Showing posts with label McNeish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McNeish. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Monday, January 20, 2020
Saturday, August 17, 2019
More Paxton Record Articles
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Saturday, September 08, 2018
Sunday, July 15, 2018
1879
The I. C. R. R. Co. is putting in a switch about one mile south west of town to accommodate Mr. Van Steenburgh.
The ladies of the Congregational church are preparing to serve a Thanksgiving dinner and supper in the new church, which will be so far completed by that time as to serve for a dining room.
Mr. McNeish has gone into partnership with Christ. Anderson and has removed his shoe and harness shop to the second floor of Anderson's building. As both are enterprising business men they will undoubtedly prosper and ? ? ? ? such that their patronage will increase as it should.
--Paxton Record. 13 November 1879.
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Homes and Businesses
Thomas McNeish has moved his dwelling house into the western part of town and is making additions to it.
J. B. Meserve has dressed the smoke stack of his elevator in a new coat of paint. It looks nobby.
The farmers are taking advantage of the favorable weather; they have sown all the flax and oats, some of which is already up nicely, and a large number are planting corn.
Roberts is the only place in Ford County that can boast of a cheese factory. Mr. Tobey is the proprietor, and we are sure he will turn out a good article as he has employed efficient help.
--Paxton Record. 8 May 1879.
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Saturday, December 23, 2017
18 November 1875
ROBERTS RAKINGS
News of interest in our town is almost as scarce an article at present as the sometimes abused but muchly coveted greenback.
A series of evening meetings is now being held here by Rev. Mr. Wenge, pastor of the Congregational church of Thawville, assisted by Rev. Hart, pastor of the Methodist church, in Roberts. . .
. . . James Gell, Esq, is building a banking office on his lot just east of Anderson & Campbell's.
H. Tinklepaugh is putting up some splendid farm wagons, every part warranted.
Ed. Newman has just returned from Chicago, where he has been after a fresh stock of winter goods, ready made clothing, etc.
Thompson & Lyman now have a practical tinsmith, and are ready to manufacture everything in their line.
Our grain merchants have plenty of greenbacks in exchange for corn, oats, and flax at the highest market prices.
Rice Bros. have opened their new meat market. With two meat markets we have meat enough to spare and potatoes to match.
Miss Montgomery has opened a millinery shop in the old post office building.
John Bunker has a new house nearly ready for occupancy, just north of the school house.
Ed. King is building a house for John McNish who has sold his farm and is coming to town to engage in the manufacture of boots and shoes with his brother.
E. Van Steenbergh shipped a car load of hogs last week which he sold at $7.25 in Chicago. Joseph Hurst and others contemplate shipping soon. Mr. Hurst has a very choice lot which will bring him outside prices.
Farmers are uncommonly busy improving the fine weather in husking a big crop of corn. Some claim an average of 60 bushels per acre.
If any one doubts the soundness of the suggestions of last week's Record in regard to working roads let him tread over the town of Lyman at the present time, roads graded in the fall are hard roads to travel I believe, but we must live and learn, for this is a progressive age in which we live.
--The Paxton Record. 18 November 1875.
News of interest in our town is almost as scarce an article at present as the sometimes abused but muchly coveted greenback.
A series of evening meetings is now being held here by Rev. Mr. Wenge, pastor of the Congregational church of Thawville, assisted by Rev. Hart, pastor of the Methodist church, in Roberts. . .
. . . James Gell, Esq, is building a banking office on his lot just east of Anderson & Campbell's.
H. Tinklepaugh is putting up some splendid farm wagons, every part warranted.
Ed. Newman has just returned from Chicago, where he has been after a fresh stock of winter goods, ready made clothing, etc.
Thompson & Lyman now have a practical tinsmith, and are ready to manufacture everything in their line.
Our grain merchants have plenty of greenbacks in exchange for corn, oats, and flax at the highest market prices.
Rice Bros. have opened their new meat market. With two meat markets we have meat enough to spare and potatoes to match.
Miss Montgomery has opened a millinery shop in the old post office building.
John Bunker has a new house nearly ready for occupancy, just north of the school house.
Ed. King is building a house for John McNish who has sold his farm and is coming to town to engage in the manufacture of boots and shoes with his brother.
E. Van Steenbergh shipped a car load of hogs last week which he sold at $7.25 in Chicago. Joseph Hurst and others contemplate shipping soon. Mr. Hurst has a very choice lot which will bring him outside prices.
Farmers are uncommonly busy improving the fine weather in husking a big crop of corn. Some claim an average of 60 bushels per acre.
If any one doubts the soundness of the suggestions of last week's Record in regard to working roads let him tread over the town of Lyman at the present time, roads graded in the fall are hard roads to travel I believe, but we must live and learn, for this is a progressive age in which we live.
Friday, April 21, 2017
Sunday, January 08, 2017
Early Days in Lyman #8
EARLY DAYS IN THE TOWN OF LYMAN
by Bela Foster
Continuing . . .
After a little digression which ended last week’s installment. I will tell you of the town of Roberts. Of course we did not feel very pleased that they had taken our town of Beset away from us and our doctor; but it was close compared to Onarga where we got our mail. Their doctor, M. Cassingham, remained our doctor as well as theirs, and for twenty odd years cared for the sick of the Town of Lyman. Their merchant, G. H. Thompson was our merchant. Several of the new business men were from our end of the Town. Therefore we quieted down a little and called Roberts “Plugtown.” It did them little injury and gave us satisfaction.
In 1871, George H. Thompson and George Lyman put up a hardware store where George Ensign's garage now stands.
--Paxton Record. 19 June 1873.
William Thompson put up a drug store beside it. Flora & Newman put up a general store on the Anderson Bank corner, facing west. Anderson & Montelius put up the store that William Thompson's poultry business now occupies. Haling & Scott put up an implement building where Dietterle's store now stands. In 1873 fire destroyed the Thompson and Lyman hardware and the William Thompson drug store. I came to town and picked up nails at one cent a pound.
Flora & Newman turned their store around so that it faced the north where Whorrall's restaurant now stands. Thompson & Lyman built a new store where Tarvin's store now stands. William Thompson built his drug store where Foster Brothers store now stands.
The years 1871, 72, 73 were fair crop years. In 71 the chinch bugs were bad in some corn but not so bad as they were here last year. The following winter was colder than the past two winters. The spring was wetter. In 1873 I believe we had a very early frost that nipped the later planting. My father died in the fall of 72. We lost a brother, a sister and father that fall. I remember going for Daniel Woodward in the afternoon. I asked him to come and sit up with father. I did not realize what it meant to have father taken. About twelve years later I sat up with Daniel Woodward being glad to do something for him to repay for his kindness to us in our time of sorrow.
The year 1874 was a very dry year. It was dryer than last year. The farmers did not need much corn room that year. The land would not stand a drought then as it was not tiled. In 1875 we had a promise of a record crop up to July 3rd. I was in Chatsworth the day of the third. About time for me to go home there came up a heavy wind and rain. The oats were very heavy and were laid low. That night another and heavier shower came and finished the job. The farmers could not use reapers. They used mowers and scythes and did their best in one way cutting. We had excellent fall feed on the stubble. Corn was a very good crop. We husked 70 acres of corn on the Hornickel farm that made more than 50 bushels to the acre.
1876 will be remembered for its wetness. It was a duplicate of 1869. It rained so much that nothing but weeds and water grass grew in the low lands. In the fall C. W. Forbes set a fire to burn over a stubble field. The wind was brisk and fire burned across our farm and part of the A. M. Haling farm before it was quenched. Oats made about ten bushels and corn almost nil that year.
J. B. Meserve put up the elevator that stood in the northeast part of town. He also put up a bank building where Zahn's undertaking rooms are.
After he sold the elevator he put up a flax seed and corn room where the lumber yard now is. That building is now the Anderson and Jensen dwelling in northeast part of Roberts.
This is interesting. Someone's home was once a flax seed and corn room. I wonder which one. Anderson and Jensen dwelling in NE Roberts in 1935. Research.
I thought much of Mr. Meserve. He was so considerate. When he ran for State Treasurer out west I was asked for a recommendation for him. I was very glad to give my highest regard for the man. Any man who will notice a child as quickly as he will a man with a tile on his head has won one from me. Such was Mr. Meserve. He like most of the men of that day has gone to his reward.
Thomas McNeish and his son, Thomas put up a harness and boot and shoe shop where Gullett & Kennedy's store now is. Thomas Jr. carried on business there until his death in 1892.
My Notes: I believe this is the Gullett & Kennedy Store. Mr. Foster wrote this article in 1936. So this is probably correct. Gullett & Kennedy sold their store to Mr. Breeden. So this store started out as Thomas McNeish Harness and Boot Shoe Shop. ????? More research.
I just noticed "HARNESS" on this pencil drawing. But I am not sure of the date or who drew this picture of the Roberts Bank. I may have read elsewhere the Harness Shop was upstairs. So I'll have to look for that info. Because the door way below that says HARNESS is not the entrance for the Gullett & Kennedy Store, but the entrance for the Bank.
This post on the Roberts Illinois History Group Facebook page from Mary Weakman talks about the entry to the apartment above the Gullett & Kennedy/Breeden Store. She is describing the Bank: My Dad started working there in 1953 til after 2000 sometime. There also was a stairway coming down from Breedens apt.above their grocery. The stairs were directly across from the front door in the entryway. Donna Breeden worked there after high school. All she had to do was come down the stairs.
1874 a young man from Pennsylvania clerked for C. Anderson. A few years later he put a building for grocery and dry goods store where the bank now stands. He is the only store keeper of that day who still lives here. He is Mr. R. B. Chambers.
So the R. B. Chambers Store was where? Mr. Foster is writing this in 1936. Maybe the location in the drawing above? I don't think it was in the building of the Roberts Exchange/Zahn Funeral Home building. But maybe before the first fire?????) See below for the Roberts Exchange Bank location.
Tinklepaugh & King put up a wagon shop east of the Ortlepp building in an early day. Henry Tinklepaugh came from Livingston County and King from the farm where George Fuoss lives. King married Lucy Larkin. Ivan Brothers put up the first blacksmith shop about where the present shop stands. I think they sold to S. J. Tapp who came from Onarga. He was a man of noble character. He and R. B. Chambers married sisters. Mr. and Mrs. Tapp had no children. They took Grace McNeish after her mother died and reared her as their own. No father could have done more. Frank Butler lived where Frank Fuoss lives. He came to Roberts at an early day. He was a mason. He built a house where Mr. Kristofferson now lives. He left here when the Grahams moved from the Joe Sans place. He married Mr. Graham's daughter.
--Roberts Herald. 1 May 1935.
by Bela Foster
Continuing . . .
After a little digression which ended last week’s installment. I will tell you of the town of Roberts. Of course we did not feel very pleased that they had taken our town of Beset away from us and our doctor; but it was close compared to Onarga where we got our mail. Their doctor, M. Cassingham, remained our doctor as well as theirs, and for twenty odd years cared for the sick of the Town of Lyman. Their merchant, G. H. Thompson was our merchant. Several of the new business men were from our end of the Town. Therefore we quieted down a little and called Roberts “Plugtown.” It did them little injury and gave us satisfaction.
In 1871, George H. Thompson and George Lyman put up a hardware store where George Ensign's garage now stands.
--Paxton Record. 19 June 1873.
William Thompson put up a drug store beside it. Flora & Newman put up a general store on the Anderson Bank corner, facing west. Anderson & Montelius put up the store that William Thompson's poultry business now occupies. Haling & Scott put up an implement building where Dietterle's store now stands. In 1873 fire destroyed the Thompson and Lyman hardware and the William Thompson drug store. I came to town and picked up nails at one cent a pound.
Flora & Newman turned their store around so that it faced the north where Whorrall's restaurant now stands. Thompson & Lyman built a new store where Tarvin's store now stands. William Thompson built his drug store where Foster Brothers store now stands.
The years 1871, 72, 73 were fair crop years. In 71 the chinch bugs were bad in some corn but not so bad as they were here last year. The following winter was colder than the past two winters. The spring was wetter. In 1873 I believe we had a very early frost that nipped the later planting. My father died in the fall of 72. We lost a brother, a sister and father that fall. I remember going for Daniel Woodward in the afternoon. I asked him to come and sit up with father. I did not realize what it meant to have father taken. About twelve years later I sat up with Daniel Woodward being glad to do something for him to repay for his kindness to us in our time of sorrow.
The year 1874 was a very dry year. It was dryer than last year. The farmers did not need much corn room that year. The land would not stand a drought then as it was not tiled. In 1875 we had a promise of a record crop up to July 3rd. I was in Chatsworth the day of the third. About time for me to go home there came up a heavy wind and rain. The oats were very heavy and were laid low. That night another and heavier shower came and finished the job. The farmers could not use reapers. They used mowers and scythes and did their best in one way cutting. We had excellent fall feed on the stubble. Corn was a very good crop. We husked 70 acres of corn on the Hornickel farm that made more than 50 bushels to the acre.
1876 will be remembered for its wetness. It was a duplicate of 1869. It rained so much that nothing but weeds and water grass grew in the low lands. In the fall C. W. Forbes set a fire to burn over a stubble field. The wind was brisk and fire burned across our farm and part of the A. M. Haling farm before it was quenched. Oats made about ten bushels and corn almost nil that year.
J. B. Meserve put up the elevator that stood in the northeast part of town. He also put up a bank building where Zahn's undertaking rooms are.
After he sold the elevator he put up a flax seed and corn room where the lumber yard now is. That building is now the Anderson and Jensen dwelling in northeast part of Roberts.
This is interesting. Someone's home was once a flax seed and corn room. I wonder which one. Anderson and Jensen dwelling in NE Roberts in 1935. Research.
I thought much of Mr. Meserve. He was so considerate. When he ran for State Treasurer out west I was asked for a recommendation for him. I was very glad to give my highest regard for the man. Any man who will notice a child as quickly as he will a man with a tile on his head has won one from me. Such was Mr. Meserve. He like most of the men of that day has gone to his reward.
Thomas McNeish and his son, Thomas put up a harness and boot and shoe shop where Gullett & Kennedy's store now is. Thomas Jr. carried on business there until his death in 1892.
My Notes: I believe this is the Gullett & Kennedy Store. Mr. Foster wrote this article in 1936. So this is probably correct. Gullett & Kennedy sold their store to Mr. Breeden. So this store started out as Thomas McNeish Harness and Boot Shoe Shop. ????? More research.
I just noticed "HARNESS" on this pencil drawing. But I am not sure of the date or who drew this picture of the Roberts Bank. I may have read elsewhere the Harness Shop was upstairs. So I'll have to look for that info. Because the door way below that says HARNESS is not the entrance for the Gullett & Kennedy Store, but the entrance for the Bank.
This post on the Roberts Illinois History Group Facebook page from Mary Weakman talks about the entry to the apartment above the Gullett & Kennedy/Breeden Store. She is describing the Bank: My Dad started working there in 1953 til after 2000 sometime. There also was a stairway coming down from Breedens apt.above their grocery. The stairs were directly across from the front door in the entryway. Donna Breeden worked there after high school. All she had to do was come down the stairs.
1874 a young man from Pennsylvania clerked for C. Anderson. A few years later he put a building for grocery and dry goods store where the bank now stands. He is the only store keeper of that day who still lives here. He is Mr. R. B. Chambers.
So the R. B. Chambers Store was where? Mr. Foster is writing this in 1936. Maybe the location in the drawing above? I don't think it was in the building of the Roberts Exchange/Zahn Funeral Home building. But maybe before the first fire?????) See below for the Roberts Exchange Bank location.
Tinklepaugh & King put up a wagon shop east of the Ortlepp building in an early day. Henry Tinklepaugh came from Livingston County and King from the farm where George Fuoss lives. King married Lucy Larkin. Ivan Brothers put up the first blacksmith shop about where the present shop stands. I think they sold to S. J. Tapp who came from Onarga. He was a man of noble character. He and R. B. Chambers married sisters. Mr. and Mrs. Tapp had no children. They took Grace McNeish after her mother died and reared her as their own. No father could have done more. Frank Butler lived where Frank Fuoss lives. He came to Roberts at an early day. He was a mason. He built a house where Mr. Kristofferson now lives. He left here when the Grahams moved from the Joe Sans place. He married Mr. Graham's daughter.
--Roberts Herald. 1 May 1935.
Early Days in Lyman #4
EARLY DAYS IN THE TOWN OF LYMAN
by Bela Foster
Continuing . . .
When Ford County was a part of Vermilion county it was called Prairie City Township. In 1857 it was changed to Patton. In 1858 Drummer Grove town was set off from Patton and included all the present Ford County west of Range nine. In 1859 after Ford County was organized all of the panhandle and eighteen sections to the south of it was organized from the town of Patton and known as the Town of Stocton. In 1864 the name of Stocton was changed to Brenton and embraced the present towns of Pella, Brenton and Lyman.
In 1867 the residents of township No 25 petitioned the Board of Supervisors to have a new town made from Brenton which was to coincide with Township No. 25 Range nine. The request was granted and the town was named the town of Lyman in honor of the oldest settler, Samuel Lyman of Section No. 2.
--1884 Lyman Township Plat
My notes: Not sure exactly where Samuel Lyman lived in Section 2.
The first town meeting was held in the school house in Dist. No. 2 on April 7th, 1868. At that election the following officers were elected.
Samuel Woodward, Supervisor
A. M. Haling, Town Clerk
A. V. Burcham, Asssessor
A. V. Burcham, James Roberts and P. S. Gose, Commissioners of Highways
Samuel Woodward and T. A. Ireland, Justices of the Peace
Daniel Woodward and Daniel Althen, Constables The town was divided into four road districts.
In looking over the list of offices it seems that there was not much interest manifested. So many had to go home burdened with two offices, which meant much work for them. Roads had to be laid out, bridges built, disputes settled and laws made.
In those days every spring would see many bridges washed out. This meant work for pathmasters and road commissioners. Some of the streams that are only a few feet wide used to be twenty rods wider after a heavy rain. In 1869 rains were heavy and frequent. In 1868 Samuel Birdsley put up a blacksmith shop on what is now the Iler farm.
That same year, I believe, Thomas McNeish a shoe maker settled on the north west corner of Section 14.
--1884 Plat Lyman Township.
He used to go around to measure the feet. I remember his measuring mine. This was for my first pair of shoes in Illinois. In those days one could not judge the number of feet by the size of the home. Our home was 16 by 24 feet with a lean-to 12 by 16 but it contained many feet. Sometimes when I am downtown in the winter I see the boys with the tiniest pairs of pants but they all wear shoes. I wonder if they inherit their little brother's pants as I did my older brother's trousers, sixty years ago.
Many of the Connecticut settlement had "pulled stakes" and gone to other parts by 1870. Some went to Onarga and some back to their native state. Those I can remember were S. K. Marston, Pierson, E. F. Havens, Elmer Esso, and others. A few stayed and made good. During the decade of 1860-1870 the whole of the Town of Lyman was settled. The first German I remember was "Grube". He came to our school district. He had one daughter and two sons. The older son helped to build the present Catholic Church in Roberts. It was then the German Methodist.
My Notes: A reference to Catholic Church location being where a German Methodist once was sat.
--1884 Roberts
He also helped to build the Gonwa residence (now occupied by the Pendergast family) which was the Grube home.
One of the Peck young men built the Frank Steinman house in its original; Alexander Forbes built the original house where J. H. Talbot lives; G. H. Thompson erected the Mrs. Mae Roberts house. Taylor Blakely built the Henry Onken house. It was built on the Edward Hornickel farm. It was moved many times before it reached its present resting place. Blakely married a Conger girl. They came from Indiana.
Several from Indiana came here about that time. Some went on west. Some returned in a year or two. They came from Hoop-pole township. Posy County. They traveled in covered wagons. There was much talk of a railroad going through Lyman in 1869.
Father and oldest boys put most of our family in a wagon and gave us an outing in the fall. We went to the Del Rey timber to gather nuts. Butternuts and walnuts were plentiful. We saw the first train that we had seen since leaving Wisconsin. We thought how nice it would be to see a train scooting across Lyman. To us the train looked like it was hitched to the sky and as it moved the sky pulled the smoke out of the smoke stack like the big boys at school pulled the little boys in "cracking the whip."
--Roberts Herald. 3 April 1935.
by Bela Foster
Continuing . . .
When Ford County was a part of Vermilion county it was called Prairie City Township. In 1857 it was changed to Patton. In 1858 Drummer Grove town was set off from Patton and included all the present Ford County west of Range nine. In 1859 after Ford County was organized all of the panhandle and eighteen sections to the south of it was organized from the town of Patton and known as the Town of Stocton. In 1864 the name of Stocton was changed to Brenton and embraced the present towns of Pella, Brenton and Lyman.
In 1867 the residents of township No 25 petitioned the Board of Supervisors to have a new town made from Brenton which was to coincide with Township No. 25 Range nine. The request was granted and the town was named the town of Lyman in honor of the oldest settler, Samuel Lyman of Section No. 2.
--http://ford.illinoisgenweb.org/maps.htm
--1884 Lyman Township Plat
My notes: Not sure exactly where Samuel Lyman lived in Section 2.
The first town meeting was held in the school house in Dist. No. 2 on April 7th, 1868. At that election the following officers were elected.
Samuel Woodward, Supervisor
A. M. Haling, Town Clerk
A. V. Burcham, Asssessor
A. V. Burcham, James Roberts and P. S. Gose, Commissioners of Highways
Samuel Woodward and T. A. Ireland, Justices of the Peace
Daniel Woodward and Daniel Althen, Constables The town was divided into four road districts.
In looking over the list of offices it seems that there was not much interest manifested. So many had to go home burdened with two offices, which meant much work for them. Roads had to be laid out, bridges built, disputes settled and laws made.
In those days every spring would see many bridges washed out. This meant work for pathmasters and road commissioners. Some of the streams that are only a few feet wide used to be twenty rods wider after a heavy rain. In 1869 rains were heavy and frequent. In 1868 Samuel Birdsley put up a blacksmith shop on what is now the Iler farm.
--1884 Plat Lyman Township.
That same year, I believe, Thomas McNeish a shoe maker settled on the north west corner of Section 14.
--1884 Plat Lyman Township.
He used to go around to measure the feet. I remember his measuring mine. This was for my first pair of shoes in Illinois. In those days one could not judge the number of feet by the size of the home. Our home was 16 by 24 feet with a lean-to 12 by 16 but it contained many feet. Sometimes when I am downtown in the winter I see the boys with the tiniest pairs of pants but they all wear shoes. I wonder if they inherit their little brother's pants as I did my older brother's trousers, sixty years ago.
Many of the Connecticut settlement had "pulled stakes" and gone to other parts by 1870. Some went to Onarga and some back to their native state. Those I can remember were S. K. Marston, Pierson, E. F. Havens, Elmer Esso, and others. A few stayed and made good. During the decade of 1860-1870 the whole of the Town of Lyman was settled. The first German I remember was "Grube". He came to our school district. He had one daughter and two sons. The older son helped to build the present Catholic Church in Roberts. It was then the German Methodist.
My Notes: A reference to Catholic Church location being where a German Methodist once was sat.
--1884 Roberts
He also helped to build the Gonwa residence (now occupied by the Pendergast family) which was the Grube home.
One of the Peck young men built the Frank Steinman house in its original; Alexander Forbes built the original house where J. H. Talbot lives; G. H. Thompson erected the Mrs. Mae Roberts house. Taylor Blakely built the Henry Onken house. It was built on the Edward Hornickel farm. It was moved many times before it reached its present resting place. Blakely married a Conger girl. They came from Indiana.
Several from Indiana came here about that time. Some went on west. Some returned in a year or two. They came from Hoop-pole township. Posy County. They traveled in covered wagons. There was much talk of a railroad going through Lyman in 1869.
Father and oldest boys put most of our family in a wagon and gave us an outing in the fall. We went to the Del Rey timber to gather nuts. Butternuts and walnuts were plentiful. We saw the first train that we had seen since leaving Wisconsin. We thought how nice it would be to see a train scooting across Lyman. To us the train looked like it was hitched to the sky and as it moved the sky pulled the smoke out of the smoke stack like the big boys at school pulled the little boys in "cracking the whip."
--Roberts Herald. 3 April 1935.
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