1882 History
Chapter 16 - Nokomis Township
POSITION AND BOUNDARIES — SURFACE, SOIL, STREAMS, ETC. — FOREST GROWTHS — AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS — EARLY SETTLEMENTS — ROADS — SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC.
"Once o'er all this favored land,
Savage wilds and darkness spread."
By G. N. Berry
NOKOMIS occupies a scope of territory lying in the northeastern part of Montgomery County, west of Audubon and east of Rountree Township. It borders on Christian County on the north, Witt Township on the south, and is admirably located with reference to railroad and other accommodations. Its close proximity to the flourishing towns of Hillsboro, Morrisonville, and other equally good market places, affords many advantages to the citizens which they have not been slow to avail themselves of, as is shown by the increased prosperity of the agricultural interests throughout its territory. The distinguishing characteristics of Nokomis are its fine, undulating prairie lands, which, in point of fertility and productiveness, are unsurpassed by any other similar amount of territory in the State. The northern portion is somewhat flat, and in certain places contains some low, marshy land, but the great majority of its acres are susceptible of a high degree of cultivation, as is attested by the rank which the township takes as an agricultural district. In the southern part, along the several water-courses and among the wooded portions, the surface is more rolling, but in no place is it too broken or uneven for tillage. The soil is generally a fine quality of loam, mixed with clay in certain localities, and sand in the low places along the creeks. The township is sufficiently well watered for agricultural purposes and stock-raising, with several beautiful streams traversing it in different directions, the chief of which is the East Fork of Shoal Creek. This is a stream of considerable size and importance in the southern townships of the county, and has its source in Section 1, from whence it flows in a southwesterly direction through Sections 22, 28 and 33. A small stream flows through the northeastern part of the township, draining that portion, and receiving in its course a number of rivulets which are not designated by any particular names.
Originally, about one-sixth of the township's area consisted of timbered land, the wooded districts lying chiefly in the southern and southwestern parts. The productions of these forests were at one time the source of considerable wealth to those who settled in the timber and made the lumber business a specialty. At the head of these forest products stands the black walnut, a tree unequaled in the United States for its many uses in cabinet-making. It is becoming scarce in this part of the country on account of its wide demand, and owing also to the prodigal manner in which much of it was destroyed by many of the pioneer settlers. Next in value is the oak, of which several varieties are to be found growing in the forests of this township. It affords the principal amount of lumber for all practical purposes to the farmers in this section of the country, and considerable quantities of it have been shipped to other localities. Another of the forest monarchs is the elm, which grows to gigantic sizes in the low lands skirting the water-courses. There are several different kinds of maple to be seen here, all of which are much used for artificial groves, on account of their hardiness and rapid growth. These species are highly ornamental, delighting the eye of the most careless, and giving a charm to the most uninviting prospect. Hickory is found in certain localities, and is much used in the manufacture of carriages, sleighs, and almost all agricultural implements made in the different factories throughout the State. Besides the different varieties already enumerated, there are many trees and shrubs of smaller growth known as underbrush, much of which has been cleared away of late years.
Of the farm products we can speak only in a general way, as no statistical information concerning them was obtained. Agricultural productions of every kind indigenous to this latitude are certain of a rapid growth and large returns. As is shown by the vast wealth that has been drawn from the bosom of the soil during the thirty years that have passed — a wealth that has covered its surface with beautiful homes, and contributed toward feeding the hungry millions of other lands. Wheat is and has been the staple product of Nokomis, to which its soil seems peculiarly adapted, and has been known to yield as high as thirty-five and forty bushels per acre in favorable seasons although its average production is much less. Other cereals are raised in the same proportion, particularly oats and rye, which return abundant and well-paying harvests almost every year. As a corn district, this part of the country will compare favorably with any other locality in the county, as the land in the main is sufficiently rolling to render drainage easy. While other townships in the county suffered more or less severely during the drought of 1881, the farmers of Nokomis raised a sufficient amount of corn for home consumption and some for market also. Apple orchards are beginning to be extensively cultivated, and fruits of the finest and hardiest varieties yield abundantly, and are being produced in large quantities, while the already large area of orchards receives yearly additions. This product alone in a few years will form one of the principal articles of sale during its season.
The early settlement of Nokomis is so interwoven with the pioneer settlements of the adjoining townships that their history is, in the main, almost identical. The same difficulties were experienced, the same hardships endured by the pioneers of Nokomis that for years retarded the development and advancement of older municipalities. There were no roads, so to speak, no stores nor mills nearer than Grisham and Butler Townships, a distance of twenty or thirty miles; no school buildings except of a very primitive character, and no places of worship except the houses of the pioneers. These and other experiences of a similar character were what the first settlers of Nokomis had to contend with in the days of its infancy, but, thanks to the energy and thrift with which the early settlers were characterized, all these difficulties have been successfully overcome, and on every hand are to be seen well-tilled farms, elegant private residences, good roads, handsome church edifices, commodious school-buildings, and other evidences of prosperity, which combine to make this part of the county a desirable locality.
The first permanent settler in Nokomis Township, as it is now designated, was one Bluford Shaw, the exact date of whose arrival could not be ascertained, although it is supposed to have been prior to the year 1840. In the year 1843, Hugh Hightower. a name familiar in the northern part of the county, came to Illinois and settled on a piece of laud lying in Section 33. Here he erected the first house ever built within the boundaries of the township, traces of which still remain. For the space of three years, Hightower was the only resident in this part of the county, his nearest neighbors living at a distance of at least ten miles away. John Henry located here in 1846, securing land in Section 26, which he improved quite extensively. After him came John Lower, John Nichols, Mason Jewett and an old man, by name Redden, all of whom located near the site of the present city of Nokomis. In the year 1854, a number of settlers located in the northern part of the township, where they founded quite an extensive community. Among this number can be mentioned the names of Royal N. Lee, John Wetmore, William Bonton, Absalom Van Hooser, William Lee and Andrew Coiner, several of whom are still living on the farms they settled, and numerous descendants are scattered over different parts of the county. The northeastern part of the township was settled principally by an intelligent and thrifty class of Germans, who have improved that locality until it is now one among the very best farmed sections of country in the township, and in point of improvements, as houses, barns, etc., it will compare favorably with any other community within the limits of the county.
It has been asserted, and wisely so, that the avenues of communication are an undoubted evidence of the state of society. The history of this planet from its earliest days furnish indisputable proof of this now universally admitted truth. As civilization progresses, intercommunication increases, and the channels of trade are improved, while the conveyance of products and the movements of armies require an unobstructed highway. Of the Eastern nations who comprehended the truth of this great principle, the chief were the Romans, whose broad highways and ruined arches still survive to remind us of the former power and greatness of those masters of the world. While in the Western Hemisphere, Mexican causeways and Peruvian stone roads attest the vigor of a national life centuries departed. But the trails across the prairies and through the forests of this part of the country — ample for the aborigines of Illinois, and withal equal to their capacity, have given place in turn to a network of highways, while not comparable to the military roads of the Romans or ancient Mexicans, and perhaps far inferior to the turnpikes to be seen in older States, arc at least equal to the requirements of a highly civilized people. The first road established in Nokomis passed through the township in a northeasterly direction, and was known as the Hillsboro and Nokomis road. Its original course has been changed, although it is still one of the important highways in the northern part of the county. A road leading from the town of Nokomis to Irving was laid out and improved in an early day, but does not appear to have been properly established until several years later. One of the most important highways passes through the central part of the township from north to south, and is rather extensively traveled. The greater number of roads which traverse the township in all directions have been established in recent years, and are well improved. Like the highways in all parts of Central and Southern Illinois, these thoroughfares, during certain seasons of the year, become well-nigh impassable, owing to their muddy condition. The porous nature of the soil, however, causes this mud to dry up quite rapidly, and in a comparatively short time after the frost leaves the ground in the spring, the roads improve and remain in good traveling order until the following winter.
Passing through the southeast corner is the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, which has promoted the material interests of the township more than any or all other improvements combined. In its course, it passes through Sections 32, 28, 22, 14 and 12, intersecting the southern boundary at a point about one and one-half miles from the Rountree Township line, and the eastern boundary two miles south of Christian County. The city of Nokomis owes much of its prosperity to this road, as does also the township at large.
It is a fact which the splendid educational institutions of the present make it difficult for us to-day to comprehend, that in the early settlement of the country, one of the greatest disadvantages under which the pioneer labored was the almost entire absence of facilities for the education of his children. When the question of keeping soul and body together had once been solved by the constantly increasing acreage of farm land, and the corn waved over the spot which required toil and perseverance to conquer from its primitive natural state, and bountiful harvests told of no more immediate wants, then the pioneer's attention was called to the necessity of schools, and means of supplying the want were most earnestly sought. A man by the name of Henry Lower, an excellent teacher by the way, is said to have taught the first school in the township, at his private residence, about the year 1848. It was attended by the boys and girls in the new settlement and supported by subscriptions, as were all the early schools in the county. The first house erected for educational purposes was built on Section 27, and is still in use. There are a number of good frame schoolhouses in the township, and the citizens can point with pride to their educational institutions, which, for efficiency and thoroughness of work, are unsurpassed by any in the county. Many facts relating to educational matters of the township, belong properly to the town of Nokomis, and will be spoken of in connection with the history of that place in the next chapter.
One of the first public officials of the township was John J. Wetmore, who was elected Justice of the Peace in an early day, although we are unable to give the date. About the same time, J. W. Hancock was elected Constable, in which capacity he served the township several years. His marriage to Miss Margaret Meratt was the first event of the kind ever solemnized in Nokomis. Several healthy religious organizations, with as many substantial temples of worship, are the most convincing evidence of the existence of high moral principles, and a sense of religious duty on the part of the people. The Methodists organized the first church in the township, and their ministers were the first to find their way to the cabins of the pioneers, and preach the everlasting truths of the Gospel to the early inhabitants. Rev. J. L. Crane conducted the first religious services, and assisted in the organization of several churches of his denomination, in the township and town of Nokomis. The first church edifice was built by the Lutherans, in the town of Nokomis, and will be more particularly spoken of in the chapter devoted to that place. The Lutherans and Methodists have several good societies in the township, whose congregations are in excellent condition, and destined to accomplish a great amount of good in their respective communities. For want of particulars concerning the various churches, the writer is obliged to give them the above very brief notice. For further church history, see the following chapter on city of Nokomis.
Extracted 14 Jan 2017 by Norma Hass from History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, published in 1882, pages 303-306.
