Untitled Document

The earliest one of which we have any definite information is Moses Cowan, who settled on Sec. 18, about the year 1836 ; the farm is now occupied by W. H. Phelps.

John P. Robinson settled one mile south of the bluff about the same date.

Isaiah Willetts on Sec. 8, Dr. Thomas Willetts on Secs. 4 and 5.

James Fullerton, was also one of the first settlers. He built a cabin on the S. W. of Sec. 8, known as the Heaton farm.

James Halsey settled near where Belmont church now stands, in the year 1842, and in the year following built the first frame house in the precinct.

Charles Watson, who subsequently married a daughter of Mr. Halsey, came the same year, opening a farm near by, upon which he still lives. Luther Watson, a brother of Charles, came about the same time, and settled near. James Heaton and his sons settled on this quarter, and bought it in 1852. They also purchased the quarter south of it, and the N.W. 4 of Sec. 17, where they lived until 1870. They claim to have raised 100 bushels of corn to the acre on the part of this land, which adjoins the timber on the north side of the bluff. They also raised three tons of hay to the acre. When the land was new it was very productive, thirty bushels of spring wheat being an average yield.

Thomas Flack, a son of merry England, settled on section 9, and by dint of hard toil and careful economy he has gathered about him a competence.

William R. Green located at his present home, on. section 16, in 1851. He was the first justice of the peace ever elected in the precinct, and also was its fi rst school treasurer. His son Charles, who helped his father change this virgin prairie into a highly productive farm, has, for nearly a score of years, been post-master at the county seat.

In 1852 John Cooper, a native of Pennsylvania, with his parents: came to Wayne county, Indiana, soon after which his father died. He grew to manhood ; learned the trade- of a carpenter. Thinking to better his fortunes, in 1S52 he walked and drove twenty-five head of cattle and sixteen head of hogs across Indiana and through Illinois to Henderson county. In company with his brother, Moses, he bought a quarter section in Greenville precinct, and went to work on it. A few years subsequently he sold to his brother and bought in Bald Bluff, where he now owns a thousand acres of well cultivated land, with good buildings, which were built with his own hands.

William Morris, who subsequently entered the arm y and became a captain, settled in the southeast corner of the precinct in 1852, where he nows owns a splendid farm. He is also largely interested in cattle growing in the Indian Territory.

John Laird settled, about the same time, just across the river from Capt. Morris, and is still living there.

James Armstrong and John Rowley, brothers-in-law, came from Boston, Massachusetts, and settled on section 10, which was then an unbroken prairie, which they now own and have transformed into highly productive farms.

Solomon Clark had settled, in 1854, on Sec. 12, T. 12, R. 5, and in the same year James D. Clark, now a leading grocer in. Keithsburg, opened a farm in the same vicinity.

Two years subsequently to this, in the spring, Henry Clark built the house now occupied by T. J. Moffett, on section 7, and moved his family from Fountain county, Indiana, into their new home in the autumn following.

About this time the Spees, another family of Clarks, and a man by the name of Taylor, settled to the west and farther south in section 12, range 5. The first school taught in the precinct was taught by Mary Bool Glancey, now Mrs. Thomas J. Moffett, in 1851. The school-house was built of logs and stood on section 18, on the west slope of the bluff. The principal patron of the school was Isaiah Willetts, Esq., now of Keithsburg, with whom the school mistress boarded. Mrs. Moffett now lives near the scene of her early labor. There are now seven schools in the precinct, known as Centreville and Sunny Grove, in section 12, range 5, and Belmont, Douglas, Harmony, Cornstalk, and Sixteen, in section 12, range 4—all in a flourishing condition with the exception of No. 2, Douglas, which seems to be a bone of contention among those who should be its most ardent supporters.

History of Mercer and Henderson Counties.

Illinois Ancestors