Lynn Township

Lynn Township

Lynn township has some features peculiar to itself. For instance, it is without a church, town or postoffice within its limits, which can be said of no other township in the county. But with all the inconveniences and want of high moral sentiment such a statement would generally imply, we find Lynn favored with postoffices at convenient and accessible points, and her people are not excelled in moral tone by those of any other section in the county. Indeed their reputation in this direction has justly attained so high a standard that we shall class this one of the peculiar features of the township. Substantiating this is the highly commendable statement that no person has ever been fined in the township for the violation of law; neither was there ever an indictment found, or suit brought in the Circuit Court against any citizen of Lynn for a criminal offense. Her people, however, en- joy the elevating; influences of the churches in the surrounding towns, some of which are accessible to all parts of the township. The school buildings and the character of the schools of this township are second to none in Knox county. The soil of the township is fertile, well drained and supplied with timber, a beautiful grove being in its midst. On the southern edge of this grove, in the spring of 1830, Michael Fraker located, being the first settler in the northeastern part of the county. His original cabin, and the oldest house now standing in the county, erected in 1830, is occupied by R. Harrison. This same log house, when owned by Alden Bennett, was about twelve years ago adorned with blinds by E. Child, of Oneida, and to-day is one of the substantial farm houses of Lynn township. It was erected by Mr. Fraker on section 23, but at present stands on the northeast corner of section 16.

Mr. Fraker was a regular pioneer genius, always ready to adapt himself to any unfavorable surroundings. His genius was displayed, shortly after his arrival, in constructing a hand mill to grind his neighbors' and his own grain. The burrs were about two feet in diameter, and were made out of stone called hard-head. Such stones are occasionally found singly scattered over the country. This mill proved a blessing, for when the water mills through that part of country failed, the neighbors went to the Fraker mill, which stood in the living room of the family. Mr. Edward Sellon tells us that many are the times that he has gone there to grind corn and buckwheat for food for his family. Two persons could grind one-half a bushel of wheat on this mill in an hour, or one bushel of corn or buckwheat in the same time. William Dun bar purchased the original burrs, as he kept a public house requiring a large amount of flour and meal. Sometimes 25 to 30 men, who were looking for land, would be there over night. "Washington Dunbar was the principal miller. Being unable to bolt the flour or meal, Mrs. Dunbar used sieves of two grades before preparing to cook either. Before purchasing the old Fraker mill, however, they made a mortar mill by boring, chopping and burning into the top of a burr-oak stump which stood some 20 rods from their house. This by use became as hard and smooth as a stone. A spring pole with pestle attached to break the grain was even a much harder and slower process than the hand mill afforded; besides, it was not nearly so good.

In 1830, when the county was organized through the interposition and influence of Riggs Pennington, the two townships adjoining Lynn and Victoria township in Stark county were included within the boundaries of this county. La Fayette was, during its early his- tory, in Knox county. At the session of -the Legislature of 1836-7, an act " for the formation of the county of Coffee " was passed and approved. This new county was to comprise nine townships, six of which were to be taken from Putnam, one from Henry and two from Knox. The two townships taken from this county were to be the two referred to above, and which were subsequently taken. The formation of Coffee county was, however, defeated by the voters of Knox county. A more vigorous attempt to form Coffee county was made in 1838, but proved futile. In 1839, after great difficulty and a close contest, Stark county was organized and townships 12 and 13 north, 5 east, were taken from Knox and added to, or aided in forming Stark county.

The first couple of Lynn township to be united in marriage were William Hitchcock and Julia Fraker. They were married in Knoxville. The second marriage, or the first performed marriage ceremony in the settlement, was that of Peter Miner and Matilda Smith, by Esquire Fitch. At the appointed time the parties arrived at the cabin of the 'Squire, also some young companions of the groom to witness the ceremony. The happy pair placed themselves in position, when 'Squire Fitch in a dignified manner began the ceremony. When about half through, Mr. Miner suddenly interrupted him by exclaiming, "Hold on, 'Squire," at the same time drawing a paper from his pocket and handing it to him, saying, with a broad grin on his countenance, " I reckon, 'Squire, you would like to see this 'ere paper before you go any further," handing him their license. Mr. Fitch, evi^ dently embarrassed, hastily exclaimed, " Why, yes lyes! " and commenced reading the document aloud. He commenced at the beginning again to tie the knot, when, just as the happy pair were pronounced man and wife, down came one of the 'Squire's large turkey gobblers through the old stick chimney into the room! The newly made benedict seized the turkey, claiming it as a gift sent from above especially for the occasion. This couple in after years proved to be among the most worthy and respectable of the community.

In 1851 the streams of Lynn were higher than were ever known before or since. Especially was this so of Walnut creek. At the Gibbs saw-mill, located on this creek, the water rose to the eaves of the building, sweeping away lumber, logs and fences, although the mill and dam withstood the fury of the current. Every seventh year, for a long period, was noted as being a wet season. Especially were the years 1844, 1851 and 1858 noticeable for this. During the winter of 1855-6 apple and other fruit trees, together with the osage, were

History Of Knox Cotjnty

There is a good Town Hall in the center of the township, open and free for all moral public gatherings. Since 1855 the township has given a Republican majority.

Source changes here: from Portrait and Biographical Album of Knox County, Illinois, by Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago, published 1886; 1,036 words in this source stream.

Lynn Township

[ MEETING was held for the organization K of Lynn Township, .April 5, 1853. William A. Reed was chosen Temporary Moderator, and J. S. Smith, Temporary Secretary. Upon ballot A Gross was elected Moderator, and J. S. Smith, Town Clerk, for one year. There were 39 votes cast, resulting in the election of Jonathan Hodgson for Supervisor; William A. Reed, Assessor; A. Gross, Collector; S. G. Albro, John Lafferty and H.Austin Grant, Commissioners of Highways; Jonathan' Hodgson and Jonathan Gibbs, Justices of the Peace; Erastus Smith, Overseer of the Poor ; John Snyder, Constable.

Michael Fraker was the first settler in this township and the first in the northeastern part of the county, locating in the spring of 1830011 the southern edge of what has since been widely known as Fraker's Grove, on section 23. Here he erected his log cabin, and commenced the improvement of his home. It must have been a very substantial and wellbuilt house, for it is standing and in use. The cabin was afterward owned by Alden Bennett, and was moved to the northeast corner of section 16. He was subsequently joined by Edward Sellon and William and Washington Dunbar, with their families. Mr. Fraker was an inventive genius, and splendidly adapted to pioneer life. His ready hand and intelligent mind were displayed, not long after his removal to this far Western home, in the construction of a hand-mill to grind corn. His burrs were made out of nigger-heads or hard-heads, as they are generally called, which he had found after a diligent search about the country, and they were about two feet in diameter. This mill was placed in one part of the kitchen, and could be operated by two men quite easily. These would grind out from a half to one bushel of grain in an hour. This mill was a real blessing to the settlement, and Michael Fraker was many times gratefully thought of for the benefits this mill conferred ujwn the pioneers of that day. In the organization of the eounty in 1830, the two townships adjoining Lynn and Victoria in Stark County were included within the boundaries of Kno.x.

The Legislature of 1836-37 passed an act "for the formation of the county of Coffee." This was to comprise nine townships, six of which were to be taken from Putnam, one from Henry and two from Kno.\. Those taken from this county were to be Lynn and Victoria. The formation of Coffee County was afterward defeated by the voters of Knox County, and these townships were retained by Knox.

The first couple to lead off in the matrimonial venture were William Hitchcock and Julia Fraker, who were married at Knoxville. Their commendable example was soon followed by those believing in the truth, " It is not good for man to be alone." Among these were Peter Miner and Matilda Smith. They were content to be married in the settlement, and the services were performed by 'Squire Fitch. These were the first of the kind in the township, and were conducted at the 'Squire's humble cabin.

Rather a comical incident - which was also considered a good omen - occurred while this couple were being married. Directly as the happy pair was pronounced " man and wife," a large, fat turkey gobbler, belonging to the '.Squire, attracted, no doubt, by the unusual proceedings, gaining a place on the roof, came with wild fluttering down the large chimney, landing at the bride's feet. The bridegroom seized it, and swinging it over the heads of the guests, claimed it as a gift sent from above to bless the occasion.

William Dunbar opened a " public house," near the " Grove," not long after the settlement. It was largely patronized by people coming in from an easterly direction, looking up land and favorable locations to build homes for themselves. In 1846 Mr. Barlow opened 'ip his tavern at Fraker's Grove, on the southeast side. It became popular as a hostelry and was called the " Travelers' Home." It was all its name indicated, an abiding place to " the stranger

Lynn has some features peculiar to itself. There are no post-offices, villages or churches here. An attempt was made as early as 1850 to start a town, and a plat was made by Robert Rounds, which he called Centerville. It was located on section 33, on the line between Lynn and Victoria Townships. Centerville, liowever, did not seem to its people to possess centralizing force or ability to become a city, and its name was changed to Millroy, deriving this title from a mill that was established here. Though this mill ground slow, it did not grind to much purpose, at least so far as the building up of a city or town was concerned, and all efforts in this direction proved a failure. Lynn, however, has good school buildings and schools ; also a good town hall, which is located on section 15. Notwithstanding the township has no churches within its borders, the people have a high moral and religious standing, ranking well with any township in the county, and for obedience to the law, as a people, they have not their ' equal. The people are noted also for their patriotism, so much so, that, when the last draft was ordered, during the Rebellion, there were only 90 men subject to military duty, and 21 of these went into the service voluntarily.

The nature of the land is high, rolling prairie; fertile, liberally supplied with limber, and well watered. It is a fine farming region, and muny of the farms have elegant dwellings and handsome and convenient out-buildings. Great attention has been given to the roads, the result of wliich is that they are equal to any in the county. The Peoria & Rock Island Railroad cuts across the northeast corner of the township, and the C, B. & Q. R. R. the northwest corner. The people do their trading and marketing mostly at Galva, Victoria and Altona; and to these places they go to attend religious service occasionally. The population in 1880, according to the census taken at that time, was 964. This is about the estimate at present.

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; 1,939 words in this source stream.

Lynn Township

The northwest township of Knox county is and will be, because of its location and environment, a township of tarms. In the early days some effort was made to attract the merchant and mechanic to a point on the south line, called Centerville (afterward platted as Milroy), but it failed of success, and there has never been a postoff ice, a church building or a village within the limits of Lynn.

Great is the contrast between the landscape of today, dotted with well-improved farms, with their commodious dwellings and barns, and that of 1828, when Michael Fraker, with his family, came to Section 23, to find the tract of land he had purchased in Kentucky in the possession and occupancy of the Indians. The braves were away hunting, having left only the old men, women and children to contest his claim. So the white man made himself at home. But the returning hunters disputed his title, claiming that theirs came from the Indian God and was long prior to that of the new settler. Mr. Fraker thought diplomacy was better than valor. He was adroit; he had tact and genius, and was kind and helpful. He was a blacksmith, and could mend their guns. They took him to their hearts, and helped him build his cabin, but could see no necessity for his making tight joints between the logs. But his trust in his new-found friends was not wholly without reservation - bullets had a better chance where the cracks were large. They finally left him their wigwams and council house, and made new homes at Indian Creek, seven miles east, returning yearly as friends at the sugar season. A granddaughter of Mr. Fraker says she has heard her grandmother say that the only white women she saw for four years were those of her own family, and those who came with them. A fair-sized band of Indians lived and roamed from Spoon River to the Mississippi, their trails being distinctly perceptible long after they had left the country. A clear, flowing spring on the east side of Fraker's Grove had trails from all directions centering there. Some of the early settlers long afterward remembered the friendly visits of the Chief Shaubena after the Black Hawk War. Mr. Fraker was a middle aged man when he came from Kentucky. He buried two wives and was living with his third, and was the father of twenty-four children.

George Fitch, a son-in-law of Mr. Fraker, settled near by soon after the Frakers, and was the first school teacher and Justice of the Peace in the settlement. His son, Luther, is reported to have been the first white child bom here. The first marriage was that of William Hitchcock and Julia Fraker. John Essex was the first settler on Walnut Creek, in 1830.

His wife was the daughter of Jacob Cress, who, with his family, settled on Section 24, in 1831. These were the only persons living in Lynn before the Black Hawk War. During that struggle they went to Forts Clark and Henderson for safety.

About 1834, William Dunbar bought the improvements of one of the Frakers on a portion of Section 13, and entered the land, going to Galena by wagon, with two yoke of oxen, to do so. He came from Kentucky, and, being a hatter by trade, burnished fur hats to the neighborhood, peddling them on horseback. Mrs. Theodore Hurd says that when she, a girl of twelve years, came here with her father (Luther Driscoll) in 1836) they found twelve families here, settlement being known as Fraker's Grove ; not all of it in Lynn, however, as the east township line ran through the middle of it.

In 1836, on Walnut Creek there were only John Lafferty, on Section 36; the Montgomery boys, on Section 35; Samuel Albro (who was a soldier of the War of 1812 and settled on land patented to him for his military service), on Section 34; John Essex and the Talors, south of the creek near Centenille ; and Hugh and Barney Frail, on Section 31. Mrs. Hugh Frail was the pioneer sister of the Gravers and the Collinsons, who followed, from time to time, settling that corner of the township. By 1838 the population had increased considerably. Jonathan Gibbs came then, and purchased the Montgomery property on Section 35, where he lived until his death. He was always a leading man in the township, a Justice for twentyfive years and Supervisor for half that period. About this time also came Elison Annis, who settled on land patented to him for service in the War of 1812; Solomon Brooks, John Sisson, Ralph Hurley and Elder Shaw, all from Ohio, and originally from Maine. They were old neighbors, and were members of the Free Will Baptist Church. Soon after coming they organized the Walnut Creek Baptist Church. Elder Shaw and Luther Driscoll for years acting as pastors. It is now extinct.

Peter Hagar, Simeon Collinson, the Sniders and Edward Selon were early. Mr. Selon had been mate on an ocean vessel and in one of his last voyages across the ocean the Charles family were passengers on his ship. One of them he soon after married. Another daughter is Mrs. Ira Reed, of this township and Mr. Charles, of Round Grove, Henry County, who was the first man married on the Stark county side of the Fraker settlement, is a member of the same family. In 1836, there was a rather large immigration from Goshen, Connecticut, for which Goshen township in Stark county was named. Captain Gere and William and Ira Reed were among these settlers. In 1840, came a considerable number of Mormons, but most of the latter remained only a short time.

The first tavern opened was that of Mr. Dunbar, who so used his own home, but in 1846, Nathan Barlow opened the "Traveler's Home," on Section 24. It was on the Chicago trail and the stage road, and hence afforded accommodations much needed at the time.

Population increased slowly until the railroad was projected. That was the ending of the old, and the beginning of the new era in the history of Lynn. J. A. Beal's relation to the township began in this transition period. Proximity to the railroad influenced his selection of a small piece of land for a future home, on the then unbroken prairie. The following spring his wedding trip from the home in Vermont was begun by rail, and finished by stage at Victoria. The ending was a little analogous to the overturning of the old by the new. It was a frosty March morning when the stage stopped at Victoria, with two newly wedded couples, the destination of one of which was Galesburg. The wife whose journey had ended and the husband who had yet to reach Galesburg both stepped out. The driver had dropped the reins and was at the boot, removing the baggage. The horses, impatient with cold and excited by their drive, suddenly started on the run and made a short turn to the Reynolds barn. In a moment's time the startled travelers were standing on their heads (to judge from the way they felt and looked afterwards) inside the coach. The shock was but for a moment, though the impression was that they were being dragged, and that something was yet to happen ; the side door was above them and open ; the hind wheel was revolving ; and the head of the young wife was soon at the opening inquiring if "we were hurt in there." The stage had uncoupled in the overturn, and three horses had dragged the fourth and the front wheels to the barn.

The first physician at the Fraker settlement was Dr. Nicols ; at Centerville, Dr. Spaulding. Mr. Leek built the first saw mill, in 1837, at Centerville, and later Jonathan Gibbs put up a second. The first log school house, used also for meetings, was built prior to 1836, by volunteer labor, near the home of the Dunbars, in the edge of the grove. Squire Fitch and Maria Lake were the earliest teachers. Later, a school house was built near Fraker's. Dr. Nicols is said to have been one of the first teachers. One of the early pedagogues at the Centerville school was a boy of eighteen, who, in 1863, became General Henderson, and afterward was a member of Congress. Anna Shaw, Betsy Smith and Catherine Annis were early residents, the last named teaching for a time in a log house near the Frails. In 1841, James Jackson was appointed school trustee, and made two districts of the township, which till then had formed but one. There are now 1899, eight frame school houses, worth about nine thousand dollars. None of the schools

Besides regular services provided at Centerville by Revs. Shaw and Driscoll, there were circuit ministers, who had regular appointments to meet the people. Jonathan Hodgson, one of the earliest settlers at the Grove, became a local Methodist preacher. He was a man of influence in the settlement, a Probate Justice while a resident of the State, and a radical anti-slavery man. At the time of the Kansas struggle he cast in his lot with the free-soilers. He became so much interested in the work of Jonas Hedstrom, at Victoria, that he learned enough of the Swedish language to preach to people of that nationality in their own tongue. Edward Selon also became a minister, and Rev. Alba Gross preached as well as farmed, until called to the Baptist Church in Galva in 1857. Though there has never been a church building in the township, the school houses have been freely opened to Sunday schools and religious meetings.

In the presidential election of 1840, the polling place for both Lynn and Walnut Grove was at Centerville ; four years later at the school house near the Frails', Squire Ward being one of those in charge. The practice of betting on elections dates back at least to this time, for James Jackson lost and Dr. Nicols won a pair of trousers on that election.

The grist mill and the market involved much labor and forethought for the early settlers. The first grist which William Dunbar sent away went as far as Tazewell county, and in 1838 the nearest points of shipment were Canton and Moline. After getting to the mill one often had to wait for two weeks for his turn to grind. It can be imagined what a convenience was even the little hand mill of Mr. Fraker.

One winter Jonathan Gibbs contracted to deliver a drove of hogs at Peoria on a certain date. Deep snow came, and ' order to fulfill his agreement he made a snow plow, of two planks, set on edge and wedge-shaped. A yoke of oxen was hitched to this and driven ahead, making a path in which the pigs could walk.

Recreation was not entirely neglected. Social life, where there were so few, perhaps meant more than it does now. A wolf hunt took not only the men with their guns, but the women with their kettles, chickens and potatoes, to make chicken pies for the tired hunters. The pies were baked out of doors in twenty-five gallon kettles, set over the coals.

Lynn was organized in 1853, by the election of Jonathan Hodgson, Supervisor; I. S. Smith, Clerk; William A. Reed, Assessor; A. Gross, Collector; Erastus Smith, Overseer of the Poor; S. G. Albro, John Lafferty, and H. A. Grant, Highway Commissioners ; John Hodgson and John Gibbs, Justices ; John Snider, Constable.