Edgar County History Page

The History of Edgar County, Illinois

Transcribed and contributed by
Jane A. Fullington
jgeick@sprynet.com

This history of Edgar County is taken from the book, "The History of Edgar County, Illinois", published in 1879 by Wm. Le Baron, Jr. & Co., 186 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill. It was compiled by historians, W. H. Perrin, H. H. Hill, and A. A. Graham.

CARROLL PRECINCT.

This division, at the time of forming the county, extended to the center of Township 18, in Vermilion County, and is the north line of Carroll Township in that county. It was very sparsely settled at the time of this division of the county, which will account for the extent of its territory. It included in its limits the present towns of Prairie, Edgar, Ross, Young America and Shiloh, and extended, as before stated, to the north line of Carroll Township, in the present county of Vermilion. The first comers to this section, of whom we have any account, were Joshua and Enos Martin and William C. Trimble who came to the neighborhood in 1824 and 1825. Joshua Martin settled in what is now Edgar and Enos in Ross Township. Trimble also settled in Ross, but moved the next year into Wayne, where he is noticed among the early comers. In the district known as Carroll Precinct, up to and including 1830, we may mention the settlement of the following persons, viz.: James Mars, William Lowry, William Drake, Abraham Cowrey, James Gordon, John McKee, Hamson and Hubble Sprague, Col. William Wyatt, Solomon Bond, J. W. Riley, Ensign Mitchell, Frank Lowry, Augustus Wyatt, Horatio Blanchard, Christopher Ward, Thomas Holden, Joshua Van Fleet, Elijah Bacon, Joseph Conover, Richard Jones, Sylvester Barker, John Jackson, Edmund Clarke, John Hannah and Samuel Lowry. Mars, Lowry, Drake, Cowrey, Gordon, McKee, the Spragues, Col. Wyatt, Bond, Riley and Mitchell settled in the territory now included in Edgar Township. Col. Wyatt was from Kentucky, and was Lieutenant Colonel of Blackburn's regiment in the Black Hawk campaign. Gordon, McKee and Bond were also from Kentucky, the former of whom is now living in the city of Paris. The Spragues were from Vermont, and Cowery from Ohio. Of the others, we were unable to learn their native States. Frank Lowry, Augustus Wyatt, Horatio Blanchard, Ward, Holden and Van Fleet settled in what is now Ross Township. They were all from Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, and from them have descended some of the worthy citizens of the county. Richard Jones, Barker, Jackson, Clarke, Newcomb and Hannah settled in the present town of Prairie. Jones was the son of Jacob Jones, mentioned among the early settlers of Wayne, and located where the town of Scotland now stands. Baker soon removed to Brouillett Township, where he is noticed as one of the early settlers. We were unable to learn much of the others. This comprises a number of the first settlers in this section of the county, much of which is rather new, as compared to other portions. The present towns of Shiloh, buck and Young America are of more recent settlement than the east and south parts of the county. The fifth and last of the old original townships was known as RIPLEY PRECINCT.