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Money Creek Township History
Settlers and Settlements
McLean County, Illinois

(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

"Old Louis Soward," as he is universally known among the few who remember him, came to this country from Ohio. He was one of those jolly old frontiersmen who enjoy themselves best away from the haunts of civilization. One to whom the trials and vicissitudes of pioneer life were preferable to the restraints of more advanced society. He was a great hunter. In those days deer were plenty; they might be seen in droves at almost any time. Turkeys abounded in the woods of the Mackinaw and Money Creek. Wolves nightly indulged in their melancholy lamentations over the scarcity of prey. Bees, too, were plenty in the woods. "Uncle Louis" was a great hand at scenting bee trees, and often brought home vast quantities of sweets for family use. He was a great story-teller. Many of his stories are repeated around the firesides on Money Creek, and many a hearty laugh is had at the ready wit of this early pioneer. Mr. Soward had a family of four boys and three girls; but with all the family, he left the township at quite an early day, for the wilds of Wisconsin. The exact date of Mr. Soward's arrival is not now known. It was prior to the settlement; farther up, by the Trimmer family, and as they came in 1836, the Sowards must have come as early as 1825. It is thought by some that they came even earlier. Jacob Harness, a brother-in-law of Louis Soward; came, also, from Ohio, and. it is thought, about the same time. He sold his claim to John Pennell, another Ohio man, and moved to Mackinaw Creek, in Lexington Township. In 1826, Jacob Spawr, then a young man, took a claim on Money Creek. He worked for Mrs. Trimmer, who was then a widow, and, in the fall of the same year, married her daughter. His father, Valentine Spawr, came to the creek the next year. The Spawrs were from Pennsylvania. Valentine Spawr had been a soldier under Gen. Wayne. In 1829, John Steers and the Van Buskirk family came to Money Creek. Van Buskirk lived here until he died. Some of his descendants are still living on Money Creek. A daughter married Mr. Henry Moats, and lives just west of the schoolhouse in District No. 3. In the spring of 1830, Mr. M. N. Barnard moved in and bought Mr. Steers' claim. In the spring of 1830, the Moats family came. Jacob Moats was born in Pennsylvania September 16, 1785. His father was a German, who came from Germany and settled in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. When Jacob Moats was still a young man the family moved to Licking County, Ohio. They were all farmers. There Jacob married Sarah Hinthorn, who then resided in the same county of Ohio. Miss Hinthorn was born in West Virginia, near Wheeling. When forty-four years old. Jacob Moats started West with his large family of nine children. It took five weeks to reach the Big Grove. Here they stopped for a time. They rented a house of David Smith, who afterward moved to Smith's Grove, in Towanda Township. In coming West, there were several families in the train with which the Moats family came. From the Big Grove they were accompanied by Jesse Havens. They came to Hudson first, where Havens bought out Baily, Harbert and Moats, another of the Harberts. This was in the fall of 1829. But spring found the Moats family on Money Creek. From here they never moved, and the family of children grew to manhood and womanhood in this neighborhood. The old Mr. Spawr had sold his claim to Jacob Moats, and on this he lived until his death in 1814. Of his nine children, four died in the fall of 1840. They all died within a short time. None of the doctors were able to understand the disease or arrest its fatality. Three girls and one boy, ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-six, were carried away within four weeks. Two others were taken with the same disease, but recovered. One other brother died afterward. The remaining four children married and settled on Money Creek. Henry Moats, the oldest of the family, is now the oldest old settler living anywhere in this part of the country. The Moatses have always been an important element. in society, taking the lead in church matters, and giving liberally of their means to the support of whatever they considered beneficial to the neighborhood. In 1830, Jesse Stretch and Benjamin Ogden came to the settlement, from Ohio. John Ogden came in 1831, and stopped down on the Mackinaw. Benjamin Ogden bought out Louis Soward. Among the others that came, in a short time, may be mentioned Dr. Ethan McAferty, who came from Ohio and began in the forks of Money Creek and Mackinaw ; William Wilcox, from the same State, who went to the same neighborhood; John R. Wiley, William Young, and a number of others. In 1836, the Bishops came. William G. Bishop held the first post office. The people on Money Creek manifested the true spirit of progress. They built schoolhouses and churches. They erected mills and secured a post office; and if they built no towns, it was not for the want of an attempt. Mr. Pennell and Mr. Baylor ran the saw-mill, just across in Towanda Township, and George Wallace built a flouring-mill on the Mackinaw. When this mill was built, they had an old-fashioned "raising." Those were the days when the jug went around, and everybody indulged. They had a fine time, but no one became intoxicated. This mill was like its neighbors, it depended upon the force of the running stream for its power. It was near the site of Clarksville, and was built about 1836. But when dry weather came, the neighborhood was compelled to go off long distances to mill. Sometimes they went down to the Murphy mill, on Kickapoo, and sometimes they were compelled to go all the way to Ottawa. Wallace gave up the mill to a Mr. Denson. Denson died with the Asiatic cholera in 1855, and after this, the mill went down, and nothing has been heard of it since. Jacob Spawr was made Justice of the Peace. Justices had but little to do in those days. Lawsuits were seldom carried on, and marriages were necessarily few. [The History of McLean County, Illinois, Chicago: W. LeBaron Jr. & Co., 1879]

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