14

FORD COUNTY, ILLINOIS

 

became known, of course the notes depreciated in value, and many persons lost considerable sums of money from this cause. In fact, no one knew whether the notes he held were good for anything or not.

The winter of 1857-58 was rather unsteady. There was not much frost, and the snow that occasionally fell in great quanti­ties soon thawed off. The roads were about half frozen, which made hauling wood for fuel an impossibility, and many of the settlers got badly discouraged.

At this time tea and coffee were almost unknown among the settlers. In fact the only coffee used was made out of browned corn, sweetened with a kind of rough molasses made from sorghum. This was first introduced by Mark Parsons in the spring of 1857, at which time he received from Mr. J. O. Norton, of Wash­ington, D.C., two or three packages of the seed. This he sowed, carefully harvesting the seeds produced from it, and making the juice from the stalk into molasses.

The Pan Handle was at this time infested with wolves and badgers. They abounded mostly in Township 27, where they seemed to make their headquarters. The badgers were most frequently found on Section 11, where there is a long sand ridge known as " Mount Thunder," and to this point hunters frequently went, and a number of these animals were killed.

The winter of 1859-60 was dry and cold, not much snow fell, and the corn which was light was gathered before the ground froze, and a quantity of fall plowing was done.

This winter surprise parties became quite fashionable, and notwithstanding the fact that the settlers lived long distances apart, were well attended. Sociables were also in order, and a company often came over from Onarga, bringing good music with them.

We have now come to one of the most uneventful years in the early settlement of the Pan Handle, and of 1860 there is little to record.

Spring commenced early, and the small grain was mostly in by the end of March. Fine rains set in in April, and everything was lovely. It will be remembered by the first settlers that the ground squirrels were very annoying this year. They would follow the planter, and root the corn out of the hills from one end of the field to the other.

The principal trading point of the settlers north of the south line of Town 26, was Chatsworth, and all south of this line went to Onarga.

Regular religious services were had in the Marston School­ house in Town 25, every Sabbath, conducted by Mr. Foster and Mr. Needham, one on one Sunday and the other on the next. The Sabbath school was conducted with Saul C. Burt as Super­intendent, and G. B. Winters as teacher of the Bible class, and S. K. Marston of the other scholars. This school was noted for its Bible discussions, conducted principally by Messrs. Winters and Wyman, and sometimes by S. C. Burt.

The Sunday school in the northern township was held at the homes of A. McKinney, Robert Hall and a few other houses. Mr. Hall was Superintendent and A. McKinney teacher of the Bible class. Mr. Hall was an active worker in the Sabbath school, and taught one of the younger classes.

As a rule, Sunday was strictly observed by the entire settlement, and it was a rare thing to see anyone doing any work on that day.

This year, 1860, the money in the county began to fail. The Collectors of the different townships had been taking the Illinois bank's shin-plaster bills, and when they came to settle with the Auditor, they found that nothing but gold would be accepted, and the consequence was that the school funds were greatly reduced. Before the Collectors began their work, the Board of Supervisors had ordered that the moneys of certain banks named should be accepted in payment, but before the day of settlement arrived, these banks had suspended then money was worthless.

Upon the settlement of the Collectors, the Board of Supervisors convened and caused the deficiency to be properly propor­tioned among the different funds as fairly as possible.

This fall, the price of all kinds of country produce went away down. Oats sold for 7 or 8 cents per bushel, spring wheat for from 30 to 40 cents, good dressed hogs for from $1.50 to $2 per 100 pounds, and everything else that farmers had to sell was down in the same way.

The following is a list of names of those who went from the Pan Handle to fight for the preservation of the Union:

Returned safely -- A. S. Bavuse, Fred Foot, Henry Phelps, R. A. Pope, Rob Ferris, Jacob Brown, Ed Kent.  Mr. Stoneback, James Feeley, H. Eccleston, D. Kingsley, Morris Burt,        John Havens, Ed Havens, Albert Holmes and S. B. Lyman.

Killed or missing -- Thomas Hahn, Joseph Law.

Some of those enlisted in Company F, Twenty-fifth Regiment Infantry, under Capt. R. W. Andrews, others went into the Cavalry in Company M, Ninth Regiment, Capt. E. R. Knight. All who went from the Pan Handle in these companies, were credited to Iroquois County, as residents from that point.

I must now go back to 1858 and give your readers an ac­count of how we that year celebrated the Fourth of July in Beset Grove.

About 400 people were present, and we had a grand good time. Addresses were delivered by E. L. Gibson, G. B. Winter, G. H. Thompson and other local talent. The Prairie Glee Club, led by S. K. Marston, discoursed excellent music, and Seth Tur­ner, the Captain of S. K. Marston's ox team, helped to enthuse us with his rhymes.

This season (1864), the price of corn and other products ran up pretty high. Corn was sold for 60 cents per bushel, and some farmers who held theirs over, got as much as 85 cents.  Oats sold for from 40 to 50 cents per bushel, and barley ran up to $2.50. This year, Peter Van Antwerp had sowed quite a large patch of barley, and raised sixty bushels to the acre. This he sold for $2.50 per bushel.

Rev. Charles Granger, of Button Township, writes: "The writer and a few others organized what is now called the Con­gregational Church of Christ at Paxton, a few months after its organization at a village called Prospect City. The church was named the Union Church of Christ of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River. With that name the church assisted in organ­izing and joined the Illinois Central East Association of Congre­gational ministers. Within a year after its organization, the writer (the first minister of the church) instituted a series of re­ligious meetings, which the Head of the church approved by a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  After laboring about four years, the writer gave up the charge because of ill health. Shortly thereafter, the church changed its name to Congrega­tional. Although the Methodists had a class and week-day preaching, the Union Church instituted the first regular Sabbath preaching."

In May, 1854, Robert Blackstock, journeying from his home in Indiana westward, passed through what is now Ford County, and found a Methodist Episcopal society at Trickel Grove.

Services were held in John Dops' log cabin, which afterward became the William Walker homestead, in Button Township. On careful inquiry, he found this to be the first and at that time the only Methodist Episcopal society in the present county of Ford.  It was organized in 1848, being the northwest appointment of the Danville Circuit. A history of the Methodist Church appears elsewhere in this work. Many of the facts, especially as to early events, were furnished by Mr. Blackstock.

It is related of Rev. W. H. H. Moore, who was on this cir­cuit in 1855, that a Yankee clock-peddler, passing through this new settlement, had stopped over night at a house at Trickel Grove, where religious services were to be held on the following day. Having displayed his clocks in the largest room, and, to show their time-keeping qualities, had carefully wound and set them. When the preacher was in the midst of his sermon, the services being held in the "clock-room," these clocks began their work of noting the hour of twelve. All the fervor and eloquence of the frontier itinerant were not sufficient to hold the attention of his congregation, and it is feared that the labors of that day were in vain.

Mr. Blackstock says that in 1862 was held the first Sunday school convention for Ford and Iroquois Counties. This conven­tion was held on a Sabbath day in the freight depot at Loda. The active participants were the resident ministers of Paxton and Loda, Mr. Weaver, Mr. Search and others.

Some two years later, a similar convention was held at the court house in Paxton.

We are indebted to Edgar N. Stevens for the following items compiled from the files of the Paxton Record.

The first number of the Paxton Record was published Feb­ruary 9, 1865, by N. E. Stevens, with D. S. Crandall associate editor. The office was in a building which is now a part of the residence of John McMurray, just south of the old Patton Block. The building was small and the office unpretentious, but of ample size to meet the demands of the town. It has grown steadily ever since, keeping pace with the demand for good work and ex­perienced workmen.     

Among the first items of interest we notice was this: About the first of March, 1865, the Legislature passed an act incorpor­ating the town of Paxton.

On Thursday, May 4, of the same year, the mammoth grain warehouse of Buck & Hall, was destroyed by fire. The loss was $14,000; insurance, $7,800.

In the spring of 1865, the town was in a prosperous condition and many new buildings were erected, among them the Methodist Episcopal Church, the basement of which was used for a Young Ladies' Seminary, conducted by Mrs. Buckland. In June, of that year, there were the following number of business houses in the town: Five dry goods and groceries, three grocery stores, one warehouse, one flouring mill, two lumber yards, two drug stores, one printing office, one dentist, five physicians, four law­yers, one hardware store, one land agency, one furniture ware­house, one seeding machine manufactory, two hotels, one agricultural warehouse, one express office, one watch-maker, one meat market, one photograph gallery, one nursery, two shoe, four blacksmith, two wagon, one gunsmith, two carpenter and one paint shops, one saddlery, one millinery, one sulky cultivator works, one real estate agency, two tobacconists, one furniture store, one bakery and one plow factory.

About this time, the Meharry Church, four miles west of town, was built by the farmers.

The corner-stone of the Congregational Church was laid with appropriate ceremonies, August 18, 1865.           .

The 4th of July, 1865, was celebrated at Ten Mile Grove, by a large concourse of citizens and Sunday school children. There was also a celebration at Trickel Grove.

R. S. Buckland, while on a tour of observation in Missouri, June 18, 1865, accidentally shot himself. His remains were buried in the old cemetery.  He was a prominent and enterpris­ing citizen of Paxton.

A division of the organization known as the Grand  Army of the Republic was formed at Paxton in October, 1866.

The United Presbyterian Church, a large edifice capable of accommodating 600 persons, was dedicated March 11, 1867.

Pells' block, a three-story brick building with fifty feet front, was completed in the summer of 1867. It was built by W. H. Pells and was destroyed by fire in the year 1874.

On the 6th of November, 1867, the citizens, legal voters of Ford County, gave an overwhelming majority in favor of taking $112,000 stock in the Lafayette, Bloomington & Mississippi Railway.

Clark's block, an elegant three-story brick building, 50x80 feet, and 45 feet in height, was finished in the fall of 1867. R. Clark, of Paxton, was and is the owner.

The fall of 1867 was remarkable for the heavy sales of real estate made by local dealers. One firm in Paxton sold 9,000 acres within thirty days. The sales of the same firm, for the five weeks ending December 5, aggregated 14,603 acres.

The number of inhabitants added to the county during the year ending July 1, 1867, was 1,750.

The first seven days of May, 1868, will long be remembered on account of the unprecedented amount of rain. The meteor­ological report shows that amount was 3.57 inches, almost as much as for any month during the preceding four months. The storms were accompanied by thunder and lightning, the pyro­technic display being most beautiful and magnificent.

A hurricane passed over Paxton Tuesday, May 26, 1868, stripping the steeple from the United Presbyterian Church. This was the finest church edifice in the city, and the spire was beauti­fully proportioned to the building. The damage resulting there­from was estimated at about $1,100.

Paxton was visited by a heavy fire on Monday, January l8, 1869. The fire broke out in a building occupied by Travis, Hall & Co., as a hardware store, the second story being occupied by L. A. Dodd as a dwelling. The losers were Travis Hall & Co., hardware dealers, $1,100; interest in building, $1,400; no insur­ance; L. A. Dodd, household goods, $500, insured; interest in building, $1,000, uninsured; S. L. Day, interest in building, $1,000, uninsured; J. McCormick, druggist, loss on building, $3,000, insured for $1,500; loss on stock, $500; N. A. Hall, restaurant, damage on stock, $200; Mrs. S. S. Lantz, daguerre­otype gallery, loss on stock, $300, insured; loss on household goods, $200; Scott & McDaniel, dry goods, loss on building, $2,000; insured for $1,500; Masonic Lodge, on furniture, $200; C. H. Wyman, on building, $2,000, with no insurance. The origin of the fire was unknown. The advantage of brick over wood as a building material was demonstrated in the case of Pells' block, which escaped comparatively unscathed, though subjected to an intense heat.

On the 27th of March, excavations had been commenced for the foundations of five brick buildings to occupy the site of those destroyed by fire.

The engineer corps, engaged in running the line of the L., B. & M. Railroad through Paxton, arrived March 23, 1870, under charge of Col. Morgan.

The assessment returns of Ford County, for the year 1870, amount to $2,037,762. The number of acres under cultivation were, of wheat, 8,645; corn, 50,202; other field products, 12,969.

Enterprise was the name of a village platted in Township 27 (Drummer), at the crossing of the L., B. & M. and G., C. & S. Railroads, by J. B. Lott, in November, 1870. The location was favorable as to commercial facilities and the name of the village has since been changed to Gibson City. It is now one of the most flourishing town of the county. As its original name im­plies, Gibson City is remarkable for its enterprise and thrift. It is the second town in the county in size and population, is pro­vided with gas-light, has good sidewalks, telephone connection with Saybrook and Bloomington, and other modern improve­ments.

Following is the population of Ford County by towns as obtained by N. E. Stevens in the census of 1870:

 

Paxton (corporation)............................................. ...1,820

Patton.................................................................. ...1,785

Button................... ................................................... 634

Dix........................................................................... 637

Drummer.................................................................. 608

Sullivant.................................................................... 131

Peach Orchard.......................................................... 333

Wall.......................................................................... 547

Lyman...................................................................... 679

Brenton..................................................................... 765

Piper City (corporation).............................................. 807

Pella......................................................................... 545

Mona........................................................................ 342

Rogers...................................................................... 581

                                                                             _____

Total....................................................................... 9,214

 

A destructive storm of sleet visited Paxton and vicinity from the 12th to the 14th of January, 1871. Every building, fence and tree was encased in an icy coat of mail nearly an inch in thickness. Scarcely a building escaped damage from leakage to a greater or less extent. The greatest loss sustained was to fruit and shade trees, some of those from four to five inches in diame­ter being either broken off entirely or stripped of their limbs.

The Paxton Flax Mill was built in the summer of 1871. The main building is 108x30 feet.

M. L. Sullivant finished husking his corn for 1871 on the 29th day of February, 1872. His crop aggregated 450,000 bushels. Mr. Sullivant was at that time proprietor of Burr Oaks farm, comprising some 42,000 acres.

The last rail of the Lake Erie & Western Railway was laid February 22, 1872.

Kirk's Station, Clarence Post Office, was established in May, 1872, on the line of the L., B. & M. Railway, about six miles east of Paxton.

A terrible railroad accident was the cause of much sorrow in Paxton and vicinity June, 1872. On the 17th of that month, a construction train ran from the track and four men were instantly killed and twenty-two injured. Two of the latter died

 

 

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