“ Very few have attempted cattle-feeding, and have escaped the financial disasters which have overtaken so many in the older and richer portions of the county. The richness of the soil, and its suitableness for cultivation in any kind of season, has given a healthy success to the farming community, while the absence of great wealth on the part of any has kept out a tendency to extravagant living and inordinate display, which, sooner or later, must affect the entire community. ”

“ White Oak Township was organized in the spring of 1858, the first election having been held April 6, 1858. The name of the town was a fortunate selection, as thereby this fraction of a township, the smallest in the county, has obtained a name that entitles it to the historical record of the whole grove. White Oak has always possessed a large share of influence in the councils of the county at large-much more than some of the newer and larger townships have been able to secure. The town has had no debt, or, if it ever bad any, it was only of a very temporary nature. ”

“ To meet an enemy on the field of battle, and there to be shot down like a beast, is hard, regardless of all the glory that is attached to heroic deeds; but to languish on beds of disease, in foreign lands, and there to sicken and die, where no sympathetic hand of mother or sister or brother or wife can press the aching brow, is far worse.
Railroad And Highways Before the building of the Jacksonville Division of the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, the farmers in the west and south part of the township had to haul their produce long distances to market. ”

“ He has been repeatedly elected Supervisor, and made a very useful member of the County Board. He has a good farm, bountifully supplied with fruit, and, at seventy-five, he is spending a green old age, with nothing to complain of, and few regrets. He does regret however, that the people of this prairie country did not earlier learn that they could get along without having to fence against other people's cattle. He says he did not know, until after the people over in Cropsey Township adopted their ordinance against cattle running at large, that it could be done. ”

“ In going to Chicago, with cattle, they had the first station at Smith's Grove, neat at Eppard's Point, then at Babcock's Grove, called Wolf Grove. There was then a long stretch before they reached the timber on the Mazon.
He has a good farm, of 200 acres, on Section 18, and is enjoying the well-earned rewards of a laborious, honest and well-spent life. He is highly esteemed, as such men always must be. With his fine family of children, and some grandchildren, to enjoy the good example of a faithful life, he does not much regret the trials and discouragements of his early career. ”

“ Like all the early settlers, he was obliged to make Chicago his market when it seemed about all the load of grain was worth to get there. He early made cattle-raising his principal business. He has always taken an interest in the affairs of the town and of the schools. He was elected the first Supervisor, and, for the last eleven years, he has been continuously the Supervisor; and, for the last two years, Chairman of the Board. - He owns 300 acres of land, which is being well worked. In 1876, he built a large and well-arranged residence on his farm, really the finest one in Downs. ”

“ He is justly esteemed one of Downs' best citizens, such a one as McLean County knows how to use in her public affairs. W. W. Peasley has a fine farm of 375 acres on Section 29. The buildings are excellent, and the grounds beautifully adorned with evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubbery. The beautiful lawn and neatly-trimmed hedges indicate the home of refinement and comfort. The Sabbath-school Conventions are usually held on his grounds, and it would be difficult to find a more delightful place for these annual convocations. ”

“ The adoption of the law preventing cattle from running at large, made it possible for men to crop their land without fencing, and hedges were started, although there are many pieces of land in the township which are still open. There is no railroad, marketing of the crops being done at Lexington on the north, and Ellsworth and Holder on the south.
Old settlers tell of a terrible tornado which swept over the town in the summer, which did much damage and caused more fright. The wind had blown from the east all day, and at night came back from the west in a terrible gale. ”

“ Here we find, more marked than in any other town in the county, the simplicity and good habits of our early settlers, uncontaminated by modern degenerate practices. There are no large villages near enough to attract the attention of the younger people, and they find amusement and sociability at home, and grow up purer and better than would be the case were they convenient to a city. ”

“ No citizen of Cropsey or Anchor has ever been elevated to political or judicial office of the county or State. While this is not strange, and by the citizens themselves not regretted, as they have not been "seeking office," and, with all the reforms which have been instituted, the time has not come yet when the office seeks the man in all cases, still it is a little singular that two of the local clergy who resided here, moved into adjoining counties to be soon sent to the Legislature. ”

“ Latterly, the citizens have learned by experience to build them more permanently. There is no store in town, Saybrook being the principal trading point, although those living in the northern part find Potosi a convenient point. No township debt oppresses the taxpayers of Anchor, although the record is evidence that it is not their felt that they have not now heavy railroad taxes to pay. They repeatedly voted to donate the Decatur & State Line Railroad all they asked, to build a road through the town, but the possibilities of that railroad were burned up in the Chicago fire. ”

“ They are honest, moral, religious, social, economical, are not in debt, have no paupers, do not go to law, are generous to each other in misfortune, have no aristocracy, pay their bills-in short, form a strictly well regulated, we might almost say a model, community. ”

“ Many churches do not always indicate increase of religious life, but a lack lack of churches generally shows a lack of religious interest. However it may be, the people here seem, with great unanimity, alive to religious and spiritual matters. There are nine school districts in Anchor, and it has the largest township school fund of any in the county-$14,375. The school section was sold in 1869, for $22 per acre, giving a handsome sum, which seems to have been well cared for. ”

“ All this has happened within the last three or four years, and the indications are very favorable for the building of quite a nice little village, either with or without a railroad. The only wonder is that a village has not been commenced here earlier, as the wants of the surrounding country will easily sustain quite a town. There is no trading-place of any importance nearer than eight or ten miles, and the roads are often so bad that the necessities of a farming community require towns much nearer together than we have had them in the past. Oak Grove may be regarded as a permanent town. ”

“ A few miles south of the grove is the church of the Presbyterians, which is the most central, perhaps, of any in the town. Near Winton Carlock's is the Mt. Zion Church of the United Brethren, making the fifth in White Oak Township. The total value of these churches is over $10,000. They will seat more people than the total population of the township, something that can be said of the churches of but few towns in the county. There are a number of families of Unitarians, Universalists, a few Second Adventists, and some members of other denominations in the township. ”

“ By this time, 1851, the passage of the bill to build the Illinois Central Railroad through Bloomington, closed to market all land lying between the west line of this township and Bloomington, and, of course, every one who wanted to buy land near the latter, then a growing young town, rushed into the towns of Range 5 in a hurry. The entire town soon filled up. Its history from that time (except what refers to the village) is a continued story of prosperity. ”

“ He now lives in the village, a hale and hearty old man, enjoying the advantages of a frugal life commenced in the privations which are consequent on settlement in a new country. He has seen the wide prairie of Arrowsmith changed into productive farms. Samuel Arrowsmith, the father of the present race of that goodly name, came to this county with his three sons, Ezekiel, John and Henry, and made his home a little west of the present town. Ezekiel came here onto the farm he now resides on, in 1842, in Section 30. He has 2311 acres of land. ”

“ Certain it is, however, that the residents of Kansas Township have not remained satisfied with the county in which they live. Most of them, with those inhabitants of Montgomery who live south of the Mackinaw, are in sympathy with McLean. They trade mostly at Danvers, Hudson or Bloomington. In time of high water, they cannot cross the river to reach Metamora, their county seat., without considerable trouble, though since the erection of a bridge at Forneyville, in Montgomery, and one in the northern part of Kansas, they are much better accommodated than formerly. ”

“ Ezekiel Arrowsmith has 200 acres where he has so long resided, and is considered one of the best farmers.
M. Pemberton, in Section 27, has a large farm-grain and stock; is also engaged in buying and shipping.
James R. Cundiff has 136 acres in Section 27, with good building. He has five acres of black-walnut grove now growing. They stand about one rod apart. He considers them the best timber to raise on the prairie, especially on dry land, for the reasons they grow quick, nothing will kill them out, timber very valuable, and the nuts when people become accustomed to them-will find good market. ”

“ He has been largely engaged in raising and feeding, and buying for feeding cattle, and has made this business a success. He has a nice house, and probably the largest, best-arranged, and best barn in town. His farm is well adapted to stock-raising, and the orchards good.
Wyatt Adams has a fine farm of 210 acres on Sections 16 and 17, about two miles south of Downs Station. He has farmed this land 34 years, and there is nothing to indicate that the land is run out. He has a pleasant house, which seems, to the passer-by, to be the home of comfort and well-directed industry. ”

“ In 1876, eighty acres of land were sold for $25.30 per acre ; 240 acres still remaining unsold. From the first, the affairs of the school fund seem to have been very judiciously managed, and the men who have bad charge of it seem to have been worthy of the confidence reposed in them. The township now has a fund of $11,151, nearly all placed on real estate, and about $6,000 worth of land left unsold. This fund is the largest, save one, in the county, and will, eventually, be the largest. ”

“ Belleflower Township Belleflower is the extreme southeastern township of the county, and was one of the latest to come into general settlement. It is like the others in the southern tier, six miles by eight, being described Town 22, Range 6 east, and the northern twelve sections of Town 21, Range 6 cast of Third Principal Meridian. In topographical appearance, it is gently undulating, the highest ridge of land being that which forms the "divide" between the Sangamon and Salt Creek, running through from north to south about two miles east of the western boundary line of the town. ”

“ Thompson tells how, for a long time, people used to dig up the Indian remains to get the silver trinkets that were buried with them, such desecration being continued as long as there were any trinkets to be found. No law was supposed to exist against this resurrection, as under the old-time notion, this was the "white man's country." About this time, the settlement at Cheney's Grove on the east began to swell over the township line. In 1838, William Arbogast commenced a farm on Section 13, where he lived until his death. ”

“ Money Creek Township is located in the northern part of the county, being in the second tier from the north. It is directly north of the center. It is bounded as fol lows: On the north by Gridley, on the east by Lexington, on the south by Towanda, and on the west by Hudson Townships. It comprises one Congressional town, and is designated, Town 25 north, Range 3 east o£ the Third Principal Meridian. The soil is rich and productive throughout the greater portion of the township. The surface is covered by a considerable belt of timber. ”

“ This first schoolhouse was located on the east hank of Money Creek, in the midst of the earliest settlements.
The old log schoolhouse has long since passed away. The children who went to school in it are now old men and women, or have passed away with their early teacher. New and more inviting buildings now furnish comfortable apartments where the young people can delve into the mysteries of science, or puzzle themselves over mathematical questions, without danger of freezing or having their eye-sight impaired for want of light. ”

“ Forty bushels was not uncommon, and was sufficient to induce many brilliant castles of marvelous wealth to be erected in the minds of the newcomers. They came to believe that wheat would grow almost spontaneously on this virgin soil, and many went in debt for land to sow to wheat. ”

“ The citizens of Blue Mound very early took the matter of religious service and religious instruction in hand. Mr. John Speed Stagner, who, in many respects, is a pioneer in every good work, had, by a recent consecration of his life to religious work, and ordination to the work, according to the custom and rule of the " Christian " Church, come into his new home determined to build up religious institutions. Meetings were at first held in his house. Elders David Sharpless, Anderson and Knight were the first to hold religious services in this neighborhood. ”

“ White Oak being a farming township, with only one small village, barely three years old, has, of course, no manufactures. As early as 1833, one of its citizens - Thomas Dixon - built a mill on the Mackinaw, which did some service. This mill,, however, was not in this township. Some years ago, the steam saw and grist mill, known as the " Western Mills," were built in the township, near its northern line, the only manufacturing establishment in the township of much importance. They have never proved very profitable. ”

“ The trade of Arrowsmith has been of a more permanent character and more generally prosperous than most of the new railroad towns. Nearly all those who commenced trade here have continued and are prosperous. Only one general assignment, for the benefit of creditors, has been made in the seven years of business. Trade is drawn from ten miles away, on the Mackinaw; and as a grain-shipping point, no station on the line of this railroad has done more one year with another. ”

“ There certainly can be no discount on the fertility of the soil. One branch of Sugar Creek takes its rise in this township. There are numerous branches of this stream from the center, east and northeast. They unite in one and leave on the south side near the center of Section 33. There is also a small stream flowing northwest from the northern part, and one on the west rises near the railroad, and flows in a zigzag course to near the northwest corner. The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad enters the township one-fourth mile west of the southeast corner of Section 35. ”

“ The land from northeast corner to southeast corner is pretty level. There is very little wet land in Belleflower; nearly all is capable of cultivation, and all of good drainage. In the northern portion of the township, the land is diversified by numerous round hillocks, which give an interesting appearance to the surface. It was originally entirely destitute of timber, except one poor lone tree which stood on Section 19, near the ford of Salt Creek, and for years seemed to stand as sentinel to that important crossing. ”