History of Jarvis Township, Madison County, Illinois
Madison County ILGenWeb Coordinator - Beverly Bauser
Jarvis Township, 3 North, Range 7 West, was
named in honor of the Jarvis family – early settlers of the part
of Madison County. It was surveyed in 1806.
The first
settlers in Jarvis Township arrived in 1803. In the Spring of
that year, the Greggs came from Kentucky, and Robert Seybold
from Virginia. In an address delivered by Dr. John S. Dewey on
July 4, 1876, he stated that “Jacob Gregg, the father, settled
the Baird place and planted the old pear tree in 1804, which has
done faithful service since, and in 1864 yielded a crop which
sold in Dubuque, Iowa for one hundred and twenty-five dollars.
Philip, Titus, John, and Herman Gregg all settled in the
township. Robert Seybold made a settlement on section eight, not
far from John Gregg, and near the head of Cantine Creek.
The above pioneers were soon followed by William F. Purviance,
John Jarvis, Robert McMahan, Jesse Renfro, William Hall, James
Watt, and others, all of whom arrived before 1818. The first
land entries in the township were made on September 10, 1814, by
Titus Gregg and John Jarvis. Robert Seybold entered one hundred
acres on October 20, 1814. On September 23, 1815, David Gaskill
entered seventy-nine and a half acres in section seven. On May
1, 1815, Pierre Menard entered one hundred and sixty acres in
section one.
William F. Purviance, an early pioneer, was
born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, in 1783. He came to
Illinois in 1809. He first worked at the trade of a wheelwright
with Titus Gregg, who was a wheelwright and blacksmith. This
business was conducted on the future farm of Ignatius Riggin,
north of Troy. After visiting Tennessee, Purviance was married
to Rebecca Seybold in 1811, and then settled two miles north of
Troy in Pin Oak Township. In about 1816, he moved back to Jarvis
Township, and settled on section seven, west of Troy. He lived
there until his death in December 1870. Purviance was a member
of the first grand jury convened at Edwardsville after the
organization of Madison County. He was once appointed justice of
the peace while Illinois was yet a territory. For many years he
carried on a wheelwright shop on his farm. In the early days, he
made spinning wheels for spinning flax and cotton. James
Purviance, a son, was born in 1811, and William H. Purviance,
another son, resided in Troy.
George Bridges and Daniel
Semple settled southeast from Troy in 1808, and Walter Denny and
William Skinner settled in a very early period. John Lamb became
a citizen of the township in 1810. All of these were from
Kentucky and Tennessee.
Robert McMahan settled on Ridge
Prairie, two miles and a half southwest from Troy. He was born
in Virginia, immigrated to Kentucky, and in that state married
Margaret Clark. He moved to Illinois in 1793, settling near New
Design. His wife and four children were killed by Indians, and
he and his eldest daughter were taken prisoner. He married a
second wife, and raised a large family. McMahan died in 1822 at
the age of 63.
John Jarvis, a native of
Virginia, became a member of the settlement on January 1, 1813.
He moved from Turkey Hill, a short distance southeast of
Belleville in St. Clair County, where he had settled in about
1806. The Turkey Hill settlement was the only American
settlement made in St. Clair County previous to the year 1800,
and prominent in the history of St. Clair County is Franklin
Jarvis, brother of John Jarvis. Franklin was a member of the original colony
which settled Turkey Hill in 1797. John Jarvis bought the Herman
Gregg farm in Madison County, and on September 10, 1814, he made the first entry
of land from Jarvis Township granted by President James Monroe. He kept a
house of entertainment for the accommodation of the immigrant
travel, and in 1816 built a band mill. This mill was a great
convenience to the settlers, and became one of the most
desirable places in the vicinity for the establishment of a
store. Jarvis’ band mill may have been the origin of the town of
Troy. Jarvis was a good and honest man, and although in his
youth was accustomed to slavery, he became opposed to the
practice, and sacrificed his own interests in slaves. He was the
first practical abolitionist in Jarvis Township. He requested
that his faithful old slave, Ben (who he freed, but refused to
leave his companion), be buried near him. John's descendants
carried out his wishes. John Jarvis
died on October 27 or 29, 1823, leaving three sons (by his second
marriage) – John, Wesley, and Fletcher, who grew up and lived in
Troy until their death.
George Churchill, who settled on
section eight, west of Troy, was one of the most remarkable men
who lived in the township. In early life he had learned the
printing trade, and after coming to Jarvis Township, he, at
intervals, went to St. Louis and worked in the printing offices
there. He remained an eccentric bachelor, however was held in
high esteem. Several times he was elected as a representative to
the State legislature. As talent as a writer came into play, and
he drafted a considerable part of the bills brought forward.
Churchill was one of the most active opponents of the efforts to
introduce slavery into the State in 1824. He and Nicholas
Hanson, a fellow member of the assembly, were burned in effigy
at Troy because of their anti-slavery beliefs.
Jesse
Renfro was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, in 1796. In 1810,
when he was fourteen, his father, James Renfro, immigrated to
Illinois. The family spent the winter of 1810-11 in Ridge
Prairie, three miles south of Troy, a short distance from
Downing’s Station – a fort erected for the protection of the
settlers against the Indians in the edge of St. Clair County. In
the Spring of 1811, the family moved to Collinsville Township.
James Renfro died in the fall of 1814 while on a visit to
Kentucky. In the Spring of 1814, Jesse Renfro, then not quite
eighteen, enlisted as a mounted Ranger in Captain Samuel
Whiteside’s company, which was engaged in the protection of the
frontier settlements. He served a year as a Ranger, and six
months additional in the militia service. In September 1817, he
married Letty West, daughter of Isaac West, one of the pioneer
settlers of Collinsville Township, and settled in section 11 of
Jarvis Township. The marriage ceremony was performed by Joseph
Eberman, a son-in-law of John Jarvis. Mr. and Mrs. Renfro lived
quietly together for nearly 65 years, until the death of Mrs.
Renfro in March 1882.
James W. Watt settled in the
prairie two or three miles south of Troy in 1817. He came from
Green County, Kentucky, and was the son of James Watt, a soldier
in the Revolutionary War. Watt was a leading member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and died in December 1861.
Josiah Caswell came from Vermont in 1823, and after living for a
time east of Troy, purchased a farm west of town. On the west
edge of Troy he kept a store from 1834 to 1838. He than moved to
Macoupin County in 1838, and later died in Greene County. His
son, O. H. Caswell, remained a resident of Troy.
The
first school of Jarvis Township was on the western line of
section 8 in the year 1811. The teacher was Greenberry Randle,
who agreed to teach the principles of arithmetic as far as the
“Double Rule of Three.” In this school, the Kinders, Jarvises,
Gaskills, and others received their first education. No school
was established in Troy until the year 1824.
Among the
early churches of Helvetia Township was the Gilead Methodist
Church, which stood on section 14. This was the first building
erected for religious purposes, although early Methodist
meetings had been held at the house of John Jarvis. The church
was also used as a schoolhouse, and Jesse Renfro taught there
several years between 1830 and 1840. The old church was a plain,
square frame building, weather boarded on the outside with
clapboards. The interior was plastered. Logs split open with
pins fastened in the round side formed the benches. Among the
early preachers were Rev. Samuel H. Thompson, John Dew, J. H.
Benson, and Washington C. Ballard.
On the southwest
corner of section 14 was a Baptist Church, where preaching was
only held a few years. In the northern part of section 14 is an
old graveyard, in which the first interment was the wife of John
Hagler. An Old School Baptist Church was established on section
16. The Methodists of the western part of the township founded
the Zion Methodist Church on section 19. A Roman Catholic Church
was established on section 27, with services in German.
Click here for the
history of Troy, Jarvis Township.