RURAL TOWNSHIP
(Shelby County)

RURAL TOWNSHIP
(Shelby County)

LAND ENTRIES

DRAINAGE

TIMBER

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
RURAL TOWNSHIP (SHELBY COUNTY.)

HERE is one of the western tier of townships of Shelby county. It is bounded on the north by Flat Branch, east by Ridge, south by Tower-Hill township, and west by Christian county. It comprises thirty-six square miles, or 23,040 acres of land. It i s a very fertile and productive portion of the county.

Early Settlers.-- Among the early residents of (Tp. 12-2), we find the name of Benjamin Hunter, who settled on the head of Mud creek, on section 14, as early as 1830. For several years this place was a stage-stand, on the Shelbyville and Springfiel d State road. Hunter subsequently moved to Texas, where he died. He was a somewhat noted character in the neighborhood. In the latter part of the year 1830, Mason Kelly squatted and built a cabin on the east side of Mud creek, on section 14, a short dista nce north of where the Craig school-house now stands. Another early settler was J. W. Vermillion, a native of Virginia, who afterwards became a resident of Kentucky, and from the latter state moved to Shelby county in 1840, and erected a cabin in the nort h-west part of section 26, where he lived a number of years, and afterwards settled on section 27, where he now resides. In 1842 came David and Nathaniel Beck, who were the first settlers on Lake Fork, in the west part of the township. They erected a larg e comfortable cabin, and both families used it as a residence. The Becks also kept the stage-stand for a short time. The cabin was located not far from where N. B. McClure now resides. Another early settler was John Killam, who located on section 33.

A short time prior to 1840, M. Smith settled on section 23, south of where the Craig school-house now is. In 1848, the Harper Brothers settled near Mud creek, on section 15; they were natives of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, but had lived for a time in V irginia, prior to coming to this county. In 1858, J. N. and Robert Harper moved up on Lake Fork, where they still live. Soon after J. L. Steward located near where he now resides. These were the first settlements in that part of Rural.

James Armstrong, a native of North Carolina, became a resident of this township in 1840. His father was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and was a planter and slave owner in the state above mentioned. When James Armstrong came to this county he brought with him a colored woman and three children. He had owned the woman since she was twelve years of age. He purchased her from a trader who was passing through from Maryland, south, with a number of negroes for the southern market. Three of his sons are fa rmers in this township--Lafayette, Jasper and Charles. When James Armstrong came to this county he brought with him several thousand dollars in gold. It was placed in a box and fastened to the bed of the wagon. He accumulated quite a large property here, and had about eighteen hundred acres of land at the time of his death, which occured in the fall of 1869 at the advanced age of eighty-five years. The companion of his life and mother of his children died in the fall of 1879 at the age of seventy-five yea rs.

LAND ENTRIES.

THE first land entry was made October 19th, 1832, by Conrad Hanson, it being 40 acres of S. E. 1/4 of S. W. 1/4, section 33. James Hanson entered 40 acres in section 33, June 11th, 1834, and the third entry was made February 8th, 1836, by Wm. Smith and others, of 80 acres in section 25, it being the E. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4.

DRAINAGE

RURAL is well watered by several small streams. The central and south-eastern portion is drained by Mud Creek, Burrels, Angels' Branch and their affluents. The northern and western part of the township is drained by Lake Fork and its tributaries an d Spring Branch. Several springs of fresh water are found in the township, besides small natural ponds. Thus it will be seen that this township is well adapted to stock-raising, as blue grass, timothy, clover, orchard and the native grasses grow luxuriant ly. Large crops of hay, corn, oats, wheat, rye and other cereals are annually produced, as well as potatoes and vegetables of all kinds. Fruits thrive well.

TIMBER

SEVERAL fine groves of timber may be seen in the township, and many of the banks of the stream are fringed with a thrifty growth of forest trees, among which are several kinds of oak, elm, hickory, walnut, sycamore and cottonwood, which add an addi tional beauty and charm to the landscape. Originally, about one-fourth of the township was timber land. The balance is a rich, fertile prairie.

The township is well supplied with church and school facilities, which speaks well for the morals and enterprise of its citizens.

The first school-house was a hewed log structure, and stood in the north-east part of section thirty-four, and was erected in the year 1845; it was also for several years used for church purposes; it is now utilized as a stable on the farm of J. W. Vermil lion.

Supervisors.--Wm. B. Travis, elected on 1860, re-elected in 1861 and 1862; J. Moses, elected in 1863, re-elected in 1864 and 1865; Franklin Reed, elected for 1866; E. A. McGrew, elected for 1867; Hy. Funk, elected in 1868; S. Mitchell, elected in 1 869; J. Killam, elected in 1870; D. Downs, elected in 1871, re-elected in 1872 and 1873; C. Mantey, elected in 1874; J. T. Killiam, elected in 1875, re-elected in 1876, 1877, 1878 and 1879; R. Smith, elected in 1880, and is the present incumbent.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

GEORGE B. HILL.

THIS gentleman, one of the old and representative citizens of Rural township, is a native of Ireland, and was born at Ballycastle, in the county Antrim, on the 5th of December, 1818. His father was William Hill, and his mother's name, before marria ge, was Elizabeth Brown. His ancestors were originally from Scotland. They were among those Scotch Presbyterians who sought refuge from religious persecution in the north of Ireland. He was the sixth of a family of nine children: he was raised in his nati ve county.

He attended school at Ballycastle, and secured the elements of a good education. His father was a merchant, and for about a year Mr. Hill was employed in his father's store. He, however, preferred an out-door life, and was always fond of working on a farm . He left Ireland for America in March, 1841, then a young man of twenty-three. The vessel on which he was a passenger contained seven hundred immigrants, and was seven weeks in making the voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia.

From Philadelphia he went to Ohio, where be spent two months, and then, in the fall of 1841, came to Illinois; he came by boat down the Ohio river. The passage from Cincinnati to Cairo took nine days. The river was low, the channel full of snags and bars, and the trip was in consequence unusually long and tedious. He had some friends in the neighborhood of Sparta, in Randolph county, and he went to that locality. While he resided there he was employed on a farm. Concluding that he wanted to see the old co untry once more, in the fall of 1849 he returned to Ireland. His next winter and spring were spent in his native town. On the 29th of May, 1850, he married Elizabeth Fullerton, daughter of James Fullerton and Marcella Stewart. Mrs. Hill is also descended from the Scotch-Irish stock. Her great-grandfather and two of his brothers came from Scotland to Ireland at the time of the persecution. She was born in the house, half a mile from Ballycastle, which was built by her great-grandfather. On the fourth of Ju ne, 1850, a few days after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hill started out to make a home for themselves in America. They left Liverpool and the 11th of June, and arrived at New York on the 11th of July. A sister of Mr. Hill had settled in Shelby county, an d he had previously visited this section of the state. He and his wife came directly to this county with the intention of making it their home. He purchased a small farm of eighty acres at Prairie Bird, on which he lived a short time, and then moved to hi s present location in sec. thirteen of township twelve, range two east. He entered one hundred and twenty acres of land, at two dollars and a half an acre. At the time there was comparatively little land in the county subject to entry. The government had raised the price to two dollars and a half an acre on account of its proximity to the Illinois Central Railroad, then not yet constructed. When he first came to the country and went to housekeeping, there were very few of the conveniences of civilization. He had to go to Springfield for a cooking-stove, one not being obtainable in the county. The prairie stretched away for miles to the west, with scarcely an inhabitant.

He has been a successful and prosperous farmer, and now owns four hundred acres of land -- three hundred and sixty of prairie and forty of timber. Soon after coming to America he formed decided views on the subject of slavery. He was one of the band of ab olitionists who bore that name at a time when it was a synonym of unpopularity. He voted for the free-soil candidate for president before the formation of the republican party. He was an early republican, and has voted with that political organization sin ce the campaign of 1856. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. They were among the original members of the Presbyterian Church at Prairie Bird at the time of its organization, and have been connected with it ever since. He has been a peaceable and law-abiding citizen, and a man whose influence has been cast on the side of morality and virtue. He has led the life of a quiet and unostentatious citizen, attending to his own business affairs and caring nothing for holding public office . His name deserves mention in these pages as an old resident and substantial farmer of Rural township.

ROBERT HARPER.

WHO has lived in Rural township since 1848, was born near Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, November 3d, 1827; his father, John Harper, was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1771, emigrated to America in the year 1800, and settled in the Cu mberland valley, Pennsylvania. He was obliged to leave Ireland on account of his connection with the rebellion. He married Ruth Moore, daughter of Major John Moore, who held a position in the British army. Robert Harper was the sixth of nine children; his mother died when he was nine years old. The next year, 1837, the family moved farther west. They went from Chambersburg to Harrisburg on the railroad, which had just then been completed, and from Harrisburg to Pittsburg by canal, the railroad not then ha ving been constructed across the mountains. After stopping one summer in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, they settled in Mason county, Virginia, and after living there six years Mr. Harper went to live with a sister in Brooke county, Virginia. His opportunit ies for an education were mostly confined to old-fashioned log school-houses, and the greater part was obtained by his own efforts, and consists of a

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practical acquaintance with business affairs. In 1848 he came to Illinois. The family settled at the head of Mud Creek, in Rural township April 26, 1855, he married Sarah Ann Lewis, who was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, February 3, 1834, and came with her father to Morgan county, Illinois, in 1837, and from there to Shelby county. In 1856 Mr. Harper moved to the part of the township where he now resides. He owns 320 acres of land. His wife died March. 13,1867. He has five children: Mary F., Alonzo, Sa rah E., Laura, and Agnes. He was first a democrat, but united with the republican party on its formation, voted for Fremont in 1836, and has supported every republican candidate for president from that time to the present. For a number of years he has act ed as justice of the peace. Like all the Scotch-Irish race he was raised a Presbyterian, and was connected with that church for a number of years; he is now a member of the Church of God. He is one of the old residents of Rural township, and his name dese rves a place in this work as one of the representative citizens of that part of the county.

H. M. WEMPLE.

WAS born in Greene county, Illinois, February 18, 1838. On his father's side his ancestors came from Holland, and settled first in New York city, and afterwards in the neighborhood of Amsterdam, on the Mohawk river. His father, Joseph D. Wemple, wa s born and raised near Amsterdam, and when a young man came to Illinois and settled near Kane, in Greene county. He married Lucy M. Mason, daughter of Hale Mason, who was born in Vermont, emigrated to Illinois, settled at Edwardsville, and afterward at Mo nticello. He was a farmer and Methodist preacher. H. M. Wemple was the oldest of three children. When he was eight years old his father died, and his mother was married again to R. J. Simmons, of Jersey county, where Mr. Wemple lived till he was fourteen, and then went to live with his mother's cousin, John Mason, at Godfrey. When nineteen he went to Sangamon county, near Springfield, and worked on a farm till he was twenty-one, and then began farming for himself. The first land he purchased was eighty ac res in Missouri which proved of little profit. In 1865, he purchased 160 acres of raw land in Section 2, Rural township, and began improving it. In 1866, be married Mary W. Mitchell, a native of Ogle county, Illinois, daughter of Samuel Mitchell, who was born in Maryland. Mr. and Mrs. Wemple have two children, George Mason and Mary Josephine Wemple. He was a Republican for a number of years, and now belongs to the National Green-back party. He and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Churc h. A view of his farm in Rural township is shown on another page.

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