Full Text of History of Vermillion County Illinois -- Chapter XVIII

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CHAPTER XVIII. 

MEN AND EVENTS FROM 1840 TO 1860 IN VERMILION COUNTY.

NEW COMERS IN 1840--REV. ASHMORE'S WORK-O. L. DAVIS CAME TO VERMILION COUNTY IN 
1841--HENSON VINSON--NEW COMERS IN 1842 AND 1843--JOHN L. TINCHER-DR. SAMUEL 
HUMPHREY--NEW COMERS IN 1844 AND 1845-- WILLIAM I. ALLEN--SAMUEL H. VREDENBURGH, 
M. D.--OLIVE BRANCH LODGE ORGANIZED--FIRST BRASS BAND--NEW COMERS IN 1846 AND 
1847--NEW COMERS IN 1848 AND 1849--DANVILLE SEMINARY INCORPORATED IN 1850-- 
CHAS. WOLVERTON--ODD FELLOWS' CHARTER-HIGGINSVILLE POST-OFFICE ESTABLISHED--
VERMILION COUNTY AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL ASSOCIATION--UNION SEMINARY 
ORGANIZED--NEW COMERS OF 1850, '51 AND '52-- VERMILION COUNTY AGRICULTURAL 
SOCIETY--THOS. HOOPES--J. G. ENGLISH-- NEW COMERS IN 1853, '54 AND '55--NEW CITY 
CHARTER FOR DANVILLE-- NEWELL HORSE COMPANY--H. M. KIMBALL--A. C. DANIEL--
RAYMOND W. HANFORD--CHAS. W. KEESLER--JAMES KNIGHT--JOHN BEARD--A. H. KIMBROUGH, 
M. D.--NEW COUNTY VOTED DOWN--NEW COMERS IN 1856, '57 AND '58-- FARMERS AND 
MECHANICS INSTITUTE--VOTE ON FORMING FORD COUNTY--NEW COMERS-JOHN SIDELL.

	As the period of pioneer days passed the new comers differed somewhat. 
Whereas in the Twenties and Thirties the population came from the south to a 
large extent, after that time there were many leaving the far Eastern states and 
New York who sought new homes in Vermilion County. The natural direction of 
emigration is due west. The new Territory of Kentucky formed after the close of 
the French and Indian War, (in spite of the edict of the King that all land west 
of the Alleghany mountains should be reserved as a hunting ground for the 
Indians), was an overflow from Virginia, and the Northwest Territory, which lay 
within the bounds north and west of the Ohio River, was largely peopled at first 
by those who, for some reason, desired to leave their old homes in Virginia, or 
the Carolinas. The exception can be made in Ohio since conditions caused the 
northern part of the state an attraction to settlement. Emigration from the 
northeastern states was attracted thither.

	But it was not until after the Indians were driven from northern Illinois 
that this section was in a condition to attract settlements. When northern 
Illinois was open to settlement, the people came from the East to that part of 
the state and some of these found their way to central Illinois as well. This 
brought a new element into this section. However, immigration was not stopped 
from the south, although many went beyond the river to Missouri who might, a few 
years before, have been attracted to this part of Illinois. It has been a fact 
before noticed that the red man traveled from west to east, and from the 
northwest to the southeast, in seeking new locations. The white man as 
conspiciously traveled from east to west with a tendency to northwest. Among the 
new comers in 1840 there was a man whose birthplace was in New England, although 
his youth and early manhood were spent in Michigan and Indiana. This was Noah 
Hubbard, a name which has been familiar in Vermilion County for seventy years. 
He died but this last summer at the advanced age of ninety-six years. The youth 
and young manhood of Noah Hubbard was one of unusual influence and shows the 
confidence of the time when the Mormon faith was being followed in eastern 
Illinois and western Indiana. The father of Noah Hubbard came to Michigan when 
the son was five years old. He had been a farmer in Massachusetts, and ran a 
distillery and saw-mill. He lived in Michigan for two years and then decided to 
go to Indiana whither he drove with an ox-team, while he sent his family on the 
river in a log canoe. When he reached Vermilion County, Indiana, he bought land 
and also a hemp-mill. This was the same year that Seymour Treat settled at the 
Vermilion Salt Springs, and the year previous to the coming of James Butler to 
Butler's Point and Mr. Johnson to Johnson's Point.

	Here this family of Hubbards lived until 1835, when the father became 
interested in the faith of the Mormons and went to Missouri where they were 
established before they went to Navoo in Illinois. After two years the Mormons 
left Missouri and came to Navoo in Illinois and Mr. Hubbard went with them and 
remained with them as long as they remained in Navoo. When the Mormons were 
driven from Illinois, Mr. Hubbard returned to his old farm in Vermilion County, 
Indiana. He was never satisfied, however, and lived there but two years when he 
and his wife went on to Salt Lake City to again live with the Mormons. They had 
but reached Council Bluffs when Mr. Hubbard became ill and died. The mother then 
came back and lived with her children. Meanwhile the son, Noah, had left home 
several years before his father went to the Mormons, when he was seventeen years 
old, and gone to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he worked in a tan-yard for four 
years, receiving his board and clothing for his service. When his father went to 
the Mormons, Noah Hubbard went back to the old homestead where he lived until 
1840, when he came to Vermilion County, Illinois.

	He crossed the state line and located in Georgetown township at what is 
now known as Hubbard's Ford on Big Vermilion. This ford may have been given that 
name because of Gurdon Hubbard. There he became superintendent of a saw-mill at 
fifty cents per day, and followed that work for six years. His next move was to 
what is known as the Sprouls' farm on section 36, Georgetown township, where he 
bought the land and lived there until 1867. At that time he moved to the farm 
upon which he lived until his death this last summer. Five years after he moved 
into the county, Mr. Hubbard was married to Miss Catherine Ogden, who was the 
daughter of one of the early settlers of Vermilion County. They became the 
parents of six children, all but one of whom grew to maturity and had families 
of their own. Mr. Hubbard has been a great factor in the making of Vermilion 
County in the years of the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. He cleared and 
improved his farms and made them second to none in the county. He was well and 
very favorably known. During the latter days of his life his home was known as 
one of the most attractive houses in the county.

	Mr. Valentine Payton came to Vermilion County in 1840 and settled first 
near where Muncie is now located. He was a shoe-maker by trade and also farmed 
his land. When the farming season was over he and his boys would spend their 
time in making shoes. Mr. Payton came from Clinton County, Ohio, going there 
from the locality known as Apple Pie Ridge in Virginia. Mr. Payton was the 
father of ten children. These children and their children have been identified 
with affairs of the county for the last seventy-five years.

	Two or three of the children of Valentine Payton went to Danville and 
located. The children of these men are well known, among whom is Mr. Will Payton 
whose residence is on Logan Avenue. He is a prominent citizen of Danville with 
money interest in the West and Arkansas. Mr. Valentine Payton and Mr. Isaac 
Payton, the one of Los Angeles and the other of Spokane, are men of wealth along 
the Pacific Slope. Mr. Clark Payton lives in Chicago. These are the best known 
of the grandchildren.

	John McCarty came to Vermilion County in 1840 and located in Oakwood 
township. He came from Ohio. Mr. McCarty was a well known citizen of this 
township for forty years. He was both a constable and justice of the peace.
Rev. James Ashmore came to Vermilion County and organized both the Mt. Vernon 
and the Mt. Pisgah churches in the year 1840.

	Oliver Lowndes Davis was one of the men who came to Vermilion County in 
the early Forties from the East. He was. a native of New York City, where his 
father was a shipping merchant. Oliver Davis attended school in his native city 
and afterward went to Hamilton Academy and yet later went to the academy in 
Cannandaigua, N. Y. After he was through school he went into the service of the 
American Fur Company and continued with this company until in 1841, when he 
determined to make the West his home and he came to Vermilion County and settled 
in Danville. He had always wanted to study law and did so at this time. His 
subsequent history is such as to reckon him among the distinguished citizens of 
the county.

	George M. Hooton came to Vermilion County with 'his father in 1842 when 
but a lad of seven and has been a citizen ever since. While a young man he did 
some farming, as most of the young men did, learned the trade of a carpenter and 
joiner at which he did some work, as well as teaching several terms of 'school. 
In 1876 the firm of Hankey and Hooton was formed and for many years it was a 
familiar one in Danville. After that firm ceased to exist Mr. Hooton did the 
same business under the name of Hooton & Son, which has continued to this time.

	Francis D. Coburn, a native of New Hampshire, came to Illinois and located 
on a farm in Danville township. He had married the widow of Geo. Bocke, the son-
in-law of Achilles Morgan, and after his residence in this county Mr. Morgan 
made his home with this daughter. Mr. Coburn died at his home on the farm in 
1871. Mr. Coburn's son, George F., was a child of but two years when he was 
brought to this county. Here on the farm he grew to manhood, working in the 
fields in the summers and teaching school in the winter months. He began this 
teaching when he was nineteen years old and kept it up for five years. He later 
read law under Judge O. L. Davis, and in 1867 was admitted to the Illinois bar. 
Mr. Coburn has practiced ever since in the courts of Danville.

	(This brief sketch was written by a personal friend of Mr. Tincher soon 
after his. death and no better tribute to this prominent man could be made now.)

	John L. Tincher was born in Kentucky in 1821. Eight years later his 
parents moved to Vermilion County, Indiana. When he was seventeen years old, he 
found himself an orphan, and he set to work to acquire an education. He attended 
school for about three years in Coles County, Illinois, and then took service in 
the store of Jones & Culbertson at Newport. In 1843 he came with J. M. 
Culbertson to Danville, and was a clerk in his store until 1853, when the firm 
of Tincher & English was formed, first as merchants and afterward as bankers. 
The First National Bank stands as a monument of their united energy, labor and 
prudence. Mr. Tincher was elected a member of the lower house of the general 
assembly of the state in 1864. In 1867 he was transferred to the senate, to 
membership in which he was re-elected in 1870. He was also in 1870 a member of 
the committee to revise the laws of the state. For many years Mr. Tincher's 
business affairs were very exacting, and in the later years of his life official 
trusts increased the demands upon his energies, and added to these were church 
and social obligations, in all, making the demands upon him very onerous; the 
increasing strain upon his mind and body may be supposed to have shortened his 
life. In 1845 Mr. Tincher united with the Methodist Episcopal church and soon 
afterward Was chosen to occupy a subordinate clerical relation to the church, 
which relation he maintained until his death. He was frequently called upon to 
preach. Though without classical education or technical theological training, he 
was a forcible, logical and acceptable preacher. It would be impossible for one 
not endowed with superior powers of mind to meet the degree of success in 
business, in politics and in social life that attended Mr. Tincher. It is not an 
extravagance of language to say that he was a gifted man.

	The Hon. John L. Tincher died at the Revere House, Springfield, Illinois, 
at half past six o'clock, on Sunday evening the l7th of December, 1871. His 
disease was pleuro-pneumonia. During the greater part of his life he had been in 
delicate health, and as far back as 1855 it was thought that his career would 
terminate in consumption.

	In the Summer of 1869 he was attacked by apoplexy, and thenceforward, he 
complained of cerebral irregularities, and was never without apprehensions of a 
return of apoplexy. At the time of his death Mr. Tincher was in Springfield 
attending to his duties, as senator. By common consent Mr. Tincher was 
recognized as the controlling spirit of the community. He made the poor man's 
cause his cause; he left no one to charge him with circumvention; he left no 
taint on his name and memory.

	Samuel A. Humphrey, M. D., was one of the early day physicians of 
Vermilion County, being located in Danville. He was just twenty-one when he 
came, being attracted thither on account of an uncle already located in the 
county. He came from Nelson County, Kentucky, a number of whose residents had 
already come to Vermilion County. Mr. Humphreys bought a farm on the Blue Grass 
prairie when he first came and lived there a year, when he took up the study of 
medicine and afterward went to Cincinnati at the Medical school there from which 
he was graduated in 1848. He returned to Danville and began his practice of 
medicine, at the same time establishing a drug store and a dry-goods store also. 
He kept up this threefold business as long as he lived, to a profit. Dr. 
Humphrey married Miss Mary Milton, who also was born in Nelson County, Kentucky, 
and had come to Vermilion County with her mother some time after her father's 
death and become the wife of John Partlow. Dr. Humphrey was a nephew of the 
first wife of John Johns, an early pioneer in Blount township.

	John Johnston was born in Mason County, Kentucky, and moved to Adams 
County, Ohio, in the latter part of the Twenties. He lived there until in 1844; 
he came on horseback to Vermilion County, Illinois, settling on the edge of the 
prairie, a mile and a half from the present site of Oakwood. While in Kentucky 
he worked as a farm hand for eight dollars per month and he continued to earn 
his living in that way until in 1850, when he secured three yoke of oxen, which, 
he used in breaking the priarie. That fall, with the old Virginia wagon filled 
with apples he started for Chicago, peddling his fruit along the way. In 1852 he 
went to Chicago with a team of horses and brought back a load of shingles for a 
neighbor. He hauled oats to Covington, where he sold them for ten cents per 
bushel. In the fall of 1852, Mr. Johnston married Mary Brittingham, a daughter 
of A. W. and Matilda (Watson) Brittingham.

	Mr. and Mrs. Johnston began life in a primitive way. With the exception of 
a bedstead which her mother gave her, everything in the house was made by Mr. 
Johnston. He drove some wooden pins into the logs and placed some boards on the 
pins and there was a cupboard. All cooking was done in skillets or in kettles in 
the great fireplace and corn bread was baked upon a smooth board placed near the 
coals.

	Andrew H. Kimbrough, M. D., was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, February 
27, 1823. When yet a boy he was taken by his parents to Edgar County, Illinois, 
where he received his education, as far as it went. He was determined to make 
the practice of medicine his work, so he entered the Jefferson Medical College, 
from which he was graduated in 1858. He had practiced some before he had 
finished his course of study in Paris, while yet he lived in Edgar County. The 
year he graduated he located in Georgetown, Vermilion County, and in 1873 he 
came to Danville. He practiced continuously and with favor until in 1901, on 
account of failing health, he retired from active practice.

	Dr. Kimbrough was a member of most all available associations and 
professional societies. Dr. Kimbrough was very prominent in the Odd Fellows, 
fraternity of which he had been a member for more than fifty odd years. For 
sixteen years he was elected High Priest, and for many years he was a valued 
representative of the Knights of Honor.

	Dr. Kimbrough married Miss Sarah Ashmore in 1847. She was the daughter of 
Amos Ashmore of Clark County. Her uncle was the Rev. Ashmore, whose name was 
connected with the great religious work of the early, days of Vermilion County.

	Dr. and Mrs. Kimbrough were both people of more than usual force of 
character, and were citizens of worth wherever they made their home. They were 
the parents of three children, two daughters and one son. The daughters are well 
known in church work and socially in the county, and the son is, after holding 
many offices, at present judge of the circuit court. Judge Kimbrough has been 
mayor of Danville for one term and minority representative in the state 
legislature for two terms. He married Miss Julia Tincher, daughter of John 
Tincher, and they became the parents of one child, a son, who died in childhood. 
Mrs. Kimbrough died in 1908 and Mr. Kimbrough afterward married again.

	Joseph Bailey came from Essex County, Massachusetts, direct to Vermilion 
County, Illinois, in 1845, when he was twenty-five years old. He settled in 
Georgetown, where his brother was postmaster. He became clerk in a small store 
there for which service he received six dollars per month. He clerked for three 
years. At the end of that time Mr. Bailey went into partnership with his brother 
under the firm name of W. B. & J. Bailey.

	About this time he married Miss Sarah Ann Brachall, a daughter of Martin 
Brachall, an early settler of Vermilion County. Mrs. Bailey was born in 
Vermilion County. After several years in this business Mr. Brachall went to 
Indianola, where he formed a partnership with Mr. Sconce under the name of 
Bailey & Sconce, which firm dealt in general merchandise for three years, after 
which he bought a farm and remained on it for five years, meanwhile suffering 
loss from fire which destroyed his home. He then returned to Danville, where his 
children could have the advantage of good schools. During this time he was 
associated with Mr. Hall in a lumber yard in Tuscola, and also in Kansas City, 
Missouri, whither Mr. Hall removed. Mr. Bailey also dealt in land to a large 
extent, owning property in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, as well as Illinois 
and Indiana. Mr. Bailey made much profit in buying and selling land.

	In 1870 he became one of a company that organized to build the Paris & 
Danville Railroad. But the company failed and sold the road to the Big Four and 
more recently it has become the property of the New York Central system. Mr. 
Bailey's loss in this road was heavy. He lived retired in Georgetown until 1888, 
when he went to Kansas City to make his home, but remained only a few months, 
when he returned to Danville on account of his wife's health. Here he remained 
until his death. Mr. Bailey was the father of four children, two sons and two 
daughters.

	William I. Allen, one of the prominent men of Vermilion County, in the 
latter half of the nineteenth century, came from Ohio in 1844, and entered land 
in what is now the northwestern part of Hoopeston. It, at that time, however, 
was a tract of uncultivated land over which deers, wolves, prairie chickens and 
other wild creatures, had up to this time wandered undisturbed by man. There was 
not a tree or brush in sight, and the pioneer after building his cabin, 
frequently stood in his doorway and counted numbers of deer, sometimes as high 
as sixty in a herd. Mr. Allen was not married when he came here, but in 1848 he 
became the husband of Miss Emily Newell, the daughter of William Newell. He 
broke his land and improved his farm, working during the summer months and 
teaching school in the winter. Mr. Allen was a man of fine classical education. 
When he graduated from his eastern college he wrote a letter home in Latin, 
which the family yet have in their possession. Finally Mr. Allen sold out his 
land to Mr. Hoopes and himself settled six miles west, where East Lynn now 
stands. By entry and purchase he acquired 3,200 acres of land which was mostly 
devoted to grazing. He built three houses and made other improvements remaining 
there until after .the breaking out of the Civil war. He enlisted in the l2th 
Illinois Infantry, which regiment was first ordered to Cairo and then to 
Paducah, Kentucky. After a little he was promoted to be the captain of his 
company, but became disabled for service and was returned home. He went back to 
his farm but in a few months bought 500 acres in the vicinity of Rossville. A 
few years after he sold out again and returned to the northern part of East 
Lynn. This town was located on a part of the old farm when the railroad came 
through later.

	In 1884 Mr. Allen moved to Cherry County, Nebraska, but he lived here only 
four years, when he returned to Hoopeston, where he spent the remainder of his 
days. Mr. Allen was the father of six children. One of them, Mr. Chas. Allen, 
has been a prominent citizen of Vermilion County, where he was born in 1851. Mr. 
Charles Allen has represented Vermilion County in the state legislature for many 
terms and been a conspicuous member of each session. His home has always been in 
Hoopeston. Mrs. William I. Allen was the daughter of James Newell and was born 
in Kentucky, in 1824, coming to Vermilion County with her parents when she was 
but a small child. Her father was a prominent early settler, the township of 
Newell being named for him. The father of William Allen did not come to Illinois 
to settle but remained in Indiana as long as he lived.

	Lawrence Allen, the grandson of Mr. William Allen and son of Hon. Charles 
Allen, is at present county judge of Vermilion County. He is a practicing 
attorney located in Danville. Mr. Charles Allen married Miss Mary Thompson, the 
daughter of L. M. Thompson. They are the parents of two sons, John N. and 
Lawrence.

	William Allen bears the distinction of being the first settler of the 
northern part of the county.

	Herald Catlett became a resident of Vermilion County in 1846, coming to 
near Fairmount in Vance township. Mr. Catlett was born in Charlottesville, 
Virginia, and was taken to Tuscumbia, Alabama, when two years old by his 
parents, who changed their residence at that time. His father was not satisfied 
however, and in a few years he was found back in Virginia. There he remained 
until 1835, when he went on west to Ohio, and in 1846 he went on farther to 
Vermilion County, Illinois. Here he was a farmer until his death in 1861. He 
belonged to the Masonic fraternity, was a Baptist in religious faith, and a 
democrat. He was a man of charitable impulses, generous and benevolent. His wife 
survived him until 1871. They had a family of twelve children, six sons and six 
daughters. Three of these were prominent citizens of Vermilion County - 
Virginia, who became the wife of Dr. Chas. Lamon, of Fairmount; Herald; and 
Hiram H., who has been a large dealer in hogs and cattle. His home is also in 
Vance township.

	The deals of these two brothers were perhaps greater than of any other 
person in the county at that time. Mr. Catlett not only bought and sold hogs and 
cattle but he became an extensive stock raiser. He had excellent executive 
ability, and keen business force, carrying to a successful termination anything 
he undertook.

	Mr. Catlett was not a politician, but was an earnest democrat. He never 
aspired to public office. He was a member of the Baptist church from a child and 
in which he served as deacon.

	Mr. Catlett died May 1, 1902, and was buried in the Davis Cemetery in 
Vance township. He was the father of four children all of whom grew to womanhood 
and manhood, except the third child who died in infancy.

	W. C. Cowan was a valued citizen of Vermilion County, coming in 1846. He 
lived through his youth in Edgar County, his parents having come into Illinois 
from Indiana, when he was about three years old. He was born in 1829 and while 
living in Edgar County, he was engaged helping his father in farming and running 
a carding machine. When the family came to Vermilion County they located in 
Georgetown and engaged in wool-carding. This particular member of the family 
lived with his parents learning the wagon-maker's trade and helping in the mill 
until 1857, when he went to Northwest Missouri, where he had a carding-machine 
and also worked at carpentering. He stayed there but two years, however, and 
returned to Georgetown, where he worked at the carpenter's trade until 1862, 
when he opened a drug store. He was connected with the One Hundred and Twenty-
fifth Regiment for three months as sutler. Mr. Cowan married Miss Sarah M. 
Tucker, of Indiana, and they became the parents of six children.

	Dr. Samuel H. Vredenburgh came to Illinois in 1846 and began the practice 
of medicine at Newtown. He is one of the oldest living early settlers of the 
county, if it is permissable to call him an early settler. His memory is good 
and he has many interesting tales to tell of experiences of early day. No one 
comes so close to one as the practicing physician, and ho one can paint more 
accurate pictures of conditions of living than the man who was the trusted and 
well loved family doctor. Dr. Vredenburgh was born in Indiana in 1820 and began 
life as a teacher but changed the profession when he was twenty-six years old; 
to that of medicine. He belonged to the old school of Allopathic practice and 
had a large territory over which he rode. Since he has retired from active 
practice he has made his home in Danville. The Masonic order was established in 
Vermilion County in 1846. At that time Danville was but a small village of 
perhaps 500 or 600 inhabitants, with six or eight stores.

	The Grand Lodge of the state of Illinois was organized in 1844 and that 
Olive Branch chapter should have come into being but six years later is a fact 
quite suggestive of the spirit of this locality. Olive Branch Lodge, No. 38, A. 
F. & A. M. is comparatively one of the ancient lodges of the state. The first 
Worshipful Master was W. E. Russell. John Payne was the first Senior Warden and 
John Thompson was the first Junior Warden. This order had a great growth for 
forty or more years, and its influence was for good in the county.

	1847 was the year that John Charles Black came to Vermilion County with 
his mother. He was but a boy of eight years of age and he Made Danville his home 
during his youth and young manhood. It was from Danville he went to college, and 
in Danville he lived after the war, in which he distinguished himself, was over. 
The subsequent career of General Black entitles him to a place in the list of 
distinguished citizens.

	Victor and Prosper LeSeure were men, prominent in the affairs of Vermilion 
County, coming sometime in the Forties. Victor LeSeure first located in 
Georgetown, where he remained for a while and in 1849 moved to Danville, where 
he became one of the most prosperous merchants. It was not, however, until after 
he had changed his residence to Georgetown and then back to Danville in 1851 
that he located permanently. In 1876 he entered the hardware business where he 
remained until his death.

	Mr. LeSeure married Caroline McDonald, daughter of Alexander McDonald, one 
of the prominent pioneers of Vermilion County, in 1849. They were the parents of 
five children, four daughters and one son. Mr. LeSeure was mayor of the city of 
Danville and commissioner of highways three terms. He was connected with many 
enterprises of the county, being at one time secretary, treasurer and 
superintendent of the Danville Gas Light Company. Mr. LeSeure's wife died in the 
Seventies and he married Mrs. Mary McDonald (nee Smith).

	Mr. LeSeure's oldest daughter became the wife of Charles Yoemans, his next 
daughter became the wife of Mr. Palmer, and the third daughter became the wife 
of T. W. Elliott. The youngest daughter, Callie, died in childhood. His son 
Frank LeSeure married the daughter of John Sidell, but died soon afterward when 
only thirty years old, leaving a little daughter.

	W. J. Reynolds, who was a musician coming from a training in Boston, 
organized the first brass band in the state, in 1847. A reed band had been 
organized the previous year.

	Mr. Reynolds maintained a band here for thirty years, except a short time 
when the men in his band were in the war. He devoted his time to teaching music, 
and during the war there were twenty bands of which he had been leader in the 
service. Mr. Reynolds organized and led the first choir in Danville.

	R. L. Porter, M. D., was a conspicuous man in Vermilion County during his 
lifetime. He was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and came to Danville in 1848. 
He was surely one of the successful men of the county. He had a large practice 
and his wife also belonged to the profession and while in Danville sometimes did 
several thousand dollars of work in that line per year. Dr. Porter owned much 
land in the county, and was more or less eccentric as might be expected. When he 
felt his time to die was approaching, he asked some friend to take him out on 
his farm; to a spot secluded but beautiful, which was formed in flat-iron shape 
by the two small streams of water flowing past. The spot was high and dry and it 
was there he wanted to be buried. Although away from any burial ground, his 
friends respected his wishes when he died and he lies in this spot away from 
both the living and the dead.

	A. J. Richardson was a new comer in 1848 and settled in Georgetown. He was 
born near Boston, spent his childhood in New Hampshire, and brought his parents 
to Indiana, where he spent his active manhood, coming to Vermilion County when 
he was forty-three years old.

	While in New Hampshire he learned the shoemaker's trade and took charge of 
the shop. After he came to Eugene, Indiana, he followed that trade but after he 
came into Vermilion County he spent his time as fanner and stock-raiser.

	Solomon Mosier came to Pilot township in 1848 and bought his home. He 
brought his family with him and was always known as a well posted man. The 
Mosier family has been a credit to him and has been looked up to as one of 
intelligence, talent, and general information, in the neighborhood. Solomon 
Mosier died in 1871.

	Jesse Harris came to Illinois in 1848, and settled in Ross township. His 
son, a young man of twenty-one, came at the same time and worked in the employ 
of a farmer until election time when he went back to Ohio to cast his first vote 
which was given to Zachary Taylor. After he had voted he came back to Vermilion 
County and soon had a farm rented and saved money to buy one, and, in time, 
acquired a good property.

	He served for twenty-seven consecutive years as school treasurer.

	John W. Goodwine came to Vermilion County in 1848, and settled in Blount 
township, where he bought 600 acres of good farm land. This he improved and 
began stock feeding to a large extent. From time to time he would add to his 
land until he had 6,000 acres. He was a good feeder, and would buy and feed 
cattle selling each year from 300 to 500 head from the farms. He had hogs to 
follow the cattle and from these sales he realized goodly sums.

	In 1898 he retired from the more active labor of caring for his farms and 
retired to a home in Potomac. In the many years residence in Vermilion County 
Mr. Goodwine saw the improvement go on until the great change has come, and 
where it was wild and unimproved country the farms are to the utmost stage of 
development.

	Rev. William H. Webster, D. D., came to Vermilion County in 1848 and is 
able to tell much of conditions in this section from that time to this. Rev. 
Webster came, an orphaned boy, with his sister who was a Methodist preacher's 
wife. She died soon after coming to this county, and her husband went away soon 
afterward leaving the lad to make his own way. He was born in New York state in 
1835, and came west in 1848, and was left to make his way when he was fourteen 
years old. This he did by sawing wood, working in a livery barn, painting and in 
fact, doing- anything he could find to do. He took care of fires for a lumber 
kiln at the comer of Vermilion and North Streets, where the Illinois Printing 
Company is now located. Across the street south, the little old frame building 
of the Methodist church stood. Here church services were held on Sunday and 
during the week school was kept by Mr. Munsell. This school was the beginning of 
the Danville Seminary. At recess time the pupils of the school would come over 
to see the lad who was attending the fires and talking of their studies he 
determined to go to school. So it was the next fall he was enrolled as a pupil. 
He worked nights and mornings and Saturdays to pay his expenses. Sometimes he 
had to stay out of school several weeks to get enough to pay his bills but he 
would go back and work harder than ever. In this way, working and going to 
school and teaching, he completed the course of study in the Danville Seminary, 
the Asbury University of Indiana and the Ohio Wesleyan University, where he 
graduated in the classical course in 1859. He joined the Methodist church at a 
camp meeting near Danville. He taught school at several places, among which the 
Seminary at Shelbyville is to be counted. While teaching there he was licensed 
to preach. In the winter of 1858-9, he was appointed as assistant preacher on 
the circuit that embraced the northern part of Vermilion County. He preached in 
private houses, groves, barns, and in fact, any where a congregation could be 
drawn together.

	In 1859 he became a member of the Illinois conference and since that time 
his work has always been under the orders of that body. His salary for one year 
was ninety dollars out of which he was obliged to in part, at least, pay his 
board. For a time he taught school to pay his expenses as pastor of a church. He 
has served as pastor of the best churches in the conference and been given 
places of importance and trust. While he has been taken away from Vermilion 
County to fill these places, he has always had more or less interest in affairs 
of the section and owned property about.

	After his term as presiding elder of the Danville district ended he was 
appointed to the work of the domestic Missionary society, which he had helped to 
organize. Other work of the conference has been given him, which permits him to 
remain in his home. He has been treasurer of the board of trustees of the 
conference. Mr. Webster married Miss Augusta Robinson, the daughter of William 
Robinson, and they are the parents of but one living child, John W. Webster, an 
attorney of Danville.

	Mr. Snyder came from Ohio in 1849 and became a citizen of Pilot township. 
Hi6 daughter afterward became the wife of Mr. Charles Keesler, who came to this 
township in 1858.

	Dr. C. V. Baldwin was a prominent dentist of Danville, where he located in 
1849, coming from Henry County, Indiana. He was but fifteen years old when he 
came with his parents to Vermilion County in 1849, and he lived here until in 
the eighties when he changed his residence on account of poor health to 
California. Dr. Baldwin studied dentistry in 1866 and became skilled in the 
profession and very popular. He is yet practicing the profession in Los Angeles, 
California. Dr. Baldwin's first wife was Miss Williams, the daughter of Amos 
Williams. She died not many years after they were married and his second wife 
was Miss Pierce, of Indiana.

	M. Ganor has been a well known man in Danville for many years. He came 
with his father from Long Island, where they had their home since coming from 
Ireland, in 1849. They made their journey from Chicago in wagons, hiring a man 
to bring them from Chicago to Danville for $15. Mr. Ganor had his farm in what 
is now northeast Danville and at one time was better known as Tinchertown.

	In 1849 John Lawrence came to Vermilion County and located in Georgetown. 
He was a mechanic and brought his family with him. His son W. R. Lawrence was 
better known in Vermilion County than was his father. He was but nine years old 
when his father came to Vermilion County, and located in Georgetown and he 
received his education at the Georgetown Seminary. In 1862 he enlisted as 
private for three years and was promoted until he reached the rank of First 
Lieutenant. In 1864 he resigned and came back to Vermilion County. He then went 
to Bloomington, where he began the study of law with Tipton and Benjamin, and in 
1868 he was admitted to the bar. He went to Boonesville, Iowa, and began the 
practice of law, coming to Danville in 1873, where he located and rapidly rose 
in his profession. Mr. Lawrence lived in Danville until he received the 
appointment which took him to Oklahoma where he has remained ever since.

	R. W. Cowan, druggist, of Georgetown, is the brother of W. C. Cowan, and 
came to Vermilion County at the same time with his father and the other members 
of the family. He enlisted in the Seventy-third Illinois Regiment, and was in 
the battle of Perrysville. He was discharged from the army because of ill health 
after six months and returning to Georgetown engaged in the grocery business. He 
afterward tried all lines of mercantile work and at the last settled on the drug 
store.

	In 1850 the Danville Seminary was incorporated under the provision of the 
law passed by the legislature of 1849, permitting citizens to be incorporated 
for the purpose of establishing institutions of learning. This school was the 
outgrowth of the one taught in the Methodist church, which was the only 
institution of learning where more than primary studies could be taken. Without 
the later established public schools there was no place nearer than the 
Georgetown Seminary or the Vermilion Grove Academy, where the youth of this 
section could secure any training in books. This institution was handicapped 
from the first by being made denominational. The incorporators were many of 
them, and indeed in the majority, members of the Methodist church and the 
articles of incorporation provided that a majority of the trustees should be 
from that church, and that the teachers should be appointed by its authority. 
Education and educational institutions to reach the highest results must 
recognize no limits of church or politics. An independent school would have been 
much better at that time since this drawing of the denominational line 
engendered a strong partisan spirit and when that creeps into anything young 
people have to do with there are bitter feelings aroused which do not so readily 
disappear. That this school was well conducted there is no doubt, yet much of 
the after division in the sentiment of those in business and social lines may be 
traced back to the bitter quarrels among the children who went to school at that 
time and were compelled to take sides in the church differences which followed.

	The board of trustees selected two acres of land just north of the west 
end of Main street as it was then. Upon his land the two-story building was put 
up. This building now faces Pine street, a little north of Main street. This 
school was the only institution of higher learning in Danville for a year.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows were granted a charter for their lodge in 
Danville, July 25, 1850. The charter members were John L. Tincher, Samuel 
Frazier, J. B. Gilbert, Joshua Hollingsworth and H. J. C. Batch.

	The Higginsville postoffice was established in 1850.

	The Vermilion County Agricultural and Mechanical Association was organized 
in 1850. The first fair was held at Danville, and was where the Presbyterian 
church now stands on the comer of North and Franklin streets. The officers were 
elected, the fair was held and the premiums awarded, all in the same day. There 
was no gate fare charged and only $40 paid in premiums. This amount must have 
been realized from the license charged to those who kept stands on the grounds. 
The second fair was held down on the bottoms near the "old red bridge."

	Abel Wolverton came to Vermilion County in 1850 and entered 160 acres of 
land being the N. E. one-fourth section 18, town 23, range n. He soon bought 160 
acres more and then increased this amount to 400 acres. The following year his 
family came and occupied the land. In the family was a son of fifteen, who was 
to be a strong factor in the development of the northern part of the county. 
Charles Wolverton learned the carpenter's trade before and during the war. He 
enlisted in Company H, 70th Illinois Volunteers. This regiment did duty most of 
the time of their enlistment at Camp Butler, Springfield, and at Alton. They did 
garrison duty at Alton and furnished numerous details for guarding prisoners. 
Mr. Wolverton rose to rank of Colonel. Since the war Mr. Wolverton has been 
conspicuous in business and politics. He is a republican.

	When Henry B. Kester was three years old he was taken by his parents from 
West Virginia to Morrow County, Ohio, and when he was twenty-two years old he 
came to Vermilion County, Illinois. He had his trade of carpenter before he came 
and went directly to work in building. His work increased to such an extent that 
he employed many men to help him get out his contracts.

	Mr. Kester was married to a girl from his childhood home in 1853. He 
continued working at his trade until the Civil war broke out. Then he joined 
Company E, 149th Illinois Regiment under the command of Captain Laferty and 
Colonel W. C. Kifner.

	This company did garrison duty until the close of the war and at Dalton, 
Georgia, on the 27th of January, 1866, Mr. Kester was honorably discharged. The 
rest of Mr. Kester's life has been spent in the filling of his duty, as an 
honest citizen.

	Mr. Abner Warner came to Vermilion County in 1850 and herded cattle on the 
prairies. These he drove across the country to the Philadelphia markets. Later 
he located in Vermilion County and he died in Rossville in 1888. The two 
children of this family are well known, particularly the elder brother, Charles 
W. Warner. Charles Warner went with his parents from his birthplace to near 
Crawfordsville, Indiana, and went to school there. He then went into a printing 
office in Rossville, after which he taught school for awhile. When he had 
finished his last school he went into the office of the Hoopeston Chronicle, 
which at that time was owned by Dale Wallace. Here he remained for three years. 
Mr. Warner bought the Hoopeston Chronicle in 1882, since which time he has been 
editor and owner of the paper. He was appointed, or rather elected, because of 
the number of candidates, postmaster of Hoopeston in 1889 and has continued in 
office ever since, with the exception of Cleveland's administration.

	Mr. Warner is recognized as the leader in the republican ranks in the 
north end of the county. His extensive political, business and social relations 
have given him a large acquaintance and he is favorably known.

	John L. Stewart was a well esteemed citizen of Vermilion County for thirty 
years coming in 1851 and locating in Newell township on' a tract of wild land, 
twelve miles northeast of Danville. He was a native of New York state, but spent 
his youth in Indiana. He lived on his 260 acres in Newell township until 1879, 
when he sold and went west on account of poor health. He located on a farm in 
Oregon near Portland, but stayed only three years, when he returned and lived in 
Bismarck until he died in 1882.

	A. LeSeure came to Georgetown in 1851 and began selling groceries, the 
firm being LeSeure and Probst. This continued for two years when Mr. Probst sold 
out to the other partner and Mr. LeSeure continued the business until in 1861 he 
enlisted in the 7th Illinois Cavalry, and was in service until the close of the 
war. His regiment was in several battles.

	Steven Brothers was born in Ohio. He was trained to be a farmer and a 
blacksmith. He came to Vermilion County in 1855, coming first to Bloomfield and 
then to Danville, where he worked as a blacksmith. He has gone back to Ohio and 
also to New York and as well to Nebraska, but he has always come back to 
Illinois. Mr. Brothers was in Company I under Captain Vinson. He was second 
lieutenant. At the battle of Perrysville, he was knocked over with a ball but 
was not injured.

	John McFarland was known as one of the best farmers of Oakwood township, 
while he lived. He came from Ohio, and married a Miss Oxford, in Perrysville, 
Indiana. They had four children. After Mrs. McFarland died he came to Illinois. 
In 1856 Mr. McFarland married the widow of Aaron Dalbey. The McFarland farm was 
a landmark for many years, and even yet when it has changed hands, that farm is 
pointed out to strangers as the McFarland farm.

	The Union Seminary was a joint stock company that was organized in 1851 by 
citizens who were not members of the church which controlled the other 
institution of learning. The trustees were L. T. Palmer, A. D. Sconce, S. G. 
Craig, Guy Merrill and Hamilton White. They secured good grounds in what was the 
north part of town and built a good building on it. The building was on the site 
of the Kimbrough home, at the corner of Vermilion and Seminary streets. There 
were about three acres around the building.

	The course of study and instruction of one school was about the same as 
that of the other, but it was impossible for the pupils to believe this and so 
the children wasted their emotions in bitterness of jealousy and there was at 
times war over the conditions of education in Danville. Memories of discord have 
not yet left the hearts and brains of the men and women who were a part to all 
this strife in their childhood.

	In 1862 the common school system was adopted in Danville and that did away 
with these rivals and stopped the ill feeling.

	James H. Miller so long the tax collector for the county was bom in 
Virginia, and came to Ohio in 1846 staying there for about six years, when he 
came to Vermilion County and located at Danville. He accumulated property and 
had by reason of his energy, honesty and good qualities, enjoyed the confidence 
of the community. For twenty years and more he held the office of tax collector 
and part of the time was also assessor of Danville township.

	All the revenue derived from taxation passed through his hands. Mr. Miller 
was left an orphan when a small boy, and his sole income was seventy-five cents 
per week, he paying his own expenses out of this sum. When his latter life of 
comfort and ease is considered, together with the statement of his early 
privations, it seems a wonderful country which can help a boy to succeed in this 
way. Mr. Miller married a daughter of John Johns and was the father of two boys, 
one only of whom lived to manhood.

	In 1852 William Hess came to Vermilion County with his father's family, 
and settled at Brooks Point. He lived with his parents until the death of his 
mother in 1854, after which he worked around on farms, going into Champaign 
County and farmed for himself for three years. In 1861 he married Miss Jane 
Clifton, who was born in this county. He left Champaign County and coming back 
to Vermilion settled near Georgetown, where he remained.

	John Cage came to Vermilion County when he was a young man of about twenty 
years old, coming in 1852 to take charge of the Denmark mill. He married Miss 
Kerr of the old home town in 1868, and rented the McCarty farm in Georgetown 
township. He remained here for two years when he bought a farm of his own, which 
he improved and upon which he remained.

	The Vermilion County Agricultural Society was organized in 1852, at 
Danville. After its first fair it located grounds at Catlin. Hon. J. H. Oakwood 
was from the first its most determined and energetic promoter.

	Thomas Hoopes, the founder of Hoopeston, came to Vermilion County in 1853. 
He had made a success of living in Ohio and had a farm with all improvements to 
be desired in that state but he came to Illinois to look at the prospects of the 
country. It would seem that an eight hundred acre farm near Marion, Ohio, would 
have all the best possible conditions for any one, but it appears he was 
attracted to the newer country and turned with interest, if not longing, toward 
the natural grazing lands of the prairies of the northern part of Vermilion 
County.

	That he was satisfied with conditions and the prairie called him with 
force, is indicated by the fact that he bought 480 acres of land from Mr. W. I. 
Allen on which he established his new home. This land lay northwest of the 
present site of Hoopeston, crowning a hill on the old Chicago road. As time 
passed Mr. Hoopes added to his land until he had seven or eight thousand acres. 
He became the most extensive stock raiser in this part of the country sending 
his product to the eastern markets, and spending his profits for more land. In 
July, 1871, the tracks of the C. & E. I. R. R. were laid across his farm and the 
year following the Lake Erie & Western was running trains. Mr. Hoopes saw the 
opportunity to build a town of importance at the crossing and at once had his 
farm platted and sold it for town lots. He later sold one thousand acres of his 
farm to the firm of Snell and Taylor, who platted it and sold it for town lots. 
After that Mr. Hoopes did not do much save to oversee his invested interests, He 
traveled much in search of health for his wife. Mrs. Hoopes died in 1886 and Mr. 
Hoopes survived her until 1893.

	Joseph G. English, who for years was one of the leading citizens of 
Danville, came to Vermilion County in 1853. He came into the Wabash Valley with. 
his father's family when he was but nine years old and made their home in 
Perrysville, Indiana. He began earning his living when he was fourteen years 
old, going into the service of the firm of Taylor and Linton of La Fayette, 
Indiana. He remained here for three years. He was employed to sweep out the 
store and do odd work about and on market days he had to get up by three or four 
o'clock in the morning to get ready for the Dunkards who took advantage of the 
early hours to do their marketing. His wage for such service was his board and 
clothing. But the discipline was good for him and besides the knowledge he 
gained of mercantile matters, he learned to control himself and acquired habits 
which stood him in good place in after years. After he had been with this firm 
for five years it failed and he went back to Perrysville, and secured a place in 
a general store, where he received a salary of forty dollars per month. Inside 
of three years he had saved four hundred dollars and he determined to settle 
down and marry. He married the daughter of Mr. Hicks, a pioneer of Perrysville, 
who had a fine property. In 1844 Mr. English went into partnership with his 
father-in-law, under the firm name of Hicks and English. Their stock consisted 
of everything possibly needed and they were always the market for any produce 
there was to sell. This produce was shipped down the Wabash river to the Ohio 
and then either to Cincinnati or on down the Ohio to the Mississippi to New 
Orleans. Since this produce was carried on flat boats many times Mr. English, as 
a young man, became one of the oarsmen. In 1853 Mr. English came to Danville, 
having sold out his store in Perrysville. He at once began a partnership with 
John L. Tincher, which was ended only by death. Mr. Tincher had married a sister 
of Mr. English's wife, so they were bound by other ties than those of business.

	This general store was a profitable venture but the firm was made the 
assignees of the Stock Security Bank, a wild-cat institution, which was forced 
into bankruptcy in the panic of 1856-7. It was then that the general store of 
Tincher & English was disposed of and the entire attention of the firm was given 
to the bank. They gradually began transacting a brokerage and exchange business 
which grew into a private bank.

	In 1863 the National Bank bill passed congress and these gentlemen sought 
a charter and organized a national bank. Mr. English was made president of this 
bank and continued in that position until 1899. During these years Mr. English 
has been very active in the commercial and industrial life of Danville. He 
invested largely in land throughout the county and had much profit from his real 
estate deals. Mrs. (Hicks) English died in 1864, having been the mother of seven 
children. In 1865 Mr. English married Mrs. Partlow, a widow with two children. 
By this wife Mr. English became the father of two children, only one of whom 
lived to grow to manhood. This second wife died in 1886 and in 1899 Mr. English 
again married, this time it was to Mary E. Forbes, the widow of Thomas Forbes, 
and daughter of William Hessey, a pioneer of Vermilion County.

	Mr. English was very prominent in the affairs of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and almost by his own effort organized the second church in Danville, 
better known as Kimber Methodist church. He lived retired the last years of his 
life, having met reverses in money matters and suffered failing health. Mr. 
English died in the spring of 1909.

	Mr. A. G. Webster was a merchant in Danville for thirty odd years, coming 
in 1853 with a small stock of dry goods from La Fayette, Indiana. He continued 
in the dry goods business until 1856, when he sold out his stock and set up a 
grocery store. His birth place was St. Albans, Vermont. He spent his life in 
Danville from 1853 to the time of his death which occurred in about 1907.

	C. D. Henton came to Vermilion County in 1853 having spent his earlier 
life in Fountain County, Indiana. He located in Myersville, where he practiced 
his profession until 1872, when he came to Danville, where he remained as long 
as he lived. Dr. Henton married a Miss Gundy, sister to Andrew and Francis 
Gundy.

	Asa H. Guy came to Vermilion County in 1853, and located in Georgetown, 
where he taught school. Mr. Guy was elected surveyor of Vermilion County by the 
republicans in 1855. This office he held, off and on for twenty-five or thirty 
years. He has laid out and surveyed the villages of Fairmount, Catlin, a .part 
of Hoopeston and as well Paxton and other towns. In 1862 Mr. Guy was appointed 
assistant revenue assessor, which office he held until 1865. Mr. Guy was the 
father of seven children. His oldest son, Charles V. Guy was for many years 
superintendent of county schools, and afterward in the abstract office. His 
younger son, J. Milton, M. D., has been a successful physician in Danville, 
whose practice extends throughout the county. Dr. Guy is one of the leading 
physicians of the city and it is right to say county as well. He is a 
progressive practitioner and ranks with the best.

	George A. Fox was closely identified with the local politics of Oakwood 
township. He came from Pennsylvania in 1853 directly to Vermilion County, 
Illinois. The year following his coming to Oakwood township he bought 240 acres 
of land, where he lived until his death. In the following November Mr. Fox was 
married to Margaret Oakwood, the youngest daughter of Henry Oakwood. They were 
the parents of six children, all of whom have taken their places in the world 
with credit. When he came to Vermilion County he drove a flock of sheep.

	Mr. Fox was elected justice of the peace in 1856 and served in that 
capacity until 1870. He was supervisor for four years. He was the first 
supervisor of Oakwood township. In Vance township he was assessor and collector 
for three years. He was school director for many years and as well was school 
trustee for three years. He was a member of the Methodist church for many years 
and was class leader for some time.

	Peter Byer the man with whom a pair of shoes is always associated, came 
from Germany. He stopped in Rochester on his way to learn something more about 
shoes. He then started for Vermilion County with the expectation of buying land. 
Before he could get there however, the bank in which he had his money failed as 
banks too often did in those days, and Mr. Byer was penniless. Nothing remained 
for him then but to go to work with his trade of shoemaking. He did this but did 
not have to depend upon such work for long, for as time passed he not only did 
not have to do the drudgery of shoe making but he accumulated much valuable 
property. Mr. Byer had some difficulty before he died, but he was always well 
esteemed by his neighbors and when he died there were many to mourn the loss of 
the citizen whom everybody liked.

	John McMahan came to Danville in 1854. He followed his trade as a 
blacksmith until about 1870. Squire McMahan was well known and well liked. He 
had a wide influence and died a well honored citizen of the community. In 1869 
he was elected mayor of Danville and in 1872 he was elected justice of the peace 
and police magistrate, both of which offices he held for many years.

	John Kilborn came to Danville in 1854 after a life of more than usual 
preferment in Ohio. He was almost forty years old when he came to Illinois and 
was well able to take his place as a leader at once. He was intersted in land 
speculation and gave his entire time to this.

	Mr. Kilborn built and improved the house long known as the Hooton place, 
and in 1862 moved on his farm in Danville township.

	In 1854 Jacob Yapp moved his harness and trunk factory from Cuba, New 
York, to Georgetown, Illinois, under the firm name of Yapp & Co. This firm 
continued one year when Mr. Yapp bought out the business and formed a 
partnership with James Jackson, which continued until Mr. Jackson's death, when 
Mr. Yapp took sole charge of it until 1861. He then gave it up and gave all his 
attention to the hotel business, which he had opened three years before. He also 
ran the hack line from Danville to Paris, also having charge of the mail route. 
In 1864 he was elected justice of the peace; in 1868 he became a hardware 
merchant.

	James H. Phillips, who has probably resided in Danville longer than any 
other person not a native of the state of Illinois, was born in Sussex County, 
Delaware, September 22, 1832. In 1850 just as he was about to enter Delaware 
College from the preparatory school at Newark, Mr. Phillips, by reason of an 
unfortunate venture in a cargo of coffee bought in Rio de Janeiro by the 
supercargo of a barque belonging to his father, was compelled to give up all 
hope of a collegiate education, and return home and to work. Four years 
thereafter, through the kindly influence of Levin T. Palmer, now deceased, and 
the loan of twenty-five dollars, by a friend, in his native town, Mr. Phillips, 
after a five days' journey from Baltimore, Maryland, by rail, canal and stage 
coach, arrived at Danville, November 20, 1854, and at once entered the employ of 
Tincher & English, as their bookkeeper. On the night of his arrival in Danville 
accompanied by Mr. Palmer, Mr. Phillips called at the store and before leaving, 
Mr. Tincher said, "Do you wish to go to work in the morning, or look around the 
town?" The reply promptly came: "I want to begin my duties at once." In May, 
1860, Mr. Phillips was appointed agent for Danville of the Home Fire Insurance 
Company of New York, and he enjoys the enviable distinction of being in one 
business the longest continuous number of years of any business man in the city, 
if not in the entire state of Illinois. The Danville agency is 712 and its 
company now has probably 15,000 agencies. The Home Insurance Company, was, at 
that time, only seven years old.

	Mr. Phillips has a silver and also a gold medal from the Home, denoting 
twenty-five and afterward fifty years of continuous service as local agent. 
There are no other gold medals of that company in Illinois, and only five in the 
entire United States. Mr. Phillips also enjoys the distinction of being the 
longest continuous Building and Loan 'Association manager in Danville and 
doubtless in the entire state. His career in that branch of his business dates 
from November, 1873, and he only resigned the office of secretary of the 
Danville Building Association, in favor of his son Samuel Frazier Phillips, in 
January, 1910. Mr. Phillips was made a Mason in 1856 by William E. Russell, then 
Master of Olive Branch lodge in this city. By reason of the death of Mr. 
Russell, Mr. Phillips by special dispensation of the Grand Master of Masons in 
this state, was elected Master of Olive Branch lodge, having never been elected 
a Warden. This was in 1858. Mr. Phillips doubtless enjoys the distinction of 
being the oldest living Past Master Mason in Illinois, whose first election as 
Master of a lodge dates as early as 1858. During the Civil War and after the 
office of Internal Revenue Collector Eighth Congressional District, comprising 
the counties of Vermilion, Iroquois, Ford, Champaign, Piatt, Macon, Moultrie, 
Cumberland, Douglas, Coles and Edgar was located in this city, Mr. Phillips was 
Deputy Collector, under W. T. Cunningham, collector.

	Soon after the 15th of April, 1865, Mr. Phillips, as well as other 
employees of the U. S. government wore by order of the commissioner of Internal 
Revenue, a band of black crepe on the left arm for thirty days in commemoration 
of the death of President Lincoln.

	November 24, 1859, Mr. Phillips was married to Miss Angeline, daughter of 
Captain Samuel Frazier. To that union were born the following named children: 
Annie Laurie, Jennie Louisa, Edwin Frazier, Frank Chipman, Leona. Florence 
Josephine, Samuel Frazier, and Corinne Angeline. November 27, 1909, these highly 
esteemed people celebrated the close of fifty years of wedded life surrounded by 
their children, fourteen grandchildren, and two hundred friends, many of them of 
the long ago. Mr. Phillips at this date, December 3, 1910, enjoys robust health, 
and spends from six to eight hours daily in the Insurance and Building 
Association office of Phillips, Snapp & Espencheid, of which firm he is yet an 
active member.

	Joseph M. Satterthwait was another of the new comers of 1854. He settled 
on a farm near Rossville in Vermilion County. He was the third postmaster of 
Rossville.

	In 1862 he moved into Indiana and settled near Indianapolis, where he 
remained for ten years when he returned to Illinois and settled at Hoopeston, 
where he lived up to the time of his death on September 21, 1877. Mr. 
Satterthwait left four daughters, all of whom were settled in homes of their 
own. He lived a strict member of the Society of Friends.

	W. R. Nesbitt came to Vermilion County in 1855, and starting with little 
of this world's goods he accumulated a good farm. He has been engaged in the 
fruit culture to a greater extent than any other man of recent years. Mr. 
Nesbitt has been prominent in the Holiness movement of the county, which has 
resulted in the establishment of the institution of learning located at 
Georgetown.

	Asa M. Bushnell, the Bismarck merchant and moneyed man of Vermilion 
County, came with his parents to Vermilion County while yet a small boy in about 
1855. They first settled in Newell township, but after a few years moved back to 
Cook County, returning to Vermilion County in a few years when they settled in 
Rossville. In 1873 he began his career as a merchant. He afterward went to 
Bismarck, where he was subsequently postmaster and in a general merchandise 
store in partnership with Mr. Francis M. Gundy.

	Mr. Spencer N. Monroe opened a jewelry store in a small frame house on the 
southwest corner of the plaza in 1855. From here he went to No. 67 West Main 
street. Here he remained as a fixture of the street, others coming and going 
around him, but his store was the same for many years, until his death.

	Peter Walsh, another well known citizen of Danville, came in this same 
year of 1855. He came from New York city, an orphan seeking friends. He enlisted 
in the Union army in 1861 and served three years doing good service. He was in 
Company K, Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers. After the close of the war he 
studied law, attending the law school at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was admitted 
to the bar in 1867. While studying he was in the office of Mark Hawes. Mr. Walsh 
was popular and held several offices of trust. He was city attorney, for five 
terms and states attorney for the county.

	Danville had a new city charter in 1855.

	The Newell Horse Company was organized in 1854 and held its first 
quarterly meeting in October of that year. This company was composed of many of 
the best citizens of Newell township. The earliest records have been destroyed. 
The object and purpose of this organization are expressed in the preamble to the 
constitution as follows: "to shield us from the depredations of horse-thieves, 
counterfeiters, and swindlers, and to afford mutual assistance in reclaiming 
stolen horses and in apprehending thieves."

	Up to this time there had been much trouble in this part of the county on 
account of horse-thieves-a man's property was always in peril. Just over in 
Indiana there was a nest of horse-thieves who combined counterfeiting with this 
other breaking of the law. A combination against them was imperative. To this 
end John Deck, Sr., George Lucky and a few other men who had suffered from them 
and vainly had urged other men to organize some means of protection, made a 
compact, pledging themselves to assist to protect one another. Soon others were 
attracted to the compact and when the number reached twenty-five, an 
organization was effected at a meeting at the Navoo schoolhouse, a constitution 
and by-laws was adopted and officers elected. This body grew in number and 
efficiency until it became a standing menace to the depredators and a valuable 
protection to the law-abiding citizens of the community. Counterfeiting presses 
were captured, stolen property was recovered, and horse-thieves and 
counterfeiters ferreted out and apprehended. The gang which infested this 
country was broken up and one of their number was so thoroughly overawed (his 
name was Lane) that whenever he was asked for information he gave it so 
completely as to convict his associates. He afterwards moved to another county 
where he and his son became notorious as counterfeiters and thieves and were, 
both of them, killed. One case of summary execution is on record of the early 
days of this organization. A horse had been stolen; the thief was overtaken at 
Beaver Lake, and he was about to escape. Abiah Lucky could not bear to see him 
get away so he snatched a fowling piece from the hands of a gamester among the 
crowd and commanded a halt on the part of the man pursued. This demand was not 
heeded and Mr. Lucky shot him on the spot, killing him instantly.

	The meeting places of this organization were at the Navoo schoolhouse at 
first and later at the Rutledge schoolhouse and yet later at the Smith 
schoolhouse. This organization was one of forty-eight similar ones, all 
belonging to the Wabash general association of detective companies. These 
companies saved property and life at a time when nothing else could do so.

	J. E. Tuttle became a resident of Vermilion County in 1856, locating at 
Myersville. He began the study of medicine with Dr. Henton there, in 1862, and 
three years later became a graduate of Rush Medical College. He returned to 
Vermilion County and began practice at Blue Grass. Here he remained until 1869 
when he went to Myersville, practicing there until 1874- when he went to 
Danville, where he lived the rest of his life.

	H. M. Kimball was one of the men who came from New England and made his 
home in Vermilion County. He was a native of New Hampshire spending the early 
part of his life in that state. He came to the middle states and did some 
construction work on the railroads in 1856. A great part of this was the stone 
piers and abutments of the Wabash railroad at Danville. He located here and 
superintended that work and when it was complete, he established the first 
marble works at Danville. He later went into the grocery business and yet later 
kept a furniture store. He accumulated much property and later in life retired 
and enjoyed his last years without work. Mr. Kimball died in 1907 leaving his 
wife and one daughter, who had become the wife of W. R. Jewell, Jr. Another new 
comer in 1856 was Mr. J. H. Palmer, who made Danville his home, coming from New 
York. These two men came from the east and several came to the county from the 
South, among whom was J. P. Cloyd, coming from Tennessee. He taught school for 
six years, when he read medicine and attended lectures at Rush Medical College, 
graduating and settling at Georgetown, where he practiced his profession ever 
since. He married Miss Hannah Golden, a native of Vermilion County.

	Joseph McClure came to Vermilion County, a miller and ground the first 
grist in the Henderson and Kyger mill. He later was with the firm of M. M. 
Wright.

	Mr. A. C. Daniel was one of the most prominent men in Vermilion County for 
many years. He was identified with the coal interests of the section during its 
most prosperous period more conspicuously than any other man unless, perhaps, 
Michael Kelley.

	Mr. Daniel was born in Roxbury, New York, in 1835, and was a young man of 
twenty-two, when he came to Illinois, locating in Danville. His entire 
possessions at that time was an extra suit of clothing and $2.50 in money.

	The coal mine attracted him from the first, and he worked in every 
department so that his knowledge of the coal interests was practical to the 
extreme. Mr. Daniel accumulated wealth and died not only a rich but a very 
influential man. He married the daughter of L. T. Palmer.

	Raymond W. Hanford was a popular citizen of Danville, as lawyer, editor 
and politician. He came to Danville in 1856 and was a poor boy. He was born in 
Ohio. He was obliged to leave home when but fifteen years old to learn the 
printer's trade. He studied law under the instruction of J. M. Lesley, after he 
came to Danville, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. He responded to the first 
call for troops from the government, enlisting for three months, and when the 
term of service was over he reenlisted for three years. He remained with his 
regiment during all this time, returning in 1864 to Danville and went into 
partnership with H. W. Beckwith in the practice of law. He was elected county 
judge in 1868 and held that office for more than ten years.

	William Mann, the merchant, came from Philadelphia, about this time, 
locating in Danville. In 1861 he enlisted in the Twelfth Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, Company C, first for three months, and after the term was ended he 
reenlisted for the remainder of the service. He was in the army until the close 
of the war when he returned and again became a merchant with a line of dry 
goods, remaining in this business the remainder of his life.

	In 1857 Abraham Gernand settled in Danville and for a year and a half was 
in the lumber business. In the spring of 1859 he bought 320 acres of land two 
miles north of Rossville and later added to this farm until the farm became one 
of value.

	John Leemon came to this county in 1857, locating on a 444 acre farm of 
unimproved land near Mr. Hoopes in the northern part of Vermilion County. He 
lived here alone, improving his farm and boarding at Mr. Hoopes.

	John Beard has been a conspicuous citizen of Vermilion County during the 
years he has resided here. He came here when but a boy, and as soon as he had 
reached the years that warranted it he became a merchant giving his attention to 
the grocery trade. Growing ever of more and more influence, Mr. Beard had the 
community dominated and turning his attention to politics, he was before long 
the leader of his party. It was through the influence of Mr. Beard that the 
democratic party grew in power and Danville became a democratic town. Mr. Beard 
was a shrewd politician and had a faculty of turning the desires of men his way. 
He possessed all the characteristics of a successful politician and held the 
city of Danville in his power for years. Only poor health and at last complete 
failure of strength weakened his power. He has become a confirmed invalid.

	Leonard Myers came to Vermilion County in 1858, and began dealing in 
stock, having a farm. This he kept up for about five years when he moved to 
Danville and began the butchering trade. At the same time he continued buying 
and selling stock, horses being the particular line he most favored. He shipped 
many carloads to the east. He was more than a decade in the office of marshal of 
the city of Danville and was a very well known citizen of this community.

	Mr. Myers was very well liked by every one and the police department of 
the city was apparently his permanent care. Mr. Myers spent his remaining life 
in Danville after he located here.

	Joseph Shipner came to Danville in 1858 and hardly became settled before 
he entered the army as volunteer. Mr. Shipner was in the service during the war 
and upon his return he became superintendent of Mr. Bowers' mill.

	After filling this position for eleven years he and his son formed a 
partnership and became merchants, taking the line of groceries.

	T. H. Myers, the express agent, was very popular because of his suave 
manners notwithstanding he had but minority influence in his politics. Mr. Myers 
came from Virginia and located in Danville at a time when southern ideas and 
institutions were not at all popular with the majority of people. Mr. Myers 
opened a grocery store when he first came to Danville and later became the agent 
for the U. S. Express company and yet later of the American Express company.

	Fred Buy is yet a grocer who came in 1858. He had been but one year's 
distance from Prussia, when he came and worked for five years in the Danville 
Woolen mills. He then began clerking in a dry goods store where he remained for 
a year, then went into the grocery store of E. B. Martin & Company. His 
experience as clerk taught him the business and he has had a grocery store of 
his own for these last years, where he has made a comfortable living.

	Harry Raimer is now starting to change his residence which has for thirty-
two years been in Danville, Illinois. He came here in 1858 and has resided here 
continuously, ever since. He was a tailor and has for more than a quarter of a 
century made clothing for many of the men of Danville and vicinity. Mr. Raimer 
leaves this winter, with his wife for the Pacific slope to make his home. His 
one daughter lives in Oregon, and his son livens in Danville. Mr. Raimer married 
Miss Caroline Payton, granddaughter of Mr. Valentine Payton, Sr.

	Bryon Haggard was a favorite merchant in the sixties and early seventies 
in Danville. He was residing in LaFayette, Indiana, when in 1858 he was offered 
a position in the store of Mr. Moore at Danville, which he accepted arriving in 
his new home in 1858. Mr. Moore sold out in a few years and Mr. Haggard went 
into partnership with Mr. Miller. The firm of Miller & Haggard confined their 
line to boots and shoes and continued until 1861, when they were burned out. But 
they were plucky and rented a small store room and put in a new stock of boots 
and shoes, which increased and when after a short time Mr. Miller went out of 
the firm, Mr. Hagagrd continued the business as long as he lived. Mr. Haggard 
died in 1872, leaving a family of four daughters as well as his wife.

	Charles Keesler came to Vermilion County in 1858 and established his new 
home in Pilot township. He yet lives there a retired farmer of means. His son 
has been prominent in politics and he himself was for some time the chairman of 
the board of supervisors.

	James Knight came to Danville in 1858, being interested in work for the 
Wabash railroad. He was conductor for a number of years and finally located in 
Danville, being station agent for that railroad. Later he was interested in the 
boot and shoe business and then in buying and selling real estate, but he gave 
up all business for several years before his death. In 1860 Mr. Knight married 
Miss Elizabeth Probst, and they were the parents of three children, one son and 
two daughters. Mr. Knight died in 1900. In 1858 James Hoover came to the eastern 
edge of Vermilion county, where he located in Stateline. He there was in the 
building trade and remained there until 1871, when he changed his residence to 
Ross township, where he had a farm of 160 acres, upon which he lived and which 
he improved until he retired to Alvin in 1899.

	Among the new comers of 1859, one in particular is to be counted, who was 
a man well known at home and away during the years of rapid development of 
Vermilion County in the seventies and eighties and indeed until his death. So 
prominent a citizen was he that he has been chosen as a distinguished citizen 
and will be considered in the chapter devoted to them.

	Dr. J. M. Wilkin began his career as a practitioner in Vermilion County, 
in 1859, settling in Conkeytown. There he remained until 1863 when he went to 
Fail-mount, where he resided until 1880, when he moved to Kansas. He made 
several moves after this and returned to Fairmount in 1901 and again took up his 
practice in Vermilion County.

	N. A. Kimball became a resident of Vermilion County in 1859. His home was 
in New Hampshire, and he came to work for Colonel Chandler, who needed some one 
to act as weigh-master in the coal mines. He worked at this for some time and 
then for three years was farming, after which he engaged in various enterprises 
until in 1872 he formed a partnership with Chas. W. Morrison, and went into the 
furniture trade. They did business together for two years and Mr. Kimball sold 
out and four months later took the stock of coffins and from that time on 
carried on a business of selling coffins. He kept up this business until his 
death.

	The Farmers and Mechanics Institute was organized in 1859 and held annual 
fairs for many years there afterward. Their grounds were adjacent to the limits 
of Danville as it was at that time, on the north, now of Seminary Street.

	There were sixteen acres bought and laid out and the fairs were for a time 
popular and profitable. A good showing of blooded stock was always to be found 
there and many mechanical displays made a crowd always to be found. The first 
officers were president, L. T. Dickason; vice president, James Knight; 
secretary, W. M. Bandy; assistant secretary, W. S. McCenathen; treasurer, V. 
LeSeure.

	While the vote to form a new county which came before the town meeting in 
1857 was voted down, by a big majority, the proposition to erect the county of 
Ford in 1859, met an enthusiastic support.

	This same year the question was up before the people, whether to continue 
township organization and was overwhelmingly in favor of continuance.

	The greatest land sale ever known in eastern Illinois and western Indiana 
was conducted by John Sidell.

	John Sidell was living in the northern part of Edgar County until in 1860 
when he began his operations in Vermilion County. He came into this county and, 
using borrowed money, bought up the land which up to this time had been owned by 
small farmers. These small farms he combined and bought yet more and more land. 
At last he had reached the amount of 6,000 acres. Mr. Sidell was not yet a rich 
land owner because he did not yet own any considerable extent unhindered by any 
debt. That fact occasioned the great sale. Mr. Sidell spared no trouble nor 
expense, for the sale was to be the most extensive ever had in the county, and 
it was to be the chance for him to keep the remainder of the six thousand acres.

	John Sidell's father died when he was but eight years old and he was 
obliged to make his own way early in life. His home was in Ohio and when he was 
nineteen years old he went on horseback through Illinois and Iowa, looking for 
something to do better than he could find in Ohio. Not being satisfied with what 
he found he went back to Ohio and engaged to cut cordwood at thirty-three and a 
third cents per cord. When he went west he was getting the sum of twelve dollars 
per month. This was small wages for hard work but he stuck to it until he found 
something better.

	When Mr. Sidell came to Illinois he settled not far from Paris in Edgar 
County and grazed cattle until he could buy some for himself. He was something 
of a carpenter but was determined to find some means of speedily making money. 
He rode across Illinois and Iowa, crossing Illinois nine times on horseback. He 
traveled through Texas, being in that state before it was one of the states of 
the United States. Sam Houston was the great sovereign of that country at that 
time, and John Sidell built him a house. At last Mr. Sidell looked upon the land 
of southern Vermilion County to covet it and he went to work on a great land 
deal. Borrowing money to make the purchase, he went into the farms of what is 
now Sidell township and bought them as far as he could, paying the price asked 
for whatever he could. It is said to this day that he was stopped only by the 
determination of Mr. Sconce, who in his turn had already transformed the small 
farms into his fine farm, to keep the land. A record of an old collector's book 
seen the other day is to the effect that the farm's in the southern part of'the 
county were all small, of perhaps eighty or even less acres. Early settlers had 
spent a limited sum in entering land and then he sold to those coming afterward 
in yet smaller parts. All these small farms were objects of Mr. Sidell's desire 
and he accumulated seven thousand acres before he sold out any. Mr. Sidell's 
money came quickly when he had bought western cattle on these fertile fields 
made ever more fertile by their presence. He sold off his land to the amount he 
needed to carry him over and secure the land he desired to save. Mr. Sidell went 
into politics and was elected to the legislature. He was a man of strong 
personality and very generous impulses. He was liberal in giving to advance the 
enterprises he thought for the good of the public welfare. He was instrumental 
in taking the C. & E. I. R. R. to Sidell and freely donated the right of way. 
People had confidence in him and business men invested their money there.

	Mr. Sidell was a natural promoter and at one time himself chartered a 
train and ran it free from Columbus, Ohio, to Sidell, Vermilion County, for the 
benefit of people who wanted to make their homes in the west. Sidell was laid 
out in 1884 and Mr. Sidell lived to see its marvelous growth, but not to carry 
out any possible plans he had for its future. He died in the early days of 1889 
and was buried with the honors of the Masonic order.