Randolph County ILGenWeb

EARLY SETTLERS of Randolph County, IL

(Most of the listings here, is with the permission of the Randolph County Genealogical Society
Quarterly publication of "The Trails" and others who have donated their information.)

James SHIELDS an Irishman, came to Kaskaskia and began his career by teaching school.  Later he studied law and became a successful attorney.  Entering politics, he was elected as United States Senator from Illinois.  Leaving Illinois, he went to Minnesota, where he was again elected a United States Senator from three different States.  This is the same James SHIELDS who challenged Abraham LINCOLN to fight a duel.

Eli SHORT--When we saw Mr. FORSTER of the Irish Settlement operating a still and taking an active part in church work, we discovered that such action did not strike the people of that  time as particularly out of place.  Eli SHORT, who settled a short distance southeast of present day Steeleville, was a Baptist minister.  He saw no wrong in such action and built a distillery.  SHORT also planted a large orchard and produced cider in liberal quantities.  In season, he dispensed cider to those coming to his place to attend church services in a room of his home.  While conducting such a service, in keeping with a common practice of the ministers of the time to propound a question and seek an answer from the writings of the prophets, he had set forth a question.  Seeking an answer, he shouted, "And what does Daniel say?" Daniel MALONE, a member of the congregation, taking his question as a cue, answered--"I think it is time to have another drink of cider".  The proceedings that followed are not recorded.  According to tradition this Eli SHORT was the one who slew TECUMSEH in the battle of Tippecanoe.

John STEELE--When John STEELE came to the site of Steeleville and settled in 1807, he brought with him several sons.  One of STEELE's sons, George, built a gristmill powered by oxen.  Georgetown, Steele's Mills, or as it was later known, Steeleville, came to be an important place on the Shawnee town-Kaskaskia road.  During the Indian unrest of 1811-13, the blockhouse at Steele's Mills or Georgetown was a place of safety for near-by settlers and for travelers.

Jacob BOWERMAN--Jacob BOWERMAN cam to ply his several skills.  Jacob was emphatically not a "jack at all trades and good at none."  If tradition and the meager written records are to be  believed, he was a competent gunsmith, blacksmith, cabinet maker, farmer, builder, cooper, marksman and community leader.  The vicinity of Steel's Mills was fortunate when he came to it in 1808.  The "Old BOWERMAN Place" was a well-known landmark for a century.

Robert TINDALL--Another early settler who believed a gristmill would prove profitable was Robert TINDALL who began construction of one on Tindall Creek about four miles northeast of Chester in 1802.  Floods washed away the mill before its completion, and TINDALL then built a horse-mill.  Another nucleus of settlement was thus formed, and numerous settlers came to make homes in the vicinity.

James WHITE--James WHITE came to the vicinity of the present town of Steeleville about 1808 and settled in the west half of section 17, near where the Steeleville and Chester road crosses Mary's River.  He would thus appear to be the third settler in the area.

This is from the Herald Tribune Newspaper.

(reprinted in the Randolph County Genealogy Society's Quarterly "Trails")

Robert HIGGINS--enjoying more than local fame as a hunter, moved from the vicinity of Kaskaskia to a place about two miles south of present day Sparta, in 1812. He is thought to have been the first settler in that precinct. Others settled near him, and one of the blockhouses was used as a refuge from Indian attacks during the 1811-14 uprisings, was built near his cabin. Other families came to the same vicinity, and in 1820, we find Samuel NESBIT, James PATTERSON, Major Andrew BORDERS, Arthur PARKS, William and Samuel GORDON, John and James BAIRD, James McCLURKEN, and perhaps several others living in the vicinity. To serve this group of settlers, a man named SHANNON established a store at a place about a mile south of Sparta in 1828. A year of so later, this store was moved to a building beside Armour's Mill on the site of present day Sparta. With this as a nucleus, a village soon formed. The new town was named Columbus, but the name of the Post Office remained Shannon's Store. Both these names were dropped in 1839, and the name of Sparta, was given to both the village and post office. New industries appeared in the community. McCLURKEN established a cotton gin, castor oil press, and a coal mine. ROSBOROUGH, GASTON and Company opened their store, keeping a barrel of whiskey and dipper as a convenience to customers. Cornhill BALLARD set up his blacksmith shop, John ARMOUR taught school in the warehouse of Shannon's Store, CROTHER's plow shop appeared later. Sparta had become a well-established and prosperous town. Slavery was prevalent during the very early days of Randolph County's history. Sentiment gradually set against the institution. Numerous persons began actively to aid the escape of slaves, who succeeded in crossing the river from Missouri. Long before the Civil War, a well-established branch of the Under-ground Railroad, operating through Sparta, helped many slaves on their journey toward Canada and freedom. Slavery in early Illinois seems to have been given its initial impetus by CROZAT who brought many slaves with him in 1713. RENAULT brought numerous others in 1719. With successive change of ownership from French to part of the United States, the aspect of slavery changed somewhat. A system of indenture, that in all but name was slavery, later came into use. Bond servants did not disappear from the county until the time of the Civil War. The story of slavery in Randolph County deserves to be more fully told.

Samuel WYLIE--It was a beautiful location and appealed to the Rev. Samuel WYLIE to such an extent that when a town was laid out, he called it EDEN.  It was here that the Rev. WYLIE, who had been sent to the Kaskaskia region as a missionary in 1817, helped in the establishment of the Eden Presbyterian Church and did much of the work that gave form and stability to the early church of Illinois.

In addition to having one off the noted early day churches, Eden was, at one time, the most important manufacturing center in the county.  It had a castor oil press, cotton gin, wool carding machine, foundry, machine shop, wagon and carriage shop, plow shop and blacksmith shop along with several stores.  Looking at it now, one would hardly suspect that it was once a prosperous village.  Sparta gradually absorbing most of the industries and business establishments of Eden, became an important place.  It was early known as a town of good schools and churches.

Joseph LIVELY--Wolves, finding young livestock comparatively easy prey, caused the pioneer much damage.  Counties invariably paid liberal bounties for wolf scalps and thus helped considerably toward their destruction.  Joseph LIVELY, who lived in the vicinity of BREMEN, was a skilled hunter who killed many wolves.  His last report of a wolf killed was in  1862.

Many an early settler aspired to lay out a town.  A man named CAPMAN did that in 1842 and called the place Randolph.  His town did not prosper and in 1859, had only a store and blacksmith shop.  Shortly after this village had been platted, German Immigrants began coming to the community.  They laid out another village just north of hopeful Randolph and called it BREMEN.  This newer village grew more rapidly than the older one, secured the Post Office, and soon assumed leadership of the nearby region.  The village of Randolph ceased to exist.

John McFERRON --unwittingly did one thing that keeps his name alive.  He was the first one to enter land on the site of the present city of Chester.  This he did in 1818.  Some years later, he sold his holdings to three men, Samuel SMITH, J. L. LAMB and Thomas MATHER who at once set about establishing some industries.  A slaughter house was built in the same year, and an important meat packing industry grew up.  At about the same time another man, R. B. SERVANT, built his castor oil press there.  As a name for the new town, Mrs. SMITH, wife of one of the founding fathers, chose the name of her native town in England, and thus Chester is today the name of the city.

Before Chester had long been in existence, a burying ground was required.  Such a place was established on the bluff above the site later occupied by MAGGE's Mill.  This cemetery, being difficult of access, was deserted for the present site in 1834.  It is in this new location that many of the early settlers of noted, lie buried, one being Shadrach BOND, first governor of the state.

The early history of Chester was not without tragedy.  In 1832, Cholera raged along the river and claimed many victims in the Chester area.  The next year saw a recurrence of the epidemic and among the victims was Dr. BARBEE, the town's first physician.  Cholera did not return as an epidemic until 1849. Again it claimed one of the town's physicians, Dr. FERRIS, as its victim.  Dr. MILLARD died this same year but, records do not indicate that cholera caused his death.  A cluster of stones under the bluff near the southern limits of the city marks the spot where cholera victims, dying on passing steamboats, were buried.

In 1839, the COLE Brothers began construction of a flour mill.  This business prospered, and milling began to be a principal industry.  The COLE's have left their imprint upon the town.

In the late 1860's, an iron foundry was established at Chester by a stock company.  In 1869, it was leased to Joseph ARONOWSKI, who bought it in 1873.  this foundry made many furnaces, railings, and various parts of machinery.   Many old castings carry its mark.

The expanse of the river on its west leaves Chester a fair mark for a tornado.  On November 04, 1864, one came and did extended damage to property, carrying the superstructure of the ferry boat, "Henry" to Coulterville, twenty-eight miles away.  Among the three persons killed was Colonel Gabriel JONES, one of the more influential men of the county.

In 1872, Henry HERSCHBACH established a wagon factory in Chester.  This industry became a very important one, and many an older person in southern Illinois recalls the farm wagons with the name "Chester" painted proudly on the side of the wagon box.

John CLENDENIN, a Revolutionary War Veteran, was also an early settler on the site of present day Chester.  His son, James CLENDENIN, settled near Rockwood, where his descendants yet live.

We occasionally see a few castor beans growing as ornaments about a garden but seldom see a field of them.  Had one gone to Randolph County in 1830, he would have seen many fields of castor beans for at that time, Sparta and Chester were vying with each other to become "the castor oil capital' of the nation.  Several presses for the extraction of oil from the beans were set up and many barrels of it were shipped by river from the landing at Chester.

BOISBRIANT--Prairie du Rocher was founded shortly after the building of Fort Chartres, on a tract of land granted to BOISBRIANT.  In 1743, the Prairie du Rocher commons were granted to the village.  This village and that of Kaskaskia had many similarities in their development.  Prairie du Rocher still stands a dreamy little village that would appear very commonplace to one unacquainted with its early importance.  A queer French language is sometimes heard as one listens to the older persons.  On New Year's Eve, time seems to turn backward some two hundred years as the pageantry and costumes of those days are revived in the annual celebration.

Submitted by David McKelvey

Last Updated: July 30, 2000