1882 History - Chapter 6
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There is no better evidence of moral advancement and Christian
civilization in a newly-settled community than the establishment
of churches. The history of Christianity in Bond County may be
termed coeval with its settlement by white people. The first
preacher of whom there is any authentic account made his
appearance in the county in the year 1816, and was of the
Methodist denomination, among which were found those pioneer
soldiers of the cross, who preceded or followed close in the
wake of civilization in the West. Rev. Jesse HALE, the pioneer
minister of Bond County preached his first sermon at the house
of Robert GILLESPIE, who lived two miles southwest of
Greenville, in the year mentioned (1816), and where he continued
preaching at intervals, during that and part of the ensuing
year. A church, the first established in the county, was
organized in that neighborhood during the two years of his
ministration. What State he was form, or where he went after
this, cannot now be ascertained.
The next preacher was Salmon P. GIDDINGS of St. Louis, a Presbyterian, who preached occasionally at private houses, and in 1818 or 1819, organized a church at “Moody’s Spring,” about a mile southwest of Greenville. This spring was so named for Andrew MOODY, who lived there several years, though the place was first settled by Thomas KIRKPATRICK. Here the first church in Bond County was erected during the year 1817, by the Methodist denomination. It was built of hewed logs, and thirty feet long by twenty-five feet in width. We have not been able to ascertain the precise dates when the first ministers belonging to each of the denominations now in the county came here, but those of the Baptists and Cumberland Presbyterians arrived soon after the two already mentioned, and those of the others at a still later day.
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The first Sunday school in the county was organized in the year
1818, at the residence of William ROBINSON, about one and a half
miles northwest of Greenville. It was under the supervision of
the Presbyterian Church, which we have already mentioned. It was
composed of grown people and children, and was termed a Bible
class or society. This school has been kept up by that
denomination ever since, but meets now in Greenville, at the Old
Presbyterian Church, and is very justly entitled the pioneer
Sunday school of Bond County. ...
Among the ministers of the Gospel who labored here at an early day, may be mentioned Bishop AMES, Peter CARTWRIGHT and James B. WOOLLARD, of the Methodist; Peter LONG, of the Baptist, and Joel Knight, of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. These, with the exception of Peter CARTWRIGHT, have preached in nearly all parts of the county. J. B. WOOLLARD and Peter LONG have doubtless performed more marriage ceremonies and preached more funerals than any other two ministers in this portion of the State. Of the early preachers of this county long since dead, were Revs. John DEW, John M. PECK, William K. STEWART, and many others of the various denomination, whom the old settlers can call to mind. ...
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The first school in the county was taught, in the year 1819, by
Thomas WHITE, in a little log cabin, on the hill west of
Greenville, between the residence of Mrs. BLACK and where Samuel
WHITE's tanyard was situated. This school was small, as the
inhabitants were few, some of whom had no education themselves,
and did not care whether their children ever received any or
not. But as the population increased, schools sprang up in
various parts of the county, whenever a neighborhood became
strong enough to sustain one. In some instances, where but tow
of three families lived near each other, they sent off several
miles to those similarly situated, took in children and boarded
them free, in order to have a school that would justify the
paying of a teacher.
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The citizens of Bond County have not been behind those in any
other portion of the State in asserting their opinions,
demanding their right, or responding to the calls of patriotism.
As an instance of their readiness to make a public declaration
of opinion, they were the first in the county to oppose what was
called the "internal improvement bill", passed many years ago by
the legislature, the following notice of which appears in Ford's
History of Illinois, page 291:
"The people of Bond County, as soon as the internal improvement system passed, had declared in a public meeting that the system must lead to taxation and utter ruin; that the people were not bound to pay any of the debt to be contracted for it; and that Bond County would never assist in paying a cent of it. Accordingly, they refused to pay taxes for several years."
The citizens of the county were correct in their conclusions, for in a few years the system went down, and left the State in the almost bankrupt condition they had foretold, with a debt of $14,000,000 hanging over it. When the subject of paying this debt by increased taxation came up in 1844, William S. WAIT addressed a very able letter to Thomas FORD, Governor of the State, in opposition to the plan.
In patriotism the county has been equally prompt in maintaining
her position. When the State of Illinois was called upon for
four regiments of volunteers for the Mexican war, in 1846, Bond
County furnished one company of ninety-three men. This company
had the following officers: Benjamin E. SELLERS, Captain; J. M.
HUBBARD, First Lieutenant; S. G. McADAMS, Second Lieutenant, and
I. N. REDFEARN, Third Lieutenant. Of this number only about
forty men returned at the close of the
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campaign, the remainder having died or been discharged on
account of sickness. But few of them are now living in the
county.
During the late rebellion, the county, small as it is, furnished
five companies of cavalry, besides several companies of
infantry.
Notwithstanding so many companies went from this county into the
late war, many of the citizens strongly opposed it. In
consequence of their opposition, much excitement prevailed
during a portion of the time, resulting, however, in no very
serious trouble, except in a few instances. Many occurrences,
both ludicrous and otherwise, might be related, but lest they
stir up and keep alive old prejudices and differences, they will
be passed over in silence. Suffice it to say, in conclusion of
the county’s war record, that those who went forth to battle for
their country’s honor acquitted themselves as became American
soldiers, and their history in the long and dreadful four years’
struggle was that of all the soldiers from Illinois – noble and
honorable. Those who met a soldier’s death fell in a high and
holy cause; those who survived the struggle and returned home
enjoy the proud consciousness that the Union was preserved – the
government unshaken.
Transcribed by Norma Hass from the History of Bond and
Montgomery Counties
