OKAW TOWNSHIP.
Pgs. 297

( SHELBY COUNTY. )

     THIS township is comprised within the boundaries of town 12, range 4, Shelby county.  It has an area of thirty-six square miles, bounded on, the north by Moultrie county and Todd's Point township, east by Windsor, on the south by Shelbyville township, on the west by Ridge.

     Drainage - It is drained on the east and south by the Okaw river, Coon and Sand Creeks, furnishing an abundant supply of water for stock and other purposes.  The greater part of this township was covered with a heavy growth of timber, the only place the early pioneer thought a man could exist in, therefore we find settlers here in 1823.  Daniel Francisco, a native of Alabama, in the year 1832 came and settled on Section 33, on the east side of the Okaw; the cabin stood a little south of  the  mouth of Coon Creek, on the hill side; about four years after he bought the Ledbetter property, on the Okaw or Kaskaskia river, where the Ledbetter mill stood; this mill was washed away in one of our old time freshets, and Francisco built another on the same site; that was the first water ill built in this part of the county, and was considered an excellent mill for those times.   The lumber used in the building of this mill was sawed out by hand.  It was a saw and grist mill combined and the bolting chests were run by hand for a number of years.  Francisco sold the mill to Hadley Brothers, who built an addition to the same and fitted up a distillery, and ran it some five or six years when it was burned down, and as Mr. F. failed to secure his pay, he was obliged to take back the property and again rebuild the mill, which he ran for several years.  He raised a family of ten boys; nine are now living in this township, all born in Shelby county; the oldest is 56 years of age, the youngest 32.  Eight of them served in various regiments through the war of the Rebellion; one as sutler of the 126th Infantry Regiment.  Mr. Francisco died in 1859.  At the time of his death he was possessed of about 2,230 acres of land, and quite an amount of personal property.
     Daniel Dawdy settled in the edge of the timber in what was called Lakey Bend, in the year 1827, also James E. Rose, who settled on Section 11, and has been a resident of this county since the year 1827.  His father, Sherman Rose, was one of the first settlers on the Vandalia road, in what is now Rose township.  John, William and James Ward, three brothers from Kentucky, settled in the county in the year 1830.  John settled in what is now known as Todd's Point.  They have all passed away to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns."  Simon Earp, a native of Kentucky, settled on Section 2, in 1828, the place now known as Spicer estate; he purchased the improvements from the widow Kinsey, who had built a log cabin.  Earp lived upon this place until his death in 1841.  Four of his children reside in the county; one in Moultrie, one in Macon and two in Indiana.  William Sandusky and William Dazey came about the same time from Kentucky.  Dazey bought the improvements of Nathan Rice, Section 26, near Todd's Point, where he lived about one year; he then moved south and began the improvements where J. L. Walters now resides; he also started the place where James Earp now lives, who purchased them and afterward entered the land.
     Sandusky settled on the north-west quarter of section 2; he only lived here a short time after his arrival.  In 1832 came Reuben Terry and Bushrod Henry.  Terry settled near what is now the center of the township.  Henry settled the place where James Tolly now lives.  John L. Walters, who was a native of Virginia, came to this state from Kentucky, where he had resided a few years, married, and in 1827, came to Illinois and settled at Brook's Point, five or six miles from Danville, Vermillion county.  He lived there seven years, then came to Shelby county, and settled in what is now Okaw township, section 14.  When he first settled in Illinois, quite a number of the native Red Men were to be seen.  He has been twice married, is 80 years of age, hale, hearty, full of life and energy.
     Whitfield Turney and William, his brother, natives of Kentucky, came and settled here in 1833.  William returned to Kentucky in 1835; Whitfield settled on section 16; he died in 1874.  F. G. F., son of Whitfield, resided on section 16, and is one of our foremost farmers and a breeder of Cotswold sheep.  Lemuel Dazey, father of William, came from Kentucky in 1833, and bought a cabin and improvements of Samuel Hall, situated on section 11, where he lived until his death in 1842.  After his demise, William his son resided on the old place until death.
     Littleton Fruit, a native of Maryland, settled here in 1830, on Coon creek, section 21.  He improved a farm, raising a family of nine children, five boys and four girls.  Two of his sons are prominent farmers of the township, L. W., who was born in what is now Okaw township in 1831, resides on the old homestead.
     John Claridge, who settled here in 1830, was the Methodist preacher of early days, who instructed us in the road we ought to travel to the world hereafter, - a good man and much respected; his son William's widow resides on the old homestead.  Randolph Mahony, who settled here in 1835, was a brother, in the name of the Lord, who inclined to the doctrines of Methodism and taught the same to the early settlers, going form house to house, so that none could complain or find an excuse for waywardness.  P. Spicer settled here about 1835; he was a native of Kentucky.  He came to this county from Danville, Illinois.  Other early settlers, were Jacob Meyer, on section 30, from Pennsylvania; R. Inman, Allen Francisco, Samuel Hall, John R. Shanks, who was a shoemaker; Thomas Hendricks, Richard Little, Green Wamock, Len Mosely; and Allen Smith settled the place John Ward bought and sold to the widow Freyburg.  E. Bryson settled here in 1836, on the Okaw, where he resided until his death.  George Hendricks, a native of North Carolina, settled in 1830, near where his son Samuel now lives, he living about seven years after coming to the county.  His widow raised the five children on the old place; she died in 1871.

     First Land Entries - Asa Ledbetter, on the 24th of August, 1826, entered the W. 1/2 N. 1/4 Sec. 34, eighty acres; John Wheatley, sr., on the 20th of December, 1826, entered the E. 1/2 N. E. 1/4 Sec. 33, eighty acres; W. and F. Jordan, jr., on the 26th of January, 1828, entered the E. 1/2 S. E. 1/4 Sec. 34, eighty acres.
     The first school-house built was a log structure, erected a short distance south of the Bushrod Henry place; it was a small house, and B. Henry was the first teacher - this was in 1832.  Game was abundant, and fish enough in the streams to entice the old and young to while away their hours of leisure.

     Supervisors - A. Francisco, elected in 1860, re-elected in 1861; J. Dazey, elected in 1862, re-elected in 1863 and 1864; William Fruit, elected in 1865; M. Freyberger, elected in 1866, re-elected in 1867; J. Dazey, elected in 1868; re-elected in 1869; E. K. Schwartz, elected in 1870; J. Dazey, elected in 1871, re-elected in 1872, 1873 and 1874; W. J. Boone, elected in 1875; J. Dazey, elected in 1876; J. Francisco, elected in 1877; H. G. Smith, elected in 1878; R. Teny, elected in 1879; J. Dazey, elected in 1880, and is the present incumbent.

< BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS >