THE PIONEERS.

The points for early settlement were two, the timber of the southeast portion of the precinct and the southwest, near Bedford church. Accordingly we find settlements made at these places at quite an early date. The first white settler within the limits of this precinct is not now positively known. So many conflicting stories reach the ear that one cannot positively decide.

It is probable that John Scroggins was the first. He came, as near as can be ascertained, in 1829 or 1830. He was a native of Tennessee. He did not remain long in the neighborhood, but sold his patch of ground, containing ten acres, to Walter Huston and moved back, it is said, to Tennessee.

Some not knowing these facts claim that Joel Huston came before this man, but he did not arrive until 1832 or 1833. He settled on section 30. Huston was from Tennessee. He left that state some two years prior to his settlement in Bedford township. He made the journey with teams and stopped a year or two in Morgan county on his way out.

William Pennington, who had come out with Huston, settled about the same time and place on section 32.

A German by the name of Cloberg was the next. He settled on section 35. Two other Germans, Statt and Young, soon after settled on the same section. Henry Isom, from Tennessee, settled on section 34. The place is better known as the old Beaver place. After this new arrivals were quite frequent, and Uncle George Huston said that when he arrived here in 1837 he found John Huston living in a point of timber just on the south side of the precinct. There was a school-house near Bedford and a log house was built near by it soon after. The settlers did their trading at Burlington and Oquawka. There was no mill on the Henderson and they were compelled to go to Crooked creek, some twenty miles distant, to get their milling done.

George Huston is still living in the precinct, at an advanced age. He is a native of Rockingham county, Virginia. He moved to Ohio in an early day, from which he came to Illinois. He has been here most of his time, and is perhaps better acquainted with the history of the vicinity than any other man living. His first settlement was section 26, where he bought the tax title for 320 acres, and after bought a second tax title on the same place, held by another person. The house he rented when he first came to the country was the only one in that vicinity, and the prairie was one vast sea of waving grass. It was not until 1841 that he erected his first log house, with sod chimney. In later years it was torn down to give place for one of more modern style. Although entirely obliterated from the sight of the later settlers, the recollections of its former usefulness are still fresh in the minds of those who shared the protection of its sheltering roof and enjoyed the warmth of the sparkling embers on the hearth. In this log cabin Mr. Huston reared his family of children, who are mostly all settled about him. The nearest pork market was at Beardstown, on the river. On one occasion Mr. Huston started with a drove to that place in company with his neighbors, and when about half-way to that place they discovered that the hogs were chilling and they could proceed no farther with them. They concluded to kill them, but having no kettle in which to heat water with which to scald and dress them, after consulting, a plan not thought of before happened to strike Mr. Huston. He said : "We will dig a large hole here in the ground and kindle a large fire in it, and after the fire has burned sufficiently we will pour the water on the coals, which will make the water amply hot to scald." The idea was laughed at at first, but they tried the experiment, which proved a success.

The Huston families are well remembered in connection with pioneer times, and their children compose a large share of the population of the precinct. Archibald Huston settled a little farther up about the same time. He died many years ago, but his widow, now Mrs. Bowman, is still living and is quite active for one of her years. She is a Tennesseean by birth. The family moved from that state to Indiana, and in company with her father, James Owen, sister and two brothers came to this state on horseback. Bowman, her last husband, was killed by lightning some thirty-eight years ago. They settled in the edge of the timber on section 29 or 30, and their house was the only one between that and Honey creek. They used to do all their trading with old Billy Smith at LaHarpe, which was but a small town then. The trip to and fro was usually made with old Buck and Berry and not at a 2:40 gait, but at about the rate of three or four miles per hour.

The date when Isaac Crenshaw settled here is not exactly mown, but it is thought to have been directly after Bowman. He was born in Georgia, from whence he removed to Tennessee when young, and from there to Adams county, Illinois, when after a residence of two years he moved to Iowa. He came back three years later and settled here on sections 30 and 31. Crenshaw died in 1880, and was buried at Hillsborough church, four miles south. of his home. Mrs. Crenshaw is still living in the neighborhood, as are many of her children. Indi­ans were quite plentiful in these days. Mrs. Crenshaw remembers seeing them while in the timber making sugar. They were peacefully inclined and anxious to trade with the whites. A fact which more than one historian has failed to note, is that in nearly all the troubles between the whites and Indians, the former were the aggressors.

We have mentioned the principal pioneers of the southwest portion of Bedford precinct ; others may have lived here who deserve a notice in the history of the community, but no matter how deserving, unless some one is left to tell the story, their deeds of heroism must sink into oblivion, or perchance live in better lives of those who have been led they know not by whom

From 1851 to 1858 a new tide of emigration set in, mostly Jerseyans from Fulton county, Illinois, where had settled many from Somerset, Middlesex, Hunterton, Sussex, and other towns along the Raritan, and , having settled in the vicinity of what is now Raritan, the demand for a trading point soon began to press its claims, and the settlers began to dispute the point at which it should be located. Josiah Brokaw and a few others living on the west side of Honey creek branch, contended that near his place was the proper and the only place for a town, while Peter Tharp and others living in the vicinity of the proposed location, said no, this shall be the place, and thus the two factions contended like two hungry dogs pulling at a bone, each trying to get the advantage of the other, until it was decided to take a vote on the subject, which ended the strife and located the town on its present beautiful site, and indeed a more pleasant and natural place could not be found, situated, as it is. between the two branches of Honey creek. The land slopes toward the north, south and east. We have no dates to show when this dispute arose and how long it continued, but it was not until 1856 that M. M. Field built the first store building.

A. Tharp and Josiah Brokaw came here about the same time, in 1851; which of them was the first is hard. to decide, as difference of opinion exists in regard to it. Brokaw was called the father of the settlement. There were no houses in sight of his when he settled, and when the tide of immigration had set in, the first sermon preached on the prairie was delivered in his house. He lived until the country changed from its wild state to civilization, when an accident by lightning caused his death. Tharp bought 149 acres on the S.W. 4 of Sec. 12, on which lie is still living. He was the first to cut hay with a reaper, in 1855. The same year he raised a crop of wheat that averaged thirty bushels to the acre. He has in his posses­ sion a piece of money worthy of note. It is an old continental shilling, upon one side of which is stamped a tea leaf, emblematical' of the unpleasantness at that time ; on the left hand corner, "Death to Counterfeit"; on the right, "Burlington, New Jersey. Printed by Isaac Collins, 1770."

John Goodnight settled one mile east of Bedford church in 1852. He was from Stamford, Lincoln county, Kentucky. He had served as a soldier under Gen. Jackson at New Orleans, during 1814 and 1815. From Monroe county, Indiana, he came to Adams county, and from there to Henderson county. The date of uncle Peter Tharp's arrival here is between 1854 and 1855. He and his son William came on and built a small house, when the family came on. This time there was a house two miles east known as the Hazeton house, another one and a half miles southwest on Cornelius Schenck's place. Uncle Peter bought the one-quarter of land on which Raritan is now situated. He gave the ground for the cemetery and school-buildings

H. D. Voorhees came in 1S55 and settled on eighty acres near where the town is located. He worked some at blacksmithing and improved his farm. In 1858 he lost one of his arms in a corn sheller, after which he moved to Raritan. Zelota Britt and Abraham Brokaw came the same year. They both settled east of town. These men are both dead. Some of their childien remain in the neighborhood. Mrs. Brokaw lives on the old . homestead two miles west of town. James Hageman settled in what is now popularl y known as the Prairie Side farm in 1856.

Soon after, William Van Arsdale came here. He was out on the prairie one day preparing to build a stable which he intended to use for awhile for a house, when who should come along but uncle George Huston, and wanted to know "what in the world he was trying to do." "Build a stable," said Mr. Van Arsdale. He laughed at the idea and said, "Van Arsdale, you will live until your hair is quite gray before you ever make a farm here. Why, this land will never be worth more than it is at present." Although Mr. Huston's judgment was good on other matters, he made a mistake that time, for that has proved to be the garden-spot of the precinct.

F. A. Hixon came from Hunterton county in 1854, and was the first settler nearest the limits of Raritan. His place of settlement was section 15, on which there was a log house and a three-rail fence around the place. A part of the land had been broken. A party was surveying and a regular laid out road in use in the south part of the county. M. M. Field came in 1854. Jaques Voorhees about 1855. From this time on to 1859, attracted by the glowing accounts of the early settlers, many flocked here with their families and settled close together in this vicinity.

The arrivals were so frequent and near together that to determine who had the precedence is quite difficult. Suffice it to say that at an early date came Jaques Voorhees, R. V. Cortelyon, Garret Simonson, Peter Goven, Aaron Johnson, Wm. Van Arsdale, Judge Eltinge, James Berry.