1918 Annals - Cedar Township
By Mrs. A. I. Sargent
A township is not large, yet, he who tells its story realizes how many
people live within its borders and how much has been lived during the
decades that are past. It is impossible to tell it all. I will sketch
briefly the first ten years of the township's settlement as the pioneer
days, will tell something of the schools and churches that have been
influential in its development and of the men and women who started them,
will gladly pay tribute to those who went from its borders at their
country's call, and will mark a few of the noteworthy enterprises in which
its citizens have had a share. Most of the story will center around Abingdon
and its vicinity, for here the first settlement was made and here is the
larger portion of its population.
Cherry Grove, our fathers thought to call this township, because of the
abundance of wild cherry trees, but, finding that name already pre-empted,
they changed to Cedar, a name suggested by a certain cedar tree, which, as a
seedling, Joseph Latimer had dug up on his journey into this new, wild
country and had planted with the planting of his home
Some government claims had been taken in the township and land transfers
made before the time of permanent settlement, so that some of the early
settlers bought or traded for their land and some filed claims. Government
land was $1.25 per acre. In those early days, most of the Western and
Eastern borders of the township were irregularly but heavily timbered. Much
has been cut away but beautiful timber may still be found in these sections.
Between its wooded borders, stretching from north to south, were miles of
fertile prairie.
Pioneers
Henderson Township is always spoken of as having the earliest settlers in
the county. It is not probably fully realized that Cedar was settled the
same year and only a few months later.
Among the families I shall mention as pioneers in Cedar Township, it is
interesting to note that more than half are from the middle southern states,
Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and the Carolinas. These settlers
were very largely of the sturdy Scotch-Irish stock, to which the Historian,
Fiske, pays such warm tribute of praise, in showing their enterprise as
pioneers and their prominence in legislative life.
The first recorded settlers in Cedar Township were Rev. Hiram Palmer, a
Methodist preacher, and a little later, Azel Dorsey, who settled in 1828, as
near neighbors on Sections 7 and 18. In less than a year, Dorsey sold out
his claim to a Mr. Finch, who also soon sold out and both men left for other
places. Hiram Palmer moved four years after his coming onto Section 32,
where the Abingdon cemetery now stands. The first settlers whose life was
built up surely and lastingly into the life of the community was Abraham D.
Swartz, who arrived with his wife in 1829, settling at first on Section 17,
but moving soon, perhaps with Hiram Palmer, onto Section 32. It was Mr.
Swartz who laid out Abingdon, but that was seven years later.
The winter of 1830 is always characterized as the "winter of the deep snow "
There are no records to tell how these first lonely settlers weathered the
storms of that notable winter but there is no doubt about the glad welcome
they extended to Joseph Latimer when he arrived with his family early in
1831. Joseph Latimer, who settled on Section 29, came to Illinois from
Robertson county, Tennessee, having gone thither many years before by ox
wagon from the family home near New London, Connecticut. As a young boy he
had watched the burning of New London by the British and cried because he
was not old enough to bear arms. His father, Jonathan Latimer, served in the
French and Indian War and was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War. Six sons,
older brothers of Joseph, also served in the Revolutionary War, all df them
at some time under their father's command. Two, one a Major and one a
Captain, died in the defense of Bunker Hill.
Mrs. Joseph Latimer, who shared the pioneer days in Cedar township with her
husband, came from North Carolina and used to tell the story as she
remembered it, of the raid of Tarleton's men on her father's home and how
the British carried off everything they wanted from the house and cut the
rim of her mother's spinning wheel. Six sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Latimer had been married in Tennessee, all but one of whom later
followed their parents to Knox county. Five children came with them and as
they all figure in this story, I will name them: George, John, David, an
unmarried daughter, Susan, and a widowed daughter, Mrs. Sarah L. Boren,
Mrs. Boren at once took up a claim of her own and settled with her children
near her father on Section 29.
George added to the early settlement in the following manner: In the Fall of
1831, some business necessitated a trip to Vandalia, at that time the
capitol of the state, and George Latimer was sent on this errand. In
Sangamon county a few miles south of Springfield, he stopped over night at
the home of William Drennan, a man of prominence in that community, where
the guest was served by Mr. Drennan's seventeen-year-old daughter. They had
not met before and did not meet again until just a year from the time of his
first visit George Latimer went back to claim her as his bride. Their
wedding journey was the trip on horseback through the glory of the October
woods from Sangamon county into Knox county where he had a log cabin ready
for his bride on Section 29 Here they established a rarely happy and
influential home.
The same year, Jonathan Latimer and family, Joseph's oldest son, came up
from Sangamon county where they had temporarily resided and settled on
Section 28. With them, and settling near them on the same section, came Mrs.
Latimer's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob West. Jonathan Latimer was a man of
marked character, who figured largely in the community for many years. He
began his business career in the township by trading a horse for the land
upon which he settled. He was ever a trader but combined a shrewd knowledge
of values with a kind and generous heart. He has one son still living in
Cedar township, Hon. Joseph F. Latimer, three times elected to the
Legislature, whose home stands right where his father's log cabin was built
in 1832
In 1833, Dennis Clark, then a young man, afterwards Knox County Judge, came
up from Sangamon County and found a home with Mr. and Mrs. George Latimer,
He had known Mrs. Latimer before her marriage.
In 1833, Susan Latimer married Urban D. Coy, the first marriage to take
place in Cedar Township. Soon afterwards,, they settled on Section 21.
The same year, John Latimer left the parental roof and became the first
permanent white settler in Indian Point Township-
Another married son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Latimer, Alexander, arrived with
his family in '34 and settled on Section 21. About the same time, came a
son-in-law, Israel Marshall, and his wife Mary Latimer or "Aunt Polly" as
she was generally known. They settled on Section 31. Israel Marshall brought
with him from Tennessee some fine-blooded stock, the first to be brought
into a township which later had a wide reputation for its high grade stock.
There were thus, in the first four years of the decade from 1830 to 1840,
six Latimer families all settled near each other in the Cherry Grove
neigborhood and one just over the line in Indian Point Township.
About this time, other settlers were arriving in other parts of the
Township. Josehua Bland came in '33, settling with his family on Section 16.
The story comes down to us of a "corn cracker mill" owned by Mr. Bland. It
stood near where the Heller School house now stands and although a primitive
affair, run by horse-power, it ground many a grist of corn for the scattered
neighbors who were thankful not to be obliged to go as far as Ellisville, on
Spoon River, to get their corn ground A few years ago, Stewart Williamson, a
grandson of Mr. Bland's, had the old mill post around which the horses or
oxen plodded their monotonous way, dug up and made into canes.
Early Comers
There was early a scattering settlement along the eastern timber border. The
year 1834 saw the arrival in the township of seven families with staying
qualities. All but one settled in the eastern portion of the township. The
one exception was Wm. Kays, who, with his wife, came from Kentucky, stopping
temporarily in Indiana, and established his home on Section 8, about three
miles north of the Latimer settlement.
Hugh A. Kelly, prominent in township life for many years, and his wife, came
from West Virginia and settled on Section 15.
The Castle brothers, coming also from West Virginia with temporary stops
along the way, took up claims, Reuben and Henry on Section 12 and George on
Section 26 They were all prosperous farmers and good citizens. Two grandsons
of George Castle, George and Thomas, sons of Vinton Castle, are living now
in Abingdon.
Onto Section 1 came William Thomas Williamson with his wife and family of
young people. He came here from Indiana where he lived for a time, but his
boyhood home was in New England. His father had been a soldier in the
Revolutionary War and once when he, with others, was hard pressed by the
British; he had dropped out of sight behind a log and the British had passed
him by unseen, he thus escaping capture. Mr. Thomas Williamson's sons and
daughters married and many of them settled around him where they were highly
respected citizens. His son, James, married a daughter of Mr Bland's and
they, with their married sons and daughters, later became, and some still
are especially identified with the neighborhood around Warren Chapel. Squire
Frank Williamson and Stewart Williamson, of Galesburg, are the sons of James
Williamson. He also has descendants in and around Abingdon. Children and
grandchildren of James Williamson were fond of hearing him tell of riding
over the site where Galesburg later stood, when the only road was the Indian
trail from Henderson to Brush Creek, which crossed the goodly stream of
Cedar Fork where Leroy Marsh's horse barn now stands.
With the Williamson's, came Daniel Green Burner, a native of Kentucky, who
resided in Sangamon County before coming to Knox. Abraham Lincoln boarded at
Green Burner's father's home for four years in New Salem and he and Lincoln
slept together. When the Burners left their home in New Salem to come to
Knox County, it was Abraham Lincoln who drew up the deed of sale. Green
Burner settled on Section 1 and from that time on through a long life he was
closely identified with this part of the township. He added many fertile
acres to those originally taken up until he was the owner of more than one
thousand. The widow and part of the family of his son, Milton, are now
living in Cedar Township, a few miles north of Abingdon.
Settling as near neighbors to the Williamson's and Burner's and coming the
same year, was the Swartz family, which from that day to this have been
prominent in the Brush Creek neighborhood. Albert Swartz and his sisters.
Miss Mary and Miss Sarah Swartz, are still living on the original farm, now
beautiful cultivated, which was occupied by their grandfather in its wild
state, while their brother Thomas lives on his own farm across the road.
The seventh family to arrive that year was that of George Long, who came
from Ohio They spent their first winter in Knoxville, and the next year
settled upon the farm on Section 12, where some wooded land then purchased
is still owned by members of the Long family. Two sons of Mr. Long, George
and William, when returning home from the mill at Henderson, were caught in
a snow storm and lost their way on the wide prairie where Galesburg now
stands. They wandered around, through the growing darkness until they came
upon a little stream to the southward that they knew and so found their way
home. The township is indebted to the Long family for many years of teaching
in its public schools. George Long, the son of George Long, taught school as
a young man and put his earnings into the first payment for an eighty acre
piece of prairie land, paying for it $5.00 per acre. His sister, Martha
Long, was a teacher in Cedar Township and Knox County for a number of years,
and his daughter, Miss Jennie Long, taught in the public schools of the
county for 38 years, part of the time in Cedar Township and for 29 years in
the city of Galesburg Another daughter. Miss Catherine Long, was prominent
in W. C. T. U. work, for eight years being State Superintendent of its
Department of Work for Soldiers and Sailors of Illinois. These two daughters
are now living in Galesburg.
Largely through the efforts of their mother, Mrs. Geo. Long, a Sunday School
was started in an early day in the Brush Creek School House and maintained
through many difficulties. This Sunday School kept up more consecutive years
of service than any country Sunday School in the Township.
An early wedding in the township was that of Miss Mary Long with Reuben
Castle.
Settling on Section 11 along the road traveled by the pioneers in their
trips to Knoxville for trade, was another worthy family, who, among the
first to arrive in 1835, have descendants living in Knox County This was
Thomas Marsh and his wife, the parents of LeRoy Marsh, Mrs. Blair and Mrs.
Crawford of Galesburg.
With them came Elisha Humiston and family who settled nearby. Mr. Humiston
later moved on to Section 17. In the northwest part of this section is a
small, fenced-in grave yard, known as the Humiston Burial Ground.
Before turning to other localities, mention should be made of Lewis Spurlock
and Williams Bevins Both came in '34 and settled on Section 23. So far as I
know, none of their descendants are now left in the county, but they had a
place in the community life in the early days for Lewis Spurlock was a great
deer hunter and William Bevins was a great bee hunter, and the venison and
honey they brought in for the little colony were much enjoyed. The Spurlock
name is also associated with other parts of the township.
In the northwest corner of the township, near where Warren Chapel now
stands, Uziah Conger, coming from New York State, settled in the early
thirties. His family of nine sons and one daughter grew up around him here,
some of them marrying and living in the neighborhood for many years. Here
were spent the boyhood of Edwin H. Conger, who, when Ambassador to China,
won the gratitude of the Chinese people for his valuable advice in helping
settle the indemnity money question, after the Boxer uprising and who gave
the rich and beautiful banner, presented to him by the Chinese people, to
Lombard College. He was a grandson of Uziah Conger and the son of Lorentus,
who served the county on its Board of Supervisors at the time of the Court
House fight. Here also grew up Seth Conger, another grandson, later
identified with business interests in Galesburg, whose son Frank L. Conger
is at the present time cashier in the First National Bank of that citv.
Into this neighborhood also, at a somewhat later date, came Ralph Mount. Two
of Mr. Mount's sons, Thomas and William, owned farms and lived for many
years along the main road between Abingdon and Galesburg It was one of his
sons also who failed to return home at the close of the Civil War and his
brothers and sisters, supposing him dead, divided his portion of the estate
among themselves, when suddenly one day he arrived home all alive and well
and they gave it back again.
Into this northwest section of the Township (Section 6) in 1836, came
Francis Portus Goddard whose son, Uncle Jimmy Goddard, a veteran of the
Civil War, lives there still.
In the central north portion of the township, in 1835, Benjamin Marks who
came from Kentucky, was the first to stake a claim out on the open prairie.
"You will freeze in winter," they told him, but the fierce winter winds blew
the snow banks around and clear over his little cabin and kept it snug and
warm. Benjamin Marks' son, Pleasant, has long owned the farm on which his
father settled, adding to it many acres of his own and is proud to tell of
this land having been in the Marks family for 83 years.
Other early names in this general locality are Garrett, McPherren, Lowrey,
Nelson, Crawford, Belden, Bundy and Snyder, who later lived in Abingdon and
added Snyder's addition to that town.
Because of her long residence in the township, "Grandma Reed" should be
especially mentioned- She and her husband, John Reed, settled in the edge of
the timber southwest of Benjamin Marks' home in '36. The location was near
an excellent spring and had been a favorite camping ground for the Indians
before the Black Hawk War. After her husband's death, Mrs. Reed, who was
born near Edinburgh, Scotland, continued to live in this part of the
township, spending her last years in the home of her son-in-law, James Kays.
She lived to be ninety-seven years old. James Kays' son, Reed Kays, is
living on the Reed farm today.
The Dunlap family, prominently connected with the township's life, came
during the latter half of that first decade. Henry Dunlap, with his two
sons, Edmund and Jackson, and his daughter, Mary, took the long journey on
horseback from Kentucky to Illinois, Knox County and Cedar Township. They
arrived early in '37 and settled just north of Cherry Grove, the father on
Section 20, and Edmund making a home for his bride of a few months on
Section 19, where his twin daughters, Alice and Ellen, still live. Edmund
Dunlap paid $100.00 for his original one hundred and sixty acres. A few
months later, Mrs. Henry Dunlap, with her children and Edmund's young wife,
arrived to complete the home circles. They came by boat down the Ohio and up
the Mississippi to Oquawka, bringing their household goods with them. They
brought also a colored woman, whom Mrs. Henry Dunlap's father had presented
to his daughter to be nurse for her first baby. Henry Dunlap, as the law
required, went security for her good behavior. Aunt Phyllis, as she was
generally known, lived to be very old and acted as nurse to four generations
of Dunlap children.
So far as is known, the only one now living who remembers coming to Cedar
Township in that first decade is J. W. Stephens, who, when a lad of
thirteen, came with his father, in 1838, and settled on Section 16. Mr.
Stephens is ninety-three years old, a tall, well-preserved man, whose memory
is clear and who abounds in many and interesting reminiscences. His father,
when he came, bought of Mr. Kays eighty acres of fenced and improved land
for which he paid $10.00 per acre. The original Stephens' land is now owned
by J. W. Stephens' son, Charles, and so has been in the Stephens family
since '38. Mr. Stephens tells of his first trip to the village of Knoxville
the summer of their arrival where he saw the old Court House, the one now
standing, in process of erection. Its walls at that time were up about four
feet.
The decade of the forties saw the township rapidly filling up. I will not
trace its population farther with just one exception I want to mention Isaac
Hunter, who, with his brother-in-law, Mr. Jordan, came from New England to
Peoria in 1839 and on to Knox County and Cedar Township in '41, building a
log cabin on Section 23. Here he lived for many years. At the time of his
sojourn in Peoria in '39 and '40, it was a town of seven hundred
inhabitants. Later Mr. Hunter drove a stage coach between Peoria and Rock
Island but the story most often told of him is of how he and Mr. Jordan
drove 1,000 sheep across country from Massachusetts to Illinois, the trip
taking one hundred and twenty-two days.
Early Conditions and Experiences
Now that the township is furnished with inhabitants who have gotten a firm
foothold it is time to hear a few tales that have come down to us of these
early days.
It is natural to wonder whether or not the early settlers were troubled by
Indians. There are indications that, at a still earlier day, the Indians had
had favorite camping places on Cedar Township land, especially in the
vicinity of Brush Creek. Leroy Marsh tells of plowing his father's farm when
he was a boy and finding many arrow heads and once the skull of an Indian.
There are some reasons for thinking they favored other localities in the
Township but none were very pronounced. Indians frequently found their way
to the homes of the settlers and often frightened them, but there is no
record of their being distinctly hostile.
Something of the terror of the Black Hawk War days in '31 and '32 was felt
by the pioneers of Cedar Township, although all alarms proved false. Mrs.
Joseph Latimer, looking from her door just at dusk one evening, saw that
some kind of visitors were approaching. They were coming single file almost
completely hidden by the tall prairie grass. She instantly thought of
Indians but her alarm was quieted when she saw Mrs Swartz with her children.
Lonely and afraid, they had come to spend the night, Mr. Swartz being away
from home.
From the little settlement at Cherry Grove, the name given to the
neighborhood where the Latimers first settled, consisting of three or four
families, George Latimer and U. D. Coy joined the volunteer rangers in the
Black Hawk War. George Latimer was first lieutenant when the little
volunteer band was formed. How rank was determined at that time, I do not
know but always after the Black Hawk War, these two men were known as
Colonel Latimer and Major Coy. Each of the Rangers furnished his own horse.
One hundred guns were brought from Rock Island to Oquawka and from there by
wagon to Knox and Warren Counties. The men from these counties ranged as far
as the Mississippi river in the vicinity of Oquawka. They were gone from
home more than two months and did good guard service, although engaging in
no battles. Each man was paid eighty-six cents per day for himself and
horse.
About the Indians
In the years following the Black Hawk War, the Indians almost all crossed
the Mississippi either voluntarily or taken to reservation lands by the
government. A large band of Indians very early camped in their westward
journey on a hill south of Jonathan Latimer's home. A granddaughter of his,
in a school composition when she was quite young, tells a little incident of
this Indian Camp in these words: "One little Indian shot another, and the
murdered boy was buried on the hill, with his head to the north and his
heels to the south, with his pipe, tobacco, guns and his valuable trinkets,
beads, furs and feathers also. Being a chief's son, there was a great
"Pow-wow" at his death. My Aunt Emily attended the funeral and remembers
distinctly about it. By Indian rule, the little boy who shot the other
should forfeit his life but Colonel Sands, who was conducting the Indians
westward, succeeded in arranging a compromise whereby the parents of the boy
that was killed received certain valuable gifts. While these negotiations
were being made, the boy was kept in hiding in the Brush Creek woods.
A very large company of Indians, estimated at from five hundred to seven
hundred, accompanied by government officials, on their way to western
reservation land, crossed the township, camping over night by Brush Creek.
Leroy Marsh, then a little boy, visited the camp which was about half a mile
from his father's farm and was badly frightened by their yells to each
other. One of the government teamsters, accompanying the Indians, was taken
ill and left at the Marsh home where he was cared for several weeks.
The log cabins of the first settlers have been often described. The more
pretentions ones had two large rooms with an intervening space, roofed, and
enclosed on one side. Each room had its large fireplace with cooking
accommodations and a bed or beds and trundle beds, a spinning wheel and
sometimes a loom. The construction of such dwellings was not a lengthy
process. Neighborly helpfulness was universal. Mr. Stephens tells an
incident which illustrates this. Wm. Kays had eight daughters and one son.
Two married daughters were early left widows and returned to their father's
house with their children. It is easy to see that the family were
undesirably numerous, considering the log house accommodations, so a day was
set, the neighbors all came early, cut and hauled the timber, and in one day
put up a log cabin of the double kind just mentioned, so that one daughter
and her family had one end and the other, the other. In like manner, when
Alexander Latimer's log house burned down, the neighbors gathered and helped
him put up another. Here again in one day, the trees were cut down and the
building erected The next day, he put down the puncheon floor, cut some
windows and made some furniture and that evening the family moved in.
Alexander Latimer's one chief regret in connection with the burning of his
log cabin was that a number of letters written by Abraham Lincoln to himself
were destroyed. He had served under Lincoln in the Black Hawk War and was
greatly attached to him.
Soon after Jonathan Latimer came, his horses strayed away and he was gone
several days hunting for them. The finishing touches had not been put upon
his cabin and their only door was a bed tick hanging down from the top,
weighted at the bottom with straw. So plentiful were the wolves at that time
that during the three nights of his absence, Mrs. Latimer had to keep a
bright fire burning in the fireplace to keep the hungry animals from coming
in. Wolves were great pests to the early settlers, especially in their
propensity to carry off the sheep, for almost everyone owned some sheep,
upon which they depended for the wool to be carded, spun and woven into
blankets and clothing. Panthers were not uncommon and old and young avoided
paths which led through thick underbrush at night. Deer were also plentiful
for a time, as were many kinds of small game.
Log cabins soon began to give place to more pretentious houses. In 1840,
Jonathan Latimer began the construction of a commodious brick house, which
was long considered a fine dwelling. It was built in southern style with a
wide hall extending through it from north to south. He had chosen a rarely
beautiful building site and had planted two long rows of maple trees which
soon formed a handsome avenue leading to the house. The lumber used in the
house came from his own timber and the bricks were made from clay dug on his
farm and burned in two kilns he had made. The first brick burned he sold to
buy window glass and to pay for the sawing of the black walnut lumber and
the oak shingles.
Watson Barber, living just north of Louisville, hauled lumber on wagons from
Chicago and put up a frame house for himself. This house was torn down only
a few years ago
Mrs. Joseph Latimer and Mrs. Swartz used to go on horseback fifteen miles to
Henderson to trade before there was a store in Knoxville. Knoxville being
nearer and of growing importance, soon became the trade center for Cedar
Township people. Heavy, wide-gauge wagons, drawn by either oxen or horses,
were used at first but lighter and less clumsy vehicles must have soon come
into use. Horseback riding was universal. The women were expert riders,
often carrying farm produce to market in this way and bringing back goods in
exchange. At one time, Mrs. Jonathan Latimer marketed so much maple sugar of
her own making and lindsey-woolsey of her own weaving that when the trading
was finished she still had fifty dollars to her credit.
Stoves were rare. There was occasionally a square-boxed heating stove to be
found but cook stoves did not come into the township until the very last of
that first decade. Then one was hauled down from Chicago by Mr. Garrett. J.
W. Stephens, at that time a boy in his teens, tells of going to see this
stove as a great curiosity.
For laundry purposes in the very earliest days, any good sized stream was
sufficient. Mrs. Swartz and Mrs. Jonathan Latimer would carry their washing
down to the creek where together they washed the clothes. When these were
dry and ready to iron, they would carry the clothes to one or the other
cabin and visit while they ironed.
The Markets
The nearest markets where the Cedar Township farmers could dispose of their
grain, corn and stock were at Oquawka, about forty miles distant and
especially at Peoria some fifty miles away and Copperas Landing, below
Peoria. Mr. Stephens says he has hauled many a load of corn to Peoria, and
sold it for fifteen cents a bushel, taking it out in trade. Mr. Stephens
spent one winter helping run the saw mill at Old Henderson which sawed the
logs for the old First Church at Galesburg. As a young man, he sometimes
came to Galesburg for evening entertainments and it was not easy to take the
ride home without getting lost, as all was open prairie to his home some six
or seven miles south. To use his expression, "there was not a stick from
there to Galesburg."
In case of sickness, home remedies were mostly used. Knoxville was the
nearest place where medical aid could be secured. In the Fall of 1836 Joseph
Latimer's youngest son, David, was seriously ill. He was taken to a doctor
in Knoxville who asked that he be left in his care for a few weeks. Seeming
improved in health, his brother-in-law. Major Coy, with the best conveyance
obtainable at the time, was sent to bring him home. When well on their
homeward journey, the young man complained of feeling faint and asked Major
Coy to help him to alight. There, sitting by the roadside, death came
quickly and with no one to call upon for help. Major Coy lifted his
brother's body into the conveyance and went on alone to the sad home coming.
These are some of the experiences of those early days in Cedar Township.
While some were hard and some were sad, the pleasant part predominated for
the exuberance and strength of youth was in the newly settled country.
Schools
The history of the township's schools and churches began with its settling.
From the day when A. D. Swartz and Azel Dorsey joined Hiram Palmer in 1829,
religious services have been maintained. The services were held first in Mr.
Swartz's house, where also, four years later, a church organization with
seven members was effected. From this humble beginning grew the strong
Methodist Church of Abingdon which later founded and fostered Hedding
College. But before that day, there was a school at Cherry Grove, the
outgrowth of another church organization, which was far-reaching in its
influence. In Chapman's History of Knox County is this sentence, "The first
church and school house erected in the county, was at Cherry Grove in Cedar
Township in 1832, and Major Coy said he cut the first log for this church
and school house." It was a log building and stood just southwest of where
Cherry Grove Cemetery now is. Both religious services and school were held
in this building. The school and church were always so closely associated
that their story belongs together.
On June 20th, 1835, at the home of Joseph Latimer, a little company met and
organized a Cumberland Presbyterian Church with thirteen members. Joseph
Latimer and John Howard were elected Elders and George G. Latimer, clerk, an
office he held until his death, thirteen years later. The records of this
meeting and those that followed are in the possession today of one of Geo.
Latimer's descendants. Quaint old records they are and interesting reading.
The brethren and sisters are carefully watched over and reproved by the
church when their steps go astray. The little church, full of zeal and
purpose, in 1836, the year after its organization, erected a frame building
which stood about eighty rods northeast of the school house "in a beautiful
walnut and sugar maple grove, just at the edge of the prairie " It was here
that Cherry Grove Seminary was started, by this young church, in 1837.
Cherry Grove Seminary
Its beginning was small but the hopes of its founders were large. They hoped
the school might develop into a college and in 1840, a charter from, the
state for a first class college was obtained. A graduate of both Cherry
Grove Seminary and Knox College, in later years, compared the curriculum of
the two young schools and found them almost exactly the same except that
more Latin and Greek were taught at Cherry Grove. In 1841, Rev. Cyrus
Haynes, a college graduate and an experienced and capable teacher, took
charge as principal. Let me quote from Perry's Knox County History: "For
eight years, under Mr. Haynes' management, the school prospered. In his
time, a considerable addition was built, adjoining the church, to afford
more room for the school. In 1849, a large, substantial, two-story frame
building was erected, the lower story for a Chapel and church purposes, fhe
upper story arranged for recitations and other school uses.
"Mr. Haynes was followed by a succession of strong, wide-awake teachers
among them Rev. J. M. B. Roach, C. H. Baker, Rev. J. C. Wagamon and others,
all of whom did good work and under whose management the school continued to
prosper. There came to the school a fine class of young people, earnest,
enthusiastic and loyal. There was a successful literary society, the
Upsilon, and a semi-monthly paper, "The Cherry Leaf," edited by the
students. Also, in later years, music was taught. The school was in a sense
under the advice and patronage of the Rushville Presbytery of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church. There were students from a large part of Western
Illinois and they came also from Iowa, Missouri and Kentucky. A very large
percent of those who were students here made a good record in after life,
some remarkably so.
"There were grouped about Cherry Grove Seminary grounds and within a half
mile, ten or twelve houses where these students were boarded or boarded
themselves. Besides these, home from a mile to a mile and a half away, took
students to board when it was necessary. In maintaining Cherry Grove
Seminary, all the community joined heartily. Many sacrifices were necessary
and were made cheerfully. In some respects, the burdens fell heaviest on the
women, who, with meagre facilities for doing so and very small pay, had to
care for the students and see that they had as comfortable homes as possible
while at school. Some of the students were poor and some of the young men
were studying for the ministry and were to be encouraged in every possible
way.
"Among the many unselfish and devoted women who helped in this, one is
worthy of especially mention because of her long service and her helpful
influence. When Cherry Grove Seminary was started, George Latimer with his
father and brothers, Jonathan and Alexander, were among the active leaders
in the move and gave much of their time and liberally of their means in
forwarding the enterprise. George Latimer's home was but sixty rods from the
Seminary and Church building and every interest that pertained to either,
always received a cheerful and hearty support from Mrs. Latimer. She was
with the foremost in entertaining comers and goers and always, of course,
without a thought of pay. When the school was started and from that time on,
her home was always full of students and at almost a nominal price for
board. Her sympathy for and helpfulness to young men were a marked feature
of her life. Here Dennis Clark, who for eighteen years served so acceptably
as judge of the Knox County Court, lived for twelve years. He always held
Mrs. Latimer in grateful esteem and affection. In 1848, Mrs. Latimer's first
great sorrow came. In the space of two weeks, her husband and three children
were taken by death, two of the children being buried in one grave. Left
with the entire care of a young family, in addition to her household duties,
she now took the management of the farm. Her only son was but ten years old.
Besides her watchful care and training of her five children, her management
of the farm and stock upon it was equal to that of the best farmers in the
neighborhood. Meanwhile, she in no degree relaxed her interest in the
school. Her only son, after attending Cherry Grove Seminary, graduated from
Knox College and the Law School at Albany, New York. Without coming home
from Albany, he went directly into his country's service. In the Fall of
1864, while on shipboard off Fortress Monroe, returning from an expedition
into the Carolinas, he died of yellow fever and was buried at sea." What it
meant to this widowed mother to have her only son fall in the service of his
country, just when he so well prepared for the work of manhood, many mothers
at the present time can understand. With sincerest sympathy, her many
student friends shared her sorrow.
Let me pause just here to note again the date of the founding of Cherry
Grove Seminary, 1837, the year we Galesburg people know so well as the year
of the founding of Knox College. These two institutions then were twins.
Though not so perfect in its conception and organization as the college we
honor, yet it is with pride and a sense of appreciative gratitude that I
write of this school. Honoring as I do and have long done with all my heart,
the founders of Galesburg and Knox College, I want here to pay a tribute to
these other founders, still earlier pioneers, who, having experienced the
sense of insecurity against Indians and wild animals and endured cheerfully
the discomforts and inconveniences of the very early days and who, without
any strong and well organized colony to stand back of them with sympathy and
financial support, yet conceived, prayed over and established a school which
did them honor, throughout its almost thirty years of history.
"In the year 1866, there was located at Lincoln, Illinois, a college by the
Cumberland Presbterian churches of the state. This school was intended to
take the place of two or three schools similar to the one at Cherry Grove
and make of all one strong college. The establishing of this college,
together with the fact that there were at the time two colleges in
Galesburg, two in Abingdon and one or two in Knoxville, made it apparent
that there was no longer a demand for Cherry Grove Seminary and accordingly
in 1866, the school was closed.
The town of Abingdon now has one and has had two schools of college grade,
Abingdon College in South Abingdon which is in Indian Point Township and
Hedding College in North Abingdon.
In 1858, Abingdon College received its charter. It had been opened as an
academy in a plain wooden building two years before by P. H. Murphy. The
story of this college, for many years a strong and influential school,
belongs to Indian Point Township.
Hedding College
Hedding College in North Abingdon is the fulfillment of a prophecy made by
the city's founder, Mr. Swartz Soon after he and his wife came to live in
their log cabin near where the Abingdon Cemetery now is, the story goes that
he took a walk one day and stopped to rest on a little knoll of rising
ground. As they stood looking around them at the wide stretching prairie,
Mr. Swartz said to his wife: "We shall live to see a village here and where
we stand a college will be built." On the ground where he stood when he
uttered those words, Hedding College now stands. At another time, he said to
a companion: "Here is my college site. I do not expect to live to see it,
but I have an impression that some day there will be a college built here."
Mr. Swartz died in 1852. In the division of property, the present site of
the college fell to his daughter Sarah, who afterward married Thomas R.
Wilson. They gave five acres of ground and $500 to help cany out the plan of
establishing an institution of learning. Oregon P. and Benjamin, sons of A.
D. Swartz, were also among the most liberal donors. The school was first
opened November 19, 1855, and held its sessions for two years in the old
Methodist Episcopal church, with Rev. N. C Lewis as principal. It was called
Hedding Collegiate Seminary in honor of Bishop Hedding. The name was
suggested by J. B. F. Chesney.
The first building was erected by voluntary subscriptions in 1856 and '57.
September 16, 1857, the school opened in its new building. On February 9,
1857, a charter had been granted and the name changed to Hedding Seminary
and Central Illinois Memale College. Ten years later, the first class
graduated in the regular Seminar>^ course. In 1873 and '74, the large main
building, seventy-one by seventy feet and three stories high, was put up at
a cost of $45,000. In 1875, the name was again changed to Hedding College
and a new college charter was granted.
The college is under the patronage of the Methodist Epispal Church Like all
colleges. Hedding has had its times of special prosperity and adversity. Let
me quote from its last college catalogue: "The decade of the 90'c saw the
beginning of an endowment fund. In 1903, the gymnasium was erected and the
era of expansion ushered in. The endowment campaign of 1908 and '09 added
materially to the resources of the college, while that of 1911 and 1912 not
only increased the fund, but awakened a fine spirit of enthusiasm for its
usefulness. The campaign begun in the spring of 1912, was carried forward
for the next four years, coming to a victorious conclusion on December 6,
1916. At midnight of this date, a total of $350,000 was announced. The Board
of Trustees set aside $250,000 of this amount for endowment and $100,000 for
indebtedness, buildings and equipment. $10,000 have been invested in the
purchase of books for the Library, equipment for the laboratories and in the
remodeling of the basement of the main college building, and $40,000 have
been spent in remodeling Old Main. The plant is now modem in every detail."
At present, the college has the following buildings: Old Main, enlarged and
remodeled; the Gymnasium; the Nessie Blodgett Hall for young women and
Novella McHard Home for boys; besides owning a handsome residence for the
home of the president. Nearly four hundred names are on its alumni roll,
including many who have achieved commercial or professional success above
the average. Doctor Walter D. Agnew is its present efficient and beloved
president.
Hedding college and Cheriy Grove Seminary are the only schools of higher
education which Cedar Township has had, but district schools, almost all of
them begun in log houses, were erected wherever settlements were made. There
are today and have been for many years, schools taught in the Louisville,
Brush Creek, Hunter, Heller, Warren, Earle, Cherry Grove and Cross Lanes
districts. Professor W. F. Boyes, County Superintendent of Schools, has
written for Mr. Perry's County History a fine and authoritative article upon
"The History and Development of the County Common Schools." In this article
he makes mention of the valuable work of Leanna Hague, who was closely
identified with educational interests in Cedar Township for many years. Her
father, with his wife and two little children, spent the winter of '51 and
'52 in the Cherry Grove neighborhood, where he had come in October from
Pennsylvania. The next year, he moved over into Galesburg township where he
lived for the remainder of a long life. His oldest daughter, Leanna, after
graduating from Waynesburg College in Pennsylvania, came back into Cedar
Township and for fifteen years taught school in the newly erected country
school house at Cherry Grove. She proved herself a rare educator. Thorough
and enthusiastic in her work, she had the gift, to a marked degree, of
inspiring her pupils with great loyalty and ambition. Working in close
association with Mary Allen West, County Superintendent of Schools from 1873
to 1882, she did valuable service to the township and county in classifying
and providing graded courses of study for district schools. Her own school
was repeatedly the banner school in number of premiums taken for fine work
shown at the County Fair. For several successive years, this district school
excelled all others in the state, in number and value of premiums taken for
superior work sho\/n at the State Fair. Leanna Hague's work with Cherry
Grove School, ceased when she married George Dunlap in 1883. She is living
today, frail in body, but strong in mind and spirit, in the city of
Galesburg.
Churches
In the history of the township, its churches have had an important part. The
organization of the two oldest has already been mentioned. I will add a few
facts about these before telling of others.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of Abingdon was organized in the home of A.
D. Swartz in 1833, three years before the town of Abingdon was laid out,
with the following members: Mr. and Mrs. Swartz, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Latimer, Mr. and Mrs. Finch and Mrs. Nancy Latimer. Two years later, Mr. and
Mrs. Joseph Latimer withdrew to help organize another church of their own
denomination. The little new Methodist church worshipped for some time in
private houses. In 1846, their first church was erected in Abingdon on the
corner of Washington and Jefferson streets. This building was used both for
religious worship and for two years by Hedding College for school purposes.
When the first college building was put up in 1857, the congregation
worshipped in its chapel until a new church building was erected in 1867.
This building, a fine one for its day, stood for thirty years on the corner
of Washington and Latimer streets. It was torn down to give place to the
present well-appointed, modern church building, which was completed in 1898.
This strong church has always been closely identified with the life of the
city of Abingdon.
The Congregational Church of today in Abingdon had its origin in the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Cherry Grove about which I have already
told in connection with Cherry Grove Seminary. For its history and in
explanation of its change in denominations, I quote from an article prepared
at the time of the dedication of the present Congregational Church building:
"At the present time when the new Congregational Church building in Abingdon
is being dedicated, it seems most appropriate that there should be given and
recorded a brief history of the congregation that worshipped in the old
church home and is now entering the new one, showing a continuous and
connected history of the organization that took its start more than 80 years
ago, and thus preserve in permanent form some, at least, of the more
important facts connected with a congregation that has taken an important
part in shaping the religious and educational life of this community from
the time of its very first settlement. Briefly, therefore, we find that
between 1830 and 1835, there came hither from that part of Tennessee and
Kentucky, known as the Cumberland country, several families and located in
the vicinity of Abingdon, mostly to the north of what is known as Cherry
Grove neighborhood. These people were of staunch Presbyterian, Puritan
stock. They brought with them letters from the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church On June 20, 1835, these families by appointment met at the home of
Joseph Latimer and organized the Cherry Grove congregation of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church. Rev. James H. Stockton, a minister of that
denomination, was present and after preaching a sermon, acted as moderator,
and conducted the service of organization. The following names were enrolled
as members: Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Latimer, Mr. and Mrs. John Howard, Miss
Ellen Howard, Mrs. Susan P. Coy, Mr. and Mrs. Geo. G. Latimer, Mr. and Mrs.
John Crawford, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Latimer and Mrs. Nancy Lomax.
This was the first church that built, as has been related, the first meeting
house in the edge of the timber and later worshipped in the Cherry Grove
Seminary building. I resume the quotation:
"In 1866, there was located at Lincoln, Illinois, a Cumberland Presbyterian
College for the state. Cheriy Grove was a competitor for this college but
falling to secure it, the church decided to abandon the school and build a
church house in Abingdon. Thus, after a career of marked usefulness for
nearly thirty years, was the dual work of this congregation abandoned.
"In the fall and winter of 1866, the church building in Abingdon on the
corner of Washington and Pearl streets was erected and in February of 1867,
it was dedicated and occupied. At that time it was the most commodious
church building in Abingdon. Rev. J. R. Brown, D. D., was then the popular
and well beloved pastor. After a period of fourteen years, during which time
every department of the church work was maintained without an interruption,
the congregation decided to change to the fellowship of the Congregational
Church. In 1881, by a vote of the congregation, they changed their
fellowship in a body from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to that of the
Congregational Church. This action was taken without any change in belief,
they then and now retaining the same articles of faith as formerly. It was
done for the sake of closer fellowship with the churches in the nearer
vicinity and because of the then existing prejudice between the North and
South growing out of the recent rebellion. The Cumberland Presbyterian
Church was organized in the South and had its membership largely there. Its
name, too, tended to localize it there- Because of this prejudice, the
church felt that its usefulness was being hindered. Rev. James M. Campbell,
D. D., was the last pastor before this change was made and Rev. William
Clerk, was the first after the change." The present commodious and modern
Congregational church building was completed and occupied in 1917.
A Protestant Methodist Church was started in Abingdon about 1838. They at
first worshipped in a small frame building on the corner of Main and Latimer
streets. In '46, or near that time, they put up a church building on Jackson
street a little west of where the C. B. and Q. railroad tracks now are.
Later, about 1868, they built a commodious and substantial church home that
stood on the corner of Jefferson and Jackson streets. For a while they were
a flourishing church. After some years the church organization was
abandoned.
In this Protestant Methodist church building in 1879 a congregation was
organized known as the Jefferson Street Christian Church. After worshipping
here for a time, they purchased the old Methodist Episcopal Church building
on the corner of Washington and Jefferson streets. They refurnished it and
worshipped there until 1884, when this church reunited with the Christian
Church then worshipping in the chapel of the old Abingdon College building.
The present Christian Church of Abingdon, so long connected with Abingdon
College, was founded in 1840 by Hiram Smith and Richard Johnston. It is
another strong church closely connected with the life of the city, but its
history belongs to Indian Point Township in which township it is located.
About 1858, a Congregational Church was organized in Abingdon. Among those
who started this church were Isaac Hunter, Thomas Marsh, Thomas Andrews,
Thaddeus Merrill, Wm. Hughey and their families. They bought a lot and put
up a building on the west side of Main street opposite the present city
park. Here they worshipped for ten years, or until 1868, when the church was
desbanded. Each member of the church was given a letter of dismissal and
recommendation to any church he or she might wish to unite with.
In 1910, a Universalist Church was organized in Abingdon which is doing
service at the present time.
There have been several influential country churches in the township. About
1838, both the Methodist Episcopal and the Methodist Protestant people
organized each a church. The Methodist Episcopal organization occurred in
the village of Louisville; the Methodist Protestant a mile north of it. Both
congregations worshipped for a time in private houses. In 1841, a Methodist
Episcopal Church building was erected on the public square of Louisville.
Mr. Stephens thus describes it: 'Tt was built by Reuben Castle in 1842 and
he received for the labor and the material which he put into it, $150.00.
Every piece of dimension stuff that was in the building was hewn out of oak.
The structure was exceedingly well built and thoroughly pinned together with
wooden pins. It stood on blocks that raised the building quite high from the
ground so that the sheep that were running at large, used to go under the
building and stay there during their resting time and in the hottest part of
the day " In 1878, under the leadership of Rev. Kinney, the little church
known as Warren Chapel was built, at which time the Louisville church was
abandoned as a house of worship. It was given to Rev. R. Kinney and he
occupied it about five years as a residence. Then J. W. Stephens purchased
the ground and the church which stood upon it." The Warren Chapel Methodist
Episcopal church did good service for a long time. The building now stands
unused, the organization having been given up.
The Methodist Protestant church was built soon after the Methodist
Episcopal, near where Pleas Marks now lives. Their first building was, in
process of time, replaced by a larger and more imposing structure. This,
however, because of so many deaths and removals was abandoned long ago, and
in 1894, the building was sold and torn down.
Sunday Schools were kept up more or less regularly for some years at Warren
Chapel, Louisville, and in the Brush Creek, Hunter and Earle School Houses.
No school house Sunday Schools are held regularly so far as is known at the
present time and out of all these churches, there are only three in the
township today, the Abingdon Methodist Episcopal, Congregational and
Universalist.
Towns and Industries
It is interesting to note that Galesburg, Abingdon and Louisville were laid
out as towns in the same year — 1836. Abingdon was laid out by A. D. Swartz,
Louisville by John S. Garrett.
On the map of Cedar Township in the 1870 "Atlas Map of Knox County," the
plat of the town of Louisville, on Section 16, is shown. Louisville never
grew to be more than a village but had several good-sized hewed log houses,
a post office, a Methodist Episcopal church and a store started by Alexander
Ewing of Knoxville The post office was at first called "Farmers' Hall." The
mail was carried by a hired conveyance from Macomb to Galesburg. Thus, both
Abingdon and Louisville were on this mail route. The mail was all carried in
one bag, the postman stopping at each town on the way and sorting out the
mail for that town.
When, in 1853, a township organization was perfected, the first township
election was held in Louisville with Hugh A. Kelly as moderator and Lorentus
W. Conger clerk. The result of this first township election was as follows:
E. P. Dunlap, Supervisor; William Marks, Clerk; William Lang, Assessor;
James W. Smoot, Collector; J. W. Stephens and W. H. Heller, Commissioners of
Highways; P. M. Shoop and Joseph Harvey Justices of Peace; Thomas S.
Bassett, Overseer of the Poor; Solomon Stegall and Eli Butler, Constables.
The election of the following year was also held at Louisville but ever
since, it has been held at Abingdon No trace of the village of Louisville is
left today, but the Louisville District School House stands near the
original site.
Abingdon, beautifully located on high rolling ground in the southwest
quarter of Section 33, as originally laid out by Mr. Swartz, comprised
sixteen blocks. In 1849, the Frederick Snyder addition, just over the line
in Indian Point Township, was added. It was long known as South Abingdon.
There have been a number of later additions. The town was named after the
city of Abingdon, Maryland, the birthplace of Mr. Swartz. From the fuller
accounts of Abingdon as written up in the various Knox County histories and
from old residents, I have culled a few facts. The first residence, a
one-room, log house, was erected on Main street by A. M. Curry. He and John
Green built a log store near the dwelling and received a license to sell
goods in 1837. Alonzo Reece, a brother of Dr. Reece, who was so long and
closely identified with Abingdon life, was the first child born in the town.
Where the Globe Factory now stands, the first hotel was erected. It was run
by Captain Thomas Ellison. Before this, in 1836, the very year the town was
started, we are told there was a tavern kept in a double log house by a
certain John Evans. Here both man and beast could find accommodations. The
first school, taught by a Mr. McIntosh in 1838, was held in a small frame
building which stood just north of where the Globe Factory now stands. In
1855, the population of Abingdon was only about five hundred. The founding
of its colleges about that time, an account of which has already been given,
gave great impetus to the growth of the town. In 1867, a large brick graded
school building was built. At present, Abingdon has two graded schools and
has a fine new high school building in process of erection.
Abingdon was incorporated as a village in 1845. In 1857, north and south
Abingdon united and were incorporated as a city by a special act of
legislature. The first officers were: W. H. Gillaspie, Mayor; C. C. Lewis,
Sidney Owens, Jesse Perdue and George Inness, Aldermen; C. L. Summers,
Clerk; Jesse Burr, Assessor; Andrew Bradbury, Collector; W. H. Gillaspie,
Treasurer and W. Merrick, Marshal. In accordance with the terms stipulated
in its original charter, no intoxicating liquor has ever been legally sold
within the boundaries. The store kept by Jonathan Latimer, later known as
Latimer and Meeks, is noteworthy because it demonstrates the fact that a
department store flourished in the forties and fifties even if not so well
organized or extensively housed as those of the present time. Perry's
History of Knox County says of this store: "Under one roof were employed a
shoe-maker, a tailor and a milliner This store kept dry goods, groceries,
boots and shoes, hardware, meats cured by themselves and a small variety of
drugs. They also bought and sold cattle, hogs, sheep and all the products of
the farm. There were two ways in which they disposed of hogs of which they
often owned several thousand taken in exchange for goods sold during the
year. They would either slaughter them on the farm and haul their carcasses
to Copperas Landing on the Illinois River, or they would drive them on foot
to the same shipping point. Sometimes, the meat that was slaughtered would
be packed in barrels, salted and shipped in this way. Generally, the return
wagons would be loaded with goods to be again traded to the farmers for
their farm products." Copperas Landing was the center of this shipping trade
as it furnished water facilities to St. Louis and other cities.
There are two prosperous banks in Abingdon at the present time, the First
National, known as the People's Bank, organized in 1879 by M. C. Bates, J.
B. McKay and M. C. Kimball, and the State Bank, organized in 1902 by John
Mosser and sons, James Cox, J. W. Hunter, Henry Simmons, and Joseph Main.
Abingdon is justly proud of its manufacturing interests. They began back in
the forties and fifties with certain hand-manufactured articles. J. B. F.
Chesney manufactured plows which were celebrated throughout this section of
the country. Also, Jonathan Latimer built carriages and buggies in the early
days Boots and shoes were made by Henry Frey.
The following statistics for 1918, have been given me by the city officials.
At present, Abingdon has sixteen factories with an annual pay roll of
approximately $500,000 and numbering some eight hundred or more employees.
The annual production is approximately $2,000,000. The largest of the
manufacturing concerns are the Globe Shirt and Overall Company, Abingdon
Wagon Company, Abingdon Sanitary' Manufacturing Company and the American
Sanitary Manufacturing Company. In a factory way Abingdon has the largest
production per capita in normal times, of any city, town or village in the
State of Illinois. Today, 1918, her large factories are all employed in
producing war materials. Abingdon is a city of homes, factories and schools.
Her present population is three thousand.
Outside of Abingdon, farming and cattle raising have always been the main
pursuits of Cedar Township people. There is a very small proportion of poor
land in the township and its farms have reached a high degree of
cultivation. Anyone rid-' ing over the township as I have done in search of
material for this paper, cannot fail to be impressed with the rich
productive beauty of its farm land. In the business of stock raising, Cedar
Township has ranked with the veiy best, and still ranks high. Perry's County
History says of this industry in the Township: "Some as fine stock has been
raised there as could be found upon the market. Large herds of Shorthorn,
Hereford, Galloway, Angus, Holstein and Jersey cattle have been bred in the
township."
The Quincy Branch of the C. B. & Q. Railroad passes throughout the length of
Cedar Township, At the time of its building, the two ends building toward
each other, the one from Quincy, the other from Chicago, met just south of
Abingdon and formed a completed line. A Cedar Township man, Jonathan
Latimer, took the contract for furnishing the ties for what is now the
Quincy Branch of this railroad and for furnishing a large amount of corded
wood to be used as engine fuel. Wood was the only fuel used at first in
railroad engines.
Some Noteworthy Emigrations
Cedar Township has sent many of its sons and daughters to be pioneers in
other states. I will mention three instances involving more than usual
experiences.
When the memorable little company of "Forty-Niners," known as the Jayhawkers
started from Knox County April 1, 1849, in quest of California gold, Cedar
Township furnished one of the men, Lorenzo Dow Stephens, a brother of J. W.
Stephens. The Jayhawkers, thirty-nine in number in seeking a short cut to
California, left the Los Angeles Trail and entering through a ravine "struck
out bodly, at first, into the great American desert." They wandered for
weeks in the desert, including that awful desolation of Death's Valley,
which they discovered and which was never crossed before by a white man.
Three perished there and the rest, having been fifty-two days with almost no
food and suffering terribly for lack of water in the sandy valleys of salt
and alkali, came out at last, little more than living skeletons at a
hospitable cattle ranch near the head waters of the Santa Clara River in
Ventura County, Southern California. Of this company, only two are living
today, Lorenza Dow Stephens of San Jose, California, and John B. Colton of
Galesburg, Illinois.
In the very early days of Minnesota, a young couple went from Cedar Township
to be missionaries among the Indians. These were Mr. and Mrs. Amos Huggins.
Mr. Huggins was for a while a student in Knox College and his wife was
Sophia Marsh, oldest sister of Leroy Marsh. It was a time of much hostility
among the Indians. After a few years residence there, Mr. Huggins stepped
out of his house one evening into the yard on some errand. The light,
streaming out of the open doorway, made him a fine target, a shot rang out
and he fell, the victim of a hostile Indian's bullet His wife and baby were
held as captives by the Indians for six weeks and carried 100 miles farther
north before they were rescued by some government troops. Mrs. Huggins is
still living in the State of Missouri.
A little company from Cedar Township became pioneers in the far west and the
founders of a great city. Mentioned among the first to settle in the
township, in 1831, was Mrs. Sarah Boren, the widowed daughter of Joseph
Latimer. Mrs. Boren lived on the land adjoining her father's until her one
son had grown to manhood and her two daughters were young women. The older
of the daughters, Mary, married Arthur A. Denny, who was County Surveyor in
Knox County, from 1848 to 1851. Soon after this marriage, the parents of the
bride and groom, Mrs. Sarah Latimer Boren, the mother of Mary Boren Denney,
and John Denny, the father of Arthur A. Denny, were married. John Denny, who
had been a volunteer in the war of 1812 and had served in the legislature
where he was associated with Lincoln, Baker, Yates and Trumbull, with his
five sons and Mrs. Sarah Latimer Boren Denny with her sons and two
daughters, became enthused with the idea of settling on the far Pacific
coast. They had known pioneer days in Illinois and had the true pioneer
spirit. On April 10, 1851, just two years after the Jayhawkers left Knox
County, Mr. and Mrs. John Denny with their gi-own-up sons and daughters,
children and grandchildren, began the great journey across the plains. They
started that April morning, from the family home at Cherry Grove in four
"prairie schooners" as the canvas covered wagons were called, three of them
drawn by four-horse teams, one by a single span; they took also a few saddle
horses and two faithful watch dogs, that proved of great value in traveling
in the wilds Their long toilsome journey, full of incidents and adventures,
was ended when, in the fall, they reached Puget Sound and Eliott Bay. They
camped temporarily for the winter and in February of '52, less than a year
after leaving Cedar Township, Arthur Denny, having made soundings of the bay
and determined where the city of his dreams should be located, used the
experience gained as surveyor in Knox County, in surveying and laying out
claims where was to be the city of Seattle. He, with his brother, David, and
two or three other men, were the first to occupy claims and start business
interests in that city. They lived to achieve great wealth and many of their
descendants reside in Seattle today.
War Record
Cedar Township is justly proud of its war record. All through the Forties
and Fifties, its inhabitants were wide-awake to war issues. These issues
were ardently discussed in the Upsilon Society of Cherry Grove Seminary and
in the college debating societies in Abingdon and were often hotly disputed
in gatherings of the men. When Lincoln and Douglas spoke in Galesburg, wagon
loads went from Cedar Township to hear them. Among the Township's strong
Abolitionists was Abel Thomas, already mentioned in this history as one of
the early settlers. He lived in the country east and north of Louisville and
was a zealous pilot in the Underground Railway traffic. Mounted on a fence
post, where the lane leading to his house turned off from the main road, he
always kept the skull of a cow or of some other animal. This was a sign
which meant to those helping runaway slaves, that here they would find a
friend.
When the call to arms came, the Township responded quickly and loyally, with
its full quota, probably more, of men. The strong loyalty everywhere
manifested before and during the Civil War is noteworthy because such a
large proportion of those who had been shaping the opinions of the different
communities for the thirty years preceding the war, grew up in homes where
the passing generation had come from semi-southern states and some of whom
had slave-owning relatives. Exact statistics are almost impossible to
obtain. In the Knox County list of Civil War volunteers, three hundred and
seventy-two names from Abingdon and Cedar Township appear. Some of these men
merely enlisted from Abingdon and were not Cedar Township people. The
Township can undoubtedly claim three hundred volunteers and probably sent
more. All who went from the Township were volunteers. There were no drafted
men from Cedar.
While the men were seizing on the battle field, the women were doing all
they could to furnish needed lint, bandages and supplies. Nowhere was there
sincerer mourning when the bells announced the death of Abraham Lincoln.
In 1897, Company D of the Illinois National Guards was organized in
Abingdon. At the outbreak of the Spanish War in the spring of '98, members
of Company D volunteered and were mustered in with the rest of the regiment
forming the Sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which sensed through the war
and was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, November 25, 1898.
A very large number of Cedar Township men are serving at the present time in
the various departments of service in the great allied war against Germany.
Perry's History says of the Township: "Cedar has always maintained a high
degree of patriotism. Of the old settlers, there are seventeen soldiers of
the war of 1812, four of the early Indian wars and two of the Mexican war,
found in its cemeteries. Forty-nine soldiers of the Civil War are also
buried within the Township limits." Since these statistics were given, in
1912, a very large number of Civil War soldiers have been added to those
already buried in the Township.
The men and women who had to do with the settlement of Cedar Township and
with the shaping of its early life are almost all resting now and their
voices are silent. It is fitting that we who come after, not so far removed
in time but that we have often heard rehearsed the stories of pioneer days,
should pass on to coming generations the annals of those times. Admiring,
honoring, loving those who have wrought for us, to us in these days, comes
the message Emerson voices: "I have no expectation any man will read history
aright, who thinks that what was done in a remote age, by men whose names
have resounded far, has any deeper sense than what he is doing today."
LIBERTY LOAN RECORD
Owing to the omission of a line which makes the meaning obscure, the
following showing the Liberty Loan Record of the county in the late war is
republished:
The county by its response to the call of the government for funds also gave
its soldiers the most substantial backing. This is indicated by the
following tables showing the total contributions to each of the four Liberty
Loans and the Victory Loan:
The county far exceeded the total quota.
Extracted 14 Dec 2017 by Norma Hass from Annals of Knox County: Commemorating Centennial of Admission of Illinois as a State of the Union in 1818, published in 1921 by the Centennial Historical Association, Knox County, Illinois, The Board of Supervisors, pages 34-60.
