1918 Annals - Elba Township
By Miss Elsie D. North
The Illinois Indians were no doubt the first inhabitants of Elba Township,
but were gradually driven further South by the Kickapoos. These were
industrious, intelligent and cleanly in comparison with most of their kind,
and made this township only their temporary home, on the way to and from
other hunting grounds. So the white men never had to dispute possession of
this land with the Indians, nor were they ever molested by the Red Men, so
far as history shows.
The first white man to locate in the township was John King, of Ohio, who,
in 1835, came and took up 80 acres on Section 2, then returned to Ohio to
bring out his family. The next Spring he again started West, leaving his
family to follow later, but arriving at Peoria, he was taken sick and died
before reaching Knox County- As soon as they could leave their old home, but
which was not until 1837, his widow and nine children, the youngest less
than 2 years old, made the long westward journey in wagons drawn by oxen,
stopping with her brother in Peoria County until their new home could be
built.
Very soon thereafter came Darius Miller and his brother; then Felix Thurman
settled on Section 34, L. A. Jones on Section 15, Jacob Kightlinger on
Section 27 and James H. Nicholson on Section 25. Josiah Nelson, John
Thurman, John and William West, Vachel Metcalf, J. H. and W. H. Baird and
Samuel Tucker were also early settlers.
The first marriage was Moses Smith to Tabitha George in 1840, by Jacob
Kightlinger, the first Justice of the Peace, whose Commission was dated
August, 1839. The first birth was Tabitha Smith, on Section 35.
The first house in the township was the one built by Thomas King for his
widowed mother and sisters and brothers. It was on the north side of Section
2, on the Knoxville and Peoria stage road, and was a one room log building,
with a loft above.
The population increased steadily as the township was built up, many of the
early settlers having large families — the majority of these were from Ohio,
Pennsylvania and New York, while several came from England.
The first school house in the township was built by Jacob Kightlinger in
1842, on Section 27, but before this Mr. Kightlinger had employed a private
governess, named Antoinette Walker, to teach his children, eleven in number.
Vachel Metcalf had also taught school in a private house, in 1840. As the
township became more settled, other school houses were built until now there
are eight in the township, all being substantial frame buildings of one room
each
The early settlers did not meet with such hardships as were endured by many
pioneers. Their homes were usually in or near the timber, which furnished
material for their buildings as well as fuel and shelter for their live
stock until they could build barns and sheds. There was plenty of game and
fish for food and good grazing for stock out on the prairie. Only the
cultivated land was fenced and cattle, horses and hogs roamed at will over
the prairies, and as they often failed to come home at night, much time was
spent hunting for them. Money was not plentiful and prices were very low,
corn selling for 20 cents per bushel; potatoes, 18% cents per bushel; pork,
2 cents per lb.; lard, 4 cents per lb.; butter, 6 cents per lb.; flour,
$4.50 per barrel; wheat, 60 cents per bushel; oats, 30 cents per bushel,
etc., but the wants of these people were not many and were easily satisfied.
Travel at first was mostly on foot, on horseback or in wagons drawn by oxen
or horses, while the fortunate owners of the first buggies and carriages
were frequently called on to loan them to their poorer or less provident
neighbors. During busy seasons, while horses were working in the fields,
some thrifty housewives would occasionally take a basket of eggs and butter
on either arm and walk three or four miles to market, bringing home
groceries in exchange for their produce. At the present time travel is
mostly by buggy and automobile, very few farmers feeling themselves too poor
to afford the latter.
In the early days Farmington in Fulton County, Charleston (now Brimfield) in
Peoria County, and Knoxville were the nearest trading points. Later there
were stores at Newburg in Peoria County and Glenwood in Salem township.
There was a store at Eugene in Elba township. When Elmwood and Yates City
were started they secured most of the trade of this township, which they now
share with Williamsfield and Douglas. Also the early settlers hauled much of
their wheat to Peoria, and it was not uncommon to haul a load to Chicago,
bringing back lumber or something not obtainable at nearby towns.
The first store in the township was at Eugene, on Section 2. It was a
general store kept by E. A. Ellsworth, in a small building near his
residence, and was started prior to 1850There was also a Post Office here,
the mail being brought by stage from Knoxville and Peoria. Later, (in 1860),
Miss Mary King moved both store and Post Office to her home, just east of
her brother, James King's house; sometime after her marriage to John Wilson
in 1862, they were moved across the road in Truro township.
The first Post Office in Elba, however, was at the home of Jacob
Kightlinger, and in 1870 one was established on Section 15, called Spoon
River, but the following year the name was changed to Elba Centre. There was
also a store here. Miss Rebecca Boyes, an aunt of County Superintendent of
Schools, W. F, Boyes, being Postmistress and store-keeper.
Felix Thurman put up the first saw-mill in the township, on French Creek. It
was a small mill, run by water power. There was at one time a tile factory
on the farm of George W. Smith, on Section 24; E. A. Ellsworth also owned
one on Section 1, and there were brick kilns on Section 13 and 14, but these
industries have long since passed away.
In early days Samuel Tucker kept a tavern at his home, a double log house on
Section 2.
Coal was discovered in 1847, on Section 15, by Jacob Kightlinger.
Elba township was organized in April, 1853, as Liberty township, but the
same year its name was changed to Elba. N. S. Barber was named Moderator and
J. W. Himes, Clerk. Forty-nine votes were cast, resulting in the choice of
James H. Nicholson for Supervisor; H. L. Bailey, Assessor; Henry Smith,
Collector; J. W. Himes, Clerk; H. Oberholtzer, John West and K. Himes,
Commissioners of Highways; John West and B. F. Johnson, Justices of the
Peace; William Searles, Overseer of the Poor; Henry Smith, Constable.
The present officers are: H. W, Oberholtzer, Supervisor; J. P. Cecil,
Assessor; Thomas Stroub, Highway Commissioner; Ralph Baird, Clerk; William
Fuller, Justice of the Peace.
Rev. S. S. Miles, a Methodist minister, preached the first sermon in the
township at the home of Mr. Lambert, in 1839. Preachers would come through
the country and services would be held at different homes, on any day. After
the school houses were built, services were held in them. The Rev. Cross,
who figures prominently in Underground Railroad affairs, lived in this
township and preached at various places. In Oct. 1854, he lectured to a
fair-sized crowd in the newly-built Pleasant Hill school house, the first
meeting held in the building. For years quarterly meetings were held in
groves through the township and "protracted" meetings in the various school
houses. Sunday School was held in the school houses, also.
The first church was built by the Methodists, in 1874, on Section 17, and
was dedicated in June of that year, by President Evans of Hedding College.
No regular services have been held in this church for some time now. In 1875
the Presbyterians built a Church on Section 10, but as many of the members
soon after died or left the township, the building was sold and moved. In
1876 the Methodists erected a church on Section 13, which is called Bethel.
No services have been held here for some months. In early days the Bible and
religion were the principal subjects for discussion whenever thinking men
got together, taking the place now filled by politics and events of the day.
At one time there was a strong leaning toward temperance in the
community and a Good Templar Lodge was organized in 1867, and a hall built
on Section 16, but gradually interest died out, and the members dropped out
one by one. In 1876 the building was sold and turned into a dwelling.
The first farms received very little cultivation; indeed it was not needed
to raise a good crop. When the hazel-brush was cleared off the land, the
soil was very productive, and it is said that on this newly cleared land,
after the seed had been scattered by hand, it was sometimes brushed into the
soil by drawing the bough of a tree over it. On prairie land the sod was
sometimes cut with a spade and the seed dropped into the cut. Usually
however, new land was broken with a breaking plow drawn by several yoke of
oxen. With these plows, brush eight or ten feet tall would be turned under.
A free negro, named Solomon Bradley, did considerable breaking for Elba
farmers.
When ready to harvest the grain was cut with a cradle and threshed out on
the barn floor either with flails or trampled by horses. Corn when harvested
and even wheat was often piled up on the ground outside, with no protection
but a rail pen around it, but little spoilage resulting.
At first the amount of live stock raised was comparatively small, as there
was not a very good market for it. Hogs had to be killed and dressed on the
farm, then hauled from 10 to 40 miles or even farther, to market. After the
railroad from Peoria to Galesburg was built, and it became possible to ship
live stock to market, more cattle and hogs were raised on the farms, until
at the present day it is no uncommon thing to see a drove of from 100 to 200
on a farm.
There are many good herds of cattle found on the farms of Elba, some being
pure-bred, while others are high grade. The first pure-bred Shorthorn cattle
were brought into the township by G. W. Kennedy in 1866, and at one time he
had a herd of 126 head. Some years ago there was a strong inclination toward
the raising of Daily cattle, but of late, owing to the inability of the
farmers to secure competent help, and to the high price of dairy feeds, more
dual-purpose and beef cattle are being kept.
At first there were very few sheep kept, because the wolves and dogs were so
destructive to them, but about the time of the Civil War, when wool became
so scarce and high-priced, many farmers bought flocks or added to those they
already had. Within the last few years, also, there has been considerable
increase in sheep-raising, caused by the high prices of wool and mutton. The
first sheep were the coarse-wool kind, but were soon succeeded by the Merino
variety. Today the medium wool are about the only kind that are raised here.
Many farmers of the township are also interested in raising pure-bred
horses.
June 5, 1844, a most destructive wind and rain storm visited Elba
township as well as the rest of the county. Houses and barns were unroofed
or destroyed and other damage done. It is likely that this is the storm
which took the roof off the Widow King's home, destroying much of her
personal property.
In May, 1858, another severe storm visited this township. Mrs. James King
recalls that all the windows on the west side of their house, both upstairs
and down were broken by the hail, and the rain poured in in such volume
that, the upstairs floors being tight, it ran down the stairway, like a
river. In the northwest part of the township a Mrs. Farster was killed by
the storm, and on the farm of J. H. Nicholson a large new born was blown off
its foundation.
In August, 1907, a storm of wind, rain and hail passed through the township
breaking windows, up-rooting trees and destroying crops. Hail stones, having
the circumference of baseballs, but with uneven, jagged edges, were picked
up in the path of the storm.
There have been several notably severe snow storms, the worst ones in
January and February, 1885, and December, 1917 and January, 1918. In both of
these a great amount of snow fell, accompanied by high winds which caused it
to drift badly, completely filling and blockading roads, making travel
impossible for several days. Even railroad trains were caught in snowdrifts
and unable to get through for a couple of days. As the temperature was well
below zero, much . suffering was caused both to people and animals.
In the Fall of 1869 or '70, in the northeast part of the township, a little
Cowley child wandered away and was lost. The mother was attending a quilting
at the home of a neighbor. She supposed the child, a little boy of some 2 or
3 years, was playing with the others, but when she was ready to go home he
was not to be found. Search about the place failed to reveal him, and soon
the entire neighborhood was aroused. The little fellow, thinly clad and
without wraps, was found the next morning, face downward on the frozen
ground, by his distracted grandfather, William King. He had died of
exposure.
In pioneer days the homes were very simple and scantily furnished.
Because of the great distance the early settlers had to come to reach their
new homes, and the difficulty of transportation, only such articles were
brought along as were deemed necessary. A few dishes and cooking utensils,
some chairs, a table, a bed or two, and their bedding would comprise their
household furnishings. Often beds would be built into the side or corner of
the home, thus simplifying matters. Many families also owned spinning wheels
and looms, and the mother spun yarn and wove cloth for her family's
garments. Later rag carpets were woven on these looms, and the homes were
thus made more comfortable.
At first fireplaces served both for heating and cooking; these gradually
gave place to cook stoves and heating stoves, which today are replaced in
many homes by the kitchen range and furnace. The dirt or bare wood floors
and rag carpets gave place to carpets of ingrain and brussels and these in
turn to polished hardwood floors and velvet rugs.
At first the tallow dip, or candle furnished light, but was superseded by
the kerosene lamp, and this in many homes by electric lights or acetylene
gas.
The heavy stone-china or pewter dishes have been replaced by china, glass
and silver, and the iron pots and skillets by those of aluminum and enameled
ware.
The washing and sewing machines, the power churn, vacuum cleaner and
bread-mixer have been brought into many homes to make easier the farm
woman's work.
Where fifty years ago the organ in an Elba home was a novelty, today there
are very few homes without an organ, piano, phonograph or musical instrument
of some sort.
As the pioneers became prosperous and conditions easier, the old log cabin
was found insufficient and new and more commodious homes of frame or brick
were built. Many of these houses, built fifty or sixty years ago, are still
in use, and, so substantial were the materials of which they were made, and
so thorough the workmanship employed in their construction that today they
compare favorably with houses built many years later. Of these homes,
probably none is much if any older than the brick house built by J. H.
Nicholson on Section 25 in 1848, which is at present the home of his
grandson.
Life was by no means all work and no play for the early settlers. There were
house-raisings and barn-raisings to call the men together and quite needless
to say there was always much pleasure to be had at such a time. At
butchering time also several neighbors would be called in to help. The women
had their quiltings and apple-parings, while the young people took especial
delight in singing and spelling school and dances. Visiting played an
important part in the lives of these hardworking people and helped to keep
alive in the community a spirit of neighborliness and good-fellowship.
They were a very hospitable people, and though their accommodations might be
meager, seldom was the traveler turned away from their door, even though he
were a stranger.
On the whole the residents of Elba are very prosperous; most of the farms
are attractively located, well cultivated and improved and the houses
generally comfortable and commodious buildings, some having all the
conveniences of city homes.
Elba has always done her part in whatever way she was called upon. During
the Civil War she sent her share of soldiers to the front, and fine young
men they were, too, some of whom did not live to come back to their homes,
but found graves in Southern battlefields. During the recent World War she
sent her quota of noble manhood, regardless of the fact that they could ill
be spared, and gave generously of money to help the Red Cross and other war
activities.
This is the only township in the county without a railroad. Neither is there
a Post Office or business house of any kind within its limits. About
three-fourths of the township is fine, rolling prairie, with a rich, black,
loamy soil, especially suited to the production of cereals, being one of the
best townships in the county for that purpose. A yield of 52 bushels of
wheat per acre and 75 bushels of oats has been known.
The population in 1910 was 619.
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 66-72.
