Martin Township

Martin Township

William Wiley was born August 24, 1813, in Garrett County, Kentucky. His father's name was John Wiley, and his mother's name before her marriage was Hannah Sampson. Both were of English descent. When William was three or four years of age his father's family moved to Switzerland County, Indiana. When Mr. Wiley was eighteen years of age, he went with his father during the winter season on a ilatboat down the Ohio and Mississippi. In the Ohio River their boat grounded on a sand bar, and by the falling of the water was left twenty or thirty feet in the air ; but the water rose and they floated on their way. They often made landings on the shore of the Mississippi, and the negroes would come on board to trade sugar for meat. They said that all the meat they could get was obtained in that way. Their only allowance (he thinks) was a peck of meal per week. They were poor, and lacked the energy of the negroes of Kentucky. The latter were latter, sleeker and greasier.

In the fall of 1835 the Wiley family came to Mackinaw timber, in the present township of Lawndale. The weather during the journey was cold and rainy, and the Wileys were often mired down in the sloughs. They reached the Sangamon in November. Their sheep refused to cross until William Wiley took one by force and dragged it over.

The deer, in an early day, were very thick in the Upper Mackinaw timber, and in the fall of the year would make bad work in the cornfields. Mr. Wiley has counted eighty deer in a line coming from the prairie into his cornfield at the edge of the timber, during the evening of a cold day.

John Messer, the great hunter on the Mackinaw, frequently came to Mr. Wiley's, and they went out hunting together. The two men once went to Burr Oak Grove, where they killed several coons, and became much excited in the sport. Mr. Messer put his hand into a hole to feel for coons, and unexpectedly got a bite, for a vicious coon grabbed his thumb. He said nothing, but kept his hand perfectly still until the coon let loose. He told Wiley that the coon was very strong, and induced that gentleman to try his skill ; but Wiley first put on his buckskin mittens, and when he heard the coon snarl, withdrew his hand. That little joke could not be passed around.

Mr. Wiley speaks of old Milton Smith, and says, that when he came to the country, he brought with him from Kentucky an old negro woman, whom he had hired in order to hold her in a free State. But she was a high-tempered woman, and when she learned to use the ox- whip, she occasionally mistook old Milton for the steers she drove.

The old settlers particularly enjoyed practical jokes. Mr. Wiley speaks of a yellow jacket's nest, with an advertisement or notice posted over it to draw people there. Those who were victimized appreciated the joke so highly that they allowed the notice to stand, and called the attention of others to it.

John Wiley, who lives just east of his father's. He enlisted in the Eighth Illinois Infantry, and was in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, siege of Yicksburg, and many others.

Mr. Wiley is about five feet and ten inches in height. His eyes are dark, his hair is black, but his whiskers are white with age. He is a good man, and is blessed with a family of intelligent and happy children.

Lytle R. Wiley was born November 7, 1815, in Garrard County, Kentucky. When he was about two years old his parents left Kentucky and came to Switzerland County, Indiana, and there lived until Xovember, 1835, when they came to Illinois. Here he found matters very unhandily arranged, for there was no village near by, where even the necessaries of life could be purchased. The mill was fifty or sixty miles distant, and wheat was hauled to Chicago for fifty or seventy cents per bushel. The pork was so cheap that it was almost given away. Mr. Wiley was never a hunter, but occasionally took amusement by chasing wolves. He attended carefully to his farm, and found always plenty to do. Although he has been an active, hardworking pioneer, his life has had in it very little of adventure. The only " lively time," which he particularly calls to mind, was his chase after his cattle on the creek bottom of the Mackinaw, to prevent them from freezing into the slush during the sudden change in December, 1836.

On the 13th of June, 1843, Mr. Wiley married his relative, Miss Sarah Wile}-. They have had nine children, of whom eight are living. They are :

Thomas, who intends to be a physician ; Rhoda Margaret, John James, Hannah Elizabeth, William Sampson, Sarah Lucinda, Lytle Richard and Mary Cassandra Wiley, all live at home with their parents.

Mr. Wiley is five feet and eleven and one-half inches in height, is rather slim in build, has brown hair, and whiskers partly gray. He has attended closely to his business and succeeded well. He has hunted very little, but has employed all of his time in farming and caring for his stock, and by this means has accumulated a fair amount of property. He seems to have looked after his affairs carefully, and has not allowed anything to go to waste for want of attention. He is a thrifty farmer and a good American citizen.

Curtis Batterton, brother of Martin Batterton, of Lawndale township, was born January 11, 1810, in Madison County, Kentucky. He lived in his native State until he grew to manhood. No very important or remarkable event occurred during his early life. He received the education which could be obtained at that early day.

In the fall of 1831, Curtis Batterton went with two men, Martin and Linsey, to South Carolina, with a drove of swine. They stopped at certain places, where notices had been posted that on certain days swine would be sold, and in this manner disposed of the drove. The negroes there had very queer ideas. Their thoughts seemed to be confined to their bodily wants. They nearly all wished to go to Kentucky, for they knew that swine were driven from there, and they supposed that negroes in Kentucky could have all the pork they wished to eat. The negroes hated the cotton-fields, and were willing to do almost anything rather than pick cotton. They were well clothed, indeed he saw only one ragged negro.

In the fall of 1836, Mr. Batterton came through Illinois to Missouri. He took a careful observation, and decided that it was hardly worth while to settle there as long as he could enter land' in McLean County, Illinois. During the fall of 1836, on his way back to Kentucky, he bought eighty acres of land in Mackinaw timber, and came to it in the spring of 1837, and made a farm and broke prairie. The wolves were exceedingly troublesome. He had a flock of twenty-five sheep, and made every exertion to protect them; but they went one by one, and during a single night five of them became missing. At one time he awoke at night and found a sheep running around the house, a wolf after the sheep, and his dog after the wolf. He only saved one sheep out of the twenty-five.

he never hunted as a business. His time was spent in raising stock and cultivating his farm. He tells of a lively hunter, who killed two deer, skinned one of them, and as it was cold, threw the skin over his shoulders, and began skinning the other. A youthful hunter mistook the man for a deer and fired at him. But the young man missed his mark, as youthful hunters sometimes will, and no damage resulted.

In the fall of the year the settlers went to Chicago, and great strings of wagons, indeed almost caravans, were seen on the road. Xo one mourned for want of company.

Going to mill in the early days was a task, and usually required sometime. Mr. Batterton tells a joke on an early settler, who required twenty-seven years to go to mill. A few of the settlers became seriously indebted to various merchants, and the laws for collections were then very stringent, and parties could oftentimes be taken on a capias. One person, who was about to make a settlement elsewhere, and had a few little dues outstanding, loaded up his slight worldly possessions as if going to mill, and left. Twent}r-seven years afterwards he returned, and was asked if his grist was yet ground !

John Batterton enlisted at the outbreak of the war in the Eighth Illinois Infantry. He died of. sickness at Jackson, Tenn. He was a brave boy and did his duty.

Mr. Batterton is five feet and ten inches in height, is straight and rather spare. He is careful, thrifty and honest, has worked well, and has seen the fruits of his labor in the plenty which surrounds him, and makes his life pleasant. He is a kind, good man, and likes a chat with his neighbors and friends.