[Page 116]
ing influences of our free institutions, in a third of a
century.
Loooking to the near future to be participated in by
many of us we wonderingly ask, "What next." Withdrawing
our gaze from what we may yet see and participate in, and
looking to the far away future of our county and city, when we
and those with us shall have been gathered to our fathers, we
also naturally ask:
Who'll press for gold this crowded street,
A hundred years to come?
Who‘ll tread yon church with willing feet
A hundred years to come?
Pale, trembling age and fiery youth,
And childhood with its brow of truth,
The rich and poor, on land or sea,
Where will the mighty million be,
A hundred years to come? We all within our graves
shall sleep
A hundred years to come;
No living soul for us shall weep,
A hundred years to come.
But other men our land will till
And others then our streets will fill,
And other words will sing as gay,
And bright the sunshine as to-day,
A hundred years to come,
CONDIT, BROWN, NEWCOMB AND
EAST BEND TOWNSHIPS.
-----
Read at Old Settlers Reunion, July 29, 1886.
BY F. B. SALE.
-----
CONDIT.
This township
was formerly the east half of Newcomb and was organized into a
township in 1867. The first settler was Ethan Newcomb,
who settled in the county in 1828 at what is known as Newcomb's
ford on the road or trail from Big Grove to Cheney's Grove
and Bloomington. The following are among the old settlers:
Fielding Loyd, who settled in1834; John Phillippe,
in 1837; Steven Busey in 1839; Lewis Adkins,
son of
one of the oldest settlers of Big Grove and son-in—law of
John Phillippe, in 1840; C. F. Columbia, in
1844; William and Dave Hawk, John and Abe
Fisher and Wm. Morain, in 1847; the Cramers
in 1852; the Gulicks in 1850; B. Ham in 1853;
Alfred, Zack, Richard, Dock, John,
Harrison W. and Deskin Gulick, with a
widowed mother, all came from Virginia in the year mentioned;
Hale A. Johnson, the Putnams, F. B. Sale, Wm.
Lennlngton, Newark Lax and many others, came to the township
in 1856. Sale had been in the county since October,
1853.
The first school teachers were Columbus Taylor, Miss
Betsy Banes, Miss Discy A. Newell, David Cheney, Nancy Butler
and F. B. Sale.
The first preaching place was at Phillippe’s. The
Methodist elder John Brittenham; first preachers,
Levi Pitner, A. Bradshaw, J. C. Long and
Mr. Arnold.
The first postoffice was established in 1857, F.
B. Sale postmaster; it was called Newcomb and retained that
name until the completion of the narrow gauge railroad in 1876,
when the name was changed to Fisher and the office removed to
that place.
The first supervisor was A. B. Condit, in honor
of whom the township was named. The township now has eight
school houses, three churches, has neither railroad, village,
saloon. blacksmith shop nor manufactory of any kind, does not
owe a cent, and has no dead beats. It is strictly an
agricultural township.
-----
BROWN.
Organized from
East Bend in 1869. First settler one Wm. B. King,
in 1834, who was the only one for years in what is now Brown
township. The first entry of land was in 1845 in Sec. 4.
Wm. Brown was an early settler on Sec. 3. The town
takes its name from him. Thomas Stevens a wealthy
cattle dealer, settled in the north part in 1855, (now in
Gibson), Ithaman Maroney in the extreme northwest corner
about same time. He enlisted in the army in 1862 and, did
not return to this county. Wm. H. Groves, the
oldest living settler, came in 1854, and still lives on section
34. Among the earliest settlers we mention Carle
Dobson, C. C. Harris, now of Champaign. Wm. Peabody,
now in Oregon, David Cooter, John Strauss, Lyman
Smith, ____ Adams, Steven Brown and others.
The Chicago branch of the Wabash R. R. cuts through the
northwest corner of the town and a flourishing village called
Foos is the station. The H., R. & E. also runs through the
south and on it Fisher is situated.
-----
NEWCOMB.
Newcomb, formerly
composed of range 7 and 8, in town 21, divided in 1867.
Sangamon river runs through east side. First settler is
said to have been one Mitchell in 1835 at Pancake‘s
Point. He was a Kentuckian and did not remain long.
Wm. Pancake and Jesse W. Pancake came in
1837, Joseph T. Everett,1841; Major Sam’l
Houston, 1849; J. S. Hannah and J. J. Hannah,
1857; Wm. Lane, Geo. Kimble, P. Hinton,
Augustus Blacker, Sam'l Rhodes, Sam’l and Allen Hubbard,
R. Lester, Banes Broderick, 1858; Rector and Merrill E.
Holloway, J. H. Funston and Hiram Trotter, 1856.
First school teacher, Miss Martha Newell, at Jesse
Pancake‘s old house in 1851. First birth, Joseph
Pancake, son of Wm. P. and wife. First
preaching at J. S. Hannah’s, Methodist Episcopal, by
Rev. Parker. First postoffice, Shiloh Centre,
in 1874. Shiloh church built in 1865; U. B. church,
section 3, built in 1874.
[Page 117]
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EAST
BEND
Derives its name
from the bend in the Sangamon river, which extends further eat
in this township than at any other point. It and Brown
township once had the name of Sodom, which was the name of the
first postoffice, Thompson Dickson, P. M.
First Settlers: Franklin Dobson and
Lot King in 1837; Nicholas Devore in 1841, his
sons, A. J. Devore and John Devore, still
live in same; Harvey Taylor, 1845; Gardner
Sweet, 1848; J. L. Cosner (still there), Thompson
Dickson and Harmon Bilberry, 1852; Ben
Dolph and Richard Chism, 1854; Noble
Byers, John Stansberry and Isaiah Ferris,
1856; Alfred Houston, Joshua Peck ham,
Phillip Hummel, Charles Knapp and
John Harnit, 1858.
The H., R. & E. R. R. runs through the south part.
The principal station is Dewey, about 100 inhabitants, mostly
German. In the town are three stores. besides one large
implement warehouse, one blacksmith shop, one church, German
Lutheran, school house, mill, and an extensive business is done
in grain and produce. The principal operators are E. O.
Sale, John Heineman and J. H. Linebarger.
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