of Menard and Mason Counties
By T.G. Onstott
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CHAPTER XXXIII Page 316 This township was organized in 1866. It was first named Jackson township, but the name of General Sherman was then at its zenith. Sherman had, only a few years before, made his memorable march to the sea and had endeared his name to every American patriot. So at the meeting in 1867 the name of Jackson was stricken out and the name of Sherman substituted. Sherman contains thirty-six sections, which makes a square congressional township. Only two small bodies of timber are in the township, Crane Marsh and Bull's Eye. A county ditch was the first effort to drain the land embraced in the scope of the township. The boundaries of Sherman are as follows: It was south of Quiver and Forest City, west of Pennsylvania, north of Crane Creek and east of Havana township. As an agricultural township it did not rank very high till in later years. Artificial drainage has reclaimed a large part of the land. Fully three-fourths of the territory belonged to a class known as swamp land. The first improvement in what is now Sherman was made by Thomas K. Faulkner. He was originally from New York and had settled in Dearborn county in 1815. In 1830 Thomas, then a married man, moved to Madison county, and settled on the bank of the White river. In 1838 he moved to Tazewell, now Mason county. He built a log cabin and began to open up a farm. After a residence of ten years he moved to Salt Creek where he died. In the summer of 1839 Mahalon Hibbs and his sons, William and Eli, together with his son-in-law, John Hampton, came from Pennsylvania and settled in the same section. Mahalon Hibbs made an improvement and died in the fall. William Hibbs entered land and improved it and after living on it for six years, traded it for land in Sangamon county. John Hampton located west of his father-in-law, and then moved to Shelby county. Mrs. Catherine Dentler and family came from Pennsylvania, and settled south of those named. She moved to Nebraska and died there in 1878. Sol Dentler, a nephew, came with the family and entered land but did not improve it. In the fall of 1839 he traded his land to Henry Cease. The citizens mentioned composed the settlers in this locality, prior to 1844. West of these and towards Havana seven or eight families settled along the borders of the woods. There were, Coder, McReynolds, Faulkner, Eli Fisk, Brown, Fester, and a few others. This made all the families east of Havana. Nearly all of the land was unbroken prairie, where roamed at pleasure vast herds of deer and wolves. John R. Faulkner relates that in the spring of 1840, he, with two others, counted on Bull's Eye prairie fifty-nine in one gang and forty-two in another, all in sight at one time. James H. Chase was next in order. He came to Mason county in 1844 where he made improvements and lived till his death. Joseph Lehr settled in the northwest part of the township. He bought two acres of land from William Hibbs for a location. He made a claim and improved it, and lived there till his death. Lehr was from Ohio. Among the settlers in 1848 we find the names of Henry Cease, John Blakely, William and John Alexander, and Charles Trotter. Cease was from Pennsylvania, and a large number from the same locality settled in Pennsylvania's township. He purchased the improvements of Thomas K. Faulkner and then moved farther east on the Kellerman land. Blakely and the Alexanders were from Ohio and settled farther east. Blakely continued a citizen till his death. The Alexanders first settled in Havana township but moved to Sherman. William located on the edge of Crane Creek timber, then went to Missouri, and John sold out and returned to Ohio. Charles Trotter was an Englishman and came from Massachusetts. Peter Morganstein remained but a few years and then moved to Beardstown, where he died. About this time Mrs. Davenport and family, consisting of five sons, Henry, Lewis, William, Joseph and Marshall, settled in the southeastern part of the township near the present town of Easton. Her husband, Marshall B. Davenport, came from Kentucky in 1832 and died in Salt Creek township in 1840. Passing down to 1850 we find Samuel Adkins, Granville Cheney, Vincent Singleton and Alexander Haller. These all settled on what is known as Bull's Eye Prairie. Adkins and Haller were from Tennessee, Cheney was from Kentucky. Adkins settled in the northwest corner of Bull's Eye and sold out to Henry Cease who, after living here for several years, went to Kansas. Cheney moved to Dewitt county, where he lost his wife by accident. Singleton moved to Salt Creek. Haller moved to Havana. William G. Stone was a citizen as late as 1850; he came from Tennessee to Mason county. Amos Heater still lives in Sherman township. Spellman only lived a couple of weeks after he built his house. H. Elderbush settled on the edge of Crane Creek marsh. In about 1852 James M. Samuels, a prominent citizen, settled where the village of Easton now stands. The family of the Samuels were originally from old Virginia and all have the Southern brogue in their talk. In the spring of 1835, his father, Andrew Samuels, came to Illinois and settled in Morgan county. When J.M. Samuels first settled in Sherman township, there was no one living east of him in the township and, with the exception of Mrs. Davenport there was no one on the south, before reaching the settlers on Crane Creek. He was the original owner of Easton. The Kislers and their families came from Pennsylvania, and first stopped in Havana. What Chicago is to the west so Havana was to the early settlers of Mason county. It was the point to which all their produce must be brought for sale, and was the place where they obtained their dry goods and groceries. Hogs were driven to Beardstown and there slaughtered and sold to packers. My father used to go there through the winter and run his cooper shop. It was thirty-five miles from Salem, which he always made in a day on foot, as he always walked. In regard to milling, meal was ground at Mount's mill on Crane Creek but when flour was wanted they had to go to Woorow's or Kinman's mill in Mackinaw or to Wentworth mill on Otter Creek in Fulton county, but they generally went to Mackinaw, as the price of the ferriage across the Illinois was eighty-seven and one-half cents and money was very scarce in those days and several days were sometimes consumed in making the trip as they always waited for their grist. In a later period when Simmond's and McHarry's mills were built, it brought the mills almost at their doors. The early settlers scarcely ever thought that such a convenience would occur in their generation. The mail matter was received at Havana and on public days was carried around on Dearborn's hat. Martin Scott erected the first blacksmith shop in 1844. This was across the line in Havana township. Eli Hibbs built the first shop in the township in 1848. Mrs. Eliza Dentler was the first school teacher who "taught the young idea how to shoot." The school was kept at the house of her mother. The first schoolhouse was supposed to be on the land of James H. Chase. Abe Millerson was the first teacher. The circuit rider came early and Michael Shunk was perhaps the first. Rev. Moreland and Hardin Wallace soon shied their hats in the ring. Most of the early settlers remember Hardin Wallace, a small, spare man full of wit and eccentricities who preached in every schoolhouse in Mason county. He went to California in the "seventies" and died while there. The first doctor was William Coder, who also was a preacher and healed the souls as well as the bodies of men. Doctor Allen was also here at an early date. Elizabeth Hampton and Mahalon Hibbs were among the first births in the township. The first death to occur was that of the wife of Thomas K. Faulkner, who died in 1839. She was buried on the farm of Robert McReynolds. The first person buried in this cemetery was Grandma Fesler in 1838. The first wedding was either John McReynolds and Catherine Dentler or Alfred Houel and Eliza Faulkner, but which was first, no none at present seems to know. The patriotism of Sherman was very creditable and no draft was necessary to fill her quota in the last unpleasantness. M.H. Lewis was the first supervisor. Easton is half way between Havana and Mason City. The town was surveyed by John R. Faulkner for J.M Samuels in 1872. Edward D. Terrill built the first store building in November, 1872, and opened up with a general stock of merchandise. Diebold F. Turner opened up a saloon and then engaged afterward in general merchandise. Henry Cooper built the first residence. It was finally turned into a hotel and operated by Charles Dowell. A drug store was built by David Carter, but soon developed into a saloon. J.M. Samuels built the first blacksmith shop. A fine schoolhouse was erected and a union church built. Ed Merrill was the first postmaster. C.W. Houghton was the first doctor to locate. He took in as a partner D.L.T. Magill. Easton was laid out as Shermanville but, as a postoffice by that name was in Sangamon county, it had to be changed and was named by O.C. Easton of Havana. Situated as it is on one of the finest agricultural districts in the county, it is one of the important towns in the county.
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