Early Settlers of Woodford County, Illinois

1819

• Wm. George Blaylock settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.

1822

• William Blanchard  settled along the Illinois river in near present Spring Bay township.
  • William Blanchard was born in Peru, Vermont.  He came to Illinois in 1819 after being discharged from the Army in Detroit. He and three companions came up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and arrived at Fort Clarke (present Peoria, IL).  Blanchard then crossed over to the opposite side of the river and raised a crop of corn, potatoes and pumpkins during the summer of 1819.  In 1822, he built a cabin in Tazewell County, near the Woodford County line.  This was the first cabin erected between the area and Chicago, Illinois.  He opened the first farm in the area with Henry Race, a young man he had employed to help him.   In 1830, he settled on a farm in  Spring Bay, Illinois.  (Taken from the Woodford County History 1878)
• Mr. Darby settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township .
  • Mr. Darby arrived in the fall of 1822 with his wife and three children from Vermont.  William Blanchard took them in and kept them at his cabin until spring. Mr. Darby then built the first cabin in Woodford county on a part of what was known as the old Crocker farm in present Spring Bay Township.

1823

• William Phillips and George Kingston settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.

1824

• Joseph Dillon settled along Walnut Creek three miles south of the present Woodford County courthouse in Eureka, Illinois
• Joshn Stephenson and  Auston Crocker settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.
  • Austin and Horace Crocker built the first Mill in Spring Bay township to be run by water powder.  It was powered by water from several large springs in the immediate neighborhood.

1827

• Daniel Meek and family settled along Walnut creek in present Cruger Township.
• Charles Moore, Jonathon Baker, John Bird and Mr. Wathen settled in Walnut Grove along Walnut Creek in present Olio Township.
• Charles Fielder and Winston Barton settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.
  • Winston Baron built the first mill in present Spring Bay township.  It was a little horse-powdered mill which was called a corn-cracker.

1828

• Amasa  and Susannah Stout settled along Panther Creek in the northwest quarter of Section 19 of the present Greene Township.
  • The Stouts lived their first two winters in a rail pen, protected on three sides and top with corn fodder.  On June 13, 1836, they then sold their farm to B.J. Radford and then moved south.
• Robert and Samuel Philips settled at White Oak Grove in present Kansas Township.
• Rowland Crocker , Nicholas Snyder and family and  Jacob Wilson settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.
  • Nicholas Snyder, his wife, sons, John and Isaac and daughter, Elizabeth came from Germany. After living in New York, they came to Illinois and settled south of Spring Bay in 1828.  His sons John and Isaac, at an early age, moved to Partridge Township and purchased land to farm.  
• William Hoshor settled in present Spring Bay Township.
  • William Hoshor came from Ohio in 1830.  He built a mill near the Crocker mill in 1835.William Hoshor built a distillery in connection with his mill.  It ceased operation about 1866.  Along with Richard Demont in 1844, they built a warehouse for housing grain which was very successful for over 20 years.

1829

• James Martin, Joseph Dillon, Moores, James Rayburn and John Stevenson settled along Walnut creek in present Cruger Township prior to 1830.
• William Atteberry, John Davidson, John Dawdy, Joseph Martin, Mathew Bracken, James Bird, Robert Bird and Nathan Owen settled at Walnut Grove along Walnut Creek in present Olio Township.
• William, Allen, Winslow and Almira Patrick settled on Section 29 of present Green Township.
  • They came from Overton County, Tennessee and lived at first in a rail pen, protected on three sides and top with corn fodder until the boys had cleared ten acres of ground.
• Thomas and Elisha Dickson, Samuel Kirkpatrick and Adam Moore settled White Oak Grove in present Kansas Township.
• Thomas and Permelian Radcliff Dixon settled in present Kansas Township.  
  • They operated a water-powdered grist mill on the Mackinaw River near Fort Dixon.  They moved to present El Paso Township in 1833 and built a house on the present site of Kappa, Illinois.
• Richard Williams, Lewis Williams, William Walker, David Mathews, "Widow" Donohue, George Hopkins and Hirman Curry settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.

1830

• Young Bilbley, brother-in-law of the Patricks settled on the east fork of Panther Creek.
  • Young Bibly came with his wife, from Overton County, Tennessee.  Their son, Eli Patrick Young was the first white child born in that part of the county in 1831.
• Joseph Meek, Henry Meek, William Bird, David DeWeese, Thomas DeWeese, John Oatman and Mathew Blair settled along Walnut Creek in present Olio Township.
• Francis Ayers built a cabin near present Metamora.  
  • Francis Ayers was born and reared in New Hampshire.  In 1831, he sold his cabin and moved to the Partridge Creek bottom in present Partridge township.
• William Hoshor settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.

1831

• William McCord and relatives settled in present Greene township.
  • William McCord was from Overton, Tennessee.  He came to Green township in  1831 along with five other families and built a 20 feet square log cabin.
• Joshua Woosley, Francis Willis, Daniel Travis, Isaac Black, Caleb Davidson, John Butcher, Cooley Curtis settled along Walnut Creek in present Olio Township.
• Jospeh Belsley and Phineas Shottenkirk settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.

1832

• William Maxwell built an inn and entertainment house in the eastern part of present Washburn along the State Road.
• "Red" Jo Belsley settled in present Partridge Township near Partridge Creek.
  • Mr. Belsley was born in France.  He made claim to a tract on Patridge Creek.  Later he sold it to Joseph Johnson and settled in Worth township, close to the Partridge line.
• Jacob Stevenson settled along Panther Creek in present Roanoke Township.
  • Jacob Stephenson was from Christian County, Kentucky.  He brought his family to Illinois and settled in the grove at Panther Creek.  He built the first cabin in present Roanoke township and was a blacksmith and farmer.

1833

• Abraham and Reuben Carlock settled in present Kansas Township just inside the Woodford County line.
  • Abraham and his brother, Reuben came from Tennessee.  His father and two brothers were soldiers under General Jackson at the Battle of New Oleans.  Abraham Carlock was fond of saying that his first vote for a presidential candidate was for General Jackson and liked to called himself "The Old Democrat".  In 1850, Carlock donated about an acre of land in southern Kansas Township to the Christian Church for use as a cemetery known as Carlock Cemetery.  In 1884, Abraham Carlock was buried in Carlock cemetery with the following inscription on his tombstone:  "Here Sleeps the Old Democrat".
• Joseph Johnson and Louis deGuibert settled near Partridge creek in present Partridge township
  • Joseph Johnson came from Pennsylvania.  He bought land from Jo Belsley and became a prominent man in the settlement.  He operated and owned both a saw mill and grist mill.  He was also the first blacksmith in the area.
  • Louis deGuibert came from France and settled in Partridge.  He served as a soldier under Napoleon and had fought in the battels of Austerlitz, Nina and Wagran.  He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.  He brought workmen with him from France and by 1834, had built a saw mill which was known as the Old French Mill.  He became a man of comfortable wealth before his death in 1866.
• James Mitchell, Ben Major and Thomas Kincade settled along Walnut Creek in present Olio Township.
• Louis Guilbert settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.
• Joseph Wilkinson  and Joseph Wilson settled in present Roanoke township.

1834

• John Armstrong settled at Panther Creek Grove on Section 34 of present Greene Township.
• William R. Willis, Denjamin J. Radford and M.R. Bullock settled along Walnut Creek in present Olio Township.
• Mr. Gingerick settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.

1835

• Joseph Gingerich and Peter Farni built a sawmill at present Mongomery Township's first settlement at the present Mackinaw Dells area.
• Nathaniel and Jonathan Wilson setted in Hanover (Metamora) in 1835.  
  • In 1850 Jonathan moved to present Greene Township. He carried the surveyors chains while helping complete the section surveys in the Woodford County townships.
• John and David Hibbs settled in Section 28 of present El Paso Township.
• Solomon Tucker, William Davenport, Elijah Dickinson and Thomas Bullock settled along Walnut Creek in present Olio Township.
  • Thomas Bullock platted the first village in 1836.  It was named after his birthplace, Versailles, Kentucky.  In 1840, Bullock organized Woodford county which was approved in 1841..  
• William Hunter settled along the Illinois river in present Spring Bay township.
• Chauncey Baker settled in present Partridge township.
  • About 1834, Mr. Baker walked from Pennsylvania to Illinois and took up a claim east of Chillicothe.  The next fall he walked back to Pennsylvania and returned the following spring with his family.  They settled in Partridge township.

1836

• Captain Parker Morse, Rev. James Owen and Thomas Jones settled in Cazenovia Township near present Lowpoint, IL and started the first free school in Woodford County.
• James Boys established the first post office at Black Partridge three miles north of present Metamora.
• Joseph Causey settled in present Roanoke township.
  • He came from Kentucky in 1836.  He moved away for about 4 years and then moved back.  He built the first blacksmith shop in Roanoke township.

1840

• Harrison Hollenback settled in Section 3 of present Linn Township.
  • He came with his family form Ohio and built the first house on the prairie south of the timber.

1842

• Caleb and Elizabeth Horn settled in the triangle between the stage route between Bloomington and Hennepin in present El Paso Township.  They operated a post office called Roxan.

Back to Woodford County Illinois History and Genealogy