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This township, situated in
the western part of the county, contains thirty-six sections,
therefore agrees with the Congressional township in common with a
few others of like size in the county. The surface of the
country is somewhat diversified. It is, however, rather
inclined to the appearance of an ordinary prairie, save where a
stream courses through it. From the fact that a large part of
the township is prairie land it was not fully settled till after the
advent of the railroads. These coming through the level part,
opened a highway for the more speedy transportation of products, and
caused the before uncultivated prairie to soon abound in farms, and
to change from a condition of nature to homes of plenty.
Kickapoo Creek and Riley's Creek are the only streams of water found
here. The former, the largest of the two, flows through the
township from east to west, a little south of the center, and, after
passing on through Charleston Township, finds an outlet in the
Embarrass. The creek derived its name from an ancient tribe of
Indians who once resided on its banks. Riley's Creek runs
through the northern tier of sections from the west to the east, and
finds in Charleston Township an outlet in the Kickapoo.
Neither of these streams is of sufficient size to afford any
practical use, save drainage. Each is skirted by belts of
timber, wherein the pioneers found homes partially protected from
the rude blasts of the early winters. In the northwest part of
the township are one or two small groves, the largest and most
notable of which is the Dead Man's Grove, so named from a mournful
incident, related in the county history. The groves and timber
along the streams furnished, in early days, a good supply of
building-timber. This has largely been removed since the
settlement began, leaving only a growth inferior in size and
quality, and chiefly used for fire-wood. The products of La
Fayette Township are the cereals (the chief of which is corn),
cattle and hogs. Of late, fine stock has attracted
considerable attention among the farmers, and is now taking the
place of the inferior quality seen heretofore. Corn is raised
in immense quantities, and is largely used in feeding stock.
The Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad affords good facilities for
shipment East or West, while at Mattoon the Illinois
Page 479 -
Central offers
equally good outlets to Southern and Northern markets. Of late
years, many farmers have borrowed money at 10 per cent interest,
which several could not pay, and hence much land has fallen into the
hands of the non-resident owners. The effect of this policy,
in the end, will be a cut large farms into smaller ones, and give
the township more freeholders. The policy of borrowing money
and mortgaging a farm has proved evil here as elsewhere, and is
teaching the farmers that no legitimate business will pay such a per
cent and at the same time maintain itself. It will ruin any
man; and while it will effect the deprivation of many of their
homes, it will, in the end, as suggested, cut these farms into
smaller portions, held at first by renters who eventually will own
them.
THE PIONEERS.
"Before them, then, were bending skies;
Behind them, now proud cities rise;
And where the father's cabin fell,
The sons in stately mansions dwell."Before them leaped the prairie
fires,
Behind them gleam a hundred spires;
And where the panther made his lair,
The godly meet for praise and prayer.
"Before them all was waste and wild,
Before them blooming gardens smile;
And where the thorn and thistle grew,
The dahlias drink the morning dew.
"Before them stretched a trackless plain,
Behind them waving fields of grain;
And where the wild beast roamed and fed,
The toiler eats his daily bread.
"Before them lay an unknown land,
A myriad homes behind them stand;
And where the hissing serpent crept,
The little child in peace hath slept."
- George B. Balch. |
The picture drawn by Mr.
Balch is not in the least overdrawn. Before the pioneer
lay a trackless wilderness; behind him is a garden. The first
settlers in this township found it a waste; those that survive them
see it filled with the homes of plenty, largely the work of those
pioneers whose memory we now preserve.
During the summer of 1825, several persons were in this
part of Illinois, prospecting, hunting and seeking homes.
Among them were Samuel Henry and John Robinson, of
Crawford County. They spent some time on the Kickapoo, hunting
and examining the different sections of country adjacent.
finding an excellent soil, plenty of timber and water enough for all
practical purposes, they determined to make this their home.
Robinson soon brought his wife to this place, and set about
building a camp. Henry, on his return to Crawford
County, hired John Veach to bring him, his family and their
effects to
Page 480 -
the new home. Then there were but very few settlers
in the present limits of Coles County, and, what few there were,
were pioneers in the truest sense of the word. Mr. Veach,
not caring for the journey, sent his son Jesse, then eighteen
years of age, and an expert hunter and frontiersman. On the
18th of December, he loaded the Henry family into the old
Virginia wagon, hitched his ox and horse teams to it, and prepared
for the journey. That night they went to the cabin of S. H.
Bates, father of John Bates, now well known in Coles
County, and remained with them till morning. Mr. Bates
was also ready to come with them, having heard of the richness of
the soil here, and the promise of a competence in after-life.
That night, the two families got to where Isaac Lewis lived,
not far from where the present town of Robinson is situated, where
they remained overnight. They found, on their arrival here,
that Ben Parker, an early settler in Coles, which, it must be
recollected, did not then exist in name, was here to take Mr.
Lewis back with him. It will be observed that neither
Mr. Henry nor Mr. Lewis had teams of their own.
They were too poor to own any, and were, therefore, dependent on
their neighbors for such accommodations as they could get. The
three families made the journey in four days. The first day
out, they got as far as Eaton's mill, on the north fork of
the Embarrass. The second day, to Long Point, where they
camped, there being no habitation near. The third day, they
got to a camp where George Parker now lives, where they got
some corn for their teams. The evening of the fourth day, they
arrived at the unfinished cabin of Mr. Bates, which they
completed, so they could find shelter therein, and remained there
for the night. The cabin was inclosed and covered, but no
doors made nor any chimney built. The next day, Mr. Veach
started for the Kickapoo timber with Mr. Henry's family.
He got to the camp made by Robinson about the middle of the
afternoon, unloaded his wagon, and returned to the Bates
cabin to remain overnight/ The next day he started home,
reaching it in a few days time.
Mr. Henry and his family reached their new home
on the afternoon of Dec. 25, 1825. They were alone in this
part of the country - no one west of them for many miles. A
few settlers were in the eastern part of the county, but none nearer
than the cabin of Mr. Bates, whom they left that morning.
On their way up from Crawford County, they met Robinson and
his wife, with their ox-team going back to the settlement, where
they expected to remain during the winter. They informed them
an unfinished camp was awaiting them, and told them how they had
left, expecting to return in the spring. Mr. Henry and
his wife set about, immediately on their arrival, making themselves
as comfortable as they could, and, as the winter was rather mild,
experienced but little hardship. They found wild honey and
game abundant, and suffered none for provisions. They had
brought corn enough to supply themselves with corn-bread, and with
that and the abundant wild food fared well while alone in the woods.
Early in the spring, Robinson and his wife returned with
[pg. 481]
MORE TO COME....
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