1883 Combined History
SHELBY
This political division of Edwards county occupies the northwestern part, and is bounded on the north by Richland county, on the east by Salem and Albion precincts, on the south by Albion and on the west by Wayne county, from which its territory extends east, excluding one tier of sections from range 10. North and south it embraces all between the northern limit of the southern tier of sections of town. 2, north, and the southern line of the third tier, from the north of town. 1, south. The surface is generally level, but slightly undulating localities occur. It was originally timbered, except that Long Prairie in the east, Village Prairie in the southeast and Sugar Creek Prairie were open areas. Timber, much of which is of recent growth, is quite abundant, and is an important source of wealth. The varieties of hard wood are well represented. Corn, oats and wheat are the principal products, the last being the staple. Apples are quite abundant. The principal streams are the Little Wabash, Fox river and Sugar creek. The latter enters the precinct at section 35, town. 2, north, and flows southwest, into the Little Wabash at section 17, town. 1, north, draining the northern part of the precinct.
The earliest permanent settlements were made by Jonathan Shelby, after whom the precinct was named, Thomas Carney, John Bell and Lot Sams, a short account of whose life will be found in the chapter devoted to Salem precinct. These pioneers fixed their homes in the wilderness, far in advance of civilization. In the year 1815, Shelby and Carney, with their families, came in company from Tennessee, having stopped a year in Grayville. The former settled on the northwest quarter of section 34, township 1 north, range 10. His children were Nile, Jonathan, Jr., William, Jennings, Jackson, Nancy, Oripy, Jency, Seley and Patsey, two or three of whom came to Illinois, as a part of their father's family. He was an active and energetic man, and held the office of justice of the peace for many years. In 1831 he moved to the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 18, township 1 north, and there, on the Little Wabash, in 1835, built the first water-mill in the precinct. It was of a rude and primitive character, but proved a substantial benefit to the community. His death occurred at the mill property about the year 1838. The Shelby family is one of the most numerous in the precinct. Carney settled on the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 34, township 1, north. Two or three of a family of eight grown children he brought to the precinct with him, and was a leading farmer and highly respected citizen. This gentleman held the office of county commissioner for a number of years. To him belongs the honor of erecting the first mill in the precinct in the year 1832. It was a horse-power-mill, and rude in construction, but a valuable aid in those early times. About 1844, Carney moved to Missouri and there died twelve or fifteen years ago. John Bell was a native of South Carolina, of German descent. He moved with his parents to Kentucky, where he married, and subsequently went to Tennessee, where he married again, his first wife having died in Kentucky. He enlisted in the army of 1812, and served his country about one year. In 1815 he moved to Illinois with his family, consisting of his wife, Elizabeth Carney, sister of Thomas, already mentioned, and five or six children, and settled on the southwest quarter of section 27, where he resided all his life. He was a plain, unassuming farmer, and was noted for his peaceable disposition and good, neighborly qualities. Harrison C. Bell, his third child, now resides on the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 10, township 1, south, and is a farmer and Baptist minister.
An interruption, accidental or otherwise, occurs at this point, in the course of immigration, and the next permanent settler is met with in the year 1826. Then came Stephen Mounts with his family, which consisted of his wife, whose maiden name was May Stinnett and several children, from Indiana. Three of his children are yet living. Mr. Mounts was a plain, unassuming farmer, an industrious man and good citizen. This gentleman, moreover, was a patriot and served in the Black Hawk war, in Captain C. S. Madding's company. Henry Warmouth, a Tennessean, with his wife and children, Mary, Lucinda, Judy, John, Isaac and Philip, (twins) and Margaret, arrived in 1827 or 1828, and settled on the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 23, which was his permanent home. Henry Curtis came from Tennessee in the year 1828. He had a wife and six children, viz.: William, John, Isaac, Mary, Ann and Jincy. This gentleman was of an unsettled disposition, changing his home frequently. Field sports, such as hunting, occupied much of his time and attention, but he worked at various odd jobs, including carpentry. Mr. Curtis died about the year 1848. William, his son, was four times married, and raised quite a numerous family of children.
The Curtises are among the wealthiest and most prominent citizens of Shelby precinct. In the same year and from the same state came Rese Shelby, with his wife and eight children, viz.: David, Evans, Garrison, Semple, Moses, Lotta, Betsy and Holden. He settled on the southwest quarter of section 34, township 1 N. He was j a plain farmer and good citizen. His death took place more than twenty years ago. His widow died in 1880, at an advanced age. To the year 1828 belongs also the immigration of Champion S. Madding. He was a native of Virginia, and when seven or eight years of age, left that state and moved, with his father's family, to Tennessee, where he married and followed farming till he set out for Illinois, with his wife and five children, William C., Isabel, L. B., Sallie and J. M. After a short sojourn in Richland county, he settled on section 11, township 1 N. He had, at different times, three wives, and reared eight children. Mr. Madding was a soldier in the Florida, and a captain in the Black Hawk wars, commanding a company on the banks of the Mississippi, in the battle resulting in the surrender of Black Hawk. He was a large, powerful man, weighing 225 pounds. He was one of the early regular Baptist ministers and the frequent companion, in preaching, of Rev. Jere Doty. The oldest living settler of Shelby precinct is Starling Hill. He was born in Washington county, Kentucky, in the year 1803. Limited as were his early educational advantages, he has, by indomitable perseverance and steady effort, made himself thoroughly well informed. While in his native state he followed farming and shoemaking. At the age of twenty-five, with his wife and three children, Clarissa, Mary M. and Sidney, in a four horse wagon, he came to Illinois, and first settled near the site of the village of West Salem, where he built a log house and cleared some land. In 1829 he moved to the northwest quarter of section 11, township 1 south, range 10 east, entered land and began improvement. Mr. Hill's occupation has been that of a farmer and stock-raiser. He is now retired and resides with his son, on the old homestead, at the age of eighty years. His wife was Elizabeth Bassett, by whom he had sixteen children, and in addition to these he also reared twelve orphans. For a period of three months he served in the Black Hawk war in Captain Madding's company. Marcus Johnson and family came to the precinct among the early settlers, and lived in the northeastern part of section 35. Thomas Gill, who lives on section 15, township 1 south, was born in Albion precinct in 1826. His father, Thomas Gill, was a native of England and came to Edwards county in the year 1818. A large encampment of Indian hunters roamed over the territory of Shelby precinct about the year 1820. It is reported that during one season they killed five hundred does, which they decoyed from their feeding-places by imitating the cry of a fawn. For a number of years after most of the deer shot by the settlers were males.
The first church society was of the regular Baptist denomination, and was organized in 1825. It held its first meeting in a building, used for school purposes, on the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 34, township 1 north. At this place, about 1836, the congregation built a log house of worship, 48x24 feet. The first minister was Rev. Jere Doty. He was what was then denominated a "cornfield" (farmer) preacher, and was much respected. He was fond of relating the story of his conversion, which he told so often in his sermons that the boys of the settlement learned it by heart, and frequently repeated it in merriment. One McCowen taught a school in a long cabin on the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 33, township 1 north, as early as 1827. A gentleman by the name of Moore taught here in 1828. The first building put up for school purposes was a frame, erected in 1856, on the southeast of the northeast of section 33, township 1 north. Edgar Brandon was its first occupant. The precinct was represented in the Black Hawk war by Captain C. S. Madding, James Bell, Josiah Lay, William Curtis, David Shelby, Thomas Sanders, I. Shelby, Robert Russel, Jonathan Shelby, Jr., Matthew Mays, Harrison Moore, Joseph Mounts, Hugh Mounts, Robert Doherty, John Stinnett, Benjamin Wilson, J. Wilson, Samuel, John and James Edmanson, James Ellison, and James Jennings. The following are the first land entries: September 6, 1817, L. White and L. May entered the west half of the northeast quarter of section 7. September 15, 1817, Charles Stinnett, the northeast quarter of section 9. September 27, 1817, Henry Ayers, the southwest quarter of section 10. January 19, 1818, Mathias Mounts the southwest quarter of section 17. September 17, 1818, J. and J. Dunlap the southeast quarter of section 3. The above are in township 1 S. The following are in township 1 north. May 12, 1820, Isam Roger the west half of the southwest 1/4 sec. 33. Feb. 8, 1822, Thomas Carney the west half of the southeast quarter of section 34. March 9, 1822, Matthew Doherty, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 32, township 2 north.
Bennington, of which nothing but the name remains, had its origin in Shelby's mill already spoken of. Here Dr. Baker, the proprietor of Bennington, built a frame water-mill about 1842. James Jones and Henry Walser, in 1865, erected a frame mill, two and a half story, 30 by 40, which was of considerable importance. It burned in 1870 as the property of Ulsehouse and Potter. A short distance above its site now stands Philander Gould's saw mill. Bennington was laid out in 1841 or 1842 by Dr. Baker, and two or three town lots were disposed of. Centreville, on section 33, township 1 north, consists of a store-house, a blacksmith-shop and two or three dwellings. Maple Grove post-office was established about 1850, and Robert Marshall, of section 2, township 1 north, the present incumbent was the first post-master. The population of the precinct consists of Tennesseans, Kentuckians, English and Germans and their descendants. The evidences of industry and economy are everywhere apparent.
Extracted 12 Aug 2017 by Norma Hass from A Combined History of Edwards, Lawrence, and Wabash Counties, Illinois, published in 1883, pages 272-273.
