ILLINOIS GENEALOGY EXPRESS

A Part of Genealogy Express
 

Welcome to
Montgomery County, Illinois
History & Genealogy

 

 

History
of
Montgomery County
together with
Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley,
Gleaned from Early Authors, Old Maps and Manuscripts,
Private and Official Correspondence, and Other
Authentic, Though, For the Most Part,
Out of the Way Sources.
By H. W. Beckwith,
of the Danville Bar;
Corresponding Member of the Hsitorical Societies of
Wisconsin and Chicago
---
With Map and Illustrations
---
Chicago:
H. H. Hill and N. Iddings, Publishers.
1881

PART I.


First Court House of Montgomery County.
(From plans and Specifications on file from the archives of this county)
 

CHAPTER I. - 11
  Topography
 - The drainage of the Lakes and the Mississippi, and the Indian and French names by which they were severally called		  
CHAPTER II. - 17
   - Drainage of the Illinois and Wabash
 - Their tributary streams
 - The portages connecting the drainage to the Atlantic with that of the Gulf		  
CHAPTER III. - 21
   - The ancient Maumee Valley
 - Geological features
 - The portage of the Wabash and the Kankakee		  
CHAPTER IV. - 26
   - The rainfall
 - Cultivation of the soil tends to equalize rainfall, and prevent the recurrence of droughs and floods.		  
CHAPTER V. - 29
   - Origin of the prairie
 - Their former extent
 - Gradual encroachment of the forest
 - Prairie fires
 - Aboriginal names of the prairies, and the Indians who lived exclusively upon them.		  
CHAPTER VI. - 37
   - Early French discoveries
 - Jaques Cartier ascends the St. Lawrence in 1535
 - Samuel Champlain founds Quebec in 1608
 - In 1642 Montreal is established
 - Influence of Quebec and Montreal upon the Northwest continues until subsequent to the war of 1812
 - Spanish discoveries of the lower Mississippi in 1825,		  
CHAPTER VII -
48
   - Joliet and Marquette's Voyage
 - Father Marquette's Journal, descriptive of the journey and the country through which they traveled
 - BIOGRAPHICAL Sketches of Marquette and Joliet		  
CHAPTER VIII. - 54
   - La Salle's Voyage
 - BIOGRAPHICAL Sketch of La Salle
 - Sketch of Father Hennepin and the merit of his writings		  
CHAPTER IX. - 63
   - La Salle's Voyage continued
 - He erects Fort Miamis		  
CHAPTER X. - 72
   - The several rivers called the Miamies
 - La Salle's route down the Illinois
 - The Kankakee Marshes
 - The French and Indian names of the Kankakee and Des Plaines
 - The Illinois
 - "Fort Crevecoeur"
 - The whole valley of the great river taken possession of in the name of the King of France		  
CHAPTER XI. - 87
   - Death of La Salle, in attempting to establish a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi
 - Chicago Creek
 - The origin of the name
 - La Salle assassinated and his colony destroyed
 - Second attempt of France, under Mons. Iberville, in 1699, to establish settlements on the Gulf
 - The Western Company
 - Law's scheme of inflation and its consequences 		 
CHAPTER XII. - 96
   - Surrender of Louisiana to the French Crown in 1781
 - Early routes by way of the Kankakee, Chicago Creek, the Ohio, the Maumee and Wabash described
 - The Maumee and Wabash, and the number of origin of their several names
 - Indian villages		  
CHAPTER XIII. - 105
   - Aboriginal inhabitants
 - The several Illinois tribes
 - Of the name Illinois, and its origin
 - The Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Tamaroas, Peorias and Metchigamis, subdivisions of the Illinois Confederacy
 - The tradition concerning the Iroquois River
 - Their decline and removal westward of the Missouri		  
CHAPTER XIV. - 119
   - The Miamis
 - The Miami, Piankeshaw and Wea bands
 - Their superiority and their military disposition
 - Their trade and difficulties with teh French and the English
 - They are upon the Maumee and Wabash
 - Their Villages
 - They defeat the Iroquois
 - They trade with the English, and incur the anger of the French
 - Their bravery
 - Their decline -
 - Destructive effects of intemperance
 - Cession of their lands in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio
 - Their removal westward and present condition.		  
CHAPTER XV. - 137
   - The Pottawatomies
 - Originally from the north and east of Lake Huron
 - Their migrations by way of Mackinaw to the country west of Lake Michigan, and thence south and eastward
 - Their games
 - Origin of the name Pottawatomie
 - Occupy a portion of the country of the Miamis along the Wabash
 - Their villages
 - At peace with the United States after the war of 1812
 - Cede their lands
 - Their exodus from the Wabash, the Kankakee and Wabash		  
CHAPTER XVI. - 153
   - The Kickapoos and Mascoutins reside about Saginaw Bay in 1612; on Fox River, Wisconsin, in 1670
 - Their reception of the Catholic fathers
 - On the Maumee in 1712
 - In southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois
 - Migrate to the Wabash
 - Dwellers of the prairie
 - Their destruction at the siege of Detroit
 - Nearly destroy the Illinois and Piankeshaws, and occupy their country
 - Join Tecumseh in a body
 - They, with the Winnebagoes, attack Fort Harrison
 - Their country between the Illinois and Wabash
 - Their resemblance to the Sac and Fox Indians		  
CHAPTER XVIII. - 170
   - The Shawnees and Delawares
 - Originally east of the Alleghany Mountains
 - Are subdued and driven out by the Iroquois
 - They war on the American settlements
 - Their villages on the Big and Little Miamis, the St. Mary's, the Au Glaize, Maumee and Wabash
 - The Delawares
 - Made women of by the Iroquois
 - Their country on White River, Indiana, and eastward defined
 - They, with the Shawnees, sent west of the Mississippi 		 
CHAPTER XVIII. - 180
   - The Indians
 - Their implements, utensils, fortifications, mounds, manners and customs		  
CHAPTER XIX. - 195
   - Stone implements used by the Indians before they came in contact with the Europeans
 - Illustrations of various kinds of stone implements, and suggestions as to their probable uses		  
CHAPTER XX. - 208
   - The war for the fur trade
 - Former abundance of wild animals and water-fowl in the Northwest
 - The buffalo; their range, their numbers, and final disappearance
 - Value of the fur trade; its importance to Canada		  
CHAPTER XXI. - 234
   - The war for the empire
 - English claims to the Northwest
 - Deeds from the Iroquois to a large part of the country.		  
CHAPTER XXII. - 234
   - Pontiac's war to recover the country from the English
 - Pontiac's confederacy falls to pieces
 - The country turned over to the English
 - Pontiac's death 		 
CHAPTER XXIII. - 245
   - Gen. Clark's conquest of the "Illinois"
 - The Revolutionary war
 - Sketch of Gen. Clark
 - His manuscript memoir of his march to the Illinois
 - He captures Kaskaskia
 - The surrender of Vincennes
 - Capt. Helm surprises a convoy of English boats at the mouth of the Vermilion River
 - Organization of the northwest territory into Illinois county of Virginia		  

HISTORY
OF
MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Topography 1
Early history 9
A Noted Criminal trial 28
Montgomery County in the war of the rebellion 31
Roll of officers in the civil war 33
The honored dead 44
Railroads of Montgomery County 111
County officers 114
UNION TOWNSHIP 116
  Crawfordsville - 116
 - Organization of city - 132
 - Additions - 137
 - Benevolent Orders - 142
 - Fire Department - 147
 - Trades and professions - 149
 - Wabash College - 153
Biographical - 159		  
BROWN TOWNSHIP 319
   - Lake Harney - 322
 - Public improvements - 324
 - Early history - 325
 - Organization - 327
 - Towns and villages - 329
 - Secret Orders - 333
 - Churches - 336
 - Brown's Valley - 345
 - New market - 346
 - Biographical - 362		  
WALNUT TOWNSHIP
362
   - Towns - 368
 - Schools and churches - 370
 - Lodges - 371
 - Biographical - 374		  
SCOTT TOWNSHIP 406
   - Biographical - 414  
MADISON TOWNSHIP 431
   - Lodges - 433
 - Churches - 434
 - Biographical - 435		  
CLARK TOWNSHIP 443
   - Biographical - 452  
COAL CREEK TOWNSHIP 476
   - Schools - 484
 - Churches - 485
 - Meharry Grove - 488
 - Biographical - 488		  
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP 521
   - Organization - 525
 - Early history - 526
 - First land sales - 527
 - Early improvements - 528
 - Biographical - 540		  
SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP 562
   - Biographical - 562  
RIPLEY TOWNSHIP 583
   - Biographical - 587  
WAYNE TOWNSHIP 590
   - Biographical - 592  

 

 

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