddie. Mr. Shepherd is one of the enterprising farmers of Locust township. In politics he is a republican.

Is one of the representative farmers of Locust Township. He is the son of Edward and Mary Ann (Hinds) Lawton, wlio were born in Nottinghamshire, England ; were married in 1832; emigrated the same year to America ; lived in Canada till 1838, part of the time near Montreal, and part of the time near Niagara Falls ; and then moved to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where they lived till 1853, at which time they settled in Locust Township in this county. His father was born in the year 1811, and his mother in 1813. Both are now living in Taylorville. The birth of Samuel C. Lawton occurred in Canada on the thirteenth of February, 1830. He was the next to the oldest, of a family of eleven children, of whom ten are now living. He was raised mostly in Ohio, being only eighteen months old when the family moved to that state. His opportunities for obtaining an education were only of an ordinary character. He attended school only in winter, sometimes even missing part of that term, and in the summer worked on the form. On coming to this county liis father bought at three dollars an acre, two hundred and forty acres of land, all of which with the exception of forty acres of timlier, lay in section four of Locust Township. They began improving this tract in the fall of 1853.

This was the first settlement made out on the prairie, in what is now Locust Township. The earlier settlers had kept close to the limber. At that time the prairie to the east lay all ojien and uncultivated, and few dreamed that fine farms and costly improvements would ever nuvrk the wide expanse over which roamed large nundiers of wolves, deer and other wild animals. The Illinois ('cntral railroad had not at that time been completed, although l)art of the grading had been done through the county. The town of Pana had not been surveyed, and Assumption had just been started. Mr. Lawton was seventeen years old when he came to this county. He did a fair .share of the work in bringing the farm into cultivation. On the eighth day of January, 1863, he married Irena A. Piillen. Mrs. Lawton was born in Pennsylvania ou the tenth of July, 1838, and was the next to the oldest, of a family of eleven children. She has one brother living at Nokomis in Montgomery county, and three sisters, two of whom reside in this county; the remaining sister lives in Texas. Her father, Elijah J. Pullen and her mother, Lydia Ann Smith, were both natives of New Jersey, and were married in that state. From New Jersey, they moved to I'ennsylvania, where they lived two years, and about the year 1839 or 1840 came to Illinois. Her father was a car- ])enter by trade and settled at Springfield, where he lived till about the year 1844, when he removed to this county and settled ou a farm, on the South Fork in Johnson Township. This is the farm on which John Dappard now lives, in section twenty-four, Johnson township. Deer and wolves were the onlv inhabitants of that locality, when the Pullen family moved there. Her father built a log-house and improved the farm, which he sold to Dapjiard. In 1866, her parents moved to Nokomis, where they have since resided. Mrs. Lawton is now one of the old residents of Christian county, and few now remain of those who were living in the county at the time her father settled on the South Fork.

In 1865, Mr. Lawton moved to his present location. He first purchased eighty acres, and his farm, which is one of the best managed and finest in the township, now includes one hundred and forty acres. He has three children, Pauline C, Lydia A. M., and Almira I. Lawton. He is one of the enterprising farmers of Locust township. He has attended closely to his own business affairs and has taken no part in public concerns, though he is a sincere and earnest republican in his politics. By his vote for Lincoln in 1860, he helped to elect the first republican president this country ever had.

Z. F. BATES. Mr. Bates was born in Sangamon county, on the V2\\\ day of January, 1836. The family from which he is descended is of English origin, and on first coming to this country lived in New England. His father, Oliver Bates, was born in the state of Xew York, and was there married to Charity Buckman, who was a native of the state of Vermont. His father was engaged in farming in St. Lawrence county, in New York, and in the year 1833 emigrated to Illinois and settled in Sangamon county, at Farniington, ten miles west of Springfield. The subject of this biography was the fourth of a family of six children. From the age of fifteen he was away from home - mostly employed in handling stock and other similar occupations. In 1860 he went to St. Josejjh, Mis.*ouri, and during the ne.Kt two years that place was principally his home, though he also spent considerable time at Savannah, in Andrew county, jNIi.ssouri. Part of the time he was also in Kansas. He came back to Illinois in 1862, and lived in Sangamon couutv till 1867, and then came to this county and settled where he now lives, on the north half of section 30 of Locust township. He located on raw prairie land. He now owns four hundred and twenty acres of land, one hundred and twenty of which lie in Johnson township. On the 13th of October, 1868, he married Mrs. Joanna S. Ellis. Her maiden name was Murry, daughter of Jeremiah H. Murry of Rosemond township. She was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and came to this county in 1856. She was married on the 2d of June, 1865, to William II. Ellis, who died on the 22d of Feb., 1866. Mr. and Mrs. Bates have four children living, Charles B., Roxanna C, Mary M. and Josephine S. Their second child, Libbie A., was born on the 22d day of March, 1871, and died on the 16th of January, 1872. Mrs. Bates has also a son by her first marriage, William J. Ellis. Mr. Bates has always been a democrat in politics, and is one of the leading members of his party in this part of the county. He served two terms as Justice of the Peace in Locust township, and also for four or five years was a member of the Board of Supervisors.

Dr. Cussins, the present Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, March the 24th, 1851. His grandfather was one of the early settlers of Muskingum county. His father was Samuel Cussins, and his mother's maiden name was Jane Careins. His mother's family had settled at an early date in Ohio, and was connected with the St. Clair family, so that the subject of this sketch was named James St. Clair C. Cussins. He was the next to the youngest of a fiimily of five children. In 1863, his father moved to this state and settled at Decatur, where he died in 1872. The Dr. was in his thirteenth year on coming to Illinois. He laid the foundation of a good education in the public schools of Ohio and of Decatur. In 1869, he entered the Illinois Industrial University, at Champaign, and was a student in that institution for three years. He there, of course, enjoyed excellent educational advantages, and left the University within a few months of the time when he would have graduated. He had begun teaching school at the age of sixteen, and after leaving Champaign he taught school in Macon county for about three years and a half He began the study of medicine with Drs. Moore and Barnes, leading physicians of Decatur, in the year 1873, and afterward entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, from which he graduated in the spring of 1877. During the succeeding summer he practiced in connection with his preceptors at Decatur, and in September, 1877, located at Owaneco, where he has since followed the practice of his profession with merited success. He was married to Miss

Ella Lord in January, 1878. She is the daughter of Thomas Lord, of Macon county, where she was born and raised. In the spring of 1879, Dr. Cussins was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors from Locust township. He became one of the active members of the Board, and on its organization in the spring of 1880 was made its chairman. Since February, 1879, he has carried on the drug business at Owaneco. He is a democrat in politics, and is a man who has made many friends during his residence in this county.

J. C. Hl'NTER. Mr. Hunter has been in the mercantile business at Owaneco since 1874. His ancestors were early residents of Pennsylvania. His grandfather, James Hunter, lived in Somerset county in that state, and afterwards became one of the early settlers of Tu-:carawas county, Ohio. His paternal grandmother was a Stewart, and of Scotch- Irish descent. His fiuher, John Hunter, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and was a child on the removal of the family to Ohio. He sub.sequently removed to Hamilton county, in the same state, and married Mary W. Day, who was boru in Hamilton county. J. C. Hunter was the second of a family often children by this marriage, and was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, within six miles of Cincinnati, on the twenty-third of July, 1846. He obtained his education in the common schools of the part of the state in which he was born and raised. When eighteen years of age he enlisted in the Union army, and served during the war of the rebellion. He was enrolled in Company C, 138th regiment Ohio infantry, on the first day of May, 1864. His regiment was attached to the Army of the Potomac, and he saw his first sjrviceat Arlington Heights, opposite Washington, and from there his regiment was sent down with the forces to operate against Richmond. During the summer of 1864, his regiment was stationed on the Appomattox, and from there was dispatchetl to the Peninsula, where he was attacked with typhoid fever and confined in the hospital six weeks. He was mustered out in September, 1864, and returned to Ohio. From Ohio he came to Richland county, in this state, to which his father had moved with his family. Mr. Hunter was married in Richland county on the third of April, 1«72, to Agnes M. Robinson, daughter of J. P. Robinson. While in Richland county he was farming, teaching school, and for one year carried on the mercantile business at Fairview. In the spriug of 1874, he came to this county and began the mercantile business at Owaneco, in partnership with H. Craver. Since 1876 he has been carrying on the store alone. He has been Post-master at Owaneco ever since he established himself in business in the town. In polities he has been a republican. He is known as one of the re})reseutative business men of this part of the county, and a merchant , of enterprise and liberality.

William Bickerdike

Was born in Yorkshire, England, on the nineteenth of October, 1838. His father was John Bickerdike, and his mother Hannah Brigg.s. He was the seventh of a family of nine children, composed of seven boys and two girls. In the spring of 1843 the family emigrated to America, and settled on a farm in Pike county, in this state, where the subject of this sketch was principally raised. Wheil he was twenty years of age, he began farming for himself in Pike county. He accumulated sufficient money to buy eighty acres of land, and was married on the twentieth of August, 1865, to Mary A. Dusenbury, who was born in Harrison county, Ohio, on the twelfth of M.ay, 1840. Her father's name was Samuel Dusenburv, mill her mother'.- iiuiiilen iiaiiK' was Susan Swallow. Her father \«- ealf.l ill Pike e.Miiily, in this state, in 185:3, moved to Christian county in 1865, and is now farming in Paua township. Mr. Biekerdike, in 1870, hecame a resident of thi.s county. He now owns a farm of 160 acres, in section twenty-five of township twelve, range one west. He has four children name<l Charles Louis, Cora Elizabeth, James Arthur and William Watson. He is a man who has attended closely to his own ]irivatc business affairs, and has taken no active part in politics. He is an a<lhereiit of neither political party, but occupies an independent position, generally voting for the man whom ho considers best fitted for the office, without regard to his politics. His mother died in Pike county, in March, 1876, and his father a year afterward, in March, 1877. Four of his brothers served in the Union army during the war of the rebellion, all of them in Illinois regiments. One of them, George Bickerdike, was a memlier of the second Illinois Cavalry, and was killed in an engageniont at Hollv Springs, Mississippi. Three others were in the seventy-third Illinois regiment. Two of his brothers reside in Polk county, Wisconsin, and the remainder of his brothers and sisters now living are in Pike countv, Illinois.

square miles or 20,040 acres of rich productive prairie; it is drained by Bear Creek, Prairie Fork, and Clear Creek, whose waters flow north and north-east, and empty into the South Fork of the Sangamon. King is bounded on the north liy South Fork, east by Bear Creek and Kicks townships, south and west by IMontgomery county.

The Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific railway enters (T. 11-4 in the south-east corner of King) on section 13, and leaves the township on section 34 at Harvel. A portion of the village of Harvel is platted on section 34 of this township. King originally formed a part of Bear Creek jireciuct. The lands were originally surveyed bv the U. S. authorities about the year 1819. But for many years^ even after the organization of the county, it remained comparatively unsettled. Being remote from any market, it was uniu. vitino- to the tiller of the soil. But as the wave of emigration reached its borders, its soil too in later years was subdued and covered with farm-houses, together with those adjuncts of civilization, - churches and sehool-houseS.

On the adoption of township organization in 1866, it formed a separate township and was named King, in compliment to the Kini'- family who were early residents. An election was held April 3, 1866, for its officers. Wm. A. Potts was chosen first Supervisor. Thos. F. Potts and Jesse J. King were elected first Justices of the Peace.

The land in the north half of the township is owned by various persons, and is thickly settled, whilst that on the south side is mostly owned by large land speculators. These lands are occupied by tenants on lease.

King contains no town within its borders. Palmer, Morrisonville, and Harvel are the towns nearest to it, where most of the marketing is done. This township voted S5000 in aid of the " Decatur and E. St. Louis Railroad," now called Waba.sh, St. Louis and Pacific Railway. At the presidential election in 1876, it ca,st a total vote of 192 - indicating a population of nearly 1000. In 1870 the census showed a population of 413.

As King is the most recently settled township in the county there are few old settlers living in it. Capt. Jesse Hanon, son of Martin Hanon, the first settler of Christian county, was born in 1830, and is among the oldest native-born citizens of the county. He, however, has lived in King township but a few years. His wife, Missouri A. Minnis, became a resident of this county in 1833. Among the leading farmers may be mentioned J. H. Adams, M. F. Cheeuey, W. A. Potts and Hatten Gaskins. A lithographic view of the farms and residences of Mr. Adams and Mr. Gaskins can be seen on another page of this work. The inhabitants of King are an intelligent, energetic and thrifty class of people, and in a few years they will make this section one of the best and most productive agricultural districts of the county.

Maetix Hasox, Capt. Hanon's lather, was the first settler in Christian county. He first settled in Illinois, in the eastern part of the state, near the Wabash river, in the year 1812. In 1818 ho came to what is now Christian county, and made a settlement near Taylorville. A full account of his coming to this county is found in its appropriate place in the history of the pioneer settlements. His home was in this county from 181^ till his death, which occurred near Sharpsburg, on the 5tli of April, 1879, when he was only a month less than eighty years of age. He was a man i if temperate and abstemious habits, had inherited an excellent physical constitution, and in his old age enjo3'ed unusual physical and mental vigor. When about forty-eight years old, while working with a carpenter's adze, he seriously wounded his knee, and lamed himself for life. Previous to the occurrence of this accident he had never taken a particle of medicine from a physician. He was a man who had acquired a marked character for honesty and integrity, and who enjoyed the confidence of his friends and neighbors in no ordinary degree. He was modest in deportment, and though frequently solicited to occupy public office (fur which he was well qualified by his education and natural ability) he invariably preferred the quiet of private life, and always refused. At every election he voted the dem.ieratic ticket. In his earlier life he adhered to the theological doctrines of the Old School Baptist denomination, but gradually drifted into a belief in Universalism. He was married in Kentucky, to Sarah Miller, who died in 1861. By her he had ten children, five of whom are still living, viz. : Jesse Hanon, of King township, the oldest son ; Susau Hanon, now residing in Barton county, Kansas, the wife of G. R. Sharp, of Sharpsburg ; Cyrena, who married Seth Mason of Sharpsburg ; and Elijah A. Hanon, who now lives at Larned, in Pawnee county, Kansas.

Cajit. .Jesse Hanon was born on the South fork of Sangamon river, seven miles north-west of Taylorville, on the 14th of April, 1830. With one or two possible exceptions, he is now the oldest born citizen living in Christian county. In childhood he had only limited advantages for obtaining an education. He attended school altogether about thirteen months, part of which time was at so early an age that the schooling was of no real benefit. Previous to the commencement of the town of Taylorville, his father had moved to a farm now within the present limits of the town, and Capt. Hanon well remembers the building of the first house from which Taylorville dates its growth. He learned to plow on ground now taken up by the residence portion of the town. He lived at home till his

At the lireiiking out of the war of the rebellion he enlisted in Co. A, 115th Illinois regiment. He was mustered in at Camp Butler, at Springfield, on the 13th of September, 18(52, as 2d Lieut. The .same fall his regiment was ordered to Kentucky, and was statioue<l at Covington, Lexington, Richmond, and Danville, in that state, in succession. In Fel)ruary, 1803, the regiment moved to Nashville, and sulvsefiuently a.ssisted in constructing the fortifications at Franklin. On the resignation, at this place, of the adjutant of the regiment, he was appointed acting adjutant. He had been promoted to 1st lieutenant, while in Kentucky. After spending two or three weeks of the summer of 1863 in the hospital at Nashville, he rejoined his regiment at War Trace, Tennessee, and was placed on staff duty as the provost marshal of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of the Reserve Army Corps, under Gen. Gordon Granger. The brigade was commanded by Col. Champion, and afterward by Gen. Wliitaker. He was in the battle of Cliiokamauga, on the 20th of September, 1863, and was taken pri.soner by the Confederate forces. He was a prisoner in the Southern Confederacy for seventeen months and ten days, during which time he was an inmate of the rebel prisons at Richmond, (where he was confined in the notorious Libby prison) ; at Danville, Virginia, Macon, Georgia, Savannah, and Charleston, South Carolina, where he was placed by the rebels under fire of the Union guns, to prevent the Federal forces from bombarding the town ; at Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina. He was exchanged at Wilmington, North Carolina, and after reaching the Union lines returned to Christian county. After remaining at home three weeks he reported for duty at Camp Chase, in Ohio, and after remaining there for a time, rejoined hLs regiment at Nashville, Tennessee. On the 11th of June, 1865, he was mustered out at Nashville, and received his discharge at Camp Butler, on the 23d of the same month he had been promoted Captain, his commi.ssion dating from the 20th of September, 18C3, the date of the battle of Chickamauga, in which he was captured.

On returning to Christian county he resumeil farming. For the last ten years he has been a resident of King township. He held the oftice of School Commissioner, and for two terms served as Justice of the Peace, once in Taylorville township, and once in King township. He formerly was a member of the democratic party, but during the war he became a republican. He is a man of originality and liberality of thought. His views on religious subjects are advanced and progressive. While he accepts the Scriptures as a historic statement of facts, which undoubtedly transpired, and are a3 correct as any records written at such times, and under such circumstances, could well be, still he regards the books of the Old and New Testaments as purely human, and not difl'erent from any other literary productions. Their authors doubtless considered themselves inspired, but their inspiration was simply that of Shakespeare and Milton and Dante. If God had actually spoken face to face with man he thinks it probable that He would have warned and commanded them against some of the great evils of society, such as slavery and polygamy, instead of giving minute instructions concerning the useless details of the old Jewish ritual. He is an earnest believer in the principles of morality, and is a strong advocate of abstinence from intoxicating liquors, and of temperance in every respect, but controverts the theological ideas which enter into the belief of orthodox churches. He is a sincere admirer of that great sentiment of Thornxs Paine - " The world is my country, and to do good ray religion."

JO.SIAS H. ADAMS. Thi.-* gentleman, who is now farming in King township, was formerly for a long number of years engaged in the hat business, at Springfield. His father, Josias Adams, was descended from the old Adams family which has been so prominently connected with this cmintry, and in Wilmington, Delaware, learned the trade of a hatter. From Wilmington he emigrated to West Virginia, then a wild and unsettled country. He married Hannah ISIoore, whose family was of English origin, and was well connected in Virginia. Mr. Adams' father became an extensive land-owner, owning 17,000 acres in one tract alone and 19,000 in another, and a man of a great deal of wealth. Most of this large estate still belongs to the heirs. The subject of this sketch was born at Clarksburg, in Harrison county. West Virginia, on the 2d of May, 1817, and lived at that place till he was sixteen years of age. At that time there were no public schools in existence, and Mr. Adams attended private pay schools in his native town. One of the instructors whom he principally remembers was an Irishman, of small stature, - a bachelor, who tried to inculcate the principles of reading, writing and arithmetic in the minds of his pupils. Mr. Adams was a boy of some size and considerable strength when he went to school to the Irishman, and one day when the teacher attempted to chastise him, as Mr. Adams thought wrongly, for some mischievous conduct, he gave battle to the school-master who got the worst of the encounter and found himself sprawling on the floor. Some of Mr. Adams' brothers adopted professions and received a liberal education. One attended the military academy at West Point, three studied law, and one became a merchant.

When sixteen he left home, and during the next ten years was living for short periods at difterent points in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas. Part of the time he was working at his trade of a hatter, which he had learned with his father at Clarksburg, and which he followed in nearly all the important towns then in existence in the West. After working for various firms in St, Louis, in 1844 he came to Springfield, Illinois, with the purpose of permanently locating there. Springfield was then a place of only four or five thousand inhabitants. He bought out all the hat stores in Springfield, and embarked in the business (juite extensivelv. Some of the shops had previously employed three or four hands, and Mr. Adams managed them all in one establishment, having as many as eighteen or twenty hands in his employment. He carried on this business in Springfield for upwards of thirty years. In the year 1844 occurred his marriage to Miss Harriet Taft, who was born in Addison county, Vermont, on the 18th of April, 1822. Her ancestors came from England, and settled on Long Island at a period previous to the Revolutionary war. Her paternal grandmother was Ann Cook, a relative of the celebrated Capt. Cook, the great English navigator. Mrs. Adams' grandfather bought large tracts of land in Vermont, to which he removed after the Revolutionary war. Her father, Josiah Taft, raised a company of men and served in the war of 1812 against Great Britain. He took part in the battle of Plattsburg, where he received a serious wound, half of his foot being shot away, by which he was maimed for life. After the death of !Mrs. Adams' father, her mother moved, with her two children, to Illinois, and settled at Springfield. Mrs. Atlams was then a girl of sixteen. Her older brother, William Taft, had emigrated to Illinois at an early date and settled at Rochester, in Sangamon county, where he became the owner of a large body of rich land.

Several years ago Mr. Adams had purchased a quarter section of land in King township, to which he concluded to remove on relinquishing the hat busin&ss at Springfield. He had no previous experience in farming, with the exception of some work on his father's farm in Virginia. Since his residence in the county he has made constant improvements on his farm, an illustration of which is shown elsewhere. Mr. and ]\Irs. Adams have been the parents of seven children. The oldest daughter, Phu'be, is the wife of C. C. Cromwell, of Springfield ; Emma married William Gill, a merchant of Jacksonville; Annie is the wife of P. C. Sloan, of Tuscola, the circuit clerk of Douglas county; Lizzie married B. F. Conner. The next daughter, Jessie F., died on the 2.5th of December, 1878, at the age of twenty-two; Joseph H., the oldest .son, died on the 2d of January, 1875, from an accident occasioned by the discharge of a gun, while he was hunting. He was a young man of brilliant promise, and was preparing for a collegiate course at the time of his death. Maud is the youngest child.

Mr. Adams is known as a man of good business capacity and strict integrity. Among Mrs. Adams" characteristics is a praiseworthy energy and perseverance, which well fits her to be the head of a household. In politics, Mr. Adams was first a whig, and voted for Harrison, in 1840. Before the war of the rebellion, he became a republican, and in 1860 had the pleasure of casting his vote for Abraham Lincoln, an old acquaintance and customer, at Springfield.

Hatten Gaskins

HATTEN GASKINS. Among the pioneer settlers of North King township, Mr. Hatten Gaskius deserves special mention. He is a native of Saline county, in this state, and was born on the 6th of May, 183-5. Wilson Gaskins, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Howard county, Kentucky. His father, grandfather of Hatten Gaskins, was one of the pioneers of Kentucky. Wilson Gaskins was one of a family of eleven children, and removed from Kentucky to a wild and thinly settled territory, but which has since become the great and prosperous state of Illinois. He settled in what was GaHatin county, but afterwards became a part of Saline county, in about the year 1812. We have no data by which to fix the exact date, but as nearly as can be a.scertained, in the year 1818 he was married to Lydia

Bracken. Eleven children have been born to them, six boys and five girls, nine of whom still survive, and of these seven are living in this state. One brother is now living in Mi.ssouri, and one is steamboating on the Mississippi river.

Hatten Gaskins moved from Saline to Montgomery countv, ancl from Montgomery to Christian cnuuty in the spring of 1861, and bought a farm of 240 acres, to which by industry and good management he has added until he has one of the best improved farms in Christian county. On Christmas day, in the year 1857, he was married to Delia Davis. Her father, Moses Davis, was a native of Vermont. He descended from the hardy pioneers of New England. Her grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was with Ethan Allen, in the capture of Ticonderoga. He had the contract to furnish poles for the first telegraph line in the United States. He came west and died in 1872.

To Mr. and Mrs. Gaskins eight children have been born, four of whom are dead and the others are living at home. Like all pioneer settlers of a new country, ^Mr. Gaskins had poor advantages for obtaining an education. He built the first .school-house in King township, in 1857, and thus manifested the desire that the rising generation should not be deprived of privileges of which he had so much felt the need.

He and his wife have been members of the M. E. church for a great many years, uniting with the society when they held meetino-s in a log school-house. Now the services are held in a neat, commodious frame building in the northern part of the towuship.

In politics, he has always been identified with the democratic party, but has not been so closely tied that he could not vote for a good man of any party.

Mr. Gaskins is a good example of what a man may accomplish by persevering efforts. He and his good wife started in life without any capital except stout hearts and a determination to succeed, and they have accumulated property until now they are in easy circumstances. Mr. Gaskins is esteemed and respected by all who know him, and is one of those men who by aiding every laudable enterprise, is a benefit to the comraunitv in which he lives.