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

16 Historica.! Souvenir of Greenville, Illinois.
Col. Richard Bentley,
Who came to Bond county in 1829
and moved to Greenville in 184-7;
deputy sheriff in 1848 and sheriff a
few vears later; one of the first
presidents of the village board in
the early fifties; representative in
the state legislature with Lincoln
and died in 1873.
May 7, 1821, and read as follows:
"Agreeable to an act of the gen-
eral assembly to remove the seat of
justice from Perryville to Greenville,
Bond County, the court of probate
met at the clerk's oflBce on
Monday, the seventh of May, 1821,
with Thomas Kirkpatrick as judge."
The records show that the probate
court held its sessions, or at least
some of them, at the dwelling of
Seth Blanchard in 1822. Judge Ben-
J. P. G.\RLAND,
Who canie here in 1839 and who
lived here continuouslY until his
death in 1903.
jamin Mills presided at this time.
In 1823 John Gillmore was judge.
The earliest records on file in the
ofBce of the circuit clerk bear aate
of July 18, ISIT, three years before
Greenville was the county seat. This
record shows that Simon Lindley,
of Madison county, transferred IGO
acres of land for $100 to John Lindley.
The land is described as the
northwest quarter of section 32,
township 5, range 3, west of the
third principal meridian. There
were no more transfers until September
2, 1817, when Robert Gillespie
sold 320 acres to Jonathan
Crowley, of Virginia, for $960.
The census of 182 gives Bond
county a population of 2,931.
Greenville was still confined to the
extreme western part of the present
city, now known as Davidson's Addition,
which includes the greater
part of Greenville west of Fourth
Street, between North and Summer.
Present Main Avenue and Sixth
Street was the business center then
and for many years afterwards.
During the period of the twenties
Seth Blanchard, Cyrus and Ansel
Birge, Thomas Long, Samuel White
and William Durley operated stores;
most of them in the old brick building
on the southwest corner of Main
and Sixth, which stood south of the
John Baumberger, Sr., homestead
until a few years ago, when it was
torn down. Dr. J. B. Drake was a
physician and merchant of this
period.
In 182 7 Bond county gave but
2 50 votes, but in the following year
immigration from Tennessee and
Kentucky increased the population
to a considerable extent.
In the twenties Greenville was a
typical frontier town, composed of
a cluster of log cabins, a tumbledown
brick court house and a frame
building or two. All east of the
present square was "out in the
country," and was merely a dense
growth of hazel brush.
During the twenties Samuel
White sold his tannery to J. Harvey
Black and opened a store in 1829,
on the northeast corner of Sixth and
Main. Thomas Long bought out Mr.
Blanchard's stock of goods and for
a while his brother. Rev. Peter
Long, clerked for him. Mr. Long
soon sold otit to Dr. J. B. Drake and
William Durley, who continued the
business where the present Drake
House now stands. Dr. Drake, in a
few years, bought the entire stock
and continued in business for twenty
five years.
Cyrus Birge kept a store on lot
No. 8, Davidson's Addition from
1819 to 1824, when he sold out to
his brother, Ansel, who continued
in business for at least eight years.
In 182 2, by order of the court, a
"stray pen" was built in Greenville.
It was 40 feet square and six feet
Mrs. Richard Bentley,
Born in Virginia in 1799; died here
in 1876.
high and was built for the purpose
of confining stray stock. On court
days and other public occasions the
people who had lost stock, would go
to the stray pen and endeavor to
identify their property.
An abstract of the poll books of
an election held in Greenville August
2, 1824, for county oflicers
shows that for Sheriff, Hosea Camp
had 151 votes, William White 97,
Henry Williams, 47; for County
Commissioners, Ransom Geer had
2 2 4, Robert McCord, 2 09; Asahel
Enloe, 171: George Donnell, 107
and George Davidson 101. For
Coroner, Robert W. Denny had 122,
Mrs. J. P. Garland,
Who came here iti 1830 and is still a
resident; married in 1848 to J. P.
Garland.