Historical souvenir of Greenville, Illinois : being a ... - University Library

134 Historical Souvenir of Greenville, Illinois.
George H Davis,
A Greeuville boy who is chief clerk to
the General Attorney' of the M. W.
A., at Rock Island.
several of the churches united together
in the observance of this
Thursday prayer service.
Greenville was not a "City of
magnificent distances" when the
writer first saw it. It was limited
by the hills and valleys on the
north, the bluff on the west. South
Street on the south, and First
Street on the east. All east of
First Street was in the country, and
largely in the farms of Samuel
White and Wyatt Stubblefield.
This is the reason the next street
east of First Street was named
"Prairie"— it was out in the
prairie. All the land south of
South Street was owned and cultivated
as a part of the farm of the
Hon. Wm. S. Wait, and was cultivated
in corn. The first residence
property on this Wait land, as the
writer remembers, was the site now
occupied by W. W. Hussong.
Though not a "churchman" Mr.
Wait was a liberal, intelligent,
wealthy and public spirited citizen
and donated and deeded a piece of
land to the Rev. James Stafford,
then pastor of the Presbyterian
church of Greenville. On this Mr.
Stafford erected a two story frame
house and occupied it as a residence
for many years. It afterwards became
the home of Mrs. Sarah
Brown and family and was owned
Residence of John H. Davis.
Prof. W. Duff Piercy.
Former Superintendent of the Greenville
Public Schools, now a resident
of Mt. Vernon, 111. Residence of R. W. Wilson.
and occupied by her son-in-law, Mr.
William Morris who removed the
old Stafford frame and erected the
more modern and commodious residence
now occupied by Mr. Hussong.
Mr. Wait deeded this property
by metes and bounds as a certain
part of Section 10, and so to the
present time it is not known as
town lots.
The writer well remembers when
Mr. J. F. Alexander lived clear out
of town, in the house afterward
owned by C. D. Harris, and now
the home of James Ward. To get
there one had to walk all the way
from South Street to Mr. Alexander's
over a path through the
cornfield, or by a much longer distance
around the field. All that
part of the city now know as "The