Montgomery Township

Montgomery Township

This township, bordering on the Wabash River and constituting the southeastern division of Crawford County, is one of the most productive agricultural districts in the State. One of the earliest events recorded in the history of this region, is that of a hurricane which swept through what is now the northwestern part of the township about the year 1811, prostrating the heaviest timber in its pathway for half a mile in width.

The township was first settled about the close of the War of 1812, although tradition has it that James Beard came from Kentucky to what is now Montgomery Township in 1810. Whatever may have been the date of his arrival, it is certain.that he was killed by the Indians. Eli Adams, his nephew, accompanied him in the journey to Illinois, and they lived in a log hut in the southeast corner of the township. Another pioneer, also from Kentucky, whose advent occurred about the same time as that of Beard and Adams, was Thomas Kennedy, the Baptist preacher heretofore mentioned in these pages. Andrew Montgomery, after whom the township was named, and who in his day was a prominent character, was among the first settlers, coming from Ireland. Other pioneers were Jesse Higgins, Gabriel Funk, Sr, John Cobb, James Allison, Joseph Pearson, John Waldrup, James Shaw, James Brockman and Ithra Brashears. Gabriel Funk, Sr, who was a skillful hunter, came in 1815. Pearson came from Indiana. Brashears, whose former home was in Kentucky, was one of the inmates of Fort Lamotte, and at the end of the war received a grant of 100 acres of land from the Government for meritorious service against the Indians. He built one of the first mills in the township, and Jesse Higgins, whose log cabin was demolished by the tornado previously alluded to, built another on the site of the present village of Morea. Mills were also put up by Allison, Brockman and Brashears. John Cobb cleared a farm in 1820. The first blacksmith in the township was a man named Hatfield, and the second William Edgington, who kept also a sort of gun factory up to the '80s. Distilleries of a primitive description were set up by Shaw, Adams, and a Mr. Veach, the distilling business forming not the least among the early industries of the locality.

The early settlers had an arduous existence, times being stringent, and produce, even as late as 1845, bringing low prices. Between 1840 and 1845 corn was sold at 6% cents per bushel, at Vernon, in the northern portion of the township, to whieh point it was necessary to haul it for marketing. In trade for salt, wheat was figured at about 39 cents per bushel, after being hauled to Evansville, Ind., and pork brought from $1.50 to $2 per hundred. Four-year-old cattle were sold for $7 a head. Only home-made clothing, and that of a coarse and inferior kind, was use in the farming districts, and many of the men wore buckskin.

The Vincennes and Chicago road, an improved Indian trail, surveyed in 1835, was one of the earliest public thoroughfares in Montgomery Township, the regular State road, running from Vincennes to Palestine, and known as the "Purgatory Road," on account of the large marsh through which it passed. It was laid out in 1836. The roads of the present day are of good quality, as are also many of the bridges spanning the creeks.

ScHooLs - Schools were started in Montgomery Township as early as the number of children warranted their establishment, and the people bave always taken an earnest interest in edueational matters.

The divison of Crawford County comprising the townships of Martin and Southwest contains fifty-six square miles of territory, and is bounded north by Oblong Township, south by Lawrence and Richland Counties, east by Robinson Township, and west by Jasper County. In 1869 the part of the original township of Martin lying south of the Embarras River, was organized as Southwest Township, by petition of its residents, alleging, among other reasons for the separation, the impediments in reaching the voting place caused by high water at certain periods. The two townships have had precisely the same historical development, and will be treated in this narrative as one. Between the .divisions runs the Embarras River, and the drainage of the locality is further dependent upon Dogwood Branch, Honey Creek and Big Creek, with some smaller streams. The surface is generally level, and about three-quarters of the area was originally woodland, sycamore, elm, walnut, maple, ash, oak and hickory being the principal varieties. Although containing some productive farms, the soil is especially adapted to pasturage and fruit culture. Daniel Martin, a native of Georgia, made the first entry of publie land in Martin Township in 1839, having moved from Kentucky to Illinois about the year 1810. He first located at Palestine, having made the journey through the wilderness with his household effects on one horse and his wife and child on another. He was a brave Indian fighter and a skillful hunter. After remaining about twenty years in his first location, he sold his farm there and took up an 80-acre government land-claim in Section 34, T. 6 N., 13 W. After building a log cabin measuring 20 by 18 feet, he betook himself to hunting, leaving his daughters, who were of stalwart physique, to clear, plow, and cultivate the ground, while he kept the family supplied with fresh meats. He died in 1863 when seventy-six years old. having made his home on this place for thirty-three years. Abel Pryor, the next settler of whom there is any record, came from Kentucky and established himself at an early period in the vicinity of the fort at Palestine, moving in 1831 to Martin Township, where he located in Section 26. Hi was also a great hunter, but acquired a great deal of very desirable land. He died in 1875, having been the father of sixteen children.

About the same time as Pryor, came a man named Huffman, who made some improvements on land entered up two years later by Absalom Higgins. In 1831 William Wilkinson cleared a small farm in the Dark Bend on the Embarras River, and his marriage to a daughter of Daniel Martin is believed to have been the first wedding in the township. The second matrimonial venture was made by William Shipman, a native of Indiana, who located near the site of the village of Hardinville in 1831, and ,whose bride was also a daughter of Daniel Martin. Mr. Shipman entered land in Section 34, and helped to lay out that village. The year 1832 added to the population Absalom Higgins (previously alluded to), Zachariah Thomas and Hezekiah Martin, with their families. Higgins was a hunter of note, and with his numerous dogs, did much to rid the county of wolves. On one occasion he killed a panther after firing seventeen shots, three of his dogs being sacrificed in the encounter. Among the best remembered of the early settlers was Thomas R. Boyd, a' Kentuckian, who located at Palestine when that place had but two .dwellings, moving thence to Martin Township in 1836, and being followed by his brother, Samuel R. Boyd, the next year. The former, who died in 1877, was à successful farmer and stock-dealer, amassing a snug competency. Among other arrivals in the course of the ensuing ten years were Robert Boyd, John Thomas, Benjamin Boyd and Alfred Griswold, the last named entering up a large tract in Section 15.

Previous to 1840 land entries were made in the township by Foster Donald, Bethel Martin and William B. Martin, who settled in Section 22; Robert Goss, in Section 25, and Benjamin Myers, in Section 30. This portion of the county was peculiarly infested with wolves, making it a hard task for the farmers to protect their stock, To remedy this evil Sunday hunts were resorted to, all the good marksmen for miles around ranging themselves in a wide circle and gradually closing in on the concentrating animals. Crows were another obstacle to the success of the farmers, eating up whole fields of corn, and premiums were paid for their destruction.

The flour and meal in the region were at the outset obtained from the crude mills at Lawrenceville and Palestine, the first mill in Martin Township being built in the southwestern part, on the Embarras River, in 1840. It had two run of burr-stone and subsequently a saw attachment, and was a profitable venture. A steam flouring-mil was built in 1848, at the village of Freeport, and ten years later the Ruby distillery was erected a little east of Hardinsville, having a capacity of 100 gallons per day.