EARLY DAYS IN THE TOWN OF LYMAN
by Bela Foster
Continuing . . .
by Bela Foster
Continuing . . .
The first installment of these "impressions" was published in the Herald last week. The following is a continuation. The installment ended with a picnic in 1859 the first Fourth of July celebration (and the first public gathering) ever assembled in these parts.
At that time grain was eight or nine cents per bushel. Crops were poor and after the deer, wild geese and ducks had taken a portion there was not much left. In the evening the deer would go into the fields and ere daylight returned, would be in there refuges in some low spot where grass grew tall. Could you have had some vantage point three miles north of here in the fall you might have seen the deer, one by one, going to the corn fields of the settlers.
The depredations of the deer were soon to cease. Deep snows and hunger made them scarce. The wolves hampered the farmers somewhat. Their scope was large. They would visit the farmer in the night and when daylight came they would be in their cover in the marshes to the north. By means of powder, and lead and poison, they also became scarce.
The early settlers felt the need of a school house. The first school had been held in a room in S. K. Marston's house. They petitioned the I. C. Railway Company to bring the lumber for a school house to Onarga gratis. When it came the settlers hauled the lumber and had a bee to put up the school house which was about 24 by 40 feet in size. The community had plenty of talent. Mr. and Mrs. Marston were musicians as well as teachers. The new building was erected one-half mile west of where the school building now stands. It being the first in twp. 25 was numbered one.
--1884 Plat Lyman Township
Roads in those days went as nearly as possible toward the town one wished to visit. The school house was erected on the Onarga road. The attendants of the school came from several miles around. Byron Lisk came from three and a half miles to the east. Maria Tinklepaugh from nearly six miles to the west. There are only two of those pupils of 1859 now living in Lyman Township. These are John P. Smith and Effie Maxson. There are only four living in the township who were here then. The other two are Mary Hurst and Maggie Mosher. Others came closely after the Connecticut colony and of the four mentioned only one, Effie Maxson belonged to the Connecticut settlers. Mary Hurst was from England. John Smith and Maggie Mosher Canada. 1859 was the year Ford County was organized. The community had been a part of Stockton Township, Vermilion County. It became a part of Benton Township, Ford County.
The early teachers of Lyman Township as far as the writer can learn were Mrs. Marston, Mr. Marston, Miss Mills, Quinn Thayer, Maria Tinklepaugh Havens, George Lyman, Marthaetta Wyman, Mary Ayer, Minnie Wilcox, David Bliss, Ida Burt, John Havens, and L. B. Wilcox. All were members of this early settlement.
The Lyman home for several years was a distributive point for the community mail. Each neighbor who went to Onarga would take the mail for the others to the Lyman home. They did not take daily papers in those days. The year 1858 was a wet one. The rain fall exceeded anything they had seen. It started in the spring and rained for three months. There was scarcely any drainage. The water could not get away fast enough to dry the land between showers.
Had you taken a balloon ride over this present Town of Lyman about 1860 you would have noticed that one section was occupied, the next prairie, the next occupied and then prairie. This formation was in regular checker board style. The government had given the Illinois Central Railway Company every other section of land for twenty miles on each side of the railroad, the line through Onarga. The Connecticut settlers bought their land from the Railway Company. The company was anxious to sell its land. I remember the maps and literature that representatives of the Company gave my father. On the map the sections altered, a red square then a white square; showing the railway land and the government land. These Connecticut settlers bought railway land. Most of the settlers who came between 1865 and 1870 took government land.
http://www.museum.state.il.us
Prairie fires (so numerous and terrible in the early years) began to wane. It was really frightful when one would hear a fire in the night roaring like a hurricane as it passed through some slough of rushes and course grass. I remember one such fire. The men went to fight it. In fighting a fire they put out side fires to confine it as much as possible. The keep the side fires under control and burn a strip so that the larger fire can not spread. After it has subsided or passed the danger point the men return home and leave all blackness. As they start for home they do not know which light is theirs. The prairie all black with nothing to guide them. I remember that night hearing C. Pierce who lived on what is now the Henry Onken farm calling for help. He was answered and a light guided him to our home. After getting his bearing he was able to find his home. The new sod was covered with "tickle grass' and tumble weeds which burned like powder. In a brisk wind one could hardly keep up with it.
--Roberts Herald. 20 March 1935. Bela Foster.
At that time grain was eight or nine cents per bushel. Crops were poor and after the deer, wild geese and ducks had taken a portion there was not much left. In the evening the deer would go into the fields and ere daylight returned, would be in there refuges in some low spot where grass grew tall. Could you have had some vantage point three miles north of here in the fall you might have seen the deer, one by one, going to the corn fields of the settlers.
The depredations of the deer were soon to cease. Deep snows and hunger made them scarce. The wolves hampered the farmers somewhat. Their scope was large. They would visit the farmer in the night and when daylight came they would be in their cover in the marshes to the north. By means of powder, and lead and poison, they also became scarce.
The early settlers felt the need of a school house. The first school had been held in a room in S. K. Marston's house. They petitioned the I. C. Railway Company to bring the lumber for a school house to Onarga gratis. When it came the settlers hauled the lumber and had a bee to put up the school house which was about 24 by 40 feet in size. The community had plenty of talent. Mr. and Mrs. Marston were musicians as well as teachers. The new building was erected one-half mile west of where the school building now stands. It being the first in twp. 25 was numbered one.
--1884 Plat Lyman Township
Roads in those days went as nearly as possible toward the town one wished to visit. The school house was erected on the Onarga road. The attendants of the school came from several miles around. Byron Lisk came from three and a half miles to the east. Maria Tinklepaugh from nearly six miles to the west. There are only two of those pupils of 1859 now living in Lyman Township. These are John P. Smith and Effie Maxson. There are only four living in the township who were here then. The other two are Mary Hurst and Maggie Mosher. Others came closely after the Connecticut colony and of the four mentioned only one, Effie Maxson belonged to the Connecticut settlers. Mary Hurst was from England. John Smith and Maggie Mosher Canada. 1859 was the year Ford County was organized. The community had been a part of Stockton Township, Vermilion County. It became a part of Benton Township, Ford County.
The early teachers of Lyman Township as far as the writer can learn were Mrs. Marston, Mr. Marston, Miss Mills, Quinn Thayer, Maria Tinklepaugh Havens, George Lyman, Marthaetta Wyman, Mary Ayer, Minnie Wilcox, David Bliss, Ida Burt, John Havens, and L. B. Wilcox. All were members of this early settlement.
The Lyman home for several years was a distributive point for the community mail. Each neighbor who went to Onarga would take the mail for the others to the Lyman home. They did not take daily papers in those days. The year 1858 was a wet one. The rain fall exceeded anything they had seen. It started in the spring and rained for three months. There was scarcely any drainage. The water could not get away fast enough to dry the land between showers.
Had you taken a balloon ride over this present Town of Lyman about 1860 you would have noticed that one section was occupied, the next prairie, the next occupied and then prairie. This formation was in regular checker board style. The government had given the Illinois Central Railway Company every other section of land for twenty miles on each side of the railroad, the line through Onarga. The Connecticut settlers bought their land from the Railway Company. The company was anxious to sell its land. I remember the maps and literature that representatives of the Company gave my father. On the map the sections altered, a red square then a white square; showing the railway land and the government land. These Connecticut settlers bought railway land. Most of the settlers who came between 1865 and 1870 took government land.
http://www.museum.state.il.us
Prairie fires (so numerous and terrible in the early years) began to wane. It was really frightful when one would hear a fire in the night roaring like a hurricane as it passed through some slough of rushes and course grass. I remember one such fire. The men went to fight it. In fighting a fire they put out side fires to confine it as much as possible. The keep the side fires under control and burn a strip so that the larger fire can not spread. After it has subsided or passed the danger point the men return home and leave all blackness. As they start for home they do not know which light is theirs. The prairie all black with nothing to guide them. I remember that night hearing C. Pierce who lived on what is now the Henry Onken farm calling for help. He was answered and a light guided him to our home. After getting his bearing he was able to find his home. The new sod was covered with "tickle grass' and tumble weeds which burned like powder. In a brisk wind one could hardly keep up with it.
--Roberts Herald. 20 March 1935. Bela Foster.
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