UNIVERSITY OF 

ILL ?RARY 

AT U.. AMPAIGN 

ILL HIS i. SURVEY 









A STANDARD HISTORY 

OF 

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ILLINOIS 



An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular 

Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, 

Industrial, Civic and Social Development. 

A Chronicle of the People, with 

Family Lineage and Memoirs 



J. R. STEWART 

Supervising Editor 

Assisted by a Board of Advisory Editors 



VOLUME I 



ILLUSTRATED 



THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 

1918 



ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY 






PREFACE 

Champaign County is representative of all that is best in American 
life. To the state and the country at large it is chiefly known for its 
extraordinary agricultural capacity and for the great University which 
has been planted in its midst, and which has drawn to its territory 
thousands of able and inspiring men and women. Many have remained 
to become a part of its higher life, both in intellectual and moral en- 
deavors. Those who know Champaign County more intimately, natives 
or old-time residents, also appreciate the. solidity of its material wealth 
and the sturdy fiber of its sons and daughters. There is no county in 
the United States which has been more faithfully cultivated and the 
richness of whose soil has been conserved in a more intelligent and 
scientific manner. The grains, the fruits and the live stock of the 
county, the artificial drainage, and the various auxiliaries to wholesome 
and prosperous living, are of the same high grade as its men and women. 

All that is best in American life, as we find it illustrated in Cham- 
paign County, has been set forth in this work, as far as the strength, the 
industry and the ability of the editor, with the invaluable assistance of 
his associates, could realize the high and broad aim of the history. In 
this connection we cannot but refer in sorrow to the death of Judge 
J. 0. Cunningham, who, though feeble in health as the work progressed, 
freely gave of his time and advice. Had he not been called away, he 
would have made several special contributions to this history. It has 
been thought both wise and expedient, therefore, to make generous 
extracts from the history which he had already published. 

In taking farewell of Judge Cunningham and this history of Cham- 
paign County, it is appropriate to call special attention to the prospectus 
which was issued by the company of publication, a paper which was a 
promise to those interested in the progress of the county, to cover a 
multitude of topics relating to its past and present activities; and, as 
the history goes forth, to assert that all the promises therein contained 
have been fulfilled, as far as is humanly possible. 

J. R. STEWART. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTEE I 
PHYSICAL FEATURES : 1 

CHAPTER II 
HISTORIC RULE OF THE WHITES 35 

CHAPTER III 
FLEETING GLIMPSES OF THE RED MAN ; 86 

CHAPTER IV 
PIONEER SETTLERS AND EVENTS 96 

CHAPTER V 
COUNTY MATTERS AND INSTITUTIONS 135 

CHAPTER VI 
LEGAL AND MEDICAL 172 

CHAPTER VII 
SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS 212 

CHAPTER VIII 
THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 239 

CHAPTER IX 
THE RAILROADS 329 

CHAPTER X 
COUNTY'S MILITARY RECORD 351 

V 



vi HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

PAGE 

CHAPTEK XI 
TOWNSHIP AND CITY OF CHAMPAIGN 365 

CHAPTBE XII 
URBANA TOWNSHIP AND CITY 422 

CHAPTER XIII 
EANTOUL TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE 457 

CHAPTER XIV 
HOMER VILLAGE AND SOUTH HOMER TOWNSHIP 469 

CHAPTER XV 
BROWN TOWNSHIP AND FISHER 477 

CHAPTER XVI 



ST. JOSEPH TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE 482 

CHAPTER XVII 
MAHOMET TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE 489 

CHAPTER XVIII 
TOLONO AND SIDNEY TOWNSHIPS 496 

CHAPTER XIX 
AYERS AND RAYMOND TOWNSHIPS 505 

CHAPTER XX 
SADORUS AND PESOTUM TOWNSHIPS 510 

.CHAPTER XXI 
PHILO AND OGDEN TOWNSHIPS AND VILLAGES 514 

CHAPTER XXII 
OTHER TOWNSHIPS, VILLAGES AXD STATIONS 518 



INDEX 



Abbott, S. C., 491 

Abbott, W. G., 410 

Accredited high schools, 316 

Adams, Charles E., 394 

Adams, E. F., 385 

Adams, G. H., 396 

Adams, N. H., 207 

Adams, Noble, 492 

Adkins, Lewis, 120 

Adkins Point, 5, 120 

Agricultural and Industrial University, 
242 

Agricultural Experiment Station, 265, 312 

Agricultural societies, 26 

Agricultural university extension serv- 
ice, 320 

Akers, George, 139, 163 

Alblinger, A. F., 513 

Albright, A. C., 206 

Alexander, J. O., 585 

Algonquins, 86 

Allen, A. A., 487 

Allen, F. M., 430 

Allen, Henry, 507 

Allender, John, 395 

Allison, Harvey, 1022 

Allison, W. H., 481 

Altitudes, 6 

Ambraw settlement, 3 

American civil government northwesf of 
the Ohio, 66 

Amsbary, F. C., 383, 391, 412, 632 

Amsler, Arthur C., 509 

Amsler, Clyde C., 509 

Andel, Casimer, 361 

Anders, Elijah J., 876 

Anderson, A. G., 509 

Anderson, David, 96, 99 

Anderson, W. B., 445 

Andrews, E. N., 395 

Angel, J. H., 382 

Appellate courts, 182 

Apple growers, 22 

Apples, 22 

Archdeacon, William, 355 

Argo, M. H., 920 

Armentrout, A. C., 396 

Armory and Aviation Corps (view), 361 

Arms, A. A. 983 

Arnold, I. B., 388 

Artificial drainage, 13 

Asher, Levi, 218 

Aspern, Henry F., 389 



Ater, Edward, 159, 164, 187, 431 

Atherton, George W., 387, 388 

Atkinson, Samuel P., 383, 410, 552 

Atkinson, W. E., 432 

Atwood, Green, 145, 164, 471 

Austin, John H., 355 

Avey, Francis M., 628 

Ayers, Alexander M., 187, 359 

Ayers, Homer W., 359 

Ayers township, 505-509 

Babb, Charles, 646 

Babb, Charles D., 957 

Babb, Edwin P., 608 

Babb, George J., 373, 757 

Babb, Milton, 608 

Babcock, Kendric C., 303, 305, 306 

Bacon, Mrs. Jonathan, 382, 407 

Baddeley, Charles, 382 

Baddeley, C. H., 419 

Baddeley, John C., 344, 368 

Baddeley, T. J., 420 

Bagley, William C., 306 

Bailey, David, 414, 589 

Bailey, Edward, 359, 414, 591 

Bailey, Fred S., 667 

Bailey, John, 516 

Bainum, J. H., 410 

Baird, Harriet, 947 

Baird, L. W., 947 

Baker, Charles E., 420 

Baker, Edward C., 971 

Baker, Garrett H., 454 

Baker, I. A., 475 

Baker, James C., 447 

Ball, R. G., 478 

Ballantine, Henry W., 303, 305 

Banes, E., 221 

Bank founded in West Urbana, 370 

Bank of Broadlands, 508 

Bank of Tolono, 498 

Banking legislation, 81 

Bar (see Lawyers) 

Barber, James, 975 

Barnes, 'N. O., 476 

Bartholomew, James M., 202 

Bartholow, E. C., 210, 211 

Bartholow, J. M., 205 

Bartley, Benjamin, 483 

Bartley, George, 483 

Bartley, Jacob, 139, 163j 483, 486 

Bartley, Sarah, 484 

Bartling, Henry, 360 



Vlll 



INDEX 



Barton, R. S. 385 

Barton, W. F., 476 

Bartow, Edward, 314 

Bassett, Rollo 8., 576 

BatcMor, S. W., 401 

Bauman, C. P., 493 

Baxter, Noah, 129 

Beach, B. C., 373, 388, 389, 520 

Beach, H. C., 388 

Bear, Henry C., 732 

Bear, Lou N., 164 

Beard, Joseph H., 304 

Beardsley, George F., 382, 383, 393, 410 

Beardsley, H., 388 

Beardsley park, 393 

Bearse, S. L., 203 

Beasley, A. W., 420 

Beasley, J. S., 382 

Beasley, Nat C., 419, 420 

Beck, J. N., 410 

Beck, William C., 430 

Beckley, Isaac G., 119 

Beers, John N., 383, 391, 419 

Behrens, ^Herman H., 858 

Beidler, Aaron, 387, 388 

Beidler, Annie M., 389 

Beiser, Frederick, 367 

Bench (see Courts and Judges) 

Benedict, J. A., 223 

Bengtson, Engward, 745 

Bennett, J., 473 

Bensyl, J. B., 1045 

Bensyl, J. W., 901 

Bercher, Theodore, 431 

Berger, A. J., 394 

Berkley, T. P., 918 

Berks, Henry W., 383, 389, 413, 419, 420 

Besore, C. A., 431 

Betzer, I. L., 387 

Bevier, Isabel, 323 

Bialeschke, Herman J., 1030 

Biekley, Samuel G., 131 

Big Elm, Where Lincoln made Famous 

Speech (view), 153 
Big Four (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago 

& St. Louis Railroad), 348 
Big Grove, 2, 120, 136, 141 
Bigelow, Edward, 385, 410 
Bill, A. J., 479 
Birch, Charles, 722 
Birds as insect destroyers, 14 
Birdsell, E. L, 207 
Bireline, Leo H., 619 
Birney, S. H., 203, 205, 211, 355 
Bishop, Thomas, 431 
Black Hawk War, 352, 353 
Black, John C., 192 
Blaine, Boyd S., 420, 586 
Elaine, Scott W., 953 
Blaine, Shields A., 373, 414 
Blanchard, W. W., 369, 394 
Blasberg, D., 508 
Block, 348 



Block, Theodore L., 639 

Blue, Anthony H., 696 

Blue, J. H., 640 

Blue, L. H., 715 

Board of examiners in accountancy, 315 

Bocock, John W., 924 

Boggs, Franklin H., 183, 403, 431 

Bois, J. J., 464 

Boland, J. T., 373 

Bondville, 206, 347, 521 

Bongard, 348 

Bongart, M., 410 

Bowen, E. L., 473 

Bowen, H. F., 394 

Bowen, William, 388 

Bower, H. S., 498 

Bower, Robert A., 211, 497 

Bower, R. A., Jr., 498 

Bower, S. M., 498 

Bower, William T., 498 

Bowermaster, James A., 420 

Bowman, Ray L., 389 

Bowsher, C. A., 385 

Bowse's Grove, 3 

Boyd, James, 124 

Boyd, James W., 92 

Boyden, Ezekiel, 356, 431 

Boys, Charles, 851 

Bradley, Benjamin C., 6, 463 

Bradley, Daniel, 355 \? 

Bradshaw, Arthur, 147, 151, 444, 445, 473 

Bradshaw, Jacob, 164 

Brand, Alonzo S., 1030 

Brauer, Asahel, 177 

Brayshaw, Joseph, 945 

Breese, Sidney, 334, 340 

Brennon, Cornelia, 1065 

Brennon, Patrick, 1065 

Bridges, 145 

Broadlands, 206, 348, 505, 507 

Broadlands Grain and Coal Company, 507 

Bronson, Howard G., 330 

Browder, Olin L., 431, 672 

Brown, Anderson, 463 

Brown, F. M., 420 

Brown, George C., 1028 

Brown, James N., 299 

Brown, John W., 1023 

Brown, Myron S., 202, 203, 356, 431 

Brown, Robert H., 203, 356 

Brown, Seely, 420 

Brown, Steven, 478 

Brown township, 477, 478 

Brown, William B., 888 

Brownell, Chester D., 412, 786 

Brownfield, Henry M., 926 

Brownfield, John, 120, 163, 185, 218, 351 

Brownfield Road, 129 

Brownfield, Robert, 124, 351 

Brownlee, Jas. H., 431 

Bruer, Asahel, 147, 223 

Bruner, F. C., 445 

Bryan, John, 5, 489 



INDEX 



IX 



Bryan 's Ford, 5 

Bryant, Martin S., 446 

Buch, Jacob, 165, 410 

Buchan, Jay G., 808 

Buck, Catherine, 758 

Buck, Eli, 758 

Buck Grove, 521 

Buck, Thomas, 663 

Buhs, Herman H., 989 

Buhs, John C., 990 

Building and Loan Associations, 84 

Bullock, H. E., 465 

Bundy, Herman W., 1029 

Bunn, D. P., 447 

Burbee, Charles L., 454 

Burke, A. M., 414 

Burke, E. I., 414 

Burke, P. B., 164 

Burkhardt, C. B., 474 

Burnham, Albert C., 387, 388, 405, 408, 

412, 626 
Burnham Athaeneum, Champaign, 387; 

(view), 386 

Burnham, Mrs. A. C., 383, 407 
Burnham Hospital (view), 404 
Burnham, Julia F., 405, 408 
Burnham, Julia F., Endowment Fund, 

388 

Burnham, Eobert D., 389, 409, 627 
Burning of the High School, Mahomet 

(view), 492 

Burr, Ellis M., 164, 412 
Burr, George W., 165 
Burr Oak Grove, 4, 516 
Burres, W. F., 205, 206 
Burrill, Mrs. T. J., 407 
Burrill, Thomas J., 268, 271, 307, 433 
Burrows, A. T., 439 
Burt, Benjamin, 359 
Burt, Thomas A., 164, 454 
Burton, E. V., 165 
Burton, William D., 561 
Burwash, Margaret, 691 
Burwash, Samuel L., 690 
Burwash, Thomas N., 202 
Busch, Louis A., 165, 530 
Busey, Clyde L., 970 
Busey, George W., 118, 414, 454 
Busey, Isaac, 119, 120, 122, 133, 139, 

163, 428, 429, 489 
Busey, James S., 423 
Busey, Martin K., 922 
Busey, Mary E., 558 
Busey, Matthew, 141, 143 
Busey, Matthew W., 118, 145, 164, 404, 

409, 414, 452, 454, 558 
Busey, Matthew W. (Colonel), 117, 118, 

119, 122, 146, 147, 161, 185, 366, 429 
Busey, Mrs. M. W., 409 
Busey, Mrs. 8. T., 408, 437, 456 
Busey Memorial Library (see Urbana 

Free Library) 
Busey, Paul G., 454 



Busey, Samuel T., 119, 354, 357, 431, 

452, 556 

Busey, Simeon H., 117, 452 
Busey 's State Bank, 452, 454 
Butler, M., 445 
Butler, N., 383 

Butler, Thomas L., 119, 353, 499 
Butterfield, James, 360 
Butzow, Edward, 1058 
Butzow, Jennie, 1060 
Byerly, A. C., 445 
Byers, Mijamin, 136, 144 

Cain, Patrick H., 873 

Cairo City & Canal Company, 336 

Cadet Brigade, University of Illinois, 363 

Caldwell, C. Maxwell, 609 

Campbell, Alexander, 498 

Campbell, Archa, 164, 185, 186, 346, 430, 
431, 459 

Campbell, Archibald B., 498, 1021 

Campbell, Felix G., 742 

Campbell, John, 345 

Campbell, J. M., 410 

Campbell, Lewis, 499 

Campbell, Peter S., 647 

Campbell, T. H., 164 

Canning Club in Action (view), 30 

Cannon, Daniel D., 164 

Cannon, Joseph G., 164, 181 

Cannon, J. H., 448 

Capital moved to Springfield, 78 

Capron, Hazen S., 389, 414, 547 

Capron, Mrs. H. S., 407 

Carle, A. G., 430 

Carley, Mark, 368, 370, 569 

Carman, I. N., 401 

Carman, Mrs. A. P., 407 

Carnahan, Mrs. D. F., 407 

Games, Columbus, 463 

Carpenter, J. C., 503 

Carroll, P. D., 445 

Carrothers, John, 439 

Carter, Florence E., 389 

Carter, Joseph, 385 

Carter, Mrs. Joseph, 409 

Cartwright, Peter, 444 

Catron, A., 208 

Cavalry Companies in the Civil War, 360 

Central Illinois counties, early isolation 
of, 330 

Central Illinois Gazette, 415 

Central School, Champaign, 380 

Ceramic engineering, 322 

Cereals, 13, 21 

Chaffee, D. H., 497 

Chaffee, Herman, 201, 209 

Chamberlin, T. C., 314 

Chambers, William M., 211 

Champaign and Urbana Gas, Light & 

Coke Company, 349 

Champaign and Urbana Water Com- 
pany, 350, 390 



INDEX 



Champaign and Urbana Water Works 
(view), 390 

Champaign and Urbana Wnan's Club, 
409 

Champaign Art Club, 406 

Champaign (township and city), 206, 
349, 365-421; first buildings erected 
in, 368; name adopted, 369; commis- 
sion form of government, 371; mayors, 
373; public school buildings, 377-382; 
West High School, 379; newspapers, 
415. 

Champaign Chamber of Commerce, 410 

Champaign Chapter No. 50, B. A. M., 420 

Champaign Commandery No. 68, K. T., 
420 

Champaign County Agricultural, Horti- 
cultural and Mechanical Association, 28 

Champaign County Fair and Driving 
Association, 29, 432 

Champaign County Farmers' Institute, 
29, 32 

Champaign County Country Club, 409 

Champaign County Herald, 439 

Champaign County Medical Society, 203 

Champaign County News, 416, 685 

Champaign Gazette, 415 

Champaign High School, 376, 382 

Champaign High School (view), 374 

Champaign High School (1893), (view), 
384 

Champaign High School (1913), (view), 
384 

Champaign Lodge No. 333, I. O. O. F., 
420 

Champaign Masonry (by Edwin A. 
Kratz), 416 

Champaign National Bank, 414 

Champaign Social Science Club, 408 

Chandler, Guy B., 459 

Chanute Aviation Field, Eantoul, 467 

Chase, S. W. D., 441, 444 

Chapin, Dennis, 514 

Chapin, E. B., 416, 498 

Chapin, E. J., 498 

Chapman, Bert L., 973 

Cheever, D. A., 388 t 

Chenoweth, Charles, 814 

Cherry Grove, 4 

Cherry, Henry, 824 

Chester, Elias, 366 

Chester, E. E., 366, 373 

Chester, E. O., 366, 409 

Chicago & Eastern Illinois Eailroad, 348, 
509, 516 

Chicago & Indiana Coal Company, 348 

Childs, I. C., 387 

Choate, Sidney G., 361 

Cholera epidemic of 1834, 194 

Cholera epidemic of 1854, 199, 200 

Church, John W., 892 

Churchill, E. Clarence, 509, 1004 

Churchill, Jason E., 908 



Christian, A. M., 497 

Christian Church, Fisher, 481 

Circular hunt, 128 

Circuit Court, 159, 173, 175, 178, 180, 
181, 183, 429; first term, 150 

Cities, population (1833-1917), 169 

City of Champaign, 370 

City Park (see White Park), Champaign 

Citizens Bank of Tolono, 498 

Citizens State Bank, Champaign, 414 

Civil War, 354-360 

Clark, Cyrus S., 164 

Clark, Florence W., 404 

Clark, Henry B., 1033 

Clark, Jessie, 1034 

Clark, John, 614 

Clark, John A., 616 

Clark, Nathan M., 164, 344, 354, 359, 368 

Clark, Thomas A., 303, 304, 387 

Clark, William G., 516 

Cleghorn, A., 401 

Clements, James, 163, 164 

Clennon, Martin J., 874 

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis 
Eailroad, 348 

Cline, Eoy E., 814 

Clippinger, E. W., 394 

Coe, C. S., 512 

Coffeen, M. D., 470, 472 

Coffman, David H., 750 

Coffman, Harry A., 751 

Coffman, William H., 360, 410, 599 

Coggeshall, Fielding A., 165 

Coggeshall, Job S., 207 

Cogswell, George E., 420 

Cohen, Sidney, 361 

Cole, George, 503 

Cole, Morris F., 885 

Cole, W. E., 550 

Coler, William N., 189, 354, 356, 366, 430, 
438 

Collan, B. A., 420 

College of Agriculture, 284, 320 

College of Dentistry organized, 274 

College of Engineering founded, 256 

College yell adopted, 297 

Collison, Fred, 414 

Collison, Louis G., 666 

Colonel Nodine Post No. 140, G. A. E., 
409 

Columbia, C. F., 382, 420 

Colvin, Thomas J., 561 

Commercial Bank, Champaign, 414 

Commercial Bank, Philo, 515 

Commission form of government in Cham- 
paign, 371 

Company A, Twentieth Illinois Infan- 
try, 355 

Company M, Fourth Eegiment, I. N. G., 
360 

Compromise Township, 521 

Concrete Wallows for Swine (view), 27 

Conger, Josiah, 120, 500 



INDEX 



XI 



Conkey, A. J., 476 

Conkey, Frank M., 951 

Conkey, Lillian, 475 

Conkey, William A., 110, 197, 207, 473 

Conklin, J. C., 388 

Conner, Wilson, 605 

Connor, Patrick, 654 

Clark, Anna S., 407 

Constitution of 1848, 80 

Constitution of 1870, 84 

Coogler, F. 8., 420 

Cook, John, 496 

Cook, Isham, 123, 130 

Cook, Orie A., 906 . 

Coolley, L. H., 508 

Coolley, William A., 508, 1034 

Coons, Emma, 940 

Coons, Jacob S., 939 

Cooper, Albert E., 1005 

Cooper, Charles, 218 

Cooper, George, 491 

Cooter, David, 478 

Corbett, J. A., 498 

Corbly, Lindsey, 703 

Cord, Truman O., 946 

Core, Henry C., 164 

Core, James, 203, 207, 210 

Corn, 13, (view) 24 

Corray's Grove, 4 

Cotton, Charlie N., 957 

Coughlin, William, 373 

Country Club House and Grounds 

(view), 410 

County Court, 159, 186 
County divided into election districts, 

140 

County finances, 167, (1846) 148 
County Jail, First (view), 146 
Countv judges, 186 
County of Illinois, 64, 66 
County poor farm, 163 
County seat contest, 140 
County seat fixed, 132 
County superintendents of schools, 228 
County teachers' institutes, 227 
Court of county commissioners created, 

159 
Courthouse, Jail and Sheriff's Residence 

(1901) (view), 160 
Courthouses, 144, 149, 152, 158, 159, 177, 

219 

Courtney, William E., 361 
Courts, 173-188 
Cow (view), 108 
Cowden, James, 484 
Cox, David, 164 
Coyle, Anthony, 1053 
Craig, C. M., 205 
Craigmile, Alexander, 555 
Crandall, Charles E., 439 
Crandall, David S., 438 
Crane, A. Jackson, 203 
Crane, F., 445 



Crane, Lauzarah V., 785 

Craven, Ben. J., 410 

Crawford, Augustus, 223 

Crawford, Augustus S., 520 

Creamer, James A., 498, 1023 

Creative Act of Champaign County, 137 

Cromer, John C., 475 

Cross, Abraham, 465 

Cross, F. E., 465 

"Crusher," noted cavalry horse, 1054 

Crystal Lake Park, Urbana (view), 432 

Culver, J. D., 207 

Cummings, J. W., 448 

Cunningham, A. P., 343, 410, 431 

Cunningham Children's Home, 448, 
(view) 449 

Cunningham Deaconess Home and Or- 
phanage (see Cunningham Children's 
Home) 

Cunningham, George N., 389, 754 

Cunningham, J. O., 134, 146, 152, 187, 
227, 344, 415, 427, 432, 438, 448, 527 

Cunningham, Mary M., 528 

Cuppernell, Delia, 1017 

Cuppernell, Mary M., 1016 

Cuppernell, Mayme, 1017 

Cuppernell, Merit V., 1016 

Current, Fay E., 473, 476 

Current, James M., 1014 

Curtis, George W., 454 

Cushing, H. E., 205 

Cushing, Mrs. H. E., 407 

Custer, Benjamin M., 1039 

Custer, James, 520 

Cutcheon, L. M., 227 

Dairy products, 14 

Dale, Charles W., 487, 1047 

Dale, F. L., 487 

Dale, William O., 790 

Dallenbach, J. J., 417, 419 

Dallenbach, John C., 677 

Daly, Charles A., 515, 860 

Danville, Urbana & Champaign Eailway 

Company, 35 
Danville, Urbana, Bloomington & Pekin 

Eailroad, 426 
Darrah, A. T., 203, 204 
Davenport, Eugene, 303, 305, 312, 322 
Davidson, George W., 391 
Davidson, James W., 164, 419 
Davidson, Mrs. J. T., 408 
Davies, James M., 164, 431 
Davis, David, 180 
Davis, George W., 164 
Davis, Henry E., 1049 
Davis, Henry K., 438 
Davis, Jehu E., 1015 
Davis, Joseph, 500 
Davis, Josiah, 447 
Davis, Maud, 1049 
Davis, Oliver L., 181 
Davis, W. A., 449 



Xll 



INDEX 



Day, Jeremiah, 520 

Day, W. A., 373 

Day, William, 391 

Day, William B., 306 

Dead Man 's Grove, 4 

Dean, James, 131 

Dean of Women's Department created, 

274 

DeBurn, Eugene, 387 
Decker, Charles G., 1009 
Decker, T. H., 480 
Delaney, Frank, 846 
DeLong Brothers, 1027 
DeLong, Edward B., 1027 
DeLong, William H., 1027 
Denhart, Louis, 972 
Denhart, Sophia, 972 
Denton, F. D., 503 

Department of Domestic Science estab- 
lished, 297 
Department of Forestry and Landscape 

Gardening established, 298 
Dewey, 347, 523 
Dewey Bank, 523 
Dewey, M. A., 32 
DeWolf, Frank W., 315 
Dick, Jesse N., 1063 
Dickerson, J., 373 
Diller, F. S., 205 
Dilley, Charles, 349 
Dillon, William, 205 
Dillsburg, 520 
Dillsburg Township, 520 
Diseases, 123 
Divan, Isaac, 928 
Dobbins, Oliver B., 373, 578 
Dobson, Carl, 478 
Dobson, Franklin, 459, 523 
Dodds, J. C., 205 
Dodds, Joseph, 807 
Dodge, John W., 459, 463, 519 
Dodson, Ira H., 1050 
Dodson, Levi, 373 
Dollinger, F., 388 
Donaldson, Tiffin, 222 
Dorcas Society, Champaign, 406 
Doty, George E., 361 
Downing, William J., 778 
Downs, Nancy I., 896 
Draper, Andrew S., 271, 275, 279 
Draper, Mrs. A. A., 447 
Dresser, D. W., 402 
Drift, 8 

Driskell, George, 648 
Duncan, Joseph, 77 
Duncan school law, 215 
Dundas, J. W., 481 
Dunham, John, 126, 440 
Dunlap, H. J., 21, 29, 367, 415, 420 
Dunlap, H. M., 367 
Dunlap, Mrs. H. M., 408 
Dunlap, M. L., 21, 23, 157, 366, 417 



Dunlap Orchards, Savoy (view), 367 
Dunn, J. B., 884 
Dunn, Matison F., 905 
Dutch Flats, 6 
Dyer, C., 32 

Eads, Frank, 463 

Eads, Luther, 462 

Eads, L. T., 165 

Eagleton, Charles M., 760 

Ealey, W. M., 714 

Earhart, W. R., 452 

Early deaths, 123 

Early tax payers, 132 

Early, Thomas J., 983 

Earnest, William W., 385, 529. 

East Bend Township, 522 

East High School, Champaign, 379 

Eaton, David, 514 

Eaton, Lucius, 514 

Eaton, T. C., 447 

Edens, Henry J. F., 989 

Edgar, J. P., 473 

Educational (see Schools and Teachers) 

Edwards, James L., 908 

Ekblaw, Andrew, 775 

Elder, James G, 206 

Elliott, Amos, 857 

Elliott, Mrs. W. J., 475 

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Cham- , 
paign, 401 

Emmanuel Memorial Church (see Em- 
manuel Episcopal Church, Cham- 
paign) 

Engineering Experiment Station, 312, 
316 

English Brothers, 593 

English, Edward C., Jr., 593 

English, Richard C., 593 

Episcopal Church, Hantoul, 465 

Erb, John L., 306 

Ernst, Ferdinand, 75 

Esworthy, J. R., 597 

Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel Church, 
Broadlands, 508 

Evangelical Lutheran Church, Cham- 
paign, 396 

Evans, Augustus M., 164, 691 

Evans, Joseph, 366 

Evans, William F., 763 

Exton, George W., 431 

Exton, T. J., 205 

Eycleshymer, Albert C., 303 

Fagaly, F. M., 819 
Fair Association, 29 
Fairclo, George C., 693 
Fairfield, Charles, 833 
Farlow, Lawrence E., 883 
Farm Bureau, 34 
Farmers' Club, 29 

Farmers' Elevator Company, Rantoul, 
464 



INDEX 



Xlll 



Farnam, Jeffrey A., 344, 368 

Farr, A. ii., 400 

Faulkner, L. W., 420 

Fay, A. F., 454 

Fenimore, Alice, 1068 

Fenimore, George W., 1067 

Fenwick, M., 909 

Ferguson, William, 480 

Fernald, W. J., 205 

Ficklin, O. B., 178 

Fielder, Charles, 124 

Fielder, Runnel, 101. 121, 122, 136, 428 

Filbey, Edward J., 303 

Filson, J. E., 420 

Finch, J. H., 205 

Finfrock, Chancy L., 710 

Fiock, John, 582 

Fiock, Mary E., 583 

Fire of 1866 (Champaign), 371 

First assessment in county (1833), 165 

First Baptist Church, Champaign, 400 

First Baptist Church, Urbana, 445 

First Brick House in Urbana (1841) 

(view), 453 

First bridge in the county, 486 
First Champaign High School (West 

Side) (view), 381 

First Christian Church, Urbana, 447 
First Church of Christ Scientist, Cham- 
paign, 403 

First Congregational Church, Cham- 
paign, 369, 394 

First counties of Illinois state, 73 
First county jail, 146 
First criminal indictment, 176 
First East Side High School (view), 

381 
First Henry Sadorus Home (1824) 

(view), 511 
First land entries, 122 
First Methodist Episcopal Church, 

Champaign, 395 

First Methodist Episcopal Church, Ur- 
bana Mill, 442 
First murder trial, 179 
First National Bank of Champaign, 

413, 545 

First National Bank, Ogden, 517 
First National Bank, Urbana, 454 
First organized drainage district, 486 
First poor farm in the county, 486 
First Presbyterian. Church, Champaign, 

368, 393 

First Presbyterian Church, Urbana, 446 
First public park in county, 344 
First public school in Champagin, 369 
First railroad enters Urbana, 343 
First School in Cha/npaign (view), 378 
First Schoolhouse Built near Urbana 

(1832) (view), 217 

First school on the Sangamon Eiver, 
218 



First state constitutional convention, 71 

First state officers, 72 

First State Trust and Savings Bank, 

Urbana, 454 

First University Bank, Urbana, 455 
First voting precincts, 136 
Fisher, 206, 478 ' 
Fisher, David G., 624 
Fisher electric light plant, 479 
Fisher, Luther, 503 
Fisher Reporter, 479 
Fisher, R. T., 165 
Fisher Times, 479 
Flannigan, A. S., 445 
Flannigan, Joseph, 499 
Flatt, Alba J., 520, 777 
Flatt, Ross A., 520, 1045 
Flatville, 522 
Fleming, S. L., 420 
Fletcher, Mary A., 222, 385 
Flower, Lucy L., 265 
Fluck, M. J. A., 420 
Flynn, B. F., 399 
Flynn, George W., 356, 415, 438 
Foos farm, 478 
Foos, F. W., 478 
Foosland, 206, 348, 478 
Foos, William, 478 
Foote, W. J., 165 
Forbes, Mrs. S. A., 408, 409 
Forbes, Stephen A., 313 
Ford, Caswell P., 356 
Ford, John, 484 
Fords, 5 
Fort Chartres, 51, 57, 60; passes into 

British hands, 58 
Fort Clark, 101 
Fort Crevecoeur, 47, 48 
Foster, William P., 174 
Fowler, Leland S., 634 
Fowler, W. B., 417 
Fowler, Xenophon M., 449 
Fox, J., 445 

Fox, Samuel C., 164, 431 
Frame, John S., 394 
Frame, Robert A., 359 
Frampton, Mrs. M. M., 389 
Francis, W. G., 504 
Franks, George B., 373, 734 
Franks, Richard M., 936 
Frawley, W. E., 400 
Frederick, Eugene P., 360 
Free School Law of 1825, 77 
Freeman, Elias, 828 
Freeman, James J., 1038 
Freeman, John T., 1012 
Freeman, Roy C., 188, 716 
Freer, Louise, 304 
Freese, A. H., 517 
Fremont campaign, 152, 154 
French, Augustus C., 177 



XIV 



INDEX 



French-English contests for the Ohio 

Valley, 56 

French-Illinois settlements, 53 
French rule, 36 
Frison, Adam, 410 
Fruits, 21 
Fulkersou, T., 194 
Fuller, J. E., 692 
Fulton, William G., 1031 
Fultz, Joseph, 551 
Funkhouser, Alexander, 656 
Funston, John H., 897 

Gabbert, David, 122, 127 
Gage, W. D., 443, 445 
Gallagher, Arthur J., 182 
Gallion, C. H., 485 
Gallion, V. J., 487 
Gallivau, John E., 604 
Gardner, D., 373 
Gardner, E. A., 420 
Gardner, Harry, 454 
Gardner, John D., 207 
Gardner, John H., 207 
Garman, W. 8., 165 
Garwood Home for Old Ladies, 405 
Garwood, L. C., 405 
Garwood, Mrs. Gish, 383 
Gates, Fanny C., 303, 304 
Gaueh, Jacob P., 369, 420 
Gay, W., 445 
Gehrke, Carl H., 801 
Gehrke, Robert C., 802 
Gehrt, John E., 607 
Gehrt, Julius M., 735 
Genung, Z. B., 32 
Gerald, 348 

Gere, George W., 192, 388, 389 
Gere, James S., 190 
Gere, John, 430 
Gere, Mrs. G. W., 407, 408 
'Geyer, A. A., 400 
Gibbs, H. C., 445 
Gifford, 206, 347, 521 
Gifford, Benjamin, 206 
Gillespie, James, 209 
Gilmer, U. Z., 445 
Gilmore, Alva, 480, 958 
Glaciers, 6 
Glascock, H. A., 410 
Glascock, Jesse R., 955 
Gleason, S. F., 492, 494 
Glover, John A., 409, 431 
Glover, Mrs. John A., 408 
Goddard, A. S., 445, 494 
Goff, M. A., 391 
Golden, Cecil L., 894 
Gooding, Asa, 514 
Goodwin, William, 204 
Goodwin, William K., 203 
Goodwin, William M., 203 
Goose Pond Church (see First Congre- 
gational) 



Gordon, Charles, 743 

Gordon, Ellen, 713 

Gordon, George C., 917 

Gordon, Joseph, 713 

Gordon, Thomas, 642 

Gorman, Jerry, 1001 

Graduate School, 285 

Graff, Franklin L., 395 

Graham, Abraham, 644 

Graham, Hugh, 1056 

Grand Prairie, 116 

Grant, Alexander F., 175 

Gray, C. A., 465 

Gray, J. M., 474 

Gray, William L., 720 

Gray, W., 465 

Gray, W. L., 205, 383, 409 

Great Northern Cross Railroad, 79 

Great Western Railway (Holbrook) 
Company, 336, 338, 515 

Great Western Railroad (see also To- 
ledo, Wabash & Western), 501 

Greene, Evarts B., 575 

Gregg, Samuel M., 684 

Gregory, John M., 250, 251, 260, 292, 407 

Grein, Chris, 410 

Gridley, Asahel, 179 

Griggs, Clark R., 426, 431, 514 

Grimes, Annie R., 835 

Grimes, L. P., 834 

Groenendyke, Samuel, 470 

Groves, 2 

Groves, John I., 635 

Groves, Robert, 760 

Groves, William H., 478 

Gulick, C. D., 205 

Gulick, C. W., 465 

Gulick, Joseph P., 420 

Gulick, J. G., 420 

Gunder, J. N., 473 

Hadden, J. M., 208 

Haddock, F. D., 385 

Halberstadt, Eli, 430, 431 

Hale, Philo, 514, 515 

Hall, A. T., 410 

Hall, E. B., 208 

Hall, Hattie, 385 

Hall, James, 316 

Hall, Justin S., 432 

Hall, Levi M., 860 

Hall, Lyman, 205 

Hall, R. M., 479 

Hall, Zebulon, 356 

Halliwell, W. H., 395 

Hamilton, Charles F., 582 

Hamilton, John, 496 

Hanes, Ida B., 437 

Hanson, John J., 671 

Harkness, Elisha, 164, 187, 430 

Harlan, James, 429 

Harlan, Justin, 174, 176, 184 

Hanmore, J. J., 165 



INDEX 



xv 



Harmon, J. C., 205 

Harper, James W., 875 

Harris, Benjamin F., 164, 350, 412, 413, 

419, 490, 539 

Harris, Benjamin Franklin, 544 
Harris, C. C., 478 
Harris, Dell E., 769 
Harris, Henry H., 391, 405, 413, 416, 

543 

Harris, J. B., 373 
Harris, Mrs. B. F., 405, 408 
Harris, Mrs H. H., 382, 407, 408 
Harris, Mrs. J. B., 407 
Harris, Newton M., 409, 413, 545 
Harris, Eobert, 447 
Harris, S. C., 439 
Harry, M. M., 816 
Hartford, William, 738 
Hartman, G. W., 203 
Hartmann, J. M., 397 
Hartmen, George A., 504 
Hartsock, G. W., 531 
Harwood, Abel, 388, 519 
Harwood, George W., 410, 736 
Harwood Township, 519 
Hass, George E., 479 
Hatch, Mrs. C. B., 407 
Havana, Rantoul & Eastern Bailroad, 

347 

Hawes, C. C., 207 
Hawk, Otis G., 809 
Hayes, E. C., 403 
Hays, Asa F., 351 
Hays, J. W., 433, 437 
Hays, William, 124, 351, 893 
Hazel, M. M., 208 
Hazen, E. B., 515 
Healey, James M., 420 
Heater Eoad, 129 
Heator, Jacob, 353 
Heath, N. P., 396 
Hefflefinger, A. K., 410 
Heinz, Julius, 829 
Helfenstein, E. C., 447 
Hendricks, John, 119, 499 
Henderson, Oscar J., 1040 
Hensley, A. P., 417 
Herbert, George W., 772 
Herrick, Harry, 709 
Herrick, Jame's T., 459, 463 
Hess, Fred, 164, 637 
Hess, Isaac E., 562 
Hess, Isaiah H., 420 
Hess, T. M., 203, 204 
Hess, Mrs. W. S., 475 
Hessel, John F., 748 
Hewes, M. A., 445 
Hickman, H. S., 208 
Hickory Grove, 4 
Hicks, J. W., 495 
Hicks, Lewis D., 459 
High School, Homer (view), 471 
High School, Eantoul (view), 466 



Hill, George W., 871 

Hill, John W., 164 

Hines, Joseph L., 668 

Hines, Lizzie B., 668 

Hinton, William A., 822 

Hixenbaugh, Isaac, 914 

Hixenbaugh, Mary M., 914 

Hixenbaugh, Priscilla E., 914 

Hobbs, R. G., 445 

Hodges, George J., 358 

Hoffman, J. A., 205 

Hoit, C. B., 493 

Holbrook, Alexander, 126 

Holbrook, Darius B., 334 

Holl, Fred J., 1038 

Holliday, Richard P., 96 

Holliday, Eichard T., 99 

Hollingsworth, Pearl M., 480, 929 

Hollister, Horace A., 304 

Holmes, C. B., 427, 431 

Holmes, James, 126, 218, 440, 443 

Holmes, John A., 395 

Holtapp, George, 944 

Holtapp, Joseph, 944 

Holy Cross Parish (Catholic), Cham- 
paign, 400 

Home Economics at the University, 323 

Homer (see also New Homer and Old 
Homer), 206, 473 

Homer Enterprise, 475 

Homer Journal, 474 

Homer Park, 474 

Homer's Main Street (view), 474 

Homes, James, 473 

Honn, William M., 389 

Hook, S. H., 437 

Hopkins, Cyril G., 312 

Hopkins, D. O., 401 

Hopkins Expedition of 1812, 352 

Hopkins, Thomas E., 681 

Hornbaker, W. O., 447 

Hornbeck, M. D., 445 

Horticultural societies, 26 

Horticulture, 21 

Hossack, James A., 32, 34 

Hoster, George P., 402 

Hotel Where Lincoln Stopped in TTr- 
bana (view), 153 

Houck, E. B., 487 

Houston, A. J., 410 

Houston, Samuel, 356 

Howard, Hartwell C., 199, 203, 205, 
370, 417 

Howard, Samuel A., 509 

Howard School, Champaign, 382 

Howell, A. O., 451 

Howell, Fred W., 1014 

Hoy, Fred, 962 

Hoy, Martha J., 991 

Hoy, Eufus B., 991 

Hoyt, Julia E., 1063 

Hoyt, Mary E., 1062 

Hoyt, Norman C., 1062 



XVI 



INDEX 



Hubbard, George W., 431 

Huekins, Alvin E., 412, 455, 568 

Hudson, John P., 1017 

Huff, George A., 304, 409 

Huff, S. E., 454 

Huffman, Jacob, 520 

Huffman, Michael, 519, 520 

Hughes, S. J., 412 

Hummel, Henry, 862 

Hungerford, B., 445 

Hunt, Charles A., 201, 360, 425, 431 

Hunter, E. V., 504 

Hurst, George J., 949 

Huss, Jefferson, 163 

Hyde, Albert, 849 

Ice-sheet invasions, 8 

Illinois Audubon Society, 17 

Illinois Black Code, 73 

Illinois Central Railroad Companv, 330- 
347, 518, 520, 522 

Illinois Confederacy, 86 

Illinois Counties and Indian Tribes in 
1812 (map), 88 

Illinois District, 51; first land grant in, 
52 

Illinois Indians, 48 

Illinois Industrial University, 245, 249, 
250 

Illinois Medical Practice Act, 211 

Illinois Territory, 69 

Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, Cham- 
paign, 414, 774 

Illinois under the Jesuits, 54 

Illustrations, Old Sugar Camp, Sadorus 
Grove, 3; Modern Sanitary Dairy 
Barn, 15; Farmers' Friends (Insect 
Destroyers), 18; Home Grown Corn, 
24; Cleanly Life of Modern Swine, 
27; Canning Club in Action, 30; 
Modern Dump Crib and Feed Mill, 
31; Threshing Scene, 33; Steam 
Tractor in Orchard, 33; The United 
States in 1798, 68; Illinois Counties 
and Indian Tribes in 1812, 88; Site 
of the Pottawattamie Village, 91; 
Pioneer Couple in the Old Home, 
97; A Pioneer Family, 100; A 
Household Treasure, 108; Old Cabin, 
Within and Without, 115; Old 
Time Sawmill, 125; Early Stage 
Coach, 136; First County Jail 
(1838-39), 146; Hotel Where Lincoln 
Stopped in Urbana, 153; Under Big 
Elm Where Lincoln Made Famous 
Speech, 153; Courthouse, Jail and 
Sheriff's Residence (1901), 160; Old 
Kelly Tavern, St. Joseph, 176; Dr. 
Joseph T. Miller, 198; First School- 
house Built near Urbana (1832), 217; 
Presidents of the University of Illi- 
nois, 238; University Hall, 248; 
Woman's Building, Present, 255; 



Campus and South Farm Today, 266; 
Library of the University, 277; 
Present Engineering Group of Build- 
ings, 295; The University Auditorium, 
300; Part of the Main Campus Today, 
321; The Armory and Aviation Corps, 
362; Pioneer Residents of Cham- 
paign, 365; Scene in the Dunlap Or- 
chards, Savoy, 367; Neil and Green 
Streets, City Hall, 372; Present High 
School, Champaign, 374; First School 
in Champaign, 378; Little Brick 
School, 379; First High School (West 
Side), 381; First East Side High 
School, 381; Champaign High School 
(1893), 384; Champaign High School 
(1913), 384; The Burnham Athae- 
neum, 386; The Postoffice, 386; 
Champaign and Urbana Water 
Works, 390; General View in White 
Park, 392; Johnson Fountain, 392; 
West Church Street, Champaign, 401; 
Julia F. Burnham Hospital, 404; 
Country Club House and Grounds, 
410; The Old Angle Block (1858), 
413; First Schoolhouse in West Ur- 
bana (1854), 424; The Perkins 
Schoolhouse, 424; West Main Street, 
Urbana, 427; Crystal Lake Park, 
Urbaua, 432; New Urbana High 
School, 434; Cunningham Children's 
Home, 449; First Brick House in 
Urbana (1841), 453; Present Post- 
office, 453; Modern Concrete Fire- 
proof Silos, 458; Rantoul Business 
Street, 464; High School, Rantoul, 
466; High School, Homer, 471; 
Homer's Main Street, 474; Third 
Street, Fisher, 479; Public School, 
Fisher, 480; St. Joseph's Main Street, 
485; Public School, St. Joseph, 487; 
Burning of the High School, Maho- 
met, 492; Busy Section of Tolono, 
497; Tolono High School, 498; Town 
Hall, Sidney, 500; Sidney's Main 
Street, 502; Samples of Champaign 
County Farming, 506; First Henry 
Sadorus Home (1824), 511; Old-Time 
Rail Fence, 519; Typical Wheat Field, 
522. 

Indian camps in Champaign County, 89 

Indian tales, 92, 93, 94, 354 

Indiana, Bloomington & Western Rail- 
road, 516 

Indiana Territory, 69 

Indians, 86-95, 121 

Industrial League of the State of Illi- 
nois, 245 

Ingersoll, Joseph, 359 

Inman, George L., 670 

Inman, Nora, 671 

Insect Destroyers (view), 18 

Internal Improvements, 78, 79, 334 



XVll 



Ireland, Edward C.; 420 
Irle, George G., 855 
Iroquois, 48, 86 
[rwin, Lee M., 357 
Irwin, Park T., 990 
Isom, John F., 203 
Ives, A. B., 462 
Ivesdale, 207, 348. 511 
Ivesdale News, 5li 

Jackson, Cyrus E:, 818 

Jails, 163, 177 

James, Edmund J., 303 (portrait)) 280 

James Load Fund, Margaret Lange, 320 

Janes, L., 423 

Jaques, Francis G:, 437, 684 

Jaques, Minnie, 454, 684 

Jaquith, D., 152, 430 

Jaquith, Jessie W., 226, 430, 431 

Jarvis, Daniel, 430 

Jefferson, Susail, 377 

Jenkins, A. M., 333 

Jenkinson, Elizabeth C., 616 

Jennings, David, 203 

Jerauld, S. D., 209 

Je'fauld) T; D ; , 903 

Jesse, 500 

Johnson, Abfamj 217 

Johnson, A: P., 433, 537 

Johnson, Benjamin F:, 389, 393 

Johnson, Charles B., 203, 204, 205, 383, 

410, 548 

Johnson Fountain (vie*), 392 
Johnson, Grant, 495 
Johnson, James, 353 
Johnson, John D., 164 
Johnson, Joseph C., 825 
Johnson, Joseph E., 1013 
Johnson, Obadiah, 221 
Johnson, Walter H., 405 
Johnson, W. E., 445 
Johnston, Virgil W., 414, 773 
Joliet, 37, 39, 40, 41 
Jones, Anna M., 791 
Jones, James S., 191, 387 
Jones, Lewis, 159 
Jones, Wilson P., 32, 34 
Judges, 173-188 
Julia F. Burnham Endowment Fund, 

388 

Judy, Jacob, 96, 99, 483 
Jurgensmeyer, Louis V., 1047 
Justice, W. H., 464 
Jutton, Joseph, 410 

Kariher, Harry C., 695 

Kaskaskias, 46, 86 

Kaskaskia taken by Americans, 60 

Kaufman, J. M., 403, 412 

Keal, William, 748 

Keeble, Emeline, 222 

Keefe, Michael H., 509 

Keller, Charles E., 779 



Keller, Henry K., 946 

Kelley, Barney, 366 

Kelley, Joseph, 485 

Kelley, Joseph t., 5, 484 

Kelley, Moses E., 360 

Kelley 's Ford, 5 

Kelley 's Tavern, St. Joseph, 486 

Kellogg, Nellie C., 389 

Kemeys, Edward, 39l 

Kennard, George W ; , 164, 355 

Kenney, A. M., 508 

Kentucky Settlement, 6 

Kerr, A. M., 165 

Kerr, Joseph, 620 

Kerr, Samuel, 120 

Ketterman, Salem Li, 794 

Keusink, William, 633 

Keusink, William B., 554 

Kickapoos, 87, 95, 96 

Kilbury, Mortimer, 780 

Kiler, C. A., 412 

Kimball, Mrs. E. A., 407 

Kincaid, Mary A., 570 

Kincaid, Samuel W., 201, 203, 206, 571 

King, William B., 477 

Kihle-y, David, 303, 306, 316 

Kir by, Elias, 120 

Kirby, Grover C., 943 

Kirby, J. C., 5l7 

Kirby, William, 35l 

Kirk, Hugh A., 650 

Kirk, Siizan, 667 

Kirkpatrick, A. J., 847 

Kirkpatfick, Fred, 431 

Klegg, J. B., 517 

Knapp, Everett G., 356 

Knapp, George, 474 

Knapp, israeL 175 

KocH, J. A. It., 587 

Kratz, Alonzo P., 420 

Kratz, Edwin A., 164, 387, 388, 389, 410, 

' 416, 420 

Kratz, Ethel G, 389 

Kratz, W. H., 388 

Krenzien, R., 508 

Kroner, Adam, 852 

Kruse, John C., 744 

Kuble, Addie, 223 

Kuhn, Isaac, 419 

Kyle, T. B., 165 

Lamon, Ward H., 164 

Lancaster, 129 

Langley, James W., 188, 354, 355, 356, 

359, 383, 410 
Lanning, W. H., 385 
Lapham, M. E., 382 
Lamed, Calesta E., 239, 373 
LaSalle, 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49 
Last French stronghold falls, 59 
Lathrop, J. S., 387, 388 
Laughlin, John, 205 
Lawhead, Harriet, 406 



XV111 



INDEX 



Lawrence, G. D., 447 

Lawson, Mrs. W., 475 

Lawyers, 177, 188-194 

Leal, Thomas B., 227, 423 

Leas, Ervilla, 866 

Leas, George N., 999 

Leas, Isaac T., 866 

Leas, Margaret, 999 

Leas, William C., 999 

Leathers, Thomas H., 654 

LeCrone, Anna, 389 

Lee, Mary C., 409 

Lee, Patrick O., 96, 99 

Leigh, Francis M., 964 

Leigh, Marion E., 931 

Lester, David H., 880 

Lester, Jonas, 491 

Lester, John B., 359 

Leverett, 520 

Lewis, Andrew, 439 

Lewis, Thomas A., 164 

Lewis, Wilson, 164 

Lewis, Wolf, 752 

Library and agricultural buildings com- 
pleted, 276 

Library of the University 715, (view) 
277 

Library School, 285 

Liestman, Charles C., 802 

Light, John, 124, 136 

Lilly, E. H., 394 

Lincoln, Abraham, 151, 154, 156, 161, 
162, 176, 179 

Lincoln-Douglas campaign, 154-158 

Lindsey, C. L., 493 

Lindsey, Joseph, 491 

Linn Grove, 3 

Little Brick School (view), 379 

"Little Brick" Sehoolhouse, 369, 378 

Little, Chester W., 613 

Little, Egbert P., 679 

Little, J. G., 445 

Little, Roger F., 701 

Little, Samuel H., 645 

Little, Thomas A., 634 

Live stock, 14 

Livingston, Samuel, 1042 

Llewellyn, Joseph C., 318 

Lloyd, F. H., 389 

Lloyde, C. L., 455 

Lloyde, David H., 455, 977 

Lockney, J. F., 399 

Logan, "Robert, 366 

Long, J. C., 445 

Longden, Gertrude, 404 

Longview, 170, 207, 348, 508 

Longview Bank, 509 

Lorenz, Ernest, 164 

Lost Grove, 4 

Lott, Sarah, 495 

Lotus, 347, 348 

Love, Howard, 976 

Love, J. M., 32 



Love, Samuel W., 431, 439 

Lowery, Joseph E., 939 

Lowman, Fred L., 479, 842 

Lowry, Charles E., 920 

Lowry, Michael, 919 

Lucas, John, 518 

Ludlow (Pera Station), 207, 347 

Ludlow, township and village, 518 

Ludlow, James D., 518, 520 

Lyman, Thomas M., 549 

Lyman, William B., 960 

Lynch, Bert E., 987 

Lynn, E. J., 394 

Lyon, James H., 196, 210, 500 

Lyon, Jane, 221 

Lyons, Alonzo, 430, 497 

Lyons, Mrs. A. L., 475 

Maddock, David, 899 

Maddock, Jane H., 899 

Madigan, Patrick T., 994 

Magee, Thomas, 366 

Maguire, W. C., 431 

Mahaffie, Alexander, 707 

Mahan, H. W., 383 

Mahomet (see also Middletown), 207. 

490 

Mahomet township and village, 489-495 
Mahomet Baptist Church, 440, 493 
Mahomet High School, 492 
Mahomet Sucker State, 493 
Mahurin, Rev. Mr., 353 
Mandeville, J. D., 205 
Manford, E., 447 
Manning, John, 147 
Manning, Van H., 316 
Mantle, Solomon, 1024 
Mapes, Samuel, 126, 484 
Margaret Lange James Loan Fund, 320 
Marquette, 37, 39, 40, 41 
Marquette School, Champaign, 379 
Marriage, first, 128 
Marshall, 208 
Marten, John, 205 
Martens, E., 508 
Martin, Gilbert, 459 
Martin, Lewis W., 826 
Martin, U. G., 431 
Mason, J. S., 205, 645 
Masonic Temple, Champaign, 419 
Mathews, Milton W., 139, 164, 193 
Mattis, Mrs. R. R., 407 
Mattis, Ross R., 409, 413 
Mattison, George M., 349 
Maxwell, C. L., 414 
Maxwell, Jonathan, 120, 489, 491 
Maxwell, Mrs. W. S., 382, 406, 414 
Maxwell, W. W., 389 
Mayview, 349, 486 
McAllister, E. N., 388, 420 
McCabe, John F., 673 
McCabe, Mary A., 674 
McCann, E. T., 373 



INDEX 



xix 



McCaskin, George W., 1008 

MeCaskin, Harry M., 1008 

McCaskin, J. C., 1007 

McCaskin, Margaret, 1008 

McClugen, Samuel, 516 

McConn, Charles M., 304 

McConney, J. M., 437 

McCormick, Cyrus H., 299 

McCoy, A. 8., 445 

McCullough, James C., 981 

McCullough, James 8., 39, 164 

McCullough, J. W., 464, 737 

McDaniel, B. P., 445 

McDonald, Neil, 497 

McElfresh, G. E., 396 

McElroy, W. M., 444 

McElroy, W. N., 396 

McElvain, Frank C., 439 

McElwee, A. C., 903 

McElwee, Columbus C., 952 

McEwen, John A., 473 

McFarland, Herman, 361 

McGath, Benjamin F., 785 

McGee, 8., 387 

McGoorty, J. P., 319 

McGurty, Joseph E., 641 

McHarry, Daniel E., 718 

Mclntyre, Daniel P., 164, 409, 419, 508 

Mclntyre, R., 445 

McJilton, John E., 795 

McKeene, Mrs. H. A., 31 

McKinley, George, 394, 446 

McKinley, James B., 191, 373, 405 

McKinley, Mrs. J. B., 407 

McKinley Memorial Church, Urbana, 446 

McKinley, William B., 317, 349, 350, 382, 

391, 413, 446, 474 
McKinney, D. E., 205 
McKinney, T. J., 205 
McKinsey, Benjamin H., 778 
McLaurie, Thomas A., 164 
McLean, L. A., 134, 439 
McMillen, Fremont, 689 
McMillen, Laura, 690 
McMinn, P. K., 387 
McPherren, Delia, 517 
McPherren, James P., 1007 
McPherson, William, 494 
McPheters, P. L., 414 
McQuaid, Thomas, 610 
McBoberts, Samuel, 175 
McWilliams, Amzi, 164 
Meade, John, 226, 489, 491 
Means, Frank B., 949 
Mearns, Eobert W., 305 
Medical profession (see physicians) 
Meharry, Edwin T., 619 
Meharry, Jesse, 618 
Mercer, Solomon, 571 
Messenger, Benjamin F., 96, 99 
Messenger, James, 96, 100 
Messman, Fred A., 1020 
Methodist Church, Homer, 473 



Methodist Church of Middletown, 494 

Methodist Episcopal Church, Fisher, 481 

Methodist Episcopal Church, Sidney, 503 

Methodist Episcopal Church, Urbana, 147 

Meuser, A. F., 1060 

Mexican War, 354 

Miamis, 87, 94 

Miasma, 196 

Mickelberry, E. E., 416 

Middlecoff, John P., 519 

Middlecoff, Samuel, 519 

Middle Fork, 3 

Middletown, 490 

Military (see State University), 361 

Military Department, University of Illi- 
nois, 284 

Military record, 351-363 

Mill seats, 145 

Miller, Andrew J., 165 

Miller, Charles, 410 

Miller, Charles M., 410 

Miller, Frank, 942 

Miller, Isaac J., 496 

Miller, James 'C., 414 

Miller, John K., 359 

Miller, Joseph, 199, 203, 205, 360, 431, 
(portrait) 198 

Miller, J., 445 

Miller, J. W., 445 

Miller, Eobert T., 164 

Mills, 124, 199, 203, 206 

Mills, John, 370 

Miner, H., 165 

Ministers, 126, 128, 439 

Mink Grove, 4 

Minnear, P. N., 396 

Mittendorf, Louis, 664 

Modern Concrete Fireproof Silos (view), 
458 

Modern Dump Crib and Feed Mill (view), 
31 

Modern Sanitary Dairy Barn (view), 15 

Moehl, Ernest, 522, 694 

Mohr, Phillip, 882 

Molloy, Edward J., 677 

Molloy, Patrick, 677 

Monier, Sara, 406 

Mooney, Daniel, 651 

Moor, George C., 401 

Moore, Enoch, 96 

Moore, Garrett, 140, 165, 516 

Moore, Levi, 120 

Moore, Martin V., 1017 

Moore, M., 385 

Moore, Stephen N., 448 

Moore, W. G., 445 

Moore, W. H. H., 445 

Moorehead, Frederick B., 303, 306 

Moraine, Moses, 366 

Moraines, 7 

More, Edward V., 594 

Morehouse, Chester A., 536 

Morehouse, Heber J., 535 



XX 



INDEX 



Morey, Lloyd, 304 
Morgan, Borgan F., 475 
Morgan, J. B., 475 
Morgan, T. M., 439 
Morrill Act, 246 
Morrill College Aid Act, 267 
Morris, B. C., 208 
Morris, Harriet M., 580 
Morris, H. M., 580 
Morrissey, Daniel, 768 
Morrison, Alonzo O., 1067 
Morrison, J. L. D., 341 
Morrison, Mrs. H. P., 475 
Morrison, R. G., 755 
Morrison, William, 837 
Morrow, F. A., 499 
Morse, J. D., 521 
Morse State Bank, Gifford, 521 
Morton, S. M., 437 
Mosier, C. P., 207 
Mosier, Philip C., 197 
Moudy, Jacob, 611 
Moulton, S. W., 292 
Mudge, Mrs. E. T., 475 ' 
Mudge, W. W., 473 
Mueller, H. F., 397 
Mulligan, Peter H., 1004 
Mulligan, Sarah, 223 
Mulliken, A. D., 420 
Mulliken, John W., 731 
Mullikin, Charles J., 373, 727 
Mullikin, Joseph M., 963 
Mumm, John W., 982 
Munhall, William, 164, 445 
Munhall, William H., 445 
Murphy, C. W., 412, 493 
Murphy, John, 730 
Myers, C. O., 481 
Myers, James, 165 
Myers, M. M., 410 
Myers, Peter, 164 
Myers, Robert, 911 
Myers, William, 410 

Nash, Howard, 725 
National banking system, 83 
Naughton, Mrs. T. A., 407 
Naylor, David, 480 

Neil and Green Streets, City Hall, Cham- 
paign (view), 372 
Nelson, C. O. 753 
Nelson, Peter H., 805 
Newcom, Ethan, 5, 523 
Newcom's Ford, 5, 523 
Newcomb, W. K., 206 
Newell, J. D., 440, 494 
New Homer, 472 
New St. Joseph, 486 
New TJrbana High School (view), 434 
Noble, J. H., 396, 487 
Nodine, Richard H., 354, 356 
Norman, IT. G., 650 
Northern Cross Railroad, 347, 514 



Norton, Albert, 476 
Nox, William, 163, 164 
Nox, William, Jr., 144 
Nox's Point, 5, 500 
Nurseries, 23, 25 
Nye, J. E., 577 

Oathout, C. H., 34 

Oats, 13 

O 'Brien, Joseph, 165, 420 

Ocheltree, J. M., 476 

Odebrecht, Carl, 954 

Odell, John, 481 

Oehmke, Charles F., 687 

Ogden, 207, 349, 516 

Ogden Courier, 517 

Ogden Township, 516 

Ohio colony locates at Rantoul, 439 

Okaw settlement, 3 

O'Kelleher, Andrew, 319 

Old Angle Block (1858) (view), 413 

Old Cabin, Within and Without (views), 

115 

Old courthouse as a schoolhouse, 219 
Oldham, H. D., 29 
Oldham, James E., 164 
Old Homer, 471, 472 
Old Kelly Tavern, St. Joseph (view), 

176 

Old St. Joseph, 482 
Old Settlers' Society, 134 
Old Sugar Camp, Sadorus Grove (view), 3 
Old-Time Rail Fence (view), 519 
Oliver, J. C., 385 
Oliver, Lewis D., 538 
Oliver, L., 445 
Olson, Olof 682 
O 'Neal, W. B., 32 
O'Neil, Hugh, 473 
One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Regiment, 

355, 359 
One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment, 

359 

Ordinance of 1787, 67 
Orr, J. T., 481, 
Osborn, Frank, 517 
Osborn, Henry, 489 
Osborn, James, 136, 491 
Osborne, John W., 465 
Our Constitution, 439 
Owens, F. M., 164 

Page, John M., 466 
Page, Samuel J., 203 
Paine, Benjamin C., 1003 
Paisley, Mrs. T. J., 406 
Pancake, Jesse W., 5 
Pancake's Point, 5 
Paris, William, 516 
Park, Joseph, 359 
Park, William, 430 
Parker, E. W., 514 
Parker, Frank A., 723 



INDEX 



xxi 



Parker, George, 514 

Parks, Pleasant M., 164 

Parmeter, Isaac, 492 

Parr, Sophie, 620 

Parrett, Fred R., 873 

Parsons, Mrs. F. A., 378 

Parsons, J. W., 445 

Part of the Main Campus Today (view), 

321 

Pasley, Sylvester, 494 
Patterson, J. J., 447 
Patterson, Otho, 844 
Patton, David, 600 
Patton, Harry, 601 
Patton, Lafayette, 601 
Patton, Jane, 600 
Paulus, Abraham, 829 
Peabody, Selim H., 261 
Peabody, William, 478 
Pearce, William H., 164 
Pearman, J. T., 203, 204, 206, 382 
Pearson, C. M., 493 
Pearson, Joseph R., 726 
Penfield, 208, 347, 521 
Penfield, Guy D., 464 
Penfield, John, 459, 464 
Penney, J. H., 508 
Pennington, Sarah, 222 
Pennsylvania House, 177 
Penny, Henry S., 165 
Peorias, 87 

Pepper, H. J., 349, 350 
Pera, 518 

Perkins Schoolhouse (view), 424 
Perry, John B., 463 
Pesotum chief, 513 
Pesotum Township, 512 
Pesotum village, 170, 207, 347, 512 
Peters, Ann E., 887 
Peters, John M., 894 
Peters, Jonathan M., 164 
Peters, J. L., 886 
Peters, William, 144, 226, 440 
Peters, William I., 127, 473, 483 
Peterson, E. V., 388 
Peterson, Peter, 620 
Phelps, Vergil V., 241, 301, 303 
Phenicie, William M., 891 
Philbrick, Solon, 183 
Phillips, William, 126, 366 
Philo, 208, 348, 515 
Philo Exchange Bank, 515 
Philo Township, 514 
Phinney, J. B., 366 
Physical features, 1 
Physicians, 123, 125, 194, 202 
Piasa bird, 39 
Pickard, J. C., 407 
Pierce, W. G., 395 
Piersel, A. C., 445 
Pillars, Charles A., 595 
Pinkerton, C. B. E., 465 
Pinkerton, F. E., 465 



Pinkston, Joel W., 934 

Pioneer Couple in the Old Home (view), 
97 

Pioneer Family (view), 100 

Pioneer Residents of Champaign (view), 
365 

Pioneer settlements of Illinois, 50 

Pioneer settlers in Champaign neighbor- 
hood, 366 

Pioneer settlers of Urbana, 428 

Pitner, W., 445 

Pitner, W. F., 445 

Pittman, Joseph C. W., 573 

Pittman, L. C., 410 

Pixley, Howard, 378 

Place, Charles C., 962 

Platt, Joseph, 394 

Platt, P. T., 410 

Plottner, Mrs. W. A., 389 

Plym, Francis J., 318 

Polk, John L., Jr., 402 

Pollard, J. S., 391 

Poritiac buried at St. Louis, 60 

Porter, Daniel T., 144, 163, 185, 490 

Porter, George M., 999 

Porter, J. W., 437 

Porter, Mrs. J. W., 407 

Post, C. F., 463 

Postoffice, Champaign (view), 386 

Pottawattamies, 87, 89 

Pottawattamie Village, A Bit of the Site 
of (view), 91 

Powell, Burt E., 304 

Powell, John, 136 

Prairie du Rocher,. 52 

Prairie lands, 2 

Prairies, 9, 10, 11 

Prather, Lewis, 29, 987 

Prather, Robert, 485 

Prather 'a Ford, 5, 485 

Presbyterian Church, Homer, 473 

Presbyterian Church, Sidney, 504 

Present Engineering Group of Buildings 
(view), 295 

Presidents of the University of Illinois 
(portraits), 238 

Prettyman, J. B., 391, 409 

Prettyman, W. L., 391 

Price, Arthur C., 410 

Price, F. M., 165 

Price, Walter E., 410 

Primer, George H., 503 

Probate Court, 185, 186 

Probate judges, 184 

Property valuation (1916), 168 

Public School, Fisher (view), 480 

Public School, St. Joseph (view), 487 

Pugh, C. W., 493 

Purcell, J. T., 205 

Purrington, T., 497 

Quinlan, William J., 1070 



XX11 



INDEX 



Radebaugh, S. Barclay, 192 

Railroad lands, 461; draw settlers, 345 

Railroads, 329-350 

Ramey, H. B., 373 

Rankin, Hiram, 484, 516 

Rankin, James F., 503, 504, 856 

Rankin, 8. 8., 486 

Rantoul, 170, 208, 347 

Rantoul Business Street (view), 464 

Rantoul fire of 1901, 466 

Rantoul Journal, 465 

Rantoul News, 465 

Rantoul Press, 465 

Rantoul, Robert, 341, 457 

Rantoul Township and Village, 457-468 

Ratts, R. P. 207 

Rawden, H. H,. 401 

Ray, John L., 383 

Ray, Mrs. J. L., 407, 408 

Rayburn, Bert, 560 

Rayburn, J. O., 493 

Raymond, Isaac, 498 

Raymond, Isaac 8., 32, 515 

Raymond, John E., 996 

Raymond Township, 509 

Rea, John J., 635 

Read, O. B., 401 

Reardon, John W., 966 

Rector, Elias, 428 

Rector, Nelson, 100 

Rector, William, 99 

Redhed, William, 497, 498 

Redmon, Jacob, 1040 

Reed, Charles W., 922 

Reed, M., 387 

Reed, Nora, 495 

Reed, S. J., 165 

Rees, William, 205 

Reese, James M., 774 

Reeves, Matilda, 449 

Remington, William, 400 . 

Remley, J. W., 603 

Revolutionary soldiers, 124 

Reynolds, Chester G., 631 

Reynolds, John J., 948 

Rhinehart, Martin, 108, 218, 353, 354 

Rhinehart, Matthias, 107, 120 

Rhoades, Walter, 108, 126 

Rice, Clarence A., 904 

Richards, Charles R., 303, 305, 306, 313 

Richards, Chester W., 431, 454, 717 

Richards, George N., 415, 438 

Richards, Patrick, 454, 717 

Richards, Sandford, 373 

Richards, Thomas, 353, 484 

Richardson, John F., 142 

Ricker, Nathan C., 260 

Ricketts, Marion M., 1022 

Riemke, John T., 1032 

Riker, F. E., 465 

Riley, G. W., 400 

Riley, Ning A., 359 

Riley, Ozias, 383 



Rising, Fred, 29 

Ritchie, Robert S., 960 

Rittenhouse, John R,, 812 

Roads, 129 

Roberts, H., 419 

Roberts, Jeannette, 389 

Robertson, John G., 126, 144, 440, 493, 

494 

Robeson, Frank K., 412, 652 
Robinson, Elna A., 627 
Robinson, Eva, 503 
Robinson, Hugh J., 841 
Rodman, William, 479 
Rogers, Edward, 164, 674 
Rogers, E. B., 401, 498 
Rogerson, Andrew, 355 
Rolfe, C. W., 6 
Roloff, R. A., 473 
Roney, Benjamin A., 438 
Root, George F., 292 
Rose, Frederick, 474, 800 
Ross, Howard, 630 
Roth, Thomas J., 188, 708 
Roughton, John, 459, 460, 462 
Roughton, Reuben, 463, 669 
Rowland, James, 702 
Rowland, Thomas, 136 
Royal, 348 
Rural Home, 21 

Rural Home Fruit Farm, 366, 367 
Rush, Elmer A., 938 
Russell, Eugene H., 673 
Russell, Frank G., 611 
Russell, H. M., 437 
Russell, James B., 389, 410, 700 
Russell, Mrs. J. B., 389, 407 
Ryan, Thomas, 397 

Sabin, C. J., 373 

Saddler, John G., 196 

Saddler, John S., 209 

Sadorus, 208, 348, 510 

Sadorus, George W. B., 359 

Sadorus Grove, 3, 104, 105 

Sadorus, Henry, 3, 103, 104, 106, 134, 

218 

Sadorus homes, 107 
Sadorus Township, 510-512 
Sadorus, William, 21 
St. Clair County, 67 
St. John's Parish (Catholic), Champaign, 

399 
St. Joseph (see Old St. Joseph), 209, 349, 

487 

St. Joseph, Main Street (view), 485 
St. Joseph Record, 487 
St. Joseph Township and Village, 482- 

487 
St. Mary's Catholic Church, Champaign, 

397 
St. Patrick's Catholic Parish, Urbana, 

448 



INDEX 



xxin 



St. Peter's Evangelical Church, Cham- 
paign, 397 

Sale, Clarence 8., 313 

Sale, Frederick B., 359, 430, 494 

Salem Baptist Church, Champaign, 401 

Salisbury, 143 

Salisbury, John, 139, 164, 483 

Salisbury, S. S., 205, 209 

Salisbury, T. M., 498 

Salt Fork, 2 

Salt Fork Timber, 119 

Samples of Champaign County Farming 
(views), 506 

Sampson, Willard L., 475 

Sandwell, Lawrence, 498 

Sangamon Country, 75 

Sangamon Timber, 120 

Sangamon & Morgan Eailroad, 347 

Savage, John H., 454 

Savage, Manford, 389 

Savoy, 347 

Sawmill, Old Timer (view), 125 

Sayers, James O., 980 

Schantz, O. M., 14 

Schell, Eva, 449 

Schindler, Oscar W., 968 

Schluter, Louis W., 623 

Schoengerdt, W. E., 205 

School of Ceramics, 282 

School of Commerce, 281 

School of Education, 281 

School of Law and State Library School, 
273 

School of Military Aeronautics estab- 
lished, 301 

School of Railway Engineering, 283 

Schools, 124-; territorial, 213; state pub- 
lic, 214; early, 215; Charles Fielder 
first teacher in county, 216; other pio- 
neer teachers, 216; pioneer of the town- 
ships, 219; inadequate revenues, 225; 
present county system, 226; commis- 
sioners, 226; present status of, in 
county, 230; state examining board, 
231; standardisation of rural, 234; 
High School Tuition Act, 235; state 
educational survey, 236; germs of the 
public school system, 241 ; early at- 
tempts to found state universities, 242; 
public in Champaign, 373-387; of TJr- 
bana, 423-426, 433-437 

Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, Chi- 
cago, 272 

Schoon, Christian, 712 

Schoon, George, 710 

Schowengerdt, William E., 721 

Schuett, E. H., 396 

Schumacher, Henry T., 756 

Schumacher, R. W., 206 

Schumm, Julius, 397 

Schwanderman, Herman, 553 

Scott, Andrew, 481, 869 

Scott, Fielding L., 130, 187, 491, 494 



Scott, James E., 373, 393 

Scott, John A., 164 

Scott Park, 393 

Scott, Thomas J., 164 

Scovell, M., 387 

Scroggs, George, 388, 420 

Soroggs, John W., 210, 369, 415, 425 

Seaver, N. L., 462 

Selle, C. A. F., 396 

Seltzer, John D., 724 

Seltzer, John F., 725 

Semple, A., 445 

Seymour, 208, 347, 349, 521 

Seymour, Arthur B., 304 

Shade, Henry E., 1064 

Shattuck, Samuel W., 259 

Shaw, Aaron, 178 

Shaw, J., 445 

Shaw, Newton, 351 

Shawhan, George R., 229, 414, 773 

Shawhan, William M., 509 

Sheffer, George J., 410 

Sheldon Brick Company, 455 

Sheldon, C. C., 455 

Sheldon, George, 455 

Sheldon, J. C., 444 

Shelledy, Stephen B., 142 

Shemauger, 90, 92 

Shepherd, Paris, 226 

Sherfy, Chalmers F., 164 

Sheridan, Arthur, 596 

Sherman, Edward S., 356 

Sherman, Mrs. S. P., 404 

Shields, Robert, 932 

Shoemaker, E. W., 369 

Shortridge, C. T., 508 

Shreve, William O., 486 

Shuck, John W., 164 

Shuck, J. W., 454 

Sickel, Mrs. F., 475 

Sidney (see also Nox's Point), 208, 347, 

348, 500-504 

Sidney's Main Street (view), 502 
Sidney Times, 503 
Sidney Township, 499-500 
Silkey, Abner, 454 
Silver, David A., 944 
Sim, Joseph W., 188, 431 
Sim, William, 437, 473 
Simmons, O. B., 206 
Sims, W. B., 165 
Singbnsch, Arthur C., 572 
Six, Harlan W., 970 
Sizer, A. D., 492 
Si7er, Lucius N., 787 
Skinner, George, 649 
Slavery issue (1822-24), 74 
Smedley, F. R., 420 
Smith, "Arthur W., 361 
Smith, C. B., 182, 373 
Smith, Daniel F., 402 
Smith, Frank, 305 
Smith, F. M., 473 



xxiv 



INDEX 



Smith, Henry C., 497 

Smith, Jacob W., 967 

Smith, Joe, 105, 107 

Smith, Lyman, 478 

Smith, L. S., 370 

Smith, Mrs. C. B., 382 

Smith, Mrs. W. H., 407 

Smith, Robert B., 370 

Smith, Thomas E., 566 

Smith, Thomas J., 318, 389, 665 

Smith, William H., 782 

Smith, "William O., 658 

Smith, W. A., 504 

Smith, W. E., 370 

Smithers, James, 463 

Smoot, Herman M., 473, 474, 994 

Smyres, Lewis A., 164 

Snelling, Moses, 430 

Snyder, Edward, 260, 319, 383 

Snyder, John, 57 

Snyder, Mrs. Edward, 408 

Social Science Club of Champaign and 

Urbana, 408 
Sodom, 5 
Soil, 9 

So.mers, James A., 678 
Somers, James W., 190 
Somers, John C., 414, 603 
Somers, John L., 165 
Somers, W. H., 429 
Somers, William D., 148, 188 
Somers, Winston, 197, 203, 209 
Souder, Luther B., 764 
South Campus and South Farm Today 

(view), 266 

South Homer Township, 469 
Southworth, Albert L., 1012 
Spalding, Bert E., 766 
Spalding, Mrs. Arthur, 405 
Spalding, Wallace P., 413 
Spanish-American War, 360 
Spears, Charles H., 729 
Sperry, H. T., 410 
Sperry, James, 770 
Spoehrle, Carl W., 675 
Spoon River flats, 516 
Sprague, Dallas, 596 
Springsteen, John, 519 
Spruill, W. P. T., 395, 445 
Spurgin, William G., 188 
Stage Coach (view), 130 
Staley, 349 
Staley, Calvin C., 188 
Stamey, Elias, 353 
Stanford, Philip, 143 
Stanford, Philip M., 144 
Stanley, O. O., 205 
Stanner, J. Ray, 32 
Starr, E., 96, 100 
Starved Rock, 48 
State Bank in liquidation, 77 
State Bank of Sidney, 503- 
State entomologist's office, 313 



State Geological and Water surveys, 282. 

State Geological Survey, 314 

State Laboratory of Natural History, 313 

State road, 130 

State Water Survey, 314 

Stayton, David B., 484 

Stayton, John D., 1008 

Stayton, Joseph, 483 

Steam Tractor in Orchard (view), 33 

Stedman, W. H., 401 

Steel, W. M., 465 

Steele, Daniel A. K., 303, 306 

Steele, John A., 368, 446 

Stern, Walter W., 414 

Steurer, Charles, 399 

Stevens, E. V., 447 

Stevens, Harmon, 196, 206 

Stevens, Thomas, 477 

Stevenson, Andrew, 175, 218 

Stevenson, A. H., 164 

Stevenson, Lew E., 864 

Stevick, D. W., 416, 685 

Stewart, Arthur R., 567 

Stewart, John R,, 416, 1071 

Stewart, Mrs. J. R., 407, 408 

Stewart, William, 420 

Stidham, Penrose, 164 

Stiegmeyer, G., 396 

Stiles, O. D., 493 

Stipes, John W., 455, 916 

Stipes, Mrs. John W., 406 f 

Stoddard, William O., 415 

Stoech, Mrs. H. H., 407 

Stone, E. A., 401 

Stonestreet, Mary E., 592 

Stonestreet, William, 592 

Stoughton, Jonathan, 249 

Stoughton, Jonathan C., 425 

Stout, Frank, 889 

Stover, Martin O., 32, 912 

Strahle, Paul J., 618 

Strauss, John, 478 

Strehlow, H., 397 

Strode, Archie E., 643 

Strong, Ambrose W., 1025 

Strong, Cyrus, 473, 484 

Strong's Ford, 5, 485 

Stucker, Thomas D. B., 940 

Students' government system, 254 

Sturdyvin, William L., 638 

Sturgeon, Robert A., 798 

Sugar Grove, 3, 120 

Sullivan, William, 662 

Sullivant Estate, Ayers Township, 505 

Sullivant, Michael L., 505 

Summers, Charles A., 356 

Summers, John W., 415, 474 

Sussmuth, W., 397 

Sutton, Elsie B., 512 

Sutton, Royal A., 431 

Swain, John, 203 

Swamp lands, 12 

Swannell, D. G., 412, 420 



INDEX 



XXV 



Swannell, H., 382, 388 

Swannell, Mrs. Henry, 407 

Swartz, B. F., 432 

Swearingen, Alpheus C., 1035 

Swearingen, Amanda M., 1049 

Swearingen, Bartley, 483 

Swearingen, David, 483 

Swearingen, John, 483 

Swearingen, John V., 165 

Swearingen, John W., 164 

Swearingen, Van B., 486, 1048 

Sweet, E. L., 373 

Sweet, T. B., 387, 388 

Swick, Jacob, 832 

Swift, Eben, 361 

Swift, J. E., 496 

Swigart, Edwin S., 373, 404, 409, 529 

Switzer, Lottie, 385 

Talbot, A. N., 371, 391, 431 

Talbot, Mrs. A. N., 408 

Talbott, James A., 533 

Taxes (1916), 168 

Taylor, C., 221 

Taylor, C. B., 439 

Taylor, Mary A., 1057 

Taylor, Mary L., 700 

Taylor, Shelby D., 700 

Taylor, William, 163 

Teachers, pioneer American in Illinois, 

213; pioneer of the townships, 219 
Tenbrook, John P., 159, 187, 496 
Terry, George W., 459 
Third Street, Fisher (view), 479 
Thirty Club, Champaign, 407 
Thoma, Theodore A., 512 
Thomas, James Q., 129, 839 
Thomas, John B., 185, 187, 226, 420, 472 
Thomas, Joseph, 473 
Thomas, Moses, 136, 139, 164, 174, 184, 

226 

Tlnmasboro, 347, 468 
Thomasboro village, 170 
Thompson, Ann, 937 
Thompson, Charles A., 203, 360 
Thompson, Charles D., 854 
Thompson, Fred E., 361 
Thompson, James, 96, 99, 937 
Thompson, John F., 505 
Thompson, Martin B., 164, 203, 356 
Thompson, William H., 797 
Thornbnrn, John H., 404, 454 
Thrasher, Benjamin, 13, 165 
Thrasher, John, 165, 221 
Threshing Scene (view), 33 
Timber lands, 2 
Tinkham, Charles J., 357, 492 
Tipton, 348 
Tittle, Percy H., 361 
Tobie, Willard N., 447 
Toledo, Wabash & Western Bailroad, 347, 

501 
Tolle, C. J. T., 445 



Tolono, 209, 347, 496-499 

Tolono, Busy Section of (view), 497 

Tolono Herald, 498 

Tolono High School (view), 498 

Tomlinson, William, 624 

Tompkins, Claudie, 217 

Tompkins, William, 102, 122, 428 

Toner, Patrick, 398 

Tonti, 42, 44, 47, 50 

Tornquist, Andrew, 759 

Tourtellotte, Edward, 207 

Tow-Head Grove, 4, 514 

Towl, E. K., 447 

Towle, Nathan, 164 

Town Hall, Sidney (view), 500 

Townsend, Mrs. W. K. D., 407 

Township organization adopted, 159 

Townships, value of property and taxes 
levied, 168; population (1833-1917), 
169; schools, 220 

Toy, Solomon J., 164, 430 

Traction system, 330, 348 

Tracy, James M., 165, 356 

Treat, Samuel H., 178 

Trees, William H., 858 

Trevett, Henry, 373, 383, 391 

Trevett, John H., 411, 413 

Trevett, John E., 412, 413 

Trevett-Mattis Banking Company, 412 

Trinity Methodist Episcopal (Univer- 
sity) Church, Urbana, 447 

Trost, Eli, 498 

Trotter, John F., 836 

Truman, Jeptha, 219 

Tucker, S. C., 371, 373, 606 

Tuesday Club, Homer, 475 

Turner, George E., 361 

Turner, Jonathan B., 226, 242, 243, 247 

Turrell, G. A., 414 

Turrell, Mrs. George A., 408 

Typical Wheat Field (view), 522 

Tyrell, Bodger, 431 

Udell, E. J., 465 

tlmbanhowar, James H., 995 

Uncle Tommy Butler (see Thomas L. 

Butler) 

Unitarian Church, Urbana, 448 
United Brethren Church of Broadlands, 

508 

United Brethren Church, Fisher, 480 
United Charities Association of Cham- 
paign and Urbana, 403 
United Manufacturing Company, 349 
United States in 1798 (map), 68 
United States surveyors, 96, 98, 121 
Universalist Church, Urbana, 446 
University Auditorium (view), 300 
University Baptist Church, Urbana, 446 
University Hall (view), 248 
University of Illinois, 239-328; presi- 
dents of, 238; main building com- 
pleted, 256; literary societies, 259; 



XXVI 



INDEX 



name legally adopted, 267; statistics, 
287-291, 310, 311; fraternities, 287; 
sororities, 287; buildings, 289, 326, 
327; growth (1867-1917), 290; annals, 
291-299; first meeting of the board 
(1867), 291; opens, 292; registrar, 
office of, created, 297; auditorium 
dedicated, 298; new administration 
building occupied, 301; honors, 316; 
prizes and medals, 317; scholarships 
and fellowships, 318; loan funds, 319; 
extension work, 320;- finances, 324; 
a military center, 361; library, 715 

University Reserve Officers' Training 
Corps, 363 

University Place Christian Church, 
Champaign, 403 

University Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation, 294, 298 

University Young Women's Christian 
Association, 296, 298 

Urbana, 209, 349; pioneer churches and 
school, 147 ; incorporated, 150 ; fire of 
October 9, 1871, 426; postoffice estab- 
lished, 429; city incorporated, 429; 
mayors, 431; public schools, 433; 
newspapers, 439; Sunday schools, 451, 
452 ; societies, 455. 

Urbana & Champaign Horse Railway 
Company, 349 

Urbana and Champaign Institute, 425 

Urbana & Champaign Railway, Gas & 
Electric Company, 349, 350 

Urbana Banking Company, 454 

Urbana Clarion, 439 

Urbana Courier, 439 

Urbana Courier-Herald, 439 

Urbana Fortnightly Club, 455 

Urbana Free Library, 437 

Urbana High School, 435 

Urbana House, 177 

Urbana Male and Female Seminary, 423 

Urbana Methodist Episcopal Mission, 440 

Urbana Methodist Mission, 473 

Urbana Postoffice (view), 453 

Urbana Railroad, 425, 426 

Urbana Township and City, 422-456 

Urbana Union, 438 

Vail, Albert R., 448 

Valentine, T. J., 395 

Valuation of university property, 325 

Van Brunt, 8., 410 

Vance, John W., 137 

Van Doren, C. L., 517 

Vandyke, S. A., 395 

Van Tuyl, A., 437 

Van Vleck, Charles F., 1006 

Van Wegen, Lee M., 771 

Varney, Samuel B., 784 

Vennum, E. M., 414 

Vennum, F. B., 414 



Vermilion County, 136 

Vesper Chapter No. 128, O. E. S., 420 

Vieregg, Charles A., 360 

Villages, population (1833-1917), 169 

Vincennes captured by Americans, 62 

Voliva, W. G., 447 

Vollborn, Mrs. A. L., 475 

Wabash Railroad, 347, 515 

Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad, 

348 

Waddington, Ed., 481 
Wade, Isaac N., 762 
Wade, Luther C., 968 
Wade, Mrs. I. N., 408 
Wagner, A. J., 398, 399 
Wagner, Minnie, 879 
Wagner, Peter J., 878 
Walker, T. C., 205 
Walkington, John, 395 
Walkington, William, 420 
\\'a!(, A. 8., 205 
Wallace, Charles H., 454, 1052 
Wallace, J. W., 473 
Walls, Arthur T., 697 
Wampler, William, 517 
Wantwood, 5 
Ware, James C., 164 
Warlick, J. R., 508 
Warner, Charles D., 493 
Warner, Claude B., 681 
Washington Park, 393 
Water supply, 11 
Water, W., 387 
Watkins, J. R., 517 
Watson, George L., 660 
Watson, Mary E., 766 
Watts, Charles H., 230, 688 
Weaver, Bill, 161 
Weaver-Hiltibran murder, 179 
Webber, Charles M., 680 
Webber, Charles W., 164 
Webber, G. W., 454 
Webber, Thomas R., 134, 136, 139, 143, 

144, 164, 343, 367, 428, 429 
Webber, William B., 194, 431 
Webber, William T., 429 
Webster, C. D., 437 
Webster, W. H., 396, 445 
Weeks, John B., 410 
Weeks, S. E., 410 
Wegeng, John C., 998 
Welles, Thomas B., 747 
Wells, Albert E., 401 
Wendling, Charles P., 986 
Weston, Martha K., 571 
Weston, Nathan A., 303, 305, 387 
West Church Street, Champaign (view), 

401 

West Main Street, Urbana (view), 427 
West Urbana (see Champaign), 370; 

founded, 343 



INDEX 



XXVll 



West Urbana, First Schoolhouse (view), 

424 

Western Electric Light Company, 349 
Western Star Lodge No. 240, A. F. & 

A. M., 416 
Wheeler, A. M., 423 
Whitaker, John, 136, 144 
Whitcomb, A. L., 205 
Whitcomb, E. T., 388 
White, David B., 1002 
White, Jacob, 431 
White, James M., 304 
White, James P., 391 
White, John P., 344, 368, 369, 378, 475 
White, Joseph, 765 
White, J. E., 205 
White, J. G., 475 
White, Mrs. J. G., 475 
White Park, 344, 368, 391 
White Park, General View in, 392 
Whitmore, J. P., 514 
Whitney, A. M., 417, 419, 430 
Whitney, Henry C., 191, 370 ' 
Wicks, Alfred, 503 
Wiese, Emil L., 509 
Wiggins, Charles B., 746 
Wiggins, H. J., 473 
Wiggins, Mrs. P. E., 475 
Wilcox, L. S., 203, 205, 210, 373 
Wildcat banking, 74, 81 
Wilder, C. N., 394 
Wilder, Mrs. C. N., 407 
Wilkins, E. D., 396 
Wilkinson, James E., 402 
Williams, Chester A., 838 
Williams, Clarence L., 968 
Williams, F. M., 401 
Williams, George C., 810 
Williams, Isaac V., 490 
Williams, James, 437 
Williams, Jesse, 119, 499, 500 
Williams, Thomas D., 356 
Williams, Mrs. G. C., 407, 409 
Wills, Ella, 699 
Wills, James E., 698 
Wilson, David, 804 
Wilson, James A., 993 
Wilson, John J., 446 
Wilson, J. L., 388 
Wilson, S. L., 229 
Wilson, William. 173 



Wilson, W. W., 499 

Windsor, Phineas L., 305, 306, 715 

Wingard, L. Forney, 592 

Winston, Miller, 502, 504 

Wisegarver, Howard, 988 

Witt, Charles W., 954 

Wohlfarth, J. F., 445 

Wolf, Lewis, 752 

Wolfe, J. B., 396 

Wolfe, John S., 194, 354, 355, 359, 420 

Woman's Building, Present (view), 255 

Woman's Club of Homer, 475 

Women admitted to university, 254 

Wood, Mary, 518 

Woodin, Thomas J., 1009 

Woodin, W. H., 997 

Woodruff, Mrs. F. C., 449 

Woods, William F., 389 

Woody, A. C., 473 

Woody, F. Way, 409, 414 

Woody, Paul W., 164, 373, 383 

Wrean, Howard, 720 

Wright, David B., 420, 578 

Wright, Francis M., 159, 182, 454 

Wright, James S., 165, 217, 373, 470, 472 

Wright, John B., 470 

Wright, Mrs. F. M., 408 

Wright, Randolph C., 164 

Wright, Robert C., 165, 193, 473 

Wylie, Laura F., 705 

Wyne, John H., 756 

Yancey, William L., 907 
Yankee Ridge, 6, 514 
Yankee Ridge schoolhouse, 222 
Yeats, J. K. P., 877 
Yeazel, Adam, 175 
Yeazel, James P., 1037 
Yeazel, Mathew L., 1044 
Young, James, 495 
Youngblood, Roy, 900 
Young Women 's Christian League, Cham- 
paign, 406 
Yount, Nicholas, 483 

Zerby, Guy L., 488 
Zilly, Charles, 782 
Zombro, Roger E., 656 
Zook, Oscar, 481 
Zorger, William H_ 622 



CHAPTER I 

PHYSICAL FEATURES 

TIMBER AND PRAIRIE LANDS BEAUTIFUL AND HISTORIC GROVES WHY 
"DEAD MAN'S GROVE" FORDS OLD "NEIGHBORHOODS" ALTITUDE 
OF CITIES AND VILLAGES ACTION OF GLACIERS SOIL ORIGIN OF 
THE PRAIRIES WATER SUPPLY SWAMP LANDS RECLAIMED 
STANDARD CHAMPAIGN COUNTY CEREALS DAIRY PRODUCTS AND 
LIVE STOCK BIRDS AS INSECT DESTROYERS CEREALS SUPPLANT 
FRUITS HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE IN COUNTY AGRICULTURAL 
AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES AGRICULTURAL, HORTICULTURAL 
AND MECHANICAL ASSOCIATION THE FARMERS' CLUB AND FAIR 
ASSOCIATION CHAMPAIGN COUNTY FARMERS' INSTITUTE THE 
FARM BUREAU. 

One of the richest, most prosperous and progressive counties in 
southern Illinois, Champaign also represents a nucleus of mental activity 
and culture, national, even international, in its scope. The cities of 
Champaign and Urbana, virtually one municipal community, although 
separately incorporated, are of unique character in that their prosperity 
has been largely stimulated by the activities of what has become a 
great university; that their material growth still is invigorated by its 
membership; that they are practically without industries, and yet that 
they thrive and expand and possess a vigorous and developing life 
seldom enjoyed by a university town, and certainly by no other like 
municipality in the United States. 

Champaign County has two cities and seventeen incorporated villages 
within its limits. It is divided into twenty-eight townships, is bisected 
by the fortieth degree of north latitude, which crosses it about four 
miles south of the courthouse at Urbana, and is about thirty-six miles 
from north to south and twenty-eight east and west. 

l 
ii 



2 HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

TIMBER AND PEAIHIE LANDS 

There are no bold features of the landscape to be recorded, its 
contour being usually rolling and pleasing, and particularly conducive 
to the cultivation of the grains. Champaign is the banner corn county 
of the United States, and there is no farming community in the country 
which is more contented or prosperous. The county is situated entirely 
within what the early French explorers denominated the Grand Prairie 
of the West, which they described as extending from the headwaters 
of the Mississippi to the Wabash Eiver. Originally the timber lands 
extended pretty generally along the courses of the streams, and embraced 
such groves as Linn, Mink, Sadorus, Hickory, Burr and Cherry. As 
the pioneers were disinclined to get far away from the timber strips, the 
more fertile easily cultivated prairie stretches were long neglected; as 
the wooded lands received the more attention, it is believed that their 
quantity was not as great as has been supposed and that the old estimate 
that one-fifth the surface of Champaign County was originally covered 
with native forests is too high. 

There is a distinct watershed running through the western part of 
the county. The Kaskaskia, emptying into the Mississippi and the 
Sangamon, flowing into the Illinois, also a part of the system embraced 
by the Father of Waters, drain the western third, while the Salt Fork 
of the Vermilion, the Middle Fork of that stream and the Little Ver- 
milion, and the Embarrass, are portions of the Wabash system and 
drain the remainder of the county. Generally speaking, the Sangamon 
River and its branches, Wild Cat, Big and Tree Creek, Water Mahomet, 
Condit, Newcomb, East Bend and Brown townships, and the Kas- 
kaskia, with its tributaries, Scott, Champaign, Tolono, Colfax, Sadorus 
and Pesotum. The Embarrass rises south of Urbana on the University 
farm, and drains the southwestern part of Urbana Township, and Philo, 
Crittenden, Raymond and Ayers townships. North of the Embarrass, 
the Vermilion system spreads over such eastern townships as South 
Homer, Sidney, St. Joseph, Ogden, Stanton, Compromise, Rantoul, Kerr 
and Harwood. 

BEAUTIFUL AND HISTORIC GROVES 

Before the county was divided into townships, many of the localities 
outside the villages and other distinct centers of population were desig- 
nated by groves and fords and other natural features. "The Big Grove," 
says Judge J. 0. Cunningham, "was the large grove of natural timber 
just north of the city of Urbana, lying partly in Town 19 and partly 
in Town 20. The Salt Fork was a general term used to designate not 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY 3 

only the lands covered by the timber along that stream, but the neigh- 
boring farms, from its northern extremity to the point where it leaves 
the county. Homer and Sidney were villages along the stream and the 
names were used to specialize neighborhoods. So, 'On the Sangamon' 
was understood to refer to the neighborhoods on both sides of the river 




OLD SUGAR CAMP, SADOBCS GROVE 

from its headwaters to the Piatt County line. There were the Okaw 
and the Ambraw settlements, by which was understood the neighborhoods 
about and in the timber belts along those streams, so far as they lay in 
this county. Middle Fork (of Salt Fork) was understood to mean 
the timber sometimes called Sugar Grove in the northeast corner of the 
county. Sadorus Grove was the designation of the isolated grove of 
timber at the head of the Kaskaskia River in which Henry Sadorus 
and his family settled when they came to the county. Bowse's Grove 
referred to a small grove of natural timber on the east side of the 
Embarrass River. Linn Grove, as a name, early became attached to 



4 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

the beautiful eminence crowned with trees of Nature's planting in the 
southwest corner of Sidney , Township, which name it yet retains. Lost 
Grove, at the northwest corner of Ayers Township, is supposed to have 
received its name from its remoteness from everywhere else. Hickory 
Grove, in St. Joseph and Ogden townships ; Burr Oak Grove, in Ogden ; 
Mink Grove, in Rantoul, and Dead Man's Grove, in St. Joseph Town- 
ship, like those above named, had a definite meaning and referred to 
certain localities, though, like some of them, these names now mean 
nothing, having passed from use. The last name has not been in use 
for many years, the grove referred to having long been called Corray's, 
taking its later name from a nearby dweller. It received its first name 
from the circumstance of finding there the body of a man who had 
died alone. 

WHY "DEAD MAN'S GROVE" 

"The tradition is that many years since and before the settlement of 
the prairies, a band of regulators from an Indiana settlement, having 
found the trail of a horsethief, who had successfully carried his stolen 
animal as far as the Tow-Head, overtook the thief there, finding him 
fast asleep under the shade of this little grove. Without the form of 
a trial the offender was promptly executed by being hung by the neck 
to one of the trees until he was dead, where his body was found by the 
next passerby. This grove of timber was near the road which led from 
Salt Fork timber westward to Sadorus Grove and the Okaw. 

"About one mile north of the village of Philo, in the early times, 
was a tuft or small patch of timber and brush along the margin of a 
small pond, which protected it from the annual prairie fires of less 
than one acre, which, from the earliest settlement of the country, was a 
noted landmark for travelers, and which was known far and wide as 
the Tow-Head from its supposed resemblance to something bearing 
that name. Its position upon a very high piece of prairie made it 
visible for many miles around. It. has long since yielded to the march 
of improvement, and its foster guardian, the pond, has likewise given 
way to the same enemy of the picturesque, and now yields each year 
fine crops of corn. 

"A little distance north of the village of Ivesdale is a grove of small 
timber, formerly known as Cherry Grove by early settlers. Its name, 
perhaps now obsolete, was probably derived from the kind of timber 
growing in the grove, or most prevalent, as was the case with other 
groves heretofore named. These groves and belts of timber served the 
early comers here as landmarks, so conspicuous were they on the horizon, 
and, in the absence of trails to guide the traveler, they served an 
excellent purpose as such. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 5 

"Adkins Point referred to a point of timber reaching to the north 
from the northwest corner of the Big Grove in Somer Township, and 
got its name from the residence there of the family of Lewis Adkins. 

"Nox's Point meant the locality of the village of Sidney, and 
received its name from the first settler in the point made by the Salt 
Fork timber in its eastward trend. The settler was William Nox. 

"Pancake's Point called to mind a point of timber reaching west- 
ward from the Sangamon timber in Newcomb Township, and owes its 
name to Jesse W. Pancake, who lived there more than fifty years since. 

"There was Sodom, a neighborhood above the village of Fisher, 
which was afterward used as the name of a postoffice established there. 
Why the location got this name so suggestive of evil reputation is not 
known. 

"So, Wantwood was applied to a treeless expanse of prairie reaching 
north from the head of Sangamon timber, the early settler knew not 
how far. 

FORDS 

"There were also fords across the streams where early roads, in 
default of bridges, led the traveler through deep waters. Of these 
there were Strong's Ford and Prather's Ford, both across the Salt 
Fork, one about a mile north and the other the same distance south 
of the village of St. Joseph. The former was where the iron bridge 
on the State road spans the stream, and was later called Kelley's Ford. 
Both fords received their distinctive names from nearby dwellers A 
ferry was maintained by Joseph T. Kelley at the former. The latter, 
'or Prather's Ford, was at the crossing of the Salt Fork by the Danville 
and Fort Clark road. 

"On the Sangamon were two well known fords with distinctive 
names. One at the village of Mahomet (or Middletown, as the village 
was known fifty years since) was called Bryan's Ford, from John 
Bryan, a contiguous land-owner, who maintained a ferry there. The 
iron bridge a few rods away has, for many years, furnished a better 
means of crossing the stream. The other, of historic fame, was known 
as Newcom's Ford, from Ethan Newcom, a pioneer who came to the 
county in the early '30s. It was at the crossing of the Sangamon River 
by the Danville and Fort Clark road, and, besides being a ford of the 
river, was a place where travelers camped in great numbers. It was 
near the line which divides Township 21 and 22, Range 8, and in later 
years it gave the name of Newcomb to another township, although the 
final "b" of the name, as thus used, is in addition to the spelling in 
use by the owner. Mr. Newcom spelled his name 'Ethan Newcom' 
where signed to a deed. 



6 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

OLD "NEIGHBORHOODS" 

"Then there were neighborhoods in the county which, from some 
peculiarity or other in their early settlement, took upon themselves 
peculiar names, most of which have been forgotten or fallen into disuse. 
Among these may be recalled the Kentucky Settlement, now in Eantoul 
Township. This was on account of the coming there prior to 1860 of 
B. C. Bradley and many other thrifty farmers from Kentucky. The 
settlement was a compact gathering of good families upon a hitherto 
unbroken prairie, so arranged that the social and school advantages 
enjoyed elsewhere were not suspended. In like manner the location 
about the ridge in Philo Township, which divides the waters of the 
Salt Fork from those flowing into the Ambraw (Embarrass), about 
1856 became the home of a colony from Massachusetts and other Eastern 
states, among whom may be named E. W. Parker and his brother, G. W. 
Parker, Lucius, David and T. C. Eaton, and others of New England 
origin which gave the neighborhood the name Yankee Ridge, which 
it bears to this day. So, the gathering upon the flat lands bordering 
the headwaters of the Salt Fork in Compromise Township, of a large 
number of Germans, who distinguished themselves as good farmers 
and good citizens, has given their neighborhood the name of Dutch 
Flats, which it is likely to maintain." 

Thus have the water courses of Champaign County had a large 
share in fixing local nomenclature upon many sections which have not 
been officially named either by the postoffice department of the general 
Government or the Legislature of the State. 

ALTITUDES OF CITIES AND VILLAGES 

The topography of the county has been thoroughly delineated by 
the State Geological and the United States Geological surveys, as well 
as by experts connected with the University of Illinois, especially by 
Prof. C. W. Rolfe of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. 
Based upon such authorities, it is found that the altitudes of the 
incorporated cities and villages in the county are as follows : Ludlow, 
770; Champaign, 741; Rantoul, 756; Urbana, 718; Philo, 737; Tolono, 
733; Thomasboro, 731; Fisher, 721; Pesotum, 715; Mahomet, 709; 
Sadorus, 691 ; Ivesdale, 679 ; Longview, 678 ; St. Joseph, 676 ; Sidney, 
673; Homer, 661. 

ACTION OF GLACIERS 

A consideration of these elevations and others in other portions of 
the county indicates a general inclination of the land surface from 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 7 

northwest to southeast, although, as stated, there is a distinct water- 
shed which divides the Wabash system from that of the Illinois and 
the Mississippi. This general trend was determined by glacial action, 
the great ice sheet moving down from the north, scouring off the land, 
its successive onward stages being indicated by ridges or, geologically 
speaking, moraines, which rise above the surface of the surrounding 
country to heights varying from twenty to a hundred feet. The glaciers 
which moved across what is now Champaign County were portions of 
what have become known as the Bloomington and the Champaign sys- 
tems, the former, which plowed across the northeast corner, being bold 
and aggressive in character and leaving behind ridges from fifty to a 
hundred feet high. The streams have cut these into knolls or hills, 
creating the most considerable heights in the county near Ludlow, 
from 820 to 830 feet above sea level; near Dillsburg, from 810 to 820 
feet, and just east of Gilford and Flatville, 820 feet. The second 
moraine enters from Piatt County in a series of ridges which join the 
Bloomington system when well within Champaign County. The main 
ridge enters near Mahomet, is broken by the Sangamon River, its 
heights ranging from 750 to 670 feet, and after reaching out into the 
central parts of the county, breaks into three distinct ridges and passes 
over into Vermilion County. At Rising, where an altitude of 810 feet 
is reached, the large branch which connects the Bloomington and Cham- 
paign systems, is given oft to the northeast. These moraines are the 
watersheds of the Wabash and Mississippi basins. 

No other single agent has been so potent in the modification of the 
surface of the earth as have glaciers and ice sheets; and this statement 
applies with particular significance to central Illinois and Champaign 
County. When it is remembered that these ice sheets were hundreds 
and possibly thousands of feet thick, and were hundreds of miles in 
width and length, some adequate idea may be formed of their power 
to plow up and completely change the surface structure of the earth. 

The debris which they brought from the Laurential mountains of 
Canada was distributed over Illinois generally, greatly to the enrich- 
ment of its soils. This material, which eventually became the wonder- 
fully productive soil in all the glacial areas, was transported in several 
ways. Much of it was pushed along mechanically in front of the 
advancing ice-sheet, so that when the forward movement began to be 
retarded, this material was left scattered along the edges of the advancing 
body. Much material was carried along under the ice-sheet and was 
ground and distributed over the glacial area. Other material, again, 
was carried to the surface of the ice-sheet, and often deeply imbedded 
in it. When the movement was finally checked, the superimposed mate- 



8 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

rial becoming heated by the sun, worked its way through the ice and 
rested on the ground, the whole body of ice eventually melting. 

Vast quantities of material were also carried by the streams which 
continually flowed from the melting ice. Much of the detritus was 
left on the broad, flat prairies, but much was carried into the streams 
which overflowed their banks, where it was deposited as alluvium. 

The material which these glaciers brought into the State of Illinois, 
as the basis of her vast material wealth, goes under the general name of 
Drift. Its composition varies, but its main constituents are clay, sand 
and boulders. This drift is sometimes found stratified, but more gener- 
ally is without definite layer formation. 

Without going into details as to authorities, it may be stated that, 
in North America, there seems to have been three great centers of 
glacial movement one known as the Labrador ice sheet; a second 
called the Kewatin ice sheet, and the third, the Cordilleran ice sheet. 
The first sheet had its center of movement near the central point of the 
peninsula of Labrador; the second, near the western shore of Hudson 
Bay, and the third moved from the Canadian Rockies. 

The ice sheet, the center of which rested on the Labrador peninsula, 
moved northeast, northwest, south and southwest, the movement in the 
direction last named starting a large section of the vast body toward 
what is now the State of Illinois. The Labradorean sheet reached its 
extreme southern limit in southern Illinois, some 1,600 miles from the 
point of departure. The advancing front in Illinois took the form of 
a gigantic crescent, and its extreme southern reach, according to the 
most recent geological surveys, may be traced from Randolph County 
southeast, through the southern side of Jackson eastward through 
southern Williamson, east and northeast through southeastern Saline, 
northeastward to the Wabash through the northwest corner of Gallatin 
and southeastern White. That line also marks the southern limit of 
the prairie areas, and is coincident with the northern foothills of the 
Ozark Mountains, which trend east and west across the State through 
Union, Johnson, Pope and Hardin. 

According to the more recent investigations, Illinois was subject 
to at least four ice-sheet invasions. In the order of time, these were 
(a) the Illinois sheet, which covered nearly the entire State; (b) the 
lowan sheet, moving over the area bounded by the Rock River on 
the west, Wisconsin on the north, Lake Michigan on the east, and on 
the south by a parallel extended from the southerly bend of that body 
of water; (c) the Earlier Wisconsin, covering the northeastern fourth 
of Illinois, and (d) the Later Wisconsin, plowing out the western 
borders of Lake Michigan and extending some fifty or sixty miles west- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 9 

ward. The Illinois ice-sheet is the one, obviously, which included 
Champaign County in its operations. The details of its work, in this 
more limited area, have already been given. 

SOIL 

The surface of Champaign County, as a general thing, is composed 
of black prairie soil, from one to five feet in thickness. This prairie 
soil is underlaid by a yellow clay subsoil. Below this clay subsoil 
occur alternate beds of clay, gravel and quicksand of the drift forma- 
tion to the depth of from 120 to 250 feet, below which there are other 
alternations of shale, slate, soapstone and limestone, with one or more 
beds of coal. 

Much of the loose materials found above the rocky beds of Cham- 
paign County are composed of what is called "drift," which consists of 
clay, sand, rounded and water-worn masses of granite and porphyry, 
together with the red sandstone of the Lake Superior region, all of 
which have been swept southward from their native beds with a force 
sufficient to obliterate the angles from the hardest fragments; and 
these have been rudely intermingled with the surface materials of the 
formations over which they were transported. This drift, as it was 
deposited, filled up the beds of the ancient valleys and covered much 
of the remaining surface to a greater or lesser depth. The transporta- 
tion of this "drift" for such a long distance is probably due to the slow 
but powerful movement of immense glaciers from the frozen regions of 
the north, in the same manner as the glaciers of the mountain regions 
of Europe are now slowly melting and sliding and dragging with them 
huge masses of mountain rock, wrenched off with Titantic force by the 
departing ice. 

ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES 

Nothing in the New World was more interesting to the European 
than the broad prairies between the Mississippi and the Ohio. In 
1817 Governor Edward Coles, then a young man returning from a 
diplomatic mission to Russia, stopped in France and England. He 
was a Virginian, but had traveled through the West and had himself 
been greatly charmed by the rich grandeur of the prairie lands. The 
French and the English never tired of his graphic descriptions of them, 
and among his charmed auditors was Morris Birkbeck, a prosperous 
tenant farmer of England, who was thereby induced to come to America 
and settle in Edwards County, southeastern Illinois. In later years 
Dickens went into raptures over his first sight of a "western" prairie, 
revealing his sentiments in his "Notes on America." 



10 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

When the first French explorers reached the Mississippi Valley, they 
were amazed at the great sweep of timberless areas, although they 
originally applied their word, "prairie," to describe the flat bottom 
lands of the river valleys. Nor is the application of the word to such 
tracts inappropriate, as it has been shown by geologists that the forma- 
tion of the prairies of central Illinois is identical in character with the 
formation of the bottom lands along the Mississippi, the Ohio and other 
smaller rivers. 

When the first settlers came to the Illinois country they are said to 
have found about one-fourth of it timbered and the remainder timber- 
less, or prairie lands. They designated the largest timberless area the 
Grand Prairie, and it was virtually limited by the great watershed 
which divides the basins of the Mississippi and the Ohio. It extends 
from the northwestern part of Jackson County through Perry, part of 
Williamson, Washington, Jefferson, Marion, Fayette, Effingham, Coles, 
Champaign and Iroquois, crosses the Kankakee Eiver and extends to the 
southern end of Lake Michigan. Champaign County is therefore 
almost in the center of the Grand Prairie of Illinois. 

The origin of the prairies has been a debatable question for many 
decades. Three general theories have been advanced to account for their 
existence at the time of the coming of the earliest settlers into the 
limits of Illinois. One explanation is that the great prairie fires which 
annually swept over the Grand Prairie effectually kept the trees from 
making any headway. But there are two scientific explanations which 
seem to go more to the bedrock of the matter. 

Says a late writer on this subject : "Professor Whitney holds to 
the theory that the treeless prairies have had their origin in the char- 
acter of the original deposits, or soil formation. He does not deny, in 
fact admits, the submersion of all prairie lands formerly as lakes or 
swamps; but he holds that while the lands were so submerged there 
was deposited a very fine soil, which he attributes, in part, to the under- 
lying rocks, and in part to the accumulation in the bottom of immense 
lakes, of a sediment of almost impalpable fineness. This soil in its 
physical, and probably in its chemical, composition prevents the trees 
from naturally getting a foothold in the prairies. 

"Professor Lesquereux holds to the theory simply stated that all 
areas properly called prairies were formed by the redemption of what 
was once lake regions and later swamp territory. He points out that 
trees grow abundantly in moving water, but that when water is dammed 
the trees always die. His theory is that standing water kills trees by 
preventing the oxygen of the air from reaching their roots. He further 
shows that the nature of the soil in redeemed lake regions is such that 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 11 

without the help of man trees will not grow in it. But he further 
shows that by proper planting the entire prairie area may be covered 
with forest trees. 

"As rich as was the soil of our prairies, the first emigrants seldom 
settled far out on these treeless tracts. Most of the early comers were 
from the timbered regions of the older states and felt they could not 
make a living very far from the woods. Coal had not come into use 
and wood was the universal fuel. There was a wealth of mast in the 
timber upon which hogs could live a large part of the year. Again, 
our forefathers had been used to the springs of New England, Kentucky, 
Tennessee and Virginia, and they did not think they could live where 
they could not have access to springs. The early comer, back in the 
'30s, therefore, rode over the prairies of central Illinois, and then 
entered 160 in the timber, where he cleared his land and opened his 
farm." 

After a careful investigation of the subject, some of the most 
eminent geologists of Illinois have arrived at the conclusion that the 
extensive prairies of the West, with their peculiar soil, have been formed 
in the past pretty much as prairies on a smaller scale are being formed 
at the present day. The black, friable mold, of which the prairie soil 
is composed, is due to the growth and decay of successive crops of coarse 
swamp grasses, submerged in spring, and growing luxuriantly in summer, 
only to be submerged again, and returned, in a rotten condition, to 
the annual accumulations before made. It is not difficult to believe 
that in a few hundred years, more or less, as the great sheet of water 
that once covered the entire valley of the Mississippi and tributaries, 
gradually receded to the present water courses, and left the prairies in 
the condition of alternate wet and dry swails, that a black, mucky 
soil was produced to the depth now found upon the prairies. In process 
of time, by more complete recession of the waters, the surface of the 
prairies became dry, and adapted to the wants of animals and men. 
The fact of there being no trees on the prairies is accounted for on the 
ground that such a condition of the soil as is here described is not favor- 
able to their growth, as may be often noticed in the marshy spots of 
timbered regions. 

WATER SUPPLY 

The splendid water supply of Champaign County is accounted for 
by the presence of the glacial drift, which forms the striking feature 
of the surface geology of Champaign County. Miss DeEtte Rolfe, 
who has written much and well on this subject, explains the matter 
thus : "Irregularly interspersed in this drift are long strips and beds 



12 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

of gravel which have their outcrops on the flanks of the moraines. 
These, being surrounded by the dense clay, form pockets which become 
reservoirs for the storage of water. It is on these reservoirs that the 
county must rely for its water supply. The water obtained from them 
is of good quality, except in the somewhat rare instances where the 
outcrop of the gravel bed is so situated as to be exposed to contaminating 
influences, or in those cases, which should never occur, where the wells 
themselves are contaminated. As these gravel beds are distributed 
through the drift at different depths, the well, even on adjoining lots, 
may vary in depth. The quantity of water furnished by a well is 
governed by the size of the gravel bed from which it draws its supply. 
The deep wells of the county generally draw from the beds deposited 
between the two sheets of drift; their difference in depth depends on 
the irregularities of the first drift surface." 

What is termed the "Artesian Water Eegion of Illinois" extends a 
short distance into the northeastern portion of Champaign County. It 
is simply a stratum of water-bearing sandstone, overlaid by a thick 
stratum of tough clay, which confines the water to the sandstone level. 
Wherever holes are drilled through this overlying clay, the confined 
waters of the sandstone rise to the surface through the outlets, furnish- 
ing an economical and valuable supply of water for agricultural pur- 
poses. This stratum of sandstone is called the St. Peter's, and is 
supposed to be the same stratum that supplies artesian water to the 
counties of LaSalle, Grundy, Will and Cook. 

Clay and sand are the only elements underlying the Champaign 
prairie-sod that can be used for building purposes. Of the clay, a fair 
quality of brick and drain tile are being made in several places. The 
fire-clay, soapstone and limestone are covered too deeply with "drift" 
to admit of their being economically brought to the surface. Our chief 
sources of building stone and lime must continue to be the quarries of 
Kankakee. 

SWAMP LANDS RECLAIMED 

Until about forty years ago a class of Champaign County lands was 
as carefully avoided as the prairies of an earlier period ; like the 
prairie lands, they also proved of unusual value. For years the swamps 
and lowlands were considered as tracts which were worse than valueless; 
as so many pestilential breeders of malaria and other diseases. But in 
the early '50s much Federal and State legislation was directed toward 
the policy of donating such overflowed lands to the various counties. 
The result was to direct the attention of the county authorities more 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 13 

particularly to the subject, and cause them to consider whether after 
all they should not attempt to reclaim the swamp lands to conditions 
of productiveness. In 1853 Benjamin Thrasher was appointed to exam- 
ine all the unsold lands in the county coming within the definition of 
the Federal Act as "swamp and overflowed lands," and to submit a 
report thereof to the County Court. He reported that 85,000 acres in 
Champaign County answered to that description, and nearly 36,000 
acres of such land was subsequently confirmed to the county. These 
lands were sold and the funds used, in part, for the erection of a court- 
house in 1860 and to increase the school fund. 

It was upon these lands that the great work of drainage was accom- 
plished nearly twenty years thereafter. In 1878 the State Constitution 
was amended by the addition of the drainage section, which authorized 
the formation of drainage companies, the digging and tiling of ditches, 
and for purposes of regulation and systematic work it divided the sub- 
merged lands into districts, with supervising officials. Soon after the 
year 1880 the system and the work were in operation. Since then the 
cost of these improvements has been great, having been estimated at con- 
siderable over $1,000,000. This embraces expenditures made by private 
individuals, by local districts organized by township authorities, and by 
the authority and direction of the County Court. The lands thus 
reclaimed now embrace some of the most productive and valuable tracts 
in the State. Some of the most important of these drainage districts are 
known as the East Lake Fork, Two-Mile Slough, Beaver Lake, Big 
Slough, Kankakee, Embarrass Eiver, Wild Cat, Hillsbury Slough, Spoon 
River and Little Vermilion River. 

STANDARD CHAMPAIGN COUNTY CEREALS 

The soils of Champaign County seem to be especially formed to 
raise corn and oats. The elements were what they should be, as fur- 
nished by Nature, and the husbandman has not allowed the necessary 
ingredients to be exhausted. The result is that year after year corn 
and oats are bumper crops, and grain dealers throughout the country 
have long considered the Champaign County cereals as standard. In 
the production of corn the county not only leads the State but the 
United States. The figures vary considerably, as in other sections of 
the State, one of the most productive years being that of 1915, in which 
the county raised 13,742,000 bushels of corn and 11,928,000 bushels of 
oats, valued together at $11,219,924. In 1916, the yield dropped to 
8,131,644 bushels of corn and 9,124,920 bushels of oats, the total value 
of which was $9,699,037 $6,505,315 for corn and $3,193,722 for oats. 




M 



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<1 

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HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 15 

In that year, also Champaign County led all the counties of the State 
in the yield and value of its oats, and, on the whole, has but one serious 
competitor in Illinois, McLean County. The county has a large acre- 
age in winter wheat nearly 30,000 acres, and has made a good start in 
alfalfa and timothy seed. 

DAIRY PRODUCTS AND LIVE STOCK 

Its dairy products comprise milk, cream and butter in the following 
quantities (1916) : 70,884 gallons of milk and 69,866 gallons of cream, 
valued respectively at $19,139 and $69,886, and 98,876 pounds of butter, 
at $36,584. In the central division of counties, to which the State 
Board of Agriculture assigns Champaign, the county ranks fifth in 
the annual sale of butter, which brought, on an average, 37 cents in 
1916. 

For the raising of live stock Champaign County possesses unusual 
advantages, on account of its abundant and pure water supply, its 
equable temperature and the adaptability of its soils to the production 
of nutritious grasses. Its horses, especially, are hard to beat, either 
in quality or quantity. In this regard it stands second among the central 
counties of Illinois, and fifth in the entire State. In the raising of 
horses McLean is the star county of the State, having 49,757 in 1916, 
as compared to 25,424 in Champaign. In May, 1916, the latter had, 
also, 13,339 beef cattle, valued at $233,551, 6,719 dairy cows, at $537,520, 
and 25,115 hogs, valued at $375,210. 

BIRDS AS INSECT DESTROYERS 

The farmer has no greater enemy to his crops and to his consequent 
well-being than the obnoxious insect, and there is seldom one which does 
not retard some form of vegetable life if allowed to flourish unchecked. 
Consequently certain varieties of the feathered tribe are the farmers' 
most useful friends; which they are, and what kind of obnoxious 
insects are their specially favored diets are thus told by 0. M. Schantz, 
president of the Illinois Audubon Society : 

"It is with very mixed feelings that I come to this meeting of the 
State Farmers' Institute to talk to the people of southern Illinois about 
birds. I am not a farmer and do not belong to this part of the country, 
but my wife was born in Carbondale and my mother-in-law in Metropolis, 
and I have heard of southern Illinois ever since I married into this 
interesting family of which I am a member. [Applause.] 

"The State of Illinois is 378 miles long in its greatest length and 



16 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

210 miles wide. Owing to its length and its peculiar position, it has 
almost as great a range of climatic influences, geographical influences, 
and so on, as any State in the Union. Therefore, its flora and fauna, 
its animal and vegetable life are extremely varied. The northern part 
is entirely different in its geography and its animal life from the south- 
ern part. By its location, part of it touching Lake Michigan and the 
rest of it being tributary to the great Mississippi Valley, except for the 
water fowl of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, more migratory birds 
pass through the Mississippi Valley than through any other part of 
the United States. 

"In the consideration of a question of so great importance to the 
Illinois farmer as the relation of birds to farm economy, it is very 
necessary to make clear in the most direct manner possible, just how and 
why the farmer is to be benefited. 

"The proper time to plant, seasonable weather during the growing 
season and also for the harvesting of crops, are, naturally, the most 
evident factors in successful farming. 

"The old-fashioned, unprogressive farmer gave little thought to 
other and less noticeable handicaps, such as plant diseases and the 
myriads of insects that were the natural enemies of both his fruit and 
cereal crops. With the rapid increase in the value of farm lands, the 
competition for markets, and so forth, it has become absolutely neces- 
sary for a farmer to know every factor that may enter farm economy, 
or he fails to win out. 

"The lax use of powers of observation is rapidly disappearing, and 
today our farmers are growing more ajid more alive to the fact that a 
knowledge of scientific farming is the only way to make 150 to 250 
acres yield a profit. 

"The agricultural colleges of many states, and the Federal Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, have for many years past conducted most 
exhaustive research as to the losses due to noxious insects, and the most 
effective means of curtailing these losses. 

"We have, by cultivation and removal of forests, disturbed the nat- 
ural balance of nature. Some of the changes have been beneficial, 
others very harmful. We have made conditions extremely favorable 
for the rapid increase of certain noxious insects. Insect life increases 
at such an incredible rate that with no check of any kind everything 
green would soon disappear, and in a short time the land would be 
uninhabitable. 

"On the other hand, it is a well known fact that certain of our most 
useful birds increase as a result of the settlement of land. 

"Many birds are very tolerant of man, if reasonably protected and 
allowed to rear their young undisturbed. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 17 

"In the earlier years of the settlement of the country there did not 
exist the same need for watchfulness that is necessary today. 

"The problem of adequate food supply for the world is a part of the 
problem of the United States. One hundred years ago, very few men 
devoted even a small portion of their time to the study of insects in 
their relation to the food supply, or to the careful study of birds as 
the most effective check on the spreading of injurious insects. Today 
thousands of men and women are preparing earnestly for these very 
important studies, and the biological departments of our colleges and 
universities are of the most importance and popular in all parts of the 
United States. 

"The Illinois Audubon Society was organized less than twenty years 
ago by a few very earnest bird lovers in Chicago. Their primary object 
was no doubt a humane desire to protect from destruction the many 
beautiful birds that came in such great numbers to the woodlands 
and parks in and around Chicago. The time has come when a much 
greater field is open for it and similar societies, for intelligent work 
for the protection of birds, not only for their beauty and wonderful 
songs, but as a vital factor in the economics of the country's food 
supply. 

"The problem of the city bird lover is largely different from that of 
the farmer and the people of the smaller cities and villages. 

"The larger cities, particularly Chicago, are flooded with thousands 
of immigrants, to whom the United States means all sorts of liberty. 
License to kill birds, we understand, is in some parts of southern Europe 
held out as a great inducement to prospective emigrants in connection 
with cheaper living. Cheap firearms are sold everywhere, and Sundays 
and holidays during the summer months see each day a veritable 'armed 
host' scouring the prairies and woodlands ready to kill anything that 
flies. 

"Where transportation is cheap, these irresponsible shooters reach 
the farms, and not only trespass on the fields of growing grain, but 
shoot thousands of the farmers' best friends, the birds, or if no birds can 
be found, his domestic chickens, ducks or turkeys. 

"The problems of Illinois are those of Iowa and the other adjoining 
prairie states. 

"No crop raised by the farmer is immune from insect foes. Many 
of these insects are so minute that they ordinarily escape the notice 
of the casual observer, yet the damage annually done on a single farm 
by these inconspicuous insects may run into large sums of money. 

"The different aphides or plant lice, whose life cycle is only a few 
days, increase with such astounding rapidity that the figures startle. 

12 




FARMERS' FRIENDS 
(Insect Destroyers) 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 19 

"These soft small insects, of which thousands could be held in one's 
hand, frequently cover the stems of their host plants completely. 

"The greatest enemy of the different aphides is the warbler family, 
which numbers among the twenty-five or thirty varieties that visit us 
many of our smallest birds. The number of insects that a pair of 
these little birds will consume for a single meal is almost beyond compre- 
hension. 

"To better understand the ability of birds to check insects, it is 
necessary to know something of their marvelous powers of digestion. 
Birds fill themselves to running over with either weed seeds or insects 
so that frequently they are replete up to the bill. The process of diges- 
tion is so powerful and rapid that they can eat almost without stopping, 
many birds consuming an amount of food each day equal to about one- 
third of their own weight. 

"The temperature of birds and their circulation is much greater than 
that of other animals, consequently it is largely a matter of fuel enough 
to keep the machinery going properly. 

"Much painstaking work has been done recently in the State of 
Massachusetts in order to ascertain the effect that wild birds have on 
the awful insect pests which have become so serious a problem in that 
State. 

"While the conditions in Illinois are vastly different from those in 
Massachusetts, the results of the investigation should be of great interest 
to Illinois farmers. 

"It has been proven that almost without exception all birds have a 
good balance to their credit over and above the damage they do; that 
even such conspicuously aggressive birds as the bluejay, grackle and 
crow have a large credit in assisting to destroy both larvas and adults of 
the gypsy and brown-tailed moths. Such birds as feed on fruits 
robins, catbirds, cedar birds and others also devour enough insect pests 
to have the balance in their favor. 

"Many birds are peculiarly adapted to attend certain insects, and the 
birds have been very happily alluded to by one writer as the police of 
the orchard and garden. 

"The seed-eating birds, which include the sparrows and finches, 
destroy weeds by the million. Three mourning doves' stomachs con- 
tained by actual count a total of 23,100 weed seeds, consumed at one meal. 

"All of the thrush family, of which the robin and bluebird are the 
best known members, are valuable insect destroyers. The flycatchers, 
headed by the kingbird and phoebe, and containing about eighty nearly 
related species, the swallows, martins, night hawks and chimneyswifts, 
are policemen of the air. 



20 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

"The towhee and many sparrows forage on the ground; the nut- 
hatches, woodpeckers and brown creepers take care of the trunk and 
branches; and the warblers and vireos examine the leaves and buds. 
The entire tree or shrub is thoroughly guarded. Out in the open, the 
meadow lark, bobolink, bobwhite, prairie chicken and many others keep 
tab on grasshoppers, crickets and myriads of other insects. No insect 
family escapes; it has an ardent, relentless foe in some bird. 

"Now, what is your duty to your bird friends? Make your premises 
attractive. Furnish bird boxes or nests ; feed the birds in winter ; exter- 
minate stray cats; plant vines and shrubbery bearing fruits agreeable 
to birds; help to legislate against shooting; train the small boy to 
respect and love the birds and not to collect birds' eggs ; teach him also 
to shoot with a field or opera glass. If a bird helps itself to a little of 
your fruit, before destroying the bird look up its record and see what 
insects he preys upon. 

"Observe closely the birds at nesting time and note the tireless 
energy with which the young birds eat, and then do a little calculating by 
multiplying the number of times fed by the insects fed at a meal. 

"Read literature on the subject of bird conservation. Result: Sure 
and lasting conversion to the side of the birds. . 

"Scientific men look with alarm at the rapidly decreasing bird popu- 
lation. The rapid increase of population, encroaching more and more 
on the nesting places, lessens the available woodland and prairie where 
the birds may nest and not be disturbed. 

"Intelligent planting of shrubbery and vines along roadsides, as is 
contemplated by the Lincoln Highway movement, will in part overcome 
this condition. 

"Concerted efforts by states and at Washington for better bird pro- 
tection, the education of all classes as to the beneficial part the bird has 
in our daily life, vigorous prosecution for violation of our present game 
laws, the taxing of cats, the encouragement of organizations for bird 
study all these are necessary and important features of the growing 
intelligent effort for bird conservation. 

"See that some one attends to the purchasing of good bird books for 
your public library; offer prizes to your children for best observations 
or well written papers about birds, their habits and usefulness these 
papers, or the best of them, to be published in your local paper. 

"There is no reason why, in this tremendous State, a powerful and 
concerted effort should not be made for bird conservation and protection 
which would place the State of Illinois in the first rank in the Union 
for such work. 

"Nowhere in the entire United States is there a greater and more 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 21 

interesting bird' migration, both spring and fall, than in this State. 
The State's length gives it a wonderfully interesting plant life and 
variety of climate. This, in part, explains its variety of bird life. 

"A very small sum as an individual contribution, if given by enough 
people, would maintain a paid expert whose duty might be that of State 
ornithologist. 

"There is a man in Massachusetts who gives his entire time and 
energy to this very important work, and whose book, 'Useful Birds and 
Their Protection,' is the last word in bird conservation." 

CEHEALS SUPPLANT FRUITS 

The friable soil and the equable climate of Champaign County are 
adapted to the raising of fruits, and its horticultural society has been 
maintained for many years. Despite the advantages of soil and cli- 
mate and the best efforts of the birds, however, the insect pest has been 
most aggressive of late years, and the cereals have almost superseded 
the fruits. In early times that great drawback was little known in 
the county or the State, and before the year 1853 the planting of 
orchards in the county had become quite common. Apples were the 
favorite fruit and the Milam the favorite variety. Peaches were also 
abundantly grown, while the smaller fruits flourished in their wild state. 
Thickets of plums grew along the margins of the timber belts and in 
some of the groves, and wild blackberries and strawberries in the denser 
woods. But these conditions are now almost things of the past, although 
there still remain striking evidences of what may be done in horticul- 
ture with extreme care and large means in the wonderful Dunlap 
orchards at Savoy. As early as 1858 M. L. Dunlap settled at Eural 
Home, planted his first orchards, set out his nurseries and protected 
all by belts of forest trees, and now sends out his luscious apples by 
the ton, and resides in a country palace which is world-famed. But his 
is the notable exception to the general rule that other branches of 
agriculture have supplanted horticulture in Champaign County. 

HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE IN THE COUNTY 

In 1870 the most complete account of the development of the horti- 
cultural interests of the county was written by H. J. Dunlap, now of 
Kankakee, Illinois, but for many years secretary of the County Agricul- 
tural, Horticultural and Mechanical Association. It is as follows: 

"The first orchard planting of which I have been able to obtain 
any information was done about the year 1838 by William Sadorus, in 



22 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

the timber near the southwest corner of the county, now called Sadorus' 
Grove. It was made of fifty Milam sprouts obtained near Terre Haute, 
Indiana, eighty miles distant, and afterwards extended by planting 150 
more of the same sort. These trees commenced to bear in 1842, four 
years after planting, and continued to produce large annual crops until 
1854 or 1855, since which time there have been several failures, and 
many of these trees are now dead or dying. Several years after the 
orchard was planted some of the trees were grafted over to Vandevere 
Pippin, Yellow Bellflower, Roxbury Russet, etc. Some of these varie- 
ties have very good quality. The Roxbury Russet does not bear large 
crops, and is not a very good keeper. This orchard is in a cove in the 
timber, protected on the south, west and north. Mr. Sadorus is still 
living, and takes quite an interest in horticulture. 

"Many other orchards were set out in this neighborhood from the 
sprouts produced from these Milams. The only valuable apple that was 
planted seems to have been the Milam. 

"Several years after Mr. Sadorus' planting, orchards were set at or 
near Big Grove, near Urbana, by James T. Roe, Robert Brownfield, 
Fielding, Martin Rhinehart, James Clemens, William Robert and 
others. James T. Roe had a small nursery which consisted principally 
of Milams. Mr. Brownfield procured 100 trees from Kentucky, most 
Milam, Winter Wine and Yellow Bellflower, which continue healthy 
and bear good crops. 

"Martin Rhinehart's orchard consisted of Bellflowers, Vandevere 
Pippin, Seek-no-farther, Winter Wine, Fall Pippin, Pound Sweet and 
Pumpkin Sweet. Mr. Brownfield now owns this orchard, also the 
one of 100 trees originally planted by him. Four years ago the first 
100 trees yielded 400 bushels. This season both orchards had only 600 
bushels. There had been no insects to diminish the yield of fruit until 
two years ago, when the coddling moth first made its appearance in 
numbers sufficient to destroy nearly the entire crop. Mr. Brownfield 
turned in his hogs to eat the fallen fruit, and thinks, had they been 
kept in it all the season, that he would have headed the moth, but as 
soon as the fruit was large enough to sell the hogs were removed. The 
fruit was not picked up every day, so that a sufficient number of worms 
escaped to injure the past season's crop, but not to as great an extent as 
the preceding one. 

"Josh Trickle planted twelve seedling trees at an early day, some 
of which are now dead, others remaining thrifty and fruitful. 

"Mr. Brownfield thinks the Green Winter Pippin his most valuable 
winter apple. The Rawles' Janet is one of the best keepers. Large 
Romanite was also planted quite extensively by the early settlers. The 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 23 

principal varieties brought to market from the old orchards are Milam, 
Pennock, Vandevere Pippin, Yellow Bellflower, Eawles' Janet and 
Winesap. 

"It is almost impossible to find a good eating apple in either Cham- 
paign or Urbana during fall or early winter except Milams; but Snow, 
Eambo, Porter and some others of the newer varieties begin to make 
their appearance from the later planted orchards. Of these there are 
quite a large number commencing to bear. Prominent among these 
are the orchards of M. L. and M. Dunlap, J. B. Phinney, C. F. Colum- 
bia, E. Allen and others. 

"Until 1856 there had been no established nursery in the county, 
but several parties had kept small stocks sent from abroad to be sold 
here. Nearly all the trees prior to that time came from the Eochester 
nurseries, and were mostly Baldwins, Northern Spys, Eussets, Green- 
ings, etc., nearly all of which are valueless on the prairie, although 
isolated instances occur where individual trees of these varieties, from 
some local cause, have done well. 

"The Messrs. Curtis of Paris, Edgar County, L. Ellsworth & Co. of 
Naperville, DuPage County, and other Western nurserymen, furnished 
more or less trees. To their credit be it said more of them are better 
adapted to our climate and soil than those brought from the East. I 
suspect this to be more the result of accident than design, for fifteen or 
twenty years ago the subject of what varieties were best adapted to the 
West was but little understood, owing to the limited experience of the 
orchardists in the West. Now the thing is different, and there is no 
valid excuse for a man to plant trees that are not hardy, productive and 
valuable. 

"In April, 1856, M. L. Dunlap established the first nursery for 
growing and selling trees, commencing by planting 120,000 grafts, 
comprising nearly 150 varieties. Owing to the extreme dryness of the 
season, nearly all the grafts failed to grow. Doubtless this was a bless- 
ing to the future purchasers of these trees, had they lived and grown, 
for in this list of varieties were nearly 100 that are unsuitable for 
Western orchards; but at that time they were untried, and, therefore, 
it was not possible to know their value. The writer has often sold 
100 trees for an orchard in which were from sixty to seventy varieties, 
the purchaser wanting as many varieties as possible. Now the desire 
of most planters has been narrowed down to ten or fifteen well-known 
sorts, and a disposition manifested to let some one else experiment. 

"Mr. Dunlap, intending to make fruit-growing a part of his busi- 
ness, planted an orchard of 1,500 trees, 500 of these being seedling, into 
which it was the intention to top-graft new and untried varieties. Some 





SAMPLES OF HOME-GBOWN CORN 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 25 

of these have been grafted, others still remain. The first orchard was 
more of an experimental one than anything else, many varieties being 
then planted that the proprietor would not now allow to be set on his 
grounds, while others, new and untried, have proved valuable. 

"Other nurseries soon sprung up, and tree planting was stimulated 
to a great extent; and had all the trees lived that have been planted in 
the county we should now be supplied with an abundance of fruit ; but, 
as is usual (so far as my observation goes), not one in ten has even 
brought forth fruit. 

"In the early planting of fruit trees, I have been unable to find 
that any pears, quinces, cherries or plums were planted, except the 
common Morello cherry; but of late years they have been extensively 
set out. The first cherry trees sold were, of course, from Rochester, and 
consisted of many thousands. I doubt if one tree ever bore a full crop, 
or else did it once and died. The principal variety now planted is the 
Early May (Richmond), of which hundreds of bushels are sent to the 
Chicago market from this station annually. 

"Pear culture is yet in its infancy, but there is no good reason why 
it should not be as successful here as elsewhere. In the spring of 1865 
the writer planted the first acre of strawberries in the county for market. 
The next season Mr. G. M. Rice set out five acres, Platt, Fuller & 
Earle twenty, G. D. Wicks three and several other parties smaller quan- 
tities. From that beginning of one acre five years ago has sprung up 
a large trade in this fruit, several thousand bushels being shipped from 
the country every season. 

"In raising other small fruits not much is done, although the culture 
of raspberries, blackberries and grapes is extending, so that in two or 
three years the products from the present plantations will begin to make 
a perceptible impression on the markets. 

"In my conversations with the old settlers I have often inquired .if 
seedling appear to retain their vigor longer than grafted varieties, and 
have been told that out of a given number of trees by far the largest 
number of seedling give up the ghost first. 

"It also appears strange that there should not be some old pear 
trees, but I can not hear of one more than twenty years old. 

"The first May cherries of which I have any knowledge were planted 
fourteen years ago. They were on Mazzard, Mahaleb and Morello stocks. 
Those on Mazzard are years since dead and forgotten; some of the 
Morellos are still alive and bear good crops, although the annual 
cuttings they received in their early days when scions were scarce have 
sadly marred their beauty and thrifty look. 

"Peaches were extensively grown, while the county was new and 



26 HISTOBY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

before railroads brought in the curculio; but the winters of 1855-56 
destroyed many trees, since which time, owing to the unfavorable sea- 
sons and curculio, not enough of this fruit has been raised for home 
use." 

In 1877, or seven years after Mr. Dunlap's article was written, 
another authority in the county reviewed the horticultural situation 
which at that time was quite bright. He said : "We cannot close this 
article without at least a glance at the horticultural progress made 
during the past twenty years. Then there was not sufficient fruit grown 
in the county for home use. Great numbers of wagons came from the 
Wabash country every fall, laden with apples, mostly Milams, Vandi- 
vere Pippins and Pennsylvania Eedstreaks. Now one seldom sees a 
specimen of either of the above-named, their places having been filled 
with varieties of Eastern and Northern origin. There are now thousands 
of barrels of apples and carloads of small fruit shipped from this county 
every year, and this industry may be said to rank next to wheat in its 
importance and value. In selecting a site for an orchard it is neces- 
sary to have all dry ground. Underdraining in an orchard is so much 
money thrown away. In two or three years the tree roots will fill the 
largest tile and entirely obstruct the flow of water. We should prefer 
to have a belt of some forest-trees on the south, west and north sides of 
an orchard, in order to break the force of the wind. A good hedge is 
also almost indispensable. 

"For varieties for home use, where early bearing is required, we 
would recommend for summer, Eed Astracan, Bed June, Sweet Bough 
and Benoni; for autumn, Snow, Stanard, Eambo, Lowell and American 
Pearmain, which is not an early bearer, but is one of the most delicious 
apples on the list. For winter, Jonathan, Smith's Cider, Minkler, 
Wagoner, Ben Davis, Winesap, Eawles' Janet and Willow Twig. 

"For market purposes we should plant not to exceed four varieties 
and they of winter fruit, viz. : Ben Davis, Winesap, Eawles' Janet and 
Willow Twig. 

"There are a great many other good varieties, much better in quality 
than those named, but all possess some defect. 

"Of pears, peaches, plums, cherries, etc., the nurserymen keep an 
assortment of well-known varieties, all of which are more or less profit- 
able." 

AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES 

Since the early '50s Champaign County has strongly supported every 
organization and interest which tended to develop its great agricultural 
resources and the abilities and enterprise of its farmers and horticul- 





CLEANLY LIFE OF MODERN SWINE (CONCRETE WALLOWS) 



28 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

turists. From the first there was a deep realization of the desirability 
of cooperation and education along these lines, both as a guarantee of 
future growth and a safeguard for continuous livelihood and prosperity. 
The result was that even during the early '50s, when Prof. Jonathan B. 
Turner of Jacksonville and others were urging the establishment of a 
State university, its basic idea was recognized as the encouragement of 
the broad and intelligent development of agriculture, and the farmers' 
clubs were solidly behind the movement. Some fifteen years afterward, 
when the Illinois Industrial University was incorporated and located 
at Urbana, that object was still uppermost. The president of the State 
Agricultural Society was perhaps its most influential trustee, and of its 
departments the agricultural was first in its publications. 

AGRICULTURAL, HORTICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL ASSOCIATION 

The oldest of these organizations in this section was the Champaign 
County Agricultural, Horticultural and Mechanical Association, which 
was organized in 1870. Its constitution, as adopted October 8 of that 
year, reads thus: 

Article I. The name of this association shall be "The Champaign 
County Agricultural, Horticultural and Mechanical Association." 

Art. II. The capital stock of this association shall not be less than 
fifteen thousand ($15,000) dollars, and shall be divided into shares of 
fifty ($50) dollars each. 

Art. III. The owner of one or more shares shall be a member of 
the association, but no member owning two or more shares shall be 
entitled to more than two votes. 

Art. IV. The officers of this association shall consist of a president, 
one vice-president for each township in the county, secretary, treasurer 
and an executive committee made up of seven (7) stockholders, and 
such others as may be necessary. 

Art. V. The term for which the officers of the association shall be 
elected shall be one year from the 1st day of January next ensuing after 
their election. 

Art. VI. The annual election of officers shall be held. each year 
at the October quarterly meeting. 

Art. VII. At all elections the holder of one share shall be entitled 
to one vote; the holder of two or more shares to two votes. 

Art. VIII. This association shall have a seal, which shall be 
circular in form, and bear the following superscription on its face : 
"The Champaign County Agricultural, Horticultural and Mechanical 
Association." 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 29 

Art. IX. This Constitution and By-Laws may be altered or sus- 
pended by a majority vote of all the capital stock. 

Art. X. Quorum At all meetings one-third of the stock taken shall 
be represented to constitute a quorum. 

THE FARMERS' CLUB AND FAIR ASSOCIATION 

The Farmers' Club was also an early organization which did a good 
work, and the first farmers' institute was organized about 1873, but 
was a short-lived affair. The so-called Fair Association had charge 
of the agricultural and live stock exhibits, originally held in and near 
the courthouse square. The first regular fair grounds were four blocks 
south of the courthouse. H. J. Dunlap, now of Kankakee, who was 
prominently connected with these organizations in the early days, says 
that the Fair Association went out of existence about 1900, and adds: 
"The first fair was held in courthouse square in 1852, the first one 
which I attended being in 1856. In a year or so ground was purchased 
for the fair north of the city, near the new cemetery. I think that fairs 
were held there until about 1870 when the old association disbanded, and 
a new company purchased forty acres of what is now known as Fair- 
view, or then ground west of the university." 

After the disbandment of the old Fair Association, as just stated, 
the Champaign County Fair and Driving Association was incorporated 
on March 3, 1905. The former fair grounds in Champaign were sold 
and platted into a city addition known as Fairland Place, one of the 
most desirable residence sections of the city. The new organization 
procured commodious grounds just north of Urbana, on which the 
county fair is held annually. The officers of the association for 1917 
are : Fred Rising, president ; H. D. Oldham, secretary ; Lewis Prather, 
treasurer. 

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY FARMERS' INSTITUTE 

The present Champaign County Farmers' Institute was organized 
in January, 1891, more than four years before the creation of the Illi- 
nois Farmers' Institute. The State body came into being through a 
legislative Act approved June 24, 1895. The original Act, with its 
several amendments, provides that the body shall consist of three dele- 
gates from each county of the State, elected annually, and that its 
affairs shall be managed by a board of directors, consisting of the 
state superintendent of public instruction, the professor of agriculture 
of the State of Illinois, president of the State Board of Agriculture, 
president of the State Horticultural Society and president of the State 



30 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



Dairymen's Association. Its superintendent of institutes "shall devote 
his entire time to the organization, promotion and general super- 
vision of the farmers' institute work in the State, under the direction 
of the board of directors and the executive committee. He shall 
organize a bureau of speakers, the same to include farmers, dairymen, 
horticulturists, live stock breeders, feeders anl others who have adopted 
scientific and practical methods secured beneficial results, and are able 
to tell about them, together with such instructors from the College of 
Agriculture and Experiment Station as may be assigned to the institute 




A CANNING CLUB IN ACTION 

work and whose allotment of time shall be under his direction. These 
speakers shall be assigned work as far as possible, in accordance with 
the wishes of the district directors, officers of the Department of House- 
hold Science (where their interests may appear) and the county institute 
officers. He shall make recommendations as to lines of work which he 
believes will prove profitable for the ensuing year, together with general 
plans for their execution and estimates of expense." 

The State body cooperates closely with the county farmers' insti- 
tutes, delegates being called together for conference who comprise one 
general representative from each county institute and one delegate from 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



31 



the Department of Household Science, when organized, as well as the 
county superintendent of schools. The purpose of these conferences 
is to arrange the times and places for holding the next county insti- 
tutes and to cooperate in securing speakers. If the officers of a county 
farmers' institute fail to arrange for the holding of meetings as pro- 
vided for in the act of incorporation, the Board of Directors of the 
Illinois Farmers' Institute may furnish instructors for, and hold such 
meetings as may be beneficial to the agricultural interest of said county. 
The sum of $75 is provided for the purpose of holding one or more 
annual meetings of the county institute, and in 1911 the Legislature 




MODEKN DUMP CRIB AND FEED MILL 

passed an Act authorizing a county board to appropriate $300 (no 
more) "for use of county farmers' institutes in their efforts to promote 
the adoption of the latest approved methods of crop production, the 
improvement of live stock, the conservation of soil fertility and the 
improvement of agricultural conditions generally." 

The membership of the farmers' institute is unlimited. There are 
no initiation or membership fees, and the meetings are open to the 
public free of charge ; anyone who wishes may be present and take part 
in the discussions, in the administration of the business and in the 
election of its officers. 

Through the courtesy of Mrs. H. A. McKeene, secretary of the UK- 



32 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

nois Farmers' Institute, the following information is furnished regarding 
the Champaign County Farmers' Institute, comprising, as will be seen, 
the time and places of meeting of the different institutes, and the years 
of service of its principal elective officers : 

Meetings January 7-8, 1891, Champaign; January 19-20, 1892, 
Homer; February 4-5-6, 1893, Eantoul; February 23-24, 1894, Fisher; 
January 2-3, 1895, Champaign; January 2-3, 1896, St. Joseph; Feb- 
ruary 25-26, 1896, Urbana; January 21-22, 1897, Champaign; December 
14-15, 1897, Urbana; January 18-19, 1899, Sidney; January 18-19, 
1900, Philo; January 17-18, 1901, Eantoul; February 13-14, 1901, 
Tolono; January 7-8-9, 1902, Champaign; February 13-14, 1902, 
Mahomet; September 23-24, 1902, Philo; January 13-14, 1903, Fisher; 
October 7-8, 1903, Pesotum; January 13-14, 1904, St. Joseph; October 
12-13, 1904, Sadorus; February 14-15, 1905, Urbana; January 16-17, 
1906, Philo; October 11-12, 1906, Tolono; January 16-17, 1908, Peso- 
tum; December 10-11, 1908, Homer; January 14-15, 1909, Ludlow; 
December 16-17, 1909, Fisher; January 13-14, 1910, Sidney; December 
15-16, 1910, Mahomet; February 8-9, 1911, Eantoul; October 10-11, 
1911, Sadorus; December 12-13, 1911, Ogden; October 15, 1912, Sey- 
mour; October 16, 1912, Tolono; October 17-18, 1912, Ivesdale; October 
14, 1913, Ludlow; October 15, 1913, Gifford; October 16, 1913, Foos- 
land; October 6, 1914, Pesotum; October 7, 1914, Sidney; October 8, 
1914, Seymour; October 9, 1914, Newcomb; March 4-5, 1915, Homer; 
October 5-6, 1915, South Eaymond; October 7-8, 1915, Newcomb Cen- 
ter; September 26-27, 1916, South Eaymond; September 28-29, 1916, 
Fisher; October 3-4, 1916, St. Joseph. 

Presidents C. Dyer, Mahomet, January, 1891-97; J. M. Love, 
Philo, December, 1897-99; Isaac S. Eaymond, Philo, 1899-1911; M. 0. 
Stover, Mahomet, 1911-13; W. B. O'Neal, Sadorus, 1914; Wilson P. 
Jones, Champaign, 1914-17. 

Secretaries Z. E. Genung, Eantoul, 1891-97; J. A. Hossack, Cham- 
paign, 1897-1914; J. Bay Stanner, Urbana, 1915-17. 

Treasurers Z. E. Genung, Eantoul, 1891-97; M. A. Dewey, 
Urbana, 1897-99; Z. E. Genung, 1899-1915; W. B. O'Neal, Sadorus, 
1915-16; J. Bay Stanner, Urbana, 1917. 

The Department of Household Science, to which several refer- 
ences have been made, was organized in 1898 as a distinct division of 
the Illinois Farmers' Institute and the county organizations. Its objects 
are well set forth in the following paragraphs published in the year 
books of the State body for 1914 and 1915: "The conservation of the 
home is woman's chief business, and scientific home management is 
the only executive plan for us to follow. Let us give to the world our 




THBESHIKG SCENE 




STEAM TRACTOR IN ORCIIABD 



13 



34: HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

experiences. History and records of home-making are as valuable 
to humanity and civilization as the history of any other phase of life." 

"No community can rise higher than the standard of its homes. 
We believe the home can reconstruct better than school, better than 
church and better than state, but all must stand together, for whatever 
affects the home affects the state. To interest women in all that per- 
tains to home-making, their highest known profession, is the object of 
this organization." 

Another, and perhaps even a more definite conception of the scope 
of the Department of Household Science, may be gained by a mention 
of the titles of some of the addresses presented and discussed at its 
meetings. They follow : "A Four Course Vegetable Luncheon ;" "Com- 
fort and Beauty in the Home ;" "Common Sense in Dress ;" "Cooperation 
in the Business of the Home;" "Foods for Health;" "Millinery;" "Neigh- 
borhood Cooperation;" "The Underaveraged Child in the Home;" "The 
Farm Woman's Birthright;" "Home Canning of Fruits and Vegeta- 
bles;" "Boys' and Girls' Clubs;" "Quick Breads;" "Salads and Sand- 
wiches;" "The Building of a Country Home;" "The Planning of 
Meals." 

THE FAHM BUREAU 

The Farm Bureau, which is doing work somewhat similar to that of 
the institute, is an outgrowth of the Farmers' League, and was incor- 
porated in September, 1913. Its annual expenses of over $5,000 are 
met by the subscriptions of its 435 members, amounting to about $3,000 ; 
a $1,000 appropriation from the board of county commissioners; $900 
contributed by the University of Illinois and $300 by the National 
Department of Agriculture. The subscriptions are graduated according 
to the size of the farms, and the active lecturer and adviser, known as 
the "farm expert," is C. H. Oathout. The president of the bureau is 
W. P. Jones, and the secretary James A. Hossack, who held the position 
so long with the Champaign County Farmers' Institute. 



CHAPTER II 
HISTORIC RULE OF THE WHITES 

PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH THROUGH GREAT INTERIOR WATERWAYS 
MARQUETTE AND JOLIET ON ILLINOIS SOIL INDIAN PAINTINGS ON 
THE BLUFFS SLAYING OF THE MONSTER OUTLINED IN DEATH 
THE SO-CALLED "PIASA" BIRD THE RETURN JOURNEY UP THE 
ILLINOIS RIVER JOLIET LOSES DATA IN THE ST. LAWRENCE 
DEATH OF MARQUETTE TRIUMPHS OF LA SALLE His BRAVE LIEU- 
TENANT, TONTI LA SALLE STARTS FOR THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY 
TOXTI JOINS LA SALLE AT FORT MIAMI IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY 
DESERTED KASKASKIA VILLAGE WITH SUPPLIES INTERVIEWS THE 
KASKASKIAS BUILDS FORT CREVECOEUR BELOW PEORIA SENDS 
EXPEDITION TO UPPER MISSISSIPPI DEPARTS FOR FORT FBONTENAC, 
LEAVING TONTI BEHIND IROQUOIS RAVAGES AT STARVED ROCK AND 
FORT CREVECOEUR LA SALLE ASSASSINATED DEATH OF TONTI 
PERMANENT PIONEER SETTLEMENTS OF ILLINOIS FORT CHARTRES, 
CENTER OF ILLINOIS DISTRICT FIRST LAND GRANT IN DISTRICT 
PRAIRIE DU ROCHER LIFE AT THE PIONEER FRENCH-ILLINOIS 
SETTLEMENTS ILLINOIS COMES DIRECTLY UNDER ROYAL CONTROL 
ILLINOIS SPIRITUALLY ASSIGNED TO THE JESUITS FAILURES 
RESULT IN GOOD FORTUNATE AND PROGRESSIVE ILLINOIS FRENCH- 
ENGLISH CONTESTS FOR THE OHIO VALLEY FORT CHARTRES 
REBUILT BY THE FRENCH ILLINOIS TRIUMPHS OVER VIRGINIA 
FORT DUQUESNE ABANDONED NEW FORT CHARTRES PASSES INTO 
BRITISH HANDS ST. Louis FOUNDED UNDER A MISAPPREHENSION 
LAST FRENCH STRONGHOLD FALLS ENGLISH JUDGES SIT AT FORT 
CHARTRES PONTIAC BURIED AT ST. Louis LAST OF FORT CHARTRES 
KASKASKIA TAKEN BY AMERICANS UNDER CLARK -BLOODLESS 
CAPTURE OF VINCENNES VIRGINIA CREATES COUNTY OF ILLINOIS 
CONDITION OF ILLINOIS WHEN TODD ARRIVED MILITARY AND CIVIL 
PERSONNEL AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT NORTHWEST OF THE 
OHIO OLD ST. CLAIR COUNTY THE COUNTY DIVIDED LEGISLA- 
TURE OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY DIVISION INTO Two TERRITORIES 
ILLINOIS TERRITORY CREATED FIRST ILLINOIS PREEMPTION LAW 
FIRST STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION STATE MACHINERY IN 
MOTION ILLINOIS BLACK CODE ILLINOIS COUNTIES IN 1818 NEW 

35 



36 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

CAPITAL, VANDALIA EARLY PERIOD OF WILD-CAT BANKING THE 
SLAVERY ISSUE (1822-24) THE FAMOUS SANGAMON COUNTRY- 
FUNDAMENTAL SCHOOL LEGISLATION STATE BANK IN LIQUIDATION 
SYSTEM OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS CAPITAL MOVED TO SPRING- 
FIELD REMAINS OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS SYSTEM REVISING 
THE OLD CONSTITUTION THE CONSTITUTION OF 1848 BANKING 
LEGISLATION REAL WILD-CAT BANKS THE NATIONAL BANKING 
SYSTEM THE CONSTITUTION OF 1870 BUILDING AND LOAN 
ASSOCIATIONS AUTHORIZED. 

What was the old Northwest Territory, between the Ohio and the 
Mississippi Rivers, and what are now the State of Illinois and Champaign 
County remained under French dominion for nearly a century from 
the historic voyages of Marquette and Joliet, in 1672-73, to the sur- 
render of Fort Chartres to the English in 1765. These pioneers of 
French discovery revealed to the world two great waterways from their 
northern domain to the portentious Father of Waters, which was 
discovered to cleave a new continent in twain, instead of being either 
diverted to the South Seas or the Atlantic Ocean. Their ascent of 
the Illinois, on their return voyage, as a shorter and easier route 
between the Great Lakes and the Great River, was significant of the 
commencement of an era which marked the trend of the most wonderful 
development in North America of every material and intellectual force 
which advances the civilization of the white man of the western 
hemisphere. 

PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH THROUGH GREAT INTERIOR WATERWAYS 

The grand march of French exploration and discovery up the valley 
of the St Lawrence, through Cartier and Champlain ; around the fringes 
of the upper Great Lakes and gradually into the outlying country by 
the same far-seeing, brave and patriotic Champlain; the wonderful 
combination of Church and State, which penetrated the wilderness, 
subdued its savages both by the mysteries of Catholicism, gentle and 
brotherly offices and the pageantry of a gorgeous government all these 
successive steps leading to the voyages of Marquette and Joliet which 
drove the wedge into the very center of the American continent and 
commenced to let in the light of the world, have been so often told that 
they comprise the common knowledge of the reading universe. 

MARQUETTE AND JOLIET ON ILLINOIS SOIL 
A landing on Illinois soil was effected on their trip down the 



HISTOEY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 37 

Mississippi, in June, 1673. On the 17th of that month their canoes, 
containing Joliet, Marquette, five French boatmen, or voyageurs, and 
two Indian guides, shot from the mouth of the Wisconsin into the 
broad Mississippi. The voyagers were filled with a joy unspeakable. 
The journey now began down the stream without any ceremony. 
Marquette made accurate observations of the lay of the land, the vege- 
tation and the animals. Among the animals he mentions are deer, 
moose, and all sorts of fish, turkeys, wild cattle, and small game. 

Somewhere, probably below Eock Island, the voyagers discovered 
footprints and they knew that the Illinois were not far away. Marquette 
and Joliet left their boats in the keeping of the five FrercLrncn and 
after prayers they departed into the interior, following the tracks of 
the Indians. They soon came to an Indian village. The chiefs received 
the two whites with very great ceremony. The peace pipe was smoked 
and Joliet, who was trained in all the Indian languages, told them of 
the purpose of their visit to this Illinois country. A chief responded 
and after giving the two whites some presents among which were a 
calumet and an Indian slave boy, the chief warned them not to go 
further down the river for great dangers awaited them. Marquette 
replied that they did not fear death and nothing would please them 
more than to lose their lives in God's service. 

After promising the Indians they would come again, they retired 
to their boats, accompanied by six hundred warriors from the village. 
They departed from these Indians about the last of June and were soon 
on their journey down the river. 

INDIAN PAINTINGS ON THE BLUFFS 

As they moved southward the bluffs became quite a marked feature 
of the general landscape. After passing the mouth of the Illinois Eiver, 
they came to unusually high bluffs on the Illinois side of the Mississippi. 
At a point about six miles above the present city of Alton, they dis- 
covered on the high smooth-faced bluffs a very strange object, which 
Marquette describes as follows : "As we coasted along the rocks, frightful 
for their height and length, we saw two monsters painted on these rocks, 
which startled us at first, and on which the boldest Indian dare not 
gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with horns on the head like 
a deer, a frightful look, red eyes, bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat 
like a man's, the body covered with scales and the tail so long that it twice 
makes the turn of the body, passing over the head and down between 
the legs, and ending at last in a fish's tail. Green, red, and a kind of 
black are the colors employed. On the whole, these two monsters are 



38 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUXTY 

so well painted that we could not believe any Indian to have been the 
designer, as good painters in France would find it hard to do as well; 
besides this, they are so high upon the rock that it is hard to get 
conveniently at them to paint them." 

SLATING OF THE MONSTER 

In an early day in Illinois, the description of these monsters was 
quite current in the western part of the state. So also was a tradition 
that these monsters actually inhabited a great cave near. It described, 
however, but a single monster and but a single picture. The tradition 
said that this monster was a hideous creature with wings, and great 
claws, and great teeth. It was accustomed to devour every living thing 
which came within its reach; men, women, and children, and animals 
of all kinds. The Indians had suffered great loss of their people from 
its ravages and a council of war was held to devise some means by which 
its career might be ended. Among other schemes for its extermination 
was a proposition by a certain young warrior to the effect that, upon 
the departure of the beast on one of his long flights for food, he would 
volunteer to be securely tied to stakes on the ledge in front of the 
mouth of the cave, and that a sufficient number of other warriors of 
the tribe should be stationed near with their poisoned arrows so that 
when the bird should return from its flight they might slay it. 

This proposition was accepted and on a certain day the bird took 
its accustomed flight. The young warrior who offered to sacrifice his 
life was securely bound to strong stakes in front of the mouth of the 
cave. The warriors who were to slay the beast were all safely hidden 
in the rocks and debris near. In the afternoon the monster was seen 
returning from its long journey. Upon lighting near its cave, it 
discovered the young warrior and immediately attacked him, fastening 
its claws and teeth in his body. The thongs held him securely and the 
more it strove to escape with its prey the more its claws became 
entangled in the thongs. 

At a concerted moment the warriors all about opened upon the 
monster with their poisoned arrows, and before the beast could extricate 
itself, its life blood was ebbing away. Its death had been compassed. 

OUTLINED IN DEATH 

The warriors took the body and, stretching it out so as to get a good 
picture of it, marked the form and painted it as it was seen by Marquette. 
Because the tribes of Indians had suffered such destruction of life by 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 39 

this monster, an edict went forth that every warrior who went by this 
bluff should discharge at least one arrow at the painting. This the 
Indians continued religiously to do. In later years when guns displaced 
arrows among the Indians, they continued to shoot at the painting as they 
passed and thus it is said the face of the painting was greatly marred. 

THE SO-CALLED "PLASA" BIRD 

Judge Joseph Gillespie, of Edwardsville, Illinois, a prolific writer 
and a man of unimpeachable character wrote in 1883 as follows : "I saw 
what was called the picture sixty years since, long before it was marred 
by quarrymen or the tooth of time, and I never saw anything which 
would have impressed my mind that it was intended to represent a bird. 
I saw daubs of coloring matter that I supposed exuded from the rocks 
that might, to very impressible people, bear some resemblance to a bird 
or a dragon, after they were told to look at it in that light, just as we 
fancy in certain arrangements of the stars we see animals, etc., in the 
constellations. I did see the marks of the bullets shot by the Indians 
against the rocks in the vicinity of the so-called picture. Their object 
in shooting at this I never could comprehend. I do not think the story 
had its origin among the Indians or was one of their superstitions, but 
was introduced to the literary world by John Russell, of Bluff Dale, 
Illinois, who wrote a beautiful story about it." 

The bluff has long since disappeared through the use of the stone 
for building purposes. 

As Marquette and Joliet proceeded down the river they passed the 
mouth of the Missouri, which at that time was probably subject to a 
great flood. When considerably below the mouth of the Kaskaskia River 
they came to a very noted object at least the Indians had many stories 
about it. This is what is known today as the Grand Tower. This great 
rock in the Mississippi causes a great commotion in the water of the 
river and probably was destructive of canoes in those days. 

On they went down the river past the mouth of the Ohio, into the 
region of semi-tropical sun and vegetation. The cane-brakes lined the 
banks, and the mosquitoes became plentiful and very annoying. Here 
also, probably in the region of Memphis, they stopped and held councils 
with the Indians. They found the Indians using guns, axes, hoes, knives, 
beads, etc., and when questioned as to where they got these articles, they 
said to the eastward. These Indians told the travelers that it was not 
more than ten days' travel to the mouth of the river. They proceeded 
on down the river till they reached Choctaw Bend, in latitude 33 degrees 
and 40 minutes. Here they stopped, held a conference, and decided to 
go no further. 



40 HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

THE RETURN JOURNEY 

They justified their return in the following manner: First, they 
were satisfied that the Mississippi emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, and 
not into the Gulf of California, nor into the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia. 
Second, they feared a conflict with the Spaniards, who occupied and 
claimed the Gulf coast. Third, they feared the Indians of the lower 
Mississippi, for they used firearms and might oppose their further prog- 
ress south. Fourth, they had acquired all the information they started 
out to obtain. 

UP THE ILLINOIS RIVEB 

And so, on the 17th of July, 1674, they turned their faces homeward. 
They had been just two months, from May 17th to July 17th, on their 
journey. They had traveled more than a thousand miles. They had 
faced all forms of danger and had undergone all manner of hardships. 
Their provisions had been obtained en route. France owes them a debt 
of gratitude which will never be fully paid. Indeed not only France, 
but the world is their debtor. 

Nothing of interest occurred on their return journey until they 
reached the mouth of the Illinois Eiver. Here they were told by some 
Indians that there was a much shorter route to Green Bay than by way 
of the upper Mississippi and the Wisconsin and Fox portage. This 
shorter route was up the Illinois Eiver to the Chicago portage and thence 
along Lake Michigan to Green Bay. 

Marquette and Joliet proceeded up the Illinois Eiver. When passing 
by Peoria Lake they halted for three days. While here Marquette 
preached the gospel to the natives. Just as Marquette was leaving they 
brought him a dying child which he baptized. When in the vicinity 
of Ottawa, they came to a village of the Kaskaskia Indians. Marquette 
says there were seventy-four cabins in the village and that the Indians 
received them kindly. They tarried but a short time and were escorted 
from this point up the Illinois and over the Chicago portage by one of 
the Kaskaskia chiefs and several young warriors. 

JOLIET LOSES DATA IN THE ST. LAWRENCE 

While in the village of the Kaskaskias, Marquette told the story of 
the Cross to the natives, and they were so well pleased with it that they 
made him promise to return to teach them more about Jesus. Marquette 
and Joliet reached Green Bay in the month of September, 1673. Prob- 
ably they both remained here during the ensuing winter. In the summer 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 41 

of 1674, Joliet returned to Quebec to make his report to the governor. 
On his way down the St. Lawrence, his boat upset and he came near 
losing his life. He lost all his maps, papers, etc., and was obliged to 
make a verbal report to the governor. 

DEATH OF MARQUETTE 

Father Marquette remained in the mission of St. Francois Xavier 
through the summer of 1674, and late in the fall started on his journey 
back to Kaskaskia. The escort consisted of two Frenchmen and some 
Indians. They reached the Chicago portage in the midst of discouraging 
circumstances. The weather was severe and Father Marquette, sick unto 
death, was unable to proceed further. On the banks of the Chicago River 
they built some huts and here the party remained till spring. During 
the winter Father Marquette did not suffer for want of attention, for 
he was visited by a number of Indians and by at least two prominent 
Frenchmen. 

By the last of March he was able to travel. He reached the Kaskaskia 
village Monday, April 8, 1675. He was received with great joy by the 
Indians. He established the mission of the Immaculate Conception of 
the Blessed Virgin. Seeing he could not possibly live long, he returned 
to St. Ignace by way of the Kankakee portage. He never lived to reach 
Mackinaw. He died the 18th of May, 1675. 

This expedition by Marquette and Joliet had carried the lilies of 
France nearly to the Gulf of Mexico. The Indians in the great plains 
between the Great Lakes and the Gulf had been visited and the resources 
of the country noted. There remained but a slight strip of territory 
over which the banner of France had not floated, from the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. If this short distance were explored, 
then the French government would have completely surrounded the 
English colonies in North America. 

THE TRIUMPHS OF LA SALLE 

Chevalier de La Salle came to America in the year 1667. Shortly 
after arriving in this country he established himself as a fur trader at 
a trading post called La Chine, on the Island of Montreal. Here he 
came in contact with the Indians from the far west. Within two years 
he had departed on an exploration. For the next two or three years 
he had probably visited the Ohio Eiver and had become quite familiar 
with the country to the south and west of the Great Lakes. 

Count Frontenac built a fort on the shore of Lake Ontario where 



42 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

the lake sends its waters into the St. Lawrence River. La Salle was 
put in charge of this fort. He named it Fort Frontenac. The purpose 
of this fort was to control the fur trade, especially that from up the 
Ottawa, and prevent it from going to New York. In 1674 La Salle 
went to France and while there was raised to the rank of a noble. The 
king was greatly pleased with the plans of La Salle and readily granted 
him the seigniory of Fort Frontenac, together with a large quantity of 
land. For all this La Salle promised to keep the fort in repair, to 
maintain a garrison equal to that of Montreal, to clear the land, put 
it in a state of cultivation, and continually to keep arms, ammunition, 
and artillery in the fort. He further agreed to pay Count Frontenac 
for the erection of the fort, to build a church, attract Indians, make 
grants of land to settlers, and to do all for the ultimate purpose of 
furthering the interest of the French government. 

La Salle returned from France and was perhaps at Fort Frontenac 
when Joliet passed down the lakes in the summer of 1674. The next 
year he began the improvement of his fort. For two years he prosecuted 
a thriving trade with the Indians and also engaged in farming, ship- 
building, cattle-raising, and study. 

The fall of 1678 found him in France with a request that the king 
grant him permission to explore the western part of New France and 
if possible find the mouth of the Mississippi River. La Salle had matured 
plans by which New France was to be connected with the western 
country by a line of strong fortifications. Fort Frontenac was the first 
step in this plan. He there explained how easy it would be to reach 
the region of the Great Lakes by the St. Lawrence route or by the 
Mississippi. There is no doubt that both Frontenac and La Salle 
wished to transfer the emphasis from the converting of the Indians to 
that of the conquest of territory for France, and to the more profitable 
business, as they saw it, of commerce. Frontenac had therefore strongly 
endorsed La Salle and his plans. Through Colbert and his son, La Salle 
succeeded in getting his patent from the king. 

His BRAVE LIEUTENANT, TONTI 

While in France La Salle met Henri de Tonti, an Italian who had 
just won distinction in the French army. His father had been engaged 
in an insurrection in Italy and had taken refuge in France where he 
became a great financier, having originated the Tontine system of life 
insurance. Henri de Tonti had lost a hand in one of the campaigns, 
but he was nevertheless a man of great energy, and destined to win for 
himself an honored name in the New World. 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 43 

La Salle returned to New France in 1678, bringing with him about 
thirty craftsmen and mariners, together with a large supply of military 
and naval stores. It can readily be seen that La Salle would be opposed 
by the merchants and politicians in the region of Quebec and Montreal. 
He had risen rapidly and was now ready to make one of the most preten- 
tious efforts at discovery and exploration that had been undertaken in 
New France. 

Late in the fall of 1678, probably in December, he sent Captain 
La Motte and sixteen men to select a suitable site for the building of a 
vessel with which to navigate the upper lakes. Captain La Motte stopped 
at the rapids below Niagara Falls and seems to have been indifferent 
to his mission. La Salle and Tonti arrived the 8th of January, 1679. 
The next day La Salle went above the falls, probably at Tonawanda 
Creek, and selected a place to construct the vessel. 

Tonti was charged with building the vessel. It was launched in 
May, 1679, and was christened the Griffin (Griffon). It was of forty- 
five to fifty tons burden and carried a complement of five cannon, and 
is supposed to have cost about $10,000. 

An expedition of traders had been dispatched into the Illinois country 
for the purpose of traffic, in the fall of 1678. Tonti and a small party 
went up Lake Erie and were to await the coming of the Griffin at the 
head of the lake. The Griffin weighed anchor August 7, 1679, amid the 
booming of cannon and the chanting of the Te Deum. It arrived at 
what is now Detroit on the 10th, and there found Tonti and his party. 
The vessel reached Mackinaw on the 27th of August. Here La Salle 
found the men whom he had dispatched the year before to traffic with 
the Indians. He found they had been dissuaded from proceeding to 
the Illinois country by the report that La Salle was visionary and that 
his ship would never reach Mackinaw. Tonti was given the task of 
getting these men together, and while he was thus engaged, La Salle 
sailed in the Griffin for Green Bay. 

Green Bay had been for several years a meeting place between white 
traders and explorers, and the Indians. When La Salle reached the point, 
he found some of the traders whom he had sent ahead the year before. 
These traders had collected from the Pottawattamies large quantities 
of furs. For these furs La Salle exchanged a large stock of European 
goods with which the Griffin was loaded. It is said that he made a 
large sum of money in this transaction. The Griffin was loaded with 
these furs and made ready to return to the warehouses at Niagara. 



44 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

LA SALLE STARTS FOR THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY 

On September 18th, the Griffin, in charge of a trusted pilot, a super- 
cargo and five sailors, started on the return voyage. La Salle on the 
19th of September, 1679, with a company of fourteen persons in four 
birch bark canoes, loaded with a blacksmith's forge, carpenter's tools, 
merchandise, arms, provisions, etc., started on his journey for the Illinois 
country. He coasted along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Their 
provisions were exhausted before they reached the present site of Mil- 
waukee. They had been forced ashore three times to save their boats 
and their lives. They now went in search of food and fortunately found 
a deserted Indian village with plenty of corn. They appropriated the 
corn, but left some articles as pay. The next day the Indians returned 
and followed the whites to their boats and it was only by presenting 
the calumet that La Salle was able to appease them. 

From Milwaukee they coasted south past the mouth of the Chicago 
Eiver and following the southerly bend of the lake reached the mouth 
of the St. Joseph River November 1, 1679. This had been appointed 
as the meeting place of the two expeditions the one under La Salle and 
the one under Tonti. La Salle was anxious to get to the Illinois country, 
but he also desired the help of Tonti and as the latter had not yet 
arrived, La Salle occupied the time of his men in building a palisade 
fort which he named Fort Miami. Near by, he erected a bark chapel 
for the use of the priests, and also a storehouse for the goods which the 
Griffin was to bring from Niagara on its return. 

TONTI JOINS LA SALLE AT FORT MIAMI 

Tonti arrived at Fort Miami on the 12th of November with only a 
portion of his company, the rest remaining behind to bring word of 
the Griffin. La Salle was now impatient to proceed, and dispatching 
Tonti for the rest of his crew waited for his return. The ice began to 
form and fearing the freezing over of the river, La Salle ascended the 
St. Joseph in search of the portage between the Kankakee and the St. 
Joseph. He went up the St. Joseph beyond the portage and while 
searching for it was overtaken by a courier who told him Tonti and his 
party were at the portage farther down the river. This point is supposed 
to have been near the present city of South Bend, Indiana. Here was 
now assembled the party which was to become a very historic one. There 
were in all twenty-nine Frenchmen and one Indian. Among them were 
La Salle, De Tonti, Fathers Louis Hennepin, Zenobe Membre, Gabriel 
de La Ribourde, La Metairie (a notary) and De Loup, the Indian guide. 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 45 

They crossed the portage of three or four miles under great difficulties, 
dragging their canoes and their burdens on sledges. The ice was getting 
thick and a heavy snow storm was raging. 

IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY 

By the 6th of December, 1679, the expedition was afloat on the 
Kankakee. For many miles the country was so marshy that scarcely 
a camping place could be found, but soon its members emerged into 
an open region of the country with tall grass and then they knew they 
were in the Illinois country. They suffered from lack of food, having 
killed only two deer, one buffalo, two geese, and a few swans. As they 
journeyed on they passed the mouths of the Iroquois, the Des Plaines, 
and the Fox. They passed the present site of Ottawa and a few miles 
below they came to the Kaskaskia village where Marquette had planted 
the mission of the Immaculate Conception in . the summer of 1675. 
Father Allouez had succeeded Marquette and had spent some time at 
the Kaskaskia village in 1676, and in 1677 he returned. But on the 
approach of La Salle, Allouez had departed, for it was understood that 
almost all of the Jesuit priests -were opposed to La Salle's plans of 
commercializing the interior of North America. The Kaskaskia Indians 
were themselves absent from the village on an expedition to the south- 
land, as was their winter custom. 

DESERTED KASKASKIA VILLAGE WITH SUPPLIES 

This Kaskaskia village of four hundred lodges was uninhabited. The 
huts were built by covering a long arbor-like frame work with mats of 
woven rushes. In each lodge there was room for as many as ten families. 
In their hiding places, the Indians had secreted large quantities of corn 
for the spring planting and for sustenance until another crop could be 
raised. La Salle's party was so sorely in need of this corn that he 
decided to appropriate as much as they needed. This he did, taking 
30 minots. On January 1, 1680, after mass by Father Hennepin, 
they departed down the Illinois River. On the morning of the 5th they 
had arrived at the outlet of what we call Peoria Lake. Here they saw 
large numbers of boats and on the banks wigwams and large numbers 
of Indians. The Indians were much disconcerted upon seeing La Salle's 
party land, and many fled while a few held communication with the 
new comers. La Salle held a consultation with the chiefs and told them 
of his taking their corn. He offered to pay for the corn and said that 
if he were compelled to give up the corn he would take his blacksmith 



46 HISTOBY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

and his tools to the next tribe, the Osages, whereupon the Indians gladly 
accepted pay for the corn taken and offered more. 

INTERVIEWS THE KASKASKIAS 

La Salle told them he wished to be on friendly terms with them, 
but that they must not expect him to engage in conflicts with the 
Iroquois whom his king regarded as his children. But if they would 
allow him to build a fort near, that he would defend them, the Kas- 
kaskias, against the Iroquois if they were attacked. He also told them 
he wished to know whether he could navigate a large boat from that 
point to the mouth of the Mississippi Eiver, since it was very difficult 
as well as dangerous to bring such European goods as the Indians would 
like to have from New France by way of the Great Lakes, and that it 
could not well be done by coming across the Iroquois country as they 
would object, since the Illinois Indians and the Iroquois were enemies. 

The Kaskaskia chiefs told La Salle that the mouth of the Mississippi 
was only twenty days' travel away and that there were no obstructions 
to navigation. Certain Indian slaves taken in battle said that they had 
been at the mouth of the river and that they had seen ships at sea that 
made noises like thunder. This made La Salle the more anxious to 
reach the mouth of the river and take possession of the country. The 
chiefs gave consent to the construction of the fort and La Salle had 
a bright vision before him. This vision was sadly clouded on the 
morrow when an Indian revealed to him the visit to the chiefs, on the 
night before, of a Miami chief by the name of Monso who tried to 
undermine the influence of La Salle. He said La Salle was deceiving 
them. In a council that day he revealed his knowledge of the visit of 
Monso and by great diplomacy won the Kaskaskia chief to his cause 
the second time. It was supposed this chief Monso was sent at the 
suggestion of Father Allouez. Four of La Salle's men deserted him and 
returned to the region of Lake Michigan. 

BUILDS FOHT CEEVECOEUR BELOW PEORIA 

La Salle, fearing the influence of the stories among the Indians, 
upon his men, decided to separate from them and go further down the 
river where he could construct his fort and built his boat. On the 
evening of the 15th of January, 1680, La Salle moved to a point on 
the east side of the river three miles below the present site of Peoria. 
There on a projection from the bluffs he built with considerable labor 
a fort which received the name of Crevecoeur. This was the fourth of 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 47 

the great chain of forts which La Salle had constructed, namely : Fort 
Frontenac at the oiitlet of Lake Ontario; Fort Tonti on the Niagara 
River; Fort Miami at the mouth of St. Joseph River, and Crevecoeur 
below Lake Peoria on the Illinois River. 

Fort Crevecoeur is currently believed to have been so named because 
of the disheartened frame of mind of La Salle, but this would not be 
complimentary to the character of the man. It is now rather believed 
to have been so named in honor of Tonti, since as a soldier in the 
Netherlands he took part in the destruction of Fort Crevecoeur near 
the village of Bois le Due in the year 1672. 

In addition to the building of the fort, La Salle began the con- 
struction of a vessel with which to complete his journey to the mouth 
of the river. The lumber was sawed from the timber and rapid progress 
was made. The keel was 42 feet long, and the beam was 12 feet. 
While this work was in progress and during the month of February, 
several representatives of tribes from up the Mississippi and down the 
Mississippi, as well as from the Miamis to the northeast, came to consult 
with La Salle. His presence in the Illinois country was known near and 
far. The Indians from the upper Mississippi brought tempting descrip- 
tions of routes to the western sea and also of the wealth of beaver with 
which their country abounded. 

SENDS EXPEDITION TO UPPER MISSISSIPPI 

La Salle desired to make a visit to Fort Frontenac for sails, cordage, 
iron, and other material for his boat, besides he was very anxious to hear 
something definite about the Griffin, and its valuable cargo. But before 
embarking on his long journey, he fitted out an expedition consisting 
of Michael Ako, Antony Auguel, and Father Hennepin, to explore the 
upper Mississippi. Michael Ako was the leader. They started February 
the 29th, passed down the Illinois River and thence up the Mississippi. 
They carried goods worth a thousand livres, which were to be exchanged 
for furs. Father Hennepin took St. Anthony for his patron saint and 
when near the falls which we know by that name, he set up a post 
upon which he engraved the cross and the coat of arms of France. He 
was shortly captured by the Indians and was later released by a French 
trader, De Lhut. He then returned to France. 

DEPARTS FOR FORT FRONTENAC, LEAVING TONTI BEHIND 

Before starting for Frontenac, La Salle commissioned Tonti to have 
charge of the Crevecoeur fort, and also to build a fort at Starved Rock. 



48 HISTOKY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

On March 1st, the day following the departure of Ako and Hennepin for 
the upper Mississippi, La Salle departed, with three companions, for 
Fort Frontenac. This was a long, dangerous, and discouraging journey. 
Every venture which he had engaged in seems to have failed. After 
finally getting together supplies such as were needed, he started on his 
return journey. He was continually hearing stories from the travelers 
of the desertion of Crevecoeur. When he came within a few miles of 
the Kaskaskia village he began to see signs of destruction. On arriving 
at the village nothing but a few blackened posts remained. The Iroquois 
Indians had made a campaign against the Illinois Indians and their 
trail could he traced by death and destruction. 

IROQUOIS EAVAGES AT STARVED ROCK AND FORT CREVECOEUR 

When La Salle left the locality of Starved Rock for Fort Crevecoeur, 
on his way from Canada, he passed the Iroquois on one side of the 
river and the Illinois on the other. He searched everywhere for Tonti 
but could find no trace of him. He came to Crevecoeur about the first 
of December, 1680, and found the fort deserted and the storehouse 
plundered; the boat, however, was without damage. La Salle went to 
the mouth of the Illinois River in search of Tonti but without success. 
He returned to Fort Miami in the spring of 1681. Here he began the 
organization of all the Indian tribes into a sort of confederation. 

Upon the approach of the Iroquois shortly after the departure of 
La Salle from Fort Crevecoeur, in March, 1680, Tonti and his party 
were scattered far and near. Tonti and Father Membre made their way 
to Green Bay and from there to Mackinaw. La Salle heard of them 
here and went immediately to them. Another expedition was organ- 
ized. La Salle, Father Membre and Tonti visited Fort Frontenac, where 
supplies were procured, and late in December, 1681, the expedition had 
crossed the Chicago portage. There were in this company fifty-four 
people twenty-three Frenchmen and thirty-one Indians. 

They passed the Kaskaskia village near Starved Rock, but it was in 
ruins. On January 25, 1682, they reached Fort Crevecoeur. The fort 
was in fair condition. Here they halted six days, while the Indians 
made some elm bark canoes. They reached the Mississippi the 6th of 
February. After a little delay they proceeded down the river, passed 
the mouth of the Missouri, and shortly after that a village of the Tam- 
aroa Indians. The village contained one hundred and twenty cabins, 
but they were all deserted. La Salle left presents on the posts for the 
villagers when they returned. Grand Tower was passed, later the Ohio. 
The trip to the mouth of the Mississippi was without special interest. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 49 

They reached the mouth of the river in April, and on the ninth of that 
month erected a post upon which they nailed the arms of France wrought 
from a copper kettle. A proclamation was prepared by the notary, 
Jacques de la Metairie, and read. It recited briefly their journey to the 
country drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries. 

On the 10th of April the party began the return journey. La Salle 
was stricken with a severe illness and was obliged to remain at Fort 
Prudhomme, which had been erected on the Chickasaw bluffs just above 
Vicksburg. Tonti was sent forward to look after his leader's interests. 
He went by Fort Miami, but found everything in order. He reached 
Mackinaw the 22d of July. 

La Salle reached Crevecoeur on his way north. He left eight 
Frenchmen here to hold this position. He reached Fort Miami, and 
thence passed on to Mackinaw. He then sent Father Membre to France 
to report his discovery to the king, while he himself set about the build- 
ing of Fort St. Louis, at Starved Rock, on the Illinois. The detachment 
left by La Salle at Crevecoeur was ordered north to Fort St. Louis, and 
he began to grant his followers small areas of land in recognition of 
their services with him in the past few years. The fort was completed 
and in March, 1683, the ensign of France floated to the breeze. The 
tribes for miles -in circuit came to the valley about the fort and 
encamped. La Salle patiently looked for French settlers from New 
France but they did not come. 

During the absence of La Salle at the mouth of the Mississippi, 
Count Frontenac had been superseded by Sieur de la Barre, who had 
assumed the duties of his office October 9, 1682. He was not friendly 
to La Salle's schemes of extending the possessions of France in the 
New World. La Salle suspected, in the summer of 1683, that the new 
governor was not in sympathy with him. After a great deal of fruitless 
correspondence with the new governor, La Salle repaired to France to 
lay before the king his new discoveries as well as plans for the future. 

LA SALLE ASSASSINATED 

Tonti was displaced as commander at Fort St. Louis and ordered to 
Quebec. La Salle not only secured a fleet for the trip to the mouth of 
the Mississippi, but also had Tonti restored to command at Fort St. 
Louis. La Salle sailed to the Gulf in the spring of 1685. He failed to 
find the mouth of the river and landed in what is now Texas. After 
hardships and discouragement almost beyond belief, he was murdered by 
some of his own men the latter part of March, 1687. 

14 



50 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

La Salle went to France in the summer of 1683 and left Tonti in 
charge of his interests in the Illinois country. Tonti was active in the 
defense of his superior's interests. In this duty he was forced to defend 
the Illinois country against the Iroquois, and to struggle against La 
Salle's enemies in New France. He made expeditions of trade and 
exploration throughout all the western country, took part in a great 
campaign against the Iroquois, and was the life of a growing community 
around Fort St. Louis. 

DEATH OF TONTI 

The death of La Salle occurred in the spring of 1687. Just one 
year previous to this Tonti had made a trip to the Gulf in search of 
La Salle, but failing to find him returned sorrowfully to Fort St. Louis. 
In September, 1688, Tonti heard definitely of the death of La Salle. 
In December of that year he organized an expedition to rescue the 
colonists whom La Salle had left on the coast of the Gulf. This expedi- 
tion also proved a failure. For the next ten years Tonti remained in 
the region of the Lakes, but when Bienville began planting new settle- 
ments near the mouth of the Mississippi River, Tonti abandoned Fort 
St. Louis and joined the new settlements. He died near Mobile in 1704. 

PERMANENT PIONEER SETTLEMENTS OF ILLINOIS 

The death of La Salle in 1688 and of Tonti in 1704, concluded 
the most romantic chapter of the early French explorations which pre- 
pared the way for permanent settlement and the solid satisfaction of 
home-building. Without going into the rather intricate claims as to 
the priority of the pioneer settlements of Illinois which assumed 
permanence, it will be conceded that Kaskaskia was for several genera- 
tions the most notable. The mission of the Immaculate Conception 
founded there by Father Marquette, with the fertile lands in that region, 
eventuated in drawing thither not only the soldiers of the cross, but 
French traders and agriculturists. The Indians and Frenchmen who 
came to Kaskaskia in the eighteenth century built their huts by weaving 
grasses and reeds into frameworks of upright poles set in rectangular 
form. The roofs were thatched. The ground was very rich and a sort 
of rude agriculture was begun. In those days the French were just 
taking possession of the mouth of the Mississippi, and Kaskaskia became 
quite an important intermediate port of call for fresh supplies. The 
trading with the Indians was also a large factor in the building up of 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 51 

the place, which was located on the west bank of the Kaskaskia, six 
miles from the Mississippi. 

Cahokia, its rival, situated a short distance below the present city 
of East St. Louis, was also a mission and a trading post, but it met 
with a setback quite early in its history. The village was first built on 
the east bank of the Mississippi on a little creek which flowed across 
the rich alluvial bottoms, but by 1721 the river had carved a new 
channel westward leaving the village half a league from free water 
communication. The little creek also took another course, and Cahokia 
was left decidedly inland. 

The Mississippi River has swept away even the site of Kaskaskia, 
and Cahokia is little more than a name. 

FORT CHARTRES, CENTER OF ILLINOIS DISTRICT 

Fort Chartres, which was situated sixteen miles northwest of Kas- 
kaskia, was founded in 1718 and became the military and the civil 
center of the Illinois district of Louisiana, and so continued for nearly 
half a century. As completed, its outer structure consisted of two rows 
of parallel logs filled between with earth and limestone, the latter 
quarried from an adjacent cliff. It was surrounded on three sides by 
this two-foot wall, and on the fourth by a ravine, which during the 
springtime was full of water. 

The fort was barely completed when there arrived one Renault, a 
representative of the Company of the West (a creation of the famous 
John Law), the director general of the mining operations of that con- 
cern which were designed to re-enforce the uncertain finances of France. 
He had left France in the spring of 1719 with two hundred miners, 
laborers and a full complement of mining utensils. Among his force 
were also several hundred St. Domingo negroes, whom he had bought 
on his way to Louisiana to work the mines and plantations of the 
province. Those whom he brought to the Illinois district were the 
original slaves of the State of Illinois. 

Renault made Fort Chartres his headquarters for a short time, and 
from here he sent his expert miners and skilled workmen in every direc- 
tion hunting for the precious metals. The bluffs skirting the American 
Bottoms on the east were diligently searched for minerals, but nothing 
encouraging was found. In what is now Jackson, Randolph, and St. 
Clair counties the ancient traces of furnaces were visible as late as 1850. 
Silver Creek, which runs south and through Madison and St. Clair 
counties, was so named on the supposition that silver metal was plenti- 
ful along that stream. 



52 HISTOBY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Failing to discover any metals or precious stones, Benault turned 
his attention to the cultivation of the land in order to support his 
miners. 

FIRST LAND GRANT IN DISTRICT 

On May 10, 1722, the military commandant, Lieutenant Bois- 
briant, representing the king, and Des TJsins representing the Royal 
Indies Company (the Company of the West), granted to Charles Davie 
a tract of land five arpents wide (58.35 rods) and reaching from the 
Kaskaskia on the east to the Mississippi on the west. This is said to 
have been the first grant of land made in the Illinois district in 
Louisiana. 

The next year, June 14th, the same officials made a grant to Eenault 
of a tract of land abutting or facing on the Mississippi, more than three 
miles. This tract contained more than 13,000 acres. It reached back 
to the bluffs, probably four to five miles. It is said the grant was 
made in consideration of the labor of Eenault's slaves, probably upon 
some work belonging to the Company of the West. This grant was up 
the Mississippi three and a half miles above Fort Chartres. The village 
of St. Phillipe was probably started before the grant was made, at least 
the village was on the grant. 

PRAIIUE DU ROCHER 

As soon as Fort Chartres was complete there grew up a village near 
by, which usually went by the name of New Chartres. About the year 
1722 the village of Prairie du Eocher was begun. It was located near 
the bluffs due east from Fort Chartres about three and a half miles. It 
is said that some of the houses were built of stone, there being an 
abundance of that material in the bluffs just back of the village. To 
this village there was granted a very large "common" which it holds 
to this day. The common is about three miles square and lies back of 
the village upon the upland. 

There were, probably, as early as 1725, five permanent French 
villages in the American Bottom, namely: Cahokia, settled not earlier 
than 1698, and not later than 1700; Kaskaskia, settled in the latter 
part of the year 1700, or in the beginning of the year 1701 ; New 
Chartres, the village about Fort Chartres, commenced about the same 
time the fort was erected, 1720; Prairie du Eocher, settled about 1722, 
or possibly as late as the grant to Boisbriant, which was in 1733; St. 
Phillipe, settled very soon after Eenault received the grant from the 
Western Company, which was 1723. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 53 

The villages were all much alike. They were a straggling lot of 
crude cabins, built with little if any reference to streets, and constructed 
with no pretension to architectural beauty. The inhabitants were 
French and Indians and negroes. 

LIFE AT THE PIONEER FRENCH-ILLINOIS SETTLEMENTS 

The industrial life of these people consisted of fishing and hunting, 
cultivation of the soil, commercial transactions, some manufacturing, 
and mining. The fishing and hunting were partly a pastime, but the 
table was often liberally supplied from these sources. The soil was 
fertile and yielded abundantly to a very indifferent cultivation. Wheat 
was grown and the grain ground in crude water mills usually situated 
at the mouths of the streams as they emerge from the bluffs. And it 
is said one windmill was erected in the bottom. They had swine and 
black cattle, says Father Charlevoix, in 1721. The Indians raised 
poultry, spun the wool of the buffalo and wove a cloth which they dyed 
black, yellow or red. 

In the first thirty or forty years of the eighteenth century, there 
was considerable commerce carried on between these villages and the 
mouth of the river. New Orleans was established in 1718 and came to 
be, in a very early day, an important shipping point. The gristmills 
ground the wheat which the Illinois farmers raised on the bottom lands, 
and the flour was shipped in keel boats and flatboats. Fifteen thousand 
deer skins were sent in one year to New Orleans. Buffalo meat and 
other products of the forest, as well as the produce of the farms, made 
up the cargoes. Considerable lead was early shipped to the mother 
country. The return vessel brought the colonists rice, sugar, coffee, 
manufactured articles of all kinds, tools, implements, and munitions of 
war. 

ILLINOIS COMES DIRECTLY UNDER ROYAL CONTROL 

In 1720 a financial panic struck France and John Law was forced 
to flee from the country. The Company of the Indies kept up a pretense 
of carrying on its business, but in 1732 upon petition by the 'company 
the king issued a proclamation declaring the company dissolved and 
Louisiana to be free to all subjects of the king. There were at this 
time (1732) about 7,000 whites and 2,000 negro slaves within the limits 
of the Louisiana territory. The rules of the Western Company had 
been so exacting that many of the activities of the people had been 
repressed. Every one seems to have been held in a sort of vassalage 



54 HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

to the company. Now the territory was to come directly under the 
crown. 

In 1721 the whole of the Mississippi Valley had been divided into 
nine civil jurisdictions, as follows: New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile, 
Alabama, Natchez, Yazoo, Natchitoches, Arkansas and Illinois. "There 
shall be at the headquarters in each district a commandant and a judge, 
from whose decisions appeals may be had to the superior council estab- 
lished at New Biloxi." Breese's History of Illinois gives a copy of an 
appeal of the inhabitants of Kaskaskia to the Provincial commandant 
and judge relative to the grants t>f lands to individuals and to the 
inhabitants as a whole. 

ILLINOIS SPIRITUALLY ASSIGNED TO THE JESUITS 

The religious life of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and other French villages 
was quite free from outside influence. By the third article of the 
ordinance issued by Louis XV in 1724, all religious beliefs other than 
the Catholic faith were forbidden. The article reads as follows: "We 
prohibit any other religious rites than those of the Apostolic Eoman 
Catholic church ; requiring that those who violate this shall be punished 
as rebels, disobedient to our commands." This ordinance also made it 
an offense to set over any slaves any overseers who should in any way 
prevent the slaves from professing the Roman Catholic religion. 

By an ordinance issued in 1722, by the council for the company, and 
with the consent of the bishop of Quebec, the province of Louisiana 
was divided into three spiritual jurisdictions. The first comprised the 
banks of the Mississippi from the gulf to the mouth of the Ohio, and 
including the region to the west. The Capuchins were to officiate in 
the churches, and their superior was to reside in New Orleans. The 
second spiritual district comprised all the territory north of the Ohio, 
and was assigned to the charge of the Jesuits whose superior should 
reside in the Illinois, presumably at Kaskaskia. The' third district lay 
south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi River and was assigned to 
the Carmelites, the residence of the superior being at Mobile. Each 
of the three superiors was to be a grand vicar of the bishop of Quebec. 
The Carmelites remained in charge of their territory south of the Ohio 
only till the following fall, December, 1722, when they turned over their 
work to the Capuchins and returned to France. 

As evidence of the activity of the Jesuits in the territory which was 
assigned to them, we are told they had already, in 1721, established a 
monastery in Kaskaskia. It is stated in Monette's Mississippi Valley, 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 55 

that a college was also established there about the year 1721. Charle- 
voix, quoted by Davidson and Stuve, says : "I passed the night with the 
missionaries (at Cahokia), who are two ecclesiastics from the seminary 
at Quebec, formerly my disciples, but they must now be my masters. 
* * * Yesterday I arrived at Kaskaskia about nine o'clock. The 
Jesuits have a very nourishing mission, which has lately been divided 
into two." All descriptions which have come down to us of the condi- 
tions in the Illinois country in the first part of the eighteenth century 
represent the church as most aggressive and prosperous. Civil govern- 
ment certainly must have passed into "Innocuous desuetude" by 1732. 

The government was very simple, at least until about 1730. From 
the settlement in 1700 up to the coming of Crozat there was virtually 
no civil government. Controversies were few and the priest's influence 
was such that all disputes which arose were settled by that personage. 
Eecently documents have been recovered from the courthouse in Chester 
which throw considerable light upon the question of government in the 
French villages, but as yet they have not been thoroughly sorted and 
interpreted. 

The Company of the West realized that its task of developing the 
territory of Louisiana was an unprofitable one, and they surrendered 
their charter to the king, and Louisiana became, as we are accustomed 
to say, a royal province by proclamation of the king, April 10, 1732. 

FAILURES EESULT IN GOOD 

The two efforts, the one by Crozat and the other by the Company 
of the West, had both resulted in failure so far as profit to either was 
concerned. Crozat had spent 425,000 livres and realized in return only 
300,000 livres. And although a rich man, the venture ruined him 
financially. The Company of the West put thousands of dollars into 
the attempt to develop the territory for which no money in return was 
ever received. But the efforts of both were a lasting good to the terri- 
tory itself. Possibly the knowledge of the geography of the country 
which resulted from the explorations in search of precious metals, was 
not the least valuable. Among other things, these two efforts brought 
an adventurous and energetic class of people into Illinois. 

FORTUNATE AND PROGRESSIVE ILLINOIS 

For many years after 1732, when Louisiana became a royal province, 
the Illinois country, or district, was spared many of the hardships of 



56 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

war which so distressed and retarded the French domain both north 
and south of it. The massacre at Natchez, and the campaigns against 
the Natchez and Chickasaw Indians which ravaged the southern country 
for a decade, were events of this character. The French and the Indians 
north of the Ohio were on very good terms and the settlements in the 
Illinois country grew rapidly, especially after 1739, with the subjugation 
of the turbulent Indians who had so interfered with the free navigation 
of the Mississippi. Neither did King George's war, which broke out 
between France and England in 1744, disturb the even progress of the 
western country. In the fall of 1745 the rice crop of lower Louisiana 
was almost ruined by storms and inundation, which misfortune worked 
to the advantage of Illinois by creating an unusual demand for its wheat 
and flour. 

FRENCH-ENGLISH CONTESTS FOR THE OHIO VALLEY 

King George's war, which had its origin in European political 
complications, closed in 1748. The treaty which closed the war provided 
for the return of Louisburg to the French, and all other possessions of 
England and France in America to remain as they were prior to the 
war. It could easily be seen that the next struggle between the French 
and the English would be for the permanent control of the Ohio Valley 
and the adjacent territory east of the Mississippi Eiver. The English 
had never relaxed in their determination to possess the Ohio Valley. 
In 1738 a treaty was made at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between English 
commissioners and three Indian chiefs representing twelve towns in 
the vicinity of the Wabash. The purpose of the treaty was to attach 
the Indians north of the Ohio to the English cause. The Ohio Land 
Company was formed in 1738. It contained residents of England and 
Virginia. It received from King George II a grant of a half million 
acres of land on and about the Ohio River. They were given the 
exclusive right of trading with the Indians in that region. 

In 1749 the governor general of Canada sent Louis Celeron, a knight 
of the Military Order of St. Louis, to plant lead plates along the valley 
of the Ohio which might eventually prove French priority of occupation 
of this territory. Several of the plates were afterward unearthed. In 
1750 Celeron wrote a letter to the governor of Pennsylvania warning 
him of the danger of his people who might trespass upon the French 
possessions along the Ohio. In 1752 agents of the Ohio Company estab- 
lished a trading post within a few miles of the present site of Piqua, 
Ohio. In the same year the French and Indian allies destroyed this 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 57 

post, killing fourteen Twightwees Indians, who were under a treaty with 
the English. Logstown, about eighteen miles below the forks of the Ohio, 
was settled in 1748 by the English, and in 1752 a treaty was made there 
in which the Indians ceded certain rights and privileges to the English. 

The French began in 1753 to build a line of forts from the lakes to 
the Mississippi by way of the Ohio and its tributaries from the north. 
The first fort was located at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania) ; 
the second one was Fort Le Boeuf on French Creek, a branch of the 
Alleghany. The third was called Venango, at the mouth of the French 
Creek. From here they pushed south and found some Englishmen 
building a fort at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela. The 
French drove the Englishmen from the place and finished the fort and 
named it Fort Duquesne. This was the fourth fortification in the line 
of forts reaching from the lakes to the Mississippi River. The French 
and Indian war was now fairly begun and we shall return to the Illinois 
to see what part this region was to play in this final contest for 
supremacy between the two great powers of the Old World. 

We have called attention to the activity of the French in building 
forts on the upper Ohio to secure that region from the English. The 
same activity marked their preparations in the west for the impending 
struggle. Fort Chartres had been originally of wood. There never 
were many soldiers stationed there at any time only a few score soldiers 
and officers, but following King George's war it was decided to rebuild 
Fort Chartres on a large scale. 

FORT CHARTRES REBUILT BY THE FRENCH 

The old fort had been hastily constructed of wood. The new fort 
was to be of stone. It was planned and constructed by Lieutenant Jean 
B. Saussier, a French engineer, whose descendants lived in Cahokia 
many years, one of whom, Dr. John Snyder, now lives in Virginia, Cass 
County, Illinois. When complete it was the finest and most costly fort 
in America. The cost of its construction was about $1,500,000, and it 
seriously embarrassed the French exchequer. The stones were hewn, 
squared and numbered in the quarries in the bluff just opposite, about 
four miles distant, and conveyed across the lake to the fort in boats. 
The massive stone walls enclosed about four acres. They were eighteen 
feet high and about two feet thick. The gateway was arched, and fifteen 
feet high ; a cut-stone platform was above the gate with a stair of nine- 
teen steps and balustrade leading to it; there were four bastions, each 
with forty-eight loopholes, eight embrasures, and a sentry box, all in 



58 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

cut stone. Within the walls stood the storehouse, ninety feet long, 
thirty feet wide, two stories high; the guard house with two rooms 
above for chapel and missionary quarters ; the government house, eighty- 
four by thirty-two feet, with iron gates and a stone porch ; a coach house, 
pigeon house, and large well walled up with the finest of dressed rock; 
the intendant's house; two rows of barracks, each 128 feet long; the 
magazine, which is still standing and well preserved, thirty-five by thirty- 
eight and thirteen feet high ; bake ovens ; four prison cells of cut stone ; 
one large relief gate on the north. Such was the pride of the French 
empire, and the capital of New France. 

ILLINOIS TRIUMPHS OVER VIRGINIA 

The fort was scarcely completed when the French and Indian war 
broke out. In May of 1754 George Washington and his Virginia rifle- 
men surprised the French at Great Meadows, where Jumonville, the 
French commander, was killed. A brother of the slain French com- 
mander, who was stationed at Fort Chartres, secured leave from 
Makarty, in command there, to avenge his death. Taking his company 
with him they proceeded to Fort Duquesne, and there gathering some 
friendly Indians they attacked Washington at Fort Necessity, which 
was surrendered on July 4th. This was the real beginning of the old 
French war. Flushed with victory, the little detachment returned to 
Fort Chartres, and celebrated the triumph of Illinois over Virginia. 

FORT DUQUESNE ABANDONED 

In the French and Indian war the demand upon Makarty at Fort 
Chartres for men and provisions became incessant. In fact, Fort 
Chartres became the principal base of supplies in the West. In 1755, 
Captain Aubry was sent to re-enforce Fort Duquesne with 400 men. 
The fort held out for some time, but later Colonel Washington compelled 
its abandonment. 

NEW FORT CHARTRES PASSES INTO BRITISH HANDS 

The power of the French began to wane. They maintained the 
struggle gallantly, however, and made one more desperate effort to raise 
the siege of Fort Niagara. . They failed. The flower of Fort Chartres 
went down at Niagara. The surrender of Canada soon followed, but 
Fort Chartres, now called New Fort Chartres, still held out for the 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 59 

French king. They hoped that they would still be considered with 
Louisiana, and remain in French territory. 

Their disappointment was bitter when they learned that on Febru- 
ary 10, 1763, Louis XV had ratified the treaty transferring them to 
Great Britain. 

ST. Louis FOUNDED UNDER A MISAPPREHENSION 

While the French at Fort Chartres were waiting for a British force 
to take possession, Pierre Laclede arrived from New Orleans to settle 
at the Illinois, bringing with him a company representing merchants 
engaged in the fur trade. Learning of the treaty of cession he decided 
to establish his post on the west side of the Mississippi, which he still 
believed to be French soil. He selected a fine bluff sixty miles north of 
Fort Chartres for the site of his post, and returned for the winter. In 
the spring he began his colony, and was enthusiastic over its prospects. 
Many of the French families followed him, wishing to remain under the 
French flag. Their disappointment was still more bitter when they 
learned that all the French possessions west of the Mississippi had been 
ceded to Spain. This is now St. Louis. 

LAST FRENCH STRONGHOLD FALLS 

The elder St. Ange, who had been at Vincennes, returned to take 
part in the last act. Though the territory had been transferred to King 
George, the white flag of the Bourbons continued to fly at Fort Chartres, 
the last place in America. The Indian chief Pontiac was another power 
not taken into confidence at the treaty. Pontiac loved the French, but 
detested the English. When the English companies, under Loftus, Pit- 
man and Morris, respectively, came to take possession, each was balked 
by the wily red man. Chief Pontiac gathered an army of red men and 
proceeded to Fort Chartres where he met St. Ange, and boldly proposed 
to assist him in repelling the English. St. Ange plainly told him that 
all was over, and advised him to make peace with the English. Fort 
Chartres was finally surrendered to Captain Stirling on October 10, 
1765. The red cross of St. George replaced the lilies of France. St. 
Ange and his men took a boat for St. Louis, and there enrolled in the 
garrison under the Spanish, which St. Ange was appointed to command. 



60 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ENGLISH JUDGES SIT AT FORT CHARTRES 

The first court of law was established at Fort Chartres in December, 
1768, Fort Chartres becoming the capital of the British province west 
of the Alleghanies. Colonel Wilkins had assumed command under a 
proclamation from General Gage, and with seven judges sat at Fort 
Chartres to administer the law of England. After the surrender by 
the French the church records were removed to Kaskaskia. The records 
of the old French court were also removed there. 

PONTIAC BURIED AT ST. Louis 

A constant warfare had been kept up by the Indians, until Pontiac 
was killed near Cahokia by an Illinois Indian. Pontiac's warriors 
pursued the Illinois tribe to the walls of Fort Chartres, where many of 
them were slain, the British refusing to assist them. St. Ange recovered 
the body of Pontiac, and it was buried on the spot now occupied by the 
Southern Hotel in St. Louis, a memorial plate marking the place. 

LAST OF FORT CHARTRES 

In 1772 high water swept away one of the bastions, and a part of 
the western wall of Fort Chartres. The British took refuge at Kas- 
kaskia, and the fort was never occupied again. Congress, in 1778, 
reserved to the government a tract one mile square, of which the fort 
was the center. But this reservation was opened to entry in 1849, no 
provision being made for the fort. 

KASKASKIA TAKEN BY AMERICANS UNDER CLARK 

What manner of military rule and civil government the English 
established over the Illinois country has been described in general ; their 
dominion lasted but thirteen years. During the progress of the Revo- 
lutionary War it became evident to the American Colonies that the cap- 
ture of the British military posts northwest of the Ohio River was a step 
which could not long be delayed, and Governor Patrick Henry, in behalf 
of Virginia, authorized Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark to 
organize an expedition for that purpose in January, 1778. In May, with 
seven companies of fifty men each recruited in western Virginia and 
Kentucky, he commenced his journey down the Monongahela and Ohio, 
and in the following month disembarked at old Fort Massac, ten miles 






HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 61 

below the mouth of the Tennessee Kiver on the north side of the Ohio. 
He hid his boats in the mouth of a small stream which enters the Ohio 
from Massac County a short distance above the fort. The expedition 
now made preparations to march overland to Kaskaskia, about a hundred 
miles distant. Because of the inefficiency or treachery of the guides, 
the expedition did not reach Kaskaskia until the fourth day of their 
departure from Fort Massac, at ten or eleven o'clock at night. Clark 
divided his army into two divisions, one of which was to scatter through- 
out the town and keep the people in their houses, and the other, which 
Clark himself commanded, was to capture the fort in which the com- 
mander, Chevalier de Eocheblave, was asleep. In a very short time the 
task was finished and the people disarmed. The soldiers were instructed 
to pass up and down the streets, and those who could speak French were 
to inform the inhabitants to remain within their houses. The Vir- 
ginians and Kentuckians were in the meantime keeping up an unearthly 
yelling, for the people of Kaskaskia had understood that Virginians were 
more savage than the Indians had ever been, and Clark was desirous 
that they should retain this impression. The French of Kaskaskia 
called the Virginians "Long Knives." 

On the morning of the 5th, the principal citizens were put in irons. 
Shortly after this Father Gibault and a few aged men came to Clark 
and begged the privilege of holding services in the church, that they 
might bid one another goodbye before they were separated. Clark gave 
his permission in a very crabbed way. The church bell rang out over 
the quiet but sad village, and immediately every one who could get to 
church did so. At the close of the service Father Gibault came again 
with some old men to beg that families might not be separated and that 
they might be privileged to take some of their personal effects with 
them for their support. Clark then explained to the priest that Ameri- 
cans did not make war on women and children, but that it was only to 
protect their own wives and children that they had come to this strong- 
hold of British and Indian barbarity. He went further and told them 
that the French king and the Americans had just made a treaty of alli- 
ance and that it was the desire of their French father that they should 
join their interests with the Americans. This had a wonderfully con- 
ciliatory effect upon the French. And now Clark told them they were at 
perfect liberty to conduct themselves as usual. His influence had been so 
powerful that they were all induced to take the oath of allegiance to the 
state of Virginia. Their arms were given back to them and a volunteer 
company of French militiamen was formed. 

Kaskaskia was captured on July 4, 1778. On the morning of the 



62 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

5th occurred the incident previously referred to, relative to the conduct 
of the priest. Evidently very early in the day, quiet was restored and 
better relations were established between captors and captives. The 
treaty of alliance between France and the United States was explained, 
and immediately the oath of allegiance to Virginia was taken by the 
people. On the same 5th of July an expedition was planned for the 
capture of Cahokia. Captain Bowman with his company, or probably 
a portion of it, and a detachment of the French militia under French 
officers, together with a number of Kaskaskia citizens, made up the army. 
Eeynolds says they rode French ponies. The distance was sixty miles 
and the trip was made by the afternoon of the 6th. At first the people 
of Cahokia were greatly agitated and cried "Long Knives!" "Long 
Knives!" But the Kaskaskia citizens soon quieted them and explained 
what had happened at Kaskaskia only two days before. The fort at 
Cahokia may have contained a few British soldiers or some French 
militia. In either case they quietly surrendered. The oath of alle- 
giance was administered to the people and the citizens returned to 
Kaskaskia. 

BLOODLESS CAPTURE OF VINCENNES 

For the first few days of Clark's stay in Kaskaskia he and his meu 
talked about the fort at the falls of Ohio and of a detachment of soldiers 
they were expecting from there every day. This was done for the 
purpose of making an impression upon the people of Kaskaskia. Clark 
was a shrewd diplomatist, as well as a good soldier, and he suspected 
that Father Gibault was at heart on the side of the Americans. By 
conversation Clark learned that the priest was the regular shepherd of 
the flock at Vincennes, and evidently had very great influence with the 
people there. Clark therefore talked of his expedition against Vincennes 
from the fort at the falls of the Ohio. Father Gibault then told Clark 
that while the post at Vincennes was a very strong one and that there 
were usually many Indians about that place, just at this time, the 
lieutenant governor or commandant, Edward Abbot, was not at Vin- 
cennes but was in Detroit. He also told Clark that there were no 
soldiers there except probably a few citizen-officers and that he had no 
doubt, if the people there knew the real nature of the conflict between 
England and the colonies and that France had joined against the hated 
British, there would be no opposition to Clark and his purposes. The 
priest further suggested that he himself would head an embassy to 
Post Vincennes for the purpose of attempting to secure the allegiance 
of the people there to the American cause. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 63 

This was the most cheering word that had come to Clark in all his 
first days at Kaskaskia. An expedition was immediately planned. The 
priest should be accompanied by a citizen of Kaskaskia, Doctor John 
Baptiste Lafont. The two gentlemen were accompanied by several 
attendants, among whom was a spy who had secret instructions from 
Clark. 

They departed the 14th of July, and reached Vincennes safely. 
The priest had no difficulty in making it clear to the people that France 
was on the side of the Americans. The commander, Governor Abbot, 
had recently gone to Detroit, and there was no one in military com- 
mand. They all took the oath of allegiance to Virginia. They also 
organized a militia company and took possession of the fort, over which 
the flag of Virginia floated, much to the wonder of the Indians. The 
Indians were told that the old French king, their father, had come to 
life, and if they did not want the land to be bloody with war they must 
make peace with the Americans. 

August 1st Father Gibault and his companions returned to Kaskaskia 
and reported the success of their mission. 

Clark was busy just then reorganizing his little army. The term 
of enlistment of the soldiers was drawing to a close, and he saw that 
unless he could re-enlist his men, all the good that had been accom- 
plished would go for naught. Clark succeeded in re-enlisting about a 
hundred of his little army while the rest were to be mustered out at 
the falls of the Ohio, their places being filled with enlistments from the 
French militia. Captain Bowman was made military commandant at 
Cahokia, Captain Williams had charge at Kaskaskia, Captain Helm was 
sent to Vincennes to take charge, Captain Linn was sent with the soldiers 
who did not re-enlist to the falls of the Ohio, and Captain Montgomery 
was sent with Chevalier de Rocheblave and dispatches, to Williamsburg. 
It had been Colonel Clark's intention to treat with great consideration 
his distinguished captive, but M. Rocheblave behaved so rudely that he 
was sent a prisoner to Virginia, his slaves were confiscated and sold for 
500 pounds sterling and the money distributed among the soldiers. 

Colonel Clark by early fall restored order and obedience in all the 
Illinois country. He soon found the need of civil courts. The courts 
established by Wilkins under the British occupation had not been put 
in operation. Rocheblave had given little if any attention to civil 
administration. Colonel Clark made inquiry as to the customs and 
usages of the people and decided to organize courts for the adjustment 
of claims and disputes. Accordingly Captain Bowman held an election 
in Cahokia, at which the citizens voted and elected judges, one of whom 



64 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

was Captain Bowman. Later,, judges were elected at Kaskaskia and at 
Vincennes. Colonel Clark himself constituted the appellate court, and 
from a letter afterward written to Jefferson he must have been quite 
busy in this line of work, for he says, referring to this matter of being 
relieved from civil duties: "The civil department of the Illinois had 
heretofore robbed me of too much of my time that ought to be spent in 
military reflection. I was now likely to be relieved by Col. John Todd. 
I was anxious for his arrival and happy in his appointment, as the 
greatest intimacy and friendship has subsisted between us. I now saw 
myself rid of a piece of trouble that I had no delight in." This extract 
is from a letter written by Clark to Jefferson when he heard that 
CoJ. John Todd had been selected to administer civil government in the 
Illinois country. 

VIRGINIA CREATES COUNTY OF ILLINOIS 

The people of Virginia were soon aware of the success of the Clark 
expedition. The common people were, of course, greatly surprised, and 
the officials who had stood back of the enterprise were greatly relieved 
and delighted. The legislature in session in October took steps to extend 
civil government over the newly conquered 'country. 

In October, 1778, the legislature of Virginia took the following 
action creating the county of Illinois: "All the citizens of the com- 
monwealth of Virginia who are already settled or shall hereafter settle 
on the western side of the Ohio shall be included in a distinct county, 
which shall be called Illinois County ; and the governor of this common- 
wealth with the advice of the council may appoint a county lieutenant 
or commander-in-chief, during pleasure, who shall appoint and com- 
mission as many deputy commandants, militia officers, and commissaries, 
as he shall think proper in the different districts, during pleasure; all 
of whom, before they enter into office shall take the oath of fidelity to 
this commonwealth and the oath of office, according to the form of their 
own religion. 

"And all civil officers to which the inhabitants have been accustomed 
necessary for the preservation of the peace, and the administration of 
justice, shall be chosen by a majority of the citizens in their respective 
districts to be convened for that purpose by the county lieutenant or 
commandant, or his deputy, and shall be commissioned by the said 
county lieutenant or commander-in-chief." 

In accordance with the provisions of the law creating the county of 
Illinois west of the Ohio River, the governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry, 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY Co 

appointed John Todd, Esq., a judge of the Kentucky court, as county 
lieutenant or commander-in-chief of the newly created county. 

His commission bears date of December 12, 1778, but he did not 
arrive in Illinois County until May, 1779. Clark had returned from 
his campaign, and capture of Vincennes. It is stated that Colonel 
Todd was received with great joy by the citizens of Kaskaskia. He was 
no stranger to many about the village, for he had come with Clark in 
the campaign of 1778, when the Illinois country was captured from 
the British. He is said to have been a soldier with Clark and to have 
been the first to enter the fort which Eocheblave surrendered. Be that 
as it may, he arrived now with the authority of the commonwealth of 
Virginia behind him. On June 15, 1779, he issued a proclamation 
which provided that no more settlements should be made in the bottom 
lands, and further that each person to whom grants had been made must 
report his claim to the proper officer and have his land recorded. If 
his land had come to him through transfers, then all such transfers 
must be recorded and certified to. This was done to prevent those 
adventurers who would shortly come into the country from dispossessing 
the rightful owners of those lands. 

CONDITION OF ILLINOIS WHEN TODD ARRIVED 

The country to which Colonel John Todd came as county-lieutenant 
was in a very discouraging condition. It had reached the maximum of 
prosperity about the time the French turned it over to the English in 
1765. Very many of the French went to New Orleans or to St. Louis 
during the British regime. The English king had attempted to keep 
out the immigrant. The cultivation of the soil was sadly neglected. 
The few French who remained were engaged in trading with the Indians. 
Many came to be expert boatmen. Trade was brisk between the French 
settlements in the Illinois country and New Orleans. 

Previous to the coming of Clark and the French gentlemen, Chevalier 
de Rocheblave, who was holding the country in the name of the British 
government, had been not only neglectful but really very obstinate and 
self-willed about carrying on civil affairs. He allowed the courts, 
organized by Colonel Wilkins, to fall into disuse. The merchants and 
others who had need for courts found little satisfaction in attempts to 
secure justice. During the time between the coming of Clark and of 
Todd, there were courts organized, but the military operations were so 
overshadowing that probably little use was made of them. 

15 



66 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

MILITARY AND CIVIL PERSONNEL 

It appears from the records of Colonel Todd that on the 14th of 
May, 1779, he organized the military department of his work, by appoint- 
ing the officers of the militia at Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, and 
Cahokia. Richard Winston, Jean B. Barbeau, and Francois Trotier 
were made commandants and captains in the three villages respectively. 

The next step was to elect judges provided for in the act creating the 
county of Illinois. Judges were elected at Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and at 
Vincennes, and court was held monthly. There seems to have been a 
scarcity of properly qualified men for the places as in many instances 
militia officers were elected judges, and in one case the "deputy-com- 
mandant at Kaskaskia filled also the office of sheriff." 

Todd issued permits or charters of trade and encouraged those about 
him to engage in business. He also gave attention to the subject of 
land-claims. No new claims were to be recognized except such as were 
made according to the custom of the French and inhabitants. 

Colonel Todd found enough work to keep him busy and it is doubt- 
ful if it was all as pleasant as he might have wished. The records which 
he kept, and which are now in the possession of the Chicago Historical 
Society, show that severe penalties were inflicted in those days. 

Colonel Todd held this position of county-lieutenant for about three 
years. During that time he established courts, held popular elections, 
and executed the law with vigor. 

There was a deputy county-lieutenant or deputy-commandant in each 
village, and when Colonel Todd was absent, the reins of government 
were in the hands of one of these deputies. On the occasion of his 
absence at the time of his death he had left, it seems, Timothy Demount- 
brun as county lieutenant. This man seems to have been the only one 
authorized to rule, until the coming of St. Clair in 1790. 

AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO 

Virginia ceded her western lands in 1783, in the following year 
Congress passed an ordinance which established a preliminary form of 
civil government north of the Ohio; in 1785 a national system of surveys 
was adopted, and in 1787 was passed the famous Ordinance of 1787 by 
which the territory northwest of the Ohio was "made one district for 
temporary government and provision made for a definite form of gov- 
ernment." The first county created by Governor St. Clair, in July of 
that year, was Washington, with Marietta the seat of government. In 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 67 

January, 1788, the governor and the newly appointed judges visited 
Losantiville (Cincinnati) and created the county of Hamilton, with that 
place as the seat of government. Then the governor and secretary 
proceeded westward and, reaching Kaskaskia on March 5, 1790, erected 
the county of St. Clair, with Cahokia as the county seat. On their 
return to Marietta, Knox County was organized, with Vincennes as the 
county seat. 

OLD ST. CLAIR COUNTY 

The St. Clair County thus established included all the territory north 
and east of the Ohio and the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and west 
of a line running from Fort Massac through the mouth of the Mackinaw 
Creek a short distance below the city of Peoria. The county was divided 
into three districts, with Kaskaskia, Prairie du Kocher and Cahokia as 
centers of administration. Before leaving, Governor St. Clair created 
the offices of sheriff, judges of the court, probate judge, justice of the 
peace, coroner, notary, clerk and recorder, surveyor and various military 
officers, and named the appointees. 

THE COUNTY DIVIDED 

In 1795, Judge Turner, one of the three Federal judges, came to 
hold court, and from a contention which he had with the governor, 
St. Clair County was divided by a line running east and west through 
New Design. Cahokia was established as the county seat of the north 
half, or St. Clair County, and Kaskaskia, the seat of government of the 
south half, Eandolph County. 

LEGISLATURE OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY 

The Ordinance of 1787 provided that when there should be 5,000 
free male whites of the age of twenty-one years in the Northwest Terri- 
tory they might organize a legislature on the basis of one representative 
for each 500 whites of the age of twenty-one. This was done in the year 
1798. Shadrach Bond was elected to represent St. Clair County and 
John Edgar, Randolph County. The legislature met at Cincinnati on 
the 4th of February, 1799. There were twenty-two members in the 
lower house, representing eleven counties. William H. Harrison, who 
had succeeded Sargent as secretary of the Northwest Territory, was 
elected a delegate to congress. 



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THE UNITED STATES IN 1798 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 69 

DIVISION IKTO Two TERRITORIES 

In the session of congress in the winter of 1799-1800, the proposition 
to divide the Northwest Territory into two territories was referred to a 
committee of which Harrison was chairman. The report was favorably 
received by congress and on the 7th of May, 1800, an act was passed 
dividing the Northwest Territory by a line runing from the Ohio to 
Fort Eecovery and thence to the line separating the territory from 
Canada. 

The western part was to be known as the Indiana Territory and its 
government was to be of the first class. Its capital was located at 
Vincennes and the governor was William Henry Harrison. The eastern 
division was called the Northwest Territory, its capital was Chillicothe, 
and Governor St. Clair was still the chief executive. The east division 
was admitted as a state February 19, 1802. Illinois, Indiana, Wis- 
consin, and Michigan now became the Indiana Territory. 

ILLINOIS TERRITORY CREATED 

Illinois remained a portion of Indiana Territory from February, 1802, 
until February, 1809. During that period Vincennes was the capital. 
The congressional act of February 3', 1809, set off the territory of Illinois 
from Indiana by a dividing line running north from Vincennes to 
Canada. A prominent argument in favor of the division was that the 
people in the Illinois region were favorable to slavery, while the Indiana 
people were indifferent to the subject. Several efforts had been made to 
either strike out the clause in the Ordinance of 1787 forbidding slavery 
within the Northwest Territory, or suspend its operation for a stated 
period. 

By the creative act, Illinois was made a territory of the first class, 
and thus remained until May, 1812, when, under authority of the 
Ordinance of 1787, it entered the second class, thus enfranchising all 
males over twenty-one years of age instead of allowing only freeholders 
to vote. Ninian Edwards, formerly a Kentucky judge, was appointed 
governor of the new territory, and Nathaniel Pope secretary, on April 
24, 1809. Mr. Pope was a resident of St. Genevieve, Missouri, but prac- 
ticed law in Illinois. 

Illinois as a territory did not participate in the battle of Tippecanoe, 
or the War of 1812, but Governor Edwards left nothing undone to 
protect its soil against Indian depredations or British expeditions. Not 
a few soldiers and officers, however, went from the "American bottom," 



70 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

and it is estimated that fully two thousand Illinoisans participated in 
this border warfare. The apprehension of the settlers in the valleys of 
the Mississippi and Illinois were intensified by the Fort Dearborn 
massacre. 

In September, 1812, following the advancement of Illinois to a 
territory of the second class, Governor Edwards and the judges, acting 
as a legislative body, created three new counties. The two old ones 
were St. Clair and Eandolph, and the three new ones were Madison, 
Gallatin, and Johnson. On the same day an election was ordered in 
these five "counties for five members of the legislative council, and for 
seven members of the house of representatives, and for a delegate in 
congress. The election was held October 8, 9 and 10. Those chosen 
were, for the lower house: from Madison, William Jones; St. Clair, 
Jacob Short and Joshua Oglesby ; Eandolph, George Fisher ; Johnson, 
John Grammar; Gallatin, Philip Trammel and Alexander Wilson. 
Those chosen for the council were: from Madison, Samuel Judy; St. 
Clair, William Biggs; Eandolph, Pierre Menard; Johnson, Thomas 
Ferguson; Gallatin, Benjamin Talbot. 

Under the second-class form of government the legislature met 
biennially. In the summer of 1814 Col. Benjamin Stephenson was 
elected delegate in congress, and in 1816 Nathaniel Pope, who served 
till the admission of the state in 1818. Two new counties were added 
in 1815, White and Edwards, making seven in all. In 1816 four more 
were added Monroe, Jackson, Pope and Crawford. In 1817 Bond was 
added, and in 1818 Franklin, Union and Washington were created, these 
making fifteen counties at the admission of the state in 1818. 

The general assembly of 1812 met at Kaskaskia November 25th, and 
proceeded to organize by choosing Pierre Menard president of the Council 
and George Fisher, speaker of the House. It is said the whole of the 
assembly boarded at one house and slept in one room. The work before 
this first session was to re-enact the laws for the territory which served 
while the territory was of the first class, to adopt military measures 
for the defense of the people against the Indians, and to provide revenue 
for the maintenance of the Territorial Government. The legislature was 
in session from the 25th of November to the 26th of December, following. 

FIRST ILLINOIS PREEMPTION LAW 

This legislature elected Shadrach Bond as delegate to congress. He 
took his seat in the fall of 1812. During his term of office in congress 
Bond secured the passage of the first preemption law of Illinois. This 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 71 

law provided that a man who settled upon a piece of land and made 
an improvement while it was still government land, should hav.e the 
right to buy the tract so improved in preference to anyone else. The 
law prevented persons from buying land which someone else had 
improved to the detriment of the one who made the improvement. 

The wave of immigration often traveled westward faster than the 
surveyors did. In such cases the settler never knew just where his land 
would fall when the region was platted. And again, after the surveyor 
had done his work, it often happened that the surveyed land was not 
placed on the market for a number of years. The settler usually selected 
his lands and made improvements with the expectation that he would 
buy the land when it came on the market. Unprincipled men would 
watch and would often step in ahead of the settler at the land office 
and buy the improved land at government prices. This often resulted 
in violence and bloodshed. So the Bond law was a real peacemaker. 

There was a rapid increase in the population of the territory of 
Illinois from the day it became a territory of the second grade. New 
counties were added to the five previously named. The new ones were 
Edwards and White in 1815; Monroe, Crawford, Jackson, Pope, Bond, 
in 1816; Union, Franklin and Washington in 1818. 

FIRST STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION 

The Enabling Act became a law the 18th of April, 1818. The elec- 
tion of delegates to the constitutional convention was fixed for the first 
Monday in July, and that body was to convene the first Monday in 
August. But the first thing to do was to take the census of the terri- 
tory, and if it did not have the forty thousand then there would be no 
need for the convention. It was soon evident that the territory did not 
have the required number. The story is told that the marshal stationed 
his enumerators on the public highways and counted the travelers and 
immigrants, regardless of their destination. Not only this, but it is 
asserted that often the same traveller or immigrant was counted twice 
or even thrice. At last the enumerators returned forty thousand inhab- 
itants, but as the returns were afterward footed up there were really only 
thirty-four thousand six hundred and twenty people in the proposed 
state. The delegates were duly elected and assembled at Kaskaskia on 
the first Monday in August. 

The convention met August 3, 1818, and finished its labors and 
adjourned August 26th. Jesse B. Thomas from St. Clair County was 
elected chairman, and William C. Greenup was made secretary. 



72 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

STATE MACHINERY IK MOTION 

The constitution was not submitted to the people for ratification and 
the only officers whom the people might elect were : Governor, lieutenant 
governor, members of the general assembly, sheriffs and coroners. The 
offices which were filled by appointment of either the governor or the 
general assembly were: Judges of the supreme, circuit and probate 
courts; prosecuting attorney, county clerk, circuit clerk, recorder, justice 
of the peace, auditor of public accounts, attorney general and secretary 
of state. 

The day fixed by the constitution for the election of state officers 
was the third Thursday (17th) of September, 1818, when Shadrach Bond 
was chosen governor, Pierre Menard, lieutenant governor, and John 
McLean, representative in Congress. There were also elected fourteen 
senators and twenty-nine representatives. 

The legislature was called to meet at Kaskaskia the first Monday in 
October (the 5th). The first thing for this legislature was the canvass 
of the votes, and on Tuesday (the 6th), Governor Bond was inaugurated. 
The legislature proceeded to the election of two United States senators. 
The choice fell upon Ninian Edwards and Jesse B. Thomas. The Legis- 
lature chose the following state officers : state treasurer, John Thomas ; 
auditor, Elijah C. Berry; attorney general, Daniel P. Clark; supreme 
judges, Joseph Phillips, chief justice, William P. Foster, Thomas C. 
Brown, and John Eeynolds. The governor appointed Elias Kent Kane 
secretary of state. 

Under the Constitution of 1818 the governor did not have the veto 
power as a sole prerogative. It was exercised by him in conjunction 
with the Supreme Court, the joint body being known as the Council of 
Revision. It abolished imprisonment for debt; declared against the 
introduction of slavery and the indenture of anybody except on condi- 
tion of a bona fide consideration. The constitution did not affect the 
slaves held by the French and their descendants. Provision was, how- 
ever, made that slaves hired in slave states could be brought into the 
salt works at Shawneetown and held for one year ; then hired again for 
a like period; but even this traffic must cease by 1825. Of course, the 
constitution provided for the regular division of the government into 
legislative, executive and judicial department?, and the election or 
appointment of the officials designed to fulfill their function?. 

Governor Bond was elected without opposition, largely on the 
strength of his authorship of the Preemption Act while serving as a 
territorial delegate to Congress. 



HISTOEY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 73 

Following the announcement of the acceptance of the constitution by 
Congress, Governor Bond called the Legislature in special session for 
January 4, 1819. The machinery of the first state government was thus 
set in motion. In his short and unassuming message the governor 
recommended the early completion of the canal connecting the head 
waters of the Illinois Kiver with Lake Michigan; the passage of measures 
to relieve the state treasury, and a modification of the criminal laws 
in force during the territorial period. But the Legislature went ahead, 
in its own way, and passed such measures as a code of laws based on the 
Virginia and Kentucky statutes; levying taxes on lands owned by non- 
residents, and on slaves and indentured servants, and moving the 
capital from Kaskaskia to a point on the Kaskaskia River, east of the 
third principal meridian, as well as asking Congress to donate lands for 
the purpose. 

ILLINOIS BLACK CODE 

The Legislature of 1819 also passed the Illinois Black Code, entitled 
"An Act Respecting Free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants and Slaves." 
The Black Laws, as they were generally called, remained upon the statute 
books of Illinois until February 12, 1853, and were therefore in force 
throughout Champaign County for about twenty years from its organiza- 
tion. They comprised twenty-five sections, and were copied from old 
laws in force during the territorial period and originating in the old 
slave states. 

ILLINOIS COUNTIES IN 1818 

When Illinois became a State in 1818, it was only the southernmost 
counties which were fully organized. Substantially they embraced the 
territory between the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers south of a line 
drawn east and west bounding St. Clair and Washington on the north, 
cutting off a northern tier of sections in Marion County of today, passing 
through nearly the center of Clay County and the upper third of Rich- 
land and east and southeast through Lawrence County to the Ohio. 
That area was then divided into St. Clair, Washington, Edwards, Ran- 
dolph, Monroe, Jackson, Franklin, Gallatin, Union, Johnson and Pope. 
The remainder, and by far the larger portion of Illinois, was divided 
into Madison, Bond and Crawford counties. The last named embraced 
more than thirty of the counties now included in eastern, northeastern 
and central Illinois, and stretching from Crawford, Jasper, Effingham 
and Fayette counties on the south to the Wisconsin state line. The 
present county of Champaign was just southeast of the center of this vast 
unorganized country. 



74 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

NEW CAPITAL, VANDALIA 

The Legislature of 1819 appointed five commissioners to locate the 
gift of lands made by Congress as the site of a new capital. They 
selected four sections immediately west of the Kaskaskia River, and 
completed a two-story frame building as a capitol so that it was ready 
for the Legislature in the summer of 1820. When that body convened 
in December, of that year, it met in the new capital city of Vandalia. 

EARLY PERIOD OF WILD-CAT BANKING 

The second General Assembly, which met at Vandalia, attempted to 
relieve the hard times prevalent in the state, especially caused by the 
matured debts of land owners who had bought recklessly in years past, 
by chartering the Illinois State Bank, with headquarters at Vandalia 
and branches at Edwardsville, Brownsville, Shawneetown and Albion. 
Bills of various denominations were issued on personal and real estate 
securities, and the State Senate passed a resolution asking the secretary 
of the treasury to accept the bills in payment of land. But its recom- 
mendation was not followed by the state treasury. Notwithstanding 
which, the State Branch and all its branches withered, and at the 
expiration of its charter in 1831 the commonwealth borrowed $100,000 
in order to close up its business in an honorable way. It is fitting to 
remark that Governor Bond and the State Supreme Court, acting as 
the Board of Revision, had vetoed the original measure, and that the 
Legislature passed it over their earnest objections. 

This season of wild-cat banking, which so disturbed every legitimate 
business and agricultural interest in Illinois, had but an indirect effect 
upon the development of Champaign County,, as permanent settlement 
had only fairly commenced during the later period of its operations. 

At the second session of the State Legislature, and the first held at 
Vandalia, several new counties were created Lawrence, Greene, Sanga- 
mon, Pike, Hamilton, Montgomery and Fayette. Chicago was then in 
Pike County. 

THE SLAVERY ISSUE (1822-24) 

The slavery issue in Illinois was a burning question in the Coles 
administration in 1822-24, but it culminated in the fall of the latter 
year in a decided popular vote against reopening the matter by calling 
a convention to consider a revision of the state constitution in regards 
to its pronunciamento against the continuation of the institution. With 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 75 

the exception of Union and Johnson, all the southern counties, where 
black labor was most in demand, favored the calling of the convention. 

The stronghold of the anti-slavery sentiment was that wonderfully 
fertile and charming Sangamon region, which lay along the valley of 
that river and stretched from the southern rim of the valley of the 
Illinois toward the central regions of the state. It was rapidly settling 
up, and a few of the more adventurous had even "squatted" on choice 
timber tracts along the headwaters of the Sangamon. 

THE FAMOUS SANGAMON COUNTRY 

The Sangamon region was settled by immigrants from all the older 
states but probably those from the northern states predominated. More 
than two hundred families had settled in the Sangamon country before 
the land was surveyed. In the vote on the convention question, Sanga- 
mon County cast 875 votes 153 for and 722 against, the convention, 
This would show a population of over 4,000 in 1824. It also means 
that these settlers were from the free states chiefly. 

By the spring of 1825, the result of the slavery contest was known 
in all the older states, and as if people were waiting for a favorable 
report, the movement of immigration began. 

The fame of the "Sangamon country" had spread into all the older 
settled portions of the United States and the migrations were largely 
toward that region. In the summer of 1825, the road leading into the 
"Sangamon country" was literally lined with movers seeking new homes. 
In Vandalia alone it is said 250 wagons were counted going north in 
three weeks. 

The first to systematically explore the Sangamon region was Fer- 
dinand Ernst, a German traveler, to whom had been carried even to 
Europe, marvelous stories of that country; and he wished to "see for 
himself." He reached the site of Vandalia before the sale of lots took 
place, which occurred the 6th of September, 1819. From here he 
visited the Sangamon country. There was a very good road leading 
from Edwardsville into the Sangamon country. As nearly as this 
road can be now traced, it ran in almost a straight line from Edwards- 
ville to the present city of Carlinville, passing on the way the site 
of the present flourishing city of Bunker Hill. From Carlinville 
the road bent to the east-of-north, passing out of the present county 
of Macoupin at the northeast corner, three miles east of the present 
city of Yirden; from this point east-of-north to a point very near 
Rochester, and thence to a point near the junction of the south 



76 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

branch and north fork of the Sangamon River, leaving the site of 
the present capital some four or five miles to the west. From here 
the road continued the same general direction to the present city 
of Lincoln. The road continued this general direction till it left 
the present county of Logan at the old Kickapoo capital. Here 
it struck Tazewell County and thence turned northwest to Lake Peoria. 
This was the route taken by Governor Edwards in his campaign in 1813. 

Mr. Ernst, the traveler, took this road in 1819. He started from 
Vandalia and went northwest, crossed Shoal Creek, left the headwaters 
of Silver and Sugar Creek to the southwest, passed not far from Mt. 
Olive and Gillespie, and came into the road described above, a few miles 
north of Bunker Hill. He describes the big prairie which separates 
the headwaters of the Macoupin and the Sangamon. He says the 
moment one passes over the divide into the drainage basin of the Sanga- 
mon he sees a marked difference in the character of the soil. The second 
night out the traveler stayed with a family on Sugar Creek, about two 
miles west of Pawnee. Sixty farms had been opened on this stream 
since the spring of 1819. The sod-corn was from ten to fifteen feet 
high. The land was not yet surveyed and could not be for some three 
years. This was called "the beautiful land of the Sangamon." From 
this point Mr. Ernst traveled west in a circuit around the present site 
of Springfield to Elkhart Grove. Here lived a Mr. Latham who had 
thirty acres in cultivation. This farm was the farthest north of any 
east of the Illinois river. However, there were some farms laid out at 
the old Kickapoo capital just in the edge of Tazewell County, but no 
settlements made. Mr. Ernst went north to Salt Creek, but not being 
able to get across he retraced his steps. 

Mr. Ernst says: "In the vicinity of this town (Vandalia) is a 
large amount of fine land ; but every one is full of praise of those sixty 
or eighty miles northward upon the River Sangamon. The expression 
the 'Sangamon country,' applied to all that country through which the 
Sangamon river and its branches flow. Peck's Gazetteer, page 131, 
says : 'This country contains a larger quantity of rich land than any 
other in the state. The Sangamon, in particular, is an Arcadian region, 
in which nature has delighted to bring together her happiest combina- 
tions of landscape. It is generally a level country. There is a happy 
proportion of timbered and prairied lands. The soil is of great fertility. 
All who have visited this fine tract of country admire the beauty of the 
landscape, which nature has here painted in primeval freshness.' " 

It was most fitting that this beautiful, fertile and invigorating region 
of Illinois should be first settled by an energetic, enterprising class of 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 77 

freemen and women, constitutionally opposed to the introduction of any 
form of slavery into their virgin land. 

FUNDAMENTAL SCHOOL LEGISLATION 

Joseph Duncan of Jacksonville, afterward congressman and governor, 
secured the passage of the free school law of 1825, which was the basis 
of the system of today. For its support, taxes were to be collected on 
the property of the people in the district, and provision was made for 
a board of directors who were to have control of the schools and build- 
ings, examine the teachers and have general local oversight of all educa- 
tional matters of a public nature. 

In 1826-27 the Legislature provided for better securities from those 
who were borrowing the money for which the school lands had been sold. 
But in 1829 the Legislature repealed the part of the Duncan law of 
1825 which gave 2 per cent of the net revenue of the State to the 
schools. Every commendable feature of the Duncan law was now 
repealed and the schools lay prostrate till 1855. 

The Legislature of 1828-29 also adopted the plan of selling the 
school and seminary lands. The law provided that the sixteenth section 
of each township might be sold whenever nine-tenths of the inhabitants 
(evidently voters) were in favor of the sale. Later the law allowed 
the sale if three-fourths were in favor of it. 

The immigrants coming into an unsettled township were always eager 
to dispose of the sixteenth section, as it made a fund with which the 
authorities might assist the schools. But this section when sold for 
$1.25 per acre, the regular Government price, would bring only $800, 
and this at 10 per cent interest would bring only $80 per year. This 
would not be of much service when distributed among the schools of 
the township. 

STATE BANK IN LIQUIDATION 

Joseph Duncan stepped from Congress into the governorship, in 
1834, and during his administration was chiefly engaged in wrestling 
with banking and internal improvement problems, which were so inti- 
mately connected. In 1837 the State Bank, with other similar institu- 
tions of the country, suspended specie payments, and in 1843 the 
Legislature passed a law "to diminish the State debt and put the State 
Bank into liquidation." The bank was given four years in which to 
wind up its business. 



78 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

SYSTEM OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 

While the affairs of the State Bank and its branches were in chaos, 
an ambitious system of internal improvements was assumed by the State, 
despite the opposition of Governor Duncan and the Council of Revision. 
The bill as prepared by the Vandalia convention to consider internal 
improvements became a law. It appropriated $10,200,000 for the fol- 
lowing objects: Improvement of the Wabash, the Illinois, Rock, Kas- 
kaskia and Little Wabash rivers, and the Western Mail Route $9,350,000 ; 
for railroads Cairo to Galena, $3,500,000; Alton to Mount Carmel, 
$1,600,000; Quincy to Indiana line, $1,800,000; Shelbyville to Terre 
Haute, $650,000; Peoria to Warsaw, $700,000; Alton to Central Rail- 
road, $600,000; Belleville to Mount Carmel, $150,000; Bloomington to 
Pekin, $350,000, and Vincennes to St. Louis, $250,000; $200,000 "to 
pacify disappointed counties" which had failed to be promised any 
improvement whatsoever by the State. In addition, the sale of $1,000,000 
worth of canal lands and the issuance of $500,000 in canal bonds were 
authorized, the proceeds to be used in the construction of the Illinois & 
Michigan Canal, $500,000 of this amount to be expended in 1838. A 
competent historian graphically tells what happened: "Work began at 
once. Routes were surveyed and contracts for. construction let, and an 
era of reckless speculation began. Large sums were rapidly expended 
and nearly $6,500,000 quickly added to the State debt. The system 
'was soon demonstrated to be a failure and was abandoned for lack of 
funds, some of the 'improvements' already made being sold to private 
parties at a heavy loss. This scheme furnished the basis of the State 
debt under which Illinois labored for many years and which, at its 
maximum, reached nearly $17,000,000." 

Although as a whole the internal improvements scheme was a dis- 
aster to the State as a promoter of public works, it was the means of 
furthering the project of a great railroad to be projected through central 
Illinois from north to south, it eventually materialized into one of the 
splendid railroad systems of the country, being kept alive through private 
promotion and management. 

CAPITAL MOVED TO SPRINGFIELD 

It was at the same session which originated the internal improve- 
ments scheme that the Legislature voted to move the State capital from 
Vandalia to Springfield, Sangamon County. Jacksonville, Peoria and 
Alton were also competitors. Lincoln led the Sangamon County dele- 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 79 

gation to victory, its solid support of internal improvements hinging 
largely on the outside backing received as a candidate for the State 
capital. The legislative act by which the removal was accomplished 
went into effect July 4, 1839, and the Legislature convened at the new 
capitol in December of that year. 

EEMAINS OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS SYSTEM 

In 1840 the Legislature abolished the board of fund commissioners 
and the board of public works which had in charge the internal improve- 
ments of the State and that loose-jointed system collapsed. One fund 
commissioner was then appointed who was authorized to act, but was 
without power to sell bonds or to borrow money on the credit of the 
State. Another board of public works was also created, which, with 
the fund commissioner, was to wind up pending business without delay, 
to operate any roads which were near completion, complete the work 
on the Illinois & Michigan Canal and burn all bonds remaining unsold. 

The Great Northern Cross Eailroad, which was planned to be con- 
structed from Springfield to Quincy, half way across the State to the 
Mississippi Eiver, had actually been built from the State capital to 
Meredosia, Morgan County, on the eastern bank of the Illinois Eiver, 
fifty-eight miles distant. This road, which became a part of the Wabash 
system, was sold in 1847 to Nicholas H. Eidgly of Springfield for about 
$21,000. Thus a commencement had been made in at least two rail-- 
roads which now traverse the territory of Champaign County. 

EEVISING THE OLD CONSTITUTION 

After the defeat of the convention in 1824 nothing was done toward 
revising or amending the State Constitution until 1840-41. In the 
Legislature of that year a resolution was adopted calling on the voters 
to express themselves relative to a convention at the coming State 
election in August. The Democrats favored such a convention, but 
when a bill passed the Legislature abolishing the Circuit Court judges 
and creating five new judges on the Supreme bench, all of which places 
were filled by Democrats, the need of a convention did not seem so 
apparent. 

The Democrats now controlled the Legislature, the executive and the 
courts. When the election was held in August the Democrats generally 
voted against the proposition to hold a convention; but the Whigs later 
passed another act calling on the people to vote on the question of a 
convention at the general election in August, 1846. The proposition 



80 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

was strongly urged upon the people by the Democratic press and it was 
not very generally opposed, and so it carried. 

The act providing for the constitutional convention determined the 
number of delegates which should sit therein, the date of their election, 
which was fixed for the third Monday in April, 1847, and the date of 
the meeting of the delegates in the convention, the first Monday in 
June, 1847. There was no special argument against a convention, but 
several were urged in its favor. 

There were a number of other changes which were considered during 
the canvass preceding the election in April. When the members came 
together June 7, 1847, it was found that the Whigs and Democrats 
were about evenly divided. The convention organized by electing New- 
ton Cloud president and Henry W. Moore secretary. There were 162 
delegates in this body. 

In the legislative department the following features may be noted 
in the constitution of 1848 : No member of the General Assembly shall 
be elected to any other office during his term as a legislator. The 
Senate shall consist of twenty-five members and the House of seventy- 
five members till the State shall contain 1,000,000 people. After that 
an addition of five in each House shall be made for every increase of 
500,000 till there shall be 50 senators and 100 representatives, when the 
number shall remain stationary. 

The governor must be a citizen of the United States and thirty-five 
years of age, and shall be a citizen of the United States fourteen years 
and have resided in the State ten years. The governor must reside at 
the seat of government. He shall have the veto power. His salary 
was $1,500 no more. The secretary of state, auditor and treasurer 
shall be elected at the same time as the governor and lieutenant-governor 
are chosen. The governor shall issue all commissions. 

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1848 

The constitution was completed on August 31, 1847. On March 6, 
1848, it was submitted to the people for ratification. The vote on the 
constitution stood nearly 60,000 for and nearly 16,000 against. It was 
declared in force April 1, 1848. By the terms of the document itself 
an election should be held on Tuesday after the first Monday in Novem- 
ber, 1848, for governor and other executive officers, as well as for 
members of the Legislature. In compliance therewith, in November, 
1848, Governor French was re-elected governor for four years from 
January 1, 1849. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 81 

The new constitution authorized the Legislature to provide for town- 
ship organization. In pursuance thereof a law was passed in 1849 
which allowed counties, when authorized by a vote of the people, to 
organize under this new system. This new system of county organiza- 
tion is distinctly a New England product, and was therefore championed 
by the northern counties, which had been largely settled by immigrants 
from New England and the Middle States. The Legislature on Feb- 
ruary 12, 1849, passed a general law governing all counties under 
township organization. This first law was somewhat imperfect, and 
has therefore been subject to amendments up till the present time. 

BANKING LEGISLATION 

In the thirty years which had passed since the adoption of its first 
constitution, the State of Illinois had learned several lessons through 
the impressive process of distressing experience. Perhaps the most 
important thus instilled were those connected with reckless expansion of 
the financial institutions and the public utilities within her borders. 
Under the constitution of 1818 the credit of the State might be used 
to foster such enterprises as banks, railroads and canals. But the con- 
stitution of 1848 says : "No State bank shall hereafter be created, 
nor shall the State own or be liable for any stock in any corporation 
or joint stock association for banking purposes to be hereafter created." 
It was not possible, therefore, for the State to engage in any banking 
business or improvement schemes, but it might grant charters, or pass 
laws, in the encouragement of such enterprises. Further safeguards 
are thrown around the State, as witness this provision : "No act of the 
General Assembly, authorizing corporations or associations with banking 
powers, shall go into effect or in any manner be enforced, unless the 
same shall be submitted to the people at the general election next suc- 
ceeding the passage of the same, and be approved by a majority of the 
votes cast at such election for and against such law." Another section 
of the same article (X) provides that all stockholders in banking asso- 
ciations issuing bank notes should be individually responsible propor- 
tionately to the stock held by each for all liabilities of the corporation 
or association. Since the winding up of the affairs of the old State 
Bank and the Bank of Illinois there were no banks of issue in the State. 
The money in circulation comprised gold and silver and paper money 
issued by banks in other states. 

Following the ratification of the constitution of 1848, there began, 
almost immediately, an agitation for banks of issue in Illinois. The 
New York free banking law had been in operation for a decade. The 

16 



82 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

bank bills were secured by bonds of the United States or State, or 
mortgages approved by the state comptroller, in whose hands the securi- 
ties were placed. That official issued the bills put in circulation, which 
were countersigned by the bank officers. The bank bills were to be 
redeemed when presented by the holders within a reasonable time and, 
if necessary, the comptroller was authorized to sell the bonds deposited 
with him for that purpose, or if the State were required to wind up 
the affairs of the bank. 

In the session of 1851 the Legislature passed a law founded on the 
New York system, and it was ratified at the general election in Novem- 
ber. Under it, also, no bank could be organized with a smaller issue of 
bills than $50,000. It was also provided that if any bank refused to 
redeem its issue, it was liable to a fine of 12 l /2 P er cen t on the amount 
presented for redemption. 

On the face of it, the law seemed fairly to protect both the bank- 
note holder and the State ; but various schemes were worked to keep the 
people from presenting their bills for redemption. One of the most 
ingenious was the interchanging of bills between banks in widely sepa- 
rated sections of the country. A bank, say, in Springfield, Illinois, 
would send $25,000 of its own issue to a bank in Massachusetts, say, in 
Boston ; the Boston bank returning a like amount to the Springfield 
bank. Each bank would then pay out this money over its counter in 
small quantities and in this way the Springfield bank issue would become 
scattered all over New England and no person holding but a few 
dollars would think of coming to Springfield to get his bills redeemed. 
The issue of the Boston bank would be scattered through the West. 
In this way, and in other ways, the money of Illinois became scattered 
in other states, while in the ordinary business transaction in this State 
one would handle a large number of bills daily which had been issued in 
other states. 

REAL WILD-CAT BANKS 

No doubt many corporations went into the banking business under 
this law with clean hands and carried on a properly conducted banking 
business, but there were ways by which irresponsible and dishonest men 
might go into the banking business and make large sums of money 
without very much capital invested. 

These banks were known as wild-cat banks. The name is said to 
have originated from the picture of a wild cat engraved on the bills of 
one of these irresponsible banks in Michigan. However, they may have 
been named from the fact that the words "wild cat" were often applied 
to any irresponsible venture or scheme. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 83 

There were, in Illinois, organized under this law, 115 banks of issue. 
Up to 1860 the "ultimate security" was sufficient at any time to redeem 
all outstanding bills, but when the Civil War came on the securities of 
the Southern States, on deposit in the auditor's office, depreciated 
greatly in value. The banks were going into liquidation rapidly. They 
redeemed their bills at all prices from par down to forty-nine cents on 
the dollar. It is estimated that the bill-holders lost about $400,000, but 
that it came in such a way that it was not felt seriously. This system 
of banking was followed by the national banking system with which we 
are acquainted today. 

The 115 banks of issue which were in operation in Illinois just 
prior to the Civil War issued nearly 1,000 different kinds of bank bills. 
Because of the large number of kinds of bills counterfeiting was easy, 
and it is said that much of the money in circulation was counterfeit. 
Banks received reports as to the condition of financial institutions over 
the State daily. One never knew when he presented a bill in payment 
of a debt whether it was of any value. Often the merchant would 
accept this paper money only when heavily discounted. 

The agitation of the slavery question, which had centered around 
the debates on the Missouri Compromise and the efforts of the Free 
Soilers at least to restrict the spread of the institution, swept through 
Illinois and was violent in Champaign County, where both Lincoln and 
Douglas were not unfamiliar figures. In 1858 they also electioneered 
in their famous contest for the United States Senate. 

THE NATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM 

In February, 1863, Congress passed an act creating a national bank- 
ing system, and in that year several of the free banks of Illinois changed 
accordingly. All free banks which had their notes secured by bonds of 
the seceding states were obliged to furnish additional security, or redeem 
their notes and suspend. Thus the free banks began to disappear. In 
March, 1865, Congress passed a law which placed a tax on all bills 
issued by the State banks, which had the effect of forcing the remainder 
of the free banks out of business, or inducing them to join the ranks of 
the National banks. The National Banking Law of 1863 is the basis 
of the system of today. It has been greatly reinforced of late years 
by the statutes by which banks are chartered and regulated by the State, 
and by the National enactments of even later date by which the National 
banks cooperate and protect the entire financial system of the country 
and especially promote and conserve the vast agricultural interests of 
the nation. 



84 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGX COUNTY 

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1870 

The coming and progress of the Civil War, and how Champaign 
County participated in it, is told in another chapter. Perhaps the next 
broad event affecting Champaign County at many points was the adoption 
of the State Constitution of 1870. It is divided into twenty sections. 
Briefly, it provides for minority representation and for free schools ; pro- 
hibits the paying of money by any civil corporate body in aid of any 
church or parochial school; creates fifty-one senatorial districts, each of 
which is entitled to one senator and three representatives; declares the 
inviolability of the Illinois Central Railroad tax; lays the basis of the 
present railroad and warehouse laws; prohibits the sale or lease of 
the Illinois & Michigan Canal without a vote of the people; prohibits 
municipalities from subscribing for any stock in any railroad or private 
corporation ; limits the rate of taxation and amount of indebtedness that 
may be incurred ; prohibits special legislation ; authorizes the creation 
of appellate courts, and fixes the salaries of State officers by legislative 
enactment. 

BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS AUTHORIZED 

A word as to the origin and workings of the building and loan asso- 
ciations of Illinois and Champaign County. They were authorized by 
the General Assembly of 1879. They are cooperative associations, hav- 
ing for their aim the creation of a fund through small monthly pay- 
ments by investors, which, when sufficiently large, may be loaned to 
borrowers. The borrower, in turn, becomes an investor, and when his 
investment amounts to a sum equal to the amount he borrowed, the 
interest having been paid monthly, the debt is cancelled. This plan 
enables those who have small savings each month to invest in building 
and loan stock. The earnings are usually better than other forms of 
investment, as the borrower pays his interest monthly. This interest 
is immediately loaned and is compounded several times by the end of 
the year. The borrower finds it easy to pay his interest monthly, and 
his investment also, and so, in a sense, profits much from this plan of 
paying for a home. 

It will readily be understood that this chapter is presented as a 
background for the more detailed delineation of Champaign County. 
Much of it deals with events which transpired long before it had a 
name or a political existence, but they have all had a bearing on the 
history and development of this section of the State, and now and then 
direct reference has been made to such connection. When the white 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



85 



civilization of the region first commenced to develop, the red man still 
occupied many choice spots in eastern and central Illinois. Their habi- 
tats, as indistinctly defined, are noted in the following chapter, as well 
as the facts of their final departure from the territory now known as 
Champaign County. 



CHARTER III 
FLEETING GLIMPSES OF THE EED MAN 

THE ILLINOIS CONFEDERACY THE KASKASKIAS THE PEORIAS 

MlAMIS AND POTTAWATTAMIES THE KlCKAPOOS FAMOUS INDIAN 

CAMPS AT URBANA FAVORITE RESORT NEAR SADORUS SHEMAUGER, 
THE FRIENDLY POTTAWATTAMIE CHIEF TOLD TO "Gii" INDIAN 
SCARES PLEASED WITH THE WHITE MAN'S COFFIN INDIAN 
SEPULTURES MIAMIS PASSING TO THE WEST EN ROUTE FOR 
WASHINGTON LAST OF THE CHAMPAIGN COUNTY INDIANS. 

The Indians found in Illinois by Marquette and Joliet belonged to 
the Algonquin family; and there was undying hatred between the Iro- 
quois of the East and the Algonquins of the Northwest. 

THE ILLINOIS CONFEDERACY 

The Illinois Indians formed a loose confederacy of about half a 
dozen tribes, the chief of which were the Metchigamis, the Kaskaskias, 
the Peorias, the Cahokias and the Tamaroas. In addition, there were 
the Piankashaws, the Weas, the Kickapoos, the Shawnees and probably 
other tribes, or remnants, who occupied Illinois soil for longer or 
shorter periods. The first five tribes are probably all who should be 
included in the Illinois Confederacy. 

The Metchigamis were found along the Mississippi River. Their 
principal settlement was near Fort Chartres. They also lived in the 
vicinity of Lake Michigan, to which they gave their name. They were 
allies of Pontiac in the war of 1764, and perished with other members 
of the Illinois Confederacy on Starved Rock, in 1769. 

THE KASKASKIAS 

The Kaskaskias were originally found along the upper courses of 
the Illinois River, and it was among the members of this tribe that 
Marquette planted the first mission in Illinois. They moved from 
the upper Illinois to the mouth of the Kaskaskia River in 1700, and 
founded there the old city of Kaskaskia, which eventually became the 

86 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 87 

center of French life in the interior of the continent. During the fol- 
lowing century the Kaskaskias occupied the region at and about their 
city, but in 1802 were almost exterminated by the Shawnees at the 
battle near the Big Muddy, Saline County. The Kaskaskias afterward 
moved to a reservation on the lower Big Muddy, and eventually to the 
Indian Territory. The Cahokia and Tamaroa tribes were merged with 
the Kaskaskias under one chief. 

THE PEOEIAS 

The Peorias made their home in the region of Lake Peoria and were 
always quiet and peaceable. The Piankashaws, a small tribe of the 
Miami "confederation, first resided in southeastern Wisconsin, and after 
the misadventure at Starved Rock moved to the Wabash River, and 
eventually to a Kansas reservation and to the Indian Territory. They 
were always very friendly to the white settlers. 

MlAMIS AND POTTAWATTAMIES 

Although the Miamis and the Pottawattamies were familiar to the 
early settlers of central Illinois and Champaign County, they were not 
settled representatives of the red men in those sections of the State, but 
rather made their appearance as warriors or hunters. 

THE KICKAPOOS 

The Kickapoos seemed to have been intimately associated with the 
Miamis and Pottawattamies in the Indian campaigns against St. Clair, 
Wayne and Taylor. They were bold marauders and warriors, and were , 
in special force at the battle of Tippecanoe. They were scattered 
throughout the Illinois country, but for fifty years before the Edwards- 
ville treaty of 1819 held strong sway over the eastern part of what is now 
the State, and in the late '20s and early '30s, when the first permanent 
white settlers were arriving in the present Champaign County, still occu- 
pied the soil of that region with undisputed title to its possession among 
the people of their own race. 

The Kickapoos, as a tribe, first acknowledged the authority of the 
United States at the treaty mentioned, which was signed July 30, 1819. 
A month later, the Government concluded a treaty at Vincennes with 
a smaller division of the Kickapoos, known as the tribes of the Vermilion 
River, who claimed territory embracing the county by that name and 
the eastern part of Champaign. Thus relinquishing all title to their 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 89 

lands in Illinois, the Ivickapoos honorably observed their contracts and 
moved as a body to their western lands, although weak remnants of the 
tribe lingered until the early '30s on several favorite camping grounds, 
near the scenes of their old centers of power in Champaign and McLean 
counties. The Pottawattamies of the Kankakee, in their annual hunts, 
also visited the region after the white pioneers had commenced to take 
up land for themselves and their children. As the timbered tracts of 
Champaign County and contiguous territory abounded in game, the 
climate was less rigorous than that of the more northern sections, and 
as the soil yielded plentifully of cereals and vegetables, the region was 
naturally a favorite to the Kickapoos and the more migratory Pottawat- 
tamies. The latter especially adopted as favorite camping places the 
immediate site of Urbana and wooded haunts along the Okaw, Sanga- 
mon and the Salt Fork. 

FAMOUS INDIAN CAJIPS AT URBANA 

The late Judge Cunningham, writing more than a decade ago, says : 
"But a few years since, and plainly to be seen until the white man's plow 
had turned up the sod and effaced the evidences of their occupation, were 
many Indian trails across the prairies; and it is within the memory of 
many now living, as well as attested by the well remembered statements 
heard from the early settlers, that the corn-hills of the Indian occupants 
were found not far from the site of the Public Square in Urbana, as late 
as 1832. Many yet remember a fine spring of water which came from 
the bluff two or three rods south of the stone bridge on Main Street, 
which was obliterated by being covered with earth only a few years 
since. This spring afforded an abundance of water to the campers in 
the edge of the timber, as it did to the families of William Tompkins 
and Isaac Busey, who afterwards took possession of the site for their 
homes, though they frequently shared it with their returning Indian 
visitors. This was a point having great attractions for the latter. 
Indian trinkets and ornaments of bone and metal were often picked up 
in the neighborhood of this spring by the whites after settlements were 
established here, and the bones of game animals strewn over the ground 
showed a long and extensive occupancy of the locality for camping 
purposes before the white occupancy. 

FAVORITE RESORT NEAR SADORUS 

"A favorite resort of the Indians upon the Okaw was a place near 
that stream about half a mile north of the village of Sadorus, and 



90 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

upon the east bank of the stream. There they often encamped in the 
autumn and awaited the coming of deer and other game when driven 
by the prairie fires from the open country into the timber. To this day 
the plow upon that ground turns up stone-axes and arrow heads, left 
there by these long-ago tenants of the .prairies. The cabinet of 
Capt. G. W. B. Sadorus contains many of these and other relics. Even 
after the settlement of the country, the Indians followed the practice 
of here awaiting the annual coming of their prey. Many were the inci- 
dents told by the settlers about the Big Grove few of whom yet remain 
in connection with the visits made here by the Pottawattamies, which 
continued for many years after the first occupancy by the whites. The 
prairies and groves of this county, as well as the neighboring counties 
of Illinois, were favorite hunting grounds of the people of this tribe, 
whose own country was along the shores of Lake Michigan, as they had 
been of the former occupants and claimants, the Kickapoos, who had 
relinquished their rights. Not only was this region esteemed by those 
people on account of the game with which it abounded, but it yielded 
to their cultivation abundant returns in cereals and vegetables. Its 
winters were not so long and much less rigorous than were those of 
the lake regions, so that the red visitors of the pioneers of Champaign 
and Vermilion counties were not rarities. No complaint has come down 
to the inquirers of later years of any hostile or unfriendly acts from 
these people, but on the contrary, from all accounts they avoided doing 
any harm and were frequently helpful to the new comers. 

SHEMAUGER, THE FRIENDLY POTTAWATTAMIE CHIEF 

"Our early settlers around and in these timber belts and groves 
well remember many of their Indian visitors by name, and the writer 
has listened with great interest to many enthusiastically told stories 
from them of personal contact with these people. Particular mention 
was made by many of a Pottawattamie chief named Shemauger, who 
was also known by the name of Old Soldier. Shemauger often visited 
the site of Urbana after the whites came, and for some years after 1824. 
He claimed it as his birthplace, and told the early settlers that the 
family home at the time of his birth was near a large hickory tree then 
growing upon a spot north of Main Street and a few rods west of 
Market Street. He professed great love for this location as his birth- 
place, and the camping ground of his people for many years. At the 
time of the later visits of Shemauger there was not only the hickory 
tree, but a large wild cherry tree standing about where the hall of the 
Knights of Pythias is now situated. Besides these trees there were 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 91 

others in the neighborhood of the creek, which made this a favorite and 
most convenient and comfortable camping place for the Indians; and, 
from what is known of the habits of these people, it is not improbable 
that the chief was correct in the claim made upon Urbana as his birth- 
place. It is remembered of Shemauger that he would sometimes come 
in company with a large retinue of his tribe and sometimes with his 
family only, when he would remain for months in camp at points along 
the creek. In the winter of 1831-32, these Indians to the number of 
fifteen or twenty remained in their camp near the big spring on what, of 
late years, has been known as the Stewart farm in the neighborhood of 
Henry Dobson's, about two miles north of Urbana. 




A BIT OF THE SITE OF THE POTTAWATTAMIE VILLAGE 

"Another favorite camping ground of Shemauger was at a point 
known as the Clay Bank on the northwest quarter of Section 2, Urbana 
Township, sometimes called Clement's Ford, towards the north end of 
the Big Grove. One early settler (Amos Johnson, who died twenty years 
since) related to the writer his observations of these people while there 
in camp. His father occupied a cabin not far away, and the family 
paid frequent visits to the camp out of curiosity, fearing nothing. Some 
of the braves amused themselves by cutting with their tomahawks mor- 
tices into contiguous trees, into which mortices they inserted poles cut 
the proper lengths. These poles, so placed horizontally at convenient 
distances from each other, made a huge living ladder reaching from 
the ground to a great height. Up this ladder the Indians would climb 



92 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGX COUNTY 

when the weather was warm and sultry to catch the breezes and to 
escape the annoyances of the mosquitoes. He saw the bucks thus com- 
fortably situated upon a scaffold in the tops of the trees, while their 
squaws were engaged in the domestic duties of the camp on the ground 
below. Thirty-five or more years ago, trees from near the Clay Bank 
were cut and sawed into lumber at the nearby mill of John Smith, 
when these mortices, overgrown by many years' growth of the trees, 
were uncovered, showing the work of these Indians forty years before, 
and corroborating the story as related to the writer. 

"Shemauger told another early settler (James W. Boyd, who died 
many years since), or in his hearing, that many years before, there 
came in this country a heavy fall of snow, the depth of which he indi- 
cated by holding his ramrod horizontally above his head, and said that 
many wild beasts, elk, deer and buffalo perished under the snow. To 
this fact, within his knowledge, he attributed the presence of many bones 
of animals then seen on the prairies. 

"Shemauger was remembered by those who knew him personally as 
a very large, bony man, always kind and helpful to the white settlers. 
It was also said that, upon being asked to do so, he would, with a com- 
pany of followers, attend the cabin raisings of the early settlers and 
assist them in the completion of their cabin homes. All accounts of 
Shemauger represent him as kind to the whites and ambitious for the 
elevation of his people. One early settler (Jesse B. Webber) at the Big 
Grove, who came here in 1830 and remained all of that winter before 
making himself a home, spent much of his time in the company of 
the chief and formed for him a high esteem. In 1830 Shemauger was 
about seventy-five years of age and had, in his time, participated in 
many of the Indian wars with the whites and, with his experience, 
would gladly remain at peace with them. The Kankakee Valley was 
the home of the chief during the last years of his stay in Illinois, and 
he was seen there by those who made trips to Chicago. Following 
the Black Hawk War his tribe or the remnant of it remaining east 
of the Mississippi River went West and its members were seen here 
no more. 

TOLD TO "GiT" 

"In the summer of 1832, before the organization of the county and 
the fixing of its county seat when the site of TJrbana was perhaps only 
what it had been for generations before, an Indian camping ground 
a large number of Indians came and camped around the spring above 
alluded to as situated near the stone bridge. It happened to be at the 
time of the excitement caused by the Black Hawk War, and caused not 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 93 

a little apprehension among the few inhabitants around the Big Grove, 
although the presence in the company of many women and children of 
the Indians should have been an assurance of no hostile errand. A 
meeting of the white settlers was had, and the removal of the strange 
visitors determined upon as a measure of safety. A committee consist- 
ing of Stephen Boyd, Jacob Smith, Gabe Rice and Elias Stamey was 
appointed by the white settlers charged with the duty of having a talk 
with the red men. The committee went to the camp and, mustering 
their little knowledge of their language, announced to the Indians that 
they must 'puck-a-chee,' which they understood to be a command to them 
to leave the country. The order was at once obeyed. The Indians 
gathered up their ponies, pappooses and squaws and left, greatly to the 
relief of the settlers. 

INDIAN SCARES 

"During the Black Hawk War, and before the passage through the 
country of the volunteers from Indiana and the Wabash country, many 
wild reports of Indian depredations nearby, and the reports that hostiles 
were encamped as near as on the Sangamon River and at the Mink 
Grove, spread from cabin to cabin through the country, made a general 
stampede imminent. Like reports of threatened danger were rife among 
the Sangamon settlers, but in their case the supposed hostiles were 
encamped lower down the river near the Piatt settlement. So great 
was the alarm in the latter case that all gathered at the cabin of Jonathan 
Maxwell, where the men made defensive preparations against the appre- 
hended attack. It was soon ascertained in all the settlements that the 
reports were false, the supposed hostiles being, in fact, fugitive bands 
of friendly Indians who were running away from danger in the northern 
part of the State, as unwilling as the white inhabitants for the happening 
of hostilities. Men who were then children in the settlements have 
related to the writer how these wild reports, told from cabin to cabin, 
made their hair stand on end, and of the hasty preparations of the heads 
of families for flight to the eastern settlements, in view of the possible 
danger to their families. 

PLEASED WITH THE WHITE MAN'S COFFIN 

"The Nox family settled near where the village of Sidney is situated 
about 1828, and then, and for some years thereafter, the Pottawattamies 
frequently camped near their house and at other places along the Salt 
Fork. While thus encamped on one occasion, on the north side of the 
creek near the residence of William Peters, one of their chief men died. 



94 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

The tribe was about to emigrate to the West and, wishing to transport 
the body of their dead chief thither, they applied to William Nox and 
Mr. Hendricks, who were somewhat skilled in the use of tools, to manu- 
facture for the deceased a white man's coffin. This they did by splitting 
from a log some thin puncheons and working them into suitable shape. 
The finished coffin so well pleased the braves that they gave to each 
workman a nicely tanned buckskin. Upon their removal soon after to 
the West, the coffined body was taken with them. 

INDIAN SEPULTURES 

"Early white settlers were induced to observe the mode of sepulture 
practiced by some of the Indian sojourners here. In the timber at 
what was called Adkins Point, at the north extremity of the Big Grove, 
was a place of deposit for the bodies of their dead. Instead of burying 
the bodies in the ground, they first wrapped them in blankets around 
which bark stripped from a tree was placed, tying the whole tightly 
together with thongs cut from rawhide. The bodies were then bound 
with withes to horizontal limbs of large trees. Fifteen or twenty might 
have been seen thus suspended at one time. As the encasing blankets 
and bark coffins rotted away, the corpses would drop to the ground. 
It was the custom to deposit the ornaments of the dead Indian with 
him, and rings, bells and brooches of silver were sometimes found there. 

MIAMIS PASSING TO THE WEST 

"About 1832 a large body of Indians (believed to have been Miamis), 
900 in number, in moving from their Indiana reservation to the western 
territories, passed through Champaign County, crossing the Salt Fork 
at Prather's Ford a mile or so above St. Joseph, thence by the north 
side of Big Grove to Newcom's Ford and by Cheney's Grove. It is 
said the caravan extended from Prather's Ford to Adkins' Point, as 
the northern extremity of Big Grove was then called. These Indians 
were entirely friendly to the whites and encamped two days at the Point 
for rest, where the settlers gathered around for trade and to enjoy their 
sports. 

EN EOUTE FOR WASHINGTON 

"In the winter of 1852-53 came a company of braves from the West 
through Urbana, on their way to Washington to have a talk with the 
President. While stopping here one of their number died, and was 
buried in the old cemetery at Urbana. His comrades greatly mourned 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COTJXTY 95 

him, and planted at the head of his grave a board, upon which were 
divers cabalistic decorations. After committing his body to the grave, 
his comrades blazed a road with their tomahawks to the Bone Yard 
branch, to guide the dead man's thirsty spirit to the water." 

LAST OF THE CHAMPAIGN COUNTY INDIANS 

As stated, as late as the Black Hawk War scattered bands of Kicka- 
poos, Pottawattamies and Delawares were still roaming through the 
woods and over the prairies of central and eastern Illinois, killing 
squirrels, wild turkeys, grouse and deer. About the 1st of March they 
usually returned in a body toward the Kankakee for the purpose of 
making maple sugar. But at the close of the war, the whites of Indiana 
and Illinois made a general demand upon the Government to see that 
all Indians were moved to their reservations west of the Mississippi, 
according to treaty stipulations. 

The Kickapoos of the Vermilion were the last of the Illinois Indians 
to emigrate. Finally, in 1833, the last of them joined the main body 
of the tribe in their reservation west of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and 
were afterward moved to the Indian Territory. 






CHAPTEE IV 

PIONEER SETTLERS AND EVENTS 

WORK OF THE UNITED STATES SURVEYORS THE COUNTY'S ORIGINAL 
SURVEY RECORD PIONEERS SETTLED IN GEOVES AND TIMBER BELTS 
ROUTE OF FORT CLARK ROAD THROUGH COUNTY RUNNEL 
FIELDER, FIRST SETTLER TOMPKINS SQUATS ON SITE OF URBANA 
HENRY SADOHUS THE COMING OF SADORUS AND SMITH DISCOVER 
AND DIVIDE THE GROVE FIRST SMITH AND SADORUS CABINS 
SADORUS, SOLE PROPRIETOR OF THE GROVE OCCUPATION AND 
IMPROVEMENT OF THE SMITH CABIN -MATTHIAS AND MARTIN 
RHINEHART TRIPS TO CHICAGO ONE THOUSAND MILES TRIP OF 

THE CONKEY FAMILY FlRST SlGHT OF THE GRAND PRAIRIE 

COL. MATTHEW W. BUSEY SETTLERS IN 1828 ISAAC BUSEY AND 
ISAAC G. BECKLEY EARLIEST LAND ENTRIES BIG GROVE PIONEERS 
NORTHERN SECTIONS SETTLED LATER -JUDGE CUNNINGHAM'S 
PIONEER EPITOME INDIAN OCCUPATION FIRST WHITE OCCUPANCY 
FIRST LAND ENTRIES DISEASES AND PIONEER PHYSICIANS 
EARLY DEATHS DECEASED REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS SCHOOLS 
MILLS OF EARLY DATE PIONEER PHYSICIANS RELIGIOUS PATH- 
FINDERS MORE ABOUT THE PREACHERS EARLY ROADS WINTER 
OF THE DEEP SNOW A CIRCULAR HUNT LANCASTER AND BLOOM- 
VILLE, STRICTLY PAPER TOWNS A PROFESSIONAL LAND GRABBER 
WHITE MAN SHAMED BY RED "SAVAGE" TAXPAYERS AT THE 
CREATION OF THE COUNTY Ax IXSIDE STORY RELATING TO THE 
COUNTY SEAT OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY. 

Two years after the Indian treaty at Edwardsville, by which the 
Kickapoos of the Vermilion ceded their lands in Champaign County to 
the general Government, the surveyors of the United States commenced 
their work in the southeastern sections. In 1821, Jacob Judy, James 
Thompson and James Messenger made surveys in the region now embraced 
by the townships of Raymond, Ayers, Sidney, Homer, St. Joseph, 
Ogden and Stanton and parts of Rantoul and Compromise. In the 
following year the territory included in the rest of the county was sur- 
veyed by Richard P. Holliday, David Anderson, Patrick 0. Lee, 
Benjamin F. Messenger, Enoch Moore and E. Starr. 

96 




A PIONEER COUPLE IN THE OLD HOME 



17 



98 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

WOKE OF THE UNITED STATES SURVEYORS 

Writing in 1905, the late Judge J. 0. Cunningham thus describes 
the nature and importance of the work as performed by the Government 
purveyors, shortly before the first white settlers came to Champaign 
County: "It will thus be seen that shortly following the treaty with 
the Indians which extinguished forever their claim upon the territory 
now known as Champaign County, came the United States surveyors, 
those pioneers of civilization whose work was to last through all time 
and be law to all future dwellers. The lines as then fixed and marked 
by these surveyors are the lines which now divide the townships, school 
districts and farms of the county, and which determine its boundaries 
and the locations of most of its public roads. 

"When the treaty already referred to was made and when the work 
of the United States surveyors was performed, the territory later organ- 
ized into the county of Champaign was within the bounds of the county 
of Crawford. The section corners, then marked by the throwing up of 
mounds of earth around stakes charred in their camp fires, were easily 
found by other surveyors many years after they were established. 

THE COUNTY'S ORIGINAL SURVEY EECORD 

"In the office of the county clerk may be found a book commonly 
called the Original Survey Eecord, which contains transcripts of all of 
these surveys carefully copied from the reports and plats made by 
the General Land Office by these original surveyors. Upon the left 
hand pages of this very interesting and important record may be found 
directions for locating every section corner, as marked and left by these 
men eighty years ago, while upon the opposite pages are found very 
carefully prepared plats in colors showing every grove of timber and 
hazel brush, every stream or considerable branch, and every pond, as 
well as the courses and location with reference to section lines. The 
number of acres in each section is also marked thereon, and where the 
section is fractional that is, the section contains more or less than 
one square mile the number of acres in each one-eighth of a section is 
also shown. 

"This record, besides being important as a factor in determining 
the lines and titles to the lands within the county, is of interest to one 
inquiring into the early history of the county. These plats and notes 
were made by the men of the white race who first minutely examined 
these landscapes. They show the county with reference to the space 
occupied by timber and open prairie, just as they appeared to Eunnel 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 99 

Fielder, Henry Sadorus and William Tompkins when they came here a 
few years thereafter. 

"The question has no doubt often been, mentally if not audibly, asked 
by the dwellers in these groves and upon these premises: 'Who sur- 
veyed these lands into the sections and townships which now divide the 
country into farms, neighborhoods and sections and townships? Who 
piled up the mounds at the corners of the sections, in the absence of 
better monuments? Whose eyes first minutely examined these land- 
scapes, and who, in their day-dreams, heard the tramp of our coming?' 
These questions have often been asked by me, and I presume by others. 
I am able to answer from official intelligence. 

"It is well here to speak briefly of the Rector family, who were 
famous in Illinois in early days. 

"The Rector family came to Kaskaskia in 1806, when the lands of 
the United States were to be surveyed. This was a numerous family, 
consisting of nine brothers and four daughters. They were natives of 
Virginia. All were remarkable for fearlessness. 

"William Rector had, before the War of 1812, been a deputy sur- 
veyor. During that war he commanded a regiment as its colonel, in 
the campaign against the Indians, at the head of Peoria Lake. In 1816, 
Colonel Rector was appointed surveyor-general of Illinois, Missouri and 
Arkansas. Some of his brothers were deputies under him. Colonel 
Rector took up his residence in St. Louis on receiving his appointment, 
as likewise did the rest of the family. 

"Townships from 17 to 20, in ranges 7 to 8, including the towns 
of Sadorus, Colfax, Scott, Mahomet, Pesotum, Tolono, Champaign and 
Hensley, were surveyed into sections by Richard T. Holliday, for Elias 
Rector, deputy surveyor, in 1812. 

"Townships 21 and 22, in ranges 7 and 8, including the towns of 
Newcomb, Brown, Condit and East Bend, were surveyed by David 
Anderson and Patrick Oscar Lee, deputy surveyors, in 1823. 

"Townships 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, range 9, including the towns of 
Crittenden, Philo, Urbana, Somers and a part of Rantoul, were sur- 
veyed by Benjamin Franklin Messenger, deputy surveyor, in 1821. 

"Township 22, in ranges 9 and 10, including the towns of Ludlow 
and Harwood, were surveyed in 1822, by Enoch Moore, deputy surveyor. 

"Townships 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, range 10, including the towns of 
Raymond, Sidney, St. Joseph, Stanton and parts of Rantoul and Com- 
promise, were surveyed in 1821, by Jacob Judy, deputy surveyor. 

"Townships 17, 18, 19 and 20, range 14 west, including the towns 
of Homer and Ogden, were surveyed in 1821, by James Thompson, 
deputy surveyor. 



100 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



"Township 21, range 14 west, including part of Compromise Town- 
ship, was surveyed in 1821, by James Messenger, deputy surveyor. 

"Township 22, range 14, including part of Kerr Township, was sur- 
veyed in 1822, by E. Starr, deputy surveyor. 

"These facts in relation to the regular townships will settle the 
question in relation to the narrow, irregular strips running through the 
eastern part of the county, known as range 11, for the fixing of 
the corners of sections in the regular townships at the same time operated 
to divide this strip into townships and sections. 




xKKii FAMILY 

"The surveyors went heavily armed for defense against the cunning 
red man, and not unfrequently were ambushed and killed. It required 
not only a knowledge of instruments and mathematics, but familiarity 
with weapons and the modes of Indian warfare. 

"Nelson Rector, a brother of Elias and Colonel Rector, nearly lost 
his life while engaged in surveying. He had a 'company of surveyors 
out on the waters of the Saline Creek, in Gallatin County, where, on 
the 1st of March, 1814, he was fired on by the Indians and severely 
wounded. His left arm was broken, a ball entered his left side and 
another touched his face. His horse carried him off, and he recovered 
from his wounds.' " 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 101 

PIONEERS SETTLED IN GROVES AND TIMBER BELTS 

As has been noted, the pioneers of the county chose for their home- 
steads locations in the beautiful groves and timber belts. Among the 
most noted of these was Big Grove, comprising a body of heavily timbered 
rich land, on a branch of the Salt Fork and nearly in the center of the 
county, twelve miles long and averaging three miles in width. The 
prairie country around was also most delightful, with an abundance 
of good water everywhere. Such advantages, with the added fact that 
the well known Fort Clark Eoad, which runs from near Danville on the 
Vermilion River, in the eastern part of the State, to the Illinois River, 
skirted its northern borders, naturally directed the attention of potential 
home-makers to the desirability of Big Grove as a place of residence. 
Even before generally traveled by white men, it was a favorite route for 
the Kickapoos journeying between the Vermilion and their chief interior 
village in what is now McLean County. 

ROUTE OF FORT CLABK ROAD THROUGH COUNTY 

The earliest comers to Champaign County followed this convenient 
thoroughfare from a point about two miles northeast of the present site 
of Homer northwest through Hickory Grove and a short distance north 
of the present village of St. Joseph, where it crossed the east branch of 
the South Fork at Prather's Ford, thence followed the western branch 
of that creek past Hays Grove to the northern point of the Big Grove, 
thence crossing what was afterward Adkins Point and Beaver Dam, 
and thence it bore to the northwest, crossing the Sangamon at Newcom's 
Ford, and from that point up the west bank of the river through Cheney's 
Grove (Saybrook) to Bloomington and Peoria the latter then called 
Fort Clark. 

RUNNEL FIELDER, FIRST SETTLER 

It was in the Big Grove, a short distance south of the Fort Clark 
Road and about four miles northeast of the present site of Urbana, 
that Runnel Fielder, the county's first settler, squatted with his family 
upon a bluff near Salt Creek, in 1822. He built his cabin near the 
northwest corner o'f Section 12, but a few rods from what is known as 
the Blackberry Schoolhouse. This was the first residence erected in 
Champaign County by a white man, and its builder also broke the first 
land in that section, thereby representing the pioneer farmer of the 
white race. Charles Fielder, the son of Runnel, taught school near Big 



102 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Grove in the winter of 1827-28, and was, in all probability, the first 
teacher of the county. 

The pioneer settler of Champaign County was never more than a 
squatter upon his original homestead. Another eventually obtained a 
title to his land, although he did enter the eighty-acre tract east of his 
home place in June, 1828, which was the first entry of public lands in 
the Big Grove neighborhood. In the following September, Eunnel 
Fielder was appointed, by the Board of Commissioners of Vermilion 
County, supervisor of the Fort Clark Eoad from Prather's Ford on 
the Salt Fork to the western line of Vermilion County. Soon afterward 
he emigrated from the county, and about 1831 settled in Tazewell 
County; that is, the records show that in March, 1832, he executed a 
deed in that county for his eighty acres in Big Grove to Isaac Busey. 

TOMPKINS SQUATS ON SITE OF URBANA 

Soon after the coming of the Fielders to Big Grove, William Tomp- 
kins settled on the site of Urbana. He built a cabin of unhewn logs 
twenty feet square near the southwest corner of the southwest quarter of 
Section 8, which was known, after the platting of Urbana, as Lot No. 7 
of Hooper & Parks' Addition. The site of the Tompkins home was a 
patch of hazel brush and small timber, also upon the bank of Salt Creek. 
The cabin was standing as late as 1855, in the heart of Urbana, and 
was then pointed out as the oldest house in town. The locality was 
of special historic interest also, because it marked a well known camping 
ground of the Ivickapoos and Pottawattamies, and the remains of old 
corn fields were plainly visible for several years after the locality com- 
menced to be well settled. 

"Tompkins," says Judge Cunningham, "like other early settlers of 
the county, must have occupied this land as a squatter, for the records 
show no entry of lands by him until February 5, 1830, when he entered 
the eighty-acre tract where he lived, which embraced all the territory 
in Urbana bounded on the north by the city limits, east by Vine Street, 
south by the alley north of Main Street and west by a line running 
north from the stone bridge. On November 1, 1830, he also entered 
the eighty-acre tract lying immediately south of that tract, bounded 
on the north by the first entry, east by Vine Street, south by the city 
limits and west by the alley next west of Race Street. Before this last 
entry Tompkins had improved and fenced about twenty acres which lay 
mostly south of Main Street." 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 103 

HENRY SADORTJS 

After the Fielders and Tompkinses, the next family to settle in 
Champaign County with any degree of permanence was that headed 
by Henry Sadorus, who continued to reside on the Okaw, in the south- 
western part of the county, for a period of fifty-four years. He gave 
his name to the grove and the township, as well as the village in the 
extreme northeastern part of the latter. Mr. Sadorus had served as a 
soldier in the War of 1812, and about 1818, then thirty-five years of 
age, immigrated with his family to Indiana. He was a natural trades- 
man and money-maker, and had amassed quite a capital for the times, 
when he started for the Vermilion country, with his wife and six chil- 
dren, in 1824. The eldest of the children was a lad of fourteen, 'who 
assisted his father in managing the five yoke of steers which drew 
the prairie wagon toward the Okaw. It was in the fall of the year, 
and when he discovered an abandoned cabin on the southeast quarter 
of Section 1, Township 17, Eange 7, he took possession of it and the 
family commenced housekeeping. He remained a squatter until Decem- 
ber 11, 1834, when he entered the quarter section at the Vandalia land 
office. His son William, at the same time, entered the eighty-acre tract 
adjoining on the north, which were the first entries of land in Sadorus 
Township. 

At the time of Mr. Sadorus' death on July 18, 1878, the Champaign 
County Gazette published a complete and appreciative sketch of the 
deceased, in which occurred the following : "The State Eoad from Kas- 
kaskia having been opened and passing near his residence, Mr. Sadorus 
decided to erect a building for a tavern. The nearest saw mill was at 
Covington, Indiana, sixty miles away, but the lumber (some 50,000 
feet) was hauled through unbridged sloughs and streams, and the 
house was built. For many years Mr. Sadorus did a thriving business. 
His corn was disposed of to drovers who passed his place with herds of 
cattle for the East, besides being fed to great numbers of hogs on his 
farms. His first orchard, now mostly dead, consisted of fifty Milams, 
procured somewhere near Terre Haute, Indiana. From them were taken 
innumerable sprouts, and that apple became very common in this 
section. 

"In common with nearly all the pioneers, Mr. Sadorus grew his 
own cotton, at least enough for clothing and bedding. A half-fare 
sufficed for this, and the custom was kept up until it became no longer 
profitable, the time of the mother and three daughters being so much 
occupied in cooking for and waiting upon the travelers that they could 
not weave; besides goods began to get cheaper and nearly every immi- 



KM HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

grant had some kind of cloth to dispose of. About the year 1846 
Mrs. Sadorus died, and seven years later he again married, this time 
a Mrs. Eliza Canterbury of Charleston. 

"Some years ago, becoming tired of attending to so much business, 
Mr. Sadorus divided his property among his descendants, retaining, 
however, an interest which enabled him to pass his declining years in 
ease. He died full of years, respected by all who knew him, and beloved 
by a large circle of friends. He was kind and hospitable to strangers, 
and never turned a needy man away empty-handed from his door." 

Judge Cunningham adds, speaking of the old Sadorus home and 
Grove : "The home thus set up far from other human habitations was 
the abode of contentment, hospitality and reasonable thrift, in the 
first rude cabin which sheltered the family, as well as in the more 
pretentious home to which the cabin gave place in due time. The Grove 
was a landmark for many miles around, and the weary traveler well 
knew that welcome and rest always awaited him at the Sadorus home. 
Here Mr.' Sadorus entertained his neighbors the Buseys, Webbers 
and others, from Big Grove; the Piatts, Boyers and others, from down 
on the Sangamon; Coffeen, the enterprising general merchant, from 
down on the Salt Fork; the Johnsons, from Linn Grove, and the dwell- 
ers upon the Ambraw and the Okaw. He was also the counsellor and 
adviser of all settlers along the upper Okaw in matters pertaining to 
their welfare, and his judgment was implicitly relied upon." 

THE COMING OF SADORUS AND SMITH 

The circumstances surrounding the coming of Henry Sadorus to the 
grove which bears his name, with the main facts of his journey thither, 
are thus told by Judge Cunningham : "Henry Sadorus, lovingly known 
by the whole country to the day of his death as Grandpap Sadorus, was 
born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1783, four years before 
the adoption of the Federal Constitution. The spring of 1817 found 
him living with his little family of whom William Sadorus (until of 
late also a venerable resident of the county), then about five years old, 
having been born July 4, 1812, was the eldest on Oil Creek, Crawford 
County, in the same State. The Western fever, which has prevailed 
among Americans since the landing of the Pilgrims, attacked the elder 
Sadorus and, from the native timbers of that region, he constructed a 
raft or flat boat, upon which he loaded his worldly goods and family, 
and, after the manner of that time, set out by water upon a long journey 
westward. 

"The flat boat was built upon the waters of Oil Creek, and down the 






HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 105 

adventurers set forth in pursuit of a home in the West, they knew not 
where. Following the creek to its junction with the Allegheny River, 
that stream soon bore them to Pittsburgh and the Ohio River, by which 
means their frail bark in time landed them in Cincinnati, then the 
emporium of the Far West. One shipwreck alone, at the head of Bien- 
nerhasset Island, befell the travelers. The flat boat, having served its 
purpose, was sold in Cincinnati for $1,700 in James Piatt's shinplaster 
money, making the travelers rich for the time being, but in six months 
it shared the fate of its kind and was worthless, Mr. Sadorus again being 
a poor man. 

"The family remained in Cincinnati two years, when Mr. Sadorus 
again drifted westward, stopping successively at Connersville, Flat Rock 
and Raccoon, in the State of Indiana, where they found themselves in 
the spring of 1824, still with a desire to go West. Early in that year, 
Mr. Sadorus and a neighbor one Joe Smith fitted themselves out, each 
with a team of two yokes of oxen and a covered wagon, suitable for 
moving their families and goods. Thus accoutred, they again set their 
faces westward, intending to go to the Illinois country, possibly as far 
as Fort Clark, since called Peoria. 

"An almost trackless forest lay between them and their destination. 
They passed the site of the city of Indianapolis, then but recently 
selected as the State capital, where the foundations of the old capitol 
buildings had but just been laid. Crossing the Wabash River by a 
ferry at Clinton, Indiana, the party soon encountered the Grand Prairie. 
After entering Illinois, they met with only one house between the State 
line and the Okaw River, and that was the home of Hezekiah Cunning- 
ham, on or near the Vermilion River, where he kept a small trading 
post for traffic with the Indians. On April 9, 1824, the party reached 
the isolated grove at the head of the Okaw River, since known as Sadorus 
Grove, and, as usual, encamped for the night near the place which 
eventually became the permanent home of the Sadorus family. 

DISCOVER AND DIVIDE THE GROVE 

"A brief survey of their surroundings satisfied the party that a point) 
had been reached which fully met all their demands for a home. So far' 
as they knew they were thirty or forty miles from neighbors, but were 
surrounded by as fruitful a country as was to be found, in which wild 
game abounded and where every want might easily be supplied. Accord- 
ingly, they determined here to remain and to set about making them- 
selves comfortable. They found the grove whose shelter they had 
accepted was three or four miles long and nearly equally divided by a 



106 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

narrow place in the timber, through which the Wabash Eailroad now 
crosses the stream. So the two heads of families partitioned the tract 
covered by this grove between themselves, Smith taking the south end 
and Sadorus the north end the Narrows, as the line was called, being 
the boundary. 

FIRST SMITH AND SADOETJS CABINS 

"Having so divided the beautiful grove of timber between them, the 
two pioneers proceeded to make arrangements for a permanent stay in 
the place chosen for a home by building for each a cabin. Smith 
erected his cabin upon the site of the first encampment, and near where 
the old Sadorus home now stands, in the southeast quarter of Section 1. 
It was built of split linn logs, sixteen _by sixteen feet, covered with split 
oaken boards, with linn puncheons for a floor. The roof, after the 
manner of cabin building, was laid upon logs or poles laid lengthwise of 
the cabin, each succeeding pole being a little higher than the last and 
converging toward the apex. These boards, for the want of nails, 
which were not to be had, were held in place by weight poles laid length- 
wise over the butts of each course. The door was made of split boards 
held in place by wooden pins. The window was only a hole cut in the 
log wall to let in the light, subsequently covered with greased muslin to 
keep out the cold. 

"The Sadorus home, which was built two miles north on Section 36, 
in what is now Colfax Township but within the grove, was less pre- 
tentious. It was built of the same material, ten by twenty feet, but 
entirely open upon one side what is called a 'half-faced camp.' In 
this cabin windows and doors were entirely dispensed with. 

"Settled in these crude homes, the pioneers set about preparing for 
their future. The summer was spent in the cultivation of little patches 
of corn and garden by means of a crude prairie plow and other tools 
which they had brought with them, and in hunting the wild game for 
their meat and peltries, the result being that, as the autumn approached, 
the larders of the families were well supplied with the best the country 
afforded. The wolves, however, ate and destroyed much of their sod 
corn. 

SADOBUS SOLE PROPRIETOR OF THE GROVE 

"In the fall the heads of the two families, having well laid in table 
supplies, concluded to know what lay to the west of them. Filling 
their packs with small supplies of provisions, with their rifles upon 
their shoulders, they again set out on foot together for the West, leaving 
their families housed as we have seen. They traveled as far as Peoria, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 107 

where Smith determined to remove his family. Their course led them 
by the way of Mackinaw and Kickapoo Creek, through Indian country. 
Returning as they went, after an absence of two week, they found at 
their homes everything quiet and in order. 

"Smith at once sold his cabin and improvements to Sadorus, the 
consideration being the hauling by the latter of a 'load of goods from the 
Okaw timber to the Illinois River, which was paid according to agree- 
ment, and the south end of the grove, with all the improvements, passed 
to Mr. Sadorus, who thus became the only inhabitant of the south end 
of the county. 

OCCUPATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE SMITH CABIN 

"The Sadorus family lost no time in taking possession of the Smith 
cabin, which became its home then, and, with the land upon which it 
was erected, is still the home of a member of the household, Mr. Allen 
Sadorus. Its comforts were exchanged in place of the 'half-faced camp,' 
and all claim to the upper half of the grove was abandoned. The land, 
thus occupied for a few months by the family, many years afterward 
became the home of James Miller. 

"The Smith cabin was daubed that fall, which means that the 
interstices between the logs were filled with chinks and mud to prevent 
the cold from intruding, and its foundations were banked with earth 
for a like purpose. A mud chimney was built outside with a fireplace 
opening inside the cabin, and carried up above the cabin roof with 
sticks and mud. A companion cabin, built subsequently a few feet 
away, in like manner supplied with a mud and stick chimney and 
daubed as was the first, added to the comforts and conveniences of the 
family. A single sash window was bought in Eugene, Indiana, a few 
years thereafter and that, glazed with glass, gave the family one glass 
window the first in Champaign County and in time other openings, 
answering for windows, were likewise supplied. 

"These cabins did duty as the Sadorus domicile until 1838, about 
fourteen years, when the permanent home was erected." 

MATTHIAS AND MARTIN RHINEHART 

The Rhinehart family was prominently identified with the early 
period of the county's development. Matthias, the ancestor in these 
parts, brought his family from Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1828 
or 1829, and made a settlement in the west half of the southwest quarter 
of Section 26, Somor Township. In association with his son-in-law. 



108 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



Walter Rhoades, he entered that tract in February, 1830. The first 
postoffice in what is now Champaign Count}', called Van Buren, was 
established thereon. Mr. Rhoades lived upon that tract until about 
1857, when he sold to A. M. Fauley. There the son, Martin Rhinehart, 
reached manhood. When he was twenty years of age he enlisted in the 
Black Hawk War for service in Captain Brown's company of Mounted 
Rangers. He furnished his own horse, gun and clothing, and received 
for his services $1 per day. For many years he shared with Thomas L. 
Butler, who had settled near Homer at about the same time as the 
Rhinehart family farther to the northwest, the honor of being the only 
survivor who participated in that campaign from what is now Champaign 
County. Martin Rhinehart became a prominent and a wealthy citizen. 




A HOUSEHOLD TREASURE 

When he came as a youth to the central part of the county there were 
but thirty-five families living within its borders. 

INCIDENTS RELATED BY RHINEHART 



"The year 1831," he once related, "was almost without a summer; 
the cold 'weather continued until late in the spring and a hard frost 
set in on September 20th, it being so severe that it froze the corn, cob 
and all. In consequence of the loss of the crop, times got close and 
money was extremely scarce. The following year settlers were com- 
pelled to send to Kentucky for their seed corn. In December, 1836, a 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUXTY 109 

deep snow lay upon the ground. It began to rain and continued all 
day, when suddenly it turned intensely cold, making ice over the ground 
and freezing very hard. The sudden change caught many persons unpre- 
pared and they were frozen to death. Two men named Hildreth and 
Frame were crossing Four Mile Prairie on that day; they became 
bewildered, lost their way and were out when the change came. They 
killed their horses and Frame crawled inside the body of his horse for 
protection against the cold. But it proved his tomb, as he was found 
there frozen to death. Hildreth wandered around all night, and when 
found in the morning was so badly frozen that he lost his toes and 
fingers." 

Mr. Ehinehart also spoke of the early doctors of that day. Dr. 
Saddler was one of the first physicians of the county and was accounted 
a good one. It is related of him that he attended a family east of 
Urbana. This family had a large patch of fine, ripe and juicy water- 
melons. The doctor continued his visits long after the patient was 
convalescent, and the family dropped upon the idea that the water- 
melon patch was the chief attraction and the cause of his repeated visits. 
They gently broke the news to him that his patient was entirely well, 
and hinted that further visits were entirely superfluous. The doctor went 
home and sent in a bill that covered all the visits. The family refused 
payment. Suit was brought to recover the amount, when the family 
rendered an account for watermelons devoured by the doctor as an offset, 
and obtained a small judgment against him. All the neighbors declared 
that the decision was a most just one." 

TRIPS TO CHICAGO 

When the Sadorus family first came to the Grove their nearest post- 
office and county seat was Paris, Edgar County, fifty-two miles to the 
southeast. Their chief trading point for fifteen years, where they 
marketed their hogs and bought some of their supplies, was Eugene, 
Indiana, sixty miles away, with occasional trips to Chicago. The first 
trip made by Mr. Sadorus to that growing trading post on Lake Michi- 
gan was in the fall of 1834. Besides himself and his son, Henry, were 
Uncle Matthew Bu?ey and his son, Fountain J. ; Captain Nox, of Sidney, 
father of Solomon Nox; Pete Bailey, of Salt Fork, and Hiram Jackson. 
There were four wagons, each drawn by five yoke of oxen. The Sadorus 
outfit had oats for sale. The company assembled at Poage's, north of 
Homer, journeyed northward by way of Pilot Grove and Bourbonnais 
Grove, forded the Kankakee River and swam creeks and streams to the 
number of eleven, before they reached Fort Dearborn, after three weeks 



110 HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

of almost continuous rain. The Sadorus oats had sprouted from one to 
two inches when the caravan arrived at its destination, but the garrison 
at the Fort was glad to get them at that, for fifty cents a bushel. Mr. 
Sadorus purchased of the widely known trader, Gurdon S. Hubbard, for 
his return trip, salt, sugar, coffee and other family supplies. 

These trips to Chicago became quite frequent. In 1830 the Conkey 
family had come from Massachusetts and settled in Edgar County, and 
two years afterward William A., then a boy of twelve, made his first 
visit to Ford Dearborn and the trading post at that point. His elder 
brother "geed" and "hawed" the ox-team. The wagon was loaded with 
flour, meat, butter, eggs and other produce, and the trip was made by 
way of Danville. Nothing disagreeable occurred until the Calumet 
River was reached, when the precious freight was, for a time, threatened 
by the soft mud of its bottom. But the cargo and wagon were finally 
rescued, and Gurdon Hubbard was none the wiser. The Conkeys laid 
in a good supply of salt and other family provisions for the return 
journey. 

ONE THOUSAND MILE THIP OF THE CONKEY FAMILY 

The same younger Conkey brother settled at Homer in 1843 as one 
of the pioneer physicians of the county, and years afterwards read a 
paper before the Champaign Historical Society describing the one 
thousand mile journey of the family, made in 1830, from their old 
Massachusetts home to their new home in Edgar County, Illinois. It 
reads thus: "At the earnest solicitation of my friend, Judge Cunning- 
ham, one of the promoters of this society, I consented to present a 
paper setting forth a few incidents of the trip (as I now remember 
them) of the immigration of my father and his family from Massachu- 
setts to Illinois in the year 1830. Some few years previous to that time a 
brother of my mother's from the adjoining town to our residence, against 
the wishes and entreaties of his friends, relatives and neighbors, started 
west to see if he could find a country presenting better facilities for a 
permanent home than he had among the hills and rocks of the East. 
He had a distant relative of his wife living in Vigo County, Indiana, 
and to that point they drifted; and after examining the country around 
there went west to the prairies of Illinois, which presented such an in- 
viting appearance to him that he at once decided to stop there and make 
it his future home, being near Paris, the county seat of Edgar County. 
The glowing description he gave his old associates of the country he had 
found induced my father to join him in Illinois. My oldest brother 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 111 

% 

having preceded the rest of the family a year or so before, and having 
purchased a forty-acre tract of land adjoining his uncle's for the use of 
the family on which to make a new start in life. Some time about the 
first of May, 1830, we bade goodbye to the old homestead in Charlemont, 
Franklin County, Massachusetts, and the old friends and neighbors, 
which to them seemed more like a funeral than a temporary separation, 
and started with such household goods, clothing, etc., as loaded two 
wagons and teams, hired for the purpose of conveying them to Troy, 
N. Y., a distance of about fifty miles; at which place we were joined 
by a brother and sister of my mother's with a span of horses and a light 
wagon which accompanied our family the entire trip. Remaining in 
Troy two or three days, we got passage on a canal boat for the entire 
family (save the uncle, who drove his team to Buffalo), the family then 
being my father, mother, aunt and a sister aged thirteen and myself 
five in all. After a slow and tedious trip we joined my uncle and team 
again at Buffalo a distance of about 250 miles from Troy. 

"The trip while on the canal was a slow and tedious one. Not having 
any record of the time and after an absence of nearly seventy years, I 
will not attempt to say how long it took us. It was on this part of our 
journey that I first heard boys scientifically swear; it seemed that at 
every change of horses and drivers the new driver endeavored to show 
us that he could do more hard swearing than any of our former ones, 
and I think if such a thing were possible our last one was entitled to 
the plum. 

"On our arrival at Buffalo we had to wait two or three days before 
we were able to get passage to Perrysburg, situated on the lake at the 
mouth of the Maumee River, at or near where Toledo is now situated. 
Having succeeded in getting passage on a popular schooner, commanded 
by Captain Wilkinson, an old lake captain, we loaded our goods, horses 
and wagon on board, and with a few other men going west and with 
two additional ladies, took possession of the cabin, located in the 'hole' 
of the craft and quite a cozy, neat apartment. When supper was an- 
nounced, a majority of the passengers asked to be excused from partici- 
pating, the rolling of the boat having relieved them from all feeling of 
hunger, besides occupying their time in attending to the duties required 
to keep their stomachs from getting in their mouths; but fortunately I 
had not yet taken the disease and was able to do justice to the good 
things we had for supper, awaiting my time until later. Sometime after 
midnight a heavy storm came up; the waters became very angry, and 
occasionally a wave would wash over our boat so that the most of those 
who did not want any supper forgot their sickness and fully expected to 



112 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

go where sickness never comes. Before morning and to cap the climax, 
a very strong gale of wind broke the mainmast of our craft and all below 
at the crash expected to find themselves at the bottom of the lake; but 
about this time, the fury of the storm began to abate and, with the 
smaller mast, the sailors kept the boat in an upright position until day- 
break when at about 10 or 11 o'clock they landed at Dunkirk and rigged 
another mainmast so that by dark they were in condition to proceed, but 
waited until the latter part of the night before they left. Before start- 
ing from Buffalo they had erected a good strong fence or pen around 
our horses which were on top of the boat and fortunately when the mast 
broke it fell in such a direction as not to strike them. Well, when morn- 
ing came and breakfast was ready, and the tender-footed found they were 
alive, the most of them partook of such diet as they thought their stom- 
achs would stand. Now, in all seriousness, this was no pleasant trip so 
far, and in after years the recollection of that night brought up memo- 
ries in the minds of most of those present that were far from pleasant. 
"The next night after leaving Dunkirk the lake again became very 
rough, accompanied by high winds that drove our boat and stranded it 
in shallow water near Long Point, which extends into the lake from the 
Canada side, and not to exceed one-fourth of a mile from the mainland; 
and on getting up in the morning we found ourselves fast on the sand, 
and all that could be done was to remain there until we could attract 
the attention of some passing boat for our relief by coming to our assist- 
ance and lightening our boat so it would again float. As soon as it 
became light enough, our captain had his flag of distress run up to 
the highest point of our mainmast, but having by the wind been driven 
so far north and out of the usual track, we remained in our then-present 
position for five days and nights before our distress signal was seen, 
when a passing schooner discovered it, came to our relief, and after 
taking enough of our cargo to allow our boat to again float, we got into 
deeper water, and reloading our freight again proceeded on our voyage. 
Having been delayed there so long, our provisions were getting short, 
but got a supply from our rescuer to relieve us until we landed at Cleve- 
land without any suffering, except food for our horses which, while 
stranded, had eaten all we had provided for them, and the Canada shore 
having no show of vegetation we unpacked several crates of queensware 
on board and fed them the dirty, musty straw which they ate with 
avidity, and which kept them alive until we reached Cleveland. Before 
getting to the pier we sailed along close to the land for quite a distance 
where stock was grazing on the green grass, which our starved horses 
aboard discovered, and they became perfectly frantic and so cross that 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 113 

the sailors passing them on deck dared not go near them. When we 
got to where we could take them off and where they could get something 
to eat they soon got all right. 

"Here we also took our wagon off the boat and my uncle drove them 
to Perrysburg, getting there a few days after the boat arrived, and where 
we waited until he joined us. Here we saw many Indians, and in fact 
hardly a day passed until we got to Logansport, Indiana, that we did 
not encounter more or less of them. While awaiting the arrival of uncle 
with the team, at Perrysburg, we contracted to be conveyed by keel boat 
up the Maumee River to Fort Wayne, Indiana, a distance of about ninety 
miles on a straight line, but how far by that tortuous river I don't 
know; it seemed a long way. Our crew was composed of a captain who 
steered the boat and six men, three of which worked on each side of the 
boat and propelled the craft by long poles, the lower end of each pole 
covered with a sheath of iron drawn to a point and by walking from 
stern to bow dragging the poles thus equipped, and then facing the stern 
of the boat, placing the lower end on the bottom of the river and the 
upper end against their shoulders, pushing the boat the length of it 
and getting up a speed to carry it along until they walked again to the 
bow and repeated their trip to stern as before stated, walking on a wide 
board with slats nailed across the top to prevent their slipping, and when 
the boat is loaded is but a few inches above the water. 

"At Perrysburg we again put our wagon on board the boat, and either 
uncle or father rode one of the horses and led the other; there was no 
wagon road the most of the way, only a trail traveled by the mail car- 
rier on horseback and marked by cutting three notches in each side of 
a tree occasionally as a guide. After arriving at Fort Wayne (an old 
town from the appearance of the buildings, and I think a population not 
exceeding 200 or 300) we were compelled to remain there until our men 
folks went across a low flat timbered country some twelve or fifteen miles 
to the Wabash River to see what the chance was, if any, to get trans- 
portation down said stream to a point about seven miles above Terre 
Haute. They were gone three-or four days, and on their return reported 
that the only chance to get down said stream that they could find or 
hear about was to purchase a pirogue and float down. They accordingly 
found one made of a large poplar tree, about fifty feet in length, holding 
its size pretty well its entire length, the inside measure at the large end 
nearly three feet and the small end twenty-eight inches. This they pur- 
chased, the party agreeing to have it at a certain place where it could 
be reached by wagon from Fort Wayne, and returned. 

"We then engaged a couple of wagons and teams to haul us to the 

18 



114 HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

river in a day, but owing to the condition of the roads and no wagons 
having passed over them since the fall before, trees had been blown down 
and across the track, some of which were where we could not get around, 
and consequently had to spend so much time in removing them that 
dark overtook us some four miles from the river. We consequently 
halted, and after building a big fire interested the female portion of our 
party in preparing supper. We then changed the position of the load 
in one wagon so as to get a sleeping place for my mother and her sister, 
while my sister and I stowed ourselves away ; and there we all spent the 
first night of our lives in a wagon, while the older males of the party 
put in the time until morning keeping up the fire and spinning yarns, 
after having satisfied some six or eight Indians who visited them (having 
been attracted by the fire) that we had no whisky. 

"The next morning, after getting breakfast, we struck out and found 
our boat, in which we proceeded to place our freight, having plenty of 
room for sleeping quarters. Here again we loaded on our boat our 
wagon and, as on part of our voyage previously spoken of, one of the 
older ones traveled with the horses, saluting our craft occasionally 
through the day, and if convenient, staying with us at night. The 
weather was warm and comfortable, and by this time (it being June) we 
leisurely floated along for several days without anything unusual occur- 
ring. Almost any one of us could steer our craft until one night, when all 
together and all asleep, the moon having gone down and hardly a ripple 
on the water, our craft tipped to one side, and before we could get it 
righted up was at least one-third full of water ; and, attracted by a noise 
on shore like the cracking of brush, we were fully satisfied that someone 
had stepped upon the edge of our craft, as we always thought, for the 
purpose of purloining something, and having tipped our boat and at 
the same time awakened its occupants, left in a hurry; and on the next 
morning we found footsteps to and also going in the direction of the 
cracking heard the night before. After righting up our boat we went 
to work and dipped all the water out we could get, and where our clothes 
were wet replaced them by dry ones, but we did no more sleeping that 
night. 

"The next day was bright and warm and again we started on our 
journey, and as luck would have it, my uncle, who was with the horses, 
found another pirogue nearly as large as the first one, only about thirty- 
five feet long, which he bought, and when we got along he hailed us in 
good time to land, .when they lashed the two boats together and made 
a very safe and commodious craft. The only thing missed from our 
boat was my mother's willow work basket in which she had her knit- 











THE OLD CABIX, WITHIN- AXD WITHOUT 



116 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ting and other work, which we found the next morning in a drift about 
a mile below where it was tipped out the night before. 

"The balance of our trip was free from any other mishaps worthy of 
note, drifting with the current by day and tying up at night, making 
stops only at towns occasionally to replenish our larder, until we arrived 
at Durkee's Ferry, seven miles above Terre Haute, where we found my 
oldest brother, who had come to meet us, and a representative of the 
distant relative of my uncle and wife, spoken of in the fore part of 
this paper, tendering us the hospitality of their home until we could 
get moved to our destination, which invitation was thankfully received, 
and on the same day had our goods conveyed there and remained until 
everything was unpacked and such as had got wet from the tipping over 
of our craft, thoroughly dried. 

FIRST SIGHT OF THE GRAND PRAIRIE 

"After a day or two my father and uncle, with our own conveyance, 
drove to the place of our destination, about fifteen miles west, where 
father procured a couple of yoke of oxen and a wagon and returned to 
where he had left us. After reloading a portion of our goods, he returned 
to where he had procured a log cabin in the neighborhood, and in which 
we remained until he built a house on the land heretofore spoken of. 
My father permitted me to accompany him with the first load. The 
first nine miles of the road was through timber, when we struck the 
Grand Prairie as it was then called. The grass waving in the beautiful 
sunlight of June and all the wild flowers indigenous to the prairies 
bowing their heads to the breeze, presented a sight that I thought the 
most beautiful I had ever beheld, the remembrance of which, notwith- 
standing seventy years have passed and gone since then, is still as vivid 
to my mind, it seems, as the day when I first viewed the beauties of 
the grand old prairies of Illinois. 

"This brings us to the end of our trip, a distance of 820 miles in 
straight lines, as follows: from Charlemont to Troy, fifty; thence to 
Buffalo, 250 ; thence to Perrysburg, 240 ; thence to Fort Wayne, ninety ; 
thence to Durkee's Ferry, 180; thence to destination, fifteen; said com- 
putations being from points named derived from the scale of miles 
marked on the map of each state traveled. Taking into account the 
tortuous course of the streams navigated, and land traveled, the dis- 
tance was at least 1,000 miles." 






HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 117 

COLONEL MATTHEW W. BUSEY 

The pioneer of the Busey families, who have been so prominent in 
all fields of development in Champaign County, was Colonel Matthew 
W., who came to the Urbana region in the early part of 1828 with his 
wife and eight children, and purchasing the claims of one, Sample Cole, 
a squatter on the north end of the west half of the northeast quarter 
of Section 15 for $100, established there his homestead, which he occu- 
pied until his death in 1852. Born in Shelby County, Kentucky, May 
15, 1798, the Colonel was blessed with the typical hospitality and genial- 
ity of his southern forefathers, although the paternal family moved to 
Washington County, Indiana, at an early date. In the matter of friend- 
liness and neighborliness the Buseys certainly lost none of these traits 
by moving from Kentucky to Indiana. In the Hoosier State young 
Busey learned the trade of brick mason, which he at first followed and, 
for one of his enterprising temperament, naturally developed into the 
business of a builder and contractor. He was also a lover of fine live- 
stock and a natural farmer; so that he was well fitted to become useful 
and prominent in the newer, country of Illinois. Before settling in 
Champaign County he had been commissioned colonel in the Indiana 
State militia, and a few years after his arrival here was similarly hon- 
ored by the governor of Illinois. So that his "colonel" was no empty 
title. It is said that on general muster day there was no more resplen- 
dent and imposing figure than the hearty and able Colonel Busey. [See 
more extended biography elsewhere.] 

SIMEON H. BUSEY 

The most prominent of Colonel Busey's sons were Hon. Simeon H. 
and General Samuel T. Busey, and they were leaders in business, finance 
and public activities. S. H. Busey, the elder, and the first son born to 
the Colonel, moved with the family from his native place Greencastle, 
Indiana to Urbana, when he was twelve years of age. He became a 
wealthy farmer and stock-raiser, but invested in outside business inter- 
ests and assisted in the organization of the First National Bank of 
Champaign. In 1867, several years after his brother, S. T., had made 
his fine military record in the Civil War, he sold his interest in the 
Champaign institution, and the two brothers founded Busey's Ba,nk in 
Urbana. S. H. Busey also was interested in Chicago and Peoria banks 
and other large enterprises, which proved the value of his business judg- 
ment. He represented his district in the thirtieth General Assembly 
(1876-78), having previously been active and influential in the location 



118 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

of the University of Illinois at Urbana, and the building of what was 
afterward known as the Peoria & Eastern Railroad, a part of the Big 
Four system. He was a Democrat and a prominent Mason. His death 
occurred June 3, 1901. Of his sons, Matthew W. Busey is president of 
Busey's Bank, Urbana ; George W. Busey is president of the Commercial 
Bank of that place. [See more detailed biography elsewhere.] 

GENERAL SAMUEL T. BUSEY 

General Samuel T. Busey was also born in Greencastle, Indiana, in 
1835, and was eleven years younger than Simeon H. He engaged in 
mercantile pursuits at Urbana from 1856 to 1862, when he sold his 
business and was commissioned by Governor Yates to recruit a com- 
pany, with which he went into camp at Kankakee August 6, 1862. At 
its organization as Company B, Seventy-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volun- 
teers, he was elected its captain and subsequently was chosen lieutenant- 
colonel of the regiment. The details of his efficient and gallant service 
are given in the chapter on military matters; for the present purpose 
it is sufficient to say, that he reached the rank of brevet brigadier-general. 
After the war General Busey engaged in farming, and was thus em- 
ployed when, with his brother, he organized Busey's Bank in 1867. Gen- 
eral Busey afterward bought the interest of Simeon H., and associated 
himself in its management with his nephew, Matthew W. General 
Busey's prominence in public life is briefly indicated by the facts that 
he served as mayor of Urbana for five terms and was a member of the 
Fifty-second Congress, his opponent in the campaign having been Joseph 
G. Cannon. General Busey, who was a very active man up to the end 
of his life, was drowned in a Minnesota lake August 22, 1909, while 
he was away with his family on a summer outing. His more extended 
biography appears elsewhere. 

SETTLERS IN 1828 

At the time that the Colonel established his household in the Cole 
cabin, only five families lived in what was known as the Big Grove 
settlement those of Runnel Fielder, Sample Cole, William Tompkins, 
Philip Stanford (who lived north of the Grove) and Thomas Rowland, 
who resided on Section 1, Urbana. No one had settled on the Sanga- 
mon. Henry Sadorus was already at Sadorus Grove, the squatter Stra- 
ley at Linn Grove, and William Nox at Sidney. 

In 1840, Colonel Busey was elected to represent his district in the 
State Legislature and was reelected in 1842. He was very active in the 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 119 

movements against the Mormons, which were at their height during his 
last term in the Legislature. His extensive acquaintance throughout 
the state, acquired while a member of the Legislature, made his services 
valuable in securing the charter of the Illinois Central Eailroad, and 
during the fights for the location of the county seat Colonel Busey was 
mainly instrumental in securing it for Urbana. For many years he 
served as assessor for the county and township. In the meantime he 
had given much of his attention to farming and livestock operations, 
and was especially known as a breeder of fine stock. In fact, he was a 
leading representative in everything which most vitally concerned the 
well-being of his section of the state and of Illinois at large. 

While yet a resident of Washington County, Indiana, Colonel Mat- 
thew W. Busey was married to Miss Elizabeth Bush, who survived him 
until 1880, when she died at the home of her son, Colonel S. T. Busey. 
By that union there were six children, who all arrived at maturity : 
Simeon H., John S., Mary C. (Mrs. John C. Kirkpatrick), Louisa J. 
(Mrs. W. H. Romine), Colonel Samuel T., Sarah (Mrs. J. W. Sim), 
Elizabeth (Mrs. Allen McClain) and Matthew. 

As early as May, 1831, Colonel Busey entered 160 acres in Section 8, 
whereon is now built a considerable portion of the city of Urbana, and 
upon which stands the home built by his son, General S. T. Busey. This 
step was taken presumably with a view of making this land the site of 
his homestead, although he did not move his family thither until 1836. 
Before his death December 18, 1852, he became the owner of most of 
the land now included in western Urbana and eastern Champaign. 

ISAAC BUSEY AND ISAAC G. BECKLEY 

About 1831, Isaac Busey came with his son-in-law, Isaac G. Beck- 
ley, and bought out William Tompkins who, on February 4, 1830, had 
entered the lands in Sections 8 and 17, Urbana, where he had lived for 
some time as a squatter. Beckley settled on the southwest quarter of 
Section 5, Urbana. 

EARLIEST LAND ENTRIES 

The earliest actual entries of land in the county were made in what 
was known as the Salt Fork Timber, in the northeast quarter of Sec- 
tion 12, Sidney Township. Jesse Williams made the first in the east 
half of that quarter on February 7, 1827. The tract appears to have 
been actually occupied by Thomas L. Butler. In October of the same 
year, John Hendricks entered the other half, the quarter section. In 



120 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

November, 1827, Josiah Conger entered land about two miles east of 
the Williams piece. 

BIG GROVE PIONEEKS 

Big Grove appears, as has been noted, to have the honor of attract- 
ing most of the pioneer settlers, nearly all of whom were "squatters." 
Besides Fielder and Tompkins, there were Elias Kirby and family, who 
came in August, 1829. Early settlers who entered their lands in that 
locality were John Brownfield, who entered his claim in Section 35, 
Somer Township, at the Palestine land office, September 2, 1830, and 
Levi Moore, who entered 240 acres in Section 21, Somer Township, 
which he sold some years later to Lewis Adkins, who in turn gave 
his name to Adkins Point. Matthias Rhinehart entered land in the 
southwest quarter of Section 26, same township, in February, 1830, and 
he had already resided in that locality since 1828. 

NORTHERN SECTIONS SETTLED LATER 

The timber lands in the southern and central portions of the county 
were first to be settled, as being more convenient of access to trading 
points in Edgar County, and other settled districts in eastern Illinois 
and western Indiana. When Danville got to be of more importance as 
a basis of supplies, the favorable attention of the pioneers was directed 
to more northern points in what is now Champaign County, especially 
to the Sangamon region. The first entry of lands in the Sangamon 
Timber was made by Isaac Busey, October 22, 1832, at the Vandalia 
land office. His claims covered 120 acres in Section 14, 80 acres in 
Section 15 and 160 acres in Section 23, now in Mahomet Township. 
Later in that year he entered other lands in Sections 22 and 23, and 
on October 27, Jonathan Maxwell who, it is claimed, was the first to 
make his home in the township, entered 40 acres in Section 22. Within 
the following four years Sangamon timber lands were all the rage. 

The far northeastern part of the county also commenced to get a 
large accession of settlers. The first of them was Samuel Kerr who, in 
1833, entered land in what has since been known as Sugar Grove, Sec- 
tion 9. He gave his name to the township in the northeastern corner 
of the county. 

A rapid review has thus been taken of the pioneer period in Cham- 
paign County, inclusive of the year 1833, when it attained civil and 
political entity and was organized as a self-governing body. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 121 

JUDGE CUNNINGHAM'S PIONEER EPITOME 

Our late advisory editor, the lamented and honored Judge J. 0. 
Cunningham, was the best authority on all these early matters and 
pioneer characters. From the records of his pen, now at rest, the fol- 
lowing is extracted as the most complete epitome of this period, being 
a portion of his paper read before the Old Settlers' Reunion of July 29, 
1886, on "Urbana and Somer Townships": "The local- history of these 
two townships and, in fact, the early history of the county during the 
period to which I shall refer, which will be anterior to the period of 
history of others given here today, are practically one; for around the 
Big Grove, and upon territory embraced in both town-ships, were made 
the first settlements of the county. 

IXDIAN OCCUPATION 

"Our earliest historic accounts accord the territory in this part of 
Illinois to the ownership of the Kickapoo Indians, as Indian titles were 
then regarded. In the year 1819, at Edwardsville, Illinois, at a treaty 
between the Kickapoo nation and the United States government, repre- 
sented by Ninian Edwards, a treaty was concluded by which that people 
relinquished their rights here, and then passed west of the Mississippi. 
The Indian occupation spoken of today was subsequent to this date, and 
by bands of the Pottawattamies, who hunted and, at time, abode here. 
Tradition, supported by the testimony of many old settlers, some of 
whom are here today, says that the site of Urbana and along the Bone 
Yard branch, was an Indian village of the Pottawattamies. The 
presence there of good water, fuel and an abundance of game, made it 
a favorite camping ground with them. They also frequently camped 
at the Clements or Clay Bank ford farther down the creek. They 
buried their dead at Adkins Point near where John Thornburn now 
lives. 

FinsT WHITE OCCUPANCY 

"So far as I am informed, the first white men to see this country 
were the United States surveyors who. divided it into townships and 
sections. These townships were surveyed in the summer of 1821 by 
Benjamin Franklin Messenger under the authority of the Federal Gov- 
ernment. There doubtless were hunters, trappers, and traders, and 
perhaps squatters here before that date, but they left no name. 
The earliest squatters known to us were Runnel Fielder, said to 
have been the first white inhabitant of the county, who settled 



122 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

in 1822 near the northeast corner of Section 11, Urbana, and 
built a cabin there, which I have often seen. Fielder entered 
no land until June 21, 1828, when he entered the west half of 
the northwest quarter of Section 12 a part of the Roe farm now owned 
by Bate Smith on which he planted an orchard, the first in either 
town, if not in the county. Some of the trees may be seen yet. Then 
there were John Light, who had a cabin where Tom Brownfield now 
lives; Gabriel Rice, who had his cabin on Sol Nox's place; Phillip 
Stanford, who lived near where William Roberts now resides and after- 
ward entered part of that farm, and David Gabbert, who built his cabin 
just north of this park. This cabin was the first home of the family 
of Colonel M. W. Busey, who came here in 1836. The Colonel had 
been here before, for he entered the eighty where we now are in 1830. 
Besides these, there were Daggett, who settled on the west side of the 
Grove, and William Tompkins, who built his cabin near the creek near 
where Halberstadt's mill is, afterwards in 1828 entering the land which 
he sold to Isaac Busey in 1830. Tompkins had a son near the Harvey 
Cemetery, who was also a squatter, for he never owned any land. In 
his cabin, it is said, was born the first white child in the county. Soon 
after 1828 permanent settlers began to come in Thomas Holland in 
1828; Matthew Busey in 1829; Isham Cook in 1830; and soon there- 
after and, in some cases before, came James T. Roe, John Brownfield, 
T. R. Webber, W. T. Webber, Jacob Smith, Jacob Heater, John G. 
Robertson, Isaac G. Beckley, Sample Cole and James Clements. Before 
many of these, perhaps, were Phillip M. Stanford, Sarah Coe, Robert 
and William Trickle, Elias Kirby, and Mijamin Byers, the latter of 
whom was a justice of the peace for this part of Vermilion County. 
They all settled about the Big Grove in these two townships and 
soon began to enter the lands. These names I love to recall, as being 
the names of those who laid the foundation of our present greatness. 

FIEST LAND ENTRIES 

"The first entry in Urbana was made by Fielder, as before stated, 
in 1828, and the first in Somer by Sarah Coe, who, in 1829 entered the 
west one-half of the southeast quarter of Section 27, now in William 
Roberts' farm. During the three years following entries of land, now 
lying in both townships, were made by Mijamin Byers, Isaac Busey, 
John Whitaker, William Tompkins, Phillip Stanford, Charles Busey, 
Martin Rhinehardt, Walter Rhodes, John Light, John Brownfield, 
Robert Trickle and others. 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGX COUNTY 123 

DISEASES AND PIONEER PHYSICIANS 

"Like all new countries blessed with a soil holding the elements of 
wealth, this country when first settled, and until by cultivation and 
artificial drainage facilities were afforded for the surface water to pass 
rapidly away, was the home and nursery of malarial diseases. They 
appeared in the form of ague, chills and fever, flux and other bowel 
complaints, and were a great hindrance to the rapid settlement of the 
country. These diseases were universal and the later part of every 
summer and every fall people looked for a visitation from these diseases 
as much as they looked for the ripening of their crops. It was under- 
stood that unless the work of the season was completed before the 
sickly season came on, it had to go over, for during that period all would 
be sick, or if some were spared, their time would be monopolized in the 
care of their sick. Many times there were not well persons enough in 
a family or neighborhood to care for the sick. Physicians were few, or 
entirely wanting. Dr. Fithian, the veteran physician of Danville, was 
often called to this county, while Dr. Stevens, of Homer, and Dr. 
Somers, of TJrbana, who were early on the ground, had a wide range of 
practice in these diseases. The effect of these annual recurrences of 
miasmatic diseases upon the individual was to weaken and sap the 
constitution of the strongest. The death roll of the first thirty years of 
our history, if it could be called, would startle us even at this distance 
of time. Strong rnen and women gradually weakened and finally fell 
before the unseen foe, while little children, ague-ridden from their birth, 
endured a dwarfish growth for a few years and went shaking to their 
graves. While this is true of many, we yet have monuments of the 
olden time in many whitened heads all around us, which have reached 
or long since passed the allotted three score years and ten, and still 
linger as good specimens of well preserved manhood and womanhood, 
equal in healthful appearance to any found in our most favored 
localities men and women who have spent their thirty, forty, fifty, 
or even near sixty years. We may now congratulate ourselves that, 
drainage accomplished, we can compare favorably with any country for 
healthfulness. 

EARLY DEATHS 

"So far as I can ascertain, the first death among the white inhab- 
itants of the county was Isham Cook. In 1830 he entered land in 
Section 5, north of Urbana. In the fall of that year he died and was 
buried there. The farm is known as the Dean farm. In 1831 a 






124 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

woman named Pugh, a member of a family traveling through, died at 
Rhinehart's, and was the first death in Somer Township. The wife of 
Isaac Busey died in 1834, and was the first to be buried in the old 
cemetery in Urbana. In 1833 several members of the Moss family 
and others died of cholera, north of the grove. The deaths were 
startling and spread consternation among the people. I mention also 
others who died within a few years after coming here, as follows : 
James Brownfield, brother of John and father of Robert; Thomas 
Rolland, father of Mrs. William I. Moore, of Danville; Isaiah Corray, 
father of Elisha ; John Truman, ancestor of those remaining of that 
name; William Boyd, the grandfather of James Boyd; Isaac Busey, 
his son John and his grandson Isaac : David Shepard, father of Parris ; 
William T. Webber, father of T. R. and W. H. W T ebber; James Brown- 
field, grandfather of William and Thomas; Jesse Tompkins, a squatter 
on the government lands; Samuel Brumley, father of Mrs. T. L. Tru- 
man ; Jacob Bradshaw, Stephen Gulick, Charles Busey and the list 
might be extended, but space forbids. 

DECEASED REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS 

"Two of the earlier deaths were of men who were veterans of the 
Revolutionary War. One was Robert Brownfield, above noted, who 
died in 1841. The other was William Hays, who died afterward. Both 
are buried in Somer, and in unmarked graves. It would redound to 
the credit of the people to erect lasting monuments to mark the last 
resting place of these patriots, and to keep these spots in remembrance 
upon each recurring Decoration Day. 

SCHOOLS 

"John Light, the squatter, probably taught the first school within 
the territory of these townships in a cabin near where Frank Apperson 
now lives. James Boyd, who is with us today, was a pupil of Light's, 
and believes this to be the first. It was taught in the winter of 1832-33. 
Charles Fielder and John B. Thomas, afterwards a lawyer and judge 
of the county court, also taught school in the settlement in the north 
"part of the grove. Asahel Brauer, a veteran of the War of 1812, who 
died five years since, also taught early in the '30s, in the grove. 

MILLS OF EARLY DATE 

"The first mill for grinding corn was brought by Robert Trickle 
from Butler's Point in 1826. It consisted of a hollow log or 'gum,' in 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



125 



which were inserted the upper and the nether mill stones. These stones 
were worked out from rough bowlders and, with the appliances for 
making the upper stone revolve, served a very good purpose. Fielder 
in 1828 and John Brownfield in 1836, built horse mills, which were 
improvements on the hand mill. Brownfield's mill was quite pre- 
tentious and was built by James Holmes, a preacher of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. The frame of the building used still stands. The 
stones were subsequently built into a water mill in the creek in 1842 by 
Mr. Brownfield, which superseded the horse mill. The stones are still 
preserved by Tom Brownfield as mementoes of other days. John Hap- 




OLD TIMER or A SAWMILL 

teustall built a saw mill on the creek below the town about 1840, and 
Jacob Mootz in 1842 built another on a site here in the park of Colonel 
Busey. These mills were not attended with success and were super- 
seded by the first steam saw and grist mill built in the county, erected 
in Urbana in 1850 by William Park. 

PIONEER PHYSICIANS 



"The first physician who located here was Dr. Fulkerson, who came 
in 1830 and boarded with Mrs. Coe, a widow who had improved land in 
Section 27, Somer. He did not remain long, but moved on. Dr. Lyons 
stopped at John Shepherd's in Urbana Township for a time, before 
locating permanently at Sidney. He subsequently represented the 



126 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

county in the Legislature. Dr. John Saddler located in Urbana in 
1839, leaving not long after, and was followed by Drs. Winston and 
W. D. Somers in 1840 and 1843. The former honored his profession 
until his death in 1871 ; the latter soon entered the law practice as the 
first lawyer of the county. 

RELIGIOUS PATHFINDERS 

"One Mahurin, a Baptist, was the first minister to proclaim the 
Gospel here. He became chaplain of a regiment in the Black Hawk 
War and never returned. Alexander Holbrook, who lived where 
Captain Howell now resides, was a Methodist exhorter and often made 
the woods ring with his wild eloquence. William Phillips, known to 
the settlers as 'Bub Phillips,' and- Rev. J. Holmes, who was a transient 
millwright, were local preachers of the same persuasion and materially 
aided the moral work. Father John G. Robertson, who in 1830 entered 
land in Section 10, Urbana, and who, as a Baptist layman, was ever 
a zealous Christian worker, is said to have held the first religious meet- 
ings in the then village of Urbana. He died at Mahomet a few years 
ago. The first Methodist class, and the germ of the present society in 
Urbana, was organized in 1836 at the house of Walter Rhodes, the first 
leader. The Baptist Church of Urbana was organized in 1841, at the 
Brumley schoolhouse, two miles east. The Roes, Brumleys, Trumans, 
Cooks, Coxes and Nancy Webber were among the constituent members. 
The officiating clergyman was Rev. Newell." 

MORE ABOUT THE PREACHERS 

As stated, one of the first ministers to hold religious services in the 
county was Rev. John Dunham, of the United Brethren Church, who, 
at a very early day, came among the scattered settlements of Big Grove 
and Salt Fork. He lived in McLean County, and often, as late as 1835, 
passed through the settlements on his ministerial tours. Alexander 
Holbrook, the Methodist exhorter, lived on Howell's farm and often 
held meetings in the neighborhood, sometimes riding a steer to his 
appointments. Rev. William Phillips, who settled the Meyers farm, 
north of Champaign, sometimes preached about the Grove. Rev. Mr. 
Holmes organized the first Methodist class in the county, of which 
Walter Rhodes was made leader. Another eccentric pioneer preacher 
was Rev. Samuel Mapes. He rode also on a steer, but his steer was 
ornamented, usually, with a bell. He rode barefoot and carried a gun. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 137 

Rev. William I. Peters, of Salt Fork, used to preach much over the 
country. He bought whisky by the barrel on the Wabash at twenty 
cents per gallon, and retailed so as to clear thirty cents a gallon. The 
people not only regarded his practice as unobjectionable, but thought it 
a religious duty to buy their whisky of "Uncle Billy," as he was called, 
thereby assisting to spread the gospel and securing a good article of 
whisky at the same time. 

A PROFESSIONAL LAND-GRABBER 

David Gabbert, a widely known county pioneer, was honest and red- 
headed, unprepossessing in appearance and eccentric in manner. He 
never owned any land himself, but was often employed by others to 
enter land for them at Palestine or Vandalia and secure the receiver's 
certificate of entry. At any hour of the day or night he would set out, 
usually on foot, and never stop until his errand was accomplished. 
Gabbert lived on an eighty-acre farin in Section 15. Matthew Busey 
wanted to annex it to his farm; so one afternoon he started for 
Palestine, with the specie, to enter the farm. 

It chanced that Anderson Rice, also, wanted the same land; so 
Gabbert was placed upon a -horse after dark and started for Palestine. 
"Uncle Mat" had ridden leisurely forward until evening, when he 
stopped for the night. Gabbert, however, rode all night, passed Mr. 
Busey, and by the time the latter reached the land office, Gabbert had 
the receiver's certificate in his pocket, and Anderson was owner of the 
land. In this way did the pioneer settle once and forever many land 
titles. 

WINTER OF THE DEEP SNOW 

In the winter of 1830 and '31 came the deep snow. The weather 
during the fall had been dry, and continued mild until late in the 
winter. The snow came in the latter part of December and a great 
snow it was. The settlers were blockaded in their cabins and could 
do very little but pound their corn, cut their wood and keep their fires 
blazing. A great deal of stock was frozen to death. The deer and wild 
turkeys, which had been very numerous, suffered greatly and were nearly 
exterminated. The wolves became very bold and impudent. The 
stories of this deep snow would fill a volume. The depth of the snow 
was certainly over three feet, and many estimates place it at four. 
Fences were hidden. The summer following was celebrated for fever 
and ague, one of the severest scourges that afflicted the settlers. It was 



128 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

a disease that induced a feeling of despondency and took away that 
strong will and spirit of enterprise which enabled the settlers to endure 
the hardships of their lot. 

FIRST MARRIAGE AND MARRYING MINISTERS 

It is said that the first marriage in the county was that of Melinda 
Busey, daughter of Isaac Busey, to John Bryan, a young man lately 
from Kentucky, and that soon after, in 1834, Miss Nancy Brasilia 
Busey, daughter of Matthew Busey, wedded Elias Stamey, a settler who 
had entered land two miles north of IJrbana. 

The first ministers of the Gospel to perform marriage ceremonies 
were Cyrus Strong, an elder of the Christian Church, and William S. 
Crissey and James Holmes, Methodists, the latter the first organizer 
of Methodism in the county. 

A CIRCULAR HUNT 

Every new western county has had its famous hunts, by which its 
citizens aimed to round up such obnoxious animals as wolves, foxes and 
skunks, with such good food animals thrown in as wild turkeys, deer 
and various game in season. Champaign County had some successes 
and some failures in that line. The following is a notice to the hunters 
of that region, published in the Urbana Union of January 11, 1855: 
"Those who love the sports of the chase will have an opportunity of 
enjoying a rare hunt on Saturday next. By a well-matured plan the 
citizens of the county intend to have a Circular Hunt. The perimeter 
of the circle touches at Urbana, Robert Dean's, the old Boyer farm, 
Sadorus Grove and Sidney. The center is about nine miles south of 
this place." 

The same paper of a week later has this pathetic account of the 
results of the Circular Hunt, so well-matured: "Instead of returning 
laden with the trophies of the chase, and for weeks fattening on good 
venison, our hunters came in early in the afternoon with jaded horses, 
empty stomachs and frozen fingers; in short, with everything but plenty 
of game. It appears that detachments from other settlements not so 
venturous as our hunters did not venture to brave the cold winds of 
the prairies that day, and the circle was not completed until they 
arrived upon the ground near the center; therefore the game was com- 
paratively scarce. A few deer and wolves were headed, but from the 
few hunters on the ground, all escaped but one wolf." 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 129 

LANCASTER AND BLOOMVILLE STRICTLY PAPER TOWNS 

The records of Vermilion County show that on July 16, 1832, Noah 
Baxter filed a plat of the town of Lancaster, laid out on what is now the 
northeast quarter of Section 6, TJrbana Township, about two miles north 
of the city on an extension of Lincoln Avenue. It was near Salt Fork, 
adjoining the Big Grove and in the vicinity of one of the finest springs 
in the county. There was an ample public square in the center of the 
Lancaster plat, and a number of regular, carefully bisected streets. The 
tract was originally in possession of Sample Cole. Champaign County 
was organized the year after Lancaster was platted, but it nowhere 
appears as a competitor for the county seat or, in fact, anywhere else 
but in the Vermilion County records. 

The records of the county show that J. Q. Thomas, in September, 
1855, laid out the town of Bloomville, comprising thirty-two lots on the 
northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 8, about two 
miles northwest of Mahomet. The filing of the plat seems to have put 
a period to the enterprise. 

EARLY KOADS 

\ 

Judge Cunningham in 1905 : "The roads now, and for many years, 
running from Urbana northeasterly, known as the Heater Road and the 
Brownfield Road, were not in use after the location of the county 
seat. A trail, and perhaps wagon road, affording communication from 
the settlements north of the Big Grove with those on the south, led 
from the Clements farm south, crossing the creek at what was known 
as the Clay Bank ford running to the neighborhood of Samuel Brumley 
and of Matthew Busey. Now a county road and upon a section line, 
follows nearly the same route. The former road afforded pupils on the 
north side of the grove a road to the Brumley schoolhouse in later times. 

"Until farms were occupied and enclosed, and travel confined to the 
legal roads, little work was done upon prairie roads. Here and there 
a culvert was put in at a slough crossing. No grades were thrown up 
and little pains were taken to close up the inevitable ruts made by 
passing vehicles. When a rut became too large for comfort, all the 
traveler had to do was to travel elsewhere in parallel lines, where mud 
had not been made. By the repetition of this process roads often 
attained great width. The liberty to go elsewhere always afforded com- 
paratively good roads, at least in ordinary seasons, and it need hardly 
be said that the age of good roads in Illinois, for a time at least, passed 
with the fencing up of the roads so as to confine travel to one line. 

19 



130 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

"It was a common practice for the early settlers, for the purpose of 
marking the best line of travel between two places or between 
two timber points, to mark the route with a furrow, to be fol- 
lowed until the track became plain. It was in this manner that 
the road from Urbana to Middletown, now known as the State 
road, was at first marked and traveled, the furrow, in this case, 
being made by Fielding L. Scott. The road, as thus laid 
out by Mr. Scott as early as 1836 between Urbana and Mahomet, is 
still in use. So Henry Sadorus ran a furrow from his cabin to the 
Ambraw, for his own use and that of the traveling public. E. E. Busey 
tells of the work of his father who, in like manner, ran a furrow from 




AN EARLY STAGE COACH 

his house to Linn Grove, and again from the present site of Sidney to 
Sadorus Grove. These lines were, of course, run without regard to 
section lines." 

WHITE MAN SHAMED BY BED "SAVAGE" 

Peculiarly painful and pathetic circumstances attended the death of 
Mr. Cook (the first white to die in Champaign County), as told by 
Judge Cunningham, who says : "Isham Cook came early in the year 
1830, and having bought out a squatter named Bullard, on July 1st of 
that year, entered the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 5 
and, after erecting a cabin thereon, returned to Kentucky for his 
family. In the dead of winter, the family, on their way to their new 
home, arrived at Linn Grove, where Mr. Cook sickened and died. The 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 131 

bereaved family, with the body of their dead uncoffined, were in sore 
straits; for the members thereof consisted of the widow and four 
small children. One of the daughters, then a young girl, informed 
Judge Cunningham, in after years, that Joseph Davis took the remains 
of Mr. Cook and, with the grief -stricken and bewildered family, drove 
across country to Big Grove, in the western edge of which the dead 
father had partly prepared a cabin for his household the autumn before. 
The party was late and Davis was anxious to return home and, without 
ceremony, dumped the dead body of Cook upon the ground near the 
cabin, and set out on his journey home. This heartless proceeding, 
together with the helpless and unprotected condition of the family, 
caused the mother and her little children to cry aloud, with, as they 
supposed, no one near enough to hear them. It was otherwise, however, 
for a company of wild Indians, who were encamped a short distance east 
of the cabin across the creek, heard the cries of distress and at once 
came to the cabin. They were able to speak the language of the family 
and were informed of the action of the heartless Davis. Pagans as 
they were, they were indignant, and offered to pursue the hard-hearted 
Davis and take his scalp; but Mrs. Cook persuaded them otherwise, 
when they set about making the family comfortable in their cheerless 
camp. A fire was made, provisions furnished and cooked, and all cared 
for as best might be done. The next day these same wild men returned 
and again ministered to the needs of the family. The remains of the 
dead father, coffined in a roll of bark found near by, and which it must 
be supposed he himself had taken from some tree used in the building 
or roofing of his cabin, were placed in a grave made by them, and every- 
thing that the knowledge of the wild men could suggest was done to 
make the family comfortable. This place remained the home of the 
Cook family until broken up by the death of the mother and the 
marriage of the daughters, which took place ten years or more after 
they came here. 

"James Madison Cook, the youngest of Isham Cook's family, and 
the only son, was drowned in Spring Creek, Iroquois County, about 
1843, when on his way by wagon to Chicago. 

"The land entered by Cook was subsequently owned by Samuel G. 
Bickley and became the home of James Dean, about 1850, where he 
resided until his death in 1870. Mr. Dean always respected the burial 
place of the Cooks, and though the graves remained unmarked, the 
ground was never broken or used in any manner. A small bunch of 
young timber and bushes covered the site for many years." 



132 HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

TAX-PAYERS AT THE CREATION OF THE COUNTY 

At the time the county was created there were 111 tax-payers in the 
county. They were mainly grouped in three settlements: The Salt 
Fork, the Big Grove and the Sangamon. 

In the first was George Akers, the Baileys, and the Bartleys; Sarah 
and William Coe, whose descendants are yet here; William Copeland, 
who also has descendants. There, too, also lived the following, who 
have descendants now in the county : John Coddington Larkin and 
Thomas Dier, Jefferson Huss, James Freeman, John W. Leird, William 
Nox, ST., and William Nox, Jr., William I. Peters, Abraham and 
William Peters, Hiram Eankins, David and John Swearingen, Cyrus 
Strong, Adam and Joseph Thomas, and Jacob Thomas, Sr., and Jacob, 
Jr., Henry and Moses Thomas; Adam Zeazel and John Zormes. There 
too lived others: Moses Argo, Levi Moore, Robert Prater, Joseph Stay- 
ton, and a few other families. 

At Big Grove were the Buseys, Matthew and Isaac and Charles, 
Samuel Beckley and William Boyd, Mijamin Byers, Samuel Brom- 
ley, Asahel Bruer, yet living in Urbana, honored and revered by all, 
John Brown, Noah Bixler, the Broomfields, James, John, Jr., and 
Benjamin, whose numerous descendants are citizens of this county; 
Nancy Cook, William Curry. David Gabbard, the pioneer, Jacob Heater, 
Alexander Holebrooks and Lackland Howard, James and Amos John- 
son, William, Elijah and John Jackson, Elias Kirby, James Mass, 
George Powell, Daniel T. Porter and Thomas Eowland, Gabriel G. Rice, 
James T. Roe, John G. Robertson, Matthias Rhinehart, Walter Rhodes, 
John Salisbury, Philip Stanford, Andrew Stevenson, John Truman, 
Joshua Taylor, Martin Tompkins, Joshua and Robert Trickles, the 
Webbers, William T. and Thompson R., and John Whitaker. 

On the Sangamon were Ethan Newcom and family, the Osborns, 
James, Henry, William and Jonathan and Henry Hannahs. Frederick 
Bouse was at Linn Grove, and Henry Sadorus was on his farm on the 
banks of the Okaw or Kaskaskia. 

AN INSIDE STOEY RELATING TO THE COUNTY SEAT 

On February 20, 1833, John Reynolds, governor of Illinois, signed 
the act of the Legislature creating the county of Champaign from the 
lands attached to Vermilion. The act appointed John F. Richardson, 
of Clark County, James P. Jones, of Coles County, and Stephen B. 
Shelledy, of Edgar County, commissioners to locate Urbana, which it 



HISTOKY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 133 

was declared should be the county seat. These men met, as required by 
law, at the house of Phillip M. Stanford and found various points con- 
testing for the honor of being the capital of the new county. Stanford 
wanted it at his house north of the grove, where the principal part of 
the population of the settlement was then located; in which his neigh- 
bors all joined him. At that time the only postoffice in this part of 
the county was known as Van Buren and was kept on the adjoining 
farm of Matthias Ehinehart. Isaac Busey and William T. Webber, 
owners respectively of the west one half of the northwest quarter and 
the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 17, in Urbana, and 
Colonel M. W. Busey, who owned contiguous lands, were making liberal 
offers of land for county purposes. The Stanford location was on the 
Fort Clark road and was surrounded by a considerable population, while 
the latter site was covered by hazel brush and decidedly in the back- 
woods. It was thought that the commissioners had decided in favor of 
Stanford's, when Isaac Busey prevailed upon them to go home with him 
to stay all night before driving the stake that was to settle the con- 
troversy. They went, and before another sun arose, tradition informs 
us that the stake was driven in a patch of hazel brush where the court- 
house now stands. The driving of that stake, although an unimportant 
circumstance at that time, has proved an eventful one upon many things 
happening since. There are those who indulged in dark hints at the 
time of undue influences, the echo of which may be yet heard, but no 
doubt the commissioners acted from honest motives. Had Stanford's 
been accepted, Somer would have been the site of the county seat, 
instead of Urbana. The circumstances soon began to work necessary 
changes. Population began to gather on the south side of the grove; 
stores, limited, however, to a few articles only, were opened in Urbana. 
Courts were held here, and roads were opened leading to other parts of 
the county. The postoffice had its name changed from Van Buren to 
Urbana, and T. R. Webber, in addition to the office of clerk of the 
Circuit Court, and perhaps other offices, became postmaster. 

This fixing of the county seat at Urbana, which also marked the 
birth of Champaign County as a civil organization, is carried over into 
the following chapter as the commencement of a distinct era and sub- 
ject. Although some of the sub-topics of the preceding pioneer period 
have overlapped the year 1833, the main treatment of the subject has 
been consistent. 



134 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

OLD SETTLERS SOCIETY 

A number of old settlers of Champaign County effected an organiza- 
tion at the courthouse in Urbana, May 16, 1870, with Henry Sadorus 
as president. The members comprised those who were twenty years of 
age in 1840 and resided in the county at the time, and included the 
following: Henry Sadorus, William Sadorus, J. S. Wright, T. E. 
Webber, John G. Eobinson, Fielding Scott, Stephen Boyd, John Max- 
field, Asahel Bruer, James Clements, Joseph Maxwell, Paris Shepherd, 
William Eock, Eobert Brownfield, John Corray, James Myers, D. 0. 
Brumley, T. L. Truman, James Kirby, Abraham Leazel, H. W. Drul- 
linger, James Bartley, B. F. Argo, John K. Patterson, Hiram Eankin, 
David Swearingen, Samuel Mapes, Thomas Eichards, Michael Fire- 
baugh, J. J. Swearingen, F. J. Busey, Harrison Heater, John E. Brown- 
field, Thomas Swearingen, William Eomine, David Argo, B. F. Harris, 
Mrs. Elizabeth Busey, Mrs. Stephen Boyd, Mrs. Bryant, Mrs. William 
Harvey, Mrs. John Maxwell, Mrs. Sarah Eobertson, Mrs. Fielding Scott 
and Mrs. William Eock. A point was stretched, however, and Archa 
Campbell, C. F. Columbia and J. T. Everett were admitted to member- 
ship. T. B. Webber was chosen first secretary and treasurer. There is 
a long hiatus in the records, as the next meeting noted was held in 
August, 1882. A new constitution and by-laws were adopted and J. 0. 
Cunningham was elected president. Irregular meetings have been held 
since, but have become less and less frequent with the falling asleep of 
the old settlers until a regular organization has virtually been non- 
existent for a number of years. It may be added, as a fitting con- 
clusion, that L. A. McLean was long its secretary. 



CHAPTER V 
COUNTY MATTERS AND INSTITUTIONS 

UNDER VERMILION COUNTY JOHN W. VANCE, FATHER OF CHAM- 
PAIGN COUNTY THE CREATIVE ACT JUDGE THOMAS ISSUES FIRST 
ELECTION CERTIFICATES THOMAS R. WEBBER BALANCE OF FIRST 
COUNTY OFFICERS COUNTY DIVIDED INTO ELECTION DISTRICTS 
CONTESTANTS FOR THE COUNTY SEAT REPORT OF LOCATING COM- 
MISSIONERS SOURCES OF REVENUE IN 1833 OFFICIAL HAPPENINGS 
OF 1834, 1835 AND 1836 TEMPORARY COURTHOUSE FINANCES IN 
1837 MILL SEATS AND BRIDGES FIRST COUNTY JAIL PIONEER 
CHURCHES AND SCHOOL MATTERS IN 1844 AND 1845 COUNTY 
FUNDS IN 1846 NEW COURTHOUSE COMPLETED PUBLIC SQUARE 
FENCED ONLY WEBBER AGAINST INCORPORATION FIRST TERM 
OF CIRCUIT COURT OPENED THE 'COURTHOUSE OF 1848 SCENE OF 
FAMOUS SPEECHES AND MEETINGS COURTHOUSE Too SMALL 
TREASURED WORDS OF LINCOLN RESULT OF 1856 AND 1860 CAM- 
PAIGNS LINCOLN-DOUGLAS SENATORIAL CONTEST MAIN SPEECHES 
AT THE FAIR GROUNDS Two POINTS OF VIEW ONE COURTHOUSE 
SOLD; ANOTHER BUILT TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION ADOPTED 
OTHER CHANGES IN OFFICERS THE COURTHOUSE OF 1901 MUR- 
DERER ESCAPES FROM OLD COUNTY JAIL LINCOLN CALLS UPON SON 
OF FOSTER BROTHER THE SECOND AND THIRD JAILS THE COUNTY 
POORFARM ROSTER OF COUNTY OFFICERS STATISTICS FIRST 
ASSESSMENT IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY (1833) INCREASE OF COUNTY 
REVENUES PROPERTY VALUATION AND TAXES (1916) POPULA- 
TION (1833-1917) BY TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND VILLAGES. 

If a Book of Chronicles were to be written for Champaign County, 
its introduction would be something in this order: And St. Clair 
County begat Knox, and Knox begat Gallatin, and Gallatin begat 
Edwards, and Edwards begat Crawford, and Crawford begat Clark, 
and Clark begat Edgar, and Edgar begat Vermilion, and from Vermilion 
was born the special land of which this book is a record. 

135 



136 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

UNDER VERMILION COUNTY 

Vermilion County, as created in 1826, embraced much of the state 
east of its central districts, including not only the present county by 
that name, but Iroquois, Ford and Champaign. At that time the few 
people in the western part of the county had mostly settled at Big 
Grove, and the Vermilion County Commissioners divided it into two 
voting precincts. All the territory north of a line running through 
the center of Town 18 was named as the Township of Eipley, with its 
voting place at the house of James Butler, at Butler's Point (now Catlin, 
Vermilion County), and "accommodated" the Big Grove Colony; south 
of that line was the Township of Carroll, and Henry Sadorus, the sole 
voter, in the precinct within the bounds of what is now Champaign 
County, had to go to the Little Vermilion, if he desired to exercise his 
right of suffrage. John Light, one of the Big Grove squatters, was 
appointed constable for Eipley Township, and was the first settler to hold 
office in what is now Champaign County. 

While still a portion of -Vermilion County, the election districts 
embracing the present territory of Champaign County were changed in 
area, and various voting places named, more convenient of access. Such 
settlers as Eunnel Fielder, John Powell, James Osborn, John Light 
and Thomas Eowland were named as judges of election. In 1838 the 
so-called Big Grove district embraced the territory west of the line 
between St. Joseph and Sidney, and Urbana and Philo extended to the 
northern and southern boundaries of the county. The records also 
show that the citizens along the upper Salt Fork and Big Grove were 
called to serve upon various juries of the Circuit Court sitting at 
Danville. 

In 1830-31 Mijamin Byers, living on Section 10, Urbana, and 
Moses Thomas, whose home was on Section 30, a few miles northwest of 
the present village of Homer, were chosen justices of the peace. 

But the settlers of Big Grove were impatient to get the civil machin- 
ery in motion, and could not wait for the results of the April election, 
and at the March term petitioned the Board of County Commissioners 
of Vermilion to appoint John Whitaker and Thomas E. Webber, of 
their number, acting constables. In the case, at least, of Mr. Webber 
this was done, as the record states that he "at once entered into bond 
with Philip M. Stanford and Moses Thomas as his sureties, which bond 
was by the court approved." 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 137 

JOHN W. VANCE, FATHER OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

In the meantime John W. Vance, who resided at the Salt Works, a 
few miles west of Danville, the county seat of Vermilion County, had 
entered land in the Big Grove District and was evidently convinced that 
the section was destined to nourish. He had been sent to the State 
Senate several terms previous to his election to that body in August, 
1832, and he is said to have fathered and perhaps prepared the act 
approved by Governor Reynolds, February 20, 1833, which created the 
county of Champaign with its bounds of today. Several attempts have 
been made to dismember it, and, although the acts tending thereto passed 
the Legislature, they were finally rejected by popular vote. 

THE CKEATIVE ACT 

The text of the act is as follows : 

"Section 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois 
represented in the General Assembly, That all the tract of country west 
of Vermilion County and east of Macon and McLean counties, to-wit: 
beginning at the southwest corner of Section 34, on the line dividing 
Townships 16 and 17 North, in Range 14 West of the Second Principal 
Meridian, thence west on said line to the east line of Macon County, 
thence north with said line to the line dividing 22 and 23, thence east 
with said line to the northwest corner of Section 3, Township 22 North, 
in Range 14 West, thence south on section line to the place of beginning, 
shall form a new county to be called Champaign. 

"Section 2. For the purpose of fixing the seat of justice of said 
county, .John F. Richardson, of Clark County, James P. Jones, of Coles 
County, and Stephen B. Shelledy, of Edgar County, are hereby appointed 
commissioners, who, or a majority of them, shall meet at the house of 
Philip Stanford in said county, on the third Monday of June next, or 
in six days thereafter, and, being duly sworn before some justice of the 
peace of the state, faithfully and impartially to take into view the 
conveniences of the people, the situation of the present settlements, with 
a strict view to the population and settlements which will hereafter be 
made, and the eligibility of the place, shall proceed to explore and 
carefully examine the country, determine on and designate the place for 
the permanent seat of justice of the same; Provided, the proprietor, or 
proprietors of the land shall give and convey by deed of general warranty 
for the purpose of erecting public buildings, a quantity of land in a 



138 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

square form, or not more than twice as long as wide, not less than 
twenty acres; but should the proprietor neglect to make the donation, 
then and in that case said commissioners shall fix said county seat, 
having in view the interests of the county, upon the land of some other 
person who will make the donation aforesaid. If the commissioners 
shall be of the opinion and decide that the proper place for the seat of 
justice is, or ought to be, on lands belonging to the Government, they 
shall so report, and the County Commissioners shall purchase one-half 
quarter section of the tract set forth in their name, for the use of the 
county. The commissioners appointed to locate the seat of justice shall, 
as soon as they decide on the place, make a clear report to the Com- 
missioners' Court of the county, and the same shall be recorded at 
length in their record book. The land donated or purchased shall be 
laid out into lots and sold by the commissioners of the county to the 
best advantage, and the proceeds applied to the erection of public build- 
ings, and such other purposes as the commissioners shall direct, and 
good and sufficient deeds shall be made for lots sold. 

"Section 3. An election shall be held at the place of holding as 
now laid off by Vermilion County in the said county of Champaign on 
the second Monday of April next, for one sheriff, one coroner and three 
county commissioners, who shall hold their offices until the next general 
election and until they be qualified; and the Justices of the Peace and 
the constables who are now in office and residing within the limits of the 
said county of Champaign, shall continue in office until the next 
quadrennial election for Justices of the Peace and constable, and until 
their successors be qualified. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the 
Circuit Court of said county to give public notice, at least ten days 
previous to the election to be held on the second Monday in April next, 
and in case there shall be no clerk in said county, it shall be the duty 
of the recorder, or judge of probate, to give at least fifteen days' notice 
previous to said election, who shall be legal voters, and the returns of 
the election shall be made to the Clerk, Recorder or Judge of Probate, 
as the case may be, who gave the notice aforesaid, and by him, in the 
presence of one or more Justices of the Peace, shall be opened and 
examined, and they jointly shall give to the persons elected commis- 
sioners' certificates of their election, and like certificates to the persons 
elected sheriff and coroner, to forward to the governor, which election 
shall in all respects be conformable to law. 

"Section 4. The commissioners appointed to locate the county 
seat shall be allowed two dollars per day for each day they may be 
necessarily employed in making said location, to be paid by said county. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 139 

"Section 6. The seat of justice of said county shall be called and 
known, by the name of Urbana. 

"Approved February 20, 1833, by 

"John Reynolds, Governor." 

JUDGE THOMAS ISSUES FIRST ELECTION CERTIFICATES 

Moses Thomas, mentioned as one of the sureties of Mr. Webber on 
his bond as constable, was a friend of Senator Vance, author of the 
Champaign County Bill. He was also one of the justices of the peace 
while the territory was under the jurisdiction of Vermilion County 
and, previous to the April election of 1833, ordered in the creative act, 
had been appointed probate judge by the General Assembly. At the 
election on the second Monday in April, held at the house of John 
Light, Isaac Busey, Jacob Bartley and George Akers were chosen com- 
missioners of Champaign County and John Salisbury, sheriff. It is 
probable that the first official act of Probate Judge Thomas was to 
canvass the returns of the election and issue certificates to the success- 
ful candidates. Such procedure was authorized by the organic act, and 
the record shows that Judge Thomas issued such certificates of election. 

THOMAS R. WEBBER 

On the 6th of May, 1833, these first commissioners of Champaign 
County met at the cabin of Philip Stanford, on Section 28, Somer 
Township, and appointed Thomas R. Webber clerk of the Board. He 
held that position, either by appointment of the board or by popular 
election, for more than twenty years, and served as clerk of the Circuit 
Court for twenty-three years, from 1835 to 1857, inclusive. He was 
also the first postmaster at Urbana and in the county, and was, 
altogether, of such unusual capacity that his subsequent public career 
is here noted. He was a Kentuckian of German extraction and one of 
the pioneers and shining lights of the Big Grove contingent. In addi- 
tion to his long service as county and circuit clerks, he acted as master 
in chancery for a period of forty years, being succeeded by M. W. 
Mathews in 1873. In 1847 he was elected to represent Vermilion, 
Champaign, Piatt and Coles counties in the constitutional convention 
of that year, and in 1862 he represented in a similar convention, the 
counties of Champaign, Piatt, DeWitt and Macon. The constitution 
prepared by the latter convention was rejected by the people, and hence 
the names of its framers were not so impressed upon the history of the 



140 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

state as if it had been incorporated into the fundamental laws. Mr. 
Webber was a man of high personal character, as well as ability, and 
widely beloved. He died at his residence south of Urbana on Decem- 
ber 14, 1881, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 

BALANCE OF FIRST COUNTY OFFICERS 

After the appointment of Mr. Webber as the first county clerk, the 
new commissioners chose Garrett Moore as constable and Moses Thomas 
as assessor and treasurer. 

The next meeting of the Board, or Court (as it was originally 
called), was held June 3, 1833, when Mr. Webber was recommended to 
the governor for recorder. The appointment promptly followed, his 
commission dating from July 2. At the same meeting Garrett Moore 
the constable, was appointed surveyor, and Assessor Thomas reported 
the revenue of the county to be $71.37. 

COUNTY DIVIDED INTO ELECTION DISTRICTS 

The Court also divided the county into two election districts, calling 
one the Salt Fork precinct and appointing Moses Thomas, Robert 
Prather and Captain William Nox, Jr., judges, and the second, the Big 
Grove precinct, with Matthew Busey, Joshua Trickle and John Whitaker 
as judges. The meeting then adjourned to assemble at the call of the 
clerk at such time as the commissioners appointed by legislative act to 
locate the county seat should be ready to report. 

CONTESTANTS FOR THE COUNTY SEAT 

The late Judge Cunningham thus sizes up the situation at the time 
the locating commissioners were endeavoring to decide upon the site of 
the county seat, which was to be called Urbana: "It will be remem- 
bered that at this time there was no established town or village to claim 
the boon of the seat of justice, nor was there any densely settled district 
with influence. The law under which these gentlemen were to act only 
required them to 'take into view the conveniences of the people, the 
situation of the present settlements, with a strict view to the population 
and settlements which shall hereafter be made, and the eligibility of 
the place.' The 'settlements' and the 'people' whose conveniences were 
to be consulted as then located, were found in three groups : one upon 
the Salt Fork, another at the Big Grove mostly upon the Fort Clark 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 141 

road at the north side, and the third upon the Sangamon the largest 
settlement of the three being the first, and the smallest, the last named. 

"The positions occupied by the first and last named settlements, and 
opposite sides of the county, excluded both from the consideration of 
the commissioners, leaving the Big Grove settlement at the center of 
the county alone to be considered. On the north side were most of the 
inhabitants, including Stanford (at whose house the Commission was 
required to meet), John Whitaker, the Brownfields, John Light, 
Thomas Eowland (the friend of Senator Vance), and many others who 
had influence. On the south side were Isaac Busey, then the largest 
land owner in the county; Matthew Busey, his brother, and Thomas E. 
Webber, all on the ground with land to give, besides Colonel Matthew 
W. Busey, then a resident of Greencastle, Indiana, but a large land 
owner, who was then on the ground seeking, with others with like inter- 
ests, the location of the new county seat. So, also, William T. Webber, 
who had made valuable selections of lands on the south side, then a 
resident of Kentucky, represented by his son, T. E. Webber, threw his 
influence into the arena of contest. Those on the north side wished the 
new town of Urbana to be located there, where was then established 
Van Buren postoffice, the only office in the county. 

"The commissioners looked at the location about two miles east of 
Urbana in Section 15, where Matthew Busey then lived and, admiring 
the lay of the land, solicited from him an offer of land for public 
purposes. The suggestion was repelled by Mr. Busey, upon whose 
vision the thought of profits from the sale of corner lots and town sites, 
does not seem to have made any impression. He declared that he had 
purchased this land for a farm and a home, and was determined to use 
it as such, which he did to the day of his death, thirty years afterwards. 
The commissioners also looked at a very pretty town-site upon the land 
of John Brownfield near the creek in the Big Grove, believed to have 
been the geographical center of the county. So, also, the town of 'Lan- 
caster,' laid out but a year before, was a candidate for the favor, and 
not without friends. Noah Bixler, the proprietor, was not a man to 
remain silent when such an opportunity offered to aid his town. It 
had many things to recommend its claims. The land there and near by 
was entirely suitable for a town, and the location was not more than 
two miles from the geographic center of the new county. Possibly its 
name was against it, for the law said 'the seat of justice of said county 
shall be called and known by the name of Urbana.' 

"The controversy narrowed down to the two points north of the 
grove and south of the grove. The former was championed by Stan- 



142 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ford, Heater, Brownfield, Rhinehart, Light, and many other dwellers 
along the Fort Clark road, who could claim for their settlement age, 
numbers, the postoffice, and the only public road through the county, 
and as being at the front ; while the south side was without any of these 
advantages, and was an out-of-the-way place with no advantages what- 
ever. In fact, the south side had nothing to recommend as a county 
seat. It had no roads, but bridle paths and Indian trails. It had no 
population except the families of Isaac Busey, Jacob Smith, and the 
Webbers; and it is still told by those who then noted the controversy, 
that it had no vegetation but the hazel brush, which grew in great 
abundance and to a wondrous height." 

The secret of the unexpected decision in favor of the "hazel brush 
site" on the south side of the Big Grove was never divulged; only the 
fact that Commissioners Richardson and Shelledy adjourned from Mr. 
Stanford's house on June 20, 1833, to the residence of Isaac Busey, 
with the general understanding that they favored the "north-siders," 
and that on the following day they reported for the south side site. 

REPORT OF THE LOCATING COMMISSIONERS 

At the meeting of the county commissioners on the 21st, Clerk Web- 
ber made this record : 

"This day came Stephen B. Shelledy and John F. Richardson, a 
majority of the commissioners appointed to locate the permanent seat 
of justice for the county of Champaign, appeared in court and made 
the following report, which is ordered to be committed to record and 
filed in the Clerk's office: 

"We, the undersigned commissioners appointed to locate the seat in 
and for Champaign County, do certify that agreeably to 'An act creating 
Champaign County,' approved January 20, 1833, we met at the house 
of Philip Stanford in said county, and after being duly sworn, faith- 
fully and impartially to take into view the conveniences of the people, 
the situation of the present settlement, with a strict view to the popu- 
lation and settlement which will hereafter be made, and eligibility of 
the place, proceeded to explore and carefully examine the country and 
have sele'cted a site and obtained donation of forty-three acres of land, 
titles to thirty acres of which we have procured to be executed to the 
County Commissioners' Court of Champaign County, 19 50-100 of which 
lies in the northeast quarter of Section 17, Town 19 North, Range 9 
East, and ten and a half acres in the west half of the southeast quarter 
of Section 8, Town 19 North, Range 9 East; the metes and bounds of 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 143 

which are particularly described in the deed executed by Isaac Busey and 
wife ; also ten acres in the east half of the southeast quarter of Section 8 
and the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 17, Town 19 North, 
Range 9 East; the metes and bounds of which are particularly described 
in a bond for a deed, under penalty of $10,000, executed by T. B. Web- 
ber and M. W. Busey; also three acres described in a bond for a deed 
executed by M. W. Busey and T. E. Webber. 

"Given under our hands and seals at the house of Isaac Busey, in 
said county, this 21st day of June A. D. 1833. 

"John F. Eichardson, (Seal) 
"S. B. Shelledy. (Seal)." 

For twenty years the official affairs of Champaign County were made 
matters of detailed record by T. E. Webber, and from his methodical 
and neat books are extracted most of the following items of interest, 
which illustrate its material development in so many ways. 

SOUECES OF EEVENUE IN 1833 

The meetings of the court had been heretofore held at the house 
of Philip Stanford, but at the September meeting (1833) it was ordered 
that hereafter they be held at the house of Matthew Busey. John Salis- 
bury was appointed sheriff soon after the organization, and September 
2, 1833, he was ordered to proceed and collect the revenue, amounting 
to $71.37. As it was necessary to have a source of revenue, on Novem- 
ber 7, 1833, a license was granted to Isaac H. Alexander to retail goods, 
wares and merchandise until the end of the next term of court the 
license being $5. Afterwards, the time was extended $3.00 worth. Soon 
after this the commissioners fixed the following rates of prices to be 
charged the public, viz. : For keeping a man and horse one night, in- 
cluding supper, bed and horse feed, 75 cents; single meal, 18% cents; 
horse feed, 121,4 cents; one-half pint whisky, 6*4 cents; one-half pint 
French brandy, 18% cents; one-half pint wine, 18% cents; one-half 
pint gin, 12~y 2 cents; one-half pint rum, 18% cents; one-half pint 
domestic brandy, 18% cents. 

The first fiscal statement was made by T. E. Webber, and showed 
county orders unpaid, $85.25 ; fees for surveying 84 lots in the town of 
Urbana, $21; recording plat, $3.36; fees of commissioners and for sta- 
tionery, $17.55; making a total indebtedness of $127.36; deducting the 
revenue, $71.37, left $55.99 ; then deducting license of Alexander, $5.00, 
left the indebtedness of the county December 2, 1833, at $50.99. 

March 3, 1834, the county was divided into road districts and Wil- 



144 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

liam Peters, Daniel T. Porter, John G. Eobertson, Mijamin Byers, Philip 
M. Stanford, Wm. Nox, Jr., John Whitaker, were appointed road super- 
visors. 

OFFICIAL HAPPENINGS OF 1834, 1835 AND 1836 

March 4, 1834, the first grand and petit juries were appointed, as 
follows: Grand jury Thomas Deer, Jefferson Huss, Wm. Xox, Sr., 
Joseph Thomas, Henry Thomas, Robert Trickle, James Brownfield, 
Walter Rhodes, James Johnson, Samuel G. Beckley, John W. Swear- 
ingen, John B. Swearingen, John Zanes, Robert Prather, Valentine 
Iliff, Gabriel G. Rice, Matthew Busey, John Tineman, Samuel Brom- 
ley, Arthur Beaird, Harris Wilson, William Corray and James Osborne. 
Petit jury James Moss, Matthew W. Busey, Elias Stamey, David Gab- 
bert, William T. Webber, Augustine M. Webber, Larkin Deer, Stephen 
Boyd, Elijah Jackson, Andrew Wilson, Adam Yeazle, James Freeman, 
Jacob T. Hobbs, John Coddington, Jacob Heater, Moses Kirby, Elias 
Kirby, John Brownfield, Sr., William Coddington, Elias Thomas, Moses 
Argo, William I. Peters and Hiram Rankin. 

At a meeting of the county commissioners, held December 1, 1834, 
it was ordered that hereafter they meet at the house of Isaac Busey. 
The court appointed T. R. Webber agent in July, 1835, to sell the lots 
in Urbana at following prices: Corner lots on Main Street, on public 
square, at $30 each; corner lots elsewhere, $20; back lots, $10. 

TEMPORARY COURTHOUSE 

January, 1836, a temporary court house was ordered to be built 
on lot 25, to be of hewn logs, good size. The building was to be 24x20 
feet, one and one-half story, shingle roof, hewn joists and sleepers, one 
door and two windows on each side. The contract was let to John 
Craig, but the building was never finished to the satisfaction of the 
commissioners and court continued to be held in private houses until 
1837, when a frame courthouse 22x30 feet, with two rooms, was built 
by Moses and William Harvey. This building was replaced in 1841 
by a brick building 30x40 feet, two stories, with offices below and court 
and jury above. 

The revenue increased in 1836 to $258.85. On December 3, 1836, 
Jonathan Osborne and Isaac Busey were appointed a committee to 
locate a state road from Urbana to Bloomington, to run by the house 
of John Bryan. Joseph Stayton and Elias Thomas, on same date 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 145 

were appointed to locate a road from Urbana to Paris. At the 
December term, 1836, a license was granted Wm. Osborn to keep a 
ferry on the Sangamon Eiver at a point where the state road crosses 
it, leading from Moses Thomas' to Bloomington Osborn to pay $2 
license. The following ferry rates were established at the same meet- 
ing, viz. : Ferrying one man, 614 cents ; one horse, 6*4 cents ; one-horse 
wagon, 25 cents; two-horse wagon, 371/2 cents; cattle, per head, 614 
cents ; sheep and hogs, per head, 3 cents. 

At the March meeting, 1837, it was ordered that the office of asses- 
sor and treasurer be let to the lowest bidder; and Thomas L. Freeman 
having bid the sum of $12.50, was appointed to that office and qualified 
as such. 

FINANCES IN 1837 

In 1837, the liabilities of the county were $216.34^; and the reve- 
nue being $258.85, the county had money in the treasury for the first 
time, amounting to $32.561/2, to which add $431.50 in notes on sale 
of town lots in Urbana, and cash donations unpaid $45, made the cash 
and resources of the county $476.50. 

March, 1837, it was ordered that the following property be taxed 
one-half per cent, viz. : Horses, mares, mules, asses and neat cattle over 
the age of three years, clocks and watches with their appendages, and 
pleasure carriages. 

In 1837, licenses to retail goods were granted and license charges 
as follows: A. Bruer, $5; James T. Eoe, $5; T. E. Webber, $15; James 
H. Lyons, $25 ; Daniel T. Porter, $5 ; Noah Bixler, $5. 

June, 1837, ordered that Matthew W. Busey have a writ of ad quod 
damnum for condemning a mill seat on north end of Ei/2 SWi/4 Sec- 
tions 8, 10, 9. The same year Green Atwood was allowed a license to 
keep a tavern at Homer; also a license was granted to Isaac A. Brown 
to keep a tavern at Sidney, each to pay a license of $4. 

MILL SEATS AND BRIDGES 

% 

September, 1837, a writ of ad quod damnum was granted to Charles 
Haptonstall to build a mill. A like writ was granted at same meeting 
to A. H. Jose for a mill seat on Sangamon Eiver, on lot 15, Sec. 16, 
T. 20, E. 7. At same meeting it was ordered that a bridge be con- 
structed over the Salt Fork at Cyrus Strong's ferry, and that Major 
Nox attend to advertising for bids and to insert an advertisement in 
the Danville Enquirer. The building of this bridge was let in October, 

i 10 



146 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



1837, to Wm. I. Peters for the sum of $426, and he to have one year 
to build it. 

FIRST COUNTY JAIL 

The first county jail, to be completed by March, 1839, was arranged 
for January, 1838; it was to be 18 feet square, the lower story to have 
two windows, one foot square each. The building was to have a brick 
and log foundation and to be built of logs, and to be two stories. It 
was struck off to Col. M. W. Busey at the sum of $850. 







FIRST COUNTY JAIL (1838-39) 

Judge Cunningham speaks of the old jail : "This building was stand- 
ing and in use by the sheriff for the detention of prisoners in 1853, 
when the writer came to the county. An outside stairway afforded the 
means of reaching the second story where, by the only door of the build- 
ing, access and egress were had. Through it prisoners were taken for 
confinement, and from the second story a trap door in the floor gave 
access to the lower story, where the worst prisoners were placed. The 
prisoner was sent down the ladder which, being removed, he was con- 
sidered safe. The only light was admitted through narrow grated win- 
dows in the lower story. Xo means of heating either story existed. 
The writer, when acting as justice of the peace in 1855, in the case 
of a person charged with horse stealing, found in the evidence probable 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 147 

guilt and, as required by the letter of the law, committed the unfor- 
tunate to this bastile in the dead of winter, with no means furnished 
but an abundance of bed-clothing to keep him from freezing. The law 
would have been more honored in the breach than in the observance in 
that case. The prisoner did not die of cold, however, but met his fate 
in another manner." 

On March 19, 1838, it was ordered that an election precinct be 
established on the Middlefork and that elections be held at the house 
of John Manning, near the town of Brotherton in said precinct. 

In June, 1838, a license was granted Groenendyke & Coffeen to 
retail goods at Homer, and that they pay for same $15. At the same 
meeting a county road was ordered from the south end of Market 
Street, in Urbana, to Sidney. December, 1838, A. Bruer was granted 
a license to keep a tavern in Urbana and that he pay $2 for the same. 

PIONEER CHURCHES AND SCHOOL 

At the December term, 1839, it was ordered the clerk convey to the 
officers of the Methodist Episcopal Church a lot to be selected by them 
if they shall have erected a house of worship thereon in twelve months. 
And "we also make to the Baptist society the same offer in all respects." 
The Methodist people raised the money and built a church, which was 
afterwards known as Eenner's livery stable. The Baptist people, how- 
ever, did not comply at that time. 

Col. M. W. Busey having donated a three-acre tract to the county, 
permission was given to erect a schoolhouse on the same. December, 
1839, Colonel Busey, Jacob Bradshaw and Elias Stamey were appointed 
a committee to select a suitable spot for said house. 

June term, 1840, it was "ordered that we sell to Eev. A. Bradshaw 
lot 51 (where Hubbard's hardware store now stands) for the sum of 
$3, the same to be deeded to the Methodist society, which has a legal right 
to receive a deed. Also that we sell to David Cox, for Baptist Church, 
with same restriction, lot 76, east of Kerr's Tavern, for $2." 

The salary of T. E. Webber as clerk was not very heavy; he was 
allowed $77.98 in full for his services as clerk for year ending June 7, 
1841. 

At the June term, 1842, M. D. Coffeen represented that it was too 
far for the people of Homer to go to the house of James Copeland, in 
"the Salt Fork precinct, to vote. He therefore presented a petition that 
the name of the precinct be changed to Homer precinct and the voting 
be done at the schoolhouse in Homer, which was ordered done. 



148 HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

October 2, 1843, the contract for building a bridge across the San- 
gamon at Mahomet was awarded William Harvey of Urbana. 

MATTERS IN 1844 AND 1845 

June, 1844, on petition of citizens, an election precinct known as 
the Middlefork precinct, was ordered, and that the voting place be at 
the house of Samuel Swinford, and Samuel Swinford, Samuel Kerr 
and James Kellor were appointed judges. At the same meeting, James 
Orr, Sr., Henry Swearingen and Elias Thomas were appointed judges 
of Homer, Marshall Cloyd, John Crabb and James Myers, of Urbana, 
and Jonathan Maxwell, Benjamin F. Harris and Joseph T. Everett of 
Sangamon precincts. 

The tax books for the year, 1844 show that the taxable property was 
increasing, the amount returned being $334,373. The levy was as fol- 
lows : 20 cents on the $100 for state purposes, making $668.75 ; 20 cents 
for county, $668.75; and 10 cents for road making, $334.37. 

William D. Somers seems to have been the county physician in 
1844. At the December meeting of the County Court it was "ordered 
that Dr. William D. Somers have an order on the treasury for the sum 
of $2 in full for medical charge for attending Robert H. Newlon." 

At the June meeting, 1845, William D. Somers was appointed to 
take the census of the county. 

COUNTY FUNDS IN 1846 

Col. M. W. Busey, county treasurer, made his report July, 1846. 
He reports a balance on hand of $561.37, as follows: $332 in paper 
money; $155.52 in gold, and $73.85 in silver. The county seems to 
have been in good condition, as Colonel Busey was ordered to loan the 
county funds at 6 per cent interest, reserving a sufficient sum to pay 
outstanding orders, and that he take ample security in all cases, and 
that he collect the interest in advance; that the notes be so drawn that 
additional security may be required if it is deemed necessary by the 
treasurer or commissioners. 

At the July term, 1848, Col. M. W. Busey was appointed a mes- 
senger to carry the vote of this county for senator to Danville, for the 
purpose of being canvassed, and William Harvey was appointed a like 
messenger to Decatur, to carry the vote for representative. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 149 

NEW COURTHOUSE COMPLETED 

May 2, 1849, the new courthouse having been completed, the old 
one was sold to the Urbana school district for $105 on a credit of twelve 
months. At the June meeting a bridge was ordered to be constructed 
at Homer, provided the cost did not exceed $400. June 20, the con- 
tract was struck off to M. D. Coffeen, James S. Wright, Harmon Stev- 
ens, John B. Thomas, Solomon Dill, Samuel A. Harvey and W. S. Coe 
for $600, $400 to be paid by the county and the balance by private 
donations the bridge to be completed by the following December. 

October, 1849, it was ordered that Clapp & Russell have leave to 
renew their license to retail goods on the same terms as before. March 
term, 1850, Henry M. Russell having bought out A. 0. Clapp, was 
granted license for one year by paying $25. 

The County Court cut and carved the bills, in the olden times, very 
much as is done in later days. March, 1850, Benjamin C. Morris pre- 
sented a bill of $22.25 for services, board, medical attendance and 
funeral expenses of Daniel Wheat, a poor person. The court, after ex- 
amining into the matter, decided that said Morris is justly entitled to 
pay for the coffin and shroud and therefore allowed him $7.25 and 
rejected the rest of his claim. 

PUBLIC SQUARE FENCED 

At the March term, 1851, it was decided to enclose the public square 
with a fence, which contract was let to Wm. Park and John Cantner 
for $80. At the July term, 1851, on petition of Samuel Dean and 
David Cantner, permission was granted them to establish a ferry on 
the Sangamon River at the crossing of the state road leading from 
Urbana to Bloomington. The following rates were fixed as ferry 
charges: For man and horse, 10 cents; footman, 5 cents; wagon and 
one horse, 15 cents; wagon and two horses or oxen, 20 cents; each addi- 
tional horse or ox, 5 cents; each head of cattle, 4 cents; each hog or 
sheep, 2 cents. 

ONLY WEBBER AGAINST INCORPORATION 

At the October term, 1851, J. W. Jaquith, John Gere, Calvin Hig- 
gins, president and trustees of the town of Urbana, and William D. 
Somers, clerk, presented to the court a poll book of an election, whereby 
it appears that at an election held in the town of Urbana, September 8, 



150 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

1851, for the purpose of voting for or against the incorporation of said 
town the following votes were cast in favor of same, viz. : W. D. Somers, 
Geo. 0. Potter, Wilson Lewis, W. S. Garman, Joseph M. Harry, Elisha 
Harkness, Wm. Park, John Cantner, Calvin C. Higgins, Wm. Abel, 
Eobert Logan, Wm. Waters, Lewis Higgins, John Black, Edward Ater, 
Asa Gere, Wm. Gill, Samuel M. Logan, Thomas J. Newport, Silas Chad- 
wick, John C. Hankins, David M. Ireland, J. W. Jaquith, Samuel 
Waters, George W. Toy; total, 25. Against: Thomson R. Webber. At 
the election, Joseph M. Harry was the judge and John Ireland clerk. 

The foregoing is a synopsis of the business transacted in the county 
from 1833 to and including February term, 1852. While some of the 
business might seem insignificant, yet it was entered of record by the 
clerk, T. R. Webber, in detail, and there was no mistaking the meaning 
of the persons doing the business for the people. 

FIRST TERM OF CIRCUIT COUBT OPENED 

On March 2, 1833, a legislative act was approved by the governor 
providing that "when the counties of Iroquois and Champaign shall 
be organized under the provisions of the acts of this Legislature, then 
the judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit shall have power to change 
the time of holding courts in the county of Coles so as to suit the 
time of holding courts in the said counties of Champaign and Iroquois." 
Until 1835, however, no Circuit Court was convened in Champaign 
County. Legally, there was no circuit judge during that period, al- 
though one of the judges of the State Supreme Court was authorized 
to hold court therein. But a more specific law was passed in 1834, and 
on January 19, 1835, under its provisions Justin Harlan of Clark 
County was commissioned judge of the Fourth Circuit. On April 6 
of that year he opened the first term of the Circuit Court of Champaign 
County, at the house of Isaac H. Alexander. 

With Judge Harlan (uncle of the late United States Senator James 
Harlan of Iowa) appeared Andrew Stevenson, sheriff, who had suc- 
ceeded the first incumbent of that office, John Salisbury. The court 
appointed Thomas R. Webber clerk; by like appointment, Mr. Webber 
continued as clerk of the Circuit Court until the adoption of the con- 
stitution of 1848, and after that, by popular election until 1857. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY \ 151 

THE COURTHOUSE OF 1848 

The third courthouse for the accommodation of the established courts 
and the officials of Champaign County was completed during the 
constitutional year of 1848 by E. 0. Smith of Decatur, at a cost of 
$2,744, and was pronounced a "very pretty building of brick and wood, 
with a bell tower on the center of the roof, stone floor, window sills 
and caps." 

SCENE OF FAMOUS SPEECHES AND MEETINGS 

In that building were delivered several of Lincoln's great speeches, 
notably his third speech in his famous debates with Douglas on the 
Nebraska Bill. An eye-witness of that historic oration of October 24, 
1854, who had just called on Lincoln and Judge Davis at the old Penn- 
sylvania House, across the street, says: "After some further conversa- 
tion and a few preliminary arrangements, the old court room opposite 
shone resplendent in the coruscation of eleven tallow candles, glued on 
the top of the nether sashes of the windows, to which place we adjourned 
and w'here, with no preliminaries Mr. Lincoln delivered to a full house 
the third speech on the mighty issue of slavery in our nation." 

Two years later it was the courthouse which was the center of the 
political maelstrom which surged through Champaign County and the 
country, and resulted in the birth of the Republican party, and the 
election of Lincoln four years later. One of the early calls for a meet- 
ing to discuss the issues of that day appears in the Urbana Union of 
May 8, 1856. It reads: "The citizens of Champaign County, without 
regard to past political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present admin- 
istration, to the extension of slavery over territory now free, in favor 
of the admission of free Kansas, and of restoring the government to 
the principles of Washington and Jefferson, are requested to meet in 
convention at the court house in Urbana on Thursday, the 18th day 
of May, to deliberate on the great political measures that now agitate 
the public mind, and to appoint a delegate to the State Anti-Nebraska 
Convention. The undersigned would join in the call, hoping that all 
who can will be present. 

"Signed: A. Campbell, W. W. Beasley, J. W. Sim, James 
Dean, Winston Somers, H. M. Russell, S. S. 
Cunningham, David 0. Quick, James Core, 
James D. Jaquith, Chalmers M. Sherfy, W. C. 



152 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Cassell, James W. Somers, W. H. Talbutt, Henry 
Robinson, J. 0. Cunningham, John M. Dunlap, 
J. Ingersol, A. M. Ayers, Sol. Bernstein, Henry 
Fitzgerald, A. 0. Howell, E. Harkness, James 
Curtiss, W. C. Beck, J. H. Thomas, William H. 
Somers, J. C. Sheldon, Arthur Bradshaw, F. B. 
Sale, James Yeazle, William Park and F. II. 
Owens." 

Two weeks later the Union reports that the meeting was duly held. 
It was called to order by J. D. Jaquith; Rev. Arthur Bradshaw was 
chosen chairman and J. 0. Cunningham secretary. Resolutions were 
adopted that the meeting was opposed to any interference with slavery 
in the states where it existed; also to its extension to free territory; 
that Congress had the constitutional power to thus limit its operations ; 
that Kansas ought to be admitted as a free state; that William H. Bis- 
sell was the choice of the meeting for governor of Illinois, and that, 
regardless of party, all should co-operate against the extension of slavery. 

COURTHOUSE Too SHALL 

In the fall of 1856, at the height of the Fremont campaign, the 
crowds which gathered at the county seat were so large that they over- 
taxed the little brick courthouse and had to be held in the open; as 
witness the following from the Urbana Union of September 25 : "Early 
in the morning (of the 18th) the people from every direction com- 
menced flowing into town with banners, badges and mottoes, and the 
loudest 'shrieks for freedom.' Some came with processions, with dele- 
gations from their neighborhoods, and some came singly, while others 
came in wagons, carriages, on horseback, on mules and on foot none 
forgetting that they were assembled as a free people for the purpose 
of 'securing the blessings of liberty to themselves and to their pos- 
terity.' 

"After raising the flag of our Union to the top of a pole 150 feet 
high, which had been previously raised, and giving three hearty cheers 
for Fremont, the throng moved, not to the courthouse (as it was 
claimed was done by the other party a few days before), but to Web- 
ber's Grove. The procession was headed by the Urbana band and Rey- 
nold's band of Danville, both of which, during the day, acquitted them- 
selves with credit in discoursing music for the occasion. 

"The dinner, although consisting of large quantities of provisions 
over two whole beeves, several muttons, thirty dozens of chickens, tur- 
keys, pigs, etc., with huge quantities of bread, besides piles of cakes 
and pies contributed by the ladies of the county was insufficient to 
supply the wants of the vast throng." 







HOTEL WHERE LINCOLN STOPPED IN UHBANA (WINDOW 
OF His BOOM IN UPPER LEFT CORNER) 




UNDER BIG ELM TREE (EAST OF BIG FOUR SHOPS) LINCOLN 
MADE FAMOUS SPEECH 



154 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

TREASURED WORDS OF LINCOLN 

It came out incidentally that Abraham Lincoln was one of the 
speakers and reviewed the procession. One of the attractions of the 
parade was a "float" loaded with pretty girls representing the states 
of the Union which then existed. In passing upon that feature of the 
procession, Lincoln remarked that it reminded him of "a large basket 
full of roses." When those pretty girls became the grandmothers of 
Champaign County, and the homely, unassuming Lincoln of 1856 had 
gone into history as the great emancipator and martyred President of 
the United States, that remark was recalled by the old ladies with 
unfeigned pride and tenderness. 

RESULT OF 1856 AND 1860 CAMPAIGNS 

The result of the 1856 campaign, which centered in the courthouse, 
was to give Fremont 722 votes in the county, Buchanan 556, and Fill- 
more 236. Four years later Lincoln received 1,720, Douglas 1,251, Bell 
99 and Breckenridge 12. 

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS SENATORIAL CONTEST (1858) 

In the fall of 1858, the courthouse was also the scene of an enthus- 
iastic meeting during the Lincoln-Douglas campaign for the United 
States Senate. In reply to a speech delivered by the Little Giant, Lin- 
coln had spoken at the fair grounds in Urbana although the exhibition 
had closed the day before notwithstanding which, he had met with a 
rousing reception, and in the evening, with William Bross, editor of 
the Chicago Tribune, and Judge Terry of Danville, spoke at the court- 
house. Although the lank son of Illinois seems to have carried most 
of the meetings with him, he lost the senatorial election, but progressed 
far toward the presidency. 

MAIN SPEECHES AT THE FAIR GROUNDS 

The fair grounds at Urbana will always be remembered by the pio- 
neers of the county as the scene of two famous speeches delivered by 
Lincoln and Douglas in their historic campaign for a seat in the United 
States Senate. But the Little Giant was too firmly seated to be dis- 
placed by his already popular but then less prominent opponent. Doug- 
las spoke on the closing day of the fair, September 23, 1858, and Lin- 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 155 

coin on the day after, when "the show was over and the people had all 
gone home." But to the surprise of all, Lincoln drew nearly as large 
a crowd as Douglas. They had already met in joint debate at various 
Illinois towns, the last time before the Urbana appointment, at Charles- 
ton, on the 18th. Their speeches had been widely and earnestly dis- 
cussed there were no neutrals in those days and all were anxious to 
weigh the arguments as they came from the lips of the distinguished 
orators. 

At the time of the Urbana clash, the fair grounds of the Agricultural 
Association lay upon both sides of what is now Lincoln Avenue, about 
a mile north of Springfield Avenue and within the bounds of Crystal 
Lake Park. From all accounts, Judge Douglas was a fine "mixer" and 
made hosts of friends by appearing at the grounds on the afternoon of 
the day before his speech. On the afternoon of the speaking the usual 
procession formed, near the head of which was a wagon bearing a plat- 
form of hickory poles loaded with cheering Democrats (Hickory Boys), 
among whom was the Senator himself. The correspondent of the Chi- 
cago Democrat, who heard his speech, criticized his delivery rather 
severely, concluding: "As an orator he is no more to be compared to 
Lovejoy, Farnsworth, Arnold, Palmer or Herndon than the merest tyro 
at debating. I venture the assertion that twenty men can be found in 
every county in Illinois who, before an impartial audience, would receive 
the palm over him for declamatory skill." 

Two POINTS OF VIEW 

The Chicago Democrat was one of Lincoln's warm supporters; what 
we would call Eepublican newspapers, in some cases, retained their 
old political designation. 

By reading the following it is evident that the Urbana Constitution, 
from which the extract is taken, was a Douglas paper: "The announce- 
ment that Senator Douglas would speak here last Thursday the closing 
day of the county fair called together by far the largest crowd ever 
assembled in the county of Champaign. A delegation of ladies and 
gentlemen on horseback, and a string of wheeled vehicles loaded down 
with citizens, the whole delegation being near a mile in length, escorted 
the Senator from West Urbana to the fair grounds, arriving there at 
about two o'clock. His arrival at the grounds was greeted by the masses 
there with deafening shouts and applause. 

"After he was escorted to the stand, a very neat and appropriate 
reception speech was delivered by A. E. Harmon, Esq., of West Urbana, 
introducing him to the audience. He spoke about an hour and a half 



156 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

in a calm and dignified review of the great issues before the people, 
and was listened to with the profoundest attention by the thousands who 
were fortunate enough to obtain positions where they could hear. The 
extent of the crowd may be judged by the fact that the Senator's voice, 
heavy and sonorous as it was, was insufficient to reach many hundreds 
on the outer edge of the crowd. The demonstrations of applause with 
which he was greeted by the old line Whigs and Americans, as well as 
by the Democratic masses assembled there, show that his speech is pro- 
ducing a good effect in favor of Democratic principles. The Urbana 
Saxehorn and Military Band added much to the occasion by their spir- 
ited music. 

"We cannot forbear acknowledging the marked courtesy with which 
the Senator and his friends were treated by the Eepublicans generally, 
and especially by those who hold influential positions in the Agricultural 
Association." 

But, according to the Constitution, the Lincoln meetings were of 
quite another type. "The Eepublicans had a fine meeting here on 
Friday," it remarks, with apparent candor, "and were addressed by 
Mr. Lincoln." Then: "Mr. Lincoln's speech was a complete backdown 
from every position he assumed in his opening speech at Springfield, 
except in one respect that he insisted on the right and duty of Con- 
gress to prohibit slavery in the territories. This dogma, as Lincoln 
well knows, however, is the merest humbug, because it cannot be car- 
ried out while the decision of the Supreme Court upon that subject 
remains. 

"Mr. Lincoln was probably not very well satisfied with his day's 
work, as in the evening he again assembled at the courthouse, where 
he delivered a discourse on that passage of the Scripture which declares 
that 'a house divided against itself cannot stand,' and the necessity of 
'the perseverance of the saints' to the 'ultimate extinction of slavery in 
all the states.' Also, he gave his views on the cranberry and hoop-pole 
laws of Indiana; after which, Deacon Bross spoke. The deacon made 
a magnificent speech. He referred to the letter Washington had writ- 
ten to Henry Clay and to the fact that Lafayette was one of the fathers 
of the constitution. He said that the Eepublican party held that the 
negroes are not the equals of the whites in respect to social and political 
rights, but that they are the equals of the whites in the sense of the 
Declaration of Independence, which declares that 'all men are created 
equal.' This distinction was so clear and satisfactory that the deacon 
was vociferously cheered. The deacon also made several beautiful appeals 
to heaven, which were applauded in the most lively manner." 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 157 

The afore-mentioned Chicago Democrat gives its version of the chief 
Lincoln meeting at the fair grounds: "Lincoln has been with us, and 
the occasion has been one to be long remembered in eastern and central 
Illinois. It is no new thing for us to greet the honest face of Mr. Lin- 
coln in our streets that it should stir up commotion, for half-yearly 
for many years he has been in the habit of spending a week here in 
the practice of his profession upon the most familiar and easy terms 
with all; so that a desire to see a man who grapples with and over- 
comes the Little Giant could not have induced a single person to leave 
his home and come here through the dust, all having seen him fre- 
quently and heard him speak, and very many being intimately acquainted 
with him; nothing but the respect and love for the cause of which he 
is the exponent in Illinois, could have brought together such a throng. 

"The time was perhaps the most unfavorable one in all the year 
for getting together a crowd coming, as it did, one day after an exciting 
county fair of three days, in an unusually sickly season when there is 
scarcely a family in the county more than able to take care of its own 
sick, and upon a day when the least stir in any of the roads was suf- 
ficient to raise a suffocating cloud of dust; yet the affair has been a 
most successful one in every way. The number present was very nearly, 
if not quite, as large as those in attendance at the Douglas demonstra- 
tion of yesterday the enthusiasm ten times as great and the effect 
never exceeded by that resulting from any speech ever delivered in the 
county before. 

"At an early hour the people began to flock into town, and by the 
time designated for forming the procession, the streets were so blocked 
up that it was almost impossible for a vehicle of any kind to pass. At 
ten o'clock a procession led by the Urbana brass band, German band, 
and Danville band, and- over sixty young ladies on horseback with their 
attendants, thirty-two of whom represented the states of the Union, 
marched to the Doane House for the purpose of escorting Mr. Lincoln 
to the fair grounds, where the speaking was to take place. When return- 
ing, the procession was augmented by a large delegation from the west- 
ern part of the county; also a large delegation from Piatt County 
so that the entire procession reached more than one and a half miles. 

"In this form the grounds were reached when, it being the hour of 
midday, the throng marched in good order to the dinner tables, where 
the ladies of the two Urbanas had spread out a sumptuous and boun- 
tiful dinner. All had enough and to spare. The people then repaired 
to the stand and, after being seated, listened to an eloquent reception 
speech made by Hon. M. L. Dunlap, formerly of Cook County, who 



158 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

then introduced Mr. Lincoln. Cheer after cheer, lustily and heartily 
given, greeted his appearance. His speech was commenced by acknowl- 
edging his gratitude at seeing so lively an interest taken in the great 
issue of the day. After a few other introductory allusions, he took up 
the various questions at issue in the campaign, meeting and refuting 
the common dogmas of Democracy, and probing to the bottom every 
subject touched. Throughout his remarks were terse, eloquent and 
witty, frequently eliciting loud demonstrations of merriment and 
applause. At the close of his remarks, loud cheers rang through the 
forest, in which the larger part of the audience took part. 

"One thing is worthy of notice in contrast with yesterday's proceed- 
ings. On that occasion the audience sat under the thunderings of the 
Little Giant as still as if attending a funeral discourse, while this 
audience of Mr. Lincoln's was most enthusiastic and attentive, continu- 
ing as large at the enunciation of the last word as at the beginning. 

"The meeting broke up, formed in procession, and escorted Mr. Lin- 
coln to his lodging, at the residence of Mayor Boyden, where his lady 
attendants and all parted from him with rapturous cheers." 

In all of these rapturous cheers and generally hot enthusiasm, the 
Republican Wide-Awakes bore the same prominent part taken by the 
Hickory Boys in Democratic demonstrations; and the same was true 
throughout the country, the Republicans and Democrats having organ- 
ized their big boys and young men into clubs of Wide-Awakes and 
Hickory Boys. 

ONE COURTHOUSE SOLD; ANOTHER BUILT 

In 1859, the year before the election of Lincoln, the second frame 
courthouse, which had been twice moved and occupied for several years 
as a schoolhouse, was sold at auction and torn down. It then stood at 
the corner of Elm and Vine. 

The 1848 courthouse of historic fame was also ordered to be replaced 
in 1859 by the fourth temple of justice which graced the square at 
Urbana. It is generally called the third permanent courthouse. It 
was built of brick, stone and iron by B. V. Enos, an Indianapolis con- 
tractor, at a cost of $30,000, and was not ready for complete occu- 
pancy, both by the county officers and the Circuit Court, until the 
autumn of 1861. During a period of forty years this courthouse well 
served its purposes. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 159 

TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION ADOPTED 

The fall of 1859 was the commencement, further, of a new epoch in 
the county government. From the organization of the county in 1833 
until 1849, when it came under the provisions of the constitution of 
1848, its governing board of three members was known as the Court 
of County Commissioners. Although declared to be "a court of record," 
it possessed no real judicial authority. Under the constitution of 1848 
that body was superseded by the County Court, comprising the county 
judge and his two associates Edward Ater, of Urbana, and John P. 
Tenbrook, of Sadorus, and Lewis Jones of Salt Fork. The County 
Court managed the affairs of the county until the November election 
of 1859, which resulted in the adoption of the system of township organ- 
ization and the inauguration of a Board of Supervisors. 

OTHER CHANGES IN OFFICERS 

As to the other county officers, it has already been stated that under 
the 1818 constitution the judge of the Circuit Court appointed his 
clerk, and by the early statutes the clerk of the County Commissioners' 
Court was chosen by that body. The county treasurer and assessor was 
also appointed by the Commissioners' Court, leaving only the sheriff and 
the coroner to be chosen by the people. The constitution of 1848 made 
these offices elective. 

The foregoing are the chief changes in the forms of the county gov- 
ernment and its officials, which have not been noted in previous pages. 

THE COURTHOUSE OF 1901 

The courthouse now occupied, which is modern and elegant within 
and attractive without, was fully completed in the fall of 1901, the 
September term of the Circuit Court for that year being opened in the 
new building by Judge Francis M. Wright. Forty years previously, in 
the preceding month, Hon. Oliver L. Davis, then judge of the Twenty- 
seventh circuit, opened the term of court in the courthouse of 1859-60, 

Answering the demands for more space, consequent on greatly 
increased population and wealth, the building which had done service 
almost half a century, underwent an elaborate process of remodeling 
and enlargement which converted it into an imposing public edifice 
covering an area of 108 by 116 feet and three stories in height, with 
ample rooms for the courts and all the county offices. It is in the 







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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



161 






UPON THIS SPOT 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

OHCCI.24,1854 

DELIVERED HIS THIRD 

SPEECH m OPPOSITION TO 

SENATOR DOUGLAS 

THE NEBRASKA BILL 

FACSIMILE OF COURTHOUSE TABLET 

Romanesque style of architecture, and its exterior is done in red sand- 
stone and mottled brick, and its tower stands 135 feet high. The 
building thus remodeled and enlarged was dedicated August 22, 1901. 

The courthouse of 1901 was completed at a cost of $150,000, and 
no feature of it attracts more attention than a large marble tablet near 
the entrance to the county clerk's office, on the second story, which reads : 
"Upon this spot Abraham Lincoln, on October 24, 1854, delivered his 
third speech in opposition to Senator Douglas and the Nebraska bill." 

MURDERER ESCAPES FROM OLD COUNTY JAIL 

The building of the first county jail by Colonel M. W. Busey in 
1840 has been briefly told. No special interest seems to have attached 
to this log jail eighteen feet square except that in 1845 Bill Weaver, 
the convicted murderer of David Hiltibran, escaped from it with the 
aid of an auger and little difficulty, and it was once visited by Lincoln. 
Weaver was to have been hanged on the 27th of June. Years after- 
ward tidings of him were received from Wisconsin, but the murderer 
was never recovered. 

Other escapes from the jail followed, of offenders great and small, 
until in January, 1855, after a specially aggravating break-away, the 
Urbana Union bursts forth with the prevailing public sentiment, thus: 
"It (the jail) might answer for the imprisonment of infants, or of men 
who are badly crippled, but will not do for the detention of rascals." 



111 



162 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

LINCOLN CALLS UPON SON OF FOSTER BROTHER 

The decrepit old jail becomes somewhat famous in our day from a 
bit of Lincolnia attached to it by Major Whitney in his "Life on the 
Circuit with Lincoln." The story, as he tells it, is as follows: "In the 
summer of 1856, when he was one of the electors-at-large on the Fremont 
ticket, a crippled boy was aiding a drover to drive some horses to the 
northern part of the state. They stopped over night at Champaign and, 
while there, this boy went to a small watchmaker's shop kept by an old 
decrepit man named Green upon an errand, and stole a watch. The 
theft was discovered in time to "cause the boy's arrest at the noon 
stopping place. He was brought before my father as a justice of the 
peace. The case being made out, he was committed, but the boy had 
requested that the case be left open until he could send for his uncle, 
Abraham Lincoln, to defend him. That being denied him, he wanted 
it continued until I should return home. But the case seeming too 
clear to be aided by lawyers, my father committed him to jail to await 
the action of the grand jury. Upon my return home, I was informed of 
the circumstances, but paid no attention to it at all, and forgot all 
about it at once. 

"Not long thereafter, a mass meeting was held at Urbana, our county 
seat, to which Mr. Lincoln came as one of the speakers, and as soon 
as he saw me he said : 'I want to see you all to yourself.' When we 
had got beyond the hearing of others he said: 'There is a boy in your 
jail I want to see, and I don't want anybody to know it except us. I 
wish you would arrange with the jailor to go there, on the sly, after 
the meeting, and let us in.' I then recollected this crippled boy, and 
Lincoln explained to me that when his father married his second wife 
she had a boy about his own age (John D. Johnston) ; that they were 
raised together, slept together and loved each other like brothers. This 
crippled boy was a son of that foster brother, and he was tending to 
the bad rapidly. 'He is already under the charge of stealing a gun at 
Charleston,' said Lincoln sadly. 'I shall do for him what I can in 
these two cases, but that's the last. After that, if he wants to be a thief, 
I sha'n't help him any more.' 

"The jail was a rude log-cabin structure, in which prisoners were 
put through a trap door in the second story, there being no other 
entrance. So Lincoln and I were secretly admitted into the small 
enclosure surrounding the jail, and as we approached the one-foot 
square hole through which we could converse with the prisoner, he 
heard us and set up a hypocritical wailing, and thrust out toward us a 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 163 

very dirty Bible, which Lincoln took and turned over the leaves mechan- 
ically. He then said: 'Where were you going, Tom?' The boy 
attempted to reply, but his wailing made his answer incoherent, so 
Lincoln cut him short by saying : 'Now, you do just what they tell you 
behave yourself don't talk to anyone, and when court comes I will be 
here and see what I can do. Now stop crying and behave yourself.' 
With a few more words we left, Lincoln being very sad; in fact, I 
never saw him more so." 

THE SECOND AND THIRD JAILS 

About a year after this incident occurred, the county built a jail 
of brick and iron in the public square, at a cost of $7,000. Many 
additions and improvements were made, both to the jail and the jailor's 
residence, but these were not sufficient to meet the requirements of a 
wealthy and advanced county, with the result that in 1906 the massive, 
attractive and commodious structure, east of the courthouse, was erected. 

One execution took place in the 1857 jail that of Eichard Collier, 
convicted of the murder of Charles Freebriant, which took place Decem- 
ber 16, 1898. 

THE COUNTY POOR FARM 

The County Poor Farm, with suitable buildings for the care of the 
indigent and insane, is located about a mile east of the courthouse. The 
original property at that site was purchased in 1865, although seven 
years before eighty acres for the purpose had been bought in Section 7, 
St. Joseph Township. The latter location, however, was found to be 
too far from the county seat, as well as from the center of population. 

ROSTER OF COUNTY OFFICERS 

With the exception of the judges of the different courts who have 
presided in Champaign County, and the prosecuting attorneys of the 
circuit and county, whose records will be found in the chapter on the 
"Bench and Bar," the county officials include the following : 

Court of County Commissioners: 1833, Isaac Busey, Jacob Bartley 
and George Akers ; 1834, John Brownfield, William Nox and Daniel T. 
Porter; 1836, Cyrus Strong, Hiram Johnson and William Nox; 1838, 
under a change in the law, James Clements was elected for one year; 
Daniel T. Porter for two years and Jefferson Huss, for three years. 
Afterwards until the adoption of the constitution of 1848, the fol- 
lowing were elected each year: James Clements, 1839; Daniel T. Porter, 
1840; Jefferson Huss, 1841; James Clements, 1842; William Taylor, 



164 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

1843; John W. Swearingen, 1844; Archa Campbell, 1845; B. F. Harris, 
1846; William Nox, 1847; James Clements, 1848. 

As stated, under the constitution of 1848 the county was placed 
under the government of the county judge and his two associates (See 
Bench and Bar). The system was again changed in 1860, when the 
county adopted township organization, thereby creating the cooperative 
Board of Supervisors. 

County Treasurers: Moses Thomas, 1833; Green Atwood, 1837; 
Jacob Bradshaw, 1839; M. W. Busey, 1843; Elisha Harkness, 1851; 
William H. Pearce, 1853; Chalmers F. Sherfy, 1855; William Munhall, 
1857; Pleasant M. Parks, 1859; Eobert T. Miller, 1861; George W. 
Kennard, 1865 ; James M. Davies, 1869 ; John W. Hill, 1871 ; Thomas 
A. Lewis, 1873; James W. Davidson, 1886; Paul W. Woody, 1890; E. 
A. Kratz, 1894; Ellis M. Burr, 1898; Daniel P. Mclntyre, 1902; John 
A. Scott, 1906; Lou N. Bear, 1910; Edward Rogers, 1914 

Sheriffs: John Salisbury, 1833; A. H. Stevenson, 1834; David 
Cox, 1838; Wilson Lewis, 1844; Edward Ater, 1850; F. M. Owens, 
1854; Penrose Stidham, 1856; N. M. Clark, 1858; Eandolph C. Wright, 
1860; Nathan Towle, 1862; John D. Johnson, 1864; Thomas J. Scott, 
1866; Peter Myers, 1868; Henry C. Core, 1870; John D. Johnson, 
1874; James E. Oldham, 1878; James C. Ware, 1882; P. B. Burke, 
1886; Samuel C. Fox, 1890; Daniel D. Cannon, 1894; Ernest Lorenz, 
1898; Cyrus S. Clark, 1902; Jonathan M. Peters, 1906; George W. 
Davis, 1910; Augustus M. Evans, 1914 

Clerks of the County Commissioners and County Courts : Thomas 
R. Webber, clerk of the County Commissioners' Court, 1833 to 1849, 
when he was elected county clerk ; Thomas A. McLaurie, 1853 ; Solomon 
J. Toy, 1857; Nathan M. Clark, 1865; John W. Shuck, 1869; James 
S. McCullough, 1873; Thomas A. Burt, 1896; Charles W. Webber, 
1906; Fred Hess, 1910 

Prosecuting Attorneys: Under the first state constitution the 
attorney general was also prosecuting attorney of the circuit. After the 
adoption of the 1848 constitution, until 1856, T. H. Campbell, of Spring- 
field, and Amzi McWilliams, of Bloomingon, served in that capacity. 
In the. year named, Ward H. Lamon was elected prosecuting attorney 
of the Eighth circuit, holding office until 1861. After the creation of 
the twenty-seventh circuit in 1861, Joseph G. Cannon was elected for 
two terms: Martin B. Thompson then served from 1868 to 1876, and, 
under the new law providing for the election of a prosecuting attorney 
for each county, Milton W. Mathews held the office from 1876 to 1884; 
Lewis A. Smyres commenced his service in 1884; Randolph C. Wright, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 165 

1892; Andrew J. Miller, 1896; Fielding A. Coggeshall, 1904; Louis A. 
Busch, 1912 

County Surveyors: Garrett Moore, 1833; James S. Wright, 1838; 
John L. Somers, 1850; John Thrasher, 1857; R. C. Wright, 1859; L. T. 
Eads, 1861; John Thrasher, 1865; T. B. Kyle, 1869; F. M. Price, 1875; 
T. B. Kyle, 1879; Joseph O'Brien, 1900; E. V. Burton, 1912; R. T. 
Fisher, 1916 

County Coroners James Myers, 1847; A. M. Kerr, 1854; B. 
Thrasher, 1858 ; W. S. Garman, 1860 ; A. M. Kerr, 1862 ; W. J. Foote, 
1864; H. Miner, 1866; W. J. Foote, 1868; J. M. Tracy, 1870; S. K. 
Reed, 1872; George W. Burr, 1876; Jacob Buch, 1880; W. B. Sims, 
1892; Henry S. Penny, 1896; John V. Swearingen, 1908; J. J. Han- 
more, 1912; John V. Swearingen, 1916 

STATISTICS 

In the matter of statistics, as of all else, the '30s in the history of 
Champaign County constituted the days of small things; therefore, of 
special interest easy to grasp and analyze in all their details. 

It has been seen how in June, 1833, Moses Thomas, the assessor, 
reported the total revenue of the county to be $71.37. Of that amount, 
$61.61 was assessed on the personal property of the 111 tax payers; 
upon their horses and cattle, clocks and watches and pleasure carriages. 
The item last named yielded but 62i/^ cents, as only three citizens 
allowed that they possessed such luxuries as "pleasure carriages." 
Asahel Bruer reported one carriage valued at forty dollars, for which 
he was taxed twenty cents ; Mason S. Martin, another which he returned 
as a fifty-dollar luxury and for which he was assessed twenty-five cents, 
and James T. Roe, the third pleasure carriage, valued at thirty-five 
dollars, and yielding the county thirty-seven and a half cents in revenue. 
But while the Buseys, the Boyds, the Byers, the Rhineharts, the Trickles 
and others had a number of horses, they appear to have been shy on 
pleasure vehicles. 

FIRST ASSESSMENT IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY (1833) 

The details presented by Assessor Thomas in 1833 were as follows: 

Clocks and 

Horses. Cattle. Watches. Value of Taxes 

Owners' Names. No. Value. No. Value. No. Value. Property. Assessed. 

\Vestley Arrasmith 1 $10 2 $20 $30 $0.15 

Moses 'Argo 1 40 1 8 1 $6 54 .27 



166 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



Owners' Names 
George Akers 


Horses. 
No. Value. 


Clocks and 
Cattle. Watches. Value of Taxes 
No. Value. No. Value. Property. Assessed. 

2 $20 $20 $0.10 


Isaac Burris 






3 


40 






40 


.20 


Arthur Baird 


2 


$80 


1 


10 






90 


.45 


John Bailey, Sr 


2 


100 


9 


114 


1 


$30 


244 


1.22 


John Bailey, Jr 


2 


80 


2 


20 






100 


.50 


Jacob Bartley 


1 


50 


4 


32 






82 


.41 


George Bartlev 


3 


120 


2 


16 


2 


13 


149 


.47% 


Matthew Busey 


8 


150 


15 


181 


1 


17 


348 


1.74 


William Bovd 


4 


160 


2 


18 


1 


20 


198 


.99 


Mijamin Byers 


5 


200 


14 


190 


1 


20 


410 


2.05 


Samuel Bromley 


8 


120 


3 


30 


1 


20 


170 


.85 


Asahel Bruer 


2 


70 


5 


40 


1 


10 


160 


.80 


Isaac Busev 


4 


300 


9 


100 


1 


60 


460 


2.30 


Samuel Beckley 


2 


100 


7 


76 






176 


.88 


John Brown 






2 


20 






20 


.10 


Noah Bixler 






1 


10 






10 


.05 


Charles Busev 


3 


90 


11 


124 


1 


20 


234 


1.17 


James Brownfield 


5 


250 


2 


20 


1 


20 


290 


1.45 


John Brownfield, Jr 


2 


50 


1 


10 






60 


.30 


John Brownfield, Sr 


C 


300 


3 


50 


1 


16 


366 


1.83 


Benjamin Brownfield . . . 


1 


30 






1 


6 


36 


.18 


Frederick Bouse 


. 2 


80 


11 


124 


1 


20 


224 


1.12 


Reuben S. Bullard 


2 


130 


1 


10 






140 


.70 


Joshua Chapman 


3 


130 


2 


20 




.... 


150 


.75 


Nancy Cook 


1 


30 


1 


10 






40 


.20 


Sarah Coe 


. 1 


20 


2 


16 


1 


20 


56 


.28 


William Curry 


2 


60 


6 


60 


1 


20 


140 


.70 


William Coe 


1 


40 


1 


8 






48 


.24 


James Copeland 


1 


40 


4 


46 


1 


18 


104 


.52 


Curtis Carmean 


1 


50 


1 


10 


1 


9 


69 


.34% 


John Coddington 


2 


100 


7 


84 


1 


16 


200 


1.00 


Larken Dier 


. 1 


50 


1 


8 






58 


.29 


Thomas Dier 


2 


100 


1 


8 


1 


10 


118 


.59 


Benjamin Delaney .... 


. 1 


50 


3 


24 






74 


.37 


James Freeman ....... 


. 2 


80 


1 


10 






90 


.45 


Robert French 


. 1 


50 










50 


.25 


Abner Fuller 






3 


27 






27 


.13% 


David Gabbard 


. 3 


60 


3 


24 


. . 




84 


.42 


Jacob Heator 






1 


8 


1 


16 


24 


.12 


Alexander Holebrooks . 


. 1 


50 


5 


70 






120 


.60 


Lackland Howard 


. 1 


30 


2 


16 


1 


20 


66 


.33 


Jefferson Huss 


. 2 


60 


3 


24 






84 


.42 


Enoch Humphries 


, 1 


75 










75 


.37% 


Thomas Hobbs 






3 


38 




.... 


38 


.19 


William Harris 


. 1 


10 










10 


.05 


Henry Hannahs 


. 1 


50 


1 


10 






60 


.30 


Valentine Iliff 


. 1 


30 


3 


40 


1 


6 


76 


.38 


John Jayne 


. 1 


10 


2 


16 






26 


.13 


James Johnson 






1 


10 


1 


5 


15 


.07% 


Amos Johnson 


. 1 


40 










40 


.20 


William Jackson 


. 2 


70 


2 


16 






86 


.43 


Elijah Jackson 


. 1 


30 


1 


8 






38 


.19 


John Jackson 






6 


75 






75 


.37% 


Elias Kirby 


. 2 


70 


1 


10 






80 


.40 


John W. Leird 






1 


8 






8 


.04 








3 


38 










Mason S. Martin 


. 1 


50 






2 


16 


116 


.58 


Levi Moore 


. 3 


100 


2 


16 


1 


20 


136 


.68 


James Moss 


. 3 


90 


5 


40 






130 


.65 






H1STOBY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



167 



Horses. 


Clocks and 
Cattle. Watches. Value of 


Taxes 


Owners' Names 


No. 


Value. 


No. Value. No. Value. Property. Assessed. 


William Nox, Sr 


. 2 


$75 


10 


$122 




$197 


$0.98 y 2 


Ethan Newcomb 


. 1 


50 


6 


75 




125 


.62% 


William Nox, Jr 


. 1 


50 


1 


8 




58 


.29 


James Osborn 


. 1 


40 


10 


116 


1 $20 


176 


.88 


Henry Osborn 






5 


64 




64 


.32 


William Osborn 


. 1 


50 


2 


18 





68 


.34 


Jonathan Osborn 


. 1 


30 


5 


50 




80 


.40 


George Powell 


. 1 


50 


2 


40 





90 


.45 


William I. Peters 


. 2 


70 


2 


16 




86 


.43 


Abraham Peters 






1 


8 




8 


.04 


William Peters 


. 2 


80 


3 


24 




104 


.52 


Robert Prather 


. 2 


40 


5 


60 




100 


.50 


Daniel T. Porter 






1 


10 


1 15 


25 


-12% 


Thomas Rowland 


. 2 


60 


5 


65 


1 16 


141 


.70% 


Gabriel G. Rice 


. 1 


40 


2 


20 




60 


.30 


James T. Roe 


. 2 


100 


1 


8 




143 


.71% 


John G. Robertson 


. 2 


50 


3 


30 




80 


.40 


Mathias Rhinehart . . . 


. 4 


200 


8 


94 


1 25 


319 


1.59% 


Hiram Ranking 


. 2 


80 


7 


100 




180 


.90 


Walter Rhodes 


. 1 


100 


2 


16 


1 25 


141 


.70% 


Robert Russel 


. 1 


20 








20 


.10 


John Salisbury 


. 1 


40 


3 


100 




140 


.70 


John W. Swearingen . . . 


. 2 


75 


5 


58 




133 


.66% 


Joseph Stayton 


. 3 


120 


3 


30 




150 


.75 


David Swearingen 


. 1 


25 


1 


8 




33 


.16% 


John Swearingen 






1 


10 




10 


.05 


Cvrus Strong 


. 2 


100 


6 


57 


1 16 


173 


.86% 


Andrew Stevenson .... 


. 1 


70 








70 


.35 


Philip Stanford 


2 


100 


5 


40 


1 20 


160 


.80 


Henry Sadorus 


. 2 


80 


13 


160 


1 20 


260 


1.30 


John Trueman 


. 2 


40 


1 


10 




50 


.25 


Joshua Tavlor 


. 1 


50 


1 


10 




60 


.30 


Martin Tompkins 






4 


50 




50 


.25 


Joshua Trickle 


. 3 


120 


4 


32 


1 20 


172 


.86 


Robert Trickle 


. 2 


100 


3 


21 


1 28 


149 


-74% 


Jacob Thotnas, Sr 


. 2 


100 


4 


36 


1 20 


156 


.78 


Henry Thomas 


. 1 


35 


5 


62 


1 20 


117 


.58% 


Adam Thomas 












35 


.17% 


Joseph Thomas 






8 


87 




87 


.43% 


Jacob Thomas, Jr 


. 1 


30 


1 


10 




40 


.20 


Moses Thomas 


. 4 


150 


14 


182 


1 16 


348 


1.74 


William T. Webber 


. 1 


65 


2 


30 




95 


.47% 


T. R. Webber 


. 1 


60 


3 


40 


1 5 


105 


.52% 


John Whiteaker 


. 3 


125 


14 


188 


1 20 


333 


1.66% 


Andrew Wilson 


. 1 


40 


1 


8 




48 


.24 


Harris Wilson 


. 2 


80 


: 2 


18 


1 20 


118 


.59 


Henry Wilson 






2 


30 




30 


.15 


Samuel Wilson 


. 1 


45 


2 


16 




61 


.30% 


Adam Yeazel 


. 2 


80 


1 


8 


1 16 


104 


.52 


John Zornes 






1 


10 




10 


.05 



Total 171 $87,085 387 $4,336 45 $776 $12,322 $61.61 

INCREASE OF COUNTY EEVENUES 

By 1836 the revenue of the county had increased to $258.85, and by 
18-1-1 to $1,672.87. This represented taxable property valued at over 



168 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

$334,373, as compared with $12,322 in 1833 quite an increase in a 
decade. After that the figures increased by leaps and bounds, and it will 
serve no useful purpose to present them ; those who are interested in such 
comparative details, year by year and decade by decade, have free access 
to the assessors' books at the county seat. A very striking and interest- 
ing comparison, however, is that between the first assessor's report of 
1833 and the last, of 1916; the first showing property valued at $12,322 
and assessed as $61.61 and the last, a valuation of $33,82-1,061 and an 
assessment of $1,275,276.12. 

PROPERTY VALUATION AND TAXES 

The material stability of Champaign County is well illustrated by 
the returns of the assessors in 1916, which, as stated, indicate that the 
real estate, comprising both country lands and village and city lots, 
and the personal and corporation property, are valued for purposes of 
taxation at $33,824,061, and that the taxes levied for all purposes 
amounted to $1,275,276.12. The assessed value of railroad property 
within the county was $1,926,251, and of telegraph and telephone 
companies/$82,800. The largest items among the tax levies were : For 
roads and bridges, $187,919 ; school, $473,455 ; state, $270,592 ; county, 
$148,963, and cities and villages, $149,796. 

The showing by townships is as follows : 

Townships. Value of Property. Taxes Levied. 

Ayers $ 662,746 $ 19,586.57 

Brown 1,100,360 35,857.42 

Champaign 5,273,764 309,567.42 

Colfax 809,295 21,498.71 

Compromise 1,333,984 37,757.79 

Condit 851,185 23,752.78 

Crittenden 832,301 28,271.84 

East Bend 881,156 24,013.30 

Harwood 876,583 21,706.09 

Hensley 825,372 19,811.97 

Kerr 397,840 13,282.52 

Ludlow 954.496 27,800.99 

Mahomet 779,371 27,289.55 

Newcomb 753,555 24,100.68 

Ogden 1,202,782 33,309.63 

Pesotum 879,580 29,396.78 

Philo 1,098,216 28,554.65 

Rantoul 1,556,917 48,020.1] 

Raymond 1,005,611 33,327.99 



HISTOBY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 169 

Township Value of Property Taxes Levied 

Sadorus $1,110,050 $34,410.27 

Scott 991,354 27,401.48 

Sidney 1,146,985 32,111.85 

Somer 831,708 22,050.85 

South Homer 945,271 34,916.94 

Stanton 811,705 21,406.94 

St. Joseph 1,118,509 36,047.04 

Tolono 1,058,336 34,772.31 

Urbana 3,735,039 225,251.94 



Total $33,824,061 $1,275,276.12 

POPULATION (1833-1917) 

The statistics of population relating to Champaign County, accord- 
ing to the returns of the state and federal census takers, are as follows, 
the deduction heing that when the county was organized in 1833 it 
contained about eight hundred people: 1835, 1,038; 1840, 1,475; 1845, 
2,041; 1850, 2,649; 1855, 6,565; 1860, 14,629; 1865, 21,124; 1870, 
32,737; 1880, 40,863; 1890, 42,159; 1900, 47,622; 1910, 51,829; 1917 
(estimated), 60,000. 



BY TOWNSHIPS, CITIES AND VILLAGES 

According to the Federal census returns for the last three decadal 
years the population of the townships, cities and villages of Cham- 
paign County was as follows : 

1910. 1900. 1890. 

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 51,829 47,622 42,159 

Ayers Township, including Broadlands Village and 

part of Allerton Village 929 865 719 

Allerton Village (part of) 15 .... .... 

Total for Allerton Village in Ayers Township, 
Champaign County, and Sidell Township, Ver- 
milion County 379 .... 

Broadlands Village 480 .... 

Brown Township, including Fisher Village 1,396 1,544 1 312 

Fisher Village 850 614 

Champaign Township, including Champaign City 13,353 9,966 6619 

Champaign City 12,421 9,098 5 839 

Ward 1 1,805 

Ward 2 1,964 

Ward 3 1,990 

Ward 4 1,524 

Ward 5 1,423 

Ward 6 1.997 

Ward 7 1,718 

Colfax Township 800 901 914 



170 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Compromise Township 

Condit Township 

Crittenden Township 

East Bend Township 

Hardwood Township 

Hensley Township 

Kerr Township 

Ludlow Township, including Ludlow Village and part 
of Eantoul Village 

Ludlow Village 

Rantoul Village (part of) 

Total for Rantoul Village in Ludlow and Rantoul 

townships 

Mahomet Township, including Mahomet Village 

Mahomet Village 

Newcomb Township 

Ogden Township, including Ogden Village 

Ogden Village 

Pesotum Township, including Pesotum Village 

Pesotum Village 

Philo Township, including Philo Village 

Philo Village 

Rantoul Township, including Thomasboro Village and 
part of Rantoul Village 

Thomasboro Village 

Rantoul Village (part of) 

Raymond Township, including Longview Village 

Longview Village 

Sadorus Township, including parts of Ivesdale and 
Sadorus villages 

Ivesdale Village (part of) 

Total for Ivesdale Village .in Sadorus Township, 
Champaign County, and Bennent Township, 
Piatt County 

Sadorus Village (part of) 

Total for Sadorus Village in Sadorus and Tolono 

townships 

St. Joseph Township, including St. Joseph Village . . . 

St. Joseph Village 

Scott Township 

Sidney Township, including Sidney Village 

Sidney Village 

Somer Township 

South Homer Township, including Homer Village. . . . 

Homer Village 

Stanton Township 

Tolono Township, including Tolono Village and part 
of Sadorus Village 

Sadorus Village (part of) 

Tolono Village 

Urbana Township, including Urbana City 

Urbana City . . . -. 



1910. 


1900. 


51,829 


47,622 


1,557 


1,576 


689 


777 


683 


820 


879 


1,113 


737 


750 


596 


610 


418 


427 


1,530 


1,060 


305 


306 


523 





1,384 


1,207 


1,329 


1,277 


565 


515 


744 


854 


1,389 


1,392 


428 


419 


1,096 


1,094 


376 




1.239 


i.iis 


562 


502 


1,995 


2,365 


321 




861 


1,207 


1,052 


1,093 


257 




1,688 


1,757 


429 


476 



Ward 
Ward 
Ward 
Ward 
Ward 



436 
299 

336 

1.406 
681 
984 

1,303 
481 
866 

1,655 

1,086 
759 

1,379 
37 
760 
9.378 
8,245 
1.800 
1,962 
1.066 
1,815 
1,602 



476 

284 

340 
1,491 

637 
1,026 
1,452 

564 

940 
1,821 
1,080 

865 

1,663 

56 

845 

6,948 

5,728 



1890. 
42,159 

1,650 
750 
932 

1,122 
761 
642 
366 

1,152 
298 



1,074 

1,247 
473 
959 

1,433 
334 

1,038 

1,240 
491 

2,391 

1,074 
1,204 



1,655 
323 



323 
277 

277 

1,599 

552 

978 

1,623 

581 

1,072 

1.669 

917 

847 

1,777 

902 
4,488 
3,511 



HISTOEY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



171 



In explanation of the figures relating to the population of the 
incorporated cities and villages of the county the government reports 
give the following facts: Thomasboro Village was incorporated in 1900. 
In 1900 Eantoul Village was returned as in Eantoul Township only, 
and Ivesdale as in Champaign County alone. Longview Village was 
incorporated in 1903 and Pesotum Village in 1906. In 1907 the part 
of Champaign City in Urbana Township was annexed to the corporation. 



CHAPTER VI 
LEGAL AND MEDICAL 

SUPREME COURT AND CIRCUIT JUDGES WILLIAM WILSON, FIRST 
CIRCUIT JUDGE FIRST PROBATE JUDGE JUSTIN HARLAN SECOND 
TERM OF CIRCUIT COURT FIRST CRIMINAL INDICTMENT POPULAR 
RESORT FOR BENCH AND BAR As EFFECTIVE AS BOLTS AND BARS 
AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH AARON SHAW AND 0. B. FICKLIN CIRCUIT 
DUTIES AGAIN IMPOSED ON SUPREME COURT THE COUNTY IN THE 
EIGHTH CIRCUIT FIRST MURDER TRIAL IN THE COUNTY UNDER 
THE 1848 CONSTITUTION DAVID DAVIS JOSEPH G. CANNON'S 
MAIDEN PROSECUTION OLIVER L. DAVIS UNDER THE CONSTITU- 
TION OF 1870 C. B. SMITH FRANCIS M. WRIGHT SOLON PHIL- 
BRICK FRANKLIN H. BOGGS HOME JUDICIAL TIMBER WHAT THE 
CIRCUIT COURT RECORDS SHOW JUDGE HARLAN'S LAST WORK PRO- 
BATE JUDGES JOHN BROWNFIELD SETTLED OUT OF COURT ARCHA 
CAMPBELL, LAST PROBATE JUDGE COUNTY JUDGES JUDGE J. 0. 
CUNNINGHAM WILLIAM D. SOMERS, FIRST RESIDENT LAWYER 
COL. W. N. COLER, SECOND LAWYER JUSTICE JAMES S. GERE 
JAMES W. SOMERS HENRY C. WHITNEY JAMES B. McKiNLEY 
S. B. RADEBAUGH GEORGE W. GERE JOHN C. BLACK MILTON W. 
MATHEWS ROBERT C. WRIGHT WILLIAM B. WEBBER THE MEDI- 
CAL PROFESSION CHOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 1834 DR. T. FULKERSON, 
FIRST RESIDENT PHYSICIAN DR. JAMES H. LYON VICTIMS OF 
MIASMA DRS. HARMAN STEVENS AND JOHN S. SADDLER DR. 
WINSTON SOMERS DR. WILLIAM A. CONKEY DR. PHILIP C. 
MOSIER PIONEERS AT URBANA AND WEST UHBANA READY FOR 
THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 1854 THE WIPING OUT OF A FAMILY 
DR. CHARLES A. HUNT DR. SAMUEL W. KINCAID DR. HERMAN 
CHAFFEE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PROFESSION. 

The word professional is very broadly applied in these days to the 
activities of lawyers and judges, to the work of the medical fraternity, 
to the labors of civil enginers, and the many and complex duties of the 
litterateur. This chapter confines itself to dealings with those men and 
women, the efficient performance qf whose life work is based upon a pre- 
liminary education and training prescribed by institutions and individual 
authorities, and which earns for those who have completed them the 

172 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 173 

official right to pursue their careers in the communities which they 
may select. The chapter is also limited to professions which operate 
either through the machinery of the county government, and the mem- 
bers of which depend chiefly upon their individual exertions, rather 
than upon business operations, for their success. Such a definition 
would include teachers and clergymen, but the former have a chapter 
solely devoted to them, and the clergymen, with their churches, are 
spoken of at length in the histories of the various communities to which 
they have contributed their best in the field of Christianity and spiritual 
progress. The same may be said of the press and the newspaper men 
and women of the county, who represent powers in the interest of 
enlightenment and progress not easily to be gauged. The legal and 
medical fields are therefore those left open for the consideration of this 
chapter. 

SUPREME COUET AND CIRCUIT JUDGES 

As a rule, justice in Champaign County has been faithfully con- 
served and wisely administered through the Circuit, Probate and County 
Courts. Under the constitution of 1818 the judicial power of the state 
was vested in the Supreme Court, comprising a chief justice and three 
associates, with such inferior courts as the Legislature might establish. 
The operations of the five Circuit Courts, which were in existence when 
Champaign was set off from Vermilion County, in 1833, were conducted 
by four associate justices of the State Supreme Court (act of 1829), 
and the special circuit judge assigned to duty for the territory north- 
west of the Illinois River. Champaign County was in the fourth 
circuit and, by law, Judge William Wilson, of Carmi, White County, 
was assigned to its courts; but he never appeared at Urbana to adminis- 
ter justice in that capacity. 

WILLIAM WILSON, FIRST CIRCUIT JUDGE 

Under the statutes, William Wilson was the first circuit judge of 
Champaign County, and is therefore entitled to a short sketch. In 
early life he came to Kaskaskia, Illinois. His character was above 
reproach. He had not enjoyed a collegiate education, but his legal 
attainments were good. It is said by a friend that "he was social in 
disposition, candid and artless by nature, with a manner pleasant and 
winning." For nearly thirty years he was one of the supreme judges 
of our state. His home for many years was about two miles from Carmi, 
the capital of White County, and here he exercised genuine old Virginian 



174 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

hospitality. Mr. Wilson was circuit judge for a short time, and on the 
7th of August, 1819, was appointed to fill the vacancy on the Supreme 
Bench of the state created by the resignation of the gentlemanly 
swindler, William P. Foster, who had never gone near his circuit, but 
had drawn his salary with the regularity of a modern member of Con- 
gress. When the constitution of 1848 went into effect Mr. Wilson retired 
to private life. He died at his home April 29, 1857, at the age of sixty- 
three years, and met death with the serenity that accompanies the con- 
sciousness of a well-spent life. 

FIRST PROBATE JUDGE 

As has been noted, while the few settlers in what is now Champaign 
County were still under the jurisdiction of Vermilion, a number of 
justices of the peace had been appointed to settle any legal difficulties 
which might arise, and not long before the first election in April, 1833, 
one of their number, Moses Thomas, was elected by the Legislature to 
the probate judgeship, the first to occupy that bench for Champaign 
County. He canvassed the election returns, issued certificates of elec- 
tion to the successful candidates, and commenced at once to perform 
the other authorized duties of his office. The Probate Court was the 
pioneer body to actually administer justice in Champaign County. 

It was a new era in the judicial history of the county which com- 
menced in 1835. In that year the state was divided into six judicial 
circuits, and five additional circuit judges having been elected, the 
supreme judges were again relieved from Circuit Court duties. Cham- 
paign County was still in the fourth circuit, and on January 19, 1835, 
Justin Harlan, an uncle of the late United States Senator James Har- 
lan, of Iowa, was commissioned its judge. On the following 6th of 
April he opened the first term of the Circuit Court of Champaign 
County at the store of Isaac H. Alexander, a resident of Danville, whose 
local interests were managed by County Clerk Webber. 

JUSTIN HARLAN 

Justin Harlan was an Ohio man, who, when a young man, had 
settled in Clark County, Illinois, and had served in the Black Hawk 
War from that section of the state before assuming his official duties. 
He served as circuit judge until 1841, was a delegate to the constitu- 
tional convention of 1847, was elected to the Circuit Bench under the 
constitution of 1848 and reelected in 1855, held the office of Indian 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 175 

agent from 1862 to 1865, was chosen county judge of Clark County in 
1872, and died while on a visit to Kentucky, in March, 1879. 

With Judge Harlan appeared Sheriff-elect Andrew Stevenson, ready 
to enforce any decrees of the court, and Thomson E. Webber was 
appointed circuit clerk. The grand jury impaneled and sworn com- 
prised Jacob Bartley (foreman), Samuel Wilson, James Copeland, 
Jonathan Maxwell, William Jackson, James Osborn, John Bryan, 
Benjamin Dulemy, John Baily, Sr., John Jayne, Larkin Deer, George 
Bartley, Isaac Busey, Charles Busey, Charles Hapstonstall, Joshua 
Trickle, Matthew Busey and Joshua Taylor. 

The official bonds of the sheriff, clerk and Coroner Adam Yeazel, 
were approved, and the two cases on the calendar were continued. The 
latter were two actions for slander, McDonald Osborn vs. William 
Phillips and the same plaintiff against Nathaniel Hanline. 

Before the end of the day the Grand Jury reported that there were 
no indictments to be made; whereupon that body was discharged and 
the court adjourned. 

SECOND TERM OF CIRCUIT COURT 

The second term of the Circuit Court was held at the house and 
store of Israel Knapp, the successor, in occupancy and proprietorship, of 
Mr. Alexander, in October, 1835. It was held by Judge Alexander P. 
Grant of Shawneetown and occupied two days. It was one of his last 
appearances on the bench, or in life. He was a lawyer and a judge of 
marked ability. In February, 1835, he had been appointed by the 
Legislature as judge of the third circuit to succeed Henry Eddy, the 
pioneer lawyer and editor of Shawneetown, under whom he had studied 
his profession. Soon after holding court at Urbana, Judge Grant died 
in Vandalia, Fayette County. 

The petit jurors sworn to try the slander suit of Osborn against 
Phillips were Jacob Heater, John Jayne, Nelson Powell, William Cor- 
ray, James Copeland, John Baily, Sr., Hiram Eankin, Frederick Bouse, 
Garret Moore, Isaac Burris, William Galliher and Hiram Johnson. 
The record shows that the jury returned a verdict in favor of Phillips, 
and evidently the second suit was not pressed. Samuel McRoberts, 
Osborn's attorney, who appeared at this October term as the first lawyer 
to try a case in the Circuit Court of Champaign County, was then the 
receiver at the Danville Land Office and stood high in his profession. 
While a resident of Monroe County, in the late '20s, he had served as 
one of the circuit judges of the state. In 1841 he was elected to the 



176 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



United States Senate and served in that body until his death in 1842. 
But despite his ability and standing he lost the slander cases brought 
before Judge Grant. 

FIRST CRIMINAL INDICTMENT 

There was no April term in 1836, but at the October term of that 
year Justin Harlan again opened court. It convened in the temporary 
courthouse. The court rendered a judgment by default against Isaiah 
Corray in favor of Mr. Chestnut for $265. The grand jury, of which 
Colonel M. W. Busey was foreman, returned the first criminal indict- 
ment in the legal history of the county. Aaron Shaw, the state's 




OLD KELLY TAVERN, ST. JOSEPH 
(One of Lincoln's stopping places) 

attorney, charged John H. Busey with having disturbed the peace. The 
indictment was quashed at the April term, which also convened in the 
make-shift courthouse. It appears that both bench and bar were more 
comfortable in private houses than in official quarters, for the Septem- 
ber term of 1837 was held at the residence of Isaac Busey. 

POPULAR EESORT FOR BENCH AND BAR 

Although this temporary courthouse was notably unpopular with the 
pioneer judiciary and legal practitioners of Champaign County, it 
proved to be the seed of something very dear to the old-time members 
of the profession. The lot upon which it was originally built, with an 
adjoining tract, was sold to Asahel Brauer in 1841. He moved the log 
house to the consolidated site, clapboarded it, added to it, and opened 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 177 

the Urbana House. The hotel was long the best stopping place afforded 
by the county seat, a favorite headquarters of professional life, and 
provided shelter and food to such judges as Treat and the Davises, and 
such lawyers as Lincoln, Linder, Leonard Swett, Kirby Benedict, D. B. 
Campbell, Josiah Lamborn, J. A. McDougall, J. N. Roberts, Amzi 
McWilliams and John Pearson. In time, the Urbana House became 
the Pennsylvania House, with which the names of John H. Thomas, 
C. M. Vanderveer and Samuel Waters are associated as proprietors and 
hosts. 

As EFFECTIVE AS BOLTS AND BARS 

Until 1841 the bench and bar of Champaign County, at their head- 
quarters in Urbana, were shifted around from pillar to post. The 
temporary courthouse of 1836, as well as the little frame building of 
1837, was abandoned, and the court and lawyers were accommodated in 
the log houses of various residents. Until 1840 there was not even an 
excuse for a jail, although several petty criminals had been convicted. 
It is related that on one occasion a prisoner, having been tried, and 
while awaiting the verdict of the jury deliberating in a nearby thicket 
of hazel brush, was detained by the sheriff thus : His hands were tied 
behind him and his feet were bound together; a sapling was bent down 
and fastened to his feet, which, being left free, raised the legs of the 
prisoner their length from the ground. He was about as secure as 
bolts and bars would have made him. 

AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH 

Among the practitioners of these primitive days before the Circuit 
Court, Judge Cunningham mentions Aaron Shaw, then of Clark 
County; 0. B. Ficklin, of Charleston, Coles County; John J. Brown, of 
Danville ; Matthew Van Deveer, of Champaign County, and Augustus C. 
French, of Crawford County. Three of those mentioned earned national 
reputations. After serving in the Legislature several terms, and as 
presidential elector in 1844, Mr. French was elected by the Democrats 
as the ninth governor of Illinois and thus served in 1846-52. He was 
afterward appointed state bank commissioner, was a member of the 
constitutional convention of 1862, and died at Lebanon, where he had 
held the chair of law at McKendree College, in September, 1864. 

AARON SHAW AND 0. B. FICKLIN 

Both Aaron Shaw and 0. B. Ficklin served several terms in Con- 
gress. Mr. Shaw was a member of the first Internal Improvements 
112 



178 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

convention of Illinois, was states attorney of Lawrence County and a 
member of the Legislature; judge of the twenty-fifth circuit for four 
years and served in the thirty-fifth and forty-eighth Congresses, 1856 
and 1882, respectively. 

Orlando B. Ficklin served in the Legislature and as state's attorney, 
while a resident of Wabash County ; three terms in the Legislature, after 
he had moved to Charleston (1838) ; was a congressman from Coles 
County, in 1843-49 and 1851-53, and subsequently presidential elector; 
delegate to national Democratic convention and a member of the state 
constitutional convention of 1862. He died at Charleston May 5, 1886. 

CIRCUIT DUTIES AGAIN IMPOSED ON SUPREME COURT 

The foregoing sketches should convey an idea of the large caliber 
of the early judges and lawyers who graced the profession in Champaign 
County during the earlier period of its history. Among the occupants 
of the Circuit bench none stood higher than Justin Harlan, who con- 
tinued to preside in Champaign County until he was legislated out of 
office by the act of February 10, 1841. That measure repealed all acts 
authorizing the election of circuit judges by the Legislature; provided 
for the appointment of five additional associate judges of the Supreme 
Court, making nine in all; reimposed the circuit duties on the members 
of the State Supreme Court, and divided the state into nine circuits. 

THE COUNTY IN THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT 

Under the law of 1841 Champaign County was included in the 
eighth circuit which embraced the fifteen counties between the Illinois 
Eiver and the Indiana line, with Livingston on the north and Sangamon 
on the south. Judge Samuel H. Treat was assigned to that circuit, 
thus succeeding Justin Harlan. 

Judge Treat, who had been a resident of Springfield for a number 
of years and appointed to the Circuit Court in 1839, at the reorganiza- 
tion of the Supreme Court in 1841, became one of the leading members 
of that body, and at the time of the adoption of the constitution of 1848 
was acting chief justice. He continued to .preside over the court in 
Champaign County until that year, remaining on the Supreme bench 
under the new constitution until 1855, when he resigned to assume the 
judgeship of the United States District Court for the Southern District 
of Illinois. He was filling that position at the time of his death, which 
occurred at Springfield, March 27, 1887, and concluded one of the ' 
longest judicial careers in the history of the state. 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 179 

FIRST MURDER TRIAL IN THE COUNTY 

The name of the first murderer and his victim are alike unknown. 
A tradition, however, informs us that in early times, before the settle- 
ment of this county, a thief who had stolen a horse in Indiana, fled 
with his booty westward. A band of "regulators" pursued and overtook 
him at a point known as Tow Head, an isolated clump of trees on the 
ridge a mile north of the present village of Philo. Overcome by fatigue, 
he was sleeping beneath a tree, with the stolen horse tethered near. 
The avengers sent a rifle-ball crashing through his brain, and he passed 
without a struggle from the repose of sleep to the repose of death. His 
body was left to rot unburied, and the bleached skeleton was seen by 
early settlers who passed the lonely grove. 

The first murder in this county for which there was a trial and 
conviction, was that known as the Weaver-Hiltibran murder. On the 
10th day of October, 1844, William Weaver, of Urbana, a miserable, 
drunken, reckless wretch, shot David Hiltibran in the right side with 
a rifle, without any apparent motive, except the fiendish recklessness 
that often attends men who have become besotted. He was arrested 
and indicted at the May term of 1845 by a grand jury, of which William 
D. Somers was foreman. Judge Treat was on the bench; J. A. Mc- 
Dougall, attorney for the State, T. E. Webber, clerk, and Wilson Lewis, 
sheriff. 

The following jurors tried the case : Joseph White, Harrison W. 
Drellinger, Alexander Walter, Henry Sadorus, W. H. Brobst, Charles 
W. Pitchan, David Hammer, John Hammer, John Mead, Winston 
Somers, Michael Finebaugh, and Wells Edgerton. 

On the opening of the trial, Abraham Lincoln, who became before 
his death "the foremost man of all the world," and Asahel Gridley, were 
appointed by the court to defend the prisoner, but his guilt was too well 
established during the trial to admit of any verdict but "guilty," and 
William Weaver was accordingly sentenced to be hung on Friday, June 
27, 1845. A few days, however, before the day of execution, he made 
his escape from jail, fled to Wisconsin, and was never recaptured. He 
subsequently changed his name, reformed, and lived a decent life. His 
near view of the gallows seems to have somewhat revolutionized him 
and put him on his good behavior. 

UNDER THE 1848 CONSTITUTION 

The constitution of 1848 made all judicial officers elective by the 
people, and provided for a Supreme Court of three judges, Circuit, 



180 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

County and Justices' Courts; also conferred upon the Legislature power 
to create inferior municipal courts. Appeals lay from the Circuit 
courts to the Supreme Court for the particular division in which the 
county might be located. The term of office for Supreme Court judges 
was nine years and for Circuit judges, six. Vacancies were to be filled 
by popular election, unless the unexpired term of the deceased or 
retiring incumbent was less than one year, in which case the governor 
was authorized to appoint. Circuit courts were vested with appellate 
jurisdiction from inferior, tribunals, and each was required to hold at 
least two terms annually in each county, as might be fixed by statute. 

DAVID DAVIS 

Judge David Davis, who succeeded Judge Samuel H. Treat as the 
first Circuit judge for this circuit, under the constitution of 1848, 
attained perhaps the highest national rank of any one who has appeared 
upon any Champaign County bench. His service extended from the 
May term of 1849 until the end of the April term of 1861, when Cham- 
paign County was set off from the Eighth and attached to the Twenty- 
seventh circuit. Previous to his election as judge of the Eighth circuit, 
Judge David had practiced law at Bloomington for a number of years 
and served a term in the lower house of the Legislature. He was 
reelected to the bench in 1855 and 1861, resigning in the following 
year to ascend the bench of the United States Supreme Court, under 
appointment of his close friend, Lincoln. Eesigning from the national 
Supreme Court to become United States senator in 1887, he served 
until the end of his term in 1885, and died in June of the following 
year, at his home in Bloomington. 

JOSEPH G. CANNON'S MAIDEN PROSECUTION 

The last term held by Judge Davis in Urbana, that of April, 1861, 
was notable in many ways. Not only did it mark the severing of 
strongly cemented relations which had been formed by his honorable 
and able course as a circuit judge, and his warm and attractive personal 
character, but the birth-pangs of the Civil War were well advanced, and 
the second murder trial in the history of the county was tried during 
that period, under the maiden prosecution of the newly elected attorney 
of the circuit, Joseph G. Cannon. John Murphy had been indicted for 
the murder of S. S. Eankin, and while Mr. Cannon was making his 
closing address, as prosecuting attorney of the circuit, Beauregard 
opened fire upon Fort Sumter. Mr. Cannon was then a struggling 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 181 

young lawyer of Danville, and held the position of state's attorney until 
1868. A few years afterward he commenced his phenomenal career as 
a congressman. 

OLIVEE L. DAVIS 

Oliver L. Davis was elected judge of the new Twenty-seventh circuit 
in March, 1861, at which time Mr. Cannon was chosen prosecuting 
attorney. He was also from Danville and had served several terms in 
the General Assembly before being elected to the bench. He resigned 
in 1866, but served a second term in 1873-79, having been assigned to 
the Appellate bench in 1877. He died January 12, 1892. 

In 1866 Judge Oliver L. Davis was succeeded by James Steele, of 
Paris, Edgar County, who held court but one term before the county 
was taken from the Twenty-seventh circuit and attached to the Seven- 
teenth, over which Charles Emmerson then presided. He had already 
been serving on the Circuit bench for fourteen years. Judge Emmerson's 
home was in Decatur. In 1867 he was defeated for a justiceship of 
the State Supreme Court; was elected a delegate to the constitutional 
convention of 1870, but died in April of that year before that body had 
concluded its deliberations. 

UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1870 

The constitution of 1870 retained the popular elective feature of the 
judiciary and the terms of office of the Supreme and Circuit Court 
judges as fixed by the constitution of 1848. The number of Supreme 
Court judges was increased to seven, as at present. In 1873 the state 
was divided into twenty-seven circuits and in 1877, into thirteen. 
Under the provisions of the latter year, while the twenty-six judges 
already in office were retained, an additional judge was authorized for 
each district to serve two years, making the entire Circuit judiciary to 
consist of thirty-nine judges. In all this legislation Cook County was 
in a class by itself, constituting one circuit; the same is true regarding 
the act of 1897, which increased the number of circuits to seventeen 
(exclusive of Cook County), while the number of judges in each circuit 
remained the same. 

The constitution of 1870 provided for the organization of Appellate 
Courts after 1874. The Legislature established four of these tribunals, 
Champaign County being in what was denominated the Central Grand 
Division. Each Appellate Court is held by three Circuit Court judges 
named by the State Supreme Court, each assignment covering three 






182 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

years, and no judge is allowed to receive extra compensation or sit in 
review of his own rulings or decisions. Two terms are held in each 
district yearly. The Appellate Courts have no original jurisdiction. 

C. B. SMITH 

Arthur J. Gallagher, who succeeded Judge Emmerson as circuit 
judge of the court held in Champaign County, in 1867, held over during 
the judicial reorganization brought about by the constitution of 1870, 
and was succeeded in 1873 by Judge C. B. Smith. Judge Smith served 
the people and the profession so acceptably that he was retained on the 
Circuit bench for three terms, or eighteen years, and the period of his 
incumbency was a remarkably busy and important one. 

FBANCIS M. WRIGHT ' 

Francis M. Wright, his successor in 1891, had been a resident of 
Urbana since 1868, much of the time as junior member of the well 
known law firm of Somers & Wright. Judge Wright was reelected to 
the Circuit bench in 1897, serving altogether nearly twelve years, dur- 
ing nine of which he was a member of the Appellate judiciary. He 
resigned in January, 1903, to accept appointment as judge of the United 
States Court of Claims, moving to Washington, D. C., to assume that 
position. There he served until his appointment by President Roose- 
velt, in 1908, as judge of the Federal Court for the Eastern District of 
Illinois. Judge Wright died at his home in Urbana, July 15, 1917. 

Judge Wright's term of office as Circuit judge was signalized by the 
completion of the present massive and attractive courthouse, and on the 
fourth Monday of September, 1901, he opened the fall term of court in 
the elegant and commodious quarters provided for the accommodation 
of the judiciary, the juries, officials connected with the legal department 
and members of the profession. It was certainly a large step from the 
temporary courthouse of 1836 to the fine structure of 1901. 

SOLON PHILBRICK 

Solon Philbrick, a lawyer of Champaign City and member of the 
firm of Gere & Philbrick, succeeded Judge Wright in the Circuit judg- 
ship by appointment January 20, 1903, and in the following June was 
elected to that bench, and again elected in June, 1909. Previous to 
ascending the bench he had been city attorney of Champaign and master 
in chancery of Champaign County. 

Judge Philbrick died in Springfield, April 13, 1914. 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 183 

FRANKLIN H. BOGGS 

In September, 1914, Franklin H. Boggs, the present incumbent of 
the bench, was elected to succeed Judge Philbrick. He had been 
engaged in a leading practice at Urbana, during most of the period, as 
junior member of the firm of Cunningham & Boggs. 

HOME JUDICIAL TIMBER 

So that the ever increasing importance of Champaign County in the 
affairs of the Sixth circuit has been recognized for the past twenty-five 
years by the selection of local professional ability in the construction of 
judicial timber. 

WHAT THE CIRCUIT COURT RECORDS SHOW 

The late Judge Cunningham, whose death cut off much interesting 
material, which would otherwise have appeared in this history, has 
already recorded the following, in connection with the early formative 
period of the Circuit Court system in Champaign County : "The 
records were originally written, not in a book, but, as it would seem, 
upon loose sheets of paper such as were in use generally at that date. 
No ruling appears upon the sheets as manufactured, the lines followed 
having been made by a ruler and lead plummet. The paper is rough 
and coarse, and has apparently been since bound into book form, with 
subsequent records. 

"The record of the first term is in the handwriting of Judge Harlan, 
briefly written, but generally in the approved forms of judicial records. 
The record of the second term is largely in the handwriting of Judge 
Grant. Subsequent records are partly in the handwriting of the clerk, 
Mr. Webber, and partly the work of others, presumably of the judges or 
lawyers for some years, but finally wholly the work of the clerk. Judge 
Treat wrote much of the record of terms held by him in his well known 
strong hand. With this judge, in 1841, came a bound book of a better 
quality of paper ruled in the manufacture. There came also the use 
of forms in the record which more nearly conform to those in use in 
later years. 

"During the first twenty years of the life of the county, a singular 
repetition of the same names in the juries called, appears being mostly 
the names of those who came early to the county. New names keep 
dropping in every year. Each day's record is duly signed by the pre- 



184 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

siding judge, and as the terms usually lasted but two days, the record 
must have been actually written up as the business of the court pro- 
ceeded. 

JUDGE HAELAN'S LAST WORK 

"The last work done by Judge Harlan in finishing up his long term 
of service in the county, was the writing of a decree of divorce of nine 
lines, whereby he forever divorced Eobert Prather, the owner of Prather's 
Ford, from his wife, Letitia. According to modern lights on the divorce 
question, the merest tyro in law forms would hold that, for all of this 
decree, Robert and Letitia, long since dead, died in the bonds of holy 
wedlock. 

"Another feature of interest in the record is the small number of 
indictments found by the grand juries. Not until more than three years 
of the life of the county was the first indictment returned into court, 
and only twenty bills were found during the first ten years. These were 
for offenses most likely to occur in a new country. The offenses charged 
were : Disturbance of the peace ; obstructing a road ; passing counter- 
feit money; assaults of various kinds; selling whisky without license; 
kidnapping; larceny, and carrying deadly weapons. Only two convic- 
tions followed." 

PROBATE JUDGES 

The continuity of the county judiciary inferior to the Circuit Court, 
is carried along through the Probate and County systems, with the 
justices of the peace as useful and, at times, very busy auxiliaries; in 
fact, under the constitution of 1818 and for thirty years thereafter, 
matters usually classed as probate and those now assigned to justices 
of the peace, were under the jurisdiction of what were denominated 
probate justices of the peace, or as they were more generally known 
probate judges. Moses Thomas, the first probate judge, served from 
1833 to 1837, when John B. Thomas was elected. He was followed by 
M. W. Busey in 1839, John Brownfield in 1841, Daniel T. Porter in 
1843 and Archa Campbell, in 1848. 

JOHN BROWNFIELD 

Among the best known of these officials were John Brownfield and 
Archa Campbell. The Brownfield family had moved from Kentucky 
in October, 1832, and settled near the old Fort Clark road in the Big 
Grove section. John Brownfield, the head of the family, was then a 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 185 

man about forty-seven years of age, and a blacksmith. He at once 
built a horse grist mill near his home, which became a most popular 
institution with the neighborhood settlers. A few years afterward he 
erected a saw and a grist mill, operated by the creek about three miles 
below Urbana. Mr. Brownfield was very useful and popular, both by 
virtue of his sound abilities and his personal relations. He had married 
a sister of James Clements, another leading settler, and he himself 
raised thirteen children, some of whom married into leading families of 
the county. 

SETTLED OUT OF COURT 

Mr. Brownfield died in July, 1863, and the following is told as to 
his native shrewdness, and his aptitude for settling cases out of court : 
"Born and reared at a time and in a section of the country, when and 
where educational facilities were out of the question, he was conspicuous 
for his lack of book learning, and as conspicuous for his strong common 
sense, which never deserted him in any emergency. Although without a 
knowledge of the world beyond his limited line of observation, he was 
too shrewd and alert to be overreached by the most casuistic of sharpers. 
He would have proven himself equal to the ingenuousness of any of the 
modern confidence men, had they visited him in that day. His shrewd- 
ness in settling by the most peaceable of measures a threatened lawsuit 
well illustrates his aptness in dealing with men. In his water mill 
above spoken of, he made use of a wheel fashioned after one which 
somebody had patented, without thinking of infringing on any one's 
rights, others of the same pattern being in use in the neighborhood. An 
agent of the patentee came through the country looking after infringers 
upon his patent. He came to Urbana one day, put up his team and 
enquired for Mr. Brownfield's mill and residence, and was told he was 
in town. The two soon met and the stranger made known his business. 
He said he was informed that Mr. B. had in use one of his patent 
wheels that he had already settled like infringements on his letters- 
patent with so-and-so, and was disposed to settle with him without suit. 
Mr. Brownfield said if he had infringed upon the rights of anyone he 
was willing to pay, but from the stranger's description of his wheel he 
doubted if his own wheel was any infringement. He invited the 
claimant to go with him to his mill and examine for himself. It was 
then near noon, and it was agreed that the two should meet soon after 
dinner and together go to the mill, three miles away. After his dinner 
the stranger drove out with a spirited team for Mr. Brownfield to pilot 
him to the mill, but he could not be found. After some further search 



186 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

he concluded to go alone and inspect the wheel. He soon reached the 
mill, but found no wheel in it. The smoking embers of a bonfire near 
by plainly showed that the wheel and all evidence of its character, had 
been reduced to ashes. The evidence from which to base a suit was 
gone, and the suit thus settled by peaceable means." 

ARCHA CAMPBELL, LAST PROBATE JUDGE 

Archa Campbell, the last of the probate justices, was also self-edu- 
cated and a practical man, but of broader character than Mr. Brown- 
field. He was a New Yorker, one of those traveling merchants, whose 
store was his wagon, and in the course of his business wanderings 
through Indiana and Illinois, in 1839, stopped overnight at Urbana. 
In 1842 he returned to that locality to make it his home. He not only 
held the office of probate justice, but was one of the three commissioners 
who managed the county affairs. It was during his term as commis- 
sioner that the second courthouse, the frame building, was moved from 
the public square and the three thousand dollar brick courthouse was 
completed. With his associates, he had to weather a somewhat violent 
uprising on the part of some "thrifty" taxpayers who rebelled at such 
reckless extravagance. Mr. Campbell was the first mayor of Urbana, 
president of the Urbana Railroad Company which did the preliminary 
work on its first street railway, and one of the first to join the new 
Republican party. Although specifically a Methodist, he was a friend 
and practical helper to other religious denominations and many char- 
ities, as well as a constant promoter of kindliness in his private rela- 
tionships. 

COUNTY JUDGES 

In 1848 the new constitution authorized the organization of a County 
Court, comprising a judge and two associates, which constituted the 
governing body of the county. Under that law, in 1849 John B. 
Thomas was elected county judge ; Jesse W. Jaquith and Matthew John- 
son, associates. In 1853 Elisha Harkness was chosen judge, with M. D. 
Coffeen and William Stewart, associates. Edward Ater was elected 
judge in 1857; Lewis Jones and John P. Tenbrook, associates. Field- 
ing L. Scott was elected in place of Mr. Jones, in 1859. Of the fore- 
going, Judge Tenbrook was widely known in the western part of the 
county, coming from Piatt County in 1850 and locating at Sadorus. 
He resided in that village for many years, his being the first house 
erected there. After the county adopted township organization, he 






HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 187 

served several times as a member of its Board of Supervisors and was 
widely honored and popular. 

Fielding L. Scott was a much earlier settler, coming from Vermilion 
County in 1830. He settled on a farm near the present village of 
Mahomet, where he resided until his death in 1877. He was a stanch 
Union man, and one of his sons was killed and another repeatedly 
wounded in the Civil War. 

JUDGE J. 0. CUNNINGHAM 

Under township organization, J. 0. Cunningham was elected the first 
county judge in 1861. During the four years that he held the judgeship 
he saw the necessity for some well considered work on probate law, and 
some years afterwards assisted in editing and publishing the standard 
book entitled "County and Probate Court Practice," by Jones and Cun- 
ningham. Judge Cunningham was a versatile and graceful writer, espe- 
cially on political and historic topics ; was for several years after coming 
to Urbana editor and part proprietor of the Urbana Union, and was aft- 
erwards connected with the Union and Gazette. He was also identified 
with the early building of the State University; but his main business 
in life was the practice of the law. He was able, generous, sympa- 
thetic and philanthropic, and the "Cunningham Deaconess Home and 
Orphanage" will long stand as a tribute to such qualities. As a Meth- 
odist, a Mason and a man of ability and practical spirituality, the Judge 
rooted himself into the hearts of the people of Champaign County for 
sixty-four years, and his death in April, 1917, caused keen and wide- 
spread sorrow. The details forming the life of this sound and good 
man will be found in a more extended biography elsewhere. 

Judge Cunningham was succeeded by Alexander M. Avers, who 
came to Urbana in 1855 and resided there until his death in 1900. He 
had. served during the last three years of the Civil War in the quarter- 
master's department, and was elected county judge upon his discharge 
from the Union service in June, 1865. He served continuously in that 
office until 1873; in the following year was appointed postmaster of 
Urbana, holding that office until 1878, and thereafter practicing law 
during the remainder of his active life. 

The successor on the County bench of Judge Ayers was Joseph W. 
Sim, who served from 1873 until the conclusion of his term of four 
years. When he was a young man of twenty-three the Sim family had 
settled on a farm about a mile east of Urbana, and after serving as 
principal of the village school for a time commenced the study of law 



188 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

with the pioneer lawyer and newspaper man, Colonel William N. Coler. 
Upon examination he was admitted to practice, and at once formed a 
partnership with his preceptor, as Coler & Sim. He afterward formed 
a professional connection with J. 0. Cunningham. In 1864-66 he 
served as mayor of Urbana. In the late '60s he withdrew from practice, 
because of ill health, and engaged in farming and stock-raising. He 
was thus employed when he was selected judge of the County Court, 
in the fall of 1873. His death occurred on April 16, 1890. 

Judge Sim continued on the County bench until 1877, and his suc- 
cessors have been elected as follows: James W. Langley, in 1877; Cal- 
vin C. Staley, 1890 ; Thomas J. Both, 1906 ; William G. Spurgin, 1910 ; 
Roy C. Freeman, 1914. 

In the foregoing pages a rapid survey has been taken of the courts 
identified with Champaign County as institutions, and the personnel of 
the judges which have given them so enviable a standing. Some of the 
early leaders of the bar have also been noticed and a few connected with 
the history of the later times. Among the practitioners of note whose 
names have not fallen naturally into the course of the narrative are the 
following : 

W T ILLIAM D. SOMERS, FlEST RESIDENT LAWYER 

William D. Somers, of Urbana, was the first resident lawyer to 
practice in Champaign County, and because of his practical ability, 
eloquence, scholarship and his genius for imparting his knowledge to 
others, was the honored preceptor of most of the members of the bar 
who received their preliminary training in the county. No member of 
the profession had more fast friends than Mr. Somers throughout the 
long period of his active and honorable life. Although he had the mis- 
fortune to lose his mother during his youth, resulting in the dispersal 
of the family, Mr. Somers had the good fortune to be received into the 
household of Major Joe Williams, of the prominent and highly edu- 
cated North Carolina family of that name. During that period of 
seven years he studied medicine, and practiced that profession in part- 
nership with his brother Winston for two years in the state named. In 
1840-46 they continued together, as practicing physicians at Urbana, 
but in the spring of the latter year William D. Somers commenced the 
study of the law under Judge David Davis of Bloomington. 

In November, 1846, Mr. Somers was licensed to practice law, and at 
once commenced active work in that field. In 1855 he was appointed 
local attorney for the Illinois Central Railroad, a position he held for 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 189 

many years. During the Civil War he served the township of Urbana 
as supervisor and faithfully cared for many dependent families of 
soldiers at the front. He acted with the Whig party until 1859, and 
thereafter supported the Democracy, although some of his most stead- 
fast friends were Eepublicans. In the days of his legal activity, his 
power with a jury was acknowledged by even the great masters in that 
field. He was associated with such as Abraham Lincoln, Leonard Swett, 
0. B. Ficklin and other distinguished lawyers, and often crossed swords 
with them in the legal arena with results not to his discredit. His 
deep knowledge of the law enabled him also to maintain his supremacy 
before the judges as well as before the juries. Mr. Somers introduced 
Lincoln to the first audience he addressed in Champaign County, and 
was on intimate terms with him for many years. During the later 
years of his life the Nestor of the county bar retired from active 
practice to the charms and rest of his host of friends, both human and 
literary. 

COL. W. N. COLER, SECOND LAWYER 

Colonel William N. Coler was the second lawyer to locate in the 
county. He was also one of the founders of the Urbana Union, the 
first number of which pioneer newspaper was issued in September, 1852, 
and he started the Grand Prairie Bank, the first institution of the kind 
in the county, and which failed as a result of Secession. Colonel Coler 
earned his title in the Civil War, and about seven years afterward 
moved to New York City, where, with his son, the well-known Bird N. 
Coler, he established a successful bond-brokerage business. He died in 
1914. Colonel Coler was a native of Ohio, and when nineteen years of 
age became a member of the Second Ohio Kegiment of Volunteers for 
service in the Mexican War, returning after the full term of enlistment, 
three years. He studied law in the office of his old commanding officer, 
Colonel G. W. Morgan, of Mount Vernon, and under Amzi Me Williams, 
the prominent Bloomington lawyer. He came to Urbana in 1852, the 
year after his admission to the bar, and on the 23d of September of 
that year, with H. K. Davis, issued the first number of the Urbana 
Union. Soon afterward he commenced the active practice of the law, 
in connection largely with real estate transactions. A leading Demo- 
crat, in the summer of 1861 he recruited from Champaign and adjoin- 
ing counties the Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, of which he 
was colonel until the fall of 1862, when he resigned and resumed bus- 
iness, with headquarters in Champaign. There he continued, largely 



190 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

engaged in the real estate and loan business, until he moved to New 
York City in 1872. 

JUSTICE JAMES S. GERE 

James S. Gere, who came to Urbana from New York in the fall of 
1836, was one of the early justices of the peace, holding the position 
for many years. He kept the old Champaign House and a general store 
in the Big Grove and later became quite an extensive contractor in 
furnishing ties and wood to the Illinois Central and other railroads. 
Mr. Gere died in 1858. 

JAMES W. SOMERS 

James W. Somers, son of Dr. Winston Somers, was ten years of age 
when his father and uncle moved from North Carolina to Urbana to 
engage in the practice of medicine. He was a pupil of the eccentric 
Samuel C. Crane, the pioneer teacher of that place, and in his youth 
attended what is now De Pauw University at Greencastle, Indiana. 
About 1854 he began the study of law in the office of his uncle, Judge 
William D. Somers, continuing his classical and literary studies under 
the direction of Eev. Dr. Janes, a local educator. After a course at 
the Union College of Law, Chicago, he was admitted to the bar in 1856 
and became the junior partner in the firm W. D. & J. W. Somers. 
Judge Somers gave it a solid standing from the first and the younger 
attorney soon increased its reputation. He was a ready and forceful 
writer, as is attested by the early issues of the Urbana Union, and was 
one of the most enthusiastic founders of the Eepublican party in Cham- 
paign County. He filled the position of corresponding secretary of the 
county central committee of the young party for several years, and his 
services were often utilized in the various campaigns which agitated the 
county and the state. A growing deafness, however, blocked many of 
his ambitions, and in 1861 he accepted an appointment from President 
Lincoln in the Department of the Interior. He afterward occupied a 
position as a member of the Board of Eeview in the Pension Office, and 
for more than thirty years was in continuous official service at Wash- 
ington. In view of such length of service, his scholarly attainments and 
engaging personality, he became a well known figure in the national 
capital. Neither did he ever forget Champaign County and his many 
'friends therein, and during the lifetime of his parents his visits to his 
old home were frequent. For a few years preceding his death he resided 
in California. His life was cut off by an accident at Hollywood, a 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 191 

suburb of Los Angeles. As he was returning to his home in that city, 
June 6, 1904, he was run over and killed by an electric car. 

Henry C. Whitney, author of "Life on the Circuit with Lincoln," 
thus refers to Mr. Somers: "The most promising orator on our circuit 
of the young men was James W. Somers of Urbana. Of an engaging 
personality, debonair and suaviter in modo, and bold and trenchant in 
debate, he joined to accurate and exhaustive knowledge of current poli- 
tics an exuberant imagination, which rendered him one of the most 
captivating political speakers in the ranks of the young men. Originally 
designed for the law, he would have taken rank with the foremost jury 
advocates, but for an impairment of hearing, which led him to accept 
a position under his friend Lincoln's administration; and he has con- 
tinued in the public service since, a credit to himself and his highly 
influential family his legal education peculiarly fitting him for his 
duties, which are of a high and quasi-judicial character." 

HENRY C. WHITNEY 

The first lawyer to locate at West Urbana was Henry C. Whitney, 
who moved thither from Urbana in 1855. His father, Alfred M. Whit- 
ney, built a residence at the southwest corner of Market and Main 
streets, and upon the same lot built an office, which was occupied by 
the two. Major Whitney is widely known as the author of that graph- 
ically written and valuable book, "Life on the Circuit with Lincoln," 
his relations with that great man being especially friendly. 

JAMES B. McKiNLEY 

James B. McKinley and James S. Jones were the next of the pro- 
fession to locate in that place, and they spent the remainder of their 
lives there as active and leading lawyers and business men. Mr. Mc- 
Kinley, who was an uncle of the Illinois Congressman, W. B. McKinley, 
and a relative of the famous Ohio family which has given a President 
and other distinguished citizens to the nation, spent his earlier years 
in his native county of Ross, Ohio. While teaching in the neighboi 
hood of Hennepin, Illinois, he began reading law and finished his pro- 
fessional studies at Petersburg, where Lincoln was at that time well 
known. He practiced at Clinton for several years, and during his earlier 
life had frequently associated with him, David Davis and other noted 
members of the state bar. For some years he was in partnership with 
the late Judge Lawrence Weldon, afterward a member of the United 



192 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

States Court of Claims in Washington. Mr. McKinley was in general 
practice at Champaign in 1857-60, but afterward, until his death, Octo- 
ber 23, 1903, engaged in the loaning of money to Illinois farmers and in 
general banking business during the later portion of that period in 
partnership with his nephew, William B. McKinley. He was one of 
the founders of the Champaign National Bank, at one time mayor of 
the city, and an honorable citizen of fine financial and executive ability. 

S. B. RADEBAUGH 

S. Barclay Radebaugh was another of Judge Somers' "boys." He 
came to Urbana with his parents in 1861, during the Civil War was 
connected with the office of Capt. William Fithian, provost marshal of 
Danville, and did not resume his law studies until 1864. He then 
studied in the office of William D. Somers until his admission to the 
bar in 1865. Mr. Radebaugh practiced successfully for twenty years, 
during which he served as city attorney of Urbana for five terms, and 
was appointed postmaster in August, 1885. He was a Democrat and 
continued in office during the Cleveland administration. 

GEORGE W. GERE 

George W. Gere, son of one of the pioneer merchants of Urbana, was 
a lawyer of a comparatively late period. Five years after his gradua- 
tion from the University of Chicago Law School, in 1870, he formed 
a partnership with General John C. Black, under the firm name of 
Black & Gere, and opened an office at Champaign. Five years later 
General Black moved to Danville, and Mr. Gere was afterward asso- 
ciated with Henry M. Beardsley and Solon Philbrick. He died June 
15, 1911. 

JOHN C. BLACK 

General Black, who had been admitted to the bar in his nineteenth 
year and reached the rank of brevet brigadier-general at the age of 
twenty-six, practiced in Vermilion and Champaign counties for twenty 
years. In 1885 he was appointed commissioner of pensions, serving 
until 1889, when he moved to Chicago. He became head of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, was president of the United States Civil Service 
Commission, and one of the strong characters of the nation. He died 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 193 

August 17, 1915, and it is with pride that this history claims even a 
short identification with the life lines of General John C. Black. 

MILTON W. MATHEWS 

Milton W. Mathews made a fine record as a lawyer, a state legislator 
and an editor. While studying law at Champaign he taught school for 
a time, and in 1867 located in Urbana, where he continued his profes- 
sional training and was admitted to the bar in August of that year. 
G. W. Gere was his preceptor, with whom he formed a partnership which 
lasted for two years. Thereafter Mr. Mathews practiced alone and 
became a leader of the central Illinois bar. Besides gaining distinction 
in his private work, he made a signal official record by his service of 
nine years as master in chancery of the Circuit Court and eight years 
as state's attorney of Champaign County. In 1888 he was elected a 
member of the state Senate, and during the session of 1891 was presi- 
dent pro tern, of that body. As a presiding officer and legislator he was 
vigorous, decisive and eloquent. During this period of his career Gov- 
ernor Fifer appointed him a member of his military staff, with the 
rank of colonel. In 1879, Colonel Mathews purchased the Champaign 
County Herald, of which he continued as owner and editor until his 
death May 10, 1892. He was twice president of the Illinois State Press 
Association, and for many years was a Republican leader. He was iden- 
tified with the banking interests of Urbana, for many years was a lead- 
ing fraternalist, and in every way an inspiring influence. 

ROBERT C. WRIGHT 

Robert C. Wright came from Indiana with his parents when he was 
an infant, in 1830, the family settling northeast of Homer in the edge 
of Vermilion County. When a boy he made his home with his uncle, 
David C. Wright, in Champaign County. While obtaining his educa- 
tion he taught school, and had acquired considerable political standing 
in the county before he was admitted to practice. The Republicans 
elected him sheriff in 1860; he held the office for the term of two years; 
was admitted to the bar in 1863; in 1870 was chosen to represent his 
district in the Legislature, and thereafter, for twenty years, was a leader 
both at the bar and in politics. Mr. Wright was elected state's attorney 
of Champaign County in 1892, and his four years' tenure of office was 
marked by a vigorous and successful prosecution of criminals, and gen- 
eral efficiency in his department of the county government. 

113 



194 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

COLONEL JOHN S. WOLFB 

One of the most original and noteworthy men who ever practiced law 
in Champaign County was Colonel John S. Wolfe, who came from Car- 
linville in 1860, and took up his residence in Champaign. He had been 
admitted to the bar in 1859, and he practiced in the courts of Cham- 
paign County continuously, except for the time spent in the military 
service during the Civil War, until his death at his home in Champaign, 
June 23, 1904. Colonel Wolfe was a man of excellent literary taste and 
studious habit. He was a wise counselor, an able advocate, a good 
speaker, and a first-class citizen. 

WILLIAM B. WEBBER 

During the active years of his practice and his service as a public 
man, William B. Webber was of particular prominence as a direct link 
of connection between the founders of the county and the early forma- 
tion of its bar, with the government and the profession of the present. 
His father, Thomson R. Webber, whose official duties in county service 
were, as a whole, of more importance and covered a longer period than 
those of any other one man and, as a member of two constitutional con- 
ventions, also was a real force in the consolidation of the state govern- 
ment, died at his home in Urbana, as a most honored citizen, in 1881. 
Nearly twenty years before, the son had been admitted to the bar, after 
having enjoyed the professional guidance of Judge William D. Somers, 
and was associated both with his preceptor and with the late Judge 
J. 0. Cunningham. In 1884, he was elected to the Thirty-fourth Gen- 
eral Assembly and attained much prominence in connection with the 
drainage laws of the state, which he initiated and formed into a system 
of vast importance to the farmers of Illinois. He served as chairman 
of the House Drainage Committee and was also at the head of the com- 
mittee which directed the legislation through both houses of the Legis- 
lature. Mr. Webber revised what was known as the Drainage and Levee 
Act, drafted the new bill and secured its passage; also reported to the 
House and secured the passage of the Farm Drainage Act, which origin- 
ated in the Senate. He was also an influential friend of the University 
of Illinois, securing for that institution a large appropriation and being 
instrumental in eliminating its old name Illinois Industrial Univer- 
sity which no longer described the grandeur of its scope. He died at 
his home in Urbana, September 8, 1916. 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 195 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 

The physicians and surgeons of Champaign County have always 
maintained high rank; those of the early days faithful and cheerful in 
the midst of their long and difficult journeys and crude appliances, and 
those of later period well educated, ethica.1 and progressive. As an illus- 
tration of what was often required of the old-time country doctor, it is 
related that Winston Somers, the pioneer physician, was compelled to 
amputate a limb at once to save the life of a patient, and that in lieu 
of the proper surgical instrument, used a common hand saw; yet the 
operation was a success. 

CHOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 1834 

But the first physicians of the county appeared almost simultaneously 
with the Asiatic cholera at Big Grove, in 1834. The scourge, which had 
broken out among the soldiers at Fort Dearborn two years before, had 
spread terror in the minds of settlers in the interior, especially those 
who had been in the habit of visiting the Chicago district for family 
supplies. The pioneers of Champaign County were therefore panic- 
stricken when cholera appeared in the family of James Moss, near the 
north end of the Big Grove, and within a few days took the father and 
three of his children. Mary Heater, the mother of Jacob, and the wife 
of James Johnson, with two of her children, also were victims. Others 
fell before the plague, although its ravages were not as severe as in more 
settled districts. 

DR. T. FULKERSON, FIRST RESIDENT PHYSICIAN 

At the time of the first visitation of cholera to Champaign County, 
the only resident physicians within its limits were Dr. T. Fulkerson and 
Dr. James H. Lyon. Dr. Fulkerson, rather an irresponsible unmarried 
man who boarded at the Widow Coe's not far from the Moss family, 
had been practicing in the Big Grove region since 1830, and is generally 
recorded as the first of his profession to appear in the county. He 
remained but a short time, and is chiefly known to fame and authentic 
history as defendant in a suit brought by the county authorities to col- 
lect $2 in default of work upon the public road. He paid the judgment 
obtained, as the records show, and is believed to have left the county 
soon after. 



196 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

DR. JAMES H. LYON 

Dr. Lyon, who came a little later than Dr. Fulkerson, made his 
home with Mijamin Byers, the justice of the peace, who lived two miles 
east of Urbana. He remained at the Big Grove but a short time, but 
made his permanent home at what was then known as Nox's Point. In 
1837, he became one of the proprietors of the town of Sidney, where 
he raised a family and reached prominence, both as a physician and a 
public man. 

VICTIMS OF MIASMA 

But the permanent scourge of the pioneers of Champaign County, 
which mowed down its victims, young and old, for a period of fifty 
years, was represented by the miasmatic diseases, caused largely by 
undrained sloughs and swamp lands. These troubles largely disappeared 
with systematic drainage and greater care as to public sanitation and 
personal hygiene. Among the early settlers who died of this class of 
diseases were James Brownfield, father of Robert and Samuel; Mrs. 
Isaac Busey and her son John; Nicholas Smith, father of Jacob; Wil- 
liam Boyd, father of Stephen; David Shepherd, father of Paris; John 
Brownfield, father of John, and William T. Webber, father of the old- 
time County and Circuit Court clerk, and ancestor of the large family 
by that name. 

DRS. HARMON STEVENS AND JOHN G. SADDLER 

The next physicians to locate in Champaign County, after Drs. Ful- 
kerson and Lyon, were Dr. Harmon Stevens, who settled near the pres- 
ent village of Homer in 1835, and Dr. John G. Saddler, who was the 
first of his profession to become a resident of Urbana, which he did in 
1839. Dr. Saddler remained at the county seat but a few years, while 
Dr. Stevens, after the establishment of the village of Homer, moved to 
that place and practiced for many years. When quite aged and virtually 
retired, he moved to Saline County, Illinois, where he passed the last 
years of his useful life. 

DR. WINSTON SOMERS 

The Somers brothers, Drs. Winston and William D., as has been 
noted, settled in Urbana the year following Dr. Saddler's coming, and 
were well established before he departed. About 1846 Dr. William D. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 197 

Somers abandoned medicine for the law, and became the leader of the 
Champaign County bar, as Dr. Winston stood at the head of his pro- 
fession for many years. His clientele was scattered over much of Cham- 
paign County, extending to the Sangamon, Okaw, Ambraw and Sal