ILLINOIS GENEALOGY EXPRESS

A Part of GENEALOGY EXPRESS

COLES COUNTY,
ILLINOIS

LA FAYETTE TOWNSHIP
pg. 478 - 489

Source:  History of Coles County, Illinois - Chicago - Wm. LeBaron, Jr., & Co. - 1879

     This township, situated in the western part of the county, contains thirty-six sections, therefore agrees with the Congressional township in common with a few others of like size in the county.  The surface of the country is somewhat diversified.  It is, however, rather inclined to the appearance of an ordinary prairie, save where a stream courses through it.  From the fact that a large part of the township is prairie land it was not fully settled till after the advent of the railroads.  These coming through the level part, opened a highway for the more speedy transportation of products, and caused the before uncultivated prairie to soon abound in farms, and to change from a condition of nature to homes of plenty.  Kickapoo Creek and Riley's Creek are the only streams of water found here.  The former, the largest of the two, flows through the township from east to west, a little south of the center, and, after passing on through Charleston Township, finds an outlet in the Embarrass.  The creek derived its name from an ancient tribe of Indians who once resided on its banks.  Riley's Creek runs through the northern tier of sections from the west to the east, and finds in Charleston Township an outlet in the Kickapoo.  Neither of these streams is of sufficient size to afford any practical use, save drainage.  Each is skirted by belts of timber, wherein the pioneers found homes partially protected from the rude blasts of the early winters.  In the northwest part of the township are one or two small groves, the largest and most notable of which is the Dead Man's Grove, so named from a mournful incident, related in the county history.  The groves and timber along the streams furnished, in early days, a good supply of building-timber.  This has largely been removed since the settlement began, leaving only a growth inferior in size and quality, and chiefly used for fire-wood.  The products of La Fayette Township are the cereals (the chief of which is corn), cattle and hogs.  Of late, fine stock has attracted considerable attention among the farmers, and is now taking the place of the inferior quality seen heretofore.  Corn is raised in immense quantities, and is largely used in feeding stock.  The Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad affords good facilities for shipment East or West, while at Mattoon the Illinois Central offers equally good outlets to Southern and Northern markets.  Of late years, many farmers have borrowed money at 10 per cent interest, which several could not pay, and hence much land has fallen into the hands of the non-resident owners.  The effect of this policy, in the end, will be a cut large farms into smaller ones, and give the township more freeholders.  The policy of borrowing money and mortgaging a farm has proved evil here as elsewhere, and is teaching the farmers that no legitimate business will pay such a per cent and at the same time maintain itself.  It will ruin any man; and while it will effect the deprivation of many of their homes, it will, in the end, as suggested, cut these farms into smaller portions, held at first by renters who eventually will own them.

THE PIONEERS.

"Before them, then, were bending skies;
 Behind them, now proud cities rise;
 And where the father's cabin fell,
 The sons in stately mansions dwell.

"Before them leaped the prairie fires,
 Behind them gleam a hundred spires;
 And where the panther made his lair,
 The godly meet for praise and prayer.

"Before them all was waste and wild,
 Before them blooming gardens smile;
 And where the thorn and thistle grew,
 The dahlias drink the morning dew.

"Before them stretched a trackless plain,
 Behind them waving fields of grain;
 And where the wild beast roamed and fed,
 The toiler eats his daily bread.

"Before them lay an unknown land,
 A myriad homes behind them stand;
 And where the hissing serpent crept,
 The little child in peace hath slept."
 - George B. Balch.

     The picture drawn by Mr. Balch is not in the least overdrawn.  Before the pioneer lay a trackless wilderness; behind him is a garden.  The first settlers in this township found it a waste; those that survive them see it filled with the homes of plenty, largely the work of those pioneers whose memory we now preserve.
     During the summer of 1825, several persons were in this part of Illinois, prospecting, hunting and seeking homes.  Among them were Samuel Henry and John Robinson, of Crawford County.  They spent some time on the Kickapoo, hunting and examining the different sections of country adjacent.  finding an excellent soil, plenty of timber and water enough for all practical purposes, they determined to make this their home.  Robinson soon brought his wife to this place, and set about building a camp.  Henry, on his return to Crawford County, hired John Veach to bring him, his family and their effects to the new home.  Then there were but very few settlers in the present limits of Coles County, and, what few there were, were pioneers in the truest sense of the word.  Mr. Veach, not caring for the journey, sent his son Jesse, then eighteen years of age, and an expert hunter and frontiersman.  On the 18th of December, he loaded the Henry family into the old Virginia wagon, hitched his ox and horse teams to it, and prepared for the journey.  That night they went to the cabin of S. H. Bates, father of John Bates, now well known in Coles County, and remained with them till morning.  Mr. Bates was also ready to come with them, having heard of the richness of the soil here, and the promise of a competence in after-life.  That night, the two families got to where Isaac Lewis lived, not far from where the present town of Robinson is situated, where they remained overnight.  They found, on their arrival here, that Ben Parker, an early settler in Coles, which, it must be recollected, did not then exist in name, was here to take Mr. Lewis back with him.  It will be observed that neither Mr. Henry nor Mr. Lewis had teams of their own.  They were too poor to own any, and were, therefore, dependent on their neighbors for such accommodations as they could get.  The three families made the journey in four days.  The first day out, they got as far as Eaton's mill, on the north fork of the Embarrass.  The second day, to Long Point, where they camped, there being no habitation near.  The third day, they got to a camp where George Parker now lives, where they got some corn for their teams.  The evening of the fourth day, they arrived at the unfinished cabin of Mr. Bates, which they completed, so they could find shelter therein, and remained there for the night.  The cabin was inclosed and covered, but no doors made nor any chimney built.  The next day, Mr. Veach started for the Kickapoo timber with Mr. Henry's family.  He got to the camp made by Robinson about the middle of the afternoon, unloaded his wagon, and returned to the Bates cabin to remain overnight/  The next day he started home, reaching it in a few days time.
     Mr. Henry and his family reached their new home on the afternoon of Dec. 25, 1825.  They were alone in this part of the country - no one west of them for many miles.  A few settlers were in the eastern part of the county, but none nearer than the cabin of Mr. Bates, whom they left that morning.  On their way up from Crawford County, they met Robinson and his wife, with their ox-team going back to the settlement, where they expected to remain during the winter.  They informed them an unfinished camp was awaiting them, and told them how they had left, expecting to return in the spring.  Mr. Henry and his wife set about, immediately on their arrival, making themselves as comfortable as they could, and, as the winter was rather mild, experienced but little hardship.  They found wild honey and game abundant, and suffered none for provisions.  They had brought corn enough to supply themselves with corn-bread, and with that and the abundant wild food fared well while alone in the woods.  Early in the spring, Robinson and his wife returned with
[pg. 481]  MORE TO COME....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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