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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