1882 History - Chapter 1
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[Page 13]. . . The first settlement made within the present limits of Bond
County was at Hill’s Station,
[Page 14] or fort – (called also White’s Fort) – about the year 1812. This fort was situated about eight miles, in a southwesterly direction, from where the town of Greenville now stands. On mile and a half south of this was another station, one called Jones’ Fort, built near the same time. These buildings were erected by the white inhabitants, as shelters not only to protect them from the inclemencies of the weather, but from the incursions of the Indians, with whom the county was infested, it being considered unsafe for one family to reside at a distance from others. These settlements were all made within a year or two of the same time, and during the last war with England.
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Most of the first settlers were from Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina,
where all the land is timbered, and the prairies, they viewed as
uninhabitable deserts.
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In the autumn of 1816, a few families of emigrants were crossing the prairie
east of Beaver Creek, in the southern part of this county. The grass had
nearly all been burnt off, affording a fine opportunity for viewing the soil
and situation of the country. An old gentleman belonging to the party was
walking along behind the wagons, in company with a few others, who, like
himself, had become fatigued with riding and got out to walk. The old man
gazed with wonder and delight on the boundless expanse of prairie spread out
before him in all its original beauty. Taking up handfuls of the rich, black
soil, he would examine it minutely, then toss it aside with the exclamation,
“Ah me, how rich it is; what a pity there’s no timber to fence it.”
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[Page 19] Chapter II ...
Transcribed by Norma Hass from the History of Bond and
Montgomery Counties
