Full Text of History of Vermillion County Illinois -- Chapter XV - Part 1
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CHAPTER XV.
SOME OF THE MAKERS OF VERMILION COUNTY.
SEYMOUR TREAT-DAN BECKWITH--FRANCIS WHITCOMB-1820-HENRY JOHNSON-JAMES D. BUTLER-
HENRY JOHNSON-l82I-ABSOLOM STARR-JOTHAM LYONS-JOHN JORDON-WILLIAM SWANK-JOHN
MYERS-HENRY CANADAY- BENJAMIN BROOKS-THOMAS O'NEAL-JOHN HAWORTH-ACHILLES MORGAN
--HENRY MARTIN--1822--ROBERT COTTON--STEVEN DUKES--ASA ELLIOTT-- JOHN MILLS-
ALEXANDER MCDONALD-I. R. MOORES-1823-JOHN LE NEVE- WILLIAM M'DOWELL--1824-AARON
MENDENHALL--CYRUS DOUGLASS--ROBERT DICKSON--JOHN SNIDER--DR. ASA PALMER--
HEZEKIAH CUNNINGHAM--ELI HENDERSON--1825--AMOS WILLIAMS--LEVI B. BABB--1826--
WILLIAM WATSON--MICHAEL WEAVER--ABEL WILLIAMS--SAMUEL GILBERT AND SONS--SAMUEL
BAUM--JOHN LARRANCE--WILLIAM CURRENT--ANDREW PATTERSON-SAMUEL COPELAND--LARKIN
COOK--ANDREW JUVINALL--SAMUEL SCONE--WILLIAM JONES-WILLIAM WRIGHT-JAMES GRAVES-
JAMES BARNETT-JOHN CHANDLER-ABSOLOM COLLISON-JOSEPH SMITH-SAMUE& CAMPBELL-OTHO
ALLISON-JAMES DONOVAN-WILLIAM BANDY-JAMES \ SMITH-WILLIAM BLAKENEY-CHARLES S.
YOUNG-CHARLES CARAWAY-LATHAM FOLGER-WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM-WILLIAM CURRENT-JAMES
ELLIOTT-JOHN D. G. CLINE--JOHN JOHNS--JOHN COX--EPHRIM AGREE--ADAM PATE.
SEYMOUR TREAT.
It seems, impossible to learn much of Seymour Treat's life. The first
thing known of him is that he lived at Fort Harrison, in 1819. When Blackman
returned from his trial to the Vermilion Salt Springs, in company with Barron,
and formed another company to return and claim the discovery of them, there by
betraying the trust of Barron, Seymour Treat was one of the men who returned
with him.
No record was kept throwing any light on the reason for selecting this
party so that little idea of the character of these men can be had, at least as
to whether they knew of the previous discovery by John Barron. The only real
knowledge that is to be obtained now is of his residence at Fort Harrison.
Seymour Treat came to the Salt Springs, a mile and a half above the old
Kickapoo town, the latter part of November, 1881. He with his wife and children,
made the trip up the Wabash and Vermilion rivers in a pirogue, bringing tools
and what goods they could not do without, and provisions to last them during the
winter. One at the present day can hardly imagine the privations they endured. A
hastily built cabin kept them from the cold, but that was all. The men of this
first settlement included the two Beckwith brothers, Peter Allen, and Francis
Whitcomb. They could hunt and find pleasure in the free life of the wilderness,
but wife and small children having none of these diversions found much to regret
in the change from life at Fort Harrison. Their nearest neighbors were at the
North Arm prairie, fully forty miles away. The old Indian town miles below their
cabin was deserted and weeds grew in the fields where the squaws had planted the
corn, and hoed the squashes. The loneliness of the life, and the effect of the
absence of the comforts they had before enjoyed, is voiced in the words of Treat
to the governor a year later: - "My family remained on the ground ever since
their arrival, except one who fell a victim to the suffering and privations
which they have had to endure in a situation so remote from a settled country
without the means of procuring the ordinary comforts of life." This letter was
written because of the fact that the treachery of Blackman had left even his
followers without valid claim to the salt springs.
After the different claims to the salt springs were settled, Treat, with
Dan Beckwith, went to Denmark. Here Treat built a mill which he operated for
some time. Seymour Treat was justice of the peace for a time while this
territory was a part of the unorganized territory attached to Edgar County and
while in this office he married Cyrus Douglas and also Marquis Snow. He later
came to Danville where it is presumed he died and was probably buried in the
Williams burying ground.
DAN BECKWITH.
Dan Beckwith deserves the record as among the first settlers of Vermilion
County since his coming antedates the organization of the county itself. Dan
Beckwith was a native of Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He was born there in
1795. He was one of a family of six brothers and two sisters, who went with
their parents into New York state, while Dan was but a lad. Three of these
brothers came west and were residents of Vermilion County at one time.
George Beckwith and Dan Beckwith left New York state together, and came to
Fort Harrison in the summer of 1816, the year Dan was twenty-one years old. Two
years later they went on to the North Arm Prairie, and lived with Jonathan
Mayo's family. Here they made their home until 1819, when they went to the
Vermilion Salines.
Dan Beckwith was a man of pleasing appearance. He was tall-full six feet,
two inches. He had broad square shoulders; was straight, muscular and spare of
flesh, weighing, when in health, about 190 pounds. He was an expert axe-man and
a shrewd Indian trader. Within two years after he came to the Vermilion he was
to be found with an armful of goods such as the red man would fancy, in a place
partly excavated in the side of a hill at Denmark, trading for furs with the
Indian.
Later, through his efforts mainly, Danville had been selected as the
County Seat, he built a cabin on the brow of the bluff, near the end of west
Main street, and continued his trading. This cabin was not far from the present-
day Gilbert street bridge. Later he had a cabin further west on Main street and
formed a partnership with James dymer and together they traded to their profit.
When the chosen site of the County Seat of the newly organized Vermilion
County at the Saltworks was found to be impossible on account of the lease to
Major Vance, and Denmark the already settled town had nearly secured the prize,
Dan Beckwith, together with Guy Smith offered land at the present site and
determined its location.
Dan Beckwith died while yet a young man. He did not live beyond the days
of pioneer Vermilion County. His death occurred at Danville, December, 1835. He
was buried in the old Williams burying ground. The city bought the privilege of
opening a street through this cemetery of the heirs of Amos Williams and Dan
Beckwith's remains were moved to Springhill.
Both the children of Dan Beckwith are now dead. Hiram Beckwith was the
father of two sons. His oldest son married Linne Williams, the daughter of Smith
Williams, and granddaughter of Amos Williams. They were the parents of two
children. Grace and Dan. Hiram's younger son, Clarence, married Grace Dickman
and is the father of one son, Hiram William. Mrs. Lemon was the mother of two
daughters, May Lemon and Laura Lemon Bird, whose first husband's name was Mott.
FRANCIS WHITCOMB.
Francis Whitcomb, the third of the first settlers of Vermilion County, who
made any impress upon its affairs, was identified with two sections-the
saltworks and Butler's Point. He came to the salt springs with the Blackmail
company and was one of the three with whom Blackman made the agreement to make
partners in the profits of the saltworks. That he did not stand by his word has
already been recorded. While the matter was being adjusted Francis Whitcomh
continued working at the saltworks. It is during his stay here that a story is
told of him which shows a kind heart and refined nature that expressed itself in
unusual degree. It was after Seymour Treat had gone to Denmark, and there were
no women at the saltworks, other than Baily's wife. This family of Baily's
consisted of himself, his wife and two or three small children. Baily sold out
to Mr. Luddington, and left his family, to go to the "Illinois River Country."
Soon the children became ill and Mrs. Baily herself was taken ill. The men
working at the saltworks were all unmarried. There was no one to give the women
and children the needed care.
Francis Whitcomb took as good care of them as a woman could. He provided
their food as well as possible where there was nothing to be had fit for ill
people to eat. He did their washing, attended their wants, and rendered all
assistance possible under the circumstances, with no doctors, and no drug stores
near where aid or medicine could be procured. In spite of the care this young
man could give the children, one by one wasted away, and died. No lumber or
plank was to be had with which to make their coffins, but the men split rough
boards from a walnut tree that grew a short distance from Butler's branch, and
made rude caskets. These strong men inured to hardships, silently and with sad
faces buried the children, with no minister to say a prayer nor relatives to
mourn as the graves were filled.
Francis Whitcomb went to Butler's Point from the saltworks, and took up
the farm afterwards known as the one Richard Jones lived on. The house he built
is yet standing. He lived here a number of years and sold the farm to Henry
Jones himself going to McLean County, where he died and was buried.
Francis Whitcomb was the father of six children. His wife's maiden name
was Jane Irwin. His children's names were Ira, Francis, John, Jeremiah, Ruth Ann
and Temperance.
Ira Whitcomb married Cynthia Wooden, the daughter of his nearest neighbor,
whose house yet stands across the road from the old Whitcomb house. Ira Whitcomb
moved to Minnesota, where he lived until he died.
JAMES D. SUTLER.
With the exception of those coming to the saltworks, probably James D.
Butler was the first settler in his section of the country. Mr. Butler came
directly from dark County, Ohio, but he had lived in that state only six years
so that he really came here a Vermonter in sentiment and habits. He was a native
of Vermont, coming west from Chittenden County, Vermont, to dark County, Ohio,
in 1814. He left Ohio in the spring of 1820, and came to the point of timber
which ran out into the prairie west of Catlin, and took up a claim. The land had
not yet been surveyed by the government and put upon the market. Mr. Butler had
friends come with him, neighbors from Ohio. They all put in crops and returned
to Ohio in the fall, expecting to come back in the spring. Mr. Butler did come
and brought his family with him, but the neighbors refused to come. They thought
they had enough of the inconvenience of the new country. It 'took courage on the
part of Mrs. Butler to come to her new home under circumstances such as these.
True her husband was satisfied with conditions in the new country, but on the
other hand the stories told by the others were very discouraging. But in the due
course of time Mr. Butler and his family reached their new home and took
possession of the cabin he had built for them the previous summer. His cabin was
erected on the east side of the brook which is even yet known as Butler's branch
and on the right hand side of the road going from Catlin to the old Fair
Grounds. When Butler's family moved in they had as their nearest neighbors,
Treat's family at the Salt Springs and to the south the newcomers since his
return to Ohio, a man well known late in the county whose name was Henry
Johnson. He had moved on the Little Vermilion in the early spring. Within a few
years several families came to this neighborhood and Butler's Point became an
important settlement and remained so for some time after the organization of
Vermilion County. Near Butler's house there was a large oak tree, which had
defied the prairie fires and all threats of wind and weather, which became a
landmark and sentinel which guided travelers crossing the trackless plains to
the south and west. It was called "Butler's Lone Tree."
Later Mr. Butler prospered and built him a fine house, locating it near
the comer of the old Fair Grounds, at the northeast corner. This house was
almost a mansion as compared with all the other cabins. The logs were square-
hewn and the comers of the building cut even with the line of the wall. It was
in this house that the first, court of Vermilion County sat. Mr. Butler was a
man of good business, possessed a practical mind and was conspicuous in the
affairs of Vermilion County at an early day. He had the thrift and energy
characteristic of one born and reared in Vermont, as well as possessing their
courage. He spent the remainder of his life in Vermilion County at Butler's
Point and when he died was buried in the enclosure since known as the Butler
Burying Grounds. His wife was buried in the same burying grounds. James Butler
and wife were the parents of four children, one son and three daughters. The son
moved to Kansas, one daughter became the wife of her cousin by name of Butler,
the second daughter became the wife of Marcus Snow and later of Cyrus Douglas,
and the third daughter became the wife of a Mr. Fielder and after the death of
Mr. Coleman, and went west. The two daughters first mentioned were buried in the
Butler burying ground.
HENRY JOHNSON.
The year James Butler came to the place afterward called Butler's Point
with his family, the first settlement on the Little Vermilion was made by Henry
Johnson. Some doubt is expressed on the matter of date, however, and there is
good reason to think that he came in the fall after Butler returned to Ohio. A
letter written by Henry Johnson addressed to William Lowery, the member in the
Illinois legislature from Clark County at that time, and dated November 22,
1822, is also dated at Achilles township, and from what is written in the letter
it is evident that "Achilles township at that time embraced the entire of Clark
County, watered by two Vermilion rivers and extended as far north as the
Kankakee river." In this letter Henry Johnson states that "he had a knowledge of
the affairs of this (Achilles) township since October, 1820." With that evidence
it is fair to assume that Henry Johnson came to the Little Vermilion, some two
miles west of Georgetown in the fall of the year that James Butler came in the
spring and put in a crop and in the fall about the time Johnson came, went back
to Ohio for the winter.
Mr. Johnson was a man of generous impulses and his neighbors long sang his
praises. If a man was hard pushed for ready money and went to Henry Johnson he
was sure to get. it, if it was to be had, and the loan given so cordially was
never to pay interest. Mr. Johnson would never take interest on any money he
loaned. Mr. Johnson sold his farm in about 1832 or 34, to Levy Long and he moved
further west, to the fertile strip between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers,
called the "Military Tract." Here he was making a good farm until it was
discovered that his title was worthless as so many were, and he lost all his
land. Thus was the man of whom his old neighbors could say nothing but praise,
who was known by the name of the "Good Samaritan," kind and generous, was
rendered penniless by these "land sharks" and forced to go yet further west. He
was after this lost to the knowledge of his old friends but his kindness was
told by one generation to the next and his name kept as synonymous for
generosity and helpfulness.
ABSOLOM STARR.
Absolom Starr came to Johnson's Point in 1821. This was the settlement
begun by Henry Johnson, a brother-in-law of Starr's the fall previous. Absolom
Starr came to this part of Edgar County, as it was at that time, directly from
Palestine, Illinois. The land office was located at Palestine before it was
removed to Danville.
When Mr. Starr came he brought corn and wheat enough to keep his family
for a year. He also brought a good yoke of oxen and was well fixed to go into a
new country to make his home. He brought his wife and four children with him. He
built his cabin on section 36, near to his brother-in-law. So provident a man
had every reason to expect fortune to smile on him, but this was not the case,
however. During the first winter in their new home he had a trivial injury to
his heel, which resisted all treatment and he was assured that cancer had
developed. A trip back to their old home in Palestine, where there was a
physician living was of no avail, because the idea of cancer was confirmed and
there was great danger of having to loose his foot. However, he could not raise
the money demanded for the operation and he came back to his new home
discouraged and almost despondent. There was an old Indian doctor, called
Bonaparte's Indian, who lived about there, and for the want of any more skilled
practitioner, Mrs. Starr consulted him. By the use of some herbs he collected
along the Vermilion river, he cured the diseased heel which the physician at
Palestine thought could be reached only by the use of the knife. Mrs. Starr
nursed her husband back to strength, at the same time tending her garden and two
acres of corn. Henry Johnson's kind heart helped this family to take care of
themselves during these hard days. Mr. Starr lived until October 14, 1829. He
was buried in the old burying ground, now known as Mt. Pisgah cemetery, near
Georgetown.
Mrs. Starr survived her husband and afterward became the wife of Mr.
Jones, spending her last years on the farm she first helped get into
cultivation. She was the mother of eleven children and left many descendants in
the county, among them being Mrs. J. W. Giddings.
JOTHAM LYONS.
Jotham Lyons took up land west of Henry Johnson about the same time. He
lived here until his death, August 2, 1843. He was buried in the present Mt
Pisgah cemetery, near Georgetown. His first wife, Elizabeth, died on Christmas
day, 1827, and was buried in the same burying ground.
The children of Jotham Lyons are scattered across the country. One son has
lived in the neighborhood of the old home and identified himself with affairs of
the county.
JOHN JORDON.
Another man to settle in this neighborhood was John Jordon. John Jordon
came to Johnson's Point a short time after Absolom Starr arrived, but in the
same year.
WILLIAM SWANK.
William Swank came to the southern part of the county in this year which
saw the advent of Henry Johnson and Jotham Lyons. He entered land at where
Indianola is located and became an active factor in the development of that
section of the country. The all prevailing demand of the time for whiskey was
not lacking in this section, and to meet this Mr. Swank set up a still-house
down in the bottom, where he would make an occasional barrel of good pure liquor
for his neighbor's use. The condition of this malarial country was one occasion
of this demand for whiskey, and this primitive way of meeting it insured a pure
article for consumption. Mr. Swank provided for the needs of his neighbors in
another, and perhaps better way by the little corncracker which he had attached,
which was run by tread-millpower, and did all the neighborhood grinding. So
prominent in the affairs of this section did Mr. Swank become, he was given the
credit of naming a village at the place now known as Indianola. When the village
was first established it was named Chillacothe. Since William Swank was known
throughout this section as the "Father of Dallas," there is no doubt of his
politics, during the decided Forties and Fifties when men held strong views on
all questions of the day whether of politics or of religion. Mr. Swank came from
the South and naturally clung to the habit of thought of his youth, and was an
uncompromising Democrat. He lived in the same neighborhood into which he first
came all his life. His death occurred in the late seventies and he left children
who remained in that section and perpetuated his name.
JOHN MYERS.
John Myers came to the Little Vermilion as early as 1820 and settled on
the land afterward the farm of the well known R. E. Barnett. While living in
this place this man was much better known as "Injun John." He was a man whose
nickname fit him more in its implication, and suggestion than in any other way
although he earned it by his open hatred of the Redman.
He was a character noticeable in even those days when all individualities
were prominent. In the free life of the pioneer, there was little polish and
every man was himself, to be liked or despised as the case might be, but even
then, some were more prominent than others because of unusual traits of
character. "Injun John" was one of these. He was free with what he had, and
expected every one to be equally so. He had little love for property which was
his own, and no consideration for the rights of others. He was brave, self-
willed and on the water would have been a gay buccaneer.
John Myers had an eighty acre farm in Ohio, but the freedom of the new
country in Illinois, which was as yet unorganized into counties, but was
attached to Edgar County, appealed to him. So it was Mr. Starr, the uncle of
Absolom and Barnett Starr, who had bought eight hundred and eighty acres on the
Little Vermilion river at a land sale, found an eager trader in this man from
Ohio. He traded his farm of 8 acres for this unseen 88 acres, and started to
take possession thereof.
On his way he passed his brother-in-law, Joseph Frazier, in Indiana, and
told him he would give him a quarter section of this land if he (Frazier) would
go on with him. This gift was not to be refused and they came on and settled in
this section in 1821. The particular tract which Myers gave away that he might
have company in his new home, afterward became a portion of the Sconce farm. The
land was first bought by the Sullivants from Frazier in 1853, when they were the
great land kings of Champaign County and were carrying out plans to develop a
large estate in Vermilion County. The Sullivants cut the fine growth of walnut
timber from the Frazier farm to fence in "broad lands." Myers was a fearless and
untiring hunter. At one time just before he came to this section of country,
while yet he lived in Ohio, a neighbor of his with his two sons were out in a
sugar bush at work in the spring of the year, when some Indians surprised them
and killed them.
Myers gathered together a company and went in pursuit of the Indians. They
struck the trail in the new snow and followed it until all but three of the
pursuers gave out from exhaustion, one of whom was Myers himself. With his force
so depleted, Myers told the other two that he would shoot the next one who
refused to go on. This increased the courage of his companions and Myers'
physical endurance, pluck and determination to avenge his friends was catching
"and carried the day," and the three overtook the Indians and had their revenge.
This was the material of which Myers was made. A man of powerful strength, he
would crack a black walnut with his teath and many a man found to his sorrow
that it was not wise to provoke him to a fight.
He hated an Indian and was the first to be ready to go to the Black Hawk
war and was one of those who made that war a disgrace to the white man. He knew
no such thing as discipline; abhorred tactics and did not believe in waiting for
orders or supplies. He made a great deal of trouble by his insubordination.
Habits of intemperance had grown on him, and he would get very drunk and become
abusive to the officers and everybody else. He wanted to go into the fight at
once; he had gone into that affair to kill Indians and he was impatient to
begin. He came to "fight Injuns" and fight he was going to do, if no one else,
then he would try his strength on the officers. He told these new fledged
officers that they "knew no more about fightin' Injuns than a bear did about a
camp meetin' " and he was put under arrest, to his surprise.
While brave and generous, he had no judgment about affairs and used up all
his property before he died. He took an interest in every enterprise that was
proposed. He lost much money in helping Simon Cox try to build a mill which
never did get to be a success.
Jack McDowell was a handsome and lively young man who was struggling to
get on in the world, and "Injun John" took a notion to him and made him an offer
of a half-section of land, but, much as the young man wanted the land there !
was a provision that he should marry Myers' daughter, and that decided the '
acceptance of the gift. "Injun John" kept his land. He gave away or lost all his
land and went out to the Illinois River where he afterward died in poverty. Thus
passed one of the most picturesque characters of eastern Illinois.
HENRY CANADAY.
Henry Canaday was a native of North Carolina who moved north, with his
family, in the fall of 1820, and stopped over winter in Wayne County, Indiana.
Two of his sons came on over the state line and put up a cabin in what is now
the southern part of Vermilion County. His four sons were Benjamin, Frederich,
William and John. The entire family took possession of the round log cabin which
the two sons had built, and began their new life without neighbors other than
the Indians who camped on the banks of the Little Vermilion in the spring of the
year to hunt and fish. They would visit the cabin to beg and steal and trade but
never seriously annoyed them.
There were many sugar-maple trees on the land the Canadays had chosen for
their home and they made sugar that first spring, but they were not contented
and Benjamin returned to Tennessee, where their old home had been, and bought a
farm. Soon the entire family returned to their old home but it was to stay only
during the summer. They sold their property in Tennessee and returned to their
cabin on the Little Vermilion river before winter. This was the fall of 1821 and
their cabin was on what was yet unorganized territory attached to Edgar County.
They had much sickness during this winter, having come from a different climate,
and the nearest physician was at Clinton, Indiana. They haft to go to mill on
Raccoon Creek in Park County, Indiana, and Terre Haute was the nearest trading
point. They had no horses when spring came and they broke ground with oxen. Wild
deer was plentiful and they filled the smokehouse soon after they came with deer
hams, and also had plenty of pork. When they first came the year before, they
brought thirty hogs with them from Indiana and when they went back to Tennessee
they left them in the woods. These animals lived in the woods and became so wild
as to be a menace to stock for years afterward. Wild game was plentiful and
deer, turkey and other fowl gave them a variety of food. The entire family
occupied the one roomed cabin for some time, and the mother did the cooking by
the fireplace; the floor was of puncheon, the roof of clapboards, held down with
weight poles and the stick and clay chimney was built off the outside.
About the second year of their living at this place, Henry Canaday,
together with George Haworth, "set up a meeting," as it is called by the Society
of Friends, when a new church was established. These two yen and others who came
afterwards to the neighborhood, built a log cabin in which they had meetings and
later built a church of hewed logs. iSometimes the attendance was sq. small that
Henry Canaday and his son, Benjamin, would go to "meeting" and sit through the
hour alone, in order to keep up the church organization as was •the demand of
that society.
Henry Canaday was very prominent in the life of the growing Vermilion
County. He entered about two sections of land as soon as it came into market,
and sold it off to new comers. Henry Canaday was a tanner and a blacksmith, and
as soon as possible after the family came to their new home they managed to
establish both trades. He could the better do this because of his four grown
sons. He started a tanyard in which his son William worked, and also a tinshop
for his son Benjamin. William later carried on harness making and sadlery but
his father. Henry Canaday, never had that trade.
Benjamin Canaday, the oldest son of Henry Canaday, was a tinner by trade
and during the winter of the big snow (1830), he made up a stock of tin ware and
traded it off at Louisville for goods. These he brought back with him and put
into a building he had put up' for a store on his farm just west of Vermilion
(later Vermilion Grove), on the Hickory Grove road. This was the beginning of
his career as a merchant. He sold goods here for several years before going to
Georgetown where he became the largest, and at one time, the most successful
merchant.
Frederick Canaday, the second son of Henry Canaday, made a valuable farm
just north of Vermilion station where he spent his life. He was the father of
four sons and three daughters. His sons, William, Henry, Isaac and John, grew to
manhood and settled around him. His daughters who became Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs.
Patterson and Mrs. Ankrum, went the one to Kansas, the other to Bethel and the
third lived near her father.
William Canaday, the third son of Henry Canaday, married Miss Mary
Haworth, in 1831, who was the daughter of William Haworth. They were the parents
of ten children. These children settled in different parts of the country, a
number of them near their parents' home. Mrs. Mary (Haworth) Canaday died in
1855 and Mr. Canaday married Miss Elizabeth Diament, in 1873, for his second
wife.
John Canaday, the youngest son of Henry Canaday, lived all his life on the
farm on the state road between Vermilion and Georgetown. He had a good farm Mid
was a prosperous farmer. He was the father of five sons and two daughters. The
Canaday family have been strong factors in the development of the county. His
family of sons with their families of sons and daughters have made the name one
of honor and pride in this section which Henry Canaday found a wilderness. •
BENJAMIN BROOKS.
Benjamin Brooks, the founder of the important settlement called Brooks'
Point, came to this part of the county in the fall of 1821. His wife was the
daughter of a Mr. Manville, of Madison, Indiana, and they were married in
Indiana and came here directly from Jefferson County, of that state. The
nativity of Benjamin Brooks is in doubt although there is no question that his
wife was bom in Indiana.
Had it not been for the generosity of Mr. Canaday, Mr. Brooks would have
been in a sad plight. Mr. Brooks had selected his land when he first came to
live on the Little Vermilion, and then went back after his family and another
man put a claim while he was gone and secured the land. Mr. Canaday had some
further up and let Mr. Brooks have it and it was settled so rapidly as to have
the point of timber known by the name of Brooks' Point.
GEORGE WILLIAMS.
George Williams came early in the twenties in company with the Bargers,
the Paytons and Thos. Collison, from Pike County, Ohio. His native state was
Delaware. George Williams had two sons, Harrison and Abner. Mrs. Williams, the
mother of these boys died of milk sickness in 1825 and the boy, Harrison, who
was then twelve years old, went to live with Reason Zawley, in the Current
neighborhood. An idea of the hardships of life at that time is had in the tale
of this boy's going to school in the winter time. The school term was limited to
a short time in the winter months, and the boy, without shoes or stockings on
his feet found the snow-covered road between his cabin home a dread one to
travel. Without shoes he took a hickory board and stood it in front of the fire
place until it became as hot as possible without catching fire. With his hot
board in his arms he would dash out of the house and run as far as possible
through the snow. When he reached the limit of endurance, he would put the board
down on the ground, and stand on it for a little while, then snatching it up
would run on a little further. In this way he went to school and when he was
ready to go home the same thing was done over. In 1834 Harrison Williams married
Anna Gish, a native of Virginia who had come west when she was fourteen years
old. She came with her parents and settled in LaFayette, Ind. Mr. and Mrs.
Williams made Danville their home, owning property at that place. Two years
after he was married he bought the lot on the S. E. corner of North and Walnut
streets. At this time the lot faced Walnut street and extended east as far as
the alley. A deed yet in possession of the family shows that this lot was bought
by Harrison Williams in 1836 for $30. The least the inside lots could now be
bought for is $150, per foot. This deed of Mr. Williams was never recorded and a
number of years later Judge Terry was ordered by the Courts to make out a new
deed, Mr. Williams' address at that time being unknown. Harrison Williams was a
carpenter by trade and helped build Gurdon Hubbard's store which was the first
frame building in Vermilion County. He also helped erect the first Methodist
church building. Mr. Hubbard's store was on the Public Square on the corner
where the Palmer National Bank now stands. The church building was on the
southeast corner of North and Vermilion streets, Harrison Williams moved to
LaFayette, Ind., in 1840, and died there in 1851. Abner Williams was a
blacksmith and lived in Danville until he went to Scott county on the other side
of the state. He was married twice, the first time to a Miss Delay, a cousin of
his, and the second wife was a Miss Judd. He owned the lot on the northwest
comer of North and Vermilion streets.
THOMAS O'NEAL.
Thomas O'Neal, with his wife, Sarah (Howard) O'Neal, came from Nelson
County, Kentucky, and settled at Brooks' Point in the fall of 1821. He was a
native of Nelson County, while his wife was a native of Indiana. Mr. O'Neal
first took up a claim near Brooks' Point, but three years later he entered near
the Big Vermilion river. After he moved to the Vermilion river, he established a
tanyard and made his own leather from which he made the shoes of the family. He
made a leather from which he could make Indian moccasins and which the Indians
would get from him. The winter months were spent in making rails with which to
fence his land and clearing up the ground, thus adding about ten acres of
tillable land to his farm every year. When the Black Hawk war broke put, he
saddled his horse and with his gun on his shoulder, went into the service. His
oldest son was also in that war. Thomas O'Neal remained in the service as long
as the war lasted. When he returned home he.again took up the work of improving
his farm with renewed determination to make a valuable property, and met great
success. He died September, 1861, and his wife died two years later. They were
the parents of nine children who have kept the name a well known one through
almost a century in Vermilion County.
JOHN HAWORTH.
John Haworth came to the little Vermilion at very nearly the same time as
Henry Canaday and they were close friends as long as they lived. The two
families have inter-married and had common interests during all the years since
their coming. A Mr. Malsby built a cabin near where Vermilion Grove is located,
in 1820; however he did not stay but left his cabin and went to some other
place, so his claim to citizenship is not valid. John Haworth, as early as 1818,
was living in Tennessee, but had become so distressed with the institutions of
the south that he could no longer endure life there. He lived in Union County,
so he came to the little Vermilion river in the fall of 1820. Here he found the
cabin deserted by Malsby and took possession of it and wintered in it. George
Bocke, a son-in-law to Achilles Morgan, had a claim on the cabin, but Mr.
Haworth bought it. John Haworth's cousin James later came to Georgetown. John
Haworth's neighbors were Henry Johnson and Absolom Starr, off a few miles
northwest; Mr. Squires and Thomas Curtis at Yankee Point, three miles east; John
Mills, Simon Cox and Dickson to the west, with Henry Canaday near by.
Mr. Haworth entered several hundred acres of land but he did not do this
as a speculation. Indeed he was ready to sell it whenever he could find any one
who would make a desirable citizen, and he would sell it cheap and on time if so
desired. John Haworth's name has gone into history as a man well being called a
Christian gentleman. He was the father of eight children. His uncle, a man of
much worth, soon joined this settlement, and, together with Henry Canaday,
established the strong Society of Friends in Vermilion County who were so great
a factor in its development.
ACHILLES MORGAN.
One of the men who made an impress on the affairs of the county was
Achilles Morgan, who came to this section in about 1825 or 6. He was accompanied
with one at least of his daughters and her husband. They came from Virginia
where they as a family were great Indian fighters. Mr. Morgan located on section
15 and was from the first recognized as a leading man in affairs of the county.
He was one of the first County Commissioners, who, together with John B.
Alexander and James Butler, organized and set to going the machinery of
Vermilion County. The neighborhood in" which he lived was called Morgans and is
perhaps the place platted and on record as Morgantown.
HENRY MARTIN.
Henry Martin came to this section with his father-in-law, Achilles Morgan.
After going to Brooks' Point settled near Georgetown at a place afterward called
Morgans. Some claim this family went first to Butler's Point and some even say
they stopped at the salt works. Henry Martin was born in Maryland in 1786 and
moved with his parents to Virginia, where he afterward married Mary Morgan, a
daughter of Achilles Morgan. He served one year in the war of 1812 and later
moved to Illinois, making permanent settlement in the unorganized territory
attached to Edgar County. He enlisted under his father-in-law in 1826 at the
time of the Winnebago war and followed the lead of Gurdon Hubbard to protect
Fort Dearborn from the Indians of the northwest. Henry Martin lived on the farm
near Georgetown until his death, September 5, 1851.
Henry Martin was the father of a large family, one of his sons being a
well known preacher. Rawley Martin came with his father from Virginia, a boy of
four or five years, who had a life of usefulness in the country of his adoption.
He showed wonderful energy and perseverance, for, although there were no schools
for him to attend, he acquired a very liberal education. He had a very ambitious
mother who was well educated, and through her influence he early became familiar
with the contents of all the books possible to obtain, principal among which was
the Bible. Indeed, he became so familiar with this book that he could repeat it
almost verbatim. He early united with the Christian church, and in time was
ordained preacher of this denomination. He continued in this work for more than
twenty-five years. During this time he organized many churches in the county,
baptized more than three thousand people, doing much to strengthen the cause of
his chosen faith. He was a superior teacher of the scriptures, was unyielding
and uncompromising in his religious convictions. He was an able and earnest
defender of the faith. During the war of the rebellion he publicly denounced the
right of secession and upheld the cause of the preservation of the Union. He
filled two terms as County Treasurer, the expression of a I patriotic people of
confidence in the man. Rawley Martin was the father of two children, one of them
being Achilles Martin and the other, Mrs. George Dillon.
JAMES HOAG AND SAMUEL MUNNEL.
James Hoag and Samuel Munnel are both known to have lived along the Little
Vermilion as early as this time, but little is recorded of them.
ROBERT COTTON.
Robert Cotton came to this section in the fall of 1822. He was born in the
vicinity of Beardstown, Kentucky, and there grew to manhood and married Hannah
Howard, who was born in the same place. They were the parents of two children
before they left their native state to go to Switzerland County, Indiana. Thence
they went to Decatur County in the same state and, once more moving, they came
to what is now Vermilion County, Illinois. In many respects both Robert Cotton
and his son Henry showed their Puritan ancestry, they being descended from John
Cotton of Massachusetts. Robert Cotton lived but two years after coming to this
section, dying while yet a young man in 1824. He left seven children. Henry
Cotton, the son of Robert Cotton, was the next to the youngest of the children
of Robert Cotton. He grew up amid wild scenes of pioneer life. The wild beasts
abounded, deer were plentiful, and the wolves howled about the cabin door at
night. The education of the Cotton children was had in a log cabin school-house
with puncheon floors, the window panes of greased paper and the only means of
heating being a long fireplace, across one end of the room. The school term was
but a few months in the winter, and the requirements of the teacher were but
that he could read, write and cipher. Henry Cotton liked to go to school and
when he was twenty-two years old he had acquired enough information to tempt him
to, in turn, be teacher. He taught school for two or three years, during the
winters. During the time he was teaching school, Henry Cotton was married to a
Miss Getty of Pennsylvania. During the summer months Henry Cotton would follow
the life of the flatboat man. He made eighteen trips to and from New Orleans in
this way. It was upon one of these trips that he met Miss Getty and soon
afterward was married. They lived in Vincennes for eight years and then came to
Danville township, and was on his way to prosperity. He was working at the
carpenter's trade while not on the river. Soon the war of the rebellion broke
out, however, and Mr. Cotton enlisted in service, joining the 125th Illinois
Infantry. A year later he was obliged to accept an honorable discharge on
account of ill health. He left the country for other locations after this and
did not return until 1882 when he came to Westville and became a merchant. He
made his home here, serving as postmaster three years during the term of office
of Pres. Arthur, and was justice of the peace for several years.
STEVEN DUKES.
Steven Dukes was born in Virginia and his wife, Rachel (Lewis) Dukes, was
a native of Tennessee. They came to Brooks' Point in 1822. Brooks* Point was
just east of Westville about where Kelleyville is now located. Their eldest son
was born at that place January 25, 1828.
ASA ELLIOTT.
Asa Elliott, who was one of the most prominent men of the county in its
earliest life, came to Butler's Point to make his new home in 1822. He 'was one
of the second Board of Commissioners of Vermilion County, and was the first
justice of the peace. He was a good business man and very successful. His home,
at which the court was held just before the county seat was located at Danville,
was about a quarter of a mile from the west line of Catlin village. He had a log
house at first but built a better one. He lived here all his life and after his
death his son sold the property to Mr. Sandusky and moved to Kansas. Mr. Elliott
was buried in the old Butler burying ground.
JOHN MILLS.
John Mills came to this part of Illinois in 1822, bringing his family with
him. He settled in the northwest quarter of section 23, range 12, township 17,
after a journey attended with many difficulties. He was a native of North
Carolina and moved to Ross Creek, East Tennessee, before the war of 1812. He was
one of the men who belonged to the Society of Friends in Tennessee and left to
get away from the institution of the South which was very objectionable to him.
Henry Canaday and John Haworth had both proceeded him. He came in company with
George Haworth. Along their route there were various swamps, and when four or
five miles south of Quaker Point, their destination, they found themselves
unable to go further. There were a half dozen girls in the party of neighbors
who had made the trip together, and they started off on foot. Taking the teams
from the wagons, which they abandoned, for the present at least, the men, women
and little children came on as best they might. If the way was too difficult for
the horses to draw the wagons, it could not be in very good condition for
walking. They reached John Haworth's by dark, however, very glad to find their
journey at an end, since he lived near Quaker Point just within the limits of
present day Vermilion County. Later, the travelers managed to get their wagons
free of the deep mud and taken on their way. John Mills settled among the
Indians and wild animals and entered four and one-fourth sections of land, where
he put up a round log cabin, with a puncheon floor, a great fireplace in one end
of the room, with a stick and clay chimney outside and a clapboard roof. The
house contained only one room but there was a loft where the boys slept. The
nearest trading point was Terre Haute, and the pioneers went to mill on Sugar
Creek, in Parke County, Indiana, with ox teams. Deer were numerous, the settlers
being able to kill them almost from their door. The wolves made night dismal
with their howling, and the chickens, pigs and sheep, had to be securely housed
in order to save them. The woods were full of bee trees and there was an
abundance of wild fruit. This section of the country was almost literally a
"land flowing with milk and honey," but there was much sickness. The death of
Hannah Mills was the first one in the neighborhood. She died in the summer of
1823, and her remains were the first to be buried in what is now Vermilion Grove
Cemetery. Mr. James Haworth, who accompanied John Mills to Illinois and settled
near him, was the father of eleven children, most of whom lived to maturity and
did their part in molding the affairs of Vermilion County.
ALEXANDER MCDONALD.
(Written by R. D. McDonald.)
Alexander McDonald, a pioneer of Vermilion County, Illinois, was a native
of Tennessee, where he was born in 1796. He, in company with John B. Alexander
and his family, one of whom he had married, came to Illinois in the year l820.
He located near Paris, where he remained two years, and in 1822 he moved to the
Little Vermilion timber, and made a farm about three miles west of where
Georgetown now is. His neighbors were mostly Indians, bears, panthers, wild
cats, and other wild creatures, of which the woods were full. Among the earliest
recollections of the writer of this sketch are accounts of the child-like crying
of panthers, told by the first settlers in this wilderness. There was no
Georgetown, no Vermilion County, no Danville, no Chicago, then. It is hard for a
citizen of Vermilion County, of sixty years of age, to believe that only a few
years before his birth, Illinois was such a wilderness. Such it was for many
years after Alexander McDonald commenced making his farm. At that time Edgar
County reached almost to the northern border of the state. In 1826, the land
attached to Edgar County on the north was made into a new county, and named
Vermilion. The south part of the state was settled first and mostly by people
from the southern states. On his farm on the border of civilization, Mr.
McDonald lived with his wife, Catherine Alexander McDonald, who came into this
world in the year 1800, and on it they raised ten children, six daughters and
four sons, all of such character that their acquaintances were glad to point to
them as their friends. Mr. McDonald was justice of the peace, whether by
appointment or by election, I do not know. He was also postmaster. The duties of
both offices were performed at his residence. The first Cumberland Presbyterian
church in the county, was organized at his home and in it, the congregation held
all services for a long time, and, until a meeting house was built on his land.
He was an elder in the church until his death in 1861.
Uncle Alex McDonald was an old fashioned Democrat. Accepting the
principles of the Declaration of Independence as to the inalienable rights of
men in their true spirit, he could not remain contented in a slave state. He was
among the first insurgents in the Democratic party, when it attempted to extend
slavery. He claimed no advantage of birth, condition or position. The passport
to his confidence was merit. He had sympathy and hospitality for all. I lived,
when a" boy, in his house for some time. I never saw, or heard of an applicant
for a meal or a night's lodging, being turned away. All were supplied without
money and without price. I can truly apply the following lines to him:
"A man he was to all the country dear,
Remote from towns he ran his godly race
Unskillful he, to fawn or seek for power
Far other aims his heart had learned to prize.
More bent to raise the wretched than to rise
His house was known to all the vagrant train,
He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain.
The ruined spendthrift now no longer proud,
Claimed kindred there and had his claim allowed."
The wives of the. pioneers deserve equal honors with their husbands, if
not greater. They endured, and shared all the hardships incident to a new
country and suffered its privations and by their womanly nature softened the
manners of the people. Catherine, wife of Alexander McDonald, when scarcely more
than a young girl, left society and many cultured friends among whom she was
raised, and came into the wilderness where she endured privations unknown to
women of this year 1910. She was a helpmeet, indeed. With no servant, she, with
handspinning wheel, hand loom, scissors, and needle made all the clothing for
the family, and over, and around an open fire, she cooked the food they and
their guests ate. I can truthfully say that Aunt Catherine never spoke a cross
word to, nor a complaining word of, any person. I feel sure that of her, as
Jesus said of little children, could be said, "of such is the kingdom of
heaven." She lived to be eighty-one years old and died in Danville in the home
of her son, Milton, and was buried by the side of her husband in the Weaver
graveyard, about one mile south of the house where they raised their family.
JOHN LENEVE.
John LeNeve, a young man of twenty, came to what is now Newell township in
1823. His birthplace was Tennessee, whence he came with his parents to Illinois
when he was but a lad and they settled in what is now Lawrence County, on the
Ellison Prairie directly west of Vincennes. He had a brother, Obadiah, who in
1822 took a journey into the newer country looking for a location. This journey
took Obadiah LeNeve from Vincennes to St. Louis, and thence into northeast
Missouri, and on his homeward trip through a circuit in northern Illinois.
Coming into the section now Newell township of Vermilion County, he took a great
fancy to the country and decided upon locating there. Before he left the favored
place he took the numbers of the following tracts: W. one-half N. W., one-fourth
sec. 23, and E. one-half N. E., one-fourth section 24, town 20 N., range 11 W.,
3rd principal meridian, and after going 4iome there was a sale of land when he
bought this particularly desired part. Just before Christmas the two brothers
took their belongings, such as would be needed in a new country, as provisions
and bedding, and set off for their new home. A third person accompanied them to
take the team back. On reaching their destination they cut a few rails and laid
up a square, chinking and filling the spaces with pulled grass, and covering
one-half of the rude structure with puncheons. The Indians were very friendly
and proved themselves honest and, on the whole, not bad neighbors. When they
were about at the time the new white settlers were eating, the Indians were
invited to share their meal which they did and showed themselves friendly and
inclined to treat the newcomers with all kindness. These two brothers spent the
winter splitting rails until, when in February they began making prepartion for
their return to arrange a permanent removal to this section. They used some of
their, rails to build a cabin for Ben Butterfield who expected to arrive toward
the last of February. He came, as was expected, and the LeNeves went back, to
return later, prepared to make a permanent settlement. John LeNeve married
Rebecca Newell, the daughter of the man who was the leader of affairs in that
part of the county as long as he lived. Rebecca Newell came with her father from
Harrison County, Kentucky, not long after the LeNeves had made this settlement
in this particular section.
John LeNeve, it is said, had a limited amount of money, in exact figures
being one hundred and thirteen dollars and fifty cents ($113.50) and he invested
$100 of it in timber and prairie land at one dollar and a quarter an acre
leaving him thirteen dollars and fifty cents with which to begin farming. But he
could count among his assets a pair of good strong arms and a willing heart to
work, so his success was assured. From this modest beginning Mr. LeNeve became a
land owner of pretention, and his farm is yet a landmark testifying to his
thrift, and industry.
His brother, Obadiah LeNeve, was a man particularly remembered as one of
charity and public spirit. He was always kind to the widow and orphan and seemed
to feel a responsibility to share with those less well off than he. He never
butchered without killing more than enough for himself, so as to give to those
not able to buy meat. He was always ready to help any one in distress and was
widely known and universally loved. He was born in 1799 and died in 1884. John
LeNeve lived on the old homestead all his life and died there. His wife also
spent her last days in her own home and died and was buried from the old
homestead.
WILLIAM MCDOWELL.
William McDowell came to the Little Vermilion in the year 1823 with his
four grown sons and two married daughters. He came from Kentucky and settled
south of the creek. His sons were John, Archie, James and William, and they were
all very much in need of this world's goods. They had come to this new country
to try to make a new home under better conditions. The seven years previous to
his coming had been spent in Palestine in poverty, but the children were old
enough to help in the family and all had concluded to spend the $100 which they
had managed to save up that would be enough to •enter eighty acres of land. So
the eighty acres of land was entered in sections 35 and 36, range 13, and they
came here to live with little else other than the strength of the father's hands
and the courage of the not overstrong sons. When McDowell arrived at this new
home, he built his cabin on a piece of land adjoining what he had bought,
thinking he would buy this other piece as soon as possible. One day he learned
that another man, Peter Summe, had gone to Palestine to enter that same piece of
land. He had not a dollar but he deter^ mined if possible to prevent that and to
save the land. He started on horseback to ride to Palestine, and spared neither
the horse nor himself. Riding all night he reached there before business hours
and went directly to the house of the register, who was a friend of his, and
told him the trouble. The register, to help him out, made the papers out
trusting him for sixty days. This act would have cost him his place had it been
known, because Peter Summe was there with the gold in his hand. McDowell came
back happy, but it cost him dearly, since the worry over getting the hundred
dollars inside of the two months (he had to sell some of his land to do this)
threw him into a fever from which he died. Several members of his family died at
about the same time. The death of his father compelled John McDowell to care for
the family and work out his fortune as best he could. He had no money, but he
was plucky and worked for whomever needed him, for whatever wage he could get,
all the time determined to win out, which he did. A few years later he split
rails to pay for the land he lived on and, in time, he bought and paid for
eleven hundred and fifty acres of land, the most of which he gave to his
children, living | all the remainder of his life on the land which his father
made that night's ride to Palestine to buy on credit.
AARON MENDENHALL.
Aaron Mendenhall was born in Guilford, North Carolina, near the scene of
the battle of the Guilford Court House. Soon after the opening of the Ohio
Territory, his father brought the family to this new territory and was killed
while on his way, by Indians. At this time Aaron Mendenhall was a small child.
He grew to manhood in Ohio and in 1824 he, with his family, following in the
footsteps of his father, started for a new country. They came to the Little
Vermilion and entered two hundred and forty acres of land which is now in the
farm of Silas Baird. This land was entered while yet Illinois was a wilderness,
at least excepting in certain localities in the southern part. Like other
pioneers this family endured hardships and privations incident to such a life.
They were, however, brave and stout hearted and made successful battle in
subduing the wild land and making it blossom. Thrifty and industrious, they
taught their children to work and developed them physically and morally at the
same time. Politically, Mr. Mendenhall was, as his son said, "a whig, morning,
noon and afternoon," as long as that party was in power. He looked upon Henry
Clay as one of America's greatest statesmen, and so taught his children to do.
Later they were as staunch Republicans. His children who lived to maturity lived
about him, and in this neighborhood of friends were most consistent members of
that society."
CYRUS DOUGLAS.
Cyrus Douglas was one of the few early citizens of Vermilion County who
was a native of any place above the Mason and Dixon line. Mr. Douglas was born
in Vermont and came to Butler's Point in 1824. Whether he was an old friend of
James Butler there is no record nor if he even knew Mr. Butler previous to his
coming to this place. The fact that they came from the same state when so few
people from that part of the country were drawn to this section, is suggestive,
but may have been but a coincidence.
Mr. Douglas was a hatter by trade in New York and brought material with
him in emigrating to the west to engage in business in St. Louis. He remained
there for a time and then went to Brown County, Indiana. He remained in Indiana
for a short time when the report of the promising conditions on the Wabash
reached him and he went to Eugene entering some land near there east of
Georgetown. The grant to this land was signed by President Monroe. After a while
he moved to Butler's Point and it was while he was there that he was married,
being the first or perhaps it were better to say, second man married within this
section, later known as Vermilion County.
ROBERT DICKSON.
Robert Dickson was a native of Maryland, born December 16, 1765, and moved
to Kentucky, where he was married in Mason County to Phebe Means. Some time
after their marriage they settled in Lewis County, but later decided to try a
new country and came to Illinois in 1824, settling in the southern part of that
which was to be Vermilion County. Mrs. Dickson died that year at the age of
forty-eight. Mr. Dickson survived her but three years when he died from typhus
fever. Politically Mr. Dickson was a Democrat, and as well as his wife, he was a
staunch Presbyterian. David Dickson was the sixth son of Mr. Robert Dickson, and
came from Kentucky with his parents when he was almost a man grown, he having
been born December 13, 1806. When his father died three years later he was at
his majority and took a man's part. He bore his part in the development of the
county and well deserves to be reckoned among the makers of Vermilion County.
His life was one of sobriety and his temperate habits showed in his honorable
old age. He was the pioneer stockman and feeder and in all his intercourse with
his fellowmen he always had their confidence and esteem. The oldest son of
Robert Dickson was a boat builder and when they decided to leave Kentucky he and
David built a flatboat and their father bought a keel boat, and they loaded
their stock, farming utensils and household goods, together with the family, on
these boats, and set sail on the Ohio river for the "promise land."
At Louisville, however, they were obliged to abandon their boats and
unloading the stock, which consisted of oxen, horses and cows, and make their
way overland to their destination. The two boys who had built the boat, and
another older brother, pushed the keelboat up the Wabash river and unloaded its
contents a little way above Newport, Indiana, at Coleman's Prairie, thence they
hauled their property to their destination, which was the land their father had
entered from the government when he came the year before. When David Dickson was
twenty-three-years old he married Miss Margaret Waters, who had but a year
previous to this time come with her father from Bourbon County, Kentucky. Mr.
Dickson loved to describe this section as it looked to him when he first saw it.
It was, according to his description, exceedingly beautiful, diversified with
prairie and timber, the meadows and marshes thriving with a luxuriant growth of
prairie grass and wild flowers. Wild animals of many kinds abounded, while
poisonous reptiles, the rattlesnake, blue racer, black and garter snake, kept
the traveler on the close lookout. There were also great quantities of wild
birds, geese, ducks and pheasants, besides turkeys and pigeons. The people of
that time and place were noted for their hospitality, and the community of
interest which led them at all times to be regardful of each other's welfare.
After the death of Robert Dickson each of the boys started out for himself.
While all were bright and energetic, David was, perhaps, most successful. He
began entering land and in time found himself the owner of 1,400 acres which he
had to a large extent put into a good state of cultivation. Much of this land
was obtained on a Mexican warrant. Before he was married he worked at one time
at the salt works. He walked to Fort Clark (now Peoria) in 1827, just after his
father died on his way to Galena to work in the lead mines. He carried his
clothes and provisions in a knapsack. There he had the vessel which was fired
upon by the Winnebago Indians pointed out to him. He worked for a while in the
mines at New Diggings and became acquainted with the founder of Fort Gratiot. In
the fall of the year he worked his way down the Mississippi river to St. Louis
on a keel boat, then purchased a pony and rode home. Mr. Dickson made his first
trip to the little town of Chicago in 1832, taking a load of produce drawn by
oxen. Later he began feeding cattle and was the first man to engage in this
industry on the Little Vermilion river. In 1844 he drove 100 head of hogs to
Chicago and in the years immediately following/he shipped several herds in this
way to Philadelphia and New York City. Mr. Dickson was a Democrat in his
political faith all his life.
JOHN SNIDER.
John Snider, with his wife and three small children, came from Ohio on
horseback to what is now Blount township of Vermilion County, in 1824, and built
his home in the forest. He entered a quarter section of land and built a log
house. The Indians made sugar and held their meetings near the cabin of John
Snider. It was a strange place to try to build a home; the entire country was
full of sloughs and ponds. However, John Snider lived to see a great change in
the country. He helped fell the trees and clear the land and assisted in
organizing the township. A debt of gratitude is surely laid on this generation
to him and others like him who have been pioneers in the development of
Vermilion County. John Snider was born in 1797, and died November 12, 1849. His
wife, who was the daughter of Charles Blount, the man for whom the township was
named, survived her husband for several years, she living until in the
seventies.
DR. ASA PALMER.
Dr. Asa Palmer was a native of Connecticut, who was born at Coventry in
1786. He became a resident of Vermont in his boyhood days, and later lived I in
the Black River country of New York. Subsequently he became a resident of
Moscow, where both his parents died. While living in New York state, Dr. Palmer
studied medicine and practiced a little. He was married while living in New York
state. He made a trip to the west in search of a location, and came here to live
in 1824. His first trip was made on horseback, but when he came to locate, the
journey was made by boat, going first to Pittsburg and then down the Ohio river
and up the Wabash river. His destination was the Vermilion river country but at
that time there was no Danville to attract him, not even so small a settlement
at this place. Dr. Palmer began his practice in this section and for many miles
around the settlements from the Little Vermilion to those north and west of the
mouth of the North Fork of the Vermilion River, he rode in his practice. After
Danville became the county seat, his home was there and his practice was over a
broad territory from that point. Eventually he gave up the practice of medicine
and lived retired. In connection with his son he established the first drug
store in Danville. He was a leading and influential citizen of this section from
the time he came in 1824 to his death in 1861. Dr. Palmer was married three
times, his third wife being Adelia Hawkins and one of the honored pioneers of
Vermilion County. Dr. Palmer was one of the original members of the Presbyterian
church in Danville. He was the father of thirteen children by his first wife and
two by his second wife.