Oakley Township

Oakley Township

OUNDED on the north by Whitmore, east by Piatt county, south by Long Creek, west by Decatur and Whitmore townships. It is composed of fractional portions of the Congressional township of 16, Range 3-4 and Tp. 17, Range 3-4 East. The township is well drained by the Sangamon river, and its tributaries, Badger branch Morris branch and Jeff branch. The Sangamon enters the township on the northeast corner, and traverses the northern and western borders, leaving it on the corner of section 9, Tp. 16-3. There is considerable timber skirting the banks of the stream. The lands are very fertileand produce large quantities of corn, wheat, oats, rye, flax, barley hay, fruit and vegetables.

Early Settlements

The first settler, as a land-owner, was James Howell, who was a native of Galiia county, Ohio, he located with his family on section 30, Tp. 17, Range 4, in the spring of 1825. Soon after his son William Howell and family settled on the same section.

John Rea, a Virginian by birth, came to Macon county with his family in 1830, and settled on section 35, Tp. 17-3. Guy Helm and family located in the same township on section 26, in 1830. He is a native of the "Old Dominion," and when quite young moved with his parents to Gallia county, Ohio, where his youth and early manhood were passed. Mr. Helm is an old style Virginia gentleman, hospitable and generous. In 1835 came three brothers with their families from Virginia, viz., William, David and Achilles Morris ; each improved a farm. Other early settlers were Garland Wheeler and Arch. Walton, who came in 1836.

Another old settler is W. T. Howell, a grand son of James Howell, the pioneer of Oakley. The first marriage was that of Caleb Warfield and Nancy Rea, in 1835. Elizabeth Helm, the daughter of Guy and Anna Helm, was the first child born in the present limits of Oakley. First death was that of Mrs. Morris, mother of William, David, and Achilles Morris.

on section 26, Tp. 17, R. 3 E. It was built of rough unhewen logs, with puncheon floor, benches, and mud chimney. The house was lighted by means of oiled paper windows. Alexander Patton taught the first school in this building in the winter of 1830-31. The first sermon was preached at the house of one of the old settlers in 1835, by Mr. Lapham, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Other early preachers were Rev. Bird, of the M. E. Church, Rev. James Wilson. Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Rev. Carpenter, Baptist^ and Rev. David Bunn, Universalist. The first blacksmith shop was established by John Hawkins. The first saw-mill was built by Rhodes and Wheeler in 1840. Guy Helm erected the first gristmill in 1844. Early justices of the peace were William Howell, and Andrew Froman. First physicians who practiced here were G. H. Young, and Dr. J. G. H. Smith. The first post-office was at the house of John Rickett, on section 35, Tp. 17-3, with Mr. R. as post-master.

The first thorough-bred Durham bull was brought into the township, by Joseph Howell. And the first blooded horse was introduced by Guy Helm. It was the celebrated race horse, Black John.

Sangamon Station

Is located on section 3, Tp. 16 R 3, on the line of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific railway. In 1857, a general store was opened here by William Harmon, and Benjamin Wheeler. Silas Chappel was the first ]Dost-master. He also established and carried on a cooper shop here in 1857. A blacksmith shop was erected in 1867 by J. B. Spangler. At the present, J. B. Lichtenberger is postmaster, and also engaged in general merchandizing and grain buying. He has also a grain warehouse with a capacity of 5,000 bushels.

Villag E Of Oakley

is pleasantly situated and is the principal shipping and trading point in the township, situated on section 1, Tp. 16-3, on the line of the Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific railway. It is surrounded by a rich agricultural district and bids fair to become a prosperous village ; it was laid out by William Rea, in 1856. The same year Mr. R. erected the first house. A post-office was established here iu 1856, and D. B. Landis was the first post-master. He was also the first justice of the peace. G. M. Everline opened and carried on a general store here the same year. The first hotel was kept by John Nickey, and E. Rhodes was the first blacksmith. The first physician was Dr. Samuel Cooper. In 1S60 a substantial school edifice was erected.

Present Business

Holcomb & Turner, general merchants and stock dealers. There are also two grain warehouses, with storing capacity of 45,000 bushels, the business interests of the village are growing, and it is quite a shipping and trading point for the inhabitants of the township, and is the most important station in Macon county, on the line of the Wabash R. R., east of Decatur.

Topography, Timber, etc. - The land surface of this township is mostly an undulating prairie. Originally about one fourth of the area was covered with a thrifty growth of timber, comprising hard and soft maple, walnut, hickory, ash, white, red, and black elm> and the several sj>ecies of oak. As the early settlements were prinpally made along the water courses, the timber afforded the settler the means to build his cabin, and to manufacture the rude implements of agriculture used during that period ; also for fuel, fencing, and other purposes.

Game of various kinds, such as deer, w'olves, wild turkeys, and prairie-chickens were plentiful, at the first settlement of this part of the county, and wild-honey and the skins of wild animals were used by the early settlers, for purpose of trade and barter.

Railroads. - The Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific railroad enters this township on section nine, Tp. 16-3, and the line of the road is on a north-easterly direction. It leaves .the boundaries of Oakley on section 33, Tp. 17-4. This road furnishes excellent transportation and shipping facilities for the residents of the township.

First Land Entries

I he following are the first land entries from the general government. William Howell entered March 19th, 1830, 80 acres, in section 25, Ip. 17 N., R. 3 East. G. Helm, entered November 14th, 1832, 80 acres in section 30, Tp. 17 N. R. 4 east. James Howell, entered November 13, 1832, north A of lot 2, of the southwest 1 of section 30, Tp. 17 N., R. 4 East, containing 46.68 acres.

On the adoption of township organization, by the legal voters of Macon county, the territory now comprised within the boundaries of Oakley, was erected into a voting precinct, and the following are a list of supervisors.

Biographical Sketches John Hiser

The subject of the following sketch is a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. He was born near Carlisle on the 3d of May, 1822. George Hiser, his father, was also a native of the same county and state. John Hiser, the paternal grandfather, was a native of Germany. He came to America and settled in the county and state above named, and married there, and remained in the county until his death. George Hiser, the father, came west to Illinois in 1850, and stopped with his son John until his death in 1858. He married Mary Wolfe. She is still living with her son John, in Oakley township. There were born to George and Mary Hiser ten children, eight of whom are still living - six boys and two girls; John is the second in the family. His advantages for an education in his youth were exceedingly meagre ; his father was poor and had a large family to support, so that John was at an early age forced to become a help and support of the family. He remained at home until his twenty -fourth year, when he hired out and commenced doing for himself. In the fall of 1849 he concluded to come west. Being possessed of little means and unable to pay his passage, he started out on foot and walked the entire distance from Pennsylvania to Macon, Illinois. When he got here he found that there were better chances for a poor man than in Pennsylvania, and here he determined to stay. He first stopped in Decatur and worked at making rails during the winter. The next spring he hired to work on a farm, and soon after went into Spangler's flouring and grist mill, and six months later leased the mill and operated for one year and a half. He then went back to farming and making rails until 1858, when he ^mrchased one hundred acres of raw land in Sec. 27, T. 17, R. 3 E., and commenced its improvement. There he has lived up to the present time, and now has a fine farm, well-improved and stocked. A view of his farm and residence can be seen on another page of this work. On the 17th of September, 1853, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Hess. She was also born and raised in Cumberland county, Pa. Her parents, Caleb and Barbara Hess, came to Illinois in 1850, and settled in Oakley township. Eleven children have been born to John and Sarah Hiser, nine of whom are living. Their names are: Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Seitz, a farmer living in Oakley township; Jane, wife of Levi Kniseley, a resident of Summer county, Kansas ; Mary Jane, died at the age of twenty-one years ; George, farmer, now farming the home place ; William ; John F., who died in infancy; Lida, Albert, Jacob, Henry and Sylvester Hiser. Both he and his estimable wife are members of the United Brethren church. Politically he is a democrat, and cast his first vote for James Iv. Polk in 1844, and from that time to the present has given his adhesion to the party of his early and first choice. In the business of life Mr. Hiser has been reasonably successful. He started poor and unaided. What he has has been accumulated by hard toil and the practice of rigid economy. Every cent of it has also been gotten in an honest and honorable way. Among his neighbors he is regarded as a man of strict propriety of character, a kind friend and good neighbor.

Simon P. Nickey

The Nickey family are of German ancestry. The paternal grandfather was a native of Germany. He came to America and settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He afterward removed to Cumberland county, in the same state, where he remained until his death. David Nickey, his son, was born in Cumberland county ; he was a shoemaker by trade, but subsequently engaged in farming. He married Mary Ann Max. She was born in Perry county, Pa She died in 1830. By this marriage there were fourteen children - eight boys and six girls - eight of whom are still living. The subject of this sketch is the youngest in the family. He was born in Cumberland county, Pa., November 16th, 1832. He received the rudiments of a common-school education in the private schools of his native county. Feeling the necessity and importance' of a more thorough education than the common schools afforded, he went to work at four dollars per month, and earned money ; and with money thus earned he paid his tuition and supported himself for three years in the Plainfield Academy in Cumberland county. A portion of the time he taught school in the winter season and attended the academy during the summer months. In this way he prepared himself to enter Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa. He entered that institution in 1853, with the intention of taking a full course and graduating and preparing himself for the ministry ; but he remained there but two years, when he came west on a visit, and has remained here to the present.

He taught school in the winter of 1855 in Sangamon, and in Newburg in 1857 and 1858. In the spring of 1858 he embarked in mercantile business in the village of Oakley, and at about the same time was appointed station agent for the Great Western Railroad Company of 1859. He continued in their employ until 1864. He was also appointed post-master in 1859, and held the office until 1862.

In the fall of 1864 he rented land in sec. 5, T. 16, R. 4 E, and in 1870 purchased the farm upon which he at present resides. Mr. Nickey taught school eleven winters altogether in Macon county. On the 9th of October, 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary K. McCoy. She was born in Greenbrier county, Virginia, March 31st, 1825. Her parents, John and Sarah McCoy, moved to Urbana, Ohio, in 1832. Mrs. McCoy was a resident of that state at the time of her marriage. By this union there has been one son, named John McCoy Nickey. Mr. Nickey's occupation, since his residence in Illinois, has been for the greater part of the time that of a farmer and school-teacher. In 1873 his interest and zeal in educational matters received suitable recognition. He was elected county superintendent of schools ; he occupied the office from 1873 to 1877. His term was characterized throughout by efficiency and zeal that aided very much in bringing up the common schools of Macon county to their present high standard of excellence. Politically, he is a member of the democratic party. He cast his first presidential vote in 1856 for James Buchanan, and from that time to the present, in all national and state elections, has uniformly voted the ticket of his first choice. He has held various offices in his township, such as assessor, collector and school director, and in all has discharged the duties imposed upon him in a faithful and conscientious manner. In the summer of 1880 he received the nomination from the democratic party in convention assembled for the office of circuit clerk, and if elected will make an efficient and competent officer. He is a respected member of the ancient and honorable Order of Freemasonry, and is a member of Cerro-Gordo Lodge No. 600, Piatt county, Illinois.

This, in short, is a brief biographical sketch of one of Macon county's most worthy citizens. In his home he is a kind, hospitable gentleman, and, among his neighbors and friends who know him best, is regarded as an upright, honorable and honest man.

Captain William Grason

The subject of the following biographical sketch is a native of Ireland, and was born December 27th, 1832. His father, Robert Grason, emigrated to America in 1835. He settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained a few years, then removed to St. Louis, from there to Peoria, Illinois, and then back to St. Louis. He afterward went to New Orleans, when all trace of him was lost. He was in Ireland a shop-keeper. After he came to America he worked at the carpenter trade. He married Jane Glenn. She was of Scotch parentage. Her parents removed to the north part of Ireland to escape religious persecution. They were Episcopalians in faith. By this marriage there were ten children. William left home at the age of twelve years, and went to work on a farm. When at the age of sixteen years he saw the necessity of getting an education. He therefore went to a school and learned rapidly, and soon mastered the rudimentary principles and advanced to and became proficient in the higher grades, particularly in language and mathematics. He afterwards went on the river and learned ship and house carpentering. He worked at the trade until he was in his twenty-second year, when he came to Macon county, Illinois, and stopped in Oakley township and worked at his trade, and in the spring of 1855 he purchased land in section 9, T. 16, R. 4 E., and improved it, and here he remained until the sixth of September, 1862, when he enlisted as a private in Co. "A," 116th Regiment Illinois Volunteers. On the formation of the company he was elected firstsergeant. The regiment was organized in Decatur, and was ordered to Cairo and from there to Memphis, where it was brigaded with the 1st Battalion, 8th Regulars, 6th and 8th Missouri regiments, Morgan L. Smith Brigade commander. It formed a part of the 2d Division, 15th Army Corps, under command of Gen. AV. T. Sherman. The first service in which the regiment and brigade participated was the Tallehatchie march, after which they returned to Memphis, took boats and went down the river and made the first attack on Vicksburg, then fell back to Helena, Arkansas, and went up the AVhite river, cut oft' and attacked and captured Arkansas Post, then returned to the Mississippi again, where they were joined by Gen. McClernand, and participated in the siege and capture of Vicksburg. On the 22d of May, 1863, in the charge of Fort Hill Capt. Grason was shot through the lungs. He was sent home, where he remained until he recovered his health, after which he rejoined his command at Jacksonville, Alabama, and there on the 15th of February, 1864, had the ball extracted. He was also in the disastrous charge upon the works at Vicksburg on the 19th of May, 1863, when Co. A of the 116th regiment entered with thirty-one men, and after the charge stacked arms with but thirteen left.

He after joining his regiment participated with it in the siege and capture of Atlanta, and went with Sherman on his famous march to the sea, then to Savannah, where the 116th regiment took part in the assault upon Fort McAllister, and were the first inside of the works, closely followed by the 6th Missouri, then, on to Washington, where they participated in the Grand Review. Capt. Grason was promoted 1st Lieutenant, April 28th, 1863, and then to the captaincy of the company, and was mustered out as captain, June 7th, '65. He returned home, went to Scott co., Illinois, where his family was, and remained there two years', working at his trade ; then returned to Oakley township and re-engaged in cultivating his farm, at which he has continued to the present. On the 22d of April,

1855, he was united in marriage to Miss Helen E. Burrows, a native of Morgan county, Illinois, but a resident of Scott county at the time of her marriage. This marriage has been hallowed and blessed by eight children, six of whom are still liviug, five sons and one daughter. Their names are Charles Fremont, William Carlton, Robert Emmett, Franklin Glenn, Thomas Addis and Ida Belle. Charles F. is now in Oregon ; the rest are residents of Macon county. Politically Capt. Grason was one of the original republicans. He was among the few who gave their support to John C. Fremont, in

1856. He remained an active member of the party until 1876, when he espoused the independent or greenback movement, and supported Peter 'Cooper for the presidency. He has now returned to his first love, and is, as of old, an ardent and active supporter of republican principles. He takes great interest in all public affairs connected with his township or county, and has served upon the board of supervisors for four terms. While a member of that body he exercised great influence, and bore the reputation of being a careful and prudent officer, looking carefully after the interests of his constituents not only in his township, but in the entire county. During the year 1880 he was appointed census enumerator for his township. Capt. Grason is universally respected by his neighbors. He is a man of large heart and most generous impulses, genial and sociable, hospitable at his home, and possessed of much general and varied information ; we found him a man whose acquaintance it was a genuine pleasure to make.

The subject of this sketch is a native of Illinois. He was born in St. Clair county, June fifteenth, 1848. Archibald Coulter, his father was a native of South Carolina. He removed to Tennessee, then to Kentucky, and came to Illinois between the years 1825 and 1830. He remained in St. Clair county until 1866, when he removed to De Witt county, in this state, and was a resident of that county at the time of his death. His death occurred in the winter of 1875, and in the following manner : He had been to New York on a visit, and on his return home, while the train was stopping at Danville junction, he stepped off the cars and walked out upon the track. His absence from the cars was not noticed until after the train started, when his body was found on the track, the cars having passed over him, killing him instantly. During his life he was engaged in farming, milling and general merchandizing. He was twice married, and was the father of eight children. The subject of this sketch is the youngest of the family. He remained at home, and in his youthful days attended the public schools of his native county. He received a fair education therein,

When in his twenty-second year he went to De Witt county with his father, and worked two years in his mill on Salt Creek, and then got married and went on a farm, and remained so engaged for four years. In the winter of 1874 he came to Oakley township and bought his present mill property, and here he has remained actively engaged up to the present. On the 8th of September, 1868, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Stone. She is a native of Tennessee, but was a resident of De Witt county, Illinois, at the time of her marriage. This union has been blessed with three children living ; their names are - Lillie, Minnie, and Della Coulter.

Politically, Mr. Coulter is a member of the republican party. He cast his first presidential vote for U. S. Grant in 1872, and since that time has seen no reason to change his political principles. He is not a politician, nor does he take any more interest than to cast his vote as becomes the right and duty of every American citizen. Mr. Coulter is yet a young man just entering upon the threshold of business life as it were; but from the progress made thus far, and from the industry and activity displayed, it requires no prophetic mind to cast with unerring certainty and predict the future success of him who is the possessor of these traits of character.

In the neighborhood and among those with whom he has done business, he is regarded as a correct business man, honorable in all his dealings, a good neighbor and a kind friend.

Jacob Seitz, Esq

The ancestors of the Seitz family came to America from Germany before the Revolutionary war. They afterward removed to Canada, but before the war of 1812 returned to Pennsylvania. John Seitz, the father of Jacob, was born in Manheim, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He removed to Cumberland county, in the same state, where he remained until his death in 1856. He was a tailor by trade, and worked at the business the greater part of his life. He was three times married. The last wife was named Elizabeth Kline. She wTas born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. She came west and died in this county, in 1873. There were twelve children, seven by the last wife, five sons and two daughters. Jacob is the oldest of the latter family. He was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, October 15th, 1814. He worked on the farm and attended the subscription school in the winter season. When he was nineteen years of age he learned the tailor trade in Dover, York county, Pennsylvania. He worked at the business sixteen years, then quit it and engaged in farming, and still continues in that occupation.

Mr. Seitz remained in the land of his birth until May, 1857, when he came west and settled in Oakley township, Macon county, Illinois. Here he purchased eighty acres of land in section 26, T. 17, R. 3, of the Illinois Ceutral Railroad company. It was new land, and all the improvements have been made by him. A .fine view of his farm and residence can be seen on another page of this work.

On the 21st of June, 1836, he was united in marriage to Miss Barbara Nickey. She was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in 1815. She died September 4th, 1874. By this union there were ten children, seven sons and three daughters. Two of the daughters died. Their names are Mary Ann, wife of William Hiser; Elizabeth Jane, the wife of Conrad Enterline; David Wesley, farmer in Piatt county, Illinois; Jeremiah L., now a resident of McPherson county, Kansas ; Daniel Alexander, a farmer and resident of this county ; James Thompson, also of Macon county ; William Wilson, living at Lightner Station ; and Jacob Anderson, a resident of McPherson county, Kansas.

On the 15th of August, 1878, Mr. Seitz married Mrs. Mary Ann Baker, nee Kiser. She had by her first husband seven children, five boys and two girls. Mrs. Seitz was born in Clark county, Ohio. In politics Mr. Seitz was originally a democrat. He cast his first presidential vote for Martin Van Buren in 183(3. In 1852 hejoined the whig party and voted for Winfield Scott. In 1860 hevotedfor Lincoln, and since that time has been a member of the republican party. In 1878 he was elected justice of the peace for his township, an office he still holds and fills to the satisfaction of those who placed the scales of justice in his hands. In the neighborhood where Mr. Seitz has long lived, he is regarded as the best of neighbors and an honest man. This is the verdict of those who have known him the longest and best; socially he is of pleasant and agreeable manners, kind and considerate for the wants of others, and always trying to do unto others as he would have others do unto him.

Thomas Chambers

Was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, May 15th, 1827. James Chambers, his father, was also a native of the same state. He was a soldier in the war under the command of General William H. Harrison. In 1835 he moved to Indiana, where he lived eighteen months; then came to Illinois and settled in Vermilion county, and remained there six years, then came to Macon county, and settled permanently in Oakley township. He here entered forty acres of land, and purchased forty acres of school land in section 26, T. 17, R. 4 E. He remained in Oakley township until his death, which took place, August 25th, 1877, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He married Nancy Buoy. She was also a native of Kentucky. She died about the year 1855. By this marriage there were five children, three sons and two daughters ; all living except Mary, who was married to Daniel Dickey. Laban is the eldest son. He was a soldier in the war with Mexico, and was wounded at the battle of Cerro Gordo, and suffered the amputation of his right arm. Thomas is the youngest son and fourth in the family. He received but an indifferent education in his youth. Confinement in school-houses was irksome to his naturally bouyant disposition. He never could bear confinement. (He wanted to roam around and enjoy the fine free air. This is his disposition yet. After the family removed to Macon county, Thomas purchased land in section 21, Town 17, Range 4. It was unimproved. Here he has resided up to the present time, and now has one of the best farms in the township. He married Miss Mary, daughter of Robert and Jennie Gates. Mr. Gates was a native of Kentucky, and his wife of Tennessee. He died while on a trip to California in 1849, and Mrs. Gates died in Missouri.

There have been born to Thomas and Mary Chambers six children, five of whom are living. Their names are Margaret Ellen, wife of James Iv. Peck, Effie, Jane, Elizabeth Emma, and William R. Chambers. Politically Mr. Chambers is a republican. Before the formation of the Republican party he was an old-line whig, and cast his first presidential vote for General Taylor in 1848.

Mr. Chambers has always followed the occupation of farming and stock raising and stock trading, in all of which he has been very successful. He started in life poor ; and what he has, has been the accumulation of patient toil, the practice of economical habits. In his manners he is pleasant and agreeable, and iu his home a hospitable gentleman.

grandfather, William Holcomb, was a native of North Carolina. He emigrated at an early age and settled in Tennessee, and from there came to St. Clair county, Illinois, in the year 181 1. He was one of the rangers in the Indian wars and drew a pension from the government for services rendered as a soldier. He died at the advanced age of ninety-three years. He married Polly Rutherford ; John T. his son, and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in St. Clair county. He remained there until his death, the date of which was August 25th, 1855. He married Livina Potter, Sbe was also born in St. Clair county, Illinois, where she still resides. By this marriage there were six children, three of whom are living. T. O. is eldest of the family. He remained at home i until the breaking out of the late war. On the 8th of August, 1862, he enlisted for three years as a private in Company " H," 117th regiment, Illinois volunteers. The regiment was organized at camp Butler, Illinois. On the organization of the company Mr. Holcomb was elected sergeant. The regiment was brigaded at Memphis, Tennessee, and was attached, and known as the 2d brigade, 2d division, 16th army corps. Sergeant Holcomb participated with his regiment iu all the battles in which it was engaged, and was mustered out and honorably discharged August 5th, 1865, at the close of the war. He returned home, worked on a farm in the summer months, and taught school in the winter. He engaged in general merchandizing in Freeburg, Illinois, and on the 1st of June, 1879, came to Oakley, Macon county, where he engaged in general merchandizing and grain business, in which he still continues. On the 14th of September, 1869, he was married to Miss Clarinda J. Smith, of St. Clair county. By this union there have been five children ; three living, two boys and one girl. Their names are, Cassius, Bessie and T. O. Holcomb. His wife is a member of the Baptist Church. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M. Lodge, and also a member of Belleville Chapter R. A. M. No. 106. Politically he is a republican.

James Burley

The Burley family is an old one in the history of Pennsylvania. They came over with William Penn, and like him were Quakers. They settled in Bucks county, Pa., where John Burley, the father of James, was born. David Burley, the grandfather, was also a native of the same county. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and was connected during that memorable struggle with the quartermaster's department. His brother was also a captain in that war. David Burley married Sarah Shoemaker, a native of Pennsylvania, and removed with his family to Ohio in 1800, setling in what is now known as Adams county, near Marysville; he died in 1834. John Burley, his son, was born in 1788, and married Nancy Anderson, who was born in 1791. Her father was a native of Ireland. He indentured himself on board a vessel to pay passage to America; settled and married in New Jersey, where Mrs. Burley was born. John Burley remained in Ohio until 1834, when he came to Illinois and settled in Greene county, and remained where he first settled until his death, which occurred in 1846. His wife and mother of James died in the same place March 31st 1875.

until 1830, when he came west with a family that were moving to Illinois. He stopped first in Marshall county, where he lived one year, and then went to the lead mines at Galena, 111. The same year he enlisted as a soldier for service in the Black Hawk war under Captain De Long, in Colonel Dodge's regiment, and remained in the service until the war closed, when he went back to the mines and stayed there five years, when he returned to Greene county and engaged in farming. He farmed in Greene county until 1852, when he moved to Madison, and remained there until 1865, when he came to Macon county. In 1871 he purchased land in section 31, T. 17, R. 4 E., and there he has remained and continued cultivating the soil to the present.

On the 22d of October, 1843, he married Miss Mary Crull, who was born in Scioto county, Ohio. Her parents, Charles and Elizabeth Crull, emigrated to Illinois in 1840, and settled in Jersey county. By this marriage there have been six children, three of whom are living. The names of the children living and dead, are : Elizabeth, who died in her thirtieth year ; Geo. N., photographic artist, now a resident of Taylorville ; William C., a farmer and resident of Oakley township ; Sarah died in infancy ; James died in his sixteenth year ; and D. J. Burley is still beneath the parental roof. Politically, Mr. Burley was originally an old-line whig, and cast his first vote for Hugh L. White. In 1852 he voted for John P. Hale, abolition candidate. He was one of the original free soilers, and was opposed to the extension of slavery in the territories. In 1856 he voted for John C. Fremont. He continued to vote for republican candidates for national and state offices until 1876, when he voted for the prohibition candidate for president. He has been an advocate of temperance for over forty years. Farming has been Mr. Burley's occupation through life. It is not necessary to say that in this industry, he has been very successful. He started in life poor, and under adverse circumstances, but he is a man of firm will-power, and great industry. Being possessed of these necessary requisites, success was assured at the very outset of life. He is now the proud possessor of a good farm, finely improved, and under the best cultivation. He is one of the pioneers of the state. Fifty years have fled by since he became a citizen of Illinois, and during that time he has lived to see and help make the state the foremost in the great valley of the Mississippi.

IES in the extreme north-west corner of the county, and is bounded on the north by De Witt county, on the east by Maroa township, on the south by Illini township, on the west by Logan county. It is drained by the lake fork of Salt creek and Jones' fork and their tributaries.

This township is one of the youngest in the county - notwithstanding this fact, it is as flourishing and almost as far advanced in improvement as many of those older settled.

The first settlement began in the year 1845, and Amos Wright, who came from Pennsylvania and located on what is now section one, in that year, was the first settler. Here Mr. Wright built the first house in the township, immediately on his arrival.

The first school was taught by a Mr. Burns, at the residence of Samuel Brayden, in section one in the year 1856 The following year the first school-house was built on section eleven. It was a frame building.

The first sermon preached in the township was by the Rev. John Moore, in 1857. C. R. Robinson began preaching in 1857, and continued regular preaching for several years.

The introduction of improved stock was first made by Edward and James Jones in 1859, by the purchasing of thoroughbred short horns. The first blooded hogs were Poland Magee stock, and were brought from Butler county, Ohio, in 1856.

The first land entries are as follows : - Charles G. Draper entered March 4th, 1850, 40 acres in section No. 1, 40 acres in section No. 5, and 80 acres in section No. 6. On the same day Jacob Miller entered 155.43 acres in section No. 1 - all in township No. 18, north of range 1, east of the third P. M.

James Parker, elected in 1860; re-elected in 1861. A. Emery, elected in 1862; J. S. Parkei, elected in 1863; re-elected in 1864 and 1865. C. F. Emery, elected in 1866, and re-elected in 1867. T. B. Campbell, elected in 1868. Robert T. Morris, elected in 1869. Peter Bennett, elected in 1870. C- F. Emery, elected in 1871- D. Patterson, elected in 1872, and re-elected in 1873. Robert Morris, elected in 1874, and re-elected in 1875. Andrew Hawkyard, elected in 1876, re-elected each succeeding year, and is the present incumbent.

The school system is in a most prosperous condition. This is one of the few counties in the state that still holds its "school section," and from which it derives a revenue of thirteen or fourteen hundred dollars annually, making the school-tax less than any other township in the county. There are at present seven first-class schools, all well attended, and each district free from debt. The township was named in honor of Benj. R. Austin, who was a prominent man in the early history of the county.

Bio Graphics

Among the early settlers of Austin township was the Parker family, who came here in the fall of the year 1855. According to family tradition the Parkers came from Ireland, and settled in Monmouth county, New Jersey, at a period early in the history of that state. The great-great-grandfather of W. H. Parker, was the first to emigrate to America. The lady whom he married was stolen from her home when a girl, and nothing was known of her origin, though she is supposed to have been of Scotch descent. She was of large frame and light complexion, and for several generations afterward the family partook of those characteristics. William Parker, grandfather of W. H. Parker, married a woman of English descent, named Shepherd, of low stature and heavy build, and the Parkers have since mostly been of smaller size. Intermarriages with other families of low-statured and dark-complexioned people have contributed to vary the original type. The great-grandfather of W. H. Parker lived and died in New Jersey. From his first marriage this branch of the family is descended, and by his second wife came the Parker family, of which Joel Parker, ex-governor of New Jersey, is a member. William Parker, grandfather of W. H. Parker, was born in Monmouth county, New Jersey, in 1769, and died of paralysis in the year 1820. Sarah Shepherd, his wife, was born in 1780, and died in 1859.

James Shepherd Parker, father of W. H. Parker, was born near Freehold, in Monmouth county, New Jersey, on the 12th of May, 1815. He was the eighth of a family of ten children. The school which he attended was a subscription school, two or three miles distant from his home. He was naturally quick at figures, and obtained a good business education. In the year 1835, when he was twenty years old, the family moved to Ohio, settling in Butler county. For four years he worked by the month in Butler and Warren counties, most of the time on a farm, though he was also employed on the Big Miami Canal. On the 11th of March, 1840, he was married near Franklin, in Warren county, to Rachel Hankinson, who was born in Warren county, Ohio, on the 24th of

September, 1820. The Hankinson family came from Monmouth county, New Jersey, to Franklin township, in Warren county, Ohio, in the year 1818, when the Indians were yet plentiful in that part of the state. They traveled through Pennsylvania over the mountains to Pittsburg, and thence came on a raft down the Ohio to Cincinnati, and from there to Butler county. James Hankinson, father of Rachel Hankinson, was born in New Jersey, in 1787, and died in Ohio, at the age of ninety-one. His wife, Sarah Cheeseman, was born in 1796, and died at the age of seventy-one; she was the daughter of William and Lydia Cheeseman. Rachel Hankinson Parker was the fourth of seven children. When James Hankinson came to Ohio he worked for a bushel of corn a day, worth twentyfive cents, and for the same wages cut wood by the cord or split rails by the hundred. He accumulated considerable monev, and died well-off.

A few days after his marriage, James S. Parker moved on a farm in Preble county, Ohio. His capital at that time consisted of about nine hundred dollars. After living on a rented farm two years he purchased land, and became the owner of a farm of three hundred and twenty acres. In February, 1853, having sold his farm in Preble county for twelve thousand dollars, he moved to Franklin, Warren county, Ohio. In the fall of 1854, he emigrated to Illinois. He first settled in De Witt county, near the present town of Ivenuey, where he resided till September, 1855, when he moved to Macon county, settling on section 1, of Austin township. Here he purchased two hundred and forty acres of land, of which eighty were improved. Seven or eight years afterward he built a new house on the same section, in which he resided as long as he lived in Austin township. He increased the amount of his land, and owned, bought, and paid for altogether nearly two thousand acres, eight hundred in Austin township and the balance in Maroa township. Part of this land he set apart in his lifetime to his children. He was a man of great industry and energy, worked hard, possessed good business capacity, prompt habits, and each year increased his wealth. He finally concluded to quit farming and retire from active business life, and in February, 1877, he moved to Maroa, where he lived till his death on the 8th of May, 1880. He had five children, all of whom are living. Their names are as follows : William H. Parker, born May the 1st, 1841 ; Sarah Jane, now Mrs. Anthony Sloutenborough, born November 10th, 1843; James Hankinson Parker, born November 12th, 1846, farming on the old homestead in Austin township; John P. Parker, born March 14th, 1853, farming in Maroa township ; Lydia Eleanor, born May 25th, 1858, now the wife of Abraham H. Bates, of Maroa.

The portrait of James S. Parker appears at the head of this sketch. He was about five feet five andj a half inches in height, dark complexion, black hair and light blue eyes. His weight was about one hundred and sixty pounds. He was a man well thought of in Macon county. He filled several public positions in Austin township ; from 1860 to 1872 he was treasurer of the township, and for eight successive years represented it on the board of supervisors, being the first to fill that office after the adoption of township organization, as he was also the first treasurer. He was also assessor. He was, however, a man who paid close attention to his own business affairs, and cared little about holding public position. He was honest and honorable in all his transactions, and though he was ambitious to acquire wealth, it never came to his hands by any other means than that which was strictly honest and creditable. He possessed a high moral character. About twelve years before his death he joined the Methodist Protestant Church. He was charitable to any one whom he thought deserving, and contributed frequently to the necessities of the unfortunate. He had been blessed with a strong constitution, which during his life withstood an immense amount of hard labor. His energy, perseverance and careful attention to business, were the secrets of his success. His disposition was cheerful and lively. His first vote for president was cast for Van Buren, the democratic candidate in 1836, but in

1840, he supported Gen. Harrison, the whig candidate, and was afterward connected with the whig party till its dissolution. He then became a republican, voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and during the rebellion was an earnest republican and a strong Union man. His death was lamented by a large circle of friends, and his remains now repose in the grave-yard belonging to Wright's Grove church, adjoining the farm on which he spent so many years of his busy life.

William H. Parker

1841. He was thirteen years old when he came to Illinois. The most of his education he received before leaving Ohio. He only went to school sixty days after coming to Macon county, on account of the inconvenience of attending school. No schools had been established when the family first came to Austin township. He lived at home till his marriage, which occurred on the 28th of December, 1864, to Eliza C. Shaw, daughter of William G. Shaw, who resided near Clinton, De Witt county. She was born near Loveland, Claremont county, Ohio, on the 8th of April, 1844. Her father emigrated to Illinois in 1853. In March, 1865, Mr. Parker moved on his present farm, in section 11 of Austin township. His first wife died on the 12th of August, 1869. On the 28th of June, 1871, he was married to Frances M. Cornwell, who was born near Darbyville, Pickaway county, Ohio, on the 27th of January, 1847, and came to this state in 1855. He owns a fine farm of four hundred and eighty acres of land, a double page illustration of which appears elsewhere. He has four children living, one by his first, and three by his second marriage : Florence, born October 25th, 1865 ; James Elliott, born October 4th, 1872 ; Rachel Eleanor, born April 30th, 1875 ; Thomas William, born March 1st, 1878.

One child, Lawrence, by his first marriage, died at the age of twenty-four days, sixteen days after its mother's death. In his politics, Mr. Parker was formerly a republican, casting his first vote for President for Lincoln in 1864. He was one of the first to take an interest in the Farmers' movement, and assisted in organizing the first Farmers' Club in Austin township, and the first county Farmers' Club in Macon county. On the formation of the National party he was among the foremost in giving his adhesion to the principles of the Greenback organization, believing that both the old parties were wrong in their theories about the currency, and that the finances of the country were managed in the interest of a class rather than the mass of the people. He is a man of liberal and enterprising disposition, and stands well among the representative farmers of Macon county.

Andrew Hawkyard

Wiio has been supervisor of Austin township since 1876, was born at Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England, February 28th, 1833. His grandfather, Robert Hawkyard, was a woolen manufacturer. His father, William B. Hawkyard, followed several occupations, among which were those of a gardener and stone-mason. His mother's maiden name was Maria Broadbent. The subject of this sketch was the fifth of eight children. He was raised in Yorkshire. He had but little chance to go to school, and the most of his education was obtained by his own efforts after he was grown and had come to America. When eight years old he went into the cotton mills, at Mosley Bottoms, Lancashire, and was so employed till he was seventeen. He then worked for a doctor four years. In January, 1855, he married, Hannah, daughter of Thomas Bottomly, a native of Yorkshire. In 1856 he borrowed the money to pay his passage, and came to America. It took eight weeks and five days to make the voyage. Landing at New York, he went at once to Manayunk, above Philadelphia, and found employment in the carpet mills, where he worked two years. In 1858 he came to Decatur, Illinois, and was employed by William F. Montgomery to build a fence around sections eight and nine, in Austin township, which Mr. Montgomery owned. Mr. Hawkyard has lived in Austin township ever since. In the spring of 1859 Montgomery rented him land and furnished a team, and he began farming for himself. In 1863 he purchased forty acres of land, from the Illinois Central Railroad company, which he still owns, and on which his present residence stands. He improved this tract, made some money by grazing cattle, in 1867 bought one hundred and twenty acres additional, on four years time, and met the payments as they became due. He owns two hundred and eighty acres of land in sections four and ten, of Austin township. His farm is well-improved. He erected a fine barn iu 1877. He has been one of the prosperous citizens of the township. He began life without any means, and all that he has accumulated has been the result of his own efforts. His children are John Thomas, Frederick L., William H., Henrietta, George E., Eva and Eva May. The two last are deceased. He has filled the offices of school director and township collector. He was appointed supervisor in 1876, to fill the unexpired term of J. S. Parker. He was elected to this position in 1877, and has been re-elected every term in succession since. The first .vote he cast was as a democrat. When the national greenback party came into existence he believed its views on the finances to be correct, and for a time supported that party, and voted for Peter Cooper for President in 1876. He now believes the issues between the democrats and republicans, to be paramount to all others, and he is a democrat.

Aquilla Toland, a former resident of Austin township, was a native of Ohio. His father, Dr. Toland, was born in the state of Maryland, emigrated to Ohio at an early day and settled in Madison county, where he resided for a number of years until his death in December, 1866. He practiced medicine nearly half a century in that part of Ohio. He was a man of great enterprise and public spirit, and contributed greatly to the development and improvement of the locality in which he lived. Elizabeth Lewis, Mr. Toland's mother, was of Irish descent, and born in Madison county, Ohio, and belonged to one of the pioneer families of that state. Aquilla Toland was born at London, Madison county, Ohio, on the fourth day of July, 1840. He was the youngest of a family of four children. His boyhood was spent in his native county. He had excellent opportunities for acquiring an education, and attended the common schools and an academy at London. His father desired that he should enter one of the professions, but he preferred an out-door life. His inclinations ran in the direction of farming and stock-raising.

On the breaking out of the war of the rebellion he was one of the first men to offer his services to the government in Madison county. He was then not yet twenty-one years of age. On the 19th of April, 1861, he enlisted under the three months call for troops in Co. C. Seventeenth regiment Ohio Volunteers He was chosen orderly sergeant of his company. His term of service having expired he re-enlisted in Co. A. One Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio regiment. On the fifth of February, 1863, Gov. Tod commissioned him second lieutenant. During the sickness of the captain of the company, who was his brother-in-law, he commanded the company for nearly a year. While a member of the Seventeenth Ohio regiment he served in West Virginia, and while with the One Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio, in Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia, taking part in several battles among which were those of Mission Ridge, Shiloh, and the siege of Vicksburg.

After the close of his service in the army he returned to Ohio. In 1865 he came to Macon county with the purpose of improving a large track of land in Austin township. At that time few improvements had been made on the prairie of that part of the county. He was married on the fourth of November, 1868, to Lydia A. Smith, daughter of Edward O. Smith, one of the old residents of Decatur. In 1870 Mr. and Mrs. Toland took up their residence in Austin township on the farm, which consists of thirteen hundred and fifty [1350] acres, and lies iu sections thirty-one and thirty-two. Since her husband's death, which occurred on the 15th of February, 1878, the farm, an illustration of which appears on another page, has been under Mrs. Toland's management. Mr. Toland was a republican in politics. He possessed strong convictions on all subjects, was charitable and generous in his disposition, and steadfast and devoted in his attachments. He was a man of the highest personal honor, and his word could always be relied on. He had excellent business capacity, was active and energetic, and among the foremost to lead in public improvements in his part of the county.

David Patterson

David Patterson, one of the representative citizens of Austin township, is a native of Scotland, and was born at Hightae in Dumfriesshire, April, 1835. When he was six years old his father, whose name was George Patterson, died ; and when he was eight he was left alone in the world by the death of his mother, and then went to live with an aunt, with whom he had his home three years. He received small wages one year for herding a cow, and when he was eleven, hired on a farm, and received some pay for his labor during the summer, and in the winter-time went to school three months, working night and morning to pay his way. He afterward found employment in herding sheep on the mountains till he was about fifteen, when he bound himself as an apprentice to the carpenter's trade in Dumfriesshire, the man by whom he had previously been employed going as security on the apprenticeship bond.

While serving this apprenticeship he went to school another quarter, which completed his opportunities for obtaining an education. He had attended school altogether only about a year. Most of his education he obtained by his own efforts in later life. He served an apprenticeship of four years, and learned the trade of a carpenter thoroughly, and worked as a journeyman about a year, and then made up his mind to come to America. He was without means, and borrowed the money with which to pay his passage across the ocean. The voyage was a long one, occupying seven weeks and three days. He was about twenty when he emigrated to America.

He at once proceeded to Sangamon county, in this state, where he had some relatives living, and found employment at his trade at Atlanta, in Logan county, and after working there a couple of weeks, went to Buffalo Heart Grove in Sangamon county, and subsequently went to Missouri, and lived in Benton and St. Clair

In partnership with a cousin, he bought four hundred head of cattle in Missouri, with the intention of bringing them to Illinois, and disposing of them at an advanced price. This was toward the close of the war. The speculation proved unfortunate, and swept away almost entirely the means he had previously accumulated. On returning to Illinois, he worked at his trade at Mt. Pulaski in Logan county, but subsequently went back to Missouri, and worked for a year and a-half at Sedalia, and disposed of his farm in St. Clair county, when he came back to Illinois.

In addition to carrying on his trade he managed a farm, which he had rented in Logan county, and by this means managed to get a start iq the world. He accumulated sufficient to purchase fifty-six acres of land in Sec. 18, T. 18, R. 1 E., on which he has resided ever since. He then began to devote his entire attention to farming, and has been one of the successful and representative agriculturists of Austin township, owning three hundred and sixtyeight acres of land in Macon county and eighty in Logan county. His residence is one of the best in the township. The house and porches cover about fourteen hundred square feet of ground.

He was married in 1868 to Elizabeth Wright, a native of Scotland, by whom he had three children, of whom one is deceased. She died in September, 1875. His present wife, whom he married in October, 1876, was Mrs. Fannie Parks. Her maiden name was Fannie Smith, and she was born in Effingham county in this state.

Mr. Patterson has been a democrat in politics. On financial subjects his belief coincides with that of the national greenback party, whose candidates he has sometimes supported. He has enjdyed the confidence of the people of his part of the county, and has served a number of terms as school director. For six years he was township trustee, and represented his township on the board of supervisors for two years.

Joseph W. Emery

Joseph W. E.wery, one of the old residents of Austin township is a native of Canterbury, Merrimac county, New Hampshire, and was born on the fifteenth of January, 1813. The Emery family, which was of English origin, settled at an early period at West Newbury, Massachusetts. The old homestead - home of the early members of the family - has been in the possession of the Emerys for several generations. Josiah Emery, the grandfather of the subject of this biography, moved from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, and settled in the town of Sanbornton, now Tilden. Nathan Emery, Mr. Emery's father, was born and raised in Sanbornton. He married Betsey McCrillis, who was of Scotch-Irish descent, and a native of Canterbury. Both the Emery and McCrillis families have been remarkable for their vigor and long life. They show a noticeable freedom from disease, and the tendency towards longevity has been marked for several generations. Among the ancestors many intances of death at an advanced age have occurred ; very few passed away before reaching seventy years. Joseph W. Emery was the ninth of a family of sixteen children, of whom fourteen grew to maturity, and thirteen married. His father owned a farm, and was a carpenter by trade. He was a man of considerable intelligence, was well versed in surveying and civil engineering, and was very fond of reading - a habit which he transmitted to most of his children. His children all attained good substantial English educations. He believed in education, and gave his children ample opportunity to attend school. Mr. Emery has one brother, Josiah, who graduated at Union College, New York, and is now engaged in the practice of the law at Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Another brother came to Illinois, and is editor of the Peoria Transcript ; another brother settled in Indiana, and the others remained in New England. Mr. Emery made that part of New Hampshire in which he was born his home till he was seventeen.

In the year 1835, he left home and went to Rhode Island and found employment on the canal, running from Providence to Worcester, Massachusetts. He subsequently workqd at Worcester. In the month of February, 1840, he was married at Upton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, to Frances R. Leland, a member of an old New England family. After he was married he engaged in farming at Upton, and resided there till 1850, when he moved back to Canterbury, New Hampshire. He formed a partnership with his brother Nathan, and undertook running a saw-mill at Canterbury, which he carried on six years. His first wife died on the seventeenth of September, 1853. Frances A. Sanborn, a native of Sanbornton, New Hampshire, became his second wife on the sixteenth of February, 1854. She was a daughter of Simon D. Sanborn. Her ancestors had settled there at an early period, and the town received its name in their honor. The saw-mill busiiless not proving renumerative, he determined to emigrate to the West. Illinois was at that time attracting settlers by the thousand from the Eastern states. Many purchased land from the Illinois Central Railroad company. In the fall of 1866, he reached Macon county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land, the same track on which he now lives, in section eight of Austin township. After spending the winter at Clinton, he brought his family to the township the following spring. Few settlements had at that time been made. Almost the entire township was unoccupied prairie land, and he had little expectation that it would ever reach its present state of cultivation and improvement. There is now only one other person besides himself living in the township, who was the head of a family, at the time he took up his residence in it. He has had eleven children, of whom four are now living ; Ellen, Betsy, Charles and Clarence. The three oldest are by his first, and the last by his second marriage.

He has taken an active interest in jiolitics, and has filled several offices in the township. He was originally a whig, and supported that party in opposition to the democracy. He was one of the first to ally himself with the republican organization, of which he has since been a steadfast supporter. For four years he served as treasurer of Austin township, and has also filled the office of assessor four times. He is a man of positive convictions. He is now one of the oldest citizens of the township, and is well-known to the older settlers of Macon county.